Mind's Eye 2023

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MIND’S EYE of War

Words

Street fighting during the Spanish Civil War. July 1936-March 1939.

Here we go again: those under eighteen annually giving those well over eighteen an object lesson in how to be interested and interesting. There follow twenty-four articles on a wide range of subjects that show, together, a youthful engagement with just about everything.

Many of the pieces are pure declarations of delight. One writer reveals his undying love of tennis and respect for Roger Federer; another celebrates pizza so vividly it’s hard to read her piece without picking up the phone; and a third is addicted, in a nice way, to coffee. Others share their obsession with whales, anime film and the therapeutic properties of music. There is also a hymn to ants.

Other pieces seek to adjust the saddle on this or that hobby horse: artificial intelligence, which has a lot to offer humanity, is not about to take over the world, but could do with some vigilant monitoring; the Ukrainian economy is not just struggling because of the war in the present but because of corruption in the past; there has always been a battle in Russian cinema between creative freedom and deadening state restriction; the end of the world is not going to happen if we grow up; the great Picasso was a genius but also a manipulative misogynist; wilding may be a nice idea but could be a middle-class pipe dream; pop music lyrics are not what they used to be; and the Beach Boys went through Hell.

There are also quite a few questions that linger in the mind. How many of us knew there was a lot of disgusting and dangerous housing in Hong Kong? What are the chances of a second American Civil War? (Not as remote as you might think.) Is an orgy a more repugnant activity if the participants wear Nazi uniforms? Wrong answer. And, for the domestic deities amongst us, if you screw up when using an electrical appliance or opening a door, have you ever thought you might be the victim of dunderheaded design?

I’m not going to mention the two philosophical discussions, one about Mary and the other about Marx, in case I say the wrong thing.

But let’s begin with our first writer and take our hats off to bears. We lament their cruel incarceration by circuses and bile-harvesters and cheer their liberation by undaunted charities such as Libearty.

PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY AT https://millionsoffriends.org/en/libearty

Why not adopt a bear?

Anthony Lyons Editor

Mind’s Eye 2023 www.mindseyemagazine.com

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THE END OF THE WORLD IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN IF WE GROW UP.

WE LAMENT THEIR CRUEL INCARCERATION BY CIRCUSES AND BILEHARVESTERS AND CHEER THEIR LIBERATION BY UNDAUNTED CHARITIES SUCH AS LIBEARTY.

Bearing Up

The world is a wonderfully strange place, packed to the brim with people who seem never to see eye to eye on anything, whether it’s a question of left vs right, fight vs flight, loving marmite to bits or absolutely hating it. However, deep amongst this plethora of age-old arguments, there seems to be one opinion that everyone shares regarding one particularly visceral abuse of human power. This is animal cruelty.

From our favourite children’s books that were brought to life by Winnie the Pooh, to the cinematic masterpiece Paddington that danced onto our TV screens in 2014, to the foul-mouthed Ted voiced by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, fictional bears have enchanted, captivated and made people laugh for years. When people think of animals being used and abused in circuses, stripped from their homes and forced to do tricks for human entertainment, the stock few that come to mind are tigers jumping through flaming hoops and dancing monkeys balancing precariously on a tightrope. Extremely rarely does a bear come to mind. They are too large

to be controlled, too powerful, too well-hidden for hunters or ringmasters to snatch them away.

WHEN I VISITED THE BEARS WITH A TOUR GROUP, 90% OF THE VISITORS WERE BAWLING BY THE END AFTER HEARING HOW THESE CREATURES HAD SUFFERED BEFORE BEING RESCUED.

But we also used to think the same of tigers and lions, the rulers of the jungle and the top predators. And yet the articles and videos of their being abused never cease. So why is it that the abuse of some animals are more represented in mainstream media than others? Why are there significantly fewer images of bears being manhandled or forced to perform in circuses? Are they simply too powerful and strong to undergo such heinous enforced submission?

Unfortunately, I am here to confirm that this is not the case.

In October 2022, when I visited my grandparents in Romania, I also drove up to Transylvania, which, and I cannot stress this enough, is not the realm of a blood-sucking vampire, no matter what the ignorant film directors from the States want you to believe. But that is a story for another day. In the heart of the Carpathian Mountains

TÉA SAND celebrates the work of a charity in Romania that rescues abused bears. This article contains some upsetting details..

lies a beautiful town called Zarnesti, which also happens to be home to the largest bear sanctuary in Europe, where over 120 bears, dogs, horses and even a baby tortoise live in peace.

I suppose Bram Stoker conveniently forgot to mention this incredible aspect of Romania since he was busy butchering Transylvanian history. But again, that is an argument for another day.

The sanctuary is aptly named Libearty, and its admirable mission is to rescue bears and other animals whose stories are often so gutwrenching and heart-breaking that visitors set off in floods of tears. When I visited the bears with a tour group, 90% of the visitors were bawling by the end after hearing how these creatures had suffered before being rescued. It cannot be a coincidence that this majority were tourists, visitors from the West who are not exposed to the harsh reality of the Balkan and Slavic animal trafficking business that

The wounds of her past are visible; she starts at the slightest noise owing to many years in a circus where she was subject to harsh training, blinding lights and stinging whips.

MANY PEOPLE DON’T KNOW THE NUMBER OF CIRCUSES AND BUSINESSES THAT STILL MISTREAT ANIMALS.

still very much exists today. Although here in England we have schemes, laws and protests to eradicate animal cruelty and stop the horrific abuse of animals once and for all, this despicable culture is not so easy to wipe out in other parts of Europe.

The bears that now lead happy, peaceful lives in Libearty with unlimited access to food and water came from places where they were abused, forced to do circus tricks, kept in minuscule cages and general inhumane conditions. But this prodigious charity ensconced in the forests of Zarnesti does incredible work to rescue them from these terrible places, protect them and let them live in the wilderness (obviously with cages around for protection, but the green spaces are vast and there is even a lake for the bears to bathe in). I saw how many bears and cubs there were and how genuinely happy they seemed, yet deep down I fear that many people don’t know the number of circuses and businesses that still mistreat animals – it’s a lot more frequent in the Balkans, though rarely addressed.

And just in case this small snippet of the truth about the lingering existence of animal cruelty isn’t enough to spurn change, perhaps Alisa’s story will.

Inhabiting one of the dens lives Alisa, a small, shy female bear with sight problems. The wounds of her past are visible; she starts at the slightest noise owing to many years in a circus where she was subject to harsh training, blinding lights and stinging whips. Undoubtedly the most heart-breaking pain of all, her cubs were taken from her and, in what can only be described as

The bears that now lead happy, peaceful lives in Libearty with unlimited access to food and water came from places where they were abused, forced to do circus tricks, kept in minuscule cages and general inhumane conditions.

Visitors from the West are not exposed to the harsh reality of the Balkan and Slavic animal trafficking business that still very much exists today.

a post-traumatic response, Alisa acts as if they are still with her, making motions with her arms that all mother bears do to make their young feel safe. At this point in my visit, when I heard this story, my heart actually hurt for her. And yet, when Alisa first arrived at the sanctuary, though she was initially fearful and spent much of her time sniffing out the territory, she must have known that humans would not hurt her here because, after tentatively stepping out of the carrier, it was the last cage she would ever have to endure and she promptly shuffled over to the first tree she saw and sat down, perfectly content. Bears are a lot smarter than people think in this respect. They recognise that trust has to be earned.

She never feared people again, which just goes to show that the kindness of one person, however insignificant the action may feel, can truly change another’s life. As a result of finally being allowed to live as a bear and not as a captive, Alisa is now free. And although the scars of her past may never heal and she will never get her cubs back, her future is undoubtedly brighter than her past. At least it seemed like that to me when I saw her rolling on the ground and frolicking in the lakes of Libearty!

It was all Cristina could do to keep her promise to Maya and build a sanctuary so no bear would ever have to endure what she did.

This is just one story out of hundreds. The path of this charity began in 1998, in the yard of a hotel near Bran Castle (again, not the home of Count Dracula; it really is time to distinguish fact from fiction) where in a dirty cage with metal bars and a cement floor, lived Maya the bear. Cristina Lapis, the dazzling woman who founded this association, stumbled upon her by accident. Or perhaps it was fate, because the moment Cristina looked into Maya’s sunken eyes she knew that something was horribly wrong. From that day forth, for four years, Cristina and her husband travelled over 60km every day to feed

Maya and spend time with her in the hope of cheering her up. Pretty soon, Maya began to recognise the sound of their car and would stand up to greet them.

For humans, the gratitude of the soul of an innocent animal is utterly invaluable. It is that warm feeling you get in your heart when you rescue a kitten from the side of the road, or flip a beetle back on his front so it can scuttle away. It is a symbiotic relationship, what people have with animals. Anyone with a pet can confirm that the presence of animals gives us peace and a constant friend, so in turn it is our duty to help them and erase the mistakes of other humans.

But, unfortunately, life is not always kind to these creatures. Despite three years of constant attention from Cristina, filled with promises of a safe haven for her, not to mention a continuous supply of coveted food and water, Maya began to show signs of depression. Yes, animals can be depressed just like humans and feel pain just as we do. After losing faith in ever escaping captivity, Maya actually began to mutilate herself and she died in Cristina’s arms. After that, it was all Cristina could do to keep her promise to Maya and build a sanctuary so no bear would ever have to endure what she did.

The Libearty Sanctuary is dedicated to Maya, and to all the bears who enjoy a happier fate today because of what she had to go through.

It isn’t just Cristina Lapis who can change the future of these bears, though. We can too. Even the smallest donation to this wonderful charity could be the saving grace needed for these bears to be rescued from the inhumane conditions that are sadly still so prevalent in many Balkan and Slavic countries today. Or, better yet, it is possible to adopt a bear and see them grow and flourish in the love and care of the charity. There are truly few things as rewarding as giving back to nature.

And if by now you are in floods of tears or feel even the slightest bit of remorse for these beautiful creatures, it is a sign. We shouldn’t be ignoring these problems, or leaving them for someone older, more qualified, or more mature to handle.

These bears need our help. ¢

For more information on the charity and donations, including the process of adopting a bear, visit https://millionsoffriends.org/en/

After tentatively stepping out of the carrier, it was the last cage she would ever have to endure.

Although Hong Kong houses 7.6 million people within only one thousand square kilometres, and is one of the wealthiest cities in the world, beneath its glorious reputation there are many problems.

For example, house prices are known to be ridiculous but the growing population, limited land, and the enormous wealth gap are all factors that led to a housing crisis that began in the 1950s, when many refugees left Mainland China and moved to Hong Kong. Hong Kong has exceeded its carrying capacity, forcing the underprivileged into living in horrifying conditions.

When I was in primary school, I joined a volunteering experience with a nongovernmental organization in the local community centre, where they brought us to dwellings located in Sham Shui Po to provide essentials for disadvantaged families, in the hope of improving their standards of living.

Sham Shui Po is an area in the eastern Kowloon district and is one of the densest areas in Hong Kong. I was unaware of this type of housing until I visited. They are known as sub-divided flats, where a standard flat gets partitioned into two or more flats. Although, supposedly, this should make rents more affordable, these flats are still unbelievably expensive.

According to government data, the median monthly rent for a subdivided flat is 395 HKD per square metre, which is equivalent to £41 sterling. The smallest flat is around two square metres, which means the rent of one flat costs £82 per month. The minimum wage in Hong Kong is around 37.5 HKD per hour, which corresponds to £3.80. This suggests that if an average person works for seven hours per day, they would only get £133 per week. There are other factors that also need to be taken into consideration, such as the electricity and gas bills, since these also require a lot of money. Therefore, housing costs make it near impossible to sustain a normal standard of living.

In addition to the terrible living environment due to the lack of space and expensive rent, these flats are also very dangerous to live in, as it is extremely easy for diseases to spread within these overcrowded spaces. I remember visiting a flat where the toilet was located right next to the bed, and it was only separated by a thin wall. Everything is done within a very limited area. The inhabitants would sleep, eat, and revise on the same bed.

Hygiene levels are very low and are further worsened by the climate. As the weather is very hot and humid, these packed places further reduce the air quality, making it very uncomfortable to live in. In recent years, these conditions have continued to

EMMA YIU explains the dangers of subdivided living in an unknown part of Hong Kong.

HONG KONG HAS EXCEEDED ITS CARRYING CAPACITY, FORCING THE UNDERPRIVILEGED INTO LIVING IN HORRIFYING CONDITIONS.

deteriorate due to global warming, which means the average temperature has increased to around 30 degrees Celsius. Moreover, these sub-divided flats do not meet the fire safety requirements, so many of the flats are illegal. There are doors built in for each individual flat, and they are separated by very packed corridors because some residents use the corridor as storage space. So, if an accident does occur, it would be impossible for residents to escape due to the complex layout of the building.

Other than these subdivided flats, there are also roof slums, which are another form of illegal housing located on the rooftops of apartments. These flats are also unsafe to live in as there are a lot of hazards. I also got to visit these flats through one of my volunteering experiences.

Housing costs make it near impossible to sustain a normal standard of living.

First, these flats are very hard to access as there are no lifts. The only way to access them is by climbing 10-15 flights of stairs. I remember one of the residents telling me that she would only go out once per day to buy groceries due to the intense climbing required to leave the slum. Hong Kong is also a city that experiences typhoons relatively frequently, making it even more threatening to live in these slums. Due to the poor construction of these spaces, there are usually water leakages when there is rainfall so residents have to live in a very wet environment. There is also a chance that these slums might collapse, which would potentially lead to casualties. Most of the slums do not have access to running water and residents have to share a restroom with other residents nearby. There is usually access to electricity, but as this is not properly installed by professionals, there are wires hanging around the roof and between the rooms, making it very dangerous. Furthermore, most of the slums do not have any windows, making it very difficult for light or air to pass through.

Most of the slums do not have access to running water and residents have to share a restroom with other residents nearby.

ONE OF THE RESIDENTS WOULD ONLY GO OUT ONCE PER DAY TO BUY GROCERIES DUE TO THE INTENSE CLIMBING REQUIRED TO LEAVE THE SLUM.

Although the Hong Kong government is implementing different strategies to try and fix this problem, the supply of housing can never meet its demand due to the lack of space and the rapid increase in the size of the population. In recent years, the awareness of these types of housing has increased and more people know about the dreadful living environments in some areas of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Chief Executive, John Lee, has also embarked on a $3.3 billion plan to build about 30,000 units of ‘Light Public Housing’ within the next five years. This project aims to help people move out of sub-divided flats or illegal housing and hopes to improve their standard of living. There are also many nongovernmental organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity Hong Kong, that are working to raise awareness of this significant problem and trying to improve the standards of living for these residents. ¢

This project aims to help people move out of sub-divided flats or illegal housing and hopes to improve their standard of living.

THE SUPPLY OF HOUSING CAN NEVER MEET ITS DEMAND DUE TO THE LACK OF SPACE AND THE RAPID INCREASE IN THE SIZE OF THE POPULATION.

Behind Closed Doors

This is a surprisingly complex question to answer, and one that does not begin and end at the bedroom door. In order to answer this, all bar the physical and biological aspects of the orgy and its members will be evaluated, and all parties involved will be taken as fully consenting to both the act and the uniforms.

The social connotations of sex have been almost entirely defined by Judeo-Christian religion, which condemns the act outside of procreation, and condemns those who enjoy the act. Therefore, an orgy would certainly be considered immoral from a religious standpoint, regardless of the participants’ clothing.

But in an increasingly atheistic society, sexual expression is becoming less stigmatised, and therefore acts like an orgy no longer carry associations of shame and immorality. As a result, given the parameters previously clarified within the introduction, the orgy itself is moral according to Western, post-religious views. Furthermore, even within religious communities, there is an increasing awareness of individualism, so the act of an orgy cannot be challenged on a moral basis by the standards of modern society.

But the clothing itself would surely be viewed as having an effect on the morality of the orgy. Given the events of the Holocaust and the Second World War, Nazism is socially, ethically and politically immoral, and there is no possible argument that can be made to justify a fascist ideology.

Wearing the insignia and items, given the implicated endorsement of the actions undertaken by Nazis through the wearing of the uniform, it is clear that the participants do support Nazism. As a result, the orgy’s participants are immoral, as they show open endorsement of a deeply immoral political view. Proponents of the sexual liberation movement, however, would argue that as long as all members are consenting, their attire is of no importance in regards to the morality of the orgy itself. Similarly, from a purely objective standpoint, they are simply clothes and carry no value or implication.

The existence of a socially recognised code of morality, however, suggests that the participants are immoral due to the wearing of the uniforms, thereby choosing to endorse what is

considered unacceptable. From an anthropological standpoint, clothing is hugely important in the way that humans perceive others – from ancient China to Elizabethan England and even the modern day, the way you dress is critical in conveying who you are. For instance, in Ancient Rome, the colour purple could only be worn by the Emperor, given the lengthy and expensive process required to produce the dye. Clothing, therefore, has meaning. As the Nazis are universally reviled for their actions, and as has previously been established, wearing the uniform is a sign of endorsement of fascist views.

This provokes a deeper question: to what extent, if any, can we comment on what others do behind closed doors?

