Glasgow University

11th November 2008 Scottish Student Newspaper of the Year

Suddenly this Autumn Hunger Strikes

Tom Bonnick reviews a Tenessee Frank Lazarski praises Steve
Williams classic McQueen's bold new work

Falling
Arts Film

Glasgow
welcomes

debris in Dr. Rowan

Williams

Crichton George Binning

library
Louver tumbles from wall mounting
Staff insist situation has been resolved
George Binning & Ishbel Begg
CRICHTON CAMPUS' NEWLY
opened £37 million super campus
was evacuated, after pieces of wooden
cladding fell from heights of up to 30
feet, whilst students worked at the
check in desk just yards away.
Crichton University Campus
Students Association (CUCSA)
officially reported health and safety
concerns after wooden cladding
attached to the window fittings were
blown down on several occasions.
In a letter sent to David Deakins and
Ted Cowan, the campus directors,
CUCSA’s Student Welfare Officer,
STUDENTS AND AFFILIATES
of Glasgow University were given
a rare glimpse into one of the most
respected minds in Britain when
the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Dr. Rowan Williams, visited the
campus.
The Archbishop appeared in
conversation with Professor Mona
Siddiqui, Director of Glasgow’s
Centre for the Study of Islam,
in front of a packed Bute hall
on Wednesday 29th October. Prof.
Siddiqui introduced the Archbishop
Laura Hill, states that debris had and described how the ‘Building
fallen from the library ceiling in the Bridges’ project upon which they
extreme weather conditions. had been working since 2003 had
She said: “One piece of lining brought their paths together.
was eventually blown so strongly She said: “It is a huge honour
that it forced a louver from its posi- for me to welcome Archbishop
tion in the window frame just below Rowan Williams to Glasgow, and
the ceiling of the library, smashing an even greater privilege for me to
onto the floor just in front of the be able to have this public conver-
library check-in desk. We immedi- sation with him on home ground.
ately evacuated the students from the “How did this come about?
library as a safety precaution.” The simple answer is, at least for
She goes on to say that in the my part, through friendship and
following two weeks pieces of the through learning. The seminar
building continued to fall, whilst brings together every year a group
students were still in the building, of international scholars, Muslim
raising serious safety issues. (continued on p3)

Student loses deposit on bogus flat lease

A STUDENT AT GLASGOW UNIVERSITY
has signed a tenancy agreement to a flat that is
already inhabited, and is now unable to reclaim
his deposit and first month's rent, totalling
£850, from the landlord.
Waqar Sadaat, an international student
who is completing his masters in research in
Electronics and Electrical Engineering, was
in desperate need of accommodation when he
News Staff
arrived in Glasgow. Having found Douglas
Swan, a Glasgow landlord, on Gumtree.com he
arranged for a look around his prospective flat.
He told Guardian: “I didn’t have any accom-
modation in Glasgow, I was in London but I
talked to the landlord on the phone.
“I told him that I was coming on Saturday,
so would it be fine to take the flat at the same
time? He told me ‘that’s fine.’ So then I went to
the flat on Saturday and I met him, it was very
good so I decided I would stay there. He told
me: ‘OK, it’s your flat now.’”
At this stage the Swan produced a Short
Assured Tenancy Agreement, complete with
an inventory list, and asked Sadaat to pay a
£425 deposit and £425 for the first months
rent. Having completed the transaction, Swan
promised the student that he could move in
after two days.
Sadaat explained: “So I’m signing the
tenants agreement, and he told me he has to do
some work for the flat, some decoration. If I
sign it I can live anywhere else in Glasgow for
two days, and on Monday I can have the flat.”
(Continued on page 5)
2 NEWS
IN BRIEF Guardian Q&A with Hazel Blears
Web success for
lecturer’s article
An article by a Glasgow University philos-
ophy lecturer was the one of the most
popular on the BBC website last month.
Over 592,000 people read Dr. David
Bain’s analysis of four major philosophical
questions, which was written to coincide
with World Philosophy Day.
The article was the most emailed and
the second-most popular in the world on the
BBC’s website on November 20.
A spokesman for the University
explained the significance of the article’s
popularity.
He said: “To be the BBC News website's
most e-mailed story around the world is a
great achievement and demonstrates the real
interest there is in philosophy.”
The article invites readers to consider
four philosophical puzzles, each challenging
the morals, ethics and rationale underlying
our decision-making.
Dr. Bain told Guardian that he was
pleased with the feedback he had received.
He said: “The reaction impressed on me
not only the extensive reach of the Internet,
but the widespread thirst for deep and diffi-
cult questions.
“I received nearly 100 replies, some
wanting to apply to Glasgow. The only
article that was more read on the BBC that
day was about a Czech underwear model
who lacks a belly button. Not even philos-
ophy can compete with that.”
HUB to become The
Fraser Building
The HUB building is to be known formally
as The Fraser Building, despite the fact that
the majority of the development’s adver-
tising has been under its original name.
A University spokesperson said: “The
HUB project management group is pleased
to announce that an official name has been
selected for the building. The HUB devel-
opment will be formally known as The
Fraser Building.”
The name is to recognise Sir William
Fraser’s contribution to Glasgow University
over the past fifty years.
A spokesperson for the University
explained: “Sir William Kerr Fraser was
Principal of the University from 1988 until
1995, and then a very active Chancellor
until his retirement in 2006.
“The naming of this building recognises
his massive contribution, not only to the
university’s development, but also to the
welfare and success of the many students
who studied here during his stewardship.
“Sir William was President of the
SRC during his own studies here in the
1950s and has retained a keen interest in
student affairs.”
Sir William and Lady Marion Fraser
will officially open the Fraser Building on
January 13.
guardiannews@src.gla.ac.uk
George Binning
PRIOR TO THE JOHN SMITH MEMORIAL
Debate, Hazel Blears enjoyed a drink with the
Glasgow University Labour Club and took time
to speak with Guardian.
Have you always been politically active?
Yes, I first got involved through my trade
union; I joined my union before I joined the
Jim Wilson
Report reviews Holyrood tax powers
A RECENTLY PUBLISHED REPORT FROM
an expert economic panel established by the
Calman Commission has been met with mixed
reactions in Scotland.
The interim report, which was to examine
alternatives for allocating funds to Scotland,
comes in the wake of the Westminster depart-
ment’s submission to the Calman Commission,
which did not recommend any further transfer
of powers from Westminster to Holyrood. The
chairman leading the commission, Sir Kenneth
Calman, was elected Chancellor of Glasgow
University in 2006.
The publication of the report coincided
the tenth anniversary of The Scotland Act,
which created devolution. The report was to
offer updated recommendations on issues such
as greater financial powers for the Scottish
Parliament, and the Barnett formula, which is
designed to automatically apply a proportionate
share of any increase (or decrease) in compa-
rable English spending programmes.
However, the expert economic group,
chaired by Professor Anton Muscatelli, Principal
of Heriot-Watt University, has decided not to
make specific recommendations on Holyrood's
powers over taxation and spending, in contrast
to the pro-Union parties’ expectations of
enhanced financial powers.
Days before the report’s release Tom Clarke,
Labour MP and architect of the 1998 Scotland
Act, commented: “We shall see what the
Labour party. I was a shop steward, a safety
rep, and then I got involved with lots of
community groups and campaigned to get a law
centre in my community.
In those days we had a Tory government so
I was organising the march for jobs, protesting,
doing all the things young people do.
Then I joined the Labour party and some-
body said to me: ‘Have you ever thought about
being a councillor?’ So I was a councillor for
eight years in Salford, my own city, and had a
fantastic time getting things done.
And then somebody said: ‘Have you ever
thought about standing for parliament?’ and
this is what happens to you in life: you end up
in the Cabinet!
Speaking to the Labour Club you referred
to the House of Commons as predominantly
old, white, middle class and male. How long
do you think it will take to achieve a more
representative parliament?
Well, it’s just about a hundred years since
women started getting the vote and I hope it
doesn’t take another hundred years to get some
kind of equality. I think it is getting better.
“We have got a number of MPs from
different ethnic backgrounds; we‘ve got five
Muslim MPs, but we haven’t yet got a Muslim
woman MP, and I’m hoping that Rushnara Ali,
who’s our candidate up in East London, will
actually be the first, which is fantastic.
But I think we have a way to go, and I really
want to see more young people in parliament
because the world is changing so fast now
Ishbel Begg
Commission says, but it has to be remembered
that one of the referendum questions which the
Labour party put, honouring our commitment
that there shall be a Scottish Parliament was,
were the Scottish people in favour of tax raising
to a limit of 3p?
“Now that’s a power that no legislation in
Hollyrood has chosen to use, but its there. And
given the problems that have emerged from
the Scottish Government freezing the council
tax, for example, its not unreasonable for us to
return to the issue and say, ‘Wait a minute, you
do have tax raising powers,’ and also to reflect
on whether those go far enough or go too far.”
Sophie Hall, President of Glasgow
University’s Liberal Democrats, claimed that
the majority of people in Scotland would
support the aims of the Calman Commission.
She explained: “We welcome the Calman
report because it would lead towards giving
us a fiscal home rule which is what people
are actually looking for. Most of the Scottish
people don't want a status quo or indepen-
dence, however moving towards greater fiscal
autonomy is widely welcomed by the people of
Scotland.”
Paul O’Kane, Vice Chair of Glasgow
University’s Labour Club, told Guardian he
felt that, thus far, devolution had been a very
successful process.
3rd December 2008
which means having people with contemporary
experience is really important.
Gordon Brown today dismissed speculation
of a summer election, will he call the election
as late as possible?
I wouldn’t dream of speculating on when
we will have an election. The task in hand
now is helping people through what is a very
difficult financial situation and I can genuinely
tell you this: the whole of the Government is
completely focussed on keeping a roof over
people’s heads, keeping them in their jobs and
making sure they get through. It’s not the time
for election talk.
But Northern Rock’s rate of repossessions
has doubled since its nationalisation in
February, and is 50% ahead of any of its
market competitors on this front. How is this
conducive to “keeping a roof over people’s
heads”?
It’s not good at all, and people are very
worried. But it is a lot less than in the recession
in the early ‘90s. That’s why I have brought
forward a program of £1 billion both to build
more social housing for rent, but also to make
sure we can help people with their mortgages
over this next year or so, so we don’t see people
getting repossessed and out on the streets.
In June 2007, Hazel Blears was appointed
Secretary of State for Communities and
Local Government.
He said: “The Calman Commission has
assessed devolution after ten years and has
found a wholly positive and forward moving
process, although there is room for debate and
discussion on progress on a number of key
issues.”
The commission, first proposed by Wendy
Alexander, former leader of the Scottish Labour
Party, won support from the Tories and Liberal
Democrats to review constitutional arrange-
ments. The SNP have chosen not to back the
project, instead launching their rival National
Conversation project.
SNP MSP for Glasgow, Sandra White
told Guardian that the National Conversation
project will offer a wider focus and be open to
everyone in Scotland.
She said: “The National Conversation,
unlike the Calman Report which only engaged
with invited audiences, is open to everyone
to comment on what they wish to see for the
future of Scotland, independence, status quo,
more powers or indeed any suggestions that
they feel will benefit Scotland.
“The Calman Commission offers no such
choice and is very narrow in its focus. As a
party who wish to see Scotland flourish and
take responsibility for its own affairs we could
not support such a narrow agenda.”
The Commission will release the first part
of their report before the end of this year, with
the final report expected by the end of 2009.
3rd December 2008 guardiannews@src.gla.ac.uk NEWS 3

Nancy That!

>> George Binning

WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED THAT THE
John Smith Memorial Debate would be the
scene of such bawdy rollicking and tabloid-
worthy shenanigans?

Narrow Labour win at GUU

George Binning
“THIS HOUSE WOULD RE-ELECT THE
Labour Government” was the title of the
bi-annual John Smith Memorial Debate, held in
the historic Debates Chamber of the Glasgow
University Union on November 30.
Hazel Blears MP, the Secretary of State for
Comunities and Local Government, led a bench
of Labour MPs and MSPs, against Lembit Opik
MP, Liberal Democrat, and his coalition of SNP
and Conservative Party MSPs. Andrew Neil,
the eminent journalist and broadcaster, chaired
the debate.
Opik took a jovial approach to the debate
but remained competitive. He was evidently
excited at the prospect of leading a “rainbow
coalition”.
He joked: “We’ve got to remember of
course, whatever the outcome it’s just a bit fun.
May the best team win, so long as it’s us.
“What Glasgow University debating
society has achieved is something that even the
Scottish Parliament couldn’t achieve and that’s
a rainbow coalition, a triumph of negotiation.
Poor old Labour must feel outnumbered three
to one tonight. I’m very fond of Hazel Blears
and I’m here as a critical friend rather than a
nasty enemy.”
There was some discrepancy on the Labour
bench as to Gordon Brown’s actual election
plans. Tom Clarke MP, Labour claimed Gordon
Brown had postponed the election due to the
global economic crisis.
He told Guardian: “Had there been an elec-
tion when Gordon planned to call it originally,
and I think it’s publicly known that that was
quite early when he became prime minister, we
would have won. Yes, we would win an elec-
tion now because I think people do appreciate
the extent of the global crisis and trust Gordon
to deal with it.”
Baron Foulkes MSP, Labour, was adamant
that Gordon Brown had always intended to
hold a late election saying: “It’s always been
his plan to go the full term and he stuck to it.
I have always been of the view that he was
going to weather all the storms he was going
to face.”
During the debate the Labour Party’s argu-
ments played heavily on the unpopularity of
the Conservative Government of the early ‘90s.
Hazel Blears warned the house: “The Tories
will let the recession take its toll.”
Bill Kid MSP, SNP, rebuffed saying that
Labour’s hidden conservative policies were not
to be trusted.
He exclaimed: “Like the snake, Kaa, in the
Jungle Book, Labour stares us in the eye saying
‘trust in me’ as thousands of jobs vanish.”
Jim Wilson
James Porteous
The opposition also brought the house’s
attention to the Afghan and Iraq wars and the
expensive replacement of Trident.
After 90 minutes of heated debate Labour
won a marginal victory with 97 votes to 94.
Andrew Neil, an ex-editor of Guardian, had
difficulty maintaining order in the Debates
Chamber, but was in high spirits.
He told Guardian: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed
myself because, well just look at this, look at
the numbers, it shows debating is alive and
well. And it was a good, feisty, traditional,
robust Glasgow debate.
But even after the votes had been cast Neil
was reluctant to cast his own vote explaining:
“My BBC contract doesn’t let me say whom
I would vote for, the chairman must remain
neutral.”
Another notable presence that evening
was Andrew Neil’s guest, Nancy Dell’Olio.
Voting in favour of the motion she explained
to Guardian: “I hope Labour is going to be
re-elected but I find it very difficult to ally
completely with Labour or Tories. It is impor-
tant to be pragmatic.
“I’ve enjoyed myself, I love Scotland
though its not my first time here, I’ve been
here a few times for football reasons.”
Would this paper re-elect labour?
Debates, page 11.
Jim Wilson
Admittedly one of the most prestigious
debating events in the country, promising such
a star-studded line up of speakers, was bound
to draw a crowd. But I did not expect to see
the Secretary of State for Local Government,
amongst others, being harangued so loudly from
the balcony by teams of inebriated students. All
this was taken in good cheer and helped to
create an atmosphere not too dissimilar to the
House of Commons itself.
The reasons for Charles Kennedy’s last-
minute cancellation were left to general specu-
lation, though his absence was swiftly over-
shadowed by a far more interesting pres-
ence: the eternal, the ageless, Nancy Dell’Olio.
Once associated with Sven Goran Eriksson,
Miss Dell’Olio now seems to be romantically
attached to Andrew Neil. It seemed fitting
that the chairman of the debate should have
the most glamorous date, with Hazel Blears’
husband, Michael Halsall, coming in at a with-
ered second.
As the chairman’s ‘date’ it was necessary
for her to arrive at least half an hour late with
an entourage of beautiful ladies, a requirement
she fulfilled with ease. Although her lateness
did mean that she was denied entry to the main
debating chamber and had to brave the vulgari-
ties of the balcony.
It was not until the votes were cast that the
real scandal began. Having been instructed to
walk through either the left door or the right in
order to cast one’s vote, Miss Dell’Olio made
for the left door, voting in favour of re-electing
the Labour Government. Eager to catch her for
a brief word I introduced myself, swallowed
my pride, discarded my principles and walked
through the left hand door with her.
With a result of 97 votes to 94, in favour
of the motion, it occurred to me that, had I
followed my better judgment instead of Miss
Dell’Olio, the result would have been 96 to 95.
I then considered the possibility that, if just one
other indifferent student had decided to follow
Nancy, the outcome of the debate might have
been completely different. This possibility soon
became a likelihood, and then very quickly a
certainty in my mind.
Therefore, I put it to you Mr. Chairman,
ladies and gentlemen of the house, that the
result of this celebrated debate was swung
singlehandedly by Miss Dell’Olio, a lady who
was not only not a student, nor a member of the
GUU, but who was also over half an hour late,
and who had a vested interest in the Chairman.
“Shame!” I hear you cry.
4 NEWS guardiannews@src.gla.ac.uk 11th November 2008

