Turner at the Tate page 36
Mental health in freshers page 15 Turner at the Tate page The Referendum page 10 Issue 276 Friday 26th September 2014 www.epigram.org.uk
Students face accommodation fiasco
India Castle-Gibb
• Rising student numbers lead University to make students share rooms • Housing supply is not growing with increased demand • University asking staff to temporarily take students in
Sarah Newey News Editor Matthew Field Online Comment Editor More than 300 Bristol University freshers will be forced to share single bedrooms when they arrive next week, after the university overrecruited first year undergraduates. Many of the 312 involved in the temporary arrangement will be provided with bunk beds, and expected to share desks and wardrobes for the first term of their time at Bristol. An exceptional number of students have been accepted through re-marks and insurance choices this year. It is also the first year that the University
has been recruiting through clearing, which is an added strain on already limited supply. There have been some suggestions that rapid expansion of the University was to blame for the blunder. However, the Accommodation Office has insisted that Bristol has been a victim of its own policies. The University guaranteed that everyone who applied for accommodation before the 31st August will be provided for - which therefore includes those coming through clearing, remarks and insurance choices. Pru Archer, Head of Accommodation Services, told Epigram that in many other universities these latecoming freshers would be worse off, as they would have had to find their own accommodation. She argued that ‘If we hadn’t guaranteed all these students accommodation, they would be
desperately searching in the private sector for somewhere to live.’ Nonetheless, Darcy Ramden, a first year Philosophy student going into Churchill Hall, described the confusion she faced before she moved in to Epigram. ‘They firstly sent me an email saying I had an accommodation offer from Churchill but were very unclear on the details, it seemed to say I may be sharing for a while. I then found out when they updated the online offer that I was definitely sharing but they were very unclear about how long for. ‘I haven’t been given any options, I asked and they effectively said take it or leave it. Everyone on the Facebook group seems irritated; especially those who, like me, had firmed Bristol and got the grades, as well as applying as soon as possible to
secure the accommodation we wanted and have ended up in bunk beds sharing one cupboard and one desk between two people - not ideal!’ Other students have also expressed their frustration. Hugh Williams, a first year Economics student also going to Churchill, told Epigram: ‘As I have already taken a year out, I have my hands tied in having to go to university this year. There is no possibility of me deferring this offer and I have basically been forced into a situation which I was not even aware existed. ‘Despite being told that the University has had some experiences with this in the past, I never once saw this caveat on the website. If I had realised Churchill was going to have shared accommodation this year, I probably would have applied to a different residence.’ continued on page 3
Epigram
26.09.14
News Editorial
Editor: Zaki Dogliani
Deputy Editor Anna Fleck
Deputy Editor: Tori Halman
editor@epigram.org.uk
anna.fleck@epigram.org.uk
tori.halman@epigram.org.uk
A note from the editor
Inside Epigram Features 9 Journalism: ‘a need to speak the truth’ Emily McMullin discusses Owen Jones’ views on journalism
Comment 13 Big Debate Tom Lynas and Nick Herbert discuss whether or not the NHS should charge for self-inflicted injuries
Style 29 Clean Sweep for Duster Coats
Welcome to Bristol University! As you may have seen in our recent article, our university is ranked among the top 30 in the world. It is full of excellent lecturers and teaching staff. It sits in the middle of a vibrant, diverse city full of fun places to go and amazing views and sights. But there’s another side to Bristol University. There is a growing disconnect between, on one side, university management and, on the other, most lecturers, students, and the Students’ Union. In other words, the University appears not to listen enough. Or, if and when it does, it doesn’t place enough importance on the needs of students and academic staff. Regrettably, not nearly enough is done to increase capacity in line with growing student numbers. Whether it be study space or living space. The epitome of this is our latest report on accommodation shortages. The fact that it took merely a minute to scan through Epigram archives to find a front page where 150 students were left without accommodation shows how long the University has had to fix the issue and how little has been done. More recently, we’ve had Hiatt Baker residents forced to put up with massive disruption, and the redevelopment still isn’t complete, even if the rooms themselves are now ready. The situation appears to be worsening, with the University joining the clearing process this summer. That’s not to say that the University shouldn’t have taken students through
Writers’ meetings
it, but it should have ensured sufficient accommodation provision before doing so. Too often senior management appear too focused on profits and on taking as many students with their annual £9000 fees in without considering students already here who will graduate before work developing the former Habitat building is anywhere near completion. Worryingly, the University appears to be reliant on students dropping out as a result of mental health problems or other issues to mitigate the accommodation mess which has seen many forced to share rooms and wardrobes.
“
this latest shambles underlines how important it is to have independent student media The fact that the fate of the group of students waiting for their own room depends on another factor which doesn’t exactly reflect well on the University is hardly reassuring. When tuition fees were introduced in the first place, students were told that they would lead to higher standards, even before the rate reached today’s sky-high levels which deter many from low-income families from applying - many of which would otherwise be here about to start first year.
There is an ongoing debate about whether higher standards have followed in academic affairs. Savage cuts to teaching budgets, and many lecturers and trade unions make a compelling case that it has not. When it comes to accommodation, there is little doubt that this has not happened. Students have rightly been expecting more, but their needs are being catered for less and less. As well as highlighting a need for more accommodation, this latest shambles underlines how important it is to have independent student media always willing to listen to the student voice. In addition to being the main outlet for news and debate, Epigram is a platform to celebrate and showcase your skills and creativity, whatever they may be. There has occasionally been a perception in the past that Epigram is a closed shop or that you need to have had years of journalism experience to write for us. That couldn’t be further from the truth. While we have a strong team of section editors and sub-editors who have worked incredibly hard to put this first edition together in time for Freshers’ Fair, Epigram is all about our writers. And that means you! Drop me an email, contact the editor of the section(s) that you’re interested in writing for or just turn up to section meetings, where stories get handed out and article ideas can be put forward. Getting involved was one of the best decisions I’ve made during my time at university, and I urge you to do the same.
Zaki Dogliani
Every fortnight, our editors hold meetings for anyone who wants to write for Epigram. If you’d like to get involved, or simply want to find out more information, come along to any one of the following meetings or contact the relevant editor via their email address below. It’s never too late to get involved - we look forward to meeting you! News Living Tuesday 30th Oct at 1pm The Film & TV Science & Tech th
Eve Crosbie discusses this season’s top picks
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www.epigram.org.uk For the latest news, features and reviews
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Comment Online Editor Arts Editor Matt Field commentonline@epigram.org.uk Millie Morris Deputy Sport Editor arts@epigram.org.uk Benj Cunningham Letters Editor deputysport@epigram.org.uk Deputy Arts Editor Olivia Petter Sam Abreo letters@epigram.org.uk Sport Online Editor sabreo@epigram.org.uk Edward Henderson-Howat Living Editor sportonline@epigram.org.uk Arts Online Editor Morwenna Scott Jude A’Bear living@epigram.org.uk Crown Court Editor jabear@epigram.org.uk Alex Cawthron Deputy Living Editors crowncourt@epigram.org.uk Music Editor Sofia Gymer Guy Barlow sofia.gymer@epigram.org.uk Investigations Editor Comment Editor music@epigram.org.uk Science Editor George Robb Becki MurrayPatrick Baker Nick Cork g.robb@epigram.org.uk Deputy Music Editor becki.murray@epigram.org.uk comment@epigram.org.uk science@epigram.org.uk Gunseli Yalcinkaya Photographer gyalcinkaya@epigram.org.uk Letters Living Online Editor Editor DeputyStyle Science Editor India Castle-Gibb Jordan Kelly-Linden Emma Corfield Emma photography@epigram.org.uk Sackville Music Online Editor livingonline@epigram.org.uk letters@epigram.org.uk deputyscience@epigram.org Jonny Hunter Cartoonist Culture Editor jonny@epigram.org.uk Sport Editor Travel Editor Alan McAlpine Rowena BallCalum Sherwood Tom Burrows Film & TV Editor travel@epigram.org.uk culture@epigram.org.uk sport@epigram.org.uk Chief Proofreaders Matthew Floyd filmandtv@epigram.org.uk Deputy Deputy Travel EditorCulture Editor DeputyJennifer SportBell Editor jbell@epigram.org.uk Rosie Quigley Zoe Hutton David Stone Deputy Film & TV Editor deputytravel@epigram.org.uk deputyculture@epigram.org.uk deputysport@epigram.org.uk Hannah McGovern Hannah Price hmcgovern@epigram.org.uk hannah.price@epigram.org.uk Music Travel Online EditorEditor
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News
Epigram
26.09.2014
3
@epigramnews
Editor: Sarah Newey Deputy Editors: Ivana Scatola; Issy May Bull Online Editors: Alex Evans; Oscar Cunnington news@epigram.org.uk iscatola@epigram.org.uk ; issyb@epigram.org.uk newsonline@epigram.org.uk; ocunnington@epigram.org.uk
The Hawthorns, Churchill, Manor and Richmond Terrace are the halls earmarked to be adjusted for sharers. The University has chosen certain rooms within these halls after Facilities had looked across University accommodation and decided which were large enough for two people. Speaking to Epigram, Students’Union Student Living Officer Tom Phipps said, ‘We are clearly disappointed about the over-recruitment of students and the impact this is having on students in regards to their accommodation. We have already been working closely with the University to get the best deal for these students and will continue to do so as these students move in.’ The University has told Epigram that they expect a third of those sharing will be able to move into alternative accommodation within six weeks, with the remainder moving by Christmas. Every year many students leave the university in the first term, and rooms made vacant will be used to relocate sharers. The Accommodation Office is also working to find private sector property options. Students with health and pastoral needs will be prioritised. Students affected will pay 25 per cent of the cost of the room and receive catered meals while they are sharing. Those in self-catered halls will be able to have meals elsewhere - for example, Manor Hall sharers will be provided for in Clifton Hill House.
“ ‘Our student list is released in midNovember each year, and the majority are let before Christmas’
Yet the debacle has not only raised questions about Bristol University’s admissions process. The provision of student housing in the private sector market has also been highlighted, as there is concern among the student body that increasing student numbers will put even more pressure on an already pressurised rented accommodation market. Bristol City Council have changed legislation regarding the provision of student housing. This has made it almost impossible to convert houses in popular student areas like Clifton, Redland and Cotham into student accommodation. Ben Curme, General Manager at Abode Property Management, told Epigram, ‘Landlords are not buying ex-family houses and converting them to student lets as they used to 5-10 years ago. This lack of supply is pushing rents up on an annual basis. Our student list is released mid-November each year and the majority are let before Christmas.’ This is an issue the University is
Nothing has changed 10 years ago, Epigram’s front page story was also about accommodation issues. In 2004, 150 new students were left without places in halls - again due to unexpected rises in those who accepted offers. Once more the Accommodation Office scoured the private market for solutions to the problem.
‘We must expect better than what students are currently getting’
In a blog post, Tom Phipps highlighted the issue as well as expressing his concern that Erasmus students are being scammed on websites like Gumtree. He also said, ‘In an expensive city like Bristol, high-quality, affordable housing is always going to be a challenge but we must expect better than what students are currently getting.’ Accommodation is a huge problem facing the university in years to come. As student numbers increase and stock remains the same, it is likely that this year competition for houses will be more competitive than ever.
Bunk beds have been installed in Churchill to provide extra accomodation
India Castle-Gibb
continued from page 1
Roommates meet for the first time
India Castle-Gibb
Matthew Field Online Comment Editor
aware of. Hiatt Baker is set to welcome 323 more residents this year, in new selfcatered blocks - although construction is still not entirely complete. Steve Bourke, Deputy Warden of Hiatt Baker, has told Epigram, ‘I am pleased to tell you that all rooms have been completed to a very high standard. It is the case that work on some external areas needs to be finished but this is very much on the periphery of the project and will not prevent our residents taking up their accommodation.’ The University is set to increase future accommodation provision. Professor Judith Squires, Pro ViceChancellor for Education and Students, told Epigram that they are working with private providers, with plans to create 1,500 new bed spaces by 2017. But the issue needs resolving before 2017. Already, Erasmus students coming to Bristol are not promised accommodation, and this year a large number are finding it hugely difficult to find housing. Epigram has learnt that the situation for Erasmus students has become so bad that staff members have been asked whether they could temporarily host students. Epigram also understands that one Erasmus student has even been sleeping in a car for a number of days.
“
The university have also employed Ellen Conway to offer support and advice to sharers. Her role is to relocate sharers into single rooms as quickly as possible, while minimising the disruption they will face.
Sarah Newey News Editor
Facebook Sharers Information Page
Halls shambles: student ‘Forced to sleep in car’
Storage space in shared rooms in Churchill
Stoke Bishop Gets Connected
Kim Slim, Wills JCR, and Tom Phipps, UBU Student Living Officer, jumping for joy at the announcement
National Express
Sarah Newey News Editor A new National Express bus service was launched yesterday, offering a direct link between the Stoke Bishop Transport Hub and London. Not only will it be of use to the 2,500 students living in halls - whose travelling time will be reduced - local residents and staff will also benefit from the connection. Getting from Stoke Bishop to public transport links in Bristol can be notoriously difficult. Google Maps estimates it takes 39 minutes to get to Temple Meads via public
transport and 26 minutes to get to the bus station. The new service is a much needed improvement. Tom Phipps, Student Living Officer at UBU commented, ‘I was delighted to be at the launch of the new National Express coach service that runs directly from Stoke Bishop to London. This is great news for the students living in Stoke Bishop as it will allow affordable travel to and from London.’ The service will begin on the 20th September, and for the first three months tickets will be offered at a reduced rate of £5. Students with NUS cards will be entitled to a further 25 per cent reduction. Students with National Express cards will also be
entitled to significant discounts. The service will be frequent as well as affordable, comprising of six outbound and eight return coaches. Tom Stables, National Express UK Coach Managing Director said: ‘Students need to be able to travel affordably while still enjoying comfort and convenience, so we’re pleased to be able to expand our direct university services further.’ Patrick Finch, the University’s Bursar and Director of Estates added, ‘I am excited about our partnership with National Express, which expands the travel options available to our students, making it easy and affordable for them to visit London. I hope that the service will prove to be a great success.’
Epigram
26.09.2014
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University lifts the cap Bristol Film Festival on student numbers refuses Israeli funding Issy May Bull Deputy News Editor For the first time, the University of Bristol was involved in the clearing process this year. Last year Bristol was one of seven institutions - along with Oxford, Cambridge, University College London, Kings College London, London School of Economics, and Imperial College London - which were not part of clearing. Kings College London participated in clearing for the first time this year too, suggesting that this year two-thirds of Russell League universities had course spaces going spare. The Telegraph reported that the total number of vacancies in clearing were up a fifth from last year, and allegedly as many as 36,000 vacancies were advertised. A wider variety of courses than ever before were also available, including Law, which is one of the most competitive and sought after degrees. Many teaching experts, journalists, and politicians alike dubbed this year a ‘buyer’s market’, as universities scrambled to offer potential students
so-called ‘sweeteners’ to attract the brightest minds. These perks on offer purportedly included bursaries and grants, laptops and tablets, and cheaper accommodation rates. But experts reminded students to remain level-headed and factor in other matters when choosing where to study. The nature of this year also offered many students the chance to trade up their university choice after doing better than expected in their exams. For the third year in a row there has been a fall in students achieving top grades, causing many elite universities to look to clearing to recruit unforeseen high fliers. Some likened this to football transfer windows, highlighting how usually clearing is used to help students find a place when they have missed on out their preferred university or course. It is likely that this is a direct result of the government’s announcement in December 2013 to abolish the cap on undergraduate numbers altogether next year. This year was used as an interim step in achieving this; an extra 30,000 spaces were created in order to facilitate future growth. Universities were also allowed to take on unlimited numbers of students who achieved ABB or equivalent in their A-levels.
It’s getting hot in here Stephanie Rihon News Reporter As the start of the new academic year approaches, Bristol’s rescue services have been preparing themselves in anticipation of some of the mishaps that usually occur during this time of year. For another year Bristol has increased its student intake and as a result, 20,000 students are expected to grace the city’s streets this week, making the rates of house and hall fires drastically increase. Statistics released by the Avon Fire and Rescue team have shown that two-thirds of university students, mostly those who live in houses (second years and older), know of or have been involved in a fire incident in their homes. The majority of these 999 calls expectedly occur in the late hours of the morning when students return from a night out. Fortunately, however, this is less of a problem for first years – arguably those who go out more due to the freshers hype – as there is little to no chance of burning down halls because of the safety measures put in place. Although most of these incidents become
Issy May Bull Deputy News Editor The Encounters Film Festival in Bristol has refused funding from the Israeli embassy. The festival, which takes place each September across several Bristol venues, turned down the funding which was offered to cover the costs of the participating Israeli filmmakers. Israel is the first nation from which Encounters has refused funding. On its website Encounters has said that the decision was made ‘in order to maintain the festival’s neutral political status.’ However, this decision has been met with criticism by parts of the Jewish community. A journalist for The Jewish News Online, Stephen Oryszczuk, labelled the decision as ‘another boycott controversy’ which has ‘blackened the British Arts scene.’ The President of the Bristol Hebrew Congregation, Alex Schkesinger, has also spoken out against the decision, calling it ‘disappointing.’ By contrast, supporters of Palestine have commended the announcement. Kamel Hawwash, the vice chairman of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, was quoted by the BBC as saying that he fully supports this stance and sees it as part of an integral ‘cultural boycott.’ Organisers of the event, however, have sought to make it absolutely clear that this is not a boycott of any sort. Film festivals in other parts of the country, most
notably London and Edinburgh, have also refused funding from Israeli sources. This decision has in no doubt been prompted by the Israeli Defence Force’s military intervention in Gaza against Hamas and its network of underground tunnels this summer. Some 2,101 Palestininans have allegedly been killed there; the UN estimates that 70 per cent of them were civilians. It also appeared that three UN schools, used as a safe haven by Palestinian refugees, were hit by Israeli shelling, stimulating international condemnation. Hamas too have been criticised for launching rockets into heavily populated Israeli civilian areas. An estimated total of 67 Israelis have been killed. Thankfully a long-term ceasefire was agreed between the two sides in August. This year is a significant year for The Encounters Film Festival, despite its controversial decision. After forming in 1995, for what was supposed to be a one-off special, this year is the 20th anniversary of the Bristol festival. As a qualifying festival for the Academy Award’s short film category, it is highly respected. It is also one of 15 European film festivals to present nominations for the European Film Academy Awards. The Encounters Film Festival took place between the 16th and the 21st of September. For more information about the festival, take a look at the Film section of Epigram.
harmless case studies, it can swing in a very different direction if not monitored. Several fires, mostly in Redland (a main student area of choice for second years especially), occur due to a complacent attitude. Over half of these fires start in the kitchen, presumably after that cheese toastie is put on the grill post-night out at Lounge, or some other fully respectable institution… Alongside this, rescue services have received some other, more surprising, calls from students in need around this time. According to the same statistics published about fire safety, it was found that people have to be rescued from the River Avon and areas around it once a month. Again, alcohol contributes a great deal to this and especially affects reaction times when taking the unfortunate drunken plunge. Avon Fire & Rescue’s advice is to take an alternative, ‘dry land’, route to avoid running into these interesting situations. Ultimately, as Bristol’s streets and homes get busier it is important not to take the ‘laid back’ attitude as any of these dangerous incidents could very well happen to you. This year is the 20th anniversary of the iconic Bristol festival
Bristol Bright Night illuminates the city Naima Camara News Reporter
Bristol Robotics Laboratory
Venues across Bristol will be involved in the event
Tonight,Friday September 26,Bristol will come alive with an array of free, interactive activities inviting you to explore, innovate, challenge and discover. As part of the prestigious annual Europe-wide Researchers’
Night programme, the University of Bristol, UWE and the Bristol Natural History Consortium have collaborated to organise the first Bristol Bright Night. The variety of surprising activities across the festival is designed ‘to connect with the wealth of science taking place on our doorstep.’ Activities aim to find the answers to common scientific questions including ‘Whether there’s any truth in the “beer goggles” effect, can sounds lift humans, what happens inside your brain when you drink a lot of alcohol, how plants communicate with insects, and even how to make your own earthquake.’
Activities aim to find the answers to common scientific questions including whether there’s any truth in the ‘beer goggles’ effect These activities will take place all across the city centre in areas such as the Watershed, @Bristol and Bordeaux Quay from 3pm today. At the Watershed,
you can enjoy a film screening starring Sofia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, an array of tapas and a series of drop-in talks, with some exploring the varying effects of alcohol. @Bristol will showcase numerous exhibitions and allow participation in hands-on science with the opportunity to chat to researchers at the cutting-edge of their fields, engage in talks and even take part in a robot meet and greet. Bordeaux Quay boasts a different kind of evening, one filled with good food and good conversation, with the opportunity to attend a cooking workshop from 6.30pm to 10pm and discuss food with various acclaimed chefs from the Bristol area. Tonight could be the first of many annual events of this kind and Maddy Bartlett, one of the organisers, explained that its aim was to ‘Build on the historical legacy of innovation in Bristol and showcase current research and advances brought about by the universities in the city’. Bristol Bright Night is a great opportunity to discover the city, engage with researchers at the forefront of their field or simply learn something new. For more information including the latest schedule and programme of events, visit www.bristolbrightnight.com
Epigram
26.09.2014
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Bristol students splash out most on booze Richard Assheton News Reporter
GabeB
Alcohol is prioritied in many students’ weekly shops
Bristol named the 29th best university in the world by QS Amie Marshall News Reporter
QS World University Rankings 2014/15: 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 2. University of Cambridge =2. Imperial College London 4. Harvard University 5. UCL (University College London) =5. University of Oxford 7. Stanford University 8. California Institute of Technology (Caltech) 9. Princeton University 10. Yale University 11. University of Chicago 12. ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) 13. University of Pennsylvania 14. Columbia University =14. John Hopkins University 16. King’s College London 17. University of Edinburgh =17. Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne 19. Cornell University 20. University of Toronto 21. McGill University 22. National University of Singapore 23. University of Michigan 24. Ecole normale supérieure, Paris 25. Australian National University =25. Duke University 27. University of California, Berkeley 28. University of Hong Kong 29. University of Bristol 30. University of Manchester
“ Perhaps the most surprising result is that Bristol students outspend Londoners
Sports clubs are known for their drinking cultures, and a number of alcohol-related incidents were reported last year. But Jack Britt, Social Secretary of the UoB Men’s Hockey Club, does not think Bristol has a drinking culture to worry about. ‘I wouldn’t say that Bristol has a reputation for drinking a lot. I spend most on a Wednesday night where most sports groups have a social and friendly drinking culture but it’s not a problem and is still very enjoyable, but again I wouldn’t say
Bristol has a terrible drinking culture.’ This may well be the case and Bristol’s high scoring may be partially explained by cost. A survey carried out last year showed that the price of alcohol was notably higher in Bristol than in many other student cities. Haart, the estate agents that conducted the study, found that the average pint of lager came in at £2.95, less than London at £3.60, but still came third and 70p higher than last-placed Cardiff. Britt says the disparity can be greater still. ‘In Bristol you could easily pay in excess of £3 for a pint, whereas in other universities the price is half of that; for example we are currently on a pre-season tour in Oxford where the price of a pint is £1.50.’ Whether or not students in Bristol do drink the most is therefore hard to tell. What is clearer is that we do work hard. NatWest’s survey found Bristol students spend 32.6 hours a week studying against a national average of 28.6.
David Attenborough to open new Life Sciences building Ivana Scatola Deputy News Editor The University’s biggest construction project to date is finally complete and will be opened 6th October by none other than Sir David Attenborough. The £56 million project is set to transform science teaching and research at the University, and hopes to become one of the UK’s leading facilities for the advancement of Biological Sciences. Given his long association and work with the BBC’s Natural History Unit in Bristol, Sir David is a more than fitting figure for the building’s inauguration. Not only is he a leading naturalist, he is also a freeman of the city of Bristol, granted in December 2013. The 13,500 square metre building comprises a brand new library and computer facilities, seminar rooms and social spaces. There is also a five-storey laboratory wing, fit with state-of-the-art teaching and research laboratories fully furnished with notebook computers, spectroscopy and microscope rooms and a controlled environment rooms for plant studies. This said, the new building fails to include big capacity lecture theatres that are key to the faculty’s teaching and learning facilities. Lectures will continue to be hosted in another faculty’s building. The ‘world-class’ building does however include a 41 foot high ‘living wall’ on the side of the building that will promote wildlife within the area, as a habitat for different species of plants as well as bird and bat boxes. An impressive total of 2,000 people have worked on the project since it began back in the summer of 2011, replacing a collection of derelict buildings that originally formed part of the Old Children’s Hospital complex. Gary Foster, Professor of Molecular Plant Pathology, who has been leading the project on behalf of the School of
Biological Sciences, said, ‘We have waited a very long time for this building but it has been well worth the wait. The building is stunning inside and out, and finished to a very high standard. As a colleague commented, it is obvious that the building has been designed by scientists for scientists, in conjunction with our architects and it is this message that shines through in the world-class facilities.’ The project’s work has also involved
extensive landscaping to link the new Life Sciences building on St. Michael’s Hill and Tyndall Avenue to Royal Fort Gardens, with a new flight of steps connecting the two locations. The faculty hopes this new and monumental landmark on the university precinct will enhance the quality of learning at the university, reinforce staff-student interaction and advance innovative research-led study by bringing the Life Sciences community together.
