ANCHOR Strikes Back

| ANCHOR | 1

2 | ANCHOR | CONTENTS

“I thought that hairy beast would be the end of me.” (ep5) A new year dawns. And with that new year, Anchor has decided to turn its head and look to popular culture for inspiration.

This issue, we dedicate to a famous film franchise; one that has influenced and inspired many popculture and technological trends. Aside from the @ references, our writers look at the impact of Islamic State’s terror on free speech at home, and our own actions towards minorities as a society. They also ask the important questions: on Jediism, on alien life, on some kind of acid. We are also excited to feature an interview with Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, who ran in NCH’s contsituency of Holborn and St. Pancras.

Anchor remains institutionally opposed to the notion that print journalism is dead. To that end, keep supplying us with your most laterally composed prose. Additionally, Anchor must select new Padawans in January when all but Laura resign from their editorial Jedi duties. Keep your eyes peeled.

Love, Soila, Laura, Hugo, and Lottie

“That’s no moon... it’s a space station!”

By Ted Simmonds

CONTENTS | ANCHOR | 3

FEATUREd

So You Want to be a Jedi? p.4 | Should we Limit our Freedom to Speak? p.5

POLITICS

The Nasty Party? p.6 | Fear is the Path to the Dark Side p.7 | One Young World p.9

BLOOMSBURY

Blue Plaque Bloomsbury p.10 | The List p.11 | Style Stalker p.12

SCIENCE

In a Galaxy Far, Far Away... p.14 | Google On Acid p.16

CULTURE

Ten Albums that Changed the World p.18 | The Philosophy of Blade Runner p.20 |

Editors-in-Chief Soila Apparicio Laura Dubois Deputy Editors Lottie Patterson Hugo Stevensen Cover Designer Laura Dubois Designers Soila Apparicio Laura Dubois Contributors Soila Apparicio Dr Brian Ball Tahmid Chowdhury Laura Dubois Adam Johnson Megan Kedzlie Ruth Lyons Roman M端ller Flavia Munteanu Lottie Patterson Ollie de Savingy Ted Simmonds Hugo Stevensen Founders Jamie Allcock Josh Dell Rory Keddie

Beauty Through Windows: A Timesline p.22 | Star Wars: The Modern Myth p.23 | Videogames: A Cultural Hobby? p.24

COMMENTS

Overheard at NCH p.25 | All I Want for Christmas... p.25 | Beyond Bedford Square p.26

Anchor London Ltd. Registered in England.

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4 | ANCHOR | FEATURED

So you want to be a Jedi?

A primer on the alternative religion Adam Johnson

According to census data, in 2001 Jediism was the fourth largest religion in the UK. For a few glorious years, Jediism was a larger religion in this country than Sikhism, Buddhism and Judaism.

Though Jediism has since declined in Britain, there are still a couple of hundred thousand Jedi Knights walking among us. You too, can join their illustrious ranks. Although you’re unlikely to be able to summon lightning from your fingertips, or hurl great boulders at Christopher Lee, thanks to the enterprising teachings of the Temple of the Jedi, and other religious orders, you can undergo the studies needed to call yourself a Jedi Knight.

Jedi’s do not worship George Lucas. The Star Wars films are not their scripture, though it is accepted that the films are an accessible means of expressing Jedi philosophy. Since it’s conception in the mind of George Lucas, Jediism has evolved into a complex and compelling religious order, focusing on a philosophical system reminiscent of Buddhism, Taoism and Humanism. There is very little divinity in Jediism, but a system of moral codes and teachings.

Although Jediism is more a philosophy than a religion, there is an element of mysticism involved with the hallmark of the Jedi: The Force. Jedi believed the Force to be an all pervasive presence which emanates from all life in the universe. This may instantly remind of such religious concepts as the Holy Spirit, or the Tao. In essence that is what it is, an all encompassing, ethereal aspect of the divine. Though it may seem esoteric, the Force can be applied to our own lives, especially if we use the Star Wars films as a metaphor. In A New Hope, Luke Skywalker disables the targeting computer of his X-Wing fighter, preferring to reach out with his emotions and allow the Force to guide his aim. Though exaggerated, this is actually just talking about intuition. Examples of this can be found whenever one plays physical sports. Tensing as you go into a rugby tackle will result in injury, resisting the flow the river will flip your kayak. In other words, success often arises from listening to our instincts, listening to “the Force”. This aspect of Jediism draws heavily from the Taoist principle of Wu Wei, which literally means no action, and encompasses a complex philosophical idea involving trusting your instincts, going with the flow, and being adaptable to life’s problems. In life we must be flexible and adaptable, this is the message that the force attempts to teach us.

There are sixteen Teachings of Jediism, which have strong and clear influences from Taoism, Buddhism and Christianity. The Teachings combine this

Buddhist nonattachment with mindfulness and a trinity of personal well-being in the mind-body and soul. In addition to the Buddhist influenced Teachings, there is a Jedi Creed, which is heavily based on the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, the man after whom the current Pope Francis is named, it is composed of two self-affirming stanzas, which remind the would-be Jedi to adopt a mind-set of learning towards problems rather than a mind-set of defeatism. It is adapted from Christian ideology, but the viewing of a negative situation in a positive light is also a heavily Taoist concept. The Teachings and Creed of the Jedi distil words of wisdom from established religions in ways that are both simple and appealing.

The Teachings and Creed are all supported by the Maxims. These 21 short sentences aim to encompass the aspirations of the Jedi. These feature noble pursuits such as honesty and purity.

The Maxims focus heavily on personal awareness; inviting you to pay close attention to yourself so that you might acquire knowledge of your strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge should then be used to improve your life, and the lives of those around you. The Maxims are the embodiment of the three Jedi Tennets of focus, wisdom and knowledge. Just as the Force connects all things, Jediism’s three Tennets of wisdom, knowledge and focus, are all deeply connected. The first Tennet is focus, which comes from removing irrelevant thoughts from your mind. The second Tennet is knowledge, which is acquired from focus. The final Tennet is wisdom, which is found in the proper application of knowledge, and through patience in your endeavours. Though these concepts may seem trite, they serve the same purpose as any affirmations, found everywhere from Christianity to the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.

There is nothing revolutionary about Jediism, nor is there anything childish or whimsical. Although it’s true that the information page at the Temple of the Jedi reads like the personal beliefs of one man, they are entirely reasonable and compelling beliefs, and are freely open to anyone to be a part of, no matter what their previously held convictions may be. The way in which Jediism is structured, and the value it espouses, appears to be just a moral code as normal as any other, wrapped in a language and an ethos of ease, and pleasant simplicity. In your quest for spiritual guidance, don’t let Jediism slip under your radar. May the Force be with you.

FEATURED | ANCHOR | 5

Ought we limit our freedom to speak?

Tahmid Chowdhury

In light of the atrocities in Paris in November, I feel myself writing a markedly different article to that which I envisioned. We have heard it said a number of times that the threat of Islamic State (IS) is a threat, first and foremost, to our way of life. Cynically, I dismissed ‘shared British values’ as a diluted phrase thrown around by politicians and interest groups for political gain. To some extent I still believe that. But systematic attacks on innocent people enjoying the diverse culture we are privileged to have in the Western world illustrates to me that this isn’t just about politics; it’s about a conflict of beliefs; values.

And whilst we have as little right as IS to assert through violence and war that our values carry any greater weight than theirs, boy must we defend them.

We cannot choose to believe in freedom of expression only when we happen to agree with what is being expressed. Such a mentality underpins the actions of totalitarian regimes. More dangerously, where we as a majority agree on some moral or ethical basis as justification for banning something or silencing someone, we legitimise abuse of the power we give to those banning or silencing. So we may find it immoral, unethical, rude, crass, or stupid that someone draws a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad or dresses in a KKK outfit for Halloween, but that is not a sufficient reason for using power to stop their expression.

And the golden value isn’t, as some claim, democracy or the rule of law; those are ideas that many of us don’t even really understand. At least not in the same way as the real golden value: freedom of expression. We are not going to win the more important intellectual war with IS by destroying homes and taking pride at killing without trial. We are not going to win by spending billions on nuclear weapons most of us can never imagine using. But we can and will win when we appeal to the hearts and minds of those attracted to their cause. And to do that we all have a duty to stand up for this fundamental freedom.

“We cannot choose to believe in freedom of expression only when we happen to agree with what is being expressed.”

Arguably that duty is greater on some, and I take no hesitation in claiming that for educational institutions it is certainly the case. Events in recent weeks, at universities ranging from UCL and Manchester to Yale and Missouri, illustrate a grotesque failure to do so. Political correctness is stifling debate, and our educators and leaders have a responsibility to put genuine open debate back on the table. So, to the Yale student who claimed “it is not about creating an intellectual space...it’s about creating a home”, I respectfully disagree. To the University of Manchester Students’ Union prioritising a “safe space” over giving a platform to ‘controversial’ speakers, I respectfully disagree. And I am free to do so because of a crucial value that we share and must together protect and encourage. There is absolutely no reason why the safety of home and openness of intellectual space must be held apart. Freedom to offend is just as vital a part of freedom of expression as the freedom to say popular or uncontroversial things. And if we can’t appreciate that in a place of learning, if we can’t respect that in the sanctuary of our homes, we cannot win a war of ideals.

To the Yale professor who asked “who gets to decide what’s offensive”, I respectfully agree.

And I don’t think that I am alone in this thought. Sadly France is no stranger to terrorism, and following the Charlie Hebdo tragedy back in January many of us launched a staunch defence of the cartoonists’ right to draw pictures of the Prophet Muhammad. Were those drawings offensive? To some people, one of the most offensive things that could be done. Should they have drawn such images? I happen to think that on the balance of it, they probably had a moral or social duty not to. Should their actions have been banned? Absolutely not.

