Concrete - Issue 309 - 24/02/2015

Issue 24.02.15

309

Concrete online Scan for all the latest news, sports and society blogs

Peer-pressured drug use at UEA down

concrete-online.co.uk @Concrete_UEA ConcreteNewspaper

11

Is “I was drunk” an acceptable excuse?

20

Modafinal: the ‘smart drug’

Photo: Oliver Sanham, Concrete Photography // Right-hand photos (top to bottom): Flickr, Andrew Bro; Flickr, Geoff Greer, Ellie Green

Dan Falvey News Editor Concrete’s Drugs and Alcohol Survey 2015 has revealed that there has been a large decrease in the number of students who have taken illegal drugs due to peer-pressure over the last year.

Results from both the 2014 and 2013 surveys highlighted that 14.08% of students had taken illegal drugs due to feeling pressured from others compared to just 4% this year, representing a 10% drop in the

number of people taking illegal drugs to ‘fit in’.

However, despite the decrease, the overall number of students who have tried illegal drugs remains relatively unchanged. Last year 61.31% of students said that they had tried illegal drugs while the 2015 survey indicated that 62% of students has tried illegal drugs.

This year’s results also highlighted that there has been a decrease in the number of students who drink alcohol because they feel the need to ‘impress others’.

This year, 37% of students claimed to have consumed alcohol in order to impress others.

In a similar trend to peer-pressured use of illegal drug use, this was an 8% decrease from last year’s results which indicated that 45% of students at UEA had consumed alcohol in order to impress others.

However, while the number of students taking drugs has seen little change over the past 12 months, the number of students drinking alcohol has seen a small decrease, as outlined on page 3.

Full results for the survey can be found in the Concrete Drugs and Alcohol Survey Supplement which is located in the middle of the paper.

venue does drugs

Labour would protect funding of 16-19 year olds’ education Joe Jamerson News reporter Earlier this month, Labour leader Ed Miliband announced that his party would act to protect funding for 16-19 year old education as part of a wider commitment to secure the entire Department of Education budget.

Miliband set out key aspects of education policy which a Labour government would be keen to improve, including reforming careers advice available to 16-19 year olds and overhauling the current apprenticeship system.

Mr Miliband has separately outlined his commitment to apprenticeships, by saying that he would seek to provide an

apprenticeship for every school leaver for those who ‘get the grades’, by 2020.

The Labour leader claimed that the policy would result in the creation of an extra 80,000 apprenticeships, with High Speed Rail 2 alone supporting 33,000 of them.

Mr Miliband hopes that these policies will help to give the education sector a boost, and to provide students with the tools that they need to gain the skills that they require to drive future growth within the economy.

He went on to say that: “the next government of whatever hue needs to prioritise a once-in-a-generation funding review of how money is spent at each stage of education”.

Mr Miliband is hoping that such policies will be at the forefront of a Labour plan to

boost economic growth as the apprenticeships will be funded by private companies bidding for contracts within the public sector whilst offering an alternative to the Conservative’s plan to fund extra apprenticeship placements by introducing further caps on benefits.

However, this policy has come under heavy criticism with Ukip economic spokesperson, Patrick O’Flynn saying that: “Every party and politician would like a Britain of higher skills, higher productivity, higher added value jobs and higher wages, but Mr Miliband patently has no idea how to bring this about”.

Whilst a Scottish National Party spokesperson, claimed that if Labour was serious about promoting growth, Mr Miliband would “support the SNP’s alternative to austerity”.

Business Secretary Vince Cable conceded that the number of apprenticeships offered to 16-19 year olds had fallen during the current parliament. But insisted that the coalition has increased the number of places on advanced schemes, and that these are more valued by employers.

However, education sector leaders were less critical of Mr Miliband’s announcement.

The General Secretary of the University and College Union, Sally Hunt claimed that: “for too long FE [further education] has had to bear the brunt of funding cuts,” and expressing support for the commitment to education, “we are pleased that Ed Miliband has pledged the sector will not suffer the same plight under a Labour administration”.

2

Editorial

editor’s column THE

I

Geri Scott Editor-in-Chief

“Concrete neither condemns nor condones the use of drugs”

f you didn’t guess from the created-withicing-sugar photo on the front page, the supplement that fell out of the middle of the newspaper, or our incessant social media posts, the annual Concrete Drugs and Alcohol Survey is out! Thank you to everyone who filled in the survey, we ended up with 580 respondents which is over double last year’s amount. Plus, with the addition of smoking and legal highs to the survey this year, we’ve got a clearer picture than ever before of the habits of UEA students.

An important note that you’ll find throughout Concrete, Venue and the supplement this time around is that Concrete neither condemns nor condones the use of drugs, but we do believe it’s an important

subject, which our writers want to discuss. If you’re affected by any of the issues raised in this issue of Concrete, please contact the help services listed below.

Another new addition this year is the submission of an article explaining the science and safety behind the drugs we discuss. Find this in the centre spread of the Drugs and Alcohol supplement.

Also this issue we have the KAOS Fashion Show supplement. Gemma Carter and Helena Urquart, our brilliant Fashion Editors, went along to the KAOS Fashion Show along with our talented writers and photographers.

They’ve produced a beautiful, glossy 16-page supplement for you to catch up if you missed it, find it inside!

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

Union House University of East Anglia Norwich NR4 7TJ 01603 593466 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 Website Administrator Will Cockram concrete.online@uea.ac.uk

24.02.15

Dear Gloria,

Middle Class Moments

I must confess, I have done something positively ghastly! I feel horrid.

Last night I got totally blotto on Moet, of all things - how vulgar! I can scarcely bring myself to write it here.

to throw in the dorms after we trussed up the matron in the broom cupboard.. those were definitely formative days. Nothing of the sort now, of course. We’re rather too responsible.

Anyway, I must be off - I’ve got to get that bloody I went to Tarquin’s charity party (he’s terribly concerned about the butler to sort the cook out. I’m certain that I saw a plastic plight of the poor people of Lierra Seone, who he says are suffering from a Sainsbury’s bag in the kitchen and I just won’t tolerate it. plague of parabola, or canola, or something) and we ended up drinking all of the It’s all very well for the staff to be doing their shopping in proper champagne in the first two hours. After we polished off the last of the such a cattle market, but it just won’t do for a person of my Bolly, we had to move on to that abhorrent cheap stuff, and even - ghasp - standing, and it’s frankly an insult to mother and father’s Prosecco. It was totes vile Glor, darling. social standing.

After a while it became so unbearable to sip on, that Priscilla BonhamBesides, I heard that plastic Saffron-Hardwel l decided to plonk her secret stash of white delight on the bags give off fumes that make your skin table, and it all went downhill from there. Rufus buried his whole face in the wrinkle, so I can’t have them stuff and Isadora managed to persuade Maximillian to blow some up her - you in the house. know - bottom.

Ta ta, darling, Of course I didn’t do anything so compromising, but I did have a cheeky sniff. I love a bit of snow - though it’s something I haven’t done since my glory days at Charlwood Girls’. Those mad parties we used

Tabit ha Hort onW oodwood

Photo: Flickr, Sembazuru

Illustration: Ella Gilbert

As revealed to Ella Gilbert

Complaints If you wish to make a complaint about an article in the paper or on the website, or about a social media post, please email the editor (concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk) to explain the precise nature of your complaint and to clearly indicate the relevant article, passage or sentence. We will be pleased to

respond as soon as we are able.

read ‘98.15%’. Concrete apologises for the omission.

Corrections The article ‘Drugs: science and safety’ in the Drugs and Alcohol Survey supplement 2015 includes two placeholders which read ‘[Insert % here]’. The first should read ‘53.09%’, the second should

In issue 307 the article ‘Graduate employment reaches ten-year high’ was miscredited to Faith Ridler. The author was actually Emily Rivers. Concrete apologises for the confusion.

News Dan Falvey concrete.news@uea.ac.uk Global Oliver Hughes concrete.global@uea.ac.uk Comment Joe Jameson concrete.comment@uea.ac.uk Features Courtney Pochin concrete.features@uea.ac.uk Science&Environment Jacob Beebe concrete.scienv@uea.ac.uk Travel Jodie Snow concrete.travel@uea.ac.uk Lifestyle Becca Bemment concrete.lifestyle@uea.ac.uk Sport James Newbold & Kat Lucas concrete.sport@uea.ac.uk Chief Copy Editors Helena Bradbury & Frances McKeown concrete.copy@uea.ac.uk Chief Photographers Will Cockram & Jacob Roberts-Kendal concrete.photography@uea.ac.uk Distribution Manager Amit Puntambekar concrete.distribution@uea.ac.uk

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

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 ©2015 Concrete BMc ISSN 1351-2773

NEWS

Florence and the Machine to perform at Radio 1’s Big Weekend Page 5

Fall in number of young people binge-drinking finds ONS report

Photo: bottles_abruellmann, Pixabay.com

Dan Falvey News editor Binge drinking in young adults is on the decrease according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The new research indicates that the percentage of young adults binging at least once a week decreased between 2005 and 2013 by a total of 11%. While 29% binged at least once a week in 2005, that figure had reduced to 18% by the end of the eight year period.

In order for a male adult to have been considered to binge they must consume at least eight units of alcohol on their heaviest drinking day. For women, the measurements for binge-drinking are slightly less; they must drink more than six units of alcohol in one day to be considered to have binged.

The ONS’s research also indicated that

among young adults those who participated in ‘frequent drinking’ also fell by two thirds over the period, and the number of students not drinking at all rose from 19% in 2005 to 27% in 2013.

The results among young people reflect a wider trend across the whole of the UK: binge-drinking among all UK adults fell by 3% from 18% in 2005 to 15% in 2013.

Some analysts have put the decline in binge-drinking down to a change in the ethnic and cultural make-up of Britain, meaning that those who culturally drink less (or not at all) has led to a decline in the national figures.

A Department of Health spokesperson welcomed the new figures: “It is extremely pleasing to see that the number of people binge drinking continues to go down, and it is particularly good to see that young people are drinking less, and hopefully getting into healthier drinking habits for life”.

The statistics from the ONS provide an interesting comparison to the results of Concrete’s 2015 Drugs and Alcohol Survey.

According to the survey, students at UEA do not follow the ONS trend; there has been an increase in the number of students who drink more than once a week over the last 12 months.

Last year’s results highlighted that 45.58% of students drank more than once a week compared to this year’s 47.19%.

However, despite the increase, the results indicated that over the last 12 months there has been a 5.34% decrease in the number of students who believe that they drink an acceptable amount. Last year 83.2% of students felt they drank an acceptable amount compared with 77.86% this year.

Full results of Concrete’s Drugs and Alcohol survey can be found in the Drug’s and Alcohol Survey supplement.

NUS to name and shame companies with unpaid interns Megan Baynes News reporter

A confidential hotline is set to blow the whistle on ‘exploitative’ companies that abuse graduate interns announced NUS President Toni Pearce last week. In the run up to May’s General Election, the National Union of Students (NUS) and Intern Aware are hoping to raise awareness and encourage parties to tackle the issue in their manifestos.

Unpaid internships cost graduates as much as £926 a month. Therefore the cost of working for nothing rules out all but the wealthy. Education think tank, The Sutton Trust, is calling for all interns to be paid minimum wage. With 22,000 interns working for nothing, the costs of forcing companies to pay interns could drastically reduce the number of placements available. This is worrying, as internships have been shown to lead to a better chance of employment.

Recent statistics have also shown that areas that have a high proportion of employers providing placements have “significantly lower levels” of youth unemployment.

Therefore, the potential reduction of internships available means the risk of an increase in graduate unemployment.

Union news round-up Motion passed to uphold boycott of The Daily Star and The Sun At the last session of Union Council on the 12th February, Asia Patel, rep for Norwich Nightline, proposed a motion, seconded by Campaigns and Democracy Officer, Chris Jarvis, that Union Council should uphold its previous commitment to boycott The Sun and The Daily Star, passed in 2013.

The motion stated that: “stocking The Sun and The Daily Star is contrary to UUEAS aims of upholding values of equality for all, and of zero tolerance of sexual harassment”.

Council subsequently voted in favour of the boycott, after hearing two speeches against the motion, which fully agreed with the motion that The Daily Star “is as problematic as the Sun and should be treated the same”.

The speeches further stated that the two papers both “post controversial headlines perpetuating the oppression of mentally ill, disabled and LGBT+ people, and ethnic minorities”.

However, they urged Union Council to reject the motion on the grounds of freedom of speech, whilst raising concern over the implication it would have on the plurality of expression on campus.

Despite the opposition to the motion, Union Council voted in favour of the boycott.

Proposal to rename student union’s Ethnic Minorities Officer postponed At the next meeting of Union Council on 5th March, Ethnic Minorities Officer Freddie Redfern will propose to Union Council that the name of the position should be changed to “Black and Minority Ethnic Student Officer”.

The motion, which will be opposed by Asia Patel, had originally be presented in the agenda for the council session on 12th February. However, it was postponed by Freddie Redfern, so that he could undertake further consultation with the committees of the societies that he represents and increase awareness of his campaign, before presenting it to Council again.

For more information on this issue, turn to page 8 to read the arguments in favour of and against this motion.

Presentation made to Union Council by UEA Vice Chancellor

Photo: Pete Forsyth, Wikimedia Dame Fiona Kendrick, Chief Executive of Nestle UK and Ireland, and UKCES commissioner, said: “The areas where employers are least likely to offer any form of experience of the workplace are also where youth unemployment is high, creating a catch

22 situation for young people; they can’t get the experience to get a job and they can’t get a job without the experience.

“Graduates are now being faced with an increasingly tough decision: work for free, or don’t work at all”.

At the beginning of the last council session on 12th February, UEA Vice Chancellor Prof.

David Richardson spoke to Union Council about the university’s new corporate plan, which traditionally has a five year life cycle.

The Vice Chancellor explained that the new corporate plan will be heavily focused on the future direction of the university. He encouraged students to get involved in the consultation process by helping University staff to understand what services students want to see developed at UEA, and to help shape what the university will become by 2030.

The Vice Chancellor will also be appearing before Council at the next meeting on the 5th March to answer questions which representatives have for him concerning the new corporate plan, and other university wide issues.

Union Council is the representative body of the UUEAS. It decides policy and holds student union officers to account.

