Ink Magazine 2022

In this tercentenary year, a look back to the editorial in the February 1922 edition of the Churcherian, when there were 160 pupils in the school, reveals the following passage: ‘when we consider the traditions we have behind us, the beauty we have around us, and the opportunities and aspirations we have before us, we to-day may cherish a hope that … those who one day gather together to celebrate the three-hundredth anniversary of the College will look back with pride to a great record of achievement during the Twentieth Century, and looking further back perchance may see an answering look of pride on the face of Richard Churcher himself as he watches from the other end.’

I have no doubt that Richard Churcher, and all those who have gone before, would be hugely impressed with the ambition and aspiration of today’s students, evidence of which may be found within these pages. As we start our fourth century, with nearly 1000 pupils in the school, I have equally no doubt that those who are fortunate to receive a Churcher’s education during the next 100 years will be similarly

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Will the Covid-19 pandemic change human history?

Amy Gaisford

Is a catwalk show a form of performance art? Mara James 9-10 Les hommes sont les rois Lowri Hegan

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Will the ‘bystander effect’ ever be a thing of the past? Katie Sexton

How Virginia Woolf Presents Women in Mrs Dalloway “For most of history, anonymous was a woman”

Are current genetic screening technologies the gateway to a genetically elitist society?

Nellie Lofthouse

Ellie Houghton

Autoimmune Disease: What is Multiple Sclerosis? Lewis Jordan 19-20 The Invisible Women of Architecture Chrissie Holligon

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21 The growing interest of vaping in young people Heera Rendall

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En parlant d’au moins trois personnages principaux, expliquez comment Louis Malle montre l’évolution des thèmes de l’amitié et de la perte de l’innocence dans ce film.

HumberstoneGeorgia

23-25 Problems with Consciousness and Reality Anna Lezdkan

26-27 Why is Freud so important in psychology and why do we teach his ideas?

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Thomas Denham

Origin? The story of the replicator. Jonas Flohr

Dans quelle mesure Louis Malle utilise-t-il différentes techniques cinématographiques afin de mettre en évidence les thèmes de la deuxième guerre mondiale ainsi que de l’enfance.

35 North and South

Lowri Hegan

Eleanor Pritchard

36-37 Gene editing - how far should we go? Georgia Cole

38-41 Can We Find Our Emotions of Lockdown Through Past Art History References?

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Sophie Konig

Will the legacy of COVID be an economically more unequal world? Rachel Large

44 Frida Kahlo: una mujer bisexual, política y feminista Zoe Blackburn

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Explore in detail Woolf’s presentation of the suicide of Septimus Warren-Smith Freya Davey

Telomeres: could we become immortal?

Dans quelle mesure Louis Malle utilise-t-il différentes techniques cinématographiques afin de mettre en évidence les thèmes de la deuxième guerre mondiale ainsi que de l’enfance?

Jonas Flohr

Jacob Housden

A Comparison of the Cycladic Figurine and the Mesopotamian Eye Idol Felix Dows-Miller

Question: Проанализируйте, до какой степени Михалков удачно использует символы в фильме «Утомленные солнцем» Analyse Mikhalkov’s use of symbols in the film “Burnt by the sun”. Kristina Krylova

Given the concentration of high-value economic sectors in big cities, is a promise to reduce significantly regional inequalities by ‘levelling up’ possible to fulfil?

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Psychology has been accused of being highly culturally biased. Using your knowledge of Psychology, discuss issues of cultural bias, including ethnocentrism, in Psychology

Meeting Churchill’s secretary

60 A Pause – From the People

Jack Ramseyer

Katharine Leyshon

Helen Jolliffe

Rufus Knight Crown of Venom – From the Virus

Rufus Knight Shadows

Freya Davey

Foreman. Puffin on Skomer Island, Wales.

Will the Covid-19 pandemic change human history?

Amy Gaisford

Lower Sixth

economic downturn that resulted in the loss of jobs and savings. Covid-19 has put the global economy into recession and has affected the financial health of countries around the world. In the UK the closure of many businesses, and the winding down of the initial furloughing scheme, has led to a sharp rise in unemployment rates. It could also be argued that whilst the furloughing scheme has helped many, it could mean the UK will be paying off this huge debt for decades. There are also fears that the high street will never recover. Many businesses that rely on ‘in person shopping’ have been forced to close due to the national lockdowns. With no alternative, people have switched to online shopping. As the convenience of shopping from home becomes clear, will this cause a permanent change in consumer behaviour?

Throughout history it is evident that times of crisis often result in big changes, both good and bad. The Covid-19 pandemic has demanded a rapid global response, becoming one of the largest scale disasters in human history. It is impossible to know for certain how this outbreak will impact people’s lives for years to come. However, by looking at the social, political, economic and scientific effects of the virus so far, and by comparing those caused by other historical events, we can try to predict whether it will change human history.

History shows us that health crises such as the Black Death, Spanish Flu and Covid-19 can economically change the world because they introduce financial hardship, which tends to affect the poor the most. Therefore they highlight and exacerbate economic inequality - it happens disproportionately to people living in crowded, diseased conditions, having to go to work in close contact with others and unable to feed themselves as healthily. This can act as a catalyst for change, sparking dissatisfaction and anger. But these crises have also proved to cause economic advancement - for example in the 1850s John Snow was able to isolate the source of cholera in water, leading to Bazalgette’s creation of the London Sewer system. This improvement in access to clean water had a great economic impact because it significantly increased a poor person’s quality of life, length of life and productivity, which led to a positive impact on the wider

However,economy.weare now living in a global economy and the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic is unprecedented. Looking back at history, the Wall Street crash of 1929 caused a global depression, forcing unemployment rates to skyrocket and living standards to plummet. The 2008 recession was a period of global

Some of the social effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are already revealing themselves. Because of the virus’ rapid spread, extensive lockdown measures have been implemented across the world. In many cases people have only been allowed out for ‘essential’ trips such as food shopping or exercise and have not been allowed to socialise freely. Due to the nature of the virus, one might question whether we will ever be able to gather again without restrictions. The Health Foundation has recently published a briefing paper raising concerns that the Pandemic may lead to a widening of preexisting mental health inequalities. This suggests that a lack of social freedom has had a negative impact on people’s mental

Thehealth.popularity

[T]he unprecedented.pandemicCovid-19is

of video conferencing has increased throughout lockdown, providing a way for families, schools and businesses to keep in touch whilst not being able to meet in person. Our new way of working remotely can be seen as a positive and a negative - on the one hand it might cause isolation and highlight tech poverty. However, remote working has also enabled us to become more nimble in how we work. It raises the question, will businesses ever return to in person meetings, despite a vaccine on the horizon? Online meetings are seen as far more convenient, and cut

carbon emissions and costs by reducing travel, whether that’s by car or by plane. This social change could have a huge positive knock-on effect on future climate change, by encouraging people not to make unnecessary trips. It certainly marks a shift in

Someattitude.ofthe

biggest social changes in history can be linked directly to similar pandemics, and other crises. It is clear that these events can cause inequality between the rich and poor, but growing inequality can lead to profound social change. For example, the Black Death in 1347 - 1351 led to the decline of serfdom, and WW1 led to the increasing impact of women in the workplace - women were needed to work so they were allowed to be emancipated a little more. Crises can change social behaviour as people become more fearful of others, for example the Black Death prompted an increase in antisemitism. Similar types of suspicions have become evident with the Covid-19 pandemic, as the blame for the origin of the virus has been placed on certain countries. This could have a detrimental effect on international relations for years to come.

Scientists across the world have been working relentlessly to create a vaccine for Covid-19, and arguably they’ve had to work harder and faster than ever before. It has been proven that when there is a great medical challenge, scientists are inspired by it, pushing them to accelerate their work and advancements. Currently the scientific community has achieved amazing things, and it has been pushed to do so by the need to combat Covid-19. A new system that can predict how a protein folds into a 3D structure has been discovered. This is crucial in the design of new drugs. It also could help future scientists understand human diseases better, including cancer, dementia and infectious diseases. In 1854 British physician John Snow was able to isolate the source of Cholera outbreaks

in Soho. He did this by mapping out the cases and identifying the source as a contaminated water pump. By doing so he changed history forever, helping future scientists understand the spread of certain diseases better. This breakthrough meant a significant rise in quality of life and the productivity of the poorest people in society. Our new ability to create millions of vaccines when necessary could, if we choose, do the same for many poorer countries riven by the impact of diseases such as malaria, Ebola and HIV.

The way a country handles critical situations can also cause political shifts, and this can be seen throughout history. WW1 not only led to the emancipation of women, but also the rise of the Labour Party and trade unions. The UK election of 1945 demonstrated the people’s need for a more liberal leader, who would implement reforms and change. This meant Attlee won, despite Churchill’s impressive wartime record. The management of the Covid-19 pandemic appears to have undermined public confidence in the current Conservative government. It has been accused of not responding to the virus fast enough, and criticised for not putting the country into lockdown earlier. The mishandling of the crisis may be seen as an opportunity for the opposition. Voters might change their political priorities. Polls from YouGov display a sharp increase in disapproval for the government from late March 2020. Currently just 30% of people approve of the government, compared to 50%

Thedisapproving.recentUS

election has displayed a political shift, that will have implications for years to come. After what is perceived to be poor management of Covid-19, and

the ever rising death rate, President Donald Trump was voted out, with the Democrat candidate Joe Biden winning the 2020 election. Analysis by academics writing for ‘The Conversation’ suggested that if cases were 5-10% lower, Trump was more likely to have won re-election. The result of this election could mean big changes in human history. The two candidates had polar opposite beliefs, clashing on issues such as taxation, immigration and climate change. Crucially, by electing Biden, the new administration will almost completely reverse the current White House’s approach to climate change. This provides a more positive outlook for the health of the planet.

It’s clear that Covid-19 has already significantly impacted life as we know it in the present day. Decisions made now will have an effect in the future and could change the course of human history. The political effects, including the election of Joe Biden into office, may prove to be a crucial turning point, especially on the American approach to climate change. Economies will take years, or even decades to recover, impacting the lives of future generations. The Covid-19 pandemic has not only prevented people from having social gatherings, but it has fundamentally changed how people behave and think. Perhaps the biggest change we have already witnessed is the great strides the scientific community has made in a matter of months, creating a safe vaccine that is already being administered. This will not only influence the outcome of the current pandemic, but of future global health challenges. What is for certainCovid-19, has and will continue to, change human history.

Currently the scientific amazinghascommunityachievedthings.

Is a catwalk show a form of performance art?

Upper Sixth

Ginger Gregg Duggan suggests that “the boundary between the two worlds of art and fashion was creatively blurred” throughout the 19th century (Duggan, 2015, p. 243). Through researching into fashion designers and having developed an interest in movement and figure through my portfolio, I became curious to understand the relationship between fashion and performance art and the similarities they have. Performance art is “a time-based art form that typically features a live presentation to an audience or to onlookers (as on a street) and draws on such arts as acting, poetry, music, dance, and painting” (Wainwright).

A catwalk is defined as “a biannual presentation of a new clothing collection on moving bodies for an audience” (Skov, et al., 2009). Evaluating these two definitions it is already possible to make a connection between them: both refer to an audience. This is an important part of performance art as the creation of an emotion in the viewer is often the reason for the work. Similarly, in a catwalk the fashion designer is either showing the garments with the intention of generating a reaction from the viewer or as a form of marketing, encouraging the spectator to purchase them. However, a fashion

show can also be used to raise awareness about an issue, or to explore current topics in society. Throughout this essay I am going to explore the connections between performance art and catwalks, including their purpose, referring to performance artists, such as Marina Abramovic, and designers, such as Alexander McQueen, in order to develop a conclusion as to whether a catwalk can be considered a form of performance art.

Performance art is often created by artists that want to make art that cannot be commercialised. They use this form of art to ask questions and raise awareness to issues occurring in our world (Tate, 2017). This may have evolved due to the innovations in technology that have allowed art to be easily reproduced or shared, such as printing and the internet. These mechanisms have allowed us to capture moments and for many people to view them simultaneously (Berger, 1972). Performance art seeks to resist this by creating art that is spontaneous and evolving and so that if the artist was to reperform the piece it would be different each time and by doing this reclaim the originality of a piece of art.

Marina Abramović is a performance artist from Serbia. In the majority of her work she uses her body as part of her performance. A work of hers that stood out to me is “The Artist is Present”, a 2010 MoMA exhibition In this piece, Abramović sits in a chair, with a table and another chair in front of her. Throughout the performance visitors are invited to sit in the second chair and face her. The visitors were told not to speak or touch the artist, but there was no time limit for how long they could sit facing her. Over the performance the artist sat with 1,545 people. (Wikipedia)

This performance helps to give a base for comparison, it exhibits the way that performance art focuses on meaning and creating a unique experience. It is said that “performance is not a medium, it is a tool used by artists to raise questions about how art relates to us and the wider social world” (Tate, 2017). This desire to provoke the spectator to think differently or bring awareness to an issue is a strong characteristic of this form of art, “performance art is a way of tapping in the basic instincts that all humans share” (McCann, 2016). Another important factor of performance art is the relevance of the audience; as shown in “The Artist is Present”, the performance requires the visitors to participate in it; “both the artist and the viewer are necessary for the completion of a work of art” (MoMALearning,). It could

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Mara James

Alexander McQueen - Spring 1999

be argued that they are more important that the artist, especially in this performance, as they are the ones that develop the work, each bringing their own emotions and meaning to it.

To be able to identify whether the catwalk is a form of performance art it must be first understood that there are different types of designers; that not all fashion designers have the same purpose behind their work. These different types of designers can be split into five categories “spectacle, substance, science, structure and statement” (Duggan, 2015).

In terms of audience participation, the “fashion designer creates artwork that needs another person for its completion” (Berges, 2017); this is because one of the main purposes of a catwalk is to create “visibility and exposure for a designer’s collection with the ultimate intention of selling clothes” (Klerk, 2021). Therefore, without an audience the primary reason for the catwalk cannot be fulfilled. Although it can be argued that this purpose is not comparable to the way that the audience is needed in performance art to convey the concept behind the art, the event itself needs spectators to function.

Clothing in itself brings up “conceptual ideas about the relationship with the body in terms of identity, self-image, and environment” (McCann, 2016).

Fashion allows us as humans to communicate with others, this2017).emotionspersonalitydisplayingand(Berges,Therefore,suggeststhat

if we view a catwalk less literally, each day we use our clothes to convey messages to the people around us, and in some cases, for example t-shirts with slogans, these items of clothing may create an emotion or urge the person who sees it to question something.

Fashion shows have evolved over time, “from pure garment presentation, to fully fledged immersive experiences” (Tantawy). Often, this is because a more shocking show provokes social media and news coverage, giving the designer an opportunity to display their garments to a wider audience and grow their brand. There is a search for originality that I think is present in both fashion design and performance art, where the artist employs new ideas or pushes boundaries so that the audience experiences something new, and this helps to convey an idea strongly.

Additionally, both the artist and designer need to reflect society and moments in time in order to connect with an audience (Klerk, 2021). This is because an audience can empathise and feel the emotions the designer intends to convey more strongly if they can relate their life with the concepts in the performance.

There are examples of fashion designers that exhibit characteristics of performance art in their catwalks, such as Issey Miyake. He designed a catwalk where the garment was reshaped on the model, making the physical process the actual work. Or Iris Van Herpen, whose “garments [are] meant to be seen in flux, making performance a significant part of design and show” (Duggan, 2015, p. 260). The connection between these two art forms is amplified as the work of fashion designers, such as Alexander McQueen or Hussein Chayalan, is explored in more detail.

SPECTACLE - ALEXANDER MCQUEEN

Alexander McQueen is known for creating “extreme reactions within the media and the public” (McCann, 2016) and can be categorised as a spectacle designer. One example of this is his Spring/Summer 2001 show in which the show deliberately started two hours later than advertised. This meant that the audience were forced to sit staring at themselves in mirrors before the show. This created a sense of discomfort and selfconsciousness in the spectators. The show then began with models who had bandages wrapped around their heads, these “were representative of surgery – surgery to change the way a person is” (McCann,

2016). The models were also in a mirrored box, so they couldn’t see the audience, they were told to act as if they were in a mental asylum. Some models were asked to remove their clothing representing “stripping away the pain and the armour” (Milligan, 2014).

This show resembles performance art because it seeks to explain “what is buried in people’s psyches, what goes through their mind and the things they are scared to face up to” (McCann, 2016). The performance evoked strong emotions in the audience, ones that cannot be fully sensed rewatching it online, therefore the lack of reproducibility seen in performance art is present. Additionally, fashion designers are similar to performance artists due to the fact that they both often “employ confrontational or uncomfortable environments” (Duggan, 2015) to trigger emotions in the audience.

Secondly, McQueen’s Spring 1999 show finished with Shalom Harlow entering in a white dress, “cinched across the bust with a leather belt” (VogueRunway). Two robots began to spray her with paint as she spun on a podium. This succeeded because it “[captivated] the press by shocking them” (Duggan, 2015, p. 248). McQueen has said he was “inspired by artist Rebecca Horn’s 1991 installation, High Moon” (Frankel, 2016), a piece where two guns rotate, sometimes ending up facing each other, and these guns are connected to funnels of fake blood. In terms of the meaning behind this performance “some said Harlow was McQueen’s dying swan” or “a thinly veiled reference to sexual climax” (Frankel, 2016). The use of technology in this show is interesting, although it was performed in 1999 and therefore the designer cannot have meant this to be the meaning behind it, I think it could be interpreted as the

Fashion shows are made to be shocking to gain publicity.

Marina Abramović – The Artist is Present

destruction and modification of a person as they are exposed to the internet and social media. The robots that spray the paint appear uncontrollable and this force of new technology shows its power over the person exposed to it.

However, one thing that separates these fashion shows from performance art is that their “motivation is primarily marketing” (Duggan, 2015, p. 250). Fashion shows are made to be shocking to gain publicity, whereas performance art solely exists to highlight an issue or make the viewer consider something.

SUBSTANCE - HUSSEIN CHAYALAN

Hussein Chayalan can be considered a substance designer. This is because he believes that the “concept behind a season remains central to the understanding” (Duggan, 2015, p. 250). This means that

The burial process allowed him to explore texture and decomposition, and although the performance was important it is the process that takes precedence. This is similar to performance art because in this art form, even if the performance leads to the production of a piece, it is the process itself that is the focus, rather than the final result. Although it could be argued that Chayalan used this process to achieve a result, the connotations of the burial process suggest otherwise.

Chayalan’s designs support the suggestion that there are different types of designers and that some are more closely related to performance artists than others. Those who explore concepts rather than aim for publicity are more similar to performance artists.

SCIENCE – JUNYA WATANABE

These types of designers also often focus on process rather than outcome and create fashion shows through exploring fabric and process innovation. In Watanabe’s Spring 2000 show, he experiments with waterproof fabric, showing his garments on models walking down runways filled with water and water falling from above. Although this exploration of materials is interesting, I think that due to the lack of an abstract concept behind the work, this form of designer is less similar to a performance artist.

STRUCTURE – MARTIN MARGIELA

These fashion designers often create garments that have a sculptural nature. It could be argued that Rebecca Horn could be we can ascertain that his shows may be more focused on the content and process, rather than solely to create a reaction that leads to a purchase. This desire not to be controlled by market forces is further established through his “inability to successfully negotiate the line between art and commerce” (Duggan, 2015, p. 254)  leading to him having to file for liquidation. This suggests he designs for reaction rather than consumption and that these types of designers are more interested in conveying an idea than commercial production. He has said that he doesn’t care to create shock pieces, but his work is created through experimentation with materials and technology.

In Chayalan’s 1994 thesis show he buried the garments and then unearthed them for presentation. This “ritualistic process” conveys ideas of “transience, evolution and materiality” (Duggan, 2015, p. 252).

Hussein Chayalan

included in this group, due to the similarity in use of three-dimensional garments. In Margiela’s 1998 flat collection, he creates clothing that lies perfectly flat when not worn or in another collection he reproduces doll clothing in human size, with each element, such as stitching and buttons, enlarged. However, in the same way that there was a lack of abstract concept in the science designers, the structure designers explore form rather than use form to express ideas. Performance artists often have a concept behind their work, and they use different methods of live performance to convey it, rather than the performance being the idea.

STATEMENT – ELENA BAJO

This type of designer often creates “fashion shows that are loaded with social commentary”, “commenting on subjects... fur, body image and the fashion industry as a whole” (Duggan, 2015, p. 263). For this reason, it could be argued that statement designers are the most similar to performance artists. The shows themselves can be similar to the happenings of performance art, for example Elena Bajo has a collection in which the models act out nervous breakdowns, asking the audience “Is this making you uncomfortable?” and then responding “Good” (Duggan, 2015, p. 267). This is very similar to the atmosphere that you would encounter at a happening, forcing the audience to question themselves and expressing the views of the designer.