IN BRIEF BNP targets university students

Disabled access to THE BRITISH NATIONAL PARTY (BNP)
is set to bring its most recent campaign to
George Binning the success that Black History Month is finally
having. The reason we celebrate Black History

library re-opened Glasgow University amid protests from the

Pro-active campaigning by the SRC has led
to the re-opening of disabled access to the
library.
The construction works around the Hub
temporarily cut off the disabled access from
the hill up from University Avenue. VP
Student Support, Laura Laws, emailed Jim
McConnell, Head of Estates and Buildings,
to express the SRC’s concerns. Following
this Peter Dunne, Estates Development
Officer for the Hub Redevelopment,
arranged to have the ramp re-opened.
Laura Laws explained: “We are satisfied
with the measures that have been put in
place to ensure that all students have access
to the library. It is essential, however, that
the University continues to be vigilant of
the needs of students with disabilities to
ensure that similar situations are not over-
looked.”
Renovations are expected to reach comple-
tion by the end of 2008. Student services are
expected to be fully operational in the Hub
from January 2009.
GUU John Smith
Memorial Debate
Later this month, the bi-annual John Smith
Memorial Debate is being held in the GUU
Debating Chamber.
Guest speakers at the event on Friday, 21st
November include Rt. Hon. Hazel Blears
MP and Rt. Hon. Charles Kennedy MP.
This year’s debating theme is ‘This house
would re-elect the Labour government’.
Free gallery tickets are available from the
GUU Porters Box and each ticket will
allow access to a free bar and ceilidh after
SRC, the University and Glasgow Anti-Racist
Alliance (GARA).
White History Month, the BNP and Young
BNP’s latest publicity stunt, is aimed specifi-
cally at university cities. A mass e-mail was
sent last week to union presidents and student
bodies across Britain in advance of the project.
The group will be touring Britain in the ‘Truth
Truck’ distributing flyers and CDs to promote
White History Month.
Jatin Haria, Director of GARA, was highly
critical of the BNP’s agenda in promoting White
History Month, arguing that White History
Month was unnecessary and would ultimately
be dominated by racist sentiment.
He said: “In effect, every month is White
History Month. As it’s the BNP organising this,
it’s likely to be a month featuring white hoods,
and 'celebrating' Adolf Hitler, Enoch Powell
and Oswald Mosley.”
Gavin Lee, President of the SRC, joined Mr
Haria in condemning the BNP’s plan.
He explained: “The views encouraged by
White History Month are incongruous not only
with a modern society that prides itself on
equality of races, but also within a University
environment that prides itself on fairness, logic,
and tolerance.”
Concordantly Paul Golding, the director of
the BNP’s dedicated white British history web
site British Pride, described the unilaterally
negative response he had received from other
student representatives throughout Britain.
He said: “I generally didn't receive much
response but the ones we did were very hostile
because these student unions are run by fanat-
ical left-wingers.
“You've got some very warped and brain-
washed left-wingers in charge of the student
unions. They've been brainwashed with the
second world war, with slavery, with apartheid,
with all sorts of various left-wing instigated
guilt trips.”
The SRC have passed a motion banning the
promotion of White History Month in the John
McIntyre building and pledging to dissuade
students from becoming involved with the
British National Party.
Gavin Lee said: “We are delighted – yet
ultimately unsurprised – that students have
chosen to boycott this month. The organisers of
White History Month will not be able to further
their ill-conceived agenda at Glasgow.”
Having supported Black History Month,
a university spokesperson announced that the
University would be officially opposing White
History Month, adding that the BNP’s inten-
tions were certainly malicious.
“Black History Month is a grassroots devel-
opment which recognises the contributions
and achievements of ethnic minority people
in the UK. This is a perspective that is often
overlooked or missed in everyday evaluation of
history and achievements.
“Whilst on the surface it would appear
White History Month is only fair and equal, the
University recognises that the political organi-
sation that are behind this suggestion have a
particular motive, which is the promotion of a
non-inclusive society.”
Simon Darby, the BNP’s press officer, was
unwilling to give away specific details of the
tour’s itinerary saying: “If we forewarn people,
rent-a-mob would be out in force.”
Golding did, however, confirm that they
intended to come to Glasgow.
Mr. Haria explained that Black History
week was necessary to raise awareness of past
black accomplishments and was, in this respect,
positive about the BNP’s reaction.
“The fact that the BNP are doing this shows
Month is because without this focus, the histor-
ical contributions of black people over all time
would continue to remain hidden.”
The BNP have argued that White History
Month has become as necessary as Black
History Month, as white history has allegedly
been ‘suppressed’ by ‘the liberals and left
wingers’ that rule Britain.
Paul Golding explained this view: “Native
British history and general white history is
generally suppressed in the education system.
Most young British people leave school these
days and hardly know anything about their
country's history. It’s ridiculous and it’s all
intentional because the liberals and the left
wingers in charge of this country, and that
includes all the main parties and all the journal-
ists in this country, are doing it deliberately to
try and rob us of any sort of group identity.
“There was a poll the other day in one of the
papers which said Churchill was the insurance
dog. That is the kind of thing we are dealing
with, it’s almost like cultural genocide. That’s
the only way I can explain it.”
Gavin Lee stressed that the SRC was in
favour of free speech, but would not support
the BNP exploiting its right to free speech to
racist ends.
He said: “The SRC continues to welcome
the freedom of speech and debate that is a
foundation stone of our culture. We believe
each culture should have the right to celebrate
their heritage and traditions. However, we will
not tolerate these rights being misused for an
ultimately racist and divisive purpose.”
Mr Haria warned that racism was still
prevalent in Glasgow, saying: “Racism is still
a major problem in Glasgow. This can be
easily evidenced through the GARA State of
the Nation - Race and Racism in Scotland 2008
report, available from the GARA website.”

Sir Muir Russell to step down in September

the debate.

Glasgow Vet Wins

Top Award Sarah Smith

Dr Sarah Cleaveland, a veterinary epidemi- THE PRINCIPAL AND VICE-CHANCELLOR OF

ologist at Glasgow University, has had her Glasgow University, Sir Muir Russell, is to step down from his
work recognised after winning the prestig- post in September.
ious Trevor Blackburn Award. Sir Muir has held the position since 2003 when he succeeded
Awarded by the British Veterinary Sir Graeme Davies. Before becoming Principal, Sir Muir served
Association, Dr Cleaveland received the as Permanent Secretary in the Scottish Executive.
honour as a result of her work on zoonotic, Sir Muir’s retirement from the University follows his
livestock and wildlife diseases in the appointment as the new Chair of the Judicial Appointments
Serengeti area of Tanzania. Board for Scotland.
Dr Cleaveland said she felt “fantastic” when Joy Travers, Vice-Chair of the University’s Court, explained
she heard she had won the award, but was the impact Sir Muir has had during his time as Principal.
quick to recognize the work of others and She said: “Sir Muir Russell has been an outstanding Principal
the significance which the award has for the and the University has benefited greatly from his leadership.
area of research. Over the past six years, he has taken the University forward
She explained: “It’s [the award] a reflec- strongly on all levels and he will leave a sound academic and
tion of the work of a lot of people. It’s also financial foundation for his successor.”
recognition of the work going on in this A spokesman for the University explained that the process to
new field of work, where numerous areas of find his replacement is currently underway.
expertise are converging.” He said: “Sir Muir Russell’s appointment runs until September
The award, which was created in 2006, 2009. He has confirmed that he wishes to retire then, and the
recognises contributions made to animal University is making appropriate arrangements to appoint his
health and welfare in the developing world. successor. As Principal, Sir Muir will press ahead fully with the
James Porteous University’s ambitious plans during the next ten months.”
11th November 2008 guardiannews@src.gla.ac.uk NEWS 5

Jim Wilson

SRC elections blighted by poor turnout

Chris Hall Ana Cohen Tuula Eriksson Tommy Gore

Scott Lavery
POOR PUBLICITY, BAD TIMING AND THE
Glasgow weather were blamed for poor voter
turnout at the Student Representative Council
election last month, in which just over 2200
votes were cast.
James Harrison, a second-year student who
was successful in his bid for the position of
General Representative, claimed that the low
turn-out will have a negative impact on student
representation.
He said: “I think the SRC elections must
be far better publicised. The vast majority of
students had no idea there was an election
today. It’s an issue which needs to be sorted out
because these elections are really important.
They decide how the university is run.”
Mr. Harrison claimed that although he did
not have any immediate policy plans, he was
the right man for the job.
He said, “I plan to do my best - I’m not
afraid of having my voice heard.”
The timing of the election was also ques-
tioned by Tuula Eriksson, who was elected as
an undergraduate General Representative, said:
“We had the election on a Monday which didn’t
help at all. Holding the election on a Monday
is just weird.”
The wisdom of holding elections on the
first day of the week was perceived as a major
contributing factor to the low turn-out by a
number of other candidates.
Some candidates claimed that there was
one factor which could have adversely affected
turn-out and which nobody could be held
responsible for: the bitter Scottish climate on General Reps (Undergraduate)
the day of the poll. Tuula Erriksson
Mr. Harrison said, “It was certainly very Tommy Gore
cold, as I found out after being outside for James Harrison
thirteen hours.” Alice Munro
SRC President Gavin Lee responded to Stuart Richie
the criticism, and was keen to point out that Stuart Duncan
compared to past elections, the number of votes
General Reps (Postgraduate)
cast was relatively high:
Filiippo Trevisan
“While the turnout was less than last year,
Laurence Durnan
it still tops every year since 1995. As always,
though, we will be looking to improve on our Faculty Conveners
plans and approach in the coming months to Sabrina Rossi (Medicine)
provide the best representation possible for Ana Cohen (Science)
students.” Alex Thomson (Engineering)
The next SRC elections will be held in
March, when the major council positions for Charities Officer
the next academic year will be contested. Chris Hall

