Concrete - Issue 311 - 14/04/2015

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Issue 14.04.15

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Experts warn of discrimination against international students The University of East Anglia’s Official Student Newspaper

Megan Baynes News reporter International students could face even more discrimination, as new government rules oblige letting agents and landlords to check the migrant status of tenants.

The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants has joined forces with the National Union of Students in conducting these Right To Rent checks, piloted in the West Midlands since the start of December. At the moment it is uncertain as whether these checks will roll out across the rest of the United Kingdom.

Letting agents or landlords now need to see documentation, such as a passport or Home Office documentation to ensure that the tenant is legally entitled to reside, or study, in the UK. Failure to check such documentation could result in a £3,000 fine.

However, it is claimed that there is evidence to suggest that this could cause problems for prospective renters. Tenants are now being charged an extra £100 in admin fees, and landlords admit they are less likely to offer a viewing to anyone needing time to produce their paperwork. One American tenant stated her British husband was able to secure viewings for properties she had been told were unavailable.

In cases where a passport cannot be produced, landlords can request further checks on a person’s right to be in the UK from the government.

These fears are the latest addition to a list of new rules which are believed to discriminate against international students and have been introduced in the coalition government over the past parliamentary term.

In January, Concrete reported on the backlash against Theresa May after her plans to force international students out of the country after graduation were blocked.

Peter Davis from the Eastern Landlords Association has condemned the new law and has claimed that it is unfair to landlords: “With regard to the Right to Rent checks; we have always encouraged our members to undertake checks on all perspective tenants. With the pending legislation on immigration, we know landlords have mixed views on that. It seems like a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted – why should landlords be doing the jobs of the border control?

“If they are doing their job properly as responsible landlords why do we need more legislation?… We are totally against the immigration act. Certainly in a city like Norwich, the whole business about making it more difficult for foreign students is absolutely

ridiculous”.

Photo: Flickr, Oatsy40 However, he also claimed that discrimination from landlords against international students in Norwich has always existed: “Certainly landlords unfortunately will be, by the nature of demand – particularly in somewhere like Norwich – picky and choosey about tenants. I have heard of landlords who won’t rent to you even if you have a foreign sounding name – they will move on to the next person called ‘Smith’. We totally discourage this, but they are running a business so they may be inclined to choose the easy option, same with any business.

In November, Concrete reported on the

ConcreteNewspaper

08

Election countdown: what have we learned?

11

It’s time to shake-up union elections

Inside News Eats Man, Concrete’s arts magazine

Continued on page 3

Student union to increase drinks prices in next academic year Ned Samuel News reporter The Union of UEA Students (UUEAS) has announced – in broad terms – a rise in prices for alcoholic drinks in the LCR and the union bar, which is to be gradually introduced from 11th April to September in the next academic year.

In the Blue and Red Bars and the graduate centre, the union has identified the five alcoholic drinks that they claim to be the most popular and which they refer to as the Big 5, which shall remain at the same price as they are now until at least September 2016. The Big 5 are: draught lager, vodka, VK, snakebite, and gin. The freeze on the prices on the Big 5, as

well as soft drinks, will be effective until April 2016.

The union makes no reference to the Big 5 in its information about LCR club night pricing, but say that on those nights “pricing will remain similar to current pricing via multi-buy offers”. In addition, the price of soft drinks and Corky’s will be frozen for the year, and each LCR club event will feature different promotions on certain drinks.

On LCR gig nights, student prices on the Big 5 are being offered to anyone with a campus card, lowering the price of drinks for students at shows. Waterfront drinks pricing has not yet been set, and is being considered separately.

Other notable changes that the union has announced include: a wider range of food

available in the bars; lower soft drink prices in the Shop; the switching of the main draught lager brand by the NUS from Carlsberg to

Big 5

Draught lager, vodka, UK, snakebite and gin are the only drinks excluded from a price rise.

Fosters; and, from September 2015, a new bar in the LCR, which is hoped will reduce queue times.

Chris Jarvis, student officer and chair of the Commercial Boards said: “No-one wants price increases but I’m pleased that our new pricing policy manages to freeze prices on key drinks and introduces new value offers

on food, club nights and cheaper drinks for students at gigs. All the profits made from our live music events and club nights provide vital funding for stuff like the Student Advice Centre and clubs and societies”.

According to UUEAS, the additional money made will be used to refurbish Union House, including the bars, graduate centre, and LCR. However, besides where freezes have been announced or specifying money-saving deals, the Union hasn’t made clear what new prices on other drinks shall be.

Drinks prices rose at the start this academic year and was met with backlash from students.

It is expected that the announcement of the increase is likely to similarly dissappoint students.

2

Editorial

editor’s column THE

N

Geri Scott Editor-in-Chief

“For a free festival, where global superstars such as Taylor Swift are appearing, in little old Norwich, I don’t think we’ve done too badly at all”

ow we’ve all gorged ourselves silly on chocolate eggs and pretended our dissertations don’t exist for three weeks, here we are with only two weeks left of this semester before we head into dreaded exam season. You can tell it’s getting towards that time as the library starts to fill up with people who, until a few days ago, didn’t know what floor the books for their subject lived on.

But for those who want to pretend a little longer, you can celebrate or commiserate depending on your fate with getting your hands on tickets to BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend!

If you weren’t so lucky to get your hands on a pair, it’s not all bad, because there will be a variety of events on campus - including a live stream - to keep you involved, and the beer prices will probably be cheaper that way any way. What did amaze me was the amount of sore losers on Facebook events and Twitter, complaining that the system for allocating tickets was unfair. Tickets were weighted

with 55% being available only to those under Norwich City Council, then another 20% available only to those with NR postcodes (but outside of the City Council area). Another 20% were allocated in East Anglia, whilst there was just 5% available for the rest of the UK. With those kinds of allocations, I think it’s ridiculous to say that Norwich residents didn’t get priority.

There are over 200,000 people living in Norwich alone, and with just 50,000 tickets available people were always going to be disappointed. For a free festival, where global superstars such as Taylor Swift are appearing, in little old Norwich, I don’t think we’ve done too badly at all.

So if you’re anything like me, you did find it a little entertaining to read the complaints, but even more entertaining will be the event.

Keep an eye on the UEA Media Collective to see what we have in store for you (hint: it’s not Taylor in the LCR, sorry...).

Middle Class Moments

father does for this country is give, and this is how they repay him! It’s almost as bad as Glor darling, the time they tried to stop him keeping his money in the Cayman I saw the most ghastly human on Islands... Although that shiny the television last night. He looked round-faced man with the blue like that Bean moron from the 90s. tie it and his tag-along yellow Eating a - yuk - bacon sandwich (not minion let him keep it all there sure how anyone can bear to put that in the end of course... After a horrid greasy stuff in their mouths) little bit of Daddy’s famous like a total pig. How ironic. generosity!

It was cut into some fg footage of seven of the most boring people Anyway, Titty and harping on about the most dull I are off to get a nonsense. Houses for plebs and schools pedicure. for their common little brats - yawn.

Turrah!

As if the worthy among us care about that sort of drivel! Pap a Papa told me that some horrible Tabith commie wants to conffiscate all of his rtono H money in taxes. Honestly, all my dwood

14.04.15

Woo

Photo: Flickr, Sembazuru

Illustration:

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.

Corrections: In the article ‘UEA get their revenge with athletics whitewash’ (Derby Day Special, 17th March 2015) we reported that UEA Athletics took the top five places in the mens 800m. This was incorrect, they in fact took the top four places. We apologise for the mistake.

The article ‘Edinburgh University students’ union bans strawpedo-ing’ (Issue 310, 17th

As revealed to Ella Gilbert March 2015) was attributed to Amy Rust, it was actually written by Geri Scott. We apologise for the oversight.

The article ‘Financial issues and eating disorders linked in female students‘ (Issue 310, 17th March 2015) was attributed to Megan Baynes, it was actually written

by Susanna Smith. We apologise for the oversight.

The University of East Anglia’s Official Student Newspaper

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 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

The deadline to register to vote in the general election is fast approaching Page 5

Union news round-up Vice Chancellor to answer questions from union councillors

Photo: Flickr, David Terrar

UEA drops for second consecutive year in student experience survey Geri Scott Editor-in-Chief The University of East Anglia has been placed joint sixth in The Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2015, published

by Times Higher.

The university shares the ranking with the University of Surrey. This is down three places from the 2014 results. In the 2013 results, UEA held the top spot largely due to “investing heavily in the number of staff”, which resulted in smaller class sizes.

The annual survey, which was taken by 14,697 students nationwide, polls students on 21 aspects of university life, covering a wide variety of issues. From the quality of library facilities, to access to academics, and even how positive the community atmosphere is.

The questions are designed to look at issues which students really care about.

Compared to last year’s results, the scores in various categories haven’t changed dramatically, with only a 0.1 or 0.2 point difference in those categories that had changing scores. In fact, many scores stayed the same, including the coveted ‘Would you recommend your university to a friend?’ in which UEA scored 6.3, whilst the top ranked university, the University of Bath, scored 6.5.

This suggests that it may not be the case that UEA has gotten worse, but more than other institutions have improved.

Third year International Relations student, Nicola Kitching said: “From speaking to people who completed the survey, many seemed to rate negatively by reflecting upon the Union rather than the University itself. I wonder if this has impacted upon the ratings”.

The number of students who took the survey from UEA has fallen to 157 this year, compared to 168 last year. However the results do show that there is more to the student experience than simply contact hours and study groups, by taking into consideration things such as sports facilities and extracurricular activities.

Despite the drop, UEA’s Vice-Chancellor David Richardson has remained positive about UEA’s position in the table: “I am thrilled that UEA has maintained its excellent track record in offering a top-class student experience.

We are in esteemed company in the top ten and will strive to continue and improve on the efforts of the university to make UEA an exciting and fulfilling place to be. It’s testament to the well-rounded experience UEA and the Union of UEA Students offer in our thriving campus”.

International students: housing discrimination Continued from front page

Concrete success at national awards Geri Scott Editor-in-Chief Concrete found success over the weekend at the Student Publication Association (SPA) national conference and awards. We previously announced that we had been shortlisted for 12 awards; on the evening, we were lucky enough to gain the accolade of highly commended in both the Best Design (newspaper) and Best Publication categories.

There were 289 entries into the awards this year, more than ever before.

Editor-in-Chief, Geri Scott, and deputy editor, Peter Sheehan, spent the weekend at the conference, which included sessions

from James Thornhill, editor of the National Student and Tom Whiteley, the deputy editor of the Daily Mash. As well as hearing lots of speakers, they also had the chance to speak to editors from other student newspapers around the country, and participate in a publication ‘swap shop’.

Sophie Hannah Davis, SPA Chair, said: “It was a really successful conference and I’m delighted that everyone involved got so much from attending. The awards, as ever, were the highlight of a fantastic year for the SPA, and Concrete’s commendations are richly deserved”.

A successful weekend for Concrete has bought home the proof that UEA Media Collective are producing sector-leading

case of Amara Bangura who was denied accommodation in Norwich because he comes from Ebola hotspot Sierra Leone, despite showing no symptoms of the disease.

Stella Glakousaki, International Students Officer at the Union of UEA Students, said: “Housing has always been a big issue for International and EU students. Myself along with many other EU and international students, have to pay our rent for a year or in some lucky cases, six months in advance.

That is when of course a student doesn’t have a guarantor; but most international students don’t have guarantors in UK. I know NUS closely monitor the new scheme in the Midlands, and finding will be come public once identified.

“UK has indeed starting appearing not the right place to go and study, in terms of financial matters”.

She continued: “For international students who have to pay from £14,000 pounds a year, there has been a lot of discussions that they would have rather gone to USA. And I think the numbers possibly show that.

“Giving again the currency fluctuation $30,000 as fees are almost the same as £14,000 fees. But everyday life expenses are far more cheaper. And also in USA you have more choices”.

UEA’s Vice Chancellor, David Richardson, will be at Union Council on the 16th April to answer the questions of Union Councillors.

Union councillors are allowed to ask the Vice Chancellor questions on anything related to UEA. The oppotunity gives students the chance to speak to the most senior member of staff at UEA and put forward their concerns for his consideration.

David Richardson was originally due to answer questions at the last Union Council meeting before Easter but had to postpone his appearance.

Better Elections motion to improve union elections Councillors Tom Ethridge and Rob Drury have proposed a motion aimed at improving the union’s student officer elections.

They are calling for a motion aimed to help increase participation and the number of women who run in the elections. At the most recent elections only four female officers were elected, including one to the post of Women’s Officer.

The most recent elections also saw low turnout and not many students cast their vote for who they want to see as their student officers for the 2015-16 academic year.

2015-16 union budget estimates open for consultion The draft budget for the academic year of 2015-16 is set to revealed to Union Council on the 16th April. The document will include the budgets for all the departments of the union. This includes the budget for the Activites and Oppotunities department from which funds for students societies are distributed.

Union councillors will be given the chance to debate the budget and propose amendments.

The final budget will be published once any amendments proposed by union councillors have been taken into account.

More than a rainbow flag motion put forward Union councillors Dan Wrigglesworth and Theo Antoniou-Phillips have proposed a motion aimed to increase the number of union events which are for LGBT+ students.

The motion would see union introduce new events such as club nights which are for those students who identify as LGBT+.

At present no such events take place and the closest clubs which LGBT+ exclusive events take place at is the Loft club in the city centre.

