Redbrick Features Podcast week 2
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Topics this week: Food officers, Comedy drug sellers, Tuition fees, New A* A-level
Worst jobs
Fiona McCoss urges us to eat some humble pie
I ATE a very large slice of humble pie recently on a night out when my conscience and human empathy got the better of me. I, guiltily, gave a pound to a toilet attendant whose mundane job it was to sit amongst various beauty products and toiletries aimed to refresh drunken punters. But despite sitting tolerantly from 10pm-3am, observing (probably with contempt) the carefree, job-free students who were enjoying themselves merrily, she was not getting any business or pleasure out of it whatsoever. What a rubbish job, I thought to myself (hence the donation). Now, I cringe ashamedly at myself for giving her just the £1. What is a pound really to a student with an overdraft? It is nothing, one hundred copper pennies, in fact. As the protagonist of Sex and the City would say; ‘I couldn’t help but wonder…’ about all the other really rubbish jobs that people do which us, as students, take for granted.
Big Issue sellers are another classic example, and I will use the poor woman who pleads unsuccessfully outside Aldi to further my point. Who has ever bought a Big Issue off of her? I don’t know anyone that has, I admit that I haven’t. Come rain or shine, even snow, this lady, in her skirt and sandals, day after day, sits in vain hope that someone will humour her and buy just one. No wonder she gets a bit moody and shouts at the occasional passerby or disconcertingly eyes up our arms full of shopping enviously. But wouldn’t you? How would you like to be sitting numb from the cold in your own boredom, trying to sell a magazine fruitlessly?
Enviable?
What about the early Monday morning bin and recycling collections around Selly Oak that wakes up those in their much needed slumber. Do we actually stop and think or appreciate the ‘bin men’ (to put it crudely) who have been up far earlier than us, and whose job it actually is to do our dirty work? No, I didn’t think so. Instead of irritably tossing and turning in bed, waiting for the loud drone of the lorry’s engine to turn onto another street to disturb someone else, we should be grateful that we can actually afford to be staying in bed, and not picking up other people’s rubbish at 6am.
Binging for charity
Ross Fisher wonders how Charity and debauchery can coincide
- 12 pints later
RED Nose Day has come around once again, and thousands of people have put time and effort into raising millions for Comic Relief. Leading this effort as always was the BBC, with a broad blanket of programs across every license fee-funded medium. Perhaps the most interesting show was the as-yet unexploded bomb that was the BBC Three special.
BBC Three was launched in 2003, and in the evening borrows the terrestrial bandwidth that is CBBC during the day. It barely received government approval in the first place, and has frequently come under fire from people such as The Times’ Camilla Cavendish.
The special program featured the cast of its mainstay shows Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and Coming of Age – the sixth form sitcom – along with a motley crew of other BBC Three stars. The majority of the show took place in a pub where, even though references were made to the sixth formers’ ages, they were not questioned.
The focus of the show revolved around a contest between the three groups mentioned above. This contest required the teams to put forward members to take part in three challenges: a ‘bitch off’, a ‘drink off’ and a ‘flirt off’. The ‘bitch off’ ended with bullying and tears, the ‘drink off’ ended with the winner collapsing, and the ‘flirt off’ ended with a young girl asking Will Mellor’s character ‘Shall we go outside, and you can put your dick in me?’ She was awarded 10 out of 10. After a winner had been declared, the show closed with a musical number whose main lyric was ‘stop thinking, start drinking.’
I personally am not keen on hunting for witches, and I can certainly see the funny side of the show. However, I cannot help but wonder who it was that thought that this would be a good idea for a charity broadcast, even more so who pitched it to the BBC editorial body, and even more so what was going through the mind of said editors when they brought back a smiling ‘yes’ verdict.
The BBC should have been wary of releasing a show like this. After all it hasn’t been all too long since comedian Russell Brand and talk-show host Jonathon Ross found themselves on the wrong end of a media storm. Other high visibility broadcasters such as DJ Chris Moyles and the hosts of Top Gear (a life-size cardboard cut out of Jeremy Clarkson appears frequently in ‘Coming of age’) have regularly come under fire for inappropriate comments, and all this is in a context where the BBC has been accused of ‘dumbing down’.
It might be true to say that they are appealing more to their target demographic, and even to say that such an open-minded approach to potentially insulting material is refreshing in an age that seems to be preoccupied with protocol and political correctness. Nonetheless, the question remains whether this is the appropriate message for the BBC to be sending out as a charity special. I’m sure we’ll find out one way the other soon enough.
Barbie’s birthday
Jo Lumb pays homage to one of the great ladies of our time
9 MARCH 2009 marked the fiftieth birthday of a very special lady: Barbara Millicent Roberts. More commonly known as Barbie, this is a woman who boasts a résumé of 100 different careers, a two times candidacy for president of the United States, and a yearly wealth of approximately $1.5 billion. And all this without a grey hair in sight.