Accommodation woes for GU postgrad

(Continued from front page)
“He told me that I should pay £425 for a deposit and £425
rent. So I paid £850 and signed the agreement and he gave me a
receipt for the money. I called him on Sunday night, and he told
me I should meet him at the flat on Monday morning.”
When Swan failed to turn up on Monday morning, Sadaat
waited in good faith for four hours. It was only when he met the
tenant who was already living in the flat that he began to suspect
he had been conned.
“I went to the flat on Monday at 11am, and I waited there
for four hours, and then I thought that maybe there’s been a
misunderstanding – maybe he’s in a hospital or something. So I
went to eat, and then I came back, and again I waited for an hour.
Then I went to the flat and I saw another tenant leaving.”
It transpired that the tenant already living there had signed
a similar agreement with Douglas Swan and had moved in that
very day.
“I knocked at the door, and the tenant showed me his agree-
ment, then he told me he also paid £850 and he got the keys
today – he paid the same person. I was shocked. I'm becoming
angry now, but I was just shocked at the time"
After that point Sadaat was unable to contact Swan, so he
eventually went to the police. However the police were unable
to help.
“He wasn't picking up the phone, so I sent him a voicemail
to say that I know there's another person living there, so please
phone me back, otherwise I'll go the police. He didn't call me
back and I went to the police – they told me that it's not a
criminal offense, so they couldn't do anything."
Soon after Sadaat briefly got back in touch with the landlord,
but without successfully recovering his deposit.
He said “The next day Mr Swan picked up the phone, and he
told me that he will transfer the money to me through internet
banking.
“After this, I waited for two days; I didn't get any money. I
then called him again, and he told me that he is going to meet
me and give me cash, but he didn't. He then told me he would
forward a cheque, but I didn't receive anything, and now he's not
picking up again.”
Sadaat said his next port of call would be the SRC Advice
Centre, however they have forewarned him that they cannot
guarantee they can recover his deposit.
Helen Speirs, Senior Advice Policy and Training Officer of
the Advice Centre, helped explain the pitfalls of short tenancy
agreements in Scotland.
She said: “Because there is no tenancy deposit protection
scheme in Scotland, tenants here are all the more vulnerable to
landlords making off with their deposits for no good reason.” Jim Wilson
6 FEATURES
Glasgow University and the return of Scotland
In the third and final part of our series on a history of Glasgow University, Jamie Maxwell investigates
G
how the institution has influenced politics, the Nationalist movement and culture in conteporary Scotland.
lasgow University has witnessed many of the most
pivotal moments in Scottish history. Indeed, it has
participated in a considerable number of them.
From the Reformation to the Enlightenment, the
Act of Union to the Industrial Revolution, this institution’s huge
practical and intellectual contribution has proved integral to the
development of a dynamic civil and social life in Scotland.
Arguably, though, the significance of Glasgow University in
relation to the political and creative culture of this country has
never been greater than it is today.
It is a cliché, but true nonetheless, that during the past ten
or fifteen years Scotland has become increasingly assertive and
self-assured about its identity; an identity that has for decades
been eclipsed by the powerful appeal of British perceptions of
class, decency and service. Scotland’s new-found confidence is
associated with two recent historical occurrences; the emergence
of political nationalism as an authentic and potent ideological
force (expressed, mainly, in the form of the Scottish National
Party), and a re-energised literary scene that celebrates, explores
and utilises the commonplace experiences of ordinary Scottish
people. Both trends were born and grew up on our campus.
In 1928, a leading member of the Glasgow University
Scottish Nationalist Association, John McCormick, called on
all those who favoured either greater political autonomy or total
self-governance for Scotland to coalesce into a single, unified
organisation. The response was underwhelming, but an organi-
sation- the National Party of Scotland- was formed. The NPS
was too small and too marginal to be successful. A broader and
more purposeful movement was needed if independence was
ever to become a credible or realisable objective. So, in 1934, at
the behest of McCormick, it merged with the Scottish Party and
the SNP as we recognise it today was created.
For the next thirty years, the SNP would experience little
electoral success. The immense destructive force of Spanish,
Italian and German fascism robbed even the most inclusive and
progressive nationalist parties of there social respectability for a
generation. In the face of mainstream political isolation, those
Scots who believed in and fought for national independence had
no choice but to fall back on symbolic gestures of resistance
and opposition. Once again, it was students from Glasgow
University who led the way. On Christmas Day 1950, four
Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association (GUSNA)
members- Ian Hamilton, Gavin Vernon, Kay Matheson and
Alan Stuart- conspired to brake into Westminster Abbey, one of
the most heavily guarded buildings in London, to ‘retrieve and
guardianfeats@src.gla.ac.uk
repatriate’ the Stone of Destiny, a shapeless block of dull rock
rumoured to have been used as a seat of coronation for Scottish
monarchs since the 12th century. Astonishingly, the plot worked,
and for a while the students managed to store the Stone secretly
in Arbroath Abbey before the authorities finally located it on 11
April 1951 and sent it back to Westminster.
This was more than just a stunt. The 1950s was a particu-
larly barren period for the SNP, and the successful recovery
of the Stone of Destiny served to remind Scots of the imbal-
ances embedded in the British political system and of the
extra-ordinary hubris and arrogance of the British monarchy.
The actions taken by Hamilton and his friends ensured that the
idea of Scottish self-determination remained in the nation’s
popular consciousness throughout the years in which the United
"The significance of Glasgow University
in relation to the political and creative
culture of this country has never been
greater than it is today"
Kingdom was thought to be at its most politically stable and the
constitutional status quo at its most unshakeable.
The first major electoral triumph of the Scottish National
Party occurred in the autumn of 1967 and was delivered cour-
tesy of a former senior member of GUSNA: Winnie Ewing.
During the four years Ewing spent studying law at Glasgow
she was known as an intelligent and intense nationalist activist.
The highly charged and increasingly radical atmosphere on
campus during the 1950s and 60s imbued Ewing with a sense
of reserved urgency and determination which would prove
crucial to her victory over Labour’s Alex Wilson in Hamilton
South, hitherto the governing party’s safest Scottish seat.
Ewing’s win was as significant an event as any the SNP had
experienced. It suggested that the monopoly the Labour party
held over the loyalties of Scottish voters was not absolute and
heralded the start of the painfully gradual disintegration of the
Unionist parties’ dominance over Scotland’s political landscape;
a process which would culminate with the election of a nation-
alist government in May 2007.
Evidently, the role the Glasgow University Scottish
Nationalist Association has played in the growth of nationalism
in Scotland over the past five or six decades has been massive.
Many of its former members sit in the Scottish Parliament
today, most notably Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
11th November 2008
Photo: Jim Wilson
Caroline Henderson, current GUSNA secretary and fourth year
politics student, explains the functional and sentimental value
of GUSNA to the SNP: “GUSNA helped establish the Scottish
National Party in the 1930s; the two organisations are insepa-
rable. Glasgow University students have participated in all the
defining events of modern nationalism in this country.” Further,
GUSNA has been fundamental to the development of the SNP
as a left-of-centre party. In 2007, Henderson and GUSNA trea-
surer Angus Macleod drafted and tabled a resolution to the SNP
conference that sought to condemn Scottish universities that
charge asylum seekers tuition fees. Henderson says, “I joined
the SNP because I’m a social-democrat. GUSNA provides a
strong student voice in the SNP, which in turn help to entrench
progressive values in the party”.
The 1970s has come to be regarded as the most critical
decade for nationalism in Scotland. The discovery of vast
reserves of oil in the North Sea, Margo Macdonald’s impressive
by-election victory in Govan, and the first (though ultimately
unsuccessful) general referendum on the issue of devolution all
contributed to a growing sense of national self-awareness and
worked to compound the heightened unease of Unionists north
and south of the border.
In the midst these political shifts, students at Glasgow
University were quietly rearranging the contours of Scottish
literary culture. The informal creative writing group run by the
poet, critic and senior lecturer Philip Hobsbaum in the early
1970s included figures such as Alasdair Gray, James Kelman,
Liz Lochhead, and Tom Leonard, all of whom would go on to
become hugely influential and respected professional authors.
Crucially, Hobsbaum encouraged his pupils to draw on the
immediate environment. For Kelman and Leonard this meant
attempting to reflect the colloquial peculiarities of everyday
Scots in their poems and in the dialogue of their characters.
Both viewed the use of the ‘Queens English’ in Scottish litera-
ture as a betrayal of a society that was every bit as nuanced and
complex and cosmopolitan as the one depicted in the novels of
London-based writers. The approach adopted by Hobsbaum’s
apprentices constituted a sort of literary nationalism and facili-
tated the revival of Scottish fiction as a viable and independent
artistic genre.
Without the essential and formative influence of Glasgow
University, modern Scotland would almost certainly lack the
two qualities that, arguably, constitute its most interesting char-
acteristics; a unique national literature and a radical, pluralist
nationalist movement.
Bush confined to the dustbin of history
11th November 2008
A
As George W. Bush's second term in office draws to an end, James Foley examines the legacy of arguably the most hated man on earth.
s equities tumbled and millions of Americans faced
repossession in late September, George Bush, in
his eighth year as de facto world leader, had these
words of comfort: “there's also a lot of sensible
homeowners who can make men's ends meet with a little bit of
help.” For the moment, Bush may be remembered as much for
his incomprehensible utterances (“working hard to put food on
your family”, “too many gynaecologists aren't able to practice
their love with women”, etc) as for his policies.
Nevertheless, in eight years Bush has presided over a
remarkable series of world events: two wars, a global economic
crisis, and, quite possibly, the irreparable erosion of American
hegemony in international affairs. He leaves his successor,
Barack Obama, with an “accumulation of seismic challenges”,
in the words of a recent New York Times editorial. Bush’s
legacy to Obama’s America is an unprecedented debt burden and
at least two open and unwinnable military fronts.
While Bush liked to portray himself as an affable and straight-
talking frontiersman, he was in fact anointed for political office
as a member of one of America’s leading families. His paternal
grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a Wall Street executive and a
US Senator with alleged industrial and propaganda links to the
Nazis. George H.W. Bush, his father, served as US Ambassador
to the United Nations, Director of Central Intelligence, and
Vice-President under Ronald Reagan before becoming the 41st
President. All three Bushes attended the elite Yale University
and were members of the Skull and Bones secret society.
After a brief sojourn in the military – where, by most
accounts, he led an unusually pampered lifestyle – Bush used
family connections to make an abortive bid for Congress. A
political failure and something of an outcast due to his alco-
holism, Bush turned to industry, again using his social capital to
draw Saudi money into his oil concerns. Subsequently, Arbusto
(Spanish for “bush”) Energy was forced into a merger and Bush
was sidelined. He re-emerged in 1988 as “campaign advisor” to
his father, a position that furnished him with the media-savvy to
make a second attempt at politics.
In 1994, Bush was elected Governor of Texas. He gained
immediate notoriety for replacing social services with “faith-
based” (Christian fundamentalist) organisations and adopting
a trigger-happy approach to the electric chair. While happy to
appeal to a peculiarly American brand of Christian fundamen-
talism, the major intellectual influences on Bush and his brother,
Florida Governor Jeb, came from a small cadre of far-right intel-
lectuals known as the “neoconservatives”, who formed a network
of political influence around The Weekly Standard journal and
The Project for a New American Century think tank.
The neocons explicitly concerned themselves with declining
American power (hence the name, Project for a New American
"If two unwinnable occupations were not
ruinous enough to America’s reputation,
the recent financial crisis could spell the
end of the greatest power in world history."
Century). Crudely, they argued that consumerism and individu-
alism had eroded America’s moral fibre, spawning a decadent
and nihilistic culture; the entrance of “identity politics” (black,
feminist, gay) into the political mainstream was a particularly
corrosive influence, they argued. The solution was a mythology
of American power and leadership, an extreme nationalism to
shore up America’s moral fibre. In practical terms, this meant
reaffirming commitment to maintaining an overseas Empire,
and willingness to take “strong” leadership decisions against
America’s enemies.
By 2000, Bush had defeated competition from John McCain
to announce himself Republican candidate for the White House.
Facing a weak Democrat opponent – Bill Clinton’s centre-right
Vice President Al Gore – Bush managed to scrape a narrow
victory after one of the most controversial counts in history.
Thousands of Black voters were mysteriously wiped off the
guardianfeats@src.gla.ac.uk FEATURES 7
electoral roll in Florida to give Bush the slenderest of margins soldiers are reported dead. Estimates of Iraqi casualties are noto-
in the decisive battleground. riously unreliable; however, the Lancet Medical Journal, whose
The Clinton administration had left a peculiar economic methodologies are generally accepted for calculating the human
legacy to Bush. In the 1990s, America experienced an extraor- cost of war, put the figure at over a million. The economic cost
dinary boom in telecommunications and the stock market that of war has been astronomical: ex-World Bank economist Joseph
spurred the first significant spike in manufacturing profits since Stiglitz recently put the figure at a potential $2 trillion.
the mid-70s. Employment was high in the Clinton years and If two unwinnable occupations were not ruinous enough to
interest rates were historically low. However, real economic America’s reputation, the recent financial crisis could spell the
conditions for workers did not improve; real wages stagnated or end of the greatest power in world history. Bush is perhaps not
fell for most of the Clinton years, while social spending declined directly accountable for the crisis. The erosion of manufacturing
at the expense of finance reflects the long-run degeneration
"Millions dead, renewed imperial rival- of America’s economic base; without this erosion, regulation
ries, and an economic crisis. This is Bush’s would not occupy the same social significance.
legacy to the world." Nevertheless, Bush has been a particularly disastrous steward
of American capitalism. His tax cuts and lax regulation regimes
in many areas as he announced “the era of big government is have been contributory factors to the timing and severity of the
over”. Clinton presided over a massive distribution of wealth crisis. His administration is renowned for its associations with
to the rich. corrupt accounting firms, investment banks, and corporations.
Bush, who presented himself as a “compassionate conserva- Under Bush, as under Clinton, real wages stagnated in America.
tive”, went further. His first significant act in office was a $1.35 The orgy of household borrowing since the turn of the century
trillion tax cut which overwhelmingly benefitted the rich at the stems from the contradiction of trying to sustain a low wage
expense of the poor and, subsequently, contributed to America’s with a high consumption economy, a hallmark of Bush’s own
economic instability by increasing deficits and throwing more approach to “voodoo economics”.
money into the stock market bubble. Millions dead, renewed imperial rivalries, and an economic
Bush might have been remembered as an affable if incom- crisis. This is Bush’s legacy to the world. In policy terms,
petent right-winger along the lines of Gerald Ford, rather than Obama promises very little. However, as thousands of ordinary
a latter day Caligula, were it not for the attack on the World Americans – black and white, male and female, gay and straight
Trade Centre on September 11th 2001. This unprecedented blow – streamed onto the streets to celebrate his victory last week, it
to America’s pride and prestige, coming right at the heart of felt less like a parliamentary election and more like the people
America’s capitalist world empire, gave the neocons the oppor- reclaiming their public spaces from a vicious tyrant. And, in a
tunity they had been looking for to exert control over American way, it was.
foreign policy.
Although the perpetrators of 9/11 were Egyptian and Saudi,
America chose to attack Afghanistan, where radical madrassas
were supposedly indoctrinating young Muslims in anti-Amer-
icanism under the protection of the Taliban government. The
Taliban were created by Pakistani military intelligence, with
the covert assistance of the American government, in the early
90s to fill the gap left by the Soviet withdrawal. America had
major interests in a gas pipeline set to run through the North of
Afghanistan. However, the Taliban, whose social basis lay in
the Pashtun South-East of the country, proved unable to restore
order in this area and American intelligence quietly dropped
them as a reliable ally.
In the early Bush years the Afghanistan invasion seemed to
be a mere prelude to the real affair: a full scale invasion of Iraq,
a neoconservative fantasy since 1992. In 1998, leading neocons
– many with strong oil-industry connections – wrote a letter to
Bill Clinton urging him to “undertake military action as diplo-
macy is clearly failing”. Despite opposition from most world
governments and the vast majority of the world population, the
neocons were able by 2003 to use the amenable post-9/11 envi-
ronment to push for “regime change” in Iraq.
America’s unpreparedness for the war is legen-
dary. Bush was already halfway to launching the
Iraq invasion before anyone told him that there
were Sunnis and Shias in Iraq. Ahmad Chalabi,
a convicted fraudster who played a key role in
orchestrating support for the invasion among Iraqi
exiles, managed to convince the American estab-
lishment that they would be greeted with flowers
and sweets by a grateful population. And it does
seem that the world’s intelligence services were
seriously duped into thinking that Iraq had a
workable program to produce weapons of mass
destruction, even though the best evidence of
this turned out to be an out of date PhD thesis
Courtesy of azart.de
tracked down with a Google search.
The Iraq War will be remembered as
one of the most dismal events in America’s
history. As of last week, 4,191 American
8 FEATURES guardianfeats@src.gla.ac.uk 11th Novem