Now some will make the case that freedom of expression cannot be held above any institution’s duty to protect those it has a responsibility for; a university for its students; a government for its citizens. But freedom to offend and freedom to incite violence are not synonymous. The latter necessarily inhibits the freedoms of others, and thus, unlike freedom to offend, is not a part of freedom of expression. No doubt there can be a thin line. One could argue that Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons did incite violence. But the bar for inciting violence must be very high, and ought to be based on whether or not the violence is in any way justifiable. The Charlie Hebdo attack was not justifiable, so we must draw that those cartoons did not incite violence. Even if this means that we cannot think of an example for inciting violence then so be it; the alternative is terrifying.

To that end if people are offended by something, so bloody what? That is not a reason to silence them through the exercise of power. It is absolutely a reason to ‘silence’ them through intellectual debate; to illustrate their shortcomings; to prove to them that they are wrong. And slowly but surely, begin to change their hearts and minds.

So as we mourn more casualties of the war against Islamic State, not only in Paris but in Beirut, in Baghdad and in many other places around the world, let us remember what we’re actually fighting for. A way of life that isn’t representable through bombs and bullets, but through words and peaceful actions.

And that means accepting the good and the bad. It means really defending our freedom of expression.

6 | ANCHOR | POLITICS

In spite of their resounding success in career encourages a cut-throat approach to the general election last summer, the the workplace, where every action taken Conservative Party have not been enjoying in a given person’s career is accountable much positive press in the last couple of and open to judgement. weeks. The government’s increased focus on being seen to support its allies in the When I was able to complete work fight against terror in the wake of the Paris experience at CCHQ this was an hugo stevensen attacks has garnered heavy criticism with intimidating but ultimately highly many jumping to point out the parallels enjoyable culture. I spent two months with the approach to previous military action in Iraq and Libya. Then there working there in the summer of 2012, just after the beginning of the terrible is the most recent oratorical gaffe directed at controversial Labour leader problems in Syria which have again worsened this week. Even as an Jeremy Corbyn who has been described as a “terrorist sympathiser” for unpaid intern I was expected to be constantly aware and reacting to issues refusing to back the government’s plans to launch missile strikes against surrounding the party in current affairs, the colonial history surrounding the Daesh controlled territory. The party’s position on diplomacy and military drawing of Syria’s borders after the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire, intervention are deserving subjects for a different article, but I want to talk and the constantly developing party line on the issues of the day. It was about a domestic scandal, the issues surrounding which are threatened to be absolutely a situation of sink-or-swim, I distinctly remember being told drowned out in the furore over the problems of the Middle East. to deliver inter-departmental memos on my first day and, when I made the mistake of asking the way to the office I was told to deliver them to, On the 15th of September 2015 a young Tory activist just starting his career receiving a look of abject disgust from the junior staffer who was supposed in the party machine, Elliott Johnson, was found dead on the railway tracks to be looking after me - “find your own way, I have a speech to write” was near Sandy Station, Bedfordshire. The details surrounding his death are the response. disturbing, Johnson alleges in a suicide note that he was driven to take his own life after systematic bullying from Conservative Party staff, led This was, frankly, exactly what I expected from working in the political by ringleader Mark Clarke, despite numerous complaints to Conservative environment - extreme pressure to perform, and perform well, with severe Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ). Since that date further details about consequences if one didn’t. But that was in 2012 and clearly something Elliott’s life and troubles have come to light resulting in the resignation has dramatically changed in the following years. At no point did I ever feel of party co-chairman Grant Shapps - responsible for putting Mr. Clarke in personally victimised for my actions. Sure, on many occasions I felt like a charge - and calls for Lord Feldman, the other co-chairman, to resign also. complete idiot when it was pointed out to me that I was completing tasks in Mr. Clarke himself denies all allegations of bullying. the wrong way, or less efficiently than was possible. But I never felt I had been attacked or unfairly reprimanded in any way.

The story holds a perverse fascination for this author as someone occasionally involved in Conservative Party youth politics. It is morbidly reminiscent of So how exactly has the situation become so poisonous that it has resulted in the culture of high-pressurised, insult-based party leadership caricatured the tragic death of a young activist? Well politics is an intense place to work in the BBC sitcom The Thick of It. Perhaps what has been most shocking and it seems clear that such an environment will attract characters who to party members and public alike is the revelation that not only does this fall back to bullying and intimidation, as Mark Clarke has been accused culture exist, it has become serious enough to cause the death of a young of doing on a number of occasions. His alleged behaviour is unacceptable activist. More disturbing still, especially for Elliott Johnson’s parents, is the but it is easy to see why it might crop up in the workplace. The more lack of action taken by CCHQ to deal with this issue - and the individual at important question, however, is why, when endless complaints were put the centre of it - despite swathes of complaints levelled against him. to CCHQ about the culture of bullying, was quite literally nothing done?

It is a question that Elliott Johnson’s father, Ray, has an answer to and I Politics is an alluring career for many young people because it is an exciting am inclined to agree with him. Failure in politics is met with swift and place to work where decisions can result in national praise or, if they are damaging attack, in the press, in the party, in front of the public. It seems wrong, irreparable damage to one’s career. It is an environment that expects CCHQ was aware of the problems of bullying, but - utterly tragically of its public face - the MPs and ministers - an absolutely unstained moral more aware of the consequences a revelation of bullying in the press would character and careful use of language; and that expects from those behind cause. In the end the failure to act resulted in the ultimate cost, and one that the scenes - the workers in the party machine - ruthless efficiency and should not be forgotten in the wake of the Syria bombing campaign debate. commitment to the work involved. It is unsurprising, therefore, that the

The Nasty Party?

Inside the Conservative media machine

POLITICS | ANCHOR | 7

Fear is the path to the dark sidE: fight isis with peace Ruth Lyons

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” – Yoda There are dark forces gathering. We like to believe that these monsters are an isolated evil in a galaxy far far away, but in the wake of the Paris attacks they are in fact here among us. The politicians are now telling us that the solution to this violence, this enemy, this ideology, is to declare war on them, on ISIS, but we have forgotten that we have been at war a long, long time.

War is what has led us into a situation where 132 young lives claimed on a Friday night in Paris, a market being blown to pieces in Nigeria, and 42 lives stolen from this Earth in a place of peace and worship in Beirut within 72 hours is commonplace. Our reaction was with acts of revenge, newspapers whipping up a fearful frenzy, Islamophobic attacks on innocent citizens all the whilst not realising this is exactly what ISIS was hoping for. Them and us. Divided. Angry. Weak.

enough molten TNT on them, ISIS will simply disappear. This again is a lie. ISIS has strongholds in Syria and Iraq, but they are a network of individuals operating in every corner of the globe. Even if you removed ISIS as a controlling force in the region, they would still exist, yet be forced underground, hiding amongst the local populations of the world like wolves waiting to strike. Terrorist groups are like the mythical hydra, if you cut off its head, another will come to force and another and another and another. The killing never stops because bombing has never and will never remove the causes and circumstances that allow organisations like ISIS to take hold, in fact bombing only adds to the problem.

The Global Terrorism Index reported that terrorist attacks worldwide have increased by 6,500% since the “War on Terror” was launched in 2001. It is hardly surprising that destroying a country’s infrastructure, creating a permanent state of war and killing scores of innocent people leads to developing the perfect storm for radicalisation.

Every innocent incinerated by a drone strike, every airstrike that takes out a school, every syllable of hatred we speak towards the peaceful Muslim population is more jet fuel for the ISIS war machine. It’s time we turn the engine off.

Pray for Paris, pray for Syria, pray for Tunisia, pray for Nigeria, pray for Lebanon; I’m tired of praying. More fear, more hatred, more anger, more revenge, more war, aren’t we all tired of this cycle? It’s time we break it.

The case for war has never been weaker, as a wise man once said “bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity.” But let us look at the arguments proposed to us; the first claim is that there will be no civilian casualties or as war criminals like to refer to them: collateral damage. This is a lie. Within one month, Russian airstrikes have killed 1,502 people, three quarters of whom have been innocent civilians and nearly half of them children. To put that in perspective, Russian airstrikes have killed almost as many civilians in one month as ISIS have killed globally in terror attacks throughout the whole of 2015.

With this in mind we have to ask ourselves, why do we consider our safety, our security, more important than theirs? It was recently discovered that a contributing factor to this is that ISIS have built tunnels beneath cities and villages around Iraq and Syria that allows them to hide until the bombing raids are over, leaving the civilians trapped above the surface, at mercy to relentless bombing.

The second claim is that somehow if we drop

“Pray for Paris, pray for Syria, pray for Tunisia, pray for Nigeria, pray for Lebanon; I’m tired of praying.”

Another key thing we must establish before beginning any military campaign is the end goal of such action.

The current proposals do not include any sort of comprehensive idea of who will be in charge when the dust settles, what groups will be victorious with our aid, and what their aims truly are. To bombard Syria even further is to exacerbate an already seemingly eternal war, and prolong the suffering of the Syrian people. If this argument is unconvincing, let us look back to an example of where British bombing has gone very, very wrong: Libya. Cameron’s bombing and destruction of Libya indeed toppled Gaddafi, but

we had no idea of the consequences, or what political processes were to come afterwards.

We rushed in gung-ho and now have left in our wake a destabilised nation and allowed ISIS to begin sinking its claws into the country.

