A screenshot of the infamous video

Bradley Manning had been disillusioned with the Army since an incident early in his military career. As a young intelligence analyst in Iraq, he had been tasked with finding out who the ‘bad guys’ were of a group of fifteen Iraqis accused of printing ‘anti-Iraq’ literature. However, when he translated the literature, he found that it was nothing more than a benign political critique. He told his superior, believing the issue would be dropped. But his protestations were ignored and Manning was told to round up more Iraqis.

An angry and disheartened young man with access to guns is dangerous, but one with access to highly confidential data is even more so. Manning attempted to right the previous wrong by showing the world what was really going on in Iraq. Whilst working, he discovered a video of two apache helicopters circling a group of people in an Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad. What he saw next has now been seen by millions across the world.

The footage shows the soldiers on board the apache asking for permission to engage the target after they see one of the group holding an object they assume to be a weapon. They are given the go ahead and proceed to shoot at the group. As the dust cloud settles, one man is left alive, injured, but crawling to safety. A van comes to help the man. However, when they try to carry him into the van, they are shot at again and killed.

Manning analysed the footage and discovered that the object presumed to be a weapon was in fact a camera. And the man holding it was a Reuters photojournalist. In fact two of the victims had been Reuters’ employees. Furthermore, the van held two children who were injured by the gun fire. This, combined with the bizarre light-hearted attitude of the officers in the apache, caused the US Army to cover the video up and keep it a secret.

Unfortunately for the US Army, Manning had discovered it and had the perfect platform to reveal it to the world; Wikileaks.

The website had been in operation since 2007. By guaranteeing anonymity to those leaking information and having a reputation of authenticity, Wikileaks uploaded the video and called it ‘Collateral Murder’. The resulting media frenzy gave the site much needed publicity, and Manning exactly what he wanted.

But the Collateral Murder video is not the first time Wikileaks has upset the status quo. After only three and a half years of existence, Wikileaks has become an impressive force, exposing a number of high profile secrets; the ‘Climategate’ emails, BNP membership lists, Guantanamo Bay procedures among many. Wikileaks is not so much a media organisation, rather a media insurgency. Unsurprisingly, the site has acquired a high number of adversaries. Legal threats have been worldwide – a Kenyan politician, lawyers from Northern Rock, and the dreaded scientologists have all attempted to sue the site.

The founder of the site, Julian Assange, is an elusive Australian constantly relocating to avoid prosecution. But as a former computer hacker, he has created a site that is seemingly impossible to stop. It is so well protected that Assange has boasted “a government or company that wanted to remove content from WikiLeaks would have to practically dismantle the internet itself”. Content is uploaded through servers in Sweden, a country that assures anonymity of sources in digital media. Once it is online, Wikileaks maintains the content on twenty servers across the world and hundreds of domain names. Employing only half a dozen or so full time staff – who refer to each other in code name – Wikileaks depends on donors and supporters who share the belief of free press.

With the stakes so high and the data proving so powerful, why is Wikileaks so important? According to the website, Wikileaks ensures democracy and good governance. They use the example of their expose of Kenyan corruption that was awarded an Amnesty Award. Malaria is almost totally eradicated in the developed world, yet in Africa it still kills over a hundred people an hour. We know how to stop it, yet the problem persists in countries where bad governance persists. This is where Wikileaks believes it can help; by revealing the corruption and holding governments to account. In this case, Wikileaks exposed corruption that amounted to $3,000,000,000 just before the 2007 national elections, which swung the vote by 10%. The new government radically revised the constitution and a more open government was formed. They believe this will lead to better malaria protection and eventual eradication of the disease.

This may sound exaggerated and ideological, but it demonstrates the altruistic nature of the website. Yet Wikileaks is not without its critics.

Authenticity is a crucial problem that is unlikely to be solved. Its first leak was a secret Islamic order written by Sheikh Hassan Aweys, but there was instant speculation that it was a fake and the question of credibility reduced the impact. Since then, it has plagued a number of leaks despite their best attempts to check the data. One member of Wikileaks has stated that he intentionally put through fake documents to test the process. Although the data was flagged as potentially fake, it still got through. Plenty of reputable sources have verified an impressive amount of research into the leaks, but considering the amount that are published and the number who work on the site, it is impossible to prevent frauds filtering through. Wikileaks responds by noting the failings of other prestigious media organisations that are often duped by fakes.