Johann Edwin Heupel
Bristol has earned its position in the world’s top 30 universities according to rankings published last week. The prestigious Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings awarded Bristol 29th place, up one position from the 2013 rankings. Of the 29 British universities that feature in the top 200, just seven join Bristol in the top 30, including Imperial, Cambridge and Kings College London. The University of Manchester fell to just inside the top 30, one place behind Bristol. Bristol’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Eric Thomas said of the news, ‘Our continued success in the global league tables is testament to the absolute quality of our research and teaching at Bristol. ‘Bristol is renowned for being a worldclass institution, with a strong focus on academic achievement and this is underlined by these results.’ The rankings, compiled by the education and careers analysts, are now in their tenth year of publication and are widely considered the most extensive of their kind. In addition to giving an overall comparison of over 3,000 universities worldwide, the QS system also ranks universities’ performance in specific subjects and faculties and stacks institutions against others in their region. The system examines multiple aspects of each institution, including reputation among employers and academics, research output, proportion of international staff and students and the staff-to-student ratio. Of these criteria, academic reputation is the most influential, with QS considering opinions from almost 64,000 academics in an effort to pick out leading institutions across all
subject fields. As well as awarding Bristol 29th place, the QS ranking also places the university in the top 50 for numerous subjects including Law, English Literature, Geography, Mathematics and a number of sciences. Bristol, however, has also seen a drop in a number of subject-specific rankings, including Chemistry, down seven places from 36th to 43rd, and Law, which fell from 45th to 47th. Subjects that improved on last year’s rankings include English Literature, which was awarded 40th place despite previously not featuring in the top 50, and Mathematics, which rose four places.
Students in Bristol spend more on alcohol than those living in any other UK city, according to a new study. Results show that on average Bristol students claim to spend £12.90 per week on drinks, far higher than the national average of £9.80. The survey, carried out by NatWest as part of its annual Student Living Index, asked 2,236 students across 25 cities to estimate their weekly alcohol expenditure. Students in Cambridge claimed to spend only £6.80 per week, with 11 other places coming in under £10, including Birmingham, Edinburgh and Nottingham. Perhaps the most surprising result is that Bristol students outspend Londoners, as the capital city scored just £10.90. The accuracy of the findings is questionable, however; they rely on a relatively small cross-section of
individuals and depend on accurately estimating how much they spend each week, a nigh-on impossible task.
Staff and students alike are excited to see the iconic figure in Bristol
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Epigram
26.09.2014
37
News catch-up Bristol University buys Two Bristol students win former Habitat building ‘Rising Stars’ awards
University of Bristol
Beacon House
Ivana Scatola Deputy News Editor The University announced earlier this week that it has bought Beacon House, the Grade II listed building located on the Triangle, better known to the public as home of the former Habitat store. The building, which occupies the corner of Queen’s Avenue and Queen’s Road, has been on the market since Habitat went into administration almost three years ago, but was most recently used to exhibit the city’s Gromit sculptures last summer after the end of the Gromit Unleashed trail. Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol Professor David Clarke said: “We’re very
Stitching Homer’s Iliad Ivana Scatola Deputy News Editor A Bristol PhD student and artist has embarked on an ambitious project to create a visual, embroidered translation of Homer’s epic 24-book-long poem, the Iliad. Silvie Kilgallon, who is currently completing a PhD thesis on the theme of hatred in Archaic Greece, is stitching the ancient Greek poem by assigning an individual stitch for each letter in the lengthy text, with different letters distinguished by different shades of red thread. With each new book in the poem, the colour of one letter in the alphabet will be
changed from red to blue, so that the entire first book is red, and the entire final book blue. The idea for the project emerged when Sylvie was completing an MA in Contemporary Art Practice at Coventry University. A curator showed her an empty gallery space and asked what she would fill it with. ‘My mind immediately sprang to the Iliad,”’ she said. ‘I’d been researching translation, transmission and reception of text issues, so my immediate question to myself was “Can I produce a translation of the text that allows an audience of non-classicists to appreciate it without understanding the text itself ?” The colour translation was my solution.’ The project idea combined Sylvie’s skills as an ‘early career artist’ and ‘early career academic’ of Classical Studies.
Two students from the University of Bristol have been recognised by the Rare Rising Stars Award 2014. Now in its sixth year, Rare Rising Stars is a celebration of the achievements of the UK’s top black students. Inez Sarkodee-Adoo and Eileen Atiendo were awarded fifth and seventh places respectively. The top ten students were invited to a ceremony held at the Houses of Parliament which was attended by leading personalities in the black communities including author Zadie Smith and former footballer Jason Roberts MBE. The students overcame a dizzying array of challenges in order to achieve, and have excelled in a myriad of fields. Inez, who studies Politics and Sociology, grew up in Edmonton, North London. Her list of achievements include organising a learning festival in Birmingham, designing an initiative to offer comfort to young female prisoners in local institutions and publishing an article in the Observer. Eileen, who studies Aerospace Engineering, grew up in Kenya without access to primary education. After moving to the UK, Eileen thrived in education and achieved A*AA at A-level. Due to her excellence the Refugee Council spotted her and put her onto their programme, which lead to her securing an internship with the Royal Aeronautical Society. She achieved 93%, 89%, 81% and 65% in her first semester modules at Bristol. The 2014 Top Ten also comprised the Young Mayor of Oxford, the founder of an autism charity and motivational speakers. The winner was Kenny Imafidon, a resident In studies of the evolution of language, it has been proven that blue is always one of the last colours to be given a name, whilst red, a primal colour, is one of the first. Indeed, Homeric Greek had not yet developed many names for colours, which can be verified by his famous description of the ‘wine dark sea,’ throughout his writing. The red to blue colour scheme transition is thus representative of the conveyance of the text from a mythic Homer to the modern ‘readers’ or audience. Silvie chose red as the initiating colour for her project as it is that which is most associated with the concepts of war, anger and bloodshed, which constitute the prevailing themes of the Iliad poem. The poem, believed to have been written between 740 and 650 BC, recounts events taking place in the tenth year of the Trojan War, the Greek mythological battle between the people of Troy and the Achaeans (Greeks).
at a Young Offender’s institution who became a director of the British Youth Council. Carlton McFarlane, Rare Rising Stars Editor, said ‘What is so remarkable about the Stars is that they refuse to allow anything to be an excuse for underachievement - not pressure, nor poverty, nor lack of precedent. They are inspiring in the true sense of the word - living proof for all around that there need not be any excuse for not achieving excellence.’
Rare
excited about the prospect of transforming Beacon House into a building which will be a central hub for our students, in one of the city’s best locations.” Plans for the building aim to transform it into a central study and learning facility for students. Beacon House will provide a new study space with over 350 new study seats, something students will appreciate given the problem of over crowdedness of study spaces during revision periods. Plans also include a University reception desk and help point, a University café and even a bookshop and a bank. The building will raise the University’s profile in the city and strengthen its ties within the community by representing an accessible University venue both for prospective students and for the wider public of Bristol. For students, it may also be interesting to note that Pam Pam nightclub is situated in the Beacon House basement - although it is unclear as of yet whether the University’s acquisition includes this part of the building too. Work to begin transforming the building is estimated to be underway by the end of the year.
Victoria Halman Deputy Editor
Inez Sarkodee-Adoo and Eileen Atiendo won the
Talking about the positive feedback and interest at national level that she has received in response to the project, Silvie states, ‘It’s certainly a very welcome support and motivation boost; it’s kind of like the mythic “lucky break”’. This support has encouraged her to pursue the project as a post doctorate topic, and she aims to write an accompanying thesis, combining para-academic observations and ideas on the literal materiality on the text. All progress on the project is documented on her blog, Stitched Iliad, in order to maintain and document its reception with her modern audience, ‘producing an interesting piece of work that people want to engage with was what I hoped to do,’ she says. She has already completed book one, which will be proudly displayed in the student common room of the School of Humanities, and aims to finish book two by the end of the year.
AS-Level reforms are based on ‘nonsensical’ data Ivana Scatola Deputy News Editor
quisnovus
Michael Gove MP pushed for reforms
Researchers at Bristol University have discovered that the government’s decision to abolish ASLevels from 2015 is based on flawed evidence. As a result, the Bristol academics say one in five students could lose the opportunity to fulfil their potential on a degree course following this reform. Earlier research, commissioned by schools minister David Laws, looked into the reliability of GCSE results compared with AS-Levels in
predicting a student’s degree result. They were published in May 2013 and concluded that the changes would still lead to reliable predictions. However, the results from the Department of Education’s research, which looked at 88,022 students who graduated in 2011, has been deemed by academics from the School of Geographical Science at Bristol as incomplete and ‘nonsensical.’ Bristol academics looking into the study released findings in August 2014, which identified that the research conducted by the Department had ‘missing data, sample bias and poor research
design.’ Professor Ron Johnston,who led the Bristol study, said it was ‘to say the least, unimpressive.’ Bristol’s research into this evidence further indicates that as much as 18.5 per cent (nearly one in five) of the students in the study who did significantly better in their AS-levels than GCSEs might not have received a university offer – especially from the country’s top universities - based on their GCSE results alone. Without their AS-level results, these students’ improvements in the year could not have been taken into account by universities.
Epigram
26.09.2014
Features
@epigramfeatures
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Deputy Editor: Emily McMullin Online Editor: Laura Davidson
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Watershed: building a ‘playable’ city Laura Davidson Online Features Editor @lauradavidson01 On 10 and 11 September, the Watershed held a conference entitled ‘Making the City Playable’, an event bringing together speakers including the Mayor George Ferguson as well as designers, researchers and company directors, to look at cities as ‘playable’ spaces rather than urban, anonymous streets. Bristol has recently played host to a number of creative events and ideas contributing to the notion of making a city fun and interactive. In May, a giant water slide was installed on Park Street, an initiative by artist Luke Jerram as ‘A playful response to the urban landscape’. Last year, a project called Hello Lamp Post enabled people to send text messages to objects such as post boxes, bins – and yes, lamp posts – in an effort to ‘rediscover your local environment’ and ‘engage with the systems we take for granted’. There are also plans for a zip wire across the Avon Gorge to mark the start of Bristol’s status as European Green Capital in 2015. And similar ideas are taking off in other cities; Stockholm installed it’s Piano Staircase as part of an artistic experiment, while the former Mayor of Bogotá hired mimes as a form of traffic control. So why have we become seemingly obsessed with making our cities ‘playable’? The Watershed suggests that ‘by offering permission to play, we effect change’ because it encourages citizens to think about their locality in a more creative way, consider what their city and its services offer them, and reflect on how to make the most of the space around them. The conference was dedicated to exploring the possibilities of the term ‘Playable City’ in defiance of the world around us becoming increasingly utilitarian. Over the two days, speakers and contributors considered what the idea could mean for citizens, urban planners, companies and artists in the future. One session focused on the role of brands in creating this new form of urban living; speakers discussed the idea of surprise using the example of campaigns such as Volkswagen’s Fun Theory and Pepsi’s Unbelievable Bus Shelter. Participants talked about the role of brand advertising within cities and how it can be used in an engaging, thought-provoking way. Another session, entitled ‘Making Change’, looked at reconfiguring cities depending on our personal needs and the practicalities of achieving goals, using cheerful and original interventions. These topics were examined by Alice Ferguson, director of Playing Out, a Bristol initiative offering free outdoor space and secure streets for children to play. Alongside Alice, the session saw contributions from Tom Campbell, author and Paolo Cirio, contemporary artist. As part of the conference, the Watershed ran the Playable City Award with the aim of realising ‘a city where people, hospitality and openness are key, enabling its residents and visitors
to reconfigure and rewrite its services, places and stories’. Of 78 applications from 29 countries, the winning concept of the award was Shadowing, an installation that works by recording pedestrian shadows using infrared sensors and projecting them back onto the pavements through designated street lamps across the city. It is intended to connect pedestrians with the lives of others around them anonymously, through these movements of shadows. The installation made its debut as part of the conference and will continue throughout September and October. The concept was devised by Jonathan Chomko, an interaction designer, and Mathew Rosier, a designer with an architecture background. They explain that they wanted to ‘invite interaction between people who share a space’. Tom Uglow, a judge on the panel and creative director of Google’s Creative Lab in Sydney, said that the pair’s submission won the £30,000 award because it is ‘a programme that makes dumb objects smart... creating interactions for Bristolians that subvert the normal and enchant the everyday via technology’. Other shortlisted entries for the prize included Pipe Dream, which proposed to use pipes across the city as collaborative musical instruments, and Transportals, intended to project playful graphic animations onto buildings and walls across the city. The award is partnered with and co-funded by the University of Bristol as well as Bristol City Council, UWE and Future Cities Catapult.
What does the Scottish referendum mean for Bristol? Holly Jones Features Editor @hollium The specifics of ‘devo-max’ are now high on the agenda since a No triumph in the referendum for Scottish independence – but where does that leave Bristol? Since its decision in 2012 to vote in favour of having a directly elected mayor who has an eye for boosting the city’s image and then elect independent candidate George Ferguson, Bristol has put itself firmly on the international stage, drawing the attention of the European Commission in its successful bid to become the European Green Capital 2015. However, Mayor Ferguson currently faces a backlash for implementing £83 million worth of budget cuts directed
by central government. Among other things, this has resulted in the reduction of services in St Paul’s Learning and Family Centre, closure of several public toilets including near landmarks like Clifton Suspension Bridge, and 800 potential job losses as bureaucracy is streamlined at City Hall.
“ ‘One of the most centralised systems of government in Europe’
This all comes at a time when a 12,000 capacity indoor entertainment arena is proposed to be built near Temple Meads rail station, at a predicted cost in the region of £91 million. £38 million of this
is coming from the council budget, with the remainder allocated from other public sector sources. Advocates for the arena say it will bring Bristol in line with other major cities and mean that Bristolians will not have to leave the city to attend major entertainment events. However, councillors have criticised the plans for a car park as being impractical given the congestion the city already experiences. If Bristol had more financial autonomy from Westminster, would there be such contention over a project? Would public transport finally link up in a way which allows commuters to arrive via train and catch light rail to work? Would the city’s central streets be more cycle-friendly? These are pertinent questions asked of one of the most centralised systems of government in Europe. In his post-referendum speech last Friday,
Prime Minister David Cameron said ‘It is also important we have wider civic engagement about to improve governance…including how to empower our great cities.’ With the general election coming next spring, parties of all colours may make promises to devolve more powers not only to Holyrood, Cardiff and Belfast, but to city councils too. Perhaps this will be the catalyst Bristol needs to improve voter turnout from a sobering 28% in the mayoral elections and really propel positive change in local affairs. Students at the University of Bristol and UWE are able to vote in the 2015 election in either their term-time address or home constituency. Register to vote at aboutmyvote.co.uk
Epigram
26.09.2014
9
Journalism: ‘a need to speak the truth’
Owen Jones urges students to tackle the media status quo ‘People believe that Britain’s teenage pregnancy rate is 25% higher than it actually is, and that 27% of social security spending is wasted on benefit fraud when in reality it is only 0.7%’
At the seventh Student Media Summit, run by Amnesty International and the NUS and held at the Amnesty Headquarters in Shoreditch, journalist and political activist Owen Jones made a plea to the budding student journalists in front of him: ‘Speak truth to power and give a platform to the otherwise unheard’. In his keynote speech on the first day of the summit, which took place on 21 and 22 August, Jones highlighted the effect that the ‘Diet of distortions and outright lies’ fed to the nation by a large proportion of media outlets has on public opinion. For example, people believe that Britain’s teenage pregnancy rate is 25 per cent higher than it actually is, and that 27 per cent of social security spending is wasted on benefit fraud when in reality it is only 0.7 per cent. Tax avoidance costs the state £25bn a year whereas benefit fraud costs less than £2m, yet there is a relentless focus on the latter largely because the media is dominated by wealthy men with specific political agendas, such as Rupert Murdoch.
Throughout his speech, Jones was stressing a clear point about the role of journalism in today’s society, which he believes is to ‘Stand up to the powerful more than it stands up to the powerless’. He spoke of the politics of envy, referring to the way in which the media makes struggling people jealous and resentful of each other, so that their anger is diverted away from those who are actually responsible for
‘Through its use of exceptional examples and circumstances, the media presents a minority as the majority’ After the case fell through, Contostavlos made a statement outside the court in which she condemned the ‘horrific and disgusting entrapment’ that she was subjected to by Mahmood and The Sun on Sunday, and expressed her relief at the exposure of the journalist’s lies, which ‘were told to stop crucial evidence going before the jury’. After the story broke, Contostavlos’ manager Jonathan Shalit wrote to the chairman of the culture and media select committee to complain about the treatment of his client. In his letter, Shalit said that their behaviour ‘Was not an attempt to expose preexisting criminality; rather there was an extensive, sustained and deliberate campaign to lure her into committing an offence’. He claims that over the course of a few weeks, ‘The journalists gave the impression that they were regular users of cocaine and sought to induce Tulisa to share cocaine with them’. As Contostavlos said in her statement following the arrest, she is not a drug dealer, and has previously mentioned that she disapproves of drugs as she has seen the negative impact of them first-hand. Shalit concluded his letter by asserting that ‘following on from Leveson, it seems time to draw the line as to what are acceptable and unacceptable journalistic practices’. The case of Contostavlos highlights the urgent need for drastic changes with regard to the way in which journalists and publications conduct their investigations and target high-profile people and certain demographics. It is simply not acceptable for the lives and careers of innocent people to be damaged and sometimes even ruined by misrepresentation and lies.
Beacon
“ ‘Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, these are issues which need to be debated and discussed’
“
just.Luc
Emily McMullin Deputy Features Editor @EMcM_16
the difficulties that they face. Jones pointed out that ‘the behaviour of those at the top is all too little understood and scrutinised’, and as a result we live in a society that ‘Ruthlessly investigates the ones at the bottom and lets the people at the top off the hook’. A lot of the media outlets that are generally more concerned with making money than providing the public with true and fair information hunt down extreme and unrepresentative examples for their articles, such as the benefit claimant who’s just had a boob job on the NHS. Clearly this is not a widespread occurrence and there is generally more to the story than what the publication chooses to tell the reader, particularly in its sensationalist headline. But through its use of exceptional examples and circumstances, the media presents a minority as the majority and is often successful in using readers’ resentment to its advantage so that they buy into these stories. On 2 June 2013 The Sun ran a five-page world exclusive on ‘Tulisa’s cocaine deal shame’, the fallout from which revealed the lengths that certain journalists and publications are prepared to go to in order to get a ‘good’ story. As a result of the article, Tulisa Contostavlos was arrested and charged ‘with being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs’. The story was written by Mazher Mahmood, the former News of the World Investigations Editor and a controversial figure whose stories are responsible for putting many people in jail. The trial took place in July but Judge Alistair McCreath dismissed the jury after the first week when it became apparent that Mahmood had interfered with a witness and then lied under oath. From the moment the story broke, Contostavlos’ version of events remained the same, and in the formal statement made after her arrest she said ‘I was approached by what I now know to be three journalists from The Sun who pretended to be producing a film’, and claimed that they had persuaded her that they wanted to cast her as the lead role in a major film alongside Leonardo DiCaprio for a fee of more than £3m.
The Sun on Sunday’s behaviour ‘was not an attempt to expose preexisting criminality; rather there was an extensive, sustained and deliberate campaign to lure her into committing an offence’
Epigram
26.09.2014
10
Change to follow despite ‘No’ vote Scotland has voted ‘No’ to independence, with 55 per cent of Scots in favour of maintaining the union and devolution now beckoning. As a result, the preceding weeks and months have ignited a series of debates and a genuine nationwide introspection into both what values a nation should uphold and how we do politics. Phenomenally high voting turnouts of 85 per cent provide a reminder that the electorate absolutely will engage with politics when there is definite, observable change on offer. This applied especially to ‘disillusioned’ younger and student voters who were well mobilised by the Yes campaign. The mass participation alone of this referendum might be sufficiently instructive in spotlighting the hunger for real choice in politics, but the promise of devolution has necessitated massive structural change to our systems of governance.
The people of the UK reacted fervently to the opportunity of real democracy, to the extent that talk of an EU referendum seems more palatable and likely now. Even those unaligned with the Scottish National Party (SNP) might still be glad that pressure from the Yes campaign has forced an accelerated discussion about change that will affect the whole union. In his post-referendum statement from Downing Street, David Cameron called for ‘wider civic engagement’ with regards to ‘empowering our cities’. More devolution for Scotland means that the same privileges will be not just desired but required in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, not least to avoid the ‘West Lothian question’: the issue of Scottish and Welsh MPs voting on policy areas devolved in their respective countries. The intricacies of this will require huge discussion over the coming weeks. Cameron’s comments above suggest more decentralisation from London and the redistribution of power to smaller, localised jurisdictions. Either way, this chain of events is certain to reverberate in an unprecedented fashion. If a perceived political apathy amongst younger people was derived from the lack of a real option for change, then we can expect serious engagement over this issue as meaningful,
‘The conversation about devolution is essentially about the distribution of power’
Stuart Anthony
“ ‘Massive emotional investment and mobilisation of the Yes campaign won’t be easy to resolve with a “No” vote’
tangible decisions arrive thicker and faster than ever before. The conversation about devolution is essentially about the distribution of power, and the inability to affect change in this arena has been a major critique of previously disenfranchised voters. This has now all changed. For Scotland specifically, the polarising nature of the referendum means that the ‘No’ vote could never be a simple conclusion. The realisation that 45 per cent of Scots are fundamentally opposed to the union in which they live and work will not be easily surpassed. One Bristol student and Scot noted that the ‘massive emotional investment and mobilisation of the Yes campaign won’t be easy to resolve with a “No” vote’. The transition will be made easier if Cameron and the unionists stay true to their promise of fast track devolution. Issues like the NHS, welfare state and political reform will all need to be addressed too. Although the ‘No’ campaign will argue that these interests are best served with the context of a devolved union, they will need to convince 45 per cent of Scotland that this is the case. The UK, by all accounts, is entering a transformative period in which devolution is the agent for a structural rebirth. Positivity can be drawn from the recognition that this devolution revolution has at its roots a strong democratic impulse from which more can flourish. Issues of separatism or of selfdetermination around Europe (such as in Catalonia, Crimea and Venice) have been problematic or ignored, yet in the UK the Scottish referendum can attest, both on a domestic and international stage, to the value of an open dialogue.
“
Alec Short Features Writer
Is the University as multicultural as the rest of the city? Tinate Zebedayo BME Students’ Officer As the academic year begins this week, the University of Bristol is welcoming old and new students into the city. However, the process of integration between students and locals is one that a lot of students might find difficult at the start. When talking to students around the University about their views of Bristol, many resoundingly agree that it is a
multicultural, multi-ethnic city. Most of the teaching and living campuses are minutes away from the lively scenes in the centre, such as Old Market and Stokes Croft. These areas offer a range of independent cafés, bars and clubs in the midst of gentrification, social deprivation and soaring rents. Despite Bristol being a city University, and not based in a singular campus, many students spend their free time in and around the Triangle. This
‘bubble’ is very much within the University area where most of the student facilities are based. One student said, ‘Considering we hang out in that zone, we really don’t get the chance to meet that many locals’. An issued raised by students is that the lack of ethnic diversity within the university might not necessarily match the racial demographics of Bristol, or indeed the UK. Comprehensive integration of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students is less likely to happen successfully when BME students are not as visible. Representation of
students is important so as not to create exclusion, especially with the international students within the University, and the Students’ Union can act as the link between the students and the university administration. This is why the position of BME Officer exists. Equally other students who have lived in Bristol for more than two years have argued that their volunteering, work and community-lead activities have been some of their best experiences, in that these have helped them integrate into Bristol and develop relationships
with the locals. The conclusion of many of our students is that people in the Bristol area are nice and welcoming and the diversity and multiculturalism within the city was a major factor in their decision to study at the University of Bristol. Therefore, a connection with locals is something which students are keen to obtain and develop throughout their university life, and the Students’ Union must continue to play a vital role in this respect.
mum gave you
PLATES (thanks mum)
u o y g n i v i g e We’r thing you every y need reall
To celebrate our new stop at the Stoke Bishop campus we’re giving away the package of student essentials your mum forgot to pack.
