Political Blind Date page 8
Which club should YOU be going to? page 22
Political Picasso page 36
Issue 287 Monday 27th April 2015 www.epigram.org.uk
Labour narrowly ahead in student poll
Gage Skidmore
Liberal Democrats
The Weekly Bull
Number 10
Labour Party
An Epigram poll reveals that more Bristol students intend to vote for Labour than any other party, with the Conservatives in second and the Greens down to third as 7 May approaches, after topping the January MyBristol poll Sarah Newey News Editor With the general election 10 days away, Labour have narrowly won Epigram’s poll of over 950 University of Bristol students. The poll has revealed that 30% of students intend to vote Labour, with the Conservatives and Greens second and third, with 26% and 20% respectively. The Liberal Democrats received support from 16% of student voters, while just 6% of Bristol students back UKIP. Yet the results do not necessarily correlate with polls of Bristol West as a whole, which has been tipped to narrowly remain Lib Dem. The drop in support for the party among students,
The latest on the Alison Hayman dismissal dispute page 3
however, is not surprising; many feel let down after the trebling of tuition fees under the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition. Kate Dickinson, of the Green Party Society, told Epigram that she thought the Greens were capitalising upon this and becoming the student party: ‘Especially among students, the Lib Dems have lost a lot of support. I think the Green Party’s ideas really speak to students and young people who feel let down by current politics.’ While the Greens have been polling under 10% nationally, they have repeatedly polled more among Bristol students. But this is to be expected, with Bristol West pinpointed as one of the constituencies that they are hoping to win in the election. And a MyBristol poll in January had suggested that over 40% students had intended to vote Green, around double the amount that expressed the intention to vote Green in Epigram’s latest poll. YouthSight have suggested that Labour, followed by the Conservatives, are also the most popular parties nationally among students - with 35% and 25% respectively. YouthSight have found that the national student Green vote has dropped from 28% in February to 15% in April. Their polls also suggest that there will be a rise in student turnout from 66% to 69%, which would buck the traditional trend of decline. Across the UK, the Conservatives and Labour
are neck and neck, polling at 34% and 33% respectively (BBC Poll of Polls, 23 April). The key question seems to be who will form a post-electoral alliance (whether a coalition, minority government or confidence-andsupply arrangement), rather than who who will an overall majority. Max Austin, from Bristol University Conservative Association, said: ‘Nationally, while the Conservatives are faring fairly well, the election is simply too hard to call. We think that the Tories will get the most seats but this is no guarantee of a majority.’ Matty Bacon, Bristol Labour Students cochair, also commented on the poll results: ‘Why do I think Labour are winning the poll? Because students have had enough of the coalition government and they recognise the need for real change. In Bristol West they have the opportunity to get rid of a government minister who had voted with the Conservative at every turn including the bedroom tax and the Health and Social Care Act.’ Nonetheless, The Guardian’s poll has suggested that the Lib Dems will hold the Bristol West seat. Stephen Williams has been the MP for Bristol West since 2005, and is defending a majority of 11,000. Bristol Liberal Democrat Society seem confident of retaining the constituency, ‘It’s well known that the typically hardworking Liberal Democrat MPs often command a loyal following in their own constituencies,
The latest in the polls: 23 April Epigram, Student Poll - Labour 30%, Conservatives, 26%, Greens 20%, Lib Dems 16%, UKIP 6%, SNP 1%, Plaid Cymru 1% Guardian, Bristol West Poll - Lib Dems to hold the seat BBC Poll of Polls (23 April) Labour 33%, Conservatives 34%
and most commentators are therefore predicting that the Lib Dems will perform much better than the national polling would suggest.’ But students make up 25% of the constituency, and appear to show far less support for the party than they did in 2010. It will be interesting to see whether they hold on to the seat come 7 May. Our poll also revealed that 69% of students will be casting their votes in Bristol, with Bristol West heralded by The Guardian as one of the ten constituencies in which students have the most influence. This clearly resonates with students; 68% thought their votes would mean more at University compared to at home. Keep an eye on epigram.org.uk to get up to date poll figures and extra election coverage.
Want more election coverage? turn to our Election Special, page 4 and 5
Epigram 27.04.2015
4 Election2015
Epigram Election Breakdown A first-time voter’s guide
The Guardian identified Bristol as one of the 10 universities with the most power to swing the vote
Those regarding jobs and the housing
How Bristol students plan on voting, April 2015:
EpigramEpigram
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Epigram breaks down the parties’ manifestos and pledges most relevant to you, as students and first-time voters. What are the policies which will affect you in the next five years?
market should be high on students’ lists. Only 44 per cent of 18-24 year olds voted back in 2010, yet, students could hold the key to swinging the general election. The Guardian’s article back in February identified Bristol as one of the 10 universities in the country with the most power to swing the vote. It pointed to the university constituency, Bristol West, as one of the most interesting seats in the upcoming election. Despite the large Lib Dem majority (11,366), it is well-known that the seat is tipped as the most likely in the country to give the Green Party its second MP, after it gained the most votes in the last local council elections. Over 20 per cent of the Bristol West electorate are students, meaning Bristol students hold great influence in voting for this seat. However, unlike most universities, Bristol did not bring in electronic enrolment systems to facilitate students registering to vote, which could have affected the number that registered.
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Ivana Scatola Deputy News Editor
Student political society leaders go head-to-head
On Wednesday 22 April, a Student General Election Question Time took place with representatives from each student political party society, chaired by Jessica Sargeant. The debate focused on student concerns and what pledges each party’s manifesto held for young people. The panel included Charlie Brandon (Conservative), Martin Hall (Lib Dem), Dani Glazzard (Green) and Matty Bacon (Labour). Glazzard and Bacon recently went on Epigram’s first political blind date (see page 8). The first pre-decided question concerned the measuresthateachpartyhadinstoreforpreventing young people being ostracised from politics. Both Lib Dem and the Greens focused on changing the voting system to proportional representation, to prevent tactical voting and further ‘undermining the democratic process’ (Dani). Martin advocated the importance of educating young people about politics from a young age as well. Both also proposed the vote for under 16s, with Dani using the Scottish Referendum as an example of young people’s active participation in politics when they think their vote will count.
Charlie argued that a complete overhaul of the voting system was not necessary and that targeting ‘safe seats’was a more effective solution. He proposed re-establishing the connection between MPs and their constituencies. Matty focused on the importance of tackling the inequality of political representatives, which he suggested was the main problem for young people’s disengagement. He stressed the importance of getting involved in political societies and local and community politics in order to get student views represented and engage more young people. A question from a student in the audience disputed the effectiveness of a proportional voting system, arguing that first-past-the-post’s advantage was producing a stronger, single-party government. Martin responded recognising that a proportional voting system wouldn’t deliver a clear majority, but pointed out that neither was first-past-post at the moment, ‘it didn’t in 2010, and it won’t in 2015.’ Dani also argued that proportional representation would make parties work more closely together, meaning more considered policy meetings resulting in more efficient laws, with more consensus around them; only a positive outcome.
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Ivana Scatola Deputy News Editor
A different question posed to Martin identified young people’s disengagement with politics due to their mistrust of politicians, in particular Lib Dem politicians who went back on their manifesto promises not to raise university tuition fees.. Martin responded that 75 per cent of Lib Dem policies had been achieved in this government. He recognised that the Lib Dems hadn’t delivered on everything but that they had done everything ‘humanly possible’ and that this was difficult without 50 per cent of their MPs in parliament.
The debate focused on student concerns and party manifesto pledges
The representatives next answered a question about how they would tackle inequality, outlining each of their related policies. Martin read the statistic that the gender pay gap had been reduced for under 40s. Dani disputed this figure, arguing that it had in fact doubled among men and women in their 20s, since the start of this government, whilst affirming that equality runs
through every one of the Greens’ policies. Responding to the next question from the floor regarding the unrepresentativeness of higher education intake, (‘just look around the room for 3 seconds…’), Charlie said that the higher fees had not deterred working class students from going to university as much as it was originally thought it would. He recognised that hidden course costs were a big problem, but questioned whether this was an issue for government legislation to deal with, or universities. The next question regarded helping young people with the cost of living. All listed their appropriate policies regarding housing pledges. Debate surrounded the futility of exploitative zero hour contracts. Matty advocated banning them, whilst Charlie argued that it would in fact be less beneficial to get rid of them, with 2/3 of people supporting them. Martin stood somewhere between the two, arguing that they worked well for students, whilst Dani said that the debate was confusing flexibility with exploitation. The rather unsurprising debate concluded with Labour party directly warning against Greens’ inability to deliver its manifesto promises, and Conservatives warning against ‘figures plucked out of thin air’.
VoteSwap - the website set up for tactical voting Ivana Scatola Deputy News Editor ‘VoteSwap’ is a website that has been set up by activists to encourage left-leaning voters to tactically vote, backing a party other than the one they support to stop their political enemy getting into government again. ‘Labour and the Greens have different policies and they stand against each other. But many of their supporters share similar values. And if they have one thing in common it is not wanting to wake up after the election to a Conservative Prime Minister’ the website states. This is a voting tactic only made possible by the unrepresentativeness of our first-past-thepost system, which leaves many voters torn between voting for the party they support, and voting for another candidate who will be most likely to stop the election of a ‘political enemy’. The site first of all tells users what kind of constituency they live in, whether it is a target seat for Labour or Greens, and whether it is such a safe seat that your vote will not affect the result, and there is no need for tactical voting. Indeed, in the University’s main constituency,
Bristol West, the site states, ‘This is not a seat where we would advocate a vote swap. This is a target seat for both the Labour Party and Green Party. Vote according to your preference.’ However, in constituencies where vote swaps are advocated, the site then leads users to a form allowing them to sign up to pledge your vote.
First-past-the-post leaves many torn between voting for the party they support and for candidates most likely to keep out a ‘political enemy’
A Green voter in a Labour target seat can pledge to vote Labour to keep a Conservative MP out, and vice versa, and therefore ‘lending’ their vote to a seat where it will make more of a difference. The site is run by volunteer activists, ‘We’re a bunch of people who all are progressive
campaigners working for various different organisations,’ says co-founder Huw Jordan. ‘Some of us are Labour supporters in the past, some are agnostic about party politics, some are Green, but we all know we don’t want a Conservative government. We asked ourselves, “how do we break down this barrier and stop this from happening?”’ Although some left supporters think it is a great idea, especially for swing seats, others have warned of the dangers of such tactical voting, ‘I can see the principle behind it and in many seats such as as Worcester and Brighton Kemptown tactical voting on the left could lead
to Conservative defeat. However personally I wouldn’t be prepared to swap my vote with a Green supporter and think that the best way to kick out a Tory government is by voting for a serious alternative in Labour especially in seats like Bristol West,’ said Matty Bacon, Co-Chair of Bristol Labour Students. GreenSoc’s Dani Glazzard, a council candidate in Cotham said, ‘I definitely see the attraction of this kind of site, although it makes me glad to be in a seat where Greens can win and I don’t have to think about making these trade-offs. Instead of cheating the system, I’d rather put my efforts into changing it. I think this VoteSwap shows how badly we need a new voting system - the Greens would bring in proportional representation and it sounds like a lot of Labour supporters want that too!’
Epigram 27.04.2015
Election2015
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2015: Who will you vote for? Where do parties stand on the issue that matter most to students? We’ve selected from the manifestos and highlighted the most relevant:
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A closer look at the top pledges from each party:
Conservatives:
- Eliminate the deficit - Extra £8bn for the NHS by 2020 - Extend Right to Buy to housing association tenants - Legislate to keep people working 30 hours on minimum wage out of tax - 30 hours of free childcare per week for working parents of 3&4year-olds - Referendum on Britain’s EU membership
Labour: - Responsibility “triple
lock”: fully funded manifesto, cut the deficit every year, balance the books - Extra £2.5bn for NHS, largely paid for by a mansion tax on properties valued at over £2m - Raise minimum wage to more than £8ph by 2019 - Access to wraparound childcare from 8am-6pm for parents of primary school children
Housing Conservatives: - Extend the Right to Buy to 1.3m housing association homes in England
- 200,000 homes built for first-time buyers aged under 40, at 20% discount - New Help to Buy ISA’s for first-time buyers to help them get a deposit for a house Labour: - Get 200,000 homes built a year by 2020 - Guarantee three year
tenancy agreements in the private sector and a ‘ceiling’ on rent increases - Prioritise capital investment in housing to build more affordable homes. - Prioritise local first-time buyers in new housing areas.
Greens: - Build 500,000 social rental homes by 2020 - Bring 350,000 empty homes back into use
- Cap rent and introduce 5-year tenancies - Abolish the right to buy council homes Lib Dems: - Increase housebuilding to
Greens: - End austerity - End privatisation of the National Health Service - Work with other countries to ensure global temperatures do not rise by more than 2C - £85bn programme of home insulation, renewable electricity generation & flood defences - 500,000 social homes for rent and control rent levels
300,000 a year - Set in motion at least 10 new Garden Cities
- 30,000 Rent to Own homes a year by 2020
- Ban landlords from letting out poorly insulated homes UKIP: - Prioritise social housing for people with parents born locally - Establish a brownfield
agency to provide grants and loans
Jobs Conservatives:
- Aim for full employment where ‘anyone who wants a job is able to get a job’ - Use money saved in reducing the benefits cap to fund 3 million apprenticeships. Labour:
- Raise minimum wage to
more than £8 an hour by 2019
- Apprenticeships for every school leaver who gets the grades - Guarantee a job for under 25s unemployed for over a year and adults unemployed for more than two years, paid for by taxing bankers’ bonuses. As many young people to go on an apprenticeship as currently go to university by 2025. Create a million new high
Lib Dems:
- Balance the budget fairly through a mixture of cuts and taxes on higher earners - Increase tax-free allowance to £12,500 - Guarantee education funding from nursery to 19
UKIP:
- Rapid referendum on
Britain’s membership of the European Union - Control immigration - Powers for voters to recall MPs - Extra £3bn a year for the NHS - No tax on the minimum wage
technology, green jobs by 2025. - Ban ‘exploitative’ zero hour contracts.
