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Roald Dahl at 100 >Venue 23rd February 2016 Issue 322

concrete-online.co.uk @Concrete_UEA ConcreteNewspaper

EXCLUSIVE

Save our union ... from its own financial blunders

Photo: Flickr, .Martin

Dan Falvey and Peter Sheehan Editor-in-Chief and Deputy editor The Union of UEA Students (UUEAS) is experiencing financial difficulty after it underestimated costs in its July 2015-16 budget by £160,000, a Concrete investigation has uncovered. Since the oversight in the budget, UUEAS has burdened students with increased prices in union outlets, considered reducing sports clubs and has accused UEA of not giving enough funding to the organisation.

Errors made when budgeting for the 2015-16 academic year have resulted in the union unwittingly planning £160,000 of

unfunded expenditure. Costs associated with hosting events in the LCR were “significantly underestimated” when the original budget was prepared over the summer. The union had planned to run a break even budget, making neither a profit nor a loss, for the year between July 2015 and July 2016. However, the discovery of the missing costs now puts this in serious doubt.

The blunder, which was discovered in October, is another headache for the organisation which has been in financial difficulty for several years. Losses in the 201415 academic year amounted to £712,000, of which £261,000 was not budgeted for. This represented a 46% depletion of the union’s

cash reserves, leaving it with significantly less cash to fall back on after the latest monetary loss.

Minutes from union meetings, which are publicly available, indicate unforeseen losses in 2014-15 that stem from poor cost control in Events, the branch of the union that coordinates gigs, bars and club nights.

Concrete first reported on the union’s financial difficulty in 2012, when it was discovered that falling revenue from retail outlets and LCR had contributed to the union running a £250,000 deficit in 2011-12 academic year. Since then, Union Council has voted to prevent the organisation from making further redundancies, and from either cutting

or freezing staff pay. UUEAS believes that no further efficiency savings can be made without harming frontline services and student activities.

Documents presented last September to the Trustee Board – which is the union’s ultimate decision-making body under charities law – indicate that UUEAS has “considered actual reductions to student activity including the reduction of sports clubs”. Concrete understands that this exercise resulted in the union putting pressure on sports clubs which had fewer than 30 members to show how they were planning to increase their membership; Continued on page 6

23rd February 2016

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Editorial Ana Dukakis

COMMENTcartoon

The University of East Anglia’s independent student newspaper since 1992 Tuesday 23rd February 2016 Issue 322

Union House University of East Anglia Norwich NR4 7TJ 01603 593466 www.concrete-online.co.uk

Editors-in-Chief Dan. Falvey Joe Jameson concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk Deputy Editor Peter Sheehan concrete.deputy@uea.ac.uk

Union finances concerns all students So why are they only telling us half the story?

Joe Jameson Editor-in-Chief So I’m back! We write our editorials on the Sunday evening before we go to print, and as I write Dan is currently on a train back from Liverpool, so I get the delightful job of writing my second editorial on the trot.

Sorry about that.

Our front page story this issue is a big deal. That much is obvious from the figures that we’re talking about, but also the implications which it will have on students here at UEA, both now and in the future.

For the union to be in a situation where it has been forced to find £160,000, when it had been projecting a break-even budget is not only very serious, but also rather embarrassing for the institution. We have been working on this investigation for some months now, and the more that we learnt the more it became clear that this is both a complex issue, but also, that there is a level of trust which has been breached.

Starting off with the crux of this issue, this miscalculation, and that’s exactly what it is, was not due to unforeseen expenditure which the union has had no option to take onto its books, nor was it due to a sudden reduction in revenue from the shop, or the LCR; with more students on campus, these services are as busy as ever, and the union has itself argued that the shop is returning what is close to maximum profits. On this matter, the union has only itself to blame.

Blame is an interesting concept, and one which is of particular interest in this case, because the union, quite understandably, hasn’t been particularly keen on blaming

itself for this problem. Rather it has chosen to politicise the issue by launching the “Save Our Union” campaign. Whilst they are right, the union does need saving, the question that needs to be asked, is “from who”? The block grant from the university is small when compared to other unions, and it is disappointing that the university hasn’t accepted its responsibility to us, who after all are the reason why UEA exists in the first place. However, can you blame the university for not wanting to step once more unto the breach when the union has been running a deficit for over five years? The Save our Union campaign not only amounts to a refusal to accept responsibility for

“Can you blame the university for not wanting to step once more unto the breach?” their own mistakes, but more importantly it amounts to willful deception.

The documents which formed the core of our investigation were published on a hard to find section of the union website, and date back to September and October 2015. We were forced to use these because they were the most up-to date documents to be published. We struggled to find this information, and we knew what we were looking for, so how many students are actually aware of the specifics of this problem? The union has a commitment to transparency, but unless you have a lot of time on your hands and fancy trawling through the bowels of the union’s website, or happen to sit on union council, this transparency falls flat on its face, as so many

students have no real idea of what’s really happening. The Union’s attempt to increase the dialogue it has with students through it’s newsletter NewSu is simply not good enough, and doesn’t actually say anything more than union party line.

Blaming the university not giving the union enough money for the fact that prices have to go up in the shop in order to ensure that the union is able to meet its budgetary commitments, which may affect frontline student services, is only half of the problem.

It ignores a number of running issues, and comes across as patronising to students who are left feeling as though their own union doesn’t think they deserve to know the full story.

On a slightly more upbeat note, I’m very pleased to announce that from today, our applications for our senior editor positions (Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editor) are now open. If you fancy the idea of taking on my job, then now is your chance to investigate what opportunities Concrete could open up for you! Even though all of us on the current team still have three issues left on our tickets, we are opening applications early so that anyone who wants to apply has the opportunity to speak to either Dan or myself about what the role entails, and ask any questions that you might have.

For those of you thinking of applying for Editor-in-Chief, we ask that you create a mockup front page of how you would want Concrete to look should you take over. We understand that most people don’t have access to Adobe InDesign or know they’re way around such a programe, so please feel free to drop us an email and we can help you through using the software. All of the details about the application, including what you need to submit and when, are on our website, so do go and check it out!

Online Editors Rob Drury Tom Etheridge concrete.online@uea.ac.uk News Jessica Frank-Keyes concrete.news@uea.ac.uk Global Caitlin Doherty concrete.global@uea.ac.uk Features Olivia Minnock Alice Mortimer concrete.features@uea.ac.uk Comment Megan Bradbury concrete.comment@uea.ac.uk Science&Environment Jacob Beebe concrete.scienv@uea.ac.uk Travel Dahlia Al-Abdullah concrete.travel@uea.ac.uk Sport James Chesson Tom Gordon concrete.sport@uea.ac.uk Chief Copy Editor Tom Etheridge concrete.copy@uea.ac.uk Principle researcher Sam Naylor email TBC

Editorial inquiries concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk concrete.venue@uea.ac.uk Complaints & corrections concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk

Front page credits Top bar, left: Flickr, Tim Evenson Top bar, far right: Niamh Jones No part of this newspaper may be reproduced by any means without the permission of the Editors-in-Chief, Dan Falvey and Joe Jameson. Published by the Union of UEA Students on behalf of Concrete. Concrete is a UUEAS society, but retains editorial independence as regards to content. Opinions expressed herin are those of individual writers, not of Concrete or its editorial team.

News 23rd February 2016

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East Anglian voters would take the UK out of the EU, survey reveals >> Page 7

David Richardson, the vice chancellor of the University of East Anglia, whose salary increased by 6% between 2013-14 and 2014-15 Photo: Will Cockram for Concrete

Vice chancellors’ salaries rise 14% in five years Jessica Frank-Keyes News editor University vice chancellors’ salaries have increased by 10% in the past year alone and by 14% in the past five years. These increases are in comparison with an average rise of just 5% for other university staff. Vice chancellors received an average salary of £272,432 for the 2014-15 academic year, an amount 6.7 times the average salary of their staff, a report released last week indicates. The University of East Anglia’s vice chancellor, David Richardson, received an pay increase of 6% between 2013-14 and 2014-15, taking his salary from £238,000 to £254,000.

Data obtained by freedom of information (FOI) requests submitted by the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) shows that 23 vice chancellors at universities across the UK have received a pay increase within the last year, despite budgetary pressures and cuts to higher education funding. The organisation

Increasing numbers of US universities adopt Chicago Statement in support of free speech

submitted requests to 159 institutions, of which 18 did not respond. Universities UK, the group representing the interests of higher education institutions, has claimed that revealing how much some staff earn is “damaging” and makes it harder to recruit.

They state that institutions have spent £10m a year answering requests for information and that such a figure is unsustainable. The Freedom of Information Act is currently under review and there are calls for the higher education sector to receive exemption from the existing laws, due to claims that it is too expensive to comply with the amount of requests that institutions receive.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the UCU, said: “The time has finally come for a frank and open discussion about pay and transparency in higher education. The huge disparity in the levels of pay and pay raises at the top expose the arbitrary nature of senior pay in our universities”.

The report by the UCU also looked into flights, hotel and residential accommodation

Megan Baynes News reporter An increasing number of universities in the United States are committing to the Chicago Statement: an endorsement of the importance of free speech and the open debate of controversial ideas.

According to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (Fire), a pro free-speech, non-profit organisation, the statement has been adopted by Purdue, Princeton, American University, John Hopkins, Chapman, WinstonSalem State and the University of Wisconsin system.

Several other universities, such as Louisiana State, who sacked a professor in June of last year for using rude words in a

costs for vice chancellors. The University of East Anglia came fourth in the top 24 highest spenders on residential accommodation costs. The report indicated that the market sale value of the head of the university’s accommodation for the academic year 2014/15 was £1,400,000.

The report, Transparency at the Top?, is the second investigation by the UCU into senior managers’ pay at universities and is the result of FOI requests submitted by the organisation in autumn 2015. UCU said the report was “designed to shine a light on the arbitrary nature of senior pay and perks in universities”. A letter sent by the UCU to the former universities minister David Willetts in January 2014 criticised the decision-making procedures around excessive senior pay.

The letter said that the “sense of unfairness and hypocrisy” is worsened by the fact that “vice-chancellors’ pay is determined in such a secretive way. Minutes of remuneration committees are not made public, except in the most obtuse ways, and, all too often, the vice-

chancellor is a member of the committee that sets their pay”.

National Union of Students vice-president Sorana Vieru said that: “when university finances are being stretched to breaking point, and are over-reliant on ever-rising tuition fees, it is almost immoral to see the generous expense policies afforded to already extremely well-paid vice-chancellors”.

Responding to the UCU report, the NUS described the disparity in university staff pay levels as “obscene”. It criticised university heads for accepting these “pay cheques, and even free accommodation in some places... [while] students and colleagues are fighting against terrible contracts and employment practices for the lowest-paid staff – including cleaners and casual lecturers”.

“We are told there are no funds for improving teaching and learning, for more staff or for better mental health support for students, but there seems to be money for first class flights for university senior management”, it added.

class designed to prepare teachers for careers in inner-city schools, are now considering copying the University of Chicago and adopting this statement.

The Chicago Statement came in response to a number of universities cancelling invitations to controversial speakers and to perceived challenges to academic freedom.

The three-page document states: “It is not the proper role of the university to attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive.

“Concerns about civility and mutual respect can never be used as justification for closing off discussion of ideas, however offensive or disagreeable”. The responsibility of a university, it concludes, is not only to promote “fearless freedom of debate”, but also

to protect it.

The statement built upon the college’s own history as a protector of free speech.

However, the wide adoption of the statement came as a surprise, says Geoffrey Stone, chair of the committee that would restate Chicago’s principles on free speech.

Yet there are still limits to the Chicago Statement. Expression that “invades substantial privacy”, or which “constitutes a genuine threat” can be reprimanded. Additionally, the university has the right to regulate the “time, place and manner of expression”. However, the statement was written not only to allow free speech but to facilitate protest. With increasing campus protests across the United States taking place, it seems that more universities are looking to follow Chicago’s example in a bid to prevent academic censorship.

23rd February 2016

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News

Students must repay more than expected on loans as defaulting becomes a criminal offense >> Students will repay significantly more than anticipated >> Graduates could be prosecuted for not repaying loans Jessica Frank-Keyes News editor Students who have taken out loans since 2012 will now be forced to pay back a higher amount than previously agreed upon, the government has confirmed. The amount of money that the government intends to contribute to the repayment of student loans, known public subsidy estimate, has been lowered to 20-25% from an already decreased figure of 30%. This makes up for the money that graduates do not repay because, for example, part of their loan is outstandig nat the end of the maximum repayment period.

This significant cut to the resource accounting and budgeting (RAB) charge has been called an “unfair retrospective change” by critics of the planned changes.

The confirmation of a further cut to the public subsidy came in the form of a written question on the parliamentary website, theyworkforyou.com, posed by the Shadow education minister Gordon Marsden. It was addressed to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Sajid Javid, and asked: “What estimate he has made of the RAB charge for students entering higher education in England in 2016-17 who take up a full maintenance loan and tuition fees when finishing a three-year course?”

The response came from the Universities Minister, Jo Johnson, who said that: “We estimate that the RAB charge for full-time tuition fee and maintenance loans, and part time fee loans, is between 20% and 25%”. He explained: “These estimates take into account the changes to student finance and the new Treasury discount rate used to value the student loan book announced at the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015”. He went on to confirm that the government will not update this estimate until the summer.

Pam Tatlow, the chief executive of the highereducation think tank Million+, described this announcement as another “startling turn-around” by the government and stated: “We have long argued that the funding of higher education is routinely based on smoke and mirrors accounting, and this looks to be another example”. She called the reduction of the subsidy to around half its former estimate “a significant change to the figures which caused so much dispute before the May 2015 election”.

The current ongoing controversy over the RAB charge began with the government’s most recent autumn spending review in 2015. George Osbourne revealed on the 25th November that tuition fees would be extended to postgraduate students up to the age of 60 from 2016-2017, and that part-time undergraduates would become eligible for maintenance loans. He also announced that the public subsidy to cover unpayed loans was to be cut from 45% to 30%.