DIGITAL FASHION

Digital fashion has grown due to the pandemic and emerging technology. Due to this “many of the major fashion houses have opted for a blend of the digital and

physical” (Allegar, 2020). This allows fashion to become accessible to more people, therefore the audience grows from a select group of people invited to a catwalk to anyone who can access the internet. Digital fashion has new connections to performance art as the act of being digital brings up the question of where the line between the real and virtual world stands, and this concept has huge significance in our society. For example, the CGI model Lil Miquela featured in a Calvin Klein online catwalk show with Bella Hadid, the two models kiss; this kiss could be interpreted as a joining of the real and digital world. However, not all online catwalks are the same. The Savage x Fenty show is a “celebration of unrivalled diversity” “fostering a sense of what beauty and empowerment means in the 21st century”. Although there is a message behind the fashion show, perhaps this isn’t sufficiently complex to be classed as performance art and these shows can be reproduced many times with no change to the performance, going against the importance of spontaneity in performance art. This reproducibility can be challenged with the idea of NFT’s (Non-Fungible Tokens), a unique digital asset. However, these are not yet linked to virtual catwalks, but to the sale of digital clothing.

In conclusion, there are many aspects of a catwalk and performance art that are similar. I think a catwalk could be classed as a type of performance art, as it exhibits some elements of performance art, but through the use of garments and often for the reason of achieving recognition or purchase of clothing. “Both fashion

and fine art have moved in the same kind of direction, in the terms that they use space, movement, and participation to convey statements, messages and ideas” (McCann, 2016). Conceptual art has grown as an art form, it focuses on the idea behind a piece of work rather than the finished item and performance art has emerged as part of this growth. Fashion design has followed this, and conceptual fashion is becoming more common. Therefore, as fashion and art merges, a catwalk becomes more similar to performance art. It is also interesting that fashion designers are inspired by performance artists, as McQueen was inspired by Rebecca Horn, and this in itself thatessay,throughoutAscloserartperformancebringsandfashiontogether.exploredtheitisevidentthesimilarity

between performance artists and fashion designers depends hugely on the type of fashion designer, with statement designers the most similar and science the Althoughleast.  often

a fashion designers’ main objective is to increase sales, and this has been used as a point that differentiates them from performance artists, it must also be understood that artists also are likely to make work for monetary purposes, as it also is a profession. An artist and a designer may both be trying to increase the impact on the audience for monetary gain and therefore, as this is another element that links the two art forms, I think that a catwalk can be considered a form of performance art.

[F]ashion designers are inspired artists.performanceby

Calvin Klein – Lil Miquela and Bella Hadid

Les hommes sont les rois

Lower Sixth

d’abandon et de tristesse après le départ de son père.

Considérons d’abord l’influence de son père. Il me semble évident que Doria est déprimée après le départ de son père qui est parti trouver une femme « plus jeune et plus féconde » avec l’intention d’avoir « un fils ». Bien que son désir d’avoir un fils fasse partie de la culture musulmane, il a un effet néfaste sur la vie de Doria. Prenons comme exemple quand elle dit « j’aurais bien aimé changer de père » en croyant qu’elle n’a « plus de famille », seulement « une demi-famille ».

Examinez le rôle que jouent les hommes dans la vie de Doria dans Kiffe Kiffe Demain

Le personnage principal, Doria, est une fille de quinze ans qui change sa perspective du monde au fur et à mesure que l’intrigue progresse. Doria habite avec sa mère au sein de la banlieue parisienne dans un monde où « les hommes sont les rois » et ont toute la puissance. Au cours du roman, on voit les manières différentes dont les hommes dans sa vie l’influencent comme Doria nous emmène dans son éveil sentimental dans lequel elle commence à accepter ses sentiments

Ceci amène le lecteur à constater que le père de Doria joue un rôle extrêmement négatif dans sa vie en mettant l’accent sur sa dépression et ses sentiments d’abandon après son départ. Il suffit de noter aussi que le départ de son père semble être le début de sa grande tristesse et de ses sentiments très négatifs sur la vie donc, peut-être, que son rôle est même plus négatif qu’on ne le pense.

De plus, le père de Doria crée du conflit dans sa vie. Doria est issue de l’immigration

donc, elle doit vivre, à la fois, avec sa culture française et marocaine, ce qui est plus difficile avec son père qui suit la culture musulmane dans laquelle « les hommes sont les rois ». Prenons, par exemple, quand le père de Doria commence à « arracher le poster » sur le mur de sa chambre. Cette action, un peu violente, nous démontre que son père est comme un catalyseur du conflit entre les deux cultures. On pourrait dire que ces actions jouent un rôle seulement négatif cependant, malgré le fait que son père boive et qu’il soit un mauvais modèle qui pense que « les filles c’est faible », il y a des aspects positifs. Par exemple, après son départ Doria a plus de liberté quand elle reste pour « la première fois, jusqu’à la fin » de la kermesse. De plus, à la fin du roman, elle dit, « ce n’est pas grave si j’ai plus de père ». Ceci nous amène à constater que le rôle de son père, ayant beaucoup d’aspects négatifs, est peut-être plus positif car Doria peut, maintenant, vivre dans un monde sans les contraintes négatives de la culture musulmane et de son père.

Ensuite, il est primordial de mentionner Youssef, un fils de tante Zohra. Quand il

Lowri Hegan

[L]es hommes ne pleurent pas.

va en prison Doria est vraiment triste car elle pense que ce n’est pas « juste ». De plus, Youssef « pleure comme une femme » malgré le fait que, dans cette culture musulmane, « les hommes ne pleurent pas ». Cela nous démontre que Youssef joue un rôle vraiment important dans

la vie de Doria en l’aidant à réaliser non seulement que, quelquefois la vie n’est pas « juste » et qu’elle est pleine de racisme et de brutalité mais aussi que les hommes peuvent être vulnérables donc, peut-être, ils ne sont pas « les rois ». Je dirais qu’en étant triste, cela donne à Doria un peu d’espoir pour le futur car elle n’est pas seule dans son sentiment de tristesse.

Hamoudi joue aussi un rôle essentiel dans la vie de Doria. Malgré le fait qu’il « fume des pétards » et « vit du deal », il est un vrai modèle pour Doria qui aurait « bien aimé que ce soit mon père ». Principalement, Hamoudi aide Doria à devenir plus optimiste et à se rendre compte que la vie peut changer. Prenons comme exemple lorsqu’il tombe amoureux de Lila et trouve un nouveau travail stable. Ceci amène Doria à se rendre compte que, peutêtre, « l’amour c’est une façon de s’en sortir » qui l’aide beaucoup dans sa vie

en montrant que sa vie peut changer et qu’elle peut devenir un peu plus optimiste.

Finalement, nul ne pourrait nier que Nabil joue un rôle important dans la vie de Doria. Au début, Doria est « renfermée » et n’aime pas le fait que « Nabil le nul » doit l’aider avec ses devoirs. Cependant, au cours du roman, elle accepte ses sentiments amoureux pour Nabil. Par exemple, quand elle dit « je lui parlerai » on peut voir son optimisme pour l’avenir avec sa première utilisation du temps futur. Donc, Nabil influence Doria en l’aidant à se sentir aimée, ce qui l’aide à se découvrir et à réaliser qu’elle peut tout faire dans sa vie.

En fin de compte, tous ces hommes jouent un rôle important dans la vie de Doria en l’aidant à devenir plus optimiste après le départ de son père. Ils lui démontrent non seulement que la vie est dure mais aussi que la vie peut changer et qu’il y a toujours de l’espoir. Ce message est reflété dans le titre du roman, « Kiffe Kiffe Demain », qui veut dire que demain sera meilleur. Doria dit que « ce n’est plus kif-kif demain, ça serait kiffe kiffe demain » donc, elle est pleine d’optimisme pour son avenir et, peut-être, que c’est grâce aux hommes dans sa vie.

La vie en banlieue

this is the novel

Will the ‘bystander effect’ ever be a thing of the past?

Katie Sexton

Upper Sixth

The term ‘bystander effect’ is a psychological theory that states that an individual’s likelihood of helping decreases when passive bystanders are present in an emergency. The implications for this theory have been widely studied by a variety of researchers but initial interest in this phenomenon arose after the brutal murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964. Through a series of experiments in the 1960s and 1970s, the ‘bystander effect’ has become more widely understood, however, is it still present today?

person in distress. The first is ‘diffusion of responsibility’ which refers to the tendency to divide subjectively the personal responsibility to help, by the number of bystanders present.

The larger the size of the group, the less likely bystanders are to intervene in emergency situations as they feel less responsible.personallyThesecond is ‘evaluation

On 13th March 1964, Kitty Genovese was arriving home from work in the middle of the night when she was brutally stabbed to death by Winston Moseley. It was reported that 38 bystanders watched or heard the attack occur but instead relied on others to intervene or call the police. Therefore, nobody helped or called the police to prevent her death, and this sparked much research in psychology into the nature of helping behaviour.

apprehension’ which is the fear of being publicly judged, and the third is ‘pluralistic ignorance’ where people tend to rely on the overt reactions of others when defining an ambiguous situation. More recently in 2019, Blagg devised the cost-benefit analysis. Here, bystanders weigh the costs and benefits of helping the victim and justify their decision based on which course of action will provide the best outcome for themselves.

It is believed that the ‘bystander effect’ is seen on a societal and national level with vaccinations for Covid-19, as people are “holding off” on being vaccinated because of concerns over a new vaccine technology, a rushed process, and anxieties over unknown side effects. Therefore, people are preferring to take a wait-and-see approach in the hope of allowing more time to clarify potential side effects. The individual is willing to wait, hoping that others will step in. Meanwhile the country is suffering through the worst public health emergency of the last century.

Latane and Darley (1970) identified three different psychological processes that may prevent a bystander from helping a thewatchedbystandersorheardattack.

Despite research into the ‘bystander effect’ first becoming apparent in the late 1900s it is still seen in the present day, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Another example is the present issue of global warming. Global activists claim that the ‘bystander effect’ can explain inaction towards global warming. The world population is over 7 billion and climate change is a global-scale issue so diffusion of responsibility keeps people inactive due to the expectation that other people will act. Pluralistic ignorance also relates to global warming

as people rely on public reactions. If no one reacts, people assume that no one perceives the situation as critical, so they do not consider it as an “emergency”. Likewise, with evaluation apprehension, many people do not know how to live more sustainably so they take examples from others around them. People do not want to be seen doing something “out of the norm” so they observe instead of taking action themselves. When adapting these suggestions to global warming, it could be that people are more likely to act when they understand the urgency of the situation, when the consequences of global warming are personally relevant to them, and when they know what they can actually do themselves to help.

Finally, the ‘bystander effect’ continues to be a pervasive issue as social media means that we witness emergencies from behind

an array of screens. In 2017, a teenage girl was sexually assaulted by a group of men. The act was broadcasted on Facebook Live, accumulating over 40 viewers, yet not a single call to the police was made. In the same year, a man was dragged off a United Airlines flight for refusing to give up his seat and rather than intervening to help, the passengers recorded the incident on their phones. This is the sad reality of the modern-day manifestation of the ‘bystander effect.’

Therefore, it is clear that the ‘bystander effect’ is not a thing of the past. Progress with current “emergency situations” such as the Covid-19 pandemic and global warming are hindered by people’s unwillingness to “step-up” and do

their part to help due to the over-reliance on others. The impact of social media has negative consequences as it is now more important to record situations for publicity, rather than assist people who are in need. Is it possible that the ‘bystander effect’ has gotten worse since the 1900s? Or could it be that society has become so selfish that helping other people is only done to benefit oneself?

Kitty Genovese

[T]he ‘bystander effect’ can explain warming.towardsinactionglobal

How Virginia Woolf Presents Women in Mrs Dalloway

Lower Sixth Nellie Lofthouse

Feminism was the movement that sought to enhance the quality of women’s lives by defying the norms of society based on male dominance. Feminism in literature first emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century on account of how women had been underrepresented in this field previously.

Virginia Woolf was a significant pioneer of this movement, claiming that “for most of history, anonymous was a woman.” She placed enormous value on the importance of women rejecting the female stereotype and admired the work of writers such as Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte. Woolf examined their lives and the way they translated their resentment of male dominance in their literature. For example in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, where Jane laments the limitations put upon women by Victorian conventions, she says “it is narrow minded in their more privileged fellow creature to say that (women) ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings.” Woolf was intent on attacking the patriarchal and unbending rules of society in her literature. In her novel Orlando, Woolf wrote “as long as she thinks of a man, nobody objects to a woman thinking.” The 1925 novella Mrs Dalloway was unconventional in its structure, as Woolf rejected the archetypal plotline that underpins most novels, with the events taking place over the course of one day. However, in some ways this allowed Woolf to give women a voice.

Susan L. Brody argues that “in tracing Mrs. Dalloway’s ordinary, ‘neither brilliant nor tragic’ existence, Virginia Woolf sought to set forth a meaningful place for women in literature of her time.”

Virginia Woolf uses the novella to depict the idea of women being torn between their public commitment and their own desires. This is most prominently seen through the protagonist Mrs Dalloway who strives for her own “independence.” The opening lines of the novella are “Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.” Even the opening suggests female aspiration to break free from the ties of society and live by their own principles. However, she is defined by her husband’s name “Dalloway” and is known by the epithet

that she is simply a “perfect hostess” as the entirety of the novella is centred around her preparing for the party she is to give that evening.

Woolf presents a woman who has to conform to the norms of society, but in doing so, estranges her public self from her private self, which Woolf considered to be dangerous as it was detrimental to one’s

selfhood. As the novella progresses, we are allowed to see Clarissa’s character develop as she finds her own identity.

Mrs Dalloway also takes an interesting approach to the idea of female professions. Living in 1920s England, Woolf would have been well aware that the employment opportunities for women were limited and often underpaid. The most common female professions of the time consisted of things such as factory workers, and

“For most of history, anonymous was a woman”

Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.

Book cover of Mrs Dalloway

certainly women in upper class society were not permitted to have jobs, unless it were considered “respectable”, such as a governess. Instead their job was simply to get married, look after children and, in the words of the poet Coventry Patmore, be “the angel in the house.” One of the interesting things about Mrs Dalloway is that it attacks society’s refusal to allow women to pursue their ambitions. Woolf repeatedly resents the idea of frustrated womanhood in Mrs Dalloway, and women who could have been so much more in a different time. Woolf briefly tells the story of Lady Bradshaw in the novella, who is married to a rich doctor. The reader learns of her love of “photography”, but her talent is simply viewed as a hobby with no possibility of a profession. One of the quotes that best suggests the idea of women being stripped of their ambition and domesticised is that they are “wedged on a calm ocean.” This seems to vividly evoke the sense of the entrapment and pacification of women.

One of the most interesting and controversial things about Mrs Dalloway is Virginia Woolf’s descriptions of different women. Woolf frequently portrays women in a masculine light. At the beginning, Woolf describes the character of Lady Bexborough as “slow and stately, rather large; interested in politics like a man.” Woolf’s identification of women in a

similar way to men would have been a controversial portrayal in 20th century England with women being interpreted as entirely different to men. However, Woolf’s portrayal of her female characters with masculine characteristics was significant in her contribution to “killing the angel of the house” which she believed was “part of the occupation of a woman writer” as she wrote in her 1931 paper Professions For Women. It also aided the formation of what was considered to be the “new woman.” The way that Woolf portrays men and women in her literature is interesting as she seems to suggest how they should respond to each other in society. In her novel A Room of One’s Own, Woolf stated “perhaps a mind that is purely masculine cannot create, any more than a mind that is purely feminine, I thought. But it would be well to test what one meant by man womanly, and conversely by woman - manly.” While this idea would have seemed strange in 20th century England, Woolf does promote an interesting idea that perhaps for society to properly function, women must see the world from a male perspective, and likewise, a man from a female perspective. She seems to note that both male and female elements of the mind are necessary to produce truly great literature.

Whereas women were historically often underrepresented in literature, or simply misunderstood by being classified into a stereotype, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway represents women in a more accurate light, and amongst many other things, the novella is a discovery of female identity and expression. This idea is seen through the protagonist Clarissa Dalloway. Woolf allows the reader to experience developmentClarissa’suntil eventually she finds her own identity with “a shock of delight.”

Virginia demonstratesWoolfthe

importance of each individual being able to find their own identity. Mrs Dalloway was controversial in its depiction of women, but certainly helped in breaking the stereotypes that dominated society, by giving women a voice in literature. The novella promotes individuality and seems to suggest that by rejecting the female stereotype, women can discover something of their own self, and Woolf certainly believed that connection with one’s inner self was vital for true happiness. Mrs Dalloway promotes a valuable message to everyone, and that is the importance of finding one’s own identity. As Virginia Woolf said, “No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anyone but yourself.”

“No need to hurry. No need to Nosparkle.needto be anyone yourself.”but

Vanessa Redgrave as Mrs Dalloway in the 1997 film Mrs Dalloway

Are current genetic screening technologies the gateway to a genetically elitist

Ellie Houghton

Upper Sixth

Designer babies and genetically optimized humans are generally perceived to be an ethical debate of the future, but the rise of the enhanced human being could be just around the corner. It may even already be a reality in the USA.

The rise of Crispr Cas-9 (a new gene editing technology) drew the attention of the general population to of genetic engineering. But what about the world of genetic screening? While Crispr Cas-9 and other genetic editing technologies are currently forbidden for use in embryos to prevent the development of ‘designer babies’, it is common now for couples at high risk of having a baby with an inherited genetic disease such as Tay sach’s or

cystic fibrosis to conceive a baby via IVF and have the embryos screened using preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).

PGD involves checking the genes of an embryo for a specific genetic condition. PGD can screen for over 600 genetic conditions and helps many families avoid having a child with a devastating disease. It is currently provided by the NHS for parents at high risk of having a child with inherited genetic disease. PGD can only screen for single gene disorders, whereas most traits that define who we are, such as intelligence and athletic ability, are controlled by many different genes and are influenced by the environment in which we are brought up. This means that PGD has limited use in creating enhanced children as it cannot be used to predict which embryos possess more ‘desirable’ traits, as it can only be used to screen for specific genetic diseases and the sex of the embryo.

Whilstsociety?PGDdoesnot

necessarily provide an advantage over the general population, and is accepted on the basis that it improves the chance for life, technology has now advanced to the point that the firm Genomic Prediction in the US has now developed a method to screen for low IQ. It involves analysing many DNA regions at once to calculate what’s known as a polygenic risk score. This risk score can predict how likely someone is to develop a certain condition. The company’s polygenic test for ‘mental disability’ identifies embryos with IQ scores significantly below average.

Technology such as polygenic testing could easily become the gateway to creating a genetically enhanced human race, particularly in countries with for-profit healthcare systems such as the USA. The technology used to detect low IQ can also be used to select the embryo with the highest IQ for implantation. Understanding of human genomes is now so great we can test for traits such as eye colour, and with The Fertility Institutes in the USA already offering this ‘treatment’, tests for qualities such as sexuality and athletic ability cannot

PGD can screen for over 600 genetic conditions.

Genetic code

be far behind. We are rapidly approaching a world in which it will be possible to design and optimise our children. On the surface, some of these tests may be seen as a benefit to society, but where will this end?

According to a survey conducted in 2013, 14.6% of 1006 Americans surveyed supported the use of techniques such as PGD to screen for physical traits and 18.9% for personality traits. This demonstrates that the majority of those surveyed view genetic screening as a threat, sharing the view that evolution should be left to nature, not to science. However, a small percentage were in favour of these screening technologies. This may be because many people see these screening techniques as a new form of evolution and we have the potential to develop a stronger, better adapted human race.

But to what extent is polygenic screening really advancing the human race? Some would argue that, as each embryo has the same biological parents, they should not have a huge difference in genetic makeup and each embryo should have similar polygenic risk scores for each trait. So would it really make a difference choosing the best out of a select few?

Those that consider genetic screening to be the future of evolution often fail to consider the cost of PGD and the IVF treatment that must go along with it. In the UK, whilst

the NHS will fund families at a high risk of having a child with a genetic disorder, for a family that does not qualify, PGD costs around £8,000 for a single course of treatment and each cycle of IVF costs around £5,000. IVF also has low success rates of around 20-35% per cycle, meaning it is highly likely a couple will require more than one round of IVF. Costs such as these are far too high for the majority of the population to be able to undergo these treatments, meaning these treatments would be exclusively available to the wealthy, leaving the general population behind.

The lack of accessibility of these procedures to the majority of the population due to costs would hugely increase the socioeconomic divide. Furthermore, polygenic

Matt Hancock

testing is currently not optimised for nonwhite groups as they are underrepresented in the genetic databases from which the scores are derived. This means that the tests may be less accurate for ethnic minority groups, potentially introducing a racial division to the socio-economic and ethical issues of genetic screening.

Screening for polygenic traits is currently illegal in the UK and embryos may only be screened for chromosomal abnormalities (e.g. Down’s syndrome) or single gene disorders through PGD. However, the UK faces great pressure to widen the use of polygenic risk scores as they are able to predict likelihood of an embryo developing diseases such as breast cancer and heart disease. This would be a huge step in developing preventative medicine and could potentially save many lives and NHS money. Matt Hancock, the British Health Secretary, has even said: “We must get predictive testing into the NHS as soon as we possibly can.”

