Review: Dropkick Murphys - Going Out in Style

With St. Patrick’s Day just around over, it seems fitting that the undisputed kings of Celtic rock would release a fitting homage to Irish traditional music and their inspirations such as Stiff Little Fingers and The Pogues.

With cameo appearances from none other than Bruce Springsteen and NOFX’s Fat Mike the entire album is a blast, with the type of face paced frantic performances that one would expect from the DK’s. The music itself is indistinguishable from that of their last number of albums, yet this is no bad thing. Blending modern punk music together with traditional instruments such as bagpipes and mandolins gives their music a uniqueness which few can match. The album is perfectly paced, with a few tributes to traditional Irish ballads interspersed in the mass of wonderfully energetic Celtic punk which characterises the DK’s.

Undoubtedly this album can be considered amongst their best, matching the standard of 2007’s The Meanest of Times, and it  provided a perfect background for manySt Patrick’s Day parties this year.  

Petty politics mars council meeting

In the first SU Council meeting in the wake of the elections a number of constitutional amendments were passed as well as the inclusion of two new societies. The meeting also featured a heated debate between a number of councillors over an emergency motion relating to the upcoming UCU strikes on the 21^st and 24^th March.

The first issue of business of the meeting was the unanimous decision to send a wreath to the funeral of the family member of Dominic Doherty, QUB SU Deputy General Manager, who was unable to attend the meeting and so was replaced by Damien ??????. In addition it was announced Councillor Ryan Cushley would be stepping down from his position in Council.

The first new society to be proposed was the QUB Rotaract Society, a fundraising body who have already raised money for such diverse causes as leukaemia research and the Simon community. The second proposed new society was the formation of QUB Labour Students. The group was proposed by current council speaker Joe Corina, and so for the duration of the proposal councillor Sarah Wright acted in the role of speaker. Both societies were ratified unanimously by council.

The majority of the constitutional reforms on the agenda for the meeting were proposed by VP Community Jay Downs. The first issue was to delete the constitutional clause which required amendments to be ratified by Union General Meeting or by Referendum prior to submission to the Senate. The motion was opposed by VP Education Nathan Anderson on the grounds that to say referendums and general meetings were unnecessary was against the democratic principles of the university. However the amendment was carried by 38 votes to 21. The second amendment was to change the process by which referendums happen so as to make it easier for them to garner enough support to get over the lower threshold for ratification (10% turnout needed). Despite the fact this amendment was passed unanimously, a number of senior councillors were unhappy with these two proposals, calling them a contradiction of interests. As the first amendment called for a severe reduction in the number of referendums at Queen’s, the second was designed to make these easier and more workable tools for the Union’s disposal, therefore making the decision to largely remove referendums as “stupid” according to one councillor.

A further amendment was to make all questions directed at the sabbatical officers or any senior member of the SU as being ‘professionally relevant’. This was passed unanimously without much serious debate. The next amendment proposed regarded the introduction of anonymous questions directed towards the Sabbatical officers. This amendment may have been in response to the fact that so far this academic year there have been no questions directed at the Sabbatical officers from council and therefore they have not been held to account as well as they should. The amendment was passed with only two opposing it, although one of these was Jason O’Neill who had stated that this set a “dangerous precedent” for future years. O’Neill also opposed the introduction of an amendment which would lead the way to performance related pay being introduced for next year’s Sabbatical team. Saying that it would “open Pandora’s Box”, O’Neill expressed concerns that it could lead to future animosities being expressed in council. The motion however was passed by 46 votes to 4, though the fact that O’Neill will be in charge of the distribution of PRP next year may yet be an issue.

The final amendment of the evening was universally well received, and that was the introduction of end of year reports by Sabbatical officers to aid in the transfer between various years’ teams. This vote was unanimous in its approval.