The previous estimate, that almost half of all loans would not be paid back, was a matter of long-running criticism, as it was said to be an unsustainable model for student finance.Repeated increases had been made to the proportion of the loan book that the government estimated would be written-off.

The announcement of the cut in 2015 broke the government’s pledge that the repayment threshold for student loans would be updated in line with graduates’ earnings and with inflation. The change was a retrospective move, meaning that current students and graduates will have to repay more than originally stated when they took out their loans. The £21,000 income threshhold at which graduates must begin to repay their loans was expected to be updated yearly but will now be subject to a five-year freeze. On average, a graduate with a full student loan can expect to repay £306 more in 2020-21 than in 2016-2017.

GuildHE, one of the two representative bodies for the higher education sector, stated at the time of this announcement that it was “absolutely opposed to this option”. The guild said the changes “will undermine the trust and confidence in the stability of the loan system for future students... and it will be more difficult to make an informed decision to go to university”.

Martin Lewis, chair of the taskforce on student financial information, called the changes to student loans: “an absolute disgrace”, stating that it “breaks the fundamental bond of politics that you do not impose retrospective changes”. As the founder of financial website MoneySavingExpert.com, he stated that commercial companies would legally not have been allowed to impose a retroactive increase in repayments and claimed that the announcement was “snuck in the back door”.

ANALYSIS Henry Newton looks into the hidden costs of higher education

W

e hear a lot about the £9,000-a-year tuition fees that students must pay to go to university, yet on top of this is the added cost of living which for most students can run into many thousands of pounds. Despite additional loans to help cover living costs for students from less well-off backgrounds many remain hard pressed. A report by the NUS found that the average student living outside London will spend £21,440 a year – including tuition fees – on their university education, yet

COMMENT Tom Sellars discusses the real issues of the student loans system

T

he student loans system has been misrepresented by many people, most notably by its’ detractors. The term student loans (including tuition fees) is in itself a misnomer: it amounts to a de facto graduate tax – and one which is incidentally repaid at a progressive rate. Therefore, while we accept that the taxpayer is funding higher education in the short term, with some repayment over a longer period of time, the student loans system is fatally flawed.

The repayment of loans is not the real issue. Rather, it is the way that the loans are measured. Whilst those from poorer backgrounds should be incentivised, the current system disadvantages those from marginally higher household incomes.

This creates a middle-income trap in which those from middle-incomes receive less on average because they receive less loan, and cannot be compensated by their families, so leading to lower living standards. The problem is not the repayment of loans, but is in fact one of poor measurement systems.

The problem with making this argument is, as it always has been, that people do not want to defend those from higher incomes: there exists a cult of the poor, from which causes and movements refuse to deviate, despite the disparaging reality.

government loans cover just £13,747 of this.

Students are therefore left with a shortfall of £7,693 a year to be covered either by their parents, additional loans, or a part-time job.

It isn’t really surprising that students have such great expenditure with the many different living costs that they are expected to cover. Not only must the basics such as accommodation and food for paid for: many courses require students to buy expensive text books – and in the case of one medical student mentioned on the NUS website, even equipment.

Living a healthy lifestyle can also be a drain on students’ bank balances.

Sportspark membership at UEA costs a hefty £45, and a year’s gym membership is often far more.

Yet in addition to these costs there are many others; in order to actually live the fun and exciting life of a university student such

Photo: Flickr, Howard Lake

things as nights out and meals out must also be covered. These are not often cheap, with a night out starting with an expensive entrance fee into a club, expensive drinks in the club, and then a taxi home at the end of the night.

Night-time spending aside, and with the cost of living seemingly continuing to rise, just coping with the basic costs of paying rent, bills and food shopping is leaving students increasingly strapped for cash. UEA student’s union even recently introduced a foodbank.

With students now paying more than ever to get a university education, and rising living costs in many cities due to greater student intake, it is not surprising that students are so hard pressed when it comes to money. Unfortunately the problem doesn’t look like it’s going to improve any time soon.

23rd February 2016

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News

UK universities should actively recruit poor students – minister Poppy Visser News reporter Jo Johnson, the universities minister, has asked higher education institutions to make a conscious effort to take in more underprivileged students into their student bodies. Last week, the Prime Minister gathered together university leaders at Downing Street to call for change in the low numbers of poorer students being taken in by universities at present.

Arguing that, while “huge progress” has already been made, Johnson says that there are still barriers blocking young people from disadvantaged backgrounds from going to university. Much needs to be done if the prime minister is to succeed his ambitious task of doubling the number of students from low-income backgrounds going to university by the 2020.

Johnson cites three important changes that universities should adhere to in a manifesto he calls “fair access guidance”.

Firstly, universities must pinpoint groups with low-admission figures – particularly Russell Group universities, a study of which found that only 6% of their intake of new students come from the most disadvantaged 20% of neighbourhoods in the UK. According to Johnson, higher education institutions must also become smarter with spending by concentrating on areas that need funding the most and simultaneously

COMMENT Joel Woolfenden on the role of universities in addressing social equality

I

t is a step in the right direction to allow increased social mobility and a reduction of the wealth gap. There is still an alarming link between parent and child income, suggesting a fault in the system that does not allow more disadvantaged children to progress through the ranks of society.

Making universities enlist those who are not currently desired students will encourage a greater variety of people to benefit from education, as well as

Non repayment of student loans to become a criminal offence Isaac Scoulding News reporter Graduates who fail to repay their student loans on time could be prosecuted, the universities minister has announced. Jo Johnson has announced that the government will have “zero tolerance” for anyone found to

be deliberately avoiding repayments of their student debt. It is also working to improve its information on ex-students now living and working abroad.

The news comes after the government recently scrapped maintenance grants for poorer students, raising the total possible student loan to £8,200. Universities are also set to take on a record number of students this year, meaning the amount of money lent to students will be higher than ever before.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) estimates that £8.3bn is currently owed by people who have fallen behind on their student loan repayments, making up over 10% of total student loans. £457m is said to be missing from people now living abroad.

Under the current system, former students employed in the UK automatically have money owed on their student loan deducted

from their monthly salary along with tax.

Those who work abroad, and who are selfemployed, must themselves make their payments to the Student Loans Company (SLC).

The SLC have identified Australia as the country with the largest number of ex-UK

£8.3

amount bn The currently owed to

the government by graduates who have fallen behind with loan repayments

students who are not repaying their student loans. The UK and Australian governments are set to co-operate in an attempt to solve the issue, sharing data on graduates from each country living in the other in an attempt to improve the collection of student debt.

In a written statement to the Commons,

targeting larger numbers of potential students, rather than simply “cherry-picking a few students with bursaries”. While he admits that the complex problem of participation rates cannot fall to universities alone to solve, institutions must put themselves out there and become accessible to all kinds of students by working together with other universities and building relationships with schools in disadvantaged areas. However, recruiting these students solves only one half of the problem; crucially, universities must endeavor to encourage students to stay on course and to want to proceed onto higher education.

Black and minority students in the UK are applying to university in increasing numbers, and yet, on average, black students are 50% more likely to drop out of university than their peers. Johnson deems this as being “unacceptable in a country that believes in aspiration and opportunity”.

Johnson also affirms that the fair access guidance also concentrates on students with specific learning difficulties and that higher education institutions must ensure that the experience of applying to and progressing through university attends to these students’ needs. He argues that this is not only important for the individuals involved, but for society; nobody should lose out on a place at their desired university.

Johnson claimed: “This new guidance will help our great universities rise to the challenge that the prime minister has set them”. improving the aspirations of those who currently don’t fancy their chances of getting into university.

Certainly, university acceptance should be based on merit. However, many people do not have the advantages that can allow them to fulfil their potential, which begs the question: how much talent and intelligence is the UK losing by maintaining barriers for huge portions of people as they progress through their education?

An important consideration, though, is how these changes are going to affect the quantity of students that go to university, a number that is already increasing rapidly.

The novelty and benefits of having a degree are at risk if it gets to a stage where everybody has one.

Universities do have a responsibilty in terms of combating elitism and improving access of underprivileged students to higher education, but they are not solely to blame.

universities minister Jo Johnson stated: “As more loans are issued to new students each year, it is vital the repayment process is robust, convenient for borrowers, and working efficiently to ensure the sustainability of the student finance system, and value for money, for the taxpayer”.

He continued: “We will act to recover loan repayments where it is clear borrowers are seeking to avoid repayment, consider the use of sanctions against borrowers who breach loan repayment terms and, if necessary, prosecute”. However, Mr Johnson did acknowledge that the vast majority of borrowers are making their loan repayments on time.

Students who took out loans after 2012 must begin to repay their loan when their annual salary reaches £21,000. If their earnings drop below that amount then their payments cease until their wage rises above it.

23rd February 2016

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News

Union in financial difficulty Continued from front page or else plan how they could bring down costs such as training fees. Speaking anonymously, sources have indicated that if such provisions were not considered, some groups may have faced a reduction in their funding or even closure.

In another attempt to raise revenue, the Finance Committee was advised in October of a then on-going review of prices in union venues. Despite the fact that a number of candidates in last year’s union elections had pledged to oppose any increase in prices in the bar, the Development and Oversight Board concluded that it did not think an increase in price “would be a particular issue for students”.

Since then prices for certain drinks at the union bar have been raised.

Even before the discovery of the error in the 2015-16 budget, the union was weighing up measures to “increase gross profit where the union lagged way behind both the high street and other [student unions]”, minutes from the organisation’s Development and Oversight Board reveal.

In addition to trying to raising income from its commercial operations, the union has launched the Save Our Union campaign to persuade the university to increase the amount of money it gives to UUEAS each year.

At present, this grant is one of the smallest in the country, leaving the union uncomfortably dependent on its flagging commercial income.

In order to retain current service provision, and without a significant increase in profit from sales, the union estimates that it will need

an additional £150,000 – which is an increase of 23% – from the university by 2019-20. However, this projection was before it became apparent that an even greater sum was missing from this year’s budget. In the event that no increase is forthcoming, the Trustee Board was warned that the union would have little option but to “consider closing services which will directly impact on the university’s overall ‘offer’ to students.

Commenting on the union’s financial issues, Activities and Opportunities Officer Yinbo Yu said: “Following a difficult budgeting period last summer the union’s financial position has now been stabilised and in 201516 we are unlikely to see operating losses of the scale seen in recent years.

“However, in the medium term the picture looks bleak. For every £1 the union spends on students, about 33p comes from a UEA grant and the rest comes from profits from things like the LCR and the Shop. The university has recently assumed that most of the increases in costs faced by the union in terms of inflation or pressure on services from more students could be met by bigger profits, but the Shop and LCR are pretty much at capacity and a big concern for students is prices and cost of living.

“So if the union can’t increase profit from the Shop or LCR, and the university won’t increase the union’s grant, major services in the union will get cut or disappear – meaning fewer clubs and societies and less access to advice or housing support. With the union finances now stabilised every extra penny into the union would help to keep costs down for students and keep vital services running”.

Photo: Flickr, Glenn Wood

UEA

ESSEX

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0 #DERBYDAY16

UEASTUDENT.COM/DERBYDAY

23rd February 2016

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7–9% wage boost East Anglian for getting a 2:1 voters in favour of Brexit – poll Daniel Jeakins News reporter

A study by the London School of Economics has revealed that achieving a 2:1 or higher at degree level will significantly boost your future earnings. The study found that five years after attending university graduates with either a first of 2:1 were earning an average of between 7 – 9% percent more than those with a 2:2. It was also found that this figure has significantly increased since the 1980s, making it more important than ever for students to perform well in higher education.

The study also pointed to a report from 2010 that suggested three out of four employeers filtered out applicants with lower degree below a 2:1. The report notes that “as more young people obtain degrees, the premium for graduating with a good class of degree increases”.

The study also found that the premium of obtaining a first as opposed to a 2:1 has significantly increased in recent years. In light of this, the researchers said: “If degree class acts as a sorting mechanism for graduate employers, this might be further justification for the current trend in the UK away from the traditional system based on degree classifications and towards the issuing of detailed transcripts and grade point averages”.

Caitlin Doherty News reporter A poll conducted by the East Anglian Daily Times has revealed that, if a referendum were held tomorrow, East Anglian residents would opt to leave the European Union.

Reporters surveyed 1,280 people from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire, of whom 38% would vote to leave.

34% would vote to remain in the EU, while 28% of the electorate say that they are currently undecided.

These statistics did not surprise Chris Hanretty, an expert on polling from UEA. “This poll shows that East Anglia is at odds with the rest of the UK: whilst the rest of the country leans very, very slightly [towards] staying in the EU, East Anglia looks as though it’s got one foot out of the door already”, he said.

This is apparently in keeping with the growth of anti-EU sentiment in the region, as was shown in last year’s general election.

Hanretty continued: “[These results] are not surprising to me: in the general election,

News Ukip racked up lots of voted in East Anglia, and did particularly well in the coastal towns compared to the big cities”.

Douglas Carswell, UEA graduate, Ukip’s only Member of Parliament and a vocal campaigner for the Out campaign, is encouraged by the statistics: “It shows that everything hinges on the undecided... The safe option is to vote to take back control from Brussels”.

A spokesperson for Britain Stronger in Europe said the In campaign however, was not disheartened by the findings, choosing to focus on the large undecided proportion of the electorate: “It shows that in East Anglia, like the rest of the country, there are a huge number of people who have not made up their mind. We will be telling them that Britain is stronger, safer and better off in Europe”, they said East Anglian business leaders last month joined the campaign by Britain for Business for the UK to leave the EU. The campaign is intended to express the voices of small and medium sized regional businesses in the debate. YouGov research indicated in January that 27% of firms this size believe that being a member of the EU limits their ability to employ staff, while 32% believe that EU membership hinders their workings.

David Cameron has succeeded in renegotiating the terms of Britain’s membership of the EU, and announced on Saturday that an in-out referendum would be held on 23rd June.

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23rd February 2016

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Global Are we living through a time of change for LGBT+ rights?

Caitlin Doherty looks at the advance of LBGT+ rights around the world, and at where there’s still work to be done

“M

ore progressive than America when it comes to LGBT rights” and “a gay Disneyland”: there are several countries that immediately come to mind when reading this. Is it France? Could it be the UK? Or was it Canada that was recently given this compliment by international news network NBC? The answer may surprise you: Vietnam.

