Concrete - Issue 299/299(a)

The Freshers’ Edition Concrete & Venue, issue 299 Summer of Sport Freshers’ guide

Students of UEA: your Union loves you.

To start 2014/15 off in tremendous fashion, your SU is bringing the fun in for you and yours this Welcome Week. From civilised pre-drinks and live music through to chucking shapes far into the wee small hours, we have something this Welcome Week to float your boat whether you're joining us for the first time or if you've been here since the late 90s.

Damn Good Presents….School Disko in the LCR on Tuesday 23rd September!

Pre-drinks in the Bars before doors open to the LCR’s finest attempt at nostalgia. The LEGENDARY Wheatus will be playing from 9.30pm for all you Teenage Dirtbags. Karaoke fun-times also in the Blue Bar until 11pm.

The SU Blue Bar on 20th September hosts the inaugural Saturday Social and is the perfect place to break the ice with your new housemates over the universally accepted

Radio One’s Zane Lowe rocks into the LCR on Wednesday 24th September from 10pm playing a shed load of music and generally being a bit of a hero. Come and witness a man whose musical prowess is so powerful that lowly mortals have been known to faint at the mere sight of him.

medium of excellent tunes as there’s live music from 3pm onwards and a DJ from 8pm.

The Amazing Bavarian Stompers join us from 7.30pm on Sunday 21st September in the LCR and let us tell you that this is no bunch of Bavarian geriatrics!

Their show is a rip roaring musical journey to the Bavarian Bier Kellers involving the quaffing of copious quantities of liquid refreshment en route. A perfect antidote to the rigours and stresses of the modern Welcome Week.

If Welcome Week has not already blown your mind by Thursday 25th September, then Martin S. Taylor will probably do the trick from 7.30pm in the LCR. Psychological illusion and magic abound, this show is all about untapping the mind….and probably making you believe you're a chicken until at least next Saturday.

There’s also Acoustic live music from 8.30pm in the Blue Bar for a chilled out night with your chums. Propaganda is the biggest student night going and it’s here at UEA on Friday 26th September in the LCR and The Hive from 9pm. Guest DJs playing all the Indie faves keeps the LCR rocking all the way til 2am. Find your own kebab after this point.

Monday 22nd September is #TheNetworkUEA event in the Bars and the LCR from 8.30pm. Turn up in your #TheNetworkUEA t-shirt displaying all your social media deets and make new friends IRL as well as online.

For the newly created Class of 2014 (that's you, our Fresher pals!) we're putting on the ritz for an all-singing, all-dancing Welcome Prom on Saturday 27th September. Expect a memorable night packed with high jinks and big name music acts to ensure your Welcome Week goes out with a bang!

And finally…Comedians Sean Walsh and Paul Chowdhry finish off Welcome Week with happy bantz and hilarity in the LCR from 7pm.

Photo: Ian Harris So there you have it! Be seeing you soon, fine students of UEA.

Love SU x

Issue

16.09.14

concrete-online.co.uk @Concrete_UEA ConcreteNewspaper

Geri Scott and Peter Sheehan talk to

UEA’s new vice chancellor D

avid Richardson became the ninth vice chancellor of the University of East Anglia at the beginning of this month. He joined UEA in 1991 as a biology lecturer, and has since held a number of senior roles within the university. He became pro-vice chancellor for research, enterprise and engagement in 2011, and has been deputy vice chancellor since 2012.

His office, on the first floor of the registry, is a grand and capacious room. The carpets are plush, the ceiling is high, and there is everywhere an air of importance.

In advance of this interview, Concrete asked its readers what questions they would like to ask Richardson. We start by asking his the best of the suggestions: how would he explain his role to students in simple terms?

“I think a nice place to begin is actually thinking about it coming from business terms, first of all. My job is the job of the chief executive. I’m running the company and this is a £250m a year business.

“Ultimately, I’m the person who’s responsible for developing and setting the university’s budget... for leading an executive team, as well as developing the university’s strategy: strategy around teaching, the student experience, investment into the campus, and really developing our whole strategy around what it is that we’re providing for students. I’m also the person who is ultimately responsible for having the strategy – and leading the strategy – that attracts students to the university.”

Given this aspect of his role, does Richardson plan to expand UEA now that the government has lifted the cap on student

numbers, especially as many expect Russell Group universities to grow dramatically?

“Not at the moment, no. In fact, we went into the last admissions round with a very clear strategy to make sure that we attracted quality students, but that we weren’t going to expand overly. That could actually damage what we’re delivering to the students that we currently have. And I don’t think the moment is right for us to expand substantially, until we’ve actually put one or two things right within the university... You don’t expand just because the government’s taken the cap off”.

So what are the things that Richardson would like to put right before any possible expansion?

“If you look at our positions in league tables, we do very well in some areas. But some areas where we do less well are, for example, in student assessment and feedback... Year after year, unfortunately, you’ve been telling us that and I can assure you now that I’m going to take that very seriously. I’ve asked the pro-vice chancellor academic, Ian Ward, to set up a working group to look at that – involving academics, involving the professional divisions, LTS. [We will be] taking student input [to] see what we can do to put that right.

“Another area was graduate prospects.

Again, if you looked at our performance in the league tables, our performance as a university in respect of graduate prospects is not a top-15 performance, despite the fact that we’re a top-15 university. It’s actually around about 50th in the country and we [...]

Continued on page 6

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Editorial

editor’s column THE

W

Geri Scott Editor-in-Chief

“The UEA Media Collective is made up of Concrete, UEA:TV and Livewire 1350, so keep your eyes – and ears – peeled for joint ventures!”

venue

elcome (back) to UEA! For those of you who are new to campus, welcome to Concrete, your official student newspaper. We go to print every two weeks, and although you’re getting this copy at arrivals, you can always pick up a copy at various points around campus or in the city. More than that look out for us at SocMart on the 23rd September and Media Day on the 26th September – come and sign up and get involved, we’d love to have you!

That goes for you returners too, it’s never too late to sign up.

This summer has been a transition for Concrete, and we’re looking forward to operating not only as the strong student newspaper that we have evolved into, but also as a third of the new UEA Media Collective.

The collective is made up of Concrete, UEA:TV and Livewire 1350, so keep your eyes – and ears – peeled for joint ventures between the three of us.

We’ve recently launched a brand new feature on our website, Concrete Society Blogs! We’ve already got 20 societies who have uploaded blogs, with more being added every day. The aim of all this is to give your societies a place to talk about the things that matter to you. All we ask is for a minimum of one post a month and we’ll provide the

hosting, management and tech-support. To get involved drop me an email on concrete. editor@uea.ac.uk.

For this issue, Peter Sheehan (deputy editor) and I have interviewed UEA’s new vice chancellor, Professor David Richardson. He spoke to us at length about his plans for UEA in the future, and his passion for the Norwich campus. As Peter has explained on page six, we were keen to take the vice chancellor’s answers at face value, and report them without a slant, so that our readers can form their own opinions of the new top dog. You can read the full interview on the front page, continuing on page six.

Over the last two weeks, the whole editorial team has worked really hard to put together our first full-sized publication. But special thanks have to go to Becca Bemment and Courtney Pochin for their incredible dedication to the Freshers’ Guide which will be going out in select copies of this issue; and to James Newbold and Kat Lucas, who worked tirelessly to put together the Summer of Sport supplement that you will find slipped inside.

I’ve been so impressed with their willingness and passion for these mini-publications, and this has convinced me that this should be something Concrete should do more of in the future!

The University of East Anglia’s independent student newspaper since 1992

Union House University of East Anglia Norwich NR4 7TJ 01603 593 466 www.concrete-online.co.uk Editor-in-chief Geri Scott concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk Deputy editor Peter Sheehan concrete.deputy@uea.ac.uk Managing editor Ella Gilbert concrete.managingeditor@uea.ac.uk Online editor Emily Fedorowycz concrete.online@uea.ac.uk News Elliot Folan & Dan Falvey concrete.news@uea.ac.uk Comment Joe Jameson concrete.comment@uea.ac.uk Global Oliver Hughes concrete.global@uea.ac.uk Features Courtney Pochin concrete.features@uea.ac.uk

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UEA students take Edinburgh

Sci&Env Jacob Beebe concrete.scienv@uea.ac.uk Travel Jodie Snow concrete.travel@uea.ac.uk Lifestyle Rebecca Bemment concrete.lifestyle@uea.ac.uk

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Up-and-coming artists to watch

Sport James Newbold & Kat Lucas concrete.sport@hotmail.co.uk Chief copy editors Helena Bradbury & Frances McKeown concrete.copy@uea.ac.uk Chief photographers Will Cockram & Jacob Roberts-Kendell concrete.photography@uea.ac.uk Distribution manager Amit Puntambekar concrete.distribution@uea.ac.uk

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Editorial inquiries / complaints concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk concrete.venue@uea.ac.uk Got a story? concrete.news@uea.ac.uk

School’s in, film’s on

Concrete welcomes all letters and emails, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Letters should be addressed to the editor-in-chief, and include contact details. All emails should be sent to concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk. We will consider anonymous publication, and reserve the right to edit for length and clarity. Anonymous article submissions are permitted. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the newspaper. No part of this newspaper may be reproduced through any means without the express permission of the editor, Geraldine Scott. Published by UUEAS Concrete Society ©2014 Concrete BMc ISSN 1351-2773

News

What are your union officers planning for 2014-15?

Elliot Folan interviews the union’s new team Page 5

Union plans student forums and caucuses Elliot Folan News editor The Union of UEA Students (UUEAS) is preparing to introduce a set of reforms to its democratic processes, including “Student Forums” where any student can attend and vote to guide the student union’s policy on a particular issue.

The changes, the details of which are set to be finalised in Welcome Week, will also include the creation of “Liberation Caucuses” along the lines of the Liberation Campaigns of the National Union of Students (NUS).

According to union officers, such caucuses will be composed of members and representatives of marginalised groups like women, BME people, LGBT people and disabled people, and will be able to guide the student union’s policy on issues affecting those groups. There will also be campus-wide elections held for UEA’s delegates to the NUS Women’s Conference and NUS LGBT Conference.

In an interview with Concrete, Postgraduate Education Officer Liam McCafferty also revealed that there were plans for a “Graduate Assembly” where representatives of postgraduate students would guide the student union’s policy on issues affecting them.

Concrete understands that the proposed Student Forums would allow any student to attend and speak on the issue being discussed, and would likely be on only one significant topic. There would then be a vote which the

union would take account of when reaching its decision on the issue. For example, the Sun boycott of 2013 would likely have been discussed at a Student Forum before going to Union Council. The Student Forum would run alongside the traditional Union Council meetings, where 200 members representing societies, courses and clubs meet to discuss a formal agenda of motions and reports. Student Forums are likely to occur twice a term.

Chris Jarvis, Campaigns & Democracy Officer at UUEAS, told Concrete: “These reforms will make the student union more open and transparent, and give students more of a say over the decisions we make and the policies we implement. Student Forums will give every student a chance to feed into decision-making, while Liberation Caucuses will give marginalised students a chance to be listened to on the issues that affect them and guide policy on their liberation.

“I’m very excited about the potential of these reforms, and I urge every student to get involved at the first opportunity”.

Holly Staynor, Welfare, Community & Diversity Officer at UUEAS, said: “I’m really happy that the new democratic changes happening throughout our union have such a strong focus on liberation groups and those who traditionally struggle to get their voices heard not only in the student movement, but remain repressed throughout society generally.

“Having official elections for liberation conferences will ensure our elected represent-

Labour party sets out its plans for the higher education sector Dan Falvey News editor “Earn while you learn” was the sound bite adopted by Labour’s shadow universities minister, Liam Byrne, as he outlined his proposals to create the “university system that 21st century Britain needs if it is to thrive in the world that’s coming”.

In a pamphlet published by the Social Market Foundation thinktank, Mr. Byrne announced his ambitions for alternatives to traditional degree courses through the introduction of “technical degrees”.

Under the minister’s plans, universities administering such degrees would work in partnership with industries and local enterprise zones. Speaking of the plan the shadow minister said the aim of these degrees is that you can study “while you are in a job, drawing a wage”.

The MP’s plans follow the Labour leader’s pledge to introduce new technical degrees for the “50%” of people who do not wish to follow a traditional academic route. According to Byrne, the 3 year degree “doesn’t work for some people”.

According to the shadow minister, the aim of the proposed “earn as you learn” degrees is to “radically [change] how we provide access’”to higher education.

“We’ve got to build a bigger knowledge economy, home to better-paid jobs and open to anyone with talent, no matter whether they want an academic or a technical path in life”, claimed Mr Byrne.

These ideas form part of a four-section plan by the MP who also focused on postgraduate funding, “transforming access” and the role

of online learning. Byrne stated that all four elements were vital to improving the standard of higher education: “The choice in higher education is now clear. Watch the university system slowly go bust and lose its place as a global science leader, or choose a different path.”

He claimed that postgraduate funding “must be a priority for an incoming government to review” and praised the “compelling” IPPR model of a £10,000 loan for taught master’s students as well as the lifetime loan allowance as recommended by the University Alliance.

In order to try and “encourage university applicants from low income backgrounds” to apply for university the MP has also recommended the introduction of a “student premium” in which universities would get extra funding for recruiting students from lower income backgrounds.

Hannah Sketchley, member of the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) national committee and Democracy and Communications Officer for UCL Union, accused the proposals of being “feeble and reactionary” while NUS Scotland Vice President Kirsty Haigh called the reforms “piecemeal” in comparison to NCAFC’s “ideological alternative” of free education.

Pointing to Labour plans to restrict benefits for under-25s, Rachel O’Brien, from Defend Education Birmingham and NCAFC, said: “A lot of the proposals are even worse than the status quo: they’re an attack on young people’s right to basic benefits, hitting the victims of Tory policy with yet more poverty and sanctions. Labour’s vision for a ‘high skill economy’ will make us dependent on our parents until we’re 21 – that’s not progress”.

NUS atives will be better informed and prepared to represent UEA students on a national democratic level through proper training and guidance and delegations will be reflective of the diverse UEA student body, through specifically allocated seats for minority groups.

“We are also going to be leading the way amongst student unions across the country in trialling liberation caucuses which we will be directly input into the governance of our union and specific pre-election workshops supporting students from liberation groups who want to run for election, will see our

union racing ahead as one of the most diverse and representative”.

The main structures of union democracy will not change, but the new institutions will feed into Union Council and into union officer’s decisions.

UUEAS is an independent and democratically run charity that represents students within UEA. It campaigns on their behalf and provides services such as the Shop and the Hive.

By-election due in Essex as former Tory MP defects to UKIP Emily Rivers News reporter Douglas Carswell, UEA alumni and Conservative MP, has defected to UKIP and resigned from the House of Commons, triggering a by-election in his constituency of Clacton.

Carswell (shown right),, who was first elected to the Essex seat (formerly Harwich) in 2005, has decided to contest the by-election as the UKIP candidate, meaning that he could become the first MP elected under the UKIP banner. Speaking of his defection, Carswell said that it “hasn’t been an easy decision” but claimed that only UKIP could “shake up that cosy little clique called Westminster”.

He said: “The problem is that many of those at the top of the Conservative Party are simply not on our side. They aren’t serious about the change that Britain so desperately needs.

“Of course they talk the talk before elections. They say what they feel they must say to get our support... but on so many issues – on modernising our politics, on the recall of MPs, on controlling our borders, on less government, on bank reform, on cutting public debt, on an EU referendum – they never actually make it happen”.

Prime Minister, David Cameron was not warned about Mr Carswell’s plan to defect, and said that his decision was “regrettable” and “counterproductive”.

He said: “If you want a referendum on Britain’s future in the EU – whether we should stay or go – the only way to get that is to have a Conservative government after the next election. And that is what until very recently

Wikipedia Douglas Carswell himself was saying”.

The Conservatives have set the by-election date as 8th October, the day after the end of the Liberal Democrat party conference in Glasgow.

The Conservative candidate is ex-Bread actor and local councillor Giles Watling.

