The whole of Hampshire Terrace was closed off by police, with cones, tape and everything everywhere. I was intrigued.

 Found a police officer leaning over the front of a collision investigation unit and I asked if he could give me a clue what was going on, he nodded towards a car with a large dent in the side, I then enquired about the possibility of getting a few pictures, I was just thinking a few stock images of police tape, vehicles stuff like that. 

The office asked me very politely if I would mind doing it from a particular side of the road as they had a perimeter and didn't want me getting in their way. I agreed to the very fair request and trotted off. At this point i spotted a Police motorcycle laying underneath the dent in the side of the car, this now became a very tense situation. Accidents are one thing, accidents involving the police are typically a little emotional for the staff on scene. 

I casually get my kit out of my bag during which time another officer politely asks me who i am taking pictures for. I whip out my collection of press cards and explain i'm a student and a freelance photographer, the officer passes me back my cards commenting on how grumpy i look in my photo. 

I take my first photo, with my flash gun and all hell breaks loose. A chap in the pub starts hollering at me something about seeing my press card, and "what do you think your doing" a police sergeant arrives claiming that its incredibly rude to start taking pictures without his permission. I explain to the Sgt that i had already spoken to two of his colleagues.  He assures me that it is my responsibility to seek his approval. 

I am then told that if I don't do as I'm told he will confiscate my camera, At this point I get a little confused, I'm on public property, taking photos of something on public property. There is as far as I'm aware no reason why anything I'm doing is wrong, unless somehow i am in breach of the 2005 prevention of terrosim bill which I really can't see anyone justifying that. 

 I point this out to the helpful Sgt who sulks away,

Now the guy from the pub reappears and now refers to me as "pap scum", "a parasite on society" and "the reason princess Diana died"

 All in all i think this shows an incredible level of hatred and misunderstanding to the media world. Not everyone involved in media is sensationalist, money grabbing whore, some of us actually believe in fair journalism. In holding ourselves to the highest levels of accountability, using the NUJ code of conduct not as target but as a bench mark to what I do, the press complaints commission code of practice is not something to find ways around, but to be strictly and vehemently abided by.

I'm not a journalist to make money, become famous and expose peoples private life, that's the job of gossip merchants. I'm here to inform, stimulate debate, to help people make up there own minds  to provide people with information and to act as a way of people expressing themselves.

the beebs correspondent is making a very interesting point about US primary election spending. And well he uses an example of doughnuts £3,000 spent in one city alone and gives some incredible figures on other amounts spent too.

I'd now like to take compare this to the UPSU elections, with its cap on election spending, which some have complained that the £60 is a little restrictive and hasn't allowed for inflation since the 1950's either way isnt the point.

Throughout the elections, of which i was around for a lot of the time. WHERE WERE THE DOUGHTNUTS???? there was two boxes of krispy Kremes,which I brought down to the Union.

**Sulks** 

Ohh and this evening, in the office, doing a little bit of work and get a frantic phone call. Guildhall is full of fire engines and blue shiny lights.

Me and Tom (our Resident  cameraman) were on scene within minutes to document....... a fire brigade exercise. Damn it, it seemed quite exciting and it gave as an opportunity to get some stock images and chat to some new contacts.

Anyway, Gamel Mag editor has just come into my house (i'm not sure who let him in) and is demanding I do on a Pugwash Social, SO i better go. He is my boss and everything

I’m not going to preach to you about why you should get involved, I am going to discuss the role of UPSU media.  News, current affairs and anything timely comes under my job description, which means the elections and particularly how the printed and online media cover them becomes my responsibility. This on one hand means that I have news to write on without looking too far, which has its benefits considering the exams, deadlines and whatever else is being demanded of me by my degree. However,  a whole new dilemma appears when covering elections. One that has got me slightly stumped and baffled: should we cover elections? How do we cover them fairly and without showing bias or appearing to show bias?

The BBC and the mainstream press have a similar dilemma when it comes to general elections. When it comes to general elections the BBC have a responsibility to cover the current government and the official opposition along with Liberal Democrats in equal measures. This works fine, however with the UPSU sabbatical elections the number of candidates can be huge, and to mention everyone would involve having a paper four times the size and me having the long overdue heart attack.

So where do we go? Do we only report on candidates doing interesting things? But then who defines interesting?

We could just ignore the whole process but that would then fail my primary aim, which is to try and educate and stimulate debate amongst you our readers.

I’m lost and my brain hurts, am I over reacting? Is this just a huge collection of pig laws or do I have reason to fret?

So on my daily trawl through the BBC News website I came across this.

