Voting for the NaSTA People’s Choice Awards closes at 7pm tonight, the 14^th of June. The University of Kent’s very own KTV has been shortlisted for five awards, including The People’s Newcomer Station award. To vote, go to http://peopleschoice.nasta.tv/vote/ .

KTV’s station manager, Rob Linton, hopes to come away with at least one award, but he has eyes for the Newcomer award especially. “We are happy that we have been recognised nationally,” he says, “but I would like the best newcomer award as we have worked so hard and have developed so much over the past year.”

One of KTV’s greatest achievements this year was their live #Awakefor48 broadcast. The charitable campaign has already gained CSRfm a National Student Radio award, so to add a National Student Television Award to that would be a well-deserved acknowledgement for Kent’s student media organisations. The #Awakefor48 broadcast is the only charity-based recording nominated for the live broadcast award.

When asked why KTV stands out from other student television stations, Rob Linton responded simply with: “We collaborate with other groups a lot more, especially with other student media groups. Also we’ve been told we have a society feel, so we don’t take ourselves too seriously. Also next year we will be open to non-Kent Union members (i.e. Christchurch) so that will open up a lot more opportunities for a wider range of people.”

Fingers crossed for the KTV team; any award will be hard-earned and well-deserved. Get voting before 7pm tonight for your favourite student television station.

Are you counting down the hours until you go home? Do you need something to watch? Do you like Tina Turner (not completely compulsory)? Then this is simply the best.

Soul Sister, straight from the West End, visits Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre this week, and is the unmissable jukebox musical inspired by the music and lives of Ike and Tina Turner.

The show felt at times more like a concert than a piece of theatre, with Emi Wokoma’s sensational performance as Tina the standout highlight of the night.

Focusing on their rise to the top of music in the 60s to 80s, the show features classic Tina Turner hits such as ‘Private Dancer’, ‘Proud Mary’, ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ and, obviously, ‘The Best’.

The minimalistic set incorporates a large screen, where images of Ike and Tina’s life as well as images from moments in history were displayed in gaps between scenes, complimenting the story creating a timeline of national events the audience could follow alongside the events onstage.

Whilst rocky and full of soul, the musical also looks at the turbulent and violence relationship between Ike and Tina, with Chris Tumminks performing well in the unenviable role of a man stuck in the past when addressing women and race rights, as well as addiction.

Wokoma bounced off the awesome live band which helped to spark the audience into a concert-like response, with members of the audience, myself included, standing and dancing to the chorus of iconic Tina Turner hits.

What’s more, the constant changes in the live band helped to make the audience feel as if there were there experiencing every concert along with Ike and Tina, encapsulating the audience once more.

An absolute must see if you’re in town this week!

LaShanda’s Rating: ****

Front pages following the Woolwich attack

I really love those adverts of people in spectacular, awe inspiring places, aiming their iPhones at the view trying to capture the moment in digital form. Then the catchphrase comes in at the end, intoning something along the lines of, ‘CAPTURE EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME WHY ARE YOU NOT USING YOUR PHONE RIGHT NOW YOU SHOULD BE FILMING THIS IT’S AWESOME!’

It reminds me a lot of an episode of Black Mirror, White Bear, where people run around filming the main character’s every move, even while she is being attacked by guys in masks toting sawn-off shotguns. It is the premise of many of the series’ episodes: that technology and the media are ruling our lives in ways we can’t control.

It was eerie, then, to find out that the Woolwich attackers asked bystanders to film the incident and take pictures of them. Not only that, but one of the accused, Michael Adebolajo, was reportedly ‘showboating’ when he appeared in court for the first time. It all seems strangely like a performance.

After the Woolwich murder, and with little confirmed detail of what had happened, the incident was spread across social media. The trend was picked up by the mainstream media who further publicised the event. The following day several front pages featured gruesome pictures of the murderers caught on film.

The argument is that this is only to be expected: murder is news-worthy. However, the act of murder is only half of what is required to make something a media sensation. The public are also interested in who was murdered, where, and for what reason.

Many tweeters commented on the lack of coverage, comparatively, of the murder of 75 year old Mohammed Saleem Chaudhry who was stabbed to death on the 30^th April in Birmingham. The senselessness and brutality of this murder bares startling similarity to the Woolwich killing, though it differs in a few key aspects which presumably make Woolwich more ‘reportable’.

