Library Bar, based on the University of Lincoln’s Brayford Campus, has been up for sale since November 2009 and was notable for being one of the few local bars to have a 24-hour licence. The ownership of the premises has now returned to the university.

The Library Bar on Brayford Campus has closed for good. Photo: Shane Croucher

A message, which has since been removed, from the fan page “R.I.P. Library Bar” said the university “has decided that (for rather good and sound financial reasons it has to be said) it needs the building”, and joked that it would be used so that “hard working security guards can have a nice place for a brew. Or some lecturers can have some new offices. Or to raze to the ground and dance on it’s ashes.”

It also said that there had been various difficulties with the university in running the business: “The three years I have spent at the Library Bar have been marked by various run-ins with the University and the Student’s Union.

“While some have been misjudged by myself (expensively so at times….), my intentions have always been to push your representatives to represent your interests more fully.”

A series of questions were posed: “Why did the Library Bar run so many fundraisers for charities and student societies when there is ample facilities for these events at the university? Why, in this time of financial hardship, are the university bars so expensive?”

Some of the disputes involved the Freshers’ Fayre event held by the Students’ Union, where external clubs and bars are banned from attending. This led to a rival event being held at the Glasshouse on the same day.

Documents advertising the sale of the premises stated that in the year ending March 2009 the business had a revenue of £114,500 with 87% of that consisting of drink sales, and that there was “significant scope for improving turnover by increasing food sales”.

A University of Lincoln confirmed the purchase of the Library Bar, saying: “It will be used for staff offices, but it is too early at the moment to comment on specific plans.”

Lincolnshire Police have released the name of the student found dead on Tuesday, June 8th as Thomas Prangley, from Carmarthen in Wales.

The police say the post mortem was inconclusive regarding the cause of death, and are now waiting for the results of a toxicology test, which may take several weeks. The police emphasise that they still do not consider the death as suspicious, just unexplained.

A student has been found dead at the University of Lincoln's courts accommodation. Photo: Shane Croucher

Original Story:

The body of a 22-year-old has been discovered in the University of Lincoln’s student courts.

The police were called to the scene at 11.55am this morning, June 8th, after the person was discovered in one of the rooms. A post mortem will be carried out. Police say they are not treating the death as suspicious.

A spokesman for the University of Lincoln says: “We are deeply saddened to hear about the tragic death of a 22-year-old student in the courts accommodation. Our thoughts are with his family, who have been informed, and his friends.”

– Shane Croucher and Ashleigh Gray contributed with this report

Around thirty people turned out to the demonstration, which was held by the University of Lincoln’s Islamic Society. A group gathered at the university’s Brayford campus, before marching to the Cornhill area in the city centre.

The University of Lincoln's Islamic Society held a protest to speak out against Israel's killing of human rights activists. Photo: Shane Croucher

In the early hours of Monday morning, May 31st, Israel Defence Force commandos dropped on to a ship carrying humnitarian aid to the Gaza strip, attempting to breach Israel’s blockade on the area. As many as nine human rights activists were killed, though the death toll could be more.

Dave Tompkins, a protester at the Lincoln event, said in a speech: “We need to remember when talking about this that it is the Israeli government, not the Israeli people. Many of these people have joined the demonstrations across the world, to condem their government’s actions.

“We unite people, whatever religion, whatever nationality, whatever political beliefs, against the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”

Amjad Altadmri, one of the demo’s organisers and of the Islamic Society, said: “[This issue] is very important for us because we think it’s fair that people in Gaza want…things like food [and] medicine. These people from forty countries went there just to help them and give them a hand, and [now some] of them are dead.

“We need everyone to be all together to say in one voice that this blockade has to be ended because it is the initial cause of everything. We want to stop another bloodbath in the Middle East and all over the world.

“I want to [send] a message to local people that they have to read more about what actually happened.

“We don’t want another war and we don’t want extremism from any side. We need to fight for human [rights] for each side and, of course, security for everyone.”

Once the Israeli forces finish murdering human rights activists aboard the Free Gaza flotilla, they can wash the blood from their hands in the international waters where this atrocity was committed.

The Free Gaza Movement (FGM), a group which aims to end the seige on Gaza, has sent boats containing humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip in a bid to break Israel’s illegal blockade on the area.

However, it appears that the Israel Defence Force has boarded their ships and killed activists, then escorting them to Israel.

Before this flotilla of six boats set sail, The Linc spoke to Huwaida Arraf, an American-Palestinian FGM activist who is currently on one of the boats.

“Our mission represents the will of international civil society that is tired of and deeply disappointed in the inaction of our governments. This is extremely significant. We are going to Gaza, bringing people and supplies that the people of Gaza need to rebuild their devastated infrastructure and society.

“We are going in defiance of Israel’s blockade, because this blockade is…inhuman and deadly. In other words, we are challenging the policies that leave Palestinians in need of humanitarian aid,” Arraf said.

The blockade on Gaza started in June 2007. This tight squeeze of the area prevents food, water, medical supplies, and even people from entering or leaving the Gaza strip. This is illegal in international law, says Arraf, who has taught human rights and humanitarian law at Jerusalem’s Al Quds University.

“Israel’s near hermetic closure of the Gaza Strip is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Justice Richard Goldstone has stated that Israel’s policy seems to target the Palestinian population in Gaza as a whole, and that the ‘series of acts that deprive Palestinians in the Gaza Strip of their means of subsistence, employment, housing and water, that deny their freedom of movement and their right to leave and enter their own country, that limit their rights to access a court of law and an effective remedy, could lead a competent court to find that the crime of persecution, a crime against humanity, has been committed’.

“Yet, who is doing anything to stop or otherwise hold Israel accountable?”

Shortly before The Linc spoke to Arraf, she had been detained by Israeli forces, without food or water, and suffered physical and verbal abuse. How do events like this effect her motivation?

“Such experiences only strengthen my resolve to keep fighting for our basic human rights. I am under no illusion that just because we use nonviolent means of resistance to confront Israel’s colonial, apartheid policies, that it will be safe and/or easy. On the contrary, I believe that our form of resistance is more threatening to Israel because it presents an obstacle to Israel’s attempts to paint the Palestinian people as violent and their own policies as being about security. If we give in to Israel’s violent repression, it would be an admission that military might is stronger than right, and I don’t believe that.”

Arraf paints a bleak picture of the situation in Gaza: “If you’ve never been to Gaza or even in other areas of the occupied Palestinian territories, words are not going to be enough to describe not only the current conditions but the overall oppressiveness and insidiousness of the situation that has become people’s only reality. Gaza is like a maximum security prison. People can move around within the confines of the prison walls, but they can’t leave.

“Also, in many ways a prison affords people more rights because at least in many prisons around the world one is entitled to adequate food and health care. In Gaza, Israel severely limits what can enter the Gaza Strip and therefore the hospitals there do not have the equipment and medicines to provide many with the treatment that they need.

“When patients seek to leave Gaza to seek medical attention in other countries, they are put through a time-consuming process of applying to the Israeli authorities for permission. Many have been denied this permission and Gazans estimate that over 350 people have died over the past four years as a direct result of not being able to obtain the medicines and medical attention that they need.”

She says the unemployment rate in Gaza averages at around 40% and that 80% of the population is now food-aid dependent. Furthermore, according to World Health organisation standards, only between 5% and 10% of the water in Gaza is considered safe.

Optimistic that she would reach Gaza with this latest flotilla, that hope has now been crushed – but that won’t stop Arraf: “The important thing is, we won’t stop until the unlawful blockade is broken…until the occupation is defeated; and until freedom, human rights, and equal rights for all prevails.”

They will work with AB Internet, a local service provider, as part of the pioneering Wireless Lincoln network, which aims to offer high speed WiFi access across Lincoln City.

Students in Lincoln's Lighthouse properties will be offered a wireless broadband service that can be accessed anywhere in the city. Photo: Shane Croucher

This deal means any person living in a Lighthouse property can use the Internet on their phones and laptops on the move. There’s been a trial run since September in three properties and the plan is to expand this to student accommodation, with permission from landlords, and then private residential homes.

Ian Thornton, student lettings manager of Lighthouse properties, said: “The deal originally came about when we used Brayford Court as a pilot project, which is approved accommodation for the University of Lincoln, so the whole of that site has benefit from the service since last September.

“We also tested it on a student property on the High Street and a student property in the West End, to make sure that we are happy that it’s working.”

It is expected that every property to get the service will be ready for the next academic year.

“They’ll be fitting a receiver to each of these sites before the new academic year starts, so July/August we’ll be rolling it out, to a number of private and student houses across the High Street and West End areas of Lincoln,” Thornton says.

However, the initial uptake of this project is expected to be around 20%, but Thornton is hopeful that once launched the scheme will become more popular: “There is still a number of students who want to provide their own Internet because they want to combine it with other services such as TV and telephone.

“Also there is still a number of students who have got the chance to decide on either going with this or with one of the better known off the shelf products.

“So we are expecting that to grow. To what level? It is hard to say. We think once this is rolled out next year there will be a much bigger uptake particularly as it is part of the wireless campus which has recently been announced.”

The university will open an International Students Centre at the beginning of the 10/11 academic year. Photo: Shane Croucher

The ISC will offer international students tutoring and a direct, yet conditional route onto certain degrees at the university.

Professor Scott Davidson, the university’s pro-vice chancellor for external affairs, said: “We currently have a relatively small group of international students studying with us at Lincoln and are keen to see these numbers increase.”

He added: “Our overseas contingent consists primarily of postgraduates and we’re looking forward to adding an increased number of both undergraduates and postgraduates to the mix.”

The courses offered to these students include a foundation certificate in engineering, a media studies undergraduate degree programme, among others.

James Pitman, managing director for Study Group – the team behind the centre – said: “The University of Lincoln ISC will provide excellent courses for international students that are fully endorsed by the university itself.

“We are delighted to partner with Lincoln as it is a first class, rapidly developing institution that already excels in its core subjects. It is keen to increase the cultural diversity on campus as it recognises this will benefit both the domestic and international students.”

He spoke to Conservative supporters in Castle Square on Monday, May 3rd.

Eric Pickles, the Tory party chairman, visited Lincoln to endorse Karl McCartney's campaign. Photo: Shane Croucher

Pickles made a speech to the attendees calling for them to elect McCartney.

“If you don’t elect Karl, David [Cameron] doesn’t make it to number ten, and the entire nation is going to blame you,” Pickles joked.

He told the audience that Britain is “facing an unprecedented crisis” and warned that a hung parliament would result in a delay on tackling it, saying “we need somebody to take strong decisions.”

Pickles also compared Britain’s economic problems to the crisis in Greece, but said “I’m not suggesting for a second that we’re like the Greek economy – we’re much bigger,” despite economists saying that Britain’s crisis is set to become worse than Greece’s.

In an interview with The Linc, Pickles spelled out the importance that winning Lincoln is to the Conservative Party, saying “It’s our 89th target seat. If he [McCartney] doesn’t make it, David [Cameron] doesn’t make it. The people of Lincoln are in an enormously pivotal position.”

He made no promises on what will happen to students under a prospective Conservative government, saying “everyone knows there’s going to be cuts, and they’re going to be pretty substantial cuts. In terms of university funding there’s an [independent review] taking place and we’ll hold fire until [then].”