The BBC caption says "A Vietnamese gymnast shows her flexibility during the rope category of the women's rhythmic gymnastics event at the Southeast Asian Games in Korat, Thailand."

I honestly think they have missed a more important News story I would have gone for "Women with foot for head during the rope category of the women's rhythmic gymnastics event at the Southeast Asian Games in Korat, Thailand." but hey what do I know?

Scientists from Southwestern University found caffeine increased the female libido in experiments on rats.

The Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behaviour journal study said the effect was caused by it stimulating the part of the brain regulating arousal.

But researchers said a similar effect was only likely to be repeated in humans who do not drink coffee regularly.

The hot drink is linked to improving memory and reducing the risk of cancer, but studies have also suggested it increases the risk of heart disease.

In the latest research, scientists gave 108 female rats a moderate dose of caffeine before a mating test to determine if the caffeine had any effect on female behaviour.

They found that administration of caffeine shortened the amount of time it took the females to return to the males after sex for another mating session.

The study said the effects appeared to go beyond a simple boost of energy for socialising, but researchers said the effect may not be repeated in all humans.

Brain

Lead researcher Dr Fay Guarraci said: "These rats had never had caffeine before. In humans, it might enhance the sexual experience only among people who are not habitual users."

But she added the study should help improve understanding about the relationship between the brain and behaviour.

"Understanding the circuits that control this behaviour will help us understand how the brain works and what part of the brain mediates motivation because sexual behaviour is a motivative behaviour."

But a spokesman for the British Coffee Association said: "We are not that convinced by this. Humans would have to drink 10 cups of coffee in one go to get the same effect and that is not the normal consumption level.

"There are health benefits of coffee, but at this stage I do not think we can include this as one."

  Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/4628070.stm

Published: 2006/01/19 13:45:55 GMT

© BBC MMVII

(this is a copy of email I've just sent out) 

Hullo to you all.

This is aimed at all those who want to write News articles for Pugwash, Pugwash News and upsu.net

I want to thank everyone who has got involved so far. I've been looking at ways of organising the News Team. I've decided to go in a old  newspaper style and assign people correspondent positions. This positions will be awarded on merit. I'm looking for people with an interest and knowledge on a particular area. These correspondents will be assigned an area and will be expected to find and present their own content, with guidance from myself and the rest of the News Team. This news would hopefully be presented regularly and will include news which is of relevance and interest to the rest of the student body.

So far I have a Cultural and Social Affairs correspondent but the areas that I am looking at include

Local News

Technology & Science

Education

University

Union

Political

International

and I really fancy a bit of investigative journalism if someone is willing.

Also if you think I've missed something out let me know and we can develop another position. If your interested in anything or want to just have a gossip let me know. If you want a position send me in an article.

Best regards,

The News Editor

news@upsu.net 

Fay Wray's Knees are possibly the sexiest thing in the world

My head is killing me. Literally, I'm tempted to lop it off in an attempt to limit the pain. So lots of painkillers wooooo everything is so deep man.

 So managed to miss a few deadlines this week, I'm hoping to get back on my feet and submit a few ECF's as well. (if any of my lecturers are reading this, i am sorry and it is genuine)

So in my sick state a few people have come and sorted out the News mainly Toru and I also stole Tallie from the SubEd of Reviews section to come to my aid and without them i fear the paper we are still working on would have started with either 4 blank pages or a HUuuuuuugeee editorial abouts crufts and dogs and various deep fried snack foods.

So what else was I going to talk about ahhh

My MP3 player, its stopped working, so I've just lost about 40GB of music. I'm not a happy bunny and I've had the same CD playing for the last few days now so if anyone has any idea how I can cheaply, effectively and legally gain an extensive music collection I'll be very grateful. Oh and by the way peppered pitta bread with peanut butter is to die for, I mean this stuff rocks my slightly skid marked pants off!

 And I think on that note I should sign out

just to say though

 (266) 

L13 1-7 

We got the second issue done. Wooo. Its on the Shelves now! We also no have a team of people to help. Laura's decided she wants all the stress' and strains of brandish her red pen. She is more than welcome to spent late nights with Alex. (ahem) It means that actually I get a funky new title and to focus upon what i actually really enjoy doing. News Editor! yes that means every fortnight I now need to be finding/expanding/or down right fabricating news content. Oh the joys. Of course if you have any suggestions let me know. What else, well I've been home now for a while and hopefully i'll have internet in the pad by Monday which means i can do work from home. Oh and a hole has appeared in my wall

Well thats it

Oh and again thanks are due to Perkins, and she owes Alex a favour as he stopped me throwing chairs and making abusive 2am phone calls.