Given the infamous uncomfortable nature of the Drama Barn seats, staging a three hour Shakespearean tragic-comedy would seem a brave choice, especially following the influx of lighter comedies on this season at the Barn. However, the nature of one of Shakespeare’s less well known plays gave the audience a thought-provoking, intense and at times hilarious spectacle.

The acting of the major parts was flawless. Dominic Allen, as Leontes, could not be faulted. He played the jealous, remorseful and angry King of Sicilia to perfection. His madness and overflow of emotion ebbed into the atmosphere of the play. Following this Allen took on the character of the roguish pedlar Autolycus, and brought laughs abound allowing the play to flow from tragedy to comedy seamlessly. The portrayal of Camillo was also noteworthy; although slightly awkward at first, the performance blossomed into a perfect comedic performance. These larger parts may have at times over-shadowed the enthusiastic, if slightly weaker performances of the minor parts, however this was arguably inevitable with such a large cast.

The prop of the baby wrapped in swaddling cloths was very unconvincing. However, the use of a white basket representing a gateway to Bohemia was clever and employed well. Additionally, the lively performance by a four piece band was a well thought out Shakespearean element.

A white-wallpapered room contrasted with three brightly coloured sofas, providing a claustrophobic and intense setting. In a portrayal of hell where three souls are sent to be tortured by the other, No Exit is easy prey for a long and steady look at life’s meaning. This was avoided by a degree of wry and sadistic humor and the relaxation of the actors as they grew into their parts.

This complex play required deep concentration from the audience, slowly revealing facts concerning the three main characters. Light relief was provided by the enigmatic valet, played by Dan Sofaer, who, through his dry introduction of the cast, set the pace for a perplexing look at death.

The three main characters had a powerful emotional impact. The performance was initially threatened by first night jitters but they spectacularly grew into their performance. Sarah Barker set the pace with her moving and troubled portrayal of Inez. A particularly believable sexual performance was carried by Sarah Barker and Laura Horton, allowing the growth of Tom Eilenberg into the part as Garcin.

No Exit was a strong performance, carried by simple staging and clever lighting. Emotional and thought-provoking, it questions the stability of one’s own existence and power to create future – something the playwright – Jean-Paul Satre aimed to achieve. And so as Eilenberg delivered, “well, well, let’s get on with it.”

“I really hope to empower students [with] their rights and what they are entitled too,” commented Leyland. “We hope to put into practise the mechanisms of what should be going on in department assessment and feedback, and then implement policy whilst disseminating the information to students”, she said.

The wish-list has six main points of focus: “a clear service-level agreement between students and departments”, the “clear publication and distribution of this agreement”, a “Student Union led plagiarism awareness campaign”, an accessible look at problems of referencing, a focus on joint honours students, and the idea of “feedback request stickers.”

The plagiarism awareness campaign has already seen particular success, receiving a £6,000 grant from the rapid-response fund FELT, the university initiative funded by the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFC). The campaign hopes to put in place a series of departmental “road shows,” with prizes and competitions to help inform students. Leyland hopes this will “provide a different way of actually getting through to people without the use of leaflets.”

The wish list also aims to produce study skills guides for departments, to target problems associated with online resources and to tackle issues of language barriers for international students. Its overriding aim, according to Leyland, is to “enable students to help themselves” and show them that they are entitled to feedback from their departments.

The list is being looked into by the university, with its policy currently being written into a set of mandatory requirements rather than just guidelines for departments. It is hoped that these new regulations will be in place by the spring term.

During the summer break, one student was attacked during a robbery, another suffered a violent attack on her doorstep, while last week a group of students were involved in a violent incident with local youths.

On July 18, a 21-year-old Economics student, who was attacked and robbed in Retreat Lane around midnight, suffered a head injury and was taken to hospital after being found unconscious

The attacker, who is believed to have been travelling on a bicycle and wearing a white hooded top, approached the student and “pushed her to the ground and knocked her unconscious,” according to a spokesman for North Yorkshire Police.

The University described the incident as “nasty”. “We would appeal for anybody who has any information about this incident to contact the police. This incident underlines the need for vigilance at night,” said a spokesperson.

The student, whose handbag was stolen during the attack, was discovered by two other students who raised the alarm. Vanbrugh Provost Dave Efird, who accompanied the student home from hospital, described it as a “disturbing incident”.