Once polygenic testing has been introduced to the UK, where will the line be drawn as to which tests are allowed to be carried out? Given that polygenic screening is already available in the USA for traits such as IQ and eye colour, if an embryo is being screened for the risk of developing cancer, why not screen for the likelihood of developing depression at the same time? NHS mental health services are also overwhelmed, so a polygenic test to reduce the number of children growing up with depression would help lessen the burden on the NHS. What about testing your child for athletic ability or the ability to gain muscle? A wave of stronger, fitter children could also be seen as a benefit to society in light of the UK’s increasing obesity epidemic. But should parents really be allowed to make these kinds of decisions, potentially influenced by prejudice or their own personal bias as to what they believe constitutes the ‘perfect child’? We need variation in society to help promote equality and understanding.

PGD, polygenic testing and other genetic screening techniques can certainly be seen as the gateway towards a genetically elitist society. It is down to our government to decide which tests are allowed to be carried out. However, the world must collectively make a decision as to just how far to open the gateway.

We need variation in society to help promote equality.

Autoimmune Disease:

With Covid having considerably raised its profile in recent years, the immune system is the highly complex collection of organs, tissues, cells and proteins involved in providing the body’s defence against pathogens (disease-causing Whitemicroorganisms).bloodcells

are key parts of immunity and, having been generated within our bone marrow, they move throughout the body via tissues and the bloodstream. They look to identify foreign invaders to the body and, once discovered, initiate an immune response. Under normal circumstances this response will seek to stop an infection by killing pathogens and therefore preventing their spread. However, in certain cases, this response does not happen in the prescribed way.

Antigens are an important type of molecule within the immune system. They are present on the cell surface of both human cells and pathogens; however, the shape differs. There are two types of antigens;

Lewis Jordan

Lower Sixth

What is Multiple Sclerosis?immunesystem

self- and non-self. Self-antigens originate from within the body whereas non-selfantigens are identified as foreign and upon discovery should therefore provoke an immune response. The body’s methods of differentiation between the two are vital in determining how diseases are prevented from manifesting.

If the body becomes confused, believing that self-antigens are foreign (non-self), our antibodies and autoreactive immune cells begin to attack normal body cells leading to what is known as autoimmunity. Unfortunately, this counterproductive immune response results in diseases referred to as “autoimmune diseases” of which there are 80 or so.

One such autoimmune disease is Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a condition where the

attacks the Central Nervous System (CNS). It is a lifelong and life-limiting condition and, although it is possible to treat the symptoms, it is an incurable disease. The condition itself is usually divided into two main branches: Relapsing-Remitting MS (RRMS) and Primary-Progressive MS (PPMS).

The CNS is made up of the brain and spinal cord and is responsible for the coordination of sensory supportcellstypesComprisedinformation.oftwoofcells,nerve(neurons)andcells(glia),

the CNS ensures the correct transportation throughout the body of messages (electrical impulses).

Although the causes of MS are not definitive, an abnormal immune response leading to CNS damage has been linked to MS development. In an MS patient, a host of white blood cells enter the CNS attacking the self-antigen cells, believing them to be dangerous. Here, they release cytokines (a type of protein) which triggers an inflammatory response. In addition, the malfunction of other immune cells failing to turn off this response leads to the damage seen in MS. These damaged areas of activity are known as lesions or plaques and can be seen on MRI scans of the brain and spine, a key factor in aiding diagnosis.

One of the most significant areas affected by all types of MS is nerve cells. A key component of a nerve cell is its axon;

[N]early three million people living with the worldwide.condition

Healthy nerve cell (left) vs nerve cell damaged by MS (right)

Healthy brain (left) vs brain affected by MS lesions (right)

an extension connecting one nerve to the next. The axon is sheltered by the insulating myelin sheaths, which protects the travelling electrical impulses from interference. Glial cells then surround and support the nerve cells with their oligodendrocytes producing myelin to regenerate the nerve cell protection.

When focusing on what causes MS, there are slight differences between relapses and just gradual progression. Due to remyelination (partial restoration of damaged myelin), remissions, as well as relapses, can be seen over time in RRMS. However, in PPMS remissions do not develop because the oligodendrocytes are unable to repair the damaged myelin, which means that the easing of symptoms is not seen. Eventually scarred areas of myelin leave exposed nerve areas, therefore interrupting the vital communication network and generating the symptoms categorical of MS.

A host of other causes have been theorised including areas of epidemiology, genetics and infectious agents. Geographical gradient has been identified as a risk factor in that MS is known to occur more frequently in areas further from the equator. There is also growing evidence to suggest that low vitamin D levels in the blood can be a risk factor for MS development.

In terms of genetics, MS is not considered an inherited disease. However, from the frequency in the general population of 1 in 800, there is a significant rise to a 1 in 4 chance in the case of identical twins.

One notable avenue of investigation is the link between MS development and

the contraction of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). This virus is mostly found amongst teenagers and young adults, causing a range of symptoms including extreme fatigue, fever, and headaches.

Early symptoms of MS, signalling gradual demyelination (destruction of myelin), can begin long before the condition is officially diagnosed. These include an abnormal feeling or pain in the arms, legs, trunk or face, loss of strength or dexterity in a leg or hand and problems with vision.

Between the two main branches, PPMS tends to affect the day-to-day functioning of the body more so than RRMS. With further progression, both branches display more of the same symptoms, including vision problems, muscle weakness, balance issues, numbness and prickling feelings in hands, legs and other areas, difficulties thinking clearly and evident fatigue.

When diagnosing the different types of MS, there is a disparity in the identifying criteria. For PPMS, due to its fairly gradual progression, it takes, on average, two to three years longer to diagnose than RRMS.

For a confirmed diagnosis of PPMS, there must be one year of disease progression (worsening without remission) and two from the following: a typical MS lesion on the brain; two or more similar lesions in the spinal cord; and evidence of immune system activity in the CNS found in spinal fluid.

However, with RRMS, there only has to be evidence of two separate areas of damage in the CNS from different points in time, combined with a symptom history, neurological examination and elimination of other possibilities.

Due to the fact that there is currently no cure for MS, the only form of treatment is targeting the wide range of symptom presentations as no single treatment is universally effective. Corticosteroids (a type of steroids) are commonly used for acute attacks, suppressing the immune system and providing short-term relief of immediate symptoms. These are not, however, used in the long term due to the wide variety of side effects experienced such as thinned skin that bruises easily, increased risk of infections and high blood pressure.

Current experimental treatments are now targeting the behaviour of immune cells to prevent attacks on myelin. This has been proven to be most effective for relapsing MS where immune attacks are the common cause of symptoms. The prescribing of Ocrelizumab is a separate treatment that targets white blood cells and prevents them from attacking myelin. This was only recently approved for prescription on the NHS in May 2019. Generally, in terms of treatment the more the MS progresses, the less effective treatments prove at symptom alleviation.

Around 85% of all diagnosed MS patients have the relapsing form, whereas only 10% have the progressive form. There are also distinct differences in the age of onset; with PPMS diagnosis typically occurring in those in their 40s and 50s, compared to those in their 20s and 30s diagnosed with RRMS. In terms of prognosis, MS reduces life expectancy on average by 7 to 14 years. Between the two main branches, patients with progressive MS have a higher mortality rate than those with the relapsing form. Those that suffer from the relapsing form of the condition may go on to develop a progressive type of the condition, known as Secondary Progressive MS (SPMS).

Although not considered a fatal disease, MS is still chronic and incurable with nearly three million people living with the condition worldwide every day.

The Invisible Women of

Chrissie Holligon

Throughout history there has been a misrepresentation of women in architecture. Mainstream architectural history is predominately credited to men. For example, all the architects that I have found to be prevalent in history and whom I have been led to through mainstream research, such as Imhotep and Filippo Brunelleschi, are men. All that architectural history talks about is great men and great buildings, where are the great women?

Early female architects were presented as objects of curiosity (or ridicule) or as lone pioneers. The first known woman architect was Lady Elizabeth Wilbraham (1632–1705) and the design of the 1670’s Weston Hall in Staffordshire was attributed to her. However, historically, often when buildings were attributed to a female architect, phrases such as ‘credited with the design’ subtly erase their authorship. This phrasing of them being ‘credited’ suggests that the authorship of their work is an honour given to them by someone else (probably a man), rather than something they automatically receive and is their right.

Throughout history right up to the 21st century, prominent architectural awards are often given to the male half of equal architectural partners. An example of this is the 2013 Gottfried Semper Architekturpreis award which was initially awarded to Matthias Sauerbrauch of Sauerbrauch and Hutton alone, and not to Louisa Hutton who was his equal founding partner. This reflects how the women are often overlooked in favour of their male equivalent. This decision was later reversed after Sauerbrauch objected. Another example of the exclusion of women controversiallyarchitects)founderHopkinsinarchitecturefromis2014:Patty(theco–ofHopkinswascropped out of an image with her husband during the promotion of the BBC documentary ‘The Brits who built the modern world’. This is an example where the woman has been erased in favour of the recognised man who is closest to her, in this case her husband and partner.

Early ofpresentedarchitectsfemalewereasobjectscuriosity.

The denial of proper authorship leaves young women and students without role models and makes them think that women are absent from the profession. There is a lack of impossiblemakesConsequently,ofbooksresearchscholarship,andpublishedontheworkwomenarchitects.thisitnearlytoupload a woman’s profile to Wikipedia as there is insufficient female authored research credited by universities. This means that many profiles are deleted, further reducing the recording of women’s contribution to the history of architecture.

This inequality is still prevalent in the modern day. In a 2020 report by the ARB,

Architecture70.4%ofarchitectswerefoundtobe male, with only 29.6% female. However, figures from university admissions organisation UCAS revealed that the percentage of female students starting architecture undergraduate courses in October 2021 was the highest ever, at 51.5%. Whilst encouraging, this raises the obvious concern about the drop off of women mid-career which is often brought about by the fact that the long hours expected at many practices means that architecture and childcare are just not compatible. A survey by Dezeen of the world’s biggest one hundred architecture firms reveals that only three are led by women and only two have management teams that are more than 50% female. The survey found that women occupy just 10% of the highest-ranking jobs at the world’s leading architecture

Lady Elizabeth Wilbraham

Lower Sixth

firms, and 16 firms have no women in any senior positions. This means that only one in ten of the top roles at the top 100 biggest international firms are occupied by women, and most of these are administrative or CEO roles rather than lead designer positions.

Often the most common name to arise when considering female architects is Dame Zaha Hadid. Born in Iraq in 1950, she died in Florida aged 65 in 2016 and is known for her radical designs. In 2004, she became the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In 1983, Hadid gained international recognition through her winning entry for The Peak, a leisure centre in Hong Kong. For this, Hadid designed a ‘horizontal skyscraper’ at a dynamic diagonal down the hillside. Inspired by Kazimir Malevich and the Suprematists, her aggressive geometric designs are characterised by a sense of movement, fragmentation and instability. This led her to be classed as a ‘deconstructivist’. Hadid’s designs were often too radical to be built, but some of her designs were exhibited as works of art in major museums. Other examples of Hadid’s notable works are the London Aquatics Centre built for the 2012 Olympic and the Jockey Club Innovation Tower for Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her fluid design for the Heydar Aliyev Centre, a cultural centre in Azerbaijan, won the London Design Museum’s design of the year in 2014 – making her the first woman to do so. After a sudden death of a heart attack, Hadid left 36 projects unfinished, including the 2022 World Cup stadium. She received the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture, the RIBA’s highest honour in 2016 and was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2012.

Historically, women have been underrepresented in the profession and when they did design a significant project, they were still not always given the credit as deserved. Today, the position has changed in that there is significantly more equal representation at the entry level; however, be it for social reasons or a continuing resistance to structural change, there continues to be a major imbalance at the senior level within the industry. One can only hope that the next generation are able to shatter this glass ceiling.

Dame Zaha Hadid

The 2012 London Aquatics Centre, designed by Zaha Hadid

Patty Hopkins, cropped out of a promotional photo by the BBC

The growing interest of vaping in young people

Heera Rendall

Upper Sixth

The use of e-cigarettes and vapes has become increasingly popular amongst the young in contemporary society. Vapes/ E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that function by heating a liquid into an aerosol that the user inhales and exhales. Usually, they are used as an alternative to smoking cigarettes as they often contain a variety of flavours of nicotine to choose from.

The growing interest in vaping at a young age could be explained by a number of theories. Firstly, a psychoanalytical explanation could be that vaping is an effect of fixation in the oral stage of development, which is explored by Freud in his five psychosexual stages. Freud introduces the oral stage at birth to one year of the child’s development, as they gain satisfaction from oral stimulation in order to satisfy the libido. Freud explained, if our oral stimulation is disrupted at an early age it could lead to fixation, which later on in life could lead to over-oral personalities, such as smoking or vaping. enhancedbehavioursTheseareusuallywhenunder

stress. Therefore, this could be a reason why people are inclined to start smoking or vaping at a young age as they feel oral dissatisfaction.

In addition to this, the most reasonable explanation why young people start vaping is the environment they are placed in. Particularly within social circles and teenage pressures, people may feel inclined or persuaded into taking additional interest. At a young age teenagers are inclined to experiment with things as a form of curiosity amongst their friends. Usually things such as cigarettes and alcohol would take demand, however, the inclination to vape seems to be an over-riding interest in modern society. For example, according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2020, ’85% of high school students and 74% of middle school students’ who used tobacco products in the past 30 days reported using a flavoured tobacco product during that time’. We can infer from this that the majority of young people

who intake tobacco use vapes and flavoured pens instead of smoking cigarettes. Although vaping appears to be of more growing interest recently, it has always been popular amongst young people, as reportedly ‘E-cigarettes have been the most commonly used tobacco product among youth since 2014’ (ASH 2019).

Furthermore, the environment young people are placed in at home can also cause an effect on their behaviours. If young people are around frequent smokers or e-cigarette users they may feel more inclined to try it as they are exposed to the pleasure of it. Especially in a home environment at a young age, people may be encouraged by parents and copy the behaviours of significant members of the household. As Ivan Pavlov would explain using classical conditioning, young people could easily associate stress with a sense of relief from vaping. Using Pavlov’s theory, young people form habits which can be provoked by triggers such as a certain smell. These stimuli can provoke responses such as craving and urges which are associated with the vape itself. Another theory could be operant conditioning, which was founded by B.F Skinner, which explains that the impulsive behaviour increases as we reward the craving. As young people become more regular vape users they stimulate desires which need to be fulfilled more often, hence how addiction starts.

The increase in young people vaping is a public health concern for many reasons. Young people are provided with the information that vaping is a better alternative than smoking cigarettes, and while this is true in some aspects, it’s still not good for you. Not only is nicotine highly addictive but it can also harm adolescent brain development, impacting concentration, memory, mood, self control and learning. This is essential in younger years of life when concentration is key in education. Additionally, vaping can cause serious lung damage and could lead to further addictive behaviours later in life. Not so appealing! E-liquid comes in many different flavours, which is another compelling factor, but the vapour often contains harmful chemicals which are realised into the environment and your lungs. However, even though I don’t condone vaping, there do come benefits in comparison to smoking cigarettes; better oral hygiene, skin care, circulation and taste when contrasted with usual cigarettes. As according to the NHS, ‘They’re not completely risk free, but they carry a small fraction of the risk of cigarettes’.

[T]he majority of young people who intake tobacco use vapes and flavoured pens.

Au cours du film on regarde l’évolution de Julien d´un petit garçon protégé à quelqu’un frappé par les réalités de la guerre et du monde des adultes. En même temps l´amitié entre Jean et Julien se déroule. Louis Malle utilise bien les personnages de Jean, Julien et Joseph et les cinématographiquestechniques

afin de démontrer l´évolution des thèmes de l´amitié et la perte de l´innocence.

Tout d´abord if faut comprendre qu´au début du film, Julien apparaît innocent et jeune. Dans la première scène, on voit Julien et sa mère sur le quai de la gare et Julien dit « Papa, je m’en fous. Vous, je vous déteste. » Malle utilise les plans rapprochés dans lesquels la caméra focalise sur leur regard. En voyant le regard triste de Julien, il devient clair qu’il souffre de cette séparation et ceci amène le téléspectateur à constater qu’il est encore jeune et innocent.

En ce qui concerne l´amitié entre Jean et Julien, les débuts sont difficiles. Les deux garçons se rencontrent pour la première fois dans le dortoir et Julien dit « quand on me cherche, on me trouve. » Ayant un caractère assez immature, Julien est froid envers Jean. Ce début difficile est encore mis en évidence à la cantine quand Julien tente de parler avec Jean mais en vain et il dit « il m´énerve ce type. » Cette fois-ci, c’est Jean qui refuse de s’entendre avec Julien.

Le tournant de leur relation est quand Julien et Jean se retrouvent ensemble dans la voiture des soldats allemands. Dans cette scène Malle utilise un gros plan, focalisé sur les visages des deux enfants. Cette focalisation sur leur proximité indique au téléspectateur que ces garçons commencent à mieux s’entendre. De plus, cela met l’accent sur leur peur.

Au fur et à mesure que le film progresse, on voit Julien perdre son innocence mais ce n’est que presque à la fin du film que son cocon protecteur est finalement percé. Quand Julien se rend compte que c’est Joseph qui a donné les informations à la

Gestapo et Joseph lui dit « c’est la guerre, mon vieux », il reste muet. Grâce à ce silence, on peut constater que Julien est totalement bouleversé, ce qui dévoile la fin de son enfance innocente.

Finalement, afin d’examiner l’évolution de l’amitié et de la perte de l’innocence dans ce film, il est primordial de mentionner la scène finale écœurante. Elle est la fin irréfutable de l’amitié entre Jean et Julien et de l’innocence de Julien aussi. Avant qu’il ne parte, Jean se retourne devant la porte. Julien lui fait signe de la main et ses yeux

s’emplissent de larmes mais Jean ne fait que le regarder. Les deux enfants sont choqués par la réalité mais ils savent bien que c’est la fin. Après le départ de Jean, Père Jean et les autres enfants juifs, la caméra focalise sur le regard de Julien avec un gros plan dans le silence et on a l’impression que le temps s’arrête. Bien qu’il ne dise rien, ses yeux nous disent que la prise de conscience se fait jour sur lui, ce qui amène le téléspectateur à savoir qu’il ne va jamais retrouver son innocence perdue.

En guise de conclusion, Louis Malle montre l’évolution des thèmes de l’amitié et de la perte de l’innocence dans ce film avec des jeux de caméra très efficaces et à travers les actions de plusieurs personnages principaux.

Georgia Humberstone

En parlant d’au moins trois personnages principaux, expliquez comment Louis Malle montre l’évolution des thèmes de l’amitié et de la perte de l’innocence dans ce film.

Au fur et à mesure que le film progresse, on voit Julien perdre son innocence Sixth

Problems with Consciousness and Reality

Anna Lezdkan

Upper Sixth

Consciousness is a phenomenon that everyone is familiar with, and yet it remains one of science’s biggest unsolved mysteries. We as humans consist of 100 trillion cells, of which not a single one is conscious, and yet we have a vibrant conscious experience, thinking and feeling every day. A major part of this experience is visual perception. 40-50% of the brain is involved in vision, and our visual perception is readily used for survival and our interpretation of the world. Modern research has allowed for some radical theories about visual perception to surface although this has not led to a biological explanation of consciousness yet.

Nearly everything that we understand about the world has come from our ability to observe consciously. Our individual perception of reality is a combination of electrical impulses delivered to the brain via our senses and the brain’s best guess of the cause of that sensory information.

In other words, only part of our ‘real’ experience comes from our senses. The other part is our brain guessing. The shadow illusion demonstrates this concept.

If you look at the squares marked A and B they appear to be different colours. The sensory information entering your brain is being added to by your brain’s knowledge that casting a shadow causes objects to appear darker which tricks you into thinking square B is lighter than square

A but actually, both squares are the same colour. Everyone’s perception of reality is therefore slightly different: no two brains will ever guess in exactly the same way and your perception of the world is unique.

It was thought that we have evolved as a species to have an accurate perception of reality as logically this would suggest a competitive advantage in survival scenarios. We assumed that accurate perceptions are fitter perceptions where the fitness of an animal determines its survival advantage (high fitness- high survival advantage, low fitness- low survival advantage). Cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman suggests that fitness, although dependent on reality, is not reality as it is.

His belief is that all species have evolved to make perceptual shortcuts, and in doing so have gradually lost the ability to perceive actual reality. For example, a species of fly in Australia has acquired a perceptual shortcut to aid each fly to find a mate. They have evolved to assume that a brown, textured, preferably large object, would make a suitable mate, so much so that large numbers of flies were gathering on discarded brown beer bottles in the

Australian outback, and Australia had to change the colour of the beer bottles to solve the problem. With our intellectual ability and common sense, we can easily see past the fly’s fairly simple shortcut, but our own, perhaps more complex shortcuts that we have no doubt developed, are inaccessible to us. The very reason we have evolved to have any ‘shortcuts’ is to prevent us from seeing reality as it is, but this enables us to interact with reality in a way that is most efficient for survival, therefore increasing fitness.

Hoffman’s thorough work shows that animals who have no perception of actual reality and only see fitness using their ‘shortcuts’ have a far greater survival advantage than animals who see reality as it is. This suggests that as the species continues to evolve, we are moving further away from seeing reality as it is. Such a revelation, if true, will impose a cacophony of questions for the natural sciences to consider. The obvious problem is that if everyone is creating a slightly different reality for themselves then this complicates scientific observations. Considering an evolutionary scale, humans have just started to investigate phenomena such as the universe, which

[O]nly part of our ‘real’ experience comes from our senses.

