Epigram issue 369

EPIGRAM

The University of Bristol's Award Winning Independent Student

Between the Sheets

Is it acceptable that the BRIT awards nominees are all men?

FEATURES

Modern Slavery in Bristol?: Amidst ongoing discussions about Bristol's slave-trading past, Epigram examines the reality of modern slavery in Bristol today.

WIT & WISDOM

Could ChatGPT write for Epigram?

Who took home big wins at the 2023 BAFTAs?

Review: Fashion forward society's Trashion Show 'Metamorphosis'

UoB Ultimate Frisbee crush cardi with dominant performance.

CONTENTS

University Strikes: UCU halts nationwide strikes for two weeks due to ‘significant progress’ in UUK talks

Milan Perera NewsReporter

Abreakthrough development in the University College Union (UCU) strike actions took place as the UCU decided to halt university strikes for two weeks.

In this latest shift in the stand o between the UCU and university authorities, UCU General Secretary Jo Grady posted a video on Twitter on Friday, February 17 where she pointed out that: ‘We have agreed a two week period of calm.’

She went on further to say it 'will enable us to hold intensive negotiations with the aim of reaching a nal agreement.'

In an email sent to UCU members, Grady outlined the summary of some of the central issues covered with the university authorities which includ-

ed pensions, casualisation, workloads and zero hour contracts.

Planned industrial action on February 21, 22, 23, 27 and 28 along with March 1 and 2 will now not go ahead. But the strike action later in the term, on March 16, 17, 20, 21 and 22 is still scheduled to take place.

The UCU has been on strike over a pay rise in line with in ation, improvements

to pensions after recent cuts, an end to casualised contracts

and a 35 hour working week.

Jo Grady, General Secretary of the UCU said: ‘We have reached a point in discussions with our employers where we have made signicant progress across a range of issues.

'To allow our ongoing negotiations to continue in a constructive environment we have agreed to pause action across our pay and working conditions and USS pensions disputes for the next two weeks and create a period of calm.

'Before going into details of the progress we have made we want to make it absolutely clear that this is simply a pause.’

The dispute over pensions began more than a decade ago, but was reignited by the revaluation of the pension scheme used by academic sta - the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS).

The Bristol branch of the UCU stated online that 'this is only a pause. Joint unions have not called o all scheduled strikes. Our next UCU day of scheduled strike action and Bristol UCU picketing is Thursday, 16th March.' Although strikes are postponed, action short of a strike is still in force. This means many UCU members will not, for example, reschedule teaching or perform voluntary tasks.

UCU strikes: Freya Shaw

Editorial

Back when Epigram was founded in 1988, few could have predicted the digital revolution that would change the world of journalism forever. With the advent of modern technologies and the creation of social media platforms, journalism has shifted to a full 24hour, 365 day a year operation. And at Epigram we are no di erent. We publish content on our website all day, every day alongside our regular print outing. When Mark and I rst sat down to discuss our plans for Epigramfor the year, one word was at the top of both of our lists – multimedia. These days, a newspaper is no longer just de ned by its print but also by its digital content, and this is an element we have really tried to work on this year. I was there reporting from the picket line with live video interviews of the second round of the University and College’s Union (UCU) strikes, which was then embedded with the written report on the website as well as being shared to our YouTube channel and TikTok account. Our philosophy is now how a story can work not just for print but also for online, Twitter or TikTok. This has required our Creative Directors to develop a nuanced understanding of the di erent styles of content demanded by each platform. As you can see by the plethora of content streaming across our various outlets, this is a task that Oscar and Freya have taken to with alacri-

Women in Media Careers Week: 13-17

At Epigram we celebrate diverse voices within our student population and aim to create a strong network within our editorial team, writers, and readers.

With this month marking the nationally-celebrated Women’s History Month, we decided to actively engage with the celebration of women’s contribution to society and work to combat ongoing barriers women face. An important aim for myself and one of our Creative Director Freya was to create a supportive and inspirational Women in Media Careers talk during our tenure at Epigram.

I began by contacting key female Bristol alumni who now work successfully in media to put together the paper’s rst ever Women in Media Careers Week, running from March 13-17 in Bristol. The careers week promises to be an ambitious series of panel talks, one online and three in person, which culminates in a networking co ee morning hosted at Starling’s cafe in Clifton. There is a notable di culty with accessing careers in the world of media, encompassing varied jobs from writing to presenting or editing, so we have endeavoured to

ty and a meticulous eye for detail. We have also launched brand new section-dedicated Instagram accounts, so drop them a follow to see their full range of excellent articles. Also, this year, our deputy editor Sana, has been producing a documentary on the complexity of modern slavery in Bristol, featuring interviews with world-leading academics, charities, and other organisations to shed a light on an under-reported societal issue. It is set to premier later this year and so be sure to keep an eye on our social media feeds to see the nished documentary. Video is not the only area of area of multimedia journalism that we produce. We host our own excellent biweekly podcast, the Epicast, hosted by deputy editor Marine and our two creative directors Freya and Oscar, as well as the usual range and depth of content across our newly redesigned website and social media channels. Epigram as a multimedia organisation is continuing to grow. We are extremely proud of the reputation we have, the work we’ve have done and the work we will continue to produce.

James Dowden Co-Editor-in-Chief

Epigram is a stage upon which students can demonstrate and ne-tune their seemingly endless talents, from writing and photographing, to sound-editing and event

organising. And co-editing this paper has shown me the sheer depth of skill and passion that simmers beneath the surface of our pool of writers. It is a privilege to have the chance to foreground as much student-produced content as possible through running this newspaper. But the bureaucratic beast that is the student newspaper can become kafka-esque in scale. Which is why I would like to thank all the editing team for their herculean dedication to their roles. Alongside course work (especially for many of our nal year students), myriad other creative projects, buzzing social lives and extra-curricular pursuits, our editors spend countless hours perfecting their sections. Their work allows the paper to function, thereby helping other students to grow their skills. The committment and industrious attitude of our team this year has enabled Epigram to reach new heights and progress like never before. As we begin to think about life after university, and having witnesses their work rst hand, I am excited to follow the journalistic careers of those in the team who want to pursue a career in the industry. To the individuals listed to the right of this page - thank you and keep up the good work!

Mark Ross Co-Editor-in-Chief

Editorial Team 2022/23

Epigram

Co-Editors-in-Chief: James Dowden and Mark Ross

Deputy Editors: Marine Saint and Alexander Sampson

Creative Directors: Freya Shaw and Oscar Hunter

News Editor: Radhika Gurnani

Deputy Editor: Lena Stein

Digital Editor: Aeliya Bilgrami

Subeditor: Shreyas Kanna

Features

Editor: Lauren Sanderson

Deputy Editor: Lily Farrant

Digital Editor: Tamara Letts

Investigations Editor: Aidan Szabo-Hall

Subeditor: Dan Hutton

Music Editor: Oscar Ross

Co-Deputy Editors: Jake Paterson and Josh Templeman

Digital Editor: Sam Cox

Sci-Tech

Editor: Emily Barrett

Deputy Editor: Dhristi Agarwal

Digital Editor: Carla Rosario

Investigations Editor: Tiberiu Toca

Opinion

Co-Editor: Quinn Clearwater

Co-Editor: Nina Micciche

Digital Editor: Laurie Hallam

Columnist: Katie Sowerby

Subeditor: Eve Bentley-Hussey

Arts

Editor: Rianna Houghton

Deputy Editor: Melissa Braine

Digital Editor: Pheobe Caine

Critic Columnist: Milan Perera

Subeditor: Ella Fraser

Film & TV

Editor: Evelyn Heis

Deputy Editor: Jake Tickle

Digital Editor: Amelia Jacob

Investigations Editor: Kalila Smith

Sport

Editor: Joe Green

Deputy Editor: Jojo Lewis

Digital Editor: Louis Edward

Investigations Editor: Eddie McAteer

Creative Team

Director: Charlotte Carpenter

Visual Designer: Elsie King

The Croft

Co-Editors-in-Chief: Emily Fromant and Nicole Quy

Style

Editor: Molly Grogan

Deputy Editor: Mia Flock

Digital Editor: Amy Marshall

Subeditor: Bea Buchanan-Lee

Food

Editor: Saiba Haque

Deputy Editor: Maya Glantz

Digital Editor: Lara Inglis-Jones

Subeditor: Emma Witham

Wellbeing

Editor: Sophia Smith

Deputy Editor: Ursula Glendinning

Digital Editor: Helen March

Subeditor: Zara Whistler

Travel

Editor: Finnuala Brett

Deputy Editor: Grace Burton

Digital Editor: Isobel Edmonson

Subeditor: Eve Baird

Lifestyle

Editors: Nicole Quy and Emily Fromant

Subeditor: Sophie Robertson

Want to write for us?

Bristol observes candle-lit vigil for murdered trans teenager Brianna Ghey

have been the target of a hate crime.

• The

held at College Green, took place on February 11

vigil,

• Epigram discusses the event with organisers

Milan Perera News Reporter

Over hundred people gathered for a candle-lit vigil at College Green dedicated to the memory of Brianna Ghey, a 16 year-old trans girl whose body was discovered at a park in Culcheth, Warrington, on Saturday, February 11.

Brianna was pronounced dead at the scene after sustaining suspected stab wounds. A boy and a girl, both 15, have been arrested in connection with the incident. The police investigating the murder of the trans teenager considering whether she could

The vigil began with a minute silence in remembrance of Brianna Ghey followed by contributions from the attendees which included poems, personal re ections and songs.

Among those who contributed were trans teenagers, trans activists, local trans artists and parents of trans children. They all conveyed profound sorrow, loss and calls for swift action to stop violence against the trans community.

For one of the speakers it was a sobering reminder of the vitriolic hatred that still exists towards the trans community as only few months ago

Trans Remembrance Day was marked on the same spot to commemorate the victims of transphobic violence.

The vigil was observed near a tree tied with strands of ribbons to remember individual trans members who lost their lives due to violence. A new strand was tied to the tree in memory Brianna.

While there was a sombre and digni ed mood throughout the event, it

was one of strength and de ance as well against what the speakers called years of transphobic rhetoric and violence. There was a musical re ection on the accordion and a group rendition of the song ‘It’s Okay To Cry’ by the late transgender artist SOPHIE. Speaking exclusively to Epigram, one of the organisers who wished to remain anonymous pointed out that: 'We are here tonight in memory of Brianna Ghey who was murdered recently. She was a 16-year-old girl. There is a lot of anger and sadness in the trans community right now. She was transgender and we feel like this fact has been erased by the police and the media coverage who don’t seem to take seriously the fact that there’s a good possibility that she was murdered for being trans. That’s why we are here to add a pink ribbon to our memorial tree because pink was her favourite colour, in memory of her.' Leeds, Edinburgh, Oxford, Glasgow, Dublin, Brighton and Belfast are among the other cities who are set to hold vigils for Brianna Ghey.

Mark Ross Co-Editor-in-Chief

What do Bristol students think about the most pressing issues on campus?

The SU’s Annual Members’ Meeting (AMM) provided two of the topics that are splitting student opinion.

This event, which took place on Monday 13 February, was a chance to direct the SU's leadership team to pursue policies for three years.

One of the motions due to be raised at the meeting was ‘Should the SU be 100 per cent plant-based’.

Despite the prevalence of plantbased diets amongst the student population, 65 per cent of students who responded to our Instagram poll opposed the idea.

Another topic debated at the AMM was related to the University's divestment from companies related to the arms trade.

The motion, which was up for renewal, called on the SU to oppose all careers events which were attended by arms companies with al-

This Week in Numbers

This Week in Numbers

leged links to human rights abuses.

This provoked intense discussion, which is analysed in greater detail on page 4.

Members of Aerosoc, the University's Aerospace Engineering society, spoke against the motion due to its disproportionate impact upon Aerospace students.

As we approach exam season, we also asked for students’ opinion on in-person exams.

The results were overwhelmingly against, re ecting how normal post-covid arrangements have become.

Looking further a eld, following the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon, we questioned whether students really care about what goes on north of the border.

57 per cent answered that they do indeed care about who becomes the next Scottish premier.

Although students were split over most of this week's questions, they strongly agreed that exams should remain online, or open book.

Want to know what students think about a certain issue? Let us know your questions @Epigrampaper_.

College Green: Milan Perera

e candelit vigil: Milan Perera

SU’s Annual Members Meeting: 'This is not how democracy should be carried out'

prospects of Aerospace graduates. The motion prompted a series of impassioned speeches on both sides of the debate. Speaking on behalf of AeroSoc, Reuben Bouchard-Saunders proposed the motion be split to nd a middle ground, a move which generated procedural confusion and exasperation amongst audience and organisers alike.

Mark Ross

Co-Editor-in-Chief

The Students' Union Annual Members Meeting (AMM), which took place on Monday 13 February, has faced criticism from students following a series of controversial debates and procedural di culties.

The SU’s largest democratic event of the year, the AMM is a chance for students to have their voice heard

Unfortunately, the debate prompted certain individuals to resort to abuse and aggressive behaviour both in-person and online. One individual, speaking via Microsoft Teams, is reported to have stated the Aerospace students ‘will never see the light of heaven’ for their connection to these companies.

An in-person speaker responding to AeroSoc’s arguments is also reported to have likened the department’s students to ‘murderers’.

mittee would attempt to suggest the results obtained were potentially invalid with no justi cation.’

The full results of the Annual Member’s Meeting are still to be published by the Student’s Union.

The Students' Union responded:

'Thanks to everyone who came to ourrecentAnnualMember’sMeeting.

'Wetakeourdemocraticprocesses veryseriouslyandthesewerestrictly followed by the elected students of the Democratic Standards CommitteeandelectedStudentCouncilChair.

'We are obviously concerned about the feedback that we’ve received from some students who attended the meeting.

'Everyone who has contacted us directly has been given the opportunity to meet with our democracy team–we’remorethanhappytodiscussanyissuesstudentswishtoraise, aswellassuggestionsforthefuture.

'I am also speaking to key sta members and our Democratic Standards Committee to look at how we can improve the experience at future democratic events.”

by the Students' Union. Individuals can propose motions which, if passed, must be implemented by SU o cers for at least three years.

It is also a chance to decide whether to renew previous motions, which expire after a three-year period.

Tensions escalated when the motion ‘Let’s Disarm Bristol! Lobby the

In an open letter to the SU, Bouchard-Saunders has raised concern with the lack of ‘clear and effective’ responses to this behaviour, stating that ‘this is not how fair and free debate should be carried out’. Concerns were also raised regarding the procedural handling of the event. There were allegations of

Adam Michael, Union A airs O cer

University of Bristol students raise funds for Turkey and Syria

Will Standring News Reporter

University to End Ties with Arms Trade Companies’ was raised to be renewed. The motion directed the SU to call on the University to ‘to divest from arms trade companies linked to alleged human rights abuses’, and ‘to support any student movement against arms trade links in the University of Bristol’.

It sought the University’s divestment from ‘arms companies linked to human rights abuses’ through targeting careers fairs attended by these companies and pushing the SU to lobby the University to ‘create a progressive plan to divest from arms trade companies’.

The proposal was opposed by members of AeroSoc, the University’s Aerospace Engineering Department Society, who argued, among other points, that this motion has a disproportionate impact upon the career

individuals being photographed while voting, without consequence.

The hybrid nature of the event allegedly also led to votes being collected via emoji reacts to group chat messages.

AeroSoc raised concerns regarding the Chair’s comments on the validity of the results. Organisers stated that the threatening online messages implied that the results (which are normally rati ed) may not be by the student council.

In the open letter, Bouchard-Saunders stated that ‘this suggestion that the results of a vote could be e ectively thrown out was backed up with zero supporting arguments, and felt simply like a statement to reassure some voters that the result was potentially invalid.

‘It is appalling that the Chair of a democratic and impartial com-

University of Bristol’s Turkish Society has announced several days of fundraising for the victims of Monday’s earthquake.

The initial earthquake, magnitude 7.8, hit Southern Turkey at 4:17 am local time on Monday and was followed by a 7.5 magnitude aftershock at 1:25 in the afternoon.

Neighbouring nations Israel, Jordan and Lebanon all felt the shocks, but it was Syria and Turkey where the quakes have done the most damage. The combined Syrian and Turkish death toll has passed 22,750 and is rising as rescue e orts continue, often in sub-zero conditions.

TurkSoc told Epigram: ‘As Turkish society this disaster hits home for us, so we want to do whatever we can to help our brothers and sisters back in our home country. It is likely this is going to be a long-term situation so as many proceeds possible is important, and urgently needed.

'Proceeds can make a big di erence for a ected families who have nothing right now, have lost their homes or require search and rescue e orts to rescue members of the community.

Any support and e ort to support the Turkey-Syria earthquake is appreciated and every little bit of it matters.'

UoB’s Turkish society’s e orts begin on Saturday when they will be bucketing in Cabot Circus.

Stationed in front of the Primark, the TurkSoc volunteers will be accepting donations (cash and card) and spreading awareness.

In a post on their Instagram story, they said they ‘appreciate everything’, be that emotional or nancial support.

Students looking to volunteer can join the TurkSoc WhatsApp chat using the following link: https://tr.ee/GehT4La5hJ

On Monday, TurkSoc will be hosting a baking event in the Multifaith Chaplaincy (Woodland Road) from 6-9 pm. Entry to the event costs £3, which covers the cost of ingredients with any excess funds being donated to charity.

Tickets can be purchased via the Society app.

A speaker responding to AeroSoc's arguments is reported to have likened the department's students to 'murderers'

'Everyone who has contacted us directly has been given the opportunity to meet with our democracy team'

e AMM: Bristol SU

• The AMM was marked by claims of undemocratic proceedings

• AeroSoc challenge the SU over their running of the event

Volunteers outside Senate: Ruby Kingsley

Twitter: @EpigramOpinion

Student group claim: Should students be seeking compensation for strikes?

Is there any point trying to claim compensation for missed teaching hours?

As the rift between university staff and their employers grows, it’s hard being a student caught in the crossfire. The strikes distort our university experience, stripping us of key aspects of our education and routine, and do so with no real indication of compensation. The UCU regard the strikes as ‘always a last resort’, and a means to ‘defend [our] education’, but another might question how losing out on an expensive education is something you should simply let happen. This isn’t to say the staff aren’t also victims. They don’t want us to suffer and the fact that they have to use the students’ plight as leverage to prompt action from the university is telling. The reasons for striking are complicated, but to be put simply there are two main reasons for these walkouts: pay and pensions. Our teaching staff are contesting their salaries and the existence of zero-hour contracts in regards to pay; and in regards to pension. They are contesting their pension fund being last valued during the economic crisis post-COVID - hence, devaluing it. Just as we feel unjustly treated for missing out on our contact hours, our staff justifiably feel as if their employers have let them down.

This all seems to suggest that we should look to the employers, our university’s administrators, for insight on compensation. With the staff taking on the university about finances, a student might take it on about academic compensation. Missing out on contact hours, yet still being tested on the full course’s content, seems unjust. With this comes the looming concern that this injustice might damage your final grade, and this final grade will affect your future job prospects, and this will then set your whole life on a downwards spiral - but this isn’t really the case.

The strikes don’t send the university into a complete lockdown by

any means: libraries remain open, as do the subject buildings and the Student's Union. The opportunity to continue your studies is available to all students, as well as the chance to stay on top of your work. This might seem cynical, but it's not as if we have a choice. Academic compensation is a tricky subject due to the subjectivity of a student’s experience in these strikes. Especially in subjects with a large cohort, where one seminar group might miss a two-hour discussion on a learning cycle, that same week another group will have that exact discussion. Students cannot simply demand compensation because of the university making departments cut content, as within a subject, two different students might have covered completely different content.

‘Well if I can’t get that, then I want my money back’ - this is the next logical step in this conversation, but again, it's not that simple. Firstly, with the university being seemingly reluctant to give away more money than they need to, it immediately looks like wishful thinking that they’ll consider compensating us financially. Again, cynical, but due to the subjectivity of each student’s strike experience, a definitive monetary resolve would be fragmented and practically incalculable.

Universities are, strictly-speaking, businesses. Given they stay open and running, even despite these strikes, this alone might provide grounds for them to not directly compensate their students. This is not to say you are fighting a lost cause in taking on

the university for compensation, but it seems like financial compensation will never make everybody happy. But your university experience isn’t specifically limited to how much money you put in, and how much education you get. Perhaps compensation doesn't have to be limited to financial or academic means? Take, for example, the money a university gains from not paying their striking workers: regardless of whether the staff eventually gain a satisfactory resolution, it seems logical that this money be used on the student. If this money goes nowhere, then the universities are profiting from the strike. It seems appropriate that the students demand action. Again, it is impossible that this money should be fairly distributed, depending on strike impact. However, if it is pumped into the university to make it an overall better place, this seems a suitable compromise. This would not have to be limited to this specific money, either, as the university should probably go further and provide further means to improve itselfand this is where students can act.

As staff ask us to stand in solidarity with them in the strikes, students can go further and try and work towards this dispute ending in the university being a better place. From actual enhancements to the university facilities, to benefits the university could provide its students, what should be ultimately pursued is compensation that improves our student experience and stops the university profiting from these strikes.

Sowerby Eve Bentley-Hussey

Should Marvin Rees Stand as an MP?

What is next for the soon-to-be former mayor of Bristol?

Almost a year after Bristol opted to abandon the mayoral system, the political future of Marvin Rees remains unclear. The electorate voted for the return of the committee system, vesting decision-making powers among councillors, rather than the mayor’s office, forcing Rees to look at alternative options. Suggestions have included a move from local to national politics, involving a run to become a Westminster MP, which Rees himself has previously touted.

Various factors will inform this decision, starting with the availability of opportunities to become a Labour candidate.

Labour holds all four constituencies in Bristol, including Bristol West – represented by Thangam Debbonaire, the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons.

The majorities within all these areas are healthy, with electoral trends likely to enhance Labour’s vote share. It is unlikely Rees would risk angering the Labour leadership by challenging a Shadow Cabinet member.

Bristol North West MP Darren Jones is also developing a national profile, hindering a Rees campaign in this constituency.

However, with the potential of boundary changes to the political map and the probable creation of a fifth constituency (Bristol North East), there is likely to be a substantial impact on Bristol politics.

Despite alterations to their own constituency boundaries, both the MPs for the Bristol East and Bristol South communities are set to stand in those same areas, creating a vacancy in the new constituency that would likely be the focus of Rees’ efforts.

Local party members could be resistant, arguing that Rees is simply using the area as a platform to further his political ambitions.

Despite this, Rees’ political career so far has received widespread praise, while also representing vital progress for minority ethnic communities, becoming the first person of black African heritage to be directly elected mayor in a major European city.

These achievements must not be understated, helping to combat his-

torical issues for minority representation, particulary relevant to Bristol – a city defined for generations by racial tensions. If Rees combines his unique experiences and perspectives with his visible platform, he could have a transformative effect as a local MP that is hard to overlook.

Rees has a genuine understanding of Bristol – having been raised in a working-class area in Lawrence Weston and employed in various positions within the city before his political career began.

