Bexclusive Magazine Summer 18

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Controversies around ‘consent’ and legal position by Nicholas Bozyk.

An interview with Steve Uphill by Laura Bullimore.

The winning article and runners up of the LRC’s fiction competition, by Harriet Walker, Nicole Clland and Sam Bennett.

An account of the Uniformed Services visit to the Law Courts by Mollie Thompson.

One of Bexhill College’s extra-curricular activity, by Caitlyn Skilton.

The victory of Hsiang-Ling Huang and her teammates in the Maths Challenge.

An interview with Anne-Marie Imafidon M.B.E, by Helena Jeffery and Phoebe Poole.

An interview with the Liberal Democrat M.P. Stephen Lloyd.

Behind the scenes of Bexhill College’s theatre production, by Emily Hallett.

The journey from Iraq to Bexhill College, by Yousif Al-Kazaz.

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25/06/2018 11:07

What is Consent?

The ‘Tea’ Test: Modern Day Issues Relating to the Defence of Consent Nicholas Bozyk

T

hough the issues surrounding consent are generally considered in relation to sexual assault, they occupy a much wider sphere of influence in Criminal Law. In essence, the defence of consent may affect the ‘guilty act’ of a crime as to make it lawful. For example, if a person accused of battery, the application of unlawful force, can prove that their victim consented to the force, it ceases to be unlawful, meaning no battery had been committed. It should be noted however that the Defence is not universal. It is not allowed for murder and theft, and heavily restricted in defence to battery resulting in actual or grievous bodily harm or wounding. This has the obvious consequence of protecting the safety of members of the public, though could be seen as overly restrictive of personal choices. For instance, a person can never consent to engaging in a fist fight, whether in public or private. This could easily be seen as a severe intrusion on a person’s right to self-determination. However, recent developments in the law have seen the liberalisation of the ability to consent to various forms of harm for the purposes of sexual activities, while cracking down on those who endanger the health of their partners without consent.

If the accused can prove that the victim consented in crimes such as assault, battery or rape, they can be completely absolved of guilt. However, the mental element of crimes like rape considers the belief of the accused as to whether the victim consented, not whether consent actually took place.

Therefore, in order to prove that the accused lacks the ‘guilty mind’ needed for the crime, the defence must simply show that they thought there was consent – this belief is completely subjective, and thus doesn’t have to be reasonable. While this protects defendants who have made an honest mistake, the

difficulty it brings in prosecuting those actually guilty is obvious. The wide nature of the test means that some perpetrators can simply ‘slip through the cracks’, as their actual state of mind cannot be tested (we are not equipped with ‘intention meters’ after all), and the jury must go based off what they said in court and what can be inferred from their actions.

Now that we have examined the use of consent in the courts, I should clarify what exactly ‘consent’ means. In order to be effective and therefore recognised in English Law, consent must be positive and genuine. Positive means that the consent has to be specific and actively given by the victim. It cannot consist purely of a failure to say no or resist – a submission.

Despite this, not all forms of consent have to necessarily be “express”, meaning that they don’t have to come in the form of words or writing. Implied consent exists where it can be inferred from the victim’s actions. For example, when entering a crowded area, it is implied that a person consents to “jostling..., handshakes, back slapping, tapping to gain attention provided no more force was used than is reasonably necessary”. In essence, this means that a person cannot be guilty of battery if they apply force on their ‘victim’ within the above situations and within reasonable levels of force. However, implied consent is less likely to succeed when applied to more serious crimes such as rape.

In order to be genuine, on the other hand, the consent must fulfil two conditions:

1.

The person giving consent must comprehend the nature of the act to which they are consenting.

2.

The consent must not be invalidated by fraud.

The first of these conditions means that the person giving consent must understand what it is they are consenting to.

This does not automatically prevent children from giving consent. Lord Fraser’s Guidelines, for instance, stated for the first time that a girl aged 16 does not lack “the power to give valid consent to [receive] contraceptive advice or treatment, merely on account of her age”. However, if the nature of the act being consented and its consequences are deemed to be beyond the comprehension of the child, such as sexual intercourse for those under sixteen, any consent given is invalid. The same applies to adults unable to make a decision on the matter due to a temporary or permanent impairment of the mind or brain.

The second condition means that if the consent is extracted by means of fraud, it is automatically rendered invalid. This is however restricted; the fraud can only relate to the identity of the person to whom someone consents, or to the nature or quality of the act to which the person is consenting.

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The first part of this condition is clearly beneficial, protecting people from having consent extracted by fraudulent means, for example from agreeing to sexual intercourse believing their partner to be someone else.

However, this is extremely restricted when relating to a person’s attributes rather than their identity. This thin line can be seen in the case of ‘Richardson’, where a suspended dentist worked on a patient despite her revoked licensed. In a completely absurd outcome, it was ruled that the victim’s consent to the treatment was valid, as no fraud as to the identity of the dentist was made, only to their ‘attributes’ – whether she was licensed or not.

Fraud as to the nature or quality of the act was initially equally restricted, as seen in the case of ‘Clearance’, where the accused had sexual intercourse with his wife, though he knew he was infected with gonorrhoea. He was prosecuted for causing the harm to his wife, but the conviction was quashed as the wife had consented to the sex. This judgement was clearly morally wrong and interpreted the law far too stringently.

The Century-old ‘Clarance’ principle was finally abolished in the 2004 case of ‘Dica’, where the court stated that where a person who knows they suffer from HIV or some other serious STD, they are liable for causing Grievous Bodily Harm by recklessly spreading the disease through consensual sex. The court further retracted the suggestion that consensual sex is in itself consent to the risk of contracting an STD. It was also established that where the victim consented to the risk of the disease, the infected partner would not be legally responsible, overruling the decision in ‘Brown’ which deprived a person of the legal capacity to consent to GBH in sexual activity. This was an overwhelmingly positive development, ensuring that justice was delivered to victims deprived by their partners of the ability to consent to the risk of serious disease. At the same time, the judgement gave people the option to consent not only to the risk of disease, but to serious harm sustained during sex in general. This increased the range of personal choices a person can make, keeping the courts firmly “out of the bedroom”.

This brings me onto the recent case of Daryll Rowe. It concerned a man who deliberately infected or attempted to infect ten men with HIV on a “cynical and deliberate campaign to infect other men with the HIV virus” (Prosecutor Caroline Carberry). He had convinced his partners to engage in unprotected sex with him, and proceeded to sabotage the condoms used where he failed. Following intercourse, he would send mocking texts to his victims informing them of his HIV-positive status, or of his condom tampering. This was a significant case, differing from ‘Dica’ in that the harm was inflicted with intent rather than by recklessness. Therefore, Rowe was liable for the much harsher maximum sentence of life imprisonment, instead of 5 years as with Dica. Thus, there is a greater chance that the he will be given an appropriately severe sentence, ensuring appropriate retribution for his heinous acts. In the harrowing statement of a victim who was driven to a suicide attempt by Rowe’s actions: “It's a violation. I could only describe it as feeling

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like you've been raped, not the physical side of it, but the mental side”. This case set an important precedent, being the first instance in English Law of a person convicted of inflicting GBH with intent through sexual activity, and should hopefully deter people from acting similarly in the future.

