The Dark Side of Worcester's Housing Market - Part 1

A reoccurring trait of UK media is to depict student communities as anti-social, scumbags, and menaces to society. It can be considered that no other cities news outlets exasperates these ill-conceived stereotypes to such an extend as those of the historic city of Worcester. A particular local newspaper of the city, The Worcester News is rife with one-sided criticism of the 'student menace'. Whether it be bringing attention to the 'fact' that students are showing 'no respect at all' to Worcester locals or reporting on the police restrain of 'one student' during freshers week, The Worcester News seems all to eager to show the minute negative side of the student population at Worcester in contrast to the unanimous body of hard working, conscientious, and polite student population who are arguably more moral than a considerable number of Worcester locals. The people I am referring to in that controversial statement are the many villainous landlords and landladies of Worcester who take extortionate measures to burn a hole in the pocket of the innocent and often naive student. As aforementioned, I am inclined to believe that no media outlet in Worcester will represent the student position (The Voice does not count) and so it falls on me, Stephen Dodd to report on the dark trade of the Worcester housing market and expose its injustices.

What better place to start my article than with exploration of deposits and retainer fees? Please note, I wrote deposits AND retainer fees, as many landlords/landladies expect both these payments. By definition a deposit is a down payment, 'somthing as a pledge for a contract, the balance being payable later' and thus it should act as a retainer in itself. Why then do many Worcester landlords/landladies demand substantial fees for both deposits and retainers? 

Many students, including some of my good friends have payed up to, £300 deposit and in addition a £300 retainer fee to secure a home for second or third years of study. Few homes in the UK request retainers alongside deposits, many that do are in highly sought after locations such as intercity London. This of course begs the question, do Worcester landlords/landladies see rationality and reason in charging both fees? This question of course excludes the landlord/landladies desire to satisfy their lust which comes at the expense and exploitation of the student who is willing to lose a mass of money in return for residential security.

Okay, so maybe paying a retainer along side a deposit is not so bad as long as you receive a good quality, comfortable house to spend the academic year in right? Well actually, this is often not the case. From interviews with other students I have been exposed to stories of some of the worst, most appalling living conditions this side of the developed world.

The main essential element to a home in my opinion after a water system and electricity is heating, heating however is often a scarce luxury for Worcester students who often struggle to get hold of landlord/landlady assistance when their system malfunctions.  

Alexandra Keyworth-Wright a recently graduated student from Worcester University has dark memories  of a cold and dreary winter in her accommodation stating, 'My heater was broken over the whole winter period (they eventually came and fixed it in March!).

Sadly, stories like this are not isolated cases. Current student, Sarah KImberly experienced deplorable damp conditions in her rented house which after months of complaining to her landlord, nothing was done to make the house a habitual environment. The problem of dampness was so  serious, Sarah explains, it led her to getting the flu!

So you may be wondering what explanation if any the landlord had for this catastrophe, and what his advice was to Kimberly. Well his reasoning was, as Kimberly states, 'the room just had to be lived in as we were the first people to live in the house for a while'.

After constant complaining Kimberly brought a dehumidifier which did little to address the problem and collected so much fluid it had to be emptied weekly! Kimberly's health continued to deteriorate and eventually she resorted in sleeping downstairs. And what became of the room? Well the wallpaper started to drop of revealing an under layer of thick mould. Sounds cosy right?

In between making ridiculous excuses for the living standards of student houses, avoiding students pleas for basic maintenance and charging totally unreasonable deposits and retainer fees it is not the student that should be represented as the demons of Worcester, but the many landlord/landladies greedy for cash and unwilling to do anything to justify this income. These people are the embodiment of immorality against their fellow man. Cases such as those aforementioned lead me to believe that the student is seen as an easy target for exploitation and viewed as a group of people who have low standards which can easily be catered for. This of course sickness me, I can think of no other group of people in which landlords/landladies would get away with exploiting to such an extent and this is why I call on students to never accept such conditions and always fight against the tyrannical rule of the landlord/landlady.

In my second part to this article I will explore case in which students have taken on landlord/landladies and won. I will also discuss nonsensical  hidden costs of student houses and ridiculous tasks students must complete in order to regain their retainer. In the meantime thanks for reading and keep it real!

Stephen Dodd

aka The Count of Monte Cristo

TTT

99th Anniversary of Marcus Garveys's UNIA

Hello readers, I would like to make a short post dedicated to my favourite historical icon Marcus Garvey as this day marks 99 years since the civil rights leader founded the UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association) in Kingston, Jamaica. The UNIA's aims included uniting peoples around the world of African origin, campaigning for the independence of African and Caribbean countries and fighting against racist brutality, especially in the United States. By the mid 1920s the UNIA had a massive eight million followers worldwide. An achievement of the organisation was the creation and success of the 'Negro World', a long running African American published newspaper celebrating black culture and black pride. Another milestone the organisation reached was the creation of the 'Black Star Shipping Line', the first international shipping company owned and run by African Americans. The most important achievement of the UNIA however is the sense of pride and self belief it gave to blacks in the realisation that they were as competent to achieve as much as people from any other nation or background.