4

News

Calls for new regulator of higher education Megan Baynes News reporter Universities UK (UUK), a common-interest higher education group, is calling for the next government to create a new regulator of higher education. The suggestions call for a “council for Higher Education England”, which would toughen rules for private providers.

The group say that the current “regulatory landscape is becoming increasingly complex and difficult to understand with no clear guiding strategy or leadership to shape its future direction”.

0.88%

The percentage of GDP that the UK spends on higher education.

However, what might be more difficult to understand is what this will mean for university students across the country.

The UK’s public spending on higher education is 0.88% of its GDP, which is less than the average of the 34 countries making up The Organization for Economic Cooperation

Photo: 1gl, Flickr and Development. Therefore, it is claimed that the introduction of a new lead regulator would help prioritise, and protect, student interests.

The report singles out the growth in

private providers, saying: “It is important to be confident that all providers can give robust assurances on the quality and sustainability of their offer”. Without clear leadership and

response to these challenges,www there is a significant risk that the hard won reputation of, and trust in, UK higher education will be eroded.

The UUK report, titled Quality, Equity, Sustainability: The Future of Higher Education Regulation, recommends that: “a register be established to act as the gateway into the sector for all higher education providers, setting out clear and robust entry requirements and providing greater clarity for students and other constituencies on the assurances they can expect”.

However, it is unlikely any party will consider a higher education bill to be a high priority.

Pam Tatlow, the Chief Executive of the higher education thinktank, Million+, said: “[It is] much more likely that improvements in regulation or changes to the fee cap will be delivered by statutory instruments rather than primary legislation. However, there are risks in arguing that the regulatory role of Higher Education Funding Council for England should be expanded.”

Therefore, while students could look forward to changes in regulations governing UK universities, it is unlikely that this will come in the form of a single regulatory body.

UEA given green light over free speech Amy Rust News reporter

Photo: Union of UEA Students

Mass voter registration following Goats for Votes Jessica Frank-Keye News reporter

Students passing through the Square on Thursday the 5th February will have had a bit of a shock at the appearance of some unexpected visitors. UEA was visited by some local goats to encourage students to register to vote in the May 2015 General Election.

The farmyard friends were on campus to help the union with their Goats for Votes campaign, which aimed to encourage students to register to vote. While students stroked the animals and posed for photos, the union saw an impressive number of students register to vote.

Norwich City Council have informed UUEAS that “over 1000 people registered to vote on or immediately after National Voter Registration Day, in what are assumed to be student properties”. This is a massive number and indicates that 7% of the total 14,000 UEA student body signed up to the electoral register.

UEA was recently named among the ten universities most likely to influence the election result in a Guardian study, making this initiative even more important. Some students have stated that the ‘major reason’ they registered to vote was due to the campaign, while others said they would have done so anyway but “the goats were a helpful reminder”.

The youth vote, even among students, has in recent elections seen a remarkably low. Only 44% of 18-25 year olds voted in the 2010 General Election and with UEA students increasingly concerned about the rising costs of tuition fees and further education, this issue is more important than ever.

Chris Jarvis, the Campaigns & Democracy Officer, described Goats for Votes as a “huge success”.

He stated that the union will “be running a series of events over the coming months to engage even more students in the General Election and make sure they are registered to vote. 1000 new members of the electoral register goes a huge way to ensuring that the student voice won’t be lost in this election”.

The UK’s first Free Speech University Rankings have been published by the self-proclaiming libertarian campaign group Spiked. Rankings were generated using data from 80% of UK universities and which was then ranked using a traffic light system. The policies and actions of both the university and the student union were analysed using an ‘absolute free speech’ criteria.

UEA was marked green, which represented a “hands off approach to free speech”. Although Spiked highlighted recent controversies, notably Union of UEA Students’ (UUEAS) boycott on The Sun, the group found overall both the university and UUEAS ranked favourably in terms of free speech. Essex University was found to be amongst the 5 worst universities, with organisers stating both the university and student union were actively preventing free speech.

Some may have been surprised at UEA’s green ranking given last semester’s petition

Photo: Smooth_O, Wikimedia

against Norwich South’s local UKIP candidate, Steve Emmens. The candidate was due to speak at a debate organised by UEA’s Politics Society, however, the announcement of his presence was met by widespread anger among students. In the end the event was postponed and re-arranged.

However concerns have been raised over the ranking’s legitimacy by various institutions and campaign groups.

Some universities given a red ranking have spoken out saying the analysis is absurd and unjustified. Essex University pointed out it was given a red rating because of the student union’s promotion of anti-transphobia behaviour. Furthermore, the rankings ignore all policies which protect marginalised groups on campus. For example, an equality policy stating that homophobic, sexist and racist language will not be tolerated also attracts a red rating.

The balance between free speech and the safety of minority groups on campus is a difficult one, with many universities bearing contradicting policies. Meanwhile, Spiked have already begun work on next year’s rankings.

News

5

Florence and the Machine to perform at Radio 1’s Big Weekend

Photo: Starbucks_KLNMAX, Wikimedia

Boycott: Dodgy Sugar in your Dodgy Coffee

Photo: Imbalhg, Wikimedia

Faith Ridler News reporter Florence and the Machine are the third act revealed to be performing at Radio 1’s Big Weekend this May. Nick Grimshaw made the announcement live on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show, where Florence appeared as a guest to promote her new single What Kind of Man which had been aired exclusively as Zane Lowe’s Hottest Record the night before.

It was confirmed in January that Radio 1’s Big Weekend will be coming to Norwich; taking place in Earlham Park on 23rd and 24th

May. Florence and the Machine are set to play on Saturday 23rd, and previously announced act Taylor Swift will perform on Sunday 24th May. BBC Introducing act, Context, who is originally from Norwich, has also been announced as part of the line up.

Speaking about the announcement, Nick Grimshaw said: “I’m super excited that Florence have been added to the line-up – her songs are made for festivals”.

Radio 1 will reveal further information about the Big Weekend in the coming months.

Registration for tickets is expected to open in March. 40% of tickets have been reserved for residents living in a Norwich postcode.

Amy Rust News reporter Starbucks and Tate & Lyle are to be boycotted in union outlets following a motion passed by Union Council on 12th February.

The motion titled Dodgy Sugar in your Dodgy Coffee, was passed by Union Council by 38 votes for to 18 against.

Proposed by Sam Jones, PSI Second Year representative, the motion called for a boycott of Starbucks and Tate & Lyle products by UEA Student Union owned outlets. Upon passing the motion, Sam told Concrete: “We have an opportunity to run an ethical business…I am not naive enough to think this will make a

dent in Starbucks or Tate & Lyle’s profits, but it will send a message that tax dodging is not acceptable”.

Starbucks had sales of over £400 million last year, however the company paid no tax here in the UK. David Stephens, councillor for CWP Other Year UG, spoke against the motion stating: “It’s about student choice and student representation. I don’t think that 80 councillors have the right to impose their moral judgments on the entire student body without giving the 13,900+ students, which council is meant to represent, the chance to have their say on the matter”.

Replacement iced coffee and sugar products are now available from the union shop.

UCAS to allow UK students to apply to European universities Peter Lampl, the chairman of The Sutton Trust, has offered cautious optimism about the move: “There’s no doubt that overseas

Dan Falvey News editor UCAS is changing its rules in order to act as a platform for UK students to apply to study at institutions in Europe as well universities in the UK. The move is suspected to mean universities in countries such as Germany will now offer more places to students from the UK. The change in the system could also see European universities taking in more UK students through the clearing process after A Levels.

At the moment UK students wanting to study at a university abroad must apply directly to the individual institution.

A UCAS spokesman said that for European institutions to be accepted by the admissions service they must demonstrate that they meet equivalent standards to those in the UK. They went on to claim: “The inclusion of a wider range of higher education providers in the UCAS system offers students more choice about where and what to study”.

The plan could see more British students applying to universities outside of the UK where tuition fees are not as high as their home state.

According to the BBC some European universities, particularly in the Netherlands, have seen an increase in students studying from the UK at their institutions since the increase of tuition fees to £9,000 per year in England. In contrast to the price of study in the UK, the Netherlands charge less than £4000 over the duration of the course.

Ian Fordham, co-founder of the Education Foundation, said: “[This will] have a pretty

30,000

Humboldt University, Berlin. Universities in Germany are expected to benefit for the change in the UCAS rules. Photo: JoJan, Wikimedia significant impact on the higher education sector given the level of tuition fees already there.

“You’ll just open up the market — other UK universities have used the same approach to get overseas students and now it’s coming back full circle to take their applicants away.

“In the short term you might not see a big

spike, but I think in the next couple of years it could take out a good 10% of students at least.

I think there’s a chance of a brain drain; on the whole the top universities would stay stable, but those middle-tier universities and those out of the Russell Group would probably be hardest hit as European universities may well have the edge on them.”

The number of current UK students attend a university in a foreign country each year.

study holds real benefits and is a realistic option. The problem is that many young people, particularly those from low- and middle-income families, just don’t consider it as a feasible choice for them.

“More must be done to ensure that all teenagers are aware of their options and given the best possible advice. US students can access US government grants and loans for study abroad and our government should accord British students the same rights”.

Martin Paul, the president of Maastricht University, said European higher education institutions gained mutual benefit from movement of students as well as partnering and exchange schemes. He said: “We are rather thinking of brain circulation, not brain drain”.

Developing on his point he said: “The decision to have higher tuition fees was some sort of wake-up call in the UK where students and their parents began to think what is on the other side of the sea.”

David Willets, the former Universities Minister for the coalition government also “warmly welcomed this opening up of the system”.

At present, approximately 30,000 UK students study undergraduate degrees abroad each year.

6

Global

Study abroad: one suitcase, one passport, one year Amelia Puttock Global writer Study abroad opportunities are one of the greatest advantages available at university.

Whether these come in the form of a full year that doesn’t or only partially counts toward your overall grade, or a semester that does, the attraction should not be ignored.

Currently international, cultural exchange is widely encouraged by institutions worldwide, creating countless exchange programmes across a variety of destinations and courses.

Aside from the amelioration of a CV and envious weekly postings on Instagram, there are a whole host of other benefits gained by students who have studied abroad, that their peers simply cannot rival.

One of the drawbacks that scares a lot of students away is the fear of a new country. We all remember the nervous feelings of first year moving-in-day where you know no one and are forced to quickly settle in. However, the knowledge that your stay is temporary and your visa expires in a matter of months actually has a positive effect on how you spend your time abroad. For example, instead of only getting to know the location of the best clubs, kebab shops and discount stores, studying abroad motivates you to make the most of every weekend and spare afternoon exploring new places. Many students become more open-minded, often living by an ‘exchange YOLO’ motto, that may find you paying $200 for a vegetarian music and yoga festival in a desert that was sold to you as ‘Coachella but with a lake’, or tagging along to a 12K nude footrace where you’re the odd one out by wearing anything more than trainers.

So apart from the amazing opportunity to get an extended visa somewhere outside of Europe, often with work opportunities, and the obvious chances to travel around your chosen country, why study abroad?

You will return barely ever needing to book a hotel worldwide. By this I mean surprisingly, a lot of the people you’ll get to know best and probably live with, are other international students just like you! So upon your return, you are left with a huge network of international, lifelong friends – hopefully providing the perfect travel route for your postgrad gap ‘YAH’ and future hols.

You will learn so much! Not only at your

Photo:Pixabay new university, but what that song lyric refers to, why something is called something, that Zinfandel is not primarily a wine but a place.

You’ll gain a wider cultural understanding and different perspective of the world by viewing things from a new place and constantly mixing with people completely different to you.

Limited to one suitcase and a student loan that has disappeared with your house security deposit means one thing – you need to source as much free stuff as you can in your new country and surprisingly, there is a lot more help on offer than you might expect.

Bootsales or ‘yard sales’ on street corners will draw you in more than a Topshop flash sale, websites such as nextdoor.com are fantastic neighbourhood sites for connecting with your local community and you’ll be amazed how kind some people are and really want to donate their spare hoover, dining table and cutlery that means you no longer have to steal a fistful from the campus canteen each week. Furthering your shoestring budget, because although you may need a few extra grand to keep you afloat abroad in expensive countries and cities, you want to make it go as far as possible. Therefore tourist information

websites and simply googling on a Friday afternoon ‘host city + fun and cheap’ is likely to turn up some gems to keep you visiting new places every weekend.

Do different! All the things you never signed up to in Freshers’ Fair, things you were too afraid of back home, or foods you’ve just always avoided. Going along with a local and seeing how they spend their Saturday night, because maybe you’re under the legal drinking age, or there is no LCR. Being forced to seek out alternatives reminds us that whilst weekends may be lived for, they’re also for remembering!

Your bravery will pay dividends. You’re making it alone, abroad and having the most fun of your life and best of all, the attitude that got you there and made you cherish every moment of this opportunity will show when you return. You took a risk leaving your home university, friends and family but this is exactly the mentality you have to retain whilst abroad. Dodgy deals pay off! – taking risks is the best way to make the most of studying abroad, starting with your education and doing a module you wouldn’t normally pick or would not be on offer at home. Alternatively

you could find yourself optimistically checking in to a hostel on day one, resulting in future housemates met over breakfast and putting a deposit on an unfurnished house because it’s houseparty heaven. Or perhaps buying a solo ticket to Coachella before you’ve booked your flights and tagging along with people you hardly know – essentially alone, only to find a holiday romance that follows you home. It sounds absurd but there’s truly something in the air when studying abroad, it just all works out!

Beware: losing things is 10 times worse out there – spilling water on your passport, losing your phone or bank card is probably as close to the end of the world as it can get.

But hey iPhones are cheaper out there right… ($750 plus tax?!), you might break laws you never knew existed (speed limits /smoking in parks), and most of all ££££££££ - it’s going to cost way more than you think. But despite that, you will never truly be the same person as when you left and most certain of all you will not want to come home.

Truly, studying abroad is one of the best things a student can do, it allows them to see the world in all its glory.

A truce to the War on Drugs?

Oliver Hughes Global editor

Two things are facts about the USA’s relationship with illegal drugs. One, that it contributes more money than any other nation to fighting the war on drugs. In fact, it spends over $50bn a year on it, mostly in aid payments to foreign nations. Two, that it has the highest illegal drug use per capita in the world.

