The Insight - February 2014

The independent student voice of South Wales

FREE FEBRUARY 2014

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The University of South Wales big £795,027 ad splashA TOTAL of £795,027 has been spent on student recruitment advertising at University of South Wales since 2012/13, a freedom of information re-quest has revealed.

It was confirmed by the university that this money was spent on adverts published through several different platforms including: cinema, radio, newspaper, online and an LED sports ground perimeter. They were seen by many across South Wales, England: Midlands and South West and globally via online.

The costs spent on advertising in-clude the adverts running up to the rolling promotion since the formation of University of South Wales on 11 April 2013 to date.

Continued on Page 3

Unhappy Valentine?

page 11How ‘to let’ signs advertise your house to burglars page 5

The Insight’s Features editors battle out the pros and cons of the romantic occasion

London Grammar

live page 12

In the last week of January, The I and The Independent national newspapers hosted a Question Time style debate at Cardiff Museum. I was lucky enough to be among the 300 (mainly Cardiff Uni students) in attendance, plus a panel of the newspapers’ editorial staff to debate young people’s current relationship with politics.

When asked, half the room raised their hand to say they didn’t know who they’ll vote for in 2015 and a sizeable fraction admitted having no intention

Credits

EditorOwen Sheppard

Online/Multimedia Editor

Katie Eason

News EditorCharlotte Skegg

Features EditorsMartyn DavidBecky Baker

Sports EditorJames Hayhoe

Fashion EditorCeryn Lawless

Reviews EditorDean Hodge

Social Media Manager

Zarrion Walker

WritersChris Johnson

Hollie Fraser, Lauren Chaplin, Ollie Hampson,

Maximilian Frische, Helene Pello

DesignersAlicia Robertson-Young

Rachel McDonoughKatie Eason

Owen SheppardNick MeredithGemma Scrine

IllustrationRhys Lowry

PhotographyStewart Leigh-Firbanks

Special ThanksThe Insight would to thank

Craig Hooper, Rob Campbell, and James

Stewart for their ongoing support and guidance.

Welcome to

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not to vote at all. But the argument that won out overall came from Independent editor Amol Rajan.

“When politicians realise they don’t have to appeal to young people who aren’t bothering to vote, it will only encourage them to ignore your generation even more, and focus on winning over society’s older generations” he said. It’s a downward spiral of ignore, and be ignored even more, and it’s to the detriment of absolutely everyone.

The same goes for student politics. Every university has problems, be they Oxford’s Bullingdon Club members burning £50 notes in front of homeless people, or Edinburgh with swathes of their teaching staff on zero hour contracts. We students can have our complaints heard if we involve ourselves with our university’s political system. Take Jessica Urch from USW who got The Atrium’s opening hours extended after launching her own campaign to the Dean. So how about Cromwell House and its absence of any security

staff? Or maybe you’re wishing there could be a cheaper way to attend sports society’s up in Treforest? You are your university’s customer, go and tell them what you want done.

Apologies to the sports fans among you who will have noticed the lack of match reports. This relentless onslaught of rain has meant forced postponement of BUCS league football and rugby. Sadly we’ve had no matches to report.

Cheers, and see you next month.

Letter from the editor

Owen Sheppard

InNews InFeatures InSportInFashion InReviewsInOpinion

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The most expensive: called ‘Cause and Effect: What will you do?’ was aired in local cinemas and featured Welsh ac-tor Ioan Gruffudd, most notable for his roles in Fantastic Four and Hornblower movies.

When questioned as to whether the thousands spent would have a positive effect on the university’s student re-cruitment in the year to come, the press office neglected to comment.

But In response to questions made by Atrium students regarding the Stu-dent Union’s fair funding campaign, SU Vice President Richard Queree said he thinks that the university’s recruitment of students is likely to “go down year on year”.

The university was heavily criticised over their decision to film the ‘Cause and Effect’ advert in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, rather than the obvious

choice of the Welsh Brecon Beacons.As well as suggesting that the Som-

erset location was chosen because of Wales’s rainy climate supposedly mak-ing it too difficult to film, a spokesper-son for the university said: “The ad has a very Welsh flavour with one of Wales’s top stars and its message is universal, making people think about how their university choices affect the rest of their lives.

“We are pleased that thousands of people watched the advert with over-whelmingly positive feedback for its powerful message.”

The University also commissioned SBW, an advertising agency based in Bristol to produce the advert, despite their being numerous advertising agen-cies based in Cardiff, where part of the university’s campus is located. Ironi-cally, SBW have recently expanded to a Welsh branch since the advert was published.

According to a University of South Wales press officer, the advertising agency was picked by placing the advert on the EU procurement website saying that the university wishes to secure

marketing services. The type of work and the skills needed are presented and companies who think they can provide the services respond and a shortlist of potential suppliers is drawn up.

“The university cannot just select a company randomly – the selection has to be objective, for example be based on, value for money, ability to complete the job to the required standard and is subject to challenge” the press officer said.

In the case of the cinema advert a company from Bristol won the contract but it could equally have been a com-pany from Poland or anywhere else in the EU.”

An idea of how much the university is spending refers to the local advertis-ing guide provided by ‘Pearl and Dean’ – a British cinema advertising com-pany. Their website advises delivering maximum impact and minimal wast-age, cinema advertising has continued to boom even during the recession with major UK advertisers spending mil-lions of pounds annually. But local rates can be as low as £95 per week.

Cooking up a treat: Food and gift stalls fill the Welsh Capital in the run up to Christmas

THE UNIVERSITY of South Wales Students’ Union will see its funding situation put under review following the Union’s sabbatical officers meeting with the university directorate which was held in January.

The SU’s ‘Fair Funding Campaign’, which was launched in response to the university’s policy to cut SU funding by over £60,000 has also been halted.

Speaking to The Insight, SU Presi-dent Carys Rhiannon has said the uni-versity directorate team, including Vice Chancellor Julie Lydon, and Deputies Clive Mulholland and Huw Williams have begun listening to SU.

“If an agreement can’t be reached then the SU will continue the cam-paign and encourage students to take more action” she said.

The current system sees the SU’s annual budget, which it receives from the university, being determined by the success of the university’s recruitment of new students in each year.

Carys also said: “This has been a bad year for the university, with a low in-take in the number of new students en-rolled on to University of South Wales courses.”

Asked if the SU would like to re-ceive a fixed annual budget from the university which would be immune to student intake, Carys and Vice Presi-dent Richard Queere have both given affirmative answers to The Insight.

With a lower intake of new students for the year 2013-14, the Students Un-ion received £1,089,000 instead of an expected figure of £1,154,000, a reduc-tion of £65,000.

In 2012, the SU received a funding budget of £926,103 meaning that only £135,000 extra funding was received despite the merger with Newport.

“The USWSU gets less funding than other universities such as University of West England, even though we are the biggest university in Wales and one of the biggest in the UK” Carys said. Car-diff University Students’ Union also re-

ceive a higher annual budget.This loss of funding has so far forced

the SU to make cuts to staff, say good-bye to one minibus used for transport-ing sports teams, and the termination of a cash point contract which was cre-ating a deficit.

“Students were told there may be changes. These have not been imple-mented as we are reviewing our current services with one of the Deputy Vice Chancellors, as was an outcome of our meeting with directorate” Carys said.

But the SU have since repeated prom-ises that the SU will not cut any services which will adversely affect their 3 ser-vices: representation, campaigning and democracy.

The SU is not told by the university how much funding it will receive until the September of each new year, as it is not until this point that the university can confirm its intake of new students.

Carys and Richard have said that they expect to be told the size of the budget as early as June rather than Sep-tember, as this gives them enough time to plan their spending for the coming year.

For the University of Glamorgan, the Year 2012 to 2013 also saw a 12% dip in applicant numbers following the national increase in tuition fees. This reduction of over 750 students cost the University of Glamorgan £7 million.

Reports of this lower than expect-ed intake of students comes despite reports from UCAS that 2013 saw a record number of new students enter-ing higher education. Latest reports also show a 4% increase in volume of applicants to undergraduate courses for 2014. 580,000 people have applied compared with just under 559,000 last year. No figure has been released by the university to show how many students were estimated to be enrolled.

The university’s decision to reduce SU funding for 2013-14 was made in conjunction with recent policy to re-duce 200 teaching and support staff from its total workforce, as part of its voluntary severance scheme.

The concerted effort to reduce spending also comes in conjunction with the ongoing construction of the £15 million Atrium 2. Building work began on the building site late last year.

USW Students’ Union want new funding policy following cuts

Treforest SU photo: southwales.ac.uk

InPicture:

Welsh love spoons are a traditional gift given as symbols of love. Each pattern represents a different message.Photo: Katie Eason

Celebrating Valentine’s day with a traditional Welsh gift.

The USW £795,027 advertising splashContinued from page 1

Rachel McDonough@RachMcD1

Owen Sheppard@Owen_Sheppard

4 February 2014

LIVING THE student existence has never financially been easy and rising inflation continues to nudge the cost of living to worrying new heights. Besides the tripling of tuition fees in 2012, the component of the monthly budget that has rocketed by an unprecedented 37% since 2010 is the energy bill.

This has left much of the general population in fuel poverty despair. The Citizens Advice Bureau express concerns about the impact that rising energy prices will have on people’s ability to maintain a decent standard of living. But where do students come into the equation? In the grand scheme of things it does not look like the effect this would have on students has even been looked into.

Many students do not have a steady income, if any income at all, and their student loans only just cover their rent and bills. Some can rely on an interest free loan from the bank of Mum and Dad, but not all are so lucky.

Consequently, the threat of circling the overdraft drain and living almost constantly with a negative bank balance has become an unpleasant reality for many.

Cathays Labour Councillor Sarah Melly is concerned about the cost of living for students “University costs have rocketed but the returns they get on a degree are less” she said.

“Many student houses are older properties that are more expensive to heat and usually aren’t insulated or cared for.

“I am worried that young people from more deprived backgrounds will be deterred from applying for university places, or once here, may slip grades as they struggle with part time work – especially when it may be decades before they repay loans. I have three children and do worry what the future holds for them.”

As energy companies were considering increasing their prices last year the National Union for Students claimed that students were facing an average funding shortfall of £7693 when living outside of London, and that it is living costs that is the main concern for students. Although some may argue that this is what the student loans are for, they have not kept up

with the rising living costs.The NUS president, Tony Pearce

said, “Those who do not have the rare luxury of resorting to the ‘bank of mum and dad’ are increasingly being driven to work full-time alongside the study where jobs can be found, or worse still onto the arms of predatory pay day lenders just to make ends meet”.

But there is not much that people are able to do to help students through this hard time. Speaking to Lucy Clewer from Cardiff Student Letting, she mentioned that companies like hers should advise students on how much to budget each month so that they are able to pay their rent and bills, as sometimes bills do come out quarterly and this large payment chunk can be quite a shock to many students. Unfortunately letting agencies cannot make many concessions as they are a business and need to keep afloat, so properties with their bills included in the rent will have to have their rent increased.

