Deathtrap
Cottiers Theatre, Glasgow

How far would you go for adulation, success and critical acclaim?  Could you kill somebody?  This is the question posed by Ira Levin’s ‘Deathtrap’ – the play within a play that was one of the biggest ever successes in the history of Broadway.  On this particular evening, I’ve come to consider my own murderous impulses with the Stirling based company Theatre Broad, whose job it is to make this broadway mega-hit work in the intimate surroundings of Cottiers Theatre.  The results are wonderful, and make for an evening of thoroughly entertaining theatre.

Twists are the order of the day in Deathtrap, lots of them, and while Levin’s tale is clearly outstanding, the cast do a remarkable job keeping the suspense in the air.  There’s a moment during the performance where I am so shocked and surprised at one of the twists, that I spray a half pint of Sagres over the row in front of me, and while this may not to be everybody’s tastes, it’s my own special way of praising actor Mark Harvey – who is fantastic as aspiring dramatist Clifford Anderson, veering effortlessly between nervous artist and a cold hearted alter ego.

Elsewhere the set cracks that difficult trick of being minimal but also detailed, with the plethora of potential murder weapons hanging on the walls, and old mementos of successful plays of days of yore adding to the authenticity of the performance.

It can be difficult taking such a popular and iconic drama, and presenting an original and compelling version of events, but Theatre Broad succeed – I’ll be keeping an eye out for future performances, and also for the very talented Harvey.  Hopefully the next time I’ll keep the beer in my mouth.

Bug  by Adam Buxton
Filmhouse, Edinburgh

The concept of Bug rather amuses me, a grown man talking us through the… lets say immature, world of youtube comments, a congress of irrationality, stupidity, and worst of all bad grammar.   I am, naturally, in awe of Buxton though – with Bad Dad a long time favourite, and I’m intrigued to see how this live performance of Bug turns out, and I am not disappointed.

Bug is fantastic, surprising educational and engaging – but also outright hilarious and surreal.  Buxton talks the audience through the wonderful world of music videos, from a rather bold Dizzee Rascal number, to a recent Yeah Yeah Yeahs cut that was more akin to a Christopher Nolan film than MTV material.  There are also some lesser known gems, with belgian act ‘Willow’ and their recent video for track ‘Sweater’ a kaleidoscopic feast that begs belief.

Interspersed with all this, we see Buxton’s ongoing fascination with David Bowie (or should that be ‘Zavid Bowie’) through a few tribute films, including some ‘insight’ into how Warszawa from the seminal ‘Low’ was written.  There’s also evidence that Brad Pitt has written an album about the highs and lows of going to the toilet, a piece of lowbrow humour that has me in tears.

Buxton is a comedian, but is also a bona-fide geek, and it’s this enthusiasm and talent which makes him such an engaging performer.  Fingers crossed that he brings this show back up north of the border pronto.

Sitting quietly at a table with his on screen Sergeant, Adam McNamara turns to face me. Our online personalities are acquainted but to affirm a real-life connection, he brings forward a palm. I look, then accept. His colleague, fellow actor Robert Jack, slips quietly out the makeshift dressing room leaving an empty chair behind. Tentatively I make a dash for it.
“May I?” I ask pointing in its direction. “Aye!” replies a soft Dundodian whirr. Then DIIIIING – an interjection from Twitter.
“Sorry!” he cries placing a large hand on the iPhone and sliding it out of sight. Grins are exchanged and chairs brought forward in an attempt to hear one another speak. Although the SECC’s atmosphere is relaxed, many young men mill about which avert our attention. Some fire orange machine guns while others leap around playfully. The guys are actors and they are waiting to be called for their next performance. They are the cast of Black Watch.

In the midst of its fourth global tour, this National Theatre of Scotland production Black consistently receives sold-out audiences no matter where in the world it performs. Adam, who has been featured in productions since 2010, reminisces over his affair with the show.
“When I saw Black Watch for the first time what I took away from it was hearing my accent on stage. It was a profound thing for me.”
Adam is referring to the Scottish lingo which is dominant throughout. Based on real-life interviews with Black Watch soldiers, Gregory Burke’s award-winning script bears an outstanding sense of surrealism. Although it is centred around Iraq, the characters are still young men. They’re from Fife, they’re with their pals and they like to have a good time. They just happen to be fighting a war.

Continuing in a slightly softer accent than his character Rossco’s, Adam describes his solider as ‘the one who is laid back about the whole thing’. Viewed as the level-headed one out the bunch, Rossco has ‘more service’ than his peers. This creates a sense of balance throughout the group and one of many elements which allow it to work so well.
At the other end of the spectrum there’s Stewarty, a younger solider who is on his second tour of Iraq. He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and should not be there – however the army turns a blind eye. The contrast in these characters shows a wide variety of personalities on stage. There is a group of young men each with a different story which compliments each other’s beautifully. It echoes an unintentional effort by the Black Watch creative team when they audition new actors for each tour. Just like real life recruits new soldiers for the next war.

“He’s ok with what he’s doing,” explains Adam. “The only reason he leaves the army is because of the politics, he doesn’t want to be changed by it.” The coolness in his voice shows tiny glimmers of Rossco coming through. When you are involved with a certain personality on such an intense level, it must be easy to feel empathetic towards them.

Sitting with Adam highlights the difference between what an actor and audience member takes from the show.  A live performance, especially coupled with song and movement, has great effect simply because the viewer feels part of it. They are experiencing it from the moment of creation. Continuing in his delicate manner Adam talks of an audience’s vibes which affect the night’s performance:
“Every audience is a different beast so we feed off that.” No truer word said when you think of its context in foreign countries. The dialogue in Black Watch is young and Scottish therefore profanity is high. Classic Scotch words are sometimes adapted to suit the viewer however Adam is reassuring that impact is never lost.

“There are certain types of the female anatomy that we refer to in the play but in America for example, we name it after a small kitten.” Adam smiles shyly and catching his drift, I nod in acknowledgement. Other phrases which may be confusing to the overseas viewer are the typical slurs of ‘ey’ and ‘ken’. “We’ll use the word Ken but not as much, until we feel the audience going along with it” – adding crucial elements of authenticity. Not once in its two hours are you aware you are watching actors.

Adam giggles shyly, an endearing sign of embarrassment between him and the show. Our conversation eventually turns to how an actor deals with coming down after a high energy performance. This is an exceptional piece of physical theatre which, extraordinarily, uses song and movement to encapsulate the rawest aspects of warfare. Like the suicide bomb which kills three of Rossco’s comrades. The actors are hung from metal cords which release them slowly from the roof. They fall gracefully as blood stains their face and the rest of the soldiers look on. It is a compelling reenactment of what many young men have endured. It reduces audience members to tears and is a reason for the non-actor to question the ‘high’.

“In the last scene you get to burn a lot of the tension off with the marching. But as soon as you get your costume off and have a shower, it’s back to normal life.”
The scene which Adam talks of sees the soldiers reunited, moving in cohesion and working as a unit. Perhaps not a poetically just ending but a fitting one all the same. When the Black Watch creative team set about this seemingly impossible mission, they would never of imagined how their story, the soldiers’ story, would impact on its audience throughout the world. How do you convey a solider’s view of Iraq? How do you let politics sit back and allow vulnerability to take its overdue toll? Turns out, it was rather simple in the end. From actor to journalist and solider to playwright – all the portrayals are a blast of fresh air.

Finally the public have a sense of what war fighting is really like. Even the production’s opening line makes us pause and reflect: “See, I think people’s minds are usually made up about you if you were in the army.” Director John Tiffany has not only challenged this statement, but the views of society. Something we expected from politicians and reporters, not ten guys from Fife.

The bikini body - I really thought I might achieve this holy grail of female form in 2012, but an excessive amount of hobnobs, rum and the most hideous pair of gym shorts on the planet (they were reduced in JJB) blocked my path. However all is not lost; with the dawn of  a shiny new year, the possibility of actually attending the gym becomes reasonable again and I can promise you 2013 will be better, if not for your arteries at least for your ears. Here are five artists who I hope will brighten your day, or at least whose addition to your playlist might make that session on the treadmill a bit less mind-numbingly boring.

Chvrches
Chvrches are a brilliant electro pop trio from our very own city. Glasgow has a rich musical culture and this band is the one of the latest to breakthrough onto the national scene. Delightfully soaring songs to get you dancing, their music zips, pings and whizzes with energy that is seductively infectious. If you’ve got the winter blues, try out ‘The Mother We Share’ to help you through.

The Heartbreaks
Not an electro lover? Try Morecambe band The Heartbreaks; their new single ‘Hand on Heart’ has strings that bring the sun out. They are superb live and these guys have been working hard since 2009 producing brilliant tunes like ‘I didn’t think it would hurt to think of you’ and ‘Polly’. All at a decent pace to get your heart rate going.

