GM FORECASTS RADICAL CHANGE - The Founder

Inside: An interview with Giles Foden, p. 12-13
the independent students’ newspaper of royal holloway, university of london
free!
Monday 29 January 2007 | www.thefounder.co.uk | Issue 4
REFORM
GM FORECASTS RADICAL CHANGE
New
governance
“NUS Extra:
scam”
Controversy
sparked
Getting
dull?
President Rob Coveney
proposes fundamental
restructuring of Royal
Holloway’s Student’s
Union in response to
lack of democracy due
to poor attendance at
General Meetings
Head of the ‘No’ campaign,
Joseph Fitzpatrick
officially launches
his campaign to leave
the NUS: “the knee-jerk
reaction to the NUS is
that it’s good, but it’s
actually bad”
SFC representatives
appeal about the democracy
of the General
Meeting resulting from
co-option of a new
Constitution Officer
by SURHUL Executive
Committee
Chairman despairs as
a five-minute recess is
called for by SFC members.
More than 50% of
General Meeting attendees
vote that they
would rather be somewhere
else
FULL REPORTS, PAGES 2 & 3
PHOTOS: TIM RUFFLES
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2 NEWS Monday 29 January 2007 thefounder
Rob Coveney proposes reform of
Students’ Union’s “incredibly complicated,
outdated and ineffective” governance
By Tim Ruffles
Rob Coveney, Students’ Union
President, has unveiled a major
set of reforms for the Students’
Union; motivated by his belief
that the SU’s structure is overcomplicated,
and that its General
Meetings lack attendance. These
reforms were unveiled at the first
Students’ Union General Meeting
of 2007, held on Tuesday January
23 rd .
Rob plans to change the way that
students are involved in the running
of the SU. He proposed cutting the
numbers of General Meetings from
once a month to once a year, and
to replace the lost meetings with a
system of councils. He justified this
by the fact that the SU has failed to
meet quorum for a year and a half
and that this meant that although
anyone can raise points at a General
Meeting, too few students attend
for the SU’s decisions to be properly
democratic.
Rob’s plans for reform seemed to
address a real concern amongst the
students attending. When an informal
vote was called asking how
many of those attending would prefer
to be elsewhere, over 50% agreed,
reminiscent of the result of an identical
vote called in 2005 when 80%
agreed.
Attendance was extremely low.
Apart from those students man-
Comment
& Analysis
By Adam D’Souza
Holloway students will soon have to
make a vital decision in the college’s
history: should we stay in the NUS
or not? You might think that such
a pivotal referendum might attract
hundreds of vociferous campaigners
on either side: not so.
The ‘no’ campaign seemed to be
the first off the blocks, scheduling a
meeting at 1pm in Tommy’s. However
when I dropped in to interview
dated to be there (attendance is
compulsory for presidents of societies,
clubs and SU board members)
only around 15-20 general students
turned up. The General Meeting requires
around ten times more students
to attend if it is to attain its
quorum (the number of students
that need to attend to make the
meeting’s decisions valid according
to the constitution is around 3%
of the total student population of
7500). The General Meeting is the
current arena for Holloway students
to have a say in the running of their
Students’ Union, which represents
them on matters such as accommodation,
estate, recreation and runs
“the recent GM very
much summed up
why we need to
radically change
our governance
structure”
the majority of social areas on campus.
Joff Manning, Campaigns Officer,
commenting on the current low attendance
of the General Meetings
told The Founder that “Whilst I am
passionate about the idea of a General
Meeting where everyone has a
say, it is unfortunately a pipe-dream.
The reality is that General Meetings
are not representative of the students
of Royal Holloway”.
When asked to comment on what
the attendance said about the level of
political apathy amongst Holloway’s
students, Joff said “Despite the general
feeling that we are an apathetic
student body here at Holloway, we
sent one of the country’s biggest delegations
to Admission: Impossible,
and political/campaigning groups,
like Conservative Future, CND and
particularly People and Planet, con-
the campaign leaders, very little
discussion between anyone was taking
place. Either I’m blind or the no
campaign’s meeting just never materialised.
The story was the same
“Major issues
affecting the whole
student body are
being left to be
decided by pitifully
small SU Exec and
‘general’ meetings”
upstairs in TW20’s. I took a peek in
there, too, to make sure the venue
James Bromige, chairman, despairs at events at the General Meeting
tinue to thrive on Campus.
“There is no question that we have
a problem on campus - we still find
ourselves with uncontested elections
and voting turnout could always be
improved - but I think that, on the
whole, the Union is moving in a direction
that will see more participation
across all levels of politics.”
Harry Bryant, Vice-President of
Communications & Services at the
SU, said to The Founder that “The
General Meeting, despite having its
flaws, is still one of the most important
and powerful bodies to meet on
campus.
“A General Meeting can mandate
us [the sabbatical officers] to do
anything (within the letter of the
hadn’t been changed. Same story:
nothing.
Tuesday’s SU General Meeting was
a damp squib to say the least, failing
to reach the quorum standard of 3%
of Royal Holloway’s 7700 student
population. Following a motion
from President, Rob Coveney, the
meeting noted that well over half
were only present because they were
mandated to be; most of these when
asked frankly by Coveney indicated
that they would rather not be there.
Vice-President for Communications
and Services, Harry Bryant,
pointed out that conditions in our
universities are better than ever before,
leading to apathy in student
law), it can put enormous pressure
on College to re-think policies and
procedures (such as closing times
at the back gate), and it can thrust
the interests of the students onto a
national stage (such as fighting for
free education).
“Unfortunately, students simply
do not take up this opportunity.
Partly, this is due to the fact that our
system is not accessible enough, and
is incredibly complicated, outdated
and ineffective (hence the governance
review), but it is also due to
a growing trend of student apathy,
where students feel their say doesn’t
matter, and that nobody is listening.
“I think the recent GM very much
politics. Rob Coveney further went
on to explain the role of the SU is
changing and that they were undertaking
a major governance review
this year – Rob’s proposed major
pruning of SU committees was
generally well received by the small
gathering in the hall.
Both this review and the NUS
referendum campaign seem nonexistent
at present. Major issues affecting
the whole student body are
being left to be decided by pitifully
small SU Exec and ‘general’ meetings
comprising little more than club
secretaries. With such low numbers
getting involved, the future looks
bleak for SURHUL.
Photo: Tim Ruffles
summed up why we need to radically
change our governance structure...
The GM is the governing body
of the Students’ Union, and it needs
to be accessible and understandable
to all, and this time we simply failed
in that respect. I believe that the
support for our governance reform
highlights that it should be a system
that will be of far more benefit to
students.”
Voting on Rob’s proposal for the
replacement of the General Meetings
with a new council system was
tied. However a further vote, this
time proposing support for the proposed
governance reform in outline,
pending some modification,
received a sizeable majority.
50%+
of GM atteendees
would rather have
been elsewhere
3%
Less than
of RHUL
students
attended the general
meeting

thefounder Monday 29 January 2007
NEWS
3
Current Governance
Model at SURHUL
General Meeting
Proposed Governance
Model for SURHUL
Sub-Committees
of Union Council
Executive Committee
Union Council
Trustee Board
20 Sub Committees
7 Councils and Forums
Student Affairs Committee
Union Operation Committe
Clubs and Societies
Sub-Committees of the Student Affairs
Committee and the Union Operation Committee
(AUC, SFC, RAG board, Media, Commercial Services Committee
Activities and Participation Committee, Democracy Committe etc)
By Tim Ruffles
The Students’ Union’s current governance
model is complex. The
General Meeting is at the top of
the hierarchy, with power over the
Executive Committee.
The clubs and societies are represented
by 7 councils and forums,
who also have general student members
and deal with other major areas
of student life: academic affairs,
postgraduate students, accommodation
etc. These in turn feed into
20 sub committees who report to
the General Meetings.
At the General Meetings the student
body as a whole can listen to the
views put forward by the sub-committees,
councils, forums, students
and the executive, before making
their decision. Power is therefore
firmly vested in the student body,
which can overrule and hold members
of the executive to account, possibly
even leading to their removal.
Thus in theory, every group has its
say at the General Meeting, and the
decisions are made as a whole.
In the possible new system that
has been proposed by Rob, the
Union Council will replace the current
function of the General Meetings.
It will discuss all matters of
interest, and motions for adoption
of policy will be debated. Although
any student member of the Union
may attend and speak, only the
Union Council members may vote.
In its current form the Council
will be formed of 47 elected members,
17 of which will also sit on the
subordinate Union Operations or
Student Affairs Committee.
The Council is not all powerful
however; some functions will be
restricted to General Meetings, proposed
to now to be annually rather
than monthly. The General Meeting
will hear the Union Council’s yearly
report and can hold it to account.
The Annual General Meeting
will hold three powers not held by
the Union council: the power to
pass motions of no confidence, the
power to pass the Union budget for
the year and the power to approve
honorary life memberships of the
Union.
Emergency General Meetings
may be called if 50 members of the
Union, including at least 10 members
of the Union Council call for
one to be held.
As a balance to the Council and to
police the Union, a Trustee’s board
will be set up. Its purpose is to legally
ensure that the Union’s actions
are in its members’ best interests,
that the Union is not put in fiscal
jeopardy and that good governance
is upheld in the Union. It can overrule
any decision made in these areas
by the General Meeting, Union
Council and any officer or member
of staff.
The Student Affairs Committees
will be responsible for overseeing
the representation of students to the
College, and the smooth running of
the Union in terms of student welfare,
College services, RAG and student
development.
The Union Operations Committee
will oversee the running of the
bureaucracy of the Students’ Union,
in terms of the finances, the SFC
and AUC, communications and so
on.
There are two types of Sub committee
under the new proposals:
Sub-Committees of the Union
Council, which will report to and
advise the Union Council, and the
Sub-Committees of the Union Operations
Committee and Student Affairs
Committee, which will report
to and advise the Union Operations
Committee and the Student Affairs
Committee respectively.
The Sub-Committees of the
Union Council will be: the Appeal
Committee, responsible for hearing
appeals from students disciplined
by the sabbatical officers, the Staffing
Committee, which will be responsible
for the recruitment and
management of salaried Union staff,
the Scrutiny and Accountability
Committee, which ensures the officers
are given and are carrying out
their mandates and reports at every
meeting of the Union Council; and
the Finance and Services Committee,
which approves the budget before
its presentation to the Annual
General Meeting and has to approve
any spending over £3,000.
The Sub-Committees of the Union
Operations Committee and the Student
affairs Committee will report
to both Committees.
Rob Coveney, SU President,
highlighted his beliefs as to
why the Students’ Union’s current
governance model needs
reforming:
“The Students’ Union commits
itself to being a fair, transparent
and democratic organisation that
continually reflects the desires
and needs of it’s members.
Students’ unions have changed
over the past 20 years, with a
Results of votes held at
the General Meeting
Removal of first item on the agenda as it
represented a “waste of item”
Ratification of the Dodgeball Society
Motion to ratify the decision of the Executive
in co-opting Phil Young as the new
Constitution Officer
Motion that the majority of those in attendance
would rather be elsewhere
Motion to determine the level of support
for replacing the General Meetings with a
new council system
Motion to accept Rob Coveney’s proposals
for reforming the governance of the
Students’ Union in outline
more commercial focus. However,
our Students’ Union’s governance
structure hasn’t changed.
Quality of life has improved for
students over the past 20 years,
and therefore fewer students
get involved in their Students’
Unions.
A 2004 review of the SU’s governance
suggested a overhaul
would be key to ensuring the
Union works dynamically.”

4 NEWS Monday 29 January 2007 thefounder
The NUS Debate
Gemma Tumelty, President of the NUS, states
the case for SURHUL staying with the NUS
Gemma Tumelty, NUS president, argues SURHUL should stay affiliated with the NUS
This term sees your union more importantly, where it is going. - but one that also brings in much
balloting you, it’s members,
on whether to con-
the debate around NUS affiliation ing additional revenue streams. In
I know that like most things in life, needed revenue to Unions, providtinue
to be members of so often comes down to money. The addition, I know that unions feel
the largest democratic student organisation
in the world.
Of course I want you to vote YES.
I believe in NUS - I believe in what
it does, where it has come from, and,
launch of NUS Extra marks the start
of what I know will be a product that
not only enhances student finances
by delivering greater discounts -
leaving cash in students’ pockets
that the affiliation costs to NUS are
high, and that is why we are in the
middle of the most serious review of
NUS affiliation fees, due to report to
conference later this term.
Joseph Fitzpatrick states the case for
SURHUL’s disaffiliation from the NUS
Although seen by many as
an inalienable necessity for
any university, the NUS is not
that for RHUL. The workings
and procedures of the NUS are
inefficient and unsuccessful, and
vastly expensive.
When discussing the NUS the
two major issues people mention
are discounts and representation.
To obtain a student discount you
only need a student card - the
NUS logo only gives access to the
special NUS Extra discount, which
you have to pay for anyway. As a
way to gain addition income the
NUS introduced the Extra card,
cajoling retailers to offer better discounts,
thus pressurizing students
to purchase this formerly unnecessary
card.
The NUS is EXPENSIVE, to
the tune of around £35, 000 pa for
RHUL. What do we get out of that
vast investment? Representation
on a national level? Representing
around 700 institutions and 5 million
students nationwide it is impossible
to believe that the NUS can
truly represent RHUL and her concerns.
Leeds University has 30,000+
students, RHUL 7000. Is the NUS
open to proportional representation,
or equality? That is to say only
when they act as students want them
to; during the AUT strike last year
NUS is widely recognised as the
leading educational pressure group
representing students throughout
the UK. We talk weekly to the government
on behalf of students, we
talk daily to the media on behalf
of students, and we talk hourly to a
wide range of national bodies and
organisations such as Universities
UK on behalf of students. Given
these facts, it’s worth considering
whether you really want your union
like most things in life,
the debate around NUS
affiliation so often
comes down to money.
at Royal Holloway to walk away
from this sort of representation.
So, you might ask, what is NUS?
NUS is a national membership organisation
for UK students’ unions
and has around 750 constituent
members - virtually every college
and university in the UK - through
which we represent around 5 million
students.
NUS campaigns and represents
on all issues that affect students as
students and students as members
of society, but we also do much,
Joseph Fitzpatrick
Photo: Tim Ruffles
much more. I would recommend
that those of you who want to know
more look at our two websites www.
officeronline.co.uk and www.nusonline.co.uk.
The list goes on.... but I’ll leave it
there. I believe that students at Royal
Holloway will benefit enormously
from remaining with hundreds of
other unions to campaign for those
things that affect us all. As we set up
and develop the London Student Assembly
to ensure the voice of London
learners is articulated directly
to the GLA, as we continue to meet
with TfL to enhance and sharpen
the discount package for London
students and as we continue to lobby
locally and nationally on behalf
of students, I want to know that you
will be there with me. Not only that,
but as NUS President I know more
than anyone that my organisation
can never reach its full potential
until we can truly claim to speak for
every student, in every college and
university. I hope you will use your
vote in this referendum to support
the work that we have done so far
this year across London to allow us
to continue to develop that vision.
SUs overwhelmingly voted against
it, yet the NUS supported it against
our wishes. What is the NUS doing
if not representing us on a national
level? When it does support student
views, as in the fight against top-up
fees, the organisation was botched
and ultimately unsuccessful.
Discount is not a problem, and
representation is not good enough,
but we pay thousands for the privilege.
We should say ‘No’ to the NUS,
and join the likes of Edinburgh University,
St. Andrews and Southampton
who have already left, and UCL,
Nottingham and Warwick who are
deciding right now, free of the burden
and the waste.
Emergency General Meeting
Debate on whether SURHUL should disaffiliate from the NUS
Featuring Gemma Tumelty, President
of the NUS
8pm on Tuesday the 30 th of January
Arts Lecture Theatre 1

