Bangor Students’ Union’s English Language Newspaper

ISSN 1755-7585 Issue No. 218 End of Year Issue 2011 WILL BANGOR INSIDE: Summer Ball: All you need to HEE CHARGEL £9K?

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Page • Bangor to Declare Fee Plans at the End of May 24 • Aberystwyth Opt to Charge the Full £9,000 Fee Gemma Ellis cally about what they intend to charge, All fee increases in Wales have to ever there are still question marks over however the increasing number of ­ rst be approved by the Higher Educa- what this entails. With an increased What best universities charging the highest fee tion Funding Council for Wales who number of Universities charging the niversities in Wales have been surely puts pressure on other univer- will look into them before giving them maximum there are growing fears that asked to declare their plans sities to appear just as worthwhile as the go ahead. Any welsh students wish- the Government will have to save mon- to wear Ufor tuition fees for 2012 by the highest priced institutions, making ing to study at a Welsh University will ey somewhere else, with the unsettling the end of this month raising the big choosing a university more of a market not feel the full force of a fee increase possibility of this cut coming from the this question, will Bangor be the next to place than ever before. Seren believes as they are to be subsidised by the number of University places available. charge £9000? Aberystwyth University that construction on the Pontio project Welsh assembly Government, however Jo Caul­ eld from Bangor Students’ may encourage Bangor University to students from outside Wales will not Union said “to date, over two-thirds of Summer have recently announced their plans to push for a higher fee as entrants a† er have this luxury. Ž e government have the universities that have declared their charge the full £9000 fee, making them 2012 should see the bene­ ts of the 27.5 promised that despite these fee increas- tuition fee plans have decided to charge the ­ rst Welsh University to con­ rm million pound project centred around es, e‘ orts will be made to make sure £9,000 a year, including Aberystwyth. their intentions to charge the highest the arts. Furthermore it would come universities widen their access to stu- Page possible fee. as no surprise if Bangor were to mirror dents from poorer backgrounds while Continues on Page 5 Bangor have not yet spoken publi- Aberystyth’s decision. looking at the bursary scheme, how- 27 2 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 Editorial Students of Bangor,

Here ends my reign as Editor of Seren. This year the Seren team has done me proud. I have been very fortunate to fi nd such friendly, hardworking and creative people who have kept me constantly entertained and don’t make a bad cup of tea. I could make a list as long as my arms (that’s right, both of them) tell- ing you what each of them have achieved in the time dedicated to putting Seren together, but I believe this heartfelt dedication to their efforts should suffi ce. So here’s to the best-looking, most hardworking bunch of journalists I have ever laid eyes on (which includes the ever-fl y Fiona Bruce and the silver fox that is Peter Levy, I might add). I would be nothing without you and neither would Seren. So I hope you enjoy this, the very last issue of the year - in it, you will fi nd all the information you should ever want about the summer ball, including what your ticket money is spent on, as well as a great interview with Liam Burns, the new president of NUS. I don’t have favourite pages this time; instead I think you should dedicate your time to reading each and every one of them until next time when you will be graced with the genius of Aaron Wiles. You may remember him from pages such as music, games and gadgets and, most recently, the centrefold. He’s very good. Lastly: if, like me, you are graduating this year I wish you the very best of luck for the future. We will fi nd jobs, we won’t sponge forever - hell, we might even be famous someday! Good luck and much love,

Gemma Sponsored by Willow Smith, Pro Plus and the cheap energy drink you get from the supermarket.

The Seren This months Contents Contributors Page 3-5 Page 16-17 Page 28 Andrew Gadie News Features Health&Beauty Team Ben Evans Luke Dobson Editor: Gemma Ellis James Berry Page 6-7 Page 18 Page 29 News: Andy Trigg Politics Creative What’s Up Features: Nicole Nally Rebecca Carey Creative Corner: Nayab Khan James McGough Page 8 Page 19 Page 30-31 Music: Joe McNally Rich Gorman Interview Quick Break Music Whats On: LJ Taylor Antony Butcher Whats In: Kaden Wild Heather Boyles Page 9 Page 20-21 Page 32-33 Food and Drink: Steven Freeman Scott Burrows Societies Centrefold Games&Gadgets Politics: Anna Hatfi eld Amy Westlake Health & Beauty: Emily Tearle, Tomos Davies Becky Sage Page10-11 Page 22-23 Page 34-35 Dave Hudson Food Travel and Sara Royle Ball Whats up: Jennifer Krase Will Osborn Page12 Page 24-25 Page 36 Travel: Rowena Nathan Peter Weale Union What’s On Fitness Sport: Matt Cox Vicki Harman Secretary, Games and Gadgets: Michael Ironside Page14-15 Page 26-27 Page 37-39 Aaron Wiles Robert Trigg Treasurer: Tom Knott Christy Sago Comment What’s In Sports Social Sec: Hayley Neill Shon Prebble Design: Dan Turner Georgia Mannion RECYCLE ME! Hello hello! Seren is made from 100% recycled paper so Get in on the action and recycle me when you are done! End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 3 News Osama Bin Laden: — e AŸ ermath tions are being asked as to how signi­ cant go undetected in sending emails and My View Steven Freeman his killing was in relation to the war on ter- communicating by other methods to Were the American’s Right to Rejoice the ror. Directly a† er the event experts were the sub-divisions of Al-Qaeda. saying that Bin Laden was mainly just an merica’s most wanted man, Osama Despite the ­ ndings that Bin Laden Death of Osama Bin Laden? inspirational ­ gure for Al- Bin Laden was killed by US forces Qaeda and that was as ever so earlier this month in Abbottabad, due to his high “Bin Laden will have a involved in the APakistan. Ž e news of Bin Laden’s death re- pro­ le status planning and sulted in much celebration across America prominent position in history” NO he tried to lay running of YES and to some extent Britain, but now the low and not hype has calmed down a number of ques- A l - Q a e d a , Matt Cox Joe McNally have many direct dealings with particular terrorist experts are warning that Al- (Sports Editor) (Music Editor) events, leaving coordination and Qaeda’s decentralised nature means planning to the sub divisions of that they can easily go forth with plans Al-Qaeda. they may have and have warned states However, a† er the sting September the 11th wasn’t an atroc- that may be at threat to be vigilant and I wasn’t surprised to see Americans operation where a unit of 25 ity directed just at America. It was an not let their guards down amongst the rejoicing when they found out Bin well rehearsed US Navy Seals attack by a fundamentalist group on a air of celebration. Laden had been killed. In my opinion, stormed Bin Laden’s com- Western ideology and culture that radi- Amongst all the action of the past Bin Laden was more of a symbol. He pound, it appears that a vast cally di‘ ered from their own. Ž e per- few weeks with regards to the death may be only one man in a vast terror- amount of intelligence, in the ception of America as an arrogant na- of Osama Bin Laden, it is clear that ist network, but he has been seen as form of thousands of docu- tion will not be lessened by the scenes Bin Laden will have a prominent po- America’s greatest enemy for the last ments and handfuls of lap- of celebration at Ground Zero following sition in history for being one of the decade. To ­ nally ­ nd and end him tops and desktops were taken the death of Bin Laden. If anything, it most ruthless leaders of a terrorist or- has huge symbolic signi­ cance for the back to Virginia for exami- is likely to encourage more ill feeling ganisation who caused fear and terror war on terror and for all the people nation. Arabic analysts from amongst the fundamentalist groups worldwide. Some experts reckon that who still keenly feel the e‘ ects of 9/11. across the globe have been in the middle-East. Celebrating at the he will become a ­ gure head some- Ž at’s why I did not mind the celebra- handpicked to help decipher scene of one of the worst terrorist at- what like Che Guevara and say that tions as such. Killing Bin Laden was the ­ les and till present the tacks in history felt slightly shameful. I the reason Bin Laden’s body was bur- always going to be a huge step; it is an US have found out that Bin won’t be a hypocrite and say that people ied at sea was to prevent a radical Is- action that goes far beyond the death Laden had a much more in- shouldn’t do this or shouldn’t do that, lamist shrine being created to remem- of just one man. volved stance with future but out of respect for all those who died ber him. Nevertheless, it seems a great plans for Al-Qaeda, and that day, perhaps a little decorum would victory that one of the world’s most Osama Bin Laden have said that he was able to have been slightly more becoming. wanted has been eliminated. Dead or Alive: — e World Has — e Rise and Fall of A New Most Wanted Bin Laden Mexican drug dealer becomes the next illusive World’s Most Wanted Man 1957: Osama bin Laden was born in Riy- 1998: Near-simultaneous bomb attacks adh, one of some 54 children born to Moham- against US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es- mad bin Laden, a building tycoon. His mother Salaam kill 224 people, most of them Africans, Robert Trigg and injure thousands. was of Syrian origin. drug-smuggling kingpin. His leader- 2008 was so heavily guarded by gang Ž e US Federal Bureau of Investiga- he death of Osama Bin Laden sent ship of one of the world’s largest organ- members, the Mexican army refused Mohammed bin Laden dies in a 1999: 1969: tion places bin Laden on its "10 most wanted" a message to criminals around the ised gangs has led to the death of over to arrest the groom a† er locating his helicopter crash. Osama, then aged around world: you can run but you can’t 15,000 people, including traµ ckers, whereabouts. It was estimated in 2009 11, is believed to have inherited $80 million. list. Thide. His premeditated attacks on the police oµ cers, soldiers and civilians. that Joaquín Guzmán had one of the Western world killed thousands of in- 1984: Bin Laden travels to Afghanistan, 2001: Two hijacked US airliners crash nocent people which gave him the title of Multi-ton shipments of cocaine are world’s richest fortunes with an a responding to calls for a jihad, or holy Islamic into the twin towers of the World Trade Cent- the worlds most wanted. His inconspicu- smuggled by Guzman from Columbia yearly income of $18bn. Guzman is war, against the Soviet occupying force. Ž ere, er in New York, which subsequently collapse. ous existence came to an unceremonious through Mexico and into the United nicknamed “El Chapo,”the spanish he ­ nances and takes command of a force of A third hijacked plane crashes into the Penta- end, which knocked him o‘ the top spot of States. In 2001 Guzman escaped from translation for shorty as he stands at some 20,000 Islamic ­ ghters recruited from gon outside Washington and a fourth in rural earth’s most evil list. With Bin Laden dead, Pennsylvania. Ž e attacks kill around 3,000 the federal maximum security prison 5 † . Guzman is currently a fugitive in around the world. a new person had to become the worlds in Jalisco, in the back of a laundry van the USA and Mexico and the U.S State people. Washington o‘ ers a $25-million-dol- most sought a† er criminal. a† er using his charisma and charm to Department have a $5 million reward 1989: Ž e Soviet Union withdraws its lar reward for any information leading to the Joaquín Guzmán 52, is a Mexican bribe the prison sta‘ . His marriage in for information forces from Afghanistan. arrest of bin Laden. 2002. 1991: A US-led alliance launches a war 2003: Bin Laden releases a series of state- to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait, which Iraq ments including comments on the con° icts in Profile: had occupied the previous year. Bin Laden Iraq and Afghanistan, threats of more attacks, declares jihad against the United States be- and o‘ ers of a truce with the United States. cause it had based forces in his native Saudi Arabia, where Islam's two most holy places are 2010: Claims botched Christmas Day Joaquín Guzmán located. bombing of US airliner and threatens more 1993: An explosion in the basement of strikes on US targets. Aliases: El Chapo, Chapo Guzman, the World Trade Center in New York kills six Bin Laden is killed in a ­ re­ ght people and injures around 1,000. Ž e attack is 2011: with covert US forces in the Pakistani city of El Rapido later blamed on Al-Qaeda. 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Ž is is the hasmost University this which dictated at level has the England in market the a† surprise er a as come not has sion “Ž deci- choice: e no had Aberystwyth University that claimed but ment disappoint- his showed Students, of Guild the Antoniazzi,JonPresidentof statement on website, the Aberystwyth Welsh the Assembly Government. Ina to bursaries given to native students by due rise the from exempt be will who future, the in Welshstudents or dents a‘not will fees in stu- hikecurrent ect Wales.Žof Council Funding cation e subject to approval by the Higher Edu- month the andin areearlier meeting a year.atŽ next discussed were plans e force to in comes fees of level new the when £9,000 full the students charge A Christy Sago Christy 4 Not So Super Injunctions Super So Not Andy Trigg Aber - Money Money Money Money Money - Aber • • a‚air with Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson Jemima Khan -defends claims of an alleged follow Aberystwyth as Cardi‘ forms part of the the of Cardi‘ part as forms Aberystwyth follow Bangor to announce plans later thismonth anounces proposal toAberystwyth charge £9,000 sity to announce a proposal to proposal a announce to sity univer- Welsh ­ rst the come be- has University berystwyth thing is for sure; you will will you sure; for is thing you’veever doing, one been what- been, you've herever Russell group of elite universities” “Cardi‘ University are to set hn wo a acsd f havinghas - of Clarkson Jeremya‘ anwith accused air was who - Khan JemimaHowever, people: these of one orders. injunction super had posedly sup- who people several of names the tweeted who injunction_super, user twitter the a as got such not injunction, has super or has, who know to Complicated Iknow. – news? the in up end injunctions per su- do nothow something, say to are allowed they that say is to paper allowed a not if So about. talk any- to is thing there that stating even from ence of gag.” the exist- the mentioning from them gag ie te o ha i Dcme last December in ahead go the given was courses undergraduate all on fees have all announced to charge amounts. full the which in UCL, and Cambridge,Oxford include which versities, uni- elite of group Russell the of part to follow Aberystwyth as Cardi‘ forms of the month. Cardi‘ University are set Education Funding of Wales at the end Higher the to proposals their submit until near end the of May.” announcement an making be not will We month. this later Council our by approved be toIt hasyet. PlanFee our University“Wesaid: have not­ nalised Hughes, the Vice-Chancellor at Bangor next year. In an e-mail to Seren, Simon £9,000 full the studentscharge to plan nounce their proposal on whether they alternative.” an present to Government Assembly placed and huge England amounts of pressure on the in Welsh students to blow crippling a dealt which ernment e‘ domino ect created by the Westminster the Gov- with lies blame ultimate Well one way is when people claim people when is wayWell one paper a bans injunction super A Ž e decision to raise student tuition to required are universities Welsh an- to yet still is UniversityBangor ot ue injunctions super most not his. actually was child the proved test DNA a until for, money maintenance paying been had he which ago, years few he a child a fathered had believed he the that hide fact to injunction he had bought out a super recently told the press that Andrew porter Marr, who themselves. re- BBC the example, For about out in- bought they that junction super the a about tell press to decide may celebrity a anything. times, Other for out tion injunc- super a have not does she that said since from writing about their their about writing from papers the stop to rities are merely ways for celeb- oee, vn though even However, Private Eye publishing story. the injunction,probablywas which dueto Tra­it. eventuallyli†gura super the ed couldn't report that they couldn't print only couldn't print the article, but notthey Guardian the that injunc- meant it super tion, a gets Tra­gura that suggested Ruck Carter ­ rm law the when But Coast. 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BANGOR IN BRIEF BANGOR IN BRIEF BANGOR IN BRIEF BANGOR IN BRIEF BANGOR IN BRIEF BANGOR IN BRIEF BANGOR ties andties lives.” their rebuildcommuni-to helpvictims ed £7535.97, which will be used to uted for their support. We collect- contrib- who everybody thank to “We’dsaid: likeJapan for of Bangor behalf on Kajimoto, Atsuchi University. the at and Caernarfon in Street, High Bangor public on places, at money collecting events and organising in Japan’, for ‘Bangor of that e‘ and their orts through raised was money Ž e year. this earlier occurred tsunami which and earthquake major Japanin a†crisis the leviate the er al- help will which Society, Cross Red Japanese the for £7,500 over raised have University Bangor at cling. recy- promoting campaign photo a of result a Award,Challenge’as ‘Communications Ecologist Ž e Award: National third a grabbed also Union Students’ University Bangor public. the to them mote students’tionsin unionspro-and capture the positive green innova- Green Impact Award to seeks also achieving results for students. Ž e whilst sustainabilitymind keep in and practice best environmental follow to Students’Unionslenges Žperformance. chal- awardtal e marking of a union's environmen- bench- independent an o‘ering NUS, by run scheme creditation ac- environmental an is Impact Green performance. in leap huge Union’ Improvedtheir Awardfor ‘Most Ž Co-operative awarded e also were they that meant achieve- ment Ž is year. last Bronze achieved having awards, Impact Green NUS the in gold received Ž environment. ey the for work recent their for prizes three won has Bangor Union wrong! Student University’s you’re but fee cof- drinking day all around sit e-mail [email protected] please Alan sponsor to wish you If experience.” overwhelming an ­ the on neck my was line nishing done andwith tohave round medal the and over thing whole the have to odd very felt it training, and preparing of emotional. A†years two er very and feeling ing ishingsuchwas race an the amaz- “Fin- said: Bala, from originally is who Alan, Mencap. almost for £4,000 raised and category his age in position 74th impressive massively a was He competitors. ­849 of nish out position the 198th in line crossed He Celsius. Degrees 48 as high as peratures mile Marathon Des Sables in tem- 150 the run competitors the sees Ž challenge Desert. e Sahara the earth,’oninvolvescrossing which race foot ‘toughest the successfully ­nished has Edwards, Services, Alan Student International ‘Toughest Foot Race Member Completes News Aid Sent to Japan gop f aaee students Japanese of group A just they that think may You of Head University’s Bangor End ofEnd Year Issue 2011 University Sta¦ SU Goes Green SU Goes on Earth’ End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 5 News Welsh Copy Cats ‘Disturbing Levels’ of Plagiarism Committed in Welsh Universities A Month in News in the country as only 22 people have 15 April – Hundreds of gay protestors staged a ‘gay kiss- been disciplined over the last three in’ outside of the John Snow pub in Soho, London, a† er a gay Luke Dobson years, with the majority of essays fall- couple were asked to leave the venue by the landlady the previous ing into the low percentage reserved for night, for kissing in public. Ž e amount of protestors forced the poor academic referencing. pub in to closing their doors early as demonstrators gathered for a ver the past three years plagia- Dr Mike Reddy, an independent ad- smooch outside. Jonathon Williams, one of the men evicted from rism has peaked in Welsh uni- visor to the Plagiarism Advisory Serv- the pub said, “I was shaking with rage. I myself do not enjoy seeing versities, studies have shown. ice, and others believe this to be a fault two people lip-locked for hours, but why should we not be allowed OOver a thousand students across the of our modern culture; that “In the real to kiss? As we move away from decades of backward laws that out- nation’s institutions have been repri- world copying gets rewarded, we all cut line the di‘ erences between gay couples and straight, we should manded between the period 2008-2011 and paste.” embrace being gay as just something ordinary and mainstream.” but why are so many students being He goes on to say, “I think the ques- caught out? tions of intent have to be proved and 20 April – A parcel bomb was discovered by suspicious Turnitin, the system used to scan separated from inadvertent plagiarism Royal Mail sta‘ addressed to Neil Lennon, the manager of Celtic handed in essays, searches each docu- Protestors at the John Snow pub in Soho, London and poor referencing, but universi- Rangers Football Club. Two other prominent Celtic fans were also during the staged “kiss-in.” ment for chunks of writing that may ties have to be consistent in their ap- targeted a† er suspicious packages were discovered at their oµ ces in have come from other sources. Ž is proach.” It would seem that he is not Scotland. Lennon, a Northern Irish Catholic had previously received hate mail, death threats and even bullets. Ž e incident means that even the quotes that you alone in this though, as there have been was an escalation for Lennon, who has been in previous disputes with Celtic’s rival Rangers, involving his own behaviour, may be using in an essay to back up calls for a more consistent approach in the conduct of each team’s players and referee decisions. Lennon has publically announced that the threats will never force your argument are taken into account. ­ nding and dealing with the cases of him to resign from his position. However, these are acknowledged by plagiarism. the so† ware and show up as a low per- It should be noted that not all cas- 22 April – A demonstration in Bristol over the opening of centage of plagiarism, for example 25%. es that the so† ware ­ nds to be in the a new Tesco store, escalated in to scenes of rioting and violence as As Dr Philip Dixon, director of ATL 75% bracket are disciplined. Of the 774 protestors clashed with police. More than 160 oµ cers in riot gear Cymru (Association of Teachers and cases found across Welsh universities fought angry mobs leaving eight oµ cers injured and four protestors Lecturers Wales) says, “Part of your last year, only 468 were taken further. arrested. Ž e police were criticised with their handling of the situa- argument might be showing how two Ž at’s almost over 200 students who tion which was deemed ‘heavy handed.’ Ž e Tesco store was vandal- authors disagree about a point, with had been wrongly accused of plagia- ised and petrol bombs were thrown. quotes to show that.” rism and could, theoretically, have lost Yet this is not the problem facing our their degree. 24 April – An 11-year-old boy died a† er falling from a zip universities. Ž e number of students Ž is brings up two arguments; that, wire at a theme park in Snowdonia. Ž e accident happened at the whose work comes in with around 75% as Mike Reddy says, "We also need to Greenwood Forest Park, which boasts the longest zip wire in Wales. of the text matching another, which is update ways of assessing plagiarism," Riot police in Bristol battling with violent An investigation is currently underway. In a statement on the park’s almost solid proof of plagiarism, has and how exactly are students disci- protestors angry over the opening of a new website, they said: "We are co-operating fully with the police and the peaked over the past few years and is plined? Tesco store Health and Safety Executive in their investigation. We have always seemingly not being dealt with. Across Wales being ‘disciplined’ be- put safety as our number one priority and we are determined to un- Ž e worst o‘ enders seem to be at cause of plagiarism can mean anything derstand fully what has happened. Our thoughts and sympathy are with the family of the boy." As a mark of respect to the the University of Glamorgan who had from an automatic fail on that particu- boy’s family, Greenwood remained closed on Easter Monday. to discipline 482 students last year. 6% lar essay to a formal warning or even of the essays that Cardi‘ checked over expulsion. 26 April – Technology giant Sony has warned that the names, addresses and other personal data on its Playstation the past 6 six years came back over the It would appear that these calls for network have been stolen. Ž e hacking led to Sony suspending the gam- 75% copied mark. Other institutions all consistency in discipline and so† ware ing network for over a week as an investigation was launched. Ž e hack- had to deal with around should come ­ rst before we start to er is said have access to over 77 million of its Playstation users personal What of Bangor? It appears that we crack down on the perpetual plagiaris- data and credit card details but Sony assured their users that no money are one of the most original institutions ers. had been stolen. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at secu- rity ­ rm Sophos, described the hacking as “a public relations disaster.” 29 April – An estimated 2.2 billion people across the world Continues from front page... tuned in live to watch the marriage of Prince William and Katherine Middleton. Hundreds of thousands of revellers lined the streets of Lon- Ž is obviously puts a real pressure ensure that students’ extra investment don to catch a glimpse of the happy couple as they made their way to on Bangor University. Ž ere is an argu- is directed at improving resources and Westminster Abbey to tie the knot. Ž e pair then made their way to ment that says cheaper fees impact on facilities, creating more opportunities Buckingham Place where they shared TWO kisses on a balcony in front the institution’s reputation (i.e. that if for student development and removing of an overwhelmed crowd. Parties were held across the UK as the nation a university charges less than 9k, they barriers to participation. enjoyed a bank holiday to celebrate the royal event. Ž e pair are said to will be seen as sub-standard). I reject Ž e burden of paying for Higher be honeymooning at the end of May, but until then, the Prince will con- this argument. Universities should not Education has been passed on from tinue his work as an RAF search and rescue pilot on Anglesey. ‰ e noise of the crowd proves too much for a be using this fee increase as an opportu- central government to the individual bridesmaid nity to pro­ teer from students, should and universities across the country are 4 May – Heathland ­ res continue to burn across the UK as strong be justifying all fee increases and losing an enormous amount of their winds and high temperatures cause widespread unrest. With England and Wales only seeing 21% of the expected rainfall should show a real commitment to in- state funding (in some areas, up to for this time of the year, April was classi­ ed as the hottest April since records began. Ž e lack of rain hampered ­ re­ ghter’s vesting in areas that matter to students, 100%), which means institutions have e‘ orts, as all four nations within the UK battled with the sweeping blazes. when arguing for the ability to charge little choice but to rely on student fees increased fees. for income. 5 May – Ž e people of Britain took to the ballot boxes to vote in the Bangor, like all other universities in We will be at the forefront of discus- local elections and a possible change to the current voting system. Nick Clegg Wales, is under scrutiny from the fund- sions to ensure that Bangor students su‘ ered what he called a “bitter blow” as Britain voted against the alternative ing council and the Welsh Assembly to receive additional bene­ ts in line with vote. Ž e Liberal Democrats also lost hundreds of seats across England, Scot- justify whichever fees they settle on. their additional investment”. land and Wales with the Scottish Lib Dems be- Ž is means that they have to set out, in Seren also spoke to Bangor Uni- ing le† with just ­ ve MSP’s. Ž e Conservatives clear terms, the bene­ ts that students versity student Hannah Smith about had a surprisingly good result a† er many MP’s can expect to receive for their money. the possibly increase, she told Seren predicted the Tories would lose countless seats. she would “certainly like to pay less” Ž ey in fact gained an extra 81, while winning Bangor University Students Union and that she believed “no University the ‘no’ campaign which David Cameron led. campaigned hard against the fees in- is worth £9000” but added that she crease and we view any additional cost thought Bangor wasn’t a bad University. 13 May – A British grandmother was to students, particularly at the highest Another student added that he though stabbed and beheaded on the Spanish island of Nick Clegg a‹ er losing many Lib Dem seats fee level, as unpalatable, unwelcome he had “no choice” but to accept the Tenerife. 60 year-old Jennifer Mills-Westley is and the AV campaign and a risk to the adage that higher edu- increase and that if Bangor did not in- said to have walked in to a souvenir shop to cation should be available to those with crease their fees they would be “seen as take refuge from somebody following her. Ž e ability, not those with the ability to pay. worse” in terms of quality. random attack then took place in which Mrs Mills-Westley was stabbed numerous times Having said that, increased fees are With several question marks hang- and her head decapitated. Deyan Valentinov Deyanov, 28, a Bulgarian national has since a reality and we have to make sure that ing over the future of higher education been arrested and is said to have been admitted to a pysciatric unit for assessment. One of Bangor students now get the best pos- and Bangor University we await the an- Mrs Mills-Westley’s two daughters, Sarah, said her mother had been “full of life, generous of sible value from their investment. We nouncement at the end of this month. heart and would do anything for anyone.” Jennifer Mills-Westley are working with the university, mak- ing representations on your behalf to Gemma Ellis 6 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 Politics — e Meeting With Miliband t was billed as an ‘Evening with David Mili- as Foreign Minister. His humour was evident band’ and when 7pm came on Friday 24th with such quips as when he talked with a stu- March, Bangor did not fail to deliver. Ž e dent doing an MA dissertation on Labour Iformer Foreign Secretary, Labour leadership Miliband asked if it was an autopsy and a ref- contender and brother of the Leader of the Op- erence to his close political relationship with position actually came to Bangor University. Hillary Clinton. Although he appears to be Despite the audience containing enthusiastic keeping busy and politically active, it is im- Welsh Labour supporters alongside very few possible to imagine that Miliband is happy to students, Miliband still delivered an interest- spend his time helping his constituents when ing and impressive evening. He proved to have not long ago he harboured ambitions of not The documentation of the fraud and very humanised qualities, with a clear sense of only becoming Labour leader but of run- corruption which riddles the European humour alongside an impressive knowledge of ning the country. He seemed eager to stress Commission is well known but is easily current and international a‘ airs. Ž is comes at his happiness in his projects, yet I remained forgotten. Yet the exploration of its a time when the newspaper headlines are ­ lled unconvinced. however, were his digressions during question time. Ž is was the opportunity for members of extent leads to some shocking results with questions concerning Ed’s marriage and Firstly, although coming to Bangor was not how the brotherly reunion will go down and if going to be a ­ erce challenge to his political ca- the public and students alike to ask Miliband he Commission has a variety of different roles their alienation continues due to David’s absence reer, the notably positive and encouraging audi- himself questions which were not premeditated within the European Union, such as the ability to as Ed’s best man. ence did not pose a challenge for a man used to or rehearsed, yet they proved hugely disappoint- Tpropose legislation alongside the responsibility When quizzed over his current projects he ap- schmoozing with world leaders. His convincing ing. Filled with local queries about the NHS and of implementing and then enforcing European Law. peared eager to discuss his community projects and intellectual chat proved him to be of notable jobs in the post oµ ce, Miliband had no cause Yet of the most important roles of the European for alarm or concern if faced with an unortho- Commission is to represent the EU on the international in his constituency, South Shields, his projects character and warmth but it begged the ques- stage. It is able to do this through the President of the involving the environment and his keenness in Commission, as the President is the closest the Union retaining his international links from his time has to a head of state. “David Miliband is slowly gearing up for So bearing this in mind, the President of the Commission represents the entirety of the EU. Yet another leadership bid in the future” the history of the Presidency role has been marred by corruption and enforced resignations. How is not dox question. When asked, however, when he a good way to advocate the positive elements of the tion, what was the real reason behind his visit? EU, for either it existing members or the wider world Despite maintaining his talk was due to being was planning on returning to mainstream poli- community? asked, even a† er asking him more than once, he tics and if that would be under his brother, he The members are not elected but appointed by remained tight lipped on the matter. Yet no man ­ nally faltered. Despite explaining how the me- national governments so don’t have the legitimacy of of such note would come and give such a small dia would continue to compare the brothers and being elected by the people of Europe yet they are performance without an ulterior motive. making it clear it would not be under Ed, he did given enormous responsibility within the EU. From what I gleamed, David Miliband is not answer when his return would be. So as he Their achievements are constantly overshadowed waits out to see his brother fail as Labour leader- by their predecessors. slowly gearing up for another leadership bid in The 2004 appointment of Rocco Buttliglione the future. Despite Ed being safely installed as ship, so too can Seren wait to catch him a† er his proved detrimental to the credibility of the Leader of the Opposition, his position still seems talk. When asked again when his return would Commission. As a staunch Catholic Buttligione felt no precarious outside the safety zone of opposition be he answered that he genuinely did not know. qualms in publicly condoning homosexuality as a sin, politics and he is yet to face the challenge of a Asked whether he was preparing to launch a bid calling AIDs a divine punishment for all of the carriers general election. Miliband was careful to stay at the Labour leadership if Ed failed in the next of the disease and labelling single mothers as bad. and talk to members of the audience in the af- election he commented that he had no plans to With such a controversial candidate heading the post at the moment. At the moment. Ž at could mean of Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs, his lack termath of his talk and proved willing to pose of bias and outspoken views made headlines around for photos and talk all local and political matters anything, so Seren, like the rest of the country Europe. Despite his eventual replacement, the initial showing his political worth through his capabili- will wait out his return to national politics and appointment of such a Commissioner demonstrates ties of appearing sympathetic to the public. see in what sphere it will be. why this unaccountable institution needs reform if not What was most interesting from his visit removal from the European Union. Not only has it been accused of ineffi cient members but they have also struggled in the past to implement EU policies and decisions. 1999 saw a ban on British beef abroad due to various agricultural diseases etc. But once the beef had been safely tested — e Scandal Of Political Figures for its quality and the ban was lifted, the Commission hris Hugne, the Cabinet Minister for MP David Chaytor, who was jailed for eighteen too much of a ° ight risk due to his position when fi led in implementing this ban reversal. European Energy and Climate Change is currently months following the revelations that he falsely arrested. members still refused to buy the beef, leaving the facing a police investigation into allega- claimed £18,350. Another former Labour MP Ž e maid in question, a thirty two year old British economy and farming industry enormously tionsC of dodging speeding points picked up in jailed for false expenses, was the Eric Illsley, the woman, has said how when entering Strauss- bereft for no good reason. Despite British farming complaining of double a speeding o‘ ence in 2003. Although now 8 ­ rst current sitting MP to be jailed for his scan- Kahn’s hotel suite to clean it, he emerged naked standards, the EU proved ineffective and ineffi cient years ago many would believe it was an unwor- dal a† er falsely claiming in excess of £14,000 from the ensuite. He then proceeded to chase in dealing with the episode as they were unable to thy event to be dragged up. However, he is being Another Political Scandal, this time French, her and sexually assault her. She has even been enforce the buying of British beef from the other accused of making someone else take his points which has been making waves in the headlines able to identify him in a line up, adding pres- European members. for him and it has resulted in a formal complaint is through the head of IMF (International Mon- sure the already tense situation. Another wom- Not only is the Commission unaccountable to being lodged by a fellow MP. Labour’s Simon etary Fund), Frenchman Dominique Strauss- an, Tristane Baron has come forward to accuse its people, but it is ineffi cient in its role and has been dogged by controversial Commissioners and Danczuk made the complaint, citing public in- Kahn who, until days ago was highly regarded Struass-Kahn of trying to rape her when doing a corruption which resulted in the sacking of the entire terest. Although the Cabinet Minister is in a mi- as the favoured socialist political candidate for routine interview with him in 2002. commission in 1999. nor ministerial role, he was the main contender the French Presidency in the 2012 elections. Ž e arrest has proved of high interest, as not The incumbent President at the time was to Nick Clegg for the Liberal Democrat leader- He is now in New York custody a† er his arrest only is Stauss-Kahn a major economic interna- President Santer who was given the ultimatum of ship in 2007, making him a political ­ gure of on Saturday for attempted rape. Ž e 62 year old tional ­ gure but who was likely to secure the so- sacking the commission or be sacked himself. With considerable note. has been accused of trying to force himself on a cialist nomination in the next French elections, such a colourful history and detrimental effects on the respectability and legitimacy of the European Union, What makes this incident even more promi- hotel maid. Ž e allegations are so severe that he which indicates that political scandal is not just is there really a place in the EU for such an institution nent is that the Liberal Democrats have also has been detained without bail and considered con­ ned to political spheres but private ones as the Commission? been recently embarrassed by fellow Cabinet a ° ight risk. His arrest came as he was trying to also. Minister Vince Cable, due to his unprofessional ° ee the country from JFK airport. Despite peti- Anna Hatfield and biased jibes at Rupert Murdock and BSkyB’s tioning a $1million bail, the Judge deemed him Anna Hat­ eld business takeover, which, yet again caused out- rage. With such controversies hitting the Liberal Democrats, they seem to face an uphill battle to even remain a° oat as a respected political party. Yet scandals have not just been con­ ned to the House of Commons. Lord Hanning­ eld, who sits in the House of Lords, has been ar- rested following accusation of six counts of false accounting. From 2006-2009, Hanning­ eld claimed overnight expenses to stay in London, when in fact he was driven back to his home in Essex. Ž is shows how, despite the supposed ‘clean up’ of British politics, fraud and expense scandals are still ongoing, with some Peers and MPs refusing to abide by laws and refusing to Rocco Buttliglione : the sacked Commissioner respect tax payers money. Ž is follows the ar- rest and eventual sentencing of former Labour Arrested on suspicion of attempted rape: Dominique Strauss-Kahn End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 7 Politics Pro© les: Home Secretary Ž e Foreign Secretary is the role which involves all diplomatic and foreign relations taking place. Ž ey are o† en sent abroad and deal with all the international issues, including the European Union.