Palma Violets
This next band proves that having a sweet tooth is not necessarily something to complain about; introducing Palma Violets, an indie rock quartet hailing from Lambeth, London. While their name suggests a saccharine soaked sound, this band has unexpected bite.  ‘Best of Friends’ is a tune made for festivals, for shouting at the top of your lungs, up to your knees in mud, dancing while trying to avoid a Tennents shower. If that doesn’t sound like a perfect day to you try ‘Rattlesnake Highway’, great name for a wonderful song. The energetic drum beat will certainly keep you motivated to push through the dreaded exercise wall.

1975
I first saw 1975 several years ago at a gig with my sister and I have loved them ever since. I remember meeting the drummer at the merchandise stand after the gig and yelling at him ‘aahhh you guys are incredible!’. My subsequent meetings with members of this band have been no more dignified or composed, much to my friends embarrassment and amusement. Their songs explode like magnificent musical fireworks in your ears for that one final push in your workout.  Try ‘The City’ or ‘Sex’ or ‘Antichrist’ or ‘Chocolate’ or…please don’t make me choose just one!

Tom Odell
After becoming the first male artist to win the Brit’s critics choice award, Tom Odell can hardly be classed as an underground artist. Unfortunately many people are yet to hear his music, including the beautiful ‘Can’t Pretend’ and mesmerising ‘Sense’. It may not be instantly feel good, but it soars with majestic glory that can’t help but lift the spirits. In an age when a lot of popular music is so candy-coated it could rot your teeth, the rise of artists like Tom provide a welcome alternative. Great for a cool down after that exhausting gym session.

On January 9th, at a hearing convened by the Home Office, Serigne Tacko Mbengue, a gay Senegalese immigrant based as a student in Britain since 2008, was told that he must prove his sexuality in order to avoid deportation. Mbengue’s case for asylum is based on the fear that he will almost certainly face persecution upon his return, including a possible five-year jail term. He was originally forced to flee his home nation after being attacked and tortured due to his sexuality, yet the Home Office has adjourned the case for a second time pending ‘proof’ of his homosexuality.

The dangers faced by individuals such as Mbengue in their home country depressingly comes as no surprise. After spending two months in the West African nation of Senegal as part of the Student Volunteers Abroad (SVA) scheme, we found that general attitudes towards homosexuality could be summarised as “you believe in human rights, we believe in morality.” These exact words were spoken to us by an NGO official, in reference to the country’s ferociously homophobic culture and the general view that Western attitudes towards homosexuality is abhorrent.  Such views are unfortunately hugely prevalent. Senegal is a Muslim majority nation, with around 94% of the population practicing a conservative form of Islam, making homosexuality morally reprehensible.

Such intolerance forced Mbengue to escape. He arrived in England five years ago as an illegal immigrant where he was subsequently held in detention for two years without explanation. Since then he has become an LGBT and human rights campaigner at Newham College in East London, where he is enrolled in an English course. The case is important on more than one level; it is not simply about gay rights and modern prejudices, but also about human morality and the difficulties surrounding immigration.

First of all, the notion of someone being forced to prove their sexuality is farcical. How can a government body attempt to establish a criteria which encompasses or seeks to grade a natural aspect of human nature?  Such a concept is incredibly difficult to quantify, and to attempt to do so is absurb. What instead must be viewed is the empirical evidence in Mbengue’s case: eye witness accounts, medical records and physical scars testify to his torture in Senegal, while in December last year he was attacked by a group of Senegalese men in London shouting homophobic slurs. If Britain seeks to maintain its reputation as a leading promoter of human rights, then surely one of the most basic of those rights, freedom from harm and from the threat of harm, must be upheld. Having also been held in detention for two years whilst his case was reviewed, Mbengue has suffered a double injustice at the hands of a government that likes to portray itself as the foremost proponent of international justice. If the government actually wants to live up to these aspirations and refute allegations of hypocrisy it must lead by example by ensuring its policies stand in sharp contrast to the repugnant intolerance and bigotry enshrined in law by the Senegalese government.

On the other hand, although the government has a clear moral prerogative to ensure Mbengue’s safety, the case adds another dimension to the ever-present immigration debate. Current public opinion highlights growing concern about British migration levels. A poll conducted by the Migration Observatory at Oxford University found that around 60% of respondents felt that immigration levels should be “reduced a lot”. In 2011, the Westminster Government introduced annual limits on non-EU economic migration, reflecting the public’s generally unwelcoming attitude towards high number of immigrants. But surely Mbengue’s case should force the government to re-examine its current immigration policy and look beyond its rigidly figures-obsessed criteria?

The recent case of Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan illustrates that the UK government does have the ability to adapt its existing policies to account for the human costs involved in seeking asylum. Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban for her overt support of women’s education in Pakistan – but is now likely to be granted safe asylum with her family in Britain, allowing her to escape persercution once and for all.

Mbengue’s case offers a palpable challenge to the prejudiced, but unfortunately prevalent, stereotype of immigrants coming to the UK to simply live off the hard work of others. Mbengue’s case demonstrates the very real hardships endured by those seeking to escape their own countries. Now the government needs to look beyond the rigidity of its own policies in order to ensure that Britain maintains its leading role in the promotion of human rights, and offer a safe and prosperous future for those who are denied it at home. This is not an issue that should be dictated by mere practicalities, but instead by a clear sense of right and wrong.

Having worked as a charity fundraiser is like having worked in porn. It almost necessarily involves saying “I was young, naive, and needed the money,” which was my case exactly.

Chuggers (charity muggers), the cheerful people in bright jackets that have become almost unavoidable on high streets and doorsteps, do get a lot of bad press, mostly because of their predatory and annoying nature. But not a lot of people realise how morally questionable the enterprise actually is.

The business of charity might not be a scam in the traditional sense, since at the end of the day, charities do get money for their causes, and the other party – donors – pat themselves on the back and have something awesome to brag to their grandma about. Win-win. But don’t forget the middle party going home with a huge amount of money, earned hard through manipulation, lying and just making people feel bad when they don’t want to “just give up a packet of crisps at the end of the week”.

I worked as a charity fundraiser for two months last summer before I got offered a real job. I was easy prey for the company that employed me; I wanted money, the hours were fine and I really did believe I would be doing something morally good. Buzzwords like “ethical” and “making a difference” were repeated so many times during the interview that by the time I left the building, I felt like I was about to become Mother Theresa.

It took me a few days to realise there was nothing ethical in what I was doing. Essentially, the job involves persuading people to fill in direct debit forms so that they can make monthly donations to a charity. You get paid on an hourly basis, as well as bonus commission. The more donations, the more money in your bonus.

To do this, I had to memorise a carefully structured speech and a few clever ways to “handle objections”, which was just lingo for manipulating people when they said ‘no’. Not surprisingly, this did involve a fair share of lying and bending the truth.

When someone was sick of talking to you and said they’ll just do it online, you had to say that online donations get a chunk of money stripped away due to “admin fees” (whatever that means) which is not true. Online donations are actually direct, whereas doing it through fundraisers means contributing to their pay. When people said they already support other charities, you had to make them feel special about doing so, while at the same time telling them they’re monsters if they don’t support yours. When people said they were skint, you had to get as much information as you could about their spending habits and then make them feel bad, comparing how much their money could mean to others. “Cheeky question – do you go out?” was my personal favourite that made me cringe the most. Moreover,  “would you like to get involved?” was no good, as team leaders would get ultrasonic if you didn’t say “I’m sure I can count on your support!” as if that wasn’t the most annoying thing you can say to someone.

Taking no for an answer and letting go was one of the deadly sins as well. Just to tease you, the team leader listening would say “Oh, that would have definitely been a sign up there if you had kept going”. The diligent kids really took the advice in and tortured people, sometimes for 15 minutes, desperately asking the same question over and over again.

Unsurprisingly, most conversations ended with rejection. Instead of respecting that we, fundraisers, have impeded on other’s time and moving on, rejection was always a cue to return to your pack and find the most colourful words to express how horrible and evil the people they were speaking to were. Questioning people’s spending habits was commonplace as well. Elderly women, by definition spent all of their money on “soggy biscuits” and were therefore cruel hags if they didn’t donate. If the person had a disability or were in a situation relevant to the charity, that was used to trigger sympathy, often in a very cruel, insensitive way.

To make the job even more ethically questionable, the company that I worked for organises a free bar at a nightclub every few months. For free. Meaning that kind-hearted and unsuspecting donors were in turn buying us jagerbombs, which didn’t feel right at all. Not to mention free pizza every Wednesday which was followed by a two-hour long (unpaid) brainwashing session where everyone is riled up to get as many donations as possible. “We’re different because we are passionate about our charities!” No surprise. Find a sock salesman who’s not absolutely exhilarated by argyle.

