Prince William and Kate Middleton exit the Quad to greet St Andrews students and residents afterunveiling a plaque to formally commemorate the launch of the University’s celebrations to mark the 600th Anniversary. To read more turn to pages 2-3.

Royal visit launches 600th anniversary

St Andrews and the possible closure of RAF Leuchars

Special Coverage of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s visit

St AndrewS was in the international media spotlight on 25 February as His royal Highness Prince william and Kate Middleton returned to the University for the launch of the 600th Anniversary celebrations.

the royal visit marked Prince William’s first role as official patron of the University’s 600th Anniversary appeal. It was also the couple’s first official engagement in Scotland.

the Prince and Miss Middleton began the visit by attending a private reception at University House where they met with University officials. The couple then went to the Museum of the University of St Andrews, where they viewed the last surviving Papal Bull. the Papal Bull is one of a set of six that were issued by Pope Benedict XIII in 1413 as a mark of St Andrews reaching full university status.

Following the museum the couple walked past their former hall of residence, St Salvator’s, to reach St Salvator’s Quadrangle, where a crowd of students, staff and media was assembled. University ambassadors ushered the 600 students and staff who were chosen by ballot after applying online for a ticket to the event.

Sir Menzies Campbell, Chancellor of the University, opened the proceedings by welcoming the Prince and Miss Middleton and introducing Principal and Vice-Chancellor Louise richardson. Principal richardson then gave a speech highlighting the history of the University while looking forward

to the future by explaining that the 600th Anniversary celebrations will be aimed at launching a £100 million fundraising campaign that will “ensure that a St Andrews education is affordable to everyone smart enough to be admitted”. And also, “that future leaders of this university can invest in innovative ideas and attract the best researchers and the best teachers from around the world.”

Prince william followed the Principal and began by saying he felt as though the crowd in the Quad could recreate raisin Sunday. He added that for Miss Middleton and himself, coming back to St Andrews was “like coming home.”

the Prince continued to say that “knowing that so many of Scotland’s finest brains and greatest achievers gained – and continue to gain – inspiration” from St Andrews made him proud to be Patron of the University’s 600th Anniversary Appeal. After wishing the University a happy birthday, the Prince and Principal richardson unveiled a plaque commemorating the anniversary.

exiting the Quad the couple stopped to speak to groups of students, staff and University officials before reaching North Street where they met students and members of the public.

natalie Hazlehurst and emily Griffiths, both third years, spoke to the Prince, who said to them, “less drinking, more dinner parties.” Hayley Coupe, also a third year, said that both will and Kate were lovely and very friendly. Many students who spoke to the couple were immediately interviewed by the BBC, nBC and StV.

News pages p 2-3

Andreea nemes

Features p 13

InsIdeStyle reviews FS 2011

Arts & Culture p 21

THE SAINTSt Andrews’ Independent Student Newspaper

Thursday 3 March 2011 Issue 150

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2 news The Saint • thursday 3 March 2011

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Police letters deter possible protests elizabeth Hewitt

Closure of the Quad and class relocations due to Royal visit anger studentsß

AS MedIA MAyHeM descended upon St Andrews during last week’s royal visit, the effect on the student body and the town was considerable.

Students received an email from Principal and Vice-Chancellor Louise richardson on 17 February informing them that access to the Quad would be restricted to staff and research postgraduate students between 21 and 25 February. they were also informed that between

5pm on thursday 24 February and 5pm Friday 25 February, access would be denied to all students and staff.

the announcement was followed by a flurry of relocations of classes to replacement venues such as the Medical Sciences building, the Bute and the Physics lecture theatre.

the disruption to classes angered many students. the formation of a Facebook group entitled ‘Our education First: we Oppose the week-Long Closure of Sallies Quad’ allowed students an outlet

Andreea nemes

Royal visit causes disturbances to students

It HAS COMe to light that a number of students received letters from the police in the days leading up to the royal visit regarding possible protest activity on the day.

On the afternoon of Saturday, 19 February, two police officers knocked on the door of Oliver Kearns, fourth-year student of International relations and Philosophy, in his room in Andrew Melville Hall.

Similar letters were hand-delivered by police officers to several St Andrews students. Signed by Fife Constabulary Chief Superintendent Alistair McKeen, the letters identify the recipient as being known to have participated in protest activity in the past, and requested that students work with police to coordinate any potential protest activity to take place on the day of the launch of the 600th Anniversary Celebrations.

“to be honest, I was taken aback by the police having come to me in person, since they could have just mailed me the letter,” said Kearns, who was asked to read the letter in front of the officers. “Whether they intended it or not, it was intimidating.”

Kearns has been involved in student activism in St Andrews for some time, but was surprised that such letters were delivered to

many students who had a limited background in protest. “this kind of police surveillance inevitably deters students from getting involved in activism.”

McKeen, who is based in the Fife Constabulary headquarters in Glenrothes, acted as event Commander for royal visit. He explained that the facilitation of lawful protest was included in the strategic intentions for the royal visit.

the national Policing Improvement Agency’s Manual of Guidance on Keeping the Peace 2010 identitfies early engagement with potential protest groups as Good Practice, commented McKeen via email on Monday.

“I decided to write to a number of individuals inviting them to engage in discussions to facilitate any protest they may be considering,” said McKeen. “these individuals are known to the police as they have previously taken part in protest activity, some of which had required the deployment of additional police resources in order to ensure conduct was lawful and safe.”

Letters were delivered by local officers in person rather than by post because, “it was important to ensure that the letters were received by the persons to whom they were addressed rather than lie on a doormat.”

to air their grievances. One member, student Chloe Hill,

said, “I feel I am being consistently prevented from learning because of Prince william-related events, what with the day off for his wedding and the whole week of the Quad being shut.”

She added, “I thought a celebration of this university would be a celebration of its outstanding staff and students, but this has been overshadowed by the royal visit.”

Hill’s sentiments were echoed by other students. James Hopkins

stated, “the irony that the University is celebrating 600 years of teaching by disrupting teaching is, while mildly amusing, very irritating. we should celebrate the past without disadvantaging the present.” Meanwhile, another student said, “I feel its important to remember that a university should be a place of learning, not a media circus.”

As well as being affected by class disruptions, students had to contend with an influx of media and police leading up to the royal visit as media vans parked outside the library and police patrolled north Street. Students living on north Street were asked to remove their bins and students were warned that stray bikes near the Quad would be confiscated.

However, despite the multiple disturbances caused by Prince william’s visit, many students were also eager for a chance to see or meet him. the crowds lining north St on 25 February demonstrated that in spite of a number of inconveniences, students were enthusiastic about the University’s 600th Anniversary and Prince william’s return to St Andrews.

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A fourth-year student, speaking anonymously, was visited twice by police trying to deliver a letter. when he couldn’t be reached, they requested that he come into the station.

“It was a fairly polite letter, asking us to coordinate with them if we were going to do any protests about william coming,” he said. “It wasn’t exactly to dissuade us, but I think the problem that most of us had with it was being targeted by the police in this way.”

Similar letters were delivered to several students across a diverse range of involvement in activism in St Andrews, he noted. “It was sent to such a random group of people. Many of them had been to a protest once in their life and they are suddenly getting letters from the police.”

In the past, students have worked with police to coordinate larger protests, including the march through town for 2008’s Lower rents now campaign. Although various protests had been considered for the royal visit, including on university fees and widening access to the University, they would not have been of a scale that would typically involve cooperating with police. Ultimately, no plans were carried out, in part due to the overwhelming police presence in St Andrews.

Many of those who received

letters had protested david Mundell’s January visit to the university, during which a pie was thrown at Mundell. Following the incident, the police took the details of a group of protesters, who had been held as witnesses.

emma Lecavalier, a third-year JSA, found a letter in her mailbox, after the police had buzzed her flat twice on Saturday morning. She had participated in the david Mundell protest and was included in the group held by police.

“the fact that they have my details in the first place was something I was upset about,” said Lecavalier. “way too much surveillance for such a small town in what was a relatively small protest.”

the high level of police presence during the royal visit dissuaded protesters from proceding with plans in itself. One third-year student was greeted by police when he left his flat on the morning of the visit. On his way to the library, he was recognized as a potential activist by police officers, and confronted about potential plans.

the student later joined a group of around six to hand out leaflets to the crowd. “Wherever we would go, we were followed around by members of Forward Intelligence teams.”

INSIDENews

International News Feature

Page 6

Viewpoint

Nick Cassella on the Reluctant Hegemon

Page 10

Features

Page 15

Arts & Culture

Page 22

Verdict on accomodation changesPage 4

Jack Bunburry up in smokePage 12

More from the Middle East

Job prospects in PR

Page 16

Student Cookbooks

François Ozon’s Potiche

Page 20

Sport

Interview with the Water Polo team

Team GB at Winter Universiade

Page 31

Page 28

Week in Pictures

Page 19

news 3The Saint • thursday 3 March 2011

MeMBerS OF tHe various student media groups in the University were amongst hundreds of other journalists present to cover and comment on the royal visit.

As parts of the town were shut down by Fife Council and the Fife Police Constabulary, north Street and the surrounding area heaved under media pressure.

the media attention, which focused on the visit made by the alumni, provided a watershed moment for the royal couple’s media presence but also for the way in which St Andrews handles its position in the spotlight.

television camera crews, photographers and newspaper reporters from Japan, Australia, Germany and France competed with local press for the key spots in St Salvator’s Quadrangle and on north Street.

Several members of the press, including the royal correspondent for The Sunday Express had travelled directly from covering the previous day’s engagement in Anglesey, wales.

with such a high attendance from the media, directions for

media protocol came directly from the Royal press office in Holyrood.

royal visits and attendance at public events requires organisation on a level which allows access to as many people as is possible whilst ensuring that royalty are not subject to crowding.

Media representatives are therefore divided into two categories. The first is a Royal rota pool. This includes one representative from each main sector of the media. they are entitled to closely follow royalty during their public engagement. during the visit to St Andrews, for example, the royal rota pool was the only press covering william and Kate’s viewing of the Papal Bull.

the rest of the media falls into the second category which allows them to stand at key fixed points allowing for maximum exposure and coverage of the events. There were two fixed points in St Andrews, one in the Quadrangle and the other opposite the Quad exit onto north St.

whereas St Andrews was largely able to keep media away from the University while Prince william completed his degree, the prince and future princess’ public

St Andrews attracts widespread media attention

rachel Hanretty

Royal visit sheds light on the relationship between Prince William, the University and the international mediaß

engagements brings a different tone to media coverage in and around the University.

A 1995 agreement between St James’s Palace and the press had formerly seen newspapers exercise restraint in their coverage of Prince william as well as his

younger brother Harry in return for controlled access on key occasions. the ban on media on coverage was kept intact under instruction from the Palace in association with the Press Complaints Commission, who said in 2003 that william needed to focus on his exams at St Andrews

and gain his degree. However, now that such a ban

has been lifted, in publicly inviting Prince william to be patron of the Anniversary Appeal, the University will now have to negotiate an even stronger relationship with international media.

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University launches new scholarshiptHe UnIVerSIty of St Andrews has announced that it is to establish a new scholarship in honour of HrH Prince william and Kate Middleton.

the scholarship was presented as a wedding gift to the couple, both graduates of the University, when they visited St Andrews to launch the celebrations of the University’s 600th anniversary on Friday, 25 February.

the scholarship is to be awarded annually to a student who without financial support would be unable to attend St Andrews and will be open to applicants of all nationalities.

It will have a value of £70,000, in order to cover the costs of tuition, accommodation and living expenses for a four-year undergraduate degree at the University.

“This will be the first scholarship of its kind at St Andrews and a reflection of this university’s commitment to ensure that we find, attract and support the most gifted students from anywhere in the world. It will guarantee that a lack of means need not be a barrier to study, ” said University Principal Louise richardson.

“we were very pleased to make the offer of this scholarship as a wedding gift to Prince william and Miss Middleton and absolutely delighted that they have graciously accepted,” she added.

the University intends to use its 600th Anniversary celebrations as an opportunity to launch a £100 million philanthropic fundraising appeal.

A substantial focus of the drive will be to generate new funds for

scholarships. the University is aiming to raise £13 million towards new scholarships and support for students during the campaign.

Siena Parker, the Students’ Association’s director of representation, welcomed the scholarship’s launch.

“It’s always fantastic when students from non-traditional

Henry turnbull backgrounds are given the opportunity to study at St Andrews,” Parker said.

“I think that naming the scholarship in honour of william & Kate is a great way to encourage donors to contribute towards such a scholarship, as well as promoting a more over-arching widening access agenda.”

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Birthday Wishes for the University’s 600th

AnniversaryBill Clinton: “Congratulations to all those gath-ered to launch the 600th Anniversary of the Uni-versity of St Andrews. In its six-century history, the University of St Andrews has remained dedicated to creating an academic home for people off all ethnic, religious, socio-economic and national backgrounds. I am confident that the University will continue to build on its impressive legacy,endowing future generations with the honour of a St Andrews education.”

Sean Connery: “For six centuries St Andrews has been challenging established wisdom and challenging its students and teachers to push the boundaries of knowledge. Happy Birthday St Andrews, lang may your lum reek.”

Alex Salmond: “Scotland’s reputation for innovation and world-class research is founded on the work and intellectual achievements of our academic institutions. I wish St Andrews every success in the future as it reflects on its achievements over the past 600 years.”

4 news The Saint • thursday 3 March 2011

Accommodation changes agreed upon

Beyond

Bubblethe

MAJOr CHAnGeS in University accommodation policy will be taking place as a result of recent negotiations between residential and Business Services and the Students’ Association.

these changes include the introduction of £50,000 worth of means-tested accommodation bursaries to be made available for 2011-2012, a commitment from the University’s 600th Anniversary fundraising scheme to try and maintain this amount each year for those who need it most; more choice for entrant students in the hall allocation process; the reversal of the recent controversial decision to remove first year students from Albany Park; the lowering of rent in Andrew Melville Hall; and the changing of new Hall into a self-catered residence.

Student Association President, Owen wilton, and director of representation, Siena Parker, met with the directors of residential and Business Services initially to discuss entrant undergraduates’ access to lower rental accommodation after the announcement was made that entrant students were to be removed from Albany and Fife Park. It was agreed that the policy be amended so that beds will be reserved for the same number of first years in Albany Park as in previous years.

Siena Parker explained that “having a mixed and diverse hall community – of all years and ages – is a vital part of the student experience, and this is partly why we intervened in this decision.

I also think it is important that first year students have the option of subsidised self-catered accommodation, like Albany Park, as well as catered. I’m glad that residential and Business Services

Beer MerUSSIA, wHere Beer is currently regarded as a soft drink, has continued its journey to curb alcohol consumption by classifying it as alcohol.

Beer consumption levels in russia have tripled in the past 15 years. Changing its label from foodstuff to alcohol will prevent beer from being sold in public places. there will also be new limits on advertising and the times of day beer can be sold to drive down consumption.

the law was passed 22 February and will go into effect shortly.AS.

Access deniedA BrItISH IMMIGrAtIOn officer has put his wife’s name on the terrorist watch list in order to avoid asking for a divorce.

The officer, who has access to the list of suspected terrorists who are denied security clearance, has kept his wife from coming into the UK from Pakistan for the past three years.

this was only discovered when he recently applied for a promotion which would allow him further access regarding the list and her name came up as a possible terrorist.

The officer has now been fired and his wife has since been allowed back home.AS.

40-year old wallet returnedA MAn In new york City has been given his wallet back, 40 years after it was stolen.

the man’s wallet was taken when he placed his jacket in a closet in an office building near times Square in 1960.

A security guard found the wallet, without any cash, behind a window in 2010, and was able to use the contents inside, including credit cards and photographs, to track down the owner.

the thief, still unknown, likely grabbed the cash and hid the wallet. AS.

Man names daughter afterFacebookAn eGyPtIAn MAn named his first child, a girl, Facebook.

His wish was to commemorate the impact the social networking site had on the recent political events in the country.

the social networking site was key in ending Mubarak’s presidency, with a Facebook event inviting millions to join in protests. Facebook—the person—has already received many gifts to celebrate both her birth and the story behind her name.AS.

have reversed this decision.”Other ways to support students

with the high cost of University accommodation in St Andrews were discussed at the meeting.

this resulted in the decision to lower the rent for Andrew Melville Hall in order to create a more affordable option for the most popular entrant student choice of standard catered accommodation.

Kerry nesbitt

A ‘FOr SALe’ sign appeared in the window of the popular cafe north Point last week.

Following the loss of several shops and businesses around St Andrews such as Flip!, the Christmas Shop and Fox&Bhut, the recent appearance of the sign aroused some unease.

Concern worsened as rumours spread about the possible closure of the cafe and speculations were made about what would happen after it has been sold.

nevertheless, north Point enthusiasts have little to worry about, as the cafe’s manager, Linda Cunningham, has informed The Saint of the plans the owners have for the business.

She stated, “the sign outside the cafe has been removed, because it was slightly unsettling, however the business is still being advertised on the internet and a private agency.” Furthermore, if north Point is on the market to be sold, they are not urgently seeking to seal the deal.

“we have received several offers so far, but nothing concrete, and we aren’t in any rush to sell,” she added.

the owners of the cafe decided to sell because they feel that, after ten years running the business they are ready to move on towards a different enterprise.

Cunningham was clear in pointing out that they are not experiencing any financial difficulties—as many students know, north Point is always busy—rather, they feel that they have attained all they wanted from their time running the cafe and now they would like to invest in something different.

regarding any possible changes to the menu after the sale Cunningham said, “If the business is sold then we will try our best to persuade the new owners to keep things running the same way, but obviously we have no control over what they will do after they buy it. the current staff would still be working here though, so it is quite likely that everything will remain very similar.”

North Point cafe saleFrancesca Vaghi

residential and Business Services also pledged to give £50,000 to provide scholarships to help students in financial need with University accommodation fees.

In addition there will be changes in the way entrant students apply to halls as they can now choose a specific hall and so students who cannot afford to live in the more expensive halls can specify this in their application.

“I strongly believe that the changes we, in collaboration with the University’s accommodation services, have made this year – whether that’s bursaries for students who need it most, a more transparent and fair hall application process, or lower rents in Andrew Melville – will make a significant difference,” said Parker.

“we all know that the cost of living in St Andrews is disproportionately high, and these innovations should help to make sure that students who cannot afford the higher rents are given access to alternative and cheaper options,” she added.

‘We all know the cost of living in St

Andrews is disproportionately

high ’

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The 19Th ST AndrewS Charity Fashion Show took place on Saturday 26 February in the grounds of the north Haugh. Over 3000 people attended the event which was organised in aid of the charity, trekstock, which supports Cancer research UK’s work to investigate cancers that affect children and young people. For reviews of the event, turn to pages 21&22.

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The Saint • thursday 3 March 2011

roles are vital in making sure that the postgraduate community is just as well represented as our undergrads.”

Campaign methods that will be allowed include handing out flyers, the use of online social networks like Facebook and simply talking to people. However, SrC candidates must spend no more than £35 on their campaign and sabbatical candidates no more than £100, in order to maintain fairness and an equal opportunity to run a successful campaign.

negative campaigning such as personal attacks on another candidate or handing out freebies are not allowed and no member of University staff must publicly endorse a candidate.

Hecklings will be arranged during election week in order to give candidates a chance to express themselves and explain their visions for the year ahead as well as providing other students the opportunity to pose questions to the candidates to see how they will respond.

Parker also commented on the challenges the new sabbatical team could face and reflected on her time as director of representation.