The vote to abolish the position is viewed by some to be rooted in dissatisfaction with Rees, with other mayors possessing similar powers like Andy Street in the West Midlands faring better in their electoral fortunes. However, the extent to which this is true is difficult to gauge, with the referendum result also reflecting systematic disillusionment, rather than personal issues.

Labour’s dominance within Bristol has been endangered by an energised Green Party movement, the largest party on the city council. As a result, concentrating power in a singular elected official has become an insufficient way of reflecting the varied views of Bristolians.

Any campaign in Bristol North East Rees enters would almost certainly involve focus on his record as mayor. Attacks from opponents may utilise previous criticism seen during the referendum campaign, often pointing to his inability to build a consensus and authoritarian tendencies during his time in office. These may be hard to counter, especially considering they are echoed by ex-Labour councillors like Jo Sergeant, who defected to the Greens after detailing similar concerns.

In response, Rees is likely to argue his national profile will provide important influence and publicity for his constituents. Convincing those same constituents that this move is not merely an attempt to move up the political ladder and serve future leadership ambitions is vital.

The favourable conditions for a Westminster run are there for Rees, with a new constituency providing a unique opening for the mayor. His prominence will likely encourage the Labour leadership to back his run. However, facing the electorate will provide an intriguing test – with his ability to combat scrutiny on his record as mayor and overcome careerist arguments crucial.

Tommy Allday English, Second Year

Edward Cleaver Politics and IR, Second Year

UCU Strikes: James Dowden

The Church of England and LGBTQI+ people

The Church of England may have apologised for the treatment of LGBTI+ people through the years - but can they be sincere in their apology when not allowing for same-sex marriage?

Milan Perera Arts Critic Columnist, Third Year

After an impassioned and often hair-splitting debate lasting more than eight hours, the Church of England’s national assembly, the General Synod, voted by 250 votes to 181 to back a proposal by bishops intended to bring a long-awaited resolution to its teaching on sexuality and LGBTQI+ people.

The synod also agreed that the Church will apologise for the way it has treated LGBTQ+ people. It welcomed a forthcoming review of a ban on clergy entering into same-sex civil marriages and a celibacy rule for clergy in same-sex relationships. It stipulated that ‘the C of E will publicly, unreservedly and joyfully welcome same-sex couples in church’ for bless-

Could this refusal to grant full recognition to same-sex marriage be the Church's desperate attempt to hold on to their last bastion, Africa?

ings. On the whole, this is to be celebrated as a minor victory on the long road to full equality for LGBTQI+ people within the CoE. But is it just another juicy bone in the direction of the progressive faction of the church with not much substance to munch on?

But a quick glance at the statistics might shed some light on the adamant refusal of CoE to grant full equality to its LGBTQI+ clergy and laity. Although the Church of England stands as the state church where the King is the head, its numbers have been dwindling at a rapid pace where more and more church buildings are becoming empty and obsolete.

The African continent has been a bulwark of Anglican faith where it steadily grew despite its dwindling numbers in England. The number of Anglican faithful in Nigeria tops the world Anglican communion with a staggering 17.5 million while in Uganda and Sudan it reads 8 million and 5 million respectively. Could this

refusal to grant full recognition to same-sex marriage be the church’s desperate attempt to hold onto its last bastion, Africa? It is undisputed that the status of the LGBTQI+ people in Africa remains poor. The root of this prejudice is directly linked to the regressive laws codified into the legal systems of these countries by the British. These anti-LGBTQI+ legislations have ossified in these countries.

Martin Warner, the bishop of Chichester, rightly pointed out that that equal marriage would ‘under-

'What's wrong with Birmingham?'

tionalists nor the progressives. Samy Fawzy Shehata, the archbishop of Alexandria in Egypt, told the synod that ‘crossing this line of blessing same-sex unions will alienate 75 per cent of the Anglican Communion’. For progressives, this is another

'Crossing this line of blessing same-sex unions will alienate 75 per cent of the Anglican Communion’.

example of the church’s failure to recognise the dignity of LGBTQI+ members. With this refusal to recognise the equal status of marriage, the commitment and love of samesex partners is questioned. When you thought that there is a sudden shift towards progress that ugly head rears again. There were some jaw-dropping pronouncements from the Synod such as that included a bishop suggesting gay marriages would lead to polyamory and another member of the Synod likening Pride celebrations to paedophilia!

Jasmine Belle discusses why there is a negative stigma around Birmingham and urges people to deconstruct the origins of their opinions

Jasmine Belle Spanish

and Italian, Second Year

Ihave experienced on many occasions at university that moment when I tell people where I am from, and a barrage of negative opinions spill out of their mouths. ‘My dad told me I could go to any university but not Birmingham’, ‘I know someone who got mugged there three times’ or (my favourite) ‘Birmingham is a fun place … don’t, get me wrong it is a sh*thole though’. When asking one of these people ‘Have you ever actually been to Birmingham?’, their response was ‘No, thank God not.’

ern. Or perhaps it is the notoriously unpopular accent (which I do not think is bad at all). When being told I am lucky I do not have this accent, it is not at all a compliment.

In my opinion, this negative attitude toward Birmingham is often an unconscious bias. We are a city of immigrants; always have been and very much still are. From the Irish immigrants who dug out the canals (the city has more than Venice), to the folk of the Windrush generation (including my grandfather from St Kitts), people from South Asia, West Africa, Eastern Europe, the list goes on.

51 per cent of Birmingham’s population are people of colour according to the 2021 census

Birmingham is a city that is always moving, its identity constantly in flux.

mine trust within the Anglican Communion and be seen in some of the poorest countries of the world as a new imperialism’. Stephen Kaziimba, the archbishop of Uganda, was emphatic when he said: ‘God cannot bless what he calls sin. The C of E has departed from the Anglican faith and are now false teachers’.

To ride roughshod over the traditionally held views on marriage in Africa and to introduce progressive ideas of inclusivity and equality could be seen as expressions of new moral imperialism

Here lies the dilemma for the CoE: to ride roughshod over the traditionally held views on marriage in Africa and to introduce progressive ideas of inclusivity and equality could be seen as expressions of new moral imperialism. Even if the CoE would like to bring radical measures to address the historical injustices against LGBTQI+ people and grant them full recognition as they deserve, it could still be seen as a cavalier measure. The worst fear for the CoE at the moment is a massive exodus of African churches from the worldwide Anglican communion in order to forge their own identity based on church’s traditional teachings on marriage. The shots have already been fired and the upper echelon of CoE is pleasing neither the tradi-

The CoE still yields an enormous power over the inhabitants of this land where there are 26 bishops sitting in the Upper House of Parliament. Not only this but also it runs a quarter of all primary schools and over 200 secondary schools attended by a million children.

The church has a responsibility to be a shining beacon to those millions who may not share communion with them. Did not Jesus, the undeniable guiding light of Christians, say ‘let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven’. And in another place did he not reprimand against quasi piety and say ‘whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’?

There is an ingrained national prejudice against Birmingham

It astounds me how the people who express these opinions do not seem to show any regard for how I might feel about my own city. Do they not realise it is insulting to openly criticise where someone else is from, especially when they don’t even know the person or place? Surely, if we were talking about other aspects of my identity, such as race or religion, they would think twice.

Therefore, my only conclusion from these encounters is that there is an ingrained national prejudice against my city. Make no mistake, I was aware of this before I left for Bristol.

However, hearing the opinions of non-Brummies at university has made this crystal clear.

Birmingham is the second biggest city in the UK with a population of over 1 million. We are, also, the youngest city in Europe (with the highest fraction of people under the age of 25) and one of the greenest in the continent. Most people I speak to at uni are not even aware of this first fact (no, the second biggest city is NOT Manchester); testament to how overlooked we are.

So why is it that so many people have a prejudice against my city?

Perhaps our lack of recognition as a city comes from our geographical location. Birmingham sits in the heart of England, the Midlands. This puts us in the precarious position of being neither Northern nor South-

I think that the fact there are so many people from different ethnic backgrounds (51 per cent of Birmingham’s population are people of colour according to the 2021 census) causes people from particularly white, middle-class areas of the country to struggle to identify with the city.

Therefore, they unconsciously have a negative view of it.

This is intrinsically linked to Birmingham’s history as a working-class city and a pivotal location during the industrial revolution. It’s no wonder that the formerly named ‘Workshop of the World’ and ‘The City of a Thousand Trades’ has attracted

The industrial heritage of Birmingham may mean that the city is not conventiuonally attractive as somewhere like Bristol

many immigrants over the years.

Of course, this industrial heritage may mean that the city is not as conventionally attractive as somewhere like Bristol. However, it is important to recognise that it is cities like Birmingham that have fuelled the construction of the rest of the country. It is working-class people and immigrants who have been at the forefront of this. It is concerning how this intersection of race and class seem to influence our society’s perception of a place. All in all, I hope that anyone reading this will think twice when tempted to say something disparaging about my city. Try and deconstruct where your opinions come from and why you think this. If you have never visited, please, keep your opinions to yourself!

Catholic Church of England and Wales/ Flickr

Jack Lucas Smith / Unsplash

Should people be expected to study maths until they are

18?

Following Rishi Sunak's recent comments, is he correct in arguing that maths should be prioritised?

Georgia McInnes

English Literature, Master's student

Once you get past the initial nightmare of being thrown back into your school years, struggling over algebra, one might think Rishi Sunak is doing something positive, with his comment that everyone should be expected to study maths until they are 18. However, following recent news surrounding the defunding of humanities and similar degrees, perhaps there is something more sinister going on here.

At the beginning of 2023, Primer Minister Rishi Sunak announced that he is considering a plan that

maths does weave its way into our lives. Perhaps you work in a shop and need to count the correct amount of change, or maybe you are browsing a sale and need to gure out 20% of the original price. It is everywhere, but do we really need more years of maths? Why can’t the maths we are taught from the start of school be adapted to become more practical? Why can’t the curriculum teach us about taxes?

Critics have also pointed out that we simply do not have enough math teachers. The Association of School and College Leaders said that with the severe shortage of maths teachers - Sunak’s plan is currently unachievable. In 2021, it was recorded that there are 39,000 English teachers across state secondary schools in England, while there are only 35,771 maths teachers.

These statistics play into the types of jobs students get depending upon the degree they take. The highest paying jobs are given to those who studying STEM-based subjects like

Is it acceptable that the BRIT awards

'Best

Artist' nominees are all men?

The answer to the lack of maths teachers, therefore, would be to increase their pay, which is down to the government and by extension Sunak himself. With the current teacher strikes across the UK, there would be no better time for Rishi to answer these protests and accommodate a pay rise into his plan.

Nonetheless, I doubt these protests will be heard. There seem to

In 2021, it was recorded that there were 39,000 English teachers across state secondary schools in England, while there were only 35,771 maths teachers.

be deeper political undertones to Sunak’s latest statement, a development to another he made near the end of 2022. Sunak vowed to drop university degrees that would not improve students earning potential, ones that he regarded as useless. One way he would do this would be to reduce funding for the humanities, making the primary aim of attending university studying to get a well-paid job — removing all the fun. Ultimately, Sunak believes that humanities students waste government money and instead students should be persuaded into STEM while at school.

This raises concerns that Sunak is attempting to direct young impressionable students into STEM subjects is an aim to remove their political consciousness which

Sunak believes that humanities students waste government money and instead students should be persuaded into STEM

can be gained through humanities courses and wider literature.

would ensure that all school pupils in England would study maths in some form until the age of 18. In his speech, Rishi claimed that ‘In a world where data is everywhere and statistics underpin every job, letting our children out into the world without those skills is letting our children down.’ Unless chosen as an A-Level, most school pupils no longer study maths after the age of 16. In fact, according to Sunak just half of 16 to 19-year-olds study maths in some form, whether that be in a science course or undertaking a compulsory GCSE maths re-sit. In school, students will always complain that they are never going to need to know the circumference of a circle — that maths is pointless. However, there is no denying that

maths, the sciences or computing, in comparison to humanities subjects like English or history. Graduates with the skills for investment banking could earn up to £60,000 a year meanwhile as maths teachers they would be looking at £36,000— a signi cant reduction in annual income. Alternatively, an English student looking to go into publishing may be looking at a starting salary of £22,778, which would explain the huge contrast in the number of English versus maths teachers.

This battle between two cultures, humanities and STEM is not new, it existed in the 1960s with The Snow/Leavis controversy.

A ferocious disagreement between Leavis’ attempt to keep literary intellectuals in the conversation and Snow’s desire to remove their authority and elevate that of scientists.

Nonetheless, both scholars were in mutual agreement that the education system required change.

This is the same ght that is ongoing between Sunak and the humanities departments at present.

It is the job of the humanities students, therefore, to read between the lines of these comments made by the likes of Sunak and not let his comments erase the power of their subjects.

Beatrice Learmouth Politics and Russian, Second Year

The decision to make categories at the BRIT awards gender-neutral last year was a step in the right direction for the music industry. However, this year, all the nominees for ‘Best Artist’ were men. Why with an abundance of successful women in the music industry could this possibly happen?

Last year’s decision by the BRITs to scrap gender-speci c categories was certainly a bold one. They decided to introduce gender-neutral categories in 2022 after singer Sam Smith was unable to be nominated for an award due to his identi cation as non-binary. The usual accusations and altercations circulated when the decision was made, as when any other move towards gender neutrality is taken. #TERFs (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists) inevitably starts to trend on Twitter and the dreaded clip of Piers Morgan ranting about the ‘woke brigade’ emerges. The move, in my view, is absolutely a positive one, but these tiresome debates seem to ignore the real problem highlighted by this year’s nominations.

In 2022, The UK Music Diversity Report showed that the industry was dominated by women. But when it comes to more

ed for the ‘Best Artist’ award and not Florence and the Machine seems a tad idiotic. A reform of the nominations process may be necessary to ensure women are still being recognised despite external factors. If two categories are being combined, why halve the number of nominees? Having 10 nominees would ensure the same number of artists are getting recognised as before.

I nd the suggestion of introducing quotas by Owen Jones to be abhorrent. It would simply make female artists feel as if they are only receiving the award due to the simple fact they are a woman. No one wants to feel as if they are receiving an award out of pity. The introduction of gender-neutral categories

senior roles, the gures are far bleaker.

Only three per cent of music producers in the top 100 are women, and in 2019, only 14 per cent of writers and 20 per cent of artists signed to UK publishers were women. So what’s going on? The music industry simply still appears to be incapable of recognising female achievement and encouraging women in the industry.

This year, 13 of the 71 artists eligible for the ‘Artist of the Year’ award were women. This indicates a much wider problem which is out of the control of the BRITs organisers, but that is not to say they are entirely devoid of blame. Although there are fewer female artists, there were still many that were eligible for the award. I’m no expert in what makes a good artist but the fact that George Ezra was nominat-

does arguably solve this problem.

After Serena Williams received Sports Illustrated’s ‘Sports Person of the Year’ award, she said it was the rst time she was ‘ever recognised as Sports Person of the Year’ (rather than sportswoman), which ‘really, really meant a lot.’ It’s insulting to suggest women need a whole separate category or quotas so they are able to be recognised.

Given that Adele won last year, it’s already been shown that women can be successful when pitted against men despite the discrimination they face.

This whole debate would be unnecessary if the music industry wasn’t skewed in men’s favour.

I’m not entirely optimistic, I don’t foresee a year when all nominees for ‘Best Artist’ will be women.

This whole debate would be unnecessary if the music industry wasn’t skewed in men’s favour. This year’s nominations for ‘Best Artist’ show that it is not the gender-neutral categories which need to be changed if female artists are ever to feel fully appreciated, but the systemic workings of the music industry. So thank you BRITs, for showing us just how much the feminist movement is still needed despite what seemed like progress.

The music industry simply appears to be incapable of recognising female achievement

Photo courtesy of Ed Bell / Flickr

The answer to the lack of maths teachers, therefore, would be to increase their pay, which is down to the government and by extension Sunak

Ministry of Housing: Flickr

We need to update our awards ceremonies to re ect modern standards of inclusivity

Deputy Editor Digital Editor

Why aren't lecturers striking?

#EmbraceEquity

Annie McNamee

First Year Film and English

It just feels a bit unfair.' These are the words of a second year student discussing the amount of teaching time that has been lost due to the impact of Coronavirus and strike action.

Whilst supporting lecturers’ reasons for undertaking industrial action, she couldn’t help feeling upset at the signi cant impact that strikes have had on students’ studies.

Four years ago, a global pandemic and subsequent cost of living crisis would have sounded like a bad dream. Now, the concept of a normal academic year of uninterrupted education would seem much more far-fetched for many students.

With 18 days of industrial action planned across February and March, university lecturers are joining almost 500,000 workers across Britain in demanding fairer pay and improved working conditions. Lecturers are concerned about the lowering of employer pension contributions — the average lecturer is forecasted to lose 35 per cent of their retirement income — and the prevalence of workforce casualisation, a process by

pay and conditions. Others, however, are nancially unable to forgo 18 days worth of pay to protest alongside their colleagues. This is ironic, given the fact that pay increases are one of the central demands of the strikes, as lecturers have seen their salaries fall by an average of 11 per cent from 2010 to 2022.

Every academic who spoke to Epigram, including those who were joining the industrial action, said it was a di cult decision to make, given the detrimental effect that 18 days of strike action will have on students’ learning.

A French tutor, who wished to remain anonymous, told 15 that they couldn’t personally justify striking, given the signi cant disruption that industrial action has on students’ studies. However, out of respect for their striking colleagues, they said they would not cross a picket line.

Another explained that, despite coming from a country in which strikes are politically and socially important, they felt that it simply wasn’t fair to their students to take away so much learning time, which may be di cult to compensate for. Both were still supportive of the strikers’ causes.

Another lecturer told Epigram she was striking for a few days, rather than the entire 18, as she couldn’t a ord to take the time o .

Taking that much money out of her wages would leave her struggling to support her family. When asked if she knew of anyone else who felt similarly, she explained that those who weren’t taking part were often not advertising it: ‘You feel like you’re letting the side down, or that people will get angry with you. No one wants that.'

would threaten students’ chances of graduation. The UCU’s higher education committee met in January to decide on a marking and assessment boycott (MAB) from April, strategically targeted to hit summer graduations, unless disputes are settled. They had previously cancelled an MAB planned for January.

He apologised with a laugh for this policy: ‘I’m sure the students would be just as upset with that.'

He expressed his sympathy for students, ‘especially this cohort’, who have had a singularly challenging, and much diminished, university experience due to the impact of the pandemic.

His frustration clearly stemmed from a love for his profession. He discussed how he used to participate in votes regarding teaching and curriculums, an involvement he has now renounced. He spoke about his career with a great deal of pride, and seemed hurt at how he felt his position had become increasingly undervalued throughout: ‘When I joined [teaching] it was a community. Now, it’s a corporation.' Speaking anonymously to Epigram, a second year Law student highlighted that both her learning and ability to make new friends has been detrimentally impacted. Due to strike action, she will see her classmates in any given module a total of four times this term.

What's on in Bristol this International Women's Day?

Lauren Sanderson and Lily Farrant Features Editor and Deputy Editor

The theme of International Women’s Day (IWD) 2023 is #EmbraceEquity, focusing on how di erent parts of society require di erent opportunities and forms of support in the continued ght for gender equality. This year’s conversation revolves around the di erence between equality and equity, pushing the message that equal opportunities are no longer enough, and can even be exclusionary. While equality means equal access to resources, equity recognises the complex intersectional nature of gender. What might greatly bene t one group may not have the same e ect for another, and equity allocates the resources needed to achieve an equal outcome.

The conversation about equity hopes to encourage an active consideration of diversity in the creation and tailoring of gender-focused policies, collective activism, as well as our everyday lives. A variety of events are being held across Bristol to mark the day, celebrating womanhood while drawing awareness to the struggles and barriers that remain in place for women across the globe.

The Fitzhardinge Consort, the South West’s leading choir, are hosting Unheard Voices at Bristol Cathedral: an evening of rarely

performed music exclusively by female identifying composers from the 12th century onwards. Tickets are £15 or only £12 for under 25s. Bristol Steppin’ Sistas, a grassroots walking group of women of colour, is hosting a three to four mile walk through the magical pine wood surroundings of Goblin Coombe forest, just outside of Bristol. Reserve your spot now! For a thought-provoking stroll closer to home, join Bristol City Centre BID’s free IWD walking tour at Queen Square, from midday. Jane Du us, Bristol-based author of The Women Who Built Bristol books, will inspire you with stories of Bristol’s lesser known, pioneering women along the way. Looking for a historical day trip to end your afternoon walk? For the week of IWD, the National Trust will be sharing the stories of the women who have lived and worked at Victorian Gothic Revival house Tyntes eld. Aiming to bring together women from across Bristol’s di erent communities, an event at Bristol City Hall on 11th March will see over 100 contributors and partners running workshops, performances, exhibitions, activities. The topics will cover everything from art to well-being to debate. To make the event as inclusive as possible, there will be a creche, interpreting services and free travel available. A night of comedy and laughter at the Smoke and Mirrors Comedy & Magic Theatre Pub will raise money for One25, a Bristol based charity supporting women who have been victims of trauma and abuse. The event will start at 8pm.

which sta are employed on precarious short-term contracts with little job security. Over a third of University sta at Bristol are estimated to be members of a union, and therefore many will be joining the strikes.

Contrary to what newspaper headlines might imply, this means that more lecturers will be working than striking. While there is widespread sympathy and support for those striking—a recent YouGov poll suggests that more than 50 per cent of the public support teachers in their ght for better pay and working conditions —many lecturers are choosing to remain in work. Epigramspoke to academics at the University regarding their motives for not striking. There are multiple reasons sta may not take part in strike action. Some remain satis ed with their

One English lecturer had a di erent reason for not joining the strikes. Having previously been a member of a union for many years, he left last year, as he was becoming frustrated with how the union was being run.

He felt that the method of picking four central struggles means that union leaders can be bought o , a process which makes it easier for employers to quash industrial disputes by meeting one speci c demand rather than negotiating on all requests.

From his perspective, the strikes are ine ective because they don’t give sta enough leverage.

He suggested launching marking strikes during the summer, which

There is one feeling shared by everyone who spoke to Epigram and that is a sense of disappointment. Students are disappointed with more interruptions to their education and less teaching time for the same high fees, while striking sta are disappointed with their casual working contracts, lack of real terms pay increases and the apparent de-valuation of their once highly respected role.Unions and University representatives are working to minimise the impact of industrial action, and are hoping to reach a deal that works for everyone. If not, then the potential marking and assessment boycott could jeopardise nal year students’ hopes of starting a job after graduation, if their employer requires them to have obtained a particular degree classi cation, and sta will continue to face unfair and unstable working conditions.

Epigramspeaks to academics choosing not to partake in the ongoing UCU industrial action.

'When I joined [teaching] it was a community. Now, it's a corporation.'

'[T]he method of picking four central struggles means that union leaders can be bought

'[T]he assessment boycott could jeapordise nal year student's hopes of starting a job after graduation'

Epigram / Nadia Ferraris

Girls just wanna have fun... but can they afford it?

ly support the added costs of childcare and the inflated cost of living.

The high cost of the social culture surrounding university and many early careers can add further stress to these financial responsibilities.

