Britney on prowl for scoop

On a late shift tonight. Anybody got a story or an issue they want to highlight in the News?
I like the quirky tales but I can do serious!

On the day the sales office for the Veritas housing development in Cromwell Road opened, I called in to ask about the 3 bedroom units - they had all been sold already - before the sales office had been opened! To "Far East" buyers according to the sales rep! I hear similar stories about the Hills Road/Cherry Hinton Road development, and also Parkside Place.

Also - there is a thread on here about Parkside school reducing its catchment area - schools in Cambridge are very full - and nurseries are also over-subscribed.

I would love you to do a story about Anglia Ruskin University and what it's like to study/work in the place - but that's probably too big an issue!

Something about the new mosque - progress to date, traffic management issues &c

Cambridge development plan - more housing infills

Lots of issues burning for a story - hope we don't get too much on the cycling war!

"It would be so easy for the Nooz to do something ... the work has already been done on here: the original statement by the Labour Party, the denial by the Federation, a couple of comments from outraged locals... sorted."

Comment by Old Rocker on the Parkside thread!

Ha, do you really expect Britney to cover something worthwhile? You're obviously not familiar with his level of reporting, if you can call it that.

How very dare you BB!! But I take it as a compliment! Would you like to have a chat about how I could improve? Maybe you have some tips. Are you a journalist?
Thanks Stephen - I will get straight to it - good issues to deal with!

theres your scoop, male journo pretending to be american redneck female singer on line. Or has BB got that wrong

Firstly, you need to use your exclamation marks more sparingly.

What took you so long to get to the party? We've been ripping the piss out of you on here since your diabolical piece on the sanctioned graffiti on Newmarket road.

Do you want to write an article about my massive schlong? It's very impressive, as most will attest.

So Britney, let me try to get this straight. You were on a late shift last night and needed a story. So you asked on here. Which means that being a late shift you wouldn't be able to interview anyone or do any proper research. Is this really how journalism works? It is on the 'News'!

If only there was a fortnightly satirical magazine that highlights crappy journalism then I'd write a piece for them. Oh...hang on...! Might give McQueen a call...

Head for the tunnels Britney! Dive, dive, dive!

Ignore the haters, Raybro, the rest of us love ya

How the developments on Newmarket Road are not providing enough parking for the people working on them so they're all parking in residential streets, despite conditions attached to the sites when they were passed that were meant to prevent this.

1. Under-age punters by the hundred routinely getting into a well-known venue, using faked ID cards.

2. Sister Latex.

1. Under-age punters by the hundred routinely getting into a well-known venue, using faked ID cards.

More of this sort of thing! When you go to a gig or club when you are really really young then you stand at the front and love every single moment. ;)

What is "sister latex"? I get the impression that it is something I probably shouldn't Google at work. :)

"On the day the sales office for the Veritas housing development in Cromwell Road opened, I called in to ask about the 3 bedroom units - they had all been sold already - before the sales office had been opened! To "Far East" buyers according to the sales rep! I hear similar stories about the Hills Road/Cherry Hinton Road development, and also Parkside Place."

This is an absolute scandal.

All you hear from the right-wing press and this shitshower in government is about foreigners coming over here and taking benefits and jobs. Nobody ever complains about the rich Russian oligarchs and Far East "investors" who push the cost of housing and rents up through the roof by buying these properties (probably dodging the stamp duty on them to boot) then taking that rent money out of the country (and probably not paying tax on it).

Come on, Britney. if you play it right, you could get a scoop like this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2012/dec/16/property-offshore-stamp...

^ Top story, this one.

I don't hate Raymundo, I just don't care for his reporting skillz.

I wonder if Sister Latex is related to my friend, Mr Latex >

Hey Britney here is a story.
Grassie in the Earl of Beaconsfield. Total wanker, the Australian one. You could call the story

"go home you Auzzie cunt".

“Cherry Hinton chalk pits nature reserve has become a haunt where crowds gather for all-night parties.”

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Raves-threaten-wildlife-at-Cambri...

Really? That’s only about five minutes ways from me!

