Concrete 351

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>> UEA is back to work, but what now?

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>>Threshold raised for student loans

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>> Obesity: a

BIG problem?

? ? ? ? ?

17th April 2018 Issue 351

The official student newspaper of the University of East Anglia | concrete-online.co.uk

"What happens on tour, stays on tour..."

Netball club force members to drink, lick the floor, and "be quiet" Emily Hawkins Editor-in-Chief Whilst on tour, a sport club allegedly issued a list of rules to new members.

These included instructions to lick the floor, finish a drink even if something was dropped in it, and complete any challenges.

Sport clubs participated in an annual tour trip, this year in Croatia.

Appearing to be from the UEA Netball club, a list instructs ‘tour freshers’ to participate in fifteen rules, worn around members’ necks on a lanyard. “Failure to present your card will result in serious punishment,” it states.

The rules include demands that girls “must be quiet” when “older girls” and committee members are speaking, and, “No complaints to any older girls”.

Some of the rules are specific to drinking: “If an older girl drops something in your drink you must see it off.”

Other rules include reacting to the random yelling of phrases.

If a committee member yells “WALKIES”, members must “get

down on all fours and be clipped onto a lead, and walk as if you were a dog, until told otherwise”.

SU Activities and Opportunities Officer Cam Koosyial said she could not comment directly on the allegations or any ongoing investigations. However, she said the SU had strict rules banning initiation activity and class it as harassment.

"If an older girl drops something in your drink you must see it off" The SU define an initiation as “an event or trip where members (often new members) of a group are expected to perform a task or tasks as a means of gaining credibility, status or entry within that club that may involve peer pressure (though not explicitly) exerted on students."

The definition states initiation activity “may compromise a person’s inherent dignity as a person by expecting, forcing or requiring

an individual to drink alcohol, eat mixtures of various food stuffs, nudity and behaviour that may be deemed humiliating”.

“We do have a zero tolerance to this kind of behaviour and ensure student groups are appropriately informed in these areas. Because of this, action taken can include sanctions relating specifically to the group- but also can include wider serious SU and University sanctions.

As a result, those responsible for the actions of the group can also be jointly and severally liable for its activities.”

UEA SU has been working with British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) on their campaign to make sport inclusive and accessible to all students. The #TakeAStand charter, signed by UEA teams, declares: “Every student should feel included and part of a team if they so wish. We will ensure that no sports club activity involves forced alcohol consumption, ‘initiation style’ behaviour or any derogatory activity.”

UEA Netball representatives said they were not aware of such rules and declined to comment.

Gender pay gap almost 20% at UEA Matthew Nixon News Editor Women at UEA are paid nearly 20 percent less than men, a statistic the university has admitted it is disappointed with.

A report published in a national government mandated audit revealed women are paid 18.93 percent less than men as a mean overall gender pay gap. This works out to a rate of £14.86 per hour for women, compared to £18.33 per hour for men.

A median gender pay gap of 30.15 percent was found, 11.75 percent higher than the national average of 18.4 percent. According to calculations made by The Guardian, this pay gap of 30.15 percent means UEA effectively stops paying women by 12 September in a calendar year.

In terms of bonuses, year on year women recieve a mean bonus of £2,308, compared to £7,986 for men. However, men and women are likely to receive bonuses at a similar rate of about two percent.

The university stressed it is

“confident that men and women are paid equally for doing equivalent jobs across the University”. They claimed the gender pay gap has more complex origins.

UEA’s own analysis suggested differences are largely because lower paid roles are typically occupied by women. The university said their high rate of student employment (who are paid less and are mostly female) affects the final results.

According to Sarah Barrow, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Equality and Diversity at UEA, a more

representative way of judging whether the University is meeting its equality obligations is to compare on a job by job basis.

“We are confident and can demonstrate that men and women receive equivalent pay where they undertake the same or similar roles,” she said, adding: “Our equal pay audit is conducted every two years and we carry out robust job evaluation methodologies to ensure people are paid according to the levels of responsibility within their roles.”

“This first gender pay gap report

highlights that we have much more work to do in certain areas [...]

However, the gender pay gap does not mean staff are not paid equally for doing the same job.”

A large factor driving the differences in pay and bonuses is that more men tend to work in higher, administrative positions at UEA. Concrete’s analysis of the report found, despite the fact UEA employs over 900 more women than

Continued on page three

17th April 2018

2

Editorial Listen to Dua

The University of East Anglia’s Official Student newspaper since 1992

Lipa, we need

Tuesday 17th April 2018 Issue 351 Union House University of East Anglia Norwich NR4 7TJ

new rules Sophie Bunce Deputy Editor

Photo: Yutian Lei, modified by Sophie Bunce

Talking panic, peer pressure, and pay gaps Emily Hawkins Editor-in-Chief

Welcome back to the last term of the academic year! Entering into my final term at UEA is a scary, as well as exhausting and exciting, prospect. If you’re a third year like me then your Easter break will have been filled with dissertation writing, job applications, and a general sense of existential dread that your time as a StudentTM is nearly to its end.

A personal highlight this fortnight can be found on page 17, with Comment editor Jack Ashton’s reflections on turning 21. It’s ok to not have everything figured out, he concludes, after reflecting the anxiety of most third years I know (“Panic. Panic. Panic”). In a similar vein, Features writer Dorothy Reddin debates work or travel, on page 10. It’s ultimately fine to not have a plan for what you’re doing after graduation, and even though it may seem like everyone else has already received 32 job offers and found the perfect post-uni life for them, the majority of people are in exactly the same boat. (The “Panic.

Panic. Panic boat, that is).

In our front page story this week, News editor Matt Nixon spoke to UEA staff and students for their views on the university’s gender pay gap situation. It can be an elusive issue to get to the root of. Some argue that if women aren’t being paid the same it’s because women don’t want to work the same.

Women want families and children

and Nectar cards. It’s obviously not that simple.

UEA are rightly the first to admit in this case that they have a problem when it comes to the distribution of top jobs. The gender pay gap issue is one that has stirred campus conversation across the country, and so hopefully UEA will join other universities in leading the way in examining the complicated reasons behind such alarming statistics.

"UEA are rightly the first to admit in this case that they have a problem when it comes to the distribution of top jobs" If talking about graduation and societal inequalities is enough to make you want to hide under your duvet for the foreseeable future, our Sport editors are looking ahead to brighter days.

On pages 21 and 22, they have looked at a few of the teams eager to play against Essex on Derby Day next fortnight. UEA are playing to win for the sixth time in a row. This year the event will be at Essex. I’ll

leave speculation about sport to section co-editor Soph'e Christian, who gives her analysis and predictions for the day on page 21.

One thing that’s certain is that UEA’s Media Collective will be covering the day from start till finish, dawn to dusk (literally).

Concrete’s reporters will be live-blogging scores from 9am on Wednesday 25th April, on our website concrete-online.co.uk.

We’re working with UEA:TV and Livewire to report all the excitement of the day back to campus: if you see a roving reporter on the day, say hi! If you’ll be in Norwich, perhaps stuck in the Library frantically typing a summative or job application, you can keep up to date by following the Concrete liveblog and the UEA Media Collective’s social media throughout the day.

Unfortunately, university sport clubs in the UK have faced a litany of allegations about hazing and peer pressure. Stories of incidents, such as our front page this week, are not the way anyone wants to think about university sport, especially at UEA. Finally, I’d like to say well done to the Concrete writers shortlisted for Student Publication Association awards a few weeks ago. Concrete made it onto the shortlist for ten awards overall, including Best Publication and Best Design.

This is a testament to the hard work and enthusiasm student volunteers put in every fortnight.

(Thank you also to the lovely Gair Rhydd for hosting the team at the SPA’s national conference in Cardiff!).

Last weekend, Beyoncé became the first black woman to headline Coachella, this week Concrete reports on an almost 20 percent gender pay gap. The news of a nationwide gender pay gap was infuriating, but to find it at UEA put our female student’s futures into question. For every step forwards, the patriarchy is pulling us back. I think we can all agree we need change. We need new rules.

But what we don’t need, is Amber Davies. On page 16, Jessica Cappi looks at the reality TV stars’ ideas in ‘No to Amber Davies’ new rules.’ I’d like to think Amber’s heart was in the right place, but speaking from her position of influence, with such blinding ignorance, is as embarrassing as it is dangerous. I’m all for self-respect Amber, but not how you’re packaging it. As Jessica’s article says - with consent and contraception there’s “no harm in filing your casual sex boots.”

A new rule that I am all for, however, is the sugar tax. I come from a family obsessed with sugar. Not a meal goes by without my mother wondering how many teaspoons of it sit in our dinner. Where I will shamelessly ignore Amber's rules that return women to a pre-fifties like code of conduct, the sugar tax is a rule I can get on board with. Read “Tax leaves cavity in wallets” on page 15 for Rosie Burgoyne’s summary of the changes and how it will hit your student wallet.

Talking all things new, Concrete is getting ready to hand the reins to next year’s team. We don’t know who they are yet, but keep your eyes on our Facebook page, as applications open soon.

Let's welcome a new team and new (logical) rules. Let's do Dua proud.

concrete-online.co.uk Concrete_UEA concreteuea

01603 593466 www.concrete-online.co.uk Editor-in-Chief Emily Hawkins concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk Deputy Editor Sophie Bunce concrete.deputy@uea.ac.uk Online Jacob Chamberlain Natalie Cotterill concrete.online@uea.ac.uk News News Editor: Matt Nixon Senior Reporter: Shannon McDonagh concrete.news@uea.ac.uk Global Eddie Booth concrete.global@uea.ac.uk Features Tony Allen Amy Newbery concrete.features@uea.ac.uk Comment Jack Ashton concrete.comment@uea.ac.uk Finance Finance Editor: Matt Denton Senior Reporter: Will Richardson concrete.finance@uea.ac.uk Science Science Editor: Beth Papworth Senior Reporter: Alex Millard concrete.scienv@uea.ac.uk Travel Beverly Devakishen concrete.travel@uea.ac.uk Sport Daniel Cook Sophie Christian concrete.sport@uea.ac.uk Chief Copy-Editors Hannah Brown Sophie Clayton concrete.copy@uea.ac.uk Marketing and Events Amelia Rentell Social Media Freddie Carty Art and Design Emily Mildren concrete.artdesign@uea.ac.uk

concrete_UEA Front page: Jude Lee, Flickr; (Boxes), Mia Shah.

Editorial Enquiries Complaints & Corrections concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk

No part of this newspaper may be reproduced by any means without the permission of the Editor-in-Chief, Emily Hawkins. Published by the Union of UEA Students on behalf of Concrete. Concrete is a UUEAS society, but retains editorial independence as regards to any content. Opinions expressed herein are those of individual writers, not of Concrete or its editorial team.

News

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17th April 2018

UEA is back to work, but what now?

Photo: Mia Shah

Shannon McDonagh Senior News Reporter After accepting a new pensions offer, the university staff union announced there will be no further strikes. Questions on the impact of the strike action on learning are now being made to university chiefs as the assessment period approaches.

An e-ballot, distributed to University and College Union (UCU) members across the country, resulted in a vote of 64 percent to 36 percent, with a record breaking turnout of 63.5 percent.

The union confirmed members’ agreement means a joint expert panel will be set up to re-examine the valuation of the pension scheme and make recommendations on future proposals.

UEA’s Vice-Chancellor Professor David Richardson welcomed the result, adding he was “relieved that a way forward has been found”.

“The result is good news and hopefully it will provide reassurance for our students as we enter the exam period; and to our staff who have concerns about their pensions."

Initial responses to the latest offer by the Universities UK, the employer's body, in March were welcoming. Members of staff used social media to express that they had “won” a battle for preservation of the ‘defined benefit’ aspect of their pension scheme.

Continued from front page men, 60 percent of all male staff are working within the top two bands of pay. This is compared to only 43.1 percent of women.

A spokesperson for UEA told Concrete the gap was “something we seek to address.”

They said: “The reasons for the pay gap are not just complex they are also profoundly rooted in societal attitudes which we are contributing

However, after further scrutiny many union branches stated a desire for a “revised and resubmitted” offer, hence UCU’s decision to take action in accurately gauging the desires of its members via e-ballot.

Speaking to Concrete on the outcome of the ballot, UEA UCU’s Pensions Representative Amanda Williams said the record turnout was “the best news of all”.

"I can’t help but worry" “It means that UUK know that although we are prepared to work with them to find a solution there is a huge level of critical scrutiny of what happens now,” she said.

Prof Richardson described the joint panel as “a good opportunity for UCU and UUK to work together and come to a shared understanding of the USS 2017 valuation.”

Following the news of a ‘Yes’ vote, Universities UK confirmed that “current pension benefits are guaranteed until 1 April 2019”, adding that “reviewing the methodology and assumptions in the current valuation will build confidence, trust and increase transparency in the valuation process.”

The impact of last semester’s 14 days of strike action on student learning is still unclear. An exclusive to changing, for example, through our extensive commitment equality in recruitment at all levels and to Athena SWAN, and that these will take time to shift.”

UEA’s Feminist Society criticised the university for doing less to put women in top positions.

A representative said: “Pay gaps are a symptom of systemic inequality and the university must look closer into the phenomenon in order to remedy it.

“It's not as simple as consciously paying women less, but rather a

Concrete poll at the start of the action found a majority of UEA students expressed support towards the strike. Whilst this appears to be a consistent sentiment across campus, concerns from students are mounting as deadlines and exams approach.

The unknown effectiveness of the university’s proposed mitigation action, the distribution of strike funds and lack of clarity over deadline dates and exam content are all critical sources of unease for many.

One third year English and American Literature student described the circumstances surrounding their final months at

UEA as “disheartening”. They added they “did not always feel comfortable contacting members complex sociological occurrence that has caused widespread pay gaps.

"Pay gaps are a symptom of systemic inequality" "To understand fully what they are establishing, universities should

of staff that were striking” and that they hadn’t seen most of their tutors “in months”.

Another student, a Politics first year, said that “although we’ve had some communication from lecturers and tutors about omitting topics we weren’t taught due to strikes I can’t help but worry.

“A lot of the module material is inevitably linked and I’m afraid I’m missing important gaps.”

In response to student worries, UEA(su) have organised a Q&A session to give students an opportunity to raise questions to the Vice-Chancellor, UCU representatives a n d representatives of the Students Union.

This will take place this Thursday in the Hive from 9:30am.

A questionnaire available on the SU website also asks for suggestions on what UEA should do with its strike fund.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: “‘We hope this important agreement will hearten workers across the UK fighting to defend their pension rights and was won through the amazing strike action of UCU members.

