Inquirer 4

TheInquirer TheInquirer An independent weekly paper for City students

2 February 2007

Stolen library books on eBay • Rare music books could be being sold online • Music students at a loss without the volumes Two music books were stolen from City University library and later sold on eBay, a lecturer told his class last week. The rare books went missing about four years ago and have long been out of print. Recently the same titles have turned up on eBay and Amazon. One book was priced at £100. Suspicion is rising that these could be the same books stolen from the library. George (surname refused), a final year music student, said: “One of our lecturers told us that it is very likely that these books are the ones which belong to City and now are being sold online. The books are expensive and they are essential for music students. They are really hard to find elsewhere.” However, this is not an isolated incident. Missing books are a constant problem at City’s library, and many students report that books which are on record on the system are nowhere to be found on the shelf. This is becoming a nuisance for the students as many of the missing books are needed for their studies and the lack of availability means long waiting lists to access certain titles. Library staff from City said they didn’t know about this problem. Derek MacKenzie, public services manager at City was not able to comment on these circumstances. He instead referred students to information services, and the libraries code of conduct, which advises them to let library staff know if any books have been vandalised or gone missing. Regarding the security measures, Mackenzie said: “In terms of prevention, as with most libraries,

Stolen library books are becoming a problem for students we use security devices in our stock and we have a gate alarm system at the exit area of the Short Loan collection and the main library itself.” The crimes are only one symptom of what could be a larger problem. According to the Guardian, book trafficking is becoming one of London‘s prime crimes, as stolen books worth millions of pounds are sold in the UK illegally every year. City’s library could become

a platform for crime, albeit in a small scale, if the problem is not tackled soon. In fact, stealing from the library happens more often than is generally believed. 24 year old engineering student Hazem Akilla told the Inquirer: “I know that some people from City stole books by removing the cover which has the little detector attached to it. They took the book and left the cover behind, and the scanners at the library exit did not start an alarm.” AA

Power hungry? It’s SU election time again

Iñárritu’s lost in translation – Babel review

Inside your Inquirer this week...

Caipirinhas flow for the best of causes at Favela Feva

TheInquirer

New vice chancellor for City

Editors Dimi Reider Emily Clarke Stephane Reissfelder Harry Haydon Contributors Adwan Adwan Rene Butler Ketil Stensrud Tom Walker Shahaf Ifhar Write for us The Inquirer needs you! We’re independent and can publish anything we like. Send us your views, reviews and especially your news and pictures! Email [email protected]

Leader So; important, rare music books were stolen and sold on the internet. I’m sure many of you have been the victim of an AWOL tome. Come on – own up, I bet some of you’ve even been the perpetrator of a theft in your time. We at the Inquirer, while never for a second condoning crime, understand the frustration students can go through to get their hands on library books. How many times have you checked the catalogue and not been able to locate the book you need? (Never mind the library staff.) This raises an interesting question. What about other students, for whom important books have never been in the library. Do you fancy learning libel definitions from a book published in 1973? Or studying ethnomusicology from the range of western classical CDs that straddle most of the music section, come to that? We know, we keep complaining about City’s library, but with due cause. Our sympathies go out to those students with exams in January, who were diligent enough to want to study before them. The library, however, did not really share such understanding. The library was closed from 22 December until 2 January. Exams started on the 8 January. In addition, the library closes at 9pm. No good for the insomniacs, hey? Now, take the LSE. During the week, their libraries don’t close. You can sift through 4 million books (compare it to our 350,000), not to mention the exhaustive journal collection to your heart’s content. Come on Brendan Casey – you know this isn’t up to scratch.