thefounder Monday 29 January 2007
NEWS 5
Royal Holloway pursues Ecological Management Plan
Photos: Tim Ruffles
By Tim Ruffles
Six trees have been felled in the
woodland running along the road
to Gowar/Wedderburn. Two trees
were also brought down by the recent
high winds. One of the fallen
trees was burnt, seemingly against
the Environmental Policy of the
college, which states “Fallen/decaying
wood to be left in situ,
where practicable, as this will
provide habitat for insects and
fungi”.
The Founder has asked the college
authorities to clarify the reasoning
behind the fellings and the decision
to burn one of the fallen trees, and
received this response from Hollie
White, Executive Assistant to
the Director of Facilities Management,
“The two mature trees in
the Woodlands along the road to
Gowar & Wedderburn, as in your
“...campus users should
be assured that removal
of any trees is not taken
lightly and is undertaken
in consultation with
qualified experts...”
pictures [bottom left], were recently
removed on grounds of Health &
Safety due to their close proximity
to paths and roads.
“The Founder is not the first to enquire
about these trees, campus users
should be assured that removal
of any trees is not taken lightly and
is undertaken in consultation with
qualified experts.
“You will be pleased to hear two
new pine trees will be planted in
Trees felled along the Gowar/Weddburn road, and one of the trees brought down by the recent high winds
February to replace the felled ones,
in addition further planting will be
taking place along the road area.
Details of new planned work will be
put on the FM Web Pages shortly.
“Of the trees that were felled or
brought down by last weeks severe
weather only one of the trees was
burnt, as your picture shows some
of the wood has been left in situ and
Tesco’s carbon plan slammed
by environmentalists
By Holly Pulham
Tesco stated recently that it was
looking to produce a point system
for all it’s products in relation to
the total amount of carbon emissions
involved in its production,
transportation and sale. They even
claimed that they would be promoting
environmentally friendly
products such as energy efficient
light bulbs and bio fuels by slashing
prices on these products and
introducing them into the Tesco
Value range.
Sir Tim Leahy, Chief Executive of
Tesco, announced in a long speech
regarding the new policies that ‘if we
fail to mitigate climate change, the
environmental, social and economic
consequences will be stark and severe’.
This claim to a commitment to
environmentally friendly retail has
been met by frustration by environmental
groups. Friends of the Earth
have criticised Tesco for providing
half hearted measures that are too
reliant on consumer choice and that
in fact key changes in supermarket
methods of production, import, distribution
and retail need to be made
in order to make any real difference.
They claim that the use of a central
distribution point by many leading
supermarket chains involves
an excessive amount of transportation
that could be combated by better
organisation and the sourcing
of products from local producers.
Other suggestions include the reduction
of hyper-style stores that eat
up nearly twice as much energy per
foot of shop floor space than smaller
local shops, more of a promotion on
locally situated stores rather than
those dependent on car journeys,
and switching from its global supply
chain.
Campaigners have also hit out at
Tesco for its promotion of bio fuels
made from palm oil, soy and sugar
cane. Greenergy, the company
which supplies this form of biofuel
and in which Tesco has a 25%
share, has been accused of large
scale deforestation, forest and peat
fires, human rights abuses and the
endangering of the orangutan. Also
the promotion of such a fuel as a
sustainable alternative is questionable
due to the underestimation
of existing agriculture available to
supply demands, which would lead
to even more pressure for intensive
production in the rainforest.
For those of us without a car,
the rest has been moved by the Gardening
Team but will not be burnt.”
These comments only explain why
the two pine trees [pictured bottom
left] were felled.
The Founder was told by Stephen
Bland, Director of Facilities Management,
that the other fellings were
carried out “as part of the Ecological
Management Plan” .
Tesco Metro in Egham is the main
source of our weekly shopping.
When asked if the new carbon
‘footprinting’ would influence his
choice in products, Raphael Stone,
second year Physics student, replied
‘I would still prioritise on price and
quality of product, just because I am
a student and have a very small budget’.
This is a sentiment shared by
many students at RHUL who have
to consider their bank balance before
their carbon emission output.
Suggesting that possibly this plan
will only work if the prices of ‘lower
carbon’ products are equal or lower
than their ‘higher carbon’ products.

MILLER & BENSON © BOB GROVES
EDITORIAL & OPINION Monday 29 January 2007 thefounder
& Opinion
thefounder
john@thefounder.co.uk
Editorial
POLITICS AMANDA FARRY
Does the ‘Green
Bush’ blossom?
In the ‘State of the Union’ speech given by George Bush last week,
some environmental issues were addressed... Does this constitute
a change in American environment policy or were the statements
made purely for the benefit of the popularity polls?
The announcement last week from George Bush of a number of ‘environmentally
friendly’ initiatives has caused quite a stir in the media. But what
are the motives behind Bush’s announcements? Political popularity boost
or can we really believe it’s for the greener good?
In last week’s speech, Bush mentioned plans to reduce the US’s petrol
consumption by 20% in the next 10 years, perhaps quite an ambitious target
for the US, but nevertheless a step in the right direction. Bush’s other
plans included more money, £808 million to be exact, to be spent over the
next 10 years on research and development of renewable energy sources.
These figures did indeed provide a certain amount of hope for the optimists
among us, but on closer inspection there are some cracks in Bush’s
ideas.
For instance Bush at one point says that ‘we must also step up domestic
oil production in environmentally sensitive ways; perhaps a slightly
contradictory statement? In order to rapidly increase any oil production
without causing some harm to the environment is currently an unrealistic
prospect. But this statement may have an underlying meaning; is it hinting
that oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), currently
fiercely debated among American conservationists, will go ahead
in an ‘environmentally sensitive’ way? Or was this statement intended to
reiterate Bush’s later comment; that the country is too dependent on the
turbulent Middle East for their oil?
After reading the entire ‘environmental’ sections of Bush’s speech, there
appears to be an absence of hard policies and commitment to these issues.
The biggest issue, carbon emissions, is not mentioned and even those that
have are somewhat ‘glazed’. However, there may be some light at the end of
the tunnel for American green policy: the technology route. Who said the
Americans have to follow the direction preferred by many other nations
of the world? George Bush’s ‘Technology not treaties’ approach to climate
change may be the way forward. After all, technology got us into this mess,
so why can’t it get us out? So perhaps the money spent on research and
development may reap some benefits after all; only time will tell.
The bottom line is that after taking an overview of Mr Bush’s speech, the
conclusion we all expected still prevailed: the environment has not moved
up the agenda, but has merely been used to create political hype, possibly
as an attempt to boost Bush’s diminishing popularity with the American
people. There is however one positive outcome, albeit a selfish or unselfish
motive, Bush has finally brought the environment some form of hope.
For the full State of the Union address go to the BBC website: http://
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3415361.stm
Recycle!
Recycle!
Recycle!
Bins located just outside The Hub
(next to ‘Lake Medicine’)

thefounder Monday 29 January 2007
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
does not kill:
its effects are much
worse. It robs sufferers
of their energy, their independence.
You lose your ability to
perform day-to-day tasks. Things
that we would think commonplace,
like reading a book, even having a
conversation on the phone, can be
distressing and tiring.
ME: what is it?
Until fairly recently, such a
debilitating condition was thought
by some members of the medical
profession to be a figment of the
patient’s imagination; some doctors
even suggested that ME sufferers
were just malingering. ME used to
be known as CFS - Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome - because tiredness was
thought to be the primary symptom.
The fatigue an ME patient suffers,
though, is not the fatigue we have
with lack of sleep. Their fatigue is a
physical exhaustion. In fact, some
ME patients have been known to
pass out after low-level exertion,
such as taking a brisk walk. Being
wheelchair bound is an everyday
reality a sufferer will have to face.
According to the latest report
form a Canadian research panel,
more people suffer with ME than
AIDS or even lung cancer. A recent
Department of Health report
estimates anything between 100,000
and 250,000 sufferers in the UK
alone. Yet what do we actually know
about it? The answer is saddening:
very little.
New findings
The latest, cutting-edge research
published in the Canadian
Consensus Report points to common
physical symptoms that might help
to further understand the condition.
Many of the patients examined by
the researchers showed markedly
decreased respiration levels across
the body. In other words, their body
is unable to process nutrients into
energy as effectively as a normal,
healthy person, leading to sluggish
organ and brain activity and fatigue.
MRI scans of the cerebral cortex,
the part of the brain responsible
for conscious thought and learning,
correlate this theory. The risk is that
organs will fail and patients could
die of they over-exert themselves.
New research is slowly starting to
uncover more about the symptoms,
but there is still no known cause.
Diagnosis, however, is still by means
of a checklist; there are no definitive
tests or imaging technologies which
enable a doctor to accurately say yes
or no.
A viral link is a possibility -
many people seem to develop
ME after a viral infection, but the
virus itself cannot be responsible,
since patients have reported many
different illnesses prior to ME. What
is more likely is that the patient had
increased susceptibility and ME is
EDITORIAL & OPINION
The unknown disease silently crippling lives
Investigating the latest research in ME
y Adam D’Souza
It is an utter disgrace that we
students are being asked to
pay for a TV Licence if we
wish to keep a television in
the kitchen, as this room is
apparently under its own address
and therefore is not covered by the
six to eight others living in the flat.
When I agreed to pay £100 a week
for my accommodation in Runneymede,
I assumed that meant I
was paying for use of the kitchen as
well.
So not only are the BBC taking
over £700 per flat from us poor students,
they are now charging another
£130 on top of it. This rule needs
to be changed, if students want to
move a TV set into the kitchen occasionally
(in our flat we are partial
to a mass karaoke session with the
TV) then this should be allowed.
The University needs to specify
to the licensing board that nobody
the body’s terrible ‘shock’ reaction.
The Consensus Report hints that
some patients might have a genetic
predisposition to the illness, though
this is not proven.
Hurdles:
ignorance and
isolation
You might think that with all of
this research the outlook for an ME
sufferer is positive. Unfortunately,
this is far from the truth. There is
still an attitude among key members
of the medical profession that ME is
an ‘imaginary’ condition, despite
the World Health Organisation
categorising it as a neurological
condition alongside Alzheimer’s
and Parkinson’s, for example.
The Medical Research Council
has turned down many valuable
projects, including one developing
MRI technology to accurately image
respiration levels in the cortex, on
the grounds that thy ‘did not meet
criteria’. According to charity Action
for ME, the disease costs the UK £3.5
billion per year; surely investing just
a fraction of this amount in research
would help Britain as a whole?
Many ME sufferers are young.
In fact, the group most at risk
from the condition are females
aged 10-25. As a result, one of the
biggest hurdles the ME community
is having to overcome is the lack
of access to education. Some ME
sufferers are fortunate enough to
ROBBERY BONITA NORRIS
TV Licence? Stick it up your...
lives in the kitchen, numerous people
own the kitchen, and therefore
no one is responsible for a TV Licence.
“not only are the
BBC taking £700
per flat from us
poor students, they
are now charging
another £130 on
top of it”
I say ignore this bizarre and downright
rude attempt to squeeze our
flaccid student wallets dry and use
your TV as you like. After all, there
is the age old ‘it’s not mine!’ retort to
fall back on should you find yourself
caught red-handed.
Have any horror
stories about TV
Licences?
What are your
thoughts on the
whole matter?
What if you don’t
watch the BBC,
why should you
pay?
Email John at:
john@thefounder.co.uk
be able to continue their studies in
mainstream education. However
, these are in the minority. Many,
many more have to pull outleaving
them lonely, isolated and
lacking the formal qualifications
the modern world needs. This is a
doubly crippling blow: my personal,
anecdotal experience of ME sufferers
(I have known several people with
the condition) is that ME usually
hits people with above-average
intelligence. Wild speculation,
perhaps, but maybe there is a
physical link between the brain’s
makeup and the risk of developing
ME? There’s excellent potential for a
PhD thesis there, methinks.
Consider the case of my friend,
B. She is my age and would love to
attend university - she is a passionate
scientist, easily devouring anything
from Gray’s Anatomy to Hawking.
Her school was ignorant about ME
and many of the staff believed she
was lazy. Somerset County Council
kept shifting the goalposts regarding
her care provision, leaving her and
her family depressed and isolated.
Virtually no funding exists for
ME provision; the small amount
allocated for special needs education
is quickly snapped up by local
authority special schools, which
focus more on teaching individuals
with severe learning difficulties
basic skills. But this is of little use to
the young ME sufferer who requires
a personal, tailored education to
fast track them towards higher
education.
In fact, until recently, there was
no support organisation focused
7
on providing education for the
considerable number of young ME
sufferers up and down the country.
Falcon Academy was set up by B’s
mother, a former special needs
teacher and education consultant,
to provide tailored courses via the
internet and video conferencing
direct to the home. Harnessing
Academy hopes to link ME patients
up, empowering them with the
knowledge that they are not alone,
that there are others like them.
However, there are still challenges
for the Academy to face, such as
has ringfenced £8.5 million to
establish 21 new treatment centres
chair by MP, Dr Ian Gibson. This
is not enough, though. The report
recommends a further £11 million
should be spent on investigating
the root of the disease. The report is
good news for patients: it provides
official acknowledgment from the
government that that their condition
is taken seriously. Gibson writes, ‘It
is an illness whose time has come’.
For now, though, B and the rest of
the ME community must sit quietly,
alone at home, and wonder what the
this new technology, Falcon
securing public-sector funding.
Moving forward?
The Department of Health
nationwide, following a report
future holds.
B remains anonymous for privacy
reasons. If you have been affected
by the issues in this article, contact
Adam (a.dsouza@rhul.ac.uk)
or The Founder (john@thefounder.
co.uk) with your responses.
Content with RCS?
How happy are you with the food at Founders Dining Hall? What do
you think of the prices in the Hub and the College Shop? Are you
impressed with the service you receive in Café Jules? And how far
have College gone to earn your Halls rent? Following a number of
requests from students all over campus, The Students’ Union is focusing
its campaigning resources on RCS for the remainder of the year,
and we need your help.
To make sure we are targeting areas of College Services that you are
not happy with, we would like you to tell us about your experiences.
We want to hear the good, the bad and the ugly- all your best experiences
and all your worst. It’s important that when we talk to college
we are talking specifics, or we will get nowhere. So do your part and
contact the Campaigns Officer, Joff Manning, and make your voice
heard.
Joff can be contacted by email: campaigns@su.rhul.ac.uk
Or you can join the inevitable Facebook group (RCS campaign) and
take part in active discussion about the pros and cons of RCS.
SURHUL Campaigns Committee