A lot of people that do this work are, unsurprisingly, students who need money. Fundraising agencies are always hiring, and their attractively-worded ads online are a desert mirage to any jobseeker, and they really do hire anyone. If you are in that position and screwing people out of their money under false pretences and lying to them sounds better than KFC, then the job might not be that bad. Otherwise, aim higher!

I guess to some extent we are all a little bit starstruck.  Every time we see a really great performance, we wonder how it feels – singing in front of a crowded room exposed to everybody’s judgement. What we cannot imagine is the bittersweet feeling after leaving the stage. Surely a part of each artist wants to stay a bit longer to enjoy the applause and take in their very own moment of fame. For those who wonder about how all this feels, the Open Mic night is a perfect solution.

A couple of hours before the dreaded event the only thought that keeps popping up is: ‘This is a massive mistake, what the hell are you doing?’ Paradoxically, I am used to being on stage: I started playing the piano at the age of four and haven’t stopped performing ever since. Though I was soon about to find out that there is a big difference between playing an instrument and singing – at least for me. I became used to the comfort of having some sort of ‘hiding place’ behind the piano. But here, there is nothing to hide behind. When you stand on that stage, it is just you, the bare microphone and the crowded room with the audience ready to judge at every turn. Sound discouraging?

Even though this might seem like a completely horrifying experience, things start looking up the moment you force yourself to get on stage and start singing. About 20 seconds into the piece I found myself loving every moment of it. True, I can’t recognise my own voice and I can feel the piercing looks of the audience, but soon all this fades away and what is left is the excitement and the urge to do my very best. The reassuring smiles on my friends’ faces persuade me that I’m not doing that bad after all.

I am fairly certain I can say the same for the rest of the artists. Almost every performance we’ve seen that night was outstanding, original, and full of a genuine passion for music. To be entirely honest I felt a bit ashamed; I expected a couple of sad intoxicated guys with a guitar, crying away their sorrows and broken hearts. What, then, explains the talents of the night? After interviewing some performers, my curiosity was satisfied. They were no amateurs! Most of them either had bands with which they were regularly on stage or had previous experience with open mic nights. I still managed, however, to dig out some old memories from the very first time they had the courage to stand up to the ‘crowds’ and show what was in them.

Nick Lauener, the present host of the Queen Margaret Union Open Mic night, shared that one of the things he distinctively remembers before going on stage the first time was: ‘Oh god, oh god, I can’t remember any of the lyrics!’  Nice to know someone shares my pain since about ten minutes earlier I was frantically dealing with the same problem. When I asked him about hosting the show, he said: “I had a lot of fun doing the open mic and was good friends with the people here. So when the opportunity arose I just went for it.” Even though most of the performers usually cover folk and indie songs, Nick and his co-host, Cat Mundill, tend to cover popular songs that appear in the radio charts. Nick explained: “My biggest inspirations are probably Damian Rice or Glen Hansard and I do like to cover their songs in private. But here, we prefer to cover fun pop songs just to make people smile. We do it for the laugh; then you can see all the energy in the room.”

I moved on to interviewing a very lively group of three boys, who call themselves The Tennents. The group, heavily influenced by the rock’n’roll star Elvis Presley, was the previous act to my own two minutes of fame. Their cheerful songs took my breath (and let’s face it, a fair bit of confidence) away. You can only imagine my surprise when I learned they weren’t even a proper group: “We all live together, so when studying gets stressful and we have too much piling up, we just come to the QMU and sing a few songs.” Curiously enough, none of them studied music at the university and their explanation was fairly simple: “We didn’t want to make it an object of study. It’s good to have an extra ‘thing’ outside all the responsibilities you have.” No mixing of business with pleasure, then. My last victim, Scott Lowry, was also more experienced: “I’ve been doing this for about two years now; I participated in the open mic nights in Glasgow. I come here every so often with a couple of friends just to relax and have fun.” Unlike The Tennents, Scott linked his passion for music to his studies: “I study music and I play the violin, I just can’t stop, you know.” I couldn’t relate to this more.

The reason for performing at the open mic was common to all of my interviewees: It’s just great fun. Would they consider music as their main career? Absolutely! And as promised, this definitely was a new and different way to spend a Tuesday night. The performers vary. Some of them study music as a university subject; some try to keep their passion as separate from their studies as possible, and some don’t even attend the university and simply keep music and performing as their biggest hobby. And the moral of this story? As cliché as this might sound, at the open mic night it really doesn’t matter who you are or what you study. If you are ready to stand up and bring the best of you on stage, you are guaranteed to have a great night full of enthusiastic musicians and beautiful memories.

Whatever your thoughts on the No More Page 3 campaign, you’ve got to admit that it’s been pretty impressive. Started by self-identified ‘non-campaigner’ Lucy-Anne Holmes last September, the original petition has gained worldwide attention, sparked extensive debate in the UK media and achieved over 63,000 signatures – of which the SRC is one of the latest.

In his evidence to the Leveson inquiry last year, The Sun editor Dominic Mohan described Page 3 as a “British institution”, and to a certain extent he’s right. Page 3 has become such a ubiquitous part of British journalism that most people don’t really think about it all that much. When you stop to consider it however, Page 3 does seem a bit…odd. Regardless of what you think about porn, it is a bit incongruous to casually put a semi-naked woman on page 3 of what is otherwise a fairly normal tabloid. As the campaign petition puts it: “George Alagiah doesn’t say, ‘And now let’s look at Courtney, 21, from Warrington’s bare breasts,’ in the middle of the 6 O’Clock News, does he[?]…There would be an outcry.” So why is it okay when you’re reading a paper?

Aside from just being a bit weird, Page 3, and the wider culture of sexual objectification that it represents, is pretty harmful to all those involved. We live in a society where women are taught (often by the media) that their appearance is crucial to their success, and in light of this I can understand why being a Page 3 model – being held up as an example of beauty – is often portrayed as being empowering. However, it doesn’t seem particularly empowering to value a person for just one superficial characteristic. One of the key problems with objectification is that as soon as someone is valued for their appearance, all other aspects of them are devalued. Page 3 directly feeds into this culture – everyone knows that a model isn’t chosen for her opinion on current affairs. Encouraging people to appreciate themselves for their looks, rather than for what they say, do and believe, is not empowering; it’s insulting.

Over the past few decades this culture of objectification has been challenged and society is changing. Although it’s still far from perfect, women are increasingly being portrayed as more rounded human beings, whether in film & television or in the news. In continuing to print the Page 3 feature, The Sun is holding on to an archaic sexism that most of society left behind a few decades ago. Instead of ‘celebrating’ women for their breasts, it’s time for the paper to be celebrating women for their opinions, values and actions. Page 3 should be recognised and dumped as the relic that it is.

One of the most common arguments against the No More Page 3 campaign has been that it’s removal would be anti-freedom of speech. To me this seems a bit strange. I can understand an insistence to uphold the right to freedom of speech in journalistic practice – freedom to publish state secrets or controversial news, for example. But topless photos are not exactly in the ‘public interest.’ In fact, I have yet to hear a strong argument for keeping Page 3. There’s nothing outlawing Page 3 from being printed, but it’s pretty irresponsible and regressive for The Sun to do so.

For all these reasons, I’m proud that the SRC has chosen to back the campaign. It is elected to act in what it perceives to be the students’ best interests, and supporting a campaign to improve the representation of women in the media seems like a no-brainer. It forms just one part of the work being done by the SRC to tackle the issues faced by women on campus. It doesn’t take that long to sign a petition, and commitment to the campaign strengthens, rather than detracts from, other SRC projects. Most importantly, the decision to back the No More Page 3 campaign raises awareness of the issues on campus and encourages discussion of objectification and female representation in the media.

The Daily Mail’s coverage of the Glasgow University Pole Dancing Society reminded me of a Twitter exchange I had with the SRC and its President at the end of 2012.

On the 7th November, Mr. Harrison triumphantly announced to his followers that on behalf of the SRC, and the students of the University of Glasgow, he had signed a UK-wide petition to ban the inclusion of the naked ladies that feature in some of our national newspapers.

In protest, I asked Mr. Harrison for what purpose he had decided to include this stance as part of his mandate as president of our representative council. The response I received from Mr. Harrison, and the SRC’s official account, stated that a council member had brought the motion to a monthly meeting, at which point the decision was made to support the petition. When I asked why there had been no consultation with the students, the official response was: “How are we supposed to contact 27,000 students?”

I think the SRC’s decision to sign the “No More Page 3 Girls” pledge, reveals a number of worrying aspects regarding the organisation’s direction and management. Firstly I find it astonishing that the SRC can take a stance such as this without consulting the students via campus surveys or online polling. Given the SRC’s raison d‘etre is to represent I was baffled at the their sheer indignation at the prospect of having to make an effort to consult.