The difficulty in knowing how authenticate information has, according to Assange, created an atmosphere paranoia. So much so, that a founding member, John Young, accused them of being a CIA conduit in 2007. Following his departure, he published 150 pages of confidential emails from Wikileaks. He believed that they should be subject to the same scrutiny that others receive. But Wikileaks were unfazed and published the damaging leak. One wonders whether this was an example of transparency or self-promotion, but either way it has added to the sites credibility.

Julian Assange - The founder of WikiLeaks

The accusations of Assange and his team working for the CIA seem ironic now. Whilst Assange has evaded prosecution as of yet, the US are beginning to step up their attempts to locate him. Manning, the man behind Collateral Murder, has only recently been discovered as the leak. He had grown close to another former hacker, Adrian Lamo, online and had revealed that he had leaked the information. Lamo informed the FBI, who are now holding Manning in detention in Kuwait. So far, Manning has revealed to the FBI further leaks that he has already sent to Assange, including incredibly sensitive data of 260000 secret cables between US diplomats and foreign leaders, data that has the potential to be a diplomatic disaster.

It begs the question; is the information that Manning, and Wikileaks, release of actual benefit to the public, or is it putting the public in danger? The Collateral Murder video is surely a benefit, and a soldier who was involved has since been on US TV supporting the leak. However, the problem with the site is that everything is uploaded, the only stipulation being that it is authentic. Wikileaks has a policy of not being the referee, instead letting the world and the media be the judges.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal by L. Gordon Crovitz questioned the ease of exposing and the threat to national security. Crovitz uses the example of Philip Agee, a former CIA official who released the names of hundreds of CIA agents in the 1970s and, as a result, several were murdered across the world. Before the age of the internet, to expose a story; one had to interest a journalist, who would then need the editor to decide whether it was in the public interest to publish. Now it is far easier to sidestep these problems and release them to Wikileaks.

It is difficult to determine the real motivations behind Wikileaks. Is it just a bunch of ‘hacktivisits’ causing controversy or is it the future of investigative journalism? Whilst it has the opportunity to create an honest world, it also has the power to cause havoc.

Lady Gaga is incredible!” enthuses Lightspeed Champion down the phone. “Bad Romance is, like, the best song of the year – I can’t believe how good that song is!”

Only a few minutes into the interview and we are already discussing Lightspeed Champion’s obsession with pop. “I think pop music is the best it’s been in a long while” he continues. “Music is made for making people happy. There’s no point over-analysing it; if you like something just listen and enjoy it.”

This might once have seemed a surprising statement from a former Test Icicle, the noisy indie band with distortion pedal set to full throttle, but with two albums of pure melodic magic under his belt, it is no surprise where Lightspeed Champion’s ambitions lie.

New album Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You is an ambitious LP and could be considered the first classic of 2010. Lightspeed Champion, aka Devonte Hynes, has created an album overflowing with ideas, genres, and most importantly melody. “It’s in four parts and totally over the top” explains Dev unabashedly. “I always want to get the best melody. I think I fail a lot, but it’s what I strive for!

Dev first came under the spotlight in the mid-noughties with previous band Testicicles -a noisy mash-up of thrash and punk. But after a couple of years, the group split with Dev famously declaring that they never even liked their songs. Most would have resigned the band to the ‘flash in the pan hyped up band for trendy hipsters’ pile, and none would have foreseen what one of the band members did next.

In 2008, with little hype, Dev released an album of country tinged melodic masterpieces. The album was critically applauded and received well in the indie community. Dev was surprised by the success, “I didn’t think anyone would hear the songs. I’ve just been doing the same stuff I’ve done for years. I sit in my bedroom and record, and then I just send it off to people to hear.“

Unsurprisingly, the reaction was to pigeonhole him as the UK’s answer to Bright Eyes. Dev chuckles when he remembers this “I found it really funny, because everyone thought that was all I did. To me it’s just one of seven albums I did in that time. I’m constantly writing.”

