Saturday, June 13Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

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Final year facts on council tax
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Final year facts on council tax

  Beth Carr explores the practicalities for those who have to pay council tax and what the SU are doing about it. Term is drawing to a close and amongst the pizza menus and estate agent brochures, final year students are receiving another form of unwanted mail: council tax bills. However, unlike your usual junk mail, these bills are serious and they must be paid. What is Council Tax and who has to pay? Council Tax pays for services provided by the council, such as libraries, schools and the emergency services. Every householder has to pay this, and with multiple occupants each person is liable, jointly and severally - this means that they all are responsible for the bill together but are also individually responsible for paying. Full-time students are exempt from payi...
Getting a job after university
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Getting a job after university

Current Deputy Editor Louise Jones reports on why you shouldn’t worry about getting a job after university. It’s that time of year again when finalists finish all their exams and then go into panic mode about their future. However, it has been suggested that waiting until you have graduated before applying for a job will not scupper your chances. The outgoing head of UCAS, Mary Curnock Cook, warned that middle-class parents and universities have become “too fixated” on careers, placing unnecessary pressure on young people to apply for jobs too soon, suggesting that students should not bother looking for a job until they have graduated. Instead, Cook states that many students could benefit from some ‘“down-time” by moving back home after their final exams. Choosing to go to univers...
Suspected ‘Bomb Scare’ at School in Egham
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Suspected ‘Bomb Scare’ at School in Egham

Zara Gillick reports on the recent suspected 'bomb scare' at Magna Carta School, Egham. Just before 4pm on Friday 27th February 2017, Surrey Police and a bomb disposal team were called to the Magna Carta School in Egham when concerns were raised over an ‘item confiscated from a student’. Staff at the school called the 101 non-emergency number about the object in the afternoon before the police arrived at the school and then contacted the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team, who came shortly after. A message was put out on the School’s Facebook page reassuring parents, students and staff, stating that although it was a 'false alarm', it was dealt with 'in accordance to school emergency procedures'. Angela Jenkins, the school’s business manager, confirmed ‘we went through our ...
Serious Road Collision in Egham
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Serious Road Collision in Egham

Anna Robinson reports on the incident from the beginning of March, which required an air ambulance, as driver fled the scene leaving fellow motorist with serious injuries. On March 1, a road collision on Stroude Road, Egham left a motorist with serious injuries. The accident, which happened at around 1.30pm on the Wednesday, involved two vehicles – a Nissan pick-up truck and a Volkswagen caddy. Whilst the motorist in the Volkswagen was left with serious injuries, the other driver was believed to have fled the scene before emergency services arrived. A spokesperson for the ambulance service stated that although there were two patients “only one man was taken as priority St Peter’s Hospital, after suffering serious head injuries”. Peter Amiss from Chertsey fire station, one of th...
Most Disadvantaged Teenagers Less Likely to go to University than Ever Before
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Most Disadvantaged Teenagers Less Likely to go to University than Ever Before

Recent reports regarding access to higher education suggests that those from disadvantaged areas in the UK are less likely to attend university. Louise Jones finds out more... Teenagers from the most disadvantaged areas of the UK are four times less likely to apply for university than those from more well off backgrounds, official figures have revealed. Statistics suggest a young person’s chances of applying for an undergraduate course depend heavily on where they live, with the number of those planning to go on to higher education falling in some areas of the country. The analysis follows concerns raised over a lack of social mobility within education, with the gap between rich and poor students being granted university places reaching record highs last year. With recent media at...
Armstrong Gun Burgled
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Armstrong Gun Burgled

An Englefield Green pub favoured by students for its quizzes and karaoke nights has been burgled. The Armstrong Gun, situated on Victoria Street, was broken into overnight on Wednesday 1st March. The theft happened as the manager slept upstairs. Money was stolen from the fruit machines and the till, and an iPad that was kept behind the bar also went missing. Speaking to local paper Get Surrey, the pub’s manager, Daniel Freeman, said: "It happened overnight without us realising, I only knew there was something wrong when I went downstairs and saw the devastation. I was very shaken up but it is just lucky that we weren't downstairs at the time of the break-in. We will need to replace the locks and the rear door of the pub as that was what was used to break-in." The break-in comes ju...
New Information released about RHUL libraries: the future of Founder’s and Bedford is undecided
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New Information released about RHUL libraries: the future of Founder’s and Bedford is undecided

Joanne Archer reports on the latest rumours surrounding Founder's and Bedford. "Use of the East Reading Room hasn’t been decided yet so we wouldn’t be able to say whether it will be study space or not at this time," says Amy Sutton, Head of PR. Amy Sutton states that “While the community is excited about the opening of this fantastic addition to campus, we know how important the library in Founder’s is to the College community. We can assure current, past and future students and staff that, once the Emily Wilding Davison Building opens, the Founder’s West Reading Room will remain a Library Reading Room, with study spaces, connectivity and books on shelves and will continue to provide students with space to study and reflect in historic surroundings.” The Emily Wilding Davison buil...
Royal Holloway Lecturer Sparks Backlash from ‘Get Surrey’
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Royal Holloway Lecturer Sparks Backlash from ‘Get Surrey’

A Royal Holloway professor has provoked a response from a local paper after he referred to Egham as “a very boring place to live”. Get Surrey, who cover local news and events pertaining to the county, published a defensive article entitled “8 Reasons Egham is actually Pretty Great”. The article is justified as a response to a councillor's derogatory comments on the small Surrey town in which the university is officially based. The accused councillor, of the Labour party, happens to be Jason Brock, who also teaches modern history and the history of political thought at Royal Holloway. He was discussing the move of 250 Procter and Gamble employees from Egham to Whitley, a nearby town just south of Reading. Brock said of Egham: "I oddly enough work in Egham and have lived in Egham for s...
#WeAreInternational Campaign Across Campus
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#WeAreInternational Campaign Across Campus

On Tuesday 28 February and Wednesday 1 March, Royal Holloway was celebrating the international diversity of the university, encouraging students on campus to share their favourite worldwide locations. Almost 100 students and staff across Royal Holloway shared their favourite locations on a map located in the Boiler house. Amongst the favourites were Martinique, Pakistan, Amsterdam, Arizona, Ukraine, Malawi, Australia and New Zealand. People put a sticky note on the map stating why their chosen location was their favourite, with reasons ranging from the good food in Hong Kong, the undiscovered nature of Vietnam, and the proximity to family in Barbados. The campaign spread across social media with the hashtag #weareinternational and you can still get involved sharing your images ...
Students Favourite Indian Take-away Rated ZERO out of Five for Hygiene Standards
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Students Favourite Indian Take-away Rated ZERO out of Five for Hygiene Standards

An Egham Indian takeaway has been rated zero out of five for hygiene. The Red Rose, which is located on the High Street next to Papa John’s, has been told it needs to make serious improvements in the hygienic handling, preparation, and cooking of their food in order to meet the required standards. The curry house on the High Street which claims to be the "best choice for Indian food in Egham” online, was inspected on December 7,Wednesday 2016 by the Food Standards Agency (FSA). Runnymede Borough Council and the FSA have stated “urgent improvement” is needed in their management of food, to ensure the food is safe to eat. The FSA will require the staff to provide they have sufficient knowledge of food and hygiene standards before it can improve. Reviews from TripAdvisor offer an ...