8 EDITORIAL & OPINION Monday 29 January 2007 thefounder
It would appear that I am
the only person low-brow
enough on The Founder editorial
team with the capacity
to write about Jade’s latest illinformed
ramblings. I haven’t even
been watching Celebrity Big Brother
(that much) and yet it’s clear to me
that there is an issue here that needs
to be confronted. Racism is worrying.
But the suggestion that Jade
Goody might be seen by some as a
role model is equally worrying.
Being a horrendous racist is condemnable,
and this is not something
I would wish to debate. However,
the national newspapers with their
six-figure circulations and experienced
writers seem to be doing a
top-class job highlighting this fact,
so there is little need for me to do it
here. What worries me is that many
of the dailies seem publicly concerned
not that people are actually
racist, but that many people might
start to harbour racist ideas because
they see Jade Goody as a role model.
I would suggest that the people who
The NUS discuss new ways to tackle their current financial problems
Goodys and Baddies
By John Hunter
Comment, Letters
& Opinion Editor
hold Goody in iconic elevation have
more to worry about than racism
alone. Granted, there is the concept
that anyone in a position of power
should act responsibly, lest followers
and people whom they influence
should start to try and copy them
- but seriously, will Jade’s die-hard
fans be listening to the arguments
fronted by The Guardian, The Observer,
The Founder? Perhaps if any
of the above happen to contain a
coupon for Jade’s Dance Workout
on dvd at the time, but I believe this
is yet to happen.
I don’t hate Jade, but I’m sorry
that she said what she said. She’s
also sorry that she said what she
said, which is perhaps more than
can be told of other people holding
racist views in the world. I’m
sorry for Jade that the papers decided
to make her the new Saddam,
and I’m sorry for the irony that the
very same program that made her
is now so relentlessly breaking her.
But we must remember - she is but
one person. If she made remarks on
television and everybody thought,
“well, she’s obviously ignorant, we
will just discard what she says” then
damage would be kept to a minimum.
Goody has some explaining
to do to the Asian community,
but we cannot pretend that she was
trying to incite some kind of racial
violence on a mass scale. However,
as the papers are all too aware, the
public cannot be credited with this
moral responsibility. The media secretly
knows that people, all kinds
of people, are racists, even when
they’re not making millions out of
TV deals - but without a house filled
with hidden cameras, how are they
going to prove it? Imagine trying to
sell newspapers that told the buyer,
“Jade’s a racist and you’re possibly
a bit racist too sometimes - but we
can’t prove it so let’s all gang up
on her!” Much easier to scapegoat
Goody with her Bermondsey accent
and pretend like she’s the only one
in the world.
Bringing Jade down will stop
her being a role model, not an ignoramus.
She quite possibly didn’t
mean to offend anyone, she just
didn’t know why what she was saying
was wrong. Being poor again is
not going to teach her the difference
between right and wrong, but it’s a
bloody good lesson on what not to
say on TV.
What the world thinks...
By Lara Stavrinou
A
recent poll held by the
BBC World Service recently
revealed just how
much the world’s image
of the US has deteriorated.
The war with the Middle East and
the incidents at Guantanamo Bay
have directly influenced people’s
opinions on the United States.
This particular poll showed that
57 percent of the British public
consider the US a negative influence
and a whopping 81 percent are
against the war in Iraq and the actions
it involves.
The poll covered Argentina, Australia,
Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt,
France, Germany, Britain, Hungary,
India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya,
Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines,
Poland, Portugal, Russia,
South Korea, Turkey, United Arab
Emirates and the United States.
Only 29 percent of the people in all
these countries believe that the US
is a positive influence in the world.
Almost three in four people disapprove
of the US policy in Iraq and
two out of three think the way terrorism
suspects at the Guantanamo
Bay camp in Cuba were held is
wrong.
Anti-Americanism has existed
in one form or another for many
presidencies, but with these controversies
criticism has reached a new
high. Even Britain, one of the few
US allies, is supporting them less
and less. The Times Populus poll,
held in 2006, showed that the number
of people agreeing to the quote
“it is important for Britain’s longterm
security that we have a close
and special relationship with the
US” had fallen to 58 percent compared
to the 71 percent taken just a
few months before. 65 per cent believe
that “Britain’s future lies more
with Europe than America” and, as
reported by The Guardian, 63 percent
of Britons felt that our link to
the US is was strong during the Israel-Lebanon
conflicts.
“57% of the British
public consider
the US a negative
influence”
With the lack of any end in sight
for the Middle East conflict, statistics
against the US have only
strengthened since then.

thefounder Monday 29 January 2007
EDITORIAL & OPINION
9
The Fabric of Good Government
y Daniel Boughton
which executive decisions are made
separately from tax legislation. The
President spends money on defence
or regeneration, but Congress
refuses further taxes. The result is
monstrous and debilitating debt.
As the roles of executive and
legislator are so naturally related,
it is my opinion that such a fusion
is entirely right and desirable. I
recognise that my introduction
has been banal and well rehearsed:
many people in this country do
support this binding. However,
why should this half of the ‘distheory’
be rejected, and yet the
other half be endorsed? Why is the
relationship between Government
and Parliament recognised, but
that between Parliament and the
courts not? It is a fashionable thing
to ‘reform’ the House of Lords.
The principle of the
separation of powers
is a cornerstone
of European and
American thought.
Montesquieu’s theory is that
which inspired the United States’
Constitution, that document being
carefully written in its image.
However, the ideas were founded
upon the system of England.
Montesquieu, in his studies,
wrongly deduced that our system
– one which he admired – observed
a separation of the powers. England,
in fact, has never done such a
thing. Today’s fusion of executive
with Parliament has always been, The Government
in some form or another. It is this
binding that is our “efficient secret”.
It allows for a sensible control
over the affairs of the state. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer, to
name but one prominent example,
is able to properly plan the Budget,
with the virtual guarantee that it will
pass through Parliament. This is in
contrast to the American system in
has issued a
white paper stating that it intends
to remove the Lords of Appeal in
Ordinary – the ‘Law Lords’ – from
the upper chamber, creating in their
place a Supreme Court. The aim
is to separate the legislature from
the judiciary. I consider this to be
as preposterous and dangerous
as the separation we have already
discussed.
“the consensus
is to obey a
discredited theory
by removing the
judicial role of the
House of Lords,
and to undo
the powers of
this appointed/
hereditary
chamber”
The natural connection between
the judiciary and legislature
requires an understanding between
the two. The law, where it is
written in statute, should always be
obeyed and enforced to the letter.
Magistrates and Circuit Judges have
no authority to question or colour
the laws of a legitimate Parliament.
Such law must therefore be clear and
thefounder editorial team
Editor-in-Chief
Jack Lenox
jack@thefounder.co.uk
News Editor
[Currently vacant]
Features Editor
[Currently vacant]
Media Editors
Dan Nicholls
dan@thefounder.co.uk
Michael Dean
michael@thefounder.co.uk
Comment, Opinion
& Letters Editor
John Hunter
john@thefounder.co.uk
Proof readers
Peter Brown, Veronica Paez, Helen Johnson
Business Manager
Simon Hepher
simon@thefounder.co.uk
Arts Editor
Beth Turrell
beth@thefounder.co.uk
Sports Editor
Allison Ealey
allison@thefounder.co.uk
Deputy Business Manager
Lina Pio
lina@thefounder.co.uk
Photography
& Images Editor
Tim Ruffles
tim@thefounder.co.uk
Cartoonist
Bob Groves
bob@thefounder.co.uk
unequivocal. Common law is to deal
with what is not written in the books.
There must be the understanding
that Parliament deals with specific
crimes, and judges deal with the
muddy, messy issues of rights, for
example. The passage of the Human
Rights Act exposes the breakdown
of this understanding. I consider
the Act to be a gross extension in
the remit of statute law. It is unclear
and open to vast misinterpretation.
It is, I feel, bad law.
Judicial review of proposed
legislation is needed to stop these
ambiguities. As is the case in the
House of Lords, judges should review
every Bill that the Commons pass.
Their legal expertise will enable them
to root out vague words and clauses,
and will thus protect the position
of common law. However, because
of the fashion of Montesquieu’s
theory, the upper chamber has been
thoroughly weakened and looks
set to be weakened still. It is now
unable to delay legislation for longer
than the term of a Parliament, and
so a Government can force bad
and unpopular law through on the
basis of a single election victory. In
a system where the Government
(rightly) controls the Commons,
this is unwise and imprudent. An
example is found in the Terrorism
Bill of 2005. The Lords voted to
exorcise the “glorification of terror”
clause from the draft. Both the Tories
and the Liberal Democrats also
opposed the clause as unnecessary
and dangerous, as did a number
of Labour rebels. However, it was
reinstated by the Government’s
majority.
The obvious advantage of a
bicameral Parliament is that it allows
for the two relationships discussed
to be realised. The Government
should control the lower House, and
the Judiciary the upper – and never
should the two meet. I consider the
current set-up to be the groundings
for the finest system of government.
However, the consensus is to obey
a discredited theory by removing
the judicial role of the House of
Lords, and to undo the powers of
this appointed/hereditary chamber.
Even Mr. Cameron supports reform.
I say, reinforce the judicial role and
restore the authority of the Lords.
Otherwise, we risk our liberty and
the integrity of our law.
The Founder is the independent student newspaper of Royal Holloway, University of London. We distribute 4,000 free
copies per week during term time around campus and to popular student venues in and around Egham.
The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Editor-in-Chief or of
Three Wise Munkeys Ltd, especially of comment and opinion pieces. Every effort has been made to contact the holders of
copyright for any material used in this issue, and to ensure the accuracy of this week’s stories.
Please contact the Editor-in-Chief if you are aware of any omissions or errors.
For advertising enquiries contact the Business Manager.
Post
The Founder
C/O VP:ComServ
Students’ Union
Royal Holloway
University of London
Egham, Surrey
TW20 0EX
Web
www.thefounder.co.uk
Email
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No problem! Just get in touch!
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No part of this publication is to be reproduced, stored on a retrieval system or submitted in
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© Three Wise Munkeys Ltd, 2006. 16 Avenue Road, Witham, Essex, CM8 2DT