All you have to do is enter the prize draw at
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Comment Yes
Tom Lynas Comment Writer
To me it seems fair that those who take risks should accept their consequences. If an owner leaves the front door to their home open, they must remember no insurer will help if it is burgled. If a gambler stakes his last £10 on a horse, he should be prepared to go hungry that night. And when a daredevil puts on his wingsuit before leaping over a precipice, he must realize that action might be his last. A similar argument can be made for the subsidising of National Health Service treatment with money from risktaking individuals. Of course, every man and woman should be free to live as dangerous an existence as they choose, but I feel that people who deliberately ignore medical warnings are not the most deserving of free medical care. Recent cuts to health spending give this debate a renewed significance. Since its establishment in 1948, the NHS has always struggled to reconcile the increasing costs of advances in medical knowledge and technology with the financial restrictions of state funding. The present
“ treating alcohol-related injuries costs the NHS £3bn annually
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The Big Debate
The UK had 2.8 hospital beds per 1,000 people in 2012, compared to 8.3 in Germany and 6.3 in France - removing thousands of binge drinkers from the wards would be a good way to start tackling this deficit. Smoking is another example of a risky habit that people continue to practice against doctors’ advice. 463,000 adults were admitted to hospital last year as a result of smoking-related illnesses. Estimates as to the cost of these patients vary (somewhere between £2-6bn) but what cannot be disputed is that they divert precious resources away from those who have contracted illness through no fault of their own. It is terrible to hear of anyone being diagnosed with a respiratory disease or heart condition, but is it so wrong to ask those who have put themselves at an increased risk to take responsibility for their actions? Why not ask them to make a small contribution? Critics will doubtless look for flaws in this scheme. They may point out that one of founder Aneurin Bevan’s core principles was that the NHS should be ‘free at the point of delivery’. They may fail to mention section 2 of the National Health Act, which states that an exception to this rule is where the injury or illness is self-inflicted. Others may claim that those who smoke and drink to excess fund their care through taxes. And yet so do many millions of adults who have healthier lifestyles. It is unfair that their medical treatment should be of a diminished quality because of the minority who willingly endanger themselves. Finally, there is the question of judging whether a visit is self-inflicted or not. I accept that there could be ambiguity as to how far an individual’s actions are the reason for their visit. But every vetting process has to begin somewhere. It may, for example, be difficult to judge how much disability benefit a person is entitled to, or how much compensation someone requires after an accident. The sooner we introduce this fairer system, the sooner we can fine-tune the way we assess incoming patients. We all learn at some stage in life that our actions have consequences. If this principle applies to the legal, political and financial worlds, why should healthcare be exempt? The NHS is a national treasure that sets a benchmark for the way a state looks after its citizens. This said, the ever mounting costs of running such an operation have put its standards under threat. While this small act of privatisation may be controversial, it will guarantee continued support to those who need it most.
26.09.2014
@epigramcomment
This week Epigram asks: should the NHS charge for self-inflicted injuries?
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situation is particularly grave - despite its promises, the Coalition Government has made significant cuts to the healthcare budget (around £800 million between 2010 and 2012) and a recent poll found that only 40 per cent of hospital bosses believe their organisation will balance the books in 2014-15. With this in mind, the idea that the NHS should begin to charge some patients for self –inflicted visits seems worth exploring. Northern Ireland Health Minister Edwin Poots suggested earlier this year that the UK’s overburdened accident and emergency departments should issue drunks with a bill for the cost of their care. While Poots’ proposal was met with criticism, it has a certain appeal. I enjoy drinking as much the next person, but I know that illness and injury are likely results if I overdo it. I think the assumption that I can consume enough to need hospitalising without any penalty is a childish one. Treating alcoholrelated injuries costs the NHS £3 billion annually and any charges would help cover this cost, while deterring excessive consumption and ultimately easing pressure on the service.
Epigram
commentonline@epigram.org.uk
No
Nick Herbert Comment Writer
How do you determine a selfinflicted injury? It seems as if people arguing that the NHS should charge those with selfinflicted injuries in A&E see it as a black and white issue. Whereas to many, the issue seems confusingly grey. The potential problems with ascribing the title of ‘Self-Inflicted’ to an injury seem too many to make this system plausible. The idea of paying for emergency treatment, regardless of whether you caused it yourself, jars with the fundamental principles of the NHS. I can’t help but think of a two-tiered system in which those with less suffer more than they need to. I do not mean that poorer people will not receive treatment, but we must remember that the potential financial burden will cause misery also. The NHS was created to help people regardless of economic background and by charging people we make that point redundant. Going to A&E will become something that gets calculated against cost rather than something we instinctively turn to. Someone with a worrying stomach-ache might regret opting against the costly trip to the hospital when their appendix ruptures. Another problem is that of mitigating circumstances. What makes an accident that person’s own fault? If a person uses tools which he knows are faulty, provided by an employer, and has an accident, is this the fault of the employer or the employee? Surely the employer should never have given the faulty tools out in the first place, but likewise, the employee shouldn’t have used the tools if they were known to be faulty. It can be argued that either party is liable. There will always be factors that mitigate the full extent of culpability and an investigation will mean more effort spent on an enquiry which would take up both money and time better spent elsewhere. This shows the idea of payment within the NHS would hinder not help. If we charge for self-inflicted injuries, why not go further and charge for the treatment of selfafflicted diseases? If we are going to go against the fundamental principles of the NHS, let’s go all-out. Why should we pay for the treatment of diabetes or heart conditions caused by what people will argue are ‘poor lifestyle choices’? According to Diabetes UK, diabetes treatment reportedly costs the NHS £10 billion, whereas the estimates of the cost of alcohol-related problems range from £3.5 bn - £6 bn. Granted, not all of the £10 bn is being spent on self-afflicted cases, but a good portion of it is. And you know what they say, a billion here and a billion there
and soon you’re talking about real money. This argument is ludicrous; we pay for the NHS with the knowledge that our taxes may not be paying for our own treatment now but one day someone else’s money could be paying for your healthcare. Another question is who adjudicates? The doctor? That would add another problem. It seems that, in these circumstances, the doctor in question could not win. It is perfectly plausible that a person could lie about their symptoms to avoid higher costs, this way the doctor cannot treat the patient. The doctor-patient relationship could be damaged, not just in the individual case, but also in a wider context. The idea of ‘Money-Grabbing Doctors’, whilst most likely false, is one that could get public support. Not everyone can afford to simply accept their charge. Surely this would necessitate an appeals process? An appeals process would be necessary and beneficial to nobody. There would be the administrative costs of launching and holding an appeals tribunal. Medical staff involved in the treatment and subsequent appeal in question would have to give up time and effort that could be better served elsewhere. So we have financial costs for the tribunal itself and costs in terms of time. And if the patient loses, are they now lumbered with the cost of the appeal and the treatment, which they might not have been able to afford anyway? And if the NHS Trust in question loses, the taxpayer now funds the treatment they would
” a billion here and a billion there and soon you’re talking about real money
have paid for anyway and also the cost of an appeal. The idea of this unnecessary added cost, which will be given to either party based on a subjective decision, helps nobody and can be avoided by disregarding the idea of people paying for selfinflicted injuries. The NHS is not a charity; it is paid for by taxes. Want to make more money for the NHS? Then close tax loopholes, increase education on healthy lifestyles, and the dangers of smoking and alcoholism. People who propose a charge to NHS services need to consider that one day it may well be you being asked to pay for treatment you desperately need but desperately can’t afford.
Epigram
26.09.2014
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Scots look to facts with unionist victory Alistair Woods Comment Writer ‘F*ck off back to England, you f*cking Tory’ is how MP Gregg McClymont was greeted while out knocking on doors campaigning for a No vote just north of Glasgow, in his Labour constituency, a few doors down from where he was born – just one example of the levels of ridiculousness the ‘debate’
around Scottish independence reached. I highlight the word debate, as it had seemingly turned into a shouting match, neglectful of the facts, where the louder Yes campaigners came worryingly close to victory. Currently there is one Tory MP in Scotland, yet it is ruled by a coalition where they are the main partner and considering the great disillusionment many Scots have with Westminster it seems understandable why many Scots want to break from the UK.
flickr: kay 222
Alex Salmond claimed that an independent Scotland would be completely free to rule itself as its people saw fit. He planned a 3 per cent increase in government spending and an open and dynamic business culture. This would have enabled the NHS to escape the axe-wielding Tories and impositions like the bedroom tax. He sold a Nordic socialist paradise, free from nuclear weapons that block the elegant silvery salmon hopping upstream to entertain the cheerful whisky distilleries emblazoned with the iconic saltire. Perhaps the most talked-about issue was currency. Alex Salmond stated that Westminster was simply bluffing when it came to this, and that the two nations would have merrily entered a very similar agreement to now. However, the two countries’ fiscal policies would not have matched. The fiscal expansion of Salmond’s Scotland, which already has a larger annual budget deficit, sharply contradicted the Tories’ pledge to balance the UK’s by 2019. This arrangement would have kept the Bank of England as lender of last resort, effectively meaning British tax payers would bail out Scottish banks in a crisis; try selling that to the UK. Then there’s the extra cost for Scotland to borrow. The world’s largest bond buyer, PIMCO, predicted it would be 0.5-1 per cent more expensive for
Scotland to borrow. This does not sound like much, but may have resulted in reduced growth rates of 0.51 per cent annually. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, thought the borrowing rate would be 1-1.5 per cent lower than the UK; which could have led to Scots, per capita, having annual incomes £2000 lower in five years - assuming a 3 per cent growth rate. Next is the keystone of a socialist Scotland: oil. The SNP predicted there are still 24 billion retrievable barrels left, worth £1.5 trillion, and yet the common consensus among academics was that 16bn was more realistic, a real hammer blow to Salmond’s vision which caused many voters to think twice. An independent Scotland was also meant to mirror the prosperous and egalitarian societies of Scandinavia. The SNP appeared to believe that just by being a small northern European state this would occur, but in truth the entire attitude and culture of Scotland would need to change. Compare Glasgow and Sweden: in one, you are almost a social pariah when unemployed, in the other, 30 per cent of households with people of working age have nobody with a job. I don’t intend to suggest Glaswegians are workshy, just that there was quite a bit of work to do. This referendum has eventually seen the triumph of head over heart, with 55 per cent voting No. For the more romantic among us it might seem a sad day, but pragmatism is required to survive in this world. The SNP belittled the unionists for their negative campaign, but all they did was offer up the factual arguments of the dangers to the economy and provide reason when Salmond was away with the fairies.
Bunk-gate shambles for first-year halls Matthew Field Online Comment Editor Bristol is still failing students on accommodation and be warned freshers, this is nothing new. Hundreds of students arriving this week have been shuttled into shared rooms they did not apply for. The reaction from students has been irate, to say the least. On a Facebook page set up, comments have ranged from exasperation and dissatisfaction to a fuming ‘f*ck this’. This is by no means the first time the University has proverbially shafted students on accommodation, and if you are just arriving this year you probably missed the University’s last accommodation debacle.
In 2012 those arriving to Hiatt Baker hall were met with a sight described by one parent as ‘a bit like the Somme’. Mountains of mud and rubble, demolished buildings and the constant bang and crash of heavy machinery dominated the Hall for all nine months of the academic year. Following a well-supported student protest and a vote at the Union to support the Hiatt Baker protesters, the University finally relented – relented in that some students got several hundred pounds back on their fees. Most received as little as £50. The University has in recent years overseen repeated failures with accommodation and there are no signs of things changing. In fact, there are many more ugly monsters coming over the hill for students seeking private accommodation. In spite of the University’s plans to open a great deal of new accommodation for students by 2017, there looks to be no provision
for the private sector housing market. Ultimately tens of thousands of second, third, and fourth year students live in private housing throughout Bristol, as well as thousands of postgraduates and Erasmus students. As the University expands, where exactly are these students supposed to go? There is an evident and growing strain on the Bristol private housing market – as shown by the consistent price rises on student rents. It is now not uncommon to find people forking £450 or more for crappy student lets throughout Redland and Clifton. But ultimately, forcing freshers to bunk up until Christmas in temporary rooms is utterly unacceptable and frankly shows a lax attitude towards student welfare. It is no way for a university to convince us that it takes our well-being seriously. There is only one kind of ‘Bunk’ that freshers should have to deal with, and that’s the one every Monday night of your first term.
The House of Frauds needs to be reformed Adam Becket Deputy Comment Editor The House of Lords is in desperate need of reform. We are represented in this country by a parliament of which one half are unelected, whom the general public has no direct influence on whatsoever. With 79 per cent members (146 more than the House of Commons), the House of Lords is the second largest legislative body in the world, after the National People’s Congress in China. Now the ridiculousness of our present system should be clear, where there are only seats for under a half of the Lords’ members. The House of Lords is an important cog in the system of checks and balances in our Parliament, and that is why it is vital that it works to the best of its ability. The situation at the moment is a bewildering one. Out of the 79 per cent members, 92 of them are there because their family was; they are hereditary peers. There are
not official representatives of other churches or religions in the House of Lords, yet 26 members of the Church of England still have the ability to decide on legislation that affects our everyday lives. These 118 Lords are ruling our country as if we never became a liberal democracy. The remaining 678 members are life peers - defenders of the House of Lords often argue that these people are appointed because they are experts in their field or deserving of their role. Some people truly do deserve to be there, whether it’s Lord Robert Winston, an expert in the field of biology, or Baroness Lawrence, who has promoted reforms of the Metropolitan Police. However, the system of life peerage is a complicated and opaque one, with the average voter not having a say or a clue about what goes on. Life peers are often not experts in their field but instead former
these 118 Lords are ruling our country as if we never became a liberal democracy
politicians or party workers, or, even more controversially, party donors. This is a controversy that just doesn’t go away; it reared its ugly head in the last admission of Lords. Michael Farmer, the former Treasurer of the Conservative Party, was made a Lord. He has raised an estimated £5.9m for the political party. Ranbir Singh Suri, founder of Oceanic Jewellers, has donated £312,435 to the Conservative Party, making his appointment seem like a reward for his substantial financial help. It’s not confined to the Conservative Party. Labour gave a peerage to Jonathan Mendelsohn, who helped raise money for the Labour Party. Even without donations, appointments seem like a largely closed shop with all the main political parties appointing former party officials, such as Chris Fox, the Liberal Democrats’ former chief executive. Politicians wonder why the public grow increasingly disillusioned with politics when archaic bodies such as the House of Lords exist. As maddening as the Commons is, at least it is (to an extent) accountable and representative. Most importantly, it is voted for by the people it represents, something the House of Lords definitely is not. Nick Clegg said in 2011, ‘This government will replace the House of Lords with an elected second chamber.’ This has ended up being another of Nick’s broken promises, though this one was out of his hands. The powerful seek to protect their fellow powerful, this is how the establishment is built and maintained. There needs to be an open and accountable second chamber. I haven’t even mentioned the fact that 39 per cent of Lords went to Oxbridge and 50 per cent went to private school - ridiculous!
Epigram
26.09.2014
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Facing up to mental health in Freshers’
flickr: ryan melaugh
Matthew Field Online Comment Editor Mental health remains a difficult subject to broach at university, especially in the manic first few weeks of Freshers’ year where individuals can find themselves exposed. Undoubtedly Freshers’ Week can be an incredible experience, meeting so many new people, defining your character and gradually forming a whole new friendship group. It is, for many, a once in a lifetime feeling. There is a certain level of delusional euphoria in how we approach Freshers’ Week and university. Even now, as I enter my third year, I find myself approaching the coming terms with a joyous optimism about how great everything is going to be compared to a home life on the outskirts of a dull, grey medway town. Freshers’ Week comes as this short-lived pocket of joy, either side of it the reality of university life. And the fact is, not everyone is actually enjoying it as much as they say they are. In fact I suspect few are. From the ludicrous themed nights, the organised fun, the homesickness, the endless bloody rounds of ring of fire… In the face of this wave of pre-determined ‘fun’ your average fresher can actually start to feel pretty isolated. So here this article is not going to talk about how great Freshers’ is, or what nights to go to, or list ‘ten typical freshers you will meet’. This article is here to offer some
advice on what to do when it all goes wrong. When the alcohol-driven blinkers are removed and you suddenly realise that not all of this is working for you. There is a hell of a lot of pressure put on freshers, and ridiculous levels of expectation about our first term at uni. The social changes can put whole new pressures on fragile, formative, and growing adult minds. The combined pressure of a new academic regime (or the boredom due to a lack of one if you are an Arts student) can lead to the point where your mental health is starting to suffer. Constant drinking and social pressures can leave you with a sense of isolation.
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fighting stigma starts with an awareness and developing a feeling of empathy Unfortunately we live in a culture which stigmatises mental health, whether intentionally or unintentionally. One example, if unsurprising, was Fox News presenter Shep Smith who labelled the death of Robin Williams as a ‘cowardly’, in the aftermath of the actor’s death following the actor’s long battle with depression: ‘Something inside you is so horrible or you’re such a coward or whatever the reason that you decide that you have to end it.’ This is a pretty brazen example from the media, but more tellingly students find talking out about mental health difficulties horribly problematic through a fear of stigma. Findings from anti-stigma programme Time to Change published earlier this month show that
one in four students who have experienced mental health problems did not go into school or university because they were worried about what people would say about their mental health. Almost half of the 3,000 surveyed also chose not to tell anyone about their mental health problems and lied about why they were absent. The stigma is real. The fear is real. Students still feel profound difficulty about opening up about mental health at university, particularly during a period of intense pressure to make friends and appear popular and cool in freshers but also throughout university. A NUS survey found that only 15% of students told a GP about their feelings of mental stress and just 14% told a member of staff. These figures need to be so much higher to get students the personal and academic support they need. But individuals suffering from mental illness feel real difficulty coming forward about their feelings, and often feel worse and guilty when they do, through a fear of stigma. I am not here to press it upon students to try and ‘save’ those with difficulties, it’s your Freshers,’ you cannot be expected to constantly look out for someone else’s health, it is not your job. But I am going to encourage accommodation staff and senior residents to always be on the look out, all the more so in the first few weeks, to help those who seek it, to be personal and a friend, and to offer encouragement for students to seek help - bearing in mind university counselling and medical facilities are often very oversubscribed in the early parts of term. Fighting stigma starts with an awareness and developing a feeling of empathy. It’s something we can all try and improve as we start the new year. Still, I fear for the sanity of those being forced into those shared rooms in Churchill… If you want to find out more about the University’s counselling service, visit www.bristol.ac.uk/student-counselling - 0117 954 6655. The UBU website has a Health and Wellbeing page with a number of links and advice on how to get academic support.
Speakers’ Corner: time to use your vote Liam Marchant Comment Writer There tends to be a collective rolling of eyes whenever politicians try to engage with young people. From contrived tweets about X Factor to photoshoots with One Direction, MPs seldom come across as anything but inauthentic. Their policies do not help either. As if mass youth unemployment wasn’t enough, we are to be saddled with a ton of student debt when we graduate. Is it any wonder then that the lowest turnout of any age group at the last general election was the 18-24s?
We currently have an apathetic electorate who will not send their leaders to the job centre via the ballot box. The mockney Captain Jack Sparrow, Russell Brand, was being disingenuous when he declared that voting changes nothing. For every voter who stays at home on election day that’s yet another interest an MP doesn’t have to consider when voting in Parliament. So it’s no coincidence that pensioners who benefitted so much from March’s budget were also the age group with the highest turnout in 2010. All three party leaders descended upon Scotland to churn out platitudes about the UK being a ‘family’. Regardless of one’s opinion on independence it was apparent to all that the upcoming referendum represented ‘squeaky-bum time’ for Cameron, Clegg, and Miliband. So
much so that the three chums banded together as a form of political Imodium. The swathes of Yes voters have posed such a potent threat to the Union that a huge transfer of power can be expected now that Scotland has decided that we are in fact ‘better together’. Hardly an exemplar of unity on any level, Suzanne Evans, a UKIP councillor who lost her seat in this year’s local elections, blamed her party’s failure in London on its ‘educated, cultured, and young’ population. Not only does this tell you everything you need to know about UKIP, but it also demonstrates the power of students in thwarting reactionaries. Passivity always favours the status quo, sometimes writing an angry Facebook status simply isn’t enough.
Epigram
26.09.2014
Letters
@EpigramLetters Editor: Olivia Petter letters@epigram.org.uk
Is being a Fresher really refreshing? It’s the day before you leave the nest for University, butterflies in the stomach and maybe a little something else in the bloodstream (cough cough*) to keep those butterflies from breeding. Nervous excitement pulses through you. You are about to embark on the greatest chapter of your young life! Or are you? Blink and you’re now staring out of your student accommodation window, daydreaming endlessly of the popular house parties you’ll be throwing, top grades you’ll be scoring, and above all else that one girl you’ll be....ahem. Blink again and those dreams flutter into the abyss like those once chaotic butterflies in your then nervous tum. Time will be a great learner to you. The American movies won’t
have prepared you for the hours continuously watching Come Dine with Me accompanied by your regular Morrisons microwave meal, or those missed lectures which shatter your very ambition of being a 1st Gazza saw a deal on the cider that just could not be passed up! Sorry for the pessimism but I’d rather prepare you for the road ahead than watch you end up as roadkill! Oh it’s not going to happen to you? Then prove me wrong, I hope you do. Then again I could be lying, maybe being a Fresher is inspiring. It’s not down to me, I don’t know your first year fate, for that, newbie you’ll just have to wait. Natasha Moore
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The Gradu-Grump ‘The thing that seems to be troubling me most at the moment is the impending fear that soon I will be in the real world’
Allie Miller
Tweets of the fortnight: Matt Jenner @MattJJenner
“Your timetable will be available today”... New year, same Bristol...
Cary Tang @caaryyyy
“Don’t worry, we’ll ease you in” said bristol uni as they gave us an entire folder of reading and questions
Erin Courtney @Erin__C
I love how there’s a bar in a boat here!!
Flickr: freefotouk
known to be incredibly indecisive, to the point where the mounting pressure at my inability to decide what to have for dinner proves all too much and I just have toast. I am quite sure however, that there must be some individuals who have made a conscious decision to put off thinking about our future to another auspicious hour. We must stand in solidarity and do our utmost to enjoy our final year of freedom, and resist the temptation to speak only of our dissertations, before Motion nights are replaced by reasonable sleeping hours, and the occasionally unidentifiable meat of Donervan’s is ousted by a balanced diet.
UOB seek increasingly creative ways to accommodate the increasing student population...
Flickr: parishiltonjustme
Despite considering myself an extremely happy and optimistic person, a number of rather menial things grind my gears. The X Factor and slow walkers are merely two examples, but the thing that seems to be the most troubling to me at the moment, and a very real concern, is the impending fear that soon I will be in the real world. As I embark on my final year at University, a sudden realisation has dawned upon me that soon, I will no longer posses the carefree je ne sais quoi of being a student. I imagine that I do not stand alone in this predicament. The endless slew of questions from parents and family friends, all attempting to discern my life plan after university and all seemingly demanding an immediate answer. First term has barely begun, and already I find the pressure to figure out my life plan after I have left the crumbling, yet comforting student houses of Clifton, suffocating. Huge life decisions must be made, and I simply don’t want to; I need more time to languish in not knowing my plan. It is possible that I am a particular case, I have been
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Epigram investigates facts behind international story Students left facing even more debt trouble as hall fees go...
THE number of student robberies and muggings has "soared" since the beginning of term according to the police.
Last week there were 13 robberies and muggings against students in the Redland sector alone.