Moreover though, the SRC continues to bewilder me in its perennial ability to assume a moral superiority in making decisions on behalf of the students. The SRC Council encompasses a vast number of positions that deal with diverse aspects of university life, and in the majority of cases, I am happy to recognise that their decisions are made by virtue of them having been elected. However in my five years at university, I can’t recall having ever voted in an election for the ‘Officer of Moral Conscience’.

Who gave the SRC the right to take a stance stating that Glasgow University does not like half-nudity? Where did the SRC Council obtain the legitimacy to cast a judgement against those that enjoy hanky-panky on the newsstands?

At the first principle, my argument does not concern the debate on Page 3 Girls, rather the decision-making of the SRC. The officers of the SRC are elected to achieve the ambitions set out in their manifestos. Votes to office does not qualify council members to whimsically support issues that may take their fancy on any given day. Nor does it entitle them to embark on tangents that were not part of their original mission statements.

An equivalent example of the SRC breaching its mandate is its position regarding equal marriage. Whilst the SRC is an “equality organisation,” it is not within its scope of governance to take a political stance on such matters. And in not maintaining a neutral position, the organisation has quite rightly endeared itself to criticism. I personally support equal marriage, but find it preposterous that the SRC has used its veil of responsibility as a leverage to commit all of the students of the university.

Indeed, I find it scandalous that Father John was omitted from the 2012 Freshers’ Address due to his signature on the Catholic Church’s petition of opposition to equal marriage. To add insult to injury, the tenacity of the SRC to then claim the reason for Father John’s exclusion was as a result of a lack of space, was as insulting as it was indicative of their lack of spine.

The SRC’s purpose is to represent and better the interests of the students of the University of Glasgow. One of the fundamental reasons this university community opposes the National Union of Students, is because national representation at a lower level does not engender results that bare significance to relevant stakeholders. The demands of student populations are diverse; and we cannot be so naïve as to assume that student communities can be shepherded together. We at Glasgow University elect our SRC president to produce results for the students of Gilmorehill, not so that he can vote on national issues in order to publicly cement his personal views.

In a wider context, what is the issue with Page 3 girls? The feminist society of the university will claim that it discriminates against women; and that the sexualisation of women is both undermining and dangerous to their wellbeing. I believe in some cases, particularly in the pornography industry, this is probably true. Nonetheless, at a local level, at which the SRC is operating, the moral debate regarding Page 3 girls does not, and should not, concern the SRC president in his daily responsibilities.

Rather in my opinion, if Mr. Harrison is concerned about the safety and wellbeing of students at the university, he should spend more of his time concentrating on areas that will foster tangible results. For example better street-lighting in-and-around campus, or increased campus security, as I think it is abhorrent that students find the area surrounding the library and University Gardens threatening after nightfall. The SRC should focus on reducing this perception and risk, by spending more time working with the police and local authorities, and communicating improved measures with the students.

I think in many respects, elected students at the university can conceive in themselves a sense of self-importance that is out of proportion. In my later years of managing the GUU, I recognised this flaw in myself and thus made a conscious effort to ensure that my work was constantly delivering a substantial benefit to the members of the Union. I believe this manifested itself in the work I carried out on The Hive settlement in 2011/12. However it is my opinion that the SRC, as an organisation, has yet to understand its place on campus, principally the manner in which it is perceived in the eyes of the students. This point is particularly evident in the hyperbolic charade regarding Page 3 Girls, not least because as far as I’m aware, a pair of boobs in The Sun has yet to seriously harm anyone at the university.

Living in Glasgow, we hear a lot about the unimpeachable musical legacy of the city. From the erratic, post-punk of Orange Juice and Josef K, to the fragile indie-pop of Belle and Sebastian, to the latter alt-rock of Mogwai and Biffy Clyro; Glasgow can count among its alumni some of the most varied, and important names in modern British music. The size of the city, the familiar venues, and the manifest musical identity of the town, make it an attractive place for musicians of all sorts and origins to ply their trade.

But inevitably, playing in a scene so saturated with talent and ambition can be hard, getting the right attention, and the right support, can be frustrating. Add into the competitive landfill; a generous dose of vacuous, sound-alike bands, and a small number of predatory capitalists, and reluctant record labels – and opportunities for new talent would appear elusive.

Despite the success stories and famous stages, ‘making it’ in Glasgow has never been more difficult. I chatted with Colin O’Hara, the recent co-founder of local DIY record label ‘Overlook Records’, about the obstacles talented, local bands face today, and about how playing in the city motivated him to start his own record label.

What inspired you to found Overlook Records, and how you describe the label?

Myself (Colin), Chris from Trapped in Kansas, and Liam from Darien Venture were discussing our own disaffection with regard to the local music scene, and decided it was about time we started something positive in order to get our own music out there. After our first few releases we decided there were so many great bands we could work with within the Glasgow music scene, and have really developed from there.

Why do think controlling your own record label is a good thing?

We believe artistic control is vital, not only for the bands we play in, but also for other bands on the label. It’s important to us that bands retain their sound and identity, and we try to ensure that a great band come before a ‘perfect product’. A slow dime is better than a quick buck in our eyes.

How easy is it for unsigned bands in Scotland, and more specifically, Glasgow- to achieve success?

I think success is what you make it. If you go out aiming to sell a million records and do huge sold out shows, you will ultimately end up disappointed. If you are willing to work extremely hard and enjoy what you do, then it will be more worthwhile. I have never made serious money from music, but I’m pleased with the success I have had, in the years I have been involved in the industry.

What effect do you think DIY labels have on the local scene?

DIY labels are willing to take risks on new bands and give them a platform to do well.
I also believe small labels, for local artists, add a positive sense of community for the local scene. The bands on the label all communicate with one another and help each other out, whether it be gear sharing, finding someone to drive a van, or locating someone to help do artwork, all the guys are really keen to help each other out.

You’re a musician yourself, how has founding Overlook records helped your own band?

Being the guitarist in Trapped in Kansas and also co-founder of Overlook definitely has its advantages. I know exactly what’s happening with our releases at any time and we can basically do what we want with our own music. However, managing the label, playing in the band and working full time (I work in a whisky distillery too) can be quite demanding. But I like keeping myself busy and the label certainly does that!

What’s in the name?

We went through a couple of names and weren’t really satisfied with what we came up with, then when we were toying with ideas, the three of us landed on the Stanley Kubrick classic “The Shining” and in it, there’s a  hotel is called the ‘Overlook Hotel’…so we decided to steal it from that.

Trapped in Kansas, The Darien Venture, Salo, and Bellow Below are all on the Overlook roster.

Find out more about the label and associated artists at www.overlookrecords.com

You will all be familiar with academic journals, but have you ever thought of being published in one? If you are an undergraduate student, studying a subject within the arts, humanities, and social sciences, Groundings is for you.

Groundings is an undergraduate peer-reviewed journal, published annually on a cross-disciplinary theme. The journal, founded in 2007 by GU Dialectic Society, is entirely student-run, and offers a venue for undergraduates to publish their work, as well as the opportunity to be involved in the process of editing and producing an academic journal. Now in its sixth volume, this year we are looking for submissions on the theme of ‘Voice and Power’.

There are many reasons to submit to Groundings. Firstly, it allows you to be formally published in print, and each volume is held by the Glasgow University Library, as well as other libraries across the UK, including the British Library, the Bodleian, and the National Library of Scotland. Not only is it nice to see your name in print, but it also enhances your CV; this year, for the first time, all authors will receive recognition on their transcript, through the HEAR scheme. Groundings can even act as a stepping-stone to future publication in scholarly journals, and the editorial process can help you improve your writing skills.

But don’t just take our word for it. Peter Slater, a fourth year English Literature student, published in Volume Five (on the theme of ‘Individuals and Extremes’), described his experience with Groundings as ‘one of the highlights of my undergraduate degree. The thrill of being published has given me an early, motivating taste of a career path and lifestyle that I’m keen on pursuing.’ Sibyl Adam, also a final year English student published last year, highlighted that ‘often academia can be very intimidating’, but said that the nature of the editorial process and the exclusive focus on undergraduates helps develop confidence in academic writing.

Submissions are made anonymous and selected by a peer-review process. Authors who are chosen for publication are then assigned an Editorial Board member to work one-to-one with them to help polish their piece for publication.

The value of Groundings has also been recognised by academics. Nine members of University staff have joined the Advisory Board of Groundings, who help select the winner of the £100 prize for best article. But this recognition extends beyond Glasgow. Earlier this year, a new collaborative journal, Groundings Ancients, was established in concert with the Heads of Colleges at each of the Ancient Universities of Scotland. It will run in parallel, publishing the top three articles from Groundings alongside the best three from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and St Andrews.

This is a fantastic opportunity for students at the University of Glasgow, so get writing!