He also defended the Tory policy to give bonuses to students who are able to pay of their debt quickly, saying it wasn’t an unfair policy because “it will actually release more money for loans – we will be able to pay for the expansion of student numbers by doing this.”

Imagine the scene: it’s almost 2am on a Wednesday night. You’re sitting in the library, so close to the Engine Shed you can almost feel the carefree, drunken party-goers. But more importantly, you’re getting your essay done!

Everyone knows that students are nocturnal, everyone except the University of Lincoln, apparently. The luxury and convenience of the 24/4 (that is 24 hours 4 days a week) library is not always available.

Monday, April 12th, sees the start of a two-week period of a 24-hour library service for four days of each week. Photo: Shane Croucher

And as a third-year myself, I can’t tell you how frustrated I was to find out that the library was not open 24 hours over the Easter holidays. That all-important fortnight before dissertation hand-in, when you finally realise that the library is not just a storage facility for books and it can actually be useful.

I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that my best ideas come at ten to midnight, but that’s no use if the library isn’t available to us in our time of need.

In one of my many recent, late-night stints in the library I was given a questionnaire on student opinions of the library. According to the helpful librarian there’s some spare cash floating about and they would like to know how students feel they should spend it, so clearly they have the resources available.

Chris Charnley, the Students’ Union president, keeps advocating the 24 hour library, stating in his manifesto again this year that he wants it open longer. However, the most effective use would be 24/4 all year round. Other university libraries manage it and it would be a massive asset to the university as a whole.

The 24/4 library works well. Go in at 3am next time and you’ll see the proof — there’ll be students there using and appreciating it.

Most young English women are now opting for higher education, according to new figures. Photo: Shane Croucher

There was a 2% rise in young people learning at a higher education institute in 2008/09 – rising from 43% to 45% on the previous year.

Most young English women now opt for university, as 51% chose higher education in 08/09. Males are up too – from 38% to 40%.

The increasing student numbers will put more pressure on universities after the BIS slashed university budgets by £900m in December last year. The Government has a target of 50% of all young people going to university.

In a statement on the BIS website, Lord Mandelson, secretary of state for BIS, said: “Today’s statistics show that we continue to make good progress towards this Government’s aspiration that 50% of 18 to 30 year olds should go on to study higher education, indeed, over 50 per cent of women now do.

“This aspiration is important not for the sake of a target, but because Britain’s economy needs skilled graduates to innovate, grow and secure the recovery. A university education also sets students up to succeed across their lifetimes and a British degree is still a great investment for any individual.”

Despite the recent huge cuts to higher education and the introduction of tuition fees by the Government, David Lammy, minister for higher education, claims Labour “remain determined to further open up university education to people from all backgrounds.”

He said that the Government will fund an additional 20,000 undergraduate places for 2010/11 in “areas which are a priority for the economy”, which will be paid for by an increased tax on bankers’ bonuses.

The Café Resource boycott, which was due to last until the end of the semester, was called because the café’s staff are allegedly mistreating students. The café area is the only communal area in the LPAC building.

Allegations against the café workers include pulling a chair from underneath a student who refused to move, tearing down posters for student productions, and taking up valuable learning space.

Café Resource has been accused of mistreating students, while the university faces allegations that it favours its commercial interests over students. Photo: Shane Croucher

Jonny Howard, a second-year drama student and student rep, organised the boycott as an event on Facebook, and at the time of cancellation it had attracted 89 members.

Upon removing the event from Facebook, Howard wrote: “The group’s job is now done and the previously mentioned issues are being dealt with by higher figures of authority within the university. I urge you to now treat the café as you would any other commercial venue, and that is if you are happy with the service being provided continue to use the service, if you are not, naturally people may choose not to use the service.”

Following some discussion on the event’s wall in late February, Kayleigh Turner, vice-president for education and academic affairs at Lincoln Students’ Union, intervened. She arranged a meeting on March 3rd between herself, dance and drama student representatives, Julie Tippins, the university’s commercial resources manager, and Richard Herrett, bars, catering and front of house manager at the Engine Shed.

The student representatives who attended the meeting, which didn’t include Jonny Howard, are not supportive of the boycott.

Following the meeting, Turner wrote: “I’m very supportive of what the students say the issues are, which actually [have] nothing to do with the café, but I think [they were] exacerbated by a small number of students taking matters into their own hands after some suggestions from a lecturer.”

A source close to the drama alleged to The Linc that Julie Tippins and Richard Herrett told the student reps at the meeting that even if Café Resource moved out of the building, the university would close off that area and no one would be able to use it – so students should support the café in order to keep it open.

Furthermore, The Linc‘s source claims that most drama students support the boycott, so the student reps, who didn’t support it, ceased to be representative.

The Linc has also been told that Turner visited dance and drama lectures this week to dissuade students from boycotting.

In a statement, Turner said: “The Students’ Union is working with the drama and dance student representatives to come to a solution around the use of the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre. The SU supports the student reps in working towards an outcome that is in the best interests of the students, and which allows them to work alongside the commercial activity situated within the LPAC with no adverse effects on either group.

“[I am] intending to speak to dance and drama students about this issue and will also be meeting with the acting dean of faculty, senior pro-vice chancellor, and student reps to come to an agreement about space utilisation and a possible increase in rehearsal space for Dance and Drama students.”

When The Linc approached Café Resource for comment, we were directed to Richard Herrett, as he is currently acting as manager. Herret also manages the Engine Shed, which is controlled by the University of Lincoln through its ULEX subsidiary. Therefore Café Resource is controlled by the University of Lincoln.

Jonny Howard failed to return The Linc‘s calls for a comment. The University of Lincoln have not released a statement on behalf of themselves or the management at Café Resource/Engine Shed since The Linc‘s initial enquiries on Tuesday, March 16th.

The rate of teenage pregnancies in Lincolnshire has barely changed since last year, raising doubts over the effectiveness of Lincolnshire County Council’s (LCC) strategy.

Lincolnshire County Council have released the figures for the teenage pregnancy rates in Lincolnshire, but it shows little change on last year. Photo: Shane Croucher

In comparison with figures this time last year, there has only been a 0.6% drop in teen pregnancy. Lincolnshire’s rate is 39.8%, which is lower than the national average of 40%.

It is not known if these figures relate to all conception, or only to pregnancies that have resulted in childbirth.

In a press release from LCC, Councillor Patricia Bradwell, executive councillor for children’s services, said: “It is good to see that the local teenage pregnancy rate has decreased since the figures for 2007 and that there has been real progress since 1998. It shows that the Tackling Teenage Pregnancy strategy is working in Lincolnshire, but it is complex and taking time. This achievement can be attributed to some of the successful initiatives provided by the team and partners across the county.”

LCC’s plans for this year include continuing to offer sex education in schools and colleges, and expanding the “C-card” scheme where young people can access advice and free condoms from venues across Lincolnshire.

However, Hilary Pannack, chief executive of the national teen pregnancy charity Straight Talking Peer Education, says there is a better way of lowering the teen pregnancy rate.

“All of these things need to be implemented, but in our experience peer education is a much more powerful tool. Young people want this method of teaching. They already learn from their peers in the playground, so we should train them with the correct information instead of allowing myths to perpetuate. Young people need a reason to use contraception and this seems to be lacking from the majority of strategies,” she says.

Rebecca Christtmass, a 17-year-old mother of one, says it’s hard to bring up a child at a young age: “You can’t go out as much. You see your friends going out and you know you can’t go.” However, she concedes that although times can be hard as a teenage mum, it’s often rewarding. “when you do something for your baby [and] they look at you and smile, even though they can’t say it, you know they love you,” she says.

When asked what advice she would give to teenagers planning on having a child, Christtmass said: “Wait, it’s hard work and tiring and you miss out on a lot of things.”

– By Shane Croucher and Rob Wells

Another year, another set of SU elections. And, unfortunately, it’s going to the be the same old thing over again. The problem with the SU elections is that those involved tend to get swept up in the “drama” — ourselves included — but when you step back and get some perspective the whole thing is depressingly unimportant.

The SU elections have come and gone once again. Turnout is still abysmal — just 16% of the total student population. To be fair to the SU, it’s up on last year and it’s progress in the right direction. It just leaves next year’s team to build on this. How can they do that? Well, if we had the answer then we’d have the SU kissing our toes and grovelling for the secret formula. Our feet are currently SU-free.

Disappointingly, three positions were uncontested (if you exclude RON), meaning there was no choice. At least these were all part-time positions though, so no one has effectively strolled into a paid position.

We have some hope for Dan Derricott, who won the vice-president for academic affairs position. He seems pragmatic about his position, realises there are limitations, but importantly he has specific plans, and not generic manifesto guff about “enhancing the student experience”.

His reps system has flaws, which he realises, but the idea behind it is positive. Derricott must steer clear of PR drivel, otherwise he may drown in wishy-washy flim-flam. If things aren’t going well, be honest rather than try to cover it up. Then you can spend your time on solutions rather than distraction from a problem. As ever, The Linc will be on hand next year to scrutinise his progress.

Andreas Zacharia won the vice-president for activities position, and is promising “three wishes” for each club and society — which means they tell him three things they want and he’ll try to get them.

When we interviewed him, we asked how he’ll help to achieve these goals, to which he replied he is a “strong person”, and if people, for example, ask for more time on the astroturf then “I’ll get them more time on there”. He firmly believes that his strength of character, passion, and determination will allow him to achieve these goals.

We like his “three wishes” campaign, and he’s right to say it’s a good way of monitoring progress, but we wonder if his personality is enough to deliver on these promises. We fear that situational practicality may well get in the way, leaving him unable to grant the wishes. As ever, only time will tell.

Until next year, the elections chaos is over. We’ll be keeping our beady eyes on the 2010/11 SU team. It’s important to those involved, mostly for the people running for full-time positions, because it’s an £18,000-a-year job and the chance to add another year to their university experience.

But for everyone else, it matters little. There will be no real, significant changes taking place based on what happened on Friday, March 5th. Generally, that’s not because of the specific people involved. This isn’t about their skill or sincerity. It’s about the way the system works. It’s about the fact that the SU can’t make any real difference.

This is clearly realised by the student population as a whole. This year, like every year, the turnout was appallingly low; roughly 84% of students didn’t vote. If the SU was doing anything, or could do anything, that Lincoln students thought could have a significant effect on their university lives then they would express their preferences.

It’s incredibly clear students think that there will be no ill effect if they boycott the elections entirely. But this is not coupled with a rejection of the Students’ Union. When asked, students will often say that that the SU is generally a good thing.
This difference is fairly easy to square, if you look at the services the organisation provides, particularly funding and support for sports teams and societies. As a functional body, it works, but as a political or campaigning one, it doesn’t.

Even though candidates largely confine themselves to fairly unchallenging, uncontroversial policies, the effect they can have is limited. Take Chris Charnley, for example. Last year he made some fairly vague pledges that no one could object to. But across the board the real power to change things is out of his hands.

It’s the same this year. Take accommodation. Regardless of what he claims, are landlords really scared of the SU?Probably only if the university — an organisation with some clout — gets involved directly. Or jobs. How is he going to get local businesses, or even the university, to employ more students — particularly considering the economy’s current state.

As mentioned earlier, this isn’t about sincerity or skill. It’s about the system.

The Linc has been very busy over the past few weeks. Several of our grand projects have come into place in time for this final issue of the academic year.

Not only did we bring you the full-blown newsprint issue of The Linc, but we also moved our Lifestyle, Culture, and Style sections into a brand-new glossy supplement — The Linc Magazine.

