Volume Thirty-Four • Number Three • 10 May 2004 - News & Views - Press and Information Office

LSE academics Mercedes Hinton and Rafael Gomez, and LSE alumnus, Geordie Hyland, recently founded a registered charity called the UK Ice Cats, which works to provide wider access to athletic and academic opportunities to children from disadvantaged neighbourhoods in East London.

The UK Ice Cats provide free ice hockey lessons, ice rink rental, transportation, coaching and equipment, on a fortnightly basis, with mentoring by students and graduates from top British universities and companies.

On 7 March, the charity held its first public event in which children from Kingsford School, Newham, played a brief ice hockey scrimmage in the first interval of Oxford-Cambridge Varsity's ice hockey match. The UK Ice Cats have been funded this year by grants and personal and corporate donations that included support from LSE's Interdisciplinary Institute of Management, Cambridge University, the London Borough of Newham, and the London Racers Professional Ice Hockey Team.

The UK Ice Cats are currently fundraising to expand next season and reach more children in east London. For more information or to get involved, see: www.ukicecats.org or email Geordie Hyland at geordie@ukicecats.org.

Asia Research Centre

As part of the Asia Research Centre's (ARC) strategy to develop research activities around the theme of rethinking Asian security, Centre director Dr Christopher Hughes led a delegation of European academics to observe the 20 March presidential election in Taiwan.

The election took a dramatic turn when incumbent Chen Shui-bian became the victim of a shooting incident the day before polling, so there was much to discuss in the workshop held with Taiwan's Institute for National Policy Research and Development the day after.

On 3 and 4 April, ARC moved the focus of its activities when it co-operated with Durham University to hold a conference in Beijing on Traditional and Non-Traditional Security Issues in Northeast Asia with the Centre for European Studies of Renmin University, Beijing. Some 40 participants from China, Korea, Mongolia, Europe the US and Canada took part, addressing issues ranging from the North Korean nuclear crisis to the movement of people, trans-border pollution and energy security.

The Centre will continue to develop its activities in the region when it holds a conference on 13 and 14 May at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, Singapore, to commemorate the contribution made to the study of the international politics of Southeast Asia by former Centre director, Prof Michael Leifer.

Human rights law course

A ten week evening course on international human rights law and practice is to be launched at LSE this October.

The course will be run from the Centre for the Study of Human Rights (CSHR) and is designed for those working in the human rights area.

Professor Conor Gearty, Rausing Director of CSHR, said: 'We felt there was a real gap of knowledge for professionals. Human rights are mentioned every day in the news, but the picture can often be confused for those working in the field. This short course will give students the overview they need about current international law and the breadth and depth of human rights principles that affect us all. No course in Britain will offer this range of expertise and topicality.'

The course involves two 50 minute lectures every Monday evening from 6 to 8pm, from 4 October to 6 December. It costs £1,450 plus VAT, with practical and written exercises throughout and a certificate of attendance awarded on successful completion.

New life peer

Professor Anthony Giddens has been made a life peer and will take his seat on the Labour benches of the House of Lords at the opening of the next Parliament.

Having retired from the School last year, the former director has been busy on international speaking engagements and working on new book projects. His latest book, The Progressive Manifesto (Polity Press), was published in autumn 2003.

Three LSE alumni also became life peers. Kishwer Falkner (BSc International Relations 1992), chief executive of Students Partnership Worldwide, Phillip Gould (MSc Government 1976), chairman of Philip Gould Associates and Dr Peter Truscott (MSc Economics 1994), formerly Labour MEP for Hertfordshire.

This now means the School has six former or present academics sitting in the House of Lords: Lord Dahrendorf; Lord Desai; Lord Giddens, Lord Layard; Lord Wallace; and Lord Wedderburn, alongside some 31 alumni peers.

Media bites

Iain Crawford: a tribute

When I met Iain Crawford he was a student and running one of the bars. Magic times followed when he became LSE's press assistant. His ideal office would have been a one-piece stainless steel ashtray with a bank of phones down one wall. With smoke billowing at all hours, the office would now be closed down instantly as a health hazard.