“Students should be vigilant when walking late at night, particularly when alone… [and] should not use Retreat Lane at night because it is particularly isolated,” Efird advised.
In an unrelated incident, third year Environmental Sciences student Rob Glendhill was left injured after an attack during the early hours of October 8.

Glendhill was walking home from the city along Walmgate when he was confronted by three men. Glendhill was punched three times in the face, and his two companions were chased.
Third year Economics student Richard de Boltz was amongst the group, and spoke of the attack: “Three guys were waiting together, looking to pick on students with the aim of starting a fight. They hit Rob and chased the rest of us down the street.”

“The three men, who were waiting on the street, saw us coming and began to shout verbal abuse at us, with phrases such as “what are you looking at?” Once I’d replied that we were not looking at anything, one of them turned and punched me in the face,” added Glendhill.

The attack has been reported to the police, who are looking into a series of recent attack in the area. It is believed that the men are from Tang Hall, and have taken to waiting in the early hours with the aim of preying on those heading home.

A third attack occurred on September 13, when a hooded youth punched a hole in a York student’s front door following an early-morning altercation.

Natasha Burke, a 20 year-old student living in Heworth was approached by a man and woman on her doorstep at 4.30 AM after letting in her housemate.

The man, described as between 18 and 21, asked to use her cooker to light his cigarette. As she closed the door on him, he began pounding his fist on the door. He then punched through the stained glass window of the door before running off.

“I was shaking; I just couldn’t believe what had just happened,” Burke said

Charlie Leyland, YUSU Academic and Welfare Officer said she was “very concerned” to hear about the attacks, and advised students to stay alert at all times.

“I don’t want everyone to panic about this as [attacks of this nature are] extremely rare, though I would urge students to always travel in groups if at night, certainly not with headphones in which leaves you very unaware of your surroundings,” she said.

Leyland also praised the recent decision by FirstYork to introduce a £2 night bus return which she hopes will mean that fewer students will choose to walk to and from campus late at night.

Combining his expatriate dry wit with examples ranging from the human right to life and euthanasia to the extreme case of counting blades of grass, Griffin expounded on the difficulties of the term ‘human rights’, citing that different societies would have different policies and approaches.

Within his research Griffin has explored different ethical approaches. “I argued that some ethical judgements, namely judgements about human interests are objective, not dependent on a person’s subjective state, desires or attitudes but upon considerations which would lead all rational persons to the same conclusion.” From this Griffin, clarified that “Ethical relativism does not stand alone, it is relative to basic evaluations.”

­Just how relative are human rights to western culture? “There are two ways to bring about an unforced human rights agreement; one would be to put the case of human rights as best we can from the sources of western tradition and hope that the easterner will look into the case and be attracted by what they find. The other would be to search for the ethical beliefs of other non-western concepts to provide a local justification for human rights.”

Griffin finally questioned the role of cultures; “as members of societies we tend to exaggerate the differences between other societies… it is by no means clear that any of us are a part of a culture, let alone which culture.” Despite, as Griffin’s expresses; “Human rights are not relative”, perhaps we as a result of law are led to exaggerate the problem of ethnocentricity within our modern culture.

The brightly coloured murals, covering all colleges and societies ranging from Dance Society to Love Soc are being displayed parallel to the construction site between Vanbrugh College and Central Hall.

Although work was pushed back a week due to not being fully verified with all the correct University officials, the University has fully supported the idea, and have even funded some materials for the design.

Adam Wiles, Student Action Chair, said: “The idea behind the mural is to improve the campus environment, which is especially needed at the moment owing to the presence of a construction site in the middle of our campus. Additionally it is giving students an opportunity to get involved in a piece of art which is embodying the University of York 2008.”

It is hoped that the murals will help promote the work of Student Action, a volunteering organisation which deals with students giving time to help the local community. “We are looking to show a form of volunteering on campus, which many people would not normally consider,” Wiles said.

Despite the success of Porno V at the start of Oliver’s tenure which made a profit, Shamrock V and Wags & Footballers lost £900 and £200 respectively. Vanbrugh were also made to pull out of Friday’s LGBT ‘Boot-Camp’, as they were unlikely to produce a profit.

“The biggest colleges’ events have to make quite a lot every time they hold an event. It costs £1,000 to put on an event allowing for a maximum capacity of 600. Therefore to get an event wrong you stand to lose a lot of money”, said Oliver.

