26 The award-winning student newspaper of Imperial College . 02 “Keep The Cat Free” . Issue 1,455 10 ffelixelix felixonline.co.uk London Fashion Week This week.... Dead poll: Union hold off felix reviews Autumn/Winter 2010’s on new bar names hottest offerings, see pages 24 & 25 News, Page 3 Eating their young: Bono- bos exhibit cannabilism Science, Page 10 Gigging across the globe: festivals far afi eld What’s an Imperial Music, Page 17 Interview with another degree worth? Extraordinaire: Simon Reeve A 2:2 from Imperial is just as good as a 2:1 from other universities. Or is it? See pages 6 & 7 Fashion, Page 23 2 felix FRIDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2010 News Editor Kadhim Shubber NEWS [email protected] Spanner captured by Miners The world beyond WWanielaniel DanDan College walls Imperial College’s long-standing tra- dition of mascotry caused the newly elected City & Guilds College Union (CGCU) President Dan Lundy to lit- erally give over the CGCU mascot Spanner to the Royal School of Mines (RSM) during Friday’s Tri-Union Comedy Night at the Union. Confusion and subsequent attrition arose after ACC Chair, Miner and Russia Chap, Charles Murdoch managed to convince Lundy that RSM’s Chaps Club would look after Spanner under the pretence that the RSM were now he creator of Twitter, CEO officially a segment of CGCU. Lundy of eBay, head of Mozilla, and then, with the help of Murdoch, car- Left, the Bottle was returned to its rightful place behind the Union Bar, and Ashton Kutcher were sent to ried over the weighty mascot to the right, Spanner in a taunting RSM Chaps tie after a successful Miners’ capture Russia in a delegation sum- Miners. To Lundy’s bemusement, Tmoned by U.S. Secretary of State Hi- members of the Chaps Club, the RSM lary Rodham Clinton. The delegation Gentlemen’s (drinking) Society bun- due to go ahead this week, common lamp), and the RCSU hold a 7ft stain- was aimed at discussing how social net- dled Spanner out of the Union and sense took precedence and the Bottle less steel thermometer named Theta. works, new media, and communication onto the Beit Quad Lawn. was returned. The idea is for members of the Faculty tools can improve ties between the two Links Club, the CGCU’s Chaps Club Felix has managed to get hold of a Unions to use skill, intelligence and countries. The delegation followed similar ones to both Mexico and Iraq, equivalent, quickly caught wind of the formal apology letter addressed to the deviance to ‘capture’ others’ mascots. which led the Iraqi Government to establish a YouTube channel as well as situation unfolding and pursued their ‘RSM and Chaps past and present’ To keep proceedings friendly, only the Mexicans establishing an SMS crime hotline. The delegates met with mascot onto the lawn where a muddy which is signed off by Andrew Mac- violate mascots can be ‘stolen’. Mas- Russian ministers, presidential advisors, business leaders, as well as health, tug-of-war situation between RSM Fayden (Links Club Honourary Sec- cots are generally brought out during welfare, and anti-corruption activists and discussed technological collabo- Chaps and CGCU Links arose. The retary) and Dan Lundy. The letter Faculty Union events, such as Friday’s ration, cyber crime, health, governance, and cultural collaboration. Russia devious and muddied Miners even- shows the CGCU swallowing their Tri-Union Bar night. is the biggest consumer of social networks per capita, according to Com- tually got Spanner out of the Quad. pride and admitting their “wrong do- The Bottle now sits at its right- score, which stated that the average Russian adult spends 6.6 hours a month Charles Murdoch has confirmed that ing was a case of poor misjudgement”. ful place in the Union Bar, whilst on social networking websites. Spanner now lies “in a safe place in The letter continues “In what was the violate RSM mascot, Davy, re- College”. thought to be an act of mascotry, a mains missing, but they now hold The night’s proceedings escalated small minority of our members took the CGCU Spanner. Chris, the giant when angry and embarrassed Guilds- it upon themselves to remove The RAG collecting tin is also missing. men retaliated by stealing the RSM Bottle from the Union bar. I am as- The CGCU currently hold neither of Europe Bottle from behind the Union bar. sured that there was no intention to their mascots after Bolt was taken by The RSM Bottle is jointly-owned by permanently deprive and that The inebriated Scientist in another embar- the RSM and Camborne School of Bottle has been returned as quickly as rassingly easy capture by the RCSU he European Commission’s competition regulators have opened Mines (CSM) in Cornwall; it does not possible.” during the CGCU Bonfire bar night in a preliminary antitrust investigation into Google, according traditionally take part in mascotry. Mascotry is a historical tradition November. to both the commission and