Gillies: takes over next year Professor David Rhind is to set to stand down from his position as vice chancellor of City University this summer after nine years in charge. Rhind will be replaced by Professor Malcolm Gillies as City looks to further expand its development of international partnerships. Gillies takes over the reigns at City on the 1 August after leaving his job as the vice president of the Australian National University (ANU). He is currently involved in finding new and more international areas of funding

for the university, while being based in America. Before this post, Gillies was the deputy vice chancellor of education at the ANU, in charge of research and accreditation of all undergraduate courses across the univeristy. Gillies told City: “I’ve long been aware of City’s reputation as a trend-setter in higher education and I am delighted to be taking the helm at such a progressive institution. In the years to come I hope that legacy can be enriched and deepened, with new programmes, an expansion of external partnerships, and further building of the nexus between education and research.” Gillies has a strong background in the humanities; he was the president of the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at the ANU and has been a campaigner for bringing areas of expertise involved in the humanities such as research and innovation to the forefront of Australian education policy. Gillies is a respected researcher and musicologist in the field of 20th Century classical music. He worked with and taught members of Elision, Australia’s contemporary music association, before becoming its chair in 2001. He is most famous for his research into composer’s Bela Bartok and Percy Grainger. He has chaired five major Australian music organisations as well as being the editor of the series Studies in Musical Genesis and Structure published by Oxford University Press. HH

SU elections a fortnight away Nominations for seats on the executive committee of the students’ union are open until next Friday. There are three positions available; president, vice president for welfare, and vice president for communications. The incumbent president, Tom Abbott, is optimistic about the elections, despite admitting that participation is weak. “It’s difficult to stir up interest, and it’s hard to make people realise what impact they can have,” he told the Inquirer. Last year, elections were disappointing, with not enough candidates running for seats on the union council, leading to a lack of competition. Mark, a computing student, said: “I’m not really sure why they bother with elections. From what I’ve seen, being on the council wouldn’t do much.” Abbott is quick to deny this. The SU is currently cooking up a number of campaigns, he said, and members of the council do have a say in proceedings. He said: “It’s hard to make people realise the impact they can have.” The SU has been without a general manager for two years, and Abbott admits “things have been hard.” The new manager, Aidan McDonald, has worked in the careers centre at City and is a former president of London Met students’ union. He is assisting Abbott in the running of the union. In the near future, the union is planning a health awareness week, as well as pushing a campaign for better food labelling in the refectory. “If you go in there and ask the

staff what’s in the food, they can’t actually tell you.” Abbott revealed. This idea is welcomed on campus. Hayley, a journalism student, said: “I think it’s a great idea for the SU. I would be interested in seeing what I’m consuming.” The campaign is particularly important for those who are vegetarian or vegan, and essential for those who suffer food allergies. EC

In other news... The School of Engineering at City has been awarded a research grant from the UK-India Education and Research Initiative. City was one of only six out of a total of 108 submissions to receive the grant which was presented by Gordon Brown. HH A house in Islington used for a documentary with Anne Widdecombe to highlight the plight of inner city estates was firebombed last week. The house belongs to Labour councilor Lisa Spall. The attack and the TV program are believed to be related. HH Islington Council’s education chiefs decided on Thursday to give approval for Islington Green School to become a city academy. The plan has been heavily criticised by parents and local residents. City is fronting a large part of the funding, donated by anonymous backers. It will open in September 2008. HH

Hong Kong for pennies? Yes please... Ever since the emergence of low cost airlines such as Ryanair and EasyJet, there has been an unstoppable wave of overweight, sunburnt Britons jetting all over Europe to show off their cellulite infested bums entrapped in red Speedo’s. As environmentalists, politicians and American former presidential candidates engage in the raging debate over carbon emissions, yet another catch has appeared in the midst of all the campaigning. So far, travelling for the price of the average Indian take-away has been restricted to destinations within a reasonable distance, but last month marked an end to the short hop madness as Hong Kong based airline Oasis set up a direct route between Gatwick and the former British colony. The price? A mere £141 including taxes for a return ticket, compared to British Airway’s cheapest option at £520. Similarly, Air Sahara has begun chartering flights from Heathrow to New Delhi from an incredible £126 plus taxes, while Tim Clark, president of Emirates, has revealed that he is considering launching flights from London to Sydney for £280 return including taxes and £140 return to New York. Who said the world wasn’t flat? Scottish airline Flyglobespan has also embraced the latest trend of long-haul air-travel, providing routes between the UK and Canada. How does a weekend in Toronto sound for £200? Lufthansa, the biggest airline in Europe, offers the same flight for £540. Another new kid on the block is Isra–Air Direct, who operates flights to Israel for pocket change. Tel Aviv is now only a £20 note away (calm down, plus taxes – ed). It might not be kosher, but at least it gets you there without going bankrupt.