The final major issue of the evening saw an emergency motion proposed by Lorcan Mullen being passed after a significant and heated debate between certain members of council. The emergency motion regarded the forthcoming UCU strikes, and it called for the SU to take solidarity with the UCU and support their strikes by urging students not to attend classes. At one point of the debate a councillor accused the motion of being “pure socialism”, and also Jay Downs revealed that if fees do not increase then the university will cut 400 jobs and that this is why we need to show solidarity with the unions, but after two proposed changes regarding a paragraph referring to Tory cuts and the rhetoric used to describe this, the motion was eventually carried with only 4 opposing it.

Controversy reigns after SU elections

In the wake of a number of disputes arising from the recent SU elections including several official complaints and a referral to the election court, there have been fresh calls for wide encompassing reforms to the election process.

The calls have been led by former SU President Shane Brogan who, in an email obtained by The Gown, has called for greater transparency in the election process. Brogan calls for a greater level of investigation into the alleged rule breaking which occurred during the election, including a summary of all complaints received by the Returning Officer, and the action taken in response to each of these, including both formal and informal complaints, as well as a summary of all cases where candidates were found to have broken rules, who these candidates were and any action taken or formal or informal warnings issued.

Brogan also appeals for a breakdown of turnout by School, gender, age bracket, and at hourly intervals during the election days in order to provide a comparison to the turnout in recent years. It would also help identify any irregular voting patterns throughout the course of the election days.

In response to this a union insider said the ideas put forth were not a full constitutional reform, but more a practical reform which is much more widely needed. Brogan’s email should be viewed as an inquiry to provoke debate rather than attack on the system itself. Furthermore councillors may not have known they had the power to request reports/reviews from the sabbatical officers, and hopefully this will improve the democratic process in the union. With councillors more aware of their role, hopefully they should be able to better respond to any issues which arise in the future.

Brogan’s requests follow the decision by current VP Clubs & Societies Niall Bole to challenge the result of his election defeat to Niall McShane by 1823 votes to 1459. Bole has claimed that some candidates have flouted the rules which all candidates must adhere to, and that behaviour such as ‘helping’ people to vote has left a bitter taste in the mouths of many students who are disgusted by how the election campaign had gone.

Bole claims there have been flaws in the system since online voting was introduced now that every computer is a polling station. Although going back to polling booths would certainly drive down turnout, there is a need to "reassess the system" to make it suitable for "the current state of play".

Although he accepts some may accuse him of being a sore loser, Bole hopes that by approaching the election court he can “highlight holes which have been exploited” not just this year but in previous years also. Unless these problems are tackled now, they will simply be swept under the rug for another year.

McShane’s victory over Bole was part of an extremely successful night for the Law/GAA with Jason O’Neill winning President, Aidan Hughes being elected VP Community and Treasa Harkin comfortably taking the position of VP Equality & Diversity. The other victorious candidates were Nuala McAdams for VP Education, and Adam McGibbon and Fiona Kidd who both ran unopposed being returned as VP Welfare and VP Campaigns & Communications respectively. 

Belfast Nightclub has licence revoked

Popular Belfast nightclub Rain had its entertainment licence suspended recently for a series of alleged health and safety breaches over the last number of months.

The drastic decision to suspend the licence was taken by Belfast City Council in the wake of a number of inspections by building control staff. On repeated occasions rain was found to have exceeded its maximum capacity allowed by health and safety, with reports stating that on one of these occasions they were more than 300 people over the limit.

Following a meeting of BCC’s Licensing Committee on 16^th February the incidents of overcrowding on the 7^th November, 30^th January and 6^th February were regarded as being sufficient grounds to take such action.

In a statement to the media, Councillor Christopher Stalford, chairman of Licensing Committee, said: "We take our responsibilities as a licensing and enforcing authority very seriously, particularly as these functions are exercised to ensure public safety in places of entertainment.

"Belfast has a burgeoning night time economy and this is something the council encourages and is extremely supportive of; however, where there is the potential for the public's safety to be at risk and where there have been alleged breaches of any licence, the council will take robust action when necessary."