One female student at the University of Bristol stated: ‘it’s hard to justify

Blaise Cloran

Second Year English

Moving away from home, starting university and securing an entry-level job with a low annual salary can place young people in a financially vulnerable position, at risk of feeling the full brunt of the cost-of-living crisis.

New research carried out by the Young Women’s Trust revealed that 52 per cent of young women are ‘filled with dread’ when they think about their household finances, with women already taking home up to a fifth less than men due to gendered pay gaps. Given the existing income inequalities, young women are especially vulnerable to the impact of rising fuel, rent and essential household costs. This inequity is partly due to gendered barriers in the workplace. As part of research conducted by the House of Commons Library, 78 per cent of reporting employers concluded that the median hourly pay was higher for men than women in their organisation. They also noted that more women obtained parttime roles with a lower wage due

COP27 in review: 'If we don't, who will?'

to unpaid childcare responsibilities. Further research by the Young Women’s Trust concluded that nearly half of young women in the South West feel that their future prospects have gotten worse over the last six months.

Many employers don’t offer work schedules that fit the domestic demands and caring responsibilities placed on young women, making it difficult for many women to increase their working hours and raise their earnings. As a result, women often undertake precarious work such as agency roles. While these positions are flexible, they can be unreliable, underpaid, and often don’t financial-

spending the little money I earn on drinks and going out when balancing my part-time job with my de

en’s self-esteem and confidence. Students also added that ‘at university the pressure to meet new people and look your best is at an all-time high’. With less money to keep up with unattainable beauty standards, largely targeted at women, some young women attested to socialising less due to lessened confidence. Further studies have shown that young women are also taking health risks and prioritizing money over their safety in order to cope with living on a lower budget, including skipping meals in efforts to make their cash last till the end of the month. One second year law student told Epigram of the unsafe situations she now faces due to her worsened financial position: ‘I already feel unsafe walking alone as a woman at night,

The Sustainability Network sought firsthand insight from Egyptian UoB students about the significance of the climate change focused conference being hosted in Egypt. Bristol SU Sustainability Network

Climate change is one of the most important issues the world is currently facing – its wide ranging consequences are already being felt at both a global and local level, making it a current and time sensitive issue. It is also a complex, intersectional matter, coinciding with issues of race, class, and gender inequality. Yet it is often viewed as a future concern.

With the hosting of COP27 in Egypt this year, the Sustainability Network sought first-hand insight from Egyptian UoB students about the implications of the climate change focused conference being hosted in their country.

storm related flooding is of major concern, with many locations having limited financial and infrastructural adaptation capacity, posing a serious risk to human lives. Concerns regarding climate change refugees and regional migration motivated by climatic and economic variables were also highlighted in these discussions.

Despite the extreme risks faced by many communities, many of the students believe that climate change has not been a focus for the Egyptian government in recent years. They explained that this could be a result of conflicting priorities, such as unemployment and poverty, as well as limited financial capacity or political will.

The students also expressed concern that political instability and corruption were hampering climate change action, a concern of many LEDCs. These worries are especially pertinent given the association between climate change and social disparities, with the most vulnerable likely to feel the impacts of climate change first.

gree is already tough’.

Currently, the government’s financial response to the cost-of-living crisis includes a 9.7 per cent increase in the national living wage for over 23s to £10.42. However, this rate does not apply to those under the age of 23. The government is also yet to offer financial support for childcare costs, providing little aid to young women who are struggling to afford vital services such as nurseries.

Female students at the University of Bristol have also voiced that ‘sanitary products, cosmetics and many

and knowing I can’t really afford to call a taxi if I needed to is really scary’. Young women are also finding themselves increasingly dependent on others for financial support, making them more vulnerable to financial abuse in situations of domestic violence and lengthening the duration of unhealthy and abusive relationships. Research conducted by Women’s Aid with survivors of domestic abuse discovered that almost three quarters of women in abusive relationships had found that the costof-living crisis had either prevented them from leaving or made it harder for them to leave their partner.

toiletry products typically tailored to women have increased in price and therefore have become an added expense that women need to budget for’. While a lack of access to cosmetic products may be seen as trivial, no longer being able to afford the commodities that make you feel good can have a significant impact on wom-

The Young Women’s Trust is campaigning to get young women’s voices heard. Having asked young women what support the government should introduce, the organisation is calling for guaranteed affordable childcare that enables young women to work the hours they need, and an extension of the national living wage to those under the age of 23. By targeting the government and employers, young women stand a chance of lowering discrimination in the workplace and battling the impact of the cost of living crisis.

Speaking to the Sustainability Network, all students shared that they or their families have been directly affected by the impacts of climate change in Egypt, with extreme weather events becoming more frequent, severe and widespread. Unlike other countries in the region, which have the financial capacity for adaptation measures such as the widespread development of ubiquitous air conditioning, Egypt has less financial and infrastructural resilience to combat increasing temperatures. Water supply has also become a major concern due to changing rainfall patterns in what is already an arid country. This issue was linked to regional geopolitical issues, such as the contentious building of dams in nearby countries that alter water availability patterns.

'All students shared that they or their families have been directly affected by climate change in Egypt'

Some suggested that there are often financial incentives behind government investment decisions, with money often being invested into projects that would see immediate returns. However, others noted that progress has been made over recent years, including investment into sustainable energy sources and biodiversity protection programs.

The students were proud that the hosting of COP27 in Egypt was bringing the MENA region to the global stage, in what are typically Eurocentric discussions. However, there were concerns about the efficacy of previous COP conferences. Many highlighted that the event tends to lead to little meaningful impact, with previous conference goals not on track to be met.

The climate change risk to agriculture as a livelihood, as well as for food availability, was also highlighted by the students. Negative impacts to agriculture could affect food exports such as citrus and grains, thereby impacting global food supply chains. Should Egypt’s agriculture be detrimentally impacted, the increased dependency on imported food would also impact local food security as prices would increase.

The threat of rising sea levels and

Some feared that the conference risked becoming only a political blame-game with few meaningful outcomes for businesses, the key polluters of the environment. Others expressed worries surrounding the influence that COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and other socioeconomic current events may have on successful climate change action.

Generally, the students interviewed encouraged action and implementation over policies and legislation, with one student encouraging the community to hold governments accountable, pointing out, ‘If we don’t, who will?’

With women already taking home up to a fifth less than men due to existing income inequalities, young women are especially vulnerable to the rising cost of living.

'[Y]oung women are also taking health risks and prioritising money over their safety in order to cope with living on a lower budget.'

'Almost three quarters of women in abusive relationships had found that the cost-of-living crisis had made it harder for them to leave their partner.'

Annika Gordon / Unsplash

Many employers don't offer work schedules that fit the domestic demands and responsibilities placed on young women

Returning to prepandemic assessments?

Epigramspeaks to lecturers and students about the government's bill to impose minimum service levels on key industries.

Nel Roden Second Year English

With the disruptions of the pandemic now seemingly a thing of the past, universities across the country are undergoing a gradual reintroduction to in-person exams. While it marks a firm return to a preCOVID education experience, how is the University of Bristol conducting its return to combined assessments?

Epigram spoke to students and lecturers regarding the benefits and drawbacks of in-person exams.

Writing for Times Higher Education, university invigilator Helen Soteriou argued that online exams were a‘grave mistake’ and that the ‘playing field is very unequal’ when students are able to complete their assessments at home. In contrast, Andrew Quentin— researcher for Assessments & Qualifications Insight—alternatively suggested that open-book exams, which are now largely conducted remotely, ‘could encourage more creative and critical thinking.'

However, a systematic review by the National Library of Medicine (NIH) found that ‘there does not appear to be sufficient evidence for exclusively using CBE [closed-book examinations] or OBE [open-book examinations].’ The researchers concluded that ‘a combined approach could become a more significant part of testing protocols’, suggesting that in order for institutions to gain a comprehensive idea of students’ abilities, they should be utilising both openbook and in-person assessments.

Wendy Carlos

'Behind the lens'

While research suggests a combination of exam formats is the most effective assessment method, the pressure felt by students when returning to what is now an unfamiliar in-person exam format should not be overlooked.

A poll conducted by Epigram found that 37 per cent of responding students returned to in-person exams

'[T]here is an understanding amongst the academic community that varied assessments are an integral part of a postpandemic education.

this year, with an overwhelming 88 per cent expressing a preference for remote, open-book assessments. For many first year’s at Bristol, the January exam period will have been their first encounter with in-person exams since their GCSEs. Epigram spoke to a first year Biology student, whose in-lab practical exam and accompanying written paper was his first formal assessment since 2019.

The student was apprehensive, explaining that, ‘it was unlike anything I’d done before. I was extremely nervous going into it.' He stated that there was a general feeling of being ‘rusty and out of practice having not felt the pressure of an in-person environment in a while.'

assessment are an integral part of a post-pandemic higher education.

Speaking to Epigram, Professor Innes Cuthill, Professor of Behavioural Ecology at the School of Biological Sciences, said that the department’s decision to return to in-person exams was ‘to avoid the large-scale collusion and googling of answers which happened when the assessments were run online in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. He explained that ‘honest students were being disadvantaged.’ For STEM subjects, assessing the retention of quantifiable information is key in tracking students’ progression. However, Professor Cuthill noted that within the Biology department the only in-person timed assessments of this nature are completed in first year, where the marks do not contribute to the final degree classification. ‘Timed assessments that make up the rest of the marks in years two and three are now all done remotely’, which he believes enables the assessment

An Epigram poll found that 88 per cent of respondents preferred remote, openbook assessments

to better judge the students’ ‘understanding and original thought.'

Professor Cuthill stated that the department’s reasons for conducting its timed assessments remotely included the convenience of having type-written exam scripts for examiners, and issues regarding reserving space in exam-halls.

Despite his unease, he favours inperson assessments when it comes to practical examinations. Given that the type of assessment varies by subject, he stated that there is an understanding amongst the academic community that varied forms of

This LGBTQ+ History Month, Epigram celebrates LGBTQ+ people's contributions to the production of cinema 'behind the lens'.

Charlie Graff MPhil English

Have you heard of Wendy Carlos? Carlos’ 16-bit compatible website describes her as ‘one of the most important composers living today.’ In interviews, Carlos prefers to describe herself as just being ‘there at the right time.'

While studying at Columbia in the late 1960s, she worked with Robert Moog to develop one of the first commercially available synthesisers, the Moog synthesiser, and turned it into an international sensation with her 1968 album Switched-On Bach.

At the time, the synthesiser was seen as either a sci-fi effects machine or a tool for academics. To use it to develop a whole album for a mainstream audience was practically unheard of. The sound was strange and the machine was labour-intensive; each individual note had to be hand-crafted, meaning it could take hundreds of hours to produce just a minute of music.

custom synths and user manuals as well as helping to develop Dolby digital sound remastering. This is just a short list of her achievements.

Carlos’ work comes from a place of curiosity and dedication. She wasn’t interested in boundaries or classifications, and describes herself as an ‘omnivore’. For her, creation was about learning, openness and conveying an inner thing into the outer world. It was this—and a lot of hard work—that allowed her to create so many of the tools and techniques that almost all contemporary music relies on. Where there was no technology to make what she imagined, she made the technology.

Nonetheless, the world she helped to build did not share her

Examinations in the Schools of Arts and Humanities are still largely conducted remotely as openbook, timed assessments, although departments such as English primarily assess through coursework to better test ‘original thought.'

Epigram spoke to a secondyear English student, who felt that coursework assessments are ‘best suited for the degree, as the answers are not really something you can just Google.’

She continued, ‘I’m aware that the department have used inperson exams in the past, but I think COVID caused a necessary reshuffle that’s stuck’, emphasising how the provisions made during the pandemic catalysed the departments’ reappraisal of their examination format.

While the University of Bristol continues to conduct in-person assessments across a range of degree subjects, the continuation of remote assessments following the pandemic points to their favourable nature.

Switched-On Bach won three Grammy Awards and was the first classical music album in history to go platinum. It inspired a generation of artists to embrace the Moog synthesiser: Parliament-Funkadelic, The Grateful Dead, The Beatles, every 70s prog-rock band, they all owe influence to Carlos’ work.

But Switched-On Bach was just the beginning. Carlos went on to invent ambient music with her 1972 Sonic Seasonings, released six years before Brian Eno’s Ambient 1. She revolutionised film composition with her otherworldly soundtracks for A Clockwork Orange (1971), The Shining (1980), Tron (1982) and Woundings (1998). She created numerous

characteristic openness. Until the age of forty, she was forced to maintain a professional alias under her deadname. She rarely performed live and made her few public appearances in masculine dress.

When she came out in a 1979 Playboy article, the magazine dedicated two columns to her music while the other fifteen pages were devoted to invasive questions about her surgery.

Most of the music she created for Kubrick’s films was never used and couldn’t be released as Warner held the rights to it.

Even the classical music world, which she helped to save from the academic insularity of the late 60s, failed to reciprocate her kindness. She gave the modern world some of its greatest gifts from the same place she often had to hide from it: her home studio in New York.

Carlos disappeared from the public eye in 2009. In a blog post about her ‘Wurly II’, a custom synth she was designing in the 2000s, she describes the project as ‘a constructive way to retain some sanity in an increasingly insane and dangerous country and world.’

Somewhere out there, she is still working, even if the public has squandered the privilege of hearing about it.

'The collusion and googling of answers [meant that] honest students were being disadvantaged'

In conversation with Thangam Debbonaire MP

Debbonaire MP talks strikes, the cost-of-living crisis, and why she’d join Bristol’s CHAOS Society.

Thangam

Thangam Debbonaire, the Labour Member of Parliament and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons has held the seat of Bristol West since 2015, after training as a professional cellist at the Royal College of Music, completing an MSc at Bristol in Management, and working for Women’s Aid and a domestic violence charity. She cited the Bristol degree as giving herself a chance to work on what sort of social change she was interested in, describing it as the start of a major arc leading her almost inevitably into politics.

Speaking to Epigram last week, Thangam described her election in 2015 as a ‘surprise’, in what was a bad election year for Labour, she fought a

'The government haven’t just failed to mend the roof while the sun was shining, they basically burnt the house down, took away the fire extinguishers and laidoff the fire officers.'

Green Party surge to win Bristol West’s seat by a majority of over 5,000. She attributes this success to her volunteers and ‘a lot of hard work’; such en-

ergy and drive has propelled her into her position as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, a role involving the organisation of the House of Commons and especially holding the government to account over its managing of the House’s business and time.

While she says there’s no identical day in politics, her job involves a lot of reading. ‘As an MP, your primary role is to be a legislator. My staff can’t do that on my behalf, I have to do that.’ Instead, her office staff mainly deals with an increasing caseload brought by Bristol constituents.

One of the biggest constituent bodies is the University, which is currently experiencing industrial actions. The UCU picket lines will not get a visit from Thangam, who says most trade union leaders don’t want her at the strikes, but rather in Parliament, trying to get Labour into power in order to ‘put in a regime where workers have really good reliable rights.'

Thangam recognises that students are in an ‘unenviable position at the moment,’ noting high housing costs and mounting debt - she clearly sympathises with the students who want to make the most of the teaching time they have and get the best return on the money they invest in their education. But these strikes, for her, are within the broader political context.

‘[The strikes] have to be dealt with’ she notes, ‘but nothing takes away people’s inalienable right to strike.’

Moving on to country-wide prob-

lems, Thangam agreed that the costof-living crisis was affecting many people around the country, including students. Epigram asked if the government was doing enough to support students. In her response, Thangam talked about the many flaws in the student financing model that results in students often losing out on financial help that others are able to access, a foundation that helps worsen the impacts of the crisis for students. She grows animated: ‘What makes me absolutely mad [is that] there was always going to be a cost-of-living crisis when the war kicked in, but it didn’t have to be as bad as this.’

Thangam speaks passionately about her frustration over the failings of the Conservative government. Describing Liz Truss’s 45-day premiership as a ‘fever dream’ in which the Conservatives tanked the economy, Thangam draws attention to the ‘lack of remorse’ shown by the Tories for their role in causing many of the problems that ‘everybody is paying for.'

Our talk turns to sustainability. Improved infrastructure and renewable forms of energy generation are important issues for Thangam, and she raises the plight of the poorest people in the worst private accommodation. Under a Labour government, she says that up to four million homes would have been insulated and that these people ‘would be paying less on their bills.' Citing how the Russia-Ukraine war has highlighted the value of renewable energy sources,

she criticises the government’s lack of investment in sustainable energy:

‘The government haven’t just failed to mend the roof while the sun was shining, they basically burnt the house down and they took away the fire extinguishers and they laid off the fire officers.’

However, Thangam’s overall message is a positive one: she believes that there is another way of doing things, a future which lies in the hands of students. She describes our generation as the ones who will make

speaks of the systems that try to keep trust alive in Parliament, with strict rules against lying in Parliament; to an extent, if we see someone caught out for lying, that is a good thing as it means the systems are working. ‘That’s a sign in some ways that the system’s working… I would really like it to be rarer that someone is found to have broken the rules.’

Describing Boris Johnson’s regime as ‘corrupt’, Thangam feels ‘proud’ of the role she played in helping bring the government’s behaviour to light,

‘windmills cheaper’ and ‘batteries lighter’; the ones who will develop the economic growth and resilience needed to tackle climate change.

‘These new, cutting-edge ideas and technology could come from a student from the very poorest community, but if we don’t give these students the chance to come to fulfil their potential, it potentially effects everybody’s future.’ That’s why equal access is so important: ‘This is what drives me in politics. That belief.’

Following the recent conviction of a Met Police Officer who admitted to multiple rape charges, Epigram asked Thangam at which point this abuse of position could be labelled systemic. She pauses, then answers: ‘I’m conflicted because I think the Met has got such a particular form at the moment of dealing with these sorts of things… That does not mean the majority of police officers are misogynistic, women-hating or homophobic.’

She adds that most police officers want stronger standards as they want people to know that they can be trusted, giving a nod to her colleague Yvette Cooper, who is currently working with the police.

On a related note, Thangam talks of how disheartening it is for a self-described ‘old-lag feminist’ to see things like this happen, and how we can’t be complacent about misogyny for a moment.

Trust is important to Thangam, and to the Labour party, she mentions trust time after time. She

citing her role in heading up a debate on standards. She wants tighter standards, calling for a genuinely independent ethics advisor to examine ministerial behaviour, so that the system does not have to rely on a Prime Minister taking responsibility for initiating inquiries. Johnson’s disregard for his own ethics advisor’s findings has exposed this problem in the system.

On a constituency level, Thangam says she always tried to start her constituency days with a school visit; indeed, mentioning how important she thinks political education is, she wishes more people knew how parliament and democracy work. ‘I'd like all students to leave school with a good working knowledge of how the democracy works.'

Thangam expresses her enjoyment in music and knitting, as exemplified by her hand-knitted scarf she wears to the interview. She speaks of how she enjoyed returning to Bristol’s cultural life, noting that she is still getting used to being in large crowds post-Covid. Her love for the ‘incredibly interesting’ city is a driving force for her, and she enjoys ‘watching it change.'

Thangam reveals a desire for stargazing, choosing CHAOS— Bristol’s Physics Society —as the society she’d want to be a member of.

Thangam has visited CERN’s ‘amazing’ large-hadron collider in France, paying to join a select committee trip. She hopes that the students within CHAOS may be able to explain to her ‘what it all really means.'

Sofie Kwiatkowski News Reporter

'[I]f we don’t give these students the chance to come to fulfil their potential, it potentially effects everybody’s future'

Nikki Powell

Thangam Debbonaire

Modern Slavery in Bristol

racial violations, such as the killing of George Floyd or Tyre Nichols, with disparate human rights abuses such as Andrew Tate’s alleged sex tra cking or county lines operations in the UK.

Alexander Sampson Deputy Editor

I’m standing outside a grey house in Brentry, Bristol. It’s strangely sunny, with green light ickering down through some winter trees lining the opposite side of the road. The house is nondescript, rundown, lifeless. Semi-detached and small, its dark interior peeks from behind dirty white lace curtains.

Over a period of ten years, over 40 Slovakian immigrants were locked in this house. They were victims of modern slavery: forced to work at a car wash for free, sleeping at night in this house and subjected to violence and death threats. One man who escaped and returned to Slovakia alerted local authorities; the UK’s National Crime Agency launched a surveillance investigation and eventually charged a Bristolian couple for o ences related to human tra cking and forced labour.

The investigation tracked down 42 potential victims; 29 gave evidence, including a woman who ed before giving birth to a malnourished child. The true number of victims who were exploited in this house remains uncertain. The couple, Maros Tankos, 46, and Joanna Gomulska, 47, were jailed in June 2022 for o ences related to human tra cking and forced labour.

Bristol’s history with slavery is well-documented: from its rst ventures into the slave trade economy in the early 1690s to its glut of landmarks built by families pro ting from slavery, Bristol’s very geography is saturated with indelible reminders of its slaving past.

The vestiges of this trade especially permeate the University’s landscape, from the Wills Memorial Building to Goldney Hall. Ongoing debates around this colonial legacy similarly crackle within the University’s cultural landscape. In this context, raising the issue of modern slavery seems almost anachronistic, or at the very least detached from the cemented realism of Bristol’s historic slavery.

Conceptualisations of modern slavery conjure ideas of geographical distance: sweatshops in India, labourers in Mexico, sex workers in Russia. The locus of modern slavery is delineated to nonwestern societies: othered, abstract

cultures subconsciously viewed as ‘traditional’, ‘inequitable’ and ‘backwards’ in comparison to western liberalism, democracy and fairness.

This is not only a fantastical, reductive binary but a colonial one, and adds to a discourse that mistakenly equates modern slavery with historic slavery. Human tra cking becomes the contemporary equivalent of the transatlantic slave-trade system, a misguided but explicable leap in a city presently wrestling with its overtly slave-soaked history.

The reality is that most human tra cking, unlike the transatlantic trade, is initially voluntary and for judicious rationale. Recent victims of human tra cking could include Ukrainian refugees eeing the war, or Turkish migrants seeking a new home following the Turkish-Syrian earthquake.

Organisations that coordinate this movement wield enormous power: demanding documentation (passports, identity cards) and in ated fees for ‘safe passage’, vulnerable individuals/groups are left at the whim of their tra ckers. This is the cornerstone for potential exploitation. However, the con ation between

'"I can’t de ne what modern slavery is […] Maybe working at W.H. Smith and they pay you £5.40 an hour? Or people in sweatshops and getting paid minimum wage."' 1stYearAccounting andFinance

historic forced movement and contemporary human tra cking has

been subconsciously mainstreamed, producing confusion across conventional western culture. The result is startlingly clear: when I asked students on campus what ‘modern slavery’ meant to them, examples included everything from sex work in Amsterdam to Imperial actions in 19th century India.

‘I think [modern slavery] is mostly corporate: the constant pressure of pleasing your bosses.’ MSc in Nuclear Science and Engineering

‘I can’t de ne what modern slavery is […] Maybe working at W.H. Smith and they pay you £5.40 an hour? Or people in sweatshops and getting paid minimum wage. Or being used by big corporations; getting coerced into work – like sex work.’