10 FEATURES Monday 29 January 2007 thefounder
Always Coca Cola......?
By Holly Pulham
There was a huge campaign against
Coca Cola a couple of years ago
but what was it about and where is
it now?
Sticky, sugary, zestastic pops exploding
in your mouth from hand
pulped lemons that just ooze zingy
sweet nectar. Is this the memory of
your first fizzy drink? Highly unlikely,
unless you were fortunate to
have someone called Nigella as your
mother. Why is this? The answer
could lie in the fact that the Coca
Cola company has defined globalisation
in the last few decades. I can
even recall climbing the Himalayan
foothills at 1500 metres above sea
level and being greeted by a bottle
of Limca, produced by the Coke
manufacturers.
So what changes have manifested
themselves during the shift from a
sticky beverage being squeezed in
the kitchen to a multinational soft
drink manufacturer? Many believe
human rights breaches, corporate
killings, poisoning and various environmental
violations are symptomatic
of this growth, and that the
Coca Cola industry has exploited its
position in the developing world to
boost profits and keep down costs.
If this is the case, how should consumers
and fellow human beings
like us act in order to stop these violations
from further overstepping
that line between good business and
exploitation?
The breach of human rights by
large corporations is not exclusive
to Coca Cola, but as a recognised
brand in the West it has come to the
notice of many human rights campaigners
and other organisations as
a serious offender. The most horrific
example often quoted is that of the
eight Colombian bottle plant workers
who were allegedly picked off by
paramilitaries. All were thought to
be key members in setting up a new
workers union in the Coca Cola factory
in which they all worked.
Many other reports of union
workers being ‘re-employed’ across
the company only to find themselves
out of a job have come from places
where large amounts of money can
provide state impunity and a blind
eye. In the case of the Colombian
plant union members, a case was
brought to court on their behalf only
by a joint effort of the United Steel
Workers of America and the International
Labor Rights Fund in 2001,
possibly demonstrating the weakness
of the Colombian Workers Union,
Sinaltrainal, to bring about the
proceedings themselves. The case,
held in Miami in June 2001, resulted
in Coca Cola being sued. There was
little news coverage made of it here
in Britain.
Another major incident to plague
the reputation of Coca Cola is that
of the bottling plant in India’s Kerala
province, whereby the company
has been blamed for the draining
of groundwater supplies, the sale
of ‘toxic’ waste fertiliser to local
farmers and the contamination of
drinking water to hazardous levels.
Investigations by scientists at
the University of Exeter confirmed
that the local water supplies of the
areas around the bottling plant contained
extremely high levels of lead,
exceeding World Health Organisations
recommendations. They also
managed to conduct tests on the
waste sludge that the plant sells
cheaply to local farmers as fertiliser,
revealing that it in fact had no benefits
for agricultural endeavours and
that instead it contained dangerously
high levels of cadmium. Both
lead and cadmium are regarded as
poisons in such high quantities, affecting
the liver, kidneys and nervous
system. One of the most obvious
policies of the plant that disadvantages
the local population is the
vast drainage of water from scarce
groundwater wells. This has led to
a lack in water to irrigate land and
with over 600,000 litres of water being
drawn up per day by the plant, it
is no wonder that recent dry spells
have caused a shortage of water in
the villages in the vicinity and put
an end to the once thriving coconut
groves and vegetable crops. The plant
has even been reduced to sending
round its own water tankers to supply
the inhabitants with their minimum
water supply whilst it sucks up
the bulk of the natural source. The
full environmental impact of these
high levels of lead and cadmium in
the soil has not yet been ascertained
and with the routine dumping of
excess sludge in dry riverbeds, it is
not hard to believe that it will have a
serious knock-on effect for the local
population, let alone wildlife.
Those concerned about issues
in the Middle East might want to
check out the ‘Boycott Israel’ website,
which claims that Coca Cola
have been involved in negotiations
with Israel to build plants on captured
Palestinian territory. The Zionist
connections with Coca Cola
may be tenuous, but the creators
of this campaign seem convinced.
If that isn’t enough, the company
used the oldest scam in the book
and in 2004 tried to sell us tap water
at 95p a litre. This involved using
the process of adding bromide
to the water to taste better, but they
didn’t take into account that when
they later pumped ozone through it
this would oxidise the bromide into
a carcinogenic bromate. All bottles
were taken of the shelves in Europe
when this was exposed.
With such bad press it is difficult
to imagine that Coca Cola are
still in business, but it is still the
campaigners’ word against theirs.
Sometimes their defences sound
lame, sometimes convincing. The
Indian vice-president of the company,
Sunil Gupta, blamed the lack
of rainfall rather than the plant for
water shortages and claimed that
the company assessed the suitability
of the site before construction.
In the case of the Colombian workers
the International Confederation
of Free Trade Union’s statistics that
show that 184 out of the 213 killings
of union members in the world have
been in Colombia. So Coca Cola’s
claims that the killings are part of
the country’s political climate may
have some force.
Even when there is indisputable
evidence that bottling plants are
polluting villages and causing unemployment
in agriculture, Coca
Cola have claimed to be pushing
forward positive initiatives. In their
response to the NUS conference on
the allegations made towards Coca
Cola’s ethics, they highlighted the
education projects they have set up
on South America for children of
their employees who can’t make it
to faraway schools, and the voluminous
donations of school equipment
they have made.
If you choose to side with the reporters
and campaigners, there is
then the difficult question of how to
impact this massive multinational
manufacturer in such a way that it
reviews and changes its policies.
First of all there is the infamous
‘boycott’, something that has served
everyone from the local shopper
to the most powerful nations in a
world, where politics and economics
are finely intertwined. Many
organisations advocate the boycotting
of Coca Cola products and the
Killer Coke campaign is by far the
most venomous, with some very
imaginative posters. But even if individuals
- or our university - manages
to boycott all 400 and more of
the Coca Cola products available
on the market, that will just reduce
consumer choice and raise prices.
If we do buy different brands, then
how can we guarantee they do not
also have blood on their hands? For
instance, there have been enquiries
into PepsiCo over their treatment
of employees and we can nearly
all recount the furore around Nestle
and their powdered breast milk
programme in Africa. There is no
point in boycotting certain brands if
it is only to further another corrupt
cause.
NUSSL is a consortium supplying
products to Student Union bars and
clubs across the UK at discounted
prices, and has become involved in
the issue. In order for each university
that is a part of this consortium
to become ‘Coke Free’, they first of
all need to get 800 unions or more
to ask NUSSL to break their huge
deal with Coca Cola. But NUSSL
claim that boycotting is not the answer
and instead there should be a
review of policy.
The NUS have instead embarked
on a constructive route of action
that tries to avoid the problems of
boycotting. They have held a series
of meetings with Coca Cola representatives
and used their weight as
the voice of a considerable number
of student consumers, to request
changes in policy. Their policy recommendations
and pressure have
been recognised directly by Coca
Cola’s Corporate Review of 2006,
whereby they claim that they have
created policies and standards in
consultation with student bodies
along with other organisations.
As a direct result of organisational
pressure, in their 2005 Citizenship
Review Coca Cola claim to be dealing
with a list of recommendations
regarding policies towards worker’s
rights and environmental issues.
They launched their Workplace
Rights Policy in 2006 in order to
ensure better working conditions,
and agree to meet twice a year with
IUF, the largest Coca Cola workers
union. Even on their official website
they have included a whole section
to Social Responsibility in which
they draw attention to their efforts
at recycling PET bottles, promoting
sports for young people, and other
such issues that relate to a developed
country and our health obsessed
concerns.
Whether the shiny pamphlet
produced by Coca Cola extolling
its ‘commitment’ to better environmental
management and worker’s
rights can persuade us that change is
actually happening is open to doubt.
It is early days and at this stage we
can only hope that encouragement
of policy change through meetings
and constructive pressure has actually
worked and - for the sake of all
those Coca Cola addicts out there –
that we won’t be pushed to the point
of a boycott.
Those who have
implemented the ban
The sceptics of bilateral talks
with Coca Cola have instead
embarked on their own boycotts,
independent of NUS. The
University of Sussex managed
to ban the sale of Coca Cola
in its bars, shops and vending
machines on campus. The
alternative that they use is Virgin
Cola and there doesn’t seem to
be any bad press floating around
in relation to their work ethics.
However, there is the small
problem of product range, as
Virgin Drinks only supply Coke,
Orange juice and Wine in the UK.
Coca Cola on our Campus
Students at RHUL can purchase
Coca Cola products in the form of
bottles, cans and on tap from all
over campus. All college dining
halls have it on tap as well as
bottled from fridges. The SU has
three vending machines in the
building alone and use it on tap
in both bars, as does Crosslands.
The College shop sell a variety
of bottled and canned products
plus a vending machine outside.
Even the health conscious Sports
hall boasts a vending machine in
the reception.
What Students think
about a possible ban
When asked if it would make
much difference to them, there
came a varied response. On the
whole many students replied
that they wouldn’t mind but only
if there was a similar product
available. Ciara Constanti, a
second year history student said
‘If I couldn’t purchase it here on
campus then I would be willing
to venture off campus to buy it’.
A few expressed that they did
not drink fizzy drinks in cans and
bottles but that it would only
effect them when they drank at
the union.
Coca Cola own:
- Coke
- Fanta
- Fruitopia
- Oasis
- Bacardi Mixers
- Aquarious
- Malvern
- Minute Maid Juices
- Nescafé
= Power Ade
- Schweppes

thefounder Monday 29 January 2007
FEATURES
11
What the SU bar manager
thinks about becoming
Coca Cola free
John Allan, pointed out that he
would in fact be ‘happy to stop
selling bottles and cans of Coca
Cola in the Union’, however
this would not include Coke,
Lemonade and Tonic Water
poured on tap (made by Coca
Cola Schweppes). He argues that
this form of Coca Cola is supplied
to the Union in syrup form and is
mixed with water when poured,
which means it has not been
through the bottling process.
This is extremely vital in regard
to the allegations against Coca
Cola, as they all involve the
administration of bottling plants
and their use of water. Thus, there
would be no ethical argument
against supplying, buying and
promoting this kind of Coke
consumption.
There are also no other brands
of Coke available through the
NUSSL, from who the SU order
the majority of their products.
By opting for a different supplier
the SU would then lose out on
the discount NUSSL provides
and would lead to a subsequent
mark up of 50p on all drinks with
fizz in them.
Every time someone asked
for a ‘JD and Coke’ at the bar,
staff would have to inform them
that they do not supply it and
tell them the alternate brand in
accordance with consumer laws.
If this was the case then service at
the bar would just become even
more lengthy and confused.
Global Workforce
In their 2005 review Coca
Cola stated the following
figures:
- East and South Asia, Pacific
Rim- 6,900
- Latin America- 7,100
- North Asia, Eurasia and
- Middle East- 7,100
- Africa- 8,800
- North America- 12,500
- European Union- 12,600
However, this may not
include those that work
for affiliated firms and sub
contractors, which could possibly
double these figures.
Conclusion:
It seems vital here to first of all understand the nature of the allegations made towards Coca Cola. Regarding the Colombian plant workers we
have to consider the nature of the country they were in, somewhere where political instability and violence is rife. Also the criticisms in regard
to India and water usage relate to bottled and canned products not to those on draught, which is the kind of soft drink consumption we should
be promoting, not least in regards to excess packaging. Also, one has to consider that a couple million pounds loss to a company like Coca
Cola would not pressurise it to the point where it changed its production methods. This is one of the main reasons for the NUS’s method of
conference campaigning rather than boycotting. Most importantly however, there doesn’t appear to be a soft drinks supplier that can ensure a
completely ethical code of practice on the market, so unless we stop drinking it completely, we are just shifting our support onto other abusers.
In my opinion there shouldn’t be a ban but increased awareness and lobbying, not just regarding individuals but organisations that are experts
in realistic campaigning.

2 FEATURES Monday 29 January 2007 thefounder
An interview with Giles Foden
By Lara Stavrinou
Giles Foden went from
being a superb novelist
to having his name up
on the big screen for a
possible Oscar winner. His book was
turned into the film The Last King of
Scotland, which has enjoyed much
success over the past few weeks. It
revolves around Nicholas Garrigan,
a Scottish doctor in Uganda and
his relationship with the Ugandan
dictator Idi Amin, who deemed
himself ‘The Last King of Scotland’.
An interview with Giles Foden not
only gives one an insight about the
process of turning the novel into a
film but also into Foden’s personal
thoughts and experiences.
Giles Foden’s personal history is
an interesting one and, to no doubt,
inspired the novel. He moved to Africa
at the age of 5 and lived in various
countries, including Uganda,
for the next 20 years. He explains
that travelling the country was very
exciting for him as a young boy and
that when it came to writing he was
‘trying to recreate those vivid experiences
on the page, including the
frightening ones, like seeing dead
bodies or towns on fire, and having
our jeep searched at gunpoint by
soldiers.’
He continues to say ‘I don’t know
if writing The Last King of Scotland
changed my feelings, really. It certainly
brought them into sharper relief,
and made me think hard about
the role of white Westerners in Africa.’
This role was something that he
portrayed in Nicholas Garrigan - a
character which some might call
weak. Foden clarifies that the character
‘is rather fearful, but greedy
for experience, and throws himself
enthusiastically into life and work at
a remote rural clinic. But the signs of
his blinkered nature and lack of inner
strength soon become plain…. I
don’t suppose he is any weaker than
all of us,’ he continues, ‘He suffers
from the kind of disengagement
that most of us practise when faced
with something we don’t want to
admit, even when the evidence for
it is right in front of our eyes. Some
people have said they don’t believe
that Garrigan wouldn’t have just
fled, when Amin’s chaotic atrocities
became apparent. But when I
interviewed four doctors who were
in Uganda at the time, the common
thread was that ‘life went on as normal’.
The character of Idi Amin, having
already earned Forest Whitaker
a Golden Globe for best actor, has,
of course, also been a topic of much
conversation. Foden’s vast knowledge
and interest in the man is the
only way to really understand how
he created the character. For one,
Foden doesn’t see Amin’s actions as
political. ‘They were visceral, a matter
of appetite,’ he explains, ‘more
guns, more money, more women.’
On a deeper level, ‘his lack of a father
figure lead him to worship his
original colonial officers, and when
Britain effectively abandoned him,
he struck out like a sulky child. He
was quite cunning in the way he
did this, and one of the disturbing
things about him was that many
of his overtly political statements
— like saying that there should be
more black people in the White
House, and that the US should have
a black Vice-President (at least!)
— were things which liberals agreed
with. Some supported him (as did
right-wing Western governments,
including America and Britain), but
eventually couldn’t square his antiracist,
anti-colonial rhetoric with
his awful actions. The damage those
actions caused — up to 800,000
deaths — mainly came in the civil
wars that followed Amin’s downfall,
but he and his thugs killed hundreds
of thousands and it was his greedy
schoolboy activities that broke the
infrastructure of Uganda and, emptying
its coffers, laid the ground for
another decade of misery. Thank
God, things are better now. When
I went back recently, I was amazed
how much more prosperous the
country was, and how much happier
people seemed.’
“When it came
to writing, I
was trying
to recreate
those vivid
experiences
on the page,
including the
frightening
ones, like seeing
dead bodies or
towns on fire,
and having our
jeep searched
at gunpoint by
soldiers.”
Amin’s obsession with the colonial
powers also explains the title of the
book and film. As Foden puts it, ‘Idi
Amin was fascinated by all things
Scottish. As a young soldier in the
colonial King’s African Rifles, he was
was put into a kilt, and marched behind
the bagpipes. As he said, “The
officers who promoted me to Major
were all Scottish. I have been with
them for a very long time and they
are a very brave people on the battlefield.”
All this had a significant effect
on the emergent megalomaniac, so
much so that he supported a clandestine
group of Scottish nationalist
terrorists. Called the Army of the
Provisional Government, they sent
letter- bombs out of Aberdeen, and
in a publicity coup managed to secure
from Amin a promise of sponsorship
at the United Nations,’
‘Amin was a supporter of Scottish
liberation for all of his eight-year regime,
even claiming that he would
take up the throne if need be. He
once sent the following telegram
to the Queen, with copies to Kurt
Waldheim, Brezhnez and Chairman
Mao: “Unless the Scots achieve
their independence peacefully, they
will take up arms and fight the English
until they regain their freedom.
Many of the Scottish people already
consider me king of the Scots. I am
the first man to ask the British Government
to end their oppression of
Scotland. If the Scots want me to be
their king, I will.”’
‘Appropriately enough,’ Foden
continues, ‘Burns Night (January
25), 1971, was Amin’s first night in
power. For Amin, support for an
independent Scotland was a way
of dramatising his ambivalent relationship
with Britain. He could
attack the Government as “British”
but still write letters to the Queen
— or “Mrs Queen”, as he called her
— telling her that he loved her, as
she was Scottish as well as British.
Confused? So was he. As he put it,
“I don’t know. What is to be done
about Britain? I am the greatest
politician in the world, I have shaken
the British so much I deserve a
degree in philosophy. But… when
members of the same family quarrel
they are always ready to forgive
and forget. I have many Irish, Scottish
and Welsh friends also. I like
the Scots best because they are the
best fighters in Britain and do not
practise discrimination. The English
are the most hopeless. I really don’t
understand why Scotland does not
decide to become independent and
leave the English to suffer.”’
‘It was in the idea of Idi Amin as
a parodic figure of Scottish nationalism
that my own novel was born.’
Foden concludes when analysing
Amin’s relationship to the Scotish.
Finally, when asked about the
film’s development from the original
novel he explains that the development
‘was very slow. All contracts
and arguments. It took nearly
ten years. The individual producers
kept beavering away trying to find
the elusive alchemical combination
of money, stars, director and
scriptwriter (not necessarily in that
order),’
“The film was
going to be made
in South Africa,
not Uganda.
Wrong colours!
It has actually
made all the
difference that
the palette of it
is Ugandan, not
South African.
Apart from
some scenes
of Mississippi
Massala, Last
King was the
first major movie
to be shot in
Uganda since The
African Queen,
which was made
in 1951.”
‘The film was going to be made in
South Africa, not Uganda. Wrong
colours! It has actually made all
the difference that the palette of
it is Ugandan, not South African.
Apart from some scenes of Mississippi
Masala, Last King was the first
major movie to be shot in Uganda
since The African Queen, which
was made in 1951.’
He adds ‘It was exciting, when it
finally happened, to visit the set and
see one’s characters being brought
to life. It gave me a boyish thrill to
drive to the set every day in a fleet of
cars marked LKOS.’
When it comes to what he though
of the film itself and how successful
it was, he, ever so humbly, comments
‘It was a hard film to make,
on a low-budget. Someone called
it rebel, renegade film-making.
Somehow or other principal screenwriter
Peter Morgan, director Kevin
Macdonald, Whitaker and McEvoy
managed to get all the mad sublimity
of Amin and his regime into the
story, along with psychological pathos
and a fair degree of historical
verisimilitude.
Cinematographer Anthony Dod
Mantle, working quickly with a
mixture of 16mm and 35mm film,
filming in Uganda itself, is the unsung
hero,’
‘There is an honest depiction of
the violence done to ordinary Ugandans
in the film, but it’s still hard to
convey history on celluloid without
creating a sense of spectacle. As
Amin says to Garrigan at the climax
of the film, looking into his eyes:
“Did you think this was all a game?
Mm? ‘I will go to Africa and play the
white man with the natives’? We are
not a game, Nicholas. We are real.
This room is real.”’
Having met the stars of the film,
Foden was also able to comment on
them; ‘Forest Whitaker kept himself
apart from the rest of the cast and
crew. The reason simply the need
for rest, line learning, following “the
method”. He had gone completely
into character, learning some Swahili,
spending time with Amin’s relatives,
eating Ugandan food with his
fingers. He even apparently spoke to
his mum using his “Amin” voice on
the phone. He terrified former BBC
Africa specialist Anna Borzello (a
woman who eats real-life Congolese
bandits for breakfast) by doing the
same thing during an interview.’
Luckily, it was not only Whitaker
that took a deep interest in portraying
the film and its characters as
realistically as possible. Following
in Foden’s knowledgeable and passionate
footsteps, the film gives an
honest portrayal that might just live
up to the book.
The Last King of Scotland
is currently showing at all
major cinemas and the
book is available from all
good bookstores