the company. The commission The RSM and CSM go to battle for the between rival Faculty Unions at Im- One detachable third of Theta re- received complaints about Google from Foundem, a British price prize Bottle on the rugby field every perial. Each Faculty Union, and RAG mains in Guildsmen’s hands. It was Tcomparison website, Ciao.de, a Microsoft owned shopping site, and ejustice. year. have at least one violate mascot. The taken from the felix office after Sab- fr, a French legal search site. Each complaint was slightly different in na- Due to the Bottle not being a violate CGCU have two in Spanner and Bolt, batical Scientist and felix Editor Dan ture but centred around Google’s search ranking methodology or advertising mascot and the Bottle Match 2010 the RSM have Davy (a Davy mining Wan chose a poor hiding place for it. terms and conditions. Google was notified earlier in the month by the EU about the probe and has been asked to respond to the allegations brought 26 forth. Intriguingly, there already seem to be quite apparent connections from Felix, Beit Quad, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BB. Tel: 020 7594 8072. Microsoft, no stranger to EU competition regulation, and two of the com- Fax: 020 7594 8065. Printed by The Harmsworth Printing Ltd, 17 Brest Road, . plaining companies. Microsoft has made huge investments into its search Derriford, Plymouth*. Registered newspaper ISSN 1040-0711. 02 engine, Bing, only to see Google’s dominance grow both in search and in ad- felix 1,455 Jigsaw font by typotheque.com. *Thank you for all your help these past years vertising, most notably in Europe. Recent statistics from Seomoz claim that Copyright © Felix 2010. 85% of search engine referrals to other websites come from Google, a figure 10 significantly higher than any claims by Google itself. This issue of felix was brought to you by: Editor-in-Chief Deputy Editor Deputy Editor Copy Chief Dan Wan Kadhim Shubber Gilead Amit Sasha Nicoletti France Assistant Editors Online Editors Fashion Editor Clubs and Socs Editor Jovan Nedić Ravi Pall Kawai Wong Alex Kendall NCF, operator of the majority of the French rail network, in- Charlotte Morris Chris Birkett Politics Editors: cluding the TGV, has come under great criticism for circulat- Comment Editors Puzzles Captain James Goldsack ing signs warning about baggage thefts by Romanians, stating News Editor Business Editor Ravi Pall Sean Farres Katya-yani Vyas that “all acts by Romanians must be reported” to the railway’s Kadhim Shubber Sina Ataherian Charlotte Morris James Lees Ssecurity staff. Romanians in France are reportedly outraged by the signs, Arts Editors Phillip Murray labelling them an example of “anti-Romanian racism”. A rail workers un- News Reporters International Editor Science Editors Caz Knight ion made similar statements against the signs. The event has raised larger Rox Middleton Tom Greany Brigette Atkins Rosie Milton Feature Editor questions of relations between France and Romania, as well as Italian- Joanna Cai Nathan Ley Lucy Harrold Afonso Campos Alex Karapetian Film Editor Romanian relations. A sizeable portion of the French population opposed Alice Rowlands Ed Knock Nightlife Editor Photography Renny Norman Romania’s entrance into the EU and Silvio Berlusconi, Italian Prime Min- Charlotte Morris Ben Smith Holly Farrer ister, controversially singled out Romanians in trying to explain crime Layout Editor Technology Editor Alex Karapetian Rox Middleton levels in his country. The signs were apparently made by a rogue railway Carlos Karingal Samuel Gibbs What’s On Editors Matt Colvin agent and the organisation promised to evaluate how their creation was Rachel D’oliviero Catnip Editor Lizzy Griffiths possible. SNCF security stated that no reports of Romanian activity had Music Editors Sports Editors Lily Topham Rhys Davies Ayyub Kamaludin been received following the posting of the signs. Kadhim Shubber Mustapher Botchway Jamie Beal Alex Ashford David Wilson Coffee Break Editor Travel Editor Richard Howard Luke Turner Indy Leclercq Charles Murdoch Dylan Lowe Stefan Zeeman By Tom Greany felix FRIDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2010 3 [email protected] NEWS Imperial converted to Metric The results of the polls to rename the Union bars are in, but the Union have taken the decision to hold off on a final name for the new Da Vinci’s. Rox Middleton reports on the latest decisions made this week he answer to the question option. A facebook group for instance, on everyone’s lips has fi- has been set-up promoting Rock Bot- nally been announced. Af- tom as a moniker instead. Iris 88 ter weeks of violent spec- It’s difficult to see how the Union ulation, Imperial Student could have carried out a more demo- TUnion has revealed that the new club cratic process, which was entirely next year to replace dBs will be called student-led and in which students who Lab Metric.