1st Year, Accounting and Finance

This confusion produces hazy connections between modern

‘Modern slavery’ is thus something of a cultural misnomer – a misunderstood umbrella term for an ill-de ned swamp of exploitative practices. Without an internationally accepted de nition of the term, it is both vague and pliable, and therefore ripe for exploitative use itself.

The equation of human tra cking with the colonial slave trade, under the

banner of ‘modern slavery’, has enabled anti-migration and anti-immigration policies seem both justi able and necessary. From Donald Trump’s wall to Brexit’s ‘Take Back Control’, immigrants are viewed with suspicion, and human tra ckers painted as immoral; the two together hold parasitic potential, draining western economies, saturating its culture, complicating its nationalism, increasing its crime rates. Contemporary political rhetoric thus animalises the migrant and dehumanises the discourse surrounding migration, justifying harsh policies. One example includes the UK’s Nationality and Borders Act (2022), which rati ed the transportation of clandestine asylum seekers from English holding centres to Rwanda.

All the while, record numbers of illegal migrants continue to cross the channel. Highly vulnerable, those not detected are often funnelled into safe houses and then ‘hidden’ work: dark kitchens, construction, nail bars and factories.

The Slovakian men and women who were transported to Bristol were forced to work in ‘Marios Car Wash’ in Southmead. All their money, including tips, was taken and spent by Tancos and Gomulska in casinos and online gambling sites. Bristol Crown Court calculated that if these people had been paid minimum wage for 8 hours of work a day, then Tancos and Gomulska had bene ted from a minimum of £923,835 of free labour. In this scenario, the nuances of de nition seem slightly redundant: clearly an example of criminal exploitation, forced labour and human tra cking, this local case resulted in successful convictions. Yet de nition remains important for policy, and the lack of knowledge surrounding what constitutes ‘modern slavery’ in uences polarised debates in Parliament,

Amidst ongoing discussions about Bristol's slave-trading past, Epigramexamines the reality of modern slavery in Bristol today.

'"Modern Slavery" is thus something of a cultural misnomer - a misunderstood umbrella term for an ill-de ned swamp of exploitative practices.'

Giulia Spadafora/NurPhoto via Getty Images

and general apathy on the streets. A lack of understanding translates to a lack of empathy and subsequently a lack of care. Modern slavery as a term is simply too broad and too uncertain to be helpful on local levels, let alone in national and international spheres.

And so, when notable gures –politicians to actors – decry modern slavery, public outrage is a justi ed but meaningless reaction. Genuine change requires a more precise understanding of what exploitative practices constitute modern slavery.

For example, victims involved in criminal exploitation would be recognised as criminals themselves, invoking longer prison sentences despite acting against their own free will.

Further policies included reducing the amount of time victims have to write their testimonials from 45 to 30 days. For Will Robinson, Senior Fundraiser for Unseen UK, this is ‘very detrimental. Having been through a lot of trauma, you really can’t put a time limit on a witness statement.’

Aside from this legal antipathy, Robinson cites the government’s lack of engagement as ‘the most harmful thing they could be doing right now’. Strict anti-migration policies appeal to a conservative audience caught in the throes of isolationism, austerity and nancial gloom. And looking outwards is easy when channel crossings are at an all-time high.

Professor Julia O’Connell Davidson, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Bristol, notes that such imprecision is signi cant: ‘[…] it’s almost unanimously agreed that slavery is wrong. But slavery no longer exists as a legally recognized system or status, so what exactly is [it] that you are calling on [people] to struggle against, and what do you want them to struggle for?’

Julia continues: ‘If you call the exploited car wash or brothel worker a victim of ‘modern slavery’, you deect attention from the structures that actually created their vulnerability to exploitation.’ Julia explains that if a young homeless person with drug addiction is found being exploited on a construction site in exchange for substandard accommodation ‘he’s not vulnerable because he has slave status. What has left him open to predation […] is the absence of social housing and other forms of social protection, including support services for people with mental health and addiction problems, that has come about […] as a result of years of austerity and assaults on the welfare system.’

Charities including Unseen UK and Anti-Slavery International similarly cite cuts to the welfare system, including specialist police branches, as critical in the UK’s ght against various exploitative practices. Brexit has also complicated the UK’s relationship with Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency. This translates to less accountability and less collaboration in what is intrinsically a transnational set of crimes.

Last year’s Nationality and Borders Act (2022), proposed by then Home Secretary Priti Patel, promised to curb illegal migration in response to increasing numbers of cross-channel ‘tra cking’. Alongside a swathe of harsher policies towards immigration, this bill detailed a punitive response to modern slavery victims.

Yet the issue of modern slavery is also somewhat ‘homegrown’: in 2018, according to O ce for National Statistics (ONS), nearly a quarter of potential modern slavery victims identi ed by the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) were UK nationals. Many of these victims are children, with child-related referrals totalling 5468 in the year ending 2022. 79 per cent of this gure were boys, a number which has increased year on year since 2015.

Unseen, whose headquarters are in Bristol’s Hide Market, note that boys are mostly involved in criminal exploitation. Demand for illegal substances, buoyed by the University’s drug culture, creates a pro table market for county lines operations

10,000 and 100,000 modern slaves. This discrepancy is largely thanks to di erences in de nition: while most de nitions encompass 4 main categories – human tra cking, criminal exploitation, sexual exploitation, and forced labour – wider de nitions also include everything from organ harvesting to forced marriage. Di erences in data collection and interpretation also contribute to this vast discrepancy. The Police and the ONS rely on a mixture of o cially recorded data (for example, prosecutions or referrals to the National Referral Mechanism), and ‘uno cial’ data collected from charities operating safehouses and helplines. Accordingly, it is di cult to quantify the reality of modern slavery in the UK owing to a lack of de nitional and statistical clarity. Prosecution is also di cult: while Tancos and Gomulska were charged in 2017, they were not convicted and jailed until 2022. It

took 5 years to collate the evidence of 29 Slovakians who testi ed against the couple. In that time, all types of modern exploitation have increased, especially labour exploitation.

The future of preventing and detecting instances of modern exploitation is therefore somewhat dependent on greater public engagement. In this instance, Will Robinson believes that a surface-level solution is simple: ‘if something doesn’t feel right, even if you’re unsure, report it to the police or Unseen’s helpline’.

Back at the house, a young woman walks past cradling a baby. The wind picks up and carries the drone of a lawnmower yawning across the estate. This house was once described as ‘a gateway to hell’ but it now just looks like a normal suburban abode, one amongst dozens along this road and hundreds within this community.

My thoughts turn to the 40plus exploited victims who passed

through this house. For 10 years, Tancos and Gomulska kept men and women captive in this property, in a normal Bristol suburb, and no one noticed. This is the reality of modern exploitation: hidden in plain sight, it could happen anywhere, anytime and to anyone. Yet it only takes one speculative phone call to bring the whole system into the light.

Unseen operates the Modern Slavery Helpline: 08000 121 700

1. These records, running to 2020, are the most recent study conducted for adults. A new review is due imminently.

2. For children, there has been an increasing number of cases being reported on the NRM, a trend which can be viewed positively or negatively according to the way COVID’s impact is perceived.

Bristol's History with Slavery

From the 1690s, Bristol ships began legally partaking in the triangular trade system, shipping West African slaves to the West Indies for large

which are often supported by illicit child labour, forced or voluntary.

The developing picture demonstrates increasing numbers of potential modern slaves – both child and adult – in the UK. This trend could be interpreted as promising: higher numbers mean referral systems are working e ectively to identify potential victims. Simultaneously, higher numbers could also mean that there are increasing numbers of potential modern slaves in the UK, with an equally increasing proportion of potential victims left unidenti ed.

As a hidden crime, modern slavery is hard to prevent, detect and prosecute. Many victims su er emotional abuse alongside physical exploitation, meaning they are often too afraid or ashamed to seek help.

The frightening reality is that I could walk past a stranger on Whiteladies Road, or Gloucester Road, or Park Street, and have no idea that they were a victim of modern slavery.

UK charities currently calculate that the UK alone houses between

pro t margins. By the 1730s, Bristol had overtaken London to become the UK’s premier slaving port, transporting 8,000 enslaved Africans to North America and the British Caribbean.

By the late 1700s, this slave trade dominated Bristol’s foreign trade economy with Bristol-made products such as cooking pots, fabric and alcohol supplying West African markets and the colonies. In return, slaves provided free labour for plantations in the West Indies which produced unre ned sugar, cocoa and tobacco; these were then exported to the UK to be rened in Bristol’s processing factories.

While the slave trade was abolished in 1807 and slavery itself outlawed throughout the British Empire in 1834, the vestiges of Bristol’s pro t from the slave trade remain: from Wills Memorial to Tyndall’s Park, the Fry building to Goldney Hall each of these places are named after families who directly or indirectly bene tted extensively from Bristol’s slave trade. Even the University crest still bears the insignia of its main benefactors – the Wills, Colston and Fry families – all of whom directly pro ted from slave trading and who nancially

contributed to the University’s establishment.

The abolishment of the slave trade and the legal prohibition of slavery across the British Empire provided immediate legal freedom for former slaves. But the imperial culture of racial supremacy remained, fuelling racism long into the 20th century. The Bristol Bus Boycott in 1963 arose from racial discrimination: Black and Asian persons were refused work within the Bristol Omnibus Company, prompting a city-wide bus boycott. Continued racial tension, driven by housing shortages and racial harassment, boiled over in 1980 when the St. Paul’s Riot saw areas of St. Paul’s set on re in protest against police aggression.

In the 21st century, Bristol continues to grapple with its colonial past and the realities of racism in the present. Colston’s toppling drew international attention to the city’s riotous decolonising action, while the University has begun to seriously investigate its links with the city’s slave trade. An ongoing review of the University’s building names has prompted celebration, frustration and many polarised conversations between students, sta and the city’s wider population.

'The University's drug culture supports modern slaves caught in the county lines system.'

'"Slavery no longer exists as a legally recognized system or status, so what exactly is [it] that you are calling on [people] to struggle against, and what do you want them to struggle for?"'

Auntie Oscar's Advice...

The University of Bristol’s third most insu erable homosexual is here to o er his words of wisdom to all who ask! This month’s theme? 4 tips for how to get a date...

1. Be confident, but not cocky!

Everybody loves confidence, it’s sexy! But don’t mistake your ego for confidence. Remember you are asking them to give you a chance, so please phrase it as a question. Often the easiest way to go about it is to be simple and to the point, e.g. “hey, I really like you, do you want to go on a date some time?”, it’s confident, clear and to the point (and the worst they can say is no!) Another bonus tip: if they say no, please be respectful, no one likes a d*ck.

2. Have a plan

This goes for the asking and the date. Think about a good time to ask them, don’t yell it in the middle of a quiet seminar, for example. Think about what to suggest; are they a drinks, co ee or dinner person? Do they value their independence? If so, maybe let them choose. Which brings me on to my next point…

3. Always be thinking of them

I want to preface this by saying, don’t do anything you don’t want to do! What I mean is, make sure that your cutie is comfortable. If they get cold, put a jacket around them, if they don’t like the place you’re in, get the bill and go somewhere else. Also, before the date, ask them what sort of stu they like. Maybe they’re better suited to a Spoons than a fancy restaurant, or a takeaway co ee and a walk through the park rather than a few drinks and heading back to you place ;)

4. Be yourself!

Yes it’s corny it’s cheesy it’s overdone it’s a cliché but it’s also TRUE! Now, should you burp the alphabet and answer “what do you do in your spare time?” with: “play video games, cry about disabled cats on TikTok and masturbate too much for a grown adult”? NO OF COURSE NOT! A little bit of lying and embellishing is necessary, but you shouldn’t pretend to be a di erent person entirely. After all, if you guys date an idea of each other, when that illusion shatters, so will the relationship. Also, I guarantee that people will find your authentic self, charming or sexy or cute or fun, or all of them, so go get ‘em tiger!

Dating is hard and scary, but I hope that this has helped. You didn’t want it, you didn’t ask for it, so here you go!

Continued from p2...

Dan...

Wit & Wisdom THE EPIGRAFT

First impressions

I was fairly nervous beforehand but when I met her, I could tell that she was a really nice person so that helped a lot

Any highlights?

We went to my friend's jazz gig after the date and I think we both had a good time, it also made me seem more interesting than I actually am.

Describe your date in three words

Really good vibes

Awkward moment

Turned up late and thought she wasn’t coming but it turned out she was just even more late than I was

Any red flags?

committed flat-cest

Second date?

Would love to meet again as friends

Graduate Corner

Having graduated last year in Film and English from UoB, JakeThompson analyses the transition from student to salarié

A new blind dates series exclusive to Epigram

Location: The Highbury Vaults

Second date?

Dan: As friends

Ria: As friends

Be our next blind date... Send a description of yourself to editor.epigram@gmail.com

Ria...

First impressions?

Seemed like a lovely guy who o ered to get the first round in which is always a good sign

Any highlights?

He took me to a very cool concert with his friend’s band which I was not expecting but ended up having a great night!

Describe your date in three words

Fun, unexpected, entertaining Awkward moment

None! We got on really well; it felt like I'd known him for ages

Any red flags?

He prefers gin and lemonade to gin and tonic

Second date?

Absoltely would meet again as friends but not as a date date

secure as many high-profile speakers as possible, many of whom studied at or live in Bristol, to share their professional journey, the importance of diverse voices in the media, and the challenges they have faced in their influential roles. In support of the theme of International Women’s Day (March 8th), embracing equity, we aim to spotlight the significance of inclusion for careers in media and form a stronger sense of network for the event attendees. We are therefore delighted to announce that multiple experienced women will be attending to share their advice and expertise, including Alice Bhandhukravi (BBC London), Mel Rodrigues (Gritty Talent), Nicki Shields (BBC/CNN/ITV), as well as Nikki Waldron (BBC). Covering all career areas from broadcasting to digital and production, we invite you to come along and be inspired by the impact these women and also to pose questions to them yourself. The University has kindly assisted us in utilising their extensive alumni volunteer network. We will continue this work and also o er unique resources, which will be available for a small fee, consisting of our event programme, website (designed by one of the Croft’s Co-Editors in Chief, Emily Fromant), and advice for how to break into this arguably daunting and historically exclusionary industry. These events will encourage more students, especially our female-presenting and non-binary peers, to pursue a career in media. Recordings of all talks will be available on the event website for all attendees to revisit, as well as shared across Epigram and the Croft’s website, our newspaper, and our social media accounts. Follow our brilliant social media accounts and check in to our website to see how to order your tickets, take part as a volunteer, or simply to learn more about the exciting talks to come.

When I was a student, I’d rather think about anything other than graduating. I found the notion of finishing university to be worrying; the gentle structure of lectures and seminars was to be violently usurped by the intense rigour of the 9-to-5. Whilst I can’t speak for everyone, I’m sure a similarly vague feeling of uncertainty arises for those thinking beyond graduation.

Now having a full-time job whilst still living with four other full-time students, I live a dual existence consisting of two very opposing lifestyles. Fully occupying the transition from student to adult, let me tell you what to expect from graduating. Acceptance was the first necessary step. I had to acknowledge simply that my time as a student had ended. I’d advise those imminently graduating to try not to beat a dead horse by continuing the “student lifestyle” post-university. This might appear to be grim reading, and whilst you might no longer be able to go out until 4 am on a Wednesday, the feeling of going out guilt-free, done with work for the week, and with no pending assessment looming over you is a liberating experience I never truly felt as a student. Getting a job might seem like the most daunting prospect of post-university life. I would advise maintaining an emotional distance from what can feel like a dispiriting job-hunting marketplace. But, more importantly, re-

member that your first post-university job isn’t permanent. The first job might not be perfect, but you can still learn a lot from it and decide what is best for you from there. Preparation is also clearly important for moving on after university. This doesn’t mean catapulting job applications in every direction and visiting career days, but more of a preparation on a mental level. Life will be di erent; you might feel slightly separate from friends who are still students and you probably won’t feel quite at home at the typical student haunts. But this is okay, there are more people, places, and things to discover. The Berkeley was always too loud, anyway. But more importantly than all - be excited. Whilst being a student is fun, life after graduation does reveal the limitations of many of its experiences. Life after university might seem scary, but this is simply because it is unknown. And although it is tempting to cling onto studenthood, being galvanised by an uncertain

Wit and Wisdom

Could ChatGPT write for Epigram?

We invite ChatGPT to test its skills against our writers - and here is what it came up with. It looks like some editors are safer than others...

Opinion: I

n recent years, there has been a growing trend of college students taking a gap year before starting their undergraduate studies. A gap year, typically a year-long break from formal education, can involve traveling, working, or volunteering. While some students view a gap year as a valuable opportunity for personal growth and self-discovery, others see it as a waste of time and money.

However, as a student who took a gap year before starting college, I strongly believe that a gap year can be a transformative and worthwhile experience for many students.

One of the main bene ts of a gap year is the opportunity for students to gain real-world experience and skills that they might not acquire in a traditional classroom setting. For example, working or volunteering can provide students with valuable experience in their eld of interest, and traveling can expose them to di erent cultures and perspectives. These experiences can help students develop important life skills such as problem-solving, communication, and adaptability.

Of course, taking a gap year is not for everyone, and it is important for students to carefully consider the potential drawbacks, such as the cost and the potential for academic and social disconnection. However, for students who are seeking a meaningful and transformative experience, a gap year can be an excellent option.

In conclusion, I believe that a gap year can be a valuable and rewarding experience for many students. By providing opportunities for personal growth, real-world experience, and self-discovery, a gap year can help students clarify their goals, build important life skills, and prepare for their future academic and professional endeavors.

'Well-structuredand,importantly,notover-written'-Editor'sscore:8/10

News:

Welcome back to the student newspaper! As we approach the end of the academic year, there are several updates to share with our fellow students.

First, the annual Spring Fling event will be held on April 30th this year. After last year’s cancellation due to the pandemic, the planning committee has been working hard to make this year’s event even more special. The event will feature food, music, games, and prizes, and all students are encouraged to attend and enjoy the festivities.

In other news, the university’s new student center is set to open its doors on May 1st. The state-of-the-art facility includes a large cafeteria, multiple study lounges, a gym, and a movie theater. The student center will provide a much-needed space for students to relax and socialize between classes, and it is expected to become a hub of campus activity.

On a more serious note, the university has recently announced that it will be increasing its mental health resources for students. The pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of many students, and the university is committed to providing support and assistance to those who need it. The new resources will include additional counseling services, virtual support groups, and a 24/7 hotline for students in crisis.

Lastly, the university is also launching a new program to promote diversity and inclusion on campus. The program will include workshops, speaker events, and other initiatives designed to foster a welcoming and inclusive environment for all students. This program is part of the university’s ongoing e orts to create a more diverse and equitable campus community.

That’s all for now, folks. We hope you have a great end to the semester and a restful summer break. Stay safe and stay informed!

'Conciseandinformative,butthetonecouldbemoreformal'-Editor'sscore:6/10

Arts:

The theater department at our university recently put on a production of the classic play "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder. As a student who attended the play, I was impressed by the quality of the production and the talent of the cast and crew.

"Our Town" tells the story of the ctional town of Grover's Corners and its inhabitants, with a focus on the lives of two young lovers, Emily Webb and George Gibbs. The play is known for its minimalist staging and emphasis on character development and dialogue.

The student actors in the production did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life and capturing the nuances of their relationships and emotions. The lead actors who portrayed Emily and George had a particularly strong chemistry and conveyed the tender and bittersweet nature of their romance. The supporting cast members also gave impressive performances, creating a strong sense of community and history within the town of Grover's Corners.

The set design and lighting were also noteworthy. The minimalist set, which consisted of a few chairs and tables, allowed the focus to remain on the actors and their performances. The lighting, which shifted from warm and cozy to dark and ominous, added an emotional depth to the play and helped to create the sense of the passage of time.

Overall, I was thoroughly impressed by the university production of "Our Town." The play was well-directed, well-acted, and well-designed, and it e ectively captured the essence of the original play. It was a thought-provoking and poignant performance that left a lasting impression on the audience. I highly recommend that theater enthusiasts catch this production if it ever returns to the university stage.

'Plentyofjargon,butsoundslikeitwaswrittenbya40-yearold'-Editor'sscore:5/10

LGBTQ+ history: The art of love, passion and identity

Melissa Braine examines the modes of artistic expression used to record LGBTQ+ history

Melissa Braine Arts Deputy Editor

Throughout history, LGBTQ+ experiences have been recorded through a multitude of art forms: literature, poetry, art, print, sculpture, performance, photography. Although many pieces have been destroyed or lost, those that remain showcase the passion and devotion of LGBTQ+ artists and their loves and desires. It is crucial to re ect upon these pieces and acknowledge the power of art as a space for queer expression and liberation in a world that has, and continues to, silence their physical voice.

LGBTQ+ individuals have always existed, albeit using di erent languages, expressions, and understanding. However, what remains common is the expression in which ambiguity and secrecy is transformed into artistic passion, identity, and desire. Art provides a safe space; a

place in which queer artistic communication can exist in its truest, most unapologetic form without uttering a word in explanation. Historical queer narratives are preserved within these pieces and present to us queerness in all its authentic beauty.

Dating around forty thousand years old, one of the earliest pieces of evidence of human art are cave paintings. Pieces that are interpreted as same-sex eroticism have been connected to those who lived in the late Upper Palaeolithic period, including phallic “rods” and cave paintings. Assumed as the earliest recorded proof of homosexuality in the historical record, one particular cave painting in Mount Pellegrino, Sicily, was discovered in 1953 by archaeologist Jole Bovio Marconi. The piece depicts two men positioned on top of each other, surrounded by other men wearing bird masks dancing in a circle around them. All of the subjects within this piece have erect phalluses in parallel to each other, leading Marconi to the interpretation of this painting as a homoerotic ritual for a deity or god. It is undeniable, then, that the existence of queer genders and sexualities have harmoniously existed for centuries. It wasn’t hidden, nor was it a taboo. In fact, it was quite literally written on the walls for everybody to see. It is with a re ection on this early piece that I ponder when and why cultures began to quieten queer expression?

Roughly two thousand three hundred to two thousand eight hundred years ago, homosexual relationships played an integral role in Ancient Greece, as re ected in the era’s art. As depicted in the popular Greek re-telling The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, it was believed that men who maintained close, devoted relationships with each other would be more courageous warriors. Love between two men was celebrated and honoured, and depicted as such within Greek literature and sculptures. A relief shows the devotion and loyalty of the lovers in the Sacred Band of Thebes, consisting of one hundred and fty male couples. True pain and solace is carved into these stone subjects,

capturing a sincere moment of our Queer history. In Plato’s Symposium, penned around 370 BC, he wrote “No man is such a craven that love cannot inspire him with a courage that makes him equal to the bravest born.” Queerness is historically brave and mighty, and I think there is great power and

That a singular moment of passing laughter is enough to make a woman fall so utterly in love she becomes speechless, whilst also maintaining the notion that this love is pure, yet somewhat dangerous, in its powerfully incapacitating nature. Sappho records love in all its terrifying

through hell to indicate a road to salvation, whilst they look upon several subjects of sin. The painting is sensual in its portrayal of wrath, with one man biting the other’s neck and holding his knee forcefully into his back to manoeuvre his masculine form into submission. These subjects are illuminated by intense contrast, drawing the eye to the gothic homosocial desires that they covertly represent. It is violent yet homoerotic by its purposefully exaggerated exposure of bodily appetites.

solidarity in the artistic commemoration of the ‘Army of Gay Lovers’.