To conclude, consent is the agreement by the ‘victim’ to have an otherwise unlawful act performed on them. In order to be valid, it must be positive and genuine – given affirmatively by the victim and not obtained dishonestly. The Thames Valley Police explained sexual consent in a very easy-to-digest format by comparing it to a cup of tea. In essence, you should only give your tea to someone if they say they want it. The tea receiver can change their mind at any point, and the tea procurer should feel no entitlement to see them drink it. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, unconscious people never want tea. These basic principles seem obvious enough in the context of tea; we should just remember to respect them equally in sex.

“Overwhelmingly positive development, ensuring justice was delievered to victims..”

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Could you be...

...A Studio Art Director?

(Above artwork by Steve Uphill. This work and more can be found at https://www.artstation.com/steveu ) Bexclusive was lucky enough to grab an interview with Steve Uphill, the Studio Art Director of E.A Games, which (as we’re sure many of you know) is the games studio that have put out a host of top titles – including, most recently, Star Wars: Battlefront.

Laura Bullimore interviewed him in February 2018 to find out his thoughts on the industry and all things Star Wars: Battlefront related.

Thanks for coming in to see us. Could you tell us something about how your own career in the gaming industry began?

I was a relatively late entrant to the computer gaming industry by today’s standards but I did start my career in a totally different era. When I first started the internet did exist but hadn’t expanded to what it is now. I couldn’t watch any of many tutorials that exist online.

I initially saw a magazine advert where a gaming studio were advertising a position within their art team. That advert set me thinking about working in the industry which, at that time, was quite ‘closed’ – very hard to enter unless you knew somebody already working in it.

I was lucky enough that my wife supported me for six months.

During that times I taught myself the necessary software and practiced hard. I created a show reel of concept art and sent it to about fifteen different studios. My material wasn’t impressive by today’s standards and the thought of it makes me cringe a bit now but the work must have shown some potential because it helped me get my foot in the door.

The best career advice I could give once you’re in the industry is not to stand still – to keep evolving your skills and to try a range of different roles.

Please tell us about your current position as Studio Director – what does it involve?

The art side – in terms of me producing my own art – is secondary to managing a team of people these days.

I manage a team within the wider studio and most of them are

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artists. I have to be able to manage a lot of peoples work individually but also keep a sense of how it’s fitting into the bigger picture – how all of their work comes together as a whole.

I think the best analogy is that it’s like being a Head Chef, except the ‘meal’ we’re creating isn’t made in a few hours – it’s a four or five year project.

What other creative roles have you had in the course of your career?

I’ve done a lot of different jobs within the Art studio. I’ve been a ‘modeller’ – which means being responsible for the characters or vehicles within the game (I’ve done both). I’ve also been the lead artist and the art director which, again, involves a degree of responsibility for overseeing other artists’ work.

I’ve also founded my own company that creates games for the mobile phone market.

Which of the projects that you’ve worked on have you been most proud of ?

Burnout from a decade ago was a game I was proud of.

However, in terms of the amount of responsibility I’ve had myself, Star Wars: Battlefront is easily the one I’m most proud of.

As a player of computer games are there any games that you admire the art direction on that you from other companies?

I don’t want to go overboard praising the work of other companies but I will admit the artwork on Assassin’s Creed was outstanding – the detail of the world building was outstanding.

Is success with the public your main criteria for judging work now? Have you ever been artistically proud of something you’ve worked on that hasn’t been a hit with the public?

Our work does have a very successful public profile and there’s nothing wrong with that artistically. However, I do still indulge my pure artistic side. I always have some personal side projects on the go, concept art, which I put out there on my social media platforms – those projects are more for personal satisfaction.

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What advice would you give to someone who wants to work on the art side of the games industry? What skills does a new entrant to the profession need to have?

Know yourself and to know what your ambitions are. There’s a big difference between working at a smaller, independent studio as opposed to one of the big players in the industry. As a ‘small indy’ worker you’d probably get greater creative latitude but you’d need a wider range of skills – to be able to work on a wider range of things like character design, backgrounds etc.

Working at a bigger studio is more specialist – the range of work is narrower but the expectations in terms of quality are greater. For example we have talented artists who work exclusively on how the asteroids look within the game.

You’ve also got to understand that you’ll have to choose one of two paths in your career – either go into management (which is what I’ve done) where you’re overlooking other artists’ work or become increasingly specialist in what you work on (end up working exclusively on environment or characters or vehicles).

There are some good H.E courses out there but one criticism I’d have is that students aren’t often ready for the level of specialism that the industry requires. That’s one reason I’m really interested in mentoring and offering opportunities to new entrants.

Let’s talk Star Wars: Battlefront – what’s it like to work on a project that already has such iconic and well known visuals?

Intimidating! On the positive side the work is glamorous. I get to liaise with Lucas Films – which involves flying out to San Francisco and visiting the Skywalker Ranch.

But it also comes with a lot of responsibility. The fan base of this world are very demanding and observant and Lucas Films take their role as guardians of that material very seriously.

They’re in close touch with us by Skype at least twice a week and we run everything past them – they get the ultimate say on whether something makes it into the project or not.

Does Lucas Films set out a lot of restrictions to what you can do? How much of the designers’ original imagination is allowed?

Obviously a Strom Trooper has to look like a Storm Trooper – the canonical character and setting design has to be respected.

However we can create new aspects of the world – it’s called ‘creative divergence’. Something completely new has to have a very good reason for appearing in the game and has to be approved at a higher level. Everything that makes it into the game has to be approved and that approval is usually the result of several meetings with ideas being rejected, or having suggestions made about them, fairly consistently.

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Star Wars: Battlefront has been widely praised for the locations – it covers all the iconic worlds for the films series; Endor, Hoth, Tatooine and Sallust. Tell us about how your team build such realistic locations.

It’s all about achieving photorealism, so that it’s like showing a real place. Obviously the places are fictional but there are real world locations that serve as models – Tatooine is a desert covered world, Endor has a lot of woodland etc.

We use a technique called ‘photogrammetry’. This is basically highly data driven from real pictures. For example, if you’re making a rocky location you take pictures of real rocks from all different angles and positions. We would capture every aspect of that rock in minute detail, the texture the markings. This side of the process is crucial to the project’s success – for example the real deserts in North Africa were visited as part of the process for bringing Tatooine to life.

Is your artistic talent more important than your knowledge of computer software?

It’s as important. My responsibility is to make the art as good as possible across the whole project. Artistic understanding of the use of colour, light and composition is really crucial to that holistic understanding. Every element – be that characters, background or vehicles, has to work together to make the whole.

What do you think the future of the computer gaming industry is?

It’s expensive to make games and this level of expense will continue to rise because audience expectations continue to get higher – that’s true across all media really.

The industry is certainly more democratised – if you can code you can get the software and you can make a game. Some of these independents have made material that does well via phones and make a lot of money. That just wasn’t possible at one time and those new entry points into the industry will continue to be a factor.