Still looking good for 50!
Barbie was born to American toy manufacturers Elliot and Ruth Handler. She was conceived after seeing their daughter Barbara (hence the name) playing with infant paper dolls and giving them adult roles. The initial concept was to produce a plastic doll with a womanly figure that would help children ‘realize their dreams and goals through play.’ Despite the fact that my own Barbies may not have helped me plan my lifelong ambitions, I will readily admit that they are a prominent feature when reminiscing upon my many fond childhood memories.
Amid a vast array of swanky birthday celebrations, reaching the half-century milestone also allowed a perfect opportunity for people to reflect on the plastic phenomenon. Barbie has not only influenced children’s playtimes, but also adult lives. While images of Katie Price’s wedding day spring to my mind on combining the words ‘adult’ and ‘Barbie’, at the launch of the Barbie Dream Beetle Convertible car (one of her many lavish gifts) Laura Soave, the Manager of Marketing at Volkswagen of America, said: ‘Barbie has made a remarkable impact on pop culture history, and still remains a cultural icon today.’
When thinking of her many successes it would seem that there is actually a lot to be learnt from Barbie, who has marketed herself as one of the most successful business women of all time. From working as a McDonalds cashier to serving as a Navy Officer, she has undoubtedly cemented herself as a respectable pillar of society, all the while doing so with a dazzling Hollywood smile on her face. And better yet, there are most definitely brains behind the beauty, she has both a medical and veterinarian degrees under her size quadruple-zero belt.
Although her outfits may leave little to the imagination, there is no doubting Barbie’s decorum. After a 43 year romance (yes, she started early) Barbie left boyfriend Ken to embrace life as independent woman. Any celebrity who manages a four decade romance with no surface of a sex tape is a very classy lady in my eye.
It seems that the only criticisms she faces are those related to her unrealistic body proportions. If Barbie were to be human, and of an average height of 5 ft 6 ins, then her relative waist size would be 20 ins (this is three inches less than Victoria Beckham, although not unheard of), her bust 27 ins and hips 29 ins. It is fair to say that Barbie’s BMI would fall below the minimum healthy 17 per cent, but let’s be honest, it’s not realistic that she would be an astronaut and a Spice Girl in the same lifetime, so I think we can cut her some slack. My only personal concern is that ex-boyfriend Ken was named so after Elliot and Ruth’s son. Technically Barbie and Ken are therefore siblings, and thus their relationship is a little incestual for my liking. But I suppose choice is somewhat limited when you’re a plastic doll.
Sadly, Barbie’s market share has suffered since the Bratz Dolls were introduced in 2001. However, after reading an article, ‘Bratz Begets Brats’, which branded the dolls as tarty-party girls, I feel confident that the Barbie role model will forever reign, and rightly so. As her website boldly states: ‘It’s Barbie’s world. We just play in it.’
Are you listening carefully? Then i’ll begin…
So Matt here 
has decided that he wont be doing a masters and hanging around at university like a bum, which means we are looking for a new features ed. Now I’m going to lay it out straight down the line, there is a lot to live up to, so only the brave and courageous need apply.
However for those of you who think this sounds like something they would like to do, drop us an email at redfeatures+editor@gmail.com, expressing your interest and any questions you might have and we will go from there.
Let the race begin…
(It isnt really a race.)
Features Podcast
Podcast available through iTunes. Alternatively, search ‘redfeatures’ at Podbean.com!
Topics this week include: Selly Oak safety; sleep for teenagers; and Guild elections.
Did you hear that?
Guild election candidates answer questions.
At 1pm today there was another candidate hustings. This was a chance for students to hear candidate’s policies and to ask them any questions. The Sports candidates were asked about initiations, Welfare candidates asked about safety provisions for students such as the nightbus and the Community candidate was asked about student profiles within selly oak and the local community and what could be done to improve the student image.
It must be a nerve racking experience for the candidates with plenty of people looking to get their questions answered before they decide which candidates to vote for. For those of you that have not voted yet the hustings would have been a good opportunity to sound out the candidates on their polices. However their manifestos are available to view here.
Any candidates that you may have questions to would love to have them submitted via their websites, facebook or in person if you catch them on campus – it is important to find out what their plans are for the Guild so that you can make an informed choice.
The hustings have been being filmed by GTV so im sure a copy will be made available soon for people to watch, that way you can check on all the questions asked and the answers given – also all candidate interviews are here.
As ever drop us any questions you might have – redfeatures(at)gmail.com or a comment and feel free to use the links on the right to subscribe.
Have you cast yours?
Have you voted?
So being the ‘keeno’ i am, i voted this morning, voting has now been open approaching 12 hours and the candidates are out in full force – i was accosted several times on campus today. You must be lucky if you have been on campus and been able to avoid noticing anything about the elections.