The first is that the murder was performed in the middle of the day, out in the open, completely shocking in the fact that it is contrary to our expectations. There was also a suggestion of terrorist motives, what with Lee Rigby having served in Afghanistan. Lastly, there were witnesses. People who were simply walking along a street in South East London were scarred for life by an horrific act.

It did not help that they were taking pictures, tweeting and recording the aftermath of the event. All these aspects come together to create what is not only a media, but also a social media sensation. The Woolwich attackers are dangerous in that they have unearthed a new technique for spreading terror; they seem acutely aware of the power of their self-exposition, asking witnesses to record their experience and publish it.

Though it might seem slightly self-defeating to say this, I believe that we should pay these performing terrorists the respect they deserve, and completely ignore their plaintive claims for publication through media, social media or other mediums. They have taken advantage of the ‘viral’ phenomenon to spread a message of terror, perhaps giving the term ‘viral’ a purpose which fits more closely with its original definition: a destructive disease spreading at an uncontrollable rate from person to person.

Bahrain

On 21st April Sebastian Vettel gained a second win in Bahrain and his second win of the championship after four races.

Vettel took the win over the Lotus’ of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean with a three stop strategy over Raikkonen’s two. Meanwhile, Raikkonen’s teammate Romain Grosjean on a three stopper managed to prevent Britain’s Paul Di Resta winning his first podium in the closing stages of the race, as Di Resta suffered tyre wear on his two stop strategy.

Nico Roseberg showcased Mercedes pace in qualifying on Saturday to gain pole but come the start of the race the pressure from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull became overwhelmingly apparent.

Alonso gained a fantastic start to overtake Vettel around the outside to take second place, however by the end of the first lap Vettel managed to shock Alonso with an opportunistic move down the inside of the chicane to retake second position.

Meanwhile, Di Resta improved upon a fantastic qualifying to gain fourth over Massa. Vettel continued his charge on lap three taking the lead from Roseberg around the outside of turn five, and from then on was in a class of his own.

Roseberg continued to lose places in the laps following, first on lap five where he lost second place to Fernando Alonso, then a lap later losing third to Paul Di Resta’s Force India.

On lap 7 it became apparent that Fernando Alonso’s lack of pace in the last lap had been due to a broken rear wing; it was stuck in the “open” position that allows for increased straight line speed in DRS specific zones. To have the wing open in areas not specifically allocated as a DRS zone is a breach of regulations and was causing Fernando Alonso to lose pace.

For the rest of the race Fernando was unable to use the DRS to overtake slower cars, and all overtakes to his impressive 8^th place finish were through pure pace and skill. The finish looked until the closing laps to be a 7^th place, but the feisty McLaren of Sergio Perez, who was involved in many battles including one with his teammate Button, passed him with DRS assistance to gain a good 7^th place for McLaren.

Sergio Perez’s fight up the field started on lap 30 as he and his teammate Jenson Button went wheel to wheel for fifth position with Button managing to fend off his teammate’s advances to stay ahead.

The spirited exchange caused Button to say “calm him down” to his team on his pit radio after Perez collided slightly with his back tyres whilst trying a move down the inside.  Button unfortunately dropped to 10^th during the remainder of the race, behind former pole sitter Roseberg who had to make four stops due to high tyre degradation, whilst Perez managed to gain 6^th ahead of Alonso in the closing stages.

Sergio Perez was not the only driver to pounce in the closing stages of the race as Lewis Hamilton fought for 5^th with Mark Webber, gaining the place into turn one of the very final lap of the race. Unfortunately this was not the only place Webber lost on the final lap as Perez managed to pass him to place the Australian Red Bull driver 7^th, ahead of Fernando Alonso.

From the beginning of the race until its conclusion Vettel was in a class of his own, with little faults and a true showcase of the pace of his Red Bull after the necessary early overtake of Alonso and Roseberg the race victory was an execution of precision by the championship leader.

The race victory also saw Sebastian Vettel extend his championship lead over Raikkonen to ten points, 23 points over 3^rd place Lewis Hamilton and 30 over 4^th place Fernando Alonso.