Labour has chosen Colchester councillor Tim Young as its candidate, while the Lib Dems have selected writer and actor Andrew Graham.

An opinion poll of Clacton voters conducted by Lord Ashcroft showed UKIP in first place on 54%, followed by the Conservatives on 26%, Labour on 16%, the Lib Dems on 2% and other parties on 2%.

4 News Financial strain causes 23% EU student support targeted to contemplate dropping out under government plans Dan Falvey News editor A new study has revealed that almost a quarter (23%) of all students are worried that they will be unable to continue in their studies because of financial difficulties.

According to new research carried out

by Gocompare.com, students fear that their financial situation may leave them with no choice but to give up their studies. The report also indicated that over a fifth (22%) of students believe that having no choice but to work part-time in order to raise the funds is affecting their education. On top of this, a third of students reported that merely the stress of their financial situation was affecting their studies in a negative way.

The new information comes less than three and a half months after money-management trainer, Blackbullion, released their own findings saying that 51% of all students in the UK run out of money before the next instalment of their loan from Student Finance.

The conclusions from the study commissioned by Gocompare.com highlighted that 9% of all students who took part in the research would not advise other people to go to university because “it’s too expensive”.

Commenting on the results of the research, Claire Peate, customer insight manager at Gocompare.com, said: “Some of the projections about student debt levels posttuition fees are eye-watering and will certainly be a concern to any parent with a child at

university or thinking of going”.

Peate then went on to say: “It is very worrying indeed to learn that almost a quarter of current undergraduates think that they might have to give up their studies because of their financial situation.

“While the amount of debt you finish university with will often depend on where you go to university and how much financial

9

%

The percentage of students would recommend not going to university because “it’s too expensive”

support you receive during your course, it also comes down to how well you budget and how savvy you are with bank accounts and credit cards. For most students it will be the first time they have had to manage all of their financial affairs, and that often means learning on the job, and fast”.

Of the 1,000 incoming 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students who took part in the investigation, a large number believed that they needed more help in understanding how to finance.

45% of those surveyed said that universities should provide students with more support and advice around money issues, while half of participants believed that schools needed to do more to give young people an education into managing finances.

In order to help students cope with their finances, Gocompare.com has created an online guide providing advice on how to make the most of student loans: www.gocompare. com/student-insurance/student-finance/

Rob Drury & Elliot Folan News reporter & news editor Greg Clark, universities minister since only June this year, has already caused controversy with plans that threaten to cut the amount of financial support EU students can receive while studying in the UK. The plans, being discussed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), would see the rules around maintenance loans changed.

Currently, an EU student has to live in the UK for three years to qualify for financial help whilst living and studying. However in recent years, there has been an increase in the amount of support given to EU students, more than doubling from £75 million in the academic year 2009-10 to £162 million in 201213.

The government claims that the rate of loan pay-back is lower within the EU graduate pool, and that students who choose to return to the European continent post-graduation are half as likely to pay back their loans, either in part or fully. With the cap on student numbers set to be lifted in 2015, the government has argued that this will lead to large loan costs as more EU students arrive.

Off the back of these statistics, Clark is considering raising the period for which an EU student must live in the UK before claiming a maintenance loan, from three years to five years. This would take place from the 2016 academic year at the very earliest.

Speaking of the proposal, Clark said: “[it is not my aim] to dilute this diverse culture

Wikimedia but to address the economic reality of the higher education budget by bringing the rules regarding living cost support for EU students in line with the rules applied to visiting students in other EU countries.”

The consultation does not propose changing the rules which say EU students must have the same access to tuition fee loans as UK students.

The proposed changes would be effective from 2016-17 at the earliest and would not apply to those with settled status, such as refugees.

Over the summer: news you’ve missed A brief summary of new stories that we published on our website over the summer. Each article is available in full online.

30th June

5th August

6th August

14th August

14th August

UEA research finds that university students have forgotten A-levels

NUS votes to boycott firms that aid Israeli military and settlements

UEA Nursing Society petition goes from strength to strength

Revealed: Green Party’s 2015 general election candidate for Norwich South

Student union announces changes to Union House

Mai-Vi Dang

Elliot Folan

According to research conducted by the University of East Anglia, students who achieved top grades at A-level have already forgotten three-fifths of the material after a year.

To test their ability to remember key knowledge from two years of A-level study, 594 bioscience students from five universities took a biology test in their first week of term. The test consisted of a series of multiple choice questions that were drawn from past AS and A-level papers.

Although most participants had scored an A in their original A-level biology exams, only 40% of the questions were answered correctly the second time round.

The executive council of the National Union of Students has voted to boycott companies that aid Israel’s military and its settlement activities in the Gaza Strip. Proponents of the meaasure argued that Israel’s military is abusing human rights in Gaza and pointed to the deaths of 1,700 Palestinian civilians during recent bombings.

Opponents, including the Union of Jewish Students, criticised the tactic of boycotting, saying that it is “indiscriminate” and will alienate Jewish students.

Geri Scott

Read more: www.concrete-online. co.uk/university-students-haveforgotten-their-a-levels/

Read more: www.concrete-online. co.uk/nus-votes-boycott-firmsaid-israeli-military-settlements/

Elliot Folan

Dan Falvey A petition started by a student nurse in the School of Health Sciences, and Publicity Secretary for the UEA Nursing Society, has gained more than 1,600 signatures in just 48 hours, attracting attention from students at the University of East Anglia but also all around the country.

Launched by Alice Edwards, with the support of UEA Nursing Society, the campaign highlights that the standard reduction in the student loan, which applies to undergraduates in their final year, reflects unfairly on those who study healthcare courses, due to these courses often having longer semesters.

Read more: www.concrete-online. co.uk/uea-nursing-societypetition-goes-strength-strength/

In a bid to take a second seat in the House of Commons at next year’s general election, the Green Party have announced that part-time district nurse, Lesley Grahame, will be their candidate for Norwich South.

Revealed to Green Party supporters and the media on Tuesday 12th August, Grahame will have to fight off Norwich South’s current MP, Simon Wright, a Liberal Democrat, as well Labour’s Clive Lewis in order to win next May. Read more: www.concrete-online. co.uk/revealed-green-partys2015-general-election-candidatenorwich-south/

UEA’s students’ union has announced a number of “dramatic” changes to Union House, following feedback from students earlier this year.

Changes include the introduction of a new social learning and coffee space called “Unio” on the ground floor, dedicated spaces for exhibitions and stalls in the Hive and more rooms for societies and students to book. The Box Office and Advice functions will also now be available from the Information Point in Union House, although both the Box Office and Advice Centre will remain open too.

Read more: www.concrete-online. co.uk/student-union-announceschanges-union-house/

News

5

Concrete meets your 2014-15 full-time officers...

News editor Elliot Folan talks to the student union’s five elected sabbatical officers about their plans for the 2014-15 academic year.

Chris Jarvis

Connor Rand

Liam McCafferty

Yinbo Yu

Holly Staynor

One could say Chris helped create his own position.

Heavily involved in the Yes:No referendum campaign that prevented the Campaigns Officer being replaced by a President, he has spent most of his time at UEA involved in campaigning and in the union’s democracy.

Democracy will be at the forefront of his mind in 2014-15; he’ll be focusing on “opening up the democratic process”, through Student Forums, Liberation Caucuses and online democracy systems. But he’ll also be campaigning to oppose government cuts to disability support and pushing for better student accommodation both on and off campus.

How does he think Student Forums will be received?

“Hopefully they’ll be received really well... Most students generally don’t understand how or why we make decisions and then get pissed off by those decisions once they get made.

And whatever you think of the specific issues, that’s a problem”.

However, he also emphasised the importance of minorities and marginalised students being represented on Union Council.

He indicated that the union was looking for “a balance between… some representative functions and some direct democracy”.

Connor has been involved in politics as a union councillor and in political activism, so it’s no surprise that he has already started working hard to improve the student experience.

This year, Connor plans to focus on student engagement and representation. “[It’s about] students becoming not only consumers of knowledge but co-creators in how their educational experience is shaped and delivered”, he told Concrete. Campaigning to reduce hidden course costs and structural inequalities will be a high priority, as will improving the advisory system and mental health support.

Connor has already had to deal with new university proposals that prevent Medical students applying for post-exam resits. Concessions were won however, with UEA saying they won’t extend it to other departments, allowing students to opt out of exams in advance without having to provide written evidence and promising a review of the policy.

On the issue of tuition fees, Connor told us that he’s personally in favour of a graduate tax. When asked if this clashed with the student union’s existing policy of abolishing all education fees, Connor said: “I understand the importance of the principle of free education, but there’s no doubt that a graduate tax is a more progressive solution to a very difficult problem than the system we currently have”.

Liam is not new to student union politics, having been a part-time officer and Chair of Union Council before running to be a full-time officer. Adjusting to the brand new position has “been a steeper learning curve than expected”, Liam told us, but he added that a lot of good work is already being done.

He’s planning to focus on the issues of reducing fees for postgraduate students, as well as increasing workspace and improving contracts for associate tutors, who “are often given a pretty raw deal”.

After demands for increased postgraduate representation led to the creation of Liam’s position, both he and the student union broadly are working to increase postgraduate student engagement.

They’re planning a “Graduate Assembly” to advise Union Council on policy affecting postgraduates; putting together a strategy to examine the obstacles postgraduates face in engaging with UUEAS; and consulting with students on how to engage better.

And with the 2015 general election likely to be surrounded by discussions around education issues, and education funding, Liam told us he believes in the student union’s policy of free higher education at the point of delivery. “We need to re-assert the mantra of education being something which we believe is a right”, he said.

Elected earlier this year with 860 votes and the largest majority of any of the full time officers, Yinbo has already broken new ground in becoming the first international student to be elected as a full-time officer. Has this changed something in how international students view the union, we asked?

“I think so – I think I would be more approachable to international students”, he said, “so when they are facing problems, not only in activities but other things, they could come to me and I could help them, or other officers could help me to help them”.

Over the summer, Yinbo has been working on his manifesto pledge of a Union App that compiles all student union services in a single easily accessible place, the first version of which will be released for download during Fresher’s Week.

Over the next year, he plans to work on the union’s campaigns, on engaging international and postgraduate students with clubs and societies, organising an international culture day and pushing for a more open union “that is inclusive to every single student at UEA”.

Outside of each officer’s specific roles Yinbo wants the student union to be more approachable, and he welcomed any student to come and chat about campaigns, activities, or anything else that concerned them.

Holly spent 2013-14 as the LGBT Officer for UUEAS, so it should come as no surprise that the issue “closest to [her] heart” as Welfare Officer is liberation - improving the lives of marginalised liberation groups like women, BME people, LGBT people and disabled people.

Holly tells us that liberation groups will gain new structures of student representation this year, with formal discussion meetings of officers and marginalised students – “caucuses” – set to be introduced at UEA. These “would make things a lot more fair and regular and democratic” says Holly; “you can’t really just go round campus asking ‘are you LGBT, do you want to talk about this?’ It’s not representative”.

She’s already started work on improving the student union’s equal opportunities policy, and there have already been changes: societies will receive equal opportunities training for the first time, and all union staff members will be given sexual harassment and equal opportunities training.

Mental health will also be a focus; Holly plans to work on removing the stigma around mental health and raising awareness of mental health services on campus. Holly is also going to be campaigning around the cost of living and against government cuts to disability support.

Campaigns & Democracy

Undergraduate Education

Postgraduate Education

First announce changes to bus routes Emily Rivers News reporter First Buses has announced major changes to the bus routes serving the university.

The improvements will be made to the number 25, which will run via Unthank Road every ten minutes from Monday to Friday and every 15 minutes on Saturday. Due to customer requests, all journeys from 08:00 to 20:30pm will run to Morrisons and Riverside, and there will be extra buses in the early evenings and to the university on Sunday mornings.

The 25A will be replaced by the new service 26, which will run via Earlham Road every 15 minutes. The 26 will also extend beyond UEA to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital during the week. It also runs along The Avenues between Colman Road and Bluebell Road,

Activities & Opportunities

Sutton Trust: wealthy gain educational advantage from extra tuition and activities Dan Falvey News editor

Wikipedia giving faster journey times.

There is also another new service, the 27, which will run hourly between 9:30 and 16:30 to serve North Park Avenue.

All Blue Line buses will operate via Theatre Street once these roads have re-opened, and the changes will come into force on Sunday 21st September.

Welfare, Community & Diversity

New research claims that children who are born into wealthier families gain a “substantial advantage” from tuition and extra-curricular activities. According to the Sutton Trust education charity, almost one in four children have extra tuition but it is less likely to be available to those from poorer backgrounds.

According to the charity’s annual Ipsos Mori survey of 11 to 16 year olds, 27% of young students from wealthier families have received private tuition in the past year.

However, this is 12% higher when compared to families who are not as well off.

Further, the Sutton Trust claims that there is a “persistent gap” between the rates of tuition for

poorer and wealthier families with the gap consisting of at least 10 percentage points over the past five years.

The report claims that private tuition and extra-curriculum activities, such as lessons in sport, dance and languages, helps to provide children with “another edge” and create long term advantages: “This will likely make a big difference to their access to the most selective universities, and subsequently to the highest paying careers”.

Mr Ryan, director of research at Sutton Trust, has called these findings a cause for concern which must be addressed. Speaking on the report’s verdict he said: “If we are serious about improving social mobility we must narrow the gap in educational opportunities outside of school as well as within the classroom”.

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Special feature

UEA’s new vice chancellor

COMMENT Peter Sheehan explains Concrete’s approach to interviewing the vice chancellor.

Continued from front page [...] want to put that right. I’ve made investment actually when I was deputy vice chancellor - into CareerCentral... but we need to give that time to come through”.

Richardson is also keen to expand the campus physically before he admits more students: “At the moment, you know we’re building new lecture theatres, and clearly if we expand and have more students we have to have the teaching provisions to teach them.

“In the sciences some of our laboratories are a really very, very poor quality... If we try to expand some of the science subjects now, then the students who came would have a poor experience. So we’re planning on building a new stack of science teaching laboratories, which when built would allow us to expand in the science subject areas.

“We are doing very well to continue to invest and refurbish, but it’s not going to stop there... We’ve got a lot of ageing stock, ageing lecture theatres – and something I’m very keen on is actually developing a campus where we can really engage with a new blend of teaching technologies: interactive teaching. And that means that we have to reconfigurate our lecture theatres”.

We ask the vice chancellor to expand on his comments about graduate prospects: given that a standard degree costs £27,000 and that many students struggle to find graduate employment, does a degree provide value for money?

“Yes, I do. I think that, actually, a student coming to a university campus... is getting very good value for money. We’re investing as much of that student fee as possible into facilities in which these students are receiving their education.

And I think that when you come to a campusbased university where you have a strong social student activity, then you get the real benefit of the student experience – which you would not get if you were trying to receive your education through distance learning in the bedroom.

“I think there’s [a huge] advantage to a campus-based education, which of course does require that it’s paid for, because of the way you can interact with other students [and] interact closely with academic staff. We can help you develop your skills that then enable you to get the career you want... So I think that you still get value for money”.

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uition fees. It’s an important subject, and it matters a great deal to students, not least because the first cohort to start under the new funding regime are entering their final year.

All English and Welsh undergraduates are now paying £9,000 per annum for their degrees. So in general terms, what does Richardson think about the current model of university funding?

“I’m not going to dodge the question, but I’m going to give it some perspective. First and foremost, what we need for higher education is a coherent and sustainable strategy... A strategy that goes for 20, 30 years, and that, actually – call me an idealist – but that has to be an allparty strategy. It needs to survive changes of government. And that sustainability cannot entirely be the burden of the state nor can it entirely be the burden of the student, nor can it entirely be the burden of private sector.

“There’s no easy solution to that, and that clearly requires people to come together: people representing different bodies, different political views and students themselves. And so, coming in to give you a, say, ‘Well I think the student should pay this much’ is impossible, because no one has all the facts.

