s? 11 January 2002 ^$08$$ ThThei Student Newspaper for Imperial College Issue 1223 Te Jarvis again? Well it's and William Boyd's Pulp's on page 16 ©i pap IS Teddington Under Threat Teddington, the favoured sports field of time, a firm of planning consultants was the average medic, is in great danger of appointed to investigate how planning being sold, a recent confidential College permission could be secured for document has suggested. This possibility Teddington, despite the anticipated oppo- has been the subject of rumours for years, sition from Richmond Council, the local but the document has indicated that IC residents and sports governing bodies will submit an application for residential such as Sports England and the National planning permission in "the early part of Playing Fields Trust. Although the results 2002". However, we cannot find any evi- :?%Mall -f fiiJi fflMBP -' of the review are not yet known to stu- dence that this has taken place yet. dents, the College Strategic Plan has out- The sports ground at Teddington was lined that they will sell one of the sports given to the St. Mary's Hospital Medical The Pavillion at Teddington field over the course of the next two years, School (SMHMS) as a gift by Lord and while Teddington is not explicitly Beaverbrook in 1935, to show his grati- date all of the outdoor sports require- mentioned in relation to this, a later part of tude for medical treatment he had ments for IC. However, although this may the plan states that it is "under review", received, but since the merger of Imperial sound attractive, it is not known whether while all the other major sports areas will College and SMHMS in 1989, it has a suitable ground has been identified. A be kept for continuing use. One interest- become the property of College. review was initiated eight months ago to ing point is that this is expected to gener- A few years ago, a review of sports facil- assess how each of the outdoor sports ate only £4 million, where it has been sug- ities, conducted by Frank Murray, demon- grounds could best be utilised and in an gested that the ground should generate strated that IC had an excess of outdoor article for the ICSM Gazette, Neil Mosley, something in the region of £20 million, but sports grounds in proportion to its require- The Sports and Leisure Manager, stated continued on page 2 ments, whether this allows for separate that no decisions would be made regard- CCU teams or not is not known. Ideally, ing the future of the sports grounds until College would like to find one centrally the results of this review were published. located ground, which would accommo- However, it is also known that, at this "No appeal is complete without a few bazaars and jumble sale type events. Ilk. j^MW* Or a nice white elephant. college news continued from front page Gardens. This same part of the It is anticipated that a public 4- Fklix was unable to obtain any plan also suggest that college enquiry will be called before comments from senior sources hope to have 'disposed of planning permission is grant- Issue 1223 on this seeming discrepancy. Teddington by the middle of ed, at which time local resi- In the central sports strate- this year. Nonetheless dents and students can view 11 January 2002 gy, IC aims to provide suffi- Felix has been assured that the the proposals and voice their cient sporting facilities for stu- new sports hall project will go opinions, but there is no way of Editor: will Dugdale dents and staff, in order to pro- ahead, while it remains uncer- predicting when this will be Deputy Editor: Ali Wren mote participation and sport- tain where this capital will until the planning application News: Vacant ing excellence, since many come from if no sale is made. is submitted. Music: Dave Edwards students and college members Without planning permis- Unsurprisingly, most medics Books: Jon Matthews believe that at the current time sion for the ground itself, the are upset by the proposals. Arts: Jon Brenner our sports facilities are inferior sale would not really be worth Aside from the question of 70 Film: Darius Nikbin to those of our major institu- the effort and controversy, but years of tradition, the major Sports: Vacant tional competitors. whether they will get permis- argument against the develop- Crossword: Dr. Hot Fudge Initially, it was thought that sion remains to be seen. ment of these grounds is the money would be re-diverted Richmond Council regard this superior quality of the land, With Thanks To: back in to the college sports sports field as "land of town- Teddington being regarded as Joe facilities, by providing the final scape importance" which is one of the best sports pitches balance for the extension of therefore to be preserved and in the South of England. Felix, Beit Quad, Prince the Sports Centre at Princes the local residents are certain On the other side of the coin, Consort Road, London, Gardens. However, the College to object to the development. however, the money that will SW7 2BB Strategic Plan may suggest However, it is thought that, to be generated from the sale of Tel: 020 7594 8072 otherwise, mentioning minimise this, the develop- this site is proposed to go into Email: [email protected] Teddington in an area of the ment will only consume part of the construction of an exten- Printed by: MCP Litho Limited report that is completely unre- the sports field for housing, sion to the current sports hall Felix is a registered lated to sport: the building of leaving an open recreational in Prince's Gardens improving newspaper: ISSN 1040 - 0711 new residential buildings on area which will be available for the quality of the indoor sports Copyright © Felix 2001 the tennis courts in Prince's public use. facilities of IC. will Rector's Speech II The rector has announced that these needs are met from the he will be giving another point of view of welfare, and speech to the students of this will also benefit College Imperial College some time in by making Imperial more the next few weeks. attractive to future students. The plan is to highlight his Other topics may be more vision for the future of this uni- specific to the way that our versity, and he will therefore Union itself is run, as the rec- be discussing matters that are tor is expected to explain the important to the students, as new faculty system in more well as talking about the busi- detail. He will therefore proba- The Union Advice Centre ness of running College from a bly be asked to comment on The Union offers a free, confidential and impartial more bureaucratic point of the impact this has on the professional advice service for students and staff on view. Constituent College Unions, legal, academic, financial, housing, immigration, and benefits questions through the full-time Advisor based although the final decisions on The topic that is likely to be in the Union Advice Centre. this subject will be the of most interest to students is Further information is also available on other that of the need for student Union's. questions concerning health, drugs, alcohol, tax and support and services. These Finally the topics of student rights from a wide range of leaflets in the are obviously fundamental to Intellectual Property Rights Advice Centre reception. any university, since they deal and the capital plan will be Drop by the East Wing of the Union , imnp,rjn| specifically with the students raised, giving students further Building in Beit Quad, or phone « i <~oMeae themselves, and it is recog- information on the college's directly for an appointment on: * union nised that it is important that plans for the future. will (020) 7594 8067. ADVICE CENTRE world news Blair - Peacemaker? British Prime Minister Tony independence to Britain's for- Blair this week visited a string mer colonies in the Indian sub- of countries in the Middle East continent. in an effort to boost peace ini- Then the two countries were tiatives in the region. still essentially populus yet The Premier visited Kabul primitive backwaters. But and Bagram in Afghanistan, now both have nuclear as well as India and Pakistan. weapons and large armies. He also expressed the Both sides currently field "gravest concern" at the Arab forces of around three-quar- Israeli situation, where ters of a million men, arrayed Palestinian Yasser Arafat is across an 80-kilometers struggling to maintain disci- stretch of border. pline within the various Blair spent the week shut- Palestinian resistance organi- resume until violence stopped of terrorism". In the statement tling frantically between Delhi sations that fall under his - while simultaneously insist- - the closest yet to a public call and Karachi, where Britain is umbrella. ing that "police action" in the for peace in the reigon - the still held in high regard. At the time of going to print, disputed Gaza region would world leaders also insisted While spectators have 36 Arab civilians have been continue as and when security that peace was possible on accused Blair of pursuing a killed by the Israeli security Israeli security forces deemed the disputed Indian border place in the history books at forces in reprisal for 5 Israeli it necessary. province of Kashmir. the expense of dealing with citizens dead over the past Meanwhile, in a news con- The area (which is principal- domestic strife, he insisted week. ference following talks with ly Muslim, like Pakistan) has that British home policy is Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Blair, Pakistani President been hotly contested by both best served by international of Israel insisted, however, Musharraf announced that his countries since 1947 - when an peace.