Continued…

The Chinese Grand Prix on the 14^th April saw a dominant and smooth performance from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso to gain victory, having led from lap five, to take his first victory of the season and his 31^st of his career.

Whilst Ferrari shone, Red Bull, their nearest rivals had a mixed day with Mark Webber retiring and Sebastian Vettel unable to improve upon 4^th despite a fierce battle for a podium place with Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages. Kimi Raikkonen added to his championship challenge with a convincing second place, in both the race and his championship standings.

The Grand Prix saw a four way fight, between Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel. Vettel made his challenge all the more difficult with a disappointing qualifying on Saturday making it to only 9^th on the grid, whereas his teammate Mark Webber lost fuel pressure in qualifying and started from the back of the grid.

Mercedes showed the dominance they have had all season in qualifying by scoring pole position with Lewis Hamilton, with Fernando Alonso posed to pounce behind in third.

The start saw another fantastic display of skill form Fernando Alonso who shot past Kimi Raikkonen for 2^nd, and hunted down Lewis Hamilton for the lead which inevitably came as DRS enhanced his straight line speed on lap 5. From then on Alonso smooth and calmly led the race with no real question of being usurped if remaining problem free.

Kimi Raikkonen suffered from a technical glitch upon the start of which he was apologised to by the team, he moved from second to third as the Ferrari’s swept past him.

Drama, however, emerged further down the field as the Force India teammates of Adrian Sutil and Paul Di Resta. Sutil’s day went from bad to worse as merely four laps later as a collision with Gutierrez in the Sauber caused substantial rear wing damage.

During his corrective pit stop Sutil’s brakes caught fire and he was forced to retire, creating another unfortunate weekend for the Force India driver. Not all bad news for Force India however, as Paul Di Resta was able to finish a positive 8^th for the team.

The collisions continued with Mark Webber and Jean Eric Vergne coming together on lap 15, causing a damaged front wing for Webber. After having pitted for the damage, Webber’s right rear tyre detached from his car and rolled dangerously across the track ending his weekend.

During this lap Raikkonen and Perez contacted as Perez cautiously used the brakes to protect his position, slight damages occurred to Raikkonens nose but he was able to pass to gain fourth position.

Yet another problematic pit stop caused Nico Roseberg to have to retire his Mercedes on lap 21, ending a promising weekend for Mercedes.

Amidst the collision chaos Sebastian Vettel was steadily making his way up the field from 8^th after his pit stop, by lap 37 he had made his way past Felipe Massa, Hulkenberg and Jenson Button to lead the race as Alonso had pitted. Two laps after his pit stop Alonso smoothly regained the lead with a move down the inside of Vettel.

With the lead of the race safely assured the focused came to battle for the remaining podium places. After their respective pit stops Raikkonen and Hamilton were fighting tooth and nail for 2^nd place with Vettel on fresher tyres gaining seven tenths a second upon Hamilton for third place after a late pit stop.

Raikkonen managed to secure his second place as Hamilton came under fire from Vettel, with a golden opportunity to pass being squandered on the final lap as Vettel ran wide just before the DRS zone allowing Hamilton to hold onto 3^rd place by the skin of his teeth.

The dominant win for Fernando Alonso placed him 3^rd in the championship after the retirement in Malaysia had hampered his championship standings. Raikkonen finished 2^nd in the race to secure 2^nd place in the overall standings, with Vettel’s 4^th place finish extending his championship lead.

Hamilton secured a fantastic podium finish for Mercedes who have shown difficulty in transferring the form they have in qualifying to results on race day. Overall it was a flawless race from the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.

Continued…

The main issue of the Spanish Grand Prix was tyre degradation.

The race, on 12^th May, saw winner Fernando Alonso pit four times on his way to victory with rivals Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel despairing over tyre wear and its limitations upon their ability to push their cars.

The issue became so dire that at one point of the race as a response to his teams calls to preserve his tyres, Lewis stated that he could not “drive any slower.” This statement to Formula One fans was inevitably hard to hear.

The race and the tyre wear issue sparked a debate as to both the durability and function of the Pirelli supplied tyres. Pirelli’s response to the many complaints over the lack of durability of their tyres was that they had been asked to make tyres capable of providing exciting and unpredictable racing, but this did little to quash criticism.

