Epigram #274 by Epigram

Issue 274 Monday 24th March 2014 www.epigram.org.uk University of Bristol Independent Student Newspaper

Issue 274 Monday 24th March 2014 www.epigram.org.uk

Sport at Bristol: ‘an absolute rip-off’

• 82% students believe UoB sports policy is elitist • UoB sports passes 3rd most expensive in poll • 90% believe Bristol sport is poor value for money Alex Bradbrook Deputy Editor

Twitter: UBSWPC

Bristol

Sheffield Leeds

Cost of an unrestricted gym membership £0 £60 £90 £102 £104 £110 £115 £130 £135 £135 £160 £160 £162 £165 £170 £170 £180 £182.50 £183.60 £191 £195 £197 £199 £205 £210 £219 £220 £240 £250

£250

£252 £269

Can you see yourself as Epigram’s next editor? Apply now for senior positions and section editor roles at the University of Bristol’s independent student newspaper. Turn to page 12 and page 18 for more information. Good luck!

Twitter: UoBVC

Institution Imperial Glasgow Plymouth Oxford Edinburgh Durham Coventry Kent Bangor Southampton Cardiff UCL York Lancaster Newcastle Queens University Belfast KCL Aberystwyth Aberdeen Birmingham Swansea Liverpool Nottingham Manchester Leicester Bath LSE Exeter Cambridge

Twitter: UoB Women’s Football

Epigram can exclusively reveal that the University of Bristol is one of the most expensive universities in the country for sport, coming 30th out the 32 elite UK institutions surveyed in terms of affordability. A survey, run in conjunction with the investigation into the cost of sport, also revealed huge dissatisfaction with the sports offering provided by the university. In a poll of 240 students, 90% of respondents believed that the £150 off-peak and £250 peak dual sports pass system was poor value for money, with 82% students stating that the facilities provided by the university do not justify fees far higher than the majority of Bristol’s competitor universities. Perhaps more significantly, just 8% of respondents agreed with the statement that ‘sport at Bristol is accessible to everyone regardless of financial background’, with 82% disagreeing. Many of the comments received by Epigram also served to validate this: one student wrote, ‘I had to quit basketball when I came here because I could not afford to play’. Given the large amount of work undertaken by the university over the past decade aiming to dispel its elitist reputation, this is arguably a sad indictment on the institution in its failure to ensure fair access for all to every aspect of the student experience. One respondent wrote: ‘[The cost of sport] is yet another example of Bristol Uni catering to the large upper-class privately-educated portion of its students’. A major point of contention is the requirement of focus sport club members to purchase a £250 peak sports pass. Focus sports clubs are clubs that receive additional funding to provide supplementary coaching and facilities, and include 20 sports teams. Many students taking the survey claimed that this requirement prevented them from being able to pursue their favourite sports at university: indeed, one student stated, ‘I would have loved to commit to a major sport this year, but with no parental or governmental support I was unable to pay the £250 fee upfront’. Many more comments of this nature were also expressed: ‘I would have liked to try sports such as rowing but have been unable to do so’; ‘I wanted to play in the Uni Football team, but this involves buying the sport membership, something I can’t afford, therefore depriving me of the opportunity to play sport for my university’. When presented with the results of

Epigram’s survey, Simon Hinks, the director of Sport, Exercise and Health at the university seemed unsurprised. On the issue of focus sports being obliged to pay for a peak sports pass, he responded, ‘We believe that given the amount of investment that Sport, Exercise & Health put into focus sports, we don’t see it as unreasonable that club members pay for the £250 sports pass’. When challenged that many students from poorer backgrounds are unable to pay such a large sum up-front, on top of club membership, match fees and sports kit, he responded that ‘everything has a price’ and pointed out the efforts SEH and UBU have made in recent years to promote programs such as UBU: Active, which permit students to take part in sports on a more casual, cheaper basis. A sports consultation led by Hannah Pollak , VP Sport & Health in 2012 similarly revealed a high level of dissatisfaction with sporting provision at Bristol: in her consulation, which can be found online on the UBU website, over 50% of students said that the price of sport had prevented them from taking part. Seeing as this figure has now surpassed 70% in Epigram’s survey, it seems that this problem is worsening. Worryingly, it seems that the university is doing little to rectify this situation. The survey revealed an extensive lack of confidence in university sports policy-making, with 60% of students believing that student feedback was ignored by those in charge. Several other Russell Group universities have taken proactive efforts to promote inclusivity; for example, the University of Glasgow’s peak, fully-comprehensive sports pass costs just £60 per year (76% less than Bristol). They told Epigram via Twitter: ‘we want to promote participation in sport, and keep costs low to ensure that. With nearly 12,000 student members, it must be working!’. When this statistic and quote was put to Simon Hinks, his reaction was one of amusement: ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘but who wants to go to university in Glasgow?!’. Epigram’s survey has shown that sport at Bristol is a highly divisive and contentious issue that highlights the perpetuating class divides at this university. It remains to be seen whether or not the university will act to address this issue, which threatens to further divide the student body into those who can afford extracurricular activities, and those who are prevented from doing so due to affordability. See the full range of facts, figures and quotes obtained in this investigation on page 3.

Epigram

24.03.14

News Editorial

Deputy Editor: Alex Bradbrook

Editorial Assistant: Anna Fleck

editor@epigram.org.uk

deputy@epigram.org.uk

anna.fleck@epigram.org.uk

A note from the editor

Inside Epigram

“

Editor: Josephine Franks

News 7 Bristol Law Conference a success

‘Everything has a price’ is not a good enough excuse

Kate Grocott-Mason covers the Bristol Law Conference which brings together some of the brightest minds within the country

See page 1 and page 3 for the full report

Despite efforts to alter Bristol’s image as an elitist university, the idea of Bristol as the bastion of ex-private school kids raised on a diet of polo and Tory rhetoric still holds true – not only in the media, but among many of its own students. Bristol’s admission statistics regularly reveal that its intake of private school students is grossly disproportionate to the national average. While widening participation schemes indicate that the university is keen to combat this, these efforts are undermined by the barriers to participation that exist once admission has been granted. In this issue, Epigram looks at the high cost of sport at the university, which many participants in the survey reported to be prohibitive to their pursuing sport at university. Sport – especially those sports regard as ‘traditional’ – is all too often in danger of being damned as elitist. It is a pursuit nurtured in private schools, where leadership skills, teamwork and a competitive spirit are nurtured. Comparatively, it often falls down the agenda at state schools, where facilities may be stretched at best.

Living 23 Why the beard? George Robb gets to grips with the latest phenomenon, the beard

Interested in applying for next year’s editorial team?

Travel 24 Street art in Buenos Aires Travel explores the urban jungle of South America

Style

We’re looking for creative, dedicated and enthusiastic students to take Epigram forward into its 26th year. Past editors have gone on to top jobs with the BBC, The Guardian and The Times to name but a few. If this is where you see yourself in the future, there’s no better place to start your journalistic career than with Epigram!

Turn to page 12 and page 18 for more information.

Editor Josephine Franks

Style takes over with ‘The People’s Republic’

editor@epigram.org.uk

Deputy Editor Alex Bradbrook deputy@epigram.org.uk

Editorial Assistant Anna Fleck editor@epigram.org.uk

BBC

Jacob Webster reports on Varsity

Comment Editor Rosslyn McNair comment@epigram.org.uk

Style Online Editor Amelia Impey styleonline@epigram.org.uk

Deputy Science & Tech Editor Sol Milne deputyscience@epigram.org.uk

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Science & Tech Online Editor Stephanie Harris scienceonline@epigram.org.uk

Comment Online Editor Jessica McKay commentonline@epigram.org.uk

Arts Editor Claudia Knowles arts@epigram.org.uk

Sport Editors Hetty Knox sport@epigram.org.uk

Letters Editor Emma Leedham letters@epigram.org.uk

Deputy Arts Editor Rose Bonsier deputyculture@epigram.org.uk

Jacob Webster jacob.webster@epigram.org.uk

Sport Online Editor Arts Online Editor George Moxey sportonline@epigram.org.uk Editor Erin Fox Science Editor artsonline@epigram.org.uk ollie.yorke@epigram.org.uk Tom Flynn Patrick Baker Nick Cork Online Editor editor@epigram.org.uk Deputy Living Editors comment@epigram.org.uk science@epigram.org.uk Music Editor Ciara Lally News Editor Sophia Hadjipateras Mike Hegarty online@epigram.org.uk Deputy Editors Laura Jacklin Letters Editor Deputy Science Editor shadjipateras@epigram.org.uk music@epigram.org.uk Jonnews@epigram.org.uk Bauckham Emma Corfield Emma Sackville Deputy Online Editor: jon@epigram.org.uk Izzy Kerr letters@epigram.org.uk Deputy Music Editordeputyscience@epigram.org Chris Giles Deputy News Editors Hannah Stubbs ikerr@epigram.org.uk Danny Riley deputyonline@epigram.org.uk Joseph Quinlan Culture Editor Sport Editor hannah@epigram.org.uk deputymusic@epigram.org.uk j.quinlan@epigram.org.uk Calum Sherwood Tom Burrows Living Online Editor Chief Photography Editor e2 Editor Morwennaculture@epigram.org.uk Scott Music Online Editorsport@epigram.org.uk Marketa Brabcova SpencerMcCrory Turner Matthew livingonline@epigram.org.uk Dan Faber photography@epigram.org.uk spencer.turner@epigram.org.uk Deputy Culture Editor Deputy Sport Editor e2@epigram.org.uk musiconline@epigram.org.uk Zoe Hutton David Stone Travel Editor Photography Editors News Editor Sarah Newey Olivia Lace-Evans deputyculture@epigram.org.uk Film & TV Editor deputysport@epigram.org.uk Vivian Lee sarah.newey@epigram.org.uk Alice Young travel@epigram.org.uk Gareth Downs Georgina Winney Music Editor news@epigram.org.uk Puzzles Editor filmandtv@epigram.org.uk News Online Editor Nathan Comer Deputy Travel Editor Lily Buckmaster Chief Proofreader Deputy News Editors Stephanie Rihon Andrea Valentino music@epigram.org.uk Deputy Film & TV Editor Atkins newsonline@epigram.org.uk Abigail Van-West Head SubEdEditor deputytravel@epigram.org.uk Matt Field Deputy Music Editor avanwest@epigram.org.uk Emma Corfield deputyfilmandtv@epigram.org.uk Sub-editors: Features Editor PippaEditor Shawley Travel Online Ciara Murphy Jenny Awford Hugh Davies Sub Editors Emma Frazer Emilia Morano-Williams deputymusic@epigram.org.uk Film & TV Online Editor jawford@epigram.org.uk features@epigram.org.uk Harriet Layhe, Guy Watts travelonline@epigram.org.uk Hannah McGovern Wagg FIlm & TV Editor Alejandro Palekar Kate Moreton, Features Editor filmandtvonline@epigram.org.uk JeremyRosemary Barclay Deputy Features Editor Will Ellis Style Editor Tristan Martin Matt Floyd Sophie Padgett Illustrator Maddy Streets filmandtv@epigram.org.uk Science & Technology Editor Nicholas Irwin features@epigram.org.uk deputyfeatures@epigram.org.uk Sophie Sladen Ryan Maguire style@epigram.org.uk Molly Hawes Deputy Film & TV Editor Sahar Shah Deputy Features Editor scienceandtech@epigram.org.uk Web Designer Features Online Editor Tom Herbert Anthony Deputy Style EditorAdeane Andrew White Michael Coombs Rob Mackenzie Deanne Ball deputyfilmandtv@epigram.org.uk deputyfeatures@epigram.org.uk featuresonline@epigram.org.uk deputystyle@epigram.org.uk

Managing Director Ollie Yorke Editor

55 Varsity Day Special

Online

Editorial team

28 Centre spread

Sport

University is often touted as the perfect opportunity to try out new hobbies. However, for those who have previously not had the opportunity to flex their sporting muscles, the expense is likely to be off-putting. To be fair, if you’ve reached your late teens with little proven sporting prowess, you’re unlikely to go on to be the next Jessica Ennis, but by preventing wider access to sport the university is pandering only to the privileged. While the union has made strides towards making sport more accessible through projects such as UBU:Active, such schemes should not be used by the university to get them off the hook of having extortionately high costs for sport. They should exist in addition to, not instead of, accessible sports passes. ‘Everything has a price’ was the response of Simon Hinks, director of Sport, Exercise and Health, when questioned about the survey. While this may be one of life’s unfortunate truisms, this is a price that the university should be willing to pay – not only for its students well-being, but to combat the elitist image that still plagues this university. Josephine Franks

Living Editor Tori Halman Comment living@epigram.org.uk

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News

Epigram

24.03.2014

@epigramnews Editor: Spencer Turner news@epigram.org.uk

Deputy Editors: Laura Jacklin; Joe Quinlan; Sarah Newey deputynews@epigram.org.uk

Online Editor: Stephanie Rihon newsonline@epigram.org.uk

Epigram’s sports investigation: in quotes, facts and figures We asked 240 students for their opinion on sport at Bristol. Here is a selection of what they told us...