“I want that sustainable strategy and the UK university vice chancellors are working together to try and encourage the government to think in those terms – and the other political parties too – and involving the students union... And certainly as a vice chancellor I will be contributing to that

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Photographs from the interview. Bottom right: the book given to Richardson by union officers with students’ suggestions on how to improve UEA Will Cockram for Concrete as well.

“Now in any such strategy, one wants to make sure that anybody who wants to come to university should be able to. You should not be selected against because of your cultural background or your socio-economic background. And once you’re here you should have equal advantage. If we don’t succeed in doing that, I actually think that the UK could risk becoming a second-division higher education sector.

“You look to other countries, and [they] are putting into place these kind of sustainable strategies that we’re talking about. And they’re putting in much more of their GDP than we are – way more – to ensure that they have sustainability going down the line, because they know that a sustainable strategy is beneficial for the country’s economy.

“I think it’s very unlikely that future students will ever benefit from an education which the state pays for in its entirety. But I have a concern that the share is too much on the student at the moment”.

Does the vice chancellor think that UEA suffers from the ‘Norwich Effect’? And does he think that we need to do more to promote our status as a top-15 university?

“That’s an interesting question. We’re going to be developing a new corporate plan, actually – and I mean ‘we’ in an incorporating sense, in that we’re all going to participate, students as well – and that we’ll be developing that over the next nine months or so for launch next autumn. And it’ll have three key themes.

“You’ve heard it here first, this is your exclusive. One of those themes will be around further development of our national and international presence. I think that partly links to your question: ‘Is Norwich out of the way?’ But you’re linking that to ‘Is that getting in the way of people knowing that we are a world-class university, so is it geographical? Or is it that we’ve come a long way and that actually, that rise has been so stellar that it takes a while for that reputation to catch up? And so I’m not going to lay blame on the geographical side of things: I think Norwich is a hugely exciting city; I think UEA in that city is in an excellent place.

“But what we need to do is actually get out and about and enhance our reputation, nationally yes, but I think more critically internationally.

I think nationally people are starting to look to UEA and they’ve noticed this rise – and in the league tables it’s UEA – so UEA is a brand now and people have seen that rise.

“What we need to do now is to make sure

that people internationally really know about us.

ARM have been leading us on that side of things, but another thing I’m doing is actually investing in regional offices. We opened a new regional office in Kuala Lumpa to cover South East Asia last year, I went out and opened it. Now the regional offices – please don’t confuse these with branch campuses, which we will not be opening – have three or four staff and they are there to help us promote the university in a particular part of the world; engage with our alumni; engage with institutions there; provide a base [for] academics out in the region; and also provide a contact point for if we have our own students, maybe on exchange visits. I think, through these regional offices and through getting more academics out and out and engaging with our alumni more, we can improve our international visibility, and then through that our reputation.

“But I don’t want people talking about the Norwich effect, because I don’t believe that, I really don’t believe that”.

Of course, earlier this year UEA closed the short-lived UEA London, a branch campus opened in the capital in 2010.

“I don’t anticipate pursuing any branch campuses: it’s not just UEA London that leads to that view. We were actually, a few years ago, looking at the possibility of a branch campus in Malaysia. We did all the analysis, I was heavily involved in that as deputy vice chancellor, and we decided that this wasn’t something we wanted to do.

“With UEA London, we embarked on that in 2008 and actually, although that feels like a short time ago, the world was a very different place in 2008 – and in fact UEA was in a very different place in the league tables in 2008. I think going into London to improve our visibility and have a base there for attracting a particular kind of international student, largely to do with studies involved in business related programmes, was a good thing to do. I think if you look at the experience that the students had down there, it was great. We’ve graduated some very talented students we’ve had some powerful alumni who will all say they had a very good experience.

“But as we started to evolve the Norwich vision, I started to fear that actually this was becoming a distraction. I wanted people to promote and support Norwich, and develop this campus to make it the top campus in the country; to bring students to Norwich to have the UEA Norwich experience.

“I think that it was a very positive experience for those that were part of it, but for the same reasons that we withdrew from UEA London,

hat should one ask a vice chancellor?

Everyone has a issue about which they feel strongly, be it something fairly general or something much more specific, a fact borne out of the varied suggestions we received from readers and other editors while preparing for this piece.

Unfortunately, with limited time and column inches, we could not ask everything that we would have liked. So we decided to focus on topics that we think are of interest to pretty much all students – and staff, even – at UEA: tuition fees, plans for the future, and so forth.

In terms of the conversation itself, we wanted to give Richardson a genuine opportunity to respond – that is, to take his answers at face value, and to avoid jumping in to pick apart half-finished sentences. And we were adamant that this interview was not a chance to either settle scores, or to try and trip the vice chancellor up.

As such, we publish his responses without comment, insinuation or suggestion; and we invite readers to make up their own minds about his responses to our questions.

I wouldn’t be running to set up another branch campus somewhere else”.

We have one last question. Richardson may have just taken over as UEA’s vice chancellor but, come the end of his tenure, be that in five, ten or even in 20 years’ time, what does he want his legacy to be?

“Goodness, I’ll be part of the furniture by that time! For me, this is a moment [at which] we almost need to reinvent what it is to be educated on a campus; to embrace new learning and teaching technologies; and have a campus that allows us to do that. [We need] to understand that students are coming from all over the world and have different kinds of working practices. So many of our facilities need to be open 24/7, like the library.

“In other words, I [want to] look back and think that we have built a university that is actually ready for a new kind of campus-based higher education that really embraced new technologies. And that doesn’t involve just investing in the campus and all the things that we need to do for lecture capture, and all those things I said earlier. But also actually developing the skills base of our academic staff, who [will] need to be trained to adjust to new teaching technologies.

“I very much hope also that I will be the vice chancellor that [will have] led the university in to the UK’s top 10 and the world’s top 100 in a sustainable way – so it’s not just a blip and that we’re there, and people know us around the world and want to come to us”.

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ichardson has something that he wants to show us before we leave: a photo album presented to him by last year’s union officers. It contains photographs of students, alongside notes on which they have written their answers to the question: what is the one thing you would like to say to David Richardson?

He keeps the album on his desk, and he shows us the table that he asked his PA to prepare: a collation of all the book’s suggestions that has been sent to all senior members of the university management team. It adds welcome substance to his earlier comments about, for instance, involving students in the development of UEA’s new corporate plan.

It struck us that Richardson spoke a lot about strategies, about various agencies, and about league tables. It must be dangerously easy, in this office, to get caught up in the impersonal. It is heartening to see in his office, a reminder of the people who are the reason he comes to work each day.

Global

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Photo: Wikimedia: Mstyslav Chernov/Unframe

Ukraine from behind the barricades Emily Fedorowycz talks to her Ukranian relative about living in the middle of the current conflict. A Concrete exclusive interview.

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ince Crimea was taken by Russia back in May of this year, we have heard more and more about the widespread unrest across Ukraine. Having family ties to Ukraine means we can hear more about the events from within the border. My cousin spoke to Concrete. She remains anonymous for her own safety.

“Our people are desperately trying to save Ukraine. Men all over the Ukraine are going to east to fight, with volunteer battalions now starting to fight side by side with the national army, and everywhere people are collecting money to aid the cause. But our soldiers can’t really defend themselves; the Russian army is too strong. Already, a large number of cities in the East have been destroyed with mines, mortars and other weapons.

“On television, we are told very little about what is going on, but more information is available on the internet. Even then, we don’t really know the truth. When the news speaks about 30 dead bodies, in reality, it is more like 300. But if people knew the truth, it could cause widespread panic”.

My cousin explains that the tension has continued to rise since the recent development, when Russia turned up at Ukraine’s border with a convoy of over a hundred lorries of

supposedly humanitarian aid.

She continues, “They must have brought in some aid, but what was in the rest of the lorries, nobody knows. Not all of them were checked at the border. After lorries came, Russian terrorists on the East suddenly received a large number of weapons. And then after the lorries left, it has been said that they took with them Ukrainian military equipment.”

The way Russia manipulated their way into Ukraine was terrifyingly easy. By supposedly moving “aid” for the benefit of the rebel-held parts of Ukraine, Russian authorities could claim that the Ukraine were unreasonable for not allowing entry into the country. They proceeded without permission, pressing the point that Ukrainian people would suffer if they did not get this “aid” to them.

The convoy was unsurprisingly approached with suspicion by the Ukrainians: at best, a propaganda stunt to further Russian president Vladimir Putin’s means, and at worst, a cover for a military operation. The facts perhaps support the latter. In the past 5 years, Russia’s investment in military defense has risen by 50%, investing a whopping $78 billion compared to Ukraine’s $1.6 billion.

To put this in perspective, NATA advises

countries to invest 2% of their wealth (GDP) in military defence. Where other countries have stated this threshold is too high, Russia’s investment now stands at 4.1%, and last year, has risen above the USA for the first time since 2003.

“It is a real war,” our speaker went on to say, “and it’s nothing new. Russia has used aggressive politics against neighbouring countries in the past, and has occupied Ukrainian territory by force in much the same way as now. I think this war won’t be stopped until the USA and Europe introduce stronger economical sanctions to Russia, or reinforce Ukraine’s defences.

“It comes down to the fact that Russia can’t accept that Ukraine is an independent nation, or rather Putin can’t accept this. Being such a free and content country, Ukraine poses a threat to Putin because it makes our Russian neighbours start to question how they live under his rule, and if they revolt, Putin’s “empire” will fall apart. He would lose all of his power. On top of this, since Ukraine has been trying to become a part of the European Union, there’s further threat for Putin to lose his influence.

I hope that the situation will come to an end in the coming days or weeks, but this is

looking ever more unlikely. Terrorists in the East have too much weaponry and they don’t want to cease-fire, let alone surrender. They will continue war down to the last terrorist.

But there aren’t only terrorists. Russia’s military is numerous and on many occasions their number has exceeded the number of terrorists and separatists, and continues to do so. Meanwhile, thousands of people have are dying all over the country, and in my town alone I know more than 100 men have been killed.”

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ith the military power that Russia has to its advantage, Ukraine is as vulnerable as it has ever been. Crimea was the first part of Ukraine to be won over by the clever politics of Putin, but the extent to which this conflict may continue is unsure.

How this situation might progress is very much dependent upon how the rest of the Western world reacts, and hoping that Russian militants are pulled out of the Ukraine, but if not, Ukraine will be left helpless. What is certain however, is that these events will mark a severe point in history, and if this volatile condition is not addressed by the rest of the world, Russia will continue to bully it’s way across the Ukraine, and there is no way to say when they will stop.

“You can’t destroy an idea”: why US policy on Islamic State is flawed Oliver Hughes Global editor The titular quote comes from Sherlock heartthrob Benedict Cumberbatch. The actor, 38, claimed that he would fight if conscription came into law – but that Islamic State (IS) could not be defeated with bombs and shows of strength. Rather, IS must truly be understood if it is to be defeated.

Cumberbatch has a point. The Western powers – in particular the US – are more than capable of exerting overwhelming force in Iraq and Syria, and in recent weeks have been pummelling IS strongholds with air strikes. A deployment of some 350 US troops reinforced Baghdad, too. Yet the problem with this is that

it treats the Caliphate as if it were a nation and a unified people. Innocent civilians are the ones suffering from these air strikes: civilians who have had their homes occupied by ISIS, their relatives and friends threatened with public execution, their daughters sold into slavery.

Obama’s plans for a coalition similar to the one that took on Al-Qaeda – which recently declared it would be pursuing operations in India – reek of the same ignorance his predecessor demonstrated. Attacking ISIS with military strength will only serve to reinforce their cause, and promote a policy of “you kill our people, we’ll kill yours” – exactly the same policy that led to the terrorist attacks on the US and the UK, as well as multiple others across the world. The UK among other

nations is currently donating aid and weapons to the Kurdish combatants that are fighting ISIS on the ground. Iraqi troops are suffering Benedict Cumberbatch: “You can’t destroy an idea” Flickr: Gage Skidmore from a “serious morale problem” and the new government has not yet organised them into a coherent force.

The majority of ISIS support is in Syria – Sunni Arabs make up 60% of Syria’s population compared to 30% of Iraq’s. Yet the US refuses to cooperate with Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad, who has all but reclaimed his country from the grip of civil war. The

US is refusing to acknowledge that working with Syria may be the only way to truly defeat ISIS – but in doing so, they would be allying with a man who has allowed brutal attacks on his own people. In fact, the US took actions with other nations, particularly Turkey, with the intention of removing Assad from power – these same actions, like the opening of the Turkish-Syrian border – have only served to benefit ISIS. So what should be done? Pursuing military action will only lead to another drawn-out conflict like the “war on terror” which will endanger the lives of our own civilians and do nothing to stabilise the region. The US needs to understand it can’t smash everything into submission – rather it has to understand the beast before it can truly be defeated.

Comment

Radical responses to world events: a call to arms from our new star columnist Militant Moments Page 9

Examining the Rotherham abuse scandal

The student life: debauchery or high-end luxury?

Ellen Musgrove

Chris Donaldson

Concrete columnist

Concrete columist

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n the past week, the British public has been rocked by the findings of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham. Alexis Jay’s independent report unearthed the horrific treatment of approximately 1,400 children between 1997 and 2013 which, according to its executive summary, ‘continues to this day.’ The abuse includes the rape, trafficking, beatings and intimidation of girls as young as 11 years old; but, perhaps more importantly, extends to the flagrant neglect of these children by the very institutions set up to protect them.

Despite clear evidence being persistently raised, both by victims and their social workers, these events continued unimpeded as both the local police service and senior figures within social care chose to take no action. Three publications highlighting the scale of the abuse in 2002, 2003, and 2006 were suppressed or ignored. Victims reporting their ordeals were treated with contempt, whilst further up the ranks their accounts, as put forward by social workers, were held to be exaggerated. The daunting number of cases combined with the fear of inflaming racial tension, given the Pakistani heritage of the majority of the perpetrators, cowed many into silence. Laziness, combined with cowardice and a total lack of human empathy, allowed the perpetrators to lay waste to the early lives of over a thousand children.

Readers may be familiar with Edmund Burke’s statement that ‘the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’ We will never escape moral depravity: human beings are, after all, essentially imperfect. However, the ‘evil’ acts of these crimes is extreme and, thankfully, viewed by society as atrocious. It is the banal face of evil which is more insidious, however; the repercussions of turning a blind eye in the hope that the problem will not resurface, so that no act of responsibility will be required.

We have been given proof, time and again, of the fact that a person who has been elevated to a position of power and trust is not necessarily trustworthy. Our shock at this stems from the naive presumption that a person’s moral fabric correlates appropriately to their job title. Because this is not so, transparency is vital in ensuring that vulnerable people are not left behind by the ‘civilised’ society which claims to provide their protection.

Amongst these horrific events, at least, shines the courage of those victims who spoke up about their ordeals, and the vigilance of people such as Alexis Jay who, in simply fulfilling the duty of her position, brought these stories to light. Thanks to this response, Jay’s inquiry was able to report that the past four years has already seen an improvement in the handling of child sexual exploitation by Rotherham police service and borough council. If there are any positives to take away from these appalling revelations then it must be that society can demand past wrongs to be examined, and that as more cases are brought forward, our ability to understand our failings and better prevent similar events from taking place will grow stronger.

“S Haaretz

Is the rise of Islamic State a new threat for the West?

Concrete looks at developments in the Middle East, and asks how Western governments should respond to the rise of the Islamic State.

Joe Jameson Comment editor

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verything has changed in the Middle East; the region we once knew and understood fairly well has been in turmoil since the ISAF led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the American-Anglo joint invasion of Iraq in 2003. Initially we were welcomed, perceived as saviours from oppressive regimes, however the citizens whose homes we invited ourselves into soon realised that the West wasn’t prepared, didn’t have an exit strategy, or even seem to want one.

The full impact of the invasion of Iraq can still be seen and felt in the British public today; the idea of military intervention in the Middle East at the present is still a toxic one, as was seen last year when the government was defeated over proposed airstrikes against Syrian government military installations.