thefounder Monday 29 January 2007
FEATURES
13

14 ARTS Monday 29 January 2007 thefounder
Arts
thefounder
beth@thefounder.co.uk
Art Editor’s Message
Music
Seth Lakeman - Shephard’s Bush
I’m a little concerned. Since the start of term I’ve found myself reaching
for the plastic A LOT. Trips to New York and spending New Year
on the Alps aside…I’m relying on Halifax much more than I have
done. And in the first term I didn’t exactly hold back. Don’t get me wrong
the money spending thing isn’t all that new to me. I am in fact very good
at it. The thing is my spending isn’t all that sensible; I don’t really buy
the conventional weekly things that other students seem to be spending
money on. Don’t worry, I ensure you that a substantial percentage is going
towards the liver-deterioration fund but despite that it is this month in
particular that leaves me concerned.
January s always a scary month financially but just take a look at what
the arts world is offering and you’ll forget debt and only concentrate the
world-class culture vulture heaven sitting on your doorstep.
Our reviews over the past couple of weeks should have given you an
idea of what to go and see…but if none of those fit the bill. Here are my
recommendations in the world of the arty farty types…
revor Nunn’s
Theatre
Taming of the Shrew - Old Vic
Last chance…
Cabaret - Lyric
The Glass Menagerie - Apollo
Amy’s View - Garrick
Blasted - Soho
Frost/Nixon - Gielgud
The Automatic - Koko
Guillemots - Brixton Academy
Modest Mouse - Albert Hall
The Hours - ICA
Exhibitions
Damien Hirst. Serpentine Gallery
Hockney Landscapes -Annely Jud
NT photo exhibitions - National
Theatre
Turner Prize - Tate Britain
y Lara Burton
George and Ira Gershwin’s
popular musical extravaganza
has recently
been specially adapted
for the West End by the highly regarded
director Trevor Nunn.
This new interpretation condenses
the four-hour long epic opera
into a fast paced theatrical wonder,
proving more pleasing to the demanding
musical theatre audiences
of today. The hauntingly beautiful
musical score has been condensed,
but still retains the well-loved clas-
orgy and Bess
sics including “Summertime” and
“I Got Plenty O’ Nothin’”, which
received rapturous applause when
I observed a performance at the
striking Savoy Theatre.
Set in South Carolina during the
Great Depression, Porgy and Bess
is a bittersweet love story between a
cripple and the girlfriend of a lowlife
on the run for murder. This new
adaptation is full of pizzazz, with
an incredible cast of forty talented
performers creating a breath-taking
sound at times. The set design
is cleverly constructed to frame this
new interpretation, which works
extremely well, even in condensed
form. I found the first half to be
slightly slow moving at times, and
the simplicity of costume and use of
little special effects is noticeably different
from the spectacles in West
End theatre today, but this was still
an astoundingly tear-jerking performance.
Porgy and Bess is currently showing
at The Savoy Theatre with tickets
priced from £20 - £ 60. It is a relatively
small theatre, and so even the
cheapest tickets should still have an
excellent view of the entire stage.
Photo:Tristram Kenton
A
Photo:Xavier Rashid
Decades Dance Show
and despite minor hiccoughs, the
By Lara Burton
applause reflected the shows great TO
As fellow students lay in success.
bed sleeping off the partying
from the first week dancers to breathe momentarily,
Supplying brief interludes for the t
of term, I sauntered were Balads, and Streetjamz, who i
down to the Union to investigate
“Decades”, the dance society’s first
show of the year.
both contributed exciting styles t
reflecting different eras in the progression
of dance. The RHUL Tom-
D
D
With a diverse range of choreography,
cats performed “Thriller” with great
accompanied by vibrant vigour, wearing creative costumes
and imaginative costumes, my trip and striking make-up, whilst Revelation
through from the 50’s to the 00’s was
Rock Gospel Choir and MTS
both uplifting and entertaining. added vocal contributions, the duet
The energy was maintained to an by David Ribi and Laura Mellor being
exceptional standard throughout,
to an especially high standard.
Photo:Xavier Rashid

thefounder Monday 29 January 2007
Imogen Heap: 21 st January
Oxford New Theatre
amongst the diverse audience and
as the lights dimmed there were
unexpected whoops from teenage
girl. My eyes were fixed on this stage
with three corsets on coat-hangers,
a transparent glass piano and a big
white furry rug. However, as the rest
of the ‘show’ would reveal, Imogen
Heap is not the most conventional
of performer and opened her set
with a headset mic walking through
the stalls shining a torch towards us.
The venue began to make a lot more
sense.
Imogen Heap has had an odd career
so far, but a very successful one
at that. At twenty nine years old, she
began life in music from a very early
age and it was not long before she
was snapped up by a label as was part
of the London based duo Frou Frou
as the lead singer. With hits such as
‘Let Go’-which she perfectly fit into
tonight’s set Frou Frou saw much
commercial success and were starting
to be used in many soundtrack’s
such as Shrek 2 and Garden State,
but were dropped in 2005. Heap was
made for the music industry and
just saw this as a progression into
her solo career. At the end of 2003
Heap announced she was to release
her first solo work. It was as a solo
artist that Heap was featured on the
OC’s soundtrack, along with other
great successes such as The Killers
and Sufjan Stevens.
The classic eccentric, Imogen
Heap mumbled her way through her
explanation of songs, revealing and
hiding meanings in perfect quantity.
The powerful set covered all the
eclectic hits from the haunting ‘Just
for Now’ to the running drums in
‘Closing In’ and the songs merged to
weave us through a beautiful narrative.
However a huge part of tonight
was not simply her set list but her
theatricality on stage and her performance
as a solo artist. Only on a
handful of songs was Heap joined by
any backing or band, namely ‘Nemo’
who doubled up as her support act.
Other than the more obvious bass
songs such as ‘Say Goodnight and
Go’ Heap guided herself through her
entire ‘Speak for Yourself ’ album by
electronically sprinkling magic dust
over orchestral strings, harps and
other things. There was of course
room for beautiful unplugged versions
of songs such as the heartwrenching
single, not from the
album ‘Speeding Cars’ which she
tinkled on her piano to and ‘Hide
and Seek’ which opened the encore.
It made sense to me why the
audience was fairly young. Imogen
Heap could come across as a fairly
pop-rock idol, having appeared on
teen-flick soundtracks and appearing
in her floaty flower printed skirt.
However, she is pop-rock, although
it is not in a bubblegum sort of way.
There is no Britney in Imogen despite
the catchy pop melodies. Heap
writes and performs with insight
and intellect. Her pop rock, as with
Frou Frou is atmospheric, dreamy
and quite ethereal.
In terms of stage presence, Heap
has it in abundance but once again
not in the conventional way. She did
not swig on a Stella but had a cup
of tea as made by Martha and her
water tasted funny because she had
just ‘used some rather odd mouth
wash’. She did not swear but graced
the stage with sophistication and
utter grace. She did not only please
the crowd by being a reliable artist
and playing all the hits; her voice is
incredibly velvety and her classical
background shone through, hitting
every note perfectly and with real
ease. An incredible evening of live
music, layered with mystic melodies,
layered harmonies shaped and
formed by Imogen Heap alone before
our very eyes. Heap warned us
that she will not be back for up to
a year and so it’s going to be a very
cold winter searching for an artist of
such imagination and unique style.
introduced to, Heap made us fully
By Beth Turrell
aware that is wasn’t going to be any
ordinary ‘gig’. Heap found her feet
Imogen Heap is incredible. quickly and it wasn’t long before she
She entered the New Theatre
in Oxford as a spectabox
sounds and her dreamlike har-
was filling the theatre with her beatcle
and set the atmosphere monies that characterise her experimental
style. Imogen Heap certainly
early on. With a feather
Mohican loosely poked is not a performer that struggles to
through her big brown hair and her hypnotise her audience.
repeating electronica parrot we were We took our seats in the stalls
ND THE WINNER IS…
The Olivier Awards 2006
y Beth Turrell
his month has seen the annual
in-flux of award nominations
announced. From
livier’s to Brits and on their way:
he Oscars…
2006 saw the success of the musical
n the shape of Billy Elliot along with
he critic’s hotshots: Hedda Gabler,
eath of a Salesman and Guys and
olls. Will 2007 bring fresh talent
Photo: Alex Parvin
onto the West End stage? Will the
expected media-popular hits scoop
everything or will we see some surprises
in the mix?
If last year is anything to go by and
with most award categories they are
only ever really three or four winners.
There are of course some surprises
but once you’ve seen whose
up for best play your pretty much
up to date on the nominations for
every other category. Think back to
the days of Take That, Gary Barlow
barely had to sit down at the piano
to claim all the gongs for that year,
presumably post their latest single
‘Patience’ they will no doubt, within
the next couple of years, scoop the
Outstanding Achievement Award
and be right up there with John
Lennon, Elton John and The Who.
The same goes with all the award
ceremonies. Don’t get me wrong, an
outstanding performance is often
just that and does not just mean that
the acting was superior to all other
aspects in the performance. Usually
hand in hand with superb acting is a
whole team of highly regarded professionals
pulling out all the stops to
put together a performance along
the lines of Mary Poppins, The Lion
King or Les Miserables so inevitably
the show is likely to claim all the silverware.
Just glance below at some
of the 2007 award categories for theatre’s
most prestigious Olivier award
nominations. Only certain plays,
actresses and actors can win and
whoever it is, is likely to be smothered
in awards. Well done Spamalot,
well done…
Best Actress
Eve Best for A MOON FOR THE
MISBEGOTTEN
Sinead Cusack for ROCK ‘N’ ROLL
Tamsin Greig for MUCH ADO
ABOUT NOTHING
Kathleen Turner for WHO’S
AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
Best Actor
Iain Glen for THE CRUCIBLE
David Haig for DONKEYS’ YEARS
Frank Langella for FROST/NIXON
Rufus Sewell for ROCK ‘N’ ROLL
Michael Sheen for FROST/NIXON
Best New Play
BLACKBIRD by David Harrower
FROST/NIXON by Peter Morgan
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL by Tom Stoppard
THE SEAFARER by Conor
McPherson
ARTS
Outstanding Musical
CABARET book by Joe Masteroff,
music by John Kander, lyrics by
Fred Ebb
EVITA lyrics by Tim Rice, music by
Andrew Lloyd Webber at the
THE SOUND OF MUSIC music by
Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar
Hammerstein II
SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH
GEORGE music and lyrics by
Stephen Sondheim
Best Director
Sam Buntrock for SUNDAY IN THE
PARK WITH GEORGE
Dominic Cooke for THE CRUCIBLE
Joe Mantello for WICKED
15