Dev certainly keeps himself busy and Lightspeed Champion is just one of his many guises. He has already recorded another album under the name Blood Orange, released a comic book, and written a collection of short stories. He is even contemplating branching into journalism. “I’ve done a load of writing in the last few years. I’m a total movie buff, I like writing movie reviews.”

The busiest man in indie-pop has accomplished a lot for a 24 year old. Yet his constant work and moving left Dev lost and he decided to move to New York, “It just felt time to go. I hadn’t been living in London for a while and so I needed to find out where home is.”

He’s not the only one to head across the Atlantic. New York seems to have become the vogue place to relocate for an indie star of the mid-noughties wanting to distance themselves from their roots. A certain Arctic Monkey has also made the move… “Alex Turner lives five minutes from me, we meet up all the time. They also used the Brooklyn studio I recorded in when they did their sessions with James Ford.”

Fortunately, some might say, the move to the US didn’t have quite the same influence as the Arctic Monkeys third effort, Humbug – an album where Alex Turner’s lyrics changed from witty and personal to obscure and wishy-washy. “Yeah, I know what you mean,” Dev agrees, explaining his simple approach to writing lyrics. “I try not to put too much effort into it. Whether I spend five minutes or two months on a song lyrically, it’s just going to get worse! I know the point I ‘m trying to get across, so the longer I spend on it the worse it will get. I just try to get it out there and so as a result, the lyrics are more personal than if I sat down and really thought about it.”

This is certainly in contrast to the music, which is detailed and expertly crafted. So who influenced the album? “I’m obsessed with Serge Gainsbourg, Todd Rungden, Neil Young, and especially Cyndi Lauper. Cyndi lauper is a big, big idol of mine. She isn’t a guilty pleasure, to me she is just as credible as the rest.”

The current music world would most probably echo his sentiments. Pop has come back with a bang and, yet again, we chat about the pop world. “I think for a while, there was a very strict formula from the mid-90s to recent times. This year, I think we are getting back to people writing really good and pretty weird songs that are becoming really huge hits. But I think it’s done so slyly that people don’t really notice. It’s cool that risks in pop music are being taken again, and people are actually trying to write good songs.”

But what about the X Factor and the commercial side to pop? “I look at things from a song point of view. My mind doesn’t think about corporations and people trying to make money – people have always been trying to make money from music. I just see it in a completely musical way.”

Perhaps this is the key to Lightspeed Champion’s success. His shameless devotion to melody and lack of pretension have helped him create an album that is pure pop, and better for it.

Soldiers at the 8888 Uprising

After a day of protest and tense negotiations, the students remained. That was until the threat of forced exit became a reality.

“At 10.30pm an armoured car and eight military trucks came round the pagoda and blocked one end of the street. And then it started – the killing, the beating, the shootings. I witnessed hundreds of students being killed in front of me.

“I vividly remember one girl called Nu Nu Ngwe. She was just 13, I had taught her English and maths. She held a Red-fighting Peacock flag and ran towards the armoured car. I shouted and shouted, but she didn’t stop. I tried to push through the crowd, but there were too many people. She climbed up the armoured car and put her chest in front of the machine gun.

She shouted: “We are the people’s soldiers, don’t shoot us we are students. We are your brothers and sisters.”

I tried to reach her to stop her, but I couldn’t. Then the machine gun opened fire.”

As Ko Aung recounts the event that changed his life, he becomes emotional. He was a twenty-one year old protest leader and his student activism had made him a wanted dissident, torn from his family and constantly in hiding. One day he was a promising student studying Industrial Chemistry, the next he had taken up a cause which was soon to change his entire life. Twenty years on, Ko Aung can still vividly remember every detail. “I find it hard to talk about it. It’s very painful” he explains “I have a complex; I need to talk about it, but the violence was… hundreds of students were killed in front of my eyes…”

Ko Aung twenty years later

His life’s journey doesn’t need hyperbole. The horrific events that he witnessed and the incarceration he was subjected to speak for themselves. Student activism to this extent tests dedication to the limits.

Burma has had a troubled and complex history riddled with ethnic tension. In 1962, a coup led by General Ne Win began a 26 year reign that was to turn Burma into one of the world’s most impoverished countries. Unrest was inevitable and Ko Aung’s efforts weren’t the first brutally crushed student protests in recent Burmese history.