When the issue of Syria’s chemical weapon arsenal was a serious concern last year, Ed Miliband, leader of the Labour party, urged the government to ‘learn the lessons of Iraq’ and hold off before unreservedly backing one side of a very messy situation.

However, in this case it is simply not an option to ‘play the long game’ and wait to see what IS’s next move will be, Western leaders have chosen to ‘learn the lessons of Iraq’ by attempting to act quickly.

The fact is that the UK cannot ignore the significant change which IS has made to conventional understandings of the Middle

“The idea of military intervention is still toxic” East, or the way in which it has redefined the domestic element to terrorism, with many people concerned about the number of western citizens choosing to go and fight for IS in western Iraq and eastern Syria.

Our leaders are facing something new, a new strain of extremist thinking which is making its mark on western societies as well as those in Middle Eastern states.

Western governments are reeling from the

discovery that IS has developed a level of soft power strong enough to pull people to aid their fight. Whilst the readiness of IS to use captives as sacrificial bargaining chips, as was done through the brutal executions of the two US journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, shows how the security challenge has changed in the Middle East.

This group, who are seeking to create a ‘traditional Islamist state’ lead by a religious figurehead, are employing tactics more akin to the Red Guard or the Jacobins.

However, the most crucial aspect to the recent crisis in Iraq is not one which has been highlighted in western concerns, regarding how IS is perceived by their neighbours. In 2003, western troops weren’t seen as any better than Saddam Hussein’s men because of their abuse of locals and the interfering, unjustified nature of the invasion, however this time it might not be the same.

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key to understanding and recognising the step change in crisis level in Syria and Iraq is the somewhat vague relationship between Iran and the US. Some reports suggest that Iran is willing to cooperate with the US over military issues in the fight against IS. Although the two countries established a very loose working relationship in Afghanistan at the turn of the century, it is unlikely that the US will welcome this invitation so warmly. It does, however, highlight that for the first time since 1991, the West may actually be welcomed into the Middle East more widely.

After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, many people argued that terrorism had been reborn, and that the twenty first century would be host to a new breed of warfare defined globalisation. However that was not the case: there was no ‘new terrorism’. The clandestine tactic had simply modernised.

The security dilemma facing the West and its allies is not one of ‘boots on the ground’ or the need to develop new regional strategic planning. It is the fact that we are witnessing a modernisation, a revolution even, in the ideology and aims of similar groups, that counter-insurgency military tactics ultimately fall short of ensuring security, purely because it is impossible to destroy an idea with jets and shells alone.

tudents nowadays, they’re all self-obsessed; all they care about are selfies, and iphones”. Such a remark is annoyingly common from my dad, an avid consumer of questionable outlets of the mass media, which often portrays students as neurotic, feckless drunks. So if this is then the case, surely the behaviour of new students, and existing ones, must reach fever pitch when the new semester rolls around.

Fortunately for us, a UK company has started to offer incoming students, flush

“The mass media often portrays students as neurotic, feckless drunks” with cash and eager to make an extravagant entrance, a “VIP arrival service”, for which you can get a helicopter to drop you off at halls for a mere £20,000.

For those of you worrying that your residence does not have its own helipad, runway or harbour, worry not, as there is also a range of luxury cars available, and for the more genteel among us, a horse and carriage. Now anyone can understand that this is a marketing ploy plain and simple, even if it does cater for a very niche market. The company is simply offering a service it will make a profit on, in branching out from their usual business of overseas luggage shipping.

However, a problem arises when stories like these are blown out of proportion and fuel the negative perceptions previously mentioned.

Media stories perpetuate the idea that our generation are consumption-driven and fame-hungry. Drunken holiday antics and smashed Footlockers, following the London riots, are commonly mentioned.

£20,000

The price for which you can get a “VIP arrival service”, which includes a helicopter trip to your halls of residence during Freshers’ Week.

This story is just more evidence to add to the pile. Has being ostentatiously rich become cool? No it has not, and it never will. While elements of UK student culture have undoubtedly changed from my dad’s generation, we, the student body, have most certainly not become one amorphous, Beats-wearing blob.

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o as you begin this year, or return for another, smartphone in hand, think about how you want to portray yourself to those around you. Consult the tabloids and order a helicopter if you only care about fitting in, being liked by one and all and appealing to the norm, although shockingly a ‘norm’ does not exist. Your time at university is about being confident enough to seek like-minded people who want to change perceptions and challenge conventions.

Comment

N. R. Quist

Concrete columnist

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aced with the barrage of distressing news from around the world, reporting endlessly on shocking events and atrocities committed by those in power, it is tempting to curl up into a ball and cry, or attempt to smash everything – y’know, banks, parliament, corporations, police cars, police... However, neither of these are constructive outlets for one’s rage. Formulating a radical response to world events such as the shooting of unarmed Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, or the bombing and killing of innocent civilians in Gaza, or the illicit invasion of Ukraine

by Russian troops is as difficult as it is critical.

A radical response to the problems of the world recognises that many are about abuses of power and the oppression of vulnerable and subjugated groups. All three of the examples given above concern the exercising of author-

“Gaza’s borders are more restrictive than some of our prisons” ity and power. Palestine has been historically screwed over by the state of Israel and international institutions since the early 20th century, with the aggression ramping up considerably post-‘67. Operation Cast Lead 2008-09 (AKA the Gaza War) killed 1,400 Palestinians by the UN’s count, and three Israelis. Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012 killed hundreds of people too, and both sides were accused of committing war crimes.

The most recent conflict is yet another expression of the unequal power dynamic between the two states: although Hamas is of course responsible for violence against Israel, its existence is in retaliation against the systematic structural violence that Israel submits Palestine to every day. The state of Israel systematically oppresses Palestinian civilians, by refusing to grant entry and exit visas to those in the Gaza strip – not to visit dying relatives, not to work, not to go to the market and buy food.

Gaza’s borders are more restrictive than some of our prisons. Hell, we let a man called

Ice bucket challenge: innovative campaign or trivialising sideshow?

Cassie O’Brien Concrete columnist

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Skull Cracker waltz out of HMP Standford Hill on a whim. Israel denies Palestinians the right to a livelihood – they destroy key infrastructure such as water wells, and do not allow Palestinians to abstract drinking water. More than 80% of the water in the shared Israel/ Palestine aquifer is extracted by Israel. 95% of Gaza’s water supply is too contaminated to drink due to over-abstraction. Palestinians have no access to water to irrigate crops, and so their economy is stunted, thereby preventing people from earning a living and improving their lives.

Israeli troops frequently destroy olive groves full of trees centuries old, either in ‘punishment’ for supposed crimes against Israel, or as a deterrent. Houses are destroyed, schools are destroyed, wells are destroyed, people’s livelihoods are destroyed.

It is a systematic abuse of power by one group over another, and the most recent events are another manifestation of that.

Israel holds de facto Latuff power through force, and de jure power through legislation. The UN and powerful countries like the USA and UK support Israel, and even arm them, condoning the atrocities committed by the state.

The Oslo Accords for instance unashamedly prejudice in favour of Israel, allocating more than half of water resources there, and building in institutional obstacles to Palestine obtaining their fair share – Israel has much better representation at the negotiating table.

What happened in Ferguson is another example of those in authority – the police – abusing that power. The USA is famously unequal, particularly along race lines in certain areas.

Black students are three times as likely to be expelled from school as their white counterparts, and young black men are more likely to go to prison than to college.

The US justice system is institutionally

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t first came to our attention towards the end of July. First a trickle, then a steady drip, and finally a flood of videos posted to the internet, depicting people being voluntarily drenched in freezing water. We are, of course, talking about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

The campaign was launched with the aim of raising money and awareness for charities concerning amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or motor neurone disease. The rules of the challenge are simple: you have 24 hours to film yourself having a bucket of ice cold water poured over your head, and post it online. In your video, you must also nominate three other people to do the same, thus beginning the process all over again.

As with any internet phenomenon, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has been the subject of much debate. What sets it apart is that, unlike most of the press regarding social networking sites, the feedback has been largely positive. People from across

racist, and the shooting of Michael Brown in early August is yet another tragic reminder of the role the police play in perpetuating a racist status quo. The police are essentially the guard dogs of the elites, and the strong arm of the state – they are sworn to protect life and property, and in so doing criminalise and discriminate against those in poverty who do not have property. Institutionalised racism means that many black communities are poor, which results in higher levels of unemployment, violence and crime as people are forced into situations by necessity and lack of opportunities.

Thus, when significant protest erupts against an unlawful killing, the state labels it ‘rioting’ and sends in the riot police. Ring any bells?

This exact same thing happened in London in 2011 following the killing in Tottenham of Mark Duggan, an unarmed black man, in a community that has traditionally been relatively deprived, like Ferguson.

Police violence is the ultimate abuse of power over socially and economically vulnerable or oppressed groups, and it is tolerated by the state because the state is run by elites, for elites. The shooting of innocent civilians, regardless of whether it is by a foreign government or your own, is a systematic waging of class warfare against the poorest members of society.

The situation in Ukraine is more complicated, but still involves the assertion of Russian authority over Ukrainian territorial sovereignty. No matter how much Vladimir Putin tries to convince us that the thousands of Russian troops that have reportedly joined separatist rebels have done so whilst off duty, it is clear that what world leaders, including Obama, are calling an “incursion” is almost certainly an underhand invasion. Russia’s combative stance speaks volumes; a territorial standoff and political wrangling whereby

Russia re-asserts its waning power, reminding the West that the might and influence of the USSR has not diminished entirely.

the globe have taken part; more than two million videos have been uploaded to Facebook alone, and the amount of money that has been raised as a result is staggering.

That isn’t to say that the campaign has been without criticism. There have been claims that the focus on ALS will reduce donations to other charities. Indeed, there even seems to be some confusion surrounding money given to ALS itself, with some saying only those who fail to upload their video within the 24 hour deadline should donate, whilst others maintain it should be everyone involved.

However, it is worth considering whether the problems with the challenge aren’t more integral. How many people, as they prepare themselves for the onslaught of icy water, are thinking of the suffering that ALS causes? Relatively few, perhaps, compared to the number of those more caught up with who they’ll be nominating, or how many likes their video will get. It could be argued

that this is unimportant, comparatively speaking, that it is the money and awareness raised that makes the difference, but how long term can the effects of this be?

A

ll of the above represent an assertion of dominance by the powerful over the weak. ‘Weakness’ is here engendered by institutions, geopolitics or both. The prejudice of American law against young black men, and non-white communities in general, represents institutional oppression and structural violence committed against communities that are typecast, stereotyped and brutalised

“It is clear that abuses of power are creating these problems” by an unrepresentative and largely white police force, whose job is to protect the state and elites. Post-curtain geopolitical dynamics, corruption and the erosion of Ukrainian institutions by ‘revolution’ have created a vulnerable state susceptible to meddling by power-hungry Tsars.

The situation in Israel/Palestine is a combination of the two: institutionalised structural violence continues to oppress citizens, while international political institutions stand idly by and condone the situation. Israel is granted the green light by nations like the USA and UK who do not condemn their acts of barbarism, which evidently violate international law. Beyond that, they actively arm Israel, providing firearms, aircraft components and drones that are used to wage war against Gaza. Not only is this behaviour contemptible, it makes the leaders of such countries complicit in genocide.

Of course other sides are causing trouble too; Hamas fire deadly rockets, there is violence in black communities, and there is conflict on both sides in Ukraine. However, there is clear inequality between sides: Hamas have greatly inferior weaponry, and Israel has the backing of many international powers. The police in Ferguson have the weight of the state behind them. The Russians have years of military experience and an an extensive army. The disparity is apparent and it is clear that abuses of power are creating these problems. Not only do we need to redistribute resources, but it is also essential that we address the power imbalance at local, national and international levels.

C

ertainly, many people who three months ago had never heard of ALS have done so now, but will they still be thinking about it in three months time?

In which case, surely there is something worrying about attitudes towards the campaign. Although the symptoms can be relieved, it is not yet possible to cure someone of motor neurone disease; sufferers will be affected for the rest of their lives, long after the videos have vanished from our news feeds. Does the challenge trivialise this?

One thing is abundantly clear: the nature of charity fundraising in the 21st century is changing, and it is vital that these questions are asked, in order for it to evolve for the better.

Features

Getting back into the swing of things Natasha Hampton shares some practical advice on how to get back into your usual university routine Make More, Save More Finally, if you’re going to cook a meal such as spaghetti Bolognese or chicken curry, make enough for four meals and freeze three quarters of it. That way, you save money by buying and cooking in bulk, and you save time by only having to actually do the cooking once. Although these tips should help avoid ever having to deal with an empty fridge, make sure to scout out your local shops and cafes, and always have a take-out menu handy in case of emergencies.

Work, Work, Work Another shock that going back to uni can bring is the thought of actually having to do work.

Believe it or not, that’s the primary reason we’re here. However, finding the motivation to get back into studying and writing essays can be challenging after a long summer off.

Start by buying a new notebook. You may feel more motivated to take notes in lectures if you have a clean, blank notebook begging to be filled with intellectual information.

Photo: Flickr scui3asteveo

W

hile many of us have been dying to return to uni over the summer, getting back into the university routine and lifestyle can be difficult. We do not have our mums to plan and prepare our meals or do our laundry, and we are out of practice when it comes to planning our time and meeting deadlines. With the anticipation of Freshers’ Week building, it is easy to forget the practical things that require attention when moving to, or returning to, uni, so here are a few handy tips for getting back into the swing of things.

Although some people may be relieved to escape nagging and overbearing parents, it may be overwhelming to think about having to cook for yourself. However, feeding yourself does not have to be a monumental, Photo: ProPilot

time-consuming task. With a little planning, cooking can be quicker and cheaper than you might think, leaving plenty of time to focus on your studies.

Shop at affordable supermarkets Although you may have become accustomed to eating Waitrose luxury granola at home, Aldi and Asda’s own brands are severely underrated.

Online orders are a great idea It’s easy to pop into the local overpriced grocery store on the way back from lectures every afternoon to buy dinner, but taking half an hour to do an online shop each week can save you lots of money in the long run.

Buy any books you need in advance There is nothing more awkward than showing up to a seminar and having to share someone’s book because you’re the only person who has not got it. Buying in advance can also save you money because you can get cheaper copies online. And the final bonus… it allows you to get ahead on all your reading!

not going to want to be very productive, nor will you be able to produce your best work.

Instead, try going to bed really early and waking up earlier. You could get a long sleep and wake up early feeling refreshed. If you started work at 8 or 9am, you could have at least three hours of productive work finished by lunch time. That way, you could reward yourself by taking the next evening off and doing something fun, like cooking with your friends or going out to the LCR. Eliminate all possible distractions If you are easily distracted by your friends, find a quiet secluded space in the library to help you focus, and then you can enjoy spending time with friends afterwards. If you don’t need Internet for your work, turn off your Wi-Fi and phone. Even if it’s just for an hour, you might be surprised how much you can accomplish without texts or social media websites there to distract you. The more you can do to make your time productive, the more time you will have to spend relaxed and not stressed about your work.

Make every day count Getting back into the routine of university life can be difficult to begin with, but hopefully these tips will help you find your feet again in no time. We are only here for a few short years, so make the most of every day you have here at UEA!

Mixing up your routine can help you be more productive If you find yourself spending hours in the library late at night, desperately trying to work on your latest essay or your dissertation, y o u may not be able to be as productive as you’d like.

Although some people work best at this time, it doesn’t necessarily work for everyone.

If you are sat in the library, bored and tired at 13:00, chances are you are Photo: gabrielquotes

Hair today, gone tomorrow…

Rob Drury Features writer So your first few weeks have gone well at UEA (whether a fresher or a returner); your lectures aren’t worth skipping (yet), everything is going okay with your housemates (for now) and your liver is pickling away quite nicely in the LCR. But then comes one of the next hurdles; where do you get your rapidly growing hair cut before you resemble a wig with legs?

As a guy in Norwich, you’ve got plenty of options; from the hipster places on the Lanes to the bigger places in the middle of town. But

if you are looking for a place with a soul and good prices, Hair for Men on Unthank Road is a winner.