At the start of YUSU’s governance consultation process, Oliver emphasised the need for JCRCs to be self-governed, to ensure there is enough in their own funds account to hold events and provide services for students on campus.

“What is the point of a JCR if we can’t self-govern? We are not dependent, nor independent as we don’t have the finances to go and run ourselves”, he said.

Oliver went on to clarify: “YUSU this year are predicting a £15,000 deficit, they don’t have the money to give to us. Other universities’ Student Unions are less centralised. Therefore, ideally colleges need to be working with YUSU to try and lobby for more money from the university”.
Anne-Marie Canning, YUSU President, however, defended the work that the Union does for colleges.

“JCRCs are independent of the union and must look to various income streams to supplement the income they receive from YUSU. We are committed to supporting JCRCs both in term of financial and other support. We’ve helped a number of JCRCs through financial difficulties,” Can­ning countered.

Oliver, though, maintained that with YUSU help, college events could keep students drinking on campus.

The birthday in question is Ramsey Acton’s, a world famous snooker player, whose birthday dinner opens up two possible futures, each attractive in its own way. Irina is given the decision to embark on an affair with the charismatic Ramsey or stay with her devoted, but steady husband Lawrence. So does she do it? In one world, yes. In another, she comes to her senses and devotes her life to perfecting her marriage.

Shriver achieves this with an alternating chapter approach devoting them to these two differing universes. In doing so she shows the reader how such a decision affects every angle of Irina’s life and the lives of those around her.

Shriver produces a fascinating different approach to the usual chick-lit romance novel with one which keeps a grip on reality. Despite certain areas which dragged due to the “sliding-doors” effect of repeating events, the story is moving and meticulously written. Shriver leaves the reader questioning the infinity of our lives and the decisions we make within their parameters.

“We are very keen to avoid the NUS syndrome” admitted YUSU Societies and Communications Officer Sam Bayley, before adding that he is keen to “avoid the problems of the past by speaking to everyone that is interested”.

The Union sabbatical team has already held an open session on the proposed governance changes in Week 3 and a number of focus group meetings with internal affiliates such as JCRCs, the Overseas Students Assocation, RAG and societies. Specific sessions have also been held with individual Union committees. However, turnouts at the open meeting and the societies meeting, the two most likely to involve typical students, were both poor.

“Basically, from day one we have started off with the aim of consulting people, from the top all the way down,” said Bayley, who wants students to fill in feedback forms and give their views on the changes. “We are keen for everyone to have their say, and feel that they have had their say,” he added.

Previous constitutional amen­d­ments are thought to have failed due to limited consultation and involvement of interested parties. Following the controversial move by the Union to pass constitutional amendments in 2006, Neil Barnes, then Academic and Welfare Officer, said: “It still makes me shudder to think about how seriously dodgy the process became.”

Already, JCRC chairs have spoken out with indignation due to not having been consulted with respect to the proposed constitutional changes. Bayley, however, claims the initial plan was to approach them when the constitution has reached a less formative state, stating: “[JCR chairs] have not been left out of the process and are coming into it later”

Bayley is hoping to avoid the events of the recent NUS National Conference in Blackpool that saw motions submitted for a reform of the NUS constitution defeated. The necessary two-thirds majority of representatives from Student Unions across the country had not been met by a margin of 25 votes.

The motions for reform followed a mandate for change to make the NUS more accessible and relevant in the light of recent disillusionment with the organisation.

The student, whose identity is being protected, was asked by porters and friends to remove themselves from the water on three separate occasions. Described by porters as under the influence of alcohol, the student was eventually persuaded out of the lake at 2.20am, when they were conveyed to hospital. One observer commented that the individual appeared to have “gone crazy, and just ran into the lake.” Friends of the student described themselves as “distressed” and “really shook up” by what had happened.

While the Olympic Torch, the manifestation of the Olympic spirit, continues its tour around the world, April 30 marked 100 days until the start of the Games in Beijing.

However many deem China responsible for genocide in Darfur and Tibet and some vehemently uphold that it is in Tibet that the Olympic spirit died. For these reasons, should a boycott of this year’s event in China take place?

Many in the European Parliament stand by this including its Vice-President, Edward McMillan-Scott, the Conservative MEP for the Yorkshire and Humber region. He created the European Democracy Initiative in 2004 and has been actively campaigning for a debate about the prospect of a boycott.