If someone endorses a political standpoint that is reprehensible, but does so internally and makes no move to externalise it, such as encouraging or committing acts that cause harm to others, can they be considered immoral? Only insofar as their political views, but given they have not acted on their beliefs, it is likely that they have an awareness of their immorality. Holding a belief is different from acting on it, but to possess a belief in the knowledge that it is wrong is not done blatantly, and neither can criticism easily be levied on the basis of thought alone. Furthermore, if this person were to meet with others who hold similar beliefs with the intention of discussing them, the immorality of the action would be on their discussion, not the act of meeting and talking with another.

The clothing therefore means that the criticism of the morality of the orgy is unfounded; it is the morality of the participants that is called into question. They clearly endorse or believe in a fascist ideology that led to the deaths of millions, and even if their actions were intended light-heartedly, it is worth consideration that in many countries, such as Germany, it remains illegal to possess and wear Nazi uniforms, or make jokes about the subject matter.

To condense the arguments: an orgy is not an immoral act, but wearing clothing which is associated with a fascist dictatorship is. Therefore, it is the morality of the participants that is changed, not that of the orgy itself. It is challenging to quantify the extent to which their morality changes, but suffice to say that their behaviour and political beliefs can be considered immoral. ¢

NAOMI CRAY wonders whether the morality of an orgy would change if the participants were wearing Nazi uniforms.

AN ORGY IS NOT AN IMMORAL ACT, BUT WEARING CLOTHING WHICH IS ASSOCIATED WITH A FASCIST DICTATORSHIP IS.

Mary, Mary: Contrary Quite

ISABELLA

Throughout the history of human civilisation, people have often pondered what makes up the world. Many ancient civilisations, such as the ancient Greeks, used different divinities to represent natural phenomena, such as lightning and rain. Atomists, such as Epicurus, claimed that everything is made up of small particles and rejected the belief in divine power. However, in the field of philosophy, inquiries often delve further into the physical and metaphysical aspects of the world.

Physicalism is the view that everything is either physical or supervenes on physical things. It is usually a metaphysical thesis and often parallels Berkeley’s idealism, which claims that everything is minddependent ideas and mind-independent material objects do not exist. Like any other philosophical theory, the physicalist theory faces many objections and criticisms, one of which is known as the Mary Argument.

upon her encounter with a red apple outside of her room?

How does the Mary Argument undermine physicalism? Jackson argues that if physicalism were true, then Mary would not gain any new knowledge about colours since she has learned everything about human colour vision before leaving her room. Yet, intuitively, we would recognise that Mary learns about what it is like to see colours, so she appears to have learned something new. If Mary gained new knowledge, physicalism is undermined.

Suppose, then, that Mary, having learned everything there is to know about colour vision in a monochromatic room without any colour experiences, one day escapes from her room.

In other words, the Mary Argument against physicalism could also be written as:

P1: Mary has complete physical knowledge about human colour vision before her release.

C1: Mary knows all the physical facts about human colour vision before her release.

The Mary Argument, also known as the Knowledge Argument, is proposed by Frank Jackson in Epiphenomenal Qualia. In this argument, he introduces Mary, a scientist and expert living in the future when all physical facts have been discovered. These physical facts refer to those in ‘physics, chemistry, and neurophysiology, and all there is to know about the causal and relational facts [...] including [...] functional roles.’ Suppose, then, that Mary, having learned everything there is to know about colour vision in a monochromatic room without any colour experiences, one day escapes from her room. Would Mary gain new knowledge

P2: Mary does not know some facts about human colour vision before her release: namely, what it is like to perceive colours.

C2: Mary does not know all the facts about human colour vision.

C3 (from P2 and C2): There are non-physical facts about human colour vision.

Furthermore, Thomas Nagel’s thought experiment in What Is It Like to Be a Bat? outlines the distinctions between knowing facts about an organism and knowing what it is like to be that organism. This is noteworthy in this context because the distinction between the knowable true facts about a bat and phenomenal knowledge of a bat (assuming

LIU asks if the Mary Argument undermines physicalism.

that animals other than humans can possess knowledge) parallels with the distinction between facts about human colour vision and the phenomenal knowledge about colours in the Mary Argument.

One epistemic response to the Mary Argument identifies the knowledge that Mary gains about colour after she is released from her monochromatic room as non-propositional. Propositional knowledge is knowing that something is the case in the world. Many judge that what Mary learned from her first encounter with colours is ability knowledge (the ability hypothesis). Ability knowledge is knowing how to do something (practical skills). If Mary indeed learned about ability knowledge rather than propositional knowledge, then she expands on her abilities to identify the qualia of seeing a colour and does not learn new truth about the world. There are also other alternatives that claim that Mary gains non-propositional acquaintance knowledge, which is supported by Earl Conee (Conee, 1994) and John Bigelow & Robert Pargetter (Bigelow & Pargetter, 1990). Hence, through the classification of the types of knowledge that Mary has acquired, we can dismiss the claim that the Mary Argument undermines physicalism.

However, others argue that the knowledge that Mary acquires has

aspects that imply propositional knowledge. When Mary perceives a red apple, what she learns embeds the claim that seeing the colour red is like X, so it is not like not-X. Perhaps this would make Mary’s knowledge entail some propositional aspect. Even if we refute this propositional aspect, further objections have been brought up, one of which is rejection of the ability hypothesis. The ability

hypothesis claims that knowing what it is like (phenomenal knowledge) is knowing how, and knowing how is the possession of the ability to ‘remember, imagine and recognise experiences.’ The objection uses the ability to imagine as an example: picture a person who has never seen the colour turquoise before. This person is then told that turquoise is a shade somewhere between green and blue. Even if this person, through imagining the colour, learns what it is like to perceive turquoise, they do not know what it is like unless they choose to exercise their ability to imagine. Therefore, imaginative abilities may not be necessary for Mary to know what it is like; the ability hypothesis is put in doubt.

Still, these epistemic responses to the Mary Argument are strengthened with a neurophilosophical perspective. The premise ‘Mary has complete physical knowledge about human colour vision before her release’ begs the question against physicalism. Complete physical knowledge about human colour vision cannot be obtained solely depending on the pathways through the prefrontal cortex, but also pathways

WHEN MARY PERCEIVES A RED APPLE, WHAT SHE LEARNS EMBEDS THE CLAIM THAT SEEING THE COLOUR RED IS LIKE X, SO IT IS NOT LIKE NOT-X.

THOMAS NAGEL’S THOUGHT EXPERIMENT IN WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE A BAT? OUTLINES THE DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN KNOWING FACTS ABOUT AN ORGANISM AND KNOWING WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE THAT ORGANISM.

that involve sensory systems. This also aligns with Terence Horgan’s claim that the ‘complete physical knowledge’ entails phenomenal truths. Therefore, regardless of what type of knowledge (i.e. acquaintance or ability knowledge) that Mary would have acquired through perceiving colours for the first time, the Mary Argument fails on its first premise. This is because we cannot claim that Mary has the complete set of knowledge about the physical world if she has never seen colours (thus the question-begging nature of the first premise).

Physicalism is not undermined by the Mary Argument. Yet, this does not mean that we need to commit to the physicalist viewpoint, but only to demonstrate how the Mary Argument could be refuted from a physicalist perspective. ¢

WE CANNOT CLAIM THAT MARY HAS THE COMPLETE SET OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE PHYSICAL WORLD IF SHE HAS NEVER SEEN COLOURS.

Imaginative abilities may not be necessary for Mary to know what it (turquoise) is like; the ability hypothesis is put in doubt.

ALEX GASKAIN discovers dark clouds rolling across the sun, sea and sand.

You’ve heard I Get Around, Surfin’ USA, Kokomo, and you might think you’ve got an idea of what the Beach Boys are about – sun-kissed beaches, waves, and California girls, but the true story of the band is a convoluted mix of drugs, abusive family politics, schizophrenia, success, and failure. It’s the story of a dysfunctional family and its fallout. The Beach Boys aren’t what you think.

Three brothers, Carl, Dennis, and Brian Wilson, their friend Al Jardine and cousin Mike Love formed the band in the early 60s, and thanks to their father Murray’s constant advertising efforts they gained a foothold in their native California and only grew from there. Behind the glossy exterior, Murray was violent and abusive – he would hit Brian with a plank of wood so hard he lost hearing in one ear permanently. As their manager, he took control of the group’s finances and embezzled heavily, whilst psychologically manipulating them – talking them down, bullying them. This abuse came to a head when Brian broke down and refused to tour, leading the rest of the band to snap, and the departure of Murray.

The band (and family) were adrift, and Brian decided to stay home, whilst the rest of the band went on tour. He began to work on new material, and what followed is a string of hits – I Get Around went to number one. Help Me, Rhonda! went to number one. California Girls

went to number three. Giddy with success, pride, and relief that they’d recovered from their father’s absence, the band continued to tour.

Meanwhile, Brian remained at home, isolated from his family, and for the first time he was free from his father and believed he was surrounded by people with his best interests at heart. He started to experiment with drugs introduced to him by his new music-industry friends, but after trying LSD he forswore it and stuck with the milder marijuana. It’s this and his new circle that produced Pet Sounds, an album that is widely considered one of if not the greatest albums of all time. The band, while absent, were supportive and encouraging and his team were interested in enabling him – his new lyricist (replacing Mike Love), Tony Asher, described himself as Brian’s ‘interpreter’. However, despite its critical success, Pet Sounds didn’t sell. It just didn’t have legs, although in the UK it did surprisingly well in a region where the Boys previously had not had much success.

When Brian began his next album, cracks started to show immediately. He had schizo-affective disorder and began to suffer from paranoia and hallucinations. Trying to selfmedicate, he started to take LSD in increasing amounts. Pet Sounds was commercially unsuccessful but a critical hit,

THE TRUE STORY OF THE BAND IS A CONVOLUTED MIX OF DRUGS, ABUSIVE FAMILY POLITICS, SCHIZOPHRENIA, SUCCESS, AND FAILURE.

HE TOOK CONTROL OF THE GROUP’S FINANCES AND EMBEZZLED HEAVILY, WHILST PSYCHOLOGICALLY MANIPULATING THEM.

Giddy with success, pride, and relief that they’d recovered from their father’s absence, the band continued to tour.

and Brian is still the biggest name in the music industry, excluding Lennon and McCartney, so creative types flocked to him in droves; a million people pulled him in a million different ways, further fuelling his paranoia.

The coming album, SMiLE, was to be a collection of comedy sketches, a ‘teenage symphony to god’, Americana, a suite of music based off the elements, psychedelic rock. Unfortunately, the rest of the band weren’t keen, particularly Mike Love, who began bullying everyone in the studio, and took issue with new lyrics whilst arguing with band members about the new album. The process had become surrounded by conflict, and the rest of the band, bored and disliking the new direction, took the opportunity to write solo music. This latest rejection was too much for Brian, and he descended into madness, refusing to speak to anyone unless he and they were in his swimming pool, for fear of CIA wiretapping. The album was shelved in 1967 and the band were once again aimless.

Ironically, the only member of the Beach Boys who actually surfed drowned, drunk, in a harbour at 39.

called ‘The Family’, who were treated like servants. Dennis bankrolled the cult and helped Manson record music, including buying a song from him for use on the album 20/20, Never Learn not to Love. He cut off all involvement after Manson started to kill people but was still too enthralled to go to the police.

When Manson was eventually caught, Dennis refused to testify. Because of this guilt for supporting Manson, Dennis picked up a taste for alcohol, cocaine and heroin, and he ended up broke and homeless, forced out of the band because of his behaviour. Ironically, the only member of the Beach Boys who actually surfed drowned, drunk, in a harbour at 39.

The 70s and 80s found the band backsliding into irrelevance, and the members couldn’t take it. Dennis took the loss the hardest and in 1968 he fell in with Charles Manson, a cult leader and songwriter. Dennis housed the entire cult for half a year, listening to him preach surrounded by 17 women

Brian, meanwhile, had become increasingly unstable and was still haunted by SMiLE. He was forced into a conservatorship with manipulative psychotherapist Eugene Landy (who would later be disbarred from the profession), pumped with prescription drugs, and manhandled by Landy’s assistants known as ‘surf nazis’.

Despite Brian and Dennis being out of

The process had become surrounded by conflict, and the rest of the band, bored and disliking the new direction, took the opportunity to write solo music.

THE BEACH BOYS WERE A FAMILY THAT EXISTED UNDER A SPOTLIGHT, AND THEY SUFFERED FOR IT.

the picture, the truest expression of the Beach Boys’ dysfunction comes from 1992’s Summer in Paradise. Previous bit player, cousin, and leader of the touring band, Mike Love, ended up with legal control over the band after Dennis’s death and Brian’s conservatorship. He delivered one smash hit, Kokomo, and then he led the band in their next album. Mike felt the band’s previous work had too many collaborators, so he insisted that it was just him and his new team – the rest of the band was there to sing and do as they were told. He wasn’t afraid to exert control when complaints were raised, and even at one stage fired and rehired Al Jardine, a founding member. The album took four toxic years to be done with, and the end result was awful. The album sold less than a thousand copies on release, and the distributor went bankrupt. Following that disaster, the rest of the band refused to work with Mike again for 20 years.

The album took four toxic years to be done with, and the end result was awful.

working peacefully. The album was their highest debuting in their career, 3rd in America and 15th in the UK. It’s a level of success they hadn’t had for forty years, and a tour was announced, with every surviving founding member of the band. They were the family unit that they always claimed to be.

This would seem an appropriate place to end the story. However, the toxic environment showed itself once again when Love fired every member and reinstated his old touring band.

LISTEN TO EACH ALBUM, WHILST CONSIDERING THE ENVIRONMENT THAT IT WAS CREATED IN.

In 2012 the band reunited for their last album to date, and probably ever, That’s Why God Made the Radio. After 50 years, the surviving members came together, putting aside their differences,

The Beach Boys were a family that existed under a spotlight, and they suffered for it. Pet Sounds’ extraordinary highs and the lows of Summer in Paradise, and even the manic but genius SMiLE helped to illustrate the emotional rollercoaster the band existed in, and I urge you to listen to each album, whilst considering the environment that it was created in (except possibly Summer in Paradise, which is just bad). The marketing dream of the band was never true – the music they’re famous for is a misrepresentation. The truth was far more dysfunctional. And far more interesting. ¢

Pizza: the party food delivered to you 50 minutes after you have ordered it by a stranger on a motorcycle. But where does it really come from?

Pizza comes from Naples, Italy. One of the oldest pizza restaurants in the world, L’antica Pizzeria Da Michele, makes you stand outside with a little number tag whilst you hope you are the next number to be called so you can finally order one of the four different pizzas that are on the menu. No matter how long you wait, it is always worth the wait.

Pizza is a millenary food eaten in the south of Italy, and in the Mediterranean area such as Greece and Turkey, but the first pizza, as we know it today, could have been baked only some time after

12 October 1492 when Christopher Colombus discovered America and introduced different kinds of fruit in the Old Continent, and among them tomatoes.

Pizza is not a very expensive dish to make. For the dough you only need water, flower and yeast, which was food that anyone was able afford, and people used to put whatever they could find on it. Eventually, back in 1889, Pizza became a royal affair, when the Italian Queen, Regina Margherita, was vising Naples. She was a smart, well-educated queen who was appreciated by her subjects so, when she wanted to taste this famous Neapolitan dish, Raffaele

Esposito, the fortunate pizzaiolo, baked the typical tomato and mozzarella pizza with a couple of leaves of basil on top, because the ingredients have the colours of the Italian flag – green, white and red. When the Queen asked the Pizzaiolo the name of his dish, legend has it that he answered proudly: ‘Pizza Margherita, in your honour!’ Who does not know what a Pizza Margherita is nowadays?

The incredible destiny of pizza had not finished there. Pizzas started to travel around the word with the Italian emigrants, and as the world’s trade has grown the different types

PIZZA IS A DEMOCRATIC DISH BECAUSE ALMOST EVERYONE CAN AFFORD IT, AND IT HAS SOCIAL AND TRADITIONAL ELEMENTS THAT BRING FAMILIES, FRIENDS AND DIFFERENT GENERATIONS TOGETHER.

CHIARA BOITEUX loves pizza and tells us why.

of pizzas have also increased. Different countries use different toppings, others use different crusts and others even cut the pizzas differently. For example, in Canada they cut the pizza in strips and call them ‘garlic fingers’. The ‘emigrated’ pizza is so established abroad that some places have nowadays their own special pizza. In Chicago you can enjoy their speciality, a kind of two-layered pizza, with a base being some sort of tomato French quiche and on top tomato and cheese.

There are a few people in the world who doubt that pizza is Italian. Unluckily many think that it is an American dish that comes from New York. But justice was done in 2017 when Neapolitan Pizza was recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

As a matter of fact, the true art of pizza-making is a practice that takes four different steps, involving the preparation of the dough, the garnishing, and the baking in a wood-fired oven at 450 C. All these steps are done by a designated person so in the

PIZZAS STARTED TO TRAVEL AROUND THE WORD WITH THE ITALIAN EMIGRANTS, AND AS THE WORLD’S TRADE HAS GROWN THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PIZZAS HAVE ALSO INCREASED.

kitchen we would find the Master Pizzaiolo, the Pizzaiolo and the Fornaio (the baker) who is in charge of the oven. Making pizza is considered an art form that takes a lot of time to master, so that is why the Master Pizzaiolo has apprentices to whom he or she teaches the art in a place called the ‘bottega’.

Pizza has a social and cultural function in the life of Naples, where about 3000 pizzaioli work. Pizza is a democratic dish because almost everyone can afford it, and it has social and traditional elements that bring families, friends and different generations together.