This year has seen a number of teams struggle severely in understanding the tyres, most notably Mercedes who have excelled in qualifying but yielded disappointing results on race day due to tyre degradation and Red Bull who feel the true extent of their pace is being restricted due to the tyres.

On the other hand, this year has also seen many teams step up to managing their tyres with both their cars and strategies clearly designed around the less durable tyres, these include the most vocal critics of Pirelli’s tyres Red Bull’s rivals Ferrari and Lotus.

The smooth driving styles of both Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso has seen a better management of the tyres with two wins now for Fernando Alonso in races where tyre management has been key, as we saw in Spain. However, Pirelli admitted that four stop races was going “too far” and a change to the tyre compounds appears to be in consideration.

Fernando Alonso started in 5^th behind Sebastian Vettel, which his teammate Massa enjoying a fantastic start.

Vettel and Alonso were not the only ones to gain an incredible start, Sergio Perez for the current struggling McLaren team capitalised on his good qualifying (his teammate Button didn’t make it through to Q3 and started 14^th) managing to make his way to 6^th and fend off the advances of Felipe Massa on the first lap.

As tyre wear plagued the front runners further down the field, a technical failure caused Romain Grosjean to retire as his left right wheel completely detached from his car on lap nine.

Fernando Alonso’s win came from brilliant tyre strategy, he pitted early for his first pit stop pulled out brilliant lap times to leap frog 2^nd place Vettel as he exited the pits two laps later.

Once was clear of Vettel, Alonso hunted down the struggling leader Nico Roseberg and passed him for the lead on lap 13, going on to establishing a huge 19 second lead.

The race showed a complete and calm strategically perfect race from Fernando Alonso and Ferrari to secure victory, whilst teams such as Red Bull and Mercedes suffered with tyre damage.

The win moved Fernando 17 points closer to leader Sebastian Vettel, with Kimi Raikkonen’s convincing 2^nd moved him within 4 points of the Red Bull driver, heading into Canada.

Keep checking www.inquirelive.co.uk for more race reports from an exciting 2013 Formula One season.

The world of volunteering is a vast and diverse one, where you can undertake pretty much any kind of community help, from looking after felines at the Cats Protection League to helping build schools in developing countries. So it can be hard for those who want to volunteer to choose what to do from the many options available, but the rewards are plentiful all the same.

Volunteering may perhaps sound unappealing to a number of students, as work for no pay is not exactly tempting to the social group often labelled as one of the poorest. But, as it was for me, volunteering can be one of the best things you ever do.

As a Games Maker at the London 2012 Olympics, I can vouch for the fact that volunteering can be far from boring and worthless. For me, it was fun, sociable and the atmosphere was like nothing I’d experienced before. It felt more like a holiday than a job, despite there being hard work involved. It can become one of the best decisions you ever make, or at least create an opportunity you would not otherwise have had.

Not only this, but (in addition to the wonderful University of Kent degree) volunteering enhances your CV. In a job application, there’s always going to be something that makes someone stand out above others, and volunteering could be what does it for you. I know that my current employers were interested to hear about my volunteering experiences. Employers will appreciate knowing of your extra efforts.

As University of Kent students, you can even achieve an award for volunteering called KSCV. Based on the number of hours logged, you can receive: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Gold + and Platinum level awards, and these are designed to increase students’ employability.

This is all without mentioning how much of a saviour volunteering can be during the spare holiday weeks when you have nothing better to do. Slouching in front of the TV may be fun for a couple of weeks but after that, it’s likely you’ll be desperate to do something else. Sanity levels are truly grateful for volunteering.

Whether it’s helping out at a local charity shop or some kind of conservation help, volunteering will not only give you something to do in your spare time, but will give you an opportunity to help others in the community and also boost your future employment prospects. So, why not? It could end up being one of your proudest achievements to date.

Sebastian Faulks’ acclaimed drama Birdsong has descended upon the Marlowe Theatre this week, engrossing audiences by bringing the horrors of World War One to life on stage.

The plot follows the protagonist Stephen Wraysford, played by Jonathan Smith, whose traumatic experiences on the battlefield lead to his flashbacks to his traumatic life off it.

Alongside this plot, the sub-plot of Jack, portrayed by Tim Treloar, and his emotional turmoil involving his sick child at home, keeps the audience gripped throughout, guiding them through his emotional rollercoaster with his fellow mine diggers.