Foreign Secretary Expenses Scandal: Nothing Extortionate Name: William Hague Relationship to her leader: Age: 50 First position David Cameron Personal Life: Married to made after becoming Prime ffi on Hague (since 1997) Minister Education: Magdalen College, Oxford University Other: Has written two Political Life: Conservative books, one on William Pitt Party Leader 1997-2001, lost the younger and the other on election to Tony Blair William Wilberforce AV Results He is also currently the First Secretary of State he Results of the AV refer- British public, Britain has ­ nally been endum came in with bated granted a referendum on its voting Shadow Foreign Europe breath. Many thought that system. As part of the deal with the Secretary Expenses Scandal: Tthe results went hand in hand with Conservative government, the Liber- After his house caught fi re, Alexander the outcome of Nick Clegg’s politi- als were able to succeed with one of Name: Douglas Alexander claimed expenses for items cal career so as the heavy defeat came their top priority policies. not covered by insurance - crashing in, all eyes were on Clegg With Ed Miliband calling for the Age: 42 Personal Life: everyday utility. Then repayed, and the Liberal Democrats. Out of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg Married to of his own accord nearly £2000. almost 500 elections that took place, to stop supporting the Yes Campaign Jacqueline Christian and they have two children Relationship to Leader: NINE voted yes. for fear of alienating supporters, it- Given post in the re-shuffl ing Education: Studied Politics and Cambridge, Camden, Edinburgh demonstrates the death Clegg has of the cabinet following the Central, Hackney, Haringey, Lam- sunk to in his political career. A† er Modern History at Edinburgh resignation of Alan Johnson beth, Oxford and Southwark. Ž e riding high in the televised leadership University Other: Worked on the fact that a short list is adequate to debates in the run up to the 2010 gen- Political Life: Elected MP in American Democratic campaign show the successes of the Yes to AV eral election, and conceding heavy 1997 campaign demonstrates how point- disappointments in the election re- 2004 Minster of State for Trade for Michael Dukakis in 1988 less this election was. Yet the question sults, many still saw him as the golden 2005 Mininster of State for remains; if voting ­ gures were higher boy of politics, ready to combat the would it have made a di‘ erence? No Conservatives and give a new sense of constituency reached over a 64% accountability and honesty into poli- turnout, with some places dwindling tics. But it has led him to plummet his into the mid twenties. party down in the polls and face a se- Yet despite its illegitimacy and the vere backlash not seen since Ž atcher. sheer lack of interest shown by the Anna Hat­ eld Miliband Marches he 26 March saw the rally which change in the budget and the extreme standing alongside, was it professional Zimbabwean Politics changed the face of the Brit- budget cuts. Despite the Conservatives or justi­ ed? Yes Miliband advocates Robert Mugabe is known to be the dinary levels of hyperin° ation which ish public’s political participa- and Liberal Democrats appealing and lesser budget cuts but surely he should Zimbabwean tyrant responsible for hit an all time high of 11,200,000% in Ttion. Crowds of approximately 250,000 urging him not to condone the marches be doing this in Prime Minister’s Ques- turning a former colony of the Brit- August 2008, with In January 2009, joined forces in London to condemn and to not stand along them and speak, tions and coming up with actual alter- ish Empire into a country ravaged by seeing the introduction of a new the coalition and their decision to opt Miliband pushed forward in his quest natives? With his two year review of all hyper-in° ation and lacking in basic Z$100 trillion banknote detailing the for such severe public spending cuts. not to miss a good opportunity. His policy, he is yet to showcase his party’s human and civil rights. He has ruled horrendous problems of the economy Ž e demonstrations proved peaceful timing was good; how o† en would he manifesto, e‘ ectively having no idea since 1987 and despite holding elec- and the worthlessness of the currency. for the majority although there proved get to speak to 250,000 people angry of his own to dispel to the British peo- tions, they have proved neither free, Ž e political situation is only dete- to be extensive rioting outside Oxford at the incumbent government? How- ple. It is customary for nations to rebel fair or legitimate. From the 1990s on- riorating. A free election was ­ nally Street’s Topshop which saw crowds ever his action appears rather disdain- against their government, and 250,000 wards, the white percentage has been held in 2008, with three candidates grow tense and restless. Ž e crowds, in- ful when it comes to light that David people is no mean feat, demonstrating less than one per cent of the popula- vying for success. Robert Mugabe, the disputably angry over the spending cuts Cameron was, at the time, dealing with the extent of dispute and public out- tion but they have retained seventy per Zimbabwe African National Union and the e‘ ects on their living saw Brit- the Libyan crisis and the endless loss rage, but how o† en is such a serious po- cent of the land. – Patriotic Front candidate, Morgan ain pull together to perform one of the of lives as a result of Gadda­ ’s reign. litical ­ gure present at them? Whether Zimbabwe is no longer seen as a Tsvangirai of the Movement for Dem- most illustrious marches, with sights of Although domestic politics is just as it showcased his alliance with the peo- trusted country with the Common- ocratic Change and an independent the crowds making breaking news. important as international a‘ airs and ple or just showcases a Labour tactic wealth expelling the nation from its candidate, Simba Makoni. A† er the Ž e legitimacy of the march was the people had a right to march against remains to be seen. alliance in 2002 due to human rights election, the results were withheld for reaµ rmed by the presence of Ed Mili- the damage the coalition had caused to Anna Hat­ eld infringement. Its problems are many, two weeks, then a recount, which was band who bolstered the crowds by their livelihoods, was it really right that yet go unresolved by its ruler. Ž e life privately done, was enforced and Mu- speaking to the masses, advocating a the leader of the opposition was there expectancy is 42, but to live a healthy gabe managed to win a majority. life it is even lower whilst birth rates Despite Tsvangiria eventually being see eighty one in every one thousand given the role of Prime Minister, Mu- die from infant mortality. Health af- gabe still retains the majority of power, fects all Zimbabweans, with 1.2 mil- and with him in charge Zimbabwe lion su‘ ering from HIV. However the cannot expect to ° ourish as a nation or most infamous problem is the extraor- as an economic or political authority. 8 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 Interview An Interview with Liam Burns Future National President of the NUS Speaks Exclusively to Seren

n Wednesday 13 April, voice of over seven million students faced a lengthy process getting back. despite professional pre- who will be looking for a lot of sup- As he waited at the airport, he texted dictions, Liam Burns was port in the year ahead. me his predicament and amongst Ocrowned as the next National Presi- I contacted Liam Burns for a pos- the madness, he laughed and joked dent of the NUS, a† er a close battle sible interview over a week before about having to possibly ­ ll in an ap- which saw him win over 60% of the Seren went to print. He e-mailed plication for asylum. When we ­ nal- vote. Burns, a Scottish born physics me his number and a† er many busy ly spoke, amongst his strong Scottish graduate – who is currently the pres- days and nights, Liam was ready for accent, Liam’s genuine nature and ident of NUS Scotland, beat the cur- an interview. We had shared many determination le† me feeling opti- rent national NUS Vice-President, texts prior to the interview and I mistic. I felt relieved and honoured Shane Chowen, to take the crown. already sensed the kind of charac- that Liam will soon become the face Burns will now take over from ter he was; genuine, down-to-earth, and voice of students across the UK. Aaron Porter, who decided not to dedicated and humorous – oh, and I know it’s still early and diµ cult run for re-election a† er he su‘ ered a little clumsy. Ž e night before our to say, and maybe in a few months’ tough scrutiny for his handling of interview Liam was in Brussels. time I will be eating my words. But the government’s plans to potentially He had lost his passport and wal- until then, I’m excited and intrigued triple university tuition fees. Burns let, which consequently lead to him to see what the next year holds for now has the tough job of being the missing his ° ight back to the UK. He Liam Burns.

“You should feel cheated because people are having their education stolen away from them”

Firstly, congratulations on be- ourselves starting from scratch in the due out earlier this year still hasn’t been coming elected as the new presi- next general election. Equally it’s go- released yet because the students are dent of the NUS, how did you ing to be about pointing out the ° aws in° uencing the decisions which the in this policy as they become more and politicians are making. Ž e student feel when your name was an- more clear. movement is also winning public sup- nounced? port. Combine that with the cuts to the Ž ank you. I can’t describe it, basi- You are currently the president NHS and forestry, the government are cally over the moon and really hum- having to do massive U-turns. It makes bled. It was a strange campaign. Unlike of NUS Scotland, how di¦ erent do you think the two roles will them realise how publically unpopular previous conferences it just wasn’t clear their decisions are. But overall, the poli- who was going to win. But it wasn’t re- be? ticians are listening. Maybe not enough ally me who won, it was my campaign In practical terms they’re very simi- but they are listening. team, they were so on the ball. But in lar. Both roles require dealing with the one word, I feel privileged. politics, decision making and the stu- Is there a way back on the cur- dent activists. But in terms of political landscape, it’s like night and day now. rent tuition fees regime? You will now be the voice of over Yes, there is most de­ nitely a way 7 million students, is that daunt- I’m in the land of milk and honey. But it’s important that the media gives us a back. Ž e higher education system Liam Burns - Future President of the NUS. ing? glimmer of hope and remain optimis- hasn’t worked since 2007 under the La- (Laughs) Ž at’s a rhetorical ques- tic. bour government and it certainly won’t which we have di‘ erent positions on – us to try and aspire to the lowest com- tion! But yeah, it’s bloody terrifying. It’s work under the Coalition. It’s a false ­ rstly on consumerism. And secondly, mon denominator. But you should feel an important job and it’s going to be an is it right that the Union accepts that cheated because people are having their What action should students be market. But I am just so adamant that interesting year. But as long as I don’t with the temptation of them [govern- students are customers? We also had education stolen away from them. Ž e get eggs thrown at me, it’ll be alright. taking if they’re unhappy with ment] treating universities as the seller, di‘ erent opinions on anti-cut groups. I idea was to reduce the huge de­ cit but it the rise in tuition fees? and us as the buyers, we just have to re- don’t come from a direct action back- had actually transpired, under this new You may possibly have the Ž e perfect action is to in° uence ject that. ground but that’s not to say that I don’t fees regime to cost more. So I have no toughest year ahead of you, are the decision makers and I think that’s recognise why students would want to idea why we are going down this route. where the student movement has di‘ er- you ready for the © ght? What are you hoping to do dif- take direct action. Student activism is ent approaches in what is the right ac- the bread and butter what we stand for. Yes absolutely, and you’re right, it’s ferently to the current NUS Finally, what’s the best student tion to take. But that’s happening in two But as I said, Aaron did a fantastic job going to be tough. One of the main newspaper in the UK? By the places now. It’s happening in universi- President Aaron Porter, who ul- and he has my respect. reasons why, is because it’s diµ cult to ties and obviously in the marches which timately su¦ ered tough scrutiny way we’re called Seren. see the parliamentary mechanisms we [Laughs] Well of course I have to stay we’ve seen across the UK. But we have for his handling of the rise in Scottish students don’t pay tui- have, to try and reverse some of the got three or four years to ensure that no impartial to these things, but seeing as changes that have already gone through tuition fees? tion fees and Welsh students they don’t distribute as far as Scotland, political party can possibly put in their Firstly he [Aaron Porter] made a Westminster; whether it’s EMA, the manifesto the current regime and that’s receive massive bursaries from it’s safe to say that Seren is one of the tuition fee regime or the reverse of the brave decision not to run. And I have their government. Should Eng- best student newspapers in the UK. what we have to focus on. no doubt that if he had of ran; he would Higher Education Funding Policy. Next lish students feel cheated? [Laughs again] year is going to be about a number of have most de­ nitely won. I won’t have Are the government listening to any body say that he hasn’t tried his Damn right English students should things. First of all it’s about keeping feel cheated, but not because other peo- momentum and building capacity in the protests? absolute best for students across the Interview by Yes I do. Ž e white paper which was UK in the last year. But there are thing ple have got it better in the rest of the the student movement. We can’t ­ nd UK. I think it would be dangerous for Andy Trigg End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 9 Societies Rich re® ects on Societies The BIG Give Success this Year At the end of each academic year The Big Give collects t’s been a great year for the Societies gor declaring herself an ImpSoc fan! Or unwanted items from student halls and donates these to Department, we’ve got more socie- the Club Uno events where Stage Crew, charity. Last year they collected a whooping 80 bags of clothes, ties than ever before, our societies are Storm and DJ Society got together to run 6 boxes full of food, numerous bits of bedding and even an Xbox! Their work helps the environment by reducing waste, as Imore active and have ever growing mem- Bar Uno how it should be. But I’ve also well as their recipient charities. As a Big Give volunteer, you’ll berships and loads of our societies have been hugely proud of the o† en unsung be helping us to distribute boxes, collect and sort donations. been working collaboratively to put on achievements by smaller societies, such This year they expect to receive lots of donations, so your help some fantastic events. as the Herpetological Society who hosted is really vital! For me, it’s been a huge privilege to be the British Herpetological Symposium the Societies Oµ cer this year. I was very this year, a massive national event! involved in Societies as an undergrad, but It’s been an honour to work with all it’s not until I started as a Sabb that I re- 74 of our Societies this A typical Big Give Day alised just how much there is that takes year and I can’t 11-1pm: Box collections place in the Societies Department, there wait to see what 1-1.30pm: Lunch provided for volunteers who help out in both shifts are so many hobbies, interests and pas- everyone can ac- 1.30pm- 3pm: Afternoon sorting sions represented, there are so many op- complish next Dates and Times portunities to get involved, try new things year! and gain experiences. Thursday 19th May Tuesday 31st May Some of my own personal highlights You can contact: Wednesday 1st June Rich Tuesday 24th May this year include the Bangor Ffrinj fes- [email protected] Thursday 26th May Thursday 2nd June tival, where all four of our wondrous Gorman drama societies got together to put on a ten day non-stop schedule of perform- ances, that even had the Mayoress of Ban- Societies Societies Join up for calendar a Medieval Mashup B.E.D.S - ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William ey, you. Yes you! What are Comedy society (formerly ImpSoc) to it. We have a fantastic cast and the Golding you doing a† er the summer will be joining BEDS in roaming the script and characters are brilliant”. ball? Because Monday the town and playing the fool as well as Rich Gorman, the Sabbatical oµ cer H30th May sees Bangor Students Union doing a couple of shows in the White responsible for societies, describes it as 20th-22nd May 7.30pm- JP Hall take over Beaumaris in a free medi- Lion beer garden, opposite the castle. “a wonderful event, showing what can £5/£4 NUS- Doors open at 7pm eval festival. Over 60 students will be When they aren’t on stage, the Cadi happen when students and the com- heading over to show what they have Ha Morris Dancing society will be munity work together. We’ve got some been up to over the last year, each play- showing why they won the community of our best societies pulling out all of ing their part in the telling of dread- engagement award. Ž e circus skills the stops to conclude what has been an Geog Soc Roman Camp BBQ ful deeds and treacherous tales. Ž e society will be showing o‘ their most amazing year for them all.” Ž e event 21st May award winning drama society, BEDS, impressive moves, possibly including a starts at 11.30 with a parade through is providing nearly 30 actors to take on little bit of ­ re breathing… Ž ere will the town. From 12, there will be stu‘ a whole range of mysterious and hilari- also be some traditional Welsh music, happening in the castle, in White Lion Meeting at the entrance to Main Arts at ous characters, from secretive lords to courtesy of UMCB, as well as various square, and all around the town. Ž e a band of drunken monks. Inside the other bits and bobs… and the only way grand ­ nale kicks o‘ at 2.30 inside the 1.45pm castle, the Ž omas Stanley Welsh Levy, to ­ nd out what these are is to come castle, with all the societies working Bangor’s very own medieval re-enact- along! together to create an ab- ment society, will be recruiting people Bex Phillips, one of the directors solutely stunning ­ nale. to their cause by demonstrating ­ ght- for the project in BEDS, said “this Ž ere are regular busses, Bangor Aid ing with a whole range of deadly weap- is the ­ rst time a project such and plenty of people with ons. Alongside this, the archery society as this collaborating with so cars still around. Beau- will be showing just many societies has hap- maris is always a lovely 21-22nd May how powerful pened, it’s such an excit- day out, and now, with Festival Style - Hendre the longbow ing event and a† er the exams over, and summer is in regular success of the Victo- upon us, there has never been demonstra- rian re-enactment a better reason to visit! STAG Last Work Party of the t i o n s . BEDS did in T h e December we Antony Butcher award are really Year w i n - l o o k i n g n i n g for ward 22nd May - pickup at 10am Memorial Arch, lunch provided. Club Uno - Silent Disco 26th May Botanical Beats 5th June 10 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 Summer Ball Where does your money go?