By Katherine Hyde Crime prevention officer PC Martin Taylor says that there has been a "massive growth" in incidents against students in the
BRISTOL STUDENTS are bracing themselves for yet another addition to their debt problems as hall fees are set to rise by 9.9 per cent in time for the 2004/2005 academic year. Students’ Union representatives were powerless to prevent the hike which means that hall fees have increased by 25 per cent over the last two years. TURN TO PAGE 2
Photos: Jeremy Harper
� Victim: Tom Wey at the scene of the attack
Epigram takesin a lookthe at the Mix: real story behind homelessness in Bristol — Features, page 25
in the Mix:
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HANNAH BRADY
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One yearNews on: Reporter What By do the end of October 2010, all staff and students will have a new university ID card students think – the UCard. Replacing current ID cards with of last year’s the UCard is the first phase of a 5 year project designed to increase security and efficiency ASS library across the university by unifying access systems developments? and widening the functions that ID cards can
Food banned from study areas as pest control informed about library’s rodent infestation
Election run-up:HANNAH STUBBS “A televised debateHead News Reporter will favour theA rodent infestation in the Arts and candidate that isSocial Sciences Library has been rmed and students are being better airbrushed.”confi warned that eating whilst studying
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is encouraging the furry visitors. The mice were discovered Comment, p.14 approximately two weeks ago and are believed to have been attracted by food and drink taken to the first and second floors by students. Caroline Clancy, University press officer, told Epigram that the University immediately contacted pest control firm Rentokil who are dealing with the problem and insist
Film review: “Sherlock Holmes greets us like a donner kebab after a heavy night out.”
Bristol students frolic in the snow in Brandon Hill, but exams will still go on as planned - page 4
even started. With a scaled down committee, the effectiveness of the society and whether or not there will be a functioning Conservative Association at all by the end of the year has been called into question by dissenting members. Conflict broke out during the summer after a showdown between the Chairman Simon Iles, Vice Chairman Ellis, and South West Regional Chairman of Conservative Future (the
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Burglaries claim new victims at Wills Hall LUKE BURNS Deputy News Editor
Two violent break-ins at Stoke Bishop halls have resulted in the loss of hundreds of pounds of electrical equipment. Student residents at Wills Hall have become victim to burglary as the windows of their rooms were smashed open and their valuable
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belongings, including laptops, mobile phones and iPods were stolen. The criminals responsible for the most recent burglaries are still at large. Jonna Williamson, one of the residents who had his ground floor room in Wills Hall broken into, told Epigram, “I had my Mac [laptop computer] stolen. I thought I was pretty careful, I always locked my door and window. Even the smallest
thing will let them in: it was the little top window they smashed to get into my room.” When asked how the University of Bristol Security Services responded to the burglary, Williamson was positive. “They were really good. They arrived within ten minutes and rang the police. I was really happy with that.” University students have been particularly vulnerable to burglaries this year, with an average of four
reported every month. Including the two recent break-ins, there have been nearly as many burglaries in the past six months as in the entire 2008-2009 academic period. The Security Service claim that several of the offences may have been committed by the same group of offenders as the burglaries tend to follow a similar pattern. They rank Badock and Hiatt Baker Hall, both
Fire service arrive on the scene as smoke billows from the Union on Tuesday morning
style cheques. Passers-by and employees watched helplessly as numerous police arrived on horseback, in their vans and around 20 to 30 officers on foot, only to be met by passionate protestors. Shouting “Where’s your money gone?” and throwing foam pies and pellets against the windows of Barclays, across the Square, they then moved on to their next target, The Royal Bank of Scotland on
Medical experiments Should students take part in clinical trials?
COMMENT: page 10After regaining his Bristol West seat in the May
COMMENT: page 10
Issue 242
The best of the rom-coms: As Valentine’s approaches, Epigram selects the best cheese from the DVD shelf
will be starting their working lives with a debt of over £20,000. This is unacceptable and unsustainable”. However, just six months later it has been implied that Williams may now vote in
MUSIC: page 25 Festival highlights
question whether the Lib Dems will go back on their pledge not to increase fees. Williams defended these accusations, “The pledge claims that we should work towards a fairer system, and that’s exactly what I signed up for’’. Williams also claimed, “The Browne report is far better than it would have been now that the Liberal Democrats are in office, it offers a much more progressive payment system than we have, but it’s only a starting point. I feel we can do better than Browne has done already’’. Williams, along with other prospective MPs signed the NUS pledge pre-election stating, “We will vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament, and we will put pressure on the Government to introduce a fairer alternative to variable top-up fees”. Bristol students are outraged that the Liberal Democrat party position may change in light of the coalition agreement, and have created an online petition in order to convince Williams to “hold firm to the pledge upon which he was elected”. When asked if the Lib Dems would be making a U-turn on their pledge Williams answered, “I am in weekly contact with Vince Cabell, Secretary of State, and David Willets, Minister for Higher Education, on how the coalition can enable.. [Continued on Page 2]
Issue 236
UCAS applications for 2012 fall by 9%
Revolution on the streets of Bristol
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Mood turns against College Green occupiers
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Ann Widdecombe visits Bristol
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The Students’ Union has opened its new hub on campus. The Information Overall university applications for 2012 Point takes the place of the old haveNatwest dropped by 9% in the lead up to the building next to the Arts tuition and Social fee rise. According to official figures, Sciences Library. It aims tothe make the number of UK-born students applying Union’s services easier to for access for university places has fallen by 11.9%, students. Staff in the centre with will be able 52,321 student applications for 2012 to give advice on accommodation and received by 15th October, compared to welfare as well as sports and societies.
Former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe visited Bristol University at the end of last month for an event organised by the Politics Society. In an exclusive interview with Epigram, she answered questions on topics ranging from the coalition to Strictly Come Dancing before addressing the public conference.
59,413 recieved by the same date in 2011.
The statistics, Page 3 provided by the Universities
and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), reveal the number of applications received by universities by the deadline for Oxbridge
Record number applications. of Figures in the south-west show the biggest applications fall in applications in over 30 years, with a
Page 3
Why do Bristol students rush to sort houses so early in the THOM LOYD year- and is it self-induced, orSenior News Reporter even non-important?
TRAVEL: E2 page 10
The President of the National Union of Students, Aaron Porter, has announced he will not be standing again come the next election. The announcement comes after a tough few months for Can the media make a Porter, who has been heavily criticised difference to the thousands ofby some students for his failure to act other disappearance cases justduring the student protests at the end like that of Joanna Yeates? of last year. Speaking to the NUS, Porter said that after “considerable soul searching”, he believed the NUS needed “invigorating” in order to continue its fight against what he James Ashton-Bell responds called the “damaging marketization in education”. to criticism of the union’s contrasts with the message he response to tuition fee rises. hadThis for students shortly after taking office in June 2010. Having won 65% of the vote, Porter said at the time: “I am delighted to be leading NUS into what will be a crucial year for further Epigram talks to Mike Benton,and higher education, with a general election, fees review and cuts on the the scientist who told us whathorizon. It is more vital now than colour dinosaurs were. ever that we come together to put our issues at the top of the agenda with a credible, representative student voice shaping the outcomes of these pivotal debates”. By the end of the year, however, Epigram’s resident agony Porter was forced to admit to “spineless aunt gives her best advice for dithering” on the part of the NUS singletons on Valentines’ day following their refusal to back some of the largest student demonstrations for a generation. Criticism has ranged from Facebook campaigns, such as “We the undersigned believe that Aaron Porter Was it right to sack Andy Gray should be removed as NUS National President as he is unable to lead the and accept Richard Key’s student movement”, to comment in resignation over sexist remarks? [Continued on page 2]
COMMENT: page 11 Missing persons
cuts, otherwise known as ‘The Occupiers’, marked the “end of the first chapter of demonstrations” through the dis-occupation of
Senate room, Senate House. They emphasised Hooters causes concern the “extraordinary level of support” from The editor responds to the University, including seven University departments and “countless individuals”. our letter of the fortnight The week of free education will hope to gain further support in the struggle against such drastic financial cuts. One member of ‘Bristol against education
FILM & TV: page 28 The Social Network
The new UCard system already up and running around the University precinct
FEATURES: page 6 The meat issue
FEATURES: page 6 A check up down below
Epigram examines how meat eating is having devastating effects on the environment, and how you can help
Does our generation not take sexual health seriously enough? Features investigates the nitty gritty part of SEX.
COMMENT: page 11 Arms for Africa?
COMMENT: page 10 The new Union team
The election race for part-time Union Officers has come to a close after just 1000 student votes were cast in the week-long poll. The successful candidates for Union Officers, Senate Representatives and Student Trustees were announced following the following the first annual Students’ Conference.
by the threat of debt. However, others have commented that part of the fall in £300,000 awarded for this year compensates for the applications AIDS research rise in applications for places for 2011, when
WHAT’S ON: E2 page 12 Epigram’s new section Bristol’s best pubs, what to do on St Patrick’s Day and the best events this fortnight
Lakota loses licence
Using your erotic capital Should women flirt their way to the top? An interview with Catherine Hakim
Features 10
Our sporting talent is excelling, from football to skateboarding
Death of the jelly baby and other fun experiments Science Page 14
what the cuts will mean for us”. Several other debates, workshops and lectures will take place throughout the week in order to allow students to have their say. The final method emphasized by ‘Bristol against education cuts’ is “Participating in the wider struggle against public sector cuts”. Students have therefore protested against taxdodging by greedy corporations. [Continued on page 2]
Epigram talks to famous designer label PPQ Fashion E2 Page 9
‘Free education’ week involves nine events focused on spending cuts to education
Epigram explores the wonderful world of puppetry
Black Swan, Blue Valentine and Brighton Rock: take your pick of the finest in
Arts p.18
Film p.28
FILM & TV: page 27 Hollywood and history
SPORT: page 30 The BIG Debate
SPORT: page 30 Marathon Man
A look at the inspiration behind some of the latest blockbusters including Black Swan and Inception
Porter said that after “considerable soul searching”, he believed the NUS needed “invigorating”
A searingly honest look at the ups and downs of running a Marathon for charity.
TRISTAN MARTIN News Reporter
In the small hours of Friday 29th April violence broke out on the streets of Bristol for the second time in a eight days. ‘The troubles’, as one BBC reporter referred to them, first began a week before as the opening of a new Tesco sparked the worst riots seen in Bristol since 1980. On Thursday 21st, following a tip-off that occupants of the ‘Telepathic Heights’ squat on Cheltenham Road had been constructing petrol bombs, police moved into make an
UBU ELECTION SPECIAL
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina: Epigram’s top travel tips for the curious
arrest. At 9:15pm officers closed Cheltenham Road and forced entry into the building. Four men were arrested, and a police statement confirmed that a number of items were seized “including petrol bombs – which are currently being forensically examined”. One of the men subsequently pleaded guilty to possession of a petrol bomb, but not guilty to a second charge of threatening a Tesco employee with it. Following the highly visible arrests at Telepathic Heights, hundreds of people began to congregate in the area. Within a few hours they were joined by over 160 riot officers, many brought in from Wales.
Although the gathering began peacefully, clashes with police soon erupted and spilled out into the surrounding area. Barricades of burning bins were erected; fireworks, bricks and bottles were thrown at riot officers. Local resident Alex Slocombe saw “running battles with police all over the place.” By around 1:00am it seemed that police were no longer in control of the operation. A group of rioters managed to ransack the recently opened Tesco Express. Its windows were smashed, a sign ripped off, and “closing down sale” scrawled across its facade. [Continued on Page 2]
Lakota has once again had its licence suspended, following a fatality earlier this year. The club, which first opened in 1989, has been the subject of much controversy this year since the death of 16-yearold Joe Simons on 30th April.
Page 7
Keep Calm and Curry On Epigram talk to Bombay Bicycle Club - page 23
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Monday 23rd January 2012
Bristol University’s Independent Student Newspaper
Issue 247
• www.epigram.org.uk
Student housing plans upset locals
Comment What next for North Korea?
13
ghetto’ • Ice rink closed to make way for student housing amidst protests (see page 2) Jessica Wingrad News Reporter Local residents in High Kingsdown have expressed strong opposition to plans for a local pub to be converted into twelve new student flats. The pub, The Kings Arms, could potentially be reorganized to house fifty students into ‘cluster flats’ which would not require any rebuilding to take place on the site. The High Kingsdown development is an award-winning area of Bristol built in the 1970s, where local residents take pride in their vibrant, friendly community. The location is extremely desirable for University of Bristol students since it is under ten minutes’ walk from Woodland Road and other major university buildings. Residents fear that the area is becoming a ‘student ghetto’ where the peace of the neighbourhood will be disturbed by students creating ‘an uncared-for area, a mess of litter, overflowing rubbish bins and front gardens looking like tips, not to mention noise’ as Linda Ewles, of Tyndall Park Mews, put it. An anonymous resident who has been living in High Kingsdown for 25 years said ‘I think it is outrageous. ‘There are already a large number of students here, which makes it a transient population. This development, with so many more students, would swamp the place with them.’ As well as objections online from local residents, there have been concerns voiced by the Kingsdown Conservation Group, the Bristol Civic Society and
Home, sweet home Interior design for the student house
Monday 20th February 2012
• www.epigram.org.uk
Bristol University’s Independent Student Newspaper
Issue 248
AGM draws 75% more students
Free stuff!
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The Kings Arms pub, which is due to be turned into twelve student flats
‘The Olympics suck’ Will Self finds little reason for fanfare
Monday 5th March 2012
Jessica Wingrad Senior News Reporter
Alice Young News Editor Students voted to improve access to Bristol through contextualised offers and admissions targets at the Annual General Meeting of the Students’ Union this month. The motion voted to the top of the priority ballot and thus discussed first called for stronger enforcement of contextual offers of places to students from underprivileged backgrounds. Proposer Josephine Suherman met resistance from some students who questioned whether the motion was useful, with Kyle Mulholland arguing that the motion would, ‘reduce the university’s prestige and reduce the value of your degree’. Suherman, a third year Politics student, responded to these criticisms commenting, ‘We all know the campus would look very different if this policy was enforced’. The motion passed with 68% of the vote. Adam Ludlow’s motion, controversially entitled ‘Ending Bristol’s Silent Private School Bias’, called for the University to publish figures regarding the proportion of state and private school students at the University and set targets to redress the balance.
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It sparked a heated debate over the benefits of awarding places based on the type of school attended, with Sophie Mew, the UBU Widening Participation Officer, arguing that it would be better ‘not to end the private school bias but the low-income student bias’. Mulholland, a second year Economics and Politics student, took to the stage again to oppose this motion as well, claiming, ‘Applications from state schools are low in general because state schools are terrible in general’. Ludlow, a third year History student, argued this was not the point of the motion, saying, ‘I don’t agree that state schools are awful’. His motion narrowly passed with 56% approval. A series of motions were aimed at improving availability and access to
The Couture Show
existing sport facilities. The ‘Campaigning to Save the Ice Rink’ motion was passed with 70% of the vote with speeches from proposer Paul Charlton and President of Ice Soc James Lumsden.
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students attended this year’s AGM, 2% of the student body
Rosemary Drummond and Hamish Hay both proposed motions to help more students use the swimming pool and gym, with Drummond arguing flexible and cheaper sports passes would make ‘sport more accessible to larger numbers of students’. Both motions were passed with over 85%
approval and Dom Oliver, UBU VicePresident for Sport and Health, had earlier announced in his annual report that the University Sports Centre would be introducing termly instalments for sports passes. In his report at the beginning of the AGM Gus Baker, UBU President, also announced that the sabbatical team will be working on a widening participation assessment to address the access figures published by Epigram in October. These figures detailed how Bristol University was one of 25 UK institutions failing to meet its own targets on widening participation. The AGM ended on a jovial note, with a motion to force UBU elected officers to wear suits every day of the week.
Nicola Roberts
Getting to grips with the c-word this season
Looking at the world through Cinderella’s Eyes
e2 Fashion
Music 23
• www.epigram.org.uk
Freshers’ Week campaign success
Like us on Facebook and win an iPad 2
• After fierce abortion debate, pro-choice stance remains > page 2 • Sabbatical team announce return of bursaries > page 3 • Editorial - A long way to go for student politics > page 16
• High Kingsdown locals call the area a ‘student
the Highbury Residents Association. Mark Wright, a Councillor for the area, has said that, ‘The surrounding area of High Kingsdown is already well over 50% students and what the area needs is more balance in its demographic rather than more transient residents.’ Concerns coming from residents are focused on anxiety over the negative atmosphere that students may bring to the area in the form of noise, rubbish and late night parties. Dr Julie Clayton said ‘We need more young families who can attend local schools – and walk to school rather than driving from a distance. ‘We need owner-occupiers who are going to care for each other and the neighbourhood and support a mixed sustainable community.’ Response from students has defended their reputation, with one student saying ‘I am saddened that students are being depicted in this negative way.’ Another has claimed that ‘It is no less discriminatory to suggest that students make bad neighbours than to say ethnic minorities or those dependent on social welfare make bad neighbours.’ Those who do not support local objections have argued that students can benefit a community and that other residents can also be held responsible for noise levels and litter. In an online comment, one resident has said ‘I appreciate the important contribution students make to the community. ‘The shops, cafes and pubs in the area would close down without them.’ Although consultations regarding the plans to convert the pub have finished, the decision will not come before the committee until next month.
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Chris Ruff, Vice-President for Activities, then proposed an amendment to limit the dress code to Fridays only, arguing that it ‘retains the hilarity of the motion but doesn’t require me to buy another suit.’ Both Ruff’s speech and the passing of the motion were met by roaring applause, with 64% of the AGM in agreement that UBU officers should be forced to wear suits on Fridays. The AGM is held every February to decide on the policies that UBU will pursue over the coming year. Motions are either voted through to become policy or voted out. This year’s AGM attracted 414 students, the highest turnout since 2001 and a 74.6% increase on last year, despite representing just over 2% of the total student body.
The University of Bristol Senate has approved plans to completely restructure the academic year, shortening Christmas and Easter holidays to three weeks to make way for a designated ‘assessment period’ in January. The original proposal included plans to reduce Freshers’ Week from one week to three days in an effort to undermine the excessive drinking culture which the University argues it encourages. However, after strong student opposition these plans were shelved indefinitely and for the time being Freshers’ will remain five days long. A minority of students had supported the proposed shortening of Freshers’ Week because the clubbing and drinking which takes up much of the time arguably does not reflect the interests of many of students. However, this was countered by a huge backlash from the student body at large which led to the launch of a campaign to maintain the traditional full five days of Freshers’ events. Students determined to save Freshers’ Week gathered support in an online petition set up by UBU Vice-President Education Josh Alford. The petition claims that, ‘Freshers’ is not perfect and more structure and support could certainly be put in place for new students during the opening week. ‘However cutting Freshers’ Week will limit students’ opportunities, potentially hinder bonding and certainly will not stop the “irresponsible drinking culture” that the University believes many students partake in. Comments attached to the signatures argue that a three-day Freshers’ Week would hold back new students from settling into university life, as well as arguing that new students would only enforce an unofficial five-day Freshers’ Week themselves. More than three hundred students signed the petition which has now closed after the
Monday 19th March 2012
• www.epigram.org.uk
Charlton elected UBU President
Which fairy tale character are you?
After a highly competitive fortnight of campaigning and controversies, Paul Charlton has emerged victorious in the battle for UBU President. The eagerly anticipated student election results were announced on Friday 16 March to the captivated crowds in Bar 100. Charlton’s effective ‘Why Gamble?’ campaign made him a visible presence on campus. His election manifesto also stressed his desire that, ‘The Union should be there to help you, not something to battle against’. The new President-Elect emphasised the importance of clarity between University of Bristol students and their Union, saying that ‘everyone deserves to know what is happening at their Union’. In what was seemed to be a surprising turn of events, Presidential candidate Josephine Suherman, was the first to exit the race. Suherman was removed from the running in the second round after only scoring 784 votes. Charlton eventually won with 1,736 votes, compared to Georgina Bavetta’s 1,333 when second and third preferences were also included. Charlton expressed surprise at his victory, saying that he had ‘entertained no expectations’. Immediately after winning, Charlton thanked his fellow Presidential candidates and his dedicated campaign team. The new six member full-time sabbatical team includes four female Vice-Presidents, reversing the usual trend of a male-dominated group. There was as least one female candidate for every full-time UBU position. The new VP for Welfare and Equality, Alessandra Berti, commented that she
Number of signatures on the online petition against downsizing Freshers’ Week
this is absolutely not to do with trying to curtail enjoyment or drinking. It’s to do with the rhythm of the academic year’. Although the motion to shorten Freshers’ Week has been abandoned at this stage, it has not been permanently quashed and the University could attempt to cut Freshers’ Week again in the future. Under the new academic structure which was accepted at Senate, exams at ‘non-standard’ times will be cut back with a view to them being eradicated. This will affect students who currently have exams in the Easter holidays, or during the second semester. The Christmas and Easter holidays will also be shortened by a week to three weeks, in order to make space for an assessment period in January, which the University hopes will ease the pressure of the summer exam period.
Long live Lucian Visiting London’s deathly exhibitions Culture 21
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Takotsubo tragedy Octopus pots and broken hearts? Science 30
Fashion The secret agents of style
H a Baker res den s demand ee reduc on o compensa e or work
would have liked to have an all female team. Berti continued saying, ‘I hope this year’s example will encourage more females to follow suit next year’. The most hotly contested fulltime position was Vice-President for Activities, as five candidates battled it out for the coveted role. Voting went all the way to the fifth round with no one candidate gaining the majority. Martha West eventually emerged victorious in this tense race, receiving 1,036 votes in the last round. West commented that she was ‘gobsmacked to be in charge of 200 societies’. Her main aim as the VP Activities for the forthcoming academic year is ‘fairer access to all societies’ and the dissemination of a ‘weekly newsletter’ detailing all the
The pains of campaigns Behind the scenes of student politics Features 10
relevant news from the Union. Hannah Pollak was elected as the new VP Sport gaining 1,761 votes in the most conclusive contest of the night. Pollak expressed her relief that ‘all the hard work paid off’. She maintained
be successfully elected into the new Union sabbatical team was Alice Peck who ran unchallenged for VP Community. She was visibly upset at the Presidential result but later commented that she was ‘keen to work with anyone who the students of Bristol have elected’. Tom Flynn was elected as the new VP Education in an incred
that her manifesto, which included ‘free gym classes’ and a ‘sauna in the gym’, were realistic. Pollak’s main aim for her forthcoming year at VP Sport was to get ‘more women involved in sport’. The fourth female candidate to
Battle of the botox Which reality soap makes the grade? Film & TV 29
LIFESTYLE: E2 page 2 The big student survey Try guessing which nightclub Bristol’s most promiscuous girls go to - or read the answer in E2.
TRAVEL: E2 page 10 Best foreign festivals Epigram takes a look at the best of the foreign music festivals happening this summer.
SPORT: page 32 Bristol’s hidden stars The Women’s Novice Rowing Squad tell us how they are going to annihilate UWE.
Apply now to be a section editor for the academic year 2011-12
Bristol University’s Independent Student Newspaper
Issue 249
Jenny Awford Deputy News Editor
decision at Senate on Monday 27th February to maintain the week long series of events. A survey of nearly 2000 students last year revealed that the plans to restructure the academic year in general were favoured, but that the shortening of Freshers’ Week was less well-liked, with 57% of those surveyed opposing it outright. After the Senate meeting, Alford commented, ‘At Senate today the paper passed with the amendment that Freshers’ would not be shortened so we think we’ve managed to negotiate the best deal for students’. A spokesman for the University of Bristol, David Alder, defended the University’s position, maintaining that the proposals were not aimed at spoiling students’ fun. He said, ‘Students need to be inducted over a much longer period than a week,
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Travel E2 p. 11
Julia May
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SPORT: page 29-32 Bristol’s successes
The opening of a new Tesco store in the Stokes Croft area of Bristol sparked riots against police during the Easter break.
LIFESTYLE: page 2-3 What would Dolores do
Tanya Moulson
develop the community
A student protests against the increase in tuition fees proposed by the coalition
Interview: Coco Sumner on CDs and Cheryl Cole Lifestyle E2 Page 2
Flight fears, summer camps and British beaches Travel in E2 Pages 10-11
Julia May
“ Personal development is all very well, but there is equally a moral responsibility to help
Stem cell therapy suceeds for Bristol student Science Page 16-17
Yisan Cheong
Fresh or Mess?
Page 4
UCAS saw 6.6% more applications than for The University of Bristol 2010. has been Maturethe students in particular represented awarded a £300,000 grant to study development of the AIDSa significant alongsidedrop in applications – there has been a decline the University of Cambridge and the of 22.7% in applicants aged 30 and 39, and applicants aged University of Wisconsin. Itbetween is hoped that researchers will be able40 toand findover outhave seen a decrease of 27.8%. The NUS Vice President, Toni Pearce, said why the disease only developed in the ‘The present significant reduction in applications 1970s even though it had been from mature students is a warning sign and in the human population for decades. Government needs to quickly take their Page concerns8 on board or else risk those people falling away from education for good. (continued on page two)
Flickr: spartacusxx
new look e2
‘require institutions to set themselves at least one target around broadening their entrant pool (up to now it has been possible for institutions to restrict their targets to broadening their applicant pool)’. Concerningly, the results of the report revealed that 60% of institutions agreed they could foresee difficulties with meeting widening participation targets in the future.
