Gair Rhydd

Students on the Beat

Combined student and police efforts create a safer Cardiff, Police provide highly visible presence on popular student nights

Launched this year through the ambition of a Cardiff student, the South Wales Police Student Initiative aims to create stronger links between the Police and Cardiff students.

Co-ordinated by Student Liaison Officer PC Bob Keohane, and Special Police Constable Sam Tappenden, who works part-time in the force whilst reading History at Cardiff University, the scheme aims to reduce student targeted crime and ensure student safety.

Double Trouble

Following in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment a lesbian couple in Australia had twin girls but are suing their doctors because they only asked for one child.

The women, who used a Danish sperm donor, are seeking more than 400,000 Australian dollars in damages, equivalent to £171,941, to help pay for the cost of raising the second child.

Part time help needed. £5.50 p/h, excellent benefits, use of a company car and free tickets. Needs to be a good communicator. So why doesn’t anyone want to be a non-sabbatical?

With the non-sabbatical by-elections round the corner, gair rhydd investigates whether power, influence and, now, money are enough to attract good candidates

The chance to play a part in leading Cardiff University Students’ Union is up for grabs in October’s by-election.

Seven non-sabbatical positions will be contested in the elections and nominations open from Monday October 1 for five days.

Jet-setting monkey boards flight undetected

Passengers on a recent flight from Florida to New York were stunned as a monkey climbed out from under a man’s hat and perched on his ponytail mid-flight.

The fist-sized marmoset monkey was apparently smuggled aboard a Spirit Airlines flight in Lima, Peru, where the owner’s journey had begun.

All prostitutes welcome

Prostitution in Hungary is to become part of the legal economy under a new government scheme.

The initiative, launched last Monday, now allows sex workers to apply for an entrepreneur’s permit which will let them give receipts to customers and become part of the legal economy by paying taxes and making social security contributions.

Dr. James Thomas (1971 – 2007)

Dr James Thomas passed away suddenly on Friday 17 August 2007 after a cerebral haemorrhage; he was thirty-five.

James had been a valued member of the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies since 2001. His background was in History, and he completed his Swansea PhD on the Labour Party’s relationship with the popular press in 1999. He taught in the History departments at Swansea and Bangor before arriving at Cardiff where his research on politics, the media and the culture of grief spawned a dazzling and controversial monograph on the aftermath of the Princess of Wales’s death, Diana’s Mourning: A People’s History (University of Wales Press, 2002).

Battling the blues

A new student survey exposes the true loneliness behind the Fresher experience

Freshers find making friends their biggest challenge as they start university, a recent poll has revealed.

The research, conducted by the UCAS media site yougofurther.co.uk, cited not getting to know anybody as the top concern for new students, while over 70% of current students admitted to feeling lonely in their first year.

Hitch to success

Following last year’s success, preparation for the annual Morocco Hitch is once again underway in Cardiff.

The hitch, which runs during the Easter vacation, is completed in groups of two or three with departure dates arranged to suit those partaking.

Piling on the pounds

Fending for themselves in the kitchen for the first time leaves new students at risk of developing the ‘Freshers’ 15’, experts recently warned.

Tradition shows that students tend to eat beans on toast, pasta, instant meals and takeaways wanting cheap food that is quickly prepared.

Stealing more than a kiss

Why drunken, frivolous one-night-stands may cost more than you bargained for

Students who engage in one-night-stands are leaving themselves at risk of theft, a study has revealed.

Online student insurance provider, cover4students.com, found that claims for theft following ‘brief romantic encounters’ rose by 12% last year.

Graduates’ advantage

Completing a university degree continues to leave young people in the UK with a strong advantage in their earning power, claims an international education survey.

A report compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation (OECD) considered graduates who left UK universities a decade ago and concluded that their earnings are on average 77% higher than non-graduates.

Cancer student out of pocket

“No one should be financially penalised as a result of cancer”

A Welsh student will not get back his £1,800 university fees after he was forced to quit his law course due to being diagnosed with cancer.

Originally from Swansea, and attending Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), Chris Hamilton, is very upset by the lack of pastoral care he received when he told the University authorities of his illness.

Better degrees come from overseas

UK university students spend too little time studying for their degrees, a higher education thinktank has cautioned.

The quality of an undergraduate degree in the country has come under fire after it was revealed that students spend an average of just 26 hours working a week.

Under lock and key

Students living in private housing are being urged to make their properties as safe and secure as possible.

The areas of Cathays and Roath are at particularly high risk of burglary due to their student populations and often inadequate theft protection.

Expect dangerous times ahead

One in four students can expect to be mugged, attacked or end up being taken to hospital during their university life, shocking research has recently claimed.

Dramatically, over 477,000 of Britain’s undergraduates, which total 1.8 million, will become a victim of crime or injure themselves during their years at university.

Taking the law into their own hands

Cardiff University has confronted the law with the start of its first ever Student Law Journal.

A University-wide project, begun by the Law Society, has been set up for students to publish their views and research while they are studying.

Sticky Solution

German scientists have solved the age-old problem of how to get the last globs of ketchup out of the bottle.

They have designed a special non-stick coating that when applied to the inside of the bottle allows the red sauce to slide out, rather than sticking, without leaving a drop behind.

Dead Man Waking

After being declared dead a Venezuelan man woke up in the morgue in excruciating pain as medical examiners began their autopsy.

Following a highway accident, 33-year-old Carlos Cameio was pronounced dead and taken for an autopsy.

You can leave your hat on

A US man is charged with with nude robbery

A bout of boredom was what led to the hold up of a US convenience store by a man wearing nothing but a hat, local reports have said.

The 24-year old man was arrested by Pennsylvania police over a separate incident, when it emerged that he had committed a further act of indecent exposure.

The exception to the rule...

gair rhydd explains the non-sabb self-defining row

Non-sabbaticals will be more varied than ever before because of changes to the Cardiff Students’ Union constitution.

Certain non-sabbs used to have to be ‘self-defining’ when representing their minority groups. It means that to be elected Women’s Officer, Cardiff students would have needed to be female.

Representin’

Commentary by Lee Macaulay

Non-sabbs are a vital part of our Students’ Union, doing many jobs that keep the things you want going.

There’s a weekly magazine, online radio station or charity auction for some that lets people know they’re doing their jobs.