Virtual reality is going to be huge but probably not within the next decade. There are a lot of barriers to entry – most obviously cost and the fact that you basically need to a whole room to experience it. You also need great content – we currently see a lot of material that’s more ‘demonstration’ than it is ‘games’. That will change, given the time and research that’s going into the field.

The gaming industry now makes more money than Hollywood but do you think it’s still seen as a ‘poor relation’ in the creative industries (compared with music, t.v and film)?

The professionals who I meet from the film industry don’t see us that way and respect us as fellow creatives.

I think there is still a prejudice against gaming in wider society.

With most other media all sections of society engage with it – everyone listens to music or watches t.v but not everyone plays computer games. For that reason the industry’s an easy target for blame for wider society’s failings – supposedly making kids’ more aggressive or reducing their attention span, or whatever.

Thanks for coming into college and sharing your insider’s perspective of the computer game industry.

No problem, my pleasure.

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LRC Fiction Prize – Winning Entry

that i

Harriet Walker

A

s soon as she walked in she was met with the familiar smell of paper and poor air circulation, immediately greeted by the sounds of mumbling students and fat-fingered tapping from the library computers.

She glanced around, checking that no one’s eyes were on her so that the mild anxiety that had started to build would dissipate and allow her to quickly get what she came for, then leave as soon as possible.

Why was she here? She hated libraries.

They were always both too quiet and too loud at the same time, a paradox on the senses, every small and normal sound amplified by the crushing weight of expected silence.

By now she had meandered

a distance down the centre aisle slowly, trying to find what she was looking for, only to keep finding books in the incorrect places as it seems that returning things to where they came from was too difficult for some students.

Now she was affronted by the new sound of someone having a phone conversation, emanating from what was supposedly the ‘silent area’.

It was funny that this person happened to be in the library, considering they didn’t possess the ability to read, at least not any of the signs that surrounded them.

No time for that now, she had to find that book before someone else took it out and then proceeded to not return it for what felt like an age.

It had to be somewhere in this library, it simply had to

be as this …

What was the book?

She stopped walking, a frown breaking out across her forehead, confusion on her lips.

She couldn’t remember the book she needed and now she’d have to go out of the library and back to…a class?

She was in class before she came in here, right?

Of course she was, why else would she be here? And what book was she supposed to be getting? It was no good, she couldn’t remember, she’d have to leave the library and retrace her steps until she remembered what she was supposed to be doing in the library.

She turned around and everyone’s eyes were on her. There was something wrong with their eyes. All the previously

annoying sounds had ceased some while ago and an unnerving silence had fallen, except the low hum coming from the door at the far end of the aisle.

Had that door always been there?

She didn’t remember that door being there. She didn’t remember anything. All she could think of was the library. What was before the library? There was only the library. A light began to shine around the edges of the door. There was only the library. The low hum got louder. There was only the library. Their stares got heavier. There was only the library. She opened the door.

As soon as she walked in, she was met with the familiar smell of paper and poor air circulation.

but th shot

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Runner Up …

Nicole Calland

H

e could hear it outside.

Between his racing heart and desperate breaths, Lewis tried to determine how far away the shooter was – or how close.

He had to take a second look at every classmate that hid behind a shelf or under a table, a fear that the shooter was already inside. And he was…

It began as a small thud – a student, he hoped, attempting to find refuge in the same place as him, but it grew louder and more forceful.

The thudding became banging and, just like that, he was in sight.

Lewis’s world fell to a silence and shrunk down to the size of the library –perhaps he would never escape this

room. He would die here, alone and petrified, without even so much of a taste of his future. He didn’t deserve this. No one in the school did, yet, as he shivered behind an isle of books, the outcry of the bullet echoed in the building, taking away another child’s life.

The girl’s body collapsed to the floor – life seeming long gone from her eyes as Lewis caught a glimpse of them. He

couldn’t comprehend how quickly the blood pooled around her. How much of it she had. It didn’t seem possible for a life to end that quickly. For someone’s universe to completely change at the pull of a trigger, to never be the same again.

Lewis could barely breathe. It was as if death was floating through the air and he had now inhaled too much in

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toget cess;

mom

man

ased

ming end

idn’t

that it began to suffocate him from the inside out.

Someone wailed in agony, but there hadn’t been another shot. Lewis needed to know what was going on. Unable to see from his position, he decided to move, crawling along the isle, silently.

As he peered between the mountains of books, he could see it: the raised gun, aimed directly at someone’s head. It was another girl’s, most likely

the friend of the victim lying dead at her feet.

A crash.

She pleaded with the shooter.

‘Don’t kill me! Please! I haven’t lived, I haven’t done anything yet. I-I’m about to graduate.’ She choked on her words, tripping over the body, falling to the place she would never move from, but the fire signalled the second death Lewis became witness to.

Someone else was trying to enter the library. They were screaming orders, like there were many of them out there and they knew exactly what they would find. He dared not even hope that it was someone who could offer him help - unable to believe in such a thing until he heard what they were saying.

Then, footsteps.

Lewis looked behind him.

Through the rows of books, he found a pair of dark eyes staring into his. His focus trailed down to the boy’s blood-covered hands, gripping the trigger of the gun.

The doors swung open. Help found him, but so had the shooter.

One. More. Shot.

Runner Up …

Sam Bennett The being slides its way along the floor.

door.

miliar r air

A curious hand, outstretched, grabs hold of a brown tome, bound in leather, joyous patterns coating its spine.

Another hand stretches behind, fingers clasping a small crayon-red picture book. Two books in hand, the being makes its way onwards, maybe 50 steps or 50 miles.

It stops, free hand reaching diagonally upwards, barely able to grasp a thin, oceanblue diary.

Then, it sits. And it reads.

that

ge at never

he. It

The brown tome, leatherbound and intricately put together, tells the being many stories: tales of prosperity and success; whimsies of the joys of life and the happiness to be found anywhere and everywhere; moments of both clarity and sadness. Any human would shed many a tear; ones of sorrow

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and ones of joy.

The being says nothing. Does nothing. Nothing but continue reading.

The tales become simpler, plainer but still as plentiful and rewarding. A partner made, children brought, a family raised. Happiness found, happiness kept. Right until the end. The being turns the final page, and the brown tome vanishes, lost.

The picture book, a vibrant red, is next. The words written inside echo with immaturity and wonder. Pictures of things seen, and things dreamt litter every nook and every cranny of every page.

A child’s story.

Suddenly, the drawings grow cold, and the words staler; paling. A familiar feeling washes through the being, but it continues to read despite it. Pages

are turned slowly, carefully.

Gently. The worlds trail off to wishes and sadness and pain. So much pain. But, nonetheless, in the gaps between words and the holes in letters and even on the lines of drawings, hope is found. It lights up the dark curves and edges, illuminating the sadness and the pain, dreaming up wishes and wonders as best as it can. And things are getting better, and better.

The pages warm, maybe only slightly but ever still. The words grow and shrink and adjust and burst. The drawings uncurl and unfold and breathe.

The book is living. The story is dreaming itself up, dreaming itself alive.

Then, it tumbles. It trips and stumbles and falls and down and down and it hits the bottom and it doesn’t move. The story ends, though some empty pages trail for a while. No

drawings, no words, no hope.