The south Asian nation is one of several previously strictly conservative, anti-LGBT+ rights nations where perceptions towards sexualities other than heterosexuality are beginning to change for the better. Same-sex marriage is now permitted by law; as of 2015, those who undergo gender-reassignment surgery are now permitted to alter the gender noted on their birth certificate; and, last summer, a gay pride event in Nguyen Hue City was attended by an estimated 500,000 people, defying all fears of authoritarian oppression of the event and encouraging NBC’s surprising comments.

Across Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, opinions on the LGBT+ community are, slowly, starting to change for the better,.

However, as LGBT+ History month draws to a close in the UK, there are still notable problems to overcome before true equality of sexuality can be claimed.

Jamaica recently came under the media

ELECTION COUNTDOWN

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he American presidential race is now in full swing, and whilst the propaganda machines are in full swing ahead of the so-called Super Tuesday on 1st March – the biggest day in the election calendar thus far, when 15 caucuses or primary votes are held – analysts and pundits are still reluctant to share their two cents’ worth on what many are calling the closest election for decades.

Hilary Clinton and Ted Cruz are maintaining relatively strong support nationwide thanks to well-funded campaigns. However, their predictable policies are losing out to those of more

spotlight due to its treatment of those who do not identify as straight, thanks to a BBC Three documentary that followed two transgender British teenagers back to their ancestral and family homes in the country. Whilst reaction to the varied during their time on the island, people – especially family members and old friends – were usually open and welcoming of their transitions. This slow acceptance is reflected in vocal support from across the Jamaican community. Mark Golding, the justice minister, and Angela Brown-Burke, the mayor of the capital, Kingston, have both made public appearances at pride events, and journalists are increasingly calling for equal rights, all milestones that were inconceivable just a few years ago.

Political speeches and newspaper editorials, however, are not necessarily equated with acceptance, although, the increase in donations to organisations such as Jamaica’s TransWave – a blog and support group committed to “promoting transgender health and well being” across the country – imply that attitudes are becoming increasingly positive.

The work of internationally funded charity organisations such as TransWave is having a substantial impact on the welfare of members of the LGBT+ community across the world.

Similarly, the Solace Brothers, a Ghanaian gay advocacy group, is working to improve the lives of those who live in one of the most anti-LGBT+ countries in west Africa.

radical politicians. The infamous Donald Trump has been pulling ahead in the polls for a while, but socialist Bernie Sanders is providing the previously safe Clinton with some close competition.

Interestingly, American news website FiveThirtyEight have highlighted this growth in more obscure politicians and policies using data gathered from social networks and have collated it on an interactive map. According to the site “If Facebook likes were votes, Bernie Sanders would be on pace to beat Hilary Clinton nationwide by nearly a three-to-one margin and Donald Trump [would] garner more support than Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio combined”. If we are to trust the blue thumb, it seems that either Trump or Sanders will be making their inauguration speech next January.

Sanders holds his most significant leads in towns and cities with large student

Founded in Accra in 2012, the foundation trains legal professionals from the Ghanaian LGBT+ community in counselling advice and security support. These lawyers, alongside a police representative, several doctors and a local human rights lawyer are dedicated to providing support for the LGBT community across the country.

Legal support such as this is vital because homosexuality is illegal; they are determined to go some way to defying the “judges in

“The Ghanaian Methodist church has denounced ‘all forms’ of homosexuality” Ghana who... are very homophobic”, and who actively encourage the prosecution and incarceration of those who are found to have partaken in homosexual activity. It is institutional, traditional bodies such as these that lie at the heart of the homophobic cultures that, unfortunately, still dominate many nations striving to achieve equality of sexuality.

In both Ghana and Jamaica, sodomy is outlawed and the LGBT+ community is a sore point for conservative, traditional adults. According to a recent report “LGBT+ people still face violence and discrimination in Jamaica... The most powerful voice in

populations, particularly San Francisco, home to a large University of California campus and Boston, the city that is home to both Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

New York, home to both the Clinton and Trump campaigns, however, seems to be more divided. Clinton maintains a stong hold in Manhattan, whilst Trump has pulled ahead in the more suburban Staten Island as well as the urbanised Bronx.

These statistics should, of course, be taken with a pinch of salt. Facebook likes obviously do not equate to votes at the ballot box, and despite approximately 58% of Americans having a Facebook profile, the popularity of social media amongst young people in comparison to their older counterparts, and the disproportionate number of low-income and female users of the service render the samples provided by this statistic questionable.

opposition to LGBT rights is the church. Almost everybody goes to church so they have a captive audience and a lot of political influence”.

Likewise, in Ghana the leader of the dominant Methodist Church has delivered a speech denouncing “all forms” of homosexuality; a senior law lecturer spoke on the radio, calling for a “blistering crusade” against those in the LGBT+ community.

Even in the apparent Disneyland that is Vietnam, a 2014 report on LGBT+ rights in the country found that “LGBT+ people are discriminated against, physically and psychologically assaulted, abandoned, and ‘cured’ by their family by many harmful methods that involve... abuse”.

Whilst opinions and tolerances may be altering for the better amongst certain demographics of the world’s population, it seems that many countries are still bound by forms of institutionalised homophobia and inequality that come from tradition, old legislation and influential religious organisations. Whilst we should praise the progress towards equality of sexuality, its completion still seems a long way off.

Nonetheless, this research seems to capture the general dissatisfaction with the status quo of American politics. With the growing power of the hashtag, the soundbite and the viral video, 2016 could come to be known as the first election that can claim: “It was the Internet what won it it”.

Issac Scoulding

Photo: Flickr, Gage Skidmore

23rd February 2016

9

Global Supreme Court judge dies in office One of the most conservative judges on the US Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia (pictured right, with Ronald Regan), has died at the age of 79. Appointed by President Reagan in 1986, his death leaves an equal number of liberal and conservative judges in the court.

The White House has announced that Barack Obama will nominate his replacement once the Senate has returned this week.

It is rare for a Supreme Court judge to die in office, last happening in 2005. It provides President Obama with an opportunity to appoint a liberal judge, and thus tip the liberalconservative balance in favour of the former.

Previously, the conservatives dominated court has opposed liberal, Democrat reforms, such as Obamacare.

Republicans in the Senate are already under pressure to delay the confirmation of a new justice until the next president takes office in January 2017, in the hope that a judge will be appointed by a Republican. As part of the legislative branch of government, Senate Republicans have the power to filibuster and slow the process of replacement whilst Obama is still in office. Donald Trump, currently in the lead to be the Republican presidential candidate, has urged the Senate to “delay, delay, delay”. Meanwhile, Democrat candidate Bernie Sanders has encouraged the president to “get on with it”.

Canadian man solves his own disappearance case A Canadian man has apparently solved his own disappearance in what is surely one of the most unique investigation stories of recent years.

In September 1986, 21-year-old Edgar Latulip, a developmentally disabled man

ROUNDUP

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with a mental age of 12, disappeared from a home in Ontario, Canada, where he was receiving treatment for mental and emotional problems. Latulip’s grieving parents assumed he had committed suicide or been murdered.

They last saw him in a hospital in the city of Kitchener, in the south of the province, where he was being treated after a suicide attempt.

Edgar Latulip then wandered away without his medication and went on to become the centre of the area’s longest unsolved missing person’s case.

In 2016, almost 30 years later, Latulip – now living in the city of St Catherines – began to experiences flashbacks of his former life. After leaving the care home in 1986, he reportedly boarded a bus to Niagara Falls, but consequently suffered a head injury which caused a severe case of amnesia. Now 51 years old, he is soon to be reunited with his

delighted family, after social workers in St Catherines were able to discover his previous identity.

The head of a social work agency in the city has claimed that far more missing persons could be reunited with their loved ones, just like Latulip, if Canada’s Mental Health Act and privacy laws were rewritten to allow social workers to “act in the best interests of both clients and their families” Jessica Frank-Keyes Dolphin dies after selfies on Argentinian beach Wildlife experts and social media users have expressed outrage after footage emerged of tourists on an Argentinian beach passing around a beached dolphin for selfies before leaving it for dead on the sand. The dolphin died having been out of the sea for approximately 30 minutes.

Videos posted on Facebook appeared to show one of the tourists parading the beach in the tourist resort of Santa Terisita with the animal in his arms after having plucked it from the water. Subsequent photos show crowds of dozens gathered around the man and the creature.

The animal is believed to be a franciscana dolphin, of which there are only around 30,000 left in the wild. The species is therefore considered to be vulnerable to extinction.

The Argentinian Wildlife Foundation have confirmed that two dolphins were found on the aforementioned beach, one of which was dead when they arrived.

Niamh Jones Graphic: Wikimedia, US government Left image: Wikimedia, Bill Fitz-Patrick

applications for the go global party now open ueastudent.com/goglobal by 26/2

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LEAP SALE is coming....

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Features

23rd February 2016

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London’s calling: the cost of life in the capital >>Page 13

Next level: is your degree enough

Rebecca Graham asks whether a masters is really the way to go, and why we feel the need to go beyond an undergraduate degree

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oday, huge numbers of students are choosing to do masters and PhDs, or to take years abroad, so extending their time at university.

But why is this happening? Why are we all so keen to prolong our time spent collecting debt in education? One answer is that it makes us more desirable candidates for future employers. Having a masters, a PhD, or a year spent in Spain looks far more tempting on a CV than simply “graduated with a 2.1 in history”. But now that so many people choose to carry on in education, for how long can this continue to single us out from the herd?

Second-year history student, Rosie, said: “I think people just feel like they have to do them now. Everyone is, and so if you don’t you’re already a leg behind. I don’t particularly want to spend another year drowning in debt, but I’m afraid that if I don’t then any potential future jobs will go to those who have”. This fear seems to be a common one in students and is even a leading reason for choosing to do a masters, PhD or year abroad. I spoke to many students who were either considering their time at university, or who had already decided to do so: they all agreed that at least part of the reason behind this was the fear of life after graduation.

Second-year law student Estera admitted that when she was considering studying for a masters it was more with the intention of

avoiding the terrifying job market, than to make herself a more desirable employee. “I just didn’t want to work”, she said, “I wanted to coast forever”. Luckily, Estera’s degree means that a masters is not always necessary.

“As long as I get a training contract after I graduate I should be fine. But it’s scary, you hear so many horror stories about unemployed graduates and I just never wanted to be one of those”.

The fear of being the unemployed graduate, desperately searching for a job, struggling financially and living at Mum and Dad’s indefinitely seems to be the biggest motivator for a lot of students choosing to stay at university for longer. Second-year English student Jack said: “I definitely want to stand out more to employees but, to be honest, I would do it mostly to avoid going into the real world”.

The sheer number of students who are choosing to do masters purely out of fear goes to show just how bleak a view most of us now have of the real world, so much so that we would prefer to spend another year gathering debt. For many of us, the idea of finding wellpaid, enjoyable employment any time soon after graduation seems little more than a fairy tale. The job market ahead of us looks like a vicious, unforgiving and cut-throat ordeal and so, funnily enough, it seems like most of us would like to put it off.

Photo: Flickr, Anna Majkowska

Jessica Rhodes discusses the recent death of a whale on a Norfolk beach, and gives her experience of the efforts to save it

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n Thursday 4th February, a sperm whale was found stranded on Hunstanton beach on the Norfolk coast, the latest in a spate of whale deaths on British beaches this year. Many people from the surrounding area travelled to Hunstanton to see the beached whale and find out what could be done to help. Some, myself included, made journeys of over a hour to get there.

It was unclear what would constitute a successful trip. Where people there to witness a phenomenon? If not, what kind of experience were they looking for? By the time many got to the beach, seeing the whale

Photo: Geograph.co.uk, Nick R. would have been impossible due to the tide, and by this point the whale was likely to be dead in any case. For those who travelled at this time, a successful trip might have been described as getting there and finding the whale was already gone. For me, it was arriving in time to ask the local people about what they thought this all meant.

Although little is known about why there have been so many whales stranded on the shores of Europe recently – 30 since the start of 2016 – everyone has a theory. When I first arrived, one man told me that he thought it was either the rising temperature of the water, or possibly the radar that fishermen

use now: it confuses the sonar the whales use for their own navigation. Another man pointed to the offshore wind farm, telling me he suspected it was their fault, frowning and remarking: “I don’t like them”. Possibly more frightening, some speculators are saying that this is quite a tragic but natural part of life – sometimes whales strand themselves.

The fact is that the whales are coming to the North sea for reasons we cannot understand right now, and we don’t know how to deal with them. We want to explain it, we want to document it with selfies beside them, we want to decide whether it is morally right to even go and visit them;

whether to take children on school trips to see the bodies; or whether to avoid the beach all together out of respect. The CND slogans graffitied onto two of the whales beached at Skegness are possibly misguided: most likely well-meaning but, in reality, ridiculous. It was an appeal for people to see the truth of what we are doing to the ocean, when in fact, at the moment, there is no truth.

On the Norfolk coast, there is no protocol for getting a 15,000kg sperm whale back into the water, just as there is no protocol as to what you are supposed to think or feel when it is there on the beach. Arguably, that is the only thing that is clear in all of this.

23rd February 2016

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Features

Appropriation or appreciation?

Styling in popular culture

Photo: Flickr, Steven Gerner

Georgina Hewison discusses whether the use of different cultures in the media is celebration or stereotyping

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t’s starting to seem as though, behind the success of every creative mind in the media industry, there has been at least one terribly planned “exotic moment”. In Western popular culture it has become a trend, most common in music videos, for artists to use a country or culture other than their own, to bring a certain aesthetic to their work. Often, these cultures are over simplified to fit certain stereotypes and please Western viewers.

This practice is called cultural appropriation, and the latest offenders are Coldplay and Beyoncé in the music video for Hymn for the Weekend. Directed by Ben Mor and filmed in Mumbai, two of the biggest Western music icons place themselves within the culture in a seemingly festive manner, focusing around the celebration of Holi, an ancient Hindu religious festival. However, following its release before Coldplay and Beyoncé’s planned performance at the Super Bowl, audiences from around the world took to Twitter to debate what everyone had been thinking throughout the whole video: is this cultural appropriation or harmless appreciation?