Photo: Jim Wilson

Courtesy of St Leonards School

Privilege, private schools & educational apa

T
Four Scottish private schools were recently told that they faced losing their charitable status. Scott Lavery a
here is an institution that cultivates the growing inequality across our continue to trade on this philosophy. By paying for what is perceived as a better status must demonstrate that they provi
society. Its existence is almost entirely devoted to serving the affluent education, parents benefit their children over others in their search for a univer- Crucially, they must show that access to
and privileged, and its product is a hugely advantaged upper class sity place and career. With an average termly fee for sixth formers standing at tive. Essentially, this means charitable
with its grip firmly on the mechanisms of political and economic £4871, the favourable financial situation of private schools enables them to open to a small portion of society, name
power. The institution in question is the private school, one of the most socially build and maintain superior facilities, take their pick from a pool of willing fees.
divisive establishments in our society. Anthony Seldon, himself a headmaster prospective staff, and continually cut class sizes. These propitious elements On Tuesday 28th October four Scot
of an English fee-paying school, has gone as far as saying that the independent of private education exist only because there are people rich enough to afford status challenged by the OSCR on the
educational establishment fuels ‘a social apartheid.’ them: the continuation of the private school is conditional upon the existence of Glasgow was one of the institutions wh
At the end of last month, four Scottish private schools were told that they were unduly restrictive, and therefore in
faced losing a lucrative package of tax-breaks because they were failing to fulfil “It is utterly ludicrous that a school which offers ments. The £9000-a-year school offered
their ‘charitable’ obligations. This challenge could potentially represent the less than 1% of its income towards assisting the of 1750. St Leonard’s in Fife fared even
beginning of an objection to the system of private education, which until now means-tested financial assistance, amou
has gone largely uncontested. In a society where the top 1% own 23% of the
needy could be subject to charity-tax breaks cov- schools income.
wealth, it could even represent a significant move against those who occupy the ering 100% of its expenditure.” The OSCR was right to challenge t
top-end of the social hierarchy. tutions. It is utterly ludicrous that a sc
Prominent figures from across the voluntary sector have denied that inde- a wealthy class willing to pay-up. And pay-up they do. Seventeen major private income towards assisting the needy c
pendent schools have any legitimate claim to charity tax-breaks. Stephen schools in Scotland generate more than £160 million in fees between them. This covering 100% of its expenditure. In pra
Maxwell, Associate Director of the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organizations, sum of money goes towards the continued entrenchment of social and economic Hutcheson’s operate highly restrictive a
said that private schools give “their own students - in Scotland only about 4% of inequality and the consolidation of privilege that has become the preserve of are effectively barred from partaking in
the total - a competitive advantage in competing for top universities and jobs to our ‘progressive’ society. can offer.
the disadvantage of the majority. By so doing they create inequality and social Private schools are currently deemed to have “charitable status”. This Stephen Maxwell has claimed that th
division.” exempts them from paying corporation tax, business rates, VAT on their utility grounds for rejecting the private schools
For a portrait of the upper-echelons of this social division, one need bills, and from paying a tariff on financial donations. Independent educational endowments were entirely devoted to a r
look no further than a photograph recently released of Conservative shadow- establishments enjoy over £100 million in savings each year across the UK and sickness, education of poor scholars and
chancellor George Osborne and multi-millionaire banker Nat Rothschild. It £4.5 million in Scotland because of these tax-breaks. For this reason private by news of charity staff earning high sal
was circulated following the latest Conservative party-funding debacle aboard schools have zealously defended their claim to charitable status. their income on administration or even
a luxury yacht in the Mediterranean. The photograph features the two erstwhile Their claim is without justification. That the institutions which educated the most people are puzzled if not outraged
companions in their student days at the Oxford University “Bullingdon Club”. inordinately wealthy Rothschild, Cameron and Osborne – Eton and St. Pauls fee-paying schools have charitable statu
This old-boys network – of which David Cameron was also a member – is - are considered suitable candidates for charity tax-breaks is utterly absurd. Charlie McKinnon, an activist for
renowned as much for its exclusivity as it is for its drink-fuelled rampages. However, the funding farce extends beyond the confines of these traditionalist expressed his distaste at the tax-breaks p
Membership remains strictly invite-only and entirely limited to the aristocracy establishments. The ‘charitable status’ anomaly permeates beyond the institu- in a personal capacity, he said, “At a ti
and the ineffably wealthy. tions that were set up to satisfy the didactic requirements of the nobility and facing deep cuts in budgets, it is moral
Those affected gentleman in the Bullingdon Club picture were - just years super-rich, into all levels of private education. charitable status. It is a grotesque irony
before their inauguration into the Oxford elite - enjoying the privilege of a Some progress is being made in addressing this situation. In 2005, the originally founded to help orphaned chi
private education. Their parents’ wealth and background had bought them a Scottish government introduced legislation to ensure that charitable organiza- The independent educational estab
place in the beating heart of the British ruling establishment, in which they tions were properly regulated. The “Charities and Trustee Investment Act” ments with an aggressive assertion of it
would later serve with their equally privileged and privately-educated peers. established The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), a body which at best the arguments it presents are indi
Their riches acted as a means to social advantage. oversees the operation and conduct of charities and which has the power to standing of itself and of the law. At wor
Private schools across the country – whether they admit to it or not – grant charitable status. Under the act, institutions which apply for charitable are no more than a cynical attempt to cre
mber 2008
artheid: The case against charitable status
argues that because of their exclusivity all fee-paying schools should have their charity tax-breaks revoked.
ide a service which is of public benefit.
o this public benefit is not unduly restric-
organizations must not be exclusively
ely those wealthy enough to afford high
ttish private schools had their charitable
ese grounds. Hutcheson’s Grammar in
hich was told that access to its services
n violation of the Charity Act’s require-
d only 49 bursaries out of a school roll
n worse – only 3 pupils benefited from
unting to a grand total of 0.5% of the
the charitable credentials of these insti-
chool which offers less than 1% of its
could be subject to charity-tax breaks
actice, schools such as St. Leonards and
admission procedures, whereby the poor
n any of the benefits a private education
hese exclusionary practices can provide
s’ case. He said, “historically, charitable
recognised charitable purpose - relief of
d so on… the public rightly gets irritated
laries, or charities spending too much of
n fund-raising campaigns. [This is] why
d to learn that Eton and Fettes and other
us.”
EIS (Scotland’s teaching union), has
private schools currently enjoy. Speaking
ime when state schools in Glasgow are
lly repugnant that private schools have
that Hutcheson’s Grammar School was
ildren.”
blishment has responded to such senti-
ts own philanthropic mission. However,
icative of the private sectors’ misunder-
rse the claims of the fee-paying schools’
eate an illusion; a chimera behind which
guardianfeats@src.gla.ac.uk
Jim Wilson
the private sector can pick the pocket of the tax-payer.
One argument commonly advanced by private schools is that they save
the taxpayer large sums of cash by taking children out of the state system.
Judith Sischy, director of the Scottish Council of Independent Schools, said,
“The independent sector educates almost 32,000 pupils, which saves the public
purse an estimated £165 million a year.” They argue that because of this private
schools create public benefit and therefore should retain their charitable status.
This argument is a red herring: the savings the state makes because of private
schooling are not grounds upon which charitable status can be granted. Stephen
Maxwell explains, “Charities can only spend money on purposes recognised
in law as charitable. Saving the Treasury money is not a recognised charitable
purpose.” The various groups that do defend the interests of private schools on
these grounds should be well aware of this fact. That they continue to peddle
this as a defence demonstrates their willingness to acquiesce in half-truths and
rhetorical gambits in order to secure the valuable tax-breaks that charitable
status entails.
Dr Michael Carslaw, the headmaster of St. Leonards School, has claimed,
“It is disappointing that providing a high quality of education is, in itself, not
judged to have sufficient public benefit.” One of the provisions of the Charity
Act does indeed define the pursuit of education as a charitable enterprise but,
as mentioned above, access to this service must not be unduly restrictive. If
charging fees of £23,346 for senior boarding places and £9,807 for day places
"At a time when state schools in Glasgow are fac-
ing deep cuts in budgets, it is morally repugnant
that private schools have charitable status."
does not constitute unduly restrictive practice (when the average national
household income stands at below £30,000) then it is not clear what does.
It would seem that St. Leonards in fact esteems the virtues of militarism and
martial authority over expanding its admissions base to the socially disadvan-
taged. The school handed-out £54,471 last year to eleven sets of parents who
were employed by the Armed Forces. The allocations of these bursaries were
not means-tested and were therefore allotted irrespective of financial need. The
headmaster claims that his school has “taken great strides in increasing access
to a top quality education. We have a successful assisted places scheme for boys
and girls who would benefit from a St Leonards education and whose parents
are unable to afford the fees. It is disappointing that this was not recognised as
adequate by OSCR.” As established by the OSCR report, however, this means-
FEATURES 9
Courtesy of St Leonards School
tested scheme benefited a sum total of three pupils. To claim that this level of
means-tested help represents a ‘great stride’ in St Leonard’s commitment to
social mobility is as ridiculous as it is disingenuous.
The four Scottish schools that have had their charitable status challenged
have fallen spectacularly short of the requirements set by OSCR. They have
failed to mitigate the effects of their restrictively high fees. They have failed
to demonstrate public benefit. They have failed to secure places for those at
the bottom of the society. In addition to these shortcomings, there is a broader
truth about the system of private education which should not be overlooked. It
is a truth that can be witnessed across society: throughout business organiza-
tions, within financial elites, inside the civil service, the government, across
the epicentres of political power, throughout the judiciary and indeed within
our very own university. All traditional sources of influence and power within
our society are disproportionately populated by, and represent the interests of,
a moneyed-class. It is no coincidence that nearly half of those holding govern-
ment or shadow ministerial roles were educated privately; or that over 70% of
Scotland’s judges were educated in the independent sector; or that within the
leading 100 media outlets, 52% of the top jobs were occupied by ex-public
school boys.
OSCR has set a precedent for passing the ‘charity test’ by recognizing
certain other private schools’ charitable status. George Heriot’s in Edinburgh
and Gordonstoun – the former abode of our honourable head-of-state-in-
waiting Prince Charles – both passed whilst offering approximately 10% of
their incomes in means-tested benefit. This level is far too low. As Stephen
Maxwell argues, it is implausible to claim that an organization that offers 90%
of its services to the affluent shows due concern for those who need help the
most. Rather, he urges that institutions should be dedicating approximately 90%
towards the needy in order to receive charitable tax breaks. He said, “Today
the public understanding of charity remains that a charity should be dedicated
to a general public benefit – i.e. a benefit to which everyone has access - or to
meeting the needs of people who are disadvantaged - by illness, poverty, poor
housing, etc.” Mr. Maxwell continued, “If The Charities Act were properly
applied, this would result in most fee-paying schools losing their charitable
status.”
The current system of private education segregates society along the lines
of ‘ability-to-pay’. Consequently, it perpetuates inequality and consolidates
political power in the hands of a moneyed-elite. In Scotland, the first step we
can take towards addressing this injustice is to revoke the charitable status of
all fee-paying schools.
10 FEATURES
Diary of a dairy queen
A
Our resident carnivore, Michelle Williams, goes herbivore for a week to investigate veganism
s a self-confessed dairy addict and staunch carni-
vore, I have always harboured a niggling fear
that my meat-eating lifestyle might not stand up
to my own scrutiny, and have always chosen not
to look too closely, lest I scupper my taste buds with pesky
morals. With this in mind, it was with some trepidation that
I cast my habits aside to embark upon a soul searching week
of veganism, discovering along the way how such a diet fits
in with a student’s life of limited funds, bad habits and lack
of routine. For the benefit of the unenlightened, a good vegan
will not eat, wear, or consume any products that take advan-
tage of the death of an animal in any way at all.
Day 1 — The week begins at my parents’ house, and with a
resounding lack of support. My mum – unfamiliar with vegan
practices – asks if I can eat fish, whilst my brother responds
to my offer of a soya milk taster by telling me that he’d rather
dehydrate to death thank you very much. To my dismay, I
realise that I only have a pair of leather shoes with me, and
am concerned that I’m going to have to wear wellies on the
train until I dig out an ancient pair of sequinned pumps. The
train back to Glasgow offers a dismal culinary choice given
my new requirements, so I rely on my homemade vegetable
and hummus sandwich.
Day 2 — I set out to find something tasty for lunch, and
spend some time perusing Jordan Valley products in Roots
and Fruits. I almost give up after rejecting a “sea cake” made
from “vegetables of the sea”, and find myself craving foods
I would never ordinarily consider, purely because they’re
off limits. Then I must endure a torturous walk past Greggs
on my way home. So far, inexperience means that hunger
is dominating my day, and I find my concentration and
memory noticeably affected in class. Later that night, in a fit
of hypochondria, I’m positive that I’m suffering dairy with-
drawal headaches and quite possibly the onset of a vitamin
B12 deficiency – my flatmates tell me to pipe down and stop
being so melodramatic.
Day 3 — We spend a long afternoon in local supermarkets
searching for available substitutes to our normal shopping
list, the majority of which is now out of bounds. Half an hour
in Somerfield yields a packet of biscuits, a pot noodle and
guardianfeats@src.gla.ac.uk
cereal bars that we later discover contain honey. Mainstream
shopping is clearly not to be relied upon, and we settle upon
Linda McCartney sausages with soya mash for dinner. The
lack of choice available to vegans in an area as diverse as
the West End surprises me, and I begin to appreciate the
expense involved in stocking a vegan cupboard from delica-
tessens. Today is world vegetarian day, offering a wealth of
eye opening material on the Internet. I’m shocked to learn
the world’s livestock population generate 18% of the earth’s
greenhouse gas emissions, with world transport contributing
a relative 13%; a fact not reflected in the respective media
attention paid to each issue. According to The Vegan Society,
animal product based diets also contribute to the over-
exploitation of limited fresh water resources, with animal
farming diverting grain, cereals and water away from the
most undernourished populations of the world toward meat
exports for Western nations. These facts are tough for any
carnivore to digest.
Day 4 — Midweek, and sick of the sight of my solitary pair
of vegan friendly shoes, I crack under the pressure and dash
to Primark for something that probably violates a multitude
of human rights issues. Joining friends for lunch in a sushi
restaurant, I find far more options than I would be faced with
in most regular restaurants. Even so, I find myself longing
for the fish on my companions’ plates – although my actions
have altered for the week, my tastes are still as I left them.
As someone who enjoys most foods, I assumed that I would
be happy indulging in the vegan and vegetarian dishes that I
already love, but come to realise that what I enjoy above all
else is free choice and variation, and I’m struggling to adjust
in the face of restrictions.
Day 5 — A trip to vegan café The 78 comes as pleasant
respite from having to pick over menus and send enquiries
to the kitchen. We enjoy a delicious lunch from a varied
menu without getting any obtrusive feeling of being in a
vegan establishment. As the university Vegan Society point
out, venues like The 78 and Mono are popular locations
for everyone, not just vegans, and their menus sit incon-
spicuously behind the character of the place. The univer-
sity’s society have been notably active in promoting vegan
provisions across campus, and have helped the Hospitality
11th November 2008
Courtesy of Vegetarian Society
Services to be the first university catering service to achieve
accreditation from the UK Vegan Society. Tonight I opt for a
liquid dinner rather than attempting food, only to learn that
many wines are not only not vegan, but not even vegetarian.
Egg whites, gelatin and even fish bladders can be used as
‘fining agents’ in the production of wine, I turn a blind eye
for now.
Day 6 — My regular enthusiasm for cooking has waned,
and I feel drastically low on ideas. I speak to a vegan friend
to investigate whether she genuinely prefers non-animal
products, or whether her tastes are inextricably linked with
principles. Having grown up in a farming family, she tells
me that the reality that not all farms were like the ones she
had known as a child left her disillusioned with modern large
scale agriculture, and she gradually phased animal products
out of her diet. She believes this to be more nutritionally
sound, citing biological reasons why our bodies seem not to
be adapted for regular meat consumption. Touching upon an
issue that has plagued me throughout the week, she explained
that she finds consuming dairy hypocritical after excluding
meat from your diet, as the industries are so linked. Given the
apparently endemic exploitation of animals present in dairy
farming, I had begun to wonder whether vegetarians draw the
line before dairy products due to matters of convenience, or
lack of information?
Day 7 — As the week draws to a close, I reflect on how
my experience will alter my behaviour beyond this experi-
ment. Certainly, I have uncovered information that I cannot
ignore, and wonder whether I might be morally bankrupt for
not feeling obliged to convert to veganism given what I now
know. Most of the obstacles I have encountered as a vegan
would disappear with time and experience, and despite the
dreams I had last night about huge steaks, my craving for
carving would no doubt fade. Although I don’t currently feel
compelled to make a total switch, I am inclined to follow UN
recommendations to live at least one meat free day each week
in an effort to tackle climate change. I have learned that in
choosing to continue eating meat, I must be honest about my
choices, as it is no longer seems acceptable to plead necessity
in the consumption of animal products. I must now admit that
I eat meat because I want to, not because I need to.
11th November 2008
The BNP: Whether to laugh or cry?
Autodidakt
>>James Foley
E T
veryone needs to understand four things about the
British National Party (BNP).
Firstly, the BNP is a Nazi organisation. It was
formed from the rump of the National Front (NF), the main
fascist organisation of the late ‘70s, after the NF was splin-
tered by concerted action by anti-fascist organisations like
the Anti-Nazi League (ANL). John Tyndal, the founder of the
BNP, admitted that “Mein Kampf is my bible”. He acknowl-
edged that the BNP would have to disguise its Nazi affilia-
tions until conditions for the far-right improved: “Many who
feel that Hitler was right do not believe it is safe yet to state
such views openly – but times will change.”
Nick Griffin, who replaced Tyndal as BNP leader, has
been convicted for incitement to racial hatred and denying
the Holocaust. During his trial, he said of the Holocaust, “I
have reached the conclusion that the ‘extermination’ tale is a
mixture of Allied wartime propaganda, extremely profitable
lie, and latter day witch-hysteria.”
Secondly, fascism is different from other forms of racism:
it gains strength from the ability to organise on the street and
recruit a mass base among the hopeless and disenchanted.
Ordinary people had to fight our rulers for years to be
allowed to publically criticise the powerful, vote in elections,
and organise trade unions. This is the meaning of working
class democracy; the real historical content of “free speech”
is not the empty, abstract idea that you can say what you
want to who you want, but the concrete ability to criticise our
rulers without fear of physical intimidation.
Wherever fascists have been allowed to organise, they
always physically attack democratic institutions. Fascists
battle for the right to control the streets. That is what makes
Glasgow University
Vacancy — Head of Advertising
Glasgow University Guardian, Scotland’s top student newspaper, is currently
looking for a Head of Advertising.
If you have aspirations of getting into marketing or PR after university, then
Guardian wants you - the position involves sourcing advertising for each issue of
the paper, which is a vital role at the publication.
To apply, please contact the editors directly:
Tel: 0141 341 6215
Email: guardian@src.gla.ac.uk
guardianfeats@src.gla.ac.uk
them different: they want to physically liquidate our demo-
cratic spaces.
Thirdly, an “enlightened citizenry” will not stop the spread
of fascism. The most enlightened working class of the 1930s
could not stop Hitler coming to power in Germany. Divisions
between Social Democrats and Communists (who, under
the influence of Stalin, ineptly branded reformists as “social
fascists”) together with the weakness of Germany’s rulers
allowed Hitler to walk into power by invitation. Fascism
uses physical intimidation to stake its right to a monopoly of
“on the street” organisation and quickly mushrooms during a
crisis if it is not resisted.
Italy is a recent example of what happens when fascists
gain momentum. The far-right Northern League, part of
Silvio Berlusconi’s coalition government, has launched
a campaign against “illegal immigration” directed at the
Roma gypsy population. Berlusconi’s government declared
a national state of emergency and are introducing a finger-
printing and racial profiling policy against the Roma popula-
tion. Roma camps have been torched by Northern League
fanatics with no legal reprisals.
Lastly, the only worthwhile “rights” are the rights you
can defend. The ruling class did not hand ordinary people
the right to publically express their political opinions because
they thought it was a nice thing to do. Ordinary people fought
for their rights, and more often than not we have to fight to
defend them.
If we value the right to free expression, we need to
smash fascist organisation. Fascists use political violence to
monopolise political speech.
Don’t be confused by the common notion that fascists
will “make themselves look ridiculous” if they are allowed
to address a crowd. Even if only one in a hundred people are
captured by the fascist message, extending that minority the
right to organise lets them spread their message. The more
they do so, the more they will make it difficult for anti-racist
political strands to have a say.
We need political unity to combat the Nazi menace. Most
people agree that anti-racism is desirable. However, that is
not enough. Liberals, socialists, anarchists, and everyone else
must unite to smash fascists off the street.
Scottish Student Newspaper of the Year
DEBATE 11
Orthodoxy
>>Aidan Cook
he BNP bill it as “the month where you can be proud
to be White”. I see it more as a month of light enter-
tainment at the BNP’s expense. They are forcefully
trying to create a specifically white culture which does not
exist. No one is going to see their posters, realise that Nelson
was white (Vice Admiral of the White to be precise, but that’s
another story), and suddenly feel so proud to be white too.
After all, what about Napoleon? Wasn't he white as well? Are
we meant to feel proud about white men fighting each other?
There is little to be proud of in history that happened specifi-
cally because someone was white.
So while White History Month is not offensive, it is
laughable. The BNP are most dangerous when taken too seri-
ously. If the average student accepts White History Month
unquestioningly then there is more wrong with the education
system than anyone realised. The BNP’s stated aim is to
"White History Month leaves the BNP looking
like a spoilt brat who has seen another child
with a fancy toy and wants one too."
gain support and recognition. In that they will fail. The best
they can hope for will be the grudging acknowledgement of
students who think that Black History Month is also a ridicu-
lous concept—in other words, not from people who think
that White History Month is a good thing but from people
who think that Black History Month is not.
The greatest danger comes not from the BNP’s promo-
tion of the idea but from others who would make the idea
seem reasonable. As the BNP’s initiative is in response to
Black History Month, then it would appear that part of the
responsibility could lie in that direction. This is not a reflec-
tion on the value of Black History Month per se but on the
need to weigh up both the negative as well as the positive
outcomes. If it ferments a division between black and white
then it would seem appropriate to question its overall value.
If such propaganda as that put out by the BNP is enough
to sway the minds of the vulnerable, then it is not down to its
own merits but because we are not strong enough in standing
up to it. While they should not be taken seriously, they must
be dealt with seriously. We do not need to ban what is wrong,
merely to proclaim what is right. When a society sees all
views as equally valid, then the danger of misinformation
thrives. The only way for a view not to be valid would be
for it not to be expressed, and for it therefore to be banned.
Indeed, to misquote a misquote, all that is necessary for the
triumph of evil is for there to be no good.
So should the BNP be allowed to air their views on
campus? Only in so much as any other group is. There should
be no official recognition or support. They should not be
given any official platform by the university because that
is an honour to be bestowed only on those who deserve it.
There should be a countering of their views, and we should
let them, and others, know what we think.
White History Month leaves the BNP looking like a spoilt
brat who has seen another child with a fancy toy and wants
one too. So let them whinge and wail as much as they like.
It will be good for them. We just need to make sure that
other people realise just how childish they are being. By
even trying to be taken seriously on this, they have come out
looking even more foolish. And I can see little harm in that.
12 EDITORIAL guardian@src.gla.ac.uk 11th November 2008
Glasgow University John McIntyre Building
University Avenue
Glasgow G12 8QQ

T: 0141 341 6215

E: guardian@src.gla.ac.uk
www.glasgowguardian.co.uk www.glasgowguardian.co.uk

Losing the landlord lottery United States of whatever

It is so often the case that International
Students lose out in complications with their
accommodation; for one thing they are not
familiar with British law, and can be easily
misled; secondly, any savvy landlord will know
that these students will have to return to their
home countries in a matter of months, and
often will be unable to pursue any sort of legal
action.
Students in general are vulnerable to being
ripped off by a whole selection of businesses.
Most do not have the time or means to take
action and many lack confidence in their own
legal standings; if told they haven't a legitimate
leg to stand on then many will believe it. The
situation is worsened by ill-informed advice
being issued by quasi-knowledgeable friends,
such as witholding final rent payments as a
casual method of forcing action from a landlord
(something that should not be considered in all
but the most dire situations).
This is where the Advice Centre comes
into play; it should be the first port of call for
students encountering legal difficulties.
What you can read in these pages is only the
tip of the iceberg - the deposit story is the fourth
accommodation issue we have chased this
week alone. The problem of bent landlords and
letting agents is widespread, and worryingly
common in Glasgow. However, it is usually
very difficult to prove that any actual crime
has been committed, therefore very difficult to
legitimately expose these crimes in print.
A number of these scams exploit loopholes
in the law: as there is no protection scheme for
tenancy deposits, the law is on the agents' side.
A letting agent can, for example, change its
name, therefore becoming a different company,
but remain registered to the same address and
offering the same flats. In this instance any
deposits they have decided to hold on to can be
kept, because they are a different business to
the one that first took the deposit.
Guardian believes accommodation to be an
important issue to students, and as such, expect
to see it feature again within these pages.
While it may seem slightly self-indulgent to
be writing an editorial based on the election
process of another country, in a student news-
paper, the momentous events in the United
States that have taken place over the last week
certainly merit mention within the pages of
Guardian.
The US has spent the last eight years
blundering along under the embarrassment of
having George W. Bush as their representative
to the world – a man whose two terms have
seen a $236 billion Federal budget surplus
wither into a $454.8 billion deficit, a man who
has led a country into arguably the most unpop-
ular war since Vietnam, a man who continually,
bafflingly, makes an absolute ass of himself on
the international stage.
In the early hours of last Thursday morning,
the world watched Barack Obama tell thou-
sands of supporters in person, and millions
more around the world, about his vision for
change; his response to whether he and the
American people could accomplish it echoed
around Chicago’s Grant Park – “Yes we can.”
The question now seems to be how he
can accomplish this – speaking figuratively,
Obama has arrived at the end of an eight year
house party, and will have to spend a great deal
of time clearing up the mess left by his pred-
ecessor and company, before he can even begin
to make truly sweeping changes.
Indeed, with the US and the UK currently
sitting on interest rates of 1% and 3% respec-
tively, governments bailing out various finan-
cial institutions, and companies like General
Motors struggling wildly with the current finan-
cial climate, who knows what further develop-
ments lie in store for the banking system before
he takes office on January 20th next year.
While Barack Obama may well prove to be
the best thing that has happened to the United
States of America in the last decade, he now
has to prove that his charisma and rhetoric can
be converted into a term of improvement and,
as he has so frequently promised, real change
for the US.