“I think it will be more important than ever to have a strong representation sabbatical team this year as the University, and the higher education sector enter difficult and uncertain times. working as a sabbatical is great fun and hugely rewarding, but it’s also very challenging and incredibly

news 5The Saint • thursday 3 March 2011

STAR implements broadcasting changes rachel Kay

Student elections nominations open 7 March Kerry nesbitt

nOMInAtIOnS FOr this academic year’s student elections will open on 7 March.

Students can run for various roles ranging from sabbatical positions such as Association President or director of events and Services, to student representatives on issues such as accommodation and the environment.

Candidates can nominate themselves online with the backing of two other students and the submission of a statement of why others should vote for them, and begin their campaigns from Friday 11 March.

Siena Parker, the Students’ Association’s current director of representation, encourages all students to apply no matter what experience they have.

“Students who have not been involved in the Union or societies before shouldn’t be put off from running for any of the positions we have available on the Students’ representative Council, or even the sabbatical roles.” She continued: “I had never been a part of the SrC or any of the big union societies before I became a sabbatical – and I think it’s so important to have that outside perspective. It’s the skills and the ideas you have, not just the experience, that make you a good student leader.”

Parker also expressed her desire to see more postgraduate students running for positions in the elections, saying that “these

In A COntrOVerSIAL move, the St Andrews Student radio (StAr) Committee has recently voted to implement a playlist policy for the majority of the station’s broadcasting.

Members of the StAr committee responsible for music, content and advertising as well as the station manager proposed and discussed the changes before presenting them to the wider StAr community at a town hall meeting on 21 February.

the decision to implement the changes was then made on 23 February by the StAr committee after the motion was put to a vote and passed 17 votes to 5.

the idea behind the changes is that it will offer StAr’s student audience a more consistent and recognisable sound.

“right now we have about 60 different shows and there is not much of a common bond between them,” said walker Angell, Jr., station manager. “As StAr has become more independent, listenership has suffered.”

Statistics reveal that the station currently averages six listeners per show, or 0.07% of the student body.

“the biggest complaint we hear when we ask people about StAr and our current programming is that they do not know what it

is because it is everything,” said Angell. “you have no idea what you are going to get, it is kind of unapproachable.”

At the town hall meeting listeners and presenters voiced concerns that the new policy will compromise the diversity of StAr’s programming.

“I think you really should be wary of alienating the deejays who are the footsoldiers of StAr, who put in hours every week,” said rollo Strickland, co-presenter of Music is Love.

Under the new system, presenters will be required to select the music played on their shows from amongst 80 total tracks, in addition to two songs of their choice. the playlists will be revised on a weekly basis with members of the station voting on new tracks.

Since the decison was finalised the StAr committee has been notified of one show, My Lovely Horse, quitting. However, seven shows have not yet broadcast.

“For me the whole point of college radio is fostering diversity, to have people play lots of things that you would not hear normally.” said Martha McCarey, a presenter with three years of experience at the station. “80 songs for 30 hours of playlist shows is just incredibly redundant.”

Specialist shows which are not required to adhere to the new

guidelines will be rescheduled to air between 10 pm and midnight. Furthermore, rock Block, dance Block and talk Block on tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, respectively, will also be exempt from changes. In total, 34 hours of programming will remain unaffected.

Angell said the decision was also taken in line with StAr’s constitutional goal to provide a technical education to those interested in broadcasting.

“we believe that the real media aspect of StAr’s focus is not being achieved at all because anywhere in the world, if you want to join radio, you cannot walk into a studio with a USB stick of tracks and put it on the system and just do a show like that,” said Angell.

“we think we need to be more of a broadcasting department and

focus more on the actual radio element, and radio is more than music at the end of the day.”

A series of training seminars to improve production and presentation has also been planned.

Societies Liaison officer, Anna Underwood-Gordon, a second-year presenter and third-year producer, said she feels the changes to StAr force it into unnecessary competition with the model of mainstream stations.

“I do not think that the new playlist format will fix all of our problems,” said director of Content, tristan Vandeventer. “I do, however, feel it is a hugely important component in improving the content, reputation, and professionalism of St Andrews radio.”

hard work. It involves gaining so many new skills and so much life experience – I won’t ever forget this year, it’s been a rollercoaster!”

Voting itself will take place on

Campus

Campusto

University of EdinburghtHe UnIVerSIty of edinburgh recently opened a new liaison office in Mumbai to facilitate communication between the University and its partners in India.

working alongside its partners the University will focus on key environmental, health, and development issues.

A new degree that trains students to work in international development in South Asia will accompany the new liaison office. Students can now earn an MSc in South Asia and International development, which will prepare students for engagement with crucial social, political, and economic issues.

the University will also assist eligible Indian students wishing to study at edinburgh through the Principal’s Indian Masters Scholarship, which will provide 15 merit-based scholarships to pursue a Masters degree in any subject. NF.

University of AberdeentHe UnIVerSIty of Aberdeen’s rowett Institute for nutrition and Health is coordinating a five-year study funded by a grant from the european Union.

the study, entitled Full4Health, will investigate the relationship between food and our body, and how this relationship corresponds to feelings of satiety and hunger.

the study involves recruiting 250 volunteers from a wide range of age groups. researchers will then assess signaling between the gut and the brain through the use of several different measurements.

the study ultimately seeks to address the increasingly pervasive problem of obesity. the research was motivated in part by the failure of drugs to treat this global health problem. NF.

University of BristoltHe UnIVerSIty of Bristol, along with the University of exeter, is undertaking a three-year project that will research the creation of archives of live art and performance.

the project aims to produce models for future use of the materials and to develop strategies of exhibiting event-based art forms, making them accessible to a greater audience.

the University recently digitized a large collection of videos from the national review of Live Art, a leading performance festival. the project converted the archive into a more durable digital format using cutting-edge technologies.NF.

Friday 18 March, at polling stations in the library, the Union, the sports hall, drA and the north Haugh. the votes will then be counted overnight.

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6 news The Saint • thursday 3 March 2011

nicolas Carter

UnIVerSItIeS throughout england are looking towards raising their tuition fees to the maximum amount of £9,000 after ministers passed legislation through parliament allowing for the increase.

Already Imperial College London has formally announced that it wishes to raise its fees to the maximum amount and Cambridge University has plans to do the same.

Imperial stated that it wishes to, “maintain the excellence of the education we provide to students.” Oxford University has also said that an increase in fees to at least £8,000 was absolutely necessary in order to maintain the institution at its current level.

when the legislation was passed in december, it was said that the maximum amount for fees would only be charged in ‘“extreme circumstances.” However, there is now a fear that since several institutions have openly requested to raise their fees, many more will follow in their footsteps.

david willetts, the universities minister, has said that charging maximum fees was not the government’s intention when

discussing the fees increase at westminster last year. willets said that the government knew universities would desire to raise fees, but not by such a drastic margin.

He told Sky news, “I certainly hope to see a range of fees being set by universities. Universities don’t need to go anywhere up near £9,000, For many courses, it is closer to £6,000 or £7,000.”

willetts added, “It would be a great pity if we had this idea that you have to charge a very high price in order to establish prestige. I think what students should be looking for is a high-quality teaching experience.”

Because of this, willetts has warned that many aspiring university students will opt to go to institutions that charge less. He said, “If students find there are alternative providers that can offer a high-quality higher education experience for significantly less than £9,000, universities that have rushed to £9,000 will end up looking rather silly.”

Meanwhile the BBC reported that Aaron Porter, President of the national Union of Students, predicted that the majority of universities would charge the maximum fee of £9,000 per year.

Matthew Steele

English tuition fees debate continues

dAVId CAMerOn has apologised unconditionally for his administration’s poor handling of the British evacuation from Libya, the BBC has said.

His comments came in response to heavy criticism of the Foreign Office’s response to the crisis, as technical problems and systemic difficulties waylaid the evacuation efforts.

the Prime Minister told Sky news, “what I would say to those people is I am extremely sorry because we wanted to do everything we can to help them leave. It is a very difficult picture in Libya. this is not an easy situation.”

Several systemic and technical problems hampered the rescue, as the Foreign Office first hesitated to send in charter flights, unable to obtain landing permission from the collapsing bureaucracy in tripoli. Other countries ignored the chaos and prioritised the safety of their citizens above all else.

the problems began when the brokerage company responsible for the chartered planes failed to send two of the three aircraft due to safety concerns and the lack of landing permits. the one Boeing

David Cameron apologises for slow British evacuation from Libya

757 that did become available experienced technical difficulties and was delayed by 10 hours at Gatwick. Bad luck was also partially to blame as a royal navy frigate meant to dock at the opposition-controlled port of Benghazi was unable to do so due to rough seas.

the evacuation became necessary when Libya deteriorated into war torn anarchy, as the wave of Middle eastern unrest threatened to topple Colonel Gadaffi’s totalitarian regime.

Several major cities, including Benghazi, the country’s second largest, defected and remain lawless, while tripoli witnessed heavy fighting and chaos. Troops loyal to the dictator, supplemented with outside mercenaries, terrorised the civilian population in a desperate effort to quell the protests.

thus several hundred Britons were caught in the middle of the crisis, and watched helplessly while other european citizens were herded to safety.

British citizen John rouse told The Evening Standard of his ordeal, “we are going crazy because everyone is getting rescued but us. the Chinese, French, the russians, Americans—everyone’s leaving but the British can’t sort it out.”

Meanwhile, the deputy Prime

North America:

It has emerged that over 11,000 migrants, over a 6 month period last year, were abducted from Mexico and used to traffic drugs or held for ransom. The information was published by Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission. TW.

South America:

Chevron, the second largest oil company in the United States, has been given a bill from an Ecuadoran court of $8.6 billion to pay in reparation for the alleged 18 billion gallons of toxic waste and 17 million gallons of crude oil leaked into stretches of the Ecuadoran Amazon in 2001. Whilst this is one of the largest fines for environmental degradation to be issued in legal history there is widespread speculation whether Chevron will be forced to pay it.TW.

Europe:

In the UK David Cameron has accused Iran of continuing its nuclear programme and has threatened new sanctions.

In Spain fresh hopes for a lasting peace between the Spanish government and the Basque group, ETA, have emerged as the group’s new political party, Sortu, has rejected the use of violence and any future attacks. This has given hope that last year’s ceasefire may turn into a lasting one.TW.

Africa:

In Zimbabwe 46 political activists have been detained by the government amdist fears of demonstrations similar to those in Egypt, Bahrain and Libya.TW.

Middle East:

Iranian warships have entered the Suez Canal as part of a plan to assert a presence in theMediterranean. The timing, coinciding with widespread revolt in the region, is purely coincidental as Iran’s plans were announced last year, but it does increase political tensions in the region. TW.

Asia:

In Lahore, Pakistan, a US ambassador accused of killing two men has been labelled as working for the CIA. This has presented the US and Pakistan a significant diplomatic crisis as the two murdered men are also allegedly intelligence officers who were following the US citizen.

On the Cambodian-Thai border troops clashed in a dispute over an ancient temple which has been designated as being in Cambodian territory by the UN since 1962.TW.

National and International News

Minister’s admission in a Metro interview that he had forgotten he was in charge merely added to the sense of haphazardness over the whole operation.

when asked about the remarks, Mr. Cameron qualified his deputy’s statements, asserting, “In the age of the BlackBerry, the telephone, the internet, just because I leave the country doesn’t mean I am not in charge.”

However, with Mr. Clegg on a skiing holiday in Switzerland, and Mr. Cameron concluding a tour of the Middle east, the coalition government’s response to this international crisis has been hardly reassuring.

As The Saint went to print the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

estimated that between 280-320 British nationals remained in Libya.

The BBC reported that 150 oil workers, many of whom were British nationals, were flown out of Libya to

safety in Malta on 26 February by two RAF planes. 53 additional Britons were also among 100 people on a

government chartered flight to Gatwick airport.

The Saint • thursday 3 March 2011 news 7The Saint • thursday 3 March 2011

In Focus

Walker Angell Jr. on the changes to STAR

HR: With regards to the idea that DJs will now have to play from a common playlist - why is this being introduced?

wA: the playlist is not a new concept for StAr or a new concept for radio. StAr has had a playlist in some form for as long as I know. Almost every radio station (including student radio stations) has set playlists from which their broadcasters play most of their music. we have taken advice from what we see working well at all of these radio stations around the world. the playlist provides a much more realistic broadcasting experience for students actively involved in the station, provides consistency for our listeners, and allows the station to achieve improved quality control, as well as giving us the ability to put more momentum behind the music we play.

HR: Why has the number of tracks been limited to 80?

wA: For the last 1-2 years, StAr’s playlists have been extremely expansive. However, such a wide

variety of songs does not create any consistency or put the force of a radio station behind the songs most people really like. with 80 songs, we expect to hear the same song once every four to six hours on StAr, which is actually quite a bit less frequently than you would hear on most radio stations. we want the most popular tracks to be heard more often, because people like to hear their favourites more than once. there certainly will be more than 80 songs played on StAr throughout the day, but those songs will comprise the core, and will help develop an identifiable sound for St Andrews radio.

HR: There has obviously been a lot of mixed responses about the changes. W hat do you think of the more negative responses that have been voiced?

wA: there has indeed been some resistance to these changes, but not more than we had anticipated. that StAr’s presenters do not want to stop being able to play any music they please should surprise no one. the decision to move to a playlist model has been put off for years because every committee knew that some people would be upset. All of the critiques have assumed music to be the chief aim of StAr; we believe that a radio station should take broadcasting as its main goal. we all love our music, but being a good broadcaster

means being able to entertain your listeners, regardless of the music being played. to that end, we want StAr to be playing music that is not going to turn most people off upon tuning-in; we want to play music that the majority of people can really enjoy, throughout the day.

HR: Is it hoped the changes will generate more listeners?

wA: we certainly would not have put ourselves through the last few weeks to achieve fewer listeners! we do not have delusions of having 7,500 listeners, but we want to play music that appeals to more students, and hope that this will give StAr a new appeal for the St Andrews student. we want the voices heard on StAr to mention things about which students care—things that are relevant to St Andrews’ students—not just talk about music. I do not expect to see dramatic changes this semester, but I think that it will pay off next year and in the years to come.

HR: Do you think the radio will be compromising the individuality of the students who host shows, in exchange for more a professional way of doing things?

WA: We definitely will not be compromising the individuality of the students! to create a

more united StAr that sounds and functions like a radio station, not just an open mic, some of the diversity in StAr’s programming will change, but that is not a compromise – that is one of the goals. what makes radio broadcasters great is their ability to differentiate themselves not in the music they play, but in their on-air personalities. we hope that our presenters can express their individuality through ways other than music. Professional does not mean homogenous – we want individuals who care about doing a good show in the context of StAr as a whole, not just a good show by their own independent standards. HR: Which do you think is more

important in student media?

wA: we do not see this as a trade-off. Individuality and professionalism are not antonyms. right now, we only have the former, and that is the problem. we are acutely aware that StAr is a student radio station, that none of us are paid to do our jobs, and that we have a peculiar ability not to take profitability as our only target, but that does not give StAr the right to neglect our mandate to be a radio station for the whole student body. the model that has been in place at StAr does not give any of its active members a true radio-broadcasting experience and does not appeal to the majority of St Andrews.

Digging up the past

The Saint delves back through the archives to see what was making news in and around St Andrews in years gone by

The University Library was officially opened by Lord Eccles. 250 guests attended and the building was closed for part of the afternoon so that flowers could be brought in for decoration. After the opening ceremony guests retired to the principal’s house for sherry.

A third-year student reported seeing a ghostly apparition seated at his chair in his room at new Hall late one night. when he awoke from sleeping he could make out the outline of someone in his chair, which was swiveling slightly. when he turned on the light it had gone. Other students reported things being mysteriously rearranged in their rooms.

A St Andrews student won 100 pounds from the Potato Marketing Board for listing 3,082 words that he made from the phrase ‘Great British Potatoes.’ Andrew nicol beat scores of other competitors and was presented with his prize by Mr G Griffiths, Publicity Manager, at a small function in edinburgh.

Kate Middleton, fiancée of Prince William of Wales, then a second year Art History student at St Andrews was asked, “why are you at university?” as part of an article for The Saint. Her reply? “to get an overall education in all aspects of life.”

1977

1985

2002

1994

Cartoon

The Saint’s HannaH Rowand sits down with Walker Angell Jr., STAR station manager, to discuss and clarify the recent changes with

STAR.

The media on the media

8 Editorial The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011

Editorial Board

You would have to have been living under a rock not to have noticed that St Andrews has recently saturated national and international press. Less known is that media attention has also focused on The Saint. We realised that perhaps we should begin to report on ourself and use this wave of publicity as an opportunity to take an introspective look at the craft and perception of the newspaper handed to you fortnightly.

On the morning of Monday 21 February The Saint was the subject of an article in The Scotsman newspaper. Following the appearance of an advert placed by MI5 in half a page of the last issue, journalists picked up on the idea that MI5 was not being socially inclusive in advertising with an elite

university which the principal solicitor of Govan Law Centre in Glasgow described as having “a rarefied atmosphere that has little in common with the realities faced by real people.”

Scottish Television (STV) then included this story in their six o’clock evening news. On the same day, the BBC published an article which quoted my opinion on what the Royal Wedding means to St Andrews. Canadian Television channel CTV then spoke to our deputy editor, Elizabeth Hewitt, in a live interview over Skype on the day the Royal couple visited St Andrews. Our photography chief, Celeste Sloman, was filmed by NBC during the Royal visit and was able to speak to them at length about photography and journalism. Meanwhile, two members of

Tatler magazine accompanied and chatted to Saint staff on the way to Empire after FS 2011.

So, after all this whirlwind media attention and the opportunity to be part of worldwide press coverage of the ongoings in St Andrews, the question to ask is are we student journalists or students who also happen to be journalists? Our coverage of a global event can match that which appeared in paid for press throughout the country. And yet, it is exactly because we are students that we cannot cover events to their full capacity because officials in the university occasionally try to restrain our thoughts and opinions in the event when they could reach the ears of professional journalists and the ink of printing presses in the country.

Throughout the past week The Saint has had to watch what it says. A voice from above gave the impression in an email to us that to speak to press without permission is dangerous and frowned upon. But my argument to writers and editors involved in this newspaper is that our independent status should not take away from our ability to comment and report where appropriate. The Saint does not receive any handouts from the university or the students’ union and we do pay rent for our office space. Although censorship threatens to rear its ugly head, it could be a positive problem for student journalism. It means we must strive to collate evidence to justify everything we say and the evidence will speak for itself.