Simply put, cultural appropriation is the use by one culture of the traditions and expressions of another. The problem lies in the way that this practice almost always involves a majority group or Western culture appropriating the culture of a minority group or of a non-Western culture. While the western appropriation is praised or admired – think Kendall Jenner wearing a Bindi as a fashion accessory – the marginalized group is commonly discriminated against for their

own use of a particular item, or for their participation in a practice.

Popular Western culture tends to feature these historically traditional practices as a trend only within a whitened and Westernised environment. This is harmful when included in multiple media platforms: it is commercialising foreign traditions to be easily consumed by Western audiences.

As is the case for India, it is common for music videos to ignore its complexities and to instead portray the country as an overexotic and spiritualsed backdrop in order to produce more exciting content.

In Coldplay’s video, Chris Martin plays the role of a tourist travelling through the streets of Mumbai, and we see through his eyes what is represented as an almost fairytale version of everyday life. He walks through groups of young children throwing vibrant colours at each other in celebration of Holi, and the band ends up performing for them in the streets.

In his rickshaw tour of Mumbai, Martin also passes one too many holy men, and even a child dressed as Lord Shiva. As he sits in a neighborhood cinema, he watches Beyoncé take on the role of a Bollywood actress, “Rani”, wearing traditional Indian clothing and henna on her gesturing hands. This depiction of Beyoncé is part of a wider debate in which Coldplay have been criticieed for using women of colour as props to portray “exotic” love interests after their 2012 release of “Princess of China” featuring Rihanna as an (incorrectly dressed) Geisha-type beauty.

In the overall illustration, it seems as

though Ben Mor and Coldplay were aiming for a celebration of India’s lively culture, but missed all the facts. UEA student Shaivya Ramani, who was born in India, says that “the issue here is not the appropriation, but the orientalism”. The representation of India throughout many years of western media has been that of multiple stereotypes that keep its culture in the past, while the real India is “a country of high-rises and economic boom.

We don’t play Holi every day. We’re not all about Hindu gods. We’re a secular country that nobody really cares to look into the culture of before [they use] it”.

It is true that we are now in a time in which the global is the local and we are seeing different cultures in our every day lives. But, when powerful western industries, keeping in mind a prominent imperialist past, wrongfully depict cultures and profit from of this misrepresentation, it is damaging to the development of a country.

W

hile Coldplay is the most recent example of ignorant portrayal of South Asian culture, it is far from beingy. Indeed, it seems to be a step up from music videos of popular artists in the last year. DJ Snake, Major Lazer and MO’s music video for Lean On presented the group as having the time of their lives lounging around in inaccurate Indian clothing, occasionally joining in dancing with the Indian women entertaining them. In addition, Iggy Azalea’s music video for Bounce also misused an Indian as she sang about getting wasted in a club while actually in a Hindu temple,

all whilst wearing a bindi and a traditional Hindu headpiece.

What is common to both of these examples is that India and its people are seen as a backdrop, completely irrelevant to the music being sung, adding only an “exotic” touch to Western music. What Coldplay did successfully achieve in comparison was the featuring of real Mumbai residents: Bharatanatyam dancers in traditional clothing, Indian Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor, and even the lifelong employee of the local cinema shown. While the fact that one music video is less offending than the other doesn’t make misuse of traditions for Hollywood success acceptable, it does bring into debate where the line between appreciation and ignorant appropriation lies.

Overall, Coldplay and Beyoncé’s fiveminute festivities in India are a stereotypical, historically and religiously condensed view of a complex country. The portrayed Westerners’-paradise fails to take into consideration the realities of everyday life in Mumbai, as the long-standing image of South Asia in the media has become a profitable tool for artists in Western popular culture.

What goes deeper than the argument of cultural appropriation is the ignorance in portrayal of cultures that aren’t our own.

Multi-cultural inspiration for creative media is a necessary process and shouldn’t always be labeled as appropriation. However inviting western culture to celebrate India through only images of poverty, religion, and Bollywood, damages any tolerant understanding of their country.

23rd February 2016

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Features

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GBT+ History Month has been in full swing for the past few weeks, with campus full of banners and flyers publicising the campaign. Although UEA hosts events for LGBT+ students throughout the year through the society and peer support group Pride, there is no doubt that February has seen an increased amount of events aimed at both providing support for LGBT+ students and for raising awareness of LGBT+ issues.

There have been stalls in the Hive throughout February providing information on LGBT+ issues and encouraging LGBT+ students and allies to raise awareness through a blackboard campaign explaining why History Month is so important. This involved leaflets designed to help understand why certain words for LGBT+ people are not acceptable to use due to their history of oppression. There have also been bake sales to raise money for charities such as Action for Trans Health that tend not to get as much publicity but which help groups that need support. Other events have included the Scholars Bar Poetry Night and the upcoming LGBT+ club night at the LCR, Colours, which is open to all and which will take place on Thursday 25th February.

On 15th, UEA Pride and Amnesty hosted a panel discussion on intersectionality in to LGBT+ community, which looked at the links between sexuality, race and faith. LGBT+ movements often come under scrutiny for not being inclusive enough toward minorities within the community – people of colour, people of faith, people with disabilities, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, aromantic, transgender and non-binary people, and the plethora of other identities that do not garner the same visibility and understanding as does the mainstream narrative of cisgender white gay people.

Intersectionality and inclusivity need to be put at the forefront of the LGBT+ movement.

The term, coined by Kimberle Crenshaw, describes the interconnected nature of social identities such as race, sexuality, gender and class, and the impact that each of these has on one another. Having an intersectional identity can make someone feel as if they doesn’t entirely belong in one group or another; they can face difficulties from either side for not being “enough” of that identity to truly belong.

The LGBT+ community tends to pride itself on being non-discriminatory and welcoming of all. While this can be true in certain places, at other times the difficulties that come from being a minority within a minority are often disregarded by members of the LGBT+ community who hold the most privilege, and who tend to dominate queer spaces.

It is essential that we are inclusive of intersectional identities rather than excluding or erasing them. Often, issues that arise from being of a particular race are ignored – for example, when mainstream LGBT+ campaigns do not include people of colour in their media, or when they fail to acknowledge the differing backgrounds that LGBT+ people come from and they ways in which their situations and struggles can differ from those portrayed.

Additionally, racist attitudes and the fetishisation of minorities continues to be prevalent in the LGBT+ scene. For example, Black culture and African-American vernacular English are often appropriated by white gay men to create the caricature of the “sassy, independent black woman” in the white imagination. Meanwhile, people of colour are often excluded from LGBT+ movements or fetishised for their bodies. In other cases, their historical role in the movement has been erased, such as the black and latin transgender activists, Marsha Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, the leaders of the Stonewall Riots who are often excluded from Western memory, as was the case with the 2015 film Stonewall.

On a deeper level, this exclusion and erasure of intersectional identities leads to a lack of good provision of health care for LGBT+ people from minority backgrounds.

This happens in attempting to seek physical

Photo: Flickr, Tim Evanson

LGBT+ History Month: inclusive or for the privileged few?

Aliyah Rawat looks at how UEA is celebrating LGBT+ History month, and questions the inclusivity of the campaign as a whole

and sexual help from doctors whilst having their sexualities ignored or questioned due to the eurocentric, able-bodied projection of what a gay person looks like.

This is also true of access to mental health care. Mental heath issues are known to affect a large proportion of LGBT+ people, and it is known that people from ethnic minorities have significantly less ease of access to therapies and mental health care and face a far more serious cultural stigma surrounding these issues.

Combining these two factors contributes to an increasingly more complex and difficult situation when it comes to the societal and medical treatment of LGBT+ people of colour.

This affects how welcome people in both LGBT+ and cultural communities, which are already less welcoming and understanding of LGBT+ people of colour.

W

ith the official theme of LGBT+ History Month this year being religion, belief and philosophy, it is important to also consider the issues presented for people who are both LGBT+ and of faith.

These identities are commonly entirely erased, with those who have not come from such a background doubting how someone could be LGBT+ and religious at the same time. This fails to understand that being LGBT+ and of faith is a valid and real identity, and that both of these factors are equally important parts of a person’s identity and do not necessarily contradict each other.

UEA has grown increasingly inclusive, with Pride having organised screenings of films Paris is Burning and Girlhood, which provide representation of issues faced by LGBT+ people of colour as well as educating people about their history. Pride also hosts

sober socials such as a games night on the 18th, which provide a more welcoming space for those who may not feel comfortable in club or drinking-heavy environments because of their religious beliefs or disabilities, or for other personal reasons.

Other groups which, up until recently, have been underrepresented such as the asexual and aromantic communities have seen more awareness-based events on campus. This has included campaigns such UEA Is Ace, which held awareness stalls, videos and discussions; and events during LGBT+ History Month such as Ace Space which provided a space for asexual and aromantic students to meet and talk about their experiences.

Although we are making progress with being more inclusive toward LGBT+ people with identities that do not fit into the mainstream, the process is not by any means finished. Being inclusive in the LGBT+ movement and community should not be a matter of ticking boxes and tokenising experiences. It should be something we aim toward all year long, and not just for the sake of LGBT+ History Month. Marginalised identities still exist outside of when they are represented through one-off events, and it is when they are under-represented that they struggle most.

Listen to and don’t devalue the experiences of LGBT+ people of colour, of faith, with disabilities, or are of sexualities or genders that have been less well represented. Whilst everyone has their struggles, it is important to be aware of the privileges you hold and how others may have had vastly different struggles.

We should continue to work toward being more aware of and more inclusive toward the under-represented marginalised identities.

23rd February 2016

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Features

London’s calling – but I can’t afford it

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love London. It’s the city where everything’s happening, in every part of culture. From the huge stores of Oxford Street to the food stalls at Borough Market, the vibrant nightlife of Soho, to the alternative scene in Camden: it seems as though there is nothing London fails to offer.

Each location can be reached by only a short journey on the tube, enabling us to experience all the culture the capital offers in one sitting. I even got beach vibes relaxing on a deck chair in Hyde Park one summer before venturing back to the not-quite-so-relaxing Liverpool Street Station within a matter of minutes.

Because of this, I, like many people, would like to experience living in the city while I am young – when I can appreciate the utter madness and vibrancy of it all whilst aiming to put my foot in the door of the working world. I am, however, slightly put off by the knowledge that a single pint will set me back a fiver.

But it’s not just the cost of post-work pinots that will make us poor: it’s the sheer cost of having a roof over our heads. Last year, according to figures from HomeLet, the average monthly rent for houses and flats in the capital was £1,500, the highest it had ever been. And this figure is only rising.

So how are so many people doing it?

Research shos that the average wage in London is double than that of the rest of the UK. If you’re in a top job, you’re winning. For

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ssignments, tests, research projects...

To most students, these words are probably a horrifying reminder of all the coursework, examinations and seemingly endless revision we did over the two years of A-Level study that got us our offer to study at university. However, while 70% of UEA students are still applying with the standard three A Levels, the rise in applicants with alternative qualifications is growing and, surprisingly, these assessment descriptions in fact come from the Btec website. New statistics published by Ucas reveal that 26% of all students in England who gained a place on a degree course had at least one Btec, compared to 14% in 2008. The BTEC is the fastest growing route into higher education.

Over the last three application cycles, 15% of undergraduate students who have received places at UEA applied with either just Btec qualifications or with a combination of Btecs and A Levels. A second-year English student said the combination of the two courses allowed her “to spread out the work load” and stated that “the tenacity needed for the constant demands of the Btec better prepared me for the amount of study necessary at university”. She also discussed the Btec course’s further positive implications for university study, stating that it “provides you with a wide knowledge base that isn’t just based on what is needed for an exam”.

Arguably, learning to “assimilate research

Photo: Flickr, Daniel Chapma

Alice Mortimer discusses big-city living, and whether or not the price should put us off taking the plunge

those of us wishing to work in the media and arts industries in particular, the big smoke is often regarded as the place to be.

Don’t get me wrong: it is a scary prospect knowing that your salary will need to match your extortionate rent, but this is exactly why the capital is suited for the young and free. I do not plan on having a family to feed. At this point, it’s just me. It is likely that my starting salary would not match my rent; I will have to be a cliché and live off baked beans; and I will get into some debt. But if it is something you want to pursue, perhaps it should be seen as an investment in experience.

Maybe it has been growing up with

All hail the Btec?

Jessica Frank-Keyes examines the rise of the Btec and what it means for university applicants

into a structured and coherent piece of work” – without the pressure of a time-limited exam – is more similar to university-level study and coursework-based assessment, especially in arts and humanities subjects.

However, this increase may not be as straightforwardly positive as it seems. A quick look on Google indicates that “Btecs are rubbish” is the second suggested search term, and the qualification continues to be viewed as a softer option compared to the more academic-seeming A Levels.

But students’ perceptions of the quality of Btec courses seems to be pretty positive.

A first-year UEA student described the qualification as “more useful than A Levels as I was looking for quotes myself and creating my own arguments”. Despite feeling “much less prepared” for university study, a secondyear student said that if she could go back in time and do A Levels instead she wouldn’t, instead describing the choice as “tricky”.

UEA’s head of admissions, Alix Delaney, spoke to Concrete about the rise in Btecbased applications. She talked at length about the positive implications of BTECs for increasing engagement and diversity among applicants, stating that young people from disadvantaged communities were 10% more likely to enter higher education in 2014 than a year earlier. However, from an admissions perspective, while “UEA – like most universities – treats Btec applications in exactly the same way as A-Levels, we do have to be careful about certain things”.

She explained that for specific courses, for example: engineering, which contains a lot of maths content, “the admissions office and the course director need to ensure that students who have taken the Btecs route have studied the modules we require before we can make an offer”.

Btecs are graded from pass to merit to distinction, with a D* grade providing

sitcoms such as Friends, where big-city living is promoted as the lifestyle for single twentysomethings trying to find their feet, but I know the city is where I want to be before I have to do all the boring stuff growing up entails, and I don’t think I am the only one who feels this way.

