A round-up of all the crazy incidents that occurred in Cardiff in 2017

Cardiff ranking over 100 places higher than Swansea in the World University Rankings 2018-2017 was let's be honest, pretty damn crazy.

The year was mad to say the least, a party of 16-year-olds was broken up by police, Cardiff Met banned the word "sportsmanship", a streaker had the best tackle of the Varsity game, and a Cathays police officer joined a Woodville Road house's group chat to help a very drunk student.

Here's a selection of the year's antics:

January

January started off a bit crazy as Miskin Street was cordoned off by the police. Armed officers, and an SUV van were at the scene as three people were arrested.

It turned out it was a drug raid, as one of those arrested was charged with possession for Heroin, Cocaine and an imitation fire arm. A little more than the average Cathays resident to say the list.

Cardiff Uni was ranked the number one LGBT employer in the UK. Nice.

The Prime Minister turned up to Cardiff City Hall as well, only to be met by protests, as members of the crowd reportedly shouted “traitor”, “No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA.”

In another turn, a massive Cannabis factory was found on City Road, worth half a million pounds. No Really. Six people were arrested all pleading guilty.

And the SU finally opened up the toilets downstairs on a Wednesday night for the first time. A momentous day as the move was made permanent not long after – we can now all breathe easier knowing there won't be a queue to pee.

February

February started off with an Anti-Trump rally as residents of Cardiff banded together on Queen Street to protest the then new US President, in an attempt to speak of global themes of unity and solidarity the organisers said it was “a nationwide day of action to stand up and say no to the future of hatred, racism and division that Donald Trump is trying to create"

An SU candidate recreated Trainspotting as part of his campaign for VP of societies.

He didn't win…

A Cardiff Uni graduate and a USW graduate separately both won OSCARS. Yeah I know, wtf?!

Joanna Natasegara, a graduate from Cardiff University, won an Oscar last night for producing Netflix documentary ‘The White Helmets’, which followed rescue workers in Syria helping civilians caught in the civil war.

Whilst Daniel Kemeys, a graduate from University of South Wales, was part of the winning team behind Jungle Book's special effects.

Cathays was named one of the most desirable places to live in Cardiff (probs because it's lit af)

Cardiff Met told students not to use gendered words like ‘sportsmanship’ and ‘mankind’, as part of a new Code of Practice on Inclusive Language. You can read the full story here.

The Jailbreak winners some how managed to make it all the way to Cyrpus. It broke the Cardiff record, as "Team YOLO" made it all the way to the Mediterranean Island and back in 52 hours.

In probably one of the most classic stories Cathays has ever produced a Police officer joined the group chat of a group of Cardiff students bringing home a drunk student from Cirque.

As a result of the police officer helping the student who couldn't even remember his own house number on Woodville Road, this classic stort went viral. The best part was that the student, Cam, couldn't even remember any of it happening the next morning. Solid work.

X Fest was cancelled as the company that brought Stormzy, Snake Hips, Craig David and many others to Cardiff in the Summer of 2016 dissolved.

March

As daffodils were starting to sprout and dissertations started to get finalised, Cathays brought another classic to start the month: Riot vans broke up a rogue 16th birthday party, as over ten police cars descended upon Cathays Terrace's Embassy Cafe to break up the teenage party. There were no offences, just loads of angsty teens in heels. Just an average day in Cathays really.

A second year studying Philosophy had a trip to the Cheltenham Races in a helicopter with Carol Vorderman of all people!

A Cardiff student blacked up for a Cathays fancy dress party and claimed that it "wasn't racist" and he was subsequently booted out

Buffalo got rid of their neon pink sign and people lost it. The sign which previously said "What the Fuck" had changed to "What the Funk", as regulars to the venue were deeply upset.

The month ended, with the Cardiff Physics and History rugby team planning a sleep with ‘a fatty’ competition for their social. The derogatory post was aimed towards “contenders” who have “grown in confidence to handle the higher poundage girls”. You can read the full article by following the link above.