“UCU has more work to do to

ensure that the agreement delivers the security in retirement that university staff deserve.”

Around 150 people gathered in the city before the Easter break to rally in support of staff on strike.

A Phd student in the school of Education, James Craske, said he and his colleagues wanted to be in a valued profession, but felt as if that was not necessarily guaranteed.

“We’re all at a stage of our lives where we’re going to end up in higher education work, pensions for the next 40 years are going to be something we’ll be paying into.

There’s a lot of insecurity, it’s very precarious.

“There’s a lot of anxious energy amongst Associate Tutors and others, hence why there’s been a large cohort of ATs on the picket line everyday,” he said.

The MP for Norwich South, Clive Lewis, told Concrete at the rally he gave striking staff his full support.

"I think it's important to understand why this strike is happening. It's not just about the future pensions of your lecturers, it is also about the state of education."

He said he knew some students who thought the strikes were wrong as they pay for an education.

"One day, you'll be expecting a pension and pay of some kind, and if things don't quite work out, you're not going to be happy. In many ways, lecturers are fighting for your future," he added.

research their own cultural attitudes towards recruitment, progression and leadership.”

The Equality Officer for UEA’s UCU branch, Susan Sayce, suggested the university should investigate “the area of admin to examine whether gender bias is being reinforced through organisational culture and values.”

“If there is a limited pipeline of women coming through to senior roles they examine underlying reasons for this, different departments may have different

histories of supporting women to progress,” Ms Sayce said. She suggested mentoring was one solution.

SU Welfare Community and Diversity Officer, India Edwards, said it seemed like the university had made “excuses” about gender and pay.

“These reflect problematic assumptions about what “counts” as men’s work and women’s work, and the long term problem in supporting women into leadership roles,” she added.

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17th April 2018

News Half of all students witness racism at university, says study Camomile Shumba News Reporter Over half of all students at UK universities have witnessed racism, and nearly a third of students have personally experienced racism on campus, according to research by online education forum The Student Room.

"One in ten students face racist incidences on a daily basis" In an online poll seeking to highlight the experiences of 1,000 students across the country, it also emerged that one in ten students face racist incidents on a daily basis, and unfortunately many remain silent.

The study suggested the most common experiences of racism at university included verbal abuse and off-hand or “casually” racist comments. Exclusion from social events also ranked in the most common experiences of racism.

The survey launched on March

News in brief Livewire host student radio conference

UEA’s student radio station Livewire1350 hosted this year’s Student Radio Conference at the beginning of the month. The threeday event celebrates progression in student radio across the UK. The event lasted from 4-6 April, and was an opportunity for 250 students from 30 stations to develop skills, share ideas, and learn about radio from professionals in the industry.

Professionals attending the event included Radio 1 presenters Charlie Sloth and Matt Edmondson, producer Tim Johns, and Livewire alumni, who all gave talks on their journey into radio, top tips on succeeding in the industry, and how student radio helped them into the positions they are in now.

An awards evening took place, with Livewire winning Best Outreach Programme for their Traditions project, a podcast in collaboration with AgeUK where station members talk with Norwich’s elderly on how times have changed. Livewire were highly commended for two more awards.

Two new awards were up for grabs this year: Student Radio Team of the Year and Hero of the Moment, which respectively went to Southampton’s Surge Radio and Jack Biggin from Leeds Student Radio.

Jordan Hunnisett

23 following a string of In August last year, regulations.” racist incidences at UEA launched an SU Ethnic Minorities Officer universities over investigation after Amanie Mathurin said, “It’s crucial the last few Ms. Forbes that Uni management takes real months. exposed a steps in the coming months to At the s t u d e n t ’ s diversify our curriculum and staff, beginning F a c e b o o k and ensures that BaME students of March, post which can’t just get into UEA but can also f o o t a g e d e s c r i b e d get on.” emerged of a b l a c k Rafah Momo, a first-year Nottingham people as International Development student, Trent student “ a g g r e s s i v e ” spoke to Concrete about her facing racist and “full personal experiences with racism at chants outside of hatred, UEA. of her student vengeance, and “If you are white you are a blank Photo: Tomas Brice accommodation. prejudice”. canvas,” she said. “But if you are At the University of Speaking then, the olive, brown, or black, your canvas Exeter, members of a student director of student support is painted for you.” law society were suspended for services Dr Jon Sharp said UEA Rafah recalled one meeting she allegedly making racist comments has a zero-tolerance policy to had with a member of university in a WhatsApp group which was incidents of this nature. staff, where she had hoped shared online.

“We take any to discuss future career Quenelle Forbes, the ethnic incident of this options but claims diversity officer for UEA’s African kind extremely her ethnicity was Caribbean Society (ACS), believes seriously,” he assumed and the racism is not “handled correctly” said, adding conversation was at and said more can be done to “UEA has derailed. promote confidence among Black a diverse “I had and Minority Ethnic (BAME) c a m p u s worked very groups. community hard and was She said: “The university can and all very excited do so much more to promote racial students are to make this equality, yet they’re not doing it. expected to appointment,” she It shouldn’t be down to just the treat others with said. “Upon meeting cultural societies to promote racial respect, according me the member of equality.” to our student Photo: Rafah Momo staff suggested that I

had a good chance as I am female, disabled, and Asian. I am not Asian.”

“She assumed my ethnicity and then made my merit perish. The one hour meeting became a meeting in which I was being educated on how to sell being an ethnic minority, female, and disabled.”

"If you are olive, brown, or black, your canvas is painted for you" Unfortunately experiences like Rafah’s are not uncommon across the country. Just two weeks ago, a group of students from the university of Exeter wrote to The Guardian outlining their experiences of racism, and are currently lobbying all UK universities to take urgent action against racism.

“These incidents are happening all the time but they are not all visible,” they said. “There will be other group chats and other incidents of intimidation but we will not always see the prejudice.

“There needs to be a big systemic change in the way academic institutions deal with racism.”

Delegates protest at NUS national conference Seàn Bennett News Reporter The National Union of Students (NUS) held their annual National Conference at the end of last month.

"The event was interrupted and subsequently closed when delegates occupied the stage" The event played host to fresh elections for a number of NUS officers and served as the national platform for motions to be voted on, yet was marred by controversy and protests surrounding the current committee and an apparent lack of time allocated to debate important motions.

According to Jack Robinson, SU Campaigns and Democracy Officer (pictured), the event was largely positive.

“The Conference debated and agreed several important policies – including tackling Student Hardship in the fees review, protecting the right of SUs to ban hate speakers, and ensuring that SUs remain political,” he said.

Photo: NUS UK, Flickr “Our UEA delegation was pretty united on the core issues – but we were divided on whether NUS should call for a second Brexit referendum once the detail of the ‘deal’ is known.

"In the end NUS backed that call [for a second referendum] and will campaign for it next academic year.”

However, the event was interrupted and subsequently closed when delegates occupied the stage and mounted a sit-in to protest the lack of time afforded to certain motions for debate.

A number of welfare motions were reportedly passed over and not debated at all, which prompted

the protests.

The disturbance led to the conference being shut down and an evacuation of all present. The event eventually reopened with a ‘revised agenda’.

The protest came on top of allegations that the newly re-elected NUS president Shakira Martin created an ‘atmosphere of bullying’ during her last term and further claims that some of her presidential acceptance speech was plagiarized from the TV drama ‘The West Wing’.

Commenting on the matter, Jack Robinson said: “Allegations surrounding Shakira creating an atmosphere of bullying that have

appeared in the media appear to be unsubstantiated - just like here at the SU we would expect a proper process to investigate these and determine if they’re true.”

Robinson also claimed the criticism towards Martin’s speech was a distraction from real issues.

He said “[The] suggestion that 20 seconds of Shakira’s speech were similar to a TV show distract from the real issue she was pointing outthat knife crime is rife in the UK, that students in Universities and Colleges both have a right to feel safe and that education is the key to ensuring that people can escape a cycle of poverty and crime.”

17th April 2018

5

News

'Severe drop' in domestic university applications Hannah Brown News Reporter

The percentage of university applications made in the UK this autumn has dropped by two percent compared to last year, with 12,420 less domestic students applying for higher education, according to the newest figures from UCAS.

"By comparison, there has been a surge in the number of international students" By comparison, there has been a surge in the number of international students applying to UK universities with 7,260 more students applying from the EU and rest of the world than in the year before.

Whilst the two percent fall in domestic students applying for university might seem concerning at first, it is mostly due to the fact there are fewer 18-year-olds in the population able to go to university this year.

However, a severe drop has also

Photo: Megan Baynes been seen in the number of older students applying to go to university this year.

In particular, concern has been expressed towards nursing courses, which saw a dramatic ten percent decrease in applications.

This is thought to be due to the switch from NHS bursaries to tuition fees leading people to not

be as willing to take on nursing, prompting worry for the future.

UCAS has since urged the government to prioritise the needs of mature students in its review of Higher Education funding in the UK. These worrying figures don’t remove the fact that nearly 40 percent of 18-year-olds in the UK

are applying for university, equating to over 230,000 applications.

Nevertheless, the decline in applications may produce a cause for concern for higher education, despite UCAS insisting that there is still a strong demand, especially with the potential, and currently unknown, damning effect of Brexit.

Clare Marchant, the CEO of

UCAS, said: “Today’s figures show the enduring attraction of a full-time degree for young people and the desirability of UK higher education to students from around the world.

“While this is undoubtedly good news, we must not overlook the continuing fall in applications from older UK students, particularly to study nursing.”

SU to host UEA's own bake off Colman's confirm 2019 factory closure Charlotte Manning News Reporter Turn those ovens on and get ready for some hilarious innuendos as the SU is hosting their very own ‘Great UEA Bake Off’ on 24 April.

For anyone having major withdrawals from fabulous baked goods on your screen (or Noel Fielding), this might be the perfect way to tie you over until the next series premieres later this year.

The SU are looking for societies who are keen to take part and showcase some baked goods in the hive.

Teams can be up to 5 people, and you able to apply via the SU website (they only have a few spots left so hurry!).

Funding of ingredients up to £25 will be given to each team, so you get to attempt at making some wonderful creations for free.

Contestants will then get a chance to

sample everyone’s creations and vote for their favourite.

At the time of writing fifteen societies, ranging from sports clubs to arts and cultural societies are set to take part.

The event will last from 11:0015:00 in The Hive, and more information can be found online or by searching for the event on Facebook.

"Turn those ovens on and get ready for some hilarious innuendos" It is yet unclear what the winners will receive, but it will probably be something beneficial towards their society, so on your marks, get s e t and bake!

Photo: Fae, Wikimedia Louise Lazell News Reporter

Norwich’s famous Colman’s mustard factory has finally confirmed its closure in 2019, after months of consideration to move the factory out of the city.

Despite 160 years of production in Norwich, the famous site for mustard making will be shutting next year. Plans to shut the factory were revealed in January by the parent company Unilever, who currently employs 113 people at the factory.

However, fears of the closure had circulated since October last year when Britivic, who share Photo: xsomnis, Flickr the site in Carrow with Colman’s,

announced they would be leaving and transferring the production of Robinsons and Fruit Shoot elsewhere in the country.

Employees based at the Norwich factory are at a high risk of redundancy, with only 40 roles expected to move to a new production site based in Burton-onTrent.

There will be a transition period as factory production moves from Norwich to Burton and Germany in the autumn.

Unilever has revealed there are plans to open a milling facility of the production and packing of Colman’s mustard powder near Norwich, in keeping with Norwich’s mustard roots.

Home to Norfolk since 1814,

it is sad news to all of Norwich’s mustard lovers, but particularly local famers. Many of its workers have been at the factory for decades; some of the current farmers being fifth generation Colman’s mustard seed growers.

Jon Strachan who works for Unilever UK & Ireland, said the decision "represents the best long-term solution for Colman's production, whilst preserving the historic link with Norwich".

He further reassured that Unilever would offer the affected employees a "comprehensive package of support, including discussing redeployment opportunities at other sites and providing services to help people find new employment."

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17th April 2018

News

Campaigning begins for City Council elections Shannon McDonagh Senior News Reporter Voting for the Norwich City Council election is set to take place on Thursday 3 May, with a third of all seats up available to candidates.

The current composition of the council is that of a sound Labour majority, with 26 out of the 39 seats under the party’s control.

It is mathematically impossible for Labour to lose their majority.

However, they do face challenges from the Green Party’s 10 seats and the Liberal Democrats’ presence in Eaton.

At the moment, the Conservatives hold no seats on the council but do have candidates contesting every seat on offer.

They are expected to push for success in Bowthorpe, Catton Grove and Eaton after finishing second place in said wards during the last City Council election in May 2016.

Former UKIP Chairman of Norwich South Eric Masters is running as a Conservative for Lakenham, leaving UKIP with zero candidates in the running across Norwich.

This is yet another blow for the party’s presence in the East, following a mass defection of seven UKIP councillors in Great Yarmouth Borough Council late last year.

This took the council from a UKIPConservative share of power to a Conservative majority.

The last City Council election saw the University ward produce one of Labour’s highest majorities

Photo: Gerscht, Wikimedia in Norwich at 42.7 percent, yet exhibited one of the lowest turnout rates across the city at just 28 percent, almost halving from the previous local election.

It is estimated that one in six people living in the East of England are not yet registered to vote.

Vice-Chancellor David

Richardson and Jack Robinson SU Campaigns and Democracy Officer issued a joint statement encouraging students to register.

They said: " We would encourage all students to register to vote in the upcoming local elections. When students come to UEA you not only join the campus community

you also join the wider Norwich community. Voting is an important part of community life and it’s vital for students to have their say in the future of Norwich and our local services.

"Be sure you have your say," they added.

To ensure your right to vote is

secured, visit www.gov.uk.registerto-vote before midnight on Tuesday 17 April.

The candidates running for the university ward are: Syed Ahmad (Conservative), Connor Bell (Liberal Democrats), Matthew FultonMcAlister (Labour), and Claire Stephenson (Green).

Open University VC resigns amid doubts Commercial Awareness Society Hannah Brown News Reporter The Vice-Chancellor of the Open University (OU), Peter Horrocks, resigned last Friday following a vote of no confidence passed by his staff.

Staff had been opposing plans to reduce the number of lecturers the university employs and the courses it offers.

"The university faces a challenge" Horrocks will hand responsibility to an acting Vice-Chancellor but will remain as an employee of the Open University for another three months as a consultant. He said that “the university faces a challenge that is unprecedented.”

Members of the OU said that Horrocks’ position was untenable, after he was reported saying that the Open University had been able “to get away with not teaching for decades”.