Considering its geographical location, disparity in wealth, and population, the second might not come as a surprise. Most of this money goes to South American countries like Peru, Bolivia and Columbia, the two highest producers of cocaine in the world – cocaine is one of the most consumed illegal drugs out there, and it is also one of the most expensive.

More money goes into Mexico (where I am sure the totally not corrupt government puts it to good use) which has become the second largest producer of heroin after

Afghanistan, as well as a premier producer of methamphetamine (crystal meth – we’ve all seen Breaking Bad, right?). Beyond that, it is the main channel for the producers in Latin America to funnel the drugs into the USA – the Mexican cartels get their hands on the relatively clean product, add cuts, and sell for profit. It is estimated they rake in about $50bn per year.

That number has increased significance.

The money to fight the war comes from, of course, the taxpayer. It’s estimated that the US totally legalising marijuana alone would generate about $50bn again in tax revenue.

Which, together, could accommodate for about one eighth of the American healthcare budget, for example. One only has to look at Colorado, which legalised marijuana in 2013, to see the effects – crime has gone down, productivity has gone up, and more money has been raised than they know what to do with.

But the advantages to wide scale legalisation are not just financially beneficial to

the countries that do it – they are detrimental to the ones who lose out. Columbia’s ongoing (albeit quietened down) civil war is funded heavily through the sale of cocaine – the Photo: Globalpost

radical left wing, paramilitary right wing, and even pro-government organisations all have their own plantations and fund their activities in part through drug sales. In Mexico, the cartels have such power they rule over huge sections of the country that people dare not go near – and their integration with a corrupt government goes deeper than one could imagine. More than 100,000 people have died and over 1.2 million displaced in Mexico alone since 2006. Legalisation would kill so much of the funding for this groups, as people would not need to use street gangs and the black market for buying drugs.

Lastly there is the societal aspect. The war on drugs has a strong racial undertone in the US; African Americans are 35% more likely to be arrested, 55% more likely to be charged,

and 75% more likely to be sent to prison on possession of drugs charges, although this coincides with the general institutionalised racism in the US. Indeed, since the War on Drugs was declared, the US saw a 60% increase in the number of people detained – some 1% of its population is in prison. That might not seem like much, but it’s 3.5 million people.

Decriminalisation would mean drug users are not treated like criminals, and quite rightly; it should never be criminal to do to one’s body what one wants. In Portugal and Canada, for example, drugs are decriminalised, and those who want help getting off addictions – or even just a safe place to take heroin, for example – are given the necessary help by the government.

Full legalisation may be a step too far at this point, but one we have to go towards; it would kill the black market, give people a way to get high safely, on clean product, rake in money that can be used elsewhere, and go a long way to solving the violence that has plagued countries for years.

COMMENT Kieran Burden highlights concerns over the ‘Chemsex’ trend.

H

owever hard we try to deny it, within modern culture the relationship between sex and drugs is continuously present. Whether it is alcohol or Viagra, the usage of substances to increase sexual performance has become normalised within society to the extent that some are available to buy in public toilets. To a certain extent this acceptance is deplorable and demonstrates ingenuity in making a naturally pleasurable act more exciting. But when does this ingenuity end and become potentially dangerous for the participants involved?

Over the past ten years there has been a steady increase in an occurrence known as ‘chemsex’, a slang term to describe sexualised drug use within the MSM (men who have sex with men) community. Commonly substances such as crystal methamphetamine, GHB/GBL and mephedrone are used for their ability to increase the users libido and make them able to perform for longer with fewer inhibitions.

The result? People are able to have sex for longer, harder and with more people in a short space of time.

To some this may sound great, but there are some issues with this practice that can be potentially life altering. Due to the nature of the drugs, it totally removes the users inhibitions and makes them more likely to partake in high-risk activities that could endanger their lives. This includes partaking in unprotected sex, which comes with the potential of contracting STI’s such as syphilis, herpes and HIV. Also, due to the users sexual stamina being increased, the session may last longer or be rougher which increases the chance of abrasions on the genitals, which further increases the chances of contracting an STI. ‘Chemsex’ also poses an issue with consent due the to potential for the drugs to render the user unconscious or incapable of talking. This becomes a further issue when it is considered that ‘chemsex’ is commonly practiced in a party like environment where participants are all under the influence of drugs. If one participant passes out, it may go unnoticed and they may be taken advantage of in their vulnerable state. Once again, this presents the risks of STI transmission or physical injury from being incapable of resisting the sexual activity.

Whilst ‘chemsex’ isn’t an everyday occurrence that everyone partakes in, it is a trend that exists and is gradually increasing in popularity. It acts as the toxic younger brother to alcohol induced one-night stands, and presents a scenario where people use drugs to allow themselves to partake in sex with multiple partners in one night.

Also, it demonstrates a blatant disregard for one’s own safety and suggests the participants value one night of carnality over their long-term health and safety. With this in mind, it is difficult to remain ambivalent in relation to ‘chemsex’ and the activities it encourages. Whilst it does arguably demonstrate ingenuity and demonstrates sexual liberation, it is questionable whether this liberation is worth endangering one’s life for. It is also questionable whether ‘chemsex’ actually presents a situation that demonstrates true sexual liberation, or if it is a signifier of an underlying drug issue that needs to be rectified.

Freddie Redfern and Asia Patel debate renaming the Ethnic Minorities Officer Page 8

Society needs to stop ignoring alcoholism, and rethink our attitude towards it in relation to other narcotics, says Sheldon Vestey

T

he past few months have seen numerous drug related incidents, including the unexpected deaths of three men from Ipswich related to the superman pills/PMA, an MDMA (ecstasy) analog. Tabloid newspaper articles erupted with an unnerving disparity to the scale of disaster, incorrectly labelling the culprit as MDMA - a recurring trend with an age old agenda, sensationalism, for profit.

The problem with sensationalism as a business model is that it denies the media responsibility for impartiality and accuracy.

The conundrum of illegal drug deaths, reality versus perception, is that the latter far exceeds the former, with the media being the driving force in this issue. To put this into perspective, in 2011 there were 847 illegal drug related deaths, with 27 of those due to amphetamines and “ecstasy-type drugs”, whilst alcohol weighed in with 40,000 and tobacco 114,000.

Whilst admittedly the user base isn’t the same, the BBC asserts that UK users of MDMA total 500,000, whilst alcohol users amount to around 40 million. For comparison, that’s equal to 1 in 1000 alcohol users dying per annum

“UK users of MDMA total at 500,000, whilst alcohol users amount to around 40 million” versus 0.054 in 1000 MDMA users dying per annum. Now these figures shouldn’t be taken to imply that MDMA is a safe drug, even one death is too many deaths in an ideal world, but it does highlight what is a fair or logical representation of drugs in a modern society.

Imagine then, if you will, a world in which every alcohol or tobacco related death generated the same breathtaking quantity of articles that a drug or even a suspected drug related death did; our media would pretty

Photo: Geralt, pixabay.com quickly have no place to report anything else.

Perhaps the reason illegal drug deaths are ‘relatively low’ in comparison to other substances is the spurious links made by the media and the ensuing hype. Perhaps we then should be thankful. But at the same time is misinformation the way we want our lives dictated? Should we not push for the same onus and education to be placed on other substances demonstrated to be more harmful? Culturally we have adopted alcohol and tobacco. With universities thought to be hotspots of binge-drinking culture, spurring the creation of YouTube videos glamourising various ‘lads’ necking a whole bottle of spirits.

If this was looked on with the same disdain as someone who could do three grams of cocaine in one line, we’d pretty quickly reduce that 40,000 deaths per annum figure.

Evidently neither of these approaches is working. What needs to occur is a meet in the middle mentality where drugs are recognised for the perilous lands they occupy, but as more of a quick sand laden swamp and not a minefield logged battlefield and alcoholism identified for the real risks it poses.

The carefree mentality of a bottle a day left in the past, scrubbing out the humour of the drinking ‘competitions’ and a spotlight shone on the actual nature of addiction.

Abi Constable, looks at the alternative benefits of legalising cannabis.

D

rugs. What do people instantly think when they hear the word ‘drugs’?

Would they picture a hooded teenager smoking a joint in a dark alleyway, or maybe a fifty year old man with lung cancer cooking crystal meth? I think that some of us more liberal students might have different views or experiences when it comes to drugs, but I want to talk about the stigma that surrounds them and how maybe, just maybe, it’s time for society to look at the more beneficial side. Now, when I say the beneficial side of drugs, I’m talking about a very specific drug; cannabis. It seems that cannabis has recently been cooking up a storm, from first being legalised for both medical and recreational use in certain US states such as Colorado, to cannabis oil being used in the treatment for children with serious medical conditions.

In early January a court case kicked up in Australia regarding a father who gave cannabis oil to his two-year-old daughter with a reportedly 11cm cancerous growth.

His daughter had also been receiving chemotherapy, but he claimed that the cannabis oil definitely had an influence on her improvements. It is also believed (I want to say the word ‘proven’ but fear my liberal head will be chopped off by conservative readers) that medical marijuana is extremely successful in reducing or altogether stopping seizures

in epilepsy sufferers. Another case study involves a young girl who used to suffer up to 200 seizures per day, but since her parents were recommended giving her cannabis oil, she now has 30 seizures a day at most. Now, knowing there is something out there that can greatly improve the quality of your child’s life should be great, shouldn’t it? The only setback is, oh yes, it’s illegal.

G

oing back to Colorado, not only in the past year have their crime rates decreased, but the state has also made tens of millions of dollars from the tax revenue and if there’s one thing I know we all (hate to) love, it’s money. They’ve also put this money to good use, such as paying for school construction, and well, producing more weed.

Before the legalisation, the state was spending between $10 - 40 million a year on enforcing marijuana laws and arresting those who smoked/sold/produced it, when now, they’re making a profit from legalising it. When I hear my mum talk about the recreational use of cannabis (while also still finding it hard to believe that she never tried it in her day), I hear over and over again the words “it just makes you paranoid.” Now, I don’t know, and don’t think I want to know, what kind of experiences have made her feel this way, but wish I’d been brought up in a household where it wasn’t

talked about so negatively because believe it or not, I haven’t always had this opinion.

I know the only drug I’ve talked about so far is cannabis, but the opinion that I am about to express includes them all. Most things, when taken in excess, can have damaging effects on us. If I ate way too much chocolate or put too much salt on my chips every day, I’d probably end up with some pretty bad heart problems. If I drank a bottle of vodka every day (FYI this would never happen, I hate vodka) my liver would severely suffer.

Just like if I smoked too much marijuana, just like my mum says, I probably would suffer from paranoia, and also develop some longterm health problems. However, I believe that if something is taken carefully and in moderation, there is no harm. Now, I’m not saying go and inject yourself with some heroin or snort some (astonishingly blue) meth. I’m saying do your research, know how these things can affect you, and make a very informed decision on whether you really want to try certain drugs.

Having read about the success of Colorado and medical marijuana, and having been to Amsterdam and experienced a culture where cannabis is legal myself, I think it’s time for our government to take a good look at our marijuana laws and how changing them might just be for the better.

8

Comment

The union is looking into changing the name of their Ethnic Minorities Officer. Freddie Redfern, Ethnic Minorities Officer, and Asia Patel debate the positives and negatives of changing the title.

For

T

he term ‘Black’ does have political meaning, but it is important to examine what the term ‘Black’ means. Politically the word is used to define people of African, Arab, Asian and Caribbean descent, as well as other indigenous peoples. In recent years we have seen a movement reclaiming the word ‘Black’ and using it as an empowering term in this sense; organisations throughout

“‘Black’ people are the global majority of the human population” the country such as NUS, UNISON and the Black Society of Lawyers, to name but a few, all acknowledge this definition of the term.

There are a number of issues with the use of the term ‘ethnic minority’ because it can be seen as demeaning and psychologically harmful, not to mention that it ignores the fact that ‘Black’ people are the global majority of the human population. A ‘minority’ will always be a marginal and Othered member of society. This is why so few other universities in the UK have still got an Ethnic Minorities Officer.

I believe that there are a number of reasons why we should use the term ‘Black’, the first being unity. The term ‘Black’ instils pride within a liberation group who have struggled against and overcome many barriers placed in front of them on the basis of their race, without undermining them from the get-go by labelling them as ‘ethnic minority’. Political Blackness does not aim to homogenise or take away from the great diversity of our cultures or experiences, but seeks to unify people affected by racism and put them in a best position to tackle that. It’s really important to realise that racism still exists. It exists in Britain and it exists here at UEA. Identifying a diverse group of people as ‘Black’ is not an attempt to deny this diversity, but to recognise shared

Against oppression such as racism based on our names, appearances and different cultures, as a step towards collectively overcoming such barriers.

There is, of course, also a historical element to the use of the term ‘Black’. It is part of our histories in the UK, from the British Black Panthers, Southall Black Sisters and the Indian Workers Alliance, all of whom defined as Black to align themselves with an international empowerment movement of anti-racism. Defining as ‘Black’ can help us to recognise that those struggles fought by our ancestors are not over, and that unity is as necessary now as ever.

Finally, I feel that by using the term ‘Black’ allows us to self-identify. This relates to one of the major fights ‘Black’ communities have worked on over decades; the ability and space to self-organise and lead on our own struggles, which is why it’s especially important to recognise that this is what a large proportion of people want to be referred to as and it is important to respect our decisions to selfdefine as ‘Black’. Using the term ‘Black’ helps to improve equality and challenge racism and

“Using the term ‘Black’ allows us to self-identify” discrimination. Surely it is time that we caught up with the modern world.

It is clear that no real consensus has been reached. These past few weeks I have met with the various Presidents of societies which I represent. Some say they like the term ‘Black’, some say they dislike the term ‘Black’. Most had no idea what the political meaning of the word was. I therefore suggest the term ‘Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Officer’ which is something that a portion of UK universities such as Oxford and Cambridge use today, as I feel that it is a compromise between the two sides of this debate.