SU Management Team Director Andrew Dodge said in relation to the situation that: “Customer safety is paramount in the operation of any licensed venue. It is good news that the BCC took positive action to ensure adherence to licensing laws and that they have clearly demonstrated to all license holders that breaches will not be tolerated”.

He added that: “Developments will be circulated by the VP Welfare, Adam McGibbon, to ensure that our members are up to date on issues”.

This is not the first time Rain has hit the headlines as last year it was accused of discriminating against disabled people. Ciaran McGrogan was allegedly forbidden from entering the club due to his being in a wheelchair. A facebook campaign calling for a boycott of Rain later gained over 12,000 followers.

QUB Student Elections 2011 Runners and Riders

With the annual Students’ Union sabbatical elections on the horizon the candidates for the seven positions available are beginning to emerge in anticipation of what is already shaping up to be one of the most closely contested elections in recent years.

The most intriguing aspect of the forthcoming election is certain to be the split in the current sabbatical team with current VP’s Jay Downs, Niall Bole and Adam McGibbon standing against their fellow officers Fiona Kidd and Samantha Tan. This marks a significant turnaround from last year when these candidates ran alongside each other when campaigning for election and one wonders what effect this will have on the cohesion within the SU for the remainder of the year.

From the candidates declared thus far for the election, there appears to be three major groups already formed. The most complete group so far is the team of Jay Downs, Niall Bole, Ethan Loughery, Nuala McAdams, Adam McGibbon and Lorcan Mullen. The other group containing current sabbatical officers consists so far of Samantha Tan, Fiona Kidd and Joe Corina. The final major player in this year’s election will be the Law Society which includes the candidates Jason O’Neill, Niall McShane, Aidan Hughes and Treasa Harkin.

For the key role of SU President there are three candidates running representing each of the major factions in the election. Current VP Community Jay Downs will compete against fellow VP Samantha Tan for the role. However also running is Jason O’Neill, president of the Law Society who are keen to recover after last year’s mauling, and in an attempt to steal a march on his opponents O’Neill has already launched his campaign via facebook.

In the battle for education it will be a straight fight between Nuala McAdams and Joe Corina. McAdams so far appears to have the backing of the stronger ticket, but the current speaker at council Corina has launched an early campaign calling for a fairer appeals process in the university as well as a reassessment of the university’s approach to employability, saying it no longer must be        ‘ just an add on’. However there are rumours that Laura Ellis may also be running, possibly with the backing of the Downs President campaign, though this is yet to be confirmed.

The contest for clubs and societies promises to be equally competitive with the incumbent Niall Bole being challenged by Niall McShane who is running with the Law Society. Bole has performed well in his year in the job, but McShane brings the support of the GAA with him and the early indications are that this could well be one of the closest contests.

With the continuing campaign against the raise in tuition fees the role of VP Campaigns will be vital, and current VP Fiona Kidd will contest against Lorcan Mullen. Whilst Kidd has headed campaigns this year, it was deputy NUS-USI president Mullen who organised the large protest in front of the SU late last year, and with the support of the three sabbatical officers Mullen looks to have the advantage at this early stage.

In what promises to be the most charismatic category independent candidate Derek Crosby will stand against Ethan Loughery and Aidan Hughes for the Community post. The larger than life Crosby, a member of RAG, hopes to defeat Queen’s radios’ Loughery and Laws’ Mooting Officer Hughes in what again looks like a tight contest.

A much more straight forward election will be for the Welfare position where no candidates have been put forward to take on Adam McGibbon. McGibbon has enjoyed a high profile years thanks to his performance as a Green Party candidate in the previous general election, and as such there appears to be no one willing to challenge him.

Finally for the position of VP Equality, Lucy Griffin, Treasa Harkin and Damien Edgar will contest what is perhaps the most open position available. All three candidates have kept quiet about their campaigns so far, but with the elections rapidly approaching expect each to begin their campaigns in earnest within the near future.