A summary of our respondents: Sports pass - peak 93 35% Sports pass - off peak 29 11% Sports club member 42 16% Use facilities on 20 8% pay-as-you-go basis None of the above 80 30%

94%

universities included in the study had cheaper sports provision than Bristol

70%

students say that cost has stopped them taking part in sport at UoB

‘There is clearly not enough sports funding at UoB for the size of the student body.’

77%

believe the compulsary purchase of a £250 sports pass is unfair to take part in Focus Sports

‘The University does not seem to acknowledge the great attraction In comparison to other universities, value better funded, advertised do you believe UoB has outstanding sports facilities? and structured sports could provide to prospective students.’

83% said no

‘The gym is extremely out of date and poor quality compared to other universities. It is also no way near big enough for the whole university.’

‘I think it’s abhorrent that something as basic as partaking in sport is a reserve of the rich at UoB.’

‘For prospective students, I have recommended the University for academic reasons, but have discouraged them if they want to take their sport seriously in the future’

90%

students believe the cost of Bristol’s sports passes is a rip-off

‘It’s a system based on solely making money, regardless of the individual needs or ability to pay of each student. The university rarely cares if at all about the needs or concerns of certain sports in the university and tends to be very awkward and antagonistic to work with.’

61%

believe the university ignores students when it comes to sports policy

48%

Bristol’s peak sports pass costs

NATIONAL AVERAGE UNRESTRICTED SPORTS PASS:

£169

NATIONAL AVERAGE RESTRICTED SPORTS PASS:

£109

more than the national average

RESTRICTED BRISTOL UN PASS: SPORTS

£250

RESTRICTED BRISTOL UN PASS: SPORTS

£150

‘The lack of support for casual sport users is a very disappointing part of studying at Bristol’

‘The fee for the gym is far

too much. Coming from a weaker financial background I would have to give up things, eating included, to join the gym.’

Bristol set for its very own slip n’ slide? Stephanie Rihon Online News Editor

Could Bristol see a see a waterslide in May?

Luke Jerram

Local aritist Luke Jerram is trying to raise funds to create a water slide down one of Bristol’s main streets, Park Street. If this project is seen through, Bristol’s Park Street will be transformed into a slide on May 4th - now there’s a purpose for that hill! Jerram, its creator, is pushing for the 90m slide to become a reality. Jerram was responsible for the ‘Play Me, I’m Yours’ initiative in 2009 where different pianos lined Bristol’s streets ready to be played by visitors. The concept has been tested at Ashton Court and needs £5,621 in donations to become a reality. He told the Bristol Post that is ‘it was sort of inspired by the heatwave last summer’ as his office on Park Street ‘got [him] thinking’. The initiative is also non-profit and Jerram has already contributed £3,600 to the project. The Mayor’s new initiative of closing the city centre on Sundays during the summer with ‘Make Sundays Special Initiative’ will also help to draw locals to the event without disturbing the businesses around it. When asked why he chose Bristol, Jerram said that ‘Bristol is a good place to test these things out. To try and do this in London for example would be impossible’. He continued to state that ‘Bristol has a sense of fun and is a creative place so it’s perfect’. This giant 90m water slide is currently being developed for presentation on Park Street in central Bristol. The aim is to install it for Make Sundays Special and Bristol Art Weekender on 4th May. Enabling people to navigate the streets of their city in a new way, the slide is a simple architectural intervention and a playful response to the urban landscape. Like many of Jerram’s projects the installation requires public participation to be activated. The person on the slide becomes the performer, while spectators either side watch on. This massive urban slide aims to transform the street and asks people to take a fresh look at the potential of their city and the possibilities for transformation. To ensure Bristol’s students and locals can look forward to the day when Park Street is lined with this slip ‘n’ slide, donations can be given on Spacehive.

Epigram

24.03.2014

Record nominations Speed limit rollfor UBU 2014 elections out continues Laura Jacklin News Editor This March sees the student union elections take place once again, as candidates battle it out to be elected as student representatives for the coming academic year. This year has seen a record number of candidates being nominated, with the number of full-time officer nominations up 38% on last year, and Senate Rep nominations up by 60% on last year. This follows the full time officer role review, in which the six full time positions were reviewed and changed. The full time officer roles are now Union Affairs Officer; Academic Experience Officer; Equality, Liberation and Access Officer; Postgraduate Officer; Student Living Officer; and Sport and Student Development Officer. As well as the full time roles, students will be voting on part time officer roles and senate representatives. A full list of the candidates can be found on the UBU website. Campaigning began on the 21st March, and with the manifestos now available to students, the race for getting voted in has begun. Voting opened on the 24th March, and remains open until the 27th, before results night in the student union on Friday 28th March. The day’s break between voting closing and the announcement of results is to allow the union to have more time to process the votes than in previous years, and also to allow candidates to get a night of sleep before results night, which current President, Rob Griffiths, described as ‘very emotional’. Throughout campaign week, Epigram will be providing election coverage online, and live tweeting from results night on the 28th March.

• •

Equality, Liberation and Access Officer Naomi McKay Alice Phillips

• • •

Postgraduate Officer Frank Sondors Sorana Vieru Hang Yu

• • •

Sport and Student Development Officer Peter Cassell Alyx Murray-Jackman Alice Webb

• • • •

Student Living Officer Eimear Diamond Megan Golding Tom Phipps Aarthi Srinivasan

• • • •

Academic Experience (UG) Alex Bradbrook Alice Hoad Sophie Mew Isla Stewart

• • • • •

Union Affairs Officer Florence Hunter Neda Jajeh Pouyan Maleki-Dizaji Imogen Palmer Jo Woods

As part of the on-going initiative to reduce traffic speed and increase road safety around Bristol, a draft Speed Limit Order has been issued in areas south of the river. This order, produced by the Bristol City Council, reduces the speed limit to 20mph. Areas affected in southern Bristol include the majority of roads in Filwood, Knowle, Brislington and Ashford Vale. The areas in question were selected due to their high rates of pedestrian and cycle accidents, especially those involving children. Also taken into account were the proximity of schools and community facilities to major roads.

Two Pilot Schemes, funded through donations from the City Council’s Cycling City Project, have been in place in southern and eastern areas of the city since 2010. Government research shows that the scheme has received an 82% support rate from the local population. The council hope to roll out the scheme fully by early 2015. Conversely, not all members of the community support this move. Conservative councillor Mark Weston argues that the scheme’s legacy will consist of only a rise in pollution and congestion levels. He has called on the mayor to rethink his proposal arguing that ‘20mph is [not] the right speed for a thriving modern city - it will increase travel times, increase congestion and might actually reduce air quality’.

A draft Speed Limit Order has been issued in inner city areas south of the river

EdinburghEveningNews

Keep checking the Epigram website for the latest election coverage

The nominees

Alex Green News Reporter

Fancy getting involved with Epigram next year? We’ve got over 50 editorial positions to fill! If you could see yourself working on Bristol’s best-loved media product, turn to page 12 and page 18 for more information on how to apply. Good luck!

Epigram

24.03.2014

UBU gets the (summer) ball rolling Stephanie Rihon Online News Editor

The UBU Summer Ball will have an Alice in Wonderland theme this year

Flickr: quicheisinsane

UBU has released the first information on its much-anticipated summer ball, due to take place on June 6th. The second year of the event heralds an Alice in Wonderland theme and a move from Leigh Court to Ashton Court. Ashton Court, which boasts a mansion and extensive, landscaped grounds, has been the site of several events lately, including the Medics Valentine’s Ball. The mansion has a rich history, having been used as a military hospital during the First World War. The Wonderland ball will be transformed into a psychedelic playground with four bars, gourmet food outlets and three areas of live music. UBU President, Rob Griffiths, said ‘this event promises to be bigger and better than before, with a brand new team at the helm and a student panel driving the direction’. Keen to avoid the backlash from disappointed students that last year’s event generated, UBU has conducted a series of questionnaires and feedback sessions from the last ball to ‘ensure that Wonderland is what students want’. Given the general dissatisfaction last year with the event’s ‘festival’ set-up, the results of the January survey showed

a surprising enthusiasm for a similar arrangement – potentially because it allows more students to attend the event. Not everything will take place outside this year, however, with an indoor VIP area for those graduating this year. This will include a cocktail bar and tea party with the Mad Hatter himself. The main event will feature a secret chill-out garden, a shisha tent and a spectacular firework finale and the ticket price will also include transport to and from the venue. A committee of students is closely involved with the organisation of the event; Rob Griffiths commented ‘The student panel has and continues to shape all the key decisions including choice of venue, acts, theme and pricing. I want to thank them for their time and effort to ensure this important event continues to get bigger and better’. The UBU ball falls on the same night as the Fire & Ice Stoke Bishop Ball, which will make for some interesting decisions from Bristol’s freshers. The first release of tickets will go on sale on Friday 28th March, incidentally the same night as the UBU Elections results night. More information can be found on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ubusummerball

Bristol’s jazzy weekend unearths new talent Stephanie Rihon News Online Editor

Osibisa, thought to be the godfathers of Afrobeat, also performed

commons.wikimedia

Pee Wee Ellis Myspace

A session with Alfred ‘Pee Wee’ Ellis was the highlight of the weekend

The 7th to the 9th March saw Colston Hall play host to the second annual Bristol Jazz and Blues Festival. The weekend saw over 24 individual concerts take place, including late night sessions and informal jam sessions with some of the movers and shakers in the jazz world.. The annual Bristol Jazz and Blues Festival, now in its second year, aims to be ‘breaking new ground by giving new musicians hope and becoming the city’s treasure.’ The range of events included film showings and musical acts. This included Osibisa, thought to be the godfathers of Afrobeat, who paved the way for artists such as Bob Marley. New Orleans jazz legend Lilian Boutte closed the weekend with her gospel choir. A highlight of the weekend was a session with Alfred ‘Pee Wee’ Ellis. Ellis was the saxophonist in James Brown’s 1960s band, appearing in several of Brown’s recordings, and has worked closely with Van Morrison too. Kavina Minhas, singer in the new allfemale trio ‘The Sirens’ that took Bristol by storm, performing recently at FUZE 2014, volunteered at the Jazz Festival. She said she found it to be ‘Really exciting, sometimes scary, always inspiring and the most worthwhile thing I have ever done in my life to date’. Although Minhas initially went to meet her idol, Boutte, she said she ‘came out with at least twenty-something new idols, thirty-something new opportunities, and more new friends than I can count’. Her favourite moment by far, however, was taking ‘a selfie with Pee Wee Ellis’, which is ‘its own life win’. To continue the jazz craze of the

weekend, Bristol’s Mayor George Ferguson has recently announced a historic musical partnership with New Orleans jazz legend Lilian Boutte. 2015 will see Bristol become the ‘cultural twin’ to the world’s jazz capital thus affirming our city’s place as the second centre of creativity and musical talent. The Mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu, has also been invited to visit Bristol. Ferguson says that ‘the cultural and business exchange will be part of improving jobs and raising Bristol’s profile.’