I

do not self-define as a black person; I selfdefine as an Indian person. A lot of other ‘Black’ students don’t self-define as black because they don’t realise that it’s a term that they can use. Here we encounter our first problem with the name change; people won’t fully understand what it means. There would have to be a huge campaign across campus to let everyone know that black is a more inclusive term than they have come to believe it to be, and just when you think you’ve spent all that time and money on the campaign and that everyone is now in the loop, a rather large quantity of those now-informed students will graduate being replaced by a new intake of unaware freshers who need to be taught what’s what. There’ll be another campaign to explain to them that we’re not exclusive, we’re just political, and then there’ll be another one when we take in some more freshers and we’ll fall into this unnecessary cycle of campaigns that can be avoided by doing nothing.

To put a range of marginalised groups under the same umbrella by referring to them as ‘Black’ is to break down issues surrounding race, literally, into black and white. Society has finally progressed to a stage in which it is acknowledged that most things are not inclusive if you treat them as a binary, but rather as a spectrum. Sexuality and gender are things that we now understand operate on a sliding scale, so why is it so difficult to do the same for race? The oppression that individual minority groups face is as diverse as the groups themselves and needs to be addressed differently. Although all students need to be treated equally, they cannot be treated as the same group huddled from the showers of oppression under the same umbrella term.

Although designed as an encompassing term, the term ‘Black’ will exclude Caucasians who are ethnic minorities, such as the Polish population at UEA. It would be unlikely that these people who fall under the care of the

Ethnic Minorities Officer would want to identify with the term ‘Black’. Perhaps instead, we need to redefine the role of the Ethnic Minorities Officer to have a more specific description as to who they are representing.

Maybe then it will be appropriate to change the name, but then again, it may not.

T

he hostility to adopting ‘Black’ to describe oneself is not limited to Caucasian ethnic minorities. The term itself has a lot of history behind it, history that is not shared amongst the ethnic minority population. A lot of people, me included, would not feel comfortable using a term that has historically been used to describe someone else’s past. Although the definition proposed is secondary to how the original definition of ‘Black’ has been used before, people are likely to still associate the term with the history of

“Perhaps... we need to redefine the role of the Ethnic Minorities Officer” people of African-Caribbean descent.

It can be argued that ‘Black’ people do not make up a minority of the world’s population, and it is therefore inaccurate to use ‘ethnic minority’ as a way of describing them. However, the role is not for someone to represent the world, it’s to represent the ethnic minority population at UEA which is a minority. I appreciate that the idea of changing the name of the role came from finding out at the NUS conference that very few universities also use ‘Ethnic Minority Officer’ to describe that particular role.

However, it has been noted in the past that the NUS is not perfect and I think we should stay true to our university motto and ‘Do Different’ by not adhering to the norm.

Mike Vinti looks at the benefits of legalising cannabis and argues that political leaders are in denial.

R

ecently, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagard, came out in hives of praise for David Cameron and George Osborne after 2014 saw the British economy grow by 2.6%. This unexpected growth coupled with decreasing unemployment, Lagard claimed, m e a n t that the UK should be held up as a model for Europe, a bastion of austerity politics; just in time to shut up those p e s k y Greeks.

H o w e v e r, as many have already pointed out, these figures have been a little massaged.

Unemployment Photo: Wikimedia, has gone Department for International d o w n Development

sure, but the number of zero-hour contracts has gone up; the economy is growing yes, but so is the national debt. And for all their smug campaigning in the build up to May’s election the Conservatives are still advocating budget cuts and deficit reduction left, right and centre.

Looking into the stats it becomes clear that Lagard and Cameron may not have that much to be smug about. There are still nearly a million people reliant on food banks, social housing is still in crisis and the papers are packed with headline after headline about the crumbling state of the NHS. The human cost of this economic growth hardly seems worth it so how about an alternative that puts people first?

I’m talking, of course, about the legalisation of cannabis. Efforts to push legislation in the UK have stalled somewhat in the past few years, and the government steadfast refuses to alter its drugs policy in any way, despite mounting evidence that prohibition does more harm than good. Yet with the wave of legislation sweeping across America and continued budget cuts on this side of the Atlantic, isn’t it time we recognized the economic and societal benefits of legal

weed?

From crime reduction to issues of criminal justice reform there are many solid arguments in favour of legalisation. But as the coalition are so wedded to their idea of a business driven recovery I’ll focus on the economic basis for legal marijuana both medical and recreational.

Take for example Colorado, the first state in the US to legalise cannabis for recreational use. It’s been around a year now since

“Overt discrimination and stereotypes aren’t reinforced by overt hatred” legalisation and the state has reported $44m extra in taxes, $76m if you include medical sales. The industry itself made $700m, in one state. For its first year in the market that’s pretty incredible. The population of Colorado is roughly five million people, the population of the UK is more than ten times that at 64 million, it doesn’t take an economics students to work out that the market for cannabis in the UK could be incredibly lucrative.

Rounding down, if tax rates were the same as in Colorado, the UK would stand to make $400m or £260m in taxes during the first year of legal, recreational cannabis being on the market. That’s money that could be spent on schools, hospitals, roads, or any other area of government spending that faces budget cuts.

Not the mention the millions of pounds more flowing into the economy.

Critics argue that legalisation promotes drug use and that the government shouldn’t make money from taxing a perceived vice, yet Cameron is perfectly happy to include drug deals and prostitution in our GDP figures so there’s clearly something of a double standard. Why is it OK for the government to use drug money to boost their growth figures but not to help people?

Drug related crime in Colorado has decreased, money for schools and hospitals has increased and fear mongering about bleary eyed smokers ruining society has been shown up as the crock of shit it always was. If Cameron is as committed to ‘small business’ and entrepreneurship as he claims to be then surely it only makes sense to heed the advice of Peter Tosh from way back in ’76 and ‘legalise it’.

Comment In 2016 the UN General Assembly will hold a special session focusing on the global issue of drugs. To prepare for this, and to review UK drug policy, there will be a parliamentary conference next month. Could we be facing a change in official attitudes towards drug prohibition?

It seems inarguable that prohibitionist drug policy is failing to provide safety and stability for those the “war on drugs” purportedly protects. Drug trafficking is a violent industry steered by organised criminals reaping approximately $320m (ten times that of human trafficking), according to think-tank Transform. In Mexico alone, this trade has caused over 100,000 deaths between 2006 and the present; 93% of those infected with HIV in Russia contracted the disease through drug injection.

Closer to home, between 2013-14 nearly 200,000 people accessed drug dependency treatment in England (excluding prison treatment), and drug misuse deaths reported in 2013 reached almost 2,000 cases. At UEA, last year’s Concrete Drugs and Alcohol Survey found that over 60% of students had tried illegal drugs, and 90% had friends who regularly use. People, particularly young people and especially students, tend to take legal and illegal drugs. Humanity has always shown an interest in hedonistic escapism, and drug policy liberalisation would require rational acceptance of this fact, rather than identifying drug users as malicious criminals or deranged potheads.

The pull to experiment is so strong that medical and legal repercussions are not deterrents. This being the case, surely all parties would benefit from the government and healthcare services ensuring safe production and sourcing, substance quality control and guidelines for correct usage (such as the Global Drugs Survey’s Highway

9

Photo: Basil D Souif, Wikimedia.org Code). This must be a more viable option than forcing lifestyle choices and allowing preventable deaths to occur. Young people and students, for example, if provided with such a framework, might be able to experiment relatively safely and in the knowledge that their future prospects are unlikely to be wrecked by a criminal record.

Of course, liberalisation is not an immediate or straightforward solution. Use of drugs – legal and illegal – always carries risks, regardless of how “safely” one uses them. Transform state the reasoning behind regulation as includes the notion that drugs are ‘potentially dangerous’ but are only made

more dangerous when sold by ‘gangsters and unregulated dealers.’ Their website includes a list of five proposed models for regulation, including careful medical provision for registered dependents (presumably with the aim of eventual and safely acquired independence).

Liberalisation also has the potential to benefit society as a whole, not just drug users.

Economically, for example, liberalisation of drug laws could provide significant benefits – not only in the reduction of public spending on emergency healthcare, prisons and drug law enforcement, but also in the provision of a significant source of income. The

Ellen Musgrove looks at the role which the state and the international community play in modernising society’s approach to drug legislation.

Netherlands’ famous (or infamous, depending on your stance) ‘coffee shops’, for instance, on a yearly basis produce $400m in tax revenues.

However it must be stated that setting up a legal market could also, in our neoliberal society, leave consumers at the mercy of ruthlessly competitive companies. One answer to this is that drug consumers are already at the mercy of unscrupulous criminals – surely they ought to at least procure a safer product, in exchange for expense and risk.

Whether one supports legalisation, responsible regulation, or straightforward prohibition, something evidently must change about international drug policy. My own instinct is that prohibition is ineffective on many levels apart from, for example, providing politicians with a lucrative ideological platform, and examples of their own efforts against ‘immorality.’ There are more arguments on all facets of the debate than can be encompassed here – I have only touched the tip of the iceberg. As ever I advise readers to examine the wealth of resources online (whilst reminding them to be good university students and always call the angle of the source into question).

I do not naively believe that liberalisation will immediately solve the issues caused by substance abuse. Neither do I support the enforcement of irrational, puritanical restrictions. I have witnessed the positivity of sensible drug use, just as I have witnessed the negative after-effects of uninformed drug use on extremely intelligent and dedicated people, which I believe had they known better might not have occurred. I think that a carefully constructed system of drug regulation, not prohibition, combined with a focus on treatment over punishment for those dangerously entangled in the world of drug use, must surely be a more beneficial option for all involved.

TRANSFORMING

= community driven, bias free content

Saturday 18th April Thomas Paine Lecture Theatre 11am - 6pm

opportunities

union news to receive this as an email direct into your inbox every week, or to read the digital version of this, register at www.ueastudent.com

LIVE! HIGHLIGHTS > MONDAY Go Global @LCR Talent Show @Blue Bar > TUESDAY Damn Good presents Where’s Wally? @LCR > WEDNESDAY Grant Nicholas @WF > THURSDAY Chantel McGregor @WFS > FRIDAY Propaganda @WF > SATURDAY 101% Pantera @WFS Norwich Blues Festival @WF Meltdown @WF A-List @LCR

IT GETS BETTER

As part of LGBT History Month, we’ve worked with UEA:TV to produce our own It Gets Better Video. Students at UEA have shared their messages about their experiences of coming out. The It Gets Better Project’s mission is to communicate to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth around the world that it gets better, and to create and inspire the changes needed to make it better for them.

UNION HOUSE SUMMER REFURBISHMENT AND CLOSURES

The second phase of improvements will begin in March ready for September, including; A brand new Student Gateway to campus, incorporating a student reception; an advice, housing and information office; and grab and go retail, a new suite of Bookable student activity rooms incorporating the latest IT, facilities for performance and kitchen facilities, as well as new storage facilities for student groups, a new dedicated Graduate Centre, a new Student Media Centre with generous IT funding support from the UEA Alumni fund.

FREE FILMS Tuesday Films of Culture and Liberation: LGBT HISTORY MONTH SPECIAL: PRIDE starting 7pm, LT3 Sunday Box Set Marathon: DISNEY CLASSICS LT2, Starting at 12 noon

This week is the last week for you to nominate your staff members in the new Transforming Teaching Awards. These awards celebrate the best teaching and support staff and we want to see staff from every school nominated. You have until Friday at 5pm to nominate, and nominating is really quick and easy. Just head to ueastudent.com/ transformingteaching to find out the categories, which schools have the most nominees, and to nominate your staff!

There will be some closures and disruption beginning March 20th. Full details can be found at ueastudent.com/newsletter

1

union awards 2015

Thursday 4th June 6pm - The LCR

ueastudent.com/ unionawards for more info

February is LGBT History Month

FEATURES

Susannah Smith asks whether it’s the privilege of the rich to ruin their bodies Page 12

Photo: Flickr; Andrew Bro

Olivia Minnock discusses drunk and disorderly behaviour and asks whether it’s ever really acceptable to use “I was drunk” as an excuse.

Photo: Wikimedia; Magnus Manshake

very once in a while I go for a cup of coffee with a friend of mine and in all our infinite wisdom we put the world to rights. The other week we got onto the topic of alcohol, which would appear to be everywhere at university, as is to be expected. My friend and I have differing but fairly similar attitudes.

I probably drink quite a bit more than he does. He would never say he’s been “properly” drunk—I certainly have on occasion! I get the feeling I enjoy drinking and the general culture it embraces a bit more. But we both agree that there are lots of situations in which alcohol is involved where we’d rather it wasn’t quite so much at the forefront. We talked about how dangerous it can feel in a nightclub around aggressive or boisterous drunk people, or how often those who don’t want to get

E

drunk can feel pressured or isolated by those who do. Particularly at a time when UEA is taking part in the wonderful “It’s Never OK” campaign to combat sexual harassment, it seems more important than ever to take on board that behaviour when drunk—though not necessarily sexual—can often be the opposite of OK. We concluded that the excuse “I was drunk at the time” is never really an excuse at all. But what’s the difference between a reason and an excuse?

It’s a well-known fact that varying amounts of alcohol can change the way we all behave. Some people become more relaxed, some can get aggressive, some can find things funny that they wouldn’t appreciate sober, and many of us feel a lot more confident and experience a lowering of inhibitions.

And of course, a lot of the time, that’s great. Many of my more reserved friends— and I would class myself among them—have commented that they’re glad they got a bit drunk during Freshers as it made the whole experience marginally less daunting and it was a lot easier to approach and chat to new—equally tipsy—people than it would have been sober.

It can therefore be argued that often a change in behaviour due to drinking can lead to fun times and fond memories.

But what happens when we make a mistake whilst drunk? Where does the responsibility lie and what are the repercussions?

Sometimes, let’s all be honest, it can be hilarious. When one flatmate smears Nutella and hummus over another flatmate’s face as they sleep (in an incident now fondly referred

to as hummus-gate)… well, it’s not the most considerate thing to do, but there’s no real harm done and it’s a good story.

But I’ve always wondered how much of one’s personality really changes when they’ve had too much to drink. Myself, I tend to become more relaxed and giddy. But when people become aggressive it’s always made me feel that you have to have a streak of something in your personality already for it to come out. I would never start a fight sober, nor would I do so drunk. Not only do I completely lack the physical strength for it to be anything but a stupid idea, but I also just don’t have it in me. It’s not in my nature. Is it in yours?

