30 The award-winning student newspaper of Imperial College . 04 “Keep The Cat Free” . Issue 1,459 10 ffelixelix felixonline.co.uk This week... How much? GaneshadevanGa resigns as Students criticise this year’s DDPE before she begins Summer Ball ticket prices. See page 3 News, Page 4 Seeing our universe: 20 years of Hubble Science, Page 13 Feeling your best when under exam stress Fashion, Page 22 Sand, sun, but no sea: Taking your pick Tripping across the Sahara 56% of Imperial students are voting Lib Dem at the General Election, but who should you be voting for? See page 6 - 9 Travel, Page 26- 27 2 felix FRIDAY 30 APRIL 2010 News Editor Kadhim Shubber NEWS [email protected] dB’s: You’ve had the last dance The world beyond College walls Ukraine krainian lawmakers en- gaged in a sports day of sorts in their parlia- mentary chamber on UTuesday. Ahh, those sweet memories of queuing up for half an hour just for a pint at the world’s tiniest bar Activities included egg throwing, boxing, smoke bomb dispersal, and tug-of-war. Members of parliament DDanan WanWan Editor-in-Chief ately after the Easter Carnival. da Vin- filled the chamber’s voting machines ci’s bar will now only be available for with glue. The speaker oversaw the use until the end of the summer term. festivities from beneath umbrellas The Union’s much-maligned night- Beyond that, temporary replacement held by his aides in order to protect from themselves from aerial attack. club, dBs, played out its final tunes at bars outside and in Activity Space 1 Members of the public engaged in demonstrations outside parliament the Easter Carnival on the last day of will open for the summer period. but the intensity did not reach the levels found inside. The cause for Spring term. Visitors to Beit Quad will see the concern was a deal to extend Russia’s lease of the Sevastopol naval base. dBs, now undergoing a major res- entrances to dBs boarded up, and in Sevastopol has hosted the Russian military since 1778, was under siege toration project which will see it re- its current state, all furnishings have by the allies during the Crimean War, and is still the home of Russia’s named Metric, was host to T4’s Jamee- been removed and the walls and ceil- Black Sea fleet. Ukraine and Russia reached a deal to extend the lease la Jamil and Emma Harkness as the ing have been stripped down. The for twenty-five years in return for discounted gas supplies from Russia. students said their goodbyes to a ven- prominent structure left is a pillar Relations between the two countries have improved drastically since the ue that has served them for 12 years. positioned directly in front of the pro- election of a pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, last month. The There was a loud roar of approval as posed position of the new stage. The parliament ultimately approved the agreement with a small majority. Dizzee Rascal’s Bonkers was played as pillar has been the subject of much dBs’ final song. debate over the past few months; It was business as usual despite the Union officials deliberated whether occasion on the Union’s traditional or not to take on the costly removal Greece end-of-term party. It was poignant of the potentially stage-obstructing that the club operated at near to full beam. Being weight-bearing, the pro- capacity for most of the night; it has cedure is risky and hence dBs was reece formally asked for a bailout from the EU and the IMF come up against much criticism by closed off earlier than normal to take last Friday. EU ministers, both before and after the an- students in its lifetime and has seen this into account. The foot-wide beam nouncement by Greek president Karolos Papoulias, have many a DJ perform to a sparse and is now due to be extracted from the stated that the EU would potentially be willing to lend 30 Gbillion Euros to Greece at an interest rate of 5% per year. stolid crowd over the years. building structure. As part of the Union’s Phase 3 project An entirely revamped ground floor Greek ten-year government bonds are currently trading at over 11% on that cost them £2.4million, renovation is expected to be in full flow for Fresh- It’s weird, because dBs above looks in the news of an S&P downgrade to junk status on Wednesday. Greek of the venue started almost immedi- ers’ Week 2010. a better state than before it closed two-year bonds had a yield of 38% on Wednesday. The IMF is reportedly willing to lend Greece a further 15 billion Euros at what would probably 30 be a lower rate than the EU loan. Adding to doubts over the success of the package is speculation by analysts of whether 45 billion Euros will be Felix, Beit Quad, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BB. Tel: 020 7594 8072. Fax: 020 7594 8065. Printed by The Harmsworth Printing Ltd, Northcliffe House, . enough to fix Greece’s problems. German support, where 57% of the pop- 04 Meadow Road, Derby, DE1 2BH Registered newspaper ISSN 1040-0711. ulation is against a Greek bailout, is crucial for the success of the package. Jigsaw font by typotheque.com. A certain Miss. Morris deserves a pint... Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the IMF, was set to meet with German felix 1,459 . Copyright © Felix 2010. chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin this week to discuss possible options 10 at the time of writing. This issue of felix was brought to you by: Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Prowling Deputy Editor Copy Chief China Dan Wan Kadhim Shubber Gilead Amit Sasha Nicoletti hina reformed its laws regarding leaks of state secrets, espe- Assistant Editors Business Editor Music Editors Politics Editors: cially on the Internet, this week. The reform was prompted Jovan Nedić Sina Ataherian Kadhim Shubber James Goldsack by last year’s conviction of four employees of Rio Tinto, a Charlotte Morris Alex Ashford Katya-yani Vyas C mining conglomerate, on charges of bribery and stealing International Editor Luke Turner James Lees state commercial secrets. News Editor Tom Greany That trial had created much concern in the international business com- Kadhim Shubber Comment Editors Travel Editor mittee because the twenty-year old existing laws on the subject were Film Editor Ravi Pall Dylan Lowe Clubs and Socs Editor vague about what information constituted state secrets, especially with News Reporters Ed Knock Charlotte Morris Alex Kendall regards to commercial activity. The government moved to clarify what Rox Middleton Coffee Break Editor commercial information could be considered a state secret. The new law Joanna Cai Technology Editor Science Editors Charles Murdoch Feature Editor also places new responsibilities on communications providers to monitor Alex Karapetian Samuel Gibbs Brigette Atkins Afonso Campos their channels for leaks. According to Xinhua, “information transmis- Alice Rowlands Nathan Ley Puzzles Captain sions should be immediately stopped if they are found to contain state Sports Editors Sean Farres secrets.” Privacy advocates are concerned about the measures, though Layout Editors Mustapher Botchway What’s On Editor Rox Middleton exactly how they will be implemented is still unclear. Official reports Carlos Karingal David Wilson Ziggi Szafranski Photography Matt Colvin have not mentioned to what degree communications providers will be Holly Farrer Indy Leclercq Ben Smith Lizzy Griffiths responsible in the monitoring of internet traffic, phone calls, etc. for the Arts Editors Alex Karapetian Ayyub Kamaludin initial detection of leaks. Online Editors Fashion Editor Caz Knight Jamie Beal Ravi Pall Kawai Wong Rosie Milton Catnip Editor Richard Howard By Tom Greany Chris Birkett Saskia Verhagen Lucy Harrold Rhys Davies Stefan Zeeman felix FRIDAY 30 APRIL 2010 3 NEWS Summer Ball 2010 price hike criticised Matt Colvin reports on students’ reaction to this year’s increased prices, and how the Union have justified them s this year’s sabbatical tertainments tickets for £70. team prepare to hand over Freshers have been taken aback by the reins to those newly the pricing, despite many having lit- Worth seeing Aelected, the hotly antici- tle prior knowledge of previous ticket pated Summer Ball is one prices, with one noting that, “it’s pretty for £90? of the final opportunities for the cur- expensive despite the acts going.” rent team to oversee the running of a Another commented that, “the din- major Union event. However, a crisis ner tickets are too much really, consid- is brewing on campus after the ticket ering the price of the entertainments The Noisettes prices for the event were officially re- only tickets,” before adding, “but people vealed online – prices that have been would feel cheated if they didn’t have a seen by many as “extortionate”. ridiculously overpriced Summer Ball.” Tinie Tempah The sudden increase in price is only likely to bring further disappointment Freshers have been to those who still find themselves in an examination period on 19th June. Plan B taken aback by In previous years, biologists and bio- chemists have been subjected to this, pricing...” and this summer is unlikely to prove Jo Whiley any different. Even those previously restricted by We’d love to see how his photo turned out too. Alas, we won’t. Touted as the centrepiece of the exams have been less than enthusi- Scratch Perverts Summer Term, this year’s Summer astic over developments, as the fol- Ball is promised by organisers to “build lowing student states, “I’m a 3rd year a difficult decision but one that was Despite this, there appears to be a on the success of previous balls that Biologist and hence I’ve missed every taken so that all students attending the general consensus across college that Breakage have cemented the event’s reputation Summer Ball the last two years due to ball could benefit from any reduced while the line-up is of a good quality, as the best night of the year at Impe- exams.