16 MEDIA Monday 29 January 2007 thefounder
Media
thefounder
dan@thefounder.co.uk
michael@thefounder.co.uk
Editor’s Note
This week the silver screen sees the
return of one its most famous icons,
Rocky. For some, there may be the
feeling that Rocky overstayed his
welcome long ago, but it seems that
the sixth film in the series is not
only the story of a fictional former
champ’s climb back to the top, but
also of a filmmaker’s. Love or hate
‘Rocky Balboa’, it is an undeniable
personal triumph for its director, the
now sixty Sylvester Stallone, who
manages to capture just enough of
his original ‘Rocky’ films gritty urban
spirit to pull things off. Also in
cinema is the highly disappointing
‘Smokin’ Aces’. After the impressive
‘Narc’ in 2002, Joe Carnahan creates
a film that gets lost in its own obsession
with ‘MTV’ editing and never
hits the right notes it should.
This coming week seems much
more promising. Edward Zwick follows
2003’s ‘The Last Samurai’ with
‘Blood Diamond’, a tale of the effects
the corrupt diamond trade in Sierra
Leone and the effect it has on its
protagonists. Although Zwick will
most definitely use his trademark
typically rousing cheese to affect
his audience, expect good performances
throughout from Leonardo
Di Caprio, Jennifer Connelly and
Djimon Hounsoun in a film that
has already been nominated for
five Oscars. Also this week Darren
‘Requiem For a Dream’ Aronofsky’s
fantasy fable ‘The Fountain’, starring
Movie News
In the world of movie news this
week George ‘Mad Max’ Miller the
director of Happy Feat announced
that although he would be interested
in directing a sequel to his
comic dancing penguin animation,
it will not happen before he has
got around to directing the fourth
film in his dystopian series. Miller
was quoted as saying “There’s three
or four films I want to do before I
would ever embark on Happy Feet
2, including Mad Max 4, sooner or
later”. A fourth Mad Max Film has
been on the cards for quite some
time now and despite the fact that
the fifty year old Mel Gibson is apparently
not signed up to reprise his
role as the road warrior things are
looking more promising than they
have for some time in regards towards
the production.
With the Oscar Nominations finally
released for this year Martin Scorsese
is apparently the favourite to go
home with the best director award
being 1-3 favourite for his film ‘The
Departed’. This is not the first time
Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz
makes its long overdue release on
UK screens. Although being booed
at the Venice Film Festival it has
since received a fair amount of
critical appraisal and looks set to
become an unexpected classic.
In the world of DVD releases this
week we have reviews on ‘severance’,
a brilliantly gore ridden, tension
filled, darkly comic film, proving
that British cinema seems to have
well and truly found a new niche in
horror comedies. Also, ‘Talladega
Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby’
starring Will Ferrell comes to DVD
this week and while never managing
to beat the off the wall madness
of ‘Anchorman’ certainly succeeds
in providing enough laugh on its
own to justify a viewing. If you are
interested in any our films reviewed
on DVD remember they are all
available at discount prices through
The Founders own link www.cdwow.com/thefounder.
I hope that the media section of
The Founder proves useful, and remember
if you would like to submit
a review of a current film or DVD
release or have a comment on what
you have read in the media section
email myself or Dan Nicholls at michael@thefounder.co.uk
or dan@
thefounder.co.uk.
Thanks,
Michael Dean
michael@thefounder.co.uk
Scorsese has been tipped for this
award though. Through out a career
of creating such classics as Mean
Streets, Taxi Driver, and Goodfellas
he has often been predicted to
win this prestigious accolade but it
has as of yet eluded him. Will 2007
be Scorsese’s year? We will have to
wait and see.
Paul Greengrass the director of
‘United 93’ has been signed up to
bring the third Jason Bourne movie
to screen titled the ‘The Bourne
Ultimatum’. But despite this foray
into main stream action it seems
that the surrey born director hasn’t
strayed to far from his political
roots as he has announced that he
intends to direct a piece based on
the book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
called ‘Imperial Life In The Emerald
City: Life in Iraq’s Green Zone’
which focuses on the aftermath of
the second Gulf War in Iraq. The
project is due to start filming later
this year and will undoubtedly be
yet another thought provoking
piece from the multitalented director.
All for One
and therefore to make him more heroic.
Not so the musketeers. While
D’artagnan is clearly the hero, none
of these men could be described as a
sidekick. Indeed, in the later books
it is spelled out - while they are all
formidable individuals, together
they are practically invincible. No
matter what, each will always be
ready to answer the call of the others,
even after twenty years apart.
There is a charm to this loyalty, the
more so because it is set against a
backdrop of corruption and intrigue.
In an every man for himself
world, their motto is “All for one
and one for all”.
The characters themselves are
By Martin Marshall
The College Bookshop
(Specialist in out of print, hard to
find, and obscure books)
When he wrote “The Three Musketeers”,
one wonders whether Alexandre
Dumas knew that this was
it. This was the work beyond all his
other stories and plays, beyond even
“The Count of Monte Cristo”, that
he would be remembered for. Dumas
had seen the success of Sir Walter
Scott, and believed that a market
existed for a French brand of the
same type of historical fiction. In
his own day Dumas was vindicated
in this view, writing and collaborating
on a string of successful
historical works, first plays,
and later serialised novels.
It was as a serial that “The
Three Musketeers” was first
published, appearing in the
magazine Le Siecle in the
summer of 1844. Immensely
popular at the time, it
has endured ever since.
Dumas wrote, or rather,
collaborated with historian
Auguste Maquet, on two
sequels, and also adapted
the novel to the stage. Dumas
may also have written
a third sequel, “The Son of
Porthos”, but the authorship
of this book is disputed, and
has yet to be proved. Since
Dumas, other writers have
produced sequels, prequels
and spin-offs of their own,
while we have seen countless
screen adaptations,
from the original 1921 silent
movies all the way up to the
incomparable “Dogtanian and the
Three Muskahounds”.
So what is the secret of this lasting
success? A great part of it, of course,
is simply the fact that this is a very
exciting adventure story. Forbidden
love affairs, intrigue at the royal palace,
kidnapping, duels to the death,
a great deal of humour, and some almost
insane displays of bravado, this
book really has it all. Yet one thing,
above all others, makes it stand out
in the action genre - friendship. One
of the notable things about the action
hero, as a fictional archetype,
is his singularity, particularly in
the movies. More often than not,
one man stands alone, so as to accentuate
the risks he is taking and
the magnitude of the task he faces,
tremendously appealing and enjoyable
as well. We have the noble
drunk with the dark secret, Athos.
Then there is the charming and
spiritual, yet devious and cunning
Aramis, never so much a priest as
when he was a soldier, and never
so much a soldier as when he was
a priest. There is Porthos, the gentle
giant, simple, loyal, with a punch
that could fell an ox and a gift for
surprisingly profound comments.
And, of course, D’Artagnan, the
bravest, most resourceful and cleverest
of all. The characters themselves
are so captivating that it does
not seem to matter that the various
adaptations rarely stick at all closely
to the plot of the books - we are
willing to watch these men do anything.
All of them are based, rather
loosely, on real historical figures, as
are most of their adversaries and
accomplices, who themselves are a
fascinating bunch. The Cardinals,
Richelieu and Mazarin, Anne of
Austria, the Comte de Rochefort,
the Duke of Buckingham, and most
of all, the mysterious Milady, all
provide a tremendous supporting
cast, as do many more besides.
In the servants of the heroes,
Dumas created not only four more
interesting characters, but also an
interesting literary device. Read
through all of the cycle, “The Three
Musketeers”, “Twenty Years After”
and “The Vicomte de Bragelonne”
(usually published in three parts including
“Louise de la Valliere” and
“The Man in the Iron Mask”),
and note the way the servants
develop and evolve. From
this, the reader can predict
the later evolution of the heroes
themselves. Indeed, the
tragedy of the adaptations is
generally that, not only do
they miss out the servants
altogether, but that they seldom
get more more than
halfway through “The Three
Musketeers”. The Musketeer
cycle unfolds like a great epic.
So fast does it move that little
mistakes of continuity, like
which month it’s supposed to
be, or how long it takes to get
from one country to another,
pass by almost unnoticed. The
tone throughout is upbeat
and enjoyable, masking the
fact that, in many ways, this
is rather a tragic tale. Imagine
yourself in a world before
TV or films and read through
them in installments. If you only
know the musketeers through the
movies the story will surprise you
more and more as you get through
it. And it will reward you with a
tale of adventure that is almost unmatched
in scope and ambition.
Job Vacancy
The College Bookshop is now
looking for a new full-time member
of staff to start in February. If
you’d like to know more about
the vacancy then pop into the
shop and have a word with one
of our staff, and bring a CV if you’d
like to apply. I should emphasise,
however, that there are, at present,
no part-time vacancies. This
is strictly a full-time post.

thefounder Monday 29 January 2007
FILM
17
Film
Vue Cinemas, Staines
Rocky Balboa (12A)
By Oliver Bramley
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Burt
Young, Antonio Tarver.
Rocky Balboa is now running his
own restaurant named ‘Adrian’s’ (in
memory of his late wife), when he
is shown a virtual fight that a sports
channel have created showing him
fighting Mason ‘The Line’ Dixon,
played by real life boxer Antonio
Tarver. The virtual fight shows Balboa
beating Dixon, and this causes
much controversy throughout the
sports world, and before you know
it Dixon’s manager has arranged this
fight to take place in real life, as an
exhibition match. As in the earlier
films of the series we follow Rocky
as he trains and becomes fit and
ready for the big fight at the end of
the film.
In 1976 the movie world saw the release
of ‘Rocky,’ a film that followed
a small time boxer named Rocky
Balboa as he was given a shot at the
Apollo Creed, the champion. The
film became a massive hit, gaining a
number of awards, and was quickly
followed by four sequels. Although
some of the sequels proved to be a
success, one of them stood out for
being a disappointment, namely
‘Rocky V.’ It was seen as a disappointing
way to end such a ground
breaking series of films, however,
little did anyone know that
2006/2007 would see the worldwide
release of ‘Rocky Balboa.’
‘Rocky Balboa’ sees Sylvester Stallone
return to the role of director
and star as he seeks to finish the
‘Rocky’ series in a way that he is
happy with. It is effectively the
sixth in the series, but the lack of
number in the title suggests that
the creators wanted to repackage
a product that was seen by many
as a laughing stock due its many
sequels.
As a huge fan of the ‘Rocky’ films
myself I could not wait to see
this film, a film that I had always
hoped that they would release, and
I was not disappointed with what I
saw. One thing that I have really
noticed with the films is that they
take a while to pick up, and are
quite slow at times, and this one
is no different, however the viewer
quickly forgets this when the pace
of the film increases greatly when
the action really picks up and Rocky
begins his training.
‘Rocky Balboa’ is a film that can really
affect you in many ways. One
moment you may be laughing at the
great one-liners, and the next you
could be getting all emotional. As a
film fan I would say that I truly believe
that it will be one of the best
films of 2007, and as a ‘Rocky’ fan I
would say that this is the best possible
way to end the series.
Summary:
It was always said that another
‘Rocky’ film wouldn’t be possible,
but Sylvester Stallone has created
an incredible film which has you
sitting on the edge of your seat in
many parts, and even gives you
the idea that the classic montage
scene can be created on any set
of stairs that you can find (not
that I have done so of coarse!). I
would strongly recommend that
you go and see ‘Rocky Balboa,’
this feel good film will leave a
great impression on you.
4/5
Smokin’ Aces (18)
a good chance Smokin’ Aces would
deliver. But what starts out as a solid,
sharp and well paced piece sadly
By Michael Dean
unravels slowly and descends in to
a manic mess with an unnecessary
Director: Joe Carnahan
twist ending.
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Ray Li The story is seemingly simple at the
otta, Andy Garcia, Ben Affleck, beginning. Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel is a
Alicia Keys.
Vegas Magician who, after falling in
too deep with the mob, has turned
informant for the FBI. His ex-friends
in the mafia are not too pleased with
this and put out a bounty of one
The post Tarantino world is a
strange place indeed, one in which
ultra violent gun totting gangster
movies seem just as normal as romantic
comedies in our weekly diet
of cinematic releases. In the past
fifteen years we have been presented
with more films featuring wise
cracking quirky criminals, embedded
in elaborate plots laden with
twists and turns, than you could
shake an AK-47 at. But as the likes
of Mr Tarantino and Mr Ritchie
have taught us, when these kinds of
films come good on their promises
you end up with a couple of hours
of exhilarating entertainment. The
last time Joe Carnahan directed a
film he gave us 2002’s terrifically
gritty ‘Narc’, so it seemed there was
million dollars on his head. While
he awaits his safe transportation in
a glitzy hotel, thanks to his considerable
price tag, a multitude of hit
men and assassins descend on the
building. The film then becomes a
five way melee between the competing
criminals with the FBI agents
assigned to protect Israel (played by
Reynolds and Liotta) caught in the
middle. Despite its simplicity, this
set up is executed well in the first
act delivering great tension and although
borrowing some techniques
from previous movies in the genre,
it seems as if Carnahan has enough
of his own style and imaginative
touch to carry it off. As we are presented
with the various innovative
methods the unlawful players use
in order to get to Israel things move
along smoothly and entertainingly
towards the inevitable big shoot
out.
But as the film progresses it feels
more and more like it is trying to
put bits of different jigsaw puzzles
together. Liotta and Reynolds give
good solid performances but seem
to be acting in some other much
more serious movie altogether, because
at the same
time we have group
of chainsaw wielding,
red neck neo
Nazis (definitely the
biggest mistake of the
movie) dispensing of
a floor full of hotel
security in the style
of some mindless
Playstation game.
This is a problem
that starts to become
more apparent as the
film progresses. One
moment it feels like a
hard edged serious gangster thriller
and the next it comes out acting
like a scatter-shot crime comedy.
This losing of the films direction is
a real shame because in its more intense
and serious moments Smokin’
Aces is actually quite entertaining.
Unfortunately, the further the
film progresses, the fewer and far
between these moments come. At
the climax we are suddenly thrown
(out of no where) a twist that is not
only a disappointing reveal but that
also really doesn’t add anything to
the film, which after it’s immature
middle, has done nothing to merit
the kind of sombre finale Carnahan
tries to achieve.
Summary:
Despite some good performances
from Reynolds, Liotta and
surprisingly Alicia Keyes, as well
as occasional nice fragmented
moment of action, Smokin’ Aces
ultimately never rises above the
tired convention of its genre and
will undoubtedly be forgotten
fast. What potentially could have
been a winning hand if things
had been kept simple and serious,
instead ends up a messy disappointment.
2/5

18 DVD Monday 29 January 2007 thefounder
DVD
w w w . c d - w o w . c o m / t h e f o u n d e r
alladega Nights:
he Ballad of Ricky Bobby (12A)
By Dan Nicholls
Director: Adam McKay
Writer: Will Ferrell & Adam
McKay
Starring: Will Ferrell, Sacha
Baron Cohen, Michael Clarke
Duncan, Leslie Bibb.
NASCAR stock car racing
driver Ricky Bobby (Will
Ferrell) is a national hero because
of his “win at all costs”
approach. He and his loyal
racing partner, childhood
friend Cal Naughton Jr.
(John C. Reilly), are a fearless
duo - named “Shake”
and “Bake” by their fans
for their ability to finish so
many races in the #1 and #2
positions. When flamboyant
French Formula One
driver Jean Girard (Sacha
Baron Cohen) challenges
“Shake” and “Bake” for the
supremacy of NASCAR,
Ricky Bobby must face
his own demons and fight
Girard for the right to
be known as racing’s top
driver.
Will Ferrell. Love him or hate
him he has a huge fan base and
appeals to millions.
He skyrocketed to fame, becoming
the next famous member of ‘The
Frat Pack’, and all whilst being the
weirdest guy working in Hollywood.
Talladega Nights is certainly
weird and spontaneous but it’s not
as over the top as his earlier films,
something that to me at least isn’t a
good thing.
Fe r rell’s brand of comedy
i s unique. I’m
used to finding easily quotable lines
like ‘I’m in a glass box of emotion!’.
After creating Anchorman Ferrell
had a huge task ahead of him to top
Competition
it, and Talladega Nights certainly
does not. But what it does do is provide
a whacky and entertaining film
that people who find Ferrell’s movies
over the top may prefer.
The jokes are thick and fast, but unfortunately
only work in context and
t h e story is shallow but holds
enough to get through
the whole film without
wanting to give up on it.
The characters are brilliant,
with Sasha Baron Cohen’s’
French gay formula 1
driver providing one of
the more entertaining villains
of the past few years.
No where near the level
of tear inducing laughs as
Anchorman, but still hilarious
in parts, I’d recommend
this one as a Saturday night
movie to watch along with
a room full of friends and
a few drinks.
3/5
Extras:
The DVD has a large number
of extras but to be honest
not many are that great.
‘Ricky & Cal’s Commercials’
is fantastic and the
gag reel gets you laughing
along, but the rest are
simply lacklustre pad out
the package extensively type
extras.
2.5/5
Congratulations to Melissa Tellier, the winner of our last competition. The answer was Independence
Day.
Something a little harder for you this week (and from now on) - We give you a film quote, you
tell us which film it is from and which actor/character said it. Prizes this week are as follows:
- 1 x pair of tickets for Vue Cinemas, Staines.
- 1 x ‘Just Friends’ T-shirt
- 1 x ‘Just Friends’ beanie
- 1 x ‘Racing Stripes’ Zebra soft toy
- 1 x ‘Prime’ bag
- 1 x ‘Prime’ T-shirt
This fortnight’s quote:
‘I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one.’
Good luck! As always, answers to competitions@thefounder.co.uk (competition closes 7th
February 2007).
By Josh Yard
Severance
Director: Christopher Smith
Starring; Danny Dyer, Laura
Harris, Tim Mcinnerny
British horror-comedy has, thankfully,
become a continually increasing
genre in the world of film and
has churned out a fair amount of
classics. How many times have you
heard the term ‘Better than Shaun
of the Dead’? Hopefully from this
day forth, people will review the
next big-scale horror-comedy by
using the phrase ‘Better than Severance’.
Now I am a big critic of the horror
genre and especially critical of socalled
horror-comedies, (the word
‘Slither’ creeps into my mind), and
so I was at first a little hesitant as to
whether I would enjoy the film. It
didn’t help that above the title read
the words, ‘Starring Danny Dyer’.
The film is set in the backside of beyond
in Eastern Europe where seven
workers of multi-national weapons
company, Palisade Defences,
are driving through the dirt-roads.
The team believe that they are being
led to a luxury lodge where a
weekend of team-building exercises
and alcohol-fuelled antics will take
place. The group are snapped back
into reality when a conveniently
placed tree blocks their road path
and the bus driver dumps the team
and scarpers. Thus follows the inevitable
path of shocks, blood and
screaming.
The film is not one to explore too
far into the depths of horror, comedy
or horror/comedy. What it
does do however is combine both
elements into one excitable, frightening
and thoroughly enjoyable
package. The scares are frightening
and unexpected, the comedy is funny
and original and there are more
than a few times throughout the
movie where you will be surprised
at what it can throw at you. Beautifully
shot through the forests of the
remote Hungarian wilderness, once
the action of the films revs up it becomes
a strange mixture of Rambo
versus Deliverance, and once the action
starts, there is no stopping. The
film doesn’t disappoint the bloodthirsty
audience by putting the cast
through a usual and disturbingly
exciting number of brutal events.
The film is essentially what would
be described in dramatic terms as
an ensemble piece of theatre, as it
relies heavily on seven strong performances
from seven actors ranging
from Andy Nyman’s naïve and
clueless Gordon to Danny Dyer’s
delightfully awful part-chav hybrid
of himself. It is also a god-sent welcome
to the screen for Tim McInnerny
who I do not think I have
seen since he graced the screen with
his presence in Blackadder, a role
not too different from the one he
plays in this feature.
Now let me get this clear, this film
will not win any Oscars and will not
be considered a classic. However,
I am giving the film such a high
score for its ability to scare and provide
laughter in equal side-hurting
amounts. Buy this film if you want
to own an exciting and excitable
piece of British horror. Rent it if
you want an hour and a half of pure
adrenaline in DVD form.
The new addition to British comedies;
mixing comedy and horror
perfectly and seamlessly, it is a worthy
addition to any gore-hunters
DVD collection and provides everything
else for those with a phobia of
blood.
4/5