Time after time I notice people being exceptionally rude or aggressive, or just plain inconsiderate to the feelings of others, and I wonder what they would think of themselves if they were sober. Not to sound too old and boring, but I really am sick of the excuse “I was drunk”. Unless somebody forced or pressured you into drinking, then your being drunk—and yes, your behaviour when drunk—is still your responsibility. You are still you, even after several drinks. And the people you meet are still people who deserve respect. In the morning, you will sober up and recover from your hangover, but those you were rude, aggressive or worse to while drunk will still remember last night even if you don’t. The events of the night before don’t fade with your hangover.

It’s true that we often have less control of our actions when we drink, and sometimes that’s OK. But I have to wonder: if you are consistently causing trouble or hurting those around you… is it even worth getting drunk at all?

12

Feat

Is it the privilege of the rich to abuse their bodies?

Photo: Flickr; unn_321

Susannah Smith looks into David Cameron’s plans to take away sickness benefits from people suffering with drug, alcohol and obesity related illnesses and provides her opinion on the matter.

Most agree that it is common sense not to systematically wreck our body, our vehicle for experiencing the world.

Yet when it comes to drink, drugs and diet we are often far from logical. However surely people have free will and are autonomous enough to make their own lifestyle choices no matter the risk.

David Cameron recently stated that he was looking into taking away sickness benefits from people suffering from drug, alcohol and obesity related illnesses. Government is present in all aspects of our lives, with laws keeping us safe from others as well as ourselves. Therefore it must follow that this is just another step towards protecting citizens. There are already numerous laws, taxes and fines around drugs and alcohol. But there is more to this than protecting people; the cuts will affect the most vulnerable in society. The government is effectively saying that the poorest people do not have equal rights over their lifestyle as everyone else. It is a common double standard of our society. We judge the homeless

alcoholic but the rich cocaine addict carries a sense of glamour. The argument is often cyclical: they don’t deserve to spend money on addiction because they have little money to spend, but then again they have little money because they spend it on addiction.

To justify this proposal Cameron argues that “Some [people] have drug or alcohol problems, but refuse treatment (…) instead a life on benefits rather than work becomes the choice.” He claims that these measures will give people the incentive to actively seek work. Yet what of those who struggle day by day with addiction? What about those who are physically unable to work because of these illnesses? The assumption that people are too lazy to work is naive and one which has landed the PM in deep criticism.

So where has this potential policy come from? Aside from an ideological and ingrained misunderstanding of the working class, this is just another pre-election spectacle.

Former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell said it was a

“stupid little stunt” and that “it is embarrassing that we have a PM who does this sort of stuff”, comparing Cameron to Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Cameron tried to justify his ideas by arguing that “it is not fair to ask hardworking taxpayers” to fund these benefits, however asking those with plenty of money to help those most vulnerable in society does not seem unreasonable.

In fact this is one of the key purposes of tax: to redistribute wealth to those most in need.

The government’s time would be much better spent on programmes to help combat these issues, instead of demonising them. We should try to understand the deeper social issues that bring people to a dependence on benefits.

Cutting off and limiting the working class, cutting the benefits designed to help them advance, then discrediting them as lazy will only perpetuate the current social discord. As Alastair Campbell stated: addiction is “an illness, not a lifestyle choice” and should be treated thus.

No drinking allowed: alternative ways to spend an evening

1 2 3 4

Pay Norwich food cycle a visit for a delicious FREE three course meal- 19:00 most Fridays (check the Facebook group weekly for any changes) at Quaker House on Upper Goat Lane, all are welcome to a vegetarian extravaganza! The team are dedicated to tackling food waste which means we get fed for free hurray!

Every Tuesday there’s a free film screening in lecture theatre two at 18:00, grab a bag of popcorn and you’ve got the full cinema experience. Heads up if you’re into musicals the Rocky Horror Show screening involved a lot of audience participation.

Life drawing (or life modelling for the braver amongst us) with the art society every second Friday 17:30-19:30. Perfect if you want a relaxing start to the weekend (or you would think- the fetish society have made two guest appearances this year, most definitely spicing up the sketches). It’s just £3 to join the Art Soc online.

Rather than drugs or alcohol satisfy that sugar addiction that lies within! The best way to do this would be to invest in a jar of Biscoff and dedicate the weekend to eating it. However the stuff has been dubbed ‘sugar cocaine’ by the media, so indulge with caution.

Photo: Flickr; SodanieChea

tures

13

Oh so quotable

by Susannah Smith

“To alcohol! The cause of... and solution to... all of life's problems” Homer Simpson “Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut” Ernest Hemingway “If you drink don’t drive. Don’t even putt” Dean Martin Death: "THERE ARE BETTER THINGS IN THE WORLD THAN ALCOHOL, ALBERT." Albert: "Oh, yes, sir. But alcohol sort of compensates for not getting them.”

Terry Pratchett “Cocaine is God's way of telling you you’re making too much money.”

Robin Williams “There’s this big fancy party, this Guy Oseary and Madonna party – if you get invited, you’re like, you know, super important. And I puked on his porch. I was in such bad condition, and I look behind me while I’m puking and Miley Cyrus is there like: ‘Get it together.’”

Jennifer Lawrence “Even as a junkie I stayed true [to vegetarianism] – ‘I shall have heroin, but I shan’t have a hamburger.’ What a sexy little paradox.”

Russell Brand “The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.”

Humphrey Bogart “Yes, cannabis is dangerous, but no more than other perfectly legal drugs. It's time for a rethink, and the Tory party - the funkiest, most jiving party on Earth - is where it's happening.” Boris Johnson “I like to have a martini, Two at the very most.

After three I'm under the table, after four I'm under my host.”

Dorothy Parker

Photo: Flickr, mlburch

Spend the night drinking...?

Have you seen my DVD collection?

Features writer Alice Mortimer has more on her mind than just drinking.

There seems to be a perception amongst the rest of the population that all students do is party and drink away their student loans. I’m not going to pretend that students as a whole don’t get drunk more than average, or act like weekday drinking doesn’t exist (we have a Tuesday night at the LCR and deals on Jäger). But I would like to argue that there are a number of things we spend more time doing than “getting para”. Here are some of our good, bad habits:

Eating a balanced diet And by balanced, I mean balanced between equal amounts of pizza, pasta and Chinese food. Recently I heard that a glass of wine has the same amount of calories as a donut. I don’t know about you, but for me the donut wins, every time. Also, yes we can drink relatively cheaply at the LCR, but are you forgetting about the £1.20 curly fries in Blend?

On your way to the library from Arts? It would be rude not to.

Enjoying the occasional movie or TV episode If by occasional you mean at least every day, then sure. I am pretty sure the average student spends significantly more nights binge -watching Netflix in bed with a family-sized bag of crisps than nights drinking. I myself actually don’t actually have a Netflix account, but my housemates and I have accumulated so many DVDs that our shelf is now overflowing, and the temptation to watch trashy films about big parties tend to be a lazier and less-expensive way to get involved some nights.

Doing work for your degree It’s why we are university after all, and we are going to graduate with something at the end of all this. So, we do spend a lot of time doing work (although I am counting thinking and stressing about uni work in part of this time). Or, in my case, spending more time writing copious amounts of lists in order to organise work rather than actually

doing the work. Then most of the time having to re-write them after I am persuaded to skip a night out of my schedule to enjoy the many wonders of the LCR. Damn it.

Planning for the future Not really talking about strategic plan-making and active productivity here, more just about laying in bed for hours on end pondering life and what the hell you’re going to do with it (probably whilst wrapped in a blanket and listening to the optimistic indie-pop you had on your iPod Nano when you were 13 to make you feel young again and exempt from any serious decision-making. Except from what colour iPod upgrade to get, obviously).

Enjoying some afternoons off in the city I’m talking shopping. This is particularly something we like to do the day after our next student loan instalment comes through. After all, it’s not like it’s got to last us the whole term or anything. If anything has stopped me from spending money on drink and nights out, it’s been the fact I’ve spent said money on clothes, trips away and posh food (the word ‘posh’ used lightly here, I am only talking a move from Tesco baked beans to Heinz).

Now don’t try and tell me I am drinking away my student loan. I am eating and wearing it too.

14

Science&Environment

50 shades of snow: the science behind peculiar multicoloured ice formations Braundt Lau Science&Environment writer

What image appears in your head when you think about snow? Perhaps the stereotypical pristine-white, barren landscape of the poles? Then have you ever asked yourself, if water is transparent, why is snow white?

The mechanism that enables us to see colour is due to reflection. For example, when light hits a banana, the skin absorbs all of the wavelengths except yellow. Therefore, it reflects the yellow light, determining the colour that we see.

Snow is an amalgamation of tiny ice crystals consisting of multiple sides. When light shines on the surfaces, some of them are absorbed, while the rest bounce off. Ice crystals reflect most visible wavelengths that strike it, the sum of the reflected light hues (red, violet, etc.) leading to the white colour caught by our eyes. However, this is just the basics as snow can actually be surprisingly colourful.

The National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) said: “If you poke a hole in the snow and look down, you may see a bluish colour”.

Due to higher density of snowflakes being compacted in deep layers of snow, less air is present. As light waves travel into the thick layers, there is less opportunity for light to be reflected. More blue light is scattered, thus more is caught by the eye than red light, which gives off the bluish tint. Nonetheless, the colour of ice is not solely dependent on this. The little organisms which reside in the snow, dormant in winter, spring up to life in summer and give the icy cold poles a hint of lively red.

Pink snow, also known as the ‘watermelonsnow’ occurs due to the presence of Chlamydomonas nivalis, a type of algae. This algae, which is commonly present in summer at the alpine Polar Regions, contains a bright red pigment. The red pigment absorbs heat, melting the snow around the algae to provide it with water. The patches and streaks of red snow may extend to ten inches and its colour so deep that early explorers took it to resemble port. Later, there were erroneous claims made that the extraordinary colour was caused by

Photo: wiki: NEON ja

Photo: Flickr: Philip Oyarzo Calisto

mineral deposits or the products of oxidation leached from rocks. However, do not eat the pink snow! Despite its delicious sounding name, this watermelon-slushy is a laxative which is bound to give you digestive distress.

Another contributor to the red snow in

Antarctica is rather surprising – penguins.

Mainly feeding off krill, as the Adélie penguins defecate, they drag their colourful faeces along the ice bed, causing streaks of red to appear.

By this time you might be fed up of the

Coca-Cola slushie we experience in Norwich, the muddy mixture of melted snow and soil is no pleasant scene. So next time you get muddy slush on your brand new boots, remember that snow in other parts of the world can be staggeringly beautiful and colourful too.

Transport workers unaware of wildlife smugglers methods Louise Fitzgerald Science&Environment writer Wildlife crime has long been a problem in international trade, but a summit in Bangkok this week revealed that front-line transport workers have very little knowledge of the methods criminals use to illegally ship wildlife products around the world. The summit was the first of its kind, bringing together transport operators and customs officials with experts in conservation and the illegal wildlife trade.

Despite international efforts such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to stop wildlife trafficking, the criminals involved have developed new tactics to go un-noticed in the trade of illegal goods such as ivory. The latest figures from the United Nations Environment Programme still value the industry at $23 billion annually.

It is estimated that around 35,000 elephants are killed for their tusks every year, mostly in

Africa. In addition to this, there are now only around 3,000 wild tigers across the globe, a fraction of the 60,000 tigers a century ago.

Meanwhile in South Africa, the government has seen poaching of rhinos reach an all-time high of 1,215 individuals in 2014, up from just 13 individuals in 2007. South Africa’s stance on wildlife trafficking is currently unknown as the government recently announced plans to examine the viability of a legal rhino horn trade.

Traffickers are utilising the lack of awareness of freight handlers to distinguish between animal products and artificial materials. One example is rhino horn, which can be ground down into powder which is then virtually identical to grey chalk by visual checks. Facts such as these came as a shock to many attendees, who did not realise the extent to which the criminals work and the extensive methods of disguise. On the black market rhino horn can sell for as much as £85 per gram, double the price of gold and exceeding the price of cocaine.

Experts suggest that providing

Photo: esa.int

information to the people working in the transport industry (especially handlers of air, ship and land cargoes) is the way forward.

Customs and security officers are already overwhelmed by security, drugs and human trafficking issues so do not have the time to

investigate wildlife crime. Furthermore, very few customs authorities have the knowledge about which species of wildlife are prohibited from international trade. It is hoped that the people handling the goods can become the eyes and ears to stop this illegal trade.

Science&Environment Engineered immune cells used to treat brain cancer Jacob Beebe Science&Environment editor It has been found that immune cells, known as T cells, can be engineered to attack a form of brain cancer that is quite often fatal.

The brain cancer type under investigation is glioblastoma, a cancer of astrocytes, one of the supportive cell types in the brain. Glioblastoma is a very common form of brain cancer and the tumours are notoriously aggressive, with many patients surviving less than 18 months following diagnosis.

30%

increased the efficacy of chemotherapy whilst leaving the normal cells unaffected.

The method of using engineered T cells to treat cancers is not a new one. It was previously shown in a number of trials that T cells were effective in treatment of some blood cancers. The technique for clinical trials would involve removing the patients normal T cells engineering them using a virus vector, and then reintroducing them into the patient where they proliferate. A new trial will involve 12 adults with these EGFRvIII glioblastomas, six of which are relapsed patients and six of which are newly diagnosed cancers and still have greater than one centimetre of tumour tissue left following surgery.

The study was carried out by a team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, the research was published in Science Translational Medicine.

1

What’s new in science?

A fossil found in a museum after 30 years and thought to be a plaster copy has turned out to be a new species of reptile.

Scientists have uncovered a molecule that could lead to treatments for inflammatory diseases by blocking an important promoter of it.

Scientists have discovered that an alien star passed through our Solar System just 70,000 years ago.

MRI scans of teenagers brains has shown a key aspect in the weight loss process.

A new unconventional HIV vaccine is showing great promise in preventing the virus infecting cells.

Scientists have developed 3-D engineered bone marrow that makes functioning platelets.

New findings suggest that animals in the ocean have been getting bigger since the Cambrian period and that evolution favours the larger sizes.

A group from the UK have found that limpets teeth are made of the strongest biological material ever tested.

Researchers have found that mutations that lead to autism in children are connected to a pathway that regulates brain development.