Viva la Pizza! ¢

MAKING PIZZA IS CONSIDERED AN ART FORM THAT TAKES A LOT OF TIME TO MASTER.

Art Artifice? or

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and art can be very subjective. If a dozen people were asked their opinion of a specific work of art, then we could expect a dozen different answers. This is due to personal life experiences and how they affect our subjective view about art and life in general.

Art can take many forms – painting, sculpture, architecture, literature; the list goes on. As humans, we are interested in different art forms for a variety of reasons, including as a form of selfexpression, communication, self-identification, and therapy for the mind. Art helps to expand the mind and discover emotion and passion, relieving us from the world that we live in now, a world of technology, politics and science.

observation, analysis and interpretation, which are all useful life skills.

Because young people are so absorbent of the world around them, we could argue that controversial artworks and artists might be harmful for students to learn about since art can never be interpreted in a ‘correct’ way. Many 19th and 20th Century male artists are now being called out for their sexist and misogynistic actions in the process of producing an artwork, even an artist like the great Picasso.

We could argue that controversial artworks and artists might be harmful for students to learn about since art can never be interpreted in a ‘correct’ way.

Therefore, art is especially important for young people because they are emotive. Art promotes creativity and imagination, and it provides insight into different cultures and traditions. Art has also been proved to be helpful with cognitive development because it helps develop key skills such as

Picasso’s works have been criticised for their objectification and sexualisation of women. However, art is often judged on its aesthetic and cultural value rather than the personal behaviour of the artist. Picasso was a pioneer of various art movements such as Cubism, Surrealism and Expressionism. His work was characterised by their unique style, which was often marked by distorted forms and fragmented shapes. Picasso’s innovative and diverse body of work, combined with his immerse influence on the art world, has secured his place as one of the greatest artists of all time.

LEXIE WHITMORE wonders why we still revere and teach Picasso when he was so sexist.

In the same way that Picasso dominated the art world in the 20th Century, he also dominated the women in his life. He had many complicated relationships, and either revered or abused his women, and typically carried on romantic relationships with several women at the same time. He was married twice, to Olga Khoklova and Jacqueline Roque, and had multiple mistresses, and it can be argued that his sexuality fuelled his art. These mistresses would be young. For example, his relationship with Marie Therese Walter started when she was 17 and Picasso was 45. These women would be exploited by Picasso to become his new muse and model for his paintings. They were often discarded by the artist after he became bored with them, in which case he would look for someone new and so the cycle was repeated.

Picasso’s own granddaughter, Marina Picasso, published a book clearly describing his misogynistic behaviour. In her memoir, Picasso: My Grandfather, she claimed that the man ‘submitted

them to his animal sexuality, tamed them, bewitched them, ingested them, and crushed them onto his canvas, after he had spent many nights extracting their essence.’ When Marina Picasso attacks her grandfather she gives a voice to the women who inspired the artist and yet these women are rarely acknowledged for their influence. Many of Picasso’s most famous paintings depict prostitutes, and nude women, and one of these paintings is the very famous Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907).

However, Picasso was not the only one doing this. The human form, especially the female nude, has been a popular subject in art for centuries, since it provides artists with a way to explore and express the beauty and complexity of the female body. However, the issue with Picasso’s female nudes was the kind of inspiration they provided.

These women would be exploited by Picasso to become his new muse and model for his paintings.

Picasso’s extraordinary artistic talent is undeniable, but the treatment of the women in his life is also undeniable.

MANY OF PICASSO’S MOST FAMOUS PAINTINGS DEPICT PROSTITUTES, AND NUDE WOMEN, AND ONE OF THESE PAINTINGS IS THE VERY FAMOUS LES DEMOISELLES D’AVIGNON (1907).

I am not saying that Picasso only saw women as sex objects. He grew a great friendship with the art collector and writer, Gertrude Stein. Stein, alongside her brother, Leo, helped to kick-start Picasso’s career by exhibiting his work in Paris during his early days as an artist. As a result of their friendship, Picasso painted Stein’s portrait in 1906, in which he made her face a stony mask to convey her extreme strength of character that Picasso felt was poignant. It is a painting that breaks the traditions of Western portraiture. Stein is shown as neither old nor young, neither sexual nor submissive. Her stern face makes an impact, implying that she has her own identity and is a modern and powerful woman.

While Picasso’s treatment of women may be viewed as problematic, his artistic contributions have had a significant impact on the art world.

While Picasso’s treatment of women may be viewed as problematic, his artistic contributions have had a significant impact on the art world, helping to develop new styles and forms that art

can take, and it is still celebrated for its innovation and influence. It is important to note that the societal attitude towards gender and sexuality have evolved since Picasso’s time, and his art should be understood within its historical context. It is therefore important that students and young people should learn about Picasso’s unique works of art because it shows the development of society through a different lens. Separating Picasso’s personal life from his prolific career is futile. Picasso’s extraordinary artistic talent is undeniable, but the treatment of the women in his life is also undeniable. If we are to continue to hold Picasso in high regard and continue to praise him and his works, we must at the same time recognise the suffering of the women that produced Picasso’s rise to greatness. ¢

STUDENTS AND YOUNG PEOPLE SHOULD LEARN ABOUT PICASSO’S UNIQUE WORKS OF ART BECAUSE IT SHOWS THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIETY THROUGH A DIFFERENT LENS.

TENNIS?

ERIC QIU, no stranger to the court himself, explains why tennis remains a fine way to spend your time.

Tennis is a beautiful and intense sport. Born in France and the United Kingdom, it was popularised and hit a climax in the United States. Now it is popular all over the world, known as one of the world’s most-played ball games.

Originating in 12th Century France, tennis was named ‘Jue de Paume’ (the game of palms) since it was originally designed for players to play with the palms of their hands. Then, in the 16th Century rackets were brought into the game and the ‘jue de paume’ became ‘tennis’ formally (from the French ‘tenez’, meaning ‘take’ or ‘receive’).

Modern tennis generally includes indoor tennis and outdoor tennis. It later became an indoor pastime in the court. It is also believed that the origin of tennis should be traced back to a ball game played by two people, each with

a racket, in a stadium surrounded by a fence. The ball hits the wall, bounces back, and then crosses the net. Therefore, no matter what field and equipment is used, or what method of playing, it has many similarities with modern tennis, so some people regard it as the original form of tennis. The diameter of the tennis ball is between 6.541 and 6.858 centimeters. At first, tennis was made of two hemispheres filled with grass, leaves or hair, but later, with the continuous development of tennis, the production of the ball became more and more exquisite.

IN THE 16TH CENTURY RACKETS WERE BROUGHT INTO THE GAME AND THE ‘JUE DE PAUME’ BECAME ‘TENNIS’ FORMALLY (FROM THE FRENCH ‘TENEZ’, MEANING ‘TAKE’ OR ‘RECEIVE’).

improved the early style of tennis to make it a sport played on the lawn in summer, so Winfield is called the founder of modern tennis. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club was established in 1875. The club built the world’s first tennis court and held the all-England Lawn Tennis Men’s Singles Championships in 1877, later known as Wimbledon.

The history of modern tennis generally began in 1873. That year, the Englishman Walter Clopton Winfield

In 1874, an American lady on holiday in Bermuda was interested in the sport after watching a tennis match of British officers, so she brought tennis rules, rackets and tennis to New York. In the United States, tennis was first played by schools in the East, and soon spread to the central and western regions,

and then became popular throughout the United States. At this time, tennis evolved from grass to sand, concrete and asphalt, so the name ‘tennis’ has gradually replaced the name ‘Lawn Tennis’.

Because tennis originated in courts and palaces, the scoring was based on select objects. Players kept score by turning a clock hand by one quarter, or 15 minutes, every time they scored a point, using 30 minutes for two points. But because 45 requires speaking three syllables rather than two, the British cut down 45 to 40. This is the origin of the seemingly illogical marker for the third point.

For a long time, the Grand Slam has been the highest honour hall in tennis, and all tennis players regard winning a Grand Slam championship as their ultimate goal. The Grand Slam is hosted by the ITF (International Tennis Federation), but the respective organizing committees have a lot of power. The four Grand Slam tennis tournaments are the Australian Open, the French Open, the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and the US Open.

There are five events in each Grand Slam, including 128 in men’s and women’s singles, 32 in men’s doubles and 16 in mixed doubles. Grand Slam champions have 2000 points, while top tournaments (ATP1000 and WTA Crown) have only 1000 points for both men and women.

The most intuitive criterion for evaluating an athlete is performance, and Federer’s performance in tennis must be at the top. He took 20 Grand Slam titles, won a total of 103 titles, stayed as the world’s number one for 310 weeks, and earned total prize money of more than $130 million.

The goal for players is to win, and they can win ‘ugly’, but tennis fans expect a player not only to

win, but to win ‘beautifully’. Federer always won beautifully. He turned awkward confrontations into gorgeous and elegant competitions. With his smooth freehand swing and dancer’s footwork, Federer should be seen an an artist who knows how to fight.

Outside the stadium, Federer is also a top successful person. He has dabbled in a wide range of valuable brands, founded a brokerage company, is an investor, spokesman and designer, and has topped the Forbes Athlete Income List for many years.

The talented and rich Federer has had a wide impact all over the world. His success has inspired countless people, and his gorgeous style of play has attracted countless people to the sport of tennis. He actively participates in philanthropy, gives generously to the poor, and is committed to improving the lives and education of African children. According to the Federer Foundation’s 2021 financial report, assets reached $22.37 million at the end of the year, and charitable spending reached $8.3 million, directly benefiting 140,000 children. Federer is one of the true legends of tennis.

All tennis players regard winning a Grand Slam championship as their ultimate goal.

WITH HIS SMOOTH FREEHAND SWING AND DANCER’S FOOTWORK, FEDERER SHOULD BE SEEN AN AN ARTIST WHO KNOWS HOW TO FIGHT.

Artificial Intelligence has improved massively in the last few years, from AIgenerated images (DALLE 2) to chatbots that can almost perfectly mimic human conversations (ChatGPT). As it becomes more advanced doing human tasks, there is a growing fear it will replace people.

However, first, let’s understand why and how AI is so effective at replicating human behaviour. These artificial intelligences are ‘generative pre-trained transformers’, or GPT(s), which go through a process called ‘deep learning’ that allows them to absorb immense data sets. For example, Chat GPT was trained using around 300 billion words. The AI analyses these data sets then tries to recreate these them using set instructions that employ over 175 billion parameters.

This data has been taken from past human decisions, data and arts and every person has their thoughts and personal biases.

One main argument for predicting loss of jobs is the sheer power of AI compared to human abilities; for example, being able to function 24/7 non-stop allows it to far outpace human production. Being an algorithm, it does not become tired and allows any business or government to cut labour costs. In the last decade, AI has already become an integral part of our lives, being used in size recommendations for clothing, cancer detection algorithms and even in police cases with COMPAS.

Developers assess how well the AI has answered a certain prompt by ranking each response and using positive reinforcement to allow it to recreate human emotion in the same way. This means that the AI knows when to replicate something that is good, because it was rewarded, and not to replicate something that is not good because it was not rewarded. This allows it to be fine-tuned for a specific task. This results in the AI not actually knowing what it is outputting but, for example, in the case of language models, it can just predict the next most likely word to be used by a human being with great accuracy. So the robot can replicate human writing even though it doesn’t ‘understand’ what is being said.

People claim that AI has shown racism and other discriminatory attitudes but this problem does not lie with AI itself, but with the data fed into the machine. This glitch is often referred to as ‘garbage in, garbage out’ (GIGO). These issues are now being evaluated to iron out its imperfections, but it is challenging to feed nonbiased data into algorithms: when using millions of data points it is practically impossible to keep track of all of them. This data has been taken from past human decisions, data and arts and every person has their thoughts and personal biases. This results in data gaining discriminatory qualities. For example, when AI was being used to evaluate the likelihood of patients becoming sick, the AI gave black people 46.5% compared to the 17.7% of the real figure.

What causes this incorrect result? People of colour in the USA are disproportionally affected by economic pressure, resulting in them struggling to finance their healthcare. As the data used economic expense to measure

LUCAS DE LA VEGA MAZZONI ponders the recent refinement of artificial intelligence and wonders if Asimov’s robot nightmare is just round the corner.

the probability of sickness of patients, black people resulted in the AI saying they were more likely to be sick, as less money is spent caring for black people rather than white people. Once these data trends regarding race and healthcare payments were used to train this AI, it inadvertently learned that people of colour struggled to finance their healthcare and suggested racially biased data. Although this is a clear flaw, the AI cannot be blamed for the deeply embedded racism of the human world.

Even though clear problems have been seen in such AI, it is continually used in the professions. AI is now making waves in accounting, the military and customer services. Moreover, lowskilled jobs such as cashiering will inevitably be phased out. Cashiers are already being replaced with robots and self-checkouts. With the introduction of stores such as Amazon Fresh, stores require no need to stop and scan items at the end of a trip, because cameras track items picked up and charge customers directly once they leave the store. Although it is in the early stage of development and still on a small scale, powerful AIs that are being created could scale up this current technology and remove the need for cashiers completely.

Another use of AI is teaching. Thanks to the sheer size and abundance of data to which these AIs have access, they can condense and simplify many

subjects, making it easier for students to learn and understand certain topics. Having the capacity to explain things in such a clear way makes it so that AI risks replacing teachers’ jobs in education. With its large data sets it can also source questions and create correct answers, which permits it to also set questions for students, allowing them to improve and practise their skills.

I have personally used such a feature to test myself and study for exams. People do argue against this method, stating that teachers need to provide emotional support and personal development for students. Teachers do play an important role in a student’s emotional journey, since AI cannot understand such complex things as human emotion but it cannot be denied that AI has an important role in

education. Even if it can’t completely replace teachers, students and teachers will learn to use such tools to their advantage, meaning AI will disrupt education whether for better or for worse.

AI attempts to understand human compassion have even entered into religion. Recently a Rabbi in New York wrote his sermon using ChatGPT, which managed to captivate the congregation with its ability to show emotion. Although the Rabbi described himself as being ‘deathly afraid’ of such technologies, he mentions its obvious limitations: ‘It can’t really understand spirituality.’ So Rabbis won’t be replaced any time in the new future. The fact that a Rabbi was able to create a sermon and fool the majority of the people in the congregation shows the step closer that AI is to replicating human emotions, and only time will tell how close AI can come.

AI has begun to write essays and answer questions from students from primary school to university. As a matter of fact, chat GPT has been put against difficult university-level tests and has been able to have outstanding results, including tests for medicine and the bar.

People do argue that AI will also provide new jobs such as management of AI, creating and improving AI through testing and other AI-related jobs that require higher education and knowledgeable academics. But people

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE HAS IMPROVED MASSIVELY IN THE LAST FEW YEARS, FROM AI-GENERATED IMAGES (DALLE 2) TO CHATBOTS THAT CAN ALMOST PERFECTLY MIMIC HUMAN CONVERSATIONS (CHATGPT).

CHAT GPT HAS BEEN PUT AGAINST DIFFICULT UNIVERSITYLEVEL TESTS AND HAS BEEN ABLE TO HAVE OUTSTANDING RESULTS, INCLUDING TESTS FOR MEDICINE AND THE BAR.

who currently work in low-level jobs don’t have access to such education, resulting in an increase in unemployment for such people. AI will not create the number of jobs it will take away.

Although AI will take jobs it depends how far this technology develops. A graph called the Sigmoid Curve describes the relationship between time and how a technology develops: as investments and interest grow so does the adaptation. If we are at the top of the curve, we have created new and useful technologies which can be used by artists, students and ordinary people to enhance tasks and make them less mundane. However, if we are in the middle of the curve we could see the growth of some technologies which could really threaten to take away many jobs in the near future. However, if we are at the bottom of the curve, it is likely that in the next few decades we will see an explosion in the different AIs being incorporated into our daily lives and threatening to take the jobs we hold dear.

On balance I think AI will inevitably make many jobs obsolete. This is an inevitable result of capitalism. AI should not be feared but instead embraced to ensure governments pass legislation so that we can ease into an AI world, take correct precautions and accept that jobs and professions will shift in the coming years.

Having the capacity to explain things in such a clear way makes it so that AI risks replacing teachers’ jobs in education.

Growing Slow

Compared to the rest of

“

The name Ukraine now means more than simply an Eastern European country that borders Russia. When Ukraine became an independent country between 1991 and 1996, Ukraine’s economy contracted drastically. This was coupled with a massive decline in production after the collapse of the Soviet Union system.

THE COUNTRY EXPERIENCED A SHRINK IN OUTPUT AND EXPORTS, LEADING TO A GOVERNMENT BUDGET DEFICIT THAT NEEDED TO BE COVERED BY BORROWING FROM THE CENTRAL BANK.

The logistical challenges faced by many industries after the collapse led to firm closures, which negatively affected the economy. As a result, the country experienced a shrink in output and exports, leading to a government budget deficit that needed to be covered by borrowing from the central bank. This borrowing led to hyperinflation and currency devaluation, with inflation reaching an alarming 4500% in 1993, when the price of a loaf of bread would rise five times in one week.