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

4

News

Radio 1 Big Weekend tickets sell out in 40 minutes Bronia McGregor News reporter

Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party, at the University of East Anglia in January Photo: Patrick Sumner Stokes for Concrete

Green Party looks to write-off student debt James Chesson News reporter Green Party policy on scrapping university tuition fees has been a longstanding element of the party’s vision for university education, and the Greens have now announced that they would write off all student loan company debts if elected.

Speaking at the ITV Leader’s Debate, party leader Natalie Bennett said: “We in the Green Party not only want zero university tuition fees, we also want to pay off student loan company debts so that people don’t have that weight of debt”.

Bennett stated that funding for university education should come from “general progressive taxation” while describing education as “a public good”.

Speaking to Concrete in January Natalie

Bennett said that they would be announcing plans to help current students paying £9,000 tuition fees: “it would be utterly unreasonable to have a small group who were unlucky enough to be born in the wrong year [pay £9,000 tuition fees] whereas those born in the next year are in a different situation.

She said at the time that there would be no ‘lost generation’ if the Green Party were in power.

According to the Green leader the party also intends to “scrap the National Student Survey and other forms of evaluation which perpetuate cultures of ‘customer satisfaction’ and quality control”, demonstrating the party’s commitment to moving education away from its current system of being focussed almost entirely on getting students through exams.

Green Party education policy further extends to increasing public expenditure on higher education from 0.7% up to 1.1%.

Bennett pointed out in the leader’s debate that estimates suggest that 73% of students will never pay off the current debts and that 45p per pound will never be repaid.

The mainstream parties appear to be overlooking that major future shortfall when the debts cannot be repaid.

These policies should help gain the student vote for a party that is proving to be popular among young voters, with polls frequently suggesting that the Greens are the second most popular party for that section of the electorate.

The full Green Party general election manifesto is due to be release over the next few days to coincide with the final few weeks before the May 7th polling day.

UEA’s constituency, Norwich South, is one of the Green’s target seats where they hope that their candidate, Lesley Grahame, will be elected.

Labour party would introduce individual careers advice in schools

Many students have been left disappointed after tickets for Radio 1’s Big Weekend sold out in just 40 minutes, with many claiming that they never got past the initial waiting screen.

With big names like Taylor Swift and Florence and the Machine having already been announced with more to come, demand for tickets was huge. The event is Europe’s biggest free ticketed festival and despite having 50,000 tickets to give away, with a large percentage of those being reserved for people with a Norwich postcode, many were left disappointed after being unable to secure tickets for either day.

Second year politics student, Will Temple, explained that he was annoyed that he had been unsuccessful at getting tickets: “I was really annoyed because I got up in plenty of time and despite being on two different devices and refreshing the page hundreds of times I just couldn’t get through. It seems really unfair that some students have been able to get tickets for both the Saturday and the Sunday when some of us have been left out completely”.

For people who were unsuccessful in getting tickets, the Union is trying their best to accommodate for these issues and ensure that students enjoy a fun weekend whether they managed to grab tickets or not.

In conjunction with the BBC, the Union announced that they will be streaming the whole event on the big screens in the LCR. Tickets for this event are free to students and available to collect from the box office at 09:00 on 13th April.

The union also announced that they have secured DJ Fresh for the Big Weekend UEA After Party in the LCR. The DJ is best known for songs such as Gravity, featuring Ella Eyre, Hot Right Now featuring Rita Ora and Louder featuring Sian Evans. This will take place after Big Weekend has finished on the 24th April and tickets are exclusively available to students between 09:00 and 12:00 on 13th April.

Students excited about the prospect of Taylor Swift appearing in Norwich have also started an online petition to try and get the international pop star to make an appearance at one of UEA’s club nights.

Photo: Wikimedia Dan Falvey News editor Labour have announced that should they be in power after the general election on the 7th May they will improve careers advice by guaranteeing individual face-to-face careers advice for all secondary school pupils.

Under the plans Labour claim that their careers advice would focus on both vocational and academic routes into jobs. The aim of these plans being to increase opportunities and standards for all young people regardless of their background.

The party claims that the proposals would cost approximately £50m and would be funded and supported through a partnership between universities, schools, collegues and employers.

Miliband has also announced their intentions “to protect the entire education budget in real terms”.

The Labour leader said that these policies were necessary in order to ensure that Britian’s education system was the best it could be.

Speaking about the issue he stated: “A world-class education is a not a luxury, but a

necessity”.

They claim that under the coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats since 2010 careers advice in schools has suffered from “neglect and reductions in support”.

They claim that there are that too many schools offer students inadequate carers advice and have quoted the Confederation of British Industry who described careers advice in schools as being on “life-support”.

Education is one of Labour’s key areas which it is campaigning on in the weeks remaining before the general election.

Photo: Wikimedia, dephisticate

News

5

Deadline to register to vote approaching change hands.

Chris Jarvis, Campaigns and Democracy officer at UUEAS, is encouraging UEA students to vote.

Speaking to Concrete he said: “The General Election is a unique opportunity for

Jessica Frank-Keyes News reporter While the stress of the rapidly approaching exam season and the excitement – for those with tickets – of Radio 1’s Big Weekend are currently fighting to take up space in UEA students’ brains, there is one other important date to mark on our increasingly full calendars.

The 20th of April – only a few days away – is the deadline to register to vote in the upcoming general election. Students who have not yet registered can do so easily online by going to gov.uk/register-to-vote and completing the quick process.

The success of the Union of UEA Students’ (UUEAS) “Goats for Votes” campaign in the square resulted in over 1,000 people living in what Norwich City Council have said are assumed to be student properties registering to vote on or just after National Voter Registration Day – over 7% of the student body.

Research published at the end of 2014, analysing student voting patterns from 1997 to today, suggested that while students make up only 3% of the population, they could affect the outcome in ten marginal constituencies.

Meanwhile the NUS has argued that students could be responsible for the outcome of up to

20.04

2015

Photo: Geography.org.uk, Phillip Halling 100 seats on the 7th May. One of these contested seats is Norwich South, the constituency containing UEA and the wider area. Currently represented by Liberal Democrat MP Simon Wright it’s just

one of the places in the UK where students are believed to have the chance to swing the outcome of the vote; while there are over 14,000 students at UEA under 300 votes would be enough to see the constituency seat

The deadline for people to register to vote in the 2015 general and local elections

students to shape the future of their education, their community and the country – especially in Norwich South, one of the most marginal constituencies in the country”.

He went on to argue: “The more student voices that are heard in this election, the more likely it is that we will get a government that sees issues that matter to students, such as tuition fees, youth unemployment and climate change as a priority. For students in Norwich, this election is ours to win, but we have to register and then go out and vote if we want it”.

NUS polling recently showed that 73% of students nationwide are registered to vote.

Pressure groups such as the NUS are hoping that between now and the 20th April as many of the remaining 27% as possible will register to have their voice heard on the 7th May.

Oxfam invites students to swap clothes to raise money for charity Dan Falvey News editor

Photo: Flickr, Senate Democrats

UCU: wage audits to help close gender gap James Chesson News reporter Recent research carried out by the Times Higher Education Magazine found female academics are still paid on average £7,500 less than their male colleagues.

While the research suggests that some progress has been made since the last full audit of 2005-06, the data indicates a gender pay gap is still prevalent across academia. This follows the UK’s national trend of female academics being less likely to move institutions or apply for promotions.

At UEA, on average, the gender pay gap is 11% with female colleagues earning £3,569 less than their male counterparts. The widest gap can be found within the University of

London where some colleges pay female staff 19% less when comparing the total academic staff.

At the highest level, female professors also lose out, earning on average 5.8% less than male professors across departments. This average rises to 10.4% in Northern Ireland.

However, in some institutions the gender gap has actually flipped, with 14 higher education institutions in the UK where women are actually earn more than men. All of which specialise in the Arts and Humanities.

The University and College Union (UCU) responded that the progress being made to close the gender gap was going too slow. The Union has called for mandatory pay audits to be carried by each institution to commit all employers to address the issue. Enforced pay audits would hopefully highlight specific

structural and practical which act as barriers for gender pay equality.

UCU also called for more campus-based

£7

500

The average wage difference between female academics and their male colleagues

initiatives to promote career progression amongst women.

However, some institutions have pointed out that female appointees are more likely to start at a lower level, which can lead to misleading overall figures.

Most universities across the UK have responded stating they are working to improve this issue.

Norwich Oxfam Fundraising Group are hosting an innovative event in order to raise money for their ‘Strength to Survive’ appeal.

At 18.30 on 21st April Oxfam shall be hosting a ‘Swishing’ evening.

Swishing events allow participants to throw away any old, unwanted clothing an exchange them with another participant for something new.

Swishing events have become increasingly popular over recent years gaining lots of attention from both the press and the fashion world. The event is seen as a fun and different way of raising money for charity. Upon entering the event participants are asked to make a donation to support Oxfam’s ‘Strength to Survive’ campaign has been launched as a pre-emptive, long-term appeal to protect vulnerable communities from the impact of humanitarian crises. The aim of the campaign is to not only raise money to help people survive natural disasters, but also to rebuild their societies.

The event will take place at Biddy’s Tea room on Lower Goat Lane, Norwich and is the first time that Norwich Oxfam have held a swishing event.

Norwich Oxfam group volunteer Helen Carter said: “Swishing is a fun way for people to declutter their old wardrobe and get a new outfit at the same time. We are grateful to Biddy’s for their support in helping us to raise life-saving funds for Oxfam.”

According to the charity every pound raised as part of the appeal will be matched by the UK Government.

6

Global

Freedom of speech in the post-Paris age

TURKEY

Nora Frydenberg Global writer

LEBANON

SYRIA IRAN

IRAQ JORDAN

LIBYA

SAUDI ARABIA KUWAIT

What is the attraction of Isis?

A map of the area controlled by Isis at the end of last month Graphic: Wikimedia, NordNordWest, Spesh531

Caitlin Doherty looks at why so many British citizens are travelling to Syria to join Isis.

“N

ine British nationals headed for Syria arrested”: it seems that a week cannot pass without yet another undercover attempt to cross into the most politically volatile nation on the planet filling the front pages.

Within the past 18 months, countless Britons have attempted the dangerous journey across countries and continents to nations such as Iraq and Afghanistan, but mainly Syria, answering the calls of Islamic terror organisations.

The group famed for the horrifically violent viral videos of the murders of international journalists and aid workers such as James Foley and Alan Henning have embarked on a relentless recruitment drive, persuading Muslims from across the Middle East as well as the Western World to join their organisation.

The war in Syria and the activity of Isis have been issues for several years, however, only seemed to have hit British headlines very recently. Since the start of 2015 alone there have been several stories concerning Isis and their influence upon British nationals, making the news in the UK: three female GCSE students travelled to Syria during February half term, from their home in London in order to become brides for Jihadi fighters. Several girls from the same school were then banned from leaving the country amidst fears that they planned to follow in the footsteps of their departed friends. Nine British nationals, including four children, were apprehended and arrested in Turkey whilst heading for the Syrian border.

Estimates of how many Britons have travelled to the Middle East to fight for jihadist organisations vary greatly. However, figures

seems to suggest that around 600 British citizens have left the country to support the jihadist cause, approximately 60 of whom are women.

What exactly is the attraction to this dangerous, murderous and all consuming cult?

It is now widely acknowledged that social media is a massive part of Isis’s recruitment process. A powerful and potentially anonymous form of propaganda, the wide reaching nature of social media has proved invaluable for the jihadis. Outlets such as Al-Zawra, a website and forum specifically targeting women and girls romanticises the idea of martyrdom in the name of Allah. It should be noted that none of this media has called for the women to fight as soldiers, merely for their assistance in marrying and mothering the children of the fighters.

Alongside these websites, there have been several well-publicised videos over the past 18 months, several of which address young Muslim men in a call to arms, others of which invite young Muslim girls to come and marry the “brave warriors” – offers which have seemingly proved too tempting for many young, British Muslims.

Many of these hopeful jihadists have lived in Britain for the majority, if not the entirety of their lives, a relatively peaceful and secular nation, what could have driven them to such an extreme after having lived in such a country?

The peer pressure elicited by the relentless social media campaign, the sense of a community that has been created by these internet forums is perhaps the most telling thing.

Britain is a multicultural nation, it has been

for many decades, a five minute walk through any city centre will introduce you to shop fronts and faces from across the globe.

However, looking at the comments section or Twitter hash-tag of any news story involving an individual of an ethnic or cultural minority, the hostility and negativity that people of minorities have to regularly face is clear for all to see.

Marginalisation amongst society’s minorities is a sad truth of our multicultural nation, unwelcoming taunts faced both on the streets and on the internet must lead some into a sense of isolation and being unwanted, a stark contrast to the welcoming and idealistic sense of community Isis create over the internet.

We must bear witness to the idea that, for some people, the idea of a welcoming community may be a welcome change.

Bashar al-Assad, president of Syria, whose regime is fighting Isis Photo: Wikimedia, Fabio Rodrigues Pozzebom

After the recent tragic events in Paris, the freedom of speech debate has again gained momentum. The right to express ourselves, which we often take for granted, was threatened. Discussions on where we should draw the lines of freedom of speech turned into heated arguments. In countless cities people marched, so their voice would be heard.