  

After the decline of the UNIA in America following the deportation of Garvey from U.S in 1927 the remnants of the  organisation would inspire latter civil rights leaders such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King and show them the importance of unity and self pride in the fight for racial justice.

Marcus Garvey in his UNIA uniform.

A stock certificate for the 'Black Star Shipping Line'. Many African Americans rushed to purchase shares in this enterprise.

Marcus Garvey leads a UNIA parade in his automobile.

Go Farah!

Greetings readers, I do not usually post updates on current sporting events but I feel that Mo Farah's 5000M win on Sunday 30th deserves mention. Mo came to the track looking cool and relaxed, in his sports sunglasses it was difficult to tell if he was feeling any heat at all from his competition who all had desires to hurt Farah's credibility as the worlds greatest 5000M runner.  

In a tense race at the famous Birmingham Alexandra Stadium (excellent) Mo stayed in the back group of runners for much of the race leaving the pace makers to do their tough work. As always Mo played tactically and when the moment was right he exploded with his remaining power and took the lead with zeal in the last few meters of the track. As mentioned it was a much more tense race to witness than Farrah's famous Olympic victories of last year. There were times when Mo could not keep his desired running position at the edge of the race track. Massive pressure from other runners was alway imminent throughout the race. Mo had to dig deep against the competition in this race and hopefully will have enough power to continue this trend in the upcoming World Championships. For now however I hope Farah enjoys his victory!

The Best Albums Of 2013 So Far! (In My Opinion)

Hello readers. For a while now I have had a desire to upload more reviews to my blog, in particular reviews in the field of music. Fortunately I believe there could not be a better time to act upon my wish as I feel 2013 has thus far been a stellar year music wise. The surge of contemporaneous greats include the comeback of Justin Timberlake with his album 'The 20/20 Experience' and another of my favourite artists, Calvin Harris with his dance centric record '18 Months' which spans hit after hit of great collaborations with superstars such as Example, Rihanna and Ellie Goulding. It is likely that this years music will get even more extreme with records soon to be released from Dizzee Rascal, Timberland and Craig David. I will be uploading a top ten of my favourite songs at the end of the year but now I will shed some limelight on three albums of which are my favourite to be released as of June 2013. Enjoy!

1. '#Willpower' by Will.i.am

I have always been a big Black Eyed Peas fan even from the early days of the groups career and songs such as 'Where Is the Love' and 'Boom Boom Pow' are some of my favourite songs of all time. I was sceptical however if will.i.am could perform well as a solo artist. Fortunatley this sceptism proved to be unnecessary as upon first listening to the album '#willpower' I instantley decided that I liked it. All the well known singles on the album such as 'this is love' and 'scream & shout' are enjoyable as ever to listen to. There are also many other techno influenced tracks such as 'hello' and 'gettin' dumb' which are upbeat and catchy. 

Many reviewers have criticised the album for featuring too many other artists and in turn not reflectimg Will's own musical ability. Here I totally disagree with the norm, to me the collaborating artists all seem to add some advanced element to the songs they are in, for example in the track 'fall down' the collaborated artist Miley Cyrus' vioce creates a unique corous to the song and her more softer tone blends well with Wills heavyweight raping corous. Undoubtably Will's now iconic techno modified vocals are still the forefront of the album which proves to be a positive point.

One thing that can not be criticised is will.i.am's songwriting abilities, this is especially evident when will steps out of the dance zone and creates deep and meaningful tracks such as 'far away from home' and 'ghetto ghetto' which appear to be expressing the iner sentiment of Will and reflect his earlier life and growing up in a somewhat emotional way. My only small criticism to the album would be that there are not enough of these types of tracks and too many song sound similar in there pace and beat. I wish however I purchased the special edition to this album however as it contains slower tracks such as 'smile mona lisa' which address this issue somewhat and provides more variety to the album.

Overall this is a really great album and fun to listen to. I recommend you purchase the special edition version to get the three extra tracks which really add to the awesomeness!

VERDICT

STANDARD EDITION - 8/10 SLICKER THAN YOUR AVERAGE

SPECIAL EDITION - 9/10 OFF THE HOOK

2. 'Home' by Rudimental

Rudimental present a very unusual style of music, so much so that I can not define their genre. There are big dance tracks on the album such as 'Feel the Love' in which I have heard been played in clubs but these tracks are placed alongside the likes of 'Hell Could Freeze' which is a hybrid of soul and rap! For me the uniques of the album is appealing and even though different genres are explored all tracks somehow link nicely.

In reality however 'Home' is an album of two sides. There are marvellously created songs with clever lyrics and complex audio, this can be seen in 'Baby' with the combination of male and female voices played seperate from each other in order to create an intense dialogue vibe to the song. This feature is also seen along well placed lightly computerised beats which makes it both effective for dance and chilled out easy listening. Differently however songs such as 'Hell Could Freeze' and 'Spoons' are unsual tracks with their echo and almost dub like sound but for me they become very boring very quickly. I do not really enjoy the sound of a monotone woman's voice moaning in a slow tempo and thus despite being experimental these songs hurt the album overall for me.