This is either complete fiction, or I really am getting old...
If somebody had told me - I could have got there, got wicked (or whatever it is you do nowadays) blow my whistle, got bitten by a police dog (old school stylee) - with enough time to go home, tuck myself bed with a glass of milk, watch Midsummer Murders on the Betamax and still have enough light left in my glowstick to allow me to read a few pages of the latest Mills & Boon Doctor/Nurse romance.

:-(

Are you going to follow up any of these leads Britney?

who is Grassie at the Beaky Mal?
..
and as Noodles and OR said the story on the Veritas housing development in Cromwell Road and others in Cambridge is the kind of story I want to see regardless of upsetting the advertising & marketing department because of any possible Veritas ad revenue...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2012/dec/16/property-offshore-stamp....

I will follow up these tips - and I am really grateful for them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"So Britney, let me try to get this straight. You were on a late shift last night and needed a story. So you asked on here. Which means that being a late shift you wouldn't be able to interview anyone or do any proper research. Is this really how journalism works? It is on the 'News'!""

Why wouldn't I be able to interview anyone? I am working this weekend and still do stories. Our deadline is 11pm and I work to the wire.
But I bow to your vast experience De Frev - and of course BB's alleged giant winkle - but not too low!
And I do agree about!!!! never use them in an article!!!!

Oh and I have enjoyed you ripping the piss out of me. All publicity....

Why wouldn't you be able to interview anyone on the late shift? Maybe they'd be asleep. Just a thought. Yeh, don't bow and scrape too low, Britters, it makes you look...I don't want to say.

Meanwhile, good luck in turning up yet more exciting scoops with which to enchant and entrance the News' remaining twelve readers. Bike stories are a real hit. You should try to find more. And the Guided Bus too. I've the direct line of Prof Mair if you fancy some hot tunneling stories...

I'm sure Mary Beard would be pleased to give Britney an interview at any time of the day or night.

Hey Britney, has the driver who attacked the finger jesturing Doctor been found yet?

It's funny seeing you do snark defrev.

Yeh, snark's not really me but really! "Bow to your vast experience" indeed. But sadly, even with my limited experience I can still put up a better show of being a journalist than poor old Britney. What a sorry excuse for a reporter. And what a terrible newspaper. I wonder if the two are related.

Quality operator is our Britney: "I am a reporter always after a scoop. If you have any stories about bizarre happenings in the Cambridge area please contact me. Spotted a celeb - take a snap and you could be in the money. Having years of experience selling pictures and stories to the national newspapers, I can get you a great deal. Got a story? email me at raymond.brown@cambridge-news.co.uk"

So if you've offered Britters a tip, don't forget to collect your fee.

Ok - let's see you do a better job! Write a news story and put it on this thread - and you have got 30 minutes to do it, starting now.
I am writing a story on the half-marathon for Monday's paper - why don't you give that a try - and I want a bang up job done with quotes from 6 runners at least - winning times etc etc. You know the drill? Easy one to start. Then I want a front page story and four other leads. I also want 10 NIBS - that's news in brief - about 50-80 words each - as well as seven 'downpages' - that's 150 words each. Six picture stories - that's 200 words each tops. I also want you to moniter PA and all the other media for stories on Cambridge or Cambridgeshire as well as keep in touch with all the emergency services for breaking incidents as well as any road traffic accidents. My time starts now.

By the way I am on the weekend shift - how will I ever get anyone to talk to me???

Bigmal - will find out.

If any of you want to meet me for a chat - email me at raymond.brown@cambridge-news.co.uk

Ok - let's see you do a better job! ... I want ... Then I want ... and ... I also want ... as well as ... I also want you to ... and all the other ... as well as ... as well as ...

So basically you want him to write an entire newspaper in 30 minutes?

no Wrongfellow - just one lead on the half-marathon - the rest is what I will be doing this weekend

I'm still waiting...

Keep waiting Raymond. What an outrageously stupid challenge. I take it when you 'research' a story you have no access to press releases, a contact book, an archive, photographers. Silly, silly man. You can keep waiting - but feel free to keep posting your credentials as a splendid 'journalist'.

No thanks, Britney, I don't want to meet up for a chat. I can't think that I'd gain much from the experience but thanks for the offer.

