EHU Degree Magazine - Issue 11

Issue 11 | Winter 2019

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Welcome If you want to see where your tuition fees are going, then this issue of Degree magazine is the perfect place to start. New medical school?

Check. Throw in the fact we’re already goldrated for Teaching Excellence, our halls of residence won Best University Halls and Best Value For Money at the National Student Housing Awards 2018, a new – and stunning – library, student services and careers building, and our campus continues to harvest awards for both its looks and its commitment to environmentally-friendly initiatives, and studying at Edge Hill starts to look like a seriously good investment.

Talking of the environment, according to a recent UN report we have just 12 years to save the planet as we know it. The research of Professor Claire Parkinson and Dr Richard Twine looks at the contribution made to climate change by the meat and dairy industry. To make a serious subject a little more appetising, we’ve compiled a vegan recipe pull-out, if you subsequently wanted to experiment with your food choices, and possibly make a difference.

We also invited one of our students, an unabashed meat-eater, to take the vegan taste challenge. Nutritional yeast flakes, anyone?

Elsewhere we ask, are we old enough at 16 to make adult decisions? Amos and Thomas lock horns in a debate over votes at 16. Let us know who you think is the most persuasive.

We celebrate British Council accreditation of our Language Centre with a look at the opportunities on offer when you have another language in your locker. Judging by the stories told by the Centre’s director, they should be particularly attractive to those with a more adventurous streak. And our languages are free to all our undergraduate students.

Social media trolls come up against the formidable legal presence of PhD candidate Laura Bliss, as she calls on society to better protect people, and particularly women, from a growing online abuse crisis.

And Counselling and Psychotherapy Lecturer John Marsden lets his guard down to tell us about the moment in 1997 he realised he wanted to know more about himself, paving the way for a career helping other people deal with their own emotional and psychological scars.

All these and more – including a very personal tour of the cultural moments that have shaped the life of our Head of Media – and resident Buffy the Vampire Slayer expert –, Professor Matthew Pateman.

So there’s plenty to get your teeth into.

Production Team Nick Lodge (editor) Mark Molloy (design) Sam Armstrong Andy Butler Photography Stuart Rayner, iStock Printed by The Printroom UK Ltd

It’s good to talk

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problem shared is a problem halved, goes the old adage.

You may be finding it hard to fit into a new environment, or suffering from depression, or struggling to cope with difficult circumstances such as bereavement, substance or physical abuse. Whatever your problem, confiding in a friend can often feel like a load has been lifted. So imagine how much lighter you’d feel after talking to someone with professional training. Someone who will not judge. Someone who has learnt to manage and find meaning in their own experiences. Someone who has developed an emotional toolkit they can refer to when helping you find a path to your own resolutions.

John Marsden is lecturer in Counselling and Psychotherapy at Edge Hill, and has spent the last twenty years delivering therapy, helping people find mental equilibrium: “It’s really important that the experience we bring to counselling is processed and worked with so that it can become a resource we draw on in order to empathise with the client, rather than a distress that we experience which causes us to withdraw. It’s really important that that life experience is mined for its potential to promote a therapeutic relationship with the other person.”

Many believe that to be a counsellor you need to have had a traumatic past, in order to be able to empathise. Not so, says John, who believes we share common life-affecting experiences, while our basic humanity naturally leans towards empathy. But being able to interpret your experiences, to understand what makes you tick and how you cope with adversity, that is what is really important. And you can train to do that.

“Few people escape the distressing life events that befall each one of us.

Trainee counsellors are encouraged to reflect on those experience with selfcompassion and acceptance. So when we encounter clients who have had similar experiences we are able to remain fully present in that relationship and offer an empathic and helpful response. I’ve encountered students who have had completely happy lives and have no painful memories, but like most of us they are also ‘hard-wired’ to feel how it might have been for someone to have survived a traumatic or significant life event.”

The newly-launched BSc (Hons) in Critical Approaches to Counselling and Psychotherapy is aimed, then, at those who may feel they don’t yet have the emotional maturity to help people, or are yet to decide that this is the career path for them. It complements the BA (Hons) in Counselling and Psychotherapy, which delivers professional accreditation, and taps into this ‘hard-wired’ human compassion, ultimately providing students with the tools they need to be in a position to make an informed career decision.

John’s own introduction to counselling came from a desire to understand his response to a national tragedy, rather than a personal trauma.

“I’d been deeply affected by the death of Princess Diana [in 1997], which released in me all kinds of sadness and upset. Around the same time, I saw an advert for a free introductory counselling course in the local paper.

Maybe I knew intuitively that the counselling course would enable me to begin a process of self-reflection, helping me to make sense of my painful emotions, in time helping others who feel that way too.”

And he has helped numerous clients over the last twenty years, in various capacities, and John believes he made the right decision, for himself – “it’s made me more self-aware, capable of enjoying the present moment and more appreciative of meaningful relationships” – and also for the clients he has helped to “feel more hopeful”.

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Degree° It’s hard to measure the success of therapeutic outcomes, but John devised his own ways. When working with people with phobias, he asked those with a fear of flying to send him a postcard from wherever they had flown to, post-therapy. He keeps those postcards in a box, along with the thank you letters he received from other clients, such as the wife of a man living with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, who thanked John for giving her back her husband.

He admits it can be gruelling work at times, but the rewards from helping a person in mental distress are what kept John talking: “Whenever I felt like leaving the profession I just looked in the box for the reasons to carry on,” he says.

As with John’s own introduction to counselling, personal development and personal counselling play a vital role, and as part of this process, students will not only learn together in group work, but they will also be given £500 towards their own personal therapy sessions: “They’ll be able to explore their own, what we call, touchstones,” says John, “which are those traumatic or difficult experiences that we’ve all had. This will then enable them to work on themselves which will make them better at empathising with their clients.”

And the response from students has validated this approach.

Lynne Hutton completed the BA (Hons) in Counselling and Psychotherapy, and is in the process of establishing her own practice:

“Without doubt, my favourite aspect of the course was the Personal Development module. This relational group session, where we talked about our own and other people’s experiences, was invaluable. It encourages you to become a reflective practitioner and to think about issues like your unconscious judgements. It was hard at times but the experience ultimately came with a massive amount of satisfaction.”

The course is grounded in the real world, says John, the place where our experiences are forged, taking in social, political and legal contexts: “Discrimination, social exclusion, the marginalisation of groups in society, cause emotional distress and lead to poor mental health. Counsellors need to respond to this. Too often we’re silent in the face of political, social and wealth inequalities that blight the lives of our clients. The course invites students to make a commitment to social justice and inclusive practice, because as a profession we need to challenge the causes of emotional distress and not just treat the signs and symptoms.”

I ask John an almost impossible question: What makes a good counsellor? He doesn’t miss a beat: “Someone who has developed the courage and depth of feeling to connect, from a place of empathy rather than judgement, with the painful experiences and emotions of his or her clients.”

Ultimately, the foundations of the course are built on developing well-rounded, self-aware, compassionate graduates.

Good people. People John and his fellow counselling team would happily trust with their own mental health, should they then choose to pursue a career in counselling.° edgehill.ac.uk/courses/counselling-and-psychotherapy/

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Edge Hill University is in rude health.

The launch of our Medical School means we will soon be providing comprehensive training programmes at almost all levels of medical education.

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ince becoming a university in 2006, Edge Hill has travelled further and faster than any of us could have anticipated. We began training nurses over 50 years ago, and our suite of professional programmes now includes all disciplines of nursing, midwifery, paramedic practice, operating department practice and social work at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Medical training completes the picture, and the first intake of undergraduate medics will arrive on campus, stethoscopes in hand, from September 2020.

Just what the doctor ordered, Degree thinks.

The Medical School will be one of only three new free-standing medical schools in the country, and the only one in the North West, with a mission to develop a new generation of doctors who understand the needs of local communities and can drive forward the latest models of care.

While covering the full curriculum, our Medical School students will receive first class, innovative tuition, focusing on general practice and the community, person-centred care, health education, nutrition, psychiatry, palliative care, and home treatment. The final year will include student assistantships, a specialist placement and a focus on acute medicine.

This new development will open the door to high-quality medical education and training in a subject area which is traditionally oversubscribed at undergraduate level. These new opportunities will mean aspiring doctors and medical

professionals will experience our excellent facilities and benefit from small class sizes and the strength of our support services.

“The Edge Hill University Medical School represents an important and significant milestone in the development of a hugely successful university,” said Dr John Cater, Vice-Chancellor at Edge Hill University, “and builds upon the outstanding work of the Faculty of Health and Social Care in the delivery of education

Medical School

and training for nurses, midwives, paramedics and operating department staff over many years.”

The Edge Hill University Medical School will train undergraduate medical students from 2020 on a five-year MBChB Medicine degree. However, we know that getting onto a medicine degree is a very competitive process.

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“The Edge Hill University Medical School aims to recruit students, who understand the needs of our community, and who will hopefully want to stay and practice in the region post-graduation,” concludes Clare.

Watching the NHS’s medical professionals at work, either at first-hand or on multiple tv shows, such as 24 Hours in A&E and Hospital, tackling life’s slings and arrows can be pretty inspiring stuff, so if you think you would like to follow in their footsteps, get in touch now.

It will provide an opportunity for study at a different kind of medical school

“It will provide an opportunity for study at a different kind of medical school,” says Professor Clare Austin, Director of Medical Education at EHU. “Our ultimate aim is that the medical school benefits the local community, providing particular opportunities for local students who studied their GCSEs at schools which may not be used to sending people to medical school. We want to attract and train medical students wh0 are representative of the local population, this includes those who may have never previously thought about a career in medicine, who will be ‘first in family’ medics.”