Horrocks later apologised for the comments but had previously angered staff by revealing his plans to cut courses and reduce staff numbers by offering

voluntary redundancy. Staff morale VC to step down as soon as possible. plummeted.

We therefore call upon the ViceOn these proposals, lecturers Chancellor to resign.” said they will “destroy the OU as we Lydia Richards, a regional UCU know it” and reduce it to “a digital officer, said: “Staff made it quite content provider”. clear that the Vice-Chancellor The Open University is currently h a d to go and we are one of the biggest universities in the pleased he UK for undergraduate education. has finally It allows students to study from got that anywhere in the country, offering message.” many courses online.

On Thursday 5 April an emergency meeting was called.

Horrocks attended the first part of the meeting but left as it continued into the evening. During this meeting, his resignation was demanded by the University of College Lecturers union.

After this meeting, a motion was passed saying: “This general meeting has no confidence in our current ViceChancellor, or in his plans and intentions for the future of our university.

“On the basis of recent events, he has shown that he does not understand the university’s teaching model, nor the importance of the OU’s research base. We believe the Photo: The Open University, Flickr best way of avoiding damage to the public image of the OU is for the

shortlisted for national award Roo Pitt News Reporter

UEA's Commercial Awareness (CA) Society have been shortlisted for the Best Society Event of the year for their Commercial Awareness Competition at this year's National Societies Awards.

Hosted by Cardiff Universities Students' Union this year the award ceremony is due to take place on 9 May 2018, UEA CA Society join 8 other student lead events to make up the list of finalists.

Aiming to provide students at UEA with an understanding of what issues are affecting commercial businesses and improve employability, UEA CA Society ran their event to enable students across all schools to compete for the prize of an opportunity to undertake work experience with Grant Thornton, an Accountancy firm in Norwich.

Lucy Poole and Callum Stukins from CA Society said, "Our competition was something we worked very hard on this year, completely reworking it from last year to make it unique. We are delighted that it has been short-

listed for a National Societies Award!"

UEA SU's Activities and Opportunities Officer, Camille Koosyial, said: "The Commercial Awareness Competition was a brilliant idea from the beginning.

Designed to help students transform and develop their knowledge, transferable skills and employability, the Society itself was ambitious from the very beginning.

"Our competition was something we worked very hard on this year “To negotiate and secure a top prize of one week’s work experience with Grant Thornton is one example of this. We are extremely proud of the hard work and attitude the Commercial Awareness Society members put in to make this competition such a success. We'll be rooting for them to win Society Event of the Year."

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8

Global

17th April 2018

Spy poisoning causes rift with Russia Eddie Booth examines the war of words between London and Moscow Fallout from the Salisbury attack has continued this week, as the war of words between London and Moscow shows no sign of abating. Yulia Skripal, the daughter of spy Sergey Skirpal, who was the victim of a nerve agent attack along with her father last month, has been released from hospital this week, leading to the Russian embassy to demand assurances that she was not being held against her will by British authorities, sparking an angry backlash from the government. Her father, the assumed target of the attack, is recovering well in hospital after several weeks in critical condition, and is expected to be released within a few weeks.

“The Kremlin has consistently denied that it is behind the poisoning of Skripal”

This latest spat comes amidst rising international pressure from the British allies on Russia, following allegations from a variety of British sources, including Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, that the Kremlin ordered an attack on Sergei Skripal. Such an attack, on British soil and affecting British citizens, would be a considerable breach of international law, and

former Russian spy, who turned double agent and spied for the British. He was tried and convicted in Moscow, and eventually sent to Britain as part of a spy swap in 2012. The attempted assassination comes amidst the re-election for Vladimir Putin.

The election occurred in disputed circumstances, with prominent rivals banned from challenging the incumbent, and opposition media outlets often forced out of covering the election.

Mr Putin faced no significant opposition, and his democratic credentials have weakened since he first became President in 2000.

The Russian leader notoriously has little time for dissidents.

“The Russian leader notoriously has little time for dissidents” Kremlin.ru the allegation has led to a number of joint responses from Western nations, culminating in the mass expulsion of Russian diplomatic staff from the USA, Canada, Australia, and an array of European Union nations. Russia has indicated that it will respond in kind.

The Kremlin has consistently denied that it was behind the attempted assassination of Skripal, placing it at odds with British intelligence. Russian spokespeople have suggested the British

may have carried out the attack themselves, and questioned the validity of any tests to establish the origins of the agent used in the attack. Much of the debate has focused on the use of Novichuk in the attack, a chemical agent that has only ever been known to be produced in Russia. Porton Down, the Ministry of Defence’s chemical agent laboratory, said last week that it was unable to identify the specific location of the chemical used in the attack on the Skripals’;

however, intelligence sources have identified is as coming from within Russia, according to the Prime Minister’s statement to the House of Commons.

The attack on Sergei Skripal is the latest in a series of a suspicious deaths of Russian nationals on British soil, the most famous being the murder of Alexander Litvinenko with plutonium in a London restaurant in 2006, which was eventually traced back to Russian agents. Skripal was a

Despite Russian denials, the international community accepted British evidence that the source of the attack was the Kremlin and responded accordingly.

The backdrop to the diplomatic explusions is a worsening of ties between Russia and the West, fuelled by Crimea crisis, stalemate over Syria and the future of Bashar Al-Assad, and the accusations that Russian hackers interfered in the 2016 Presidential election.

The Salisbury attack furthers this tension between the old foes.

Orban dominates as populism rules Hungary again Beth Papworth Global Writer Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was re-elected on Sunday April 8, after his rightwing, anti-migrant party, Fidesz, won a supermajority of seats in Parliament. One of the most controversial leaders in the EU will serve a third consecutive term as Prime Minister. Orban is known for his previous clashes with the EU on his often explosive rhetoric towards migrants, which some have labelled as xenophobic. Orban’s ruling coalition won 133 out of 199 seats in Parliament, and results showed the Fidesz party won almost half the vote, 48.8 percent. A high turnout, combined with the resounding result, has damaged the hopes of the opposition that Orban’s positon would be weakened by this election.

Orban’s former eight years

in power has consisted of drastic changes to Hungary’s constitution and attempts to silence his critics in the media. The election was a devastating defeat for left-leaning opposition leaders, who had campaigned to reduce Orban’s power.

The Prime Minister’s re-election has been seen as a victory for the European far right. Since the backlash against a perceived terror threat in 2015, his central message has been the condemnation of the EU’s migration policy. His aggressive rhetoric has caused concern within the European Union, as well as non-governmental bodies within Hungary. Director of Amnesty International Hungary, Julia Ivan, expressed her concern following the election results in the Washington Post. “However hostile the government propaganda is, whatever legislation they pass, we will keep fighting for Hungary where everybody is entitled to

the same respect and rights. We will continue to be loud critics of the government. We won’t let anyone who raises his voice to be intimidated.”

For the large number of voters, Orban offered protection of Hungarian society and traditions, which have been perceived as under attack. Fidesz focused predominately on what it said was the threat to Hungary of mass Muslim immigration, and the need to fight an alleged plan masterminded by George Soros to flood Europe with 1m migrants annually. Speaking after he cast his vote in Budapest, Orban warned: “What’s at stake in Hungary’s future?” The observers found that the hostile campaign promoting anti-migrants had “limited space for substantive

debate ability

and to

diminished voters’ make an

European People’s Party

informed choice”. They also noted that public television favoured the “ruling coalition”. Orban told the Hungarian public, “We will form a new government. Significant changed and modification will be expected.” Despite anticipation that Hungary would become increasingly similar to Turkey and Russia in its political set up, Orban said the country was a “constitutional democracy” and functioning as such.

For the European Union, the re-election of Orban is a headache amongst a litany of headaches. Vocally critical of the EU’s migration and intergration policies, Orban and Fidez will look to pressure the Union for further concessions on these matters. Mr Orban’s position has never been stronger.

9

17th April 2018

USA condemn Syrian chemical attack George Goldberg Global Writer The United States and France led international condemnations of the Syria regime and its backers after the latest chemical attack upon its own citizens.

“...an extremely volatile and complicated situation” Anti-government rebels in the town of Douma, near the capital Damascus, were bombarded with chlorine and sarin gas shells on Saturday, according to local reports.

Photos from

journalists in hospitals show patients, including women and children, foaming from the mouth. The number of casualties from various reports are between 50 and 500.

The United Nations’ response to the chemical attack has been hampered by the repeated vetoing of draft resolutions by Syria’s ally, Russia. They had previously vetoed ten proposed UN resolutions to deal with the conflict, branding the latest chemical attack as “fake news.”

After one of the most prominent chemical attacks in 2013, which then-US President Obama described as a “red line” being crossed, Russia, under US and UN recommendation, was tasked with removing Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities. This has seemingly not been followed through with. The “red line” was not acted upon and Syria and its allies seem beyond the United Nations control. The American representative to the UN, Nikki Haley, said that America would act with or without UN action after the latest attack.

The

Photo: shamsnn, Flickr

U S , as the w o r l d p e a c e k e e p e r, has been undermined by its reluctance to engage with the Syrian conflict. Recent changes such as the arming of Kurdish rebels against Islamic state and coordination with Israel in the bombing of Syrian military targets indicate a change in philosophy, but it may be too late to regain control of an extremely volatile and complicated situation. Earlier this year, French President Emmanuel Macron described any chemical attack as his own “red line.” As of publication, neither the United States or France have acted upon this rhetoric, although President Trump promised a “forceful response” and that Syria, Russia and Iran would have a “big price to play.” Similarly, Macron said any attack would be on chemical weapon facilities.

The UK also carried out airstrikes in Syria, which British Prime Minister Theresa May claimed were justified, and effective in degrading Syria’s use of c h e m i c a l weapons in the

Photo: Rajeshlipantd, Wikimedia

future.

O n We d n e s d a y, P r e s i d e n t Trump tweeted out a response to Russian threats to shoot down missles, implying that strikes on Syrian targets were his preferred option, despite Russian objections.

The Syrian civil war has been raging in the country for seven years. What initially began as protests against the autocratic rule of Bashar al-Assad during the liberal revolts of the Arab Spring escalated into an all-out war. Many factions backed by many countries have fought in the conflict, including the notorious Islamic State, which controlled large swathes of Syria and its neighbour Iraq before being defeated earlier this year.

More than 350,000 people have been killed and there are more than 5,000,000 people seeking refuge in other countries.

Brazilian corruption scandal sees ex-President jailed accused the charges of being politically motivated. Lula defied his imprisonment order for two days, spending them in refuge in a The fallout of the Brazilian anti- trade union building near Sao Paulo, corruption enquiry, nicknamed surrounded by crowds of passionate Operation Car Wash, continues supporters. However, on 8 April apace. Throughout two Presidential the former President surrendered terms (2003 - 2011) ex-President Luiz to police, despite attempts by his Inacio Lula da Silva, known as supporters to prevent him from Lula, spent billions of reais doing so. tackling poverty within O p e r a t i o n Brazil, making him Car Wash has a widely popular accused officials, figure at the including Lula, heart of this of receiving corruption bribes in scandal, leaving return for office with awarding vast 80 percent contracts to approval ratings. construction Seven years companies for Fabio Rodrigues later he has been the state-owned Pozzebom/ABr imprisoned for twelve oil firm Petrobas. years on corruption The enquiry also charges, having been found accused Lula’s hand-picked guilty in July 2017. The Supreme successor, ex-President Dilma Court decided on 5 April 2018 that Rousseff (both pictured, right), who he must be incarcerated whilst he was successfully impeached in 2016 appeals the verdict. Throughout on corruption charges, and the proceedings, Lula has maintained current President Michel Temer has his innocence and repeatedly had similar corruption allegations

Sina Oversveen Global Writer

levied at him in August 2017.

Before Lula was imprisoned, he was the Worker’s Party candidate for the October 2018 Presidential elections. Leader of the Party, Gleisi Hoffman, has repeatedly declared support for Lula and reiterated his innocence. A poll by MDA taken between 28 February – 4 March 2018, with the hypothetical assumption that Lula could stand, showed the Worker’s Party with the highest voter intention at 33.4 percent.

With Lula unable to stand, the fallout for moderate voters could be astronomical, as the candidate with the second highest support is the far-right Jair Bolsonaro. With other candidates failing to reach a percentage in double figures, it raises the possibility of a populist surge and the creation of a Lulashaped political void. Any candidate will look to capitalise on promising to address problems caused by the fallout of Operation Car Wash by reducing unemployment, which reached 12.6 percent, and economic stimulus after a recession saw GDP reduce by eight percent (2014-2017).

With two ex-Presidents caught

in the scandal, Brazil’s democratic system has been damaged and the voters are left without a clear alternative.

“With Lula unable to stand, the fallout for moderate voters could be astronomical, as the candidate with the second highest support is the far-right Jair Bolsonaro” Will support continue for the Worker’s Party from their core voter, the lower-middle income worker, or will they look elsewhere for leadership? Regardless, Operation Car Wash has torn apart the Brazilian establishment, with few left standing.

Judith Howe

Scott Arthur on the Chinese response to Trump’s trade policy

During election campaigning, Donald Trump promised to protect American industry from Chinese competition, pledging to bring back jobs and put America’s interests first. Just have a look on YouTube for the scores of montages of Donald Trump mentioning China in his speeches should you need any proof of how central China was to Trump’s platform.

This policy helped Trump win over traditionally Democratic voters in the Rust Belt, enabling him to break the so called ‘blue wall’ of states that give their electoral college votes to the Democratic candidate. This ultimately helped Trump secure the Presidency by a narrow victory in several swing states.

Jump forward two years or so, and we are beginning to see the specifics of what Trump meant then.

The President has been steadily elevating tensions with China, most recently lambasting so-called ‘stupid trade’ in a tweet on 9 April.

These are not idle threats though; in a recent directive, Trump advised various authorities to consider placing over $100 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese goods, marking the start of what many fear could turn into one of the largest trade wars in recent memory.

Suffice it to say, this announcement wasn’t especially well received by China, who promised to deploy ‘comprehensive countermeasures’ in reply to President Trump’s comments.

Nor was the announcement well received by the markets – the Dow Jones lost some 572 points on 5 April. White House economics advisor Larry Kudlow sought to play down the risk of a trade war, saying “I don’t think there is any trade war in sight,” during an appearance on Fox News, but warned China that Trump was “not bluffing.”

While China may have more to lose in raw economic terms – America is China’s second biggest trading partner after the European Union – Trump may have more to lose from a political perspective.