Bellotto painting

is still a fairly abstract concept. Our perceptual mechanisms have only just encountered these confusing objects and it’s possible that although we don’t know it, our ‘shortcuts’ are somehow shifting the picture.

Deciding on what to call real is a problem. Luckily, the majority of people seem to have perceptions of the world that are so similar that any difference is negligible. We casually call this reality. When someone has experiences that disagree with ‘reality’, perhaps if they are having hallucinations, we assume they are under the influence of drugs or mentally ill. However, if someone’s perceptions of the world disagree with our own, this does not mean that they carry any less validity as a perception of reality. At least, we cannot confidently say whether or not

their perception is wrong because our knowledge of reality is limited.

Consciousness is the phenomenon that we have to thank for visual perception and our understanding of the world. It is also a massive problem to scientifically comprehend and has been tackled by many different scientists and professors from many different fields.

Sir Roger Penrose and Francis Crick were the first scientists to acknowledge truly that consciousness was a problem to reckon with, and since then scientific research in this area has surged.

Francis Crick, who discovered the double helix structure of DNA in 1953 along with

James Watson, turned his attention to the problem of consciousness after his work in genetics. His view was that consciousness arises from certain behaviours of neurons, more specifically, he believed that sets of neurons fire in coordination and in doing so give rise to consciousness. For example, firing of this nature at a frequency of 40 hertz is the phenomenon responsible for visual awareness. Crick also believed that free will does not exist, proposing instead that an unconscious part of the brain is responsible for making us think that we have free will. Crick’s dedication to the processes that take place within the body advanced the materialist view of science (the materialist view being that humans are essentially meat machines with nothing extra that could be considered divine). Simply put, Crick’s belief was that a true understanding of consciousness can only be obtained from closely examining neurons, and that no phenomenon that cannot be explained scientifically is responsible for consciousness.

Most theories similar to Crick’s are constructed on the basis that a very high level of computation is responsible for consciousness, where computation describes the processing of information. Sir Roger Penrose, an Oxford Physicist whose groundbreaking work has made many contributions to Physics, constructed a theory that is quite different. His suggestion is that to obtain a true understanding of consciousness, we must look beyond the neurons of the brain and enter the world of quantum physics. The present day understanding of quantum mechanics contains large gaps of unknown physical laws. Penrose believes that our brains are exploiting this gap, and that the science in this gap that is yet to be discovered is responsible for consciousness, although any new theories established could be outside a computational system. Quantum physics lies on the cutting edge of science. Already, manyuponthoseimaginationchallengeddiscoveriestheofwhostumblethem,and

it is difficult to comprehend what else could exist in the world of mechanics.quantumAs

Penrose suggests, new evidence discovered in this field could lie beyond coordinated firings of neurons (Crick’s theory), but ultimately, Penrose’s view is that a scientific description for consciousness does exist although it may be radical and for the meantime remain undiscovered.

Consciousness is ... to thank for visual perception and ... understanding of the world.

Shadow illusion

Shadow illusion solution

Edward H. Adelson

Although there are many competing scientific theories, some professors believe that explaining consciousness scientifically is simply not possible because science in its nature is objective, and consciousness in its nature is subjective. Some professors believe that consciousness is a problem that humans are simply incapable of understanding and that our efforts to investigate it are pointless. However, many philosophers have developed their own theories about consciousness which lie alongside the scientific theories and are interesting to think about even if there is no scientific evidence to support them.

Daniel Dennett, an American philosopher, is the author of Consciousness Explained. He thinks that consciousness is a trick of the brain, and that the brain makes you think that you are authoritative over your conscious experience, but really the brain is fooling you. In a TED talk, he uses examples to make his argument, one of which is a painting by Bellotto. In a larger version of the painting, you can see figures on the bridge. Dennett says that you would expect to find detail painted on these figures when you move closer to the painting because it appears that way when you stand at a distance. However, the figures are just cleverly placed blobs that trick your brain into thinking they are detailed figures. I think that this reinforces the ideas about visual perception mentioned earlier. Whilst the painting is an example of brain trick, it concerns visual perception, which is part of our conscious experience, but not consciousness itself. Dennett’s view on consciousness is similar to Crick’s. He believes that human consciousness and free will are a result of physical processes, which coincides with the ‘meat machine theory’.

Philosopher David Chalmers, who wrote The Conscious Mind, has theories of consciousness that are vastly different to Daniel Dennett’s. He has 2 main theories that he believes could be the first step to scientifically explaining consciousness. Firstly, that consciousness is fundamental, in the same way that space, time, and mass are fundamental. If you were to ask ‘How does mass come to be?’ there is no explanation, it just does, and Chalmers argues that the same can be said for consciousness. In this case we should treat consciousness as we do other fundamental phenomena and start to develop laws

describing how it behaves, in the same way we have developed laws about gravity which describe how mass behaves.

His second theory is that consciousness is universal, and that every particle, even a photon, has some degree consciousness.of In this case, the 100 trillion cells which humans consist of are toarewhenconsciousness,allandputtogetherabletogiverisethehumanlevel

of consciousness. This exists alongside Tononi’s theory that says consciousness is proportional to information stored in an object. Although this is a popular theory, if true it raises many ethical questions. Firstly, it means that the more intelligent a body, the higher the degree of consciousness which means in time we will develop computers so intelligent that their level of consciousness will be comparable to a human’s level of consciousness. If so, how do we justify turning off a computer that has a level of consciousness similar to our own? The idea of a conscious computer

feels wrong, but this theory says that such a computer could one day exist.

These theories about consciousness are radical and muddled. They seem to conjure more questions than they answer. After all, if we are ‘meat machines’ that exist only to reproduce, why are we conscious in the first place? Surely it would be much easier to propagate our genes and find a suitable mate without having the added complications of emotions and conscious thought. If consciousness is a hindrance to reproduction and exists as a result of neuron computation, it would have been driven towards extinction by natural selection, and we know that has not happened. Whilst we have evolved into our current species from other species, consciousness has not been a characteristic that we have dropped and we are still capable of emotion and conscious thought. But if the ‘meat machine’ theory is wrong then the solution to consciousness lies beyond modern day science, which is a difficult conclusion to come to. In any case, consciousness, despite it being a common occurrence, is an abstract phenomenon, and it seems will continue to be a problem for many more years.

[T]he consciousness.consistwhichtrillion100cellshumansofareall

Daniel Dennett

Why is Freud so important in psychology and why do we teach his ideas?

Thomas Denham

Upper Sixth

and ideas such as all women experiencing “penis envy” which make it unsurprising that many feel as if valuable education resources are being wasted on teaching these outdated ideas and that they could be better spent on newer and more influential approaches to psychology.

However, Freud was influential. Whilst many of his ideas are widely considered as wrong and lacking in evidence, he acted as the foundation of more trustworthy research which has resulted in what we know about the human mind today. Firstly, Freud popularised the idea that people were influenced by an “unconscious” mind which grew from your experiences. This theory has today stemmed into “modern attachment theory” which was pioneered by John Bowlby where researchers acknowledged the role of caregivers in the formation of future relationships and whilst the erogenous or psychosexual stages are hard to prove, it has been accepted that unremembered experiences as a child influence you as an adult. Modern attachment theory is a highly recognised theory and is supported by evidence in its validity, for example, using the theory researchers at Minnesota were able to predict at age 3 if a child would or would not drop out of high school with 77% accuracy.

In the modern era of psychology, Freud is considered as largely outdated: if this is the case, then why are his theories still being taught at GCSE, A-level and at University level? Perhaps even more importantly, what actually was the significance of his contribution to the field of psychology as Thea whole?first

reason that Freud is often considered to have been ‘outdated’ is because of the nature of his ideas. One of the biggest problems with his approach to psychology is the fact that it simply cannot be proven wrong – he can neither

be proven nor denounced. So they are purely theoretical ideas. Psychologists have long wanted to debunk a lot of what is considered to be “nonsense” more recently, but this is very hard to do. The main problem, therefore, is that his ideas come with very little evidence to support them. For example, his ideas of the stages of psychosexual development, sexual frustrations with the parent (such as the Oedipus complex and the Electra complex)

Furthermore, Freud’s contributions have indeed stemmed past the development of new theories such as Bowlby’s attachment theory. Arguably one of Freud’s biggest contributions to psychology was the usefulness of therapies resulting from his theory. Freud’s psychoanalysis - otherwise known as psychodynamic therapy - involves talking about unconscious feelings. The therapy has proved effective which has been supported by an array of metaanalyses. A metaanalysis in 2008 looked at 23 studies that psychodynamiclong-termcompared

therapy to shorter therapies and found that spending more time in psychodynamic treatment was generally better for personality functioning and reducing

experiences[U]nrememberedasa child influence you as an adult.

symptoms of mental illnesses. Despite this, it is undeniable that research such as this does indeed have its weaknesses – just like any research does. The meta-analyses on psychoanalysis often compared it to short term therapies or no therapy at all. Also, the results of the studies involved in the analyses varied heavily with many finding that psychoanalysis was not helpful with others finding the opposite. In reality, the therapy is likely to need to take into account the fact that everyone is different. Different therapies work for different people

depending on the nature of their mental illnesses. This certainly does justify why Freud is included in nearly all courses – the fact these therapies are still widely used means that it is useful for students to understand where they came from and what ideas they are based

Regardlesson. of

the perception of Sigmund Freud’s theories, there is no question that he had an enormous impact on the field of psychology. His work supported the belief that not all mental illnesses

have physiological causes – he noticed that many of his patient’s symptoms didn’t seem to have a physical cause – and he also offered evidence that cultural differences have an impact on psychology and behaviour. His ideas cannot be proven nor denounced, but what we do know is that these ideas effectively kick started the whole of what we know about psychology today. Whilst many consider him to simply be an old man with old fashioned views, his contributions cannot be overlooked. This explains just why a huge emphasis is put on teaching his ideas, why he is considered one of the figureheads of psychology and how he shaped the subject as we know it.

[He] offered evidence that cultural differences have an impact on psychology and behaviour.

Active wear fashion: Lucy Mackay

Hen house with hanging planter: Monty Payne

Blue Sail bag: Max Faulkner

Contemporary pet bed: Ollie Hewett

Garden party drinks table: Henry Stephens

Rocking Chair: Emma Stanley

Dog Kennel: Seb Royds

First Aid flask: Isobel Zaltzman

The story of the replicator.

Jonas Flohr

Upper Sixth

It is 3.8 billion BC. We are on a planet 151.7 million km away from the fuel of the solar system, the Sun, and located in a galaxy that would later be named the ‘milky way’ by its future inhabitants, Homo sapiens. At the moment our planet is but a giant mass of rock in space, formed by the accumulation of material from a solar nebula. But it is about to become one of the most unique places in the entire universe; at least as far as we are aware.

The conditions are just right. The scene has been set.

If a Homo sapiens were to travel back in time, he or she would see an entirely different world. It is a hostile planet, its containingatmospheremainly methane gas, water vapour, ammonia and hydrogen, as well as a little carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Far beneath the thick, dense layer of gases, volcanoes spew out their lava and ashes into the skies. Lightning pierces the darkness, thunder crashes; a neverending storm.Origin?

Somewhere within this chaos, somewhere within Earth’s upper atmosphere, a chemical reaction ignited by ultraviolet radiation from the sun and by the power of lightning fuses several atoms to form a small organic molecule. There is something special about this molecule, for it is capable of acting as a template for other atoms to combine and form more of itself. It is an enzyme with an affinity for its own kind. Because of its ability to selfreplicate, we shall call our molecule the ‘replicator’.

The replicator begins to copy itself and gradually more and more replicators accumulate in Earth’s oceans. The replication process is never perfect. Sometimes mistakes are made, producing replicators that may vary in composition, prevalence time (how long the replicator exists before it breaks apart again), frequency of replication, and replication accuracy.

Then something important happens. The supply of ‘building block’ substrate atoms of the replicator enzyme becomes limited,

so much that growth of the replicator population can no longer increase exponentially. For the first time in Earth’s history, we have a selection pressure. Now one should be careful with the term ‘natural selection’ because we are only talking about simple molecules, yet essentially, it is a primitive form of natural selection. We have all the criteria that are required:

1. Reproduction - generations of replicators are formed.

2. Heredity - replicators identical to their precursors are formed.

3. Variation - due to ‘mistakes’ that occur during the replicating process.

4. A selection pressure - due to the limited supply of resources (the substrate atoms).

This results in a primitive form of competition amongst replicators for ‘building block’ substrate material, and, due to the variation among the replicators, some are more likely to replicate and produce replicator ‘offspring’. Evolution has been ignited.

[T]he evolvereplicatorsmore efficient theirwhichmechanismsincreasechances of survival.

Craig Venter’s new bacterium was a major breakthrough in the world of synthetic biology

There are many reasons as to how a ‘mistake’ (we would call them ‘mutations’ in the context of genetic changes) may prove to be beneficial to a replicator.

Take prevalence time, for example. A mutation may result in a replicator having a longer prevalence time, which would increase the chances of substrate molecules colliding with the replicator’s active site to assemble a new replicator. Replicators with longer prevalence times have a greater chance of colliding with substrate molecules and therefore have greater success at reproducing than those with shorter prevalence times. Therefore, over many generations, the frequency of long-prevalence replicators would increase in the population. Prevalence time is just an example of a characteristic - arising from random mutations - which would increase a replicator’s chance of copying and ‘producing’ offspring replicators.

Over time, the replicators evolve more efficient mechanisms which increase their chances of survival, possibly the most significant of which is the formation of the first cell: a replicator enclosed by a phospholipid bilayer. The extraordinary characteristic of phospholipids is that they form a bilayer in aqueous environments due to their hydrophilic glycerol heads and

hydrophobic fatty acid tails. They would have been present in the early prebiotic oceans, and therefore it is possible that one of our early replicators, by chance, found itself surrounded by a phospholipid bilayer. Being surrounded by a membrane is a huge advantage in terms of evolution:

1. It prevents the enclosed molecules from reacting with outside molecules - hereby providing continuity in the composition of materials inside the cell.

2. It provides a stable environment for chemical reactions (such as copying of our replicator) to occur, surrounded by an environment that is constantly changing.

3. Any other proteins (such as enzymes) which the replicator codes for are available only to the replicator itself, hereby increasing the efficiency at which the replicator can work.

The cell is greatly favoured by evolution, begins to multiply, and the frequency of cellular structures increases in the population. Slowly, over time, more complex structures evolve, leading ultimately to highly complex organisms like us, Homo sapiens.

Now there are many theories as to how life on planet Earth began. The discovery of DNA by the Swiss chemist Friedrich Miescher in the 1860s, as well as the discovery of DNA’s 3D helical structure by Watson and Crick in 1958 have given us a ground-breaking leap forward in terms of being able to track back where we come from, all the way back to the first ever living cell.

Yet this is where we have a problem: DNA cannot replicate without enzymes inside the cell. Enzymes, on the other hand, cannot be synthesised without the genes which code for them, carried by DNA.

So, which came first? This is where our story from earlier comes in, which is but one of many theories as to how life on planet earth began. A solution to this ‘chicken and egg’ situation would be a molecule which combines both the chicken and the egg: one that is both able to hold genetic information as well as being capable of replicating itself without having to rely on protein machinery.

There have been several proposals for what molecule this may have been. Over the past century, the ‘RNA World Hypothesis’ has gained particular momentum and support among experts, suggesting that this nucleic acid may prove to be the solution.

Replicators with phospholipid membranes around them were favoured in evolution

Many scientists propose that the replicators may have been formed at hydrothermal vents deep within the early oceans

The Miller-Urey experiment creating early ‘building blocks’ of life

In the 1920s, scientists Alexandr Oparin and John Haldane proposed that life on Earth developed from non-living matter in a process of “gradual chemical evolution”. The Oparin-Haldane theory suggests that simple, inorganic molecules reacted to form ‘building block’ molecules such as amino acids and nucleotides, which accumulated in the oceans to form a primordial soup. These then combined to form larger structures capable of selfreplication. Hypothermal vents might have been typical sites for such an occurrence, as higher temperatures would promote chemical reactivity.

Oparin and Haldane’s theory was strengthened by experiments made by Harold Urey and his student Stanley Miller in the 1950s. Urey and Miller designed a simple experiment in which they tried to recreate conditions similar to those which would have been present on the early Earth. They constructed an apparatus that linked a vessel containing heated water to a container of methane, ammonia, and hydrogen. They set up two metal electrodes on either side of the container and sent sparks through the gases, mimicking lightning. After a few days, examination of the contents of the water container showed that it contained large biological molecules, including amino acids. The Miller-Urey experiment was ground-breaking in the fact that it proved that biological molecules could be created from simple inorganic

compounds under conditions similar to those present on our early planet. The theory suggested by Oparin and Haldane seemed more and more credible.

The Miller-Urey experiment was certainly a step forward. Yet, ground-breaking as these findings were, from a broad perspective, we still knew relatively little. How did these basic molecules then develop into more complex molecules capable of selfreplication? What kind of molecules were the early replicators? This is where the RNA World Hypothesis comes in.

Research over the past century has shown how special RNA truly is. It was in the 1960s that Carl Woese, Francis Crick and Leslie Orgel proposed that the first forms of life may have used RNA as their genetic material, as it is both capable of storing genetic information (as it does in RNA viruses such as HIV or Coronaviruses), and has the ability to act as an enzyme itself (ribozymes, for example, are RNA enzymes that self-catalyse gene splicing of introns by a phosphoester transfer mechanism). In 1989, research by Nobel Prize winners Thomas Cech and Sidney Altman showed that it was the RNA at the centre of ribosomes which acted as the catalyst in protein synthesis, not the protein (ribosomes are composed of both RNA and proteins). Many scientists decided to conduct further research into RNA’s potential, trying to synthesise alternative

forms of the nucleic acid, whilst mimicking conditions which would have been present on the early Earth.

Biologist Gerald Joyce, for example, managed to synthesise two RNA molecules which were capable of synthesising each other through a positive-negative correlation, using only four component substrates. These had a replicating time of approximately one hour and could do this without the help of any proteins or other biological molecules. Furthermore, populations of the RNA enzyme molecules could be made to compete for limited resources within a common environment and would occasionally give rise to different variants, which were still capable of replicating. Joyce writes: “Over the course of many ‘generations’ of selective amplification, novel variants arise and grow to dominate the population based on their relative fitness under the chosen reaction conditions. This is the first example, outside of biology, of evolutionary adaptation in a molecular genetic system.” Joyce had been able to construct a scenario which strengthened the idea that RNA may have been involved in the early steps of development of life on Earth.

However, our idea of the early Earth, as well as how life on Earth first came to be is, to put it simply, microscopic. Without proper evidence, we can do nothing but speculate and construct theories as to how life may have evolved. The Urey-Miller experiment, as well as research into RNA’s potential as an early replicator in recent decades has certainly been a great step forward in perhaps uncovering the mystery of how life may have evolved on Earth. However, the big questions still remain unanswered. In 2010, biologist Craig Venter and his team synthesised their own sequence of DNA, which they then injected into a bacterium, whom they cleverly persuaded to replace its own chromosomal DNA strand with the synthesised one. As ground-breaking as this may be, Venter had still not managed to create his own life form. As Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman once said: “What we cannot make, we do not understand.” So far, nobody has been able to create life from non-living material. So, one of the most fundamental questions remains: what was the spark that ignited life? What is the ingredient that makes life living? Science simply does not (yet) know the answer.

RNA has become recognised as an active catalyst in biology, self-catalysing reactions such as gene splicing (above)

Au revoir les enfants se déroule pendant la seconde guerre mondiale et, au cours du film, on suit la vie quotidienne de Julien, un jeune garçon. Louis Malle utilise de nombreuses techniques cinématographiques pour qu’il puisse mettre en évidence ces thèmes importants de la guerre et de l’enfance au fur et à mesure que l’intrigue progresse.

Considérons d’abord l’utilisation des endroits à l’intérieur du pensionnat par rapport aux scènes tournées à l’extérieur de l’école. On voit que, derrière les murs protecteurs du pensionnat, prenons comme exemple les scènes dans le dortoir ou la cantine, Julien et les autres garçons sont protégés. On oublie souvent la guerre, qui est omniprésente en dehors de l’école, et se concentre uniquement sur la naïveté et la jeunesse des enfants qui ne semblent pas la comprendre. De plus, prenons l’exemple de la scène sur le quai de la gare, une scène filmée à l’extérieur du pensionnat. Malle utilise cette scène pour qu’on voie la réalité de la vie pendant la guerre qui est très différente de la vie dans le cocon protecteur du pensionnat. Les soldats allemands sont présents et on entend des annonces en allemand, qui ne sont pas traduites. Ceci amène le téléspectateur à constater que, malgré l’accentuation de l’enfance à l’intérieur de l’école, la guerre est toujours présente. Malle souligne encore la guerre pendant cette scène sur le quai de la gare en utilisant des séquences longues. C’est comme si on est dans le train avec Julien donc on se rend compte que la vie continue malgré la gravité de la guerre et l’enfance d’un jeune garçon. De plus, le fait que Malle ne traduise pas les annonces allemandes nous met dans la même situation que ces gens pendant la guerre puisqu’il y a un sens d’incompréhension et de perte, mettant en évidence, la difficulté de la vie en France occupée.