The book slips from the being’s grasp and is gone as sudden as it changed.

The being opens the last book, a perfect reflection of the depth of the ocean, in all aspects. The journey is hard, unnecessarily so at times. It grates and grates and suddenly it’s underwater, gasping desperately for air; drowning in nothing, and drowning in everything.

The pages turn, and the water gets thicker and darker and stronger. It’s pulled down, dragged further and further, only as much as slowed by any amount of struggling.

Eventually, the struggling slows. The fighting decreases, and it decreases, and it decreases.

And it stops.

The book ends and disappears. Death sighs, reaching for another.

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A DAY AT LEWES CROWN COURT

O

n February 1st 2018 the second year Level 3 Uniformed Services students went on a trip for the day to Lewes Crown Court linked with their Criminal Psychology unit.Throughout their criminal psychology unit, students have learned about the criminal justice system. They have looked into criminals and how juries make their decision and what can influence this. Throughout the day, many students picked up on aspects they had previously been taught, for example characteristics of the defendant, so their attractiveness, what they decide to wear, how they speak and present themselves, and their body language.

These are all factors which Juries can use to influence their decision on a case.

On arrival students were disappointed that the manslaughter and firearms with intent cases they were expecting to see had finished the day before. However, the best of the situation was made and made best of what we had and we explored the rest of the building to investigate what cases were going on.

The first court room we went to was a series of plea hearings that we observed.

The first one was a male with two counts of possession and importation of cannabis, one of which he pleaded guilty, and the other not guilty. He was followed by another male who was being convicted for ABH, to which he also pleaded not guilty. However students had picked up on the fact that this man had arrived to his plea hearing in a jacket and jeans, and held his phone in his hand behind his back the whole time. This implied that he wasn’t bothered, or didn’t really care about the case and just showed up because he had to be there. The third male we saw was interesting because the crime was not mentioned, due to the severity of it, and that the defendant hadn’t managed to sort

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“ the third case was the most exciting” out legal representatives, which he wanted to do, so this plea was adjourned for three weeks.

Students then left that court and went upstairs to see what else was happening that day. We went into another court room, which involved a man and a PCSO dealing with a parking ticket issue. The man had been parked on double yellow lines, and the PCSO had given him a ticket for obstruction because apparently buses were struggling to make it round the bend that he was parked on. However, the defendant had collected his own evidence in a series of photos and bus timetables to show fight his case. The judge then left to make a verdict, so students took this opportunity to leave and head back downstairs to a case that we were told would start at 11am.

This third case we went to was the most interesting, and students spent the rest of the day in this court case. The 27 year old male was being convicted of having sex with a female who was under the age of consent, even though her social medias publicised that she was 18. Students found this interesting from a public service point of view because at the time, the defendant was 24 and was enlisted in the Army based at Maidstone Barracks, therefore this case would have seriously affected his future military career if he was found guilty.

The defendant had admitted to what he had done, and students got to witness his defence questioning him, helping him to support his case. Evidence was read out, the students were able to listen to text messages that were exchanged between the defendant and the female involved in the case at the time of it happening.

We then had a short glimpse of the cross examination and how the prosecuting barrister questioned him on everything

he had previously said, tried to twist his words. Unfortunately it was then that we had to leave and get on the minibus to come back to college. Some of the students in the class wished that they were able to go back and watch the rest of this case the next day as they had found it really interesting and wanted to know the result of it as it was on the final couple of days of this case. The next day I had been researching online as I was particularly interested in this case, and from tracking it online, I had managed to find out that the next day, the defence presented their closing speech to the rest of the court.

The judge then made a summary of all of the evidence and the case as a whole and presented this to the jury so that they could consider this information when they were making their decision. The jury then retired in the afternoon to go and make a verdict on this case, based on all of the evidence, statements and information that they had been presented with throughout the entirety of this case. The jury had to adjourn the case until Monday morning where they continued to make their verdict. After the case was over, I phoned Lewes Court to see if I could find out the verdict and it turns out that the jury couldn’t reach a verdict, therefore this is known as a hung jury. The case has been given to the prosecution and they then have until the end of the week to find out if this case will be a retrial or if it’ll be dropped.

The Crown Court visit was hugely interesting and showed, even in the course of one day, the wide range of dramatic and life changing situations that our courts routinely deal with.

Mollie Thompson

25/06/2018 11:07

nihongo de hanashimashou !

Let’s talk in Japanese!

Japanese Enrichment at Bexhill 6th Form College Thanks to generous funding from the Japan Foundation I was fortunate along with 14 other students this year to complete a short Introductory course to Japanese language and culture. As well as learning about the customs and culture of Japan, we focused on using the language in practical situations. We practised introducing ourselves, asking for directions, asking for food and drink and loads of other useful, day to day communication.

Speaking Japanese was fun!

For me, the highlight of the Japanese enrichment course was being able to write confidently in Hiragana which is the first alphabet that Japanese children learn at school. Our Japanese lessons increased my understanding of written text and learning Hiragana really helped me memorise the different sounds and letters. Our last session was a real highlight as we got to try different types of Japanese sushi and watch anime. I really enjoyed the fact that our lessons were interactive and not purely based on the learning the Japanese language. Instead we were encouraged to bring in manga, anime, or any Japanese related objects to share and strengthen our understanding of Japanese culture.

Why Japanese?

From a young age, I have always been interested in the Japanese culture and have wanted to travel to Japan to experience a culture that fascinates me. At home I love to watch Japanese anime and read manga; so when I heard about the opportunity to take part in a Japanese enrichment I didn’t hesitate to sign up. I had tried over the summer to learn Japanese and hiragana at home, but this failed. I feel really grateful that I was given the opportunity to learn Japanese with a native speaker; as I have made so much progress in my understanding, writing, and pronunciation of the language.

Sayonara Goodbye In September, I hope to join the ‘Anime and Manga society’ at Brighton University. Depending on my course at university, I hope to carry on going to Japanese evening classes as I would love to become fluent in Japanese. Over the summer holidays, I am intending to learn Katakana, Japan’s second alphabet to increase my understanding of Japanese texts. In the future, I hope to travel to Japan and use the knowledge I have learnt from the enrichment to communicate.

My advice to anyone who is thinking about learning a new language to not to hesitate. It is never too late to start.

Baibai. Bye

Caitlyn Skilton Yr 13 Student

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MATHS CHALLENGE Hsiang-Ling Huang ortunately, I was able to represent the school to attend the senior Maths Team Challenge regional final, alongside three other great teammates; Jaeho, Tom and Caili. About a month before the competition we started training sessions to practise the different rounds in order to get familiar with how it works and try to work out our strategies to get the highest score, as well as enhancing our team work. After four training sessions we were ready attend the actual competition This year, Bexhill College held one of the regional finals, so we stayed on ‘home’ ground to compete. We were the first to go in and, although we were pretty confident due to the practice that had gone quite well, as it got closer to the start I felt a little nervous.

We practised the ‘warm up’ questions provided (also ate the complimentary cakes). It went smoothly and we felt ready for the real competition to come, which comprised of three rounds.