- Protect education budget for 0-19 year olds
Greens: - Increase the minimum
- Ensure all primary schools guarantee access to childcare from 8am to 6pm - Cap class sizes at 30 for 5, 6 and 7 year-olds
wage to £8.10 in 2015 and £10 per hour by 2020
- End austerity measures and create 1 million public sector jobs - Ban ‘exploitative’ zero-hours contracts
- Introduce a maximum 35-hour working week
- Cut university tuition fees to £6,000 a year
Greens:
- Scrap university tuition fees
- Bring academies and free schools into the local authority system - A national energy conservation - End performance-related pay for scheme to create thousands of new teachers jobs. - Scrap Ofsted and SATS Lib Dems: - Expand apprenticeships and develop national colleges for vocational skills - Extend reserved paternity leave from 2 to 6 weeks - An extra £1 an hour for the lowest paid apprentices.
Lib Dems: - Guarantee qualified teachers, a core curriculum and sex education in all state schools - Ringfence the education budget for 2-19 year olds - A strategy to end child illiteracy by 2025 - 15hrs a week free childcare from the end of paid parental leave
Education
UKIP: - Allow schools to become grammars - Scrap Sex and Relationship Education for under 11s
- Campaign to create a million more jobs.
Conservatives: - Create at least a further 500 free schools in England by 2020 - Zero tolerance for failure – immediate support to turn around failing or coasting schools - 30 hours free childcare for working parents of 3&4-year-olds Labour:
- Scrap fees for poorer students taking degrees in science, technology, maths or engineering - Allow universities to charge same amount for EU students as non-EU students.
Epigram 27.04.2015
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Rape myths ‘still exist’ Sarah Newey News Editor
“ Epigram revealed in October last year that 46% of students believe that there is still a rape culture on campus
Refreshingly, Mountstevens spoke of busting the rape myths and how she believed courts were beginning to do this, which is dramatically altering the experiences of women who have come forwards, and courtroom outcomes. ‘As women we are allowed
to wear short skirts, we are allowed to get drunk and we’re not asking to get raped’, she said loudly and clearly. The fact that our Police and Crime Commissioner has so openly discussed the existence of rape culture will come as little surprise to Bristol students. Epigram revealed in October last year that 46 per cent of students believe that there is still a rape culture on campus despite a motion resolution to end it which was passed a year earlier by the Students’ Union. Despite this acknowledgement from across the board, some students think that certain sections of the University are not doing enough to tackle rape culture. Epigram also exclusively reported in October 2014 that some Hall Wardens blocked the Students’ Union’s initiative to hold sexual consent sessions over freshers’ week for first years. It came to light that although wardens were asked to include a slide on the issue in their welcome presentations, a couple of weeks before term started the Hall Wardens Committee voted to make these slides optional as opposed to compulsory.
Bristol SU Officer elected to NUS University of Bristol Students’ Union’s (Bristol SU) Sorana Vieru has been elected as National Union of Students (NUS) Vice-President (Higher Education). It is the first time in over 15 years that a Bristol SU representative has been elected to a full-time NUS position. Vieru, currently Bristol SU’s Postgraduate Officer, won 289 votes of 563 at the conference. In what some considered to be a surprise, Vieru pushed University of Birmingham Guild’s Poppy Wilkinson into second place, with 167 votes. Third, with 98, was Hattie Craig, a National Campaign Against Fees & Cuts activist, and also a University of
Birmingham student. Craig tweeted congratulations to Vieru and fellow VP-elects Shelly Asquith and Shakira Martin, adding that they were ‘voted in on platforms further left than in a long time’. When asked whether the results represented an NUS shift to the left, Bruce Galliver, President of Bath Spa Students’ Union, told Epigram, ‘Yes, as far as I know (not knowing political persuasions)... it certainly seems that some new officers are a lot more vocal about ideas associated with left-wing politics, with the most indicative of this being free education’. Speaking to Epigram, Vieru said, ‘I’m ecstatic to have been elected VP HE and I’m grateful for the support I have received from Bristol students and sabbatical officers’. ‘It’s second time lucky for Bristol
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Zaki Dogliani Editor
SU [Tom Flynn finished second in the same election in 2014]. I think the new team will shake things up in what’s set to be an interesting year.’
‘Vote for me, a Romanian immigrant, to wind up Nigel Farage’
Vieru began her candidate speech by telling conference about her journey into Higher Education as a Romanian migrant at the age of 16, saying students like her are often confronted with ‘sexism, with a side helping of xenophobia’. She continued, ‘Vote for me, a
Professor Judith Squires signed the pledge on behalf of the University
Sarah Newey
Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner, Sue Mountstevens, has told the BBC that ‘rape myths still exist’. She has claimed to have focused her time as the PCC for Avon and Somerset, which includes the city of Bristol, on tackling this as she has used her budget to spend more on rape charities. This has come after she set out tackling violence towards women and children in her election pledge in 2012. According to the BBC, Avon and Somerset Police allege that they have helped increase the number of reported rapes in the area by 11 per cent. During her term Mountstevens has created roles for independent sexual violence advisors, which have particularly benefited the Bristol based rape charity, Safe Link.
In an interview with the BBC, Mountstevens cited a woman in her 80s who had finally revealed to her that she had been raped at the age of 17 as a moment which propelled her to tackling this particular issue. ‘As a society we had failed that woman, she remained a victim, she had no help, she felt thoroughly ashamed, she felt that it was her fault, and she was now 80. And I thought it was my job to do something about it’, she said.
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Issy May Bull Deputy News Editor
Zero Tolerance pledge The university has signed a pledge to tackle sexual violence. Sue Mountstevens’ comments come at a time when the city, led by Mayor George Ferguson, are also committing to tackling gender-based violence, abuse and exploitation after signing a Zero Tolerance pledge. Gender-based violence is defined as ‘anything from domestic abuse against men, women or children, Female Genital Mutilation, sexual exploitation and sexual or homophobic bullying’, and the University will now commit to introducing new initiatives to help combat problems. Mark Ames, Director of Student Services, told Epigram that Bristol will be providing peer led, sexual consent awareness raising sessions in residences for all first year undergraduate students starting at Bristol in September 2015 to begin working towards reducing genderbased violence. Romanian immigrant, just to wind up Nigel Farage’, drawing laughter from conference floor. She added that ‘even if the cost of living or access to education wasn’t an issue, the structural system of Higher Education needs to be reimagined’. She also rejected ‘the idea that you cannot be both practical and principled’.
Judith Squires, Pro ViceChancellor for Education, who signed the pledge on behalf of the University, said, ‘The University of Bristol is committed to ensuring that no student or staff member has to “put up” with sexual violence or harassment. We are working with the University of the West of England to share and develop practice in relation to ensuring sexual violence and harassment is not tolerated, that those who commit such acts are disciplined as appropriate for their actions, and to actively work to promote a “safe space” for students both on and off campus.’ Last year, an estimated 14,273 women aged 16-59 were victims of domestic abuse in Bristol, however, these figures do not include men and those older than 59, suggesting that the overall figure may be far higher. While it is a problem not specific to Bristol, it is hoped that The new NUS President will be Megan Dunn, who will succeed Toni Pearce in the role. The conference was shrouded in controversy as a motion to introduce a Trans Officer fell narrowly, prompting a bitter social media row. But many believe that the new candidates elected will represent a change in the direction of NUS.
‘Tampons Should be Free. Period. #FreePeriods’ Issy May Bull Deputy News Editor
‘We have over 1000 tampons and towels to give out to students for free. We will be asking you to fill out a postcard to your MP, asking them to campaign to scrap the tax on periods’ Despite the fact that sanitary towels and tampons are essentials for those who menstruate for health and hygiene reasons, they are taxed at 5 per cent by the government. Perversely, this labels them as a ‘luxury’ item.
What seems strange, however, is the fact that more arbitrary items such as helicopters and exotic meats are not taxed at all, and so not seen as luxuries by the taxation system. Alice Phillips, Bristol SU Equality, Liberation and Access Officer, said of the campaign that ‘the cost of sanitary products is an unfair burden on people that menstruate and that’s why on Monday 27 April Bristol SU will be launching its #FreePeriods campaign to help relieve this burden. ‘We have over 1000 tampons and towels to give out to students for free. These will be available from The Basket, our SU shop, and we will also be going out on campus to give them out. Along with your free pads or tampons we will be asking you to fill out a postcard to your MP, asking them to campaign to scrap the tax on periods, and work towards making sanitary products free altogether.’ ‘You can get involved in the
campaign in this way regardless of whether you menstruate’, she adds. This has been a hot issue of late, with a change.org petition named ‘Stop taxing periods. Period.’ close to obtaining the 300,000 signatures it requires for success. The petition comes after Prime
Minister David Cameron answered a question on the matter from a pupil from East Anglia, saying, ‘I think it’s very difficult to do but I’ll have to go away and have a look and come back to you.’ The petition is available at: https:// www.change.org/p/george-osbornestop-taxing-periods-period
Sanitary products are seen as ‘luxury’ items, and are therefore subject to tax, yet helicopters escape this ‘luxury tax’
Issy May Bull
In February this year, at University of Bristol Students’ Union (Bristol SU) Annual Members’ Meeting, a motion was passed called ‘Tampons Should be Free. Period.’ Proposed by Sorana Vieru, Bristol SU Postgraduate Officer, the purpose of the motion is to highlight that the government should not tax sanitary products and that furthermore they should be free. The motion looks to support the #FreePeriods campaign by calling on government to get rid of the cost of sanitary products. Moreover, in order to raise awareness of this, what is perceived by many as an unfair tax, Bristol SU has pledged to spend £200 on free sanitary products for students. On collecting their free products students will also be issued with a postcard to send to their local MP lobbying them on the issue. Finally, as
part of the motion Bristol SU has also committed itself to working with the National Union of Students’ campaign to lobby government ministers on the issue too.
Epigram
Millie Morris Features Writer
9
Why won’t we be wearing mortarboards to our graduation?
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79% of Bristol students graduating this year who replied to our poll said that they would be disappointed not to wear a mortarboard on graduation day; 33% didn’t know that they wouldn’t be wearing one
Credit: Thompson Rivers University
Credit: Thompson RIvers University
We’ve all seen it: photos of parents graduating in the 80s, head-to-toe in a black gown with quaffed hair, fuchsia lipstick and that all-important permflattening black hat, the mortarboard. We thought ‘One day that will be me’ ... but apparently not. Hearing some months ago that we wouldn’t be wearing mortarboards for graduation, I was predictably upset. My visions of completing my degree in head-to-toe scholar’s attire was going to be the icing on the cake of what I hoped to be a fruitful and nourishing education. Now, the anticipated occasion is fraught with the promise of wind skimming the top of my head -providing the British weather is doing its job -- and it will undoubtedly feel like something is missing. The most popular claim as to why this is stems from a story in which male graduands threw their hats into the river in protest when they discovered that the university was becoming coeducational, at an early graduation ceremony. As punishment for this, the university supposedly banned mortarboards during graduation from thereon. However, the main issue with this tale is that it has been said for many universities which don’t hire mortarboards, and its origins are foggy. Alison Dawson, Head of the Public and Ceremonial Events Office, tells Epigram that the story ‘is only a myth’, and that the real reasons for our lack of mortarboards ‘are unclear, but the fact that nothing is documented about it has led us to conclude that they were down to protocol and practicality, rather than because of a principle (or
act of rebellion)’. If ‘protocol and practicality’ are the original reasons behind it, then this hardly seems a sufficient excuse not to have mortarboards when the majority of UK universities appear to wear them. 79% of Bristol students graduating this year who replied to our poll said that they would be disappointed not to wear a mortarboard on graduation day; 33% didn’t know that they wouldn’t be wearing one. Earlier this academic year, the issue was raised at a Student Council meeting, vying ‘for students who have worked hard for their degrees to be able to graduate with a full academic attire including mortarboards’. Unfortunately, the motion did not pass. Joey Tan, who put the motion forward, says she thinks that it failed because people ‘didn’t find that it was worthy to change a university tradition that has been running for so long’. Yet as she points out in her motion statement, when a degree certificate is all you have to account for three years of dedicating your time and energy to a passionate pursuit, it only seems fair that you should celebrate the occasion with the appropriate costume. However, there might be a ray of hope in sight. Paul Charlton, former Bristol SU President 2012-13 who tried to drum up support for the cause, tells Epigram that ‘in my experience people in the University are happy to do things that students clearly want, provided they can justify the cost. The challenge is proving something has broad student support’. Despite its lack of success, the fact that there was a motion at Student Council at least demonstrates that there is an appetite for the overthrow of a meaningless tradition and the introduction of mortarboards. Petition, anyone?
27.04.2015
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Student loans aren’t fit for purpose
Alec Short Features Writer The student loans system has been much maligned and recent criticism of means-testing has raised further questions about its effectiveness. So, does the system work? And if so, for who? Well, we’ve already seen the fees surge, and a report last spring (from
the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Sutton Trust) warned that the new repayment scheme may be ill-fated. It estimated that 73% of graduates would have at least some debt written off by the end of the repayment period, comparing unfavourably with 32% under the old system. The average amount written off will be around £30,000. All of this suggests that the changes were neither financially smart
nor lucrative for the government, not that graduates will be awfully worried about that because, as the study soberly reminds us, this may mean that most will be paying off their loans well into their 40s. But does means-testing for such loans actually help students from poorer households? The premise for means-testing (adjusting loans and grants proportionally to household income) is that it should support those from disadvantaged backgrounds by providing extra funds and making sure that low-income households are more able and willing to access higher education. Whilst all students attending fulltime higher education courses qualify for loans and grants, 35% of which are relative to the income of the household, the common problem is that they often don’t cover the costs of living, even with the largest loan available. To give some perspective, the average cost of renting in the UK is almost double the maximum maintenance loan. Those
The common problem is that they often don’t cover the costs of living, even with the largest loan available
without the financial backing of their parents seem sure to suffer in these circumstances. The present system is also open to exploitation. Divorcees, for example, can avoid joint-income calculations. This means that a household with a combined income of £43,000 would not be eligible for grants, whereas in the case of a divorced family in which one parent earns £20,000 and the other earns £40,000, the student would qualify for the full amount, providing they lived primarily with the lower earner. In reality the result is that around 25% of university students have qualified for £3,200 grants despite the fact that many do not come from poor backgrounds. This is a tricky issue because patently there are many students from separated families that certainly do need the extra funding and are not receiving substantial support from both parents, yet the system is clearly a lot less than watertight. The allocation of these funds is crucial as the cost of living varies wildly around the country. Regrettably this often means that finances can dictate not only whether you can afford to go to university, but where you can afford to go too. This has only practically been acknowledged through different loan limits for London (which mean you’ll receive a couple of thousand more for living there). But surely London
Perhaps this is where imminent devolution could provide a solution, allowing regions to adjust funding potential according the cost of living in the area isn’t unique in this sense? Other cities and towns have variables too and it’s possible that maintenance loans and grants would be more efficient and effective if they reflected that. Perhaps this is where imminent devolution could provide a solution, allowing regions to adjust funding potential according the cost of living in the area. In any case, it seems that the system has some considerable flaws and whilst the government can gesture towards a record number of full-time entrants into higher education this year, it may choose to ignore the fact that there have been significant falls in entrant numbers for both part-time undergraduate and post-graduate studies. The decline of part-time study offers a glib indication that those without financial backing are opting out of higher education. Perhaps too an indictment of a loans system that fails to offer enough support keep them there, and one that lacks the complexity to best serve the students already in it.