Re ning the lyric meter and innovating poetic rst-person form, Sappho of Lesbos has been considered one of the best poets of Ancient Greece and is often referred to as ‘the Poetess’. She composed sweet verses on a variety of topics, including desire, passion, and love directed towards female muses.

One of her most famous and significant poems is 'Sappho 31', an ode to the yearning attraction and anxious confession of love between two women. One of my favourite stanzas is as follows: ‘and lovely laughter, which, as it wafts by, / sets the heart in my ribcage uttering; / as soon as I glance at you a moment, I / can’t say a thing,’. I think it is the personal, tender intimacy of her poetry that I am in awe of and nd so emotive.

strength, and desire in all its intensity. Many art movements and genres are inherently queer in their experimental and ambiguous celebrations that move away from accepted artistic customs, such as the pop art of Keith Haring and Andy Warhol, and the neo-expressionist paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat. My favourite of these genres is the Gothic, a genre that is so horri cally experimental that it stretches all boundaries beyond comfort. It is supposed to be uncomfortable; it leaves an opening for truth to be told and conventions to be questioned. Through the literature of the likes of Shirley Jackson, Matthew Lewis, Oscar Wilde, Sheridan Le Fanu, and many others that associate identities and experiences with the uncanny and the monstrous, a shared identity is found within the ‘otherness’ and a narrative is gifted to those who are villainised.

A commonly associated oil on canvas is William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s Neoclassicist painting, Dante and Virgil in Hell (1850), depicting a scene from Dante Alighieri’s narrative poem Divine Comedy (1308-1321), which describes Virgil’s guidance of Dante

It is within the Gothic where desires are portrayed so passionately, and it is why I respect the genre for re-interpreting and asserting queerness as something that is powerful, whilst integrating it within

the institutions and medias that try to suppress the conversation.

I acknowledge that my short exploration of queer history through art is not all-encompassing, nor does it cover the diversity of gender identities and sexualities over transnational history. But I encourage you to research and re ect upon art that speaks about queer truth.

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'Art provides a safe space; a place in which queer artistic communication can exist in its truest, most unapologetic form'

'Historical queer narratives are preserved within these pieces and present to us queerness in all its authentic beauty'

In conversation with Jessie Millson, writer and director of Pressure Cooker

Charlotte Kyle catches up with Jessie Millson after last year's production of Pressure Cooker at the Winston Theatre was blocked

Charlotte Kyle

Second year Politics and Spanish

Pressure Cooker can be described as many things, but uninspiring, neutral and over-done are certainly not the adjectives that come to mind. The bolshy nature of the show is proven by the simple fact of its production at the University of Bristol’s Winston Theatre being blocked last year. But, as Jessie Millson, writer and director, ponders, 'if the play has been cancelled it must have been good enough to spark a reaction, and it must have said something truthful'.

The student politics surrounding this blocking are complex and long-winded, but the crux of the matter is that, as a result of the conversations sparked around Bristol University’s medic culture after the infamous 2022 medic ball, the topics mentioned in Pressure Cooker are best explored in a neutral space. This is exactly why Jessie and their team have moved the production way up north, to the Space 1 venue in Edinburgh. If you find the controversial topics explored in this play to pique your interest, you can find it being performed from 14th-26th August 2023.

The intoxication of the students is eventually exposed, and we begin to observe that the students have been lying to each other and themselves about their sobriety.

The idea came to Jessie as a result of the toxic drinking culture that they themselves experienced after a first year consisting of covid lockdowns and binge drinking – 'I had about seven days of no alcohol for the entire year'.

Jessie believes the expectation to drink, take drugs, and party most nights of the week is 'a mirror' for an issue which impacts people across the UK, rather than being a student-isolated issue. This is one of the factors that fuels the play’s startlingly universal relatability.

the play is what Jessie believes has pushed the play to this point –the play can carry itself on its own merit, as it really is a story worth hearing for so many of us.

Jessie reflects on their chosen subject matter, saying, 'I ended up following medicine students because I have so much respect for them, and the culture allowed me to show an extreme version of power mistreatment – they are people that many institutions hold in such a high prestige that they have to fit strict expectations, but university is a place where it is very difficult to match these expectations… medicine students are not an isolated entity but they are expected to act like one'.

The play follows medics carrying out a surgery which, as the plot develops, is slowly revealed to be not in a hospital but in a student house, with student medics rather than doctors, and the patient to be a fresher who has fallen victim of an out-of-hand hazing ritual.

But, after four weeks of full-time rehearsals of the show, the crushing disappointment of the blocking of the show’s performance was not enough to put Jessie off - 'I knew that I wanted to make the show happen, but I took into consideration that Bristol might not be the place to do that, so I contacted Fringe venues then found a production team who are incredible and have been working really hard since November'.

The importance of the message of

The most interesting element of the plot is that the patient is a victim of the same culture that the people treating them are struggling under. This really highlights the insidious nature of drinking culture in the UK as a whole, but also in university settings with Bristol particularly being wellknown for its drug and drink-fuelled subculture (which many accredit to the edgy 2000s teen drama Skins, which romanticises this culture to the point of giving it an irresistible appeal).

Bristol University could be called an epicentre of this toxic party culture –a perfect storm of stressed overachievers, freely available party drugs, cheap alcohol, and parties every day of the week.

The final element which adds to Pressure Cooker’s raw and touching display of human emotion is the aspect of the queer relationships which we see develop throughout the show. It was extremely important to Jessie

to show queer characters that were not 'exaggerated or unlikely', as seen even today in so many student-run and professional theatre productions. Jessie is a politically active, queer, and non-cisgender young person, who reflects on how, as a child, they only saw queer women represented in Shakespeare’s work where they are 'made to mask or clowned by their queerness'.

Pressure Cooker is a play which scrutinises the relationship between

body and self, and how this impacts your relationships with the people around you.

We see that drugs, alcohol, and other societal pressures impact these all-important relationships in a twisted and insidious manner, leaving many of us with less bodily autonomy than we would like to think. It’s a topic we don’t often reflect on, but this show provides a mirror for many of us to examine our own relationship with body and substance.

'Bristol University could be called an epicentre of this toxic party culture - a perfect storm of stressed overachievers, freely available party drugs, cheap alchohol, and parties every day of the week'

As Jessie summarises, the beautiful thing about theatre is that 'it can sometimes feel more real than real life'.

"Betrayal is something most people experience, disappointment is something most people experience and so, I hope, is love, and there's a lot of those kinds of raw human emotions in the show"

'the expectation to drink, take drugs, and party most nights of the week is "a mirror" for an issue which impacts people accross the UK, rather than being a student-isolated issue'

Windows to heaven: Icons as a traditional art medium

the centuries.

Milan Perera Arts Critic Columnist

Icon origins are found in a hazy past where the history is often interchangeable with legends and myths. This blurred line adds further mystique to this traditional art medium which has been evolving for the last two thousand years, but never loses its original essence or ethos. The icon painter is considered a mere conduit for a ‘Higher Realm’, rather than a celebrity to be showered with adulations. It is often painstaking and the very de nition of the ‘labour of love’ as every brush stroke is accompanied with re ection and prayer. The icons are described as ‘Windows to the Heaven’ due to their latent spirituality ready to be harnessed.

original was displayed in the Monastery of the Panaghia Hodegetria in Constantinople, modern day Istanbul.

This is one of the most immediately recognised icons, which features the Blessed Virgin holding infant Jesus. It is one of the most reproduced icons which enjoys a ubiquitous status. The account of St. Luke’s involvement with the rst icon has an enduring legacy due to St. Luke’s immediate connection to the rst group of Jesus’ disciples and Mary, mother of Jesus. He is also one of the four Evangelists who chronicled the life of Jesus with a disarming intimacy. Ironically, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, one of the pioneers of the often-iconoclastic art movement, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, was full of glowing remarks for St. Luke on his sterling attempt:

“Give honor unto Luke Evangelist;

For he it was (the aged legends say)

According to traditions, the rst icon was painted by St. Luke in the rst century of the Common Era. Though there is no evidence to substantiate this claim, writings began to appear with devotional fervour for the next few centuries on the subject. The icon attributed to St. Luke is widely known as Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Western Europe, while in Eastern Europe, which is predominantly Orthodox Christian, it is known as Hodegetria because the

Who rst taught Art to fold her hands and pray.

Scarcely at once she dared to rend the mist

Of devious symbols,”

Another well-known icon is The Trinity (the Hospitality of Abraham) by the 15th century Russian iconographer Andrei Rublev. Its geometry, symbolism and the layout have been the subject of rigorous analysis down

Icons feature a speci c aspect of Christian theology, such as the Trinity or an individual (the Christ or saints). They are found in both public places of Christian worship, and at homes of the faithful. Icons are mostly associated with the Orthodox Christian faith, as in countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece. However, icons are hardly the reserve of Orthodox Christianity as many Roman Catholic and Anglican churches accommodate icons in a space of veneration.

The painting of icons is no mere pastime in Orthodox countries, but a carefully codi ed school of painting where there is a universal consensus on the colour palette, conception, structure, and execution. In Great Britain there are graded courses on iconography and less rigorous icon painting workshops always in appropriate settings of quiet re ection. One such institution that o ers courses on iconog- raphy

is The Prince's Foundation School of Traditional Arts founded by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) in 2005. Speaking to Songs of Praise on the BBC, Irina Bradley, one of the

lecturers on iconography pointed out that: “Iconography are created for prayer by prayer”.

The rigorous pro ciency in techniques is of paramount importance, but the spiritual element provides a gleaming veneer to this art form. The icons are painted with pure powdered pigments, mainly earth colours, which are tempered with egg yolk. The dark colours are painted rst and then the lighter colours are added.

often coming at times like four AM!

Most of the time crystalline substances, such as lapis lazuli, are used. The use of lapis lazuli is of great signi cance from the artistic perspective and as a spiritual metaphor. When a beam of light hits the lapis lazuli particles of an icon it is irradiated, a metaphor for how the light of divine providence would ennoble an individual.

I had the pleasure of speaking to a local icon painter, Mrs. Claudia Behr, and saw her at work. Although she has been painting since her teens, she only picked up icon painting during the lockdown and attended workshops to hone her skills.

When I asked her how many icons she would paint a year, she pointed out that she painted three icons last year. Seeing my incredulity, she went on to explain that it is never the intention of an icon painter to ‘churn out’ icons as if they are a painting factory.

I asked Behr if she has a routine when it comes to painting, and she dismissed any notion of a rigid routine. She kept referring to ‘feeling inspired’ and ‘being in the moment’,

The preparation is often time consuming, but there is no intention to accelerate the process, as it breaches the original intentions of painting an icon. The panel is traditionally made of wood while the ground of the icon is made of gesso, the Italian word for gypsum. The gesso is made by mixing the gypsum, or whiting powder, in an animal-based glue such as gelatine. A line drawing is made of the icon to be painted and this is transferred to the gessoed panel by coating the back of the drawing with a powder pigment and tracing with a suitable instrument such as a pencil. Painting the panel involves brush strokes of awareness and re ection.

Often the colour palette is held in sea shells. As a rule of thumb the face of the icon is always painted last. The technique of painting is egg tempera where egg yolk is used as a binding material and to accelerate the drying process.

In the Middle Ages, icons had a signi cant role in religious education. In this period of history where the literacy levels were deplorably poor and the access to religious texts was limited to the elite, the central tenets of Christianity, such as the Incarnation, the Trinity, and the Salvation were condensed and conveyed through icons. Sometimes icons have been the centre of controversy as they were deemed idolatrous by the Puritans, who felt it is grossly blasphemous to accord the worship of God to a material object like icons or paintings.

This led to the Iconoclastic movement in the Eighth Century that swept the Orthodox Byzantine Empire for nearly one hundred years until the restoration of icons by the Empress Theodora in 843.

One thing that Behr told me that struck me the most was “When you stand in front of an icon and pray, it often speaks back to you!”. The separation of worldly and otherworldly is as ne as they come.

Milan Perera discusses the history, importance and intricacies of religious icon painting

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'every brush stroke is accompanied with re ection and prayer'

'When you stand in front of an icon and pray, it often speaks back to you'

Review: Fashion forward society's Trashion Show 'Metamorphosis'

Phoebe Caine reviews the annual Trashion Show, fashion made of trash, and how its creativity is transforming the runway

Phoebe Caine Arts Digital Editor

On February 15th, Fashion Forward Society pulled off their annual ‘Trashion Show’ - a fashion show which showcases projects made of trash; it was, once again, a fascinating example of the power and potential of young people, and sustainability, to change the way things are and have been.

To be adequately appreciative of the brilliance of FFS’s creatives, and to convey the luminosity of their Trashion Show, I must lay out to you the wider scene of fashion. Each season appears to critics and their readers as another death stitch over a creative seam. We seem to be edging closer to the grotesque sense that ideas, like our resources, are finite. The aversion

to models walking wearing what we have seen before is endemic, it is rearranged and redistributed on paper and screens and consequently encourages skewed designing and buying. The art in commercial runways has run away. What remains is an agitation and dissatisfaction that wears the industry out and sends repeated and destructive tremors down its funnels and into fast fashion. The resistance to the idea that the process of redrawing, revising and reinventing is beautiful and bold in itself is a poison. Newness is not necessary, but metamorphosis is mandatory.

Fashion Forward Society overturn the tired expectations of the industry, rewriting the amoral manuals which guide many leading designers, and most specifically the organised events that they attend. Their sustainable approach to high fashion is invigorating and essential; it denounces any conceptions of reusing and recycling as being unstable means in producing fashionable ends. Trashion cuts an indelible mark in the conversations that concern the future of fashion. Through trashion, you are

still creating something that was not there. You are fulfilling the human impulse to give out something unique, you are providing for it and accom-

and designing that demonstrates their interdependence: life necessitates design, and design holds up life.

modating it, and above all you are doing it with responsibility. Sustainable fashion such as this is a balanced exchange of caresses between living

Since November, the month of inception for the concept, the editors and designers have displayed an unabated passion for discovering and utilising the people, places and objects around them. Though detail-oriented in order to organise such an event, each individual project undertaken by the designers, models, writers, photographers and entire committee had a wider focus. The people involved inspired each other, their work intimately paralleling the strong sociability and sensitivity which underpins the society and the locations they experience and experiment in. In the final hour before the show, models took to a stage in an almost empty room. The way was hastily walked, as if creating a visible distance between their fears and their courage. Shyness did not serve the designs; they persuaded a palpable strength to stir in each model. From a feeling as foreign as frost over blades of grass in summer, once the room filled with

interested faces, their noise smothering and smoothing out the team’s worries of wrinkles, the models commanded the clothes they wore with a familiarity - a changed conviction that the design was as much a part of them as it was covering them. The eclosion of the months of attentive crafting and communicating revealed a collection of a variety and vibrancy which exceeded expectation. There was no disciplining the confidence and celebration which erupted concomitantly, it grew over doubts and climbed to a height which high fashion falls short of so often. Without any care, any change, any chance, consumers buy into priced up hollowness. With these as virtues, FFS offer their talent to the hungry mind, and the hungry mind donates its accessible cost to a good cause. 2023’s Trashion show “raised a huge amount more for Bristol Hub than [they] ever thought”. For the benefit of fashion, and for our futures, forge a chrysalis for the old before you find something entirely new.

Book Nook: Valentine's Day

Yazmin Sadik recommends three romance novels for those pro or anti Valentine's Day

Yazmin Sadik Second Year English

Whether Valentine’s Day makes you want to absorb yourself in heart-wrenching love, or wrench the love out of this month, I have a list of books for you this February. The enemies to lovers arc has a major hold on romance literature, but this list will start with inseparable couples who have you romanticising life, and end with those who are so problematic you start to idealise even your par-

ents’ relationship.

Written on the Body (1992) – Jeanette Winterson

“You did not say it first and neither did I, yet when you say it and when I say it we speak like savages who have found three words and worship them.”

In Written on the Body, Winterson

strips the love of an unnamed narrator for a married woman down to the bone, exposing raw emotions that are undisturbed by the complexities of gender or sexuality. Instead, shared words and physical touch are all that is left to code their desires.

Humorously absurd in parts and brutally real in others, Winterson’s poetic voice reveals how past relationships, however long ago, will forever inform the present.

Normal People (2018) – Sally Rooney “like two little plants sharing the same plot of soil, growing around one another, contorting to make

room, taking certain unlikely positions.”

Adapted into the iconic BBC series Normal People, Sally Rooney’s book provides a comfortingly relatable study of introverted youth.

Marianna and Connell’s relationship develops from the privacy of their homes, hiding against the judgment of their school, but as they outgrow their hometown they must learn to uproot not only themselves but their understanding of love. As they settle into the unfamiliar environment of university, uninfluenced by the past, their social worlds interchange and Rooney focuses on how this alters their dynamic as a couple.

Reflecting on how past trauma is often projected on to partners and the complex interplay between a healthy and unhealthy sex life, the book mediates it all.

Wuthering Heights (1847) – Emily Brontë

“He’s always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being.”

Merging the psychological gothic with romance, Emily Brontë depicts the tragic fates of Catherine and Heathcliff, a young boy adopted as an orphan into her household. Despite the shared domestic setting generating an intense connection between the two, in adulthood their passion is revealed as unsustainable within their social climate.

As the book progresses, the tortured Heathcliff consumes himself with revenge, whilst Catherine’s presence haunts the pages and her lover’s mind. Here Brontë begins to complicate the boundaries between the living and the dead.

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Film & TV

Editor:

Deputy Editor: Digital Editor:

Investigations Editor: Subeditor & Film Critic:

Evelyn Heis Jake Tickle Amelia Jacob

Kalila Smith Claire Meakins

LGBTQ+ History Month through a Film & TV Lens

With the month of February marking LGBTQ+ History month, there is simply no better time than now to educate yourself on the rich and vibrant history of the Queer community.

As February marks the month of LGBTQ+ history, here is a guide to some of the most essential and powerful portrayals of queer history. This list is, of course, non-exhaustive; there are many other vivid portrayals of queer culture and history, such as Paris Is Burning (1990), so I urge you to watch beyond this list too!

Rupaul's Drag Race (2009-)

Today, it is impossible to imagine drag without thinking of RuPaul. But before the immensely popular show, where did drag come from? Drag primarily began in 1920s Harlem, New York. However, drag as we know it today evolved out of discrimination against Black and Latinx performers, driving them to develop ground-breaking events, known as balls, and establishments in the 1970s.

The art of drag thus exploded out of Harlem, inciting its multifaceted nature and inclusivity of all people regardless of ethnicity, gender or sexuality.

Almost 100 years on from the development of 1920s ball culture in Harlem, RuPaul’s Drag Race aired for the rst time in America in 2009. Now in 2023, the show has gained millions of fans and spans across the globe, mainstreaming one of the most prevalent subcultures of queer expression.

Not only does RuPaul’s Drag Race enable LGBTQ+ artists to create, dance, sing, perform and act, but also reminds viewers and the contestants of the progress made possible by those who fought for such freedom. Overall, it continues to be an incredibly important and feelgood celebration of the queer community.

Black Mirror 'San Junipero' (2016)

As much as Black Mirror (2011-) has come to be associated with dystopian stories that hit a little too close to home, Season 3 surprised audiences with a heart-warming episode centred around sapphic love.

(Spoilers ahead)

For many, Yorkie became a particularly relatable character due to her extremely shy demeanour in social settings. However, as the episode unfolds, we learn that Yorkie’s awkwardness stems from

her inexperience and inability to have ever explored her sexuality.

Cue Kelly - a dynamic and charming character who forms an instant connection with Yorkie, leaving her helplessly confused and pining for more. As their story develops, the cat-and-mouse nature of the characters’ rst queer experiences becomes increasingly familiar and charming. And unlike countless other lesbian portrayals, the protagonists of this story enjoy a healthy relationship together and are given a happy ending.

Ultimately, San Junipero’s most touching element is the exploration of queer love for the rst time regardless of when in life it is experienced.

Sex Education (2019-) With school being an incredibly transformative time in understanding oneself, Net ix’s Sex Education brilliantly explores the trials and tribulations of navigating modern-day adolescence.

Sex Education, however, di ers from previous series that are set in a secondary school environment as LGBTQ+ stories have been represented via a plethora of characters in their various stages. Queer plots about adolescence are therefore, no longer limited to the trope of self-discovery but expand far beyond this.

The series o ers so many representations of queer characters that

it is hard to praise just one, however, much acclaim has been given to the character Eric E ong. One of the most memorable moments of the entire series is Eric’s astoundingly beautiful combination of Nigerian heritage and queer expression. Ncuti Gatwa has been heavily commended for his portrayal of Eric due to the inspiration he has provided to young Nigerians in the LGBTQ+ community.

It's a Sin (2021)

It’s A Sin is an incredibly powerful portrayal of the HIV and AIDS crisis that began in the 1980s. The series primarily explores the lives of gay men, portrayed by both legendary queer icons such as Stephen Fry and Neil Patrick Harris, and lessor-known actors who quickly became acclaimed for their moving performances.

Initially, the series celebrates the growing freedom of young LGBTQ+ people in London, set against the backdrop of queer clubbing culture accompanied by 80s dance anthems. But as the series continues, the polarisation of newly found freedom with the rise of a deadly disease becomes increasingly devastating.

Creator Russell T. Davies spoke of how his own experience heavily inspired the series, re ecting the nightmarish reality of the crisis for young men who lived through it. It’s A Sin, therefore, de es the misinformed prejudice that has

circulated for 40 years, providing an authentic account of the crisis through an LGBTQ+ perspective.

As heartbreaking as the series is, it is also a moving and respectful tribute to the young men who suffered, cementing its place a mustwatch for queer history.

Pride (2014)

Of all the unlikely alliances to have blossomed out of political turbulence in the 1980s, the teaming up of Welsh miners and London’s LGBTQ+ communities is perhaps the most unpredictable of them all. However, Pride is the true account of this unbelievable story.

Set in 1984 between Onllwyn and London, the movie recounts the genuine people who rallied against the government’s treatment towards them. Despite their initial di erences, the unlikely friendships formed between these two groups convey the power of solidarity and the beauty of humanity.

Pride, therefore, celebrates the incredible achievements of the ‘Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners’ group. However, the movie is also a homage to the group’s founder, Mark Ashton, who tragically died of HIV-related pneumonia at 26 years old, just two years after this outstanding feat.

Overall, Pride is both a beautiful story and a crucial part of understanding the progress of the UK’s queer history.

Five heartfelt and timeless Classics you have to indulge in this Valentine's Day

Whether you're single, taken, or in a situationship, there are many romantic lms for the occasion. Georgina Page outlines some of her favourites, which make for perfect watches this Valentine's

Georgina Page, Third Year, English

Although I rmly believe any lm genre can be appreciated at any time, there is a certain joy in matching your viewing to the theme of the moment. With Valentine’s Day approaching, chocolate hearts scattered liberally in shops, and the abundance of pink and red everywhere, I wish to suggest some of my favourite lms for your Valentine’s day viewing.