Ensuite, il est primordial de mentionner l’utilisation de l’éclairage tout au long du film. Prenons, encore, l’exemple de la première scène du film, avec les couleurs passées Malle met en lumière le ton sombre du film et la guerre. La seule couleur chaude qu’on voit est le rouge à lèvres de la mère de Julien qui accentue que, même en temps de guerre, Julien est encore un enfant

Upper Sixth

et peut-être, même une guerre grave ne peut pas toucher le phénomène puissant de l’enfance. Le manque d’éclairage met en évidence aussi la vie quotidienne pendant la guerre avec les coupures d’électricité et les abris souterrains où les garçons doivent se réfugier pendant un raid aérien. Ces couleurs passées transmettent également une tristesse ou une dépression universelle à cause de la guerre atroce qui va toucher tout le monde.

Regardons ensuite les jeux de caméra à travers le film, il va de soi que cette technique cinématographique joue un rôle vraiment efficace pour que Malle puisse accentuer ces thèmes. Tout d’abord, la focalisation sur les regards des acteurs, par exemple dans la scène du piano quand Julien regarde Jean quand il joue. La séquence émouvante de Julien montre sa jalousie envers Jean qui est très doué au piano alors, Malle accentue l’enfance. De plus, nul ne pourrait nier que les gros plans sont vraiment indispensables au cours du film. Prenons comme exemple, quand Jean et Julien sont reconduits au pensionnat par la Gestapo après la chasse au trésor. Cette scène montre, non seulement qu’il y a des couvre-feux pendant la guerre, mais aussi, la séquence longue suivie par un gros plan sur leurs regards accentue leur peur

le jeune âge des garçons mais aussi la joie qu’il y aurait sans la guerre. Peut-être que l’enfance et la guerre ne doivent pas être mélangés. Il faut considérer aussi les silences dans le film qui mettent en lumière la tragédie de la guerre et l’ambiance poignante qu’elle crée. La scène finale, quand Jean et le père Jean sont déportés, en est le meilleur exemple. Pendant la scène, on entend uniquement les pas des soldats et les cloches de l’église, on a l’impression d’y être et se rend compte que la guerre est brutale et effrayante. Après ce silence, un garçon dit soudainement « au revoir mon père », ce qui acccentue l’enfance des garçons qui ne comprennent toujours pas que ce n’est pas un « au revoir » c’est un ‘adieu’ donc, on voit aussi que la guerre cause la séparation.

et la brutalité de la guerre. Donc, on voit l’enfance de Jean et Julien et l’atrocité de la guerre en même temps.

Il va sans dire que le manque d’une bande sonore aide également à mettre en évidence la guerre et l’enfance. La scène du film de Charlie Chaplin est la seule scène lorsqu’il y a de la musique et les enfants rient ; donc, on oublie la guerre comme Malle

En fin de compte, Malle utilise plusieurs techniques cinématographiques pour mettre en évidence les thèmes de la guerre ainsi que de l’enfance. Ces thèmes sont reflétés dans la voix off à la fin du film ainsi que grâce au zoom sur le visage de Julien. Le téléspectateur apprend que la guerre a des conséquences éternelles et que l’enfance de Julien est terminée car il connaît maintenant la réalité de la guerre atroce.

Les enentendprésentsallemandssoldatssontetondesannoncesallemand

Lowri Hegan

Dans quelle mesure Louis Malle utilise-t-il différentes techniques cinématographiques afin de mettre en évidence les thèmes de la deuxième guerre mondiale ainsi que deaccentuel’enfance.nonseulement

North and South was written by Elizabeth Gaskell and published in 1854. She wrote the novel to appease factory owners in her home city of Manchester after her previous novel, Mary Barton, had angered them because it was very negative about industrialisation. The book was written to show the more positive side of the Industrial Revolution.

The protagonist, Margaret Hale, is a 19-year-old who has lived a sheltered life with her wealthy aunt and cousin in London. When her cousin marries and moves to Corfu, Margaret moves back to her parents’ house in quiet, rural Helstone. Her father is a clergyman, but he begins to doubt the Church and quits his job. His friend, Mr Bell, provides him with a tutoring opportunity in the large manufacturing town of Milton. He doesn’t have a choice other than to take this position and move his family from their comfortable, healthy home and environment. They only have £30 a year to rent a house with. In Hampshire, they could have rented a large, 4-bedroom house with

North and South

Eleanor Pritchard

Second Year

workers believe they are not being paid enough and organise a strike. Margaret, hearing the opinions of both the factory workers and owners, doesn’t know what to think and who to support.

I think Elizabeth Gaskell used the character of Margaret to show different views on the consequences of the Industrial Revolution.

Margaret is young and inexperienced, so her opinion keeps changing. This makes the reader’s views change too. When Margaret has a negative view on industrialisation, it makes the reader have a negative view as well because the book was intended for middle and upper class readers during the 1850s when the book was written, so Margaret had to be someone they could relate to. This means that when Margaret thinks about the awful working conditions and the pollution which made everyone’s health deteriorate, so is the reader. She also thinks about how the factories proved how brilliant the human mind is, and how this created a huge amount of wealth for the economy; when Margaret has positive views like those, so does the reader. The factories created wealth, but most of the money went to the middle class and upper class, who were already rich to begin with, and very little money was given to the factory workers.

cloud hanging over the horizon’ and ‘the air had a faint taste and smell of smoke’. Another example of an opposite is North and South. The North of England was more industrialised than the South of the country. Even the weather is described as different; the ‘thin mist’ in Hampshire is contrasted with the ‘thick fog’ of Milton. Also, many people in the South didn’t understand the North’s way of living. Wealth and poverty are contrasted; Mr Thornton was rich and had a healthy and happy adulthood, whereas Bessy Higgins was poor and had an unhealthy and sad life.

I think Elizabeth Gaskell had a balanced view of industrialisation. She was concerned about the human impact and the effect on many people’s health; however, she also saw that it provided job opportunities and faster travel.

I enjoyed everything about this book apart from the paragraph that was written in French because I didn’t understand it.

a garden, but in Milton that money can only get them a tiny, 3-bedroom house with no garden because Milton was overcrowded. As a result, the cost of living in the city was high. Mr Hale teaches Mr Thornton, the wealthy factory owner, whilst Margaret becomes friends with Bessy Higgins, a factory worker’s daughter. The factory

Gaskell also uses description to create opposites. For example, industrial and pre-industrial ways of living. Before the Industrial Revolution, most people lived in the countryside and made a living out of farming. During the Industrial Revolution, many people migrated to large cities and made a living out of working in factories. This created further opposites, such as illness and health. As medication was not very good, people who lived in the countryside were usually healthier than people living in cities. In North and South Bessy Higgins’s sickness is contrasted with Margaret Hale’s good health. This was because a huge amount of pollution was created by the factories, causing fevers and asthma. The pollution was so bad that ‘for several miles before they reached Milton, they saw a deep lead-coloured

Book Review

Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, Oxford University Press: The World’s Classics

[A] huge amount of pollution was created by the factories.

Elizabeth Gaskell

Gene editing - how far should we go?

Georgia Cole

Lower Sixth

Gene editing is a concept that has been around for several decades. However, its potential began its rapid increase in 2012 when biochemist Jennifer Doudna discovered how to use the technology ‘CRISPR’ in order to ‘cut’ and ‘paste’ genes.

CRISPR-Cas9 (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is the technology used to edit genes within a section of DNA. CRISPR technology can be programmed to target a specific section of DNA. Once this has been found, an enzyme called Cas9, which is produced by the CRISPR system, binds to the DNA and cuts it, therefore shutting this specific gene off. This gene will therefore not be expressed in an individual. This means that desired genes, hence characteristics, can be edited ‘in’ or ‘out’ of the genome.

This technique has already been put into practice, the most notable being He Jiankui’s experiment in 2018, whereby he ‘created the first human genetically edited babies’, which were immune to certain

diseases such as HIV. This announcement stimulated global uproar and debate into the ethics of such endeavours. He Jiankui was sentenced to 3 years in prison and a 3 million yuan fine; however, the controversy over the idea of CRISPR gene editing in humans continues to date. As the CRISPR technology develops and becomes cheaper, its implications in the real world are becoming more realistic.

The morality of genome editing in humans is crucial as it affects every single individual on the planet. Up until now, only somatic gene therapy has been carried out. Somatic gene therapy refers to the genetic alteration of cells which will induce meanschanges.non-heritableWhatthisisthatany

modification of the genes in a cell will end with that singular cell when it dies. This type of therapy

generally focuses on recovering diseases that are present in a single tissue, such as Cystic fibrosis or Adenosine Deaminase Deficiency. However, recently there has been speculation into introducing germline gene therapy and making it more widely accessible. Germline gene therapy is when the changes made to the genes of a cell are then inherited to the offspring of the individual. If the offspring then chooses to reproduce, the genetic changes will be further passed on down the family line. This means that we could potentially eradicate specific diseases from the human genome -

Thisforever.proposal

unlocks a flurry of conflicting opinions. The decisions made as a result of these opinions will have

an immediate impact on all, regardless of profession or interests. An added complication is that the time in which it takes to come to a global conclusion essentially stalls progress which could be used to save lives as I write. Risks can be manipulated in the media, which results in a surge of biased beliefs. There are also concerns that, because CRISPR technology is so cheap and easy to use, it may be put into practice too quickly, without having sufficient supporting research first. Legislations such as The Gene Technology Act and The Research on Human Embryos Act attempt to put into place regulations regarding gene therapy; however this has proven difficult as gene therapy is evolving at such a fast pace. Existing laws have been made largely redundant, as they were written before germline gene therapy became reality.

Some argue that informed consent should be enough, and even though doctors are qualified to ‘know best’, the decision is ultimately down to the individual that it affects - however, where germline gene therapy is concerned, its practice affects everyone so the voices of diverse cultures must be heard. It is unfeasible to have consent from the entire human populationso who gets to decide?

[W]e potentiallycould eradicate specific diseases from the human genomeforever.

Another principle which is widely applied in medicine is to not do anything until it is known for sure that it is safe and beneficial. Although wereweonsuchknowmice,beenexperimentssimilarhaveconductedonwewillnottheresultsofexperimentshumansuntiltry.Ifanythingtogowrong,unfortunately

by then

it would be too late to reverse the changes made as they would naturally be inherited down the line (unless the offspring chose not to reproduce).

An example of unique insights into gene therapy are the ‘deaf lesbians’ (as commonly referred to) Sharon Duchesneau and Candy McCullough who, in 2002, deliberately chose to have a genetic test carried out on their embryos in order to select for disability. They believed that deafness was not a disability but was a ‘definition of their cultural identity’. Their foremost reason for this was that they wished to communicate with their child only through sign language - the ‘uttermost sophisticated, unique form of communication’. However, this sparked debate and investigation into whether deliberately inducing disability on unknowing offspring should be licensed. The purpose of reproductive decision making, as stated in the ‘Savulescu J. Procreative beneficence’, is to ‘offer genetic tests for the child to have the best opportunity of having the best life’. The

concept of selecting disability directly contradicts the original purpose. Anyhow, what constitutes the ‘best life’? Different things constitute the ‘best life’ for different people. Therefore, it is difficult to place laws on such procedures.

John Stuart Mill, English ‘whenpreachedphilosopher,thatour

actions affect only ourselves, we should be free to construct and act on our own conception of what is the best life for us’.

It is only through freedom that individuals will discover what kind of life is best for them. However, this ‘freedom’ may harm the offspring. Is it fair for a parent to choose a life of potential suffering or disadvantage for their offspring with their freedom?

In conclusion, gene editing is a delicate topic which must be assessed in rigorous detail to ensure that the best decisions are made. The question is not whether gene editing is safe or not (as most of the research suggests that it is), it is rather whether gene editing should be used in humans. There must be a summit on human gene editing, otherwise we risk ‘programming’ ourselves into a robotic society.

We must draw a line between what is a ‘disability’ and what is a ‘difference’. The existing cooperative spirit in the scientific community may start to disintegrate due to competing objectives, and impatience may influence crucial decisions which could supposedly alter the genes, and therefore characteristics, of the human race forever.

It is only through freedom bestkinddiscoverindividualsthatwillwhatoflifeisforthem.

Jennifer Doudna

Lulu and NanaThe first engineeredgeneticallybabies

Can We Find Our Emotions of Lockdown Through Past Art History References?

Sophie Konig

Upper Sixth

Since conducting a survey on the benefits and hardships experienced during lockdown, I have been interested in how certain emotions are often confined to our private lives, with a sort of façade being presented to the world instead. The extreme circumstances of the lockdown meant we were forced to face these feelings as there were few distractions which could be used to suppress them, and so the lockdowns either became a time of self-reflection and development, or one of depression and misery. This essay aims to explore how such feelings of fear and isolation have been presented by historical artists, as well as whether we are only now aware of such themes having experienced such emotional strain ourselves.

One of the most significant artists whose work frequently presented internal struggles was Edvard Munch. His most famous artworks drew from his tragic psychological experiences as a young boy (Lubow, 2006), presenting themes such as death and loneliness, all within his overarching concept of human existence, illustrated through his own emotional state (Edvard Munch.org).

After the deaths of his mother and sister, he was left in the care of his father who suffered from mental illness (Edvard Munch.org). He himself also fell ill often and so was bedridden for significant periods in his faced,thewayhis(Munchmuseet).childhoodMuchofworkwasmadeasaofcomprehendinganxietiesandfearshenotablyincluding

The Sick Child and Death in the Sickroom (Charleton, 2020) Rather than focusing on the dying child, the latter portrays the grief and mourning of the family instead (Edvard Munch.org). In the foreground is Edvard and his sisters, to the left his brother and next to Sophie’s chair is their father and aunt, but although they are all together, they are uncommunicative and isolated from one another in grief (Nasjonalmuseet) (Edvard Munch.org). The bold contours of the synthetist style seem to trap them within the scene (Edvard Munch. org), perhaps echoing the way Munch could

not escape his grief. Similarly, in lockdown we were not only physically confined, but were also emotionally separated from the outside world and so I think comparisons can be formed between this painting and the isolation of lockdown. Rather than being painted at the age of Sophie’s death, the individuals have been depicted as their age at the time of production, suggesting that the event would “forever [mark]” their lives (Google Arts and Culture). I think that our experiences of lockdown act much in the same way. Our lives have permanently been altered by the pandemic, whether we discovered what our true values are or contrastingly have had our mental health detrimentally affected, things will never be quite the same as before.

The Scream, is another painting in which our emotions of lockdown can be seen, for it has become widely known as “a symbol of modern anxiety and alienation” (Art History Online, 2017). The idea evolved from an experience Munch had when walking with

friends at sunset, in which he described the “sky [turning] as red as blood”, causing him to “[shiver] with fear” before hearing “the enormous, infinite scream of nature” (The Art Story). A skeletal creature stands in the foreground, with its hands clutched to its face around a large gaping mouth shrieking with horror (Charleton, 2020). It is uncertain whether the figure represents Munch or the nature from which the scream originated (Charleton, 2020), but it remains sexless (Edvard Munch.org), and so its ambiguity allows a wider audience to resonate with the emotion it portrays. The swirling shapes and distortion of the background is repeated in the body of the figure, representing how the human experience is “subject to forces beyond its control” and so the creature has become trapped by these external forces, like Munch felt he had been (The PostImpressionists: Munch, 2001) (Edvard Munch.org). However, the two figures in the background remain linear, suggesting they have not undergone the same emotional encounter and so the piece can be interpreted as representing the internal struggle rather than what is presented to the world (Artsper). Therefore, the painting has become a symbol of our anxiety, a very much internal emotion, during lockdown.

The contoursbold of the synthetist style seem to trap them within the scene.

Death in the Sick Room, 1895 by Edvard Munch

For example, the sense of uncertainty felt when it was unsure what this new virus was or how it would impact us, and the fear of loss of control. Many were overwhelmed by panic and so I think the anguish and torment seen in The Scream encapsulates our own emotions well.

The Scream is seen across the world as one of the earliest pieces of expressionistic art (The Art Story), a movement in which realistic depictions were abandoned and replaced by looser marks made with bolder colours in order to represent the artists feelings at a moment in time and to project these emotions onto the viewer (Encyclopedia). Therefore, this piece of Munch’s became a pivotal point in art history as it opened up the possibility for art to be made, in part, to influence the audience. Perhaps as a result, this is why today we can return to artworks of the century and find reflections of how we feel.

One artist often thought of in this context is Edward Hopper.

Edward Hopper is thought to be one of the most significant realist painters of the 20th century (Edward Hopper.net), conveying scenes through his perception of isolation and melancholy (National Gallery of Art). Having been influenced by the works of the French Impressionists on his trips to Paris (Peacock, 2017), the dramatic manipulation of light became characterisationaof his artwork, often using strong shadows and pale lights to, again, portray these feelings of desolation (National Gallery of Art). Many of us have found comfort in Hopper’s paintings during the pandemic, as his themes became unexpectedly relevant when we were ordered to stay at home. Our cravings for social interaction were denied and so having these emotions echoed in artwork provided a somewhat sense of relief (Laing, 2016).

Hopper displays his theme of loneliness in modern life through scenes of solitary figures in “iconic American spaces” such as movie theatres and hotel rooms as well in “deserted cityscapes” (Peacock, 2017) (Jones, 2020). Despite there being millions of residents all in close proximity, his paintings portray the city as a place of “overwhelming stillness” (National Gallery of Art), forming a reflection on how whilst being physically close to others one can still feel alone in the absence of affection and emotional closeness – a recognisable experience of lockdown. Nighthawks displays this well, featuring three customers seated in a New York diner late at night. The only illumination is provided by the fluorescent lights within the diner itself, casting an eerie, artificial glow upon the darkened streets outside (National Gallery of Art). Hopper has used a clear division, as is often seen in his work, to separate us from the scene as if we are merely onlookers observing this frozen moment in time, with no insight into their lives, and so forced to conclude our own interpretation (The Art Story). Not only are we detached, but the individuals at the counter are also absent, lost in their thoughts and their unfocused gazes withdrawing them from the present (Edward Hopper.net). Perhaps they are engrossed in the “wartime anxiety” amidst World War II (Murphy, 2007), but either way, the composition of the painting serves well to highlight the alienation felt in modern

However,times.despite

isolation being a dominant theme throughout Hopper’s works, he often denied this, saying that if this was the outcome then it was an expression of his subconscious thoughts (Laing, 2016) (Edward Hopper and the Blank Canvas, 2012). This leads on to the interpretation that Hopper’s pieces do not necessarily have to convey sadness, one could actually find solace in them as they could be recognised as his acceptance that loneliness is okay (The School of Life). By acknowledging that we ourselves are experiencing it, we can come to terms with it rather than be afraid or ashamed, and so turn it from isolation to solitude –its voluntary counterpart (Cherry, 2021). Automat depicts a woman sat alone, in an otherwise empty automat diner, late at night. She has a single glove on, suggesting that she is in a hurry and so can only pause from her busy urban life for a brief second (The Art Story). On one hand, the scene could be interpreted as yet another isolated city experience due the lack of human interaction needed in automats (The Art Story), but on the other it could be viewed as a peaceful moment as the diner provides a “sanctuary”, somewhere

[H]is stillness.“overwhelmingasportraypaintingsthecityaplaceof

The Scream,1893 by Edvard Munch

where the anonymity allows the woman to feel safe reflecting on her troubles (The School of Life). Wim Wenders (Edward Hopper and the Blank Canvas, 2012) said that Hopper’s “paintings show the calm before the storm or the deserted scene after a dramatic encounter”, suggesting that this depiction of peace can be seen in many of Hopper’s works. In my survey, one of the themes I explored was the benefits found of lockdown and whilst few said they found any, some expressed feelings of relief. Rather than being swept up further by the chaos of normal life, the lockdowns provided a time of reflection for many, a time to sit down and rest, as well as one to appreciate the things often taken for granted. Therefore, I think select pieces, such as Automat, act instead to present this theme of solace.

Hopper’s works link strikingly well with the emotions felt amid the lockdowns. During the pandemic, contact with those we love or even just those we recognise as familiar strangers was limited, leading to these strong feelings of isolation and despair. Within households these feelings were still felt, again, linking back to how physical closeness does not necessarily transfer to emotional fulfilment. However, by viewing his paintings as the acceptance of solitude,

then it remains up for debate whether they do in fact reflect lockdown since many struggled to face the isolation rather than embrace it. Therefore, overall, it is very much dependent on the viewer and their interpretation as to whether the emotions of lockdown can be found within his art.

The pose of the subject is another aspect used by artists to display emotions, giving away small, potentially unintentional, clues from which an overall impression of the individual’s mood can be formed.