Ko Aung was a normal student studying at Rangoon University with no strong political views, “All I knew was that the regime was very corrupt, but I didn’t think it was a direct threat to me ”.

It wasn’t until a surprise announcement in the University library that he was suddenly affected, “We were told bank notes had been made illegal. I couldn’t believe it, I stood up and shouted ‘This so stupid!’ – It was an emotional outburst. We had no money!”.

His surprise soon turned to indignation. Immediately, Ko Aung began organising a student protest on campus, “We went to the library and classrooms giving out leaflets. Soon we had the majority of the campus involved and were ready to march.”

Yet he was aware from a young age that there were serious consequences to rebelling against a no-nonsense regime. His Father, a senior governor in the previous civilian government, had originally agreed to the 1962 coup but resigned soon after with many other senior officials. The military junta took exception to the decision.

His family was soon targeted and Ko Aung had his first insight into the unjust world of Burmese politics, “My Father was too high profile, so instead they took my mum. She had a successful business exporting tea leaves, but the ‘socialist’ government took her away because she was so-called bourgeois. They put her in a detention centre for 6 months”.

It was the same detention centre that Ko Aung would be sent to many years later. His tone turns melancholy as he remembers asking his mother about her experience; “When I was young she wouldn’t tell me. She couldn’t bear to talk to me about it.” But in time, she opened up and revealed the horrors “She told me they poisoned the water tank with lead. Everyone had to drink it.”

Political beginnings

Despite his family’s political background, he continued to organise the march.
The Burmese military were keen to quash student rebellion – they had previously blown up the Rangoon student union. Ko Aung’s organised march was no different, and soon the police arrived to stop them and the protest turned nasty, “Some students tried to fight back, but the police had guns and rubber sticks. They beat us. Over 100 people were injured.”

It was then that Ko Aung witnessed a disregard for human rights that would later become customary, “They loaded all the injured people into one truck. But it was too small. They suffocated in the police truck. Over a hundred students dead in one day”.

This was Ko Aung’s initiation into a brutal world and the repercussions of his involvement were soon to become apparent. “I managed to escape. Stupidly I decided to go home. The police came in the middle of the night and blocked the whole of my family house.”

His first arrest was punishing. He was continually beaten and tortured in a detention centre. “I wasn’t asked anything for the first three days. They just came in and beat us while we were handcuffed. When I was finally released, I had to sign a contract saying I was no longer involved in politics”. To protect his family, Ko Aung signed it and was released. Yet his brief spell of punishment was only a taster of what was to come.

The 8888 Uprising

For some, the ordeal would have been too much. But for Ko Aung, it gave him greater conviction.

Ko Aung was among many protest leaders building an army of students. To continue, he was forced into hiding and gathered support using guerrilla tactics, “We wanted to get a lot of young people involved, students from University and schools. There were three of us and each had a different job. We would find a crowd, then I would make a speech whilst another would leaflet and the other would be lookout. We could only manage a few minutes until we had to run. We did it all over the city.”

It wasn’t long before Ko Aung had built a strong network and protests were causing severe disruption. Unrest was widespread and it wasn’t long before the infamous 8888 uprising was conceived

Students at the 8888 Uprising

Arranged for the 8th of August 1988, the protest was to bring together students from across the area to protest in unison at the town hall in a 48 hour hunger strike.

The protest was unprecedented, thousands upon thousands gathered to show their anger at the military rule.

Yet, despite the peaceful nature, there was an immediate police presence. “Later that evening, the military came. They ordered us with loudspeakers to move, otherwise they would force us to move” explains Aung.
“I was part of a student delegation to talk to the head of the Rangoon military. We told them we would be peaceful, though we wouldn’t move”. However, the negotiations proved unsuccessful and at 10:30pm, the army moved in and crushed the protest. They were unforgiving. ”We didn’t have anything against them except our voices, but they started to kill with bullets and bayonets.”