March has also seen the culmination of weeks-long preparation for our bigggest project and success so far — the live SU elections simulcast on March 5th.

But this final issue of The Linc is also special because it is the last one that carries my name as editor. And to top it all off, it’s my third and final year at the University of Lincoln.It has been an amazing journey over the last two years for me at The Linc.

Fast-forwarding from September 2008, The Linc has had an amazing evolution. Over this period, our website has seen over 60,000 unique vistitors and we distributed over 16,000 copies of the newspaper in Lincoln.

Where we stand now, hundreds of people visit our website every day, where we update with the latest happenings on a daily basis. Next to our readers’ appreciation, The Linc also prides itself with the awards it has won and been nominated for. To name a few, The Linc received national recognition from the Guardian and the BBC.

However, we could have never achieved this without the help of our great editorial team, which grew alongside our readership. Also, the tutors and staff of the Lincoln School of Journalism have been very supportive of The Linc, and a big thank you is in order.

So where do we go from here? Well, my work is not nearly done at The Linc, but just the right person to take over is here — Shane Croucher. Shane has been alongside me for the ride since the beggining of my term as editor of The Linc. We have both learnt a lot during this time and I strongly believe he is the right person to take over. Shane is a passionate, fair, and talented individual and he will have a great line-up of staff to run The Linc for the coming academic year.

I am positive I am leaving you in safe hands next year, so it’s goodbye from me.

Staff Blog: Access of information failure for SU elections
The 2010 SU elections saw five positions unfilled and unconstested. Jack Dobson looks at the possible reasons why this happened, and what it means for the groups affected.
Read the article

Analysis: It’s 2009 all over again
Another year, another set of SU elections. And, unfortunately, it’s going to the be the same old thing over again.
Read the article

Analysis: The numbers have the answer
After correctly predicting all the candidates that won in the SU elections, Jonathan Cresswell looks at the turnout numbers and how satisfied students are with the results.
See the statistics of the 2010 elections

Results: No surprises at the Students’ Union Elections
The SU election results are in, and there weren’t any real surprises, with the results conforming to The Linc’s predictions.
See who was elected in each role

Listen Again: Live Results Simulcast
The Linc was live on Siren 107.3FM and online for a one and a half hour live show as the results came in. Listen back to the results coming in live, interviews with the winners and comments from the studio.

Highlights Video
Enjoy our photos of the announcement of the results from the Tower Bar:

Live Updates and Photos
Follow the live text, photos from the floor and comments from the results announcement.

Podcast: Elections Special
Listen to Shane Croucher and Rob Wells grill the candidates from all the categories in this year’s elections. Hear what they have to say and how well their policies stand up when questioned.

Why you shouldn’t re-elect Charnley

Rob Wells is not impressed with Chris Charnley’s manifesto pledges this year and explains why he shouldn’t get the student vote once more.

Read why

Who will win the SU elections?

As the voting week for the SU elections starts on Monday, Jonathan Cresswell has an in-depth look at the numbers behind the candidates’ campaigns to predict the winners ahead of Friday’s results.

Read our predictions

Remainder presidential candidates adopt different tactics

With Dan Clewley and Scott Pack officially withdrawn from the campaign, Chris Charnley and Lucy Alborough have been using the first week of elections to get people voting.

Read the article

Part time officers run unopposed

RAG officer, Liberation officer and Sports officer all run unopposed in their categories. We asked Phil Krstic and Jonathan Holmes about their plans for the job.

Read the article

Campaigns candidates plan to break student apathy

This year’s campaign officer candidates are highlighting the need to listen to what students actually want and creating better campaigns as a result.

Read the article

Activities position puts emphasis on sport

The role of activities VP has got candidates talking about how to improve the sports and societies at the university.

Read the article

Welfare and Diversity aims to reflect student opinion

The Welfare and Diversity VP candidates this year have an emphasis on student representation and aim to reflect student opinion.

Read the article

Academic affairs candidates eye student reps and university experience

This year’s academic affairs candidates are looking into expanding the student reps system and bringing a better experience to students across campuses.

Read the article

Two-horse race for SU’s president

The presidential candidates for this year’s elections are looking into communicating with student media and how cut backs in funding will hurt students.

Read the article

No ball-busting at the SU election hustings

The Students’ Union election hustings didn’t really offer enough of a chance for candidates to be scrutinised, and some candidates didn’t even turn up.

Read the report

Want my vote? [Voices]

Samantha Viner wants this year’s SU Elections candidates to work harder to get her attention, and not only spam her on Facebook.

Read Samantha’s blog post

The SU circus is back in town

We have a look at this year’s candidates’ posters, good and bad. Keep an eye out for split personalities, WordArt, bad Photoshop and typos in their own names.

Read our review of the posters

Bizarre allegations from a local councillor that the University of Lincoln is “severely lacking” in combating alcohol and violent crime are receiving criticism.

Lincoln City Councillor Paul Grice, chairman of the policy development scrutiny committee, submitted a report criticising the university to full council on Wednesday, February 23rd.

The report claims the university needs to do more to make Lincoln “a nice place to go out in”, alleging it’s currently slack in its efforts to combat alcohol-related crime. Cllr Grice’s report cites the Home Office, which found that Lincoln is the 6th worst place in the country for alcohol and violent crime.

However, Mark Garthwaite, an inspector for Lincolnshire Police, said: “If we are talking about alcohol-related violent crime then our figures would suggest that students are no more responsible for these offences than locals or people from outside the City boundaries. Certainly on an average Friday and Saturday night our cells are not disproportionately occupied by students.”

National statistics show that students are more likely to be the victims than perpetrators of crime. One in three students are the victims of crime, according to the Home Office.

Karen Lee, city councillor for the Carholme ward, disgrees with Cllr Grice’s assertions. “I think it’s unfair. I think it’s very ill-informed, and I just think it just paints a very one-sided picture to say that the university doesn’t get involved with the community and doesn’t attend community meetings and events,” she says.

Alcohol-related and violent crime isn’t the university’s problem, she says: “Just because it’s late at night and someone’s noisy and drunk doesn’t mean a) that they have to be a student or b) that it’s a university issue. It’s a law and order issue and it’s something that the police or the anti-social behaviour team do deal with.”

She also says that the university has a lot of involvement in the local community: “At the moment they have a community meeting at the university, which I do attend, they also attend every single Carholme Community Forum.[...] They supported us with the community gala last year, they put a substantial amount of money in. They also produced all the flyers and some of their students helped out on the day. They did all the sport on the common – they really were very supportive of the local community and got very involved.”

Cllr Lee added that she thinks it’s unfair to say that students are causing all of the problems: “It’s a very skewed picture that Councillor Grice is painting.”

Beware: eye strain may incur by clicking on this image. You have been warned.

Not all the positions have been filled though. Out of 13, only eight positions have been claimed, with three roles having only one candidate. But the biggest battle is for the paid positions, President, VP Welfare and Diversity, VP Academic Affairs and VP Activities, each rewarded with around £19,000 per year.

The Linc editors Shane Croucher and Rob Wells have grilled this year’s candidates in a special podcast (listen below), in a half-hour long show. But the most fun part of the elections process is the campaigns the candidates put out.

We had a look at their posters, with some disastrous examples of Photoshop, and we also saw some pretty good ones. So before we bring you the lowdown for each candidate later on this week, we review some of characters this year’s candidates try to impersonate in search for your vote (click on pictures to enlarge).

Chris Charnley

Chris Charnley: Where have we seen this one before, including the policies? Yes, current President Chris Charnley has done it again — Superman. Maybe it’s time to brush up on those Photoshop skills. Building on his campaign from last year, Charnley hopes students will still think he is Superman. We’ll have to see about that.

Dan Clewley

Dan Clewley: The new boy on the block — literally — Clewley is fresh from the American exchange. High School Musical hair and American jock jacket, he wants to be on wall with the students. However looking stone-faced on his poster is hardly going to inspire the same hope we’ve seen with Obama.

Lucy Alborough

Lucy Alborough: Black and pink won’t help show Lucy’s colourful personality, yet her foxy looks would make her stand out as the only female presidential candidate. Her poster is definitely catchier than Scott Pack’s, who hasn’t got a Facebook group at all.

Dan Derricott

Dan Derricott: Clearly “defend and extend” is not something you would normally want to be caught typing into Google, Derricott has made serious attempts to get your vote. He has a strong online presence with his website, though he could have done better colour-correction for his pictures. And by the way Dan, it looks like you misspelled your own name on the poster and on the website (note the two “r”s in his surname).

Ellie Rose Marchant-Williams

Ellie Rose Marchant-Williams: Displaying an incredible ability to speak with her mouth closed, Ellie’s poster is catchy, yet easy on the eye. It’s hard to choose one between her and Dan Derricott. Education isn’t as cheap as EasyJet flights for sure though.

Kat Walker

Kat Walker: As much as we love Aerosmith “Walk this way, vote this way” does not really work. However, if that is Helvetica we’ll go for it.

Andreas Zacharia

Andreas Zacharia: His idea might not be the most original one, but the execution is flawless. Hopefully unlike Aladdin, his idea that any miracle can be done will turn out to be more than fiction.

Katie Blackburn

Katie Blackburn

Katie Blackburn: We’re glad that Katie has discovered WordArt. She can also copy and paste herself three times. It’d be great to see more smiley faces like hers.

Emily Gough

Emily Gough

Emily Gough: Oh my Gough, what is that? Although she has done a lot of good work at the university, she should really not be associating herself with The Weakest Link. She too can copy and paste herself, several times.

Kayleigh Taylor

Kayleigh Taylor: “Just a small town girl living in a lonely world,” said the band Journey, and we too “don’t stop believing” in Kayleigh. We just wonder where the drop in and go welfare service will take us. Oh, and maybe you should have taken it easier on the eye with those colours.

Jonathan Holmes

Jonathan Holmes: A breath of fresh air, Jonathan went for the clean look, much more appropriate for what the SU Elections want to be. He’s the only other candidate to have a website, so although the poster might be short of information, it can be found online. Let’s just hope there aren’t many Lincoln students that need “liberating”.

Joe Hicks

Joe Hicks: Going for a sophisticated look, the campaign poster could turn out to be slightly bland. We would have liked to see something more creative and eye-catching, fit for a campaign officer. Yet, his opponent, Declan Ackroyd, didn’t have any poster on his Facebook group.

Phil Krstic

Phil Krstic: A poster that reflects the fun nature of Phil’s prospective job, he will have time to grow his hair back before the new RAG. Though if he is willing to shave off his hair, he should also get rid of the unsightly chest hair in that picture (Photoshop or not).

– Reporting by Jonathan Cresswell, Charlotte Reid and Daniel Ionescu

You could get a part-time job in a shop. You could get a part-time job in a restaurant. Or, like one 22-year-old Bournemouth student, you could cash in on the latest drug craze.

Steven (not his real name), who studies a business degree at Bournemouth University, started dealing the legal-high mephedrone along with his housemates.

Mephedrone, also known as Miaow Miaow, MMcat, and Bubbles, is taking the UK club scene by storm. It is a plant fertiliser and comes in powdered form. It’s currently legal, although has faced calls for a ban from politicians and the police. While it’s legal, people like Steven are cashing in on the market.