Epigram
27.04.2015
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The Twitter election: what role does social media play in British politics? Ben Kew Features Writer
vote simply endorsing what has been said. One benefit of this of course, for the nosier amongst us, is that these pages are completely public, meaning it’s easy to find out which political parties your Facebook friends are supporting. But how great an indicator is a social media following of a party’s election prospects? Perhaps surprisingly, the far-right movement Britain First has more than 700,000 Facebook likes, more than that of the Conservative and Labour party put together, despite holding no seats in any governmental structure. They received widespread condemnation from all ends of the political spectrum for what many believe to be its ‘thuggish’ and ‘near fascist’ approach to political activism. Through social media, they may not be able to obtain any governmental influence, but with far greater engagement in their social media presence, they have the power to influence opinion. Social media does of course present many dangers to politicians. In a world of intense scrutiny and immediate reaction, politicians have to
be more careful than ever to ensure they share content free from misinterpretation. Many top politicians have suffered at the hands of their social media exploits - notably Labour’s former Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry being forced to resign last November when she tweeted a photo of a house with an England flag, which was branded ‘snobby’ and ‘an attack on the concept of Englishness.’ This alone is proof that just a mere lack of judgment and a press of a button can cost a top politician their job. But despite all its importance, it has done little to increase basic political action, with even fewer of us expected to exercise our democratic rights this year, with a previous of 65.1% to beat. I imagine this theory will be fully endorsed once voters head to the polls next week. Ultimately, social media seems to have given a new platform for politics and political activism for people in the UK, like it has done with every other industry, whether it is sport, showbiz or business. It no doubt has staggering potential to overthrow governments and determine
Photo credit: Political Reactions
Today, social media plays a considerable role in many people’s lives. But in a world of tweets, trends and hashtags, is its role equally as prominent in UK politics? Nowadays, the world of social media can lay claim to a number of staggering achievements, one of them being its considerable influence in world politics. The beginning of Barack Obama’s tenure in office in 2008 was supposedly swung by the role of social media; it enabled the mobilization of dissidents in the beginnings of the Arab Spring, and was seen as the ignition to the 2011 London Riots. It’s therefore unsurprising that countries such as Syria, Iran and China have all censored Facebook and other social media sites, in absolute fear of freedom of thought and the collective power that it can place in potential activists hands. But here in Britain,does social media carry as much influence
as it has had in other countries? The beginnings of this debate were during the 2010 General Election, which was dubbed as the ‘internet election’ by many commentators, as it was the first time that voters could fully engage in political debate online, with a YouGov survey finding that 25% of 18-24 year olds had commented on politics via social media. That being said, the importance of social media in that election was much disputed, and the general consensus was that the three-way television debates were of far greater importance than any internet campaign. Fast-forward five years, and the internet and social media has expanded even further into our lives, as well as that of politics. Every UK political party has a fully developed presence on the entire social media platform, be it Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, and they have become a first port of call for parties and individuals to release their political propaganda, share information or make official statements. Many parties have even hired digital strategists. These posts generally receive predictable responses, of the party’s core
elections, although this is yet to be seen in the UK. However in light of his much-publicized call for social and economic
revolution, maybe Russell Brand should take note.
Virgin voters: pay attention! Record number of Brits register online to vote
Credit: BBC
Andrew Bennett Features Writer At the time of publishing, the deadline for registering to vote will have passed, and it’s likely that many of those who haven’t registered will be young people, for whom it would otherwise have been their first time
voting. Are these young people genuinely apathetic? Are first time voters simply put off by the game of politics itself? Or does the forthcoming election present an unprecedented opportunity to engage in the democratic process and affect policy, most notably in education, for years to come? At the recent hustings for Bristol North West (the
local constituency which includes Stoke Bishop), the prospective parliamentary candidates were asked what can be done about the blame game politics of fear, which so often leaves voters feeling frustrated and disenchanted with their representatives. Each candidate recognised that this was a serious problem, yet no real solution was offered, and without an engaged young electorate, it’s difficult to see how change can really happen. In fact, the prevalence of this sentiment amongst young people is publicised more than for any other category, but as first time voters consider their options come 7 May, how might this feeling, however legitimate, affect whether young people will vote? During a recent debate which asked ‘Is democracy is broken?’, Loz Kaye, leader of the Pirate Party and prospective parliamentary candidate in Manchester Central, suggested that the problem is not so much about voter apathy as it is ‘active antipathy’. It is this conscious ambivalence that George Jones, a first year Philosophy and Politics student, also feels: ‘it’s
the first time I can help shape our democratic process, but I’m disappointed in both the lack of ideology in parties and how much representation I will receive from my vote’. Whilst relishing, perhaps, the freedom that being the outgoing President affords, Barack Obama recently called on more people to vote in order to overcome the ruling power that corporations’ big money brings. First time voters, however, are part of a demographic that has often suffered from the UK Government’s spending plans; university fees being the biggie, and herein lies the real battleground for virgin voters. With Labour planning to cut university fees to £6000 per year, and the Greens looking to eradicate them altogether, there is a conscious policy effort to win the student vote which so helped the Liberal
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Democrats so strongly in 2010. Demonstrations and sit-ins are part and parcel of the democratic process, but naturally the best way to register your opinion, whether it be hope or dissatisfaction, is with a cross in the ballot box. Nevertheless, when speaking to students, many were happy to give their opinion, but few felt sufficiently informed to be quoted by name. This motif suggests that while university fees are one important element in students’ education policy campaign, we ought to also prioritise politics education in school. This is not only so that young people start from a more informed position, but also to give them the confidence that they have a right to voice their opinion. One student recognised the difficulty of even choosing how to vote, given that there
‘It’s the first time I can help shape our democratic process, but I’m disappointed in both the lack of ideology in parties and how much representation I will receive from my vote’.
is little to choose between the main parties. ‘Career politicians and competition politics have caused a convergence in ideals and values, so rather than trying to beat the other side with opposite policies, they just join them and try to do it better’, he said. He will still be voting, however, and as Andrew Marr acknowledges, even if we want to say ‘none of you are worth voting for’, then ‘none of you’ - entailing few ideological differences in the centre (as part of parties’ desire to be seen as palatable by as many as possible) - is precisely what we’ll end up with. So we will only get a real choice when we engage with the politics that ought to be representing us. As one student suggested, ‘if you turn out to vote, parties are more likely to appease you when they make policies; pensions never get touched because old people vote…so I might as well’. It seems that only with more of the young electorate having this attitude, will we really be taken notice of.
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27.04.2015
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Commemorating the centenary of the Armenian genocide Stephanie Rihon Features Writer 2015 is an important year for more reasons than one: the new leader of our country will be appointed in less than a month and a new royal baby is on the way. However, for others around the world, one other significant event makes this year unforgettable. It marks the centennial of the Armenian genocide and as journalists plaster their front pages with images of death marches or skulls and notable figures send their condolences to victims, Armenia hopes that perhaps what has been called the ‘first genocide of the 20th century’ will be given the recognition it deserves.
“ ‘Prominent historians such as Niall Ferguson have called this the ‘first massacre of the twentieth century’
Unlike the Jewish Holocaust, many people are unaware of the Armenian genocide - I
would like to make clear that I am going to be using the word ‘genocide’, as it is defined as a premeditated and systematic campaign to exterminate an entire people, and 1.5 million Armenians dead in 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Empire fits this definition. There has been great controversy surrounding the use of this term in relation to the Armenian ‘massacre’ or ‘Metz Yeghern’ (‘Great Crime’), but I owe it to my fellow Armenians to use it with confidence as it is in line with the evidence historians have of the event. There were approximately 2 million Armenians living in Turkey under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, which was slowly losing territories and control over its land. Armenian Christians were persecuted and sent to state-sanctioned pogroms by the Empire, whose predominant religion was Islam. The genocide itself began on 24 April 1915 when 250 intellectuals were killed, and the Ottoman Sultan proclaimed an emergency decree obliging ‘all Armenians to leave the country’, which was followed by the deportation of all villagers. Following this, Armenians were systematically murdered or taken on death marches through the Syrian Desert
where they were left to perish. Rape and other forms of torture were rife. The marchers were frequently stripped naked and forced to walk under the scorching sun until they dropped dead; those who rested were shot. Does this sound familiar? The excuse was simply that Armenians were an enemy force and their slaughter a ‘necessary war measure’. The death toll is estimated at 1.5m Armenians: they were more than halved. So why are they not remembered? The Turkish government has since aggressively denied the use of the term ‘genocide’ by arguing that such deaths were expected during a time of war. However, prominent historians such as Niall Ferguson have called this the ‘first massacre of the twentieth century’; even a precursor for the Jewish Holocaust. In 2008, a member of the LeftWing Turkish Workers’ party called it an ‘international lie’. Furthermore, only 20 countries and 43 American states have recognized the Armenian genocide. Arguably due to the strong alliance America has with Turkey, Barack Obama himself continues to use euphemisms to describe the atrocity but never the ‘G’ word. Similarly, Britain condemns the massacres but claims that it has
not been sufficiently legally tested. Armenians are wiped clear from Turkish history books as it is claimed that the killings were needed to counter Armenian separatism. Instead on 24 April, Turkey remembers the Battle of Gallipolli. There has been an increase in pressure for countries to recognize the genocide in the lead up to its centennial. A couple weeks ago, for example, Pope Francis used the term when sending his condolences to Armenia, and there have been several marches and rallies all over the world calling for recognition for the event and to honour those who perished. Even Kim Kardashian (half Armenian from her father, Robert) has taken on Armenia
with husband Kanye West in the lead up to the 100th anniversary. The ‘Turkish denial’ made the front page of The New York Times. A descendent of a genocide victim, Gaffur Turkay, was quoted saying that ‘Armenians have passed one whole century, screaming to the world that this happened’ to no real avail. I can sympathise with Turkey’s frustration; being half Armenian myself I too feel anger at the influence politics has on the world. Turkey continues to deny the ‘genocide’ due to fear of consequences such as reparations. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed ‘Turkey will never accept such a crime, such a sin’, in response to the European Parliament’s bid to urge Turkey’s recognition
of the genocide. If the EU Parliament passes the bill, it will ‘go in one ear and out the other’ he said. In 1939, Hitler said ‘who after all remembers the Armenians?’ Why have these 100 years of denial proved Hitler right? Do Armenians not deserve recognition? To all Armenians around the world, 24/04 means just as much as 7/7 does to a Londoner and 9/11 to a New Yorker. 100 years now pass but I am sure these campaigns will continue for another 100 years until we are given the recognition we deserve. We will always remember them.
For graduands, the end is nigh
Now what do we do? Welcome to the real world... Alex Yeates Features Writer
Graduates set to leave university this summer are expected to find the job market in a fragile recovery. In 2013, some five years after the recession began, graduate employers were still reporting over 400 applicants per vacancy.
Despite suggestion that the employment market is showing some signs of improvement, as reported by The Guardian, there are still concerns surrounding how many jobs are available. With youth unemployment low and competition for jobs high, it makes for stressful times for people who have just spent three or more years getting into debt. The pressure is mounting on people who have not dedicated their spare time at university to making their CV look like they have gone that vital extra mile. As far as your final year goes, it is demanding enough without having to think about the rest of your life too. Of the many questions that race across the mind of a graduate to be, one of the most pressing is where to live. Thoughts such as ‘shall I stay here, move back home, or even try to go to London to make it big?’ run wild when deciding the best course of action. Many will opt to move back home in order to be well supported. Others will remain in the city
“ that they have just spent their undergraduate career in, to kick-start their professional lives in familiar surroundings.
‘The career path straight out of university no longer resembles a straightforward ladder - rather, it now looks like a jungle gym’ ‘I’ve noticed a growing trend in students staying in their university cities and developing their careers there’ said Steve Carter, a careers advisor at the University of Leeds in an interview with The Guardian. One possible explanation being that the surrounding area has favourable amenities for graduates who wish to maintain their independence; in that although rent is still high, it is not as high as it is in London. From personal experience, it
is difficult deciding what to do with your life on top of trying to sort out how to relocate to a place best suited to your aspirations. The extortionate rent in London and the south of England makes it difficult to justify going to the city to try to get a job, even though that’s where a lot of them are. With unpaid internships and an insane amount of competition for well paid jobs, it is increasingly unlikely that we would be able to simply go to our capital to land our dream job. Which, initially failing that, packs the potential to put graduates into more debt, in an attempt to keep up with the cost of living. Due to a high cost of living, lack of affordable housing and scarce jobs, the career path straight out of university no longer resembles a straightforward ladder - rather, it now looks like a jungle gym. If I wanted to join a career path but lacked the immediately necessary work experience to do so, I’d have to work for free in something vaguely resembling
the desired industry, just so that I stand out. One merit of which, I suppose, would be that there would be an increase in the variety of skills and experience you would bring to the table. There is, however, another option: a gap year. Where there are many who chose to take a gap year before university, there are many who didn’t. But now faced with a year or more of highly competitive job hunting, there is an attraction to the idea of spending a year recharging your batteries. The Year Out Group, a group that has started to target graduates, believe that in this trying time, there is great opportunity in having a year to yourself. The group suggests that a year out after university, sampling work experience from a variety of different sources, can not only help improve your CV, but also settle your mind. By removing the instant pressure of battling off competition to get a poorly paid job that you may not enjoy, you develop a healthy mind set through a process of self-improvement. Something
” which, surprisingly, could be the thing that makes you stand out the most from other graduates.