Acts: £16.20/36% What would the Summer Ball be without your performers? It’s quite understandable that a large amount of your ticket price Site Equipment: is invested into the acts that are booked to entertain you! A typical gig would cost you around £15, therefore £16.20 seems more than reasonable when £3.15/7% considering the amount and quality of acts that First Aid equipment should are on offer this year! any accidents occur, the tents which hold separate exciting entertainment, scaffolding , pedestrian barriers and more barriers to keep out non ticket holders!

Production: Marketing: £16.20/36% £1.35/3% Staging, lighting, screens, music, amps, the amazing free fun fair rides, wiring, Promotional fl yers, posters technicians, putting it all up, taking it all down. and the actual design of Production is a massive job and arguably the your ticket so that you know most important, which is why it takes up quite what is happening, where it’s a large proportion of your ticket money. happening and when!

Venue: £3.15/7% Main Arts unfortunately doesn’t come free, £4.95/11% but the £3 from your ticket price Staff: is certainly worth it when you’re The security to keep you safe, the standing in PJ Hall, a great attendants to give you somewhere venue for some great acts! to park, but more importantly the bar staff to keep the drinks of your choice fl owing!

Deaf By Disco have gone from playing our local nightclubs to this years Bestival!Local Heroes! Two of our own! Deaf by Disco consists of two home grown Bestival. The popular pair have been snapped up by Rob Da Bangor DJs on a mission to entertain our ears. Jess Hughes Bank to play on the Isle of Wight this summer to crowds of and Nick Wakefi eld have been packing out Base nightclub over 55,000, so they are defi nitely worth a watch at this year’s for a while now playing their mix of disco electronica, and summer ball. Seren will be among the crowd cheering on the their turntable talents have landed them a gig at this year’s best from Bangor! deaf by disco End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 11 Summer Ball Meet the Acts Feeder have been around since 1991 and have had 7 top 20 albums awesomeness, let me remind you of the fact that Feeder was Okay, so if you haven’t heard of Feeder you seriously must have responsible for THE pop-rock anthem of 2001, Buck Rogers. Oh, been living in a cave for the past twenty years, because they are and just a few top tracks like Feeling the Moment, High and Just The BIG. First formed in Newport in 1991, Feeder’s current members Way I’m Feeling. With that classic pop-rock sound we all remember include Welsh wonder Grant Nicholas, Japanese bassist Taka Hirose from our grungy days, Feeder are sure to rock all our socks off and top-notch English drummer Karl Brazil. Named after lead at the ball. Sing along now; he’s got a brand new car, looks like singer Grant Nicholas’ pet goldfi sh, Feeder have secured their place a Jaguar, it’s got leather seats and a CD player! Take a trip down as rock royalty with an impressive seven Top 20 albums under their memory lane at http://www.feederweb.com/. belt. If that isn’t enough to convince you of their feeder They just played Radio 1’s big One To Watch! weekend; these two will take off this year As the name suggests, the Rizzle Kicks are fun, hip and fi ghting fi t! on Saturday with their hit tracks Down with the Trumpets and Mama The cheeky chappies who created the band, Sylvester and Rizzle, are Can Hump. With over half a million views on their YouTube channel and childhood friends who honed their hip-hopping skills while they were at an upcoming feature in fashion forward i-D magazine, the Rizzle Kicks college in Brighton. Inspired by some of the best Brit pop acts of our are offi cially the ones to watch this summer. With their catchy tunes, time (Gorillaz, Lily Allen and Arctic Monkeys to name but a few), these haunting harmonies and utterly unique sound, it’s no wonder the Rizzle boys will have you bustin’ a move before you can say ‘best Bangor ball Kicks are set for stardom. Catch the boys’ latest single, Prophet (Better EVER’! The dynamic duo wowed the crowd at Radio 1’s Big Weekend Watch It) at http://www.youtube.com/user/RizzleKicks. rizzle kicks Stooshe have just been signed to Simons Cowell’s record label Syco rough around the edges kind of feel to them but have a unique Stooshe are three racy girls from South East London with sound unrivalled by anyone else currently hogging our playlists. amazing and outlandish fashion sense, excellent vocals and only Despite the shoddy and unnecessary rap in the middle of the one thing on their mind. Recently signed to Syco, Simon Cowell’s song, sung by a man who calls himself Suave Debonair and record label, Seren think that Stooshe are the HOTTEST thing wears a rabbit head, ‘F*ck Me’ is bound to get your heart racing to hit this year’s summer ball. Their debut single ‘F*ck Me’ is and senses tingling. We don’t know much about these girls yet just the sort of raunchy and saucy sound us students love. The girls, Courtney, 18, Alexandra, 20 and Karis, 21 have a raw, but watch this space because Stooshe are sure to be a big hit! stooshe Huge Radio 1 DJ comes to Bangor!

He was born in New Zealand, travelled to America and then moved to to the radio either, he hosts a show on MTV 2 called Gonzo and is also England where he is now settled down with his wife and two kids. Here a member of Breaks Co-op, an electronic trio who have released two he got a job at London’s XFM before having a regular and now huge albums. It’s fair to say that all of us at Seren are really excited to see evening show on Radio 1. One of the station’s most popular names, Zane ‘Zipper’ at the ball, anyone who was around in Bangor and saw his set Lowe is a pretty amazing DJ and his sets include a variety of different the night before the Big Weekend will tell you that he goes down a storm! music for all tastes, so all you lovers of rock, hip hop and drum and bass You’re all bound to enjoy the rave, but you should take a second to just will no doubt have something to look forward to! Zane isn’t just limited stand and watch Zane do his stuff, it’s pretty amazing stuff! Zane lowe 12 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 Union So, what has our Union done for us this year? Got £83,000 in compensation for Bryn Eithin residents After the University’s Estates Department left 96 Bryn Eithin residents without consistent heating, hot water, Internet and laundrette services for a total of 25 weeks, students in Bryn Eithin handed a petition to the Union, demanding the University resolve the problems. The Union tackled this head-on, pursuing action against the university on behalf of these students and secured a total of £83,000 in compensation from the university in rent refunds to all residents on the site.

Just prior to the election, the Union was asked by the University to model a £75,000 cut to clubs, societies, volunteering and all the other services they Prevented a provide for you. President Jo Caulfi eld fl atly refused to do this, and after some lobbying to the Vice Chancellor, prevented the Union from receiving any whatsoever in the next year. £75,000 cut Won 3 national environmental awards Thanks to your VP for Societies and Sustainability, Rich Gorman, the Union scooped 3 national awards for all the sustainability and environmental work we’ve been doing this year. We got a gold award as part of Greener Student Unions, which in turn led to us scooping the award for Most Improved Union. As if that wasn’t enough we then picked up another award for our environmental campaign photography. Three out of six ain’t bad! Introduced a brand-spanking new Course Rep System There’s been an unprecedented number of students involved this year in the SU’s Course Rep system. Your VP for Education and Welfare, Danielle Buckley, has taken the total number of course reps from 35 last year to 225 this year, all in a matter of months! The strength of your voice has been bolstered by this and course reps have driven change through the University, not just in individual schools, but across the whole institution. Fought for our new nightclub Since the University knocked down our Students’ Union building (along with our two nightclubs) last year, the battle to get it replaced has been long and tough. After months of campaigning, petitioning and letter writing, we fi nally got granted planning permission, only to be hit with massive restrictions on the license, meaning the venue would’ve closed at midnight. The SU forced the University to appeal this decision and in doing so, they got improved hours of 2am on weeknights and 2.30am on weekends! The club should (fi nally!) be up and running by September.

Got Wednesday afternoons off for (almost!) every student next year After a phenomenal campaign to lobby the university to give students Wednesday afternoons off to pursue sports and volunteering amongst other projects (led by your Vice President of Sport and Healthy Living: Danielle Giles), we got a staggering 2000 signatures. This is something the Union has been trying to do for a number years, but has been unsuccessful every time. This year, our sabb team’s campaign paid off and the University have committed to freeing up Wednesday afternoons for students in almost all schools. Unfortunately, because the larger schools (e.g. Psychology) have to have lectures in PJ Hall and timetabling in that space is so tight, they won’t be able to guarantee Wednesday afternoons off for them next year. However, the University has given the Union assurances that they will be pursuing as many options as possible to get this sorted for all students in the next few years.

The Union organised transport for over 250 students to get to Took 250 students to London for the National Demonstration against increases in fees and savage cuts to higher education. The day may have received the National Demo negative coverage because of a violent minority, but Bangor students were part of the peaceful 50,000 strong protest. Bangor’s in November students did us proud!

Started a national free The SU led the way in a campaign for free Chlamydia testing for people under 25 across Wales. This was proposed by our Chlamydia testing VP Ed and Welfare Danielle Buckley and adopted as NUS Wales campaign policy. ...and of course, got us a killer Summer Ball line up (see pg 10 & 11) End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 13 14 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 Comment Rowena Anti-Homosexuality Bill talks Summer he Ugandan parliament has of LGBT related human rights abuse, signi­ cant problems facing Uganda recently received huge interna- with LGBT citizens within the coun- and its people. Civil unrest, increasing o it’s coming to the end of another With festival season comes a new sense tional attention regarding their try facing discrimination and harass- economic hardship and common illit- year at Bangor, and I hope for you of fashion, you are no one if you do not Tdecision to discuss an “Anti-Homo- ment daily at the hands of the media, eracy have all been swept behind the all its been a good one! have your wellies with long socks, or sexuality” Bill. While homosexuality is police & teachers. Ž e most recent of paramount concerns of “preserving the SNow some of you will be graduating, so the trilby with some sexy sunnies. Ei- currently illegal within the country, if which was in 2010 when a leading tab- heterosexual family”. congratulations! Remember to throw ther way the list is pretty long. Now if, the bill is passed it would mean wider loid “Rolling Stone” published the ad- Within such a predominately Evan- that hat as high as you can and celebrate like me, you like your shower, having to ability to punish those guilty, and im- dresses, names and photographs of 100 gelical Christian society, it is hard to hard a† erwards. It may have been a go without one for 3-4 days is going to pose harsher consequences for this alleged homosexuals accompanied by a imagine a more e‘ ective and popular long 3 years of work, but it’s all worth it be a challenge in it self. I will also have “crime”. Within the conservative Ugan- call for their execution. Ž is resulted in policy for a politician to raise their in the end! Others of you may have just to invest in a LOT of baby wipes. But no dan society, 84% of the population are the murder of activist David Kato who pro­ le with. MP Bahati is a man with ­ nished your freshers year, which I’m matter what you are up to this summer, Evangelical Christians, therefore ho- was bludgeoned to death in the street. increasing sway over Ugandan Policy, sure was ­ lled with ° at parties and a lot have a fantastic one and I may see you mosexuality is widely viewed as Un- Ž e bill’s initial proposal led to wide- and rising potential within his move- of drunken nights out, and you would next year, ready to greet the new fresh- African and Un-Christian. Ž ese ill- spread condemnation by a range of ment. have had the time of your life. er’s in the only way Bangor can! informed attitudes present within the foreign bodies accompanied the threat International outcry and condem- But now that’s all over, summer’s here! parliament has led to the oµ cial opin- of AID withdrawal and economic in- nation from the majority of the world Yesss! It is the time to relax, chill out ion that “Same-Sex attraction is not an centives for its removal by other coun- in response to this bill has shown an with BBQ’s, and a few more nights innate and immutable characteristic”, tries, facing enormous pressure against encouraging attitude, and as such, I’m out; hang on doesn’t that sound fa- a view that with such heavy scienti­ c it. Within their system, the Ugandan con­ dent that the bill in its current miliar? But either way summer is research against it, seems disturbing to Prime-Minister has the ultimate con- format or anything like it, is unlikely ­ nally here! have made it so far within their system. trol of the country’s legislation, and by to be passed, and if it were passed, Now like most of you I shall be Originally proposed to the parlia- saying the bill has become a “foreign would make an e‘ ective stage to set working hard over the summer to ment in 2009 by MP David Bahati, an policy issue”, he can e‘ ectively veto or the bill’s repeal in motion from inter- earn some pennies, however I will outspoken anti-homosexual activist, stall the bill’s progress throughout the national pressure. Human Rights abuse also be partying hard! I am o‘ to the bill (if passed) can imprison any- democratic system. As such, the cur- at this scale is distressing to ­ nd, dis- my ­ rst ever festival this year (I one with who has had a homosexual rent dra† of the bill is hopefully unlike- played within a world where we can know shameful), and I am so ex- encounter for life, and can allow the ly to pass into lawful practice. However sometimes forget how fortunate we cited about it! Even though I will executing of people they believe guilty the distressing attitudes that have pro- are not to have our basic human rights have to wait until august I am al- of “aggravated homosexuality” and ex- moted it are still a worrying issue. stripped from us. ready planning what to take and tradite any Ugandan nationals they be- Homophobic attitudes and homo- Andrew Gadie more importantly what to wear. lieve guilty of this crime. phobic discrimination are being used Uganda has a longstanding history as a distraction from the direct and Your big night out without vodka, beer, cider or shots? Could you do it? Ben gives Seren a rare insight into the abstaining world of the Teetotal Student ndrew WK, that great lumi- ful loss of inhibition that comes with drink a lot, but the exuberance, fun ver that you can achieve by saying and dad-imitation dancing to be look- nary of our times once wrote drunkeness masks the ability that none and more importantly lack of hango- "you know what, I don't care" and then ing at you. No, wait-that's not what I a song dedicated to something of us can actually busting out the meant...of course they're looking at Athat is law amongst students, partying. dance (come on Ž e exuberance, fun that you can achieve by saying "you know worst bodypop yo-no...no, you are beautiful.....no of I can't remember the exact wording as admit it, if the what, I don't care" and then busting out the worst bodypop alive alive for 3 con- course you'll ­ nd someone one day. his lyrics o† en probe ideas far above music was turned is more exhilarating than any night I have had on the tipple. tinuous hours But anyway, back to the point. Free my menial station but it went some- o‘ we'd all look is more exhila- yourself from the leviathan that is al- thing along the lines of "when it's time like we were be- rating than any cohol, go out and try it; I dare you. Feel to party, we will party hard". Ž e rap ing attacked by bees) night I have had on the tipple. the atmosphere, wherever you are, take group, Ž e Beastie Boys, also cottoned and the joyous feeling of Now it does take a while to over you and reap the gold that lies in on to the idea that partying was para- being utterly comforta- get into the habit, the leap over un-inebriated fun, the kind of we fun mount to personal freedom and wrote ble with your surround- your conscience that is we're supposed to have. "you've got to ­ ght, for your right, to ings only heightens required is a mighty So I say to you, allies of the ale, party". the excitement. one but worthwhile. advocates of the advokat, try a night Now everyone obviously loves a But it is pos- You could argue it without it but push yourself past the good ol' knees up by the piano but sible to dance is the purest form point of no-return and truly, we shall what if I were to challenge you to not like no-ones- of partying, as there reign amongst the ranks of Andrew drink next time you engaged in it? watching-even- is nothing aside WK and those Black Eyed fellas who Are you ­ lled with fear? Or worse, if though-every- from yourself that had a good feeling about something. I were to say you don't actually need one-is without is willing you on. Party legend awaits. to drink to engage in 'partying' would the 10 vodkas, Ž e ° ashing lights, Your personal party supervisior you believe me? Ž is is the viewpoint you just have the atmoshphere we shall uncover today dear disciples to remove that & the toonz are all of the nightclub, you beerpong kings part of yourself still there but they Ben Evans and shape-throwing queens. that cares that are re° ected back Ž ere is the mindset and a heavy people might at you in the most one at that, that alcohol = fun and the judge. I live in a organic light, you more drunk we get the more fun shall household with just have to let For a greater insight and more be procured, but we have to look at two people that yourself accept what we accomplish when drinking don't drink that people are of- from Ben visit: that makes it so fun in order to discov- resolutely and ten far too caught themurdokdiaries.blogspot.com er why we do it. For one, the wonder- I myself don't in their own night End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 15 Comment Self Perpetuating News id you know that Bin Laden is dead? Yet the news channels continued to yak on Maybe it had slipped your mind that about it and then the wedding actually hap- the Royal Wedding happened and was pened...and they did not stop. For days a† er the watchedD by umpteen gazillion people around the news consisted of how the wedding had gone, globe? Of course you know because it has been what the people had worn etc etc. Ž is need that pushed down your throats by the 24 hour mass the media seems to have to cling on to a few sto- media frenzy; and it’s testing my patience. ries and reiterate them again and again every day Ever since the emergence of 24 hour news is not journalism, it’s just lazy. channels, we have been inundated with the same How about something that is even more re- information regurgitated in a cycle until some cent? Ž e death of Osama Bin Laden two weeks disaster occurs and the media swarms in like ago was the lead story on every news channel zombies over an unarmed civilian. Over and over until a few days ago. Ž ey mined every resource and over again; a chaotic, hellish vision of the fu- they had in order to bring us expert testimonies ture repeated ad nauseam. concerning how he would have been taken out, Let’s take the recent news stories as exam- how he would have been living, the rami­ cations ples. Ž e Royal Wedding appeared on the news of the death and so on. If journalism was a sci- channels and in the papers across the world for ence then they would have covered every single months leading up to the actual event. Every variable twice over. minute detail was covered and re-covered from Ž is leads me on to another point that just the hair styles to the guest list, out­ ts and what scratches away at my soul every time I see it. Ž e they would be serving at the bar at the recep- scrolling bar at the bottom of the screen which is tion. Is it just me who thinks that all of that was supposed to come up with ‘Breaking News’ does about as closely related to news as I am to Arnold no such thing; ever. Far from it, once a piece of Schwarzenegger? news ° ashes up it tends to scroll away for hours. If someone was just tuning into a chan- nel they would not be wrong in thinking that the news was actually brand new when, in fact, it was hours old. I am begging the news channels to stop this, to stop turning news into a media event akin to an entertainment programme. By pandering to the lowest common denominator by covering all the explosions of war or the ever-repeated celeb- rity drama again and again, televisual journalism in this country is dying. In its place there is a 24 hour rolling news cycle which only serves to turn people o‘ the news instead of making them in- terested. Luke Dobson A Fan or a Stan, are you over obsessed with your celeb? alling in love with an actor, a singer, dress of a certain celebrity Twitter user to Ž ey feel the need to put other people in a band, even an author is natural. stake out their hotel, you’re a Stan. the same ­ eld down, in order to elevate Becoming their fan and support- It’s actually remarkably simply to point their own idol. Ž e result online is usu- Fing them is a great thing to do, and so out a Stan due to their two distinct styles ally ‘° ame wars’ or ‘Stan wars’ (terms to many artists have found fame due to their of ‘Stanning’: the ­ rst type of Stanning is Google), much to the chagrin of simple fans at the beginning fans. Stans tend to give of their careers intro- fans a bad name. People ducing their friends to think all of Gaga’s “little their work. We all do Simply put, if you’re considering tracing the IP address monsters” are all obses- it – whether it’s falling of a certain celebrity Twitter user to stake out their hotel, sive and hating, whereas in love with a singer, you’re a Stan. they’re not – they just as- a sportsman or even a sume the Stans represent scientist (it happens!). the rest of her supporters. But how much loving Stanning is taking of someone famous is too much? Ž ere’s simply an uber-psychotic constant decla- something which should be fun that step a very thin line between fan and Stan, and ration of love for a certain celeb. In real too far. You can be someone’s fan with- I’m here to help you recognise it. life, it’s having wall-to-wall posters, talk- out them being your world. Worried? Ž e term “Stan” comes from the Em- ing about them daily. A Belieber went as Ask yourself the following questions: is inem song of same name, which tells the far as to cut I LOVE J.B. into their arm your idol infallible? Would your life go on story of a fan (Stan) so obsessed with Em- and post it on the internet. Online, it in- without this person? Would you rather inem that he kills his pregnant girlfriend volves constant commenting and praise of avoid jail than get a picture with them? If to get his attention and even threatens the star in question, as well as having eve- you answered yes, don’t worry, you’re not suicide unless the rapper writes him. rything about their online persona – from Stan-worthy. If you know someone who Very Bunny Boiler, no? Ž e usage of the their icon to their username – related to would’ve answered no, you need to make name Stan became common in the past the celeb. Type two is the hater, the per- them check themselves before they wreck two years as internet slang to describe, as son who feels the need to hate on every themselves, and by that, I mean end up Urban Dictionary puts it, “an overzealous other person in the ­ eld besides the one on YouTube making Leave Britney Alone maniacal fan for any celebrity or athlete.” they love. Ke$ha Stans bash on Britney, Part II. Some also propose it’s a combination of Katy and Rihanna; Ronaldo Stans bash the words “stalker” and “fan”. Simply put, Rooney, Ferdinand and Giggs; Spielberg if you’re considering tracing the IP ad- Stans bash Cameron, Coppola and Lucas. James Berry 16 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 Features

t’s reaching that time of year again This issue of Seren is all about alcohol, guys. Exams are almost over, essays as you’ve probably guessed already and Iare handed in and the Summer Ball I got to wondering, why do we feel so is fast approaching. As a result of all this great when we’re drinking yet feel like How does alcohol excitement many of you will be heading we’re dying the next day? Why do we do off to the many pubs and bars around some many stupid things when drinking? Bangor for a celebratory drink (or two, or Why do some people get angry, some three). Most of you may end up having sad and some just super happy? These a bit too much and feeling worse-for- were just some of my questions. So this wear the next day, spending it groaning month’s feature is all about the effect on the sofa. A lucky few will manage to that alcohol has upon your body and a‘ ect your body? keep their celebration drinking limited to how exactly hangovers happen. After all, a level where they don’t spend the next if we know we may be able to make it day acquainting themselves with the hurt less the morning after. toilet or their living room sofa. Go you guys! Nicole Nally

The Brain t’s the brain that is affected while you are Alcohol also gives you memory loss and drinking and there’s lots of things alcohol exaggerated emotions. That’s what creates Idoes to it. those huge gaps in your memory of the night After a couple of drinks it messes with the before and leaves you wondering why you receptors in your brain, making you feel happy thought it would be a good idea to walk down and mellow, full of a sense of well-being. It College Road bare-foot. The reason you see also uninhibits people (that’s why you end girls sitting crying one minute and dancing up agreeing to all sorts of crazy things when around smiling the next? It’s the exaggerated you’re a little drunk), affecting the thought emotions. processes leading to poor judgement, (those Ever wonder why so many people “Oh my God!” moments the next day spring get together on drunk nights out? Yep, to mind) great for funny stories...not so great you guessed it. Alcohol. As well as being for safety. unihibiting it ramps up your sex drive After a bit more the balance and speech increasing arousal and desire. Unfortunately, it centres of the brain are affected. People begin has the opposite effect on perormance. to slur and stumble around and it becomes Alcohol affects the parts of the brain that easier for them to fall over. That’s why so control automatic body functions; breathing, many people end up with bruises they don’t heart rate, temperature, that sort of thing. remember getting the next morning. It also When alcohol gets to that part of the brain you blunts all your senses, increasing the pain start to feel sleepy. As more and more alcohol threshold; you could easily twist your ankle gets there you can end up unconscious. I’m and keep on walking on it; you also become very serious when I say that this effect can uncoordinated. be fatal if it gets into excess.