Group Round; This is the first part of the competition and is not that complex. We were given ten questions and had 40 minutes to solve the answer. Since the time was sufficient we decided to do it individually, each taking some of the questions and working out the answer.

Then we exchanged the questions a few times to double check. This round wasn’t too difficult or time pressured. However, you just need to be careful not to make simple mistakes; being calm, steady and careful was the key. We roughly finish and checked all the question with some time left. The intense part of the competition was that every part is marked right after we finish it. We watched the teacher mark, hoping there were no errors. Thankfully, we got full mark in this round; a good head start.

F

Cross number; The second round was Cross Number, an interesting part of the competition. It is similar to a crossword but with numerical answers. We were divided into two pairs. One pair had the ‘across’ clues, and the other pair has the ‘down’ clues. Pairs worked independently to complete the grid.

The time limit was one hour, answers being marked directly after we filled an answer in the box. If the answer was wrong, the mark would be lost and the correct answer given.

The challenging aspect of this round was that it was sometimes confusing; my pair’s clues sometimes needed the other pair’s answer, meaning we often needed to wait for the others’ answer.

As with the Group Round caution was important alongside the ability to interpret which clues are currant available to solve. Tom and Caili worked together and I was with Jaeho. We solveded some separately and solved the more complex ones together. It all went pretty smoothly, except one problem.

It was only one problem but presented huge difficulty. Ironically our difficulties were more with the English used rather than the maths. One clue referred to “a palindromic number”. When we first saw it, we both have no idea what that was as we’re both an international students. However we were not allowed to ask the other pair.

We skipped it at first but eventually we had to deal with it. We come to the point when all the others are solved and marked correct, there was only one blank left and we had to respond to this clue. I tried my hardest to think what ‘’palindromic’’ meant, trying different ways of saying it. Did it sound like anything in my own language? I couldn’t think of anything!

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We had about 20 minutes left but it wasn’t an issue of time. We just didn’t know what it was. At last we decided the only thing that we could do was guess. It must be between 0 to 9, we had a 1/10 of chance getting it right.

We honestly have no idea what to guess and felt anxious as it was so random. The other pair were waiting for our last answer. It was the only blank left; if it was right then we’d get a perfect full mark. Fortunately, Jaeho come up with an idea, suggesting that maybe it iwas 5445, which the number reflects forward to backwards. I, who had literally no idea at all, agreed to give it a try, since it did make sense and we had to take the risk anyway. We fill the blank nervously, fingers crossed hoping that we got that right one out of 10. Amazingly, the teacher who marked that answers gave a tick to that answer.

The moment I saw that, I almost didn’t believe my eyes, it was so surprising and incredible. Turns out Jaeho’s guess was exactly right. It feels like winning a lottery. I was so happy that I don’t quite know how to describe it. It was truly unbelievable. Of course, I’d hoped it was right but I never really expected that we’d get the right answer but there it was, it just happened.

My heart was racing and I was cheering widely inside. I guess it was even happier than if we’d simply known what that word was and written the answer.

This is the most remarkable thing I remembered in the whole competition. It led us to another full mark and we even finished about 15 minutes early and got to rest while the other teams were still working hard.

Relay; This was the last part of the competition. We were again divided into 2 pairs; one pair given Questions 1 and 3 and the others Questions 2 and 4. Question 1 could be solved independently of the others but the answer to each subsequent question was dependent on the previous answer. The pair solving Q1 had to work out and pass on the answer to the other pair, who then solved Q2 and passed back the answer to let them solve Q 3, with that process repeated for Q4.

There were 4 sets of these questions that we needed to solve. In this part, we have to be patient and wait for the other pair to solve the answer, as well as trusting in your teammates to provide quick and accurate answers. If one answer was wrong it affected all the subsequent work.

We also had to compete against the clock, each round lasted only 15 minutes but had bonus point for finishing early. During training this was the part where we hadn’t done that well, we’d get stuck and were unable to solve the rest of the questions. But because of

the great result in the last 2 rounds we were confident and joked about getting full marks again.

In the actual competition we stared steadily and got full mark in the first sets of question and a time bonus. However, in the second set, it didn’t go as well.

Jaeho and I passed the answer of Q2 to Tom and Cali.

They seemed to be stuck and spent a long time struggling to solve their question. The deadline for the time bonus elapsed; it got more and more intense and I felt more and more anxious.

I was silently willing them to hurry up. Unfortunately they didn’t solve it successfully. We guessed the answer but luck wasn’t with us a second time so we lost marks for 2 questions and the time bonus.

The third sets of question still didn’t come out that great. This time it was our turn to solve question 4, but we didn’t know how to solve it, even though I tried many ways to figure it out Luckily, as it was the last question it didn’t affect our previous work.

However, we lost marks for that question 4 and the time bonus.

The last sets went back on track again we got full mark and a time bonus like the first set. Although the errors in the middle did make us frustrated but at least there’s a good start and ending.

The last part…..

The very last, but most important part, in the competition- announcing the winner - comes right after all the rounds are finished.

I sat there waiting for the result and thought about the competition all over again. Due to not doing as well as expected in the last round we felt a bit gloomy. I really hoped that we could get the first place and actually thought that we had a huge chance after the first two rounds. But the last round pulled us down and made everything uncertain. But that’s probably the joy of competition. I was both worried and excited about the result.

I persuaded myself that if we came second, or worse, not be too depressed.

Finally the announcements were made; sixth place, fifth place, fourth… as it got went on my heart was beating faster. Third place, second….as I was waiting to hear the second place, I didn’t really know what to expect. I was actually hoping not to hear “Bexhill College” ‘since I still held the hope that we could get the first place. The result was … not Bexhill College!

First place was announced. It was us. I suddenly felt so relieved and joyful. We got a certificate and chocolate as a prize. I felt a huge sense of achievement.

Although we made some mistakes during the competition, and had our share of setbacks, at least the ending was perfect.

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T

here is a well known shortage of young women in the STEM (Science/Technology/ Engineering/Maths) subjects from Further Education right up to industry level.

“A Well Known Shortage of Young Women in STEM Subjects” One organisation helping to redress this historic imbalance is STEMETTES, founded by AnneMarie Imafidon M.B.E Helena Jeffery and Phoebe Poole, two Bexhill College STEM students, interviewed her for Bexclusive.

This January, we had the chance to Skype Anne-Marie Imafidon – the founder and head of the organization Stemettes. The award winning social

“Many women in STEM are under-represented” enterprise aims to encourage more young women to pursue careers in the male dominated fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Some ways they achieve their goals are panel events, hackathons, and mentoring schemes.

Many women in STEM are underrepresented or not even entirely absent due to the societal issues surrounding the field.

The lack of visible role models was a key point Anne-Marie brought up as many girls who enjoy science decide to pursue a different career as they don’t want to go against the grain of society. These thoughts might

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stem from school with many 13 year olds choosing their GCSE options and finding that the ‘creative’ subjects clash with the science ones. This subtle yet small issue has a domino effect, deterring young women away from well paid and rewarding careers early on.