thefounder Monday 29 January 2007
Music
w w w . c d - w o w . c o m / t h e f o u n d e r
MUSIC
19
Tom Waits - Orphans
By Tom Feltham
Cold War Kids –
Robbers and Cowards
By Tom Shadbolt
The American music industry is
running dry. Just as our Indie music
has to be infected by some kind of
reverence to the libertines, stateside
there seems to be little innovation
and risk taking at all. This album will
definitely sell well both in the US
and the UK, and although it keeps
a high music standard throughout,
there is a distinct amount of drudgery
when listening to what seems
like the same track over and over.
The major problem I have with this
band is they seem to lack any form
of charisma. If I went out on the piss
with these guys, what would we do?
What trouble would we get into?
They are probably nice blokes who
would sneer at some pop music
playing in the corner while politely
declining a swig from a bottle of
brandy I’d offered under the table
because they have work the next
morning.
Admittedly, the tracks ‘Hang me up
to dry’ and ‘We used to vacation’
are inevitably going to be successful,
and expect a fair amount of
radio play time devoted to them,
but the album lacks killer tracks to
justify a must buy title, Download
the two main tracks and leave it at
that, unless you really do enjoy an
album which all blends into one.
Personally I would rather listen to
Razorlight and think ‘God I hate
these guys’ than listen to something
that I’ve forgotten about as soon as
the song as finished.
3/5
Tom Waits, as his wife and cowriter
Kathleen Brennan once said,
writes grim reapers and grand weepers,
and there are few better at it than
him. On “Orphans” he produced a
three-disc selection of songs both
new and old, arranged into three
categories – ‘Brawlers’, ‘Bawlers’
and ‘Bastards’, the latter being the
stuff that falls between, over and
under the grim reapers and grand
weepers. Recalling Dylan, Howlin’
Wolf, Sinatra, and including a number
of covers ranging from Leadbelly
to the Ramones to the Heigh
Ho song from Snow White, Waits
revisited some familiar ground and
dragged us down some alleyways
we’d never encountered before too.
‘Lie to Me’, opening the collection,
is a feral rockabilly stomp rivalling
The Cramps’ best output, with
Marc Ribot still staking a claim as
one of the best and most versatile
guitarists around today. The muddy
Cuban blues-funk and beat-boxing
which dominated his last album, the
compelling ‘Real Gone’, still packs
a punch here, especially backing
Waits’ first foray into overt political
comment, the incredible protestsong-of-2007,
‘Road to Peace’.
Whereas on previous songs such
as ‘Day After Tomorrow’ he presented
a single soldier’s story, here
he presents all sides at once: “But
Bush is reluctant to risk his future
with the fear of political failure / So
he plays chess at his desk while he
poses for the press / Ten thousand
miles from the road to peace”.
Meanwhile, fans of Waits’ earlier albums
will be easily satisfied by the
‘Bawlers’ disc. ‘Widow’s Grove’
and ‘World Keeps Turning’ are up
there with Waits’ most heart-breaking,
enchanting songs. That a cover
of The Ramones’ ‘Danny Says’
does not seem out of place here
says it all about Waits’ genius. Despite
the categorization of the discs,
each one is well-balanced with a
few misfits to keep listeners on their
toes. For instance, a song like the
wonderful cover of ‘Sea of Love’
could have ended up on any one of
the three CDs, its familiar patterns
twisted and torn out of context to
become something wonderfully
new, holding its own on the ‘Brawlers’
set despite being a careworn
ballad. The ‘Bastards’ set is comprised
of a handful of spoken word
pieces showing off Waits’ story-telling
brilliance, alternately creepy,
touching and funny, alongside some
more out-there covers and musical
experiments such as ‘Dog Door’,
a flirtation with electro-rock. Once
it’s over you might be at a loss as to
which disc to re-listen to next while
you examine the beautiful packaging
of the set, but that’s the only
drawback to the collection. The set
achieves a rare feat, simultaneously
holding the irresistibility of a collectible
for die-hard fans, a brand
new album’s worth of songs which
are as good as anything Waits has
done before, and also being the best
starting point for newcomers to his
music.
Standout Tracks: Lie to Me, Road
to Peace, Sea of Love, Widow’s
Grove, Children’s Story, Redrum
EXTRA student discount at cd-wow.com/thefounder
By Dan Nicholls
Not many of you are aware of this,
but this paper is funded completely
by advertising. Along with the advertising,
various companies offer
us their sponsorship and help in exchange
for us helping them a little
back.
One such business, cd-wow, who
provide us with all our DVDs for
review have kindly set up a web
site specificaly for us students here
at Royal Holloway, University of
London.What’s different about the
web site comparedto their normal
site, I hear you ask? Well, the best
thing about it is having the extra
discount on top of the fantastic prices.
The other thing? The Founder’s
logo displayed next to cd-wow’s on
a web site that is extrememly popular.
Although not particularly professional,
I do have to admit that’s
pretty cool. The web site address is
www.cd-wow.com/thefounder. Do
yourself a favour and check it out
- every student loves a bargain!
We also have Vue Cinema in Staines
sponsoring our Film section. Make
sure you see The Fountain this
weekend, I promise it’s not one to
be missed.

20 LETTERS Monday 29 January 2007 thefounder
Letters to the Editor
Sir,
It came with disappointment this week when I read of the latest revisions
to the ‘back gate’ opening times. The ‘proposed changes’ [which are less
proposed and more implemented without consultation] see the gate leading
to Spring Rise open later and close earlier. How is this a solution to the
supposed problems the gate is meant to cause?
The gate did open at 05:45 daily and close at 00:45 in the evening. The new
times see the gate open at 06:45 Monday thru Friday while it will close at
23:15 Sunday thru Thursday, and 00:45 on Fridays and Saturdays.
Put the most simple way possible: CLOSING THE GATE IS STUPID AND
DANGEROUS.
The residents complain of ‘a great deal of inconvenience and disturbance’. I
live in Egham; no matter if you shut the gate or not, I will be walking home
through Egham. Some inconsiderate students will insist on being boisterous
when leaving campus and this is disappointing, but locking the gate
isn’t the solution. It won’t stop people being noisy and will only succeed on
making the walk home longer surely creating more noise.
One simple argument for leaving the gate open is this: By diminishing the
opening times of the gate you are doing nothing more than creating a bottleneck.
You are simply going to have a higher concentration of people use
the gate when it is open.
Also, If the gate shuts at 23:15, I will be leaving the bar at 23:00. That’s a
whole hour you’re losing of my custom. Now multiply that by the number
of people who don’t fancy queuing the usual half hour for a drink and the
Union will be loosing even more money. And no, I’m not arriving earlier.
The most pressing and urgent matter is safety. Locking the gate before the
end of student functions at the Union or even Medicine means students
will inevitably walk home down the A30. Inevitably a lot of these students
will be in varying stages of inebriation and this, mixed with a busy A road,
surely isn’t good. By denying the pedestrian friendly route through Egham
the safety of many students is compromised; this from an institution who’s
first and foremost concern in this matter should be the safety of its students.
It shouldn’t be pandering to the unfounded concerns of locals. The
safety argument is also directed at Rob Coveney at the Student’s Union.
His involvement in this issue seems nothing short of weak and lackluster;
Please correct me if I’m wrong. Many student’s live within a reasonable
walking distance from campus and therefore have no need to use the bus
that the Union provides; before that argument is trotted out.
I have a group of friends who live opposite the gate; they have never complained
of noise, disturbance or damage and they are as much residents of
Egham as the locals. I live off Spring Rise and my housemates and I have
also never witnessed any anti social behaviour. However, we cannot deny
that sometimes this can happen. Random security patrols seems a more
appropriate response to this supposed problem. What makes me laugh is
that the busybody residents who insist on furthering the unfounded hatred
of Royal Holloway’s students must not have noticed the 128 year old
college, with its 7000 plus students, when they moved in. Funny that.
Chris Owens. c.owens@rhul.ac.uk
2nd Year Undergrad, Modern History and Politics
thefounder
editor@thefounder.co.uk
An open letter to the SU President and Security Manager,
with a response from the President
Dear Chris,
Thank you very much for your letter regarding the revised opening hours of Spring Rise
gate. I completely understand your position on this issue and on behalf of the students at
Royal Holloway, I have spent three months on this, trying to argue for the gate to stay open.
I feel that your accusation of my involvement in this being weak and lackluster shows a
great misunderstanding in the work that has gone on to try and resolve this issue.
Over the summer, local residents around Spring Rise and Ripely Avenue began to collaborate
in order to try and make their voices heard by the College, as they were being kept up
at night by the minority of students who create noise when leaving the campus. This resulted
in a call for the local council to get involved, and a threat to attempt to revoke licences
that the College and Students’ Union hold to serve alcohol until the times that we do. In the
second week of August the senior management team of the College Facilities Management
Department approached a number of people (including myself) to consult on the opening
hours of the Spring Rise gate. Several suggestions that were close to being won were to
close the gate every single night at 10pm and to close the gate completely, opening it only
in emergencies. Our original proposal was to keep the gate opening hours as they were last
term, but no matter how much we pushed for this to happen, the College did not feel this to
be viable. Having gone through some very difficult negotiations, the best I could get was to
close the gate at 11.15pm from Sunday to Thursday, and to 12.45am on Friday and Saturday
night. Remember also that this is only a trail period. In the near future these opening hours
will be reviewed again, and we will again have the chance to fight on your behalf.
Chris, please don’t feel in any way that I thought that closing the back gate to the College
early was a good idea. As you quite rightly pointed out, there is every possibility that the
early closing of the gate will cause a bottleneck in other parts of Egham. In one meeting,
I suggested to a senior manager that this proposal would not solve the residents’ issue of
complaints, but merely move the issue to another part of Egham, namely the Malt Hill area.
The response to this was ‘yes, but it isn’t the Malt Hill residents that are complaining’.
Safety is also an issue that I brought up in such negotiations. This was knocked down with
a response that said that the A30 route would be safer due to improved lighting and the
presence of CCTV (before you ask, I haven’t got a clue where the CCTV cameras on the
A30 are either). The Non-Res bus argument was, of course also batted my way.
In short, the decision on closing the gate early was not mine to make, but mine to fight.
Fought I did. The outcome wasn’t what I wanted, but it also wasn’t a decision to close the
gate at 10pm every night.
As I outlined in the General Meeting, my colleagues and I worked hard at this on your behalf.
We also don’t think this should be the end of it. If you wish to see the gate open later,
then you must also help us to argue this. Complain to Facilities Management, and give us
a bit more ammunition to go to the College and renegotiate.
Chris, finally I leave you with the closing paragraph of an email that I sent to Facilities
Management senior managers on 21st August 2006, whilst we were arguing for the gate to
stay open. If you still feel that I haven’t tried to fight enough on your behalf, then I suspect
that you have elected the wrong president:
“Although I completely understand that keeping the local residents happy is a direct factor to
the college community as a whole, I must also bare in mind the reason why we all find money
in our bank accounts at the end of the month.....students.”
With kind regards,
Rob Coveney
President
SURHUL