“I tried to carry one student who had been shot to the hospital, but she died in my arms”, recalls Ko Aung. His voice suddenly starts to tremble. He tries to explain again the story of Nu Nu Ngwe, the 13 year old girl, but his voice cracks again ““I had tried to stop her, but couldn’t reach in time. I ran to where her body had dropped, she was… she had died for the cause”.

Ko Aung pauses as he relives the moment, “Everyone was telling me to run… I was just crying and crying. I laid the red flag over her and tied my headband around her head. Then I had to leave her.”

As he explains the army’s forced intervention and subsequent violence, the emotion overcomes Ko Aung. Throughout the interview he has given a thorough account, but until now, has revealed little about how he was affected mentally. He begins to admit the guilt and grief he feels, “During that time, I lost the one I loved, I lost the comrades I admired, and I lost so many students. So many students had died because of me”.

Torture

Yet, the 8888 uprising is undoubtedly a memory that gave him the courage and conviction to continue fighting for his right. In forced positivity he resumes, “I guess it gave me the strength that what I was doing was right. Physically they could beat or torture me, but mentally they could never get me.” The following years would test this belief to the limit.

Having evaded arrest, Ko Aung continued the fight underground until he was eventually caught. Aung had reneged on his earlier contract to stay out of politics and was a wanted man. The police were unsympathetic when they finally arrested him, “I was detained, interrogated and beaten for three days and nights without sleep. I spent six months in the detention centre until they forced a confession out of me.”

Over the six months of his interrogation, the torture Ko Aung endured was horrendous. “I still cannot believe that humans can inflict such Terror and pain on other human beings” he admits. “I was bound to a chair, badly beaten with a rubber rod and interrogated constantly for three days. They burnt me on the chest with their cigarettes ”. The frightening brutality continued. Sometimes he was tied to the ceiling and spun round – a technique called ‘Helicopter’ – and other times he had an iron rod rolled up and down his shins until the skin came off.

Insein Prison: 'The darkest hole in Burma'

One night, he was blindfolded and taken outside. He was left in a small ditch with a corpse. During the day the body began decomposing under the sun and smelled foul. At night it was too cold to sleep. Each day the guard lowered water and rice, but he couldn’t eat for the smell of the rotting corpse. Though he doesn’t remember, at some point during this ordeal Ko Aung broke and signed the confession.

His admittance was enough for the trial to go ahead. “I was sentenced to seven years hard labour in Insein Prison – without a fair trial, or even a lawyer.”

Pronounced ‘Insane’, the name is apt for what is branded the “darkest hell hole in Burma”. Even to this day it’s inhumane conditions and abuse are notorious worldwide. A prison where political prisoners are treated worse than criminals. Ko Aung tries to recall his emotions when hearing the ‘guilty’ verdict and punishment; “I felt nothing, there was nothing in their to feel. My mind was frozen.”

Incarcerated

Inside the prison it was clear the rumours were true, “It was an army state so prison was really bad. I was sent to block no.5 with various criminals, thieves and rapists. Every prisoner was beaten without reason. I couldn’t sleep, I was crammed in a space one and a half feet wide, crammed in by bodies. It was the most tormenting and humiliating conditions I have ever faced in my life” he explains.

Yet Ko Aung was not ready to give up, “I wanted to fight for our prisoners’ rights, it couldn’t go on like this. I told the others we had to protest.”

“So first, I organised everyone to go on hunger strike. There were forty of us. But we were punished; hoods over our heads and leg irons clamped on, we were beaten and put in solitary confinement.”

Surprisingly, Ko Aung speaks in a different tone when speaking about prison life. He is less emotional and far more flippant. What he wanted was justice, punishment wouldn’t deter him. So he persisted, “I asked what our rights were as prisoners. I said ‘I want to know what rules you use, what you follow?”, he chuckles when he continues “but they just beat me”.

Yet his unrelenting determination went unrewarded. Instead, he was again put into solitary confinement – “Because of my so-called bad behaviour”. In total, Aung spent 3½ years in solitary confinement.

How did he get through it? “I sang songs, I meditated, but most of all I had to be strong. I had to stay positive, I had to remember I was in the right. If you don’t, you can’t survive an environment like that. I had to stay alive for the cause of freedom. So many of my comrades had died. ”

And after five years, seven months and twenty-four days, he was released. Today, Ko Aung lives in London and he still campaigns for Burmese justice through Amnesty International.