Corruption was also a significant obstacle to economic progress, affecting the functioning of the government. A low-ranking Corruption Perception Index (CPI) had a negative impact on foreign investors’

confidence. The judiciary in particular was viewed with distrust. A shadow economy was rapidly becoming the common practice in society, with people hiding their true income and perpetrating tax fraud, which caused significant damage to the country’s economy. Between 1995 and 1998, the shadow economy in Ukraine, expressed as a percentage of nominal GDP, ranged from 27% to 64%.

In Ukraine, all the machinery and facilities dated from the time of the Soviet Union. Therefore, there was significant inefficiency in production compared to all the other markets, resulting in reduction of investments and slower growth.

Ukraine’s economy was primarily fuelled by exports, with minerals and metals accounting for about half of all trade abroad, followed by chemicals and food. EU countries were responsible for over a third of all Ukrainian exports in 2008. However, during the recession there was a significant reduction in exports,

Eastern Europe, Ukraine’s lack of economic growth is entirely understandable, according to OLEG SHKAROVSKYY.

and Ukraine was exporting unprocessed raw materials, which are undervalued in the market. The prices set for Ukrainian raw materials was low compared to the price set by the EU for processed materials.

Apart from being dependent on exports to fuel the economy, Ukraine was also highly reliant on subsidised gas from Russia, having to pay only half of what the EU was paying. This agreement was torn apart in 2006, when Russia started charging neighbouring countries more for gas.

In 2015 Ukraine was ranked 130th out of 168 countries in the Corruption Perception Index, which limited foreign investment.

Corruption and debt deserve a separate mention because rampant corruption had a great effect on Ukraine’s economic development. In 2015 Ukraine was ranked 130th out of 168 countries in the Corruption Perception Index, which limited foreign investment.

After dealing with a bad hand at the start, the economy experienced a gradual economic growth before entering recession. Huge external

THE PRICES SET FOR UKRAINIAN RAW MATERIALS WAS LOW COMPARED TO THE PRICE SET BY THE EU FOR PROCESSED MATERIALS.

debts were accumulated to keep the economy running during these crisis times. Estimates say debt grew from $30 billion during 2000-2006 to around $100 billion over the period 2007-2009.

Ukraine was still riddled with corruption in all industries, not to mention politicians, judges and local authorities. Although there isn’t an official figure to quote, it is fairly certain that corruption was the primary cause for such low economic growth over the period of Ukraine’s independence.

But things have changed: since the new reforms between 2019 and 2022 the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has rendered 72 judgements, out of which 39 were final sentences, including many against members of parliament, judges, prosecutors, members of local councils and heads of state-owned enterprises. And these are just the cases clear enough to warrant prosecution.

And what about the war with Russia? The annexation of Crimea, economically speaking, led to reduced GDP after the loss of oil rigs and channel export tax. Conflicts in the Donbas region (Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts being two important industrial regions of Ukraine) were responsible for 40.6% of the total metal

Estimates say debt grew from $30 billion during 2000-2006 to around $100 billion over the period 2007-2009.

Since the new reforms between 2019 and 2022 the High AntiCorruption Court (HACC) has rendered 72 judgements.

and mineral exports. This drop in production output caused a 15% to 20% reduction in GDP, according to Valeria Gontareva. All of this is on top of the necessary costs of maintaining an armed conflict.

In 2014, the retail trade turnover in Ukraine decreased by 8.6% compared to the previous year, and in 2015 it declined by 20.7% compared to 2014. The significant decrease in exports by 30.9% in 2015 was mainly due to a sharp decline in production output in the Donbas region. The downward spiral effect persisted for two years before the economy adjusted to the changes and began to grow again in 2016.

The economy itself has suffered its largest fall since independence, and has led to a sharp increase in poverty rates.

The economic situation in Ukraine has been fraught with challenges in recent years. Despite making efforts to meet the criteria to join the European Union, delays have

been encountered, and the sevencriteria package has been postponed from Autumn 2022 to October 2023. The ongoing war in the country has caused significant damage to infrastructure, with the Kyiv School of Economics estimating the cost to be $270 billion. The economy itself has also suffered, experiencing its largest fall since independence, shrinking by a third in the previous year. This has led to a sharp increase in poverty rates, and the budget deficit is forecasted to reach $38 billion in 2023 due to a collapse in tax revenues. The country is currently running a monthly budget deficit of $4 billion USD. Export capacity has also been destroyed, with the total economic loss estimated at $564 billion USD. All of these factors have made it difficult for Ukraine to achieve economic stability and growth, testing policymakers and citizens alike. ¢

Despite making efforts to meet the criteria to join the European Union, delays have been encountered, and the seven-criteria package has been postponed.

THE

ONGOING WAR IN THE COUNTRY HAS CAUSED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO INFRASTRUCTURE, WITH THE KYIV SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS ESTIMATING THE COST TO BE $270 BILLION.

Evolution is the gradual development of life in geological time. The word ‘evolution’ is used widely but specifically in Biology it is the processes by which life has been changed from its earliest beginnings to the diversity of organisms we know about today, living and extinct.

Whales, dolphins and porpoises are all classified as Cetaceans, which are mammals. All modern Cetacea live in water and cannot survive out of water, but Cetaceans also had land ancestors. Even though whales are adapted to living underwater, about fifty million years ago they walked on legs. Hippos are the closest living relatives to modern whales but they are not ancestors. There are two groups of cetaceans: Mysticetes (baleen whales), such as the blue whale, and Odontocetes, such as dolphins. Odontocetes have teeth and filter ocean water for tiny crustaceans and fish, and do not need to echo-

locate. Examples of Mysticetes include blue whales and humpback whales. Examples of Odontocetes include dolphins, killer whales, narwhals, belugas and sperm whales.

The earliest whales found by scientists are Indohyus and Pakicetus. Fifty to fiftyone million years ago lived the Pakicetus (meaning ‘Pakistan whale’). Pakicetus, which was entirely land-based, was found through fossils on the shores of what is now India and Pakistan, living in the early Eocene period. Pakicetus has been found by palaeontologists to have ears that were not adapted to the water but only to land, which is why they only went near the water to grab fish. Even though Pakicetus do not look like modern whales, their skulls, especially the inner region, show a resemblance to the modern whales. This is a similarity not shown by any other mammal. Pakicetus had long skulls and large teeth that could

MADDIE GORMAN explains why she is bewitched by an evolutionary tale of the whales that we all know and love.

EVEN THOUGH WHALES ARE ADAPTED TO LIVING UNDERWATER, ABOUT FIFTY MILLION YEARS AGO THEY WALKED ON LEGS.

be used for eating meat. Scientists aren’t sure why Pakicetus did start moving into water and evolving into whales or why they were only found in India and Pakistan, but the movement into water is possibly because of the asteroid that killed lots of marine animals, creating space for other mammals to move into the water.

Next was Ambulocetus (meaning ‘walking whale’), living around forty-eight to forty-nine million years ago. Ambulocetus spent time in and out of the water. Its larger feet and hands looked more like flippers than its ancestors’, and it used its muscular tail for swimming, with long jaws, sharp teeth, webbed fingers and toes, and shorter legs showing it lived a more aquatic lifestyle. It was about the size of an American alligator and was a carnivore. An analysis of the teeth of Ambulocetus shows that they could have lived in many types of water, including freshwater rivers and lakes to saltwater oceans. Ambulocetus has been seen by scientists as the missing link between land animals and whales because they have inner ear structures similar to modern-day Cetaceans, with very whale-like teeth and the ability to swallow underwater, which was useful for catching fish. Salt water and fresh water have different ratios of oxygen isotopes, and animals are what they eat and drink, so scientists discover what type of water

an animal drank by studying the isotopes in their bones. The isotopes in Ambulocetus show they likely drank both salt water and fresh water, supporting the idea that they lived in estuaries or bays between fresh water and open ocean.

These animals evolved nostrils positioned further and further back until modern whales developed a blow hole on the top of the head.

Whales that evolved after Ambulocetus, like Rhodocetus and Kitchicetus, showed even more levels of saltwater oxygen isotopes, indicating that they lived in marine habitats and could drink salt water like modern whales. These animals evolved nostrils positioned further and further back until modern whales developed a blow hole on the top of the head above the eyes. Next came Dorudons (meaning ‘spear-toothed’), which lived about 33 to 41 million years ago. Dorudons lived alongside Basilosaurus (also known as the ‘King Lizard’). Dorudons were approximately five metres long and had proper flippers and tiny hind legs. It lived fully in water and was a good swimmer. Within ten million years, from the age of Pakicetus to Dorudon, Cetaceans had completely adapted to life in water. Scientists had previously mistaken Dorudons for their ancestor, Basilosaurus, but soon realised Dorudons were their own species. They believe Dorudons may have eaten young Basilosaurus because Basilosaurus fossils show Dorudon bite marks. The descendants of Dorudons then went onto evolve into modern whales.

The move into water was the cause of the first and largest boost in evolution for whales because it caused significant changes to their skull shape, like changes in the position of the nose to the

WITHIN TEN MILLION YEARS, FROM THE AGE OF PAKICETUS TO DORUDON, CETACEANS HAD COMPLETELY ADAPTED TO LIFE IN WATER.

top of the head while the animals were becoming more aquatic, and there were major changes in the body of the early whales like the almost complete loss of their hind limbs.

The second big evolutionary change for whales was around 30 million years ago, when Mysticetes split off from Odontocetes. Mysticetes didn’t develop teeth; instead, they developed baleen plates which were long strips of keratin that form a curtain hanging from the upper jaw. To eat, they suck water into their mouths then push water back through the baleen. This means that Mysticetes do not need to use echolocation whereas Odontocetes do. In most toothed whales, the internal organs of the skull are squashed into the left side to make room for soft tissues for echolocation, giving them asymmetric skulls. Echolocation is a technique that Odontocetes use to navigate and hunt in the dark. They emit high-pitched sounds which bounce off objects and are reflected back at the animal. These reflected noises help the brain to build an image of the animal’s surroundings, allowing them to ‘see’ where objects are. ¢

THE INTERNAL ORGANS OF THE SKULL ARE SQUASHED INTO THE LEFT SIDE TO MAKE ROOM FOR SOFT TISSUES FOR ECHOLOCATION, GIVING THEM ASYMMETRIC SKULLS.

Mysticetes didn’t develop teeth; instead, they developed baleen plates which were long strips of keratin that form a curtain hanging from the upper jaw.

Me Push Me Pull

Iwonder if you’ve ever come across a door, and just can’t seem to open it until you realize it opens the other way. Or a TV controller that you just can’t put to work. I’m sure at those moments you feel like the most stupid person alive but, in reality, this occurs alarmingly often and almost every single time the fault lies with the designer, not you. As Dieter Rams, one of the most celebrated product designers of the 20th Century, stated in his ‘good design principles’: ‘A good design makes a product understandable.’ Interaction design is the key to making a product understandable and usable.

Interaction design is ‘an approach of design that focuses on how people interact with products and the goal of all interaction design is to enhance people’s understanding of what can

be done, what is happening and what has just occurred when using a product.’ While we make further discoveries in science, it is inevitable that new and more advanced technology is developed.

This is the paradox of technology, that the same technology that simplifies life by giving more functions in each device also complicates life by making the product harder to learn and use. This is really where interaction design comes in, and has a rising importance in design to balance out the complexity the new technology brings. So how can this be done?

THE SAME TECHNOLOGY THAT SIMPLIFIES LIFE BY GIVING MORE FUNCTIONS IN EACH DEVICE ALSO COMPLICATES LIFE BY MAKING THE PRODUCT HARDER TO LEARN AND USE.

Let’s look first at how humans perceive and react to the world around them. When you decide to do something, whether it’s as easy as picking up a jug of milk from the fridge or as hard as doing a Maths Olympiad, the first thing you do is formulate a goal. This is done consciously. We then enter the realms of the base sequences of a human action, the two gulfs.

The gulf of execution is the effort that the user needs to figure out how a product works and what he can do to work it. We traverse through this gulf by using the goal we formulated, and observations made from the product

JOSEPH WANG explores what philosopher Rudolf Steiner once called ‘the thoughts in things’.

to first plan an action. Then, we specify an action sequence; this is where the fine details of each individual segment of action is fixed and specified. Finally, we perform the action sequence to the world and the world responds with some sort of feedback.

Following this, we meet the gulf of evaluation, which reflects the effort that the person must make to interpret the physical state of the product from the reaction that was received. We bridge over this gulf by using the feedback gained from the product’s reaction. First, we perceive the state of the world (product) and look for feedbacks or changes of states. The knowledge gained is then interpreted and analyzed. Finally, the summarized results are compared with the original goal to check if further action is needed. If so, the first process repeats until the correct goal is reached, or if you deem it impossible.

From this theory, we can deduce that the two most important stages of the action process that a designer can influence is the plan stage and the perceive stage. In the plan stage, the person in question needs information about how the product works to start to be able to plan an action. Furthermore, even in the specify stage, more details and hints on a product can lead the user to understand the product better and in turn make it function properly.

For the perceive stage, clear feedback from the product can make the user more aware of what’s happening while a vague or nonexistent feedback is likely to confuse or lead them astray, resulting in malfunctioning and misuse of perfectly functional products.

To understand how interaction design can help solve this problem, we need to first understand the concept of affordances. Affordances are defined as the possible interactions between people and the environment. Some are perceivable while others aren’t. To fully use a product’s functions, you need to know its affordances and spot how and where to activate them.

This is where the first and arguably most important tool of interaction designers comes to play – the signifiers. Signifiers are the items, features or indicators that show the user what actions are possible, how they should be performed and where they are done. They effectively increase the discoverability of the product significantly and provide a feeling of control to the user. All signifiers should be perceivable but not necessarily direct. Take the simple example of a door. Here the designer’s aim is to tell the user that the door is a push door. On the door is a sign that reads ‘push’. This is a direct signifier, and these often work on people who have little experience of the action

Interaction design is the key to making a product understandable and usable.

they are about to undertake. The hinge, on the other hand, is an indirect signifier.

Due to its appearance of being in front of the door and thicker, our mind formulates a visceral association reaction that indicates that the door should be pushed out of our experiences opening countless doors. Now that was an example of signifiers used well. Now let’s see some counterexamples of ‘Norman doors’ – a concept first created by Donald A. Norman, famous designer and ergonomist, meaning a badly designed door with poor usability could also be referred to as a badly designed product in general.

For this door, the designer has clearly done an abysmal job. First, he overemphasizes the aesthetics of the varnished glass door, which is nice, but does not show any indirect signifiers in that sense. The door’s only perceivable affordances are the handles, but they are identical on both sides (back to front, you can see a reflection through the glass vaguely) so offers no indication at all to how to open the door. For all I know it could be a slide door! No direct signifiers are apparent at all. Chances are you will be standing outside that door for ten minutes before someone from the inside opens it the right way.

Showing you what to do or could be done is a way to manipulate your actions to the right way of using the

product, but some argue that for some people, who are not as perceptive or as clever, limiting what they could do may be the better way. This leads to the introduction of constraints.

Constraints are elements in a design that prevent the user from doing certain things or limit the degree of action that could be done. Constraints come in all shapes and forms. It could be physical constraint, where you simply can’t push a switch, which suggests to your cognitive thought that you should turn it. Or it could be logical constraints like on a sword: you wouldn’t want to hold the blade since

it’s edged and uncomfortable; instead you would hold the ergonomically designed handle.

One way or another, constraints turn you against certain actions and shut down many wrong interpretations easily. By eliminating wrong interpretations and providing information about potentially right interpretations, a designer has already earnt a fair chance of you performing the right action; now we must communicate where and which affordance is correct for the action.

That is where mapping comes into play. Mapping is using the positioning of the affordances to demonstrate their functions. The best mapping places the affordances on top of the module/part that you want to start, since it speaks for itself. A good example is the apps on a phone or tablet: given time, the constraints will direct the user towards tapping the icon of an app to start it, and you need not say a word. When it isn’t possible, you place the affordance as close to the module/part that takes effect. Desk lamps are designed this way. Finally, if you couldn’t put the affordances near the modules at all, the best way you can do it is to align the affordances the same way as the modules. This triggers our mind to

GOOD, FUNCTIONAL STOVE DESIGNS ALWAYS LINK THE POSITIONING OF THE STOVES AND THE SWITCHES IN SOME WAY OR ANOTHER.

GIVEN TIME, THE CONSTRAINTS WILL DIRECT THE USER TOWARDS TAPPING THE ICON OF AN APP TO START IT, AND YOU NEED NOT SAY A WORD.

associate both and therefore recognize the right affordance. Think about stoves. Good, functional stove designs always link the positioning of the stoves and the switches in some way or another.

Now we’ve got our user to recognize how to act, we need to work on how he/she should react. In the perceive stage, what the user really needs are understandable and obvious feedbacks given in relatively short time or with no delay. These feedbacks could be almost anything that triggers human senses, from smell to sound. They often use previous experiences an average human may have had; for example, the red light on a display screen usually indicates the failure of an action while a green one probably indicates otherwise.

Good feedbacks are often constant and easily perceivable. A very commonly used item –smartphones – are fine examples of great feedback. Most interfaces have colour, and shape changes almost at any instance if you perform an affordance and different sounds of warning or confirmation are present. This provides a wholesome and variable feedback in your mind, which helps formulate your next action. However, simply using only feedbacks are not enough since, if you don’t understand the information, it’s useless.

