Friday March 2 - March 22 2012 The River 3 NEWS riveronline.co.uk Kingston upon Thames has been voted the happiest place to live in and around London according to a survey conducted by Estate Agents, Rightmove. The leafy borough pipped Croy don and Dartford to the top spot in a survey that measured happiness by twelve factors including pride, amenities and safety. Kingston’s claim might be dis puted by the other boroughs be cause of its astronomical house prices, but with the Thames run ning through the town, Richmond Park and easy commuter access to central London, they are to be ex pected. $V ZHOO DV EHLQJ WKH RI¿FLDO home of ‘Suburban Snowboard ing’, Kingston is also home to the likes of former England rugby cap tain Chris Robshaw and children’s author Jacqueline Wilson. We asked some of the student population to see if they agreed with the survey’s results and found some students expressing their doubts. Rory Dixon, 23, said: “I would disagree, but if you love high street shopping and terrible nightclubs you’d be happy enough.” Jakob Cizic, 22, said: “Who de cided that? It’s complete rubbish.” The results came after another survey saw London come second in the global top 50 best cities for students, beaten only by Paris. Bos ton, on the east coast of the United States, was third. After looking at the reputation and ‘quality of life’ of the universi ties, London was eventually beaten on the issue of tuition fees. The survey, aimed at foreign students making up their mind on where to study, concluded that Paris was more student friendly, as the average fees for international student is only £628 ($1,000) a year, compared with up to £12,500 ($20,000) in London. Quacquarelli Symonds’ (QS) Best Student Cities 2012 consid ered cities that had at least two top universities and a population of more than 250,000. Other UK cities in the top 50 were Edinburgh, coming 20th, Manchester 35th, Birmingham 47th and Glasgow 50th. riveronl Kingston voted happiest place to live in London James Baines & Myriam Dijck A former Kingston University student has won a prestigious Television Journalism award for Channel 4 News at The Royal Television Society Awards. -RXUQDOLVW DQG ¿OP PDNHU -DPDO Osman won the independent award for his documentary Somali Olym pic Dreams D ¿OP VKRZLQJ DWKOHWHV running daily through Mogadishu‘s “road of death”. “I am happy for everyone who was involved in the making of the story,” said Jamal. “But it was more about these athletes who want to do something positive which you don’t usually see in Somalia. It’s inspirational.” Somaliaborn Jamal, who gradu ated from Kingston in 2009, beat off other nominees which included WKH %%&¶V ¿OP FIFA’s Dirty Se crets. The story revealed a haunting glimpse into the challenges faced by Somali athletes to get to the Olympic Games, when they are constantly under threat of being shot by rebel gunmen or nervous security forces. “These guys were really deter mined to achieve something,” said Jamal. “Even if they don’t win a gold medal, to at least make it to the Olympics, while everyone else around is picking up arms and do ing bad things, is really important.” -XGJHV SUDLVHG WKH ¿OP DV D “remarkable project” which was “heartwarming, uplifting and heartbreaking by turn”. ³7KH ZLQQLQJ ¿OP VKRZHG LQ D unique way, the power of human desire to succeed in any circum stances. An admirable venture to tell a story about brave and indomi table athletes.” Somalia has been without an ef fective central government since DQG \HDUV RI FRQÀLFW EHWZHHQ rival warlords combined with fam ine and disease have led to the deaths of up to one million people. ³0DQ\ WLPHV DW OHDVW IRXU RU ¿YH times the gunmen were shooting at XV EHFDXVH RI XV ¿OPLQJ´ VDLG -D mal. “I knew it would be dangerous but I thought this was a story that was worth it.” Jamal also visited the Somali FDSLWDO RI 0RJDGLVKX LQ KLV ¿QDO year of university and won the News Story Prize of the Year at the 2009 Foreign Press Association Awards for his exposé of theft of UN food aid, which showed refu gees being forced to pay for aid at gunpoint. Later that year, Jamal managed to gain exclusive access to inter view hostages Paul and Rachel Chandler, who had been kidnapped by Somali pirates whilst sailing off the coast of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. Jamal said that his Somali back ground and upbringing inspired him to become a journalist. “As a Somali human being I have always asked myself what my role in this world is,” he said. “As a journalist, I can expose injustices and corruptions. “That’s the reason I wanted to be come a journalist. To help others, if you like.” Jamal was unable to speak Eng lish when he arrived in the UK in DIWHU SD\LQJ WUDI¿FNHUV WR LO legally bring him to Europe. He was granted asylum and in 2005 decided to go back to educa tion, working as a minicab driver at weekends, which proved a perfect source of stories and simultane ously improved his English. He was awarded Kingston Uni versity News Reporter of the Year in 2009 and has since gone on to produce and report for Channel 4, The Guardian, The Sunday Times and Aljazeera English. Kelly Alford K0912499 A procession heading towards the former military camp of Malabe, Somalia Pic: Rex Jamal Osman Pic: KU Jamal gained access to interview hostages, Paul and Rachel Chandler Pic: Rex KU grad’s ‘road of death’ documentary wins award From a nonEnglish speaking taxi driver to an award winning journalist, Jamal Osman reports back from his homeland