Even for the sake of our own country airstrikes will not help us. Each mission will cost the UK taxpayer over £500,000, enough to pay for 20 teachers or 20 paramedics or 20 policemen for an entire year. In a time of cuts and living within our means, with no knowledge of how many missions, how many years, how many bombs we’d have to drop to somehow magically make all the bad people disappear; can we really afford another war? Would we be happy and settled knowing the tax we pay here, is being used to kill innocents over there? If the financial cost still seems worthy, is the human? The one certain thing amongst all the questions proposers of airstrikes need to answer is that Syrian people can’t afford more war, pushed to the point where citizens living in Raqqa have begged the UK government not to bomb.

One thing we can all agree on: we need solutions and we need them now. Yet as has been shown, throughout history, throughout analysis from those on the ground and through the voices of those who lived in the countries affected: war does not work. Obviously we can’t talk to ISIS but we must remember, they haven’t come from nowhere, they aren’t funded by nobody, they don’t sell their oil to nobody, and they don’t recieve arms from nowhere. To truly eradicate ISIS in the short term, we must cut them off.

Find who is propping them up, and you can choke the very source of ISIS’s power; a ‘state’ can’t function for long without money. But in the long term, to truly prevent any groups like ISIS rising again, we must cut off their lifeblood: fear, anger, hatred, and suffering. To truly stop terrorism, we must show peace.

There are dark forces gathering. But just like in any world in which there is evil, there is good. We saw this good in Adel Termos, a hero who jumped on the second suicide bomber in Beirut, who sacrificed himself to prevent the killing of hundreds more people. We saw it in the concert goer who used himself as a human shield to protect a perfect stranger. We saw it in the global mourning for those who lost their lives. Whenever there is an atrocity, that is when we show our greatest humanity. So long as there are those who work for a better world, who treat each other with kindness, who don’t give into hatred and instead choose to love, that is our hope, that is our victory. That is how we will defeat this empire once and for all.

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POLITICS | ANCHOR | 9

One Young World Flavia Munteanu

Anchor Magazine is honoured to be able to share NCH student Flavia Munteanu’s speech given to the 2015 One Young World conference in Bangkok, Thailand. Representing her home country, the Republic of Moldova, Flavia spoke to delegates and stakeholders from all over the world, on Moldova’s dealing with corruption and nepotism, as well as a complex net of bureaucratic impediments, resulting in the country’s largest protest since its independence in 1991.

“Welcome to Moldova: the country, which lost $1 billion from its national banking system. This constitutes 1/8th of the country’s GDP. To put this into perspective, every Moldovan will be working six weeks a year, to pay for the greed of its officials.

Once promised to be the model performer in the EU’s Eastern Partnership Programme for six former Soviet republics, Moldova now boasts Europe’s most corruption–saturated regime. The country’s former Prime Minister, Vlad Filat, was publicly arrested and stripped of political immunity. The main suspect of the investigations, a 28-year-old businessman, was placed under house arrest, after acknowledging bribery of officials, including the former Prime Minister. He was released one month later and won local mayoral elections with 62%.

Wedged between Romania and Ukraine, the former Soviet state is torn between a string of weak EU coalitions and the pull of Moscow. The problem of corruption has persisted since the 2009 revolution, which saw the Communist Party committing electoral fraud to stay in government.

Since my involvement in the protests at the time, I have witnessed little fundamental change. Moldova’s fraudulent officials of 2009 have been replaced by a pro-EU coalition, responsible for the theft of $1billion.

Ironically, the greatest change is the pocket of the embezzler.

“As the poorest country in Europe, Moldova cannot afford to become poorer.”

Unlike 2009, Moldova is not going through a second revolution. Instead, corruption has triggered the largest popular movement since independence, numbering 100.000 people, protesting in the capital.

As the poorest country in Europe, Moldova cannot afford to become poorer.

The billion-dollar fraud has generated widespread distrust in officials, and is a root cause of the demonstrations. Presently, 40% of the country’s population considers life under the Soviet Union more financially secure.

This is an indicator of a government in decay, where failure to prevent corruption has instilled a fear of ‘mafia rule’ and Soviet nostalgia.

Given the endemic nature of the problem, the avenues for creating policy change are limited. Considerable potential for reform exists in the youth sector, but it needs to be corroborated with civil society, in an effort to make corruption findings publicly available.

If the issue is to be tackled domestically, government censorship should be actively countered. A recent incident saw a young journalist’s report on corruption mechanisms in Moldova censored before publication. Following

a series of anonymous phone calls, the person in question was threatened with permanent loss of employment. Reports detailing the activities of the three banks have been lost, and all electronic data deleted. Even the van transporting crucial files was stolen and later found burned.

A long-term solution is to call upon the generation of young leaders, who have left Moldova, in pursuit of an education abroad. Few share a desire to return home, given their disillusionment with the regime. I am one of the members of this generation.

In 2014, I drafted a set of policy recommendations for the Ministry of Education in Moldova. This drew on my experience of the British educational system and was included in workshops for teachers and civil society. I identified bribery as a key problem in the education sector, an issue also deeply embedded in the justice system and the police.

Presently, my efforts in addressing corruption in Moldova are channeled through a non-profit organisation I founded a year ago. New East Platform is a registered UK charity, giving journalists and analysts from Eastern Europe an independent voice in the West. We have an estimated audience of 20,000 readers and have commissioned intelligence reports on the Moldovan billion-theft case. These are circulated amongst relevant policy-makers and journalists based in the UK, with the purpose of attracting Western media attention to the country. My work over the upcoming months will focus on collaborating with a UK-based auditing agency, investigating officials and companies, affiliated with Moldova’s embezzlement case.

Eradicating corruption relies on young people, who can speak and act freely, acting as stakeholders on behalf of the public and civil society.

The government can counter the notion of ‘mafia rule’, by incentivising its leaders to return home. The new generation should learn from their education abroad and launch a system of anti-corruption regulation and reform. Alongside others, I would like to identify with that generation and urge the leaders of One Young World to act as watchdogs for corruption and raise awareness of the case.”

10 | ANCHOR | BLOOMSBURY

Blue Plaque Bloomsbury Lottie Patterson

also known as the suffragists, from 1890-1919 and played a key role in gaining women the vote. Fawcett’s approach to winning the vote for women has been called a ‘constitutional’ one, using reason and patience to persistently lobby the government and to educate the public on the rights of women. She initially supported the more visible militancy of the suffragists, led by the Pankhursts. When the radicals staged hunger strikes, Fawcett expressed admiration of their courage, even sending congratulations on their release from prison. However she split from the suffragettes when their tactics led them away from the rational approach she had been taking and towards an increasingly violent militant strategy, including deliberate property damage. She also fought for workers rights and overcoming laws which were based on a dual morality for men and women. Her passion for education was reflected when she helped to found Newnham College in Cambridge, one of the first English university colleges for women.

Wing Commander F.F.E. Yeo-Thomas a.k.a. ‘The White Rabbit’ (1902-1964)

Queen Court, 24–28 Queen Square, Guilford Street, Holborn WC1N 3BB Known to friends as ‘Tommy’ and to fellow spies as ‘the White Rabbit’, Wing Commander F.F.E. Yeo-Thomas was the stuff of legends. Captured in the First World War, the RAF fighter command officer was captured by the Russians and managed to escape after overcoming his guard. Refusing to be put off, Yeo-Thomas took an active part in the Second World War, helping to liberate France.

His adventure started when after parachuting into occupied France on a secret mission to strategise with underground group leaders, he narrowly evaded capture by the Nazis by hiding in a hearse.

Reporting directly to Winston Churchill he ensured that the resistance in France received their much needed supplies. On his third and final trip in 1944 he was betrayed, captured by the Gestapo and tortured before being held at the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp. Managing to avoid execution, he managed to escape and return to his home in Bloomsbury in 1945 where he was awarded the George Cross. After living a life which would seem extreme to most Hollywood writers, the spy is recognised by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as ‘among the most outstanding workers behind enemy lines whom Britain produced’. Sixty years after he was awarded the George Cross, Yeo-Thomas’s work was celebrated with the placement of a blue plaque outside his family home, making him the first secret agent to be commemorated by the English Heritage in this way. Unfortunately, although fittingly for a spy, we were unable to locate the actual blue plaque.

Paul Nash (1889–1946)

Queen Alexandra Mansions, Bidborough Street, King’s Cross WC1H 9DJ Surrealist painter, war artist and photographer, Paul Nash played a key role in the development of Modernism in English Art. Studying at the Slade School of Art, he developed a great love of the landscape, painting mainly historical sights and country scenes. His artwork greatly changed at the outbreak of the First World War from the age of 25. After reluctantly enlisting in the army, he was exposed to a world of destruction like never before.

He created iconic scenes of devastation which he considered to be a message to any who wished for the war to go on forever. Outraged at the utter waste of life, he worked furiously to create scenes of ravaged landscapes and violated earth which were were both visionary and terrifyingly realistic.

At the start of the Second World War, Nash was appointed by the War Artists’ Advisory Committee to a full-time salaried war artist post. In was in this

post that he created many of his most famous works, such as The Battle of Britain. After living his whole life in Bloomsbury, Nash spent his last ten days in Dorset where he died in his sleep of heart failure, as a result of his long-term asthma.

His great works hang in galleries such as the tate and serve as a reminder of the horrors of war and the ‘new world we are creating’.

Finally, in 1918, the Representation of the People Act, which enfranchised about six million women, was passed. Ten years afterwards, Dame Millicent Fawcett’s long term legacy was revealed; British women received the right vote on a basis of full equality with men.

Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847–1929)

10 Gower Street, Bloomsbury WC1E 6DP

2 Gower Street, Bloomsbury WC1E 6DP

Arguably one of the most famous campaigner for women’s suffrage, Dame Millicent Fawcett lived and died in Bloomsbury. She led the biggest suffrage organisation, the non-violent National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies,

Lady Ottoline Morrell (1873–1938)

In the early 20th Century a collection of writers, intellectuals and artists came to live together in Bloomsbury. At the heart of it all was society hostess, patron of the arts and real life Lady Chatterley, Lady Ottoline Morrell. She was known to have houses filled with the most notable men and women of the time, many of whom were her lovers. Her most infamous was perhaps her long term love affair with the gentleman whose portrait hangs in the entrance of NCH, Bertrand Russell. The character of their relationship can be nicely summarised in how Russell described their first meeting; “For external and accidental reasons I did not have full relations with Ottoline that evening but we agreed to become lovers as soon as possible.” Exchanging over 2000 letters, the two remained firm friends long after the passion had dissipated. Lady Morrell could be recognisable to many after being recreated in caricature by those who had previously accepted her hospitality, appearing in utterly recognisable form in books from writers such as Aldous Huxley, Graham Greene and D.H. Lawrence. Although never explicitly stated, many have inferred her to be the model of Lawrence’s famous Lady Chatterley as the book was written after Ottoline had had an affair with a young stonemason who had come to work in her garden.

BLOOMSBURY | ANCHOR | 11

THE LIST: four must-visit Bloomsbury Lunch Spots

Planet organic

Benito’s Hat

Sagar

Seoul Bakery

Well known among our more experienced students, Planet Organic offers one of the best vegetarian (and vegan) lunches, and now just across the road. It doesn’t matter if you get the small or big lunch box, you can fill it with lots of healthy and not-so-healthy delicacies, from lentil daal over veg lasagne to cheesy cauliflower. It’s well worth paying a little extra, especially since you wait in line with such interesting characters.

Get your hands dirty with the best burrito in Bloomsbury, to be found a short walk from College.

Despite the questionable name reminding us of bleaker times for Europe, this Benito does not disappoint! The Anchor favorite is the pulled pork, best combined with a fresh Margarita during Happy Hour from 5-7 pm. Nothing better than a tipsy tutorial.

The NCH classic is served to you by Sagar, one of the best curries, let along 100% vegetarian, in town that also offers exceptionally great, tasty, and filling lunch deal. Get the curry of the day for just under four pounds, including sauces and sides! Can’t go wrong with this one.

The best comes last: absolute secret tip, this Korean café has just reopened way too close to College. You might have to wait a few minutes to sit down in this little K-Pop style joint, but it’s absolutely worth it: Kimchi pancakes and Bibimbap to die for from only £3.50! Not to mention the spicy soups, the tofu, the hot tea… all homemade and original Korean. Don’t tell your friends!

24 Tottenham Court Road

56 Goodge Street

17 Percy Street

14 Great Russell Street

12 | ANCHOR | BLOOMSBURY

LEFT

RIGHT

Think about your outfit you must, Master Yoda.

The force is clearly not with him today, as he seems to be wearing an old pillowcase. This is not an insult to his size. At least he has got some smooth moves to make up for his lack of style.

Princess Leia goes for the classic among Halloween costumes: the space bikini is sultry yet mysterious.

A very tactical choice, guaranteed not to make you feel overdressed.

Smart!

Yoda

Leia (foreground)

Anakin

Padmé Amidala

BLOOMSBURY

STYLE STALKER laura dubois

LEFT

RIGHT

Look at that smooth Jedi gear. A combination of leather and mixed fabrics that is sure to grab your attention, paired with practical gadgets such as a gear belt and the obligatory lightsaber.

Would definitely go over to the dark side for that.

Teenage Queen Amidala is dressed to impress with this intricate gown inspired by oriental fashion.

But we can’t help but wonder about the practicalities: are those lamps sown to her skirt? How is she supposed to save her planet if she can’t handle the stairs?

BLOOMSBURY | ANCHOR | 13 Alexandra

Ted

LEFT

RIGHT

It’s Jesus’s birthday soon folks! Alex is ahead of us all by wearing the first Christmas jumper of NCH, how keen. We appreciate the effort, but somehow it also reminds us of all the money were going to have to spend on presents instead of food.

Student life is bleak.

We like the clever combination of earthy tones and wintery patterns that will suit everyone this season.

Get some inspiration from Ted for you go-to day-to-day outfit, a comfortable yet fashionable allrounder!

HELLO SAILOR SWIM MAN-OVER-BOARD SINK SHARK ATTACK

Brian

Helena

LEFT

RIGHT

How to bike to college and still look impeccable, part one,

by Brian. Either he is good at hiding sweat stains or his cycling jacket is just made out of breathable and waterproof fabric — either way we want to know.

Watch out, culotte trousers are everywhere this season! Although we are still not sure how to pronounce it, Helena is definitely rocking the trend in combination with a nice camel coat she might or might not have stolen from her Mum. Well done!

14 | ANCHOR | SCIENCE

in a galaxy far, far away...

Soila Apparcio

Otherworldly visions of heroes fighting for a utopian society packaged to us in major film franchises sometimes seems all too distant a reality here on planet Earth. The stories we’ve passed on through generations about a world like ours among the stars may not be fairy-tale stories for much longer, but events that add to our historic human tapestry.

Many of the most fundamental and controversial questions we ask about our existence may never transition from theory to answer; indeed, everything we know, and everything about why or how we know what we know and do not know, may only ever be a theory.

To these unknowable facts or theories of life, we wonder if we are alone in questioning them. Is there life outside of our solar system, or a we truly alone? Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut famous among other thing for his rendition of Major Tom in space, has this to say: “We are potentially right on the cusp of discovering if we’re alone in the universe or not. The discoveries we’ve made in the last couple of years, of other places where liquid water exists – on Mars, on [Jupiter’s moon] Europa, on [Saturn’s moon] Enceladus – where there’s enough heat to keep the water liquid. Anywhere on Earth you have heat and water, you have life. So we may [soon] be able to see if we’re alone in the universe or not.”

So how do we find them? One answer provided by NASA is that, despite the telescopes that we use to capture such detailed images of the universe, they aren’t quite big enough. In fact, all of the stars, planets, and galaxies we can see above our heads, only make up four percent of our universe. The other 96 percent, is invisible to the technology that we currently have.

Despite these short-term limitations, NASA has been analysing possible lifeflourishing planets in what’s called the ‘Habitable Zone’, the region around a star where orbiting planets similar to the Earth can support liquid water.

With incomprehensible figures outlining that, at a good guess, there are about 10 billion galaxies (just like our Milky Way) in the observable universe, assuming an average of 100 billion stars per galaxy means that there are possibly 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ( t h a t ’s one billion trillion) stars in the observable universe. To think that not one could shine on a planet with life must surely be a mistake.

It is interesting then to compare our universe to the Star Wars expanded universe. Of course, the story and background behind such a galaxy took inspiration from what we already know of our own. It begs the questions, would intelligent life in another galaxy measure physics and use language in a similar way that we do?

In Star Wars, the calendar is based on the Battle of Yavin (the destruction of the first Death Star) as its epoch, or ‘year zero’; BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin), and ABY (After the Battle of Yavin). On Earth, unless you’ve been living on Tatooine, you would know that we use the birth (or story of the birth) of Jesus Christ, under BC and AD. In terms of the other inspirations the film series has drawn from, there are some surprises. Star Wars has borrowed heavily from other mystical literature, most notably stories about King Arthur and the Lord of the Rings, as well as other major science fiction films such as Dune and Metropolis, and even The Godfather.

“There are possibly 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (that’s one billion trillion) stars in the observable universe. To think that not one could shine on a planet with life must surely be a mistake.”

From a historical perspective, the latest film, The Force Awakens, has marked similarities with various totalitarian regiemes. Palpatine being Chancellor before becoming Emperor mirrors Adolf Hitler’s role as Chancellor before appointing himself Dictator. The Great Jedi Purge alludes to the events of The Holocaust, the Great Purge, the Cultural Revolution, and the Night of the Long Knives. In addition, Lucas himself has drawn parallels between Palpatine and his rise to power to historical dictators such as Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Adolf Hitler.

Whatever we can draw from works of fantasy science fiction, whether or not we are alone in this universe, until we meet an alien face-to-face, it seems those stories of interstellar warfare and out-of-this-world trading will be left to our imagination.

--

Anchor encourages the star-gazers among our readers to use the opposite page as a decoration for the bare walls of your student accomodation.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captured this billowing cloud of cold interstellar gas and dust rising from a tempestuous stellar nursery located in the Carina Nebula, 7500 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina. glowing patches of nebulosity, called Herbig-Haro (HH) objects.

(Image: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio, The Hubble Heritage Team and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI), public domain.)

16 | ANCHOR | SCIENCE

Google on acid

Psychedelic Art in the age of artificial intelligence Laura dubois Faces turn into disturbing animal heads, buildings and cities appear on the landscape, shapes and colors merge; is Google on acid? The unveiling of Google’s new Deep Dream software has flooded the Internet with crazy LSD trip images. In this brief history of psychedelic art, everyone from the Surrealists to artificial intelligence is high as a kite.

The subjective and subconscious has fascinated artists for a long time, even early 20th century Surrealists were inspired by it. Painters like Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, writers such as André Breton or filmmakers like Luis Buñuel surveilled their dreams and translated them into works of art. Absurd, bizarre and dreamlike motifs were created, both appealing and alienating at the same time. Influenced by psychoanalysis, founded in the late 19th century

by Sigmund Freud, the Surrealists tried to bring the images in our head on paper.

LSD makes your mind fly Besides our natural dreams, the subconscious can also be explored by taking drugs that cause hallucinations and dream-like states. Hallucinogenic substances such as LSD evoke visions that process images and experiences from our memory, just like in a dream. The discovery of LSD in 1938 by the Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann (who by the way died in 2008 at the advanced age of 102) therefore plays an important role for psychedelic art.