The Liver The Kidneys The liver can only handle ur liver are troopers, about a unit of alcohol an he kidneys are the organs especially after a hour, drinking too quickly will that control the production particularly bad night. lead to your liver cells working Tof urine. When alcohol is O introduced to the brain it inhibits It’s the liver that processes over time in an attempt to the production of the hormone the toxins in alcohol and process it all. The liver can’t ADH, which controls the kidneys fi lters them out. How does the store the alcohol however so reabsorbtion of water. Inhibiting it liver get affected by alcohol any excess is sent off to the stops the kidneys from reabsorbing though? Let’s have a look. rest of your organs. as much water as they should, as The liver breaks down the All this hard work that the a result the kidneys produce more alcohol that is sent to it into liver puts in is why the most urine. This is why people have three things; water, gas and common health problem among binge drinkers and to go to the toilet so often when fat (that’s why too much drinking. drinking can lead to weight alcoholics tends to be liver problems). Alcohol forces the disease or other liver-related body to urinate, BUT the liver problems. The body, in needs water to do its job so trying to prevent the rush it is forced to divert water of acetaldehyde, will wage from elsewhere, leading to war on itself, releasing other dehydration in other parts of chemicals to fi ght these the body, like the brain. It’s toxins. this that causes the hangover What it all boils down to headaches. is that the alcohol itself does In processing alcohol not cause large amounts of the liver produces a little damage to the liver. It is the substance called acetaldehyde process by which alcohol that is later broken down into is metabolised that causes other chemicals outside of the the damage as harmful liver. However it has a toxic substances are released. effect upon the liver before this happens.

The Digestivefood by breakingSystem it down. In low to moderate amounts alcohol stimulates he digestive system is where the its production but in higher amounts alcohol gets absorbed into your body, alcohol inhibits its production. This Tnot digested. It gets soaked up through inhibition of acid production can the lining of the stomach and upper part of have some rather worrying long term the intestine, like a sponge soaks up water. effects. Chronic alcohol consumption The higher the concentration of alcohol the can lessen the body’s ability to kill bacteria quicker it’s absorbed. that gets into the digestive tract through Apart from the obvious effect of making your food or liquids. This can lead to the you feel ill and occassionally vomit if you colonisation of the upper small intestine drink too much alcohol, it also does some by organisms that are potentially harmful. other things to your digestive system. Alcohol also can infl ame the lining of your It affects the secrection of gastric throat and stomach. acid, that liquid that helps digest your End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 17 Features

Person no. 1

20 pints of beer = 27 So, How Much do Students 6 shots of Sambuca = 6.3 Bottle of Vodka = 36 Bottle of wine (shared) = 10.8 Really Drink? ? Average units per week = 80.1 s students have a big reputation for being even much the average student drinks - with some surprising bigger drinkers it seemed appropriate to take time results. Our ­ ve candidates below show results ranging out this issue to have a look at exactly how much from the lower ­ gure of 9.9 units of alcohol per week to alcoholA and what kinds we are pumping into our bodies. a whopping 80.1 units per week. Take a look at our par- Person no. 2 Ž e Government recommend an average of 21 Units of ticipant results and compare it to your weekly drinking 8 shots of vodka = 7.2 alcohol per week for men and 14 units per week for us la- amount. 3 bottles of VK = 3.3 dies. With a huge student community in Bangor, however, NB: Ž ese estimates do not re° ect their drinking every 2 shots of Sourz = 0.6 this ­ gure did not seem representative of reality so Seren week, of course, so please don’t think we’re all a bunch of have been out and about conducting research into how boozers. ? Average units per week = 11.1

Person no. 5 Person no. 4 Person no. 3 6 pints of beer = 9.9 6 pints of beer = 24.75 15 pints of beer = 24.75 ? 2 shots of vodka = 1.8 ? Average units per week = 9.9 ? Average units per week = 24.75 Average units per week = 26.55

Units: What’s it worth? lcohol is measured in a thing called units. Carlsberg Scientists have devised how many units the “The recommended maximum alcohol 1.45 units genders can safely drink each day. For men they units per week for men is 21 units, no Ashouldn’t regularly drink more that 3-4 alcohol units a more than 4 a day day (roughly a pint and a half of 4% beer) and women For women recommended alcohol units a shouldn’t regularly exceed 2-3 units a day (approximately week is 14 units, no more than 3 a day” Passoa a 175ml glass of 13% wine) But what is a unit? Here in the UK a unit is measured double as 10ml...but that’s still not very clear. I managed to ­ nd out more however while wandering through the realms Sourz 1 unit of the internet. Ž ere’s an actual formula for calculating the number of units in a drink, so if you like a bit of maths shot with your pint you can do it yourself. You multiply the volume of the drink in millilitres by its 0.3 percentage of alcohol by volume (that’s where we get the little % sign from on the bottles), then you divide by 1000. units Glass On a quick note alcohol by volume (ABV) is determined by the percentage of the liquid that is alcohol. Ž is is a VK of wine system used world wide so you can ­ gure out your units anywhere. 1.1 1.8 units Ž ankfully, in the UK, we don’t need to really worry about ­ guring how many units are in that bottle of Cherry units VK or that pint of Grolsch. Our alcoholic drinks all have the units and ABV printed on the label or embossed on the bottle or can. Easy peasy. Vodka I decided however that I would look into how many units were in the drinks I o† en see being drank around shot Bangor and share with you my ­ ndings in a ni† y little Kopparburg table below. -500ml 0.9 Nicole Nally 2 units units

Ž ere’s a formula for calculating the number of units in a drink, so if you like a bit of maths with your pint you can do it yourself. You multiply the volume of the drink in millilitres by its percentage of alcohol by volume then you divide by 1000.

After an email following last month’s issue advocate the use of drugs or heavy drinking I was made aware of the dangers of our Drugs and encourages its readers to stay clean, article in which you can fi nd descriptions healthy and safe when enjoying their social of various drugs that are common around lives. Bangor and the student scene. SEREN does not advocate the use of drugs and the article Nightline offers confi dential support for all Alcohol advice - was in no way intended to encourage the use kinds of problems. If you are worried about of drugs. SEREN encourages its readers to yourself or a friend you can call drink carefully and not in excess and to stay away from all drugs. That being said I wish 01248 36 21 21 to let the readers know that the article was where to go! intended to inform only in case individuals and talk to someone about your problems. were ever offered a drug that was not Alcoholics Anonymous can also be recognised. contacted for problems with alcohol at Once more SEREN and the team do not 0845 769 7555 18 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011

Would you like to organise this page next year? The position for sub-editor of the creative corner has not yet been filled! You can run for this, or any of the other available po- sitions in Seren next year, by coming along to the first meeting after welcome week or meeting us at Serendipity. Circuitry Tired, I know when the word “earphones” turns to “elephants” That the elements of emoti onal imperialism Are fading with the embers. Tired, the image of audio-sensory pachyderms Twists and squirms in the regent-governed chaos of my 3 AM Mind. A divided house on sand. Or something like that. Understand? Where’s the order in this free-verse? It’s a cursed lost mansion Disorder being the cost of one unskilled in scansion And the more I think about how this art is supposed to be The more I noti ce that the world is a piece of dropped circuitry. Hardwired, I look at the world as folders and right-clicks With each of us ending up a processor of pessimism And fading with the black-outs Hardwired, every poem is a frayed USB cable Between me and you- played and portrayed as an unstable download Buff ering with indemnity From your demands Understand?

Where’s the love in this electronic wasteland? I refuse Every piece of rubber-insulati on blowing the fuse And the more I think about how this world is supposed to be The more I noti ce that my art is a piece of dropped circuitry. Inspired, I melt the coiled wire with fi re from love With redempti on from data; emoti onal Confucianism Is wading in Decembers. Inspired, the svelte feeling of blood in my veins again Briskly burns any memory of a memory card holdout Blistering with tenacity From your soft hands Understand? There is peace in this resistance strike against apathy though this circuit board world that you like makes me lonely And the more I think about how this life is supposed to be The more I noti ce that my heart is a piece of dropped circuitry.

Snail @ Snowdonia: Nayab G,. D. Khan

Photography: Rebecca Carey

Poetry: James McGough

The Creative Corner is all about giving you the opportunity and confidence to get your creative work in print. Seren prints six issues per year so if you would like to see your work Featured in one of them don’t hesitate to email it to us: [email protected] Photograph End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 19 Quick Break Horoscopes Disclaimer: featured horoscopes are in fact created by a member of the Seren team who is not psychic and has no experience with psychic abilities. 21 March- 20 April- 21 May- Aries: 19 April Taurus: 20 May Gemini: 20 June The summer months You need a treat You know how can be stressful but this month, so go to party so lets don’t panic too much; out and spend time celebrate and you have friends and with your friends, show them how it’s family to help you it may lead to done! You won’t through it all! something more... regret it!

23 August - Cancer: 21 June - 22 July Leo: 23 July - 22 August Virgo: 22 September Don’t be shy, go Don’t be Sudoku and embrace this You may be a wise disheartened if new feeling, you Leo but don’t be too things go the will feel more free cocky, it can make wrong way, there is than you have in enemies of friends. always light at the 3 9 2 months. end of the tunnel. 3 1 23 September - 23 October - 4 22 October 21 November Sagittarius: Libra: Scorpio: 22 November - 21 December Go on get together 2 7 with your mates and Think positively and Love is in the air, but go away somewhere don’t stop, go with don’t get swept away fabulous. You know you that crazy idea. It will too quickly. Make sure 1 3 8 want to! be the best decision you know who you’re you have ever made! dealing with. 5 1 7 3 Capricorn: Aquarius: Pisces: 6 22 December - 19 January 20 January - 18 February 19 February - 20 March 3 8 6 Remember to always Lighten up, don’t take You are feeling look where you’re going things too seriously, mischievous at the not where you have it’s not worth the moment, but don’t 5 3 been. It could cause you arguments later. trick the wrong some trouble. person! 3 8 9 Crossword 6 2 1 Down Across 1. Approached (6) 1. Reporter (7) 4. Fill with horror (5) 2. Move by degrees (7) 8. Sealed Document (4) 3. So† -nosed bullets (3-3) 9. Million watts (8) 5. Spectre (7) 10. Wigtownshire Village (7) 6. Astonishing (7) 12. Femoral region (5) 7. Irritate (4) 13. Irish County(4) 11. Join in wedlock (5) 14. Middland County (Abv.) (5) 15. Capital of Ontario (7) 17. Slight of hand (5) 16. Drunk (7) 20. Roman god of war (4) 18. Crosswise (7) 22, About (5) 19. Instrument of direction 23. You (archaic) (2) (7) 24. Small island (4) 21. Parody (4,2) 25. At the present time (3) 22. Used to untangle hair (4) 26. Monks collectively (8) 27. Water (4)

29. Flower parts (6)

Marry 15. Toronto 16. Smashed 18. Athwart 19. Compass 21. Send up 22. Comb 22. up Send 21. Compass 19. Athwart 18. Smashed 16. Toronto 15. Marry

29. Petals Down: 1. Newsman 2. Ratchet 3. Dumdum 5. Phantom 6. Amazing 7. Itch 11. 11. Itch 7. Amazing 6. Phantom 5. Dumdum 3. Ratchet 2. Newsman 1. Down: Petals 29.

17. Magic 20. Mars 22. Circa 23. Ye 24. Holm 25. Now 26. Monkhood 27. Aqua 28. Words Words 28. Aqua 27. Monkhood 26. Now 25. Holm 24. Ye 23. Circa 22. Mars 20. Magic 17. Across: 1. Neared 4. Appal 8. Writ 9. Megawatt 10. Mochrum 12. Ž igh 13. Mayo 14. Notts Notts 14. Mayo 13. igh Ž 12. Mochrum 10. Megawatt 9. Writ 8. Appal 4. Neared 1. Across: 20 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 21 Centerfold Centerfold

WIN A SUMMER BALL TICKET!

Every year Seren gives away a Summer Ball ticket to one lucky reader, Sna ed this year is no different. To be in with a chance of being that lucky winner, simply answer this question: Who is headlining Bangor’s 2011 Summer Ball? with Seren a) Feedhim Have you got what b) Feeder it takes? c) Feedit Seren needs you! We have positions available for next year just waiting for the If you think you know the answer to this right people to “ ll them. Can you handle these ridiculously hard question, send it to roles? [email protected] along with your name and contact details. Good luck! Creative Corner What’s On? What’s Up? Travel

If you would like to get involved with these positions or with Seren in any other way, then we would be more than happy to have you. Email [email protected] or [email protected] for more details! 20 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 21 Centerfold Centerfold

WIN A SUMMER BALL TICKET!

Every year Seren gives away a Summer Ball ticket to one lucky reader, Sna ed this year is no different. To be in with a chance of being that lucky winner, simply answer this question: Who is headlining Bangor’s 2011 Summer Ball? with Seren a) Feedhim Have you got what b) Feeder it takes? c) Feedit Seren needs you! We have positions available for next year just waiting for the If you think you know the answer to this right people to “ ll them. Can you handle these ridiculously hard question, send it to roles? [email protected] along with your name and contact details. Good luck! Creative Corner What’s On? What’s Up? Travel

If you would like to get involved with these positions or with Seren in any other way, then we would be more than happy to have you. Email [email protected] or [email protected] for more details! 22 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 Food and Drink Oodly Good Noodles have a confession to inevitable plethora of noodle dishes. fried) ranging from £7.25 to £8.75; make; I don’t like anime. Noodle One o‘ ers noodles both wok- but what you get for your money is It irritates me. So if a restaurant fried, or in Noodle One’s own home- not only of the highest quality, there Ihas a big screen showing anime all made soup base which uses chicken is plenty of it. Ž ere’s no shame in the time, I’d usually be inclined to and pork stock. For both wok-fried leaving some of your food in Noodle steer well clear. However, in the case and soup dishes, you are required One, and even with my slight gripe of Noodle One, I am well prepared to to choose what kind of noodles you about the small amount of meat, the Follow up make an exception. would like ­ rst, then the meat you noodles and various added ingredi- Ž e restaurant in Lower Bangor would like with it. ents are all excellent. Article is not the most sizeable place; how- If I had one criticism of these oth- Ž e desserts are not only delicious, ever, it does a great job using this erwise superb main dishes, it would they are thoughtfully placed as well. For those of you who read the last issue of Krispy Kreme doughnuts to be sold here in space economically while maintain- be the amount of meat you are pro- One of them is a wonderfully light Seren, you will know that I wrote a letter to Wales. Since then I have had a reply from Krispy Kreme explaining how the people Krispy Kreme which reads: ing authenticity (just as the anime vided in the soups. You are served co- Jasmine and Green Tea Panna Cotta of Bangor and Wales in general would love does). Ž e seating takes the form of lossal bowls, with all kinds of strong, which serves to take the edge o‘ a three large benches, which can seat aromatic ° avours whirling around spicy meal; and with the servings several people. Perhaps Noodle One inside it; layered on top is the meat. being so ­ lling, this dessert is some- Hi Steven, isn’t a go-to location for an intimate Ž e colour of the food makes for su- thing you can have even when you Ž anks for your email and interest towards Krispy Kreme. dinner - but in a group, it works per- perb presentation and the Shichimi are full, since the ° avours are so light. fectly. Ž ere’s no need to push tables Duck I had was tender and exploded Ž e other options include dishes like Unfortunately I am the bearer of bad news and we currently do not have any plans to open a store or install a Tesco cabinet within Ban- together here. Couple that with the with ° avour in my mouth, but there a chocolate brownie and an unu- gor. Although we are working hard so this may change in the future, provision of chopsticks and the inevi- just wasn’t enough of it for my liking; sual but quite impressive Ginger Ice so please do keep an eye on our website and Facebook page for further table hilariousness that follows (every maybe, though, it is a sign of its great Cream. Make no mistake, then: you information. group always has ONE person who taste that I was le† wanting more. will not be let down by the ­ nale of can’t use them, right? And no, it’s not Importantly, though, you never your meal. Kind Regards