Serving the community local to every student’s favourite road, the barbers have seen a lot of UEA students through the doors, so you know you’re in good hands. You’ll leave with a cut with more finesse, class and style than you could shake a pair of scissors at; and the chances are you’ll also be leaving one happy chap. We’d dare you to go in there and not have a laugh with the barbers, whether it is over something topical or the fact that one of your lecturers always gets his hair cut there before he sees his parents (who knew?).

When you do eventually concede your mop needs chopping, head down to Hair for Men. Your wallet will not be crying, you will not have sat through half an hour of forced conversation about the football team you do not follow, and your cut will make you look your best on your next session in the LCR, topping up your liver with VK.

Features

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Concrete prepares for UEA’s annual literature festival Louis Cheslaw Features writer One of the privileges of being a UEA student is having the ability to state that with every new term comes a new literary festival programme.

For eight consecutive Wednesday nights this October and November, town and gown will once again be brought together in Lecture Theatre 1, united by an appreciation for literature that has been so much a part of this University’s history and Norwich’s. Yet it’s not just Norfolkians who make the trip - last year I found myself sitting next to two Cambridge professors who had spent the day cycling from their University over to ours for that evening’s talk.

Speaking of last year, many might think that after the 50th Anniversary welcomed world-renowned stars in Ian McEwan, Naomi Alderman and Kazuo Ishiguro (all of whom had studied Creative Writing at UEA), it’d be hard to equal such pedigree in the festival’s future incarnations. However with a line-up this term that includes national treasures and Pulitzer Prize winners alike, the feat seems to have been achieved. Professor Christopher Bigsby, festival organiser and compère of the evenings spoke to Concrete about this year’s roster:

“With Stephen Fry (honorary graduate of UEA) making a rare visit, Ian McEwan (UEA graduate) with a new novel and Malaysian writer Tash Aw (UEA graduate) appearing for the first time, this will be a startling festival. Add to that one of the world's bestselling authors (Bernard Cornwell), a Pulitzer Prize winner (Jane Smiley), one of this country's major novelists (Margaret Drabble), not to mention American writer David Vann, winner of more than a dozen prizes, Somerset Maugham Award winner Lawrence Norfolk and Eimear McBride whose first novel has earned her multiple prizes and the sheer range and quality of the Miller Centre Festival becomes apparent.

The season will end with Richard Holmes, one of the country's leading biographers and onetime Professor of Biographical Studies at UEA. Few, if any, other universities could compete with such a list.”

The attractions of an evening at the Literary Festival are threefold. For one, it’s always exciting to see and hear from someone you respect, but for that to happen in the same venue as your daily lectures can quickly instil one with a sense of real pride, not only at being a part of the evening, but at being affiliated with the University. Secondly, the special guest themselves always seems to enjoy the evening, which makes a real difference; when pop groups continually praise the crowd at a

concert, it feels (and usually is) fake, but the artists do it because they know it’ll make the crowd feel happier. There is no such posturing at the Literary Festival, but judging by the laughter that abounds through LT1 during the talks, and the depth and sincerity with which the author usually responds to the questions, it’s hard not to feel like they’re as excited to be there as the audience is. Finally, after each talk, the invited author signs books and talks to whomever wishes to meet them, which in many instances last year became the highlight of a week. UEA’s branch of Waterstones has been able to purloin upwards of £100 worth of books from my account across evenings like these, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

The stellar line-up is as follows: Stephen Fry - 8th October Tash Aw - 15th October Ian McEwan - 22nd October Bernard Cornwell - 27th October Jane Smiley - 5th November Eimear McBride - 12th November Margaret Drabble -12th November Lawrence Norfolk - 18th November David Vann - 18th November Richard Holmes - 26th November Photo: Flickr: isoglossia

Surviving second year Know your area

Hopefully you have had enough time before moving in to get to grips with the good and bad areas, but if not, it’s probably a good idea to get a feel for it.

If you are on a street that is a little more undesirable then you are used to then you will need to be slightly more cautious. This will include your house mates as well, so you’ll all need to…

Take security seriously

Photo: Flickr - go_greener_oz As you might have seen, we have created a guide for all of the newcomers this year, but if you’re not one then I am sure you have been left thinking, what about me? Not to worry!

We haven’t forgotten about you, which is why we have put together another guide of sorts, one that focuses on how to survive with your student buddies when you all get thrown into a house together.

The first piece of advice we can give is to simply...

Now, Norwich is not the most dangerous Baggage Master city going, but nothing will grind your happy home to a halt more than a burglary. Burglars know that student houses are hotspots for nabbing nice new gadgets like the latest MacBook or Samsung touchscreen, so ensure your contents insurance covers expensive laptops and phones.

Furthermore, night time is prime time for a burglary, so make sure you leave your house locked up and secure as you drunkenly stumble out to your taxis before a night out.

And while on the subject of nights out, one more word about staying safe:

Features Writer, Emily Fedorowycz provides insight into living in a student house

Stay together

This is kind of obvious, but now you are not on campus, there is a higher risk of being attacked or mugged, and you really do not want to take any chances. So instead of walking home alone, give someone the opportunity to be chivalrous! It’s a win-win!

When you are finished thinking about safety, then like all students you have probably got…

Money on your mind

Moving into a house can actually be very economical, as buying in bulk is a heck of a lot cheaper. Also doing things as a group can be a great bonding experience for you and your housemates; you can shop and cook together like one big happy family!

Alternatively, you may all decide to buy your own food and just put in together for certain things that you all use (e.g. washing powder, bread, air freshener for the toilet – trust me, you’ll need that!).

In either case, a noticeboard can be very handy to have so that you can write group shopping lists as you go. IOU’s and receipts can also be pinned up so everyone can stay organized.

Cooking, cleaning and washing

These three little words strike fear and pain into the very heart of the noblest of souls.

Hang onto your hats and buckle up; it’s going to be a bumpy ride if you don’t sort out these domestic menaces!

The operative word is sharing. Taking an equal role and responsibility for your new household chores is a must. You can share them out however you feel is best within your group. If someone likes to cook or clean and they are good at it, then they can take on that role. But if, however, like most of us students, you are pretty much inadequate at everything, then a shared schedule might work best. Plan it prior to your moving in date and get the document signed in front of witnesses, in a court of law before the rent is paid! Only joking of course, but that is another thing to bear in mind.

Patience is your best friend when moving in with The Guardian new housemates, because not everything will go to plan. You might even find out you’re the lazy one! So do what you can, bear with your chums, and just enjoy the ride, wherever possible!

Ultimately, the most important thing is to always be compromising and considerate. You are making friends and creating memories that will stay with you for the rest of your life, so make the most of the experience and your wonderful housemates!

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Features

13

Julian Clary

Rose Tremain

“I still don’t really know what it is. Or why I’m getting it”. Julian Clary seems a little unsure what all the fuss is about. Of everyone who received an honorary degree from UEA this summer, he is the most famous (this is underlined by the fact that he is the only honorary graduate we have to share with the Eastern Daily Press), so I’d wager that much of it is about him.

Nevertheless, he says: “because I like coming to Norwich, and I’ve got family connections here, it seemed churlish to decline... And also, Stephen Fry is an acquaintance of mine – as is Jasper Conran – and I saw they were on the list of people who’ve had one, so I thought I had to keep up with the Joneses”.

In person, Clary is thoughtful, restrained and softly spoken – so much so, indeed, that parts of the recording of our conversation are impossible to make out. Gone is the high camp of the self-styled Lord of the Mince; the difference is striking. He is also remarkably tall, something that doesn’t seem to come across on screen.

Yet there are flashes of theatricality: he is wearing lilac leather shoes that perfectly complement his impressive purple and navy robes. He assures me that the match is coincidental, and I find myself rather taken with the implicit suggestion that he wore the shoes anyway.

He expands on his family connections.

“My grandparents lived near... Stoke Ferry.

And so we spent all our summer holidays and Christmas holidays there”. He knows Norwich a little, mostly from touring, but says that he tended to spend more time over in King’s Lynn while growing up.

Clary has taken to writing over the last few years. His debut novel, Murder Most Fab, was published in 2005, and he has since published two more. Is this something that he plans to carry on with? “I quite like all the different activities of my life. So I quite like touring, and then spending six months writing. It means I can rotate things; it seems to satisfy different needs...

“But I’m imagining, like, when I’m properly old I’ll be more inclined to stay at home and write”. At the moment, he’s working on a book for children.

I ask about his experience of touring: it must be gruelling to be constantly on the move? “Well, yes. But the thing with writing is it’s boring. You’re so on your own, whereas at least if you’re touring you get the reward of being applauded”. Another flash of the theatrical showman. “Your ego is fed on a daily basis. Writing: it’s a long wait”.

Is writing a book similar to writing a novel?

“No”. It’s a deliberate answer, and one that’s delivered not without an appreciation of comic timing. “You know, a novel”, he continues, “it’s you and the reader, so it’s sort of talking to one person; that’s what it feels like. A show is like ‘OK, I’ve got to... I’ve got to entertain X-hundred people’ ”.

The reporter from the EDP asks whether Clary has any advice for students about to graduate. “I remember when I left university...

It was a time of great anxiety. You have all these expectations of yourself. So my advice and my speech today is really, erm, not to worry. Things happen without any planning.

So that’s what I would tell myself – if I were to talk to my twenty-year-old self”.

We have time for one last question. Is his speech, I ask, going to be like his stage shows, or is he going to tone down the innuendo in honour of the occasion? “It’s a bit of both. I mean, I always want it to be funny because I’m like that, but then I don’t want to trivialise it too much”.

The next day, I am told that he mentioned buggery. In what context, I am afraid I don’t know, but mention it he assuredly did. So a quiet and surprisingly understated person though he be, the showman is never far away.

Rose Tremain, the award-winning novelist, became UEA’s sixth, and first female, chancellor in 2013. But her association with the university goes back 50 years. She was part of the second intake of students, joining in 1964. She returned in 1988 as a tutor on the prestigious creative writing MA. To the role of chancellor, she brings experience of being at UEA from both sides of the lecturn.

She is wearing the chancellor’s robes: grand swathes of crimson and gold. And she has a huge hat. Must the chancellor, I ask, have the most impressive outfit? “Absolutely!” I think she is enjoying herself.

During congregation week, Tremain officiates at around half of the graduation ceremonies. What does she say to the soonto-be graduates from the podium? “It’s quite important that the chancellor doesn’t speak for too long. So I want to say one or two things that I think might be important to them – just reminding them that this is the beginning as well as the end. You know, in America it’s called commencement, and I rather like that.

“And also, as a writer, I talk about two important things. Empathy: listening to people; trying to imagine what it’s like being people; and the feeling that I have that, if you don’t listen to people, in the end you have no questions to ask.

“Patience, too, is another thing that I’ve learned over the years. Often in life you have to be in it for the long game. Things don’t come to you as speedily as you want.

“There’s a little quotation from Yeats which I sometimes give in the speech in which he says ‘Never hurry, never rest’, which I think is marvellous”.

And does she say anything as she greets graduates individually? “There’s not time to say very much. I’ve had a couple of honorary doctorates and I’ve watched how other chancellors and vice chancellors have conducted the ceremony, and I think it’s just lovely for the students if you say their name. It just makes it personal for that moment.

“There are one or two who win prizes and I try to spend more time with them and give them a kind of double dose of congratulations.

And sometimes what’s rather lovely is that there’s [an] uprising in the hall for a particular student, so I say things like: ‘You’ve got a fan club out there’, or ‘Is your mum here?’

“But there’s no time, really, for a conversation. But just saying a name, and keeping very focused. [And] keeping smiling, because they’re quite nervous”. Graduates’ names are read out one by one, then they are paraded before a hall full of people to shake hands with the chancellor or vice chancellor before receiving their degree certificates: “It’s a nervous moment. It’s exciting but it’s nervous”.

Awarding degrees during congregation week is one of Tremain’s main duties, but she also represents the university throughout the year. Has she enjoyed her first 12 months?

“Yes. I realise that it’s very much a ceremonial role, that I’m not – and I’m very grateful for this – that I’m not defining university policy. But I am trying to help a bit with contacts and so on, and hospitality, and with fundraising – things like that.

“It isn’t so demanding that it’s actually eating into my own writing time too badly.

I’m managing to work... and I took that into consideration when I accepted. I think it’s going well. And I hope that they’re happy.

You’d have to talk to other people!”.

One of UEA’s press officers is circling, trying to get me to finish the interview. The next ceremony starts soon, but little can happen while the chancellor is chatting to Concrete on Founders’ Green... Yet Tremain gives long and considered answers to my questions; once she’s started, it’s very difficult to get her to stop. Eventually she joins the procession to the Congregation Hall, and sweeps off to bring the personal touch to another group of graduates.

UEA’S HONORARY

Colm Tóibín Interviewing Colm Tóibín, the Irish novelist, intellectual and former journalist, requires a great deal of concentration, but one doesn’t need to do much to keep the conversation going. He is clearly a fiercely intelligent man, and he talks with a charming vivacity, and a such a pace, that keeping up with him is surprisingly challenging. I ask the odd question; his answers skip from German philosophers to the Irish Famine. Indeed, he does a terrific job of interviewing himself.

“Well, I’ve never had anything like this in England before” – I have asked how he feels to be receiving an honorary degree – “so it’s absolutely great!” His eyes are wide and expressive. “The first one I got was in Ulster – the University of Ulster – so it was lovely because I could say that I wasn’t being recognised in my own country... because you’re all too bitter!”

“But then finally my old university relented” – he milks the word for all it’s worth – “and there were, I think, eight or nine of us getting degrees, including somebody terribly important called Habermas, who’s a very famous philosopher from Germany. But only one of us could make a speech because there wasn’t time. So they asked a broadcaster to make a speech, and he made the most boring speech. But of course Habermas had never heard of him! [We] were sitting together: we grew more and more lofty the more boring he became. It was a sort of marvellous”.

Now that Tóibín has the stage to himself, does he know what he’s going to say?

“You see, the problem is: I have no sense of humour”. I doubt this very much, but I let it pass. “And it’s very, very difficult then because seemingly if you say something solemn people just think you’re awful. And they’ll say: ‘Well, this is the last thing I need! I mean, I’ve had this for three, four, boring years from the professors without having it from you!”. Is he in the business of giving advice? He pauses.

“Well it would be very bad advice”.

I ask him what he makes of the robes; he’s wearing the salmon pink of the humanities.

“It’s very nice because... Well, you wouldn’t know, people don’t nowadays – a little poem called The Love Song of J Alfred Profrock”.

Indeed, I do not know the piece.

Tóibín explains: “J Alfred Prufrock was very uncertain about himself; he really isn’t sure about anything. He goes into a room: he’s immediately worried. And he has a lovely thing that he says at the end: ‘Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? / I shall wear white flannel breeches, and walk along the beach.’ And then it’s lovely: ‘And hear the mermaids singing each to each. / I do not think that they will sing to me’. His voice takes on a dark tone for this final line. “So the peach is lovely: it reminds me of [the poem]”.

CLASS OF 2014

This piece was a collaboration between Concrete and UEA:TV.

During this summer’s graduation week, Peter Sheehan met with three of this year’s honorary graduates, as well as UEA’s chancellor, Rose Tremain.

He leaps on, although it takes me a while to realise that he’s still talking about the robes. “I was saying to someone in [the Senate Room]: it’s like a shroud during the Irish Famine... So many died that they took the shroud off that person and put it on another”.

“But then they looked at me when I said the Irish Famine because they weren’t sure whether they should laugh! You’re not meant to make jokes”. I point out that it’s not the sort of thing one expects to be funny. “No, well we can make jokes, but you can’t, because we all died but you didn’t!”

I finish by asking about Tóibín’s career.

Does he prefer journalism or writing? “Oh well it’s all heartless! At least in fiction you’ve no boss every day sending you funny places.

But you don’t have the excitement either of arriving in funny places. Also in fiction you can make things up, which in journalism you really mustn’t”.