April

Varsity was great as always, with Cardiff retained the shield (see May for more info) as well as winning the Varsity Men's Rugby Match.

This legend got absolutely slammed by security after running on the pitch.

More classically though, eight people were arrested on varsity. It was described as “disappointing” and “left a lot to be desired”, said the Chief Inspector of the South Wales Police.

May

Jeremy Corbyn was in Cardiff, at the start of his campaign with Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones.

A group of Cardiff students also had to live without a kitchen as the ceiling collapsed, after a neighbour left their garden fire unattended. Classic Roath. Their landlord did buy them food though which is pretty peng.

The Main building also caught fire as part of the chemistry department had an incident which caused the area to be set alight. No one was harmed luckily and firefighters were called to the scene before too much damage was done. Guessing that first was kissed goodbye…

Exams are hard enough, but when you're given the wrong question it can be even harder. Which is exactly what happened to a module of Geography Freshers. They were due to sit an exam on "Cities", but instead were given a paper on the "Countryside." Maybe the examiner just really disliked the urban sprawl?

In a shocking turn of events Cardiff were forced to give back the Varsity shield, following investigation as an investigation from the Welsh Varsity’s organisers led to the nullification of the wins for one of Cardiff University’s teams, leaving the final score 20-19 to Swansea. Damn.

Also another police incident occurred in Cathays as Richmond Road was closed by police due to a man with a knife. Seriously what is up with Cathays?

A giant billboard turned up, opposite the Woodville with the Prime Minister's face on it.

The poster, which read “I am a threat”, accompanied by Theresa May’s face, tells passers-by: “Don’t vote Conservative on June 8th”.

Let's hope that's the last of politicians faces being plastered across Cathays when we're walking to Lidl…

Fam Fish went from the spot of the after party to the party itself as it hosted it's own club night. It had it's own resident DJ as, CYNT hosted the evening in late May, because why not.

June

The end of the academic year finished with the Champions League final in Cardiff. Real Madrid won the game but students in Cathays were found to be renting their rooms for the final on Airbnb for nearly £900. Demand soared for rooms during the final, so these entrepreneurial students, thought to use it to their advantage it would seem.

It was also announced in June that the SU would have free tampon dispensers installed, which was all down to the 2016-17 SU President, Sophie Timbers. Legend.

July

We kicked off the summer with a classic results mishap, after a history first year woke up to find she had scored zero on one of her exams, whilst she had consistent 2:1 grades in her others. After contacting the history department, the fresher was told she'd actually scored an impressive 70 marks.

This error wasn't the only mistake the history department made, as results were delayed by two days for single honours students. It's fair to say, this antagnonised eager freshers.

Also in July, Cardiff was ranked the cheapest place to be a student in the UK. It's safe to say, we spend all of our extra money on VKs.

Furthermore, hackers took over a billboard above Superdrug on Queen Street, to display anti-Islamic images, memes and swastikas, which included a message reading 'WARNING'. Anonymous 4chan users claimed credit for the images, with a related twitter account later tweeting they "had a little fun".

August

Cardiff ranked over 100 places higher than Swansea in the World University Rankings 2018. Cardiff were up 20 places since 2016, and 40 since 2015. Whilst Swansea were ranked 38 places lower than Cardiff out of the British universities in the rankings.

Nothing's stopping Cardiff from reaching the top.

We also reported how a Cardiff third year studying music, funded her travels around Europe through busking. Flo Pugh left Britain in July, and successfully travelled through the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Germany and the Netherlands before returning at the end of August. She made £880 on her trip, which is more than she made waitressing back home.

September

As the new term began, and Taly began to liven up again, Peppa Pig came to Cardiff. YES, Peps herself. Not the actual cartoon, but the iconic voice of the lovable pig; Cecily Bloom. Cecily is a Cardiff fresher studying Medicine, and voiced Peppa from 2006-2009. Watch this space, there's a chance Peppa pig could be your doctor in seven years time. Oink.