Everyone just wants to snipe at me from behind keyboards - what a shame. One essential thing a reporter needs before anything else is courage - you have to face some very nasty people - and have a skin as thick as a rhino.
Dev Frev - all you need to cover the half-marathon story is a notebook ...
I am dissapointed - see ya

I'd like to congratulate Britney and chums for their admirable anti-EDL bias when reporting recent events. Bollocks to impartiality - after all, it's probably a fairly safe bet that the EDL newsletter isn't a shining example of balanced reporting.

John Techno is back!!! I assume he has been away on honeymoon.

Nope. Was away first with an asthma attack, then a buggered back (probably of the slipped disc variety; cue "married life" jokes and.... action!)

'Course, Great Shelford Co-op getting all their fags nicked by ram-raiders in the early hours of Friday morning could be the basis for a decent story. Was surprised not to see that one on the CN website today.

^^^^^^^probably of the slipped disc variety; cue "married life" jokes and.... action!)

Photos please

I too am 'dissapointed' with your 'rare and extremely unique' style of reporting.

But don't go away Britney. You're great value!

He's got a good writing style - you can see the irony in it if you look.

you got me Wrongfellow - nice one.

Longfellow, like your writing style - you can see the irony in it if you look.

Britney, any animosity towards you probably stems from the fact that you came on here under an alias and tried to big yourself up.

As far as the journalism goes, it's very obvious that there is a lot of pressure on the News hacks to churn out loads of copy to tight deadlines, largely because there are fewer reporters these days and you clearly don't have enough time to do in-depth stuff, relying to a large extent on press releases and stories that you don't have to dig too hard for.

That's a criticism of the powers that be at Milton and wherever head office is these days, rather than individual reporters... and of course it's not entirely up to you to choose which stories to write. I think we all recognise that, and the management has to take a lot of the blame (as well as the economic situation of course).

However, it doesn't help your case when you come out with terms like 'extremely unique' - surely that's an absolute no-no that you'd have learned in your first week at journalism college. I know I did. And today we have you referring to a cyclist 'breaking' - ie slowing down. Errors like that just make the newspaper look stupid... and I'm horrified to hear that the paper is now doing away with sub-editors - a grave mistake, I think. What is the subbing/proof-reading process these days?

For the sake of clarity and transparency, yes I am a journalist and worked at the Nooz a while back as a reporter and sub-editor.

Seems getting rid of subs is becoming quite common. Johnston Press centralised a few years ago, so any funny local place name errors are less likely to be picked up etc. Most peculiar thing to do. Newspaper groups wonder why circulation declines while the quality sinks...

Nice shirt design

Are you going to publish any of these stories Britney? If I write up the Parkside one, and post it on here, could I get a byline in the Nooz?

Britney, why not see if you can get Julian Huppert to talk about his opposition to secret courts, in the light of Operation Fernbridge?

Forgive me for asking what may be a stupid question...

Been reading here intermittently for a bit and I'm clearly not fully up to date on the in-jokes re. 'Britney'.

Britney is, for real, Raymond Brown of the CN?

Yep.

Gnomeicide: Britney announced 'him'self to these boards some years ago with words to the effect of, 'Say what you like about the CEN but this is a pretty great piece of writing' and gave a link to a story by Raymond Brown. Britney did this a few times but was busted quite quickly and the link between the two was established.

I'm with OR on this one. It's not Brown's fault that he was to cover so many trivial, fluffy stories in such a short time and suffer from a lack of subbing. But it was his fault that he puffed himself on here and made such a four-letter word of himself.

He's probably OK in real life but his on-line persona and behaviour don't do him or his profession many favours.

Or maybe his behaviour was 'ironic' and we didn't get the joke. Yeh, that'd be it.

I busted him.

BB, you've done that to so many chaps.

Thanks guys.

Queer old business that.

So Britney, I wonder whether you might do me a favour and look over this here blog post of mine, then maybe answer whether its really in the interest of anyone who has some news to give it to you as a 'scoop'. From his comment that originally appeared in the CN, doesn't look like this poor chap would do it again:

http://cambridgecyclist.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/cambridge-news-still-ha...

Awfully sorry if my tone seems abraisive folks. But Britney has asked me to ring him to discuss such things, and I have to say considering articles like that I'm most reticent to do so. I dunno, maybe I'm being over-sensitive, but I can't help but feel that any issue important to me would be better covered by another journalist.