Unfortunately there are still places in the world where the right to say, write and draw what we want to is limited – and has been for a long time. There are countries in the world where people put their own lives at great risk daily to express their opinions and to give a voice to the voiceless.

When we say “I am Charlie”, we should also say “I am Raif Badawi”. Raif Badawi was sentenced in 2012 to ten years in prison and 1000 lashes for creating a website that encouraged free speech in Saudi Arabia.

Badawi faced the first 50 lashes on the 9th of January, despite worldwide protests against his sentence. Raif Badawi’s lawyer has also been sentenced to imprisonment, facing 15 years behind bars for criticism of human rights abuses. Badawi has so far not been subject to any more lashes since his first round of 50, but the reasons for this are not clear and his sentence still stands.

Many governments around the world have on occasion limited their nationals’ access to social media in order to control the public debate. Social media has often been seen as a cause for concern for many governments.

For example, during what is referred to as the Arab Spring, Egyptian authorities shut down the Internet during the Tahrir square protests.

China, Turkey and Thailand are all countries where sites such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as various news sites have been shut down for short periods by the government.

Freedom of speech relates to freedom of expression – including the freedom to express your sexuality. In Russia, the 2013 LGBT bill prohibits “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations”. It is not only Russian citizens who might face charges for publicly

Social media has often been seen as a cause for concern for many governments showing affection – foreign nationals may be detained for up to 15 days before deportation.

Russia was again in the headlines earlier this month, when the opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was shot dead in Moscow. Although speculation usually doesn’t lead to too much, it is worth mentioning that Nemtsov is not the first of the Russian president’s opponents to have lost their life in suspicious circumstances in the past few years.

To keep safe while travelling and keep on the right side of the law in your destination country, make sure to always check the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s travel advice pages when planning your trip. The FCO is also great for keeping you up to date on safety concerns in the country you are travelling to and any no-travel recommendations. 2014 has been labeled by many, including Amnesty International, as a catastrophic year for human rights, and in many countries around the world the situation has not improved so far in 2015. So when planning a summer holiday, be especially careful to check whether there are on-going protests and unrest in your destination.

COMMENT

“G

ermanwings co-pilot kept deadly mental illness secret from bosses”. Just one headline from an onslaught of tabloid articles that fuels negative association with mental health issues. Mental illness should not be a way of wholly justifying one’s actions just as much as it should not be used as an excuse to single someone out. We cannot understand the thoughts that were going through Lubitz head during the disaster; nor should we attempt to villainise or victimise his actions. It is easy to cast aspersions on Lubitz’s character in the light of his depression and his actions

“Britain has come a long way in reducing the stigma surrounding mental health issues” regarding the destruction of the sick note from his doctor. Clearly no-one believes this behaviour or the actions involving the crash can be justified; but surely a more open and understanding society, in relation to mental health, would go a long way to encourage sufferers of these illnesses to speak up and not be afraid to inform employers.

The president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Professor Simon Wessely, has urged caution on people suffering from

Joe Jameson and Peter Sheehan examine the state of the general election campaign Page 9

Sam Naylor argues that the time is ripe for concerted action on mental health care

depression being prevented from working as pilots, he states that “what does cause trouble is saying that if you have ever had a history of depression then you should not be allowed to do whatever. That is wrong, as much as saying that people with a history of broken arms shouldn’t be allowed to do something”. It comes as a voice of reason in a barrage of negative mental illness-related statements on Twitter, from personalities – or lack thereof – such as Piers Morgan and Katie Hopkins. It is true that as a society Britain has come a long way in reducing the stigma surrounding mental health issues, though this could be in jeopardy if ignorant and toxic comments from public figures are allowed to multipleyunchallenged.

A further step in the right direction comes this week from the Liberal Democrats, who have pledged £2bn extra for mental health funding in the party’s “manifesto for the mind”. Whether you agree with their politics or not, this is a pledge that all parties should be

promising. Ruby Wax at a Ted Talk conference in Edinburgh in 2012 made a brilliant stand throughout her talk “What’s so funny about mental illness?” Currently one in four people will be suffering from mental illness to some degree. What’s even more frightening is that many of these cases are still undiagnosed and the overall number of mental illness cases is set to rise, dramatically. Now this may appear melodramatic, especially to the people who don’t view mental illness as a genuine health concern. As Ruby Wax cleverly informs her audience, how is it that every other organ in your body can get sick and you’ll get sympathy, except the brain?

The human brain is ill-equipped to deal with the continuously mutating pressures of the 21st century. And even when it is accepted as a serious condition the lack of sympathy does not stop there.

Although I don’t doubt that there are a great number of health professionals that treat mental illness with the seriousness it

C

alifornia’s San Quentin State Prison, the largest death row in the USA, has recently announced that it has reached full capacity. This follows nearly a decade of litigation concerning death penalty protocol in California; executions were halted in 2006 owing to complaints about the administration of the lethal injection. During this time, the population on California’s death row has grown from 646 to 751, and the prison can no longer accommodate any more inmates. In an attempt to combat this, governor Jerry Brown has proposed an expansion of 97 more cells, estimated to cost around $3.2m, to support a predicted intake of 20 condemned men and women per year; a figure which is interesting to consider, given that only 13 executions have taken place in California since the death penalty was reinstated there in 1978.

However, California is far from the only state to be having problems with its capital punishment procedures; the USA is currently experiencing a nationwide shortage of the drugs required to carry out the lethal injection. As a result of this, the state of Utah passed a law last month to resume the use of firing squads to carry out executions when the necessary drugs are unavailable, whilst Alabama and Tennessee have decided to reintroduce the electric chair as a backup method. Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, politicians in the House of Representatives voted to trial execution of prisoners by nitrogen asphyxiation, a previously untested method.

What the American legal system does not appear to have fully processed is that this shortage is not merely arbitrary. The majority of the drugs used for lethal injections are manufactured in the European Union, where the death penalty is not only opposed but has been legally abolished, and export restrictions have been placed on the required medications. Consequently, it does not seem unfair to claim that the US’s response so far is somewhat missing the point.

Firstly, the lethal injection method has been under intense scrutiny for several years, and questions are being asked as to whether the triple-drug cocktail does serve to act quickly and painlessly, as was initially thought when it was introduced. Two cases in particular – the executions of Clayton Lockett in April 2014, who took 45 minutes to die after staff failed to place the needle into

deserves, there is still much to be improved upon as mental health is such a multifaceted issue. It may seem common sense to doctors that exercise increases serotonin output in the brain, thus lifting ones mood; this should not be the only advice given to someone who expects they are suffering with mental illness (and yes, this has been the case before).

The courage alone that it takes to make an appointment and then follow through by turning up to said appointment can be

“I don’t believe that there will ever be a one-answersolves-all solution” huge. For a doctor to then turn round and tell their patient that they just need to exercise more can trivialise the issue and shatter any remaining confidence the patient may have.

Mental illness is a vastly complex topic, with cases set to increase in the coming decades; but this doesn’t mean that we should shy away from discussing it, in public, without fear of ridicule. Due to this I don’t believe that there will ever be a one-answer-solves-allsolution; efforts should not only be focused on changing the attitudes of the public but health professionals too; then we will stand a much stronger chance of establishing a surge in progress for mental health treatment.

him properly, and of Angel Diaz in December 2006, who took 34 minutes and a second round of injections to complete, and whose autopsy revealed chemical burns on his arms – seem to suggest otherwise.

Secondly, the proposed alternatives are methods of execution which have already been found to be flawed. Electrocution, for example, was condemned following several cases where multiple electric shocks were required to complete the execution, and, whilst this is a fictional example, no one who has seen The Green Mile can forget the horrific scene of Del’s death. Similarly, the firing squad was described as “a little bit gruesome” even by Gary Herbert, the Utah governor who reintroduced it to the state.

Oklahoma’s nitrogen asphyxiation is the exception to this, but given that it is thus far untested, it is impossible to say for certain what will happen. Finally, the amount of time condemned men and women will spend on death row waiting for their execution in the USA borders on absurdity; according to statistics provided by the Death Penalty Information Centre, the average is ten years, whilst the longest recorded gap between sentencing and execution is 36 years. The psychological suffering caused by this is in many cases believed to be a more severe punishment than the death itself; similar comments have been made about the length of time frequently taken for appeals.

A High crime rates in the US and elsewhere will not be solved by simply increasing the capacity of prisons, claims Meg Bradbury.

Photo: Daniel Vanderkin, Wikimedia.org

ccording to Amnesty International, in 2014, the US carried out the fourth highest number of executions, behind only China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, yet it continues to hold one of the highest crimes rates in the world. From this, it is clear that some sort of reform is needed. What is equally clear is that America is by no means alone in this. British prisons, for example, are on the verge of an overcrowding crisis, whilst recent debates about the ban on sending books to prisoners and whether or not inmates should retain their right to vote during their incarceration suggests we need to seriously examine what the intended purpose of our judicial system is.

The solution to these questions is yet to be found; nevertheless, it seems improbable that increasing the capacity of death row is likely to be the answer.

8

Comment

Electoral reform and hung parliaments Joe Jameson

Concrete’s Election Countdown

Adam Dawson Television editor

S

o, the hour is upon us, the election campaign is now in full swing, and with every day we are barreling towards one of the most important general elections in a generation, or so they say.

The election is increasingly becoming one of image, partly the image of the leaders, but more so the image of their parties, and how Britain would look should they be in charge. The stereotypical images are as follows; according to the Left, the Conservatives are still the party of the rich and government by them would mean an unequal Britain. Labour are accused of being fiscally irresponsible, although aware of real issues, many argue Labour won’t be able to find the cash they need, whilst the Liberal Democrats have had their reputation torn into tatters by their time in office and Ukip has developed an image of sleaze, and general ignorance. The future of the country has only occasionally been so obviously at stake it would seem.

Even though this election is so close, it is not certain that we will have as diverse a chamber as most political pundits claim. Ed Miliband won himself many points during the Channel 4 interviews with Jeremy Paxman, one in particular was interesting, as he rallied against Paxman’s assumption that there will be a hung parliament in May. Suggesting that it will be impossible for a single party majority government to form following the election is foolish, no matter what the polls seem to be saying; as it is crucial that we do not forget the characteristics of First Past The Post, the electoral system used for Westminster elections.

We can already see this happening, even though the polls haven’t even opened.

UKIP cannot deny that its ratings have been on the decline for a number of months now, with some polls predicting that they may even dip below 10% in the final days before the election. Meanwhile the Greens and the Liberal Democrats are suffering from the classical small party syndrome, with their support very solid, but not growing significantly from undecided voters.

This election, is not really all that unique in terms of core issues surrounding the debates; questions over, the future of the NHS, immigration, and the economy.

What is different is the number of options available for the voter. To say that the ‘era of two party politics is over’ amounts to an oversimplified, but media friendly statement, because what is happening in British politics is something so much more complex and exciting.

We are seeing a re-engagement with politics, where people feel that there is a party out there that represents their views and values, that their voice will be heard and that their vote can make a difference.

It would be a shock indeed if the turnout is not significantly higher than it was in 2010. However, this is a double edged sword, as it will either throw the cause of electoral reform right back up the agenda, or should the result be anything other than unique, it will burst this bubble of participation, and political apathy will rocket.

Rosamund Pike?

A female bond just won’t work

E

Photo: Wiki, Basil D Souif. Cameron: Wiki, Dfid. Miliband: Flickr, CBI

Election sketch: what we’ve learned so far Peter Sheehan

E

lections are all about getting to know your masters. Unpalatable though the vast majority of them may be, once every four to five years this weary nation of ours must spend at least a small portion of our waking hours giving the various wannabe PMs the once over. Who is making pledges through gritted teeth? Who is most in love with the NHS? Who is all fired up by the national interest? And who is counting on the racist vote?

The leaders debate, held two Thursdays ago, gave the electorate an opportunity to get up close and personal with no fewer than seven party leaders, many of whom made the trip from their respective valleys just for our enjoyment. People said that it was too stilted, too regimented. But I found that having seven parties represented made it much more exciting than the previous not-quite debate with just Cameron and Miliband. Old boys’ ya-boo politics doesn’t really work when you have six opponents – even less so when one of them is a strident, straight-talking Scot.

Which is to say: can we please talk about Nicola Sturgeon? Putting aside the fact that I agree with pretty much all of her policies, she was the only person to truly stand up to Nigel Farage. So many politicians these days try to march to Ukip’s martial beat that it was gloriously refreshing to see someone just disagree with him for a change. I would give Scotland independence in a heartbeat, the only proviso being that they take the rest of us with them. Send the saltire south and let the SNP govern the four nations from Edinburgh. Please tell me honestly if you think it would be substantially worse than anything this country’s tried before.

Now I know I would say this, but I think Ed Miliband is doing rather well – although I suspect that this may be because people can take a good look at him for themselves for a change. No wonder he has a reputation for being a bumbling fool when the Tories and the Murdoch press have spent the last five years talking about nothing other than his

clumsiness and one-off bad table manners.

Of course, this is why Cameron is so keen to avoid a head-to-head debate. He has everything to lose from such an encounter, whereas all Miliband has to do is string a couple of sentences together and people would quickly realise that he’s not nearly so useless as Cameron’s been telling them.

Apparently Farage’s lead in Thanet is slipping, which can only be good news for everyone involved. Nevertheless, I am pleased that he is still contributing so greatly to the gaiety of the nation. Nasty foreign types with HIV rattling the windows of his Englishman’s castle? If it hadn’t been that, it would have been something else: Bulgarian street dogs, perhaps – coming over here, intimidating our pets, spreading rabies and peeing on park benches. It goes without saying that pretty much everything he says is nonsense. But for a politician it must be quite liberating to be so unencumbered by reality.

