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MLK Who? By Ava Forbes Speakers from across the country gathered in King’s Hall on February 18 to celebrate the 50th anniversary since Dr Martin Luther King was awarded an honorary degree from Newcastle University. Organised by the International Development Society at Newcastle University (IDS), “Martin Luther Who? IDS Conference 2017” was a part of Newcastle’s Freedom City 2017 celebrations. The conference was opened by Chi Onwurah, MP for Newcastle Central and patron of Freedom City 2017, and featured guest speakers, Dr Kehinde Andrews from Birmingham City University, Prof David Bailin from University of Sussex, Muzoon al-Mellehan, and Dr Megan Armstrong and Dr Silvia Pasquetti from Newcastle University. The event was hosted by Jack Taylor, NUSU President, and Liberty Blythe, president of the International Development Society, and also featured workshops run by Safiya Robinson, Racial Equality Officer. IDS had been organising their annual conference since September, Liberty Blythe told The Courier. Continues on Page 5
Host and NUSU President, Jack Taylor, speaking at the event Image: Newcastle University Students’ Union
Have you swiped your smart card? New swipe card readers have been hit by reports of systematic problems
By Valentina Egorova News Editor The new monitoring attendance system has been met with criticism from students who have reported systematic issues. Several students have claimed that they were marked “absent” on S3P (Student Self Service Portal) despite swiping their smart cards. Some have started taking photographs in the lectures as a precaution and proof of their presence. The University has moved to reassure students over reported issues with the system claiming that the problem is students not swiping their cards correctly. Jonathan Gray, Student Data Administrator, said: “In the four weeks since we started with the smart card scanners, we haven’t seen a single technical problem with the system — all scanners are working. “We believe that many of the issues that have been identified are students getting used to the new process scan-
ning their cards correctly. “We have observed that some students holding their cards over the light, while the actual sensor is in the lower part of the scanner. “We have observed students who have their card inside their wallet or purse — if you’re just waving your wallet, the scanner could be reading the bank card.” As Gray explained, the card reader doesn’t identify the student cards — it only records the chip number, date, time and location, and only when these four pieces of data match the timetable, student is marked in attendance. The IT service has already reported scores of unrecognised scans that do not match any student cards from Newcastle University. The institution urges students to follow the rules that have been printed alongside most scanners to avoid any confusions and attendance issues. But several international students have already voiced concerns about their immigration status, pointing to a number of times they have been marked
TheUniversityseekstoreassure that all scanners are working
“absent” this semester. To comply with the conditions of a Tier 4 visa, students must attend the institution that issued them a Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies (CAS). Sheha Vincent, NUSU International Officer, said: “Since this smart card attendance system has been started, many international students have been having problems with their attendance. “It affects us more severely than it does other students — our immigration status is based on our attendance to the University.” Vincent told The Courier that she would consider launching a campaign to urge the university to introduce more “student-friendly policies”. She added: “First we need to see how many students have been severely impacted by it and get the stats and all the information.” Azaliya Iskakova, a media student, said: “It’s a great concern for me as an international student, as irregular attendance may result in the withdrawal from the program. “I have eight absences on S3P of which
International students air concerns over visas
I missed only two. I swiped my card every time I enter the room and the green light always flashed. “Nobody knows the card policy rules and even teachers say different things regarding the timing when the card can be swiped. “I tried to ask our school secretary about this problem, but she replied that she can’t change the register.” Gray sought to reassure students, saying: “If you say you were in attendance at a particular lecture, and the system says you weren’t, I need some evidence to prove that you were there. “If your lecturer or seminar leader can vouch for you, than we will mark you as in attendance.” But he admitted that it could be “difficult across the whole campus with several thousands students”. According to Gray, the University has a “long established” process monitoring overseas students’ attendance, and no case would be reported to the Home Office without thorough investigation. He said: “We’ve been recording student attendance for about eight years
now. “So, for international students we’ve got a well-developed process to analyse their attendance. We contact students if they’ve got particularly low attendance and invite them to explain it because they can have health problems or personal issues.” But unrest is also growing among home students, who are dissatisfied with the way the new attendance monitoring system has been introduced. Harry Young, a business student, said: “I do not believe it was appropriately rolled out into campus. “As Business School students, we were first introduced to this system in September. A course friend did not realise and despite attending lectures, he was not allowed to sit some of his January exams as the University believed he was no longer a student. “I don’t believe this is constructive or appropriate in terms of handling student attendance, and a system like this that relies so heavily on student participation should not have such extreme consequences.”
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International Students on Newcastle University campus Image: Newcastle University
By Louise Hall News Editor Results from the latest International Student Barometer Survey have placed Newcastle University as top 5 in the UK and in the top 20 worldwide for international student satisfaction. According to the influential survey more than nine out of ten international students are satisfied with their experience here at Newcastle. The survey itself compares many different aspects of international student experience aiming to give prospective students about choosing a university to enhance their experience abroad. This years survey was the biggest of its kind, reaching almost 160,000 students from 82 institutions in 17 countries from a spectrum of backgrounds, areas of study and ages. International students placed Newcastle University among the best in the world for the learning environment on campus, but the University also scored highly across the board with over 90 percentage for student support, living
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experience and campus safety and libraries. Meenakshi Lachman, a postgraduate student from Malaysia, said: “The Master of Medical Education course seemed like a good addition to my undergraduate medical degree as medical professionals are expected to be involved in education more than ever. “As students, we are able to interact with professionals working in the medical field and academics alike being able to share ideas with them and learn from their experiences. The University has great facilities which are very accessible throughout the course and help in the planning and executing of our research projects.
“Newcastle as a city is beautiful and student friendly, there’s never a lack of things to see and do. The University is in walking distance from most student accommodation sites making it incredibly easy to get around.” Newcastle University also achieved high satisfaction score of 91% in the latest National Student Survey, placing it joint 12th in the UK against comparator institutions. Newcastle University Students’ Union (NUSU) received an impressive 98 percentage for its satisfaction rate, a score well above the average IBS score. Jack Taylor, President of Newcastle University Students’ Union, said: “We
“According to the influential survey more than nine out of ten international students are satisfied with their experience here at Newcastle”
Editor Jade Holroyd Deputy Editors Ollie Burton and Daniel Robertson News Editors Liam Carson Valentina Egorova, Louise Hall, Kotryna Kairytė and Helena Vesty Comment Editors Jamie Cameron, Sinéad Corkett-Beirne and Sunil Nambiar Culture Editors Jack Oliver Parker and James McCoull Lifestyle Editors Ana Beretsos, Antonia Coleman-Harvey, Ruth Loeffler and Brooklyn Shakeshaft Ward Fashion Editors Liz Rosling, Izzi Watkins and Zofia Zwieglinska Beauty Editors Miranda Stoner, Ellie Trent and Ellen Walker Arts Editors Johnathan Hastings, Meg Holtom and Tamsin Rees Music Editors Sophie Ahmed, Serena Bhardwaj and Ben Grundy Film Editors Emma Allsopp, Zoë Godden and Simon Ramshaw TV Editors Luke Acton, Dominic Corrigan and Alison Scurfield Gaming Editors Errol Kerr, Jared Moore and Jordan Oloman Science Editors Matthew Byrne, Natalie Farmer and Ciara RitsonCourtney Sports Editors Lucy Brogden, Tom Shrimplin and James Sproston
are extremely pleased with the results of the ISB as we have once again scored highly in terms of satisfaction levels with our international students. “NUSU works to encourage all students to engage in as many opportunities as possible throughout their time at University, so it’s great to see that we’re providing this to such a high satisfaction level for another year.” Professor Richard Davies, Pro-ViceChancellor, Engagement and Internationalisation at Newcastle University also commented: “We believe that education and research transcend international boundaries and we are proud to be a thriving global community, with approximately 6,000 international students from over 130 countries. “The consistently high ISB scores are a great achievement. They reflect the commitment of everyone at Newcastle University who provides outstanding academic and personal support to our international students.” The impressive results are no doubt an inspiration for both the University and its students.
The Courier is printed by: Print and Digital Associates, Fernleigh House, 10 Uttoxeter Road, Derby, Derbyshire, United Kingdom, DE3 0DA. Established in 1948, The Courier is the fully independent student newspaper of the Students’ Union at Newcastle University. The Courier is published weekly during term time, and is free of charge. The design, text, photographs and graphics are copyright of The Courier and its individual contributors. No parts of this newspaper may be reproduced without the prior permission of the Editor. Any views expressed in this newspaper’s opinion pieces are those of the individual writing, and not of The Courier, the Students’ Union or Newcastle University.
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Tuesday 28 February 2017
Raising refugee awareness with STAR’s action week By Libby Shaw From 20th – 24th of February 2017, the charity STAR (Student Action for Refugees) held the nationwide Refugee Action Week. STAR is an organisation led by students, consisting of groups at various universities across the UK including one here at Newcastle. Action week at Newcastle involved workshops with the aim of raising awareness, a campaign to MPs on behalf of child refugees, an equal access petition and a collection point for resources in the SU. This year, Refugee Action Week centred particularly around the experiences of child refugees, focusing on the fact that they are currently denied the right to sponsor family members to join them in the UK. As such, STAR is calling for the UK government to grant children this right, as it will improve their safety and wellbeing. The government will be discussing the support given to child refugees in the next few weeks, and therefore now is a perfect time to raise awareness of this issue. Many STAR groups across the country are coming together to collectively fight for this common goal, and this article Newcastle’s own STAR society were involved. On Monday, the society held an informative, eye-opening workshop which focused on the experiences of unaccompanied child refugees in the UK. This involved an overview of the asylum process and the difficulties facing children during this process. For many children, it is a frightening and demeaning experience as they are often treated as adults and adequate pastoral support is not provided. Children who have gone through traumatic experiences, such as the loss of family members, now face living by themselves in the UK which can have a devastating impact on their welfare and mental health. STAR argues that this experience would be made a lot easier for children if they could sponsor
family members to join them in the UK. As such, this is the primary issue that STAR is raising awareness for during action week. In accordance with the aim of family reunion, STAR at Newcastle also held a creative campaigning workshop. This involved writing letters and postcards, and making posters and paperchains. These creatively expressed concerns regarding the issue of family reunion with the intention of sending them to local MPs alongside a petition. Ultimately, the aim was to draw attention to this issue on behalf of child refugees, and to prompt action from local MPS. During Action Week, STAR have also supported a petition regarding equal access for refugee students into University. Several other Universities such as Manchester, Leeds and Royal Holloway have supported equal access already, and the aim is to persuade Newcastle University to join them. The STAR society at Newcastle, alongside support from the Student Union, are working to persuade Newcastle University to provide at least 2 scholarships for refugees. The right to an education is being denied to many refugees in Britain, and signing this petition will help in putting pressure on the University to act, and provide opportunities for students who otherwise would not have access to an education. For more information, flyers are being handed out outside the SU on the 1st of March. In addition to raising awareness and campaigning for national action, STAR have also provided an opportunity to get involved in helping refugees locally. The society have set up a collection point on the second floor of the SU, in which students are invited to donate any unwanted resources, such as much-needed food items and toiletries (a full list of items needed is included in the picture). For any students who are interested in supporting local refugees this is an easy way to get involved, and any donations would be greatly appreciated.
“During Action Week, STAR have also supported a petition regarding equal access for refugees into University”
STAR’s Welcoming Refugee’s craft activities Image: Libby Shaw
Inspiring Women Conference to return to NUSU By Louise Hall News Editor
Inspiring Women’s Conference logo Image: NUSU
Newcastle University Students’ Union will be hosting its annual Inspiring Women’s Conference on the 11 March, hoping to inspire and motivate all selfdefining women to reach their full potential. The event will host a range of keynote speakers, discussing important issues women face in today’s society and open discussions under titles such as, Can Men Be Feminists? However the event also aims to be fun and open space for women to get together and share experiences and make friends. Free lunch will be available to those attending and activities such as henna and an art session are included in the free ticket. There will also be a free conference dedicated to empowering women in reaching their full potential and initiating change and a variety of workshops on areas such as campaigning and public speaking. The event has been a great success in previous years, and this year’s event is looking to mirror these achievements.
Last year Jacqui Henderson spoke about the event in her foreword “More than 60% of the world’s university graduates are women. Women undertake over 50% of organisational management roles and are responsible for 70% of household budget management.
Some of the highlights of last years event were speeches by big names such as TV presenter Charlie Webster a passionate and outspoken women’s rights campaigner, specifically on sexual and domestic abuse. And workshops entitled ‘What makes an ‘Inspiring Woman?’ and ‘Bodyimage’ The conference is run and organised by Newcastle University Students’ Union Welfare and Equality Officer Rachael Kitching. Last years theme focused on ‘Global Women’ and while this years focus is yet to be revealed, more information about the event will be released in the weeks leading up to the event. A host of events and keynote speakers will take place throughout the day, open to all who wish to learn more about gendered issues or wish to feel inspired. The conference is free and will take place from 9.30am to 4.00pm in the Students Union on the 11 March. Prior registration can be made on the NUSU website.
“The event has been a great success in previous years and this year’s event is looking to mirror these achievements” “Yet across the world they are still underrepresented in the most senior roles even though in many cases young women out perform their male peers. However the good news is that more and more organisations now realise that a gender balanced leadership team delivers better and more sustainable performance.”
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Economics in a post crisis, post Brexit world By Helena Vesty News Editor In the current political climate, the most interesting and insightful analysis of recent events often comes from those who have been at the centre of political decision-making during tumultuous times. Sir Vince Cable, former Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills among other positions, spent his career as a Liberal Democrat MP working with some of the most prominent figures in British government. Perhaps most notably, David Cameron and Theresa May, with whom he often found himself in difficult discussion with. In a lecture entitled ‘Economics in a post-crisis, post-Brexit world’, Cable focused on the impact of the financial crisis on Britain in comparison to the wider world, conveying the links between economic challenges and political actions both within Westminster and without. He detailed the extent of the damage to the UK after 2008, due to its highly concentrated banking system, whilst comparing it to the similar effects felt worldwide. However, Cable pointed out that the “economic heart attack” which this country suffered was not felt as harshly in nations, such as the United States. This was a key point of interest for many in the audience, who then questioned the recently-inaugurated President Trump’s somewhat contradictory promises to improve unemployment, considering America’s “miracle” recovery immediately following the crash.
Sir Cable went on to address other uncertainties regarding the apparent move towards an “anti-globalisation” frame of mind, after the European Referendum and the rise of candidates advocating for a decline in global governance. Yet, the veteran politician emphasised his view that there are few positives to an increasing anti-globalisation sentiment, suggesting that the loss of an “open system” and “global commons” could wreak disaster in other important areas, such as climate change policy. Going even further, Cable remarked that the pattern of economic conflict preceding military clashes has to be contemplated moving forward. When commenting on the future, the lecture included a disclaimer that whilst Britain’s financial situation has improved over the past 10 years, the concerns are by no means over. Cable referenced a “radical uncertainty” which still makes it difficult for investments to be placed, as well as an overhang of debt after the splurge in borrowing. The unprecedented nature of the economics which Cable spoke of gave a glimpse into the next few years of worldwide growth, and its accompanying ambiguity. Indeed, this guest lecture was a sobering reminder that whilst headline-grabbing political scenes may hold our attention, the importance of the economic reform and success of large powers cannot be understated.
Vince Cable Image: Flickr, UKTI
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Tuesday 28 February 2017
Conference to mark MLK’s King’s Hall speech Continued from front page IDS had been organising their annual conference since September, Liberty Blythe told The Courier. She said: “This year, David Moffat, who is one our alumni, got in touch with us about Freedom City and so we decided that IDS would team up with the Students’ Union to bring it together. “We thought that it was really important to address racial issues and to put them on a stage so people can address them. “I don’t think we always do, especially when you are at a university and caught up in your exams, modules or deadlines, so it is really nice to say look, these are issues they are important as well.” The Martin Luther Who? Conference 2017 is just one event amongst a whole year of celebrations marking the anniversary of Newcastle University offering Martin Luther King an honorary degree in 1967. Freedom City 2017 is a partnership between Newcastle University, Northern Roots and Newcastle Gateshead Initiative. In a ceremony that took place in the King’s Hall, Dr King made a speech that then became the last one he had ever made outside of the United States before he was assassinated less than a year later. Dr King addressed the university saying: “Although I cannot say that I am worthy of such a great honour, I can also assure you that you give me renewed courage and vigour to carry on in the struggle to make peace and justice a reality for all men and women all over the
world.” He continued: “There are three urgent and indeed great problems that we face, not only in the United States of America but all over the world today. “That is the problem of racism, the problem of poverty and the problem of war.” Liberty Blythe told The Courier that IDS chose speakers who would reflect on these three problems and discuss how to combat them. Ms Onwurah said: “I was of course aware of our region’s tradition of fighting for social justice. “From the trade union movement to the cooperative movement and to the fair trade movement, from religious freedom to the Jarrow march we have a long active history in the struggle for progress. “In the light of this, it was clearly no accident that Newcastle was the only university outside of the United States to honour King in his lifetime. “And, newly independent from Durham, I am sure that we wanted to set our stall as a modern university committed to social justice.” Jack Taylor, NUSU President, said: “The Conference was a great success and had over 100 people in consistent attendance throughout the day. “Some challenging and interesting views were brought to the fore. This generated a fantastic discourse during the conference. “A huge well done to the International Development Society and all the volunteers that helped out on the day.”
“Some challenging and interesting views were brought to the fore”
One of several speakers at the Conference Image: Newcastle University Students’ Union
Get ahead and Gain a Global Advantage By Isabel Sykes On Wednesday 22 February, Newcastle University Business School hosted Gain a Global Advantage (GaGA), a one-day event encouraging students to enhance their employability by getting global experience. The event forms part of the Business School’s award-winning Global Experience Opportunity Programme. It involved inspiring talks from global professionals, interactive workshops, and opportunities to network with prestigious global employers. Speakers included Victoria Gibbard from PepsiCo and representatives from Uber, Lloyds Banking Group, Ivy Park, Civil Service HR, Deutsche Bank, and others. On the day of the event, GaGA posted on their Facebook page that they had reached over 1000 sign-ups to these sessions, and promised a “unique day of Gaining a Global Advantage” for the students attending. Tim Warrilow, Co-Founder and CEO at Fever Tree and a Newcastle University Graduate held an insightful talk on the influence of his company and his own journey to success. Fever Tree is a global market leader for mixers, launched in 2005 to tackle the problem of limited tonic water options in the growing gin industry. Warrilow spoke inspiringly about his journey from Newcastle University to
starting his own business which would become what is now the world’s largest premium mixer company. When asked what makes graduates attractive to employers like Fever Tree, and for any advice for students seeking global experience Tim told The Courier: “Fever Tree looks for people who are curious, with eyes wide open to opportunities not just here but internationally. “Graduates understandably have limited experience when they leave university, but those who have travelled and engaged outside their community are good to see.” Tim recommended taking the risk to work with a small, fast-growing business after university stating it would be a great place to start a career. David Heath, General Manager at Ivy Park – Beyoncé’s activewear clothing line’s lecture covered experience in the Sports and Outdoor industry, describing how the Ivy Park brand was built and why it has already gained so much worldwide attention since its launch in April 2016. He mentioned that we are in an “exciting phase” for fitness and wellbeing, and activewear is a “dynamic, very exciting market” at the moment. David said the first thing he would ask anyone who wanted to work for Ivy Park would be: “Have you got passion?” He emphasised that his passion for sport drove his career and advised students to step out of their comfort zone, trying out lots of different industries after university to find out what they’re passionate about.
“Fever Tree looks for people who are curious, with eyes wide open to opportunities not just here, but internationally”
Fever-Tree Presentation at GaGa 2017 Image: Isabel Sykes
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Tuesday 28 February 2017
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Blue Room provides treatment for kids with autism By Tom Atkinson Newcastle University is now providing treatment to Autistic children with anxiety and phobias using immersive Virtual Reality technology. The invention uses Third Eye’s unique ‘Blue Room’ system which allows for complete immersion in a rich and detailed virtual world. Dr Jeremy Parr, one of the researchers involved with the project and a Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University, explains that “currently the main treatment [for fears and phobias] is cognitive behaviour therapy but that often doesn’t work for a child with autism as it relies on their imagination. “People with autism can find imagining a scene difficult, so by providing it physically in front of the child’s eyes we can sit alongside them and help them learn how to manage their fears.” Dr Parr also suggested the treatment would be easy scalable. The team have worked with Third Eye to develop ‘Blue Room Suites’ to be deployed on existing sites. It is also believed the treatment may be expanded to non-Autistic people, but this has not been evaluated. Fears and phobias can affect anyone, but for Autistic people the anxiety can centre on events which are particularly problematic to manage – like getting on
a crowded bus, crossing a bridge or talking to a shop assistant. A psychologist accompanies the child in the immersive experience, guiding them with coping strategies, such as breathing exercises, to help them learn how to control their fears outside of the treatment environment. Full control over the experience is given to the child, as they interact with the scenes using a tablet. This is important as it allows for the child to explore their fears at their own pace, and reassures them as their exposure to the situation can be limited or stopped at any time. Additionally, the exposure can be gradually increased – something which is difficult or impossible to achieve in real-life – and this means that the child can be acclimatised gradually to increasingly challenging environments. The parents of the child can also be involved. They watch the treatment sessions via a unique video-link, allowing them to see the fear-management techniques being used and learn how to help their child to implement those in real-life. For Autistic children wearing virtual reality apparatus such as headsets and goggles can be distressing, therefore the use of Blue Room is a valuable resource. It allows these children to feel less anxious and engage in treatment.
“Full control over the experience is given to the child, as they interact with the scenes using a tablet”
Inside the Blue Room Image:: Newcastle University Press Office Initial indications show that the treatment is very effective. In a 2013 trial of nine children, seven exhibited significant improvement with their fearmanagement capabilities and four completely overcame their phobia. Many of the children involved with the 2013 trial report that the effects of the treatment persisted even after a year.
The service is provided by the Complex Neurodevelopmental Disorders Service, a part of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with Third Eye Technologies of Consett, County Durham. A wider clinical trial is being carried out with the results due for publication in 2017. The work has been produced
with the Newcastle Academic Health Partners, a collaborative consortium of Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, NTW NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle University. The group aims to use expertise from all institutions to bring patients benefit sooner from novel treatments, diagnostics and prevention strategies.
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Tuesday 28 February 2017
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Aasai Charity Ball in aid of Tsunami victims By Meera Vaidya & Ghangaa Mano The Tamil and Malayali Society, formed just over a year ago, celebrated its first big event last week. The Aasai Charity Ball was held at the beautiful Chandelier suite in The Assembly Rooms to benefit the Sivan Arul Illam organisation based in Sri Lanka. The committee, when deciding on a big event, knew they wanted to do one with charitable intentions. The copresident of the society, Piriya Suresparan, has had the Sivan Arul Illam close to her family for many years. The Sivan Arul Illam charity was founded after the 2004 Tsunami that destroyed millions of homes in Sri Lanka and then the intense civil war that affected many of the same communities. The charity works towards and rehabilitation of the homes in the north and east of Sri Lanka as well as providing medical support to the elderly and children affected. All the proceedings from the Friday night ball will go towards this organization to help support their work for the community. The extravagant evening consisted of a three course meal and entertainment throughout the night, with Jeya Raveendran, a member of the group ‘Gaana Rajas’ that made it Sky 1’s Got to Dance
Semi-Finals, opening the night. Sticking to the theme of fusing cultures, the evening followed with dances to the mix of classical Indian and Bollywood music, along with the folk genre dance form of Gaana that originates from South India. The evening ended on a good note with attendees dancing the night away on the big dance floor of the venue. The society originally known as the Tamil society of Newcastle University has expanded and have added Malayalis to the mix this year. With South Asia having multiple cultures in itself, the society is a hub for people from south India, Sri Lanka and anyone interested to learn about the Tamil and Malayali culture. The majority of the main committee themselves understand the impact that merge of cultures has, having been born in Asia but living in England for most of their lives. This is their way of combining and honouring the two cultures that they simultaneously are a part of. This society differentiates itself by having frequent events varying from night out socials and movie nights to cultural events celebrating the colourful traditions. This also helps to appeal to a wider range of audience, bringing people from different cultures together. Tamil and Malayali society is officially sponsored by Glenmore Property Services, a real estate company based out of London.
“The Sivan Arul Illam charity was founded after the 2004 Tsunami that destroyed millions of homes in Sri Lanka”
Members of the society at the Ball Image: Piriya Suresparan
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Playboy ‘17: the return of the nudes Sarah Davis discusses the return of nudity in Playboy magazine, and how this portrays the female body
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layboy is reverting back to the bare essentials. After a year long nudity ban the publication has decided to strip the constraints (pun intended). In October 2015, Playboy announced from March 2016 it would no longer publish full frontal nudity within its magazine. However, Cooper Hefner, 25-year-old son of Hugh Hefner and Playboy chief creative officer expressed last week the decision to remove nudity was an “entire mistake”.
“Playboy has been working hard to try rebrand itself ’’ The change was signalled in a Twitter post by Cooper on 13 February 2017, declaring: “I’ll be the first to admit the way in which the magazine portrayed nudity was dated,” but “nudity was never the problem because nudity isn’t a problem.” Playboy has since promoted its new March/April cover with a topless image of model Elizabeth Elam with the hashtag #NakedIsNormal. It seems over the years Playboy has been working hard to try rebrand itself as a progressive, mindful and proudly feminist publication, challenging issues such as cat calling and questioning the consensual nature of shouting sexual comments towards one another. Its nudity ban was welcomed by many women’s rights
activists. Therefore, is it fair to regard this reversion is a step backwards for feminism? The answer is ambiguous and often resides on prejudice rather than objectivity. Nevertheless, a sense of discontent surrounds Playboy’s motives for the reintroduction of nudity. Superficially, impressive sentiments surround Playboys #NakedIsNormal. Removing the stigma of the female form and celebrating each individual naked body is a profound foundational attitude. But, actions speak louder than words. In the publishing sphere normality seems to have a certain definition. Naked may be normal, but all women of different shapes, sizes, ethnicities, religions, and degrees of physical ability, do not seem to be worthy of publication.
“Naked may be normal, but all women... do not seem to be worthy of publication’’ The hyper-photoshopped stereotype of the female and male form which is promulgated on most magazine covers is not normality. It, therefore, seems difficult to congratulate an outlet for taking such a progressive step without exhibiting their shortcomings, and Playboy would do justice by highlighting the obstacles magazines face when
accurately representing body positivity. The publication has, however, dropped the subtitle “entertainment for men”, but hypocrisy still stands between the content and its intention. March’s issue advertises an essay by Scarlett Byrne on the Free the Nipple Campaign. The core of the campaign is emphatically not sexual in nature; it attempts to challenge the sexualisation of female bodies.
“Hypocrisy still stands between the content and its intention’’
It is increasingly difficult for us to suppose the Playboy move was based solely on sentiment alone, in a world that is constantly diversifying enterprise.
It is, therefore, extremely problematic to see a movement like Free the Nipple, that seeks to confront the inequality of female and male bodies, being advertised in an outlet that has been historically dedicated to selling the female form for sexual gratification. Observing a decline of sales from 7.2 million in 1972 to 700’000 in 2016, the publication originally made the decision to ban nudity in a bid to save flagging circulation and to attract a wider readership and more mainstream advertisers. With Playboys plummeting sales, it seems problematic and unavoidable to cynically view the reversion as anything other than a marketing ploy.
The far right: is history repeating itself? With the ascendance of far-right populist politics, Scott Houghton explores parallels with the pre-war world of the 1930s
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he far-right in Europe and the United States have been gathering pace for a number of years but only recently has it regained such a sizeable place in modern politics. They arrive at a time when many feel isolated by mainstream politics and where many feel that politicians don’t listen to them. They have garnered support from those still reeling from the consequences of the 2008 recession; a corresponding fall in living standards has added to the feelings of loss, fear, and isolation. For many in the United States, this has been ongoing since the 1970s. The election of Donald Trump as President of the United States in November 2016, with the supposed legitimisation of his authoritarian and racist rhetoric, has led many to ask an alarming question: is history repeating itself? The answer in short is, to a certain degree. This is not the world of 1939 at the start of the Second
World War, or even 1933 when the Nazis came to power. The world is wholly different, it’s by no means as militaristic or authoritarian, and is generally more democratic. Germany, completely contradictory to its reputation now, was viewed as a barbaric militaristic nation in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.
“They have exploited fears for their own gain and for the ruling classes’’ What is troubling about today is the rhetoric; again we see the same kind of divisive dehumanising language which has organisations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International worried. The language which instead of addressing concerns with immigration in a
sensible way has veered drastically towards the xenophobia of the 1930s.
“What is troubling about today is the rhetoric... the same kind of divisive dehumanising language’’ Comparisons of Trump with Hitler are not as obvious between the comparisons of Trump to Putin in Russia, Erdoğan in Turkey, or the dictator Lukashenko in Belarus. Nor would I compare Hitler with other far-right leaders in Europe such as Marine Le Pen in France, Geert Wilders in The Netherlands, or with UKIP here in the UK. What usually attracts these people is power for its own sake, instead of a definitive corresponding
ideological commitment, like Hitler or Mussolini seemingly had. Instead these leaders claim to be working for the people when in reality what they favour is massive tax breaks for the wealthy, cutting of regulation like workers’ rights, and the curtailing of the press. Rather than engaging with public concerns over immigration rationally, they have exploited fears for their own gain and for the ruling classes. In sum, we are now witnessing a return of the divisive and xenophobic language reminiscent of the 1930s in the wake of the Wall Street Crash in 1929, as a means to win power. Yet, this is not the 1930s. What are we seeing now is a new kind of authoritarianism that has siezed on the inability, or perhaps just unwillingness, of mainstream politicians to change the present system. To catch a glimpse of the future, look towards Russia.
The fantastic tale of Tony Blair and his bottomless bag of referendums
Errol Kerr explains why he is a little skeptical of the ex-Prime Minister’s goals of kick-starting a second Brexit referendum
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o evidently, Tony Blair can’t get enough of politics and hasn’t realised everyone thinks of him as a political villain rather than a hero, but now he’s insinuating there are grounds for another EU referendum.
“No speech promoting another EU referendum will redeem Tony Blair, however, he raises an interesting point’’
I’m sorry, but no speech promoting another EU referendum will redeem Tony Blair, however, he raises an interesting point: a second EU referendum is feasible. After all, several surveys have pointed towards British citizens voting to remain within the EU should a referendum be held now. People have, evidently, had a change of heart and mind in regards to the referendum result, and there could
be grounds for another vote. But, should we? No, really. I am a staunch Remainer, and even I have my second thoughts about a second referendum. Hell, I’d love us to stay within the EU, and I’d love to have seen a different result. But this option, another referendum, would cause a huge democratic mess – think about it; we have a Leave result in 2016, then a Remain result in 2017/2018. Next thing we know, we’ll have calls for another referendum. And, another one. And, another one. Whilst I’m going to stop channelling DJ Khaled, it really would create a system where the country’s decision would flip back and forth.
“Imagine the state of the Pound if we left twice’’
We’d be trying to get out of the EU one year, staying the next... and it’d ruin our economy. Imagine the state of the Pound if we left twice. Our
economy is a shambles after one leave result. The fluctuation would be so damaging to the country that the option of a second referendum would ruin us. Should we vote to leave again, I shudder to think about where the country will be economically once the democratic dust settles.
“If we don’t leave the EU, it won’t be because of another referendum’’ Even then, would it fix anything? We’ve already had businesses leave due to the implications of Brexit. It wouldn’t necessarily mean they’d come back should we vote remain, partially due to them already being comfortable where they are now, partially because of the unpredictability in the event of multiple referenda. It wouldn’t change the political climate that came to a head in 2016 – the
validated hatred wouldn’t stop because of another vote. Farage would also discredit another referendum. His supporters would rally in this event. I hate to say that perhaps the best option is to handle the hell we’ve been handed, and make change in that manner. If we don’t leave the EU, It won’t be because of another referendum.
“The best option is to handle the hell we’ve been handed” It’ll take more than a vote to change the opinion of elected officials now, as odd as it sounds. Brexit, of course, means Brexit – whatever that means – and I doubt a vote would shift the Government now – or whether a vote would come in time before either we leave, or the EU somehow forces the Government’s hand.
The Courier
comment .11
Tuesday 28 February 2017
Diplomatic buffoonery
SOAPBOX COMMENT’S HOME OF WEEKLY RANTS
Thomas Hussey on Trump’s relaxed destruction of Israel-Palestine negotiations
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eferring to the one and two-state solutions, President Donald Trump single-handedly unravelled decades of US commitment to the Israel/Palestine two-state solution with a mere six words to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - “I can live with either one”. What a pillock. President Trump’s openness toward the one-state solution has proposed an interesting forecast of US/Israeli relations to come. The one-state solution causes a few problems. Israel is a Jewish state. Its Jewish mission requires a Jewish majority, carrying out Jewish practices, culture and traditions. The one-state solution would see Palestinians made citizens of Israel, yet this would result in a Palestinian majority, thus the state of Israel and its mandate for control would now be severely undermined. This potential political climate could be likened to that of Iraq under Saddam Hussein, which saw the Sunni minority sit in power over the Shia majority, this of course was a wholly unrepresentative, oppressive regime. The one-state solution would see Palestinians forced to become citizens of Israel or failing that, remain under Israeli occupation permanently, with
no voting rights nor representative government something Palestinians currently benefit from.
“The one-state solution would massively impact the international stage”
Undoubtedly, the one-state solution would lead to a growing opposition to the minority government. This would result in increased debate over the legitimacy of it and in turn, we would no doubt see a surge in support for Hamas - the Palestinian terror organization which controls Gaza which would bring with it a host of worrying consequences. Not only that, I believe Hamas’ links to Hezbollah and in turn, Hezbollah’s links to Syria could spark a worrying network of political and military mobilisation if the one-state solution was indeed instilled in Israel. Not least would this be a regional threat, the one-state solution would massively impact the international stage – leading to splitcommitments by international actors on Israel. The US would then be embroiled in a far more complicated issue than at present.
Polls suggest a narrow majority of both Israeli and Palestinian citizens support the two-state solution. Gaza and the West Bank would be made independent states in return for Israel to live in safety and peace. On the outset, this is the more peaceful and fair solution, yet it is not as simple as it seems - Hamas still considers Israel’s existence illegitimate and would continue its seperatism.
“Trump’s comments have already fired up Israel’s armed hard right” As it stands, Trump’s comments have already fired up Israel’s armed hard right, which has already started new illegal settlements in Palestinian land. This may be a boon to the authoritarian Israeli PM Netenyahu. Conflicts can be expected to spark as the ire of both sides becomes enflamed. It’s clear President Trump’s lacklustre approach to such a complex issue will not aid in any substantive resolution to the debate, and will be a sure bone of contention in this ever complex and volatile issue as it develops.
WHACK-A-NAZI
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Alexandra Sadler
unching a Nazi? It’s apparently quite a controversial topic. Now, call me a hypocritical, whiny liberal if you must, but I find it difficult to condone giving such large amounts of publicity to racists. I strongly believe that it’s important to consider other people’s viewpoints, as ignoring or completely dismissing them is just as dangerous as airing them. It’s important not to ignore them and hope that it goes away, because the suppression of people and promotion of race, economic or gender supremacy rarely goes away if you just ignore it. Yet when it comes to people proposing genocide I draw the line. You can yell at me about suppressing freedom of speech all you want, but that’s not what I’m suggesting. I find it difficult to have a civil conversation with someone who’s in my face and yelling about the ruin of ‘civilised society’ by anyone who isn’t already extremely privileged. Open discourse is important, but not at the expense of people’s rights and lives. Unfortunately for Richard Spencer, freedom of speech wasn’t a protection against getting punched in the face.
PROTECT OUR DRINK
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So long, the Asia Pivot
With a touch of sober realpolitik, Sunil Nambiar breaks down the new USA Pacific policy
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he course of global politics, wrote thenSecretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2011, “will be decided in Asia, not Afghanistan or Iraq, and the United States will be right at the center of the action.” Building up on underpinnings laid by the last Bush administration, President Obama made a cornerstone of his tenure a foreign policy elevating American involvement in the Asia Pacific. In Burma, the 2012 conduct of independent elections ensuing decades of military rule marked the beginning of American-Burmese rapprochement. Concluding long-standing economic pressure from the United States, reforms toward democracy were accompanied by the gradual easing of sanctions – the last of which was lifted via executive order last October.