Your views on the low cost travel boom Hang the carbon footprint... Our students say they can’t afford to travel any other way.

Hong Kong is now £141 away. But what’s the real cost? The budget travel boom has generated great worry for worldwide efforts in dealing with climate change, as the already well established airlines are forced to reduce their prices accordingly. This is a new era of international travel, and its implications are crash landing upon us. Whether the trend persists remains to be seen, but as The Spectator recently pointed out: “How ready are Britons to surrender the exhilarating freedoms of cheap air travel?” The loser? Mother Earth. Temporary winners: the consumers. Despite accumulating a platoon of fierce critics, namely for stories of laid-back security

and the alleged ‘horrible flight experience’, most cheap airlines are maintaining steady sales figures as a result of loyal costumers and our seemingly restored confidence in air travel post 9/11. Ryanair is reported to be adding 100 Boeing 747-aircrafts to its fleet, after they saw their earnings increase by 80 per cent in the first quarter of 2006. Questions have arisen as to how the companies do it; perhaps the furious Ryanair-employees can answer that question. Last year it was revealed that charging mobile phones while at work had become strictly prohibited. Evidently, it is all about the money. Low cost. Big profits. KS

Revka Bijl,

Inga Vesper,

Exchange

Journalism

student,

student,

Rotterdam

Hamburg

Being a student, I think it’s nice to be able to fly really cheaply, although I was flying with EasyJet to London because I come from Rotterdam, and it was pretty awful; bad service, they charged me for three extra kilos of luggage. I’m here for three months, so I should be able to have those three kilos. Being a girl, I need it! But I do feel quite guilty about the environment. Although, now there are offsetting websites. You can pay for them to plant a tree for you when you fly. Then, you don’t have to feel so guilty. There really is no other way for students to travel – it takes so much less time that the train.

I really love low cost flights. my family lives in Germany – so whenever I go to Germany I get a budget flight. That’s cheaper than a train ticket. For an ordinary flight with BA, say, it cost £520 to get to Hamburg, where I live. If I take Ryanair, and go late at night, it’s £10. There’s no choice for me. They are a bit uncomfortable, and there’s no food but it’s only an hour. As for the environment, I always think that there are 180 people on that plane, and if they travelled the 500 km from here to Hamburg by car, it probably wouldn’t make much of a difference.

Got an opinion? E-mail us with anything you might want to say. [email protected]

Get out there Your eclectic guide to

London’s ins and outs meets South at the Green Note, as •TheNorth Curst Sons rock and sways with some

good, old fashioned, swampy Hillbilly stompin’ and hollerin’. Saturday, February 3 106 Parkway, just up the road from Camden Town Tube. Speaking of swampy and bizarre, David Lynch will creep up in person to talk at the NFT of his new film. Thursday, February 8th, NFT – Southbank. Be sure to book well in advance. More of the same, the LSE will host former Home Secretary Charles Clarke on Wednesday, February 7 at The subject of the talk is “Economic Policy and Taxation). Entrance is free. Current torch-carrier of anti-dogmatic stand up Scott Capurro will be delivering his usual dose of controversy at the Soho Theatre this week. 21 Dean Street W2, Friday, February 2nd. David Bowie’s favourite six-piece band, Arcade Fire, are doing London this very Friday. All the tickets were sold out within 5 minutes from going on sale, but 50 tickets for tomorrow’s gig were reserved by the band for fans to buy on the floor. Porchester Hall, 45 Porchester Road, W2. Friday 7.30pm And, closer to home financially and geographically, the Hen & Chicken theatre pub is running Wilde’s The Ideal Husband. For the discerning and socially disengaged, 7pm, February 6th and 7th-10th , The Hen and Chicken, 109 St Pauls Road (opposite the Highbury & Islington Tube). DR