And that reminds me: Tony Blair. His holiness rose from the political grave over Easter to say something really rather sensible about Europe – that holding an inout referendum on Europe would be bad for business – but the trouble is that noone listens to him anymore. I don’t really subscribe to the idea that the man is the devil incarnate, but so many people have decided to hate him that he’d probably do Ed Miliband far more good by keeping schtum.

Nick, Nick, Nick: what have you become? Last time he promised so much; this time he’s just a slightly shittier Tory.

Throughout the debate, he kept banging on about the deficit, then demanded that Miliband apologise for leaving the country in such a mess. I lost it a bit at this point.

Seriously, Nick: you’ve been in government for five years. Take responsibility for your own mess, or move over and let a grown up take charge.

There are bright sparks, though. The Green party’s election broadcast is finally the kind of propaganda that I can get behind. Imma need some comic relief if I am to make it to 8th May without sustaining serious injury.

And afterwards, can we please have at least six months without talking about politics?

d Miliband, in an attempt to appear to be a normal human being instead of a malfunctioning robot, showed he at least knows one pop culture reference this week.

When being interviewed about the upcoming General Election in which, obviously, he wants to be the next Prime Minister, he offered a little bit of an opinion about James Bond. The next James Bond, according to our next fearless leader, shouldn’t be Idris Elba. It should be Rosamund Pike.

If a woman were going to take over James Bond’s role, Pike would be an excellent choice.

Daniel Craig’s Bond is far more brooding and sinister than other Bonds have been. In other words, he’s an actual person with an interesting story, a family history, and a suave way of doing literally everything. Not just a penis and a gun then. Pike can act with the best of them – she has an Oscar nomination to her name, which is more than Craig has.

Her Gone Girl character was dark (putting it mildly), and she played her with nuance and sophistication. Yes, Pike for Bond would be interesting.

It wouldn’t be right though. James Bond is a specific kind of man: boozing, womanising, fast car-driving. His masculinity is literally the most important thing about him. You can’t just change his gender and expect this character to be the same when their gender plays such a huge role in who they are. Bond enacts a kind of masculinity which might not appeal to everyone, but does offer a kind of release for those who do enjoy seeing a man shoot and shag. That’s the point – Bond is a heightened, exaggerated man who lives to stick it in things, shoot bad guys and fix his cufflinks.

Sam Mendes’s Skyfall did bring some more out of Bond than just that, but Bond is still the heightened idea of a man.

A solution: give Rosamund Pike another action franchise to take the lead in. When was the last time you saw a woman on the screen shooting the living daylight out of someone?

I’m thinking Salt, the underrated Angelina Jolie film about a female spy. What we should be doing is making so many female driven action movies that movie-goers don’t have a choice but to see them. Force them to do well.

The desire to have women replace men in every single thing is demonising an entire class of man. It’s wrong to have desire towards woman, it’s wrong to watch James Bond do all the things you wish you could do. Men need a role model too, and men need some form of escapism without being demonised for it. This culture is contributing to the demonising and punishment of being a man, and it has to stop.

It’s not wrong to want to be James Bond. It’s not wrong to want to be a man.

Photo: Wikimedia, Justin Hoch

Comment

9

Dan Falvey discusses the problem with freedom of speech

L

ast week we saw Katie Hopkins claim on Twitter that it was wrong for Rochdale MP, Simon Danczuk to have raised the Pakistani flag in his home constituency. As per normal, there were outcries from people disgusted at her tweet. People angered and outraged repeatedly told her that her views were racist and illiberal and that they had no place in modern society.

However, the truth is that this is the society that we have longed for: a society where there is freedom of speech for people to be allowed to freely express their views.

Britain prides itself as being a society where free speech and freedom from censorship is a right that is avaliable to everyone. We see it as a pillar in our liberal society which celebrates the fact that people who hold different opinions have the ability to express their feelings.

It is somewhat ironic that, through the liberal idea of freedom of speech, we have to accept that those who hold illiberal views have their right to speak. It is a tension that has existed as long as the idea of free speech has been promoted.

Yet it is still a consequence which makes those who claims to be liberals feel uneasy: in order to promote their own thoughts they have to allow those who opinions completely contrast with their own the ability to express their ideas.

The perfect example of this could be seen at UEA last semester when the Norwich South Ukip prospective parliamentary candidate was due to speak at a UEA Politics Society event.

Over 1,000 people signed a petition to try and ban the event from going ahead. They

Photo: Pixabay.com, LoboStudioHamburg claimed that such an event could lead to international students feeling threatened on campus due to what they deemed to be Ukip’s xenophobic tendencies.

However, a large part of their argument was that we should live in a liberal society where we should be willing to accept individuals’ differences regardless of what country they

come from. This is the ultimate problem faced by liberals: how do they promote liberal values and condone those whose views are illiberal without being illiberal themselves?

This means that when it comes to people like Katie Hopkins we are left with a difficult decision between accepting that she is entitled to her views and doing everything to suppress her opinions.

It will come of little surprise when I write that I believe we should let Katie Hopkins express her views on society; As a journalist, any idea of a restriction of the right to speak freely is counter to my own views.

Personally I think that we should let Katie Hopkins speak because quite frankly the majority of the British population is fairly liberal and the views expressed by her are so often extreme (and sometimes almost satirical) that most people will completely ignore her opinions.

The only way that people will truly understand just how wrong some of the opinions put forward by people such as Katie Hopkins are is if they actually get to hear them.

By reducing freedom of speech on ideas which are not deemed to be liberal we do people the disservice of not trusting them with the ability to listen to these opinions and realise by themselves that they disagree with the opinion being put forward.

The only liberal answer to freedom of speech when it comes to people like Katie Hopkins is to let them give their views.

Chances are that when people realise just how absurd some of their opinions are they will stop taking their views into any serious consideration.

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FEATURES

Sam Naylor gives you a run down of the political parties in preparation for May Page 12

Photo: Flickr; Cle0patra n an earlier issue of Concrete, the front page bore the headline “Union Elections Open to Abuse” and Editorin-Chief, Geri Scott wrote an article reporting on an error on the UEA SU website and explaining for lay people like myself what that meant.

In case you missed it, here’s what all the kerfuffle was about: due to a technical glitch, students’ records had been reset so that they could vote for representatives in the student union elections for groups within which they themselves did not self-identify. For example, those who did not self-identify as women could, due to the glitch, vote for Women’s Officer, and those who didn’t self-identify as LGBT+ (like myself) could vote for the LGBT+ officer. The elections have since gone ahead.

I

Olivia Minnock explains why she thinks the student union voting system needs a shake up.

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I honestly had to read about this a couple of times before it sunk in. I understood what had happened but could not for the life of me figure out why it was a mistake. Why was a man being able to vote for the Women’s Officer classed as an accident, rather than the norm?

In my opinion, we are all part of this university and all deserve a say in what goes on. We should be able to choose people for each position within the union who we believe have every student’s best interests at heart. Sound familiar? It should: that’s the basis of democracy. Saying someone isn’t allowed an opinion because they’re male, or they’re not LGBT+, or they’re not disabled… this seems to be running into very dangerous territory in which certain people’s rights are taken away from them because of how they self-define. While I recognise the bye-laws are there for a reason, this particular aspect seems worryingly backward and exclusive.

The concept of a constituency is understandable, and if certain people feel, as some were previously quoted to, that they should not vote in a certain category because they can’t see that it affects them, this is acceptable but in my opinion, a personal decision. I would go on to argue that some decisions can affect you a lot more than you realise.

I am straight. I am also an Irish citizen.

This summer, Ireland will hold a referendum on marriage equality to decide whether homosexual couples should be allowed to get married. (A referendum must always be held on changes to Ireland’s written constitution where every citizen gets the chance to vote.)

If the union’s bye-laws were put into practise on a national scale in Ireland, I probably

wouldn’t be able to vote because I am not homosexual. However, of course I have the right to vote and absolutely intend to utilise it. Just because the issue of gay marriage doesn’t affect me directly, I will still be voting in favour of it not only because I believe it is the right thing to do, but because it might affect me in many serious indirect ways.

I don’t want my friends or relatives not to have equal marriage opportunities because I wasn’t allowed to vote. I also feel that if I told you all I don’t intend to vote in the referendum because “I’m not gay so that doesn’t really affect me”, many of you would be judging me harshly for wasting my civil rights and not standing up for what I believe in in order to make the country a better place for all its citizens. You would be right to do so.

Furthermore, how can a union officer expect to gain the support of the entire student body when only certain people were allowed to vote on their election? It should be obvious in this day and age that feminist issues need the support of both men and women, and the LGBT+ community needs, as can be seen in Ireland, the support of the straight community—I use the term need, but there is also of course a case of deserving.

I will end by wishing the newly elected officers for 2015/16 the best of luck in representing us and continuing to make the University the best it can be, academically, socially and in every other way. I would also like to ask them to consider the way we elect officers in the future, and perhaps to ponder how then can guarantee the support of each and every student, by making individuals feel valued and maintaining our democratic rights.

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Feat Labour

Slated for having a ‘weak leader’, Labour haven’t received much positive support from the mass media. (Though they do boast a Wallace look-a-like.) Much of their campaign thus far has hinged on the reversal of “the damage the Tories have done”, but what does this actually mean for their policies?

Ensure fairness in our tax system. They will reverse David Cameron’s tax cut for millionaires and cut taxes for the millions instead; a noble pledge for sure, though closing loopholes for tax avoidance for some of the highest earners is easier said than done.

Tackle NHS waiting times and put patients first.

They will guarantee that you will be able to see a GP within 48 hours; now will this mean all appointments or just emergency appointments? And at what point will this come to fruition if they get into office? Where are all these new GPs coming from? So many questions.

Make sure everyone who works can afford to live. They will raise the minimum wage and give tax breaks to companies that sign up to pay a living wage.

Although Labour’s plan to cut tuition fees to £6,000 a year has been stated in interviews, it isn’t shown as clearly on their website.

You have to dig through their blog using the search bar to find that students who are currently in their first year at university will benefit from Labour’s plan, through a cap on tuition fees coming into place as of September 2016. Too little, too late for students currently in their second and third year of studies though.

Labour may have missed a trick by not incorporating Katie Hopkins tweet, that she will leave the country if they win, into an official pledge. Now that is something Britons could get behind.

Who will you be voting for?

Liberal Democrats The student party – unsurprisingly the Liberal Democrats aren’t geared towards the student vote this time round. Their party website doesn’t discuss any changes to the current level of tuition fees and it’s probably a good job too. Some of their main pledges do look promising, though whether they can uphold these in another coalition is a different matter.

Increase tax-free allowance to £12,500 Invest £8bn in the NHS. Equal care for mental & physical health Balance the budget fairly through a mixture of cuts and taxes on higher earners.

Conservatives More of the same – and we’re not just talking more food banks, a rise in zero-hours contracts and further privatisation of the NHS here! No, what we mean is... wait for it... “our long-term economic plan”!

We hear this a lot from the Conservative party, like every interview with Cameron or Osborne, but what exactly does this overused slogan mean? Well according to the party’s website (saturated with different hues of blue) their long-term economic plan can be split into five digestible points: Numero uno: reduce the deficit. Expect more cuts as the Tories make more of those “difficult decisions” that affect the working majority.

In at two: cut income tax and freeze fuel duty.

And at three: create more jobs. 1.9 million have been created over the past five years, bolstered by self-employment and zero or low hours contracts.

Number four: cap welfare and work to control immigration. The Tories want the economy to benefit those that “work hard and play by the rules”, like international businesses that bend the rules to avoid tax and pocket more profit.

Finally at five: deliver the best schools and skills for young people. Boasting 2.2 million new apprenticeships with an average annual salary of £11,446 and no plans to reduce tuition fees from £9,000.

Green

Ukip

Champions of the hashtag – aside from environmental issues, what do the Greens intend to do with more MPs in Westminster?

An end to #BigGovernment; power diverted to the local level for a more open and transparent democracy. A step towards this future would be to tackle #BigBusinesses; their aim – bring power back to local trade and economies. But what does the official party website have to say on the issues?

Cue hashtag frenzy; #PUBLICNHS – an end to the “creeping privatisation” of services, whilst mental health is given higher priority and resources to match. #FAIRECONOMY: an end to austerity, “Robin Hood Tax” on banks and the introduction of a living wage (£10 an hour) by 2020.

Phew and breath. But wait the Greens have even more ambitions for 2020. #SAFECLIMATE: would see a Green majority act as guardians of the planet, working alongside other countries to ensure global temperatures do not rise above two degrees, (now there is some Avengers-style-superhero-planet-saving.)

There’s also the usual: better homes, free education and better transport (all with hashtags) – everything a leftwing fringe party can offer. A socialist utopia and green pipedream.

Out of Europe – we’ve all heard the broken record that is Ukip skipping over the major issues with their magic bullet solution, leave the EU, take back our boarders and close the gates. But what else do Ukip have to offer? Delving into Ukip’s “Policies for people” page on their website, here’s what I found.

Repairing the UK economy. Inheritance tax will be abolished; because nothing shouts hard-working citizen more than one that receives tax free money from a dead wealthy relative.