The percentage of glioblastoma patients that have the therapeutic target

The T cells are engineered to express a specific antigen receptor (CAR) that targets a mutation in a receptor, EGFRvIII, which is found in 30% of glioblastoma patient’s cells.

This mutated receptor is associated with a worse prognosis and they respond less effectively to standard treatments. Without delving too far into the molecular biology, the team found that the T cells could proliferate and secrete signalling molecules in response to these tumour cells. The cells controlled tumour growth, caused shrinkage and also

15

Photo: wiki: Tango 22

Scientists have found that penguins can only taste sour and salty food - they can’t taste the fish they eat.

A new species, the Ruby Seadragon, has been discovered.

Photo: wiki: Cillan XC

The origins of nerve-cell signalling has been traced back to a common ancestor of humans and sea anemones.

union awards Photo: wiki: Christaras A

2015

Thursday 4th June, 6pm - The LCR ueastudent.com/unionawards for more info, categories and how to nominate

16

Travel

Photo: Michael Koukoullis

The tunnel people that live beneath North America’s sin city

Mariah Feria Travel writer Las Vegas, the home of glitz and glamour.

The isolated city is a mecca for stag do’s, hen parties, and recently turned 21 Americans, rising out of the middle of the desert and presenting us with a new way in which to spend our money – gambling.

Therefore, it’s not surprising to learn that many of the cities inhabitants and even visitors, succumb to a viscious betting cycle, turning to drugs and resulting in poverty.

Homelessness then becomes an issue, something that is hard to imagine in such a rich and prosperous city. However, one of the many reasons people often don’t associate Las Vegas and homelessness, is because they have a very unique situation: the homeless are hidden, living below the ‘strip’ in extensive tunnels.

The Las Vegas flood tunnels are more commonly used as homes for around 1,000 people, living in extreme conditions. The city is known for its disastrous flash floods many of the inhabitants live in fear of being

‘evicted’, so have all their possessions easily accessible should they need to escape.

Disturbing graffiti covers the walls, which are only visible by flashlight. These people live their lives continuously in the dark, unaware of the dangers from other inhabitants or environmental factors. One dweller has constructed a ‘booby-trap’, comprising of a can attached to a piece of string that rattled whenever people tripped it.

He knows that the dangers of the tunnels are present and frightening.

Another man – responsible for the majority of the artwork covering the walls – took a more philosophical approach to his life beneath the ground. In his view, we are all ‘one step away from being homeless’ anyway, and the differences between himself and the people that walk the strip are not so stark.

This showed in the poetry that accompanied most of the images he drew; all very moving. He is treated like a celebrity amongst the tunnel community and quite visibly has the largest ‘residence’. It just shows how even a normal community atmosphere can arise in such conditions.

Most stories of how they came to be living in such conditions are common

“In his view, we are all one step from being homeless”

Photo: Vanessa Chettleburgh

ones. Drug abuse, mental illness and an unfortunate life have forced them to the tunnels. One tenant described how psychological issues have trapped him under ground, preventing him and his girlfriend from leaving whenever they tried.

The inhabitants know that their situation is rarely discussed above ground, and therefore help is lacking. Police are reluctant to enter the tunnels due to the environment – the darkness means they never know what they could encounter. Instead, these people are left to fend for themselves and construct their own way of living.

However, this is not to say the people don’t enjoy their life under the strip. Vegas is a city built on commercial values and exploitation – the simple lives of the ‘tunnel people’ are in a way an appealing and refreshing break from the bold glare of the city. That said, next time you take a visit to ‘sin city’, be conscious that there is a much darker reality beneath the luminous surface of the casino lights.

Travel

17

Pot-tourism: are there econimic benefits of being legally green?

Luke Brett Travel writer

In 2012, the US state of Colorado passed Amendment 64, allowing the possession, recreational use, and personal growth of cannabis for adults over the age of 21. This decision, as well as a similar decision made by the state of Washington, have suddenly flung the topic of legalisation and its effects to the forefront of discussion.

I lived in the United States in 2012, and was treated first-hand to the political firestorm that surrounded these two states’ unthinkable change in legislation. But, despite what many right-wing Americans believed, the legalisation of cannabis has not resulted in wide-spread panic and bands of red-eyed criminals breaking into shops and stealing food. Instead, it’s just sort-of made a lot of money.

In fact, it’s made so much money that Colorado, as a state, may have to give some back to the federal government because it made too much. According to the Associated Press, every Colorado adult stands to receive a tax refund of $7.63 due to a 1992 cap on how much taxpayer’s money the state is allowed to collect. But, with the extreme levels of success that recreational cannabis seems to be attaining, Colorado adults will probably turn around and drop that extra $7 on weed, anyway. Tourism in Colorado has leapt, with stoners from all corners of the country, and

even those across the water, flocking to visit one of the many recreational dispensaries that are popping up in Denver and other major cities. According to the Denver Post, 2014 was a ‘benchmark’ year for tourism in Colorado; and it’s impossible to deny the role of cannabis in this popularity.

Weed is a big deal in 2015. Now that Colorado, Oregon and Washington haven’t collapsed in on themselves, other US states are listening and taking note. In the last few weeks, New Mexico has proposed a bill that would effectively legalise cannabis, and even more states are trying to pass bills for medical marijuana. It seems as though, across the pacific, times are changing, and cash registers are dinging.

“It’s impossiable to deny the role of Cannabis in Colorado’s popularity” Here at home, however, there’s a European stoner’s paradise: Amsterdam. When it comes to Amsterdam, you’ve either been, or you’re planning on going. It’s a cultural hotspot, with beautiful architecture, serious historical significance, and some of the best museums that the world has to offer.

On top of that, however, weed is legal, which means that for every art-lover, architect, or bike enthusiast that visits Amsterdam, there

Bosnia flourishes after the war

Photo: Ville Mittinen

are at least two hungry pot-heads munching it is removed from the illegal atmosphere of on space cake. This presents a unique problem powder and pills. If we can manage that, then to the city- how should it promote itself?

I just hope we all get those $7 to spend in the Amsterdam’s drug policy is notoriously dispensary. lax, with the city seeming to come to accept the prevalence of illegal substances on its streets. But, this is not to say that these streets are totally safe; anyone who has been for a night out in Amsterdam is well-versed in the tendency of suspicious-looking residents to approach tourists and offer cocaine, ecstasy, or other high-profile drugs. These drugs, unsurprisingly, are rarely clean and often result in serious injury or death to the user- which, in turn, brings a bad reputation to the city as innocent people are killed by dirty drugs.

So, is this the fault of cannabis itself?

No. Cannabis culture?

Perhaps. As Amsterdam continues to attract drug-minded visitors, more and more tourists are falling victim to the promise of Class A’s in their wallets- visitors who, without legal weed, may not have visited at all.

It’s clear that the recreational legalisation of cannabis has many monetary benefits; it attracts tourists, generates tax revenue, and reinvigorates local economies with a new commodity. But, if we are to legalise it, it should be legal in every sense of the word, in that Photo: Christopher Paquette

Dahlia Abdullah Travel writer

Bosnia is one of those places that perhaps may not be on everyone’s list of places to travel, but once you have been there, you know you will be going back. In recent years, its Balkan neighbour Croatia has become a huge hit within the tourist market. Quaint untouched towns perched on the edge of the Adriatic were always bound to be a hit on the mainstream travel market, but this does not mean to say that Bosnia is of lesser worth than it’s Croatian neighbour. In fact, all it means is that Bosnia, for now at least, continues to sing out its own true character; authentic and real with no false imitations.

One of the epitomic countries that is lauded with the ‘East meets West’ title, Bosnia is intriguing because the suffusion of the seemingly contrasting elements from all the countries around it that are effortlessly blended in with it’s own vibrant culture.

Busy streets are packed with cafés that serve Austrian cakes alongside Arabian shisha and markets that sell Turkish beaded scarves right next to the traditional European dancing clogs. In the silence of the midday calm, the mosques send out a prayer call against a chorus of church bells from the Catholic shrine. Bosnia is diverse, and it is in that diversity that its very unique beauty is found.

Bosnia’s heart shape suggests the integral part it plays in being a Balkan country.

Steeped in history of wars of struggle and fights for independence, the nationals are fiercely patriotic. Rebuilding itself out of the dust that the Bosnian war left, the country is not only an incredible ode to diversity, but also a phenomenal fusion of old and new.

One of the greatest symbols of the countries on-going reform is the Stari Most bridge in Mostar, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The bridge is a reconstruction of the 16th Century Ottoman bridge that was destroyed in the war, and is one of the greatest examples of Islamic architecture in the Balkans. It is located at the heart of Mostar, a city located in

the Herzegovina region as its cultural capital.

The fresh topaz-blue waters of the Neretva river meander through the centre of the city, and are the focus of many of the city’s events.

In the summer, the most skilled divers of the city leap from the iconic bridge and plunge in to the cold waters as part of a competition that runs every single day in the hottest months. Markets crowd the city, selling all kinds of unique goods that look as though they’re bought from the ancient Silk Road.

The city relishes in relaxation, and lazing around in the various cafés that line the river is everyone’s idea of satisfaction.

Travelling in the Bosnian countryside, you snake up and down vast mountains of green countryside. Alongside the road there is almost always a river making the same course, the turquoise waters intoxicated in their rush. Sometimes you will find an old ruin of a building that will provoke images of the devastation that the war had on the country and that reminds you of how the country remains in a continuing state of renovation.

Perhaps one of the most tangible memories of war, however, is in the many graveyards that litter the hillsides in all the villages and the outskirts of towns – the traditional white gravestones reminiscent of the thousands of innocent people who were taken by war.

Sarajevo feels secretive. Perhaps the greatest thing about the city is its abundance of cafés. They line the cobbled streets, trails of sweet, smoky shisha curling around the mosque’s pillars and winding down around the gardens. The locals are extremely charming; waiters laugh and joke with you as though you have been a regular at their spot for years. The great mosques are beautiful examples of tradition Islamic architecture, featuring central courtyard fountains made out of mosaic tiles, pieced together in extraordinary geometrical shapes. Even in the rain, locals will sit outside on cushioned benches and watch the day go by with a mug of Turkish coffee in hand. This is the complete embodiment of Bosnian culture, a welcoming nation, rebuilding itself out of a rich history that, whilst devastating, paves way for a wonderfully diverse culture.

union news to receive this as an email direct into your inbox every week, or to read the digital version of this, register at www.ueastudent.com

WHAT HAPPENED AT UNION COUNCIL? Key Actions of Council’s Meeting 12 February • Approved Darts changing from a Club to a Society • Adopted resolutions to send to NUS National Conference on: working with the Competition and Marketing Authority to strengthen students’ rights, campaigning against the marketisation of higher education and against austerity, on providing better advice for student reps on how to tackle bad organisation and management in universities and to lobby for more funding and resources for universities’ student support services, • Approved a boycott of Starbucks and of Tate and Lyle products • Agreed policy against reduction of Taught Programme Modules • Approved a new set of Election Regulations • Extended the boycott on the Sun to the Daily Star • Agreed policy to oppose nuclear armaments • Agreed policy on the SU’s written submission to the Quality Assurance Agency’s review of UEA • Agreed policy to protect the student experience in merged Schools • Agreed a new Fair Trade policy for the SU and to lobby the University to adopt Fair Trade • A proposal to change the title of the Ethnic Minorities Officer to Black Students Officer was withdrawn to allow wider consultation

Sunday Box Set Marathon

DISNEY CLASSICS WHAT SHOULD UEA BE IN 2030?

LT2, Starting at 12 noon

Last week UEA asked what you thought it should be in 2030.

There were stalls all over campus last monday and some really great ideas came up. Follow up your comments and join the discussion at www.uea.ac.uk/uea2030

BEYOND YOUR DEGREE Volunteer on Derby day Are you looking for volunteering experience? The Union is looking for volunteers to help out on Derby day.

There’s a variety of different roles on offer, watch this space for more information on how to apply. Super keen? Contact j.raywood@uea.ac.uk for more info.

UEA Marrow Want to save a life without missing a seminar and even with a hangover?!!

Our mission is to raise awareness, fundraise and hold donor recruitment events at the UEA and in the local community. This is a great society to be part of: there’s never a dull moment, you can truly save a life and it looks fab on your CV! For more information please see our website or contact us for more details.

Want to sell products in the city?

Easter Extravaganza comes to Norwich!

Make a note in your diaries of a new event in Norwich on Good Friday and Easter Saturday that’s perfect for perking up the Easter holidays. The Easter Extravaganza will be a mix of stalls - clothes, jewellery, arts, crafts, toys, homeware, food, drink, plants and more - and will also feature all sorts of fun family activities. Find out more at ueastudent.com/newsletter

February is LGBT History Month

LIFESTYLE

For homemade brownies and cake, turn to Page 20

Maintaining those new, positive habits should be doing as their commitment. If you do miss a day or slip up a little, letting them know and getting them to check up on you will get you back on track.

Dahlia Al-Abdullah Lifestyle writer

1. Start small:

5. Remove choices:

Keep the habit super small. When you make it as small as possible, it becomes your new “normal” because you can begin integrating it into your life gradually. Just start walking to uni a little faster, getting off the bus a stop earlier, or waking up five minutes before your usual alarm. Making little changes will make it fit into your life more naturally, and much more easily.

Any distractions or temptations you usually go for instead of this habit should be removed from the picture. For example, if you need to get some writing done, set up an Internet blocker to go off during your writing time.

Remove any tempting food from the house if that’s distracting you from eating a healthier diet, and stop buying it in the weekly shop so that you don’t give yourself that option. Meet a friend at the park or gym to work out, so you won’t be tempted to bail.

2. Commit big: Once you decide on a habit, let’s say having a daily run, commit to it. When we start new habits, it’s easy to find yourself hit with procrastination and not being able to resist distractions. Just get started, that’s the essential skill you need to practice. You don’t need to run for 30 minutes every single day right now, first you just need to run. Then, adjust gradually with your ideal goal in mind.

6. Watch your negative thoughts: We make a lot of excuses for the things that take more work to do. Practice the act of battling the negative thoughts by exchanging them for positive ones. And see that they’re wrong. Add a “But” to the sentence: “I deserve a break, BUT I also deserve to take care of my body with this exercise.” Why not go on a Pinterest spree and stick up some motivational quotes around your bed so that the first thing you see waking up and going to sleep are positive affirmations of why you should continue with your habit?