Perhaps the Iain I knew best, was the heavyweight politician who had once run for parliament. I was leading a blameless existence as an academic, when Iain led me astray. He inveigled us into the press bar at the House of Commons. Drink in hand, he would pass round photocopies of our latest document on higher education which he had just pressed on Kenneth Baker. Somewhat reluctantly he would break off when I threatened a major strop if he did not let me grab a sandwich.

Iain was my best mate. 'Life enhancing' was a term that was made for him. For many of us our lives were greatly better with him and are greatly better because of him. The aura of fun, interest and energy he created was tangible. We all turned to him for advice because he knew so much about so many things. He kept his childlike curiosity, and so was a wonderful bran tub of knowledge.

On his return to the highlands, he did serious politics in Hungary, advised the School, and was a mate to many of us, both down south and locally.

Makeover challenge

London students were challenged to transform the classrooms and playgrounds of a Bayswater school in just one day on Sunday 28 March. They were joined by parents and teachers at St Mary of the Angels primary school to improve play areas by creating new markings for games, planting flowerbeds and painting murals, as well as decorating classrooms and corridors.

The day was co-ordinated by the Volunteer Centre at Imperial College London together with UCL, LSE, Birkbeck, Middlesex, King's and Royal Holloway and aimed to increase interaction between universities and the local community through fun and worthwhile activities.

The project was funded by the Higher Education Active Community Fund, which was formed to promote volunteering in universities.

Debate

Simon Hughes MP, Darren Johnson, Ken Livingstone, Steve Norris, Ram Gidoomal. discussant: Professor Jude Howell
Mayoral Election Debate. Promoting Civil Society: how would the mayor involve Londoners in the life of their city?

This debate will see the mayoral candidates explain how they would create a thriving civil society in London, raise awareness of how London works and include the views of diverse Londoners in policy making. This event will also include a chance for those attending to put their questions to the candidates in a extensive question and answer session.

Free but ticketed. Strictly one ticket per request. LSE staff and alumni can request tickets via the online booking form. LSE students are able to collect one ticket from LSESU reception.

Round table

The Ethics of Fashion
Sumi Dhanarajan, Pablo Flack, Pascal Morand, Elizabeth Rouse, Charlie Porter

Although fashion is a global industry with a global reach, its work practices are often criticised. And yet we all wear clothes, our fashion education system is possibly the best in the world, and British designers exercise a huge influence on the fashion industry.

Sumi Dhanarajan is from Oxfam. Together with the Clean Clothes campaign and Global Unions, Oxfam launched the Play Fair in the Olympics campaign which calls upon sportswear brands and the Olympics Movement to ensure respect for workers rights in the sportswear industry.

Pablo Flack is from House of Jazz, the company he and and Hazel Robinson started in 2000. From small beginnings producing one-offs for the clubs, they developed a very successful company and have been recent New Generation winners.

Pascal Morand is the director of Institut de la Mode, Paris. Pascal is an economist and his book, La Victoire de Luther was published in 2001.

Elizabeth Rouse is dean of Academic Development and Quality Assurance at the London College of Fashion. Her educational background is in anthropology and the cultural history of clothing and fashion.

There will also be a display/presentation by People Tree, the UK's new fair trade and ecology company and the video, House of Jazz, will be shown as part of the discussion.

Public lecture

Professor Wang Hui
Problematising Asia: reflections on the re-emergence of the discourse of Asia

PProfessor Wang Hui is based at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Tsinghua University.

IT Services/Library training courses

Mistaken identity

A public meeting on the government's proposed national identity card has been organised for Wednesday 19 May, 1.30-5pm, in the Old Theatre.

Organised by Privacy International in association with Liberty, Statewatch, Stand.org.uk and the Foundation for Information Policy Research, the event is being hosted by LSE's Department of Information Systems.

The government has introduced draft legislation for a national identity card. This system will cost at least £3 billion and is likely to become an essential part of life for everyone in the UK. If the draft legislation is accepted by Parliament, everyone will be required to register for a card.