Nice blog Mr/Mrs Gnome. Well written too :)

Very nice of you to say so Old Rocker. I wouldn't go so far as to claim its well written! But much appreciated comment, thanks.

By comparison with some, anyway ;)

draw a few CEN cartoons and rename yourselve as Laughing Gnomecide

Another tale from the crypt.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Workers-freed-from-basement-13032...

“You cannot hope to bribe or twist,
Thank God! the British journalist.
But, seeing what the man will do
Unbribed, there's no occasion to.”

It seems they have been down there for 30 years
I hope local kidnap victim Terry Waite can give them some counselling ;-]

somebody stole my non working bicycle (missing pedal and flat tyres) that is only good for hanging bird feeders of. and gave up after about 20M. Does that constitute a scoop?

Another tale from the crypt.
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Workers-freed-from-basement-13032....
Published by Old Rocker

“It seems they have been down there for 30 years, despite trying to move many times before."

not that far away from a tunnel story... a bit of stretching... some magic dust and I'm hearing the strains of ORs band playing "The Great Escape"...

*gets horn out*

Have you followed up any of these stories yet Britney?

Of course not. He's got far more important things to write about, like mysterious faces appearing in coffee grounds.

Maybe when he said scoop, he meant a scoop of coffee.

Just in case you'd forgotten to look into some of these stories Britney.

Did anyone see the 'dangerous junctions' story on the website today? A personal injury insurance company listed the 10 most dangerous junctions for cyclists in town. One bright spark reader searched through the paper's archive, and found the EXACT same story, EXACTLY a year ago, with the 10 junctions in EXACTLY the same order.

Sigh.

Here's one that Britney seems to have overlooked: a matter of such profound public concern that only a journalist of his calibre can do the story justice: the mysterious Willow Wanderer has struck again, this time on Mitcham's Corner.

Who is this shadowy menace who prowls our streets at night, whose identity is such a closely guarded secret that it takes a whole THREE clicks to get from the Google search results page to her full name, photograph, and details of her recent life history?

This case calls for a truly daring and intrepid investigator!

(Photo is copyright 2013 Wrongfellow Industries, LLC. Licensing terms for high resolution original available on request.)

Published by Wrongfellow at 5:27pm on Mon 18th March 2013.

18:27 Monday 18 March 2013
Cambridge "Yarnbomber" strikes at dawn

Written by RAYMOND BROWN

An hour ... not bad :)

Excellent work, Raymondo! Maybe you can file it away for future use in say a year's time. Not that a splendid local paper like the News would ever recycle the same press releases a year on...http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Cyclists-10-worst-junctions-revealed-18032013.htm

I see Naomi Lawrence's name is still a 'closely guarded secret'.

There you go, Britney, there's a scoop for you. The closely guarded identity of the mysterious Willow Wanderer has been revealed! Time to do some cutting-edge investigative journalism - or should that be cut-and-pasting-edge?

^Watch it Old Rocker you could wake up with a knitted horses head one morning in bed ;-]

Oh, I posted it on the CN website about six months back, but they are still saying it's a secret :)

It's so closely guarded that only Twitter knows the truth: https://twitter.com/Naomiruthl

Former WAN*er Cinnamon Spice is about to feel the wrath of the Nooz readership, I reckon, after making this comment:

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Scratch-and-sniff-cards-to-snare-...

i heard this story on radio 4 this morning and wondered if April fools day had come early

"I can't draw to save my life but after a smoke I can do some amazing stuff!"

Uh huh.

That comments page reads like a WAN thread from 3 years ago - full of huge gaps where people have deleted their accounts so it doesn't make any sense anymore.

in that C News link...
Lord Ashcroft, founder and chairman of Crimestoppers, said: “Cannabis farms grow more than just drugs. Those who are cultivating cannabis tend to be involved in other areas of crime and are often involved in related gang crime and other violent crimes involving firearms."

did he now... there are all kinds of crimes... rings a bell Belieze...

would that be the same Lord Ashcroft that donated £5.1m to the Tories by Bearwood Corporate Services (BCS), a company controlled by Ashcroft, originated in Belize, the Caribbean tax haven that he called his home for many years before pledging to end his life as a tax exile a decade ago.