For help with budgeting students can subscribe to companies such as Glide. These are companies that keep an eye on the amount students are using and they take the money for their share of the bills out of their account.

More money woes for students

HUNDREDS OF men and women from South Wales are expected to join a nationwide demonstration against Atos, a company commissioned by the government to assess disability benefits.

A peaceful protest is being organised to take place outside the Atos medical centre in Whitchurch, Cardiff on 19 February.

Atos are a private healthcare contractor originally commissioned under Labour, now by Work and Pensions Minister, Iain Duncan Smith (inset picture). They assess eligibility for disability benefit allowance and to carry out work capability assessments. Their contract was for £400 million.

Since May 2013, Atos have come under scrutiny after a Doctor who previously worked for Atos leaked controversial information about the

agency’s ‘unfair’ practices to the BBC.Dr Greg Wood blew the whistle and

resigned from Atos after over two years of service. He claims to have been asked some 10 times to change reports he had made on claimants to make them unsuitable to receive sickness benefits when they would rightfully have been eligible.

Increasing numbers of people have been appealing against results of Atos assessments. The total number of people appealing every year – both inside and outside of legal tribunals – has risen from 279,000 in 2009-10 to 465,000 in 2012-13.

Assessments entail claimants needing to score a required number of points to qualify for the full sickness benefit under the Employment and Support Allowance.

During an assessment interview, Atos assessors award claimant points

reflecting the apparent severity of their condition and a computer program then calculates the score. Claimants who score 15 points are likely to be found eligible for support, while those with a lower score are not entitled to employment support allowance (ESA).

Findings of a government review from July 2013 admitted that reports by Atos assessors were of unacceptably

poor quality.A private Facebook group hosted by the

organisers of the f o r t h c o m i n g protest in Cardiff states that protest will seek to “ h i g h l i g h t

the damage & suffering their

cruel regime causes”.

A national organiser for the anti-Atos demonstrations,

who will prefer to be referred to as Cindy Louloux labelled the health care contractor “corrupt’, and gave this

comment to the Insight: “Ten thousand six hundred sick and disabled people died within six weeks of their of their benefits claim ending in 2013. Join us at the Cardiff assessment centre 19th February from 8am.”

Former University of Glamorgan disabilities officer David Malins commented saying he had been informed by an Atos employee that two-week advised waiting list times for assessments are taking as long as five to six months.

A press officer for Atos told The Insight: “It is not the role of Atos Healthcare to make decisions on who can receive benefits. We are only responsible for booking and conducting assessments designed by Government and the decision on benefit eligibility is taken by Government’s Department for Work and Pensions.

“Tribunal Judges have said only in less than 1% of cases has inannuacracy been found in an Atos report the reason for an upheld appeal. ”

Similar demonstrations are also set to take place outside of every Atos centre in the UK on 19 April.

Cardiff activisits to join national protest against ‘corrupt’ health care assessors

Picture by Jehane Seq (cc)

USW cancel Annual General MeetingTHE UNIVERSITY of South Wales’s Annual General Meeting was cancelled due to poor attendance on the evening of 30 January.

The meeting which is intended to provide students with the chance to ask the Students’ Union leaders questions regarding policy, campaigns and initiatives.

Students’ Union constitution states that the meeting must be attended by 100 students for it to take place. Only 75 students across the student population of the three USW campuses in Cardiff, Treforest and Newport attended.

Iain Duncan Smith (cc) The CBI


Charlotte Skegg@CharlieSkegg

Students’ death blamed on caffiene overdoseUSW student Alexander Denk was found in his room in November up to eight days after he had died.

After a statement from his father claiming he often consumed caffeine drinks to stay awake studying, his death is believed to have been caused after consuming a large amount of caffeine, indicing a condition called arrhythmia., in which the heart beats too fast.


5TheInsightSW.co.uk

WHAT WOULD you do to raise money for charity? Bake sale? Sponsored run? How about shaving your head? Think that’s a bit extreme, well that’s what Lauren Jenkins did and to raise over £2000.

Lauren, a third year journalism student at The University of South Wales and keen mountain biker said goodbye to her locks last December as a way of raising money and showing support for her grandfather.

“He suffered a stroke last year, as well as being diagnosed with diabetes” she said.

“I wanted to do something to give back to charity. Rather than do a skydive or a bike ride I wanted to sacrifice something to show how much the cause means to me.”

The money was dived between four charities. The National Stroke Association and Diabetes UK, as well as two from Lauren’s home county of Pembrokeshire: Green Acres animal rescue centre and the Paul Sartori foundation.

“They are all close to my heart, I know so many people that have been affected by cancer, especially in my town, and it hit close to home. My great grandfather was a great supporter of the Paul Sartori Foundation, donating money to them instead of gifts for his 100th birthday, and then donations in lieu of flowers when he passed away at 103.”

“Tracy Kinnersley shaved it off in Milford Haven, she’s been doing my hair since I was about 13, and is the only person I trusted to do it.”

“I’m still getting used to having no hair, but it saves a lot of time dyeing, and drying it. I also got a load of hats for Christmas. And I’ve even been called sir since having short hair!”

The final total raised was £2,117, all going to four amazing charities.

Student shaves head to raise £2k

IN EVERY British city there is a tell tail sign that your approaching student territory and not just any housing estate. If it’s not a sudden abundance of discarded pizza boxes and beer cans, it’s that everywhere you look, you’ll spot houses with brightly clashing coloured ‘to let’ sign hanging from them.

Did you know that research by South Wales police and by cities across the UK, has discovered that the display of ‘to let’ signs has been linked to increased risk ofburglaries? It is because ‘to let’ signs, which are intended as a means of advertising by letting agencies, also unwittingly advertise to criminals that a house is inhabited by students.

If you are a South Wales higher education student, here is why you should ring, write to, or walk in and encourage your letting agent to lose the ‘to let’ signs from their student properties.

During holiday periods such as Easter and Christmas, many burglars are aware that students will leave gadgets and expensive products like TVs, games consoles or bikes in their student houses while they briefly return home. Leaving ‘to let’ signs outside of housing can communicate to burglars that at certain times of the year they will be able to break in and enter unchallenged while tenants are away.

A common defence of the year round display of ‘to let’ signs is that they are valuable as a marketing tool, acting as advertising for letting agencies. But this is contradicted by the findings of a ‘Survey of Estate Agents’ carried out by The Office of Fair Trading in 2010. They found that most important method for attracting sellers to their agency were local reputation, quality of service and access to property portals such as Right Move. Fewer than 20% of respondents

In 2012, unsuccessful attempts were made by Cardiff Council to lobby the Welsh government into legislating tighter restrictions on the use ‘to let’ signs. The council’s research included data received from South Wales Police in a survey of 3,200 student properties in Cardiff; 8,000 of which had ‘to let’ signs on display. Police records from between September 2009 and June 2010 showed that 3.5% of properties with ‘to let’ signs were burgled, while only 1.56% of the properties without such signs were burgled.

The genuine need for ‘to let’ signs to be present outside of housing often also seems questionable after considering that signs are left up all year round. For the majority of this time, a house will not be up for sale as it is the norm for students to house hunt in the winter months.

Liberal Democrat MP for Cardiff Jenny Willot told the Insight: “local people are fed up boards being put up all year round. We know that houses with these signs hanging outside them are twice as likely to be targeted by burglars, and they make the whole area look very untidy.”

Cllr for Cathays ward Sarah Merry added: “Estate agent signs in Cathays are an open invitation to burglars – there is clear evidence that they are used to target properties. They are unsightly and for permanent residents they underline the loss of community in Cathays.”

How ‘to let’ signs advertise your house to burglers

rated boards as very important for attracting customers.

HomesAlone.co.uk also conducted a UK Estate Agent and Solicitors/Conveyance survey in April 2011. They found that only 8% of respondents thought that local press advertising was good value for money.

An existing voluntary code to manage display boards has not been followed in Cathays and Roath by some letting agents and landlords, with some companies displaying boards for long periods or not removing them when the property is let.

Lid Dem Cllr and former member of the University of South Wales support staff Elizabeth Clarke described how

“houses with these signs hanging outside

them are twice as likely to be targeted by

burglars”- MP Jenny Willot -

the appearance of the signs can wear down the community among the more permanent residents of Cathays.

“Long term residents are upset by the appearance of all the boards because to people passing through, it looks as though no one lives here, or wants to live here, when actually most of the houses are full, and Cathays’ residents are very proud to live here” she said.

Second year Aeronatical Engineering student Louis Flannagan told the Insight how his student house on Newport Road was burgled five times last year. “They nicked laptops, Playstation games, jewels, speakers and luggage from one of the cars.”

“The police couldn’t do anything on any of the five times

A movement towards tighter regulations on the display of ‘to let’ signs has been spreading throughout UK cities with high levels of burglary and theft.

Councillors in Leeds say the move has worked well in the student areas of Leeds, leading to a fall in anti-social behaviour and crime.

Manchester Council’s motion to create new regulations for ‘to let’ signs in December 2013 included tighter restrictions on size of ‘to let’ signs. No bigger than 13ins by 19ins and must be designed in black and white. No sign would be allowed up more than two weeks after the property has been let and letting agents would mostly be limited to one board per street.

Newcastle Council have asked the Secretary of State for permission to ban the display of letting boards under the 2007 Town and Country Planning Control of Advertisements Regulation. The results from a public consultation asking what ought to be done about restrictions on ‘to let’ signs gave unanimous results showing support for a ban on letting boards.

In 2011, Nottingham City Council defended plans to bring in stricter rules over ‘to let’ boards in student areas arguing that the city had too many cluttering up the streets and that they can make properties a target for crime.

Tony Pain, Crime reduction tactical advisor for South Wales police also agreed with the idea of removing unnecessary ‘to let’ signs”. “Students are vulnerable. Houses with four students with new equipment, are like a 4 for 1 sale to criminals” he said.

We went out on patrol recently and found two houses unlocked and no-one in. We need to get the message across, your security is only as good as the last person to leave the house” he said.

Post your thoughts on this campaign and this issue to The Insight SW on Facebook/TheInsight or tweet us at @TheInsightSWIllustration by Rhys Lowry

Hollie Fraser@Hollie_Fraser

@Hollie Fraser@Owen_Sheppard@CharlieSkegg

6 February 2014Insightthe

Bridgend man charged with hitting wife with brick

Labour’s scheme to halve tuition fees

FORMER Labour minister John Denham will propose plans to halve the price of

university tuition fees by im-plementing two-year intensive degrees and for more students to study from home. His aim is to cut the UK’s annual higher education bill by 30%.

The former minister under Gordon Brown also suggests as many as 60% of students should study from home, say-ing it is the only realistic way to bridge the gap between the maintenance system and the real costs of studying.

He also plans to ask employers to subsidise as many as 50,000 employees undertaking higher education (15% of the total).

Denham’s concern is that cancella-tion of student debt costs millions to the tax payer. He states that for every £1 spent on university education, nearly £6 is spent on student debt cancellation.