For more news stories, visit www.epigram.org.uk/ news

CHOOSE YOUR

LEADERS

For a full list of elections candidates and to place your vote visit www.ubu.org.uk/elections

Voting closes 8pm Thu 27 March Results night Fri 28 Mar www.ubu.org.uk/elections

Epigram

24.03.2014

News catch-up Bristol drops out of list Students provide legal aid abroad of top 100 universities Sorcha Bradley News Reporter

Spencer Turner News Editor

Flickr: hearnoevil8

Recent rankings from the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings show that there are currently 10 UK universities inside the top 100. However, Bristol University is not one of them. Bristol has missed out on a place in the top 100 after the University of Leeds dropped out in 2013, and the University of Sheffield dropped out in 2012. The tables produced show a widening gap between redbrick universities and the ‘golden triangle of UK institutions. The ‘golden triangle’ consists of Oxford, Cambridge and many of the Universities located in London. 2014 has seen the rise of London universities in the rankings with KCL, UCL, LSE and ICL all holding onto a strong position in the table, along with Oxbridge, Manchester and Edinburgh. There has been concern that redbricks such as Bristol have fallen out of the

rankings, and as a result there may be increased difficulty in attracting talented international students, further investment and also making collaborations with other universities.

Can Bristol regain its place in the top 100?

In the rankings, first place was awarded to Harvard University in America, with other US universities faring particularly well in the table.

‘If you have ever wondered what impact you can have on this world, join a Human Rights Brigade, because if you do not come you do not understand, and if you do not understand you cannot help.’ This message is currently being sent out to UK students by Global Brigades, a student-led global health and sustainable development organisation that has been operating in universities since 2004 and in the UK since 2009. A group of 18 current Bristol students are preparing to answer this call by volunteering to provide legal aid to under-resourced, remote communities in Eastern Panama. Many of these communities have little awareness of their fundamental human right to legal access, or of their legal rights. The Bristol Human Rights Brigade is preparing to fly out to Panama for ten days in June in order to provide legal counsel to these communities. They will be working with Panamanian lawyers to provide pro-bono legal counsel

“

through legal clinics in the community and educational workshops in schools. In particular, these workshops will focus on the rights of the child, as well as attempting to develop a sustainable legal support system in the region, which does not currently exist.

The project hopes to empower both the students and the community

The group, with the help of Global Brigades, hope to provide personalised legal care on a family by family basis, tackling issues such as divorce, child-support payments and

domestic abuse. The project hopes to empower both the students it sends to Panama and the community for which it aims to provide legal care by setting up this project from which both parties can mutually benefit. The community that the Human Rights Brigade enters into gains highly personalised legal care of which they would not otherwise have access, whilst the students gain a ‘unique and meaningful legal experience’. Global Brigades has expanded hugely since its establishment. Starting with only a few hundred volunteers, there are now around 4,000, with over 400,000 beneficiaries of the various projects it facilitates in Ghana, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. However, Global Brigades depends entirely on contributions from volunteers in order to put their projects into action. The group flying out to Panama this June have raised £2,715 to help fund the scheme, but hope to reach a target of £22,662 If you would like to donate you can do so at: www.empowered.org/BristolHuman-Rights-Brigade-Panama-June2014.

Bristol University Law Conference a success Kate Grocott-Mason News Reporter On Friday 7th March, students and professionals from around the country came together for the 2nd annual Bristol Law Conference. The theme of this year’s event was ‘Law and Terrorism: The Security vs Privacy Debate’. The conference was opened by Conservative MP Robert Buckland, and consisted of presentations from four speakers, each offering different perspectives on the notoriously entwined conceptions of privacy and security in today’s society. The speakers were LSE Professor Andrew Murray, Former Information Commissioner for Northern Ireland Marie Anderson, Bristol University Lecturer Dr Theo Tryfonas, and The Guardian’s former Security and Defence editor Richard Norton-Taylor.

The Security vs Privacy debate was chosen in light of recent worldwide privacy scandals which have called into question the price we pay for security. The conference provided a forum for the speakers to voice their opinions on this matter and respond

The Bristol Law School hosted its second Law Conference

flickr: Stokeparker

“ The security vs privacy debate was chosen in light of recent worldwide privacy scandals

to questions from the audience. The Bristol Law Conference is the legacy of Law graduates Steven Hunter and Ross Burrell, who, in their final year at Bristol hosted the inaugural conference, entitled ‘Law and the Media’. The conference was a huge success, with Supreme Court Judge and Chancellor of the University, Baroness Hale attracting aspiring lawyers from across the UK. Steven and Ross’ vision was to establish a sustainable conference that could grow year on year. They hoped that it would attract bright legal minds from around the world and would become a symbol of the University’s status as a centre of legal excellence. It is an incredible testament both Steven and Ross that they managed to organise the entire conference whilst juggling the stresses of final year. When the baton was passed over to us, a committee of six, in April 2013, it quickly became clear that the organisation of a conference of this size was no easy feat. Despite facing challenges and set-backs along the way, this year’s conference came together to be a great success. We hope that we did Steven and Ross proud, and we look forward to passing over to a new committee to see what next year’s conference will offer. The Bristol Law Conference is an entirely student run event, which since 2013 has aimed to bring together some of the brightest legal minds within the country, and provides a platform for law students and others to participate in contemporary and important debates outside of their usual studies. To those who did not or were not able to attend this year, details about the 2015 Law Conference will be available in the next autumn term.

Epigram

24.03.2014

Editor: Hugh Davies

Deputy Editor: Sophie Padgett

Online Editor: Michael Coombs

features@epigram.org.uk

deputyfeatures@epigram.org.uk

featuresonline@epigram.org.uk

flikr: with any luck

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Homelessness: Bristol’s biggest challenge Alfie Smith speaks to Mayor George Ferguson amongst others to find out what’s being done to combat homelessness in Bristol Alfie Smith Features Writer Bristol has one of the highest rates of homelessness in the UK, far higher than cities with comparable populations. The task of tackling the problem is split between non-profit organisations, private groups and government services. Recently, I attended BCAN’s annual Big Sleep Out for the homeless, the main focus of which is to raise money and awareness of the challenge Bristol faces while helping to connect the different groups together. I spoke to some of the groups attending hoping to gain a wider perspective on what George Ferguson, Mayor of Bristol, called ‘one of the biggest challenges facing Bristol’. The first and most obvious problem is that rough-sleepers (people sleeping in public places) are outside of the system. This makes it difficult to take accurate records. This forms the basis for the ‘homeless trap’ A person cannot apply for a job without a permanent address, without a job you cannot sign the lease on any accommodation and you cannot do either without a bank account which requires both of the former. Although long-term accommodation exists, most homeless people find themselves placed in temporary accommodation at best. Furthermore, many feel discouraged by their time out of employment. Paul, a leading member of Crisis Centre Ministries, told me of an increasing number of homeless people being treated for drug/alcohol related abuse, placed into temporary

housing before falling back into homelessness. He told me that the social services frequently failed to treat the underlying causes of homelessness and the psychological effects of longterm rough sleeping. Moreover, people classified as ‘low-priority’ find it difficult to access the support that they need. He feels the current system fails to recognise ‘the great variety in homeless people’. Those that are at first classified as low-priority soon become ‘high-priority’, meaning that all ‘the variety gets wiped out’. I asked him how long he believed it took for someone to lose the specific details of their homelessness - ‘about two to three weeks’ after that point ‘the serious problems [alcohol dependency, drug use and illness] have begun’. He feels that ‘it makes no sense at all’ to postpone priority care, as ‘small’ problems soon become serious and intractable issues that are much harder to solve.

“ It makes no sense at all to postpone priority care... small problems soon become serious

Furthermore, a senior member of Crisis, wishing to remain unnamed, told me of an obstructive lack of cooperation between different governmental departments. He said the three worst offenders were – the NHS, the Social Services and the Avon and Somerset constabulary. ‘They’re treated in a hospital and

then left to their own devices… almost no follow up’, he told me, ‘people aren’t bits, they need a whole solution’. Frequently, the social services fail to report cases of physical and mental injury to the police, seeing the harm as an extension of homelessness, when in reality it is specific threat by one person – drug dealers, other rough sleepers etc. In 2012 Scotland abolished the priority needs test choosing to treat all ‘unintentionally homeless’ as equal in need. The priority needs test remains active in England and Wales. I was told of the ‘gutting’ of state services since the Coalition government took power with the local authority failing to keep up with the demand. This is not, however, a post–May 2010 problem. The previous New Labour government failed to provide adequate support for the UK’s homeless, a problem the current government is exacerbating with further cuts. Private groups and church organisations have stepped in to fill in some of the gaps. Yet, this begs the question – when did the Government of the UK shed its responsibilities to our fellow citizens? Even those classified as ‘priority cases’, such as the 16-25 age group, have found the care offered underwhelming. Mr Ferguson, who took office as Bristol’s first mayor in November 2012, claims that he and Bristol Council are working on numerous projects to tackle homelessness; starting with ‘getting all the groups together’ to make a concerted effort. He told me how he is working closely with private groups and NPOs such as St. Mungo’s – an award winning organisation

about which I received both positive and negative reviews. Several people I spoke to, including the Mayor, think St. Mungo’s are doing an impressive job.However, a few were highly critical and questioned their role, the income they receive compared to other groups and their lack of success in Bristol when compared to London. Paul told me, ‘they won the bid for Bristol mostly because they did an excellent job in London’ but since starting in Bristol ‘they’ve been a lot less successful’. I questioned Paul on why he felt St. Mungo’s was failing to reach the same high standards in Bristol. ‘They’re trying the same things to some success but Bristol has fundamentally different problems’. I reached out to St. Mungo’s for a response but at the point of publication none has been received. One thing is certain though, St. Mungo’s has contributed to several successful schemes in Bristol. The social impact scheme, first commissioned by the Greater London Authority in 2010 and funded by groups such as Triodos bank, received positive results for their four hundred homeless participants. Bristol Council is hoping to set up a similar scheme with the lion’s share of the money coming from sources outside the already stretched budget. ‘It’s not only charity it’s an investment in helping people rebuild their lives’, said the Mayor. Getting organisations to invest in people may be one way to avoid cutting expenditure elsewhere. However, it seems paradoxical that we now seek the voluntary aid of banks to solve problems caused mostly

by their own callous business practices. Without even factoring in the asinine decisions that led to the recession, it is the culture of modern finance that expels people from their homes if unfortunate, and sometimes random, events leave them one or two payments behind. The mayor was very happy to tell me that Second Step, a charity focused on tackling mental health issues and reintegrating homeless people into society, has received ten million pounds to run for the next eight years in Bristol. Mr Ferguson told me that the lack of affordable housing in Bristol is a major concern. This failure of supply to meet demand was present before the current Cameron administration but again the situation has only been made more difficult since the Coalition’s recent budget cuts. ‘Undoubtedly some of the austerity measures have exacerbated the situation, such as the bedroom tax. We still haven’t seen the full impact that they [the cuts] will have’. I asked the mayor what he expected the long term effects of the cuts will be and he replied, ‘I expect to see homelessness rise significantly’.