When interviewed by Nouse he shed some light on the situation. “As the founder of the EU’s £100m democracy and human rights programme, I have tried to gauge the capacity to work in the world’s largest country and its biggest tyranny. There is a universal acknowledgement in the human rights community that the situation in China is already worse than it was in 2001 when it was awarded the games by a hopeful IOC (International Olympic Committee).”

Along with organisations such as Amnesty International, McMillan-Scott believes human rights abuse in China is actually worsening as a consequence of the Olympics. In being asked by the IOC to organise “a secure Olympics Games”, the Chinese government has resorted to more arrests of dissidents and more censorship.

The Games have in the past been used to bring estranged countries together. At the Sydney Olympics in 2000, North and South Korea entered the same stadium together during the opening ceremony for the first time, two countries that consistently antagonise each other at the negotiating table. The South Koreans, in the end, used the Olympics as a coming-out event, as it is hoped China will, and it is now a democracy.

It is thought that the Olympics will give the country exposure to the world, to different ideals will hopefully bring about change. As McMillan-Scott said: “thanks to the boycott campaign, the world is watching China.”

He went on to scrutinise Chinese politics saying that “the techniques of repression in the name of the Chinese Communist Party are so effective with their PR company teaching 84 key Beijing spokesmen how to lie about them. China is selling the same techniques to other tyrannies around the world, from Burma to Sudan to Zimbabwe”.

Politicians worldwide will now face a decision over whether to lend legitimacy to a regime with a terrible human rights record, which continues to oppress people and silence those who oppose it. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, has vowed to boycott the opening ceremony. Hilary Clinton also recently took to the stand in her election plight, urging George Bush’s administration to reconsider its Olympic plans. France’s President Sarkozy has not ruled out a boycott, and while Gordon Brown has said he will go to the closing ceremony of the Games, it is likely that in private he is uncertain about his position.

McMillan-Scott takes a powerful stand supporting the boycott saying: “It is time for the democratic world to stand up and be counted”.

Alan Bennett’s wit descended on the Drama Barn for the latest production of Habeas Corpus, bringing a bit of light-heartedness to an otherwise serious run of plays this season.
The exploration of the middle and working class cultures of 1960s Britain were cleverly paralleled. Laura Henderson’s Mrs Swabb was played marvelously with tongue-in cheek characterisation and brilliant facial expressions.

Mark Smith carried the cast as the quick-witted, desperate doctor Arthur Wicksteed. Smith perfected the role of the witty doctor with his quick delivery of lines, cheeky expressions and knee knocking creepiness. Polly Ingham exuded sexual energy with ease and Gethin James carried off the pompous nature of Sir Percy Shorter to perfection.

The touches of music, particularly ‘Sexual Healing’, added to the comic moments as we watched Suz Mason as Muriel Wicksteed seduce an unaware Denzil Shanks, played by Dan Kinninmont, a farcical moment which meant he played the majority of his part in boxer shorts. In contrast, the incepts of Second World War sound bites added nicely to the satirical and dramatic nature of the action.

The play’s charm came from the mixture of relief, comic farce and moments of “carry-on” clarity. The bawdy humour could easily have fallen flat but the cast sustained the merriment and frolicks throughout.

Campus security is investigating the destruction of Amnesty International posters protesting the Chinese government’s human rights record. The incident, which occurred on Wednesday, took place in the Physics Exhibition centre around 12 o’clock.

Amnesty International member John Nicholls was confronted by two male students of East-Asian origin as he attempted to sign the “End the Death Penalty” petition on the Amnesty display. They were reported to have said “You’re disrespecting our country!” and “Have you ever been to China? How do know this? This is all bullshit.” Nicholls claimed the students then proceeded to tear the boards down and throw them in the bin.

Amnesty International Chairs Jessica Sinclair-Taylor and Eleanor Ridley said: “Our campaign is not directed against Chinese people but about the policies of the Chinese administration. The campaign is called Human Rights for China – it is not a hate campaign”.

Nicholls, who had previously seen graffiti with the words “What China needs is stability and development, not stupid democratisation”, reported the two students to a porter working in the exhibition centre. It is believed that they gave their names and email addresses. The incident is now being investigated.