‘A year out after university, sampling work experience from a variety of different sources, can not only help improve your CV, but also settle your mind.’ Whatever your choice may be, it is suffice to say that there will be difficulty. With the economy still in a state of fragile recovery and the graduate job market looking highly competitive, now more than ever is the need to stand out from the crowd. Whether that may be through handing your CVs out at a train station or taking a year to work around the world, it is important to take the initiative and to stand tall.
Epigram
27.04.2015
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The troubling trend of trigger warnings everything. If we’re going to put warnings on any content related to spiders or snakes, then what about anatidaephobics, who suffer from the pervasive, irrational fear that they are being watched by a duck? Don’t they deserve to be warned about duck-related documentaries too? PTSD triggers are often unpredictable and specific, and this makes it impossible to account for all of them. It could be argued that writers who fill their content with generalised trigger warnings aren’t as much concerned about helping people with PTSD as they are about identifying
Gjeta Gjyshinca Comment Writer It is often the books, films and articles that challenge our views, provoke our anger, or even deeply upset us, which have a lasting impact on our opinions. They force us to stand up for our principles, or to question what we believe in. They may strengthen our convictions or persuade us to change our minds. It is this that gives value to content that shocks or frustrates us, as exposure to things we may not necessarily agree with pushes our boundaries and expands our horizons. University, above all, should push students to explore new ideas and expand their knowledge. It should not be a place that attempts to meet the student exactly in their comfort zone. Yet Oberlin College in Ohio has recommended that its faculty should ‘remove triggering material when it does not contribute directly to the course learning goals’. When books or learning materials are too important to take out entirely, the college recommends that any mention of ‘racism, colonialism, religious persecution, violence, suicide, and more’ should come with a trigger warning. This is bordering on excessive and even overprotective in any environment, but in a university environment it seems to defeat the point entirely. Students should be challenged. The danger with trigger warnings on educational material is that the only thing they will trigger is a complete shutdown against new
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Trigger warning could quickly become a way to avoid uncomfortable, unpopular or offensive arguments lines of discussion. They will likely disengage students with content that could open them up to perspectives they hadn’t considered before. Putting a trigger warning on a piece of literature, for example, instantly labels it and puts it in a box. It sets the tone for reading and understanding the work, and skews perceptions by emphasising particular issues as traumatic or more upsetting than others. In the worst case, trigger warnings could quickly become a way to avoid uncomfortable, unpopular or offensive arguments. Putting a trigger warning on an article is a necessary act of empathy towards posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) sufferers in some situations. A feminist blogger, for example, who is aware that lots of women are sexual assault survivors and lots of women read feminist blogs, might warn readers about graphic descriptions of assaults which could trigger panic attacks or other
reactions. However, trigger warnings are increasingly being applied to any potentially offensive or upsetting content – from articles about terrorism, gun violence or the death penalty, to racism, homophobia or slavery, to descriptions of medical procedures or drug use or corpses, to mentions of insects or slimy things, and even to calories in a food item or how much a person weighs. Recently, the National Union of Students asked its student delegates to use jazz hands instead of clapping in order to avoid triggering anxiety, to the ridicule of Twitter users. One person tweeted that ‘jazz hands can be triggering because of the quick movement of the hands’, and voted blinking rapidly instead. This highlights the problem with this excessive use of trigger warnings – cluttering online content with warnings about absolutely everything that could trigger a PTSD response in someone means that we inevitably have to label literally
themselves as conscious of social justice issues. Even though trigger warnings are largely perceived as protecting young women and other marginalised groups, they could be contributing to the general perception of members of these groups as weak and reinforcing the message that they are inherently vulnerable. Trauma survivors of course need tools to manage their triggers and cope with day-to-day life. Universities, and other institutions, should prioritise their needs by making sure that mental health care is funded and widely available, and that ignorant, intolerant or narrow-minded students are educated and made aware of the issue of PTSD. However, it is no help at all to pretend that every piece of potentially upsetting or triggering content comes with a warning sign; particularly if university is supposed to be a preparation for real life.
Graduating students have better things to do than the National Student Survey
Bristol seems to care more about looking good on paper than current students, argues Georgie Couzens
Georgie Couzens Comment Writer
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This illustrates that the University cares more about looking good on paper than catering to its present students This wouldn’t be so bad on its own if it were not accompanied by almost weekly lecture interruptions. With only four contact hours a week, five minutes lost to an announcement is frankly insulting. I had already filled in my survey and I was now having to listen to mini sermons explaining exactly why I should do so. This is basically just punishment for a few students being a bit slow about filling their forms in. Repeatedly droning on about it is also pointless, because anybody who hasn’t completed it by now definitely knows about it, and so probably isn’t going to.
geograph.org.uk
If you are in your last year of university, there is at least one thing that you have likely learned in the last year: University of Bristol really wants you to take the National Student Survey. Forget about studying for your exams, forget about your coursework and forget about graduate applications, stop everything and fill in the NSS. In the eyes of University of Bristol, it is one of the most important things you will do at university. The purpose of the NSS is fairly benign, to collect data from different universities and to compare student satisfaction ratings between them. This is supposed to make it easier for prospective university students to choose where to go and to help universities to find out where they are weakest and do what they can to improve. For the prospective students to get a full picture of what current students actually think, universities need to get as many final year students as possible to fill in the survey. It is incredibly important for universities to appear favourably in these surveys, so that they can recruit plenty of students year on year. This is most apparent when lecturers painstakingly point out that if you answer any question with a three or below, then it counts as being negative in the statistics. At the beginning of the year this all sounded very reasonable to me. It was explained to me in my first lecture that if I didn’t complete the survey, that I would be chased down by emails.
To avoid this, I should fill in the survey as soon as it opened. While I did not appreciate being threatened, I took my lecturers’ advice and filled in the survey as soon as I got the email. It was a pretty harmless process. It took me about ten minutes because I ended up being roped in to answering a few additional questions, but at the end of it I was mostly left wondering what all the fuss was about. I thought that would be the last I would be hearing about the NSS. But it seems that while the University is perfectly capable of keeping track of who has not filled in the survey, they have yet to figure out how to track those who have. Since January I have been receiving emails reminding me of the importance of completing the NSS.
All of this illustrates that University of Bristol cares more about looking good on paper than catering to its present students. Students in their last year of university usually have a lot of academic work that needs to be done, as well as the daunting task of deciding what to do after they graduate. At this time in our university careers, there should be as little disruption as possible to our studies; it should not be a time of pestering and distraction. Now I wish I had left filling in the NSS until a little later in the year, so that my answers might reflect some of my current disappointment.
Epigram
27.04.2015
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Good idea or complete quotastrophe? Nick Queffurus gives his opinion on whether quotas could help solve inequality in the UK
Nick Queffurus Comment Writer ‘Plop!’ That is sound of you being dropped into the UK at birth. You do not know what any of your innate qualities are, your sex, your family’s wealth et cetera. What kind of society would you want this UK to be? Do you risk being born into a UK where it is essentially survival of the fittest? After all, there is a small chance that you could be lucky, and find yourself growing up in the small elite. You would be set for life, as a member of the closed shop at the top. Yet, there is also a very big chance that you would not drop into that elite. The government’s nonchalant approach to social mobility means that your adult situation is more or less determined by your situation at birth.
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We have three Old Etonians in the three most powerful jobs in the country You weren’t lucky enough to be born an upper middle class, white male in the South of England, or go to the right kind of school? Oh well! Now the Darwinian society seems less and less appealing, the more you hear about what could be the consequences of choosing it. So, as a rational person, you choose a different option. There is fair equality of opportunity. Your rank in life is not predetermined by the context of your birth, because the government takes great pains to create fair equality of opportunity, even using quotas. You are not alone in your choice: the British Social Attitudes survey finds that 95 per cent of the public agrees that ‘in a fair society every person should have an equal opportunity to get ahead.’ YouGov found that 78 per cent of the public think that it is the government’s responsibility to ensure this.
I wish that I could say that the first option is a million miles away from Britain in 2015. However, the parallels are striking. Finding the evidence to illustrate this could not have been easier. Take the leader of our government, David Cameron, and the guardian of the Great British bank account, George Osborne. Add to the mix Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, and we have three Old Etonians in the three most powerful jobs in the country. At least, though, some active attempt is made in politics to have a parliament reflective of the population. There are people from all backgrounds at Westminster; and the 2014 cabinet reshuffle did appoint more female and grammar school delegates, to improve upon the 10 public school alumni and nine men in 2010. If only the same could be said about the Supreme Court, our highest court. It employs 12 judges: 12 white people, 11 men, 10 Oxbridge, 10 independently educated. This compares with a country where 7 per cent attend private schools and 0.8 per cent attends Oxbridge, according to the 2014 Elitist Britain? government report. Who cares? You might be thinking. All that matters is that we get the best people: merit is more important than diversity. Even I, on the face of it, was convinced by this merit argument.
However, it seems completely untenable when we consider the major cock-ups that occur, even when the supposedly most ‘suitable’ people get the top jobs. Perhaps if the global financial centres of the world had not been dominated by the sort of pack-like, male-dominated demographic, illustrated so amusingly in The Wolf of Wall Street, banks would have been a bit more cautious with our money and not cost the tax payer billions to bail them out. Maybe if our highest courts were forced to have at least 40 per cent women, we would not see the frankly idiotic comments recently made by judges about victims of rape or domestic violence. Some things cannot be learnt from books; experience is crucial. I am not advocating giving positions to uneducated or illsuited people; there are masses of well-qualified underrepresented candidates. The Nordic countries have had quotas for years now, and have not gone into ruin. On the contrary, they are the countries with the least relative poverty, highest social mobility and often top the world happiness indices. Even if you dislike quotas in theory, you cannot really argue with the results.
Speakers’ Corner: 16-year-olds need a vote
Becky Morton writes that in ordered to be noticed by politicians, 16-18 year-olds need to get the vote
Becky Morton Comment Writer Flcickr: SecretLondon123
Something needs to be done about young voter disengagement. Of all the suggestions being thrown at us, the only effective solution seems to be reducing the voting age to 16. To firstly highlight the problem, in England and Wales there are 35 constituencies where at least 20 per cent of the voting age population are between 18 and 24 years old; 17 of these were marginal seats in the 2010 election. Take Bristol West, where 24 per cent of the electorate are students. Going on current statistics, this demographic is unlikely to have the dramatic impact it could on the upcoming general election, with less than half of this group voting in 2010. The Institute for Public Policy Research recently recommended that young people should be forced to vote, yet this fails to tackle the root cause of the problem: a lack of political engagement. In the Scottish independence referendum last September, when the voting age was lowered to 16, 80 per cent of under-18s voted. Clearly there was general high participation across all age groups, due to the general feeling that every vote would count. Yet the Scottish referendum did provide crucial lessons for the general election in May. This not only includes the lowering of the voting age, but sustained campaigning, targeting young voters through youth debates. Lowering the voting age alone is not a magic solution to political
apathy among the young, but combined with other efforts, such as the compulsory teaching of politics in schools, it could be key in engaging the youth in politics for life. Opponents claim that 16-year-olds do not know enough about politics to be trusted with the vote. Lowering the voting age would be the perfect excuse to change this through education and engagement. At 16 you can leave home, get married, pay taxes and even join the army, so why not vote? It is at this age that many begin to think about further education or a career, yet the key decisions on these issues are being made by politicians that young people did not vote for. The failure to engage the younger generation has resulted in their interests being ignored by politicians. This vicious circle means
that the age group is becoming increasingly disillusioned in the political process. In the 2010 general election, 76 per cent of over-65s voted, compared to a meagre 44 per cent of 18-24 year olds. Figures like these show why issues affecting young people, such as youth unemployment and housing, are neglected and let down by politicians. It is not surprising that the Conservatives promote policies like protecting the winter fuel allowance for pensioners, whilst ignoring the issues that affect young people, when this demographic is far more likely to vote. To ensure the powerful voice of today’s youth is heard, we must engage them in the political process. Lowering the voting age, combined with a sustained effort to engage through education and debate, is a key way we can do this.
Epigram
27.04.2015
Letters
@EpigramLetters
Editor: Olivia Petter letters@epigram.org.uk
Politics problems
“ Politics is a touchy subject when you’ve been brought up to say yes to every political remark your parents make
Politics is a touchy subject. Even more so when you’ve been brought up to simply nod your head and say yes to every political remark your parents make at dinner. Daring to say anything is made even more difficult by the fear of sounding ignorant - as a first-time voter and a scientist, my knowledge of political history is a little foggy at best, so you can understand that often the risk of chirping ‘yes but what about their policy on x?’ is forgone by the slightly lighter question of ‘some more tea?’. What if your facts on ‘x’ are incorrect? Or biased? Or catalyses a heated political debate that you can no longer participate in because they’ve started talking about things that happened before you were born?
It’s not just dinners with the family that suddenly seem rifled with political debates - but with friends too. With university fees and affordable housing at the forefront of manifestos, it seems that many first-time student voters are becoming impassioned with political opinions and are using every opportunity possible to voice these opinions. Of course this is a good thing - everyone’s voice deserves to be heard. However, it can make you feel rather inadequate and a little awkward when all of your friends are heatedly talking about how brilliant it is that Labour want to reduce university fees and all you feel knowledgable enough to comment on is Ed Miliband’s uncanny resemblance to Wallace of Wallace and Gromit. It’s tough to comment when you don’t feel you know enough, yet, it’s also kind of tough to listen to people rabbiting on about the political beliefs that they’ve clearly just inherited from their parents. Unfortunately this happens a lot and it makes you wonder whether any of us are actually knowledgable enough to talk about politics in the pretentious way that so many of us do. Unless you’ve read every party’s manifesto from beginning to end and extensively researched each party’s leader, how can we be 100 per cent assertive about any of our political opinions? I’m not saying we should all just keep our mouths shut about UKIP until we’ve had a pint with Nigel Farage, but perhaps we should do some research before we start rambling about immigration at the dinner table.