The money arrived at the registered office of BCS in Southampton after an often complex series of transactions involving two other Ashcroft companies, Bearwood Holdings and Astraporta UK. But when tracing the money back to Belize, the Electoral Commission hit a dead end once it reached an enigmatic Belizean company called Stargate.

Stargate is registered at an offshore registry – controlled by Ashcroft – in Belize City which is not obliged to make public details of any companies' business affairs, ownership or control. So who owns Stargate, what, if any, business it conducts, and how it is financed remains secret...

the same Lord Ashcroft that In his 2005 biography, he admitted that Belize is a country where his interests have been "exempt from certain taxes for 30 years"...

Same Belieze that had crimes that followed in the lawless atmosphere of Belize and alarmed the Americans included:

• The Banner Fund. Two Californians exploited the Ashcroft-inspired offshore legislation to set up a Belize offshore company in 1993 which swindled US and British citizens out of $6.5m (£4.6m).

• The Ricke case. A US drug smuggler and his associates moved $700,000 of drug proceeds into Belize offshore companies, US authorities believed. One sum of $25,000 was allegedly paid into the bank controlled by Mr Ashcroft (There is no evidence the bank or Mr Ashcroft knew the money was tainted).

Corrupt officials
• The half-ton of cocaine. The DEA saw a problem in the existence of such tax haven legislation in a country vulnerable to corruption. A DEA-backed triumph when they arrested in Belize a trafficker linked to the Cali cartel ended in farce when, as the embassy reported "he effortlessly escaped from prison" in 1995 with the help of corrupt officials. Belize was subsequently listed by Washington as "a major drug transit country"

same Ashcroft that on 5 March 2010 had been accused of avoiding VAT on opinion polls he commissioned for the Conservatives in 2005. The polls were carried out by YouGov and Populus, and are believed to have cost in the region of £250,000.
The Guardian said that sources said that the bills were paid by a company owned by Lord Ashcroft in Belize, meaning that he did not pay VAT. The newspaper estimated that the total VAT bill could have totalled more than £40,000.

same Lord Ashcroft that courted controversy when Chairman of the Conservative Party Eric Pickles MP declared on BBC Radio 4 that Ashcroft would be willing to appear on the station's flagship Today programme to clarify his unclear tax status. However, when invited, Lord Ashcroft quickly declined, according to John Humphrys. Ashcroft delayed comment on whether he currently pays tax on his global income in the United Kingdom, despite being a prominent and influential member of the legislature and major donor to the Conservative Party but eventually announced his non-domiciled status...

that would be the same chap that in 2012, the Telegraph credited him, owner of both the ConservativeHome and PoliticsHome website with "stopping the Coalition working" by moving policy on Europe, welfare, education, taxation to the Right.

oh yes... yep... it's a fine line some say... personally... I say at least Dick Turpin wore a mask jeezzeee...

ooohhh... before I forget... Panorama... Feb 2013...

Panorama Uncovers The Truth On Ashcroft - Links To Johnston International ‘Proved’

'Johnston was one of the largest construction companies in the Caribbean, until it closed down without warning in June 2010.
It was responsible for building corruption accused former Premier Michael Misick’s luxury home valued at $16m, Leeward Marina, the Alexandra and Ocean Club resorts among others.
Creditors are owed around $30m (£19m) following its collapse as well as many former employees who have been left out of pocket.
At a creditors' meeting last September, Johnston's liquidators warned creditors that there was very little cash left in the company.
They also said that $2m should have been paid to the workers but had been transferred instead to the British Caribbean Bank, Lord Ashcroft's bank."

http://tcweeklynews.com/panorama-uncovers-the-truth-on-ashcroft-links-...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16732528

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jan/31/lord-ashcroft-accused-m...

that would be the same Lord that Anglia Ruskin has a bust of... I mean come on... Business School named after him... really?

^ ANOTHER great story for Britney to follow up. This place is a real news hub, eh?

Here's another interesting story, it would be nice to have a local angle on it: http://www.managementinpractice.com/default.asp?page=article.display&a...

New stock photo discovered in Cambridge newspaper

Written by MAN BORN WORDY

A previously-unused stock photograph has beeeeen discovered on a website in Cambridge.

Concerned residents called police after they became worried about the popular blurred picture of a police hi-vis jacket on the Cambridge News web site this morning.