Especially in the 1960s, different movements were experimenting with LSD and stirred a wave of psychedelic art, music, literature and film.

The LSD art scene revolved mainly around San Francisco, at the time stronghold of counter-culture and the hippie scene. The Beats used the artificial mystification of the senses in order to influence their writing. Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl” is probably the most well-known example of this.

Jimi Hendrix’ psychedelic rock is inspired by acid, just as Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, Miles Davis and many others.

Psychedelic posters, comics, graphics and prints are characterized by bright colors, shapes running into each other, letters and bizarre motives, often promoting concerts, meetings and peace demonstrations. Wes Wilson, for example, is known for his concert posters, especially for the famous jazz club “Fillmore Auditorium” in San Francisco, which still exists today.

Virtual acid trips on Playstation and PC With the invention of the computer and the beginning of the digital age in the 1990s, LSD art becomes digital art, psychedelic rock turns into techno.

Rave culture takes over and opens new doors to the subconscious. This is partly possible due to new drugs like MDMA, but mainly with the help of improved technology. In video games, the world of the subconscious is virtually accessible for the first time through spaced out graphics that mimic dream worlds in every imaginable color. The 1998 Playstation game “LSD Dream Emulator” for example is based on the dream diary of Japanese game developer Hiroko Nishikawa. Although not scientifically based on acid experience, the player is realistically plunged into a disturbing, surreal and eccentric world; a simulated trip without drugs. Due to its cult status, the game was relaunched in 2014.

Since the 1990s, artists have appropriated the computer as art medium and created psychedelic art with virtual technology and the possibilities of new software. ‘Net Art’ includes all forms of virtual art, from vintage 8bit graphics to elaborate Photoshop artworks. Since the pieces are virtual, so are the exhibitions, for example in virtual art galleries like the Parisian Super Art Musée Moderne, or simply through social media. The Australian artist Miranda Lorikeet, for example, uses the all-time classic MS Paint to create

SCIENCE | ANCHOR | 17 mesmerizing illustrations inspired by her emotional state, which she publishes on Tumblr.

Throughout history psychedelic art has therefore had one objective: to visualize the unconscious and make it accessible, whether through drugs or dream diaries, as posters, video games or computer graphics. Art has developed through technology, now technology has advanced so far that computers can create works of art for themselves.

Google’s robots dream of LSD This summer, Google introduced an artificial neuronal network as part of its research on artificial intelligence (AI), which is trained to use an information database to interpret images and identify objects in it. The AI consists entirely of this acquired accumulated knowledge. It is made of several “layers” of neurons, each layer taking care of a more complex level of identification in the image, from detection of a corner to the identification of a hand, for example. However, it was found that the network can be overstimulated: depending on how much which neuronal level is stimulated, some aspects of the image are over interpreted and the AI recognizes shapes and images where there are none. In an image of a cloud it suddenly sees dogs, birds, fish ... it’s hallucinating, as if it were on acid! At the same time it creates crazy psychedelic images, fascinating and beautiful at the same time.

Since the release of the software called “Deep Dream” or “Inceptionism”, inspired by Christopher Nolan’s film, Twitter and the Internet in general have been flooded with photos and videos of the AI’s hallucinatory trips.

Internet users can now upload their own images and make them go on a trip (see dreamscopeapp.com). Famous pop culture works that deal with drugs were also subjected to the artificial LSD, such as Terry Gilliam’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” or Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”, just as famous art works from van Gogh to Pollock, and even porn. Distorted and disfigured, they are hardly recognizable.

The crazy thing about the discovery of Google is that scientifically, the process in which the computer creates the trippy images is similar to what happens in our brains when we dream or take drugs. The computer interprets images on the basis of information that it already has; it projects known information onto new images. While being overstimulated it sees lots of dogs and fish because it has previously been fed a database that contains mainly photos of dogs and fish. That’s exactly what happens when we perceive something: we project information that we already have onto reality in order to understand it. In our dreams, or while tripping, this process is multiplied because our brain is overstimulated. This results in the psychedelic visions that artists since Surrealism have tried to put on paper. Google’s Artificial Intelligence has now come just as far.

Automatic psychedelic art?

Now, are the images produced by the AI art? If they are, does it mean that computers are one step closer to overtaking us humans? The debate about artificial intelligence continues, inspiring dystopian films such as Alex Garland’s “Ex Machina“ for example, in which he poses the question of whether robots have feelings. But for now, Deep Dream remains an artistic medium which can be used to create psychedelic images. The Turkish artist CM Kosemen for example, has teamed up with the scientist Roelof Pieters to make his surrealist paintings even deeper with Google Deep Dream.

However, the effects of the AI are still based on its information. If Deep Dream is fed a different database than images of dogs and fish, such as speech recognition algorithms, entirely different images will result. An artist is therefore needed to curate the relation between software, database and the image so that a new artwork is created. Artificial Intelligence, and the ‘art’ resulting from the hallucinations of the computer are still dependent on man for the time being.

18 | ANCHOR | CULTURE

Ten Albums that Changed the World Roman Müller

Just before NCH’s reading week, I had the chance to meet an interesting yet strange character. You have probably never heard of him, but his love for his job has provided us with some of the greatest music ever made.

Once we’d begun our conversation, he told me something that did not immediately appear as a reality to me. He believes that people do not care about sound quality anymore, and that our children will be ignorant to the idea of the ‘album’. I sadly came to realise he was completely right; we are changing our ways, taking different roads. Ian Curtis would be rolling in his grave (and now you’re probably asking yourselves who Ian Curtis is as you load up a Google page on your brand new iPhone 6S).

1. B.B. King - Live At The Regal (1964) Some of you might remember B.B. King from my numerous Facebook publications and blog posts (editorial can attest to this).

Recorded in late 1964 at the Regal Theatre in Chicago, this album is single-handedly regarded as the greatest blues album ever recorded.

It features as the 141st album on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list and features some of B.B.’s major hits (Sweet Little Angel and Everyday I Have the Blues). B.B. King’s music set the standard for modern hip-hop, R’n’B, blues and jazz. To this day, it remains an iconic album recognised by the like of Eric Clapton and John Mayer as their go-to album before a show.

2. Jeff Buckley - Grace (1994) Most of you have probably been introduced to Jeff Buckley through a bad cover of Hallelujah on The O.C., crying to the sight of Marissa Cooper’s dead body in Ryan Atwood’s arms. But Buckley is much more than that: grunge and heavy metal were everywhere in the 1990s until Jeff Buckley came along. His father was a successful folk player who died from a heroin overdose when Buckley was five.

Inspired by his hero Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), he started off as a guitar player, “listening to Physical Graffiti until the grooves were gone”, to quote his mother. Later on in his life, inspired by Edith Piaf among others, he had a change of heart and decided to become a singer. The result is Grace, the only album and universal masterpiece he left to this world. Grace is an ode to his sensitivity and to the malady of elegance. “Sensitivity isn’t being wimpy, it’s about being so painfully aware that a flea landing on a dog is like a sonic boom” said Jeff. Dive in and watch out for the flying Buckleys.

In an era marked by musical ignorance and fast-paced acquisition, I thought it would be a good idea to take a step back and remember works of great musical artistry by actually paying attention to some of the greatest records that changed the world. This is an opportunity to realise that those mp3s you now download off iTunes for £0.99 used to be part of physical works of art made of vinyl for the best part of the twentieth century.

This is the first edition of ‘albums that changed the world’, a featured Anchor contribution dedicated to the art of music. Without further ado, here are this edition’s ten albums:

3. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced? (1967) It’s 1967, Jimi Hendrix arrives in London and figuratively kills God (read: Eric Clapton). He becomes this fiery guitar master, an absolute force of nature and showcases his talent in this one masterpiece.

Electric Church as he called it; it is more than just an album, it is a bigger-than-life auditive experience that has inspired not only his own generation but those that came after him. Jimi Hendrix revolutionised music like no other artist in human history. This album is his legacy.

4. Cream - Wheels of Fire (1968) The absolute avant-garde first supergroup ever: Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker.

This powerful blues-based trio fired up the UK with an array of jazz and blues-based beams of music that created new musical horizons for entirely new genres to emerge. Every single blues, rock and metal band that you can think of, quotes Cream as one of their key inspirations. How is that for a resumé?

5. The Beatles - Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) The musical bible that is Rolling Stone Magazine said of the classic Beatles album: “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is the most important rock & roll album ever made.” I could not put it better myself. The outstanding songwriting of the McCartneyLennon duo combined with the musical genius of the greatest rock band in history and this idea of a fictional band playing an imaginary concert in a sonic symphony is truly unprecedented. “I read the news today, oh boy” commences A Day In The Life, the last song on the record. John Lennon’s eerie vocals never fail to make you feel nostalgic and connected to the Beatlemania reverie. Sgt. Pepper’s is the confirmation that The Beatles were truly bigger than Jesus, well said Winston.

CULTURE | ANCHOR | 19

6. Joni Mitchell - Blue (1971) Blue is the ultimate breakup album.

Joni doesn’t hold anything back, “there’s hardly a dishonest note in the vocals”, Mitchell told Rolling Stone in 1979. Listening to Blue is Joni Mitchell welcoming you into her world, opening up her profound sadness and not being ashamed of it. This is an album of sorrows and regrets and of musical minimalism.

Blue is the kind of album that takes you about a week to recover from - until you listen to it again.

But it is also the kind of album that truly opens a window into a fragile person’s character. Even though it is filled with tears and total devotion, her songs are some of the most sincere representations of what it means to be human.