From 2019, in an exciting new initiative, students from the North West of England who have studied the A levels required for entry onto the MBChB programme are being offered the choice to study on a Foundation Year before progressing onto our five-year Medicine degree.

“The Foundation Year is a fantastic opportunity for people with the aspiration to become doctors, but whose circumstances may have held them back,” says Clare. “We want to recruit people with the potential to become part of a new generation of doctors, and the Foundation Year is an important part of making that happen.”

And Years 12 and 13 students from under-represented groups can also get a head start by applying for our Widening Access to Medicine (WAM) programme. It’s a series of free all-day events over two years, combining sessions designed to give a clear overview of your medical career options, with workshops aimed at honing your application skills.

Elsewhere on campus, it’s time to make room in the cabinet for yet more awards. This year we’ve been acknowledged as one of the world’s – that’s right, the world’s – finest teaching institutions, winning a Global Teaching Excellence Spotlight Award, which recognise and celebrate institution-wide commitment to the pursuit of teaching excellence. Our award was in recognition of ‘the quality of support and engagement infrastructure for students.’

Basically, our extracurricular activities are geared around programme content so you can build on your studies, with activities such as field trips, and our teaching staff are available beyond the lecture theatre and seminar room, to help you make sense of anything you’re finding tricky. It also means that the technical support and facilities that students require in the 21st century, such as Catalyst, our new £27m building, housing the Library, Careers and Student Services (which opened in the summer of 2018), are as good as you’ll find pretty much anywhere.

And finally, rather than blowing our own trumpet, maybe we should let our students have a toot, letting us know what they think of us via the National Student Survey. And it seems that they’re on the same page as us, ranking us third overall in the North West, and continuing to reflect the progress Edge Hill has made since attaining official university status back in 2006.

Not too bad for one year, and a little over a decade, we think you’ll agree.°

Full details are available on our website: ehu.ac.uk/medicalschool Apply for the Widening Access to Medicine programme for a November 2019 start: ehu.ac.uk/wam

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The Debate

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BIG QUESTIONS. BIG SOLUTIONS. TWO SIDES.

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Amos Wynn BA (Hons) Sociology with Politics

Yay!

Thomas de Freitas Nay! BA (Hons) Law with Politics

Votes at 16 At what age should we trust people to make adult choices?

It’s a tough philosophical question, possibly reflected in our inconsistent law-making. We asked a couple of students, Amos and Thomas, to mount the soapbox and focus on the thorny issue of votes at 16. Who will get your vote?

Amos: What can you do at the age of 16? Well, you can consent to sexual activity, you can join the armed forces, you can even choose to get married, if that's what you wish. But one thing you can't do is vote.

Considering that the things you can do can affect the rest of your life, why can't 16 year olds do the most important thing to help them shape their future?

In 2016 Britain voted in a referendum to leave the European Union. This was a major decision for the country, and many young adults like myself were frustrated that we didn't get a say in what happened. So surely things need to change and 16 year olds should be given a voice where they can vote for their future?

Thomas: With regards to your first point, it’s worth noting that while you can indeed join the armed forces and get married at 16, you may only do so with parental consent. And if you were to join the armed forces at 16, you would spend your first two years in training and at an army college; you are not legally allowed to be deployed to a battlefield until you turn 18.

16 year olds are not deemed mature enough to make such decisions of their own volition and so, if the franchise were extended to 16 year olds, there would be a level of inconsistency in the way 16 year olds are treated. That is, unless your personal view is that 16, not 18, is the age of maturity/adulthood, and that you would be in favour of removing the age restrictions on being deployed to a battlefield, purchasing age-restricted items (alcohol, cigarettes, knives), allowing 16 year olds to drive, and forcing them to be tried as an adult in a court. The list goes on.

You make the point that as 16 year olds can make life-shaping decisions, they should therefore be entitled to a vote. I would argue that this logic is flawed, as if we were to follow that rule an argument could be made to go further than just 16.

For example, choosing your GCSE options in Year 9 (aged 13/14) will have ripple effects upon what A levels you can take, which in turn will effect what you can study at degree level.

Surely, if your argument is that you should have the vote if the things you ‘do can affect the rest of your life’, the argument could be made for going further than just 16? This argument, like the last, is flawed. It is not an argument for 16 year olds to be given the vote, but merely an open argument against having the current age at 18.

This flaw was carried on into your final point. The decision to leave the European Union won’t just affect those 16 and over. It will affect everyone...15 year olds, 14 year olds. Should everyone who is affected by a decision have a vote? Should those in primary schools have a vote, as they are affected by the government’s education policy?

As you believe that 16 is the age at which maturity is reached, would you support the removal of all the current protections afforded to 16 year olds which I set out earlier?

Also, why do you believe in votes at 16, but not at 15?

Amos: It's a very good argument that 16 year olds may not have the maturity to vote on important issues, or even be interested.

But that can be said for people at 18, in fact this inconsistency runs through all ages.

Perhaps the opportunity to vote at 16 would make more young people interested in politics.

Using the example of Brexit again, a lot of young people who were unable to vote may already be disillusioned with the political system and feeling their voices aren't being heard. I think you're wrong to sell 16 year olds short and say they don't have the maturity to help make big decisions.

Look at the Scottish Referendum, 16 year olds were allowed to vote and arguably with great success.

Around 80% of the eligible voters turned out. This is compelling evidence that 16 year olds are ready, as those in Scotland clearly felt they needed to make that difference.

Yes, of course, I admit there has to be a line, and people will continue to debate that if 16 year olds are given the vote, why not even younger people? But I feel the completion of secondary education would leave 16 year olds in an excellent position. They would've been in an environment for five years where their minds would've been expanded and picked up some social knowledge.

They would have also been in an environment where they would've been involved in making decisions in a subtle way.

After completing GCSEs is the time where most people will be in a better position to decide on their future, whether enrolling on an apprenticeship or continuing formal education. And surely, if they're making such big decisions in their own lives, they should be able to have a say on the world around them.

You state that 16 year olds need permission to join the army and get married, but it's still their decision to do that. If you feel that 16 year olds need adult permission to vote, then so be it, build it into the system.

Of course the age to buy alcohol and cigarettes should remain at 18, but that's more to do with health than maturity. And yes, they're seen as children in the eyes of the law, but not everything should run in a strict line.

THE DECISION TO LEAVE THE EUROPEAN UNION WON’T JUST AFFECT THOSE 16 AND OVER. IT WILL AFFECT EVERYONE. 15 YEAR OLDS, 14 YEAR OLDS...

SHOULD EVERYONE WHO IS AFFECTED BY A DECISION HAVE A VOTE?

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Amos Wynn BA (Hons) Sociology with Politics

Thomas: On the first point, I do agree. The issue of engagement and interest in politics does vary across all age groups. This is why we should not base the vote on engagement as you suggest.

Rather, we should base the privilege of the vote on something immovable, like a clear age which doesn’t give rise to the inconsistencies that 16 has. At 18 you’re an adult, you’ve grown into your full rights and responsibilities as a citizen, and thus you should at that age receive the vote.

You also talk about maturity of 16 year olds. It isn’t me saying that 16 year olds cannot make decisions for themselves – you yourself have said that the state should step in to prevent 16 year olds from buying cigarettes and alcohol. You don’t believe they are mature enough to decide for themselves if they want a drink, but they are mature enough to cast their vote?

Following on from this point, giving 16 year olds the right to vote would introduce an absurd situation in which somebody could vote in an election but could not stand in an election. That is, unless you wish to reduce the age at which you can stand to 16 too, in which case you believe that 16 year olds should be able to decide on issues of war and peace, but not decide on whether to have a cigarette. It simply makes more sense to have a harmonised age. When the state allows you to decide on issues affecting you and your health, that should also be the age at which you can decide upon the health of the wider society.

In response to my question about the line between 15 and 16 year olds you say that 16 year olds have passed the milestone of completing secondary education. I’d remind you that students start turning 16 in the September of Year 11, not upon completion of Year 11.

In the end, the debate should be around which age makes the most sense. With 18 being the age at which the vast majority of countries extend the privilege of the vote, with it being the age of adulthood, with it being the age at which you assume your responsibilities as a citizen, with it being the age at which you are recognised as being old enough to make decisions for yourself, it makes much more sense to keep the voting age at 18, as opposed to reducing it to 16 over some vague notion of wanting to increase turnout (and in the process give rise to major inconsistencies in the law).

Amos: Like I argued previously I do feel that the drinking and smoking age should remain at 18, but that is not in any way about denying them that decision because they are not mature enough to take it; it is more about their medical needs. Just because 16 years olds can't buy alcohol doesn't mean we have to follow that age cut off for everything.

You also said they cannot stand for Parliament. That is very true, but they can still be involved in other ways. It's unlikely that anyone at 18 could successfully run for Parliament, even though they are allowed.

16 years olds are still able to actively participate in politics, campaigning, for example, so just because they can't run for Parliament shouldn't mean they should be denied a vote on who they want to represent them.

16 year olds are more socially aware than you give them credit for. Even while still in school, people can start to build their understanding of the political and start to formulate their own beliefs.

And I don't think they should be allowed to vote just because it'll improve turnout stats. I believe they should vote because they have enough understanding to form their own opinions, and with the power of social media it's hard for 16 year olds not to be involved.

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And of course there will still be people who aren’t interested, but it may lower that number and may make politics a more central part of education.