For example, Käthe Kollwitz was a German artist who used paintings, sculptures and woodcuts to portray the anguish of the working class, particularly utilising pose to express emotions of grief and mourning motivated by the death of her son in WWI (Mahler, 2016). After his death, she devoted her life to pacifism and depicting the horrors of war (The Art Story), primarily those left behind such as women and children (Finkel & Simms, 2020), and at this point her art became closely linked with Expressionism as her works began to focus heavily on conveying the emotions created by the tragedy of war (The Art Story).

Several years after the death of her son she recovered from her depression, having

found that the simplicity of woodcuts could better capture “the totality of grief” (Käthe Kollwitz, 1981). Widow II, part of Kollwitz’s War series, is a wood carving in which a baby can be seen clutched in its mother’s arms. The choice of woodcutting creates sharp, defined blocks of colour which prevent there being any ambiguity and so the immense suffering seen on the woman’s face is definitively trapped within the piece, with the stark contrast between the black and white adding to the horror of the composition. Emotion pours out of the image, and although it does not necessarily equate to the emotions felt in lockdown, it is a clear example of the emotive nature of Kollwitz’s Throughoutwork.her career Kollwitz produced a number of self-portraits, all of which “provide intimate insights into the phases of her life” (Käthe Kollwitz Museum Köln). Typically, the portraits were limited to her face, with the occasional incorporation of her hand (Käthe Kollwitz Museum Köln), but we are invited to look beyond physical appearance into the feelings which provoked them (Appleyard, 2019). The large, magnified view of her face in Self Portrait from 1934 acts to trap you in her penetrative gaze, despite the darkness behind her eyelids making her appear

Nighthawks, 1942 by Edward Hopper

distant in thought. Kollwitz’s 1921 Self Portrait is an etching in which bold lines capture her, again, distant gaze, looking sorrowful as she contemplates her worries. Angular wrinkles have been used to form a furrowed brow, to heighten the forlorn mood of the piece, and bold forms to define the brutality of which war has affected her life. Each of these stances can be visualised as somebody in the midst of lockdown, gazing woefully through windows to the outside world, or hunched over in defeat as the isolation becomes too much to bear.

Whilst Kollwitz’s motivations and principles for why she produced such work are very different, I think that there is still a resemblance of her art to the emotions felt in lockdown. For the lucky people, grief was not present in the sense that it was for Kollwitz, but it can be argued that there was mourning for normal life to return. We felt trapped in our circumstances in the way that Kollwitz felt the world was imprisoned by war.

Each of the artists discussed all present emotions through their artworks, the despair and misery of lockdown to no exception, albeit in very different manners.

Munch opened up the world of art to the expression of internal emotions. By changing the way in which the audience can engage with a piece of artwork,

he has allowed a sense of community to be established. For example, in the photographic depictions of the public clapping for carers; it made people feel a part of something bigger than themselves working towards a common goal. However, as the months went, those at home gradually stopped participating as the loneliness began to consume them and with it the sense of community faded away. This is much like how Kollwitz’s glorified ideas of war as a child crumbled after her son died and its true horrors were unveiled (Käthe Kollwitz, 1981). She represented those left behind when soldiers went off to war, depicting scenes of grieving mothers and so comparisons can be drawn to the photographs of healthcare staff living separately from their children to prevent them from contracting Covid-19. The scenes of families separated by windows are much like the barriers which Hopper used to isolate his subjects. However, what is most interesting is the debate as to whether we would have ever been able to resonate with his art to this extent if the pandemic had never occurred. Yes, there are times when each of us feel lonely, and sometimes they occur when surrounded by people; nonetheless, this separation has never been felt on such a large scale

in modern times. Although unintentional, it does appear that these feelings of loneliness have always been present in society, suggested by their surfacing in Hopper’s work, but nowadays we have technology to sustain contact, and our days are filled with distractions and so I think the pandemic has highlighted to each of us the superficiality of our normal lives as we have realised that when finally alone, we are not content.

I, therefore, believe that this exposure to solitude brought on by the pandemic has meant that these themes in his art have suddenly become apparent to us.

In conclusion, it is evident that the emotions experienced throughout the lockdowns can be found in art history, despite the causes being distinctively different to a global pandemic. Whether through Kollwitz’s emotive self-portraits and concepts of war, Munch’s portrayals of his inner emotions through distorted figures and colour, or Hopper’s disjointed scenes of alienation in modern life, the themes of loss, isolation and fear have consistently been presented over time. However, it often takes first-hand knowledge and understanding in order to notice.

Munch opened up the world of art to the expression of internal emotions.

Self Portrait, 1921 by Kathe Kollwitz

Will the legacy of COVID be an economically more unequal world?

Rachel Large

Upper Sixth

capita incomes are increased and the inhabitants of a country benefit from improved living standards, relies partly on education levels of a population, as seen in the country’s Human Development Index, a measure of development.

The Learning Poverty rate (those unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10) in low- and middleincome countries was 53% before the pandemic, but rose to 63% post-COVID (Idrogo, 2021). Lower education levels disadvantage this population in the long run, as their skills and employment opportunities decrease, shown by a fall in the long run aggregate supply.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the greatest global economic recession since WW2. The UK was one of the economies that suffered the most from the pandemic, and its recovery may suggest that economies around the world have emerged more unequal.

Inequality is the difference in how wealth, assets or income are distributed among a population. A reason for this inequality is the shut-down of business sectors, mainly retail and hospitality. The lockdowns in the UK meant these firms were forced to close, and could not do business

online, like most other theobservedcanRelativesectors.inequalityalsobebetweenpopulation.Those

in high-skilled jobs who have flexibility in their working conditions benefitted from the pandemic environment. Working from home meant less costs of travel and overall expenditure, while still maintaining a stable income. Here, disposable income and savings rose, increasing welfare and living standards.

In contrast, the low-skilled, selfemployed, and young workers did not share these same benefits. The lowskilled, who generally occupy service sector jobs especially in retail and hospitality, were likely to be forced to stop work for the duration of the lockdowns (Blundell, 2020), with some

possibly made redundant. This not only meant some small firms went out of business, but also mass unemployment. The UK’s unemployment rate rose from 4.1% (June 2020), to 5.1% (December 2020) (Trading Economics, 2021). Loss of a stable income put further strain on low-income families, who may have had to use their savings to afford necessities. Relative poverty may occur here (poverty measured in comparison with other people in a country). This widening gap in income and living standards exacerbates inequality within a country.

The pandemic not only amplified inequality within one country, but also globally. Technology is at the core of the issue here, as it was essential for the operation of firms and schools. Without technology or internet access, business would cease to function. The Internet penetration rate in developed countries is 87%, 47% in developing countries and only 19% in the least developed countries (Roese, 2021), meaning wealthy economies who can invest into technology will thrive, while developing economies fall behind, as they lack the funds or infrastructure to accommodate this youngonlineAstechnology.wellashinderingbusiness,itmeanspeoplecannotaccess

education. Economic development, when real per

However, COVID-19’s legacy depends on the actions of global governments. Wealthy nations can provide aid in monetary or vaccination form to developing countries to facilitate their recovery, and likewise provide fiscal support in their domestic economy (Romei, 2020). For example, the UK government administered the Furlough scheme, which aimed to prevent unemployment by paying 80% of the worker’s usual wage. As of May 2021, it has cost the government around £64 billion (Clark, 2021). The scheme meant that most UK workers maintained a steady income, which should prevent the income inequality gap from widening.

Nevertheless, this response could worsen global inequalities between wealthy nations and those without this governmental support. Thus, many households in emerging and low-income economies lacked a sustained income, which leads to a decrease in consumption and a contraction in the economy.

The short run impacts of the UK’s scheme are positive for the economy and suggests that COVID-19 may not leave as much inequality as people thought. The UK’s COVID-19ratesunemploymentpeakduringand

the 2008 Financial Crisis were 5.1% and 8.5% respectively (Trading Economics,

Without technology or internet access, business would cease to function.

The worsentaxesnatureregressiveofindirectislikelytoinequality.

Unequal scenes - Brazil

2021), which is a success, considering the significantly greater fall in GDP experienced by the UK during COVID.

The result of government support in the long run is huge increase in National debt (the total amount of money owed by the government). The UK government’s debt to GDP was 97.4% in 2020-21 (Trading economics, 2020), decreasing the budget deficit to -14.3% of GDP (Trading Economics, 2020). While government spending helps boost the economy in the short run, there may be tax increases in the future as the government moves towards austerity. This includes rises in VAT rates back to 20% and corporation tax to 25% in 2023 (Kuenssburg, 2021). The regressive nature of indirect taxes is likely to worsen inequality as the burden falls on low-income households, who were also those who were disproportionately affected by COVID.

The repercussions of the 2008 Financial Crisis show a decrease in global inequality given that the crisis “was much stronger in the rich countries than in the “emerging” Asia” (Milanovic, 2020). Unlike COVID, the crisis mainly affected the rich of the population, thus reducing the gap of inequality in these areas. This is also shown on a global level, as the richer countries fell into deeper recessions than developing countries.

However this cannot be used to forecast the impacts of COVID, because of the disproportionate burden on the lowincomed. Perhaps the most important factor is healthcare stystems. COVID affects health conditions, and therefore people’s ability to work. Rich nations with good healthcare systems were able to accommodate the ill and ensure their recovery, but countries who lacked this were more likely to experience more COVID related deaths, causing loss of

human capital and long term productive potential in the economy.

In conclusion, there is no doubt that COVID has exacerbated inequalities internationally, allowing the rich nations and individuals to get richer, while leaving the poor to become poorer. Despite government efforts to combat these inequalities, it is certain that COVID has already brought about a world more unequal, and may continue to in the future.

India’s oxygen shortages

Frida Kahlo es, sin temor o equivocación, un referente artístico universal. Pese a su don enorme, lo fascinante sigue siendo la arrolladora personalidad que le correspondía. Una mujer bisexual sin remordimientos, su vida poco convencional está plasmado en su obra. En este ensayo, voy a explorar este personaje que ha devenido en mito, bajo el prisma del arte.

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo nació el 6 de julio 1907 en Coyoacán, México. Sin embargo, tuvo una niñez difícil, marcada por la enfermedad y la convalecencia. Al cumplir seis años, Frida contrajo la poliomielitis que daría paso a un montón de lesiones y operaciones. Su derecha pierna se quedó más delgada que la izquierda como consecuencia. Solamente faldas largas podían ocultar su deformidad. Pero, a pesar de todo, la pequeña Frida soñaba con ser médica.

Por desgracia, sufrió un terrible accidente cuando tenía 18 años. El autobús en el que Frida y su novio, Alejandro Gómez Arias, estaban viajando fue arrollado por un tranvía. Un pasamanos del autobús le atravesó el cuerpo de Frida, entrándole por la cadera izquierda y saliéndole por la vagina. Pasaba el próximo año tendiéndose en un hospital, con un espejo arriba de su cama. Rodeada por su propio reflejo, Frida empezó a pintar sus facciones diferenciales en un estilo vivo y ingenuo. A la postre, procedería a pintar 55 autorretratos antes de su muerte en 1954.

‘Autorretrato con collar de espinas y colibrí ’ es, muy probablemente, la obra más conocida de Frida, y la más simbólica. La pintó en 1940, un año después de su divorcio del gran muralista Diego Rivera, y el mismo año en que volvió a casarse con él. El mono encima de su derecho hombro no solo representa el diablo en la cultura mexicana, sino Diego también. Los dos se conocieron cuando Diego estaba trabajando en un mural para la Secretaría de Educación Pública en la Ciudad de México. Frida le pido consejos sobre su carrera, y al hacerlo, inició una relación turbulenta y tortuosa que duraría en torno a 20 años.

Su matrimonio estaba lleno de altibajos y las constantes aventuras extramatrimoniales. Enorme, feo y 20

Zoe Blackburn Upper Sixth

más mayor, Diego aún puso los cuernos con Christina, la hermana menor de Frida. En el cuadro, el mono está tirando en el collar y causando Frida a sangrar, expresando su dolor al descubrir el lío. Las espinas sí mismas son una alusión a la crucifixión de Cristo, y una declaración enfática de su sufrimiento psicólogo a manos de Diego.

El vello facial y corporal simboliza la androginia e insuficiencia que Frida sentía a lo largo de su vida adulta. Debido a su accidente, Frida no podía llevar un niño a término y tenía al menos tres abortos y varios abortos espontáneos durante su matrimonio. En cambio, el vello es también un testimonio de su individualidad audaz que negaba a conformar. Con su uniceja y modo tradicional de vestir, Frida fomentó una visión más amplia de la belleza femenina, y se exhibió al mundo con una verdadera indiferencia hacia su opinión.

Las mariposas en el pelo significan el renacimiento después de su divorcio, y la tranquilidad que había recobrado. Frida dijo una vez: “Yo sufrí dos accidentes graves en mi vida: uno en el que un autobús me tumbó al suelo, el otro es Diego. Diego fue el peor de todos.” Aunque el colibrí simboliza la esperanza, el gato negro, símbolo de mala suerte, está acechando cerca para destrozar su paz. Me parece que aún Frida sabía que volvería con Diego dentro de poco.

FridaañosKahlo: una mujer bisexual, política y feminista

Dicho esto, Frida declinó el papel de víctima pasiva. Cuando se dio cuenta de que su naturaleza fue inalterable, Frida se refugió en diversos brazos, incluso los de Nickolas Muray, Heinz Berggruen e Isamu Noguchi. En 1937, León Trotsky obtuvo

asilo en México después de su destierro de la Rusia soviética. Ya que Frida siempre se mantuvo ligada al Partido Comunista de México y Diego fue miembro activo también, Trotsky terminó como huésped en su casa. Rumores de un idilio entre Frida y Trotsky escandalizaban a la sociedad. Cuando por último fue asesinado por un agente soviético en 1940, la policía detuvo a Frida durante dos días como sospechosa.

Si bien las aventuras heterosexuales de Frida ha sido documentado de forma extensa, sus amores lésbicos aún permanecen a la sombra. Tina Modotti, Jacqueline Lamba y Josephine Baker por mencionar algunos casos. Su más profunda relación lesbiana ocurrió cuando la cantante Chavela Vargas llegó para vivir junto a Frida y Diego. Aunque el romance entre ellas dos nunca fue conocimiento público, la devoción que sentían la una por la otra se refleja en sus cartas. Frida escribió: “Vivo para Diego y para ti. Nada más.”

Además de su abierta bisexualidad, Frida demostró una capacidad casi sobrehumana de sobrevivir y transformar su dolor en arte. Cuando una de sus 32 intervenciones quirúrgicas le obligó a llevar un corsé médico, lo adornó con flores. Cuando un médico tomó la decisión de amputar su pierna débil, Frida anotó en su diario: “¿Pies, para que los quiero si tengo alas para volar?”, y pintó su pierna ortopédica una roja hermosa.

Frida completó ‘Lo que el agua me dio’ en 1938. El cuadro funciona como una representación visual de su trayectoria de vida. Un vestido mexicano y tradicional simboliza su herencia, las dos mujeres desnudas su sexualidad. Un hombre (Diego) se sienta al borde del mar donde Frida flota, asfixiándola. Imágenes de naturaleza y crecimiento chocan con el fuego y la destrucción. La obra presenta Frida, sentándose en una bañera y examinando sus sentimientos ambiguos hacia su vida y sí misma. Creo que es esta rigorosa introspección y sinceridad que la ha convertido en una leyenda que permanece hoy muy viva. A Frida, el arquetipo puro y perfecto de aquel tiempo no le interesó. Fue artista, fue alcohólica, activista y amante, y estaba orgullosa de todo.

Frida Kahlo

Within the text of Mrs. Dalloway, suicide is a foreboding motif that shadows the characters’ thoughts and emotions about their future. Although their lives were enraptured by people, delicately described flowers, and a world filled with ‘sublimity’, the question of mortality invades their viability. Clarissa Dalloway, the main character of the novel, juggles with the idea of suicide and life, and its’ meaning and worth. However, Warren-Smith’sSeptimus suicide, a final rebel against the conformities of the repressive post-war society that misunderstood mental health, has an effect that revitalises the story and, in essence, her existence.

In Mrs. Dalloway, Septimus’ suicide is seen as a preservation of his soul, a way for Septimus to die with honour rather than let his life be taken away from him. Woolf couches joy, life, and preservation in moments of solitude and loneliness, and suicide is in turn portrayed positively. When Septimus begins having suicidal thoughts, while initially he is described as, “Quite alone, condemned, deserted,” Woolf continues by saying that: “There was a luxury in it, an isolation full of sublimity; a freedom which the attached can never know”. While Woolf does not deny the pain in his situation, she describes a divine peace in this pain. By using all of the typically negative words to describe the feelings of the suicidal, “alone, condemned, deserted,” and then asserting its vitality, Woolf looks to change her reader’s perspective by putting an unfamiliar twist on familiar thoughts. In other words, she relays these feelings as peaceful, not destructive. Rather than portraying suicide as an end, Woolf instead chooses to frame it as a kind of freedom from a cruel world. In his final moments, Septimus is portrayed as a rational man without a choice: he must die to preserve his dignity and freedom. Septimus does not end his life to prove something to the world or himself; conversely, he mocks this type of dramatic ending, “their idea of tragedy, not his”, showing that he does not believe his death will be beautiful or tragic,

ugly and necessary business. As he falls to his death, Septimus cries, “I’ll give it to you!”. Septimus’ last words show how his suicide is both a surrender and a victory. His admittance that he gives his body to Holmes, which he would have to do either way, further highlights how he retains his soul and control over his own worriestheirofbetweenanSeptimusactions.becomesinterwovenlinkthecharactersthebook,sharingpain,anger,andpassions.

Septimus’ feeling of being very far away is akin to Clarissa’s feeling early that morning as she strolled through London. His “Fear no more” is her comfort, and from what he has dictated to Rezia, he seems to have come to terms with death, a subject which has also been on Clarissa’s mind. His “there is no death” is very similar to Clarissa’s belief that bits of herself will continue after she is gone, becoming parts of the world that are bigger than her own self. The touch of the neurotic in Clarissa, and in the other characters, is paralleled and condensed into madness in Septimus. As Miss Kilman has just done, he cries out against human cruelty, although Septimus is not cruel. People who dominate are cruel — whether it is within the drama of war or of single personal relations which in Septimus’ case it is both. The war destroyed him; now the doctors have come to feed on him: “Holmes is on us.” Miss Kilman is after Clarissa’s soul, just as Holmes is after Septimus’. It is suggested that Septimus has a subconscious connection to the characters of the book, mainly Clarissa, showing that he is not mad but holds a capacity to feel and think past what society wants him to. In addition, it also solidifies Clarissa’s idea that everything is connected in some way and that our lives are less important than the bigger picture. This creates the impression that Septimus is the fundamental connection between characters, even without knowledge.

Rather than concluding the novel with a dramatic, action-filled ending, Woolf chooses to end the novel with Clarissa’s reflection on life and death. Woolf’s choice

shows the great importance of suicide to Woolf as a novelist. Clarissa spends her life trying to connect to others in conversation, yet she cannot, Instead it is, “wreathed with chatter, defaced, obscured.” The “thing” that Clarissa yearns for is the ability to communicate, which she cannot find in her own life, because all of her attempts to communicate just come across as “corruption, lies, chatter.” Her assertions that death was “defiance” and “an embrace” show how Woolf believeds that death is not a thing done out of fear, but a powerful statement. By calling death “an attempt to communicate,” Woolf asserts that death sends a message that spoken words cannot. This point is further proven by the fact that the person who Septimus’ death affects the most is Clarissa, a perfect stranger to him. Septimus is able to strike Clarissa so deeply and change her life even though he never knew her, demonstrating the power of suicide. The very last mention of the suicide is when Clarissa says: “She felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away… He made her feel the beauty; made her feel the fun”. Woolf ends this topic on a positive note. Septimus’ suicide made Clarissa better able to appreciate her own life, communicating and conveying a moral idea to her in a way that no other person had been able to in her life. Septimus’ suicide changes the world for the better in ways he never could have known or done had he been alive.

In conclusion, the drama and romanticism of Septimus’ suicide conveys Woolf’s idea that death is a better communicant than words. Septimus’ life was already meaningful when he killed himself – he “plunged holding his treasure.” The effect of his suicide was to communicate this meaning to others, something he could not do in his life.

in detail Woolf’s presentation of the suicide of Septimus Warren-Smith

Freya Davey

Woolf looks to change her reader’s unfamiliarbyperspectiveputtingantwist on familiar thoughts.

Lower Sixth

Virginia Woolf

Holly Durham A level 2022

Charlotte Sasse A level 2022

Betty Billsbury-Grass A level 2022

Sophie Konig A level 2022

Beth Lewis A level 2022

Lucy Steiner A level 2022

Lizzie

Katherine Leyshon A level 2022

I like to think of telomeres a bit like galvanising. In galvanisation, a zinc coating is applied to the surface of a metal object. The zinc acts as a sacrificial material, being exposed to corrosion and rust, hereby protecting the more valuable metal beneath. With telomeres, it is the same principal.