The conflict between moving back home on minimal rent and moving to the city on maximum rent is one many of us may deal with – a case of sensible versus perhaps slightly foolish. Sometimes we may just have to take the plunge and pray it all works out.

I can’t afford London, but maybe I’ll just go anyway. further recognition for those who really excel. The course is looked positively on by employers and higher education providers.

At a consultation with the examining body for Btecs Btecs, Pearson, universities discussed the virtues of the course, acknowledging that it provides students with transferable skills. Teamwork, confidence presenting and independently researching are all valuable assets in the job market and these skills are focused upon more in Btec study than at A Level, which concentrates on academic knowledge and exam preparation.

However, higher education institutions also raised concerns, pointing out that the so-called resit-culture of Btecs and the lack of external marking contributes to a lower level of factual knowledge and poorer maths and English skills in the students. Certain schools of study at UEA, including maths and the four-year chemistry course, are unable to accept Btecs at all, due to the student’s lack of essential factual knowledge for higher education courses.

Despite a certain Yik-Yak snobbery over “BTEC-Barry”, a 4% increase from 2011 means that in 2015, 15% of 18-year-old university applicants were enrolled on a Btec. As A Level numbers continue to remain static and the school leaving age population approaches a demographic dip expected to last around five years, it’s clear that Btecs are definitely here to stay.

23rd February 2016

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Cameron’s prison The personal lives of politicians are reforms place a irrelevant Thomas Gymer needed focus on M rehabilitation Emma Slaughter

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arlier this month, the Prime Minister announced proposals for a dramatic “overhaul” of Britain’s penal system, starting with six “reform prisons”, in what he deemed the “biggest shake-up of prisons since the Victorian era”. Many of us will no doubt be greatly skeptical of any speech which claims “Michael Gove is just the man for the job”.

However, for the time being, I’m willing to put this to one side, and to focus on the key issues targeted by the proposed reforms, including increased autonomy for individual prison governors; reducing re-offending rates by improving literacy and employability; and the introduction of prison league tables.

Firstly, Cameron stated that a key issue with the current system can be found in the rules imposed upon prison governors and officials with regards to the day-to-day running of a prison, which he believes are are too strict.

Making changes that benefit prisoners in education, rehabilitation and general safety is a stressful and difficult process, one which he claims is “infantilising the staff”. The proposed answer is to give prison governors greater power and reduced limitations: “They’ll be given a budget and total discretion over how to spend it”.

It is an appealing idea: giving the reigns to those who work within and fully understand the prison system, allowing them the freedom to make the improvements they deem necessary. Nonetheless, it is important to maintain a level of transparency with regards to how the money is allocated, and to ensure that the reforms provide the means for improvement and change. It would be easy enough for the government to place responsibility and accountability on the shoulders of the prison officials, without providing them with a budget to make any significant improvement.

Secondly, Cameron spoke of the importance of reducing prison overcrowding by looking not only at reducing crime, but equally by improving basic education inside; by reducing restrictions on announcing unspent convictions in the early stages of job applications; and, more controversially, by the deportation of foreign inmates. By making prison education a more attractive option to teachers through fast-track programmes and financial incentives, Cameron aims to provide prisons with effective basic education in areas that will allow offenders to become more employable. Furthermore, not having to initially declare unspent convictions in application processes may allow people a chance to prove their worth, without being automatically rejected at the first hurdle.

The most noticeable aspect of Cameron’s speech was that it looked at the individual human behind the offender: the reasons they ended up there, and the lack of opportunities available post-imprisonment.

More importantly, there was significant focus on the fact that “49% have an identifiable mental health condition” and that it is important to overcome the false stereotype of prisons being too soft, or “holiday camps”, acknowledging that they are places of significant isolation, abuse, self-harm and frequent suicide. It feels like a first step in the right direction, admitting it’s in everyone’s favour to provide a supportive prison environment and greater focus on rehabilitation.

uch attention has been focused in the last week on what the family members of various politicians have been up to: David Cameron’s mother and aunt have joined the dissenting voices against the government’s cuts, and George Osborne’s brother has been struck off as the medical register following an inappropriate relationship with a patient.

Politicians’ families have always been a source of embarrassment and scandal, although there’s no reason they should be. Like the rest of us, politicians have no control over members of their family, and no one wants to be judged by the words and deeds of the people related to them. If they are mentioned, then it should be owing to their own merit. For example, the reports about Larry Sanders’s appointment as health spokesperson for the Green Party ought to focus on his own achievements, rather than the fact that he’s Bernie Sanders’s brother.

Being related to someone is no indication that you will share their attitudes and beliefs, so why should they be used as indicators of what a politician might feel or do? Even their claims about their political relations should

be treated with a certain level of scepticism.

For example, Piers Corbyn, Jeremy Corbyn’s older brother, has previously suggested he believes the Labour leader is a climate change sceptic. Whether or not we should pay credence to this, on the other hand, is very much open for debate.

We ought to care less about the personal lives of politicians in general. Affairs, divorces, anything that causes a scandal, yet in no way affects their politics, all receive far more attention than they should. Will a politician sleeping with someone younger change their opinions on tax or healthcare? Is the messy break-up of their marriage going to alter their views on immigration? We don’t vote politicians into office to be paragons of virtue: we vote them in to make policy decisions.

This isn’t to say that all scandals are irrelevant. Last week, it was reported that George Osborne’s family business had not paid corporation tax for seven years. The difference here is that the potential for the Chancellor of the Exchequer to be personally benefitting from lax corporation tax rules could well affect how he votes on those rules.

It is both something he is directly involved with, and something which could influence policy decisions; therefore, it is something the public should be made aware of.

It isn’t just the relevance of scandals which needs to be considered, but equally of the less click-bait stories. Some are applicable: Jeremy Corbyn’s not singing the national anthem, for example, as it signals his republicanism, which is an area of his politics. Others are less so: Ed Miliband’s two kitchens, Cameron wanting to send his son to private school, Corbyn’s bike. These are the stories which do not matter, but the press reports on them as if they do; the problem is that they fail to distinguish between the two.

The media can influence how people vote, and people shouldn’t be voting based on non-stories. Clearly, this is an issue we need to address.

Of course, we can expect nothing else from the press. Scandal sells, so they will continue to report it, even if it just a story about the third cousin twice removed of a minor backbencher being arrested for stealing a hat. (To the best of my knowledge, this hasn’t actually happened.) The power to push against this lies with us, the readers; by not reading the stories, by not clicking on the headlines that have no place in the politics section of the website, we might eventually be able to persuade them to stop bothering. If nothing else, it might at least make politicians’ Christmas dinners a little less awkward.

The British media needs to re-establish its credibility Sam Mckinty

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he British media is an irrefutably powerful force that affects every aspect of society, but which – believe it or not – isn’t always totally reliable. As if to qualify this, a YouGov poll has revealed the UK media is perceived to be the most right wing and biased in Europe.

Given that the YouGov data is qualitative, it’s easy to poke holes in. It’s based entirely on how a select group of people from across Europe perceive the British media to behave in its reporting, and the perceptions could be entirely inccurate. Nonetheless, if you cast your mind back to the coverage of the 2015 general election, you’re left with the unavoidable conclusion that the people may well be right.

During the months leading up to the election, the polls put Labour and the Conservatives on an even footing, with roughly one third of the vote each. Although this turned out to be wrong, the grossly imbalanced reporting which accompanied this polling data could well have contributed to its accuracies. According to Election Unspun, the coverage of the general election was overwhelmingly hostile towards Ed Miliband, with national newspapers supporting David Cameron, and outnumbering support for his challenger five to one. From the liberally applied Red Ed tag, to the helpful assessments of his wife’s clothing choice and a character assassination of his late father, it’s clear that the election brought out the worst in the media. A personal favourite was the comment in the Financial Times, which advocated a continuation of the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition because Miliband was – God forbid – “too preoccupied with inequality”.

The weighting of the coverage also reflected

Photo: Wikimedia, ProtoplasmaKid a clear bias: the Tories received 11% more coverage than Labour.

Speaking to Politico, US campaigner and Labour party adviser David Axelrod remarked: “I’ve worked in aggressive media environments before, but not this partisan.”

Even Andrew Neil, a former editor of the Sunday Times, one of Rupert Murdoch’s publications, was shocked, commenting: “All pretence of separation between news and opinion [has] gone, even in ‘quality [newspapers]’ ”.

The timing of this change in the British print press represents a clear ambition to cast doubt and to affect public opinion, one which seems hell-bent on blurring the lines between opinion and fact, committed to furthering its own agenda with the least balance possible.

Has the bias now become so obvious that the majority of the public are aware of it, as the YouGov poll suggests? For instance, I know that if I pick up a copy of the Daily Mail or the Sun, the contents are likely to be overexaggerated and broadly sympathetic to a right-wing way of thinking, and I’ve no doubt I’m not the only one. This isn’t necessarily a reason to avoid them. Reading an opinion piece that provides an argument in opposition

to your own can highlight the weaknesses in your own thinking, and educate you to new ways of thinking.

Nevertheless, there’s clearly an issue in media ownership. Rupert Murdoch has a virtual monopoly on the British media, and the agenda of the publications under his ownership will always reflect his own opinions. Back in 2011, Ed Miliband was early to call for Murdoch’s resignation in the wake of the phone hacking scandal, so there’s clearly bad blood between the two; the coverage of Miliband’s politics was never likely to be fair and balanced.

The real issue, therefore, with the British media is inaccuracy in its reporting, and a conscious effort to mislead the public into conforming to the opinions of monopolising media moguls. The continued reporting style and insistence on blurring the line between fact and opinion has badly damaged the reputation of the British press, and as long as the public are concerned with this bias, a broad spectrum of opinions published in newspapers will never be taken for what they are, or should be: an attempt to educate the public. Fleet Street has a lot of work to do to re-establish its credibility.

23rd February 2016

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Comment

The global recession is coming, and I’m looking forward Lucinda Swain discusses the to it Ryan Newington implications of the T power of celebrity he 2008 financial crisis spread economic shockwaves across the world. In the following years, millions of people lost their jobs, currencies crumbled, and entire countries had to be bailed out. Seemingly, the perfect solution, espoused by the global economic centres of Japan, North America and north-west Europe, was to embark on a programme of severe cuts to public expenditure and crippling austerity in order to balance the books. There was only one solution to the lack of regulation that had allowed the flow of capital from banks to swell to such unsustainable proportions: to use public capital to rescue the anarchic transnational financial regime, giving them a free pass and even more freedom to create the economic growth we so desperately needed.

The Conservatives’ “long-term economic plan” has, superficially, managed to resuscitate the spluttering economy they “inherited” in 2010. Much has been made by the government of its record concerning both GDP growth – which has been hovering around the 1% mark since 2010 – and the 3% decrease in the total working -ge population who are unemployed.

These kind of statistics make a good noise for the core Tory-voting block of middle England, looking for evidence of the triumph of a low-tax, low-spending British state. There is, however, a catastrophic lack of foresight displayed by the myopic, politico-economic vision of our Etonian-elitist government. In spite of their positive clamouring, the signs of an embryonic global economic crisis are unfolding before our eyes.

The FTSE 100 Index has fallen by 17% in ten months. In the same time period, the Japanese Nikkei has fallen by 20%, and, perhaps most worryingly, the Shanghai stock exchange has crashed by 45%. Other economic indicators tell the same story. Inequality has risen in most industrialised nations; interest rates are as low as possible, in a desperate attempt by central banks to bring life and activity to a stagnant,

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Photo: Flickr, Rafael Matsunaga putrid economy; the price of oil, an important signifier of economic health, is so damagingly low, owing to a combination of overproduction and a consequential lack of demand, that the economies of some countries, such as Russia and Venezuela, are sliding into a dangerous rut.

The evidence is there in plain sight, with even the most basic independent research: the crash is, most assuredly, on its way. The primary questions now are how far away it is, and how severe it will be. It is inevitable that many people will lose their jobs and that standards of living will drop. How could such a thing be welcomed with open arms?

Somewhat ironically, the Tories’ “longterm economic plan” will leave us with a state that is incapable of the most basic and fundamental safeguards necessary to protect our society from the economic uncertainty that lies ahead. Our state cannot tackle the threats

to economic stability that inequality both at home and abroad pose to us; nor can our state, legislatively crippled and threatening to leave the EU, challenge the free reign of exploitative, multinational companies, or help to provide an effective international solution to the impending ecological disaster poised to engulf our world.

This next recession will expose the fallacy of the “long-term economic plan”for what it is: an ideological mission to shape the world into a centre-right, free-market paradise for the well-to-do. The recession can act as a turning point, and wake the world up to the need for real change, giving the social-democratic left an opportunity to seize the moment and garner the support of the common person for the fairer, more sustainable existence it failed to provide an option for in 2008. Like it or not, the recession is coming, and we need to be ready for it.

Cameron may be pro-equality, but is it enough?

Adam Stokes

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t would be fair to say that the Tories have a somewhat chequered history when it comes to LGBT+ rights. To give one example: in 1987, at the Conservative party conference, Margaret Thatcher announced it was her belief that “children who need to be taught to respect traditional morals” were instead “being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay”.

This was later followed by the passing of the controversial Section 28, prohibiting local authorities from portraying homosexuality in a positive light.

Upon becoming leader of the party, eighteen years down the line, David Cameron was left with the task of distancing the Conservatives from the anti-LGBT+ label they’d garnered under Thatcher’s leadership.

In 2009, he even apologised for his party’s role in Section 28, admitting they had “got it wrong”.

Since Cameron’s became Prime Minister in 2010, however, his reforms have not been as effective as some campaigners had hoped for, leading to questions over whether the Conservatives really are re-casting themselves as allies of the LBGT+ community, or whether, in reality, they are little more than fair-weather friends.

In fairness to the PM, he has seen through some positive legislation with regards to LBGT+ rights. In the 2015 Tory manifesto,

the party made a number of pledges relating to tackling homophobia and transphobia, including £2m in aid of combating bullying in schools, and promises to teach LBGT+inclusive sex and relationship education, along with promises to be tougher on LGBT+ hate crimes. Equally, let’s not forget the passing of the same-sex marriage bill, one of Cameron’s greatest achievements as PM thus far.