Editor Rachel Hanrettyeditor@thesaint-online.com Deputy EditorElizabeth Hewitt editor@thesaint-online.com Production Manager Libby Perry production@thesaint-online.com

Business Manager Anna Wollman business@thesaint-online.com

Business Secretary Julia WhitmanMarketing Manager Tamara Raoufimarketing@thesaint-online.com

Web Manager Lauren Wilsonweb@thesaint-online.com

Web DesignerMichael LuckenederNews EditorAndreea Nemes news@thesaint-online.com

News Subeditors Kerry Nesbitt, Hannah Rowand, Henry TurnbullViewpoint Editor Hillevi Gustafsonviewpoint@thesaint-online.com

Viewpoint Subeditor J.H. RamsayFeatures Editor Nina Zietman features@thesaint-online.com

Features Subeditors Samantha Gordine, Susann Landefeld, Melissa SteelArts & Culture Editor Al Bellarts@thesaint-online.com

Arts& Culture SubeditorsRoss Dickie, Rosalie Jones, Ruby Munson-Hurst, Emma O’BrienSport Editor Richard Browne sport@thesaint-online com

Sport Subeditors Alastair Ferrans Ruraigh ThorntonPhotography Chief Celeste Sloman photography@thesaint-online.com

Copy Editors Abigail Lovell, Sarah Whittam, Kate Ellis• Advertising TeamLucy McLaren, Gordon McFadzean, Harriet Phimister, Heather Rowan

Letter to the EditorHi,

Though I generally enjoy your fine publication I have never before contributed to The Saint, but I read an article in the last edition entitled “A message from our sponsors” by one J.H. Ramsay, and it was, frankly, shite. Not a little bit shite, but shite to the extent that it gives me a visceral urge to cut him/her into little pieces and put all those little pieces in sack and then jump up and down on the little pieces in the sack until I either get blisters or I think of something even nastier to do. And I’m capable of being quite imaginative when I’m angry, so I probably would.

Ramsay pedals an incoherent morass of: craven moral relativism; the worst of what appears to be (rather ironically) the old American isolationist tradition; a good bit

of infantile Michael Mooreish demagoguery; a complete lack of knowledge about, insight into or comprehension of, current affairs; and a good healthy dollop of self-contradiction. Furthermore, he appears entirely ignorant of the existence of dictionaries and indeed a very large number of other documents that are probably passingly relevant to the article he mistakenly deems himself competent to author - the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for example, or the Genocide Convention.

If I were to write a response that meets your standards, is there a chance you would include it in the next edition? If I do not get the opportunity to vent my ire in print, I may have to glue a hedgehog to the end of a stick and make my displeasure (vis-a-vis the aforementioned article) apparent via the

medium of repeatedly poking him/her in the head with it either prior to or following shortly after the cutting-sack-jumping procedure.

I’m happy to try and turn up to any group meeting you may have if that accords with your wishes, and am happy to supply my own pencils, but if you have an expenses account I’d like to claim three hundred Valium and a net suitable for trapping small spiky members of the genus Erinaceidae.

Cordially yours,Ben Adams.

To see J.H. Ramsay’s reply, visit w w w. t h e s a i n t - o n l i n e . c o m /viewpoint 

The Saint is an entirely independent newspaper, run by students of the University of St Andrews. It is published fortnightly during term time and is free of charge. The Saint is not affiliated with the University or the Student Association. The text, graphics and photographs are under copyright of The Saint and its individual contributors. No parts of this newspaper may be reproduced without prior permission of the editor. Any views expressed in the newspaper’s viewpoint section are those of the writer’s individual opinion, and not of The Saint. The Saint is printed by Cumbrian Newsprint - Newspaper House, Dalston Road, Carlisle, Cumbria CA2 5UA.

THE SAINTSt Andrews’ Independent Student Newspaper

Point of clarification:

With regards to the article, “Four stu-dents face eviction due to landlord neg-ligence”, published in issue 148 of The Saint, on Thursday 9 December 2010, representatives of the Student’s Asso-ciation would like for it to be clarified that Eleanor Feltham does not recall saying that the letting agency in ques-tion had lost several court cases.

Please submit Letters to the Editor to editor@thesaint-online.com

or

First, a confession: I am not a royal fam-ily aficionado and I cannot say that, if the

UK got rid of them, I’d be really upset. But it’s impossible to deny that royalty has had and continues to have a great significance both nationally and internationally.

A quick flick through the pages of any glossy magazine will indicate that one Brit-ish film in particular will do well at the Os-cars. The plot, a man trying to learn how to speak without stuttering, is simple (imagine trying to pitch that one to a movie studio)

DEVIL’S ADVOCATE: Is the royal wedding eclipsing our education?

Yes NoKelly GlendinninGemma Hinds

Our classes were moved out of Salvator’s Quad and there were inevitable traf-

fic disruptions. Annoying? Yes, but this will hardly lead to all of us failing our degrees.

What is more troubling is that once again the whole world is reminded that the royal couple attended the University of St An-drews, and the long shadow of the wedding is cast all the way up from Westminster and onto our current academic reputation.

According to the Guardian online survey, St Andrews is the fourth leading University after Oxford, Cambridge, and Warwick. Yet while Oxbridge entrance students will be congratulated on their academic prowess, our new students will mainly encounter: ‘Isn’t that the University the Prince went to?’ This limelight may make us well-known, but is it always flattering?

In November, an online article called Miss. Middleton a ‘typical’ St Andrews girl, recognisable by her appearance and taste for luxury. It avoided any reference to the heavy workloads most of us struggle with. I’m no astronomer, but that looks like an eclipse to me.

If the men here think they get off lightly, it might be good to consider that the quali-fications for being a Prince are genetic, not academic. One ponders why it is that Harry Potter did not swamp the academic reputa-tion of Brown University when Emma Wat-son enrolled. Admittedly, the reputation of a British actress is hardly comparable to that of a Prince, but is it the reputation we should be comparing? Maybe we should ask what it means to have the royal couple as the most recognisable yardstick of our academic cali-bre.

but the main character isn’t just anyone. His name is George VI, King of the UK. It adds a certain amount of gravitas to the occasion, doesn’t it? The King’s Speech looks set to emulate the success of the last great award-winning production, The Queen. It would be easy to scoff and to snidely claim that these films owe their achievements to nothing but American nostalgia.

Yet, that’s not the whole story. The British royal family has never stopped being fasci-nating to us. Pomp and circumstance, majes-ty, commemorative plates: we are constantly bombarded with royalty. This stability may not be solace to all but it provides the coun-try with an important counter-balance to any political machinations.

But Prince William is not only a royal, he’s also a man: a man who studied here, a man who met his bride here and a man whose presence here has attracted lots of at-tention to St Andrews. The all-too-obvious girls who come here to search for their own prince might be irritating, but St Andrews has greatly benefited from its royal associa-tion.

Prince William’s visit is only temporary; classes will still continue, staff and students will relocate and his appearance will gener-ate publicity and, hopefully, much-needed funding for our studies.

It might be disruptive. It might be annoy-ing. It might even be against your political principles, but it is publicity, and that can only be a good thing.

If you still disagree, I will tell you one thing. When teaching English in France, the only famous Brit they could name was Will’s loving grandmother: The Queen.

The Royal wedding may not be eclipsing my 10am Friday class, but the reputation of the royal newly-weds may eclipse the aca-demic worth of my degree when I gradu-ate. This is a tough time to be a graduating student, and we all know the competition for jobs is fierce.

I want my future employers to know this University as an academically feverish environment that produces worthy, well educated individuals. Not as the place you come to to catch a Prince.

ViewpointEditor: Hillevi Gustafson Email: viewpoint@thesaint-online.com

Käete Followwil, 2nd year

“There are other things that would be more beneficial to spend money on, but I understand that they want to support the royal couple.”

Laura Clarke, 4th Year

“The university’s priorities since the engagement have been on get-ting publicity, making money and attracting future students and they have forgotten the needs of the current students.”

Allie Young, 2nd year

“The benefits that the university is going to get after having the royals here are more important than one week of displaced classes which is ultimately what it is.”

Dana Shoemaker, 2nd year

“The cultural immersion for all the international students far surpasses any logistical problems we may have experienced.”

Tess Wynn, 2nd Year

“I don’t think it’s necessarily eclipsing our education but I do think that maybe some of the faff is a bit unnecessary, like closing the quad for an entire week.”

Word on the street

10 Viewpoint The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011

The dark side of western humilityOliver Kearns responds to J.H. Ramsay’s arguments about freedom and democracy

In the West, calls in other parts of the world for freedom and

democracy are always a chance for us to congratulate ourselves.

Media commentary on the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere are liberally scat-tered with references to popular demands in those countries for ‘Jeffersonian democracy’, the implicit idea being that citizens of Middle Eastern countries have finally ‘caught the America bug’; inspired by the U.S. invention of a free society, they now want to take their place by our side in the fam-ily of the civilised. Set the debate up this way and smug superiority can easily pass for humility. J.H. Ramsay demonstrated this rather well in the last issue of The Saint.

The beauty of these Tunisian and Egyptian revolutionaries, Ramsay argues, is that “America is letting them do all of the think-ing and curing themselves”. Ramsay happily contrasts this with Iraq, where America “pushed too hard for democracy,” the point being that “[n]ot every nation and

culture should be democratic [or] have rights for its people.” If other cultures are inspired by us, great; if not, who are we to argue against them? Ramsay’s argument per-petuates a rather ridiculous and false debate, between ‘isolation-ists’ like himself and ‘democracy-promoters’.

The real world, unfortunately, doesn’t support the framework of this debate at all, either at home or overseas. It’s revealing that Jefferson is the Founding Father most often held up by Americans as a beacon to the world.

Arch-capitalist and ‘pro-Ameri-can’ Richard Salsman recently wrote in Forbes that Jefferson was the exception; the rest of the Founders “rightly feared and despised democracy as fundamen-tally inimical to liberty and rights” – by which he means the property rights of those economic interests who actually owned America and continue to do so.

Perhaps this helps to explain why the U.S., through dipl omatic support and military aid,

consistently propped up President Mubarak throughout his reign, even as protests began last month.

As President Obama recently noted, “the United States and Egypt have been a partner [sic]

for a long time,” most recently in ‘counter-terrorism efforts’ (read: rendition & torture). Vice-Presi-dent Biden even refused to call Mubarak a dictator.

The tear gas and rifles, tanks and fighter planes, used against demonstrators in Egypt were largely funded and built by the Pentagon and American corpora-tions. The U.S. has by no means been standing idly by in the face

of Egyptian unrest.There’s also a deeper point here

regarding Ramsay’s discussion of freedom. Ramsay wants to claim that for there to be true freedom in the world, values ostensibly held by us cannot be considered universal.

Against the democracy-push-ers, he maintains that standards such as ‘killing is murder’ “don’t, and shouldn’t, apply to every oth-er culture...[W]e have”, he says, “left the imperialist age behind.”

This is surprising since Ramsay’s attitude towards ‘non-Western cultures’ has remarkably colonial undertones. He argues that hanging a woman for infidel-ity isn’t murder in all cultures. Another way of putting this is that the lives of all the world’s women should not be considered equal.

He says not every culture should be democratic. Another way of putting this is that not all cultures are suitably civilised for democracy.

The fact is that Middle Eastern populations living under dictators

have a rich conception of democ-racy and how to attain it. Far from being the result of spontaneous enlightenment, the Egyptian uprising was the culmination of political and independent labour organising since at least the 1990s, in the face of a brutal security ap-paratus. In Iran, a country where infidelity is punished fatally, minority and women’s rights ac-tivists have campaigned alongside trade unionists for years.

Ramsay essentialises ‘non-Western cultures’ in order to maintain Western superiority. Let me be rather blunt in unseating him from this comfortable posi-tion. The West; including both ancient Athens and modern day USA; did not invent democracy. Nor does the West practice democ-racy; not at home, where people are rarely involved in decisions affecting them, and not abroad, certainly not in Iraq.

We have a lot more to learn from Egyptians and Tunisians than they ever had from us.

The views expressed in Viewpoint do not represent the views of The Saint, but are individual opinions.

nicK cassella asks why China is hiding

The protests in Egypt and the Middle East at large have

shaken the political landscape from Tahrir Square to Pearl Square. Moreover, it has also rattled the outlook of many na-tions’ foreign policy; most notably, the United States.

The world’s hegemonic power is struggling to find what hand to play in the Egypt crisis. The U.S. began by saying Mr. Mubarak was an ally and in charge of “stable” government, according to Secre-tary of State Hillary Clinton. In-deed, it was not until 1 February, a week after protests began, that President Obama called Mubarak and asked for a transition that “must be peaceful, and it must begin now.”

Israel is uneasy about change in Cairo, too. The Jewish state is terribly anxious that such protests will give rise to dangerous ideas in the minds of those Palestinians living in the West Bank and also to the potential security risks it poses to the fields of Sinai. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu succinctly expressed his nation’s anxieties by stating that the Is-raeli-Egypt peace treaty needed to be maintained in order to advance “free and democratic values in the Middle East.” In other words, advancing the Israeli state’s pro-tection.

And China? Well, China is too busy keeping their population in the dark as regards to the Egypt uprising to worry about foreign

policy. Anyone who types in “Egypt” in Sina Weibo, a Chinese offshoot of Twitter, will be greeted with a warning stating that “ac-cording to relevant laws, regula-tions and policies, the search results have not been displayed.”

They, the government, are concerned, and legitimately so, that news of such protests will awaken a sleeping giant that is their people.

Once an inkling is formed that the Chinese people could enforce change in their government, the Chinese Communist Party will not feel so smug. As such, the Party’s Publicity Department is on the hot seat.

To quote Inception, China’s government knows that an idea is “like a virus,” and they are deter-mined not to catch this virus.

As a huge global mover-and-shaker, it stuns me that China is able to keep silent. Undoubtedly, they are the financial hegemon of the world. Even though the U.S. still holds the position of the largest economy, this will not last for long.

But it is terribly surprising that on any question of foreign policy, China sinks back into their own little world as the rest of the actual world has to resolve the issues.

The recent Korean stand-off was a perfect example of this. Sure, China told North Korea to cool it off a bit, but in a large part it was America that had to come in and get their hands dirty.

China gets the best of both worlds. They are financially in control, so they know when foreign policy decisions need to occur; all they have to do is look at the U.S., give a gentle reminder about the debt they owe and say “Why don’t you take care of this one?”

It must be terribly frustrating for Washington. When the Egypt

crisis emerged, the whole world turned to America for how they were going to handle the issue. Who would they back? What should they do? How long do they let the anarchy last for? All the while, China sits back, blocking websites and phone connections whilst amassing huge economic gains.

‘We have a lot more to learn from Egyptians and Tunisians than they ever had from us.’

A financial hegemon? Certainly. But until China has to delve into the dirty foreign policy that is required of a hegemon (which will mean allowing its people to see what the rest of the world is up to) they will never be a true hegemon-ic power. And so for now, China hides behind their great wall of apathy.

Reluctant hegemon

Melissa steel is not enjoying the press coverage of Kate and Will

The prince and the media

Boy meets girl, girl uses re-spected degree to become a

professional “accessory buyer”, boy becomes pilot, they break up, they make up over some deer stalking and they get engaged.

In many ways, it’s the typical St Andrews love story. So, why all the media attention? The fact Wil-liam is a prince is, in itself, not un-heard of at this university. Neither is Kate Middleton’s mastery of the “perfectly preened piece of arm candy” act an uncommon sight on Market Street. There is some-thing about this romance that has caught the delirious imagination of news outlets around the world, and I cannot help wondering why.

Distaste for reality and all its bawdy trappings drove me to the insulation of The Bubble and I do not appreciate it being pierced, even if it is by the equally other-worldly society of the media.

Suddenly, gossip columns expect us not only to care about which small country is currently sheltering in the shade of Kim Kardashian’s behind, but also what Kate would look like if she had a Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.

I am forced to relent that I am only human and spreading myself so thinly is just too emotionally taxing. Equally, how am I expect-ed to cope with handling Marxian economics in class by day, and deliberating over whether Pippa is actually the better Middleton sister by night?

If I am going to complete such a superhuman feat, I at least want a Batmobile and a sexually ambig-uous relationship with a sidekick thrown into the bargain.

The dreaded statistic also haunts my every waking mo-ment; one third of all St Andrews students will meet their spouses at this University. Though it is trot-ted out at every available oppor-tunity, I would urge newspapers to examine other pertinent figures; like how many St Andrean unions end in the GUM clinic or only twenty minutes after the Bop has finished.

It’s not a break-up on a foggy Casablancan runway or having Rhett Butler slam a door in your face, but it is just going to have to do.

The figure also becomes slightly less romantic when we consider a species indigenous to these shores (or should I say, the Scores): The Husband Hunter. They travel in packs, surround their pin-striped shirted prey and dazzle them with their sequined outfits.

They also have the sharpest claws of all of the animal king-dom, and will sink them into you and your bank balance, without a second thought.

Before St Andrews is cast as a windswept version of Match.com, you cannot ignore that in reality, it is just another town, filled with the raging hormonal need for gratification of six thousand or so post-pubescents.

A media blackout may have spared us many intimate moments in the couple’s life, but unfortu-nately it cannot save us from the commemorative plates. Their faces are on every magazine, newspa-per cover and on every channel, the last thing I want to find is Kate

Middleton’s hauntingly white smile and perfectly toned frame at the bottom of my meal.

In all honesty, I would rather have Prince Harry memorabilia. At least he seems to have rather interesting nights out. “Harry on the Lash with Unknown Woman” would certainly make a stirring portrait of modern Royal life. Or an article in the latest glossy pub-lication- “Harry - The Morning After: An Intimate Glimpse of One Prince’s Hangover.”

It may not be the most thought-provoking piece ever published, but then again, neither is the meticulous analysis of every outfit Kate Middleton wears, something that seems to fascinate fashion editors around the globe.

For the next few weeks I think I will try to remain incognito, lest an elderly relative ask me if I have met my prince at St Andrews. When I walk past newsagents, I will avert my eyes and change the channel when the latest Royal love-in begins.

Perhaps the shed at the bottom of my garden would make a cosy bunker. Any fellow curmudgeons are welcome to join, where we can discuss issues ranging from the possible collapse of North Africa to WWPHD? (What Would Prince Harry Do?).

Although I would say that I will emerge on 29 April 2011 when the storm is over, I fear that is only when it will truly begin.

We may be entering Spring but to me it is a Nuclear Winter. I just hope my only option is not to learn to stop worrying and love the Royal Family.

Would you pay to read this?MalcOlM canvin laments the future of newspaper journalism

Would you pay to read this? As you read this, there are

literally hundreds of other ways you could be getting your news, facts and opinions. Every day mil-lions of people pick up a news-paper and pore over its column inches, but that number is falling.

In 1980, The Daily Telegraph saw circulation numbers at around 1.4 million, The Sun a few years later in 1987 was pulling in nearly 4 million readers, The Times in 1997 went out to 1 mil-lion people and The Daily Mirror was read by 3.8 million in 1975. Yet these numbers, from sources such as The Press Gazette and Mass Media, take a sharp nose-dive in more recent years.

The general attitude seems to be, why pay for something you can obtain for free? Now, with most newspapers online and thousands of websites offering up-to-date articles and comments you get much more out of the internet than from a daily paper. Also, a contributing factor is the instantaneous coverage and views expressed on television, by 24-hour news channels and current affairs shows.

As all of you will have noticed,

The Saint is a free newspaper, but the question is, would you be willing to pay for it? Is it worth £1.25, 75p, or even 20p surely? Change the price all you want, the principle stands, and the numbers speak for themselves. The Sun now reaches 3 million people, The Times only 500,000, The Daily Mirror is now at 1 million and The Daily Telegraph is now read by 690,000. So across the board we see a decline, more evident amongst the broadsheets than the tabloids.

Increasingly, just to break even, print journalists are becoming simply writers scrawling on the back of advertisements. However, as the circulation numbers drop, the advertisers are pulling out, and with them, their money.

Yet what is to be done? Will the very profession of newspa-per journalism disappear, to be replaced by TV stars and internet bloggers? However, all hope is not lost.