I’m thinking of certain less reputable national titles: arguably people invent journalism all the time... “No, but you really musn’t. That’s the advice: you musn’t!” Now I’d say that, despite Tóibín’s earlier protestations, is fairly good advice.

Charlie Higson Charlie Higson has done a lot: novelist, screen writer, singer, decorator. And it all started when he graduated from UEA in 1980 with a degree in English Literature and Film Studies.

“I stayed on in Norwich after university because it was cheap”. Some things never change. He spent six years as a singer. “I’d had two bands when I was here at university, and the second band carried on after university – professionally”. We pause while a street cleaner passes by...

What prompted his move into comedy?

“When I was here at university one of the first people I met was Paul Whitehouse. And through other friends I met Harry Enfield and Vic Reeves. None of us particularly had career paths, and we all ended up doing different things: I was a singer; Paul ended up working for Hackney council; Harry was a builder; Vic Reeves just arsed about.

“But Harry started moving into doing comedy, and Paul and I started working together – Harry needed material... And we found that we worked really well together... So

Clockwise from top left: (1) Julian Clary makes his way to the Congregation Hall (2) Charlie Higson shakes hands with Rose Tremain (3) Colm Tóibín in conversation prior to his ceremony (4) Charlie Hogson addresses graduates (5) Julian Clary examines the programme (6) Julian Clary, former vice chancellor Edward Acton (middle) and others on Founders’ Green (7) Colm Tóibín Photos: David Kirkman for UEA.

we just drifted into it.

“After the band had finished, and I had been a decorator for a while with Paul, we started writing for Harry. Some of the first stuff we did on TV was in the late 80s – a show called Saturday Night Live – which was a live comedy show which launched Harry’s career, and which launched ours off the back of that “So we drifted into being writers. It was never any choice; it was never any career path; and it sort of came together over the years”.

More recently, Higson has written a number of books for young adults. “I started because I’d been looking for something to write for my own kids – I have three boys. So I thought I’d try it out and see if I did – and I did really enjoy it. And it went well, and so I was offered a new career at a fairly late stage of life.

“It’s hard work... Not hard work like working down a coal mine, but it takes me a year to write a book. And you are there, and you’ve just got to keep on track, keep pushing it along.

“Some writers say ‘Oh, I hate writing’, but if you hate writing how on Earth do you do it?

How can you spend every night and every day sitting there?” Does he find it quite solitary?

“Oh, it is, yeah. I mean, it’s one of the pleasures of being a writer. It’s also one of the pains.

That’s why I like flitting between writing novels and writing TV, where you collaborate”.

Is the writing for TV very different to writing a novel, then? “In the end the core of it is the writing and you’ve got to tell strong stories; you’ve got to have strong and interesting characters... You’ve got to create a believable world to put everything in to. So all those aspects of it are the same.

“But if you’re writing a novel you are a god: you can do what you like. You don’t have to say: ‘Oh, I want to set a scene in a medieval castle but we’ll have to build a massive set and hire thousands of extras’ – you can do whatever you like and it doesn’t cost a penny.

“But it all comes down to you. You’ve got nowhere to hide, whereas in TV you hope you come up with an idea and the director will add to it, and the designer will add to it. But you’re constantly fighting against time and money to try and get your vision realised” I ask about his memories of UEA. “I had a fantastic time! It was the late seventies and back then, as a student, you weren’t really required to do any work. And there was certainly no pretence that it might lead to a job. So you could just arse about and have a fantastic time. And I met some great people.

We had a lot of laughs.

“And somehow at the end of it I ended up with a 2:1. Well, it sort of came together for me in my third year... but it was great to have two years to find my way.

“I think it’s a slight shame that it’s a lot more pressurised... University always used to be – and I hope that this is still the core of it – a transitionary period. You’re going from someone who’s been at school their whole life, living at home, to learning how to look after yourself, to study for yourself, to motivate yourself, to feed yourself, to work all that stuff out. So you learn an awful lot at university that isn’t just about what you’re learning in the lessons.

“I think if – if too much emphasis starts getting put on the academic side I think there’s a danger that you miss out on all this other social stuff. I don’t know, I might be wrong: is it hard work?”

Of course, I am pleased to say that during my time at university I have been nothing but conscientious and diligent. But it is nice to hear that there are some parts of the “do different” UEA experience that remain similar to the way they were forty years ago.

14

Science&Environment

Smartphone technology to aid Parkinson’s diagnosis The Ebola crisis: a summary

Elizabeth Leddy Science&Environment writer Researchers at Aston University have developed software that can assess an individual’s movement and speech, software that has the potential to be used to diagnose and treat Parkinson’s disease.

Around one in every 500 people has Parkinson’s, and though it mainly affects those over 50, it has been known to affect people much younger: one in 20 people being diagnosed are under the age of 40.

Parkinson’s occurs when nerve cells that produce dopamine die. With less dopamine, movement becomes uncontrollable, leading to muscles becoming stiff and painful. With restricted movement, sufferers are often affected by dangerous falls, leading to broken bones and concussions; sometimes these falls can even be fatal. Parkinson’s quite often leads to depression and problems with memory, understandably causing serious issues for those affected. No two people react to the disease and to the treatment in the same way, meaning it is difficult to diagnose and treat.

The researchers have taken the key symptoms that diagnosis is based on – tremors, stiffness and difficulty with movements and speech – and applied the observations to technology that detects and quantifies changes to these key functions. The software uses the microphone and motion detector within a smartphone to provide data that can then be analysed. Dr Max Little, a mathematical researcher with the team, has already developed tools that capture changes in the voice so that they can accurately separate those who have Parkinson’s from those who don’t, with a 99% success rate.

The new software uses accelerometers in the smartphone that measure force. When the phone is in an individual’s pocket, it measures the forces acting on it, and will therefore

Alice Butler Science&Environment writer

Huffington Post

99%

Success rate when distinguishing between those who have Parkinson’s and those who don’t.

be able to detect if the individuals muscles “freeze” when walking or when carrying out day-to-day activities. This is also linked up to other smartphone applications such as GPS and data-usage to observe whether there is a change in behaviour, and whether a diagnostic algorithm for Parkinson’s is becoming apparent.

Other researchers are concerned with the ethics of the project, but the need for a marker of the disease is extremely apparent. One researcher, Dr Hu from the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre, aims to “Provide a biomarker

to diagnose Parkinson’s prospectively by focusing on individuals with high risk for the disease”, including those with genetic susceptibility and those with REM sleep behaviour disorder. Dr Hu has already used the software to observe patients continuously for a week, with later follow ups, to measure the progression of the disease as well as response to treatment.

Currently, the software is only able to discriminate between a healthy individual and an affected individual, so the technology needs to be able to identify a sufferer within a clinical population to be of use in the medical community.

Dr Little and his team plan to develop the technology for use in other disorders, including Friedrich’s ataxia in children, and they are looking into smart watches that can further advance the software.

Badgers to be vaccinated to prevent TB spread Jasmine Groves Science&Environment writer Bovine TB (bTB) is an infectious bacterial disease that affects cattle, leading to serious economic problems in the farming industry.

Defra (the Department of Food and Rural Affairs) estimated that in 2010 alone, bTB cost the taxpayer £90m, with 25,000 cows slaughtered as a result of farms being tested positive for the disease. At the start of September, a second round of badger culls in west Somerset and west Gloucester began.

Between these two areas, a maximum number of 1,800 badgers are allowed to be culled.

This is a controversial measure to try to halt the spread of bTB, as badgers can carry the infectious bacteria from herd to herd.

Many strongly oppose the culling of badgers, arguing that populations could only be responsible for a very small percentage of the spread and that there is no evidence to suggest killing badgers will reduce cases of bTB. On the other hand, farmers across the country argue that previous measures have failed and that culling badgers is now necessary to protect their way of life.

Recently, a new scheme has been proposed by the government which will involve the immunisation of populations of badgers, instead of culling them. The immunisation scheme is being rolled out in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire and East Susex. This is an unusual

The Ebola virus has spread rapidly across four countries. It has shocked the world, with scientists and doctors struggling to bring it under control. Currently, over 3,900 people have been infected; more than 2,200 deaths across Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria thought to have been caused by Ebola.

The race is on to find a cure or vaccine that could be mass produced in order to try and prevent the spread of the disease. An experimental drug called ZMapp has been used to treat several patients who have contracted Ebola. Many have responded well to the treatment and gone on to recover.

However, there are concerns about the drug’s long-term safety, as it has not been tested in human trials. Supplies of the drug have now been depleted and scientists are working on ways to potentially mass-produce the drug with the aim of progressing to human trials and be used to try and bring the outbreak under control. The next supply of the drug will hopefully be available in December.

Scientists believe that the virus may be carried by African fruit bats, animals which do not show any symptoms of the disease.

The outbreak originally began in a remote village in Guinea; a young boy was the first to contract the disease. It is thought that humans may contract the virus when they eat the fruit bats as food. The young boy then passed the virus onto his mother, sister and grandmother who all died before the nurses who treated them also contracted the disease.

Initial symptoms include fever, feeling weak, muscular pain and a sore throat. This develops into vomiting, diarrhoea and in the worst cases internal and external bleeding leading to death. It is spread between humans through direct contact with bodily fluids or through indirect contact with a contaminated environment.

What has made this Ebola epidemic so severe is that it is being spread due to international travel. Previously the outbreak has remained more contained due to individuals living in the remote, fairly static communities. Ebola has become one of the worst epidemics of the 21st century, and a lack of healthcare facilities in Western Africa has exacerbated the problem.

What’s new in science?

Underground mapping has lead to the discovery of a “super henge” near to Stone Henge!

Fossils reveal the worlds largest know carnivorous dinosaur could swim.

Scientists have managed to revert human pluripotent stem cells to a fully pristine state of developmental potential.

Researchers have been able to transform ordinary skin cells into transplantable white blood cells to reinforce the immune system Flickr: Sally Longstaff development as supporters of the culling typically argued that vaccination of badgers would simply not be feasible. Although immunisation cannot be used to treat badgers already carrying the disease it will prevent those who are currently healthy from being infected. The hope is that immunisation will keep bTB contained within hotspot areas by creating a buffer zone. Highly affected areas

can then be targeted with other methods to remove or significantly reduce the population of infected badgers.

The new scheme has been described as ‘fantastic’ by Dominic Dyer, a member of the Badger Trust and a policy advisor for Care for the Wild. The scheme is generally thought to be a step in the right direction, although many people still remain against the current culls.

New research reveals a link between your blood group and memory Ancestral sloth’s large body size evolved at an incredible rate!

Flickr: Matt MacGillivray

16

Travel

New Mexico: the land of enchantment The ethics behind the human safari Mariah Feria Travel writer Whilst it may not be home to Disneyland or the iconic Hollywood sign, New Mexico remains an unsung section of the USA. Away from the bustling tourists that some parts of the United States attract, New Mexico provides a refreshing taste of America as it is.

Roswell Famous for its UFO sightings and the accompanying museum, Roswell is actually a sleepy little town in the middle of the vast New Mexico desert. However, it’s clear to see that tourism is a huge part of their income, as nearly every store on the main street offers various alien memorabilia and souvenirs, insisting that one must ‘believe’.

Whilst the UFO museum is not as big nor as culturally rewarding as many other museums around the world, when in Roswell it is obviously something you cannot miss.

It takes you through the history of the UFO sightings, and even has some eye-witness testimonies on display. As no physical evidence of aliens exists, visitors will find themselves amongst an array of model aliens and autopsies (not very realistic but nevertheless, quite entertaining).

Carlsbad Caverns This National Park is one that many people have never heard of yet it is difficult to think of reasons why. Various limestone formations consume the cave and make it unlike anything else on the planet. It takes around two hours to walk round the entirety of the cave – a walk that is rewarding and well worth it. Visitors are encouraged to stay silent within and are forbidden from touching the delicate rock; the oil from just one hand can stay on the rock for thousands of years and the sound vibrations can slowly erode it away. The cave

is also famous for its bats and has a daily viewing in the evening when they take flight.

Most interestingly is the incorrectly named ‘Bottomless Pit’; when first discovered by early miners the pit was originally thought to be never-ending. However thanks to later technology it is now known to be 140 feet deep. Although when you stand at the top and look down into the black abyss, it is not hard to see how the mistake was made.

Santa Fe Miles away from the coast of Spain, Santa Fe is a largely Spanish inspired city. Many of the signs are written in Spanish as well as English and the architecture transports you back to Andalusian villages. Contrary to popular belief, it is the oldest capital city in the United States, and the oldest city in New Mexico. Santa Fe is also home to the oldest house in North America, making this little city seeping with cultural history.

However, tourists attractions are far and few between, the main ones being various museums and cathedrals. The city has maintained the rustic Latin American feel thanks to its small number of visitors. The best place to visit is the historic district, where you can find various boutiques selling turquoise encrusted jewellery – the regions most famed mineral. In the evening the central park turns into a bustling commerce of lights, music and dancing, really embodying the laid-back lifestyle and care-free attitude.

‘The Land of Enchantment’ is New Mexico’s nickname, and after spending a few days passing through the state, it’s not hard to see why. It is one of the only states that manages to capture a snippet of all that America stands for within such a small body of land. Roswell symbolised the radical freethinking that America embraces, Carlsbad Caverns the beauty of the untouched land, and finally Santa Fe reminds us of America’s roots and the relaxed frame of mind so often associated with the USA.

Annabel Harper Travel writer Most tourists travel with the intention of soaking up as much culture as possible from their destination. From going to galleries and visiting famous landmarks, there are many ways to explore a new country and get a feel for its culture. However, a more controversial way to experience a country’s diverse heritage is to go on a ‘human safari’, a trip that takes tourists around remote areas inhabited by tribal people.

In 2012 the Observer released an article that exposed these ‘human safaris’ as shocking and exploitative. Whilst these tours bring in a lot of money to a country’s economy, activists argue that the impact of diseases and invasion of tribal homes, is simply not acceptable.

The release of a video showing semi-naked women and children from the Jarawa tribe being pressured into dancing for the tourists brought outrage to many and the issue of ‘human safaris’ into the limelight. Stephen Corry from Survival International, discusses the disrespectful nature of these tours in his campaigns on behalf of tribal people. He says, ‘tribes are not cultural relics nor should they be treated like animals in a zoo… promoting tours by using derogatory terms such as ‘primitive’ and advertising their nakedness shows a clear lack of respect.’

Theses tours have been going on for many years, yet the negative press they have had recently has shed a whole new light on these controversial safaris. One of the most talked about tours of late is the Jarawa tribe of the Andaman Islands in India. In 2013 India’s Supreme Court banned the use of the road that runs from Port Blair to middle Andaman and the North Andaman Islands, running through the middle of the Jarawa tribe.

It was argued by the Andaman authorities that the road was essential for connecting the capital, Port Blair, with these Islands, allowing for those living on the far side to access

medical services quickly. For this reason, the Andaman authorities have refused to close the road even though the use of the road has been banned and its constant use by tour buses has brought their justification of the road into question. As a result, these tours still continue to run daily which means that during

“Tourists need to be warned against [human safaris] and look for tours that seek to benefit the tribes and not exploit them” the peak tourist season it is estimated around five hundred people use the road every day.

However, progress is being made to deter tribal tours that are sold in an ‘obscene manner’ the national government of India has said. Three tour operators have been charged and two men face up to seven years in jail if they are convicted.

Yet, some argue that it cannot be down to the country itself to prevent these tours from occurring, but that tourists need to be warned against them and look for tours that seek to benefit the tribes not exploit them.

One question that is echoed frequently regarding the issue is ‘do the tribe want me to visit them?’ Indeed, this question should be on the forefront of any traveler who desires an ethical cultural experience. In this sense it seems more ethical to participate on tours that the tribe themselves have provided consent for, or even organized. It is with this in mind, that whilst ‘human safaris’ offer a chance to see a completely different way of life, one should actively seek other ways to explore culture on a holiday. Learning a language abroad or enjoying homestays are all excellent alternatives that should be considered in order to avoid ‘human safaris’.