Nonetheless, whilst Cameron uses this as key evidence for his party moving away from its controversial past, the majority of MPs and members of his party were by no means as supportive of the bill as he was. Oly 47.3% of Tory MPs voted in its favour, in comparison to 90.8% of Labour MPs, and 91.7% of Lib Dems.

Clearly, the Tories would not have passed the bill on their own; Cameron needed the assistance of multiple parties to do so. Combine this with a number of polls suggesting the majority of party members do not support gay marriage, and we’re left to conclude that whilst Cameron wishes to remake the Tories into a pro-equality party, not everyone agrees with this vision.

There are a number of other instances in which Cameron’s government have be seen to be less than supportive of LGBT+ rights.

Towards the end of last year, two transgender women, Joanne Latham and Vicky Thompson, committed suicide in their cells, having been forced to serve their respective sentences in

male prisons. The Ministry of Justice have responded that its policy regarding transgender inmates is under review; nevertheless, this remains a massive blow to the LGBT+ rights records of the Tory government, and puts them under considerable pressure to end this blatant transphobia in our legal system. In addition, it now seems that Broken Rainbow, one of the UK’s most important LGBT+ charities, is facing closure due to lack of government funding.

Broken Rainbow, who describe themselves as “the first and only UK organisation dedicated to confronting and eliminating domestic violence and abuse within and against the LGBT+ communities”, have helped over 10,000 people in the past year alone, work they should be encouraged to continue. It seems remarkable that any government claiming to be serious about its support for the LGBT+ community would allow them to close.

Cameron may be a supporter of equal rights, but he remains guilty of allowing himself to be held back by backbench MPs and grass roots party members, preventing real progress from being made. The Tories need to show they’re serious in their support, rather than just helping out when is convenient to them. There’s no doubt the Conservatives have made improvements since the backward days of Thatcher, but there’s still plenty of work to be done.

he debate about the potentially negative impact of the power of celebrity is a longstanding one. In 2016, it only takes a couple of seconds of browsing the internet before you come across a Facebook post or tweet epitomising celebrity self-promotion and narcissism. In a society that is becoming ever more reliant on social media, how does it affect changing political perspectives when popular celebrities are weighing in on current affairs at every opportunity?

Well-known faces on TV are becoming involved in political matters, and taking on increasingly significant roles. To name but a few: Oprah Winfrey has spent a considerable amount of money and effort on her activist work, and on funding schools in South Africa; Angelina Jolie now devotes much of her time to global issues, whether it’s protesting for refugee protection in Cambodia, or as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees; Arnold Schwarzenegger was famously elected Governor of California, and, possibly even more surprisingly, was re-elected.

What’s more, this type of weighing in isn’t just reserved for actors and TV personalities.

JK Rowling, the world-renowned author of the Harry Potter series, has now become perhaps equally recognised for her social media profile. Rowling regularly tweets her views on current affairs, be it mental health awareness, Scottish independence or the US elections, and whenever she does so, there’s sure to be a media response. This has led some critics to question whether it’s right that one person’s Twitter account should be the focus of so much attention and given so much influence just because of their celebrity status. For example, following the Cologne attacks earlier this year, Rowling praised the response of poet Musa Okwonga, urging people to focus on women’s rights rather than on issues of race, yet Rowling received far more attention for this than Okwonga himself. Concerns have also been raised that celebrities are only getting involved with current affairs in order to seem topical, and to appeal to certain audiences, amid claims that they do not possess the necessary life experience to comment with any degree of authority and are out of touch with real social issues.

Nonetheless, the influence that celebrities have when they do get involved cannot be denied. When the actress Amy Schumer voiced her opposition to easy access to guns, in the wake of people killed during a mass shooting at a screening of Trainwreck, Sarah Clements, whose mother had lived through the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, expressed her support for Schumer, imploring her to be an active leader in a movement for better gun control: “Write an op-ed. Support an organisation. Demand change. Be a voice for our generation and for women.”

The term celebrity is defined as “a state of being well known”. Why shouldn’t these well-known individuals voice their own opinions? Many successful celebrities have gone on to become politicians, or otherwise active in community projects. With countless celebrities giving millions of pounds to charity, shouldn’t they also have the chance to use their experience and influence for the better?

Provided they do so with an awareness that their views could shape the opinions of their fans, and without attempting to obscure the facts, there’s no reason the power of celebrity shouldn’t be something positive, rather than something negative.

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23rd February 2016

Science&Environment Discovery in breast cancer metastasis research Bacteria see by

manipulating light like as does a human eye

Katie Williams Sci&Env writer Some of the worst news you can get when you have been diagnosed with cancer is that is has spread, a process known scientifically as metastasis. This is where some cells break off from the original tumour and use the circulatory system as a method of transportation to get to and invade tissue in a different part of the body. This makes treatment a lot harder: not only are there tumours at multiple locations, but with current medicine it is nearly impossible to locate and target cancerous cells within the bloodstream. This means they could evade destruction and colonise tissue even after all visible tumours have been treated.

On 9th February 2016 Cancer Research UK sent out a press release detailing one of their most recent breakthroughs: they have identified a mechanism used by breast cancer cells in order to leave blood vessels and invade new tissue within the body. This provides a potential new therapeutic target.

It is well known that tumour cells use blood vessels as a track to migrate to different parts of the body. However, up until now it has been poorly understood how the cells, once in the vessels, can then get through the selective barrier between cells and leave the bloodstream. The new development, from a team lead by Dr Claus Jorgensen at the Institute of Cancer Research in London and Cancer Research UK’s Manchester Institute, has identified a protein that is used by breast cancer cells in order to regulate their movement across the blood vessel walls.

The protein involved, called EPHA2, is a receptor on the surface of the cells that line our blood vessels (endothelial cells) which mediates cell attraction and repulsion.

It is now thought that cancer cells can communicate with endothelial cells and use the EPAH2 receptor to control their movement across the barrier between blood and tissue.

The new research shows that, when the receptor is active, the endothelial cells are more attracted to one another and stay packed tightly together, allowing the tumour cells to stay in the confines of the blood vessel and travel through the body. Then, when the tumour cells reach the area of the body they

European Space Agency ceases attempts to contact the Philae lander Nick Brown Sci&Env writer Scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA) have ceased attempts to contact the comet lander named Philae after over seven months of silence from the robot. The robotic lander, named after one of the obelisks used to decipher ancient hieroglyphics, was dropped on Comet 67P as part of the Rosetta mission in November 2014. Once dropped, the lander experienced various problems landing.

It initially bounced off the comet’s surface, then looped over 1 km into space. Landing again 110 minutes later, it bouncing numerous more times. As it finally settled, the ESA realised that it had most likely landed quite awkwardly and the solar panels used to power the robot were partially shaded, possibly due

Sophie Christian Sci&Env writer

Microscope image of breast cancer cells Photo: Wikipedia, National Cancer Institute are intended for, they deactivate the receptor, causing the epithelial cells to become more repulsive to one another, allowing the cancer cells to push themselves through the barrier and into the surrounding tissue.

This breakthrough is exciting as it opens up the new possibility that the EPHA2

receptor, with more research, could be used as a pharmaceutical target. If we can figure out how to keep the EPAH2 receptor active at all times it may allow us to be able to prevent cells from crossing the blood vessel wall, stopping cancer from spreading and making more cases curable.

to having landed in a dark crater. The German Aerospace Centre has now concluded that the lander is most likely too cold to function, out of charge and covered in dust.

The comet is reaching the colder points of its orbit, with temperatures dropping as far as -180°C, a temperature that wasn’t considered in the manufacture of the lander.

Ultra low temperatures in the shade on Comet 67P have likely caused buckling under temperature stress, thus causing some of Philae’s components to snap. While many of the lander’s parts were designed for this harsh environment, there were certain electronics kept in a “warm box” that have now unquestionably been pushed beyond their limit. This includes the on-board computer and the communications unit. The last contact with the lander was made on 9th July 2015; silence has endured ever since.

However, several attempts to contact Philae from Rosetta have yielded some responses. Following a sevenmonth hibernation from the end of 2014 and the first half of 2015, messages ranging from a few tenths of a second to a couple of minutes were recorded by ESA. These were significant enough to assess

the condition and health of the robot. But following numerous attempts to manoeuvre Rosetta into a position where it would again be able to contact or visualise Philae have been in vain. It is hoped that this flagship model can be worked upon to improve future endeavours to understand minerals and objects in outer space in the years to come.

Photo: Wikipedia: ESA/ATG medialab

Bacteria may not be the most interesting of topics, but a recent discovery may suggest otherwise. Biologists have cracked the mystery of how a tiny bacterium senses light and moves towards it: the entire organism acts like an eyeball.

This was studied in single-celled pond slime, where the biologists observed how incoming rays of light are bent by the bacteria’s spherical surface and focused in a spot on the far side of the cell. By shuffling in the opposite direction to that bright spot, the bacteria moves towards the light. In the study, the cyanobacteria used live in water and harness their energy from photosynthesis. This makes sense when considering their enthusiasm for the sun. Scientists have hailed this as “the world’s smallest and oldest example” of a lens.

Co-author Professor Mullineaux from Queen Mary University commented that it was remarkable that no one had discovered this before, considering scientists have been observing bugs under microscopes for more than three centuries. It seems like even the tiniest of organisms are capable of making a big impact every once in a while.

To confirm this single-cell “vision”, Mullineaux worked with colleagues in the UK, Germany and Portugal on a series of experiments. They achieved this by using a laser beam to probe exactly how a focused light affects the organism’s behaviour. The laser beam was accurately aimed on the centre of a dish, while the team shone a bigger separate light on the Synechocystis cells from one side.

As predicted, this tempted the bacteria across the surface, as they were pulling themselves towards the light using their tiny tentacles.

However, when the cells encountered the laser beam they “bounced off it”, as described

by Professor Mullineaux. This demonstrates that when bright light is focused on one side of the bacterium it results in it running the other way.

There are some bigger single-celled organisms that are known to use clumps of photoreceptors, called “eyespots”, along with other cellular components to determine light direction. Despite this, the ability for Synechocystis to track light is seen as more remarkable, because the discovery is small and simplistic. After all, the best things do come in small packages.

Photo: Flickr, Richard Droker

23rd February 2016

Research suggests that flight times are set to increase as a result of climate change Louise Fitzgerald Sci&Env writer Climate change is increasing the speed of the jet stream, which blows from west to east across the Atlantic. The change in the strength of the wind means that eastbound flights will become faster whilst westbound flights will slow down.

Currently the journey from New York to London is around an hour slower than the journey from London to New York as pilots have to battle the jet stream winds.

Scientists modelled the effects of a 2°C increase in temperature on wind speed and found that eastbound transatlantic flights slowed more than westbound flights were sped up, leading to round trips that were on average over a minute longer.

The transatlantic flight path is one of the most popular in the world with over 600 flights per day. The delays which the jet stream is expected to cause could add up to over 2,000 hours per year which amounts to $22m in extra fuel costs and 70 million extra kilograms of carbon dioxide emitted. The extra CO2 is

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Science&Environment equivalent to the annual emissions of 7,000 British homes. It is expected that the increase in carbon emissions and fuel consumption could cause ticket prices to increase.

Longer flights aren’t the only impact climate change will have on aviation. Research has already found that increased temperatures can lead to more turbulent flights and reduce the weight that planes can carry.

The jet stream consists of ribbons of very strong winds with speeds of up to 200 mph.

It is driven by the temperature difference between the warm tropical regions and the cold polar regions in the upper atmosphere.

The difference in temperature is increasing as a result of climate change and the jet stream is speeding up as a consequence.

The researchers said that this might just be the tip of the iceberg. Dr Williams of the University of Reading said: “The jet stream encircles the globe, and there is one in the southern hemisphere too. It is possible that flights elsewhere in the world will also suffer from a similar jet stream effect”.

What’s new in science According to new study, there is a tiny sea snail “swims like a bee” Scientists say neanderthals and modern humans were interbreeding much earlier than was previously thought There has been significant advance for regenerative medicine as custom-made, living body parts have been 3D-printed Biologists have described new species of extinct plant, based on fossiised flowers trapped in chunks of amber for more than 15 million years Scientists have discovered eight new species of spider with whiplike legs Tens of thousands of blacktip sharks are gathering around Florida’s coast, just a stone’s throw away January smashed another global temperature record as it became the warmest January by a considerable margin

Photo: Wikipedia, Nasa

08.03.16

Global food production needs a “significant” boost of phosphorus-based fertiliser to meet future demands for food Research suggests iron meteorites are buried in Antarctica, just under the ice Birth of a two legged lamb in Turkey shocks country Top: Flickr, Tak. Bottom: Wikipedia, Kawika Holbrook

26th January 2016

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Travel

W

hen looking at the map, Slovenia is a tiny country, seemingly overshadowed by its larger neighbours, Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia. In terms of culture, though, this is most definitely not the case. It may be a small country, but Slovenia has an incredibly rich heritage and is packed full of surprises.

If you have crossed the border from one of its neighbouring countries, you will almost immediately notice a difference in the landscape. Slovenia is extremely green and lush, its countryside ranging from large expanses of flat land to mountainous regions, and often the two meld together in one train window.

The capital, Ljubljana, is proportionally small, but is brimming with local culture. The city is very residential; as you are walking towards the inner city, up until you reach the very centre, there are countless family homes lining quiet streets and children playing football on the street corners. In some streets, all the houses will be completely differently sized and are reminiscent of the multicoloured facades of Notting Hill. Pumpkins grow abundantly in small front gardens; little streams run through the neighbourhoods.

In the city centre, there are vendors selling all manner of things; women sit on the pavement,with hundreds of books laid out in front on the history of the country.

However, one of the most beautiful parts of Slovenia is lesser known. About an hour’s train ride away from Ljubljana is Bled, a quintessential European town, famous for the beauty of the lake it is built around. Although it is gaining recognition now, this little town has been largely unknown up until now.