me), and Noodle One becomes one of leave Noodle One hungry. Ž e value Noodle One is a place to relax and Kirsty Moore Bangor’s prime locations for a social for money is very impressive, with the a place to enjoy some very good food. Krispy Kreme UK Ltd gathering. main noodle dishes (soup and wok- Ž ere is a fairly de- cent selection on o‘ er; So there we have it, unfortunately my at- panding in the UK, it will only be a matter tempts to haul this market leader to Bangor of time before they decide to bring Krispy there’s a good variety of have not been successful as of yet. But I am Kreme to Wales. sides (including some sure with the rate that Krispy Kreme are ex- delectable Chicken Satay Skewers) and rice dishes, as well as the s this is my last issue as food and drink editor for Seren, I thought I would write a little something to say thanks for reading my section. Since food Aand drink was created in the Christmas issue a† er Seren was able to print a massive 40 pages, I have enjoyed re- “Modern, porting to all you fellow students about the top places to wine and dine, and the not so top places and I hope you modest, far have found my reviews enjoyable and useful. It has also been a challenge for me to provide you with east dining.” some tasty cuisine cutout recipes, and I hope that you thoroughly enjoy this bumper cuisine cutout , as I went a bit mad and decided to dedicate a whole page to this issue’s cuisine cutout. As I’m going to be news editor next year, it will be Joe Russell, experienced chef and Masterchef contestant who will providing you with a fresh food and drink section next year so be sure to watch this space. Matt Cox Steven Freeman Fit For A King he Royal Tandoori on Bangor Whilst waiting for our meals, which all, but this most de­ nitely amazed me sert, as opposed to the co- high street provides food and did not take too long, but long enough that someone had managed to get rice conut ice cream my friends service ­ t for a king. Upon ­ rst to know that our food was being made so tasty and perfect. opted for. Ž is was obviously Tentering the restaurant you will be fresh, I was browsing the menu and My friends between them had the home made as you could see warmly welcomed as the sta‘ greet you concluded that this restarant on the classic chicken tikka, which was a bit where they had scooped the and o‘ er to take your coats, something whole was probably slightly cheaper too sweet for my liking, the chicken bir- ice cream into the coconut I must say I have never experienced shells, which were present- anywhere else in Bangor as of yet. Once ed with a cocktail umbrella, seated, it was clear that the owners of “Probably the best Indian which looked quite showy. this restaurant wanted the feel to be Overall, the Royal Tan- personal, as the traditional warm decor restaurant in Bangor.” doori provided a relaxed, echoed this, along with the plates which than Spicy Vujon, its competitor and yani, which looked and tasted mouth comfortable environment had the restaurant’s name and emblem also o‘ ered 10% student discount. watering, and a lamb bhuna which had for me and my friends to emblazed on them. When the meals arrived, once again ° avour and spice to a perfect degree. dine in and they also pro- Once my friends and I had ordered the waiter delivered excellent service Once ­ nishing the main, we opted to vided sumptuous food drinks, which were reasonably priced, and kindly o‘ ered to put the rice on our go for desserts, of which the Royal Tan- and top quality service. I the waiter brought out poppadoms and plates for us. I had opted for the ko- doori had an extensive dessert menu. would de­ nitely recom- dips, all of which were fresh and home- rma, as I was in the mood for a creamy Myself and another friend opted for a mend this restaurant to made. However, the one downfall with ° avoured dish and I can honestly say chocolate ice cream based dessert cov- all you lovers of Indian the poppadoms was that there was only it was one of the nicest curries I have ering in a chocolate coating and with a cuisine and I promise mint yoghurt dip, mango chutney dip, ever eaten. Ž e rice too was so perfectly so† chocolate centre, which was nice, you will not be disap- and a pot of ­ nally chopped salad, and cooked and presented as it had rainbow but not necessarily gastronomically pointed. personally I also like a chilli dip, but rice granules sprinkled in. Now, nor- brilliant, but saying that it was quite Steven Freeman nevertheless, it was still very appetising. mally rice really does not excite me, at obvious it was a mass produced des- 22 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 23 Food and Drink Food and Drink Oodly Good Noodles Pull have a confession to inevitable plethora of noodle dishes. fried) ranging from £7.25 to £8.75; Bumper Cuisine Cutout make; I don’t like anime. Noodle One o‘ ers noodles both wok- but what you get for your money is his month’s cuisine cutout is inspired by two things, summer and home-made takes on famous dishes, and as this is our last issue of this academic year, it is designed to be a compilation of all things good. It would seem that It irritates me. So if a restaurant fried, or in Noodle One’s own home- not only of the highest quality, there one thing that student’s love, whether it’s on the grass on Fridd Site or on the grassy hills of Roman Camp, is to have a good BBQ. A† er all, let’s face it, we do have ample amounts of beautiful locations here in Bangor to enjoy Ihas a big screen showing anime all made soup base which uses chicken is plenty of it. Ž ere’s no shame in a nice picturesque BBQ whilst chilling out with you mates. So these ­ rst two recipes are designed speci­ cally for that purpose. Ž e following two recipes are designed to be light and summery, as the last thing you want on a the time, I’d usually be inclined to and pork stock. For both wok-fried leaving some of your food in Noodle Thot summers days is a bloaty meal to make you feel uncomfortable. On that note, I’ll let the recipes do the talking. Enjoy! steer well clear. However, in the case and soup dishes, you are required One, and even with my slight gripe of Noodle One, I am well prepared to to choose what kind of noodles you about the small amount of meat, the Follow up make an exception. would like ­ rst, then the meat you noodles and various added ingredi- Nando’s Chicken Frankie and Benny’s inspired Ž e restaurant in Lower Bangor would like with it. ents are all excellent. Article is not the most sizeable place; how- If I had one criticism of these oth- Ž e desserts are not only delicious, ow, if like me you absolutely LOVE Nando’s piri piri good- Philly Steak Wraps For those of you who read the last issue of Krispy Kreme doughnuts to be sold here in he next recipe is another personal favourite of mine, and is the infamous Philly Steak Wrap, from American res- ever, it does a great job using this erwise superb main dishes, it would they are thoughtfully placed as well. ness, then this is a recipe for you, one of which I seem to taurateur giant, Frankie and Benny’s. Now for this recipe, there are various ways in which you can go about mak- space economically while maintain- be the amount of meat you are pro- One of them is a wonderfully light Seren, you will know that I wrote a letter to Wales. Since then I have had a reply from Krispy Kreme explaining how the people Krispy Kreme which reads: be living o‘ lately. ing the dish, depending on budget and personal taste, so it’s a good one if you are on a low budget and want some ing authenticity (just as the anime vided in the soups. You are served co- Jasmine and Green Tea Panna Cotta N tastyT food, and also good if you haven’t already blown your last instalment of your student loan so you can a‘ ord to dish of Bangor and Wales in general would love does). Ž e seating takes the form of lossal bowls, with all kinds of strong, which serves to take the edge o‘ a out a bit more on ingredients. Another thing to look out for in this recipe is that some of the ingredients may be easier three large benches, which can seat aromatic ° avours whirling around spicy meal; and with the servings Ingredients & Equipment to prep at home, as opposed to going to Morrisons on the way to your BBQ, so you may want to plan ahead slightly. Hi Steven, several people. Perhaps Noodle One inside it; layered on top is the meat. being so ­ lling, this dessert is some- Serves 2 Ingredients & Equipment isn’t a go-to location for an intimate Ž e colour of the food makes for su- thing you can have even when you Ž anks for your email and interest towards Krispy Kreme. Serves 2 dinner - but in a group, it works per- perb presentation and the Shichimi are full, since the ° avours are so light. • 1 BBQ, (for all you budding bargain hunters they Unfortunately I am the bearer of bad news and we currently do not fectly. Ž ere’s no need to push tables Duck I had was tender and exploded Ž e other options include dishes like usually sell disposable BBQ’s in Poundland). • 1 BBQ. have any plans to open a store or install a Tesco cabinet within Ban- together here. Couple that with the with ° avour in my mouth, but there a chocolate brownie and an unu- • 1 pastry brush if you’re feeling adventurous, oth- • Between 200 – 300 g of streak strips. gor. Although we are working hard so this may change in the future, • 1 Large Onion or 1 bag of ready chopped/diced on- provision of chopsticks and the inevi- just wasn’t enough of it for my liking; sual but quite impressive Ginger Ice erwise a plastic spoon will do. so please do keep an eye on our website and Facebook page for further ions. table hilariousness that follows (every maybe, though, it is a sign of its great Cream. Make no mistake, then: you information. • 4 decent sized, pre-cooked plain chicken por- tions or 8 – 12 pre-cooked plain chicken wings/legs. • 1 – 2 peppers of your desired colour or a bag of fro- group always has ONE person who taste that I was le† wanting more. will not be let down by the ­ nale of zen/chilled chopped peppers. Kind Regards • 1 bottle of Nando’s marinade (they now sell quite can’t use them, right? And no, it’s not Importantly, though, you never your meal. • Either, a bag of your desired grated cheese, a pack a variety of this in Morrisons and Tesco). me), and Noodle One becomes one of leave Noodle One hungry. Ž e value Noodle One is a place to relax and of cheese slices, or a bottle of squeezy cheese (if anyone Kirsty Moore actually likes this stu‘ ). Bangor’s prime locations for a social for money is very impressive, with the a place to enjoy some very good food. Krispy Kreme UK Ltd gathering. main noodle dishes (soup and wok- Method • A pack of 8 tortilla wraps. Ž ere is a fairly de- • Optional, dried mixed herbs or black pepper. 1. Light the BBQ and wait for the ° ames to And that’s it, so simple, but so tasty and mouth cent selection on o‘ er; So there we have it, unfortunately my at- panding in the UK, it will only be a matter tempts to haul this market leader to Bangor of time before they decide to bring Krispy die down and the heat to come through. watering, and for all of you that like Nando’s there’s a good variety of have not been successful as of yet. But I am Kreme to Wales. 2. Whilst waiting for the BBQ, open the and regularly visit, you will realise that by re- Method sides (including some sure with the rate that Krispy Kreme are ex- chicken and lay on a plastic plate so that you producing the Nando’s magic at home, you 1. Light the BBQ and wait for the ° ames to die down delectable Chicken can access the meat easily. save quite a bit in the pocket. and the heat to come through. 6. Next, the task of folding your wrap so that you Satay Skewers) and rice 3. Simply pour the marinade equally over 2. Once ready, place the steak strips onto the BBQ, don’t end up with the ­ lling in your lap, and I ­ nd the dishes, as well as the s this is my last issue as food and drink editor for the chicken and rub it in with a pastry brush Alternatively, for those rainy days, this recipe until cooked to your liking. best way to fold it is to double the wrap over itself, and Seren, I thought I would write a little something or a spoon, being sure to get in to all the nooks can also be cooked in the oven on a baking tray 3. Whilst waiting for the steak to cook, lay out some fold the two edges to the centre. to say thanks for reading my section. Since food and crannies. or in a griddle pan, however, you will not quite tortilla wraps onto paper plates ready so that you are 7. Finally, enjoy, and you may want to add some extra Aand drink was created in the Christmas issue a† er Seren 4. Pop on the BBQ when ready and cook get the chargrilled e‘ ect as a BBQ (Unless of ready to serve once the steak is cooked. ° avour having a side of coleslaw or potato salad. was able to print a massive 40 pages, I have enjoyed re- until they are cooked to your liking, probably course you take your eye o‘ the chicken). 4. When the steak is cooked, equally distribute the “Modern, porting to all you fellow students about the top places to about 5 - 6 minutes is usually enough, and then steak between your wraps. So there you have it, your very own Frankie and Benny’s wine and dine, and the not so top places and I hope you you start to get the chargrilled e‘ ect. 5. Promptly place the cheese on the steak so that it inspired Philly Steak Wrap, something that makes a modest, far have found my reviews enjoyable and useful. melts, and add onions, peppers, and if you like a sprin- great alternative to your hot dogs and burgers that seem It has also been a challenge for me to provide you with kling of mixed herbs or black pepper. to be the staple BBQ food. east dining.” some tasty cuisine cutout recipes, and I hope that you thoroughly enjoy this bumper cuisine cutout , as I went a bit mad and decided to dedicate Wagamama inspired a whole page to this issue’s cuisine cutout. As I’m going to be news editor next year, it will be Joe Russell, experienced chef and Masterchef contestant who will providing you with a fresh food and drink section next Ginger Beef and Coriander Salad year so be sure to watch this space. Chiquito inspired Sorbet Margarita Matt Cox Steven Freeman his next number is one of my favourite light lunches from positive eating restaurant Wagamama. It delivers a bit of oomph compared to your everyday salad, but at the same time it doesn’t make you all hot and sweaty, ow this next dish is ironic, as personally I don’t like liqueurs or spirits in something you really don’t want on a hot summers day. food, but this cheeky tequila and lime sorbet de­ nitely gets my taste buds T excited as the alcohol is not too overpowering because of the limes zesty Ingredients nature.N Serves 2 Ingredients • 150g of steak strips • 1 medium red onion Serves 3 – 4. Fit For A King • 1 red pepper • 1 carrot • 2 cups of water he Royal Tandoori on Bangor Whilst waiting for our meals, which all, but this most de­ nitely amazed me sert, as opposed to the co- • ½ of a cucumber • 2 cups of sugar high street provides food and did not take too long, but long enough that someone had managed to get rice conut ice cream my friends • A handful of beansprouts • 12 – 15 real limes service ­ t for a king. Upon ­ rst to know that our food was being made so tasty and perfect. opted for. Ž is was obviously • A handful of coriander • 1 tbsp of ­ nely grated lemon zest Tentering the restaurant you will be fresh, I was browsing the menu and My friends between them had the home made as you could see • 1 lettuce or better a bag of mixed salad leaves • A 25 ml shot of tequila, or 50 ml shot de- warmly welcomed as the sta‘ greet you concluded that this restarant on the classic chicken tikka, which was a bit where they had scooped the • A few sesame seeds pending on preference (although 50ml may taste and o‘ er to take your coats, something whole was probably slightly cheaper too sweet for my liking, the chicken bir- ice cream into the coconut • A sprinkling of ginger very strong). I must say I have never experienced shells, which were present- • A sprinkling of olive oil anywhere else in Bangor as of yet. Once ed with a cocktail umbrella, • A sprinkling of sugar • A knob of butter Method seated, it was clear that the owners of “Probably the best Indian which looked quite showy. 1. Mix the water and sugar into a large saucepan this restaurant wanted the feel to be Overall, the Royal Tan- Method 5. Keep an eye on the mixture, once it is nearing restaurant in Bangor.” 6. Once the steak and the onions are cooked, tip and bring to the boil. personal, as the traditional warm decor doori provided a relaxed, 2. Once boiled, lower the heat, and simmer for frozen, mix it all up again, and repeat this process echoed this, along with the plates which than Spicy Vujon, its competitor and yani, which looked and tasted mouth comfortable environment 1. Chop the onion into rings, or lengths of at least them into one pan, and add the peppers, carrot, cu- 2 – 3 times. an inch, as diced onions will not have the same e‘ ect. cumber and beansprouts and mix well. around 5 minutes until the sugar is dissolved and had the restaurant’s name and emblem also o‘ ered 10% student discount. watering, and a lamb bhuna which had for me and my friends to then take o‘ the heat and allow to cool completely. 6. Ž is helps the sorbet feel light and aerated 2. Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the on- 7. Serve up on the bed of salad. and in turn provides for a better result. emblazed on them. When the meals arrived, once again ° avour and spice to a perfect degree. dine in and they also pro- ions. Ž en sprinkle the sugar over the onions and 8. Once this is done, you are the ready to sprin- To speed this process, you may want to put the Once my friends and I had ordered the waiter delivered excellent service Once ­ nishing the main, we opted to vided sumptuous food syrup in the fridge. 7. Finally, a† er this process has been carried out cook on a low heat for around 20- 30 minutes, stir- kle on the sesame seeds, coriander and olive oil, and a few times, the sorbet will be ready to eat. drinks, which were reasonably priced, and kindly o‘ ered to put the rice on our go for desserts, of which the Royal Tan- and top quality service. I ring occasionally, until they appear caramelised. then enjoy this light lunch. 3. While waiting for the syrup to cool, juice the limes and add the zest and tequila to the juice. the waiter brought out poppadoms and plates for us. I had opted for the ko- doori had an extensive dessert menu. would de­ nitely recom- 3. Whilst waiting for the onion, chop the pepper, Ž is devilish dessert most de­ nitely will excite dips, all of which were fresh and home- rma, as I was in the mood for a creamy Myself and another friend opted for a mend this restaurant to grate the carrot, dice the cucumber and ­ nely chop Although this dish requires slightly more e‘ ort than 4. Once this is done, and the sugar water mix- ture is cooled, mix together in some sort of wide your taste buds and is cooling, yet warming which made. However, the one downfall with ° avoured dish and I can honestly say chocolate ice cream based dessert cov- all you lovers of Indian the coriander. the others on this page, it is more than worth it be- provides a perfect dessert for the summer months 4. Next, about 10 minutes before the onions are cause once you taste it, you will realise that this is no container, and create a thin layer of the mixture the poppadoms was that there was only it was one of the nicest curries I have ering in a chocolate coating and with a cuisine and I promise and freeze. ahead. mint yoghurt dip, mango chutney dip, ever eaten. Ž e rice too was so perfectly so† chocolate centre, which was nice, you will not be disap- cooked, fry the steak to your liking, and evenly sprin- regular salad. kle the ginger on the steak strips. and a pot of ­ nally chopped salad, and cooked and presented as it had rainbow but not necessarily gastronomically pointed. 5. When all of the cooking is nearing an end, lay personally I also like a chilli dip, but rice granules sprinkled in. Now, nor- brilliant, but saying that it was quite Steven Freeman your plates with a bed of salad leaves. Steven Freeman nevertheless, it was still very appetising. mally rice really does not excite me, at obvious it was a mass produced des- 24 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011

THE APPRENTICE he Apprentice is back which means In the second episode Sir Alan tasked its time for us to meet more of the the teams with designing, launching and Tnation’s bigheaded businessmen and promoting a mobile phone application. women all convinced they’ve got what it The boys took on this task as though it takes to work for Sir Alan Sugar. Except was a bit of fun and spent too much time that’s not how it works this time round. both fooling around and arguing with each With previous series’ Sir Alan has other leading, once again to their downfall. chosen one of the hopefuls to be his This time 28 year old Estate Agent Alex apprentice, hence the show’s title, and go ended up taking the fall. straight into a £100 000 job at one of his With two of the men already companies. This year however, the winner gone who from the girls team will receive at £250 000 investment into a will have to join them this business of their own choosing with Sugar week? And will it lead to their as 50% owner. downfall? Or will Sir Alan BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT “In the past years I was searching for make a point of shaking the The Saturday night show is back, fi lling our T.V chants of encouragement from the audience with a candidate to employ, now I am looking teams up? or laptop screens with more weird and wonderful a the help of Ant and Dec telling the judges they’d for a business partner.” Said Sugar on Either way this next task people all believing they can make it to the made a mistake, The Highwaymen were brought the change of prize. Though you have to is going to be a tough one Royal Variety Performance. The series is slightly back on to, of course, he put back through. If one wonder whether this really is a better prize with the hopefuls tasked different this year with David Hasselhoff replacing were to be cynical you almost wonder whether or not. Sure, Sugar will be putting in a with sourcing ten items Piers Morgan and Michael McIntyre replacing the judges, really knew they were good and just quarter of a million of his own money into for The Savloy hotel. Simon Cowell on the judging panel. Critics have said no to create drama. Although the judges did the business but he will be joint owner. This type of challenge commented this new line up has improved the show; have a point. It was no denying they were talented Past winners have gone into a comfortable always relies on it’s certainly a nice change to have a bit of comedy drummers, and to begin they stood there drumming £100 000 a year job whereas this year’s not only good time from McIntyre instead of Cowell’s constant misery. but keeping still, after a good few seconds you can winner will have to do a lot more work management but This kinder panel does seem to be putting more see why they complained of getting a bit bored to maintain the success of their chosen people willing to acts through than usual, but we would rather see sometimes during the act. However it is a talent business. take a risk and happy faces than sad ones wouldn’t we? However show, and they were talented, they just weren’t It seems this year Sir Alan is taking no haggle to get the for Cowell fans don’t fear. Previews of forthcoming quite entertaining enough. There were moments prisoners. The fi rst episode of the series right price. weeks show the overlord to make a return to the that did liven the performance, like when they saw the contestants teaming up in the Make sure you show to “restore order.” started dancing while drumming and drumming typical Boys vs Girls structure. With £250 don’t miss this This year has brought the usual dogs, singers each other’s drums with light up sticks. They have each the teams were challenged with series, its likely and dancers. This week Jai McDowall, a singer the talent they just need to present it in a more investing in fruit and vegetables to create going to be the from Scotland wowed the audience. The Circus of exciting way, if they fi nd an entertaining way of healthy meals tht they could sell on the most competitive Horrors acts included swallowing a sword, someone doing so they could do well. If you can look past streets of Liverpool. With the girls as the yet! dangling in mid hair by their hair, and limbo-ing the usual Saturday night clichés, it’s still a good non surprise winners one of the boys had to under a low fl aming rod. There was also Two and demanding way of spending a night in or recovering go. Half men, an animated dance trio with a few added from a hangover on Sunday morning. Much like last series’ opener it was the Scott laughs in their routine. The Highway men consisted boys team leader that left, 25 year old Burrows of drummers from the Royal Marines, who to begin Heather Boyles accountant Edward. with, controversially didn’t go through. After The Doctor At 908 years old the Doctor has seen a lot of what both space and time have to offer. He is the Last of the Time Lords a wise race from Gallifrey, a planet that he destroyed during the time war killing both his people and their enemies the Daleks. Throughout the years the Doctor and his TARDIS have explored space and time, recruiting companions to accompany him on his adventures. In his eleventh incarnation, at the age of 1103, the Doctor is shot dead by a mysterious astronaut before he had chance to regenerate.

t seems like hardly any time has as Amy Pond has become one of the passed since Matt Smith’s eleventh Doctor’s most popular companions Amy Pond IDoctor fi rst crashed onto our screens to date. This week’s episode sees When Amelia Pond was seven she had an imaginary friend, the ‘Raggedy’ Doctor. He a year ago and now he’s back for another the beginning of another two parter sealed the scary crack in her bedroom wall but then he disappeared. series full of adventure, danger and even featuring Raquel Cassidy and Life on Twelve years later the Doctor returned to fi nd a fully grown Amy who after helping him death. This year the Doctor will have to Mars/Ashes to Ashes’ Marshall Lancaster defeat Prisoner Zero began to travel with him in the TARDIS. rely on his friends much more than ever as acid miners. The Doctor and Amy developed a strong friendship and it was her remembrance of him before. The episodes have an Avatar-esque that was able to bring him back after he fl ew the Pandorica into the heart of the exploding Steven Moffat, who is known for feel to them with the workers creating TARDIS at the end of Series 5. penning some of the Doctor’s most clones of themselves, the Gangers, Since then Amy has been living in Leadworth with her now husband Rory thrilling adventures and creating, fan which they then control to do the work and hasn’t heard from the Doctor until he requests her and Rory’s company voted, scariest monsters the Weeping and if anything happens to them they in Utah. Angels took over from Russell T Davies simply make a new one. “The story is at the start of last series. In true Moffat about identity, and trust, and there are Rory Williams style he starts the series of with a, quite lots of sporadic discussions about the literal, bang as the Doctor is shot dead nature of trust” says Rory is Amy’s fi ancé at the beginning of Series fi ve. He eventually begins to travel in front of Amy, Rory and River by a writer, Matthew with Amy and the Doctor in the TARDIS but is shot and absorbed by a crack in space mysterious astronaut. Graham, who last and time mid series. “You won’t know for quite a long wrote for Who in The cracks erase things completely from the Universe and so Amy forgets that he while who’s in the suit.” Said Moffat 2006. ever existed. when questioned on when we’d learn the The Rebel Flesh A plastic duplicate with Rory’s memories turns up in the series fi nales astronaut’s identity. “You will know it’s and The Almost People as a Roman Soldier. When the Doctor puts Amy in the Pandorica to someone the Doctor knows. He knows have promised to lead save her Rory vows to protect her. He waits 2000 years to see her who’s in there. But there are many up to a stunning mid again and when time is reversed Amy’s memories of him bring him twists and turns in this, so you can’t series cliffhanger with back as a real person. trust anything you might have worked some whispered out for yourself.” words in the second river SOng The two part series opener, fi lmed part that will be a in America to try and boost popularity huge importance later River Song is a complete mystery. We fi rst met her in Series 4 with the tenth Doctor.River in the States, told us very little but in the series as well as and the Doctor’s timelines are complete opposites; everytime we see her she is younger, the certainly set up for what could be an a few familiar voices Doctor is older. Her fi rst appearance is the last time she sees the Doctor and her death. By even more impressive series than last to long term fans. whispering the Doctor’s real name to him she gains his trust even though he doesn’t yet really year’s. Not being able to rely on the know who she is. Doctor for help can his companions work We still know little about her other than she was imprisoned in the 51st century for ‘killing out and prevent his death two hundred the best man she had ever known’. years in his future? And will we fi nally LJ Taylor She too received a message to meet the Doctor in Utah and saw him shot by the Astronaut. fi nd out who River Song really is? No doubt she will return later in the series to help Amy and Rory prevent their Either way this year’s series is not one friends’ death. to be missed, promising many twists and turns, more danger and even an episode by writing legend Neil Gaiman (which, if you haven’t already, you should defi nitely see!). Matt Smith has certainly fl ourished in his role as the Doctor, despite concerns when he was fi rst cast and Karen Gillan End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 25

Summer Blockbusters yan Reynolds has established Hulk in The Avengers. himself as Hollywood’s go to He no longer has Megan Fox to Rguy for action and superhero pull in the crowds but Michael Bay roles and returns this Summer obviously still thinks there’s more in the Green Lantern (out stories to be told about the cars that June 17) as Hal Jordan a pilot turn into robots in Transformers 3 who is bestowed the honour out July 1st. of becoming one of the Green The feature fi lm series of a Lanterns. generation fi nally comes to a climax or those who aren’t familiar superhero Its all about Superhero in Harry Potter and the Deathly with the comic books, Thor is season. movies these days and Thor’s Hallows Part 2 on July 15th. the story of a Norse God who This isn’t the last we will F fellow Avenger Captain Will Harry and his friends fi nd and gets banished from his homeland see of Thor. As we are told at America comes to our destroy the last of the horcruxes or of Asgard. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) the end of the fi lm, ‘Thor will screens on July 29th starring will Voldemort fi nd the elder wand lands on Earth where he has to live return in The Avengers’. The Chris Evans. The two will and fi nally take over the wizarding amongst humans. Ultimately falling Avengers movie is set for release meet onscreen next year world? in love with Jane Foster (Natalie in 2012 and sees Thor, Iron Man, along with Portman), a scientist who fi nds him, Captain America, Hulk and Black Iron Man Thor learns life lessons and his new Widow come together along with and the found strength helps him overcome Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. a villain sent to kill him from his Jackson reprising their previous homeland. small roles also. At nearly two hours long, Thor If you like superhero fi lms then is defi nitely a summer blockbuster you should watch Thor. If you’re not worth watching. The special effects a big fan then it is still a great fi lm to that show the differences between watch. If you have never sat down and Asgard and Earth are great to see watched a superhero fi lm before then and the action sequences are Thor is a decent one for testing the somewhat short but good. waters, though something like Iron Chris Hemsworth puts in a Man would possibly be better. great performance as Thor and If you are still yet to watch Thor a well-rounded cast of Natalie then don’t forget to stay after Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Kat the credits for the extra clip that Dennings (very underappreciated will provide a link to the upcoming in this fi lm) and a brief appearance Avengers fi lm! from Jeremy Renner giving the audience characters that they will enjoy and want to see more of. Amy Westlake One downside of Thor is that the audience isn’t made aware of who the antagonist is until at least 30 minutes before the end of the fi lm. This role could have been utilised a bit more and would have given the character a bit more scope. Is it the best superhero movie? Probably not, but it does live up to its name as a superhero blockbuster. Thor is defi nitely a good opener for the 2011 summer

irates of the Caribbean: On Stranger has won the hearts of fans worldwide. and At World’s End, which most fans hated Tides sees the return of everyone’s In the fourth Pirate’s, Jack is in search of due to it having too many storylines to tie Pfavourite swashbuckler Captain the Fountain of Youth, the map for which up, had the tenth most successful opening Jack Sparrow. Fresh from the heart of a he steals at the end of At World’s End. Jack weekend of all time. It’s no surprise then maelstrom that was the writing disaster isn’t the only one in search of the Fountain that producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney of 2007’s At World’s End, Jack is back and though; his old nemesis Captain Barbossa decided not only to make a fourth just four ready for another adventure. (Geoffrey Rush) has been recruited by the years after the last and to announce a fi fth This time Rob Marshall directs the lovable British to seek it out too. And on top of and sixth in the works. rogues adventures with the original trilogy that Pirates 4 is a fun adventure, enjoyable at director, Gore Verbinski, stepping down. Jack hears there’s a pirate pretending parts and with some pretty decent action He’s not the only regular this new chapter to be him to recruit a crew; it turns out to be scenes but you can’t help but feel cheated. is without though; Orlando Bloom and none other than Penelope Cruz’s Angelica At just over two hours long there’s a lot that Keira Knightley have also moved on along with Blackbeard (Ian McShane) who, could have been done with the fi lm. With the to do other things. When such a shockingly, are also after the Fountain. fi fth and sixth already announced lets hope successful franchise loses two of its Unfortunately, in On Stranger Tides the writers will fi nally get the right balance big names there’s usually not much Depp’s performance as Sparrow seems a between too many storylines in At World’s chance of the one remaining star little tired; perhaps it has something to do End and a weak main plot, supported by an keeping the ship afl oat, no pun with him taking on the project before even even weaker subplot in On Stranger Tides. intended. With Johnny reading the script. Whatever the reason is Die-hard fans will struggle to see it as the Depp left to pick up the he’s not the same Jack we all know and love same franchise but it’s not a bad fi lm. If it slack though you have from the original Pirates trilogy. In fact the had been released before any of the others to wonder whether he whole fi lm is completely different from the then the franchise probably wouldn’t have just might manage others, making it more like a new franchise become as popular as it has. The absence of it. After all Depp’s with some familiar faces. Barbossa is no Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Swann is easily performance as longer the villain we know from Curse of noticeable, especially after her character Captain Jack stole the Black Pearl and the emphasis in his and was so well developed throughout the the spotlight Jack’s relationship is now focused solely on original trilogy and had good chemistry from Bloom’s the comedy factor, which ruins what was with Depp’s Sparrow, something Cruz’s Will Turner, such a brilliant character. Angelica lacks. It is nice to fi nally see a fi lm who the fi lms The fi lm also boasts a subplot that in which Jack steals the spotlight where he were originally involves a Christian missionary’s romance is meant to do so though. If you enjoyed meant to be with a mermaid; the best part about this is the previous fi lms you should defi nitely give about, back that it’s a subplot as the actors bring to it no this one a chance and if you weren’t a fan in 2003 and chemistry and it leaves you wondering what of the originals then maybe this will be a the real point of it is. In fact the only reason breath of fresh air for you. It’s defi nitely one it could have been put in could have been to of many blockbuster’s to catch this summer. fi ll the gap that Bloom and Knightley’s exit left the franchise with. When the idea of Pirates of the Caribbean LJ Taylor fi rst came about it was laughed at, it was a movie based on a Disneyworld ride and the pirate genre had created nothing but fl ops in years. Three movies later it was one of the highest grossing franchises of all time, 26 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

savage beauty

here are people who are undeserv- by stepping onto the red carpet in style ingly called “genius” and “true artist” to preview the brilliant exhibit held by Tonce they’ve died, but Alexander Mc- Costume Institute curator Anthony Queen is not one of them. From day one, Boltan. McQueen was a breath of fresh air Situated on the second-fl oor “Cantor in the fashion industry. Since his Galleries” of the Metropolitan death in 2010, he’s become a Museum of Art and sourced tragic, iconic fi gure of fashion whose mark on the world is obviously still felt. From the “There is no way back armadillo shoes in Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance video to his fi nal for me now. I am going creation Plato’s Atlantis. to take you on journey’s “There is no way back for me now. I am going to take you’ve never dreamed you on journeys you’ve were possible...” never dreamed were possible,” Words from the amazing late Alexander McQueen, of his piece from the Alexander de resistance, Spring McQueen Archive in 2010′s Plato’s London, the Givenchy Atlantis. The designer Archive in Paris as well is being honoured as private collections, at the Metropolitan the McQueen exhibition Museum of Art with a graced guests with retrospective exhibit approximately 100 Alexander McQueen: ensembles and 70 Savage Beauty. accessories from The exhibit marks Mr. McQueen’s 19- how much of a year career. It has all designing god McQueen been separated into six actually was, he gave us galleries: “The Romantic the most romantic, jarring, Mind,” “Romantic Gothic,” sexy, daring, jaw dropping, Romantic Nationalism,” alluring, sensual, emotional, dramatic and “Romantic Exoticism,” “Romantic artistic collections ever to grace the runways Primitivism,” and “Romantic of Paris. McQueen was a true genius, often breaking Naturalism.” stereotypes and boundaries. He saw the beauty in the Seren’s favourite collections are the eye ugly and made it acceptable and pleasing to the mind’s seducing “Romantic Naturalism” with its eye. You could even say that he provided the wardrobe for butterfl y prints, fi nely structured dresses, one of the most iconic ladies of our day and help create abundances of fl oral looking mounds and who she is now – Lady Gaga. Gaga-like creations and the “Romantic The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Primitivism” collection reminiscent Art showcased McQueen at its annual gala this month of ancient African tribes and the way and what a sight it was to behold. Fashion giants, they dress. This collection has a strong celebrities galore, models who donned McQueen’s art sense of tribalism and nature in that work (his clothing, shoes, jewellery and accessories), it contains lots of animal skins and bone. his muses and his successor, Sarah Burton (who featured in an earlier Seren issue), paid homage to the visionary McQueen, Kaden Wild Kate`s Dress Fine Rw11When Catherine Middleton stepped out of the vintage Rolls Royce Phantom, she stepped straight into the pages of fashion history, fi nally revealing her wedding dress Fresh to a waiting world audience, estimated at around two billion people. She carried a small bouquet of fl owers which bore a secret love message to her future husband. Fierce. The design was fabulous, fashionable and Models, editors, and fairytale, perfectly in tune with Ms Middleton’s members of the desire that it should combine tradition entertainment industry and modernity with the artistic vision that gathered for one of the characterises Britain’s most famous fashion premiere fashion events label, established by the late Lee Alexander of the year: the Costume McQueen, in 1994. Institute Gala At The It featured a strapless, Victorian-style Metropolitan Museum corset, narrowed at the waist and padded at Of Art. As you know this the hips, a high-necked, long-sleeved, sculpted year’s festivities paid bodice in intricate lacework. Seren thinks that tribute to Alexander this dress was perfect thanks to Sarah McQueen, Guests Burton - McQueens successor, showed up determined and she looked beautiful. to stun –and while most Congrats! did, some disappointed.