thefounder Monday 29 January 2007
LETTERS
21
Sir,
Christian Union gets legal
The Founder Issue 2, Monday 15 January
I am writing concerning the article ‘Christian Union gets legal’ by
Tim Ruffles. I would ask if the woman’s football society admits men?
No? Then following that article’s logic it is breaching SU equal opportunity’s
policy.
I think that an equal opportunities policy should not be to exclude
all discrimination but simple to exclude irrelevant discrimination.
The simple fact that Exeter CU asks members to sign that they ‘believe
in Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour’ seems very relevant. (as
does asking members of the women’s football team to be women)
I agree whole-heartedly that everyone in collage should be open to
try any society and find out more and the Exeter CU meetings are
open for anyone to come along to and if you’d check there website
(http://societies.ex.ac.uk/~eucu/getinvolved) they actively encourage
others, regardless of religious beliefs, to get involved in serving
the community.
I do think your article, with quotes from the Muslim society saying
how they welcomed discussion, gave the impression that the
Exeter CU excluded non-Christians from discovering more about
the Christian faith. Whereas in truth they actively discuss with and
warmly welcome others from the non-Christian community.
The fact they ask members and committee members to be Christians
seems like common sense for a ‘Christian Union’.
Yours Thankfully
Dave
Dear Dave,
Firstly, thanks for writing in; it’s good to know someone’s interested in the
news we cover!
To start off I’ll discuss your points on the article. The piece was written as
an account of events, rather than an argument; it related the position of the
Exeter CU without endorsing or rejecting it. Therefore your point about
following the “article’s” logic is mis-aimed, you should be arguing with the
Exeter SU here. If you’d like to write an opinion piece where you could expand
on this argument, I’m sure John Hunter our Comment and Opinions
editor would welcome it!
In regards to your points on the debate I’d like to say you seem to have misunderstood
the Exeter SU’s stated position. They argue that the CU’s policy
is unfair for two reasons. Firstly: that all their “students fund our societies”.
Secondly that the Equal Opportunities policy that the Exeter CU signed up
to states that “all actives should be open to all students”. This means that the
Exeter CU is receiving funds and related benefits (premises etc) garnered
from every student, regardless of belief. It receives these funds and other
benefits under an agreement that includes an Equal Opportunities policy.
Therefore it is arguably unfair, and unarguably in breach of their accepted
contract, for them to continue with their restrictive membership policy.
A women’s football society should be in the form of a general football society,
which might then contain both men’s and women’s teams; the point
being that “all activities” should be available to all students. Both men’s and
women’s teams would play football: the activities offered by the football society.
The Christian Union is an activity and a society. If the policy to which
the CU is a signatory is adhered to anyone should be able a member of the
CU regardless of personal belief. If this is not the case certain students cannot
experience “all activities” as they should be able to be due to the CU’s
membership policy. Common sense in this case would be the CU should
follow the rules it has set itself by becoming a member of the SU; as it does
not, common sense states it that as the CU is breaking its contractual obligations
it forfits the benfits it would otherwise receive.
Many thanks for getting in touch, and we welcome all comments on our
articles!
Sharing Toilet Seats:
The best advice on finding the pefect accommodation
Sir,
Any chance you could include an unbiased account of commuting in from London, unlike that in the January
edition of the Orbital ‘Sharing Toilet Seats: The best advice on finding the perfect accommodation Keren Simons
Orbital Issue 4 Jan 2007 p.52’? I would be more than willing to help.
What follows is my e-mail to the Orbital regarding this article. I hope you can help publish a true account of the
various accommodation avaliable.
Yours Katrina
Finalist History
“Dear Editor, Keren Simons and whoever else it may concern,
RE: Sharing Toilet Seats: The best advice on finding the perfect accommodation Keren Simons Orbital Issue 4
Jan 2007 p.52
As a student who has spent the last 3 years at RH commuting from Hackney I would like to point out the glaring
inaccuracies and gross exaggerations contained within Keren Simons article ‘Sharing Toilet Seats: The best advice
on finding the perfect accommodation’ p. 52 in this months Orbital, I have included the main ones below.
‘When you think that we could live in London and commute down to Brighton for nearly the same train journey
time as it is to Egham’. This is misleading, firstly Brighton has significantly more trains per hour arriving than
Egham as well as better lines and faster trains, even so the journey still takes on average 1 hour. Egham has only 4
trains on average per hour from London and if you catch the ones at 20 or 50 mins past the hour (from Waterloo)
the journey time is roughly 35 mins.
‘If you have to get to campus for a morning lecture you have to buy a peak ticket, which costs around £15 (and
that’s with your student discount)’. Actually the cost from London to Egham return before 9.30am is £10.20 and
it is impossible to use a young persons rail card. Between 9.30 and 10 the cost for a return is £7.80 but again you
cannot use a rail card. Once the rail card is useable (after 10am) the cost of a return ticket is £5.15.
‘You truly realise how much time you’re wasting’. Technically a 35 minute train journey enables you to do a lot
more work than a 35 minute walk from the Green or Egham.
These basic factual errors could have been easily checked by a quick visit to www.nationalrail.co.uk. In future
perhaps a more unbiased approach to campus accommodation should be used?
Yours
Katrina Barnard
Finalist History”
Dear Katrina
As I found your letter very insightful, I thought I would publish it here as a first step to producing an article of a
different stance than that featured in The Orbital this month. I can’t agree with you more on the points you have
raised and compared to the train services back in my home county of Essex, it really isn’t too bad here. In Egham,
we’re in a relatively small town and yet we have a train station with four hourly trains heading into London during
off-peak hours. For me that sounds quite convenient!
What’s more, as someone who regularly commutes to Brighton, I can certify that the journey down to the coast is
close to double that of travelling from London to Egham.
If you should wish to write more about this matter. I look forward to receiving it.
All the best
Jack Lenox
Editor-in-Chief
The Founder
thefounder
want to share your views?
get in touch: editor@thefounder.co.uk
Tim Ruffles

2 CROSSWORD Monday 29 January 2007 thefounder
Solution: Issue 3
Crossword puzzles provided by BestCrosswords.com (http://www.bestcrosswords.com).
Used with permission.
founderblocks
want to advertise your society, charity, sports team... or just want to sell someone you love them?!
founderblocks is the way to do it. buy a block for just £10! if you buy multiple blocks you can join them together
to make one big message. finally, classified ads have come to royal holloway! email simon@thefounder.co.uk to find out more.
U8 Donations Needed
RHUL’s U8 Team are urgently looking for donations to raise £750 by
31st January to help bring over students from their ‘twin’ university in
a developing country. The U8 is a recently established International
Development Student Partnership that brings university students together
from both developing and developed countries to discuss and
challenge policies which affect international development.
Please could you leave your donations in an envelope for the attention
of the ‘RHUL U8 Team’ in the Student Activities office in the Students’
Union.
One of these
blocks could
Any amount of donations would be gratefully received.
Thank you
Amee Daruwalla
A.Daruwalla@rhul.ac.uk
be your’s for
just £10!
contact: simon@thefounder.co.uk

thefounder Monday 29 January 2007
SPORTS
23
Sports
Editor’s Note
As many of you may (or
may not) recall, last
week’s issue brought forward
the discussion of a Holloway
mascot, which has turned around
some interesting responses.
Some people favor a mascot,
some don’t. Some readers informed
me about a former Holloway mascot
which seems to have faded
away. With permission pending,
I hope to print some of these responses
in upcoming issues, to allow
the voices of Holloway students
to be heard. Additionally, this week
I have been continuing to contact
“The Powers That Be” concerning a
sports-scoreboard for this section
of the paper. Hopefully in the next
few issues, there will be a scoreboard
bragging of all the accomplishments
of Holloway athletes! In
the mean time, please, continue to
comment on mascot names, gripe
about stories you don’t like, or make
note of ones that you do like! After
all, this is the independent student
paper, and we would like nothing
more than to please the students it
reaches. If you have ideas of stories
you would like to hear, issues you
would like to see investigated, or a
sport you simply don’t understand,
email me!
Allison Ealey
Sports Editor
Crunching tackles…
Lacrosse, a game with passion
By Daniel Griffiths
Lacrosse; a game similar to
hockey played with nets on
sticks. This is not just my thought
on what Lacrosse is, but the definition
given by the Oxford Dictionary.
As a spectator of a sport, of which
you know very little, it is not easy to
write an article which others will
find interesting. For example, I cannot
go into the technical details of
the game I saw on Sunday, even
comment on how well players might
have played in their positions (...
that is because I do not know what
they are)! Although, this might also
be the best possible way to get the
message across of how good this
game actually is.
Lacrosse is an active team game,
which requires pace, commitment,
and the ability to shout as loud as
possible. The game on Sunday saw
Royal Holloway up against the traveling
St Barts. There was a great atmosphere,
with both teams looking
Photo: Monkey Images
to attack and really push the other.
However, despite the almost deafen-
…all in a day’s work for Bethan Rees!
thefounder
allison@thefounder.co.uk
ing shouts of encouragement from
the sidelines (I actually felt pity for
St. Barts), it wasn’t quite enough
to overcome the playing style and
speed St Barts possessed. The team
talks during the breaks gave Holloway
some hope and encouragement,
even sparking a come back. The fact
that St. Barts goalkeeper was quick
to react and seemed engulfed by the
space around him, didn’t stop Holloway
from getting shots on target.
As the match came to a close, I
learnt that leaving a St Bart’s player
in space was not such a good idea
and the last goals were scored with
some great solo efforts from the opposition
(the final score being 11-5
in St Barts favour).
I think in conclusion, it is fair to
say that Lacrosse is a sport played in
good harmony, with a lot of passion
and is definitely a great team sport.
By Barry DeSilva
Like I promised in the second
issue of The Founder,
I mentioned that athletes
around Royal Holloway would be
interviewed regarding their various
sports. This week, I came face
to face with Beth Rees, a first year
who plays at the heart of the defensive
unit for the women’s 1st XI
Football team.
On meeting Ms. Rees she comes
across as a very passionate footballer,
who expresses a keen enthusiasm to
succeed. Her hunger to beat King’s
College in the ULU (University of
London Union) league on Sunday
is undeniable. She tells me that if
they (Holloway) beat King’s, the
Holloway Women’s team will then
go top of the ULU women’s premier
league, and ‘hopefully’ she says, go
on to win the league. Beating King’s
will however be no easy task, as they
put nine goals past the girl’s 1st team
earlier in the season, on the Nobles
ground, as they beat Holloway in a
thriller, 9-4.
Looking at the stats for the season
however, the Holloway girls have
the meanest defensive record in the
women’s ULU premier league, conceding
only 14 goals, in 5 games. If
you take into account the fact that
King’s put 9 past them in 1 game,
then conceding 5 in 4 games is a
fantastic record. As Beth was part of
the defence in those games, it’s fair
to mention that she has certainly
played a big part in the team’s success
this season.
Beth tells me that despite the
team’s multicultural personality,
they still seem to be able to gel together,
and produce clinical results
(the most satisfying being the 14-0
mauling of Queen Mary’s). That is
again one of the beauties of sport;
despite cultural differences, and diverse
nationalities, it binds others
together, which in the case of the
women’s 1st XI, has worked to make
them the highest scoring team in the
league, with an astounding 38 goals
in a mere 5 games. Two of the more
crucial cogs in the team in generating
these great results this season
have been the Captain Charlotte
Wheeler Quinnel, and top scorer
Kat Fiddler.
The social scene is once again a big
part of RHUL sport. The social secretary,
Ms. Tania Clayton, Beth tells
me, has been nothing less than fantastic
all year, organising various so-
Photo: Edward May
cial events like Pub Crawls going as
far as the now deceased clubhouse,
at Brunel. It sounds more like an expedition
than a social event, if one
is to travel that far! Ms. Rees mentions
the football dinner as being a
momentous occasion, with all the
teams in the club coming together.
If it was anything like the hockey
dinner I attended (which included
the delights of ‘ginning’), then I’m
sure it was special.
On starting at Royal Holloway in
September, Beth (who came from
Welsh school, Ysgol Gyfun Cymer
Rhondda) says that the training is
far more demanding than it ever
was at her previous school in Wales,
though she prefers the training to be
challenging as it boosts and maximises
your ability as a player, which
she says leads to greater rewards on
the field. Tiger Woods always said
that if you don’t practice, you won’t
get results, and in fact you don’t deserve
results either. That quote just
proves that training and practice can
most definitely get results; despite
how repetitive it may be, it leads to
a more fruitful performance both as
a player and a team on the field.
The next few weeks for the women’s
1st XI will likely define their
season, and hopefully it will end on
a sweet note, with them ultimately
winning the league. If you miss any
of the action, Beth tells me that you
will be able to catch the action of every
minute of every game (including
her own goals, and crunching
tackles) on an end of season DVD
– some people will do anything to
plug their merchandise!
Next week I hope to catch up with
a few more sporting personalities
around Royal Holloway, and deliver
some sporting results. The snow
last Wednesday morning however
made it impossible to play hockey,
which meant there has been a lack
of hockey news this week. Hopefully
(fingers crossed!) next week
there will be matches to report on.
For now, keep active!

PHOTO: TIM RUFFLES
Sports
can’t find your match? email your sports news to: allison@thefounder.co.uk
Not a fan of the Olympics?
Maybe you should be...
y Allison Ealey
ports Editor
Almost every sports fan in the world
has an experience of the Olympics,
it may be a brief and fleeting one, or
it may be a long-held admiration.
Some of us spent time growing up
watching the games with family, admiring
the beauty of opening and
closing ceremonies, witnessing history
in the making. Some athletes
train and dream of a day when they
might be capable of competing, finally
achieving the attention their
sport deserves in the world-wide
arena, and for some, it is a chance
for a nation to be recognized, to
have their moment in the sun. In a
world where news reporting is often
tied up in terrorism, politics, and
military action, the Olympic games
offer an opportunity for countrymen
to stand shoulder to shoulder
in competition, and for the world to
compete, not in arms and strength of
foreign policy, but in the games we
all played growing up. For this period
of time, all athletes are on equal
ground, and compete in a manner
bringing glory to themselves, their
countries, and their sports.
Perhaps this emotionally charged
account of the Olympics isn’t quite
what you identify with. I still hold
that there is something for everyone.
Being in England, especially living
so close to London, the Olympics are
quickly having a more direct impact
on each of our lives. As the bid was
announced and London secured the
2012 Olympic Games over the bids
of Paris, Madrid, Moscow, and New
Holden Point, location of the Olympic Park, East London
York, the door of opportunity began
opening for the city of London, and
for Londoners. Although money is
required to construct the necessary
venues for the Games, there are several
benefits for London. The Wharton
school explains: “It will derive
significant economic benefits. Tourism
and construction are the sectors
that will benefit the most from the
event, which will improve the city
with millions of dollars in infrastructure
investments while reviving
the image of the country”.
The beauty of London will once
again be unveiled for all the world
to see. However, the beauty of the
games will last much longer among
Londoners. Although construction
and tourism will increase, there
are also numerous benefits for hotel
owners, restaurants, nightclubs,
travel agencies, airlines, and almost
any other industry. While the
memories of the London games
fade away in the minds of some,
the amount of money fueled back
into the London economy will linger
for some time. Visit-Britain, the
UK tourism authority, estimates
that the Games could bring some 2
billion pounds to the nation’s tourism
industry. Additionally, the 2012
games are becoming widely known
as the ‘Greenest’ games to date.
Garnering support from the Mayor
of London website, it is explained
“These fast-tracked changes would
make London better for residents,
businesses and visitors alike, and
include strengthening the transport
infrastructure, enhancing the physical
environment, developing many
new homes and creating worldclass
sports facilities”. While the
world-class sports facilities are the
highly discussed forms of improvement
discussed when a city achieves
the goal of an Olympic hosting gig,
yet that improvement may be seen
to pertain to a limited population.
Strengthening of transportation,
however, favor all Londoners for
years to come. Perhaps one day, post
Computerised image: proposed Triathlon route
2012, Holloway graduates will sit
and commute on the underground
cars which are unmarked by graffiti,
are very clean, and safe, and as they
do so, perhaps they will remember
the Olympics, and all they brought
to London. London itself is of particular
interest for Olympic fans, as
it will provide a stunning and historic
backdrop for the games, which
have appeared rather modern in the
recent past. Part of the appeal of a
London games is the beautiful scenery
and the monumental buildings
around town, which will be incorporated
into the games, which is
something to be witnessed by those
of us who may pass the streets of
London on a regular basis.
If there is anyone out there still
not convinced that a London Olympics
is a positive opportunity for
the city, perhaps when the games
arrive, their minds will be transformed.
In just six short years, the
streets of London will be bustling
with sports fans from around the
world, the torch lit high in the sky,
flags waving, countrymen uniting
outside of familiar borders. Those
of us around England will have the
opportunity to purchase tickets, see
events in person, and witness the
finest athletes in the world. Camaraderie,
athleticism, and excitement
will be in the air for months following
the events. Children around the
world will sit in front of television
screens, staying up past their bedtimes
to watch the next athlete to
change the world of sport, dreaming
Olympic dreams. The hopes and aspirations
of athletes will either come
to fruition, or fall apart in front of
the world’s eyes, in one of the greatest
displays of sports the world will
ever see. All the while, Londoners
will be laughing… all the way to the
bank.