So, does he think his time as a student activist was successful? Ko Aung takes his time considering this, and decides “Yes, during our time three presidents were forced to resign over the three month period of general uprising. But we were, and still are, aiming to achieve. Our aim was to stop military rule in Burma, but unfortunately they are still in power today. ”

“I am an activist, not a victim. I want to restore dignity, justice, freedom, equality and peace to Burma. That’s why we have been fighting for democracy; we give our lives to achieve it.”

The national competition, set up by TARGETjobs, seeks out the best undergraduates in a variety of subjects and is in association with a number of major recruiters, including KPMG, NHS, and Morgan Stanley.

Competition organiser, Hayley Irwin, explains why the country’s leading firms have chosen York: “They regard the University of York as an excellent source of talented undergraduates – only a small number [of Universities] are being targeted in this way.”

Students can enter, until 29th January 2010, at:

http://undergraduateoftheyear.com

So far no official statement has been given, however, early reports suggest a flask of dangerous chemicals exploded onto a person inside a C block laboratory. The incident happened at around 4:30 this afternoon.

A witness leaving the building revealed that an injured person has been taken to hospital.

An investigation is currently under way and more information will be updated as soon as possible.

THE UNIVERSITY SPORTS CENTRE

The university gym may not be the most glamourous of places but it is more than functional. With the gym dedicating the upstairs almost entirely to cardio-vascular workout machines you will never need to queue for a tread-mill.

Unfortunately this focus on cardio works to the detriment of strength training as the gym has not invested quite so heavily in as large an array of weight machines. However, with the majority of students visiting the gym in order to improve their general fitness rather than engage in substantial body-building the sports centre seems to have found the right mix for their demographic.

The clean and simple décor makes for a comfortable if bland atmosphere and the eclectic mix of fitness levels means that you need never feel out of place. While many students make the mistake of assuming that the university facilities would be the cheapest in York they couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality Ebor Fitness and Atlanta Gym are the better economical option but for proximity to campus you obviusly can’t beat the Sport’s Centre. At £50 for 3 months and a compulsary one off payment of £40 for memership to York Sport the university gym can cost upto £190 per year, a little bit a of stretch for some student budgets.

EBOR

Situated deep in the heart of a grim industrial estate just off Fulford Road the Ebor Fitness gym is exactly what you’d expect: a real spit ‘n’ sawdust affair. The gym inevitably boasts an impressive array of weights machines all housed within the rough and ready breeze-block walls. I had expected to be surrounded by henched men all competing to ‘bench’ more than the other but I was plesantly surprised to find a far more inclusive gym. There was an equal mix of males and females with ages ranging anwhere between 18 and 40+. The apparent intimdiating atmosphere was also thankfully lacking.

Ebor advertise themselves as the cheapest gym in York and I’m inclined to agree; at only £150 for an entire year’s membership they make a compelling argument. One more feather to Ebor’s cap is their showers. Many would consider this a minor point but I can assure you that they would change their opinion after enjoying one this gym’s power showers.

EMPERORS

With a special student price of £264 for a year’s membership. In terms of the weights facilities on offer it is not greatly advanced from what is available in the sports centre. However the addition of a Hydro Pull is welcome.

On a pulsating hangover, at the beginning of a Vision weekend, Emperors was just the tonic for kick-starting what could have been a painful day. The only drawback to this friendly and pleasant gym is its distance from the residential hub of student life. it is at least a 20 minute walk from the Hull Road area, and around 45 minutes from campus. Its as much a workout getting there as it is using the facilities. The Emperors website boasts, “Our equipment range is second to none inside the walls of city of York” – whilst this may not strictly be true, Emperors certainly offers a well kitted out, value for money alternative to the university gym.

DAVID LLOYD

Although situated within sight of Alcuin College- David Lloyd couldn’t seem further away from our loan restrained, University bound lives.

Entering through the swanky hotel like bar and restaurant, one is lead through the changing rooms and into the pool area, complete with steam room, sauna and Jacuzzi, oh and lets not forget the jaw-droopingly plush outdoor pool and Jacuzzi. With real fitness in mind – upstairs theirs a sprawling aerobics and weights section, and an electronic climbing wall.

