Beaver Review mk II

Today’s issue of the Beaver has turned out to be quite a self-referential one, hasn’t it? Perhaps it could be prompted by their concern about the possibility of standing up as the only truly independent and investigatory student newspaper in the University of London. Whatever the reason, we find inexplicable cross-platform coverage of PuLSE reporter Rob Charnock debriefed on his interview with George Osbourne (our own coverage here), illustrated with a spiffy photograph of the be-vested Charnock jeering at the camera from beside the “sleazy Tory”. In addition to that report, we discover this week that LSE alums both monitor, and allegedly steal, elections in Georgia and Kenya, respectively.

Over in the Comment and Analysis (C&A) section, newly-elected editor James Pugh pens an introductory piece bemoaning the lack of unsolicited submissions to C&A, thereby presumably plugging a hole that would otherwise have been left on the page by the dearth of worthwhile Op-Eds.

Taking up the mantle in a striking editorial the Beaver trumpets its independence from the Student Union by slamming the Union General Meeting for its “self-referential, in-joke filled squabbling.” Strong words, but it doesn’t stop there, with the editorial continuing to suggest that much of the actions of the Constitution and Steering committees not only fail to encourage but, through intimidation and opacity, actually dissuade students from attending “what should be the most important, busy, and liveliest event of the week.” Expect more coverage on the Student Union in general, and the UGM in particular later on this week – I wouldn’t want “LSE’s political chattering classes” to get the impression that this Observer is ignoring them!

So what we’ve (finally) seen today is a splendid issue of the Beaver, one in which the publication has proven its relevance as one of the more influential institutions in the university today (although perhaps, as Pugh notes, no institution is so powerful and popular at the LSE these days as those crammed careers fairs). Given the relative weakness of the UGM nowadays – the editorial suggests that many of the sessions over the past term failed to reach a quorum and thus any motions voted upon weren’t valid – the Beaver appears to have seized the moment and pounced. We may be able to expect some real blood-letting in Student Union politics this term!

Beaver Review

Well I was griping all day long, but by mid-afternoon the Beaver’s latest issue had hit Houghton Street. Unfortunately the new articles are not up on the Beaver’s website, which is a shame because I cannot link to the latest stories. Here’s hoping they get around to updating the site sometime soon, but in the meantime make sure to grab yourself a copy and read along!

This issue of the Beaver is chock full of proper, hard-nosed journalism and has quite competently answered my complaints from earlier today. The lead story, on the precipitous drop in funding for the University of London Union, is a true blue student news story, and one that reflects a rather interesting change in the makeup of the University of London whereby individual colleges and uni’s are becoming far more independent (the LSE will begin awarding diplomas as its own institution instead of from the University of London this year, for instance).

With drastic financial cutbacks, the main casualty identified by the Beaver is their friendly competitor, the London Student newspaper which has a grim future ahead of it after losing more than 500,000 pounds in funding. “It is widely expected that London Student, the ULU newspaper, will be forced to close as a result of the funding cut,” Beaver News Editor Michael Deas reports. This development is seen by the Beaver as leaving it as the sole independent and competent student newspaper in the University of London system – apparently the others (Felix of Imperial College, for instance) have a less all encompassing remit in their reporting. Philip Pacanowski, a reporter for the London Student explains: “[The London Student]’s editorial independence has allowed it to dig deeper, to ask questions that most other UL newspapers cannot, with the exception of The Beaver.”

Well who in the world will??

Apparently, There is Such a Thing as a Free Lunch

A line of students snaked through Houghton Street during lunchtime today, but not the usual crowd waiting to get into Wright’s Bar for a roll or sandwich. Instead, students were queuing up to get a free dose of vegetarian goodness, doled out by the Hare Krishna Food For Life program, which provides veg meals to all comers around London for 26 years.

Reviews of the grub tended to be positive, especially noting the size of the pile of rice and lentils served. And with a price like that, how could one complain? For a starving student, every little bit helps!

Student and Admin Media Could Use an Update

Well while we wait for the student-created media to spit out their content, let’s take a look at the offerings provided by the school itself. As contrasted to the woefully outdated pages of the various Student Union outlets (among the most neglected being PuLSE and The Beaver, as well as the SU’s home page itself – which appears to be down at the moment), the administration-run sites do provide some recent content, although they too could perhaps do with a bit more attention.

Nevertheless, if you failed to attend any of the official school events from week 1, you’ll be able to find podcasts of a number of them on this page, including “Oil, War and Geopolitics” and “The Global State of Influenza Pandemic Preparedness” (note that these links will take you directly to the mp3 recordings of the events). Additionally, if you are keen to keep up on even more instances of LSE in the News, this page that is maintained by the Press and Information Office is invaluable – keep an eye out for your least favorite professor making a blundering statement in the mainstream press!

And lastly to the blogs. As I’ve noted before, there is an incomplete list of LSE-related blogs to your right on the blogroll (including some that have likely been abandoned), and I’d welcome any additions that ought to be included. Sadly in this case, the school-affiliated blogs tend to be as useless in terms of frequent updates as the SU Media Group pages, with a very notable exception for Charlie Beckett’s Polis blog, which is updated more or less every day – the latest offering is a review of the recently returned ITV News at Ten, as well as a comparison with the BBC’s competing news broadcast.

LSE in the News

-Bank Sector May See More Writedowns – Deutsche CEO (Reuters)

-Nation-State Politics Can Ony Fail the Problems of the Modern World (The Guardian)

-Brown Must Decide Mervyn King’s Future (The Telegraph)

Slow News Day

Apologies for the dearth of posts this morning. I had been expecting to take a critical look at the days LSE news from The Beaver, which publishes a new issue today, however it appears that neither the print nor the electronic versions are available as yet. I guess that’s what you get when you count on an outside entity to provide grist for the mill!

More posts to follow, including non-Beaver-reliant ones.