A Cambridgeshire police spokesman said: "We were called to reports of a missing photograph on a Cambridge website at about 2.30pm today.

Officers attended and gained entry to the website and discovered a previously unseen photograph depicting a radio in addition to the familiar hi-vis. The incident is not being treated as suspicious and a file has been passed to the coroner."

Photo caption of the year:

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Unexplained-death-of-man-found-ly...

OR... spot on... a stock photo library ambulance pic... they could have at least got a pic of the road it happened...

Hehe, very funny. I am about 200 yards from there as I speak erm type.

Speaking of stock photos, I'm guessing they laid off the guy who writes the captions, too. Here's a good one: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Cambridge-politicians-are-failing...

Caption preserved here in case they change it:

Nick Clarke, leader of Cambridgeshire County Council. For file please, he does not like the pics we have.

LOL!

!!

Did anyone manage to get a screenshot?

Nice picture story for you Britney - the signs telling of the forthcoming roadworks on East Road are apparently giving road users 'Avance' warning.

Also... there's something newsworthy happening with Cambridgeshire Music, something to do with music teachers having to take big pay cuts and parents having to go private. I'll find out more if you're not able.

Deleted Post

*gags*

It appears Britney has now taken to commenting on his own stories on the News website under an alias as well :)

Deleted Post

Another story for you Britney.

http://www.wereallneighbours.co.uk/idlechat/message.php?id=47473&page=...

OR, what's Raymondo/Britney's latest nom nom nom de plume?

RichardRichards1 or summat similar ... he appears in the double yellow line story.

^The Sun picked up that story ;
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article4872992.ece

Must be good then.

Hehe.

Deleted Post

thanks for the story

Could be worse, you could live in Swindon - how about this for a double yellow line story?

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/10356591.A_tight_squeeze/?ref=...

^S'ok they have been ninja-ed out ;-]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4908261/4ft-alleys-black-on-...

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Whats-on-leisure/Choice/Matt-Cardle-se... Seems to be written by a twatty teenager.

Sold out as an all seated venue, so less than half the usual capacity.

Re a few comments back, regarding Cambridgeshire Music ... I'm not sure of the details of the the Cambs Music situation, but there's a lovely little charity in Cambridge that offers cheap music lessons to under 18s in the local area, check us out, http://www.yamm.org.uk/

1. Under-age punters by the hundred routinely getting into a well-known venue, using faked ID cards.

2. Sister Latex.

Published by Old Rocker at 8:59am on Thu 7th March 2013.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Fake-ID-blitz-in-Cambridge-nights...

Huzzah!

Well done OR. :)

I still say that more kids should have fake IDs. When you go to a club aged 15 then it's probably the most exciting thing ever. Once you actually get to 18 and beyond then you begin to see it for what it is, more than a bit rubbish and just an excuse to drink later. When you get to 35 then the idea of going to a club becomes almost loathsome.

So, stop cracking down on the kids. You're spoiling their happiness and they're maybe the only people who actually enjoy it. :)

Now he just needs to track down Sister Latex :)

I heard her identity was a closely guarded secret.

So which club is it then?

The Cambridge News story lists a few venues ... but not the one where I heard it was happening.

Apparently the Flying Pig has been sold to developers :(

What??? I thought it was looking like it would be saved!?

It's what the bar staff were telling customers last night, apparently.

will check it out and get back to you - thanks

Meanwhile - check this out http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Stephen-Hawking-film-starring-Les...

who is this Sister Latex?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=sister+latex :)

Ha, nice one OR. Again his shoddy investigative skillz are highlighted for public mockery and disdain.

I had a photo of a latex-clad male on my profile page. He's disappeared. He was an interesting character.

thanks Mr Bambaataa - love you too

Raymond... add 'Peterhouse' to the search term.

Maybe you need my massive cock to inject some common sense into you, britters?

that's a bold claim for a lady?

So did you cash in on the Trumpington story Raymond?

Never been called a lady before.

Hey Britney: Your starter for ten: When is Freshers' Week?

Big clue: It hasn't started yet.

And for a bonus: does anyone read your stuff before it's printed in the News? If it is, who do I write to to tell them to check your work first? You're being laughed AT, not WITH, old chum.

I went to my Freshers fair yesterday and joined the Glee Society, war games, kick boxing, public speaking and ate loads of pizza :O)

Do you feel gleeful now.