In a speech to the Royal Society of Arts he will say: “The whole system of university finance for students is

sliding slowly but surely off a cliff ”.Denham claims that the figures for

the rate of student debt cancellation are increasing. Approximately 50% of this year’s students are not expected to fully repay their loans, a figure which stood at 28% prior to the increase in tuition fees in September 2011.

“[This] increase means fewer and fewer successful graduates are paying off the debts of more and more eco-nomically less successful graduates” he will say.

At present 50% of graduates do not work in a graduate job, which under-mines their ability to repay loans, and negating one of the reasons many go to university in the first place.

Denham argues that by working from the assumption that more money will go into teaching, the cost of fees can come down.

He calculates that increasing the teaching funding sevenfold from £700m to £4.8bn would lead to the spending on student debt cancella-tion falling from £4.2bn to £2.2bn. Effectively, £2bn would be saved from having to make up for student debt cancellation which could instead be used to fund teaching meaning a halving in fees.

Denham’s ideas for education policy will formally appear in the party’s forthcoming policy review.

Owen Sheppard@owen_sheppard

A BRIDGEND man appeared before Cardiff Crown Court on Monday 3 February facing

charges of domestic violence to his wife and sister-in-law. One accusation is of beating his wife with a brick.

Shane Stuckey, 33 has pleaded guilty to two counts of common assault for hitting his wife Jane Davis on 26th November 2013. Stuckey admits to having hit both Jane and her sister Tony in the face at their home in Bryntirion.

The third count of assault occa-sioning actual bodily harm allegedly involves Stuckey using a brick, to which a blow a was sustained to Da-vis’s face. This count has been denied by Stuckey.

But the prosecution barrister also stated to Her Honour Judge Eleri Rees that the charges may be dropped by the prosecution, as wife Jane Davis has said that she wishes to ‘resume her relationship’ with Stuckey.

The trial is adjourned for 27 March. Mr Stuckey has been granted bail but must wear an electronic tag. He is denied contacts with the complainants and has been set a daily curfew of 8am to 8pm.

7theinsightsw.co.uk


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Beyond the tabloid deceit lies the real Romania

Let’s take a moment to appreciate what a great idea smoking areas are

A CENTRAL premise of the 2007 ban on smoking in public places was to

encourage people to kick the habit and to diffuse the casual intake of second hand smoke among dwellers of the UK’s haunts and restaurants. It feels hard to imagine, once upon a time, that if you craned

your gaze over the canopy of bobbing heads in a nightclub you wouldn’t be able to see to the walls through a pale vapour of smoke and sweat; or that forgetting to look twice before turning 90° during The Macarena could land you a first degree burn from some absent-minded sod’s fag end grazing your arm. Pretty grim really.

Has the ban actually rescued anyone from a downward spiralling nicotine addiction, and encouraged seasoned smokers to kick the habit? It’s hard to tell, especially when you fathom the daily scenes of mingling crowds in smoking areas of night clubs and office blocks across the land. Then

again, research carried out by the Health Behaviour Research Unit found that nearly four times more people managed to quit in the year following the ban, equating to an extra 400,000 taking their final toke as a direct result of the ban.

I’ve never been a smoker myself and I’ve never felt any strong objection to those who do, but I think the one un-foreseen victory we can all glean from that smoking ban was the invention of the much taken for granted smoking area. Adding an extra dimension to the back and forth trips between bar and floor, quite frankly, they saved clubbing.

Owen Sheppard@owen_sheppard

Katie Eason@katiejaneeason

Katie and her father at Peles Castle near Sinaia in Romania. Photo: Katie Eason.

WE’RE just over a month in to the New Year, and these first few weeks

have gone far differently to how we thought it might.

The restrictions on immigra-tion were lifted at the beginning of 2014, entitling Romanians and Bulgarians the right to free move-ment through Europe and the UK in search of better jobs and claim certain benefits, such as use of the NHS.

Our public services are already feel-ing the governments’ budgetary strait jacket under a blanket policy of cuts left, right and centre, and more people coming to the country would stretch these services further still. The tabloid papers drummed this idea in to the public’s minds for weeks leading up to the change in EU law, but it wasn’t just the issue of how many people that they focused on. It was more about who

was coming.The Daily Mail published

a string of stories leading up to the law change which por-trayed Romanians and Bul-garian immigrants as a threat to our country: as scroungers and criminals with only the motive to claim benefits. One story quoted Phillipa Roe of Westminster City Council, who claimed that the large numbers of ‘Roma’ already in the UK were “defecating on our doorsteps”. The Daily Mail also falsely claimed airlines had doubled the num-ber of flights to the UK, and that ticket prices had risen to up to £3,000 each.

In reality the Roma community makes up less than 5% of the Roma-nian population, a minority in their country. We also heard tales of a ‘wave’ of 30,000 immigrants landing in the UK, when in fact there was only 24 Romanians in the first two weeks. But it’s hardly surprising. I doubt I’d be keen to move to a country that held such prejudiced views about my people.

Even now, scare mongering stories of high numbers of immigrants, despite there being a lack of entry

Paying the fiver entry fee is always a gamble – you have to pick one club, and once you have, it’s not often that everyone in the group will have the money or the patience to try their luck somewhere else if the local Oceana or wherever has let you down. However, if the DJ isn’t delivering, if it’s getting too stuffy, you need to avoid someone, or you want some quiet respite without resigning to shouting in your mate’s ear over the overbearing bass of LM-FAO or Duck Sauce, then the smoking area is the direction you’ll be heading, whether you’re a smoker or not.

Think how many matches have been made or utterly bizarre conversations

struck between perfect strangers in the smoking area. All of the friendships started, phone numbers swapped and, single lads and lasses who have finally managed to end a losing a streak.

Not everyone can rely on dancing or looks alone as their bait for seducing a mate on the dance floor. For the com-mon man and woman, the best chance of getting laid is catching someone’s eye from across the beer garden patio or being introduced to someone new under a city night sky.

to the UK so far, and it is becoming frustrating. My father moved to Ro-mania several years ago for work, just as Romanians are now moving here for work, it’s just how things happen. Many of his friends have also moved there from the UK to work – it’s a two way system. We need work to pay to live, and so do people from other countries, but never had the issue been so at the forefront of my mind until he moved there.

Since my Dad’s move I’ve found myself constantly sticking up for a country that’s being so misrepresented. The Romanian people I have met there have only been extremely kind and welcoming. They are keen to show me their wonderful city, Bucharest, a lively

capital city, with a proud history and beautiful countrysides. To me, it’s just another fascinating European country, and it’s being overlooked because of the way it is represented in our own press.

When I invited friends over to stay about a year into my dad’s new job, I was disheartened by the fact that one friend’s parents were uncomfortable with her being in Romania. The people I brought had the most amazing time, and are dying to return, and I’m sure they feel the same as I do when I read horrible things in the media.

It’s also far cheaper to live in Roma-nia, and they aren’t going to be facing negativity against themselves over there. These ideas of people living a

horrible life in Romania, seeking ben-efits without working and thus moving to the UK are certainly not always the case. When visiting my dad I can get a few rounds of beer for the price of one pint in the UK.

Immigration is always an issue, and there are always factors to consider. It is fair to say there is always a risk of overcrowding, and I am by no means saying that the UK should let everyone over the border with no limits. But it is not fair to pin the blame on one or two countries, nor is it fair to assume they are all keen to claim benefits. And with only 24 Romanian people on those first few flights, it seems they would probably rather not come here anyway.


EstoniavsWales

Two very different student experiences: Although a heavy and demanding work-load can be seen as an ordinary part of the process of gaining a degree, you might be surprised how much things can vary around the world.

HIGHER education in Estonia has enormously changed dur-ing the last three years since

I left to study here in Wales. When I finished secondary school in my home town Saue in 2012, the system to step into university was more flexible than it is now. The main principle was that as long as you left secondary school with good results and scored well in national exams, you were welcomed to study in university while not paying a single cent for it. Even when your results weren’t the best, you still had an opportunity to study in prestigious national universities with a decent amount of money.

However, from this year everything in the system has changed. Higher education in Estonia is now free for everybody, but earning this free place-ment is a real challenge. So if you’re not the brightest bulb on the Christ-mas tree even a wealthy pocket won’t get your foot in the door.

Not just anyone can go to the university any more. A student’s secondary school results are no longer considered for entry into university. Instead universities have set up tests which each secondary school leavers must pass, and free higher education in Estonia is now reserved purely for the most talented. I hear from my old friends in Estonia that this new system puts extremely high pressure on many students who finish secondary school this year. Some of them have no idea what to expect from new tests and see only a dark cloud looming above their heads.

And for those students who are granted places at Estonian universities, things don’t relax once they’ve made it. In Estonian higher education, what you’ll find is far from the fresher’s culture of Britain. Kristel Palts is a second year IT student at the Tallinn University of Technology. She left secondary school with a Silver Medal

(a highly respectable grade). But now she tells me, “When looking at my previous weeks, it has been crazy. All the time when something needs to be done, there‘s not even time to take a breath, only deadlines. The pressure is enormous.”

It should be noted that unlike the UK’s essay assignment culture, in Estonia they frequently have exam sessions where a huge amount of material needs to be memorised and more than seven exams per week need to be done.

Kristel continued: “We have serious problems with our practical lessons – they are literally overcrowded! Some-thing needs to be done to improve it. One lecturer can never deal with all the students individually but I think it would be especially needed to focus on people indi-vidually. Also, unfor-tunately it is very sad to admit that there are only few lecturers who are genuinely helpful towards students. I remember that I have had many situations when I’ve been afraid to ask my lecturers for help because I’m so scared that they will criticise me! This really affects my motivation for the whole studying process.”

While studying in Estonia can be challenging, on the flip side, there are lots of positives – criticism has helped many of the students there to im-prove themselves and they feel much more

confident in stepping into the work field where you have to be ready for challenges, like criticism itself.

When looking at the education sys-tem in Estonia the knowledge people get out of it is good and regardless of arduous amount of work and com-plaints, it’s worthwhile. By focusing on PISA results in 2012, Estonians were far more than average in every cate-gory. For instance, Estonian students are now sixth in the world for sciences. Moreover when coming back to higher education, according to the 2012/2013 World University Ranking, it has been announced that the University of Tartu has been listed as one of the top 400 universities in the world.

Comparing my time in Wales with Estonia, the main thing I notice (other than the £9,000 price tag) is a difference in attitude. Never before had I seen such encouraging and helpful people and lecturers who do everything to support you and help you as much as they can. I’ve never seen a country give support to its students like the Welsh Government does, with the money or even with a smaller prospective, or every kind of ‘moral and writing support opportuni-ties’ which universities offer.

Rasa Simonyte, a second year Interi-or Design student from Lithuania told me she hasn’t found studying in Wales too hard. “I really like that I don’t have

lectures every single day, although I need to do lots of things independent-ly. I find my projects very interesting and as I am doing everything with passion, I find it more enjoyable than hard. The majority of my lecturers are also very supportive and helpful. I actually like what I do” she said.