In conclusion, this is an important issue whose time has come.

I feel there's a huge demand for this decision to be made – in the last election Jeremy Corbyn pulled in young voters, with those who couldn't vote still interested. As a member of a political party I was allowed to vote for who I thought should've been leader of my party when I was only 16, so why shouldn't this be the case at a national level. Put faith in 16 year olds and I'm sure they'll repay it.

Thomas: On your first point, you say that 16 and 17 year olds shouldn’t be able to buy alcohol for health reasons, and then say that denying them that ability is not an issue of maturity. But it is.

Telling somebody that they are not old enough to make a certain decision about their lives is absolutely questioning their level of maturity.

On the second point, there is a clear inconsistency in saying that a person should be able to vote for somebody else to represent their area, but not be allowed to put themselves forward.

It doesn’t matter if it’s unlikely that an 18 year old would be elected, it’s the principle behind it that counts (although don’t forget Mhairi Black was elected at 20).

I don’t accept the argument that simply because somebody knows a bit about politics or goes campaigning they should be able to vote. Plenty of people under 16 know about politics. Plenty of under 16s go campaigning. At what point do we say that ‘this age is the cut off point’. If we reduced it to 16, would there then be a campaign to reduce it to 15 year olds?

Finally, you raise two points: young people becoming more engaged in the last election, and voting in the Labour leadership election. On the first, analysis of the 2017 election found that there was only a very modest increase in turnout among under 24s, and turnout by 18-20 year olds may have actually decreased compared with 2015. Either way, we should not base our franchise on turnout. On your second point, anyone over the age of 14 (and a Labour member/supporter) could vote in the 2015 leadership election. From what I’ve seen, there’s no argument for reducing the voting age specifically to 16. Many of the arguments and examples which have been used could also be applied to people under the age of 16.°

Thomas de Freitas BA (Hons) Law with Politics

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“Language brings with it an identity and a culture, or at least the perception of it.

A shared language says "We're the same."

A language barrier says "We're different.”

Trevor Noah Comedian and host of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

Let’s start with a quick quiz.

Do you: A) want to see elephants in their natural African habitat (complete with slightly scary territorial behaviour)?

B) want to experience 50° heat, drink a litre of water without feeling thirsty, and inadvertently perform a spaceman impression in the process?

C) want to experience the pleasure of talking to someone in their own language, and realise they are just like you?

D) want all of the above, plus to get paid for it?

to say?

The benefits of learning a foreign language are many. You’re less likely to be disappointed when ordering that tasty local delicacy on holiday abroad, for starters, and Edge Hill wants to give you every opportunity to enjoy these benefits…and your lunch, of course.

How? I hear you ask. Or should that be Comment?, Wie?, ¿Cómo?, Come? or Madha? (Can you name the languages EHU currently offers?)* Well, the Language Centre has been busy over the last few months. They’ve earned British Council accreditation, providing students (and especially our international students) with quality assurance and security, along with the confidence that the University has everything in place to make their time here as comfortable and enjoyable as possible.

They’ve added to their portfolio of available languages (see above), which now includes Arabic, so if you ever wanted to work in, say, Dubai, this could be the stepping stone.

These languages have been built into the range of module options available to all students in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, who can now select a supported language as part of their full-time degree, and can choose to continue this for the duration of their undergraduate degree, improving steadily. Whether you can read Don Quixote in the original Spanish or barely say your name in French, there’s a class for you. And you can always team up with a foreign student via our Conversation Exchange, if you’re struggling with your subjunctive clauses, lack confidence, or simply want to practice. And lifelong friendships have been built on far less.

But we don’t want our trainee teachers and health and social care students to feel excluded. Their timetable and placement demands mean that for very practical reasons they can’t take advantage of this option, so the Language Centre has ensured that they can access the evening classes instead, with fees paid by the Student Opportunity Fund, ensuring language tuition remains

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* give yourself a pat on the back for identifying French, German, Spanish, Italian and Arabic respectively. No actual prizes as we suspect you’re all very clever and will bankrupt us. ** huître/auster/ostra/ostrica/mahar

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everywhere she’s been posted, her favourite place was Malaysia, and especially the East of Malaysia, encompassing Borneo. Clearly fascinated by the country, she gives Degree a crash course in Malaysian history, which is as interesting, complicated and downright bizarre as every other country’s. These days, being headhunted is generally considered a good thing, but for Japanese soldiers during World War II? Not so much. But if you love to be surrounded by rainforest, and in close proximity to men of the jungle (that’s orangutans, to you and me), Borneo’s your place.

However, the biggest things you’ll notice, Carmel says, are not the differences, but the similarities between human beings: “You see things that you’re also going to see everywhere, similar problems, you get a real handle on, say, what it’s like living in a Muslim country, and then you get back and hear people speak about places they’ve not lived in and don’t understand. I really enjoyed learning about all of that, and the people were wonderful, and live by the same rules we live by, just trying to create a good society and do all the right things. It really does help your understanding of different cultures, and why it’s like it is.”

Speaking another language builds bridges.

And Carmel is keen to build on the work she and her team have already done, by introducing practical teaching qualifications for anyone who wants to teach English abroad, ideal for graduating students, who could begin the 4-6 week programme immediately after completing their degree programme. During breaks they could be deciding on their chosen destinations, from Madrid to Dubai, and maybe further afield to visit the men of the jungle in Kuching (Borneo) or watch the elephants on parade in Zimbabwe for the more adventurous.

“If people wanted to actually teach English abroad and get qualified, or any of our students here get a taste for languages on one of the modules, they could go anywhere,” says Carmel.

For students who can speak another language, she says, “the world’s your oyster**”.°

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free to our students. Yes, that’s right, there are no hidden costs to learning languages as a student at EHU. Which is always good, whatever language you speak. But the real benefits come when you venture out into the big wide world.

Director of the Language Centre Carmel Roche believes that it will improve your employment prospects exponentially: “Let’s say a teacher wanted to go and work in Spain. I’ve written many references over the years for teachers who might have applied for a job in Spain, and somewhere in the job description it’s going to say knowledge of Spanish desirable, because they want you to hit the ground running.

They’re not expecting to get a really fluent teacher, but if you’ve got two candidates, one’s got no Spanish, the other’s got some, they’ll go for the one with some.”

Carmel is also keen to emphasise the huge personal and cultural advantages to learning a language.

Just attempting to speak another language is hugely appreciated, and she cites many personal examples, from taxi exchanges to helping a café owner win a bet by ordering a coffee in the native tongue. Just trying breaks down barriers immediately.

And as for memorable experiences… remember the elephants? Carmel got a little closer than she anticipated when she hopped in a jeep on Christmas Day to see them in all their wild glory, while working in Zimbabwe. One slightly spooked elephant decided to pick their jeep up, with them still in it, and then unceremoniously drop it back down.

Carmel and her companions thought that was a good point, well made, and swiftly curtailed their Yuletide expedition. To Degree the experience sounds both exhilarating and terrifying (heads up: elephants are the real kings of the African bush, and protect their territory accordingly), but it’s a worthy entry in the file marked Great Dinner Party Anecdotes.

Talking of which, while in Oman Carmel endured “ludicrously hot” temperatures which regularly sent the mercury rocketing: “I remember walking in 52°c, without even feeling thirsty you down a whole litre of water, and you walk like a spaceman, and you’re thinking ‘what am I walking like this for?’, plodding along without realising it, and you realise how dangerous it is… but it’s beautiful in a very different way, harsh, but gorgeous.”

But although she’s loved

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Jordanian Human Nutrition and Dietetics graduate Mais was part of a group of international students taking advantage of EHU’s language offer. She threw herself into the pre-sessional language course, spending a very hot summer on campus getting up to speed with her English before beginning a Masters course in Public Health Nutrition at EHU. She was attracted by the UK’s enviably good reputation in higher education, and spent the time focusing on academic writing, reading and presenting: “I enjoy working with groups and discussing many different topics,” says Mais. “They taught us strategies and structures that can be used to improve our academic writing.”

A valuable part of the experience is living on campus with fellow linguistic learners, improving their skills by talking with each other in English, socialising together, and exploring the region.

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Behind the Screens D uring the 2017 General Election Diane Abbott received almost half the abusive tweets sent to UK female MPs, both sexist and racist.

Azmina Dhrodia, human rights and technology researcher, who compiled the Amnesty report into 2017’s General Election abuse wrote: “Twitter can be a scary place for women online. Whether women use social media platforms as public figures or for personal use, the threat of abuse is all too real and it is having a silencing effect on women’s participation online and in the public sphere.”

Meanwhile, Jess Phillips, MP for Birmingham Yardley, received thousands of violently abusive tweets in 2016 after speaking in Parliament.

Basically, for doing her job as an elected representative. After complaining to Twitter, she was told the tweets did not break its rules.

And when journalist Caroline Criado Perez, alongside Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy, campaigned for Jane Austen to be the face of the new ten pound note in 2013, she was rewarded with a massive, violent online backlash for her troubles. One particularly unsettling case resulted in an 18-week

jail sentence for a man who appeared to devote all his available time to making Criado Perez’s life a living nightmare, including actual physical threats.

However, Criado Perez still believed “the CPS got the charge wrong. I don’t feel they understood what happened to me.” We won’t repeat any of the abuse she suffered here, but the sight of Miss Austen adorning our tenners for years to come will surely be a reminder to the convicted man that ultimately he was the loser, in every way.