Rihanna represented in a Ciara looks smoldering in Zoe Saldana looks great in one shoulder lace gown by a fairytale gown by Prabal this pale yellow Calvin Klein Stella McCartney, accented Gurung. Teamed with her dress. The colour pops, the by strappy sandals. She looks Lorraine Schwartz heavy dress fi ts, the makeup is saucy and sophisticated. You black diamond and sapphire simple, and the hair is loose never fail Rihanna mesh bracelets she gives and wavy. Hot! the added edge to the dress. End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 27 What’s in?

Guys Get The Look

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River Island Palazzo Trousers £24.99 Maxi £44.99 Sunglasses £12.99 Sandal £34.99 Hat £14.99

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�Seren Wants�

Topshop Maxi £30 Head Scarf £7 Bag £28 Sunglasses £25

Vibrant prints and lively accessories are a must this �Seren Wants� summer! Day to night chic is made simple by owning sheer Summer ‘11 palazzo trousers, billowing maxis and colourful kaftans! Check out Rochelle Wiseman from The Saturdays working this latest trend with a simple white loose fi t vest.

The newest Asian Issue of V Magazine features Lady Gaga on its cover. She actually designed the bracelets she’s wearing in the pictures to help fund What relief efforts for the Japanese Tsunami. You can get yours Were from her online store and help support Japan. She was They also an editorialist for this issue and was interviewed Thinking? by Elton John! Plus let’s not forget her album “Born This So we have hailed some Way” is due out on the 23rd of the outfi ts from the of May! Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum Of Art in celebration of Alexander McQueen. Now it’s time to get nasty and point out some of the shocker frocks from the evening!

Beyonce turned up in a Alicia Keys’ belted chocolate Naomi Campbell paid Emilio Pucci dress. There is Givenchy gown, paired with a homage to Alexander so much going on with it; crocodile jacket looked suited McQueen in a dress brocade details, dramatic for a less glitzy red carpet. I designed by the house. high neckline, mermaid hem, would’ve liked to have seen However loo roll springs and a bust revealing cut out! a vibrant color or a shiny into mind here. Seren ain’t Tone it down Beyo! metallic. too keen on this look! 28 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011

Summer skin saviours Basking in the sun for hours on end may seem like the perfect way to procrasti nate, but it’s a potenti ally dangerous past-ti me that doesn’t come risk-free. We all know a bit about sunscreen and why we need it, but very few of us fully appreciate how important it is to stay protected in the sun. Research from the sensiti ve skin specialists at La Roche-Posay has revealed that a whopping 75% of us have no idea how the sun’s UVB rays aff ect our skin. May is Melanoma Awareness month, so now is the perfect ti me to get clued up about summer skincare! Banish burns and get SPF savvy with Seren’s pick of the best sunscreens and moisturisers.

For fair or sensiti ve skin: It’s an For dark skin: Dark skin unfortunate fact that pale skinned contains lots of the people who burn easily are most at For olive skin: You may bronze UV-absorbing pigment risk of developing skin cancer. Certain beauti fully, but that doesn’t mean melanin, so it’s naturally anti bioti cs and anti depressants may you’re invincible to the ageing ef- more resistant to the Summer Survival Kit also make you more sensiti ve to the fects of the sun! Choose a mid SPF harmful eff ects of the sun than usual, so sti ck to sunscreen of 15 to 20 to ward sun. You may be less Whether you’re hitting the beach or with a high SPF off those pesky UVA likely to develop skin heading to a festival this summer, of 20 to 50. Skin- rays. Keep cool with cancer than your fair care specialists Clarins’ Sun Wrin- skinned friends, but it’s keep your cool with our beauty Clinique have a kle Control Cream sti ll worth wearing an essentials. fantasti c range of UVB 15, £17.00 SPF of at least 10 to 15 to prevent SolarSmart face ageing and skin damage. Hawaiian creams ranging Tropic has a fantasti c range of divine from SPF 15 to smelling products such as this Pro- 40, £15.50 tecti ve Dry Oil Spray SPF 15, £9.99 Bizarre Beauty Alert! Suggests... Violent Lips have blended fashion with fantasy Protect your hair and scalp from for their new range of harmful UV rays by covering temporary tattoos. Pout it with a hat or scarf, also try like a pro with wild animal Mark Hill Holiday Hair Sun prints, funky rainbow colours and pretty polka Protect Spray £6.12 that dots! Finding a fi erce contains SPF6 before going out festival look has never been in the sun. simpler. Check out the full range on violentlips.com Disguise greasy roots with this summer essenti al, great for festi vals and the beach, Bati ste Tropical Spend! Spend! Spend! Dry Shampoo Student finance may not be top of our Christmas card list, £2.35. but this strangely timed loan installment has meant we’ve been able to spoil ourselves a bit. So if you can bear to part with your beer money boys, why not treat yourselves to Get your toes fl ip some post-exam pampering? fl op ready with Barry Let’s face it lads, feet maintenance probably isn’t up there on your list of priorities. Luckily for you, M Instant Nail Eff ects Nail our fishy friends are here to help. TH1 Hairdressers £10 for 15 are now offering the latest foot care trend, Dr mins Paint, £3.99, use over your Fish foot spas! The doctors in question are actually favourite nail varnish to create a Garra Rufa fish and they nibble away at your feet, removing dead skin cells. cracked eff ect on top.

Be warned what we’re about to suggest might Want silky smooth legs that last £6.94 leave you in a cold sweat just thinking about all week? Try Veet Ready To Veet high it. Waxing. Yep that’s right. Your eyebrows. We hate them. I mean really hate them. Banish those Precision Facial Use Sensiti ve Wax Strips, Wax monobrows with a home waxing trip or splash out on a trip to the salon. £6.42.

Fancy feeling like a proper gent? Next time you go Make sure your mascara is and get your mop chopped, why not ask for a shave Ask your pool proof with Models as well? No fancy salons required and as long as barber for your barber doesn’t bear any resemblance to Sweeney more details Own Ultra Waterproof Todd you’ll be fine. Mascara. £6.00. End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 29 What’s Up? Y SO SRS... about alcohol? xx Jennyx Why drubk dialing is Drinking Culture: always a bad idea... a Global

runk mobile phone use - most of us have done of the blue and the overall drama of student life in halls Perspective it. Tweeting, texting, dialling and Facebook or houses get blown vastly out of proportion and become Dmessaging all become a fun little game of phone the focus of nasty and poorly spelt messages to former Students in the UK are fortunate (technically earlier in some cases), roulette when the clock strikes 0300 and we’ve had friends and exes. Sometimes they’re funny - much like that they can drink freely pretty much you still can’t raise your glass till about fi fteen units too many. The results are frequently Damn You Autocorrect - because of the obtuseness of the from the time they start university. you’re 21. Binge drinking is recognised hilarious and provide fodder for many an injoke among contents, but other times a steady stream of incoming Not everyone is so “fortunate”- plenty as a serious problem on some US friends. Reading my friends’ drunk tweets has given me messages, BBMs, What’s App notifi cations, and Tweets of places disallow alcohol entirely- and campuses, having caused a number of many an excuse to procrastinate on my next chapter or can start to feel like harassment. Here are some tips some schools and universities even deaths or serious accidents in the last article. However, there is a time and place to sail these to avoid embarrassing and counterproductive drunken ban alcohol from their campuses and decade. The laws go state by state but uncharted waters of phone etiquette. encounters via phone. If you’re seeking to recover from dorms. Here are two examples of due to the federal government holding All too often silly arguments, moods which descend out drunk text addiction, here are some tips: countries that behave quite similarly important infrastructure money to the UK in terms of their cultural hostage, it is unlikely that any state approach to alcohol, but have very will lower the age anytime soon. 1. Don’t take your phone out with you. different laws and regulations around Canada: O Canada, our favourite who can drink and when. place for college keggers. Drinking USA: If you get caught drinking laws vary in America’s Hat by province, 2. Give your phone to a housemate and underage it can result in anything but most provinces set the age at 19, make them promise not to give you the from a warning to a Minor in whereas Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec phone. Possession, which is a misdemeanor set the age at 18. There are some offence. Many a cheerleader and special rules around underage drinking football player have fallen prey to this in some provinces, allowing parents 3. Don’t drink so much that you lose Ibk miss your.we wen go unfortunate possibility at high school to supervise their children who are all perspective on personal drama and house parties, resulting in being having a glass of wine or a beer with Sorry I’m drubk. Why arnet we frienvs anyone? heartache. Steady on chaps. kicked off the team and in some cases dinner, but not any underage guests. suspended from school or expelled Generally speaking the attitude to WHY DOT YOU LOVE ME!! under “Zero Tolerance to Drug and drinking is quite lax and, like in the US Trombone so cruel t 4. Set a new password on your phone Alcohol” policies. Even though you and UK, most people have their fi rst every time you go out if you  nd yourself can enrol in the armed forces at 18 drink before the legal age. regularly disturbing other people’s sleep or fun with your amusingly ungrammatical and content-devoid messages.

5. Download one of many apps to prevent this electronically-delivered substance abuse from happening; one that’s been recommended is Don’t Dial! which can be gotten from the App Store for iPhone for 99p. Well worth the investment if you’re really seeking to preserve a friendship on the rocks! Post exam party perils: poisoning!

peaking of drinking culture, it’s the amount of drink someone has had. a friend is experiencing the symptoms the exam period right now, and A breath test will confi rm their blood of poisoning, it’s too late. Call for Scertainly the wave of relief and alcohol level. Treatment for alcohol medical assistance immediately and the need to let off steam after exams overconsumption usually means a ensure that you monitor breathing Signs of Alcohol Poisoning: is immense. Many people choose a short hospital stay and sometimes and regulate body temperature. - Mental confusion, stupor, coma, night out in their local as their outlet having your stomach pumped, often People often fall over when they are or person cannot be roused for stress relief and celebration- and using charcoal. It’s an unpleasant drunk. Hitting your head when you’re there is nothing wrong with that. But experience to say the least and it sober can be bad enough; when you’re - Vomiting the risk of a heavy night out isn’t just usually involves being sick quite a lot. drunk it can be extra-dangerous. - Seizures a hangover the next day and running Dehydration and low blood Drunkenness slows your body’s - Slow breathing (fewer than up a big tab at Mike’s trying to cure it sugar are major risks with alcohol reaction time to outside stimuli, which eight breaths per minute) with a metric ton of grease and bacon. overconsumption. The best way to everyone knows- but it also slows Here are a few things to watch out combat this is either not to drink as your body’s reaction to pain, swelling, - Irregular breathing (10 seconds for as the night wears on, keeping in much, or to ensure you consume a and injury. With head injuries this is or more between breaths) mind the effects of alcohol poisoning pint of water and a snack between especially critical and drunkenness - Hypothermia (low body can appear subtly and without much drinks. Hydration and maintaining can get in the way of a fast and temperature), bluish skin color, warning put your and your friends’ your blood sugar are two of the effective diagnosis and application of lives at risk. easiest and most important ways medical treatment. Don’t go climbing, palenes There is no one level at which a of preventing the onset of sickness running, and jumping about when person’s body succumbs to alcohol and hangovers- next to drinking you’ve had a lot to drink. And don’t poisoning- everyone is different. less, of course. They’re also key to wait to seek help if you or a friend has There is no point trying to calculate preventing alcohol poisoning. If you or hit their head. 30 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 Music

unk & Poetry is one of the most exciting albums I’ve ever the mid-paced song. I can guarantee you your reaction will heard. There, that’s the hyperbole over with. This album be “Did that really just happen?!”. It’s yet another example of Pcrackles with aggression and fury, but also manages to retain The King Blues’ commitment to reaching out to challenge the the wit and charm of previous King Blues efforts. Never short to listener and make them think (although one suspects that they However, as an album, this is simply fantastic. It’s a shame condemn a politician or two, ‘We Are Fucking Angry’ declares “cut fancied playing with a drum machine a little bit too). other bands don’t put the same amount of thought and care into the bankers, cut the MP’s, cut the rich and the riot police”. In fact, To be entirely honest, I’ve struggled a lot in reviewing this al- their music as The King Blues do. However, they do, and this al- the King Blues’ anarchist beliefs show through on a regular basis bum. With a lot of albums, you’re able to clearly defi ne them. But bum will hopefully propel them into the big time. on this album. ‘Shooting Fascists’ reminds us that “your Grandad with this one, it’s impossible. Every time you listen to the songs didn’t vote for fascists, he shot them”. Considering how much I’d you pull a different meaning out of them, and you’ll have a new Joey McNally heard of this album prior to its release, I was shocked by how favourite track every time you listen all the way through. This is an fresh and new it sounded. Make no mistake, this is a piece of album for the tuition fee protest generation. A snarling, politically music, not individual slabs. Every track segues effortlessly into charged beast of an album, but with a genuinely good nature. I’d Best tracks: the next, and to be honest, the impression you get is of sitting in imagine the political content of the lyrics will alienate some people a pub, listening to different people’s conversations. (Tories, I call them), but really, with all due respect, the album ‘Set The World On Fire’, ‘The Paradoxically, the album both draws you in and pushes you wasn’t made for you if you don’t like what’s being said. There is Future’s Not What It Used To Be’, away. The music is inclusive, anthemic and melodic, but you can’t a few sticking points about the album though, because as we all help feeling that it’s speaking directly to you, imploring you to know nothing is perfect. Firstly, it’s quite short. 12 tracks seems ‘Headbutt’, ‘Does Anybody Care get out there and actually change things. The peak of the album like a lot, but 3 of the songs are in and around a minute long, About Us?’ is perhaps reached with ‘The Future’s Not What It Used To Be’. and one song (‘Five Bottles of Shampoo’) is an admittedly brilliant The song uses mariachi-type horns to create a dark, urban vibe pro-feminist poem set to music. To new fans of The King Blues, it to the song, as Itch understatedly tells us that “the schoolgirls will doubtless be enjoyable, but to old fans, it’ll be something that For Fans of: dress like hookers, the hookers dress like schoolgirls”. However you’ve heard before. So in effect, there are 8 actual songs on the the song breaks out into an absolutely MENTAL drum and bass album. The other negative aspect was the omission of the single Jamie T, Kid British section, which lasts a glorious 40 seconds before slipping back into ‘Holiday’, which is one of their best songs. Glasvegas

band that I hadn’t even heard of prior to a criticism however. ‘Still New’ is easy listening seeing them supporting The Vaccines in fare, yet ‘Imagine Pt.3’ is absolutely magnifi cent, ABirmingham, Smith Westerns have burst driven by an uplifting beat and superb guitar riffs into my musical consciousness with a bang, and certainly a highlight of the album. My per- and a welcome one at that. Five minutes prior sonal favourite from the album, ‘All Die Young’ to writing this review I was certain that Dye It follows this, and heads into prog-rock territory; Blonde was the debut album from this Chicago not something you’d expect after hearing the born band, although upon scratching the surface fi rst three tracks. It tackles a theme more ma- I was found to be wrong. ture than maybe you’d expect at fi rst listen with Much criticism has been leveled at this band the refrain of ‘It takes all my time, to be in love from certain music media establishments; main- with you’ the highlight in this track. ly that they take their infl uences and really do ‘End of the Night’ is reminiscent of early 90s their best to recreate and not create. This is most Brit-pop, particularly The Charlatans, and once defi nitely unfair of Dye It Blonde however. Yes, again the guitar work here is superb. Each song their fi rst album sounded an awful lot like Bowie on this album features at least three main parts and Bolan in places, but it had oodles of charm. of solo lead guitar work, and the result is re- The second album is a far more individual affair freshing. A few of the songs certainly swoon (see though, and this can be directly linked to the at- ‘Only One’, ‘Smile’) but it is pulled off effortlessly. ollowing up the self titled debut album Glasvegas was wiched between the bold ‘Homosexuality Part 1’ and ‘...Part tention they’re getting. Dye It Blonde feels like the fi rst album I’ve lis- never going to be an easy task for James Allan and 2’. These tracks, particularly ‘Dream...’ suggest that this As far as young bands go, they’ve got it all. tened to in a very long time that can be listened Fco. given the massive success and critical acclaim it album, conceptually at least, has been on a different plain Classic electric riffs, synths, and some wonder- to from start to fi nish without actually disliking a received upon release, but with Euphoric /// Heartbreak \\\ completely up until this point. These brilliant tracks set the fully progressive tracks that are as unique and track, which is no mean feat. Big things are com- it appears they have done it. stage wonderfully for the crescendo of album, ‘Euphoria, contemporary as they are retro. Opening with ing from these, make sure to check this album ‘Pain, Pain, Never Again’ couldn’t be further from the Take My Hand’. Tackling the term ‘Euphoria’ would be hard ‘Weekend’, a summery indie-pop-rock song that out along the way. sweeping the drums and effect-layered chords of the pre- for most bands, but here Glasvegas really out-do them- could and should be a huge hit this summer, the vious album’s opener ‘Flowers and Football Tops’, but in- selves and deliver what is possibly the fi nest track they foundations are laid for a great album. A lot of Tomos Davies duces the listener into an have written. For a band the songs on this album are about love, this isn’t almost trance like state so used to delivering tracks before the massive ‘The “Glasvegas aren’t all about crashing beats about daddy issues, social World Is Yours’. It instills a workers, and infi delity, this real sense of urgency that and football-terrace choruses” just raises the bar. The lead helps to justify the hyp- guitar riff soars above any- notic fi rst track and kicks the album into gear spectacularly. thing else on the album, driving the emotion in the track. This track is closer to what we expect from the Glaswegian Epic. The album is closed with the refl ective yet uplifting band, and it’s worth noting that the addition of a proper ‘Lots Sometimes’, an ode to lost love, and the incredibly drummer in Jonna Löfgren improves the sound somewhat. touching ‘Change’, which features a duet between singer To follow this up with ‘You’, which is ultimately the Allan and his mother, with spoken word over piano. worst track on the album, is a strange move. It’s dreary, Perfect 10. drags, and at best is slightly incoherent, but it doesn’t de- tract from the excellence of the album as a whole. If you’re going to whack some fi ller in, you’ve got to do it at some Tomos Davies point. Thankfully the tracks after this are absolute crackers. ‘Shine Like Stars’ is an absolute festival tune and ‘Whatever Hurts You Through The Night’ is a reminder that Glasvegas aren’t all about crashing beats and football-terrace chorus- es; it offers us more of what was hinted at in the wonder- fully cultured fi nal track of the debut album ‘Ice Cream Van’ and the heartbreaking Christmas themed title-track of the 2008 EP ‘A Snowfl ake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss). The heart of Euphoric /// Heartbreak \\\ revolves around the track ‘Dream Dream Dreaming’ which is sand- End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 31 Music

Featuredo, we at Seren haven’t gone mad. Underneath theArt sneers, hairspray andist attitude, there are some cracking tunes to be found. Admittedly, the band don’t shower Nthemselves in glory with their actions, but as a snotty, swaggering bunch of Sex Pistols-aping songs, the material here is actually extremely good.