Tanya, a Chinese student who was not involved with the incident, said: “There are differing opinions and people should have regard for each other without making it aggressive. However, if opinions are made across countries and government discussions will be sparked but it should be talked through in a more adult manner.”

University Press Officer David Garner confirmed that the incident had been reported to campus security services. He said: “Two people were involved in this incident, and an investigation to trace them is underway. It will be reported to the relevant Provosts in due course.” Garner added that security services believe that they had identified one of the two perpetrators.

The posters had been put up in order to gain signatures for a petition to end the death penalty in China. Addressed to Wen Jiabao Guojia Zongli, Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China, it called on him to hold up promises to improve China’s human rights record by halting the executions, ensuring fair trials and reducing the number of crimes punishable by death. Amnesty hoped to seek signatures in order for China to meet its international legal obligations and its own commitments by addressing these issues.

YUSU has taken its campaign against unethical investment to a national level by submitting a motion to the NUS for consideration by delegates at the Union’s annual conference. The motion, ‘Ethical Investments in Universities’ condemns investment in unethical companies by universities, and has already been taken on board by the University of York.

If the motion passes through the NUS conference held in Blackpool from April 1- 3, affiliated unions will begin to put their respective universities under pressure to implement a similar policy to York’s. YUSU President Anne-Marie Canning, who lead the movement in favour of submitting the motion to the NUS, said: “It is great that our university is setting an example to others as to how to invest ethically. We are setting a pressing national agenda.”

This will also be the first YUSU motion submitted to the NUS Conference for over 5 years. “This is important for YUSU. We are not an NUS confident union and looking at the result from our recent referendum, if we’re going to stay in NUS we want more of a stake in it, not just pay our affiliation fee. It would be good to get more of an exposure to national politics as a student union,” Canning said.

The motion grew from the work of Environment and Ethics Officers Tom Langley and Tom Williams. Through their lobbying, a paper has been accepted by the senior University administrators. York will undergo a process of creating a new reformed policy.

Other universities, such as the University of East Anglia, have had successes in investing in ethical sources, namely their pension scheme. The motion calls on the NUS to lobby and pressurize universities to “adopt a socially responsible investment (SRI) policy,” and “Divest where possible, its shares in any company that does not meet the mentioned SRI criteria.” It also mandates universities to allow their students’ union to “access and monitor” their university’s investment portfolios.

YUSU Societies and Communications Officer Sam Bayley said: “We hope that the motion can make a difference to the lives of the ordinary students on a wider level and are pleased that it’s been accepted for debate.” The motion will now to go forward to NUS Composite, where Union delegates will argue over what motions will go forward to Blackpool, and what order they will be scheduled in. At the conference, representatives will speak for and against the motion. A simple majority is required for it to become NUS policy.

Peter Pan–tomime was an all singing, all dancing, though very crude feast of mishaps and misfortunes. The audience could expect to be overwhelmed by the combination of a porn-star badger-corn, a Peter Pan with just a bit too much teenage angst, a video pirate-extraordinaire Hook with a seedy, transvestite wife and Wendy, our token Jack Wills wannabe-girl.
The pantomime was based on a satire of society’s obsession with Big Brother. Nicola Carter’s convincing Davina McCall(ish) character, shadowed by her silent but dutiful film crew, led the way through the trials and tribulations of life in Neverland. This was followed by Peter Pan’s visit to our beloved campus, with a roll down Clifford’s Tower on the way. A one night romp following a night at Ziggy’s was shown through an audio-visual display, leading Pan to save the lost boys from Hook’s “lazer-tazer 4000” grip. An extravaganza of costume and set (think your average Jolly Roger vision), and quite a clever script made this a memorable production.
Even considering this was a pantomime, the characters we met along the way were just a little too perverted to make for comfortable watching. The show contained too many borderline homophobic jokes for our liking, and the almost three hour long performance meant that the production felt overstretched toward the end.

Maryah Mufti, York Union President said: “I respect the democratic process that Anne-Marie, YUSU President, outlined for us but we do have a lot of interaction with the Oxford Debating Union, while YUSU doesn’t and it would have been nice to have been kept in the loop-especially as we are a YUSU society. It was assumed by Oxford that it was our opinion as well, whereas today with the vote we just took, we will be planning on sending a letter to Oxford telling them that we had this debate and that students voted in favour of supporting them.”