1) About Time (2013)

I must begin with one of my all-time favourite lms. As viewers, we are sucked into the delightful world of Tim Lake. Domhnall Gleeson conveys the somewhat awkward Tim in his journey in pursuit of love after he discovers he possesses the gift of time travel. He encounters charmingly odd characters along the way and eventually meets Mary, played by Rachel McAdams.

The real magic of the lm lies in the love that is shared between father and son. Bill Nighy plays the charismatic yet humble dad, and the connection between Tim and his father is healing to witness, they are without restrictions; they are expressive and vulnerable, which is the highlight of the lm.

2) Notting Hill (1999)

Julia Roberts is delicate and elegant in her portrayal of Hollywood actress Anna Stock, and Hugh Grant embodies the quintessential polite English bookshop owner, William Thacker, with ease. The lm displays how beautiful simple love can be, it is the world that is complicated, and the love between Anna and William is honest. The streets of Notting Hill become a safe haven for love, a dream-like space for Anna and William to continue to reunite.

3) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is an enchanting yet painful watch. The lm explores what it is to be hu-

man and feel intense love and loss. The lm is set in the near future, where humans can erase any speci c memory or person they want from their minds. The story follows two opposing personalities, Joel and Clementine, who, when their relationship ends, instead of trying to rebuild or heal the hurt inside them, decide to erase each other completely.

This lm explores the nature of human relationships and how hard it can be to understand the world and the fellow humans living in it.

4) The Lake House (2006)

Time is warped as two characters accidentally discover they share the same Lake House at di erent moments in time. Sandra Bullock plays

Kate Forster, opposite Keanu Reeves as Alex Wyler; they are perfect dance partners in this tale of two lost souls falling in love.

Alex waits four years for Kate tonally be together, and they arrange to meet on Valentine’s day. The lm presents how people who love each other ght for their love despite time, fear, and death trying to keep them apart.

5) 13 Going on 30 (2004)

This is a comfort lm of mine, one to watch when needing a boost, as this lm makes you feel full and energised. It’s all about love, friendship and embracing your individual creativity.

[To read the full review, head over to the Epigram website!]

Kitty Fitzgerald, Third Year, Classics

LGBTQ+ Film & TV recommendations to celebrate queer love this Valentine's Day

With the abundance of heterosexual love stories in Film and TV, there's no better time than today to reject heteronormativity and embrace Queer love stories. <3

Nicole Quy, Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Croft

It goes without saying that most mainstream romance lms and TV shows tend to skew heterosexual. Narratives that do o er a non-heteronormative perspective tend also to fall into tropes of prejudiced stereotyping or, though with the best intentions, focus on the hardships and plights that can sometimes accompany LGBTQ+ relationships, which, whilst important and equally emotional, don’t always harbour that celebratory, feel-good feeling that you might be after when choosing something to watch on Valentine’s Day.

It is even less surprising that the most frequented rom-coms adorning Valentine’s Day recommendation lists centre around cisgender heterosexual, predominantly white relationships. Don’t get me wrong, About Time (2013) and Sleepless in Seattle (1993) deserve their place on the tier list of Valentine’s classics, but everyone of all genders and sexualities deserves to see themselves represented in romantic lms just as often as straight people.

With the month of February marking LGBTQ+ History Month, the list below compiles some of the

best romantic lms that focus on the beauty, compassion and reality of queer love.

Carol (2015)

This poignant drama explores the passionate relationship that develops between Carol (Cate Blanchett), a stylish matriarch in a failing marriage, and Therese (Rooney Mara), a young shopgirl on the verge of her sexual awakening.

It's a beautiful, devastating lm that stays with you long after you've nished watching it. Poignant through and through, it showcases the bittersweet reality of closeted gay women trying to survive and make their way through the world in a society where they have to hide their true selves.

jokes, and engaging drama, the show is a vital chronicle of queer existence.

Heartstopper (2022-)

Heartstopper took the world by storm this year. The super-sweet show follows the budding romance between classmates Charlie (Joe Locke) and Nick (Kit Connor). Not only is it a lovely watch, but the series also hammers home the fear that comes with realising you’re di erent and how terrifying it can be to actually come out.

In the most wonderful (and most heart-stopping) scene, Nick nally summons the courage to come out to his mother, played by none other than British treasure Olivia Colman. After he bares his feelings with his mom, she couldn’t be more pleased, immediately wrapping up Nick in a warm hug.

win for non-binary representation in entertainment,” the lm presents a compelling and beautifully shot love story wrapped in a nuanced depiction of young artists’ journey toward their true selves.

The alternation of the actor for the protagonist is certainly an interesting choice, but perhaps epitomises the di erent stages of transition or, rather, the mental breakthroughs in transition.

show’s second season.

Part of that pride comes with Leighton having an explicit vast amount of sex with an array of various women, showcased visually in an exhilarating montage of Leighton bringing di erent ladies back to her dorm room. There’s a lot more to Leighton’s character than just having sex, but it's so rare to see queer women having lots of sex with lots of people and not be shamed for it.

Indeed, The Sex Lives of College Girls wisely celebrates Leighton doing exactly what she wants with her own body, and, whilst maybe not inherently romantic or heartfelt as some of the other watches on this list, it’s just as much worthy on a day celebrating love and attraction in all its forms.

The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021)

A League of Their Own (2022-)

Not inherently romantic, but nonetheless an utter joy to watch and wonderfully queer, the show re ects on the di culties that queer women face (it’s set in the ’40s, so that’s only natural). It is also, however, an unapologetic celebration of lesbian joy, which is still way too hard to come by. Featuring historical accuracy, great

The scene nishes with Nick’s mom reminding him that she loves him, hugging him one more time to tie a bow on this heart-warming, highly emotional moment.

Under My Skin (2020)

Celebrated by Variety as a “big

Again, perhaps a little less romance-centred, but nevertheless as equally comforting and tantalising, Mindy Kialing and Justin Noble’s The Sex Lives of College Girls is arguably one of TV’s most enjoyable shows, delivering great humour with a dose of character growth and relentless raunchiness.

Though not exclusively LGBQT+ based, the show’s most intriguing character is Leighton (Reneé Rapp): uber-rich, preppy, and unapologetically judgemental. Leighton is also a lesbian, and she nally gets the condence to be out and proud in the

Duck Butter (2018)

This popular 2018 ick follows two women who embark on a 24hour experiment to see if they can have a totally honest relationship.

It’s packed with comedy, some steamy moments, and a whole lot of heart. If you fancy something light-hearted and a little less serious than the romance lms that’ll clear you out of tissues, this is for you.

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed lives up to its title

tor tackles the acute issue of pharmaceutical companies, and does so primarily by depicting the life of Nan Goldin; a life depicted as a composition of photographs and struggles, both intimately intertwined to give each other greater resonance.

work about and with Nan Goldin. The result is a portrait: of Goldin, of the issues and power dynamics at play in Goldin's life, of a struggle against Purdue Pharma after Goldin’s own addiction to Oxycontin.

Laura Poitras' new directorial e ort, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022), is a documentary which o ers a fragmented narrative of P.A.I.N's struggle against the Sackler family-owned Purdue Pharma pharmaceutical industry, which is responsible for the opioid crisis in the US.

While Poitras routinely makes harrowing documentaries that cut a stark image of the ‘backstage’ world, audiences may never get used to their electroshock e ect. In All the Beauty and the Bloodshed the direc-

American photographer and activist, Nan Goldin is a founding member of the advocacy group P.A.I.N (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), an organisation founded in 2017 in response to the opioid crisis and which protests speci cally against the production and distribution of Oxycontin by the Sackler family company.

In the early days of her work, Nan Goldin began lming the actions of P.A.I.N and some members of the organisation had the ambition to develop a documentary giving voice to their struggle. Poitras became involved in this project, and her documentary turned into a

The coming together of these two women to speak with one voice has a de facto natural legitimacy. Both Goldin and Poitras are artists whose works are continually at risk, due to the societal norms they question, and who display a wholehearted dedication to the causes they defend. Indeed, both make minor voices speak in their art and show bodies saturated, wounded and made precarious by the voices of American imperialism. Poitras illustrated these themes especially through My Country, My Country (2006), where she gave voice to Dr Riyadh al-Adhadh against the American occupation of Iraq, or through Citizenfour (2014), a doc-

umentary about and with Edward Snowden. Likewise, Goldin’s photographs of lives within the American queer community show the e ects of the HIV virus and, more broadly, living on the fringe of society. Additionally photographs of her family life after the suicide of her sister, who su ered from the non-consideration of psychiatric authorities, share a similar polemical approach.

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is two things: a description of P.A.I.N's struggle against the Sackler family and a collaborative work of art which questions the foundations of American identity. The documentary is an outcry against the US allowing the enrichment of corporations through the abuse of power, erce psychological brutalisation and the sweeping away of all considerations of justice. Purdue Pharma's imperialism over sick bodies, ad-

dicted minds and su ocating escape routes is exposed over 121 minutes. The parallels drawn with fragments of Goldin's life, portrayed by Poitras, underline the gap between hegemonic forces and local hotbeds of resistance.

By inserting photographs taken by Goldin into the documentary's narrative, alternating between the festive and intimate as well as the truly dark, Poitras succeeds in bringing to the centre what a society that promotes justice and freedom should look like.

The lm is an impactful mosaic of interviews with P.A.I.N. members; fragments of Goldin's own life; the responsible faces of the Sackler family reacting to testimonies and complaints during a Zoom call; and videos of P.A.I.N's actions in various museums.

[To Read the full piece, head over to the Epigram website!]

Inès de Boudemange, Third Year, Geography

Winning the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, Laura Poitras' new documentary tackles the US opioid crisis through the lens of artist and activist Nan Goldin.

Images by Amelia Jacob

Pamela: A Love Story is a refreshingly respectful take on celebrity documentaries

Following the controversial success of Hulu's Pam & Tommy (2022), Net ix's new documentary centres Pamela Anderson in its intimate and consensual portrayal of her exceptional life.

Mateo Cruz, Third Year, Film and English

In the opening scenes of Pamela: A Love Story, we see a middle-aged Pamela Anderson with her iconic bleached blonde hair but without makeup. She is funny and con dently self-deprecating, but one can still trace vulnerability in her soft voice.This new Net ix documentary takes us through Anderson’s life, with her at the centre; often, she is laughing, and sometimes she is crying, but always, she is lled with love for her extraordinary life and the people in it.

For those that only know the highly sexualised image of a blonde bombshell, this documentary will unveil a nuanced and courageous personality.

Firstly we are told about her childhood. She grew up in a “tiny little shack” in Ladysmith, a small town on the east part of Vancouver Island. Her parent’s relationship was volatile, oscillating between passionate lovemaking and tempestuous arguments. During these early years, Anderson was also repeatedly

sexually assaulted by her babysitter, leaving her deeply traumatised. The documentary, with Anderson’s explicit consent, isn’t afraid to delve into her darker moments.

she turned “slow motion running into an artform”, soon turned her into an international celebrity.

Already, however, the media saw her as something of a joke. In interviews she would su er through endless questions about her boobs, leading to her joking that they had the career and she was merely 'tagging along'. The mockery was only amplied by her having a string of impossibly handsome short-term boyfriends.

who remains angry at the invasion of her privacy. The couple led a case against those who had pro ted from the stolen tape, but the lawyers' attitude was that, with being in Play-

The next part of the documentary, however, shifts dramatically in tone. One day, watching a football game with her friends, a cameraman zoomed in on her wearing a blue Labatt’s beer t-shirt so that all of the stadium saw her on the big screen. Sure enough, Labatt’s caught wind of this and hired her as a model, nicknaming her the ‘blue zone girl’. These advertisements circulated, and before she knew it, Playboy was on the phone asking her to be on the cover of their October ’89 issue.

Soon enough, she was scouted to play C.J. Parker in Baywatch (1989-2001), impressing producers with her energy and personality. The success of Baywatch, where

It was only when she met Motley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee that she found someone she could see herself with long-term. The pair met in a nightclub, where Lee spiked her drink and proposed to her that night. “All the rest was a big happy blur”, laughs Anderson; four days later, they were married. One day, they noticed that their safe had been stolen. Alongside more traditionally valuable items, the safe contained their now infamous sex tape. It was pirated and, with the

boy, she had little right to privacy. The court depositions startled her,

Pamela: A Love Story (2023) also explores the fact that Anderson’s glamourised marriage to Lee was not all roses. He was incredibly jealous, visiting sets to ensure her delity and being frustrated by Pamela’s attention being focused on their children rather than on him. She eventually took him to court, accusing him of domestic abuse; Lee was sentenced to six months in jail, and their marriage was over. Anderson says that she has never “been able to get over not being able to make it work” with the father of her children.

It is notable that Lee does not provide his side of the story, making this section feel a little biased.

emergence of the internet, made available for all the world to see. This was crushing for Anderson,

and she wondered, “Why do these grown men hate me so much?”

This terrible scrutiny was recently revived with Pam & Tommy (2022), a Hulu miniseries which attempted to portray the story of the sex tape. It was a nightmare come true for Anderson; neither she nor her ex-husband were contacted for their permission for the series to be made.

In between acting roles and a hectic love life, the documentary highlights how Anderson has managed to use the media to promote causes she is passionate about. For many years she has campaigned for animal rights, even managing to convince Vladimir Putin to stop the transportation of endangered whale meat through Russian waters. While the documentary is a little long and does occasionally feel slow, it does successfully deliver an intricate and personal picture of Anderson. By the end of it, we feel like we know her and are charmed by her down-to-earth humour.

Jessie Buckley shines in Sarah Polley's gut-wrenching drama, Women Talking

by Women Talking (2022) it seemed strange to then leave the cinema room and enter a bustling Friday night in the city. I choose to start at the end primarily because the impact this lm has is long-lasting.

Buckley manages, arguably having the most challenging role in terms of coming across as likeable to an audience, but she does it deftly.

Director Sarah Polley’s lm about women in an isolated religious colony in America discovering a disturbing secret about the town’s men is lled to the brim with a wealth of British talent, and whilst by no means is it an easy watch, it is a captivating one.

The lights had just come up in the cinema room. The lm was over. It was time to go home, but before everyone in the room left, there was a pause that might as well have lasted a lifetime. So stunned were we all

The writing is impeccable, highlighted by its nomination for best-adapted screenplay at this year’s Academy Awards (alongside a best picture nod to boot). The lm was adapted from the 2018 novel of the same name by Miriam Toews. Polley has transformed a fantastic novel into a lm which transcends it, mainly due to the incredible performances from the ensemble cast.

The strength of the acting is mesmerising, with a particularly standout performance from Jessie Buckley playing the extremely con icted Mariche. Each character has their own motives, but none are played with quite the same intensity as

Another key component of the lm’s brilliance lies in its score. Hildur Guðnadóttir manages to capture both the disturbing nature of the situation the women have all found themselves in whilst also scoring the optimism the heinous crimes provide for the women. Through narration, we learn that the women have never been taught how to read or write, but “that was the day we learnt to vote” when deciding what the next course of action would be. We learn from a brief scene in which a truck comes through the colony blaring ‘Daydream Believer’ that it is the year of the 2010 census. This scene of modernity, only brief, is a stark contrast to the way in which the colony lives.

There could be a minor complaint from some that the lm could be seen as dragging since most of the action takes place in the same space: a small, worn-out barn. However, there is enough change in pacing and dynamics between the ensemble to keep the material fresh in di erent ways.

There is an enjoyment to be had in seeing how these characters develop across the two hours, how old values held in the colony are slowly picked away at, forming a more equal modern way of seeing the world.

In the nal act, the lm reaches a satisfying conclusion, however bizarre that may sound given the synopsis of the lm. Ultimately, the lm does reward the audience’s patience throughout some particularly unsettling scenes.

So, when the lights came back on, the silence was eventually broken.

The blaring of ‘Daydream Believer’ began playing over the credits. Like every woman in the lm, we were all in our way, a Sleepy Jean, waiting for our eyes to be opened.

Sean Lawrenson, First Year, English

Women Talking explores a religious colony where wrongful acts are committed by the male inhabitants. Sean Lawrenson discusses the captivating performances, and the added dynamic the musical score created.

Image Credit: Amelia Jacob

This documentary will unveil a nuanced and courageous personality

By the end, we feel like we know her and are charmed by her down-to-earth humour

You Season Four: Part One sets up a deliciously entertaining murder mystery

Hello, you. Joe Goldberg is back, although this time, he's left the States for a fresh start in London. It isn't long until his new identity gets caught up in a murderous scandal as he stalks his new posse.

Sienna Thompson, Second Year, English

The return of the infamous Joe Goldberg has made its way back to Net ix user's screens as we dive into a fourth season of the obsessive, hopeless romantic, serial killing book lover. But for this season, we’ll have to wait to see it in two parts…

Season Four of YOU (2018-) follows up with Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) as he leaves the United States in the perusal of Marienne (Tati Gabrielle) throughout Europe. After leaving things on a bad note, he reluctantly enters a new life under a di erent identity as a professor in London.

Here, it is where he ends up grudgingly befriending a group of pompous, arrogant, elitist upper-class group of people. Might I add a scarily accurate portrayal and de nitely annoying one too.

Where this season takes on a refreshing new turn is that it turns into more of a murder mystery after the

murder of Malcolm (Stephen Hagan) uproots Joe’s entire secret cover. In addition to this, Joe is the one being watched as he is sent anonymous and eerie messages - a bit like A from Pretty Little Liars (20102017) - blackmailing him into being blamed for Malcolm’s death and that of the others that follow.

What I personally love about this season so far is the new perspective the show is taking entirely. Sure, Joe is still a serial killer and has some issues he needs to work through, but there isn’t his usual blind obsession with a woman.

Joe seems to possess a lot more self-awareness this season, constantly trying to prove to ‘you’ that he’s di erent, imminent to move on from his past, as he argues that he no longer needs to kill people- though he inevitably keeps nding himself

cleaning up dead bodies this season.

In fact, with the character of Kate (Charlotte Ritchie), there seems to be more of a pure admiration, as if he did fall in love with her deeply. This seemed to be missing from all the other women he’s obsessed over. At rst, I was hesitant if a fourth season was needed for this show. However, this seems to be the type of show that, each time I say that,

I’m always surprised, and this season has been no exception so far.

The character of Joe is a very complex and delicate one to handle. But I believe that Penn Badgley, also aiding in producing the show, has been of massive assistance to ensuring his character is not burnt out or portrayed wrong.

I also think his job as an English professor at Royal Holloway was such a great character arc to make, and so interesting to see him thrive in this environment.

As far as the ending of Part One goes, I was surprised to nd out who the ‘Eat The Rich’ killer was. I did feel disappointed with this revelation as I had hoped for someone almost more outrageous.

My hopes for the second part are rst having Joe’s son Henry return to him somehow. He is in a better

position not being in Joe’s care at the current moment, but besides a few mentions of his name, he seemed to have been pushed aside.

In relation to this, I hope for some form of the return of Love (Victoria Pedretti). The Part Two teaser trailer showed a ash of her face in what could be some hallucination or her actual return from the dead, revealing that she had escaped Joe’s attempted murder and house re last season. Either way, she was such a unique and engrossing character that it would be interesting for her to be added to the current equation.

Overall, I was very impressed with the enjoyment level of this season, and I have very high hopes for part two. I’m hoping to see the return of some characters and to nd out how this will all end for the infamous Joe Goldberg.

Knock At The Cabin: Shyamalan struggles to sell this home invasion slog

Back from hiatus and following the great success of his earlier works, M. Night Shyamalan is presenting us with his latest thriller, Knock At The Cabin. However, it seems to have missed the mark.

Perhaps one of the most curious careers in Hollywood is that of director M. Night Shyamalan, after ruling the Hollywood roost with classics like The Sixth Sense (1999) and Unbreakable (2000), he su ered a fall from grace, releasing critical disasters such as The Happening (2008) and The Last Airbender (2010). Undeterred, he has continued to release a new lm every few years, nally clawing back some critical praise with Split (2016). But can this latest e ort resist his pen-

chant for writing ponderous and boring screenplays? Unlike him, I won’t withhold the twisted answer: no.

ical presence, reveals he is a schoolteacher in an attempt to befriend the family and avoid scaring them.

sacri ce even if this was the case.

In this lm, Leonard (Dave Bautista) leads a group of people who invade the holiday cabin of a family of three. They tell the family they must choose one family member to sacri ce to prevent the apocalypse. Thus follows a drama contained solely within this cabin in the woods.

Leonard’s cohort is humanised early on; they are not there to harm the family and are reluctant to carry out violent acts. Leonard, despite his phys-

Former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista can seemingly do no wrong since his breakout role as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and this lm is no exception. He compellingly portrays the role of a gentle giant, forced to act against his good nature in service of the greater good. His physicality and unique appearance lend his character a special kind of strangeness which works in the lm’s favour from his rst introduction. Sadly, the lm squanders the initial intrigue.

Events trundle onwards with repetitive arguments between the characters about why this family was selected, whether the forewarned apocalypse is truly happening, and whether the family would be willing to make the

If you were hoping the lm would do something clever or interesting with any of these questions, it does not. A series of indulgent ashbacks only serve to drag out the screen time and fail to introduce any new secrets or twists.

Knock at the Cabin is further undermined by poor directing choices. There are some comically bad depictions of the apocalypse unfolding live on the news, which are executed with crummy special e ects and no attempt to alter the cinematography to look like believable news footage (instead they look like lm scenes played on a TV). The TV’s importance in the

plot as the characters’ only evidence of an unfolding apocalypse makes the lm hard to take seriously at points.

Shyamalan worsens the situation by cameoing on a teleshopping programme before an apocalyptic news report, rather than being funny, it sacri ces dramatic tension for the sake of having the director appear in his own lm.

This example makes me question whether the man purposefully sabotages his lms as part of a scheme to become a living meme because if it were, it would make more sense than this.

Perhaps this story, which is based on a 2018 horror novel, The Cabin at the End of the World, is more compelling in book form than as a feature lm. Either way, it’s another Shyamalan project which misses the mark.

Image Credit: IMDB

Isaac

Woolley, Msc Public Policy

Image Credit: Amelia Jacob

What I love about this season so far is the new perspective the show is taking entirely. Joe is still a serial killer...but there isn't his usual blind obsession with a woman.

If you were hoping the lm would do something clever...it does not.

Is TikTok empowering for independent artists?

don’t know the rest of the lyrics, begging the question - is a large audience better than a strong, tightly-knit community?

The drama surrounding Steve Lacy’s concert perfectly portrays this situation. On many occasions, Steve Lacy’s “fans” were unable to nish singing along to his music, as they only knew pieces of it because of their popularity on TikTok.

With billions of downloads, TikTok is the most in uential app in the world right now. The addictive short videos have had a hold on us for well over 6 years now if we include its existence as Musically. But what e ect does it have on the music industry?