Anonymous
Tweets of the fortnight: @ lizziektighe
‘#bristoluniproblems I see more people who went to Harrow School than when I lived in Harrow’
@ michelakelly
‘Just the thought of how much work I have is making me need a nap’
@ lucehackett
‘Singing/dancing alone in the car to Ignition suddenly becomes not okay when in traffic lights next to a car full of 17 year old boys #shame’
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Can student debts lead to sex work?
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Are we expected to vote the same as our parents? No, would be the obvious answer. Who you vote for is a private and personal decision - but what do you do when you are watching the Leaders’ Debate with your die-hard Tory parents who are repeatedly whooping along with everything Cameron says, and you’re sat there mentally contradicting everything he is saying?
There are certain careers you don’t expect your degree to lead into. Paying £9,000 a year? The high fees are supposed to lead to careers in the city, academia, business ownership, medicine or law; not sex work. And yet, a recent study published by Swansea University found that the high tuition fees and high university living costs are pushing some students into the sex industry; a last resort for many. The report, which looked at approximately 6,750 students, found that 1 in 20 students are working in the sex industry in lesser or greater degrees. Of this 1 in 20, 56 per cent, claim their job is simply a way of covering essential living costs, and 25 per cent feel unsafe. It’s a glance into what could be a worrying reality; researchers estimate tens of thousands of students could be using sex work to
pay the price of their undergrad degree. ‘Students are engaged in sex work occupations – this is a fact. Another fact is that some of them need advice, support and sometimes assistance to step away from the industry’, said Dr Tracey Sagar, who led the study.
particular, had me squealing in the chair whilst my body shook, tears seeping from my closed eyes and sweat trickling down my clammy back. ‘The tooth won’t stop bleeding,’ the student dentist operating on me told his supervisor, as he plunged his drill into my nerve and I drifted further away from consciousness with every passing moment. The pain itself is one thing, the aftereffect of it is another, but the mental strain of the process is a separate matter in itself. One night I woke up with severe chest pains leaving me unable to breathe, a premonition of my next visit to the dentist. To this day I have had a chronic dull, throbbing earache as an offshoot of the tooth pain, and clanging pains in other teeth on the same side of the mouth. That’s why, when I sent off my extension application, I was shocked to receive the following response: ‘...having reviewed your extension
request I feel it would be appropriate to extend your deadline until [one day after the original deadline]’. One day? One day? That didn’t seem appropriate, it was toothtally inappropriate. I had been losing sleep and concentration for weeks and one day was the best they could give.
1 in 20 students are working in the sex industry in lesser or greater degrees
Known as the ‘Student Sex Work Project’, the report also presented statistics which suggested men are more likely to work in the sex industry
than women, challenging stereotypes. Researchers are keen that the results of the project should increase support for students engaged in sex work, and prompt universities to take more action over the issue. My own standing is this: I agree with the authors of the report that more help should be offered to students in these situations, should they seek it (the report discovered 21 per cent of student sex workers seek counselling). If you, or someone you know, are involved in sex work and would like advice, see http://www. thestudentsexworkproject.co.uk.
Anonymous
Thanks a lot, so-called ‘support office’
Dental work, in the words of my tutor, is often ‘trivialised’. I couldn’t have put it better myself. When I applied for an extension for a piece of coursework worth 20 credits, the equivalent of a dissertation for a third year English student like myself, I thought I had a strong case. After undergoing three separate treatments of root canal work over the course of three weeks prior to my essay deadline, having initially attended an emergency appointment which revealed a cavity almost as big as the infected tooth itself, the last thing I wanted was to grapple with Derrida’s deconstruction and Hardy’s homophones. ‘What’s the fuss?’ I hear you ask. ‘It’s not like you had glandular fever or anything like that.’ No, dear reader, it is not. I have never had glandular fever and I am sure it is a loathsome sensation, and I do not envy anyone that has suffered from it. But root canal work is painful in
the last thing I wanted was to grapple with was Derrida’s deconstruction and Hardy’s homophones.
a different way. If you are not familiar with the process, let me illustrate it for you in assuredly unbiased terms. After having the biggest needle you can imagine pierce the back of your mouth and numb half of your face, the dentist wields a screaming drill which (s)he proceeds to surge through the dead tooth. Yes, this really is a Steve Martin à la Little Shop of Horrors moment. The anaesthetic, as much as you would like it to work, is not entirely effective -- at least, it wasn’t for any of my treatments. The second time, in
I had been losing sleep and concentration for weeks and one day was the best they could give
My experience with extension application in the past has proved equally difficult. A previous application on the grounds of stress and high blood pressure strictly required, as we all know, a medical note. ‘Why do
you need a note?’ asked the Student Health receptionist on the phone incredulously, after I rang up to request one. ‘Why don’t they just believe you?’ This is precisely my qualm. Like every administrative corporate matter in this day and age, evidence is mandatory before anyone even begins to believe the improbable words of a grubby, sleepy student. I thought the six photos of dental records and scans I sent along would be enough, but apparently they weren’t. The lack of support shown by the so-called support office is quite incredible. To anyone else applying for some relief during a stressful time, good luck: this is a tricky system and a dirty game, and they’ve certainly left a bad impression.
Millie Morris
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C U LT U R E
Epigram | 27.04.2015
38
Interview with Alex Nicholson, political illustrator Alex Nicholson, an artist who has been living in Bristol for eight months, has covered recent campaigns such as ‘Save Stapleton Allotments’, in which protestors rallied against plans to build a new Metrobus route through the area, and the protest against the Carriageworks development in Stokes Croft. Millie Morris talks to Alex about his politics, illustrations and support for the Green Party. Why did you decide to follow the Green Party all over the UK? It started because of this residency I was doing, the Topolski Chronicle. We’re doing an election special at
stuff about Plaid Cymru and [Cornish nationalists] Mebyon Kernow as they’re quite closely aligned with the Greens anyway. But there are some UKIP people I’ve been following who don’t know I’m a member of the
manner. Photojournalism is quite throwaway, you can send someone somewhere and think ‘Oh right, got some photos, the story’s covered’, even though someone could have spent 20 minutes there. Then you spend less than 20 seconds looking at a photograph. But I think looking at art, a) the artist has to be somewhere longer and engage with the story more in order to create art, and b) people looking at it will realise that, and stop scrolling for a second and go ‘that’s quite interesting, I’ve not seen that before.’
How do you think art engages with politics? Do you think it is a powerful tool? I don’t think art has a particular relationship with politics, apart from the obvious cartoons [in newspapers]. But that’s still not a very developed tradition in the UK at the moment, compared to France or other European places; there’s a lot more satire and cartoons in the mainstream. I think how I see my work, and people whose work’s like mine, is art engaging with news and news cycles, because the news is reported in a throwaway
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It also started from looking at devolution, because I did some work on the Scottish referendum last year. Living in Bristol, I’m also close to Wales and Cornwall, so I could do
Green Party yet!
I didn’t really know much about reportage, which is the preferred term for drawing news and events, until the end of uni. I spent the whole of my foundation and three years at uni trying to do other people’s briefs and kids’ books and stuff like that. But I always drew from life -- I never really liked drawing from my imagination, I like
I don’t think a drawing can ever be seen as the truth
Alex Nicholson
Alex Nicholson
the end of May, so we thought we’d cover different things. My friend was covering the rise of UKIP in Boston in Lincolnshire where she’s from; my other friend was doing a project on homelessness. I realised that I was living in Bristol, which is a Green target seat [Bristol West] and also Green Capital. I thought [the Green Party] Spring Conference in Liverpool on 6-9 March would be quite amazing because of the ‘Green surge’, and how hugely the membership’s grown, so I joined the party because of that.
Tell us a little bit about your illustrations -have they always been political or related to news?
drawing stuff that’s in front of me. It was after I left uni, I was part of the Topolski residency in London -- inspired by the work of Feliks Topolski, who was a Polish guy who covered a lot of stuff in the midtwentieth century through drawing. It was through doing that residency that I realised this was something that I’d always really been interested in, but hadn’t really known there was a kind of art that did that. Who or what do you enjoy drawing most at party meetings and conferences?
I’m always self-conscious about doing unflattering drawings of people... But do you not feel that reportage needs to portray the truth? No, I don’t think so, I don’t think a drawing can ever be seen as the truth. I think people know that when they see a drawing, but they don’t know that when they see a photo. If you see a photo, you think that’s true. Darren Hall’s a lot of fun to draw, he’s got quite distinctive features: his ears don’t point at the top or the bottom, they kind of point in the middle. He’s a taller gentleman, quite distinctive. I tried to draw Caroline Lucas the other day but made her look like an evil witch. What about capturing the atmosphere of the event? I think meetings are really difficult to draw, because it’s essentially loads of people sitting round. I think conference was really interesting to draw because it was a massive space. Picking out the green bits gives you a good sense of where you are. At conference everyone’s voting using cards, so they’re colour-coded for every day -- there’s red day, pink day ... that’s quite a distinctive visual thing.
Alex Nicholson
Alex Nicholson
To see more of Alex’s work, visit www.alexnicholson.co.uk
Epigram 27.04.2015
40 30
Lost River Film & TV Writer Anna Smith on Ryan Gosling’s much anticipated directional debut. Do not expect anything resembling The Notebook Ryan Gosling makes his directorial debut with a self-penned urban fantasy set in the fictional American town of Lost River. The eponymous settlement has suffered a slide into abandonment and social deprivation, and the motley characters at its centre are looking for a way to survive within the feral landscape.
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Eva Mendes is exceptional as lead performer Cat - the scenes between her and Billy are some of the best
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Flickr/Chris Elt
Gosling clearly knows what an urban fantasy exploitation indie flick should look like Strange, portentous and gruesome, Lost River’s hypnotic absurdity is superficially compelling, but break the surface and you’ll find little substance. Fascinating but flawed.
flickr/ Elen Nivrae
Filmed on-location in the abandoned inner-city neighbourhoods of contemporary Detroit, for which Lost River serves as both allegory and document, the film is undeniably a visually striking piece. The huge,desolate houses rise from the landscape like carcasses of long-dead creatures, and teenage protagonist, Bones (an arresting performance from Iain de Caestecker) strips them of valuable materials in order to earn the cash needed to fix his car. But Bones is not the only scavenger around; he must contend with local gangster Bully (Matt Smith), a dangerous individual with a penchant for arson and cutting the lips off anyone against whom he has a grudge. Cinematographer Benoît Debie brings a rich colour palette to the proceedings, from the warming pink glow of next-door neighbour Rat’s (Saoirse Ronan) bedroom to the glutinous reds of the nightclub where Bones’ mother Billy (Christina Hendricks) must take work in order to avoid losing possession of her house. Unfortunately,these stylistic achievements are not accompanied by substance. Heavily influenced by Nick Winding Refn, Lost River has the same mixture of stoic dialogue interspersed with splashy and gratuitous violence as Drive and Only God Forgives. Gosling seems preoccupied with displaying the darker impulses which manifest as a result of desperation: the principal entertainment at the nightclub where Billy works is a series of gruesome and surreal floor shows where the performers are apparently murdered onstage. However, there is little effort to explore why these impulses emerge. In a
film where every instance of violence is portrayed graphically and is perpetrated against women, this lack of deconstruction is deeply troubling, and not in the way in which it was intended. Much screentime is given to creepy nightclub proprietor Dave (an admittedly magnetic Ben Mendelsohn), but not exploring more about the (overwhelmingly female) performers who participate in the shows feels like a missed opportunity. That is not to say that Lost River’s female characters are unilaterally sidelined. Eva Mendes is exceptional as lead performer Cat - the scenes between her and Billy are some of the best in the film, and Rat’s silent Grandma (Barbara Steele) is an enigmatic and instrumental talisman of the town’s former grandeur. Perhaps the most accurate way to characterise Lost River is as a film which aims high but, unfortunately, misses. Gosling clearly knows what an urban fantasy exploitation indie flick should look like, but perhaps not what it should mean. The idea of the piece as a fictionalised documentary of urban decay (real-life Detroit residents were cast opposite the actors in certain scenes) is proposed but never properly explored. If anything, the fantastical elements run counter to this aim, as does the supplanting of the actual members of the community (who appear to be mostly black) with a white central cast. This could be read as a somewhat cynical commodification of real communities to create a piece of entertainment which glamorises urban decay. At a restrained 95 minutes, Gosling at least resists the temptation to create an epic, but a narrower focus on either realism or fairytale may have added up to a more fully realised piece.
Editor Matt thoroughly enjoyed searching for photos of the much lusted-after Ryan Gosling. This picture of Gosling with an adorable dog was his personal favourite
John Wick
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Film & TV Writer Rhys Newcombe-Jones gives us a short, sharp summary of Keanu Reeves’ latest act of revenge Action-packed doesn’t quite cover it, as a rejuvenated Keanu Reeves blasts his way through bad guys in this super stylish revenge-thriller.
If John Wick teaches us one thing it’s this: don’t mess with a man’s dogs
flickr/canburak
If I were you I’d avoid pissing off Keanu Reeves and his dog. Things tend to get ugly
If John Wick teaches us one thing it’s this: don’t mess with a man’s dog, especially if it was a final gift from his recently deceased wife, and if that man is John Wick (Keanu Reeves), an ex-hit man known to his peers as ‘the one you send to kill the bogeyman’. Unfortunately for one young Russian upstart (Game of Thrones’ Alfie Allen) and his pseudo-mafia pals, this life lesson is learnt the hard way. There’s nothing new in this well-worn revenge formula, but where
John Wick sets itself apart from the rest is in its sheer stylishness. Every action scene has been intricately planned by the film’s stuntmen-turned-directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch and as a result the film is as polished as the slick-haired and sharpsuited John Wick himself.
Every action scene has been intricately planned by the film’s stuntmen-directors
As endless Russian bad guys are blown away, the relentless action is choreographed in such an elegant and creative way that at no point does it seem gratuitous. In this respect, it bears a resemblance to the graceful action of Gareth Evans’ The Raid 2, and that’s no bad comparison. Welcome back Keanu.