Groundings invites GU undergraduates in the arts, humanities and social sciences to submit articles of up to 4000 words (which can be adapted course essays, dissertation chapters, or bespoke) on the theme of ‘Voice and Power’, no later than 1st February 2013. Email submissions/enquiries: arts-groundings@glasgow.ac.uk Full details: www.gudialectic.co.uk/groundings.html. You can also find Groundings on Facebook. 

Roy Mwenechanya, a University of Glasgow PhD student within the Wellcome Trust Centre,  is  one of 10 children, born in the copper mining town of Kitwe  around 400km north of the Zambian capital, Lusaka.  As a child, Roy, like others in his class was taught about Dr Livingstone, the Scottish missionary explorer who devoted his life to an effort to abolish the slave trade. Livingstone’s adventures thrilled the young Mwenechanya. He was determined to win a scholarship to bring him to Glasgow, where Livingstone himself had read medicine in the mid-nineteenth century.

Roy will next month attend a symposium being held in the Bute Hall to celebrate the 200th anniversary of David Livingstone’s birth. The symposium, which is part of the David Livingstone 200 celebrations being organised by the Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology, will be addressed by international experts from the World Health Organisation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, St George’s University of London as well as leading parasitologists from the University of Glasgow. Glasgow remains one of the world’s leading Centres for the study of tropical diseases today.

Asked about his ambition to study at Glasgow, Roy replied: “I wanted to come to Glasgow to find out why Dr Livingstone wanted to come all the way to Africa to fight diseases that were not even present in Scotland.  Livingstone was accepted by the people in Africa despite the ills of slavery at the time, and was treated differently. He spoke out against the slave trade. He also tried to help Africans by introducing new methods of agriculture and introducing novel ideas in medicine.  Like me, Livingstone came from a humble background.  Yet through his dedicated hard work he made a difference.  Our former President, Kenneth Kaunda, described Livingstone as Africa’s first freedom fighter. It is a great inspiration to any of us to realise that with hard work and determination anyone can change the world. ”

Dr Livingstone made three separate expeditions to Africa in his lifetime. Between 1841 and 1873 he travelled some 30,000 miles, mainly on foot, through jungle, desert and swamp. Along the way, he discovered peoples, animals, lakes and waterways (including Victoria Falls) and vast areas of previously uncharted land. It was, however, his Christian faith, desire to rid Africa of slavery and his description of the natural fauna and flora of Africa and particularly his depictions of tropical diseases for which he will be best remembered. And it is his contributions to understanding tropical diseases which the symposium will remember.

He identified the tsetse fly as the agent that transmitted a disease we now know to be trypanosomiasis (also called sleeping sickness when the parasites afflict man). He introduced the use of arsenic to treat the disease, although the microbial cause was not then known. Arsenical drugs are still used to treat humans today.

Without treatment, sleeping sickness is fatal. The parasites, trypanosomes, proliferate in the blood and the lymphatic systems before invading the brain. They cause a progressive breakdown of neurological function and usually change in sleep patterns.

Mwenechanya’s PhD thesis has involved trying to understand how trypanosomes and related parasites become resistant to drugs. He is using state of the art technologies to dissect the precise molecular  details of the  parasite’s make up.  By then comparing the inner workings of parasites that are resistant to drugs to those that are sensitive, the mechanisms that cause resistance can be identified.  This information can then help design new drugs that bypass the resistance mechanisms allowing us to kill the parasites once again.

“Understanding drug resistance will help reduce treatment failure rates that may be due to it [drug resistance].  I am trying to equip myself with the techniques and qualifications that can assist me in looking more closely at the issues that affect my people. My approach to tackling poverty is that you have to start with the health of the people. Education is a cardinal aspect to this. If you educate people they will take health seriously and will look after themselves: that is what Livingstone believed.”

In many respects, Dr Livingstone can be considered the father of Scottish Parasitology. It was under his influence that a generation of young Scottish medics set off for Africa in the hope of building a better, healthier world. A distant relative of Livingstone, Patrick Manson, showed how mosquitoes transmit the worms that cause the disease elephantiasis, a grotesque disease which in its severest cases leads to great swelling of arms, legs and sometimes huge enlargement of the scrotum.  Manson persuaded Major Ronald Ross to study malaria and Ross showed the parasites that cause this disease were also transmitted by mosquitoes. Other prominent Scots in the field include Major David Bruce and George Carmichael Low, who made significant inroads in the study of trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness. Muriel Robertson, from Glasgow, was one of few women involved in early research into tropical medicine and she too made  her mark in the study of sleeping sickness. She eventually moved to Uganda, where she learned more about the complex developmental cycles of the parasites that cause the disease. Another Glaswegian, William Leishman, identified parasites that are very similar to trypanosomes in patients suffering from kala azar in India. These parasites are now called Leishmania and the diseases they cause, afflicting millions in tropical and subtropical parts of the world, are still known as the Leishmaniases.

In short Scotland’s contribution to parasitology and tropical medicine has been immense.  The University has today more Professors of Parasitology than any other institution in the world.  Scottish parasitologists were central in establishing the genome sequence of the trypanosome and other parasites and have revealed the presence of numerous potential targets for drugs in fighting sleeping sickness.

Prof Mike Barrett, the organiser of the David Livingstone Symposium and Roy’s PhD supervisor, said: “Roy is a shining example of how the University of Glasgow and in particular the Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology, in collaboration with African scientists, is following in David Livingstone’s footsteps in advancing research into parasitic diseases”.

A recent investigation into the participation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) students in sport at university was conducted by the National Union of Students (NUS). It found that only one third of LGBT students were prepared to take part in team sports, as a result of a variety of cultural and structural issues. Some students cited an unwelcoming atmosphere, which resulted in their decision not to participate in sport, while fourteen percent experienced homophobia at their sporting institution which put them off participation.

One of the key criticisms that were uncovered as a result of the report was that only one third of LGBT students agreed that there were obvious equality policies with regards to sport at their institution. A ‘visible and enforced equality policy’ was cited as key in ensuring the inclusion and participation of LGBT students at their sporting institution.

These issues are not new and last year GUSA and the SRC were particularly pro-active in dealing with potential discrimination against LGBT students in sports. Last year the FairPlay Campaign was set up as a joint initiative between the Students Representative Council and Glasgow University Sports Association to work against these barriers and forms of discrimination in sport against LGBT students at Glasgow University. The campaign was established to encourage a culture of respect and openness that the recent NUS report highlights as a crucial step in ensuring that LGBT students feel welcomed at their university’s sporting institution. The FairPlay Campaign ensured that the GUSA constitution was amended to guarantee that no members would be discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnic origin, religion, beliefs, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age or physical or mental ability and pronounced its commitment to promoting a gay-friendly and trans-friendly environment in all areas of sport and recreation.  The campaign also aims to ensure that if there is any discrimination reported, it will be properly addressed.

Drew McClusker, the former Sexual Orientation Equality Officer stated that he was inspired to create FairPlay as a result of his contrasting experiences in sport at High School and then as part of Glasgow University Swimming and Water Polo. Many of the issues surrounding an LGBT person getting into sport is down to what he referred to as “‘locker-room syndrome”.

Commenting, he said: “Straight person can be uncomfortable with someone being gay and in the locker-room because they think that their own exposure could be titillating or part of some agenda of that LGBT person. The flip-side of that is that the LGBT person may also be uncomfortable, fearing that the straight person could be worrying about the LGBT person’s motive to be there, and fearing potential threats or assaults. The fear of harassment on both parts is uncomfortable, but until any action takes place, the only basis for such an atmosphere is cynicism and suspicion of each thinking the worst of the other.”

The FairPlay campaign was created to encourage LGBT students to get involved in sport and recreation and promote the already welcoming and friendly atmosphere of GUSA. GUSA President, Chris Miller, supports Drew McClusker’s views, commenting that he did not feel that GUSA had an “unwelcoming” atmosphere at all towards the LGBT community.

He said: “The many social and lifestyle benefits that regular exercise, playing sport and taking part in recreational activities provide are endless. Being a part of Glasgow University Sports Association, and Sport & Recreation, we believe these should be available to all and all barriers to access such opportunities are reduced or removed. Furthermore, each unique individual helps shape such a positive experience within the University sporting community and make it such a special thing to be part of.

“As this NUS report shows, there is clearly a great need and potential for the FairPlay Campaign and continued work across the sector to make everyone feel involved and welcome to participate in sport. The partnership which provides Sport & Recreation opportunities at the University of Glasgow is one of the most highly regarded and copied structures in the UK, and we are very proud of the service we provide to the University and the wider community. Should anyone like to discuss how sport and recreational activities can be made more accessible on campus please get in touch and share your views and experiences, we strive to continually develop opportunities and are always open to new suggestions and initiatives.”

It is clear that the issues highlighted by the NUS report are not applicable to GUSA due to the FairPlay Campaign and the University’s strong policies towards equality. If any LGBT student has experienced discrimination as a result of their sexual orientation, gender, etc they should report any such incident to GUSA management.