“Military assurance... absenting economic ties, render the new mode of American involvement brittle”
Ties between the United States and Vietnam - once ostensibly beyond repair, saw in its advancement reciprocal visits by the countries’ presidents to Washington and Hanoi. Not long before, the 92-million strong nation joined the United States-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, a far-reaching deal initiated in 2005 by the Bush
administration and negotiated by Obama’s. Involving twelve signatories, the Partnership would have changed the tune of two-fifths of global gross domestic product. Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, already enjoying resilient links with the United States’, forged closer American ties by becoming party to the deal. Beyond the fiscal advantages surfacing when free trade is balanced by active governance, its long-term merits are perhaps more significant. The interdependence produced between countries sharing a trade deal may assure a more constructive approach in reconciling twopronged disagreements. Inclinations toward forceful resolutions, then, are undermined. This is enhanced with a multilateral collaboration like the Trans-Pacific Partnership; a large trading community comprising autonomous countries drives for every member nation an analogous economic stake in the immovability of its partners. Yet, the partnership – lacking at the conclusion of the Obama presidency the congressional ratification that would have assured American partaking - was rescinded in the wake of a new administration. In nullifying the cornerstone of a foreign policy interweaving the United States and Asia, is President Trump at the threshold of a shifting trajectory in the international balance of power? When Secretary of Defence James Mattis visited the Republic of Korea and Japan – both United States treaty allies - earlier this month, he
assured leaders in Seoul and Tokyo the primacy of the region. The on-going nuclear programme in neighbouring North Korea – disquieting in its equivocality both of scale and success, underscores an imperative necessitating sustained American ties in Asia.
“Defence Secretary Mattis was prudent in reinforcing the solidity of the present defence architecture”
In highlighting the looming deployment of a nuclear defence system to the Republic of Korea while underscoring the validity of treaty guarantees ensuring mutual defence, then, Defence Secretary Mattis was prudent in reinforcing the solidity of the present defence architecture. Military reassurance absenting economic ties, however, render the new mode of American involvement brittle. Asia-Pacific allies can be expected to be anxious about these developments. Without the tangible reciprocity produced by free trade, the United States provides a disparate hand in its relationship with Asia. The Trump administration, then, should look toward sustaining the more ample involvement hitherto anticipated. The naïveté inherent in the United States’ present approach is, worryingly, adverse to its longstanding efforts in the region.
Jack Oliver Parker
ensbar, our solitary bar on campus, purveyors of the finest pints of diesel, is facing a problem. The problem being the little Starbucks serving area tucked away at one side of the bar. It takes up all the bartenders time, as they fanny on making your pumpkin spiced-extra skinny macchiato or whatever you’ve spent the last ten minutes trying to decide on. Mensbar is a BAR, the clue is in the name. I’m fed up of having to wait ages to get my well-deserved pint of diesel at the end of my gruelling two-hour day. People spend too much time clogging up the bar with demands for cappuccinos, rather than coming for pints of cider. If you really want a cheap Starbucks, why not go upstairs to the Starbucks there? Leave us poor, time starved drinkers alone, and let us get on with what is really important in our student lives, getting to the bar, and getting served in a reasonable amount of time.
UNIVERSAL PRIORITIES
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Jamie Cameron
ecently, three planets were discovered in a nearby solarsystem only a few lightyears(!) away. Get this: All of them are in the ‘goldilocks zone’, are hospitable to life, and have liquid water. With theroetical designs of existing technology, a settling craft could get there in 90 years. Of course, this would require a here-to unseen level of co-operative engineering, a shuttle to transport a colony that would have to be large enough for thousands of people over two generations. Sadly, Capitalism will never fund a project like this on any sort of the needed scale. Production is spent on useless consumer goods, wars, and obsolete fuel sources. If a project provides no monetary profit, it will not happen - this is holding us back severely. Let’s re-engineer our world economy to wipe out famine, poverty, and resist climate change. Then let’s kickstart the next phase of human evolution. Didn’t your mother tell you to shoot for the stars?
Culture
12.
thecourieronline.co.uk/culture
Recipe of the Week
Hope Coke’s new recipe makes the most out of cheap ingredients and cupboard basics
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love aubergines because they’ve got a little more heartiness than a lot of other vegetables, making them a perfect base for a substantial vegetarian dish. Chickpeas have a good bite that pairs really nicely here with the aubergine that’s been cooked until meltingly soft. This makes a good main component of a meal, but I’d recommend having some rice or couscous alongside if you want to bulk it up a bit. If you’re a bit ambivalent about aubergines, give this a go and I hope I win over some more supporters for the admittedly quite niche aubergine fan club... Serves 2 Ingredients: -1 aubergine, sliced in half lengthways. Leave the stem attached but don’t eat it, it’s just to look fancy. -2 tbsp olive oil -2 tsp cumin -salt and pepper -1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed -1/4 of a cucumber, cut lengthways into quarters, then each quarter into slices -a big handful cherry tomatoes, each tomato cut in half -a small handful fresh mint and/or parsley, roughly chopped -juice of half a lemon -2 tbsp white wine vinegar -Optional, to serve: green salad/ rocket, brown rice/ quinoa/ couscous, and top with feta cheese. Directions: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Take your aubergine halves and score each one in a criss cross pattern with a sharp knife. You want to cut fairly deep into the flesh of the aubergine so that it cooks all the way through, but don’t cut through to the skin. Rub a little olive oil onto a baking tray to stop the aubergine skin sticking to it, and place the halves cut side up on the tray. Drizzle about a tablespoon of oil over each half and rub it evenly into the flesh, then scatter over a teaspoon of cumin on each half and again rub over the cut side to get an even covering. Sprinkle with a couple of pinches salt and a crack of black pepper, then place the tray in the oven and roast the aubergine for about 30-40 minutes, until it’s cooked all the way through and the flesh is really soft. It will shrink down a bit as it cooks. -While the aubergine is in the oven, make the chickpea salad. In a bowl toss together the chickpeas, cucumber, tomato, fresh herbs and the lemon juice and white vinegar, adding salt to taste. -Once the aubergine is cooked, remove from the oven and transfer to plates. I like to serve mine on a bed of rocket or baby leaf salad, so put a big handful of leaves into each plate and lay the aubergine halves on top if you want to do the same. Divide the chickpea mix between the two portions, spooning it onto the aubergine halves and letting some of it fall artfully onto the plate if you like that kind of thing.! Serve alongside bowls of rice or another grain if you want, and as I say, you don’t have to put feta on it, but feta makes everything better. It rhymes so it must be true.
Tuesday 28 February 2017
The Courier
Culture Editors: James McCoull & Jack Oliver Parker Sections: Lifestyle, Fashion, Beauty, Arts, Music, Film, TV, Gaming & Science courier.culture@ncl.ac.uk | @CourierOnline
Live like the Queen Bey
When you’re in a crisis, always ask yourself ‘What Would Beyoncé Do?’ In day-to-day life, Izzi Watkins gives us the low-down on how to live like Beyoncé...you know you want to
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s it just us that have started to think Beyoncé has really pushed the boat out the last few weeks. She’s literally seeming less like an actual human and more like some Venus/Aphrodite hybrid that exists on this planet for the sole purpose of kicking ass at award shows and implying all kinds of political metaphors. This whole facade makes me wonder what exactly she does on all the other hundreds of mundane days in the year... 7:00: Wake up (flawless), go back to bed for another hour due to aforementioned flawlessness; no hair or makeup magic needed here, *cough*Kim Kardashian*cough* 8:00: Order 6 different breakfasts to my room (if you count the twins it only works out as 2 each). I’m not in a hotel but that’s okay because I am Yoncé: room service is just a fact of life. 9:00: Just finished polishing my 1.5 Grammy awards, feel like Adele should have given me the upper half of hers as opposed to the base- anyone else noticed that she said she said she ‘couldn’t possibly accept it’, then went ahead and accepted it anyway? V rude. I’m thinking of mentioning it on the illuminati whatsapp group, Minaj will back me up for sure 9:15: On second thoughts I may just DM her… don’t want Kanye getting involved again 11:00: Quick workout, it was pretty intense and didn’t have time to shower, such a relief that my sweat just smells like roses 12:00: Shit, just realised I sent Blue off to school without her packed lunch this morning.
“I’m not in a hotel but that’s okay because I am Yonce: room service is just a fact of life”
12:04: Managed to get the lunch helicoptered to her just in time, hope the Beluga Caviar survived the altitude okay 13:20: Just caught up on Gaga’s Superbowl performance, it was good, could have done with more Bootilicousness though 15:40: Can I copyright all lemons? 15:43: got my lawyers to check it out, I can’t. They said they’re still working on beehives though 17:00: Kelly R has text me asking me about a Destiny’s Child reunion AGAIN, have read and not replied, hopefully she’ll get the message
heading 20:00: been online shopping for more veils (for the bump), it’s surprisingly hard to keep up the ‘pure goddess’ look 24/7 22:00: FFS! Was singing to myself and shattered a champagne glass, that’s the sixth this week
“Jamie Dornan is v cute, if that Becky b*tch comes back I know where I’m heading”
22:30: quick read of The 66 laws before bed, plotting worldwide domination is exhausting 23:30: early night, full day of slaying tomorrow. Sweet dreams and beautiful nightmares all xxx
Wait... Are you telling me not everyone watches the TV from a throne?
That face when you watch Lady Gaga jump off a building to try and compete with your absolute and unquestionable awesomeness. Yeah... keep trying babe. 18:00: Met Solange for dinner, the restaurant was 6 floors up but took the stairs as didn’t want to risk the lift, paying for it with my back now though 19:30: Jay back from work early, fancied going to the cinema to see 50 Shades but didn’t want to queue so paid the cast to come and perform it here. Jamie Dornan is v cute, if that Becky b*tch ever comes back on the scene I know exactly where I’m
Who’s up to grab a quick coffee?
Are you a coffee guru? Do you know your blends from your roasts? Victoria Young reviews Ouseburn Coffee Co. if you want to try going further afield to get your caffeine fix
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nlike the traditional coffee houses that have been opening in and around Newcastle since the 1700s, such as Pumphrey’s, the 21st century seems to have brought us an influx of exciting independent beans and brews. When I think of independent coffee stops in Newcastle, the first few that come to mind are Flat Caps Coffee, Laneway and Co. and The Journey – all great places for a study break - however, at the top of my Coffee list has to be Ouseburn Coffee Co. whose business and coffee has blown my socks off !
“They now regard themselves to be ‘Newcastle’s premier speciality coffee house’”
Ouseburn Coffee Co. (OCC) was established in 2012 on Foundry Lane in Newcastle, but since then has expanded to Jesmond and Fenwick. They now regard themselves to be “Newcastle’s premier speciality coffee house”. OCC also sell their beans to a variety of other independent coffee shops and cafes in the North East. I was first blown away by OCC when I went down to visit their roastery in Ouseburn. It’s only in the smallest of buildings, and at first I wasn’t impressed, but when I went inside to see their Hand Built 5KG Toper roaster, things got a little bit more exciting. My friends and I had walked for an hour to locate the heart of OCC, and in this tiny build-
ing we found a variety of freshly hand roasted coffee beans which were available for brewing. The two blokes who work down there are really great and I cannot fault their service at all, giving us a quick rotate of the roaster, a whiff of the coffees and concluding our visit with a free flat white. The coffee was smooth, earthy and finished off with perfect coffee art (as we all should know, latte art separates the good coffee from the best). My second experience of Ouseburn Coffee was actually in a small independent coffee house in Sunderland called Holmeside Coffee. They proudly ship in the beans from Newcastle and use them as
their house blend which never disappoints. I love the fact that I can now regularly go there to work and order myself a consistent smooth cup of coffee which is fresh and local.
“The best thing about this coffee stop is that it’s right on the way to Uni and is a great and reasonably priced take-out to pick up on route”
OCC now proudly has a coffee bar located in the Fenwick Food Hall. The best thing about this coffee stop is that it’s right on the way to the Uni and is a great and reasonably priced take-out to pick up on route. All of these beans are ground fresh to order too, and can be bagged up to take home. My personal favourite was last year’s bagged El Triunfo coffee, which was advertised as “a wonderfully balanced Honduran crop” with maple, liquorice and Almond flavours – they’re always so exotic and full of flavour. But, in light of all of this, OCC’s Harvest Canteen in Jesmond is possibly the greatest way to truly put their coffee to the test. Its white tiled and wooden décor makes it a unique and quirky place to experience the fullness of independent coffee culture, and their fresh cakes and bakes sure go down well with the city’s finest independent cuppa Joe.
The Courier
Tim on Gavin
.13
Tuesday 28 February 2017
Tim Hajda, 1st Year Surveying and Mapping Science meets Gavin Hethrington, 3rd Year English Literature
Where did you go? Mr Lynch’s. Was that your choice? Yeah I live in Windsor terrace so it’s right next door. So you’re a first year… did it matter that he was a little bit older? Not really, I’m actually 22, so older than most first years. What did you think of Gavin when he first walked in? Well it’s kinda funny because I tried to find him on Facebook before just going by him first name and I was 99% sure that I had found him, so when he walked in I realised he was the guy I had found. So you got it right? Yeah luckily or we might not have found each other. What do you think he thought of you when he first walked in? Um... He brought up right away that I was American, so I guess he noticed my accent first. Did you fancy him at all? Erm… (laughs)… he’s alright I guess… I don’t know if I could say that so soon. Sorry I should’ve built up to that… if Gavin was a packet of crisps what would he be? Probably some cheddar ones because he likes really cheesy music and he likes Disney.
“I was afraid he was going to be someone I already had history with...” Oh really good answer! Did he talk about anything interesting? Um yeah, he’s done a lot of volunteering, like he said he’s been to south Africa and Cambodia to do some volunteering work so he talked a lot about that, and how he wants to travel to the US um we talked a lot about what we studied, and since he does English lit he writes a lot. He’s actually had some books published which was cool. So did you have a lot in common? Yeah like I said we both like to travel, other than that I guess not much... Did he fulfil your hopes and dreams about the date? Yeah I just hoped it… honestly I was afraid it was going to be someone I already knew, that I had history with, so just the fact that it wasn’t someone I knew I was like, thank god. Would you recommend blind date to a single friend? Yeah, actually the reason I did it was because two of my flatmates have done it and they were like ‘go do it, go do it!’ What would you rate Gavin out of 10? I’ll give him an 8. That’s very strong! I mean he’s good looking I guess. I’m guessing you didn’t kiss? No... We hugged. That’s quite nice, are you going to see him again? Erm maybe… I’m not sure. Obviously we have each other’s numbers so we’ll see… Thanks Tim!
Gavin on Tim
So firstly, where did you go? Er we went to Mr Lynch’s. It was his idea, he texted me 7pm, which I really enjoyed actually because he took control. That’s what I like. Was it a good choice? Initially yeah, after a certain point though it got a bit too loud because we were sitting by the DJ… when the DJ started playing it got a bit much. But I’d never been before, so it was alright. The drinks were nice What did you think of him when you first walked in? Well he was sitting down and honestly I had no idea what he would look like. I did try and find him on Facebook but I just couldn’t find him! Success on the blind date front! Yeah, despite my best efforts. I saw him sitting there… then as soon as I stood up and I saw how tall he was I was like… okay! (chuckles) And my first impression of him was that he was good looking, very attractive, he’s tall, and he’s American. Ticks all the boxes then.. What do you think he thought about you? I’m not sure because we were quite quiet at first because we just went straight to the bar… he probably thought I can’t understand him. Because my accent is quite thick, and sometimes he’d be like ‘sorry, what?’ He can’t really talk, being American Exactly! I don’t know, maybe he thought I was a just a broad Geordie. Well there’s worse things to be, did you go anywhere afterwards? Nah, after about three hours the music had got so loud we had to call it a night. So I asked him to meet for coffee or something next week. I think we’re going to meet next week, when we can actually talk without blaring music. I did apologise that it was only short, I’m sure most blind dates go on for longer… What did you talk about? We talked a lot about his family, I told him a lot about myself as well, but just what he said coming from Nebraska and taking few years out to do some travelling and working and finally coming to Newcastle, and why he chose Newcastle out of everywhere on the globe. He’s really cool so we had a lot to discuss. If he was a packet of crisps what would he be? I’m trying to think of some sort of American flavour crisps… what’s an American flavour crisp? Maybe some kind of McCoy’s? The beefy one… he’s not from Texas otherwise I would’ve said a BBQ flavour or something. I do enjoy a bit of beef.. So does this mean you fancied him? I fancied him, he was attractive yeah. Did you kiss? No… but maybe some other time… but we were sitting on sofas sort of opposite each other, so it didn’t have that kind of intimacy. And when we left we just hugged. I did offer to walk him home but he was fine. He’s far taller than I am really so maybe he should’ve been walking me home! What would you rate him out of 10? 8! There was a bit of an accent barrier… but it’s the highest I’ve ever given someone for a date before. Thanks Gavin!
Fancy a date? We’ll set you up. Contact us! Find us on The Lifestyle Writers 2016/17 Facebook page
14.lifestyle
Tuesday 28 February 2017
The Courier
Lifestyle Editors: Ana Beretsos, Ruth Loeffler, Antonia Coleman-Harvey & Brooklyn Shakeshaft Ward
Horoscopes from Astrological Antonia Our resident mystic Antonia Coleman-Harvey guides you through your week
Aries March 21- April 19 Majestic is one word to describe your week! Try and dress appropriately, you might run into a VIP and you need to be prepared.
Taurus April 20- May 20 You were very thankful last week and you exude a lot of kindness, However don’t be surprised if you get judged for being a selfie addict.
Gemini May 21- June 20
Anticipate surges of creativity, Scorpio You could paint, or sketch or write a poem; your creative juices are bursting at the moment. You will be feeling instinctive on Sunday so follow your heart
Cancer June 21- July 22
The reality of voluntourism Yay or nay to voluntourism? Two writers go head-to-head on the topic and share the reasons behind why they believe voluntourism should be given a thumbs up or down Amanda Yap says yes to voluntourism
teaching English to the local children. Volunteers are reminded of the harsh realities of life, forcing them to reflect on their privileged lifestyles.
s much as we whine and grumble about our lot in life, we cannot deny that in other parts of the world, poverty still exists. While we complain about not being afford a spanking-new pair of boots or a much-coveted Kate Spade handbag, there are other people in developing countries who struggle to afford their next meal. Voluntourism is a combination of doing volunteer work and exploring a new country and its cultures. For some, it is the best of both worlds. As much as being a tourist in a foreign country provides the excitement and anticipation, the initial enthusiasm fizzles out after a while. To make it extra memorable, people are opting to volunteer while taking the opportunity to immerse themselves in their surroundings. No, I’m not that naïve to assume that one volunteer trip will radically change the global and economic inequalities of the world. However, I am hopeful enough to believe that it is the first step to making a difference. Whether it is helping to rebuild a home destroyed by natural disasters or
To take some tension off, volunteers contribute economically to the local economy and support local enterprises by sightseeing like regular tourists, certain areas untouched by tourism can be brought to the attention of outsiders. With the right amount of exposure, tourism can be revived, which makes it a sustainable livelihood for the citizens. Volunteers are once again reminded of why despite having so little, the locals are still able to make the most of their circumstances and at the same time, build loving and cohesive communities that share. Essentially, volunteers received a life education, allowing them to reassess their life priorities which cannot be bought with money. Through
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“For voluntourism projects, there will always be interested parties who are willing to contribute to this meaningful cause”
voluntourism stints like these, the volunteers also spend more time building rapport with the locals, which facilitates the exchange of cultures through working on a common project together. In some instances, volunteers get to stay with their host communities to experience day-to-day living in depth. It is a humbling and rewarding experience because it fosters a better appreciation for life. For volunteers, they will meet like-minded individuals like themselves who are passionate about making a difference. For voluntourism projects, there will always be interested parties who are willing to contribute to this meaningful cause. Slowly, an alumni network is formed where the participants can raise awareness of the living conditions of the local community, introducing more participants to this meaningful cause. Even if the human traffic is lacking, donations collected can go into organising more sustainable projects to help the locals to learn transferable skills to earn a living for themselves. Ultimately, the main motive of voluntourism is to go with a sincere heart and aspiration to improve the lives of the natives, establishing sustainable platforms for them to eventually earn a living independently.
Dear Moonchild, stop talking about boys, it’s annoying everyone around you... In other news, if in recent years you have fallen out with a good friend, now is a good time in your planets alingment to rekindle old friendships.
Leo July 23- Aug 22
Fortunately for you, Leo, you’ve had some very good news recently - go you! Don’t brag about it though (you have a tendency to brag, you bighead), so be happy but not, like, too happy.
Virgo Aug 23- Sep 22
Virgo, what have you done? Something you did last week will come back to haunt you in the worst way... maybe lay off the bitching and concentrate on being nice for once. Also stop stealing the damn milk
Libra Sep 23- Oct 22
Libra, I know you dsid shit this week. Just keep your chin up and work hard, your grades don’t define you. However, too much self care could be getting in the way of sucess. Treat yourself right, but don’t get lazy!
Scorpio Oct 23- Nov 21
Don’t fall in to the trap of thinking you’re becoming a bit of a lazy bum (even though you are). Relaxing or watching some videos might perk you up so you hit the ground running this week
Sagittarius Nov 22- Dec 21
This week a friend that thought they’d lost you forever will welcome you back with open arms. Happy times are on the way!
Capricorn Dec 22- Jan 19
Hopefully you listened to your horoscope last week and texted the mysterious boy in your life... maybe you could arrange a cheeky rendezvous to spice things up.
Aquarius Jan 20- Feb 18 Yo, Aquarius. You’re overthinking everything. Don’t get ahead of yourself. That person you keep thinking about probably isn’t as amazing as your fantasies are
Pisces Feb 19- March 20 Pisces this is the week to get stuff done. You are an excellent self-motivator and encourage those around you. Recently you may have been slacking, however. Do those things that you’ve been putting off, call your parents, change your sheets, you know your future self will thank you!
Sam Blackburn says no to voluntourism
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o many people, going to a deprived country to help out others may be seen as a wonderful and virtuous task to do. In reality though, these people are probably some of the biggest sociopaths known to man, touring the world to “help” people. I wonder if when mothers from countries like Kenya are asked by their child “Why do I have to suffer” I imagine them to turn around and say “Because a middle class British person must exploit our poverty to get a holiday funded by others as well as something to write on their CV other than secondary school prefect”. Look, you can use the argument of “Well what have you done to help the human race, Sam?” and other than stop farting on the metro, it is true, I haven’t done much to the benefit of humanity. The thing is, I’m happy to admit I’m more Pol Pot than Mother Teresa, my issue with volounturists is they will act like they are these virtuous and kind souls, trying to best you in an argument of who is
Spotted!
the better person citing the hut they built in Kenya is a greater life achievement than your platinum trophy on Need For Speed. In reality though, they only did that for their CV, so who’s really the bad person here?
“It’s quite literally a way for people to get experience in new countries and new activities through the disguise of a charity” You may presume that I’m writing this for the sake of being edgy, but to be quite honest, I generally believe all of this and hate the righteous people who take part. Here’s my big argument, if you really care about helping out humanity, then you would do more than just go to one deprived country? You can help out at homeless shelters, raise money for charity or even head over to Syria to aid those in need. But no, you volunteer once and then believe you are some sort of higher being for it. I’ve always found stuff like the Duke of Edinburgh
and the National Citizenship Service to be forms of voluntourism. If you get your DoE Gold award, I’m pretty sure you’re allowed to go on residential trips to participate in fun activities as a reward for your kindness towards society, even though most people only do it because they actually think it helps them get into University. You also get to meet the Duke himself, but I’d recommend not bothering to get your gold award and to just go to the reptile enclosure at a zoo if you want to see a lizard. The NCS is the biggest joke though. You help out the community in one way or another, but not without doing outdoor activities first. Because the only solution to helping other people is by going canoening and scrambling first. It’s disgusting that people are rewarded for helping the community when in reality all they done is help themselves to some fun. Voluntourism is a horrible thing. It’s quite literally a way for people to get to experience in new countries and new activities through the disguise of a charity. If you are one of these people, you’re not a good person, you’re honestly quite the opposite.
I mean, that’s one way of reserving a seat! With the rush of exam season over, the library became deadly quiet, however as deadlines are looming, it has become all too clear that the need to reserve spaces is an absolute must. Dreaded are the librarians who come around with their little yelloe pads which say “we’ll throw out your laptop if you’re not back in 15 minutes.’ Rude. Wonder if they’ll be bribed with gum....
Have you seen something weird and then wished your friends were there to witness it? We’d love to know who/what you’ve seen around campus that has made you chuckle in the last week. The weirder the better.
The Courier
lifestyle .15
Tuesday 28 February 2017
thecourieronline.co.uk/lifestyle c2.lifestyle@ncl.ac.uk | @CourierLifestyle
A generation of Facebook stalkers
We have all done it, perhaps even been caught doing so... but will it stop us? Probably not! Chris Wilkinson is here to explain the crazy phenomenon that is Facebook stalking
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he tendency to stalk is not a phenomenon exclusive to our time. For as long as the ‘private life’ has been existent, if you had enough money and enough motive, you could, say, hire a private investigator with the specific command to ‘stalk’ a certain someone. And if, say, you were Poirot or Columbo, you would literally be payed to stalk people on behalf of the public good, payed to rifle through bank statements and underwear draws in order to find the stinking truth. It is in this sense, then, that stalking is a very vague term. What is a phenomenon of our times, however, is Facebook stalking. The tendency to come home from a lecture or from work, to throw ourselves on our beds, and to stalk for what can potentially be hours on end is a luxury only our generation has been afforded thus far. The immediacy of it all makes it so enthralling and so easy, but the true uniqueness of FB stalking is that everyone knows everyone does it, except that if you are caught doing it, your record will be forever stained with that indelible notification. It is the silent game of our generation.
and if you are of those who unconsciously believes that a life well lived is in constant comparison to another’s, then you may reside in perpetual bliss as you scroll endlessly down your phone screen. Perpetual sadness however, is also a possibility for this type of soul. Although there may be quite a few benefits of memorizing your crush’s favourite pastimes, there are clear and obvious implications from having immediate access to your ex’s life. While an image of a singing doggo or pupper may bring profound happiness, a scroll down can bring a keen kick to the genitalia when you see your once-loved hand in hand with someone less repugnant and ugly than you are. All things taken into consideration, Facebook stalking continues to be fun. I do not know one single person, and never will I ever meet one, who does not enjoy going through their friend’s profile page and slaying them in front of a wide audience.
It is just far too fun, and more often than not there is far too much material for the opportunity to simply pass by.
“Their hobbies, their jobs, their thoughts, their lives, are unveiled and ready for our judgement and our criticism”
What am I expected to do, when a picture resurfaces of my friend in a fez, alongside a caption talking about the nature of being a Geek? Am I to simply gloss over my friend’s status from Y9? No, we live in an age so completely dominated by imagery that Facebook is a natural by-product of the world we live in, and what is the point of Facebook if not to stalk?
The benefits are, of course, manifold. You can within the space of 45 minutes learn the minutiae of someone’s life. Their hobbies, their jobs, their thoughts, their lives, are unveiled and ready for our judgement and our criticism. It is the daily workings of life condensed into a 2 dimensional image,
Hacks to stop the hangover from hell
No-one likes a hangover, putting a bitter end to the brilliant night out before hand. Lucky for you Renee Mayor is here to save your day with a few hacks to help soften the blow
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Drink water before bed Prepare a glass of water by your bed before you leave for your night out. Generally drunk people are too lazy to get up and have a glass before bedtime, so be prepared before you make your way out. The glass will help you keep hydrated, making the headache less painful in the morning.
“Generally drunk people are too lazy to get up and have glass of water before bedtime, so be prepared before you make your way out!” Get up and shower No matter how rubbish you feel, getting up and showering makes you feel like a nice new clean person. So you don’t feel like you are going to waste a day in bed.
Drink water Add Berocca and paracetamol if needed. So think your bigger than the pain, everyone needs a little help once in a while.
Eat carbohydrates Try eating toast or crackers, it is a good solid carb that helps you line your stomach for the rest of the
Tom Atkinson sheds truth on the new craze
‘HEALTHY BISCUITS’
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h. The healthy biscuit. This oddity of society is quite perplexing to me. I’m classically British in that when I’m looking for a quick bit of sugar with my brew I’ll reach for the packet of Digestives, Rich Teas or Bourbons. I like my biscuits to be sweet morsels of joy to punctuate my day. The art of the so-called healthy biscuit is to reduce this joy to as small a quantity as possible whilst they may still be sold as a biscuit. The bathos of eating one of these things is indescribable. The pulpy mush that tastes like a distant memory of happier times is as satisfying to quaff with a cuppa as a soggy cardboard box. What’s more, the touted health benefits are rather more limited than we’d like to believe. Yay, your biscuit is low fat, but how about the sugar? Hmm.
“The art of the so-called healthy biscuit is to reduce the joy to as small a quantity as possible”
“I do not know one single person ...who does not enjoy going through their friend’s profile page and slaying them in front of a wide audience”
s most students would have experienced by now hangovers are not fun- but the night is totally worth the dyer pain in the morning. Here are 8 tips to help you get over that horrible sleepy achiness you have when you wake up in the morning:
RANT OF THE WEEK
day. Supposedly it helps soak up the alcohol. Try adding a banana to the toast or the crackers as the banana is a good sources of potassium, which is a mineral you lose a lot of when you’re drinking alcohol.
Go for a run/ or any sort of exercise for the matter (even going for a long walk counts) You can’t scientifically sweat out alcohol but it will make you feel better overall. As exercising will release endorphins that help improve your mood, and the calories you burn, will probably ease a little of that guilt about drinking so much the night before (and the cheeky kebab you had after)! Just
make sure you keep your water bottle handy so you don’t get even more dehydrated.
Eat a hearty breakfast A balanced meal is a great way to get all the vitamins and minerals that are depleted from your system from the night of drinking.
Caffeine Drink up to two cups of coffee, is enough to cure your pounding headache. Coffee acts as a vasoconstrictor, which means it lessens the swelling of your blood vessels that causes your headache. And if you’re trying to get up and moving for work the morning after, the caffeine is an added bonus.
“Coffee acts as a vasoconstrictor, which means it lessens the swelling of your blood vessels that cause your headache” Plan something for the hangover day ahead of you Make sure you have plans for the day after (try to make them fun), it will help motivate you to get out of bed; giving you something to look forward to the next day. If none of those work for you, the best thing you can do is sleep it off. Sleep makes everything better.
You can’t get a hangover if you’re always drunk...
In the name of journalistic discovery I took a look at a big name supermarket. Their own brand Digestives and Rich Teas both have low fat variants. The Digestives drop from 3.5g of fat per biscuit to 2.3g, however carbohydrates (a class of molecules containing sugars for quick release energy and starch for slow release as it’s broken down into sugars – among others) jump from 10g per biscuit to 10.7g. Oh dear. Not as good as they looked before! I should note in the sake of completeness I’m uncertain as to whether fibre (a blanket term encompassing non-digestible carbohydrates like cellulose) is included in the count. A good second measure is the ‘of which sugars’ weight which notes only quickly-digested carbohydrates. Here the weight goes from 2.9g to 3.2g so still not good.
“I hate to break it to you, but if you’re serious about cutting back dont buy the biscuits!” The Rich Teas don’t fare much better. Fat drops from 1.3g to 0.8g per biccy but carbs jump from 6.9g to 7.3g. Looking at branded variants, a popular brand’s light Digestives have a price hike. For £1 you get 500g of full-fat goodness and only 400g of low-fat pseudo-biscuit. Fat drops from 3.2g to 2.1g but carbs go up from 9.3g to 10.3g and sugars from 2.5g to 3g. The Rich Teas are bereft of such a hike, but the same old goes. Fat drops from 1.3g to 0.9g, but carbs jump from 5.9g to 6.3g. Sugars in both variants stay basically the same. So yes, stats overload there but I think it demonstrates the point. What you shed in one, you gain in the other. And either way you end up sacrificing taste and mouth feel. Now, it’s agreed on that it’s best to reduce consumption of both substances and here is where my major gripe comes in. People will see ‘Lighter’ or ‘Healthy’ on a packet and automatically assume the biscuit is in some way healthier than it really is. They think they’re doing themselves a favour by buying the different biscuit. Well, I hate to break it to you but if you’re serious about cutting back don’t buy the biscuits! As for me, pass the Malted Milks would you?
16. fashion
Tuesday 28 February 2017
The Courier
Fashion Editors: Liz Rosling, Izzi Watkins & Zofia Zwieglinska
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or me, Kaley’s exquisite dress conjures ethereal imagery. I adore the soft pastel shades and how they compliment her skin tone and blonde hair. I especially love the hint of blue that peeks out from underneath the several layers of pale pink. The soft texture of Kaley’s gown is unbelievably elegant and feminine, and the iridescent accents are unlike anything I’ve seen on a dress before. Always managing an effortlessly beautiful look, her outfits reflect her fun-loving personality and unique sense of style. With tendrils of hair framing her stunning features, and a dress that appears to melt into her flawless skin and incredible figure, Kaley seamlessly glides across the red carpet like a fairy queen of fashion.
may be biased because I’m a big Blake fan, but I absolutely L.O.V.E this dress! The sleek fit perfectly accentuates the actresses stunning hourglass physique, the black velvet is extremely flattering, and the gold straps make her glow like the Hollywood royalty she is. My favourite part of this look are the pockets. They look just big enough for Blake to pop in her phone and lipstick, freeing her hands from the burden of carrying a clutch all night. My eyes are also drawn to the gorgeous green jewelled matching bracelets, the only accessories that this striking dress needs. With her hair swept into an elegant updo and natural makeup that highlights her incredible cheekbones, this is definitely my favourite red carpet look of 2017 so far.
Thandie Newton - SAG Awards
Felicity Jones - Golden Globe Awards
Katy Perry - Grammy Awards
lthough I appreciate the complexity, luxury and detail of Thandie’s dress, overall I’m honestly left confused by this look. I dislike the horses, bird and Ferris wheel details that adorn the majority of this dress, as they steal the attention away from Thandie’s sleek hair and sultry makeup. Whilst I like the unique and striking one-shoulder collar aspect, I think Thandie’s dress would look stunning if you took away all the stark black parts of it, leaving a simple but still dazzling strapless golden gown.
nfortunately, I’m just not a fan of this dress. I think without the black details, this soft pink look could be beautiful. The complicated, dark patterning of this dress just doesn’t fit with its style and colour. I also dislike the bow on Felicity’s waist as I find it unnecessary and a little tacky on this red carpet gown where the dress should scream sophistication. However, I adore Felicity’s sweeping full fringe and flawless makeup, and I think that the muted shade of her dress goes perfectly with her hair colour and skin tone.
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rom the waist up I adore Katy’s bold, metallic look. Her hair and makeup is striking and flawless (as per usual), and I love the unusual and striking space-age top part of the dress. However, I am not a fan of the faux fur skirt as I think it does nothing to flatter Katy’s incredibly toned physique. There is too much going on with this outfit and the skirt doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of her look. That being said, Katy manages to rock this outfit with her usual sass and glamour. instagram: @katyperrys
Instagram: @c.syresmith
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Blake Lively - Golden Globe Awards
rop tops and long skirts have to be one of my favourite fashion combinations and I absolutely adore Rihanna’s take on this trend. The powerful pop of orange contrasts beautifully with the billowing layers of textured black, and my eye is immediately drawn to how the shape of Rihanna’s top precisely aligns with her unique under-boob tattoo. This look allows the singer to flaunt her incredibly toned abs and arms, and I particularly love how she has minimally accessorised this striking outfit with a sleek black clutch, gorgeous dangly earrings and simple silver bracelets. With her hair in relaxed curls, Rihanna’s overall look is youthful, on trend and undeniably gorgeous.
instagram: @blakelively
Recently, there has been more of a push for gender neutral clothing, as designers have softened men’s clothing styles with floral patterns and pussy bows, and similarly women’s styles have been toughened with leather and straight-leg styles. In March 2015, Selfridges opened a new line called Agender, a pop-up shopping experience in their department store released with a powerful video where the clothes were sold without fixed gender categorisations. Zara also joined the craze, and created a subsection of their store called Ungendered, although I personally found the clothing quite uninspiring, confined to black and white jumper dresses. That being said, it can’t be denied that UK department stores have started to adapt to a more neutral stance with women’s clothing. There is so little stigma around women wearing traditionally assumed ‘male’ clothing. I can wear my dad’s old jumpers, shirts from the men’s department and dresses from Topshop without shocked looks of disapproval, so I’m more interested in how gender neutral clothing will affect men. It’s very hard to imagine a hardcore group of Geordie men nursing a pint of bitter whilst sporting a lilac dress complete with heels; the future for that is probably not too near. However, as previously mentioned, Jayden Smith has been advocating asexual clothing, and his reasons for becoming involved in the Louis Vuitton campaign were apparently so that his future children can wear what they want, be it a floral dress or spike-encrusted biker boots, regardless of their gender and without shame. I’m sure that with the influence of young male and female celebrities and the continuous push of daring designers, my idealistic vision of a complete shift towards acceptance of nonbinary gender fashion (albeit not quite as psychedelic trippy-hippy as Hendrix’s album cover) is just around the corner.