Smith, whose character Stephen faces a romantic struggle with a married French woman Isabelle, performs strongly throughout, evoking the same emotion of struggle and torment he suffers, from the audience too.

Stephen and Isabelle’s love develops into an affair and his affections remain with him while he is fighting on the front line, with a chain of events leading to an emotionally charged climax, as Wraysford clings to the only happy memory of his life while experiencing the horrors of trench warfare.

Led superbly by Smith and Treloar, the play’s supporting cast add unique and touching moments to the performance, combining comedy with tragedy in order to impact the audience greatly.

Charlie G Hawkins stands out in particular, as a young soldier who lied about his age to fight for his country, only to be held back by his youthful innocence and fear.

As the play twists and turns, the anguish of the men is evident and superbly performed, particularly in a section where they are writing home to their loved ones.

LaShanda’s rating: ****

An unmissable performance, with a memorable conclusion, this is a highly recommended piece of theatre running at The Marlowe from Monday to Saturday, June 3-8, with performances at 7.30pm and 2.30pm (Thursday and Saturday).

Tickets are available from the box office on 01227 787787 or at marlowetheatre.com.

The victorious Kent FC 1st Team celebrate their success. (Photograph: Daniel Barnby)

The return to University in September 2012 meant the start of a new season for Kent FC.

The new committee had big shoes to fill, following on from a successful season the previous year – both on and off the pitch. Former Chairman Matt Harris’ tenure saw him voted in as Sports VP for Kent Union whilst several of the players, including Sheldon Sellears, Chris Kinnear and Jacob Barnes made the transition into semi-professional football.

The first thing to do was test the new first year trialists to see if they had the footballing calibre necessary to play for Kent FC. The club saw over 600 players over a three day period, from which 30 of the best players were signed to the club. From here on the boys were quickly adopted into the club by the senior players. With friendlies against Gillingham and Maidstone u18s, the new boys were quickly introduced to the standard necessary to play football at University.

With three teams playing in university leagues (BUCS) and in local Saturday football there was plenty of competition on all levels and great impetus to win trophies and that is one thing that Kent FC has been able to accomplish very well this season. As 1st team captain, I was part of the victorious team in the BUCS 1A division, beating other University outfits which included Portsmouth, St Mary’s, Chichester and Brighton.

We also reached the semi-finals of the BUCS cup but were unfortunately beaten to the final by Nottingham Trent who battled hard to overcome our 1st 11.

The ending of the season saw bitter-sweet success for the 1st team. After losing to both Gloucestershire and Cambridge in the BUCS playoffs, which would have determined who would be promoted to the Premier Division, the 1st team were able to exhibit the perseverance and determination that saw them crowned 1A champions to convincingly beat the College Elect team 5-1 in the Mike Wilkins Charity match.

The teams prior to the Black History Month Charity Fixture. (Photograph: Daniel Barnby)

The annual charity match was not the only event that the club took part in this year as representatives from the third team played the African and Caribbean society in a charity game during Black History Month. A highlight of the efforts shown by the club to interact further with the student body whilst providing entertainment for the spectators.

The 1st team were not the only team to achieve success this year, as the 2nd team, led by Luke Moore, played consistently well over the course of the season to get themselves in contention for trophies. The side were able to win and achieve a runner’s up position in their respective trophies bringing another successful season for Kent FC to a close.

Looking ahead

The success of this season has been substantially beneficial to the club because the players, staff and fans that support our endeavours can enjoy our victories but also because these victories only motivate us to improve in the future. During our end of year meal, votes were cast for the new committee who will be running the club next year and the list is as follows:

• Ross Goodman-Brown as Chairman
• Stephen Taylor as Vice-Chair
• Adam Dobson as Secretary
• Alex Jones as Treasurer
• Connor Holmes as Third Team Captain
• James Fox as Second Team Captain
• Stephen Purcell as First team Captain

On behalf of Kent FC and the players who will be graduating and therefore leaving the club this year, we wish the new committee all the best in their future endeavours.

For more news and updates on Kent FC including how to get involved in trials from September 2013, follows us on Twitter @KentFC, like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/Kentfc or visit our website www.kentfc.co.uk. 

Alex Blood and The Diggers