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Interested? We know you are... E-mail [email protected] LONDON LIVES Rene Butler

Taking on the misery line

Thanks to the inept muppets who run the Northern Line, I’ve missed out on a good part of my mid-twenties. I could have written War and Peace with a blunt pencil during all the time I’ve spent wedged between other commuters. For some, this might be acceptable, but my luck always seems to put me between a bearded accountant from Edgware (I think her name is Sally), and some goofy iPod-gangster who gets on at Burnt Oak. Because Goofy and Ms I-need-Immac insist on taking every available inch of space, I have no chance of swinging a stray leg or digging in an elbow to avenge the deafening iPod. My time in underground custody should be spent sat back unwinding with a skinny latte and a broadsheet. When I’m standing, the nearest I come to news is a quick glance at a paper belonging to a seat-depriver – and

they twig your eyes on their print in seconds. When they do, they flick straight to the obituaries, making sure all headlines and pictures are out of your gaze. Why can’t they be nice? Why can’t they say “Let’s read the asylum seekers story together, I’ll just re-angle the paper – we can both

Judgment Day, I asked the girl in Costa’s to add some vanilla syrup in my latte. What a mistake – she was about as quick as a tortoise putting on a dinner jacket. On most days I’d offer one of my lectures in customer service, but my insults were needed for the tube. So I got to the tube station that morning,

‘I’d have that skinny latte... no bastard would get in my way’ enjoy it”? Last Tuesday I decided I was going to get a seat regardless. I’d have that broadsheet and skinny latte – no bastard was going to get in my way. And if Goofy got on, I’d order him to turn his iPod off. As a treat to myself before Underground

ready for battle. Guess what? The fucker was closed for engineering works. Better life than Rene? E-mail us and tell us all about it. We promise we’ll listen. [email protected]

detached the arts and culture bit

film

Babel Imagine this: you’re on a bus in the middle of the Moroccan desert, four hours from the nearest hospital, when your wife lets out a sudden yelp of pain. She’s been shot by some local goat-farming kids, trying out their new rifle to see whether it really can shoot 3km. And then, for some reason, there’s an odd side-story about a deaf-mute Japanese schoolgirl. That, in a nutshell, is the experience of watching Babel, the latest from Amores Perros and 21 Grams director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Iñárritu is in danger of becoming a formula director, with each of his films following a predictable course of multiple, interweaved stories – it’s all very filmschool, very clever-clever, and very dull. Worse, none of the stories here are really strong enough to stand on their own.

Blood Diamond As the cliché goes, if you want to send a message, use Western Union. Ed Zwick’s movies have traditionally been earnest, soberminded action-adventure dramas that offer up some supposed serious examination of a societal ill. Blood Diamond keeps up that streak by showing how the illegal smuggling of diamonds impacts African countries. While Zwick does a fine job of laying out the confluence of bloodthirsty rebellions, corrupt governments, and greedy foreign interests that keep many African nations in a constant state of turmoil, his story of an Afrikaner (Leonardo DiCaprio) who sacrifices his own self-interest for the love of a woman and the good of a decent African man is so relentlessly square that the film plays more like a ham-fisted lecture than a movie. As is usual for Zwick, Blood Diamond offers beautiful,

Here, the main story sees Cate Blanchett as the shot wife who sobs occasionally, and besidehimself husband Brad Pitt, who spends most of his time yelling

ers, who run away and get into a shootout with the brutal Moroccan police, and the couple’s kids’ nanny, who also ends up stranded in a desert after doing a runner

