News

This year’s RAG Week was generally well-recieved, and raised £3,500. Events included a Disney film night, Silent Disco and ‘Mega Quiz’. Elements hosted the Auction of Promises on March 5th, in which people pledged various services to the highest bidder, none of which were sexual, though our esteemed editor sold his services as an ironer.

On Tuesday last week, 8W1.1 was virtually full for a debate between Glynis Breakwell, Wes Streeting and representatives from the three major parties. Each participant was given seven minutes to speak, and questions were taken from the audience afterwards. Ms Breakwell spoke first, saying that funding from tuition fees helped to reverse a “major decline” in university funding since 1991 and arguing that fees had helped raise revenue to 85% of that year’s level.

The government of Sudan has signed a ceasefire agreement with the country’s main rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, a development which President Omar al-Bashir described as a “major step towards ending the war”. The deal involves a power-sharing agreement with rebels, some of whom will be given seats in the government. As a further concession, the government of Omar Hassan al-Bashir will release 57 prisoners held since 2008 in connection with a rebel attack on Khartoum.

Bath Half

On a dreaded sunny day a couple of weekends ago, eleven thousand people took to the streets of Bath for the 29th annual Bath Half, a 13.1 mile run around the city. The event was well organized; with roads closed many hours in advance it was able to begin on time, contrary to tradition.

The Hague, Netherlands: Radovan Karadzic, who, along with Slobodan Milosevic, led Serb forces during the Bosnian War of 1992-5, is currently standing trial at the Hague. He is accused of genocide and crimes against humanity for his actions during the war, particularly relating to his role in the Siege of Sarajevo. Defending himself, he first claimed that the atrocities committed during the siege were invented by the media and, later, that Bosnian Muslims in Sarajevo killed their own people in order to ensure NATO intervention in their defence.

With summer looming on the horizon, final year students are not only worrying about what’s next, but also about how to remember the last couple of eventful years they have spent at university.
In order to allow students to take a future trip down memory lane wherever and whenever they want, the University’s Alumni Relations team annually organizes the Yearbook – a book filled with photographs of friends, course mates and colleagues to be remembered when everyone embarks on their separate paths in life.

The Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 are over, and while the American team can celebrate its 34 medals, the British team returns with only one. The winner of this treasured and well-deserved award is Amy Williams, a Bath graduate who tried bob skeleton for the first time at the University and is now the source of British winter sports fans’ pride.

Jim McCormick, a Somerset businessman, has been arrested on fraud charges for exporting millions of dollars worth of devices which he claimed could detect bombs from up to a kilometre away, though expert investigation has determined that there is nothing inside them which could conceivably do so, and scientific tests show them to perform no better than chance. The ADE-651, as it is known, has been described as a “glorified dowsing rod”. The Iraqi government has spent $85 million on the devices, and many other governments have been using them to detect bombs and weapons.

The Students' Union's Refresh Week ran from Monday 8th February to Sunday 14th February. Refresh Week aims to remind all students what the Students' Union has to offer which can enhance the student experience at Bath, whilst providing something of that Freshers’ Week feeling. In addition to a well-attended Refresh fair, which took place on the Friday, there were day-long events throughout the week providing opportunities to find out more about the new Student Centre and on housing, particularly.

Pharmacy students at the University of Bath this week welcomed a new colleague to their faculty, who will hopefully stick around longer than the customary 4 years it takes to earn a degree.

The SimMan 3G, or simply “Simon” as he affectionately dubbed by the department, is a life-sized model that talks, breathes and reacts to medicines in the same way as a real human, giving students a chance to practice their diagnostic skills and put theory into practice.