Epigram 27.04.2015
41
Strong independent women in film
Flickr/canburak
Film & TV Writer Francesca Collins offers an opinion piece exploring her views on the role of women depicted in films tangible impact of Hollywood’s status as an Old Boys’ Club, consider that, in a related study by the Center, it was found that in 2014 women made up only 30 per cent of total speaking characters and 12 per cent of all protagonists in the top 100 highestgrossing domestic (US) films. Even more disappointing is that, of the handful of women seen on screen, a disproportionate 74 per cent of them were white, and women over 40 made up only 30 per cent of female characters (as opposed to the figure for men of 53 per cent). The statistics paint a clear and unsettling picture, women on screen aren’t important and virtually non-existent when not young and white. There’s an evident kind of aestheticism emerging, which indicates that the (predominantly white) male movie magnates see only a certain kind of female character as being worthwhile enough to bother to include — the young white woman. The presence of female characters in screen narratives is almost entirely at the whim of the desires of the male gaze, the drive which leads so many women in movies to be not only young and white, but also classically attractive. People write and produce what they want to see or experience and straight white men want to see and experience attractive and young white women. In an age where simply making women an overt function of male sexuality would face immediate backlash, we come full circle and see the more subtle, but equally damaging, output: women who wear strength as a sexual accessory. Pretty white girls who like to punch things (whilst wearing PVC leotards, obviously) are both sexy in their physicality for the enjoyment of men, and, because punching means strength, surely an image that The Feminists want to see. Not so. The caricatures of what men want to see and what men think women want to see are inaccurate, saddening and frustrating. Women want to see female characters who look and behave like them — who can be, as McDougall says, ‘either strong or weak or both or neither, because they are more than strength or weakness’. The one-dimensional presentation of the Strong Female Character (SFC) also ignores the fact that not all women have the social circumstance to be ‘strong’ in the way that the SFC is. The veneration of physical or
flickr/ Ma_Co2013
Sophia McDougall’s August 2013 article begins with a clickbait-friendly and suitably provocative title: ‘I Hate Strong Female Characters’. However, rather than the potentially misogynist diatribe that one could be excused for expecting, McDougall’s article instead deconstructs the media vogue of affording male characters nuance and complexity, whilst only ever allowing female characters to be, as she calls it, ‘strong’. While the creation of ‘strong’ female characters is easy to superficially pigeonhole as being a positive check on a kind of proverbial chart for equality, McDougall posits that it sadly misses the point. The presence of ‘strong’ women waltzing across our screens and pages by kicking butts and taking names is not empowering, but rather reductive. These women, in their lack of multiple dimensions, fail to represent the reality of the women who are watching and reading them. These characters fail to represent women who are anything but physically and emotionally infallible which, unsurprisingly, is nigh the entire population of women around the world. In order to try and change this warped presentation of cardboard-cutout women, we need to look to the root of the issue. For this, we look behind the scenes at industrial representation. It’s easy to understand the epidemic of unrealistically physically and emotionally strong female characters when knowing the demographic configuration of the most influential parts of the creative industries. Using the film industry as an example, we look to The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. The Center is an industry-leading source for statistics and studies on the roles of women in visual media, and its study on the demographics of those who worked behind the scenes of the 250 highest-grossing domestic (US) films of 2014 makes for disheartening reading. Women only accounted for 17 per cent of the people employed in key production roles, with only 11 per cent of the 250 films being written by women and, worse still, only 7 per cent being directed. With the presence of women so scarce behind the scenes, it’s of little surprise that the women seen onscreen are hardly representative of real lives and real experiences. To those who are skeptical of the real,
Critics were not a fan of The Other Woman due to its alleged steroetypical portrayals of females
emotional strength in privileged white women does not necessarily translate across the intersections of womanhood and experience. When black women are ‘strong’, they are tagged with innately racist labels of ‘ghetto’ and ‘sassy’, labels which imply social nonconformity or unacceptability. When women who don’t define as straight are ‘strong’, they are presented as butch (as a negative), and trans/genderqueer/ non-binary characters who identify in any way as women are often not even afforded the privilege of being shown on screen. Disabled women are not always able to engage in physical or emotional struggles and women who have been (or are) the victims of violence or abuse are often not in situations amenable to the explicit employment of ‘strength’. The ‘strength’ in all of these marginalised women comes with their ability to survive every day, rather than with their technique when dramatically drop-kicking a cartoonish villain.
This leaves us with one of McDougall’s most resonant statistics: ‘I want a male: female character ratio of 1:1 instead of 3:1 on our screens’. As an audience, we need to demand more, and demand better. We don’t need strong female characters, we need more female characters. More women of colour, more women whose sexualities and genders are fluid or nonconforming or even absent, more women who might not still get ID’d in a supermarket. In order to achieve this, we need more women behind the scenes, the 1:1 ratio seeming applicable here, too. The old adage says to ‘write what you know’, and if the creative industries keep elevating the same kinds of people who know the same kinds of experiences, we’re only ever going to keep seeing the same stories and the same characters. Only by amplifying the voices of people who know something different will we, as an audience, ever see the tables turn and the screens change.
Editors’ Picks
Our personal choices of what to watch over the next two weeks Matthew Editor
Hannah Deputy Editor
Manvir Online Editor
The Emperor’s New Clothes Friday 24 April
Game of Thrones Mondays 2am/9pm Sky Atlantic
Far from the Madding Crowd Friday 1st May
A hopefully incisive documentary condemning widening economic inequality following the 2008 financial crisis. Acclaimed Brit director Michael Winterbottom is behind the camera whilst comedian-activist Russell Brand presents. Obviously go and vote.
So while we’ve been away for Easter, unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ll have noticed Game of Thrones is back (YAY). If you reeeeally can’t wait for the next episode, they are now being simulcast with the US so are being shown at 2am on Monday mornings.
Carey Mulligan stars as the headstrong Bathsheba Everdene who fends off three different suitors in Victorian England. Former Bristol graduate and successful author David Nicholls is penning the script, making this adaption of the classic Thomas Hardy tale primed for success.
Avengers: Age of Ultron In cinemas now
Mad Men Thursdays on Sky Atlantic
With my slight superhero film obsession I couldn’t not pick the film where all my favourites come together. The third instalment of the Avengers franchise is set to give us our fix of the warm fuzzy feeling that comes from seeing all the Marvel storylines collide.
The iconic TV series about the advertising men on Madison Avenue is finally coming to an end. With over five episodes to go, many of us are wondering how it will end for Don Draper and Co. Well, judging from the hints, it’s not going to end well.
Louie Season Five Thursdays 11pm FOX (UK)
flickr/ screen relish
Don’t watch too many of these in one go or you’ll begin to feel mighty pessimistic about life. Despite this, 30 minutes a week of the USA’s best current comedian Louis CK is the perfect amount to satisfy your inner cynic.
Epigram
27.04.2015
Music
@epigrammusic
Editor: Guy Barlow
Deputy Editor: Gunseli Yalcinkaya
Online Editor: Jonny Hunter
music@epigram.org.uk
gyalcinkaya@epigram.org.uk
jonny@epigram.org.uk
Is guitar music dead? Annie Slinn asks what the future holds for men jumping around with guitars...
When the big new thing for rock music is post-punk revival revivalism or jaded ’60s psychedelia with less interesting drugs, it might seem like guitar music is dead… It is a statement that many will refute. One that will divide. But it is a statement that bears some weight. We cannot deny the surplus of music that floods our ears – from television channels and the radio, to the downright de rigor party tunes that swamp our clubs. And it is hard to distinguish what is worth our attention or, even harder, to distinguish what we have heard countless times before.
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If the music has been written decades before, is there a place for it in the modern era?
Annie Slinn, First Year, Physiology
flickr: Lee_Byway
I recently went to a gig at indie-rock haven The Fleece. Electronic band Covenant were playing alongside the similarly electronic Analog Angel. Granted, it was an impressive set and I had a brilliant time, but I couldn’t help but notice the complete lack of guitars that evening – or even bass. As entertaining as the show was, it left me wondering about the future of the music I love: the anthems – the sturdy rock and roll roots that defined popular culture! Time to render them ‘Past Masters’, to move onto something new? So many times, that same old formula regurgitated through different means of production for guaranteed satisfaction of the masses. The Beatles-like, Stonesesque, almost Status Quo-sounding remedies to obtain a musical fix. Without change, it has worn thin. They had done it before and they did it again. In their recent revival, Black Sabbath penned ‘God Is Dead?’. But for music lovers out there, it posed a greater question: was their music? An endless cycle of repetition, we had heard such predictable riffs and refrains before. In the modern era, it seemed musical creativity was next to none. The same holds as we pass from rock to pop. I barely need to mention the famous chord sequence of ‘Poker Face’,
‘With or Without You’, ‘Take On Me’, and many (very many) more. This simple structure even has a YouTube sensation because of it, with Axis of Awesome rightly stating: ‘all the best hits from the past forty years just use the same four chords’. Surely there is a limit to how much we can sap this pretty little ditty instruction manual for all its worth? Or shall we just give in to plagiarism? Pop-rock is one of numerous genres where music seems repetitive and, arguably, dull. A decade ago, light was shed on the shady rappers taking advantage of a winning niche. The real slim knew that. And that notion seemed to strike a chord with the music consumers. Seemingly, we knew we were being cheated a while back. So, if the music has been written decades before, is there a place for it in the modern era? Realistically, the music worth paying attention to – deciphering through the many charts for a tune that sounds vaguely unique – is, more often than not, downloaded illegally. With customers refusing to pay the price of a chocolate bar for a song, there is little future for creativity in the music industry. A telling issue; one that condemns our society as much as music itself. And yet within genres there are rivalries of artists so similar-sounding it doesn’t seem worth it. This rivalry is not a competitive drive to improve, it is a recipe for the inevitable self-destruction of the genres themselves: leading the future of music to further trepidation. Not quite dead, guitar music is dying. It is in need of a hearty jolt of creative CPR, before we disregard it a lost art.
Epigram 27.04.2015
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3 reasons you shouldn’t see Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
With the release of a trailer for the new Kurt Cobain documentary, we give three huge reasons not to go. We’ve had Kurt Cobain documentaries before, such as the brilliant About A Son, but Montage of Heck is the first with extensive Cobain family involvement. It also features new interviews and archive material. So then, why is it so important to be wary about this film? 1) The focus on ‘the real Kurt’ The trailer to the documentary opens with the words ‘who are you…who are you…who are you...I’m Kurt Cobain’. It’s representative of a blatant focus on the self of KURT COBAIN, rather than Nirvana or even Kurt’s involvement in Nirvana. This seems, basically, to be the main unique selling point of the film – we get to see Kurt Cobain not as a ‘voice of a generation’, but as ‘a human being, and a husband, and a father’, according to one reviewer. Or, in other words, we get to strip one more layer away from the boundary between us and Kurt. It’s a shame that nobody ever stood back and thought – actually, why would we want to do that? Why are we so obsessed with knowing the ‘real Kurt’? Perhaps it is because Cobain is dead, and we fear that we will never know him, especially relative to how well we feel we know our celebrities today. It is probably that, as well as the fact that the voice of a generation/‘martyr to the mainstream’ myth of Kurt Cobain stands taller than ever, and it’s something which ‘true’ fans seek to rip down with projects like this. The effect of this obsession, exemplified in the film, is that the focus is taken away from
the music. Why is this a problem? Because if Kurt Cobain had never become famous, he would still have been Kurt Cobain. Therefore, any study of Kurt Cobain should focus on what makes him of interest – the music. Otherwise it’s just an in-depth focus on a twenty-something with a family history of depression. 2) The focus on the suicide I don’t know about you, but if I were to die I would not want the entire focus of people’s memories of me to be about my death. Nor would it be a genuine representation of my life. This goes for anyone else. So when I see a trailer purporting to be a film about revealing who someone really was, it really is a little ridiculous that every single detail in the trailer (and therefore, presumably, the film) is framed within a narrative of the suicide. It angers me because it’s not exactly ridiculous to think of any suicide victim’s life – including Cobain’s – as about more than the end.
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A broken heart is not a cause of death, and suggesting that suicide is caused by anything other than depression is risky To be fair to all those involved in making the film, including Cobain’s family, it must be incredibly hard to think about the man and his life without thinking about the suicide.
But that does not mean that you should go and have to pay money and time to watch their skewed – if the trailer is anything to go on – version of a life. On top of this there must be a distinction between a focus on suicide and the fetishisation of it, a fascination concerning how anyone can possibly completely reverse the primal survival instinct. It is suggested that the latter is being sold. And any suggestion of this fetishisation can only weaken the film’s role as a serious biography (not to suggest that we need a biography of this depth in the slightest). 3) The explanation of Cobain’s suicide Three male relatives in the Cobain family, before Cobain, had killed themselves. In light of the fact that depression is in fact an illness which can be traced down family trees, this would suggest to me (as well as anyone else with common sense) that Kurt Cobain was depressed, and this was probably the underlying factor in him committing suicide. So why does the entirety of the media insist on portraying the ‘real Kurt’, as he’s known in the entirety of the coverage surrounding this film, as someone who ‘died of a broken heart’, according to the director. This is, quite obviously, b*llocks. It’s a romanticisation and simplification of a serious illness. A broken heart is not a cause of death, and suggesting that a suicide is caused by anything other than depression is risky. That’s because, frankly, it’s insulting to those who suffer from mental health problems
to suggest that their symptoms (including, unfortunately suicide) are not caused by the said mental health problems but by tangible problems. It portrays mentally ill people, including Kurt Cobain, as simply people who cannot deal with their problems, rather than people suffering from illness. It promotes stigma – a view of mentally ill people as too weak – rather than understanding. Dr. Dan Reidenberg, executive director of Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE), agrees: ‘There are misconceptions that happen as a result of media reporting when a story is oversimplified’. Of course, underpinning what I have just said is to assume that the concept of Cobain dying as a martyr – a Jesus – for the generation, or of a broken heart, or whatever, is in fact a romanticisation of suicide rather than the truth. This, to me, seems highly likely considering Cobain’s history of depression in both his family’s lives and his own life, and the fact that 90% of suicides are caused by an underlying mental illness. The aforementioned illness makes it highly unlikely that Cobain lies in the other 10%. Don’t go to watch this film. It’s an obsession with knowing someone who we have not met and never will. Not only that, but it’s an obsession with just one part of this person, and a highly damaging portrayal of that part.
