His journey from being a ward of the Starks to an Iron Islander prince has been fascinating but has done nothing for his reputation as this week he goes on the hunt for the Stark children and their wildling protectors who escaped last episode. It’s a series of scenes that gradually make him less the son trying to impress a distant father and more a pirate who should know better and is committing these brutal acts to simply keep his crew from seriously considering mutiny. It all comes to a climax when he shows the residents of Winterfell the bodies of a couple of charred infants. The chances of them actually being the Stark children are pretty slim though; it seems unlikely that such major characters would just be killed off screen.

Theon should really take lessons from the most likable villain of the series: Tywin Lannister. His conversations with Arya and almost fatherly demeanour make him a serious contender for the coveted position of my favourite Lannister. So much so that when Arya finally does see an opportunity to slit his throat my immediate reaction was “Don’t you dare”. He might have been directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocents, but his scenes are the silver lining to the dark cloud that is the storyline of Game of Thrones.

This episode is relatively Lannister-heavy; the title of this episode obviously refers to the latest appearance of the ever calm, ever cynical Jaime Lannister. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau gives the character such charisma that, as is the case with many Lannisters, when he does something as questionable as kill his own cousin in a desperate bid for escape the only reaction I could muster was a disappointed shake of the head rather than actual disgust. He’s not exactly likeable, but unlike the other characters he is fully aware of the acts that he has carried out and makes no attempt to hide them. It’s a refreshing sight in a show full of characters who are desperately scrabbling for glory to see someone who is perfectly comfortable in their own skin, even if that skin belongs to someone who has killed a king and crippled a little boy.

Even Cersei gets her own moment of sympathy as she breaks down and admits not once, but twice, that her son is not exactly the greatest of kings – firstly to Sansa, who’s terrified at the prospect of bearing her ‘beloved’ Joffrey’s children, and secondly to Tyrion. The queen’s icy demeanour is broken when she realises that her incestuous relationship with Jaime might not have borne the best results. Tyrion, in an uncharacteristic show of brotherly love, attempts to soften her guilt; reminding her that Joffrey is the only one of her three children who turned out to be a monster. It isn’t a great piece of comforting, but it works as a way of showing how the young king is beyond the control of all those who thought they might be able to reign him in.

Over in Qarth Danaerys finds out that her dragons are being kept in the hands of the strange, bald, purple-lipped  warlocks who have been hanging around her like a bad smell ever since she got to the city. Turns out Xaro has betrayed her and allied himself with these residents of the ominously named ‘House of the Undying’ in a bid for power over the whole of Quarth. Safe to say the whole situation doesn’t turn out in her favour as the ruling council of thirteen are slaughtered and she is taken into captivity. At least she’ll probably be able to see her precious dragons again sometime soon.

Overall, the character moments are what make this episode one of the best in the series so far. There’s very little laboured exposition and many enjoyable opportunities for many of the less sympathetic characters to show their true colours. Let’s just hope the show can carry on in this direction rather than be derailed by the awkward jumping about style of storytelling that has been characteristic of several previous episodes.

St. Peter's Basilica, in the heart of the Vatican

It’s remarkable how an institution so apparently indifferent to child abuse as the Catholic Church continues to concern itself with the sexual activities of consenting adults. Yet in the latest addition to the Vatican’s vast, 2000 year old anthology of morally corrupt behaviour, the Catholic Education Service has exhorted almost 400 Catholic high schools in the UK—teaching some 340000 pupils—to promote a petition against equal rights for gay people. The Education Secretary, Michael Gove, has ordered an investigation into the legality of schools presenting a one-sided political view, a clear breach of teaching guidelines.

Gay marriage, seen by many as the final step to legal equality for homosexual couples, is likely to come into effect in the UK in the near future. Yet, as with European fascism, the AIDS epidemic and the acceptance of modern science, the Catholic Church has once again chosen to be on the wrong side of history, as it not only opposes the equality measure (which religious institutions will not have  to recognize anyway), but encourages the pupils of its schools to do so too.

The wider debate about publicly funded faith schools aside, the extent to which the Church involves a large number of vulnerable, easily manipulated youngsters in its own political interests by mobilising  them against equality is clearly worrying. To have such a prominent role in education is a privilege, yet the Catholic Church has chosen to abuse this privilege to fight against basic civil rights of a significant proportion of the population and, presumably, their own pupils. Homophobic bullying remains a problem in schools, and it appears that if a school openly supports and encourages its students to support a homophobic policy of opposing equal marriage, that they tacitly acknowledge that the school’s gay students are in some way wrong, abnormal or sinful, which clearly isn’t a productive stance for a school to take.