Reducing the debts we leave to our grandchildren.

Ukip will abolish the Department of Energy and Climate Change and scrap green subsidies; because a strong economy can withstand all manner of natural disasters.

Employment and small businesses. Businesses should be able to discriminate in favour of young British workers; because discrimination is the cornerstone to allow any healthy democracy to thrive.

Culture. Ukip opposes ‘plain paper packaging’ for tobacco products and minimum pricing of alcohol; because nothing screams being British more than drunken behaviour and chain smoking. Think you have what it takes to be the next poster-person for Ukip? Apply today at Famousasfarage.org.uk

Sam Naylor tells you everything you need to know about the political parties in preparation for May’s election.

Cameron: Wikimedia; Department of International Development Milliband: Flickr, The CBI

tures

13

Pillow talk The wrong words for women

Photo: Flickr; Moriza. Below: Wikimedia; Magnus Manshake anguage in reference to sex glorifies aggression, like it or not. Multiple times you hear the romantic cheering of youthful men wishing to “destroy her” or “smash her back doors down”.

The poor souls seem to have confused a woman’s body with that of a shed. But wait my male counterparts, I am not here to attack you, us ‘sheds’ are equally at fault.

We have adopted the term just as much as the creative cowboys, referring to the trophy act as “banging” in equal capacity.

Yet my naïve self does question how this language has emerged.

It is aggressive, that you cannot deny. To destroy, smash, bang. One cannot help but assume it has originated in a testosteronefuelled mind. But listen, it’s all a joke, isn’t it? When we refer to sex in these derogatory terms, we women don’t specifically expect a destructive force to obliterate us. Maybe the language is held in such high regard to nurture the ego, so in bed, they are the

L

n Tuesday 24th March, four UEA delegates attended the National Union of Students (NUS) Women’s Conference in Solihull. The conference happens annually, and goes alongside many others such as the LGBT+ Conference, the Disabilities Conference and the overall NUS Conference, where motions are passed that affect all students nationally.

It works like student council, but specifically working for the rights of students who are women or who have a complex gender identity that includes woman.

At the Women’s Conference over 200 different faculties were represented, from both higher education and further education institutions. On the first day of the conference, however, the proceedings were somewhat derailed by a Twitter storm. The conference hashtag was trending, which was a testament to how many people were getting involved, and the official Twitter account for the conference tweeted to ask the delegates if they could use jazz hands rather than clap, as it was causing anxiety for a lot of attendants.

Using jazz hands instead of clapping has been common NUS practice for years, as it is a much more inclusive alternative.

Students with Asperger’s, anxiety or speaking difficulties can find it hard when making a statement and being interrupted by clapping

O

Lucy Palfreeman examines some of the negative terminology surrounding women and sex, and reveals why she thinks men should change their ways.

Terminator.

We have let this language seep into normality. Why? Women perpetuate their own situation. Feminism cannot blame men for the whole debacle. Lad culture has become entwined with today’s culture as it is generally not challenged. There have been the few awkward, outspoken, challenging voices speaking out along the way, but these are perceived as too uptight to find the comic genius in it all.

The union bar has recently introduced the Good Night Out campaign. This teaches union staff - from managers to those who work in the cloakrooms - how to deal with sexual harassment complaints and to encourage those uncomfortable to speak out. Now there are campaigns in attempt to control such behaviour. It strikes me as sad.

An issue as pertinent as sexual harassment in our generation has become so common, so ingrained in our culture, that campaigns have evolved. Why does our generation need to be taught something as simple as respect?

Twitter backlash, walkouts and controversial motions make for an eventful NUS women’s conference Charlotte Earney during it. Jazz hands work better as they are the international sign language alternative to clapping, as well as being a fun way to show your appreciation for what someone has said. Using them is actually more practical, and because it is quieter it can help the conference flow better, as well as not interrupting the speaker.

The tweet about jazz hands attracted attention from a lot of Twitter trolls, who attacked the NUS account in droves, making fun of people with disabilities and the concept of accessibility. This spread to anyone using the hashtag, and by day three became more and more personal, with trolls sharing pictures of and misgendering delegates.

However nasty the environment on Twitter, the conference continued undeterred.

Many important motions were successfully passed, for example Oxford University’s

motion to promote women’s leadership in STEM subjects, and UEA’s own #freeperiods motion, which aims to abolish tax on sanitary products to do with menstruation. The ‘Time To Talk About Women’ motion, which aims to conduct a survey about the mental health of Women students, was also passed unanimously.

Some more controversial motions included the ‘Dear Gay White Men: Stop Appropriating Black Women’ motion, which passed efficiently at conference but created some backlash in the media and in internet forums. The motion was primarily aimed at a popular trend within white gay male circles to appropriate Black women’s culture, for example, adopting terms such as ‘on fleek’ ‘shade’ and ‘bae’, as well as twerking and referring to their ‘inner black woman’.

Many people who are not black women

The campaign is progress, yet how much substantial change will it implement? We have to be careful not to point the finger at men as a collective, but recognise there are some individuals who view what many deem to be sexual harassment as pure entertainment. The majority of boys I have met at university have ample respect and disengage from such actions. However, we have alcohol.

Alcoholically fuelled situations seem to make such behaviour even more pertinent, and yet we are expected to care less because he was wasted.

Yes, I hear you. It is all a joke. The sheds have lost their sense of humour. If such language was aimed at your sister, even your MILF of a mother, how would you genuinely feel? An issue of respect has now been reduced to an issue of humour, and women are the butt of your joke.

“Banging” is no longer something you hear in a Western film, Grandfather.

We have modernised considerably.

also use and abuse these parts of black culture, however this particular motion is aimed at gay white men specifically, as it’s become such common practice within the communities that gay men are credited with ‘inventing’ the words. The aim of the motion is to educate gay white men (and I hope, everyone else appropriating black female culture) around the politics of appropriation and to discourage this behaviour where possible.

Many other motions were successfully passed, however a motion to create a position for a trans-representative in the NUS did not make it to conference floor due to time running out. There were many similar controversial moments during the conference, for example many delegates walking out of the NEC elections due to a candidate being told they couldn’t run under unfair circumstances.

While there were a fair share of controversies during the conference, overall the NUS Women’s committee have been making positive steps towards making the conference accessible and ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard. However, there are many ways that the NUS could improve the conference for next year, including trying to create a more private space for delegates to communicate over the internet rather than Twitter.

14

Science&Environment

US submits climate change pledges to UN Marta Catalano Science&Environment writer The United States recently pledged to the United Nations to cut carbon pollution by up to 28% in order to reduce the effects of global warming.

Tuesday 31st March was the informal deadline set by the UN for countries to submit their climate commitments to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that will take place in Paris next December.

Nations can propose goals according to their contexts, and will have to work and agree on a global climate treaty with the common aim to limit the average temperature rise to 2°C. Scientists now consider this to be the breaking point, beyond which the effects of climate change could become even more catastrophic and irreversible.

However, Tuesday’s deadline was just informal, to accelerate and push nations’ commitments in order to avoid a replica of Copenhagen’s 2009 climate conference, nowadays still regarded as a failure. Partially because of this, so far only Norway, Russia, Mexico, the European Union and the United States have submitted their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions.

The US promised to reduce its emissions from 26 to 28% below 2005 levels by 2025.

Brian Deese, White House’s climate adviser, said in a blogpost: “the target is ambitious and achievable, and we have the tools we need to reach it”. With this target, the US pledge aims to pave the way for other nations’ commitment.

“The goal will roughly double the pace at which we’re reducing carbon pollution”, said Deese, “through cost-effective measures using laws already on the books”. Such measures include considerable limits in methane emissions, tighter controls on power plants, regulation for vehicles on country’s roads and the promotion of clean and renewable energies as a viable solution.

Other countries’ efforts remain significant, with the EU’s proposed reduction by at least 40% by 2030, and Russia’s cuts of 25% by 2020.

Whereas these measures are opening up spaces for a growing optimism, the opinion among NGOs, politicians, and scientists remain divided. “While this contribution does move closer to the 2°C pathway, it does not represent the level of ambition needed to avoid

Costa Rica: a model of renewable energy for the future?

Louise Fitzgerald Science&Environment writer Costa Rica is famous for its waterfalls and stunning beaches, now it is also a world leader in renewable energy use. The Costa Rican government announced in March that it had gone 75 days using only renewable resources for electricity generation, this accomplishment was mostly due to the extensive hydropower network.

Costa Rica isn’t the only country to run on renewables: Iceland also generates 100% of its electricity through hydro and geothermal energy, in part due to the numerous volcanoes.

Compared to other countries such as the

The 15th conference of the parties held under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Chance Photo: Flickr, UNclimatechange catastrophic climate change”, Oxfam told the Guardian last Tuesday.

Such opinions are further justified by the fact that some of the most polluting nations, such as India, Japan, Brazil, Indonesia and China, haven’t released their proposals.

USA who use only 13% of renewable energy to generate electricity, the achievements of Costa Rica seem impressive. Unfortunately it is unlikely that it will last.

A period of unusually heavy rain meant that there was enough water in the dams to generate most of the country’s electricity needs using hydropower. The economic benefits of the surge in green electricity are huge with electricity prices predicted to drop up to 15% this month.

Hydroelectric power relies on consistent rainfall and, until a few months ago, the country was suffering from one of the worst droughts for 50 years. The drought meant that it was necessary to burn fossil fuels, which release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Worse still, the unpredictable rain patterns are set to worsen in the future due to climate change.

Costa Rica has a policy goal for carbon neutrality by 2021, and if it meets the target it could become the first carbon neutral country in the world. With a population of 4.8 million and a booming tourism industry the biggest hurdle to meeting the carbon neutrality to goal is the reliance on petroleum for transport.

In 2014 emissions from vehicles contributed to 70% of Costa Rica’s greenhouse gas inventory.

In most years Costa Rica generates around

Is this a reason to be worried? Perhaps not, considering that nations have until late October and that the ones committed so far are responsible for 60% of global emissions.

It is perhaps unlikely that each country will agree to take strong measures, but the Paris

Climate Summit could be a prime occasion for these countries to raise their national ambitions and play more leading roles in making emissions cuts. There is certainly more that can be done, but the steps taken so far remain significant.

Photo: Flickr: David Gordillo

90% of its electricity without fossil fuels by using a mix of geothermal, hydroelectric, wind and solar power.

Natural resources make it more suited for renewable energy generation, making it more difficult for more industrialised nations to follow in their footsteps. Even if it were possible to power the world’s biggest countries with renewable energy it would

cause significant destruction with biodiversity and habitat loss and the displacement of communities.

We are yet to see how long Costa Rica can run without fossil fuels but Monica Araya, executive director of Nivela, a Costa Ricabased climate change think tank is optimistic, saying “we don’t want this be a 75-day story, we want this to be a 365-day story”

Science&Environment

New test developed for Huntington’s Disease Jacob Beebe Science&Environment editor

Scientists have developed a new method for measuring a particular mutant protein that builds up in the nervous system of patients, a causal factor in progression of Huntington’s disease.

Huntington’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by a mutation in the gene that encodes Huntingtin.

The Huntingtin gene is located on chromosome four and it follows a dominant inheritance pattern – only one copy of the gene is required for the disease to occur. The mutation is an expansion of triplet repeats in the genetic code.

The mutant protein forms aggregates with one another that interrupt neuronal function and transport of messengers in the brain. This leads to dementia, psychiatric disorders and chorea - an involuntary twitching and jerking movement symptom.

Previously it has not been possible to quantify the amount of the mutant protein in patients. However, a team of scientists from UCL, IRBM Promidis, University of British Columbia and CHDI Foundation have now developed a means of detecting the protein from cerebrospinal fluid, a system called the Singulex SMC Technology Erenna

Immunoassay. The basic principle of the test is using fluorescent antibody tags to the protein and a laser detection chamber to count the protein molecules.

Dr Edward Wild of UCL Institute of Neurology said: “We think the mutant huntingtin is being released into the CSF from the very brain cells it is killing”.

He added: “It may be a smoking gun that reflects the harm the protein is doing in the living human nervous system”.

It is hoped that this method of detection will aid patients, as new therapeutics are looking at lowering Huntingtin, as amounts of mutant Huntingtin has been shown to increase as the disease progresses. Dr Douglas Macdonald at CHDI has said: “Measuring the amount of huntingtin may also be an essential biomarker for the upcoming trials of huntingtin-lowering therapeutics”.

Whilst this development is not a directly advancing promise of a cure for this terminal disease, it will greatly improve research and clinical trials, indirectly increasing our knowledge of the disease progression.

15 What’s new in science?

Scientists have revived the name Brontosaurus to describe a family of dinosaurs after controversy over fossil evidence The Large Hadron Collider has restarted after two years of rebuilding Scientists have witnessed a key stage in the birth of a star in real time

Huge lava tubes on the moon that could house entire cities have been discovered to be structurally stable.

Decreased neural activity appears to increase speed of learning a new skill Endangered butterfly species are at a ten year high A novel perfume delivery mechanism could release perfume the more you sweat

Researchers are calling on the public to report hare and rabbit populations in the interest of conservation Final testing is being carried out on the satellite that Europe plans to send to Mars

Photo: Flickr, Vicki DeLoach

A new chip has been created that could allow you to scan objects using a smartphone for 3D printing Scientists have discovered that changes in histones ( DNA packaging proteins) can be inherited and influence gene expression

Photo: wiki: Leevanjackson

Deep brain stimulation - a new treatment for dementia

Photo: Wikimedia, Worm That Turned

16

Travel

King’s Lynn’s demon population is rising

Photo: SaltGeorge

Danielle Hancock and Holly J McDede write about the haunted happenings in Norfolk’s own King’s Lynn...