Eric Saade- Popular Blue- I Can Best tracks: On A Noose Sweden’s Eurovision entry, and the song Well lads, it’s quite clear that you can’t. Air Guitar that should have won. A slice of cheesy King Europop brilliance. Beyonce- Run The World For fans off: Arctic Monkeys- Don’t Sit (Girls) Everything about this song irritates me. The Sex Pistols Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Mind you, everything about Beyonce ir- Oasis Your Chair ritates me lately. Storming return, and if the rest of the album is this good, I’ll be willing to forget Dev- Bass Down Low ‘Humbug’ ever happened. Imagine the most annoying thing you’ve Noah and the Whale- To- ever heard, times it by ten and make it into a song. Hey presto, you have ‘Bass night’s The Kind Of Night Down Low’. Excruciating. Great song from a band I’ve never been overly keen on. On this type of form, they could win me over. Classic Album

erhaps ‘Chelsea Dagger’ will be the Best tracks: Fratellis’ enduring legacy, but there’s much Pbetter songs on this album. Whether it’s Creepin’ Up The Backstairs the ramshackle brilliance of ‘Flathead’, or the Got Ma Nuts From A Hippy delightfully quirky ‘Creepin’ Up The Backstairs’, Henrietta this is the worst kind of fi rst album for a band to make: the one that can’t be topped. Simply brilliant, and even the low points (‘Doginabag’) make other bands look like apes playing instruments.

ndie inspired rockers The Vaccines have released including NME. Yet I fi nd myself thinking of this long their long awaited debut album entitled ‘What awaited debut from The Vaccines: ‘Is that it?’. Don’t IDid You Expect From The Vaccines?’ The album get me wrong, the album is worth a listen, but it’s not which was available from March 14th, includes singles an album that is anything to shout about. It’s very easy ‘Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)’ and of course arguably the for bands to knock together a few decent songs and bands most famous song ‘Post Break-Up Sex’. The use the rest of the album as fi ller, and unfortunately it album is laced heavily with the bands obvious Ramones seems that this is what the Vaccines have done. Saying Bangor Aid inspiration, as there is a typical gritty feel that is often all of this though, my personal favorite off the album associated with punk albums. This is clear on the very is ‘Wolf Pack’, as this summer anthem boasts a catchy ll of you will have seen on your walks organize a series of music and art events, short ‘Wreckin’ Bar’, which clocks in at a mere 1.22. beat and great riffs. around the city people begging culminating in a live music festival which However it does not suffer for this, being a frantic dash For a band that only started last year they have Aon the side of the road, outside will take place at Hendre Hall over the through a great surf-punk song. They however do add done well to have their debut album reach number 4 in Morrison’s, Tesco, near the Clock weekend of May 20th -21st. The main a typical British element with the bleak narrative in the charts. But perhaps the lack of time they’ve had to as well as by shop windows around festival will feature the very best of their lyrics that that sets the tone for the entire album. develop has led them to hurriedly create a lackluster the city. Most of you will not give local and student bands that Bangor Personally I fi nd the album too mediocre, 2011 is a album that will have a struggle to be included on the homeless people any money, not and North Wales have to offer. big year for music, and no band more so than the list of 2011’s best albums. because you don’t want to help These will include the likes of Vaccines, who were hyped beyond belief by magazines them but perhaps you feel they’re Tapas Tuesday - the Winner of Dave Hudson either beyond help or that the Bar Uno’s Battle of the money may be spent on not so helpful Bands - and the very things. No matter what your opinion best DJ in the area. on homeless people, you may feel Held on the same Playlist of that if they want to help themselves weekend that Radio and get back on the road to a better 1 hosted the Big life they should be given Weekend last year, The Month that chance. Nobody this is surely a great after all wants to see the way to celebrate the end Editor’s Rating: 10/10! tragic events of this of exams and the start of the winter repeated, summer. elcome to the fi nal ever enough to have Spotify Premium, when plummeting Bangor Aid Music Festival will ‘Spotify Playlist of the you can enjoy my ‘Ultimate’ t e m p e r a t u r e s be a key part of Bangor’s live music WMonth’! That’s right, due playlist, of over 1000 songs, and and the coldest scene this year and the events leading to Spotify doing a u-turn that still being added to day by day! December for a up to the main festival will surely entice would make Nick Clegg proud, There’s no picking a best track hundred years, led and interest many people. Bangor Aid and deciding to start charging from this playlist, as every track to two members of also expects to have some high profi le users, this music editor refuses to is a gem! Enjoy, and I’ll see you Bangor’s homeless guest and bands that will be performing advertise their once great service next year with a lovely spangly community losing for the cause. in these pages! This feature was new feature for you lot to sink your their lives. This is If you are interested in attending Bangor initially designed to offer readers teeth into. supposed to be a Aid Music Festival or any of the pre-events of Seren a source of music that developed country or would like to volunteer your musical or they didn’t have to mess about Joe McNally- and despite what many people artistic talents, see our Facebook site for to access, to make these pages a may feel towards the homeless, things like further details. Lhotse said “we are still bit more interactive, and most of Music Editor this should not be happening. looking for some funding and sponsorship all, in a medium you could access This is why Lhotse Whittle and Owain for Bangor Aid, so if you can help please for free. However, we’ve still got a Me! Dalton decided to set up Bangor Aid, do get in touch.” nice treat for you, if you’re lucky Scan a non-profi t organization, dedicated to Co-Directors Lhotse Whittle/Owain raising money for front line local homeless Dalton: [email protected] Link: http://tiny.cc/2ii40 charities. The purpose of Bangor Aid is to 32 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 Playstation Special PS3: The Top 5 Playstation 1. Network Hacked Some of the previous games defi nitely need to have loved the other MGS games On 20th April the Playstation mean that users will get some free belong up there in the upper echelons of to love MGS4 like I do, maybe not, but this Network shut down worldwide with game downloads and a free month’s video gaming. A story that has spanned 20 game simply delivers on every level. It’s a little explanation other than the error subscription to Playstion Plus [existing years in total comes to an end here, and game that sells PS3s and rightly so. message when users tried to log on members will simply get a month’s there’s a true sense of fi nality to it all. Yes, claiming the network was currently free usage]. Whether their customers there’s a lot of cutscenes, but this game down for maintenance and that you are happy with this or not its sure to has one hell of a story to tell. Maybe you should ‘try again later’. It took a while cost Sony a substantial amount. for Sony to confi rm the rumours that As we go to print its still unclear as the network had been hacked. to who hacked the service and why. The Playstation network currently About a week after the network went has over 77 million registered down Sony issued an email warning accounts across the world and in the users of the possibility of their credit competitive industry cannot afford card details being taken from the 2. to be shut down for such a period of network. The email warned users not For me, Assassin’s Creed 2 and the combat, and made the protagonist, time. Playstation’s main competitior X to panic, as it wasn’t defi nite, but to Uncharted 2 are virtually tied; but its Ezio Auditore, far more likeable than Box is currently the only online game keep an eye on their bank accounts. the sheer improvement from the original Altair of the previous game. Throw in the service that charges its users. This Some reports of bank accounts being that makes AC2 a joy to play. Ubisoft did setting - rennaissance Italy, with Venice is one of the reasons that the many hacked have surfaced but none everything right here; they took a great in particular looking gorgeous - and a ton Playstation users chose the expensive confi rmed. concept in the original, and stripped of side missions, and you have one of the console over its rival. Sony’s communication with users away all the repetitiveness, spiced up best games ever made. After almost a month without hasn’t been the best that it can be any access whatsoever Sony fi nally but recent polls have shown that even started bringing back the Network though the Network has been down on 15th and 16th May. Emails were for a month the majority of users sent out to UK users explaining how wouldn’t consider leaving Sony and all users will be required to change Playstation because of it. For more their PSN password either through a information see eu.playstation.com/ PS3 update or online on their website. psnlatest and if you had your details The email also informs users of the on the network then it would be a 3. compensation they will receive from good idea to just double check your Brilliant game. It is indicative of the performance as Nathan Drake, the game’s the inconvenience. “To thank you for bank account is fi ne. quality of this list that this is only #3; it protagonist, and he is backed up by a very your patience…we’ll be rolling out a was a very close call indeed. Uncharted good support cast. The best part is that Welcome Back programme…” this will LJ Taylor 2 is superb. So many games have tried the game maintains a very high standard and failed to recreate an action movie, of gameplay, delivering wonderfully but Uncharted 2 gets it spot on. Nolan immersive gunfi ghts and platforming. North, probably the premier voice actor It really is the complete package as a in the industry, gives an outstanding modern game. 4. No game has such a phenomenal sense the look and feel of a fi nal boss fi ght - and of scale as God of War 3. The fi rst in the it only gets more epic from there. Every series to utilize the PS3’s power, God of other game is the joke, God of War 3 is the War 3 immediately sets its stall out to stun punchline. Once again, though, it’s just a you over and over again. If you want an little bit too short. You can fi nish it in 8 example of the scale of this game, take a hours, while God of War 2 was a 12-hour look at the fi rst boss. You take on Poseidon, game minimum. God of the sea, and the battle itself has 5. This selection might surprise some, but extremely colourful game, setting it apart Mirror’s Edge is a fantastically innovative from the “realistic” greys and browns that game. The concept of fi rst-person free- punctuate modern gaming. Mirror’s Edge running is an interesting one, but the is just too short to be one of the very best development team at Dice pulled it off (though there are time trials and various with panache. Everything about the challenges to extend playtime a little), but game is refreshing; even the graphics what there is of it plays out at an amazing, set it apart from the competition. It’s an breathtaking pace. Play this now. According to Matt Cox 32 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 33 Playstation Special t was rumoured a should be a walk in the park for the computer giants. The acquistion Iwhile ago that it would Now, Microsoft won’t just be purchasing a company so that should be fi nalised be Google and Facebook it can wipe its debts, they’re going to be expecting benefi ts very soon, only who would become the themselves. So what are said benefi ts? Skype has been hugely approvals and PS3: The Top 5 new owners of Skype, successful and still continues to grow, Microsoft has stated customary closing but in a quite surprising that Skype will be able to support Microsoft devices such as conditions need and unexpected move, it’s the Xbox and Kinect; it will work with Windows Phone and to be sorted. Then Microsoft that have invested the will be able to connect with other Microsoft software such as we’ll all be able to Playstation cash, $8.5 billion of it to exact. Outlook. Non-Windows users need not worry either; they will see what exactly But is Skype actually still continue to invest in non-Microsoft platforms. Microsoft plans worth the selling price? And what The purchase of Skype should increase the accessibility to do with Skype, Network Hacked exactly do Microsoft benefi t from of real-time video and voice communications. Information and whether it’ll be a 1. the acquisition? on whether Skype will be installed on Windows operating success or not. On 20th April the Playstation mean that users will get some free Some of the previous games defi nitely need to have loved the other MGS games Skype isn’t exactly rolling in money; in fact it’s never made systems hasn’t surfaced, but it would be a very simple way belong up there in the upper echelons of to love MGS4 like I do, maybe not, but this Network shut down worldwide with game downloads and a free month’s any. In 2010 the company made a net loss of $69 million of getting Skype out there automatically to it’s users. Either video gaming. A story that has spanned 20 game simply delivers on every level. It’s a little explanation other than the error subscription to Playstion Plus [existing due to interest charges on the $686 million they owe in long- way, benefi ts to both consumers and enterprise users will be Aaron Wiles years in total comes to an end here, and game that sells PS3s and rightly so. message when users tried to log on members will simply get a month’s term debts. However, Microsoft’s quite stuffed back pockets in the form of new business and revenue opportunities, and there’s a true sense of fi nality to it all. Yes, claiming the network was currently free usage]. Whether their customers will easily wipe this debt, and with an ever-increasing amount Microsoft’s portfolio of real-time communications is extended there’s a lot of cutscenes, but this game down for maintenance and that you are happy with this or not its sure to of users (currently 170 million people are connected) a profi t by a well-known and popular business. has one hell of a story to tell. Maybe you should ‘try again later’. It took a while cost Sony a substantial amount. for Sony to confi rm the rumours that As we go to print its still unclear as the network had been hacked. to who hacked the service and why. The Playstation network currently About a week after the network went has over 77 million registered down Sony issued an email warning accounts across the world and in the users of the possibility of their credit competitive industry cannot afford card details being taken from the 2. to be shut down for such a period of network. The email warned users not For me, Assassin’s Creed 2 and the combat, and made the protagonist, time. Playstation’s main competitior X to panic, as it wasn’t defi nite, but to Uncharted 2 are virtually tied; but its Ezio Auditore, far more likeable than Box is currently the only online game keep an eye on their bank accounts. the sheer improvement from the original Altair of the previous game. Throw in the service that charges its users. This Some reports of bank accounts being that makes AC2 a joy to play. Ubisoft did setting - rennaissance Italy, with Venice is one of the reasons that the many hacked have surfaced but none everything right here; they took a great in particular looking gorgeous - and a ton Playstation users chose the expensive confi rmed. concept in the original, and stripped of side missions, and you have one of the console over its rival. Sony’s communication with users equels have dominated the problem if you put a Portal on the opposite wall. It was One can’t discuss Portal without discussing the away all the repetitiveness, spiced up best games ever made. After almost a month without hasn’t been the best that it can be gaming industry for the last one of gaming’s most innovative video, and then Valve script, however; it’s one of the best you’ll fi nd in any access whatsoever Sony fi nally but recent polls have shown that even Sseveral years; some are topped Portal up with some delightfully black humour. a videogame. GlaDOS was the breakout character unnecessary, some desecrate The studio that gave us the excellent Half-Life 2 are on from the last game, with some of her lines being started bringing back the Network though the Network has been down memories of the original. great form once again here. In Portal 2 they have taken hilarious. In this game, she’s just as good, if not better. on 15th and 16th May. Emails were for a month the majority of users Others, like Portal 2, represent everything that was great about its predecessor and Then there’s Stephen Merchant as Wheatley. Anyone sent out to UK users explaining how wouldn’t consider leaving Sony and a great leap sforward. The original Portal was a added more depth in every area. The addition of “gels” who knows Merchant’s previous work will recognise his all users will be required to change Playstation because of it. For more fun little experiment by Valve; it fully showed off creates infi nite possibilities; the blue “repulsion gel” for distinctive voice, and the mannerisms and character of their PSN password either through a information see eu.playstation.com/ their magnifi cent Source physics engine, and at example causes you to bounce high into the air, like a Wheatley are exactly what you would expect from him. PS3 update or online on their website. psnlatest and if you had your details only a couple of hours long it was never intended trampoline. The game does slow down occasionally. There is a The email also informs users of the on the network then it would be a to be a full game. It was a great success. It became By using the trademark portal gun, you can cause these struggle, on occasion, to fi nd surfaces that you can put 3. compensation they will receive from good idea to just double check your the defi nition of cult classic, spawned countless gels to go where you want them in order to solve the a Portal on to. You will sometimes be required to squint the inconvenience. “To thank you for bank account is fi ne. internet memes and both the revolutionary problems. In the later levels, Valve seamlessly combines to fi nd the right place in order to move on. But when you Brilliant game. It is indicative of the performance as Nathan Drake, the game’s gameplay and the writing drew critical acclaim. all the elements they have introduced into complex but get into the actual puzzles, it is an absolute joy to play. your patience…we’ll be rolling out a quality of this list that this is only #3; it protagonist, and he is backed up by a very Valve’s decision to make a full-length sequel, then, superb puzzles that are neither too easy nor too hard. Portal 2 is an outstanding game that delivers on every was a very close call indeed. Uncharted good support cast. The best part is that Welcome Back programme…” this will LJ Taylor came as no surprise. They do some great things with the setting, too. The level. It may be diffi cult to tie down a game of the year 2 is superb. So many games have tried the game maintains a very high standard For those unaware, Portal was a fi rst-person cold, mechanical atmosphere of Aperture Science has with Uncharted 3 among others due out later on, but this and failed to recreate an action movie, of gameplay, delivering wonderfully game where you were given just one “weapon”: a been left alone for several years. In the early levels, is a real contender. but Uncharted 2 gets it spot on. Nolan immersive gunfi ghts and platforming. Portal gun, which allowed you to shoot certain walls you revisit some areas from the fi rst game, only to fi nd North, probably the premier voice actor It really is the complete package as a to create portals. You then use this to solve puzzles. them changed in some way by the undergrowth that has For instance, a would-be “uncrossable” chasm is no sprouted up. Matt Cox in the industry, gives an outstanding modern game. 4. No game has such a phenomenal sense the look and feel of a fi nal boss fi ght - and of scale as God of War 3. The fi rst in the it only gets more epic from there. Every hen the world wide web was young, we had the fi rst refreshed interface and worrying it’s competitors. within your browser, series to utilize the PS3’s power, God of other game is the joke, God of War 3 is the “browser war”, with Internet Explorer, Netscape, Now, two years on, features that were previously seen as which sync to all War 3 immediately sets its stall out to stun punchline. Once again, though, it’s just a WOpera and Firefox all competing for market innovative are now standard; tabbed browsing, anonymous the other computers you over and over again. If you want an little bit too short. You can fi nish it in 8 supremacy. Opera and Netscape foughtchrome bravely, but were left wars!browsing and integrated search bars. Now it takes every you use, saving you example of the scale of this game, take a hours, while God of War 2 was a 12-hour behind Firefox and IE. possible advantage to make a difference. having to install it look at the fi rst boss. You take on Poseidon, game minimum. Since 2005, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox have had repeatedly. almost complete control of the Internet browser network, Speed: God of the sea, and the battle itself has with only a couple of small competitors. When it comes down to plain speed, there’s very little Extensions: Now, thanks to Google, there’s a new player in the game. difference between them, with just seconds difference in All three support the use Google Chrome has leapt to being third in the market in just load times. On load times, Chrome and Firefox are neck and of extensions, but Firefox has 2 years and is now a major competitor. It is pushing other neck, with IE just a second behind, but when loading video, by far the most tools, allowing companies to innovate and improve like they haven’t had to Chrome and IE are ahead with Firefox falling behind. you to tailor your browser to best suit in years, starting the second browser war. you, followed by IE, with Chrome having the With Google’s knowledge of the web, they aimed to Stability: fewest number of extensions to date. develop the simplest and fastest browser on the market; Both IE and Chrome treat each tab separately, so if one 5. stripping back the user interface and streamlining the crashes, only that tab needs to be closed. This means you processing behind the scenes. don’t lose what you’re doing on other tabs. Verdict: This selection might surprise some, but extremely colourful game, setting it apart When it fi rst hit the market, it was immediately a hit with On the other hand, if one part of Chrome crashes, the whole Although IE has improved hugely from it’s past by tightening Mirror’s Edge is a fantastically innovative from the “realistic” greys and browns that reviewers, ripping apart previous speed records, giving a browser needs to be closed down. security, speeding up and becoming simpler to use, it just game. The concept of fi rst-person free- punctuate modern gaming. Mirror’s Edge doesn’t keep up on speed and features. If you don’t mind running is an interesting one, but the is just too short to be one of the very best Features: about extra features, then IE should cover your needs. development team at Dice pulled it off (though there are time trials and various Both Firefox and Chrome have data For anyone who uses the Internet for more than casual with panache. Everything about the challenges to extend playtime a little), but synchronising between devices, so browsing, or uses multiple computers, Firefox and Chrome game is refreshing; even the graphics what there is of it plays out at an amazing, any bookmarks, passwords and so on are a much better option as they provide you with much set it apart from the competition. It’s an breathtaking pace. Play this now. that you enter on one computer can be greater fl exibility, with Chrome pulling slightly ahead with it’s synced to any other computer you use synchronising apps and better stability. through a simple web login. Chrome also support in browser apps, Will Osborn According to Matt Cox so you can have apps like tweetdeck 34 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 Travel SUMMER Work - Volunteer - Travel

an’t decide on what you want to do this summer? www.gvi.co.uk. Ž ey specialise in programmes As a student earning money is probably the safest purely for volunteering, and go to almost every choice, but what if you have the travelling bug and country that you could think of. Ž eir pro- can’tC stop dreaming of that next country you are dying to grammes normally last from 1 week to a cou- explore. Well we have the answer: why not work abroad? ple of months. Now doing it this way can be Ž at way you get to see the world and earn some money. a bit pricey however it is very much worth But if working abroad not your thing, why not get a temp it. Ž ese programmes are individual and job in the UK and then head on out to the world with a unique to GVI and no other organisation volunteer programme/organisation. Ž is can be a very re- will look a† er you better than GVI. Ž ey warding way of seeing the world. are constantly looking for volunteers Have we tempted you? Is your travelling bug coming to and you can leave within 2 weeks of life with this opportunity? If the answer is yes then below booking your programme. So if you’re could be your ticket to the best way of earning money. looking for something last minute GVI Ž ere are many destinations you can choose from for could be perfect for you. your summer adventure. So why not check out some- Now you have decided where to go, who you’re where that you have always wanted to go to? Or why going with, only one more thing to do, how to get not try somewhere where you think this will be a once there? Some organisations will organise your air- in a lifetime opportunity. Some of the more popular fare for you and simply tell you all the details you choices are: Australia, Africa, South America and need. However other organisations will say they China. Now all of these countries do have the ap- need you out there for a certain day and you have peal that you will want and all are featured heavily to organise it yourself. Ž at’s when you start to re- on travelling websites. A great website to start your search airfares. Now www.sattravel.co.uk is perfect search on is www.realgap.com. Now Real Gap is a re- for students it o‘ ers great deals on airfare and also spected website and can be one for you to trust. Ž ey hotels. So if you fancy ° ying out a few days earlier o‘ er many di‘ erent packages for you to choose from then you could take advantage of their package deals and range from 2 weeks to 12 months. Ž is gives you they o‘ er. So as long as you are a student under 26 great diversity to how long you spend in one coun- then you can take advantage of these deals. Ž ey are try, because if you are feeling really adventurous why such good deals and the sta‘ are always very willing not try more than one country in your summer? to ­ nd you the best deal. If you want you can also Real Gap gives you the opportunity to be diverse phone then up and book it over the phone or pop and choose something that is really right for you. into one of their many branches across the country. Ž ey o‘ er both volunteering and work abroad so So you’re all set and ready to get your summer no matter what you’re looking for there will de­ - experience on the way, but there may be one more nitely be something to take your fancy. Whether it thing you want to do before setting o‘ , and that is is working in Ž ailand with children or in the Afri- to purchase an ISIC card. Ž is is the Internation- can bush helping preserve some of the worlds most al Student Identity Card. Ž is card is de­ nitely endangered species Real Gap is a good place to get worth the purchase. It is the most recognisable some amazing ideas. global student identity card in over 120 coun- Another website you might want to try is www.sea- tries, with 4.5 million card holders, and 40,000 sonworkers.com. Season workers are perfect for people discounts to be gained it is de­ nitely worth the like you looking for summer work. Ž ere are many dif- purchase. You can buy these at your local post ferent jobs online for you to apply for. It is a very sim- oµ ce or at an STA shop. It can also be used as ple application form and you can apply to as many jobs another form of ID on your travels, so if some- as you want. Ž e vast majority of jobs include summer thing happens such as you lose your passport camps, TEFL jobs, Childcare and much more. You are this can be used to prove you’re you. To ­ nd spoilt for choice on this website and the more skills you out more about this card then go onto: www. have the easier it will be to gain your perfect summer isic.org. job. Ž ere are two main quali­ cations that will really So whatever your plans are this summer I help you when applying and they are First Aid and hope you enjoy them and make the most of any Lifeguard. Now both of these will not be your full destination that you are working or volunteer- job, but will normally mean more money per hour ing at. Ž ere are so many places to explore so for simply just holding these quali­ cations. So if you can make the most of the opportunity given to you try and get one of these on your CV and it will make and have an amazing time! your job a lot easier. Now if none of these are tempting you and you really feel that volunteering is for you try Rowena Nathan End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 35 Travel

For the last ever issue of Dart Destination we are tak- ing you to the city that never sleeps, the Big Apple, yes it’s... New York City It’s time for this issue’s... Dart Destination ew York, the city that draws forget to go over to Ellis Island and be tricky so why not try the ‘subway’. Top 5 things to in millions of visitors every experience some of the history that is No not a sandwich, it is the New York see in NYC year, and it’s easy to see why. there on the convicts that came to the version of the London Underground. NŽ e appeal of New York is huge to the city with big ambitions. It’s pretty simple to use and will get you world, with so many things to see and Now if you enjoy being in the mid- to pretty much anywhere you need to 1. NYC Skyline do. You will never be bored in NYC, dle of the action why not go and see a go. Maps and attendants are on hand New York City’s skyline is truly awe-in- with something happening on every basketball or baseball game? In Ameri- just in case! However if you prefer to spiring. Ž e iconic skyscrapers, bridges, street corner and so many new things ca they are big on both sports and crit- travel above ground then the infamous waterways, islands and monuments create a breathtaking panorama that is instantly to try out, don’t hesitate! ics have said “you will never experience yellow cab will be around. Hailing a cab recognisable worldwide. Now once you step o‘ your plane the same feeling that you get at a bas- for anyone is an experience, but doing don’t stop just get going, start o‘ by ketball or baseball game”. Now if you’re it in NYC is a totally new experience; 2. Times Square just walking through all of the things like me and a bit of a novice when it just yell and one will come driving up. Not sure where to look while walking that you want to see. On your ­ rst day comes to ether of these sports do a little All of this gallivanting around the through world-famous Times Square? it is highly recommendable to book research before you go, or ask someone city can get trying and will work up an Don’t worry—you’re not alone. With mas- a Broadway show for later on in your to explain the rules; everyone seems to appetite. NYC is not short on places to sive digital billboards whose bright lights visit. Broadway is an experience not be so friendly at both games! eat; from your local takeaway to the 5* make midnight look like mid-a† ernoon; to miss out on; with so many di‘ erent However if you want to experience restaurant down the road, the city is star-studded Broadway shows; people ped- shows on, there will be at least one to something a little di‘ erent why not you oyster (literally if you fancy it). A dling art and jewellery on the street; and, of course, the Naked Cowboy—who plays tempt you. It may be even advisable to take a stroll through Central Park, NYC steak house is a must for you meat guitar in his tighty-whities—the expansive check out the range of shows on o‘ er where there will be more sites than eaters, critics have a called a NYC steak stretch of Midtown is a feast for all ­ ve before setting out, that way you will get you were expecting. One of the most “the only steak you will ever want”. senses. a taste of what you want to see. With so famous outdoor spaces in the world, However if you prefer something a lit- many deals on around the city you will Central Park gives you the opportunity tle lighter there are plenty of sushi bars 3. Central Park be pleasantly surprised with the price to sit back and relax and just watch around. However if you want to be to- Spanning 843 acres in the heart of Manhat- of some of the shows. Of course mati- the world go by, and if you have just tally rational go for a NYC bagel. You tan, Central Park is one of the world’s great- nees are cheaper than an evening show come from a game then this could be can ­ nd them being sold for as little est urban oases, encompassing a diverse and if you go mid-week there are o† en an excellent opportunity to relax. Or as $1. With as many ­ llings as anyone landscape of rolling ­ elds, walking trails a lot of deals to tempt even the tightest if you want to experience the lights of could choose from you will have to try and tranquil bodies of water—all sculpted by human hands pocket of person. NYC then head to Times Square, you this NYC delicacy before you leave. Now of course when you are in the can still wander round at your own free So go on be adventurous. Just re- 4. Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island Big Apple, you cannot not see the ‘BIG’ will and watch the world go by but in a member New York has it all, so try it Ž e Statue of Liberty, a gleaming beacon for sites that the city has to o‘ er. Ž e Statue totally di‘ erent way. Either way both of ALL! generations of immigrants seeking a better of Liberty is always a popular place to these are fantastic opportunities to see life in America, is perhaps New York City’s start, but remember it will be a popular what the day-to-day ‘New Yorker’ gets most recognizable historic landmark. tourist attraction no matter what time up to. Rowena Nathan of year you go. When you’re there don’t Getting to and from these places can 5. Yankee Stadium Ž e original Yankee Stadium, known as “Ž e House Ž at Ruth Built,” opened in 1923 and served as the Yankees’ home un- til 2008. Ž e new Yankee Stadium opened in 2009, and the team capped the venue’s inaugural season with their 27th World Se- ries title. Ž is celebrated icon of America’s favourite pastime is a must-see for any base- ball fan. 36 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 Fitness Fun Routes to Summer Fitness Five-a-Side Football always a good motivator to work that little bit harder. Ž ere are plenty of places esearch has shown that over the course of 12 weeks playing ­ ve-a-side in Bangor you can have a game for free if you’ve got four jumpers available for football can reap the same bene­ ts as a running based training program. goalposts but if you’d rather ­ xed metal to avoid the other teams ‘keeper moving Five-a-side is especially good if you’re forever putting o‘ exercise be- his woolen right post in every time you’re looking the other way Maes Glas (and Rcause you get bored of doing it alone and it’s also considerably cheaper than most likely somewhere close to home) rent out pitches at very reasonable prices. paying out to join the gym when money’s tight. Plus friendly competition is Cycling