Chinese retaliation appeared to be aimed at things like soy products and the car industry, things that are large employers in the red states that carried Trump to victory in November 2016. And though China has limited interest in a trade war, a country seeking to establish itself as a major player on the international stage will not back away from this challenge.

The Chinese economy is fit enough to sustain such a competition.

Only time will tell if Trump’s new tariff policy is mere sabre rattling, but the markets are edgy, and there is every reason to learn from his shock victory eighteen months ago, and take Donald Trump seriously.

Features

10

17th April 2018

After university: work or travel?

Dorothy Reddin Features Writer

Life after university can be a daunting prospect. Grasping that graduate job is something most third year students worry about.

However, many students are increasingly choosing to travel after university as opposed to going straight into the world of work.

“U.S. Travel Association often publicises the benefits of travel on an individual’s health” There are values and limitations

to both options. For example earning money is something most young people want to do as early as possible to afford a home and also for things like traveling.

However, the likelihood of gaining a graduate job straight after graduation is not very high, therefore many students like the idea of traveling at a time in their lives when they have no commitments or responsibilities. In the long-run, both options have their benefits: gaining work experience is good for filling up your CV, and traveling gives you so many useful life experiences which are unattainable from just staying in the same place you have lived all of your life. But it is different for every person.

Grace Horner, a first year history student, takes the view that traveling is the better option for a graduate student because it is “an experience you won’t be able to take full advantage of when you have a

Obesity: a

Vecteezy Ordnance Survey Wikimedia Commons

full-time job and only 28 days off in a year.”

Sam Hewitson, a first year Politics and International Relations student also prefers the option of traveling, for a gap-year after university to travel around the world is an appealing prospect for young people who want to get out of the U.K. and see the rest of the world.

However, Florence Garnham, a third year history student at UEA believes that money-making is more important before traveling is considered as an option, in order to start saving up and gain experience on your CV. There are many reasons why one may not want to work immediately after leaving university, because many people do not know what they want to do upon leaving university.

That is definitely the case with me, for I have no idea what I really want to do, and traveling might give me some inspiration as to what that

is. However, so many young people nowadays are becoming obsessed with the fad of traveling.

Although there are obvious benefits, such as meeting new people, learning new languages, and experiencing new challenges, the constant posting of trips onto social media can cause jealousy amongst friends and create a sense of boastfulness as to how many countries you have visited.

But the sharing of information on social media is a separate issue from traveling, and the US. Travel Association often publicises the benefits of travel on an individual’s health, as well as the health of the economy.

Therefore, working or traveling after university is a fine option and it is up to the individual making that decision, but either option will have obvious benefits in your life and hopefully you will get to do both throughout the course of your life.

Edward Hands Wikimedia Commons

BIG problem?

Chloe Howcroft Features Writer Cancer Research UK faced some difficulty over their campaign adverts, which described obesity as a major cause of cancer after smoking.

A great many were upset by the campaign, believing that it had set out to ‘fat-shame’ individuals by suggesting that obesity is easily preventable.

Controversy also arose among medical experts and nutritionists who hold divided opinions on the scientific evidence suggesting the link between obesity and cancer.

According to one of the CRUK’s studies, “being overweight or obese is linked to 13 different types of cancer.”

Speaking on the campaign, President of UEA Beat society, Bethany Hedges, said that “whilst it’s creating awareness of the causes of cancers, it’s also making the public aware of obesity as a more well-known eating disorder.”

She also expressed that “whilst there are healthy options” for students buying and consuming food on campus “the majority of food options would be considered more unhealthy and I believe the choices of food students make can be heavily dependent on their self-

esteem and body confidence.”

“UEA caterers have an obligation to provide healthy options - it is our customers’ responsibility to select wisely” Comparing the food products available in the SU shop and hot foods served on campus with other

supermarkets, however, Chair of Cancer Studies, Dylan Edwards, does not think “the university is any more an enabler than Co-op, Tesco and Waitrose.”

An excerpt from the Campus Kitchen business plan shared with Concrete reveals an extensive variety of food combinations.

Priority is given to healthy eating and ‘medicinal foods’ as well as a push for ‘100 calorie snacks’.

Within the ‘Trending Foods and Flavour Profiles’, food from different cuisines such as Mediterranean, Mexican and Japanese are available as well as ‘nostalgia foods’ including cottage pie and macaroni and cheese, and foods such as pizza and

pasta are served with attention to portion sizes.

Gavin Yuill, Head of Catering and Hospitality at UEA shares Dylan Edwards’ sentiments: “I do feel it is important to state that UEA caterers have an obligation to provide healthy options - it is our customers’ responsibility to select wisely.”

With the recent sugar tax on soft drinks now in force in the UK, Yuill also suggests that it will be “interesting to monitor sales to understand what, if any, impact it has on UEA sales volumes of highsugar drinks.”

Photo: Edward Wikimedia Commons

Hands

11

17th April 2018

UEA Analytica? Only angry reacts Tony Allen Features Editor You know when you have a bad week? A bad few weeks in fact?

Well, you can probably empathise with Facebook. You don’t need me to explain the torrent of negative publicity the social networking site has received in the past few months.

But what does this mean for us?

Some have suggested that even before the recent publicity, Facebook, was already slumping towards the technological abyss now home to Myspace, Bebo and the sad-girl parts of Tumblr. Facebook of course, is a much bigger beast than its social media precursors ever were, but the principle is hardly unthinkable.

An eMarketer report earlier this year quoted in The Guardian highlighted the shifting demographic of Facebook towards older users, predicting that 700,000 fewer 12-20-year-olds would be regular Facebook users this year in the UK compared to last year.

However, as with any statistic, a knee-jerk reaction may not be the most helpful, especially when the chances are your last piece of online news was accessed through Facebook, and that’s where you find out the majority of information about your friends. Make no mistake, Facebook is still enormous.

If you’re not on it and you’re at UEA, you’re still the odd one out.

“There have been calls to boycott the platform” Many users of the dating app Tinder, authenticated via the user’s Facebook account, were concerned soon after the recent revelations, when they were unable to use the app for a short time as Facebook tightened up its third-party app authentication. Although it was sorted far more quickly than many

of its users’ love lives, experts at the time warned that these problems could happen again with other apps.

In fairness, Facebook has never made any secret of the fact that it makes profit out of using advertising to make its money, and using what you willingly tell it to target more relevant adverts to you - meaning they can charge their advertisers more.

So, how can you find out what data Facebook has on you? It’s actually pretty straightforward. Click the arrow at the top of the Facebook screen on desktop, click ‘Settings’ and there should be an option to ‘Download a copy of my data’ or similar.

You then need to click the green button ‘Start My Archive’, enter your password and then you are promised an email soon, to the account you signed up with.

When I requested a copy of my Facebook data, it took about fifteen minutes until I received an email with a link to click, which took me back to Facebook’s underbelly.

I was required again to input my password, and received the “caution” message warning that the download could contain personal data, which has so amused other writers. It took nearly as long to download the zip file as to receive the email - it’s a hefty download that includes every message sent and received, plus JPEGs not only of all photos I’d sent but all the photos I’d received, even from group chats, some of which I never imagined

Facebook would still have on file after several years.

Don’t like that? Well, what about deleting your Facebook account?

That’s the only way to ensure all of your information is removed from their servers - as I explore below, the names of your friends are retained even if you unfriend them, and messages even if you delete them.

There have been calls to boycott the the platform, and deleting is also a relatively straightforward process.

However, no-one wants to be the first in their friendship group to

OpenClipartVectors/ Hermann, Pixabay

delete and risk missing out on the latest killer meme or engagement announcement. Plus, it’s nice to have a trawl back occasionally to see what you were doing and thinking on this day a few years ago (even if you set this to being between yourself and Facebook only).

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was called before the US congress last week to answer questions about his handling of the recent events.

The general consensus among commentators was that although he didn’t set the world on fire and was criticised by some members of the public for being too wooden,

Zuckerberg performed competently and didn’t make any huge errors.

Writing on his, er, Facebook page before the Congress hearing, Mr Zuckerberg said: “I will do everything I can to make Facebook a place where everyone can stay closer with the people they care about, and to make sure it’s a positive force in the world.”

But has Facebook ever really been a “positive force”? It’s certainly useful for its users, and it’s a good thing for advertisers.

A senior UEA lecturer, Dr Paul Bernal from the school of Law, has been at the forefront of the media reaction to the Cambridge Analytica story.

With his research specialising on privacy and data protection o n l i n e , Dr Bernal spoke to news outlets like the Independent and the BBC, offering a d v i c e on keeping data safe online and reflecting on the negative publicity Facebook has seen.

Writing in The Independent, Dr Bernal said: “Facebook is gathering more data all the time – including through its associated operations in Instagram, WhatsApp and more.

Its analyses are being refined and becoming more effective all the time – and more people like Cambridge Analytica are becoming aware of the possibilities and how they might be used.

“How it might be stopped, or at least slowed down, is another matter.

This is all based on the fundamental

operations of Facebook, so while we rely on Facebook, it is hard to see a way out. By choosing to let ourselves become dependent, we have built this trap for ourselves. Until we find our way out of Facebook, more of this is inevitable.”

“You know when you have a bad week? Well, you can probably empathise with Facebook.”

And despite all the outrage at the buying and selling of personal data, internet users have characteristically seen the funny side, creating a plethora of brilliant jokes and memes. “Durham Analytica is just as good” tweeted one, while a number of pictures have been doing the rounds online of Zuckerberg’s testimony with witty captions.

Joking aside, the recent Facebook headlines raise questions about who we trust with our data, especially as students with many years of uploading, shopping and being exposed to advertising ahead of us.

Information on what we’re likely to be interested in buying is a valuable commodity to advertisers.

However, any expectations of a mass exodus from Facebook seem extremely premature. With the firm’s share prices slowly growing again after the drop they saw in light of the Cambridge Analytica coverage, this negative press seems to be merely a blip in Facebook’s domination of most of our online lives. But the lid has been lifted on the difficult subject of exactly what information we give corporations and their paying customers online, and with discussions about our data online coming into the mainstream like never before, it might make us think before uploading to Facebook or allowing apps to log in via Facebook.

“It started off well.” - A look at a Features editor’s Facebook data Looking through the dirt Facebook had on me was interesting. It started off well. I’ve ‘poked’ two people back and only initiated one poke (good ratio).

The ‘messages’ file is where it gets a bit more meaty. Each message thread or group chat you’ve ever been in is sorted into its own numbered file.

I’ve had 603 conversations via Messenger, some are hilarious, some are cringe-inducing, and some… well, yeah, there was one where I aired someone for exactly a year.

The photos, are hilarious. I’m thankful I didn’t get Facebook at an

embarrassingly young age. Some are shameful (No. Not like that.

Behave), while others are genuinely heart-warming.

But Facebook also saves every photo or video you’ve sent or received, including in group chats.

It did make me wonder why they needed a photo of me in my English class more years ago than I cared to remember. I think I’ve set a new world record for the number of times someone’s muttered “what the f**k is that” in an hour.

You also get a list of every ‘friend’ you’ve made and the date you made them. There is also a list of friends you have deleted and

friend requests you have sent which haven’t been accepted (ouch).

The advertising section opened my eyes to the monetary value I hold as a tiny economic cog in Facebook’s corporate machine. No surprise that I was in the prime groups to be targeted by the Labour Party, George Ezra and Rae Morris.

But others surprised me.

I was irked by the list of “advertisers who uploaded a contact list with your information” - it seems that a single search on Facebook can put you in the firing line for an advertisement from the likes of Niall Horan, HMV or Camila Cabello.

Guilty as charged. However, there

were some I’d never even heard of, DVBBS anyone? The ‘ads topics’ explained why - the list of interests I have which decide on the adverts targeted at me. I mean, fair enough they included “Doge (meme)” (thanks for the clarification), “Acid Jazz”, “Anti-fascism”, “Paul Weller”.

Apparently I should get adverts based on my interest in “Kids (film)”.

But “Bleach”?

“Sheep”?

“Suffrage”? “Fandom”? Cheeky gits.

A look at the ‘adverts’ I’d clicked on since the start of March were mostly articles about music or football - I was surprised at the number of stories I’d clicked on because the site paid for a position

on my timeline rather than because I’d liked their page or it had been shared by a friend.

So, what did I learn from taking a virtual trip down memory lane?

Well, Facebook knows a lot about me. Even being fairly tech-savvy, they have a far bigger file on me than I ever thought. Sure, the messages thing is a bit creepy. But I’m not worried. Chiefly because they also think they know a lot about me which is just incorrect.

We should all download our data. It taught me a lot. Though, I’m still perplexed as to why I might be interested in adverts relating to “organism”...

12

17th April 2018

Features

earning to drive at uni

Joel Shelley Features Writer Learning to drive requires a lot of time and money, and it can be difficult to know whether or not such an investment is worth making.

Besides, it is impossible to know if having a license will be of value in the future.

“Being on unfamiliar streets puts you at a disadvantage when it comes to the practical test” According to whatcar.com, the cost for a provisional licence, tests, and the recommended amount of

lessons totals £1247. It is certainly no easy decision to say goodbye to such an amount of money.

What’s more, these expenses might not see a pay-off for years, if at all, because car ownership may not be practical until years after graduation. Public transport can be sufficient enough in most major cities, so it largely comes down to where you end up living and working.

Even if buying a car while at university is feasible, the tax, petrol, and maintenance will provide a continually significant drain to any student’s bank account, and one that ultimately might not be worth it.

In Norwich, the buses are infamous for having poor services, so having a car is tempting just for the prospect of no longer being at their mercy. That said, a bus will turn up eventually, and the charge is insignificant compared to the

cumulative expenses of owning and using a car.

Plus, parking in the city centre can end up being such a hassle that buses actually become more straightforward.

On the other hand, the freedom that arises from owning a car is extremely enticing. For example, it allows for excursions to properly explore Norfolk – a rarity for many students.

Trains are adequate enough to get to places such as Cromer or Great Yarmouth but having the opportunity to seek your own path through the Broads is hard to turn down. What’s more, being able to fill a car with a bulk buy from Aldi undoubtedly helps to save money on groceries.

At university most students will have many free hours each week, so term-time is the perfect period to fit in driving lessons. Going into

full-time work after graduation will make it challenging, to find suitable and regular slots for lessons, and for some people it’s not exactly the ideal way to spend precious free time.

There is also the simple matter of confidence: passing earlier means that individuals have more experience driving and therefore find it less daunting to head out onto the road.

of my comfort zone and started exploring different means of content writing: blogging,

journalism, interviewing, and even video editing.

marketing) which I knew next to nothing about.

