Rag charities chosen as election turnout increases significantly

Image credit: Students’ Guild

Voter turnout in the Rag charity election was up 300% on last year, as students decided to back the Devon Freewheelers, Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity and Concern Universal.

The winning charities were decided on Friday May 24, as Exeter students turned out in force to vote in the election, helped by a stand in the Forum.

A RAG spokesperson said they were, “very happy” with the increased turnout, and hope that the students who voted will now feel a “closer connection” to the charities RAG are supporting.

Devon Freewheelers, the chosen local charity, offer an “out of hours, (1700–0700 weekdays, 24/7 weekends and bank holidays) free, urgent/emergency motorcycle courier service to the NHS,” which includes carrying blood, medication, donor breast milk, drugs, human tissue and human organs.” Last year the group made over 5,000 deliveries.

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity work on a national scale. When a child is diagnosed with a “condition which threatens their life” the Rainbow Trust are there to help parents “deal with the day to day things that daily life is all about such as holding down a job, the weekly shop, washing, ironing, spending time with your other children whilst also having the stress, pain and physical demands of constant hospital visits, consultations, medication and treatment”

Internationally, RAG will be supporting Concern Universal, “an International Development charity tackling poverty in some of the world’s poorest communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America,” with an aim to “helping communities find practical, long term solutions to poverty.”

As a result of their work, over 800,000 people were granted access to safe drinking water and 520,225 community members are now able to demand their basic rights.

The three selected charities beat off the likes of Help for Heroes, Hospiscare and The Shelo Orphanage Foundation to win their share of RAG’s fundraising, which in 2011-2012 came to £145,000.

Plans are already in place for next years fundraising with a new committee in place and an events list including, “a pub crawl, Harry Potter social, beach trip and pool party!”

Alongside the newly elected charities, RAG will continue to support Community Action.

James Smurthwaite, News Team

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A Pretty Poor Italian Job

With the Italian Parliament in deadlock, Sophie Duncan reviews the campaigns in Italy’s recent general election

Much hinged on the result of the Italian general election last week.  Whoever won would not only have to tackle a debt burden that is among the worst in Europe, but must look to restore faith in a political class on which many citizens have all but turned their backs.

Hard times: Turin is losing out to foreign competition and poverty-stricken Naples is seeing more and more violence. Picture credits: Megan Little

In Italy, each day brings fresh economic speculation and public indignation.  Signs of the country’s financial woes are everywhere: Turin, once a thriving industrial capital, is losing out to foreign competition and Naples, one of the poorest cities in Europe is plagued by outbursts of violence.  For far too many Italians, a secure income is extremely hard to come by.  Many are resorting to cash-in-hand jobs on the black market and, in doing so, fuelling an annual tax evasion bill that runs to over 200 billion euros.  With the Italian banks unwilling to loan, an increasing number of people are turning to the mafia for money.

However, Italy has other problems besides those economic.  During the build-up to this election, the country’s political integrity has dominated headlines, often for all the wrong reasons.  One controversy after another has drawn attention away from the key issues that voters want to see addressed.

First there was the removal of a number of politicians from the ballot lists, for reasons relating to fraud and illicit dealings with the mafia.  According to La Republica, at least 80 potential candidates were deemed ‘ineligible’.  Among them was Nicola Cosentino, a former minister who served for several years under Silvio Berlusconi, and who was sentenced to four years in prison for fiscal fraud.

Then there was the scandal surrounding Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world’s oldest bank.  It was revealed that the institution had concealed a number of loss-making risky trades to which the Italian Government, under Mario Monti, is suspected to have turned a blind eye.  As Mr Monti was running for re-election, this did little to boost his popularity.

But he was not the only candidate to have seen his campaign tarnished.  Next came the turn of the master of political incorrectness – who, amazingly, has also put his name forward, Silvio Berlusconi.  In comedy they say that timing is essential. Mr Berlusconi may have timed this gaff to perfection, but what he said could not have been less funny.  On Holocaust Remembrance Day, the former Prime Minister claimed that the discriminatory racial laws imposed by Benito Mussolini were a black mark against a leader who “in so many other ways did well”.  Mr Berlusconi went on to say that, despite the deportation of thousands of Italian Jews, Italy does not hold the same amount of responsibility as Germany because its role in the Holocaust was “partly unwitting”.  The press, both in Italy and elsewhere, reacted accordingly.

Beppe Grillo, the comedian-turned-politician leader of the Five Star Movement. Picture Credits: Niccolo Caranti

And it was not long before they were handed another Berlusconi blunder, not by Silvio but by his brother, Paolo.  It is widely suspected that the former had the election in mind when he forked out 20 million euros to bring Mario Balotelli, one of the liveliest personalities in football, to his own team, A.C. Milan.  If so, he will not have been best pleased by his brother’s casual referral to the player as the “little black boy”.  Then again, far be it from Silvio to criticise.

“Exactly what sort of world is our political class living in?” read a recent headline in La Stampa.  One would be inclined to agree.  With the main parties struggling to run a clean campaign, this election has offered others the opportunity to give them a run for their money.  One such is the Cinque Stelle, or Five Star Movement, led by comedian Beppe Grillo.  Having made it his mission to speak in almost every piazza in the country, the charismatic Mr Grillo denounced the dominant parties and called for a greater level of political representation on the part of ordinary citizens.  The party did gain a sizeable presence in the new parliament.  And if Cinque Stelle delivers on its promise to give Italian citizens a greater say in how their country is governed, that would by no means be a bad thing.

Run for online Comment Editor!

Photo credits to NS Newsflash

Great opportunity here for anyone who’s interested in writing and journalism, and wants to be a part of the Exeposé editorial team.

Exeposé is looking for a new Online Comment Editor to work in partnership with its current editor Kate Townend and to be part of the Exeposé Online committee. If you are interested in writing or journalism and are passionate about campus news and debates, then this is a fantastic opportunity for you.

As a Comment Online Editor your main duties will be:
– Responsible for regularly sourcing and producing opinion pieces for the website (knowledge of WordPress is helpful but not necessary and full training will be given).
– Editing and publishing content.
– Liaising with Ben and Ellie, our Deputy Editors, who produce the Comment pages for the paper

The Comment section is all about keeping things closely related to the issues here on campus, so we will be looking for candidates who keep themselves abreast of current on-campus news and debates.

Our presence online means that there are no demanding deadlines, and the rose can easily be carried out alongside University life.

You will be expected to commit to the role until March, when we handover to a new team – you are, however, encouraged to stand for re-election if you want longer in the role!

Exeposé is one of the biggest and most active societies at Exeter, and offers you unprecedented and privileged access to university life – we know about all the big stories before your housemates do, and working with us generally gets you a lot if access and insight into the workings of the University.

You will be part of a team of 26 dedicated and talented editors.

If you have any interest then please contact us as soon as possible. You will need to e-mail us a short, 150-word manifesto by Friday January 18th at 6.00pm to editors@exepose.com, and to prepare a two minute speech for the election on Wednesday January 23rd- just to tell us a little bit about yourself.

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We look forward to hearing from you!