This case, and the ongoing fight to stem the tide of online abuse by campaigners and governments, highlights the need for a change in the law for EHU Graduate Teaching Assistant in Law and PhD candidate Laura Bliss.

Without a specific law about online abuse, the legal system falls back on things like the Public Order Act, which was introduced in 1986. When you consider that when Sir Tim Berners-Lee took the World Wide Web online in 1991, Facebook (2004), Twitter (2006), Instagram (2010), Snapchat (2011), and many others, were but glints in his digital eye, you start to see that, with an increase in reports to the police of online abuse year-on-year of over 30,000 in 2017, Laura may well have a point.

These laws were not designed for the social media age.

“I’m looking at how the law’s currently governing [social media users’] conduct.

In my opinion it’s clearly failing, they are struggling. That is partly down to the legislation, the majority of it was never enacted [made into law] for social media, and part of it is down to how the justice system deals with online abuse.”

Laura sees a lack of specific training in this area as one reason why police forces are unable to deal with the issue.

Another is the sheer scale of the problem, because the majority of cases are experienced by people who are not really in the public domain (what constitutes the public domain is yet another complicating dimension of the issue), or are not engaging in the public arena. She cites the instance of a 19 year old woman contributing to the #everydaysexism campaign begun by the writer Laura Bates, who writes about the sexist behaviour women experience on a daily basis: “She received a backlash of very specific threats of rape because of what she said, just standing up for herself.

She’s not in the public domain, she’s just an individual like anyone else walking down the street, chose to tweet about

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something, and then all of a sudden there’s this backlash of verbal violence against her.”

Of course, the counter argument to this is that social media platforms are places where people can exercise their right to free expression. And they are right, to an extent. But the question is then, where do you draw the line?

“It’s very hard to distinguish the point at which the law should intervene, but at the moment, the red flag stuff – threats of rape, threats of violence, threats against your children, which shouldn’t be out there, they’re the ones that are being ignored at the moment…freedom of expression shouldn’t go over to the point where you’re affecting someone’s life, where they fear for their own life in some instances.”

According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission everyone has the right to freedom of expression, although “you also have a duty to behave responsibly and to respect other people’s rights”. Public authorities will usually have a legal framework to protect people’s rights, if they feel these have been excessively infringed, for example if views being expressed encourage racial or religious hatred.

“It’s part of a democratic society to be able to say certain things that others might find offensive,” says Laura, “but falling back on freedom of expression to excuse abusing someone to the point where there is actually certain effects on their life – they stop going to work, or withdraw from social media which has been the case in some instances – for me, that’s setting us back within society, it’s getting to a point where there are certain parts of society that are off limits to other people simply because of the [threat of a] backlash.”

Social media platforms solely populated by the angry, the hate-fuelled and the prejudiced? Surely that’s not what social media companies had in mind.

Laura, then, believes that the law is not really fit for purpose, and needs to be dragged into the 21st century, along with the policies of UK police forces, whose approach to online abuse varies wildly, with some taking it very seriously, while others give it short shrift. A lot is down to resources, which is probably not surprising – the numbers are mind-boggling.

In its first quarterly Community Standards Enforcement Report for 2018, Facebook moderated 2.5m pieces of hate speech, 1.9m pieces of terrorist propaganda, 3.4m pieces of graphic

violence and 21m pieces of content featuring adult nudity and sexual activity. And Laura believes this is just the tip of the iceberg: “Facebook are saying they’re removing 2.9m graphically violent comments, but what about the ones that are slipping through the net. Within their own study they say that they then went back over the period of time, took 10,000 comments at random, and 27 hadn’t been flagged up. That doesn’t sound that much, but when you consider how many comments are sent in one 24-hour period, you’re looking at about eight million being missed. That’s a lot.”

Perhaps by understanding why people choose to abuse others online, we could address the issue from a less regulatory perspective:

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responsibly?

“I don’t believe we should shut them all down, because it’s a way, not only of communicating between individuals, but of promoting things within society, about making positive change,” says Laura, citing the #metoo and #everydaysexism campaigns as recent examples.

Laura believes we need a law, or Act of Parliament, that deals specifically with social media issues, rather than relying on a raft of current, often obscure, generally anachronistic, laws.

Social media companies ought to be doing a lot more to police their own platforms, and we are seeing some of that at the moment, perhaps motivated by criticism over their perceived role in enabling political interference during elections, providing a platform for terrorist organisations, or the spread of ‘fake news’: “They’re making a lot of money, they should therefore be looking to put money towards the issue. A Green Paper recently suggested that social media companies should voluntarily give money to the UK in order for them to fund the police to look into social media activity. But it shouldn’t be voluntary, if we’re going to use this in our state you’re going to have to pay X to help police it, if you’re not going to do it yourself.

Football clubs have to pay the police to patrol their grounds on match days, why shouldn’t social networks go the same way.”

And we can help ourselves by incorporating this into school syllabuses: “When I was at school you used to have Citizenship, and I was taught about how to vote, smoking issues, sex education, those sorts of thing.

Well, shouldn’t we be bringing social media into that? It’s part of everyday life.”

So there’s no simple solution, then.

But as a society, we all have a responsibility to ensure that a technology created to positively transform our lives, doesn’t become a monster. Ultimately, says Laura, “it’s about educating users. Yes, we’ve got a right to freedom of expression, but that doesn’t mean that we have the right to be so offensive towards a person that we’re not just hurting their feelings, we’re changing aspects of their life. We have to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

Perhaps we need a #bekind hashtag to get the ball rolling.°

She’s not in the public domain, she’s just an individual like anyone else walking down the street, chose to tweet about something, and then all of a sudden there’s this backlash of violence against her “There’s a commonly-cited theory known as the online disinhibition effect which suggests that in online settings, people are less inhibited and behave in ways they wouldn't do in real world settings, perhaps because in online settings people can remain anonymous,” says Dr Linda Kaye, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at EHU. “However, this theory is discussed in very broad terms and clearly not all online settings are anonymous, and of course, online settings can vary drastically (Facebook is different to Twitter, which is different to Instagram, and so on) so the theory can’t adequately explain all types of behavioural differences.”

Clearly there’s still much research to be done in this area. So, in the meantime, what is the solution? Should we just shut social media platforms down, until people can use them

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Young, free and skint

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Tuition fees

How To Beat The High Cost of Living Living at home gets a bad rap. Of course, it seems to have more rules and regs than your average golf club: the constant exhortations from parents to pick up your dirty underwear from the bedroom floor (at least within a week of discarding them, anyway); to stop swigging juice from the carton; curfews – ridiculously early, in your opinion; to wear a jumper instead of putting the heating on; to be forced by parents to indulge in the ancient art of conversation rather than constantly staring at that phone…which they bought for you.

Let’s get the biggie out of the way now, as although you get a loan to cover this, you then get up to 30 years to pay it off, dependent upon income. If you haven’t paid it off by then, it gets wiped. You don’t really need to budget for this while you’re at uni.

The moneysavingsexpert.com website explains tuition fee loans (and repayment) very well.

On the other hand, it’s pretty cheap, isn’t it, considering?

So, as you plan your escape, it’s useful to consider the realities that will bite as you head out into the wider world. Inevitably, we’re talking about £££. University’s great, but comes at a price. Here’s a checklist to help you avoid the pitfalls of budget blindness.

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First off, set yourself up with a student bank account.

Every year, banks embark on an unseemly scramble for the business of new HE students, tempting you with everything from Amazon vouchers to National Express coachcards, plus a sizeable fee-free overdraft to cover those impulsive moments that will come at you fast during the first year. And apps, lots of apps. Everyone loves an app… don’t they?

Once you’ve sorted that, it’s time to start shifting money in and out.

Here’s what it will go on.

Accommodation One of the perks of living at home is that, generally, it’s free. When you move into halls you’ll have to stump up some rent. The quality of halls vary, and your rent will reflect this, but there’s a lot of very nice new accommodation out there, including here at Edge Hill. You can’t sleep on a park bench, so this will be one of your biggest expenses, and is usually paid semesterly or yearly.

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3 Essentials Now you’ve left home it’s all pizza and chips, yeah? Well, it’s certainly an option. But learning to cook things from raw ingredients is generally cheaper in the long run. And if you’re the sort of person who burns toast, communal cooking with flatmates is the most economical way to eat.

Plus, you get to know people. Investing in a simple cookbook could be a wise move, or try the tasty – and cheap – suggestions in this very mag. Toiletries are another essential – shop around for your favourite brands.

4 Staying connected All EHU’s on-site accommodation comes with wi-fi, as well as a communal tv licence, which applies to the tv in the general living area.

If you want to indulge your Love Island obsession alone in your bedroom, though, you’ll probably have to get your own licence (currently £150.50 per year, payable monthly). Your phone is probably non-negotiable, so remember to factor the monthly fee into your budget.

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5 Study costs Believe it or not, you’ll eventually have to put away childish things such as binge-watching Netflix shows (another potential cost), and do some work. The library in the new Catalyst building has over 250,000 physical books, so try to borrow before you buy. You’ll also need to make sure you have the tools to complete your assignments. Once upon a time a pad and pen would suffice, but there are hundreds of PCs available around campus, if you haven’t got your own.

6 Clothes Back in the day, flea markets and charity shops were catnip for students. second-hand 501s, paisley shirts and a Lenin cap told the world you were a student, possibly with a healthy rebellious streak. More recently, with a bigger (albeit borrowed) budget, students tend to follow the mainstream a little more. But uni is an opportunity to express yourself, and price isn’t everything, so experiment, be bold. Our regular vintage folk market offers everything from hand-crafted jewellery to tie dye t-shirts and kaftans. Avoid double denim, though, no matter how hard the fashion mags try to persuade you otherwise.

