‘Fame’ fails to fly

Musicals are, in my experience, best approached with cautious neutrality. Then if the tunes are catchy, the dancing is jazzy, and the plot is memorable, I am entirely won over. So whilst ‘Mamma Mia’ was a touch sick-making, and ‘Sweeney Todd’ somewhat “meh”, ‘Oliver!’ will always warm the cockles of my scaly reptile heart.
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NUS debate top up fees at UCL

A debate with the NUS over the future of top up fees occurred on Thursday 29 January at University Collage London. The event was organized by UCL Students for Free Education, and NUS president Wes Streeting took part in the discussion. He spoke about NUS policies of free education and urged UK universities to adopt a softly softly approach to negotiating with the government when campaigning for a reduction in higher education costs. Read more

Info appeal – Big Lemon bus seat stolen

On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning of the 21 January between the hours of 3am – 4am, a bench seat was stolen from a Big Lemon bus.
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Stereophonics – Best of: Decade in the Sun (V2)

I stand firm. I will not bow beneath public disdain and suggest that my fondness for the back catalogue of the Stereophonics is a guilty pleasure. On the contrary – it is, frankly, a wholesome and honest pleasure, and one that perhaps many debauched students are not fully ready for.
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Ingenious stagecraft invigorates new version of ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’

Far from the Madding Crowd Theatre Royal 25/11/08

In the first act of this staging of Far from the Madding Crowd, the good-hearted farmer Gabriel Oak proposes marriage to headstrong heroine Bathsheba Everdene by painting a picture of what their marital life could be like: “at home by the fire, whenever you look up, there I shall be – and whenever I look up there will be you.”
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Bridging the pay gap

Just over a week ago it was widely publicized in the national press that women working full-time in both the UK and America may as well take an eight week holiday between October 30th and January 1st. Why? Because, technically, they stop earning money 10 months into every year. The reason for this state of affairs is the pay gap between the sexes, which currently means that for every pound a man earns, his female colleagues will earn 83 pence. In a job with a £25,000 salary, that would be £4,250 less every year.
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Gender is a drag performance

Last week I wrote in these pages that feminism is a relevant and important social movement that offers benefits for everyone. As part of this argument, this week I offer a discussion of the ideals of beauty which our culture encourages both men and women to admire and emulate. It may not be as serious an issue as other problematic areas of gender relations such as rape, abortion and pay inequalities, but I believe that the politics behind how we see ourselves illustrates many of the subtle difficulties of modern gender identifications.

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Feminism is nothing less than common sense

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The Big Lemon to reward customers

The Big Lemon, the bus service powered by waste cooking oil from local restaurants, will now run hourly throughout the day from 8am to 4am, Monday to Friday, and all services after 10am run through the campus.

The service has also launched a passenger members’ club for regular travellers to reward committed ‘Big Lemoners’ with a big discount on the year’s travel and a say in how the service is run, as well as promotions at local shops, restaurants and bars. Managing Director Tom Druitt said:

“We have launched our club to give our regulars a better deal and to help us plan ahead and raise funds for future service improvement, such as increasing frequencies and ultimately extending the route and adding new ones to areas under-served. If the concept works, it could prove to be the best way of developing new bus services and engaging with the community to make sure those services are what people need.”

Union shop revamped

Falmer House Union shop has undergone an extensive refurbishment to offer a better service to students.

The University of Sussex Students’ Union (USSU) invested a total of £110, 000 in the refitting and updating of the shop, which had become run down. Assistant Director of Commercial and Central Services John Houlihan, who oversaw the investment, described the changes as “well overdue,” pointing out that the old cramped layout wasn’t helpful for customers shopping during busy hours. The new shop floor has been designed to maximise space, aide a one-way customer flow, and ensure that queues will move quickly. Houlihan feels that this investment in the campus facilities reflects the Union’s commitment to meeting the expectations of fee-paying students: “I’m absolutely delighted that the Union is investing in the future…this should be the benchmark”.

The shop will now provide students, particularly the residents of nearby Stanmer Court, with a range of basic conveniences. Recent additions to the usual range of sandwiches, snacks and Fairtrade products include a section for magazines and newspapers, a coffee machine and a selection of international foods. The shop also boasts the cheapest lunch available on campus: £2.89 will pay for a sandwich, a snack and a drink Meal Deal.

The shop is open from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday. The Union is currently applying to the University for a license permitting the shop to sell wine and beer between the hours of 5pm and 8pm.