Music has been an important part of TikTok since its creation. The videos made often revolve around sounds, often parts of songs, like their lyrics or melodies. Sometimes these go viral, ooding the app as they become embedded in its various trends. Due to TikTok’s sheer popularity, these songs are then exposed to a massive audience, who may take a liking to them and search for them on streaming services, boosting their popularity across all platforms. Hitting the charts as an independent artist has never been easier.

Before TikTok and the age of streaming, the best way for musicians to get their music out to the public was to get signed by a record label which (for a large percentage of an artist’s

revenue) would promote them across the world. Today, this can be done on a phone in a 30-second clip on TikTok, making record labels more unnecessary for success in the music industry.

PinkPantheress is a great example of TikTok marketing done right, as she used to stubbornly post clips of her songs on her account until eventually she was recognised. This makes staying independent as an artist more attractive. Record labels are often criticised for “leeching” o of their hitmakers, often tricking creatives into signing horrible deals which hurt them in the long term, but bene t the company itself.

Labels often take control of an artist’s masters, meaning they own the rights to their music and receive a much larger percentage of money earned from their music than the person who made it (sometimes up to 80% of the revenue earned goes directly to the label).

Sometimes, if an artist wants to retain control over their music, they are forced to buy their masters back from the label, literally purchasing their own creations. Record labels can also reject ideas for songs or bigger projects like albums if they believe it won’t pro t them, or are not in line with the image that an artist is portraying, limiting musical creativity. TikTok also provides musicians with

the ability to build connections with fans. The app lets creators react to and respond to videos made about them. This allows musicians to let their personality shine through, they can also learn more about their fans, and vice versa.

This is a great opportunity for artists to build their brand, however, they should be careful as people can often tell who uses the app in a manufactured way (to only promote a product or new music). Ideally, artists should be able to balance both marketing and genuine interactions, to not put people o of their music. However, TikTok fame can sometimes be a curse. Due to the app’s nature, the viewers often merely hear one part of the song and

Many were quick to criticise Lacy’s frustration, however, I believe that this portrays the dark side of success found on TikTok, as it undermines the artist’s abilities and the message conveyed in their work - hurting them in the long run

Furthermore, most of the artists who blew up on TikTok ended up signing record deals.

This is because although TikTok is bene cial for nding an audience, labels provide more than just marketing - they open up doors.

An artist can now have a signi cantly higher budget for creating music, as well as access to top-tier equipment, increasing the quality of their recordings. Record labels also provide connections, which are especially important in the music industry, in which networking and collaboration are necessary for success.

To conclude, is TikTok empowering for independent artists? Despite some of its drawbacks, I believe it is.

There is no doubt that TikTok has ipped the music industry upside down, shifting the balance of power from massive record labels to individuals. Finally, the latter can turn their passions into fruitful careers, whilst staying independent at the same time.

Album Review: This Stupid World - Yo La Tengo

Yo La Tengo’s characteristic dreamy melancholia is ironically ampli ed in their most recent and most rocky album in dec- ades. What else does 'This Stupid World' bring to the table?

Darcey Cameron

1st Year English

Whilst the trio consistently experiments with crossgenre synthesisation, this album sees the familiar dark tones submerged within an album which listens like a twisted fairy-tale, each song highlighting the individual yet harmonious personality of each member, forging a homogenous whole revelling in its fragmentation. The rocky, electronic undertones

of ‘Sinatra Drive Breakdown’ rapidly set the tone of the album as one concerned with dark themes of mortality and time’s un-repenting passing. The repetitive lyric “until we all break” appears a relentless preoccupation, explored through the responses of Hubley, Kaplan and McNew individually and cleverly interwoven in the amalgamation of indie, grungy and ethereal songs

composing the nine-track album.

‘Tonight’s Episode’ sung by bassist James McNew reflects the complexity and unpredictability of the album as he sings humorously illogical lyrics paired with a psychedelic baseline, combining childlike imagery of yo-yo’s with unsettling lines concerning losing ones’ mind and “hanging by a thread”.

The seemingly dissonant contrasts embedded within the song work

e ectively to a rm the mediations upon mortality and human multiplicity throughout the rest of the album and mark a new turning point in Yo La Tengo’s work in the past decade of a 40 year career.

Followed by ‘Aselestine’, Hubley’s introspective familiarity satisfies the lust for the characteristic dreaminess of the trio’s previous albums I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One and And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out with her hushed, elegiac meditations. The middle of the album sees a revival of the light, lively, indie side of Yo La Tengo with the dreamy baselines of ‘Until It Happens’ and ‘Apology Letter’ which, in classic Kaplan style, combine light melodies with ghostly instruction of “prepare to die”.

Cyclically, the final tracks echo the rockiness of the first, crafting an emphatic sense of decisiveness

and intentionality, ending with the spooky incantations of ‘Miles Away’ and overtly reflecting the eerie tone of an album born out of fundamentally human meditations upon mortality. It is the darker tracks of the album which forcibly take prominence and reflect the changing direction of the band whose dark melancholia and murmured contemplations have often taken them to the strangest boundaries of indie rock.

Nevertheless, it is the classic Yo La Tengo feeling which gives this album its charm.

The lively traditional relapse within the mid-section is compellingly captivating and the more experimental first and last tracks fall to the waste side in comparison to Hubley’s beautifully ghostlike whisperings in ‘Aselestine’. ThealbumwasreleasedonFebruary 102023byMatadorRecords.

Epigram / Julia Riopelle

Jedrzej Borkowski

Second Year Politics and International Relations

Featured image: Solen Feyisssa © Unsplash

The social media platform has ipped the music industry upside down, empowering artists and helping to nance independent musicians.

Featured Image: This Stupid World Album Cover © Matador

The Best Live Music In Bristol this March

Josh Templeman Co-Deputy Editor

After a slow start to the year, we’re back giving you our picks for the best gigs happening in Bristol this March and oh my lord what a selection. With one of the most stacked months for gigs I’ve ever seen, these are the shows you cannot miss out on this month.

Souls of Mischief - 1st March - Marble Factory

Souls of Mischief are a group that needs no introduction. With comparisons to some of hip-hop’s all-time greats, like De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, the group hit the road for the anniversary of their 1993

Isaiah Rashad – 5th March – SWX

Top Dawg Entertainment’s very own Isaiah Rashad touches down at Bristol’s SWX this month in what promises to be an electric evening of soulful hiphop. With woozy beats and conscious lyricism, this is the rst time the rapper has played in the UK following the

into politics and his own lived experiences than ever before. Ditching the dreamy, often jazzbased sounds of his previous e orts, Carner has entered a new sonic domain with his new material to widespread acclaim. We’ll be there and we hope you’ll be there too.

Self Esteem – 12th MarchMarble Factory

of the ills of austerity and the struggles of the working class through his lyricism. Hip-hop heads shouldn’t miss out on this one.

BERWYN – 20th March – Thekla

album ’93 Til In nity’. Head down to Marble Factory for a spectacle of underground hip-hop and join the group as they chill from 93 ‘til.

Gentleman’s Dub Club & The Skints – 3rd March – Marble Factory

Gentleman’s Dub Club have forged a reputation that sees them sit at the upper echelons of the UK Dub scene. The 9-piece Leedsbased band have consolidated a heavyweight sound, that doesn’t hold back in the energy it delivers whilst live. They arrive in Bristol this month alongside legendary reggae-punk band, The Skints.

release of his acclaimed 2021 project, The House is Burning.

ELIZA – 5th March – Trinity Centre

ELIZA has long been one of the UK’s most exciting R&B artists. Signed at just age 17, the London-born artist went platinum with her debut album back in 2010 and her trajectory has only been upward ever since then. Head down to Bristol’s iconic Trinity Centre or miss out

serious waves. Named as Amazon Music’s 2021 breakthrough artist, her work has quickly earnt her a stellar reputation, with deeply personal lyricism and mellow instrumentals central to her sound..

Slowthai – 8th March – Marble Factory

Through Self Esteem, Rebecca Taylor has ditched her indie-band roots to become one of pop’s most exciting and celebrated artists. Her 2021 e ort, Prioritise Pleasure, was one of the most praised albums of the year, topping the album of the year lists of many publications worldwide. She takes to Bristol’s Marble Factory this month

The Pharcyde – 16th March – O2 Academy Bristol

I cannot believe The Pharcyde are coming to Bristol. When it comes to

It’s been a whirlwind of a year for Berwyn. The Trinidad and Tobagoborn artist lives and breathes music and claims he’s only not making new tunes when he’s asleep. This passion has undoubtedly paid o , with Mercury Prize nominations and widespread praise. Lovers of R&B and neo-soul should have BERWYN on their radar if he isn’t already.

BIIG PIIG – 21st March – Thekla

Also heading down to Bristol’s iconic Thekla this month is BIIG PIIG. The Irish-born singer and rapper has quickly become one of pop’s most electric artists, always aiming for experimentalism and to push the boundaries of the genre.

Inspired by music legends such as Lauryn Hill and Amy Winehouse, Olivia Dean has been making some

Brash, abrasive and always braggadocious, Slowthai has been one of the most exciting artists coming from the UK in recent years. Having always irted with a more punk-based sound, ‘Doorman’ being one of the perfect examples of this, it appears his latest album (to be released March 3rd) is going exactly in this direction. Bring your earplugs and prepare yourself for a show that’ll be packed-full of rowdiness – this isn’t for the faint-hearted.

Loyle Carner – 12th March – O2 Academy Bristol

Loyle Carner’s 2022 project, hugo, saw the rapper delve deeper

describing the hip-hop collective, who came to stardom back in the 90s, the word ‘legendary’ is genuinely an understatement. Their 1992 e ort, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, is regularly lauded as one of the genre’s greatest ever, with the followup, Labcabincalifornia, receiving similar praise. This is a big one.

Jeshi – 16th March – Exchange

Jeshi is an artist that has been taking the UK hip-hop scene by storm. Deeply political, with scathing social commentaries and introspective storytelling, Jeshi aims to spread the message

Channel Tres – 23rd March – Thekla

With a unique electronic sound, inspired by West Coast hip-hop, the LA-based singer, rapper and producer has been expertly carving out his own lane which is best described as silky and smooth.

Black Honey – 29th March – Thekla

Formed in Brighton nearly ten years ago, Black Honey is a four-piece indie rock band led by vocalist Izzy Baxter, who is often compared to Lana Del Rey. Following the release of their EP, OK, earlier this February, they head down to Thekla this month in what will undoubtedly be a heavyweight show.

IDLES' homecoming gig. Epigram / Mia Smith

Josh is back with a whole new set of gigs this month, so get your tickets fast - you don' t want to miss out.

Loyle Carner © Chu Media

Olivia Dean - 7th March - Trinity Centre

'I'm quite enjoying the decay of the United Kingdom' - In Conversation with Mogwai

Though Mogwai have never been afraid to juxtapose the emotional weight of their music with levity in every other aspect of how they present themselves - it speaks to the power of their songwriting that a song called ‘I Love You, I'm Going to Blow Up Your School’ has made me cry - it’s still a surprise just how upbeat Barry Burns is during our 10 am phone interview.

Legendary albums like Mogwai's Young Team and Come On Die Young, both reissued on vinyl this month, variously conjure images of slow urban decay and violent disaster, but it refreshingly seems to just be about the music for a band rapidly approaching legendary status.

Read on for Burns’s thoughts on the German language, working with producer Dave Fridmann and the time David Berman threw a microphone stand at a car.

AC: I noticed you’ve got a UK number, are you calling from here? Wikipedia says you’re running a pub in Berlin!

BB: No, no. My wife was, but we sold it a couple years ago and moved back to Glasgow because I just couldn't be bothered learning German, and it was getting to me. It's f***ing impossible. Impenetrable.

Are you enjoying being back?

I am. I mean, everything’s f***ed in this country and I'm quite enjoying the decay of the United Kingdom. The empire is over! It's totally f***ed, isn't it? Like no one collects your bins anymore and sh*t like that.

Do you remember when you met the other guys in Mogwai?

Yes, I do, quite clearly. I was rehearsing with the band that I was in and Paul Savage, the engineer, was a friend of mine that was doing the Mogwai record. And he's like, you’ve got to hear this band. I met Stuart, who had long hair at the time. I always remember that. All gone now <laughs>. He looked

like a dungeon master the way it was starting to bald on the top. It was a weird feeling, knowing straight away I'm gonna end up working with this guy. I don't know why. My girlfriend at the time was working with Stuart's girlfriend at a bar together, and he used to come up and I think he just liked my f***ing sh*t patter. We realised we had quite a lot in common, as everyone in Scotland does. A couple of months later he was round my at, with our ex-girlfriends at the time, and he asked me to join the band. I was like, of course, I hate my job. So, uh, yeah. And then I did that. This was when they were recording [Mogwai Young Team]. They had borrowed my piano for the record, and then we just started hanging out. It was a really tiny studio. There was only one live room and two rehearsal rooms, so you were always meeting people there. Do you know Urusei Yatsura? They were on

Chemical Underground. I tapped the door to try and get into the studio and the two guys from that band who were on Chemical Underground just didn't get up to let me in. And I was like, f***ing c*nts <laugh> I’ve never forgiven them for it.

In his book, Stuart Braithwaite talks about how seeing The Cure when he was 13 opened his eyes to what music could be. Did you ever have a gig like that?

God, now you're talking. I remember the rst band that I went to see ever was in Glasgow. The Inspiral Carpets. We had seats with a terrible view, but my cousin and I jumped over the barriers, convinced we were gonna get caught. No one gave a sh*t! That's what I thought all gigs were like: really bad sound, a guy with a mad haircut in the organ, uh, who I've obviously modelled myself on. Eventually, I started going to gigs.

Yeah. When you've got sort, sort of poetry to back it up, with a rice crystal spear, I was like, that's f***ing hilarious. I was speaking to someone a minute ago about the names of the songs. It really pisses Stuart o because if he's ever got a song with lyrics in it, we always have to name it and he hates it when we call it stupid stu , but we always do. He was like, what are you gonna call this one? Well, remember that time that our t-shirt seller thought Ryuichi Sakamoto was called Richie Sacramento? That's the one.

What was it like working with Dave Fridmann on Come On Die Young and the band’s recent records?

That's when I’d just joined the band, when we went over to do Come On Die Young. I went over on my own on the ight and I was scared <laughs> and when I got there he was just like the most interesting guy, just dead nice. And I didn't really even understand what was going on. I was like, this guy's a producer. What does that f***ing mean? Is he recording the record? Like, I didn't have any clue. But then after he nished the record and like I listened back to it, I was like, ah, he is basically quality control.

Stuart was at a couple of them as well. There's a little club in Glasgow called the 13th Note. It's moved around a few times, but Alex from Franz Ferdinand used to be the booker for there - and he used to put some fucking amazing shows on. That was the rst time I saw this band called The Yummy Fur, and I think they're still my favourite Glasgow brand. They're almost like a cartoon version of Wire. All of the songs are two minutes long, with no e ects pedals at all. Ever. Taboo! That was probably the rst gig that I was like, oh my god, my eyes are opened now.

What inspired you to dedicate 'Ritchie Sacramento' to the late David Berman?

Stuart was with David the night that he threw some sort of, was it microphone stand or something? Anyway, he threw something at a car, which is kind of vandalism, but-

De nitely vandalism!

He said to me quite recently, “you guys are so easy to record because you already have all the ideas and I'm just trying to make it sound good.” I said to him, “do some bands come in with no ideas?” And he is like, and I wouldn't name who the bands are, but they were pretty famous <laugh>. He's like, “yeah, they come in and they have no idea what they're doing and they want me to do all the stu and I do it because that's my job. But you guys have sort of already done the hard work.” So I guess that it's a weird job, isn't it? It’s a broad church.

You play such a broad array of instruments with Mogwai. If you could only play one, which would it be?

Bongos.

Bongos!

You bring them along. Set 'em up, get 'em mic’d up. Leave. Every time I look at my keyboard setup, I'm like, I f***ing hate this. This takes f***ing weeks to f***ing program. I should have just done the bongos.

Have you ever seen the More Cowbell sketch from SNL?

That’s the guy. He’s my hero.

Mogwai - 1999 © Andy Willsher

Epigram gets Mogwai to open up about the origins of the band, working with Dave Fridmann, and bongos.

Ally Chapman

Second Year Politics and International Relations

Artist Spotlight: Danny Chaska

Up and coming Bristol based producer-rapper

Oscar Ross Editor

Hidden gems are a strange concept to me. Alongside terms like 'underground', even the long lost meaning of the now overused 'indie', there is an implication of hiding from the spotlight, of staying o the musical grid.

Well, Danny Chaska is not a hidden gem, because he's not hiding. This local artist is making waves in the UK rap scene, working with MC's here in Bristol and across London.

Chaska produced breakout single 'Madrid', with rapper Hal Shallo recording his bars in Chaska's makeshift bedroom setup, using sheets for sound

dampening and stopping every so often to let the nearby trains pass.

'Madird', now with nearly 3 million streams, merged into Chaska and Shallo's collaborative 2021 album: VICETOWN. 40 minutes of jazzy beats and interweaving bars from the two young MCs, VICETOWN is the sound of nostalgia, of growing up and growing out of things, with tracks like 'Rose Gold', 'Plan C' and 'BRB' e ectively capturing the feeling of the album.

Chaska now works either out of studios at DBS, his sound engineering school in Redcli e, or working with MCs in London. Similar new talents David Armada and Cassius Gray have recently been working closely with Chaska, with some fresh new tunes bound to be on its way this year.

Chaska's latest release, 'SE17' shows o his production with bars from South East London MC, Stacy N.K.R. The producer combines stylish sample chops with his own guitar skills and drum loops to create an individual, distinctive sound.

Taking time to chat with epigram about his thoughts on the UK rap scene and his next steps as a musician, Chaska sipped his beer and gave us his thoughts on gatekeeping and ‘underground rap’:

“It's not so much gatekeeping, it's people saying stu is underground. It closes it o , it makes it feel like it's not going to break out, which is obviously not great for artists like me. I’m not trying to underground forever.”

Chaska also relayed stories of people DM.ing him about how much they like the songs, laughing about the ways in which people share and don’t share music:

"I’ve seen artists saying stu like ‘don’t gate keep my music’ on their instas and I just think, that’s not your job. Just make the music and play the shows,

don’t get upset about it. "

"(Laughing) Then again, if u like a song: post it on your story, send me a message and then maybe hit me up on hinge."

Chaska is currently working on a solo project to be released later this year. Working with other local musicisans as well as Mc's from Lodnon, this project could well be right up your street.

So when it comes out, don't keep it to yourself, don't put it on your underground playlist, but most of all, de nitly don't hit up Danny Chaska on hinge.

Editors' Picks: Best New Releases

SPACE 2

by Marlon Craft

Oscar Ross, Editor

The sequel to Craft’s 2021 album, SPACE, SPACE 2 is well, more of the same. For those who don’t know, Marlon Craft is an east coast singer-rapper combining rusty sample beats with hard-spat and sang bars with old-school ows. While Craft’s earlier work was closer to Action Bronson than Jack Harlow, SPACE 2 sees Craft move more towards the sound of Mac Miller, and before you spit your iced latte all over your ‘Swimming’ merch, please take this comparison with the smallest pinch of salt. Craft is moving towards conscious, less sample-focused work, drawing more attention to his vocals and his songwriting, with the closing track ‘Human First’ showing this move the most. Give it a listen and see if you agree.

This Stupid World

by Yo La Tengo

Josh Templeman, Co-Deputy Editor

Their rst full-length studio release in ve years, Yo La Tengo return with This Stupid World, a project that deftly demonstrates the band's versatile abilities. The album is both crisp and concentrated, with instrumentals and lyricism that are undoubtedly some of their best in a long time. This Stupid World can only be described as a musical triumph. The album was released February 10 2023, and is arguably the livliest album they've produced in a while, which is saying something given that they've produced 17 studio during the time .

Desire, I Want To Turn Into You

by Caroline Polachek

Jake Paterson, Co-Deputy Editor

So captivating in immense detail, Caroline Polachek turns the simplest refrain into something outrageously irresistible. The album’s far-reaching pop ambitions are grounded in the personal longing for hopeless romance (see ‘Smoke’ and ‘Blood And Butter’), and tracks like ‘Bunny Is A Rider’ take tens of listens to fully work out just how it manages to send you into a trance. Polachek doesn’t sit still, shifting from avant-garde pop to amenco between tracks e ortlessly, including features from Grimes and Dido whilst upstaging them completely, and Desire is a career highlight. the most. Give it a listen and see if you agree.

Fragments Time Out of Mind Sessions

(1996-1997): The Bootleg Series, Vol. 17 by Bob

Dylan

Sam Cox, Digital Editor

Bob Dylan’s bootleg series has been rolling out steadily for over thirty years at the time of writing, and gold from the deep, dark Dylan mine shows no sign of letting up yet. The latest addition contains over ve hours of remixes, outtakes, and live cuts attached to 1997’s Time Out Of Mind. The appeal of these over-stu ed bootlegs is that between one take and another Dylan’s delivery can change his songs’ meanings so drastically that they become unrecognisable from their more familiar counterparts. Sure, you won’t sit down with this thing in one listen, but at this point, the bootleg series serves as an important archiving project for one of America’s great writers.

Danny Chaska is one to watch in the UK rap scene, as he slowly but surely samples, chops and spits his way forward.

Above: Danny Chaska @ Breakroom Launch © Mo's Lens / Featured

Top © Oscar Ross

This Stupid World Album Cover © Matador Desire, I Want To Turn Into You © Perpetual Novice

ChatGPT: A game-changer in education

Will ChatGPT change teaching and learning in universities?

Tiberiu Toca

SciTech Investigations Editor

As technology continues to advance, the educational landscape is evolving rapidly. One significant development is the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education. AI is revolutionising how we teach and learn and one of the most exciting applications of AI in education is the use of chatbots. Chatbots are computer programs designed to simulate conversation with human users, and they are increasingly being used in the education sector to provide personalised support and assistance to learners. Among these chatbots, ChatGPT has emerged as a powerful tool. In this article, we will explore the role of ChatGPT in the educational system and examine the potential consequences of using this AI-powered tool in education.

In December of 2022, ChatGPT was released to the general public by OpenAI, a firm that does artificial

intelligence research and development. Anyone with a device and internet connectivity can use ChatGPT for free, making it broadly available, especially for students who are currently all digital natives. ChatGPT uses its intelligence to receive, examine, and then generate a response that mimics real human speech. The AI combines a vast database and a transformer-based neural network in the program to assess the incoming data and produce a response. As soon as a human user enters a query or command into ChatGPT, artificial intelligence analyses the language and produces a reply based on the information in the neural network.

For instance, if a teacher is teaching a course on the Revolutionary War and there is a class discussion regarding why the war was launched, ChatGPT would give students an immediate, succinct, and clear response that they could read in real-time. ChatGPT can support debates and provide the professors with in-the-moment responses.