A tool that enhances both the discoverability and the response of a product is the conceptual model. A conceptual model is a mental framework suggested to someone of how the design works: it may be true, it may be false, or it may be partially

true. Its main advantage lies in its flexibility, and different levels of complexity can be provided to different user groups. For example, a driver simply understands the pedal he is stepping on as: ‘If I step on this, the car will accelerate.’ But a mechanical engineer will think completely differently in more detailed and technical levels that the driver neither understands nor needs to understand.

This is the charm of a conceptual model: to use a product adequately you need not understand it fully; you only need to formulate a conceptual model that may even be false but allows you to spot affordances and react to feedback. Conceptual models can be communicated in many ways. It could be an instruction manual, or a button with a label: ‘push to start’ in print or a brief sentence from a driving instructor. The driver can drive the car with a basic conceptual model of the engine, where the mechanic can fix it or make another car with his more complex and detailed conceptual model. Thus, everyone is happy.

While everyday items around your life seem dull, ordinary and simple, the work that designers put in behind is massive and comprehensive. We need to recognize and appreciate the essence of interaction design so that next time you try opening a door it does not stay shut, but flies open. ¢

A very commonly used item –smartphones – are fine examples of great feedback.

WHILE EVERYDAY ITEMS AROUND YOUR LIFE SEEM DULL, ORDINARY AND SIMPLE, THE WORK THAT DESIGNERS PUT IN IS COMPREHENSIVE.

ANNIKA LI wonders how much the lyrics of pop songs have changed in the last few decades.

There are ultimately two elements that make up a song: the melody and the lyrics. Lyrics are the bridge of understanding that connects the artist with the audience. They are crucial for the artist to add a deeper meaning to the song by expressing themselves through words. To the audience, lyrics impart further insights into the artist’s emotions. However, in recent years, the bridge has appeared to crumble under the weight of lost meaning and changes in how lyrics are being written. Is that true, or are the modern artists laying a new foundation to fortify the bridge? Is the change for better or worse?

Lyrical trends have seen changes during the last few decades. For example, love words used in lyrics showed a stark decline between the 50s and the 80s, then a slow rise from the 90s up to now. This can be explained by how many songs in the modern ‘romance’ category are not about falling in love, but out of it.

According to Spotify, a digital music service popular amongst many young people, prominent artists such as Lewis Capaldi, Ariana Grande, Olivia Rodrigo, and Adele make profits over £6 billion with their highly streamed songs deriving from personal heartbreak. Research shows that modern listeners tend to prefer breakup songs over love songs, by which they feel they can connect better with the artist’s state of mind. Apparently, the decrease of love words in lyrics over time evolves according to the changed tastes of

the modern audience and for the better.

Songs, including love songs, that embrace the concept of eternal happiness have become unrealistic to many listeners. Therefore, they give way to the umbrella category of sad songs, which explore a much wider range of emotions, from grief to regret to desperation and anger. People are more likely to listen to music when they are sad than when they are happy. Scientists have found that listening to a song that you relate to – in this case, a sad song, when you are feeling down, causes a rise in dopamine, a ‘feel-good’ hormone that balances out emotion and matches the amount of pleasure that an initially happy person might already be feeling without the help of music. This explains the upsurge of swearing and more negatively associated words in lyrics of songs that we call our favourites.

Moreover, the usage of specific words in each category of song evolves along with the speaking, phrasing, and conversational trends in the wider community. Each widely used word in the category of love words has shown differing positions of popularity throughout the decades, except for the word ‘love’ itself, which has kept a consistent path at the top of the statistics. This is because words such as ‘love’, ‘hell’ and ‘gold’, falling into the respective categories

LYRICS ARE THE BRIDGE OF UNDERSTANDING THAT CONNECTS THE ARTIST WITH THE AUDIENCE.

PROMINENT ARTISTS SUCH AS LEWIS CAPALDI, ARIANA GRANDE, OLIVIA RODRIGO, AND ADELE MAKE PROFITS OVER £6 BILLION WITH THEIR HIGHLY STREAMED SONGS.

Modern listeners tend to prefer breakup songs over love songs, by which they feel they can connect better with the artist’s state of mind.

of love words, swear words and money words, tend to be perceived as timeless in the lyrical world. As a result, they can be used in different time periods by artists of different generations, without appearing incompatible with the latest trends in wording.

Scientific studies suggest that the average age for a person to stop listening to new music is around thirty. This means that newer generations will make up most of the people tuning in to recently released music. Consequently, artists tend to adjust the wording used in lyrics to suit the ears of the listeners. This is one of the reasons why most of the lyrics created these days include more slang and swearing than they would have in the past, to match the habits that emerge in an average adolescent’s conversations. Taboo language has become increasingly tolerated throughout society and is reflected in a lot of recently written lyrics.

Taboo language has become increasingly tolerated throughout society and is reflected in a lot of recently written lyrics.

Lyrics in pop songs have also become simpler over the years. This is possibly due to the rapidly narrowing attention span of people across the globe. A recently published study from the Technical University of Denmark suggests that this is because ‘people now have more things to focus on’, increasing the urge to multitask and gather bitesize information. In return for the decrease in collective patience, modern artists tend to make their lyrics more concise and cut to the point where a listener can understand immediately what the song is about. As a result, the use of metaphors, deeper meanings, and philosophical messages are less common in songs today than they would have been in the past decades.

This change is arguably damaging society’s intellectual and creative ability because it gives listeners fewer chances to practise evaluating hidden meanings in literature and confines the artist’s expression of emotions to a small range of basic vocabulary. On the other hand, this change arguably leads to less misunderstanding between artists and listeners. This can be important

Scientific studies suggest that the average age for a person to stop listening to new music is around thirty.

LYRICS IN POP SONGS HAVE ALSO BECOME SIMPLER OVER THE YEARS.

to musical artists because negative impressions regarding their private lives can arise from misinterpretations of metaphorical lyrics, causing them to lose popularity because of a tarnished reputation.

Aside from language, the level of aggression in lyrics has also increased since the 1970s. An example of this is rap music, which has become increasingly popular. Some rap music is believed to influence negative behaviour in listeners with the use of suicidal and violent content in its lyrics. Other common themes that appear in rap music include racism, discrimination and the mention of weapons. Researchers from the Texas Department of Human Services conducted a series of experiments which required a group of college students to listen and respond to music evoking different emotions via

In return for the decrease in collective patience, modern artists tend to make their lyrics more concise.

activities like filling in an incomplete word; they found that aggressive lyrics in music encourage aggressive thoughts and feelings from the listener. This can breed hostility among the audience and fuel actions of violence. This then begs the question: to what extent should songwriters be responsible for bringing about a positive impact?

Are they obligated to produce ethical lyrics and ethical lyrics only?

So, the bridge of connection between artists and listeners has not been lost but is instead modified and rebuilt to the liking of today’s pedestrians. In other words, the amount of good or bad that has come from this change is debatable. However, one thing is clear: lyrics we hear in songs today touch our hearts and souls the same way they did when they were written and appreciated differently in the past. ¢

SOME RAP MUSIC IS BELIEVED TO INFLUENCE NEGATIVE BEHAVIOUR IN LISTENERS WITH THE USE OF SUICIDAL AND VIOLENT CONTENT IN ITS LYRICS.

ALISA WONG explains why Hunter X Hunter is her favourite anime, and why

Hunter X Hunter (2011) is no doubt my all-time favourite anime, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. Not only is the plot unique and unpredictable, but the details are also incredibly written with excellent pacing, so time just flies by as you binge-watch the show. Hunter X Hunter is 148 episodes long, with each episode being 23 minutes. It only took me a little over a week to finish all of it! Every character is very well designed, and most characters add depth to the story, unlike many shows where only the main character(s) matter and the side characters are almost completely irrelevant. It is also very satisfying to see the characters’ amazing development while they learn and grow throughout their adventures. On top of this, its animation, fight scenes and even music are outstanding, despite being produced in 2011.

that each year only a handful of applicants pass. During the hunter exam, Gon meets Killua, who becomes his best friend. They stay with each other throughout their adventures while learning and improving their Nen to get stronger. Nen is the power system in Hunter X Hunter. It is a technique to manipulate and use their life energy to create unique abilities used in fighting.

IT IS VERY SATISFYING TO SEE THE CHARACTERS’ AMAZING DEVELOPMENT WHILE THEY LEARN AND GROW THROUGHOUT THEIR ADVENTURES.

Although lots of fighting is involved, there is also lots of strategic planning that is incredibly well thought out. Their adventures include fighting in a tournament, going into a game, fighting chimera ants, and more. Each story arc is just so well written there is no other anime like this. Gon and Killua’s friendship is on another level. Their conversations are funny too.

The story of Hunter X Hunter follows a 12-year-old boy, Gon, whose goal is to become a hunter just like his dad, who left him when he was a baby, and hopefully find him one day. In Hunter X Hunter, being a hunter is a very high-status job. There are many types of hunters, who devote themselves to tracking down priceless items, fighting creatures to protect humanity, discovering unseen parts of the world, and a lot more.

But to obtain the hunter licence, everyone must undergo a series of bizarre hardcore tests, known as the hunter exam. It is so hard

One of the main antagonists is Hisoka, someone who is attracted to power. He is such an interesting character because, even though he is supposed to be a villain, he sees the potential in Gon and Killua so he sometimes helps them, because his ultimate desire is to have a good fight and kill them when they become worthy opponents. The other main characters –Kurapika, Leorio and The Phantom Troupe, are all very interesting characters that play a huge role in the series.

Many people say Hunter X Hunter is a masterpiece, because it is. So do yourself a favour and watch it, because it will make your life better. ¢

you should watch it too!

We have come so far in aviation technology that you can now watch television, shop, eat and drink at 35,000 feet. On short-haul flights, you usually must pay for food and drink but on long-haul flights they are usually provided. There is not a lot of anything provided in economy class. In business and first class the seats are a lot more expensive, but the food is served more regularly, and it is of a higher quality.

All types of flight offer dutyfree products which you pay for on the plane. In terms of food, some airlines have alliances with food and drink companies. For example, British Airways serves Marks & Spencer food on short-haul flights at vastly inflated prices and Delta serves Starbucks Coffee on longhaul flights. People like this because it gives them a familiar taste, especially if they are travelling to a country they have never been to before and are not a fan of the cuisine.

Companies in the food and drink industry want to partner with airlines because they can charge higher prices on their basic commodities. Once the plane is in the sky, if you are hungry there are no other options.

On budget airlines, everything is an addon. One example is Ryanair, which offers cheap single fares aimed at tourists rather than business passengers. Ryanair is the first European airline to have carried over one billion passengers on its fleet of 490 planes serving 229 airports in 36 countries.

Such enviable success comes from an extensive customer base that doesn’t mind paying extra for a checked bag, or an £11 meal deal even though it might cost more than the ticket. They don’t really factor that in, especially if they are flying with kids. Ryanair’s low airfare is the chief selling point.

Budget airlines in Europe have mastered this business model because people seem to love it, and they rake in billions of dollars every year. A few years ago, at the height of the budget airline craze, lots of full-cost airlines, like Lufthansa and KLM, created their own budget airlines to get in on the act: Lufthansa created Eurowings and KLM created Transavia, neither of which is doing as well as Ryanair and EasyJet. ¢

AUGUSTIN COOK reflects on how, now Covid is over, budget airlines are back to making a killing.

COMPANIES IN THE FOOD AND DRINK INDUSTRY WANT TO PARTNER WITH AIRLINES BECAUSE THEY CAN CHARGE HIGHER PRICES ON THEIR BASIC COMMODITIES.

Not only are ants intriguing, but they also have a deep psychology. These small insects may not have brains the size of ours but they exhibit astonishingly complex behaviour and an extraordinary capacity for environmental adaptation.

Biomimicry is the term used to describe the imitation of natural systems and processes that serve as models for solving human issues. Because of their amazing skills and behaviours, ants have served as an inspiration for numerous biomimicry designs. Biomimicry describes not so much the utilisation of naturally occurring systems to solve human issues.

The ant colony optimisation method is one of the most well-known biomimicry creations. This algorithm is

based on how ants behave when they are looking for food.

Scientists have found that ants use chemical signalling substances and pheromones, which they leave behind when they move so that other ants can follow their trail, to determine the shortest path to a food source. The first ants choose a shortcut or take the shortest route to a food source. They then make their way back to the nest ahead of other ants looking for food. Strong chemical signals are left behind by these competitive ants throughout their route of travel, enabling their nestmates to preferentially take the

SIMILAR TO FOOTSTEPS IN A SNOWFALL, THESE PHEROMONE TRAILS REMAIN VISIBLE ALONG THE MORE TRAVELLED PATHS WHILE BECOMING OBSCURED BY THE SNOW ON THE LESS TRAVELLED ONES.

quickest path to the food source. The chemical signal pheromones evaporate with time, aiding the ant to find his food source more quickly and to preserve energy. This means that longer trails are less desirable than shorter routes because pheromones evaporate to a larger extent along these longer routes. Similar to footsteps in a snowfall, these pheromone trails remain visible along the more travelled paths while becoming obscured by the snow on the less travelled ones. The ants’ ability to communicate with one another via chemicals is crucial to the colony’s ‘intelligent’ motions to and from a food source.

AYAN JAIN admires the way ants chemically signpost efficient paths for each other, and the way human beings are using computers to imitate those paths.

The strategies of the ant have been used by computer scientists to create computational algorithms that are better able to address challenging issues. The shortest route between sixteen different cities, for instance, can be determined using computerised virtual ants rather than the ‘brute-force’ calculation that involves testing each and every possible path from the billions of options. Ant colony optimisation is a method for resolving complex computational issues by simplifying them so that the only action required to solve them is to discover the best route through a problem ‘map’, much as how ants find the best route through your wall crack, underneath the dishwasher, and up onto your counter.

Ant colony optimisation, for instance, can be used to determine the quickest path between the 16 places in Europe that you want to visit this summer. This is also referred to as the travelling salesman issue, and while the number of locations to visit increases it can become increasingly complex and challenging to solve using ‘brute force’ calculation. But the ‘best’ or shortest route can be positively reinforced by launching a swarm of virtual ‘ants’

into the problem set, which will quickly and simply lead to an optimised solution. Similar to how actual ants leave chemical odours for their other ants to “smell” as they move along shortcuts they discover, this positive reinforcement happens as the virtual ants leave signals for each other along the optimal routes.

In the actual world, ant colony optimisation has various uses. For instance, virtual ants have assisted in improving communications and vehicle network routing. Ant colony optimisation is already being used by numerous postal delivery and fuel truck firms to enhance their stop-to-stop routes. Similar ideas have been used in communications networks, where ant colony behaviour has inspired improved media distribution to mobile users and through networks. ¢

THE CHEMICAL SIGNAL PHEROMONES EVAPORATE WITH TIME, AIDING THE ANT TO FIND HIS FOOD SOURCE MORE QUICKLY.

ANT COLONY OPTIMISATION IS ALREADY BEING USED BY NUMEROUS POSTAL DELIVERY AND FUEL TRUCK FIRMS TO ENHANCE THEIR STOPTO-STOP ROUTES.

Since it began in 1888, the art of film has captivated audiences worldwide, serving as a medium to evoke emotions, provoke thought and communicate personal experiences. However, like any other form of artistic expression, film can also be used to promote specific agendas and imposed meanings, particularly under the influence of the authorities.

Before delving into a detailed analysis of Soviet films and the presence of propaganda, it is crucial to deconstruct the concept of ‘independent cinema’ itself. Originally rooted in the United States, the term refers to movies produced outside of major studio systems and distributed by independent entertainment companies. In the Soviet Union, however, the notion of independent cinema was virtually absent. Unlike today’s easy accessibility to film production tools, creating feature films in the Soviet era required substantial financial resources and sophisticated equipment, available only to large film companies located in several cities of the USSR – Moscow, Leningrad, Odessa, Tbilisi and Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinbrug). These companies worked for public money, making real independent cinema in the Soviet Union non-existent.

body to decide which films would reach the audience and which would remain shelved. So, while independent cinema was nowhere to be found, auteur cinema emerged, though its fate was also ultimately controlled by the state. However, it is important to note that not all films were pure propaganda, at least in the contemporary sense. Rather, they aimed at promoting the Soviet way of life and the values of the Soviet person, opposing them to the values of the West.

THE SOVIET VALUES PROMOTED BY THE STATE WERE NEEDED TO MAKE IT CONVENIENT TO CONTROL PEOPLE AND, IN THIS SENSE, THE SOVIET GOVERNMENT WORKED LIKE A CLOCK.

By presenting this image as heroic and exemplary, viewers were forced to emulate these traits, leading to an illusory world where all citizens aspired to be like those in the movies –strong, upright, fair-minded. In essence, the Soviet values that were promoted by the state were needed to make it convenient to control people and, in this sense, the Soviet government worked like a clock.

Although some exceptional filmmakers were occasionally given money for various ‘experiments’ as a testament to their talent, the Ministry of Culture remained the only

Despite the prevalent image of the heroic Soviet citizen, not everyone in Soviet society desired or could conform to this ideal. Life in the Soviet Union offered stability, with free education, healthcare, steady wages, and social mobility. Yet, many found themselves leading the same monotonous lives and merely being able to stand out from the crowd. Freedom was a distant thought, rather than a reality. Those who yearned to break free from the conformist life and express their true beliefs and interests were

ANTONINA SHATS looks at the tension in Soviet film between genuine creativity and towing the party line.