The Catholic Education Service has claimed their stance is a religious rather than a political one, yet the petition opposes “any attempt to redefine the legal definition of marriage which is the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others”. The government is redefining civil, not religious marriage, which bears no effect on Catholic ceremonies, suggesting that the Catholic Education Service is meddling in politics beyond its realm. The Coalition For Marriage, who are behind the petition, claim that “People’s careers could be harmed, couples seeking to adopt or foster could be excluded” and that same sex marriage may lead to polygamy, yet have no factual basis for these claims. In actual fact, no countries that have equal marriage laws also allow polygamy, and at the other end of the spectrum most of those that punish homosexuality by death do.

The reactionary objection of religious institutions to equal marriage comes from a deep-seated fear that times are changing and they no longer have a monopoly on marriage. These organisations have every right to campaign for whatever political ends they choose, but using the education system to mobilise schoolchildren against equality in what should be an open, safe, and tolerant environment is a disgrace and throws into question the suitability of an institution such as Roman Catholic Church to have a taxpayer-funded platform to provide so-called moral guidance to children. But for now, the message on gay marriage remains simple: If you don’t support same sex marriage, don’t have one, but don’t try to impose your views on other people’s children.

Sheffield’s Lyric Festival is now in its second year, and the week-long festival celebrating the spoken and written word has brought a prize-winning array of writers to the truly atmospheric surroundings of St George’s lecture theatre.

2012’s Lyric Festival has also expanded to collaborate with the University’s Department of Music, resulting in the diverse range of vinyl record covers now on display in the Jessop West foyer. The theme of the ‘lyric’ runs through all of the works on display, from popular and classical music to musicals. This serves to highlight the variant yet complimenting aspects of each form: the beat lyricism of Bob Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ nestles beside the similarly sublime spoken word album ‘Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths’.

A informative hand-out also accompanies the exhibition, explaining the background and selection process behind each album, and includes Youtube links to tracks of note from individual albums. An innovative and original range of works, and a testimony to the inspirational nature of the Lyric festival.

7/10

He is named ahead of Samit Patel, who made his debut in Sri Lanka in March, and Ravi Bopara who was ruled out with a thigh injury.  Yorkshire’s Tim Bresnan is also named in the squad and he faces a battle between Graham Onions and Steven Finn for the final fast bowlers place.

Bairstow, who scored 50 against the West Indies for the England Lions this week, has already had a taste of international cricket having played six ODIs and six T20 internationals.  Bairstow keeps wicket for Yorkshire but will not be required with the gloves as Matt Prior is also named in the squad.

National selector Geoff Miller told Cricinfo that, “Jonny Bairstow has put in a number of impressive performances both for England Lions and Yorkshire and has been working hard on the England Performance Programme over the last couple of years. He is an exciting young player who now has an opportunity to experience the Test environment.”

Bresnan has been out of action following an elbow injury and played only one test against Sri Lanka over the winter. But he has been back to near his best recently, taking 5/81 against Gloucestershire and then scoring 38 as Yorkshire successfully chased down 400.

He will hope to be selected ahead of Onions and Finn who have also both been in good county form so far this season. Monty Panesar, who played alongside Graeme Swann as a second spinner in the winter, misses out on selection as the England opt for just one spin bowler.

Squad in full:  Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Jonny Bairstow, Matt Prior, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steven Finn and Graham Onions.

The film opens in the 60’s as Madeleine (Ludivine Saignier), an assistant in a shoe shop, decides to turn to part-time prostitution in order to pay for expensive clothing. Apparently, this or thievery were the only two options open – presumably there were very few paper rounds in Paris back then. 30 years later Madeleine’s daughter Anna (Chiara Mastroianni) is making all the same mistakes as her mother, flitting between two potential love interests – teacher Clément (Louis Garrel) and American drummer Henderson (Paul Schneider).

The problems are rife almost immediately – considering this film is almost entirely about love, it’s disappointing that the relationships are the weakest part of the plot. The Czech doctor that Madeleine falls for in her youth (played by Radivoje Bukvic and Milos Forman) is quite clearly a slimeball, which makes it impossible to root for them almost from the off. Anna’s love interests, meanwhile, scarcely fare better – Clément is an almost stereotypically angry, brooding young Frenchman, while Henderson’s dorky American charms quickly fade as his whiny side begins to shine through. The whole genre of “woman goes for git” has been done to death, and so rather than being compelling it makes Anna and Madeleine just seem annoying.