“I’m American, no speaka Espanol, I need to call my embassy, send a fucking ambulance, I need that fucking helicopter!” and so on. Then there are the goat-farm-

from the almost-as-brutal America-Mexico border police. There’s really so much plot that it’s difficult to fit it all in here: it’s all plot, all the time, and yet rarely

manages to go anywhere. The moments that the film should hinge on just come off trite: yes, it’s not much fun to go to a nightclub if you’re deaf, yes, South American deserts are kinda scary, and yes, American police are quite mean to illegal immigrants. Whoop-de-do. Maybe I could have forgiven all this for a strong ending, but you won’t find one here – things turn out pretty well as you’d expect in all four stories. None of this is really to say that Babel is a bad film, and a bit of ruthless editing really could have saved it (there are entire ten-minute segments that basically boil down to “wait, didn’t we already do this?”) See it if you have time to spare and money burning a hole in your pocket, but don’t go in expecting anything approaching originality. There is a nude Japanese schoolgirl, though – maybe that’s what got it the Oscar nominations. TW

coffee-table-book-quality cinematography. While these images are pleasant to look at, the thuddingly obvious subtext of horrible atrocities occurring in such beautiful places makes it difficult to be awed by the natural majesty, and they constantly betray the schematic mindset of the director. Having recently been taken under the wing of Martin Scorsece for Oscar-nominated The Departed Departed, and simultaneously ensured his credibility as a prominent actor, the former teenage-bedroomposterboy has stepped it up a notch. DiCaprio is enough of a movie star to know how to own the screen, and his selfish rogue who learns to care for others is a stereotype that goes all the way back to Bogartt in Casablanca. Leo tries, and viewers should be very thankful for the effort, but the serious tone of the picture constantly douses the sparks of life he brings to the material. Jennifer Connelly is entirely unbelievable in the role of a hardas-nails, internationally respected reporter. Some people, like Den-

nis Farina, were born to swear on screen, but Connelly is not one of those people. When she forces out the f-word, she does it with a world-weariness that rings false. She sounds like a 12-yearold girl trying the word out on her parents for the first time. Yet another symptomatic of a greater ill, if I may. Djimon Hounsou might be a very talented actor, but in this film – as in most of his major films – he is not playing a person as much as he is a symbol of

are good-hearted, but that does not excuse the fact that the film is a crushing bore because he talks down to his audience. The lessons and facts and morals are spoon-fed to the viewer, and Zwick fails to grab our attention during the action scenes, so there ends up being very little of interest for the audience. The movie ends with white text on a black screen stating that “you” must do your part. Instead of making an entire film to drive that simple point home,

‘The lessons, facts and morals are spoonfed to the viewer’ “otherness” that white characters must learn to respect in order to teach the movie’s moral. Here, as with previous castings, he suffers both beautifully and majestically, making it hard to think of the character as a real individual. It is not a bad performance; it is a badly conceived character. In the end, Zwick’s motivations

Zwick might as well have filmed an alcoholised Bob the Builder on Prozac— and left us with the tagline, “Remember, don’t buy illegally smuggled diamonds. Only you can prevent genocide.” KS Babel and Blood Diamond are on general realease

music

Favela Feva The AKA Bar, W1

On a cold night in January the temptation of a Brazilian party in central London brought back fond, hazy memories of carnival and summer and seemed for once a good alternative to staying in and watching the football. As well as boasting a feast of different genres of musical talent including 4Hero, Rodney P & Skitz, Bugz in the Attic, DJ Bailey and Brazilian imports Dynamo Magician and Capoeira Canal, the night had an exceptionally good cause, which is always a good excuse to go and neck loads of cocktails and dance till 4 on a Wednesday night. Favela Feva is a sort of annual fundraiser for a project called RafioActive by a man called Max Graef. The project specializes in opening pirate radio stations in deprived areas in order to try and steer children away from their usual path of becoming foot soldiers for drugs gangs. Radio Active provides all the equipment and training people need to get on air. Graef has recently set up radio stations in Cam-

internet

Best of the web http://docs.google.com/ Got a collective paper to work on with your fellow students, but one of them is in Greece and the other bed-stricken? Use Google Documents – formerly Writely -to edit and collaborate on documents in real time.

http://ww.zyb.com Among its many services, this site allows you to effortlessly save all your mobile phone data, so that you don’t end up friendless next time your phone gets stolen.