“You purchase it off the internet and then… you get massive economies of scale if you buy a lot. It works out to about four pounds a gram, and we bought fifty inititially and [sold] that. It went in about three or four days. So then we got 250, and that’s going at the moment. The 250 grams is £1100. So we got it at that, then we sell it and will pretty much make about £4800…. so there’s about £3700 profit,” says Steven.

“We thought do it at our house and split all the money between us.”

Having seen others doing it in Bournemouth, he and his housemates saw an opportunity to make easy money by using their large social circle as their market. “The majority of people we sell it to we know, it’s not like we’re out selling it on the streets to sixteen or seventeen year-old little kids who might not have a clue about what they’re buying.

“We make sure we know that the people we’re selling it to aren’t likely to go silly on it and we warn them that it’s quite strong,” he says.

Its legality causes some people to think that it’s safe. Steven says: “Where it’s legal, you get the people who would never do drugs… who love it and do it on casual student nights… Where it’s legal, loads of people getting on it don’t really know too much about it. They just think it’s not going to do them any harm. You get a lot of people going a bit silly on it. Fair enough at raves and that, but at normal student nights it’s a bit random.”

Steven says he’s not worried about being caught: “As far as I’m aware, they can’t really do anything. I do think about it, but I don’t think they can do an awful lot.

“As soon as it becomes illegal then we’re going to stop doing it.”

Even the most mild-mannered of news followers must know — binge drinking is increasingly turned into a moral panic by many of those prized publications that so unabashedly inform us of the ins, outs and even the shake-it-all-abouts of our world.

So of course, something like Carnage, which quite frankly encourages a tipple too many, is never going to be seen in the most angelic of lights. In fact as it is so popular, it has been the subject of several angry articles in various tabloids.

Lincoln’s latest Carnage (which I enjoyed last week) went fine apart from some mess. I know older folk may complain, but there was a million times more mess — and nearly as many mulled wine wasters — at the Christmas Market.

So this is of course all fine and dandy for Lincoln, but one can concede why this anti-Carnage bonfire has been fuelled so fluently? Look at the case of a certain Philip Laing – heard of him, no?

Well, he is the chap who was photographed urinating on a war memorial at the Carnage event in Sheffield. Of course this didn’t make him too popular and quite rightly so. As you can imagine this has horrified many and put this pub parade in a bad light.

So before the “Fun Police” undoubtedly dash in and take this celebration of booze and laughter away from us, I say enjoy it while you can. However a word to the doom-sayers: binge drinking has been going on for years and years. I know my father (a hard-working man by all means) did it in his youth, as did his father before him and so on so forth for many families.

Carnage is nothing new and you shouldn’t let the actions of a few inglorious individuals create a folk-devil out of a fairly standard situation.

“The relocation of the university shop is a key element of a wider MAB (Main Academic Building) refit and refurbishment programme that is in turn an important component of the wider university campus planning process that is currently underway,” Plumridge said.

Chris Charnley, president of the Students’ Union, said: “The Union broadly welcomes the announcement that the ‘Uni Shop’ has been given the green light again.” He claims he pursued the issue on a senior level.

“However, we are unhappy at the way in which the situation has been handled by the university and we shall be looking into how this announcement affects students,” Charnley told The Linc.

The shop will take over the Opportunities@Lincoln office space in the Atrium (Main Academic Building), yet progress has been slow so far.

The sudden turn of events comes after a heated debate over who actually had the decision power to move the university shop from the Library building to the Atrium. Charnley told The Linc earlier in the week that he was involved in the process, yet he was powerless to decide whether the move would actually happen.

The story goes back to September 2009, when the SU were proudly promoting the shop’s move to the university’s Main Academic Building for January 2010. But news broke that the university shop opening would be delayed , and Charnley told The Linc: “The university told me September, but you have to look at the fact that they told me it would be January [2010].”

Though Charnley was happy to take the credit for the shop’s move in September 2009, he passed the blame for the delay onto the university. The Linc has consistently pointed out that the university controls all aspects related to its facilities, and that the SU has minimal influence on such decisions, if any.

It was previously believed that the funds meant for the university shop was being put towards the Business and Law Faculty (BLF) building, which is delayed until sometime after Christmas 2010, sources told The Linc.

However, on Thursday, the university denied that there is a lack of funding for the redevelopment of the building. Professor Scott Davidson, pro vice-chancellor for external affairs, said: “Funding for the [BLF] building is, and always has been, secure. There was never any question that the resources required by the original project proposal would not be available to complete the removal of the faculty from its current locations to the new building.”

— Additional reporting from Shane Croucher, Daniel Ionescu, and Rob Wells

The bad news is that the current economic climate, which is said to redress in 2010, will have undoubtedly affected the University of Lincoln. Extra millions of borrowing by the university will signal budget cuts across the board for many departments, alongside prospects of cuts in financial support from the government as well.

— Reporting by Shane Croucher, Daniel Ionescu, Charlotte Reid and Rob Wells

.:: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS: Lincoln in 2010 illustrated by Michael Schofield ::.

Some of the predictions we are making for 2010 are safe: we know which buildings and areas will be developed, and we also have insight into many issues from our extensive range of stories and interviews carried throughout 2009. Other predictions are more speculative, mainly based on inside sources and educated guesses — such as who would run for what postion in the Students’ Union elections in March or what student groups will gain more prominence.

We identified ten main issues to follow up in 2010, together with the people behind them. Right or wrong, this collection of predictions offers a flavour of what’s coming up in the year ahead. We urge you to tell us your thoughts in the comments section, where as usual, comment is free.

The Brayford wasn’t built in a day, and it’s not yet done

The former Lincolnshire Echo building, now the house of the Business faculty

The coming year will probably see some big changes with the university’s facilities. In September the old Lincolnshire Echo building will be ready for use by the business and law faculty. It will have undergone dramatic internal changes — including a glass-fronted atrium area, a 250-seat lecture theatre, and a moot law court — and will serve as a bridge between the main Brayford campus and the High Street.

The extension to the sports centre is also expected to be done by the start of the 2010/2011 academic year. Inside will be expanded facilities, and the offices currently housed in the portable building next door. The architects behind the changes also plan to improve the building’s entrance, and make the foyer more inviting.

The library will also be changing. Some of this work has already started, with the ground between the building and the waterfront being tidied up and paved. It’s not yet done, and the plan is for a “learning garden” out there, exactly when it’ll be ready isn’t known — it’ll probably have to wait until the spring, as people go into the library to escape the cold right now. The ground floor is also planned to change significantly, into a more flexible space for students to use than is currently available. The library’s resources are also changing, and could become more accessible and flexible for students, with more e-books, amongst other things. Account management may also get an overhaul, with a recent survey asking students if they’d prefer to do it through the Portal or Blackboard.

After the next university board of governors meeting in March we should also be able to confirm the university’s plans for new buildings. It’s expected that Thomas Parker House and the Greestone Building will be shut down, and students at the School of Art and Design moved into purpose-built facilities to be built near the university’s car park. Those at Chad Varah will also be moved out, in order to make room for the theology school. Also due to be built is the engineering school’s building, which is being developed with Siemens, a German engineering firm.

Mary Stuart takes the wheel, and changes the destination

Professor Mary Stuart

Professor Mary Stuart took over the university’s top job on November 1st, from Professor David Chiddick who officially retires as vice-chancellor at the end of the year.

Stuart’s approach seems like it’s going to be significantly different from Chiddick, focusing more on academic staff and teaching quality, shifting the emphasis from construction — but some of this will be going on regardless, and the plans appear to have been put together before Chiddick left.

In 2010 we might see the university try and attract more academic staff, in order to improve its staff-to-student ratios (as Lincoln has consistently been placed towards the bottom of league tables on this metric). However, with talk of some staff being laid off, and more restrictive financial conditions likely, the university may decide just to try and hold onto most of the staff it currently has.

Insufficient funds: The university could come up short

The financial side of things will certainly be one to watch out for. The Christmas shopping season has been better for retailers this year compared to last, but cuts are coming up in the public sector — ostensibly to cope with the crushing amount of debt the government’s gotten us into — and it would be foolish to think that the University of Lincoln will unaffected.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England has cut teaching grants across the whole sector, and Lincoln will receive just over £500,000 less than before. While this is still a huge amount of money, it’s just 1.36% of the total the university receives, which is in excess of £36m.

Professor Mary Stuart told The Linc in an interview that looking for other income should be a priority for the university. The institution’s already done a deal with Siemens that will see most of the funding for engineering school’s building come from the company, but this year we could see Lincoln offer more services to businesses and pull in private funding for research. While this could provided the cash needed for Stuart to develop the university according to her vision, the amount of money coming from business raises the question of negative commercial influence.

A little less conversation, a little more action please

SU Elections take place in spring 2010

The Students’ Union elections are due in spring, for a revised structure of four full-time officers and nine part-timers.

The president remains, but the three new titles are vice-president for activities, vice-president for academic affairs, and vice-president for welfare and diversity.

So far Dan Derricott, second-year management and public relations student and current SU part-time officer, announced his intention to run for the academic affairs position. Chris Charnley, the current SU president, is hot-tipped to re-run for the top job and two third-year journalism students are considering running for his role as well.

The part-time positions will likely be filled, once again, by popular students within certain cliques, riding on the wave of an extremely low turnout, made up mostly of their friends. The 2009 by-elections saw just one candidate for the part-time position and one candidate for three NUS delegate positions. The SU may struggle to find students willing to put themselves forward for the roles as the lack of a definition for each position will put potential officers off.

Jonathan Holmes is an active member of the LGBT society who worked closely with the SU on the blood donation protest in 2009—he may be tempted to run for a position, probably part-time. Joe Hicks, a first-year business student voted in to a part-time officer role by Student Council, may also run to maintain his post.

Whoever runs in these elections, a traditionally appalling turnout is expected and the distinct lack of a respectable mandate with which to represent students. Let’s hope, however, that this year’s SU can engage students to feel like it’s worth bothering to vote, a failing of every previous team.

UPDATE: 21/12/09 The Linc has just learnt that JP Thackery, a second-year media production student, will be running for a position, although exactly which is yet to be announced.

Activism not apathy

When we had a look at political students, we discovered that because of the NUS policy, adhered to by Lincoln Students’ Union, of having no political allegiances, some students had not been able to set up party-political societies, instead having to remain on the fringes of the student community. With no plans to change this policy at the NUS, and with Lincoln’s SU fully in their pocket, it seems that this situation will continue on stifling politically active students.

That said, students have still been getting involved in political issues, most notably the LGBT society’s protest against the ban on gay men donating blood at the blood donation event outside the Engine Shed, in November. The LGBT society is flourishing, so we could see more campaigns from them in 2010.

Lincolnshire’s Conservative Future ousted their former chairman, Fraser McFarland, to be replaced by Reza Shah, a University of Lincoln law student. A local Conservative Future blogger shed light on McFarland’s exit: “At the Party Conference, in October, senior members of the party, including members of the East Midlands European team, County Officials and Association Officers expressed to me [Giles McNeil] their concerns over Mr. McFarland’s suitability for the role.” Shah may bring a new breath of life to Lincolshire’s CF, particularly in the run up to the General Election.

On that note, the impending election will no doubt push political students to action, campaigning on behalf of candidates for the Lincoln seat. Labour Students Society will no doubt be fiercely promoting Gillian Merron in a bid to retain the party’s hold over Lincoln. However, with Lincolnshire CF’s mission being “to actively support all candidate’s across the region” we will undoubtedly see the Tory students out in force, trying to topple Merron from her unsafe seat.