3. Have a trigger: There are thousands of things we do daily — waking up, going to bed, showering, brushing teeth, eating breakfast, etc. Committing to doing your habit as soon as the trigger happens means that it will start finding a place for itself in your daily routine and makes it more likely that you will do it. For example, say to yourself that once you finish your

Photo: Flickr, IvanClow breakfast, then you will be going out for a jog.

4. Set up accountability: Once you’ve committed to a new habit, ask a family member or friend to check in on you

regularly (parents love this one!) Let them know of your commitment and ask for their help to keep you on track. Perhaps you could make a pact to begin a new habit, so that you are both aware of what the other person

S

o we have all seen The Hangover, laughing at the guys’ cluelessness as to their antics the night before, but how funny is it when this confusion becomes your reality? Last week I found myself waking up in my friend’s bed with a brutally sore chest, sandpaper mouth and the one kind of bracelet I don’t want to be surprised with – a hospital identification band. Knowing nothing of why I had this pain, the bracelet, or frankly why I was in this bed, I looked to the hospital for answers and leads, just like in the film. Calling up A&E was however a dead end, for all the right reasons of protecting patient confidentiality.

Ideally, I would have gone to the hospital in

“the chest pain was a result of needing CPR, performed by a kind stranger in the street”

Photo: Flickr, Chrisphoto

Photo: Flickr, Jessica Rossi person, but this was no hangover. My head was physically fine but the fever and utter daze of confusion I was in, alongside the fact that a mere cough was agony, meant I’d have to play detective from my bed. My memory abruptly ended after a certain drink of the night and I knew I had been to hospital… I concluded that I had been spiked. That was scary enough to realise, but more was to come.

As I lay in bed racking my brain to find some memory within the darkness, I received a Facebook message from a classmate saying they had found me and got me into an ambulance. OK, great, I now knew who to thank, but there were still so many unanswered questions. Why was it them that found me, not anyone from the social I was on?

What happened that required the ambulance?

When did this happen? Did he have any ideas about my chest pain? And frankly, I wondered why I only had one shoe!

Getting spiked Linnea Hawkings talks about her experience of being spiked and how spiking is becoming an increasing issue for students

If you dedicate yourself to this system, doing one habit at a time but really putting every ounce of your focus and energy into it, you’ll be much more likely to stick to it.

Without going through my every thought and interaction that day, I can tell you the chest pain was a result of needing CPR. This was performed by a kind stranger in the street, who I later found out had been out for their birthday; at least I know they’ll remember it! Spiking is becoming more common and also more varied in terms of what drinks are spiked with. It is suspected that I suffered from serotonin syndrome, likely caused by whatever was in my drink reacting with my SSRI antidepressants. Thankfully I was found in time to receive help, but what if I hadn’t been? Even those who spike drinks surely aren’t out to make a girl stop breathing and lose her pulse? Obviously this has made me cautious of how I drink when I am out, but my experience raises other concerns.

Depression and drug use are two things that are common among students and yet not openly spoken about. Of course I had no intention of mixing my medication with drugs, but some may do and not realise the significantly higher risk of complications that come from taking drugs such as MDMA alongside antidepressants.

Sure it would be ideal if no one felt the need to do drugs, but that is not reality.

Reality is that many do and university is a time where many feel the urge or pressure to experiment with them. In the same way that underage teens can still access contraception without underage sex being advocated, students should have information about these risks highlighted to them when they are prescribed such drugs. This is not presuming that every depressed student does drugs, but empowering them with knowledge to look out for themselves, before getting swept up in a momentary decision which could prove fatal.

Thank you so much to those who helped me, some situations can’t be helped, but education and kindness like theirs is a great place to start.

20

Lifestyle

Alcohol-free student halls: the pros and cons Rebecca Bemment Lifestyle editor

Photo: Flickr, Geoff Greer

Modafinil: the ‘smart’ drug Esther Veas Perez De Tudela Rodriguez

Lifestyle writer Today’s world revolves around productivity.

We are required to do more and more in less time. This rings especially true at university, where the sheer volume of lectures, seminars, labs, readings, assignments or exams requires us to sacrifice an hour or two of sleep more often than not, which results in a vicious cycle of being too tired to do anything, yet needing to stay up late to meet those dreaded deadlines.

It appears, however, that something more powerful than coffee and Red Bull is there to help us stay awake. Modafinil, also known by its brand names Provigil or Alertec, is a prescription-only psychostimulant drug that is typically used to enhance alertness, licensed for the treatment of patients with sleep-related disorders such as narcolepsy or sleep apnea.

However, as well as increasing wakefulness, this pill is an aid to concentration and productivity, and is not likely to cause jitteriness or anxiety like other stimulants such as caffeine. Users report feeling energetic and focused, with an “overwhelming desire to finish the task at hand”. Taking this and its widespread online availability into account, it is not surprising that Modafinil has quickly become popular among students.

A 2014-study by academics at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus found out that Modafinil may not be as effective as it seems. 32 people were given Modafinil and another 32 were given a

placebo. The participants were then required to perform a language test consisting of completing sentences as quickly and accurately as possible. Unexpectedly, those who had taken Modafinil had slower reaction times, failing to complete the task in time. It has also been shown to interfere with hormonal contraceptives such as the pill, so women on birth control who take Modafinil should always use an effective physical contraceptive

“side effects include irritability, headaches, nausea” method to avoid unwanted pregnancies. More side effects include irritability, a faster heart rate, headaches, nausea, incontinence and psychiatric disorders. In case of skin reaction, it is imperative to see a doctor as soon as possible.

Students should be very careful when ordering this drug or similar products online.

This is a very unsafe way of acquiring any kind of medication as it is impossible to know what the product contains or how suitable it is to each person’s body. Prescription-only medications like Modafinil should only be taken if recommended by a doctor.

But why do students feel the need to take performance-enhancing drugs? It may be a problem of self-discipline for some, but it is no secret that there is enormous pressure to perform well. If Modafinil is as widely used as the findings suggest, perhaps the habits are not the problem— it might well be the system.

BAKING BAD: Sweet potato brownies Dahlia Al-Abdullah Lifestyle writer • 2 medium to large sweet potatoes • 2/3 of a cup of ground almonds • 1/2 a cup of buckwheat flour (brown rice flour will also work) • 14 medjool dates • 4 tablespoons of raw cacao • 3 tablespoons of pure maple syrup • a pinch of salt • 1 tin of condensed milk • 110g butter • 225g dark chocolate • 450g selection of biscuits

combination of dates and sweet potato.

The mixture should be very smooth, without any lumps.

4. Line a deep, medium-sized baking tray with some non-stick baking paper, and pour your mixture in. Bake on the same heat for twenty minutes, until you test the brownies with a fork and it comes out dry.

Take the tray out of the oven and let the brownies cool for 15 minutes. Remove the brownies from the tray, leaving it another few minutes before cutting them into squares – then dig in and enjoy!

Photo: Flickr, Tim Rich and Lesley Katon

BAKING BAD: BisKET cake Dahlia Al-Abdullah Lifestyle writer • 1 tin of condensed milk • 110g butter • 225g dark chocolate • 450g selection of biscuits (digestives, rich tea, even chocolate bars!)

5) Leave in the fridge for around 6 hours, until the mixture has become hard, then slice it up and serve.

6) For a Middle Eastern twist, try adding a tablespoon of rosewater to the chocolate mixture, and throw some pistachios in with the biscuits. It tastes delicious, and couldn’t be more simple!

1) Heat up the condensed milk in a saucepan, with the butter and chocolate.

It’s really important that you keep stirring the mixture otherwise it has a tendency to burn and no one wants that!

2) Break the biscuits by putting them in a clear sandwich bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Alternatively, smash the bag against the counter (great if you need to get some anger out!)

1. Start by pre-heating the oven to 180ºC. Peel the sweet potatoes of all the skin, making sure to slice off the darker spots.

Cut the potatoes into chunks and place into a steamer for about twenty minutes, until they become soft.

3) Fold the biscuits into the warm chocolate mixture, making sure that they are fully integrated and covered in the chocolate.

2. After that’s done, remove them and add them to a food processor with the pitted dates – this will form a puree-like consistency, and is so deliciously sweet that it could be mistaken for any regular cake mix!

3. Put all the remaining ingredients together in a bowl, before mixing in the

The idea of having alcohol free flats is unknown to most students moving into halls. But drink or no drink, your time at university is likely to involve alcohol one way or another, whether that’s you drinking or watching others do so.

A university in the UK has recently introduced the idea of having alcohol free halls for students who do not wish to partake in the so called drinking culture of students.

The assumption that all students will drink is of course wrong, and just because non-drinking students may be in the minority, could more be done to create a living space where students can be away from this? As well as this being a good idea for non-drinking students, it may also give other students a chance to think about the dangers of drinking, shaping a new attitude towards alcohol in general.

Third year philosophy and politics student, Ephraim Luwemba, argues that it is

not necessarily a bad thing to mix drinkers and non-drinkers. Looking back to first year as a non-drinker, he said: “I guess the biggest thing would have been if I had felt pressured, and I didn’t, so it wasn’t really much of an issue. Also, it depends how often people are drinking. If every social activity is accompanied by a lot of drink, then I imagine it would become alienating, but we played cards and cooked.”

Therefore, it doesn’t mean that nondrinking students won’t fit into a group of people who do drink. It’s not the defining feature of anyone, and if drinking is done responsibly, then there should be no issue in mixing students like nearly all universities do.

From the other perspective, mixing students is also positive for drinkers as it encourages them to have fun without feeling the need to drink. Not all social activities at university require drinking, and by being in a flat without being pressured by every person to turn to alcohol to have a good time can be a healthy balance.

Photo: Dahlia Al-Abdullah

4) Pour the finished mixture into any Pyrex or tray that you have lying around, just make sure that it’s not too big so that the mixture doesn’t become really thin and lose its cakiness.

Photo: Flickr, Caro Wallis

BOOK NOW: 01603 508 050 UEATICKETBOOKINGS.CO.UK

BOOK NOW: 01603 508 050 UEATICKETBOOKINGS.CO.UK

facebook.com/waterfrontnorwich twitter.com/waterfrontuea The Waterfront Presents

facebook.com/waterfrontnorwich twitter.com/waterfontuea THE WATERFRONT PRESENTS

PLUS SUPPORT

NEW ALBUM ‘ONES AND ZEROS’ RELEASED JUNE 8TH. Exclusive album bundles available for pre-order now at weareyoungguns.com

FRIDAY 6TH MARCH 6:30 DOORS £15ADV

SATURDAY 6TH JUNE £12.50ADV 6:30PM

The album ‘Chapter and Verse’ out now: funeralforafriend.com FREE ENTRY FOR TICKET HOLDERS TO MELTDOWN CLUB AFTER THE SHOW (18+) For full listings for The LCR, The Waterfront & Waterfront Studio, go to ueaticketbookings.co.uk

For full listings for The LCR, The Waterfront & Waterfront Studio, go to ueaticketbookings.co.uk

22

Sport

Kat Lucas Sport editor The idea of a drug-riddled Olympics tends to hark back to a Cold War era of suspicious, Bond villain-esque East Europeans bounding their way around the track.

Cue Tatyana Chernova, who presumably, has sensed that Russian athletes no longer warrant the attention of their 1980s predecessors, and has accordingly placed her nation back under the spotlight.

Chernova has recently returned to training and could even compete in this summer’s world championships in Beijing, in spite of the fact that she is a convicted doper with a two-year ban against her name.

The 27-year-old’s case has caught the eye of British athletics fans, who rightly begrudge the gold medal she illegally won in 2009 at the expense of Sheffield’s Jessica Ennis-Hill in Daegu.

The fall-out continues. Lord Coe insists now is not the time for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to delight in the shame that has embroiled Russian athletics. Valentin Balakhnichev, the President of the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) has resigned, while around 3000 competitors are being looked into – including those who took part at London 2012, which Coe played a major part in organising.

While it was German journalists who were first to report on the latest scandal, it is a problem that should be being tackled by all involved in global sport. The Panormalike investigation claimed that up to 99% of Russian athletes had used banned substances at some point, and made further allegations that Balakhnichev knew of a ‘systematic doping system’.

The question put forward by Ennis-Hill’s coach is one of whether the decision should be reversed to give Ennis-Hill Chernova’s medals. A more pertinent one might be what that would actually achieve.

“The athletes involved have been living under a a ade or e years Without doubt, Chernova’s actions – whether they were personally instigated, or at the behest of the Russian sporting authorities – have created a farce. The athletes involved have been living under a façade for five years. It is not too late to acknowledge that façade, but the moment has passed to properly do anything about it.

It is impossible to recreate the moment of the race, nor inject adrenaline into the veins of Jessica Ennis-Hill as she mounts the podium to receive the gold medal (note – the All-Russian Athletics Federation may disagree with the latter statement).

Just as Lance Armstrong famously refused to return his Tour de France yellow jerseys, which he admitted were obtained fraudulently, there is little to no point in rectifying the past. However embarrassing they may be for the sport, scandals are always remembered as scandals, even when they are addressed years later.

The focus for the IAAF must now be on preventative action for future races, as opposed to pursuing more futile attempts to turn back the clock on a doping detection system in need of serious work.

Photo: Flickr, Gareth Williams

Family friendly football in East Anglia Matt Trollope Sport writer Football fans in East Anglia are amongst the best behaved in the country, according to the latest figures released by the Home Office.

During their last season in the Premier league, no Norwich City fans received banning orders and just four arrests were made.

This number of arrests was the lowest in both the Premier league and the Championship. Considering that the average attendance at Carrow Road topped 26,000 last season, this is a remarkable achievement for the club.

To compare, Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion, whose average attendances were very close to City’s last term, had 47 and 31 arrests imposed upon fans respectively. The worst offenders in terms of banning orders were Newcastle United with 95, while 112 arrests were made against Manchester United fans.

Norwich City Supporters Trust Chairman

Robin Sainty, welcomed the figures, telling Concrete: “As a Supporter’s Trust we think it’s vital that a club has a family friendly atmosphere”.

“Children are the next generation of fans so need to be made welcome and encouraged to return”, he added.