Glasgow Remembers - The Officer Training Corps take part in the Remembrance Sunday parade
11th November 2008
To the Editors…
Dear Editors,
I disagree with Aidan [See 'Debate,' Guardian
Issue 1, 2008]. It is disgraceful that for years
students have been told by the government that
their isn’t enough money to pay for their grants
and fees, but when bankers are owed and owe
gargantuan amounts of money through embez-
zled investments and reckless behaviour, as
well as the current wars around the globe, the
government has a bottomless pit of taxpayers
money to flash in our faces.
This in mind, the offer to students that they
will get £35 for a day under the OTC, then I can
see why some people join. In fact I don’t blame
them for it, and I certainly don’t hate them for
trying to get some money to pay their way. I
am from a military family. My father was in
the TA, my sister is currently in Iraq. The view
“that we are proud of our troops, that the mili-
tary is honourable” is horse crap.
My Dad joined because he had a newborn
child and wouldn’t mind the cash provided by
the part time service. My sister a similar deci-
sion based on economic difficulty and more
unsettling, boredom.. In fact I was in the army
cadets and the scouts when I young, an attempt
made by my mum to keep me from trouble, and
everything was geared around being aggressive
and militaristic against anything challenging
Royal Britannia.
Following this I went to a TA induction
weekend when I was 16. I never thought I
would end up at Glasgow university with the
GCSE‘S I got, which to my pleasure, must
annoy the many private schooled kids who sit
in my lectures doing the same degree as this
working class Neanderthal. Saying all this, I
can't deny I had fun in the bullet free adventure
environment.
My point is that, I agree with James Foley.
.It is easy for Aidan to say he is proud of the
troops,. but he is in no way expressing the
same proud feeling I am. Proud of a genera-
tion of people including my father and sister,
who needed work and did what they could to
provide for their families across the sea.
Do you really think there are droves of
people queuing up to a “Kitchener like call“
these days? When certain Tory and Labour
advocates say they are proud, I agree they are.
However they are proud of the fact they will
never have to make the same sacrifice because
daddy is paying their jobs and futures are
secure. They are proud that they don’t have to
get their hands unwashed and that someone is
doing the dirty work for them.
From
Stacey McMullen
Student, Glasgow University
The Glasgow University Guardian welcomes
all comments, thoughts and criticisms — please
feel free to contact us with your letters to the
editor, a selection are published every issue.
guardian@src.gla.ac.uk LETTERS 13
guardian
Glasgow University
22nd October 2008 Scottish Student Newspaper of the Year
Burn, baby, burn Horses for courses
Lewis Porteous reviews the latest Declan McKay speaks to Foals' Zoe Grams
frontman, Yannis Pilippakis
offering from the Coen Brothers
NHS block
Film Music
You have 3 days to finish writing, editing
Photo: Jim Wilson
and designing a 24-page paper, and 5 out of
6 computers in your office aren’t working.
on new Hub
You’re going to need someone who under-
stands cables, computers, servers and talk that
wouldn’t sound out of place in a Star Trek
pharmacy
episode to solve the problem.
Or, you’re about to run one of the most
successful club nights at the Art School in
months which will sell out hours before it
Unanimous rejection for health centre proposal
starts. You’re relying on DJs, designers, PR
teams and event organisers to make the night
SRC expresses disappointment at panel ruling
a success.
PLANS TO INTRODUCE A George Binning pharmacist and saw how valu- Since you’re reading this paper, Guardian
pharmacy in the refurbished able a pharmacy was, espe-
Hub have been blocked by Boots pharmaceutical chain, cially in its capacity to devote clearly managed to solve their IT problems
the NHS Pharmacy Practice admitted that the subject of the extra time and resources to the
Committee (PPC) in the inter-
ests of local competition.
boundaries had been the topic
of some debate.
needs of students.
“I believe the proposal
with the help of some knowledgeable people.
Neeraj Salwan, co-owner
of Apple Pharmacy, submitted
Mr Salwan said: “I’m
going to go back for another
will improve existing pharma-
ceutical services rather than
You may have gone to Subcity Radio’s recent
the application for a pharmacy
to a panel consisting of the
look, in past cases the local
‘neighbourhood’ has often
detract from their business.
In Glasgow there seems to be
Halloween clubnight. These examples don’t
PPC and the representatives
of the pharmacies in the local
been hard to define.
“The issue is compli-
a gap in the market for this
specialised sort of service.”
just show the resilience and skill of the student
vicinity, referred to as the
‘interested parties’.
cated by the fact that there are
students coming onto campus
Charles Tait, representing
the Boots pharmacy chain,
media, though. To a great extent they help to
The objective of the
meeting was to “determine
everyday from many different
neighbourhoods.”
disagreed, saying that the
location of Stirling campus explain what the SRC is all about.
whether the granting of the
application was necessary
Mr Tait also said: “There
is always a dispute over the
differed significantly from that
of Glasgow, arguing: A lot of students don’t know what the SRC
Look before you leap: abseilers raise record funds for charity
or desirable to secure the
adequate provision of phar-
boundaries of the local neigh-
bourhood, but it is the prerog-
“The site of the Hub’s
pharmacy is in a distinct cate- Page 3 >>i is. It can seem like an organisation that exists
Energy costs GUU jobs in a different sphere to your own experiences,
maceutical services in the ative of the Pharmaceutical gory to Stirling’s on-campus
neighbourhood”. The panel Practice Committee to decide pharmacy. The difference
and involves people with different interests,
concluded that the application on this matter.” being that the Hub is in the
was neither and voted unani- Prior to the meeting, the middle of a major city, and its
priorities and skills to you. But regardless of
mously against it. committee visited Stirling impact on the neighbourhood News Staff GUU this year is managing our rising utilities
It was decided that the University’s on-campus phar- would be greater.” costs. The cost of oil and electricity has sky
the often political nature of the SRC – that
Boots on Byers Road and the macy, a site which which A range of student specific THE GLASGOW UNIVERSITY UNION rocketed, and with such a large building and
Andrew Hand Pharmacy on Mr Salwan advocated as a services was suggested in the (GUU) has been forced to lay off a number of inefficient old oil boiler, we are losing a lot
Dumbarton road were the two perfect test case for the Hub application. Mr Salwan put employees as a result of the rising cost of fuel. of money. We are currently working with the
pharmacies situated inside proposals. forward suggestions including Chris Birrell, president of the GUU, told University in addressing these problems.” is, the way it works for change that benefits
the boundaries of the local “It is impossible to deny the a travel clinic boasting a wide Guardian that the union was losing a lot of Birrell confirmed that there had been
neighbourhood. Both Mr
Salwan, ‘the Applicant’, and
good service that the Stirling
Campus pharmacy provides
range of vaccines and a sexual
health clinic with Chlamydia
money on utility bills and facing another year
of financial hardship as a result:
cutbacks in staff, but was unwilling to expand
upon the particulars of the matter.
students within the University and the nation
Mr Charles Tait, representing to students. We spoke to the (continued on page 2) He said: “The major problem facing the (continued on page 4) – it is, in fact, simply a group of people –
students and staff – with a huge range of
Editors: George Binning & Film Editors: Emily McQueen- Contributors: Sarah Smith, skills between them, all working to improve
James Porteous Govan, Lewis Porteous Ishbell Begg, Scott Lavery, Laura students’ experiences at Glasgow.
Features Editors: Tara Hepburn Lifestyle Editors: Michelle Humphreys, Jamie Maxwell,
We’ve just trained over 400 people to
& Pete Ramand Williams & David Kirkpatrick Frank Lazarski, Louise Ogden,
Sports Editor: Suzi Higton Photographers: Stefan Sealey, Isabella Poppius, Benzo Harris, be student representatives: the students can
InSight & Arts Editor: Tom Al Taylor Ellie Gallagher, Catriona Reilly, go to if there’s something in your course,
Bonnick Columnists: Aidan Cook, James Harry Tattersall Smith, Nicole department or faculty that you’d like to see
Picture Editor: Jim Wilson Foley, Laura Doherty, Harry Wilson, Marc Jennings, Rudi changed. They have regular meetings with
Music Editor: Gerry McKeever Akehurst Zygadlo, Sanne Stienstra
University staff to ensure that your degree
The Glasgow University Guardian is editorially independent of the SRC and University. All
represents what you want it to, to the best
complaints should be adressed to the editors, who can be reached via the above contact details.
of their abilities. We have over 80 clubs and
societies affiliated to the SRC, each with their
Glasgow University Guardian is funded through and supported own meetings, quizzes, parties and ideas. And
by the Glasgow University Students' Representitive Council
let’s not forget Council, made up of 37 people
meeting a couple of times each term to address
the big issues that you tell us about.
Dear Sirs, energy costs have risen in line with the rest of In total, that’s over 1000 people in total
the world, and that their boiler is old. Hardly helping to give you the best 4 years at
I am writing to complain about your front page surprising, hardly even news. Had you got hold Glasgow you can have. With student reps,
article 'Energy Costs GUU Jobs', a terrific head- of the relevant information you could have designers, IT guys, PR teams, writers, and
line but followed through like a wet fart. written an interesting and positive piece on the campaigners, the SRC really is the sum of its
There was not a shred of specific detail streamlining of Union expenditure, as it was, parts. Take advantage of what the SRC can
throughout the entire article, not even a vague boring. Why must Guardian be permanently offer you, or better still, get involved. The
idea of the number of jobs that had been cut. nit picking at the GUU? What is wrong with only agenda you need is to want to make some
While it is clear from the article that the GUU them? What is wrong with you? What is so positive change at University. You can do this
are hardly forthcoming with information, it great about the QMU? by running for council, or becoming a student
seemed pointless to write the article at all. I rep, or simply by joining a club or society
came away absolutely none the wiser, except Yours, you’re interested in, listening to Subcity, or
with the fresh bit of trivia that the GUU's Grant Wishart voicing your opinions.
14 SPORT
Hamilton Hysteria
>> Suzi Higton
You had to feel for Felipe Massa a couple
of weekends ago. The Ferrari pit crew were
leaping up and down in excitement for the fve
seconds they thought their man had sealed the
world championship, only for the Brazilian's
arch rival to snatch it from under his nose.
Judging from the high pitched squealings
of euphoria and consequent reeling off of all
the previous British champions, in the post
race commentary by ITV's Martin Brundle and
James Allen, it is apparant that nationality is a
huge bandwagon on which the media readily
jump. We backed David Coulthard and practi-
cally had a street party whenever he won a
grand prix. To his credit, he was one of few
competitive British drivers of recent times,
aside from Damon Hill, who after winning the
championship once in 1996, practically faded
into obscurity, racing for teams boasting the
previous year's clapped out Ferrari engine.
With the conspiracy theorists and the racists
who have all made their voices heard after
Hamilton being crowned champion in Brazil,
it all overshadows his sublime talent; the
rookie showing spectacular driving ability,
most notably at the British and Monaco GPs..
All we need to do now is see if Hamilton
can keep up the form against Massa, who will
GUSA host 50/50 fundraiser
no doubt be hungry for revenge in 2009.
Nicole Wilson
STUDENTS recently participated in GUSA's
now annual 50/50 fundraiser over the course of
three days for charity, resulting in a weekend
exhibition of perseverance, pain and personal
achievement.
The GUSA event saw over 20 students
completing 50 miles in just 50 hours across
Glasgow’s west end. Participants had to run,
walk (or crawl) one mile every hour between
6pm on October 24th and 7pm on the 26th in
aid of their selected good cause, Children 1st
- one of Scotland's leading charities.
Using the Glasgow University Union
(GUU) as base camp, students came furnished
with supplies and enthusiasm ahead of a chal-
lenge which tested their strength, endurance
and their emotions.
The initial support for the programme, led
by GUSA Charities and Outreach Convenor,
Kate Mackie, was good: “At first people were
curious about what the event entailed and were
eager to get involved.
“The prospect of running 50 miles is
however slightly daunting and can prove to be
uncomfortable if people are not familiar with it.
We had to encourage a few people to try it and
Shooting hoops for victory
guardiansport@src.gla.ac.uk
Harry Tattersall Smith
Glasgow University Women's Basketball team
outfought and out-thought an aerially superior
Queen Margaret University side (QMU) in a
crushing display, as they ruthlessly dismantled
their Edinburgh rivals 72-25 in a performance
that sent out a message of clear intent to their
league opposition.
Noe ‘the pocket rocket’ Llamas, one of
Glasgow’s most prolific players, orchestrated
proceedings with a display of such vivid
creativity and energy that it gave the sparse
crowd something to cheer about on a brutally
cold night at the Kelvin Hall.
Anyone fooled by the Spaniard’s diminu-
tive stature were soon overawed by her tactical
astuteness, as time after time she tore through
the QMU’s disjointed and disheartened defence.
In a virtuoso performance, she top-scored with
20 points, twice hitting from 3 point range, In a
victory she described as a “cheering up match,”
following the gruelling loss to major rivals
Stirling in the league opener.
For all of the QMU’s advantage in the air,
they seemed unable to handle the Glasgow
defensive hustle, and unable to match the
intensity of the home squad's aggressive pres-
sure, as time after time the sheer physicality of
Glasgow’s rear guard saw the visitors squander
promising possession.
The match precedent was set early on
as captain Carlyn Wallis smashed a block in
against the towering figure of QMU’s 6ft plus
point guard. It was an all-round performance
from Wallis, who chipped in with 10 valu-
sometimes make people do it. But overall the
support was great.”
There were five routes that participants
could adopt, each equating to an exact mile.
These were spread across the West End, two of
which trailed through Kelvingrove Park.
The weekend saw a profusion of bad
weather, with rain and wind making the exer-
cise even more arduous than originally antici-
pated. The routes through the park had to be
abandoned due to flooding, and runners had to
Al Taylor
able points, whilst the fierce nature of her
defence saw the QMU reduced to optimisti-
cally shooting from long range in a bid to stem
the black and gold tide.
Whilst the QMU lacked any cutting edge,
Glasgow began with such speed and dynamic
pace that they raced into an early ten point lead.
Sinead McCarthy caused the early damage with
a dizzying array of skills around the hoop.
By the end of the first quarter, illusions of
escaping Kelvin hall with a famous victory
were all but over. Glasgow saw twenty points
go unanswered, whilst it was left for the QMU
to chase the shadows of the far more inventive
outfit.
Stefan Sealey
find inner strength and support from their peers
to continue during the night-time hours:
“Sometimes I felt like I was sleep walking
around the routes. Getting up and putting on
wet clothes was really not enjoyable. The
streets were like a ghost town, reminding me
that everyone else was in bed, apart from us,”
Mackie explained.
Participant Christopher Wilson further
stressed the difficulty of running through the
early hours: “It was torture being woken up in
11th November 2008
Any chances of QMU revival were dashed
by the clinical nature of the University perfor-
mance; attacking with confidence and purpose,
whilst in defence, they restricted an intimi-
dating opposition front line to a meagre nine
points in the first half, as they opened up a
thirty-one point lead by the interval.
One cause for concern was the sloppy nature
of Glasgow’s third quarter, as they very much
took the foot of the gas. By this stage they were
coasting and comfortable, yet the worry must
be that against sterner opposition Glasgow’s
big players cannot afford to go missing. After a
short break and a focus talk from the co-coach,
the effects seemed instantaneous; a team reju-
venated. GU returned with the same vigour and
purpose that had been intrinsic to their first half
dominance. The team quickly stepped through
the gears, producing breath-taking basketball
that blew away their dejected opponents.
With the match sewn up, Llamas took it
upon herself to inject some vibrancy into the
game. It was in this vein that she started to
unveil her catalogue of outlandish trickery,
perhaps most audaciously with a bewildering
pass around the back that saw Morna Hill repay
the compliments with an acrobatic dunk into
the unguarded net.
After the match, Howtoun talked of her
pride in the team's stellar performance, “it
was a brilliant team performance out there
tonight,” she then went on to talk optimistically
about the upcoming league season. “The team
we’ve played tonight won last week against
Strathclyde so really we can’t be in better
shape.”
the middle of the night. I was soaked and cold
and was in desperate need of a shower. It was
definitely the hardest part for me, and the time
where many people wanted to give up. But they
did not.”
The money raised from the event will be
announced on November 10th, but Mackie
estimates that the final amount will be well
over £1000.
In terms of personal achievement however,
the money raised plays an important albeit rela-
tively minor role. The weekend epitomised the
collaboration of people’s personal ambitions
within themselves and it was this inner chal-
lenge that kept most contestants going.
Mackie added: “People found enthusiasm
from very different places. One participant
came straight from work at 4am on Sunday and
ran 26 miles in 15 hours." She added:
“My personal achievement is that I feel
have established the event. Hopefully people
will now recognise the name, 50/50, and know
what it is about so that we can make it an
annual event.
Looking back Mackie added:“I would like
to give my thanks to the GUU for letting us use
their services all weekend . “I’m really glad it’s
over, but here’s to next year!”
Wildcats left licking wounds
11th November 2008 guardiansport@src.gla.ac.uk SPORT 15