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Kaley Cuoco - SAG Awards
Instagram: @marchesafashion
“Recently, there has been a push for gender neutral clothing, as designers have softened men’s clothing styles with floral patterns and pussy bows”
Rihanna - Grammy Awards
instagram: @rihannadiva
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enderless clothing is clearly the future of fashion. The bridge between what is deemed appropriate attire for either genders is becoming extremely narrow in the 21st century; our world is constantly evolving, and the rigid hegemonic gender binaries are shifting, therefore fashion is a platform to express this change. I imagine a utopic future where we all float about in harmony, decked out in a mixture of wide-leg flare trousers and long tunics: a sort of mash-up of a Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Axis: Bold as Love’ vinyl cover, and Louis Vuitton’s 2016 Spring Ad Campaign featuring Jayden Smith wearing a skirt. As modern and fabulous as this feels, androgynous fashion is not a new concept in the UK. Gender neutral clothes have been lurking around since the 1930’s, where women’s fashion evolved almost instantly to being more masculine, as a direct reaction to the number of women taking over traditionally assumed ‘male jobs’ during WW2. The 1960’s and 70s saw a uniformity of male and female fashion styles, although there was a slight masculine tilt, such as longer shorts and shapeless shirts for both women and men. The US experienced similar changes towards gender neutrality in fashion. Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent were the real pioneers throughout the genderless fashion movement of the 60s and 70s, with YSL launching ‘le smoking’, the ‘mannish’ suit for women in 1966.
Laura Greatrex gives us the full lowdown on the greatest and worst outfits of the evening
instagram: @felicity.jones
Sophie Schneider asks if the future is androgynous
Best and Worst dressed on the Red Carpet
instagram: @thandieandkay
Is there a place for gender in fashion?
Unknown influencers: stylish youtubers
Rebecca Jones picks the best of the Youtube fashpack and updates our subscription box
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here doesnt seem to be any sign of slowing down for the stars of youtube; with various books, product deals and brand partnerships they are truly taking the fashion world by storm. Their enthusiastic tone, and relatable style has caught the attention of millions of viewers from all over the world. Here I pick a few of the best British influencers and discuss how they’ve grown their channels to become such massive, influential platforms. Arguably the Queen of Youtube, Zoe Sugg or ‘Zoella’ has amassed over 11 million subscribers over the past seven years. She uploads regular videos to Youtube, including many high street fashion hauls. Often her videos include her purchases from affordable stores such as ASOS or Topshop. Her relatable style and friendly face makes her appealing to a wide audience of all ages and it is this that has led to her popularity both within the Youtube community and beyond.
“Their enthusiastic tone, and relatable style has caught the attention of millions of viewers worldwide”
Likewise, Fleur DeForce is a British beauty and fashion star who’s subscriber count has rocketed at an alarming rate in rceent years. She is a lover of fashion look-books, regularly editing together her favourite seasonal and party outfits for her viewers to take inspo from. A recent video she uploaded is a ‘Topshop & ASOS try on haul’ which had 159,284 views in just two weeks, demonstrating her likability and genuine love for fashion. She’s also just collaborated with Mac makeup, announcing her very own cosmetics collection, due to be released in the coming months.
Who are your fave fashion youtubers? Tweet us at @Courier_Fashion
Tanya Burr
youtube.com
Tanya Burr is a former makeup artist turned youtuber. Her channel boasts over 3.5 million subscribers. She uploads many different videos from chatty informal tutorials to fashion look-books and hauls. Her most recent upload was a peek inside her capsule wardrobe and supplied bags of inspo for autumn winter dressing. She’s a regular attendee of fashion shows sitting on the front row along side her youtuber husband, Jim Chapman. Check out her channel for classic tailoring and perfect uni outfits.
Jim Chapman
youtube.com
Samantha Maria
youtube.com
Jim Chapman is an up and coming name within the fashion industry. Recently he was part of the lineup of ‘millennial influencers’ who walked in the Milan Dolce and Gabbana fashion show, alongside fellow youtuber and friend, Marcus Butler. He has a regular feature on his channel which he calls ‘In the Closet’. In this he films a tour and Q&A with fellow youtubers and celebrities in which they show they’re most prized items of clothing or accessories. He also recently uploaded a two part vlog where he showed what happened during fashion week and the exhibitions and shows that he was invited to. Samantha Maria describes herself as ‘a London based Fashion & Lifestyle blogger & Youtuber with a penchant for Travelling the world, eating and handbag collecting.’ Her lighthearted chatty videos makes her appealing to a wide range of people. She regularly uploads fun and informative videos such as ‘wardrobe updates’, ‘how to style the midi skirt’, and her ‘winter fashion favourites’. She has just under 2 million subscribers currently to her name. Within the youtube world she’s well known for being honest and a reliable source of info for all your fashion needs.
The Courier
fashion .17
Tuesday 28 February 2017
thecourieronline.co.uk/fashion
Catwalk Spotlight on: Victoria Beckham
Molly Macnamara shows that the former Spice Girl has grown up in her new collection Beckham is veering away from the unapproachable ‘show pieces’ that avidly feature across many AW2017 catwalks, and for us average girls who just can’t relate to outlandish layers of unwearable and excessively expensive clothing this brings on a collective sigh of relief.
“The colour palette is so easy to wear, and that is why the collection is ideal for the girl that lives in the ‘smart dressed down’ look” Beckham is steps ahead of her fellow designers and is actually producing pieces that elegant young women will actively add to their wardrobe instead of admire from a distance. She features hints of pale blues amongst the ruffles of chiffon maxi skirts, and this contrasts with the harsh lines of the oversized tailored blazers and maxi jumper dresses. Beckham, who is known for her love of stiletto shoes of mountainous height has diversified from this obsession and now claims that flats are the way forward. The new collection is abundant with tow different shoe styles; either chunky leather knee high boots that add to the chic and expensive feel to this col-
lection, or polished studded black mules. The inspiration behind the structured 60’s like pattern used is also an interesting fea- ture of this collection. Beckham was inspired by abstract prints from the recent Paul Nash retrospective on show at the Tate Modern in London. This gives a powerful feel to the soft and feminine dresses within the collection. Over recent years Victoria Beckham has really proved her worth in the fashion industry and secured her position as one of the most influential designers to date. Though the social media frenzy of the WAG world does still linger, and some may argue that this aspect of her past continues to cheapen her brand, I think it’s clear that she’s more forward thinking in her approach to wearable fashion. Instagram: @victoriabeckham
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ictoria Beckham to me is the dark horse of the fashion industry, as she converted negative opinions that were based on her garish fashion choices into overwhelming appraisal for her sleek, elegant designs and chic dress sense. I have nothing but appreciation for her AW2017 collection. Minimalism is such a hard trend to master as everyone wants to stand out however, this collection is so perfectly tailored there’s no reason to wear vivid colours to catch attention. Instead your eye is drawn to the relaxed ‘gentleman’s club’ inspired soft palette of navy and grey tones. The colour palette is so easy to wear, and that is why the collection is ideal for the girl that lives in the ‘smart dressed down’ look. Victoria Beckham’s designs are known to accentuate and compliment the female form, and she often uses clever angles to highlight a woman’s curves. However this collection differs dramatically, as Beckham disregards aspects of femininity and dresses her models in slouchy trousers adapting more of a ‘ladylike’ look. Beckham has started a definitive new trend; showing no skin is sexy. Most of the models in the collection are covered head to toe in block colours and thick materials, while every now and again a pop of sheer black chiffon steals your attention and reminds you of a women’s classic approach to seductive dress.
New York Fashion Week Highlights Sally Mu breaks out the best shows from the most political NY Fashion Week ever
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ith the most-buzzed-about New York Fashion Week A/W17 coming to a close, let’s swot up on biggest stories and sartorial talking points emerged from the run-ways. In a week of fascinating shows in America—from Calvin Klein and Coach 1941 that set the tone for celebrating Americana in colour-blocking, pared-back tailoring, denim and quilting; to multiple designers’ delivering fully politically-charged collections via anti-Trump slogan tees and soundtracks on the catwalks. As well as revealing US society’s diversity and inclusivity by having older models and models with
vitiligo, there was also the most plus-size models in the lineups ever. There’s certainly much to applaud this season. Of course, Fashion Week in the US hasn’t shied away from the politics after the election and the on-going protests against Trump. Many labels addressed current politics with the stand out moment at Public School when several models donned red baseball caps and crop tops that read “Make America New York” hitting the runway, which was a play on Trump’s infamous “MAGA” campaign hats during election-season and referenced New York’s society values of tolerance, diversity and inclusiv-
ity. The label’s designer also made a more explicit political statement by having models wear jackets declaring “We need leaders” as well as choosing the “Your Land Is Your Land ” as a soundtrack to rebel against Trump. Other changes on the runway included Michael Kors making history by having plus-size icon Ashley Graham and ‘90s supermodel Carolyn Murphy walking their run-way, promoting the brand’s tolerance of size and age. Looking over the fashion week in New York it has certainly been the most unapologetically patriotic NY fashion season ever.
For or against the theme of fancy dress? Against: Siobhan Fuller
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love a night out as much as the next student but every time a Facebook event pops up with a requirement to dress up like an animal, a superhero or a Disney character, my inner Scrooge reveals itself. Bottom line: fancy dress is the worst. First of all, they’re expensive. Costume shops in student cities are an amazing business venture because of the demand for last-minute outfits at the request of every society’s social secretaries. In the rush to find something to wear that night, you end up spending half your food money on wigs, props, tutus and feather boas. Where does it end up after that one party? If you haven’t had your cowboy hat stolen off your head by a stranger on the dance floor, I’d hazard a guess and say it’ll find a home underneath your bed, stained with some unknown liquid which you can only hope is vodka lemonade. I’d much rather stick to my trusty pair of jeans
“Food for thought: how many other items of clothing have you only ever worn once for a night out?”
and enjoy an extra round of trebs with the cash I’ve saved. Fancy dress for girls often doesn’t constitute of much material - different problem for a different time - so when we are adorn our sexy cat/policewoman/ketchup bottle costume (delete as applicable), we’re essentially risking hypothermia over the FOMO. In fact, unless you go for a onesie that looks like a unicorn to keep warm, you can guarantee you’ll be shivering all night. Finally, I have a personal vendetta against face paint. Not only is it a nightmare to keep it from sliding off all night, it gets everywhere. Your clothes, your friends’ clothes, your bed sheets in the morning when you forget to wipe it off… You’ll still be finding bits of blue behind your ear in a week’s time as you start to wonder why you decided you looked good as a Smurf.
For: Errol Kerr
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vogue.com
Calvin Klein Dior’s former creative director Raf Simons debuted his first and most anticipated Calvin Klein collection, featuring a mix of Americana elements: structured pants and suit shirts in bold stars-and-stripes that were popping up all over the scene, forever-a-classic double denim and pantsuits that had more relaxed and nonchalant cuts. Through his magic touch he paid tribute to American work wear, bringing in the ul-tra-chic metal-tipped cowboy boots back in vogue. At the same time, Raf made a pointed political statement by playing David Bowie “This Is Not America” in the showroom showing the echoing political statement for the American brand.
vogue.com
Coach 1941
vogue.com
What do you guys think about the new mix of fashion and politics? Tweet us your opinions @Courier_Fashion
At Coach 1941, design maestro Stuart Vevers channeled NYC and the Great Plains by showcasing American Prairie–inspired prints both on earthy-toned, quilted puffer jackets and shearling outerwear. Both are surprisingly wearable and practical items that will shake up our autumn wardrobe. Moreover, we’re crushing on those conversation-starting layered mini handbags covered in playful cartoon ducks, they’re available in many fun shades and are so adorable, adding a youthful and modern appeal to the label.
ou know, when you’re in uni, stressing over assessments, turning up to (or missing) endless lectures, and trying to maintain your social life, where’s the harm in social events where you get to dress up, eh? I’ve turned up to many of these fancy dress parties, and loved every one of them. Usually around Halloween, they provide a degree of entertainment and freedom that a lot of other parties usually don’t provide. I mean, we’re only young once, so why not enjoy it however you want to? That said, I’m not supporting all fancy dress parties – there are levels where it’s just not cool, and I’ll still come down on the “you’re a dick” side of the line if parties’ fancy dress themes revolve around utilising cultures as dress-up elements. There are so many great fancy dress themes for parties and events that I’ve been to (I have a Disney one lined up in a few weeks, help!) so avoiding causing offence is pretty easy. Despite this, let’s be honest, as students, we’re going to spend our money on something, and some of it is going to be on social events, going out, having fun. Whether you’re the kind of person to buy a full costume yourself, or, like me, you’re someone who will try to put it together from the clothes you already own (it’s how I ended up as Han Solo last Halloween...), there are so many ways to avoid spending too much money on your fancy dress and still look great. Food for thought: how many other items of clothing have you only ever worn once for a night out? How many items of clothing are reserved for parties? Your fancy dress clothing is no different to that one shirt, dress or pair of shoes you’ve only got for nights out.
18. beauty
Tuesday 28 February 2017
The Courier
Beauty Editors: Miranda Stoner, Ellie Trent & Ellen Walker
Matte-erial girl Susanne Norris gives us the low down on the best matte lipsticks to try today
Glamour at the Grammys 2017 Laura Bolden dishes out her awards for the best make-up from the ceremony this year Instagram: @ fashionbloom.makeup
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et’s face it, matte lip products are the best thing to happen to make-up. Whilst I know some girls still opt for a glossy lip instead, matte lips offer a longer lasting and more vibrant look. Not to mention you can always create a glossy lip look with them by adding a touch of Vaseline to finish your look. I guess we have Kylie to thank for it. It was her matte lip kits that relaunched the craze for mattes after all. But are Kylie lipsticks and kits really worth the hype? After a long deliberation with friends (and intense drooling over the gorgeous colours in her collection) I must say we agreed on balance they’re not. Yes, the colours are beautiful and yes, they have very cool names but in term of value for money there are better products out there. They are long-lasting but so are the dupes that will cost you a fraction of the price, not to mention no custom fees. So, without further ado, here are some amazing matte lip products at a fraction of the price of Kylie’s:
Adele
NYX Lip Lingerie, nyx.co.uk, £6.50 Instagram: @ adeleinitaly
The selling point of this? The colours are pretty much identical to the pinks, nudes and browns found in the Kylie collection. I mean seriously, what more reason do you need to buy the entire collection. These matte liquid lipsticks are super long lasting and ca even be layered on top of each other to create beautiful ombre looks. Team with a NYX mechanical lip pencil (there’s a pencil to match every colour in the collection) and you’ve created your own matte lip kit for £12. Perfect.
Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick, Debenhams, £17 If you’re having a ‘treat yo’ self ’ moment this is definitely the way to go. I mean seriously, these lipsticks don’t rub off unless you want them to, I’ve seen my flatmate sleep in hers after a drunken night out and it was still intact in the morning. Not to mention Kat Von D is the queen of vampy shades, so expect purples and deep reds that you wouldn’t find anywhere else. Also, being a premium beauty product, whilst it creates a matte finish this lipstick still has a hydrating quality to it, so your lips won’t be drying out any time soon. Try the shade ‘Damned’ for an eye-catching look or ‘Beloved’ for something subtler.
Instagram: @alternativexfashion
NYX Lip Lingerie: £7 nyx.co.uk
Despite a few technical blunders, The Grammys were British Singer Adele’s night. From the 5 awards, she took home to her now infamous mean girls style speech in which she snapped an award in half to share with Beyoncé (total friendship goals). But what grabbed my envy the most was her incredible hair and makeup that radiated sheer sophisticated glamour.
“It wasn’t all about the natural look, many stars supported bold statement looks”
ColourPop Ultra Matte lip, colourpop.com $6 Getting the only con of this collection out the way first, it has to be ordered from the US so you will have to pay a customs charge (around £17). But given postage is free, just see it as more expensive postage. But are these lipsticks worth it? Absolutely. I have never used a better matte than the one’s in this collection. The price may suggest they’re too cheap to be any good, but that is just not the case. They are the longest lasting, most vibrant colours I’ve ever used. Whilst the nudes are beautiful (Times Square is my favourite) they do all the popping colours Kylie does and more, think oranges, greens and even blues. They even offer a black for those of you who fell in love with the one in Kylie’s range.
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t’s the most glamorous times of the yearAward season! From lavish diamond, emblazed dresses to sleek silk gowns, the fashion is always a hot point of our attention as we sit in bed repeatedly refreshing our social media feeds to get the next peek into the alluring world of celebrity life. But as amazing as the fashion may be, the perfectly pined hair-do’s and glowing makeup are equally elaborate and always inspire me to try new trends or improve my makeup skills. The Grammys always provide much inspiration as music icons brush shoulders with the up and coming stars at the most anticipated and highly regarded award show for music performers. This year was no different. The golden glow continued to prove a hit with stars such as Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez who both supported the bronzed goddess styling, and looked amazing whilst doing so. However, it wasn’t all about the natural look, many stars supported bold statement looks using glitter lipstick, diamond jewels and vibrant bleach blond hair. Here’s a the my top picks of the mix:
Instagram: @jmbrilasmakeup
Where better place to start than Adele’s signature beauty style; matte black winged eyeliner. Wow. The intensity made her eyes pop whilst adding a youthful element to her style, makeup tutorial as soon as possible please, Adele. Her hair was pinned up with an elegant drop that showed volume and
length and a perfect front flick framed her face without being too much. We’re used to her stunning looks by now, but her makeup and hair artists took her game to a whole new level that even levelled the likes of Beyoncé.
Kat Graham The actress/singer who plays Bonnie in The Vampire Diaries is an unlikely pick for my top three at the Grammys however her bold look stood out from the crowd of top selling stars. She proved that the trend of glitter lipstick is far from over and inspired many to even give the overlooked style a try. She opted for a bold red lip topped with glitter, and on a carpet, full of nude lips she brought a fresh pop of colour. Her statement lips were matched with a radiant foundation, chizzled contour and my new must have makeup piece white waterline eyeliner. Her hair was styled perfectly to match in a sleek, slicked back style that ensured that her makeup was the focus of the camera attention. Her parting was placed slightly to the side to create a fuller look that placed hair evenly on her back. I loved it.
Demi Lovato Metallic makeup is in this season and was a very popular trend at the awards ceremony but Demi proved once again that she is the Queen of bronzed shimmer and stole the show with her mermaid inspired style. Her metallic bronzed eyeshadow added depth to her eyes whilst the addition of glitter added sheer glamour. Also, can we talk for a second about her whispy eyelashes… I am desperate to know which brand she used to recreate this myself! She paired the dramatic eye look with a glossy neutral lip and intense bronzed cheekbones with a slick of shimmery golden highlighter. Her famous thick brown hair was lengthened to her waist and styled with timeless long waves that still allowed her to show of her amazing makeup and stunning dress. She took a popular style and totally dominated and that is why I loved this look.
Take me to the body shop
For Rebecca Doneghan the Body Shop is a second home on the high street, find out exactly which products she recommends you should get straight in your shopping basket
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verytime I go into the Body Shop I find new products for my wish list but here are my current favourites.
The Body Shop’s Matte Lip Liquid Range
Using animal friendly products has quickly become the fashionable thing to do these days, and I have to admit, I’ve jumped on the bandwagon too. Luckily for me, this led to a love affair with the wonderful Body Shop. Since November, I’ve tried a range of their colourful, sweet-smelling, animalloving products, from bubble baths to nail varnish. One everyday product, however, is my absolute favourite!
“I’ve never owned a better beauty product for lips ”
Their ‘Matte Lip Liquid’ range is revolutionary – I’ve never owned a better beauty product for lips, and I doubt I ever will. Although I currently own only one colour, Crete Carnation (perfect for my pale complexion), I’m already on a mission to collect the other eleven. Plus, at only £6 each, it won’t take long! From subtle nude shades to shining oranges and seductive reds, there’s bound to be a shade for everyone. One personal tip – coating lips with a layer of the Body Shop’s lip balm gives a little shine if desired, and helps to show off your lips for longer!
The Body Shop’s Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Glow Mask Blackheads and spots may be gross, we can’t seem to stop talking about them. I too am a victim of not so clear skin, but have finally found the product to help me on my way; The Body Shop’s Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Glow Mask, and what a glow it creates. It’s a quick and easy treatment for the busybodied students that we all apparently are, and I have noticed a difference after only two uses.
“You can feel the minty essence working”
The first time I used it, I was determined to make sure I did everything possible to ensure that I ended up with perfect skin. I had a shower, steamed my face, then layered on the product like there was no tomorrow. After washing it off, I had the “oh my GOD” moment that everyone else seemed to have as my pores were clearer and my skin was super smooth. Pretty good for only one use! It does require frequent usage though. One go will not leave your skin flawless forever. I applied it the second time straight after a shower, and it produced the same results; a smooth and radiant face. The tea tree oil tingles, and you can feel the minty essence working. It’s even given me the confidence to take a break from foundation!
The Body Shop Vanilla Chai Shower Gel Christmas is a time for giving, receiving, and time well spent together. More importantly, it’s also a time for sales, bargains and treat days. Of course this Christmas, that included a box of little Body Shop gifts to myself, from myself. One of which I have only recently used, having tried to treasure it for as long as possible for weeks after Christmas; The Body Shop’s festive Vanilla Chai Shower Gel. I used it before heading out for a nice evening with friends, and it left me feeling that little bit more glammed up. It even left a faint, sweet aroma in the bathroom for a little while after my shower – what’s not to like?! Obviously, this all sounds pointless because they are last year’s Christmas products… Never fear! Having researched the ingredients, it is possible for you to enjoy a luxury shower too! One ingredient found in this product and another shower gel, Shea Shower Cream, is ‘coco-glucoside’. This means that it will also have the soft, foaming texture and moisturising qualities, an absolute wonder for sensitive skin. Definitely give it a try, even if it isn’t so festive. You’ll still feel silky soft!
The Courier
beauty .19
Tuesday 28 February 2017
thecourieronline.co.uk/beauty Instagram @courier_beauty | Twitter @CourierBeauty
Getting bolder every day Tilly Parry confesses her fears of statement looks and shares with us how she got over it
Credit to cruelty-free makeup
Rachel Baker discusses the best brands supplying cruelty-free make-up, and those which should be avoided at all costs
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Instagram: @ sleekmakeup
here are a multitude of beauty techniques that terrify me. After all, I’ve done the same winged eyeliner since I was fourteen (though its application has most certainly improved in that time) and my lipstick collection varies from nude to a more pink-toned nude. I see that the new eye trend involves actual gems when, quite honestly, I’m still getting glue in my eye every time I attempt false lashes. But just because something intimidates us, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try it or get to enjoy it. For the more cautious of us, therefore, I’m going to share some tips and tricks for balancing out bold make-up looks. As we slowly make our way into spring (though sometimes I doubt the North has seasons) more people are introducing more fun colours into their looks. But unless you’re well familiar with colour theory, avoiding clashes on your lids can be difficult. But with this style, there aren’t any rules have fun, mix colours you wouldn’t usually use, and make sure to wash your brushes afterwards! High pigment is key here, so stick to brands you trust. Because this is such an attention-grabbing style, make sure to use black mascara to define
Images: wwww.urbandecay.co.uk
your actual eye-shape in the midst of such exciting colours. For lips, your best bet is a nude to make sure the eyeshadow is the main, uninterrupted feature. After all, a lipstick that doesn’t match will be jarring, but a lipstick that is part of your chosen colour scheme might look too coordinated and regulated.
“Just because something intimidates us, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try it ” Look. We all have the same nightmare of supervising over-exuberant children at an arts and crafts table. But I promise, using glitter does not have to mean a lifetime of unpicking it from your carpet. I personally love adding a touch of gold glitter to jazz up a smoky eye, but if you’re a pro with a cut-crease, glitter eyeliners can be used for a more delicate effect. Glitter can also be used on the cheekbones if you’re a highlighter fan. The key with glitter, however, is to ensure it is the main focus of your look. If on your eyes, use a more muted amount of highlighter and shimmery products,
Instagram: @ sleekmakeup
and a more matte lipstick is your best bet. Also, make sure to match your colours: gold glitter can go well with a pop of deep red lipstick for a more classic Hollywood look, whereas brighter colour glitter needs a nude lip to avoid any colour clashes. Dark lipsticks are perfect for facing any day like a bad-ass and have skyrocketed in recent popularity. The key to balancing such a statement look, however, is outlining, in several different ways. Firstly, you need to use a lip-liner, either nude or matching the main lip colour, to make sure the product doesn’t bleed out. The dark colour means any wobbly lines or smudges are obvious, so use a concealer as well to clean up the application. But outlining the rest of your face is equally important – your other features shouldn’t be lost behind the eyecatching lip look. Black eyeliner is the best way to do this, with a simple nude eyeshadow base. You don’t have to do wings or even a heavy line, but defining your eyes balances out the overall look and makes sure they don’t disappear. You want attention to be drawn to your beautifully-painted lips, of course, but not at the expense of the rest of your face. Strong eyebrows and contouring will also help with this.
Five products for less than a fiver Beauty Ed Miranda Stoner brings you the make-up bag updates you need for Spring
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s the view out our window starts to change with the seasons, it’s time to give our make-up stash a spring clean. Throw out the old and invite these 5 beauty products into your life. With each of them costing less than your average pret a manger sandwich or perhaps more importantly 2 trebles in Sinners you can afford to splash out!
NYX: Wonder pencil (£4) I picked this up on a whim in Boots, in the hope that it could bring some light back into my life as I mourned the purchase of my last 02 priority £1 Boots meal deal. Safe to say it did more than brighten my life! It is such a versatile product. Not only does it work on the waterline to put the twinkle back under your eyes, it also acts as a reverse lip liner by creating a light/dark contrast and neater definition and it can be used to shape and structure under brows. It has similarities to Benefit’s eye bright but the pencil is much thinner making it easier to create precise looks, especially on the lips and for a fraction of the price. This pencil comes in three shades- light, medium and deep which accommodates for all skin tones and is a must for anyone who wants to channel the natural beauty look.
SEVENTEEN: Eyeshadow Brush (£2.99) Seventeen have a very limited selection of brushes but those they do have are excellent choices if you’re on a tight budget- they almost match Primark for price and outstrip them on quality. Aesthetically the brushes look like the paint brushes you used in art classes at school but they blend beautifully and it is possible to create a smoky eye
using just this eyeshadow brush. It is the right size to sweep your highlighting shade across the whole eyelid, but can then be used more delicately in the crease with circular motions and darker shades. Finally, in smaller strokes using a mid-shade you can blend the light and dark to create the desired degrade effect.
it only noticeable in strobe- or sun-light. It can be worn alone but for special occasions it looks fab intensified with a bold highlighter across the cheeks.
MISS SPORTY: Instaglow primer
If you haven’t already been introduced to the Redemption palettes you have been missing out. There are 3 variations and each is a pretty good replica of the Urban Decay Naked Palettes 1, 2, and 3. Obviously the quality and pigmentation is lost with the £36 price difference but you can’t argue with a £4 price tag- almost the same as an NYX hot single! There are 12 shades in each palette which are all blissfully blendable for a mesmerising smouldery eye. Furthermore, the colours are all wearable so you will get your full money’s worth out of the palette and open up a whole new wardrobe of potential looks.
You will probably remember this brand from when you were 12 and in the experimental stage of your make-up relationship and whilst it may be aimed at the younger market that should not put you off their pocket money friendly offerings. This primer looks terrifying when it comes out the tube- pinky, glittery, but put it on and you will find it lacks all the other things we may associate with high school make-up- it is not cakey, flaky or orange. What’s more it actually gives you a healthy glow and the shimmer blends into the skin making
MAKEUP REVOLUTION Redemption Palette Iconic 1, 2, 3 (£4.00)
MUA Lipstick (£1) Regardless of your budget you must be able to afford at least one of the huge spectrum of colours MUA offer in their lipstick range. The quality may not be the best and they are preferably worn with a primer as the product tends to dry a little after a few uses. Yet this product is perfect for easily keeping up with trends and experimenting with new colours- be they bold or nude, before committing to a more expensive brand for the shade as well as the quality and stamina. The rainbow is really your oyster with this collection- not just the risky dark purple or bright pink are on offer. We’re talking blue, orange, yellow, green- all the colours which look fab on Instagram but you never quite had the gumption to invest in.
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hat with a surge in environmental concerns, and increased awareness of the cruelties of animal testing, cruelty free and vegan beauty is on the up. For me personally, it makes no sense for an animal to be imprisoned for the benefit of my make-up products, so I cut out brands that use animal testing early last year. Finding brands that genuinely oppose it however is challenge. Many brands claim to only use animal testing when the law stipulates it is necessary. This is the case in countries such as China, one of the biggest consumers of make-up in the world. Consequently, brands such as Benefit that used to be cruelty free will choose to sell in China, thus abandoning a commitment to cruelty free for the sake of profit. There are however several cosmetic brands that maintain their commitment to the cause, and these are a few of my favourites. LUSH Known for its commitment to environmentally sustainable products, Lush brought out a range of make-up in December 2015. Although they are some of the more expensive products in store, their lipsticks and pigments are vibrant and beautifully scented, like the whole shop. CHARLOTTE TILBURY Charlotte Tilbury has been a vegetarian her entire life, so not only is her entire range cruelty free but it is also vegan (you would be surprised how many makeup products contain animal products, honestly). Although on the pricey side, Charlotte Tilbury makeup is a luxury that last, with ranges tailored to all skin-tones and eye colours. TOO FACED Too faced is renowned for its food themed products, and whilst I personally prefer not to have a face smelling like cupcake and peanut butter, they have some of the best palettes around. Again a very high-end brand, but worth the money. Their ‘better-than-sex’ mascara is hands down the best mascara you will ever try. MAKEUP REVOLUTION For those on a budget makeup revolution is the perfect cruelty free brand. With lipsticks from just £1 and palletes from £8, Makeup Revolution is my favourite drugstore brand. You wouldn’t believe the pigment in their eyeshadows for the price, and their highlighters ensure J-Lo glow that lasts all day. SLEEK Sleek offers some beautiful products for a great price. Their cheek trios offer everything you need for the perfect contour in one package, whilst their matte-me liquid lips have some colours for every day and a more vibrant look. Entirely vegan as well, so fully committed to the environmental cause. BARE MINERALS Bare Minerals is the best brand for those who want a natural look with products that don’t clog up your pores. Also entirely vegan and from mainly natural sources, Bare Minerals also offers an entirely natural line of makeup brushes that apply foundation beautifully for a low maintenance look.
Big no no’s MAC Although they are probably half the UK’s favourite brand, Mac go out of their way to test on animals. Previously they have been known to get products shipped out to China and then back to the UK just so they can be animal tested. L’OREAL L’oreal now claim to not test on animals for products sold in the UK, however they are the biggest culprit for buying out cruelty free brands so that they can be sold in China, such as Urban Decay and Garnier.
20. arts
Tuesday 28 February 2017
The Courier
Arts Editors: Tamsin Daisy Rees, Jonathan Hastings & Meg Holtom
SALTY OPINION:
Northumbria is UNDOING Ruins Fine Art Students at Northumbria present RUINS; Rosie Minney is undoing the ruins
The Future of Art? LAUREN SNEATH
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he ever-changing world of media presents constant challenges to the traditional idea of “art”. As new creative outlets emerge, so the world of art and those who appreciate art must evolve to accommodate them. In this day and age technology has a choke hold on society, and cannot be underestimated as the most powerful up and coming art form. Be it a photo shared on a social media platform, a digitally created image or video, or a piece of music constructed entirely using new computer technology; it cannot be denied that artists today have a palette of resources far extensive than in the past. There are people everywhere opposed to the idea of digital media as artwork. After all, if art is so special and hard to create, why should everyone with photoshop get a crack at it? It does seem to spit slightly on the legacies of the great masters that nowadays one could snap a selfie and have it appear in a national exhibition; it’s understandable that some are unsure. This fear of change is present throughout art’s history. A notable example is that of Picasso, now one of the most celebrated artists in history. He was once seen as an interloper on the traditional art scene when he broke with norms and created the Cubist movement. Then: a painting style seen as inferior to the more realistic masterpieces which came before it. Now: an internationally renowned and much-admired movement, inspiring millions of artists all over the globe. The progression of society from shock and disapproval to acceptance and adoration is clear, and the natural development of both technology and society will only open more doors when it comes to creative expression.
“I’m not saying that traditional art is to be wrapped in plastic and hidden boxes, or that painting has had its place in the spotlight”
There will always be people who refuse to accept change. Luckily, their stubbornness will never stem the flow of creativity. The culture of digital, visual media as art (Beyoncé’s Lemonade album is a perfect example in popular culture) is only going to grow ever stronger as technology continues to play a bigger and bigger role in our lives. As this happens, it will only become more and more important for society to recognise that great art doesn’t have to be created with paint and a brush. A canvas is no longer the only medium upon which creativity can be realised and, in my opinion, we are lucky to have so many ways to create works of art- to not use them on the principle that they are not “traditional” would be ungrateful. So now that screens are the new canvas, and a mouse the paintbrush, the artists using digital media to push boundaries and challenge norms should be applauded, not disparaged. I’m not saying that traditional art is to be wrapped in plastic and hidden in boxes, or that painting has had its place in the spotlight. The classics will always be appreciated and will always inspire future generations to express themselves in different ways. We still love the golden oldies, but let’s not always look backwards. Let’s accept and value the new as well, and what’s more, utilise these new creative platforms to further artwork all over the globe.
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hursday 16 February saw second year Fine Art students at Northumbria University present their collective works at their UNDOING Ruins exhibition. Being placed into thematic groups, this set of twelve artists were given the Whitechapel book, edited by Brian Dillon, titled Ruins, from which they were able to respond individually.
“The ever-present destruction of society can evoke personal responses from artists, triggering melancholy from the past and simultaneously apprehension
Ruins documents artworks that explores the fascination maintained by contemporary artists with the decay and ruination, particularly in culture and society. The concept of ruin upholds a certain sense of nostalgia, a “relic [serving] as a portal” onto the “political history of the past,” be it exploring the afterlife of damaging political schemes, such as colonialism and the ceaseless threat of war, to the decline of Western industrial factories, and even environmental catastrophes. The ever-present destruction of society can evoke personal responses from artists, triggering melancholy from the past
and simultaneously apprehension for the future. The students at Northumbria interpreted this on their exhibition guide, stating the “correct perception of things is to anticipate an undoing.” After viewing their artworks, one could see that they all either hinted at or fully embodied ruin and destruction, be it environmental, political, architectural or sentimental, driving home the idea that everything is temporary; everything teeters on the edge of ruin. The idea was well-captured through a myriad of media, from film to performance, installation to oil painting, with the collective works being titled ‘Undoing’ as a reference to ruination.
“The concept of ruin upholds a certain sense of nostalgia”
Student Jonathan Beattie’s Abstract Compositions 1 and 2, was a series carried out in paint and sculpture, in his own words “based round the idea of an imaginary… landscape” which he formed with the “intuitive use of colour, shape, texture, form, size and weight.” His description helped me as a viewer to read the works as a destruction of realism, undoing what we see before us and intuitively recreating it; terminating our understanding of the landscape as we know it in favour of this personal response. Becky Norrington’s Earthpods played with the apprehension towards the future of the natural world around us. Suspended in a pod hung lus-
cious green plants, whilst a video of a roaring fire was projected onto the sculpture, which I believed to symbolise how pockets of our environment are protected – for now – in nature reserves, but the ominous future of destruction is ever coming closer.
“His description helped me as a viewer to read the works as a destruction of realism, undoing what we see before us and intuitively recreating it”
I spoke to one of the artists, Shamina Akhtar, on her paintings Everything is Temporary, which depicted the Insel Ruegen shoreline in the Baltic Sea, upon which she has poured a black tar-like substance. When asked about her inspiration, she laughed, “It sounds cheesy, but from myself!” Being actively interested in the environment and preservation, she also used the project to further her own skills, and used her primary painting as a springboard of inspiration to intuitively paint the second, more abstract painting; in a way undoing her previous work to form something completely new. Which is what makes her title and thus her message so important: everything really is so temporary.