7. James Brown - Live At The Apollo (1963) Not only is this album widely

recognised as one of the greatest live performances ever recorded, but James Brown’s live performance of 1963 at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre (New York) also turned the then soul singer into an artist that would eventually lay new standards for funk music. Brown’s performance led bands such as Funkadelic and Parliament to explore new musical grounds and give birth to entirely new musical genres. Think about The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Mother’s Milk or Freaky Styley: none of those albums would have existed without George Clinton.

And George Clinton (commonly regarded as one of the founding fathers of funk music) would arguably not have understood funk in the same way he did after listening to James Brown.

8. David Bowie - The Story of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972) Another album based on a fictional hero, Bowie’s fifth studio album marked music history and a new beginning in British pop music.

Even in the 1970s Bowie was playing with the idea of an alter ego (lit. “another me”) he could pretend to be. This idea became a precursor to the resurgence of 1990s alteregoism in american hip-hop. Ziggy Stardust, Bowie’s alter ego, was an intermediary messenger between

SHELF LIFE

earthlings and extraterrestrial beings. Talk about unusual artistry.

Bowie even performed as Ziggy numerous times and gave glamrock a new meaning. A must-have for any music lover.

9. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black (2006) I was at the Hawley Arms recently (Amy’s favourite pub in Camden, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the city) and thought; “God, if only I would have had the chance to meet her”. Back to Black is the 21st century’s second best selling album in the UK with about four million albums sold as of last month. Furthermore, Mark Ronson co-produced the album, which ended up snapping up some of the biggest international musical recognitions there are. Despite her addiction issues, Amy was not only an outstanding recording artist but also a bigger-than-life performer. Since Back To Black, a second wave of female artists were given open grounds to explore their musical horizons. Charles Aron (Spin Magazine) said of Winehouse: “She was the Nirvana moment for all these women […]

They can all be traced back to her in terms of attitude, musical styles or fashion”. Without Amy, there would be no Duffy, no Florence, and no Adele.

10. Adele - 21 (2011) To me, some of the greatest music feels like it has always been there, the music might be new, yet it feels eternal. I have had that feeling with artists including the Red Hot Chili Peppers and London Grammar.

And then Adele came along. She managed to pull off something that even the most successful artists cannot replicate: creating an album consisting of best-selling hit after hit. Think about the track list: Rolling In The Deep, Turning Tables, Don’t You Remember, Set Fire To The Rain, One And Only, Someone Like You. It is no wonder that Adele’s 21 stands in 4th position on the UK’s biggest selling album list of all time (with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 3rd position) and sold almost five million copies in the UK alone (as of October 2015).

She sold more albums than (What’s The Story) Morning Glory (Oasis), Thriller (Michael Jackson), The Dark Side of The Moon (Pink Floyd), and Rumours (Fleetwood Mac). Need I say more? Adele’s 21 marks music history for decades to come and set the bar extremely high for new generations of female vocalists.

Tuesday 8th december 7.30 pm19 bedford square

20 | ANCHOR | CULTURE

the philosophy of blade runner Dr brian ball Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction film directed by the British director Ridley Scott; though you will want to see the ‘Final Cut’ over which Scott had complete artistic control, and which was not released until 2007. The film stars Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard, Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty, and Sean Young as romantic interest Rachael, and has notable performances from Darryl Hannah as Pris and William Sanderson in the role of J.F. Sebastian.

It is set in a dystopian future Los Angeles (in November 2019 — coming soon!), in which androids have been invented that are produced by the Tyrell Corporation. These ‘replicants’, as they are known, are virtually indistinguishable from humans — if anything they are physically superior, though early models are emotionally impoverished — but they have become outlawed on Earth since being involved in a bloody mutiny, and they are relegated to working as slaves in ‘off-Earth’ colonies. The story centers around a group of these replicants (led by Roy, and including Pris) who have escaped from one of these colonies and returned, illegally, to Earth: they are hunted by Deckard, a special kind of police officer known as a ‘blade runner’, whose job it is to ‘retire’ (i.e. kill) them.

The film is based on a 1968 novel by Philip K. Dick called ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ — the title ‘Blade Runner’, as well as the term ‘replicant’ are not Dick’s own; and indeed, my own impression of Dick’s writing

is that it does not have great literary qualities.

Nevertheless, Dick’s works have been adapted to film many times: to mention just a few, in 1990, Paul Verhoeven directed Total Recall based on Dick’s 1966 short story ‘We Can Remember it for Your Wholesale’; in 2002, Steven Spielberg directed Minority Report, based on a 1956 short story of the same name, and in 2006, Richard Linklater directed A Scanner Darkly (based on the 1977 novel of the same name).The reason for the popularity of Dick’s work, it seems to me, is that it asks profoundly human, and ultimately philosophical, questions.

“Blade Runner has nothing to do with scientific and technological developments.”

Indeed, like all the best works of sci fi, Blade Runner ultimately has nothing to do with scientific and technological developments, but is instead an exploration of the human condition. The best works of science fiction are thought experiments which attempt to answer the questions ‘What would happen if technology and/or society were to develop in certain directions?’ and ‘What does this tell us about ourselves?’ The central issue addressed by Blade Runner seem to be ‘What is it to be human?’ or, more generally, ‘What is a person?’ Indeed, Blade Runner explores, and in some ways problematizes, theories of the nature

of persons like the one advanced by the English philosopher and physician John Locke in his ‘Essay Concerning Human Understanding’ (1690).

Locke advocated a psychological theory of persons, according to which personhood consists, roughly speaking, in self-consciousness. In particular, Locke thought that our bodily constitution is inessential to us qua persons.

Locke illustrated his view with a thought experiment in which the consciousness of a prince becomes associated with the body of a cobbler, while retaining the ‘princely thoughts’ it previously entertained. Locke suggested that in this case the person located where the cobbler’s body is to be found after the swap is the person who was previously located where the prince’s body was. For instance, if the prince were to commit a crime before the swap, it is the person located where the cobbler’s body is after the swap that should be punished. Many have been inclined to share in this judgement, and have, accordingly, found Locke’s view to be plausible.

It is worth noting that for Locke, the notion of memory plays a particularly important role in delineating persons. It is common in the philosophy of personhood to distinguish two important questions. The first of these, the Synchronic Question, asks simply, ‘What is a person?’ The second, Diachronic Question asks‚ ‘What holds a person together over time, so that he or she survives from one time to another as the

CULTURE | ANCHOR | 21

same person?’ Locke’s answer to the synchronic question is that a person is “a thinking intelligent being, that has reason and reflection, and can consider itself as itself, the same thinking thing, in different times and places”. No mention is made of any bodily aspect of the person — it doesn’t matter for Locke what a person is made of. Rather, certain psychological functions are recorded as central — in particular, the ability to think (or “reason and reflect”) is key, as is the capacity for self-awareness. Crucially, these are functions that the replicants of Blade Runner are capable of performing, and so there is no reason stemming from Locke’s theory not to regard these replicants as persons. The notion of memory also makes an appearance in Locke’s answer to the synchronic question, when the self-awareness manifests itself as the ability of a person to “consider itself as itself … in different times and places”; but it is really in response to the diachronic question that the central role of memory for Locke becomes apparent. Locke says that “as far as consciousness can be extended backwards to any past action or thought, so far reaches the identity of that person; it is the same self now as it was then”. This is of central importance in connection with the replicants of Blade Runner: for at least one of them has had memories implanted from a different person — though from her perspective those memories feel perfectly genuine, and seem to be a part of her.

But enough about the philosophy of persons; let me return to Blade Runner. It has wonderful aesthetic qualities – a feature it shares with Scott’s earlier 1979 sci fi, Alien, in which there is spectacular design work by H.R. Giger. The astounding visuals are one of the reasons why

both films have become classics of the genre.

Film is essentially a visual medium, and Scott pays due attention to how his shots look [1].

Moreover, there is a noir sensibility in Blade Runner – not only in its aesthetics, but also in its themes. The future may have fancy new

“According to Locke’s theory, there is no reason not to regard replicants as persons.” technologies (which, of course, have already become old within the film’s own timeline), but it is no more advanced morally than the present.

People are still motivated by the same corrupting influences — greed and power, for instance, fear and desperation — and these threaten to crush, or at least degrade, the human spirit. But at the same time, there is a romantic aspect to the story, on which an unlikely chance at love offers hope and the possibility of redemption [2].

There are a number of iconic scenes in the film: for instance, the one in J.F.’s apartment in which the replicants are compared, through juxtaposition, to the mechanical toys J.F. designs; and the scene in which Roy literally meets his maker. Ultimately, though, it is the adept development of the analogy between the situation of the replicants, on the one hand, and the human condition, on the other, that gives the film its power. The replicants have a fixed, four-year lifespan, though they are uncertain of how long they have already lived due to their implanted memories. Accordingly, they are just like us: they know they will die, but they don’t

know when. As a result, they are afraid of death, and want to know what the point of life is. When Roy delivers his ‘tears in the rain’ monologue (written by Hauer), in which he declares, ‘I have seen things you people wouldn’t believe’, something of the majesty, and the fragility, of human experience is captured, and we can’t help thinking that the replicants are persons too.

Which is just as well: after all, how can you tell you aren’t one?

--

[1] Scott is not, however, an aesthetic formalist: that is, he is not concerned merely with what the sensible qualities of the artistic object itself. In fact, Scott employs symbolism throughout Blade Runner. What otherwise is that shot eye cut into the opening panoramic depiction of the dystopian future Los Angeles doing there? (What does it mean?) And, of course, a dove is released when Roy dies. What does this tell us about Scott’s view of the nature of persons? The fact that these questions are important to the appreciation of the film establishes the opening claim of this footnote.