SPORT: page 32 Watersports focus Epigram catches up with
What can you expect from next year’s sabbatical team? President-elect Gus Baker puts his promises down on paper.
BE FAMOUS: page 16 The Epigram 40 is back!
Interviews, street style and the best shoes: the Fashion section does Bristol’s boys
Tristan Martin
1000 votes cast in officer elections
that would-be students are being deterred Page 6 from applying for further education
to widen access to our University. The issue is financial accessibility. If students from ordinary backgrounds can’t afford to live in Bristol then these figures will not get better’. OFFA has responded to the figures by asserting that in future, more emphasis will be placed on the ability of universities to meet these set targets. They claimed that from 2012-13 they will
Epigram picks out the film based on facebook legend Mark Zuckerberg in our Film Listings
the water polo team and the Girls’ rowing squad
The second method is “taking matters into our own hands”, as the University administration would rather “decide a position
ARTS: page 19
It has been confirmed that the Univeristy of Bristol will charge students three times the current fees from 2012.
FASHION: E2 pages 6-9 The male edition
SCIENCE: page 15 Jurassic Park professor
Russell Kane reviewedbehind closed doors”, thereby preventing students and lecturers from having their Epigram delivers our say in the decisions. In protest against this, verdict on his stand up students hosted a panel event, ‘Reimaging the University! Higher Education, Funding & performance the State’, followed by a “free discussion on
Issue 238
NEWS: page 3 £9,000 fees for Bristol
Should Britain export weapons to countries with questionable human rights records?
LETTERS: page 12 President Responds
How to climb Kili cuts’ believes there are three methods of the struggle forwards”. The first is An idiot’s guide to this “taking reuniting those involved in the resistance to summer’s RAG climb ofhigher education cuts last term, who are likely to be reeling from the blow of the fee vote Mount Kilimanjaro passed in parliament.
Jamie Corbin
decrease ofof11.3% in comparison with last There were a record number year. Sarah Thwaites, Deputy Chief Executive applications for places at Bristol for the of 2011. FSP (Financial Skills Partnership) shared academic year beginning in In her view fees on the situation. light of the threefold rise in tuition people in the south west may see from 2012 many students did‘Young not take gap years in order to beat theapprenticeships mounting as an attractive option due to rising university costs. They can be seen cost of a degree. Bristol retained its as part of the place as one of the most applied forsolution to bridge the so called “skills gap” identified by George Osborne.’ UK universities with an average of 14 The figures have given rise to allegations applicants per place.
Undergraduates received bursaries and scholarships in 2009-10
Issue 245
e2
Monday 7th November 2011
Film, p.31
University of Bristol’s Independent Student Newspaper
Monday May 9th 2011
The Arts and Social Sciences Library is due for further work on its upper two floors, to be completed by mid-2011
FEATURES: page 7 Accomodation crunch
LUCY WOODS News Reporter
EDITORIAL: page 13
We pick the best sets from this year’s festivals
Interview: Fearne Cotton talks to Epigram Lifestyle E2 page 3
Film, p.32
Bristol University’s Independent Student Newspaper
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Inglourious Basterds reviewed
Continued on page three
NEWS: page 3 £1 million refurbishment
Ex-MP Lembit Opik spoke to the Politics society about Coalition, a run at Mayor of London, and his love life.
Bristol University students are setting up a Monopoly on the media week of free education events which began on Murdoch’s Sky takeoverFriday 28th January and are taking place all across the campus. The events are intended as should be blocked on further protest against government cuts to the higher education budget. grounds of plurality In December 2010, protesters against the
Bristol University’s Independent Student Newspaper
Music
Music, p30
‘The episodes of torture are flung in almost as an afterthought.’
Baldwin Street, where a protestor glued himself to the doors. Banks across the centre of Bristol instantly became a security priority as passion soon turned into anger. Security tightened as police officers began to guard buildings from both inside and out. Barclays on Union Street locked its doors as police watched from inside the building as protestors shouted
continued on page five
Have Slow Club found Paradise?
Union establishes Sarah Lawson presence on precinct
The University of Bristol has been named in an OFFA (Office for Fair Access) report as one of 23 English universities that are failing to meet set targets for widening participation. The group, which includes the Universities of Cambridge, Durham and Warwick, failed to meet self-set statistical targets regarding the number of applicants coming from disadvantaged backgrounds in 2009-10. Institutions were asked to report on their targets regarding under-represented students, defined by OFFA as students from low socio-economic groups, low income backgrounds, some ethnic groups, and disabled students. OFFA has not revealed the universities’ individual targets, however the percentage of Bristol undergraduate students receiving bursaries and scholarships in 2009-10 stood at 17.4% of the fee-paying student population, in contrast to 12.9% at Cambridge, and 37.8% at
17.4%
FEATURES: page 7
Goldney JCR and Manor Hall Warden give their HANNAH CASLIN views on Fresher’s Week News Reporter
favour Will Deathtrap be able toof an increase in tuition fees. The 12th October saw the publication of Lord compete with the London Browne’s review, discussing the removal of a cap on tuition fees. This has led the public to musical scene?
Bristol band features: Epigram Music looks at Bristol bands, Zun Zun Egui and Fitness Club Fiasco
Film, p.31
Conservative Party’s youth wing) James Morton. Disagreement over Ellis’ suggestion of a conference on conservatism was so lengthy and ferocious that it led to firstly, “advice” from Morton to suspend discussing the conference and another planned event, an election briefing, until term started again. Lack of resolution to the conflict meant Ellis continued to organise
Bristol fails to meet fair access targets
the University of the West of England. The study also showed that Bristol has decreased its spending on widening participation – 20.2% of additional fee income was spent on bursaries, scholarships and outreach activities in the academic year 200910 – a 3.2% drop from 2006-7. Dr Wendy Piatt, head of the elite Russell Group of universities, rejected the claim that universities were wholly to blame for the inability to reach targets. ‘Misinformation, lack of confidence and misunderstandings about the costs and benefits of university education contribute to the under-representation of students from lower-income backgrounds’. However Students’ Union President Gus Baker reflected the issue back to university policy. ‘These figures show Bristol is struggling
Numbers soon increased and started their supposedly peaceful march, following a specific route. The streets of Bristol were soon awash with masked and hooded protestors armed with whistles, foam pies and posters bearing slogans such as “Bankers, politicians, fat cats. We won’t pay for their Crisis”. Having met at the Hippodrome on St Augustine’s Parade, the group marched on to King Street with their posters and enormous Monopoly-
University of Bristol’s Independent Student Newspaper
Issue 234 Monday March 7th 2011
NEWS: page 5 Opik Checks in
Photo : ©keith morris
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Comment, p17
F**k Buttons album reviewed
To apply, please send: Your CV & a covering letter to stephanie.rihon@epigram.org.uk by Monday 6th October
since the summer when controversy erupted over a proposed conference idea from a committee member. BUCA claims one of its objectives to be representing Conservative University of Bristol students as well as promoting the Conservative Party in Bristol. However three committee members have resigned with their positions still vacant and Vice-Chairman, Aaron Hugh Ellis, resigned, it has been revealed, before this academic year had
Monday 10th October 2011
FEATURES: page 7 Perspectives
ARTS: page 18 West End Thriller
University of Bristol’s Independent Student Newspaper
Issue 230 Monday February 7th 2011
NEWS: page 2
Panache to close The popular venue faces closure due to allegations of violence and drugs
Photo : Tom Wills Photo: Tristan Martin
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The Lockerbie debate
Photo : Tristan Martin
that cleaning staff are “ensuring that all surfaces such as keyboards and desks are continually cleaned and that any traces of food or drink are removed quickly.” The University does appear to be taking hygiene issues more seriously as hand sanitizer has since appeared next to some of the computer terminals in the library “to ensure extra cleanliness” but students are still right to be concerned. As the leaflets informing students of the pest problem that appeared in the ASS library on Monday 1 February point out, “this is a serious matter as mice are responsible for the spread of many diseases including Salmonellosis and Gastroenteritis, and hosts to mites, ticks, tapeworm and fleas.” Katie Bitten, first year history student and library user, commented that the idea of mice in the library was “disgusting, especially as they sell food just downstairs”. continued on page six
University of Bristol’s Independent Student Newspaper
Issue 240
‘What is the real purpose of our justice system?’
Photo: Jonathan Taphouse
perform. Features,Despite p.10 vast university cut backs in other areas, £800,000 has been spent on the introduction of the UCard. Jerry Woods, Head of Security, is confident that this is a good investment, stating that “[The new system] will pay for itself in around five years and thereafter will save the University money year-on-year,” although he admits that it does sound like a lot of money. The cost and scope of subsequent phases, however, is still uncertain as it is subject to the University’s approvement of funds. The current variety of access devices that are installed across the precinct make it impossible for building access to be monitored from the 24-hour control room. The UCard will increase campus security by unifying access systems, making it easier for the Security Services to supervise. Installation of exit readers means that cards will also be required to leave buildings – dealing with theft resulting from criminals tailgating someone into the building and then simply walking back out with stolen property. The UCard is also designed to increase efficiency for students and staff. The student Music, p.26, andp.28 staff databases, building access, Library and Sports systems are integrated, and the new photo upload facility reduces time and paperwork for both students and staff. The next phase in the project will look at extending the functions of the UCard into areas like lecture attendance record keeping, printing, exams authentication, cashless vending/catering, parking and bus transport. There is potential for it to be used to facilitate e-voting, which may boost turnout for the Student Elections.
Music, p.26-27
University of Bristol’s Independent Student Newspaper
Ground Zero Conflict2010 General election, on a platform opposing in university fees, Stephen Williams Is a ‘mosque’ blocks increases MP is set to renege on his promise. away from Ground ZeroIn his campaign Williams argued, “I believe that a student’s potential should not be just too close? limited by their ability to pay. Many students
Photo: Tristan Martin
HANNAH STUBBS News Reporter In-fighting and subversion have plagued the Bristol University Conservative Association (BUCA)
required the evacuation of all staff and an immediate five-day closure. Avon Fire and Rescue told Epigram that a call had been received at 9.07 that morning to report ‘thick black smoke’ which was pouring from the building. Eyewitnesses reported that the blaze was ‘pretty terrifying’, and the heat caused glass panels at the front of the building to shatter. An open day which was due to occur on the 18th had to be rearranged at the last minute to keep 11,000 potential students and their families out of the building for safety purposes. Indie band Jet were also due to play in the building’s Anson Rooms on the evening of the fire, and instead had to appear at the O2 academy in the city centre. In addition, the fire caused disruption to morning traffic, as a stretch of Queens Road was closed to accommodate the fire vehicles. Continued on page four
The streets of central Bristol were the focal point of a clash between protesters and the police on Friday, 18 September.
Future graduates could leave university with debts of over £80,000
Issue 223 Monday 8 February 2010
Upcoming bands: Epigram Music give their alternative tips for 2010
BUCA comittee showdown sees three resign Conflict sees Conservative Future intervene in BUCA
Issue 216 Monday 28 September 2009
Foam pies pelted at bank in Bristol protest ASSIYA KHAN Deputy News Editor
NEWS: page 2 £10,000 tuition fees
in The Mix
Photo: Megan Stodel
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LAURA WALTERS News Reporter A serious fire caused the evacuation of the Union and the indefinite closure of the University swimming pool days before the beginning of term. The cause of the blaze, which began on the morning of Tuesday 15 September, was unknown at the time of Epigram going to press. The Union building was on lockdown following the fire, which
Six arrested as social protestors clash with police
University of Bristol’s Independent Student Newspaper Monday November 8th 2010 Issue 228
Monday October 11 2010
Issue 221 Monday 11 January 2010
The arrested students were held by the Danish police for eight hours, with little or no access to water, food or a toilet. The police used systematic violence, pepper spray and, in some cases, cavity searches to subdue approximately three hundred detained protesters. All those arrested were released without charge or justified explanation for their arrest. All six students’ full personal details, however, were retained by the Danish police. December’s UN Conference on Climate Change was pitted to formalize a global response to the now broadly recognized reality of devastating man-made climate change. The aim of the Conference was to extend and expand 1997’s Kyoto Protocol, its aims being to construct a deal that recognises the ‘ecological debt’ the West owes the on
Union evacuates as canoe equipment is left to be damaged
BARING ALL FOR CHARITY Page 3
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Four University of Bristol students were arrested, and one detained, on Sunday 13 December at the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Among those arrested from the University of Bristol were Kester Reid, Giacomo Ciriello and Nikolas Kouloglou. As part of the same incident, another student, Jon Wiltshire, was detained by police as well as friend and University of York student, Daphne Barkshire, also arrested with the group.
Bristol University’s independent student newspaper
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2002 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - PAGES 6 AND 7
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Organise editorial socials each term, impromptu nights out for writers and more serious events with guest speakers from related Bristol MP set to Students host free NUS President says Violent clashes spent fields. Essentially £800,000 the There even aStokes ballCroft breaksocial fees pledge sec. education week may change is needed be in on newsociety’s UCards to plan soon...
READ ALL ABOUT IT: FOR THE FACTS BEHIND THE FICTION, SEE FULL STORY PAGE 3
University of Bristol students held by Danish police without food or water
MAIN DISH
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last month and that “figures have soared since last year. Tom Wey, a third year computer science student was robbed in Cotham last Monday at midday. He was walking up Cotham Brow into University when he was hassled by two boys of about 17 or 18 years old. Both boys were riding BMX bikes and wearing big coats and hats and started shouting at him. Tom said: "The two boys started pushing me. I basically did what they said because I didn't know if they had a knife and I didn't know if they were going to beat me up. I couldn't get away anyway as they had cornered me with their bikes." The boys asked him if he had a mobile phone, and when he denied that he owned one, they searched his pockets. When they asked where his wallet was, they took his bag, which held his wallet, CDs and headphones, a folder with university work and a book. Of the 13 students mugged last week, 9 were male and in the majority of cases, it was wallets and mobile phones that were stolen. The attacks have all been concentrated in student residential areas; in Redland area Cotham and Clifton. PC Taylor says usually Tuesday nights are a peak time for attacks because this is when many clubs hold student nights. Sheila Docherty, Welfare Officer said, "Guys think that they are invincible and that they have to look after girls. But more men are likely to be mugged. "Robberies are not just taking place at night. They are also occurring during the day. Students must be careful all the time.”
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Students brutalised in Copenhagen
in The Mix: Freshers’ fashion Society lowdown Dear Renée
Number 137
Monday 11 February 2002
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Monday 26 April 2004
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Epigram
26.09.2014
Arts
Editor: Millie Morris
Deputy Editor: Sam Abreo
arts@epigram.org.uk
deputyarts@epi-
Online Editor: Jude A’Bear artsonline@epigram.
@EpigramArts
Festival fever: Encounters with film and Bristol Biennial As the academic year commences for the Bristol student, the culture our city has to offer only expands. Amongst the plethora of entertainment at our fingertips in the home of renowned graffiti artists, comedians and actors, Bristol has kicked off September with two arts-based festivals: Encounters, a short film festival, and the Bristol Biennial, an art festival occurring every two years to showcase emerging visual artists. Both ranging far and wide in their content and audience, the festivals have merited some intrigued, excited and often delighted receptions.
Bristol Biennial
Whilst hearing the words ‘it is funny though, what you define as art’ from a couple emerging from a free installation at the Biennial does not instil one with the highest confidence as to the show’s quality, it is certainly fair to say they befit the obscure yet intriguing nature of many pieces at the festival. From the mundane to the thought-provoking, this is a festival which firmly plants us in the modern age of art: weird, wacky and wondering where there is left to go. Where it does go, however, is ultimately rewarding: wading through a mixed sea, we are taken to artistic islands anew in fresh and exciting ways.
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vital to those interested in the contemporary art scene
It is a thrilling thing to walk past what appears to be an ordinary studio, church or even public toilet to discover that it houses installations and the promise of immersive theatre. Whilst the free shows are generally a little hit-andmiss, there are some standout pieces of work, such as Nanna Lysholt Hansen’s ‘Temporary Sculptures for Beijing Apartments’. A series of video clips on separate screens display a nude model positioning herself within everyday domestic and professional scenes, to the ignorance of those working or relaxing around her.The visuals prompt us to rethink human interaction and our bodies as artistic tools. Although I think that an artwork relying too much on the verbal justification of its artist often stops being art altogether, it can bridge the gap between confusion and nearcomprehension. Bjørn Erik Haugen’s ‘Forest of Fallen Trees’, which appears at first to be a television dumped in the middle of Park Row’s Edwardian Cloakrooms and hissing white noise,
is positively illuminated by a small explanation from the festival-worker in the room. Verity Standen’s ‘Hug’, a self-branded ‘immersive choral sound bath’, is another piece which slots into a unique category. Audience members are led to sit on chairs dotted around a dark room, then blindfolded. As actors assemble all around, communicating only through the medium of reverberating harmonies, they eventually approach each audience member to clasp them in a long embrace. It is clear that this show lives up to its ‘immersive’ name after the audience regains their sight at the end; having sharpened our senses, surfacing from this experience is like waking up from a lucid, dynamic and remarkable dream. Despite some pieces leaving a lot to be desired, the festival is vital to those interested in the contemporary art scene. Also offering workshops with information and advice on how to survive as an artist in the modern world, this experimental showcase of avant-garde works from Bristol and beyond is sure to capture the minds of those clamouring to secure their place in the diverse world of modern art.
Millie Morris
Encounters Festival
Spread across six days, the Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival is a marathon, even for the most avid movie lovers. You cannot see everything and I don’t mean because it’s too dense; the schedulers, perhaps predicting the considerable popularity, have designed the programme so that it is actually impossible to watch everything. But you don’t need to. The beauty of this festival is that you can dip in and out of events and screenings and guarantee to come away enriched in some, often bizarre and unexpected, way. Take, for example, the selection of animations sourced from Hello Fest, Indonesia’s huge popculture short films festival that I stumbled into on Thursday morning. The quality, it has to be said, was not always high; ‘Harta Karun Mbah’, the story of two farting quasiheroes slaying equally flatulent monsters, I hope never to see again. There were, however, some real gems. A running theme throughout most of the eleven animations seemed to be the threat of industrialisation and a fear of technology that was best expressed in ‘Invasions of the Penguins’ and ‘Stop Cloning Humans’. Both took a comical approach to the subject but with a serious message, which is perhaps the best way to entertain in this
medium when working on a limited budget. Outside of Indonesian penguins and vaporous villains, there were countless shorts and animations from around the globe, each hoping to win the International Competition’s £2000 cash prize. Here, the standard really was excellent, which won’t come as a surprise when you know that some of the high flyers go on to compete for BAFTAs and Oscars. ‘Serori’ (celery), a 15-minute film set in Japan that saw a romantically unsuccessful thirty-year-old seduced rather forcefully by his father’s ex-lover, now in her sixties, had the audience in fits of only slightly awkward laughter. And ‘Mr. Plastimime’, a beautifully detailed claymation short in which a failing mime artist comes to the rescue when a gorgeous damsel finds herself in distress, only to suffer his own fateful consequences, captured an honestly touching poignancy. Add to this some guest speakers and performers, masterclasses, meet-the-directors sessions, and more specially selected short and feature film screenings than you can shake a sound boom at, and you’re left with an impressively comprehensive and entertaining celebration of the motion picture. This was the festival’s twentieth year; long may it continue.
Henry Mitton
Setting rooms aglow: Turner at the Tate Sam Abreo Deputy Arts Editor Lighting up Tate Britain in a glorious whirlwind of colour, Late Turner: Painting Set Free is a must-see exhibition of J. M. W. Turner’s later works. After turning 60 in 1835, the artist created some of his most radical and enduring paintings, brilliantly using swirling colours to depict the natural world and earning him the moniker of ‘the painter of light’. There is a common view that Turner was the forerunner to Impressionism and abstract art; however, the curators emphatically warn against this misleading teleological view of art history, with the exhibition emphasising that he was an artist deeply concerned with the society and culture of his own time. The first two rooms set the scene for the exhibition, transporting us back to Turner’s heyday at the Royal Academy in the early 19th Century. His subsequent travels through continental Europe inspired his sketches and watercolours depicting the stark scenery of mountains and lakes. These offer a great insight into the stories behind
his artwork, humanising the great painter. Further on, Turner experiments in the more constrictive form of square paintings, used to intensify emotion and constrict the focus of the paintings onto a single subject. These are immensely powerful meditations on mythical and religious subjects, featuring bold and bright colours. This sense of the numinous is also greatly present in his sea paintings, where sky mysteriously merges into water through the deep fog. The real highlights of the exhibition come from Turner’s landscape paintings in oil, where he depicts both classical and contemporary scenes. The mesmerising painting ‘Rain, Steam and Speed -- The Great Western Railway’ beautifully juxtaposes nature and Victorian industry in its depiction of a steam train over Maidenhead railway bridge. The painting drew tremendous criticism from Turner’s contemporaries, including the great critic John Ruskin, who saw such subjects as too squalid for paintings. However, the work itself is ambivalent about technological progress, with the image of a small hare running in front of the train perhaps symbolising the threat to nature from industrialisation.
The only small disappointment in this exhibition comes from the somewhat underwhelming final room. It features many unfinished paintings by Turner, and whilst full of ambition, they necessarily lack the cohesiveness of his previous work. Nevertheless, this exhibition showcases an extraordinary body of work and serves as an essential reminder as to why Turner is arguably our country’s greatest painter.
Photo: Flickr (Northshore School of Art)
DAVID LYNCH (1946 - present)
WHAT
WHO
Lynch’s most well-known films include his adaptation of the story of severely deformed John Merrick in The Elephant Man (1980) and violently sexual neonoir crime drama Blue Velvet (1986). Together with Mark Frost, Lynch created the TV drama Twin Peaks (1990-1991) which would become a critical success due to the gripping mystery of ‘who murdered Laura Palmer?’. Lynch’s more recent films, such as Mulholland Drive (2001) and Inland Empire (2006), show an increasingly unconventional narrative style.
A surrealist American film and television director with a background in painting. Over the course of his four-decade-long career, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations and won the Palme d’Or for his film Wild at Heart (1990). Famous for his dream-like, often disturbing style, Lynch has enjoyed a combination of mainstream and cult success, leading to his labelling as ‘the first popular Surrealist.’ Photo: Flickr (Daf Nudelman)
Epigram
26.09.2014
Opening its arms to all: a bad move for the Booker Prize? Jeremy Barclay discusses the recent widening of eligibility for Britain’s most prestigious literary award For the first time in its 46 year history, the Man Booker Prize has considered writers of all nationalities, rather than exclusively those from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Zimbabwe and the Commonwealth. This rule change – mundane to some – has been met with great controversy in the literary world, as authors have emerged from their coffee-stained studies to give their opinion on the matter. Previous winner Howard Jacobson coolly announced that it was ‘the wrong decision’ without expanding on his comments, whilst Colin Midson, publishing consultant to the 2013 winner, Eleanor Catton, stated that there is ‘a certain type of book that we know as “a Booker book”, and now that will be less clear’. Whatever Midson means by this, the initial response to the move was characterised by a fear of Americans dominating the prize and reducing opportunities for British writers.
Despite these fears, three Brits (including Howard Jacobson and Ali Smith) have made it onto this year’s shortlist, along with two American writers and one Australian writer. Whilst this might come as a relief to the British writers who expressed their outrage, it seems to have made the change itself rather pointless as this year’s shortlist is objectively less diverse than the 2013 list, which featured writers from Commonwealth countries New Zealand and Canada alongside Zimbabwe. When announcing the move in September of last year, it was intended to embrace ‘the freedom of English in all its vigour, its vitality, its versatility and its glory wherever it may be’. But in this year’s shortlist, one is not quite struck by the versatility or geographical breadth of the English Language. In fact, it has become something of a two-nation race between the UK and USA. Considering the fact that English is an official language in 58 sovereign states, the majority of the English-speaking and Photo: Flickr (Wolf Gang) writing world seems even less well represented than before. In an attempt to embrace diversity, the Booker prize has ended up sacrificing it. All this comes at the cost of British and Commonwealth writers. It used to be simple: the Booker Prize created opportunities for writers – particularly British ones. In a country lacking an arts budget and the kind of career support that American writers enjoy, authors could utilise the publicity and money that the prize awarded them as creatively as possible. It gives British writers recognition and freedom – something which has now become diluted on an international stage. Ultimately, American writers don’t need the Booker prize. Both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award (two of the most high-profile writing awards) may only be awarded to American writers, who have also recently dominated the International Booker Prize, winning in 2011 and in 2013. This is not, as the spokespeople of the Man Booker Prize would have you believe, a matter of breaking down the geographical boundaries between writers; the internet did that already. The move has instead made it considerably harder for British writers to be acknowledged internationally, whilst bolstering the firm grip Will Howard Jacobson succeed again faced with that America’s juggernaut publishing competition from across the pond? houses already hold across the world.