Sounds unmissable right? Well with student memberships at £55 a month, and all memberships being 12 month compulsory, it is not cheap. One trick is to go for an off-peak membership – £48 for restricted entrance hours, or even better go for the ‘couples’ off peak membership -£43.

The Facilities areluxurious, but with a hole being constantly burned in your pocket, membership may be a little too much for your wallet.

ATLANTA GYM

Located a fair distance out of town at the heart of a seemingly derelict industrial estate, Atlanta Health and Fitness appears more likely to host burly Yorkshiremen in high-viz jackets scoffing full English breakfasts than treadmills and rowing machines.

The walls are covered with pictures of bronzed-up body builders and the sound system pumps out drum and bass at a volume Fibbers only dreams of. Looks, however, can be very deceiving. The owners are extremely friendly and welcoming, and the gym itself boasts a wide-range of equipment for both cardiovascular and muscle work.

For those looking to do more weights than cardio, Atlanta provides more for your money than the University gym, with an array of weight machines. The downside to Atlanta is that being so far out of town you need to own a car in order to visit regularly. However, the hassle of driving is lessened by the membership price of just £23 a month for students, with the bonus of a membership block in the holidays.

By Jim Norton

The general trend for labels these days seems to be no more exciting than to follow the phrase ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. Basically, find a successful formula and milk it for all it’s worth. Successful female singer with a twist? Assault the pop scene with Lady Gaga’s and Little Boots’. Popular young rap star rhyming over decent old classic? Bombard the RnB crowd with Tinchy Stryder’s and Ironic’s. Whitney-like voice and X factor winner? Lewis and Burke are just the start.

And so it seems that Mumford and Sons are the next in line to exploit the beardy-folk-with-a-penchant-for-tramp-chic market. Whilst Fleet Foxes are back home buying new cords, Mumford and Sons have bought a couple of acoustic guitars, learnt to harmonise, and released an album of autumnal anthems. At times, Sigh No More is almost indistinguishable from it’s american counterpart, but that’s not to say it can’t give it a decent run for it’s money.
‘Little Lion Man’ deservedly got picked up by Radio 1 recently, ‘Winter Winds’ is a gloriously tender horn-filled ode to love, and ‘White Blank Page’ is a grandiose country call-to-arms. Three classics to contend Fleet Foxes’ country-indie crown.

Yet, these highlights fail to continue and the album loses momentum. Mumford and Sons have found a winning formula in recreating the folky sounds of their peers, but when it comes to anything original, the London lads lack the imagination. Too often it retreads the same rythm and structure. Until Mumford and Sons can find their own identity, they will forever follow the trend.

Once again the University has totally disregarded the opinons of its students by compromising a range of serives.
Campus bars provide a central social hub for students and clsoing them once again damages college spirit.
Porters provide essential pastoral care to students, sometimes when they are most in need, cutting their services so drastically has a huge detrimental impact on the student experience of York students and is unnaceptable, particularly in the face of massive University expenditure in Heslington East.

Thumbs up to…

Congratulation to Student action for having their project ‘Minds in Motion’ shortlisted for two prestigious awards the ‘York Community Pride Award’ and the ‘Guardian Public Services Award’. Vision wishes you good luck.
Their nomination is testament to the good work that York students do in the local community and inspiration for Freshers of what can be achieved during your time at York.

Thumbs down to…

The BNP. Although Vision was founded on the basis of political neutrality we find the fascist BNP’s views so abhorrent that they are outside what is both politically and morally acceptable. We fully support James Alexander’s campaing to show they do not represnet our views and we can safely say ‘The BNP do not speak for us’. We would encourage all students who feel the same way to take the opportunity to sign up to the petition at the York Vision stand at this Saturday’s Freshers Fair.

The University have stabbed us in the back over the summer by slashing student services when we weren’t looking. With complete disregard for our views, we’ve come back to find a barless Derwent and no 24-hour portering – two services that provided a crucial service for student welfare.
Both decisions were made without proper consultation and at a time when students could not voice their resentment. It is time the University started to appreciate and improve what it already has before getting distracted by new multi-million pound projects.