“ Undoubtedly some of the austerity measures have exacerbated the situation, such as the bedroom tax

The Coalition government’s

austerity measures have seemingly created a two-fold problem. Measures like the bedroom tax, cuts to rent allowances and new measures to withhold relief until a rather arbitrary set of requirements has been fulfilled will undoubtedly put more people onto the street. This problem is made worse by cuts to the social services and other related departments leaving them with less money to deal with a larger problem than faced before. I was told by one member of the Julien Trust, a Queen’s award winning charity providing meals and beds to the homeless five nights a week, that she couldn’t understand why people are being ‘caught up in it’ [the government’s rhetoric] when ‘only looking at the number of people we see on a weekly basis would see it’s only getting worse.’ This is certainly true. Figures for rough-sleeping, temporary accommodation and those drifting between friends’ sofas and family - so called hidden homelessness - show a shocking increase since 2011. I still have reservations regarding the role we expect private groups to play in tackling homelessness. But this did not stop me from finding the sincere dedication of those attending the Big Sleep Out, and others working to help the homeless, deeply humbling. Many give up several nights a week to aid those that our society has left devoid of basic human rights. In amongst the politics of it all, it is easy to lose sight of the individual sleeping in the cold, uncertain of when they will next eat, perhaps ill or dependent, finding small comfort in the generosity of another person.

Epigram

– for example, providing insecticide-treated mosquito nets to protect against malaria and immunisations against neglected tropical diseases. Significantly, all the charities rated as the most effective by Giving What We Can work in the developing world. Quite simply, a pound spent in the developing world goes a lot further than it does in the Western world, not least because some of the causes of illness are so easily preventable. To put this in perspective, in the UK it costs around £30,000 to train a guide dog. For the same amount of money, enough people in the developing world could be cured of trachoma-induced blindness to prevent a total of 2600 years of blindness. The parable of the drowning child illustrates not only that it is immoral not to help those who need it, but that it is morally inconsequential whether this help is required locally or internationally. The value of a human life is not determined by country; the grief of parents whose child has died does not diminish with the distance they live away from the ‘Western world’. For a society built on the mantra ‘charity begins at home’, this can be a difficult concept to digest; giving back to those charities close to our hearts seems intuitive and proper. However, in a world which technology has condensed to the size of a screen, we have become part of a global community and must thus accept global responsibilities. Effective altruism may appear to lead with the head but ultimately it comes back to the heart. While it may require self-scutiny and the sacrifice of selfishness in choosing charities, its primary concern is to save as many lives as possible, and the preservation of human life is surely the deepest human intuition.

flikr: TED conference

Tasked with choosing a geographical location to represent a philanthropic and sustainable lifestyle, Bristol residents would nine times out of ten pick somewhere like Stokes Croft. Crowded with notfor-profit HQs and charity shops and populated by trustafarians keen to live green and change the world, it seems like it’s got all the boxes ticked. But despite the very best of intentions, global problems will not be solved through the sale of hand-medowns and a dogged allegiance to compost heaps. What is needed is cash. Cold, hard cash – and this is what’s making the City the rising star in the world of charitable giving. Rhetoric of recent years has portrayed bankers as nothing if not morally reprehensible. While this may often be justifiable, within the swathes of suits exists a sub-culture of philanthropists – the Robin Hood bankers who are making money from the rich to give to the poor. Where the traditional route of ‘do-gooding’ might once have been epitomised by a six-week stint in an Asian orphanage or a full-time career in a soup kitchen, many are now rejecting this in favour of ‘earning to give.’ This idea rests on the premise that, for those with the right skill-set, working in a well-paid job and donating a considerable amount to charity may do more good than directly working in the not-for-profit sector. The keystone of this philosophy is effectiveness, and the idea of earning to give is only one branch of the effective altruism movement. This movement has been gathering pace and recognition in the last few years, as a growing number of people have started to question not only how, but how

best, they can give. Effective altruism combines the heart and head in charitable giving, using evidence and reason to pinpoint the most effective ways of bringing about positive change. One of the movement’s main proponents is Australian philosopher Peter Singer (pictured below). Some effective altruists believe that charitable giving is a moral obligation, which Singer expressed in a parable that goes like this: A man passing a shallow pond notices a young child apparently drowning. To wade in and save her would muddy his suit and make him late for work. He chooses to do nothing. The child dies. Our gut reaction to this is that the man’s actions were immoral – he had nothing of significant moral worth to lose by helping, and yet neglected to act. However, while we condemn this man’s actions, Singer argues, we are simultaneously engaging in the same behaviour, ignoring the plight of millions of suffering people despite the fact that we could help them at no great cost to ourselves. Although a job in the City may provide a lucrative way of giving to charity, you do not have to be making millions to make a difference. Giving What We Can, an effective altruism society, is made up of members who pledge to give at least 10% of their income to help alleviate global poverty. Donating this percentage of a £29,000 average UK salary would save 57 lives over the course of a career. The organisation also ‘rate’ charities, conducting detailed research to ascertain the charities that, in crude terms, give you the most bang for your buck. Research has shown that some charities are up to one thousand times more effective than others. It is often those that work on preventative measures that are the most effective

flikr: swanksalot

Effective Altruism: the Robin Hood bankers who give to the poor Josephine Franks Editor

24.03.2014

Shameful beauty products Gjeta Gjyshinca Features Writer Just when you thought fake nails, fake eyelashes, hair extensions, creams for every possible body part and skin condition,powders, perfumes and a tonne of makeup must surely be enough to eradicate any imperfection in a woman, along came buttpads. Apparently being thin, although absolutely necessary, is not a sufficient condition for being attractive – you also need sexy curves to flaunt, and that’s where Booty Pop comes in. This padded underwear,which makes your butt ‘go from FLAT to FAB in just seconds’, is just one of a number of ridiculous products that target women’s insecurities in order to make money. Companies in the beauty industry are literally inventing physical problems with women so that they can sell products which offer a remedy, with little thought for the damage they do not only to the individual women pressured into buying these products, but also to society as a whole. I guess after padded bras, we should’ve seen this one coming – it was really only a matter of time before the beauty industry inflicted upon us yet another way to enhance body parts. In fact, it seems padded bras are not the only option when it comes to enhancing breasts. Apparently, with just one or two F-Cup cookies a day, your breasts will grow. Seems to me like Sainsburys Bakery cookies would have much the same effect. This honestly sounds like something out of Mean Girls, – if Regina George was snacking on something along with those high-calorie Kalteen bars, it’s these breast-enhancing cookies. Facial toning masks are yet another example of these endless ridiculous beauty products. These battery-powered

face-masks supposedly tone skin and reduce the appearance of wrinkles with gold-plated contacts and light energy pulsation. There are a number of problems with these things.First, they look like something Jigsaw would hand you in one of the Saw movies before convincing you to chop off your arm granted, this is coming from someone who thinks eyelash curlers are pretty terrifying, and in comparison these masks are the stuff of nightmares. Second, they are useless and possibly even dangerous; one Amazon reviewer complained of a burn as a result of using this torture device – ahem – beauty product, which had left her scarred for life. Third, and most importantly, the aforementioned items promote the ludicrous idea that natural ageing in women is something to be avoided at all costs - while an older man may be a silver fox, an older woman is simply one who has let herself go. It is a clear indication of the double standards for men and women that the worst product of this sort to be targeted at men is spray-on hair. While women are pressured to remove every single hair from their bodies, leaving them raw and shining prepubescent pink, men have the luxury of actually spraying on more hair when that crazy unnatural inhuman thing called old age takes its toll. One of the most disturbing products I’ve come across is Eye Talk Eyelid Glue, designed for Asian women who want to hold their eyelids up for ‘bigger, rounder, and deeper eyes’. This not only sounds painful, but also raises troubling issues about narrow beauty ideals. By introducing these products, the beauty industry is reinforcing the idea that there is only one type of beauty – and one which seems unattainable for most of us. Targeting Asian women

in such a way suggests that these women should aim to look Western, even if it means applying glue to their eyelids. These companies feed off the low self-esteem of women to sell their products. The media already bombards us with images of photoshopped size zero beauties, expecting us to aspire to look like them. Women in the public eye are scrutinised, every inch of their body inspected; their flaws criticised in such a way that makes almost any normal sized woman feel wildly inadequate. When trashy magazines can find flaws in Kate Middleton, what hope is there for us commoners? By creating solutions to non-existent body flaws, these companies pressure women into suddenly adding one more inadequacy to the never-ending list inflicted on us by the media. The problem is that if even only a few women buy these products, others instantly feel pressured to buy them too – if someone else is sleeping with a Kush cleavage cushion stuck between their breasts to avoid the disaster that is cleavage wrinkles, then there really is no excuse for other women not to do the same. The other worrying factor here is the effect products like these have on male outlook, the way men perceive women and the expectations they have of their bodies. If a man has only ever known hairless, wrinkle-free, caked-in-makeup women, then meeting one who doesn’t buy into this rubbish may well come as a shock. The fact that men then have unrealistic expectations of what women should look like is just one more part of the vicious cycle that will promote low selfesteem in women, and boost the sales of these products they are shamed into buying.

Epigram

24.03.2014

Bristol school girl leads the campaign against FGM After Epigram’s FGM feature in News #273, Issy Bull caught up with the face of the campaign, Fahma Mohamed.

Beef with the meat industry over damage to environment Maria Smith Features Writer Not everyone would guess that more energy is required to make one burger than to fully power seven iPads. Or that it takes 1,500 glasses of water to produce a single glass of milk. The meat industry is one of the world’s biggest sources of energy expenditure, and a primary cause of increasing global temperatures and rising sea levels. However, despite it being the driving force behind many of the world’s mounting environmental problems, the catastrophic effects of the meat industry continue to be relatively ignored. The 2009 reports estimate that meat production is responsible for a staggering 32,564 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year. This number represents 51% of total emissions worldwide, meaning that our appetite for meat is even more damaging to the environment than habits like driving inefficient cars or wasting water. As a Scientific American article succinctly puts into context for us; ‘producing half a pound of hamburger for someone’s lunch releases the same amount of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere as driving a 3,000 pound car nearly ten miles’. So why is it that we aren’t all more frequently encouraged to make changes to our diet? To swap chicken for quorn, or beef for a bean burger? Even in the face of overwhelming statistics, the meat we eat continues to be a reluctantly addressed topic. Whether it’s because food and diet is widely accepted as an inherently personal issue or because the world simply isn’t ready to sacrifice the enjoyment of a Big Mac, we are not often pressured to save the planet through changing our eating habits. Studies indicate that the last

few decades have in fact seen a rise in meat production rates across the globe, regardless of increased environmental discourse. Countries such as China and India, which have only relatively recently undergone economic transformation, show the most significant rise in meat production. A study compiled by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation suggests that an intrinsic correlation between national wealth and demand for animal meat will only see a continuing growth of the meat industry over the next decades. Agricultural forecasts estimate that if current rates of increase persist, total meat production will have doubled from a 229m ton figure in 2009, to over 460m tonnes by 2050.