But what is it all about, – well we are voting to elect the team of students who will run our Guild for the next year, this includes sabbatical and non-sabbatical officers. The seven sabbatical positions are President, VP Democracy and Resources, VP Education and Access, VP Housing and Community, VP Welfare VP Student activities and development and VP Sport.
The people in these positions are responsible for helping to fulfill and implement policy decided on at Guild council, represent students to the University, fight and lobby on our behalf and make sure that the Guild is supporting all students. So it is imperative that all students take this opportunity to express their opinion about how we are run and how will be represented for the coming year.
The electronic voting system also includes an option to ‘spoil’ the ballot meaning that you can express your dissatisfaction with the choice of candidates and their policies if you feel that the candidates are not suitable. – This is a means to stay engaged with the system without feeling like you have to make a choice that you don’t believe in.
Drop any questions you might have into the comments and remember to use the links on the left to subscribe to the blog so you can stay up to date.
Visit, learn, subscribe and enjoy.
We have had this blog up and running for about a month now and this weekend it was given some attention – we now have RSS feed subscription links over there on the right that makes it easy to keep tabs on what we are up to. Plus links to other blogs and sites that we think you might find interesting and engaging.
This blog is also the perfect environment for discussion and debate – with visitors being able to comment on all articles to express their own opinions – much faster than writing a letter to the paper. If we can get you guys to engage a little with this blog then what we report on can become more about what everyone thinks rather than the opinions, analysis and comment of just the Redbrick writers.
We are also beginning to experiment with a podcast, which we are hoping to bring to you guys soon, sort of ‘Features does comment’. All i can do is implore you to visit again and to comment and participate. Even if you do not learn something new from one of our writers you may well learn something from each other. If you would like to get involved and write for the blog and/or paper, then please e-mail us at redfeatures(at)gmail.com
Also check here for our election coverage – where we are going to try and provide a day by day of the second week of campaigning – highlighting the importance of each position and the role they have to play within the Guild. This way we hope that people will be as aware as possible of the events taking place.
So, please, comment away, questions, criticisms and observations all welcome.
Letters Received: ‘The protesting craze’
Letters
Dear editor,
Coming home from a long Friday of lectures on a Marxist interpretation of yesterdays latest crisis in the Middle East, worrying about which protest I should attend this weekend (will X fit attractive female protester be there or not?!), I kicked off my recycled rubber slips and settled into my 100% Organic hammock and opened up the latest issue of Redbrick. I was half way through it (and my dairy-free sos roll) when I came across Fiona McCoss’ article, ‘The Protesting Craze’. I have to say, I was almost killed by my vegan treat in my righteous indignant eco-liberal fury! Ms. McCoss’ wildly-assuming, patronising, and contemptuous caricature of those participating in any form of political activity (beyond, presumably, the ballot box) is, to say the least, lacking in any factual or critical analysis of the recent upsurge in political activism in universities and wider society. On a practical level, it isn’t clear from the article how Ms. McCoss could have so accurately stereotyped or evaluated the conviction of those participating in recent campus demonstrations from her vantage point a tan ‘inaudible’ range from a loudhailer (and presumably anyone she could talk to); she certainly demonstrates no knowledge of the time dependent achievable demands and goals issued by many of the recent protests. Underlying the entire article seems to be a contempt for any form of political or moral expression; a basic confusion and frustration as to why anyone would interest themselves with the needs and desires of people they or she doesn’t know. I have concluded that this article is an extraordinary attempt at rationalising apathy, of the sort derided by the great and the good at last weeks ‘Convention on Modern Liberty’ for permitting us to sleep-walk into the panopticon of modern Britain. I’m afraid to say that Ms. McCoss’ may be in for several very frustrating and confusing years to come. I suspect that as we enter a serious economic downturn this protesting ‘craze’ might really take off and people will start hitting the streets once more to secure their ‘livelihoods’ and, possibly, their freedoms (whatever those hippy ideals mean?!). I would advise Ms. McCoss’ to get on board now, or get left behind.
Yours sincerely,
Ben Aylott, Theoretical Physics and Applied Mathematics IV
Dear Redbrick,
I write in response to the article entitled “The Protesting Craze”. The article portrays protests as some sort of fad or trend. Given that the protests referred to took place in response to the hundreds of civilian deaths in Gaza, I find this attempt to trivialise the issue extremely offensive. Our right to protest is something we should be celebrating rather than undermining, in numerous states this right does not exist, and yet the article has presented it as something absent of real political meaning. Did the author consider past reasons for political activism such as apartheid and universal suffrage? Were those who engaged in these struggles just part of a “craze”? The criticism of students involved in protests is highly irresponsible, why portray those who care about humanitarian issues as simply wanting to be ‘cool’? This will only fuel the anti-political climate on campus and discourage students from taking action on issues they care about. I think if the author had attempted to talk to the students involved they would find their claim to be simply untrue. Finally, when protesting concerning an issue felt passionately about, I do not think a single person will care if the author has been annoyed by their actions.
Lauren Baker
International Relations
Redbrick Features 