Biometric scans of the face, fingers and eye will be taken. Personal details will be stored in a central database and a unique number will be issued that will become the basis for the matching of computer systems.

The proposed card may be required to access vital public services and to receive benefits. The government proposes to enforce the programme through numerous new criminal and civil offenses, including provision for unlimited financial penalty and up to ten years' imprisonment. The implications for everyone in the UK are far-reaching.

Confirmed speakers are: Mark Oaten MP, Lib-Dem home affairs spokesman, Simon Thomas MP, Plaid Cymru, David Winnick MP Labour, Jonathan Bamford, assistant information commissioner, Peter Williamson, president, Law Society, Roger Smith, director, JUSTICE, Professor Ross Anderson, Cambridge University, Paul Whitehouse, former chief constable, Sussex Police, and Rhon Reynolds, 1990 Trust.

The meeting is free and unticketed. If you would like to attend, please email: meeting@stand.org.uk.

Exchange scheme

The Nordic Academic Exchange Fund Committee will meet in June to consider applications from full time academic members of staff who wish to visit Denmark, Finland, Norway or Sweden and applications from academic departments as to possible visits to the School by Nordic scholars. The visits must be taken before the end of the 2004/05 session.

The usual period of visits is two or three weeks. Grant up to a maximum of £600 will be paid towards travelling expenses and subsistence.

Forthcoming seminar

A joint Sociology/BIOS/CARR seminar, The Uncertain Promise of Risk, by Professor Pat O'Malley will take place at the School on Wednesday 16 June, 5-7pm, H615.

As this event has been widely advertised, it is advisable to book well in advance.

Conventional debates over risk in criminal justice tend to fall into several traps. These include the assumption that diverse configurations of risk can be collapsed into a single category, to be contrasted en bloc with other approaches to government.

However, by attending to the diversity of forms of risk we can begin to develop certain principles that could be put forward as tools for thinking about the promise and limitations of ways of governing by risk. Through contrasting actuarial justice with a number of other configurations of risk-centred government, such relevant issues emerge as whether specific techniques or risk are inclusive or exclusionary, whether they set up a zero-sum game between victims and offenders, and whether they polarise risk and uncertainty. While this is promising, the paper also concludes that a democratic politics of security may provide more promise than a politics of risk per se.

Pat O'Malley is Canada Research Chair in Criminology and Criminal Justice, and professor in the Departments of Sociology and Anthropology and of Law, at Carleton University.

First anniversary party

Terry Carpenter, Estates Division and Transport and General Workers Union (T&G) learner representative, together with fellow T&G learner rep Cliff Begley, IIP adviser Julia Houghton and head of the Staff Development Unit, Chris Connelley, were keynote speakers at the first anniversary party for union learner representatives at the TUC.

They joined guest of honour Gerry Sutcliffe MP, minister for employment relations, competition and consumers, to speak about their work at the School. They also spoke about their contribution to LSE's innovative Learn for You scheme which offers lower paid staff (earning up to 19,800 pa, excluding London weighting) access to £150 to pursue their own personal learning.

The Learn for You scheme, run by the LSE Staff Development Unit in partnership with our three recognised unions (T&G, Unison and AUT) is currently being nominated for a prestigious National Training Award, and has recently notched up its 500th application.

Terry said: 'Learn for You is a truly great idea and I am pleased to talk about our work as union learner reps, from which the has School generated a lot of interest and positive coverage.'

Anyone wishing to make a Learn for You claim can obtain forms from the Staff Development Unit, U10.

teaching & learning centre

Using networking to build influential working relationships
(For contract researchers)

Contact Rebecca Trumble to book a place on either of the above. Email: TLC@lse.ac.uk or call ext. 6624.

Disability equality

The Teaching and Learning Centre's disability team invited colleagues and counsellors from the Medical Centre, SU Advice Centre and SU Office to meet together over lunch during the Easter break.

The meeting started with a tour of the restrooms, stair lifts and various access routes around the School. Before lunch in the Director's Dining Room, Katie Porrer, student advice and reception manager in the Student

Support Centre, spoke about School regulations and assessment requirements and Bernie Taffs demonstrated the stair climbing wheelchair and evac chair which will be used in emergency evacuation situations.