Hi! I'll try again! Give me a pm on a place to meet re a university story - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9ATfXKUyks first and if interested I have some evidence on background and about how situation progressed. Sure beats FOI stories!

I'm not wholly convinced that 'student fails to achieve mark that he or she feels is deserved' is much of a scoop even for the CEN.

My mrs teaches at a university (not ARU) and quite often has to deal with students who feel that they've been wronged in the marking process. If those students had put half as much work into doing their assignments as they do into complaining about them, there'd be no problems.

Yes, sam i - I can understand your point of view. However, far from "there'd be no problems" this student's complaints were:
1 -On a few modules, the lecturer turned up late for the lecture, or didn't turn up at all. And when they did turn up for a lecture, they often sent the students to the library ""to do research",
2 - several of the modules overlapped in content to the extent that even the assignments were virtually duplicated,
3 - the mark issue related to a multiple choice question exam - students who gave exactly the same answer to a question were given different marks - often the individual marks for questions were totalled incorrectly.
4 - some of the lecturers were not proficient in English, to the point of being incomprehensible - and had no experience of lecturing or even business (this was in the business school)
5 - work was not marked and returned by the allotted time guaranteed in the Student Charter

This student submitted a formal complaint through the due process, which was ridiculed and treated with contempt. The student then submitted a complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, who found that several aspects of the complaints were justified.

In all honesty Stephen, I don't think the reporters on the News have enough time to go digging. Unless the 'story' is prepackaged as a press release or a FoI they're not going to leave their desks to do the research. You might be better off going to the nationals or the Times Higher Ed. Sounds to me that you DO have a story. Rather depressing really. I suspect what you have reported is rather common.

Presenting the story to the press so that it doesn't sound like sour grapes at a lower than expected degree result might be the hard part. It'd be a better story if you had four or five case studies to offer.

Seriously, good luck in getting this placed. It deserves to be out there.

Yeah, definitely one for the nationals. Send it out on the back of this in a tightly -packaged press release and you might get some coverage:

http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/kings-college-london-termina...

Stephen -- points 1 and 3 and 4 do sound like genuine grounds for complaint, but I didn't see any mention of them in your video.

Of course ARU's business school was in trouble for something else a few years ago:

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/105740.article

If I had to walk past a bronze bust of Michael Ashcroft every day I'd probably complain too.

De frev et al - this student got a first class honours - no sour grapes here! The complaints are/were experienced by a number of students - they won't complain for fear of repercussions/reprisals. I worked there for twelve years and constantly fought against the culture but had to give up in the end. I will take your advice and follow up with a contact at THES. I have the investigation report and findings from the OIA and am just awaiting clearance from the student, for confirmation that the university has complied with the requirements of the OIA and that the decision is not embargoed.

Thanks for the tip BB and for The Independent link - very appropriate! but this student tried Office of Fair Trading, Trading Standards and several law firms with no success - the OIA was a last resort and they came through with the goods after a four month investigation. The student managed their appeal totally unsupported and came close to despair on occasions. The university's handling of the appeals was disgraceful but not atypical - if this is symptomatic of the HE sector it is a national disgrace.

If I were you I'd contact all the education hacks at the broadsheets AND the chap who's just been sacked from kings college, mentioned in the link I posted. Good luck, and best wishes and fortitude to the student who's fighting their corner. Injustices like this really fuck me off.

You missed a good one, Britney!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-27042893

"UB40 fans faced misery on Monday after the music was so LOUD it was "ALTERING HEART RHYTHMS" and caused a fan's EAR to BLEED, the News can reveal."

We're discussing this on FB at the moment. We seem to mostly be of the opinion that it serves them right for going to a UB40 gig. :)

Ah, didn't scroll down on here ... will delete other thread!

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Cambridge/Shock-data-reveals-teachers-...

Shock data has revealed that 16 teachers and classroom workers have been sacked from Cambridgeshire schools after being accused of sexual abuse of a pupil.

Sixteen on one? The poor kid must have been terrified.

Poor old Britney's getting it in the neck from his readers. Again.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Top-five-highest-speeds-clocked-b...

This really is the golden age of local newspapers. ANY old tat will get in these days, as Raymond proves on a daily basis.