“ Our appetite for meat is even more damaging to the environment than habits like driving cars or wasting water

The notion of meat production doubling is a fearful one when considering that 26% of land today is already devoted to rearing farmed animals. The amount of land required for grazing, feed production, meat processing and distribution all constitute a wasteful siphoning of resources, space and energy. The convoluted process of American kona beef production stands as a glaring example of this waste. The process entails the collection of rain in Northern California, which is then piped through thousands of miles to Southern California, where alfalfa is grown as cattle feed. This is subsequently shipped across to Japan, in

order to feed kona beef which must then be shipped back to California in order to be finally distributed and served as steak in restaurants across America. Faced with a world population of 842 million people suffering from starvation, the absurdities of an inefficient meat industry confront us with an ethical dilemma regarding our meat eating habits. A single plot of land catering for a meat-based diet can feed over two and a half times the amount of people if used to yield a vegetarianbased diet. The more efficient utilisation of grazing land for the production of crops, beans and pulses might therefore far better serve the world in terms of people fed per hectare across the globe. The question remains as to why society remains reluctant to embrace the notion of a more vegetarian diet. Government drives to encourage ecological energy use in the form of cycle schemes and car shares, campaigns and school curriculums result in a world aware of the dangers of fossil fuels and excessive energy consumption. Primary school children can tell you the consequences of burning fossil fuels, and how turning off the tap when you brush your teeth can help to save the Earth. But how many children come home with posters advocating meat-free Mondays, or tofu sandwiches? Regardless of ongoing scientific discoveries about the destructive impact of the meat industry on the natural world - an impact which will provoke immense repercussions for future generationsvegetarianism remains a rare lifestyle choice. Perhaps a meal without meat is a change as easily accommodated into our everyday lives as turning off that tap whilst we brush our teeth, and is a change more of us might have to make in the face of compounding environmental concerns.

Fahma Mohamed is a 17 year old school girl from Bristol. Like most girls her age she is studying for her A Levels. However, despite her tender age, she has also recently become the face of The Guardian’s new campaign against female genital mutilation (FGM). First getting involved in campaigning against FGM because she felt that it was an issue that had been hidden away for too long, Fahma now works with a team of about 100 people with Integrate Bristol, a local organisation perusing greater equality and integration, in particular by visiting local schools to give peer education sessions. When asked how she felt about the responsibility of being the face of this new campaign she was quick to stress the hard work put in by this team over the last six years underscoring that, ‘I’m just the face, but my face didn’t do all this on its own’. FGM is one of the most repelling practices conceivable. Survivors have described it as being so agonisingly painful they lost consciousness; and they’re the lucky ones. Performed often without anaesthetic or proper surgical equipment, each year thousands of girls across the world, some of whom are still young babies, die due to this deplorable ritual. Unlike male circumcision there are no medical benefits to this female counter part. It is used in order to control and suppress female sexuality. Though predominantly practiced in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, FGM is also prevalent in the West. For years the issue of FGM has been swept under the carpet. Barely spoken about, under reported and often forgotten, it is one of the most repugnant

forms of child sex abuse imaginable. Yet in the United Kingdom right now there are allegedly 24,000 British girls at risk of being cut and undergoing this horrific mutilation. No other form of sexual abuse would be as overlooked. Nonetheless, since 1985, when FGM was made illegal in the UK, no one has ever been prosecuted for practicing it. This is really quite alarming, especially given the fact that the conviction carries a 14 year prison sentence and that in 2003 it also became illegal to send girls abroad to undergo FGM. In Fahma Mohamed’s eyes the lack of prosecution is mainly due to the fact that it relies on a girl handing her parents over to the police. This would be unconceivable to many, and unfair on any girl.

“ Dubbed the ‘cutting season’, each summer, hundreds of girls are sent overseas to be cut

Heartrendingly, it has been further reported that it is commonplace for many young girls to be sent to foreign relatives to undergo FGM in the school holidays. Dubbed the ‘cutting season’, each summer holiday hundreds of girls are sent to foreign relatives to be cut. Purportedly, ‘cutters’ are now also performing FGM in Britain, some working in expensive clinics in cities such as London and Birmingham. This inhumane practice can be stamped out though. The first glimpses of light have begun to appear at the end of the tunnel for campaigners. Things are changing. FGM is finally being

recognised as an issue which needs to be addressed. The magnitude of ending FGM does seem daunting, but there are measures which can be taken to begin the process. Along with a coalition of pressure groups and charities Fahma has called on Michael Gove MP, the Minister of Education, to do more to help end FGM in Britain. For Fahma ideally PSHEE would be standard across the country in all schools with lessons focusing on FGM being mandatory. Unfortunately, however, she does not believe this will happen: even if Gove were to come on board it would be unlikely that the House of Lords would support compulsory and universal PSHEE lessons. However, as she points out, if head teachers themselves were to ensure that their pupils were informed about FGM lack of formal legislation would not present an obstacle to increasing awareness of the issue. Fahma has publically called on Gove to remind all teachers of their ‘safeguarding duties’, For her ‘talking about it, speaking out against FGM and seeing it as gender based violence is the way FGM will end’. Education across the board is the key here. Girls must know their rights. And that is exactly how we can help fight against FGM here at the University of Bristol too. As Fahma suggests all students on all relevant courses should be made aware of its existence. In particular, she emphasises how the University should ensure all medical students know what FGM is and what to do if they come across it. FGM is a very real issue. Easily hidden and unnoticed, still more needs to be done to highlight its presence as a persistent and common form of child sex abuse. But thanks to the campaigns of organisations such as Integrate Bristol, hopefully one day no girl in the UK will have to face the prospect of this barbarous custom.

Oliver Zimmerman

flickr: shalawesome

Issy Bull Features Writer

Epigram

24.03.2014

119

There’s no place like home: an asylum story Khaled Abdul Aziz, a Syrian asylum seeker, tells Isidora Provatos about the long journey from his war-torn homeland to Bristol

The smart, softly spoken young man sat in front of me seems a world away from the images of a devastated Syria that we see on our television screens. Khaled Abdul Aziz is a welleducated entrepreneur, who not so long ago was teaching English literature to high school kids and running an internet business. Over the last two years he has undertaken a remarkable journey from war-torn Syria, to a London prison and now Bristol. He is one of the 2.5 million Syrian refugees that have fled their homes, and travelled thousands of miles to reach Europe in search of help and asylum. Khaled was born in Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, but is hesitant to speak about where he grew up; ‘Aleppo and the rest of country has been flattened or bombed randomly.’ Two days before the interview, he managed to contact a friend who lives in Syria. ‘They tell me so many bad things about places I’m obviously very connected to, that I had emotional connections with these places. They would say: “Oh you know this building it’s knocked off now. You know this guy who lived there, he’s dead now”.’

“ Every time I tried to tear up my passport, I couldn’t. It’s my identity

Khaled’s life wasn’t always like this; he graduated from Aleppo University with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. He taught English

for 11 years at Huda Shaarawi High School whilst engaging in entrepreneurial activities: ‘I had an internet business and four apartments… I was doing very very well in Syria.’ Khaled fled his hometown in 2012, travelled across Northern Africa to Morocco where with the help of an ‘agent’, he acquired a Russian visa with a transit stop through London Heathrow. ‘There is no flight from Morocco to Russia, it must transit through the EU. Obviously, for us it’s not hard to get a Moroccan visa, a Russian visa you can get it just like this.’ Many Syrians decide to stay in the country because the reputation of living as a refugee is so bad that ‘some people prefer death in a war state to disgracing themselves, to living without dignity.’ Khaled explains how the standard of living in refugee camps is well below the basic human rights requirements and even the neighbouring Arab countries don’t welcome Syrians anymore. He was actually one of the lucky ones; an agent is ‘not cheap at all, many cannot afford to get out of the country.’ Those who flee via Turkey and Cyprus through uncharted waters, ‘risk their lives even more than in Syria.’ Khaled responds quickly when asked about his arrival into the UK. ‘Here, actually, there is an interesting story because the agent had asked me to tear up my passport. Maybe I should mention people who get out of the country; they don’t use their passport but a similar person’s passport, even if they have to change their hair or wear makeup.’ On board the flight, Khaled tried to tear up his passport many times but he says: ‘every time I tried to tear it up, I couldn’t, because it’s my identity.’ In a moment of desperation Khaled placed his passport in a friend’s luggage, who was travelling to the US, in the hope that she would keep it safe for him and one day he could retrieve it. Upon arrival at London

has a criminal record, which makes his life very difficult because whenever he has to apply for a job, ‘or wherever I go I have to say, yes, I’m a criminal.’ What does it signify, then, to be a refugee or an asylum seeker in a first world country like the UK? According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, an asylum seeker is someone who has applied for asylum and is waiting for a decision as to whether or not they are a refugee. The UK received 23,499 new applications for asylum in the year ending June 2013.

“ My brother was shocked when I called him and said I’m in England, in prison, you should come visit!

Put into perspective, Pakistan hosts the highest number of refugees at 1.7 million. These are people who, like Khaled, are escaping war-torn countries, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.

Khaled’s case is representative of what it means to be a refugee in the UK; disorientated, vulnerable and exposed. His application for asylum, to achieve refugee status, was delayed for half a year. ‘Terrible, imagine six months being in the air not knowing what is going to happen to you plus the worry you have about your homeland.’ Khaled was lucky, his case was approved within the next few days of him being interviewed, but applying for asylum can take up to one year or more. Many vulnerable people are left in limbo; without a residency permit they are not eligible for proper accommodation and without the right to work they are left completely powerless. I ask Khaled what his experience of Bristol has been so far and how he finds the city. ‘Very interesting, very multicultural. This is not very common in Syria, it is not mixed at all. In a way it is very interesting, but very different also. I do not have any peace of mind.’ Khaled has been doing volunteer work with Bristol Refugee Rights (BRR) which is a volunteer lead charity where asylum seekers and refugees can meet, receive help and get involved with the wider community. He interprets for as many people as he can at the BRRs Malcom X Community Centre, St Paul’s, and says this is the only place where he feels

at home. ‘No one knows one another but everyone is gentle and supportive with each other. No one would want to cause or add trouble to each other. You go there to relax, to have some peace of mind and try to pretend that you have forgotten all your worries.’ Khaled is now leading his very own initiative, to provide accommodation to all Syrian refugees through council law: the Bristol Refugee Accommodation Project (BRAP), with the help of Rachel Bea, head co-ordinator at the BRR whose mission is to fight destitution, creating a network of support for future asylum seekers and refugees. Khaled is arguably one of the lucky ones; many others find themselves in the grey zone of asylum seeking, waiting to be accepted or rejected by the system. Although Khaled is busy interpreting and heading the initiative in Bristol he confides in me: ‘I think it’s worth mentioning, people who come here don’t come here on holiday. There is a main or major risk over their life. That’s why they decide… no, not decide, but have to leave their country; because they are desperate.’ Even though Khaled is aware of the danger he faces, he still plans to return to Syria. We can only hope that the situation improves so that he and the thousands of other refugees are one day able to return to their homes.