Siren embraces diversity

Josh Jackson

On the fond of budget increases, there will be a significant staff appointment at Siren in 2010, which will take further the station’s work with young people in the community, following up on Louie Werth’s work, who recently left the station.

The new member of staff, whose name will be announced by Siren’s Managing Editor Andrew David in late January, will concentrate on working with young people in Lincoln and also work with others at the edge of the society.

There will be a significant staff change at Siren as Dom McAndrew, the current news co-ordinator, is leaving to focus on his dissertation. He will be replaced by Josh Jackson, a prominent second year Journalism student.

Under Dom McAndrew Siren news is now focused on local and community news. It is Jackson’s intention to continue with this and develop it by covering council meetings, press conferences at Sincil Bank and the activities of local MP, Gillian Merron. He is hoping to carve out an individual brand for Siren news, rather than trying to copy BBC Radio Lincolnshire or Lincs FM.

There is also talk of improving the Siren website, which will include new features such as a playback on-demand feature and archiving of previous news bulletins.

— Reporting by Shane Croucher, Daniel Ionescu, Charlotte Reid, and Rob Wells

.:: Picturing 2009 ::.

20: The £500 debate

In early May, a student started a Facebook group campaigning for a £500 university bursary to be reinstated. Callum Barre’s group quickly grew to over 1,400 members within days. The University of Lincoln withdrew the £500 bursary for new undergraduates entering 2008 and later and many first years fancied the sum. His campaign has not managed to sway the university’s decision.

• Students want their £500 bursary back

19: Council votes for No Platform

In the last Student Council Meeting of the 2008/09 academic year, the Students’ Union’s Student Council voted to implement a No Platform policy. There was much confusion over its implications, but it essentially means the SU will boycott any event held by groups or individuals it considers to be fascists. After it was passed, the SU was criticised by Amanda Davidson, then the Council’s chairwoman, for not acting to implement it. It was finally approved by the first Student Council of the 2009/10 academic year.

• Student Council votes for No Platform
• Student Council Chair slams Students’ Union for failing to act
• Student Council passes No Platform, discusses Riseholme bus

18: Grooming young girls

In September, a now former University of Lincoln student was found guilty of three charges of meeting a child after sexual grooming. George McClelland, then 25, had approached teenage girls through the social network Bebo.

• Man faces jail for grooming girls (Lincolnshire Echo)

17: No interest on student loans

The Students Loan Company announced that the interest rate on loans would become 0%, from September 2009 to August 2010. Previously, the rate was tied to Rate Price Index (RPI), a measure of inflation, but this then dropped into negative figures in March. Had The Students Loan Company kept the interest rate tied to RPI, the amount of money graduates needed to be paid back would have been reduced.

• Student loan interest at 0%

16: Fire in the chip pan

Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue were called to a kitchen fire in Brayford Quays in October. Four fire engines attended the scene, which caused a lot of damage and meant the entire building had to be evacuated. There were no injuries or casualties. Following this incident, the University of Lincoln started a campaign with the Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, highlighting the risks of drinking and cooking.

• Fire at Brayford Quays due to chip pan
• Fire safety campaign to begin at university

15: A libellous Facebook comment

Fraser McFarland, the former chairman of Lincolnshire Conservative Future, found himself in legal difficulties when he libeled the Students’ Union on his Facebook page. The University of Lincoln intervened after McFarland’s comments were reported to the SU. He was forced to publish a retraction on his Facebook profile to avoid legal action by the University.

• Student faces university backlash after libellous comments about the SU

14: Bloc Party fire alarm fiasco

Attendees of Bloc Party’s gig at the Engine Shed, as a part of their Bloctober tour, were left disappointed after the set was cut short just before the last song. According to the Engine Shed, production smoke had “unusually” set off the venue’s alarms, meaning concert-goers had to be evacuated from the venue.

• Bloc Party set cut short by production smoke

13: Dizee Rascal cancels and reschedules

Dizzee Rascal’s performance at the Engine Shed in November was cancelled due to an “underlying health problem”. The artist broke the news on Twitter saying he had “a sore throat”. The gig has been rescheduled for February 25th 2010 and tickets for the original performance are still valid.

• Dizee Rascal ‘health problem’ gets Lincoln gig cancelled
• Dizzee Rascal gig rescheduled for 2010

12: The Carnage that never was

Two Carnage events were hosted in Lincoln in 2009, and despite concern, hype, and disgust from the local community, Lincoln City Council, University of Lincoln, and the Students’ Union, both events caused very little difficulty for emergency services as they passed “without major incident”. The Linc‘s Shane Croucher and Rob Wells were out on the streets following the second event, with both reporting back that it was a quiet, uneventful, and dull.

• Lincoln Carnage goes without incident
• Carnage returns to Lincoln
• Councillor on Carnage: ‘It’s only about profit’
• Lincoln Carnage date and theme announced
• Carnage fails to live up to its name [+ photo gallery]

11: HE spending struck by budget cuts

2009′s budget did few favours for universities, as the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills aimed to save £400 million in spending with cuts. This followed the government’s decision to offer universities 10,000 new places, which was thought to be a way to save spending on student loans.

• Budget cuts for higher education spending

10: Don’t talk to Frank

The Linc interviewed Danny Kushelick, founder of the Transform Drugs Policy Foundation, to dig beneath the surface of anti-drugs rhetoric. Kushelick told us about the industry built on the criminalisation of drugs, and that most politicians, off the record, disagree with the war on drugs.

• Don’t talk to Frank

9: The SU’s Agenda, or real accountability

A motion was submitted to the Students’ Union’s All Student Meeting, held on November 17th. It would have limited The Linc to 30 minutes of the SU’s time per week, in an attempt to severely restrict The Linc‘s ability to get answers from the SU. Alongside that, the Union also printed their own propaganda newspaper, The Agenda. Thanks to its readers, the motion against The Linc was defeated, and in the December issue the SU was subjected to a thorough fact-checking and analysis of their accounts.

• Free speech campaign
• The Students’ Union: Scrutiny when it suits them
• The SU’s “Agenda”, or real accountability?
• Victory for democracy at SU All Students Meeting
• Fact checked: one semester of Students’ Union

8: University buys Lincolnshire Echo building

In May it was revealed that the University of Lincoln was buying the old Lincolnshire Echo building. The deal went through, with the building being refitted in order house the Business and Law faculty, and will be named the “Chiddick Building” after Professor David Chiddick, who retired as vice-chancellor at the end of 2009. The Lincolnshire Echo moved into the ground floor of the recently-constructed Witham Wharf, on the other side of the railway tracks.

• University of Lincoln to buy Lincolnshire Echo building
• Student Council: building work, gym time, and accommodation

7: Bringing Lincoln into fashion

Graduating Fashion Studies students from the University of Lincoln displayed their three years of work at the 2009 Lincoln Fashion Show in May at the Engine Shed. This was the show’s second year, after 2008 year’s much-praised event. The work of 27 students was shown, to over 1,500 guests present at the event. See photo highlights of the show in the link below.

• Students’ Fashion Show brings Lincoln into fashion

6: Student Council chair slams Students’ Union

At the end of May Amanda Davidson, then the chair of the Students’ Union’s Student Council, wrote an open letter criticising the SU for its failure to do much of anything. Her 1700-word letter took the SU’s six full-time officers to task for missing deadlines set by the Council and for failing to deliver on key manifesto promises. Read the full letter here (pdf).

• Student Council Chair slams Students’ Union for failing to act

5: Mary Stuart is the new University of Lincoln VC

Professor Mary Stuart has been appointed the new vice-chancellor at the University of Lincoln.  She took over the role from the current vice-chancellor, Professor David Chiddick, who retired. Professor Stuart, who took up her post in November, was deputy vice-chancellor at Kingston University, where she was also acting vice-chancellor. She is a former pro vice-chancellor at the University of Sussex.

• University appoints Professor Mary Stuart as new Vice Chancellor
• New VC wants Lincoln ‘globally recognised’
• All change at the top

4: All eyes on Waddington Air Show

Thousands of people flocked to the RAF Waddington International Airshow in July. About 100,000 people were at the show, as the hot weather and clear skies defied forecasts. Waddington, 4 miles outside of Lincoln, is home to the RAF’s intelligence and surveillance aircraft. The star of the show was expected to be the Avro Vulcan XH558, whose £7 million, 14-year repair work finished last July. However, the Vulcan was unable to take to the air as its flight permit expired just before the show, on the day after the aircraft arrived at Waddington.

• Waddington airshow sees record attendance

3: EDL protest and Lincoln’s hooligans

Ahead of the English Defence League’s demonstration in Nottingham on December 5th, The Linc uncovered the intentions of some of Lincoln’s football hooligans to attend. We exposed some members of the EDL’s Lincoln Division’s Facebook page for making racist comments, and  uploading pro-BNP, pro-Combat 18, and pro-hooliganism material to the page.

• Hooligans and anti-fascist protesters could clash at EDL demonstration

2: Not a sunny Beach Break

The student festival Beach Break Live moved from just outside of Newquay to Port Lympne, in Kent, because of “site problems” said the organisers — causing havoc among those who already booked their travel accommodation arrangements The gig included performances from The Zutons, Dizee Rascal and Ladyhawke. No full refund for travel and accommodation was made by the organisers, but they will recieve a discount towards the event in 2010.

• Beach break moves 300 miles

1: What students get up to in their spare time

The Linc revealed in February how two students have become wildly popular on a website featuring homemade adult films, Xtube. Over two and a half million people have so far watched the film in which the two men are engaged in sexual activities while in their university accommodation. The story caused controversy among some students, with several interesting points made in the comments.

• Students by day, sex stars by night

By Rob Wells and Shane Croucher

The current Students’ Union team have been in office for about five months now. They seem to be making some effort, but it has been offset by multiple failures.

The Linc think that it’s important to see what kind of progress, if any, is being made. After all, the SU was given nearly £350,000 by the university this year, and the six full-time officers get paid about £19,000 a year. This money comes from students’ fees.

The SU also claim to be representing the students at the University of Lincoln, and their decisions are made in students’ names, though just 13% of eligible students voted in the elections in March.

Meanwhile, the SU don’t appreciate it when people point out their failures. An attempt was made recently to severely restrict The Linc’s ability to get answers from the Students’ Union. Thanks to our readers, it was blocked.

Abdul Alim Bachani may have been the face of this attempt, claiming The Linc take up too much of the SU’s time, but there seems to have been someone else behind it too. In an interview with Josh Jackson of Siren FM, Chris Charnley, the SU’s president, agreed with Bachani’s position and advised that The Linc should “probably just back off a little bit”.

Charnley said that by looking at The Linc’s reports, it would be “quite apparent what officers spend their time on”. There were ten articles about the SU from the start of August until the time the move to constrain The Linc was unveiled.

Without inside knowledge from the The Linc or the SU, it would be very difficult to gauge the amount of contact.

Conveniently, the Thursday before November 17th’s All Student Meeting, when the move was put to a vote, the SU published their own “newspaper”, The Agenda.

Unable to secure the uncritical coverage they’d like in the campus’s most-read outlet, thousands of copies were printed, at a cost estimated to be close to £1,000. Again, over 80% of the SU’s funding is provided by the university.