It went well, for your information, except for the end part, when we were mutually thanking each other over and over again and I just said “Ok bye then” because the fifth time saying “thank you for your time” seemed excessive, even for British or Swiss politeness standards.

I have to say though, for a nonnative speaker, the whole experience was intimidating and challenging at first: my fellow classmates, most of whom are locals, are intelligent, eloquent, and very passionate about what they’re doing.

As a non-native speaker and newbie in the area, I was reluctant to show my writing, because well, it’s a personal piece of you you’re sharing.

The atmosphere of my Creative W r i t i n g module

“The buses are infamous for having poor services, so having a car is tempting” One student who learnt how to drive at university told Concrete: “It’s a good thing to have on my CV

and I’m glad to get it out of the way now rather than waiting until I’m working 9-5.”

Learning at university instead of at home does come with some obstacles: finding a reliable instructor in a new city is challenging and being on unfamiliar streets puts you at a disadvantage when it comes to the practical test.

Ultimately, the prospective benefits of knowing how to drive are different for each individual and the situation which they find themselves in the future.

Having a clean licence can be an invaluable addition to a CV and some organisations might even push for their employees to know how to drive in order to better perform important tasks such as meeting clients.

Photo: AlexJ Wikimedia Commons

An exchange student’s experience of UEA Quynh Trang Features Writer

As an MA student in German and English Studies, a semester abroad in an English-speaking country was the perfect excuse to get out of my routine in Switzerland and enjoy the Erasmus experience again.

After four years of studies, one of which was spent abroad in Germany, I decided that I was going to choose a university that offers classes I would genuinely enjoy instead of the usual “I’ll-takethe-least-boring-seminar.” I’m sure you can relate.

“I’ve been told about “Pimp My Barrow...”

For instance, for a formative, I was put in the worst situation that mildly socially anxious me could imagine: I had to interview a professional – over the phone – about their field of expertise (integrated

“Another highlight of UEA that helped me make my decision was the LCR” While I was looking at different universities in the UK, UEA stood out with its Creative Writing course.

To be totally honest, I was a bit scared at first.

Even though the module descriptions sounded appealing, they were also very different from what I’d done in the past, which was mostly analytic work in literature or linguistics.

Another highlight of UEA that helped me make my decision was the LCR: I was quite impressed by the number of artists that had performed there.

I can say for certain that I’m happy with my decision. I got out

Photo: Stephanie Stefan

definitely helped me in that process: the professors are open-minded and offer personal and constructive feedback which I really appreciate.

Furthermore, this module is professional-oriented, allowing us students to interact with professionals and expand our network.

Concerning the campus, I was pleasantly surprised by how inclusive the university and campus seemed to be: the LGBTQ+ flag flying high on the top of a building, the “Never Ok” campaign, gender neutral restrooms, events organised

for ethnic minorities, etc…

However, after a few months at UEA, my fellow friends from abroad, who are people of colour as well, and I have disappointingly noticed a lot of passive-aggressive racism: people being treated differently when they’re by themselves vs. when they’re with locals, comments about our ethnicity, street harassment – to name a few.

“I was pleasantly surprised by how inclusive the university and campus seemed to be” Finally, I couldn’t leave out the industrial action. It can sound a bit self-centred, but as I’m only here for one semester, a four-week strike is quite unfortunate, especially since I’m enjoying my modules so much.

Overall, I can proudly say that it has been an enriching few months for me, especially regarding my exploring of different means of content writing and finding one that I truly enjoy. I’d definitely recommend UEA for its Creative Writing course, the teaching staff are amazing, and so is the material that is taught. Even though the stressful summative season is coming up, I’m really looking forward to my last few months at UEA: I’ve been told about “Pimp My Barrow” and can’t wait to hang out by the lake when it gets warmer.

13

17th April 2018

Foodie Features

What happens at an animal save vigil?

Photos: Emily Noble

Alice Wheatley Features Writer On Wednesday 14 March I travelled to Watton to bear witness to the pigs on their last journey to Cranswick Country Foods, a local slaughterhouse.

N o r f o l k Animal Save group hold a monthly vigil there as part of a worldwide movement aiming to expose the cruelty b e h i n d the meat and dairy industry, whilst showing respect to its victims in their final hours of life.

This group have the cooperation of Cranswick Country Foods which means the trucks

stop for a few minutes in order for the activists to take photos before the animals go in. Many of the pigs I saw had damaged ears; I was told by another protester that it is common practice for farmers to rip the identification tags out of the animal’s ear without anaesthetic.

One truck that came past was packed with young pigs who had all been abused in this way.

Most of them also had their tails cut off, another c o m m o n mutilation often performed without pain relief.

Some scrambled on top of each other, squealing with agitation while others sat still, their limp bodies being pushed in

all directions by the surrounding distress whilst staring dully under drooped eyelids, as if they had already given in to their fate.

In the UK, pigs are only entitled to a metre squared of floor space each. This means that they can be crammed together for the duration of their life and their meat will still be quality assured by schemes such as the Red Tractor.

“I always ask myself why we draw such arbitrary lines between animal species” This is misleading to consumers who, thanks to advertisements, picture happy pigs rolling in the mud — a stark contrast to the reality.

However, even pigs that have been treated well their whole lives still end up on a truck to the same slaughterhouses where they suffer

Giorgia Rose visits The Tipsy Vegan Located in the heart of Norwich’s beautiful Lanes, The Tipsy Vegan is one of this city’s best Veggie eateries, offering a delicious range of cocktails and food for brunch, tapas and dinner. It was opened in May of last year as a sister to the famous Vegan Diner in Norwich Market and is still a hidden gem in Norwich’s independent restaurant scene.

Veganism is often associated with the bland flavours and dry textures of spinach and gluten-free toast, but The Tipsy Vegan’s menu is full of flavour, offering a fresh take on the comfort food classics we all love and recognise, such as fish and chips and barbeque ribs.

Co-owner Michelle McCabe told the Eastern Daily Press, “We’ve spent a huge amount of time experimenting to find delicious substitutes to animal-based products. We’ve found some pretty exiting combinations of ingredients that work particularly well in classic casual dining, the dishes vegans usually can’t indulge in.”

It is usually difficult to find a worthy plant-based substitute for cod, but The Tipsy Vegan pulled it off by frying a sheet of tofu wrapped in nori, which created a shockingly fish-like flavour.

The texture was, of course, a little different to the flakiness you usually expect, but the crispy batter

made up for it, which is rare to find in vegan restaurants.

I would also recommend the steak sandwich to any meat-lovers, as the seitan makes an excellent protein substitute with a very meaty taste and texture. The chips are cut thick and hearty and are a great pairing with both dishes.

The prices range from £8-10 for mains, which is reasonable considering the quality of the food and the generous portion sizes. I would recommend it to everyone, including first-time vegan-dabblers as well as long term plant-based eaters, as the menu offers something for all tastes.

Photo supplied

the same injustice of an unnecessary, premature death.

In general, the public is detached from the origin of their food, and The Save Movement wants to combat this detachment by presenting the world with photo evidence of the suffering that is otherwise ignored.

According to government statistics, 222,000 pigs were slaughtered in February 2018 in the UK alone. As the trucks drove in, I began to realise the scale of this violent industry, and yet I was surprised to hear people around me point out that there were fewer trucks than usual.

Although the study of pig psychology is behind that of other intelligent animals, the studies that have taken place have concluded that pigs have similar cognitive abilities and emotional behaviour traits to chimpanzees and dogs.

I always ask myself why we draw such arbitrary lines between animal species, separating those that we love and those that we eat.

The pigs I met, or at least those that were able to move, came up to us

to have their snouts stroked and their heads patted; they just wanted affection, they did not want to die.

The bars that encaged them cast dark shadowy lines across their faces, and they stared up at me, hopeless, tail-less, voiceless, and soon to be lifeless — but in their last moments, they were not friendless.

“The public is detached from the origin of their food, and The Save Movement wants to combat this” Anybody can completely eradicate their contribution to the exploitation and slaughter of animals by giving up animal products today.

If you would like to support The Save Movement, please join your local group on Facebook and come to the events posted online.

14

Finance

17th April 2018

US job market faces slow growth ?

The Finance Roundup Tesco

continues

profits

turnaround New Tesco boss, Dave Lewis, has overseen the revival of the popular supermarket chain’s profits over the past two years. Previously having suffered blows from an accounting scandal, the retailer managed to make pre-tax profits of £1.3bn last year. Shares have risen by around six percent, meaning the company is now worth £21.7bn.

ASOS shares down Shivani Lad Finance Writer

The US is the world’s biggest economy. However, the beginning of 2018 saw it faced with difficulties in its labour market with slow growth rates and a static level on unemployment.

The US Department of Labour reported that the previous month of March saw the number of jobs available on the market stand at only 103,000, a decline of 210,000 compared to February. Although this year’s average of 218,000 is currently higher than 2017’s, which

was reported at only 182,000, the US has seen a stagnant rate of unemployment for the last six months, remaining at 4.1 percent.

This is reflected more in the younger side of the workforce.

“there is little expectation of labour force growth” Senior Economic Analyst, Mark Hamrick, believes the reason behind this slow rate of growth is

the capacity of the job market which is “widely regarded to be close to full employment”.

The US’s manufacturing and healthcare sector have seen the most inflows of labour, with the majority of others only being able to offer minimal opportunities.

Sophia Koropeckyj of Moody’s Analytics suggests, “there is only so much of a boost you can get because a lot of people are structurally unemployed.”

She continued to say there is little expectation of labour force growth, similar to February’s rate, due to challenges from skill gaps and geographical disparities.

Other US analysts believe the

total drop is also attributed the change in weather with March seeing a spell of freezing weather.

This led to the demand in huge industries such tourism and construction to fall, resulting in many workers being laid off.

The US labour market has seen some positives however. Wages have continued to grow with the average hourly rate of a private sector worker reaching $26.82, an increase of 2.7 percent since last March.

Federal Reserve economists do also believe that the unemployment rate could fall further in the next two years to 3.6 percent, the lowest for fifty years.

Threshold raised for student loans From 6 April 2018, university graduates were able to earn more before they begin to repay their student loan.

Changes to student finance increased the repayment threshold for English and Welsh undergraduates who started during or after September 2012 from £21,000 to £25,000 a year, with the threshold to be adjusted annually to remain in line with average incomes.

The rise means graduates who earn above the new threshold will save £360 annually. Before April those who earned £26,000 a year would have had to pay 9 percent of £5,000, meaning a yearly repayment of £450. Whereas now leavers will repay 9 percent of £1,000, paying £90 a year.

Described as a “key milestone” by Universities Minister Sam Gyimah, the Department for Education says around 600,000 university leavers will benefit from the reforms over the financial year alone. English and Welsh graduates who took out loans before 2012, as well as students from Scotland and Northern Ireland, will also benefit from a slight increase

in their repayment threshold to year, an increase of 40 percent.” £18,330 a year from £17,775 — in line In a statement, NUS Vicewith inflation at 3.1 percent.

President for Higher Education, However, the threshold for Amatey Doku, said the new postgraduate loans taken by those repayment threshold will be “a in England and Wales will remain welcome relief for many of the at £21,000 a year. The alterations lowest-earning graduates” but that come alongside a temporary freeze they do not adequately address the in tuition fees at £9,250 a year, and rise in the cost of living. a review of the student loan system “In recent years the expected and university funding set to repayment for the lowest-earning conclude in 2019. graduates has increased by 30 Research carried out by the percent, thanks to the freezing of Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) the cap at £21,000 instead of rising found that the lowest earning four slightly each year. percent of graduates will now be “In making this change, the better off under the current system government has at least than they would have been under acknowledged that there the pre-2012 system. Chris Belfield, are serious flaws in how an author of the report and Research we fund higher education Economist at the IFS, said while in this country. raising the repayment threshold for “I hope that this post-2012 loans is a seemingly small will not preclude se change, middle-earning graduates a more inea r c will save up to £15,700 in repayments depth in over their lifetimes. d l But Mr Belfield also highlighted ho s e the price of the new benefits to hr t the taxpayer, “raising the longt run cost of providing Higher en m Education by £2.3 billion per y

consideration as part of the upcoming review into post-18 funding, lest this becomes patching up the holes on a sinking ship.

“This will not change the fact that our maintenance model is fundamentally regressive - students from the lowest income families accrue £57,000 of debt, compared to £42,000 for their more privileged peers.”

No action is needed by graduates to receive the new savings, as any changes to repayments will be

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The average price for a property in the German capital rose by 20.5 percent last year, suggesting signs of a property bubble in the city. This is almost ten times the rise in prices in London, which were around two percent on average.

Highstreets decline worst since 2010 Around 1,700 retail outlets closed on UK highstreets last year, which is the worst rate of closures since 2010, when the economy was still feeling the effects of the financial crisis. That’s a rate of closure of around 16 every day. A lot of the decline has been pinned to the rise of internet shopping.

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Despite seeing higher profits for the last half of the year, at £1.13bn, share prices for the online fashion retailer have fallen by over seven percent, to £68.88 per share. Hargreaves Lansdown puts the fall in share price down to underinvestment by ASOS in their own capital.

automatically calculated by employers for those paid through PAYE (payas-you-earn), or as part of the selfassessment return to HM Revenue and Customs.

Matt Denton

15

17th April 2018

Tax leaves cavity in wallets Rosie Burgoyne Finance Writer

The introduction of a new sugar tax on soft drinks has meant that consumers could end up paying more for their favourite fizzy drinks.

The ‘Soft Drinks Industry Levy’, or ‘sugar tax’, was first announced in 2016 in the hopes of putting pressure on soft drinks manufacturers to reduce the sugar content of their drinks, in a bid to help curb levels of obesity associated with a high sugar intake in the diet. The tax will hit the manufacturers of drinks with high sugar contents the hardest, with drinks containing more than 8g of sugar per 100ml set to be taxed 24p per litre.

Drinks containing 5-8g of sugar per 100ml are faced with a lower rate of 18p per litre.

Ahead of the changes, many producers have made changes to the recipes of their drinks to reduce the sugar content of their drinks in order to avoid being taxed. Brands such as Fanta, Lucozade and Ribena are all cutting down the amount of

sugar in their drinks following the new tax.

However, not all of these changes have been met with a positive reaction, with the manufacturers of Irn-Bru facing online petitions and major backlash after heavily reducing the sugar content of the drink from 10.3g to 4.7g per 100ml, which some have argued has altered its taste.

“Coca-Cola and Pepsi have left their recipes unchanged” Even so, some manufacturers like Coca-Cola and Pepsi have left their recipes unchanged, meaning that this is where consumers will feel the most difference price-wise.