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7 Socialising Outside of food and accommodation, this is the big one. It’s very easy to go off the deep end, attending anything and everything, and becoming a ‘face’ on the night scene. Make the most of specific student nights, but also look at exercising a bit of willpower, restricting yourself to one or two nights a week, and take advantage of opportunities such as the TOTUM (formerly NUSextra) card, which offers great discounts in cinemas, restaurants and shops for just £12 a year. Socialising doesn’t always have to cost money, of course. Joining a society combines free entertainment with the opportunity to meet other people. And there’s Free Film Fridays and plenty of free shows for all our students in The Arts Centre.

8 Treats Remember, treats are meant to be occasional, unless you consider deodorant to be something worn only in very special circumstances. A new pair of shoes every month is going to put serious strain on your bank balance. And you can’t eat them, if it comes to that. As for holidays, there are ways of doing this on a budget (other than the obvious – don’t go on any). Societies and clubs often put on discounted trips, and things like Interrail tickets make Europe your oyster, and mainland Europe does rail travel well.

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9 Work You can take more control of your budget by bringing in extra cash. Our Careers team are waiting with open arms (and their employer database) to help you out if you’re looking to earn some pocket money. And it looks good on your CV. Tip: go to see them asap to take advantage of the best opportunities. And it’s worth checking our scholarship opportunities – you may get up to £3,000 over the course of your degree, while the Student Opportunity Fund can provide up to £2,000 towards things like job interview costs and living costs for unpaid work experiences to ensure you don’t miss out on any careerenhancing opportunities.

10 Travel Railcards will help you to cruise around the country at a fraction of the cost, and the coach will probably do it for a fraction of that cost. Or, for both a healthy lifestyle and a healthy bank balance, try cycling your more local journeys.

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The Questionnaire Senior Lecturer in Counselling and Psychotherapy John Marsden talks Venice, Richard Nixon and world dominating megalomania.

Dream career: Coral!!!

Best part of your job?

Helping students to develop their potential.

What makes you happy?

Time spent with good friends.

Holiday destination of choice?

Of the city breaks I’ve done, the one place I’d visit again is Venice. John Ruskin said it was ‘like a sugar lump dissolving in tea’.

The beauty of the Grand Canal is breathtaking.

What single thing would improve the quality of your life?

It happened! I found a flat to rent in Ormskirk, so I no longer have the five-hour rail commute from my home town of Blackburn.

The last cultural event I loved….?

In late September I enjoyed my annual trip to the Wigtown Book Festival in Dumfries.

Book talks and book purchases … and all in one place.

Growing up I dreamt of being...?

A policeman.

Who would be with you in your dream selfie?

One of my favourite authors is Christopher Hitchens. I’d love it if he was still around for a selfie.

What is the worst job you’ve ever done?

For ten days I was a security guard patrolling a shopping arcade.

I walked around all day picking up cigarette butts.

Guilty pleasure?

I indulge my inner megalomaniac by playing games of world domination on my PC. They take hours and are a terrific waste of time.

How do you relax?

I love classical music and go to the Hallé and Liverpool Philharmonic as often as I can.

What’s on your mp3 player at the moment?

My friend introduced me to the music of folk singer Mary Gauthier. I’m listening to her new album, Rifles and Rosary Beads.

What has been your most embarrassing moment?

When I was 19 I went to work wearing a brown shoe and a black one. Colleagues thought I was conducting a psychological experiment, but in fact I got dressed in the dark.

What did you do the summer before starting university as an undergraduate?

I spent the summer convincing my mother that I wouldn’t come to any harm studying for a degree in Belfast.

‘I was there when the bombs were falling’, to quote President Richard Nixon.

An important lesson life has taught you?

Friendship is the greatest joy and consolation in life.

When I was 19 I went to work wearing a brown shoe and a black one.

Finally, what would you sing at a karaoke night?

Moon River (badly).

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My Life in Popular Culture: Professor Matthew Pateman Reminds me of growing up So many to choose from, but in terms of TV Sunday tea times were Ski Sunday and The Antiques Roadshow, and the first Star Trek was on almost constantly in my memory. I loved all those. Hundreds of children’s books but That was then, This is now by the brilliant S.E.Hinton (she should have an award named after her) was my first – what we’d now call – young adult fiction and I read it at age 12 or so. Even now thinking of the ending makes me cry. It was also my very first introduction to the idea of M’n’Ms. And I devoured Roy of the Rovers every Saturday from 1976 until I left home!

I return to the most Buffy, Buffy, Buffy… I think I just started my, I don’t know, 12th or 13th total re-watch, to say nothing of the individual episodes I’ve watched umpteen times (All in the name of research, of course…). Musically, David Bowie. I fell in love with him when I was 13 and have remained in love ever since, although more recently I’ve been heavily smitten by Grandaddy, Courtney Barnett, The National, and – as of now my favourite band in the world bar none – The Burning Hell. I can’t keep away from the poetry of Louis MacNeice and George Bilgere; and the novels of Angela Carter and Vladimir Nabokov.

Inspires my research Again, Buffy, Bowie, Bilgere, but also Julian Barnes and (moving away from the letter B) poet Jackie Kay, writer and film-maker Aryan Kaganof, and a host of contributing parts (people who have influenced my aesthetic desires without my ever writing on them explicitly) – Emily Brontë, Christina Rossetti, John Keats, Salman Rushdie, and within TV shows like The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Brooklyn 99, The Wire, Breaking Bad. Favourite character from popular culture Oh blimey – that is such a hard question. One favourite character? As of right this second (and allowing for a change of mind at any moment that might see me revert back to Wesley Wyndham Price from Buffy and Angel), Kimmy from Kimmy Schmidt; Hermione from Harry Potter, and scores of others, probably either Titus from Kimmy Schmidt or Captain Holt from Brooklyn 99.

First pop cultural love Purdey from The New Avengers; For ever and ever by Slik, and Star Trek.

Favourite graphic novel/book tv/film realisation Fullmetal Alchemist anime based on the manga.

Professor Matthew Pateman has made a career out of studying the novels, poems, plays, films, TV shows, music, ideas, cultures and histories that enthral, challenge, and move him. His latest book, Joss Whedon, is available now.

TV show that is ripe for a reboot Given how well Battlestar Galactica did, I’d go for [late 70s/early 80s BBC sci-fi series] Blake’s 7.

Should be in the school curriculum Buffy The Vampire Slayer!

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Climate Change and the Animal Industrial Complex

icture the scene. Humanity is under threat. Corporate greed and irresponsibility, an allpowerful consumer culture, and government inaction has created a world on the brink.

Rising sea levels, rising temperatures, and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns are threatening to destabilise everything humanity takes for granted, as global food crises, extreme weather events, and land disappearing beneath the water line forces the hand of those who will be left to clean up the mess caused by those who were supposed to be in control: children and young people. As the old leaders flee to their bunkers and silos, the young people take over the roles of guardians of the planet.

Sounds like it could be worth a view. However, it may be more than a little disturbing to realise that it’s not next summer’s blockbuster, but a potential real-life scenario, if nations continue to fail to act on climate change and its contributing factors. While Flash Gordon famously had 14 hours to save the Earth, and David Bowie gave us five years, according to some reports we actually have only twelve years before things reach a tipping point, and start getting very hairy indeed. Professor Claire Parkinson and Dr Richard Twine of Edge Hill’s Centre for Human-Animal Studies want to know if they have your attention yet, if the summer 2018 global heatwaves haven’t yet triggered your fire alarm.

Film-maker and vegan James Cameron (Terminator, Titanic, Avatar) has suggested that one answer to the impending crisis is to just eat less meat. Is it really that simple, Claire?

“For anyone who does any research in this area, you know this is not an easy solution. An old friend of mine once said that it was easier nowadays to talk about politics and religion than what’s on the plate, and I think that’s true. We’ve become really well-schooled in the language of corporate neo-liberal consumer rights, and most people will say, ‘nobody tells me what I should and shouldn’t eat’.”

It’s as much a question, then, of how to package and deliver unpalatable messages to people, in a – ahem – digestible format. But who is – or should be - listening?

Claire and Richard are researching the relationships between the animal-industrial complex (the substantial part of the economy involved in the global breeding, production, slaughter and sale of farmed animals), climate change, and the potential role of children in addressing one of humanity’s biggest challenges. They are not claiming to have the answers yet, but feel open-minded dialogue is a vital part of the process. How we enable (or not) children within the debate, says Richard, could well be crucial in deciding whether we see large parts of Northern Europe sink beneath the waves: “We have different ways of constructing children, and I would suggest these were co-existent in this culture. We may view children as docile, perhaps, blank slates, or as innocent, or as in need of protection, or – and this is quite a different perspective – we may view them as ethical subjects or political agents, as having the ability to become engaged in a particular topic, to become empowered, and as bearers of rights.”

To illustrate the debate, Claire takes recent eco-movie Okja, the story of a young girl who discovers what happens to animals in the food industry, where one food multinational has developed a ‘superpig’, a genetically modified source of food which tastes, in the words of morally ambiguous CEO Lucy Mirando (played by Tilda Swinton), “f*cking good”.

“The film is a cautionary tale about corporate greed, GM foods, and it’s set against the background issues of environmental and global food poverty,” says Claire.

“As the director [Bong Joon-ho] says, ‘Films either show animals as soulmates or else we see them in documentaries being butchered. I wanted to merge these worlds. The division makes us comfortable, but the reality is that they are the same animal.’