http://www.meebo.com If you’re tempted to chat on msn, yahoo, and google with all your buddies at the same without headache, this website permits to do just that and works in libraries!

http://liveplasma.com An amazing graphical display of related artists, movies, and film directors that makes you discover new cultural horizons, or at least pretend you’ve scouted them.

http://www.theyworkforyou.com An independent site that lets you scrutinize the activities of your proud representatives. No, not the student unionÉ Think bigger: MPs. You can also contact them directly and raise hell! SR Got a website you love? E-mail us at; inquirer. [email protected]

eroon, Chad, Mexico and Palestine, ahead of his planned stint in Rio de Janerio. He will be working with community group Afro Reggae who run 61 different community groups in an effort to get an estimated 5000 armed children off the streets. “It’s not just about music, says Graef excitedly on the night, its about getting peoples messages out there, and talking about the issues that affect people in the favelas and just giving people somewhere where they can communicate.” By 10pm it seemed like a Friday and thanks to some very strong caiprinha’s from the guy at the bar ( thanks guy at the bar), great Brazilian samba vibes, and fantastic music that had been donated feeless by the wonderful DJ’s all night, people danced their next days hangover’s away. HH

Capoeira at Favela Feva. Courtesy of Ritzilla Check the website at: http://radioactive .org.uk/afroreggae.htm for info and donations.

Anyone can play guitar... Open mic venues in the capital Aspiring musicians in London, particularly of the singer/songwriter persuasion, can literally spend every night of the week seeking attention and appraisal at countless open mic venues across town. To avoid a performing experience akin to busking outside Tottenham Hale Station in February, here are a few highlights to make your journey to indie stardom much smoother. Up All Night @ the Spice of Life, Soho Names can be deceptive and this is no exception; central London’s most famous open mic starts at 7pm and plugs out punkt at 11. You will have to be there by 6:30 to fight your way through the hordes of performers to the ever-elusive List. “Can I go on first?” is a good way of attracting the MC’s attention as no one ever wants to. The stage is cold, but the audience will appreciate your bravery and you can still make dinner on time. The basement room hosts around 50 people, almost invariably fellow performers with Fender gig bags. There’s a cute upright piano (big plus) tucked away at a corner of the stage. Sound is usually excellent with good monitors to boot. Music is a very mixed bag – from the mundane to the amazing; You get to play two songs, or get a 20-minute featured artist slot if they like your demo. Viva Viva, Hornsey They named it twice so you think it’s nice. And it looks nice. Hands down, this is the most carefully furnished room I’ve ever played in, fairy lights notwithstanding. Still, the effort involved in getting to this obscure location doesn’t pay off. It’s the perfect

wine & dine venue, but for the songwriter who only wants to be heard, this place can be traumatic. For better or worse, it’s the only known venue in London that will actually email you asking to play. An elaborate PR system thinly disguises poor arrangements; they send you their “terms,” book you in, send you slips you can give to your friends for 10 per cent off the first drink between 8 and 8.15, but arrive on the night and voila; the sound man hasn’t got you on the list, you get to play for five minutes instead of 15 and your slot is pushed to 11pm by the Oxbridge teen who’s brought all his family along. When you finally get to play, the ceaseless chatter makes you realise people come here for continental sophistication to go with their Merlot, and not to listen to music. Oh, and pray no one fancies a cuppa during your set – the coffee machine is ruthlessly loud. The Mitre, Greenwich This recently opened joint, run by the lovely Ben and Dan, is set to thrive. The room is the size of a disused swimming pool and echoes nouveau riche balls with its chandeliers and posters of extinct bird species. Apart from lots of personal TLC, you also get a Roland keyboard, monitors and a drum kit on the premises. Only downside is this is one of the only open mics to currently charge entrance, but performers get to pocket the three quid – as long as they bring a few people to see them. SI Details to all nights can be found on www.thevac.co.uk Shahaf Ifhar plays the Bullet Bar in Kentish Town on February 21st, www.ifhar.com