When it comes to acquiring educa-tion in different areas it can be seen that nothing can ever be perfect – every country’s education system has flaws somewhere or other. But what is certain is that it’s not easy to acquire higher education and lots of challenges needs to be overcome before stepping into the real world. But as it is said, challenges make us stronger.

Helene Pello@HelenePello

Tartu University, Estonia. Photo: neilalderney123 - Flickr

9


Insightthetheinsightsw.co.uk

VENTURING through Cardiff, these are just several iconic places that remain prominent

in films being made across Wales and further afield. For young and upcom-ing filmmakers (in other words, stu-dents) getting your work noticed from the depths of the media universe is not only the first hurdle to overcome. Making a film takes time, money and lots of preparation.

Ever since February 2013, Cardiff Council started demanding that film-makers gain permission to film most public places in Cardiff through the Cardiff Film Unit. A whole range of legal documents need to be filled in all before the day of shooting including: risk assessments, health and safety, parking dispensation forms and so on. So, you certainly won’t be filming in a hurry, as Cardiff Film Unit Manag-er, Ali Yassine agrees: “If anybody is teaching students that you can just pick up a camera and walk in any-where, well that’s simply not the case. We tend not to do things ad-hoc.”

“We have to be more vigilant with students because they are at the begin-

ning of their career. They might not be completely aware of all the health and safety aspects, so I feel there’s a sense of duty to help educate people in that respect” Yassine added.

The permit system is for all location filming and photographic projects, but does not include newsgather-ing. The film unit co-or-dinates requests for filming on public highways, pavements, parks, public property and the bay/barrage area.

Certain nooks and crannies around the city can even provide completely free to use land, without permission – but they are hidden in unthought-of places. One example is a railway footbridge located on Crwys road in Cathays. The bridge itself is considered an adopted highway. But the steps leading down to the council owned road are free to film on, as they do not belong to the council. Once again when you’re back on the bridge, you’ll

need permission. Felicity Oppe, Lecturer in Film at

the University of South Wales shared her views on what the film unit’s impact has had on her students since it was put in place.

“The film unit in Cardiff probably isn’t helping students at the moment, because students used to benefit from a more informal attitude towards it. It

seems to be like, fill in all these forms, pay the mon-ey and get on with it, without any

recognition that they are not financed by the BBC or a large organisation”.

A list of charges are available on the film unit website (Click here for charges) as a guide of what to expect to pay – from £25 for a non-broadcast production to £3250 for a film or TV network. The film unit judges every case on its merits; so case-by-case it will be assessed. Yassine says: “With students we have to remind them of the legislation so that they don’t fall into any traps”, He was able to clarify that students are not usually charged,

nor do they charge for charity produc-tions, so a large commercial company filming something for Children in Need would not pay.

Earlier this year due to an increase in demand, Cardiff Film Unit was set up primarily for two main reasons, one be-cause of the increase of filming taking place in Cardiff and two, because the BBC had committed 25 years of drama being filmed there.

“It used to be relatively easy to film before Doctor Who because there wasn’t that much demand and the city responded quite well to the few loca-tion managers that filmmakers knew. It was always the secret to shooting in the city” Felicity said.

It’s quite often that Cardiff is in the background of lots of programmes, and this all goes towards helping the economy of the city and lets everyone all over the world see what Cardiff is like. There’s a need to balance this with local residents to ensure that filmmak-ing doesn’t inhibit local businesses be-ing able to function and local residents being able to park in their own area.

That’s a lot of cases that need managing. “The council is the single biggest employer in Cardiff; it’s a huge animal, just like the BBC. The more we bring feature films to the city the impact is incredible because you’ve got possibly 100-200 people living in our hotels, they spend money on food and transport, so it’s a huge boost to the economy” Yassine added.

In a document provided by the Cardiff film unit called: ‘Tips for Students and Low Budget Filmmakers’ it suggests that a “hassle free way” of finding the right location is to try asking your University or college – “they will often have empty rooms or buildings that are available for you to

use.” On the basis that most films are not set on university campuses, trying to make a dull computer lab look like you’re in a hospital may sound too

familiar to some film students. So, without taking into account what you really get from a location, is it professional

or helpful for aspiring filmmakers to be advised to use their university or college to film in?

But as an alternative, it’s not all plain sailing when it comes to filming on land that isn’t council owned, because in the case of trying to film in a hospital ward, prices can rocket and this may not be accessible on a student budget, as Felicity said: “The NHS is difficult to film in and is very expen-sive. They hold lots of land in Cardiff that isn’t owned by the council but it doesn’t mean that they are any more accessible. Film sets like hospitals are in very popular demand for student productions. Last time I hired one it was £800 a day for a ward, so that’s a lot of money you have to budget for.”

Whether the film unit is working or not is down to personal opinion. Some may prefer the time when everything was sorted out more informally between location managers and the filmmakers themselves. But today the story is very different, and everything is sorted under one roof. It’s difficult to distinguish whether students are using this service as it seems there is no barrier in place to stop someone from filming without permission.

The film unit is in the process of setting up talks for students at univer-sities, schools and other educational establishments to make sure they are aware of the filming restrictions and permissions for their own projects.

Cardiff ’s no film zones - one year on

There’s a castle, a City Hall, a bay, a Water Activity Centre, a Mansion House and lastly a Norwegian Church. What do all of these places in Cardiff have in common? Of course, they’re all owned by the council.

What Sky news anchor Lorna Dunkley thinks...

LORNA Dunkley is a news anchor for Sky News, Sky’s 24-hour

television news network. She hosts the programming from the Sky News Centre in West London and has weekend slots from 12 to 2.00pm, as well as every Monday from 2.00pm - 5.00pm.“We, at Sky, often pay what is called a facility fee to film in cities, but would not expect to if the filming is for the benefit of the

city, the council or the businesses etc. For example, why should a TV news crew pay to film in Hull city centre to report on Hull being awarded ‘City of Culture for 2014’ when any report on this subject is good for the city. It’s free PR!” My instant reaction would be that while it is acceptable to ask commercial film crews to pay a facility fee for filming in a city, it is not necessary to charge a student crew which does not seek to make money from the material being

Last time I hired one it was £800 a day for a ward

With students we have to remind them of the legisla-tions so that they don’t fall into any traps. ”

“ ”“

Rachel McDonough@rachmcd1

shot.I firmly believe exemptions should be made for non for profit student projects.I understand the desire from council’s to have permission forms for filming. There would be legal obligations for this (Imagine if one of your cables tripped someone up or you filmed something illegal happening!) A council needs to be aware of filming activities in their city.”

ATRiuM students filming in The Hayes. Photo: Lee Robertson-Young


Becky Baker@beckybakerr

Becky’s diet trauma

My mad fad dietDID YOU keep your New

Year’s resolution? Each year we promise our-

selves we’ll go to the gym, cut the crap, and lock up the choc-olate biscuits. Come on, how many of us actually keep this promise by the time the Christ-mas tree comes down?

Every year brings new crash di-ets, weight loss pills and strenuous workout DVDs, but what’s in store for 2014?

We are constantly surrounded by news stories and pictures of how our favourite music and film stars drop a huge amount of weight for tours or films. The most popular story last year was singer Beyoncé Knowles’ Lemon Detox - water, cayenne pepper, lemons and maple syrup. Not only dangerous, but frankly really disgusting.

These fad diets obviously do have some effect, but what are we really put-ting our bodies through? The Insight’s got together a team of guinea pigs to test and prove these theories.

The ‘All you can eat diet’Sounds right up your street right?

Wrong. The challenge is to eat only one type of food per day for a week. What’s more, your daily choice is limited to fruit, vegetables, low-fat milk and meat.

This diet may sound nutritional with fruit and veg a-plenty but it’s not a long-term solution. If you have no di-etary problems and are a healthy adult, this is safe for you to try for a week.

If you’re the type of person who is a fiend for bread, pasta and the good stuff like cookies and cakes, this diet will make you lose weight, despite the strange menu, it actually works.

Since there are many foods that you are not allowed to eat whilst on this diet, creativity is key. With any diet, by the fourth day you’ll find yourself climbing the walls, so keep it interest-ing; make soups, steam your veggies, use the oven, use the grill, you know, cook stuff.

The ‘Mono-Diet’This diet only allows you to eat as

much of one item of food for as long as you are doing the diet. If you choose broccoli for example, breakfast, lunch and dinner must only be broccoli. Some have tried this with chocolate and had wonderful results. Imagine that – eating chocolate for every meal for a week (or as long as you do the diet for) and still losing weight.

The mono-diet keeps your energy levels high and has also been called the ‘cleansing diet’, so if you’re prone to fall-ing asleep in lectures or you feel bloat-ed, this diet is the one for you.

To keep yourself on this diet, you need to select the best quality food, which means you could end up spend-ing a lot of money, but if you can only eat melon for your breakfast, it’s best to make sure we’re not shopping in the value aisles.

I do have to mention that this diet can cause some serious damage to your body. There are just not enough nutri-ents in one type of food and any weight

loss that you achieve may come with the heavy price of vitamin and other deficiencies.

The ‘Caveman Diet’ The “Caveman Diet” also known as

Paleo or the Paleolithic diet is based on the idea that our bodies are better adapted to what our human ancestors ate during era in time. Unfortunately, this means no sugar, no seasoning, no vegetable oils, and no happiness.

You naturally become a grazer on this diet, as there are no set eating times, or planned meals. You can have three meals a day, or six small meals a day, it’s up to you and your hunger lev-

els.This is probably the hardest diet list-

ed here, as there is some real cooking skill required. No grains or legumes mean no bread, pasta, rice or beans and therefore no carby accompaniments to fill out the plate. Iodised salt as we know it today also didn’t exist and isn’t all that good for us, so to keep your io-dine levels high eat plenty of seafood.

Remember that this is not a re-en-actment, but a new way of not eating the foods that are bad for you and your insides.

The biggest benefit I can see to this diet is they recommend eating with

your hands, giving those dinner ladies in primary school a massive middle finger.

The ‘Slimming World’ Diet

We’ve all been victims to ‘brand’ di-ets, most popular being ‘Slimfast’ and ‘Weightwatchers’, but why are they so popular?

The Slimming World diet is based on what it calls Food Optimising, with the premise of the diet being the Green and Original eating plans - both of which have a list of free foods that you can eat without restriction, plus ‘healthy ex-tras’. Everything else is given a SYN val-ue - for when you want to be naughty.

Joining a group of people on the same diet can be beneficial, it’s easier to lose weight when you have the fear of stepping on the scales weekly and avoiding the ‘tut’ from your size zero coach when you’ve put on half a pound. It’s also a good diet if you find yourself going hungry, lots of free food means you’re not restricted to a certain num-ber of calories.

It can get confusing, although this diet strays away from the tradition of calorie counting, it replaces that with puzzling words such as Green, Origi-nal, free, SYNs etc. I think I’d confuse my way to the chocolate aisle.

The ‘5:2 Diet’Also known as “The Fast Diet”, sup-

posedly the one that everyone is turn-ing to and with its promise of shedding pounds quickly by fasting for two days a week and eating normally for the oth-er five, can you blame them?