Ben Duncan-Duggal, First year, Law
Epigram
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THE LEGACY OF... KENDRICK LAMAR that he wants to continue Tupac’s ethos on social relations and humanity, and the two rappers experienced similar struggles attempting to ‘keep it real’ while gaining international fame. His co-sign with Lil Wayne also proved important, and the subsequent 2009 mixtape, C4, was thematically based on Wayne’s Tha Carter III. While good kid still retains its musical base in hip-hop, TPAB moves beyond this, incorporating a large jazz-funk element and more complex basslines. The furiously-paced ‘For Free?’ and instant classic ‘King Kunta’ both demonstrate Lamar’s desire to push in new directions musically and lyrically, and provide a refreshing new sound to the hip-hop world. Lamar’s genius, however, is firmly grounded in his focus on substance over style. Quotes like ‘I don’t want people to take away how cute I look, or how the light is shining off my chain. I want you to take away a great-ass performance’ highlight what is already obvious in his work: a commitment to narrative and deeper content. Lamar primarily views a studio album as a medium in which he can explore the experiences and issues of his world. Section.80 provides a vivid description of 1980s America,
the so-called Ronald Reagan era, the brutal reality of living reinforced by tracks such as ‘A.D.H.D’ and ‘Keisha’s Song’. This picture created by Lamar is used as the background for the story of his youth and young adulthood around which good kid is themed. Through a range of skits and incredible lyricism, good kid provides a gripping narrative covering the influences of Compton street life, first time experiences, dreams and a sense of community grounded in religion. In stark contrast, TPAB reflects upon the emotional turmoil brought about by removal from the community, no matter what its flaws; the raw emotion of ‘u’, and the feelings of guilt and self-loathing it expresses, result from the isolation of Lamar’s new life. Consequently, TPAB explores a relationship with the Devil, who takes the form of Lucy in ‘For Sale? (Interlude)’, a relationship based on new temptations and a sense of solitude. Throughout his discography runs a theme that is impossible not to talk about when discussing Kendrick Lamar: race. And it is impossible to understand Lamar’s views without placing them in the climate of grow-
ing racial tensions in the USA, emphasised by increasingly documented instances of fatal police aggression towards African-Americans and the Ferguson riots of 2014. Interestingly, although Lamar pays great lip service to structural racism, engineered social conditions in black neighbourhoods, negative media portrayals and police aggression as causes of poverty and violence in black communities, he also places blame within those same communities. This idea is expressed explicitly in the controversial ‘The Blacker the Berry’. Lamar addresses a perceived hypocrisy between outrage over the treatment of AfricanAmericans and the internal violence and gang culture he describes in his own community, closing the track with the eye-opening confession, ‘So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street?/ When gang-banging made me kill a n---a blacker than me/Hypocrite!’ The difference in my own experiences and beliefs and Lamar’s bring about the question of, how I (a white,
flickr: NRK P3
With the acclaimed release of To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar has cemented his place as one of the most creative, unique, open, and downright talented rappers alive, or perhaps who ever lived. Releasing his first mixtape, Youngest Head Nigga in Charge (Hub City Threat: Minor of the Year), at the age of 16, Lamar began his rise to the top on the back of three more mixtapes, numerous features and co-signs. With his first studio album, Section.80, dropping in 2011 on West-Coast label Top Dawg Entertainment, Lamar brought his dynamic vocals and sharp lyrics to a wider audience. The release of good kid, m.A.A.d city in 2012 brought numerous BET Hip-Hop Award, Grammy and MTV nominations, while the first single from the 2015 TPAB, ‘i’, won two Grammys. Musically speaking, Lamar has been strongly influenced by one of his own favourites, Kanye West. This influence is most obvious in the shared use of MC Assassin on tracks and a willingness to combine mainstream hiphop sound with controversial topics. Another big influence is West-Coast idol, Tupac Shakur. The outro to ‘Mortal Man’ features an edited interview where Kendrick converses with Tupac,representing the influence Tupac had on Lamar, creating interesting links between himself and one of the undisputable giants of the genre. Lamar expresses a sense
British, middle class university student) can talk about the issues of race, poverty and religion explored by a black rapper from Compton. On one level it seems arrogant for me to sit here and think that I can understand and articulate the emotions expressed by Lamar. There’s a gap between enjoyment and respect, and genuine identification that can’t be bridged by any amount of listening. Perhaps though, this is where his true genius lies; the ability to make alien concepts incredibly relatable through the seamless musical expression of his emotional states and storytelling. Most importantly, Lamar’s music, especially TPAB, contains the sort of brutally honest self-reflection that not only creates a sense of understanding, but causes us to reflect on ourselves as well. Now everybody serenade the new faith of Kendrick Lamar. Theo Jackson, Second year, Philosophy and Politics
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Eruptions, explosions and survival After travelling to Guatemala, Kayleigh Mcgeoch reflects on what it is like living with volcanoes Science Writer
“
Volcanic eruptions can cause problems locally and worldwide. They are difficult to predict and can have disastrous consequences. In many places around the world where volcanoes are found, there are monitoring stations that observe the volcanoes for activities such as earthquakes and deformation. Guatemala in Central America has several active volcanoes. A few of the more well-known ones are Pacaya, Santa Maria and Fuego.
The presence of ash
caused the airport to shut for two days
“ If you are caught in
Kayleigh Mcgeoch
The most recent eruption in Guatemala was the eruption of Fuego on February 7th this year and it was the largest eruption the Fuego had produced in three years. The eruption was so big that villages to the south of Fuego had to be evacuated due to the volume of ash coating the region. The ash travelled far enough to coat the nearby town of Antigua, 16km away, and it even reached Guatemala City, the capital, 40km northeast of Fuego. The presence of ash over Guatemala City caused the airport to shut for two days causing flight delays in and out of the country. Residents in towns closer to Fuego wore facemasks to help prevent the inhalation of fine ash. During the eruption in February, pyroclastic flows were formed from the failed eruption column and flowed down a valley where the material was eventually deposited. The deposits
were up to 20m thick in the centre of the valley and the temperature of the surface was registering around 60°C. The temperature of the deposits in deeper down was much hotter than the surface because there was nowhere for the heat to escape and the deposits were still relatively new. During the day, Fuego produces small explosions that can be seen before the cloud moves in late morning. At night, if the skies are clear, it is possible to see bright red lava and ballistics being erupted during explosions from a long distance. Volcanoes produce different types of hazards. These include lava flows, lahars, pyroclastic flows, ash, gas emissions and landslides. Lahars are mudflows that can form when ash and other volcanic materials mix with rain water or glaciers. They can occur either during a volcanic eruption or during a heavy rainstorm. In Guatemala, if there has been a large eruption during May-October, the rainy season, there is more likely to be a higher number of lahars compared to when there is a smaller or no eruption before the rainy season. Pyroclastic flows are high density,
one, you won’t survive
fast flowing mixtures of hot rocks and ash that have been erupted. They can destroy houses, vegetation and almost anything else that it comes into contact with it. Temperatures range anywhere from 20°C up to 700°C, and the high speed of the flow means that this is an extremely dangerous hazard as it is very difficult to outrun. If you are caught in one, you won’t survive. Hazards occur on different
timescales. For instance, lahars occur quickly and effects last for a short time. Ash, on the other hand, can hang around in the atmosphere for a long time and has caused major health problems as well as shorten life expectancy. Children can develop chronic coughs due to inhalation of ash, as fine ash is easily resuspended into the atmosphere. The volcano Pacaya is currently producing a lot of gas, i.e. sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and water, and on a good day can produce up to 2000 tonnes. The north-south wind direction blows the gas plume to the south towards the villages and affects the maize crops that are grown and the health of the locals when they breathe in the gas. In the past Pacaya has produced lava flows that have stopped within 50m of a house near the base of Pacaya. The
“
Kayleigh Mcgeoch
Children can develop
chronic coughs due to inhalation of ash
Kayleigh Mcgeoch
lava flows changed from pahoehoe ropy, runny lava - to A’a lava - blocky lava - on their flow down Pacaya’s flanks because the angle of slope
changed from a very steep to a lower angle. In the very steep sections, the back of the lava caught up with the front of the lava and caused the lava to build up and start slowing down. A small crater to the side of Pacaya was filled in with lava last year and even though it has solidified, deeper inside the crater of lava, the temperature is still reaching over 200°C. In Guatemala there are two government agencies that monitor volcanic hazards and provide aid to those affected. The National Institute for Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology (INSIVUMEH). It was set up in March 1976 to monitor hazards that could affect people. It also gives recommendations to the government on what to do during a natural disaster i.e. earthquake, flood, volcanic eruption. The other agency, the National Coordination for Disaster Reduction (CONRED), is primarily responsible for declaring alert levels for disasters and distributing aid. These alert levels are based on the information given to them by INSIVUMEH and the communities that they work with. In 1997, CONRED designed and installed an early warning system for floods that affect communities within one of the basins. When the river level rises to 7m, CONRED receive the
information and sets off a siren within the community, which alerts the communities to rising water levels. The type of aid that they distribute includes bags of water, family packs that include enough food to last 72 hours for four people and blankets. Kitchen kits and cleaning kits are distributed out to shelters that are set up during a disaster. People in Guatemala live with the risk of volcanic hazards every day but the government agencies have developed monitoring methods and work with local communities to make
“ Volcanic eruptions
can be spectacular,
especially explosions at night
them aware of the dangers of volcanic eruptions. Volcanic eruptions can be spectacular, especially explosions at night, but they can be extremely dangerous.
Sport Malik Ouzia Sport Features Writer
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27.04.2015
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That was the season, that was
It has been another remarkable year in the world of football, with glory and controversy evident in almost equal measure. There have been plenty of significant moments on the field, as well as some more disturbing ones off it. Epigram Sport looks at some of the highlights and lowlights... Chelsea 2-4 Bradford City
Flickr: Kien Pham
Borussia Dortmund struggles
Just when it looked like their ‘golden generation’ would pass without significant success, African football’s perennial underachievers finally came good. They did it the hard way, too.
Killing of Senzo Meyiwa
The Michael Garcia Report
If Ivory Coast’s victory was a high point for African football then this was certainly its low point. On October 25 2014 Senzo Meyiwa played for his club side Orlando Pirates in a 4-1 victory over Ajax Cape Town. It would be his last ever football match. By the evening of 26 October he was dead. Two gunmen had broken into the house of South Africa’s goalkeeper and captain and shot him in cold blood. Sadly this was not South African football’s only tragedy. On April 7 of this year 31 year-old forward Richard Henyekane died in a car crash.
In 2012 FIFA commissioned an investigation by Michael Garcia into alleged wrongdoings in the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Having submitted his report in September 2014, Garcia was politely informed that it couldn’t be published for legal reasons. Instead a summary consisting of FIFA ethics committee head Hans Joachim-Eckert’s judgment of the report would be published. Unsurprisingly the summary concluded that all was well in the bidding process, leading Garcia, who felt his report had been somewhat misrepresented, to resign. FIFA have since pledged a publication of the full report although this won’t take place until five other ethics investigations have been completed.
Ronaldo wins third Ballon D’Or
Steven Gerrard announces Liverpool departure The one-club player has become perhaps the rarest concept in top-level professional football. Such is the way of the modern game that the time has come for even Mr Liverpool himself,
While debate regarding the validity of individual awards in a team sport rages on, few could argue that last year Cristiano Ronaldo was the best player on the planet. At the time of writing he has struck 50 times in 45 games for Real Madrid in 2014/15 and the award also took into account his form towards the back end of last season (51 goals in 47 games). His historic third win follows victories in 2008 and 2013 and leaves him just one Ballon D’Or behind rival Lionel Messi, who finished second. Ched Evans row
Flickr: Moral definition
Ivory Coast win African Cup of Nations
The rapid decline of what had been one of Italy’s biggest clubs has been as sad as it has been farcical. Owing £54 million, the club has failed to pay its players this term and could not afford to put on two fixtures earlier this year. The players in turn have been forced to wash their own kit, drive the team bus and shower in cold water. The rest of the Serie A clubs agreed a €5 million bailout to get Parma to the end of the season but the club’s future beyond that is far from certain. A sorry state of affairs for a club once associated with names like Brolin, Buffon, Cannavaro, Crespo, Thuram, Asprilla, Stoichkov and Zola.
Flickr: Football wallpapers
Flickr: Tim REckmann
Champions League qualification dead and buried, and manager Jurgen Klopp set to leave in the summer, Dortmund face a long road to recovery.
Parma declared bankrupt
First they topped a difficult group including Cameroon and Mali, the latter of whom were eliminated by a drawing of lots after finishing with an identical record to Guinea. Next they knocked out a hotly tipped Algerian side, with Wilfried Bony stepping up to fill the boots of the retired Didier Drogba with a brace. Their semi final win over DR Congo was fairly routine but their final victory was anything but. After 120 minutes against West-African rivals Ghana had ended goalless, Cote D’Ivoire finally triumphed 9-8 on penalties after all eleven players had taken a spot-kick.
Flickr: Real Madrid HD
When Borussia Dortmund swept Bayern Munich aside with a 2-0 victory in the season-opening Supercup few foresaw the turmoil that would follow. A dismal start, including a run of five straight defeats between late September and early November, left them in the relegation zone. After a 1-0 defeat to Augsburg in February club stalwarts Mats Hummels and Roman Weidenfeller confronted disgruntled fans in an attempt to appease them. To their credit that intervention was succeeded by a run of four straight wins, dispelling fears of relegation. But with hopes of
Flickr: Ben Sutherland
In the 38th minute of this fourth round cup FA Cup tie, midfielder Ramires collected a pass from then-team mate Mohamed Salah and slotted Chelsea into a seemingly unassailable 2-0 lead. Come the final whistle though the champions-elect had been humbled in one of the biggest upsets in FA Cup history. League One’s Bradford City, led by the mercurial Jon Stead, had struck four times without reply. The manner of the Bantams’ victory shocked many; their football was crisp and flowing. Stead called it the best day of his career. José Mourinho called it ‘a disgrace’.