Public INSIGHTS Lecture: LGBTQI+ Phoebe Clothier and Benj Eckford delve into Peter Tatchell’s inspirational lecture
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eter Tatchell describes part of his job being ‘ambushing tyrants and torturers’, and fifty years on from the passing of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, his activism for LGBTQIA+ awareness seems even more important. As a straight woman, its history is not something that I had ever come across. I didn’t know that the amount of homophobic prosecutions rose by 400% after the passing of a law that supposedly prohibited homophobia. I didn’t know the true extent of ‘gay bashing’, and I certainly didn’t realise the extent of the hypocrisy the British government showed in the face of gay rights. My ignorance to these important issues only reinforces Tatchell’s main plea that education on the subject of LGBTQIA+ liberation be manda-
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ith legendary LGBTQIA+ liberation campaigner Peter Tatchell in town last week, I had a rare opportunity to question a first-hand witness of a peculiar episode in LGBT+ history.
“The real value in the campaign was making such homophobia never acceptable again”
The Bermondsey by-election in 1983, in which Tatchell was the Labour candidate, is one of the most infamous ever. While his lecture attracted a huge audience, I was one of a handful who went to a much smaller talk in a small classroom be-
tory in all British schools. I can think of countless times where I’ve been educated on the horrific prejudices against people due to colour, gender, or religion, and yet the LGBTQIA+ struggle, in its full depth, has been completely ignored.
Tatchell’s emotive and personal speech coupled with a strong political presence makes him a fitting activist for educating straight-identifying people like me, and helps to bring the LGBTQI community into the foreground. Although we’d like to think that society has progressed into a glorious and enlightened 21st century, sadly this is still not true. In 2012, 28% of the British population believed homosexuality was mostly or always wrong. One of the biggest causes of youth homelessness today is caused by ostracisation from communities where being homosexual is still seen as a crime. Although we are a long way from 1967, identifying with the LGBTQIA+ movement can still be perilous, something that Tatchell brought to light in full force. Phoebe Clothier
forehand. I asked him about his memories of the by-election. Bermondsey was a safe Labour seat, but a huge homophobic campaign by the press and the other parties resulted in victory for the Liberal candidate, Simon Hughes. The Liberal leaflets had described the election as a ‘straight choice’ between Tatchell and Hughes, the three fascist parties contesting had published Tatchell’s address and made threats of violence, and anonymous posters displayed Tatchell and Queen Elizabeth with the caption ‘which Queen would you vote for?’. ’Ironically the only one who wasn’t homophobic was the Tory,’ laughed Tatchell. In addition, his own party did not fully support his campaign. The Labour leader, Michael Foot, refused to endorse Tatchell’s candidacy.
“‘Ironically the only one who wasn’t homophobic was the Tory,’ laughed Tatchell”
“‘The amount of homophobic prosecutions rose by 400% afterthe passing of a law yet the LGBTQIA+ struggle, in its full depth, has been completely ignored”
Foot maintained that this was nothing to do with Tatchell being gay (Foot had voted in 1967 to decriminalise homosexuality), but because of Tatchell’s call for extra-parliamentary action against Thatcher’s government. Many (myself not included) suspected this was just a cover for homophobia. Tatchell said, with no hint of malice, that Hughes has apologised and the two have made their peace. The real value in the campaign was making such homophobia never acceptable again. Benj Eckford
The Courier
arts .21
Tuesday 28 February 2017
thecourieronline.co.uk/arts c2.arts@ncl.ac.uk | Instagram: @CourierArts
Screenplay versus stage play
SALTY COLUMN: An Arts based rant
Kitty Marie asks if films on the big screen are becoming more popular than stage plays
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ome of us may remember there was a time when stage and screen were equally as loved as one another; people couldn’t wait for that time when they would watch a new play or opera like Phantom of the Opera or Cats at illustrious, well-painted, vastly huge theatres, filled with lush, velvet red curtains and golden railings. Over time this changed to red collapsible chairs with ushers selling ice-cream and large flat screens showing off the newest screening of a classic film like Star Wars IV, Jaws, or E.T. The question is – Are films on the big screen becoming more popular than stage productions?
“Sadly we live in an era in which people’s attitudes to stage and screen, or to everything, have become very apathetic”
One of the main reasons for people boycotting the theatre is the cost; it is simply too expensive to go there often, the average price of a ticket is now £23.77 (BBC news) since the cost of tickets have increased to make up for funding cuts to theatres and stages everywhere. It is considerably cheaper at a cinema with a normal ticket retailing for about £5-£7 depending on
whether you go to Vue, Empire, or Tyneside; and all of these cinemas also have great deals during the week to increase their sales (as people mainly decide to go on a Saturday don’t they). However, if you choose to go to Odeon cinema you may still bust the bank as one adult ticket alone will set you back £8.40, that’s a week’s shopping for the likes of us. Another reason can be put down to the fact that screen is just better in general than stage. You go to the cinema to see special effects in high definition on a massive screen with that perfect, soul-satisfying Dolby Digital sound that simply can’t be beaten. However, when you get an average middle or back seat at a theatre production you can only just manage to see past peoples’ heads, and very rarely hear the characters over the dodgy microphones they always seem to continue using. On the other hand, there is a growing cult of people who choose to go to stage screenings over going to the cinema just to appreciate the hard work that has been put into them, not to mention the theatre is a good place to take your date as it shows you have some kind of depth and class to you. Also, going to the theatre is a completely different experience than going to the cinema; with the stage you feel as if you are closer to the characters, the action and the emotion; you feel as if you can really relate to the struggles of the protagonists. The value of the stage was synonymous with class,
which is why individuals from working-class backgrounds tend to avoid this pretentious shite. Truth be told, the theatre is slowly declining in price, apart from Hamilton, those sneaky devils, and they availability of seats:price ratio is decreasing. I mean, we even have Alphabetti’s pay what you feel. The richer, more developed environment of the stage offers a more realistic, humanistic approach to drama. It may not always be better, but it is evocative.
“The value of the stage was synonymous with class, which is why individuals from working-class backgrounds tend to avoid this pretentious shite”
Sadly we live in an era in which people’s attitudes to stage and screen, or to everything, have become very apathetic; they don’t really care about seeing the next film at the cinema or the next production at the theatre because they know they can instantly stream it on the internet for free without any need to wait. Stage and screen are both as good as each other, as long as you invest in the story, with the internet turned off, you should be able to find your humanity again.
Our North East Picks of the Week Antigone PEOPLE’S THEATRE
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imagine it is very hard to act in a play. Being tied to the chains of ‘teamwork’, you are either limited or empowered by your present company. A single directorial prompt can cause a performance to either collapse or soar throughout the theatre, and an imperfect annunciation can strip a suspenseful moment to the quick, regardless of any skill you or your stagesharers may have given to the scene at hand. So for this reason, I will applaud the performance of ‘Antigone’ at The People’s Stage on Thursday night. ‘Antigone,’ the story of the young daughter of Oedipus (King of Thebes and husband of his own Mother) is a story which explores prodigious and relevant themes.
“The play was carried throughout largely by the strength of the main actress”
Detailing the misfortunes and plight of the young girl, we see her defy the iniquitous impositions of her uncle, King Creon, who will not allow her brother’s body to be sanctified and buried. It is through this that we encounter themes of familial loyalty, of religious piety, and, most importantly, the role of the individual against the role of authority and the censor. This becomes especially important in light of the fact that this adaption of the play was written in 1940s occupied France, underneath the restless gaze of the Vichy Government. An amateur production though it was, the play was carried throughout largely by the strength of the main actress who, apart from being able to impressively stride along the stage screaming with no apparent loss of breath, could hand out some surprisingly salty looks into the corners of the room. There were some things which were sadly lost through the acting – the charge and power of the events seemed to sag at times – but it was essentially good in that the play was brought to an end without any significant loss of momentum. As said earlier, I imagine it is hard to act in a play. And after all consideration, this production was a more than satisfactory adaption of a play which, when placed next to what is happening over the atlantic, may seem more relevant than we would like. Chris Wilkinson
Ulrike Draesner NCLA
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oerced into writing this review by our illustrious editor, Tamsin, I had no idea what to expect fromthe reading of “Schwitters” by Newcastle’s current writer in residence, Ulrike Draesner. I’m pleasedto report that I was completely captivated by Ms Draesner and her urgent, emotive style, as she educated me on a really interesting figure in European art of the 20th century. The protagonist of her novel-in-progress, Kurt Schwitters, is fascinating due to his surrealist installation and sculpturework (such as his “Cathedral of Erotic Misery, the tale of which reflects his difficult life, which is well chronicled by the German author. This absorbing biographical novel of the life of Kurt Schwitters follows him throughout his harsh career to World War Two, when he was forced to leave his life’s work behind him and migrate to Oslo, before being removed to a concentration camp.Draesner uses her familial experience of forced migration to imbibe the text with emotion and a sense of not-belonging as Schwitters finds himself in a foreign country against his will; and that isn’t the only parallel between the author and her subject.
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A Comedy Night that Passes the Bechdel Test ALPHABETTI THEATRE
went into The Alphabetti Theatre pretty blind on what its 2nd comedy night to pass the bechdel test would entail. I suppose I was expecting a female double act comedy night - which was definitely a part of the night. But part of me was disappointed when the test was passed and done within the first ten minutes of the show. Although retrospectively, the fact that it was over with so quickly highlights how easy the test is to pass, and how ridiculous it is that so many films fail to do so. Although I felt the night’s name to be slightly misleading, the night highlighted a point I’d never really noticed before: there definitely aren’t enough women in comedy.
“The night highlighted a point I’d never really noticed before: there definitely aren’t enough women in comedy”
Munich-born Draesner was educated at Oxford university, where her love of the English language flourished; and throughout the novel, through Schwitters, Draesner muses upon pronunciation, spelling and language parallels.Schwitters and Draesner share a love of English, and both of these German artists actually write in English (Draesner in this current novel, and Schwitters in letters to his family during his later life).One really captivating feature of Draesner’s work is the pace of her novel, accentuated in person by her compelling style. The chapters jump from following multiple decades per paragraph to describing only a singlemoment in time, and this coupled with Schwitters’s emotional story makes for a great new piece of fiction, which I for one am excited to read in full.
The two presenters of the night, Liberty Hodes and Lauren Stone, had great chemistry and were brilliant as individuals as well as making a great double act. The one thing I felt was lacking was 100% confidence on stage, which I feel can often make or break comedy. They were about 75% of the way there, but it was definitely something that could be built on. The two outstanding acts of the night had to be Catherine Scott and Sowersprouts. Scott was unashamedly open. Her storytelling skills were fantastic and she was able to make jokes about some of the sadder aspects of life like break-ups, which I enjoyed as it’s good to look for humour in sad situations. As two uni students, Sowersprouts were the youngest act. They provided a seamless performance, which was impressive given it was one of their first ever shows. I’d definitely recommend you look out for their future shows. My whole face morphs in to a sort of sad sob every time I think of a brilliant place like the Alphabetti being knocked down, but hope these comedy nights continue in another venue. I firmly believe that anything that gives women a usually unheard voice - such as their voice in comedy - should be celebrated. Definitely attend one of the future nights and show your support for women in the arts.
Lauren Sneath
Carys Rose Thomas
“I’m pleased to report that I was completely captivated by Ms Draesner and her urgent, emotive
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Daytime (TV) Robbery CHARLOTTE HILL
n contemporary society, art is facing a hurdle that we don’t often discuss. We’re very good at being vocally outraged by funding cuts, limited opportunities, and sceptical views towards art degrees (and rightly so). However, more recently we are victims of a more silent attack: appropriation. I am aware that this is a loaded term. I’m not talking about appropriation in the sense of a disregard for culture and ethnicity, nor the recreation of specific texts in a dissatisfactory way. But ‘art’, as a whole, is used and mistreated by our good old friends commercialism and politics. How often do you find yourself watching television, captivated and inspired by a short clip which uses romantic lexis and stunning cinematography to ignite your soul, and project you onto a trajectory of inspiration and creation, only to find your enlightening journey is snubbed heartlessly by the vicious appearance of a familiar car brand blaring its way onto your screen? The whole experience becomes hollow and tasteless. You have been lied to. You have been manipulated. And it doesn’t stop there. Literature and music are hideously abused by political parties who feel it necessary to rob us of what is not theirs. So many songs and poems are stolen and misshaped, forced into agenda that does not conspire with its truthful, independent origins and purpose. We painstakingly create, pour ourselves into the creation and experience of art - and so very often only to help a wider market exploit and consume.
Erica Larry POET A Mild Annoyance It is the fourth toe – not fifth – The fourth toe that sticks. Nail meeting rubber Nail meeting side. Has this single, unnoticed, unpopular, toe, Since not first second fifth, Really outgrown? It pushes, it scrapes, Round it rakes. Nail into bed, It grains, it grates. Toe cheddar grate, Shredded, Jam upon skin. A cracker, buttered, cracked pepper, Slice of toe laid upon, Laid. Suddenly, hesitate, we’re hit with that oh-my-god-that-pulling-sensationmaybe-the-nail-is-going-to-rip-offand-all-that-will-be-left-is-a-spongey-bloody-toenail-less-toe feeling. Merciless step pull step pull step pull step rip, Shoehorning all of it off. The danger of not even, not wearing, a sock.
22. music
Tuesday 28 February 2017
The Courier
Music Editors: Sophie Ahmed, Serena Bhardwaj & Ben Grundy
Relight my fi re or my wallet? Toon In
Finlay Pelling runs us through Newcastle’s vibrant venues and explains how Newcastle’s music scene is most certainly not dead
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was recently told that Newcastle did not have a good music scene which, as well as being heresy and blasphemy, is an utter lie. The music scene in the Northeast is thriving and exciting, and Newcastle is home to a number of small independent venues which form a crucial part of the city’s cultural identity. I have thus selected a few which I deem to be essential landmarks in one’s Geordie education:
Robyn Wainwright discusses whether or not reunions can be truly successful and takes us through the good, the bad and the potentially incredible artists who re-grace the stage
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eunions can be an exciting spectacle. Hearts of thousands of 40 year old women stopped when Take That reunited, and the Guns N’ Roses reunion for Coachella saw the world of rock welcome Gods back to the stage. However they can also be a complete disaster showing an embarrassing desperation and a reliance on past successes.
Think Tank Underground (Head of Steam) Firstly, it is worth noting that Think Tank? is effectively three different venues, two of which are in Digital. Its underground counterpart, however, takes residence in the basement of Head of Steam, opposite Central Station. With a circa 90 capacity and a fully serving bar, this venue is extremely intimate and puts you up close and personal with up-and-coming musicians. It is also worth noting that the likes of the Arctic Monkeys, Maximo Park and the Futureheads have all played shows here. Upstairs is Head of Steam, a fantastic pub with a great selection of beer which is open until 3am and a good place to enjoy a drink with the artist afterwards. A great little venue and a staple in the Newcastle music scene.
Cluny Every city with a thriving music scene has one independent venue which transcends all others (Glasgow has King Tut’s, Nottingham has Rock City, Southampton has the Joiners), and Newcastle is no different. Cluny is perhaps the most loved venue in Newcastle, with its 280 capacity and its penchant for signing on exciting up-and-coming bands to play raucous intimate gigs. Located in the Ouseburn, which in 2015 was home to the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival day sessions, Cluny is a craft beer bar as well as a venue, but it is the twotiered back room which draws the plaudits and is frequented by both promising local and national bands of all genres. If you have not been to Cluny yet, it’s a seminal venue and one not to be missed.
“The venue puts you up close and personal with up-and-coming musicians”
Where: 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, NE1 2PQ, Who to see: The Amazons, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Palace Wylam Brewery You must have been living under a rock for the last few months if you haven’t yet heard of the Wylam Brewery. Located in Exhibition Park, this brewery doubles as a venue and since its conception has already hosted the likes of Jamie T. As you would expect, the beer is fantastic and excellently compliments the live music on show. The Palace of the Arts as it is known is an awe-inspiring art-deco building and the Grand Hall can accommodate up to 1000 people. Though it is substantially larger than the other two venues, it is an excellent place to watch live music and enjoy some high quality real ale.
“As you would expect, the beer is fantastic and excellently compliments the live music on show”
Where: Palace of Arts, Exhibition Park, NE2 4PZ Who to see: Evan Dando, The Undertones, Hayseed Dixie
Take That are probably THE success story when it comes to reunions. All three of the bands reunion albums made their way to number one in the charts. The members, Gary, Mark, Jason and Howard admitted in an interview with the MailOnline that they were shocked by the band’s remarkable comeback success. For bands McFly and Busted, who together reunited to make ‘McBusted’, their reunion tour was met with speculation. Sure most women in their 20s would want to see McBusted perform if not solely to relive their days of jumping round in their school uniforms singing along to ‘Crashed the Wedding’ in their mirrors. Yet, critics and fans lapped it up. McBusted released a new album and even made a documentary.
“The world of rock welcomed Gods back to the stage” Dire Straits and Black Sabbath are another two bands whose reunion tours and albums proved extremely successful. Dire Straits 1996 reunion album On Every Street proved a huge chart topping success, while Black Sabbath’s original line up reunited in 2011 with their number one comeback album 13.
The Bad
“The music scene in the North East is thriving and exciting” Where: 2 Neville Street, NE1 5EN Who to see: Neon Waltz, Cassia, The Marsicans
The Good
The Sex Pistols reunion tour of 1996 was a freely admitted money making scheme. As the Rolling Stone magazine states ‘When the Sex Pistols reunited in 1996, they didn’t even try to pretend it was anything but a cash grab’. They didn’t attempt to
write a new song, as they had just enough songs to fill out a proper show. Johnny Rotten Rolling Stone in 2012 ‘Occasionally, a re-enactment is a fine thing. I love Civil War re-enactments.” The Sex Pistols have toured twice since then, 2002-3 and 2007-8 both met with underwhelming reactions from fans and critics.
“A freely admitted money making scheme” The Doors reunion was a tragic tale of trying to emulate past success. Formed by members Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger, and including former drummer John Mensmore, ‘The Doors of the 21st Century’ played old Doors material until the death of Manzarek in 2013. Many critics claimed that without Jim Morrison, the band lacked the charisma needed to entertain fans to the same standard. The band failed to find a footing, it poses the question why they even tried to recapture their former success.
Reunions in 2017? The White Stripes: They’re young enough to make a relatively long come back, maybe Coachella or a charity event will bring them back together. Here’s hoping. Oasis: Although the past few years has saw brothers Noel and Liam relentlessly attacking each other in the press, both have expressed desires to reunite, even if just for a one of tour of performance. R.E.M: Despite Stipe telling CBS ‘I despise nostalgia’, it would be incredible to see the return of these talented musicians, showing that age is just a number.
The Grammys - an artistic or political celebration? Tsvetelina Ilieva gives us her perspective on the Grammys fall from grace following numerous prominent boycotts and asks whether or not the awards retain relevance today
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dazzling mixture of performance, extravaganza, political statements and a hell lot of visual effects is the picture that the 59th Grammy Awards painted in the minds of its spectators. But did anyone look close enough to notice the cracks that commercialized culture and mainstream music have left on the surface of the Grammys polished reputation? That the Grammys no longer carry the symbol of prestige they once did, appears pretty evident if you take a look at their ratings. Viewers’ interest has been decreasing for the past few years and hit the bottom during 2016. This year’s Grammy fiasco was marked with unprecedented boycott by some of the industry’s most prominent names such as Bieber, Drake, Kanye West. Not only did they willingly skip the event, but they also loudly questioned its relevance each for their own reasons.
F bomb, apologised again. And started all over to make it right this time – “he deserves it”, she said. It was a moment of outright passion that broke the tedium of the ceremony. Other impressive act was delivered by the almighty Beyonce, who captivated the audience with her pregnant belly and touching vocals, dem-
“Bieber’s decision to ditch the prestigious ceremony was a cynical laugh in the face of the Grammys”
“Not only did they willingly skip the event, but they also loudly questioned its relevance”
From concerns about racial inequality to questions about the relevance of its prestige, the awards show, which originated in 1959, remained only a vague reflection of the spectacle it once used to be. Unsurprisingly, the show kicked off with Adele’s multi hit ‘Hello’. It was beautiful. It was touching. It was powerful. But I felt like I had seen it a thousand times before. Flawless performance, yet not in any aspect different to her previous ones. Nonetheless, Adele was the big winner of the night. She won all five awards she was nominated for, including album, record and song of the year. Yet she also won our hearts; with her cordial tribute to George Michael and her genuine spontaneity, she demonstrated that she is, just like us, a human. A minute into her attempt to revive Michael’s pop hit ‘Fastlove’, Adele stopped the song due to technical problems, apologised, dropped an
on stage with an energetic presence, feisty dance moves and a heartfelt tribute to Prince which no one else could have delivered. Yet with the exception of these few, the majority of the night’s performances were either unremarkable or a total mess – the most vivid example being Lady Gaga and Metallica’s confusing pairing and their utterly embarrassing sound issues. Frank Ocean was the first one to voice his issues with the Grammys and lead the boycott by exclaiming that the prestige ceremony “doesn’t seem to be representing very well for people who come from where I come from”. Ocean also expressed his carefree attitude, by not submitting his masterpiece “Blonde” for Grammy consideration. A bold move that sparked controversy as to what extent the Academy could be considered a bellwether of taste and a reflection of the diversity driving popular music.
onstrating the powerful triumph of black women. Ed Sheeran and The Weeknd stood out with originality – the first one transformed into his own band by playing all of the instruments for ‘Shape of You’, while the latter rocked the Grammys with his mates from Daft Punk. Bruno Mars was my personal favourite of the night, as he exploded
Bieber also rebelled against the award ceremonies, sharing in his Instagram that he no longer wished to attend any award shows, as he felt they were “hollow” and lacking in authenticity, condemning the Grammys as irrelevant ceremony which failed to represent the youth. Bieber stuck to his words and was a no-show at the 59th Grammys, despite being nominated for major honours, including Album of The Year. Instead, he demonstrated how unbothered he was with the ceremony, by spending the night solo, dining sushi and streaming live on Instagram. Bieber’s decision to ditch the prestigious awards ceremony in favour of sushi and social media was not only a cynical laugh in the face of the Grammys, it was also a wake up call, pleading for cultural metamorphosis and talent recognition. But will anyone listen, is a question that yet remains unanswered.
The Courier
music .23
Tuesday 28 February 2017
For A Moment, I Was Lost by Amber Run
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o say it’s been a turbulent couple of years for AMBER RUN would be an understatement. Since the release of ‘5AM’ in 2015, the band has lost a member, signed a new record real with Sony and confessed that they had endured periods when making music “had turned to poison”. Nonetheless, the band battled on and For A Moment, I Was Lost is the product of the struggle. The album kicks off with the steady drumming of ‘Insomniac’ which is more energetic than previous efforts. There’s a clear pain in lead singer Joe’s vocals, the battles with bandmates and recording companies have taken their toll. However, if anything, this adds an extra dimension to AMBER RUN’s music. The lyrics are better thought out, haunting in places and so much more developed Tracks such as ‘No An-
by Toby Bryant
swers’, ‘Stranger’ and ‘Haze’ had already graced fans’ ears and help to structure the opening six tracks of the album. ‘Haze’ is particularly impressive.
It’s not as stripped back as ‘Haze’ or ‘Fickle Game’ but neither is there too much going on to lose the sincerity of the track. Overall, the new sound is well honed and the album has been impeccably produced. Transitions from song to song are effortless and the journey from start to finish on the record is very convincing. That said, there are moments when AMBER RUN do seem to be over-thinking a little too much. “Perfect” is my favourite track on the album, the bass riff is to die for and it’s near impossible to stop your foot from tapping along. Sadly, however, the chorus just loses control. It’s clear AMBER RUN are trying something new but they have tried a little too hard. The combination of sounds is overwhelming and blows away any notes from the verse still lingering in a listener’s head. Moments like these are very few and far between but worth noting simply as evidence of the band’s evolution. For A Moment, I Was Lost really is an outstanding effort from AMBER RUN. The making of it was not easy at all but that struggle and relief when it started coming together serves to make the record so believable. It’s a diamond in the rough and an incredibly constructed work.
Rag ‘n’ Bone Man
Maybe Not So Metal-lica?
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Human
Sam Blackburn ponders the future of metal and asks if rock has gone soft after Metallica and Gaga’s collaboration
ag’n’Bone Man’s debut album is a bluesy collection of soul songs, all of them ideal for highlighting his earthy vocals. Unfortunately, that’s about the extent of this record’s ambition. It’s not that the album itself is particularly unpleasant to listen to. The competency of the writing on songs like ‘Human’ and ‘Bitter End’ is plain to be seen, the former being perfect single bait for showcasing Graham’s full vocal range, the latter a familiar yet oddly endearing exercise in melancholy. Yet ‘Skin’, possibly the least impressive song on the album, basks in pop clichés, the over-tested chord progressions leaving me feeling somewhat manipulated, as though I’m hearing the same sales pitch for the fiftieth time.
“A tired exercise of the minimum a singer-songwriter is expected to do” Minimal strings and piano backs a good portion of the album, offering plenty of opportunities for the vocals to take centre stage, yet only so much can be done when the harmonic content itself is so overdone. Though the chords are nothing new, the electronic polish of ‘Ego’ holds the listener’s interest for far longer, the jazzy arrangement and delightful melody almost echoing John Legend -- though your mileage may vary with regards to Graham’s rapping. Likewise, ‘Arrow’s Motown-inspired percussion and brass delivers some muchneeded energy. If only that energy could be sustained across the whole album. There’s a lot that’s satisfying for the listener, but most of Human is a tired exercise in the bare minimum a 2010s singer-songwriter is expected to do. This album is little more than skin and bone, spared only by Graham’s vocals, and the a cappella closing track, ‘Die Easy’, serves as a reminder of what we’ve stuck around for. Jess Weisser
s you are all aware, weeks ago Metallica performed their single “Moth Into Flame” from their latest release with Lady Gaga on stage. The performance has received mixed opinions with some seeing it as great collaboration bridging the genres of pop and heavy metal together with many others seeing it as a bogus way for both performers to draw attention and for Metallica to show that they don’t respect the metal scene any more. I must admit, I do think it’s interesting to see musicians of different genres and scenes mix it up with one another. We’ve seen rap and rock fuse together in the form of Public Enemy releasing a song with Anthrax in the 90s and reggae and rock have been fused with one another multiple times within the punk scene. Despite this, I completely see the frustration towards Metallica performing with Lady Gaga and found it rather cringe worthy myself.
“Seeing one of the pioneers of thrash metal perform with a pop star seemed hypocritical” You see, my biggest issue is that metal music and pop music have always appeared to be binary opposites of each other, especially thrash metal, the scene Metallica helped create. If you go back to the 1980s, there was this increase in aggressive metal music coming about in places like San Francisco. Inspired by the likes of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and the fast paced nature of the punk scene, bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Exodus all formed, opposing the glam rock music produced by bands like Motely Crue, Whitesnake and Quiet Riot. Why did they oppose this music? Because it was music made by corporations, music where they cared more about how good their hair was, music all about making a profit and not a statement. Thrash metal has always been the opposite of this, singing about real issues such as war and politics. So to see one of the pioneers of this genre perform with a pop star, it seems somewhat hypo-
Electronic Blanket
Sarah Stephenson discusses the demise of Pilgrim Street, the vibes of Helena Hauff and Objekt taking over Cosmic
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“It’s near impossible to stop your from foot tapping along”
The song lasts just under two minutes and if anything functions as more of a transition track on the record. The built up instruments of ‘Insomniac’ are gone and the synthesised vocals take centre stage. The effect is closer to the older style of music AMBER RUN became famed for but, again, the lyrics such as ,“I wanna be your preacher, I wanna be your King and now I know why everything is in a blue haze”, draw the listener in. The track, performed live at the O2 Academy here in Newcastle two weeks ago, has the potential to silence a crowd. ‘Fickle Game’ has a similar vibe to ‘Haze’ and the lingering musing of “fickle game” in the chorus creates a mysterious air. ‘Dark Bloom’ has the same feeling and focuses on the band’s recent fall outs.
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critical. Sure, everyone with a brain knows that Metallica are a completely different band to what they were in 1988, the year what marks when they realised their last great album, “…And Justice For All”. They’ve been called sell outs for a good two decades now, and although I am one who finds their success to be a great thing, despite not being a fan of the Black Album, I do feel like going on stage with Lady Gaga is the most corporate thing they’ve ever done.
“But now the corporations have a massive control of the music industry, making safe and boring music”
To me, this signals a real downfall we’ve been seeing in the past two decades regarding rock music. Rock music has always been about rebellion, The Who used to smash up hotel rooms for god sake. But now the corporations have a massive control of the music industry, making safe and boring music. Metallica being one of the finest rock ‘n’ roll institutions in music performing with Lady Gaga is just a sad state of affairs… Mind you, I’m still
ilgrim Street was the kind of place you could go on a Sunday if it was sunny and you wanted to flick through zines at the NewBridge Project instead of sleeping in. At night, Alphabetti Theatre hosted plays and bands in their basement; the tickets were affordable and I even discovered local electronic duo Cooking With Faye at an experimental music event. However, with news that both of these venues will be closing as a result of rising rent prices making it near-impossible to ‘sustain a 50-seater venue in the heart of the city centre’, the future of local performance spaces is on the minds of a lot of us.
“The future of local performance spaces is on the minds of a lot of us” It’s not entirely the end things though, as they will be re-locating from March 11th – but for those with an attachment to the unassuming stretch of road that is Pilgrim Street, it is the end of something. But with every end comes a new beginning, etc. Think Tank Underground is a recently refurbished live music space at The Head of Steam, and their upcoming bookings are a reassuring nod to emerging and seasoned artists based in Newcastle. There won’t be a shortage of live music while we wait for our old favourites to figure out their new homes by any means.
You need to listen to: ‘Sworn to Secrecy Part II’ by Helena Hauff Discreet Desires is Helena Hauff ’s first fulllength album, released by Werkdiscs in 2015. A lot of the synth and drum machines she used while recording are more than thirty years old, and you can tell by the modulated sounds carried throughout. It doesn’t feel dated, though – more soundtrack to a sci-fi film set in a future that only slightly looks like now. After watching a few clips where she introduces the machines, I could tell that Hauff ’s preference lies in analogue; Roland and Juno gear the chosen tools to create her dark soundscapes. Helena is also known for her DJ sets, where the tracks can go from (the acid side of) techno to sped-up post-punk. It’s this eclectic taste that leaks into her own compositions, and by the quality of Discreet Desires it’s obvious that DJing isn’t her only form of musical expression. ‘Sworn to Secrecy Part II’ begins with a grainy synth pattern that only really changes by going up an octave. In the background are indecipherable vocals, whispers and Grimes-like harmonies. The album definitely tells some kind of story, and if you listen from the beginning you start to notice that the drum machines are swapped for layered, arpeggiated synths with the final track ‘Dreams in Colour’ easing you out of it.
Preview: Objekt – Friday 10th March @ Cosmic Ballroom TJ Hertz aka Objekt is known for being one of the more experimental techno DJs right now. His recent Resident Advisor feature titled ‘The Art of DJing’ gives insight to an approach that favours gut instinct over pre-meditated track lists. The club night will be hosted by Backdrop in their new base, Cosmic Ballroom. Supporting DJs will include Blasha & Allatt of Manchesterbased collective Meat Free and Backdrop resident Dr. Joseph. The keys of room two will be given to local DJs from Ctrl Newcastle as part of Backdrop organisers’ conscious efforts to balance local DJs ‘who understand our scene and your dancing needs’ with international selectors.
“The keys of room two will be given to local DJs from Ctrl Newcastle to balance local DJs with international acts” Go follow us on intagram for live gig updates, fun pictures and the latest music gossip@courier_music
24.television
Tuesday 28 February 2017
The Courier
TV Editors: Luke Acton, Alison Scurfield and Dominic Corrigan
Throwback
Lifestyle Editor Brooklyn Shakeshaft-Ward looks at the absurd game show Bullseye
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came to Bullseye quite late. Not being born in the 1980s I missed Bullseye at its peak, but Challenge has me covered, showing Bullseye pretty much non-stop every day of the week. Of all the weird and wonderful shows to air on Challenge, Bullseye, which ran from 1981 to 1995 with a brief reprisal in 2006, is one of the weirdest. It’s essentially a darts gameshow and the vibe is of a Saturday night at the pub, but instead of winning a gift voucher in the pub quiz you win a washing machine. There are three elements that make this show so incredibly iconic.
“Jim is the second magical ingredient in this bizarre cocktail of a Saturday night game show”
Firstly, the prizes: you’d expect that an ITV Saturday night gameshow would have pretty good prizes—or if not they’d present their cheaper prizes as novelty items, right? Not Bullseye. To Jim Bowen and the Bullseye team all prizes were created equal, and all deserve an equally punny intro. Everything from handheld vacuum cleaners to cafeterias to roller skates are described as ‘state of the art’- as if that makes them any less random. Every item that a woman might remotely enjoy gets a light dusting of 80’s sexism – ‘this beauty kit for that special woman in your life… or you wife!’, but every single prize invokes a satisfied chuckle from Bowen, making it all feel that little bit more wholesome. Yes, sexism was rampant, yes the prizes are a bit crap, but Jim Bowen is enjoying himself and we should be happy too. In fact Jim is the second magical ingredient in this bizarre cocktail of a Saturday night game show.
Tragedy profiteering TV
Sarah Davis explores BBC’s The Moorside, a two-part drama on the 2008 dissapearance of Shannon Matthews, questioning if it is problematic to dramatise such recent tragic events
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place where no-one worked, where residents wandered around in their pyjamas, smoked 60 a day and collected £286.60 benefits each week. This was the image of the Moorside estate of Dewsbury in West Yorkshire portrayed by national media in the winter of 2008. The Sun likened the council estate to “Beirut- only worse.” The new BBC1 drama The Moorside is based on a real-life kidnapping of Shannon Matthews. It attempts to revise the media’s portrayal by exhibiting the story of a community whose residents were labelled as feeble, feckless and worthless, but gave absolutely everything to mobilise locals and see the safe return of a young child. However, the new drama has been slammed by Shannon’s grandparents who claim the TV show is a “disgrace” and say their granddaughter “deserves to live her life in peace.” This begs the question- should real crimes be converted into TV dramas?
“For a momentary period, the nation’s focus was on a miniscule corner of West Yorkshire, where nine-year-old Shannon Matthews disappeared” For a momentary period, the nation’s focus was on a miniscule corner of West Yorkshire where nine-year-old Shannon Matthews disappeared after leaving school. A 24-day man hunt led the police to discover Shannon alive underneath a divan bed in the house of Michael Donavan, who was the uncle of Shannon’s stepdad. It was then revealed Shannon’s mother, Karen Matthews, was involved in the scheme. Both Donavan and Matthews were jailed for kidnaping, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice. The scandal not only brought the attention to the Matthews family, but
also to the working-class community, with suggestions made towards its over dependency on state welfare. David Cameron used the turmoil to exhibit “our broken society”, before going on to say the disturbing incident exhibited a community “whose pillars are crime, unemployment and addiction; where decency fights a losing battle against degradation and despair.” Such characterisation enraged local residents, and the BBC1 drama surrounds the life of Julie Bushby and Natalie Murray who both lived on the estate and were extremely close to Karen. Bushby stated: “people said we were like Shameless” with Murray adding, “I lived on there for 21 years. Everybody watched out for everybody else. They watched out for your cars, for your homes, your children. If a new family moved in they were made to feel welcome. It was just lovely.” An introductory statement to the show states: “what follows is based on extensive research, interviews and published accounts. Some scenes have been created for the purposes of dramatisation.” The Moorside, now available on BBC iPlayer, consisted of two hour-long episodes and showed very little of the Matthew family or Shannon. Sheridan Smith who played Julie Bushby in the series argued
it demonstrates “themes of faith and trust in human nature.”
“The programme attempts to bring human stories to life; to dive behind the headlines and take us directly into the heart of the story”
The programme attempts to bring human stories to life; to dive behind the headlines and take us directly into the heart of the story; to understand a community that was defined more by prejudice than genuine consideration. Writer Neil McKay declared “it was a story of people who didn’t have a lot, giving a lot, giving everything. I hope one of the things we have done is to show people as people.” So, while it may appear controversial to dramatise and broadcast real life crimes, often the aims and intentions driving the production prove virtuous. The Moorside seeks to challenge the media-built reputation of the Yorkshire town and give back a voice to its community.