Scotland's top flight women's netball team caught napping in Kelvin Hall clash, Marc Jennings reports
The Glasgow Wildcats’ first ever game at the Kelvin Hall
Arena against Northumbria in the Netball Superleague, turned
into disappointment for the escatically vocal crowd after the
resulting 22 – 46 scoreline.
Despite an impressive start for the home side, who count
University of Glasgow as one of their key investors, visitors
Northumbria began to dominate as Glasgow struggled to cope
with their opponents’ advantage, aided by clinical finishing and
concise teamwork. In contrast, Glasgow’s initially stylish play
was counteracted by inaccuracy around the hoop, especially at
the match's most crucial moment.
Northumbria immediately stamped their authority on the
game by scoring twice in the opening minute. By putting the
hosts on edge in front of a full house, the Wildcats were spurred
into action. Intitally blocked by an alert defence, but aided by
gaps in the left wing, the Glasgow squad managed to capitalise
on their steady composure to keep the scores level heading
towards the end of the first quarter.
The home side's strong teamwork, which was apparant
throughout, continued to pay off as any oppositional attack was
quickly broken down. However, this proved to be short-lived, as
the visitors began to settle into their stride, putting Glasgow out
of rhythm. The result was inaccuracy around the hoop and saw
the opportunity to bring themselves back into the game slipping
through their fingers, as the now superior Northumbria began to
score with ease against an increasingly fragile defence.
The second quarter started with the visitors ahead by a
comfortable margin; Glasgow increasingly losing momentum by
committing careless fouls which allowed Northumbria to show
off their long distance shooting ability, and run circles round
their opponents.
Forced onto the back foot constantly, Glasgow’s attack had
to eventually resort to a combination of frantic passing and fruit-
Culture & Sport Glasgow
less long balls in a bid to keep possession. Any successful breach
of the Northumbria defence was in vain as the Wildcats were hood of attaining something from the game decreased with every got so many turnovers we just didn’t convert them and I think
outplayed in every loose ball that was avaliable. missed opportunity. Northumbria continually managed to create we need to have a little more patience with each other and also
By the third quarter, Glasgow only had fleeting glimpses of space and produce spectacularly fluid passing, capitalising on protect each other a little more when we’re passing and things
the ball despite being spurred on by their tireless home support. Glasgow’s now crumbling defence that could do nothing to halt like that. Everybody played really well and worked really
The Wildcat’s lead playmaker, captain Fiona Moore, produced the onslaught of goals in the final quarter. hard.”
some of Glasgow's most promising goal scoring opportunities, The Wildcats valiantly battled on into the final minutes, Moore was also keen to praise the avid support from the
linking up with Gillian Douglas down the left wing to create denying their opponents of the possession they had enjoyed in crowd and hopes the team can improve in their next match at
sporadic chances, but these proved not to be enough to claw previous quarters. Some eleventh hour excellent play from the Bellahouston in a couple of weeks time: "Next game we’re
back the gap that had slowly widened over the course of the Glasgow side closed the gap slightly, much to the delight of the going to play really well in all four quarters, definitely, and I
match. home crowd, but the fight-back came too far into the match, with think as well we need to put on a show for our home crowd. It
The visitors’ physical presence began to become increasingly Northumbria running out comfortable winners. was a great atmosphere today, couldn’t ask for better, they go
apparant as Glasgow struggled to cope with their two towering After the match, club captain Fiona Moore was proud of her with you for every pass and everything, it’s great.”
attackers, who were relentless in their distribution of the ball. team’s efforts. She told Guardian: The Wildcats' next game sees them face the Brunel Hurricanes,

Rugby club tackles national final

Frustration began to grow in the home squad as their likeli- "I don’t think the score reflected how much we tried. We at Bellahouston Sports Centre.

Suzi Higton
Glasgow University Rugby Football Club got their season
campaign off to a strong start, claiming the runners-up spot after
reaching the finals of the St. Hellier Pear Cider National 10’s
competition, held recently in Newcastle.
Despite a shaky start in the group stages against sides from
Newcastle Falcons Academy and Northumbria University, the
home squad began to settle and found early pace against a
competitive Durham side. Glasgow managed to take the initia-
tive, getting points on the board within a minute of kick off, with
first team captain Matthew Horner setting up fresher Robbie
Shedden to score his first try for the club, after a spectacular
forty metre run past the opposing defence. Subsequent tries from
Archibald Millar and Craig Batchelor saw Glasgow impose their
authority on their rivals and put them in good stead for the latter
stages of the competition.
The final group game saw GURFC face Newcastle Intra-
Mural, a highly prolific squad who put Glasgow through their
paces on the pitch.
In a closely fought contest, which saw both teams tied on
fourteen points each going into the dying minutes of the game,
the deadlock was broken by Ian Watkinson, who despite being
intercepted by the opposition prop, managed to quickly recycle
the ball to give Andrew Brown a try under the posts for the
win.
Finishing third in a group of five saw Glasgow qualify for
the plate competition and set up a tie with Newcastle Agrics
in the semi-finals. Despite their opposition’s apparent weight
advantage, and their high profile in the competition, Glasgow
ran riot, the second half seeing the GU side score five successive
tries, with a hat-trick from Kyle Matheson.
The finals saw Glasgow compete against last year’s cup
winners, Cheeky Ladies RFC. A tough first half saw the univer-
sity squad trailing by five points, eventually losing narrowly
12 – 10 at the final whistle. Despite an outrageous schoolboy
dummy from Robbie Shedden, which succeeded in deceiving
the opposition defence, and Alastair Fison’s resulting try, the
fightback proved to be a case of too little, too late.
Following the competition, club captain Ian Watkinson was
pleased with his team’s performance, and was keen to give
praise to the club's newest players: ‘After a troubling start we
came to show our class, we were unfortunate not to win in
the finals. This year we have some real talent coming through
including fresher Robbie Shedden, just to name a few.’
 sport
Inside: Women's basketball team
run riot in BUSC League
guardian
also: Glasgow Wildcats play first
home game at Kelvin Hall 11th November 2008

Hockey club outclassed

Glasgow 0-4 Strathclyde
Suzi Higton

Despite a deserved optimism from GUHC Men’s 2nds,

following their recent resounding 8-1 victory away against
Livingston, the squad failed to equal a highly charged
Strathclyde side who dominated against their league rivals
in their BUSC League fixture.
The hosts kept play level into the first half with effort-
less connectivity down the left wing, making the most of
dummy balls to outwit Strathclyde’s defence. This advantage
however proved to be short lived, with play quickly shifting
to their opponents who began to settle into their stride.
A momentary lapse of concentration in the Glasgow
defence at the twenty-three minute mark allowed their rivals
to slam a shot just wide, with numerous rebound shots going
begging. Glasgow keeper Iain Oliphant played a prolific
role for the hosts, with numerous spectacular saves to keep
the score line within touching distance throughout the first
half. Despite being able frustrate Strathclyde’s attacking
formation during the first twenty minutes, their rivals began
to hammer in bullet shots past an increasingly precarious
defence.
Glasgow’s only scoring opportunity of the match came
minutes from the half time whistle with a free hit ten yards
out from goal; the attacker’s shot scuttling inches past the
keeper and being immediately pounced on by the home
side’s frantic defence, crowding round the ball to force it out
of play and away from their opponents.
Inevitably, the deadlock was eventually broken by
Strathclyde, who capitalised on a poor clearance, giving the
visitors the chance to smash a ferocious shot past the the
helpless keeper, putting the visitors in front at half time.
In the second half Strathclyde continued their dominance
from the outset, with some clumsy defending from Glasgow
resulting in multiple short corners. Despite a couple of
inspired breaks, most notably Andy Nicoll and Rob Johnson
making space for creative passing in the midfield, Strathclyde
relentlessly closed down their rivals and continued to domi-
nate possession as full time approached.
Glasgow’s increasing desperation became apparent in
conceding a careless penalty, after an illegal block saw the
visitors coolly place another past the keeper to render the
game out of reach for the tiring Glasgow squad.
The hosts' inability to recycle free balls in midfield
proved to be their undoing and two further goals sealed
the game for their notably stronger opponents. Despite last
minute pressure for a consolation goal, Glasgow were forced
to admit defeat at the final whistle. Team captain Leo Howes
was optimistic after the match telling Guardian: “It was a
very strong side we were against, so I was pretty pleased. We
could have a marked a little closer and tighter and passed a
James Porteous bit quicker but apart from that I was quite happy.”
 "W" | Black Kids | Hunger | Suddenly Last Summer | Mystery Jets

Pinter Cleans Up
The Caretaker triumphs
at the Citizens Theatre

11/11/08
inSIGHT

Glasgow University
 inSIGHT arts
11/11/08

Pantomime Taking Care of Affairs

The Wizard of Oz Lucy Humphreys is astounded by a new rendition of a Pinter classic

Featuring all the original songs from
the celebrated film, this faithful stage
production promises to be one of the
season's better pantos.
Citizens Theatre
Sat. 29th November - Sat. 3rd January
£9 - £16
Mother Bruce
A typically Tron-like twist on Mother
Goose, about a spider that spins the
golden threads, rather than the goose
who lays the golden eggs. From the
creative team that produced Wullie
Whittington and Eeting Beauty
Tron Theatre
Sat. 29th November – Sun. 4th
January
£7 – £17
T
he Citizen Theatre’s new production of Ha-
rold Pinter’s The Caretaker greets the au-
dience with a single room, a solitary man
and a resounding lack of dialogue. Pinter
belongs to that unique class of writer who exploits
the expectations of the audience through deafen-
ing silence, and ‘The Caretaker’ is no exception,
stripping onlookers of every security one might ex-
pect as a theatre-goer. I became so acutely aware
of this that every breath was suddenly thunderous,
every shuffle truly shattering and every cough be-
came an earthquake. I was a spectator, and Pinter
would not let me forget it.
The play itself is a three-act exploration of the
relationship between three men in 1960’s London.
Two brothers, Mick and Aston, fall into a dysfunc-
tional relationship with the desperate, deceptive
vagrant Davies, rescued by the younger sibling
Aston. Davies proceeds to flirt with the brothers
in turn — in an attempt to gain a bed — whilst
simultaneously picking apart every stitch of his
fabrication with intricate demands. With a range of
comedy and tragedy, the men ultimately reveal an
abundance of their absurd yet depressingly realistic
characters. Through such a finely realised depic-
tion, Pinter has the mesmerising ability to capture
the ugliness in these men to such a degree that it
becomes beautiful.
Credit must be given to Tam Dean Burn, playing
Davies, and Eugene O’Hare as Mick, and both
performers capture the eccentricity of the characters
that makes Pinter so essential to be watched, rather
than read. The whole play could easily turn into a
farce — and perhaps therein lies its brilliance — but
the actors, including Robert Hastie, who completes
the triumvirate as Aston, and director Phillip Breen
create a harmonious balance to provoke each
emotion only as is required. The humour derived
from the obscure nature of the relationship ranges
from the ridicule-, pity- and insecurity-inspired,
emphasising the disconcerting nature of both the
characters and the play as a whole.
Then the interval came — somehow, unbe-
knownst to me, ninety minutes had slipped by. Even
at two and half hours, time feels elusive, thanks to
the intensity of each outburst and every echoing
drop from the leaking roof. The play is minimal but
the effect is devastating: the cold of that London
room sent shivers through my spine, and the

Ballet stench of the homeless Davies practically hovered

under my nose. This new production showcases
not only Pinter’s outstanding writing, but also some
Sleeping Beauty masterful, unbeatable performances.
Richard Campbell At the Citizens Theatre until November 15

Winner of the Critics’ Circle Award

for Outstanding Repertoire, Scottish
Ballet presents Artistic Director Ashley There is a house in New Orleans
Page’s acclaimed take on the classic
fairytale. Beginning in 1830, this Tron offers a startling vision of N'Yahlins in Suddenly Last Summer and Like The Rain, writes Tom Bonnick

unique version of Sleeping Beauty
unfolds over one hundred years and
features Tchaikovsky’s magnificent
score.
Theatre Royal
Sat. 6th – Sat. 27th December
£9 – £27
T
he near-magical list of ingredients that have come together
to form the Tron Theatre's new production of Suddenly Last
Summer — writing by the 20th Century's greatest drama-
tist, Tennessee Williams; direction by Glasgow's finest, Andy
Arnolds; and some association with Glasgay!, who, as their exclama-
tion mark denote, are always fun — meant that reality would almost
certainly not meet my unreasonably inflated expectations.
In fairness, the results came respectably close, but only as evening
became sweet Lady Nighttime and the main event gave way for a
second Williams Play, Like The Rain, did things really kick off. was the gulf between performances.
Suddenly Last Summer is, in many respects, a work that anticipates
may as well be in a wholly separate play to that of the remaining cast.
Jonny Austin and Jill Riddiford are somewhat less convincing as the
gold-digging family members, and at times may as well have been
reading from an autocue for all the commitment they imbue their
parts with — as well as evidently possessing fewer qualms vis-à-vis
resorting to the "Aahm a suuth'nah" drawling trope of Williams'
drama so adroitly avoided by Yuille. By the time the play
reached its gruesome denouement, I found it hard to relate to
the incipient poetry of Williams’ stagecraft, so disconnecting
Incredibly, one short break later and things became

Conversation
the themes of Williams' most lauded and well-known plays, namely A
Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Whilst the story, of
the terrifying, elderly matriarch Mrs Venable and her hell-bent inten-
tion of keeping the details surrounding the death of her son secret,
exponentially — almost unbelievably — better, in Like
The Rain, a collection of three short tableaux. I don’t
know whether it was the glass of wine I had sunk in the
interval, the dark, intimate space of the Tron’s Changing

Kate Adie
The former chief news correspondent
for the BBC gives a talk about her
latest book, Into Danger, a look at
why people voluntarily choose jobs
that could cause them harm.
Glasgow Concert Hall
Mon. 24th November
£4
does not particularly resemble those of any of the playwright's other
works, it is the motifs of female insanity (a subject close to Williams'
heart after his sister underwent a lobotomy) and squabbling,
money-grabbing family members that resonate.
The former of these ideas is depicted outstandingly by
Claire Yuille who, as Catharine Holly, faces the same igno-
minious 'treatment' as Williams' sibling after confronting Mrs
Venable — her aunt — with the details of her cousin's grisly death. Yuille
is moving and sympathetic in her portrayal of Catharine, resisting the
temptation to reduce the role to a Blanche DuBois parody, a fate that
might have befallen lesser performers, and she endows the character
with tenderness, intellect and confusion.
However, along with Morag Stark (Mrs Venable) — who channels the
spirit of Vivien Leigh-cum-Nurse Ratched to great effect — the two players
House, or the insidious power of witchcraft, but the erst-
while unremarkable ensemble returned to deliver a series
of commanding, brilliant vignettes. Any trace of medioc-
rity on Riddiford's part was completely dispelled by her
delicate rendering of a cathouse proprietor in Hello From
Bertha, and Austin's reading of a hillbilly school-dropout
in This Property is Condemned is similarly redemptive.
I came to indulge in an evening of high-camp melo-
drama and stayed to pray. Arnolds has cemented his
reputation as Scotland’s foremost theatrical director, and
whilst Suddenly Last Summer is never less than enter-
taining, in Like The Rain he has produced a sustained
and beautiful drama that entirely does justice to
Williams’ work.