Those who have tried the extreme eating plan give mixed reviews: some swear by starvation, while others are more cynical about its benefits.

Only allowing yourself to be tru-ly ‘dieting’ two days a week, it keeps temptation at bay, you can also choose whether to fast for two days straight, or to space out your days, there’s no strict timetable.

However, being good for a day tricks the mind, the words “I deserve a treat” enter your thoughts. This diet is prone to cause over eating on non-restricted days, so you need to be quite hard on yourself. I think it was Oscar Wilde who said, “I can resist everything ex-cept temptation”.

So will we ever stop looking for the magic be all and end all of diets? There will always be that one diet with an at-tractive quality but my advice is to pick the healthiest and stick to it. Having the frame of mind and willpower to con-tinue will always trump the fad diet.

It’s best to just stick to healthy choic-es, choose ‘diet’ over full fat, switch from fries to steamed veggies and cut your portion sizes down. This is the best way to loose some pounds, and not the ones from your purse.

11theinsightsw.co.uk


Insightthe

Valentine’s day debateI REMEMBER being 13 on my first Valentine’s Day double date – we’d pulled it

right out of a bad Disney Channel series where me and my friend both bought our girlfriends heart shaped chocolates, a teddy and probably the exact pendant Becky has

pointed out to you. We went to the cinema to watch that year’s mushy rom-com of choice. Now seven years later, I’m still waiting for my chocolates! Behind the cynicism and defensive sarcasm I would still love a guy to put a smile on my face the way I did for my then girlfriend, Kim. But am I

bitter, no? Because the last two Valentine’s Day I have taken my fabulous, single ass and spent it with my friends – we’ve just as much reason to celebrate our

love as the couple at the next table.In a world that is not always loving, or pretty, I relish in the OTT nature of this one day a year, and although I agree that you should show love

everyday, I kinda like that on February 14th everyone is forced to be the hopeless romantics we all are.

Valentine’s Day might just have become another day to spend too much money on things

you don’t need, but that doesn’t stop us celebrating everything else.

For one day, I relent and put down my walls, and let the rom-coms, soppy statuses and ‘Dinner for Two’ signs wash over me – I sing along

to the ballads, and for a day I let out my inner Disney Princess and daydream. I put away my

Inde- pendent self in the cupboard and sigh along to the old “One Day My

Prince Will Come” before I harden back up, and take on another day.On another point, if you are single, or your

friends are busy, what is stopping you and yourself? Buy yourself a box of chocolate, go

watch a movie, throw away the dead flow-ers and replace them, and on the card,

simply write “To Me, you’re awesome, love me”.

In conclusion, you don’t have to wait for Valentine’s Day to celebrate love, do it whenever you can – Valentine’s Day is just the perfect excuse.

VSMartyn David@sirclucky

Becky Baker@beckybakerr

I’VE been in a relationship for four years, and for two years of that relationship, my partner has served in the Armed Forces. He gets leave when he’s been away for just over two months, and this year he’s coming home on Valentine’s Day.

“Oh you must be so excited!!”, “What a lovely way to spend Valentine’s Day”, I’ve heard it all, and each time I’ve had to stop myself from gagging.

I can’t think of a bigger joke than Valentine’s Day. Apparently, it’s a day to be spent treating your other half like royalty, but shouldn’t you treat each other that way everyday? The whole day feels forced and like a chore, I don’t want my partner to feel like he has to go out and buy me a necklace or flowers, just because that’s what is expected of him. As the day rolls in closer, the prices of presents, cards and flowers just keep growing, meaning the gifts end up being quite tacky… and I think I can live without a £19.99 special love heart locket from Argos.

Personally, I prefer spontaneous surprises, I could go without ever having a present on my Birthday, Christmas’s and Valentine’s Days, if I were to get surprises throughout the year. It’s nice to think your partner would go out of their way to do something special for you, and it’s also a good way to keep the spark alive, without being forceful.

I just know next week, my Facebook and Twitter feed is going to be filled with pictures of oversized, over enthusiastic and slightly creepy ted-

dy bears, and partners expressing their love with selfies and status updates.

Me? I’ve chosen to work, and I doubt I’ll be wishing

anyone a happy Valentine’s

Day.

12 February 2014

Introducing, Itch

London Grammar review – Solus, 28 Jan

THE trio’s haunting, delicate brand of introspective, yet anthemic trip-hop brought a packed Solus to a standstill.

London Grammar showed just why they are one of the most exciting prospects of 2014, as their haunting, delicate brand of introspective yet anthemic trip-hop brought a packed Solus to a standstill.

It’s early evening and opening act Kyan already has a packed crowd with a composition of quirky elec-tronic soul-pop accompanied only by a keyboard and a drummer. The Cambridgeshire lad flowed through a setlist of minimal yet refreshingly original synth-led R’n’B. At first listen, it was hard to grasp his sound and his performance was a little tepid, but with time it began to creep under my skin. Kyan certainly has a distinctive, soulful tone in his voice which the minimalist instrumentation allowed to truly shine. With the current rise in electro-soul artists, Kyan certainly has potential, though perhaps needs a killer single to

really make a breakthrough.Josh Record, who will also be sup-

porting BRITs Critic Choice winner Sam Smith on his UK, then graced the stage. It is virtually impossible to pinpoint Record to one genre and probably the nightmare of the quintessential NME journalist who has to create a new genre for any artist that dares to not be pigeonholed. The best way to describe him is one man, one guitar, sparse instrumentation and soothing, warm vocals and harmonies. His haunting voice is unlike many artists around at the moment, but this is the kind of music best ap-preciated trapped indoors with your headphones on and the rest of the world shut away, rather than to watch on a stage. Again, there isn’t much to appreciate in terms of performance, but in terms of providing a chilled

atmosphere in the build-up to London Grammar, Record passes.

Then the lights dimmed and London Grammar walked onto the stage to rapturous applause. As soon as the

room fell dark and the first notes of album opener Hey Now echoed across the venue, the room fell so silent you could hear a pin drop, interspersed

only by frequent outbursts of applause at the remarkable, soaring vocals of lead singer Hannah Reid. Her ethereal voice flourishes with range emotion through anthems Strong and Wasting

My Young Years.While there is no denying their

sheer musical talent, I was still scep-tical of how well this aesthetic would

translate onto a live stage, and whether they could keep a crowd mesmerised for an entire hour. Anyone going into this gig expecting a lively on-stage performance would have been disap-

pointed. However, the hypnotic, entrancing lighting display helped make the performance visually arresting and added a further dimen-sion to their atmos-pheric sound. Closer to the front, it wasn’t hard to spot how uncom-fortable and nervous lead singer Reid looked at times. This was the first date of their tour after all, plus the room was so dark at times that moving around was practically impos-sible. That didn’t matter as it was her incredible vocal talent that was the star of the show and came even more to life in a live environ-ment.

I left the gig with every hair still standing firm on the back of my neck – always proof

when a band has delivered a truly special performance.

London Grammar’s debut album ‘If You Wait’ is out now.

JONNY Fox, aka Itch, aka the former front man of the late ska punk band

The King Blues was knock-ing around town supporting Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip. With his debut album only a month from its unveiling, we caught up with the rapping rapscallion to hear about life going solo.

What inspired the writing pro-cess of your forthcoming album ‘The Deep End’?

I wanted to have more of a personal take on work that I’d done previously. With The King Blues it got to a point where I felt expected to write songs about certain things and in a certain genre. This album is me being free to wander around doing what I like. I was given six months in the studio,

most bands nowadays get two weeks if they’re lucky! I wrote nearly 100 and I just picked the best ten. I like to try and mix political bite and the wordplay of hip-hop with the rawness, energy and anger of punk.

How was the recording experi-ence?

Really fun! I was in LA with lots of different people coming in and out. I worked with a great producer called John Feldman. He’s an incredibly hard worker and we both just pushed each other to just not sleep and just keep working. We were doing 22 hour days, just going for it and going mad.

After being with The King Blues for ten years, did you feel a bit of pressure going solo?

I didn’t really, I left the band because I was so excited about the work I was doing. I was writing for my record at the same time as I was finishing the last King Blues album. We recorded them in the same studio and they overlapped a bit. But I didn’t really feel pressure as such. I just felt like I’m really enjoying doing this and it very quickly became my main passion. I felt like this is where my heart is at now, and sometimes you just got to dive in and follow your heart.

Tell me about your next single ‘Life is Poetry’.

It touches on quite a few things but really the idea is just to appreciate what’s happening in your life and in the moment. I want there to be some kid in some tiny town who’s constantly told they’re never going to amount to anything, but who hears my music and feel like they can change the world. I hope people find this song empower-ing so they feel like ‘I can go out and do something myself ’.

What was it like to tour the US at the end of 2013?

I broke my leg a week before going, so I ended up doing the whole tour in a wheelchair. It was a hard slog but I had a great team around me. Everyone was really supportive, particularly on the Warped tour where there was 99 bands and yet no egos. There was a real family vibe and I came away with life-long friends. I’m going straight back to the US to do another two months and then I’ll re-join the UK tour in April.

Which artists do you consider the most influential, both musi-cally and lyrically?I’ve into exactly the same kind of music as when I first started out. My favourite bands are everyone from The Clash through to The Specials and Public Enemy, or legends like Hendrix or Lennon – bands who are talking

about timeless issues: peace, love, humanity, hope and wanting a better world.To me, it’s never been about one genre or liking someone necessarily because of how they sound. A great song is one that initially grabs your heart because of how great it sounds to you, and then

your head because it can make you think. If a great lyric can make you go one step further and actually take action in your life, that is what makes a great song. All the artists I’ve men-tioned are the ones I’ve always looked up to and taken inspiration from.

Dean Hodge

@dean_hodge

Dean Hodge

@dean_hodge

Photo by: Stewart Leigh-Firbanks

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13

NEW to Caroline Street, a tiny piece of France in the Welsh capital, Le Bistrot Pierre opens its doors to huge success, and invites us through to be its guest.

The appeal of a French restaurant in Cardiff is substantial. With many other cuisines from which to choose such as Italian, American, Mexican, Indian and enough Chinese buffets to satiate a small army, one can often overlook the absence of authentic French cuisine and environment in our fair city.

Le Bistrot Pierre capably fills this hole in Cardiff ’s dining culture and it does so with style. The attention to detail is impressive, all the way down to the filaments in the light bulb. It’s a delight to realise that you can’t un-derstand a word of the music playing unobtrusively in the background, as it lends itself wonderfully to the adven-ture of exploring another culture.

One of the most encouraging things about Le Bistrot Pierre is its versatility. You could quite happily pop in for lunch with friends one day and then return the following evening with a beautiful, witty date. The atmosphere lends itself effectively to catering to your fancy, whatever it may be.

A wonderfully engaging young man welcomed us to our table and no sooner had we sat down were we offered drinks. In fact, the entire staff

was more than attentive to our needs; they even socialised with us, discussed the presence of French culture in Cardiff and helped us with difficult decisions, such as crème brûlée versus tarte au citron for dessert.