Here in Norwich, the people are proud of their ghosts. The Man in Black gives tours throughout the city, and the Murderers pub is so proud of the landlady murdered outside the pub centuries ago that they’ve made a name out of it. They’ve even gotten famous murderers, like Lee Harvey Oswald and John Wilkes Booth, on their walls for pub goers to gaze upon during football matches. Recently, the Bridge House pub started calling itself Lollard’s Pit after the religious dissenters who were executed nearby in the 16th century.

It’s not that the pub owners are huge fans of executions. They’re just proud of their history.

But in King’s Lynn, it’s hard to keep track of all the ghosts. The little Norfolk town has over 50 ghosts; until it mysteriously disappeared, you could rent a skeleton from the haunted library. True’s Yard fisherfolk museum is a cute, maze-like collection of pretty rooms, courtyards and cottages where 38 ghosts reportedly reside. At least, that was the official count: life at the museum is so strange that Nottingham’s Bassetlaw Ghost Research Group came, and counted everything from child-spirits to poltergeists. To the museum staff it was old news. Lindsey Bavin, manager at True’s Yard, often offers tours: “This is where our poltergeist resides,” Bavin said, walking through a room where a fisherfolk used to live (and apparently someone else). “His name is Henry, which I think is a delightful name for a poltergeist.

This corridor here, which for some strange reason we can never keep the bulbs going for more than a week at a time. A lot of it gets blamed on Henry”.

For Balvin and her staff strange happenings are just part of the job. Far from seeking relocation or exorcism, the museum are pretty forgiving of their resident poltergeist.

“Paintings have been knocked off the wall, you see all those photographs there? And staplers in particular seem to be his favourite.

Suddenly those flying across the room,” Balvin said. “Well, if you’re a poltergeist, what’re you gonna do?”

It’s an attitude of live and let haunt. The fisherfolk were the same. On land and water, the fisherfolk community lived precarious lives. For many a mixture of religion and everyday superstitions provided an anchor of security. Even their homemade rugs helped out.

“One of the superstitions was that if you

had one of these rugs and a demon looked down your chimney, and saw this rag rug it would think it was a demon looking back up at it,” Balvin said. And then they’d leave you alone.

Spookiness is woven into King’s Lynn history. Part of Balvin’s daily routine is tending to a small cottage bedroom that some would prefer to avoid. The museum discovered that years ago a girl had been strangled there, by her father, for loving the wrong man. Rather than lose her and disgrace the family, he throttled her. It’s creepy, but it’s sad too. Balvin says that it’s important to keep these stories alive; “the ghosts reinstate untold tragedies”.

Recently, when a builder ran for help on seeing a hanged man in the attic: investigation found no body, but a story of a tattooist’s suicide in the same spot. That last sighting raised the museum’s ghost count to a crowded 39. True’s Yard has a practical solution - the attic door stays shut. It doesn’t stop Balvin enjoying her job, she just ignores the weird and gets back to work.

The Duke’s Head Hotel nearby doesn’t advertise its ghost either - it seems in Kings Lynn that nobody stops the press over weird happenings. Naomi Howard works at The Duke’s Head Hotel. Their resident ‘red lady’ haunts room 28.

“I’ve had guests that have heard noise, and I’ve actually had to move someone, because it was freaking them out,” Howard said.

The lights in the surrounding corridors flicker and fail, sometimes the room gets suddenly cold.

So they don’t book the room out anymore.

The more people we talk to, the shrugs and smiles we get - the ghosts: they’re just part of the place. Asking people in Kings Lynn if they get bothered by the ghosts is a bit Photo: Wikipedia

like asking if they get bothered when it rains it’s just part of life.

But can everyone that works in a haunted building believe? Tom Newman, who manages the Maid’s Head pub, a newcomer to town and a self-proclaimed sceptic. Tom manages the haunted Maid’s Head pub, whose namesake recalls King’s Lynn’s darker history: “The maid was boiled in oil in the middle of the market square. There was only two people boiled in oil in this country, one in Kings Lynn, and one in London - they thought it was a bit of a sport,” Newman said.

But, the boilings didn’t die out because they were disgusting, or cruel, but because they weren’t very interesting to watch. “It was a slow process,” Newman said.

It seems typical of Kings Lynn, where the macabre and unexplained are part of the furniture - almost literally so for Tom. Tom doesn’t just work at The Maid’s Head, he lives there. And for a sceptic, he’s adapted pretty quickly to life in Kings Lynn.

“I’ve heard a couple of footsteps since being here, some of my teammates have heard people running up and down the stairs and along the corridors, when there’s been no one up there at all,” Newman said.

For a nonbeliever, Newman sure enjoys telling the stories. Even the sceptics here don’t outright deny Kings Lynn’s ghosts.

That’s because they like the ghosts, and the excitement they bring. Anyone can tell a ghost story, and anyone can add a little extra each time. The stories pass along, from the 17th century fisherfolk, to the people here today, to us.

Spanish cuisine: the unsung food of Europe Mariah Feria Travel writer For many of us, when we think of European cuisine, the food giants of French and Italy immediately spring to mind. These countries are renowned for their exquisite delicacies, and rightly so. However there is another contender perched quietly on the edge of the Mediterranean – Spain.

The different regions of the country each offer tasty traditional dishes. These are, however, sadly overlooked. Many are familiar with the classic paella, a rice dish usually with seafood, saffron, and other spices. In more recent years, adding meat such as chicken and chorizo, has increased the popularity of the dish amongst non-Spanish speaking countries.

However, there is much more to Spain than paella. If you venture away from the tourist hot-spots along Costa Brava and Costa del Sol, and head towards the rural country, you’ll experience the true taste of Spain.

A personal favourite are churros; a fried choux pastry that can be either be thin or thick, these are also popular in other European countries. Covered in sugar and then chocolate sauce (I used to dip mine into hot chocolate or coffee!), I haven’t yet met anyone who doesn’t enjoy them.

Something that still remains a staple dish of southern Spain, is gazpacho. Simply put, it’s cold soup, made with raw vegetables.

Originating in Andalusia, my Grandmother used to make this by the gallon, for friends, family, and everybody else who would stroll through her front door.

Other highlights include calamari (not the deep fried kind, but gently fried in sauce – much healthier), the potato and onion Spanish omelette, and obviously tapas – although these are very different when in Spain and actually not eaten as much as you may think.

As is the case with most countries, the best way to experience ‘proper’ Spanish food is to go off the beaten track a little when you do visit. Visit smaller restaurants, and try things unique to that region. Finally, wash it all down with a bottle of their famous beer – Estrella if in the Cataluña region, Mahou if you’re nearer Madrid.

Travel

17

Australia: the traveller’s favourite

Photo: Ernieski

Mariah Feria Travel writer Throughout the year, thousands of likeminded backpackers set off to that mysterious land down-under, with whom we somehow share a Queen.

Australia has become the ‘go-to’ place for young travellers. It is often a starting point for an even more epic adventure, or a more permanent residence thanks to workingholiday visas (I was surprised to discover that these cost just £299, for 12 months). But just how has Australia maintained its top spot for gap year travellers?

For starters, Australia is pretty safe. I know this may not be something you initially think about when planning your round the world adventure, but if you’re a solo traveller (and, like me, female) questions of safety do eventually come creeping in. Many South American, African and Asian countries can’t offer the protection that English speaking Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific does. The culture is similar enough to our own, in regards to dealing with crime and welfare, to feel safe – but then it also has amazing beaches and scenery, a win-win situation.

Secondly, the diversity of the country cannot be challenged. You have major cities like Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne on the East Coast; they ooze metropolitan sights whilst also offering edgy artsy neighbourhoods and bucket-list surfing destinations such as Byron Bay and Bondi Beach. The West Coast, on the other hand, maintains a calm and laidback attitude, although it can be argued that Australia overall embodies this feel generally.

However, thanks to its quirky restaurants and cultural attractions, Perth has been ranked

ninth in the world’s most liveable cities list.

For the more adventurous and experienced traveller, the outback of Australia offers serene surroundings. Alice Springs is full of history, humour and colourful characters, whilst Uluru (Ayers Rock), when visited at dusk, shows you why it still remains a sacred place for the Aborigines. Whilst venturing to the middle of the country requires preparation, what awaits you there is the perfect reward for a potentially treacherous trip. It makes for a nice change to the faster paced city life too, and you experience the origins of this diverse land.

As previously mentioned, Australia also makes for a perfect ‘base’ or starting point from which to explore the rest of the globe.

Many do the classic London-Dubai-Sydney flight, spend a while immersing themselves in Aussie life, then are off again. And they need not venture far. Staying very ‘close to home’, the Whitsunday Islands sit at the tip of the Great Barrier Reef, 74 in total, and proudly boast ‘the best beaches in the world’.

However, venture just a little further afield and that claim is sure to be challenged. For roughly £200 and a short plane ride, you can find yourself in Fiji. Slightly further than this are the Samoan Islands and the Cook Islands, again popular with island hoppers of the South Pacific. And of course, there’s Australia’s friendly neighbour, New Zealand – offering snow-capped mountains as well as cities and beach action.

Australia has been, and will continue to be for many years, popular with Western travellers looking for an idealistic safe-haven – an escape from dreary English weather and pebble beaches. It’s pretty obvious why it’s on nearly everybody’s bucket-list and provides a nice ease into globe-trotting. Its popularity certainly won’t be diminishing anytime soon.

Photo: Ilaria

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Register to vote A quick reminder to all about the week ahead where from Monday 13th - Thursday 16th there will be lots happening on campus about the upcoming General Election. Don’t forget to register to vote!

The highlight of our week will be our hustings event on Tuesday night from 6pm in LT2. Norwich South is a hotly contested seat, and the Guardian recently identified UEA as a University that could swing the election so make sure you get involved!

www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

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LIFESTYLE

For the perfect revision boosting recipe, turn to Page 20

Getting through the exam period big oven dish of chicken or vegetables and a saucepan full of rice on the weekend, freeze it all up in Tupperware, and you’ll be good to go for the rest of the week! Not only does this save you loads of time when you need it most, but also it means that you’ll stay on track with eating right and not spending cash on cheap takeaways that don’t feed your brain with any sustainable energy.

Dahlia Al-Abdullah Lifestyle writer Getting through the exam period at university can be a really stressful time for all students and it can sometimes feel like a really lonely place. Even when the university is brimming with people, it can be difficult to get past that feeling of solitude that comes along with hours spent cooped up in the library, wading through workloads. It doesn’t always seem easy to just get into a positive mood again, especially when everyone is occupied with their own exam troubles. However, there are a few things that you can do to help you get through the period, and make it a little less of a slog to get through.

“Avoid eating or revising in your room during exam time, because it can mix energies and make your room lose its special sense of peace”

1.Clear space, clear mind One of the best ways to make yourself feel instantly better during exams involves a little bit of cleaning and a whole lot of sleeping.

Yes, that means keeping your bedroom neat and organised. Your bedroom will be the best place for you to relax in when you have exams, and waking up to a clean room makes you feel like you have a blank canvas to begin your day with. Avoid eating or revising in your room during exam time, because it can mix energies and make your room lose its special sense of peace and relaxation.

2. Schedule in breaks So obviously a lot of us know by now that

4. Sharing is caring Photo: Flickr, Jennie creating an exam schedule can help us to get on with our work and get a lot done. However, for other people this can feel too rigid and causes even more stress. A good way of getting around this for everyone is to schedule in breaks, and what you want to do with them.

If you know that at 20:00 you’ll be settling

down to your weekly dose of The Voice then it will make you more likely to work hard for it.

3. Bulk cooking Okay, so a really long cooking session doesn’t sound like everyone’s cup of tea but honestly, it can save you so much time. Make up one

Whilst watching another chick-flick to get through the Easter break loneliness, I came upon a scene whereby an 18-year-old had whimsically had unprotected sex at her prom, taken the ‘morning after pill’ and then carried on her merry way, only to find she still wound up pregnant. I thought it was great that the film noted that despite trying to take precautions, accidents still happen. Yet the one element of this scenario which was not played out was the effect of having taken the pill. Taking emergency contraception is scary, and it should be. Being in a situation where

“What is crucial to highlight is the effects these pills can have on your body for a prolonged period of time”

One could expect to experience any of the following, (although these symptoms may not necessarily happen in everyone): • • • • • • • •

Photo: Flickr, Chrisphoto

Photo: Flickr, Jessica Rossi it is necessary can cause concern enough and the intense dose of hormones can cause absolute havoc and strain on the body. It is certainly not the ‘quick fix then forget’ solution that this medically frowned upon nickname would have you believe. Though when truly necessary, there is a much wider window than simply ‘the morning-after’!

Firstly, for those who end up needing emergency contraception, it is important to note that the traditional Levonelle pill can be used up to 72 hours after intercourse and EllaOne, a newer morning-after pill can be used within five days. Though these are effective drugs, they are not fool-proof. What is crucial to highlight is the effects these pills can have on your body for a prolonged period of time. The range of side-effects are vast and of course vary with each person.