Her comments came after a York Union debate last night that passed a motion supporting the Oxford Union’s decision to invite Griffin and Irving to speak, with 79 votes for and 14 against.

Edmund Scholey, Vice-President, York Union explained the decision to hold the York debate. “The Union believes in hearing all sides of the argument in order to come to a more informed decision. We believe it is important with free speech to call all points of view and will obviously be telling Oxford Union our own view point,” he said.

Michael Batula, YUSU Racial Equality Officer, who with his co-officer Ishmael Norris wrote the YUSU letter said, “Both sides have missed the point about why the letter was sent out and the actions of what it was supposed to show.” He added: “I think that it is my job to let students know the reasons for writing the letter.”

Anne-Marie Canning defended YUSU’s decision to send the letter by explaining how the YUSU Exec worked to those assembled at the debate. “The two racial equality officers came to the Union Executive with concern over this event. These are your elected representatives and they asked us to support them in writing a letter. We voted to support them, and even if we had not voted to support them they would have sent the letter on their behalf anyway. It is in their job description.”

The controversial debate took place on Monday, despite strong condemnation by the NUS, many affiliated student unions and other high-profile individuals such as Equalities and Human Rights Commission chairman Trevor Phillips. Tryl afterwards said that the event had been a success, claiming: “We had David Irving and Nick Griffin, both challenged and subjected to the proper scrutiny of students.”

A YUSU Union General Meeting is being held on Thursday November 29th to discuss the topic “Should we condemn the BNP”, with voting online the following week.

A first year Alcuin College student was rushed to York District Hospital in the early hours of Tuesday, November 6, after contracting meningitis.

Management Studies student Michael Wynd called himself an ambulance after developing a full-body rash, a splitting headache and an intolerance to bright light.

It is still unclear how Wynd contracted the disease, however recovering in hospital he said: “It’s a messy disease. I felt awful, but I was so lucky”. He was discharged after spending just over a week in hospital.

To stop the virus spreading, all those that had been in close contact with Wynd have been put on antibiotics and some were vaccinated. His flatmates were warned to stay vigilant and advised to look closely for any of the same symptoms. Wynd’s case appears to be the only one on campus.

Wynd’s symptoms started two days before he was admitted into hospital, when he developed a severe fever. It was then that a rash, which didn’t disappear after pressure was applied, appeared all over his body.

“The scary thing is that he spent early Monday evening sitting on my bed saying he felt better, joking he’d be fine by Thursday,” said one flatmate.

YUSU Academic and Welfare Officer, Grace Fletcher-Hall said: “This is the first case we’ve had in two or three years. It’s very rare anything like this happens so I don’t want people getting scared about it. They should just be so careful. Meningitis is a very scary illness. If you have any symptoms please, please get checked out”.

Alcuin Vice-Chair Roshni Mehta, who deals with Welfare and Support, said “As soon as the college was aware of the situation, we acted very quickly to ensure it was just that one case.” Tony Ward, the Provost, was brilliant throughout it all and has been in contact with the student from the start.”

Meningitis involves an inflammation of the mem- branes that surround and give protection to the brain and spinal cord, with the most common causes of meningitis being viruses and bacteria.

The meningococcal septicaemia bacteria that causes meningitis B, creates flu-like symptoms that can often be mistaken for a bad hangover or a nasty cold.

Symptoms include severe headache, fever, muscle pains, intense vomiting, cold hands and feet, a rash that doesn’t disappear if you press it and an aversion to light.

Students are the second highest risk group for meningitis, with up to 25% of students carrying the bacteria that causes the disease. Living together in halls of residence with increased levels of promiscuity especially during Freshers’ Week heightens the risk of contracting the disease.

There are several different types of meningitis and although most students have already been vaccinated against meningitis C, there is no way of preventing infection by meningitis B the most common bacterial form.

The majority of people with meningococcal septicaemia develop a rash of tiny ‘pin prick’ spots which can quickly develop into purple bruising.

To identify the rash, press a tumbler up against it and if it does not disappear you may have developed the illness. The spots or rash are more difficult to see on darker skin, thus it is advised to look on paler areas of the skin and under the eyelids.

The University of York’s Health Centre warns “In the early stages signs and symptoms can be similar to many other more common illnesses. Trust your instincts – if you suspect meningitis or sceptacaemia, get some medical help immediately.”