In The Agenda, the SU make several highly dubious claims and try to take credit for successes they had little influence over.
Propaganda should have no place at university, where people come to seek knowledge, not ignorance. In this issue of The Linc we have taken some of the most important issues, and claims of, the Students’ Union, and checked to see if they stand up.

Illustration: Michael Schofield

At the Student Council before the All Student Meeting on November 17th, Chris Charnley, the SU’s president, and Dan Derricott, a part-time officer, unveiled The Agenda.

The SU felt the need to print a newspaper to “tell students what [they’ve] been up to” since the start of the semester.

But whether these are actually the SU’s achievements, or those of others, is highly suspect. It seems that they often overstate the influence they have on decisions taken around the university.

One recent example of the SU attempting to take credit for someone else’s idea is the “Come dine with Vito” scheme involving Vito Cataffo, who owns Gino’s and Zucchinis in Lincoln. Emma Devine, the SU’s vice-president for communications, says this “is a new SU initiative”.

By that logic it is also an initiative from The Linc as we gave Vito the SU’s contact details after our interview in September.
The Agenda contains claims of similar veracity, such as listing the university shop’s move as a “bullet point success”. The shop is moving into the former Opportunities@Lincoln office on the ground floor of the main building. That service has now moved into its own building.

With the shop gone, this also gives the university more options when they redevelop the ground floor of the library. It’s doubtful the SU has enough influence to insist on a new building so that the shop could be moved.

The 24-hour opening of the library is also listed, which the SU refer to as “exclusive”, in italicised, red, capital letters. It seems as if they are trying to claim that they are solely responsible for achieving this.

Ian Snowley, director of the library, told The Linc that the decision to do this comes partly from last year’s trial. He says the SU will be involved with picking the second set of dates, so while they had a hand in this, claiming it as their own achievement is a distortion.

The rest of their “achievements” consist of top-down measures, such as requiring more student reps, and PR-speak, such as putting the Student Council “right at the heart of the Student Experience”.
“The Student Opinion” page is also undermined by including staff members, and some students report being asked specifically for positive comments.

Accountability at the Students’ Union is in an interesting situation. Chris Charnley, the Union’s president, recently claimed: “The Union is in no form accountable to members of the press. As students yes, but as members of the press you hold no right to hold the Union to account.”

Whilst they declare themselves to be transparent and open, they have full-time, unelected staff. These staff are unaccountable to students, and their salaries do not appear on the Students’ Union accounts.

The amount of unelected employees will soon increase, with the hiring of a press officer for the next academic year.

We’ve also been analysing the SU’s accounts for the team’s first three months in office.

There are some large forecasting errors, with one misjudgement resulting in just over 2% of the predicted income actually being raised. The Union expected Publicity and Media to raise £2,970. The reality is that only £65 was raised, whilst the total spend reached £5,326 – just over a thousand pounds more than expected.

Another error in predicted income is with Bullet Magazine, where £550 was raised, less than half of the expected £1,200.

On a more positive note, all but one of the executive officers underspent on their non-pay related budgets. Only the president surpassed the estimate, by doubling it.

Also, the total predicted spending for the period was £112,539. However, actual spending only came to £99,192, which could be put down to the Graduation Ball. The event made a £14,625 net profit, a sum which was helped by a £2,265 underspend.

However, the SU’s actual total income was £142,868, which falls slightly short of their £145,798 prediction.

In their budget for 2009/10, £1,000 has been set aside for the Media Centre, which already had a £10,000 investment in 2008. Student Council has been allocated £775 for the year, but what costs are incurred from holding a fortnightly meeting on university property?

Publicity and Media has been earmarked £4,530, but the Students’ Union seem to use Facebook as their main point of contact. This is free, as are press releases. So are they really spending over £4,000 on posters?

While the SU claim they’re being open there is still much that is unknown about what they do, and how they do it.

And when they try to tell students what “successes” they’ve had so far many of them are of dubious veracity. When will they tell students what they are really up to?

Chris Charnley, the SU’s president, has said in an email to The Linc: “the Union is in no form accountable to members of the press, as students yes but as members of the press you hold no right to hold the union to account, only our members through student council can do so.”

The naivety of this statement is simply astounding. This is like the leader of the City of Lincoln Council saying that the Lincolnshire Echo has no right to hold them to account, and that only taxpayers can do so and through the council’s meetings.

Which is nonsense, of course.

Every member of The Linc‘s team is a student at the University of Lincoln, and a member of the Students’ Union. The Students’ Union is funded by the university — with our fees — and, as students, we want to know how that money’s being spent, and what decisions the SU is claiming to make in our names.

The Echo and its staff have the right to hold the council to account because they’re citizens and taxpayers.

We have the right to hold the Students’ Union to account because we are students and SU members.

On Thursday, the SU unveiled a new propaganda rag, “The Agenda”. The fact that Dan Derricott, a part-time SU officer, can say that this is “making [the SU] accountable” shows that he clearly doesn’t know what the term means.

The notion that they are able to give an objective account of their own conduct is utterly ridiculous. If they truly believe this, they are in cloud cuckoo land, and probably think that Inside Lincolnshire is doing a great job of scrutinising the County Council.

The SU claims to represent the students at the University of Lincoln, even though just 13% of the eligible students (which doesn’t include those studying part-time) voted in the main elections in March 2009.

A similar amount of students took part in Carnage on Monday, which the SU opposed.

They are claiming to do things in our name, and in our interest. In “The Agenda”, they wrote: “The ‘public figures’ of the of the Students’ Union need to be questioned on what they are actually achieving for the student body.”

I couldn’t agree more. We are the only ones doing this in a public manner, and the SU want to stifle us as much as possible. They claim that “accountability is a buzz word [sic] this year in the Student Centre”. To them it clearly is just a shallow, empty buzzword.

To The Linc’s team, it actually means something.

The Linc is the only outlet on campus that dedicates itself to rigorous scrutiny of the Students’ Union, who receive a block grant from the publicly-funded university. The grant is in excess of £300,000. Given that each of the full-time officers in the Union is elected to their position, which benefits a handsome salary (around £17,000, with expenses on top), I believe they owe it to Lincoln students to open themselves up to questioning from the media.

The proposal will be voted on at the All Students Meeting on November 17th. It was proposed by Abdul Alim Bachani, president of the Futsal Society, and is what seems to be a poorly disguised attempt by the SU elected officers to present this as a motion from an individual student.

This is, of course, nonsense. Bachani (who has previously commented on The Linc‘s site telling us we “should be supporting them not criticising them on newspaper articles and blogs on the internet”) is just the face to the agenda of the Students’ Union. Myself and other team members have had many conversations with the Students’ Union about The Linc, to which they constantly complain they give too much attention.

Is this really the concern of “Average Joe” student? No. It’s in the interests of the SU, who don’t want to face the questions on why they’re not doing everything they promised, why they pander to the university’s views as opposed to those of students, and why they generate such little interest in what they’re doing, amongst others.

Given that, a lot of the time, The Linc‘s phone calls are very rarely returned, emails are not responded to within reasonable time, promises on deadlines are rarely kept. You might say they give us little attention already. Possibly not even as much as the 30 minute limit which is being proposed. 30 minutes. How can you possibly put a limit on the time you talk to the press? And how can you measure these 30 minutes?

What if several news stories broke in one week, all surrounding the SU? “Sorry, you can only have a response to the first two stories, because you’ve almost filled up your quota of time with us.” It’s absurd, and shows a real lack of understanding of how things work. What are they going to do in the real world when they get bombarded with press requests? Ignore them? I don’t think their bosses will like that very much. Are these people so busy that they can’t spare us five minutes on the phone for a quote, or ten minutes for an interview? That’s what they’re telling us, and I don’t believe them for one second.

What about Bullet Magazine, the SU’s own publication, which is the only other print outlet on campus? Will the SU limit the time they spend with them? Of course not. Because Bullet is just a tool for peddling SU propaganda.

These people are elected politicians. They need all the scrutiny we can throw at them, and they know it. So that’s why they’re trying to limit how much we can hold them to account. They will say that the various councils and other such student meetings are where students can hold the SU to account. The only problem with that is that hardly anyone turns up! Apart from The Linc reporters, officers from the Students’ Union, and, if you’re lucky, a couple of normal students, there is no large group from the SU’s constituency in attendance. Hence extremely limited accountability.

Poor turnout in elections, like the recent by-elections which had two candidates for four positions available and suffered a 1% turnout, reflects the apathy that the student body has with the SU. Not many students care. It’s therefore important that media outlets, like The Linc, ensure that the activities of the Union get reported, that shortfalls are accounted for, and that any new proposals are scrutinised. Because nobody else is going to do it, and there’s public money at stake.

I recently had an exchange with the SU on Twitter, which went as follows:

Me: Emma Devine “In my elections we had a fantastic turnout” – wasn’t it around 11 percent?

SU: @shanecroucher Our elections (March 09) last year have again been over the National average for voter turn out, as they are most years!

Me: @lincolnsu That’s a nice way of spinning it. Over the national average doesn’t mean ‘amazing’ if the national average is abysmal.

SU: @shanecroucher We can only continue to do better! Why not try showing some support?

Me: @lincolnsu We show support by advertising your elections. It’s on you to inspire students to actually turn out and vote.

This just highlights the contempt for dissent that Lincoln’s SU hold. We’re not there to support the SU, we’re there to look out for students’ interest and support the democratic process, which we do by publicising elections, councils, etc. What is not in our remit of responsibility is creating a situation whereby students feel it’s worth coming out to vote. It’s entirely down to the Students’ Union to reach out to students and listen to what they really want, instead of patronising them. What do they want us to do? If anything, our being critical of the Students’ Union executive does more to encourage involvement in student politics than blanket support of the SU would.

The SU are so wrapped up in their own sense of self-importance that they fail to see past their office windows in the Engine Shed. This motion should not go through. It will be a heavy blow for democracy at the University of Lincoln.

P.S.: Speaking of democracy and propaganda, the SU have launched their own “official newspaper”, about three years too late. It is called The Agenda and you can find it here.

Here’s the motion in full — copied, pasted and unedited from the SU’s AGM minisite:

The Union Notes:

1. The Linc is one of two officially recognised student publications on campus.
2. The Union welcomes feedback from students on the quality of its activities and services.
3. SU Officers are accountable to student members

The Union Believes:

1. The quantity of time taken up responding to the Linc’s enquiries and accusations is unreasonable.
2. The time spent responding to these enquiries and accusations could be better spent on core activities that serve students.
3. The reports published by the Linc are inflamatory and mislead students about the activities of their union.
4. The Linc should be more reasonable in their demands on Officers’ time.

The Union Resolves:

1. To dedicate no more than 30mins per week responding to the Linc’s enquiries
2. To mandate the VP Communications and Media to be the official channel of communication with the Linc, and to determine the priority for response of the issue that the Linc present.
3. To prioritise representing and supporting students over Linc enquiries

Chaired by Kevin Marsh, editor of the BBC College of Journalism, October 28th’s conference boasted names such as Jeff Jarvis, Jeremy Paxman, and Nick Davies, who all spoke to a lecture theatre, and those watching live on the web, via a video call from their positions across the globe.

Each guest speaker’s image was beamed onto a projector as they gave us their take on the current situation in journalism.

