Gair Rhydd

Fun Fracture-y

A man is recovering in hospital after falling from a Union balcony and breaking his leg following Fun Factory last Monday.

Paramedics were called to the steps at the base of cafe CF10 at around 2 o’clock on the morning of Tuesday October 28, following student night Fun Factory in Solus.

Wha's occurin'? Christmas lights turned on by Nessa and Bryn

This year, two of the UK’s biggest entertainment stars will be switching on the Christmas lights in the Civic Centre.

On Wednesday 12 November, Ruth Jones and Rob Brydon, who play Nessa and Bryn in the award-winning Gavin and Stacey, will begin the Christmas celebrations with the big switch on.

Cambridge Dean uses Facebook to spy on students

A Cambridge Dean adopted an alter ego on the social networking website, Facebook, in order to spy on students who has joined a protest group.

The group, St John’s Has Banned Us Taking Wine into College, was protesting against the recent reduction in the amount of alcohol that students can take to their formal events.

No-ah and the Whale

York Student’s Union are currently pursuing a refund from the agency representing the band, Noah and the Whale, who were meant to headline the York Freshers’ Ball.

The band, who failed to make their appearance, have attributed this to the ill-health of their frontman, Charlie Fink.

Harry Potter and the Dumbledore look-a-like

A professor from Exeter University denies speculation that he is the inspiration for the character Dumbledore from J.K Rowling’s famous Harry Potter series.

Prof. Peter Wiseman, the professor of Roman History, does concede that he shares a slight resemblance with the character in the earlier editions of the book, but asserts that Rowling did not base the character on him.

STAR Society shows support at sleep out

Cardiff University STAR Society (Student Action for Refugees) showed its support for local asylum seekers and refugees by participating in a 12-hour sleep out on Queen Street.

Organised by Cardiff-based charity Home4U, in association with various local churches, the event aimed to raise awareness of the ‘Still Human, Still Here’ campaign, which fights for the thousands of asylum seekers in Britain who are left homeless and impoverished upon refusal of asylum.

Miskin Street gets a mystery makeover

Residents of Miskin Street woke up on Tuesday morning to find their houses covered in paint.

Several front doors and some cars were splashed with red and yellow paint some time between Monday night and Tuesday morning.

2 months, and still no MedClub

Despite two months of pressure from the Union, Cardiff University has so far failed to make any significant headway with the MedClub redevelopment project.

The Students’ Union presented a policy on MedClub to Cardiff University in August this year.

The new face of Miss Cardiff?

A Cardiff University student is in the final stages of the Miss Cardiff competition

Cardiff student, Sadia Ghaffar has made it to the final stages of the competition to become Miss Cardiff.

Sadia, who studies Law at Cardiff University, is the only Cardiff student who has entered the competition and has been selected from the hundreds of applicants to become one of the final 22 girls.

By-elections begin - but where are all the candidates?

Voting begins on Monday 3 November 2008 but there appears to be a definite lack of campaigning.

Although all the positions are filled, many only have one nominee making for an uncompetitive election, which may explain the lack of campaigning presence around the university.

Grant cuts are bad news for middle- income students

A government blunder means that middle - income students may no longer be eligible for partial grants

University applicants from middle-income backgrounds will be worse off next year due to a massive government blunder, it was revealed last week.

The government has spoken out about plans to change its policies on which students are eligible for grants. It will scale back plans to expand student numbers after a government blunder left a £200m black hole in the universities budget.

Born Slippy

Students fall foul of Kitchen bar's slippery floor

A slip inside of Solus last week that resulted in a broken arm has raised concerns over the refurbished flooring.

Lizzie Baker, a third year, slipped over on an area of wet flooring in the Kitchen at Comeplay on Saturday 18 October and broke her arm.

New look Student Council starts

The new changes to Student Council have been implemented and were on show at the first meeting of this term on Tuesday 28 October.

The election process was hindered when only 14 candidates put themselves forward to be voted onto a board of 13.

State school students missing out on university because of bad advice

A new report by The Sutton Trust charity has uncovered that poor educational guidance is preventing many academically talented pupils from non-privileged homes from going to university.

The report highlights that state school pupils are receiving “inadequate and inappropriate” careers and education advice, which means many young people with the potential to go to university are not applying for places.

Recession - not all bad news for universities

Universities will benefit from increase in mature students wanting a career change as people lose jobs.

Despite the fact that UK universities are facing a loss of £77 million, with the recent collapse of Icelandic banks, they can still expect to gain in other areas.

Previous recessions show that postgraduate studies, overseas students and Open University degrees may increase, with the potentially difficult recruitment situation ahead.

Erasmus scheme will benefit Welsh universities

Welsh students and universities are likely to benefit from plans to extend the European Union’s Erasmus student exchange programme.

Proposals to increase the number of scholarships for European students have been approved. This should see an rise in the number of students studying abroad as well as increasing the number of students coming to and from Europe from outside the EU.

Welsh MP attacked at parents' party

The high profile Welsh MP, Adam Price was attacked on Saturday 25 October.

The Camarthen East and Dinefwyr MP, 40, was on his way to his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary when a gang of youths set upon him.

Bog standard

Toilets have sparked major debate at Manchester Students’ Union, with discussions about the new non-gender facilities.

Manchester’s Student Direct Newspaper reported that 40 students turned up to ‘The Big Debate: Toilets and the Union’, and event which was meant to give students a chance to voice their opinions about the new facilities.

Boar-dering on ridiculous

A major cull of wild boars has been launched in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, after they broke into a high security zone around the presidential palace.

So far, dozens of the animals have been shot or poisoned in the culling campaign around the palace.

Uproar at anti-porn law

An anti-pornography law passed in Indonesia has met with serious opposition.

The law, which would ban images, gestures or talk deemed to be pornographic, has sparked protests across Indonesia, but especially on the predominantly Hindu island of Bali.

Woman arrested for virtual murder

A Japanese woman playing on the Korean game Maplestory has been arrested offline for the online murder of her ‘husband’.

The 43-year-old piano teacher faces a fine of £3,000 or five years in prison if charged. Maplestory is set in a fictional world where players, represented by digital images called avatars, fight monsters but also develop personal relationships, sometimes leading to an online marriage.