The Daily is a new paper which will not in fact be on paper at all. It will be available for the mo-ment exclusively on the iPad as an e-newspaper. The reader will pay a subscription of only $0.99/week,

and the paper will be delivered wirelessly to their device every morning. I can attest to the bril-liance of e-newspapers as I have an Amazon Kindle, and through that, I can get subscriptions (although at a much higher price than The Daily, around £9.99/month) to many of the leading UK newspapers. Every morning, there they are, waiting on my Kindle; so easy. All the same articles as the print version, and all for a much cheaper price, as there is no infra-structure of printing and transport to sort out.

While this is still a growing market and we have yet to see what the effects will be, initial numbers look good, with sales of subscriptions increasing steadily. Could this be the saviour of print media?

Why not sell e-papers as a sort of premium news medium, in much the same way that bottled water has created a market, de-spite nearly free water being avail-able to consumers. With these new papers on the cusp of technology, the market has taken a huge leap forward and this may just be the right direction, even if it does cost 33p an issue.

The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011 Viewpoint 11

The Shibboleth

Do you listen to STAR? With an average listenership of

only six people, odds are that you don’t. But if the current station management has anything to say about it, this will soon change.

Four of the senior committee members of STAR have recently sparked quite a stir among the presenters and producers at the station. During the inter-semester break they took the decision that STAR will adopt a playlist system for choosing music for the majority of shows. Their main arguments for this was to create a more consistent sound and increasing listenership.

How this is meant to work is that each week the music team puts together two playlists with a total of 80 songs, and presenters would have to choose songs for their shows off those playlists. This is how most major radio stations work, but not how STAR has been doing it. There will still be certain specialty shows, but not to the same extent as there has been.

This would then, according to them, create a STAR sound that would encourage more people to listen. At the moment most people simply tune in to a show because their friend is on it; this playlist is supposed to combat that.

Anyone who attended the three-hour long mammoth of a meeting on Monday 21 February can attest that not everyone agrees that this is the best direction for the station. After the four people behind the decision held their 40-minute presentation, the crowd had a chance to share their views, and trust me; they had not been distracted by the flashy slideshow that accompanied the damage-control speech.

As a presenter on STAR myself, I was initially angry with this decision. They were asking me to to conform to their playlist without question. This feeling seemed to be shared by many of the other people at the meeting that day, many felt even stronger about it than I did.

This argument really boils down to what STAR means; both to the people involved and the listeners. At the moment, STAR is an exercise in vanity for the presenters, a chance for someone to share their thoughts and their music with the airwaves.

And to be fair this is what personal blogs, Tumblr accounts and podcasts are for; it’s not radio. And that is what it has always been. STAR has been for the presenters more than the listeners, and a lot of people are ok with that.

The new directive is attempting to turn this pastime into radio. It is always hard to change, and asking people to

do something that they didn’t sign up for probably won’t go down too well. But the way this decision was made is almost more controversial than the decision itself.

Many of the committee members apparently found out the same way as the rest of STAR; through an e-mail sent out right before the start of the semester.

During the course of the question-and-answer session some of the committee members expressed exactly how they felt about the change, and trust me, they were not all happy about it. However, it should be noted, that once the motion was put to the vote at a committee meeting, it passed by 17 votes in favour, and 5 against.

Since it was initially made in a dictatorial way and then thrown at people without warning, the four henchmen of the STAR apocalypse managed to shoot themselves in the foot before even getting out of the gate. No one likes being told what to do, especially when you have been free to do whatever you want for so long.

To be perfectly honest though, something has to change. If the purpose of STAR is to be the student radio station, they need to get students to listen to it. Who knows if this is the right course of action; it’s far too early to tell.

With the Student Association elections coming up soon, this debacle might even get bigger. If a candidate runs on the platform of reversing all changes, it might carry a significant amount of disgruntled voters at the expense of someone more experienced who was involved with this change. This would probably be more detrimental to the future of STAR, than testing out this new system for a semester.

There is no denying that the execs of STAR botched this change, however if they can salvage it from the wreckage this might actually be a good decision. People who are on STAR for no other purpose than to showcase their own personality will never agree with this decision. But if the station management can get their act together and find a way of making their playlist work, get the presenters on their side and find a balance of high quality specialist shows, STAR might actually become a good radio station.

However, that is a tall order and will require a lot of work. If the playlist doesn’t work it will be far from the miracle remedy they sold it as, and might drive more people away.

So to the STAR bosses; the six listeners, and I, are watching you.

By: Hillevi GustafsOn

12 Viewpoint The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011

Jack Bunburry elaborates on the virtues of vice

I love smoking. It is, in one over-taxed stick of death, a perfect

metaphor for exactly how shit everything worth enjoying is. I do mean everything, because I have yet to find something worth spending time on that is better than smoking.

Let me add this caveat: I am perfectly well aware of the dangers of tobacco use. I have seen as many pictures of diseased lungs as I need to, although feel free to send me let-ters explaining just how sad your grandfather’s death was. I’m run-ning low on toilet roll and scratch paper, so I could use them.

In fact, my own grandmother was killed by smoking. Granted, she tripped over an empty pack and hit her head, but it still killed her. In the end, so does pretty much everything else worth doing.

Smoking is, essentially, hedo-nism at its finest and most honest. A really good cigarette is like taking a shit. It stinks, you feel a bit lighter afterwards, and it’s a reminder of how disgusting it is to be human. The fact that other things people consider enjoyable aren’t as bla-tantly vile and sexy doesn’t make them any better.

I could sling shit about the Na-zis banning smoking like a chim-panzee in heat but it wouldn’t make smoking seem any better to

you. That’s not the point. The point isn’t that smoking’s not horrible for you or only slightly less disgusting than (insert profane imagery here).The point is that whatever you en-joy sucks just as bad as an activ-ity based entirely around inhaling through a thin opening.

You see, smoking isn’t worth enjoying despite being self destruc-tive, it’s worth enjoying because it’s self destructive. Every single activ-ity worth doing brings you that much closer to death. The better ones usually just bring you there a bit more quickly. To sum up: Life is ter-rible, death is its climax, and smoking is just the hot chick who gets you there faster than you had previously thought possible.

Of course no one is going to agree that the things they devote their time to suck more than Paris Hilton at a “free publicity for be-ing a whore” conven-tion. (Hey, the imagery can’t all be gold. I’m on a deadline and there’s a very attractive girl I should be cooly ignor-ing in the room.) (No,

that joke wasn’t subtle, but is sub-tlety really what you’re reading this article for?)

Obviously, no one wants to think that everything they enjoy is slowly destroying them. White suprematists also don’t want to believe the holocaust happened. Unfortunately, wanting to believe something doesn’t make it any more true. If it did, none of my ex-girlfriends would be manipulative

bitches with diagnosed personality disorders.

But it doesn’t and now I under-stand first hand why an anorexic girl with borderline personality disorder who happens to weigh less than you is never going to be as sweet as you think she is while she’s trying to use you to get back at her ex-boyfriend. Not that I’m bitter or anything.

On the topic of bitter men:

What’s your viewpoint?Comment on any of this week’s articles at www.thesaint-online.com

Thomas Hobbes was right. It isn’t just my editor who is, “nasty, cruel, brutish, and short.” Life is too. For-tunately for us, we have luxuries afforded to us that Hobbes did not.

The poor man lived in a world where it was impossible to spend an evening chain smoking, binge drinking, and eating chips while pretending to give a damn about men he’d never meet kicking a checkered ball around a field. But

we few, we happy few, we band of imbeciles can feel free to in-dulge as much as we like in the gleefully wanton pleasure that surround us. At, of course, the small price that these activities will slowly kill us.

The fact is, the most natural state for the human body is one of decay. Sitting in a room breath-ing will slowly kill you. Sitting in a room breathing delicious car-cinogenic smoke kills you faster and better.

Take moderation and make like a modern deity: Say to hell with it. Your death isn’t escap-able. Your ability to enjoy the next few hours of your life damn well is.

Your life is a cigarette. You can leave it on a shelf and let it slowly rot, or light that shit up and in-hale.

FeaturesEditor: Nina Zietman features@thesaint-online.com

To many, RAF Leuchars is noth-ing more than the distant sound

of plane engines. Nevertheless, it is a rumble that is becoming increas-ingly hard to ignore.

Due to the Ministry of Defence spending cuts, outlined in the Strategic Defense Review, the Royal Air Force has already announced its plans to close Kinloss on 31 July 2011, one of four remaining RAF bases in Scotland. It is set to lose one of its three other locations

in Scotland- either Leuchars or Lossiemouth. Both the local and international implications of the base’s closure would be monumen-tal. It will affect everything from how students travel to St Andrews to national security, never mind the economic impact on Leuchars itself. The concerns are so prevalent that the RAF Leuchars Task Force - comprised of politicians, business leaders and the local community -has been set up to save the air base.

Tim Brett, Liberal Democrat councillor for the Taybridgehead Ward and representative of the Task Force, gave The Saint insight into the dramatic consequences of closing Leuchars, both for students and the wider society.

Perhaps the most emotive case for saving Leuchars is its status as one of the chief defenders of United Kingdom airspace. The base is the second main Typhoon operating base in Britain. From March 2011,

Typhoons will make up the ‘Quick Reaction Alert’ service for Britain, a service that will respond to any immediate threats perceived in British air. As a Typhoon operating base, Leuchars is a key tool in the country’s national defence. Its close proximity to largely populated ar-eas is more of a reason to prevent its closure, argues Brett: RAF Leuchars is within 80 miles of four million people, whereas Lossiemouth is more remote.

However, it is not only the fate of Scotland’s Central Belt that must be taken into account. This particular set of Typhoons are used to defend areas as far south as Newcastle. The councillor argues that Leuchars’ convenient location and status as a Typhoon base is vital in protecting national security from international threats, and we must “check we are alive to that.”

In addition, the RAF has recently

Melissa Steel reports on plans to close RAF Leuchars and rumours of a commercial airport taking its place

The End of Leuchars?

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Above: Tornados at the RAF Leuchars Air Show 2010

Continued on page14

14 Features The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011

My turn to spill the tea...

There are few things better in life than a good To Do list.

Actually, as I write this, I can think of plenty of things that are better than a To Do list. Eating brie on digestive biscuits for one thing, a cancelled tutorial being the other. But it’s lists that keep life in order, they keep the world spinning the right way and all of us from falling off the planet.

Anyone who has ever met me will know that I have lists liter-ally coming out of my ears. There is something enormously com-forting about having everything you need to do written down in ink on paper. Whether it’s to remember to ring the opticians or devise a plan to become The Times’ next food critic, lists rule my life, for better or for worse. Fellow listophiles will surely empathise with that feeling of clarity after you’ve just emptied your brain onto the page; it’s such a relief, like having a temporary brain transplant, but with less permanent damage.

However, lists are deceptive. Because you only write a finite number of points on your daily list, you always feel as though the end is in sight. A light at the end of your ink-penned tunnel. Now, let me just point out now: there is no end to the To Do list. There is always a new one available to take its place. Minutes later and your list lost at the bottom of your handbag, amongst old Boots receipts and half empty packets of chewing gum. But it’s okay, not to worry, there’s always time to make a new list. And bring order to the world once more.

Skin-based lists often prove the most effective. You can’t escape them or lose them at the bottom of your bag. I suppose there is always the risk of ink poisoning, but what’s a little septicemia compared to a missed appoint-ment? Just one tip – don’t go into an exam with your daily list still written on your hand. Even though “Book bikini wax” is hardly a secret formula to facili-

tate a first in a Medieval History exam, the examination officer will watch you like a hawk for the next three hours.

There is one small problem with this list obsession of mine. If it’s not on the list, then it doesn’t exist. This has become my motto in life, and it’s a rather dangerous one at that. Particularly when it comes to the less important things, like picking my brother up from school or remembering to feed the dog. Unwritten ac-tivities will somehow magically complete themselves. That’s the way the universe works.

After years of list making, I have learned one simple fact: men just do not plan. Most men don’t even own a diary. I know, I can’t believe it either. How do they remember what to do from day to day? How do they prevent that middle of the night freak-out, when you suddenly realise you’ve forgotten to defrost the beef?

The answer is: they don’t. Forward planning is not some-thing that enters into the male consciousness. Anyone who has tried to book a holiday with a man or even plan a dinner date can testify to this. Whilst I’m sat in bed, surrounded by a flurry of self-created reminders, men just lie back and fall asleep. They retain all the useful bits and let everything else, like frozen beef and dentist appointments, drift out of their brains, like sand through a sieve.

Now it seems unfair to pick on the male sex in this way. I’m sure there are plenty of well-organised men out there who have lovely, pristine diaries and actually use those tiny electronic diaries in their Blackberrys. I’ve still to meet one of these men. If you are out there, perhaps you can reveal yourself to me? Then we can sit and make lists together, and laugh at people who cruise through their list-less lives without a care in the world. Because we know something they don’t – if it’s not on the list, then it doesn’t exist.

Dropbox

The end of essays lost in cyberspace, when your laptop crashes. Back up all your important documents for free in Dropbox and access them on your iPhone.

invested heavily in the future of Leuchars with over £20 million spent modernising the runway alone in 2008. Thanks to this invest-ment, the runway has a lifespan of another 25 years. “You could argue, why do that, then close it down?” says Brett. This point seems particularly valid considering the MoD’s claims that it may have to close the base for financial reasons. From a military standpoint, losing Leuchars would certainly bring with it many challenges in terms of national defence and financial loss.

However, there also exists a much more human side to the closure of the Leuchars base. Since Curtis Fine Papers closed, the RAF has been one of the town’s major sources of employment, providing jobs for over 1900 people. “If these people were to leave, Leuchars Primary School could lose up to 65% of its pupils,” Brett projects. This could cause a drastic change to the way the local education system is run, and the RAF Task Force’s dossier estimates that 11% of Madras College pupils in St Andrews have parents working for the RAF. The results of this would undoubtedly affect class sizes and possibly even the number of teach-ers employed.

Despite this, there are many ways in which Leuchars could be converted, should it close as an airbase. The 700 homes currently housing RAF employees could be taken over by the council to pro-vide cheaper housing in the area. This is a contentious issue, as many would welcome less expensive housing, especially so close to a costly St Andrews. The dossier does state that Fife house prices are lower than the national average. As a result, other sellers would be forced to lower their prices in order to compete, an issue that raises as much ire as approval in the local community.

However, those on the RAF base may not have cause to despair quite yet. The MoD’s commitment to ceasing its presence in Germany means that some 45,000 people - mainly servicemen and women and their families - still need to be brought back to Britain, and this is something that Leuchars’ facilities would be ideal for.

Rumours that Leuchars may be turned into a commercial airport have long been circulating around Fife. In fact, Ryanair and Easyjet have both expressed interest in the past, and “the base already receives flights from golfers travelling to St

Andrews,” explains Brett. Does this hint at a new future for Leuchars? “We must take into consideration whether the local infrastructure could cope with this, especially the roads around Fife,” he says. While this path would bring more visitors to the region and could even bring students directly to St Andrews, Fife is still a network of small communities joined by often winding roads. Before any changes are made, one must question the community’s ability to cope with the deluge of budget travellers and the inevitable rent-a-cars a new airport would bring.

St Andrews is renowned for its large international community, but even the students have their doubts about how useful an airport would be. Wisconsinite Tess Wynn com-ments that, “although I would love a commercial airport at Leuchars...I suspect it would be more ex-pensive than flying to Edinburgh or Glasgow.” On the other hand, fellow American Alex Babinchak, argues, “if Leuchars was a commer-cially viable airport, the huge hassle of travel to Edinburgh or Glasgow would be eliminated. It would be of huge commercial and tourist ben-efit and it would save a lot of jobs in the area [that] the closure of the base would take away.” Yet again, Leuchars’ closure presents another controversial possibility.

While politicians and students debate the future of Leuchars, it is the people of the base who will be truly affected. As the planes keep flying, it is the people of the community - whose children at-tend the local school and who are currently earning a living in limbo - who wait with bated breath. A lit-tle further along the coast we may grumble at the roar of the aircrafts, but their silences may be even more worrying.

‘Ryanair and Easyjet have both reportedly been interested in Leuchars in the past’

Above: Leuchars town centre

Above: Tim Brett, Lib Dem councillor

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Features 15The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011

The truth about cats and dogs

The Ripple Effect

It seems to be a common stere-otype that students do not make

good pet owners. There a variety of reasons for this, but they all seem to boil down to the same refrain: we’re just not responsible enough. Every creature you buy in a pet shop comes with a responsibil-ity and how people handle that responsibility is the crucial factor in what type of pet owner they are.

Perhaps this is why the staff of the only pet store in St Andrews, Acorn, have strict rules when it comes to allowing students adopt a pet. Only 3 of the 20 students surveyed on the street in St Andrews have owned a pet whilst at university.

Acorn’s main concern is that stu-dents’ living arrangements tend to be transient and that students don’t take this into consideration when they adopt. Acorn staff member, Gaye Guclu, tells that “every year at the start or end of semester we get animals abandoned on the doorstep or brought in because peo-ple haven’t bothered to think what happens to them after they leave.”

Written permission from landlords is a must when adopting; you must pass a series of questions designed to test whether you genuinely want an animal or have just come in on a whim. Living arrangements do make adopting animals difficult when halls and most landlords have a ‘no pet’ policy; everyone has heard the story of the friend of a friend who sticks the goldfish under the bed during inspections. Second year student Ashley Smith laments, “my flatmate and I would love a pet, but what would we do with it during the breaks when we both have to fly home?” There is no doubt it is a valid concern but does it necessarily make students irresponsible owners?

With larger animals, such as cats and dogs, there is a real concern that the student lifestyle just does not allow these pets the time and level of care they require. However, concerns over responsibility apply to the public in general, as well as students. It is the person that ultimately makes a bad pet owner, regardless of whether they are a

student or not. There are as many pets with good student owners as there are pets with bad non-student owners.

Pets can be a welcomed member of any student household. As third year Hannah Williams attests, “sometimes it’s just nice to come

Isabel Lachenauer gives her predictions for the outcome of discord in the greater Middle East

home after a bad day and cuddle up with my cat, it always calms me down.” Animals can aid depression, as well as providing young adults with their first taste of responsibil-ity for another creature.

The problem with stereotypes is that not everyone fits them, but

as students, we tend to suffer the effects all the same. In this case, so long as careful thought and research is put into owning a pet, there is no reason why one should not be anything but a happy addition to any household, student or not.

Rachel Bell investigates whether students are responsible enough to own a pet

After 18 days of demonstrations calling for his removal, former

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has at last retired to Sharm al-Sheikh, leaving power in the hands of the Egyptian military. Likewise, Tunisia’s Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali lies ill in a Saudi Arabian hospital, as the people he ruled for 23 years begin to form a new democratic government. Though the dust has begun to settle in Egypt and Tunisia, it seems that the kettle of revolution is boiling over elsewhere in the greater Middle East.

Facilitated by social network-ing and media sharing websites, the successes of the Tunisian and Egyptian demon-s t r a t i o n s have

spread like wildfire across the Arab world and beyond, even before Mubarak announced that he was stepping down. Revolution, it seems, is infectious. As anti-gov-ernment demonstrations erupt in Bahrain, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, and Djibouti, the question on every pair of lips from Rabat to Tehran is the same: who is next?

Admittedly, it’s difficult to keep up with the lightning-fast pace of events. In an informal sampling of St Andrews students, it was found that few knew of movements be-yond the well publicised Egyptian demonstrations and much less why they were occurring.

When looking at the dem-onstrations in Bahrain

and elsewhere, it is important to

remember that every Middle Eastern country is composed of a unique blend of political, religious, tribal and colonial

influences. As a result, the reasons

for demonstrations and the demands of

protestors vary widely

from country to country. However, there are general trends that con-tribute to unrest. Elements such as widespread poverty, repressive autocracy, lack of opportunity, unwanted foreign influence, and under-representation of minorities have led to a strong resentment that has long existed in many Middle Eastern societies.