We were getting ahead of ourselves looking into dessert when we were faced with an extensive wine list, complete with mostly French wines but also a world selection – Sauvignon blanc, Chenin, or simply a house vino, along with any beer or soft drinks.

While our starter was being pre-pared, our waiter brought us mini chorizo au miel to enjoy over drinks; small, lightly spicy sausages dressed in a moreish oil. As the chef brought us over starters, the restaurant began to fill up. Through the door we saw every sort of person being shown to a seat; from the thoroughly English to fluent-ly French, Asian to Eastern European, it would appear that everyone is taking off to France.

We quickly worked through our im-pressive portions of chicken liver pate and saucisse des Toulouse, a colourful, attentive but unpretentious construc-tion on the plate. Personally, the pan-friend poulet aux truffes was easily the tastiest, moistest chicken I have ever eaten, and flowing with flavour.

Perhaps for the benefit of review-ing, we should have opted for the cafe gourmand, a mini portion of each dessert. Instead we respectively chose a rich, overly decadent chocolate torte, and an experimental orange and vanil-la crème brûlée.

The decoration, 1940s French jazz, brass ornaments, amazingly crafted meals, friendly staff and of course the authentic French cuisine combined to make Le Bistrot Pierre an unpreten-tious and inviting new restaurant.

Le Bistrot Pierre: restaurant review

Flappy Bird ruins another life

Chapter Arts Centre, 31/1/2014

SARAH Kane’s ‘4.48 Psychosis’, a contemporary British drama perfor-mance, appeared to fit the mission

statement of Aberystwyth based theatre company Run Amok, founded last year, in showcasing modern British theatre. However, there were certain elements lacking in their portrayal of the poetic play.

Kane’s work was a suitable choice for their latest production. Issues of suicide, self-harm and hospitalisation all frequent in the text, and Run Amok aimed to convey their version in an ‘exclusively contemporary context’.

The studio in the Chapter Arts Centre played host to the production. Directed by Izzy Rabey, the company’s co-artistic director, and performed by Rhodri Brady, the performance appeared to try and place the play within a 21st century world by using the influence of social network-ing. The audience walked into a space with a minimal set housing only a table, laptop, projector, chair and a screen. Upon the screen, we saw the Facebook page of a woman, obviously created for the purpose of the performance; this was referred to only once. At another moment in the production, a flash of a Twitter feed was shown; lines from the play read as Tweets, but no reference was made. The inclusion of social media appeared to hinge upon the actor speaking at times to an open laptop, there appeared to be little relevance for the use of social media, or for any set.

The play itself has no set charac-ters, minimal stage directions and an unconventional layout on the page. The

director’s order of the lines flowed well, however the delivery at times felt too rehearsed as they were often accom-panied with meticulous hand gestures. One successful moment was the switch between the characters created to convey a conversation with a psychia-trist. The characterisation was simple, yet effective and believable. The actor drew the audience in yet made little eye contact, which severed an element of intimacy that the space merited. Brady delivered a great performance but the director’s influence was very obvious and took away anything organic in the production.

I left the theatre neither stunned nor shamed by the action on stage. I feel that they could have pushed their work further, particularly their concepts of modernisation. However, the com-pany have promise, and with their fourth piece under their belt it will be interesting to see how the company will progress.

4.48 Psychosis: reviewLauren Chaplin

@LaurenChaplin14

Martyn David@SirClucky

JUST last week we were spending seconds upon minutes upon hours crashing into pipes, yelling at our screens, bragging about that high score of 7.

Now, after just over a week, Flappy Bird has flapped its last wing and it’s safe to say we’ll miss it (unless you’ve already down-loaded in, in which case it’ll continue flapping for a bit longer).

After your game’s gone viral, you’re earning $50,000 a day in ad revenue, why in your right mind would you pull the plug?

In a series of tweets, Nguyen conceded that the success of Flappy Bird had ruined his life. What was once a simple life is now infested with media enquiries and quite a bit of

@CMJohnson91

Chris Johnson

The creator of Flappy Bird, Dong Hguyen, has thrown in

the towel and hit just one too many pipes. Our once favourite pixelated bird will now only be part of

history.

money, something most of us wouldn’t mind having. Interestingly enough, it was (apparently) nothing to do with the possibility of legal action on the accusations that he’d copied those tubes we once loved from the Su-per Mario games, weather there’s any truth to that is something that I’m sure will surface in the coming weeks.

So with that, I hope you’ll join me in a moment of si-lence to Flappy Bird. You’ll be remembered in our hearts for that week of bril-liance that you provided. Flappy Bird will continue flapping, #flappybirdprob-lems will remain trending, and the tubes will keep frustrating. Or failing that, Google ‘Squishy Bird’ and you can give Flappy Bird the send off (and death) it deserves. R.I.P.

theinsightsw.co.uk

14 February 2014

Me, My E.L.F and I

EVERY woman would agree in saying make-up has a number of jobs in our lives. In the morning it’s the savior

that conceals the sleepless nights. Throughout the day it’s the confidence to carry on and in the evening it’s the enhancement every woman needs to feel confident. For many, make-up is a representation and a way to express themselves just like they do with fash-ion and with their hair.

In the news recently there has been comment from Melissa Hardinge, executive editor of CBBC Independ-ents as she spoke at a BAFTA panel and commented that children’s TV presenters should not be ‘too sexy’. Hardinge also disclosed that she had previously gone on to the set of Friday Download a CBBC children’s pro-gramme and insisted presenters took off their red lipstick.

The idea that a red lipstick could be deemed ‘too sexy’ could be baffling to some but Lorna Dunkely, Sky news presenter completely agrees with the BBC commissioning editors views.

‘I think people on television, par-ticularly young children's television, have an obligation to be responsible when it comes to both appearance and actions. The BBC is rightly concerned that its presenters understand that they can be role models for their viewers’.

Young children are easily influenced by what they see on television and although make-up can be fun and exciting for young girls it’s clear that certain make-up products and looks aren’t suitable for young viewers. It has become apparent that people have tak-en the ‘red-lipstick’ aspect of this story as the most important element where-as the important factor was never the red lipstick but its connotation.

Lorna went on to say, “While I have no particular aversion to red lipstick I believe the message being sent is correct. I f TV programmes for children appear to make it acceptable to sexualise or influence young girls in a negative way then that would be very damaging. The BBC, as a public service broadcaster, is right to want to promote positive role models’.

The BBC has also made it clear that they are not only focusing on their presenter’s make-up but also clothing in the aim to give young girls positive role models. It’s clear the objective here is a positive one, but it’s also appar-ent that some may find the aspect of

removing red lipstick a step too far. With some believing it’s more about self-expression and less about sex appeal when it comes to make-up.

Zoe Salmon a former Blue Peter has also been in the headlines for her comment on this topic, expressing that, "Walt Disney's Snow White is as pure as it gets and if red lippy is OK for her, it's OK for me."

Demonstrating the other side to this topic it seems that make-up on kids TV is about common sense. Red lipstick doesn’t have to be overtly sexy but if paired with heavy eye make-up and the wrong clothing it most defi-nitely could be. But of course with age appropriate clothing, and the rest of their make-up subtle, could an accom-panying red lip be so wrong?

With the BBC taking a positive step in creating good role models for young people it raises the question to whether other channels should be doing the same. Or should make-up be the choice of the presenters themselves or is the BBC taking the right steps to stop the sexualisation of girls?

Tweet us at @TheInsightSW with your views on red lipstick on kids TV!

Is red lipstick too sexy for Kids TV?Ceryn Lawless

@CerynLawless

EVER since the opening of the long-anticipated E.L.F boutique in the Royal Arcade Cardiff, we have been obsessed. The low price point of their products makes the brand accessible for many and the quality is not lost because of that. The brand has been a popular destination for make-up lovers in the centre and we can un-derstand why.

Here are just a few of the items we have loved from E.L.F. Our features editor Martyn David tries out the brands products for the first time and gives us his verdicts.

Elf 11 Pc Professional Brush Set: £15.00

I drastically needed to re-invest in new make-up brushes with mine fraying, dull and rough – even with the best brands the wrong brush will ruin a look, or at least make it an up-hill battle.

Considering that a single brush from MAC can cost more than this entire set, I’m impressed. At £15, you get a carry case with two zip compartments (one fabric, and one with a translucent window) and then 11 individual cylinders to hold each brush. The brushes are given a white, wooden finish and the E.L.F logo. The powder brush, angled brush and eye shadow brush I use everyday – they’re soft, dense and do not retain too much product after application.

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Martyn David

@SirCluckyPh

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Photo of lips under Wikimedia Commons Licence, Tania Saiz


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THE sneaker culture is both historic and wide spread in the US but are becom-

ing increasingly common in fashion’s urban epicentres like London. While they are not as easy to find in Cardiff, there certainly are a few.

One of the sneakerheads is Mike Rideout, a 22-year-old skater who works at City Surf Skate Shop. With 13 pairs of shoes in rotation he considers himself a sneaker-head. He started collecting around the time he began in Newport University.

“I think I was always into shoes be-fore I went to Uni but I never had any money to buy them. I was always hav-ing to buy sale shoes. And then when I started Uni and had some money from student loans, I started spending it all on shoes.”

His collection consists of mostly skate shoes, most of which are from Eric Koston’s signature shoe line for Nike SB, of whom Mike is a big fan.

So it should be no surprise that his favourite shoe from his collection of skate shoes is a Nike Eric Koston

theinsightsw.co.uk

Heritage, a hybrid based on Koston’s first signature shoe with Nike and their classic Air Max 90 running shoe. But that is not the only reason why he is fond of the shoe: “They are the best shoes I’ve ever had, to skate in. They are the only pair of shoes that, as soon as you get them out of the box, you don’t have to break them in at all.”

Another skater and sneakerhead is Ben Hunter. He is 28-years-old and works at Route One Skate Shop. With a collection of around one hundred pairs, that he has been growing for 10 years. The shoe that really started his passion for sneakers was a pair of navy and yellow Reebok Classics, but the silhouette that is most frequent in his collec-tion is the Nike Air Max 1. One that he is particularly proud of is the ‘Crêpe’ colorway, which was difficult to get a hold of.

Despite the size of his collection, there are a few shoes that Ben missed out on: “There’s still loads on the list, like a lot of the Atmos Air Max 1s and pretty much all of the Ronnie Fieg Gel Lyte IIIs that are just impossible to get hold of.”

A sneakerhead with a smaller but

still mighty collection of 85 pairs is 28 year old Sam Atherton from Cardiff. Although his collection used to be big-ger he came to the point where he had too many of sneakers but not enough food. Which lead him to sell most of his collection and went on hiatus from the sneaker scene. Only recently has he started collecting again.

Sam considers the original Adidas ZX 8000 his favourite shoe of all time. It was the shoe that his father used to have and it inspired him to get them

himself. Another shoe that he is proud of owning is a pair of

Wolf Grey Nike Air Yeezy 2. It is the second signature shoe by Kanye West with Nike and had a lot of

hype surrounding it, because of its limited availability.