As part of the cell cycle, cells must replicate their DNA. This is facilitated by several enzymes, including DNA helicase, DNA polymerase, and DNA ligase. First, DNA helicase breaks hydrogen bonds between the two DNA strands, causing them to separate (Figure 1.1). Each original DNA strand acts as a template for a new strand. Free DNA nucleotides are attracted to their exposed complementary bases on the original strands by hydrogen bonding. DNA polymerase then begins to join the new nucleotides by forming phosphodiester bonds between them (Figure 1.2). As there are two original DNA strands, we have two DNA polymerase enzymes, acting on each

Upper Sixth

of the strands. The two DNA strands are antiparallel to each other, meaning that the DNA polymerase acting on one strand works in the opposite direction to the DNA polymerase working on the opposite strand. This is because the active site of DNA polymerase is complementary only to the 3’ end of the newly forming strand, and it can therefore only add DNA nucleotides to this end of the strand.

Therefore, while one DNA polymerase can work continuously in one direction, the other has to work in segments, known as ‘Okazaki fragments.’

DNA however,polymerase,cannotjust

bind to one strand and begin its work. It has to have a starting point: the 3’ end of a nucleotide that it can bind to. To solve this problem, there are primers, ‘startingblocks’ from which DNA polymerase can add nucleotides.

Primers are single RNA nucleotides, which are later removed by the enzyme RNase H, and then replaced by DNA nucleotides

found that telomeres of sperm cells in fact lengthen with age - an evolutionary advantage?

by RNA polymerase. The enzyme DNA ligase then joins together the Okazaki fragments by forming phosphodiester bonds between nucleotides. However, when DNA polymerase reaches the last primer, we encounter a problem. As already mentioned, DNA polymerase can only add DNA nucleotides to 3’ ends, yet at the last primer, there is no 3’ end to attach onto, meaning that the RNA primer which is removed cannot be replaced by a DNA nucleotide (Figure 1.3). Therefore, at every DNA replication, some nucleotides are lost, at a rate of around 50-100 nucleotides per replication, so chromosomes become shorter each time a cell divides.

This is where telomeres come into play. If we had no telomeres, then small amounts of vital genetic material would be lost after each replication. This would be hugely damaging to the cell because it would no longer be able to synthesise important proteins such as enzymes, which regulate chemical reactions inside the cell.

Telomeres are the galvanisation of chromosomes: heterochromatic (associated with heterochromatin, tightly packed DNA) domains consisting of repetitive DNA base sequences (TTAGGG repeated many times). They are found at the ends

Researchtelomerasehas

Jonas Flohr

Telomeres: could we become immortal? [V]ital wouldmaterialgeneticbelost after each replication.

In 2010, Harvard scientists managed to reverse signs of ageing in mice by the reactivation of

of chromosomes (hence the name telo which is derived from the ancient Greek word for ‘end’ and mere, meaning ‘part’). Telomeres do not code for any proteins, and by sacrificing small amounts of telomeres during each replication, chromosomes are protected from unscheduled DNA repair and degradation. This is, until no more telomere is left at all.

Telomeres are completely degraded after approximately 50-70 cell divisions (this point being referred to as the Hayflick limit). Once the Hayflick limit is reached, cell senescence kicks in, and a cell increasingly loses its ability to proliferate. It is irreversibly locked into the G1 phase of the cell cycle and begins to lose its ability to respond to various external stimuli. In effect, the cell ages, ultimately leading to cell death. The older a person becomes, the more cells enter senescence. The degradation of telomeres is directly associated with cell senescence and therefore the degradation of telomeres can be seen as the cause of ageing, and ultimately, death. So, could telomerase be used to maintain telomeric length in all cells and therefore reduce - or even prevent – ageing?

The link between telomeres and ageing has, in recent years, attracted more and more interest by scientists across the globe. It is suggested that telomere shortening is associated with ageing and age-related diseases in humans, and studies on genetically modified animal models suggest causal links between telomere shortening and ageing. Therefore, if telomeres were to be preserved, or if the shortening process

were slowed, hypothetically, ageing in the human body could also be slowed.

One solution may be telomerase, an enzyme that is able to rebuild telomeres. Telomerase is a reverse transcriptase enzyme that contains a sequence of RNA nucleotides which acts as a template for new telomere sequences. A problem, however, is that telomerase is only found in gametes, stem cells, and most tumour cells; not in somatic cells, which make up

most of the human body’s tissues. But how significant is telomerase’s role in ageing, and could reactivation of telomerase increase an organism’s lifespan?

In a recent experiment by Harvard scientists, genetically manipulated mice were bred that lacked telomerase. The mice “aged prematurely and suffered ailments, including a poor sense of smell, smaller brain size, infertility and damaged intestines and spleens” (DePinho, R. Nature, 2011) Injections were then given to reactivate telomerase. After four weeks, the mice showed “biological changes indicative of cells returning to a growth state with reversal of tissue degeneration, and increase in size of the spleen, testes, and brain.” Furthermore, “the increase in telomerase revitalized slumbering brain stem cells so they could produce new neurons … the testes produced new sperm cells, and the animals’ fecundity was improved — their mates gave birth to larger litters.” When comparing the lifespan of these mice with those who weren’t given injections to reactivate telomerase, the mice lived longer. They did not, however, exceed the lifespan of a normal mouse. Reactivation of telomerase in studies with a species of nematode worm showed similar findings.

Although the outcomes of these studies are ground-breaking, what is important to know is whether the reactivation

Figure 1.3

of telomerase could in fact increase the lifespan of an organism as well. Furthermore, whether the same effect that was achieved in mice is possible in humans is still unclear, and there has also been much concern about the association between telomeric lengthening with cancer. Too short telomeres will lead to cell senescence and ageing of an organism, yet the inhibition of telomerase in adult human somatic cells is an evolutionary advantage in the sense that it prevents the risk of cancer developing. This is because a cell with maintained telomeric length has the ability to divide indefinitely, which increases the risk of cancer. Having cells with shortened telomeres on the other hand results in an impaired immune system because cell renewal and clonal selection of T- and B-cell populations is much more difficult. Activating telomerase to increase telomere length may therefore provide risks as well as benefits, and further research needs to be carried out in order to fully understand the mechanisms that are taking place.

But using either drugs or gene manipulation are not the only way in which the degradation of telomeres, and therefore the ageing process, could be slowed or even

reversed. Hibernation, for instance, lowers metabolic activity, which pauses mitosis at lower temperatures and therefore slows telomeric degradation. Experiments done on hamsters showed that hibernation slows their ageing process and prolongs their lifespan. High telomere maintenance in hibernating reptiles such as tortoises may be a crucial factor in providing longevity in these species.

Although our understanding of telomeres has improved greatly over the years, there remain many unanswered questions. A 2003 study found that telomeres of Leach’s Storm Petrel birds do not shorten but in fact lengthen with age. The birds have an unusually long lifespan, and despite having high telomerase activity, the species does not show high susceptibility to developing cancer. A study on another bird species, Frageta minor, showed that the rate of telomere shortening decreased with age, and that the rate of telomere decrease varied greatly between individual species. Telomere length could therefore not be used to accurately determine the bird’s age. Furthermore, telomeric activity does not just vary between organisms of different species, but also between different cells of an individual. Whilst a human’s somatic

cell telomeres shorten with age, telomeres of sperm cells lengthen with age. This may be an evolutionary advantage in the fact that the child produced is more likely to have longer telomeres and therefore may show signs of greater biological fitness in childhood, for lengthened telomeres strengthen the immune system. However, the older the father, the greater the chances of mutations occurring in a sperm cell’s genetic material, which will counteract the benefits of having long telomeres. Furthermore, a cell with long telomeres that carries a mutation will less likely enter apoptosis (which would have killed the cell and its mutation under normal circumstances), hereby increasing the risk of passing on a mutation to offspring.

It is clear that we are just at the beginning of understanding telomeres and their importance. It is not as simple as concluding ‘the longer the telomeres, the longer an organism will live’ or vice versa. Not only telomere length varies between different species, but also the rate of shortening varies. In some organisms and cells, telomeres in fact lengthen. Will we find methods to cure, or perhaps even prevent cancer through research on telomeres? Will we be able to slow the ageing process in humans? Will humans in centuries, or even decades time be living with eternal youth? For the time being, watch this space…

[T]he rate of species.individualbetweenvarieddecreasetelomeregreatly

Telomeres are the galvanisation of chromosomes. We could not survive without them

Au cours du film, nul ne peut nier le fait que Louis Malle utilise plusieurs techniques cinématographiques afin de souligner les thèmes de la seconde guerre mondiale ainsi que de l’enfance. Ces techniques sont essentielles pour créer une atmosphère crédible et captivante.

Dans la première scène à la gare, il est clair que l’éclairage faible a été bien utilisé puisque la scène est très sombre, ce qui indique que le film se déroule pendant la guerre. Il faut aussi réaliser que Malle a choisi d’utiliser des tons sombres qui

Jacob Housden

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accentuent en outre les sentiments de guerre. On peut aussi noter que durant cette scène le spectateur voit un gros plan de Julien avec sa mère, ce qui est vraiment efficace à démontrer la relation forte que Julien partage avec sa mère. Julien sait que sa mère va lui manquer donc la séquence longue de lui embrassant sa mère suggère son enfance et sa Lorsquedépendance d’elle.l’onregarde le film, il est évident qu’il existe très peu d’effets spéciaux et il y a un manque de musique. Comme résultat, il va de soi que le film est basé sur une histoire vraie donc le film semble plus réaliste à cause de sa pureté. Malle veut partager son expérience comme un enfant d’une manière simple mais extrêmement frappante.

De cette façon, Malle raconte ses souvenirs d’enfance durant l’époque de la deuxième guerre mondiale.

Après avoir vu le film, on découvre que la plupart du film est tourné au sein de l’internat plutôt qu’à l’extérieur, ce qui montre que les enfants sont protégés de la réalité de la guerre. Pour les enfants, il

n’est pas clair ce qui se passe autour d’eux. On pourrait dire que cela suggère que les enfants sont naïfs mais d’autre part on pourrait penser que ces enfants sont trop jeunes pour comprendre la réalité de la guerre. Par exemple, dans la scène dans laquelle Julien et Jean sont perdus dans la forêt, Malle utilise le travelling quand les deux garçons essaient d’échapper aux soldats allemands. Cette technique cinématographique suggère la menace des allemands et la naïveté de Julien et Jean, ainsi que la peur que Jean ressent.

Une technique clé que Malle utilise pour transmettre son histoire est la focalisation sur le regard des acteurs et actrices pendant les silences. Il est à noter que dans la scène finale, cette technique est vraiment puissante. Quand père Jean et Jean sont emmenés, la caméra focalise sur le regard de Julien. Il faut bien reconnaître que Julien est un jeune enfant, ainsi cette scène est vraiment bouleversante pour lui. Le gros plan est utilisé pour montrer la perte de l’enfance de Julien et aussi la gravité de la guerre. Le silence ajoute à ces émotions tristes et négatives.

Pour conclure, Malle utilise un grand nombre de cinématographiquestechniques

afin de souligner les thèmes de l’enfance et de la guerre avec succès, puisque ses méthodes sont pratiques et efficaces.

Dans quelle mesure Louis Malle utilise-t-il différentes techniques cinématographiques afin de mettre en évidence les thèmes de la deuxième guerre mondiale ainsi que de l’enfance?

Ces captivante.crédibleatmosphèrepoursonttechniquesessentiellescréeruneet

A Comparison of the Cycladic Figurine and the Mesopotamian Eye Idol

inferred from what is known of the objects’ corresponding cultures and those of contemporary objects.

Perhaps the most important similarity is that both objects had at least some spiritual significance, as evidenced by the fact that the Cycladic figurine was found in a tomb, and the Mesopotamian eye idol was found in the Eye Temple at Tell Brak. Death is central to many religions, and whilst evidence of Cycladic religious practices is scarce, it is reasonable to draw parallels with their contemporaries in mainland Greece, who in turn influenced the later Greek religion, which heavily ritualised death and burial. Similarly, the Eye Temple was a place of religious importance, and whilst more is known about Mesopotamian religion, it is still unclear to whom the temple and therefore the idols were dedicated.

Similarly, it is not known to whom the Cycladic figurine is devoted, and since evidence of contemporary Cycladic religion is scarce, it is even more difficult to validate any claims made as to the identity of the figurine. It is possible, however, that the figure does represent a female deity, as it certainly represents a woman, and it can be observed from objects such as the later Minoan snake goddess figurines that depictions of women often occurred in a religious context. Due to Crete’s proximity to the Cyclades, a level of cultural exchange is to be expected, yet a fair criticism of drawing conclusions from this is that the snake goddess figurines are from the neopalatial period of 1700-1500BC, which is much later than the 2600-2500BC date given for the Cycladic figurines. However, the depiction of women in a religious context would neither be individual nor original to the Cyclades, evidenced by the Venus of Willendorf, which is estimated to be around 25,000 years old.

At face value, the Mesopotamian eye idol and the Cycladic figurine appear distinct. They are separated by up to 2,600 years and differ in both form and material; the Mesopotamian eye idol is of the softer alabaster and is only 9.1 centimetres long, as opposed to the Cycladic figurine which is made of marble and is 17 centimetres in length. Whilst both are small and depict a human figure, the Cycladic figurine is certainly more complex than the geometric Mesopotamian eye idol. In addition, Tell Brak and Milos, where the two objects respectively were found, are separated by over 900 miles, and unsurprisingly the cultures found at either location differ.

However, there is a case to be made that these objects are far more similar than they might appear; unfortunately, there is limited evidence as to their use or the methods of their creation, but these can be

It can be inferred from the fact that both objects held religious significance that they were unlikely practical objects in any secular sense, and so were likely left as offerings. But it is unclear whether they are depictions of a deity, or people, such as worshippers who deposited the idol in the Eye Temple, or the deceased in whose tomb the Cycladic figurine was found.

One possibility regarding the dedication of the Mesopotamian eye idol is Inanna, the goddess associated with love, war, and political power amongst other things. She is a possible candidate not only due to her eminence as Queen of Heaven and her association with a range of culturally significant concepts; but also because the idol is shaped with a bottom to top taper, easily construed as a feminine figure. Of course, it does not follow that because the idol may represent a woman it must be Inanna, yet given the significance she held in Mesopotamian religion, it is likely that if the idol depicts any female goddess, then it is Inanna.

Both the idol and the figurine certainly offer some insight into the religious role of women in their respective cultures. The Mesopotamian eye idol’s shape is like that of both the Minoan snake goddess1 and the Venus of Willendorf, in that it widens from top to bottom. This shape may be indicative of ideals of feminine appearance in Mesopotamia, while the Cycladic figurine’s slender shape may represent different cultural expectations of beauty. The lack of any great detail in both objects may have been a stylistic choice, done to accentuate the general shape and thus emphasise the feminine figure. Nevertheless, a simpler design may have been chosen for a multitude of other reasons, such as the effort and therefore cost associated with intricate

Itfeatures.isalso

possible that both objects instead focus on representation of worshippers, due to the wealth of other similar figurines found in the Eye Temple and throughout the Cyclades. Other comparable cultures preferred individual depictions of their

Felix Dows-Miller

[D]epictions of women often occurred in a religious context.

Cycladic Figurine

Lower Sixth

deities which were far more elaborate and infrequent than either the eye idol or the Cycladic figurine. For instance, later cult statues built by the Greeks such as the statue of Zeus at Olympia, finished in 466BC, stand as evidence of single, more detailed depictions in a culture like that which produced the Cycladic figurine. As for the eye idol, The Burney Relief of the later Isin-Larsa period is an example of a singular detailed depiction of a female deity produced in Mesopotamia, and is strikingly complex when contrasted with the eye idols. Both comparisons of these objects span around 2,000 years, so despite their proximity any comparison is tenuous at best; regardless, both objects clearly share the possibility of depicting worshippers, as they both have comparable later cultures that chose to depict deities in lesser quantities.

Despite the distance between the two objects, both materials — marble and alabaster — are similarly useful for the creation of art, namely both can be dyed when heated. There is evidence of this practice in Cycladic culture contemporary to the figurine, in the form of a carved marble head which retains lines of red pigment running vertically down its cheeks and horizontally across its forehead. Whilst the eye idols do not suggest pigmentation, the predecessors to those of the Uruk period did produce art decorated with colour, such as a jar exhibited in the Erbil Civilisation Museum6, created by the

Halaf pottery culture in around 4900-4300, which is covered in various geometric patterns. Despite a lack of evidence, it is still a possibility that both objects may have possessed pigmentation which has now

Whilstfaded.the

objects bear many similarities, there are also major differences between them and their contexts, such as the Mesopotamian eye idol being found beside smaller idols in the Eye Temple7, which are thought to represent children. The existence of these smaller figurines therefore questions the veracity of the claim that their shape depicted an ideal female figure, as they also possess a top to bottom taper. Perhaps instead they were more practical with a wide base as they would have more easily been able to stand unaided. Whilst the Cycladic figurines also vary in size, this could be because they are spread throughout the Cyclades, and so the individual craftsman’s style may have influenced the final piece.

Since many of the Cycladic figurines were found in tombs, it is plausible that they depicted the dead rather than a mourner, whereas with the eye idols this is far less likely. The figurine may have acted in an analogous way to the Roman imagines8, wax casts of the deceased’s face kept to remember the dead. If true, the figurine may have served a more practical purpose than previously suggested. However, this hypothesis is contradicted by the fact that most of the Cycladic figurines are female, which may instead suggest that they were devoted to a female chthonic deity or represented worshippers mourning in perpetuity; also imagines were kept in the family home and not in tombs. The Cycladic figurines may have mainly depicted women because lamenting could have been a woman’s role, as it later was in Greece, or even if funeral rites for women and men varied in that figurines were left for women but not

Whilstmen.the

objects’ use is a potential point of divergence, the fact there have been more Mesopotamian eye idols found than Cycladic figurines is an unequivocal difference. One potential reason for this is that the Cycladic figurines seem to have been

left on death, whereas the Mesopotamian eye idols have apparently been left in an act of worship; if so, then it is logical that more idols exist than figurines. Due to their scattering throughout the Cyclades, the figurines likely functioned as a long-term offering, left in the deceased’s tomb to immortalise them or to grant them safe passage by appeasing a chthonic deity. This would also explain why they are not all concentrated in one place, as they are individual to the tomb in which they were left. Another potential reason why more eye idols have been found is thus that, since they were all located in the Eye Temple and not dispersed like the Cycladic figurines, this may have resulted in comparatively more of the idols being found, as they were all in one place.

Explanations for the objects’ differences in the aggregate found also highlight differences between the two civilisations. For instance, Tell Brak could have sourced the alabaster to make the idols locally in stalagmitic deposits or in springs of calcareous water, whereas Milos did have some immediate sources of marble to create the figurine but it was likely imported from the islands of Naxos or Paros as they traded it prolifically. This highlights that the Cycladic culture on Milos was likely more trade-based than Tell Brak, due to the nature of island living and the precedent of widespread trade connections of the Bronze Age

AlongMediterranean.withtheiracquisition, the materials

also vary in that marble is harder than alabaster, at a four as supposed to three on the Mohs hardness scale; this means that the tools for carving the marble figurines had to be more robust, and the population on Milos likely used the naturally occurring obsidian to create the figure. Conversely, the people of Tell Brak could have achieved their idol with softer tools, requiring less effort to make. This may suggest the Cycladic figurine was a more permanent offering than the idol of Tell Brak; a claim which lines up with the difference in abundance and detail.

Ultimately, there is no way of discerning the exact use of either object, due to the lack of evidence, but it is fair to say there is a multitude of speculative similarities. Whatever their use, they clearly held value to the people who made them; and indeed, they still do for us in the modern day, in the form of the insights they offer into their respective cultures and as points of comparison.

[T]he individual craftsman’s style may have influenced the final piece.

Mesopotamian Eye Idol

революцией, которая никого не жалеет, даже тех, кто надеется. Все символы в фильме гениальны. Они ведут нас к закату, осторожно намекая, каким катастрофичным будет конец. раньше, до революции. А Котов лишь пытается стать частью этого мира. Другой важный символ, используемый Михалковым, — это огненный шар. Из-за него лопается стекло в рамке с семейной фотографией. Огненный шар кладет конец идиллии. Он символы. Одним из ярчайших примеров символизма является цветовая гамма. Каждая сцена фильма тонко продумана до мелочей. Красный цвет символизирует революцию и советскую власть. Он выражается в знамени в поле и во флагах пионеров. К сожалению, эта власть несёт разрушительный и плачевный характер: в последней сцене фильма, ванна Мити становится

Upper Sixth

Levelling up is a phrase introduced by Boris Johnson during the 2019 election campaign, in which he used to try to convince less prosperous towns and constituencies to join the Conservative boat. He was promising to ‘level up’ their towns, to upgrade their opportunity in life and reduce regional inequality across the UK. For this question to be answered effectively I believe four questions must be answered.

What are the problems with regional inequality across the UK? Why have these occurred? How are we able to ‘level up’? And is this promise truly feasible?

In the UK today, we are seeing London strive further ahead of all other regions, notably Wales, the North East and Northern Ireland, based on GDP per head. This is not just a recent problem, however, during the 1900s, London’s GDP per worker was 30% higher than the national average. We did see this gap close during the 1950s due to tough economic times, but since the 1980s, this gap has widened again and most likely will not close anytime soon in our capitalist society. This is indicated by

how just over 50% of the UK’s financial services and 45% of our knowledgeintensive business services are found in the centre of cities. This signposts that we are not seeing huge numbers of these high-value economic sectors in depressed towns for many reasons which I will come on to. Furthermore, the UK’s regional productivity gap is the widest it has been for a century. We saw the gap widen when rapid theofleavinginmassacreddeindustrialisationNorthEnglandthe1980sand1990sregionalinequalityproductivityashighasatstartofthe20thcentury.