If it starts to get too unbearable being stuck in your library pod staring at the same page over and over again, why not meet up with some friends for a study session? Even if they’re not on the same course as you, sometimes just being around other people who are working towards deadlines can remind you that you are not alone during this time, and that everyone is going through the same thing. It will probably help you get on with your work better than you think, whilst also reminding yourself of what human contact feels like!

Photo: Flickr, Lalvanova

Emergency

contraception

Linnea Hawkings talks about the possible side-effects of using emergency contraception for women

‘Baby brain’ confusion and forgetfulness Insomnia Fatigue Bleeding Appetite change Abdominal pain Headaches Constant thirst

In my unpleasant experience, I suffered from all of the above, so severely in fact that I had to go to A&E, and pretty much had 111 on speed dial. It is nerve-racking watching and feeling your body go through so much stress all at once and despite my broodiness, if this is a taste of pregnancy, it has only made me more determined to ensure that the real thing is a long way off for me and only happens when planned. Many of which the symptoms sound similar to those experienced

“the intense dose of hormomes can cause havoc on the body” when pregnant, right? So I guess you can add anxiety to that list..! Of course these symptoms will not happen to everyone and some will experience few, if any, of them. The ability to access emergency contraception is fantastic, but being aware of the stress and unpleasant week ahead it can lead to is just further motivation to be prepared and be protected in the first instance. It’s better to be safe than sorry, but best to be safe in the first place.

20

Lifestyle

Is airbrushing female models still a problem?

Susannah Smith Lifestyle writer

We all know that feeling when you walk into a shop and see how amazing that top or dress looks on the mannequin, but when you try it on, something just isn’t right. Those perfect, faceless creatures are designed to make clothes look good; they do a similar job to fashion models, who face intense pressure to maintain an idealised body image. Surely, though, our society can distinguish between a three-dimensional coat hanger and a representation of the female body?

American Apparel have been in trouble twice this week, first one of their ads was banned for “oversexualising children”. A statement from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said: “we considered the ad could be seen to sexualise a child. We therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible and was likely to cause serious offence”. This is unfortunate seeing as CEO Paula Schneider recently stated that the company “doesn’t have to be overtly sexual. There’s a way to tell our story where it’s not offensive.”

Then a few days later it became apparent

“Hiding away the female body only serves to perpetuate the negative body image women are faced with every day” that they were airbrushing their models‘ nipples and pubic hair. It seems that they have reverted to thinking that natural bodies are too risky. The pictures on their website have clearly been airbrushed to make the women posing look like mannequins; translucent clothing reveals models’ bellybuttons but not nipples or pubic hair. American Apparel have a reputation for revealing and sexual advertisements, but it seems that now they

have taken a drastic U-turn.

Aside from the disappointment that one of the only fashion companies to portray ‘real’ looking models is now airbrushing away anything human, critics have expressed concern that this is a very negative portrayal of the female body. Michelle Lytle, co-founder of TaTa Top¸ a brand which sells bikinis with nipples printed on them, argued that “this is a step in the wrong direction and is contributing to the sexualisation of a woman’s body”. How do we expect young people to grow up seeing all women as beautiful when the human parts and imperfections of models are constantly hidden away?

“How do we expect young people to grow up seeing all women as beautiful when the human parts and imperfections of models are constantly hidden away?”

But then again, is there not a deeper problem here than the airbrushing? Should American Apparel be photographing and selling such revealing clothes in the first place? Campaigns such as Free The Nipple would argue not. They are a group fighting for equal nudity rights. They state that “the issues we’re addressing are equal rights for men and women, a more balanced system of censorship”. Hiding away the female body only serves to perpetuate the negative body image women are faced with every day.

What we need is more bodies on show.

More bodies of different shapes and sizes in the industry that claims to deal in beauty. Of course, sexual clothing on underage looking models is unacceptable but surely sexual clothing is not the issue. Sexual clothing does not sexualise women, society does. When fashion models portray all types of beauty and society no longer cringes at female pubic hair, then we’ll be heading towards equality.

Photo: Flickr, William Murphy

Exam-aid recipe: Shakshuka Dahlia Al-Abdullah Lifestyle writer This recipe has the cutest name and is great to eat when you’re studying because it’s quick and easy and it gives you a huge helping of protein and energy to get you going! This version takes any vegetables you have lying around your fridge and uses them up in one dish. Any veggies are good like mushrooms, leeks, and even sweet potatoes! It's like the Middle Eastern version of paella, using up any leftovers and getting it done really quickly.

Serve up warm in the pan with a big pitta to mop up all that sauce!

Ingredients: • 3 eggs • 3 cloves garlic • 1 brown onion • 1 red pepper • 1 courgette • 1 handful of baby tomatoes • 1 handful of washed spinach • 1 tbsps chopped walnuts • 1/2 carton passata • 3 tbsps tomato puree • 2 tbsps zaatar • 2 tsps paprika • 1 tsps cumin • fresh mint

Method: 1. Heat up some olive oil on a medium high heat in a frying pan, then throw in your chopped onions and garlic.

2. Wait until they soften and brown a little then add in your peppers and courgettes and season with salt and pepper.

3. Add in a teaspoon of each spice, and the tomato puree. Mix that all in well, and give the mix a few minutes to heat up; at this stage your kitchen will start to fill up with the smell of those spices...so good!

4. Pour in your passata, then take a handful of washed spinach and mix it in to the sauce. You could also add a splash of balsamic vinegar here to give it a little more of a tangy taste.

5. This is a great point to throw in your baby tomatoes, so that they don’t wither up but have time to cook and melt in to the sauce a little bit.

6. Once you’ve got all the ingredients for your sauce together, add in about another teaspoon of za’atar, and season with another little pinch of salt and pepper.

7. The fun bit - create a few dents in your mixture for the eggs, and crack them right in to the mix.

8. Lower the saucepan to a medium heat and cover with a lid to let it all simmer.

9. Once the eggs are cooked, sprinkle over some chopped coriander and walnut pieces and you’re done! Great for you whilst studying!

Photo: Flickr, Dahlia Al-Abdullah

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Sport

James Newbold Sport editor

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till too young to drive on the roads of his native Holland, Formula One’s youngest ever point-scorer Max Verstappen isn’t one to pay much attention to convention. At 17 years and 180 days, Verstappen’s seventh place finish in the Malaysian Grand Prix annihilated Daniil Kvyat’s previous record and after a paltry two Grand Prix weekends, will have have gone some way to silencing the critics – Jacques Villeneuve among them – who said he was being given too much, too young.

The latest product of Red Bull’s ineluctable young driver programme, Verstappen had completed just a single season in car racing before receiving the dream call-up to Formula One which eludes countless many. It essentially spelled the end of Jean Eric Vergne’s F1 career, and put pay to any hopes Red Bull-supported Alex Lynn had of following Kvyat by using the GP3 title to springboard to F1.

Verstappen didn’t even win the European Formula 3 championship last year, nor finish a close second, ultimately finishing third behind Lotus junior Esteban Ocon and Tom Blomqvist, but it was the level-headed manner in which he approached the season – particularly for one so young and with such limited experience – which prompted Red Bull talent scout Helmut Marko to take a gamble on him.

The son of a certain former F1 driver Jos Verstappen – renowned for his demon starts and combative performances in middling machinery – Verstappen falls into the bracket of the naturally gifted.

Anyone who saw his charge from 11th to second at Imola, and even more impressively finishing seventh from 24th on the grid in the Macau GP last year will attest to his superb race-craft, while a streak of six consecutive wins, sweeping the Spa and Norisring weekends, showed the prodigious 17-year-old knows how to soak up pressure.

Prowess in the wet is always a good indicator of talent – think of Ayrton Senna‘s first lap at Donington in 1993, Michael Schumacher’s first win for Ferrari at Catalunya in 1996 and Sebastien Vettel flooring the opposition in a humble Toro Rosso at Monza in 2008 – and Verstappen appears to have it in spades.

Despite running comfortably in the top ten in Melbourne before his engine let go, the doubters were still not convinced by the time he arrived in Sepang. But as the conditions worsened and those around him floundered – 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen and Verstappen’s team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr both missed the cut for the top ten – the Dutchman qualified up in sixth, incidentally equalling his father’s best ever qualifying result in only his second Grand Prix.

Despite admitting that he would not have been brave enough to hire Verstappen in his former life as a team owner, BBC pundit Eddie Jordan claimed afterwards that he could be one day mentioned in the same bracket as Senna and Schumacher. After all, age is just a number.

Photo: Wikimedia, nicksarebi Ross Perkins Photo: SportFlickr, writernicksarebi Norwich City returned to the Championship’s automatic promotion places for the first time since October 2014 with an Easter Monday win over Sheffield Wednesday. A brace from Bradley Johnson, who has been in fine form this season, sealed a useful three points for the Canaries in their quest for an immediate return to the Premier League.

Since the appointment of Alex Neil in January, City’s form has been red hot, taking 39 points from a possible 51 since his inaugural win over Bournemouth. That run, which also included vitals wins against promotion rivals Watford, Blackburn, Nottingham Forest and, of course, bitter rivals Ipswich Town, has taken the Canaries from seventh to second, just a point shy of table-toppers Bournemouth.

What lies behind Norwich’s charge towards the summit? Arguably, the greatest improvement in the team since Neil took the reins has been psychological. All around Carrow Road, from the players to fans, there is certainly a belief and togetherness that was altogether lacking under his predecessors, Chris Hughton and Neil Adams. This has stemmed not only from Norwich’s brilliant results – which of course help confidence – but from the Scotsman’s attitude. His

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his Girl Can has made great strides in publicising women’s sport, with increasing numbers of women and girls taking to the field. As per Sport England, “it is the first campaign of its kind to feature women who sweat and jiggle as they exercise”, and seeks to tell the real story of women who exercise and play sports by using images that are the opposite of the idealised, unhelpful images we are so used to seeing.

It comes as research carried out by This Girl Can reveals that by every measure, fewer women than men play sport regularly – two million fewer 14-40 year olds in total.

Yet despite this, 75% say they want to be more active.

“Some of the issues, like time and cost, were familiar, but one of the strongest themes was a fear of judgement,” said Sport England CEO Jennie Price. “Worries about being judged for being the wrong size, not fit enough and not skilled enough came up time and again”.

The campaign seeks to promote the message that no matter your shape and

Canaries back in top two as promotion race hots up honesty in the aftermath of Norwich’s losses to Brentford and the shock home defeat to Wigan has been a breath of fresh air for Norwich supporters.

In contrast, Hughton and Adams were often content, despite poor performances, to respond by suggesting Norwich had played well but it ‘just didn’t happen for us’. The defensive approach isn’t good enough for Neil however; he demands higher standards from his players.

Interestingly, certain players have enjoyed a renaissance under the new boss. In particular, right back Steven Whittaker, who was jeered off in Norwich’s defeat to Brentford in January, must come in for special praise. In the face of strong criticism from many City supporters, the Scottish international has upped both his offensive and defensive game.

Additionally, the return of Sebastien Bassong from ‘exile’ at the heart of defence has contributed to an improved record of seven clean sheets since Neil’s appointment.

With Michael Turner departing to join Fulham, Bassong has forged a strong partnership with Russell Martin, seemingly putting to bed any question of the man who succeeded the Cameroonian as captain reverting to rightback.

However, Norwich’s form has been largely down to the quality of its midfield and the dominance that such quality brings in games.

With Alex Tettey shielding the back four, and on-loan West Brom man Graham Dorrans and Jonny Howson offering drive from the middle of the park, Norwich have both attacking and defensive quality in abundance.

But two players in particular have stood out. Bradley Johnson’s 13 goals so far this season, including crackers against Blackburn and Ipswich, in addition to his muscular presence on the pitch have seen the former Leeds man emerge as a Player of the Year candidate. Meanwhile, Republic of Ireland international Wes Hoolahan’s magical displays have also contributed to Norwich’s upturn in form; his eye for a killer pass has earned him ten assists for the season, as well as three goals in March alone.

Overall, it can be seen that Norwich’s evident quality is finally being utilised to maximum effect and, with five games left to play at the time of writing, their timing couldn’t be much better. With their fate in their own hands, the challenge for the Canaries will be to maintain those performance levels and ensure that complacency doesn’t creep in.

In all likelihood, the vital game will be the mid-April fixture at home to Middlesbrough, which could prove crucial in deciding whether either side finishes in the secondtier’s automatic promotion spots. Whatever happens, Carrow Road is a great place to be right now.

COMMENT Caron Hutchinson praises the pioneering This Girl Can campaign to inspire female involvement in sports. size – or level of ability – there is a place for all women in sport, whatever their reason. Adds Price, “this campaign says it really doesn’t matter if you are a bit rubbish or completely brilliant, the main thing is that you are a woman and you are doing something, and that deserves to be celebrated”.

An overall issue which many girls face are the stereotypes associated with certain sports. These cover the ideas of maledominated sports such as rugby, American football, and football, and whether it is deemed appropriate for women to participate.

The words ‘lesbian’, ‘dyke’ and ‘masculine’ are thrown around far too often when girls are participating in sports that are classed as ‘male sports’, however, there are plenty of women who would disregard this as an issue and step up to the challenge

of a sport which they enjoy. I, for example, am extremely passionate about being active and energetic, and enjoy traditionally ‘masculine’ activities such as football and pool.

