Later on this term, we’ll be having a KBSU meeting to discuss plans for the coming year, including trips we’ll be running and events we’d like to have. If you’d like to run a trip, whether to Thorpe Park or Hyde Park, Shakespeare’s Globe or around the globe, let us know! This will also be a platform for new KBSU members to discuss any new clubs and societies they’d like to set up. If you’ve got an idea, make it happen! Contact us for a new club or society application form. Who knows, next week you might be the Treasurer of the Accounting club, or the President of the TotallyAwesomeFilmsClub!
G2G Fixing Britain’s economy, mending Britain’s society
G2G organises talks, debates and networking events for young professionals and students in London about the biggest topics in current affairs. Speakers who have addressed G2G include George Parker (Political Editor, The Financial Times), Liam Fox MP (Defence Secretary) and Mary Dejevsky (Foreign Affairs columnist, The Independent).
On 26 October, ten of us from KBS went to a G2G conference in Knightsbridge. The topic headline, “Fixing Britain’s Economy, Mending Britain’s Society”, inspired an excellent discussion with views about the recent riots and how to get the British Economy running again amongst fears of a double dip recession.
Parental control and education methods were identified as the long term underlying problems that led to the riots. The panel had diverse views on the matter, including neoliberalisation as the way forward and that the rioters acted in this way to gain attention and understanding from the capitalist world.
The discussion about Britain’s economic situation had an aura of pessimism surrounding it; the suggestions passed around were merely the problems and not the solutions. The education sector took a hard blow again as the standards of higher education were blamed for the low employability rate of graduates. However, one solution that arose was that firms should stop searching for the best educational graduates and concentrate on looking for the candidates that can be nurtured all the way to the top.
The conclusion was that in order for Britain to progress as a nation, both socially and economically, every individual would need to participate collectively.
All in all, the discussion raised some very interesting points, and all of us from KBS thoroughly enjoyed it.
Emre Aksahin
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University of London Union (ULU) induction
KBSU took all new students on a tour of the University of London Union to show the facilities available to KBS students. We began the day with a very entertaining icebreaker session with KBSU ‘s Kelvin Sutherland. The activity involved a pair of scissors, some string, a roll of Sellotape, and lots and lots of old newspapers! The task was to build the biggest structure possible, using only these materials and some common sense (of which some groups proved to have more than others!). The winning team led by George Quinn, showed off their highly scientific ‘wedding cake’ technique!
We were then led on a tour of the ULU building by one of the friendly ULU staff. He started by showing us where the societies meet up, and telling us about the sports clubs and teams that KBSU students can join. He then took us down to the gym to show off their brand spanking new equipment. Next stop on our tour was the Duck and Dive Bar, which hosts concerts, club nights and comedy nights, and most importantly for some, shows all the important footie matches on its big screens! We finished our grand tour in the Gallery Bar, where everyone was treated to a round of drinks!
All in all, it was a great day, and a really good opportunity to see what’s available at ULU.
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Scavenger Hunt and Fresher’s Party
As part of Induction Week 2011, KBSU organised an epic Scavenger Hunt for all of our new students. The Hunt took place around our campus in London Bridge. Groups of brave Freshers set off into the unknown world of Southwark armed with only a question sheet, a smart phone, and their own wits! Using Google Maps, search engines and passersby to gather all the intelligence they needed to complete the tasks, they even managed to find a wall mural of a Norwegian King. And some very resourceful students used their smart phones to seek out help from us on Twitter! Once finished, we all met at Belushi’s Bar for a buffet, and of course the prize giving. The winning Team was the aptly named ‘Number One’, who managed to impress the judges with their speedy work and embarrassing/hilarious stories for the bonus tasks! They each won a £15 iTunes voucher, as well as a lot of respect from all of us at KBSU!
After the afternoon shenaninagans, KBSU returned to Belushi’s Bar that night for another event – the first KBSU party of the year! First Year and Second Year students combined to make an impressive KBSU turnout of Wallys (the theme was actually ‘Where’s Wally?’!), and all who came had a very merry night!
All in all, it was a great start to the year!
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KBS Christmas event 2011
On the 7 December, we went on a trip to the much talked about Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. If you haven’t been it is the place for fun! Anything Christmas-like, you will be able to find it within the parameters. It is a so called “Funfair” but on a much larger scale with rides and rollercoasters scarier and more dangerous than the likes of Alton Towers. There are countless numbers of stands serving food from hot dogs to mulled wine; you can even get your Christmas presents from here.
When we got there, we didn’t know where to look as there was an abundance of entertainment wherever you looked. So, about 10-15 of us decided to go on the bumper cars, which naturally meant we took over the ride. In theory, we thought we had to go easy because there were children in a couple of the cars, but that was a misjudgement, they were more ruthless than we were!
After walking around for a couple of hours, we had a buffet waiting for us in the classy “Spiegel Saloon”. Everyone got free drinks and free food, which I think made everyone’s day. It was nice to see everyone enjoying themselves and for KBS staff and students to be together collectively outside of the classroom. There was a chance for everyone to get to know each other especially because it was the end of the semester. At the end of the day, we were all relaxed and all we wanted to do was to go on a few death defying rides (aka BLIZZARD) and play some festive games!
Emre Aksahin
KBS students in the Spiegel Saloon Bar