flickr: edbrambley

Isidora Provatos Features Writer

Heathrow, Khaled ran into trouble when he couldn’t produce his passport. He tells me that the Border Official ‘from the very beginning, wasn’t having a good day.’ After being asked numerous times if he could produce the document, to which he replied no, the Border Official retorted, ‘Then you’ll be in trouble!’ Khaled continues: ‘Now, I know it’s completely up to the officer to do whatever he wants. So many people arrive without a passport and others like me were not so lucky and went to prison.’ He was detained in Heathrow overnight, sent to a London police station where he was charged with ‘Arriving in the UK without a passport’ and was provided with a ‘random solicitor’. The solicitor, upon reading his case, stated that he would serve up to a maximum of 6 months in prison. He then expressed hope that, if Khaled were to plead guilty at the earliest opportunity, then the sentence passed would be reduced by up to one third as per the Early Guilty Plea scheme. Desperately he asks me ‘If someone thinks and believes that I should be sent to prison, how are they going to defend me?’ Khaled’s sentence was reduced to a four months. He smiles and says; ‘My brother was shocked when I called him from prison and said I’m in England! In prison! This is the address, you should come and visit me!’ Khaled now

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Student housing plans upset locals

UCAS app cat ons for 2012 fa by 9%

Freshers Week campaign success

Charlton elected UBU President

Think you can lead a team of 50 editors? Make the Epigram office your second home? Spend hours on every issue, only to be lambasted by The Tab? Sacrifice your degree for the sake of MENINGITIS GET SET student media? FOR YET FO OUTBREAK H a Baker res den s demand ee reduc on o compensa e or work

Less than half of students satisfied with Union

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We want to hear from you! Number 160

Number 156

Monday 2 February 2004 Bristol University’s Independent Student Newspaper

Bristol University’s Independent Student Newspaper

MORE DEBT

UNDER CONTROL

UBU bans Blurred Lines

NASA ands a UoB

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Monday 26 April 2004

in The Mix: Freshers’ fashion Society lowdown Dear Renée

Number 137

Monday 11 February 2002

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£1 role in Epigam requires dedication, vision and drive but the rewards are Taking a senior 13 AS soundnig borad for a career in journalism. THROUGH THE ROOF unparalleled andUNLUCKY it is the perfect ATTACKS “SOAR” • The truth behind book giveaw azing ay Am

A CULTURAL EXPLOSION IN THE UNION Page 5

ANY sandwich, baguette or roll. See page 22

Spice up Valentine’s Day Four Lovers’ Guide videos and DVDs up for grabs in our sexy competition Head for page 10 to enter

SEE PAGE 23

THE REAL VANILLA SKY

SINGLES FOR THE SINGLTON

Page 13

Page 18

Shortlisted for The Guardian and The Independent Media Awards 2001

Epigram investigates facts behind international story Students left facing even more debt trouble as hall fees go...

REVEALED

Bristol University’s independent student newspaper

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

LAURA WALTERS News Reporter

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:

Fashion tip-offs for 2010

in The Mix

Bristol University’s independent student newspaper Bristol University’s independent student newspaper

Students brutalised in Copenhagen

F**k Buttons album reviewed

KIRSTY REID JON WILTSHIRE News Reporters

five

Film review: “Sherlock Holmes greets us like a donner kebab after a heavy night out.”

HANNAH STUBBS News Reporter In-fighting and subversion have plagued the Bristol University Conservative Association (BUCA)

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

page

KissMob takes place on Woodland Road in the run-up to Sexploration Week - page three

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

four

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Monday 10th October 2011

•

www.epigram.org.uk

Bristol fails to meet fair access targets Alice Young News Editor

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

Issue 242

The best of the rom-coms: As Valentine’s approaches, Epigram selects the best cheese from the DVD shelf

FEATURES: page 7

Medical experiments Should students take part in clinical trials?

Issue 245

Monday 7th November 2011

EDITORIAL: page 13

Issue 236

NUS President says change is needed

Ex-MP Lembit Opik spoke to the Politics society about Coalition, a run at Mayor of London, and his love life.

FEATURES: page 7 Accomodation crunch

TRAVEL: E2 page 10

FILM & TV: page 28 The Social Network

The new UCard system already up and running around the University precinct

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]

the water polo team and the Girls’ rowing squad

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

Mood turns against College Green occupiers

News Reporter

LETTERS: page 12 President Responds

further support in the struggle against such drastic financial cuts. One member of ‘Bristol against education

SCIENCE: page 15 Jurassic Park professor

The second method is “taking matters into our own hands”, as the University administration would rather “decide a position

ARTS: page 19

SPORT: page 32 Watersports focus Epigram catches up with

Stem cell therapy suceeds for Bristol student Science Page 16-17

cuts, otherwise known as ‘The Occupiers’, marked the “end of the first chapter of demonstrations” through the dis-occupation of

How to climb Kili cuts’ believes there are three methods of “taking the struggle forwards”. The first is An idiot’s guide to this 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.

Epigram picks out the film based on facebook legend Mark Zuckerberg in our Film Listings

Russell Kane reviewedbehind closed doors”, thereby preventing and lecturers from having their Epigram delivers our students 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

SPORT: page 29-32 Bristol’s successes

Our sporting talent is excelling, from football to skateboarding

Death of the jelly baby and other fun experiments Science Page 14

LIFESTYLE: page 2-3 What would Dolores do

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

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

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

We pick the best sets also claimed, “The Browne report is far better than it would have been now that the Liberal from this year’s festivals Democrats are in office, it offers a much more

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Monday 23rd January 2012

‘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

Bristol University’s Independent Student Newspaper

Issue 247

• www.epigram.org.uk

Ann Widdecombe visits Bristol

See Page 4

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

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Monday 20th February 2012

• www.epigram.org.uk

SPORT: page 30 The BIG Debate

Porter said that after “considerable soul searching”, he believed the NUS needed “invigorating”

NEWS: page 3 £1 million refurbishment The Arts and Social Sciences Library is due for further work on its upper two floors, to be completed by mid-2011

FEATURES: page 6 The meat issue

Epigram examines how meat eating is having devastating effects on the environment, and how you can help

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.

that would-be students are being deterred Page 6 from applying for further education 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

Jessica Wingrad News Reporter

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.

• www.epigram.org.uk

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

What can you expect from next year’s sabbatical team? President-elect Gus Baker puts his promises down on paper.

FASHION: E2 pages 6-9 The male edition

BE FAMOUS: page 16 The Epigram 40 is back!

Interviews, street style and the best shoes: the Fashion section does Bristol’s boys

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

The opening of a new Tesco store in the Stokes Croft area of Bristol sparked riots against police during the Easter break.

FILM & TV: page 27 Hollywood and history A look at the inspiration behind some of the latest blockbusters including Black Swan and Inception

SPORT: page 30 Marathon Man

A searingly honest look at the ups and downs of running a Marathon for charity.

•

Monday 19th March 2012

• www.epigram.org.uk

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,

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

develop the community

”10

Using your erotic capital Should women flirt their way to the top? An interview with Catherine Hakim

Features 10

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

Home, sweet home Interior design for the student house

e2 Lifestyle

The Kings Arms pub, which is due to be turned into twelve student flats

‘The Olympics suck’ Will Self finds little reason for fanfare Features 11

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

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.

349

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

Julia May

equally a moral responsibility to help

Does our generation not take sexual health seriously enough? Features investigates the nitty gritty part of SEX.

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

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]

Takotsubo tragedy Octopus pots and broken hearts? Science 30

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

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

Who are the University of Bristol’s most noteworthy students? Nominate now.

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.

Love journalism? Want to be a part of the team that puts Epigram together? Apply now to be a section editor for the academic year 2011-12 See page 16 for details

Bristol University’s Independent Student Newspaper

Issue 249

Tanya Moulson

“ Personal development is all very well, but there is

Lakota loses licence

Julia May

Fresh or Mess?

FEATURES: page 6 A check up down below

Should Britain export weapons to countries with questionable human rights records?

Which fairy tale character are you?

• 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 ghetto’ • Ice rink closed to make way for student housing amidst protests (see page 2)

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

Monday 5th March 2012

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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‘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.

Flickr: spartacusxx

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

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)

It has been confirmed that the Univeristy of Bristol will charge students three times the current fees from 2012.

COMMENT: page 10 The new Union team

All the information on the upcoming UBU elections. Voting takes place 14 - 18 March.

Travel E2 p. 11

Issue 238

NEWS: page 3 £9,000 fees for Bristol

COMMENT: page 11 Arms for Africa?

Fashion The secret agents of style

H a Baker res den s demand ee reduc on o compensa e or work Tristan Martin

1000 votes cast in officer elections

Film, p.31

Continued on page three

Monday May 9th 2011

Interviews will take place in the week commencing 28th April. Good luck! Page 3

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.

Inglourious Basterds reviewed

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

Violent clashes in Stokes Croft

UBU ELECTION SPECIAL

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina: Epigram’s top travel tips for the curious

Bristol University’s Independent Student Newspaper

Issue 248

Free stuff!

Comment

Revolution on the streets of Bristol

Music, p30

‘The episodes of torture are ﬂung in almost as an afterthought.’

University of Bristol’s Independent Student Newspaper

Issue 234 Monday March 7th 2011

NEWS: page 5 Opik Checks in

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?

LUCY WOODS News Reporter

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

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

Interview: Fearne Cotton talks to Epigram Lifestyle E2 page 3

Film, p.32

Bristol University’s Independent Student Newspaper

•

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.

Undergraduates received bursaries and scholarships in 2009-10

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

Students host free education week

Panache to close The popular venue faces closure due to allegations of violence and drugs

Jamie Corbin

17.4%

University of Bristol’s Independent Student Newspaper

Issue 230 Monday February 7th 2011

NEWS: page 2

COMMENT: page 10

Bristol University’s Independent Student Newspaper

Music

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

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

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?

University of Bristol’s Independent Student Newspaper Issue 240

FEATURES: page 7 Perspectives

ARTS: page 18 West End Thriller

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 Continued

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

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-

Photo : Tristan Martin

page

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

Bristol MP set to break fees pledge

Future graduates could leave university with debts of over £80,000

Photo : ©keith morris

Conflict sees Conservative Future intervene in BUCA

University of Bristol’s Independent Student Newspaper

NEWS: page 2 £10,000 tuition fees

Photo : Tom Wills Photo: Tristan Martin

is encouraging the furry visitors. The mice were discovered 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

Comment, p.14

BUCA comittee showdown sees three resign

The streets of central Bristol were the focal point of a clash between protesters and the police on Friday, 18 September.

Ground Zero Conflict2010 General election, on a platform opposing increases in university fees, Stephen Williams Is a ‘mosque’ blocks 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

Continied

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 conﬁrmed and students are being better airbrushed.”warned that eating whilst studying

Bristol students frolic in the snow in Brandon Hill, but exams will still go on as planned - page 4

ASSIYA KHAN Deputy News Editor

To apply, please send: • Your CV • A covering letter • An ideas sheet outlining your vision for Epigram next year • 3 examples of your writing e2 AGM draws 75% Charlton elected Freshers’ Week Student housing UCAS applications more students President campaign success 21stUBU for 2012 fall byto 9% getinvolved@epigram.org.uk by Monday April plans upset locals

Food banned from study areas as pest control informed about library’s rodent infestation

Photo: Megan Stodel

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.