Nick Davies, author of Flat Earth News, talks to the conference via video link. | Photo: Shane Croucher

“I think the future of journalism is entrepreneurial, not institutional,” said Jeff Jarvis, journalism professor at City University of New York and author of “What Would Google Do?”. He cited the expansion of hyperlocal bloggers in the US, some of whom he claimed are bringing in “between $100,000 and $200,000 in [advertising] revenue”. “We find that to be a very hopeful sign,” he said.

The University of Lincoln’s Professor Richard Keeble also spoke, although in person not by video call, and asked “Crisis? What crisis?” He said “there’s been a constant talk of crises”, pointing to concerns in the past over unions, new technology, and dumbing down.

“At a global level, mainstream newspapers are hardly in crisis, with circulations growing by 2.5 % in the most recent count. According to the World Association of Newspapers, the industry is booming. The industry in China, in particular. Indian circulations have risen by more than 11%, whilst advertising revenue [rose] by 65% in the last 5 years. Nineteen of the world’s top corporate newspapers are Indian.”

He spoke of the “patchy” performance of corporate UK newspapers, citing the various cuts in jobs and titles, despite rising profits for Trinity Mirror, Northcliffe Media and Johnston Press.

“The massive profit margins of the local media groups and their failure to invest properly in the industry were even the subject of a recent parliamentary debate,” he said.

He reflected on a recent NUJ survey which found that 80% of its members could barely afford the average mortgage, while newspaper executives lived on salaries of more than a million pounds a year. Journalism students are the ones facing the crisis, as they facing working for little or no pay just to get onto the career ladder, according to Keeble.

But Keeble also said that “this is a period of opportunity”, particularly for alternative media on the internet. “The internet and blogs only become interesting when they seek to challenge the mainstream.”

Jeremy Paxman, presenter of the BBC’s Newsnight programme, also linked money as a problem in journalism. “Crisis is a journalistic word and we love it. But is there a crisis facing the industry? Yes, I’d say so. What’s caused it? I certainly say… a shortage of money. I don’t know a single journalist who’s working for a newspaper that isn’t in trouble,” he said.

Paxman also noted the crisis in confidence that the public have with the industry: “Journalists, and journalism generally, occupy a much lower position than they once did.”

In total, ten professionals gave talks and answered questions on the conference topic. To listen to the whole conference, visit Coventry University’s website.

I’m surprised that I’ve never seen the above clip before. I’m equally surprised that it’s been viewed less than 9,000 times. This is the kind of evidence that needs to be spread far and wide. Nick Griffin openly declares that the BNP hide behind a soft lexis of propaganda in order to gain popularity. Perhaps more shockingly, he happily reveals his true agenda — a whites-only Britain.

In the video, Griffin imparts BNP spin-tactics. He says:

There’s a difference between selling out your ideas and selling your ideas. The British National Party isn’t about selling out its ideas — which are your ideas too — but we are determined now to sell them. That means to use saleable words.

Basically, Griffin has told an audience consisting of David Duke supporters, i.e. racists, that the BNP holds the same views. He categorically says that the BNP has not changed at its core. It’s still the same fascist National Front that it used to be. Yet it is gaining popularity. Some people are starting believe that they aren’t racist, just realist. They’re falling for the softly-softly BNP spin and being lured in by the buzz-words. Griffin sheds light on their new propaganda tactic:

[selling our ideas] basically means using saleable words… freedom, security, identity, democracy. Nobody can criticise them. Nobody can come at you and attack you on those ideas. They are saleable.

Griffin clearly identifies areas that the BNP can manipulate and distort in order to gain support for the party. The idea that your freedom is at risk from foreign invaders, you should feel insecure because of the risk of terrorism, misrepresenting perceptions of political correctness as erosion of identity and heritage. I could go on. Hyperbole, fear-mongering, and scapegoats are the BNP’s most powerful weapons.

The man showed that he is intent on duping the public into thinking the BNP holds legitimate views when he said if the BNP is “subtle enough” then they may find themselves in control of the media, and subsequently in a position to brainwash the electorate into wanting the removal of all non-whites from Britain. This is abhorrent, scary, and once again highlights that the BNP are not fit to be listed as a political party.

Griffin says:

“If you hold that [fascist policy] out as your sole aim to start with, you’re going to get nowhere. So, instead of talking about racial purity we talk about identity.”

The evidence just comes through thick and fast. The BNP do not want non-whites in Britain, no matter what they say in the press or on their website. They will use the public’s desperation at our current ruling elite to gain popularity and pursue their hidden motives. The truth lies under the surface as has been proven time and time and time again.

Nick Griffin once said:

Without the white race nothing matters. [Other right-wing parties] believe that the answer to the race question is integration and a futile attempt to create “Black Britons”, while we affirm that non-whites have no place here at all and will not rest until every last one has left our land.

There’s no room for the BNP in Britain.

The new ‘Equality Bill’, which is currently under debate in Parliament, could broaden special privileges for religions at the expense of true equality.

In a recent piece in the Guardian, Jessica Shepherd writes about how the new bill could help students whose religious observance interferes with their university commitments.

She mentions the example of a student who wanted time off to worship Imbolc, a Wiccan goddess.

But this is clearly absurd. Universities are meant to be devoted to serious academic study, institutions of intelligence and rationality. Asking them to bow down to such nonsensical practices is ridiculous.

Some of them already have. In a report by the Equality Challenge Unit, a lobby group, lists several universities who have committed to scheduling around religious holidays and festivals.

This just imposes an arbitrary restraint on other students, who find their regular timetables disrupted and have to fit their studies around the holy days of belief systems they have no connection to.

On a purely practical level it is utterly stupid. Universities have to set timetables for thousands of students, and plan around staff and room availability.

Many students have suffered from scheduling problems at the start of each semester, with the kinks not yet ironed out. Such concerns pose enough difficulty, without having to watch out for the festival of the Invisible Pink Unicorn, or other such things.

Though this is bad, it is even worse on a more theoretical level. Surely the way to ensure equality of religious and non-religious groups is not to grant them special privileges, like this.

In a recent column for The Linc, Shane Croucher argued that atheists and other non-religious folk should campaign vigourously for representation in Parliament. He said he was “not suggesting that faiths shouldn’t be represented,” and mentioned the 26 bishops that sit in the House of Lords.

However, this is exactly what should be done. There is no reason why religion should be the source of privilege. We should strip away existing ones, and not grant new ones for this reason.

Goddess worship should be done on your own time.

The Linc’s exclusive unseen photos from the SU Elections:

The results (winners are highlighted)

SU Elections 2009 Final Results – Get more Business Documents

Rob Wells on the election of the President

Similar to many celebrities, most of the major candidates in this year’s SU elections turned up late. Well, not late, but they were cutting things fairly close. Presidential candidate James Mason, a former part-time SU officer who was suspected to do the worst in the vote, was the first on the scene, perhaps honouring his campaign promise to be more visible on campus.

Q: How confident do you feel going into the elections?

A: I don’t want to predict. Everyone has done their best. The students will make the decision they think is best.

Oozing humility was probably a safe strategy, as when Mason was elected as a part-time officer he gained just 87 votes — the least of all the candidates running.

Daniel Hutchinson, the outgoing SU president, was just as neutral as Mason was humble. He refused to state even the smallest preference for any of the candidates aiming to succeed him in the job. Following the results he became slightly more verbose.

Q: What do you think of Chris Charnley, your newly-elected successor?

A: I think he has what it takes to be president.

Speaking about his own role, he confined himself to the contradictory, “I’ll be glad to leave but I’ll also be sad.”

The shock of the night, was Tom Haughton who was formerly the VP for Welfare and Liaison, before losing the job when he ran for re-election last year, coming second before last in the presidential vote. Aside from Tom Haughton left behind in the presidential election (though few doubted that Chris Charnley would win it), tonight went just as you’d expect it: tears — check; unopposed paid positions — check; stupidly low turnout — check. Another year, another SU election.

Q: Are you surprised that you did the worst?

A: Yeah, it is surprising. I’m a little surprised RON [re-open nominations] didn’t beat me. I knew it was a long shot.

Q: Daniel Hutchinson said he respected your decision to run as a post-graduate student, any comments about that?

A: Running as a post-graduate doesn’t happen very often. I’m on a course with three people, whereas most of the candidates have hundreds, just on their course. I’m quite pleased that some students voted for me. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

Rob Wells on the election of the Societies Officer

Naturally, it wouldn’t be an SU election if someone didn’t run alone. This year the honour went to Kayleigh Valentine, who walked straight into a £17,500 job.

Q: Are you surprised that no-one else ran for the Societies and Activities position?

A: I know one of the girls who was [going to stand] but changed her mind at the last minute. A lot of people want things to change but people do not want [to do it themselves].

Q: A lot of the societies have been complaining about the funding they’ve received, what are you going to do about it now you’re in the job?

A: I think societies need to start making their own money not just relying [on the union].

Elizabeth Fish on the election of the Media and Communications Officer

Despite being over the moon and tearful at the same time, after a call to her partner and parents, the winner of Media and Communications Officer 09/10, Emma Devine, stopped by to talk about the future.

Q: How do you feel?

A: Excited, a little bit shaky, but excited. It feels amazing to be elected. I’m not going to lie, I’ve been preparing for this for the last year, working closely with Dan Windross (08/09 Media and Communications officer) and shadowing him. Yeah, I’m very, very happy.

Q: Be honest, did you think you’d win?

A: I did feel confident but then Hayley Cook was a very strong candidate. It was close. So thank you to those very last people I saw outside the library voting for me!

Q: What will you do first as Media and Communications Officer?

A: Other than all the training that we’ll have to go through, the first thing will be looking at the academic calendar. Then, try to organise a rota so I can go to every campus on a regular basis in order to get feedback and meet the students.

Q: Anything you are looking forward to?

A: I’m looking forward to delivering what I promised the students, meeting them, and looking forward to the next year really.

Q: And not looking forward to?

A: I think everything is going to be a challenge. Though I think it will be a good challenge, as I can put my degree to use! The early mornings and late nights aren’t going to be too great but I’ll work round that.

Q: What would you like to say to the people that voted for you?

A: Thank you and I was right… every vote does matter!

Shane Croucher on the election of the VP Education and Academic Affairs Officer

The contest for the position of Vice President of Education and Academic Affairs ended in victory for Kayleigh Turner. Turner took 547 votes whilst her opponent, Ben Lincoln, took 354. Leading right up to the announcements, the atmosphere was tense.

There were ripples of support for both candidates, so the possibility of a close outcome perpetuated the anxiety. However, with a difference of nearly 200 votes, Turner was a comfortable winner. Lincoln left fairly quickly, while Turner bounced around; covering well-wishers with tears and cuddles.

Turner was keen to emphasise that change is happening and that it is a slow process. She had made “long-term plans” and seemed relieved that she could now continue them, without the prospect of handing someone else the reigns.

All that remains is to see if she can fulfil her manifesto promises in the forthcoming year.

Sara Shah on the election of AU Student Officers

The night started off quietly at the Tower Bar, but quickly filled up with eager students awaiting the SU results. Just before 8pm, it was announced that the results will be reported within 5 minutes. However, 5 minutes overran to 20 minutes before anything was mentioned. A few SU runners were late to the event like Gloria Dei and Brigitte Kabangue. However, they made it in time to hear their fate.

One by one the results for the different positions were announced, with who won the least votes being declared first. Candidates’ expressions were priceless and filled with emotion. However, some were just playing up on their “tears”. Hugs and “oh my gods” were repeated throughout the announcements, with all the winning candidates being pulled side to side for interviews and congratulations.