Once protests begin, the number of people demonstrating, as well as the amount of fear inspired through repression, have a great effect on the outcome of the movement. In Egypt, for example, the sheer size of the multitudes swarming central Cairo and their resilience in the face of government intimidation turned the tide of the revolution and ultimately toppled the stubborn Mubarak. In Bahrain, the situation is more complex.

Bahrain is a small island kingdom of 1.3 million people, lo-cated off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Geographically, it has historically found itself at the crux of Western interests. In the 1920s and 30s, when neighboring Iran was still a part of the British Empire, the British often stoked Bahraini sectarian tensions in order to weaken the state and ensure the strength of their influ-ence in the region.

These tensions are still present

today: though Bahrain’s population is about 70% Shiite Muslim, the ruling al-Khalifa dynasty is Sunni and enjoys the support of its pow-erful Sunni neighbor, Saudi Arabia. Bahraini Shiites, who comprise the majority of protestors, have long complained of discrimination by the Sunni regime in access to state jobs, housing and healthcare. They demand a more democratic consti-tution and a change of government, with requests ranging from the complete overthrow of the mon-archy to the removal of the prime minister, who has been in power since 1971.

The Western media has given the “Pearl Revolution” the royal treatment since demonstrations began on 14th February. This is fortunate for the protesters, who are confident that their demands will be met, thanks to the interna-tional attention such exposure has brought.

However, it is speculated that if Bahrain’s unrest results in a democratic government and Shiite political parties take power, the revolution bug would spread to Shiites in Saudi Arabia - one of the world’s largest exporters of oil and staunch ally of the United States.

A bloody upheaval in Saudi Arabia like Bahrain’s could be

disastrous for its Western allies. Additionally, Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet. This, paired with the concern of maintaining stability in its neighbouring Saudi Arabia, makes Bahrain an immedi-ate security concern to the U.S.

Now that the situation in Bahrain has calmed and foreign journalists and cameramen have turned their eye on Libya, the question remains: what’s next for Bahrain? Because of its strategic importance to influen-tial Western powers, it is unlikely that Bahrain will experience the kind of Egyptian table-turning that left analysts gobsmacked. Though the fate of the monarchy is uncer-tain, one can tentatively predict that the government will undertake enough serious reform to placate the Shiite demonstrators.

Then again, as St Andrews’ own Professor Ray Hinnebusch once said, “Never predict in the Middle East.” It is too soon to speculate what sort of influence the new democratic governments of Tunisia and Egypt will have on regional politics or if Bahrain will join them in casting off the incumbent re-gime. It is certain, however, that the balance of power in the region is shifting, and dramatically so. Only time will tell what ultimately lies in store for the Middle East.

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16 Features The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011

QUOTE OF THE FORTNIGHT

“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” - Gertrude Marx

Jobs in marketing, PR and ad-vertising are highly sought-after

with their promise of creative and exciting careers. The UK Graduate Careers Survey 2010, conducted by High Fliers Research Ltd, found that the media and marketing sec-tors were listed among the most popular destinations of last year’s graduating class. The large demand for media jobs among university students creates a very competitive industry.

Heather Baker, Founding Director of the London PR agency TopLine Communications, knows the challenges of setting foot in the media world. Some 90 percent of applications sent to Topline Communications go straight in the dust bin. “We open every applica-tion we receive,” Baker says, “but with CVs coming through almost every day, we have to be quite discerning.”

This leaves no room for sloppi-ness: carelessly drafted or obviously recycled applications diminish any prospects of success. According to Baker, the most common mistakes made are neglecting the importance of exact details, like addressing the cover letter to the wrong gender, using American spelling applying for a job at a British firm, or simply missing the point in lengthy per-

sonal statements.It is important to conduct

thorough research and know the company you are applying to very well before applying. A company’s website is usually a good source for easily accessible background information. You also need to be aware of the reasons why you have the right qualifications and should be hired for the job. Baker says, “A brief but carefully constructed covering letter that spells out why

Stand out from the CrowdSusann Landefeld talks to Heather Baker of TopLine Communications about job prospects in PR

the candidate wants to work for us, specifically, and which identi-fies their unique skills will usually catch our attention.“

When she came to London in 2004, Baker experienced first-hand how hard it is to break into an industry as competitive as PR. Recruitment agencies are a popu-lar option to land the dream job. However, it is always advisable to show initiative by contacting potential employers directly and thus demonstrating possession of the qualities employers specifically look for in applicants. “I sent my CV out to around 20 agencies a day for a month,” Baker recalls. Eventually, she received three interview invita-tions and three offers.

Strong communication skills, efficiency and organisational talent are key features of a job hunter for a successful future in PR. Most other, industry-related, skills are learned on the job. According to Baker, applicants’ degree subjects are ir-

relevant as long as they possess the required qualities. “I would rather meet someone who has excelled in a Geography or Ballet degree be-cause they are passionate about the

subject,” she says, “than someone with an average PR qualification.”

Passion and commitment are highly valued traits. Regardless of the type of extracurricular activi-ties listed on your CV, “if you can demonstrate the ability to start something and stick with it, that’s a major plus point,” Baker says. Active involvement in a society, membership in a sports club, in-ternships or work experience all

‘I sent my CV out to around 20 agencies a day for a month, landed 3 interviews and 3 offers’

Heather Baker, Founding

Director of TopLine

indicate a visible red threat through the pursuit of personal interest.

“I would also advise setting up a LinkedIn account and building your network,” Baker says, “I’m usually impressed by a graduate who has understood the power of social networking for business.” LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking site online with more than 90 million users in over 200 countries. A range of free and fee-based services provides a platform for companies, employers and employees to make connec-tions, find jobs and business op-portunities, and get career advice.

In the age of Facebook, an active virtual presence on social network-ing sites has become an integral part of most students’ daily lives. However, very few students make use of the enhanced career opportu-nities provided by professional net-works. A recent study conducted by the University of New Hampshire has shown that 96% of university

‘I’m usually impressed by a graduate who understood the power of social networking for business’

students use Facebook every day compared to only 10% of students using LinkedIn on a daily basis.

Ultimately, when it comes down to landing a highly sought-after job in the industry, it might just be

the little details considered along the way, such as extracurricular commitment and business connec-tions, that set you apart from the competition.

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Features 17The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011

To drive or not to drive?Ananda Rabindranath looks at whether having a driving licence is really a necessity for students

As I sit here and look at my bicycle leaning up against

the wall, I am reminded that I am one of a number of students at the University of St Andrews who does not have a valid UK driving licence. But how many other students are there like me? Does this even have anything to do with driving or owning a vehicle? Should I place attaining a licence higher up my list of priorities? Clearly there are many questions here, so it’s time to get on my bike.

To start, I set up a quick survey online and advertised it through Facebook, that all pervading influ-ence on student life. Surprisingly,

the survey received 57 responses in just a few days. Clearly this is a burning issue. 65% of the “mas-sive” 57 students who responded hold a UK driving licence across a fairly evenly spread year of study. However, the great diversity in opinion regarding licences is some-thing I did not expect.

The costs involved clearly dis-suade a fair number of students from taking lessons, sitting the test, buying a vehicle, insuring it, paying road tax, passing an MOT, maintaining it, paying for fuel, and the list goes on. Especially at St Andrews, where everything is within walking distance, some

students find that the costs are simply not feasible, and so do not get themselves a licence. Rachel Popper, a second year English student, outlines the problem with minimal fuss: “Basically, it would be an unnecessary expense which I cannot afford.” The “unneces-sary” sentiment is echoed by un-dergraduate Ashley Jaymes, who stopped driving lessons, “knowing that I am going to be in St Andrews for the next few years where every-thing is within walking distance.” However, both agree that a licence will be important later in life, and Popper explains, “I would hope to have my license before I start a family, as I wouldn’t want to have to take my kids on a bus or train to get everywhere.”

Jaymes agrees, “a licence is cer-tainly useful at any stage in life and almost certainly will be necessary in the future regarding employment.”

Cost aside, it is clear that many students believe attaining a driv-ing licence is a vital part of their development, and not just for driving. James Taylor, a third year Chemistry student who has already gained his licence, sees it as “practically a necessity later in life.” For him, “having to cut down

job choices due to not having a car to commute with is not an option.”

Cathy Andrew, a fourth year psychologist, stresses that her licence “is very useful, even though I do not use my car very often. It will help in getting a job later on.” A driving licence is, then, another feature in the all-important cur-riculum vitae.

Dr Chris Lusk, director of stu-dent services at St Andrews, is fairly clear in her opinion on the matter. In her words, “having a driving licence symbolises how a job appli-cant has thought outside academia and is more practical and flexible, spending money on broadening his/her scope.” Furthermore, “if I am given two similar applicants for

‘67% of students in St Andrews hold a UK driving licence’

a job, I would choose the one with a driving licence.” For Dr Lusk, a driving licence is much like an extra-curricular activity that has been formally assessed. Thus, it represents far more than just the ability to drive.

Dr Lusk also feels that the “sustainable agenda” we see so publicly promoted today has had an effect on the number of stu-dents who enter University with a driving licence. “Ten years ago students saw a licence as part of their portfolio, an essential skill to take to University after school. Not so anymore.”

In order to track down this “sustainable agenda”, I spoke to Roddy Yarr, the environment and energy manager at St Andrews Estates. Yarr believes, “a licence is a tool which can be very useful, es-pecially a clean licence.” However, he does not encourage more cars in St Andrews: “Students don’t need a car in St Andrews, they can wait until they graduate.” Yarr’s feelings on the matter go beyond sustain-able energy concerns, however, and road safety is a matter close to his heart. As far as he is concerned, we either need fewer vehicles on the road or more continuous testing for drivers.

Estates also carry out their own surveys on student travel (Student Travel Survey 2009). In their slightly larger survey, 1241 students were surveyed, and it was found that 3% of students drove to lectures compared to 94% who walked or cycled. Though this doesn’t neces-sarily equate with the number of students who have licences, the number of vehicles in St Andrews seems to be in decline. In 2007-09, Estates issued 803 parking permits to students. In 2009-11, 612 permits were issued – so, either student’s are parking less or there are fewer vehicles amongst students more recently.

Clearly, having a driving li-cence does not just enable a student to drive but is also an important tool when looking for employment. The decision of whether or not to drive can be made independently of having a licence; and perhaps in the competitive workplace of today, more of us should aim to gain as much of an advantage as possible and get a licence. As I finish this article, I cannot help but hear the words of Eleanor Parr, a second year psychologist, ringing in my ears - “It felt like something I ought to do to be a grown up.” Maybe it’s time I grew up.

Phot

o: T

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man

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18 Features The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011 The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011

This

wee

k’s

photo

court

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of:

Kat

hry

n R

obin

son

Everyone secretly fancies that one person - but doesn’t know their name. Let us know and we could publish your LOVE SPOTTED in the next issue of The Saint!

Here are a selection of this week’s finds:

Text LOVE SPOTTED with your secret crush to: 07823771189.

If you think you’ve been spotted, then text back with a response! You may end up with a date...

Tall Byronic guy at Tory Tuesday with the glasses. Join me for some conservative cuddles? MN

Cute rugby guy with the black and white checkered hoody, you can practice your tackles on me any-time… PC

Boy who hands out Red Bull in the library - you give me wings.... BR

Rowdy maiden researching syphilis on the second floor of the library. You can pass it onto me anyday... JR

Everyone has that one photo they never want to see ever again. My dad has many. I’m sure yours does too.

so, why not Send it to: features@thesaint-online.com

Embarrassing Dads

Week in Pictures 19The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011

The Royal Visit

Photos:

Celeste Sloman

Friday 25 February 2011

Arts & CultureEditor: Al Bell Film Editor: Ross Dickie Style: Ruby Munson-Hirst Stage: Emma O’Brien Music: Rosalie Jones arts@thesaint-online.com

French Fancy: Potiche

Only in its seventh year and supposedly the fastest growing film event in the UK, The Glasgow Film Festival caters to the punters, offering a variety of events and screenings to suit all ages and tastes. The eleven-day event kicked off on 17 February with a screen-ing of Potiche, a “perfume scented romp” from director François Ozon. The setting was the marvellous Glasgow Film Theatre, the home to West coast cinephiles, and they even rolled out a humble, mud-stained red carpet to greet minor celebrities and sponsors.

Potiche is a fluffy, screwball comedy starring the wonderful Catherine Deneuve as Suzanne, a bored, trophy housewife in the

sexist 70s. Her husband - played by the not so charismatic Fabrice Luchini - owns an umbrella fac-tory, but after his workers tire of his tyranny and strike, he suffers a heart attack, leaving nobody but his wife Suzanne to take over the busi-ness and thus prove she has more intelligence and strength than her family believes. The film starts off with a few genuine yet forgettable laughs, and the costuming seems very on-trend for Spring/Summer 2011 thanks to the 70s styling. But as Suzanne’s husband collapsed on the floor, squirming and clutching his chest with his tongue wagging, this ridiculously unconvincing and clichéd portrayal of a sudden heart attack left me contemplating when

the next glass of free fizz was due to arrive.

Gerard Depardieu makes an appearance as the long lost lover of Suzanne and he dominates the screen both with his likeable de-meanour and larger than life frame. Despite sporting the most ludicrous hairstyle in film history, he is still very charming and delivers a performance both comedic and sweet. The plot is completely pre-dictable and there is more than one cringe-worthy moment in which Depardieu and Deneuve sing and dance whilst looking somewhat embarrassed. I couldn’t help but long for the golden days when Deneuve could look drop-dead gor-geous, dripping with glamour and

elegance, even whilst Luis Bunuel lobbed cow dung at her in Belle de Jour. That scene from Bunuel’s 60s surrealist drama provides a helpful summary of Potiche: It showcases the fabulous Deneuve and, unfortu-nately, it’s also full of bullshit.

It is interesting that the Glasgow Film Festival decided upon Potiche as its opening number. It may be a clever move on their part to exhibit a movie that is accessible to audi-ences unfamiliar with foreign lan-guage film, therefore encouraging festival virgins to get involved and expand their horizons. However, for the typical film festival fanatic, Potiche seems somewhat silly.

Had the Glasgow Film Festival team not delivered such a memo-

François Ozon’s latest film opens the 2011 Glasgow Film Festival by Ishbel Beeson

FILM | GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL INSIDE ARTS & CULTURE

The Critics

The verdict on Radiohead’s The King of Limbs

Page 23

Style

A round up of this year’s FS

Page 21

BooksThe lowdown on the most popular student cookbooks

Page 25

Art

Photography and Painting by students

Page 26

rable and professionally executed after-party to accompany the screening, I would have left disap-pointed. Thankfully, the goody bags loaded with Urban Outfitters products, and the exotic free cock-tails which continued to flow into the wee hours, made up for the un-derwhelming opening film. As the closing credits came to an end, the lighting changed dramatically. A bearded hipster DJ in a Breton top appeared next to some decks that somehow popped up from beneath the seats. Canapés were in circula-tion and champagne was being poured, resulting in a cosmopolitan bash that really demonstrated just how stylish, fun and glamorous Glasgow can be.

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The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011 Arts & Culture 21

So the “Fashion Show”, and more impor-tantly the V.I.P Fashion Show experience. And ultimately the question on my and my wallet’s delicate lips: What did we get?

Well, the bright bulbs of the FS tents beamed glamorous and promising light upon the dull science labs on North Haugh offering everything that could and could not be ex-pected from a circus of colourfully clad cads in bright trousers, ties and jackets formicating amongst elegant and promiscuous women. The scene was certainly one worth marvel-ling at.

Having seated myself at my table and enjoyed my champagne and gin courtesy of my seventy pound ticket, I stopped to ac-knowledge Trekstock, the charity which FS and I was in turn supporting.

The show began with resplendent triumph, pounding “grab-your-crotch-and-punch-your-fist” beats which circulated amongst the enthused audience.

And so the skinny, strong, whey-faced and follically blessed strutted the u-shaped stage with rote professionalism, drawing us from our table right to their venerable feet. But, did “rapture taste” so sweet? Did I really “feel like throwing my hands up in the air”?

Of course, but I can’t help but feel that amongst the DJ’s thumping decks and the inchoate alcoholism, that everyone was ex-cited not by the ‘Fashion Show’ but by seeing familiar faces and hearing familiar songs.

And so whilst my truculence might appear aimed solely at the spectacle of the “Fashion Show”, I remain dubious about whether FS was indeed a “Fashion Show.

Ignoring my own shellback querulous-ness, it still seems to me to be another event where a coterie of students extended their own wealth of thanks to their own cadre of friends, without regard to fashion or charity.

-Angus Field

The ShowTen months in the making, a pop-up shop, 1200 guests in attendance, 20 models, 720 gift bags, 40 collections, five Alfa Romeo student designer finalists, over 400 outfits... St. Andrews’ hugely anticipated Charity Fashion Show 2011 arrived

last weekend. Did it live up to the hype?

Smoke and Mirrors

In the ‘cheap’ seats

I bought what one VIP-goer described as a “bleachers” ticket (or what FS prefers to call a Stadium seat) to see what impact it had on my viewing experience. And despite feel-ing a little like cattle penned in behind the metal barrier erected to section us off from the swathes of More Important People, being up in the bleachers actually proved to be an enlightening experience. From way back in the stalls, us plebeians could appreciate the sharp, symmetrical routines devised to best utilize the unusual square-shaped catwalk in a way that the VIPs definitely couldn’t. The hooded model that opened the show looked particularly haunting from afar, a motion-less figure in the midst of the mayhem of an overexcited audience. And the clothes – from PPQ to Biba to St Andrews’ very own mega-talented Emma Sherlock – shone. It was only really from a distance that the audience could appreciate the ethereal magic of Sherlock’s translucent mint green, floor-sweeping skirt, letting enough light seep through to look like a fashion forward mermaid, a siren casting some kind of magical spell.

But whilst the models looked uniformly slick with their simple and stylish up-dos from the back of the room, the VIPs had it better when it came to appreciating the details of the clothes and make-up up close – because, let’s face it, the only way a real fashion-follower in the stadium seats could have got their fix would’ve been with a pair of binoculars. So come the second half of the show, I slipped under the cattle-barrier and snuck to the side of the catwalk to cheer on the models, and in the end, I had the best of both worlds.

-Alexandra Davey

Two attendees recount their experiences of the show

Boys behaving badly: A model remains composed and serene despite the conduct of onlookers

Dress by W

illiam Tem

pest, photo by Ruby M

unson-Hirst

Dress by Em

ma Sherlock, photo by C

eleste Melisande Slow

man

Dresses and cat hats both by PPQ

, photo by Ruby M

unson-Hirst

Dress and boots both by PPQ

, photo by Ruby M

unson-Hirst

STYLE | FS 2011Photo: C

eleste Melisande Slom

an

22 Arts & Culture The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011

It was as diverse a crowd as you might expect which filled up Venue 2 on the evening of the LGBT Society’s Queer Question Time. Intended to discuss issues that continue to affect members of the LGBT community, whether in St Andrews, the UK, or internationally, the event was a central part of the Society’s recognition of LGBT History Month.

Since 2005, LGBT History has been cel-ebrated during February by LGBT groups in the UK, inspired by a similar movement in the United States. Created in the wake of the abolition of Section 28, it was intended as an opportunity for this long-repressed minority to “break through the silence” that previously has surrounded the lives of those who do not conform to conventional ideas of sexuality and gender.