“Sometimes they can’t even be classed as jokes because they make no sense, but when he looks to camera you can’t help but laugh”
Netflix, please explain this madness
The prizes aren’t always so crap… the star prize of a speedboat is not to be sniffed at, but classic Jim got just as excited whether they won the speedboat or the matching lamp set. And when I say excited, I mean he chuckles consistently and makes a crap joke about it. In fact that’s his thing, making crap jokes and chuckling. Sometimes they can’t even be classed as jokes because they make no sense, but when he looks to camera you can’t help but laugh. Case and point: ‘ooh, you work in social security? Must be very busy then! (chuckle chuckle)’. I can’t even fathom what this means, maybe it was funny in the 1980s.
etflix is running out of shows for people who have already mined its library for all the quality they can find. These poorly planned, written and produced properties are all over the site, and far outnumber the diamonds that have been taken up by the cultural consciousness. A European Parliament ruling might be changing the zoning rule so get access to American Netflix anyway, but their programming schedule (an executive said that they were aiming for a new release every two weeks) seems to be lending itself to quantity over quality anyway. It is clear that Netflix presents a unique opportunity for smaller productions to get creative control and get their idea picked up by a distributor. Aziz Ansari, creator, writer and star of Master of None said on a Reddit AMA: ‘On Netflix, we never had one issue with content [being too sexual/graphic]. Also, no need to edit to commercials. Most importantly though, Netflix really believed in us and told us they wanted to go straight to series and do 10 episodes. No pilot/development process.’ The platform has a lot of advantages in its novelty, not having to conform to conventions of plot or production stemming directly from its method of delivery.
“To be a contestant on Bullseye you must have one of the following: a mullet, a feathered fringe, yellow tinted glasses, a moustache, a very tight belt that fits snugly under your beer belly”
But does this really matter? The contestants and the audience loved it! Which brings us to our final magical ingredient. To be a contestant on Bullseye you must have one of the following: a mullet, a feathered fringe, yellow tinted glasses, a moustache, a very tight belt that fits snugly under your beer belly, a pastel shirt or a combination the six. I didn’t realise the darts playing community of the 1980s had such unique style, but it’s such a great look. The contestants don’t care about the money, or the fame, they’re genuinely there to have a good time playing darts. And maybe that’s what makes the show so magical. To quote the immortal Bullseye mascot, you definitely can’t beat a bit of bully.
TV Editor Luke Acton looks at Netflix’s sub-par Originals and the changing nature of TV
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“Not having to conform to conventions of plot or production stemming directly from its method of delivery [is a huge advantage]”
There have been a lot of articles about how Netflix and other streaming services are changing the nature of TV (including in this section), but few
on the fact that a lot of Netflix Originals are shit. Along with Google’s targeted advertising, Netflix’s taste algorithms got a lot of press for being able to consistently suggest shows that you want to watch based on viewing habits, as well as anticipating taste for producing new programming. House of Cards was huge when it first came out, and although it may be wildly out of touch with the current political climate (but so was everyone) it is still incredible (I sometimes re-watch just the first episode because it’s so tight and Kevin Spacey is amazing in it). On the originals tab it is a mix of one-off standup shows, features and tv, and ranked from highest rated to lowest by about two-fifths of the way down there isn’t a way to see how these the got made. Netflix’s audience has definitely caught up with the library and so the demand for ‘what is new’ is high. A $4.1 billion dollar company can afford some flops, but the volume of sub-par shows begs the question: why not just make something better?
“A $4.1 billion dollar company can afford to have some flops, but the volume of sub-par shows begs the question: why not just make something better?” Maybe it is audience retention, with other ser-
vices entering the streaming market (Amazon is doing very well with Mr. Robot, Man in the High Castle and the new Phillip K. Dick miniseries being announced) they need to be competitive. To be honest, I just don’t see the point, they might be keeping the attention of some in between the Marvel TVU releases and House of Cards season 4, but for something that was acclaimed for raising the bar for serialised TV narratives, it does produce some shit.
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Tuesday 28 February 2017
thecourieronline.co.uk/tv c2.tv@ncl.ac.uk | @courier_tv
Steven Universe Online
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fter what felt like a very long break of a couple of months and a Thanks Giving special Steven Universe is back to finish off its fourth season. Despite (especially looking back at the first episodes) Steven having discovered so much about himself, this season has a lot of growth in it. The expansion of the Universe family mythos in the fall episode with the introduction of first cousin once-removed Andy DeMayo. The themes of family dysfunction and alienations are strong, the Gems actually being aliens I guess but also from an outsider occupying space with an in-group, the kind of thing that happens when mutual friends have circles from other spheres of their life and it is very difficult to fit in. Andy: ‘I was the only one who tried to keep it how it used to be. I knew what it meant to really be a family and look where that got me!’ Steven chasing after him in his plane with Lapis: ‘I love the Gems, but I’m a human too. I never had the chance to know that part of my family, but now I do.’ It’s a familial diaspora that necessarily happens when people get older, but the distance doesn’t mean that you love them any less. The power of love in the face of change and distance is prominent in this episode, but also throughout the series, the joint love of the Gems, Steven and his father for Rose is the thing that is constant.
“The power of love in the face of change and distance is prominent in this episode, but also throughout the series [it] is the thing that is constant”
The biggest introduction of the season is of the two remaining matriarchs of the Gem Empire:
Riverdale Netflix
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omething to add to your must watch list this month is the new teen murder mystery Riverdale. The setting of a dark, American suburbia of the same name, focusses on an ensemble cast of small town teens deep in lies, secrets, problems and the murder of Jason Blossom.
“Even though the characters look like their comic book relations and have the same name, the story line is far from the original” With the popularity of shows such as Stranger Things and the reboot of Twin Peaks, its no surprise that tv networks have took on the challenge of recreating the murder mystery genre. Riverdale is no doubt similar to these, particularly with its use of settings like ‘Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe’ and the ‘Twilight Drive-in’ which is surrounded by eery forests and mountainous terrain, its almost like there is no escape for the people of Riverdale. However this programme originates from a much lighter source material called Archie Comics, explaining the 1950s look and Happy Days character aura. Don’t dismiss the show too quickly because of this. Even though the characters look like their comic book relations and have the same name, the story line is far from
Calling time on Call the Midwife
Blue and Yellow Diamond (with the conspicuous absence of White Diamond). There isn’t any kind of set-piece to how them or their power, just and emotional Blue and frustrated Yellow singing a number under the bubbled Quartzes, the Rose Quartz’s gem-type. An entire generation being punished for the actions of an individual indicating a far darker reality on Homeworld than is given mainly by the general tone of the show. This is undercut though by the direction of the episode, rounding the emotional lives of the show’s greatest antagonists in a know-your-enemy kind of way. They are as all good antagonists: rational and clearly motivated, something that I think was essential as the show develops and gets bigger in the scope of its battles, both emotionally and physically. The strength of the Gems, Steven and Greg
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“Even though the bigger plots still work, by far my favourites are the smaller ones that grow the town in our minds”
as character has afforded the show space to expand on the marginal characters of beach city and the Gem universe. Onion and his gang just before the break and Connie, Lapis and Peridot (the New Crystal Gems) all got their own episodes each one was amazing. Even though the bigger plots still work, by far my favourites are the smaller ones that grow the town in our minds. The episodes with The Onion Gang, the New Crystal Gems, and Steven being trapped in the Ruby space ship all did so much to grow their characters. I’m glad that the show isn’t neglecting its roots in Beach city. Luke Acton
the original, as Hermione Lodge reminds us in the show “The old Riverdale is dying.”
“I praise the show for the increased character development of openly gay characters such as Kevin Keller” Archie Andrews, the main protagonist doesn’t seem to be as involved with ‘the gang’ as it may seem from the first episode. He is more interested in his own world of problems, whether that be his music or his love affair with Miss Grundy. Therefore, the relationships between him and the other characters seem a bit forced at times. Betty and Veronica, who are most improved from the comics become less about fighting over Archie after the first episode and more about discovering who murdered the school ‘jock’. The two girls bring the character of Jughead (Cole Sprouse) more into the fold by Betty asking him to write for the school paper, otherwise in the first couple episodes he was
just seen as the narrator of the programme and observing the others while writing his crime novel. Its a welcome return to television for this Sprouse brother, who I haven’t seen since The Suite Life, he definitely takes on this darker role well, giving Jughead a melancholic spin. With in-creasing development to his role I expect that he will be central to discovering the Blossom mur-derer.
“The narrative is a simple mystery but it is the ensemble cast which makes it [compelling]”
With every American teen show like this you have your traditional ‘mean girl’, in this case it is manipulative Cheryl Blossom, sister of the murdered ‘jock’. The role is played like the audience should feel sorry for her and thats why she is so mean. However because Cheryl is nasty to more sweet characters like Betty, its hard to root for the discovery of her brothers murderer, unless the character of Jason is given more backstory in the upcoming episodes. Despite this I praise the show for the increased character development of openly gay characters such as Kevin Keller, who unlike Cheryl, avoids the stereotypical plot lines of previous network teen shows like 90210. Riverdale is a good show. The narrative is a simple mystery but it is the ensemble cast which makes it more compelling to watch again. Each with their own weave of lies to cope with, its difficult not to wonder who or what will be discovered next, it demonstrates that even ‘the girl-next-door’ can have her secrets. Sian Dickie
all the Midwife’, the innocuous Sunday night BBC drama about a group of midwives in Poplar is entering it’s sixth series this month. The cheery nuns, the starched white midwife caps and community spirit in the face of adversity place ‘Call the Midwife’ squarely in the halcyon, simpler days-of-yore that most of our BBC dramas inhabit. Until Brexit and the tide of racism it brought with it, this all seemed harmless fun and although I’m not exactly the target demographic I used to be a fan. However, I can’t ignore the massive problem the BBC has around race any longer. ‘Call the Midwife’ scored incredibly low with viewers of colour , and with good reason. There are very few episodes that include people of colour, and in those that do, the character’s race is usually their main storyline. Yes, the show is set in the late 1950s and there would have been very few ethnic minorities in London, but these characters deserve proper storylines, with proper character development, as much as their white counterparts. By reducing people of colour to stereotypes in our dramas, we alienate a growing part of our population. At a time when television should be becoming more accessible we are reinforcing divides that run much deeper than Sunday night viewing habits.
“By reducing people of colour to stereotypes in our dramas, we alienate a growing part of our population”
Despite this I had high hopes for the Christmas episode. The show had had a few month’s breaks, and I hoped the growing acknowledgment of racism in television would have trickled down to the writers. What followed was one of the biggest indulgences in the ‘white saviour’ narrative I’ve ever seen on the television. When a mission hospital in South Africa is threatened with closure, the ever helpful Nonnatus midwives hop on the plane to assist it’s ailing doctor (firstly, who’s running the midwifery in Poplar while they’re away?? I spy a plot hole..). While this could be seen as a noble pursuit, the wealthy, upper-middle-class nurses proceed to patronise their patients and generally disregard their culture. The community is constantly referred to as ‘those people,’ and their poverty often met with disdain and shock by the midwives. Nothing sums up the sly racism of this episode more than the sight of the cast enjoying an idyllic picnic on a ‘Whites Only’ beach, eating food more decadent than anything anyone in the rural South African village would be able to afford. While this may be a very accurate representation of missionary work in South Africa, the fact that these characters, as opposed to the black villagers, are viewed as the heroes is incredibly damaging. By showing them to be enjoying something that caused untold damage to a nation, and repackage it as light entertainment, is nothing short of shameful. There are ways to show race sensitively, but this is not one. Dear BBC, this show might be set in the 1950s, but it appears you’ve got stuck there. Brooklyn ShakeshaftWard
26.filmfeatures
Tuesday 28 February 2017
The Courier
Film Editors: Emma Allsopp, Zoë Godden & Simon Ramshaw
What a shower of BAFTAs
It’s the last step to the Oscars, and it’s hosted on our very own shores. That’s right, the BAFTAs are here, and Elizabeth Steele tells us what she thinks of the winners
L Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) In the sequel to our new column (ayyy, we’re getting meta), Film Editor Zoë Godden aims their sights at arguably one of the greatest sequels ever made Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Was it a thumbs up or hasta la vista (bay-bee)?
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h, James Cameron. Your track record with sequels has served you well. Not only did you somehow turn the successor to one of cinema’s most original horror films into an entertaining action epic in the form of Aliens, but you crafted an heir to your own sci-fi masterpiece 7 years on that redefined filmmaking altogether. Argue all you like, but Terminator 2: Judgement Day is far superior to the original in my not-so-bionic eyes. That’s of course not to say the first film is unlikeable; far from it. Rather, it’s what T2 does with its pre-existing characters and established diagesis that make it vastly more engaging. The ingenious twist of having the T-800 Terminator, portrayed brilliantly by the fittingly deadpan Arnold Schwarzenegger, act as an ally was something audiences were never teased at during the film’s marketing, and ol’ Arnie really shines by working off a young John Connor. The latter is also a great addition to the franchise’s lore, as we only got brief glimpses of his adult (and foetus) counterpart in the previous film. 14-year-old Edward Furlong’s acting debut always comes to mind when debating the finest big screen child performances. Perhaps the best revision is Sarah Connor, who you’ll now find atop the majority of greatest female action hero lists thanks to this film. Stricken with PTSD since her previous encounter with Skynet, Connor is far more sympathetic and complex as a character; we learn refreshingly in-depth about the titular ‘judgement day’, August 29th 1997, and her tormented nightmares of the end of mankind are truly disturbing to behold. She’s tough yet vulnerable, authoritative yet maternal, strategic yet overemotional. Her character arc over the course of the narrative, in learning to be a true mother to John and ultimately working alongside those she distrusts to save humanity, is the crux that holds the entire film together.
Naturally, T2 doesn’t solely rely on its predecessor’s foundations to create a great action movie experience. The CGI work done for the T-1000 is outstanding for the time (projecting reflections onto 3D animation was apparently undoable prior to this) and still holds up fairly well today. Action sequences come at you so fast that it’s hard to choose an outright favourite. The helicopter chase, Sarah’s escape from the hospital, the finale in the steel mill perhaps? All of it is brilliantly choreographed and makes good use of that $102 million budget. Though the original rightfully holds its place in cinema history, the legacy of Terminator 2 is one that, personally, should reign supreme. Let’s just pretend Rise of the Machines didn’t happen. Or Salvation. Or Genisys. Screw it, just reset the timeline again.
ast week, the glitz of Hollywood descended on the Royal Albert Hall in London for the BAFTAs. After a tumultuous year where films have taken a backseat to the drama of the real world, it was nice to take a night off from reality and enjoy the glamorous fashion and an evening of celebrating 2016’s best film offerings. The big winner of the night was La La Land, which won the prizes for Best Film, Director (Damien Chazelle), Leading Actress (Emma Stone), Cinematography and Original Music. Considering its 11 nominations, it was not quite the clean sweep many expected it to be. La La Land has divided audiences, and I am afraid I fall into the Debbie Downer category regarding this sunny musical; while it was a perfectly decent film, I feel it paled in comparison to other nominees, such as Arrival, I, Daniel Blake, and Moonlight. Emma Stone faced stiff competition in the Leading Actress category, nominated alongside Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Emily Blunt and Natalie Portman. I would have loved to see Amy Adams take home the BAFTA instead, especially considering she was robbed of a nomination from the Oscars this year - she was phenomenal in Arrival and definitely deserves more recognition for her performance.
“La La Land won big, but I feel it paled in comparison with other nominees” One category where La La Land missed out was in Leading Actor, where Ryan Gosling was inched out by Casey Affleck for Manchester by the Sea. This was a controversial choice considering the prevalent allegations of sexual harassment made
towards him. I will be honest and say I have not had the chance to see Manchester by the Sea yet, and will reserve judgement on Affleck’s performance until I have. This film also took home the award for Best Original Screenplay, hardly a surprise given it being nominated for this award at the Golden Globes and the upcoming Academy Awards. The Supporting Actor and Actress awards went to Dev Patel (Lion) and Viola Davis (Fences) respectively. While Viola Davis has been sweeping awards for her role, Dev Patel was a surprise win, having been expected to lose out to Mahershala Ali (Moonlight). Patel’s win made him the first actor of Asian descent to win an acting award at the BAFTAs, a remarkable and important feat. He is also only the third actor of Indian descent to ever be nominated for an Academy Award, and after his victory in London, it is entirely possible he will take home the Oscar too. This category was Fences’ only win (and only nomination), while Lion also won for Best Adapted Screenplay.
lives of African-Americans whose suffering “did not make it into history books”, was one of the best of the night. The ‘In Memoriam’ segment was also moving, paying tribute to Gene Wilder and John Hurt amongst others, as well as Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher.
“Host Stephen Fry did a great job, and managed to fit in some digs against Trump”
Although the ceremony lacked the drama of Meryl Streep’s scathing political speech at the SAG awards, or of Adele going full-Mean Girls at the Grammys and snapping her trophy in half to share with Beyoncé, it did have its fair share of poignant moments. Host Stephen Fry did a great job, and still managed to fit in some digs at the new American President. Emma Stone knocking into the podium on the way up to collect her award was an endearing moment, while Viola Davis’ acceptance speech, in which she honoured the
Children 404: ‘CHILDREN NOT FOUND’
Cinema Politica took over Northern Stage last Friday, and showed the powerful documentary, Children 404. Alex Ridley went to find out what it was all about
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as it possible to truly ‘enjoy’ Cinema Politica’s most recent showing at the Northern Stage? In retelling the stories of LGBT+ youth in a country that still calls homosexuality an illness, Children 404 can be hard to watch, the almost omnipresence of homophobia from legislation to the playground soulnumbing. Yet there were moments in the film that got the entire screening laughing. Children 404’s kids choose to be loud, irreverent, and hilarious. Though what happens to them is horrifying, it is their protest by positivity that keeps you watching: the will of a community to keep its members heard as their country demands they be silent. The Children 404 project, in brief, is an anonymised social network for Russian LGBT+ youth that acts as both social space and support group for a collective some Russians don’t even believe exist, hence the name: child not found. The film is assembled from footage and voice clips contributed by its members, largely following the story of a gay college student’s final weeks in Russia before studying in Canada.
“Despite the harrowing events of the film, the film never feels hopeless” Interspersing these vignettes are interviews with Elena Klimova, the journalist who founded the site back in 2013. She discusses the ethos that led to the creation of the site, and the legal struggle of keeping such a safe space open in the light of Russia’s recently instated propaganda laws on LGBT+ representation, which forbid anything construable as ‘propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships’ to be circulated around young children, ostensibly to protect ‘traditional family values’. It’s the shadow of ‘the Law’ that is the spectre over Children 404, the feeling of taboo and invisibility rather than explicit brutality. This isn’t a graphic film: though it’s alluded to, no violence actually
happens on-screen. But the validation, the seeming acknowledgement ‘they’re sick or something’ precipitates this abuse and unadulterated violence. Stories are told of children ousted into homelessness by their parents, a boy locked in his room by a mother pretending he’s ill, botched suicide attempts. It’s harrowing, especially in a country that, according to Putin, allows LGBT+ people to ‘live in peace.’ And yet in spite of this, the feeling is never one of hopelessness. There is validation both inside and outside of the LGBT+ community: for example, a woman who has taken in two homeless teens on the run. And at the heart of this is Klimova herself,
whose sheer bloody-mindedness and dedication to ensuring Children 404 stays open in the face of – what would turn out to be multiple – lawsuits acts as a brilliant abstract of the whole film. As long as there are sympathetic ears, there is hope. Following the showing, there was a brief Q&A session with Radzhana Buyantueva, a former Politics student at Newcastle, about the reality of the LGBT+ movement as a whole in Russia. As eyeopening as it was horrifying, topics covered included the ‘doublethink’ about the LGBT+ community endemic in modern Russian society, unpunished vigilante action and the difficulty of effective activism with an unsympathetic government.
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reviewsfilm.27
Tuesday 28 February 2017
thecourieronline.co.uk/film c2.film@ncl.ac.uk | @Courier_Film
Golden Oldies Presents...
John Wick: Chapter 2 (15)
Martin Scorsese’s
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ast year, we were distinctly lacking in a ‘pure’ action movie. In 2013, we had the pulse-pounding Gravity. In 2014, we had the craziest sequel ever, The Raid 2. In 2015, Mad Max: Fury Road raised that bar. But in 2016, the best we had for intensity was Green Room and the most formally spectacular was Assassin’s Creed (c’mon, you know I’m right). What a relief it is to have an absolute barn-stormer of an action flick straight out of 2017’s gate before February has even ended. It’s even more of a relief to find that John Wick: Chapter 2 is a superior sequel to an already-rock solid film, and that’s not just because the dog survives this one (not a spoiler, more of a relief). Director Chad Stahelski’s return to the John Wick universe (Wickiverse? Sounds like a webpage) chronicles the continuing adventures of the titular peeved hitman as he manages to fill in the first film’s biggest plothole: why didn’t he try and reclaim his car? But reclaim his car he does before the film has a chance to tell you what it’s called, but John isn’t out of the game yet. After proverbially having his arm twisted to re-enter the fold, John finds himself with pretty much everyone after him. Everyone has a grudge against him or a debt to pay, and John is stuck in an endless cycle of violence and hatred. From this, Stahelski and returning-screenwriter Derek Kolstad use the impressive world of hierarchy, laws and economics only glimpsed in the
first film as a jumping-off point for explaining why people kill each other in action movies. There is no easy way to pull the trigger for John, as each one sends him further and further into the complex dog-eat-dog politics of, ahem, the assassins creed. However fun the journey might be along the way, you’ve got to remember the very real consequences for our invincible hero. But despite this unexpected moral undercurrent, Chapter 2 deals in pure crowd-pleasing. Remember that moment in the original where Michael Nyqvist’s Russian mobster villain tells his rat-bag son about how John Wick butchered three men in a bar with a pencil (“With a fuckin’ PENCIL!”)? That’s just one of many showstopping moments in the absolutely bananas sequel. A silhouetted gunfight in catacombs, a series of balletic fight sequences between Keanu Reeves and Common (the film’s unexpected MVP) and a finale set in a hall of mirrors that lead straight to Hell, it’s a roster of setpieces where every single one of them somehow manages to be better than the first’s iconic night-
club scene. It feels like the film that Stahelski and co. should have known they were making first time round, that what they could do would be to majestically satirise action while making it straightforward, massively entertaining and minorly revolutionary. Keanu delivers the goods like he always does, wearing a suit and popping off headshots with equal slickness, but the most notable cast member has to be Ruby Rose, who seems tailor-made for this franchise. Painfully cool without delivering a single line of spoken dialogue, she fits like a glove among a variety of returning characters, once again threatening to eclipse one another with their sheer awesomeness. Pretty much The Raid 2 but shorter, Chapter 2 performs the task of going bigger without losing the thrills along the way, and it works like a charm. It could even be a new favourite. More like this: Sabotage (2014)
Moonlight (15)
Hidden Figures (PG)
Fences (12A)
et’s cut to the chase. Believe the hype. This film will stand the test of time and will be considered a classic in years to come. From the very outset, everything about it is perfectly crafted, bringing vivacity and light to the pain and struggles of a man who feels trapped by his environment and sexuality. The film follows the struggle of African-American man Chiron at three different stages of his life: childhood, adolescence and adulthood. With no father and a drug addicted mother, he has no one to rely on for guidance and support. Naomie Harris plays the role of his mother superbly, leaving us simultaneously despising her but sympathising with her for being a victim of the larger forces she is trapped within. Chiron is alone in a world which continually shits on him from a great height. Whether it be his emotionally abusive mother or school bullies, the torment is relentless. While the vivid colours used in the film illuminate Liberty City, Miami into a seemingly paradisiacal location, the visually arresting handheld camera shots leave a sense of discomfort and sickness that force the viewer to align with the fear and negativity Chiron must experience every day. A lot has been made of what this film does to voice the struggles of a homosexual man in a community where homosexuality is ridiculed and belittled. I, however, see it instead as a film about masculinity and identity. The world Chiron inhabits is one which he doesn’t fit into, nor can he understand. Before him are never-ending testosterone-fuelled displays of male dominance. He cannot make sense of them nor avoid being the victim of them. The anger within him builds as his existence seems more and more inescapable. It is at this point the question at the heart of the film is posed: in the face of hate, does a person remain true to themselves? Or do they conform to survive?
hat’s more uplifting than rocket science? If uncovering the shamefully forgotten role of African-American women in the space race won’t quite do it for you, the soundtrack by Pharrell ought to top it off. Theodore Melfi’s Hidden Figures, a lively adaptation of Margot Lee Shetterly’s best-selling non-fiction book, has burst onto UK screens after an Academy Best Picture nomination, and its triumph can only be down to how damn impossible it is to dislike. Melfi’s previous filmography is limited, yet Figures plays like a film by an accomplished veteran of the industry – it’s well-paced, confident, and selfassured in its delivery. The same can be said of its performances – Taraji P. Henson’s SAG win for her role as Katherine Johnson is thoroughly deserved, while Janelle Monae’s Mary Jackson energises the screen even when she’s in the background. In a small but memorable role, Aldis Hodge as Monae’s husband sees the two achieving a remarkable onscreen chemistry which elevates Monae’s Mary upward from likeable sidekick to loveable, fully-fleshed character. Octavia Spencer giving an impeccable performance is perhaps something to be expected by now, considering her track record, but she nevertheless dazzles as Dorothy Vaughan, delivering some of the most compelling moments of the film with a mastery of quiet, calm self-reflection. Not to forget the aesthetic, stunning costume by Renee Kalfus keeps this 60’s flick vibrant and bubbly from the get-go. Although the killer soundtrack and three energetic lead performances might be the root of its appeal, the film’s real strength comes in its ability to steer clear of melodrama, and to communicate the persistent exhaustion that must come with confronting everyday racism with intelligence, subtlety, and plenty of humour. It’s an achievement to make a film this culturally important, and it’s another to simply make it so undeniably enjoyable. Mark this one down as a must-see. More like this: The Help (2011)
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More like this: Boyz N The Hood (1991) Calum Trenaman
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Fiona Cunningham
Simon Ramshaw
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n adage delivered by Stephen Henderson’s Jim Bono around the midpoint of Fences is, “Some people build fences to keep people out, and other people build fences to keep people in.” It’s a quote that permeates throughout the entire film, leaving you thinking well beyond the final credits. It is undeniably a statement, but the question it conceals lies at the heart of this story. Which kind of person really is Denzel Washington’s Troy Maxson? Based on a 1987 play written by August Wilson – the very man who penned this film’s screenplay – Fences is certainly not a plot-driven affair. Containing more dialogue in its first act alone than most films have in their entire run-time, and rarely stretching beyond the confines of the Maxsons’ property, Fences’ roots in the theatre are clear. Whilst such unvaried setting – coupled with its heavy amount of dialogue – could easily become tiring, this does not ultimately weigh the film down. What keeps Fences as enthralling as it is are its undeniably stellar performances. It is clear that Washington – who also directs and produces the film – is completely engaged with his role, bringing the nuance that Wilson’s script demands. Despite this remarkable effort though, it is undoubtedly Viola Davis who steals the show. Davis is an actress with emotional heft, and she brings every inch of that range to her role as Washington’s wife, Rose. Already stockpiling a Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance, Davis’ chance of achieving her first Oscar on the 26th are sky-high. Fences is a deeply complex film, both in its theme and character, covering a whole host of varying issues. However, it is not a film about race, a film about religion, time, or even family – although it does contain all of these things. Fences is about the simplest thing of all. It is a film about people.
More like this: The Piano Lesson (1995) Tom Cooney
’ diner? a e i u r ur Yo e Co Th
Taxi Driver The Tyneside Cinema sure does love Scorsese; so much so that they held two sold-out screenings of his iconic neo-noir vigilante thriller Taxi Driver last week. Fellow ‘Marty’ enthusiast Joe Holloran reviews its influence on pop culture and De Niro’s thing for mirrors.
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egular readers may recall a Golden Oldies article from a few weeks ago, concerning Martin Scorsese’s 1990 classic Goodfellas. Well, I’m not quite done passing praise on the old Sicilian master. This week we travel back in time to post-Vietnam New York City in the company of Travis Bickle and his yellow cab in Scorsese’s second outing; Taxi Driver. As a wannabe film critic, it’s rare that one gets to talk about one of their favourite films, but that pleasure befalls me this week. “You talkin’ to me, well I’m the only one here”, recites Robert De Niro in a scene that has become synonymous with a character losing his mind. Even those who’ve never seen the movie know the line, thanks to its repetition our collective culture. This combined with the movie’s tagline, ‘On every street in every city, there’s a nobody who dreams of being a somebody’, sums up Travis Bickle’s character. Vietnam vet Bickle is a single, depressed man living in the hustle and bustle of a decaying Manhattan. Haunted by his past and suffering from insomnia, Travis spends his days writing in his journal, patronising porno theatres, and driving his taxi around the five boroughs. Seemingly content to fall into isolated madness, all changes for Travis when thirteen-year-old child prostitute ‘Easy’ Iris (Jodie Foster) enters his cab attempting to escape the clutches of her pimp. This chance encounter is the final straw for Bickle, forcing him to abandon his nihilism and attempt to rid the city and himself of the rot.
Foster’s performance as Iris is relatively brief in the overall film, but is staggeringly well done. Few characters’ garner as much sympathy and frustration in equal measure. Both Foster and De Niro were Oscar nominated for their performances; De Niro was very unfortunate to have been nominated alongside eventual winner Peter Finch for his career-defining role in The Network. Scorsese addressed in Taxi Driver a theme that would be recurrent in his later work, that of a man searching for meaning and identity in life. While Henry Hill in Goodfellas seeks out his place through the New York underworld, Travis Bickle, like Dante in the Inferno, crawls through the slime of this world with the much-needed assistance of his own Virgil in Iris, and comes out a better person on the other side. Bickle combines the honour bound mindset of a samurai, the swagger (however false) of Dirty Harry and his environment is that of late 70s Manhattan and the genesis of punk rock. There is little else that needs to be said about Taxi Driver, those who have seen it know what it’s about, those yet to have that pleasure will sit down to a film that is no easy watch at times, but like Dante and Travis you will emerge from watching a little better for it.
28.gaming
Tuesday 28 February 2017
The Courier
Gaming Editors: Jordan Oloman, Errol Kerr and Jared Moore
Doomfist Speculation Georgina Howlett gives us the low down on Overwatch’s rumored hero
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he February 2nd update to Overwatch’s Public Test Region (PTR) on PC saw the implementation of a server browser for custom games, the introduction of capture the flag as a permanent game mode, and various character changes to improve the fairness and balance of the four hero classes. Much more exciting, however, were the discoveries made by players of potential future changes to the game interface and map and character designs, all of which point to one thing – the impending introduction of a new hero to the game. Until last week, it seemed almost certain that Overwatch’s 24th hero was going to be Doomfist – wielder of the gauntlet first seen in the original cinematic trailer that Reaper and Widowmaker attempt to steal in Numbani, and renowned exhero who could reportedly level skyscrapers with a punch. Not much is known about Doomfist other than that the title has been carried by at least three men thus far, that all of them have used similar gauntlets in battle, and that if ever introduced as a playable character he will most likely be a tank, hoping to resolve the current, monotonous meta that plagues competitive play.
“Thus, with no concrete information, all we players can do is speculate and wait for Blizzard’s next move”
The present speculation surrounding Doomfist comes not only because of the redesigned hero gallery (which now has a suspiciously empty void where a new character card should be) and reported introduction of Doomfist’s theme as menu music, but also due to the data-mined new models, including those for the Numbani payload. In these, the glass around the gauntlet in its on-car container appears to be smashed, as if the casing has been compromised, leading players to believe that there may be an upcoming Doomfist event or animated short whereby the gauntlet is stolen. If so, this could explain Reaper’s existing voice line that ‘Doomfist should do his own dirty work’ if it is indeed Doomfist who steals his own gauntlet back – or perhaps it could mark the origin story of the latest in the Doomfist line. Or is that too hopeful? The answer? Yes – yes, it is. Until last week it seemed like Doomfist was going to be the next hero introduced; this may no longer be the case. Jeff Kaplan, Overwatch’s director of gameplay wrote last week in response to a post about new character development on the official Overwatch forums that the company’s current thoughts with regard to game content are that ‘introducing a new hero to the line-up would be more impactful’ and, more importantly, that ’24 is not who you think it is’ – implying that the game’s next hero might not be Doomfist after all. Kaplan’s comments have thrown the entire Overwatch community into a speculative mess, as no other heroes have currently been teased, and with not so much as a single hint throughout the game as to the potential identity of an alternative hero (besides the brief flashes of unidentified characters in shorts and artwork), fans are at a loss. Thus, with no concrete information, all we players can do is speculate and wait for Blizzard’s next move.
Review:
Michael Hicks slashes, cuts and brutalises his way through history in Ubisoft’s AAA title
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s a history nerd, the idea of For Honor was something I was immediately drawn to. A game which pits medieval knights, samurai and Vikings against each other (despite the thousands of miles and years that separated the three) was always going to have my attention. For Honor comes from the developers of Rainbow Six: Siege, and the team are very quickly proving themselves to be one of the best at making multiplayer experiences. I didn’t expect For Honor to be one of the best fighting games I’ve played in years, that’s for sure. On paper, For Honor’s system doesn’t sound like much special. Each faction has a set of four characters, each with a roster of light and heavy attacks, simple two-or-three hit combos, parries, dodges, blocks, throws, guard breaks and unblockables; all of which is governed by a stamina bar.
attack and block from different directions. For Honor brings a multitude of multiplayer modes to the fray. Combat in For Honor revolves around 1v1 duels, and it’s the 1v1 mode (also named Duel) which I’ve found the most fun. The variety of the characters, and savageness, make for some of the most engrossing fights you’ll find in a game. 2v2 Brawls are a similar blast. Opposing players are paired off in different corners of the map, effectively having two duels happening in parallel and the winners meet in the middle. You’d think that this would open up the door for all sorts of ganking opportunities, but this is discouraged in a number of ways. First is that players have a great deal of ways to effectively punish aggressive moves, and the
“Attacks are slow, but attacks have a sense of weight and impact that I’ve not seen in a fighting game”
However, a few things make For Honor stand out. The first is the animations. Attacks are slow, but attacks have a sense of weight and impact that I’ve not seen in a fighting game. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Valkyrie getting a cheeky quick jab into the exposed side of your opponent, or the Lawbringer bringing down his mighty axe on a poor fool’s bonce, you feel every attack. The second is the camera. The game uses a Resident Evil 4-style over-the-shoulder third person camera, which works incredibly well with For Honor’s’s stance system; allowing players to
Image Credit: 2K Press Hub
second is the Revenge gauge, which is triggered by blocking and parrying, effectively causing your fighter to go Super Saiyan. It acts as such a hard counter that letting duels play out is generally a safer tactic than ganging up on the last man standing. Other modes have their place (including Dominion, in which players capture control zones alongside legions of tiny AI foot soldiers) but aren’t nearly as compelling.
“It acts as such a hard counter that letting duels play out is generally a safer tactic than ganging up on the last man standing”
For Honor also has a single-player mode, but it’s nothing special. An earthquake has destroyed the world and also opened a rift in space and time, causing the aforementioned factions to fight for the last dwindling resources. The story is broken up into three chapters, one focussing on each faction, wrapped around a story about a gang lead by a Darth Vader clone’s gambit to envelope the whole world in war, because “men will be wolves”, or something. Aside from the Vikings’ Saving Private Ryan raid on a Japanese temple, it’s not great. It does a good job of making you battleworthy though. While For Honor is not without its faults. It’s an amazing multiplayer experience and a reminder that Ubisoft – perennial saints of the samey open world – can occasionally cook up something different, experimental and just plain fun. It’s definitely something I’ll be sticking with in the coming weeks to see how it all unfolds.
Lights out for Steam Greenlight
Gerry Hart talks early access as Valve abandon the controversial basement dev program
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fter years of controversy and criticism, Valve’s finally pulled the plug on Steam Greenlight. In a community post from 10th February 2017, UI Designer for Valve Alden Kroll announced that the system originally designed to help developers get their games on Steam would be replaced in spring 2017 by Steam Direct. Whereas developers previously had to pay a $100 fee before submitting their game to a vote from steam users, Steam Direct will require developers to fill out a series of forms Kroll likened to setting up a bank account in addition to paying a recoupable fee ranging on as low as the $100 of Steam Greenlight to as high as $5000, though no definitive amount has been revealed. I’ll preface my thoughts here by saying that I don’t really have anything all that fresh to offer. For a more insightful take on the closure of Greenlight, I’d highly recommend checking out the work of Jim Sterling (God knows he’s been neck deep in the very worst the service had to offer). Suffice to say I’m glad its going. Whilst Greenlight did allow some genuinely good games onto Valve’s previously exclusive storefront, it also contributed to Steam’s chronic oversaturation (40% of Steam’s entire library was released in 2016 alone). Furthermore, by allowing the community to effectively act as gatekeepers to Steam’s storefront, Valve effectively
delegated the task of curation of its own storefront to the consumer.
