Gair Rhydd

Cracking the credit crunch

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In this dismal economic climate, your student loan isn't getting any easier to bear. Ed Vanstone is here to help ease the burden.

The credit crunch is now over a year old and, as its recent annihilation of a few rather large banks, mortgage lenders and travel company behemoths shows, clearly smells blood. Who’s next? It could be coming for you, dear student.

So, how is one to cope with the dreaded crunch? Here are gair rhydd’s helpful tips to ensure that the legion of evil, avaricious City bankers, fiddling around with hordes of imaginary money and then running to the state they have always urged to leave them alone when they get in trouble, like tiny hypocritical pig-tailed girls, don’t affect you any more than is absolutely necessary.

'Y ddinas fach Gymreig' Y Gym Gym

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Nid yw Caerdydd yn ddinas fawr iawn ar y cyfriw. O’i gymharu â dinasoedd mawr ein byd, lle bychan iawn ydyw. Ond gyda tua 30,000 o bobl ifanc yn y Prifysgolion, mae hi’n cynnig y gorau ym mhob agwedd o fywyd myfyriwr.

Beth sy’n gwneud Caerdydd yn unigryw i ddinasoedd eraill Prydain, yw ei bod yn ddinas gymreig. Caerdydd yw calon Cymru, ac er efallai y byddai rhai yn anghytuno, ni ellir gwadu na ganolir nifer helaeth o bethau Cymreig a Chymraeg yng Nghaerdydd- o Ganolfan y Mileniwm a’r Cynulliad i Stadiwm y Mileniwm sef cartref ein tîm rygbi cenedlaethol. Heb os nac onibae, mae Caerdydd yn llawn cyfoeth o Gymreictod cyffrous.

Dealing with Dyspraxia

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To coincide with Dyspraxia Awareness Week, Ceri Isfryn explores how the problem affects university students...

Brushing our teeth, tying our shoelaces, texting: these are all day-to-day activities we take for granted. But for some students, what seems like a walk in the park for us can seem like a walk up Everest.

This week is Dyspraxia Awareness Week, with this year’s campaign focusing in particular on the world of teaching and education.

Pull on your denim: it's Jeans for Genes Day

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Thousands of children each year are born with a genetic disorder. Aimee Steen looks at how Jeans for Genes Day raises vital funds for those affected.

Every thirty minutes, a baby in the UK is born with a genetic birth defect or disorder that could seriously affect them for the rest of their lives. Jeans for Genes Day, held on 3rd October 2008, aims to raise money to support charities and organisations that help such children and their families.

Genes are what make us exactly who we are. They determine everything from our eye and hair colour to personality traits, and little details can be carried down through our genes through generations of family members. Some children, however, are born with a tiny modification to one or more of their genes. They might even be born with some missing. Any slight change can mean a genetic disorder, and a huge impact on the lives of the child and their parents.

Societies saving the world

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A student-run society with a conscience isn't hard to find: there are loads of projects at Cardiff University addressing local and global issues. Dan Smith takes a look at five from across the board

Nobody can escape the problems that afflict the world. They’re on the front of every newspaper, in the headlines of every broadcast and painfully obvious to anybody that has ventured further than their front door. The inequalities, injustices and atrocities that occur across the globe are relayed to you every minute of every day and some students are taking action to address these.

The solution to many of these problems can, and often does, come from young, intelligent people. But the difficulty for the average student is, how to get into a position where they can use their abilities to improve the world around them? Many feel that if they’re not a medical, science or engineering student then their arts based education is of no use to a world that is obsessed with Global Warming and Development Aid. But this simply isn’t true.