Public Health England previously reported that one 330ml can of Coca Cola contains as many as nine cubes of sugar, so, it is little surprise that

Coca Cola will be cutting the size of its 1.75l bottle down to 1.5l and putting its price up by 20p in the face of the new tax.

Overall, the tax has faced mixed reactions from consumers. Whilst some have praised the tax for attempting to combat some of the health risks associated with a high sugar diet, such as obesity, and tooth decay which could potentially relieve some of the pressure on the NHS, others have been more sceptical and have raised the point that shoppers might just continue to buy the same amount of these high sugar drinks and pay more for them, rather than change their shopping habits because of the changes.

Others have suggested that there is an argument to be made that this is a tax which will end up affecting those who are less

well-off the most.

This demographic will experience a rise in the traditionally cheaper more sugary drinks that tend to be more affordable to them, without these changes being levelled out by any attempts to make typically healthier foods and

drinks cheaper and more

accessible t o those on lower incomes. The long-term effects of the tax on diet are difficult to measure at so early a stage.

The government has already made plans to use the £240m expected to be raised from the tax to promote healthier lifestyles, particularly amongst school children, by investing this money back into school sports and breakfast clubs across England.

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Comment

16

17th April 2018

No to Amber Davies’ new rules “No sex on the first date” “Not to impress”

“No peer pressure”

Sophie Bunce on the Square’s charm

“No alcohol”

“No ‘no strings attached’”

Photo: unsplash Jessica Cappi Comment Writer Casual sex is a loaded topic among young people today. Controversy was provoked when Love Island winner Amber Davies decided to create her five rules ‘before saying yes to getting intimate’: a few are important to remember, a few are important to forget. Her rules are as follows: 1.

(Don’t pick up the phone…)

“Don’t have sex on the first date…it’s all about self-respect.” Is it though?

For me, this is the most problematic rule. Who you choose to sleep with and when you choose to sleep with them holds no correlation

to the amount of self-respect you have. This ‘rule’ borderlines on slut-shaming, you should never be made to feel bad about your sexual shenanigans.

2.

“If there is alcohol involved ask yourself if you are going to regret it in the morning.” This rule holds some weight. Alcohol impairs your judgement and ability to give consent, so it is always important that you are in the frame of mind where you have the ability to make an informed decision.

3.

“Don’t think sex is to impress.” This is true, only have sex if you want to have sex.

However, she follows this by saying that the person you are dating

will be ‘much more impressed if you don’t put out on the first date’. *Ugh*. It is not your job to try and impress someone with your ability to refrain from casual sex. If you want to have sex, have sex. If you don’t, don’t.

4.

“We are absolutely binning the saying ‘no strings attached’…us females know we all get emotionally attached after sex.” OH DO WE AMBER? I have plenty of female friends who successfully and happily engage in casual sex, thanks.

It is so harmful to paint women with the same ‘overly emotional’ brush (the same brush incidentally that prevented women from getting the vote for hundreds of years, but

that’s by the by). Amber seems to be suggesting that all women always get emotionally attached at the drop of the hat, or more aptly, the drop of the knickers.

5. “Don’t follow the crowd.”

This last rule is actually important to remember. Peer pressure should never be a factor in determining your decision over whether or not to have sex.

Although well-meaning, Amber’s rules are harmful for young women engaging in sexual activity.

As long as you remain safe, and the activity is consensual, there is no harm in filling your casual sex boots.

So, thanks Amber Davies, but I think we’ll stick to Dua Lipa’s rules.

Are lectures pointless?

C. E. Matthews Comment Writer

“Lectures are absolutely pointless.”

That’s what most of us groan the morning after the night before.

But recently, the lecturers’ strikes accelerated a brilliant possibility: recorded lectures we can watch when we want, in our own beds, and without getting up.

Of course, we could sit down when they release the recording... or we could watch it later. I reckon most students – often generalised as lazy creatures reliant on pot noodles for survival – would put them off indefinitely.

But let’s imagine we’re hardworking, motivated types who decide to watch the lecture online.

Wonderful.

The next obstacle is the Internet, a network of mystery and temptation home to many a bingeworthy

series. I’ve just finished La Casa de Papel, AKA Money Heist. It’s fantastic. (Forget your exams, watch that instead.) When I open my browser there’s a decision. Netflix, YouTube, Facebook, the news… or Blackboard. Strikes or no strikes, I doubt I’ll ever watch a recorded lecture online.

“Strikes or no strikes, I doubt I’ll ever watch a recorded lecture online” To be honest, I wouldn’t feel guilty about it because I’d always tell myself I would watch it later. I wouldn’t be missing the lecture, just saving it for later.

The Square vs The lake

So perhaps live, physical lectures do have some kind of value.

We’re given a time, and if we don’t go, that’s that, we’ve missed out, like someone who flakes on a Saturday night.

Of course, there has to be something in a lecture to miss. We all know there’s no point in listening to someone parrot on from an A4 sheet that everyone could read in five minutes.

People need passion. It’s why we jump at the chance to hear live music rather than listen to Spotify.

It’s only if the lecture is actually full of passion that we will be missing out.

But let’s face it, not all lecturers are brimming with enthusiasm. Bizarrely, perhaps the real point of lectures i s

to guilt trip us into getting up and doing something with our day. It’s a sort of morning roll call to get us out of bed.

Once we’re up, we can do all the useful things we enjoy, from seminars to the gym, or even light dusting in our rooms. Sure, lectures could go online.

But then they’ve taken away the necessary annoyance of uni life that makes us wake up and refrain from wasting away our lives from within the confines of our bedrooms.

The Square’s superiority can be condensed to three words: Near.

The. Bar. I don’t know about the fools who love the lake but trekking to get a Snakebite in the (mild) heat of the Norwich summer is not my idea of fun.

I could walk into the bar from the square with my eyes closed, even down the concrete steps. It’s not luxury and you can’t swim in it, but what the Square has is all your mates. From reading a book in the sun to downing a pint before the LCR, the square is the perfect spot.

It is also the chosen setting of UEA top moments. It’s where we announce the winners of Derby Day, when we mingle before beginning Pimp My Barrow. It’s where I’ve made snow angels, drank before midday, and found out I’d be Deputy Editor of Concrete.

If you want to get a pint or win an event, the Square is your go to.

Don’t talk to me about the lake – I’ve only been round once.

Laura Sandoval argues for the love of the lake I came to UEA because it had a lake. Not one open day. Not one applicant day. Purely and solely because it had a lake, so damn right I’ll be spending my time there this summer.

If summer could be reflected in one scene, it would definitely be you and your mates, sat by a BBQ with a few awfully fruity ciders, watching your friend who’s just started smoking try to light their rollie while a topless computer science guy goes mental a couple metres away. That’s what the lake provides. Pure prospectus stuff.

The square, however, is exactly that, the most boring of the shapesfour sides, plain, not much going on because it’s just too civilised.

No big games of football, no real comfy places to lie in the sun and people running past you to their lectures to make you feel bad for not going. Grim.

So there it is. The lake. Be there or be square.

Image: Kinversam, Wikimedia

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Jack Ashton: How to turn 21

The legacy of Tony Blair

I turned 21 recently. Unlike being 16 where I could legally have sex, 17 where I could legally drive and 18 where I could drink, 21 doesn’t really have anything that stands out.

I can now adopt a child (ah), hold a pilot’s license for a gyroplane, and buy high strength PVA glue from my local Poundland who refused to serve me it until I was 21.

So my gyroplane flying, gluefilled Saturday night with my new son is sorted, but after that, it’s a continuation of the inevitable and unashamedly stereotypical slide into existential anxiety.

I’m not sure why it scares me so much. It’s possibly because 21 is the last boundary before you’re definitely an adult, and it’s possibly because 20’s are the decade people get stuff done. By 30, you’re supposed to have yourself set, it’s not acceptable to still be loitering around the SU bar, so they’re makeor-break years.

Either way, 21 always seemed impossibly old. I remember being 15 and thinking 17 was gonna be amazing, and I being 17 thinking by 21 I’d have my life together, an ambitious hope to say the least.

So I turned to everyone’s favourite comfort tool: the World Wide Web. Breathe in.

According to Amigo Loans (I’m not sure how I got there), I’m supposed to have passed my driving test, have moved out and have had my first holiday with friends. This all seems pretty good, I have no interest in driving, but besides that

Afghanistan. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Blair is now calling for intervention in Syria.

Now, 20 years from the introduction of the regardless of whether that is a minimum wage, Blair still remains wise move or not, it should not be one of the most divisive Prime dismissed simply because Blair is Ministers. He is remembered fondly the one suggesting it. by some as a leader in better times, With that major issue out of the but a pariah to others, especially on way, allow me to remind people of the left. So, what is the true legacy of some of the good work done by Tony Blair?

Blair that is often overlooked today.

The main issue that always The introduction of minimum wage, comes up when discussing Blair sure, a true living wage is still not today is the Iraq War. available, but this was the Anything else Blair might first step in the right have done is massively direction.

Reducing overshadowed by this child and pensioner controversial and poverty, helping drawn out conflict. those most unable But this is a mistake. to help themselves, Whatever your surely a core tenant of views on the legality, Labour’s philosophy.

Flickr, effectiveness, or Greater investment morality of the Iraq War, Chatham House in Education and it is sheer senselessness to Healthcare, and the creation view it as the only thing worth of Sure Start to help families with considering when remembering children. The introduction of Civil Blair’s policies.

Partnerships, again, not as much It’s easier to judge his actions in as might have been hoped, but still hindsight, with the knowledge of better than anything before, a major how the war has dragged on and step forward. the rise of ISIS and other troubles So why do we not remember in the region. Yet international this? Perhaps because Blair was in intervention is always an impossibly power so long we simply became complicated issue. used to it and forgot how different History judges both action and things could be. Now, with a inaction badly. The failure of the Conservative government, we international community to act in might realise just how much Blair Rwanda, or the appeasement of made possible. To my mind, he was Hitler are rightfully condemned; the best Prime Minster we’d had but so is intervention in Iraq and since John Major.

things seem to be on track. Breathe out.

However, in just a few years I’m supposed to have been a best man (the only plausible option is for a man I watched pour a shot on himself instead of down his mouth not 24 hours ago, so don’t hold your breath), have got engaged (ah?!), and have started to rent a house on my own. Panic. Panic. Panic.

I figured everyone can’t have it together as well as Amigo Loans figured they do. So I asked a few of my friends how they feel about turning 20/21, and how they feel about getting older. Perhaps the most chilling response of all was, “Yeah it’s a bit odd because I guess it’s all over then isn’t it?”

It’s all over then, isn’t it?

Apparently we’ve done it. We’ve finished the young days. Passed the tutorial. Completed level 1.

Congratulations don’t feel like they’re in order, but probably are.

This revelation that ‘we’ve done it’ hit me hard, partly because I wasn’t sure what the next bit was, or what the bit I’d done was.

I found myself looking at the happiness curve which shows people are at their happiest at two points in life: 20, and retirement. It’s downhill in-between. On top of that, new data from the Prince’s Survey Trust found that young Britons “have never been unhappier.” So even when at our peak, we’ve been at the bottom of a much bigger trough.

I was beginning to think turning

21 could be the worst thing that would ever happen to me, but then two things happened. My two nephews (five and six years old) were walking with me down the road, hand in hand either side of me. A car came round the corner so I made sure they were both on the curb, then I walked, and they stopped. I asked why they were waiting, and the eldest said he was letting me check it was safe because “I’m in charge now” because I was an adult. That’s when you know it’s true, when other people notice it. Either way, I had two kids to look after, and they were my responsibility. Next, my best mate (the one who can’t drink shots), asked me if I wanted to go on holiday. According to Amigo, we were supposed to go on holiday at 19, and we’d already done that. I was meant to be saving for my first car at this point. Either way, we’re going to Paris now.

It might creep up on us, but it’s something we’ve been awfully well prepared for. I’m not sure anyone knows exactly how they’re supposed to do it, so I realise that it’s acceptable to blunder from step to step and laugh about it with everyone else. I also realised that it’s probably a good idea to stop judging yourself by what you expected adulthood to be like, or by what Amigo Loans tell you. 18-21 was nothing like I thought it would be, but I managed that pretty well, and honestly, spending my life waiting for a mortgage doesn’t sound that fun anyway.

Tom Gymer Comment Writer

18

17th April 2018

Science

2

Plastic particles in most water brands Photo: Pexels, Mali Maeder

Beth Papworth Science Editor Major tests on bottled water brands have revealed that nearly all of them contained tiny particles of plastic.

In a large examination, 250 bottles purchased in nine different countries were investigated.

Orb Media led the research and discovered an average of ten plastic particles per litre.

Chemistry Professor at the State University of New York in Fredonia, Sherri Mason, who conducted the analysis of bottled water said: “We found plastic in bottle after bottle

and brand after brand. Plastic has become such a pervasive material in our society, and its pervading water – all of these products that we consume at a very basic level.”

Experts have advised people in developing countries where tap water may be polluted to continue drinking water from plastic bottles.

The companies behind the brands have insisted that their products meet the highest standards for safety and quality.

Leading international brands such as Aquafina, Desani and Evian were amongst the eleven different global and national brands in countries chosen for their large

populations and relatively high consumption of bottled water.

Plastic screening involved adding a dye called Nile Red to each bottle, a technique recently developed

by British Scientists for the rapid detection of plastic in seawater.

Experts have proposed that the excess plastic derives from the amount of polypropylene used in bottle caps.

The act of opening a bottle could shed particles inside, causing the plastic to escape into the water.

To verify that the process of testing was not itself adding plastic to the bottles, Professor Mason ran “blanks” in which the purified water

used to clean the glassware and the acetone used to dilute the Nile Red Dye were themselves investigated.

Small quantities of plastic were found in them, believed to be from the air, but those were eliminated from the final results.

Out of the findings, 17 out of the 250 bottles tested showed no evidence of plastic but all of those remaining did, with big differences even within brands.

A few bottles were found to have thousands of particles, the vast majority being the smaller ones that are “probably plastic”, but others from the same pack had virtually none.

Nestle said it had its own internal testing for microplastics, which began more than two years ago and had not since detected any “above trace level”.

Gerolsteiner also said it had been testing its water for microplastics for a number of years and the results showed levels “significantly below the limits for particles” set for pharmaceutical companies.

Garolsteiner added that microparticles are “everywhere” so “the possibility of them entering the product from ambient air or packaging material during the bottling process can therefore not be completely ruled out”.