“It was a fundamentally broken, barely regulated system which rewarded charlatans as opposed to the small developers it was intended to help”
Another major problem with Greenlight was its low bar for entry. You’d think a $100 fee would be sufficient but unfortunately it seems the world harbours a lot of rich idiots. This, combined with Valve’s shocking lack of oversight resulted in a deluge of broken and unfinished products, asset flips, meme-laden non-games and in some cases literal fucking hate speech being allowed to peddle their shit on Greenlight. Given the sheer volume of games that flooded Greenlight, it beggars belief how Valve expected consumers to wade through the swamp and pick out the games with any semblance of promise. So the question now is will Steam Direct be any better? Only time will tell but I have my concerns. First, Valve’s recoupable fee. Granted the
numbers they quoted were based on feedback from developers but they’re troubling nonetheless. As Greenlight demonstrated, $100 has proven no barrier to those who think that think that including the latest meme du jour in their shit game allows them equal footing with developers who actually care for their craft. Yet $5000 is utterly unreasonable, especially when one considers Greenlight’s original intention was to allow smaller developers access to Steam. I’m also apprehensive about some of the language in Kroll’s post. Curation is only referenced twice, both in relation to Steam’s exclusive pre-Greenlight era, whilst one of the main impetuses behind Steam Direct is to streamline the process of getting games onto Steam. This raises questions as to what kind of quality control Steam Direct will incur, though its promising that Kroll states Steam wants to create a “welcoming environment for all developers who are serious about treating customers fairly and making quality gaming experiences”. But like I said in the beginning, Valve’s closure of Greenlight a positive step forward. It was a fundamentally broken, barely regulated system which rewarded charlatans as opposed to the small developers it was intended to help. Now if Valve would start releasing games again, that’d be grand.
Image Credit: EA Press Kit
The Courier
gaming.29
Tuesday 28 February 2017
What I’m Playing: Worms 3D Ultimate Mayhem Jacob Clarke lights a dusty fuse on his holy hand grenade in this week’s What I’m Playing
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y latest endeavour into a game that has left me wasting hours of my study time is for me a nostalgic little gem titled: Worms: Ultimate Mayhem. I will tell you now this game is definitely not any kind of video game innovation or feat. It is quite simply all the fun of worms but....(cue deep voiceover guy)... IN 3D!!! Lets start with some of this game’s more lacking areas. For one thing, the camera will cause you to rage quit. Think WatchDogs, mixed with irreversible inverted controls. After a few tries this is easily mastered, but still a little bit annoying.
“Think WatchDogs, mixed with irreversible inverted controls”
Another pretty major problem is that the single player story may as well not exist. After completing what is basically a 2 hour tutorial containing time
travel and extremely grainy cutscenes, there feels like there is very little payoff. Though you do unlock the OP weapons for use in multiplayer games - which are definitely worth acquiring. You also unlock clothing items for your worms....yeah, its really not worth it. A whole story, and your only real reward is the ability to unlock a new hat? It seems like a cop out. There is a plus side to this game however. The multiplayer is hilarious. Whether you’re exterminating each others’ worms or destroying forts with incredible weapons such as concrete donkeys, holy hand grenades or a simple prod, every game is hilarious. Partly because of how frustratingly glitchy it is, partly because of the sheer brilliance of many of the weapons (not to mention the ability to create some weapons). Not only this but pretty much every map of this light turn-based “strategy” is surrounded by water and worms cannot swim at all. The worms really stand no chance at all, which makes multiplayer
games utterly unpredictable. Anyone could win, anyone could lose - there really is no skill set you need for this game. So I have poured hours into this game with friends. Despite the drawbacks graphically and the finnicky controls, the game is worth it for the zany little guys, the weapons and simple fun that it brings. However its not hard to see why Team 17 never made another 3D one after this.
“Anyone could win, anyone could lose - there really is no skill set you need for this game”
The focus they put into the formula of the 2D games is unbeaten and this divergence into 3D did not go down well for a lot of people. However I would recommend this game to at least try with friends, I’m probably going to play a bit more now.
thecourieronline.co.uk @Courier_Gaming
Top 5
Console Exclusives Sam Blackburn presents his take on the industries greatest consoles Pikmin 3 I’m keeping this list fresh by only mentioning exclusives from the current generation of consoles, that is why Pikmin 3 features at number two. I love the Wii U, as I have mentioned multiple times, but when I had to pinpoint which game is my favourite for it, there is no other answer than Pikmin 3. The long awaited sequel to the Gamecube’s kidified RTS series, Pikmin 3 has got to be one of Nintendo’s finest efforts yet. The game is just brimming with personality and colour and it’s the first entry in HD, meaning you can see your Pikmin be devoured in such quality!
Nioh
PewDiePied? Disney drops Felix Jack Coles investigates the big controversy surrounding YouTube Gaming’s golden boy W ow, that felt like a Daily Mail online headline. If, like me, you prefer your YouTube game channels to be more obscure (I’m a Northernlion fan myself) then the fact that Disney even employed Felix Kjellberg via a subsidiary might have completely slipped you by. On the other hand, the fact that this month Disney dropped him like a man discovering that his hot dog is actually a turd in a bun has been all over the Internet.
“Watching PewDiePie now is more stigmatised than a lily farm”
Personally, I felt nothing but raging indifference towards him up until now. I wouldn’t say that his videos held any appeal to me, but that could very well have changed if he started singing Talking Heads in his videos or discussing the finer points of biochemistry. Thing is, I’m likely never going to find out. Watching PewDiePie now is more stigmatised than a lily farm. If you’re unfamiliar with why Disney gave Felix the boot, then it’s all to do with one of Kjellberg’s videos. In it, he paid £5 so that two people from halfway across the world hold up a sign that said “DEATH TO ALL JEWS”. Yep, just let that sink in for a second. I’m sure you can think of at least two words beginning with “H” that mean that the above
“You know the type, someone that makes Hitler or dead baby jokes just to appear ‘cool”’
message would be dodgy as hell. But what about the multitude of other, less harmful and funnier messages he could have put on? “Bush did Harambe”? “Dickbutt”? “I’m with stupid”? I came up with those three ideas in all of forty-two seconds! PewDiePie has a classic case of a disorder that I’ve literally just made up, called insecurity-derived edgelordism. You know the type, someone that
makes Hitler or dead baby jokes just to appear “cool”, whereas in reality they have completely missed the point of both humour, and existence in general. This isn’t the first time he’s made a Nazismrelated joke either; in some clips, he stacked some boxes in a swastika shape, or displayed a video of a man dressed as Jesus saying “Hitler was right”. (Admittedly, PewDiePie did seem visibly shocked by that video; although quite why he uploaded his reaction is up for debate).
“We can remove “white-asthe-driven-snow racist” from his list of traits and replace it with “thicker than a concrete milkshake” To his credit, Felix has stated that he made a mistake. We can remove “whiteas-the-driven-snow racist” from his list of traits, and replace it with “thicker than a concrete milkshake”. He has spent the best part of a career building up this childlike persona where he tries his best to avoid politics. Forgetting that the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany was a deeply political event is so stupid that I felt my own IQ decreasing from typing this sentence. Also, like a child, he tried to blame it on somebody else; the two men who held up the sign (but they didn’t understand what it meant, so good job there). PewDiePie made a high-risk play which resulted in a spectacular downfall, like an Icarus flight made of bricks and disappointment. His crash serves as
a warning to both him and to others, that anything resembling hate speech – even if it isn’t intended as such – stands a good chance of being clamped down upon.
Nioh is the latest game I’ve picked up in my collection, not even realising it’s a PS4 exclusive! Nioh, or ‘Samurai Souls’ as it may be referred to is the first Soulslike game not developed by From Software what’s been done right. Think of the over the top intense gameplay of Ninja Gaiden within the Souls formula and that is Nioh to a T. Although I still haven’t finished the game yet, I have loved it so much so far that I feel it is a possible game of the year contender, only in February! Souls fans on Xbox One and PC, I think it’s time to get a PS4…
A Link Between Worlds I’d like to give some love to portable gaming, that’s why the next entry is Uncharted for Playstation Vita… Just kidding, don’t be so stupid, it’s Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. A modern retelling of the SNES classic A Link To The Past, A Link Between Worlds is quite easily one of Nintendo’s best entries in the franchise. Although it doesn’t differ too heavily to the SNES original, it still felt very fresh, a true testament to the ability of the game designers at Nintendo. This easily ranks very highly as one of my all time favourite Zelda games.
Until Dawn Yet another Playstation 4 game makes the top five. I’m no fanboy, it’s just really hard to call Killer Instinct and Forza Horizon 2 exclusives when they’re also on PC and 360 respectively. Until Dawn is a horror game which was released in 2015. The game is centred around a group of friends in the middle of a scary scenario. The game takes on many tropes of teen slasher movies, whilst allowing the player to make their own choices. It’s up to you to try and make all six of the characters survive to get the best ending.
Bloodborne Bloodborne is simply the greatest exclusive game of the current generation. To put it bluntly, Bloodborne is Dark Souls on crack. Set in Yharnham, you take on the role has the hunter through this action packed RPG. Quite possibly the hardest From Software game made, Bloodborne focuses heavily on fast paced action packed combat as opposed to Dark Souls’ more patient and defensive combat. This game is absolutely gorgeous, taking advantage of the Playstation 4’s hardware. To me, this is the definitive PS4 game to own. When PC gamers rave about their superior hardware, just remind them they can’t play and mod this masterpiece.
30.science&technology
Tuesday 28 February 2017
The Courier
Science Editors: Matthew Byrne, Natalie Farmer & Ciara Ritson-Courtney
On this day
Is Carbon still dating ?
February 28th 1912 Aine Wilcox tells us about Sam Robinson tells us about the element we’ve been married to for quite a while the first corneal arbon as an element often gets a bad in the strongest and most efficient way, forming ing the necessary circumstances for carbon atname; what with all this carbon monoxide a diamond. Another theory is radiation-induced oms in a gas to settle on a substrate in crystalline transplantation and the and carbon dioxide which leads to global diamond formation which is when the spontane- form. Unlike natural diamonds CVD diamonds work of surgeon Vladimir warming. We can often forget about what our ous fission of the isotopes of Uranium and tho- occur at low pressures (atmospheric) and can favourite form of carbon is, a girl’s best friend rium cause enough energy to form diamonds. be made from filament lamp heat sources as Filatov – Diamonds. Diamonds are the hardest natuSo how exactly are diamonds made?Natural dia- well as microwaves, so long as enough heat
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etter known for his development of tissue therapy, Vladimir Petrovich Filatov was a Russian-Ukrainian surgeon whose work had a huge impact in this developing field. Despite his efforts, his initial attempt at corneal transplantation on 28th February 1912 encountered error when the graft became opaque; the first successful attempt on a diseased person was actually in 1931. Still, Filatov was among the first to perform the procedure successfully during one of his later attempts in 1938. This somewhat slow development is no surprise when you realise the complexity of the procedure which involves the removal and replacement of the cornea. An area of tissue on the eye through which the iris and pupil can be seen, the cornea is involved in the focusing of light rays onto the retina - which is effectively how we see. If the cornea is damaged, it can become more opaque, meaning the rays of light are obscured and the image processed by the brain is distorted. In modern medicine, the replacement of this delicate tissue is a fairly common practice but there was a time when damage to the cornea meant almost certain permanent visual impairment.
“If the cornea is damaged, it can become more opaque, meaning the rays of light are obscured and the image processed by the brain is distorted” Filatov obtained his medical degree in Moscow in 1897 and, after many years of practise, he became a Professor of Ophthalmology in 1911 at Odessa State University. He was also the director of the eye clinic. Later, the conflict in Europe found Filatov working in the military eye hospital in Tashkent until the end of the First World War. During the post war era he returned to Odessa where he noticed there was an increase in the number of cases of leukoma, a condition in which the cornea becomes inflamed and damaged. It came about as a result of wounds suffered in battle and usually resulted in blindness. It was this that motivated Filatov to develop one of his more famous procedures: the ‘walking stem’, also known as the tube flap technique, a process during which the skin from another area of the body (such as the shoulder) is cut but attached to the required area at one end. It is sutured to the face and can be used in procedure. He created many tissue preparations that utilised the increasing restoration capability of the cells with the aim to reduce post-operative complications such as rejection or tissue death. This work hugely advanced plastic surgery and the capabilities within it. Filatov is also famously credited with restoring famed Soviet sniper Vasily Zaytsev’s sight when he suffered an injury to his eyes from a mortar attack during the Battle of Stalingrad. One of the key issues of the time was the maintenance of tissue or organism once is was removed from the body – hence why Filatov’s work became renowned; he was key to the development of many procedures which treated and developed tissue so it could be reused. As a result, The Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases & Tissue Therapy in Odessa, Ukraine which he founded in 1936 is now one of the foremost places for development in this field and continues to bring incredible advancements to this area of medicine - despite the death of Filatov himself in 1956.
rally occurring material on earth, they cannot be burnt by fire and can only be scratched or cut with another diamond. If that isn’t badass enough, the name Diamond itself comes from the greek ἀδάμας – adámas “unbreakable, however the word contains reference to the word δαμάω (damáō), which means “I overpower”or “I tame”. Whilst diamonds are not the most stable form of pure molecular carbon (Graphite is) they do have different crystalline forms – this is called polymorphism. A few of the more recent discoveries and interesting ones involve Lonsdaleite which forms when a meteor containing graphite hits earth, now that’s a pretty rare rock for your ring.
“The toughest naturally occurring form of diamond is the Carbonado-or black diamond”
However the toughest naturally occurring form of diamond is the Carbonado – or black diamond. The origins of the formation of this curious crystal are not known and are somewhat controversial. They formed 3 billion years ago and can only be found in Brazil and the Central African Republic, theories include shock metamorphism whereby a meteor strikes earth creating enough heat and pressure to force atomic carbon to pack together
monds are made when heavily carbon based materials are subjected to extremely high pressure, around 4500000000-6000000000 Pascals (GigaPascals) and around 1500 degrees kelvin. These conditions
“Natural diamonds are made when heavily carbon based materials are subjected to extremely high pressure”
occur below the Earth’s surface in the lithospheric mantle, and generally below continental plates. Superman can famously make diamonds just by squeezing a lump of coal, unfortunately for Clark Kent, but fortunately for the diamond jewellers, this is not actually possible, coal has many impurities in it such as sulphur, hydrogen and mercury, so it is not possible to turn coal into diamonds by subjecting it to high pressure. However there is a lot of research going into synthetic diamonds, not only into those which can be of gem grade quality, where the money is, but also into industrial grade diamonds which can be used for drill bits, polishing and thermal conductors. In scientific labs the most common synthesised diamonds are made via HPHT (high-pressure high-temperature) and CVD (chemical vapour deposition). The latter is quite a successful method of making diamonds, it works by creat-
can be generated to create a plasma type state. There is a remarkable step by step guide on how to make a ‘diamond’ using some cotton string, olive oil, graphite and a microwave. The man seems to suggest if you soak a very small section of your string In olive oil, tie it gently around your length of graphite and allow the oil to soak in and then proceed to microwave your graphite on full power for about an hour and a half in a ‘crucible’ then voila – you have made a diamond! However I doubt your landlord would be thrilled if your microwave broke, the man did warn of sparks.
Turning the world upside down
Christoper Little investigates the magnetic pole swap and explains to everyone how it could dramatically change life as we know it - prepare to re-calibrate your compasses
T
he magnetic field that surrounds the Earth does more than simply make our compass needles point North and South. It acts as a shield, protecting us from harmful radiation by deflecting away charged particles sent towards us by the Sun. Were it not for this invisible like force field, our ozone would be slowly stripped away by solar winds and life as we know it would not exist. Many may understand the North and South poles in the same way that they understand that the ground is below them and the sky above. As basic knowledge of our planet, fundamental aspects that are timeless and unchanging. But even on a daily basis, the magnetic poles do move. The magnetic North Pole travels in loops of up to 50 miles per day, and is gradually creeping northward by about 40 miles per year. Since explorers located its position in the early 19th century, it has migrated over 600 miles from Arctic Canada towards Siberia.
the last 160 years could herald a new reversal. Writing in The Conversation they say that, “this collapse is centred in a huge expanse of the Southern Hemisphere, extending from Zimbabwe
“They have found that over time this area of reversed polarity can grow rapidly before waning slowly”
“The magnetic field can change so that North becomes South”
Over much longer periods of time, the magnetic field can completely change, flipping over so that North becomes South, and South becomes North. These reversals are not rare phenomena, but regular occurrences that have taken place throughout the planet’s history. NASA believes that over the last 20 million years, the poles have settled into a pattern of flipping every 200,000 to 300,000 years. But with the last magnetic reversal taking place around 780,000 years ago, we are now well overdue one. John Tarduno, Professor of Geophysics, and Vincent Hare, Postdoctoral Associate in Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Rochester, say that an alarming decrease in the strength of the Earth’s magnetic field over
presented an apocalyptic vision of a planet in the throes of a polar shift. There have also been attempts to connect extended volcanism with these events. Whilst we do not truly know what the full extent would be, there is no evidence to support these doomsday theories. Mathematical simulations suggest it could take several thousand years for a full reversal to take place. During the process the magnetic field may fall to 10% of its current strength, as well as multiple magnetic poles simultaneously existing. This instability in the magnetic field could increase the risk of cancer, affect navigation systems and the transmission of electricity, and leave us more susceptible to geomagnetic storms. But there have been hundreds
to Chile, known as the South Atlantic Anomaly. The magnetic field strength is so weak there that it’s a hazard for satellites that orbit above the region – the field no longer protects them from radiation which interferes with satellite electronics.” Were a pole reversal about to take place, what could we expect? Hollywood disaster movie 2012
of these events in the planet’s history and life has survived throughout. We know our magnetic shield is created by the motion of molten iron in our planet’s outer core, but we do not yet know enough to predict when pole reversals will occur. However, satellite data has revealed an area of reversed polarity at the core-mantle boundary below southern Africa, which Tarduno and Hare believe is responsible for causing the South Atlantic Anomaly. They have used archaeomagnetic research, where archaeologists and geophysicists work together, to delve into its history. They have found that over time this area of reversed polarity can grow rapidly before waning slowly. Were it to grow large enough, they believe it could trigger a full magnetic reversal. Their findings have led them to suggest that the geology of the region is affecting the flow of iron in the core below, which is in turn affecting the magnetic field. Whilst it could just be a fluctuation, it could also mean that a magnetic reversal has already begun.
The Courier
science&technology.31
Tuesday 28 February 2017
French fission fire
Errol Kerr separates the truth from the rubble and talks frankly about nuclear power
N
obody panic! but there’s been an explosion at a nuclear power plant in France. I mean, considering it’s not covering every single news outlet like an event such as Fukushima or Chernobyl did, we can probably say we’re safe. On Thursday 9th February, the Flamanville nuclear power plant suffered from an explosion caused by a fire in the turbine hall. Whilst the event began at 9:40 in the morning, those working at the plant had the event under control by 11:00 the same day. Not only has sabotage been entirely ruled out as a possible cause of the fire, they have also stated that there is no risk of any radioactive contamination.
“Nobody panic! but there’s been an explosion at a nuclear power plant in France”
Rather than being considered a major event, this incident has been described as a “significant technical issue” by a worker at the plant, considering the fire and explosion was well outside or the nuclear zone inside the plant. Of course, it’s picked up more media attention than normal, despite it being wholly contained, simply because of its placement within the plant.
“However, many nuclear experts indicated that this incident was relatively minor”
Nuclear power plants are a fear-inducing human creation. After all, we’re still reeling somewhat from the events of the Chernobyl explosion, and Japan is still dealing with the radiation being released by the Fukushima plant. However, many nuclear experts indicated that this incident was relatively minor. Not only was the turbine fire contained in an incredibly short space of time, leading to only four hospitalisations due to smoke inhalation, but the design of the reactor would have avoided any leaking of radioactive materials into any water – the water within the turbine wouldn’t pass through the reactor core in such an event, circumventing irradiation fears.
“France is heavily reliant on nuclear power – with four fifths of the country’s electricity supply originating at nuclear stations” Despite this, it cannot be denied that major events are costly and extensive to repair or solve, with the Fukushima leaks being monitored to this day, having cost around $190 billion since the events on March 11, 2011, and the reactor will still take several decades to repair.
CYBERschools
James McCoull is here to hack the educational mainframe
S
econdary schools across the UK will be taking on a uniquely cyberpunk feel to some of their lessons as it has been decided that certain institutions will begin teaching cybersecurity to their pupils. This decision follows in the aftermath of contemporary global issues such as the Russian hacking scandal, in which Russian sources have been implicated in cyberattacks on US federal bodies – with more attacks expected to follow. This program will equip schoolkids with extremely useful skills in their personal lives in terms of safeguarding against malware and data theft: an issue that becomes more and more vital to combat in an increasingly digital world. I’m sure we all remember our early days on the internet, barely capable of discerning virus-laden downloads and emails from the legitimate things they imitated, getting our computers hideously maimed by Trojans in the process (sorry, Dad); having teens who know better than to make those mistakes certainly can’t be a bad thing.
“This decision follows in the aftermath of contemporary global issues such as the Russian hacking scandal”
More than that, however, the program hopes to breed the next generation of ‘white hat hackers’ – individuals who use their affinity for code to close loopholes in company software and help boost the security of a system against attack. Cybersecurity, for the reasons outlined above, is a fast growing industry, and it’ll be a great boon for these young script kiddies to have skills which will help them access further education and ultimately jobs in this
France is heavily reliant on nuclear power – with four fifths of the country’s electricity supply originating at nuclear stations – but with many of these older stations due to close in the 2030s, and the Hollande’s current French government passing laws sanctioning the amount of electricity nuclear plants can create, as well as encouraging moves towards renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power, it may only be a matter of time before nuclear power becomes a dead dream of the 20th century.
“...with the Fukushima leaks being monitored to this day, having cost around $190 billion since the events on March 11, 2011 and the reactor will still take decades to repair...”
Despite this, Flamanville is still creating a new generation reactor, which will not only start producing power in 2018, but will be the largest nuclear reactor on the planet. Replacing an older reactor, the new build should hopefully alleviate the worries caused by the event at the start of this month, but has already faced costly setbacks. This event will naturally raise concerns over the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant that has been announced and given the go-ahead in the UK, not only due to the cost of construction, but also the fear of events that would be both physically and economically disastrous. I defended the safe use of nuclear power in a Courier article last year, and my stance has only marginally changed - as it will be a modern nuclear plant, the safety fail safes event of any failure or incident will be in place to resolve issues, however these aforementioned fears cannot be ignored, as the cost of any jobs required to fix a damaged or destroyed plant are far too high to ignore and set aside.
Word of the Week: Thundersnow
Jared Moore rumbles “The program hopes to breed our view on weather sector.
the next generation of ‘white hat hackers”
Personally, I can only say I wish this had come sooner. Though high-profile attacks are certainly more prevalent now than ever, they are by no means a new thing, and there is simply no way to assess how much damage has been dealt in the past couple of decades due to insubstantial or inefficient modes of defence. Had this issue been addressed sooner, hundreds of thousands of people might not have been cheated out of bank account details, personal photographs, or compromising information. For better or worse (and contrary to my tone, I do sincerely believe it is for the better) a lot of our lives are lived online; the importance of protecting that wealth of i n f o r m at i o n on both a personal and international level cannot be understated.
G
rowing up in the United Kingdom has its quirks! From queuing to crumpets being British has a long list of traits and stereotypes that convey to the world “Britishness”. Whilst the aforementioned are certainly relatable, nothing speaks for this nation more so than moaning about the weather. To prove how dull our weather is, let’s take a look at a weather phenomenon that’s not quite so… pathetic. Thundersnow! Whilst not particularly common to the United Kingdom, is a weather phenomenon that does exactly what it says on the tin. Generally, it forms in the same way a normal thunderstorm would, caused due to a difference in temperature that creates an instability in atmospheric conditions. Thundersnow storms are no different, Mother Nature puts on a big display and we all gather round our windows to see if the neighbors cat has been barbecued in the process. However, the key difference here is that instead of rain to accompany the lightning, colder air circulating beneath low hanging clouds creates snow. It’s pretty neat, and certainly beats the dismal drizzle that provides a constant level of misery throughout the north of England all year round.
thecourieronline.co.uk/science
Mythbusters:
Does your starsign affect your personality? Our resident mythbuster Jack Coles looks to the stars to find answers
I
t may come as no surprise to you that I am a Scorpio; after all, I am a tall, short, male woman that is highly emotional and analytical that may or may not believe that the zodiac has all or some or no influence on our lives and/ or deaths. I hope that the astrologers on page 16 don’t read this, but then again, they are Capricorns, so they may find it amusing or perplexing or infuriating. The way a horoscope is written is vague enough for it to apply to many people that read it without it being too striking for it to be remembered as being untrue a month later. “You will meet a stranger bringing you a unique opportunity” could be anything from a job offer to a dodgy ket deal. Furthermore, if a person does believe that their horoscope will come true, then they will take steps (while consciously or unconsciously) to ensure that it takes place. Confirmation bias mixed with a placebo effect. It’s the first episode of BBC’s Dirk Gently all over again. Essentially, astrology is like palmistry or tea-leaf reading; fun if you’re into that sort of thing, but ultimately has no useful information on what will actually come to pass. Your starsign has no provable effect on you. Counterintuitively, though, the time of year at which you were born does seem to have a slight influence upon your life, although it doesn’t have anything to do with the relative orbit of Mars or the brightness of Sirius A. No, the reasons are much more mundane: term times and seasonal changes.
“Astrology is fun if you’re into that sort of thing, but ultimately has no useful information on what will actually come to pass”
Some studies have shown that people born in September through to December (in selected European countries) are more likely to be high achievers than people born in other months, especially during the summer. It is thought that this is because children born in September are nearly a year older than their colleagues born in August , and so have almost an extra year’s worth of brain development before school. On the other hand, those born in later school months are more likely to be more creatively-inclined in later life. Statistical analysis carried out by Columbia University found out that birth month can also impact your health. People born in May are more likely to be generally healthier. People born in March, however, are markedly more likely to develop heart disease, while those born in November have a higher risk of ADHD. It’s important to recognise, however, that the impact here is much smaller than that of diet or exercise; just because you were born in May, doesn’t mean that you are an immortal that metabolises cholesterol like a waste disposal unit at McDonald’s. Temperament is also partially affected by birth month. People born in winter months are statistically more pessimistic but less irritable, while those born in spring or summer months are more positive but more prone to mood swings. Autumn babies are balanced, and have a resistance to developing depression. It is thought that these effects are due to Seasonal Affective D i s ord e r causing a range of biochemical changes in the mother, and these affect the developing foetus. The month in which you were born (or your starsign, I guess) can affect your personality. But it’s worth recognising that you are the one that decides if it will have any impact.
puzzles.32
Tuesday 28 February 2017
The Courier
Spot the Difference
We’ve hidden seven differences in this candid, not-at-all-posed picture of Film editor Zoë Godden! How many can you find? 3 or less: What are you doing - 4: Fair play - 5: Decent effort - 6: Excellent work - 7: God(den)like Finder
The Courier
Puzzles Across
puzzles.33
Tuesday 28 February 2017
1 Roman term for a low-status social class, often seen in Marxist discourse (11) 7 Liquid substance from which plastic is produced (3) 9 Up-market London-based clothing brand (3, 6) 10 Therapeutic relaxation retreat. Massages and saunas are typically found here (3) 11 Of a quality surpassing the rest of its kind (9) 12 ___ Colada, sweet tropical cocktail (4) 13 Collective term for ‘kitchen sink’ television melodramas (5) 14 A sometimes secret or hidden private area (3) 17 Addictive crop whose leaves are smoked in various forms (7) 21 Common name of two continents (7) 22 To gather or harvest, especially in the context of farming (4) 23 Commercial building used for gambling (8)
Down
2 Expensive watch producer (5) 3 Glitzy, grimy tourist destination in the United States (3, 5) 4 Group of three combined or associated things (6) 5 Means by which a TV show’s success is measured (7) 6 International high street clothing store (7) 8 Contract permitting a customer to make use of a rented object or property (5) 11 American international travel company including flights, accomodation and holiday packages (7) 15 Non-negotiable requirements (5) 16 Something or someone originating elsewhere, e.g. a different country or planet (5) 17 Pre-revolution title of Russian leader (4) 18 (Usually) alcoholic beverage made with cereal grains (4) 19 Product rolled in and containing [17-across] intended for smoking (5) 20 To be in debt to a creditor (3)
Puzzles Editors: Jack Oliver Parker and James McCoull 1
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As a special treat for my our adoring fans, we have two sudoku for you this week, one is easier than the other - BUT WHICH ONE IS IT?
Completing this bonus size Puzzles page is a real achievement, and deserves a real sense of warmth and accomplishment. Bring proof of your achievement to the Courier office where the editors will gather around you in a circle and applaud. Cheering your name is optional.
38. sport
Tuesday 28 February 2017
The Courier
Sports Editors: Lucy Brogden, Tom Shrimplin & James Sproston
Karate take to the mat KARATE By Sonja Dengler at Ponds Forge The Newcastle University Karate Club was up early to register at 8am, warm up, and wait to start competing. The Club had four people competing in kata on Saturday, and four people fighting on Sunday. Karate is a martial art that started in and around Japan before going viral, spreading to almost every country in the world. It will even be in the 2020 Olympics. When training karate there are three basic things you practice: kihon (the basics and not meant for competition), kata (a performance of sorts, like fighting invisible enemies) and kumite (where your opponents are no longer invisible, and competitors get their mits on and try to punch, kick and sweep one another, getting points for the quality and control of their techniques. It is a lot of fun to watch).
“Andy performed his kata with good technique and spirit a couple more times and beat them all” The first person up was Sonja Dengler, in female novice kata. Stepping out onto the mat, watched by the rest of the club she forgot everything around her and just focused on the kata. The club president, Andy Kiang was up next, in male novice kata. Replacing his green belt with a blue on, to prevent bias he performed his kata alongside another karata-ka, and performed it better than them, so got through to the next round, and through the round after that. He then got beaten in his third round, but because the person who beat him got through to the finals, Andy was still in with a chance. They have a thing
called ‘repechage’, which is where all the people who were beaten by finalists, get to compete for a joint bronze. Andy performed his kata with good technique and spirit a couple more times and beat them all. For the first time in several years the club won a medal! The rest of the afternoon was spent watching some of the club’s brown belts also compete in kata, but unfortunately not make it as far, as well as watch people from other universities show off some seriously cool karate. There were some amazing sideways spinning jump moves, and lots of ox jaws and tiger’s claws, and other techniques that if done against real people could cause some serious damage. Luckily the opponents people fight in kata are invisible, so no one got hurt. Sunday was the day for all the kumite competitions. All four of our fighters did extremely well. Sandro Voi, the first one up, deserves special mention. Having got through to the third round he was beaten by someone who had finished his first two fights in under a minute (by getting eight points, otherwise they last 3 minutes). However, Sandro tired him out to the extent that he was beaten in his next match, so didn’t get through to the finals, meaning Sandro was out, without the chance to compete in repechage. And although Harry Mann did get this chance he didn’t quite manage to land enough hits. Speaking to our presidential medal winner, he said “I attribute my success to being stingy and going to training as much as possible to get my money’s worth from the membership fee! But Sensei John and Sensei Steve have done an amazing job training me up to this standard, considering I had never done any karate in my life two and a half years ago.” And with that Newcastle University Karate Club admired Andy’s medal some more, and left Sheffield for the cold North. Remember that you can still give karate a go, just visit nuskc.com.
3
rd place in the kata for Andy Kiang
Badminton make a racket BADMINTON INDIVIDUALS By Claudia Heggie at English Institute of Sport The badminton club embarked on Sheffield again for the annual BUCS Nationals last weekend in high spirits. Let’s start with the ground rules. For badminton, BUCS weekend consists of singles and doubles events for men and women and a mixed doubles event, each consisting of 128 entries. The tournament is a straight knock out from 128 to 1, with the semi-finals being the first place Newcastle can earn invaluable BUCS points.
“Day 1 saw an unseeded Luca fight all his way from 128 up to the last 32 in the Mens Singles” The weekend kicked off on a high. Two out of three of our Womens Singles’ (WS) entries were seeded, immediately reaching the last 32 of the draw without breaking sweat. So was one of our Womens’ Doubles (WD) entries. Unfortunately, the rest of Newcastle’s entries had to battle it out from 128. Day 1 saw an unseeded Luca fight all his way from 128 up to the last 32 in the Men’s Singles (MS) before being knocked out by a seeded entry. Not a bad first run at this competition for our first-timer. Other high points of the day included Jack and Cara making it through the first round of the mixed whilst seeded Aika Nagai and CiCi Lu sat getting cold as they waited for the competition to hot up. Day 2 saw the start of the doubles competition, unfortunately our men
couldn’t quite pip the competition with 2 of our MDs entries being knocked out in the first round. Andy Shaw and Steve Hallett (who came out of post-graduate retirement for the contest) provided some Team Newcastle dominance by progressing to the last 64. Next for the WD. Cara Vincenti and Maria Hall narrowly missed out in the first round whilst Beckah Puttick and Izzy Cain progressed to the last 32 of the tournament before being knocked out by the top seeds. Afterwards, CiCi and Aika finally got to play some badminton. They both progressed excellently in the WS event with CiCi making it to the last 16 of the contest before losing out to a Loughborough lady (who swore heavily at the crowd for not supporting her). Aika had to go one better making it to the quarter-finals, putting herself in the top 5-8 WS players at university level in the country, before being knocked out
by the number 1 seed and ultimate winner.
Phil Dyer and Calum Day stepped up into the A team. Despite strong performances from Akmal Hakim, Anna Matthews and Finn Ryley, Newcastle placed an unfortunate 8th, scoring 2233/2400. Finn Ryley’s individual score placed 2nd out of all the teams which bode well for his individual match tomorrow.
of pressure on new shooters. Overall Calum placed 5th in the novice. Qualifying for this event is a huge achievement in its self so Calum did very well.
“Aika had to go one better making it to the quarter-finals” Day 3 was finals day, the whole team arrived to support Aika and CiCi on their triumphant WD campaign. They made it all the way to the QFs before being devastatingly pipped at the post in a dramatic three-ender losing 19-21, 21-12, 19-21. This is the closest our club has ever been to achieving individual BUCS points at this competition with our women showing why they deserve to be top of their league and some good progression from the men. We’re sure next year we’ll be even stronger.
Shooters aim high at BUCS SHORT RANGE RIFLE By Finn Ryley at Staveley Shooting Ground
Ready to rumble: The team showed their skills in the kata and kumite Image: Nasreen Khatun
Making a mark: Newcastle have become a force to be reckoned with this season Image: Cara Vincenti
Team
Individual
On Saturday the 18th of February, Newcastle University Rifle Club Team A, competed at the BUCS Indoor 25m event at Staveley Rifle Club. Qualifying 6th for this event Newcastle were hoping to maintain a podium position after last year’s success at this event. Newcastle’s team of 6 shot very well under the strict time constraints during this competition.
The following Sunday saw the Individual, Women’s and Novice shooters competition. Calum Day had qualified for the Novice but Finn Ryley stated the day with the Individual competition. Apart from shooting an 8 on his 3rd target Finn managed to maintain 98’s across the 4 targets to score 390, placing him 3rd in the Individual mens. Finn was very pleased with the result but a bit disappointed with the 8 which could have seen him place higher. None the less a good result for Newcastle.
“Newcastle’s team of 6 shot very well under the strict time constraints during this competition” During the previous week, we unfortunately lost Theo Dodds to full bore training and Luke Ellwood to illness so
8
th Newcastle Team A scored 2233/2400
Novice Having joined the rifle club this year, Calum Day qualified for the novice shoot. This was to be his first competition shoot ever. Calum shot very well under the strict timing conditions which can put a lot
Team effort: Newcastle A performed well considering the circumstances Image: Harry Laing
The Courier
sport .39
Tuesday 28 February 2017
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Blades battle on to great success could not quite get round the size of his opponent’s quads and was also stopped in his pursuit for victory.