WHEN Lynch’s first film was the black-and-white body horror Eraserhead (1977) which earned him such fans as actor Mel Brooks and film maker George Lucas. Lynch worked for BrookFilms and the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group throughout the 80s but has operated more independently since, making use of digital technology in his most recent film Inland Empire. Lynch also showed an interest in television in the 90s, and even directed a number of web-based Photo: Flickr (Natasha Masharova) shows in the early days of the internet.
Arts Introducing: Lylie Walter
Third year History of Art student
“Living in Bristol is so inspiring, isn’t it? I love visiting the trendy harbour-side galleries, stumbling across new street art and hanging around Stokes Croft. I record what I see in my ever present sketchbook, which is where two of these drawings are from. Pop over to see more at my blog www.paperquail.co.uk.”
WHERE Lynch grew up mostly on the move, which would later influence his uncanny sense of location present in his films. After studying painting in Philadelphia, Lynch moved to Los Angeles and has lived there ever since. The city would provide the setting of Hollywood noir Mulholland Drive, which some critics have interpreted as Lynch’s critique of corruption in LA. Lynch also collaborated with German film director Werner Herzog on the unsuccessful My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009).
WHY Lynch’s popular appeal stems from a combination of the tense and volatile unpredictability of his films, and their resistance to singular interpretation. Frequent themes include outbursts of sex and violence, and Lynch has created such brilliant characters as Twin Peaks’ coffeeobsessed Agent Dale Cooper and Mulholland Drive’s idealistic actress Betty Elms.
Tom Besley
Epigram | 26.09.2014
38
Ever wondered how to get your foot in the publishing door? Sonny Marr lets us in on her us to gain experience before we actually start summer of literary interning
To follow Sonny’s blog for more details about her recent interning adventures, visit sonnythesummerintern.weebly.com
They want you to notice the cigarette balancing on their lip As they exit the bar. Breaking the news to all that surround: ‘Yes, I’m one of those cats’, they affirm. Butt-end artisans of the bourgeois; Each, a peacock whose ass is filled with smoke. ‘Move out of my way, I’m an addict, My only impediment is you and your beer, You clear lunged mortals…’ But this is fashionable addiction; And so it’s a departure that grants applause. Oh, they brave the cold, But with such grandiloquence! They give structure to life. They create and fulfil their purpose More than seven times a day! Filling in the gaps When time reminds us our Being here, Our was and will there One drag at a time. Yes, I’m one of those cats.
Sam Velmans (alphadesigner)
applying for jobs. Yes, we should do it for the reasons people say we should: networking, references and something to add to your CV. But trust me, those perks are nothing compared to what we can actually learn from the experience itself. I’m not just talking about company structures, and how the business works. Experience in any field teaches you about how you work, and what you actually want from your workplace environment. From being in an office with only two people and their dog, to the London office of a huge international corporation, I have discovered that I actually prefer the fast pace, all-in-ittogether approach that you find working for an independent company. That may change, but knowing this about myself now can only serve to help me post-university. It will mean that I can walk into an interview, confident in my knowledge of the industry, and tell that person exactly why my way of working is suited to their company, why they should hire me now. This is what we can all gain from experience in our desired field. Now that I am going into third year, friends and family have developed this annoying habit of reminding me that the ‘final year’ has dawned, saying it slowly, knowingly, and sometimes with this spooky, Halloween voice as if it is something I should be afraid of. Personally, I have never felt anxious about graduating, or this ‘real world’ that everyone keeps talking about, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I’ve already had a taste of what is hopefully in store for me. I know that I am not going to turn off Woodland Road and walk straight into my dream job, but interning has given me a good idea of what direction I am going in.
Cigarette Smokers
Photo: Flickr
It has become a running joke, whenever I bump into old colleagues at work events, that I am a ‘professional intern’. Admittedly, it isn’t a very funny joke, but it’s rather accurate. In fact, in terms of work experience, I actually don’t know of anyone more experienced than me. Not that I am ungrateful, as jobs in book publishing are highly coveted, and I know that there are hundreds of students who would kill to land just one of the six placements I’ve had over the last four years. Each has been unpaid, but invaluable in its own way, from acting as an assistant at a boutique agency to working in publishing houses like Faber and Faber and Harper Collins. As is the case with many London-centric businesses, book publishing has a reputation for being notoriously nepotistic. Though I cannot speak for the entire industry, I was personally able to land my first placements cold, simply by researching companies and editors online and then emailing the ones whose tastes I most admired. Working in publishing, every day is different. You can be working on four or five different projects all at once, with writers, artists, musicians, chefs, designers -- and that’s just dealing with what’s inside the book. Alongside this, there’s everyone working in-house on areas such as graphic design and marketing, who organise things like advertising campaigns and events. During my first stint as an intern, one day I ended up recording David Walliams’ reading of Dr. Seuss and the next editing the manuscript for Louis Spence’s autobiography. Last summer was the release of musician Beck’s Song Reader, so that took up most of my time. That was a huge project, and meant I was on call to sort out everything from Charlotte Gainsbourg’s sheet music to babysitting Beck’s children. Pursuing a career in ‘the arts’, I cannot stress enough how important I think it is for
Creative
Corner
What’s the value in work experience? The arts intern speaks
samvelmans.wordpress.com
Faced with fame: the reality of a masterpiece Millie Morris Arts Editor What makes a painting spectacular to us? Is it the composition, impeccable technique; some inexplicable mastery which bubbles below the surface, but you cannot quite identify? Or could it be the echo of what others have already said about the painting? Years of speculation; volumes of art history dedicated to the subtle upturn of an Italian woman’s lips; the mental state of a post-impressionist on the brink of suicide; the pursuit of the back story of a bejewelled girl. Could it be the painting’s celebrity which leaves a lasting impression upon us, and not the painting itself ? Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ has been met with much speculation, both within the academic world and popular culture. Tracey Chevalier’s 1999 novel inspired by the controversial portrait brought it more into the eye of the modern public, furthered still by the 2003 film starring Scarlett Johansson. But what of the painting itself ? Does it merit this intrigue, or is it, as can so often be the case with art, merely a case of following what’s in fashion?
Could it be the painting’s celebrity which leaves a lasting impression upon us?
The Mauritshuis gallery in Den Haag, Netherlands, promises to unsheathe this enigma. Upon entering a room on the uppermost floor of this modestly sized, grandiosely furnished gallery, Vermeer’s painting is an immediate eye-catcher. Demurely, though some might say seductively, the girl gazes directly at her viewer; from the shimmer in the corners of her moist lips, the subtle glow of the earring itself to the gentle, muted tones of clothing which further highlight her delicate face, there is no doubt that this is a spectacular painting. But might it be true that this only attracted me upon immediate entrance because it was the piece I had been searching for the whole time I was scaling each floor? The ruby in the dust of a gallery which, although housing some astounding work, has its biggest boast with this renowned and acclaimed painting? I expect to be underwhelmed by the ‘Mona Lisa’. Countless people have told me ‘it’s tiny’ and ‘not even that good’ (no doubt the words of an erudite critic), but when I arrive in the room with the glass-fronted wall there is a problem I
did not anticipate: the sheer volume of people traffic. The Louvre is awash with tourists as it is, a crowded sea of creatures which mindlessly snap their iPads at stunning pieces; barely glancing to properly drink in the artistic skill and visual nuances, they instead insist on reducing their view to one seen through a blazing screen.
Photo: Millie Morris
But the ‘Mona Lisa’ is the pinnacle of this technological condensation. I can’t get near enough to even see the painting in its physical entirety, let alone ponder it at length. This isn’t a gallery, it’s a farmyard of fame-seekers who are
seduced only by the painting’s renown, never stopping once in the midst of their frantic selfietaking to consider the artistry of the piece. What about the carefully crafted colours, the contrast between the woman’s skin and clothes? What about her eyes, the way that they refuse to smile like the small crescent moon below? The mystery of the ‘Mona Lisa’ remains, perhaps, because her spectators refuse to try and solve it. The art world is a fickle place, and one which falls to the mercy of any emperor parading his new clothes with enough pride. Would these people even go to see the work if it had no celebrity value? I’d like to think so, but it is hard to see past the name-dropping, I-washere culture which pervades what should be a space of quiet appreciation. In terms of the paintings themselves, the compositions are so firmly stamped into my brain as memory that it is impossible to consider them in a fresh way; yet they are, undoubtedly, remarkable artistic achievements. Would I walk past these canvases, head high and scarcely sparing a glance for an earring or subtle smile? Probably not, but the light that celebrity shines on art and the world at large will continue to mar our view irreversibly - we just have to seek intrinsic artistic value, reception aside, in order to see what truly stands out as a masterpiece.
Register to vote Go online to make sure that you’re on the updated register or you might not be able to vote in the future. Registering online is quick and simple, you need: • full name • address • national insurance number • date of birth Registering can help you with a range of things including opening a bank account. As a student you can register at both your term time address and at the address you live at outside of term time.
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Epigram
26.09.2014
Film & TV
@epigramfilm Editor: Matthew Floyd
Deputy Editor: Hannah Price
Online Editor: Manvir Basi
filmandtv@epigram.org.uk
hannah.price@epigram.org.uk
filmandtvonline@epigram.org.uk
Bristol’s Encounters Festival th celebrates its 20 birthday
Vinyl Requiem (Replayed), playing at the Arnolfini, saw sound artist Philip Jeck perform live with his on screen digitised self to commemorate the evolution of music technology.
Matthew Floyd Film and TV Editor
Originally intended as a one-off event to celebrate 100 years of cinema, what was at first only a short film festival known as Brief Encounters, it proved so popular as to ensure its recurrence each year. In 2006 it merged with the younger Animated Encounters to create its current form. From 2010 it became linked with the Oscars, whilst from 2011 it was one of fifteen European festivals that present the nominations for the European Film Academy Short Film Awards. In short, Encounters Festival is kind of a big deal. Our very own University of Bristol even has a personal stake in it, being listed alongside IMDB, Aardman and several others as among the Festival’s sponsors. Epigram was lucky enough to attend Encounters Festival 2014, so turn over to read about the highlights…
Bristol is the home of the annual Encounters Festival, the UK’s foremost short film and animation festival which this year celebrated its 20th birthday. Based primarily on the Harbourside, it ran 16 - 21 September taking residence in the city’s independent cinemas Arnolfini, Cube Cinema and Watershed, with the latter serving as the festival’s hub and competition venue. Over its five days, Encounters showcased the top new short and animated films from around the globe, with 207 works from 30 countries selected to screen. It is an event particularly vital for filmmakers with their sights set on the most esteemed awards, as its nominees qualify for the BAFTAs, the Academy Awards ®, the European Film Awards and the Cartoon d’Or. Metronomy – I’m Aquarius, Dir: Edouard Salier
Epigram 26.09.2014
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Encounters: the highlights... Desert Island Flicks was one of the very first events hosted, effectively opening the festival on Tuesday night following a launch party attended by organisers and filmmakers. As its title suggests, it was essentially an adapted version of BBC Radio 4’s long-running Desert Island Discs radio show played out in front of an audience, only with films being chosen rather than records. Will Self – the notoriously sour and blackly comedic author, journalist and personality – took the guest’s seat to be in conversation with Andrew Kelly, Director of Festival of Ideas and founder of Brief Encounters. What ensued was around 90 minutes of passionate discussion of individual films and the industry in general, punctuated frequently by Self’s deadpan humour – he answered the first and most broad question ‘what does film mean to you?’ with the response ‘I think film is like the America to our Soviet Union’. Self selected seven features to discuss plus a specific scene from each, beginning by nominating Tarkovsky’s 1972 Russian sci-fi epic Solaris for its ‘timeless vision of the future’, Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, and Keiller’s 1994 London, which he described
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as the ‘closest thing on celluloid to an epic poem’. Next to be discussed was Cronenberg’s adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s Crash, saying that the film was ‘not great but captures some of the novel’s icy detachment’,
‘I think film is like the America to our Soviet Union’ before praising the Philip Seymour Hoffman-starring Synecdoche, New York for its exploration of what it means to be an artist. The conversation closed with discussion of Malick’s The Thin Red Line – ‘in many ways the most perfect war film ever made’ – and finally the 2012 short Flytopia, which is based on a story of Self’s.
Gerard Johnson’s London-set crime thriller Hyena was screened at Encounters, as one of three case studies of directors who have graduated from short into feature length filmmaking. Johnson has been marked as a British talent to watch since his debut 2004 short Mug, which followed a day in the life of a mugger in urban London. Subsequently he went on to his 2005 serial killer short Tony which he then adapted into a full-length in 2009.
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As research, Johnson spent time with corrupt police officers Besides retaining his London-setting throughout his work to date, Johnson has also kept his leading man and cousin Peter Ferdinando, who in Hyena gives a captivating performance as Michael Logan - a complex mix of high-functioning addict and corrupt police officer who must deal with a recent influx of ruthless Albanian gangsters with the very limited support of his erratic colleagues.
WHO WON? A total of 13 awards were dealt out by the animation and short juries, which were each composed of three industry experts who watched the 219 films in competition over three days. American Jennifer Reeder took home the Brief Grand Prix for her short A Million Miles Away, which explored the use of melancholy as a survival strategy in the American Midwest. Over 27 minutes it saw a class of teenage girls and their substitute teacher deal with their private, family and relationship issues through music, company and emotion, with Reeder directing largely from an eyelevel perspective to emphasize the personal nature of the short. Elsewhere, Argentinian Santiago ‘Bou’ Grasso scooped the Animated Grand Prix for Padre (Father), set in his native country in 1983 immediately following the downfall of Argentina’s military dictatorship at the conclusion of the Falklands War. A poignant and depressed stop motion animation, Padre follows the daily routine of the daughter of a retired military commander as she takes care of her bedridden father. The jury praised how Grasso’s film ‘channels the spirit of Argentina’s missing to the world’s consciousness, through subtle and haunting performance’. Other notable winners included the BFI-funded Crocodile, directed by Gaëlle Denis, which won the Channel 4 Best of British Short Film Award for her story of
a headmaster’s emotional response to the death of his daughter on her gap year. Michael Gould brought tangible fragility to the lead role, whilst the jury praised the tonal juxtaposition of humour and tragedy, marking Crocodile as a characteristically British short which I urge you to seek out.
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The juxtaposition of humour and tragedy marked Crocodile as characteristically British Another UK winner, Mikey Please, was awarded the Channel 4 Best of British Animation Award for Marilyn Miller, a gorgeous grayscale stop motion animation about a frustrated artist voiced by comedian Josie Long, whose expectations and reality unpredictably and hilariously align. A full list of the 13 award winners can be found on the Encounters website, and the festival will return in 2015.
The film is never less than visually stunning as it portrays the dark natures of corruption, addiction, violence and human trafficking, with several standout sequences and a handheld tracking-shot style which puts the audience in the capital’s underworld. As scenes shift between tense dialogue and near silence, it is very apparent that Hyena has a phenomenal soundtrack - an original score from ‘The The.’ Perfectly judged, it is most effective as it pulsates during the several montages, including an early nightclub raid which is followed by a cocaine-fuelled celebration in the policemen’s pub of choice. It’s no wonder that Hyena is such an effective - if not especially original – portrayal of crime, considering Johnson’s explanation of the meticulous research behind the film. To influence his writing, Johnson personally spent time with both corrupt and regular real life police officers, whilst the two main antagonists are played by street-cast Albanian non-actors, and the human trafficking plot is respectfully and authentically based on a woman Johnson interviewed. Though at times the film doesn’t quite balance its various plot threads and the puzzling ending may dissatisfy some, Hyena is an intense British crime thriller which deserves attention, as do its director and star.
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Brits win over the People at Toronto Manvir Basi Online Film & TV Editor The Toronto International Film Festival, hitting its 38th consecutive year, has been and gone with success. Established in 1976 under the guise of ‘Festival of Festivals’ with the aim of giving its audience films from across the world, Toronto has kept its word big time. In 2012 alone, a total of 400,000 people watched 372 films from 72 countries. The festival, which changed its name to Toronto International Film Festival in 1995, is now regarded as the starting place for the ‘Oscar season buzz’. This year is no different with The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, which scooped up the People’s Choice Award at Toronto and is hotly tipped for multiple Oscars. Alongside The Imitation Game based on the life of Alan Turing, we have Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. Redmayne’s performance as Hawking received critical acclaim at Toronto. Both Cumberbatch and Redmayne’s performances are typical Oscar award fodder,
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so we might see both battle it out for the Best Actor. At Toronto, the chief critics are not so called film professionals but rather the audience. The audience who vote for the
Cumberbatch and Redmayne’s performances are typical Oscar fodder ‘People’s Choice Award’ have displayed good taste, with previous winners including The King’s Speech (2011) and 12 Years A Slave (2013). So at Toronto it is the audience member, that person who buys the ticket and drinkpopcorn combo, despite the hefty price, is the industry’s most reliable critic. While they may not vote at the Oscars, Golden Globes or BAFTAs, they do have a voice at Toronto, and boy do they use it well.
BBCpictures
Spotlight The film you probably haven’t heard of but should definitely go see... Ida tells the story of a Polish novice nun about to take her final vows. After reconnecting with her only surving relative, she not only learns her real name but that she’s Jewish. The unlikely pair of Ida and her aunt search to find the truth about her parent’s fate during the war, while dealing with the postwar problems all Jews were still facing. Filmed in iconic black and white, this powerful and thought-provoking drama swept the film festival scene picking up 27 awards already, including best film at London last year.
Watershed
See Ida In Bristol at Watershed Fri 26 Sept - Thu 2 Oct and The Cube Tues 28 - 29 Oct
Hannah Price Deputy Film & TV Editor
Editors’ Picks Our personal choices of what to watch over the next two weeks Matthew Editor
Hannah Deputy Editor
Manvir Online Editor
Maps to the Stars Friday 26 September
Downton Abbey ITV1 Sunday 9pm
Walk Among the Tombstones Out now
Maude Lebowski, Cedric Diggory, Lloyd Dobler and Princess Leia star in this satire of Hollywood celebrity from David Cronenberg. Sounds like the perfect recipe to violate my childhood cinematic memories.
It just has to be Downton. It’s perfect for a Sunday evening and just so British, accidental water bottle and all. I don’t think ll ever get sick of Maggie Smith and her sensational one liners.
A standard Liam Neeson film. Someone is kidnapped and he hunts them down, while saying incredibly threatening things. A big shift of roles for Liam Neeson.
Gone Girl Thursday 2 October
Doctor Who BBC One Saturday 7pm
Gone Girl is based on the best selling book by Gillian Flyn, which I read over summer. The film defnitely gives a new meaning to dysfunctional relationships. I’m excited to see how the creepy clever twists and turns play out on screen. And I’ll unashamedy watch anything with Ben Affleck in it.
I would recommend ending Freshers Week on a more chilled note, with the lovely Jenna-Louise Coleman and Peter Capaldi. Long gone are the days of Matt Smith with his fez and hyperactive behaviour. Capaldi brings a darker side to Doctor Who, with a sense of ruthlessness.
Peaky Blinders series two ITV1 Thursday 2 October
BBCpictures
Series one was six glorious episodes of Cillian Murphy being a menacing Brummie bastard in postwar Birmingham, and in a flat cap to boot. I will only love series two more thanks to the addition of Tom ‘Bronson’ Hardy to the show’s already volatile mix.
Epigram
26.09.2014
Music
@epigrammusic
Editor: Guy Barlow
Deputy Editor: Gunseli Yalcinkaya
Online Editor: Jonny Hunter
music@epigram.org.uk
gyalcinkaya@epigram.org.uk
jonny@epigram.org.uk
Blues’ Reformed ‘Bad-boy’: An Interview with Benjamin Booker New Orleans musician Benjamin Booker gets a taste of home at Bristol’s Louisiana. Gunseli Yalcinkaya was there to indulge in the antics Sitting cross-legged on the stage of Bristol’s Louisiana, water bottle in hand, I eagerly await the anticipated arrival of Virginia-born musician, Benjamin Booker. Having only been performing for two years, Booker was slingshot to fame by blog, Aquarium Drunkard, and has since rose exponentially into the blues/rock scene. With a voice so wholesomely raspy that even Barry White ‘can’t get enough’, Booker’s vocals, combined with heavily amped guitars and precise drummership, is enough to send ‘Violent Shivers’ down anyone’s spine. Heavy distortion and harsh, tobacco-worn vocals make up most of Booker’s debut album; the lyrics explore a life of devoid of meaning, trapped in the midst of the claustrophobic bustle of urban America. Although seemingly light-hearted and full of boyish charm, Booker appears pensive and vague when asked the meaning behind his songs: ‘Those were some dark times… I’d rather not talk about it’, he replies with an uncomfortable smile. As for the show, Booker’s intensity is enough to make even the most modestly sober audience member feel over-exposed. Although lacking cohesion in parts - there appeared to be a lack of communication between the bassist/ violinist and the rest of the band - Benjamin’s sweat-drenched body, shaking with adrenaline as it stumbled off stage parting the battery farm that is the Louisiana, gave the performance an honest quality; one which is so often overlooked by more well-known artists. What do you think of Bristol? I like it. I haven’t really seen much of it, only the harbourside; but I’ve taken some pretty photos on my phone. So, tell us about yourself. I was born in Virginia, grew up in Florida, and now live in New Orleans. I started doing music a couple of years ago, but that was mostly acoustic stuff. It was only last year that I met Max, my drummer, and we started producing electric songs. What’s been your favourite performance so far? We played in Detroit whilst touring with Jack White, which was awesome; the venue was really cool. Touring itself was pretty good too, all the food was catered for (laughter). Do you have any particular things you do before performances? No, not really. I have a weird habit of restringing my guitar after each performance. I play really hard, so I get paranoid that one will snap midperformance. How did you get into music? Is it always something you wanted to do growing up? I’d written four or five songs in my bedroom, and shared them with friends and stuff. Next thing I know, this blog in LA’s picked them up and is playing them on a national radio show!
After that, I got a manager and a few calls later, I got signed to the label I’m at today. It all happened so fast. I got lucky. Growing up, I’d wanted to be a journalist. I studied journalism at college, but found that I’d spend all my spare time going to gigs instead of actually studying. What was it like growing up in Florida? Florida wasn’t for me; there wasn’t a lot happening musically. I much prefer New Orleans. But recently I went to San Francisco, which was really nice; there’s so much to do, like last time I was there, I climbed a mountain; it’s great, just insanely expensive. Give it another few years, hah. Do you regret anything up to now in your life/career? (Laughter) Of course I do. We’ve had really bad shows before, but I don’t know if I regret them; it takes a whole lot of time to get used to performing. If we have a bad show, I’ll get angry messages once in a while, but you need to learn to ignore them. At first I was really excited about being in magazines/online stuff, but since the album’s come out, I’ve been avoiding reading social media. If you could go back five years, would you change anything? I’d definitely get into music earlier. I started playing guitar at fourteen, but only started writing songs about two years ago. What inspired you to write the album? I started out writing songs for friends; it picked up and I ended up with all these songs; it all fell into place. Are there any specific people who inspired certain songs? Ex-girlfriends, roommates… I lived with one of my best friends around the time I started writing the album; she was a huge part of it. It was a busy time. (Hesitates) I don’t want to talk about it – it’s too much. Who are you listening to at the moment? Mostly ‘Amazing Snakeheads’, a band from Glasgow, and ‘Grinder man’, Nick Cave’s band. We saw Nick Cave in Detroit – I love him. We met the rest of the band after one of our shows; I couldn’t believe that they’d actually come. Gunseli Yalcinkaya, Second year, Philosophy
Coincidentally, ‘Amazing Snakeheads’ are playing at the Simple Things Festival Jonny Hunter previews on page 49.