The event, styled after the BBC televi-sion series, was attended by six panellists, including members of the University’s Academic Faculties, the SRC Member for Sexualities & Gender, Colleen Roberts, as well as guests Barry Cassidy from the Equality & Human Rights Commission, and Dr Pietà Schofield from the University of Dundee’s division of Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery, who also works with various gender diversity groups.

The Student’s Association President,

Owen Wilton, hosted the event, presenting questions received beforehand by email, and receiving others from the audience on the night. The issue of homophobia was extremely prominent, and underlined much of the debate.

The panel began with discussing active forms of persecution, ranging in scale from the incident last year in which a gay couple were turned away from a bed and breakfast, to the violent persecution of homosexuality in Uganda. Dr Chris Hooley, who stood out from the other panelists in his decorated waistcoat and bow tie, cautioned that the idea that homophobia is diminishing remains a distinctly Euro-centric view.

However, it was Dr Philip Parry’s early response, delivered in an almost Churchillian tone, which was the most memorable of that discussion. Warning that homophobia would likely exist “for as long as human life itself”, he stated that we must practice “eternal vigilance”, both on ourselves and others to guard against prejudice, for while great progress has and can be made, “what can be won can also be lost.”

Wilton then directed the panel to discuss issues that were debated as cases of institu-tional homophobia in the UK, such as the lack of equal rights for gay marriage and the ban on blood bank donations for gay men.

It was here that more pronounced dis-agreements emerged between the panelists. Dr Parry attempted to head off any discus-sion that focused too extensively on the reli-gious and cultural associations of marriage, pointing out that “no-one owns the word marriage,” and that it is the legal element that is ultimately the most important, a point Dr Hooley did pick up on later.

However, younger and hotter heads came to dominate the conversation over this issue as Cassidy and Roberts were drawn into a debate that seemed to focus more on their own personal feelings towards marriage than actually attempting a serious dialogue on the role of marriage in a truly equal society.

Such a dialogue is all the more important as support for gay marriage gains further traction: just last week President Obama an-nounced the US administration’s withdrawal of legal support for the 1996 Defence of Marriage Act. With such signs of progress it is a shame that the discussion ended up go-ing around in circles.

Homophobia is certainly the most obvious problem facing both the LGBT community and the larger culture, which has so recently begun the process of accepting the newly visible minority, but it is far from the only one. Another recurring theme of the evening was the question of LGBT identity itself, or

whether such a thing exists. This issue was thrown into sharp light

by a comment from Dr Schofield, in whose experience there are many transsexuals who do not particularly identify with the LGBT community, and would rather live a broadly hetero-normative life, just not as the sex they were born as.

Ultimately, the fact that there now exists an offer of inclusiveness for those who do seek it, and a community to make that offer, is perhaps the greatest triumph recognized by LGBT History Month, and one whose significance for society’s progress should be celebrated even if, like me, you are not a member of that community.

Of course, it would be easy for the kind semantic discussions that occurred that evening to appear as nothing more than navel-gazing. In response to such a claim, Dr Hooley made statement, which perhaps summarized the importance of the event better than any blow-by-blow account:

“Semantics are something we do at events like this, but what I like is that there are events like this,” he said. “I like being somewhere that people don’t assume things about you that aren’t true – unless, of course, you thought I was a Tory because I was wearing a bow tie.”

Questioning Queer QualmsVenue 2 hosts Queer Question Time, but what’s the use in talking? by James Williamson

EVENTS | LGBT HISTORY MONTH

If I continue with a critique into the attitudes represented by FS, it is not waged against those involved, but rather directed towards the systemic and hierarchical structures of society as they are displayed in an event like this.

Nick Worsley, the director of FS, describes it as a fashion show which “descends into more of a party”. There seems to be a false morality implied by statements like this: from fashion show to party is a descent, the former better than the latter – as though the party is almost an unavoidable by-product of what was originally intended as a good, clean fashion show. In fact, there is no reason to prefer one over the other. The presence of bouncers – although their function was no more than cursory – apparently employed to control the rowdiness, hints at what FS really wants to be about. In fact, it’s clear to everyone present that this rowdiness is the desired atmosphere; so why dis-guise the event as anything other than pure hedonism?

Theorising on aesthetic judge-ment and cultivated sensibilities, Pierre Bourdieu introduces the concept of “distinc-tion” and how it is at play in an economy of cultural capital. According to Bourdieu, the set of dispositions expressed by the middle and upper classes towards all number of cultural activities (including but not limited to: art, food, literature, music) are disguised, or “naturalised”, as disinterested taste. He contests that these dispositions are inherited, hereditary within classes. They are deployed

as signifiers of distinction; to separate those sophisticated, well-bred individuals from those whose attitudes are vulgar, common.

It doesn’t require a particularly strenu-ous logical leap to see Bourdieu’s concept of “distinction” at work in an event like FS. The signifiers of elevated taste are obvious: most apparent is that the show is worthy of coverage in Tatler, a magazine which makes no bones about the classism implied by its choice of events worth coverage. Then

there is the ordered seating plan, smartly laid tables, the ‘VIP’s, the formal dress code and the abundant champagne, all of which signify sophistication and thus add value to the event. This is something that cultivated people do: get steaming drunk while pre-tending to look at clothes. And it’s worth the attention of the national press.

When the show does “descend into a par-ty”, which happens after about five minutes, it’s a realisation of what we knew all along:

Class actsurveying the marquee before any of the models have stepped out, the DJ booth protrudes half way up the wall facing the audience; its the most vis-ible position in the room, and already it has supplanted the catwalk as the centre of attention.

As the fashion show seems to play second fiddle to the party, the charity aspect of FS seems a similar after-thought; there are far more efficient ways for a committee of 26 people to raise money for charity than put-ting their heads together to divide resources between booze, security personnel and advertising – this is not to detract from their hard work in putting the show together, which I know was an immense undertaking.

Instead, charity is tacked on to the show’s billing to increase the market-ability and the profile – another word for sense of self-importance – of FS; it certainly makes the evening’s purpose seem more virtuous. This virtue, the good-will in ‘raising awareness’ for a charity (which itself raises awareness for another charity) is another facet in the distinguished aura of FS.

Make no mistake; this is not a moralistic critique of FS, or this sort of party in general – there is no harm in enjoying a bit of the sauce and having a good time. I mean to question the origin of attitudes which hold in high esteem a spectacle which propagates its “professionalism” while indulging in, or at least permitting, supreme decadence and oafish behaviour in the name of charity and an appreciation of fashion.

- AB

Fashion, parties and class distinction

Left: the calm before the storm: a model in rehearsal, Right: A model in Hugo Mills, facing the obstacles imposed by the crowd.

Photo: Celeste M

elisande Sloman

Photo: Ruby M

unson-Hirst

Arts & Culture 23The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011

The Critics

Occasionally a band arrives on an almost bizarre wave of media hype; figures like James Blake are widely touted as the second incarnation of Christ while still in nappies. In similar fashion to their blurry faced, jumper-wearing com-patriot, North London low-fi outfit Yuck have surfed into 2011 on a wave of critics bodily fluids which could float the Titanic.

Their predecessors, Cajun Dance Party, had journalists equally excited around 2007 when as first years we were still standing nervously in night club queues, sporting unconvincing facial hair, and equally questionable Topman shirts. In fact that image is a pretty good way to think about Yuck’s de-but album as there’s more youthful exuberance in here than an episode

Sugarland have been around for years in the US, but The Incredible Machine is the first of their multi-award winning albums to really give it a try in the British market. Country music has never fared particularly well on this side of the Atlantic, but with the current resurgence of folk music thanks to the likes of Mumford and Sons, this could be the country duo’s best at-tempt to seduce the Brits with their catchy lyrics, slick production and country confidence.

This would be possible if it weren’t for the fact that too many of the songs seem to be designed for the stadium crowd, such as ‘All We Are’ and ‘Shine the Light’, which try too hard to align Sugarland with the might of the Rolling Stones. The songs that have the most charm (instead of cheese) are those with a bit more of the old school country twang that first draws a listener in, such as ‘Stuck Like Glue’. These songs are down to earth and don’t smack you in the face with Jennifer Nettles’ brassy swagger.

The classy production and charming lyrics are not to be for-gotten. The duo is a talented pair-ing and perhaps this album will attract that demographic that made a name of Shania Twain. However, in terms of true country this album feels more like a sell-out than their albums of old.

Emma O’Brien

Swedish chantress Lykke Li returns with a sophomore album that delves into much darker corners than her chirpy electropop debut Youth Novels. From the ir-ritable, punky sound of October’s ‘Get Some’ it seemed as though Li was going the way of her country(wo)man, Robyn, channel-ling a bit of malice into her music. However, one listen to the album reveals a much clearer influence, that of England’s own PJ Harvey. The instrumentation of this album is much starker than Li’s previous one, full of echo and desolation. Li’s ethereal voice complements this perfectly, as one that has grown much stronger over the last four years, now able to guide the melody rather than trail behind it. This album is also much more diverse lyrically, and sees Li hon-ing her skill, conveying a seething disillusionment with her surround-ings whilst still embracing the role of angelic chorister. Her evident pain can only promote empathy in us, but the strength of her vocal performance and the richness of the production lead to respect and enjoyment; Li manages to amelio-rate her pain through music, and the result is this album.

Lewis Wade

I was excessively enthusiastic when Isolée’s Well Spent Youth came out – the few tracks I owned I played repeatedly, and back in the day it had been hard to get hold of the albums. Isolée, also known as Rajko Müller, has been producing unusually innovative and clever minimal techno in Frankfurt since the late nineties. This album may require a cautionary first uninter-rupted listen; in my case it both powered me through three hours of reading and had me pausing at its slickness. ‘Paloma Triste’ starts off at a walking rhythm, and inte-grates both a rhythmically clashing bass and dissonant combinations of synthesised sound. A personal favourite, ‘Taktell’ subtly builds on percussion and the same jarring harmonies. It almost leads the lis-tener to expect musical climax, but sticks to its muffled and low key aesthetic. ‘Journey’s End’ unobtru-sively blends in funk guitar into its uniform club beat, and noises that sound like someone failing to creep in silently at night, failing and knocking half the room over, but somehow doing it elegantly. ‘Transmission’ might err the closest to the electronically distorted vocals and repetitiveness of conventional minimal; however on the whole the album is much too absorbing to be the soundtrack of a lounge bar or club.

Martha McCarey

The prospect of trying to top an album like 2007’s In Rainbows would probably seem like a daunting task to any normal band. But then again, Radiohead are by no means a nor-mal band. The release of The King of Limbs last Saturday saw millions head on to Radiohead’s website to download their first album in almost three and a half years.

The opening track ‘Bloom’ sees a reinvention of the abstract, twitchy, frenetic drum machine sound detectable on previous album Hail to the Thief, whilst ‘Morning Mr Magpie’ expresses the more refined and melodic side of the release. The Latin feel of ‘Little by Little’ and the beat-driven paranoia of ‘Feral’ allow for a set of highly engaging tracks. The centrepiece of the album, the exquisitely delicate yet vibrant ‘Lotus Flower’ is beau-tiful; truly Yorke’s voice at its very best. The next two songs, ‘Codex’

and ‘Give up the Ghost’, are both absorbing and haunting in equal measure. The lyrics in ‘Codex’ are particularly expressive; painting a scene of blissfully tranquil escap-ism (Jump off the end / Into a clear lake / No one around / Just dragonflies / Fantasize / No one gets hurt). The backing vocals in ‘Give up the Ghost’ show hints of previous album Kid A, where Yorke’s voice was heavily modified to make it sound like an instrument rather than someone singing. The final track, the soothing ‘Separator’, reflects the album as a whole; mas-terfully constructed, elegant and of profound depth with a wonderfully subtle ethos.

Believe me, I’m not one to shy away from handing out criticism where criticism is due in the world of music, but I honestly wouldn’t know how I’d go about doing that with TKOL. Maybe they could have

sold it in the same fashion as they did with In Rainbows whereby fans paid how much they felt it was worth. There, I did it...but I still think I’d have paid six pounds at least.

With every release, Radiohead have pushed forward the boundar-ies of the modern musical experi-ence; consistently producing highly evocative and illustrative sounds for their fan’s listening pleasure. The latest album is no different. Without wishing to sound like a pretentious sycophant, The King of Limbs offers so much more than just a collection of songs. It comes with a free guided tour of the collective imagination of one of the greatest bands Britain has ever produced, and I for one am thrilled to lie back, shut my eyes, and take a look around.

Ben Miller

The King of LimbsRadiohead

INDIE

XL

YuckYuck

Pharmacy/Mercury

The Incredible MachineSugarlandMercury

Wounded RhymesLykke Li

Atlantic/LL

Well Spent YouthIsolee

Pampa Records

of The Inbetweeners. The lick on ‘Operation’ will have any self-re-specting male furiously working his wrist like he’s 14 again (...playing air guitar), while the whole album resonates like raw energy distilled through a low-fi speaker.

Admittedly, Yuck sounds like it cost less to record than a ten pence mix-up, but that’s part of the excitement of the record. When GreenDay exploded into the nine-ties with Dookie, the thrill was that (incorrect) feeling that you could have made a record like this. Yuck are pulling at many of the same strings; it’s simple but well written, fuzzy but thoughtful and can make you feel like you’re fifteen again.

Seth Starkadder

LO-FIMINIMALELECTROPOPCOUNTRY

24 Arts & Culture The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011

Richard Ayoade’s Submarine, originally released in 2010, com-bines refreshing dialogue, a bril-liant cast and wonderful cinema-tography – not surprising, then, that it has been hailed as one of the best British debuts for years. Set in Wales, the film follows adolescent Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) as he attempts to save his parents’ mar-riage, lose his virginity before his sixteenth birthday and increase his already above average vocabulary by regular dictionary foraging.

He is aided in his escapades by his girlfriend Jordana (Yasmin Paige), behind whose lilting Welsh accent and large brown eyes lies an excitable pyromaniac. Some of the film’s most beautiful scenes involve the teens, both buttoned into enor-mous duffle coats, running along the sea shore armed with sparklers, or alternatively blowing up bins

against backdrops of spectacular sunsets.

There is more to the film than pretty landscapes, however. While it would be possible to accuse Submarine of dealing with some hackneyed themes – family prob-lems and blossoming sexual desire are far from unusual among the majority of teens – the film is redeemed by its unusual camera techniques and strange, self-aware humour.

This humour is the sort that appeals across generations: despite frequent schoolboy obscenities, much of the laughter provoked by the film

came from the older members of the audience. Oliver’s use of

political or academic jar-gon as part of everyday speech, as

well as his regular surveys of his parents’ sexual activity, certainly verges on comic genius, as does the marvellous performance of Noah Taylor as Oliver’s father. Sally Hawkins also gives a good show as the uptight mother of the house, and the interaction between the three characters is brilliantly engineered.

The film’s only flaw is that it tries to do too much. The theme of mortality surfaces both at the beginning and end of the film and gives the impression that Submarine is attempting to encompass all aspects of life and death, whether it needs to or not. That said, as far as funny, original and heart-warming films go, this one will warm you to your very cockles.

Suzannah Evans

“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by mad-ness, starving hysterical naked.” So begins Howl, Allen Ginsberg’s controversial poem whose ex-plicit content led to Lawrence Ferlinghetti - the work’s original publisher - being put on trial for obscenity in 1957. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s ambitious film is part courtroom drama, part animation, part documentary, part poetry recital. The problem is that while half of this works very well, the other half largely struggles to get off the ground.

James Franco is excellent as Ginsberg and without him the film’s many fragments would simply fall apart. His delivery of Howl is pitch-perfect and the movie is at its best when he is allowed the freedom to hold the screen, reciting the poem on a San Francisco stage.

Adapted from interviews, court transcripts and the text itself, there is not a word in the film which was not actually spoken, and it cer-tainly provides a valuable insight into the poet’s creative process and temperament.

Although the directors’ innova-tive use of animation should be ap-plauded, I ultimately found it to be a distraction. It almost seems that Epstein and Friedman lacked the confidence to put Franco on screen for the full 84mins and decided to throw in some cartoons at the last second. The problem with all liter-ary adaptations – a problem which is particularly apparent in this case – is that they inevitably colour the viewer’s interpretation of the source text. The power of Howl is in its imagery, and considering Franco’s performance, the anima-tion sequences just seemed entirely

unnecessary. Similarly, the

courtroom section - headed up by Jon Hamm and David Strathairn - feels somewhat flat and appears to have been included solely for its historical signifi-cance as opposed to any real dramatic value. Although both Hamm and Strathairn deliver strong perfor-mances, the viewer ultimately has no emotional investment in the outcome of the trial and the fate of Mr Ferlinghetti.

Beat Generation fanatics will likely enjoy Howl, if only for Franco’s portrayal of

Ginsberg. If you are unfamiliar with the poem; buy a second-hand copy, don your beret, and read it in

all its original glory. Then consider going to see the film.

Ross Dickie

Howl DCA: 4-10 March

SubmarineDCA: 25-31 March

GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL

GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL

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ST ANDREWS THEATRE Underroads

As we are ushered into our seats we become refugees waiting to get on a boat, as are the rest of the characters in the play. Together we are trying to escape the rising water levels of what seems to be a post-apocalyptic world. As we are roughed up, ordered to change seats with each other and quizzed about hope, anxiety (and where I got my coat), it becomes apparent that there is more to this play than we were expecting. Yet this, along with a flooded stage, creatures walking around and peering at the audience and decapitated heads, is still not as bizarre as the fact that Underroads is the director’s Sustainable Development dissertation.

So far I have described the type of performance I could easily hate. It is a university play persuading its audience to save the world through abstract principles. Risky methods were also used in the

play’s creation. Partly written by a group of students, partly impro-vised by the actors themselves, it appears that this play had so much potential to go wrong. That said, I was impressed at how well the per-formance avoided the many clichés associated with metatheatre. At no point did I get the uncomfortable “student play” lurch. I think that the abstract nature of the play was used well to invoke an emotional response from the audience as a foreboding insight into the chaos our world could become. In this way, Underroads avoids taking a lecture-like approach to Sustainable Development and instead just makes you jump out of your seat.

Nevertheless, there is little in terms of plot. Though Greek myth is used to tie up the narrative, the play itself is a jumble of subplots thrown at the audience and then left to be pieced together in their

own time. What makes this play a success is that, amongst the chaos on stage, there are beautiful scenes that allude to untold stories. A personal highlight was a scene in which a man, in dignified silence, wiggles into a dress and solemnly dances arm in arm with the harbour’s guard. The strength of acting in this scene steers away from the comic capabilities and was handled in such a mature way that I got chills. The humorous conclusion of the play, leading the audience away from the Barron and towards the Russell Hotel’s bar, provides time for the audience to quiz members of the cast and come away feeling satisfied they may have understood most things.

Overall this play is a mature and innovative depiction of a dystopia. Fans of T.S Eliot’s Wasteland and even Children Of Men shall not be

The Barron: 22-25 February

disappointed. Looks like the direc-tor, Mr Sonia-Wallace is up for full marks on his project.