Bled is perhaps one of the most perfect destinations for those who love to engage in all kinds of physical activities. Arguably, the most rewarding exercise you could do in Bled is to hike up the large hill that towers over the town and lake. Although it is, without a shadow of a doubt, incredibly gruelling and tough to head up all those steps, the view from the top is gorgeous. You don’t just have to look at the bright blue expanse that is the lake, though. Take a gondola, and row your way right to the centre, where you can hop off and explore the fairytale-like castle that sits there. Cycling around the lake also provides some intense exercise, but you can always

The Church of the Assumption, a popular Slovenian tourist destination on a snow-covered Bled Island, Photo: Flickr, Oliver-Bonjoch

Slovenia: hidden gem of the eastern Alps Laudia Wride introduces us to the Alpine charms of Slovenia

even it out with a traditional cream cake at the end of it all!

If you fancy taking an excursion, in the nearby village of Radovljica you will discover two of the most unique little museums that are really worth a visit. Taking a bus from Bled, you can get there within 20 minutes, and it will only take you a half hour to walk around the entire centre.

The gingerbread museum is an extremely special experience, letting you watch the process of making their famous delicacy, but in a traditional environment with traditional attire.

Nearby is a bee museum, which is perhaps not the best choice for those who are a little unaccustomed to

being so up and personal with the creatures, but it is definitely interesting. The museam also covers the importance of honey making within the Slovenian culture.

Although there are a couple of hotels dotted around the lake, most travellers tend to stay in family-owned B&B’s. This is most definitely worth doing, as you get to experience life in a traditional environment, and get to have a true taste of the people’s hospitality.

This is a common thread in Slovenia: people are generally very relaxed and will often try their best to make you feel at home in their country, and you will most definitely feel that way after visiting this wonderful place. In fact, you’ll probably want to continue visiting for a very, very long time.

more special. The juxtaposition of the light pink cherry blossom against the bright neon lights of the cities is a unique sight, and one that you cannot see anywhere else. Even the melding of the trees with the quiet temples that you will find dotted throughout Japanese cities is so picturesque, and really makes you feel like you are walking through a movie set.

During cherry blossom season, many workers will even enjoy their bento box lunches in the temple grounds, as they sit in front of the trees.

Imagine walking down the tiny quiet alleyways of Kyoto, a temple’s spire in the distance, and cherry blossom trees lining the streets. Little traditional teahouses are filled with people sat on the floor, sipping on some matcha tea, and looking outside. In Tokyo, you might be walking between the skyscrapers of the Shibuya district by day, then come across large parks full of friends and families sat on picnic mats underneath the trees. This celebration is called hanami, and is valued greatly within Japanese culture.

Japan has some of the most beautiful parks in the world, known for the famous aesthetic of water being a central focus of the design.

These are some of the most beautiful places to enjoy the cherry blossom season, as they are quieter and are often near to traditional Japanese castle.

Everyone should consider visiting Japan at this time of year. Although it is very busy with tourists who have come to enjoy the unique sight of cherry blossom flooding the streets, it is this way for a reason. It is incredibly beautiful, and allows you to see the Japanese people and their culture in such a special way. It is easy to see why they value this time in nature, and base their calendar around it, because it is something that is so unique.

Exploring the tranquil beauty of Japan’s spring cherry blossom Tori Brown Travel writer On almost every travel list, there will be recommendations to view the northern lights in one of the Scandinavian countries, experience carnival in Rio, or celebrate the new year in New York City. However, lesser mentioned, is one of the most magical natural events that also takes place annually: cherry blossom season in Japan. This is special for a number of reasons, one of the main ones being the way Japanese culture treasures the few weeks that the flowers bloom. It makes up a huge part of their culture. From all matter of foods, savoury and sweet, flavoured with cherry blossom, to kimonos embroidered with intricate designs of the delicate flower, the country honours this time of the year beautifully. Japan is famous for this particular time of year, and for the beauty of its autumn

Photo: Pixabay, public domain foliage as well. There is even a special cherry blossom weather forecast, to help everyone know just exactly when is the best time to visit the country to see the blooms, but normally it is during the last weeks of March towards the start of April.

Visiting Japan in itself is a huge experience, but visiting during this particular time is even

26th January 2016

21

Travel

This is the view from my balcony. Yes balcony. As the sun set on Ocean Beach one night I took this picture to try and capture just how beautiful this city can be.

It isn’t every day you get to wake up, go to the third floor balcony with six of your 16 housemates and share this view. San Francisco has so much to offer. From small independent café’s and bars, to beaches, to full-on gay clubs in the Castro, but nothing can beat the very simple fact that I get to see this every day. CG

A year abroad in San Francisco Georgia Tomlinson-Spence and Connor Gani, currently on a year abroad in San Francisco, write about what the city means to them, and share what they think makes it such a unique place to live

This photo is of a section of the campus at SF State and a little of the hills of Ingleside where I live. I had found myself, for no particular reason, lacking inspiration on this campus and when I was told I had to use it as a basis for an assignment for my Photojournalism class I knew I was going to find it difficult.

What I didn’t expect, however, was how I’d feel being up on this rooftop, looking out over the bleachers and onto the colourful houses of the bay. It hit me all over again, where I am and the beauty of it all. I am so happy with everything I’ve learnt and the chances I’ve taken that happened right on this campus and I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to be here, to live through this amazing experience and take in all that San Francisco has to offer. GTS

I took this photo at a one-woman show by the amazing performer Rahni Nothingmore at a club in SoMa in San Francisco. One thing I love so much about the city is the range of art and performance events, and the inspiration and friendship you can find at them.

I’ve discovered incredible musicians, dancers and poets by just taking a chance, paying the $5-15 cover and standing in a crowd.

These people inspire me no-end and it’s something that I’ll take with me for the rest of my life and bring to my work. The creativity of the city is almost overwhelming, but always worth it. GTS

I took this picture after a trip to City Lights Bookstore – the publishing centre for Allen Ginsberg’s famous Beat poem Howl – and I was completely taken aback by exactly where I was. I was in San Francisco. The city manages to burst with vibrancy whilst still keeping its quaint authenticity.

I found it hard to believe that this street was in the heart of San Francisco’s downtown area. It really made me appreciate where I was. The city is beautiful. There is so much to do. The music scene is on point. I will greatly miss this place. CG

Travelling at Easter – making experiences to savour Dahlia Al-Abdullah Travel editor

I think it’s safe to say that when the majority of students looked at our timetables for the year and noticed a three-week-long Easter break, there was rejoicing all around. It’s incredibly tempting to use those weeks to catch up on all the seminars we missed – or even to give up and house-party our way through the holiday – but I suggest you do something completely different.

Last year, we had a similarly long Easter holiday, and at first I didn’t expect that I would do much with it. Although I am one of those students who is incessantly making extensive travel plans, this was one of the first times that I felt I could really take a break. This was a window of time that I wasn’t expecting, and the optimistic side of me that makes those unachievable travel plans would have jumped at the opportunity to head abroad for a few weeks. However, there was my little old brain telling me to head back home for those couple of weeks, the two-hour journey being the extent of my Easter travelling.

Then my friend came along and casually mentioned that there were half-price deals on flights to Japan, and that I had to go. I’m normally quite easily persuaded, but this time I was adamant that I wouldn’t be jetting off anywhere. But after a fair bit of convincing on my friend’s behalf, I was in that familiar place again: booking discounted flights to a new country.

I had an absolutely amazing time. It was possibly the best trip that I’ve ever taken, and not simply because of where I was visiting and what I was doing, but because I kept reminding myself that I would otherwise have been stuck at home in front of the television. I had been so adamant that two weeks was not enough for me to really see the country, and that I didn’t want to see it in a rush, but it was not like that at all. Although it was a little fast-paced compared to my usual travel speed, when I look back I only think of all the things I saw and not what I could not see – after all that’s reserved for next time. What I was doing was so superior to what I had expected would be the best use of my time, and I couldn’t believe how ready I had been to lose my time, basically doing nothing.

Although travelling does not always come cheap, budgeting a little so that you can use your holidays to go on new adventures is invaluable. You may never get those windows of time again. We have multiple holiday breaks throughout the year, and we could use them so wisely before we head in to jobs that doe not allow for such extensive breaks. With just a little less money spent on pizza and jaegerbombs, and a little more time spent getting out and about, the difference you could make in the quality of how you spend your time is priceless.

We should all be a little more aware of the excuses we make to let ourselves be lazy. Even when it comes to things that should really excite us, such as travelling, university can often dull us down, turning us in to lazy human beings who live on a diet of takeouts,and who take any measures possible to avoid leaving the house on a week off. But once you get out there, it’s hard to understand why you were so adamant to be a recluse. Use the holidays to go to that place you have always wanted to visit. Why not? You’re a student who has three weeks to be able to do anything they like with it, so do it!

23rd February 2016

22

Sport UEA sport round-up

Leceister can win Premi Liam Dotson Sports Writer

Basketball University of East Anglia mens 1st

104-63

Rugby Union University of East Anglia womens 1st

29-24

Loughborough University womens 2nd

Football University of East Anglia womens 1st

3-3

University of Bedfordshire womens 2nd

Ultimate Frisbee University of East Anglia mens 1st

8-13

University of Notingham mens 2nd

Lacrosse University of Nottingham womens 1st

6-18

University of East Anglia Womens 1st

Badminton Loughborough University mens 3rd

11-19

Golf University of Derby mixed 1st

1-5

Tennis University of East Anglia mens 2nd

10-2

Badminton University of East Anglia womens 1st

8-0

Coventry University womens 1st

Water Polo University of East Anglia mens 1st University of East Anglia womens 1st

7-6 4-3

University of Essex mens 1st University of Essex womens 1st

University of Bedfordshire mens 2nd

University of East Anglia mens 1st University of East Anglia mixed 1st Nottingham Trent mens 2nd

Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester City side continue to defy the odds and are still very much in the hunt to become the unlikeliest of champions.

With just 12 games to go, in spite of their last gasp defeat at the hands of title rivals Arsenal, they remain two points clear of the Gunners and Tottenham at the top of the table. An amazing 35 points and 19 places better off than this time last season, the Foxes have acquired 53 points and set the tone for this wonderfully unpredictable season with their title odds being slashed from 5000/1 to just 15/2.

At 64, ‘The Tinkerman’ is still searching for his first title as a manager but that was surely not on his mind as he acted quickly and decisively in the summer transfer market, signing N’Golo Kante from Caen and Shinji Okazaki from Mainz. At just £5.5m Kante has proved to be one of the signings of the season and his tireless regaining and retaining of possession has been at the forefront of his team’s success, allowing the likes of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez to be so devastating on the counter attack.

The Paris-born midfielder’s industrious approach to midfield play has been instrumental in Leicester’s shock title bid and he has racked up more than 100 interceptions and tackles - the most in the league.

There is also no denying that Ranieri was left an excellent platform on which to build – eight out of the starting eleven from their famous win at the Etihad were from his predecessor Nigel Pearson’s reign - and most of the plaudits this season have been, quite rightly, reserved for two of Pearson’s signings: Vardy and Mahrez. The pair epitomise the rags

Photo: Wikimedia, Ronnie Macdonald

How can Premier League clubs reduce ticket prices?

Lucinda Swain Sport writer The Premier League’s rising ticket prices have led to football fans planning mass stadium walkouts in protest. However the problem does not seem to be contained to the Premier League, with clubs in England’s second, third and fourth divisions seeing prices rising. There have been many discussions on possible solutions to the issue from reforming the outdated PFA financial model to salary caps.

Complaints have poured in of arrogant multi-millionaire players and executives who approve the increases in ticket prices but have no real grasp of how a £77 fee will affect fans. The walkout over fees at Liverpool, which may have influenced the 2-2 draw with Sunderland, was a great show of force and solidarity by fans. Another example was fans at Dortmund who threw tennis balls onto the pitch in protest at £55 prices. We think of Germany as having cheap tickets, but the reality is that the standing areas are the only reasonably priced option.

Next season, Premier League clubs will benefit from a new three-year £5.1bn domestic television rights deal, which will equal about £8bn when overseas rights contracts are taken into account. So the question is: should the TV money be used to

subsidise tickets?

But the problem goes much deeper than that. In fact most top entertainment or sporting events in the UK are far beyond the reach of average families. New generations are not having the same opportunity to see live sport due to inflated prices. It may be a case of supply and demand, but perhaps the compliance of the paying public compounds the problem. If people stopped paying

£77

The controversial price of tickets at Liverpool FC

the astronomical prices, then changes would have to be made. Maybe the agents, executives and other stake holders would begin to see the true value of fans if their stadiums were left empty.

An away ticket price cap would have at least been a start; however seven Premier League executives out of 20 clubs blocked a proposal to cap the cost of away tickets to £30. With an £828m wage bill for Premier League players, you can see where their real priorities lie.

Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) chairman Malcolm Clarke, has urged clubs to reduce ticket prices to create a fairer opportunity for fans to attend games. He told BBC Sport that the FSF plans “to meet fan groups to discuss further action, including

Liverpool’s Anfield stadium, empty after 77 minutes of play Photo: Wikimedia, Amjaabc

23rd February 2016

23

ier League despite defeat to riches story of Leicester City and have been in unstoppable form this season, scoring an astounding 33 goals between them. Vardy leads the scoring charts with 19, while Mahrez’s ten assists are second only to Mesut Özil.

But there has been more to Leicester this season than just their blistering attack.

Wes Morgan, long thought to be nothing more than a brute at the back, has found the best form of his career and produced a formidable partnership with Robert Huth.

Kasper Schmeichel’s commanding presence and immense shot stopping in goal has been key in Leicester’s rise and Danny Drinkwater’s midfield exploits have put him on the verge of an England call-up.

Leicester lost only their third game this season it has placed the spotlight firmly on the players’ resolve. They had been playing like a side devoid of tension but now, with Tottenham and Arsenal breathing heavily down their necks, questions about how they will handle the pressure have appeared. But after their performances so far this season, and with seven of their final twelve league games coming against teams in the bottom half, what reason do we have to doubt their title credentials? Their three title rivals have much tougher run-ins and face tricky away trips in Europe – as well as the FA Cup quarter-finals – whereas Leicester can focus all of their energy on the Premier League.