It was reported that nearly half of the audience were shocked about some of the losing candidates. The atmosphere at first was filled with tension, but this eased as the results were announced. Gloria Dei who had won her place as part-time SU cried with joy but also cried for those who had lost as it came a big shock to her. Brigitte Kabangue was seen to be upset and was comforted by a friend.

There’s no doubt a solemn tone will be in the air for those who did not win their places. Overall, those who did lose kept themselves together and were happy to congratulate those who had won. The room wasn’t crowded; but the room was filled up. There were only silent moments when the results were being read aloud. However, throughout the evening, every person’s voice in the room was heard continuously. Overall, the event itself went well minus a few issues.

Harry Lincoln on the election of Student Officers

On reflection it got off to a bad start at the SU elections 2009. Nearly everyone was late and it looked baron until about 7.30. It picked up and everybody was, more importantly, happy to comment.

Firstly, prompt and ready for the off, Emily Gough won her position in the end for part time student officer. She had this to say about the past and present SU funding. I also spoke to Gloria Dei, Part Time AU officer about how she is going to manage things from now on.

Q: Are you looking forward to your new position?

A: It will be interesting to see how the officers settle into their own. I’m more interested in the taking part and that is all that I care about right now.

I finally spoke to Ben Arrowsmith Welfare and Liaison candidate about how he would implement campaigns into getting his way;

Q: There is a great emphasis in your manifesto about recycling. Now, don’t get me wrong, it is a bit old-hat to be talking about that when there are clearly problems in other student villages, like the Junxion and Pavilions. What are you planning to do about this ‘real’ problem?

A: Firstly, write to the council expressing the problem and request that they grant us funding in relation to that. You’re right; it is a problem and it needs to be addressed. We need to act greener and get the word out. It is a dire effort at the moment and it is poorly advertised by the SU and if I get elected I hope to change that immediately. I hope that, even if it isn’t me who gets in, it is a growing problem and it needs to be addressed.

A successful night all round. Fears and Tears and rightly so; winning statistics were tight and posses were rowdy. Let’s hope that the newly appointed staff can carry that same enthusiasm through in the upcoming months.

You can review our live coverage module here.

Reporting by Harry Lincoln, Shane Croucher, Elizabeth Fish, Sara Shah — The Linc | Rob Wells, Sam Doohan — Special Correspondents | Photography by Sam Cox, The Linc, Sam Fisher, Scott Dean, Dan Dengate

As Director of Fuller Analysis, Jane Fuller now provides in-depth analysis of issues facing companies and research for the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation. | Photo: Samuel Cox

Shane Croucher: Who is the better duo to lead us through the recession? Brown and Darling or Cameron and Osborne?

Jane Fuller: I’m not a great fan of Gordon Brown because I think he micro-manages too much. However, it is a financial crisis and a recession so the government can’t do nothing. It is natural for public spending to rise and help fill the bridge when private business declines. So, some of it is classic anti-recession stuff and the kind of thing Gordon Brown thinks he’s good at. The Tories were right to say that spending £12billion on a VAT reduction was a waste of money, they were right to say that some sort of insurance scheme against losses on loans might work better than just throwing money at the banks in another way. I think whoever was in government would have ended up owning part of some big banks.

SC: Given some of the apocalyptic reporting about our economy; how bleak do you think our future really is?

JF: Well that depends. If you’re in secure employment you’re actually better off at the moment. Your mortgage costs have gone down, your fuel costs have gone down, some other things have gone down; you’re in a good position. The interesting question is what portion of the working population is worried that they might lose their jobs. Or that if they have any element of their pay that is bonus related, so if they do less work they get paid less. There’s a lot of nervousness about either losing your job or getting paid less because you’re doing less. One of the things that surprises me, because I’m old enough to remember the last two recessions, is that people seem to have forgotten what it was like. Yes shops do shut. Unemployment may well go up. Instead of being five percent or just under, it’ll go up to nearer ten percent. It’s difficult for small businesses sometimes to borrow money. What one has to be careful of, as a journalist, is that every single business or organisation that’s short of money will do what’s sometimes known as ‘shroud waving’. They’ll claim that they are in dire straits and that if they don’t get a hand out then they will go bust. So, some of it is exaggerated.

SC: Given the amount of experts in the financial media, why wasn’t this predicted?

JF: Some people did predict [the recession] and they were ignored. Everybody was happy as long as it went along. The government loves economic growth because it keeps the voters happy. The banks love it because it not only allows them to lend, but to do deals and trade in shares and bonds because it earns them all sorts of fees. So, as long as everything is growing; nobody complains. Those that do say there’s a ‘bubble’ are either ignored or laughed down. People who did see the bubble coming would have been predicting this since 2005. Every year that they are proved wrong, they effectively would have lost money because they wouldn’t have been enjoying that last leg of price rises. It’s very difficult to see when a bubble will burst, even if you predict one.

SC: What does the current climate mean for graduates who are coming out of university and looking for jobs?

JF: It’s much worse than it was in 2005, 2006 and 2007. It depends what business you’re going into. Media is being badly affected because advertising revenues are down and so they are cutting back on recruitment. However, they may also be doing some shifts, for example, fewer permanent staff and greater use of freelancers, which could be a good opportunity for new, young journalists. If you’re flexible and you can spot an opportunity to be in the right place at the right time, there could be more opportunities. Or, it could be that you start on short term contracts before you get a permanent post.

It’s time for students to get stuck into their studies, start writing essays and buckling down. However it’s not all work and no play for students at the University of Lincoln, as a wealth of societies gives students the chance to explore hobbies, make more friends and let their hair down with those of similar interests.

Ranging from Alternative Music to Ultimate Frisbee, usually there is a society for every one. Meanwhile, if your particular interest isn't already covered, the AU encourages the formation of new societies offering financial support and administrative advice to anyone keen to build their own society. | Photo: Samuel Cox

New members were encouraged to sign up to societies during Freshers’ Week and the Societies Fayre. After hoards of emails and Facebook messages, almost all new members have been inducted and they can proudly wear their society’s colours. Yet not all members have been inducted, or even emailed from their societies.

These events have led to criticisms from students, with one new member, Angela Lopes describing the societies as “inactive or with no events for some time.” Meanwhile, there have been whisperings of discontent amongst numerous students, all feeling a similar distain for their own societies.

Following heavy criticism, the new Vice President of the Dance Society, Laura Turner, felt the need to defend her society. In an exclusive statement made to the Linc, she told us “I am very sorry to hear there have been criticisms of the dance society, as my experience of last year was pleasant and enjoyable.”

When shown the criticisms of an unwelcoming nature, she added “It was its first year and there were no guidelines as to how it should be run. Dance is such a varied activity and it is difficult to accommodate everyone. This was evident in last year’s competition when time limits restricted availability to participate.”

Ms Turner went on to welcome any new members and encourage those to participate; “In this year’s competitions we hope to involve everyone who wishes to take part. I’m chuffed to see there are so many students who love dancing and we are still welcoming newcomers to our society.” Meanwhile, University of Lincoln Co-operation of Intra Mural Sports and Social society President Shane Croucher has turned the criticisms of societies on the Athletic Union; placing most of the blame with them.

In another Linc exclusive, the ULC co-founder accused the AU of poor communication, poor organisation and even costing his society new members. He said “We have had a lot of problem with regards to our society and setting it up. For one, the tills took a long time to set up in the SOAP centre. We didn’t realise there was a problem as we had established our membership price and asked them to set us up. It wasn’t until the first batch of new recruits came back to us complaining they couldn’t sign up, that we knew something wasn’t right. We had to go back, only to be told we had to email the established price plan to them. They never told us that initially and turned out to be a massive set back. We felt it would affect our membership numbers.” Mr Croucher, (20) went on to bemoan the “lack of or lateness of reply” and how “questions were often not answered.”

The biggest problem the Athletic Union and societies may have are financial obsticles, as the ULC president felt they were not getting the support they need; “We are not getting funding, so we feel like we are paying into something that we are getting absolutely no benefit from. If anything, it has been a set back, signing up for the AU and becoming an official society. We appreciate they have problems, but they just seem to have been an obstacle to our society moving forward.”

In response to these allegations, Dan Windross, Communications Officer of the University of Lincoln Students’ Union made a statement saying that “At the end of each academic year when the Sports teams and Societies have held their AGM and had an election, the new committee is asked to fill in a RAP pack (Resource Assessment Pack) as a way of telling the Athletic Union what they require from the new academic year, for example, membership fees, clothing provision, entrance fees etc. These packs are greatly received by the AU and help in creating budgets. The packs were required this year by the 30th May to confirm that the resources a sports team or society requires are catered for as best the Athletic Union can offer.”

Windross also responded to the ULCs complaints saying that they “sent in their RAP pack a couple of weeks ago, hence not initially receiving funds. The ULC did not advise the AU of their pricing structure until 2 weeks ago and they have more than one price compared to other clubs and societies.”

To aid societies, Windross said that the SU “recently installed a new till system and database which over time will dramatically improve our services and communications to members of sports teams and societies. As with any new system there have been a number of teething problems, however none of these are related to the situation highlighted by the ULC. The Union has procedures to act upon complaints received by its members and as of yet we have not received any such complaints from the ULC.”

However, with society leaders being forced to defend their societies, whilst others being let down repeatedly by the Athletic Union, one has to wonder why anybody would bother to start their own society, or turn up for existing ones. Yet more and more people are continuing to run societies and social events, trying to encourage people to make new friends, develop bonds and follow interests. But in the wake of such criticism, will these much complained upon societies continue to exist?

the-linc

Worried about feeling cold this winter? Energy bills heading towards unaffordable? Let the 4.4 million homes in “fuel poverty” turn to senior executive Mark Owen-Lloyd at E.ON UK for some reassuring words about the months ahead; “It will make more money for us”

I’m sure Owen-Lloyd’s fire will burn hot as he tosses bundles of fifty-pound notes on top, keeping the embers glowing and his family toasty as he guffaws his way through a bottle of the finest brandy your money can buy. His contemptuous comments reflect the blasé ethos towards the general public and their real struggle to pay the bills. Recently, British Gas announced a 35% rise in profits and a 9% rise in electricity prices. This is unjustifiable. In the past decade, over 260,000 pensioners have died from cold-related illness. Many of these deaths are directly related to the increase in energy bills.

The Government have made steps in the right direction. They’ve just announced several measures aimed at tackling energy problems for households, such as free cavity wall and loft insulation for pensioners and the poor. But is this enough? Prices aren’t lower and we are staring at a recession. How many millions of people suffering at the hands of energy fat-cats will it take? Should individuals be allowed to make such obscene profits from a household necessity?

Nobody denies that energy prices are rising and therefore energy companies pay more for raw materials. But STILL they manage to increase profits further. There is now a very serious argument for nationalising the energy industry. The money spent by the consumer could be pumped back into communities. So many groups that benefited many people are being forced to close due to a lack of government funding, for example, ‘Phoenix Survivors’, an organisation that helped abused children. The only trouble is finding people with enough competence and integrity to head it up.

By Shane Croucher

Shane Croucher | shane.croucher@thelinc.co.uk | Archive

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Charlotte Reid | charlotte.reid@thelinc.co.uk | Archive

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Jonathan Cresswell | jonathan.cresswell@thelinc.co.uk | Archive

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