His commitment to the sneaker game is evident, considering he has camped out in front of a sneaker store for the limited release of an Air Max 1 created in collaboration with the fa-mous Tokyo sneaker shop ‘Atmos’ and Nike, the shoe that Ben missed out on.

Too many sneakers yet not enough food

Adam White, 27, calls himself a fan of sneakers, always find ing out what is fresh on the sneaker scene. He is un-sure if that makes him a sneakerhead, as he has only really been getting into sneakers for the past six months.

His rotation counts at least 50 pairs, most of which outdate his actual enthusiasm for sneakers. Since Adam is quite athletic it is fitting that his favourite shoe is the multicolour Nike Flyknit Racer, a special one among many running shoes in his collection.

These Collectors also had some handy tips for sneakerheads in Cardiff to stay on top of the game.

Mike suggested keeping an eye on Instagram: “That’s where everything seems to get posted these days. As soon as something comes through the door, it goes straight on Instagram. Or you could just parlay with skate shop owners.”

All four sneakerheads agreed that there is definitely a sneaker commu-nity in Cardiff but find that it’s very underground and believe that it has a lot of potential for growth.

Ben sees a few sneakerheads come into Route One and says: “I like that it’s a bit more underground here. I like that there are people that you meet who really know about it, but that’s quite a niche.”

Sam is also involved in the sneaker community outside of Cardiff. He recently participated in ‘Sneaks and Peeks’, a sneaker and apparel festi-val where you can trade sneakers in Birmingham.

Cardiff, the sneakerhead hotbed of the West

Maximilian Fritsche

@max_the_black

Mineral foundation £2.99

My first mineral powder foundation, and I am a convert – very soft, small granules that blend very easily, and build to form a decent medium coverage. Use with a powder brush in oscillating movements to blend thoroughly. (It is available in 12 shades)

Elf Anti-bacterial Daily Brush Cleanser - £3.75A spray bottle that you can use on your brushes everyday in an effort to increase their shelf life. Effective enough on larger brushes; but messy with smaller ones, and unnecessary. Cleaning your make-up brushes is often something people leave out of their routine, but it’s a very important element! Dirty brushes can store bacte-ria and spread spots around your face!

Elf Mineral infused Face Primer - £6.00

Worth a try indeed, it is a good con-tender as a primer leaving you with a smooth face and less bumps on your skin. It’s easy to blend in oscillating move-ments.

If you have dry skin then this primer might not prevent the eventually caking of concealer, especially under the eyes, but with my next favourite Smashbox retailing at £25.00 for a small bottle this is for the months you just can’t justify the extra expense. Elf Tone Correcting Powder in Cool

£3.75It is miraculous! It is so difficult to find a bronzer with no glitter/shimmer in it, and even Benefit’s Hoola (which is a fantastic bronzer) has a neutral, block tone. This palette has four colours, a white-ish highlight, and then three shades of brown. The palette comes in Cool, Warm and Tan. A must-buy. You need to pack the high-light on, as it isn’t very pigmented, but the bronzer will fool you, you put two layers on because it’s not as dark and you wanted and suddenly you have paint strokes on your face, use it frugally.

The verdictELF has the inexpensive tag to allow you to take advantage of their products- all these products came in at just over £35, which is a drop in the water for a group of products that will conceal, highlight, contour, brighten anything you want them to!

For face-centric products, Elf has won me over - from their highly pigmented bronzer palette, their simple and smooth highlight, and buildable coverage in the form of a min-eral foundation. You can find eye palettes, singles, nail kits, false lashes and everything in between, not just the essentials - go in with £10 and you will be surprised at the stash you can walk out holding.

Elf Mineral Booster £5.00-£7.00A pretty huge tub available in three tones – my best guess is that it is a very subtle, matte highlight. Be warned, a little goes a long way, the words: “Powder puff ” spring to mind.

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FANS of the Cardiff Devils braved a cold January night, standing outside the Cardiff Bay Ice

Arena in a protest against the team’s management and owner.

The #DevilsOutside movement saw around 100 fans attend to protest after a number of controversial decisions by the teams management in what has been a disappointing year for the Devils.

Dominic Bate of Cardiff said “As a season ticket holder I’m just

disgruntled with the way [Devils management] treat players, fans and sponsors.”

Eighteen year old Sean Phillips has been a fan of the team for most of his life but is refusing to attend home games while the current management is still in charge and said: “We were here a lot long before Paul Ragan [Devils Owner] was here and we’ll be here a lot long after him.”

Nottingham Panthers fan Adrian Clarke made the three hour journey to support the Panthers who were the Devils opponents that night, but also to show his support for the protest. “I think the whole league’s behind the Cardiff fans” he said.

Long-time Devils backup goalie Joe Myers was sacked earlier in January in

favour of younger prospects such as 19-year old Ross Miller, and that move like the removal of head-coach Gerad Adams in October seemed to be the final straw for some fans.

Devils Managing Director and Caretaker Coach Brent Pope said: “There is an appetite to create an ability in and around managing personnel which is less dependent on popularity and more about effectiveness”.

The former Devils defenceman then commented on the move to give younger players chances by saying “You have to always be continuously

FOUR UNIVERSITY of South Wales students have been selected in the Wales Under 20 squad for the Six Nations campaign.

First year sports students, Ethan Davies, Luke Garrett, Scott Andrews and Ashton Hewitt were all included in Byron Hayward’s first national squad as head coach ahead of the annual competition.

Ethan Davies has started at fly-half in both victories over Italy and Ireland in the opening two rounds, kicking 11 points in each match.

Second row Scott Andrews was also a part of the first two match-es, coming off the bench against Italy before earning himself a start against the Irish in Athlone.

He said: “It's been an amazing

experience so far, and I'm thor-oughly enjoying being part of the squad whilst learning a lot as well. It's an absolute pleasure and honour to have the opportunity to play for Wales as it's something I've worked towards and set as my goal.

“The professionalism within the camp and the standard of rugby in the first two games of the compe-tition have been incredible and I hope to be involved in more games as the Six Nations goes on.”

The professionalism within the camp and the standard of rugby in the first 2 games of the compe-tition have been incredible and I hope to be involved in more games as the 6 nations goes on

Ashton Hewitt made his first start of the tournament in the same match wearing the number 14 jersey.

Loosehead prop Luke Garrett is yet to make an appearance.


Devil’s fans hold protest at IceArena

creating sustainable levels of talent, particularly of a British supply”

Since the protest took place, one more Devils player has left the club. Canadian Chris Blight was the team’s third highest point scorer but left the side and joined the Sheffield Steelers the day after the protest.

It’s been a disappointing year for the Devils who are currently 8th in the Elite Ice Hockey League. But they come into the month of February on a six-game winning streak as they push for a strong end to the year to secure a playoff position.

Ollie Hampson@OllieJHampson

Matthew Davies@Matthew1Davies

USW students represent Wales in Six-Nations



Insightthe

IT SEEMED Mackay didn’t even have time to say his goodbyes before Cardiff City accepted new boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer under their wing, but after an embarrass-ing 3-0 loss against Swansea last week, have the bluebirds spoke too soon?

After almost a month of dev-astating losses, it seemed Mackay was a distant memory when the Cardiff defeated Newcastle last month and so created Solskjaer’s ‘perfect start’.

The former striker, that won six Premier League titles, the Champions League and two FA Cups in a 11-year playing career at Old Trafford, allegedly went to ex-manager and friend Sir Alex Ferguson for advice on whether to accept the position. Solskjaer

spent 14 years at Manchester Unit-ed under Ferguson, and spent his final years learning with Ferguson and eventually coached at the club.

It’s reported that whilst the Nor-wegian coach was at United, he kept a lot of diaries and notes, and he plans to implement them into Cardiff ’s plays.

With Cardiff only a few points away from the relegation zone week after week, it seems bizarre why anyone would accept the position. It seemed the lure of the premier league was too much for Solskjaer to resist, even with his reservations about the difficult relationship Mackay had with con-troversial owner Vincent Tan.

Whilst only taking over the team half way through the season, it’s questionable if the new manager had enough time to implement new plays. There have been small evident changes as the weeks have gone on, especially the game play by South Korean midfielder Kim Bo-kyung, but Mackay’s defence

Fighting for their right: Will Solskjaer save Cardiff?

County feeling the pressure after postponementsCounty have had to postpone their last five home matches, as the pitch at Rodney Parade has been badly affected by the recent bad weather.

The run of recent postponements has meant that County have played three less games than their contenders for the play-offs in League Two. With County unable to rely on their impressive home form, the side has slipped down to 8th in the table, eight points adrift from the play-off places.

Manager Justin Edinburgh said: “The club has been working relentlessly to get these fixtures to go ahead but obviously the weather has been relentless. It is out of my hand but we have to keep ensuring that these players are prepared for the games”.

Fans Praised for good behaviour at South Wales Derby

South Wales Police have praised the fans of both Cardiff and Swansea, as the South Wales derby pasted without any major incidents.

Out of the twenty-thousand fans that attended that game, only three arrests were made. The arrests were for a variety of offences including alleged assault, drunk and disorderly behaviour and public order offences.

Supt Phil Davies, who was in charge of police operations at the match said: “I am pleased with the way we have worked in partnership with both clubs in preparation for this game and just like the reverse fixture in Cardiff, a positive impression has been left with the millions of people who watched this game around the world”

tactics still make an appearance on a weekly basis, but that doesn’t stop Solskjaer from guarding the touchline.

The last few months under Sol-skjaer’s reign have shown its ups and downs, and Cardiff ’s future in the premiership is often ques-tioned, but what fans and experts are quick to forget is that they dominated the championship, and that wouldn’t have been possible without Mackay or a strong squad.

Mackay’s problems with club owner _Vincent Tan has been very heavily mediated as of late and rumours have spread like wildfire, but the one thing concerning fans is if the difficult relationship will be passed onto Malky’s successor.

But the relationship is off to a good start, with Solskjaer receiving the funds that Mackay was denied, he’s managed to sign five deals over the transfer window, includ-ing United’s Zaha on loan, and the permanent position of his team mate Fabio Da Silva.

With no real managerial ex-perience in the English Premier League, it’s difficult to predict the future of the club, but with a 14 year stretch under one of the best managers in football history, it is obvious the Norwegian has some insight into what he’s doing.

A lot has changed for Cardiff in the last year, their colours were stripped, they were promoted to the premier league and Mackay was sacked before he found his feet in the Premier League. No wonder the Cardiff fans are so disproving of Tan.

The Bluebirds are probably one of the most passionate groups of fans within the premiership, and Tan needs to be careful not to take that for advantage. Solskjaer won over the fans early in the year by claiming ‘the main priority is finishing above Swansea’, but after a devastating loss at Liberty Stadi-um, it’s not just the fans backing he needs to worry about.

Becky Baker@BeckyBakerr

Bellamy handed three match ban by FA

Influenctial Cardiff player Craig Bellmay has been charged with violent conduct by the FA in an incident that took place in the SOuth Wales dervy on Saturday.