Ten thousand black holes surround Milky Way Tom Bedford Science Writer

NASA Jet Propulsion Labratory

Up to 10,000 black holes may surround a supermassive hole at the centre of the Milky Way, new research suggests.

This research, compiled by scientists at Columbia University, was published in an April edition of the Journal Nature.

The aforementioned used data from NASA’s Chandra Observatory to come to this conclusion.

Their work builds on the 1970s discovery that supermassive black holes lie at the centre of galaxies, with Sagittarius A* at the centre of the Milky Way. Models of Sagittarius A* suggest that it is surrounded by clouds of gas and dust, which creates the potential for stars to be born and turned into black holes within a relatively small proximity to the centre.

Researchers searched for these black holes by examining

the centre of the galaxy for evidence of binary systems.

Binary systems are systems in which two bodies, including stars or black holes are located close enough so that their gravity has an effect on each other.

“There is a really large population of black holes near the Galatic Centre” These binary systems are significant as they contain black holes emiting bursts of X-rays.

However, the Columbia University researchers procured their results by searching for the systems in which this does not occur.

Typically with lowermass stars, weaker but consistent X-rays are emitted.

Robert Ferdman, Lecturer

in Physics at UEA, explains that to astrophysicists, this affirms many ideas as “it is an incredibly dense environment and we would expect that the massive stars which then evolve into black holes at the end of their lives, should migrate there in some numbers”.

Examining a small area within three light-years of Sagittarius A*, researchers found evidence in the data for twelve of these smaller binary systems with black holes. Ferdman said there is “a really large population of black holes near the Galactic Centre – something like 10,000, 20,000 or so”.

Relating to Ferdman’s own work, there “should be a population of many pulsars – rapidly rotating neutron-star remnants left behind after supernova explosions – in the Galactic Centre”.

A lecture on Fast Radio Bursts, an extragalactic source of radio emissions, is to be held in JSC on April 18, which is closely tied with the Columbia Researchers’ findings.

17th April 2018

19

Coral reef turned graveyard Spa therapy rejuvenates Japan’s snow monkeys Sylvie Tan Science Writer With the growth in environmental pollution caused by human activity, coastlines that were once protected by nature’s coastal defence – the coral reef – is increasing in vulnerability.

Dr. Michael Cuttler and his colleagues, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at the University of Western Australia, justifies that fringing reefs are critical to significantly decrease the extent of erosion and impact on the coastlines directly affected by tropical cyclones.

The team concluded this during their study in Australia’s largest fringing reef system as well as a UN World Heritage Site, the Ningaloo Reef, during a Category three severe Cyclone Olwyn in 2015 that caused Pixabay, substantial damage to Western Australia.

“Reefs can effectively protect shorelines because of their ability to cause waves to break offshore, thus limiting the energy impacting the coastline,” Dr. Cuttler explains.

This was clearly evident where a large area of the undamaged coastline was protected by the offshore Ningaloo Reef.

The general geomorphology of fringing reefs worldwide can be separated into three areas: the steep reef front, reef flat, and shallow lagoon.

It is these characteristics that cause the large waves generated by the cyclone to dissipate offshore, hence by the time the waves reach the coastline, only the smaller waves are left.

Dr. Cuttler added: “The little erosion that did occur was due to smaller waves that were generated by wind within the lagoon.”

To further highlight the importance of fringing reefs, Dr. Cuttler and his colleagues compared similar cyclone impacts on coastlines without reefs. “ T h e s e beaches were eroded up to ten times more than the beach at Ningaloo,” said Dr. Cuttler.

He also advised that when modelling or LoLame predicting the impacts of cyclones, local wind effects must also be considered.

With climate change, the coral reefs face two main threats: sea level rise and decreasing reef accretion rate.

“These changes may ultimately increase the amount of wave energy reaching the coastline and potentially enhance coastal erosion,” Dr. Cuttler said.

Troy Fielder Science Writer Being the most northerly, nonhuman primate sounds tough, right?

Well, for Japanese macaques, known more commonly as snow monkeys, it is an everyday reality.

So, what better than a hot bath (or a hot spring, to be more precise) to relieve the stress of this cold climate?

A PhD candidate at Kyoto University, Rafaela Takeshita, has begun to unravel the complexities of this behaviour that has had the world’s attention for more than 50 years.

Images litter the pages of publications, like the National Geographic of undeniably cute, red-faced monkeys luxuriating in steaming waters.

This world-renowned phenomenon was first observed in 1963, when residents at a hotel in Jigokudani, Japan, watched a female macaque bathe in the warm waters of a nearby hot spring.

Following this sighting, more and more monkeys appeared to partake in this act of shear indulgence resulting in more than a third of the females bathing in the hot spring.

T h i s

anthropomorphic image of a collective spa day sparked the imaginations of thousands of tourists that have since visited the spring.

Although this romantic view of relaxation had been commonly held as fact, it has only recently been proven to be true.

By observing twelve different females, at different times of the year, Takeshita was able to determine when in the year, and for how long, the springs were being utilised.

It was later confirmed that the springs were used more in winter, and, through measuring of faecal glucocorticoid (fGC) metabolite concentrations – which are a good indicator for thermoregulatory stress - in faecal samples that were collected, it was decided that the hot springs were being used as a method of stress relief.

This behavioural flexibility to changing climatic environments is suggested to have knockon effects on reproduction and overall survival.

They are therefore an invaluable resource to the Japanese m a c a q u e s .

Interestingly, Takeshita’s team found that 500 tourists a day had no effect on the monkeys’ overall stress levels.

Photo: Flickr, SITS Girls

w sno nese Japa nkeys n mo now lso k ca a e a ar mac as “ a” t a c fus

They ar e sexually dimorp hic, both se xes exhibit differen t characte ristics beyond their sexual o rgans

eigh es w l lb, a M e 25 erag v a on le whi ales fem b 19 l age r e v a

Image: Flickr, Joid

Gulf of Mexico seabed now endangered Norman Kuring, for NASA

Hannah Brown Science Writer Research by the Louisiana State University found that the seafloor on the Gulf of Mexico is eroding much like the land that has already been lost along the coast.

This potentially puts the offshore oil and gas infrastructure at risk. Additionally, it makes the area more at risk from hurricanes.

Since the 1950s, thousands of dams have been built along the Mississippi River, which has caused

silt, clay, and other sediment to stop piling on the seafloor – leading to the seafloor beginning to disappear.

The sediment accumulation rate has decreased by approximately 73 percent over the last 40 years.

Louisiana loses land the size of a football field every 100 minutes, according to the US Geological Survey; since the 1930s, the coastline has lost about 2000 square miles, which is a space around the size of Delaware.

There are multiple causes aside from the aforementioned lack of new sediment; there is

erosion from oil and gas canals, and hurricanes and rising sea levels are not helping either.

Louisiana State University geologist, Sam Bentley, who cowrote a study published in the journal Marine Geology, said: “There could be big implications for habitat. A lot of things live in or on that seabed.”

The seafloor has been retreating by around 65 feet per year since 1979. Bentley added: “From this comprehensive study, we’ve determined that the Mississippi River Delta has entered a stage of decline.

“The underwater portions of the

delta are now retreating like the land loss occurring in our landscape.”

“Other river deltas are also suffering with loss of sediment and land” The Mississippi River Delta is one of the most studied and

recognised deltas around the world and discharges the seventh largest amount of water and sediment of all the world’s rivers.

Other river deltas are also suffering with loss of sediment and land.

"Given the similarities between the Mississippi River Delta and river systems worldwide, we expect other major delta systems are entering decline.

“This has implications for delta ecosystems and biological, geological and chemical processes worldwide," Bentley said.

17th April 2018

Travel

20

An overseas Chinese in China

Sylvie Tan on her experience as a fourth generation Malaysian Chinese

Holidays to China always felt like I was travelling to a foreign land instead of returning to my motherland. I could never understand why my mother would always choose China as our annual holiday destination until now.

As a fourth generation Malaysian Chinese, I find myself stuck in-between two identities: I am too westernised to be Chinese, and I am too Chinese to be western.

My childhood was confusing, because within my immediate family we speak English, however my relatives speak a mix of Chinese dialects – Cantonese, Mandarin, Hakka, and Hokkien.

Growing up in a multilingual household where English was mainly used, I did not get to fully connect with my “chineseness” and understand my Chinese traditions, culture and ethnic origins. It’s a shame that I did not properly learn my mother tongue – Mandarin.

In Malaysia, people like me are labelled as “bananas” as we are yellow on the outside but white in the inside.

In retrospect, my adolescence irritation about travelling to China was related to my inability to connect with the mainland Chinese.

I thought I was the superior Chinese because of my fluency in English and exposure to the western culture.

Photo: Kim Jong, Pixabay With the Chinese tourist stereotypes that we hear about, I had been ashamed of my Chinese ancestry.

Little did I know that I was at a major loss for not fully immersing myself into the beautiful Chinese

culture.

Whenever we travel to China, mother immediately became the designated translator as her Mandarin is the most fluent amongst the four of us. During that

time, tourism in China was not as internationally friendly as it is now – the information displays were in Chinese. She would read it and translate it to the rest of us. If we had a tour guide, my narrow range

of Chinese vocabulary was just enough for me to understand the words I know and guess what the guide was saying.

The most memorable trip was to Xi An, where we visited the terracotta warriors built as a form of funerary art and were buried together with the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Without the tour guide, the mausoleum just looked like a room of excavated statues. To save money, we hired a Chinese tour guide to explain and unravel the wonders of Emperor Qin and his extravagant tomb.

Although Emperor Qin was cruel, I felt unworthy of visiting the resting place of the man who finally unified China and established Mandarin as its national language.

Geographically, China is a large nation, and with it comes great difficulty to unite the various clans between and within the provinces.

If Emperor Qin managed to achieve this task that many Emperors failed to complete, I too can learn to unite my Chinese roots and western influence, and craft it to my own authenticity.

Mother’s desire to return to the China was more than just for a family holiday, it’s about seeking answers and comfort to find herself as a Chinese diaspora in a land away from home.

Roadtrip gone wrong Yaiza Canopoli Travel Writer

Road trips in movies and novels are romanticised: friends and lovers going on epic adventures across the United States, or driving through Europe with drugs in the backseat.

Family road trips are usually portrayed with screaming children, or moody teenagers ignoring their parents with pop punk playing through their earphones.

The truth is that most road trips are just something in between.

Before moving to university, I went on a road trip with my dad and my brother in my dad’s camper, to celebrate the last time we would be able to travel together for a while. I

love traveling with my dad, and we never seem to run out of things to talk about, even if they boil down to his knowledge of middle-aged Italian musicians. My time on the road trip thus mainly consisted of riding shotgun, helping my dad figure out his phone’s GPS and passing him salt crackers, ‘I treni a vapore’ playing in the background, and the southern French hills rising around us as we drove on.

The road trip became interesting, and started resembling a movie more than real life, when seemingly every single thing started to go wrong. It all started with the windshield wipers; not a big deal, and certainly not a reason to despair or give up on our vacation.

Then the blinds broke, making it

impossible to hide from the outside world, and turning our camper dinners into Italian reality TV for the French. As the glass collected mosquitoes and we consumed public pasta, the problems became more serious—the battery of the vehicle decided to shut down. There we were, the sky getting dark on the French highway, yours truly dutifully googling places that sell camper batteries.

Knowing that no one would want to deal with our problem unless we forced them to, my dad parked the camper right in the driveway of a gas station, making it impossible for anyone to enter or leave unless they helped us start the vehicle up again.

Admittedly a bitchy move—but it worked.

We progressed on the journey, finally leaving overpriced crêpes and the beautiful coast behind, and entering onto the even more overpriced roads of Italy.

“The ultimate what-else-couldgo-wrong hit us: the heating broke” On the way to my grandma’s house, the ultimate what-else-couldgo-wrong hit us: the heating broke.

Trust me, traveling in the middle of December is no fun without some warmth. Having a few days of peace and quiet in an actual house, my dad

took some time to make calls and find someone who could replace the broken parts of the camper; not an easy task when the missing parts are German and barely manufactured anymore.

Finally finding someone willing to sell, we drove on for a few hours, only to find that getting it repaired by a professional would cost way too much and take way too long. So, of course, my dad did it himself. He’s a dad after all.

Despite all of the issues we had, going on one last road trip with my dad before moving to another country is a memory I treasure to this day—and one I wouldn’t trade for a running battery.

Photo: Open Clipart Vector, Pixabay

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17th April 2018

The British 'staycation' Photo: Graham-H, PIxabay Megan Furr Travel Writer

The rise of cheap, readily available flights has in the past made the ‘staycation’ appear to be a much less popular travel option and looked down on as being not a ‘proper holiday’.

Travelling in your own country, however, can be just as enjoyable.

After all, there are loads of wonderful places to uncover on

your own doorstep which you might not have considered before.

"For such a small country, the UK has a lot to offer" For such a small country, the UK has a lot to offer. From the rugged coastline of Scotland, the views from the high peaks of the Lake District, and everywhere in

between, sometimes we forget we live in one of the world’s most visited destinations; tourists actively seek out the experiences the United Kingdom has to offer, why shouldn’t we do the same?

Even if the weather can be changeable, there are beautiful national parks, perfect for long walks, away from the bustle of city life. Or wonderful cities which have invested much into their rich cultural heritage.

The UK is also home to some

stunning beaches, which can easily rival those abroad. Indeed, a ‘staycation’ can become a 'transformative' experience; a chance to be reintroduced to your country as a new and exciting place.

Staycations can offer experiences comparable with travelling abroad, but with much more ease and convenience, such as paying with the same currency, especially given the fluctuating exchange rates. Yet this does not necessarily mean travelling

around your home country limits cultural experience and usefully a ‘staycation’ can be done on a whim, in the ‘low season’ when tourist numbers aren’t so high.

Indeed, long weekends can provide time for a break, which would not necessarily warrant investing in overseas travel.

In any case, although travelling abroad is fun and exciting, this doesn’t mean a trip around your own country can’t be equally appealing.

America through the eyes of a booklover Chloe Crowther Travel Writer Marta Bausells of The Guardian stated in her article that four of the Top 10 Independent Bookshops in the world were in America (as of 2015). Starting out in San Francisco, California, I intended to travel across North America, visiting these highly rated bookshops in Oregon, Minnesota and New York.

I began my journey in City Lights, famed for its Beatnik connections (Ginsburg’s ‘Howl’ was read aloud there for the first time, Neal Cassidy had visited, etc. etc.)

“Customers are provided with a map to help them navigate this sprawling labyrinth” I had left my accommodation

in San Jose at 7am, to catch the Cal Train upstate to San Francisco.