‘Mirror’ (1975), Andrei Tarkovsky.

eventually ridiculed and portrayed as absurd, unadapted individuals. This contrariety forced people to live by double standards and adhere to societal norms while suppressing their honest desires.

This double life was presented in films such as September Vacation, Flights in Dreams and in Reality, Mirror and others, all of which subtly exposed the challenges faced by individuals leading this perilous lifestyle. Cinematography can often reflect society’s happenings, with talented directors acting as delicate instruments and capturing societal sentiments before they fully manifest.

A prime example is the 1979 film, Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears, which became the first ever Soviet film to win an Oscar for Best International Feature Film. The film captures the prevailing mood of that time, when people began to question the automated life that was glorified in all kinds of art around them. The protagonist, Katerina, has spent her whole life chasing professional success whilst not getting any pleasure from her own existence. Conversely, other heroines in the film are seen finding peace in their monotonous home lives.

In pursuit of victories in work, Katerina eventually loses herself as a person. Soon she begins to wonder what is wrong with her: she is surrounded by material values but they do not bring her happiness. Katerina ultimately discovers happiness when she encounters an individual not from her world at all – an individual who is free, spontaneous and independent of the pressures of society she had grown accustomed to. This revelation prompts her to reflect on her own life and yearn for freedom of choice. For the Soviet people of that time, this film was a breath of fresh air. It seemingly granted permission to chart a different path – one that challenges authoritarian regimes which thrive on weak-willed, compliant individuals. Film, like any other form of art, serves the purpose of stimulating people to

think, analyse their surroundings and stop living on autopilot, thinking as you are told. While it is essential to recognise that propaganda can serve educational purposes and expand knowledge, the Soviet Union employed it to spread lies and hypocrisy in the interest of the government, placing it at the service of the state.

So Soviet cinema unavoidably contained elements of propaganda, and even the most exceptional and unique works faced criticism if they deviated from the prescribed ‘party line’. Nevertheless, true artistic freedom is incompatible with authoritarian regimes, and a regime that stifles freedom of creativity is inevitably destined to fail. Genuine and authentic film should embody independence and resist negative propaganda at all costs. ¢

True artistic freedom is incompatible with authoritarian regimes, and a regime that stifles freedom of creativity is inevitably destined to fail.

‘Don novel’ Lenfilm (1964). Directed by V. Fetin.

‘Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears’ (1979). Written by Valentin Chernykh and directed by Vladimir Menshov.

SYLVAIN

reckons it’s not too late to postpone the end of the world.

CHAN

Mass hysteria surrounding the ‘end of the world’ plagued the internet in 2012 when people took speculations made by the Mayans more than 1000 years ago as gospel, fully believing that an apocalypse was to occur on 21st December. Given that you and I are still here, it is evident that this has merely been a case of misinformation based on a lack of compelling evidence, and a concerning underutilisation of critical thinking.

Dangerous weather events are becoming more frequent and severe, while habitat destruction increasingly diminishes biodiversity.

Today fear-mongering takes on less fantastical forms. With global warming the new pseudo-Armageddon, the threat of the Earth’s demise becomes much more tangible. Dangerous weather events are becoming more frequent and severe, while habitat destruction increasingly diminishes biodiversity. Because it is a direct consequence of intensive human activity, citizens and politicians alike have begun to use apocalyptic rhetoric to highlight the immediacy of action required to prevent climate change from worsening.

The 2021 UN climate summit in Glasgow was branded ‘our last chance’ to tackle the ‘climate catastrophe’ and ‘save humanity’, with US climate envoy John Kerry warning the public that we only have nine years left to avert most ‘catastrophic’ global warming. Yet it seems almost every climate summit has been branded as such.

Arguably, these artificial deadlines are rooted in altruistic intent to increase climate awareness. Psychology research shows that many people do not feel personally threatened by climate change because they view it as too vague and abstract a concept to comprehend. Therefore, eliciting visceral distress within these groups, about how climate change can rob us of a stable future, can significantly help disengage people from the status quo.

However, this method only works when people feel personally vulnerable. And unfortunately, the adverse impacts of climate change are most immediately felt in disadvantaged communities, who are not necessarily responsible for a large proportion of emissions. Despite how the US produces 30 times more greenhouse gas emissions than Bangladesh, the latter is left to bear the burden of the consequences. Sea level rise, flooding, and cyclones frequently exploit the country’s already geographically vulnerable low, flat terrain. This has exposed 56% of its population to ‘high climate exposure areas’, forcing people to either adapt with what little resources they have or be displaced.

MANY PEOPLE DO NOT FEEL PERSONALLY THREATENED BY CLIMATE CHANGE BECAUSE THEY VIEW IT AS TOO VAGUE AND ABSTRACT A CONCEPT TO COMPREHEND.

Climate injustice causes the underprivileged to internalise both fear and blame, whilst further distancing large industries and the privileged from the bleak reality of our future: ‘I’m not from Bangladesh, so this threat does not concern me.’ Our current profit-driven society encourages people to act in pursuit of their own good without regard for sociopolitical pressure. This self-interest corrupts basic compassion and sympathy for the world around us.

Propagating the notion that we are running out of time, however true this may be, can furthermore lead to panic and poor policies. In The Precipice, author Toby Ord makes various numerical estimates of how much time we have on Earth before irreparable ecological damage makes the Earth uninhabitable. But what exactly does hypothesising a specific time frame contribute to actually alleviating the climate crisis? It indeed creates a sense of urgency to address and change our practices both on an individual behavioural level, and more importantly an industrial and international scale. Current global gas emission levels are projected to put the planet on track for an average 2.8C temperature rise this century, far surpassing the 1.5-2C limit established at the COP27 climate convention. Yet in subscribing to the mentality that we do not have much longer to live, short-term, dubiously sustainable, and insufficiently thought-out approaches become the norm. We become so fixated on finding immediate solutions that we fail to effectively pick at arguably the root cause of all our issues: capitalism.

Ecological destruction is encoded in the inherent structures of the capitalist mode of production. As the accumulation of capital is absolute, production and consumption more than often, if not always, occur at the expense of the natural environment. Climate injustice has been perpetuated since the colonial era, making it difficult for those in the present to recover stably.

For example, French colonists by the end of the 19th Century had banned rural communities in North and West Africa from practising their centuries-old subsistence farming methods, in favour of cotton plantations and cash crops, leading to extensive desertification. So, not only are many former colonies still ‘developing’ or ‘under-developed’, but also they lack the freedom their colonial counterparts had in undergoing industrial and technological revolutions without needing to be environmentally conscious.

It seems that capitalism’s propensity to exacerbate environmental problems means that only an alternative economic system is able to achieve a harmonious and respectful relationship with nature. Yet is it possible to address the climate crisis through capitalist means? ‘Market Environmentalists’ assert that

FRENCH COLONISTS BANNED RURAL COMMUNITIES IN NORTH AND WEST AFRICA FROM PRACTISING THEIR CENTURIES-OLD SUBSISTENCE FARMING METHODS IN FAVOUR OF COTTON PLANTATIONS.

DESPITE HOW THE US PRODUCES 30 TIMES MORE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS THAN BANGLADESH, THE LATTER IS LEFT TO BEAR THE CONSEQUENCES.

market solutions such as free trade and technological innovation can effectively fix environmental problems because competition weeds out destructive practices.

One example would be Germany fixing the price of renewable energy in 2000, which encouraged China to enter the solar energy market by massconstructing cheap solar panels. This caused the price for a watt of solar, an arguably more carbon-friendly energy alternative, to drop to 20 cents today. Unfortunately, success stories such as these come few and far between amongst the constancy of destruction in profit-motivated behaviour. Singleuse plastics for packaging are still the norm, and as trends in mass consumption cycle through the latest fashions, more and more waste is produced. There have also been recent trends in companies capitalising from environmentalism by green-washing: falsely promoting their goods and services as environmentally conscious.

Furthermore, some critics argue that it is the ‘type’ of capitalism, rather than capitalism per se, that is problematic for environmental justice. Mikler and Harrison’s 2012 study finds that the US liberal market economy was less effective in addressing climate change than the coordinated market economies of Germany and Japan.

However, this approach suggesting there are ‘varieties of capitalism’ fails to overlook their common emphasis on competition, which means ecological damage remains a constant regardless of the specific manifestation of capitalism.

The powers that are steering us headfirst into the climate crisis are bigger than any politician or wellmeaning entrepreneur. It is also difficult to place faith in the upper political class, given that they were the ones who

caused this mess in the first place. Yet though this may seem overwhelming, it is all the more reason not to passively accept these puppeteering systems. Despite how large corporations are significantly more responsible for ecological destruction than us individuals, being selective with our behaviour as consumers still has powerful potential to generate change. Refusing to participate in fastfashion microtrends or abstaining from Amazon purchases on a large scale can lead to detrimental boycotts. And while peaceful protests are helpful at elevating marginalised voices and bringing awareness to issues, we may be at a point in the climate crisis where more evocative retaliation needs to be taken. Considering how some proPalestine activists frequently dismantle or vandalise arms manufacturing plants, what’s to say the climate movement is not capable of disrupting the capitalist order?

It’s incredibly easy to become nihilistic about the future. Hamlet’s existential ‘to be or not to be’ soliloquy strikingly rings true to the ‘climate depression’ common among youth. ‘To die: to sleep; no more’ seems like a morbidly good method of escaping suffering the ‘slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’, these being the profit-motivated

SINGLE-USE PLASTICS FOR PACKAGING ARE STILL THE NORM, AND AS TRENDS IN MASS CONSUMPTION CYCLE THROUGH THE LATEST FASHIONS, MORE AND MORE WASTE IS PRODUCED.

BEING SELECTIVE WITH OUR BEHAVIOUR AS CONSUMERS STILL HAS POWERFUL POTENTIAL TO GENERATE CHANGE.

machinations and growing pressures spurred on by the failing model of capitalism. Coupled with the unspoken burden of our generation to steer us back on the right path, we have a seemingly insurmountable load on our plates.

But even professionals in the climate field have felt distressed and frustrated with our current position. Dr. Natalie Jones, a specialist in existential risk at the University of Cambridge, states that ‘…everyone who works on climate change has been there. For me that was like ten years ago. You have to acknowledge these things and come to some level of acceptance.’ Those who seek to escape our anti-ecological society need to develop methods of coping and understanding our situation that do not emotionally tear us asunder or burn us out in the process of trying to fight and survive. Part of this requires treating each other with more compassion; social ecology shows that interactions between individuals can affect society and the environment as a whole. If we are living and recreating relationships of domination and exploitation with each other, we will similarly dominate and exploit nature, perpetuating the adversities of capitalism.

An unrecoverable climate catastrophe is not guaranteed so long as we cultivate our mental health and consistently act upon the belief that change is possible. ¢

While peaceful protests are helpful at elevating marginalised voices and bringing awareness to issues, we may be at a point in the climate crisis where more evocative retaliation needs to be taken.

Social ecology shows that interactions between individuals can affect society and the environment as a whole.

OLIVIA BYWATER loves coffee.

Coffee can make a positive impact, such as bringing up people’s moods, especially when they have a nice cup of coffee they have been craving or attend a coffee tasting group while making friends.

Coffee contributes £17.7 billion to the UK economy and $200 billion to economies worldwide. Three million cups of coffee are consumed every day because it is these days a part of a lot of people’s routines. It may even be why some people get up in the morning!

Coffee contains a stimulant called caffeine that increases energy levels so it is the perfect drink to start your morning. There are over 30 different combinations of coffee in the world and there are four types of beans.

Coffee is one of the world’s most popular drinks and as a result it provides approximately 125 million jobs worldwide, from farming the beans to being a barista. Starbucks is the biggest coffee chain in the world. It has over 32,000 shops in 80 different countries, with 402,000 employees.

Brazil produces the most coffee in the world and has been the top producer of coffee for over 150 years, so there are generations of families who are in the coffee business and that is their income. Brazil produces 2,680,000 metric tons of coffee a year.

Caffeine increases dopamine levels and literally makes you happier. Up to 400mg of caffeine a day is healthy for an adult, which is equal to about four cups of coffee. If an energy boost is what you need, coffee is definitely a healthier option than energy drinks because a black coffee, for example, contains no sugar, whereas an energy drink contains about 40 grams, which is more in one go than the average daily healthy allowance for most men. With there being no sugar in coffee (unless you add it yourself) there is no risk of a sugar crash and there are generally fewer additives.

So, next time someone asks you if you fancy nipping out for a coffee, you know what to say. ¢

IF AN ENERGY BOOST IS WHAT YOU NEED, COFFEE IS DEFINITELY A HEALTHIER OPTION THAN ENERGY DRINKS

It is widely known that music can help with physical exercise by giving you a steady rhythm, and research suggests upbeat music with a high tempo improves your motivation and focus.

Your mood can be easily changed by your surroundings and music can greatly combat laziness and negative emotions. Studies show that music provides improved mood and enhanced perception that increases work speed and quality, extending work time for many students.

While mental states are important for studying, concentration can also be boosted when music, classical in particular, helps you take in and process work. It is said that music trains your brain to focus clearly and make

clear interpretations of what is in front of you, which is ideal for reading work.

It is said that classical music also helps many older people memorize material and do tasks. Physically, when you listen to music, stress hormones (such as cortisol) decrease, while oxytocin and dopamine levels increase, improving your mood.

Depending on the music you listen to, the changes can vary, since listening to music you like will show different results from music you don’t like. Although study can be mentally draining, music can make you keep a positive attitude.

Music can reduce the stress of studying, and so music can improve your work.

There are programs like the ‘TLP Level One Program’ that helps you improve your health through music, delving deeper and training your brain. This program ultimately helps you to achieve your goals more easily, and so could help you in studying. There is also a charity called ‘Music in Hospitals and Care’ that helps the wellbeing of adults and children alike with ‘the healing power of live music’. This charity shows that music makes a big impact in reducing stress.

‘MUSIC IN HOSPITALS AND CARE’ HELPS THE WELLBEING OF ADULTS AND CHILDREN ALIKE WITH ‘THE HEALING POWER OF LIVE MUSIC’.

“

AKI WATANABE takes on the eternal question of whether you should listen to music while working.

However, music can distract you from your work if you prioritise listening. If the music is loud or very fast, you could use unnecessary energy to blot it out and this could overwhelm you, or it could interrupt and make you lose your train of thought. Listening to songs with voices can make you unintentionally split your focus, which can result in not fully understanding what you are working on, making it a bad environment for work.

It could also worsen your working memory, which is the memorization of steps, lists and sequences. When listening to music, your working memory capacity decreases, which hinders studying. It can lower reading comprehension skills, and certain types of music can make it harder because reading comprehensions require reading and putting the information you gathered into use, which would be hard to do while listening to music. If you study with fear as a driving factor, music will only cause distraction and irritation, so music would not be recommended.

There are many types of music you could listen to. Nevertheless, songs with lyrics, surprising, experimental music or music with commercials are known to be ones to avoid, while slow and instrumental music and songs you feel neutral in are ones that are usually favoured. With the volume low, you can enjoy studying with some background music to soothe you.

To conclude, it depends on the person whether music is the right choice or not, although what you are listening to would be the biggest factor. It may not be for you, but if you ever come to understand the joys of music while studying, it will surely help you in the future. ¢

WITH THE VOLUME LOW, YOU CAN ENJOY STUDYING WITH SOME BACKGROUND MUSIC TO SOOTHE YOU.

ALTHOUGH STUDY CAN BE MENTALLY DRAINING, MUSIC CAN MAKE YOU KEEP A POSITIVE ATTITUDE.

ELEANOR

SYMONS assesses the chances of a second civil war in the United States.

As the world became obsessed with the illusive world of Tiger King, and the weekly family zoom calls plagued houses around the world, a very different environment was unfolding outside our windows, and this was most apparent in the United States.

A Putin-admiring president sat in the Oval Office and slowly eroded the ‘land of the free’. The sideeffect of having an aspirant dictator in arguably the most powerful office in the world is that they consequently have the power to completely shift the very fabric of the country to suit themselves, and those close to them, and, having been proved by countless countries, that policy can only create a country rife with inequality, where the rich reside in a happy dream, and the poor suffer from the indecisions and selfishness of the few. So, as Donald Trump began to achieve his goals, the country shifted towards a darkening social climate. The

question that remained in my mind wasn’t whether Carol Baskin did kill her husband, although I would also like to find out the answer to that one. It was one of far greater importance: could the US have a second civil war?

The question is difficult to answer, and I have struggled to think of the best way to portray this answer to you. So, I have come up with this method. I have looked at many civil wars across history, ranging from the Sudanese Civil War in the mid 1800s, to the Yugoslav War at the end of the last century. Although in many cases there seems to be no connection between the causes of these wars, I noticed patterns. They all stem from three umbrella issues: economic, political, and societal. Using this idea, I have broken the US’s problems into these categories to answer this question.

Perhaps the easiest cause to answer: economic issues. The US simply does

A PUTIN-ADMIRING PRESIDENT SAT IN THE OVAL OFFICE AND SLOWLY ERODED THE ‘LAND OF THE FREE’.

not have enough economic issues to account for a second civil war. The country accounts for just under one quarter of the world’s economy, and although the emergence of powerhouses in the East, such as China or India, which may threaten their longlasting economic superiority over the rest of the world, there is no impending doom of a financial crash or economic ruin on the American horizon and, if there is, the UK should worry because America is our biggest trading partner. It would be dangerous to believe that the USA is not open to the influence of global catastrophes, such as Covid-19, which shrunk the powerhouse’s GDP by 3.5% in 2020, the worst drop since 1946, but also over-cautious to think that this in turn could cause a civil war. So, at this point, I’m sure the answer the impending question seems relatively simple to answer, but the non-existent economic crisis in the US is only one of three general causes, and the following two hold more weight in the answer to my question.