“These complex and contradictory relationships that humans have with other animals are really offered back to viewers in a film that merges these kind of anthropomorphic fantasies of animals as friends and companions with the very brutal realities of animals as objects, exploited, sliced apart and packaged for consumption.”

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Okja: Netflix 2017

On the surface the film is a Disneyesque exploration of a child and her pet friend, but this belies the darkness and seriousness within, which resulted in a 15 certificate, a rating which goes to the heart of Claire and Richard’s research: at what age is it appropriate to discuss these issues, especially given the small window of opportunity afforded us by the predictions of most climate change scientists?

Claire’s initial findings suggest that parents and children (aged 11-16) are at odds. No change, there, then. But seriously, Claire looked at the various responses from parents and children on the website www.commonsensemedia.com, and found that the majority of adults thought this film was too grisly, the truths it contained too disturbing for children.

Typical comments: ‘this might make a vegetarian out of a sensitive child’ (would that be a bad thing? asks Claire), ‘this is a bad movie for any child who loves animals’. The young reviewers, conversely, were almost unanimous in their praise: ‘the film manages to show the horrors of the slaughterhouse and animal treatment without blood, gore or disturbing imagery…teenagers need to learn about animal cruelty and witness non-graphical examples’, and, ironically, ‘this film made me a firm vegetarian’.

So, is reality for children, or do we need to shield them from the more unpleasant aspects of life? It’s an interesting ethical question, says Richard, given that our children are the ones who may have to deal with the consequences of climate change:

“I teach a second year module, Children, Food and Sustainability, and the level of knowledge on climate change is poor. I don’t think we embed questions to do with climate change particularly well into the curriculum in this country. We view children as in need of protection. However the urgency of climate change requires the exact opposite. I think children are empowered when they become politically involved in their own future.”

But how do we make environmentallyfriendly messages audible amidst competing noise, given, for example, that modest online interest in a global food crisis was dwarfed by the global interest in The Dark Knight when it opened in 2008?

Embedding the argument within popular culture, for example Okja, is one option: “The fact that someone could watch Okja and decide to become vegetarian or vegan, we should embrace that as progressive, given the contribution of meat and dairy consumption to climate change,” suggests Richard.

(It’s interesting to note that Okja received a 15 classification from the British Board of Film Classification, with the warning ‘Strong language’, while The Dark Knight received a 12, alerting us to the ‘strong fantasy violence and sustained threat’. Revealing home truths is considered dangerous, it seems).

But, says Richard, a more effective, and less coy, approach would be a commitment to climate change education, and, therefore, a commitment to empowering future generations, giving them a heads up in the fight against a potentially existential threat to humanity: “We need to take seriously that children have a right to know about climate change, even if it is a scary topic. It needs to be embedded. Children also have a right to know about dominant cultural practices which lead to high greenhouse gas

emissions, so this includes things like animal consumption, and how we’re not reflecting upon the expansion of our high carbon practices, such as flying or power generation. We could lower the voting age.

“I think we live in a gerontocracy where there is a kind of ageism in political power.

There’s a lot of resistance to that and it’s been debated quite recently.” (See page 7 for our own debate).

And Claire and Richard acknowledge that universities are places which could – should? – lead the way in terms of pragmatic approaches to reducing emissions with sustainability commitments, and improving knowledge.

Richard admits he’s “as guilty as anyone of grabbing a cheap flight to somewhere warm”, changing ingrained cultural and social behaviour is difficult. So he and Claire prefer to focus on what can still be done. Which, in their eyes, is exploring ways in which they can educate and empower children and young people, so they can make the right decisions at the right time, and don’t end up as, in the words of one climate change commentator, simply ‘the janitors of the future’, cleaning up and trying to live with the mess of climate crisis, created by earlier generations. They believe we have an ethical duty to do this, and that research suggests we do children a disservice by over-protecting them from this particular reality.

As a University with its own commitment to making this information accessible to as many people as possible, we believe that young people are more than ready to listen. So, even though we are definitely not just making film fiction, I guess it’s time for ‘Action!’°

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edgehill.ac.uk/cfhas

Food for thought • Between 1977 and 2005, 16% of the Amazon forest formations were eliminated, an area greater than France. Cattle ranching has been the driving force behind deforestation in Brazil, even now it accounts for 80% of the destruction of the Amazon, making Brazil one of the world’s largest beef exporters. (Luiz Marques, Histories of Nations, ed. Peter Furtado) • Livestock production accounts for 70% of all agricultural land and 27% of the land surface of the planet.

In 2013, livestock accounted for 14% of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, probably the largest sectoral source of water pollution, resulting in amongst others, degradation of the coral reefs.

• The emergence of antibiotic resistance has been linked to animal agriculture practices.

• A 4°c global temperature rise, compared with pre-industrial levels, actually means heatwave effects of 10-12°c above average. We’re currently involved in attempts to try to reduce down to 2°c above pre-industrial levels.

• If we look at the 16 warmest years between 1880 and 2015, they all took place between 1998 and 2015.

• Biggest three areas, in terms of greenhouse emissions: transport, energy, agriculture. Animal agriculture contributes 1 in 7 of all greenhouse gas emissions.

• Over the past 50 years global meat production has quadrupled from 78m tonnes in 1963, to 314m tonnes per year in 2014. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations forecasts that global meat production will increase further to 455m tonnes. In the UK alone in 2014, meat and dairy production was worth £12.6b. Every year over 70b land animals are killed for human consumption.

• If all the ice covering Antarctica and Greenland, as well as mountain glaciers around the world, were to melt, the seas would rise about 70 metres, the ocean would cover all the coastal cities.

Claire Parkinson is Professor of Film, Television and Digital Media and Co-Director of the Centre for Human Animal Studies (CfHAS).

Her research interests focus on media, film and Animal Studies; sustainable consumption; eco-media; American cinema; activism; and, film and politics.

Her publications (as Claire Molloy) include the books Popular Media and Animals (2011) and Memento (2010) and the edited collections Routledge Companion to Cinema and Politics (2016), American Independent Cinema: Indie, Indiewood and Beyond (2012) and Beyond Human: From Animality to Transhumanism (2012). Her forthcoming monograph (as Claire Parkinson) is Another Point of View: Anthropomorphism and Animals (2017).

Dr Richard Twine is a Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences and Co-Director of the Centre for Human Animal Studies (CfHAS).

His research interests take place at the nexus of gender studies, human/animal relations, science studies and environmental sociology.

Much current research focuses upon the issue of sustainable food transitions in the context of climate change.

Richard is the author of the book Animals as Biotechnology – Ethics, Sustainability and Critical Animal Studies (Routledge, 2010), and co-editor, with Nik Taylor of Flinders University, Australia, of The Rise of Critical Animal Studies – From the Margins to the Centre (Routledge Advances in Sociology, 2014). He has published many articles and chapters on issues as diverse as veganism, antibiotics, ecofeminism, intersectionality, posthumanism, bioethics and physiognomy. His own website can be found at www.richardtwine.com

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t u O g n i g Veg

The Meat Eater Vs Vegan Food

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s eating meat and dairy a luxury the human race can no longer aord? It’s an emotive issue. Could you ditch the bacon sandwich? Say ciao to cheese? We asked Creative Writing student, and unapologetic meat eater, Lucy Barrett to dip a vegan chip in this brave new world of food consumption. Has she been converted‌?

I’m the sort of cook (to use the term very loosely) that goes for convenience and comfort when picking what to whip up for dinner. But, when I’m cooking for company, the chef whites come out. Recipes, however, are normally not for me.

I prefer improvising and seeing what happens. So, when picking recipes to turn my hand to, my main criterion was something super easy that I’d be happy serving to friends.

Everyone loves chips and dips as a snack before dinner, but, until making this vegan twist on the classic, I’d never realised that they were vegan unfriendly. And having tried and tested these delicious treats, I don’t think you could tell the difference. The overall preparation time was a bit longer than I’d normally be willing to put in for a snack, but that was partly me being a control freak and following each recipe to the letter.

Now for the part that you’re most interested in, the taste. The stand-out favourite chip was the hot paprika, and they all disappeared quickly enough.

What I thought was too many chips was, by far, not enough! Each of my tasters also scored the dips, and the clear winner was the mint raita (the simplest to make!). The dips were all so versatile that any leftovers could be used with potato wedges or flatbread over the next few days. The weirdest part of the recipe was using ingredients that I’d never heard of and still don’t know what to do with now, like preserved lemons.

Onto the main course, and at first, the Cauliflower Vegetable Bean Chilli looked really complicated with its extensive shopping list, and my immediate concern was all the washing up I’d be doing afterwards. Until I realised it’s a classic one-pot dish! By the time I was dishing it up, my hungry housemates were being drawn to the kitchen nose-first. We ate the chilli with rice, but it could very easily be put with any side dish. Both my vegetarian and meateating tasters enjoyed it, with many going back for seconds, and everyone saying that they hadn’t missed traditional, non-vegan ingredients. To help wash the dinner down we also cracked open a bottle of vegetarian wine (I didn’t even know “normal� wine wasn’t!) and it was surprisingly nice, but split between five, we only got a sip each. One perk of the chilli is that it freezes really well, so you can bulk cook and have a super easy dinner ready for another night.

I would definitely make this meal again and it’s really made me think about what I choose to eat. It surprised me that I didn’t miss any of the nonvegan elements to a classic chilli, so I’m wondering what else I wouldn’t miss.