Winter investment
Isabella Poppius argues the case for splashing out on classics this season.
The season to be healthy
Michelle Williams turns her back on organic to reap the benefits of seasonal produce.
T
he arguments in favour of buy-
ing organic are, at present,
still not wholly convincing to
some, myself included. Organic
produce does not necessarily contain
a higher nutrient content than non-
organic, and some critics even suggest
that given the increased farming land
required to compensate for lower or-
ganic yields, such methods could actual-
ly be harmful to ecosystems. The current
trendy status of virtuous organic prod-
ucts allows retailers to demand inflated
prices from bourgeois consumers and
eco-friendly yummy mummies at will.
Alternatively, the benefits of simply
sticking to local, seasonal produce are
unequivocal. Modern farming and trans-
portation methods have made us accus-
tomed to eating any food we please
at any time of year, when in reality, to
maximise the nutritional benefits of
fruit and vegetables, we ought to be
consuming according to season wher-
ever possible. Many vegetables are now
grown year round within the UK, and no
one would be realistically expected to
curb the use of staples such as onions
H
arsh economic conditions of late have forced
most people to think twice before open-
ing their wallets and for an ever increasing
number of savvy fashionistas this ´think be-
fore spending’ attitude is becoming an everyday matter.
Since mid- summer, fashion magazines from American
Elle to British Harper’s Bazaar have been carrying the
torch for new ways of investing a bit more money on a
few key pieces that will last you forever and update your
existing wardrobe rather than spending a bullion on re-
newing your closet with items from the high street.
Instead of buying fad trends from Primark and New
Look, think about what investment piece is going to give
you the best cost-per-wear this season. Safe bets are
muted tones, quality fabrics and classic tailoring. Fine
knits are easy to pair up with anything and John Smedley
has some exquisite fine wool polo necks and sweaters
that will add preppy sophistication to any ensemble.
They will set you back about a £100, but will last you
forever as these styles will not go out of fashion.
A winter jacket is an essential purchase to keep you
warm throughout harsh Scottish winters, and going
vintage is not a bad option. It can be a unique and indi-
vidual way of expressing yourself and it’s ecological at
the same time. If the garment is intact to this day, it’ll
surely last another few decades! Mr. Ben’s is great for
furs (faux and the real thing) and there are a few vintage
shops on Great Western Road that do fabulous leather
jackets. If vintage is not your thing, try investing in a
Barbour jacket. It’ll keep you warm and dry and add to
Barbour your fashion credentials as many a celebrity of late has
and potatoes according to the time of Autumn
year. However, it pays to know what’s in Butternut Squash Broccoli
season and to tailor recipes accordingly. Parsnip Apples
Seasonal produce will be more Blackberries Beetroot
nutritious and flavoursome than forced
hothouse grown alternatives, as crops Winter
are allowed to absorb sunlight and ripen Sprouts Savoy Cabbage
naturally. Out of season fruit and veg Kale Swede
flown in from abroad will suffer in the Pomegranate Pears
chilling and transportation process and
will have been harvested long before
ripeness, stripping its vitamin content.
Many supermarkets now indicate on
their packaging that a product has
been flown in from far flung locations.
Produce sourced locally doesn’t need to
be prepared for long journeys to market,
and so will rely less heavily on irradiation
and use of preservatives. Also, by buying
according to what is currently harvested,
we ought to benefit financially as crops
in a natural seasonal glut will sell more
cheaply.
By taking the following starter guide
on board and employing a bit of imagi-
nation, we can all boost our immune
systems and wallets, easing a little bit of
carbon footprint guilt into the bargain.
inSIGHT
life
been caught sporting one. If you are worried about
comparisons to your Gran, then just remember to
balance the look with a skirt and tights or skinny jeans
“Think about what will give
you the best cost-per-wear”
tucked into boots. Cheapest ones start at an invest-
ment friendly £69.
A great tailored shirt never goes out of style and
Liberty of London has given the good ol’ shirt a fash-
ionable spin in an array of gorgeous retro print styles.
There are 23 sumptuous prints to choose from and
these Italian made shirts will brighten up any outfit
whether you want a hint of art deco or 70’s paisley in
your wardrobe. They come at £75 a pop, which is not
bad considering how much wear you get out of them.
The same £100 you’d spend on three tops from H&M
and a pair of jeans from Topshop that would look
dated the next season could result in a shirt that you
could wear forever, or a fashionable Barbour jacket
that will see through countless winters. Investment
buying minimizes the chances that someone else
will be caught wearing the same thing you are and it
rewards the people who actually put the hard work
into designing their garments rather than high street
labels that essentially steal, copy and recycle the ideas
from them. Acting like a greedy banker who’s searching
for quantity instead of quality isn’t the way to go as
demonstrated by recent events, so get with the best of
us and invest long-term!
Spring
Radish Cauliflower
Rhubarb Asparagus
Jersey Royal Potatoes Rhubarb
Summer
Courgette Raspberries
Spinach Strawberries
Tomatoes French beans
Jim Wilson
3
PA G E
Life is Peachy
>> Laura Doherty
‘Nepotism.’ That, in short, is Jon
Snow’s top tip for breaking into the
media world. It’s briefly succeeded by
hard work and perseverance, but they
are but pawns in the game of bloodline
dominance. This month’s frontrunner for
Snow’s Top Tip to Fast-Track Fame is Mrs
Peaches Honeyblossom Angel Vanessa
Bildungsroman Kerouac Drummey (Nee
Geldof ) who has somehow wheezed
her way through GCSE English, lisped
her way across the Atlantic, and, some-
where in-between getting hitched in
Vegas and staying away from drugs, has
decided she’s like totally into writing
and stuff, y’know, like yeah? Peaches
has landed herself a gig writing columns
for über stylish Nylon magazine, her
position as ‘British Girl in Brooklyn’ corre-
spondent has been met with scathing
reviews by, well, everybody ‑ even I can’t
help but feel sorry for her. Obviously,
until recently, she has been the picture
of demureness and humility; now thrust
into the public sphere she crumbles
under the weight of the societal pres-
sure, and, in the confusion, can only
produce a tangled ball of clichéd images.
It is the literary equivalent of chewing
up volumes of Dickens and ‘On the Road’
with pink bubblegum and proceeding
to vomit the sugary nonsense all over
your birth certificate, (famous father’s
name an obvious advantage.) Some
might conclude she is simply a ‘bad’
writer, I’m not buying it. Bob’s put far
too much of the ‘Rat’s royalties towards
her top-notch education for that to
be the end of it. After much study of
Peaches’ character and a pained dissec-
tion of her writing I’m convinced she has
followed her father’s selfless example
and is offering herself up as a sacrifice
to the British and American nations: she
is going to unite the modern world in
a hatred of Peaches Drummey Geldof.
Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand tried
it, but found the suggestion of actual
talent present in both career’s was a
hinderance to the cause. They needed
fresh blood, someone in the sidelines of
public awareness who still had to justify
the point of their existence. Luckily the
Nations intervened before Peaches could
offer her editors any tangible evidence
that would justify her privileged posi-
tion in the world. Peaches Geldof, a
woman of contradictions, a figure to be
both applauded and reviled in the very
same breath: Peaches Honeyblossom
Mandela Charlotte Angel Nobel Peace
Prize Drummey Geldof - we salute you.
 inSIGHT film
11/11/08
Struck off
>> Tom Bonnick­
H
ere in the always-glamorous world of film
reviewing, the effects of the American writ-
er’s strike are still being felt. Productions
were put on hold, cancelled, or consigned
to Hollywood-purgatory, and the upshot of all these
shenanigans is that there are now fewer films to
criticise. In some cases, however, I can only be thank-
ful. Most perplexing is the prospect of Valkyrie, the
new Tom Cruise epic whose release date has been
mercifully postponed. Presumably made as part of
Cruise's mission to show that he's a really great guy,
not just some crazy Scientologist who thinks he has
mind powers, Valkyrie tells the story of Claus von
Stauffenberg, a name revered in Germany as that of
a national hero, but met with near-unanimous blank
indifference most other places.
Stauffenberg was the man who bravely tried
doing away with troublesome dictator Adolph Hitler
in 1944. I say tried because, as well all know, Hitler
irritatingly survived the attempt on his life and fled
to South America with Emperor Palpatine after the
war. The failure of the plot — problematic in both
a moral and film-narrative sense — will certainly
prove tricky to spin in cinemas: nobody likes to see
the Nazis win, after all. Icebergs, perhaps, and photo-
genic blonde children, certainly, but never fanatic
bigots. However, to my mind the real problem will
not be the destination, but the journey.
For those of you who haven't yet retreated to
Wikipedia, dismayed by the resounding lack of histor-
ical authority that has so far been demonstrated,
allow me to drop a couple of truth bombs. Stauffen-
berg wasn't defeated by the Storm troopers, or even
by the more important looking Imperial Guards who
wore the floor-length red robes, but by — seriously
— an unfortunately well constructed piece of furni-
ture. His carefully planted explosion was deflected
by a table, and thusly did the Fuhrer survive.
So, how will this play out on film? Tradition-
ally — and here comes a message from Captain
Obvious — anybody who holds so integral a role in a
story is endowed with personality, however little, of
some kind. Even when the subject is not truly alive
or human, this can be quite powerfully achieved —
think of Space Odyssey's HAL, or half-man, half-pure
evil Peter Cushing. But a table? At the very least, I
expect it to be draped in swastikas, to make clear
that this is Nazi furniture. Ideally, it should also have
a sinister-looking dark grain veneer, perhaps filmed
from camera angles deep with foreboding, and with
an accompanying ominous soundtrack plagiarised
from a David Lynch film. Or maybe, just maybe, as
this is a Cruise film, and though I hate to generalise,
these do not often err on the side of subtlety, sublim-
inal messages could be inserted at suitable points,
simply reading, “This table is bad!!!”
Whatever happens, the moral of this tale is clear:
we should all exercise our patriotic duty by going
to IKEA en masse, and purchasing poorly designed
office desks, lest this ever happen again.
Everybody's Got A Hungr
Dir: Steve McQueen
On general release now
>> Frank Lazarski
T
his year's Cannes Film Festival saw an un-
precedented display of new British cin-
ema. Along with Terrence Davies' 'Of Time
and The City' and Duane Hopkins' 'Better
Things', 'Hunger' — Steve McQueen's portrayal of the
end days of Irish Republican activist Bobby Sands —
represented a healthy British industry, rich in ideas
and authenticity.
'Hunger' offers little back-story. Other than an
introduction detailing the date and the ongoing
demands of Republican prisoners to be granted
special category status, the audience is afforded
but a sparse and subtle context. It opens with the
morning routine of a prison guard: he soaks his
bloodied knuckles, eats and checks his car. From the
outset, we are presented with a still, exacting realism.
Crumbs bounce on a napkin, snow falls on the
knuckles we just saw soaked. Within these scenes the
narrative progresses gradually, the events occurring
in the vacuum of the prison observed as if through
a microscope. With the entrance of a new prisoner
Davey, played curiously by the rakish Brian Milligan,
the attention turns on the inmates in the midst of the
'Dirty Protest' wherein prisoners famously refused to
slop out and smeared their cell walls with excrement.
There is a fine scene where the camera tracks the the jet black of the prison floor, is the most beautiful Sands, is eloquent and barbaric, his fable offering
hallways — the piss and bile freshly mopped — as of the film. considerable insight into his motivations. The final
Margaret Thatcher denies the Prisoners their desired Half-way through the picture there is a long stretch of the film deals solely with Sands' strike and
Political status in the Commons, her voice imbued stretch of dialogue between Sands and a Priest his resulting death. It is utterly silent, allowing the
with an exacting, lofty prudence. from his old neighbourhood. It represents the ideo- viewer to conclude what he will as to the heroism or
The audience is first introduced to Bobby Sands logical and moral centre of the film, with the Priest moral integrity of the central figure.
before he is brutally 'washed' by the prison guards. attempting to persuade Sands of the ineffectiveness The film deserves praise for a number of reasons.
The violence in these scenes is visceral. When his hair of hunger striking and Sands offering a detailed, It is rooted in a deeply controversial period in recent
and beard is cut by a large pair of fabric scissors and moving monologue in return. McQueen doesn't political history yet refuses to promote a movement.
his head is mashed up against the edge of a bathtub, favour redundant cuts and this scene has been Sands could easily have been portrayed as a martyr-
his pathetic writhing is infectious. The resulting shot, much examined for its reliance on an almost static demigod, railing against a Westminster that could
where Sands' face is cut apart and captured against vantage for twenty minutes. Michael Fassbender, as reasonably have met his demands — or as callous
Easy Virtue Thomas is caustically witty
Dir: Stephan Elliot of her previous outing in
On general release now Colin Firth reveal themselv
neglected aptitude for com
>> Emily McQueen-Govan bitterly cynical and war-sc
E
sympathetically handled a
asy Virtue is an adaptation of an early Noel Coward play; a comedy of The film really comes in
manners providing a droll and witty look into the life of a staid, snob- down between Mrs Whitta
bish and typically English upper class family. We are introduced to the lights being the unintend
central couple; the complex Larita Huntingdon (Jessica Biel), America’s audience member is sure
first female racing driver and her young, boyish husband John Whittaker (Ben irreverent humour compl
Barnes). Their arrival at John’s family home amongst his decidedly odd family in- exhibited from the beginn
stantly puts the cat among the pigeons and the stage is set for the ensuing battle feel like smiling," to which t
of wills between Larita and John’s mother Veronica. The characters are, to som
moral nature, the two you
“Kristin Scott Thomas is caustically witty and at However, this adds to the fi
ease” as to who audiences are to
The largely dialogue-based material and the grand stately homes on display The soundtrack is one
lend the film a definite air of ‘Britishness,’ placing it within an instantly recognis- feels the need to include
able genre that allows for the impeccably constructed comedies of an era gone one gets suspicious. Still,
by to flex their sardonic muscles. The film avoids the trap of becoming a stolid more adaptations of Noel C
vehicle for grand locations and pretty costumes — unlike the recent Brideshead and comedy as there ever
Revisited adaptation — through its use of lovingly crafted characterisation. reinstate audiences’ faith i
The entire cast fulfil their roles with convincing, joyous sincerity. Kristin Scott ties, is a roaring success.