However, it’s not just the script that sets the characters up this way; the actors do a pretty good job of ruining them too. Catherine Deneuve (Madeleine in the 1990s) is actually Chiara Mastroianni’s mother, and you would expect the bond between them to make acting as mother and daughter a fairly easy task. Unfortunately not; there is absolutely no on-screen chemistry between them, or between any of the actors for that matter. Everyone walks through their scenes with the same blank, almost bored stare which, presumably, is supposed to represent the inner torment of their souls. Or something like that.

Beloved’s only redeeming feature is its music; which is a piece of luck considering it’s being billed as a musical. There’s some good use of 60’s and 90’s pop music to set something of a tone for both time periods; a particular highlight was the opening French translation of “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’”. The original music by Alex Beaupain has a kind of sombre, melancholic ring to it that’s reminiscent of Jacques Brel, and its sung reasonably well by everyone in the cast (even if the subtitling was a bit dodgy in places).

Sadly, though, some nice singing voices aren’t enough to make up for the other bad aspects of this movie. Thanks to its aimless, rambling script, its lacklustre cast, and characters who are impossible to care about, Beloved is one musical that you can most definitely afford to miss.

3/10

Photo: Powellizer/Flickr

The colourful, spacious room seems more like an adventure playground than a classroom. Two five-year-old boys are noisily playing cops and robbers, while a little blond girl, oblivious to the fact she is making her teacher trip on her awkwardly-placed chair, is noisily bossing a friend about. It is a far cry from the quiet GCSE class next door, where the maths teacher teaches enthusiastically to a smattering of pupils you could barely call a class. But both places share colourfully decorated walls, with artworks produced by pupils and class-projects adorning the space in between the windows from which sunlight pours in. This is what the Bethany School in Sheffield looks like, a Christian independent school whose administration intend to establish a free school with branches across Sheffield.
The most striking feature in the primary school classroom is a large mural that depicts the biblical creation story. This isn’t just a leftover from RE lessons: quite proudly, the teachers are “committed to developing our own distinctively Christian curriculum, based upon biblical principles”.
Controversially, the Bethany School is quite unashamedly, a school that prides itself on teaching creationism, and intends to do so in the proposed Christian free school. In their FAQs on the proposal website, the question “Will the SCFS curriculum include creationism?” is answered straightforwardly: “Yes. Christianity has a clear and distinctive creation story which is relevant to all areas of the curriculum. We know that ‘some people think differently’ so we will be sure to give full weight to other views of the origins and purposes of life.”  Considering Michael Gove’s public statement that he would not allow schools that teach creationism instead of scientific consensus to receive state funding, it’s a bold statement.
Their commitment to teaching biblical creation does not, however, necessarily mean that science teaching is lacking. The important distinction, the Sheffield Christian Free School initiative insists, lies with the qualifier “instead”: they intend to teach both. As for the actual teaching, all recent school inspections of the Bethany School have declared the teaching to be “good” (the highest mark), and, according to their website, their children continue do well after leaving. In fact, the school is extraordinarily successful: while the head teacher Ken Walze readily admits that while “some [former students] went to Oxbridge, some went to prison”, their GCSE results have almost consistently been above the national average. Walze calls the school a “progressive educational establishment.”
And in many ways, the school is indeed excellent. Tucked away 10 minutes from the University of Sheffield, the small, cosy stone building on the hillside looks warmly inviting, as though transported from another era. Its charm is only furthered on the inside, with the teachers often eschewing the traditional, frontal approach to teaching for a more engaged and hands-on approach. This is made possible by the tiny size of the school. With an overall student population of 96, it’s comparatively minuscule, and makes it as personal and family-engaged as possible. “Family-scale education” Walze calls the approach that included installing a lift for a single disabled pupil, personally picking up one pupil who broke a leg for a few months, encouraging parents to actively participate in their child’s education, and ultimately – perhaps most remarkably of all – accommodating for varying financial means by charging no fees.
Despite being an independent school and receiving no state funding, the Bethany School has managed to survive since its founding in 1987 by setting a budget and asking the families of pupils for donations. These donations have yet to fail at keeping the school afloat.
The model has proved popular with parents, and the demand for places far outstripped the available space. To accommodate the demand, the Bethany School staff helped set up Emmaus School, also based in Sheffield. “We’re passionate about this city, about serving this city”, Ken Walze emphasises, “and the only way to do this is through the independent sector.” While the Emmaus School proved successful, the demand still proved too much for the two small schools to handle.