FENCING INDIVIDUALS By Henry Watson at Graves Tennis Centre The BUCS Individual Championships was the most successful for the fencing club in recent memory, with 18 individuals competing in three weapons over three days of competition. Épée: big pointy sword, hit anywhere on the body Sabre: shiny jackets and slashy sword Foil: thin pointy sword, shiny torso and an unfathomable set of rules known as ‘priority’ Friday: Men’s Épée and Women’s Sabre The day started off well for Newcastle fencers, with everyone getting through the pool stage with relative ease (though I swear mine was skewed!). Unfortunately, the day stopped at the first round of direction eliminations (DEs) for Dan Nicholson, Alex Ip, Melie Hide and myself, with the first three losing valiantly in close, well-contested fights and me having my arse handed to me. Molly Jowsey and Sammy Chan managed to get through to the last 32, but where also stopped in their quest for glory, leaving Sam Ridley to carry the Newcastle standard. Despite his best efforts at intimidating his opponent, Sam
Saturday: Men’s Sabre and Women’s Foil Day two started in much the same vein as day one, with all Newcastle fencers making it through pools and avoiding the dreaded cut. The first round of DEs saw the expulsion of Matt Dugher, Melie Hide, Ellie Irwin and Craig Turner (largely due to shear bewilderment at the ‘rules’). Through years of practising their art, Navneet Kandhari, Molly and Ginn Artesi made it through to the next round. This is where the foil and sabre dream (if you can call it that) stopped for Molly and Nav. With Molly achieving another last 32. Ginn soldiered, with all remnants of the hangover flushed out of his system and left on the piste. His soldiering led him to the next round and then the next, reaching the lofty heights of the last 8 (or quarter finals) achieving the highest place at for Newcastle at fencing since 2013.
debut BUCS, with the rest carrying on through to the next challenge. Jack Scott, Wise Lim, Navneet Kandhari and myself were faced with actual, real-life foil-ists and were subsequently defeated, leaving Molly and Ellie tocontinue. And continue they did, with Ellie reaching the last 32 before bowing out. This left Molly in contention. Upon reaching the last 16 and passing through with relative ease, Molly reached the last 8 and decided to give the crowd a proper work-over with the match reaching a nail-biting, next-hit-wins scenario, with Molly getting the last hit in!
She then progressed to the last four and was guaranteed a medal. Not pleased with the previous reaction she got from the crowd, Molly was in the lead by two points going into the last ten seconds and the win looked all but sealed. Her opponent managed to score two more hits, bringing the score level. This led to the second next-hit-wins scenario of the afternoon. A double was scored, someone tore their hair out, then Molly’s opponent craftily got a last hit in, prematurely ending Molly’s pursuit for the title.
Congratulations to Molly Jowsey for claiming third place in the Women’s Épée in her final BUCS Individual Championship! I hope this gave an insight into the Fencing Club, and if you would like to try fencing please contact the club or visit our NUSU or Facebook page to find out when and where we hold our beginner sessions.
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rd for Molly Jowsey in Women’s Épée
Sunday: Men’s Foil and Women’s Épée The final day of BUCS began with the same regimented fun as the other two days, with pools. Here the day ended in heartbreak for Andrea Flores, not managing to escape the cut. The other fencers solemnly carried on vowing to avenge the loss of their comrade. Max Sharp and Veera Laitinen then were bested in the next round of their
The Fencing team left Sheffield with a bronze medal and good memories Image: Newcastle University Fencing Club
Swimmers in a strong showing at Sheffield LONG COURSE SWIMMING By Laura Joyce at Ponds Forge
Making a splash: The Women’s Relay Quartet finished in the top 15. Image: Emily Shone
Newcastle University’s swim team made the trip to Sheffield’s Ponds Forge this past weekend. The team were competing against hundreds of swimmers from Universities across the country, at the BUCS long course championships which was part of BUCS Nationals weekend. A team of 14 of Newcastle’s fastest swimmers competed over three days in a competition which was stocked full of Great Britain’s top swimmers. Indeed, double world record holder and Olym-
pic gold medallist Adam Peaty and Olympic silver medallist Siobhan-Marie O’Connor were just a couple of the stars on show. Despite the fact that Long-course BUCS (50m pool) is typically tougher and more competitive than its Shortcourse equivalent (25m pool), Newcastle’s Swim Team rose to the occasion. The women’s relay quartet of Maddie Fale, Isabella Centeleghe, Charis Dowson and Lucy Ellis kick-started the team’s meet on Friday night with a per-
formance which earned themselves a centre lane for the B final. This was followed by another impressive performance in a highly contested final where the team raised their game to clinch third place. The men also performed well, as Ben Purcell, Matt Allsop, Simon McCormick and Jordan McDonald’s efforts agonizingly left them sitting just one spot outside the final places.
“This was followed by another impressive performance in contested final where the team raised to their game to clinch third place” Day two brought solid individual performances across the board. Following the success of the freestyle relay the previous evening, Isabella Centeleghe and Charis Dowson competed in the 50m freestyle, aiming to lower their personal bests and climb the individual rankings. In the tough 200m freestyle event, Simon McCormick just got the better of teammate Matt Allsop as both Newcastle swimmers registered strong performances. On the women’s side, Lucy Ellis produced an excellent swim in the same event, lowering her season’s best by over a second. Further success came in the women’s 400 medley relay heats. Emily Shone, Maddie Fale, Isabella Centeleghe and Lucy Ellis again booked themselves a centre lane as they qualified 3rd fastest
for the B final and broke the club record in the process. A battling performance in the final saw the girls consolidate their top 15 UK finish, finishing only marginally slower than their heat time. The men’s 400m medley team of Peter Sands, Ben Purcell, Jordan McDonald and Matt Allsop produced a series of gutsy swims and were rewarded with an improvement on their entry ranking. The final day also saw Maddie Fale display her talents in all four strokes, by making it through to the 200m Individual Medley A Final for the second year in succession. Isabella Centeleghe also produced a lightning quick display in the 50m butterfly, narrowly missing out on a final berth. All in all, Newcastle Swim Team’s training and dedication paid off with a superb set of performances from the whole team. Newcastle’s performances were made all the more impressive by the fact that this was the first taste of BUCS long-course action for many of the team. Emily Shone had nothing but praise for her team “I’m very proud of the team. There were some tough races but everyone gave it their all. We are all excited to get back into training in preparation for Team BUCS next month.” The team hope to maintain their strong form from the Long-course championships into the Team BUCS championships in mid-March, as they aim to hold their position in the top division of UK university swimming.
3
rd place for Newcastle in the Women’s Open 400m Freestyle B final
Sport
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BUCS NATIONALS, P.38-39
www.thecourieronline.co.uk Tuesday 28 February 2017 Issue 1346 Free
Sports Editors: Lucy Brogden, Tom Shrimplin & James Sproston courier.sport@ncl.ac.uk Twitter: @Courier_Sport | Instagram: thecouriersport
DANCERS HOST COMP, P.37
CHEER NATIONALS, P.36 Victory parade: Emily Watkinson lifts the Stan Calvert Memorial Cup Image: James Sproston
Stan Calvert heartbreak
Stan Calvert Finale By James Sproston at Sport Central
Newcastle were found wanting on Super Sunday, as Northumbria sealed their fourth trophy in as many years with a nail-biting win in the futsal. The omens had not been great for Newcastle leading into the day’s action. After Winning Wednesday, we went through Terrible Thursday and Solemn Saturday, as Newcastle lost all of their fixtures. Whilst in some of those ties we were underdogs, we also missed the ball in hockey and cricket, two events that we really needed to pick up points in. This morning’s action kicked off at the Northumberland Club, where we saw Newcastle’s women’s teams valiantly battle with Northumbria. Despite their spirited efforts, Northumbria were named worthy winners, and it much the same for the men later that afternoon. From the uppermost point of Jesmond, we travelled to Gateshead International Stadium. There we saw NUAXC in action, picking up deserved wins in the 60m, 1500m and 4x400m relay, but ultimately being overcome by Northumbria’s scholarship schemes.
Defeats in the golf, football and badminton were all forgotten about as our heroic women’s rugby sides battled it out at Heaton. Though the 1s lost, the 2s provided us with a fantastic entertainment, as they took apart their opposition to win 52-10.
“Surely the scoreline calls for a reconsideration of the sports involved” Similarly positive news was emerging from Benfield throughout the day. Our fencers, who unexpectedly lost last year, redeemed themselves with an emphatic victory over the old enemy. The women and men won 135-42 and 135-50 respectively. Our brilliant women’s badminton team also continued their fantastic form this season, winning 3-2 in difficult circumstances, whilst our squash sides lived up to their premier reputation, sealing two wins from two in their fixtures. Over in Sport Central, joining the squash club in their great results, were the table tennis teams that were in ac-
tion. The club won four from four fixtures, bringing home a lovely eight points to add to the total that Newcastle had managed to accumulate so far. One team that we could rely on, no matter the other results, was our Newcastle Ultimate team. Led by Ivan Mladjenovic, and orchestrated by Chris de Leeuwe, the Pies blended youth and experience to come away from Coach Lane with another solid performance and a 100% Stan Calvert win ratio. Our women’s lacrosse team enjoyed similar success. The favourites drummed their opposition 19-5, but the men could not repeat such an emphatic performance. Having beaten this Northumbria side twice this year, NULAX looked almost certain to seal the two points. Unfortunately, the lacrosse side that we’re used to seeing didn’t turn up, and the underdogs brought the two points home with a 6-3 victory. As expected, our 1s and 2s netball sides lost to their respective Northumbria counterparts, but Newcastle’s magnificent 3s were triumphant, as a 46-25 scoreline reflected their dominance. Staying in Sport Central, we saw brave but ultimately fruitless performances from our remaining basketball teams, as Northumbria collected another six
points. To wrap up Super Sunday, we were presented with the futsal. Having expected to be trounced in all our fixtures, I think I speak for all Newcastle fans to say that they did us proud. Our 2s, led by NUAFC stars Olly Walker and Pete Mairs, raced into a 4-1 lead, but were punished for not being clinical enough in front of goal, as the game ended in a 4-4 draw.
4
consecutive Stan Calvert wins for Northumbria
To close the varsity, this year’s masterpiece was conducted by the men’s futsal 1s. Both Northumbria and Newcastle looked like quality outfits, and were evenly matched on the balance of play. In the first half, Newcastle created more chances, but were penalised for their more physical play. In the second, Newcastle looked to be out of it at 6-3 down, but utilisation of the rush keeper tactic gave Newcastle a glimmer of hope. Newcastle’s No.1 set up one goal and bagged another, and given one more minute, could well of drawn his team level.
At the final whistle there were jubilant celebrations from the rowdy Northumbria support. Col Stromsoy gave every single person within reach a celebratory fist bump, and Emily Watkinson lifted the trophy. We all know that there is such thing as sore losers, of which I can definitively categorise myself, but this was certainly a case of sore winners. Northumbria knew they were going to win this year from a very early stage, and have tailored the competition for years to make this the case. Having made their position clear that they no longer prioritise Stan Calvert, should Newcastle still humour such a competition? It’s a fantastic event to be involved in, for competitors and supporters alike, but there needs to be a far wider extension of the sports and teams included for the competition for it to have a worthwhile future. Though Northumbria are wholeheartedly worth every point of their victory, surely the scoreline calls for a reconsideration of the sports involved. We all want Stan Calvert to be a proper contest, and for that, Stan Calvert needs a serious change.
36. sport
Tuesday 28 February 2017
The Courier
Sports Editors: Lucy Brogden, Tom Shrimplin & James Sproston
Divine performance from Angels at nationals UK Cheerleading Nationals By Daisy Muchmore at The Genting Arena On Saturday the 17th of February, the Newcastle Northern Angels dance team left a grey and gloomy Newcastle at 3am to embark on their journey to the Future Cheer University Nationals - a weekend of blood, sweat, tears and red lipstick (and that was just the coach journey). After a 4-hour drive, the Angels arrived at the Genting Arena in Birmingham, dressed to impress and raring to compete against some of the toughest competition in the UK. Led by the captain of the Angels, Georgie Stenhouse, the girls did Newcastle proud in round after round of Hip Hop, Jazz and a Pom routine. The talented squad ensured that their hard work paid off, when all three of their performances resulted in Top 10 rankings. Last, but most certainly not least, the two group stunt teams performed their routines, which consisted of challenging cheerleading stunts with only four people in each team. The co-ed level 4 team achieved an astounding 3rd place, only to be followed by the level 3, allgirl team who amazingly placed in the top 10.
“Many are quick to overlook the incredible athleticism and dedication required for successful, high-ranking routines” Whilst the judges were making their decisions, the university teams from all over the country were invited to participate in a game called ‘Chicken in the Hen House’. Our enthusiastic cheerleaders, Phoebe Burley, Sophie Reynolds and Molly Winton, volunteered themselves to represent Newcastle University, which required them to create different cheerleading positions on command as quickly as possible.
Impressively, they achieved third place, ruling out around twenty other university teams and leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind that Newcastle were true competitors – a team to watch out for.
6
top-ten finishes for the Angels, in Hip Hop, Jazz, Pom, Lvl 2 All-Girl, Lvl 3 All-Girl and Lvl 4
Following the successes of Saturday, the Newcastle Northern Angel squad was completed by the arrival of the remaining cheerleaders. They competed on the Sunday in two final routines– the level 2 Blue Team routine, and the level 3 Red Team routine. First to take the stage were the Blues, who wowed the crowd with their 3-minute performance filled with challenging gymnastics, impressive stunts, and a fiery finish to the soundtrack of Madonna’s ‘Vogue’. This winning combination led to the squad being ranked in the top 5 in the country alongside the likes of Loughborough and Leeds - two universities who are both famed for their sporting excellence. And the success didn’t stop there! The level 2 performers left the stage, trophies in hand, making way for the next heat, which featured the more advanced, level 3 division. The Newcastle Northern Angels Red team took to the stage, instantly filling the floor with energy and enthusiasm which set the tone for their thrilling performance to come. They hyped up the crowd with a brief round of cheers, before regaining composure and transitioning into their starting positions. Channelling the spirit of their opening tune, Kelly Rowland’s ‘Commander’, the Northern Angels had no trouble in taking command of the competition, with excellently executed motions, creative and original choreography and jumps almost as high as their ponytails. ‘And there they go!’ the commentator cried, as their high octane, fast-paced performance took the crowd
Newcastle sent a very strong squad to Nationals Image: Newcastle Northern Angels
Flawless: cheerleading is not only a spectacle, but also a precision sport Image: Starshot Photography by storm. The squad displayed their style and strength, enduring stunts which truly pushed their bodies to the limit, whilst at the same time maintaining huge smiles throughout. The sassy closing dance routine was the icing on the cake, tying the performance together and landing the team an astounding second place, a mere few points behind top spot.
teams made it look easy - the seemingly effortless grace of their performances is a testament to the hours of hard work put in by each and every Angel to ensure a strong, near flawless performance each time.
“The Newcastle Northern Angels Red team took to the stage, instantly filling the floor with energy and enthusiasm”
Unfortunately, however, it’s often this same apparent effortlessness, teamed with the sass and personality often incorporated into cheerleading performances, which encourages sceptics to suggest that cheerleading isn’t a sport, and shouldn’t be as highly regarded as those such as football or rugby; many are quick to overlook the incredible athleticism and dedication required to execute many of the complex elements
It’s no understatement to say that the
TEAM OF THE COMPETITION:
Red Squad (2nd overall)
required for successful, high-ranking routines. The Angels are now preparing for a showcase at the University Sports hall with the provisional date of 7th March. We’ll be performing both our Red and Blue routines and a full squad routine, and hopefully the dances and group stunts. This will be an opportunity for friends and family, and members of the University to watch the Angels, and see how much their hard work and dedication has pulled off, which ultimately guaranteed them an amazing season, filled with success.
CHEERLEADER OF THE COMPETITION:
Georgie Stenhouse
Orienteering and Fell Running Club Chew up new course Orienteering & Fell Running By Emma Peters at Saddleworth Orienteering is a sport where, using a map and a compass, you have to navigate unfamiliar terrain to find checkpoints. Fell running is running that is done up in the hills, where the gradient and terrain bring great difficulty to the sport. Last weekend (18-19 Feb), we travelled down to Saddleworth in West Yorkshire to combine these two sports
and compete in the New Chew fellbased orienteering event. This was a demanding course over rough terrain, where our members were out on a 3.5 hour scored event. This means that you have up to 3.5 hours to visit as many points as possible on the map. Visibility was very poor due to thick fog, making an already challenging race even harder. Our club enjoyed great success, with our pair of runners coming in 1st place. This weekend follows on from our trip to Edinburgh last month, where orienteers of every ability got the chance to
compete in the Edinburgh Big Orienteering Weekend. There was a city race on the Saturday followed by a ceilidh that evening. The Sunday was a race around Arthur’s Seat so we also managed to get out onto the fells.
“Our club enjoyed great success”
We’re a small club, but try to include everybody who wants to try fell running and/or orienteering and are always ready to welcome new members!
A winning pair: Emma Peters and Joe Travis take first place Image: Orienteering & Fell Running
The Courier
sport .37
Tuesday 28 February 2017
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Dancers double trophy total on home turf Newcastle Dance By Samantha Lade at The Sage
Kings and queens of sass: Beginners Street took home top prize Image: Newcastle Dance Society
Newcastle University Dance Society enjoyed yet another hugely successful weekend this past Saturday after winning an incredible 8 trophies at their fabulously well-organised home competition. Triumphantly placing in every possible style of dance on the day, this remarkable feat means that the society doubled their trophy count for the academic year in just one day, bringing their total count to 16 accolades from three out of the year’s four competitions. Perhaps sweetest of all was the fact that this success was all achieved on home soil.
8
trophies won at the Sage in Gateshead
Held across the river at The Sage theatre in Gateshead, the Newcastle Dance Competition was a fantastic day for both the society and University from beginning to end. Welcoming over 400 dancers from eleven different universities across England and Scotland, Tyneside played host to an incredible event which celebrated the diversity of dance. The competition saw dancers compete in seven different styles over the course of the day: tap, ballet, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, wildcard and street. In the majority of these styles there existed both Intermediate and Advanced categories, with universities allowed to enter a team at both levels if so desired. This meant that on average there was at least six or seven entrants within each category, and that placing in the top three was always going to be tough.
“Pirouetting their way to another 2nd place merit were our Inter Ballerinas” Just a fortnight on from the Edinburgh competition where Newcastle won four trophies, our teams had just one hour of allotted practice time to rehearse and tighten their dances before the weekend’s competition.
Yet even with the exceedingly high standard of the dance on the day - particularly in the Jazz, Contemporary and Street categories – our competitors were able to utilise this limited rehearsal time to demonstrate to the other universities and the three highly-experienced judges the overwhelming level of talent on display here at Newcastle. Our fantastic Inter Tap team gave a dazzling performance which saw them secure 1st place before the intricate
footwork of our Advanced Tap team ensured our first 2nd place trophy of the day. Pirouetting their way to another 2nd place merit were our Inter Ballerinas, soon followed by the fast-paced and technical performance from our Advanced Jazz ladies which also landed 2nd place. Mesmerising choreography from Yvonne Chiu earned our Advanced Contemporary girls Newcastle’s fourth 2nd place trophy of the day, before the
Lyrical ladies bared their emotions through dance to achieve 3rd place. In the wildcard category, Louisa Barnard’s exquisite solo tap performance landed yet another 3rd place award in the busiest category of the day with a staggering 18 entrants. Finally, our Beginners Street crew rounded off the day fantastically with an electric performance worthy of their 1st place accolade that had both the audience and judges up on their feet. To end the day, guests were treated to two exciting and unique guest performances from the highly-skilled Newcastle Pole Dance Society and the exhilarating Newcastle Irish Dance Society. All universities were then invited over to Newcastle’s Students’ Union for pizza courtesy of our sponsor Manny’s Pizza Deli before being invited on a classic Toon-style bar crawl - which of course ended in Sinners!
“Louisa Barnard’s exquisite solo tap performance landed yet another 3rd place award”
Advanced Contemporary scooped second Image: Newcastle Dance Society
Discussing the event, Competition Secretary Hannah Davies said: “The day was a huge success, not to mention Newcastle winning our highest number of trophies in one competition to date this year! As for each routine, you could see that they had improved massively since their last competition, and this was reflected in the number of categories we placed in. “Myself and all of the committee, not
to mention all the teachers, are so proud of all our teams who competed. The successes of this weekend puts us in a great position leading up to our final competition at Manchester. I would just like to congratulate all the Newcastle dancers and teachers. You all smashed it!”
16
accolades from three competitions
Of course, the magnificent day wouldn’t have been possible without Competition Coordinator Amy Mcmann, who began planning the event as early as last April after being elected into the role by the society. With jobs including (and certainly not limited to) booking the venue, appointing the judges, inviting other universities, and designing and ordering over 450 t-shirts for competitors, the day was certainly a credit to her fantastic organisational skills and commitment to the role. Speaking of the momentous size of the task, Amy said: “I’d say it was the most stressful thing I’ve ever had to do - juggling a dissertation, a lab placement and organising this competition. However, I’ve loved every minute of it. I’ve made some amazing friends by being on committee, and don’t regret taking on this role for a second!” Newcastle Dance Society now prepare for their last competitive action of the year this weekend at the notoriously tough University of Manchester Dance Competition.
DANCER OF THE COMP:
Yvonne Chiu
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79
Equestrian off to a flyer STAN CALVERT 2017
EQUESTRIAN: DRESSAGE AND JUMPING Newcastle
D
Northumbria
D
Stan Calvert Points
2-2
By Katie Aspinall at Stepney Bank & Morton In this year’s Stan Calvert both of Newcastle’s riding teams (A and B) were allowed to compete in contrast with last year’s event.
The competition took place over two days, with the first day being hosted by Northumbria. Tuesday morning felt like déjà vu, as a couple of our team members had fallen ill, a fate that befell us last year.
“Lucy Hogg was a definitely rider of the day, pulling off a beautiful round on what can only be described as a double-decker of a horse” The first day was dressage, where both the rider and horse must perform from memory a predetermined routine (effectively making horses dance and go in circles). First up was the A team, but luck was not on their side, as riders were faced with rather challenging horses. Everyone rode well, and performed to the Jumping for glory! Several clear rounds for Newcastle Image: Flickr, Phil Haswell
best of their ability, although it wasn’t quite enough as Northumbria took victory. However, this did not mean all was lost, as the B team were yet to perform, and they pulled out all the stops. All of them produced lovely tests- and even a major footwear malfunction couldn’t bring Newcastle down. Such a high standard resulted in Newcastle taking the win, and bringing the score level. This meant it was all to play for in the next day of competition, which brought a new discipline: show jumping. In show jumping, competitors must navigate an obstacle filled course, with points being awarded for clear round (horses jumping coloured poles). This event was hosted by Newcastle, and so Newcastle riders had the upper hand as they were more familiar with the horses competing. Katherine Lindsay and Alida Tysterman were up first, and both jumped brilliant rounds; Alida on one of the more difficult, but brilliant horses on the yard. Jess Murray, Katie Aspinall and Holly Carter were up next, and all rode well.
Newcastle create some excellent circles in the dressage Image: Flickr, Phil Haswell
“It was a fantastic couple of days of competition” Katie and Holly both rode a horse that was off- colour, but both rode to the best of their ability, and made do with the difficult situation. However, they were up against stiff competition as Northumbria executed several nearperfect rounds. Lucy Hogg was definitely rider of the day, pulling off a beautiful round on what can only be described as a double decker bus of a horse. An unusual description for an animal, but rather apt, since although of a lovely temperament he is rather large, which makes him difficult to navigate around such a small
arena. Ella Fraser and Emily Crossley both then performed well, producing perfect rounds. After everyone had competed, all that was left for Newcastle to do was waita nail-biting experience, to see who would be awarded those much-needed Stan Calvert points. Opposite to the day before, Newcastle A came away with the win, whilst the B team narrowly lost out
to Northumbria. This meant that, overall, it was a draw, and both universities took home points. It was a fantastic couple of days of competition, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the event. Although it wasn’t the result Newcastle were hoping for we are excited to come back next year and work even harder to take home the victory.
poetic turn of events, president Joe Sutton reminded us all why he is the undisputed “big chief ” and dropped one straight into the back of the poly net; a comfortable 4-0 lead for NUMHC. The dying 5 minutes of the game consisted of Ben Stainer & co. feeding 2s captain Hugo Clark wonder balls to which he confirmed his place in the 2nd XI by putting 6/6 of his chances wide of the goal.
The 70th minute rolled around and the final whistle blew. As expected but thoroughly deserved, Newcastle University 1st XI walk away with a convincing 4-0 victory and pride in their hearts. For yet another year, The Fortress remains unconquered.
NUMHC assert dominance at the Fortress STAN CALVERT 2017
MEN’S HOCKEY
Newcastle
4
Northumbria
0
Stan Calvert Points
2-0
By Brandon Few at Longbenton As the sun went down on Fortress Longbenton, the entire city of Newcastle held their breath for the most anticipated sporting event of the year, Stan Calvert. As both teams lined up for the starting whistle the NUHC sideline army erupted into a flurry of encouragement
and good natured poly-based insults. Mere seconds after the whistle had blown ex-1st XI captain and current “champion pound-for-pound drinker in Jesmond” James Veitch dispatched the poly defence and slotted the first goal in with ease. A further strong 10 minutes of play led to Joey Essex sound-alike Giles Davis rounding off an outstanding piece of link-up play to bury goal number two. As Newcastle went 2-0 up, the sideline army went nuts, rumour has it even Craig cracked a smile.
“In an almost poetic turn of events, president Joe Sutton reminded us all why he is the undisputed ‘big chief ’” The half of hockey that followed wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Croydon Wetherspoon’s at 11:00pm on a Saturday, with 1st XI captain Woodsman and resident anger management patient Dodd-Moore leaving more shoulders in the tackle than a Newcastle
The Stan Calvert story so far...
Falcons game. Clearly feeling left out of the physicality, goalkeeper Tim Finnerty seized the opportunity of a poly break on goal and, completely ignoring the ball, booted the Northumbria forward into next week, giving away a penalty flick. As if to insult the opposition even more, Finnerty read the flicker like a Sunday paper, and pulls off a far too casual save keeping the score at a 2-0 lead heading into the second half. The next 35 minutes of hockey were far from the prettiest to come out of an NUMHC 1st XI game, however not long into the second half, Ben Stainer’s return from injury yielded a third goal for the uni: 3-0. Call it complacency, call it sideline distractions, call it a freak of nature, but by some miracle the poly had gained the upper hand for a brief 5 minutes and won themselves a short corner. A valiant effort from a carefully planned poly corner routine was met with one of the greatest saves this author has seen in 12 years of the sport, to put the poly firmly back in their place. A good few minutes later Newcastle stood very much on the front foot but struggled to find the goal, in an almost
28th September Newcastle’s underdogs level the Stan Calvert score with a last-minute win over Northumbria at Clash of the Titans. The 19-18 scoreline levelled the Stan Calvert score after the holders won the outdoor cricket in June.
6
/6 chances missed by 2s captain Hugo Clark Dominant: NUMHC never looked like losing the tie Image: Brandon Few
2-2
5th February Northumbria seal victories in both the women’s and men’s basketball fixtures. Despite two great performances from our Knights, the losses compound the rugby league defeat the day before, and American football in January.
2-12
performances”
Valiant volleyballers face whitewash STAN CALVERT 2017
VOLLEYBALL
Newcastle
0
0
Northumbria
3
3
Stan Calvert Points
0-4
By Lucy Brogden at Sport Central It was never going to be an easy couple of matches down at Sport Central for Newcastle as they prepared to face off against two very strong Northumbrian sides. On paper, it looked like both Northumbrian sides would take home easy wins, since both are currently comfortably sitting at the top of the premier Northern leagues, whilst Newcastle’s teams both sit at third. In previous matches this season against the local rivals, neither side had come away with a win, so it looked as though Stan Calvert would be no different. Despite this, Newcastle were determined not to go down without a fight, and although both teams lost in straight sets it was by no means a walkover. The first match of the evening was the men’s (contrary to the timetabled schedule. Confusing, I know). Newcastle sauntered in fashionably late and with wry smiles, to cheers from Northumbria, and began to warm up. It was during this warm-up that Northumbria began to establish dominance. Never before have I been more fearful for my life than whilst sitting on the side, as they were throwing around the balls so hard they thwacked against the
wooden floor with a reverberation that that the futsal ref came over and complained was giving him a headache. Based purely on physicality, Northumbria made Newcastle look positively diminutive. The game started off with Northumbria taking the first point, but Newcastle weren’t intimidated, with strong serves from Newcastle’s Nathan Fullerton and Ryan James, allowing the score to stay relatively even, making it 10-5 to Northumbria at the first time out. Despite their obvious advantage in terms of stature, Newcastle put up a strong fight, and worked really well as a team, setting each other up with several well- practised and precise lay-ups that struggled to penetrate Northumbria’s tight defence. Strong blocks from a formidable Northumbrian side made life very difficult to Newcastle, as even Fullerton’s strongest spikes rebounded back onto Newcastle’s side of the court, or out of court to add more points to Northumbria’s tally, allowing them to take the first set with a comfortable 25-16 lead.
“Going into the first set, there were several great volleys from both sides” The second set followed in a similar fashion, as Newcastle struggled against impenetrable Northumbrian blocks. Despite this, they still looked slick, setting up several impressive dummies, whilst Zhou managed to score several points from some masterfully placed drop-shots that Northumbria failed to return, much to their frustration. It seemed although Northumbria outclassed the Toon in terms of sheer strength and physicality, Newcastle were able to use this to their advantage. Experienced setter, Pablo Fernando Del Hierro Cadena, added some stability to the Newcastle side, but it wasn’t enough against the clinical attacking force of Northumbria, who took the second set 25-12. Northumbria continued their well-
drilled attack in the third set, serving hard continually to Fullerton, who consistently managed to return. Impressively strong diagonally placed strikes from Northumbria were too much for Newcastle, who desperately fought and dived for every ball, with moments of pure brilliance from James, Banaszek, Rai and Cultrera. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough as Northumbria easily clinched the third set 25-12. In a similar situation to the men, the women had an equally tough situation on their hands. Again, Newcastle sat at third in the premier Northern league, whilst Northumbria looked untouchable at the top spot, and they had not yet beaten them thus far this season. In the warm-up, again, it became clear that Northumbria had strength on their side, and Newcastle were the clear underdogs. Despite this disadvantage, the three sets that followed were closely fought and, at times, Northumbria seemed rather rattled by such a strong performance from the Toon. Going into the first set, there were several great volleys from both sides, and each point was hard fought. Setter, Petra Jeřábková, worked extremely hard to provide opportunities for her team, and Sareeta Dolores executed some beautiful serves that Northumbria struggled to return. Such a performance meant that Newcastle pulled ahead to 8-9 in the opening minutes of the first set, but this lead wasn’t to last as strong spikes from Northumbria, that even athletic dives from Bonnie Ma and Jeřábková couldn’t return, allowed them to take the first set 25-21. Josephine Panafieu performed some masterful serves going into the second set, and Newcastle worked really well as a team to set each other up, for spikes, with several dummies that caught an experienced Northumbrian team offguard at times. Despite this, Northumbria cruised to victory, 24-16, with some incredibly strong blocks and wellplaced shots. The third set followed in a similar fashion, as Northumbria took it 25-15.
Ryan James puts in a spirited perfomance for the Toon Image: Flickr, Phil Haswell
However, Newcastle didn’t lose momentum, diving for every ball to huge cheers from the enthusiastic Newcastle crowd, which spurred them on in the dying moments of the game.
All in all, Newcastle should be proud of themselves after two very strong performances from both teams, that although did not bead Northumbria, certainly made them hurt.
STAN CALVERT 2017
Being up against one of the best teams in the country, Newcastle still didn’t stand much of a chance. The Northumbria 2s had it easy, winning 6-0.
Poly run away with victory No luck for golfers STAN CALVERT 2017
GOLF
ATHLETICS
Newcastle Northumbria
2 On your marks: newcastle struggled in the relay events Image: James Sproston
5
Stan Calvert Points
2-5
In the 60m, Danny Mcbride broke a club record, when he went sub-7s with a magestic 6.9s, making up for Northumbria winning the women’s 60m.
0.25
By James Sproston at Gateshead Stadium Newcastle’s finest athletes took to the track and field to take on the best of what Northumbria had to offer. The club opted to skip S&C the day before to focus on the event, and it looked to be paying dividends as Newcastle started brightly on the track.
Points won indoors
However, Northumbria took the advantage in the day’s only field event, as Peter Skirrow and Jack Roach sealing a Northumbria 1-2, with the latter achieving 6.67m with his longest jump. Northumbria then extended their lead with victory in the men’s 200m,
15th February
4-12
Newcastle seal victory in the women’s quad on the Tyne. The victory continues to assert Newcastle’s dominance on the waves, and raises questions as to why there’s only one rowing event in the competition.
but Newcastle hit back in the 1500m, as they achieved their own impressive 1-2.
1.75
Points won outdoors
However, whatever chance Newcastle had, had to be capitalised on in the relays. But they stood little chance. Though the women won the 4x400m, Newcastle fell short in the men’s 4x400m and both 4x100m. We all know, however, that Newcastle would have Northumbria on toast in the cross country.
20th February An unexpected draw in the M2 football fixture gave Newcastle hope going into the M1 game, however an undeserving loss stretched Northumbria’s lead to five points.
Newcastle
L
Northumbria
W
Stan Calvert Points
0-4
By Ryan Craig at Newcastle United Golf Club Newcastle 1’s have improved a lot since they last played Northumbria, battling hard for the victory. However, Northumbria’s golfers had an esteemed reputation to uphold, and were not going to be beaten on their biggest match of the year.
5-15
“Ryan Craig played amazing” However, Newcastle’s Alasdair McDougall definitely had the stand out performance. He was the only Newcastle player to win his match, beating one of Northumbria’s best players, scholar Elliot Butterworth.
6
wins without reply for Northumbria 2s
The 3rd match in the 2s game was very tight, going to the last hole, where Calum Cree played an out-of-form Jack Lewis. The match went to the 18th hole, but Lewis narrowly won. Ryan Craig played amazing.
MVP: Ryan Craig
23rd February Two positive results in the equestrian, and a thumping win in the men’s hockey pulled the score back to 1016. However, a nghtmare Thursday, with losses in the women’s hockey, women’s futsal and both volleyball fixtures gave Northumbria a 16-point lead going into the weekend.
9-25
Seconds show fighting spirit in defeat STAN CALVERT 2017
WOMEN”S FOOTBALL Newcastle
1
Northumbria
4
Stan Calvert Points
0-2
By Sydney Isaacs at Cochrane Park
It’s been an incredible season for the Newcastle Women’s football 2s. After a phenomenal league-deciding win against Durham on Wednesday, the girls took to the pitch with their heads held high, and confidence buzzing through the side. Despite the Northumbria seconds being currently two leagues above our girls, the match began with some promising play and with Newcastle dominating possession of the ball. In the later minutes of the first half, Northumbria found the back of the net, however the contagious spirit of Newcastle seemed untouched. Players were serenaded with traditional team anthems from supporters on both sides of the pitch. Following a motivational and tactical team talk from captain, Lydia Smith, the girls rushed back out onto the field to embrace the second half of the match, which began with a fantastic save from
Swimmers: outclassed STAN CALVERT 2017
SWIMMING
Newcastle
L
Northumbria
W
Stan Calvert Points
0-6
By Lucy Nehring at Sport Central It was always going to be a hard meet for Newcastle’s swimming team against local rivals, Northumbria, but the team did themselves proud on the day, putting in some strong individual
performances, which the final score did not reflect. Starting off solid, Newcastle Swimming’s Lucy Ellis demonstrated the team’s strength by winning the first event, the 200 metre free. NUSwim then went on to hold Northumbria in the 100 metre back, with Captain Emily Shone coming a close second by just 10 milliseconds, as well as the 100 metre breast with Captain Ben Purcell being out-touched by milliseconds. It was clear that throughout the meet that Northumbria were strongest in the 100 metre distances, but come the 50 metre sprints, NUSwim won convincingly, and with ease. Issy Centeleghe fought hard to win the 50m fly, as well as our relays in both the medley and freestyle relays, demonstrating our power. Whilst Northumbria may have won the meet overall, our swimmers showed incredible sportsmanship, with many of our swimmers smashing times, as well as racing in events never swum before. Watch out Northumbria – Newcastle Swimming is coming for the Stan Calvert 2018 title!