“Subtle yet Small Issue has a Domino Effect” A solution could be a focus upon the arts within science, visualising concepts is an essential skill for working in STEM but could also make it more desirable to teenage girls. Another reason would be the myth surrounding the different ways men and women learn. Anne-Marie confirmed that it isn’t gender that causes differentiated approach to teaching but the fact that not one person is the same.

We then discussed the issue of the gender pay gap, which has been much in the news recently. This issue involves wider society’s treatment of women across all industries. Perhaps the STEM industry’s under-representation of women, we suggested, was really just a reflection of this.

Anne-Marie said there were no easy answers to these issues, which have arisen from a long history. With STEM careers, however, the results you produce are objective and measurable, unlike the subjective bias that women sometimes face in other careers.

“This issue involves wider society’s treatment of women across all industries”

Stemettes have already made substantial progress with these issues with Anne-Marie’s proudest achievement being the ‘Out of the Box’ event which offered a chance for young women with a STEM related business idea to ‘pitch’ for mentoring, support and ‘seed money’. Not only does Stemettes focus on encouraging female entrepreneurs, Anne-Marie believes it’s crucial that all the girls gain confidence to join other opportunities in academia and business (including, potentially, their own entrepreneurship).

Anne-Marie’s passion for what she does shone through; she told us how just meeting such a diverse range of young women and learning about their aspirations, worries and experiences helps drive her work.

“Not only does Stemettes focus on encouraging female entrepreneurs, Anne-Marie believes it’s crucial that all the girls gain confidence to join other opportunities in academia and business” After asking Anne-Marie about her organisation, we began to ask some questions about herself.

She told us that her family’s background was in equal parts science and literature, but insisted that she didn’t feel it influenced her decision to go into STEM. We followed this by asking about whether she valued soft skills such as ‘emotional intelligence’ and ‘confidence’. She immediately said they were “very important” and told us that they were important in the future when getting a job.

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She explained that at school maths and computing were very isolated subjects which often requires people to work on their own, however in reality working with a team is important and it can be difficult to adapt. She told us the most difficult part is not sharing responsibility but being able to effectively communicate with others.

We then spoke about how Stemettes receives funding and whether it was difficult to start up the organisation. AnneMarie said that from the beginning she had no trouble finding funds, since she said there were “not many alternatives” for businesses since there are so few organisations around that support young women pursuing careers in STEM. Anne-Marie feels that businesses are definitely aware of the gender disparity in STEM industries, although perhaps not aware of the implications of it – such as reinforcing the social norm that women don’t often go into fields such as computing.

Following this, we prompted her to talk about turning down companies that ask to work with Stemettes. AnneMarie said that it happens all the time, in fact just this morning she turned down a toy promotion that offered nothing for the Stemettes involved.

She also said she frequently has to turn away annoying offers from companies, such as betting companies, whose ideals clearly do not align with what Stemettes want to achieve. She told us of one company who wanted to throw an event entirely branded using the colour pink. This went completely against the Stemettes vision of breaking gender stereotyping.

els. She told us the story of Stephanie “Steve” Shirley – a female refugee who later brought housewives together to code and work on maths problems together as part of a business later known as “Xansa”. One of the businesses biggest achievement was coding the black boxes on the Concorde. She adopted the name ‘Steve’ to give her an edge in the male dominated industry. Shirley had over 300 staff before the sex discrimination act made her practices illegal.

We went on the question what is in the future for both Anne-Marie personally and the organisation Stemettes. She said, in the short term, she wants to “get more things on TV and more tech girls on the screen.”

She talked about some quite surprising future directions, such as a potential sitcom about tech girls, which is currently in the embryonic stages. She told us that a personal goal of hers is to make it normal for girls to be technical.

Our final question for Anne-Marie was “If you could boil down your advice to one thing, what would it be”.

She responded with “Seek forgiveness, not permission”, a famous quote from the early programmer and Naval officer Grace Murray Hopper.

It was a pleasure to meet Anne-Marie (via Skype) and we’d like to thank her for speaking with Bexclusive and with her (and Stemettes) all the best in future projects.

We asked Anne-Marie about her own personal role mod-

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After Bexhill M.P, Conservative Huw Merriman, featured in the last edition of Bexclusive we thought it only fair to give a similar hearing to other parties locally.

Bexhill College was lucky enough to have a visit from Eastbourne’s Liberal Democrat M.P Stephen Lloyd in January 2018.

Roxy Makin and Fletcher Burton interviewed Stephen about his life, career and beliefs and what he believes the Liberal Democrats have to offer the 18-25 age group.

We started by asking Stephen about his formative years and how they informed his beliefs. Why had he first wanted to enter the political world?

I was hugely influenced to enter politics by my early life experiences. My childhood was spent in the city of Mombassa, which is in Kenya. My father was from East Grinstead and my mother was Irish. I didn’t actually experience school in the U.K until I was eight.

I saw the reality of colonialism for indigenous communities first hand during my childhood – Kenya was a British Colony and didn’t become in independent nation until 1963.

My political awareness grew as I got older. I studied Politics at A-level. I was a member of the Labour party as a teenager but I later joined the SDP (Note: the breakaway party formed in 1983 and eventually subsumed into the Liberal party; forming the Liberal Democrats).

In early adulthood I dropped out of politics and went into business, working in house building. However I often found myself, during the first fifteen years of my working life, watching politicians on t.v with some frustration. Finally I decided that I wanted to join the political world – my main motivation was to be an agent of the changes that I wanted to see in society.

Tell us about your typical working day as an M.P. There isn’t a typical day, as such. Like all M.Ps I split my time between the House and my constituency. Some of my work is directly based on trying

to help members of the community who come to see me.

Some of them have really serious and immediate issues such as late benefit payment. I also try to support Eastbourne as an area. I try to actively support local schools and play my part in the town’s economic regeneration – something that’s been given a big boost by the current extension of the Arndale.

However I also have obligations linked to national political issues. I’m the Lib Dem spokesperson on issues related to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This involves working on a whole range of issues because it’s a huge social issue. For example I’m working on the ‘WASPI’ issue where women born in the 1950s were told with little notice in 2011 that they’d have to work an extra five years before they’d receive state pension. The decision had been made in 1995 but wasn’t widely publicised at that time.

I also have to attend votes, go to committees that I serve on or scrutinise possible legislation.

I guess on average I work a 70 hour week.

Why do you think, in this country at least, young people are so uninterested in party politics?

The recent election saw a greater number of young people voting and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party were the main beneficiary of that surge – it’s true that nobody else has attracted that demographic so strongly in recent years.

In Eastbourne there was simply no way for Labour to win.

The Liberal Democrat vote was an opportunity to keep the Conservatives out for many but also appealed to many who are, frankly, not attracted by Corbyn’s Labour.

One of this era’s biggest political issues is Austerity – whether it’s necessary or whether it’s basically just an excuse to slash public services. There is a lot of disquiet around the 16

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issue of who pays the price for austerity – which seems to fall disproportionately on the poor. What are your thoughts on this, given that the Lib Dems were the co-architects of Austerity when in coalition with the Conservatives?