Just as our student loans came in, Lloyds on Greyfriars road decided to close. The Crockerton pub was as cheap as chips, and a favourite amongst students; especially those who enjoyed a cheeky jager before Pryzm.

In a classic Cardiff fashion, the annual Inside Out festival marked the end of a mad Freshers' Week. Hundereds of Cardiff students watched Craig David and Annie Mac headline at Bute Park, and it must be said, the festival fashion did not dissapoint.

October

October began with controversy, as nationalist far-right posters with swastikas and beheadings were found around Cathays. This made many feel unsafe as the posters presented threatening messages, one stating "Death to Traitors". These posters were removed promtly.

Also in October, who could forget the SU being evacuated during YOLO? Cardiff Student's Union evacuated over two thousand from the Y Plas nightclub just after midnight, after fire alarms went off. However, within half an hour, everyone was allowed back in the building to enjoy their sweet VKs.

On the subject of YOLO, the SU made some major changes in October to the popular wednesday night lash. Due to long queues and waiting times at the beginning of the year, the SU declared Y Plas would now be open from 8pm for clubs and societies and 9pm for everyone else. The SU also announced that once Y Plas reached full capacity, anyone waiting could go to the Taf and then be offered entry at 1am for free. This change has been revolutionary, as we now have an excuse to down shots straight after our lectures.

At the end of October you voted Glam's smoking area the best in Cardiff, followed by the runners up, Buffalo, and the Talybont South courtyard.

And to top the month off these Cardiff third years attended a Halloween party with the best costumes ever. They dressed as silverfish- the official mascots of Talybont South.

November

Following Halloween, there were some spooky going ons in the Diff. Red 'IT' balloons were spotted in the Cardiff Univeristy Queen's building, and we found out that most of the Halls of Residences, including Taly, are haunted. Watch out freshers.

Crwys Road was cordoned off after the armed police attended a cannabis bust near the The Crwys Pub and police helicopters circled Cathays.

But nothing was as stressful, as the day when Lidl ran out of carrier bags. After being let down by their delivery company, Lidl in Cathays had to offer out cardboard boxes to replace their non existant plastic bags, which resulted in a frenzy of panic at the self checkouts.

In November we also saw the Cardiff rubgy lads, football lads and white T Shirt socials get banned from the SU- a result of wild drunken antics.

However, there were a select group of rugby lads who were not banned from the SU- The All Blacks and the Australian rugby team, who trained at Cardiff University's gym before their international games against Wales at Principality.

TV veteran and mental health advocate Stephen Fry also visited the uni, at the Haydn Ellis building near Lidl.

And to top off the month, we discovered that Cardiff University is one of the worst in the UK for missing lectures. It's probs because we party too hard at the lash.

December

To kick off the festive season, we carried out an intense investigation, and uncovered where the best cheesy chips in Cathays can be found. After rating each portion out of five for crunch, meltiness, portion size and price, we concluded that Khan's does the best cheesy chips in Cathays. The SU does the worst and the Woodville Fish Bar ran out of chips.

Additionally, we carried out another extremely important invesigation, and discovered that Aberconwy library is the best Cardiff library to take a nap in when the going gets tough.

But nothing was as classic as when the Earth society's netball team had their initiation interupted by a house viewing. When the viewing party arrived they were shocked to see a house full, dressed as aliens for their themed night. The netballers however, continued with their initiations.

In December we also spoke to Ex on the Beach and Cardiff Journalism 3rd year Maisie Gillespie whose appearance on 'Just Tattoo of Us' went viral after she dumped her boyfriend with a tattoo. She didn't feel guilty at all.

December also saw police and sniffer dogs search the Talybont residences, and the Taf started selling mulled VK as a festive treat.

There was a large police presence within the Talybont residences.

Damn it's been a year to remember.