News – Page 32 of 37

16Mar

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News

Bookies Raided in Englefield Green

Police are appealing for witnesses after it has emerged that the Bedfred bookmakers in Englefield Green was raided by ‘hammer wielding robbers’. It is reported that on Tuesday 4th March at around 7.45pm, two men entered the shop on St Jude’s Road, and threatened the Betfred employee with hammers, demanding cash from the till. The terrified employee proceeded to hand over the contents of the till, and the two men left shortly after. Surrey Police have released descriptions of the two men who are believed to be in their late 20s to early thirties, one of whom was wearing a balaclava and hooded parka jacket, whilst the other was in a grey hooded tracksuit with a blue scarf masking his face. The Police urge anyone who believes they may have more information on this incident, to contac...

New Drugs Testing Kit Results in Egham Arrest

16Mar

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News

New Drugs Testing Kit Results in Egham Arrest

Surrey Police have reportedly arrested a 21-year-old in Egham for driving whilst under the influence of drugs, using new roadside drug testing kit introduced this month. The arrest was made on Monday of last week at around 11pm. The driver was pulled over on Priest Hill and found to be in possession of a class B drug, and under its influence whilst driving, using the new technology. The man, who originates from Middlesex, has been released on bail until late April. The new drugs testing kit, named DrugWipe, tests for substances including Cocaine, Cannabis, Amphetamine and Methamphetamines (MDMA) in under 10 minutes using a suspects saliva. Surrey Police have commented that the new kit will be a ‘valuable addition’ in the fight to tackle drug driving.

26Feb

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News, Opinion

‘The Dark and Cold Ages’ at Kingswood 1

With the end of the Christmas holidays, it is so exciting to be back on campus! You carry those heavy suitcases, craving to get to your warm, cosy room and have a nice, hot, relaxing shower after having travelled (most probably) for hours. How wonderful it is then to find your room cold and the hot water, well, missing. Yes, this is a small part of what Kingswood 1 residents have been experiencing for the 6 weeks! According to an e-mail from Campus Services, during our vacation, the central boilers that service blocks A, B and C suffered a major breakdown, resulting in there being neither heating nor hot water. Since then we regularly receive e-mails, informing us that they are trying to fix it, but it is not easy and we should be patient. However, with the days getting colder, it is no...

Which? Report Criticises Universities for Unfair Changes

26Feb

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News

Which? Report Criticises Universities for Unfair Changes

The consumer group Which? has published a report revealing that students are routinely subjected to unfair changes to their university courses. These changes can occur after enrolment or even between years during a student’s degree. Which? found that 6 in 10 students have experienced course modifications such as changes to modules, location of teaching, or even their degree titles. Even more worryingly, 12% of us students are said to have experienced an increase in tuition fees either part-way through an academic year or between years. As students can now be charged up to £9,000 per year, this has led to claims that the higher education system is turning into a consumer market. Which? asserts that many of the London universities are guilty of unfair course changes (thankfully the report...

Possible Cases of Drink Spiking Reported at SU

26Feb

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News

Possible Cases of Drink Spiking Reported at SU

Recently, there have been reports of incidents of drink spiking at the university’s Student Union, and whilst it is believed these cases are a rare occurrence, the union has taken steps to raise awareness of the issue. Speaking to Sidonie, Vice President of Education and Welfare, we were told the SU are keen to highlight the importance of not victim blaming and have produced posters that offer an un-gendered reminder to be cautious. Sid emphasised the need to acknowledge that it is not just women that are the victims of drink spiking. Drink spiking is often associated with illegal acts such as rape and theft. However, the act of drink spiking itself is in fact a crime. It can lead to up to a maximum of ten years behind bars if an individual is found guilty. If an additional crime is comm...

26Feb

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News

Heating Nightmare for Kingswood Students

For more than 45 days Kingswood residents suffered from a loss of heating and hot water resulting from an unexpected breakdown in the boilers that serve the accommodation. The breakdown occured on the 24th of December, luckily the majority of students had already left for the Christmas holiday. However, the students who remained, many of whom are international, spending Christmas away from their families, described the incident as a ‘shocking’ and ‘frustrating’ thing to happen. Throughout the Christmas break, the remaining students had to put on their thick clothes to protect from the cold weather. Temperatures at night reached as low as -7 C coating Kingswood in a white frost. As the situation started getting worse, some students were offered a place to live temporarily in one of the m...

26Feb

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News

Staff Email Blunder Shames First Year Failures

An unfortunate email blunder has been made by members of the English Department staff. Sent to all first year English students, the email has named and shamed all of the those who have failed their Shakespeare module exams. Last month, the Faculty Administrator of the English Department at Royal Holloway sent an email to all the first year students to inform them that their essays for module EN1106 were marked and ready for collection. However, attached to this was a thread of earlier emails sent between members of the English Department staff and presumably not meant for the eyes of the first year students. The earliest email in this thread outlined not only the student numbers of each individual that had failed the module exam taken last term, but also stated their full name for al...

You Plank: Planking Soc heading for Holloway

26Feb

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News

You Plank: Planking Soc heading for Holloway

A group of ambitious students are hoping to reinstate the beloved pastime of planking. Back in 2009 - or thereabouts - planking here, there and everywhere was considered the ‘cool’ thing to do. You could find pictures of people planking in the road, in shopping centres and anywhere possible really, the more elaborate the better. Lately planking has been seen as just an exercise, yes it works wonders for the abs, but Royal Holloway’s group of plankers are endeavouring to bring the activity back in to fashion, especially in lieu of the February 28 day planking challenge; why not plank all year around? Alero Awala, the president of the proposed planking society, stated “I’m really excited at the prospect of creating this society for both the health benefits and the social side, we already ha...

Harvard University bans sexual relations between students and teachers

26Feb

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News

Harvard University bans sexual relations between students and teachers

Harvard University have banned sexual relations between students and their teachers. This new policy covers sexual or romantic relations between academics and students even with no teaching link between them. Harvard have finally followed the suit of other universities in America, where 94 universities in the country are under investigation for sexual assault policy. A spokesperson for the university outlined that the existing policies "on relationships of unequal status did not explicitly reflect the faculty’s expectations of what constituted an appropriate relationship between undergraduate students and faculty members". Yale University released their ban in 2010; since they have seen several faculties disciplined already. The University of Connecticut believes that their ban prohibit...

26Feb

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News

Armed Police Called to Egham Station

On Sunday the 1st of February armed police arrived at both Egham and Virginia Water train stations in search of a man possessing a firearm absconding from London. Passengers waiting at the stations reported that several police response vehicles arrived on Sunday morning, carrying armed police and dog units who proceeded to make a sweep of the stations. A Spokesman from Surrey Police reported that officers were indeed called to the railway stations in both Egham and Virginia Waters after the Metropolitan Police Service had alerted them at approximately 10:15am. Likewise a spokesman from the Metropolitan Police said: “Police were called at approximately 8.30am to reports of a male seen with a firearm at Victoria Coach Station." The identity of the armed man is unknown and British Transpor...