It’s important to understand the context of the Lib Dem input on Austerity. In 2010 we were potentially facing the worst recession since 1920. This was why the Lib Dems agreed to go into coalition. We put the national interest above our party’s image. I believe, and I will until the day I die, that we did the right thing.

However, things are now different. I think it’s now wrong to continue with austerity. We need to loosen the noose for people.

Why have you changed your view on this now? Why didn’t you think this in 2010 when many of the same justifications for austerity were still current?

Politics has changed a lot during that time. For one thing we have the huge challenge of Brexit and the untold effect it will have on the economy.

The political arena itself has changed with populist politicians, such as Corbyn or (at the other end of the spectrum) Donald Trump, gaining popularity and power. These voices appeal to people who feel left behind.

On a personal note, what did you do between losing your seat in the 2015 General Election and then re-gaining it in the 2017 election?

I had to return 40,000 case files. Once the transition was complete I returned to business although I remained active in politics locally, something that was invaluable when the snap election was called in 2017.

The Lib Dems haven’t fared very well in recent times – having gone from over 60 seats to being returned to their 1970’s level of 8 seats in 2015, with a small improvement to 12 seats in 2017. Why do you think this is?

There’s no doubt that having gone into coalition with the Tories has meant many of our voters have, for the moment, lost faith in us and have voted elsewhere. This is one reason why I think we shouldn’t go into coalition (with either party) again.

We’re living in a time of, sometimes quite ugly, ‘tribal’ politics – the Lib Dem message and image can get drowned out in that environment. But we have a good message and offer to the country, one that will remain relevant.

Finally, do you have any ambitions to be a genuinely national figure in politics – for example, to one day lead the Lib Dems?

No. I’m too old. It’s a privilege and it’s hard work to be an M.P – the drive you need to actually lead a party is on another level and it’s something that doesn’t interest me at this stage in my career.

Thank you for speaking to Bexclusive.

It was a pleasure, thanks very much.

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Pushing Faders and Pressing Buttons The Life of a Theatre Technician

By Emily Hallett, Izzard Theatre Technician

In layman’s terms, my job is to ‘push faders and press buttons’ (AKA ‘operate the sound and lighting in a theatre setting’).

In actual fact, it is more complicated than that. You might not realise this, but when you go to the theatre, there is more to see than just the cast onstage doing the acting bit.

Think about the other aspects for a moment: what else can you see/hear? Set, costume, props, fancy lights, sound effects, music…these other elements are all there to enhance the performance, but don’t necessarily divert your attention away from the action. There are a lot of people who work behind the scenes to make sure that a show runs seamlessly. I am one of those behind the scenes characters.

My main job is to ensure that the actors onstage are seen and heard at all times. I am also responsible for poignant moments of theatrical ‘punctuation’ (usually in the form of a sound or lighting effect). Flickering, dim lights during a spooky moment, adding warm colours to the stage wash to imply sunset, a blackout for scene changes…they all come from me. I have a plethora of sound effects for almost every need: cicadas, inclement weather, glass smashing, gunshots, flawlessly timed flatulence…you get the idea.

When it comes to hearing the onstage action, I work with microphones of all shapes and sizes.

Generally, the rule of thumb is: wireless mics for the cast and wired mics for the band. I also have two mics of my own – one that connects to the PA system, for delivering the safety message before a

performance starts (and from time to time I get given

lines to learn! My most recent role was in Madagascar; I had an offstage cameo as Subway Annoucement (V.O.)).

Then I have my comms (short for communications) headset, for the rare occasions when I have a couple of helpers backstage. Comms are like walkie talkies, you use them to talk to people you can’t necessarily see. They also enable you to speak at a lower volume to avoid unnecessary distractions for the audience. The paying customer doesn’t want to hear you ask “[Insert name], can you check the battery in [character]’s mic when they come offstage please?”

The best thing about my job is that by default, I get the best seat in the house for every show. The control room is at the back of the theatre, giving me a full view of the stage. It is a job perk and a necessity; some sound/light cues are reliant on a visual or audible cue from the stage.

See: actor firing a gun, (gunshot SFX) or a ball being thrown offstage which then smashes a window (glass smashing SFX). If I can’t see the action, I can’t activate the cue at precisely the right moment. Missing a fundamental cue can break the spell for the audience.

It can also really throw the actors if something happens which they’re not expecting.

The other great thing about always being able to see is this: we are so lucky to have a lovely bunch of talented students, right here at Bexhill College. We are even

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luckier that we are a choice venue for local performing arts companies, who hire the theatre to put on their performances. At peak times (summer and Christmas), I can see as many as four or five different shows in one month! From my vantage point, I get to see audiences react to the happy/sad/funny moments of a show. I’ve seen many well-deserved standing ovations at the end of outstanding performances. It’s hard work, and sometimes the hours are long, but I enjoy doing it.

That being said, I do have a real problem with earworms.

Those tiny segments of songs that work their way into your head and just…don’t…leave!!! They are a frustration that I have learned to accept because they are inevitable. I have not yet worked on a musical that didn’t have any catchy melodies. Nor have I worked on a previously unknown (to me) musical that I haven’t been lip syncing by closing night. It comes with the territory – peak performance periods plus multiple shows equal infinite earworms.

In any given show week, I can see a single production from start to finish as many as ten times. This includes the sitzprobe (‘seated rehearsal), technical rehearsal, dress rehearsal, understudy dress rehearsal and public performances. After Sweeney Todd (June 2017), I was falling asleep with the songs stuck in my head for about two weeks. Not to mention accidentally having musical outbursts during social encounters. Imagine: I had lunch with my parents the day after closing night. They travelled 250 miles to see the final show, then had to put up with me singing a fragmented reprise the next day!

Poor parents!

Despite the earworm conundrum, musicals are one of my favourite types of show to work on. They present a lot of opportunities to be creative. With college productions, this sometimes involves working outside of my technological comfort zone.

For instance, sometimes I have to paint set, make/source/ buy props or assist students with creating props.

Highlights include: assembling four wheelbarrows for use in Madagascar, hanging metres of clear plastic from the truss and flinging red paint down it for Sweeney Todd, and painting a kitchen for Cinderella. Every show is different, and every show presents new and exciting challenges.

Working on any production at the Izzard Theatre gives me an opportunity to be adventurous with lighting. The usual process is that the director gives me a rough idea of what they want, and I find a way to make it work. Most of this tends to amount to mere seconds of stage time, but when something looks good, it gives me something to look forward to in each performance. In Madagascar, one such moment was the lighting for the scene in which the zoosters find themselves on the ship to Africa. We had some handheld frames made to look like cages, and I came up with the idea to attach some fairy lights to them.

This meant the characters could come on in the dark, and activate their fairy lights when they spoke. It gave the impression that they were in a very dark and confined space. Before this idea came, all we had for this bit was a dim wash to signify the ship’s hold, which would have been less effective.

As you can see, although it may seem like it to the outsider, there is a bit more to my job than simply pushing faders and pressing buttons.

Check out the Izzard Theatre on social media:

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What was life like in Iraq? How was it different from U.K society?