Six arrested as social protestors clash with police

COMMENT: page 10After regaining his Bristol West seat in the May

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

Fire service arrive on the scene as smoke billows from the Union on Tuesday morning

Photo: Jonathan Taphouse

University of Bristol students held by Danish police without food or water

HANNAH BRADY

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

Upcoming bands: Epigram Music give their alternative tips for 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

£800,000 spent on new UCards

Issue 223 Monday 8 February 2010

Rodent infestation in ASS

Issue 221 Monday 11 January 2010

Comment, p17

Foam pies pelted at bank in Bristol protest

BARING ALL FOR CHARITY Page 3

University of Bristol’s Independent Student Newspaper Monday November 8th 2010 Issue 228

Monday October 11 2010

BUY ANY COURSE GET ONE FREE

in the Mix

Continued on page four

The Lockerbie debate

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2002 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - PAGES 6 AND 7

Valentine’s recipes to woo Storm Model Competition Renee’s Valentine’s advice

Decoration inspiration Revision poster

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

‘What is the real purpose of our justice system?’

Photo: Chloë Banks

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.”

Union evacuates as canoe equipment is left to be damaged

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.

We are looking for an Editor and two Deputy Editors to lead Epigram into its 26th year. You should have shown extensive commitment to student media, although this does not necessarily have to be Epigram.

READ ALL ABOUT IT: FOR THE FACTS BEHIND THE FICTION, SEE FULL STORY PAGE 3

Issue 216 Monday 28 September 2009

Poolside ﬁre causes chaos Disruption ensues as cause of ﬁre is still unknown

first-year’s virginity auction media scam • Friends and lover provided ideas for publicity

inside The Mix

Comment

Epigram

24.02.2014

@epigramcomment

Editor: Rosslyn McNair

Deputy Editor: Rob Stuart

Online Editor: Jessica McKay

comment@epigram.org.uk

deputycomment@epigram.org.uk

commentonline@epigram.org.uk

Has the United Nations failed as a peacekeeper? Yes

As tensions rise between Russia and Ukraine over

Oscar Clarke

preserve international harmony.Are they justified? at least expressed the shame that attends to such an abject failure: ‘We made serious errors of judgement, rooted in a philosophy of impartiality and non-violence... unsuited to the conflict in Bosnia... The tragedy of Srebrenica will haunt our history forever.’ In years to come we might witness similar sober statements of contrition about the UN’s reluctance to name the Sudanese government as a party to the genocide in Darfur, and to punish it early with the arms and oil embargoes which could have halted the killings. It might also be acknowledged that the continuous attempts to negotiate with the murderous regime of Bashar al-Assad were mistaken. All of the above, and probably much more besides, constitute the throat-clearing which should be de rigueur to discussions about the success or failure of the organisation set up to promote peace between and within nations; prevent atrocities; punish aggressors; and stand for universal human rights. And yet the nobility of these ideals prevents me from concluding that the UN is beyond repair. The conspicuity of its failures renders the proposition easy to answer: of course the UN has failed, repeatedly, but I wish it would succeed. I am encouraged by the emergence of the principle of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), for it will not have passed the notice of attentive readers that that the failures enumerated above are, for the most part, sins of omission. But this is only one of several reforms which the UN ought to embark upon. There must, for instance, be conditions placed upon membership of the Human Rights Council. The 2016 Group, recently admitted to begin its three-year term, includes Russia, which has banned public demonstrations in favour of LGBT rights, and, of course, just invaded the territory of a neighbour. Other paragons of the human rights movement to have joined include China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia. And such absurdities are paralleled in other UN bodies. The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Committee for Disarmament are rotated yearly. A rotation decided, incredibly, by alphabetical order. As such, its May 2003 meeting (but for March’s invasion) would have been chaired by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. And who would the vice chair have been? The country which had, less than two decades previously, used ‘human-waves’ to clear Saddam’s minefields, Iran. That’s a disturbing counterfactual.

Flickr/ToddKlassy

In April 1994, Romeo Dallaire, who was the commander of the UN force in Rwanda (UNAMIR), sent a cable marked ‘most immediate’ to the desk of Kofi Annan, the chief of peacekeeping at the time. It detailed information received by Dallaire from a credible informant, a former member of President Habyarimana’s security staff and trainer of the interahamwe (literally: ‘those who attack together’), the Hutu militias preparing to become génocidaires. His informant had received orders to register Kigali’s Tutsi population. ‘He suspects,’ wrote Dallaire, ‘it is for their extermination.’ The cable was not only a terrifying warning; it was a plan of action. Dallaire believed that the bolstering of the UN force in Rwanda could prevent the plotters within the President’s administration from succeeding in their efforts to initiate a campaign of mass murder. Furthermore, his informant had promised to reveal details of more than one major weapons cache in exchange for his evacuation. Dallaire wanted to carry out raids within thirty-six hours, and, following the confiscation of weapons, to wind up the various cells which had been formed throughout the capital city. UNAMIR had been created in 1993 to supervise the implementation of the Arusha Accords, which had stipulated that Kigali should become a ‘weaponsfree’ zone. The government had been exorbitant in its weapons purchases from France and China, and Dallaire’s report revealed the extent to which they were being hidden. Yet the response he received from Annan’s desk in New York was that the UN had no mandate to enforce the rules it was supposed to be supervising the implementation of. The raids which would have taken vast quantities of weapons out of the hands of murderers - and demonstrated the UN’s conviction to stop them - never occurred. Instead Dallaire was instructed to share his information with the President, whom he had reason to suspect was complicit in the genocidal plot. Around one million Rwandans were killed between April and July of that year. Rwanda is not just the grave exception to an otherwise impeccable record. A year later, Ratko Mladic’s Bosnian Serb Army murdered eight thousand Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica. The UN Protection Force had labelled the town a ‘safe area,’ which they demilitarised by disarming the Bosnian forces, helping to ensure that the crazed Serbians encountered no opposition. Kofi Annan has

Crimea, many critics of the UN accuse it of failing to

No Nafisa Jones For a little girl growing up in a nation that has been ravaged by a modern conflict, be it Syria, Liberia or Kosovo, the various agencies of the UN would provide a constant source of support and benevolence. The blue helmets of the peacekeeping force offer a reassuringly ubiquitous sight in a maelstrom of hostile combatants. The UNHCR would provide a safe refuge from the violence tearing apart her community. Upon her return back home, the FAO would provide free or discounted food to her family to help ease the return to some form of normality. If the peace is sustained, the UNICEF would help to rebuild her school and ensure that she is up to date with the most important vaccinations. To even the most hard-headed critic of the UN, these are clearly not the actions of an incompetent and irrelevant organisation. To go through the basics, the United Nations is composed of six main organs: the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc), the Trusteeship Council, the Secretariat and the International Court of Justice. There are also 16 autonomous agencies that deal with concerns as disparate as health, atomic energy, and telecommunications. The General Assembly is unique in that it contains a representative of almost every country in the world. It thus provides a neutral ground for the discussion of the issues of the day. This particular point must not be underestimated; the General Assembly has provided a platform for such momentous speeches such as that of Mikhail Gorbachev at the twilight of the Soviet Union, the defiantly antiimperialist declaration of ‘Patria or Death’ by Che Guevara on behalf of Cuba in 1964, and Yasser Arafat’s haunting ‘Olive Branch’ speech in 1975. Smaller and less developed countries that would otherwise be lost in the shadows of their wealthier neighbours and former imperialists are allowed more diplomatic independence thanks to the General Assembly. Whilst much criticism has been levelled at the UN for its lack of progress in Syria, it has previously taken pivotal roles in the resolution of several previous conflicts. Its swift and effective action in Yemen helped avert the outbreak of civil war in 2011 when fighting had already killed and wounded hundreds. In 2012, presidential elections were conducted under UN supervision and a peaceful transfer of power was carried out. Also, their facilitation of mediation between the government and rebel forces during the Sierra Leone Civil War helped both parties to

negotiate the final cease-fire. Even after the end of the war, the UN maintained a presence in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission formed to help begin the nation’s healing process. The eight Millennium Development Goals formed by the Ecosoc have galvanised unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest. They range from halving extreme poverty to reducing infant and maternal mortality to combatting as well as halting the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria, all by 2015. The great thing about the MDGs is that striving towards the achievement of one particular goal ostensibly aids in reaching another. For example, thanks to increased funding, more children are sleeping under insecticide-treated bed nets in sub-Saharan Africa; as a direct result of this, countries with improved access to malaria control interventions saw child mortality rates fall by about 20 per cent. Also, whilst some of the goals are unlikely to be attained, tremendous improvements are evident. Although the likelihood of reaching the target of reducing the maternal mortality ratio/MMR (the number of maternal deaths in a population divided by the number of live births) by three quarters is doubtful, according to a report made by the WHO, the MMR in 147 countries had significantly declined during the period 1990-2008, 90 of which showed a decline of 40% or more. Of course, it’s not all sweetness and light in the UN. The power of veto held by the five permanent members of the Security Council (the US, UK, China, Russia and France) reflects the outdated power patterns that still heavily influence the decision-making of the organisation, especially underlining the occasional lapses in representation that occur within the organisation. Taking the recent case of the Syrian War, Russia has vetoed four resolutions on international action. In addition, the IMF has been widely condemned for the “conditions” that they place on loans given to developing countries that have often provoked serious economic and social turmoil in the countries and saddled them with ruinous debt. In spite of these admittedly serious flaws, the UN is still a constant presence in the international scene. It continues to play a major role in the global dynamics and to argue to the contrary is both short-sighted and simply incorrect.

Epigram

24.03.2014

“

The Trans-Pacific Partnership: a threat to democracy?

Richard Seaton The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) is a proposed free trade deal between Australia, Brunei -Darussalam, Canada, Malaysia, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, United States, Singapore, Vietnam and Japan. TPP is aimed at increasing economic ties and trade and boosting investment flows between the countries in order to further their economic growth. TPP aims to reduce or eliminate tariffs and tax on trade, between the participating nations and to help open up trade in goods and services on top of improving relations on economic policy and regulatory issues. The countries currently negotiating TPP are part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC). The effort is naturally being led by the US, being the world’s largest economy and its biggest trading bidding nation; however some sceptics of the pact suggest that the US is trying to use TPP to undermine China’s growing

economy and influence on the region. It is likely that more members of APEC will join the agreement in the future. Consideringthesignificantproportionof global trade and the world’s population that is made up by APEC members, TPP will have a significant impact globally. Negations have been held primarily behind closed doors and a significant proportion of the information made available to the public is through whistleblowers such as Wiki leaks. There have been 16 rounds of discussion since 2010 with the latest round being held in Singapore and the direction certain aspects of this shady treaty will head is still unclear.

“ The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a proposed free trade deal

After negotiations ended in late February 2014 the main areas of difficulty appeared to be market access and tariffs on imported goods. The US and Japan clashed over tariffs on

agricultural products which Japan is trying to defend from outside competition. However other member nations with large agricultural sectors are keen to remove all such tariffs. This highlights one of the key problems facing the TPP. The countries involved are spread right across the economic scale from small emerging economies with heavy reliance on the government sector such as Malaysia, to global economic superpowers like the US and everything between the two. These countries will have totally different aims and targets to improve their economy so trying to meet everyone’s demands will likely end in a treaty that satisfies no one with the possible exception of the US limiting China’s rapid economic growth. TPP has received a lot of criticism from a wide range of areas, the main concerns appearing to be the impact the treaty will have on certain products and services within member countries. The most divisive issues discussed are the impact TPP will have on intellectual property laws and patent enforcement between nations. There is serious concern in nations such as New Zealand that the scope of patents may spread into areas such as medicine and prevent the distribution of basic medicine which could have a significant impact on the New Zealand health service. The exact effect that the TPP will

have on intellectual property rights is unclear, but if the pact were to go ahead, signatory countries would be required to match their laws and policies regarding intellectual property with the provisions in the agreement. These countries may have to adopt copyright laws that would massively complicate sale of intellectual material online.