Thus, when Michael Gove first unveiled his free schools proposal, Walze jumped at the opportunity. The plan is to set up a state-funded, 1,000-pupil Christian free school, spread over 10 sites across Sheffield, of which Bethany School would become one, and thus accommodate the rising demand while still keeping ties with the local community.
Despite all this, it’s no fairytale place: All the familiar school archetypes are easily visible, from the playful, boisterous younger pupils to the surly group of teenagers hunched over their GCSE coursework, sporting the occasional token punk or hipster. The school day follows the normal pattern that any school’s would.
It’s a school like any other, yet it’s hard to shake a feeling of distinctness about the place. Speaking to the head teacher, it becomes evident what sets this school from the state school horror stories of unruly students and disaffected teachers. In every decoration, every piece of equipment provided for pupils, the passion for teaching that motivated a group of parents to form the school in 1986 is evident. This passion for education could well be the school’s greatest strength, but also its greatest vulnerability.
It is this passion and investment that seems to drive the defiance voiced in the Free School Proposal’s Twitter account, challenging Michael Gove to stick to his guns on faith schools. The defiant tone is continued elsewhere: In person, Ken Walze, while assuring that all pupils are taught the value of “some people think differently”, patiently stresses the importance of the Christian worldview quoting a hymn: “Something lives in every hue / Christ-less eyes have never seen!” However, in a recent newsletter of Bethany School, a far more aggressive tone was struck: “We have discovered that secular indoctrination in society is virtually complete”, it alleges on the subject of the professionalism of keeping personal beliefs out of the classroom, “there is an implicit assumption that secularism is a default position that requires no justification”.
Lamenting that Christian parents and teachers fell for it “hook, line and sinker”, it dramatically warns that “a militant secular curriculum is pounding at the very foundation of our faith, namely: Our world belongs to God!”
The root of this confrontational defiance doesn’t necessarily lie in fanatical faith. There’s a sense that Ken Walze feels that, as a devout Christian, he is vilified in the eye of secularist intent on keeping religion out of the public sphere. It seems as though the fundamental problem is one of understanding: Avowed atheists shudder at the thought of the American brand of unscientific creationism being taught in British schools, yet Ken Walze has no problem reconciling a literal biblical truth with scientific theory as being two separate truths: A “faith truth” and a “scientific truth”. He never denies the value of Darwinist theory in the progression of science.
However, a recent the Guardian column about the Sheffield Christian Free School proposal exemplifies the vilification Walze talks about: In the column, the author Phil Beadle quotes liberally from the school’s website, and presents many of the more religious passages as anti-intellectual and, effectively, bad education. Walze wrote to the Guardian, and challenged them to view the school and the value of its education for themselves. Neither the author nor the Guardian responded. It’s easy to see why, given this reaction, Christians setting up faith schools would feel vilified and excluded.
It is bizarre, given Britain’s history as a Christian country, that the former religious majority would see itself as a persecuted minority. It seems as though the civil society, tolerant of all faiths, has not just failed to properly empathise and build bridges with new faiths such as Islam, it has also lost touch with the originally dominant religion. If multiculturalism, particularly in terms of religion, has failed, does this count for Christianity too?
But all debates about the role of religion in education aside, the public debate about education has become extremely politicised in recent years, with educational reform being the pet project of seemingly every recent election campaign. In this climate of politicisation across party lines complicated further by the debate about faith schools, the measure of education is in dire need of refocusing on the effectiveness of educational models, and the needs of the pupils. To dismiss Bethany School and its sister projects on grounds of their faith would drastically overlook the remarkable accomplishments they can and have achieved. Certainly, their model is not universally applicable: It is specifically Christian, and is designed by and for a holistically Christian worldview. Nevertheless, any school could learn from their successes.
As of April 28, the Sheffield Christian Free School proposal has been turned down. The rejection letter, published on the proposal’s website makes no mention of the issue of creationism. Optimistically, the proposal website states that this means “not yet”.

The 3rd XI registered their first win of the season as they chased down 115 for the loss of just four wickets.  Shaad Silby was the star as he took 6/46 with his left arm spin and Sanjay Patel scored 48 not out to take them home.

At the picturesque Racecourse Ground the 1st XI were well beaten by a superior Durham side.  Sheffield initially did well to contain Durham in the powerplay overs but on an excellent pitch, batting became much easier once the ball got older.

Chris Murrall digs one out against Durham.

Having been 45/2 Durham’s batsmen recovered well to add 171 for the third wicket as opener Hobsborn scored an excellent hundred.  Mark Williams, Chris Murrall and Jordan Calcutt bowled well at the death, however, and managed to restrict Durham to 260.  Williams finished with exceptional figures of 2/28 from his 10 overs.