The University of Glasgow has received only a 1.3% increase in funding for teaching and research from the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), 1.9% down from the Scottish average.

Similar gaps in funding between the Scottish average and the other ancient universities of Scotland, such as Edinburgh, St Andrews and Stirling, have been noted by the University and College Union (UCU). In fact, Edinburgh, St Andrews and three other institutions have seen a cut in the teaching and research grants for 2013-14, compared to 2012-13.

This low level of funding provided for the ancient universities of Scotland and their research facilities, underpins concerns among the institutions for how their funding can continue to be sustained and how they can compete internationally, given their drop in world rankings in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings which saw Glasgow fall 37 places to 139th position.

University officials remain confident that funding will not effect the quality of teaching and research. A spokesperson for the University said: “The University of Glasgow is one of the leading research-intensive universities in the world and continues to compete successfully on a global scale. It is a challenging environment but we are confident that the outstanding work carried out by our staff and researchers across a range of fields and endeavors will continue to secure significant funding from government, charitable trusts and private sources.”

The UCU however are concerned that the SFC is not targeting the most important issues. The UCU argue that job stability and institutions being able to create renowned reputations in research are of equal importance. The current figures suggest these latter issues are being ignored.

Mary Senior, UCU’s Scottish Official, expressed worry over many Scottish universities receiving only small increases when taking into account inflation. She said: “UCU is concerned that the SFC is diverting funds from the core areas of teaching and research to fund projects which will increase the bureaucracy in obtaining grants.”

Meanwhile, newer institutions such as the University of the Highland and Islands and Scotland’s Rural University College have seen huge increases in their teaching a research funding, receiving an extra £6.5+ million and £4+ million from the previous year.

These concerns about Glasgow University funding were touched upon in December when the Russell Group released their ‘Jewels in the Crown’ report. The report touches on some of these concerns, and most crucially, the lack of public funding available to universities in the UK. The report concludes that something needs to change with relation to the funding that these universities receive, otherwise there is a danger that without this support overseas universities could take over, leaving the UK unable to compete.

Returning to my flat after being at home for Christmas is always difficult; after home cooking and seemingly unlimited central heating, the prospect of dealing with my dodgy boiler seems particularly unpleasant. We may be poor students, roughing out Glasgow’s winter months (pretty much October to March) in flats with single glazing, with a fear of putting the heating on for more than two hours a day, but we have to remember there are so many people with no flat or room of their own to return to, right here in Glasgow.

In 2003 legislation was passed by the Scottish government promising the right to a home to everyone who is ‘unintentionally homeless’ by 2012, by removing the ‘priority need’ requirement, previously granted mainly to families. Despite this, there are over 10 000 homeless people in Glasgow. During 2011-12 there were 9144 homeless application made, and that massive figure doesn’t account for those who aren’t in the system.

One practice offering many people a new way of life is supported accommodation, which acts as stepping stone between being homeless and finding the means of self-support. I visited the Emmaus Glasgow charity, which is a worldwide charity established in France in the 1950s. There are 23 Emmaus communities in England and the Glasgow branch is the only one in Scotland, with three charity shops in Hamilton Hill, Mount Florida and Partick. Emmaus Glasgow was set up in 2006, and is a self-supporting charity, helping to rehabilitate those who have found themselves homeless.

Emmaus Glasgow currently has 24 beds: the residents sign off all benefits and work for Emmaus, receiving a small weekly allowance. ‘And it really works,’ affirms general manager, Gary McHaffie. ‘What Emmaus Glasgow tries to do is give people their self-respect back and get them back into the ethos of working.’ Residents are called ‘companions’ and staff the Emmaus shops, kitchen, work on the allotments, drive the vans and even design the website, ‘As far as we possibly can we will try to employ people that have been here. Obviously that’s not always the case, we can’t give everyone a job, but someone we find we can train and develop their skills… something that helps Emmaus Glasgow.’ Companions also receive training to improve their employability: there are a range of college courses on offer, driving lessons, and one resident has just completed a tree surgery course. Gary told me they also encourage companions to deal with any issues they have, ‘mental health issues, alcohol issues, anything,’ with the Emmaus support service staff, and by setting achievable goals. He says it takes the pressure off mainstream living, ‘it’s a chance to take time out, not worry about paying bills and stuff like that, not to be rushed, take their own kind of time to reflect.’

The community seems harmonious and relaxed, completely uninstitutional, with no in-and-out policy, ‘some people come and they can just live here basically as long as they want, it’s a way of life for some people.’ There is no cut-off point for residents, the amount of time they stay totally depends on the individual, and those who have lived in the community for a length of time and are making good progress can become ‘responsible companions’, getting involved with the security of the building at night and at weekends when there are no staff. Gary has been general manager for 3 and a half years and he says ‘it’s a privilege to be here, it’s great to work with the guys. It’s very rewarding when you see someone that’s come in and gradually grown in different areas until they’re finally ready to move out and back into mainstream living, their own flat and hopefully employment.’

Yet despite the 2003 legislation, Gary has seen an increase in homelessness due to economic downfall and cuts to benefits. A few years ago Emmaus Glasgow nearly closed down because of lack of funding, but now they have the strongest community Gary has experienced. And this is ironically due to the increase in people being made homeless. Gary says, ‘I’ve seen a change in the type of people we get applications from. There’s guys in just now that are so skilled in different areas, it’s hard to believe that they’re actually homeless. These are all guys that could easily get jobs outside… if there were jobs there.’ Gary admits it’s tragic, but it’s beneficial to the Emmaus community, where the companions are the workforce, ‘their skills pay for their time here.’ In recent years the definition of homelessness has had to change; Gary says they see less ‘stereotypical homeless people’ and more people suffering with depression from losing jobs, ‘they lose interest in living.’

Although Emmaus Glasgow has a strong community, they are looking at increasing their number of beds, and would love to be able to take on paid workers, but, relying on their shops and donations, they don’t have enough money for that yet. For most of us in the ‘West End bubble’, homelessness doesn’t seem to affect us, and it’s hard to believe how many dispossessed people there are right on our doorstep. But there are literally thousands of people living in our city far, far less fortunate than us, and there are ways to do your bit to help those who haven’t had access to the kind of education I personally take for granted most of the time. The Glasgow University Society for the Homeless works closely with Emmaus Glasgow, helping out at their soup kitchens every Tuesday and Wednesday and we run our own on a Saturday night. As Gary said, the experience of helping the homeless and listening to their stories is so rewarding. I’ve met a lot of people at the soup kitchens who would really like to go to university, but are just unable to maintain the lifestyle it requires, so it makes me really think about how lucky I am to be here.

If you’re interested in helping out and gaining invaluable experience in charity work, or just becoming part of a really interesting society, please email volunteer@src.gla.ac.uk for more information and an application form.

The library at Glasgow University made over £90,000 in library fines between September 2011 and December 2012. Only 3.8% of this money was used to replace lost books.

This statistic has come to light after a Guardian (The important national one. Not us – Ed) investigation revealed that 101 of the UK’s universities, including the University of Glasgow, made £50m between them in library fines between 2005 and 2011.

The University has cut their costs in the last four years so that the cost per use has fallen 85% from £0.66p to £0.10. However, it seems they have not passed these cuts onto the students with fines still remaining high. The main library can charge up to 50p an hour in fines for overdue books. In addition, most lost books are charged at a price of £25 per copy, although this can go up. If a student has an unpaid fine £25 or more, that student can be prevented from graduating.

Helen Durndell, University Librarian, commented: “We charge fines on books which are overdue as a way to encourage borrowers to return items so that other library users can get the books they need.” When questioned about the size of the library fines she noted that “the fine levels have not been increased in the last few years.”

Durndell went on to further note the change that the library is making to move further digitally. She said: “We know that access to digital material offers a greatly improved service to students and we purchase in this format wherever we can. We are particularly pleased that the provision and use of Online Course Materials for students, possible under the terms of the Current Copyright Licence, continues to rise.”

With the increased availability of online information and resources, the borrowing of printed material dropped 8% and the use of digital resources has continued to rise with an overall increase of 23%. Durndell commentated: “We know that the fines income is dropping and will continue to do so.”

A recent NUS campaign seeks to end University careers services promoting unpaid internships by passing legislation which will deal with the barriers that stop students being able to afford internships or traineeships when they graduate. The campaign was launched February 13th 2013 in coalition with the TUC, Intern Aware, Interns Anonymous and Graduate Fog.

The NUS campaign is arguing that unpaid internships do not comply with the National Minimum Wage which is illegal and therefore all University Careers services should stop promoting them as opportunities for their students.

Robin Parker, President of NUS Scotland stated that: “Unpaid and underpaid internships entrench privilege. When only small groups of people with large bank accounts can afford to take up work experience, opportunities are limited for those from less affluent backgrounds to move into employment.”