It is a very different country, the main language is Arabic (which is spoken across the Arab world) but Kurdish is the main language in the north of the country. In fact, many Kurdish people in the North don’t really consider themselves to be Iraqi.

The culture is different in a number of ways. Alcohol plays quite a large part in most U.K peoples’ social lives but that’s not the case in Iraq. Iraq has a big image problem in the U.K, sometimes I tell people I’m from Jordan but luckily I’ve also met a lot of open minded people who don’t automatically believe what they see about Iraqis on the news.

Religion is quite central to peoples’ lives in Iraq. I am Muslim and I love my religion but I’m not someone who thinks everyone has to convert to my way, to me religion is what’s in your heart; respecting other people, not harming anyone, respecting different ways of being. Muslims are seen as intolerant but that isn’t the case with all Muslims and it isn’t something that comes from our religion itself.

There are a range of views in the West but Iraq is more mixed than most people here realise. There are Christians in Iraq and the rest of the Arab world (although it’s mostly Muslim). Arab Christians are similarly very observant of their religion’s rules and protocols which are more apparent than in the West where devoutly following a religion seems to be rarer – it’s more common in the Arab world.

Which aspects of life in Iraq do you miss? How do you continue your Iraqi identity, even though you live in the U.K? I miss the people. Literally nobody was a stranger – people would say hello. Here in the U.K my family don’t know our neighbours all that well but in Iraq there was a huge community feeling; people would knock on your door and welcome you to the area. It wasn’t really like that in Jordan and the U.K can also be quite insular at first.

Is Iraq a multi-faith, multi-cultural society or do people stay in their own groups?

People mixed freely. As I’ve already said there was a substantial (but still minority) Christian community. The majority was Muslim but there was a fairly equal split between Sunni and Shia Muslims – which is quite rare in the Arab world.

Many countries are either majority Shia or majority Sunni. You might not believe this but there was even a Jewish community in Iraq, although this was prior to the conflict and I don’t know if that community is still there now. There were also people who self-identified as atheist although that was rare. Before the war people used to mix without any sectarian trouble.

What are the best and worst sides to life in the U.K? One of the best aspects is that there’s proper law and order.

It’s generally a safe environment. Everyone is equal under the law, there isn’t very much corruption (in Iraq under Saddam there was huge corruption). You’re also free to follow whatever beliefs or lifestyle you want.

I like the U.K people but one of the worst aspects is that people are very reserved, although they’re friendly when you

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get to know them. Some people are accepting and warm but I have experienced some negativity about being Iraqi from some people. There are people who resent or dislike refugees being here. Not everyone’s like that but there are some ‘go back to your own country’ types – this isn’t just in the U.K, prejudice does exist everywhere (we even – as fellow Arabs – encountered some of this in Jordan).

What misunderstandings do U.K people have about Iraq and the Iraqi people?

The Western media only shows the violence, the war and terrorism – there is a warmth of the Iraqi people which doesn’t ever come across.

Do you hope to spend the rest of your life in the U.K or would you one day return to live in Iraq?

For now I’m happy. In the future I will choose between Iraq (my home town – Baghdad) and the U.K, I have no wish to live anywhere else. I will go back to visit Iraq for sure, whether I’ll settle there depends on a lot of things I don’t yet know. If Iraq becomes a safer society once again I will almost certainly go back there; there is no place like where you grew up. I’m still in touch with childhood friends from Iraq and my father and cousins are still there and I’m in regular contact.

Is your status here secure?

I have indefinite leave to remain, as things stand I can stay as long as I wish. I will apply for British citizenship next year.

How did you feel when you saw the recent migrant crisis, with so many people crossing Europe? What do you think should be done about this situation?

I think every country (including wealthy Arab countries) should help these people. There are so many innocent people and children who had no part in causing the conflicts there. Jordan was a model of doing good – a non-wealthy country that took many in, as did Turkey – however they’re in stark contrast to other Arab countries that could have helped.

The U.K has always been hard to get into – I applied in ’09 but didn’t arrive until ’14. I understand that and, in some ways, support it. However I do think in humanitarian extremes that needs be relaxed. The U.K is a great country and obviously a lot of people – outside and inside the E.U - want to come.

The U.K should support those who can verify that they have a strong humanitarian case for coming, but I’m not an expert on these issues!

Thanks for sharing your story with Bexclusive, Yousif.

Thanks very much, my pleasure.

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Facilities For Hire AT BEXHILL COLLEGE OUTDOOR FLOODLIT ASTRO TURF PITCH

Outside there is a floodlit 3G Astro Turf pitch. The Astro Turf is open weekday evenings 4.30pm to 9.30pm and weekends from 9.30am to 9.30pm.

BEXHILL COLLEGE SPORTS CENTRE This Centre adjacent to the College is available to hire for a variety of activities, and is open on weekday evenings and weekends. This centre incorporates a large sports hall suitable for badminton, basketball, indoor football, cricket, netball etc. There is an integral climbing wall and separate mirrored Dance Studio.

The Sports Centre can also be hired for children’s parties.

More information & booking, call: 01424 214545 ext 1112 or email: sportscentre@ bexhillcollege.ac.uk

CLAssROOM & THEATRE HIRE

bexhillcollege.ac.uk/docs2/about/facilities.shtml

In addition to the usual education facilities such as classrooms which can be hired out, Bexhill College also offers a professional theatre, TV and dance studio, a large multi-purpose meeting room, and the Izzard Theatre complex.

A refectory with mezzanine area is also available for hire.

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Hair SALON AT BEXHILL COLLEGE AFFORDABLE HAIR CUTs

Early Years Nursery

For Ages 2-5

(FREE CONsULTATION) Men's Hair Cut

A varied curriculum & stimulating environment

Beard Trimming Women's Cut & Finish Colouring services

01424 214545 ext 1183

m Spacious and inspirational grounds including natural wooded area, sensory room and soft play area

tuesday 3.30-7.30pM

m Separate two year old area with garden m Personal, social, physical and emotional

Friday 1.40-4.30pM

m Communication and language skills m Literacy, maths, understanding the world,

development

expressive arts and design

m Open 48 weeks of the year m We accept all eligible EYEE funding including 30 hours funding

Tel: 01424 223707 School Place, Hastings Road, Bexhill on Sea, TN40 2PU www.bexhillcollege.ac.uk/earlyyearsnursery nursery@bexhillcollege.ac.uk

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With Many Thanks For The Spring Issue: The Production Team: Lucy Bell, Lauren Richardson, Jack Reynell & Molly Winchester The Writers In This Issue: Nicholas Bozyk, Harriet Walker, Nicole Calland, Sam Bennett, Mollie Thompson, Caitlyn Skilton & Hsiang-Ling Huang Members of Staff: Chloe Tidd-Jones, Aaron Pain, Emily Hallett & Sarah Harris Interviewers: Laura Bullimore, Helena Jeffery, Phoebe Poole, Roxy Makin & Fletcher Burton Special Thanks To: Steve Uphill, Stephen Lloyd, Yousif Al-kazaz, & Anne-Marie Imafidon Thank You To The Editor Steve Bailey Send Any Ideas Or Material For Articles To: sarahharris@bexhillcollege.ac.uk

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