In reply with the bat Sheffield got off to a decent start as Ali Haynes and Will Aitkenhead saw off the new ball relatively untested.  The score had reached 41 before Aitkenhead chipped tamely to square leg for 15 and that quickly became 47/3 as Haynes was caught in the gully for 20 and Williams fell in identical fashion the very next ball.

The batting never really recovered and Sheffield managed to scrape to 123 all out in a disappointing performance but they could have no complaints over who was the better side on the day.

The 2nd XI travelled to Weetwood to take on Leeds University 3rd XI and were asked to bat first.  Mike Goodfellow was the pick of the batsmen, looking in fine form as he made 62 in their total of 157/8 from a rain affected 35 overs.

In reply Leeds had reached 33/1, Stuart Rogers with the wicket, before the rain set in for good and dashed any hopes of a result.

The 3rd XI play their last fixture of the league season on Sunday against York 2nd XI whilst the 1st team play Liverpool at home on Wednesday and the 2nd XI are at Sunderland.

The film is centred around a young woman named Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen), who whilst staying at her family’s lakeside Victorian house in preparation for its sale (a situation we can no doubt all relate to) finds herself locked in, having discovered her father unconscious, having been attacked.

The film is presented as a single continuous shot, and as such promises “88 minutes of real fear captured in real time”. In this respect it does, to an extent, live up to this promise. The single shot presentation is intense when it comes to generating an almost tangible sense of fear and claustrophobia, in the spooky setting of an old Victorian-style house. Despite this, there are some serious negatives brought about. Fundamentally it allows for very little investment in the film’s characters, as no time is taken to provide any element of context or back-story. As such, the film’s major developments are relatively cold and uninteresting, which is a shame as it feels like the novelty of the single shot presentation is held above much needed plot developments.

Olsen’s performance is adequate, good enough to convey the sense of terror that one would imaginably demonstrate if locked in a house under attack, but fails to really engage the audience enough to merit serious emotional investment. However this is perhaps not so much her fault as it is the nature of the film.

Despite these drawbacks, the film is worth watching for fans of films such as The Blair Witch Project and I will admit to feeling slightly less safe in my own home after watching this film (which is the aim of horror…right?). Though if you’re after a more engaging experience, you would be best sticking with a classic such as Carrie.

All in all, whilst relatively entertaining as an experience for the novelty of its single shot presentation, the film feels quite like what it was; a Hollywood remake. So if you’ve got your heart set on watching Silent House any time soon, go ahead… just make sure it’s the original.

4/10

Police are warning students to take extra care at night

Students are being told to take extra care when returning home after a female student was assaulted in the early hours of Monday morning.

The acclaimed comedy production company The Invisible Dot has been touring the country with their new wave of up-and-coming comedians. This week they packed up their bags and headed to Sheffield’s intimate Library Theatre…

Nick Mohammed – 7/10

Kicking off the event, character comic Nick Mohammed wowed the crowd with his slick adoption of various characters. From weather presenter to wedding photographer, Mohammed proved he could do it all. His gestures, actions and intonation were without fault. Unfortunately the transitions from character to character were a little lengthy, as Mohammed felt the need provide each character with an introduction that seemed to waste precious stage time. However Mohammed continued to amaze the audience, especially when he convincingly transformed into a posh college student.

Toby – 6/10

It was refreshing to see these two young sisters take to the stage and enter a style of comedy that is traditionally dominated by men. Their sketches were cheeky and fun. However, their fake sibling rivalry was over-emphasized and prevented each sketch from reaching a definitive ending, which was a shame as there was a great deal of potential here. French and Saunders remain the only established name in the realm of female sketch comedy double acts, but in a few years time, one might see Toby enter our living rooms.

Adam Riches – 10/10

Frightfully and fantastically funny, Adam Riches not only had the audience in the palm of his hand, but also on the edge of their seats, sweating with anticipation. The character comic pumped the audience full of adrenaline by pulling many of them up onto the stage. It was an entirely unique performance. Even the costume changes were dramatic, with Riches completing an onstage assault course. For Riches, comedy certainly isn’t about vanity; he committed fully to every character and was willing to do absolutely anything on stage to tickle the audience. His performance was hilarious, energetic, and grotesque. Riches was like a comedic chameleon, easily transforming from one character to another. He is truly the deserved winner of the 2011 Edinburgh Comedy Award.

Now only one tour date remains, where all of the acts will be joining together. The tour will be heading home to London on the 14th May at the Bloomsbury Theatre. So escape from the stress of exams and head down South for this spectacular event.

7/10