Paul Swinton, a music student, commented in support about these aims of the NUS campaign. He said: “From an objective point of view, any labour, except charity work, should be rewarded financially, especially if the job they are doing would normally be a paid one.”

The key issue is most students are unable to take time off work to complete an internship, which to be any true value, need to last longer than one or two weeks. Students at Glasgow University sympathise with this issue.  Chloe Bell, a Politics/Psychology student stated that while she would value the experience of an internship, “I need to save to be able to get by” and so could not undertake an unpaid placement for more than a couple of weeks.

Glasgow University Careers Service, when asked whether they ensure that all the placements advertised are paid opportunities remarked that: “As a rule we do not advertise internships that are unpaid, the main exception to this being the charities sector where traditionally students have had to take on unpaid work to gain paid employment in the long run.”

Jess McGrellis, VP Student Support, said: “The issue of whether the university should be promoting unpaid internships is a complex one. The University does have a policy not to advertise unpaid internships, but only within the UK. Outside of the UK situations can vary, for example in China it is illegal to pay an intern so the university treats different places on a case by case basis. Whether this is right or wrong is complicated. On the one hand these companies charge a lot of money and are somewhat exploiting the fact that students need work experience. On the other hand, students get the opportunity to travel while doing their placement, which does appeal to many.”

Things are set to blow up this year for Mancunian four-piece The 1975; with recent backing from Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe, and garnering glowing reviews for their alternative and eclectic sound, it is without a doubt the band’s time to step up to the spotlight. The 1975 cannot really be put into the proverbial box when it comes to defining their genre of music; however there is a distinct shift towards the indie-rock end of the spectrum, with a subtle note of melancholic nostalgia and a general feel good vibe to their latest EP, Music For Cars. Between releasing three EPs, a debut album, two tours within the space of less than six months, with a third one to follow shortly, it’s been without a doubt a hectic past year for the band; I managed to catch up with lead singer Matt Healey before the band’s gig at the legendary venue King Tut’s on the 27th January:

Guardian: After numerous name changes (The Slowdown, The Big Sleep, Drive Like I Do), what was the decision behind settling on The 1975?

Matt Healey: I went to Majorca when I was nineteen, and I befriended this artist who lived out there. He gave me loads of beat poetry, Kerouac literature and I found a suicide page in one of the books. It was dated the 1st of June The 1975. And that really stuck with me, the use of the word ‘the’ preceding a date and I never really thought about it until we came to naming the band and I was thinking of things I liked the sound of and that was it.

We didn’t like the name The Slowdown, nearly got sued when we were called The Big Sleep. When it came to changing the name, everyone acted like it was a bit of a big deal. But it wasn’t really a big deal because no one really knew who we were, and we just wanted to have a fresh start. It was January 2012 when we were in the studio as The 1975 for the first time.

G: Your new EP Music for Cars is set to be released on March 4th; how does this coincide with the release of your debut album?

MH: You’ve got to release a certain amount of material before you put an album out, that’s just the way it goes. We wanted to create a really solid foundation for people to understand what we were doing; I think people make the common misconception that our material is worked kind of chronologically, whereas in reality the majority of the stuff on the EPs has been written after the album. The album was pretty much there at the beginning of last year, so we took singles off it; ‘The City’, ‘Sex’ and ‘Chocolate’,  and then wrote EPs around them to kind of take a part of the story and embellish it even further. We didn’t want to be one of those bands that put out an EP that has a single on it, a remix, and acoustic or a live version on it. We are very proud of our EPs; we see our EPs as our first album really, and our debut album is a follow up to that.

G: How is the album coming along? How would you describe its sound and what it means for the band?

MH: I wouldn’t know where to start. I’d like to say if you listened to the EPs you’d probably have a good idea, but you wouldn’t. It’s kind of based on 80’s movie soundtrack. My main inspiration as a songwriter is probably […the work of] John Hughes, movies like Pretty In Pink, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, movies that I grew up with. And that’s where I first fell in love with music; music through film. It’s our soundtrack to our movie. Everybody has an idealistic vision of their past, and I think you tend to see your memories in this hazy, cinematic way, and I think that’s the way we tried to write our songs. We don’t take ourselves very seriously as people, but as a project some of our music can be quite serious, and I think there are serious elements to this record. It’s a very personally geared album. There’s a song called ‘Girls’ on the record which is very fun, it’s a good time album.

G: You mentioned in an interview with When The Gramophone Rings that the album is a ‘soundtrack to our formative years’- what were your influences and what was the kind of music that you grew up listening to?

MH: Music has been the only expression I’ve ever had as a person, I don’t really orientate in any other way; everything’s really musically-minded for me, and I suppose I’m very lucky that this has started happening because I don’t have anything else that I’m good at. The first music I fell in love with was soul music, black American music, that’s where a lot of our sound comes from, artists like Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Donnie Hathaway. George (Daniel, drummer) is a big fan of hip hop which is where a lot of the drums come from. Bands that were peaking in the eighties were a big inspiration for us; Michael Jackson in ‘Bad Era’, Peter Gabriel in ‘So’, Paul Simon on ‘Graceland’, its where all of these major albums came into their own. We wanted to make a really ambitious album, that kind of took into account everything we’d been inspired by.

G: You have been championed recently by Radio 1 DJ’s Zane Lowe and Huw Stephens- how is the band feeling about its rapidly growing popularity?

MH: We’ve been doing this for 10 years, and we’ve got so used to doing it for ourselves, that the expectation of validation from a mainstream radio outlet like that wasn’t really a reality for us. We never really assumed it would happen. I think the one thing it has done is [that it has] catalysed the progression in the knowledge of ourselves as people, we’ve come to terms with who we are and what we’re doing and what our purpose is as band. I don’t think that would’ve happened without direct responses from people who were in to the music. It’s a very exciting time, it’s just hard for us because, on the one hand, we’re so used to being a tiny band, and on the other hand, so conditioned not to get excited about prospects in the music industry because it’s a form of naivety. We’re just very privileged and very humbled to be here now.

G: How do you feel social media such as Facebook and Instagram influences the broadcasting of your music and identity to a prospective audience?

MH: George does all the Instagram. I think it was how were defined initially, because we took a very minimalist approach to social networking; we just put a couple of songs out on YouTube. We live in a world where, especially in the music industry, accessibility is paramount, and that’s what people care about. We wanted to reverse that and be a bit refreshing. We do have a Twitter and we do have a Facebook, but there’s not a lot of personal affinity with that. It’s very much the voice of the band as a band. We don’t tweet about ourselves as individuals because I don’t think our personalities as individuals are relevant to what we’re doing musically.

G: How was it playing Radio 1’s Future Festival with up and coming acts such as A$AP Rocky and Mallory Knox?

MH: I was so excited to meet him (A$AP).  I actually got to meet him in my hotel two days later and we had a little chat and hung out for a bit which was amazing. It was an honour and a privilege, such a clichéd thing to say, but people don’t really know how much shit we’ve been through, and how much we’ve been through as a band. To have people that you’ve listened to and respected for years validating your presence by putting you as one of the bands at that festival, it was amazing. It was only a couple of weeks ago, and we’re already a bigger band because of it.

“Music For Cars” EP Available March 4th

UK Tour begins May 4th, tickets on sale now. (Glasgow date:  27th May, Oran Mor)

The weekend of the 14th to 17th of March saw ten Glasgow Uni students hit the Northern Snooker Centre to compete in the British Universities & Colleges Sports competition. Glasgow haven’t managed to achieve any silverware in Snooker-based tournaments within the past decade but nevertheless, two relatively inexperienced teams made the 3-hour gone 6-hour minibus journey down the M6 to Leeds.

Glasgow’s first-string team of five was led by Club Captain- Peter Rafferty, a second year student, debuting in the high-pressured and unforgiving scene of BUCS Snooker. The team also included former captain Ruairidh Kemmet, and further BUCS newbies Shawn Carranza, Andrew Simpson and Chris Day. Glasgow’s second team included a well-experienced Calum Munro along with newer players Finn Maclean, Scott McGoldrick, Alan Black and Tim Bäckström.

The individual competitions passed Glasgow by as no real threat came from players from either teams. The most notable performances came from Peter Rafferty and Calum Munro, who both made it into the second and third rounds of their knockout stages respectively. However, it was Friday afternoon and a brisk Saturday morning that saw a turn of fortunes for both Glasgow teams at the beginning of the group tournament.

A mixture of both comfortable and tricky group games saw both teams make it automatically into the quarterfinals of the Plate competition. Quarterfinals brought with them straight knockouts all the way to the final. Each player of the team would play one frame against a corresponding player of the opposition team. The first team to three frames would win the match and progress to the next round of the competition.