The largest criticism currently facing TPP is the secretive nature of the negotiations

The largest criticism currently facing TPP is the secretive nature of the negotiations, with very little information being released to the public. Delegates have not stated the issues that have been discussed and what agreements have been reached, or how these agreements will impact on trade. Even members of Congress

have struggled to view the details proposed by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). A significant proportion of US based opposition is centred on trying to fast track negotiations and limit congressional involvement. The fast track procedure would mean Congress would have to vote up or down on the issue without amendments which would impact significantly on Congress’ authority to regulate commerce with other nations. Further, negotiations are being headed by the executive branch, which is under far less public scrutiny and pressure than congress, and gives the executive branch the ability to negate and pre-empt legislation by elected representatives in the US government. In effect, there has been almost no opportunity for democratic opposition. The main thrust behind TPP is the US government. The predicted economic benefits are not likely have a significant effect on The US’ GDP and seem more targeted at improving business for Americas largest corporations without any tangible benefit being felt by the American people. What is highly plausible is that the US Government’s interest in TPP is an attempt to reduce China’s growing economic power in the region and its increasing competition with the US.

Flickr: staxnext Flickr: GlobalTradeWatch

Epigram

24.03.2014

13 13 15

Flickr: Liberal Democratst

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Would a Lib dem/Labour coalition be such a bad idea after all?

The 2010 general election produced a result barely anyone had predicted. The hung parliament was a shock, as was the coalition between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. Now for the 2015 General Election, in which a hung parliament may not come as much of a surprise, many are discussing the possibility of a Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition, including the politicians themselves. Voters are tired of coalition government, when one has voted for a particular party, one wants that manifesto to be implemented, not a coalition agreement. However another coalition is a real possibility, with voters as split as before. One might think that it is time for a Labour victory after such a controversial Conservative tenure, but it is still difficult to split

Those with power in the Labour Party see the Lib Dems as trying to cling onto power

The most likely coalition to occur would be a Liberal Democrat and Labour coalition, with the Labour Party being the dominant party. Their ideals and principles seem relatively close together, and so one would think they would make the most obvious partners, even if this was exactly the same in 2010. It does not appear that the Conservative Party or the Liberal Democrats particularly want to stick together if they have to, and the Liberal Democrats have even been making

clear. They have not acted as a brake on the Tories, but as a prop’. This is a view that quite a few of the Shadow Cabinet hold, why should they bother putting aside their differences for a party that clearly goes against Labour values, the party, who when in government implemented stringent spending cuts? Those with power in the Labour Party see the Lib Dems as trying to cling onto power, possibly without legitimacy. Ed Miliband has firmly put aside any planning for coalition government, making clear his ambition for a majority government, one he feels is completely within Labour’s reach.

Personally I think that coalition governments are a good thing

Whatever the Labour hierarchy is hoping for, there is still the very real possibility of the nightmare situation occurring, where they would have to negotiate with the Lib Dems in order to secure power. Len McCluskey, leader of Britain’s biggest union, Unite, has hit out at coalition government, saying he did not want to see the same ‘failed consensus’ for the next five years, or Labour’s election manifesto ‘filtered through the soggy Lib-Dem sieve’. There are many of the opinion that a coalition government has no mandate to rule in Britain, and it should be a majority or minority government of the winning party. Nevertheless, minority governments are very hard to run and so the Lib Dems may be called on again, something that would please Nick Clegg. There are overlaps between the Labour Party and the Lib Dems in their policy, from mansion tax to the reduction of the voting age to 16. Personally I think that coalition governments are a good thing, much like Nick Clegg, and a Labour-Liberal Democrat partnership would not be a bad thing for the country at all. Still, anything could happen over the next 14 months, let’s see. Flickr: eTombotron

Adam Becket

slight overtures to the Labour Party. It looks like the Liberal Democrats will receive huge losses due to their massive unpopularity, and yet they could end up being the kingmakers once again. Their small collection of seats, possibly numbering around 30-50, could be the difference between minority and majority government, making up the ground for the Labour party. The Labour Party is still undoubtedly pressing for an outright win, a Labour majority, however they have seen their lead slip in the polls in the past year. The Labour lead, which was by ten points last year, has been reduced to six points. Thus the Labour party has switched their approach ever so slightly, preparing for the possibility of coalition. It must be stressed that none of the major Labour Party MPs have expressed any preparation for coalition, if anything they have distanced themselves from it. Above all else, Ed Miliband and Harriet Harman have repeatedly spoken of their target of majority government, and their stance against joining the Liberal Democrats in government. Sources close to Miliband in government, as reported in The Guardian, stated recently: ‘Our view of the Lib Dems is

“

the parties. Polls suggest a Labour win, yet it would be silly to rule out a hung parliament and a resulting coalition.

Epigram

24.03.2014

Letters

@EpigramLetters Editor: Emma Leedham letters@epigram.org.uk

The arts of self discipline Dear Epigram, I have a confession to make.

Molly Hawes Geology

the appalling conditions in which hundreds of millions of people all across this planet find themselves, there is another reason to despair. Our own reluctance to assist those who have been failed by the world around them (including ourselves) is an appalling indictment of the civilisation in which we find ourselves. This is only compounded by the fact that many in this country will only do anything about these problems when that posh bloke from Made in Chelsea tells them to do so. Some would argue that we cannot possibly be expected to constantly remember and understand poverty when it doesn’t exist within our society. The fact is that it does. One in six UK children grow up in relative poverty. Whilst not touching the chronic levels seen in other parts of the world, people suffer within the UK too. So whilst you might think that your £5 may go to a starving African child, it may just as likely end up in London, Birmingham or Manchester. The myths don’t end there either. Whilst your £5 may go to someone who hasn’t eaten for a few days, it may also stop a man attacking his wife. Although the truths of poverty may be relative depending on the region, the truths of domestic violence remain universal. ‘Even’ within the EU, one in three women suffer domestic or sexual abuse according to a recent report. In addition, these stats are almost identical across the globe – the WHO estimates that 35% of women

worldwide have experienced some kind of violence at the hands of men. Whilst your thoughts may allow you to escape the suffering of others, they will have to suffer it daily. So if you did give at the weekend, ask yourself why. Was it because you thought that two pounds would get rid of the mental image of the starving African child for another year or so? Because that might not be where your money actually went. It may have gone to a local charity, such as Southside, who help victims of abuse. It may have helped to fund soup kitchens in one of our inner cities. It may have financed any number of projects across the world. Unlike the TV images of starving children, none of the problems here will vanish instantly. That is why you should think about where your money is going and why it is going there. The truth is that it might not disappear to some far removed ‘failed‘ society; it is equally probable that it will go to our own. Poverty and violence are just as likely to be on your doorstep as they are to be on a different continent. Of course, you may not want to think about where your money goes, or you may not even act in the first place. If that is the case then that far flung failed society that you’re thinking of – you’re contributing to it, and it might be closer to home than you realise. Alex Longley Flickr: Scismgenie

With Sport Relief taking place over the last few days, millions of pounds have been donated to good causes across the world. Some of you reading this may even have been generous enough to donate yourselves. If that is you then well done. It is a cause that deserves as much money as we can afford to it. According to the 2013 UN report on progress towards the ambitiously set Millennium Development Goals, 1.2 billion people across the world live in extreme poverty. That is twenty times the population of the UK living on 75p per day. If you gave some money over the weekend then you can live safe in the knowledge that you have done a little bit to help someone that you will almost certainly never meet. But where do you think they are? I imagine that if you did donate to Sport Relief, you probably feel a quiet sense of satisfaction from your recent philanthropic indulgence. Yet for too many people (perhaps even yourself), it all ends with a throwaway donation. For too many people Sport Relief, Comic Relief and Children in Need are all just annual attempts at alleviating the stifling middle class guilt that accompanies the knowledge that whilst someone elsewhere in the world is starving, you’re buying focaccia from Waitrose. For too many of those who gave money over the weekend their concern was not the plight of 1.2 billion people, it was making sure that they could sleep well at night. Although the real tragedy is

Flickr: Hash Milhan

Until today I was an utter, utter snob about arts students. I appreciated the value of all degrees but failed to understand how having a couple of lectures and a book to read a week constituted an education. I bugged my first year flatmates about this incessantly.‘You aren’t really getting your money’s worth, though, are you?’ ‘Don’t you wish you had, you know, some actual work?’ I’ve always had a pretty hefty timetable - starting with about twenty hours a week and three nine o’clocks in first year. Even in my third year now I have lectures, practicals, scheduled group meetings, lab work and tutorials as well as scientific papers to read. I’ve had occasional days off but today I experienced for the first time that holy grail of student timetables: a free Monday, unblemished by externally imposed commitments. I have Mondays off for the next four weeks too, and as I have a dissertation due shortly I expected that I would be my usual disciplined self, despite having no classes. Last Monday, for example, I had two lectures, a group meeting and a three hour coding class. I assured myself I’d do as many hours, if not more than that, today. However I have rapidly discovered that it takes enormous will-power to do anything productive with a so-called ‘day off’. I didn’t leave the house until

twelve, having gotten absorbed in a brilliant novel. I then got roped into a psychology experiment before having coffees with not one or two but three separate groups of friends. By this point it was 5pm. Then I went to Sainsbury’s for cookies before popping into a bookshop to look at the vintage Jeeves & Woosters. Having seemingly exhausted all possible avenues of procrastination, I headed for the library dragging my feet, at which point I bumped in to my lovely friend Sophie. I explained my newfound awe for her and all her kin, whereupon she helpfully suggested I further procrastinate by writing an open letter of apology to all the arts students whose degree courses I’ve questioned over the years. Honestly, I have so much respect for you guys actually getting anything done with so few contact hours. I don’t know how you do it. I automatically get half my week’s work done just by pitching up to things whereas you actually have to structure your time and motivate yourself as you wind your way through the endless temptations of bookshops, coffee breaks, cookies and naps. Respect. Anyway it’s now 6pm on my first ever Monday off and I’m just about to start researching this damn essay. Once I’ve had another cookie. Oh, and caught up with the friend I’ve just spotted coming in to the library…

Flickr: Hash Milhan

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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.

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Crime prevention officer PC Martin Taylor says that there has been a "massive growth" in incidents against students in the

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The streets of central Bristol were the focal point of a clash between protesters and the police on Friday, 18 September.

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Students host free education week

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Panache to close The popular venue faces closure due to allegations of violence and drugs

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Goldney JCR and Manor Hall Warden give their HANNAH CASLIN views on Fresher’s Week News Reporter

Medical experiments Should students take part in clinical trials?

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Ex-MP Lembit Opik spoke to the Politics society about Coalition, a run at Mayor of London, and his love life.

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BUCA comittee showdown sees three resign Conflict sees Conservative Future intervene in BUCA HANNAH STUBBS News Reporter

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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

‘Free education’ week involves nine events focused on spending cuts to education

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The opening of a new Tesco store in the Stokes Croft area of Bristol sparked riots against police during the Easter break.

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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

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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.

The Kings Arms pub, which is due to be turned into twelve student flats

‘The Olympics suck’ Will Self finds little reason for fanfare