There’s loads of simple ways to turn your favourite meals into vegan friendly ones, and I’m now on the hunt for a pizza recipe.

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Ann

Vegan Society

Baked chickpea omelette PREP TIME COOK TIME TOTAL TIME SERVINGS

5 minutes 20 minutes 25 minutes 1

Ingredients Omelette 150ml water 50g Gram flour (chickpea flour) 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Instructions

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 200C (390F).

Plate the chickpea omelettes with some freshly chopped parsley and sprinkle some black pepper on top to taste. Serve with a refreshing green salad.

Enjoy!

Then add all vegan chickpea flour ingredients into a blender and blend for a few seconds until you get a smooth batter.

Grease a non-stick pan with some oil, evenly distribute with a kitchen towel. Pour the batter into the pan.

To serve 1 large flat mushroom Parsley Black pepper (optional)

Then slice up a large flat mushroom and lay it on the batter in a star shape.

You’ll also need Blender

When you take it out be very careful not to touch the handle – it's still very hot.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

I became vegan 25 years ago, my reason was simple...

I don't believe that any beautiful sentient beings should suffer for my diet or for my lifestyle. I believe we should all think differently about what we eat. Whatever your reason, veganism can only be a positive way of life to preserve the planet and its animals.

This is a fab little recipe, I have used it for a good while now, this version is from exceedinglyvegan.com It's my go-to snack (apart from booja booja ice cream).

If you decide to make a bigger portion, make sure you are using a much bigger pan instead of making an omelette that's twice as thick. It's important that the chickpea omelette is baked evenly.

T: 0121 523 1730 E: info@vegansociety.com

www.vegansociety.com

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Chloe

CB Sushi

Sweet Potato SensatiInsideonOut Rolls Instructions PREP TIME COOK TIME TOTAL TIME SERVINGS

15 minutes 60 minutes 75 minutes 2

Ingredients Rice 125g sushi rice 375 ml water 1 tbs sushi rice vinegar 1 tbs caster sugar Sprinkle of salt Batter 30g tempura flour 1-2 tbs water 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp paprika 1/2 tsp salt Filling Nori (seaweed) 2-3 sweet potatoes Topping Spiralised sweet potato 1/4 cup tempura flour Teriyaki glaze Siracha Vegetable oil Avocado

Take one cup of rice and place in a sieve, wash until the water runs clear. Place into a rice cooker or a pan and add 375 ml water.

Place on the hob on high until the water begins to bubble, add a lid and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Turn the light off – do not remove lid – leave to stand for 45 minutes.

While waiting for the rice, peel and cut your sweet potato, you’re looking for three wedge-style chips per roll of sushi.

Take the wedges and partly cook them in the oven 15 minutes 200C (390F). Allow to cool and start to mix up your tempura batter.

Take your batter and slowly add water until you get a smooth silky consistency. Add your seasoning and dip the sweet potato wedges into the batter. Place into boiling hot oil and fry until crisp (beware of burning).

Spiralise sweet potato and drop into a bowl and add your tempura flour (ready mixed, using same method as before). Take small amounts at a time and deep fry.

Put to one side.

Once your rice is cooked and rested, mix up your rice seasoning. and add into the rice.

Make sure to add in slowly so your rice doesn’t become sloppy.

I’m a self-taught home cook, and have been on a plant-based diet for two years. My passion and love for flavour and food led me down this pathway. Being vegan there’s always a stereotype attached, and I created CB SUSHI to prove that you can transform simple plant-based food and make it taste amazing, transforming food in ways you’ve never seen before.

Next take your roll mat and cover in cling film. Taking a sheet of nori, cut it in half so that it is a rectangle shape (if the sheet is whole and not already halved), place onto the roll matt shiny side up.

Taking a fist-sized amount of rice cover the bottom part of the sheet going 1cm over the line and leaving 1cm above free – placing this on the shiny side of the sheet.

Now flip the sheet over so that the rice is underneath and then add your filling (keep some rice aside if you need to fill in any holes once rolled) Holding the roll mat and the overhang of clear nori, slowly roll your sushi to close it. Roll tightly in cling film and refrigerate.

Taking a very sharp knife, cut with the cling film still on (prevents rice getting stuck); be sure to remove it all before serving. Cut the ends off. You can usually get 7-9 pieces out of each roll.

Drizzle with teriyaki glaze and small amounts of siracha. Crush your spiralised sweet potato up into crumb sizes and sprinkle over the top.

Serve straight away – will keep in the fridge for up to 24h.

T: 07703 402552 E: cbgoldenberg28@ googlemail.com

facebook.com/ chloebeth28

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Hyeon

Love Kimchi

This dish doesn’t cost much to make, either. It reminds me of when I was a student. I love this kind of food, cheap and tasty!

Kimchi Udon Noodles PREP TIME COOK TIME TOTAL TIME SERVINGS

10 minutes 5 minutes 15 minutes 1-2

Ingredients Vegetable oil 100g tofu, chopped A pinch of sea salt 1/2 onion, chopped 100g kimchi, chopped 3 spring onions, chopped Water (as needed) 1 tbsp chilli powder 1 tbs soy sauce 1 tsp sugar A pinch of black pepper 1 pack of udon noodles 100g bean sprouts 1 tbsp sesame oil 2 chillies, chopped (optional) A pinch of roasted sesame seeds

Instructions Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan over a high heat. Turn the heat down to medium and add the chopped tofu. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt and fry both sides of the tofu until browned.

Set aside.

Heat a little more vegetable oil in a frying pan over a high heat.

Add the onion and kimchi and stir fry them for a couple of minutes.

Add the spring onions and a little water and stir fry them.

Add water whenever the food gets too dry to protect the food from getting burnt. It’s healthier to use water rather than oil.

Add the chilli powder, soy sauce, sugar and the black pepper.

Stir them well.

Add the udon noodles. Pour in a little water to cook the udon. It takes one minute to cook.

You will need to tease the udon to loosen them up. It gets easier as they heat up in the pan.

Korean food has deep connections with a vegan lifestyle. The traditional Korean diet is almost exclusively vegan. Bowls of fresh, hot sticky rice served with banchan (side dishes) which are usually made from vegetables are still a staple of Korean cooking.

Add the bean sprouts and stir them for about 10 seconds. I like crispy bean sprouts, so I don’t cook them for long. Turn the heat off, sprinkle over the sesame oil and mix well. Put the stir fried kimchi udon on a warm plate and add the fried tofu, some sliced chillies and a pinch of roasted sesame seeds.

T: 07851 875 223 E: hj@lovekimchi.co.uk

www.lovekimchi.co.uk

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Reiss & Zerline

Vausages®

Vausagesw®heat Chennai Curry

ck Garlic Kale and Cheesy Garlic Stackers CashewwithBuSmoked PREP TIME COOK TIME TOTAL TIME SERVINGS

15 minutes 60 minutes 75 minutes 2

Ingredients Curry 1 onion, finely chopped 2 cloves of garlic, minced 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger 4 Indian Chennai Curry Vausages® 1/4 cup cashews (or peanuts) 3/4 cup buckwheat groats 1 tsp ground coriander 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp turmeric 1 tsp smoked paprika 1 tbsp coconut sugar 400ml can coconut milk 2 tbsp soy sauce 1/4 tsp sriracha (optional) 1.5 cups water 1.5 cups kale, finely cut 1 tsp lemon juice Garlic Kale 3 cups kale 1 tbsp oil 2 cloves of garlic, minced 2 tsp maple syrup salt, pepper to taste Garlic Tortilla Stackers 2 soft flour tortillas 2 tbsp vegan butter, melted 1 cup vegan cheese 2 clove garlic, minced 1 tbsp chopped parsley 1 tbsp chopped chives Pinch freshly ground pepper

Instructions Curry Heat one tablespoon of coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, garlic and grated ginger. Cook until the onions become soft and just start to caramelize, about 7-8 minutes. Add the buckwheat groats and cashews to the skillet and toast them for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly, until golden brown. Be careful not to burn them.

Add the coriander, cumin, turmeric, smoked paprika and coconut sugar and stir until well combined.

Pour in the coconut milk, soy sauce, sriracha if using and stir in the chopped kale. Cover with the water and bring to a simmer.

Cover and cook for about 20 minutes, until the buckwheat groats are soft. You may need to add a little bit more water if too much water has evaporated.

Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice.

As the curry cooks, put the Vausages into the oven (Preheated to 375°F (190°C), and cook for 20 minutes Chop the Vausages and stir into the curry for serving, add the sautéed kale (or your favourite greens) on the side.

This curry is best served the same day but will keep for up to three days in the refrigerator or a few weeks frozen.

Love and compassion is innate within all of us, and after informing ourselves of both the ethical, environmental and health implications of eating animal products, we knew that veganism was the best way forward.

A misconception of veganism is that plant-based food is tasteless and boring – it’s exactly the opposite, and we soon realised that we really had been missing out on so much tasty food with the repetitive diet we’d become accustomed to.

Garlic Kale Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.

Add the kale and maple syrup and continue to cook for about five minutes until soft. Season with salt and pepper.

Garlic Tortilla Stackers Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).

Combine melted butter, garlic, parsley, chives and pepper.

Lay the first tortilla onto kitchen foil and cover with the garlic butter, then cover evenly with cheese.

Lay the second tortilla directly on top of the first and press down the edges with a fork to seal the contents within. Then add the same toppings to this layer and cook until golden brown (5-10mins).

Top with any additional herbs.