The political climate of the country is next. This is a trickier one to navigate.

The USA claims to be an example of the power of democracy, and an advocate for liberalism, but in reality, according to the NGO inequality.org, the country ‘exhibits wider disparities of wealth between rich and poor than any other major developed nation.’ So, not only

does the very political ideology of the country betray the prosperity of its citizens, but the gleaming White House also only has room for one president. In a country of such huge political division, the election process is one which promises to alienate the other half of such a divided country. Of course, this is not only apparent in the US. Look only to London to see the effect of the Brexit referendum, which divided the United Kingdom itself, and resulted in the projected shrink of the economy by 4%. Politics is a divisive game, and there will always be those

upset by results, but with a country whose two biggest parties are so far from being aligned, and the fate of said parties falling on the hands of their one leader, it is the country’s destiny to have a larger divide than most in a similar position. It is this divide in turn that allows for cracks to grow and, in turn – well, you guessed it – provoke civil war. The election process seems to swing from a Democrat to a Republican sitting in the Oval Office, and 2024 will prove to be the year in which the entire world will sit on the edge of their seats, wondering which side of the scale the country will fall this time. So, the question swings as well, with the political climate of the country pointing towards the possibility of a civil war.

The answer to the question hangs in the balance, and only the social climate of the country can decide. While taking my first steps into researching the social situation within the country, I struggled to digest the information facing me. From almost 50,000 doses of opioids being taken every day, which is over four times the rate in the UK, to the overturning of Roe vs Wade, which was due to turn 50 this year, to the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, it was clear to me that this would not be an easy side to explain in anything less than a thesis.

ALMOST 50,000 DOSES OF OPIOIDS ARE BEING TAKEN EVERY DAY, OVER FOUR TIMES THE RATE IN THE UK.

The social climate of the US is so volatile it resulted in, on average, 140 protests a day during 2020. There is no shortage of causes for these divisions, ranging from religion to drugs. Religion in the USA has caused many controversial decisions, such as the creation of Roe vs Wade in 1973, and the later overturning of it, 49 years later. Religion has provided a mask for the far right to disguise their bigotry as the word of God. This allows citizens to use religion to make their beliefs acceptable, and in turn people may become vulnerable to the decisions of others, which is implemented by the lawmakers of the United States, hence the abolition of Roe vs Wade.

The fear of other religions, which has increased significantly in the age of social media, led to president Trump seeking to prevent all Muslims from entering the country, during his time in office. This in turn can allow for the increased persecution of a certain minority, which alone is not likely to lead to civil war, but the persecution of anyone can promote anger, and in turn push the use of violence as a tool to convey the increased desperation of said demographics, which, combined with the oppression of other minorities, may lead to civil war.

The opioid epidemic within the country is also a useful way of conveying this idea. On average, over half a million teenagers use illegal

The social climate of the US is so volatile it resulted in, on average, 140 protests a day during 2020.

marijuana each month, while the US has spent over $1 trillion in the past 50 years. Rather than creating the societal issues, drug usage instead perpetuates the issues withstanding in the society: poverty, opportunities of the users, not to even mention the effect on the medical infrastructure of the country. All of these side-effects of drug abuse, not only on the users, but also on the state as a whole, are a cause of the increased instability of the society, and have in turn contributed significantly to the risk of a war erupting. There is a plethora of other factors which are significant within the USA’s society, and account for the rise in dissatisfaction within their society, but at the risk of boring you, I will pass over them.

It has come to the point when I must give an answer to the question I posed at the beginning: could the US have a second civil war? When I began writing I was sure that it would be a yes or no answer, although I am now realising that may have been a naïve belief. The truth is that the US, no matter its flaws, is a country which values democracy. It is the ‘land of the free’, and although you may be wondering how that can be true if a group of a few thousand insurgents can break into the symbolic

Over half a million teenagers use illegal marijuana a month, while the US has spent over $1 trillion in the past 50 years.

heart of the United States democracy on a cool January afternoon, I would point out to you the proceeding committee which was formed to investigate said insurgents as well as the reaction of the rest of the country.

However, America is at a tipping point. Civil unrest is increasing, and their society is facing unprecedented levels of inequality, with a completely unequipped workforce trying to fight unbeatable enemies. The economic situation of the country paints the picture of an infallible country, who could not fall to the level of civil war. However, the social and political climate of the country disagrees. It is incredibly fragile, and anything could send America into ruin. So, to give as concise an answer as possible, no, you

will not wake up to read the headlines tomorrow morning saying that war has erupted; however, it would be foolish to say it is impossible.

All the societal issues are pointing in the direction of civil war, and all it needs to push it over the edge into a deep abyss is the misjudgement of a leader. I highly doubt that Joe Biden would be that leader, as he represented the will of American democracy to replace an extremist president, which means that the fate of the 2024 presidential election will, very probably, be the catalyst of the civil war. Either side may begin the war, fuelled by the democrats’ anger at losing, or the republican supporters, far more of whom have weapons, in dismay at having a democrat in office once again. The war is not the suggestion of fearful or overcautious intellectuals. It is indeed a very real possibility. ¢

THEIR SOCIETY IS FACING UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS OF INEQUALITY, WITH A COMPLETELY UNEQUIPPED WORKFORCE TRYING TO FIGHT UNBEATABLE ENEMIES.

The hammer-and-sickle is now living in its second century since its striking advent brought about by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Upon hearing the word ‘Marxism’ what inevitably comes to mind for most people are red banners, anti-establishment slogans, and zealots clogging the streets chorusing ‘down with the bosses’ and ‘redistribution of wealth’.

The truth is that much of the academic technicalities of Marxist thinking has been watered down to rallying cries of ‘eating the rich’, and little truth of the established consensus that was orthodox Marxism remains undiluted from the years of revising, tampering and misinformation, from which almost no one was innocent.

From the French historians of the Annales school in their never-ending quest for niche and fashionable ideas as ‘contemporary alternatives’ to

‘old-school’ Marxist principles, to the modern ruling class pushing a petty bourgeois agenda filtering Marxist ideas through their perspective and interests – plus the works of rumours and extrapolations made by the credulous masses – socialism of the 21st Century has been tweaked into a hybrid, into reformism that trivialises the need for ground-lifting revolutionary change and suggests that making mere tweaks to a system plagued with inherent flaws and contradictions would be a sufficient remedy for the cancerous scourges capitalism brings, departing almost entirely from Marx’s original assertions.

With the rise of identity politics and leftism in today’s popular culture, such erroneous and reactionary deviations are now entitled to hide behind a shield of progressive phraseology and further dilute Marxist statements, with the Intersectionalists, who appear to be the fighters for social justice, categorising

each proletarian by their identity only to sow division in the working class.

Marxism is now tied in with any marginalised or oppressed groups becoming a popular label among minorities and ‘the peculiar’ of society. It is not far-fetched to claim that Marxism has undergone the grossest of distortions, abstractions, and falsifications in history. Today the term is juggled around by reactionaries, revisionists, self-proclaimed Academic Marxists lurking in universities and oblivious teenagers alike. Bereft of almost all of its sophistications and nuance, it is made into a battle cry for bigots and bitter ne’er-do-wells, while simultaneously becoming one more quirky label on a nametag.

Marxism is about the ownership of the means of production, commerce, and exchange. The lexis of Marxism is never bigotry and rebellion, but

CARMEN WU is frustrated that those who have tried to implement the theories of Marx have actually missed the point.

contradiction, negation, and fluidity. The philosophy that supports the infrastructure of Marxist thought is criminally overlooked. In an era of rampant cynicism, post-modernist denials of societal progress and staunch believers in the inevitability of history repeating itself and humanity marching to its demise, the optimism which a realistic and unambiguous outlook that is the dialectical and materialist philosophy could bring, can be something positive which the present world ridden with irrationality and pessimism needs.

The hardline creed that is materialism refuses to succumb to the mysticism of idealistic solutions and be seduced by short-term benefits, and vows to understand the world as the material reality it is, rather than a well-tailored version presented by the ruling class. Nonetheless the powers of dialectical materialism go beyond simply explaining Marxist beliefs, but extend into the realms of daily life and common knowledge, making it applicable to scientific as well as metaphysical analysis.

Placing a great emphasis on material concerns, material interactions with the world and the conclusions we can draw from them, the metaphysical worldview of materialism stresses the importance of accepting the material, tangible reality in any form of analysis. The exclusion of heavily spiritual or superstitious interpretations would provide an especially rational outlook on the world and our relationship with it. Its reductionist character allows us to dissect the complexities of social and historical change into the economic development of society, class antagonism, division of labour and the change in ownership of productive forces, all of which are results of contradictions eventually arising from capitalism that provided such a material basis for its self-destruction.

Simple materialism condemns the world of ideas generally expressed in idealism, the notion that asserts perception as the arbiter of the world, placing ‘pure thought’ on a pedestal and oblivious to the dangers of relying on abstractions. Marxist materialism, however, would focus on the elitism of thought which idealist values entail, observing the condescending nature of idealism that allows it to justify elevating existence above the world of subsistence labour. ‘The mind is to the body what the master is to the slave, the educated to the uneducated.’ In a society where one subjugates the labour of another, a world of ideas is considered a higher entity raised well above the grimy world of work, which does nothing

to acknowledge the material reality of class struggle and exploitation occurring in actuality. Addressing this reality remains a prerequisite to any progress society is to make, a prevailing problem which a materialist would have observed.

So far only the materialist aspect of dialectical materialism has been addressed. As for the dialectical half of Marx and Engel’s coinage, it is derived from an interesting phenomenon that the rigidity of logic can ignore the complication of matters and events, primarily in the example of Formal Logic. Formal Logic, which the Linnaean taxonomy and other modules of classification were based on, regards matter as generally fixed and motionless. When sorting organisms into species and orders this approach isn’t completely unforgiveable, but when dealing with more complicated events and movement Formal Logic makes oversimplifications and neglects change.

Materialists propose that motion has always been the mode of existence of matter, with the Earth revolving around its axis and the Earth revolving around the sun. Heraclitus presented the notion of fire being a symbol of that very motion and development through self-consumption, evincing a point that all matter is fluid and in ‘a state of flux’. Two thousand years later comes the Hegelian dialectic with Hegel’s clever triad of

IT IS NOT FAR-FETCHED TO CLAIM THAT MARXISM HAS UNDERGONE THE GROSSEST OF DISTORTIONS, ABSTRACTIONS, AND FALSIFICATIONS IN HISTORY.

dialectical stages of development – the thesis, its negation, and their reconciliation, which presents the idea that change is brought about by internal contradictions arising from an event. His contribution being: if one looks at history as an evolutionary concept, seeing it as a dynamic process of necessity which morphs into more sophisticated forms, we can tell how old ideas gradually conjured the multitude of new and diverse concepts we see in the world today.

However, it is important to clarify that his Unification of Truth through reason and the ‘Absolute Idea’ becomes highly idealistic, as it claims to transcend all contradictions in the world with an ultimate, higher synthesis, which also is an idea that ignores complexities and motion. Thus, through the lens of the dialectical theory of motion, nothing is absolute and without a transitory character, a method that enables us to spot nuance and anticipate change. In the 21st Century with its signature pessimistic zeitgeist, a conclusion the dialectician can draw is that humanity is not simply a pawn subjected to the forces of society, but that we are an active force within an active, material world. If we have the ability to change and progress, we have conscious control over our fate, and the human race is not predestined to be doomed; there will be no Armageddon, and Joshua will not blow his trumpet on Judgement Day.

Speaking of Hegel and an absolute, consider a question which Trotsky’s ABCs of a Materialist’s Dialectics poses: Does a pound of sugar equal a pound of sugar? A dialectician is very much in denial of this axiom, but not without valid reason. Though it appears that A = A is an undeniable truth, the same pound of sugar could always change in size, weight and colour, and upon closer inspection, and with the aid of a scale of greater precision, smaller nuances would always be revealed. Are they equal at the given moment then? Dialectics would argue that ‘moment’ – generally meaning a miniscule interval of time – is a mathematical abstraction describing a zero of time,

which does not exist. Everything exists in time, and even in the course of the ‘moment’ changes to the pound would take place. Trotsky goes on to explain that though we can never presume A = A, there is an exception, being when it is not necessary to point out the quantitative changes in A for the task at hand, like when a vendor and purchaser considers a pound of sugar in a trade or when a weather broadcaster presents the current temperature of the sun. This way, we are fully acknowledging the material nature of the sugar and its organic process of change, but also making certain allowances and being realistic in the context of daily life while making such clarifications.

those very same class struggles would lead it down its path to perdition.

If we are to speak of historical change, another dialectical view presents the idea that quantitative change would give rise to a subsequent qualitative change. What happens when water boils into hot vapour? The Quantity (temperature or number of degrees) is transformed into Quality (a change in state). Similarly, in a case of nuclear fission and fusion, the quantitative difference of the number of protons in the nucleus gives rise to a qualitative difference which changes the element into a heavier or lighter element altogether. Viewing the trends of this change can also be interesting.

Having established the inert property and lifelessness of Formal Logic, I present another interesting contribution from Hegel on the idea of the Unity of Opposites, a notion of non-duality and the co-existence of two opposite yet presupposing conditions within a field of tension. A metaphysician would think in absolute and irreconcilable antitheses, ignoring the fact that opposites can be organically linked or identical – consider static electricity where opposites charges attract, or positively charged nuclei repel each other but combine through nuclear fusion to release mass amounts of energy.

Hegel also describes cases of the Finite and Infinite, subjectivity and objectivity, and many other paradoxical pairs that complement and presuppose each other. If our two associated conditions are the development of capitalism and the existence of class antagonism, this idea would help draw a Marxist conclusion, that class antagonism gave rise to the emergence of capitalism, yet

Punctuated Equilibria is a dialectical breakthrough establishing that the evolution of species did not take place in a straight line, but through a long process of an organism accumulating changes then unlocking a higher state of being through successive, qualitative leaps. Single-cellular life roamed the Earth 3.6 billion years ago, underwent such leaps, and eventually culminated in the dominion of human beings with rationality and thought. We could view history in the same way: had the chauffeur of Archduke Franz Ferdinand taken the correct turn, could the needless bloodshed of the First World War have been avoided? A dialectician’s answer would be no.

Inter-European tensions have provided a solid material basis for the war, except its outbreak was expressed through accidence. Had it been another set of circumstances, another event would have equally triggered the outbreak, because the material conditions for the outbreak of war had long been established and became an inevitability. The origins of the recent Black Lives Matter movement is arguably another case of such kind, the material premise of the historical oppression of black people and institutionalised racism having been prepared in advance for years, the George Floyd incident then being a mere catalytic event that tipped it over the edge. Similarly, a strike taking place in a factory would

THE SAME POUND OF SUGAR COULD ALWAYS CHANGE IN SIZE, WEIGHT AND COLOUR, AND UPON CLOSER INSPECTION, AND WITH THE AID OF A SCALE OF GREATER PRECISION, SMALLER NUANCES WOULD ALWAYS BE REVEALED.

not be the result of simple agitators or short-term dissatisfactions, but of the historical change in mode of production, division of labour, the extraction of surplus with decades and even centuries in the making, quantum changes finally giving rise to a qualitative change pushing the labour force into strike action.

We speak of all things coming full circle. Since progress unfolds in a spiral process through a series of contradictions, we couldn’t help but notice that at each stage an event is being negated, only to be negated once more. A grain of barley grows into a plant, under specific material conditions (heat & moisture & sunlight); the grain’s existence is negated when it dies, but when it flowers, fertilises and produces more grains, it is negated again, but not with total elimination – it returns to the grain of barley, but no longer as its original version, but tenfold.

There came a time where I myself understood that the process of discovering life occurs in repeated negations. Suppose a teen gets told by the adults of their life never to mess with a centipede, which they initially obey, but then decide to debunk in rebellion and do the exact opposite; eventually they fall victim to its merciless poison and learn the hard way, deciding never

to cross another centipede again, going back to the old notion they had began with. They return to keeping their fair distance from the creature, but at a higher level of understanding and with a personal lesson learnt.

Bringing it back to humanity, the first negation occurs when primitive communism moves into class society with a capitalist mode of appropriation; however, when the contradictions of capitalism eventually arise and bring about its destruction, leaving the means of production ultimately in the

hands of the proletariat, the second negation would occur, when we are destined to return the earliest form of human society only on a significantly higher level.

The above describes the interesting ways in which a dialectical materialist world view can be used to observe and analyse real life as well as historical development and the contradictions arising from the capitalist mode of production, manifesting in the form of class struggle and rampant crisis as of today. The philosophy of dialectical materialism explains not only those contradictions, but also the interesting phenomena of life and enables us to draw wider conclusions on historical trends and the progress of humanity.