In conclusion 'Home' is definatley one of my favourite albums of the year so far. The tracks with a slight upbeat dance vibe such as 'Feel the Love', 'Not Giving In' and 'Baby' are extreme as I would be equally happy to listen to them in a club as I would be at home and no doubt I will be keeping them on my playlist for a long time to come. However as I have mentioned experiments can some times go bad and this is seen in some strange and slow female vocals which almost sound haunting. Having said this I am sure some people may enjoy these songs, maybe if you are into soulful singers such as Adel you could appreciate these tracks, as for me I will stick with the more diverse tracks.

My final word would be to buy this if you want to try somthing different. Very different.

VERDICT

7/10 - EXTREME

3. 'The 20/20 Experience' by Justin Timberlake 

Prior to this album I had hardly listened to any Justin Timberlake songs even though I had an idea that his smooth R&B tracks would appeal to me. After hearing the great singles 'Suit & Tie' and 'Mirrors' I decided a listsen to a JT album was way overdue and thus made the purchase of the shiny new '20/20 Experience', Timberlake's first album in seven years. Firstly I am going to give complement to the designers for the cover of the album which I love. With Timberlake having an eye test in his suit is an adept way to relate to the albums title. Speaking of the title, on the album cover is is displayed in a reflective gold paper, this just adds an extra coolness to the already well designed cover. But of course  a good cover is unimportant without good music, did 'The 20/20 Experience' live up to my hopes?

As I mentioned I really like the singles 'Suit & Tie' and 'Mirrors' however upon listening to the album versions of these hits I discovered that they were different to radio versions. The main section of these two songs are identical to the radio edit but the album versions continue for a longer duration of around seven to eight minuets as opposed to the usual four minuets. In the extra allocated time JT changes the beats, adds different vocals and modifys pitch. Giving extra elements to songs like this is somthing I have never seen before but of which I really enjoyed. In fact Timberlake has distributed two different sides to all of the tracks on his album which is a technique that I love and adds to the longevity into which the songs can be continuously enjoyed upon repeated listen. I do not know if this was an intentional decision but the dual sided album tracks reflect the '20/20' album title which is, if nothing else a fun novelty and prehaps intentional genius.

As a advocate of post-colonial discovery one music element I always award high marks for is the use of exotic or oriental instruments in popular music. To my joy Timberlake seems to equally respect non western sounds as there several uses of relevant sounds in tracks such as 'Don't Hold the Wall' and 'Let the Groove Get In'. The prior uses what I can only imagine is a type of pan pipe for its main beat and the latter uses upbeat long sounding vocals and bongos which are common to the regions of Southern America. As I have stated, I respect this type of sound and the fact that the tunes are still lively and smooth still makes them suitable for parties and other such occasions.

The four songs I have mentioned are my favourite on the album but I appreciate all tracks. The only and very minute criticism I can give is that the album lacks some aspects of a shock value, for example there are no lyrics which come across as extreme. If this flaw was to be adressed however if could ruin the overall smooth feel of fhe album and thus I will conclude by saying 'The 20/20 Experience' is one of the best albums I have ever heard and will likely to continue to listen to it for a long time.

VERDICT

9/10 - OFF THE HOOK

Return To Oldbury

Hello readers, as previously mentioned my first semester at university has now concluded and I have returned to my hometown of Oldbury. I will spend the next three months here with my family until my second semester of university starts in September. Admittedly I was is some respects reluctant to return as I will indeed miss the radical social life and night life that Worcester provided me. On the contrary however, I am happy to spend some time with my family and look forward to a chilled out summer. Another positive aspect to my relocation is that of employment. I am extremely grateful to have been offered, for a third year, my summer job as a reprographics worker in a local school. As well as this I have already undertaken some work in the same school as an exam invigilator and am requested for two other exams next week. My good fortunes in employment will allow me to save up enough money to live on next year and somewhat make up for the seriously low maintenance loan I will receive from this bogus government.

At risk of sounding lame and corny I think there is, similarly to Worcester, a small essence of beauty in the architecture Oldbury and its nearby regions of Warley and Birmingham. Thus I will enjoy this change of scenery, at least until I get bored! Take a look at some of this photos and see if I can convince you to share my beliefs.  

Warley Woods - A large and historical wood near my home

Sandwell Council House - A large governmental station and office in central Oldbury  

Bridge Artwork - An enriching painting of a sun in Oldbury, the reverse side of the bridge shows a moon.

Birmingham Bull Ring - The iconic and futuristic shopping center

SPECIAL UPDATE - Goodbye Teme Halls - Photo Montage

My first year at uni has sadly come to an end. Though me and my friends will be returning for another two years of studies or more, non of us will be living in halls again. Despite criticism for being totally overpriced and of insufficient quality Teme hall is still the building that brought me and some of the coolest people I have ever met together so please enjoy this montage of photos of the halls and stay connected for more updates!