Captain, Emily Shone, came second in the 100m breast Image: Lucy Nehring
Goalkeeper, Roberta Dewar. An unlucky miss from Caitlin Renouf, and some excellent tackles from Emma Ladlow were followed by two Northumbria goals, taking the score to 3-0. The girls did not give up, however, and fought back tremendously with Smith placing the ball tidily inside the Northumbria goal. The struggle continued to the final moments. At three minutes to go Smith urged her team to score two more goals and equalise, but the team’s belief was not enough, and the final kick of the game made it 4–1. The Newcastle girls were quick to praise the game and each other’s performances and are ready to rest and celebrate after such a demanding week.
Uni claimed two wins from three in the water polo
2
leagues above Newcastle in BUCS
Image: Sydney Isaacs
Polo men can’t match Northumbrian might STAN CALVERT 2017
MEN’S WATER POLO Newcastle
2
Northumbria
6
Stan Calvert Points
0-2
By Fleur O’Dwyer at Sport Central Aiming for a win in the men’s water polo was never going to be an easy task, considering Northumbria sit a league above Newcastle in BUCS. Northumbria showed their dominance from the off, stealing the ball from Captain Andy Robinson, and setting up a wide arc formation, allowing no.4 the room to produce a powerful bounce shot which just met the hands of Newcastle’s goalie Charlie Bashall. Following an unsuccessful counter, Newcastle found Northumbria back in their half, this time with a phenomenal shot from Northumbria’s fullback to the right-hand corner. 0-1 down Newcastle tried to slow play down which worked well. Unfortunately, Jack Hurst found the cross-bar on this occasion. Northumbria had serval attempts at goal with though struggled to find the net, as Adam Courtley performed some great blocks, and Bashall saved a shot to the right-hand top corner. Following some great defensive play Robinson launched an attack from the half-way line find the top-left hand corner of the net to end the first quarter 1-1. Northumbria’s dominance continued into the second quarter, although de-
spite this they struggled to get through Newcastle’s defence. Strong passes around their arc resulted in a successful bounce shot straight into Newcastle’s goal.
“Northumbria had several attempts at goal, but struggled to find the net” This was soon followed this up with another bounce shoot, catching Bashall out as it went over the top of his head. 3-1 down, Robinson took another shot at goal but it was slightly too powerful, and sailed over the top of the cross-bar. Newcastle suffered a couple of controversial calls against them, resulting in Harry Simpson receiving a major, making Newcastle a man down. Despite this, Northumbria were unable to capitalise, until the very dying seconds of the half. The third quarter saw similar controversial decisions and more dominating
25th February Stan Calvert Sunday 9-29 9-29
Unfortunate losses from indoor cricket and skiing allow Northumbria to clinch four more points, and extend their lead going into Stan Calvert Sunday.
There’s a lot of points for Newcastle to make up, as they head into the final day of the varsity contest. Here’s how the day’s events unfolded...
play from Northumbria. With Newcastle yet again finding themselves a man down opening up a window for Northumbria to score, this time in the righthand side of the goal bring the score to 5-1. The final quarter, saw great defensive play from the Newcastle as they blocked challenges from Northumbria. Their efforts met reward as Robinson found the net with a lob shot to the top right-hand corner. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough and within the last 60 seconds, Northumbria found the net one final time in the right-bottom corner. Despite the 2-6 score line, there are many positive to take from this game as the men demonstrated some great defensive plays along with the truly harnessed the spirit of the Stan Calvert cup, fighting right up until the final whistle with every ounce of grit and determination they had left.
MVP:
Andy Robinson
Newcastle couldn’t get going in the M1 Image: Katy Ball
9.00
In the first event of the day, Newcastle perform well against a strong Northumbrian side, taking 0.25 points in the indoor events, and 1.75 points in the outdoor. Overall score is 2-5 to Northumbria.
11-34
Plenty of splash in the attic for Toon STAN CALVERT 2017
WOMEN’S WATER POLO Newcastle
18
Northumbria
4
fully backhanded the ball into the righthand side of the goal. Northumbria again started strong in the second quarter, closing the score to 3-2 with a stunning shot from number 8 from the half-way ling, just missing Newman’s fingers by a millimetre; prompting a large gasp to resonated from the crowd.
“Newcastle seemed to have found a form superior to Northumbria”
Stan Calvert Points
2-0
By Fleur O’Dwyer at Sport Central Northumbria, knowing this would be a big game, came out fighting, gaining possession, then formulating the arc to gift number 4 the opportunity to find the net in the opening seconds. It was soon followed by an effective counter-attack seeing Sarah Poyntz find the back of Northumbria’s net with ease. Newcastle, started to become more dominant in the closing minutes of the first quarter with numerous shots just missing the goal, as both Emma Little and Sophie Sowerby found the cross bar. Poyntz again managed to find the left top corner to bring Newcastle into the lead for the first time. This was quickly followed by a well-structured set up from Little, Poyntz and Sowerby who worked the ball around the arc, allowing Little to quickly pass to Captain Beth Laidlaw in pit, who then power-
Poyntz and Sowerby worked the ball up into Northumbria’s half as the arc was being set up. The ball, then passed to Little, suffered heavy contact from Northumbria, although it was not called by the referee, which was very controversial. The ball now in Northumbria’s possession was soon turned over by Jade Holden who not only stole back possession but set up Little for a clear shot a goal, extending Newcastle’s lead to 4-2. Newcastle were soon gifted another opportunity as Northumbria’ number 8 was given a major and would be out of the game for 20 seconds. This allowed Newcastle to be a man up. Having set up the arc formation, Sowerby and Little performed a quick one-two, confusing the Northumbria defence and opening Sowerby to have a clear shot a goal bringing the score to 6-2. However, the tables had turned as Sowerby was also given a major. Newman however managed to stop them from capitalising, getting her finger tips
to the ball and knocking Northumbria’s number 3’s shot over the crossbar of the goal. Newcastle, were soon on the attack again with Short intercepting the ball and having an amazing swim up field supported by Little, Sowerby and Tara Twine. Unfortunately Sowerby had a powerful shot find the crossbar. However, Twine, was ready in pit to scope up the rebound and smash it straight into the back of the net, scoring her first goal for the firsts. The Newcastle supporters roared with excitement at Twine’s milestone. Going into the third quarter with an 8-3 lead, Newcastle were ready for Northumbria’s quick start, with Little producing the block of the game to prevent Northumbria’s number 10 from coming close to finding the back of the net.
tle to find the back of the net, now extending the lead to 12-3. However, the Newcastle girls up front were not the only ones performing well. Newman produced a tremendous save, driving up the ball into the top right hand corner and then again to the lefthand corner. In the dying seconds of the quarter Newcastle found themselves a man up. Sowerby again found the back of the net, giving Newcastle a 13-3 lead as they headed into the final quarter. Maintaining the arc formation gave Lord room on the wing to perform, with an early lob shot into the left-hand side of the net. This shot was soon mirrored by Short who found the right-hand side. Following 2 Newcastle substitutions,
they conceded a goal to the bottom right hand corner allowing Northumbria to close the gap only for a spilt second, before Sowerby again found the back of the net bring the score to 16-4. Within 20 seconds, Sowerby was back up in Northumbria’s half with Little and Poyntz working the ball around the arc, before Little’s back hand found the net. A team effort saw Laidlaw score the final goal. It was made only sweeter by the fact it was the last Stan Calvert and meeting with the local rivals for many of long-standing and highly influential players of the team.
MVP: Sophie Sowerby
3
Stan Calvert victories in 3 years
It wasn’t long before Sowerby was in a commanding position, finding the back of the net once more with her trademark power left-handed throw. This was soon followed by a well-worked goal by Short, bringing the score up to 10-3. Newcastle seemed to have found a form superior to Northumbria as Laidlaw regained possession, who passed to Little who then set up Sowerby in pit, who once again released her left-handed power shot finding the back of the net. Not to be overshadowed by the seniors in the squad the Team junior, Katherine Fisher created the perfect set up for Lit-
Player of the match, Sophie Sowerby takes no prisoners Image: Katy Ball
Women’s seconds dominate in rugby STAN CALVERT 2017
WOMEN”S RUGBY UNION Newcastle
52
Northumbria
10
Stan Calvert Points
2-0
By Fleur O’Dwyer at Heaton Sports Ground This season suggested this match was too close to call, but Newcastle women’s seconds had another idea, destroying Northumbria 52-10. Right from kick off Newcastle meant business. A quick turnover from Michelle Healy soon gifted Newcastle a penalty. Taken quickly, Northumbria soon regained possession with a penalty of their own. This didn’t stop Newcastle applying pressure, pushing Northumbria back gaining territory, resulting in Newcastle’s Becky Sutton crossing the try line. 5-0 up within the first 10 minutes, Newcastle were off to a strong start. This
strength transferred into the first scrum of the game where Northumbria were pushed further into their own half. This strengthen unleashed the power of Sutton once more, pushing Newcastle into Northumbria’s 22. Still deep into Northumbria’s 22, Newcastle were awarded the scrum. Utilising their strength, Newcastle could push forward, giving Michelle Healy space to drive over the try line. This, with Gabi McGregor’s conversion, secured Newcastle an early lead of 12-0.
“A quick off-load to Kirsty Frith in support resulted in a final try” Newcastle’s dominance did not slow down as Tasha Bowers produced a fantastic run, bringing Newcastle back deep into Northumbria’s territory. Once again bringing the girls in blue within metres of the Northumbria try line. A lose pass from Newcastle gave Northumbria a chance to organise its defence with a scrum on their 5-metre line. Yet, Newcastle were not phased, turning the ball over. They continued to work through their phases, and every effort saw them edge closer and closer to the line. A quick pass out left saw Newcastle score their third try of the match, extending their lead to 17-0. However, Newcastle were not stop-
10.00 Newcastle lose the women’s tennis 2-10, allowing Northumbria to take another two points and increase their lead. A less than ideal start to the day.
11-36
ping there! With six quick, highly skilled off-loads Newcastle were running rings around the Northumbrian defence, making room for Sutton to score her second try of the match. This, teamed with a conversion from McGregor, brought the score up to 24-0. Newcastle also showed their dominance in defence, with Northumbria failing to make an impact. This defensive strength allowed Ellie Pratt to run up the right-hand wing right into the Northumbria’s 22. Supported by her fellow teammates pressure could be applied onto the fractured Northumbrian defence, resulting in Teresa McGillivray getting a try under the posts, gifting McGregor an easy conversion, andd increasing the score to 31-0. Minutes before half time Captain, Amy Jones, made a hard, play dominating tackle creating one last try scoring opportunity which was capitalised on by Healy, cementing a dominating lead of 38-0. Right from the re-start, Newcastle came out hungry for more, producing a great sequence of plays that landed Newcastle right back in Northumbrian’s 22. A knock-on by Newcastle, handed Northumbria a scrum on their 5-metre line. Newcastle fought hard, and were rewarded with a turn-over and a hole in the Northumbrian defence. McGillivray once again found the middle of the posts. Northumbria fought back, but Newcastle’s defensive strayed tight. Unfortu-
11.00
It doesn’t make for good reading: Newcastle’s seconds lose the golf 0-6, and Northumbria edge even further ahead with the two points won.
11-38
nately, a loose ball saw Newcastle knock the ball on, resulting in a 5-metre scrum for Northumbria. Newcastle’s defence fought of the first challenge. However, another loose ball, mirroring the incident only a minute earlier, gave Northumbria a second chance underneath the posts, and they delivered, scoring their first try of the match. A failed conversion kept the score at 45-5. Injury then paused the game, as one of Northumbria’s front row was stretchered off with a suspected broken ankle. Despite Northumbria being down to 13 players they re-grouped, and the restarting scrum pushed Newcastle back
into their own half, leading to a second Northumbria try down the left-hand side. Following a quick team talk Newcastle managed to find composure to finish the game on a positive. This resulted in a final flourish from Tasha Bowers who carried the ball deep into Northumbria’s half. A quick off-load to Kirsty Frith in support resulted in a final try. McGregor’s trusted boot brought the final score to 52-10.
MVP:
Teresa McGregor
The seconds were unstoppable in Heaton Image: Akhmal Hakim
12.00 A loss in the football for the women’s seconds, 4-1 gives Northumbria two points to add to their evergrowing score, but we haven’t given up hope! Come on, Newcastle!
11-40
Rugby girls face whitewashing STAN CALVERT 2017
WOMEN”S RUGBY UNION Newcastle
7
Northumbria
41
Stan Calvert Points
0-2
By Fleur O’Dwyer at Heaton Sports Ground Despite, strong hopes of emulating the commanding win produced by the seconds, the firsts knew this match would be a tough one. This didn’t stop them bringing the game to Northumbria. Unfortunately, they were just out-played on this occasion, with the final score reading 7-41. Newcastle started as they meant to continue with a solid defensive line,
pressuring Northumbria into making mistakes, allowing them to regain possession and play their own game. A series of great passes and rucks awarded Newcastle an early penalty. Taken quickly an unlucky spilt pass gifted Northumbria possession, which saw them start to work through the phases to regain early territory gained by Newcastle. Back on the half way line, Ella Bloor made a strong tackle stopping Northumbria’s momentum. However, Northumbria proved the stronger side as they made headway into Newcastle’s half. This did not deter the Newcastle who worked the defensive line once again, pressuring Northumbria into a mistake, and awarding Newcastle another penalty, which allowed them to kick the ball into touch, regaining the territory that had been lost. Back on the half way line, Northumbria’s line out was scrappy, opening an opportunity for Newcastle to regain possession. Unfortunately, a knock-on prevented Newcastle from capitalising, giving Northumbria the scrum. Not discouraged, Newcastle showed their strength, just like the second team had done before them, dominating the scrum, and turning over possession.
Working hard through their phases Newcastle regained territory and entered into Northumbria’s 22. Another wayward pass stopped the flow of play, and resulted in a scrum deep within Northumbria’s 22, which again showed the strength within the Newcastle pack. However, an injury to Newcastle’s Sam West back up the field resulted in play being paused as medical treatment was given. Amy Nicholls then came on as a substitute for Newcastle, and play resumed, with Newcastle still deep in Northumbria’s 22. Back in the centre of the field, a great tackle from Newcastle’s full back applied the pressure needed to turn possession over. Unfortunately, the girls were not able to capitalise on this. Just before half time, following nearly 40 minutes of high intense phase driving and closely contested play by both sides, Northumbria found a way through Newcastle’s defensive line up the left-hand side. A wide conversion left the score at 5-0, although fair doesn’t truly reflect the efforts of both sides or indeed Newcastle’s dominance in certain aspects of the game. Going into the second half, although down, Newcastle were certainly not
pointing parents since 1969’. From the off, it was clear that Newcastle had had the edge. Both the women and men’s first teams decided to fence epee first, which was one of the easier weapons to fence, as if two hits occurred simultaneously, two points for both teams would be registered respectively. It was a clear win for Newcastle, with 45-17 and 45-22 to Newcastle’s men and women respectively. That was followed by sabre for men (really tricky weapon to referee – Redbull has even done study to show that a sabre match is equivalent to the first few starting seconds of an accelerating Ferrari), and foil for women. It was another clinched victory, with men scoring 45-7 and women 45-17. It was worth nothing that Katy was rather frustrated at this point, as her coccyx injury was acting up again and she was seen to be shouting in angst whenever she lost a point.
Last but not least, the men went up against Northumbria for a foil match and the women sabre, even though none of the women’s team were sabreurs at heart.
out as they were still within 7 points of Northumbria. Unfortunately, Northumbria came out fighting hard. Deep within Newcastle’s 22, Sarah Hall produced a great drive, turning over possession, and keeping Northumbria from extending their lead. This was not for long, though, as Newcastle’s defence was soon tested again, and this time Northumbria found a way through, though a missed conversion only brought the score to 0-10. Keeping to their game and working hard through the phases, Newcastle created some opportunities. Elle Bloor found a gap through Northumbria’s defence, regaining 10 metres. Fully supported by the rest of the team, an offload to Aisling Hunt and then a pass to Katherine Hanna who pushed through the defensive wall, gained another 5 metres. The ball was then knocked on, and a scrum was called. Knowing it was a big scrum Newcastle produced the goods and overturned the ball, allowing Ellen Jones to make 3 metres, scoring Newcastle’s first try of the match. A fabulous team effort. Despite Newcastle’s best efforts Northumbria kept the score board ticking over with 5 tries within the remaining 30 minutes; all bar one of which were
followed with a conversion. With the final score reading 7-41, in favour of Northumbria it must be noted that it was not any easy, dominant win for them like the score suggests. Newcastle made then fight hard for every single point, and they should be very proud of their performance.
MVP: Sarah Hall
Newcastle have to dig deep in a tough match Image: Akmal Hakim
Fencers: Redeemed Shock loss for FENCING
STAN CALVERT 2017
Newcastle
W
Northumbria
L
Stan Calvert Points
4-0
By Wise Lim at Newcastle Fencing Centre
Stan Calvert has always been a longawaited fencing match between Northumbria and Newcastle. Although it’s always been an even game between the two universities, it’s never made the matches any less tense for the spectators.
had won an easy victory” Unsurprisingly, the men won 4513 and the women 45-16 – which had meant that Newcastle had won an easy victory of 135-42 and 135-49 for the men and women respectively against the Northumbria. It tasted like sweet victory and Newcastle had finally been able to redeem themselves after a close loss against Northumbria just a year before.
MEN’S LACROSSE Newcastle
3
Northumbria
6
Stan Calvert Points
0-2
With an away BUCs victory for each side going into the clash, Newcastle had a slight edge over the Northumbria after knocking them out of the cup earlier in the month with an impressive 17-6 win. With Newcastle at home and on 3G, Northumbria started very strong, causing problems for the Newcastle defence right off the bat. The persistence Northumbria showed quickly paid off, with
This year was thought to be no different, with most of Newcastle’s fencing club supporters turning up to spectate and perhaps cheer for Newcastle’s team. It did not bode well when Killian from the Men’s first team sprained his ankle a fortnight ago, and was unable to turn up to the BUCS’ individuals championship, alongside Katy from Women’s firsts after having injured her coccyx. It was made worse with Ellie having been admitted into A&E for 7 hours just a day before. However, hopes were high and it was tangible with Newcastle fencers turning up in Stan Calvert t-shirts which sported the slogan ‘Northumbria Uni: disap-
Newcastle redeem themselves after last year’s defeat Image: Wise Lim
13-40
14.00 Newcastle take a loss in the M2 badminton, and lose 9-23 at gaelic football. However, the W2 rugby union players have a stormer, winning 52-10, and the netball thirds win in a convincing 46-25. Is there light at the end of the tunnel?
17-42
two goals being scored in the first quarter from close range through narrow gaps in the defence. Newcastle reorganised for the next quarter, led by senior players like captain Callum Counihan, and managed to create a few chances- even forcing two fouls giving them a two-man advantage in attack. Sadly, none of these materialised into goals, and the first half ended 2-0 to Northumbria.
2
By Mahul Patel at Longbenton
7
Woohoo! Hallelujah! Newcastle finally have some points to add to their tally, thanks to a win from the W2 table tennis team. C’mon Newcastle!
STAN CALVERT 2017
“Newcastle
hours in A&E for Ellie Irwin just the day before
13.00
Lacrosse
wins over Northumbria this season for NULAX
The third quarter saw Newcastle immediately on the back foot, with a few fouls being called against them, and Northumbria capitalising with three goals in very quick succession. Despite this, Newcastle were resolute in their spirit, and thanks to Luke Ramsbottom, snuck in a goal before the quarter finished. Newcastle came out resurgent, looking like a completely different side from the start and scored two goals through well-worked manoeuvres. However, Northumbria sadly regained possession and, after scoring once more, held possession to run down the clock for most of the quarter, with the match finishing 6-3 to Northumbria.
Northumbria catch Newcastle napping Image: Fiona Leishman
15.00 It’s a mixed bag by 15.00. We’ve had losses in the M3 basketball and the W1 rugby. Yet, the fencers have pulled off two blinding victories, W1 lacrosse have come away with a win, and so have M2 rugby union. It’s all still to play for: 8 points in the bag for Newcastle!
25-48
Table tennis take Game, set, match the clean sweep STAN CALVERT 2017
STAN CALVERT 2017
TABLE TENNIS
Newcastle
W
Northumbria
L
Stan Calvert Points
8-0
Grant, Reuben Hainsworth, Stephen Baxendale and Matt Hopkins breezed past their opponents in superb fashion, with a 9-5 victory. Everyone beat their lower seeds, and Stephen Baxendale put in a tight and consistent performance to out-play their top seed. However, although Oliver Grant and Reuben Hainsworth overpowered their top seed in the fast, top spin rallies, they narrowly lost out overall in the two games which could have gone either way in the end. Newcastle’s 1st team’s fortunes went the same way with another 9-5 victory. Tom Miller put in a classy display to win 3 out of 4 of his games. Robin Francis and Horace played some extremely fast
and eye-catching games which had all the audience hooked, and ended up with 3 sets between them, but were very unlucky not to get more. Chun Yin Yu, Newcastle’s first team’s star man as usual breezed through his first 3 games without breaking a sweat. He then came up against Northumbria’s top seed. It was a thrilling game. Many people’s eyes and camera’s were fixed on the match. Many fast top spin rallies were exchanged, but in the end Chun had too much power and consistency for his opponent and ended up winning 3-2 to overall give Newcastle Table Tennis a perfect 8-0 victory over Northumbria.
By Chun Yu at Nu Sports Centre Newcastle Table Tennis team did exceptionally well to beat Northumbria in the style they did, resulting in an 8-0 victory for Newcastle in the Stan Calvert cup. The women’s teams were up first, and they managed to successfully put Newcastle 4-0 up with the 2nd team of Mavis and Yu Zhou winning comfortably 5-0. The 1st team of Muse Tse and Emily Walker, however, had to dig deep in the doubles after a good display from Northumbria’s first seed resulted in a narrow 3-2 overall victory for Newcastle. The men’s 2nd team played later in the afternoon. The team of Oliver
Chun Yu puts in a sterling performance as star man Image: Chun Yu
MEN’S TENNIS
Newcastle
L
Northumbria
W
Stan Calvert Points
0-2
By Oliver Warren at Northumberland Club Past encounters between the Newcastle and Northumbria tennis teams have been extremely one sided. Although the Newcastle team lost 10-2, the tie was much closer than previous years and was only won by extremely fine margins. The doubles commenced with the usual pairings of Corey Chan and Leandro Mariani, and Oliver Warren and Timothy Brazel. Both doubles matches were intensely fought as both tussled for complete net dominance. Quick reactions and sublime hand skills allowed the teams to stay toe to toe, pushing each other all the way. In both matches, sets were decided by one break of serve. Chan and Mariani losing 3-6 5-7 and Warren and Brazel losing 4-6 4-6. The match continued with the singles. With a quick turn around, Chan, Mariani and Warren went straight back on court. The first to finish was Warren, battling through the pain of a strained glute to win 6-4, 6-3. Warren’s opponent
would have benefited from a quicker surface as his serve and volley tactics were neutralised through accurate placement of passing shots and superior groundstrokes from Warren. Second to finish was the battle of the captains: Corey Chan and Sam Archer. Their match was a tasty affair, with a variety of thunderous points. Volleys, serves, winners, left, right and centre, along with a couple of line disputes: this match had it all. At one set apiece, and 4-4 in the decider, Archer made a few loose errors count from Chan to break and serve out the match. Archer successfully held, and with that, overcome Chan 6-3, 4-6, 4-6. This was a trend which continued in Mariani’s singles. Winning the first set 6-2 it looked as if Mariani was in the driving seat. Momentum swung, and Mariani lost the second set 4-6. This was a war of attrition as both players used heavy topspin to build points and work an opening to finish it off. In the third set, Mariani found himself up 4-1 but ran out of gas, and lost the decider 4-6. Losing 2-8 overall, the only thing left of play was Tom Smith’s singles. The match was played with a ferocious intensity, yet Smith struggled to find his rhythm. Smith’s opponent covered the court with great effect as he closed out the match 3-6 2-6. It was a valiant effort from the Newcastle Men’s first team but it wasn’t meant to be for them this year. We look forward to next year’s Stan Calvert as well as potentially meeting Northumbria in the league.
MVP: Oliver Warren
A mixed bag for Badminton STAN CALVERT 2017
BADMINTON
Newcastle
1
Northumbria
2
Stan Calvert Points
2-4
By Claudia Heggie at NU Sports Centre Northumbria descended onto Newcastle territory at midday, armed with PTID posters, crates of beer and warpaint. First up was the M2s, with elected captain Jeremy Revell taking up the post he abandoned to study in the USA in semester 1. Unfortunately, neither of our doubles pairings could clinch a win from either of the strong rival partnerships - losing 4 of the 8 games available. Fortunately Billy Chiu was on fire! He battled through two hotly contested singles games to put 2 points on the board
16.00 Boo! The netball twos lost 29-63, and our golf 1 didn’t fare much better. A victory from Ultimate, 12-7, is the only think keeping us smiling. Up the Pies!
for M2s. James Ashcroft was also feeling the Team Newcastle spirit confidently striding through his first singles game, putting the match score at 4-3. It all came down to James’ last singles game with Team Newcastle fighting for the draw. James went to three ends and he fought until the last point, but unfortunately the luck was not with us on the day. It was then 3-5 to Northumbria who then “did some stupid pile up at the end”, a direct quote from President Jack Dye. Next was the turn of our W1s: normally a confident bunch with an unbeaten season (including 2 face offs against the Northumbria), but today we were hesitant, missing our 2 singles players who were entered into a national tournament. First up was Izzy Cain in the singles. Under normal circumstances Izzy forms half of a doubles pairing and was not thrilled about her unexpected transition to singledom. Turns out she is a natural, convincingly winning in two ends against BOTH her opponents. Next was Claudia Heggie and Cara Vincenti against the Northumbria’s first pair, powering through to win in two ends whilst Rebekah Puttick and Beth Vickerman crushed the Northumbria’s second offering 21-3, 21-1. Points were flying in for the uni in all directions. Next up: Maria Hall to take on the singles. Maria went to three
27-52
ends in her first game in what can only be described as an epic marathon of a match. Unfortunately, the opposition just pipped her at the post to take the point. After such an energetic display of badminton Maria had worn herself out and couldn’t quite take the first singles either, but definitely deserved woman of
the match for her efforts. Two comfortable wins in the doubles turn around put the score at Newcastle 6 - Northumbria 2. Finally, the M1s could take centre stage. Tim Morris kicked off the singles, winning comfortably and convincingly
17.00
33-60
The swimmers don’t fare well against a strong Nothumbria side, and lose 6 points. The W1 footballers lose too. Table tennis come to redeem us again, with another win, and squash have a blinder, taking away victories in both the M1 and W1.
against their offering. Meanwhile, Hovin Mok and Andy Shaw were battling through a tough three-ender that had really riled up the rival crowd. The boys fought hard but couldn’t quite clinch it. Match score: 1-1. Luca Kietzmann then took the court to face Northumbria’s number 1 singles (and head coach). Luca played some absolutely cracking badminton, but couldn’t quite match the opposition and lost in 2 ends. Quietly in the background, Jack Dye and Michael Taylor played some clinical badminton to smash both their Northumbrian opponents, sneaking 2 more points in the bag to put the score at 3-2. Sadly, Hovin and Andy couldn’t follow suit, battling through another threeender but lacking the finishing touch. With two all-important singles games to play for, Luca and Tim took to their respective courts. Tim battled through
his match as Northumbria’s army got restless, he played some excellent badminton but unfortunately couldn’t get the result he’d hoped for. This left the boys again fighting for a draw in the last game. Luca again went to best of three, refusing to go down without a fight. However, he didn’t have the execution to carry M1s over the finish line. Newcastle 3 - Northumbria 5. Cue the “poly stupid pile up” Overall a mixed bag of result for NUBC, but Team Newcastle spirit was definitely in the air. A special mention to all the W2s who had no opposition to play at Stan Calvert but came along and offered their support.
MVP: Maria Hall
Badminton fly high in a tightly fought contest Image: Tom Shrimplin
18.00 At 18.30 Northumbria are announced as overall winners of Stan Calvert, with fixtures still -left to be played. Losses across the board from Newcastle in basketball, tennis, lacrosse and netball. The W1 badminton take a victory, and table tennis make a clean sweep, having won all of their games.
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fl in
Ultimate end to Stan Calvert ULTIMATE
STAN CALVERT 2017
Newcastle
12
Northumbria
7
Stan Calvert Points
2-0
By James Sproston at Coach Lane After a day of watching world class sport, a raucous crowd descended on a wind-swept Coach Lane to spectate a 12-7 victory for the mighty Pies against the underdogs, Northumbria. Having won 10-7 in the league earlier this season, Newcastle were confident going into the fixture. However, with such a prominent upwind-downwind divide, the first upwind point was always going to be crucial, effectively being as important as a ‘break’ in tennis. The Pies pulled first, launching the disc upwind. However, it wasn’t long before Northumbria took the lead. Jack Bell used the wind brilliantly to perfectly flight the disc over the head of Newcastle’s Alex Thompson into the Pies’ endzone. Nevertheless, with the wind on their side, Newcastle quickly took control. Pies handler Chris de Leeuwe started to find his range after his attempted passes to George Perry and Sid Pincent fell slightly array. But after Nathan Rudge intercepted a Northumbria pass, it was de Leeuwe that picked out Perry in the endzone to draw level. During the next point, Newcastle threatened to get that decisive upwind point. A 15-pass move slowly moved the Pies up-field, but the final pass from Perry was cut out. Northumbria playmaker Bell quickly launched the disc towards the Newcastle endzone, but Pies skipper Ivan Mladjenovic decisively cut
it out. In the following play, Bell overthrew a pass, but at the next opportunity lofted one over Mladjenovic to find his teammate in the endzone. Yet again, going with the wind, de Leeuwe was the architect of Newcastle’s attack, this time finding Mladjenovic behind the Northumbria defence. After Northumbria scored another with a Bell long-throw, Newcastle again hit back. Following, a Tom Allan interception, de Leeuwe and Mladjenovic worked the disc well before Thompson picked out Tom Allan to make the score 3-3. Finally, Newcastle’s short passing game paid off going upwind. After superbly cutting out one of Bell’s longrange passes, de Leeuwe, Jake Hawkyard, Thompson and Mladjenovic traded passes before de Leeuwe precisely found George Perry in the Northumbrian endzone. Newcastle took the lead for the first time in the match, and more importantly, they had scored an upwind point.
“Cries of ‘catch your Ds’ from the vocal Sam Griffiths on the sideline kicked Newcastle into action” Newcastle, having gained confidence, capitalised on their next point. Jake Hawkyard’s “inspired forward roll” into the endzone from de Leeuwe’s 50-yard throw was a dramatic, but fitting way to extend their lead to two for the first time in the game. Taking advantage of the downwind, Bell took the opportunity to send more passes into the endzone from halfway. However, his first two attempts were cut out by Thompson, and under the pressure of Alex Monaghan, his third effort at releasing the disc ended in a handling error. Mladjenovic cut out Bell’s next killer pass, and then a double-team effort from Oli Wall and Brad Metcalfe ensured that the score remained the same. After subsequent efforts were disallowed and over-thrown, finally Bell found a gap about one foot above Hawkyard’s head.
Playmaker: Brad Metcalfe was one of many who made the team tick Image: James Sproston
19.00 There’s a surprise draw in the M2 futsal, but that’s the only good news as Newcastle take losses in the M1 badminton, the M2 water polo, and the M2 basketball.
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Stalwart: the experienced Jake Hawkyard was used as both a cutter and handler Image: James Sproston
After the longest point in the history of Stan Calvert, Newcastle responded in 48 seconds, with de Leeuwe finding Sid Pincent for his first point of the match. Though Bell’s hammer was cut out by Mladjenovic, he found a lad in some tights in the endzone shortly after. Newcastle’s response was again impressive. Jake Hawkyard once again latching onto an incredible long throw, this time from Pies captain Ivan Mladjenovic, from no less than 60 yards. Northumbria scored again, but unsurprisingly it was Newcastle who reached the score cap for the half. Bell continued to try to throw long upwind, which worked massively in Newcastle’s favour, as playmaker Chris de Leeuwe spotted an impressive Brad Metcalfe run in behind the Northumbria rearguard. Going into the second half, Newcastle aimed to work more on turning the opposition in their own endzone, and noted that the wind was dying down. Whether it was to do with that or something else, Newcastle were right on it from the pull, as the eagle-eyed Chris de Leeuwe swung the disc out to Nathan Rudge in the endzone.
10
/12 points assisted by Chris De Leeuwe
If Newcastle’s attack seemed good, their defence was potentially even better. After Ivan Mladjenovic deflected one disc over the fence and into a tree, Perry, Thompson and Pincent all showed their class when the opposition had the disc. Bell finally set up another point, as Thompson flapped at the incoming disc. Cries of “catch your Ds” from the vocal Sam Griffiths on the sideline kicked Newcastle into action, as Mladjenovic and Perry latched on to two delightful de Leeuwe passes to put the Pies in sight of the soft cap. Thompson atoned for his earlier error by ending the game with a relatively simple catch from yet another inch-perfect pass from playmaker de Leeuwe; a trend that had been consistent throughout. It was this level of quality and tactical nous that Northumbria were missing on the day, exemplified by their use of a stack to defend against arrowhead. However, it’s a big improvement for Northumbria, considering their 15-4 loss last year. Whilst Northumbria may be able to take the plaudits for the overall result, these Frisbee maestros have once again proved that they’re the dominant force on Newcastle soil. They’ll now turn their attention to the cup, and now that they’re promoted, will want to recruit well for their battle to stay in the top flight next season.
20.00 Yay! At last, some good news! The W1 water polo take an easy win 18-4! Unfortunately, the men don’t fare as well, as they lose 2-6 in a tightly fought match.
Sport
Venue
Score
American Football M1
Gateshead Stadium
0-52
Athletics Track & Field
Gateshead Stadium
2-5
Badminton M1 Badminton M2 Badminton W1
NU Sport Centre NU Sport Centre NU Sport Centre
3-5 3-5 6-2
Basketball M1 Basketball M2 Basketball M3 Basketball W1 Basketball W2
Sport Central Sport Central Sport Central Sport Central Sport Central
Cricket Indoor M1
South North, CC
Cricket Outdoor M1
-
Equestrian Dressage Equestrian Showjumping
Murton Stepney Bank
1-1 1-1
Football M1 Football M2 Football W1 Football W2
Coach Lane Coach Lane Cochrane Park Cochrane Park
0-2 1-1 0-4 1-4
Fencing M1 Fencing W1
Fencing Centre Fencing Centre
Futsal M1 Futsal M2 Futsal W1
Sport Central Sport Central Sport Central
5-6 4-4 0-17
Gaelic Football M1
Killingworth
9-23
Golf M1 Golf M2
Newcastle United Close House
Hockey M1 Hockey W1
Longbenton Longbenton
4-0 0-1
Lacrosse M1 Lacrosse W1
Longbenton Longbenton
4-6 19-5
Netball 1 Netball 2 Netball 3
Sport Central Sport Central Sport Central
36-59 29-63 46-25
Rowing 1
Newburn
Rugby League M1 Rugby League M2
Druid Park Druid Park
10-24 L-W
Rugby Union M1 Rugby Union M2 Rugby Union W1 Rugby Union W2
Kingston Park Cochrane Park Heaton Sports Ground Heaton Sports Ground
19-18 27-17 7-41 52-10
Skiing
Silksworth
Squash M1 Squash W1
Sport Central Sport Central
4-1 3-2
Swimming M1 Swimming W1
Sport Central Sport Central
L-W L-W
Table Tennis M1 Table Tennis M2 Table Tennis W1 Table Tennis W2
Sport Central Sport Central NU Sports Centre NU Sports Centre
Tennis M1 Tennis W1
Northumberland Club Northumberland Club
L-W 2-10
Ultimate M1
Coach Lane
12-7
Volleyball M1 Volleyball W1
Sport Central Sport Central
0-3 0-3
Water Polo M1 Water Polo M2 Water Polo W1
Sport Central Sport Central Sport Central
2-6 3-24 18-4
62-88 59-94 49-91 63-87 38-49 L-W 168-170
135-42 135-50
1.5-4.5 0-6
1-0
L-W
9-5 9-5 3-2 4-0
Newcastle Northumbria 42 79
42-77
21.00
42-79
The futsal provides an excellent finale, with a nailbiting finish, that sees Northumbria cliinch the final fixture of the day. That’s it: it’s all over for another year, and Northumbria take a convincing win in the final standings. It’s been a great day of sport, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching the spectacle unfold!