T: 07807 344037 E: hello@Vausages.co.uk

www.vausages.co.uk

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Dr Richard Twine

le b ta e g e V r e w o fl li u Ca Bean Chilli

PREP TIME COOK TIME TOTAL TIME SERVINGS

20 mins 4-6 hours up to 6 hours 4-6

Ingredients 800g chopped tomatoes 400g tin kidney beans 400g tin cannellini beans, strained and rinsed 400g tin chickpeas 1 large onion, diced 1 large carrot, diced 1 chopped floret from one head of cauliflower 2 cups mushrooms (any kind), quartered 3 garlic cloves, smashed and minced 1/2 dark chocolate bar, crushed into pieces (optional) 225g BBQ sauce 100g green chillies in a jar 80g brown rice syrup 3 tbsp cumin 2 tbsp chili powder 1 tsp sea salt 1 tsp dried granulated onion 1 tsp black pepper 1 tsp red chilli pepper flakes 3/4 tsp smoked paprika

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a large heavy-duty saucepan.

Heat on low and simmer for roughly 4-6 hours, stirring frequently if you are simmering on a stove.

I became vegan because it made less and less sense to be contributing to violence against animals when there was no need to. I also realised that there was next to no moral difference between meat consumption and consuming eggs and dairy – neither supply us with anything that can’t be sourced from a plant-based diet. Ecological and health reasons followed quickly.

I run marathons as part of the UK Vegan Runners, now one of the biggest running clubs in the country.

Serve with any garnishes you like.

T: 0121 523 1730 E: info@vegansociety.com

www.vegansociety.com

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Professor Claire Parkinson

Professor Claire Parkinson is another improvisational chef, in other words, she makes it up as she goes along, but as a sharing party dish, you can’t go far wrong with chips and dips, can you?

p i d d n a s p i Ch PREP TIME COOK TIME TOTAL TIME SERVINGS

10-20 minutes 10 minutes 30 minutes 2

Ingredients Chips Tortilla flatbread – white, brown, multigrain or corn are all fine.

1 tbsp sunflower or rapeseed oil Juice of one lime Ground cumin Hot paprika Sea salt and black pepper Beetroot Hummus 1 small raw beetroot 300g tub hummus 2 tsp cumin seeds Hot Mango Dip 1 ripe mango 1 small preserved lemon 1 tsp harissa paste Mint Raita 125g tub unflavoured vegan yoghurt 1-2 tsp ready-made mint sauce.

Pizza Salsa 1/2 small red onion 10 cherry tomatoes 1-2 tsp vegan pesto Avo Mash 1 ripe avocado 2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes 3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander 1 lime

Instructions

Chips Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.

Mix the oil and lime juice together in a small dish.

Cut the tortillas into wedges (one tortilla makes eight).

Arrange on the baking sheet and brush with the oil and juice.

Sprinkle with either salt and pepper, or cumin, or paprika and bake for 8-10 minutes until crisp but not too brown.

Cool on a rack.

Beetroot Hummus Trim, peel and finely grate the beetroot.

Stir into the hummus along with the cumin seeds.

Hot Mango Dip Peel the mango and chop the flesh finely.

Chop the preserved lemon finely.

Combine these with a teaspoon of harissa paste.

Mint Raita Mix the mint sauce into the yoghurt.

Pizza Salsa Peel and chop the red onion finely, place in a small bowl and cover with boiling water.

Leave to stand for 10 minutes, then drain.

Put the tomatoes into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until chopped but chunky (use a knife if you have no processor).

Place in a sieve to drain for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in the onions and pesto.

Avo Mash Peel, stone and mash the avocado.

Add the nutritional yeast, zest of the lime and the coriander.

Mix well, transfer to serving bowl and squeeze a small wedge of the lime over the top.

Chill all the dips until ready to serve.

T: 0121 523 1730 E: info@vegansociety.com

www.vegansociety.com

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d e s a b t n Pla yle lifest

Lucy investigates Chia Chia Ormskirk, the natural and organic supermarket and bistro in the centre of town

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Ormskirk

Nights

When exploring a new town, it’s good to have a plan. On your behalf, and armed with a guide map, adventurous spirits and open minds, we sent Irene, a Marketing and Advertising student, and Amos, studying Sociology with Politics, out to discover what lies at the heart of Ormskirk town centre after dark.

Opium Den Miyagi Ormskirk Irene: “I like the Asian theme in conjunction with their modern, unique artwork.”

Ambience factor: Urban and atmospherically lit, with upbeat electronic music.

Perfect for… a fancy night out.

Miyagi Japanese restaurant first, then head upstairs to Opium Den. “The atmosphere is vibrant and it’s an enjoyable place to visit for both food and drinks,” says Amos.

Student friendliness factor: 3/5 or ££. “They should consider some student deals, though.”

The Mad Hatter Amos: “With leaves strewn across the sign outside, the Mad Hatter is another unique looking place to go.”

Irene: “It feels unique compared to other bars in Ormskirk.”

Ambience factor: A mixture of chilled classics and upbeat modern chart hits, live music at the weekend.

Taste test: Passion fruit daiquiri.

Irene: “The ½ passion fruit in the cocktail glass come out with flames!

10/10 for presentation.”

Perfect for…a chilled night out with friends and for social nights out.

Student friendliness factor: 5/5 or £.

“A nice place to sit and have a good time with friends.

There are also special offers on (2 for £10 cocktails) making it a good place to go for students.”

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Mylo & Co. Amos: “It has a retro feel to it, with old fashioned wall paper and artwork on the walls. Instead of being in Ormskirk you could be in ‘60s London.”

Ambience factor: Lively atmosphere, stylish surroundings, classic hits.

Taste test: The pornstar martini tasted even better when it was delivered to the table.

Perfect for…a fun night out with a few friends.

Student friendliness factor: 3.5/5 or ££. “It’s dog friendly!” beams Irene. “Cute and fluffy animals while I enjoy my cocktails? Yes please!”

2 for £10 cocktails everyday 8-10pm.

MiMi & Gin Amos: “Ormskirk’s place to go for gin lovers, with fairy lights dotted around and branches coming from the roof. Mimi & Gin has a lovely feel to it, with dimmed lights it’s an excellent place to relax with friends.”

Perfect for…a classy date night out.

Student friendliness factor 4/5 Or £. Smart/casual.

Decent pricing. “I love the way the menus are displayed on every wall of the bar,” declares Irene. “It’s a classical blackboard, the options written in white chalk.”

Ambience factor: Modern, upbeat choons, loud but not overbearing.

Taste test: “London Pink – strawberry, lime and aromatic tonic. A great drink!”

The Barnyard Amos: “The Barnyard is an excellent location in the centre of Ormskirk for high quality food. It’s well worth a trip.”

Irene: “I like the way there was a massive quote on the wall of a word I’ve never used before – Sobremesa, the time spent around the table after lunch or dinner talking to the people you shared the meal with; time to digest and savour both the food and friendship.”

Ambience factor: Rustic feel, with a soothing lounge music soundtrack.

Taste test: Irene had a mocha to-go, and “the coffee was as good as Costa.”

Perfect for…a(nother) family lunch.

Student friendliness factor: 2/5 or ££. Smart/casual.

Medium price range. “What makes the Barnyard so good for students is that on Mondays after five there is a 50% discount on food,” says Amos.

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Baba Ji Amos: “It may be small but it isn’t too cramped and has a nice modern feel.”

Ambience factor: Well-lit, cosy street food restaurant, upbeat and jazzy atmosphere. “The music was upbeat, like being at a party while eating your food,” says Amos, while Irene “liked the way that all the wood furniture complemented the vibrant colour on the walls.”

Perfect for when…you want to try something you wouldn’t find elsewhere in Ormskirk – Indian street food.

Student friendliness factor: 3.5/5 or ££. Vegan friendly, although no student offers available when Irene and Amos visited.

Dinky Dory Amos: “Dinky Dory is the place to go for cocktails in Ormskirk.

The whole place is set out like a day at the beach, equipped with deck chairs, huts and swings, and is certainly one of the highlights of Ormskirk.”

Irene: “They have swings as chairs! Who wouldn’t want that?”

Student friendliness factor: 5/5 Or £. Student vouchers were freely given to EHU students at freshers’ week, and there are a range of different events on through the week, including quiz night on Mondays.

“Make the place bigger,” says Irene. “It’s very popular with students and it can sometimes be a little cramped.”

Ambience factor: Modern chart music, upbeat, makes you want to dance, loud but not overbearing.

Perfect for…a fun and alcohol-filled night with a group of friends.

The Cricketers Irene: “The Cricketers is a higher end place to have food in Ormskirk, and you know that you’ll be satisfied.”

Ambience factor: Relaxed instrumentals.

Taste test: Irene had the medium 6oz rump steak, with roasted mushroom and tomato, onion rings and hand cut chips - “One word: UNBELIEVABLE.” Perfect for…a family dinner.

Student friendliness factor: 1/5 or £££. “Keep doing what they’re doing, it’s fantastic! However, it’s a little expensive,” says Irene.

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It’s one of our best kept

secrets

FREE FOR EHU STUDENTS ARTS CENTRE MEMBERSHIP

The Arts Centre at Edge Hill University for live shows -

Performances and Events, including Open Mic night Comedy Films Live Theatre Screenings Exhibitions and Visual Art

Edge Hill University students can join The Arts Centre’s free membership scheme: -

free tickets to shows of your choice special offers competitions

#DiscoverEHU Open Day Saturday 15th June, 2019 ehu.ac.uk/opendays Follow @edgehill for live tweeting at open days. Use #EHUopenday to get involved.

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