What Leicester lack in terms of squad depth is more than made up for by their spirit, desire and resilience that were showcased so brilliantly during their defeat to Arsenal. And with Ranieri, a cool, composed and massively experienced manager, there is no reason why Foxes fans should not still be dreaming of a fairytale ending to this extraordinary Premier League season. a potential mass walkout across a weekend of Premier League f i x t u r e s ” .

However, BBC Sport’s Price of Football’study found that “two thirds of Premier L e a g u e tickets were frozen or reduced in price in 2015”.

Liverpool have joined Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Manchester United, Norwich and Swansea in freezing season-ticket prices for 2016-17 and West Ham have reduced their prices for when they relocate from Upton Park to the much larger Olympic Stadium.

Arguments for higher ticket prices have been that if fans want the best players, the club has to raise more money to be able to pay for them. Although price caps seem

£828

m

The total wage bill for Premier League football players this year

unlikely at this time, it looks as if there could be an increased funding for the Away Supporters Initiative which would subsidise travel for fans, in a somewhat half-hearted attempt to placate them. The ticket price controversy seems unlikely to disappear any time soon.

Tickets: Flickr, Alyson Hurt

What secrets will this year’s F1 pre-season testing reveal?

Joe Jameson Editor-in-Chief This week marks the beginning of the formula one season, as the first pre-season test gets underway at the Circuit de Catalunya, near Barcelona. The test, which lasts for four days, until Thursday 25th of February, is the first opportunity for teams to put their new hardware through its paces ahead of the season opening race in Melbourne on the 20th March. Under the current regulations, testing is heavily controlled, with teams limited on the amount of time they are allowed to spend using equipment such as wind tunnels and on track testing.

The first test acts as a crucial indicator of how the season will shape up, but it can also throw up some anomalies because of the nature of the four days and how different teams approach them. Teams like McLaren-Honda, who had a woeful season last year finishing 9th out of ten teams, will be desperate for any on track time that they can get, whilst teams like Mercedes, who have dominated the sport since 2014 will be much more selective about the sort of runs they will do, almost certainly favouring long sessions of about 50 laps at a time.

I’m writing this on Sunday before the first day of testing, so it’s anyone’s guess what has happened between now and when you’re reading this article, but what the different teams need to get out of this test period are quite interesting.

Having lead the rest of the field since the

Guardiola’s City success may not be as certain as you think James Chesson Sport Editor When Manchester City announced that Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola will replace Manuel Pellegrini at the Etihad at the end of the season few people were surprised.

The former Barcelona player and manager has been one of the most highly sought after figures in the game for years, and even more so since he announced his departure from Bayern earlier this season. His title-winning exploits in both Spain and Germany have City fans thrilled about their club’s prospects next season. The owners will be hoping that Guardiola will be the man to provide the Champions League success that has always eluded City.

I am not convinced that he is the guaranteed bringer of success that he is assumed to be. The main point that is usually held against him is his choice of jobs so far. At Barcelona he took over a team with the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi, in a league where only two teams are likely to win the title most seasons. Then at Bayern he took over from a team that had just won every competition they could, with a treble of the Bundesliga, DFB Pokal (German cup) and the Champions League under Jupp Heynckes. Guardiola’s Bayern have not won the Champions League during his tenure (they could do so this year, but Barcelona have to be the favourites) and last season only

managed to win the Bundesliga, crashing out of the other two competitions in the semifinals.

The City job then looks to be by far his most challenging, which is a strange situation considering the almost infinite resources that are available to managers there. He is taking over a club that currently resides in fourth place in the Premier League, who theoretically still have a chance at winning all four competitions, League, Champions League and both cups, but their inconsistent form means they could fail to win any. For the first time in his managerial career, Guardiola has a genuine challenge on his hands.

The most obvious area of weakness in the City squad is in central defence, where years of throwing money at the problem has failed to find a centre back who can perform adequately without Vincent Kompany alongside them. Guardiola has never been particularly skilled at identifying centre-backs to buy. Gerard Pique at Barcelona is the main success story, but both his Barca and Bayern sides looked very short of the required quality in defence.

This season Bayern have not had a settled back four, and frequently have even played a back three featuring Javi Martinez, primarily a defensive midfielder who is a weak link at the back, and David Alaba, exceptionally versatile, but mainly a left-back. Guardiola has failed to create a stable defence, and his main defensive signing at Bayern, Medhi Benatia, has spent far more time out injured

Sport opening race of the 2014 season, Mercedes will be keen to get back to what they’ve proven they do best: winning. Both their drivers, three times world drivers champion Lewis Hamilton and his stable mate, Nico Rosberg will be hoping for more of the same of the previous years’ performance. Interestingly, when they unveiled their car, Mercedes were quick to point out that whilst the body work doesn’t look any different - having found a good aerodynamic package already - the new car includes many “mini revolutions” inside; a nice way of saying they’ve run out of things to improve.

Ferrari always head into pre-season testing with their game faces on, reluctant to admit even so much as the existence of their car. This year, such secrecy may be borne of a real feeling that they are the verge of launching their fight back for the championship, but we can only wait and see. This time last year, Red Bull launched their car out of the garage with a camouflage, zebra pattern livery in an attempt to hide the design of their body work. Whilst it worked surprisingly well, the Red Bull car certainly wasn’t worth copying; it never pays to be too sure of yourself in F1.

For mid-field teams like Force India, Renault and Toro Rosso the first test provides an opportunity to gauge the state of the pack, as most of them will be paying almost as much attention to their competitor’s behaviour as they will their own data. Last year, Sauber - who won’t be launching their car until the second test on 1st March - were entering the season short of cash, so they threw a very striking blue and yellow livery on their car, and focused on low fuel qualifying lap times in an attempt to attract sponsorship money.

Testing of course ignores the fact that teams upgrade their car throughout the season, but it’s about working out who has the best package to work from as the season starts which is what is of so much interest.

Personally, I’m just looking forward to when it’s “Go, Go, Go!” once again in Australia. than on the pitch.

Playing the like of Martinez and Alaba in central defence is unsurprising from the man who signed defensive midfielder Javier Mascherano and decided that, at 5’8, he would make a good centre-back. Guardiola’s ultimate aim with his tactical tinkering appears to be to fit as many midfielders into one formation as possible. In one game earlier this season he had Phillip Lahm, Martinez and Alaba in the back four alongside Brazilian full-back Rafinha, taking the total number of players who often played in midfield in one team to eight. In his final season with Barcelona he arguably managed nine, with a back three of Eric Abidal, Mascherano and Sergio Busquets, and Messi, as a false-nine, the most advanced forward. I am looking forward to a City back three of Fabian Delph, Yaya Toure and Gael Clichy trying to play in the Premier League.

Guardiola’s final season with Barca was his third, the same number he will have been at Bayern. He does not stay in one job for very long and it seems that by the third he decides to spend it messing around with formations.

At Barca he never committed to the club, only ever signing a one-year rolling contract. City will hope he can build a long-term project at the Etihad, but that has not been his way to this point.

To be fair to Guardiola, his Bayern side do play exceptionally entertaining football, the kind of dynamic attacking display that football fans long for. He is clearly a hugely talented manager, who has performed very well in both his jobs so far. He may well turn out to be a massive success for Manchester City, but it will not be as easy as him taking over and suddenly winning all four major trophies. The City job is a chance for Guardiola to prove himself as a manager in what will be the biggest challenge of his career so far.

Sport 23rd February 2016 Issue 322

Premier League tickets How much would you pay? >P22

The flaws ofPep Guardiola >P23

Impressive performances from UEA Lacrosse teams Andrew Fraser and Emi Collin Sport writers The men’s lacrosse team’s last away day at De Montfort University almost ended somewhat prematurely, when the team realised that they had forgotten their playing kit one hour into the journey to De Montfort University. The season-long tradition of leaving one artefact or another behind was dutifully upheld. In their previous instance of forgetfulness the team had forgotten they’re club president Ryan O’Grady, who had overslept. However unperturbed, the team made it to DMU pitches with little time to warm up.

The game began slowly for UEA, with DMU taking first blood to go 1-0 up. This rude awakening forced the UEA defence to realise that this was not going the be the walkover that some players had expected, with dangerous dodging and cutting plays coming from a number of DMU players.

DMU went a further goal up before UEA responded with three goals of their own, from attackers Mikey Bolton and Juliusz Bokiej to leave the score at 3-2 at the end of the first quarter. The second and third quarters proceeded at a crawl, with UEA encountering many a scoring opportunity and yet failing to convert goals from Bolton, Roxin and Bokiej.

The third quarter also saw the last DMU goal of the day as they managed to penetrate the entirety of the UEA defence. After dodging three players he scored from just a metre outside the net and earned himself UEA’s man of the match award.

Photo: Olivia Nunnerly-Hood Despite this the defence had put on some extremely impressive performances, keeping out well-drilled DMU set plays and defending perilous man down situations. The fourth quarter ended with the score at 9-3 to UEA after a goal each from Roxin and Bokiej.

Despite the win, the feeling after the game was that the team could have played better

and won by a greater margin, putting greater pressure on league rivals Leicester.

Meanwhile, the Women’s lacrosse match against Leicester last Wednesday unfortunately saw an away loss of 20-10.

However, the game on a whole showed immense teamwork, with many of the drills and skills of training paying off. Arriving with

plenty of time to spare, the girls were able to prepare themselves for the hour to come.

As this was the second encounter of the season with Leicester, the team were aware of their star player, who had scored 18 out of the 26 goals in the last meeting. She promptly netted 16 out of the 20 this time around. Although the match resulted in a loss, UEA never gave up, and the players did not feel psychologically defeated after the loss. However the UEA defence certainly put up a consistent fight throughout the match, making the Leicester attack’s game as hard as possible. Most valuable UEA player went to star goalie, Georgie Sutton, who performed some outstanding saves, and cleared balls beyond the half way line. It must be noted that defender Charlotte Homan successfully saved a goal with her head and still lives to tell the tale; commitment is always valued in this sports club. On the attack, goals were scored by Charlotte Miller, Katie Moss, Emi Collin and a last minute shot by Emily Stoker.

The attack played an initial fast paced game but performed well when the play slowed down and time was taken to step back and run to get the ball into the back of the net.

Furthermore, with half the team being first years, the team’s potential is certainly high, with solid performances from first time players Esme Bathe and Anita Vigante.

The remainder of the season sees focus turn to the cup competitions, with the men facing Staffordshire again at Fortress Colney following a hotly contested affair last time around, and the women facing Nottingham away from home.

UEA women’s football assess their season this year Emma Catt Sport writer Our first match of the season was on a windy afternoon in October. We were up against Nottingham and, having lost a great deal of our squad, we were excited about the fresh faces coming into the team. We had done well at Sports fair to recruit new members and, with a new coach on board, we were raring to go. The last game of the previous season ended up with us winning 17-0 against Bedford, but we knew this was not going to be so easy.

There was plenty of promising action from our new players, but when the whistle blew for half time we found ourselves 1-0 down. Heads were kept up though, and UEA were quick off the blocks in the second half, with goals from Alex Tibble and Ella Turvil. Another two hard-fought team goals were scored before Nottingham got a late consolation. The thrilling game finished 4-2 to UEA. The next week was a nightmare. Bedford cancelled and then un-cancelled and then cancelled again after we had endured a three hour coach journey. Our next game was away to Cambridge, who were in good form and were second in the league. Although we scored two great goals Cambridge were the better side, with a final score of 5-2. There were positives and negatives to take back to training, and of course there were the customary dissagreements over the referee’s decisions.

Our first cup game of the season came in early November at home to Bedford.

Defensively we were solid, with Jess Keeling

Photo: Jess Keeling and Megan Briggs doing well at the back, and Ella Turvil making effective runs down the wing. After the hard had work paid off and we got a goal, Bedford proceeded to swiftly equalise soon after. Support from the side lines kept the players in high spirits throughout, and Tibbs’s eventual winner came soon enough – a great long range effort from the midfielder. The two goals were enough to take UEA into the second round of the Cup. November saw our busiest run of games, and next up was a home match to leagueleaders Lincoln. We knew it would be a tough match, especially as Lincoln were unbeaten in the league. They had won their last three matches 4-0, 4-0 and 10-2. It was indeed a tough

match but we did manage a goal, but it was not nearly enough to stop them. The final score on the miserable, rainy day was 5-1 to Lincoln.

Another tough match was to come the next week in round two of the cup, this time against Leicester, who were doing very well in their league. The match began fairly evenly, with both teams doing their best to get on the ball.

Leicester got the first goal, but UEA grabbed the opportunity when we had a corner late in the first half. The ball was whipped in, and it was Jess Keeling who managed to get a head on it, sending it into the back of the net. The score was even at half time and it continued to be tight for most of the second half. The game was soon at 2-2, where it stayed for a while, but

Leicester pushed hard to get a final goal, which made it 3-2. It was a disappointing result for all of us.

Our last game of the calendar year was away to Oxford Brookes. Away games having historically been more of a struggle to get players, we made the long journey to Oxford with only the requisite 11, and with no goalkeeper.

Amanda Cozer bravely stepped up to be our first half goalie, and she made some great saves, keeping the two sides level at half time. It was Millie Morgan who took over between the posts, pulling off some more cracking saves.

Any goalie would have struggled to keep out Oxford’s first goal though. With Jess Keeling’s free kick from just outside the box minutes later UEA saw an opportunity and took it, curling it in nicely for erstwhile keeper Cozer to get a head on. It was not long though before Brookes, who had the benefit of being able to make changes, had a burst of energy ending in a lucky goal scraping through Millie’s hands. A good run of play from the mighty Yellows followed, with a well worked up goal from Ella Turvil. UEA: 2 - Oxford Brookes: 2. With the disadvantages we had, we were fairly happy with the result, but it was still a very long coach journey back to Norwich.

The new-year began at home to Bedford, in a hard-earned match that ended 2-2. Next we were away at Nottingham, again with a limited squad. They were a strong side, and the ref was making some highly questionable decisions.

We did well to stay in the game, but by half time we found ourselves 1-0 down. Tiredness kicked in, and it was soon 2-0 to Nottingham. We were certainly not at our best.