Another moment (or series of moments) which will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. In October last year Ched Evans was released from prison having served half of his 5-year sentence for rape. Initially Sheffield United were open to aiding Evans’ reintegration into football by letting him train with them. However, following numerous petitions opposing their proposal and the resignation of several club patrons United retracted their offer. This was to be the first of three u-turns, with Hartlepool, Oldham and Maltese side Hibernians all expressing an interest in signing the player before abandoning their plans in the face of strong public criticism. At the time of writing Evans remains without a club.
Steven Gerrard, to journey on to pastures new. As is the vogue amongst renowned, thirty-something footballers, the MLS will be Gerrard’s next stop, with a move to LA Galaxy already confirmed. Whilst recent perceptions of Gerrard may revolve around that slip, memories of Istanbul, Olympiakos and West Ham in the cup final will live long in the minds of not just Liverpool fans but fans of football. The Premier League will be sad to see him go.
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27.04.2015
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Dominant Bristol brush UWE aside in feisty men’s football Varsity match-up Daniel Thacker Sport Editor
own net by the covering UWE centre half.
Zaki Dogliani Editor
UBAFC fans rejoiced, but their team wasn’t yet home and dry. Goalkeeper Alex Mitchell was tested immediately in response, forced to produce a stunning save from a close-range header. From the resultant corner, UWE were handed a lifeline, as a handball on the line from Matt Baynes, with his family in the crowd, saw the maroons reduced to ten men and a penalty awarded with 25 minutes left on the clock.
University of Bristol Association Football Club (UBAFC) men’s first team beat Varsity rivals UWE 3-0 recently in front of a lively Coombe Dingle crowd. Many UWE fans went into the game bullish with their university holding a sizeable Varsity lead prior to the encounter. It was Bristol’s ‘mighty maroons’, however, who were singing at full-time after UBAFC’s superb second-half display brought three fine goals and proved one of the catalysts for an improbable turnaround which ensured Bristol took the lead prior to the final events of the competition. The first 45 minutes were even and, unsurprisingly, well fought, with a handful of over-exuberant challenges and some supporters equally riled. Bristol enjoyed the better of the chances, with one free kick flying over the bar and Alec Fiddes, Barnaby Bosom and Sam Murray perennial threats with their pace going forward. The hosts were intent on keeping the ball on the floor and maintaining the early monopoly on possession, in stark contrast to their cross-town rivals, who were forced to resort to long balls in the face of a highpressing Bristol outfit.
Mitchell, however, came to the rescue, producing an impressive save low to his right to keep the penalty out. And that was pretty much when the contest ended. Despite their numerical advantage throughout the closing stages, UWE lost momentum and continued to resort to fruitless long balls. After a tense first half, Bristol scored three times in quick succession shortly after the restart...
A special mention to club captain Alex Wood, who impressed at full back as a second-half substitute despite having just featured for the second team. UBAFC’s men’s first team deserve full credit for making a strong UWE side look ordinary. They played a key part in a memorable revival on Varsity Day.
Halfway through a goalless first period, one visiting fan shouted, ‘Where the f**k did Bristol get this ref from?’ Yet although part of the UWE contingent gave the referee a hard time throughout a tense half, aside from a few late flags, the officials did a good job to keep a lid on what was a tough game with a number of strong tackles from both sides. There was little to report in the way of chances prior to the break, with both sides mainly threatening from set pieces. The game immediately opened up after the break, with Bristol making it 2-0 before some fans had even returned to their seats. The first goal, bundled home at the back post after an excellent cross by Charlie Rubin, was scored by captain and centre half, Jamie Thompson, and marked a deserved reward for an imposing defensive display. The second was a goal which only served to highlight the gulf in class between the sides, as a flowing passing move resulted in Bosom pulling the ball back from the left for Tim Downes, the game’s dominant figure, to net his fourth goal in his second Varsity appearance. With his side two goals to the good, UBAFC’s Manager turned to the bench, sending on Jonny Walker. The substitute made an instant impact, creating the third goal within minutes of his arrival. A delightful pass in behind from Fiddes, a constant menace switching flanks, sent him clear, and, after a good turn of pace, Walker’s cutback was turned into his
UBAFC closed out the game comfortably, making extensive use of the substitutes’ bench, even removing Mitchell before the final whistle. The custodian received raucous applause from the crowd after a solid game and his penalty heroics.
Other football results: Bristol Seconds 2-3 UWE Seconds Bristol Thirds 2-0 UWE Thirds Bristol Fourths 1-2 UWE Fourths Sides share the points overall ...but were indebted to goalkeeper Alex Mitchell for an excellent late penalty save
The hosts were jubilant come full time...
...after a thoroughly deserved victory
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Oarsome: Bristol glide past UWE on the water Keir Salter Sport Features Writer
Bristol prevailed by the narrowest of margins in the 2015 Varsity boat race on 21 March at the Harbourside. The event is a 1,300m backs-to-the-wall sprint starting by the Cottage Inn and finishing outside the Arnolfini. This year’s race was held a full month earlier than previous years in order to coincide with key national races such as Head of the River. This resulted in a logistical nightmare for the race organisers who had to deal with everything from angry Harbourside residents to even angrier ferry captains. Despite these setbacks all eight races went to plan apart from the first of the day, which was the Novice men’s second VIII, as the Bristol crew decided to get a closer look at one of the barges moored on the quayside. This resulted in a delay of around a minute which sadly cost them the race. Nonetheless this was the first experience of side-by-side regatta style racing that the novice squads had encountered, so events such as these were to be expected, much to the crowd’s amusement. The next race in the day’s proceedings was the Novice Men’s first VIII who were not only racing for ‘The Eleanor Rose Ellis Cup’ but also for the first of four blade events. The blade events determine the overall winners of the boat race and are competed for by the Novice Men and Women’s first VIIIs and the Senior Men and Women’s first VIIIs. In the event of a tie, the time differences between crews in the blade races are totalled up and the university with the largest time difference takes the blade home and is showered in eternal glory (well at least until next year). Following some expert steering and power slides from cox Xin-yue ‘Skin the Cat’ Pan, the Bristol novice men took a comfortable victory over the UWE novices by the margin of two boat lengths. The crew consisted of Fergus ‘Edward Tapehands’ Taylor,
The Harbourside hosted the boat race back in March Freddie ‘Quadzilla’ Wright, Jackson ‘Encyclopedic Knowledge’ Goodrum, Fergus ‘It’s only a bit of blood’ Lupton, Prokop ‘Eastern Bloc Strength’ Volf, George ‘Twist and Shout’ Presland, Harry ‘Say hi and you’ll get a laugh out of him’ Stroud and Michael ‘Token Irish’ Fitzpatrick. The Novice Women’s first VIIIs’ race followed much the same pattern, with Bristol, who were already a length and a half up by the 500m mark, storming to victory by ten lengths. ‘They did so
well, I’m so proud of them,’ was all the ecstatic Novice women’s captain Amelia Butler could say before grinning like a Cheshire cat. With two victories for Bristol in the first two blade races, UBBC club captain Steph Harris was all but ready to put on her blazer and hit Lounge. Next up were the two alumni races, featuring some of the boat club’s biggest names from the last decade; both the women’s and men’s crews decimated their UWE counterparts which greatly benefitted the rest of the
club later on in the evening at the bar. The senior men’s second VIII was next to race, coxed by Emily ‘Shut up and drive’ Almond and stroked by the formidable Tom ‘I honestly can’t remember’ Clark, followed by Alex ‘Champagne Northerner’ Heslop, Richard‘Chiveski’Meadows, Keir‘Factor 50+’ Salter, Peter ‘strokes from the 4 seat’ Style, Angus ‘Workhorse’ Bangs, Jonny ‘The Bard’ Gorner and Devon ‘Hey Hun’ Bunyan. Up against a strong UWE crew, the Bristol boat lost by two
Congratulations, Bristol ! Epigram Sport would like to congratulate each and every member of the University of Bristol sport teams for the fantastic recent come-frombehind Varsity victory over UWE. The #mightymaroons prevailed by 21 points to 16 after numerous hard-fought contests (an overview of which can be found here: http://www.uwesu.org/ varsity/). Well played, one and all!
lengths, with Style again stating that ‘had everyone rowed like him then the race would have been won’. Despite this, the marquee events of the senior squad races and the culmination of the blade races were about to start with the score still 2-0 to Bristol. The senior women raced first and were unlucky to lose against a strong UWE crew despite the bellows of cox Jess ‘Release the Kraken’ Harding. This laid down the gauntlet for the senior men with the score now sitting at 2-1. With their brand new Empacher 8+ the first VIII took to the water looking to finish off a great day’s racing with another Bristol win. The crew, stroked by Morgan ‘Fifty shades of’ Gray, followed by Adam ‘Sarah Jessica’ Stapleton, Chris ‘Chewbaccius’ Heywood, Alex ‘Class of 2021’ Steventon, Andrew ‘Stars and Stripes’ Holm, Nick ‘HM06*’ Foster, Gareth ‘Gavin’ Davies and Jack ‘One Man Army’ Squizzoni. All of this was brought together by cox Poppy ‘Selective Understanding’ Mather who was tasked with steering this juggernaut around the narrow race course. Ultimately UWE proved to be just too strong for the Bristol men, winning by just over a length and creating a draw at 2-2 in the blade race events. After some feverish calculations it was determined that based on the time differences between the crews in the blade events, that Bristol had reclaimed the blade for the first time in three years. It was then time for us to return home, and prepare for the inevitable scandal and debauchery that can only occur at the UBBC Varsity ball. There was an audible sigh of relief from club captain Steph Harris who knew that only Henley domination would be a fitting end to her tenure as club captain. After receiving the blade from Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Eric Thomas, the rowers of UBBC departed, ready to dance the night away and get ‘turnt’, as Andrew Holm would say.
Epigram
27.04.2015
Sport
Editor: Daniel Thacker Deputy Editor: Benj Cunningham Online Editor: Edward Henderson-Howat sport@epigram.org.uk @danieljthacker
deputysport@epigram.org.uk @BenjCunningham1
sportonline@epigram.org.uk @ehendersonhowat
Bristol: a sportacular rise? James O’Hara Sport Features Writer
Steve Lansdown could be forgiven for getting a little excited. But really, who could blame him? He had just watched the team he owns, Bristol City, secure promotion to the Championship with aplomb. ‘This is the best so far’. he proclaimed. But for Bristol City, and sport in Bristol as a whole, the best could be still yet to come. For Bristol is a city on the up, in sporting terms at least. Bristol City already are, after a comprehensive 6-0 victory over Bradford City secured promotion from League
One in emphatic style. And Bristol Rugby, also owned by Lansdown, should join the promotion party in the coming weeks, are well set to return to the Aviva Premiership after a six-year absence. Meanwhile, more established arms of the Lansdown Empire should consolidate their positions. Bristol Flyers, Lansdown’s basketball franchise, will finish their first season in the British Basketball League in mid-table. Dino Zamparelli, a Bristolian racing driver funded by Lansdown, will compete in this year’s Porsche Carrera Cup. Meanwhile, the women’s football team, Bristol
Flickr: Diego Sideburns
Academy, look to have gone from strength to strength. This year they made the quarter finals of the Champions League, to add to runners-up medals from the 2011 and 2013 FA Women’s Cup. So where did Bristol’s sporting Renaissance begin? Well, Lansdown’s personal wealth - estimated at £1.3 billion by Forbes – will hardly have hindered matters. But there is more to the tale than that, however. Oddly enough, the story begins, of all places, at the Nou Camp. Brunel, Banksy and Barcelona is not your typical triumvirate, but Lansdown and his billions could well prove to be the crucial link. It is said that Lansdown was on a tour of the Nou Camp, with walls littered with trophies, when he had his Eureka moment. ‘You expect it to be just football,’ Rory Smith in The Times reported Lansdown as remarking, ‘but it’s everything’. Men’s and
Women’s Football, Basketball, Handball, Hockey and Rugby are just some of a wide range of sports the Catalan franchise competes in. Lansdown, with his billions, evidently seems intent on replicating the Barça model in Bristol, of all places. Considering his vast personal wealth, it is unsurprising that commercial matters appear to have been an immediate priority for Lansdown. He first attempted to relocate from Ashton Gate, it being common knowledge Bristol City needed a new stadium. When the council rebutted this suggestion – to the relief of the university exams office, although perhaps not to students – expansion seemed the best alternative. Ashton Gate is now in the process of a dramatic refurbishment, with capacity due to expand to 27,000 next year. Moving the football and rugby teams under one roof seemed the next obvious step. As such, Bristol Rugby is moving into Ashton Gate
@epigramsport
at the start of this season. Add to this the high-profile signings of Italy centre Tommaso Benvenuti and exWales player (in more ways than one) Gavin Henson, and Bristol Rugby looked set to finally make a move on the Aviva Premiership. But the integration of Bristol’s Football and Rugby teams will not only line Lansdown’s pockets; there are also likely to be long-term benefits to both teams in years to come from the symbiosis of expertise. Training and recovery procedures and sports science are shared, as also reported by Smith, and seems to be bearing fruit in the league tables this season for both clubs. There is something more to Lansdown’s grand plan though: ambition, pure and simple. Bristol has never really been a city associated with sporting success, rightly or wrongly. It is undoubtedly a city of beautiful architecture such as the imposing Wills Memorial Building, cultural significance with Banksy
on every street corner, and industry, from Brunel to the Floating Harbour. Sporting success on the other hand? Well, not really. Bristol City haven’t been in English football’s highest division since 1911, while Bristol Rovers have never even got close. In more recent times, Bristol Academy have had more success in the women’s league with their FA Cup triumphs and qualification for the Champions League, and Bristol Rugby did finish third in the Aviva Premiership in 2006-07. But for a city of Bristol’s size, sporadic success is to be expected. As Sir Alex Ferguson often stated – indeed, rather loudly and repeatedly so – it is sustained success that is most elusive, and the most difficult to achieve. But with Lansdown’s zealful zeitgeist such success could well be on the horizon. The promotion of Bristol City and the success of others could well be the start of it. Let’s hope it will be.
Interested in applying for next year’s editorial team? We’re looking for creative, dedicated and enthusiastic students to take Epigram foward into its 27th year. Past editors have gone on to jobs with the BBC, Sky News, NME, The Guardian and The Times, to name but a few. Keep an eye out for more information on how to apply!