Discover Vancouver: North America’s little known secret Helena Bradbury Travel writer Don’t let Vancouver’s proximity to the US border fool you into thinking that it’s just another North American city full of commercialised tourism and high-rise buildings. Vancouver may not immediately come to mind in your list of top 10 travel destinations, but it is definitely underestimated in what it has to offer.

Vancouver provides the unique experience of combining the hustle and bustle of a city with the green expanses of Stanley Park; at 1000 acres Stanley Park is the third largest city-owned park in North America and alongside the park lies the famous city beach, English Bay. With the addition of Grouse Mountain and nearby Whistler attracting tourists from all over the world during ski season, few cities can boast such a variety of attractions throughout the year.

The diversity of the landscape and the natural beauty surrounding Vancouver makes for breath-taking views in every direction. With the peninsula of Downtown Vancouver set to a backdrop of snow-capped mountains, the city has a skyline like none you have ever seen before. And it’s not just the diversity of the landscape which sets ‘Vancity’ apart from the rest. Downtown is easily navigated and each neighbourhood has its own characteristics so the exploring tourist truly experiences the personality of

Photo: Helena Bradbury for Concrete

the city. From the high-end, high-style living of North Shore and Yaletown, to the hipster vibes and vintage boutiques of Gastown, the city literally has a place for everyone.

The artistic hub of the city is on Granville Island, set on the waterfront of False Creek under the bridges which link the suburbs to Downtown. The island bursts with life and colour with the huge indoor public market at its centre. Selling everything from fruit and flowers to local favourites such as squid, jellyfish, and Vancouver’s famous snack: Poutine (their posh term for chips covered in gravy and cheese). The island also promotes individual artistic talent with pop-up shops and artisan studios for painters, jewellers and sculptors, all which make for beautiful and unique gifts and souvenirs to take home.

The jewel of Vancouver has to be its seawall. Spanning almost 9km around Stanley Park the walkway hugs the edge of the city peninsula on one side and meets the lapping ocean and mountains on the other. Both tourists and locals enjoy the path’s suitability for cycling, jogging or even rollerblading, making this stretch of waterfront a thriving attraction where the city meets nature on the edge of the Pacific.

Vancouver’s variety and diversity of landscape, attractions and population truly make it a unique place that every traveller, seasoned or beginner should visit. For a relatively new city, Vancouver’s reputation as a tourist destination is growing, but it still remains an idyllic and underrated gem of North America.

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Lifestyle

Ella Gilbert: a bartender’s best comedy moments LifestyleFood Page 20

Finding a job while at university Mimi Okorie Lifestyle writer Three times a year, student loan rears its beautiful head and blesses us with a gift. That grand placed into your bank account can often be a lifesaver. However, the whole concept of the student loan can often be deceptive. Once you deduct rent, food, transport, night out expenses, society and club membership fees, textbook costs and extra money for survival, you are pretty much left with £27.63. A solution to this very sad financial situation is securing a part-time job. Although balancing a job with study can seem unrealistic, it can be done.

Availability: Before applying for a job, it is important to take into account your university timetable. This is vital information for employers as they would probably want to hire people who can do flexible hours. If you are in lectures every day, it may be best to find jobs that want people to work on the weekends or that allows you to pick and choose your hours.

That way, you will never be torn between work and university.

Perfect your CV: If you are applying for a job at GBK or Bella Italia, showcase your experience with working with food. If you are applying for a job at Topshop or River Island, emphasise your experience working in fashion retail. Each job is different and requires different qualities in an employee. Make sure your CV is presentable and clear. Employers have to sort through hundreds of CVs all the time so if your CV is difficult to read, they will

Photo: fsecart not bother reading it even if you are the perfect candidate.

Dressing for an interview: How you dress for an interview ultimately depends on the job you are applying for. If you are going to for a job in fashion retail, showcase your personal style. If you are going for a more corporate job, get suited up! Make sure you look presentable.

Make sure you have nothing in your teeth, your hair is presentable and apply some of your

favourite perfume or cologne and you’re good to go.

Interview tips: Always fully prepare for interviews. Even if it is just a part time job, act as if you are applying for the career you will have for the rest of your working days. Research the company thoroughly! Know about the history of the company, what the company stands for and the products they sell. A good tip is to go to another branch of the company and ask current

employees about their interview experience, it is usually very similar to what you will experience. If you cannot get to another branch in time, search the internet for some useful tips.

There is no guarantee that you will definitely get the jobs you apply for, however, there is definitely no harm in trying. Do not be discouraged as there are plenty of jobs available on campus. Do some research and find one that suits you. Good luck!

How to make your new house a home Sacha Reeves Lifestyle writer Moving away from home for the first time to live on your own at university can be scary, without the added pressure of living independently and having to do the cooking, cleaning, food shopping and washing on your own. It’s therefore always a good idea to try and make your student accommodation, be it halls or a student house, as homely as possible.

At first it may feel rather strange living under a new roof but you will gradually adjust to the new surroundings. For some, a house isn’t a home until it’s been cooked in. The smell of freshly baked cookies is bound to be a huge reminder of mum’s home cooked food so stock up your fridge (don’t forget comfort food!).

Air freshener or scented candles are useful to discard bad smells whilst adding a warm atmosphere. If you are moving into your own house and your bills aren’t included, try and stay warm even if the heating isn’t included as a cold house is never a homely one. If that’s not possible then make sure to invest in colourful blankets and onesies.

Decorating your house with photos of family and friends back home or posters and decorations of the things you love will give a homely feeling. These are also a great icebreaker if you are living in halls. Plus, a house is never a home without photos, and bare white walls with leftover Blue-Tack may make you feel rather homesick!

Try and add some colour into your room

Photo: Alexandre Dulaunoy even if it is only the curtains or the duvet cover. Colourful cushions are an eye-catching touch to any room or alternatively a patterned rug will feel welcoming whilst hiding stains, after all, this is your home for the next nine months.

Even if plants aren’t your favourite thing, they are an easy way to bring life to your room whilst adding warmth and colour, (don’t worry, no one will know that it’s fake).

Lamps are also a great way to add colour

“Decorating your house with photos of family and friends back home or posters and decorations of the things you love will give a homely feeling”

and character to your room and are easy to co-ordinate. A house definitely isn’t a home without a bookshelf! I’m sure any student will agree that it will soon be full of textbooks and folders and this will keep your room tidy too. If you can’t fill it up, you could always add small ornaments and photo frames. Charity shops are a great place to find quirky ornaments – at a good price too! Finally, a house isn’t a home without memories, so make as many as possible!

Lifestyle

19

Negotiating Freshers’ Week, alcohol free Beth Saward Lifestyle writer Alcohol and freshers. They go together like popcorn and films, England and rain, UEA and concrete. But what if you don’t drink?

Here are some handy tips on how to make the most of Freshers’ Week sober.

Establish early on that you don’t drink – if you make this clear when people are sober, they’re less likely to question or pressure you when they’re drunk later in the pub. Give reasons if you want to, but honestly, people should just accept that it’s your decision.

Next, learn some killer mocktail recipes for pre-drinks. A fun and simple one to try is combining lime juice, mint and ginger beer into a delicious virgin mojito. Also, track down where you can buy alternatives to the ever present lemonade. The Tesco next to the market in the centre of Norwich and Morrisons both stock a wide variety of alcohol free beers and ciders; Becks, Fosters and Kopparberg all have tasty offerings. Morrisons also sell alcohol free wine and pre-bottled mocktails.

Drinking games are an inevitable part of predrinks that can seem a little alienating if you’re not getting drunk. You can either sit back and record the carnage for posterity, act as a referee (useful in games such as beer pong) or offer to take alternative forfeits in place of a shot. If you don’t mind spicy food you could eat some chillies (though watch the intensity of these!) or alternatively scoff a few hideously sour sweets.

Before leaving, make it clear to your flatmates that you won’t be looking after everyone, just because you’re the sober one:

Photo: Flickr: Fredrik Rubensson unless of course you don’t mind!

When you finally make it out, there are a few pubs and bars that also serve a variety of alcohol-free drinks. Wetherspoons serve alcohol-free beer and cider and Vodka Revs has a mocktails menu. So you won’t be stuck drinking coke and lemonade for the rest of the evening!

Alternatively, you could suggest activities other than clubbing. There’s a bowling alley at Riverside that has an arcade attached. The cocktails here supposedly do not deserve

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to be called drinks, which should be a good incentive to stay sober! There is also a laser quest in the centre of Norwich that has offers

“Establish early on that you don’t drink” for students, if running around in the dark shooting at your new flatmates sounds like the perfect bonding experience. If you want to give peoples’ wallets a rest as well as their

livers you could always organise a movie night with your flatmates. This will not only give you a well-deserved break from the near constant partying that is Freshers’ Week, but it will also provide a handy insight into the film tastes of the people that you are now living with.

Getting to know each other doesn’t always have to involve alcohol!

Hopefully these tips will help you to enjoy a sober Freshers’ Week that you, unlike all the people who will be drinking, will remember clearly for the rest of your life!

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20

Lifestylefood

Tuna pasta bake Aisha Sanosi Lifestyle writer

Welcome to university, an interesting degree course, amazing social life and cooking for yourself?! Don’t panic, here is a quick and easy recipe for you which doesn’t break the bank and is super yummy.

This recipe serves four so you can either treat your new flatmates or have it for lunch/ dinner the following day. Also, depending on your dietary requirements/preferences you can switch up the ingredients by replacing the tuna and sweetcorn with chicken and sweetcorn or broccoli and peas if you are vegetarian.

Ingredients 600g pasta (preferably fusilli) 50g butter 50g flour

600ml milk 250g cheddar cheese (mature is best) 2 tins of tuna 330g tin of sweetcorn Optional: finely crushed bag of crisps or fresh breadcrumbs for topping Method 1. Heat oven 180c/fan 160c/gas mark 4 2. Boil and drain pasta 3. In a saucepan, melt the butter then stir in the flour 4. Gradually stir in the milk and whisk into a thick sauce 5. Take off the heat and stir in most of the cheese leaving some for the topping 6. Mix the pasta, sauce, drained tuna and sweetcorn and transfer into a baking dish 7. Top with cheese and optional crushed crisps/ breadcrumbs For those who want to be healthy, serve with a side salad! Enjoy!

Photo: Flickr: reway2007

Happy hour: woo woo cocktail Aisha Sanosi Lifestyle writer

Stuck for drink ideas? Here is a cocktail recipe for you to wow your new friends during fresher’s week! A Woo Woo is a favourite with everyone and can be made non-alcoholic. This can be made into a single cocktail or you can pour it into a large bowl with lots of ice and sliced peach for a freshers’ party punch!

Ingredients 1 part vodka 1 part peach schnapps

Photo: Flickr: David Leong

4 parts cranberry juice Ice Optional: sliced peach for garnish To make this non-alcoholic, replace the vodka and peach schnapps with pineapple juice and lemonade.

Method 1. Add the ice cubes into the cocktail glass.

2. Add the vodka and peach schnapps 3. Fill the rest of the glass with the cranberry juice 4. Stir with a cocktail stirrer (or spoon?)

Add sliced peach, a funky umbrella or sparkler to garnish.

BARTENDER’S

BEST COMEDY MOMENTS WITH ELLA GILBERT

PART ONE AGENCY STAFF “How do you make a gin and tonic?”

Clue’s in the name, babezz.

“What’s a lager?”

How did you even get in the building?

“How do I make a pint of Southern Comfort?”

Simple: you don’t.

“What are the lemons for?”

I mostly use them for rubbing in my eyes in exasperation when people ask me ridiculous questions. Well, lemons and bleach.

Photo: Flickr: reway2007

meet your full time officers

www.ueastudent.com

register with us Once you’ve registered with the University you can then come and register with us using the same log-in details. You’ll need to have registered with us to be able to vote in the campus elections, join sports clubs and societies at the fairs during Welcome Week, and to buy event tickets online so it’s well worth

getting it done as soon as you can.

You’ll need to register with us using the x.xxxx@uea.ac.uk email address given to you when you complete the registration tasks with the University.

When asked for your University ID, this is the ‘xxx00xxx’ username provided at the same time that you use to log into the portal.

connor rand

undergraduate education

liam mccafferty postgraduate education

welcome week Our programme of events is jam packed this year, and you can get involved in as much, or as little, as you’d like. If you like going out, partying and meeting new people, we’ve got something for you. If you like exploring what the city has to offer, trying new things and

meeting new people, then guess what? We’ve got something for you too! We’re about helping you to make friendships that will last far beyond your university career, so no matter what you’re into, we’ve got something to suit. See what’s on offer in the full schedule on the next page.

NUS Extra Card One thing you’ll definitely want to get is an NUS Extra Card. This gives you great discounts for loads of great brands like Amazon, Odeon, Apple, Spotify, ASOS, and even The Co-Operative (which means 10% off in the Union shop). Combine this with loads of great restaurants, train tickets (including money off Young

Persons Rail Cards) and it will have paid for itself within a matter of days, then you can continue to enjoy the discounts for the rest of the year.

You can buy one from reception, or if you want to save even more money, buy it as part of a bundle with your Welcome Week wristband and hoodie online at ueastudent.com.

chris jarvis

campaigns & democracy

yinbo yu

activities & opportunities

holly staynor

welfare, community & diversity

22

Sport

The Concrete Sports Fair guide Ahead of the UEA Sports Fair on Wednesday September 24th, we asked those in the know what makes their societies stand out from the crowd. Here are just a few of the different sports you can try in your time at UEA...

Athletics

Are you interested in joining athletics whilst at university or simply looking for a fun and easy way to get fit? Then we are the club for you!

The UEA Athletics Club prides itself on being one of the friendliest and accepting clubs on campus – everyone is welcome to join.

Whether you are a keen runner, have never run before, or are looking for a social way to get fit, there is a space for you.

New to the club this year is a focus on beginners running, with a session led by the students every Friday providing new and exciting running routes around campus. The club are also looking to host a weekly 5km parkrun route around the campus lake and grounds every Saturday morning. Parkrun is not a race, therefore everyone is encouraged to participate, regardless of personal goals.

For more information please visit our website, www.ueaathletics.wix.com/ ueaathletics, or find us at the Sports Fair.

We look forward to welcoming you to UEA Athletics this year! Sophie East

Cheer Dance

With Four National Champion titles, two Union Awards, top-three ranking at every competition we’ve ever entered, we are the most successful sports team at UEA. So why are we so fabulous?

Being a sport that many individuals have not encountered before, it seems easy to stereotype. Although it must be said we love glitter, bows and pom poms, you don’t have to have years of experience performing with the Russian ballet or have the flexibility of an acrobat to join.

UEA Angels Cheer Dance is for everyone; from the completely inexperienced to the professionally trained. If you want a way of meeting new people from freshers to PhD students, to keep fit in an exciting way without the pressure of the gym, or want to try a new dance discipline with a competitive edge, we can cater for you.

Cheer Dance uses disciplines similar to both Street Jazz and Hip hop, yet we as a team perform routines focused on precision and accuracy, using elements such as cannons, jumps and formations. All our routines are choreographed by three highly talented UEA students. With a relaxed and friendly vibe, our Derby Day squad is open to everyone, with sessions focused on rehearsing for the annual competition against Essex University. We also have Comp Squad and, new for 2014-15, the Small Pom squad; both for individuals wanting to up the difficulty level, with auditions to be held in October.

This year we have three practice sessions booked over the week. Dates and times will be released in due course. Feel free to follow us on twitter @UEAangels and on Facebook (UEA Angels Cheerleading – Dance), or check out our website (theueaangels.moonfruit. com). We look forward to seeing you soon.

Cheer love! Laura Sutherland

Cycling

At UEA Cycling Club, we’ve made some big changes over the summer that are really going to benefit our members. Thanks to sponsorship from local bike shop Streetlife Cycles, we’re able to affiliate with British Cycling which will, for the first time, allow our members to race as ‘UEA-Streetlife Cycles’ in

competitions.