Assessments can be created and completed with ChatGPT. Instructors can input data and context into the AI algorithm, and ChatGPT will pro-

duce a result. It could need some adjusting, but it might be an excellent place for teachers to start when making their own tests from scratch. Students can immediately receive feedback through ChatGPT, which can assist them get better at writing. Automation can speed up one of a teacher's most time-consuming responsibilities: grading, which is found everywhere. Teachers will have more time to develop interesting lesson plans and devote more attention to their students thanks to ChatGPT's ability to grade and provide comments on assignments. ChatGPT also acts as a writing aid. High intelligence and a wealth of resources are features of ChatGPT. Yet, its database is made up of online sources, a number of which obviously contain errors. The University of Bristol advises that its students must use ChatGPT as nothing more than a source akin to Wikipedia, as although it can be an excellent approach to gain broad knowledge and act as a starting point, it cannot be cited as a source. ChatGPT emphasises how rapidly new goods are developed and

how quickly educational systems will need to adapt. Governments must set the standards for what technology is used in schools and how it is used in order to guarantee high-quality, secure goods and prevent surprises. Certain actions are being taken globally. The UK intends to employ EdTech to address particular learning requirements.

According to a recent study of 1,000 college students by the online publication ‘Intelligent’, 30 per cent of respondents used ChatGPT for written tasks, while over 60 per cent of students were using the chatbot for more than half of all of their assignments. Given that ChatGPT passed graduate-level tests at notable schools like the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, most universities are concerned about how ChatGPT could affect student work and assessments, according to CNN. The biggest school systems in the nation have prohibited the use of the technology out of fear that pupils may use it as a shortcut for essays and other writing projects as well as tests.

Students must learn how to direct an AI writing tool to produce valuable output and understand how to assess its quality, accuracy, and originality in order to stay competitive throughout their careers. They will need to understand how to communicate constructively with AI systems as professionals who work into the 2060s and even beyond, using them to both supplement and improve human ingenuity with the incredible power offered by mid-21st-century AI.

There are practical benefits to approaching ChatGPT as an opportunity rather than a danger

There are practical benefits to approaching ChatGPT as an opportunity rather than a danger in addition to the solid pedagogical ones. Simply put, it is impossible to effectively restrict the use of this technology. Whether there is an honour code in place or not, most students will find it difficult to resist the urge to use AI to improve their work.

Further, how exactly would a school enforce a ChatGPT restriction? The AI composing tools will continue to be one step ahead of the technique for identifying AI text in the ensuing arms race.

Bristol researchers develop robots based on sea creatures

New marine robots could explore extraterrestrial oceans

Emily Barrett

SciTech Editor

Researchers at the University of Bristol have developed robotic units called RoboSalps, based on a type of sea creature. These robots could operate in remote or extreme environments where human control is difficult, such as extraterrestrial oceans.

The robots are inspired by salps, which are tunicates – marine invertebrate animals – and resemble jellyfish. Their life cycle includes an ‘aggregate’ period, in which the individual creatures are attached together in a chain. This has informed the design of the RoboSalps, which can operate as individual modules

or join together to form colonies.

This idea of a colony of soft-bodied robots has many advantages. Once joined together, the robots are more stable and easier to control, as well as being more robust - if one module breaks, the whole colony can still move. Multiple configurations are also possible; for example, three units may be joined in a chain or a triangle shape.

The study is led by Veronica Lo Gatto, a researcher from the Department of Aerospace Engineering. She is a PhD student at the EPSRC Centre of Doctoral Training in Future Autonomous and Robotic Systems (FARSCOPE CDT).

In a press release from the University, Lo Gatto said, ‘Because of their low weight and their robustness, they are ideal for extra-terrestrial underwater exploration missions, for example, in the subsurface ocean on the Jupiter moon Europa’.

There is strong evidence that Europa has an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy surface. Water vapour was detected above its surface in 2019, and its magnetic field implies the presence of an electrically conductive fluid below the surface –such as salt water. This moon remains a subject of intense scientific interest, with NASA’s Europa Clipper mission expected to launch in 2024 to study Europa in more detail. Europa could therefore be a prime candidate for exploration by these marine robots. Here on Earth, the robots may have promising uses as well. Dr Helmut Hauser of the University’s Department of Engineering Maths cites ‘the exploration of remote submarine environments, sewage tunnels, and industrial cooling systems’ as examples. Of particular interest is the fact that the robots are well-suited for autonomous missions; thanks to a drone propeller, they are able to swim on

their own and so a colony may split into multiple segments to explore in different directions, and afterwards assemble in a new configuration.

What is next for the researchers? According to Prof Jonathan Rossiter, a professor of robotics at Bristol, the goal is ‘achieving energy efficient movements close to those observed in biological salps’.

In fact, RoboSalps are not the only

robots to be inspired by biology. Other examples include Harvard’s Ambulatory Microrobot (HAMR), inspired by a cockroach, which harnesses surface tension in order to walk on water, or the Bat Bot, designed by a group of researchers at Caltech. This robot is influenced by the complex flying mechanisms of bats and offers more battery efficiency than other drones of its size. In addition, the researchers developed a silicon membrane for its wings to imitate the real wings of a bat; thanks to this, the Bat Bot is able to be used in environments where a quadcopter drone could hurt people or objects.

Such robots are all examples of the power of interdisciplinary scientific development, where biology has informed innovations in engineering. The future of robotics, at Bristol and beyond, looks encouraging.

Ray Ellersick/Flickr

AI is revolutionising how we teach and learn

The quake after the quake: post-earthquake mental health

The emotional aftershocks of the Turkey and Syria earthquake

Dhristi Agarwal

SciTech Deputy Editor

Earthquakes can have a signi cant impact on mental health, with many people experiencing psychological distress and other disorders. This article discusses the real emotional after-shocks felt in Turkey and Syria.

Earthquakes are among the most devastating natural disasters, causing everything to change in an instant. On 4 February 2022, a 7.8 magnitude Kahramanmaras earthquake devastated Southern Turkey and Syria, with the recorded death toll approaching 47,000, making it the fth deadliest earthquake of the twenty- rst century.

Coupled with physical destruction to buildings and infrastructure, collapsed world heritage sites, and broken homes, individuals, families, and communities have su ered considerable emotional and psychological distress.The far-reaching e ects of such a catastrophic event can reverberate for years or even decades, and can be catastrophic to individuals who experience them.

A seismic event of signi cant

magnitude has the potential to severely impact society as a whole. Communities a ected by large earthquakes are frequently left reeling and defenceless, and the aftermath can result in a variety of negative emotions such as anxiety, despair, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

PTSD is caused by extremely stressful, frightening, or disturbing situations, and persons su ering from it can relive the traumatic event through nightmares and ashbacks, as well as have di culty sleeping and concentrating. Fear, which is an essential aspect of human experience and serves to alert us to potential threats, can provoke heightened arousal or activate the " ght or ight" response, and it is considered a central feature in the diagnosis of PTSD.

research conducted by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has shown that early treatment of PTSD can have reversible e ects and be corrected if survivors receive appropriate outreach healthcare.

Communities a ected by large earthquakes are frequently left reeling and defenceless

Children, being one of the most vulnerable demographic groups, are at heightened risk of su ering from the devastating e ects of the recent catastrophic earthquake. Save the Children has reported that over 7 million children have been a ected by the calamity, with many exhibiting signs of acute distress, including nightmares, aggression,

and withdrawal in Turkey. They are grappling with a myriad of emotions, including feelings of loss and dislocation from their homes, schools, and communities. In addition, the United Nations has raised concerns about the sub-zero weather conditions, which have put the children at risk of hypothermia, further compounded by insu cient shelters and water infrastructure, thereby exposing them to waterborne diseases like cholera and Hepatitis A. Research indicates that survivors of natural disasters like the magnitude 7.8 earthquake are at a heightened risk of acute trauma and chronic diseases such as anxiety and depression.

Some individuals have endured prolonged periods of time trapped beneath rubble in the cold and dark, only to discover that their loved ones have perished or are unaccounted for, while the once bustling neighborhoods they called home are now reduced to piles of shattered concrete. Health experts in Turkey report an increase in cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among survivors. However,

Ben Beaglehole, a senior lecturer in the department of psychological medicine at the University of Otago in Christchurch, New Zealand, conducted a study on the mental health consequences of New Zealand's 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes. His research found an increase in the occurrence of anxiety disorders, PTSD, and nicotine dependence one year after the quakes. This increase was found to be more prevalent among those who had experienced greater exposure to the events, indicating that proximity to the most severe consequences of the quakes was

directly correlated to a higher likelihood of developing mental illness. Therefore, it is imperative to prioritise mental health in the aftermath of catastrophic earthquakes. Seeking professional help, participating in stress-reducing activities like exercise or meditation, and practising self-care are all viable options. Particularly, children may bene t from additional support and reassurance from trusted adults in their lives, such as parents, teachers, or therapists. At the University of Bristol, students with relatives in earthquake-stricken regions where devastation and trauma have occurred have united the Bristol community to raise funds in support. This collaborative e ort includes bake sales, charity boxes collecting aid and food, and donating warm essentials to the Red Cross charity. The cohesive e ort of the student diaspora to uplift these nations and contribute to rebuilding these communities as an active student body has been made possible by the increasingly digitised technology and globalised world, which allows us to keep track of and connect with the wider world while providing aid to those in need.

Discover the Bristol Green Initiative

Institute that are grounded in their latest, world-leading research.

Why does the BGI exist?

Charlie Davey

Fourth year, Anthropology with Innovation

The Bristol Green Initiative (BGI) is a climate action opportunity presented to students and facilitated by experts. It takes place from the 23rd – 25th of February in the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CFIE), same oor as the Student Union (SU) in the Richmond Building.

Innovation and sustainability academics and professionals will guide students through sustainability briefs created by the Cabot

Humanity has adapted quickly enough before, but we need a larger scale of collaborative action than we’ve ever seen before to successfully navigate the climate crisis and it is entirely possible. COVID-19 demonstrated the ability for countries to collaborate on a global stage. Furthermore, the disaster relief response for the Turkey earthquakes evidenced this. Japan and

other countries have sent their relief teams – as a token of human spirit and togetherness in tough times.

The BGI brings some of the world’s smartest students and academics at the University of Bristol together to work to solve global sustainability problems. Anyone su ering from climate anxiety or wanting to get involved in the sustainability space should see this as a great opportunity to learn, create connections with like-minded students, professionals

and academics, whilst collaboratively producing work that directly aims to resolve global problems.

Excitingly, the next iteration of the BGI will be the GGI, a Global Green Initiative featuring a one-day climate action sprint with students from universities across the globe including the US, UK, Uganda and Botswana.

The BGI have created a threeday design sprint guided by innovation and sustainability academics and professionals.

On Thursday, students are introduced to innovation and value creation frameworks and meth-

ods - learning that is applicable to many facets of their lives. Students will pick one of 5 briefs to work on.

1. Sourcing energy

2. Food waste

3. Community building, intergenerational and interethnic

4. Green cities/future cities

5. Using energy

On Friday, students are able to consult experts and academics. On Saturday, the student teams converge on their favourite ideas and go through a pitch workshop before pitching towards Runway for a space on their student start-up accelerator. Last term the rst edition of the BGI produced a team of students working to combat food waste and loneliness. Next time there will be a global design sprint between universities from across the world.

An opportunity for students in sustainability and innovation

We need a larger scale of collaboration than we've ever seen before

Students have united in the Bristol community to raise funds and support

Shefali Lincoln/Unsplash

Join the Creative Team!

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Are you a photographer, artist, animator, graphic deisgner, or general creative mind and want to get invovled?

Message one of the editors, or email editor.epigram@gmail.com to get involved!

Who is UoB's greatest sportsperson?

A look at three sporting heroes who went to University at Bristol

Louis Edward Digital Editor

Every Wednesday, hundreds of students put their studies on hold to take part in the variety of sports that the University has to offer.

While most of us are simply there to try our best and take advantage of the social side of sport, there are some with aspirations of using their time at University as a launchpad for a sporting career.

For these individuals, they need look no further than UoB's own alumni for inspiration. With Olympic gold medals and World Cups to their names, we look at three candidates for the greatest sportsperson to have made it to the Wills Memorial Great Hall.

Laura Tomlinson MBE

First on our list is one of the he -

roes on that legendary list of 2012 Olympic gold medal winners for Team GB. Competing under her maiden name Laura Bechtolsheimer, she, along with Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin, won the first team dressage gold for Great Britain and picked up an individual bronze medal for good measure. When applying for Wills Hall back in 2004, Tomlinson laid her achievements out on her form: ‘my main hobby is riding – I have won two silver medals at European championships and my efforts continue!’ She was certainly achieving at an early age, winning her first European Championship medal at only 14, then becoming the youngest British dressage champion aged 20. It was with the Danish-bred Mistral Højris, nicknamed ‘Alf’, that Tomlinson found her biggest successes.

Just a year after graduating with a BSc in Philosophy and Politics, she was competing at the 2008 Olympic Games. Then followed three silver medals at the 2010 World Championships, a gold at the 2011 European

Championships, and a crowning gold and bronze at the 2012 Olympics in front of a home crowd – all with Alf.

Josh Lewsey is a Rugby World Cup winner and British and Irish Lion

Iain Percy OBE

Competing at four Olympics is a testament to sporting excellence but winning two gold medals at different games is undoubtedly a great feat. Iain Percy won gold sailing in a solo dinghy at Sydney 2000, and then again eight years later in Beijing with partner Andrew Simpson. With Simpson, he won European Championship and World Championship golds in 2009 and 2010, but the pair got their home sendoff, winning silver at London 2012. Arriving in Bristol with Sport England funding as part of the World Class Performance programme, it was said that, at his honorary degree ceremony, ‘most of his grant was probably spent on weekends in the White Bear’. Percy graduated with honours in Economics in 1998 while still committing to his Olympic sailing dreams. Straight out of graduation, he was able to go fully professional and won the European

Bristol Run Series 2023 gets underway

The Series concludes on the 14th May with the Great Bristol Half marathon, with run groups and training plans for all those involved, regardless of their experience.

Championships in 1999, earning his place in Sydney. After his early success, Percy decided to change boat for Athens 2004. It proved a difficult change as he and his partner came sixth, with more disappointment coming a year later with Percy’s hopes as an America’s Cup steersman fell through due to lack of funding. But he chose perseverance in spite of this, going back to Star Class, this time with his childhood friend Andrew Simpson… and the rest was history.

Laura Tomlinson is on the legendary list of London 2012 gold medal winners

as a fresher on the same day as Iain Percy. Rugby had only turned professional in 1995, the year that Lewsey joined Bristol on a British Army bursary. He played for Bristol RFC through his time studying Physiology and was able to graduate in 1998 after he got special permission to take his exams in Australia whilst on the England summer tour of South Africa and Australasia. He also graduated from Sandhurst in 2001 and continued to combine his career in the Army and rugby for two years.

Josh Lewsey MBE

A Rugby World Cup winner and British and Irish Lions tourist, Josh Lewsey’s career was characterised by trophies. He dominated the fullback position in England between 2003 and 2007, as a starter for the Grand Slam-winning and World Cup-winning side of 2003, and was a key member of the Wasps side that won three premierships in a row between 2003 and 2005. Lewsey arrived at Churchill Hall

Lewsey’s big break came in the 2003 Six Nations Championship, filling in for the injured Jason Robinson, and scoring three tries. He could retain his place in the team all the way through the year, eventually going on to start the 2003 Rugby World Cup final and play his part in the famous victory. His international career ended prematurely with injury in the 2007 Rugby World Cup semi-final, but it took nothing away from his illustrious career. Who do you think is UoB’s greatest sports alumni?

BUCS RoundUp

tal wellbeing by partnering with the Healthy Minds programme.

The return of the University’s Run Series is giving students extra motivation to get their running shoes on this term in the form of several virtual and in-person challenges.

The 2023 edition of the series got underway this February with the Winter Warmer 5k and 10k taking place at Ashton Court. Similar events will be taking place throughout the term with the next run being the University of Bristol 10k held at Coombe Dingle on Sunday 12th March.

April will see participants take on the 6.5k Maverick Original Mendips trail running race through the hilly Mendips in the Somerset countryside.

This will mean that participants who complete all four events will have covered a total distance of roughly 42.2km, or the length of a marathon, throughout the series.

Alternatively, students can choose to accumulate the same distance ran through several virtual events taking place throughout the coming months.

For more seasoned runners, the Bristol Run Series Ultra edition provides the opportunity to complete an ultra-marathon distance by covering an additional 42-58km from the 5th to the 21st May, potentially taken the total distance ran up to an impressive 100km.

As well as encouraging students to improve your physical health, the Series is also looking to promote how running or exercise in general can help to look after your men-

The Healthy Minds programme supports students experiencing mental health difficulties by partnering them with activity mentors from the Fitness Team to develop a bespoke programme to improve their mental health.

According to the Bristol Run Series team, analysis of feedback of the 2022 series found that “93% of participants felt that the Bristol Run Series had a definite or very probable positive impact on their mental wellbeing, with 80% suggesting that there was a definite or very probable positive impact on their physical wellbeing”.

These distances can seem daunting to novice runners, but even if itsn't a part of the event, the Run Series encourages people not to be put off by their preconceptions of running.

Brandon, a 2021 Run Series participant, said 'if you think you hate running, find yourself a running partner, put some great music on, plan a route, and take it really slow! Like me, you might just be surprised at how enjoyable running can actually be!'

Updates

for football, trampolining, American football, fencing and more

Eddie McAteer Investigations Editor

With exams a thing of the past, or future depending on how you look at it, university sport has been in full swing. The week of Valentine’s Day saw plenty of success for Bristol’s sides, so we have a quick round up of some of the highlights.

First and foremost, the University men’s football team emphatically reached the semi-finals of the National Cup. The team dominated their quarter-final opponents Essex with a 4-0 win and are now just one game away from securing a place in the final.

Bristol trampoline had two podium finishes at their Cambridge competition, with two members placing third in their respective disciplines.

In American football, Bristol Barracuda ended their South West Division 1 regular season in style with an emphatic 31-14 win over Swan-

sea, which meant the team finished with a 4-4 record. Quarterback Callum Charlton was awarded Offensive MVP while cornerback Ben Mellor won Defensive MVP. The Barracuda's attention will now turn to their upcoming playoff match against the no.1 seed Bournemouth Bobcats.

The Quidditch team continued the podium theme with a third-place finish at the Southern 2 competition in Oxford.

In futsal, the 2s put in a strong performance against Exeter 2s and cemented their 100% league record by putting 14 past their opposition, winning 14-5 in the end.

Badminton’s M1 team also won 6-2 in the National Trophy, beating Surrey 1s. Sticking with racquet sports, the Tennis club impressed with wins for the Men’s 1s, 2s and 4s.

Finally, Water Polo’s second team were victorious in their match against Gloucestershire and the Women’s Fencing team also took home a win.

If you're part of a team or have watched a uni team in action and want to be featured in Epigram, please let us know at @EpigramSport.

The four-month long running event that benefits physical and mental health

Joe Green Sports Editor

Percy competed at 4 Olympics and won 2 golds as a sailor

Across four events, runners will cover roughly the length

UoB's Ultimate Frisbee team crush Cardiff with dominant performance

Eddie

Ultimate Frisbee is not a sport many of us are familiar with. For most people, a frisbee is something you take on a family picnic and throw around for a few minutes (with varying degrees of success), or maybe even a toy for your dog on a walk. For those in the know, however, there is a flourishing sport based entirely on this flying disk and Bristol University's team recently took on Cardiff in a crunch match at the hallowed grounds of Coombe Dingle.

As so often happens in this country, a beautifully bright February morning gave way to a grey and overcast lunchtime just as the game got started. Although, the Ultimate Frisbee team did their best to brighten things up with their performance on the pitch. Within a mere three touches they had scored their first point, as a huge throw from deep put them on the front foot and they scored with relative ease.

Despite conceding early, Cardiff held out for a little longer with some spells in possession but when they lost the ball Bristol were quick to pounce. A difficult chance that was dropped in the end zone served as a warning to the away side, but this warning went unheeded. Cardiff fumbled the disc and put themselves under pressure, a pressure that Bristol made the most of to double their lead.

A couple of missed opportunities followed but Bristol once again capitalised on a Cardiff error and started to cut loose by scoring their third. The visitors finally responded with a score of their own to get off the mark, but it didn’t take long for the home side to work the disc down the wing for their fourth point. One of the unique characteristics of Ultimate Frisbee is that there are no referees. In sports such as football, fans often end up complaining about the officials or the often-criti-

cised Video Assistant Referee (VAR). In Ultimate Frisbee, there is no such opportunity and the players themselves self-officiate the game.

This special trait of the game did however lead to some confusion, as Cardiff felt they had scored their second despite potentially being out of play. Eventually it was settled that they had scored, and the gap was cut back to two points. It was an unthinkably swift decision given that this is two opposing teams, especially when compared to a sport like football.

Despite conceding, Bristol responded fantastically and scored four more thanks to some tenacious defence and attack. It could even have been more for them, but a couple of chances were wasted as the half drew on.

Going in at half-time six points to the good demonstrated Bristol’s dominance in the game but Cardiff managed to make life difficult for

them in the second half. Two points in quick succession brought them back into the game a little but just as they were starting to get going, Bristol took the sting out of their comeback. A fantastic score from a wonderfully worked passing move that even Pep Guardiola would approve of put them back in the driving seat and they followed it up with another score to make it 10-4.

At this point, as so often happens in this country, the overcast skies bore rainclouds and the rainclouds bore rain. Alas, I had foolishly put my faith in the Great British weather and was unfortunately coatless for the remainder of the game. Though, it wasn’t just on the side-lines that the weather had an impact. With the rain making the disc more and more slippery, the game started to break down slightly and became a game of even finer margins.

Each team alternated scor-

ing points but Bristol’s early lead proved too much for their guests to claw back. By the time the home side reached the 14 points required to win the game, they had doubled their opponent’s score.

The club were clearly pleased with such a comprehensive victory and said, ‘we managed to use what we’ve been coached on and break through easily.’ Defensively they were dominant too and were able to stop Cardiff’s passing game and forced them to make mistakes. They said, ‘Cardiff shut down our upline cuts well, but during our timeout talk we figured we just have to give them as good as they have given us.’

A relatively straightforward victory for Bristol leaves them second in the BUCS league and with an opportunity to qualify for the Division 1 Nationals. They have only lost once all season, and even then, by a solitary point against Bath.

If that doesn’t say ‘strong team’ to you then it is worth noting that three players have also been selected to play for GB U24, Ned Morris, Henry Brooking and Charlie Dighero. The team is evidently in a really healthy position as they go into the business end of the season.

Unfortunately for any newfound frisbee fans reading this, there is only one BUCS game left for the team, against Exeter 1s, but they are hoping to finish in the top eight places for the Nationals.

The club is also looking to develop their second team to match other universities such as Bath and Swansea, where the difference between the 1s and 2s is minimal.

As someone who had never witnessed this sport until now, the skills on show were certainly impressive.

I never imagined it possible to control a frisbee to this extent, let alone to make it look this exciting. Aside from my own fresh perspective on the sport, the team were phenomenal and were well worth their win. Next stop, Division 1 Nationals.

Bristol secured 14-7 victory in unique sporting spectacle

McAteer Investigations Editor

I never imagined it possible to control a frisbee let alone make it look this exciting Victory leaves Bristol 2nd in the BUCS League with just one loss this season

Bristol SEH