This was the first collaborative meeting for key personal providing services to students with disabilities and it was felt to be a useful exercise and one which should be repeated regularly.

Noticeboard

Centre for Civil Society seminar
Thursday 13 May 12.30-1.45pm. V105. Mahnaz Marashi: Trust in Deed: a case example of private educational grant-making in the UK.

Institute of US Studies
Monday 17 May. 6pm, Senate House, Room 329. Seminar on American Foreign Policy. His Excellency Afif Safieh: Prospects for an Independent Palestine: the evolution of US foreign policy under president George W Bush. Free by registration. Call: 020 7862 8692

Forum for European Philosophy
Monday 17 May. 6.30-8pm, British Library, Euston Road. Life Stories lecture. Pierre Pachet: Who Is the Subject of an Autobiography? Tickets: £2.50/£3.50. Call: 020 7412 7222.

Cultures of Consumption Research lecture
Friday 21 May, 6.30pm, Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace. Professor Gerhard Scherhorn: Sustainability Re-invented.

Professor Scherhorn is co-director of the Research Group on Sustainable Production and Consumption at the Wuppertal Institute of Climate, Environment, Energy, Wuppertal. Free but registration is necessary. Contact Stefanie Nixon, tel: 020 7079 0601, email: esrcconsume@bbk.ac.uk.

Small ads

To rent: attractive, self-contained flat minutes from Chalk Farm tube and buses to LSE. Close to Primrose Hill, Camden, Hampstead. Living/bedroom, kitchen/diner, shower. Fully furnished, well decorated, c/h.£200 p/w incl all bills except phone. Suit couple or single. N/S only. Contact: 0207 482 0158, email: r.fitzgerald@mailbox.ulcc.ac.uk.

To rent: bright spacious room in attractive top floor maisonette. Walking distance Arsenal/Finsbury Park tube. Available with immediate effect. To share kitchen/dining room and bathroom with LSE academic (part-time use only). Must be tidy and n/s. £110 p/w including utilities. Contact j.p.rubies@lse.ac.uk.

To rent: one-bedroom fully furnished Paris apartment, summer 2004 to summer 2005. 16th arrondissement. Close to river Seine, subway, RER C, buses, shops, street markets. Minutes to Auteuil. Living room (TV), kitchen (fridge, stove, washer, dryer), bathroom, separate WC. 1,250€ p/m (inc heat, hot water management fees). Email: awermester@wanadoo.fr, tel: (33) 14527 0863.

To rent: summer house on the island of Patmos, Greece. Situated in Hora, one of the few perfectly preserved heritage villages of Greece. Fully refurbished, sleeps up to 6 and is available all year around except 3-25 July. Email Katerina at: k.dalacoura@lse.ac.uk.

To rent: 3 double bedroom, two bathroom, large living room, 5th floor apartment with 45 sq metres of balcony overlooking sea. May-July inclusive. £500 p/w. Would suit families. Situated in Salou. Nearest airport Reus or Barcelona. Please contact Esperanza Harvey, tel: 020 8769 5799.

Wanted for new lecturer: one bedroom flat outside central London from 1 July until end of 2005. After January 2006 they will need something larger for a small family. Contact: robertsamuelsimon59@yahoo.de.

Wanted: furnished flat for two weeks, 21 July-4 August 2004 (exact July dates negotiable) for visiting Maryland University scholar working at the Gender Institute. Either one-bed or large studio flat will do. Please email Professor Harriet Presser at: presser@socy.umd.edu if you can help.

LSE News & Views is published every Monday during term by the Press & Information Office. Printed by Reprographics Department. The aim is to provide a means of communication for all members of the School as well as news and information about people and activities. Articles, news and photographs are welcome. Contributions should be sent to Toni Sym, Press & Information Office, 6th Floor, Tower 1, to arrive NO LATER THAN ONE WEEK before publication date. All personal ads carry a standard charge of £2 for up to 50 words.

Volume Thirty-Four • Number Three • 10 May 2004

Ice Cats helping children