[2] That said, the romance between Rachael and Deckard does not seem a very successful aspect of the film. There are a number of reasons for this. One is the weak depiction in the film of women in general, and Rachael in particular (to say nothing of the representation of east Asians!) — in this respect, Alien is much better.

Another is that Deckard is not ultimately, and despite appearances, the hero of the film; rather, he is something closer to a narrator, a character that enables us to observe the film’s true hero, Roy. In fact, it is Roy who, Christlike, saves Deckard, having first crucified himself (well, he drives a nail through his own hand) in an attempt to remain sentient. We are left with the impression that our redemption must come (as it does for Deckard, the everyman), not from love (as in Christian theology, as well as film noir), but from the raw materials of conscious life. Roy revels in the experiences he is fortunate enough to be able to have — be they beautiful or ugly, virtuous or vicious, pleasant or painful — and it is this which makes him a hero.

22 | ANCHOR | CULTURE

Beauty through windows: A timeline Ted Simmonds

Walking around the Victoria and Albert museum on a Sunday afternoon, you can hear families on days out, and see the more inquisitive tourists discovering the beauty of ironworks, glass, ceramics, and silver. We walk over the causeway of the cast room, a common phenomenon in the days before art students could go themselves to see David or Trajan’s Column; we walk into the corridor of the stained glass.

We enter and the year is 1200ce, the archaic flagellators whipping Christ were formed from glass in either France or Britain, and these chinks of ‘pot metal’ crudely sit between bolts of lead.

We see them now, as the people who flocked to the churches did then, to be in awe of the universality of color, aestheticism and beauty. We walk on.

It’s hard for us to imagine those people’s pulses quickening at the sight of the sunlight passing through the metal oxides, but doubtless they did, and doubtless they went home and forgot.

It’s 1520 now, and we can see Susanna bathing in an antiquated scene. All yellow and black, it displeases my eye, but nonetheless the skill shines through in the folds of her dress. There is such subtlety of tone and form created from ground

glass and iron filings; you say modern art has lost all skill, I say the skill is in the concept. I find it funny that she wears a dress as she bathes, a habit she throws off as the Renaissance creeps to the Netherlands.

“It’s hard for us to imagine those people’s pulses quickening at the sight of the sunlight passing through the metal oxides, but doubtless they did, and doubtless they went home and forgot .”

We arrive at Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones’s stained glass. At last we are in a time we can imagine, it isn’t a great empathetic leap to look on as St. Peter is called, whose style and face isn’t too dissimilar to the windows that hang in the church in which I was christened, and in whose pews I sat for years before realizing I was only there for

the songs and the art. He died in 1898, and never saw the new century come in; he never saw the windows of St. Quentin’s lying in dust along with its roof on the ground of Northern France as war marched, never saw the pews empty and charred.

We come out of the corridor and find ourselves in the paintings section; Turner, Blake, and again, we find Burne-Jones, a faded blue-grey monochrome of cupid in the hunting fields, possibly a study for a stained glass. There’s something lacking in it that possibly only comes from the fact I’ve just seen his folded cloth and pursed lips shine in the Technicolor of stained glass. I spend less than a minute, and move on.

Why is it that we find awe where we don’t need it?

Why is it we can feel the 13th century sun entering into our 13th century church when we have our iPhones in our pockets? Is there something that lives within us that cannot be lost over time? Is it a sense of beauty? Light? Who knows, I know less than most. But we flock to the museums, we flock to find the connections to the past and to feel the feelings they felt, it’s a cathedral of knowledge we built here instead.

CULTURE | ANCHOR | 23

Star Wars: The Modern Myth Megan Kedzlie

What is it about classic films that makes them so classic? What about them calls us to sit on our couches, hands full of popcorn, eyes eagerly stuck on our screen? Why do we turn these cinematic defining films into cult classics, obsessed with their stories for decades after they’ve been created? Like so many other blockbuster sensations of the late 1970s and early 1980s, George Lucas’s Star Wars defined the childhoods of so many people around the world.

Aspects of his sixology, and Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones, can be traced through all major cinematic pieces to date, from Jurassic Park, Avatar, to the Hunger Games, and that’s all due to the unique storytelling of Star Wars, and its lasting impact on most subsequent blockbuster movies.

But why is this type of storytelling so conducive to making blockbusters?

Many scholars have put time into categorising values like bravery, courage, and wisdom; which has lead to a larger understanding of why people watch and enjoy films. These works also demonstrated that films that were more appreciated in the long-term were movies that led to lasting feelings of empathy and reflection, the stories that stick with you in time. There is a reason that children grew up through the 1980’s and 1990’s imagining that they were Luke Skywalker or Han Solo; their actions and words made them into ideal role-models for children and teenagers of that time, telling a story about honesty, bravery, and the importance of faith and family.

Jeremy Campbell originally designed the idea of the monomyth (or the hero’s journey) in 1949. Its 17 stages of how a plot develops has been replicated over and over again since its conception; directing the writing and structure of most major film and action movies released in the Western world. He believed that most stories that became alluring to viewers had a plot that followed: “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”

In the United States, a poll conducted before the release of The Phantom Menace showed that over 43% of adults had seen all three of the original Star Wars movies (which are decidedly more appreciated around the world) with 63% of 25-44 year olds, and 43% of 16-24 year olds having viewed them all.

Those that have managed to slip through the grip of the blockbuster still can glean some idea of the story of the series, with a WIRED writer in August (who had never seen the films) guessing that the series was “the good guys are trying to defend their galaxy from the bad guys, in a series of galactic wars.

I’m pretty sure these star wars take place on planets (Tatooine?) and space ships (the Death Star?) and maybe bars (Cantina?). […] I have no idea what, everyone is fighting these wars over”. His experiences clearly illuminate the experience of so many around the Western world who have managed to miss out on one of the greatest films in history. Even though seen as a (now) typical sci-fi picture, the American Film Institute still rates it as the 13th best movie in cinematic history, following masterpieces such as the Godfather, Gone with the Wind, and Schindler’s List.

This fantastical modelling was quickly attributed to the stylisation of Star Wars and the world of Luke Skywalker, but these sorts of ideals can also be found in Lord of the Rings trilogy (Frodo’s journey to destroying the one ring) and the Hunger Games (in which Katniss faces the Capitol as the power of supernatural).

Even this link can surpass fantasy into a historical study. The fall of the Sith Empire was reportedly echoed from the fall of the Roman Empire (though how that will lead to the apparent Sith resurgence in The Force Awakens, I cannot fathom just yet), and the use of places like Tatooine and Coruscant were reflective of the wastes and excesses of our modern societies, respectively.

These stories connect our heroes to their worlds like we connect to ours, and push us into viewing ourselves and our place in the world like the heroes of these classics do.

But this Star Wars monomyth, one that has defined cinematic history, is part of an extended universe that will be a part of marketing and cultural history.

The numerous books, video games, and television series that have come out of the Star Wars galaxy have all broken records and changed the game for the fantasy and sci-fi genres. Millions of lives around the world have been touched by the Star Wars universe, and will continue to wait eagerly for the new movie: whether blockbuster hit or cinematic flop.

24 | ANCHOR | CULTURE

Videogames: a cultural hobby?

Ollie de Savigny

Most mornings, if I’m lucky, I get to wake up and roll out of my warm capsule of linen at around 10am. I proceed in my normal routine: showering, staring at the mirror through bleary eyes until I can see just about myself, throwing together some food, having a quick race on Need for Speed, brushing my teeth, then grabbing my bag in the hopes that it contains everything I need for the day before I jump on a bus 20 minutes later than I’d intended.

I am aware that this routine is probably quite recognisable for most of you, yet your curiosity may have peaked when I mentioned the popular racing franchise “Need for Speed” (at least, for the benefit of this article I hope so; if it peaked at the shower scene I’m afraid you won’t find what you’re looking for…). Need for Speed began with the first instalment, The Need for Speed, in 1997. The title, not-so-slyly taken from the world-famous film Top Gun, implies an element of excitement, and the necessity to break sound barriers, and road laws. The first recognisable NFS game came to fruition in 2003; Need for Speed: Underground was a game built upon the concept of illegal underground street-racing in the US. Its appeal came in the form of fast cars, with a plethora of customisation and the platform to express boundless creativity. For a boy of seven having grown up with a petrol-head father, it was right up my street.

“Ultra-Christian news websites list ‘going to the cinema on a date’ as one of the devil’s sales pitches, but the point is still present in mainstream media too.”

Many of you reading this will have, at one stage, owned a Playstation 2, Sony’s masterpiece of a games console. It gave shy, introverted young children like myself something to bond over, and provided the popular kids with another method to incorporate football into their lives (Fifa, anyone?). What helped this beloved console, alongside Microsoft’s Xbox, Xbox 360 and the PS2’s faster younger brother, Playstation 3, to slide so easily into everyday life and culture?

It is quite easy to fall back upon the same argument: “it’s the digital age”, “robots are taking over the world”, “we are being ruled by machines”. However, if one thinks about it logically, it’s perfectly natural. For millennia human beings have been making scientific discoveries and developing technology; from the first rough-edged hand-crafted tool, to Manchester’s first mill, and Japan’s first robot - humans have fallen in love with new, exciting things. It seems logical, then, that in much the same way that a lover of scuba diving eagerly anticipates the new Mares MR52 Carbon Regulator with Hybrid BCD drive, so too does an avid PC gamer relish the release of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX

Titan X graphics processing unit.