I reached City Lights at 10:30ish, bleary-eyed but tentatively excited to see this historic space.

Scott, the bookseller, was very amiable, recommending books to me and showering me with freebies – though I cannot guarantee this special treatment to all who visit. City Lights – situated alongside San Francisco’s China Town and Little Italy - is in my opinion well worth the trek out from England!

Next, I boarded a plane to Portland, Oregon, a city on the rise. Powell's, their famous bookstore, is an impressive 68,000 square feet (over 1 mile long)!

Customers are provided with a map to help them to navigate this sprawling

labyrinth, and an intercom system connects the various floors and rooms. With over 250 events running per year, as well as regular tours for schools and visitors, Powell's has become a law unto itself, operating as its own mini society. It’s no surprise that it’s the 2nd most visited manmade attraction in Portland!

Four days later, I find myself crawling through a little purple d o o r, designed to b e

the perfect height for a child.

Feeling somewhat like Alice in Wonderland, I emerge inside Wild Rumpus, Minnesota’s most famous bookshop, although you’d be forgiven for thinking it was in fact a zoo. A menagerie of animals, from cats and birds, to chinchillas and tarantulas (well, one tarantula, named Thomas Jefferson), Wild Rumpus has earned its namesake.

The ceiling depicts the gradual shift from interior to exterior, bringing the outdoors indoors; the concept is based on Anne Mazer’s The Salamander Room, a delightful children’s book about a little boy who brings home a salamander and gradually transforms his bedroom into a woodland paradise.

Stroking the black fluffy chicken, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, I smile, pleased at having made it this far – and anticipating my journey to New York ahead.

New York shall be the most gruelling leg of my one month journey; ten days, alone in a hostel, in the city that never sleeps. I’m nervous, but the last few weeks of journeying across America have prepared me for this. The Strand, New York’s most famous independent bookstore, is like Powell's, in that one also requires directions to navigate the various floors of books and amazing bookrelated merchandise for sale.

The staff are happy to help, and maps are again provided. Books here range from a dollar or less – several racks of these stand out in the street – to serious, collector-level expensive (they have a rare books room on the top floor).

Following in the footsteps of Saunders and Lumley (that’s right – ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ filmed an episode here) I browsed and shopped, heady with the scents of old and new books, elated that I had, finally, visited all four of America’s best independent bookshops…as rated by Guardian readers.

Photo credit: Antonu, Wikimedia Commons

22

17th April 2018

Sport DERBY DAY 2018

High hopes? Sport editor Sophie Christian looks at UEA’s chances The highly-anticipated Derby Day is fast approaching between UEA and Essex, but can UEA win for a sixth consecutive year when sport teams head to Colchester to battle the Blades?

The last time Essex won Derby Day was in 2012 when Essex hosted the annual event at Colchester.

Last year saw UEA thrash Essex with a 55-15 win after a 6-1 victory from UEA’s men’s hockey.

In 2015, UEA achieved another home win with a score of 42.2-19.5.

In 2017, UEA took an early 3-2 lead after clinching two points from Rowing and one in Korfball. In 2016, UEA began Derby Day with a 2-0 lead from the Men’s and Women’s rowing events, demonstrating that Rowing has kept up their winning streak and continue to provide the vital advantage UEA need each year.

Lacrosse are one of the strongest

teams heading into Derby Day, having won the 2017-18 Midlands 2B League with 18 points, earning them a promotion for next year. The Women’s Second team performed well this season, coming third in the Midlands 3A league. This should give the Eagles the confidence boost they need to settle the score with Essex after the Men’s Lacrosse narrowly lost to the Blades in 2017 by 5-7.

Squash are aiming to repeat their success from last year after the Men’s firsts won their opening three matches (in a best of five contest).

The Men’s seconds clinched three out of five matches last year, and the Women’s team won three out of four matches. It is not surprising Squash produced strong results last year as the Men’s firsts won the Midlands 3B league, earning them a promotion to the 2B league.

Although the Men’s firsts currently sit fourth in the 2017-18 Midlands 2B league table, their success in 2017 should motivate the team to reproduce this result knowing it is perfectly achievable.

Netball will be eyeing up another win after thrashing Essex last year 45-25 and winning 50-23 in 2015 at UEA. The firsts appear to be gradually improving each year, since they came third in this year’s league with 16 points - an extra five compared to the 2016-17 season.

This should hold Netball in good stead for this year’s Derby Day, and the girls can be quietly confident that they are likely to take home another victory.

In 2016, the American Football match was cancelled due to BAFRA being unable to provide a referee to officiate the game at Colchester.

Hopefully Essex won’t be too

Triumphant hopes for tennis Sophie Christian Sport Editor Concrete caught up with UEA Tennis to see how they think they will fare in this year’s Derby Day. Ben Place, President of Tennis, explained how challenging it is to beat the Essex boys. “I think playing Essex always poses one of our most difficult matches of the year. We know they have some top quality, with our firsts not having beaten theirs for quite a

Sam Brown

few years. We have gained a couple players that improve our squad, although I know Essex will have also improved.

“One of our most difficult matches of the year...”

“For the men it will definitely be tough, although our women’s team will be looking to make it two wins in a row after smashing them last year at home.”

One of the biggest changes this year is UEA only being allowed to take their first teams. Ben commented on this alteration, saying it was “nothing new” for their team: “Essex don’t have the court space to facilitate what we can back at UEA.” D e r b y Day will

officially be held on a Wednesday – when UEA hosts it on a Saturday.

Ben said support for UEA will still be strong.

He said: “I think Derby Day could happen on any day of the week and we would still get people heading down to support. It is disappointing that we are not allowed to take supporters with us, although I can understand the reasoning behind it after the incidents from last year.”

He continued: “At the end of the day, Derby Day is such a fantastic day which deserves to include everyone, but if a few individuals are unable to control themselves then it will and has led to ruining for the majority.”

UEA has proved themselves to be head and shoulders above Essex, boasting five consecutive wins from 2013-2017.

Should UEA throw down the gauntlet to another university for a a fresh challenge?

Ben stated: “I think Derby Day with Essex is beginning to lose the great sporting rivalry as we just expect to beat them year in year out. It would certainly make for an interesting change-up to play against a better sporting university.

“I’ve heard Warwick are g e t t i n g noisy...”

intimated to go ahead with this year’s match after suffering an embarrassing 32-0 loss last year.

The results from the last three years indicate UEA’s odds of winning another away win are in their favour.

The overall score is likely to be closer looking back to 2016 Wikimedia Angstpristine when UEA won Commons, 34-30.

Let’s hope UEA can once again t a k e home the Derby Day trophy, and maybe Essex will pose tougher competition to save themselves from embarrassment after last year’s dismal performance.

Dancing to win Amira Barwany UEA Dancesquad Secretary As Derby Day approaches, the dance clubs at UEA prepare for their final competitive performances of the year.

Last year, we saw unparalleled success in most of the dance categories, with performances from Ballet, Contemporary, Jazz, Hip Hop, and DanceSport.

Highlights of 2017’s rivalry included a collective dance score a huge four points for UEA. However, this year a change to the point system will require a win in each category from all individual disciplines to secure the weighty one point up for grabs, making the individual wins of dances even more crucial than previous years.

This year we have dances from Ballet, Contemporary, Jazz, Hip Hop, and Tap, all of which have had an extremely successful run in inter-university competitions, continuously achieving places in the top three throughout the competition season. Tap will be performing in the Wildcard category this year, as they take it in turns with DanceSport, who competed and won the point last year.

Choreography this year has been a strong point for all of the

squads. Notably Contemporary, Jazz and Tap have gone for different stylistic approaches than previous years. In performances so far, the Contemporary squad has been acknowledged for its high level of emotive performance, Jazz for its quick pace and high energy routine, and Tap for its upbeat piece with complex rhythms.

The Hip Hop and Ballet routines have been noted for strong technique at competitions, with the Ballet squad having the opportunity to maintain last year’s high standard with leadership from their Hong-Kong trained student choreographer.

While Hip Hop have gained two new competition choreographers, one with the experience of training in America on a year abroad, and the other a Master’s student who previously taught and danced with the Essex Blades. It’s set to be an intense competition!

Historically, the Hip Hop category showcases some of the toughest competition within dance, and being one of the later dances of the day, a buzzing and lively atmosphere is to be expected.

UEA dancers are hopeful for another Derby Day win with an exciting mix of talent and some thrilling performances lined up.

Dance performances start at 6pm in the Sports Hall.

17th April 2018

23

Victory on the table?

Daniel Cook Sport Editor For those who have not yet witnessed Derby Day for themselves, it really is quite the spectacle, with a total of 70 events and 35 different sports taking place last year.

One of those sports which will be making a return is Table Tennis.

As is the case for most of UEA sport, the Table Tennis team have found it relatively easy as of late against Essex, coming out victorious in the last five Derby Days. President Jake Dearman, who is set to make his Derby Day debut in a few weeks’ time, will be hoping to continue this trend.

I managed to catch up with Jake, as he looked ahead to Derby Day and all the excitement that surrounds the biggest sporting competition of the year.

Despite Essex winning this year’s parallel BUCs League in the

Midlands area, Jake still seemed confident his side would come away victorious, affirming that he “expected to win”.

“Jake still seemed confident his side would come away victorious” Unlike in the BUCs league, UEA are looking to field both a men’s and women’s Table Tennis team against Essex. Jake noted one advantage UEA have over their rivals being that one of UEA’s players on the women’s team, Vicky Smith, is ranked 18th in the UK. This he hoped would be decisive and ensure UEA

Danny Booty

“will take the win both for the men and women.”

That being said, Jake is also cautious not to downplay Essex’s chances, citing that whilst the team they fielded last year was quite weak, he is aware they might have “acquired some new freshers.”

What’s more, Jake also pointed out that his side will be slightly less experienced than the one they fielded in 2017, having lost “a key player last year.” While this is unfortunate, the drop -out does open the door for Jake to step in and take part in his first Derby Day. Adding to his confidence in the team, Jake also stated he hoped for “a minimum of two wins personally,” and is very much looking forward to the

occasion.

The Ta b l e Te n n i s President and third year Business and Finance student noted that although it will not be held at UEA on April 25th, he still believes it’ll be “just as good as last year.”

Derby Day is a unique opportunity for all of UEA Sport to come together and hopefully come out on top again over Essex, before as Jake suggested, “ending the day

in fantastic fashion at the LCR.”

Derby Day

25.04.18 Follow live updates on the Media Collective Facebook page @UEAMedia UEA TV

24

17th April 2018

Sport

Commendations for Korfball

8:7

UEA vs Birmingham

Zeid Muhsin Sport Writer

It’s been a crazy year for the UEA Korfball 2nd team.

With a mix of new and experienced players, we expected to push for a medal and we got it, but it wasn’t all plain sailing.

In our first tournament it took a last gasp penalty shootout for us to progress, before five members of our team were involved in a serious car crash on the morning of the Regionals in January.

We found that something so

serious happening brought the team together, and I think I’d speak for everyone in saying that the adversity we faced gave the team a special bond throughout the whole year.

“Unsurprisingly, the game was a tense affair” Due to the events earlier in the day the game was not our main focus, we were the last team to play

at the regional tournament and we had no substitutes.

That being said, by the time of the BUCs Plate in Manchester, we were fully strengthened and raring to go. For me and a few other finalists this was our last chance to win the medal which we had been working towards for years.

The first game, a tense 3-3 draw against Birmingham, showed us that the tournament wasn’t going to be easy. We then managed to win our other group games against Oxford 2nd team and Northumbria to progress to the quarter finals, where we faced Kent.

The team really showed up

against Kent, scoring bags of goals and the win set up a semi-final clash against Newcastle. A last minute decision to include Rohan Gwynn in the squad, after a season-ending injury six months earlier, proved to be a great one as he scored three goals in what was his only appearance in a BUCS match this year.

Newcastle were a very tough team, the tension of the semi-finals combined with a questionable referee saw us suffer a heartbreaking defeat. Though we still had a chance to win a medal against Birmingham, a team we knew we could beat, having played them in

our first game.

Unsurprisingly, the game was a tense affair. The intensity of the game was very impressive, given the fact that both teams had played in and lost a semi-final just two hours earlier. Having been through tense penalty shootouts and the awful crash earlier in the year, we still managed to find the energy needed in the final stages to win 8-7.

Tom Cooke, the driver in the car accident just three months earlier, scored the goal which won us the game and the ultimately the bronze medal, with Camille Koosyial and George Witty also playing major roles. The medal was for those guys.

Jack Ashton reviews the Canaries’ Easter performance Norwich City have had a mixed bag of results over the Easter period. Three important points were picked up at the expense of an in-form Aston Villa, and a James Maddison converted penalty was the difference in a hard fought game against mid-table rivals, Reading.

This ended Norwich’s run of eight games without a win and saw them climb to 13th in the table.

However, they struggled to find their feet against Fulham, which saw the title contenders pick up an easy 2-0 victory, and heads were hung in shame as the Canaries were the victims of an embarrassing 4-1

decimation at the hands of QPR, a game which saw QPR forward, Matt Smith, play an essential role in three of the goals.

It was thanks to Pinto slotting Flikr,aCarine06 home late equaliser that meant Norwich picked up a point against Photo: Hana Sunderland, a Sztepanov side Farke’s men would have hoped to bulldoze over.

These results leave Norwich sitting decisively mid table. They started the Easter period in 13th, and as we go into the final handful of games, they’re still 13th. With only a few games remaining, it seems the dozen strong gap between them and play-off’s will be insurmountable,

but with the slip into the relegation zone being almost mathematically

Flickr-PittayaSroilong impossible, Norwich fans will be watching a club that, frankly, has

little to play for in the remainder of the season.

Norwich fans won’t be used to this end-of-season lull in tenacity, despite last season only managing a disappointing 8th, by a wide margin of ten from the play-offs. The season before saw them in an old fashioned relegation scrap in the Premier League, and the season before that saw a scintillating 3rd place finish rewarded by play-off promotion.

With the few remaining games to be played against Preston North End, Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday, all eyes will be turning to two things. Which young stars

will get the end of season run-out?

And which players will be happy enough at mid-table to stay next season? Promising players such as Pierre Fonkeu will be looking to make a break into the first team, and loanees, Diallang Jaiyesimi and Ebou Adams will be hoping to return from their loan spells and enter the first team with a bang.

The question on every Norwich fan’s lips will still be whether James Maddison will stay or not.Perhaps an end of season burst in form will give him enough hope to stay away from the lurking prospect of playing Premier League football.