Mariko Primarolo

Arts & Culture 25The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011

With The Times recently crown-ing the relatively unknown Good Food 101: One Pot Dishes as the best cookbook for students, the credibil-ity of the vast array of cookbooks written exclusively for the student cook has undoubtedly been called into question. What is it that dif-ferentiates a ‘student cookbook’ from the average offering from the likes of Jamie and Nigella? Such titles come with an expectation of easy-to-source ingredients and relatively uncomplicated recipes, but it is debatable whether such works really empower students, equipping them with the tools to become able chefs, or merely reinforce the patronising assump-tion that students need guidance in even the most basic of tasks. With just as hefty a price tag as standard cookbooks, many may question whether they are really worth the investment. With these issues in mind, we put two bestsellers on trial to discover if they are really as student-friendly as they claim, and ask if they can salvage the reputa-tion of the ‘student cookbook’ as an essential item on our shelves.

The hugely successful From Pasta to Pancakes: The Ultimate Student Cookbook (Quadrille, 2009) by Tiffany Goodall can be seen adorning the windows of many a local bookstore and advertises itself as the definitive guide to culinary success at university. Moreover, with each page featuring step-by-step photos, this is a sensible choice for those who equate mas-tering an omelette with quantum physics. With the novelty factor of being “written by a student for other students,” the book’s appeal is largely due to Goodall herself, as she fills each page with witty anecdotes from her time at Newcastle University. Guiding the reader from recipes for ‘Food on the Move’ through to ‘House Parties’, it is difficult not to be charmed by Goodall’s relaxed, un-pretentious style. Her bubbly personality

thus makes it disappointing that the food itself does not live up to expectations. Despite the appealing names given to the likes of ‘The T Club’, ‘Hot Hot Lamb Curry’ and ‘Gooey Leek Gratin’, there is little here to excite food lovers. A cynical reader may deplore the overtones of Jamie Oliver in phrases such as “I love recipes where you just chuck everything in, bung it into the oven and that’s that” and feel the book is guilty of concentrating on style over substance.

Moreover, whilst complete be-ginners will appreciate instructions on how to handle the very basics from poaching an egg to boiling pasta, Goodall seems to assume her reader’s previous cookery experience stretches little beyond pressing buttons on a microwave. Surely even the most basic of chefs can manage without instructions on how to make ‘Jacket Potato With Beans And Cheese’. At times this level of simplicity appears patronis-ing rather than helpful; her warning “make sure you have clean hands all the time when you are cooking” immediately evokes memories of GCSE Food Tech classes. What is more, there is a fair bit of gender stereotyping here with regards to tastes. The chapter ‘Healthy Days For The Girls’, featuring an as-sortment of (admittedly delicious) salads, soups and stir-fries, seems to assume that male students are totally adverse to healthy eating, with their assigned chapter be-ing laden with red meat, cheese and ‘Mashed Potato Variations’. Although she makes the comment that her recipes under the heading ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ are “definitely not exclusively for the boys,” the reader may feel the divi-sion of chapters was pointless in the first place.

As well as being overly quick to assume the tastes of each gender, there is an implicit suggestion running throughout the book that students have the simplest of pal-

ettes and can only tolerate the most recognisable of fruit and vegetables. Surely one of the great things about cooking at university is being introduced to new ingredients by friends from overseas; I for one have been treated to exquisite meals by my Korean and German friends. It thus seems odd that Goodall assumes we will be impressed by the likes of ‘The Ultimate Cheese on Toast’, which articulates clichéd conceptions of the typical student as lazy and slobbish in the kitchen. That said, the more dazzling dishes such as ‘Vegetarian Pasta Heaven’, the fragrant ‘Prawn And Coconut Stir-Fry’ and wonderful ‘Thai Fishcakes’ make a welcome change from the carb-fest of other pages. Had Goodall included a few more exotic concoctions and a few less tips on buttering toast, many may be less reluctant to part with the £12.00 asking price.

The second most popular stu-dent cookbook of recent times, with the imaginative title The Student Cookbook: Great grub for the hungry and the broke (Ryland Peters and Small, 2009), offers a much more ex-tensive choice of recipes and caters to more adventurous cooks as well as mere beginners. I was pleased to find this book succeeding where Goodall fails, in recognising that despite a limited budget and lack of time, students want to eat more than simply pasta and potatoes. From ‘Moussaka-filled Aubergines’ to ‘Risotto Primavera’; ‘Minted Courgette Frittata’ to ‘Stuffed Peppers’, this book allows those with a love of the kitchen to really treat their taste buds. Vegetarian dishes such as ‘Butternut Squash, Sage and Chilli Risotto’ show imaginative flair and are tempting enough even for the most devoted of meat eaters. That said, there is no shortage of classics such as ‘Beef Fajitas’, ‘Thai Green Curry’ and ‘Toad In The Hole’, as well as great snacks such as ‘Sesame Sweet Potato Wedges And Guacamole’

that are fun to prepare and perfect for DVD nights with flatmates.

Along with mouth-watering dishes, all publishers know the key to the success of a cookbook lies in the pictures, and the stunning pho-tography and design make each of these dishes look gloriously appe-tising. I thus found this a welcome contrast to some of Goodall’s offer-ings such as ‘Jim’s Fried Breakfast’ that had that look of dog’s dinner about it.

The author also offers handy (and un-patronising) tips for es-sential kitchen equipment and cupboard items, including how to make the most of spices and herbs that can jazz up even the most simple of dishes. Moreover, most recipes include items found in the store cupboard, easy-to-source herbs and for the most part, rela-tively cheap ingredients. However, it must be said that attempting to master many of these meals will be more damaging to your wallet than going with Goodall, particularly the likes of ‘Rigatoni With Pork And Lemon Ragu’ (for special oc-casions only, I feel). Nevertheless, featuring culinary offerings from Italy, France, the Mediterranean and beyond, the book recognises that students have just as sophisti-cated taste when it comes to food as anyone else, and the volume of recipes means you feel you are re-ally getting your money’s worth.

The Student Cookbook succeeds precisely because it rejects general assumptions about the student com-munity, wisely avoiding the gender stereotyping and over-simplified recipes that plague many a student cookbook. Indeed, only the title al-lows it to be grouped under such a category, ignoring convention and allowing innovation in ingredient choice and technique, reassuring students everywhere that there are authors who recognise our ability to produce more than just beans on toast.

Surely even the most basic of chefs can manage without instructions on how to make ‘Jacket Potato With Beans And Cheese’

Gotta do the cookin’ by the bookAre cookbooks marketed towards students making unfair assumptions about their target audience?by Kate Bone

From Pasta to Pancakes: The Ultimate Student Cookbook (Quadrille, 2009)

The Student Cookbook: Great grub for the hungry and the broke (Ryland Peters and Small, 2009)

BOOKS

Photo: Celeste M

elisande Sloman

26 Arts & Culture The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011

ART| STUDENT ARTWORK

TOP: Untitled by Gemma Lawrence,

LEFT: Metal Skull by Emma Cunningham,

RIGHT: Kitten’s Ransom by Merlin Seller

26

The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011 Sport 27

Here is a selection of the updated BUCS league tables. For more comprehensive league information, go to www.bucs.org.uk

Football Women’s 2A

Abertay 1stsSt Andrews 1stsStirling 1stsStrathclyde 1stsGlasgow 1stsEdinburgh Napier 1stsQueen Margaret 1stsGlasgow Caledonian 1sts

P76675553

Diff 33 10 -3 3 0 2-34 -11

Pts 16 15 12 10 8 6 0 -3

BUCS Tables

AU Club home fixtures

Have an upcoming event or

fixture to be covered?

Want to see your name or your

club in The Saint?

Email Richard at sport@thesaint-online.com

St Andrews 2ndsStirling 4thsRobert Gordon 1stsSt Andrews 3rdsAberdeen 2ndsDundee 2ndsStrathclyde 2ndsGlasgow Caledonian 1stsAberdeen 3rds

Tennis Men’s 3A

P757546554

Diff 30 32 26 12 10-10-24-36-40

Pts 16 13 13 10 9 7 4 0 -3

Rugby Men’s 1A

Edinburgh 1stsAberdeen 1stsSt Andrews 1stsStirling 1stsHeriot-Watt 1stsRobert Gordon 1sts

P677466

Diff 213 157 141-109-130-272

Pts 18 15 15 3 3 0

St Andrews 1stsEdinburgh 2ndsGlasgow 2ndsStirling 3rdsStrathclyde 1sts

Tennis Men’s 2A

P76656

Diff 44 4-20 16-44

Pts 19 10 9 8 -3

Robert Gordon 1stsEdinburgh 2ndsSt Andrews 1stsAbertay 1stsGlasgow Caledonian 1sts

Basketball Women’s 2A

P65375

Diff 174 -9 55-102-118

Pts 18 9 6 6 0

Edinburgh 1stsSt Andrews 1stsDundee 1stsStirling 1sts

Water Polo Men’s 1A

P5553

Diff 70 12 -41 -41

Pts 15 9 3 0

9th MarchFootball: Saints Men’s 1sts v Edinburgh Men’s 3rds (14:00)Football: Saints Men’s 2nds v Dundee Men’s 2nds (14:00)Rugby: Saints Men’s 1sts v Heriot-Watt Men’s 1sts (14:00)Rugby: Saints Men’s 2nds v Edinburgh Men’s 2nds (14:00)

12th MarchNetball: Saints Women’s 1sts v Edinburgh Women’s 2nds (11:00)

13th MarchVolleyball: Saints Women’s 2nds v Glasgow Women’s 1sts (16:00)

16th MarchTable Tennis: Saints Men’s 1sts v Leeds Men’s 1sts (14:00)

Red hot Poker

who picked up the game at a friend’s flat. Last year he won the London leg of the European Poker Tour for $1.4 million. He is now travelling and playing poker full time.

I recently qualified online for the Nottingham leg of the UK and Ireland Poker Tour by winning a £44 tournament. The field of 1,058 broke all UK records and with a buy-in of £560 this brought the prize pool to a staggering £592,000.

Due to the high number of entrants the field is split in half for the first two days. I was play-ing day 1a starting at 12.30pm. A major difference between live and online poker, as well as ob-viously being able to see your opponents, is that it played at a much, much slower tempo. Patience and mental ability is a key skill required for any live player.

Everyone started with 15,000 chips and I managed to work my way up to around 32,000. At about 9pm I got dealt AA and managed to get all-in against QQ. The cards were dealt QJ78J and I was out of the tournament.

I got my money in as an 80% favourite and got unlucky. If I had won that hand I would have been in the top five chip leaders with 200 players re-

maining. I can’t be angry or upset with my bad luck, be-cause I know I made the correct decisions and in the long run I am confident of winning more than I lose. Asides from that, the tournament itself was an amazing experience, and one of my friends, 18 year old student Tim Bettingen from Germany, made it all the way to the final table to finish fourth for a prize of £31,700. He is still at school, and earned more money that weekend that most earn in a year.

The UKIPT Season 2 is be-ing filmed for Channel 4 and can be found on Wednesdays at 12.15am and on 4oD. You can see www.ukipt.com for more in-formation on the tour.

A similar event is the 7th Annual UK Student Poker Championship, taking place in Birmingham from 5-7th April 2011. This tournament was founded by St Andrews stu-dents with sponsorship from BETFRED, and was relocated from our own Students’ Union to Birmingham due to the in-creased demand. The buy-in is £33, and the University Poker Society are currently offering heavily subsidised accommoda-tion to a certain number of en-trants. The first prize will defi-nitely reach four figures, and a bonus for first place is a pack-age to the World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas, worth $12,000. Last year ’s Champion Matt Harris from Exeter Uni came 57th in the WSOP Main Event, winning $138,285 for

his efforts. For more informa-tion on entering please email poker@st-andrews.ac.uk

The Poker Society meets on Mondays in the Salad Bowl on the top floor of the Union, hold-ing a tournament every week, starting from 7pm. Committee members are there from 6pm to help beginners learn the rules or just chat about the game.

With University clubs playing throughout the week, there is many an opportunity to go and watch them; with most teams reaching the business end of their season, there are tight games and outstanding performances right on your doorstep - so get involved, even if it’s just as a spectator!

Full details of home and away fixtures can be found at www.bucs.org.uk

Continued from page 30

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against derby rivals Aston Villa in January.

Now, a man with four League Cup winners medals to his name (and the definite story of the year)...

Kenny Dalglish’s plan to keep an eye on notorious drinker Andy Carroll went a step further last week, as the Liverpool manager took his new £35 million striker to a reunion concert by Boyzone. The Irish boyband were perform-ing at the Liverpool Echo as part of the current tour, and Dalglish had procured two tickets. Dalglish was quick to point out that it was “not a date”. RB

28 Sport The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011

WhistleblowerSport Editor Richard Browne gets into the scrum that is this year’s RBS Six Nations...

Sporting World

Carling Cup final special...

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabre-gas reportedly only discovered that he would not be playing at Wembley by looking at the Gun-ners’ website. Unsurprisingly, he was “hugely disappointed”, but expects to be back at Wembley in the FA Cup and Champions League finals.

I think Manchester Utd and Bar-celona might have something to say about that one, Cesc.

Birmingham City midfielder Craig Gardner said his team’s run to the final could have been

aided by his lucky underpants, described as “two years old, white and massive.”

Arsenal’s (expected) minor pre-tax loss, to be revealed in its published accounts, has been put down to a period of not having sold a major player.

Birmingham’s striker Matt Derbyshire certainly has the back-ing of his wife on matchdays. She revealed last week that she had become involved in a slanging match with a Blues season-ticket holder who had criticied her hus-band’s performance on the pitch

Each fortnight we bring you a selection of the funny, bizarre and downright odd stories (and snapshots) from the sometimes very strange world of sport...

Now that we’re halfway through Northern Hemisphere rugby’s pre-mier international tournament,* what can be said about the teams’ per-formances? There have been players who have stood out for the right and wrong reasons, teams which have soared and slumped and areas of the game that have lent themselves to in-tense debate.

Usual suspects England and France had, prior to their meet-ing at Twickenham, been the form teams, winning both of their opening two games. On the night, England proved themselves the stronger, de-servedly winning an intense contest (on Saturday night, this is hot-off-the-press news reporting!). England now look hot favourites for the champion-ship, if not the Grand Slam.

Ireland and Wales have had mixed tournaments, with indiscipline often clouding moments of brilliance. Wales have at least recovered from their loss to England; we shall see if Ireland can brush off their infuriat-ing loss to France (yes, I was cursing Morgan Parra’s boot for its unerring accuracy) on visiting Murrayfield.

Scotland and Italy again have promised much, but can’t seem to get the wins their play merits (for Scotland, see disclaimer). Consist-ency and getting the basics right still appear to be out of their reach all too often.

Chris Ashton has (despite his ri-diculous “swallow dive celebration - I hope he soon dives on his face and “swallows” the ball) been superb for England (if not against France, Italy will tell you otherwise). Other plau-dits go to Toby Flood, Morgan Parra, James Hook and Scotland’s own Su-perman, Sean Lamont.

As far as rules of the game are concerned, rugby fans may not be so convinced that their sport is moving in the right direction. Scrums have been, at times, a nightmare. You do not envy a referee who has to sort out a scrum eating up a minute of play, but the officials have not always helped themselves either. There was much debate about the differing in-terpretations of the law taken by the

referee in the England-Italy match and his counterpart in the Ireland-France game.

Consistency is something that the International Rugby Board (IRB) will be monitoring ahead of and during the World Cup so that the games are great spectacles and not marked by sixteen men taking several minutes to form a scrum properly.

Another issue is one raised by Chris Ashton. The man seems un-stoppable, having made the transi-tion from Rugby League and now scoring tries for fun from the wing. Rugby Union purists might claim the League form of the game is merely an inferior deviant. How then have men like Ashton (and before him, Jason Robinson) been able to run through opposition defences with ease?

The probable answer is that Ash-ton (and Robinson) has/have incred-ible talent, in terms of speed and vi-sion. Rugby Union fans can also take heart from the fact that children of Union’s Brian O’Driscoll and Shane Williams have been tearing defences apart for years, without any sup-posed League advantages.

So, overall, what can we expect from the rugby powers of the north come September’s World Cup? Eng-land look to have the best chance and Scotland will hope to edge past Ar-gentina into second in Pool B. France face a huge test in their pool, facing hosts New Zealand. The All Blacks’ great strength is in their ability to get men in support of the ball carrier and flood the breakdown; France have been a little fragile there (particularly against Ireland), so must improve.

Ireland and Wales will aim just to get out of the pools they crashed out of last time; if they manage that, any-thing is possible. Italy? They are up against Australia and Ireland, plus being caught in the middle of their own cold war; hopefully Russia v the USA will be a blast.

*Disclaimer: at the time of writing, Scotland had yet to play Ireland. I’ve boldly predicted a narrow win for the Irish, so there will inevitably be an emphatic Scottish victory.

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FACING DEFEAT: Visual metaphor for how Marc Lièvremont felt on Saturday night?

The Saint: How has the club progressed since 2005 [Prince William’s graduation], in terms of how it is run and interest in it?James Dickinson: In 2005, they had quite a small men’s team, probably just seven members or so, and then you had eighty-odd girls in bikinis turning up to every session and you couldn’t really train! Then the girls team

pretty much disappeared and the men’s team stayed about the same until about three years ago when we got a new coach who built the club up and now the men have a really strong team. And the girls have got them-selves together and it’s much more competitive.

TS: How has the club done this season, in training and compe-tition?JD: This season we were promot-ed up to Tier 1 of BUCS, which has been tough. There were a lot of close games, but unfortunately we’ve not done too well. It’s all

about experience – we lost a lot of our top players last year. Next year we won’t lose anyone, so we should be ready to go. As for SUS [Scottish Universities Sport], we’re set to finish second in the league this year. The girls are set to finish second in SUS as well. The men have now entered the Scottish national league – the club league – so more matches coming up. We’ve just found out

that we’ve got four girls and four guys on the Scottish Universities team to play in Belfast in the Celtic Nations. Training’s been hard – we’re in the pool at half six on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for an hour and a half and again on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thurs-day evenings swimming, and doing gym work too. We also had a week-long training camp out at Lanzarote.

TS: Apart from the intense train-ing, what’s been your experience in being part of the club?JD: It’s been absolutely fantastic. I

came here as a competitive swim-mer and got into water polo – I don’t really swim any more. It’s quite a small club, but it’s a re-ally, really friendly club. It’s been such a pleasure to be part of the team. The men and women train together and we have quite a few socials. On the competitive side, we’ve done really well. We’ve got a coach who is unbelievably well qualified. He used to play for Britain and he’s just had an inter-view for Chairman of British Wa-ter Polo. He coaches the Scottish national side and he’s fantastic at bringing anyone at any ability along to play extremely well.

TS: Beyond what you’ve already mentioned, why else should stu-dents want to join the club?JD: It gives you an excuse to get your Speedos on [laughs]... It’s a chance to travel all over Scotland and the UK – especially for JSAs and students from abroad, who get to discover Scotland. We go everywhere. There’s never a dull moment with water polo, and it’s always a good laugh.

TS: Finally, what are the club’s plans for the rest of the season and the years ahead, as you see it?JD: The rest of this season – we’re finishing with the club league. The guys have got SUS to concen-trate on and the Scottish Univer-sity team are going into the Brit-ish National league – the highest level of water polo you can play in the UK. Next year, we’ll be back in Tier 2, but we can only gain from there. This year has been a development year; we’ve got stronger with the chance to train and play together, so that next year we can go straight in and hopefully win BUCS. We have the potential – all that’s stopping us really is the [lack of a proper] pool – but I think we’re well on the way to developing one of the top polo programmes in the UK.