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Bristol boy done good:
George Ezra
Chris Beale
Boomtown: An extraordinary weekend of (controlled) chaos Gurnalism, gurnalism, gurnalism... Alex Schulte A shuffling mass of gap year girls, tattooed Levellers fans and bucket hatted adolescents downing supermarket vodka in the August heat makes its way towards an imposing perimeter fence decked out with posters announcing that there shall be ‘zero tolerance to Ketamine and Nitrous Oxide’. Beyond the fence a giant metal spider in the centre of a natural punchbowl is given its final tweaks by frantic volunteers savouring their final breath of solitude before the gates are opened. Funktion-One soundsystems are revved up while at the gate the local constabulary, armed with sniffer dogs, await unfortunate wreckheads. Toto, I don’t think we’re at Glyndebourne anymore. Boomtown Fair, set among the pleasant climes of Hampshire, doesn’t call itself ‘the UK’s most ‘avin it town’ for nothing. The country’s fastest growing festival has cemented a reputation for dub-soundtracked hedonism, a distinction that has earned it a steady following yet seems to culminate each year in a tragic drug-related death. To preserve the future of their event from suspicious council head honchos, the organisers, reportedly Bristol’s biggest rave crew, have made gestures to clamp down on the jarringly impressive degree of powder consumption within their walls.
Toto, I don’t think we’re in Glydebourne anymore
However it was pretty clear when, after only a few hours onsite, the slogan t-shirt of a girl with the most spectacular gurn God could ever grant offered passers-by the prospect of fellatio in return for a bit of horse tranquilizer, that this would be a hard party to tame. Anyway, enough about the drugs; musically, Boomtown is not a place where big name acts are slapped down on different stages with only their commercial appeal to link them. The music programming, though on the whole centred around Reggae, Dub, Jungle and its variants with some large nods towards electro-swing, is ingeniously spread in portions across site to complement the themed ‘districts’ of the festival. Trenchtown, boasting the UK’s most striking stage construction in the form of the Lion’s Den, spent the weekend blaring out Jamaican music to friendly trustafarians, while the Downtown areas such as Chinatown and the Boombox hosted a mix of partyready music ranging from Italian gypsy ska to Boddika, with slightly tired Glastonbury staple Arcadia as the centrepiece. Though any truly unmissable sets were few and far between, the lineup’s emphasis on an act’s fun factor over any particular recognition actually makes for a better festival experience. The joy in Boomtown does not lie in staking your ground for hours at the main stage barriers to ensure the best sightlines for Bruce Springsteen. Instead, ‘citizens’ of the festival are invited to wander around merrily and aimlessly to stumble upon something far more memorable than another dour indie rock group noodling the mid-afternoon away. Indeed, glimpsing upon a crew of breakdancing gorillas entertaining a crowd of hooting adults
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and decidedly indifferent toddlers, or the experience of breakneck moonstomping to the silly whooshing beats of Psytrance at the Tribe of Frog stage with a man called Cloud will remain in my mind for far longer than any 3pm guitar-cack snoozeathon at Latitude.
The joy in boomtown does not lie in staking your ground at the main stage barriers for hours to ensure the best sight lines for Bruce Springsteen That is not to say Boomtown 2014 suffered any dearth of impressive sets. NOFX’s headline slot on Saturday night was a characteristically snotty display of punk’s lost irreverence, while Hayseed Dixie’s bluegrass rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody was probably one of the most amusing ends to a set imaginable. Dawn Penn, appearing on the Lion’s Den, can still belt ‘No No No’ with a voice to make grown men tremble, yet her constant between-song reminders of her new album’s Amazon availability came across as more akin to a bedroom MC flogging his mixtape to commuters outside Finsbury Park tube than the behaviour of Reggae’s pre-eminent chanteuse. Far better Jimmy Cliff, who closed the same stage on Sunday night with a blaze of energy and an ever beaming countenance, flanked by the tightest backing band this side of Montego bay. However, if there can be one outstanding performance of the weekend, Tinariwen’s completely entrancing fusion of
Saharan tribal music and psychedelic rock steals the crown from any other contenders. It is entirely possible that either the mistrust of the powers-that-be may close down Boomtown for good, or that its ever mounting popularity will saturate and wipe out all the quirk and raggedness that raises the festival echelons above almost every other British event. Until that happens, just go - you won’t find anywhere as immersive, imaginative and perpetually charming as Winchester’s annual love-up. Alex Schulte, Second year, English
Boomtown Fair: A Very, Very Short Introduction Founded in 2009, Boomtown Fair claims to be the UK’s fastest growing festival. This annual ‘pop-up city’ contains 12 different ‘districts’ and 22 stages of shenanigans. Notable headliners in the past include The Wailers, Toots and the Maytals and Caravan Palace with reggae, ska and dub being the most prominent musical genres. However, it’s future remains in doubt after a series of drug-related deaths in the past few years.
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Bestival: Fast becoming the best of all Zaki Dogliani and Ben Flanagan report from the Isle of Wight Friday Night, Saturday Morning Friday night featured the most compelling lineup of the weekend, beginning with a set from the incomparable Tune-Yards. Merrill Garbus’ elastic Afrobeat Blues outfit has had a breakthrough year with third album Nikki-Nack and track of the year contender ‘Water Fountain’. Her live show is toned down somewhat from her previous tour, but that lack of backing dancers and colourful costumes only hones in the focus on her voice, which is so strong it can turn any line into a hook. Outkast’s is a whacky, worthy performance that gets the crowd pumping and jumping from the blistering opener of ‘B.O.B’ onwards, but not without its flaws. The protracted solo sections were almost enough to lose the audience completely. There was also a troubling tone of flagrant misogyny towards the women in the crowd and on stage. You could sense the nerves as La Roux arrives on stage for her ‘First UK Festival in a long time’. The pressure is on. Outkast were a tough act to follow, and few expected her to outshine the rest of Friday’s stellar line-up. But by the end, it was a different Ms. Jackson that many lucky enough to see both sets were talking about. Indeed, in terms of surpassing expectations, La Roux’s set was surely one of the highlights of the entire weekend. The fact that both her new album, Trouble In Paradise, and this vitally important set for her went so well suggest that she is well and truly back. Late into Friday night came the impressive double whammy of 2 Bears and Caribou, whose disparate approaches to dance music paid dividends and kept the audience enthralled until 4am. Caribou’s sonic exploration was almost like a jazz concert with bigger basslines, and his new songs went down a treat nearly as much as ‘Odessa’ and ‘Sun’, from Swim. 2 Bears were quite an experience, bringing on drag queens to present ‘CASH PRIZES’ during one of their more psychedelic numbers, which was bizarrely trippy and funny in just the right way for the Bestival aesthetic.
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The most unforgettable image was Chase & Status doing a set on the ‘Nando’s Stage’ to an audience of no more than 15 people
Dan Dennison
Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip played their last ever gig, in The Big Top, a bittersweet affair that, as with all of their music, combined political social commentary with glitchy electronica. It’s a shame to lose such an idiosyncratic voice, and their farewell was fitting. While Scroobius Pip brings his long-time partnership to an end, fellow spoken word artist Kate Tempest attracts more and more admirers with each gig that she does. It is almost impossible not to warm to the South London-born rapper with her kitchen sink lyrics, effervescence and down-to-earth manner. Headlining on Saturday were Foals, who represent a safe version of the jagged guitar rock Radiohead were making in 2001. Judging by the size of the crowd that turned up for their Saturday night headline slot, most festival goers - or Bestival goers, anyway - have completely lost interest in this kind of standard indie music. The Kooks were one of the only other guitar bands during the weekend, underlining the reaction to guitar rock and trend towards dance music.
Too big for their stage Basement Jaxx would inspire a massive postmidnight audience for possibly the maddest hour of the weekend as thousands tried to squeeze in to see what sounded like a fantastic set. Why they weren’t headlining the main stage is baffling, but they more than showed the organisers that they are still a force to be reckoned with. SBTRKT sounded great and was showcasing plenty of his new material but was in a tent which filled up too quickly to be able to properly enjoy, just like Bristol DJ Eats Everything. Good times Chic took to the stage moments after Bestival officially broke the world record for the largest disco ball. It was an emotional hour and a half, as Nile Rodgers had just found out that a long-time roadie had passed away. The set was structured as a tour through Rodgers’ life through music, which took on a tone of reflection following this news. It was far from a downer to close the festival however, as Chic’s joyous, timeless hits were sandwiched by hits Rodgers had produced, including David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ and Madonna’s ‘Like A Virgin’. This was accompanied by confetti, balloons and fireworks. From struggling to overcome his emotions at the start of the set, Rodgers seemed like he never wanted to leave the stage. Biggest surprise ZD: I was always going to see The 2 Bears given their slot in between La Roux and Caribou – and because the guy from Hot Chip is in it – but I had no idea how good they’d be. Now I’d happily pay to see them on their own! BF: I’ve never been interested in London Grammar; it’s just the kind of depressing MOR pop balladry that sends me catatonic. But dull as the writing is on their tunes, lead singer Hannah Reid’s stirring vocals are simply awe inspiring on the main stage, where her operatic tone spreads to the furthest corners of the arena. She’s got one of the best voices in pop- just a shame about the music. Biggest disappointment ZD: Aside from Busta Rhymes pulling out or Peter Hook clashing with Chic, I think it might just be the fact that La Roux didn’t play ‘I’m Not Your Toy’. That tells you what a good weekend it was. BF: As a huge fan of his 2012 album fIn, I couldn’t wait for John Talabot’s performance in the Bollywood tent. I don’t know if the sound was poor or if he simply wasn’t bringing his A-game, but the tunes were indistinguishable and he was barely spinning his own! Most unforgettable image ZD: Beck set the bar high with his entrance, as did Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip when they emerged for the last time ever to play ‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped’! But I think the most unforgettable image has to be one I didn’t actually see – of Chase & Status doing a set on the ‘Nando’s Stage’ – above the food stall, to an audience of no more than 15 queuing for chicken. BF: Finishing Sunday night by catching some of Craig Charles’ set. Coked out, climbing all over his tiny booth and madly spinning remixes of the first funky tunes that came to hand, it seemed like an exquisitely fitting way to close another surprising, truly spectacular Bestival.
Zaki Dogliani and Ben Flanagan
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25
Simple Things: A Preview On 25 October, Simple Things returns to Bristol. The one day festival will invade a good chunk of the city’s best venues and leave a venerable who’s-who of 2014’s important acts in its wake. Want to rock out like your school-age self always wished they could to Death From Above, 1979? Want to witness DJ Harvey’s never-ending disco victory lap? Are you excited, and not rightly terrified, by the prospect of your face melting in front of a legendary Mogwai live show? Then I’d try and get your hands on one of the quickly disappearing Simple Things tickets. After all, there aren’t too many better ways to spend a Saturday than a 17 hour party in central Bristol. It isn’t just anywhere in central Bristol either: most of the festival takes place in Colston Hall and the severely underused Island Complex. Choose between dancing on a rooftop terrace, grooving under tarps in a kind of house club meets favela fashion and getting the rare change to party in a courtroom. Having said this, Hyperdub, who have just walked out of the AIM Independent Music Awards with Best Small Label and Best Innovator (for label boss Kode9), will spend their
time at Simple Things filling Lakota with the deepest, darkest city sounds around. While a couple of minutes out the way, it is hard to think of many better places to showcase Laurel Halo’s dystopian techno not either too small or too structurally unsound, and once Kode9 takes the stage the crowd will probably be too mesmerised to care about the walk anyway. Venue’s aside, the Simple Things roster offers up more good acts than it is physically possible to see. We’re particularly excited for the murky, leftfield world of Actress, especially since Darren’s recent announcement of the end of the project means it might be one of the final times to see him play Actress material live. Elsewhere, Liars and Black Lips’ shows will struggle to be anything but intensely fun, and if there is ever a danger of having too much of it there’s always The Haxan Cloak to bring you down to earth with what promises to be the most intense set of the event. Eagulls make a quick return to Bristol after their recent show in the Louisiana, and with any luck we’ll see a repeat of their no-holds-barred, crowdsurf-heavy show. Deep house
The Kooks Listen Virgin EMI September 8 2014
alt-J This Is All Yours Infectious September 22 2014
revival hero DJ Sprinkles will probably be far more restrained, but is a must see for anyone who actually knows what deep house is. Finally, go have a dance to Zomby, but make sure to follow his twitter in order to appreciate the extreme level of cognitive dissonance that comes as a result of being a fan. Jonny Hunter, Philosophy
Second
Headliners: Death From Above 1979, Mogwai, DJ Harvey
Buy tickets at: http://tickets. crackmagazine.net/
FKA Twigs LP1 Young Turks August 6 2014
Minus one member after the departure of Gwil Sainsbury in January of this year, alt-J have followed their Mercury Award winning album An Awesome Wave with more of the same gentle, formulaic sound that is not a big step away from their first album, and nor has it needed to be. This is partly because most of the songs were written whilst bassist Sainsbury was still a member with the exception of the first single ‘Hunger Of The Pine.’ Opening tracks ‘Intro’, ‘Arrival in Nara’ and ‘Nara’ are a very similar sound and structure to songs on their previous album and the first real change in mood comes in a heavy guitar track called ‘Left Hand Free’ where singer Joe Newman departs from his soft falsetto tones to a more edgy and rasping quality. We also hear new musical influences with tribal cross rhythms from the percussion and a jazzy organ solo. Although alt-J have avoided the curse of a poor second album and have certainly shown more invention, the melancholic tunes of ‘Warm Foothills’ and ‘Pusher’ lack the killer combination of unique vocal harmonies and crunching synth chords we got from ‘Breezeblocks’ and ‘Something Good’. However, This Is All Yours will please alt-J fans and will definitely hold up strong in their upcoming tour.
There’s a clear declaration of admittance in The Kooks calling their album Listen. Despite past success leading them to be immortalised in pre-teen open mic night setlists, no one listens to The Kooks any more and they seem desperate to change this. If Listen is anything to go by, which it really ought to be if it isn’t, The Kooks are either too stubborn or incapable of doing anything about it. The band’s self-described ‘world music’ album displays a variety of new musical tricks, but it is just window dressing for a band who seem to live in a time where the mainstream still fears electronic music and everyone wears clothes from Topman. To their credit, these foreign elements are the one thing preventing Listen from collapsing on itself completely. It brings variety, a foreign element in itself for a Kook album. ‘Around Town’s’ gospel drive is pretty interesting, as is the Wild Beasts mimicry of ‘She’s the Pretender’, and the only thing preventing these songs from being genuinely fun to listen to is the fact there are much better bands doing the same thing: Wild Beasts, for instance. The band show just how bad things really are when they eventually slouch back on the old formula and do a terrible job of it. With songs as impossibly dull as ‘Forgive and Forget’, it is difficult to remember this is the same band who had a whole generation singing along to ‘Naive’.
The mercury-nominated FKA Twigs can be described as none other than the illegitimate, toothy lovechild of Grace Jones and Tricky. When she is not boggling our brains with her plasticine, post-human exterior, she is seducing our ears in a strange ritual of aural coitus. Beautifully textured harmonies pulse against a discord of haunting synths and acoustic bass, while sudden halts in beat and rhythm throw the listener into a stomach-plummeting suspense; the album is an aural acid trip; Twigs’ LP1 draws similarities to Portishead-style triphop and 90s R&B icons like Aaliyah and TLC. Not only is the album produced to perfection (it was partially produced by none other than Yeezus producer, Arca), it also draws on the ideals of womanly, sexual empowerment; yes, the album is incredibly sexual. So sexual in fact, that it’d leave most ‘well to do’ Englishmen crimson in a state of coy embarrassment: ‘My thighs are apart for when you’re ready to breath in’, ‘I can f*ck you better than her’; FKA Twigs is the musical forefront of our pornographic age. The album explores sex from many different angles: from the child-like innocence of ‘Kicks’, to the Boschian vigour of ‘Two Weeks’. As far as the lyrics goes, it is pretty incomplex; nonetheless, the choral moans in ‘Prelude’, ‘I love another, and thus I hate myself ’, are effective in their honest simplicity. Anyway, whatever your thoughts, one cannot deny the beauty of the sonical and visual kaleidoscope that is LP1.
Guy Barlow, Second year, Music
Jonny Hunter, Second year, Philosophy
Gunseli Yalcinkaya, Second year, Philosophy
year,
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Fewer concerts but ‘Continued investment’ in the Music Department The number of concerts is diminishing this year despite an expansion in student numbers. Guy Barlow investigates music students, as well as its rooms being used for Law and Drama lectures amongst other subjects. I asked about a possible expansion and Katharine Ellis responded by saying that there have been ‘feasibility studies’ and that there needs to be proof that music students would use the expanded area ‘economically’ whilst also considering the issue of quality. With increasing concern among Arts and Humanities students in getting value for money from their extortionate tuition fees, I wandered what other investment the University had set aside for students this year. Katharine Ellis told me that ‘One of the ways the university has invested in the concert series is a new post that is essentially a Director of Performance.’ This will be filled by renowned conductor Stephen Rice in a ‘Strategic move that will benefit students and the community’. Whilst this will surely benefit students within the department, can more be done to reach out to other students who will now lose out on going to concerts in a university building? Fewer concerts mean fewer opportunities for students to discover classical music and is a step backwards for the Victoria Rooms as a centre for classical music in Bristol. Guy Barlow. Second year, Music
Guy Barlow
There will be fewer concerts at the Victoria Rooms this academic year, as the University expands the number of venues it uses for the lunchtime concert series in order to benefit the community but with fewer opportunities to see concerts at the music department itself. I spoke to the Head of the Music Department, Katharine Ellis, to find out how and if these ‘cuts’ aid students. The two new venues are St Paul’s and Victoria Methodist church who contacted the Music Department offering their services as new environments for students to perform in and listen to many top classical artists. Katharine Ellis was keen to stress that this is an ‘expansion’ allowing students to have ‘external venues on their CV’ in an investment from the University that ‘benefits us (the Music Department), students and the community.’ Despite continued ‘investment on a needs basis’ from the University, one suspects that, although this expansion does indeed benefit the community, it could be seen in simple terms as in fact taking away concert-viewing opportunities from the location in which music students spend the vast majority of their time. A factor that has definitely influenced this move is the Music Department building itself; the Victoria Rooms are at ‘saturation point’ and handle nearly 300 undergraduate and postgraduate
CAREERS FAIRS AUTUMN 2014
Wills Memorial Building
Find out about graduate jobs, internships, work experience and further study opportunities INVESTMENT BANK & MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY EVENING
EMPLOYER PRESENTATIONS Employer presentations offer a high level of insight into an organisation, their culture and their recruitment opportunities. Find out what they look for in a candidate and get hints and tips for a successful application.
Monday 13 Oct / 5.00 - 8.00pm
AUTUMN CAREERS FAIR Tuesday 14 & Wednesday 15 Oct / 12.00 - 3.00pm
www.careers.bristol.ac.uk/students/events
ENGINEERING & IT CAREERS FAIR Tuesday 21 & Wednesday 22 Oct / 12.00 - 3.00pm
CAREERS WITH A SCIENCE DEGREE Wednesday 29 Oct / 12.00 - 3.00pm
LAW CAREERS FAIR Wednesday 5 & Thursday 6 Nov / 12.30 - 3.30pm sponsored by
For more information, venue details and a full list of employers attending, please visit:
www.bristol.ac.uk/careers/fairs
Careers Service
Epigram
26.09.2014
Science & Tech
Editor: Molly Hawes
@EpigramSciTech Deputy Editor: Ben Parr
scienceandtech@epigram.org.uk
deputyscienceandtech@epigram.org.uk
Online Editor: Alfie Smith
Physics makes scientists paws for thought
“
Ben Parr Deputy Science Editor
‘Well! I’ve often seen
a cat without a grin,’ thought Alice, ‘but a
grin without a cat! It’s
the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!’
this case, when drunk, would produce no sensation on the tongue. Whilst this seems ludicrous in the world we experience, this is the reality of the subatomic universe. For the quantum Cheshire Cat magnetic moment was removed. This quantity determines the magnitude of rotation produced upon the magnet when placed within an external magnetic field. This is a property which objects such as bar magnets and even planets possess. Clearly it seems impossible for this property to exist distinctly from these macroscopic objects. On a quantum level in which one considers very small particles, in this case a neutron, it was found that the magnetic moment could indeed be separated from the particle. The experiment which provided the evidence took place at the Institute Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France, using an experimental set up known as an interferometer. The researchers sent the neutron beam down two different paths through a silicon crystal. In doing this they were able to detect the physical separation of the magnetic moment from the neutrons. The distinction was made by noting the direction of their spin. The research concluded that ‘the system behaves as if the neutrons go through one beam path, while their magnetic moment travels along the other’. The research into the quantum Cheshire Cat is said to have the potential for technology in which unwanted magnetic moments can be separated to a region in which they do not disturb high precision measurements of other properties. This may find its use in meteorology. However, as is often the case with discoveries in quantum physics, many find the beauty and obscurity of the theory far more exciting and thought provoking than its practical implications.
Sergiu Bacioiu
This passage from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is one of the many imaginative and unbelievable phenomena which occurs in Lewis Carroll’s fantasy tale. Yet only last month the existence of what has been named a ‘quantum Cheshire Cat’ was experimentally observed by a team of physicists in Vienna. The idea was predicted by theoretical physicist Sandu Popescu of the University of Bristol and his colleagues. It states that a particle can be separated from one of its physical properties: much like the cat becomes separated from its grin. The quantum Cheshire Cat is one of the many seemingly illogical results quantum physics has predicted, the most famous one being the Schrödinger’s cat paradox, in which the analogy of the cat presents the feline as being both alive and dead simultaneously until it is observed. In the classical world properties are inseparable from their objects. To separate them would be like removing the flavour of a cup of tea so that the taste could be experienced somewhere quite distinct from the tea. The tea in
scienceonline@epigram.org.uk
Hair of the dog: sensible or barking mad? Molly Hawes & Ben Parr Science Editors Freshers’ week has arrived. Around the University there will inevitably be a mass of students nursing headaches: we set out to investigate some potential cures. Some are useless, some ease the symptoms, and some are downright dangerous. The NHS recommends that drinking be kept to minimum to avoid hangovers, and stresses that there are no known cures for the symptoms. Epigram Science suspects that
most new students will utterly ignore government guidelines and drink like fish for the entirety of October… So how do you ease that dreadful morning after the night before? Most symptoms associated with hangovers stem from dehydration. That morning headache can for the
Aris.Sanchez
most part be avoided by alternating soft drinks with booze. Or for those watching their wallets, downing a pint of water before bed has a similar effect. Drunk food is a popular choice for those wending their way home from the triangle in Freshers’ week. But while Jason Donnervan is a well-respected Bristol institution, it is by no means scientifically proven to ease your headache. You are better off eating a good meal before you start drinking to absorb the alcohol and slow its delivery into your bloodstream. Whilst researching this article, the authors trialled the traditional cure ‘hair of the dog’. After extensive experimentation we can corroborate NHS claims that it actually does more harm than good, merely delaying your hangover and damaging your liver. Ultimately, the only way to get rid of a hangover is to wait for your body to process all those Jägerbombs and toffee
vodkas. Doctors recommend waiting 48 hours after a heavy drinking session - whether students can survive Lizard Lounge on nothing but lemonade remains to be seen. If the advice of trusted medical professionals doesn’t move you to reconsider your drinking habits, you may find the hangovers more persuasive.