The Derwent bar debacle is the final curtain call for campus bars. Run at a loss and you’re out, no matter how important you are to the social structure – all very well if there was any investment. It is astonishing that a bar can fail to sell alcohol to students. Major bar chains would jump at the chance to locate on the doorsteps of hundreds of students, but Commercial Services just can’t seem to do it. After their recent abandonment of Halifax, Alcuin, and Langwith college bars, it is apparent that students come below profits on the University’s list of priorities.
Pro Vice Chancellor for Students Jane Grenville has argued that investment in bars is a chicken and egg situation. She wonders whether the bars should only be improved once students start using them. But the answer to her chicken and egg conundrum is simple: the university came first. No sane businessman would wait for customers before providing a decent service. Derwent has one of the fiercest college spirits, the bar being the nucleus and social hub – it’s losses represent nothing more than Commercial Services’ incompetence.

This neglect of student interests is becoming all too common: the cut backs to the portering service do not only leave students in a dangerous situation; the way the University has gone about it is deeply insulting to both students and porters. By claiming that porters have not acted as part of the student welfare system, Uni bosses have shown themselves to be totally detatched from campus life.

Infact they only seem to show an interest in us when we’re paying our fees. Bridges are left half-built, and sports facilities unsafe and inadequate. The failure to improve even basic infrastructure on Hes West whilst gallivanting forward to Hes East is growing ever more worrying.

Like shareholders in a business, students should be granted a voice – we are the ones who are paying for a most of it after all. We should not have to fight for decent facilities in a supposedly top-ten University.
YUSU are in constant battle to protect students from the University’s ravenous appetite for profits. It is students, service and spirit that hold this place together and Heslington Hall bosses should realise this.

Carol McGiffin

Renowned for her forthright views and occasional cynicism, McGiffin started her broadcasting career co-hosting a radio show with Chris Evans in 1988, who she later married.

Renowned for her forthright views and occasional cynicism, McGiffin started her broadcasting career co-hosting a radio show with Chris Evans in 1988, who she later married.Now a staple member of daytime TV show Loose Women, McGiffin took some time out from the cat-fights to speak to Vision.

1) Describe yourself in 5 words

Tall, loud, opinionated, honest, kind.

2) Favourite quote?

“The power of accurate observation is often seen as cynicism by those who do not have it”.  George Bernard Shaw.

3) Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with?

Harriet Harman, I’d get done for murder.

4) Who are your heroes?

My Mum and The Queen.

5) What would you like to achieve in the next five years?

I would very much like to be a successful writer/author.

6) And before you die?

See above, that’s it.  Oh, am I supposed to say world peace there?

7) Who would play you in a movie of your life?

Cameron Diaz!

8) How has TV changed your life?

In many ways – I’m most grateful that I don’t have to commute to work on the tube every day during rush hour.

9) If you were world leader, what would you do first?

Try and address the main reason for all of our problems, overpopulation. I don’t mean by massacring loads of people but by controlling the future population growth by birth control, laws and education.

10) What’s your guilty pleasure?

Gadgets and instant mash potato.

11) When were you happiest?

I have almost always been happy – it would be easier to tell you when I’d been unhappiest but I think that now has to be the happiest time of my life because, quite simply, things just couldn’t get better.

12) What are you most proud of?

The fact that I’m nearly fifty, I’m still working in television and I have a gorgeous 27 year old fiance.

13) What are you scared of?

Dying a horrible, slow, painful death.

14) What was the last album you listened to?

The Killers – Day And Age.

15) And the last film you watched?

Old: Overboard. New: Benjamin Button.

16) What’s the worst job you’ve every done?

Producer of the Big Breakfast, just thinking about it makes me ill.  I was quite good at it though!

17) What’s your most treasured possession?

My photos, I have about 17,000 on the computer and about 120 albums full of prints.  I look at them all the time.

18) Favourite food?

Japanese, especially tuna and salmon sashimi.

19) What is your most unappealing habit?

I can’t tell you, it’s too disgusting.

20) How do you relax?

Lying on the sofa watching hours and hours Come Dine With Me or Nothing To Declare.