ycling is the UK’s third most popular recreational activity. city as small as Bangor a bike can be extra useful for getting you to Not only does cycling reduce your chance of heart dis- those few places that are slightly too far away to walk to and also ease, type 2 diabetes, and stroke, it also keeps your weight make up for the mornings when you over estimate your ability Cdown and more importantly gets you places faster. If you don’t to get to your classes within two minutes of waking up. Over the own a bike already they’re fairly easy to come across cheaply— summer, cycling is an excellent way to get out of the house to do keep your eye on the Morrisons notice board, or alternatively you some exercise for a few hours and chances are there’s somewhere can get a new bike fairly cheaply from all the obvious places. In a nice to ride within a ten minute ride of your house. Swimming n the (albeit rare) warmth of the British summer swimming can some cases you’ll get the ­ rst few free) to help you gain con­ dence. be both a refreshing and relaxing way of keeping ­ t. A half- Like the 5-a-side, or any of the options in this list really, taking a hour slow crawl will burn approximately 240 calories— this is friend can help increase the enjoyment and with it the e‘ ectiveness Ithe equivalent of playing a game of singles tennis for the same time, of swimming. If you’re feeling more adventurous and there’s a good but without getting all sweaty, although obviously you will be con- body of water nearby you could always try outdoor swimming if the siderably damper getting out of the pool. Anyone uncomfortable weather’s up to it— if you are planning on doing this though, make or even just a little out of practice with their swimming will ­ nd sure you read up on it ­ rst as safety can be considerably trickier in that their local pool most likely o‘ ers adult swimming lessons (in the outdoors. Mountain Walking f you’re staying in Bangor over the summer or you’re lucky enough may well want a sun hat, some sun glasses, and some sun cream. You’ll to live somewhere with mountains of its own then mountain walk- also want a map and a friend - if you’re not taking the friend make sure ing is a particularly interesting way of keeping ­ t. It’s just like any someone knows where you’re going. Mountain Walking might seem like the more expensive of the options to get going on but living in Iother walking except more tiring and the view from the Snowdon sum- Bangor it’s probably one of the better investments a person can make mit is considerably more attractive than what you’ll see if you walk in terms of both ­ tness and your university experience. You can also from Ffridd to Tesco. Ž e University’s own Mountain Walking Club take a camera and get some amazing photos of the beautiful British recommends you take the following if you’re heading out for a walk: landscape if you want a reminder of one of the reasons you should go Walking boots; socks; light, quick drying trousers (no denim); a warm again a† er the ­ rst time. top; waterproofs; a small personal ­ rst aid kit; food and water (around a litre of the latter); a rucksack to carry it all in; and for the summer you Wakeboarding t’s the summer and you may want to go all out in terms of hav- changes of direction and position required; it helps your hand eye ing an awesome time, keeping ­ t, and looking cool— if this is coordination; provides a healthy distraction from daily irritations your idea of exercise then maybe you could try wakeboarding. whilst increasing your concentration; and just in case you don’t re- IWakeboarding boosts your health and ­ tness in a great number ally believe it’s that good for your health— think of all the swim- of di‘ erent ways: it strengthens your arm and leg muscles as this ming you’ll have to do every time you fall in, really, it’s two sports is where most of the physical demand is placed; it improves your in one. ° exibility; it improves your reaction times because of the sudden Hero Pose / Virasana A Beer a Day...

Bene© ts: joint research project by the Ž ey were keen to point out how- Stretches ankles, knees, and legs; Stimulates digestion; engergizes tired legs. It’s University of Barcelona, the ever, that the research conducted in- also calming - particularly useful for exam time. Hospital Clinic in Barcelona volved primarily Spanish participants, Aand the Carlos III Institute of Health stating that Spanish culture was one How to: in Madrid has concluded that moder- of drinking a small glass of beer with - Sit back on your heels. ate drinking of ale and lager can help tapas as opposed to stereotypical Brit- - If you have sti‘ ankles place padding (a pillow will do) under them. If your knees cut your chance of diabetes, high blood ish binge drinking in conjunction with are sti‘ place padding between the knees. pressure and even aids weight loss. fatty food which sadly means that just -Alternatively keep your knees together but bring the feet a little to the sides and sit Health bene­ ts have long been asso- because you’ve drank 8 pints before between them. Perhaps place a pillow or folded blanket to sit on in order to raise ciated with a glass of red wine and beer getting to the take-away, your kebab is the hips a little. has many of these same advantages. still just as unhealthy as it always was. -Sit back an breathe. Beer contains vitamins, iron, calcium, In order to reap the bene­ ts of beer the - In the pose you’ll want to keep your sides straight, your shoulderblades ­ rmed and folic acid; all of which are essential researchers suggest combining it with into your back, and your neck long. to health. exercise and a healthy Mediterranean Ž e researchers concluded that beer diet high in fruits, vegetables, ­ sh, and Ž en just work on building the duration each time you do this pose. provides the cardiovascular system olive oil. with a protective e‘ ect, but also has the added bene­ t of lower alcohol content than most other drinks. VARSITY 2001

End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 37 Sport VARSITY 2011

his year’s Varsity marked the 4th a Muddogs player, said that at one point hold its head up high. One must not forget year Bangor and Aberystwyth have “overtime looked likely,” before Aberyst- that neither Aberystwyth or Bangor have played each other in a one day wyth got the ­ nal points necessary to put won. away yet, so a loss here is no shame. competitiveT competition over multiple them over the top. Bangor will be looking to perpetuate that sports. A† er this years win for Aber the A similarly close margin could be statistic when we once again welcome score stands at 2-2, next year when they found on the football pitch, where the Aberystwyth for the 2012 iteration of the come to us we’ll bring back the trophy! team lost on penalties. It is on such ­ ne event. Ž is year’s Varsity saw 15 more sports margins that varsity is won and lost. Rob- All in all, took 500 people down to Ab- join the battle of the two great universities. ert Gibbons, the football captain, said that erystwyth this year; more than previous One of the most heartbreaking sto- “a few injuries...de­ nitely a‘ ected the ­ nal years by a substantial amount. We also ries of the day was that of the Bangor result.” had more members actually participating Muddogs. One of the university’s most Badminton’s story was less gloomy, and supporting in Aber than Aber did; improved teams this year, they lost to though. Ž ey capped a highly successful Bangor’s support never wavers, and it is their Aberystwyth counterparts in the year with a thumping 7-1 victory. clear that Bangor’s AU is totally united. ­ nal minutes of the game. Drew Turner, Despite the loss, Bangor as a Uni can Matt Cox and Vicki Harman

BANGOR’S BEST CELEBRATED AT AU AWARDS DINNER his year’s AU Dinner celebrated various clubs, together this year the AU signed to determine the most athletic a fantastic year for the Athletics raised over £7,000 for 6 charities. Ž is team of the year, was eventually won by Union. From both a team and impressive haul shows what a vitally the Squash team. Tan individual perspective, the AU has important role the AU can play; con- SuperStars, meanwhile, was a com- really shown a great improvement and gratulations to everybody who helped petition testing the core elements of there is real promise that it will contin- raise money. each athlete. Ž ey were put through 4 ue to improve in the future. Congratulations are also in order for rounds of stamina, muscular endur- Ž is is visible when one looks at the the 13 “Blues” winners, awarded at the ance, and strength and skill tests. Tom fact that this year, more people have AU dinner. John Ker, Sam Murphy, Ni- Busbridge and Jessica Daniels were the been nominated for Half Colours, Full cholas Spencer, Sean Baxter, Chris Dav- winners of this event. Colours and Blues than before. is, Aaron Toner, Nicol Halliwell, James Overall the evening as a whole was Additionally, this year saw the addi- Firman, Steve Barnard, Jamie Ramday, spectacular; Danielle, with the help of tion of Aµ liate Colours to our Union; and Aoife Linane. Steve Barnard took Ed, Glyn and the catering sta‘ put on awarded to those who are not students two awards for his contributions to a fantastic evening. Danielle said that at the university, but however deserve both diving and rugby. next year’s AU Dinner is going to be recognition for contributing to their Additionally, the AU dinner high- bigger and better and with what she club, above what is required of them. lighted the two inter-mural events that has accomplished this year I believe it Ž at’s not all the AU has done, ei- took place this year: SuperStars and Su- will. Look below for the rest of your ther. With the combined e‘ orts of the perTeams. Ž e SuperTeams event, de- award winners! HERE ARE YOUR WINNERS... Best Dressed: Varsity Team of the Club of the Year: Men’s Gaelic Year: Sub Aqua Football American Football Team Women’s Fresher of the Sportswoman of the Year: Year: Gabriella Rossetti Vicky Gottwald Men’s Fresher of the Year: Sportsman of the Year: Ben Pritchard Steve Barnard Spirit of the AU award: AU President’s Women’s Basket- Team of the Year: Award: ball Team Men’s Canoe Polo John Ker From Top: Bangor’s LaCrosse Team, the AU ready to leave, Ž e Octopush Club, and some Men’s Hockey Players 38 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk End of Year Issue 2011 Sport Champagne SuperNovak

afael Nadal’s dominance of the in the fact that Djokovic now has a 2)). ity down to Serbia’s recent Davis Cup Given his recent form, it might not be clay court has come into ques- far stronger, more consistent serve Murray expressed his disappoint- victory, in which he played a key role. long before we see someone other than tion this year with the resur- and it is plain to see how Djokovic ment a† er the match, saying “Ob- “Ž e Davis Cup gave me incredible en- Federer or Nadal at #1 for the ­ rst time genceR of Novak Djokovic, who has yet has become such a dominant force. viously it’s a great run [Djokovic is ergy,” he said. “I’m de­ nitely not think- in seven years. to lose a match in 2011. Ž e French Open will have begun by on]. I’m just disappointed with my- ing about losing matches, I’m thinking Watch this space; it could easily be Djokovic has hit a winning streak the time this article goes to print; how- self - I should have ended it tonight”. about winning.” that by the time you pick up next year’s (39 matches at the time of writing) ever, with Djokovic’s momentum, he is A concern for Djokovic will be the Ž e improvement in his game is ­ rst Seren, Djokovic will be holding the likes of which is rarely physical toll this run is hav- plain to see; he is not just a quality per- three Grand Slam titles. Ridiculous? seen on the ATP tour, and Given his recent form, it might not be long ing on him. Immediately af- former but he has now added the abil- Out of the question? Perhaps. But it’s his run saw him dispatch ter beating Murray, he said, ity to consistently win titles at this level getting harder and harder to bet against before we see someone other than Federer or both Rafael Nadal and “Ž ere’s no secret that phys- and it is because of this that Djokovic him in this form. Andy Murray at the re- Nadal at #1 for the © rst time in seven years. ically it’s catching up with is turning heads at an alarming rate. cent tournament in Rome. me de­ nitely. I’ve been Michael Ironside Nadal, previously almost invincible on looking increasingly likely to become playing the most matches of any play- clay, had no answer to the Serbian and only the second man to best Nadal at ers this year...playing at a high inten- was put away in straight sets 6-4 6-4. Roland Garros. sity and wanting to win every match.” Ž is recent resurgence from Djok- Ž e incredible 39-match winning However, the great incentive for ovic has been quite surprising; until streak is just 7 short of Guillermo Vil- Djokovic to continue is plain for all to now, he has been regarded as slightly las’s record, which was set in 1977, see; he is getting closer and closer to inferior to Federer and Nadal, a kind and it would take a brave man to bet Nadal in the world rankings. of third wheel in their rivalry. He was against Djokovic matching that record Incredibly, Djokovic has already almost a comedy sideshow with his now, such is his dominance and mo- accumulated enough ranking points on-court impersonations of his ri- mentum. Wimbledon, too, is only a to qualify for the season-ending vals, which earned him the “Djoker” couple of months away and Djoko- World Tour Finals in London. He be- moniker - but now he is all business vic will look ahead to that as another comes the only man, apart from Nad- and it has brought him great success, possible Grand Slam win; thus far, he al in 2009, to do so before the French especially this year - he secured his does not have any outside of Australia. Open. Coincidentally, the last match second Australian Open in January. He required great mental strength Djokovic lost was at that tournament’s Ž e greater maturity has been to beat Murray in the semi-­ nals of the 2010 iteration, where he was defeated key to his development. Consider the Rome tournament; Murray served for in the semi-­ nals by Roger Federer. fact that he is just a week younger the match at one point and was just two Ž ere can be no doubt that this is than Andy Murray. Murray is matur- points away from ending the streak, a new and improved Novak Djokovic. ing all the time, true, but Djokovic only for Djokovic to rally and secure Djokovic puts his excellent perform- is well ahead in that respect. Ž row victory on a tiebreak (6-1 3-6 7-6 (7- ances and new, winning mental- Novak Djokovic’s winning streak is among the longest in ATP history

ChildrenBangor FC Secure League of theTitle but Nevillution Lose Out on Welsh Cup his season Bangor City have set four years to a worthy Llanelli side— former player Neville Powell returned gor managed three consecutive Welsh league was anyone’s for the taking, with new records in their own his- ending their 22 game stranglehold on to Bangor, this time as manager, a† er Cup wins and although that run ­ nally just one point separating the two teams tory as well as new records for the competition but still not dampen- 14 years away. What followed was an ended on May 8th with a 4-1 defeat to when they met at Farrar Road on April TBritish football, won the Welsh Pre- ing an incredible season. almost unstoppable rise to the top of Llanelli at Parc Y Scarlets, it’s diµ cult 30th for the ­ nal day of the season. Cue mier League on the last day of the sea- It’s diµ cult to know where to start Welsh Football— dubbed Ž e Nevil- for a Bangor City fan to feel too disap- the turnout of the season and a per- son (and with it gained an ever coveted talking about Bangor’s season, so I may lution. pointed— almost exactly a week before formance to silence all the doubters, Champions League place), and lost in as well start in 2007 and work from In Powell’s ­ rst three seasons Ban- Bangor had ­ nally won a well deserved with Bangor’s Craig Garside slotting the Welsh Cup ­ nal for the ­ rst time in there. At the start of the 2007 season league title, topping o‘ an incredible home in the 66th minute to seal a long title ­ ght that seemed all but lost only awaited and much deserved title for two weeks before. the home side. Bangor’s 2010/11 campaign A week later Bangor travelled south started in dreamland; they won ­ f- as League Champions and long time teen matches in a row and broke the holders for the Welsh Cup Final, but modern British record for a winning dreams of a rare Welsh double were streak at the beginning of a season shattered by a second defeat to Llanelli along the way. By Christmas you’d in the space of a month. Whilst it’s dif- have been forgiven for thinking that ­ cult for such an incredible season to Bangor may as well have been handed end in cup ­ nal heartbreak, it’s hard to the trophy there and then; TNS, how- imagine how anyone could forget that ever, had other ideas. A† er ­ nally Bangor City F.C. still deserve nothing dropping points at Airbus UK Bangor but the utmost respect for what they’ve were hit by a lull in form and it looked brought to the fans and the city this as if TNS’s experience as a profession- year. al side would see them through to a Ž e Champions League draw for sixth league title— especially as Ban- next season will take place on June 20th gor slumped to a 5-2 home defeat at and Bangor will be waiting with baited the hands of the season’s bogey team, breath to see who poses their ­ rst ob- Llanelli. stacle of the campaign. If the competi- Never a team for giving up, and tion was decided on spirit alone, it’d be backed as by the ever incredible Far- safe to book your ° ights to Munich for rar Road faithful, Bangor took six the ­ nal next May. points away from home at the ex- pense of Port Talbot and Neath. With — omas Knott Bangor City FC players celebrate a† er winning the Welsh Premier League title TNS falling to a rare home defeat the End of Year Issue 2011 www.seren.bangor.ac.uk 39 Sport High on Entertainment but Low on BLOWING THEIR OWN WHISTLES: Quality: Premiership Season Review Footy Refs Try to Trade Red Card for Red Carpet elebrity culture ticks me o‘ . I running amok. Nor does it excuse in- lem? Well, keeping their egos in check hen the Player’s Player ement of previous teams (the class of don’t like the multitude of ce- competence. would be the ­ rst solution. Ž e most of the Year is injured for 06/07 that beat Roma 7-1, for example) lebrities that swarm the media, Respect for referees is something a extreme solution would be to keep weeks on end, and the was probably true, but Ferguson has Cespecially when some of them don’t lot of sports do very well; rugby and them all anonymous. Have them wear WFootball Writer’s Player of the Year instead turned Man Utd into a well- even have the talent to justify their basketball, among others, police it with masks to conceal their identities. plays for the team thatwas the ­ rst to oiled machine that can ruthlessly win fame. the utmost strictness. And it’s some- It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? It is. be mathematically relegated, you have mathes - particularly at home where So when I watched the return of the But then, it’s a ridiculous problem, so to wonder what sort of season it’s been. they have a formidable record. BBC show “Superstars” back in 2003, why not give it a ridiculous solution? Ž e mercurial talents that are sup- Ferguson’s undeniable love for the I was, again, rather ticked o‘ to ­ nd Ž e calls for players and managers to posed to get people o‘ their seat have game, passion and drive have shone that a certain Mr. Je‘ Winter would respect referees is well-timed and no- had relatively quiet seasons. through like a beacon this season, es- be oµ ciating it. Je‘ Winter, arguably ble; they don’t all deserve the ° ak they Rooney didn’t start ­ ring pecially when compared to the with- the embodiment of everything wrong get. Take Howard Webb, for instance; until the New Year, Balotel- drawn Ancelotti and the in- with the modern referee. He became, in my view, Webb is a slightly overrated li criticised his own season creasingly manic ­ gure of or strived to become, a celebrity in his referee (and he certainly shouldn’t have (in language too strong for Arsene Wenger. own right. He write an autobiography, been given an MBE, unless that stands these pages), and Fabregas However, that’s not to for crying out loud, and somebody ac- for Much Better Eyesight), but at the seemed to have one head in say it’s been boring. Some tually published the thing - naking him same time he is still a very able oµ cial. the Nou Camp (or even possi- of the games have been the ­ rst ref to book himself, but that’s Importantly, he keeps himself to him- bly Eastlands’) dressing room unbelievable, and per- beside the point. self for the most part and could have already. haps the done a lot more with his position than T e v e z highlight Keeping their egos in he has done. m a n a g e d was the Ž ere are others in the current crop to spark some Ne w c a s - check would be the © rst of referees that I would say are the life into an un- tle-Arse- solution thing fans of those sports are quick to same; perfectly competent, quiet, non- inspiring Man- nal game, remind football fans about, too, giving celebrity. But, like with so many things, chester City team, and the Bulgarian where the Toon Army came back to It is people like Je‘ Winter that make them some kind of moral superiority. there’s a minority and it is undermin- maestro Berbatov managed to keep grab a draw from 4-0 down. campaigns for “respect” fall a little ° at. I’ll take it on the chin; my congratula- ing the entire profession. Manchester United ­ ring long enough Ž ere’s a lot of discussion to be had It’s not just Je‘ Winter, either (though tions go to those sports for handling it for them to clinch the title, despite from this season as well, whether it’s he’s probably the worst). Graham Poll, so well. How do we deal with this prob- In my view, Webb is a being regularly dropped for the big the fairytale performance of Black- famous for the “three cards” ­ asco in lem? Well, keeping their egos in check matches. pool, who can take heart from their the 2006 World Cup, is another. would be the ­ rst solution. slightly overrated referee gutsy and sometimes excellent per- Ž e way Poll dealt with with José (and he certainly shouldn’t I’ve never been Ferguson’s formances, or even the renaissance of Mourinho on the touchline during a have been given an MBE, biggest fan, but it’s arguable Liverpool under ‘King’ Kenny Dalglish Man Utd/Chelsea league match at the (and you have no idea how hard it is end of the 06/07 season was a horrify- unless that stands for Much that he would have won the ti- for me to type that). ing subversion of everything a referee Better Eyesight), but at the tle with any of the top 6 teams should stand for - that being stoic ob- same time he is a very able this season jectivity, not palling around with foot- Perhaps the highlight was oµ cial the Newcastle-Arsenal game, ball’s most charismatic ­ gures. Ž e one positive that football as where the Toon Army came a game can draw from this season is — e way Poll dealt with I suppose what I’m saying here is the evergreen performance of Sir Alex back to grab a draw from 4-0 that while the “respect the refs” idea Ferguson (sorry Kopites!). As an Ever- down. José Mourinho on the is noble, it is also overly idealistic. It ton fan, I’ve never been Ferguson’s big- touchline was a horrifying is getting harder and harder to respect gest fan, but it’s arguable - and it has Not to forget Spurs’ heart-stopping subversion of everything a referees when they are constantly un- been argued by many - that he would Champions League ties, the increas- dermined by both instant television have won the title with any of the top 6 ingly poor performances of an other- referee should stand for replays and post-match reviews by the teams this season. wise talented West Ham team, or even FA (rescinding red cards, for example), When Chelsea throw away a 15 the rollercoaster ride that’s been Aston Don’t get me wrong; I have a lot of let alone the actions of people like Je‘ point lead and allow the weakest Unit- Villa’s season. Ž is season might not respect for any oµ cial that voluntarily In all fairness, though, they don’t Winter. ed side for years to capitalise, then you have had quality in abundance, but puts themselves in the ­ ring line, de- have to deal with pseudo-celebrities At the end of the day, authority ­ g- know the season’s been a bit poor in you can’t say it hasn’t been entertain- voting a lot of their time to the training like Winter and Poll. No rugby referee ures in sport should be respected - so terms of quality. ing - and isn’t that all that matters? and examination necessary to become has such an exaggerated sense of self- why do they have to make it so damn Marseille manager Didier Des- a top referee. But this does not mean importance. diµ cult? they should be free of criticism, espe- champs’ assertion that this Man Utd Joe McNally How do we deal with this prob- Peter Weale team were lacking in the “fantasy” el- cially with referees like Winter and Poll

st AUsuccessful year for the AU wasNEWS ough University continue to dominate. Bangor’s Men’s CanoeIN Polo 1 Ž e AU AnnualBRIEF General Meeting If you’re looking to join a new AU underlined with an increase in Ž ey have accumulated almost 1800 Team were this year’s Team of the is set to take place on Monday 23rd of club next year, check out Serendipity Bangor’s BUCS (British Uni- more knockout points and 200 more Year at the AU dinner and it is May from 6pm at Lecture Room 1 of when Uni starts up again in Septem- Aversity and College Sport) league points than their closest plain to see why. the Wheldon Building. ber. Ž e AU clubs will be out in full ranking. Over the course rivals, Birmingham, giving them Sensationally, the team went Ž is is where some changes to force to show you why exactly you of the last year the uni has a commanding lead. undefeated all season. Ž ough they the AU constitution will need to be should join their club. gone from sitting in 70th Rivals Aberystwyth maintain had previously come close to vic- made, and these need to be discussed Keep an open mind and see what place and his risen to join a slight lead over us, placing in tory - for the past 2 years they had by AU members. sports interest you the most; you rd 63rd with LSE Uni in Lon- 57th with only 70 more total come 3 at BUCS - ­ nally this year Old and new committee mem- might end up joining our phenome- don. points. they won the gold. bers at AU clubs need to attend this, nal Canoe Polo team, or our Lacrosse Ž is may seem quite Ž anks to everyone who has Nottingham Trent and Not- though anyone else is welcome to Team. low, but there are 146 helped to co-ordinate BUCS on tingham were the team’s closest come and air their views. Discussions Serendipity will once again be held competitors in BUCS competition and a weekly basis this year. Ž e fruits of competitors, but Bangor pulled about future AU Nights and next during the Wednesday and Ž ursday to rise as Bangor have done is indica- your labour are plain to see and the uni through and secured a very im- year’s Varsity will also take place. In of Freshers week at Maes Glas, 11am tive of the good year they have had. looks forward to yet more progression pressive win in the end to cap o‘ a addition, AU Committee positions - 3pm. Don’t miss out on this chance Elsewhere on the list, Loughbor- up the list next year! quite fantastic season. will be decided. to try something new!