Unlike with scuba diving, football or even polio, no single hobby gets as much negative media attention as video games. In an article about American school shooter Chris Harper-Mercer, it was quoted that he “enjoyed playing violent video games”, implying a link between the two. I am certain that the other 100 million or so Call of Duty players would protest at this suggestion of their own morality. Granted, this article was from an ultra-Christian news website which also lists “going to the cinema on a date” as one of the devil’s sales pitches, but the point is still present in mainstream media too.

On top of this, the perpetuating stereotype of a gamer is that of an overweight male in his teens who lives, coincidentally, in his parent’s house and does nothing to support himself or pursue any prospect of a future. Although an exaggeration, you get the point. The connotations of obesity, laziness and a lack of hygiene pervade most people’s views of the “typical gamer”.

And yet, when I look around at the collection of faces on the tube staring soullessly into the glowing screen sat in their palm, I will find the majority of them playing some form of digital game. As I am sure, even if you have steered clear of the lure of console or PC gaming, you will have played Candy Crush on your mobile; if not your own, then perhaps someone else’s. In the very extreme circumstance that you have avoided this too, then pinball or chess on your parents’ first Windows 95 computer must linger in your memory.

My point being, the very act of playing a videogame makes one a “gamer”.

Does this thought repulse you? Perhaps not, but oddly enough the very same overweight, greasy basement-dweller from my previous example is recoiling in horror at the mere implication that you “casuals” are in fact gamers.

Many gamers are proud of their shared interest, and embrace it, in essence creating a community. This gaming community is diverse, multi-lingual and largely non-discriminatory… for the most part. For such a large and stereotyped community, the gaming community is neither open nor welcoming to those deemed “casuals”, or the popular colloquial term: noobs. In fact, when I first started playing the more “serious” multiplayer games in my early teens I was mocked and ridiculed by 40-year-olds and 17-year-olds alike. This is certainly not representative of the community as a whole, as for all the poor treatment for being bad that I received from Call of Duty players, I received the same amount of support and encouragement from League of Legends players who wished nothing more than to see me improve. As a result, through large networks like Steam, I have met and made some fantastic friends from all over the world.

It seems, then, that video games, and more specifically gamers, have established their own culture and attitudes which lie parallel to those of the mainstream society. In much the same way that you’re either a football fan or you’re not, a comic book fan or not, video games have made an irremovable mark on society, and gaming sub-culture is here to stay. It’s also fucking huge.

COMMENT | ANCHOR | 25.

Overheard at NCH Did you know: for every intelligent statement an NCHum makes, someone, somewhere in no.19 makes an equally ridiculous, distasteful, or incoherent one? Something about every reaction having an equal and opposite reaction?

Here are some of those statements that we weren’t quite sure demonstrate the ‘quick minds’ here at NCH... And if you overhear something just as questionable, please do send it in.

Two students, discussing a mutual acquaintance: Student 1: “Didn’t he do soft porn?”

Student 2: “Who solved world hunger?”

Student 3: “No, I said soft porn.”

Two students, discussing vegan lunch: Student 1: “​ What is that?”

Student 2: “It’s a raw burger.”

Student 1: “​ How do they do that?”

Student 2: “It’s called reverse osmosis water.”

Two students, discussing their Sagar vegetarian lunch box: Student 1: “Oh my god. I would leave my boyfriend for this!”

Student 2: “Can you move your hair out of the way? I just love watching you eat it.”

Two students, discussing their emails: Student 1: “​ Did you read the email we were sent yesterday?”

Student 2: “Oh, the one about the hedgehogs?”

Student 1: “No, the one about al-Qaeda.”

All I want for Christmas...

Forgot about that special someone at NCH this Christmas time?

Worried about what to get them? Fear no more! Here is our little list of last minute gifts for NCHums. Thank us later...

Corbyn Colouring Book - nothing says socialism like an overpriced colouring book to distract you from caring about real world issues.

Tampons - a luxurious item for that lovely lady in your life. Make it even more special by purchasing those ones with pearls in them. ID required for purchase... according to an ex-union officer.

Nicotine Patches - most NCHums have a limited number of Christmases left. Save them from cancer in the nik-of-time.

Meat Flavoured Crisps - suitable for the most vegetarian of NCHums.

An old issue of The Parturient - for the poet and the nationalist in you; support local businesses and become culturally expressive whilst doing so.

Netflix Subscription - at least they’ll have something to do all day, besides studying. Note however the service is blocked on no.19’s wifi.

By Soila Apparicio

26 | ANCHOR | COMMENTS

Beyond Bedford Square with Natalie Bennett Natalie Bennett is the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, which recieved over one million votes in May’s General Election. Bennett stood for NCH’s constituency of Holborn and St. Pancras in May, placing third.

Born in Sydney, Australia, and working as a journalist for many years, Bennett now resides here in London, working for a political system that puts the public first.

The Green Party is the UK’s third largest party in terms of membership numbers, having increased tenfold since 2013.

Following this and the ‘green surge’ among the electorate, Anchor had a few questions for the Green leader...

COMMENTS | ANCHOR | 27 The constituency you campaigned in has a huge student population, and one of the Green Party’s key policies concerns the scrapping of tuition fees. What kind of education do you think our young people should be receiving today?

Education should be first and foremost a preparation for a healthy, fulfilling, genuinely rich life, rather than a high pressure exam factory, as it currently is.

That means a chance to follow interests and talents, a broad range of subjects and approaches, and essential basics such as sex and relationship education, information on personal finance, nutrition, food growing and practical skills, including first aid.

The current system of student fees is unsustainable, both for individuals and universities. Even before the latest additions of grants being replaced by further loans, the ending of student nurse bursaries and addition of master’s degrees, 73% of students are not expected to pay off the loans, and half the money not be repaid. That’s leaving a whole generation who face 30 years of payments that they’ll never pay off – a deeply dispiriting prospect, and one that will have a huge drag on the years when many might be thinking of settling down, maybe buying a house and starting a family.

How can the Green Party be a force for change?

The Green Party has a traditional role in proposing and supporting ideas, such as the living wage (the real living wage as proposed by the Living Wage Foundation, not George Osborne’s imitation) and 20mph speed limits where people live, work and shop. When we first started campaigning for these they were regarded as radical proposals, now they’re mainstream “common sense”. I expect we’ll see similar progression with the universal basic income and land value tax.

But since the “Green surge” that saw our membership more than treble in a year and us win 1.1 million votes in the general election, we’re in a new position – we don’t just want to propose ideas, we want to be elected into positions to implement them. In the coming London elections – conducted under a fair system in which every vote counts – we’re looking to grow our number of London Assembly members. And it is worth noting that the odds of our London mayoral candidate, Sian Berry, are shorter than those of Jeremy Corbyn’s before he was elected Labour leader.

“Young people think very hard, and are very well informed, about our joint economic, social and environmental crises. They understand very clearly that our current neoliberal political philosophy is bankrupt and has failed even in its own terms.”

Has the student population lost its spirit to protest?

Not at all – as I saw on November’s huge free education march in London, and as I see in campaigns on issues ranging from fossil fuel divestment to LGBTIQ+ rights, the living wage to rights for the disabled.

The Green Party is often regarded as only interested in the environment.

Why isn’t this true?

We’ve always said that economic and environmental justice are indivisible and had policies on every subject from defence (including opposition to the military adventurism that’s had such disastrous impacts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya), to prisons (a focus on rehabilitation) to affordable housing.

Britain is using three planets’ worth of resources every year, while so many struggle to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads, so economic justice has to be at the absolute forefront of our concerns. Privatisation of public services is cutting the pay and conditions of workers, slashing the quality provided, and pumping public money into private hands – we’re the party consistently saying that. This is not a society that works for the common good but the 1% of richest. That’s bad for all of us, and for the planet.

Why do you think environmental issues are repeatedly overlooked in political discussion?

Tackling our environmental challenges means massive change to our economy and society, away from the dominance of big multinational companies and towards small businesses and cooperatives with much more localised trade that builds prosperity from the grassroots and ensures everyone has the access to the resources for a decent life, without fear or worry. That’s against the interests of powerful existing forces and requires changes in thinking about progress that those benefitting from the status quo are reluctant to understand and adopt.

Do you believe in the contested saying that “if you’re not a socialist when you’re young, you don’t have a heart, but if you aren’t a conservative when you’re old, you don’t have a head”?

No. Young people are thinking very hard, and are very well informed, about our joint economic, social and environmental crises. I talk to a lot of them at schools, colleges and universities. They understand very clearly that our current neoliberal political philosophy is bankrupt and has failed even in its own terms. But I also meet increasing numbers of older people who’ve always thought that way, or come to that realisation.

What is it about London that you love, and hate respectively?

I love London’s diversity, both historic and modern. Centuries of immigration, both by people who’d now be called refugees and economic migrants, have created a richly layered city. When I have a drink in the Somers Town Coffee House (it’s actually a pub) I think of the Hugenot refugees who used to gather here, or when I walk past the dry cleaners’ that used to be the home of Moll Cutpurse, the “Jordan” of 17th-century London, I imagine her time. (She once, dressed in men’s clothing, rode a silver-shod horse from Charing Cross to the East End for a dare – it won her £5.) What I hate are traffic-choked, fume-filled streets designed for cars not people. Euston Road springs to mind!

London is a very busy, polluted city. What small acts can we do in the capital (and other large cities) to become more environmental?

As the Green Party we’re concerned with system change, not individual behaviour. It’s no good telling people to not use their cars unless public transport provides a reliable, affordable, convenient alternative; it’s hard not to leave the supermarket with huge amounts of pointless, wasteful packaging.

So I’d say do something to campaign for change – sign a petition, write an email to a store about their failings, start a local campaign to protect a local market and its small businesses.

28 | ANCHOR |

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