ry Heart
and proud, unrepentant for the loss of life at the
hands of Republicanism.
McQueen's clarity of vision is to be commended.
He has managed to frame great visual beauty within
the historical severity of the 'plot'. The work is remi-
niscent of Terrence Malick's 'The Thin Red Line' — a
sensitive study in the thoughts of soldiers at Guad-
alcanal.
'Hunger' is a film of measured stillness, a beatific
and singularly humane picture. Steve McQueen has
made an important film concerning a critical saga in
British-Irish history.
y and at ease in a role staggeringly different from that
‘I’ve Loved You So Long’. Meanwhile Jessica Biel and
ves possessing hidden talents, unveiling a previously
mic timing and earnestness. The slow awakening of the
carred Colin Firth and the revelation of Larita’s past is
and touching.
nto its own half-way through its run time, as the show-
aker and Larita commences, one of the comedic high-
ded death of the family pet, a creature any discerning
to be willing to die from the beginning. This goofy,
lements the more quintessentially dry British brand
ning of the film, as one of John’s sisters remarks "I don't
the acidic Veronica retorts "You're English dear, fake it."
me extent, mere stereotypes, of a very black-and-white
unger unmarried sisters being delightfully infuriating.
films winning comedic premise and makes no pretence
o cheer.
e of the few things that fails to please. When a director
a 1920s Jazz style rendition of Tom Jones’ Sex Bomb,
mustn’t grumble. Audiences should look forward to
Coward’s excellent work, as fine an alchemist of beauty
was. As it stands, Easy Virtue has the potential to fully
in costume dramas. This film, set in the roaring twen-
W
Dir: Oliver Stone
On general release now
>> Lewis Porteous
H
ating George W. Bush is so cool. In fact,
it's so cool, that the only thing cooler is to
unashamedly support him. I mean, he's no
Reagan but he's still pretty cool. Or maybe
he isn't, I don't know.
Happily, Oliver Stone doesn't seem to know
either, or if he does, refrains from rubbing his opinion
in his audience's face. While one would expect the
director, who has built a career on finger-pointing
and conspiracy-theories, to depict America's forty-
third president in a typically sensationalist fashion,
Stone applies a delicacy and lightness of touch to 'W'
that is curiously missing from much of his output.
A non-linear biopic, the work attempts to trace
and ultimately comprehend Bush's trajectory from
careless, beer-guzzling Harvard Frat-boy to most
powerful man in the world, rather than simply launch
a tired attack on an unpopular, little understood man.
However much he is criticised, it will take time before
fair assessment can be afforded to Dubya's legacy.
Stone is keenly aware of this, and chooses to focus
instead on the improbable, 'simple country boy does
good' narrative arc of his subject's life, a story that, as
the director himself recognises, could be drawn from
the world of Frank Capra. 'Mr Deeds Goes to Iraq,' if
you will
Josh Brolin ably handles the role of an unable
president and, crucially, succeeds in humanising him
before the audience. Playing the part as a handsome,
charismatic good ol' boy, the 'No Country for Old
Men' star's warts and all portrayal paints Bush as the
ultimate 'every man.' Whether seen spraying a mouth
full of chewed hamburger mush onto his future wife
or choking on a pretzel, the character rarely comes
Quantum of Solace
Dir: Marc Forster
On general release now
>> Louise Ogden
F
ollowing the success of 2006’s Casino Royale,
expectations for Quantum of Solace, the 22nd
instalment in the James Bond saga, could not
have been higher. Topping the previous effort
was always destined to be a daunting task and, sadly,
Quantum falls short of the mark. Though the movie’s
narrative follows on directly from its predecessor’s, with
only an hour separating the two, its production is mark-
edly different. The movie is of a dangerously fast pace,
its highly charged action sequences comprising the
majority of its content. Consequently, the dialogue and
quick wit at the centre of so many Bond films is lacking
altogether.
“If you're looking for crazy terrorists with
dreams of world domination, I'm afraid
you'll have to look elsewhere”
Audiences are thrown into the deep-end from the off, and are left
struggling to keep their heads above water as the spurious action
unfolds. Following Bond’s loss of Vesper, his lover from the last film,
he is out for revenge, and appears to have gone off the rails. In spite
of his apparent mentalism, Bond remains loyal to Her Majesty’s Secret
Service, though M (Judi Dench) is not convinced. No longer the rookie
agent, but rather a tired institution fuelled by grief alone, 2008’s Bond is
inSIGHT
5
film
PA G E
across as anything other than honest and thoroughly unsatisfying notion.
unpretentious. Though the film succeeds in portraying Bush as a
Basing the majority of the film on factual accounts human, it fails in providing accurate representations
and audio transcriptions, Stone never goes for cheap of surrounding characters who, in a bid to accen-
laughs, presenting his subject as realistically and true tuate the protagonist’s strengths and weaknesses,
to life as possible. If these meticulous concessions to appear as either demonic or angelic, to the hilt. It’s
reality happen to elicit laughs, then this is proof of debatable, for example, whether or not Bush senior
nothing other than the inherent absurdity of Bush's really was bastion of old-school ethics that we see on
storied life and career. Crucially, he never cared much screen, or whether everything in the world would be
for politics and was never the most eloquent or alright provided George junior chose to heed Colin
learned man. He was a rich kid with a drink problem Powell’s sage advice.
and a chip on his shoulder. For all its timeliness, ‘W’ could never be regarded
At the beginning of 'W,' our hero is seen vowing to as a responsible document of its era. Providing audi-
fellow students that he has no intention of following ences with an eerie sense of escapism, unusual for
in his father's footsteps, seemingly favouring a a biopic, it serves purely as a fascinating document
prospective career in baseball over politics. Eventu- of one man’s extraordinary life, all the while urging
ally, the film can be scene to suggest that George audiences to draw their own conclusions. There is
junior is, in part, driven to involvement in affairs of undoubtedly some good in Bush’s character, whether
state as a means of impressing his father, in whose liberal viewers are comfortable accepting this or
shadow he always seemed likely to live, and to whom not. He may have waged a highly unpopular, illegal
he has been a perennial disappointment. If Stone war and helped disrupt his country’s economy, but
falters in 'W,' it is in putting too much emphasis on at least he didn't leave rude messages on Andrew
their father-and-son relationship and this relatively Sachs' answer phone.
Jim Wilson
replete with a newfound dimension of brutality and ruthlessness,
exemplified rather gruesomely by our hero waiting for the pulse of
an unfortunate adversary to cease, before moving on. Quantum of
Solace is not just about good guys defeating bad guy commies,
it’s about Bond fighting his demons and finding peace of mind.
This is just as well, as it could be argued that the film
features no conventional wrongdoers. The main villain,
Dominic Green (Mathieu Amalric) is -oh the horror- a
corrupt diplomat. If you’re looking for crazy terrorists with
dreams of world domination, I’m afraid you’ll have to look
elsewhere. Try the vintage Bond years.
The introduction of Marc Forster (Finding Neverland) as
director is not a natural first-choice for a Bond movie, and
he interprets action sequences in a manner more befitting
a Jason Bourne outing, or rather a blatant copy of one.
Of course, Bond girls are a prerequisite for any addition
to the franchise and, in this instance, prove far from memo-
rable. Olga Kurylenko plays the tortured soul, Camille, desper-
ately trying to find solace after a terrifying childhood experi-
ence. Independent and vulnerable, she is determined to fight
her demons with or without Bond’s help. Still, the character’s
back-story is underdeveloped and her chemistry with Daniel
Craig is non-existent. This failure could have been avoided,
had Foster plumbed for the most able candidate for the role,
rather than that which he found the most boner-inspiring.
Craig’s physicality has put a new spin on Bond, who now
seems more inclined to value brute force over charm and wit,
detracting from its appealing humanity. The notion of trans-
forming the character into a darker and more physical char-
acter is of no harm in itself, yet it seems that in the writers’
excitement to reinvent the franchise they’ve lost sight of what
a Bond film really means to most people.
 inSIGHT music
11/11/08
Gigs
GZA
12/11/08
ABC
Having his musical roots firmly planted as the
founding member of the WuTang Clan, The
Genius has gone on to create five solo albums in
the last two decades. A hip-hop institution, and
a sure bet for a night of lyrical class.
The Whip
14/11/08
The Arches
Of-the-moment electronica act The Whip bring
their rock-tinged, throbbing sound to Glasgow.
The choice of venue seems a good bet, so head
along if you're after something with a bit of
pump to it.
Airbourne
15/11/08
Barrowland
With a sound from the 80s, haircuts to match,
and more than a passing resemblance to The
Darkness (albeit without the bizarre costumes
and falsetto vocals), the Aussie four piece are
bringing classic rock to Glasgow.
TV on the Radio
16/11/08
ABC
Continuing the 80s vibe, TV on the Radio offer up
warping, synth-tinged tracks that make them a
nightmare to pigeon hole — the lasting impres-
sion seeming somewhat similar to being very
drunk at a party with a good DJ.
Mr Scruff
21/11/08
The Arches
With his latest output, Ninja Tuna, being reviewed
last issue in this very paper, it would seem rude
to ignore our own Oisin Kealy's recommenda-
tion of Scruff's “marathon DJ sets of outstanding
quality.“
Digitalism (Death Disco)
22/11/08
The Arches
With the monthly electro night celebrating their
sixth birthday, electrnonica legends Digitalism
are taking control of the anniversary proceed-
ings, alongside a host of other DJs in the tunnels
under Central Station.
James Yorkston
29/11/08
Stereo
Blindingly mellow, Yorkston sounds like the type
of act whose gigs should be enjoyed with mugs
of cocoa, rather than pints of beer. Melodic,
chilled out and folkey, it's seems that he's next
in a long line of musical goodness to come out
of Fife.
Who are you kidding?
Benzo Harris receives a lesson in indie from Black Kids' lead, Reggie Youngblood.
I
t has been a little over a year since Black Kids
played the Athens pop festival, their first gig
outside of their hometown in Jacksonville, Flor-
ida. Since then things have been skyrocketing
ever upwards for the band, and already it’s a case of
business as usual.
After the Pop Festival, Black Kids have been
all the rage. Pretty much every music mag in the
business was singing the praises of their EP, Wizard
of Ahhhs, which they released for free on MySpace.
Reggie Youngblood, lead vox and guitar, doesn’t
chalk it all up to the Internet though:
“Yeah, I think the Internet’s overrated,” Young-
blood sighs, as if he’s been swatting away ques-
tions like this all day. “We had songs on the Internet
before Athens [pop festival], so we had to physically
go places. The Internet is a tool, but people are still
the most important thing.”
But enough of this, I’m curious about the
music. All these indie bands sound the same today,
as if they were trying to be Talking Heads — that
is, if Talking Heads were a low quality, generic pop
Mystery Jets
25/10/2008
QMU
>> Ellie Gallagher
T
he grins on the faces of mid-pubescent
crowd widened as the sirens of Hideaway
signalled the Mystery Jets’ entrance, roll-
ing out the opening of their set with fin-
gers flying, but bodies still and faces straight.
(A little more vigour would be needed to
impress, especially after less than enthusiastic
support act, Golden Silvers, whose success can only
band. With overdone synths, and airy, warped
vocals, I ask Youngblood for his take on this:
“It could be because most of us grew up in
the 80s, and we were cognizant of the music,” he
says. But he’s not sure: “That might be it, that kind of
feel. Most of us never thought that indie equates to
‘good,’ and mainstream equates to ‘bad’ - we’re not
really averse to most pop music.”
The show itself is disappointing. I asked Young-
blood why he thought Black Kids were getting to
be so popular — was it just luck that their generic
80s-style indie-pop was in vogue at the moment
and people were catching on, or did they bring
something special to the show?
Youngblood mumbled something about how
“we do a fun show,” but I’m not buying it. He sang
the praises of good indie to me, extolling the virtues
of that raw sound making people get up and dance
— how “people love watching four to five dudes on
stage making it happen.”
Well, Black Kids didn’t make it happen. Young-
blood, to his credit, at least seemed to jump around
be attributed to ambitious and vicarious mothers.)
By their second track, their most recent release,
‘Half in Love with Elizabeth,’ the Jets brought out
their London charm and subtle cockiness that
allows them to get away with their cheeky image
and clumsy lyrics with such grace.
Better-known tracks of the current album,
’Twenty One,’ were interspersed with several tracks
from their previous album, ‘Making Dens,’ with ‘The
Boy who Ran Away’ engulfing the band, whipping
them into frenzies, and blurring the boundaries
between instrument and musician.
‘Behind the Bun House‘, an unlikely choice for
their final song, took the album version and tore
it to shreds. With Harrison asking, “Are you ready
a little, sometimes on the cusp of getting into the
groove. Aside from that, nobody else up there even
came close; Dawn Watley (vox and keys) was trying
to do the whole Tina Weymouth kinda-cute-but-
rockin’-awkward-bassist thing, but she ended up
looking like an uncoordinated poseur who couldn’t
hit the right notes most of the time. As the set
went on, song after song, people still weren’t going
wild - Youngblood kept imploring the masses “can
we please have a party here? It’s Sunday night!”
I caught more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice
when he muttered “I think we’ve been here five
times this year. It gets better every time.”
Who cares if the press say they’re a band to
watch? How much of a big deal is it that we have
another 80s indie-pop wannabe on our hands,
who’s getting a little radio play from the internet
– an outlet that the front man of the band deems
overrated? Fittingly, as I stand watching, I notice the
largely unresponsive crowd, taking more photos of
the ABC's vast disco ball than of the band they've
paid to see.
James Porteous
to dance?” — a slightly baffling question in the
context of the melancholic, rattling track — it
somehow proved more than fitting as the crowd
answered with raucous movement to the tune’s
boastful command.
In an unexpected act of kindness, or perhaps
self-indulgence, the band lingered after the show,
loitering in the foyer with large crowds of goofy
faced girls circling each of them. Alarmingly, I
found myself wishing the dinner proposal Will was
entertaining from one baby-faced girl had, in fact,
come from my mouth. Like the rest of the enthused
crowd, it looked like the intrigue of the appropri-
ately named Mystery Jets had got the better of my
own sensibilities
 inSIGHT

7
music

Hot Chip jacket and jeans combo. An interesting new song
02/11/2008 was also thrown in, with a combination of both
soulful, melancholy and fast-paced dance styled
Carling Academy beats promising exciting things from Hot Chip in
the future.
>> Catriona Reilly Following this, the equally successful 2007
PAG E
we…’ and the usual pleas for a return, which were
Timeless Quality
quickly answered by a re-emergence with one of
their older, more sombre numbers ‘Playboy’ which
had the audience swaying with its elephant-walk
melody and hip hop inspired, droning chorus.
To finish the night, with most of the balloons

N
ever has the clichéd phrase ‘the crowd
was buzzing with excitement’ meant so
much; by the time Hot Chip ascended to
the stage of the cavernous Carling acad-
emy the crowd was ready to explode.
Initiating the frenzy, the band launched into
new single ‘One Pure Thought’, setting the pace
with samba driven rhythm and clanging guitar.
Using their impressive technique of impromptu
DJ-styled live mixing they continued into ‘Bendable
Poseable.’
This technique also ensures that every live
Hot Chip experience is unique, demonstrated by
an extended, up-tempo ‘Boy from School’ and a
percussion heavy ‘Shake a Fist,’ matching only the
strobe lights in violent intensity and making the
song much more dance compatible. An oddly
placed rendition of ‘Touch too Much’ calmed the
crowd, possibly even instilling a little boredom
before again reigniting the fury with ‘Hold On,’
‘Wrestlers’ and ‘Out at the Pictures’ running seam-
lessly into each other like a club mix, whilst simul-
taneously releasing a set of huge white balloons
much to the crowd’s amusement.
This, however, was nothing compared to the
effect of ‘Over and Over’ which started off ambigu-
ously until the trademark electronic sound identi-
fied it as the 2006 hit, with the crowd chanting
over and over and B-O-K-E along with Alexis, who
was charmingly attired with a dad-like cream suit
Squarepusher
Just a Souvenir
Warp Records - 28/10/08
hit ‘Ready for the Floor,’ inspired much movement
amongst the crowd and a tuneless but enthusiastic
sing-along. Is it not just the songs that make the
impact but the quality; every flawless live modifica-
tion left you with a sense that these guys are much
more than technically skilled musicians. A brief
departure left the crowd chanting ‘Here we, here
Deerhunter
Microcastle
Kranky Records / 4AD - 27/10/08
burst, they pulsed through ‘No Fit State’ making the
audience frenetic in unison and desperate for more.
Hot chip are definitely not a band to disappoint –
their Glasgow show offering up an exciting, quirky
and novel performance, with everything needed to
make sure old fans felt fulfilled, and giving new fans >> Gerry McKeever
the impetus to come back for more.
During the Smashing Pumpkins SECC show
last year, notoriously onerous front-man Billy
Corgan responded characteristically bluntly to the
crowd’s light-hearted boos. Glasgow’s finest had
‘feigned’ offence at the mere mention of England,
through a reference to Manchester’s legendary
Joy Division. Corgan responded by questioning
the proliferation of worthy musical talent hailing
from Glasgow, with the exception of The Jesus
and Mary Chain.
In the barrage of suggestions that followed,
one particular offering from a booming lager-
soaked voice to my right struck me as unusual,
prompting a quick check on t’interweb the
next day. Yes, it was revealed, AC/DC are from
Glasgow!
Well, at least a little bit. Brother’s Angus and
Malcolm Young were born and lived in Glasgow
until they emigrated to Australia at ages eight and
ten respectively. So we can lay claim to at least
a bit of the band’s sizeable musical heritage, now
stretched to 15 studio albums, with the release of
the chart-topping ‘Black Ice’.
This does, however, yet again raise the now-
familiar question of ‘should old men play rock n
roll music?’
Back out on tour to promote this new album,
apparently AC/DC still put on a pretty bloody good
show — Rolling Stone’s Andy Greene described
their live performance as “so amazing”. Doubtless

S I
quarepusher’s music is often
tagged with genres like drill ‘n’ bass
- Warp Records’ own online store
categorizes him as breakcore.
However, it is apparent from his latest
installment, ‘Just a souvenir’ that the amen
break is irrevocably dead and along with
it many of the electronic innovations that
Tom Jenkinson has brought to our attention
since ‘Feed me Weird Things’ in 1996. So breakcore fans and those expecting
‘Red Hot Cars’ may be dissapointed. And though I too am nostalgic for those
days, I have to say I like the new Squarepusher. He uses a vocoder now.
‘A Real Woman’ is Ramones’ ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ interspersed with pernickety
jazz-fusion passages, perhaps to avoid accusations of plagiarism. ‘Delta V’ is a
barrage of bass, assaulting us with a riff doused in so much distortion you have
trouble identifying the notes. ‘The Coathanger’ may raise questions concerning
his lyrical abilities (‘Here comes the coat hanger, observe the coat hanger’) but
reminds us that he still plays bass like Jaco Pastorious, and sticking it through
a noise gate produces some very funky staccato results. The highlight for me
is perhaps the most modest piece on the album, ‘Potential Govaner’, which
features a gentle crescendo of delicate acoustic guitar melodies and frag-
mented drums, reminiscent of ‘Theme from Sprite’ from ‘Hello Everything’,
culminating in a satisfying slap solo.
The title of the album refers to Tom’s urgent sense of responsibility to soni-
cally document an intense daydream of emerald green coat hangers, a Homo
Erectus playing Monopoly and a ‘crazy, beautiful band, playing an ultra-gig’ to
name but a few episodes. (To see the album manifesto, visit squarepusher.net)
The album certainly sounds somewhat more colourful than its predecessors.
Only Tom knows if he did the dream justice. (Rudi Zygadlo)
t was no surprise when Deerhunter’s
third full-length release Microcastle
leaked onto the internet nearly five
months before it was due to come out.
What was unexpected, however, was the
mass of confusion following this regarding
the date of release for the physical album,
as well as the constant changes of cover
art (four times?), the question of whether it
would be accompanied by a bonus disc (entitled Weird Era Cont.) and frontman
Bradford Cox’s subsequent outraged response when readers of the band’s blog
hacked into his public files to sneak a listen to the bonus disc’s unfinished tracks
(“You ruined Christmas,” he said in a now deleted blog post).
Despite all the mess — or perhaps precisely because of the titillating
hype and drama — the 12-track oeuvre these Atlanta, Georgia natives have
composed is a cohesive testament to intelligent and interesting ambient
pop (or post-punk, which perhaps the band would prefer). Taking cues from
peers like Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear, Deerhunter has added a strong
collection of sounds and lyrics to the ever-growing repertoire of good music
of today.
Microcastle is more accessible than the band’s previous work, Cryptograms
(2006), and it contains elements also more tried and true — yet not tired or
cliché. This multi-layered record is appealingly simple but not shallow, ambient
but not vacant and subtly reminiscent of ’80s post-punk stalwarts, including
Echo and the Bunnymen and the Jesus and Mary Chain, but by no means a
carbon copy. The band has not necessarily done anything entirely new with
Microcastle in terms of modern musical history; however, this album feels
completely natural both in terms of the band’s creative timeline and their ever-
growing popularity. (Sanne Stienstra)
they do still obliterate ass, and given they are still
producing new material, having always refused
to release a Greatest Hits cash-in, perhaps AC/DC
should be excused from the ‘give it up’ treatment.
Can the same really be said for all the bus-
ticket headbangers still grinding out the tours?
If Keith Richard’s jowls get any less gravity-
resistant he’s surely going to need to train a Shet-
land pony to carry them around stage. Some of
these ‘zimmer-frame’ performances incite a form
of quiet pity in the audience, probably not the
intended reaction.
The absolutely shameless Rock n roll sexual
self-aggrandisement that does, and should go
with the territory, usually comes across as virile,
heroic and comic with a twenty-something
tattooed guitar-god. But when the tattoos begin
to creep further and further into the haggard flaps
of wrinkly flab, this attitude begins to seem a little
inappropriate, if not desperate.
Whether they are still genuinely fresh, exiting
and cool, or just capable of decent self-karaoke,
maybe older bands have just as much right to
be part of the rock image as anyone. Given ‘Black
Ice’ is flying off the record store shelves, having
debuted at number one in twenty nine countries
and having sold 1,762,000 copies in its first week
of sales, it would appear that a pretty enormous
portion of the music loving community certainly
think so.
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