The East Anglian derby between Norwich and Ipswich Town is always a feisty and tightly contested affair, and this season saw the fixture return for the first time in three years. Despite the bitter rivalry between the clubs, just two arrests were made on the day of the match at Portman Road. This marks a significant reduction from the 19 arrests and 13 ejections made from Ipswich’s home ground in April 2011 when the teams last met.

Police thanked fans after the derby game for the “good-natured spirit shown by both sets of supporters in the build-up to the game and then afterwards”. Policing operations commander Inspector for Suffolk, Matt Rose, continued to highlight that “firm, but fair”

measures were put in place to ensure fans enjoyed the game.

Ipswich themselves enjoy a good reputation in terms of fan behaviour, as just two fans were handed banning orders, with seven arrested for football-related crimes last season.

The return fixture is set to take place at Carrow Road on February 28th and fans are already clamouring for tickets, with the game expected to sell out very quickly.

Sainty, continued: “[The derby] will always evoke strong emotions which, sadly, appeal to idiots on both sides”. The Chairman of the Trust also called for more liaison between the Police and supporters’ groups, but admitted that “in recent years the policing at Carrow Road has been sensitively handled and resulted in very little trouble”.

Whatever the outcome of the game, it is hoped that fans of both sides continue to uphold their outstanding records regarding fan behaviour both home and away.

Can Balotelli restore his reputation at Liverpool?

Josh Gray Sport writer After last season saw Liverpool come agonisingly close to emulating their former glories by lifting the Premier League trophy for the first time, their sluggish start to this season will have come as something of a shock.

Nowhere will the sense of disappointment have been more harshly felt than in the contribution of former Manchester City bad boy Mario Balotelli after his summer move from AC Milan. His lacklustre form has made the loss of Luis Suarez that little bit harder to swallow. After only one match together, the 3-0 away win against Spurs, Balotelli’s nascent partnership with England wonderboy Daniel Sturridge was brought to a sudden halt by a string of injuries to the latter, with Liverpool struggling to create the goals they needed to compete for the Champions League places and tumbling out of the competition in the group stages in his absence.

Despite scoring in cup wins against Bulgarian side Ludogorets and Swansea, Balotelli has struggled to settle on Merseyside and his form has suffered. He contributed little after starting in the heart of the attack in the

3-1 loss to West Ham, and missed an open goal in the away win over Queens Park Rangers, the weight of expectation bearing heavily on his shoulders. His lethargic performances and fitness struggles have seen the £16m man relegated to the bench more often than not, with Raheem Sterling deployed out of position as an emergency striker. On occasion, Balotelli has not even made the bench, with much maligned duo Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini chosen instead during the busy festive period. ‘Why always me’, indeed.

Sturridge’s return from injury in January appears to have offered the Italian a lifeline.

His first goal in 13 league appearances couldn’t have come at a better time, as he prodded home the winner in a 3-2 home win over Spurs after coming off the bench late on.

But will it prove to be a one off?

Balotelli's natural talent is clear for all to see. After scoring 26 goals in 43 appearances in Milan, it seemed as if Balotelli had found the form much of the football community knew he had. Yet, replicating that form on Merseyside has proven difficult. Just a few weeks ago it seemed that it would be in the interests of both parties to cut their losses. All too often, Balotelli has cut a forlorn figure in the middle of the pitch, dropping deep to collect the ball, with nobody ahead of him to pass to. It is fair

to say that manager Brendan Rodgers has not got the best out of the mercurial 24-year-old, who has played more in hope of justifying his fee than in expectation, an expensive stopgap while waiting for Sturridge to return. With Sturridge scoring on his comeback against West Ham, it was clear for all to see what Liverpool had been missing; he remains the undisputed first choice.

However, with a jaded Philippe Coutinho hitting a dip in form, and Sturridge only just returning to match fitness, Balotelli has embraced the role of super-sub in recent weeks. Following his breakthrough league goal for the Reds, his fiercely-struck free kick saw Crystal Palace keeper Julian Speroni spill the ball into Adam Lallana’s path for the decisive goal. It was also Balotelli who confidently took the ball from Jordan Henderson to dispatch a penalty against Besiktas in the Europa League.

His positive contribution in recent weeks in support of Sturridge, rather than as the lone striker, suggests that there may be hope for Balotelli’s Liverpool career yet. Whether ‘Super Mario’ can make a similar impression to that of Luis Suarez it is far too early to say, but there is still a chance that at least he will not be resigned to the same fate as £35m flop Andy Carroll.

Sport

23

Concussion controversy in Six Nations

Robert Staniforth discusses the impact of Wales star George North’s head injuries against England

Photo: Flickr, Sum_of_Marc When I refer to a C-word in sport, many people assume I mean “cheat”, understandably given the prevalence of doping, fixing and tampering in many arenas of the sporting world. However, there is now a word even more taboo than cheat – “concussion”.

This year’s Six Nations has thrown the issue firmly into the spotlight, after George North hit the ground twice in Wales’ opening match against England, and not from being tackled. In the first instance he was taken off for a ten minute Head Injury Assessment, and, having passed that test, returned to the field.

The problem comes with the second.

TV replays showed North hitting the floor, clearly unconscious, after clashing heads with Richard Hibbard. Following that incident, North was not taken from the field, and continued to play for the remaining 19 minutes of the game. Welsh medics declared they had not seen the incident, and that North had not displayed any symptoms of concussion when they attended to him on the pitch. They later added that had they seen the incident, they would have immediately removed him. North was subsequently stood down for the next fixture.

In the modern game, where there are countless replays shown inside the stadium, as well as an official whose job it is to watch those replays and relay important information to the referee, it seems impossible that North’s knock would have gone unnoticed by someone with the power to have the player checked by the medics. The question must be raised whether a wider problem exists, that the consequences of concussions are not being taken seriously.

If that is true, then perhaps an incident like this was needed to draw attention to the issue.

In the following round of the competition, England’s Mike Brown caught Italian Andrea Masi’s shoulder, and was treated for about six minutes before being stretchered off with the utmost care and attention.

The days after the events surrounding North, saw World Rugby announce a new video review trial, which began in the weekend’s Celtic & Italian domestic competition, the Pro12. The trial doesn’t affect the role of the Television Match Official, but it aims to give them, and pitchside medical staff, further technology to draw on, in the hope a similar situation can be avoided.

It is nonetheless reassuring to see the amount of concern being expressed throughout the game for North’s wellbeing.

North’s value to any side makes it paramount that his health is prioritised, and Wales have already refused the demands of his club, Northampton Saints, who hoped he would be available for their top-two contest against Bath.

Fortunately, Premiership rules state that as the Saints should have release clauses for non-English players, Wales have first call.

Long-term, it is imperative for both sides that a player of such quality is treated with maximum care.

An increase in awareness about concussion is also coming to the forefront of sports on the other side of the Atlantic. The National Football League (NFL) has been wary of the problem of concussions for a few seasons now. While outside of the NFL, the dangers of college football also came to the attention of the media last year when 22-year-old Kosta Karageorge committed suicide, blaming his mental health issues on concussion.

Having recently had to agree a settlement deal with former players attempting to sue

the league for a combined fee of over $750m dollars, the NFL has brought in independent medical staff on the side lines, whose job it is to watch replays, and keep an eye out for symptoms of concussion.

These staff have the power to pull players suspected of having a concussion from the field. In recent years, the league has also introduced other rules in a similar attempt to temper the more dangerous aspects of the game. These rule changes have mainly affected the tackle, in which players can no longer lead into a tackle with the crown of the head. Kick-offs have also been brought closer to mid-field to reduce the length of runup available to kicking teams, which should lessen the impact of tackles.

Concussions represent a major problem.

Total prevention will always be difficult, and most likely impossible without the eradication of the majority of contact scenarios. What is key, though, is that major steps are being taken in terms of the recognition and removal of players suspected of suffering from concussion. The hope is that in the coming years, we will be seeing fewer players having to retire as a result of one knock too many.

UEA Swimming denied chance to compete on Derby Day as Essex withdraw

UEA Boat Club women to raise money for mental health charity

UEA Swimming have been forced from the upcoming Derby Day programme due to the absence of an important component of the day – the opposition. The ‘Essex Blades’ swimming team, who normally represent Essex University at swimming competitions, have suffered from a certain bluntness this year, failing to even have access to training facilities for the first half of the academic year.

After a difficult start to the 14/15 season, Essex have a new president and training times, and a rebuilt team. Despite this however, as their president explained: “we are nowhere near ready for any championship”.

Indeed, having pulled out of last week’s BUCS Longcourse championships, Essex have

UEA Rowing Women’s Squad will this week embark on their mammoth 24 hour charity rowing machine challenge. Nine brave - or as some would say, daft - rowers will be keeping two rowing machines running around the clock from 12:00 on the 25th-26th February.

The charity in question is Mind, which provides support and guidance to those struggling with mental health problems, as well as aiming to raise awareness for many still largely unknown conditions. The event, held in the red bar on campus, aims to raise money to help Women’s Captain Katie Godfrey to reach her fundraising target of £1750, as she competes in the London Marathon in April.

She said: “I am incredibly touched at the

decided to “spend this term building and establishing teams and preparing… for the next academic year”.

UEA Swimming’s Vice President, Simon Tate, said that he was “disappointed” by the decision, which means that Derby Day will now not feature swimming until at least 2017, as Essex University, which will host next year’s tournament, does not have a pool. Derby Day last featured a duel in the pool in 2012, hosted at UEA, where Essex failed to notch up a single individual win as they crashed to defeat. Tate said that he remembered this as one of his “best university memories” that would stay with him “for the rest of his life”.

Michael Stannard

number of people that have approached me about their own mental health since I spoke out about mine and these will definitely be determining and motivational thoughts while completing the 24 hours and the Marathon”.

With the training completed, mountains of pasta consumed and collection buckets at the ready, all that remains is the simple matter of undertaking this challenge. So whether you’re on campus for lectures or having a pint in the bar, keep an eye out for those faces of agony and determination.

Any support will be invaluable and very gratefully received.

Ruth Underwood

C

SPORT

SPORT

Issue 309 24th February 2015

concrete-online.co.uk @Concrete_UEA ConcreteNewspaper

Flickr: LGEPR

Throughout the 1990s, Armstrong and his team went undetected as they developed a sophisticated doping programme Flickr: Velocia

Lance Armstrong: lessons to be learnt Armstong: seven times Tour de France winner, cancer survivor, serial doper.

Simon Tate Sport writer A French mountain road in July. In the real world, it leads to a quiet, anonymous carpark called La Plateau de Beille, a ski resort called Le Alpe de Huez, or the wind blasted radio tower that crowns the ‘Giant of Provence’, Mont Ventoux. The Tour de France, though, is not the real world.

Today, these outposts are amphitheatres.

Wind rustling in the grass is replaced with shouts and screams, cowbells and horns.

All along the tortuous route to the summit, excitement crackles like electricity, heralding the approach of the gladiators. The noise grows greater as the excitement builds into a pitch. Suddenly, he arrives. Effortlessly powering up the road, the gradient barely registering on his face, he powers past in seconds.

Agonising minutes later, others pass.

The big German, Jan Ullrich, grinds past, head down, forcing himself up the slope, his team’s pink jersey strangely incongruous with his gritted teeth and toil. Kazak Alexander Vinokourov, was riding for his late compatriot Andrey Kivilev, while Italian Marco Pantani burnished more his glittering record. Joseba Beloki, the Spanish challenger and Thomas Voekler, the young French darling, tried to hang on to the race, their faces masks of pain.

After conquering cancer, Lance Armstrong defeated the Tour de France. The Texan won the competition seven times in succession, a feat never achieved before. In every victory salute, every bike ride with the president, every fundraiser, he personified determination.

“Pain is temporary”, he preached, “quitting lasts forever”. In his steely-eyed, loose-limbed style, he carried the hopes of thousands of cancer patients with him, as he soared to the summit of the world’s hardest bike race.

Statistically, Armstrong should be dead.

Instead, he stood, a living, breathing icon, handing out ‘livestrong’ bands and crushing the Eurocentric world of professional cycling.

But the crowds that lined the roads of the Pyrenees and the Alps for him every summer did not see the other side of the story. They did not see cyclists getting up in the middle of the night to stretch to prevent their artificially thickened blood from stopping their heartbeat.

“Armstrong had gone beyond the limits of human possibility, and it was all a lie” They did not see Tyler Hamilton, Armstrong’s trusted lieutenant, staring at his black urine in horror following a botched blood transfusion.

They did not see Armstrong sat in his team bus, injecting himself with testosterone, or micro-dosing EPO stored in a thermos flask.

Armstrong was a cheat. At the time, few suspected him. The number gradually swelled, until USADA, the American antidoping agency, announced that he and his team had run the ‘most sophisticated doping programme of all time’, and that Lance would be stripped of his seven Tour de France victories. He responded with a photograph of himself at home, surrounded by his collection of yellow jerseys.

Eventually though, after years of witness intimidation and bullying, he admitted that he had cheated. The great superhuman athlete, gliding to victory up lung-burning mountain passes, had indeed been just that. Armstrong had gone beyond the limits of human possibility, and it was all a lie.

It was not just Armstrong who took drugs to go ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger.’ Ullrich confessed to taking drugs throughout his career, and said that he did not want to be rewarded for those tours in which he came second behind Armstrong. Beloki and Ivan Basso, two of Armstrong’s challengers were named in the Spanish Operation Puerto investigation, while Vinokourov, who won the Men’s Road Race at the London 2012 Olympics, was also banned for transfusing blood. Pantani was unceremoniously pulled from the 1999 Giro d’Italia, the day before his victory would have been confirmed, for artificially increasing the capabilities of his blood.

Ominously, the problem has not gone away. Today, Vinokourov manages the Astana team of current Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali – the same team that recorded three failed drugs tests in 2014. Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, a young Devon cyclist, had his results stripped for a doping violation.

Other sports are not immune. The International Athletics Federation has recently been accused of covering up hundreds of athletes with ‘suspicious’ blood values. Olympic silver medallist and swimmer Michael Jamieson warns: “Cycling is most definitely not alone”. Armstrong has taken the fall, but drugs cheats are not confined to the bike.

Balotelli renaissance?

Page 22

Flickr: Antonio Cinotti

Concussion controversy Page 23

Flickr: Pittaya Sroilong

Society news Page 23