Bellamy was alleged to have struck Swansea’s Johnathan de Guzman in an incident that was not seen by match offiicals but was seen on video.

Bellamy will have until six pm on Tuesday to respond to the charge.

If found guilty eh will miss crucial games as Cardiff face visits from Aston Villa, Wigan and Hull City in the coming weeks.

Cardiff manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was of the view that referee Andre Marriner saw the incident at the time and chose not to reprimand during the game.

The defeat left Cardiff three points from safety and nineteenth place in the Premier League.

+(cc) Jon Candy (cc) Tor Atle Kleven

USW score two late goals to secure dramatic victory

TWO LATE goals for mid-fielder Clayton Green were enough to inspire a captivating comeback from USW.

USW looked keen to assert pres-sure on Cambridge from the start, with Miles John being instrumen-tal in creating a series of chances for the home side. His pass in the first ten minutes put Joe Jones through one-on-one with the keeper, who from a narrow angle was only able to put his shot wide of the far post.

USW were then restricted from long-range efforts with both Sam Bailey and Clayton Green attempt-ing to test the goalkeeper from outside the area.

Cambridge had chances to put themselves ahead, with their best opportunity coming from a deep free-kick, which picked out their centre-back who managed to break the offside trap. From a free header from the penalty spot he could only steer his effort over the USW crossbar.

The first half petered out, with both teams struggling with passing on the water logged pitch making it a challenge for either side to retain possession difficult at times.

As the second half progressed chances for both sides seem few and far between.

It was on the hour mark that the

deadlock between the two sides was broken. After failing to clear their lines after a long ball into the box the USW defence was exposed and Cambridge took full advan-tage. After a square ball across the mouth of the goal, their striker was able to tap home into an empty net.

After going behind USW strug-gled to create any clear-cut chances to equalise. As time began to run out they tried a more direct approach, bombarding the Cambridge penalty area with long balls. . It appeared that all this would all be in vein as the Cambridge defence held firm against the constant pres-sure from USW.

This was until the 85th minute, when another deep cross into the Cambridge penalty area found USW midfielder Clayton Green, who out jumped the defender to place a header into the bottom corner of the net and pass the outstretched Cambridge goal-keeper.

Spurred on by


James Hayhoe@JamesHayhoe

their late equaliser, USW carried on the attacking intent and went in search from a late winning goal. After pinning Cambridge to defend deep, a whipped cross into the area alluded both teams until it reached Green at the back post, who was able to glance a header into the net.

The goal sparked mass celebra-tion from both the players and the management on the side-lines, as the team managed to carve out a victory that had seemed un-likely just five minutes prior to the end of the game.

There was even a late chance for USW to increase their lead,

A UNIVERSITY of South Wales student had the opportuni-

ty to referee in an annual rugby tournament in the United Arab Emirates

Peter Dixon, who is currently in the first year of his foundation

degree in rugby coaching and per-formance, refereed at the Emirates Dubai Rugby Sevens tournament alongside the HSBC Sevens World series which takes place annually at The Sevens Stadium.

Peter said: “The Emirates Dubai Rugby Sevens has matured into a wonderful three day event that attracts fans from all around the world and I was delighted to be selected. It was a real honour”.

The action on the pitch is of the

as striker Sam Bailey was played through one-on-one with the keeper. Bailey tried to lob the keeper’ on the volley, who had advanced away from his goal line. The effort fell just wide of the post but was followed by the final whistle that confirmed the victory for USW.

Student to referee at World Rugby 7’s tournament

highest quality, with Dubai the second round of the HSBC Sevens World Series, and the opening round of the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series.

Dean Parsons, Award Leader said ahead of the event: “Peter has shown great commitment to his studies and I wish him well during the tournament series. I am sure he will be a great success.”


USW men bow out with a bang against Swansea



Insightthe


WITH their last game of the sea-son upon them, the University of South Wales men’s first team had all but their pride to play for today.

Back in December USW were denied their nail bitingly close, and only victory in this year’s season over Bournemouth. Bournemouth made an appeal to the BUCS league demanding a rematch on grounds that poor refer-eeing had swayed the game unfairly. And when USW were unable to attend any dates for a rematch, Bournemouth were awarded the victory and the three points by default.

An entirely arbitrary and down-right bizarre conclusion which would warrant the USW lads some sympathy had they been feeling melancholy before today’s game. Thankfully there was little sign that the team were anything but hungry with an appetite to prove themselves against local rivals Swansea.

With the women’s game cancelled earlier this afternoon and an undue delay of fifteen minutes while the table officials get their act together, both teams had ample time to warm up.

USW win the 4.15pm tip-off and waste no time in drawing first blood. Both teams are opting for a three-and-two zone defence. But without the presence of any obviously big or fearsome centre-forwards, the ebb and flow of the game divulged into a contest of speed and creative pass-ing that would also test both team’s relationship and how well they knew each other.

Swansea appeared sluggish in this first quarter, their forwards seemingly in no hurry to get down the court. It’s a hole in their defence that the usual South Wales suspects Manozovic and Arents quickly exploit on the fast break. All five are chipping in though: Oman with a huge block on Swan-sea’s Jipur; Anfindsen drains a couple free throws and Haggar nimbly darts through the Swansea zone defence for a finger roll.

For Swansea, a steely eyed Karakis carves his mark on the game. He demonstrates enviable skill and on

the first of many occasions, pops out undefended from nowhere on the perimeter to drain three point baskets. Kennedy also does his fair share of close range artillery, adding four points with inside jump shots, often earned for a clever spin or two.

USW have a five point lead going into the second quarter, and perhaps sensing that their speed will be of the essence to this win, they switch to the more aggressive man to man defending – a more challenging and less regimented alternative to guarding your fixed position.

Despite this, Karkaris is on it again with a three pointer. Jipur begin to

throw his weight around under the basket, using his size to make space, and consequently extra opportunities to reach the rim. McAleese is also on board with a crafty bank shot. Kennedy contributes eight points from a mixture of free throws and a three pointer and Swansea are suddenly looking all the more forceful at just point behind on 25.

Coach Chris Harper is as loudly forth coming with his feelings about the refs, the state of play and just about everything his reputation advocates. But it’s over to the clipboard to reex-amine tactics as the whistle is blown for a time out.

Whatever Harper had to say, it’s done the trick and the remaining cou-ple of minutes see the home residents widen the gap again with fast breaks. Oman snatches those crucial defensive rebounds for the likes of Manozovic, Arents, Haggar and Richards to disappear and reaper in Swansea’s key before they have time to react. When the half-time whistle sounds it’s still a five point game at 37-32.

And now we see the deciding quar-ter where the game was ultimately won and lost. It might sound anti-climactic to say that the free throw line is where the crucial moments too place, but that was the case.

Swansea look overwhelmed as USW bag 25 points in 10 minutes. Team captain Manozovic claims 13 of them. He hustles his way into thick of it gleans a handful of fouls from the visitors which he duly converts, but not without committing a couple of reaching-in offences of his own.

Karakis is still doing his best to keep some hope going by scooping 4 points worth of free throws. Addo pushes the envelope by putting Manozovic in the danger zone with four fouls and draws free throws. Evans is the man to deliver some cheer with a text book three point jump shot that flatlines in at just the right angle.

The fourth quarter score bears a damning 62-49 indictment over the tourist’s hopes, there were eye brows raised when Karakis, Jipur and Addo put together a quick succession of swift plays which prompt another time out by South Wales.

It proves little more than a hiccup, and despite Manozovic leaving the game after his fifth foul, Arrents is left to tie the knot, marking himself (in this humble journo’s opinion) as MVP. 12 points go down by his hand, half of which come from almost solo efforts to tear down the court leaving Swansea defenders for dead.

Even though it’s an effort made in vain, Swansea put in a gallant effort with players coming off the bench to contribute. Jipur and Karakis are still going about their business but its skeet, who despite being the tallest man on court all night has until now really made his presence felt. He sinks two floating jump shots which leave you wondering if post is really his forte and if the elbow would suit him better.

The closing moments see Arrents down a towering three it ends with a solid 62-49 USW victory.

Sparing his two cents on the game, South Wales captain Manozovic seems down trodden about their relegation next year, regardless of their convinc-ing win this evening. “We got off to a slow start” he said, “but switching to man-to-man defending wore them down and swung it for us as the game went on”.

“South Wales just wanted it more than us” commented Swansea coach Henry Sondno.

A little more philosophically, he added “Our first game in the play offs will now be against UWE. At least now we know what to work on”.

University of South Wales: 62Swansea: 49

Wednesday 5 February

USW sports teams in new funding crisis STUDENTS WHO represent

the University of South Wales’s sports teams may be forced to pay increased season fees as of

next year, to cover budget restraints enforced on the Students Union by the University.

Students feared that they may have had to pay a top up on the fees in January, however negotiation between the University and the SU has delayed any such increase in payments.

Speaking to The Insight, Vice-President of the Students’ Union Richard Queree admitted that the issue of funding for sport is a main concern for the SU and they are in.

“This issue is under constant review by the University and us at the Student Union. The University relies on funding from the Uni-versity and this funding is being drastically cut.

“One of the main issues regard-ing the sport is that successful teams cost a lot of money to sustain. Think of the travel cost in-volved in transporting sports team across the county over the course of a season.

“As a union our block funding from the University it governed on a variety of factors and student numbers is one of them. With the

decrease of students applying to come to USW will have a dramatic impact on the funding we receive from the University.

“There has been discussion about a top-up of seasonal fees that students would have to pay before the end of the season. Negotiation between the University and SU are still on-going, which makes it more unlikely that any additional fees will be introduced this year. It will be more likely that any new charges would be introduced at the beginning of next season.”

“Hopefully there will be an ami-cable agreement reached”.

With some sports teams charg-ing prices of over £100 for seasonal participation, the threat of an increase is something that the SU regrets.

Richard added “The Union’s fundamental role is to represent the students of the university. Non-commercial activities such as sport all have to be catered for in the SU’s budget. With the reduc-tion in the budget we receive, the unfortunate side effect is that there will be a decrease in funding for the sports teams.

The Student Union has instigat-ed a ‘Fair Funding’ campaign, in hope that students will be more

aware of the problems that a de-creased student union budget will mean.

One of the main issues high-lighted by the campaign was how the Student Union has to pay to hire the facilities at the Treforest Sports Park from the University, where as other Universities such as UWE receive a grant from their respective university to cover such costs.

Richard said: “When the Sports Park was opened in a bit to re-cuperate some of the money the University spent it was decided to charge the SU to use the facilities.

Various sports teams have been vocal about how the reduction in funding would impact them, with both footballing and swimming teams feeling that it will have a detrimental effect on the success of their individual team.

Philly Hearnden, member of the volleyball team and student representative to the SU said: “Basically the team were told they may have to pay more for funding their sports participation. When most sports already pay a hun-dred pounds to participate, many people weren’t happy about paying more”.

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theinsightsw.co.ukFebruary 2014

USW take on Swansea page 19

The Insight - February 2014

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Transcript of The Insight - February 2014