Not only true and orthodox Marxist beliefs, but countless other material realities have been watered down, or dismissed, leaving important questions long unanswered and crises long unresolved. A world of science and of deterministic awareness has no room for ambiguity and irresolution. A realistic presentation of the world void of mysticism, uncertainty and irrational pessimism needs to be acknowledged in the 21st Century. Capitalism or not, the material truth has got to be saluted.¢

A STRIKE TAKING PLACE IN A FACTORY WOULD NOT BE THE RESULT OF SIMPLE AGITATORS OR SHORT-TERM DISSATISFACTIONS, BUT OF THE HISTORICAL CHANGE THE MODE OF PRODUCTION.

THE MATERIAL PREMISE OF THE HISTORICAL OPPRESSION OF BLACK PEOPLE AND INSTITUTIONALISED RACISM HAVING BEEN PREPARED IN ADVANCE FOR YEARS, THE GEORGE FLOYD INCIDENT WAS THEN A MERE CATALYTIC EVENT THAT TIPPED IT OVER THE EDGE.

Body anxiety is caused by an individual’s negative perception of their figure. Social media platforms are convenient for people nowadays. It is a public field of communication, but also often invisibly increases the regulation of women’s bodies. Under pressure, women’s bodies have become the object of social media consumption, constantly being constructed as ‘anxiety’ itself, and the body health that should have been paid attention to has been alienated into the so-called ‘perfect body’.

The following is a simple analysis of the impact of social media on women’s body anxiety:

1. Relatively single aesthetic orientation

Under the influence of the Shenmei pop culture of ‘slimming as beauty’, society links women’s fat and thin figures to good and bad. Skinny women symbolize self-confidence, selfdiscipline, and success. In contrast, the others are labeled as lazy, and failures. More and more women begin to have a negative experience of their own bodies. Many female audiences are easily attracted by the figures of celebrities and social media influencers and follow suit.

2. Bloggers spreading anxiety intentionally or unintentionally

SKINNY WOMEN SYMBOLIZE SELF-CONFIDENCE, SELFDISCIPLINE, AND SUCCESS. IN CONTRAST, THE OTHERS ARE LABELED AS LAZY, AND FAILURES.

Today, when everyone can be selfmediated and a ‘healthy and perfect figure’ outputs an anxious mentality in order not to achieve such a figure, it is actually producing and spreading the anxiety symbol itself. The media is open and communicative so even personalized notes are exported outward and have a guiding effect. Moreover, spreading body anxiety brings invisible pressure on the audience.

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It’s about time women stopped being anxious because of social media body shaming, says SUMMER XU, and realise that health is the new beauty.

3. Forced to give in under information bombing

The media’s ability to give users accurate portraits is getting stronger and stronger. When you are remembered by big data, you will be accurately pushed some similar anxious notes about body shape. The assimilation of the standard concept of the young figure easily generates selfdoubt, and the anxiety mentality continues to increase. The blogger’s ‘perfect figure’ or the blogger sharing the comparison

SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS ARE CONVENIENT FOR PEOPLE NOWADAYS. IT IS A PUBLIC FIELD OF COMMUNICATION, BUT ALSO OFTEN INVISIBLY INCREASES THE REGULATION OF WOMEN’S BODIES.

picture before and after will stimulate the audience’s deformed slimming behaviour and adopt a radical slimming approach, resulting in both physical and psychological damage.

We need to see the selfawareness awakening of women. With the corresponding resistance of women, some people have begun to accept themselves and overcome their body anxiety. Body shape is not the only criterion for judging beauty, and health is the most important thing. Life is not only about losing weight, but also has more valuable things.

‘The world is not beautiful; therefore it is.’ (Kino’s Journey: The Beautiful World). ¢

THE BLOGGER’S ‘PERFECT FIGURE’ WILL STIMULATE THE AUDIENCE’S DEFORMED SLIMMING BEHAVIOUR AND ADOPT A RADICAL SLIMMING APPROACH.

Body shape is not the only criterion for judging beauty, and health is the most important thing.

Some people have begun to accept themselves and overcome their body anxiety.

From Heart the

Hong Kong is a densely populated metropolis with a rich cuisine that enjoys a vast conglomerate of flavours from all around the world. Given its international influence and connections, the possibilities are endless! Hong Kong food is mainly influenced by Cantonese, as well as European and other South Asian styles. But Hong Kongers have made them their own and added their own delicious twist. Here are some classic signature dishes that Hong Kong has grown to love over the years:

Egg Waffles

The iconic ‘egg waffle’ is a spherical egg-based waffle that originated from

Hong Kong and is widely popular in Macau. It is made of an egg-leavened batter fried between two plates with semi-spherical cells. Although they can be served as a savoury snack with fruit and flavours like strawberry, coconut, or chocolate, they are often served hot and consumed plain.

Dim Sum

Translated from Chinese, ‘dim sum’ directly translates as ‘touch the heart’. The hardworking chefs get to work before the crack of

dawn to prepare delicious and steamy dishes, aiming to ‘touch the heart’ of customers. Dim sum restaurants typically serve a wide range of dishes. In fact, they serve up to a couple of dozen types per day, each unique and distinct. Traditionally, they are offered to customers on steamheated carts. Drinking traditional Chinese tea is an important ritual in going to ‘yum cha’, which literally means ‘drink tea’. Many families go to diners that serve dim sum for family

HONG KONG FOOD IS MAINLY INFLUENCED BY CANTONESE, AS WELL AS EUROPEAN AND OTHER SOUTH ASIAN STYLES.

JULIA WU wants us to know that Hong Kong is about food as much as money.

gatherings to catch up over dim sums and tea. Some popular dishes are: har gow (shrimp dumplings); siu mai (pork dumplings); and fung zao (chicken feet).

Wonton with Noodles

Egg noodles are typically served in a hot broth and topped with wonton dumplings and green vegetables. Common green vegetable varieties include ‘gai-lan’, commonly referred to as Chinese broccoli or Chinese kale. Sometimes wontons could be replaced with a type of dumpling called ‘shui jiao’. Hong Kong wontons are known for being 70% prawn, the other 30% pork or chicken, and spring onion.

Egg Tarts & Pineapple Buns

Egg tarts are a type of custard tart derived from the English custard tart and the Portuguese ‘Pastel de Nata’. The dish consists of an outer pastry crust filled with egg custard. Egg tarts are often served in dim sum restaurants, local bakeries and Hong Kong style cafés. Pineapple Buns are Hong Kongoriginated pastries sold in bakeries. Despite being referred to as a ‘pineapple bun’, the traditional version does not consist of pineapples. The tart’s sugary top crust is baked to a golden-brown colour, and its checkered top resembles the skin of a pineapple, hence the name. There is a buttered variant with a stick of butter in the bun.

TRANSLATED FROM CHINESE, ‘DIM SUM’ DIRECTLY TRANSLATES ‘TOUCH THE HEART’.

Many families go to diners that serve dim sum for family gatherings to catch up over dim sums and tea.

THE TART’S SUGARY TOP CRUST IS BAKED TO A GOLDEN-BROWN COLOUR, AND ITS CHECKERED TOP RESEMBLES THE SKIN OF A PINEAPPLE, HENCE THE NAME.

It has been a long time coming, but my dad’s meadow suddenly unfolds into a warm, fuzzy tapestry of flowers. The flaxen grasses flex in the breeze, whilst the leaves of an old oak flutter like the wings of a red admiral. The hazy summer evening is not complete without sneezes of hay fever and bubbles of lemonade.

But within a matter of days, a cloud of pesticides from the fields adjacent to the house chokes all life in the garden. The gentle humming and chirping of insects and birds is drowned out by a cacophony of roaring tractors. On dog walks I begin to comprehend the miles of cereal crops and arid soil blowing off the cracked ground. This is when I first truly see the countryside for what it is.

native mammals are at risk of extinction and, between 2015 and 2020, 48% of bird species were in decline. Whether this be due to agriculture, urbanisation or industrialisation, it is shocking that a country which pledged to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 has placed its own wildlife in jeopardy.

IT IS SHOCKING THAT A COUNTRY WHICH PLEDGED TO REACH NET ZERO GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS BY 2050 HAS PLACED ITS OWN WILDLIFE IN JEOPARDY.

Rewilding offers a paradigm shift in the coexistence of humans, animals and plants, which aims to restore Britain to its original natural self. By reconnecting ourselves to nature, we can help restore natural processes and create the conditions for nature to prosper again. This may include re-introducing native species, expanding woodland, giving back agricultural land, or allowing waterways to follow their natural courses.

Our so-called green and pleasant land was once a thriving ecosystem but recently Britain was rated in the bottom 10% on the biodiversity intactness index. To put this into perspective, 11 out of 47

However, the more one delves into rewilding, the more it seems a quixotic solution created by the starry-eyed middle class. Perhaps rewilders are romanticising.

FRED BOSLEY is worried that rewilding might be merely a quixotic solution to climate change created by the starryeyed middle class.

Perhaps now it is all the rage, soon to be forgotten. Or perhaps this tremendously optimistic approach to conservation and sustainability is exactly what we need to save our countryside.

There is some ambiguity to the term ‘rewilding’. Whilst some associate it with lynx and wolves terrorising dog walkers up and down the country, others believe it is as simple as nomow May. We obviously need a happy medium between the two. And we need to make everyone feel like they can make a significant difference. A small garden doesn’t mean you cannot make an impact. Isabella Tree (the custodian of the Knepp Estate rewilding project) recently said that you do not need a vast estate to make a difference; you can instead apply rewilding principles to your own

garden. Be messy, create habitats, plant pollen-rich flowers and get rid of your cat!

The main risk of rewilding farmland is that it would move offshore food production to countries with even lower environmental standards.

Shockingly, according to Guy Shrubsole, author of environmental bestseller, Who Owns England, half of the land in England is owned by only 25,000 landowners. Although this is so few people, there are rewilding efforts that show we can improve nature in our own communities, especially in or close to urban environments.

Noddle Hill in North Bransolme is within a hundred yards of Hull’s largest council estate. Thanks to local campaigners, the previously abandoned site was turned into a nature reserve, along with support from the council, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and Natural England. Presently, the reserve is scrubland dotted with wetland and could develop into woodland in years to come. Most importantly, it is local volunteers who keep this project alive and residents who established it in the first place. Ecologist Richard Broughton says that

On dog walks I begin to comprehend the miles of cereal crops and arid soil blowing off the cracked ground.

WHILST SOME ASSOCIATE IT WITH LYNX AND WOLVES TERRORISING DOG WALKERS UP AND DOWN THE COUNTRY, OTHERS BELIEVE IT IS AS SIMPLE AS NOMOW MAY.

‘it’s an authentic working class success story.’ It is truly an example of the people of England taking back control of their environment.

However, if rewilding only works near urban environments in small areas, this won’t make room for key aspects of rewilding, such as species reintroduction. 72% of land in the UK is agricultural, so for true rewilding much of this land will have to be used. Again, this is where the dreams of ecowarriors and farmers clash. The main risk of rewilding farmland is that it would move offshore food production to countries with even lower environmental standards than ours. On a global scale, this could destroy the remaining ecosystems that we still have, causing more harm than good.

Overall, rewilding may be something for the near future, after we have made our farming methods more sustainable and efficient. It is not something to rush into. With that said, as creatures of habit, we seem to apply the phrase ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ to the ways we manage land in the UK, but now it is time to have more respect for our green and pleasant land. ¢

A SMALL GARDEN DOESN’T MEAN YOU CANNOT MAKE AN IMPACT.

You can apply rewilding principles to your own garden. Be messy, create habitats, plant pollen-rich flowers.

PERHAPS THIS TREMENDOUSLY OPTIMISTIC APPROACH TO CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY IS EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED TO SAVE OUR COUNTRYSIDE.

of War Words

ANTON DAVIES asks whether Orwell or Hemingway captured La Guerra Civil Española correctly.

The Spanish Civil War comprised a military revolt against the republican government led by fascist troops under General Francisco Franco. It lasted from 1936 to 1939, when Franco won the war and assumed power.

While the war was contained within Spain, the fascists received support from Nazi Germany and Italy, and the republicans received support from the Soviet Union and the International Brigades (volunteer soldiers from Western Europe and the United States of America). The members of the International Brigade travelled to Spain to protect western democracy against the growing threat of fascism in Europe, George Orwell being one. Orwell reports his time fighting in the International Brigade in his memoir Homage to Catalonia (1938).

Ernest Hemingway also travelled to Spain during this period, as a journalist, but writes his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) from the perspective of a fictional character, Robert Jordan, who is a member of the International Brigade.

For Whom the Bell Tolls follows Robert Jordan as he navigates guerrilla warfare in the Spanish mountains, having been given the task of blowing up a bridge under Fascist control. On a basic level, the fact that the novel is fictional immediately allows for some level of romanticisation as the primary aim of the book is to

engage the reader in the plot, in contrast to Homage to Catalonia

Furthermore, throughout the first half of the novel war feels distant and more part of the setting than the narrative. Instead, the reader is getting an insight into the characters living through the war and their everyday lives and conversations. Nonetheless, this is not necessarily romanticising the war but demonstrating how life is continuing and shedding light on how much of the war was stagnant and drawn out, an idea also touched upon by Orwell.

Where the novel starts to idealise the life of a soldier more is through the way Robert Jordan indulges himself in both food and sex. There are long descriptions of the mealtimes in this cave in which Robert Jordan and a few other characters have settled, as well as references to the absinthe he is drinking. He also has a love interest, Maria, with whom he shares a sexual relationship; under the backdrop of war this relationship appears as more exciting and their desire for each other is stronger. Hemingway celebrates the indulgent lifestyle of his characters under the Mediterranean sun, and this is further portrayed in his other novel, The Sun also Rises, which is arguably a more romantic portrayal of Spanish life.

MEMBERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL BRIGADE TRAVELLED TO SPAIN TO PROTECT WESTERN DEMOCRACY AGAINST THE GROWING THREAT OF FASCISM IN EUROPE.

‘HOMAGE TO CATALONIA’ HAS A MUCH MORE STARK, HONEST TONE BECAUSE IT IS MEANT TO BE AN UNFILTERED DEPICTION OF ORWELL’S TIME FIGHTING IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR.

The fascists received support from Nazi Germany and Italy, and the republicans received support from the Soviet Union and the International Brigades.

From the outset, however, there is an underlying feeling of tragedy amongst the characters. Robert Jordan is told stories of massacres and the way Maria has been abused. Whilst Robert and Maria’s relationship is passionate and exciting, it seems as though it will not survive the war. Therefore, behind these glamourised depictions of Spanish life there is a mournful sense of what is being destroyed by the civil war and the human cost, as shown by the title itself.

There is a turning point in the novel when Robert kills his first fascist and, from this point onwards, violence predominates. There is a clear shift from the romanticised portrayal of Spanish life into the brutality of the war. Through this, perhaps Hemingway is using this romanticisation in the first half of the novel to reflect Robert Jordan’s naivety surrounding the war, which is then shattered by its bloody reality that he is thrust into.

THERE IS A CLEAR SHIFT FROM THE ROMANTICISED PORTRAYAL OF SPANISH LIFE INTO THE BRUTALITY OF THE WAR.

There are long descriptions of the mealtimes in this cave in which Robert Jordan and a few other characters have settled.

Homage to Catalonia has a much more stark, honest tone because it is meant to be an unfiltered depiction of Orwell’s time fighting in the Spanish Civil War. However, the start of the novel reflects For Whom the Bell Tolls in the eagerness that Orwell shows to fight. He states he was disappointed when he found out he couldn’t use a machine gun as well as when he discovers how stagnant the front line of the battle is. In this way, however, he is not romanticising the war but shedding light on how many members of the International Brigades travelled to Spain with this heroic picture of war in their head, which is simply not true.

Orwell does also appreciate the Spanish culture and way of life but through a sad film; he mainly respects their stoicism through such a tragic and destructive time and by no means portrays it as romantic. Like For Whom the Bell Tolls, Homage to Catalonia has a turning point in which Orwell realises that the communist party in Spain, for whom he is fighting, is not free from corruption either. Thus, he realises how his sense that he was fighting against corruption and oppression was idyllic and recognises how he himself has had a potentially naïve and romantic perception of the war.

Behind these glamourised depictions of Spanish life there is a mournful sense of what is being destroyed by the civil war and the human cost.

It is estimated that 40,000 to 59,000 volunteers served in the International Brigades.

It is estimated that 40,000 to 59,000 volunteers served in the International Brigades. Therefore, undoubtedly there was to some degree a heroic perception of the war for so many people to go to Spain. Orwell underlines this through his own shift in attitude and so does Hemingway in a more subtle way by choosing to write the novel from the perspective of Robert Jordan (in third person narrative) who is, unquestionably, innocent about the true horrors of the Spanish Civil War.

So, Orwell does not romanticise the Spanish Civil War but recognises the way it has been romanticised. Hemingway, on the other hand, certainly does romanticise the life of a soldier at war but uses this romanticisation as a device to underline the naivety of many of the men choosing to go and fight on the battlefields of Spain. ¢

ORWELL DOES ALSO APPRECIATE THE SPANISH CULTURE AND WAY OF LIFE BUT THROUGH A SAD FILM; HE MAINLY RESPECTS THEIR STOICISM THROUGH SUCH A TRAGIC AND DESTRUCTIVE TIME.

ORWELL WAS DISAPPOINTED WHEN HE FOUND OUT HE COULDN’T USE A MACHINE GUN AS WELL AS WHEN HE DISCOVERS HOW STAGNANT THE FRONT LINE OF THE BATTLE IS.

Valley of the Fallen - Memorial dedicated to victims of the Spanish Civil War.