At this stage, spirited performances by the second team players were too little for them to continue, who got beaten by a good Southampton side. Revenge was soon to be had though as Glasgow A-team met this same Southampton side in the semi-finals after thumping Roehampton’s first team 4-1. Southampton posed a strong threat, with a particular player having played in the women’s Snooker World Championships, but the team managed to scrape by with Shawn Carranza, Ruairidh Kemmet and ‘Sneaky Pete’ all winning their frames. Glasgow had rapidly found themselves in the final.

The Plate final would see Glasgow firsts meet a well-supported, confident and experienced Nottingham team. Same rules applied- first team to win three frames would win the tournament. First to step up was vice-captain, Shawn Carranza. A tough fought match ended in a defeating black ball game (one ball remaining on the table for the win). Shawn was unlucky to lose this one. Next up stepped up first-year hotshot, Andy Simpson. This game also went to the final ball and ended up as another narrow Glasgow loss. This left Ruairidh Kemmet needing to win the next frame. Scarily, this also went to the final black ball. The former captain managed to keep a cool head and slot home the black to put Glasgow back in it with scores sitting at 2-1. Captain Pedro, took it on himself to make sure Glasgow won the next frame. This frame again, was a tight one but Rafferty, after a very composed start, managed to hold on to bring the scores back to 2-2. This left it up to Chris Day to attempt to seal the match in a final frame decider for the title of UK University Plate Champions. No pressure. Chris found his stride and keeping as cool as a cucumber managed to hold-off a late Notts comeback to hand Glasgow the final frame, match and Championship.

It was a great achievement for all 10 players to win something at Leeds. The Snooker and Pool Club is a rapidly growing club on campus and can be found on the top floor of the GUU. Club Captain, Peter Rafferty wants to see Glasgow entering more competitions and winning more trophies over the coming years. The side are young and show promise to bring back more silverware back to Glasgow. Peter, Ruairidh, Shawn and Chris are all representing a Scotland team at Nationals in Dublin next month. Keep an eye out for how they get on!

You can find Glasgow University Snooker Club on Facebook to keep up to date with what’s going on.

Amongst the clamour and commotion made by hundreds of boozed up athletes at GUSA ball, one club remained silent. As individuals and teams received their awards, a group of 35 people sat in nervous anticipation. The ‘Club of the year’ award is the last to be announced, its prestige unmatched. As the secretary noted the many attributes of the recipient club, subtle grins began to creep across the faces of tennis club members.  ‘Club of the year goes to… TENNIS’!

The announcement was met with almost premature celebrations, screams, hugs and even some tears. Last year’s captains accepted the award and were greeted on return by the warm embrace of 35 finely dressed tennis players. Countless congratulatory texts and phone calls soon flooded in from tennis members, past and present. The ‘Club of the year award’ at GUSA ball 2013 had been a long time coming. Tennis at Glasgow has grown from strength to strength over the past few years. But, like most things great, the tennis club came from humble beginnings.

It was in 1881 that the tennis club was officially formed as one of the four founding sports of GUAC (today known as GUSA).  The club’s founding members numbered only 12 people, smaller than today’s committee! In more recent history the club has entered into an era of administrative excellence. The employment of full time coaches and the use of hired courts close to the University made tennis more accessible. The club became dedicated to socially integrating members, running recreational sessions and developing tennis at all levels of ability. The success of the club has been reflected in a membership boom, from 130 members in 2010, to 160 in 2011 up to a membership of almost 200 people today. The club has a strong set of traditions, solidified by providing quality tennis to students for over 130 years!

The tennis club is now one of the largest student-run organisations at Glasgow University and one of the biggest and most active sports clubs on campus.  The club is run by an elected committee of 13, headed by a joint presidency of a Women’s and Men’s Club Captain. The club trains 4 times a week on hired courts, this includes one indoor session. The sessions are ‘drop in’ and members are encouraged to come down anytime that suits them. Sessions are on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 1-4pm at Dowanhill courts and on Sunday from 7-9pm at David Lloyd in Anniesland. The club employs three coaches, led by Head coach Dave Birrell. Everything needed to play tennis is provided (rackets, balls etc.).

The Tennis club has five teams, two ladies and three men’s.  Together they have made significant achievements in both the British and Scottish University leagues. Highlights from last year include the men’s 2nd team making it all the way to the 2nd league final. This year the men’s first team successfully battled to stay in the top division of the Scottish league whilst both of the ladies teams are 2nd place in their respective leagues. The new men’s 3rd team is testament to the Clubs emphasis on development. The third team serves primarily as a rotational team and has allowed many an advanced player to try their hand at competitive tennis. All teams compete in the Scottish cup and Scottish trophy events in the winter season. The club also managed to secure a clear win in this year’s Glasgow cup. Headed by Team Captains, Cameron Alexander and Seona Grant, the club has managed to field teams for every match.

Despite its competitive track record the club is, more than anything else, recreational. Over the past few years there has been a focus on getting new people to try tennis, to enjoy the health and social benefits of club sport at Glasgow and generally to enhance the university experience of members. With three coaches on hand, individual coaching slots, sessions dedicated to beginners and free equipment for members the club has managed to get a record number of people playing tennis, many of whom had never picked up a racket before! Every year many dedicated tennis players graduate, sad to bid farewell to their beloved club. This has given the club a very strong link with past alumni and the club shows its appreciation to past members by holding an alumni tournament followed by a ceilidh. The club’s strong affiliation with the Lawn Tennis association, established last year, and the resources gained from this special relationship have been effectively utilised in developing tennis within the University community.

The tennis club is a big player on the club social scene.  With a membership body spanning over many different degrees, ages and cultures there is always someone new and interesting to meet. The tennis club provides many a night out and social adventure to allow members to get to know one another off the court. Socials to look out for include the sub crawl, pub golf, the alumni ceilidh, mini tours, the end of year tour to Portugal and many more!

The club is now considering expanding into disabled tennis, introducing new health and fitness activities such as cardio and touch tennis, organising more competitions, bringing in new equipment, developing new coaches, affiliating with more organisations and strengthening links with other clubs and societies on campus. With all this in mind it is hoped that, with a dedicated committee, the club will be able to overcome any future problems and will continue to develop tennis and enhance the ‘University experience’ of many more students to come.

Glasgow University Court is made up of just 24% women, slightly worse than the 25% average most university governing bodies have.

Despite the fact that females represent more than half of academics, there are just six women sitting on Glasgow University’s governing body. The University Court, consisting of 25 members, is responsible for all University decisions which are not academic. Academic matters are left to the University Senate, where only 23% of members are female.

Figures released by NUS Scotland show that on average, most university courts are made up of 25% women.  This figure was criticised for the low representation of women, with Glasgow’s being below average. Earlier in the Spring, the group that represents University Court chairs was criticised for its poor representation by the Scottish Parliament’s Education Committee.

Labour MSP Neil Findlay suggested they appeared to be “like an old boys’ network”, a phrase which in the weeks that followed struck nerves close to home at Glasgow University after the debating scandal at the GUU Ancients competition.

The Scottish Parliament’s Education Committee has since listened to evidence from Education Secretary Mike Russell. The Committee will later suggest measures to improve representation on university governing bodies. The Post-16 Education (Scotland) Bill will advocate a quota of 40% for female members of governing bodies.

Frances Bell, SRC Gender Equality Officer, agreed with the idea of a mandatory quota for governing bodies. She said: “It’s very concerning that female representation on Court is below average, especially when the average of 25% is already far too low. Diversity is essential to effective university management – a wide range of experiences and opinions are necessary in order to care for students and staff, and to decide what’s best for the university as a whole – and Court (and all of senior management) should aim to be as diverse as possible. If the university wants to show that it’s serious about gender equality, it should take the initiative and adopt the 40% quota for university governance that’s currently being considered by the Scottish Government.”

Glasgow University is currently implementing the Athena Swan Action Plan to improve gender representation on Court and Senate. This plan intends to encourage women to apply for senior positions or run for the elected positions on Court, as well as monitoring gender representation on University committees. It is as yet unclear whether academic year 2013-14 will see an improvement in gender representation on Court, but should staff remain the same the election of Jess McGrellis as SRC President will in fact increase the percentage to 28%.

A spokesperson for the University said: “The University is committed to gender equality and aims to eradicate gender discrimination in its work, learning, teaching and research environment. We have made significant progress in the last few years but recognize we have a long way to go to ensure gender equality is embedded within the culture of the University.”

Despite such efforts, the percentage of female members on such governing bodies is still low – a trend repeated across the country. Currently, all Scottish university chairs are male – a fact which attracted criticism from some.

Stacey Devine, NUS Scotland women’s officer, said: “This gender inequality is right out of Victorian times and certainly shouldn’t be tolerated in the 21st century by world-class Scottish universities serving diverse communities. Universities should be at the forefront of creating a fairer, more equal society that is representative of Scottish society, yet almost 75% of board members are men, despite women making up a majority of our campus populations.”