British student alcohol consumption:
54.5% of students exceed sensible alcohol limits
‘Doctors recommend waiting 48 hours after a
89% of new students
heavy drinking session
drink
- whether students can survive Lizard Lounge on nothing but lemonade remains to be seen’
28% of students admit to binge drinking
Epigram
Sport
26.09.2014
49
People of Glasgow breathe life into the Commonwealth Games
Edward Henderson-Howat Online Sport Editor @edward_hh94
The start of the Commonwealth Games was a farce. Giant kilts, dancing Tunnock’s Tea Cakes and a rabble of screaming Scots ran amok in Celtic Park. It was dubbed the ‘Friendly Games’, but this projected the informal fun of Glasgow in an absurd fashion. As the painful seconds of the opening ceremony wore on, those who had dismissed the Games as a poor man’s Olympics were rubbing their hands in glee. However, despite its inauspicious start, the XX Commonwealth Games should be regarded as a triumph, as much for the people of Glasgow as for sport itself. It is a city divided (religiously, socially and politically) but with raw passion, human decency and joyful enthusiasm the crowd’s participation was what made the Games. Unsurprisingly, Team Scotland was fervently supported. The roof was raised when the most
unknown female hammer thrower sporting home colours clinched fifth place. The support, however, was to be expected; anyone who has been to Murrayfield or Hampden Park will know how ardently the Scots support their country. What made these Games special was the response shown to the other athletes and countries. At the rugby sevens Scotland came within a whisker of overturning the mighty All Blacks, but the highlight of the day arrived when 50,000 fans united behind Uganda in their 435 defeat to Australia. It may not have been competitive rugby at its finest but the one-sided nature of the affair did not matter. The euphoric chants of ‘Uganndaa’ when the under-dogs scored in the final second captured the spirit of the Games more than a bruising heavyweight encounter ever could. Another real positive was the support shown to English competitors. Admittedly, there was a sizeable English contingent
in the crowd, but given the typical Scots’ attitude of ‘anyone but England’, the response shown was remarkable. In training Team England were briefed on how to block out boos from the crowd, but the overwhelming emotion flowing from the
within the body of the Games but it also showed a human decency from the Hampden crowd. Such delight in the individual achievements of all the competitors is something rarely seen in Glasgow’s football stadiums. Clearly the Commonwealth Games
stands was one of support. Having won silver in the T37/38 long jump, England’s Bethy Woodward enjoyed a rapturous applause on her lap of honour. Not only was this a wonderful endorsement for the inclusion of Para-Sports
was having an effect! Countries such as Brunei and Sri Lanka came under fire before the tournament for their anti-gay laws and human rights abuses respectively but politics played little part in the ‘Friendly Games.’
Quite rightly, the athletes were cheered for their sporting accomplishments rather than heckled for their country’s flaws. In Delhi 2010, 60% of tickets went unsold, but in Glasgow every stadium was rocking. From mixed badminton to squash doubles, the audience and people of Glasgow participated in this shared sense of passion, enthusiasm and decency. And in so many cases this spirit existed precisely because the competition wasn’t always world class. In a tournament lacking the likes of the USA, China and Russia, there was always going to be an Olympic standard missing. But what this left room for was the human emotion of the ‘Friendly Games.’ Some of the smallest countries and territories in the world competed, with almost 2% of Niue’s entire population taking part. It is far easier to picture ourselves as that lucky one in 50 than relate to the legions of American athletes we will see in Rio 2016. The majority of us can
probably associate far more with the hapless loser stumbling over the finish line than the sporting superhero standing a million miles away on the podium. The Games needed its champions but the presence of weaker athletes was crucial in giving the tournament a human face. In summing up what made the Glasgow Games so special we need look no further than the mens’ 5,000 metre final. The stardust of Mo Farah was absent but the winning time was 29 seconds quicker than Farah’s own victory in London 2012. Make no mistake, Glasgow 2014 had some outstanding quality. Yet the spirit of the Games was epitomised when 17 year old Roseefelo Siosi of the Solomon Islands finished 107 seconds behind the rest of the field. He ran those final two laps alone on the track but was accompanied by the standing roar of every fan in the stadium. Though the quality of competition may not have always been world class, the occasion certainly was.
Cook weathers testing English summer but can he navigate winter storms? Edward Henderson-Howat Online Sport Editor
It was a mixed summer for the England cricket team. In mid-July they were in disarray and despite storming back to win the Test series they folded in the OneDay Internationals (ODIs). There are three questions to be addressed. What was it that initially turned England’s summer around? What went wrong in the ODI series? And how can England build on this limited success in moving forward? Alastair Cook, the captain and bearer of so much flak, deserves praise for leading England’s recovery in the Test series. He returned to form by notching up three 50s in four innings following the Lord’s defeat whilst his leadership improved. Bowling changes and field placements began to reap their reward with a more active style of captaincy paying off. However, this relied
on improved individual performances from the whole squad. The unlikely Moeen Ali tore India apart with the ball delivering match sealing performances of 6-67 and 4-39 in the third and fourth Tests. Gary Ballance, a consistent performer throughout the summer, saved his best for the pivotal game at the Rose Bowl, racking up 156. A classy century from Joe Root (149) at the Oval was the final blow for the tourists, and his knock of 77 in the fourth Test, in partnership with the promising Jos Buttler, turned the game and series in England’s favour. Equally, the old guard of
Ian Bell, Stuart Broad and James Anderson all backed up their skipper in the final three tests. The loss of Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen and Graeme Swann piled the pressure on the remaining core of players, which meant their return to form was critical in turning the summer around. However, England’s comeback still relied on India’s failings. Virat Kholi, Shikar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara, India’s three rising stars, all endured miserable tours. The tail bailed out the top order at Trent Bridge and Lord’s, but when their luck ran out and the top-order batsmen continued to
struggle the home bowlers ripped through the Indian line-up. The tourists began well with the ball but couldn’t keep England under sustained pressure with the likes of Ravi Ashwin bowling too short. Their fielding also let them down, with Ravindra Jadeja’s dropped catch in the third Test when Cook was on 15 proving the turning point of the series. Meanwhile, their management seemed more interested in combatting Anderson in the courtroom than on the pitch. The catalyst for England’s resurgence was their players’ return to form but for all
their individual heroics they were aided by India’s shortcomings. England must be realistic about their achievements. They were playing in home conditions against a team which has won two of its last 21 away Tests. Resting on their laurels will cost them dear going into the future. India’s 3-1 victory in the ODIs was evidence enough that England are still a team in transition. In an age of heavier bats and one-day specialists, the approach of knocking it around for a score of 270 will not suffice. A fundamental change is needed going into the 2015
World Cup Down Under as the management must realise that ODIs and Tests are entirely different formats requiring entirely different skills. Equally, a balance must be struck between introducing fresh blood and maintaining a core of seasoned players. Clearly Buttler’s inclusion at the expense of Matt Prior revitalised the squad. However, a hasty decision to drop Cook after defeat at HQ would have been disastrous for the side as a whole. Teams need experience and the likes of Anderson and Bell (99 and 105 caps respectively) should stay for some time, but when a dip in form becomes terminal, the selectors must be brave enough to drop them (as with Prior). England deserve some praise at the end of a difficult summer, but they cannot fall into complacency as a hard winter awaits.
Epigram
26.09.2014
50
O Captain! A selection of the club captains of the 51 sports clubs at Bristol tell you everything you need to know about university life.
Name: Dave Johnson Age: 36 years young Course: Veterinary Medicine Year: 3rd
Best idea for a SCORE dress-up theme? You can never go wrong with a toga. Just beware the Wilkinson’s fitted bed sheet. Aaron Sims
American Football
Best or worst place for a date in Bristol: Best and worst - Lounge
How can Freshers contact you? Go to uobboatclub.org/join/signup and contact the relevant squad captain.
Best or worst place for a date in Bristol: I’ve been out of the dating game for a long, long time now, but any time spent with my insanely tolerant football widow is a great time.
Why should they join your club? Rowing is the ultimate sport. Yes, physical ability helps but that can be developed. The real keys to success are perserverance and mental fortitude.
Mostinspiringathlete/sportsperson: Jackie Robinson for breaking the colour barrier in pro-sports for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Where and when are training sessions? Water sessions are Wednesday afternoons plus Saturday and/or Sunday. Land sessions are squad-dependent but the captains can let you know!
How can Freshers contact you? We can be contacted by email at team@ bristolbarracuda.co.uk or on twitter @BristolCuda Why should they join your club? Besides learning how to play a fantastic fun sport, the club has an amazing social calendar and spirit of camaraderie on and off the field. Where and when are training sessions? Training sessions are every Thursday night at Portway Rugby Development Centre near Stoke Bishop. Where and when are socials? There are organised socials every fortnight or so, as well as a few “quiet drinks” now and then.
Athletics and Cross Country Name: John Ashcroft Age: 21 Course: Maths Year: 4th
Where and when are socials? Compete at Bunker plus plenty of Thursday nights in Lounge. We also have 2 balls per year: one at the end of first term and another after our Varsity Boat Race against UWE.
Boxing Name: Thomas Davison Age: 20 Course: Biological Sciences Year: 3rd
Where and when are training sessions? Every day and all over the place – check our website! Where and when are socials? Wednesday nights will be at the Brass Pig before heading to sports night.
Boat Club Name: Stephanie Harris Age: 25 Course: PhD Chemistry Year: 4th
Worst place for a date in Bristol: Hitting up Sports Direct for some trackies then a McFlurry in Maccy D’s to finish. What’s your favourite pub in Bristol? The Eldon House on Jacob Wells is small and sophisticated but always a great time. What’s your favourite sports team? Any of the #mightymaroon. I’m very keen on clubs working together benefiting all. How can Freshers contact you? Find us on facebook @ fb.com/groups/ UoBCanoe or Twitter @UoBCanoe Why should they join your club? We all share a passion for the sport and have a great journey along the way. Where and when are training sessions? Wednesday afternoons in the docks, Wednesday evenings at the Richmond pool for general sessions and Friday evenings for our polo teams with games, training, and skills. Where and when are socials? You’re quite likely to find us in the Richmond on a Wednesday and Friday night.
equipment hire and to be part of the UK’s leading student cycling club! Where and when are training sessions? Road and Mountain Bike rides go from the Clifton Suspension Bridge Wednesday at 2pm and Sunday at 10am. Keep your eye on Facebook for further training sessions. Where and when are socials? Most Wednesdays at varying locations. Check Facebook for further information.
Men’s Football Name: Alex Wood Age: 21 Course: Ancient History Year: 3rd Best place for a date in Bristol? Ashton Gate Court. Favourite night out in Bristol? I bloody love Wednesday nights. Most inspiring athlete? Yaya Sanogo. How can Freshers contact you? woody788@googlemail.com
Where and when are training sessions? Monday and Friday night at Coombe Dingle. Recovery session on Thursday at the Union.
Women’s Football
How can Freshers contact you? @UoBBoxingClub
Girls Boxercise Twitter page: @UoBGBC Email: uob.boxing@gmail.com Why should they join your club? Boxing fitness is infamous and unparalleled, with a unique mixture of cardio, strength, speed and technique. Where and when are training sessions? Member training is every Tuesday and Thursday in two of Bristol’s best boxing gyms (Empire and Broadplain), but there are also opportunities for anyone to train on Sundays at the Student Union building. We then run women only boxercise sessions on Wednesdays at the Student Union building. Where and when are socials? Socials will be held every other Wednesday.
Best advice for Freshers: Ensure your Freshers’ Fortnight comprises of 14 consecutive nights out. All as heavy as the first. Worst memory of first year: 14 consecutive nights out. Month of eating nothing but Jason Donervan or a sober night in Lounge? Lounge - a friend once found Jason’s pubes in his chips. Describe your Bristol sport in five words: Don’t be afraid of lycra. How can Freshers contact you? Find us on Facebook, Twitter or email me at mm1041@my.bristol.ac.uk Why should they join your club? Like-minded people, away trips, training sessions, racing, socials, free bike and
Where and when are training sessions? We’re planning on having an informal pre-season perhaps on the downs. The first team trains twice a week with a game on Wednesdays and the second team trains once a week. Where and when are socials? Usually every two weeks (although we often get an informal group together if people are still up for it) and normally predrink at someone’s house before going to Bunker.
Ladies’ Hockey Name: Lucy Balicki Age: 20 Course: English Literature Year: 3rd
Best or worst memory of first year: Not suitable for print. How can Freshers contact you? Email me on lb12132@my.bristol.ac.uk. Why should they join your club? We are both a high performing and very sociable club. Because there are so many of us, especially with five teams playing every Wednesday, we have the best socials. Where and when are training sessions? Training sessions for 1s/2s are every Monday and Friday. Training for 3s/4s/5s train every Monday night at the moment up at Coombe Dingle.
Cycling Name: Matthew Mew Age: 21 Course: Engineering Design Year: 4th
Why should they join your club? Because we accept players of all levels and, since we are a small club, everyone bonds really well whether we win or lose. It’s the perfect club to have fun playing football competitively but also have a good time socially.
Why should they join your club? Best way to meet lots of like-minded people and to play football regularly at the highest standard that the university has to offer.
Where and when are socials? Wednesday nights at the White Harte. Big.
Describe your Bristol sport in five words: Dodge, Dip, Duck, Dive and Punch.
What’s your favourite sports team? St. Helens Rugby League.
Why should they join your club? We are a very friendly club who cater for everyone from Commonwealth medallists to complete beginners.
Name: Dougal Gray Age: 25 Course: Mechanical Engineering Year: 2nd
Month of eating nothing but Jason Donervan or a sober night in Lounge? Fighting after a month of eating Donervan’s would not go well.
What’s your favourite night out in Bristol? Score! The Christmas one.
How can Freshers contact you? bristolathletics@gmail.com
Canoe
Name: Leo Lawrence Age: 20 Course: History Year: 3rd Best or worst memory of first year: Best and worst: having to be woken up by my senior resident when the fire alarm went off because I was passed out after sports night and didn’t hear/see the massive siren going off in my room. Then proceeding to walk out to the quad in front of everyone in just tiny shorts and a towel. Best or worst place for a date in Bristol: Za Za Bazaar. No one wants to see you eat that much. Month of eating nothing but Jason Donervan or a sober night in Lounge? Jason Donervan. That’s the dream. How can Freshers contact you? Either my email, ll12228@my.bristol. ac.uk, or our twitter page @ubwfc.
Where and when are socials? Socials are every Wednesday night, usually starting in La Rocca, then we move to Bar 48 where we meet the boys and on to Sports Night at Bunker.
Men’s Hockey Name: Jack Thorpe Age: 20 Course: Chemistry Year: 3rd Mostinspiringathlete/sportsperson: Muhammad Ali. Best idea for a SCORE dress-up theme? Black Tie. How can Freshers contact you? Email jt12319@bristol.ac.uk. Why should they join your club? Playing sport at Bristol is essential to your University Experience, and we’re the biggest and most enjoyable club!
Epigram
26.09.2014
51
My Captain! How can Freshers contact you? ac12306@mybristol.ac.uk.
Where and when are training sessions? Coombe Dingle – Monday and Friday evenings. Contact me for more info.
Why should they join your club? The riding club offers affordable expert training for those that have never ridden before all the way to the most advanced riders.
Where and when are socials? Start at Port of Call at the top of Whiteladies, Wednesdays 7pm.
Describe your Bristol sport in five words: Fast, fit, fun, fierce, feisty. How can Freshers contact you? vicbeach@hotmail.co.uk.
Mountaineering
Why should they join your club? Great netball with an even better social and friendly atmosphere.
Name: Katherine Ostojic Age: 21 Course: Aerospace Engineering Year: 4th
Where and when are training sessions? Monday at Tyndall, Tues/ Thurs at Cotham School.
Best or worst advice for Freshers: Don’t buy the books on the list, check the library. Best memory of first year: First UBMC Christmas trip, wearing a dress and heels in a hut half way up a mountain. What’s your favourite night out in Bristol? Trying out different ciders in The Apple. How can Freshers contact you? Ko1934@my.bristol.ac.uk. Why should they join your club? To get out of the city for some adventure at weekends and climb in the Avon Gorge. Where and when are training sessions? Wednesdays 2pm and Monday evenings at each of the different climbing walls. Where and when are socials? Tuesday at 8:30pm at a different pub each week.
Month of eating nothing but Jason Donervan or a sober night in Lounge? Jasons. Never understood why people go out sober.
Men’s Rugby
What’s your favourite night out in Bristol? Itchy Feet. How can Freshers contact you? es13054@my.bristol.ac.uk or at @UBWRFC
Name: Alastair Stephenson Age: 20 Course: Aerospace Engineering Year: 3rd Best advice for Freshers: Commit to the activity you are passionate about, regardless of ability. Worst place for a date in Bristol: I’ve seen a few too many locals on dates in ’Spoons... Best idea for a SCORE dress-up theme? Pair up with another club and wear their sports kit. Describe your Bristol sport in five words: Trying not to get lost. How can Freshers contact you? orienteering.bristol@gmail.com @UBOCBristol, University of Bristol Orienteering Club.
Where and when are socials? We finish at a pub after the Monday night and various other events scattered throughout the term.
Riding Name: Alice Chamberlain Age: 20 Course: Zoology Year: 3rd
What’s your favourite pub in Bristol? The Cori Tap.
Best place for a date in Bristol: Start the Bus.
Best idea for a SCORE dress-up theme? Call on me.
What’s your favourite pub in Bristol? White Lion in Clifton. Best idea for a SCORE dress-up theme? The circus.
Best advice for Freshers: Left hand only, pinkies erect at all times. How can Freshers contact you? Via my email address: fh12533@my.bristol. ac.uk. Why should they join your club? Because not only are we a hard working and successful team, but we know how to have a really good time too.
Why should they join your club? We take on any women of any ability and within a short space of time you will fall in love with the sport, meet a fantastic group of girls and be proud to wear your university colours.
Where and when are training sessions? Depending on what discipline, most evenings and a few early mornings at the Student’s Union swimming pool.
Where and when are training sessions? Monday 7:30pm-9pm, Wednesday 2:30pm-4pm at Coombe Dingle.
Where and when are socials? Most Wednesday evenings at Bunker Sports Night, along with other events throughout the year.
Where and when are socials? Every Wednesday. Could be anywhere; we have a diverse social calendar.
Surf
Triathlon Name: Jamie Allen Age: 21 Course: Medicine Year: 3rd Best idea for a SCORE dress-up theme? Pokemon.
Orienteering
Where and when are training sessions? Monday night run, 7pm The Downs Water Tower and Wednesday training at various places around Bristol.
Name: Vic Beach Age: 20 Course: Economics and Accounting Year: 2nd
Where and when are socials? Fortnightly on Wednesdays, all over Bristol!
Where and when are socials? Wednesday Nights, Bunker.
Why should they join your club? It keeps you fit and interested as opposed to just running aimlessly.
Netball
Where and when are training sessions? Team training is every Monday, and lessons any day of the week, based just outside Bristol.
Best or worst memory of first year: Winning varsity at the Memorial Stadium.
How can Freshers contact you? Just drop an email to ja1090@my.bristol. ac.uk.
Name: Charlie Esam Age: 19 Course: English Literature Year: 2nd
Why should they join your club? It’s a super friendly atmosphere where you are encouraged to do your best and achieve your own goals!
Best or worst memory of first year: Varsity win vs UWE, playing in front of 3000 people at the Memorial Stadium. Atmosphere was ridiculous. Month of eating nothing but Jason Donervan or a sober night in Lounge? A sober night in Lounge, it’s a nice establishment with classy interior design. What’s your favourite night out in Bristol? Sports night at Bunker. Any more silly questions? Best idea for a SCORE dress-up theme? Wavey garms. How can Freshers contact you? Find me on facebook and I can add you to one of the team pages, and put you in touch with the relevant team captain. Why should they join your club? To play rugby at the most suitable standard to you, and to share some laughs over a quiet cold beverage after the game. Where and when are training sessions? Monday and Friday nights at Coombe Dingle. Get in touch for more information. Where and when are socials? They are every Wednesday, 7:30pm at Roo Bar. Don’t be late.
Women’s Rugby Name: Eleanor Shorrack Age: 20 Course: Geography Year: 2nd
Name: Pete Davies Age: 20 Course: Mechanical Engineering Year: 2nd What’s your favourite sports team? London Irish. Best place for a date in Bristol: A stroll to the viewpoint on the downs. Great date during the day. Not so great at night. What’s your favourite pub in Bristol? The Apple. Because it floats. Not many pubs float. How can Freshers contact you? Join the Facebook group ‘UoB Surf 2014/15’. Or email captain@uobsurf.co.uk Why should they join your club? Great people, no commitments, trips to Newquay and Morocco. Where and when are training sessions? There are none. Just the awesome weekend or day trips. Where and when are socials? Fortnightly, changes from house parties to bar crawls to weird activities involving copius volumes of tomfoolery.
Swimming and Water Polo Name: Felicity Hamilton-Cox Age: 20 Course: Physiology Year: 3rd
Where and when are training sessions? We train on Monday evenings 8pm-9pm in the pool, Tuesday 7:30am spinning at the sports hall, Thursday 7pm-8pm running at Queen Square. Where and when are socials? The socials are scattered throughout the year including pasta/pizza parties, plenty of Score nights and mini-golf of course!
Volleyball Name: Rob Pennifold Age: 24 Course: Chemistry PhD Year: 4th What’s your favourite sports team? Brighton and Hove Albion. How can Freshers contact you? uobvolleyball@gmail.com or www. facebook.com/UoBVolleyballClub. Why should they join your club? There’s a huge range of different people from all sorts of backgrounds and abilities and since the club is pretty much 50:50 in terms of gender, it’s great socially. Where and when are training sessions? At the Tyndall Avenue Sports Centre. Check out our website for details of training sessions - www.uobvolleyball. co.uk. Where and when are socials? We’re planning on doing a range of different socials this year, from team nights in to pub nights and nights out with the whole club!
26.09.2014
Online Editor: Edward Henderson-Howat
sport@epigram.org.uk
sportonline@epigram.org.uk
There’s nothing quite like seeing your name in print, and Epigram Sport is a great grounding for a career in journalism (as numerous examples down the years have demonstrated). Indeed, if your aims are less narcissistic than any of that, and you’ve just got a passion for good writing, then let us know. The only proviso for content is that it’s well-written and engaging, but as the latest intake at the University of Bristol there’s no doubt that you’ll be able to provide both of those things. That does, then, beg the question as to how you can get involved. We’ll be having weekly meetings to hear contributors’ ideas on Mondays at 4PM at The Hill. Email any of us on the above addresses or tweet us @EpigramSport. Have a good year!
Name: Alyx MurrayJackman Role: UBU Sports and Student Development Officer Age: 21 Course: Biology Best advice for Freshers: Look out for sport opportunities throughout the year! Best memory of first year: Having a slip and slide in UH Favourite pub in Bristol: The White Harte Favourite Sports team: Intramural Biosoc netball (devotion right there!) Most inspiring athlete: Jazz Sawyers Favourite night out in Bristol? Motion How can Freshers contact you? alyx.murrayjackman@bristol.ac.uk
Name: Zaki Dogliani Role: Epigram Editor Age: 21 Course: Politics & Italian Best advice for Freshers: Get involved with Epigram Favourite pub in Bristol: The Hill Favourite night out in Bristol: Thekla Thursdays Favourite sports team: Charlton Athletic Most inspiring athlete: Fausto Coppi How can Freshers contact you? editor@ epigram.org.uk or tweet @ZakiDogliani Why should they join Epigram? With an illustrious 25-year history and a print readership of over 12,500, Epigram is respected by employers as well as being great fun, hugely rewarding and helpful in improving a number of skills.
_UBU
interviews, club and player focus, groundbreaking investigations as well as more considered sporting prose and comment. After all, we’re a platform for your ideas.
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It’s hard to imagine the University of Bristol without sport. Fortunately, we don’t have to do that, and neither do you. With 51 highperformance clubs competing weekly all over the country, intramural taking place just as regularly, and as one of the best cities in the country for watching and participating in sport, there’s no shortage of opportunities. That doesn’t mean that you should sit back and relax. Quite the contrary in fact. Throw yourself into absolutely everything, from frisbee to football, from karate to korfball: the options are nigh-on endless. As far as we’re concerned, sport at Bristol goes hand in hand with Epigram Sport. If you’re getting involved, why not tell us about it? If you’ve got a funny story from the Downs on a Wednesday, if you’re waking up at six in the morning to train, we’re all ears for interesting and student-relevant content. We have so much planned for this year, with new features, online interaction, exclusive
TheGlobalPanorama
A view from the top...
Welcome to Bristol! Dear Fresher,
deputysport@epigram.org.uk
Name: Tom Phipps Role: UBU Student Living Officer Age: 21 Course: Politics Best advice for Freshers: Knock on your neighbour’s door! Best memory of first year: University Hall ball in the Wills Memorial Building Favourite pub in Bristol: The W.G. Grace Favourite night out in Bristol: Lounge Favourite sports team: Manchester United FC Most inspiring athlete: Tyler Blackett Best idea for a SCORE dress-up theme? What you wanted to be when you were younger How can Freshers contact you? Pop into the third floor of the Students’ Union or tweet me @thomas_phipps
Issue One Contents Page 54-55 - Captains’ questions Epigram Sport spoke to captains of sports clubs across the University to get their views on a range of issues. Page 53 Our Scottish correspondent, Edward Henderson-Howat, watched plenty of sport this summer. He wrote reviews for us on Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games and England’s topsyturvy summer of cricket. He also voted ‘No’.
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Editor: Daniel Thacker Deputy Editor: Benj Cunningham
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