We’re becoming more inclusive, and we want to implement a real community ethos to give the club a ‘society’ feel. With a greater number and variety of socials, our members will have access to training via regular rides and gym sessions, competitions and casual events. Furthermore, we’re looking to organise a charity ride and a new university competition hosted by UEA over the course of the year. The Club also has its own kit which is available for members.

Don’t have a bike? Don’t worry, we have three specialised road bikes available for our members to borrow, and you can benefit from all this for £10 for the year – so come and meet people, have fun, and get fit at UEA Cycling Club. Ross Perkins

Futsal

After an incredibly successful year for the Futsal first team, who won promotion to the top midland division in the country, narrowly missing out on winning the league cup double, the club is in a phase of expansion, not only introducing a men’s second team but also a women’s team to compete in BUCS competitions.

Futsal is a fast-paced, five-a-side indoor form of football played across the world which has been rising in popularity in recent years. The game focuses on technical skill, quick feet and movement off the ball and has subsequently produced some of footballs greatest players from South America, including Messi, Kaka, Pele, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Neymar. But this flow of talent is not exclusive to the home of football, with top European players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Xavi, Fabregas, Deco and David Villa all having backgrounds playing the sport.

Here at UEA, Futsal is one of the fastest growing clubs, helped by its recent successm and is seeking players of all abilities and genders to get involved with the club.

On Sunday 21st September from 10:00 (in the Square) and 11:00 (on the 3G), Futsal will be holding a showcase session in the Square for anyone to come along and watch, and challenge, some of the current team in a threeby-three skills tournament. Alternatively, find us at the Sport Fair to sign up for trials and training for the coming season. Have you got what it takes? Joe Atkinson & Ed Dodman

Korfball

Korfball is one of UEA’s biggest and most successful student sports clubs. Never heard of it? Korfball is a mixed sport, designed to allow both sexes to compete equally, striking a balance somewhere between basketball and netball.

At UEAKC we cater for all abilities and levels of competitiveness. We have 6 teams playing regularly in local leagues, and attend a large number of university and club tournaments in the UK and Europe.

Recently we have experienced a lot of success nationally and continue to grow every year.

Training sessions are held every Wednesday from 5-7pm, open to all.

But it’s not all about the sport; we pride ourselves on being a very social club, with events planned most weeks to appeal to all members. These can range from traditional nights out in the LCR to large group events into town such as bowling or just a Nandos.

Photo: UEA Swimming Come and talk to us at the sports fair to find out more, meet some of our members and sign up! Callum Harney

Rowing

Rowing is one of the most engaging and exciting sports you can participate in at UEA. Perfecting your technique quickly becomes an obsession, one which gives back all the effort you put in. Every drop of sweat, blood and tears (trust me, there will be tears) will be worthwhile when you cross the finish line knowing that you have delivered the results.

Our boat club is competitively involved in local and national racing events throughout the year. We welcome new rowers and coxes from all levels of experience, holding ‘learn to row’ courses at the beginning of the year to get all novices race ready for as early as November.

The time spent together training and at our regular socials forges strong friendships, making you no longer just teammates, but a family. We fight for each other on the water and cheer our other crews on from the bank, revelling in each other’s successes as much as our own. You will always find immense support at UEA Boat Club, and we can guarantee it will make your university experience like no other. We hope to see you on the water soon.

Ruth Underwood

Skiing

Promising to give you an intoxicatingly great time, UEA Snow is the biggest sports club on campus, full of students who love skiing, snowboarding and partying!

Among our packed social calendar, we hold lessons and dry-slope sessions for people with all levels of experience. If you’ve never skied or boarded before and want to give it a try, come and see us! For the more advanced, we attend competitions around the country and have close ties with massive sponsors.

The highlight of the year is the biggest and best trip to hit UEA, the winter snow trip. In January 2015, UEA Snow will be taking over 200 snow-loving students to Val Thorens, in the French Alps. Expect hilarious nights out, crazy aprés, and of course some brilliant riding. You don’t have to have a SAM card to come on our trip, and it’s open to everyone, so bring your friends!

You can find out more at ueasnow.co.uk.

We look forward to getting to know you!

Chris Paton

Swimming

The UEA Swimming Club is a club for all and is one of the university’s five Focus Sport clubs. As a non-impact sport that exercises the whole body, swimming is perfect for keeping fit, increasing muscle tone and even resolving injuries. Furthermore, the club is a friendly and close knit team. We train together, we compete together and we socialise together.

We cater for those who wish to simply keep fit and those aiming for nationalqualifying times. We take part in BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) Short Course (25m) Championships, Long Course (50m) Championships and Team Championships. We are one of the most successful sports clubs in Derby Day and also participate in ‘friendly’ inter-uni galas and Masters meets whenever possible.

In addition to competitions, club socials take place throughout the year, from bowling to the nights out in the city, and we volunteer within the local community by helping to run schools galas – all to help you boost your CV! We are a large and active club, with so much going on – so please find out more by getting in touch (communications. ueaswimming@gmail.com), visiting our Facebook group (UEA Swimming Club 2014/2015) or our website (ueaswimclub. wordpress.com).Clare Bartington

Women’s Rugby

What Women’s Rugby at UEA can offer for you is a strong team you’ll be proud to be a part of, and an inclusive atmosphere free from cliques. Rugby is a fresh alternative to those long nights in the library and training – believe it or not – will soon become the highlight of your week.

We train twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays, and after our league starts in October.We have matches almost every Wednesday. However, no prior experience is necessary and we won’t turn away anyone with a desire to learn. You will learn everything that you need to know at training.

We have plenty of different kind of socials, and any newcomers will be fully included into the social side of the club.

Friendship off the pitch is our driving force towards a strong and efficient team. We look forward to welcoming you! Jatta Vuorinen

Sport

23

Kat Lucas Sport editor

I

n any World Cup year, football has a tendency to overshadow the exploits of the rest of the sporting world. Such was the case when a perplexed Andy Murray (from Dunblane, Scotland), was asked his thoughts on England’s chances of lifting the Jules Rimet.

Unsurprisingly, relatively little attention was paid to Murray’s own activities this summer, which included an all too brief visit to Wimbledon. Novak Djokovic once again went on to be crowned king of SW17, and the Serbian superstar has since gone on to reach his eighth straight semifinal in the US Open.

Fortunately, Scotland found relief from Murray’s disappointing showing in hosting the Commonwealth Games; a strange colonial hangover, the highlight

“What a summer it’s been” Flickr: Ian C

Rooney: the man to captain England?

Despite a good start to Wayne Rooney’s England captaincy, with wins over Norway and Switzerland, Will Hunter remains unconvinced that the Manchester United striker is the right man for the job.

R

oy Hodgson must have felt like swearing; only this time, out of relief rather than sheer frustration. The ever-exploding clown’s car of football that is the England national team achieved if not redemption, then a step in the right direction with a 2-0 win against a Switzerland side ranked ninth in the world in their opening European championships qualifying game.

After a miserable few months, Hodgson will have drawn some comfort from a decent display, despite a couple of hairy defensive moments. In the absence of an injured Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck boosted his reputation with two well taken goals.

Meanwhile, debutant Fabian Delph staked his claim for a regular berth in the heart of midfield with an energetic performance that should have been rewarded with a spot-kick after a clumsy tackle from Johan Djourou.

Best of all, England’s new captain produced an improved performance with some nice touches and a hand in Welbeck’s opener. Yet the feeling still persists that in appointing Wayne Rooney, Hodgson has botched an important decision.

Simply put, the best way to involve Rooney in the England captaincy is to keep it as far away from him as possible: a captain needs to carry respect from all quarters and be a good ambassador for the role. Rooney’s on-pitch commitment is generally unquestioned, but if we did not need reminding already, this is a player who has consistently failed to deliver on big occasions for England ever since his explosive entry in Euro 2004.

This is a player who stamped on Ricardo Carvalho in 2006; blamed England fans for his own woeful performances in South Africa in 2010 and at Euro 2012 after the FA went through lengthy procedures to get his three-

match ban reduced; and who contributed little bar a scruffily taken goal against Ukraine. This is a player who has been constantly indulged and has continuously failed to reward the faith of successive England managers.

Chances are that Rooney will surpass Sir Bobby Charlton’s goal scoring record for England, yet he does not deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the great man. Rooney is unquestionably a good player, but will not be remembered as a great one.

What sort of message does it send out to other

“Hodgson will have drawn some comfort from a decent display” important squad members that Rooney has been given the armband? That mediocrity is to be rewarded and that the national team will once again be in thrall to reputations at the expense of the team?

Furthermore, when a player is made captain, it becomes much harder for them to be dropped according to tactics or form – witness Sven Goran Eriksson’s infamous use of Beckham in a ‘quarterback’ role against Northern Ireland in 2005, or Vincente Del Bosque’s refusal to drop Iker Casillas in Brazil. Whilst this is partly accounted for by cowardice on the part of these respective coaches, nevertheless the position of captain affords a player a certain amount of protection; a protection which Rooney is no longer entitled to. Rooney’s form for Manchester United in the past two seasons indicates a player whose powers are gradually on the wane, with Sir Alex Ferguson revealing in his

latest book that, with Rooney’s physique, he could not imagine the forward playing into his thirties. And Fergie, you would think, would know.

A

t 28, Rooney should not be discarded; England do not have the talent pool for that. And for all his faults, Rooney is still a hugely talented player on his day, creating several chances for his team-mates in Switzerland and confidently dispatching a penalty in the friendly win over Norway.

Moreover, with 97 caps under his belt, Rooney is comfortably the most experienced of the current crop, a particularly important consideration following the international retirements of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. But those days where Rooney can take the game by the scruff of the neck are becoming all too infrequent ,and Hodgson’s After the international retirments of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, England has lacked leaders.

Flickr: terceroinf fmiralcamp decision to make him captain is an indication that the England hierarchy continues to pander to a big name star.

In a qualifying group that should present no problems (yes, I am aware of the fate I am tempting), indulging Rooney will not be an issue. But in major tournaments against elite opponents, when tactics have to be adjusted accordingly, doubts persist as to whether Hodgson has the courage to drop the undroppable if the circumstances demand it.

In making Rooney his captain, Hodgson has created a rod for his own back.

of which appeared to be Usain Bolt wearing a Tam o’ Shanter and dancing to The Proclaimers. The Empire might be finished, but for those interested in what appeared like a re-run of London 2012 on UK Gold, the Games represented pride, patriotism, and lots of Kenyans running quickly round a track.

Whether or not Scotland are about to break free from Britain’s stranglehold remains to be seen, but the record books will note a number of medals won by UK athletes. Although Mo Farah was forced to pull out through injury, Nicola Adams secured another gold, two years after becoming the first woman to win a gold medal for boxing.

There was less of a buzz surrounding England’s footballing achievements – or lack, thereof – at Brazil 2014. Three Lions boss Roy Hodgson warned Wayne Rooney of his last chance to impress at the highest level, only to realise that apparently, no England players are capable of performing at major tournaments.

Nonetheless, the World Cup with all its highs, lows and biting incidents (no prizes for guessing who), will go down as the highlight of this year’s sporting calendar, as Germany lifted the World Cup in front of a delighted Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Amid all the glory, for some survival was the order of the day. Alistair Cook remains England cricket captain, having finally overseen a Test victory after a year’s wait. His position as one-day skipper is far from secure however, with calls for Eoin Morgan to take the mantle reaching an alltime high.

England’s cricket and rugby teams have a World Cup to look forward to in 2015, though the former certainly have much to do if they are not to be torn apart by spin as they were so often against India.

For England fans across the board, it has been a summer of ups and downs – though mainly downs. But there are still plenty of positives looking ahead.

Danny Welbeck scored twice as Hodgson’s beat Switzerland in their opening Euro 2016 qualifier, and Kevin Pietersen has finally stopped lingering around Lord’s before England cricket matches. What a summer it’s been!

C

Sport

SPORT

Issue 299

16th September 2014

concrete-online.co.uk @Concrete_UEA ConcreteNewspaper

Norwich City Football Club’s stadium at Carrow Road in the city centre Flickr: Pittaya Sroilong

Norwich City off to strong start Ross Perkins Sport writer An unbeaten preseason, astute transfer market dealings and a derby win against East Anglian rivals Ipswich Town have ensured an upbeat start to Norwich City’s return to the Championship.

After a disastrous 2013-14 season that saw negative, one-dimensional football lacking in intensity and a squad with limited strength-in-depth combine to disastrous effect – culminating in Norwich’s relegation – Neil Adams has replaced the doom and gloom with a renewed sense of optimism direly lacking under Chris Hughton’s tenure.

Despite a disappointing loss to Wolves on the opening day, the Canaries have since taken ten points from a possible fifteen, a run of three consecutive victories against Watford, Blackburn and Ipswich helping consolidate fourth in the table.

Several encouraging conclusions can be drawn from the opening five games, which saw new signing Lewis Grabban endear himself to the Carrow Road faithful with a league-best five goals, including the winner against Ipswich and against former club Bournemouth in a 1-1 draw.

After the unsuccessful deployment of the diamond at Wolves left the full-backs terribly exposed – epitomised by Martin Olsson’s dismissal for two bookable offences – Adams has reverted to a 4-2-3-1 formation, showing a willingness to recognise where mistakes have been made and how to adjust accordingly.

The iron midfield alliance of Alex Tettey and Bradley Johnson has provided solid cover in front of the back four, each taking it in turns to push forward – with Johnson bagging two

goals from range in as many matches – while the creative talents of Nathan Redmond, Wes Hoolahan and new-signing Kyle Lafferty have provided the perfect foil for Grabban leading the line, a set-up that has yielded eight goals in four League games, while only conceding two.

Adams and co. have responded well to criticisms of the previous regime, but what will really set him apart from the other top managers in the division – the likes of Stuart Pearce, Steve McClaren and Ian Holloway

Delia Smith, owner of Norwich City FC and a committed fan.

– will be whether he can ensure his team continues to adapt as other sides discover the formula to Norwich’s success.

Whether that is through a different strategic approach or through tactical gamechanging substitutions, how well Adams does this will determine how successful the team are. That said, it is encouraging to hear that Watford keeper Heurelho Gomes was specifically targeted for his being prone to lobbing – a tactic which paid off handsomely in Norwich’s 3-0 win.

Exciting developments on the field have been supplemented by the club’s transfer dealings off it. Relegation was naturally accompanied by the fear that Norwich would lose its key playing staff, with offers received for England U-21 prospect Redmond, standout left-back Olsson, Dutch midfielder Leroy Fer and Scottish international Robert Snodgrass.

Of course, City weren’t to be invulnerable

to the vultures of the Premier League as the latter two moved on to QPR and Hull respectively, yet Adams will feel he got a fair price for the duo. 2013-2014 Player of the Year Snodgrass had only one year left on his contract, but Hull were nevertheless willing to pay over £7m to acquire his services, while Fer’s goal against Chile at the World Cup no doubt had some impact on his transfer fee.

Moreover, keeping hold of Olsson and Redmond will do wonders for the continuity of the squad, while Michael Turner’s decision to sign a new contract is arguably bigger than any signing City have made this summer.

Add to that the in-form Grabban, Kyle Lafferty and Cameron Jerome to spruce up the attack, Gary O’Neill and Vadis OdjidjaOfoe to midfield and Jos Hooiveld, Carlos Cuellar and Ignasi Miquel in defence, and Adams has got himself a squad very much

Moji Sola Photography

Sports Fair Special Page 22

Flickr: The Laird of Oldham

England captaincy Page 23

“Several encouraging conclusions can be drawn for the first five games” capable of challenging for promotion. Picking his best eleven could prove to be a welcome headache.

After the international break, Norwich will visit Cardiff and Brentford, before facing Birmingham and League Two Shrewsbury in the third round of the League Cup. Continuing their impressive start will be Adams’ chief goal; maintaining their present average of two points per game would have been enough for Burnley to secure automatic promotion last season. One senses that there could be much more to come from the Canaries this season.

Wikimedia: Nic Redhead

Sport Supplement Insert