To exacerbate this problem, what followed was lower spending on transport infrastructure in North England’s regions than in London. So therefore, the cities in which this infrastructure was installed became more successful from the attraction of transnational companies (TNCs) which increased the value of the economic sectors in the cities as they attracted investment.

Therefore, for this promise to be achieved, we must reverse this trend that has been a problem for almost a century now.

This problem of regional inequality has developed ever since the UK started to industrialise in the late 1800s. Towns and cities which thrived from the mining of coal or from the fishing industries, are now losing their fundamental reason for existing, their identity. Businesses were more attracted to bigger cities as people moved from left behind rural areas, such as coastal towns like Blackpool, to work in the cities such as London and Manchester. We are also witnessing how cities are becoming younger with innovation from the agglomeration of highly educated and talented people, whereas, coastal towns are growing older and outdated. This very high proportion of old people hurts the dynamism of these areas and our ageing

Jack Ramseyer

Given the concentration of high-value economic sectors in big cities, is a promise to reduce significantly regional inequalities by ‘levelling up’ possible to fulfil?

[T]he UK’s productivityregional gap is the widest it has been for a century.

population is worsening this problem that is looking increasingly difficult to fix. Not only are these areas suffering from ageing populations, but they suffer from the loss of prosperous peoples who move to London where there are

issueregionalishowever,town.old,comparedopportunitiesplentifultotheirimpoverishedThereality,isthatthisaggravatingthedisparityratherthanhelping our economy

grow from what this worker can add to the agglomeration within the city. This illustrates to us the clear scale of the challenge that Boris Johnson has set himself and how there are copious factors he must consider.

So, what can we do to try to ‘level up’ these deprived areas in the UK to the level of our prosperous cities today? The obvious answer would be to look towards education, the most important tool for promoting equal opportunities. After all, if everyone in society is entitled to go to school and university, we can ensure a certain degree of equal opportunities. Therefore, in the recent 2020 Budget, the government announced that it was committed to giving everyone the opportunity to fulfil their potential, regardless of where they are from. They allocated an extra £7.1 billion for schools in England by 20222023, compared to 2019-20 budgets. We also saw an allocation of £1.5 billion over 5 years to bring the facilities of colleges everywhere in England up to a good level, and to support improvements to colleges to raise the quality and efficiency of vocational education of provision. Most impressively, the government focussed on regional disparities and provided £7 million to support a total of 11 maths schools in England, covering every region. But we must take into account that money cannot fix everything, all over the UK, money could be invested into improved facilities for education. However, this may not have the full effect expected as students may not use them to full efficiency due to their attitude towards education and training.

As well as looking towards education to develop the rural parts of the UK, the government could also look towards using infrastructure to help us climb out of this hole. Infrastructure would not only provide surplus numbers of jobs in areas where structural unemployment has occurred, such as Sheffield, but would also have a positive feedback impact where investment would only lead to more investment. The government has definitely glanced, if not

stared, towards the use of infrastructure as it would allow high-value economic sectors to move into new regions and would trigger new agglomeration in these areas. HS2 is a perfect example of this, it provides numerous jobs for the allowinganManchesteraccessManchester.BirminghambetweenunemployedLondon,andItprovidestoLondonfrominjustoverhour,potentiallythesehuge

companies to move out to areas along the HS2 route as they now have greater access to these areas. But is this going to be easy to fulfil? If we recall the French experience regarding the construction of the early Paris to Lyon branch of the TGV then HS2 may just be a repeat. The TGV operated in the opposite way to what was expected. For example, businesses in Lyon moved their high-tech services to Paris, in some cases their headquarters. Businesses were meant to move out to Lyon and smaller towns along the route, instead they saw movement from these smaller towns to larger towns along the route. The overall impact of this project was that geographical inequalities increased and no ‘levelling up’ effects were felt until 30 years later, by which time they were still very small.

broadband rollout in the hardest-to-reach areas of the UK, hoping to boost regional economic growth to close the digital divide that exists. Boris Johnson even keenly boasted how 4G coverage would reach 95% of the UK by 2025. But will it? This operation would require a huge number of workers to build these networks in such a short space of time and so does seem slightly ambiguous and hopeful.

Lastly, we could look towards an increase in the national minimum wage, desirably increasing the income of the low paid and reduce wage inequality. This has worked recently with the number of UK workers benefitting from the minimum wage rising from 830,000 in 1999 to 2 million in 2018. The effects this could have would allow productivity to increase - potentially destroying our regional inequalities - productivity would increase as it makes firms look towards cheaper alternatives such as investment into automation, to reduce costs and employ more workers. This was discussed in the recent Budget and the national living wage was increased to reach £10.50 an hour by 2024 as the government set a target for the wage to reach two-thirds of median earnings. However, sadly it is not that easy as it risks unemployment, firms cannot afford

Developing rural parts of the UK will also require an improvement in mobile coverage – given that, as of October 2019, 23 million consumers struggle to connect to 4G. This is a huge problem that requires addressing to ‘level up’ because without good mobile coverage in deprived areas how can we invest there? With an improvement in mobile coverage across the UK we would see a huge boost to consumers as the speed and efficiency of services increase, potentially causing quality of life to increase in these areas. Not only will it boost spending, it will allow homes and businesses to become better connected, so businesses in these areas can start ‘levelling up’ these towns prior to investment. The government undeniably detected this – so it allocated a £5 billion investment in gigabit

the workers and so it would worsen inequality as poverty would rise in the UK. These rising costs of production may just be passed onto the consumers via higher prices, so in effect we would see inflationary pressures from the rising prices within the economy.

The idea of moving high-value economic sectors to deprived regions in the UK may never be seen. We will always see regional disparities in the UK because, as the old-aged towns become more prosperous, our big cities will continue to blossom. However, along with the government, I also believe education, infrastructure and improved mobile coverage will have a colossal positive impact on our regional disparities.

[I]nstead they saw movement from these smaller towns to larger towns along the route.

Upper Sixth

Cultural bias can be classified in a variety of ways, a tendency to judge others according to your cultural customs, a distortion caused by one’s cultural lens, none, however, come close to capturing the wide-ranging influence that this intrinsic bias has on the psychological world. The dangerous misunderstandings generated by this predisposition can, and have been, used as tools to oppress whole nations subjecting their people to crimes of racial and cultural hate. Within this issue the integrity of Psychology remains undetermined, posing the question; is psychology as a field of investigation fundamentally prejudiced? It is this that cuts to the core of psychology’s legitimacy as a viable and dependable means of comprehending human behaviour. Whilst many still choose to place their trust in psychological research, this question highlights the importance of maintaining such reservations inspired by the awareness of ethnocentrism and its infiltration into the psychological world.

Ethnocentrism could be described as an evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one’s own culture. Ethnocentrism may lead to a beta bias if tests are assumed to have the same meaning in all cultures. Beta Bias refers to theories that ignore or minimise cultural differences, whilst its opposite, Alpha bias, refers to the assumption that there are real and enduring differences between cultural groups. In terms of ethnocentrism, this is the belief that one’s own culture is considered to be different and better, and the consequence of this is that other cultures and their practices are devalued. All these factors are causing certain questions to be posed; Is cultural bias as widespread as we initially believe? Or will psychology as a field of enquiry be devalued? And if this is the case, should we treat every piece of research with the same mistrust?

The argument that psychology is essentially flawed is persuasive and the trend towards the western world does not aid the case for psychology’s recovery from this accusation. Historically, European and American studies have had a favourable publication bias as they sit at the head

of the developed world. Such research as conducted by Smith and Bond (1998) found that 66% of all the studies in a sample of psychology textbooks came from America, 32% from Europe, and 2% from the rest of the world. These statistics clearly point out the lack of visibility such views that remain outside this selective 15% of the world receive. It could therefore be inferred from this evidence that there is an intense psychological focus on the developed world. Whilst this is a natural bias, caused by numerous factors – for example, access to resources, the amount of

emic research conducted and numbers of trained psychologists within each country, it remains problematic as critics argue that this unwitting bias has presented a skewed view of the human mind. Today, 64 per cent of the world’s 56,000 psychologists are in America (Rosenzweig). The fact that over half of the world population of psychologists can be found in one country illustrates this point perfectly, and whilst this statistic is likely to be outdated, it remains likely that the United States will continue to have more psychologists than any other country.

Katharine Leyshon

Psychology has been accused of being highly culturally biased. Using your knowledge of Psychology, discuss issues of cultural bias, including ethnocentrism, in Psychology

Even amongst the most influential studies, Milgram, Asch, Loftus and Palmer, Bowlby, Watson and Raynor, there remains a Eurocentric bias. One such study is Milgram’s investigation of obedience. This study was conducted on 40 middle-class American males between the ages of 20 and 50, all singled out from the specific area - New Haven. The apparent bias of the methodology of this study should be enough to demonstrate the issues that extrapolating these findings to other cultures may cause. Milgram’s study cannot be seen as representative of an American population, not to mention a universal population as his sample was self-selected. This study, having been conducted in an industrialized Western culture, requires caution before we conclude that a universal trait of social behaviour has been identified. For example, Milgram’s working definition of ‘obedience’ was highly influenced by their American and western values. To assume that Germany 30 years previous to the experiment would be equivalent to 1960s American society seems flawed, as obedience is culturally determined and needs to be understood in the context of those different cultures by researchers who are fully aware of those cultural eccentricities. For instance, in Milgram’s study, conformity could have been influenced by the context of the Vietnam war, where obedience to American values was respected.

Many Nazis, however, were exposed to an environment of propaganda, aimed to condition contextual German values into its people. The clear contrast in motivations for obedience poses the question; how could an environment provided by Milgram possibly reflect this?

Our global era increasingly brings together ethnocultural diverse individuals, families, communities, and nations that differ in religion, economy, beliefs, and histories. However, this complex network of developed communication causes difficulties when extrapolating conclusions, increasing the likelihood of generalising findings beyond what is considered rationally valid. We have a responsibility, not only as psychologists but as conscientious and ethical people, to protect both the scientific process and the integrity of other cultures or else risk ostracizing and subordinating societies. There is a definite risk that continual disregard of this bias could further motivate racism and prejudice by providing inappropriate evidence to support such discrimination.

Spreading awareness and further keeping a vigilant awareness of the effect our own culture has on our view of others, lessens the likelihood of amplifying and validating damaging stereotypes. As a result, the psychological world cannot afford to ignore this issue.

While cultural bias is widely acknowledged as a common and significant issue in psychology, it could be argued that to devalue all research on these grounds is unjust, given that this has been a recognised issue from the start. Such early attempts to counteract ethnocentrism appear in works such as Kohlberg’s behavioural studies, whose hypothesis was tested across continents, including Asia with such islands as Taiwan, and such nation states as Turkey, as well as Latin America – for example, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. Not only do these studies emphasise the researcher’s awareness of possible differences but further allows for greater diversity in the understanding of morality, increasing the generalizability of his investigation, giving a counter-argument to the previous suggestion of psychologies inaccuracy. As a result, claiming that all previous studies failed to address this issue is too Meanwhile,simplistic.contemporary psychology

continues to embrace an ever-widening group methodology, along with the growing practice of emic research, such as that provided by Venkatesh in his book ‘Gang Leader for a Day’. Within this investigation, Venkatesh joined and lived with a gang for 7 years, conducting a longitudinal study that allowed him to gain a good understanding of how this gang lived and operated. Such research is often considered to be an insider’s perspective and is beneficial as it creates a more authentic perspective by allowing true insight into the life of the subject. The increased use of such studies allows us to reduce the impact of cultural bias within the modern psychological world, suggesting research may not be so biased as first perceived and will continue to reduce with time. This heightened awareness of cultural diversity has further resulted in the development of ‘indigenous psychologies’: theories drawing explicitly on the particular experiences of people in different cultural contexts. Diversifying research teams and funding more research in foreign countries helps to support these indigenous psychologies to lower the bias of the western world. A further increase

in the amount of cross-cultural research conducted, along with, the repetition of culturally questionable pieces, suggests further reductions in the impact of cultural bias on psychologies future. Such strategies are essential as they will lead and have led to the emergence of theories that are more relevant to the lives and cultures of those who are in a minority.

To summarise, it is abundantly obvious that the majority of psychological research has been conducted by Western psychologists, and frequently within Western populations, implicating that psychology is culturally influenced. Furthermore, even attempts at cross-cultural research are flawed despite the increasing number of cross-cultural studies. Kohlberg’s research into moral reasoning has been criticised for having an imposed etic (relating to or denoting an approach to the study or description of a particular language or culture that is general, non-structural, and objective in its perspective.) in which he was forcing his own cultural notion of morality across cultural boundaries. The issue lies, therefore, in a lack of certainty of the validity of the findings because the research is dominated by highly Eurocentric bias. It is human nature itself that is to blame for preventing us from making a value judgement because what appears normal in the culture, they are studying may be completely out of the ordinary in another. However, all these problems are solvable to an extent. For example, the increasing use of emic (relating to or denoting an approach to the study or description of a particular language or culture in terms of its internal elements and their functioning rather than in terms of any existing external scheme.) research is very good at combatting the cultural bias debate in psychology, possibly leading to a larger collection of research that is easier to generalise, where cultural bias no longer is as big an issue as it used to be.

Finally, contemporary psychologists are significantly more open-minded and well-travelled than previously and have an increased understanding of other cultures at both a personal and professional level. This in itself ensures that theories and treatments are more likely to apply to a wide range of cultural backgrounds and might start to challenge some of the damaging cultural stereotypes and discrimination that exists. Whilst we can freely admit that psychology contains a certain level of cultural bias, the trouble remains in working out to what extent psychology remains affected by this issue. To discover the problem lends itself to a solution suggesting that taking such measures as suggested within this essay helps to mitigate this cultural bias.

66% of all the studies in a sample fromtextbookspsychologyofcameAmerica.

Meeting Churchill’s secretary

Head of History

black box would be placed at the side of his bed as well as a weak whisky and water, which he referred to as ‘mouthwash’!”

We also talked about his time as Prime Minister from October 1951. Although very old by this stage, his greatest ambition was to be a peace time Prime Minister: “His aim was an overwhelming determination to end the Cold War and to renew dialogue with Stalin.”

In the autumn half term, I had the honour to meet one of Churchill’s secretaries: Jane Portal who worked for Churchill 1949-1955. A diminutive lady, with immense gusto and sparkle, was only 19 years old when she began work for him. As I headed up on the train to meet her for coffee near the V and A, I dipped into Roy Jenkins’ book ‘Churchill’ who said “ Jane Portal had the unique distinction of being both Churchill’s last favourite dictation secretary and Rab Butler’s niece.” Incidentally, she is also the mother of the Archbishop of Canterbury: Justin Welby.

One of the first areas she touched on was his eloquence; “Churchill was in love with the English language”. He would dictate his speeches to her with incredible lucidity, and crafted and edited them many times before delivery, but the kernel of what he said was always there right from the start.

Jane’s eyes sparkled when she talked about Churchill. She said ‘he had great compassion which combined with personal generosity and sympathy for those of misfortune. His magnanimity was legendary and he hated vindictiveness above all things.” She referred particularly to his view that the Germans after the Second War would not be villainised, stating “he used to say ‘ I cannot stand a witch-hunt’”.

Jane was also highly aware of the more difficult side of Churchill’s nature. She

smiled when she said “patience was a virtue with which he was totally unfamiliar!”

He often got cross: “his temper was like lightning- it was explosive and sometimes terrifying” but she added “the sun never went down without a gesture that all was forgiven.”

I asked her about her routine and the exhausting hours that Churchill famously kept. She said that he did work until 2 am most mornings, but always caught up with a nap in the middle of the day. Even if he went to bed later than 2 am “he would be woken by his valet at 7:30 am”. She added “he would have a light breakfast of toast and coffee, and with that out of the way, his

Jane talked a lot about Churchill’s incredible energy. She went to America many times and met Truman and later Eisenhower. But his favourite place was Chartwell, where he recuperated after a very serious stroke in 1953. She was called to Chartwell when this happened and the secrecy surrounding the gravity of this stroke was not revealed until a year later. Jane doubted that this would happen now.

I wished I had asked her so many more questions. But what I came away with was how she humanised Churchill. She remembered everything so incredibly clearly and said it was the “most wonderful experience” to work for such a truly remarkable man.

Helen Jolliffe

[S]he is also the mother of Welby.Canterbury:ArchbishoptheofJustin

Rufus Knight A

FromPausethePeople

Third Year

January 2020, It evolved and appeared from the unknown, It spread to a worldwide pandemic, Within two months streets are desolate, Parks, schools, theatres, cinemas, zoos, theme parks, ‘StaySilence.Empty,at

home’ is the government’s policy, Suddenly the world, the human race, in lockdown, Everyone alone, in their family groups, “bubbles”, Outside the cars make no sound, Not even a whisper.

The lockdown is hard to endure, A mass suffering as survivors lose loved ones, The hardship, like a perilous journey through the inhospitable arctic, The outside now seeming like a distant dream, We are all, the whole world, praying, ThatHoping,this will soon end, That the coronavirus will be destroyed, decimated, Backimprisoned,towhere it came from.

The only light in the dark shadow cast by the monster, TheNature,sound of birdsong, Robin, blackbird, wren, blue tit, great tit and starling, The freshly bloomed flowers, a carpet over the once dreary fields.

All over the news, this virus, Infection rates increase, Death rates increase, Panic, terror, The monster slowly spreading its icy claws round the Earth.

It picks off the weak, A pack of wolves hunting in the gloom, Fear engulfs the planet, The black, vast shadow grows ever stronger, A tempestuous, violent ocean of darkness flooding the planet with dread and fear.

Fear as the world stands on a knife edge, Hospital wards overflow with victims.

The world stands still, LikeHope,Waiting,ablackbird calling as the sun breaks the horizon, Vibrant buds bursting with the dawn of spring, The tide is turning, Our fortress doors unlock, open, People blinking in the morning sunrise.

The world eager to embrace, Blocked by hidden barriers, Always an arm length apart, A heartbeat away.

Warm summer afternoons call to us, The gates spread wide, The crowds flood, The devil forgotten, If only briefly.

The Autumn brings evening, The wicked moon is on the rise, With her comes the rising tide.

We must hang on ‘til morning, Dawn will come and with it will come the light, The monster will lose its grip, The wolf pack will be weakened, Its prey growing stronger, The shadow growing smaller.

We will stand, We will fight, Hope – the greatest weapon, Until the monster loses grip, is defeated, And only the scar remains.

A memory, never forgotten.

Crown of Venom

From the Virus

Rufus Knight

Third Year

So long I slumber alone, Remote, only wilderness surrounds me, Family a distant dream, Invisible, shifting through bats in darkness, Nameless, imprisoned, waiting.

After an eternity comes the promise of sunrise, Crystal skies, the haloed corona engulfs an urban silhouette, Opportunity brings the perfect gift, The perfect host, The human race, The mob, the horde, the swarm will wear my crown, Racing from city, to country, to continent, to planet, The word pandemic will be mine.

Now fear surrounds me, My glorious generation, My beloved dynasty bursting forth like a supernova, Creation: Thousands, millions, billions, This is my magnificent destiny, How could you fear us?

City by city, Through nameless lands alien to us: China, India, Japan. Through tranquil skies, Across vast, raging oceans: Europe, America, Australia.

We dance from host to host, Evolution surging us onward, Jubilation.

Bright pixels in every home welcome us, Tell our story, A dawning, a Devastation,realization,

With us come death and decimation. They call me venom, My crown, a demon.

Me, the unseen assassin, Me, a universal horror, Me, a dark shadow cast across the Earth.

I did not mean for all the dead, I did not mean to tear families apart, I did not mean for such global isolation, I did not mean for this devastation.

History will give me a name, Think of me as a murderer in their homes, But this not me, To be named a terror, a monster, On this world, I call home.

Evolution: I simply craved Generations,family,

But it seems that thirst and greed control me, I am the source, have caused this desolation, Such grief,

Now I regret emerging into the unknown.

Freya Davey Upper Sixth

Born from whispered Life and cornered rooms From cribs of bone and skinned cocoons Wrapped in muslin: such a delicate straight jacket And chastened candles pass in contented tacet. Impressions of fallen angels we religiously deceive: What blackened felony did one conceive?

Like secret duets where bodies sing like songs, Where confessions are reticent by rights and wrongs, touches that seal such potent seclusion, reborn: atonements of love and illusion.

Honest defiance made in heat And lingering sacrilege scented in sheets.

In gasps of breath and grasps of sight, In passioned bursts of lulling delight, Decaying through bed layers like sunken ships

In water and blood: eyes’ thickened eclipse:

Claire Brockdorff will be giving this talk about a family connection to the 1944 plot; she is a relation by marriage of Fritz von der Lancken, who was General Olbricht’s adjutant and one of the plotters. 4pm in the Gallery