The Saint caught up with James Dickinson, President of the Water Polo Club, and spoke about the club’s recent progression, this season’s performances and hopes for the future

Saint Sport Interview: Water Polo President, James Dickinson

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HIGH HOPES: A mixed season is just the precursor to a promising future for the Water Polo Club, says Water Polo President James Dickinson (second left)

The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011 Sport 29

I’ll tell you what, Turkey isn’t half cold this time of year. And that, much to my surprise, was one of the hardest parts of my pre-trip duties: convincing peo-ple that Turkey was a country that is actually capable of -30˚C temperatures.

However, this was not nearly as important as doing my bit to spread the word that Team GB was competing in a remote cor-ner of Eastern Anatolia at the student equivalent of the Winter Olympics.

University sport in this coun-try is generally under-promot-ed. Partly because professional sport, and in particular football (whose players rarely, if ever, go to university), is so dominant, and partly due to a lack of tangi-ble success to fire the public im-agination. British student sport will, sadly, never be the draw that it is in the USA.

However, after being selected to travel as a media officer with Team GB to the 2011 Winter Uni-versiade (Winter World Univer-sity Games), I was determined to do my part to try and boost its profile, if only by a very small margin.

At the pre-Christmas brief-ing, it was incredibly difficult not to be able to spot the student in the room. As team managers and heads of delegation dis-cussed transport timetables, stu-dent eligibility and dope testing, I was quietly, and with a slight sense of guilt, anticipating the display of the team kit. It was not disappointing.

Free swag is any student’s dream and when that swag in-cludes Nike gear emblazoned with the Union Jack and North Face ski equipment, you know you’re onto a winner.

However, kit aside, I was there to do a job. Flying out ahead of the athletes, and a whole week before competition started, I realised it was not going to be a case of swanning around media suites and enjoy-ing complementary beverages.

That really hit home upon ar-

The Men’s and Women’s 1sts have had BUCS Knock-Outs success (Championship and Trophy respectively).

The men eased past Glas-gow and will play King’s College London, and their female counterparts saw off Leeds Met and Lancaster, so face Bangor next.

FENCING Saints are a knock-out

AU Clubs in brief

A 4-0 triumph at Edinburgh Napier in the Scottish Cup made it four consecutive wins for the Women’s 1sts.

They then made it five with a 3-1 win over Strathclyde, a result that sees them finish just one point off first place in the now completed BUCS Scottish Conference 2A.

FOOTBALLWomen’s winning run

Saints Mixed 1sts recorded their best win of the season with a 12-0 home win over West of Scotland 2nds.

The result tightens the team’s grip on second place in the BUCS Scottish Cup Pool 1, and they now lie only three points off the table-topping Stirling 1sts.

BADMINTON West of Scotland blown away

Last week the Men’s 1sts re-corded a 13-7 victory away to local rivals Dundee, in the first division of Scottish Water Polo.

That result keeps them in second, behind runaway leaders Edinburgh, with a six-point buffer over third-placed Dundee.

WATER POLO Saints too good for Dundee

The Netball 2nd team stand with a proud record of eight wins from nine games after they dispatched Glasgow Caledonian 1sts 36-25 in the BUCS Scottish Cup.

They will have to be at their best in the next round, hav-ing been drawn against the unbeaten Heriot-Watt 1sts.

NETBALL 2nds continue fine form

Turkish Delight: the media man’s story And now for something completely different...

Many students at university choose to take on a part-time job in bars and restaurants. Others play poker. Poker was launched online in 1998 and has now turned in to a multi-billion dollar industry. With the ad-vances of technology, more and more “Internet kids” have been earning an income from a game now that has now evolved into a youthful game of skill, num-bers and the ability to read your opponent.

One question I get asked all the time is, “how can you play online if you can’t see their faces?” I could spend hours on this, but a few quick answers would involve “timing tells” (how long is takes for a player to make a certain action), bet sizing and patterns and even down to simply what username or avatar your opponent uses.

A common pitfall for be-ginners is “what games should I play, and how much?” This comes under the theory of bankroll management, where a player should never play with money they can’t afford to lose, and starting off with small buy-in tournaments before moving up to higher games.

The popularity of the game has soared mainly thanks to the big TV coverage in America via the World Series of Poker. It’s also very easy to play: all you need is some cards, chips and a few friends, and the rules are relatively simple to learn. It’s a common student past-time played over kitchen table-tops up and down the country.

One fairytale story involved that of David Vamplew, a maths student at Edinburgh University

Callum James StewartPoker Society

riving, after fifteen hours of trav-elling, in the remote mountain city of Erzurum, about 200 miles from the Iraq border. It was mid-night, the temperature had bot-tomed out at -22˚C and the news was that Team GB had not been allocated enough rooms for the whole delegation. Not the best of starts.

Four hours later, and with the issue only half resolved, we actu-ally managed to get some sleep; a whole three hour ’s worth, if I rightly recall. It was a sign of things to come.

Administration, haggling with officials, shifting furniture, boiling kettles; these became commonplace in the average GB day. I’ve lost count of the number of times that kettle saved the en-tire team from perilous mental breakdown. God bless British breakfast tea.

Despite administration prob-lems and the labour of setting up the team HQ, the whole atmos-phere of the place changed with the arrival of the athletes, and not just the Brits.

The tournament saw over 2,500 athletes from around the world competing in eleven days of elite competition. Koreans skated alongside Mongolians; Venezuelans (or, I should say, the lone Venezuelan) shared the mountain with Austrians; Brit curled against Pole.

And yet, outside of the com-petition venues, athletes min-gled, shared stories and jokes, and even swapped equipment (I myself traded a somewhat tacky tracky top for possibly the pim-pest Japanese jacket you’re ever likely to see).

It was incredible to feel part of that kind of community, albeit in a slightly false position as a journalist rather than an athlete. It was, at times, difficult to rec-oncile the regular people you met around the village with the elite athletes you saw competing. It is all too easy to forget that profes-sional sportsmen and women, who are idolised the world over, are regular people too.

And yet, being part of Team GB meant that government offi-cials, F.A. doctors, figure skaters

and snowboarders all worked alongside each other as equals.

That kind of proximity to first class sport, and the resultant in-teraction with athletes, always provides an incredible insight into any kind of sport.

And with that comes, inevita-bly, a new sense of appreciation. I had no idea that curlers picked dark bristles for their brushes in order to conduct heat more ef-ficiently, and therefore melt the ice faster. I was oblivious to the fact that skiers spend a great deal more time waxing their skis in tiny rooms than practising their turns out on the slopes.

The attention to detail and

the absolute commitment to preparation and execution was fascinating to see.

These are the things I suspect will ultimately have the greatest lasting impression. Whilst the travel was exciting, and the kit was unexpected, the experience was all.

If sport is your passion, whether it be on grass, ice or snow, events like this are a dream. For the student athletes who may never get to progress to a professional level, the Uni-versiade undoubtedly represents the pinnacle of their career.

The same certainly applies for student journalists.

Andrew MageeBUCS Media Officer

SPECTACULAR: Erzurum and the athletes competing there put on an unforgettable show

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Sport

30 Sport The Saint • Thursday 3 March 2011

Will BunnRugby Club Alumni Secretary

VICTORY MARCH: Captain Steve Sims takes on the Aberdeen defence with Jeremy Gordon close behind (top), and Sean Murchie waltzes through the Aberdeen defence on the way to his hat-trick for the home team (bottom)

Speaking after Wednesday’s game, former Club Captain Giles Smith recounted that the last time St An-drews defeated Aberdeen 1st XV was in 2005. The long wait to get one over on the “strong men from the north” was felt by players and fans alike, as demonstrated by the elation at the final whistle of this thrilling game.

The sizeable crowd that braved the cold and wet were rewarded with a fierce and bruising contest between two sides lying second and third in the Scottish BUCS Championship. Aberdeen, com-ing off the back of a 74-0 thrash-ing of Robert Gordon University, arrived full of confidence and purpose.

Saints, for their part, had not played a BUCS fixture since De-cember. The enforced mid-winter break allowed Director of Rugby, Dave Ross, to field a near full strength side – a luxury not often afforded to the Saints at this point in the season with a small squad and such a bruising fixture list.

Giles Goatly and Matt Cannon returned in the front row, while Timmy Rogers resumed his place at openside, alongside “Down-town” Browne and Alan Little. Captain Steve Sims moved to scrumhalf in place of the injured Euan Millar, while first year Jamie Urquhart slotted in to partner Matt Hannay in the centres.

On the bench, Nick Richard-son replaced the injured Will Bunn and he was joined by Jer-emy Gordon, Matt Oldroyd and

Rob Davidson.From the start St Andrews

showed their attacking intent and quickly sought to put Aberdeen on the back foot, with Urquhart’s boot soon pinning the visitors back in their own territory.

With powerful running from Robbie Lawrence and the mercu-rial deftness of Little, St Andrews found themselves in a number of good attacking positions. From one such position inside the Ab-erdeen half, the ball went wide to Urquhart, who made a half break, off-loading to Sean Murchie who turned on the taps and left his opposite number trailing as he opened his account for the after-noon with the first of his three tries. Urquhart added the extras and so St Andrews took a 7-0 lead in the opening minutes.

Aberdeen, though, were never going to roll over and were soon pushing into St Andrews terri-tory, with the ever present threat of Redha Guedroudj on the wing giving veteran Saint Stew Cole-man plenty to think about all af-ternoon. The Saints did well to soak up the pressure and another foray into the visitors half forced a penalty that Urquhart gladly knocked over to extend the lead.

Yet it did not take long for the visitors to reply and it was their go-to man Redha on the right wing who took advantage of some uncharacteristically poor Saints defence to beat four men and slide in to score in the corner.

In a tight battle there are a few who revel in it more than Goatley and Man of the Match Cannon, who provided a base for the Saints throughout. With Nick Winton’s fearless commitment and Rogers scything down opposition attack-ers, it was no wonder St Andrews soon found themselves again

Club FocusSt Andrews Men’s Rugby on the 1st XV’s BUCS league win over Aberdeen, and other news from the club

Women’s Basketball shooting for title

Continued from back page

pushing Aberdeen back. At the home of running rugby,

it was only a matter of time before the outstanding Hannay slipped through the Aberdeen midfield, beating two men before off-load-ing to the omnipresent Cannon from where the ball again found itself in the hands of Murchie, who tore over the line to bag his second. It was a superb try, while proving that unless one builds a

ST ANDREWS 1STS 26ABERDEEN 2NDS 22

solid forward platform, St An-drews’ champagne rugby is noth-ing but fizz.

The first half continued to be a keenly fought affair, and Aber-deen were helped when Sims was sin-binned for not rolling away as the visitors threatened. Urquhart and the Aberdeen kicker swapped penalties and the sides went into half time with the game still in the balance.

stretching the lead to 23-12.Laura Viidebaum added her

name to those of the previous goalscorers with a couple of fine shots, the first coming after a rapid passing move right from the Saints’ own defensive zone. At the end of the first quarter it was 28-14 to the home side.

On the restart the home side found their lead trimmed to ten as the teams traded points and were guilty of untidy passing.

Four free throws in quick suc-cession saw Abertay reel in their opponents at 35-27, but Rogers responded when she was need-ed most, scoring from two fast breaks from defence that were

becoming her trademark. She had the last laugh of the quarter too, pouncing to score right on the buzzer; Saints led 41-27.

The start of the third quarter saw some good ball retention from the hosts, now in confident mood. Their defence was solid if not totally watertight: though Abertay did get a few field goals (their apparent shoot-on-sight strategy delivering the odd goal for every couple of wild ones) Saints’ response was always im-mediate and ruthless.

The hosts soon reached fifty and, with further field goals from Alyssa Norris and Ewa Bajerska, the third quarter end-ed with Saints holding a very healthy lead (58-35).

The final ten minutes of the match began with both sides finding their range from dis-tance. Abertay applied their most concentrated pressure of the match, but the difference be-tween the sides was end prod-uct; Courtney Fieldman notched one for herself on the scoreboard after Saints’ composed passing

across the court had pulled the hapless visiting defence apart.

With the match now clearly won, the home side took the op-portunity to withdraw some of their key players; Rogers was substituted with three minutes left, to the richly-merited adula-tion of players and spectators.

The last minutes of play were scrappy, with the result beyond doubt. Saints were not going to stop, though, and they were able to finish – aptly – on the front foot thanks to Bajerska’s solo dribble and field goal.

Come the game’s end, Aber-tay acknowledged they had been beaten by the better team. Saints can reflect on a good win and team performance.

They have three games in hand on league leaders Robert Gordon and, while testing times lie ahead, if Rogers can repeat her outstanding performance against Abertay and the rest of the team are able to match and go beyond their own showings, they can be more than optimistic about closing the gap.

The second half was even more physical and Browne found himself in the thick of the action, coming to the fore with some strong forward carries while Jamie Irvine settled in for his best game in a Saints shirt for some time. Another Aberdeen penalty closed the gap further and it took Murchie’s third try to bring the St Andrews victory in sight.

The visitors were not done yet and staged a ferocious comeback, with another penalty and then a well worked try which they duly converted.

In a tense final ten minutes St Andrews extended their lead with another Urquhart penalty, before Aberdeen brought themselves within a score with a kick of their own.

The last five minutes were completely dominated by Aber-deen looking for an opening, but cool heads and brilliant defence, despite a couple of nervous mo-ments, kept them out. As Steve Sims thumped the ball into touch to herald the final whistle, joy mixed with relief at a hard fought and well deserved victory.

As Dave Ross reminded the boys after the game, it was the first time St Andrews had truly held on after half time and that the feeling of closing out such a tight game should be remembered as the coming games against Stirling and Edinburgh point to tough chal-lenges ahead. This vital win also keeps alive St Andrews’ hopes of nicking the league title (they now sit joint second with Aberdeen and are only three points behind leaders Edinburgh), should other results fall favourably.

The next match, against Robert Gordon University, was awarded to St Andrews on a forfeit due to the visitors’ inability to field a team.

The Men’s 2nds did play, how-ever, and they recorded their first league win of the season as they defeated Abertay 1sts 19-12

For Saints Rugby news, events and fixtures, see http://www.facebook.com/standrews.rugby.

Tennis: continued winning ways

The University Tennis Club is having one of its most successful competitive years in recent mem-ory, and nothing epitomises this success more than the perform-ance of the Men’s 2nds and 3rds last Wednesday.

The Men’s 1sts have won the BUCS 2A league, with Strath-clyde’s failure to put a team to-gether (almost certainly out of fear of a drubbing) this Wednes-day giving the St Andrews team a walkover.

In the matches that did go ahead the 2nds thrashed Glas-

gow Caledonian 10-2 and the 3rds put in an outstanding shift to snatch a draw from the brink against Robert Gordon 1sts.

For the 2nds, Johnny Gray, Chris Impiglia, Alex Aulakh and Richard Heyes produced fine displays in the convincing win over Glasgow Caledonian. The only points dropped were in the doubles, by which time the match had already been won.

In the 3rds match against Robert Gordon, the points were in the balance as Adam George and Andrew Robson lost out at 1 and 2 to some strong opponents.

Luckily the strength and depth of the squad prevailed with Matt Lambert and Ruarih Gilmour winning their singles matches before James Penn stepped in to take the doubles with Lambert and salvage a draw and some points that will further push the 3rds into a promotion battle along with St Andrews 2nds.

It says a lot for the strength of the Tennis Club’s squads that the St Andrews teams are competing with each other for promotion.

Andrew MortonTennis Club Captain

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www.thesaint-online.comGet more from The Saint at:

Now that the powder has settled and the ice has finally thawed, Team GB can look back with pride on a hugely successful team performance at the 25th Winter Universiade, held in Er-zurum, Turkey.

The 2011 World Winter Uni-versity Games (from the 27th January-6th February) saw Team GB participate alongside the world’s best student athletes in eleven days of elite competition.

All of the British teams matched their global counter-parts and Team GB returned home with a gold medal, a host of personal bests and a sense of satisfaction at a job well done.

The Women’s Ice Hockey team, in their second appearance at a Winter Universiade, imme-diately made history by smash-ing the host nation Turkey 10-0, a result that was their first ever victory at a Universiade.

While they did not fare quite so well against the other nations, they managed some very respect-able results against Finland and the USA before crushing Turkey again in the 5th/6th place play-off, repeating their emphatic 10-0 score-line to ensure they went home on a real high.

The Alpine skiers had a huge-ly testing week in conditions that were not best suited to ski-ing, but Francesca Simonds and Abby Clifford both managed top 30 finishes in the Women’s Su-per Combined, while Alastair Stang was the pick of the men with his 37th place in the Men’s Slalom event.

At the freestyle events, Mar-tin Trotter and Max Hardy both placed in the top 30 in Ski Cross, while all four British snowboard-ers qualified for the last 32 in the Boarder Cross finals, with Row-an Brandreth’s 16th place repre-senting the top British finish, as well as his best ever finish.

At the Short Track arena, Gemma Cooper and Hew Wil-liams achieved PBs in the 1000m and the 1500m respectively, while Olympian Paul Worth en-joyed one of the highlights of his career: carrying the flag for Great Britain at the Opening Ceremony.

Team GB’s figure skating duo of Louis Walden and Owen Edwards gave two fantastic per-

formances, but a combination of misfortune in their second dance and local favour meant that they finished 5th.

At the Curling Arena, the Men’s team were cruelly edged out of a medal, narrowly de-feated by the Czech Republic in their Bronze Medal Game.

However, the Women’s team were delighted to make their

own piece of history, sealing the first ever British Curling Gold Medal, defeating Russia 7-6 in a fiercely close encounter that needed an eleventh end to de-cide the result.

The Games were a real suc-cess for Team GB, both in terms of results and personal experi-ence, and the results in Turkey will undoubtedly provide a

solid platform on which British winter sports can build before Slovenia 2013.

It was a real collective effort, and both the individual and team performances will hopefully live long in the memories of all the coaches and athletes.

Inside Sport:Saints Rugby Men down Aberdeen inmemorable win p30

Team GB strike gold at Winter Universiade

GOLDEN GIRLS: Skip Anna Sloan (top, centre) led her team to a historic victory in the Women’s Curling event, as the flag of Great Britain is raised to herald their Gold Medal-winning success (bottom)

More on the Winter Universiade on page 29

Basketball: Rogers stars for rampant Saints

Richard BrowneSaint Sport Editor

Hannah Rogers delivered a bas-ketball masterclass for Saints on Wednesday night, as the home team put Abertay to the sword.

Her passing range, compo-sure on the ball, dribbling out of defence at pace and – most sig-nificantly for the result – deadly shooting (she outscored the en-tire Abertay team put together) proved the catalyst for Saints’ second win from three games in the league this season.

Indeed, it was Rogers who opened the scoring after the hosts had survived some initial Abertay pressure from the tip-off, keeping her cool to score a rebound from close in.

The opening minutes were frantic and end-to-end, with both defences taking their time to set-tle into the match and attacking moves finding their mark each time, but Saints began to edge ahead as they took advantage of more rebounds, with the height of Rogers and Charlotte Daman Willems serving them well in the Abertay defensive zone.

Hence Abertay were already beginning to panic and, in their eagerness to catch up, were choosing the wrong options when in possession and continu-ally being hit on the counter at-tack by Rogers; with the score at 14-6, the visitors’ coach called a time-out to try to remedy the sit-uation which was quickly slip-ping out of their control.

It made little difference, as Saints remained cooler un-der pressure and scored the first three-pointer of the match through Kristen Cowens, her fine effort from wide on the right

Continued on page 30

ST ANDREWS 1STS 80ABERTAY 1STS 45

Andrew MageeBUCS Media Officer

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