The way sports are advertised have a crucial role to play in dispelling these preconceptions. Promotional posters for the London 2012 Olympics featuring pentathlete Jessica Ennis and track cyclist Victoria Pendleton were particularly successful in this regard, empowering women as figures to be emulated, rather than denigrated.

Although many obstacles are still to be overcome, campaigns like This Girl Can whose flagship promotional video has been viewed over 13 million times on YouTube – are only a good positive step towards getting women, and the nation as a whole, fitter and healthier.

Sport

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What’s next for Harry Kane?

Tom Gordon charts the rise of Tottenham’s Harry Kane, the next big hope for English football on the world stage.

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art off kilter Ryan Gosling, part League One alumni; all mouth breather: Harry Kane is hardly what you’d expect as England’s next top pin up boy. He’s already been embraced by the sporting press, having given them the requisite column inches to span the past three months, and probably enough spare “Kane he/can’t he” headlines to fill the Mariana Trench.

He’s already proved his chemistry with fellow England forward and part-time contract gambler Raheem Sterling. The duo have formed an unshakeable safety net of media frenzy to catch the countless football fans falling into the precipitous dearth of interest that is the international break. But is he simply the English press’ next media darling? Merely a gawping Londoner, whose primary talent is to aid journos everywhere during those brief stretches of time in which Jose Mourinho has the wherewithal to keep his mouth closed? Or does this potential flash in the pan have the talent to escape from the Jack Rodwell halfway house of overhyped England players?

Although jealous/bitter Arsenal fans relish the opportunity to make much of the 12 months eight-year-old Harry Kane spent at their academy (and his childhood sartorial inclination towards Arsenal shirts) he is very much a product of the Tottenham youth system. He appeared frequently as an under-16 and 18 player for Spurs, breaking into the first team in the 2009-10 season (albeit only twice, in a rather muted cameo role firmly ensconced on the bench). He then saw himself loaned out to a succession of teams between 2011 and 2013, running the gamut from League One to the Premier League.

His most notable accolade was being voted Milwall’s young player of the season, during his brief loan spell at the club in the latter half of the 2011-12 season. Interestingly enough Kane was shipped out to Milwall with fellow Tottenham reserves escapee and newly baptised England player Ryan Mason.

After being recalled to Spurs for the 2013 season, Kane managed to bag an extra time equaliser in the League Cup against Hull, and netted a penalty in the shootout that saw his team advance to the next round. It was the

April of 2014 that really put Harry Kane on the map for Spurs supporters, after he scored on his first League start for the team against Sunderland, and then proceeded to score for three games on the trot.

From here on in began the clamours from Tottenham fans for Tim ‘Tactics’ Sherwood to give this moon-faced marvel more game time.

That said, when Roberto Soldado is all you have to place your hopes on, even Elmer Fudd would seem a more convincing goal poacher.

Kane’s superlative season thus far has already been well documented, recently leading Owen Hargreaves to pontificate that he reminded him of Thomas Muller. He scored in a succession of League Cup, Europa and Premier League ties, but it was the incredible and bizarre events of Tottenham’s Europa group stage victory against Asteras Tripoli that made him a known face to fans outside of the North London faithful. In a sensational

“Another player of the month saw him become only the fourth ever player to receive the award in consecutive months” performance, Kane bagged his first hat trick for Tottenham, but not content to be seen as limiting himself and his sporting prospects, Kane manfully donned the gloves after Hugo Lloris received a straight red. Although the routine free kick and the resultant goal that Kane failed to keep out did not overshadow what was an outstanding performance, it does prove he’ll never have the improvisational talent of centre-back and erstwhile Peter Bonetti impersonator John Terry.

The seemingly unstoppable Harry Train hype train really got into full steam in January of this year, when Kane banged in two in Chelsea’s ignominious 5-3 defeat to Spurs, and another two against West Brom at the end of the month. After deservedly winning January’s player of the month, and probably more cumulative minutes of Match of the Day discussion than Sunderland have ever had, it

seemed like it couldn’t get any better for Kane.

But then not only did he manage to score in February against Liverpool and West Ham, he got the brace that saw Tottenham triumph 2-1 in the North London derby against Arsenal.

Another player of the month award saw him become only the fourth ever player to receive the award in consecutive months.

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r Kane’s career seems set to be the neverending story of footballing fairy tales. He scored after just 79 seconds on the pitch and three touches – exploding the fever pitch of anticipation that had built up around Wembley after he had to wait four minutes for a break in play to be subbed on. He was then justly rewarded with his first England start against Italy, and then his first game as captain for Tottenham against Burnley – although he failed to shine in both. There seems to be two camps when it comes to Harry Kane.

The first is comprised mostly of any English football fan that isn’t also a Spurs fan. For these world-weary individuals, jaded after a seemingly endless line of overhyped England players, Kane is either yet to be proven, or simply lucky. He may have a knack for poaching goals, and being in the right place at the right time, but he is no star yet.

For others, mostly to be found either amongst the throng at White Hart Lane, or the English press, Harry Kane is a latter day messiah – separated from Jesus only by the rather noticeable gulf in charisma between the two.

In reality, to be a sycophant in the court of Kane is far less of an offence than to underrate the man. With 30 goals in all competitions and an average of 1.9 goals per game it seems impossible to doubt his worth, even if his strikes aren’t all 66-yard Charlie Adam screamers. Wayne Rooney, another England player for whom there are as many wrongful detractors as there are appraisals, said he was “as excited as everyone else in the country about Harry”.

The question is not whether Harry Kane is an upstart, but whether he will burnout. Roy Hodgson has already said that Kane wants to play at the European Under-21 Championship over summer, and “finish the job that he

Photo: Wiki, nicksarebi. has done”. Although Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino intimated a summer break would do Kane well, U21 gaffer Gareth Southgate, who recently masterminded a remarkable 2-1 win over Germany, thinks it is unlikely clubs will block their players from attending the tournament.

So it’s with a resigned sigh and a stunning lack of originality that I bookend this piece with the already tired question: Kane he, or can’t he? It is too soon to make any effusive and sweeping long-term judgements on Harry Kane’s future. But in a footballing landscape where dancing Daniel Sturridge is struggling to recover his pre-injury form, and speed demon Sterling seems wont to take his career into his own hands and in the wrong direction; maybe Kane – who is as consistently anodyne as he is clinical – is precisely what England needs right now.

Can Australia stay as the number one ODI side?

Kat Lucas Sport editor Australia’s crushing defeat of New Zealand saw them march to their fourth World Cup out of the last five tournaments, but this could be a watershed moment for their unprecedented dominance.

Undoubtedly, head coach Darren Lehmann has fashioned the best One Day International side in 21st century cricket. As injury-prone skipper Michael Clarke departs, however, a number of other sides look as though they may be capable of taking that crown in four years’ time.

Co-hosts and finalists New Zealand are one such team. Under Brendan McCullum, the Black Caps have turned a corner in the last five years, and even went into this World Cup as joint favourites.

South Africa, too, have the credentials to be future champions, thanks largely to star man AB De Villiers. Their mentality is still in need of work, as they appeared to crumble

in the final overs of their semi-final against New Zealand. That should improve as they mature as a side, but before all else, they need to challenge their sense of entitlement that prevails in the dressing room, which led to rash promises to win the Cup before they had even boarded a flight.

Judging purely on the numbers of Indian fans who had bought tickets to the final, the Men in Blue will have been disappointed to have exited at the semi-finals this time around.

Whatever those ticket sales might say about their complacency, it is clear that India have constructed a winning mentality, no doubt from a couple of series against England, sure to give any ailing side a confidence boost.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been key in India’s transformation. The fact that they continue to blossom at such an incredible rate is testament to his leadership, and his ability to lead from the front should hold them in good stead ahead of 2019.

For Australia then, the question remains of how they will hold on to their place at the very top of world cricket. Since Clarke has chosen

to hang up his bat in favour of focusing on Tests, it is vital that the Baggy Green choose their next skipper very carefully indeed.

Down Under, it is often joked about whether the highest seat in the land belongs to the Prime Minister or in fact the Australian cricket captain. With that in mind, finding

“Down under, it is often joked about whether the highest seat in the land belongs to the Prime Minister or in fact the Australian cricket captain” someone within the ranks who can replace the heroic Clarke will be a hard task. David Warner is being largely touted as a future captain, but his often erratic behaviour off the field suggests that may be too big a risk for Cricket Australia to take. Quite apart from

Warner’s notorious bar fight with England’s Joe Root a few years back, it was only recently that he was reprimanded by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for an alleged racial slur on India’s Rohit Sharma, whom he told to “speak English”.

Steve Smith, on the other hand, is a far more suitable candidate for the captaincy. He has grown into his role after an extremely difficult period in the national side, and deserves to be rewarded accordingly. Wicket-keeper Brad Haddin would be another welcome choice, though he would be one of very few men to captain the Aussies from behind the stumps.

Having endured years of turmoil with Clarke’s back and knees, though, it would be surprising if Haddin is given the opportunity, chiefly because of ongoing doubts about his shoulder injury.

India and New Zealand are ultimately the biggest threat to Australia’s hegemony in the next four years. It is up to Lehmann – and his new captain to fence them off – but at the present rate, the next World Cup will certainly make interesting viewing.

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Issue 311 14th April 2015

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England performed heroically against France, but the damage had been done earlier in the day at Murrayfield Flickr: Dan Dyer

England endure Six Nations heartbreak Ireland crush Scotland to take the title on a dramatic final day in the 2015 Six Nations Tournament.

Rob Staniforth Sport writer England finished second for the fourth consecutive year, but it was Ireland who came out on top of one of the most impressive Six Nations weekends ever.

Four teams still had a mathematical chance of lifting the trophy going into the last day, three of whom equal but for their points difference. Wales, sat in third place, opened against perennial underachievers Italy, needing close to a record-breaking performance to challenge the top of the table.

Then, as the dust settled in Rome, eyes would turn to Edinburgh, as Ireland took on Wooden Spoon side Scotland, knowing only what they would need to do to trump Wales, and having to try and set a target for England, who were playing after them. Also in the equation were France, with victory possible, but only if the other results went their way.

An uneventful opening 20 minutes saw Italy & Wales tied at 6-6. Soon after, Jamie Roberts caught a marvellous little chip to score in the corner. Italy soon replied with a try of their own before a few penalties for each side meant the teams went in at half time with Wales 14-13 up. For everyone but the Welsh fans, this was fantastic news, as Wales needed well over 20 points to be able to challenge the top of the table. But whatever Warren Gatland and his staff had said during the break clearly had the desired effect as Wales ran in a stunning seven tries in the half, including a hat trick for the talismanic George North, amassing a 61-13 lead in the process.

However, this 48-point difference wasn’t to last. An incredible run from the Italian 22-m line by Leonardo Sarto saw Italy take a crucial

chunk out of their point difference by scoring in the corner. But with the final score still reading an impressive 61-20, it was advantage Wales in the title race.

To take the lead, Ireland needed a 21 point margin against a Scotland side whose promising autumn form had ultimately come to nothing. Given their lowly position, all their fans wanted was a contest, while all the Irish fans wanted was a rout. Almost immediately,

“England had only beaten France by 26 points three times, and France had only conceded two tries in the entire series” Ireland set the standard, Paul O’Connell crossing the try line after only four minutes.

Twenty minutes passed with only penalties, before Sean O’Brian took a line-out and went straight for the line, with seemingly no Scots in his path. Ireland were edging ever closer to the 21-point target, and in the bar, the growing number of England fans grew nervous, as every score after that would make the England team’s job increasingly difficult.

Scotland brought themselves back after 30 minutes, with Finn Russell scoring what would turn out to be the only Scottish try, and at half time, there were only 10 points in it. Unfortunately for England however, it was only upwards for Ireland therein, running in another two tries on their way to a comfortable 40-10. victory The 30-point difference ended Welsh hopes there and then, and presented England with a 27-point target for victory.

In the bar, you could just hear statistics over the crowd: England had only beaten

France by 26 points three times, and France had only conceded two tries in the entire series. The omens weren’t promising, but it was in England’s hands.

Such knowledge can often work wonders and so it proved here, with England taking the initiative in the early exchanges. Ben Youngs scored after just 90 seconds, but France weren’t out of it for long and duly took a 15-7 lead, with Noa Nakaitaci placing the ball down the instant before stepping out of play to score an incredible try. This woke England up, and both Youngs and Anthony Watson crossed before half time to give England a 12-point advantage, 15 points shy of the title.

The second half saw a never ending flurry of tries, with both sides throwing caution to the wind. England’s chance came when the French kickers started to miss the posts, while George Ford was slowly ticking over the scoreboard to extend the gap. With minutes left in the game, England led 55-35 and had possession on the French goal line. A converted try here would seal the championship, but it was not to be, as France turned over the ball.

Ireland had won the Six Nations by a mere six points.

It was heartbreaking for England, and tense for Wales and Ireland. Questions have been, and will continue to be asked about concussion, scheduling, and simply, “how?”

But for the neutral, the indifferent, or the person just watching whatever was on, it was an incredible advert for rugby union. Amongst the 221 points scored in the final weekend, 27 were tries, amounting to over a third of the try count for the entire tournament,.

It was the day that northern hemisphere rugby shone and, as many will hope, a sign of what is to come in September when the Rugby World Cup comes to the UK.

Flickr: Alberto Gonzalez Rovira

F1’s latest star Page 22

Flickr: David Pinkney

Norwich’s promotion push Page 22

This Girl Can Page 22