Fortnightly 16th October 2017 Issue 317 Winner of Best Publication and Best Use of Digital Media 2017
University of Bristol’s Independent Student Newspaper
Students Bristol graduate takes sexual Bristol react to Grecian assault campaign across UK Kebab House fire Nikki Peach News Editor
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Following the news fire fighters had been called to The Grecian Kebab House on Sunday the 8th October, Bristol students were quick to react. The Cromwell Road takeaway has been feeding Bristol locals and students since 1970 and the images of the beloved takeaway on fire quickly spread on social media, seemingly quicker than the fire itself, which was soon extinguished by Avon Fire and Rescue Service. Ben Oakland posted on Clifton and Stoke Bishop Tickets auctioning the final slice of his Grecian pizza bought before the fire as many mourned the temporary loss of the legendary £5 pizzas. ‘Grecian’ trended in Bristol as a result of residents like @lukebbz tweeting: ‘Sad news about the Grecian. If you listen closely, you can hear 3,000 students’ hearts breaking,’ and @Maoooog: ‘Grecian pizza has burned out. Now what’s the point in Gloucester Road?’ Georgia Marsh, a former resident of Cromwell Road and frequent customer at The Grecian said, ‘The Grecian isn’t just a pizza place: it’s a pizza my heart. This is absolutely devastating the jewel of Stokes Croft’s takeaway crown up in the same flames that bake their iconic pizzas. I only hope their hallowed doors will reopen soon, welcoming loyal customers back to enjoy a slice of above average pizza goodness.’ Euan Davies, a third year Sociology student who witnessed the fire told Epigram, ‘Grecian was a staple. I already made contact with Arches Fish Bar and it felt like cheating on your missus.’ The Best of Bristol Facebook page, among the first to break the news, was inundated with students expressing their sorrow through sad reacts and shares, with some people commenting that they needed time off uni to mourn. Luckily, there were no reported injuries and things are starting to look up for Bristol students - at the time of writing it is reported that having only suffered superficial damage, The Grecian should be open within a week of the fire.
Epigram / Harry Coke
planet creation
Flikr / woodleywonderworks
Bristol research shines light on
Comment
/ Hannah Price
Science & Tech
Revolt Sexual As sault
Hannah Price, a Bristol graduate and former Online Editor for Epigram, is continuing a campaign she launched in April at the university against sexual assault. The campaign, which started in Bristol around March this year, is now being taken to universities across the country. The campaign is called #RevoltSexualAssault and can be found on social media using #ItsRevolting and #Jointherevolution. Price decided to develop her campaign further and more widely, which initially ran in isolation, after an upsetting experience she had over the summer. She wants to keep the conversation about sexual assault going, commenting: ‘It’s easy for these stories to go in and out of the press without universities putting any effective changes in place.’ In response, the university told Epigram they ‘have a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment or violence of any form and clear policies are in place to deal with complaints. We always take action in line with these policies when issues are raised with us.’ After visiting each university, videos and stories from volunteers will be uploaded on the campaign blog and compiled into videos. The aim is for people to watch the footage and see that sexual assault is a common and ongoing problem. Victims who volunteer are able to share their stories behind Snapchat filters with their identity protected. Snapchat was chosen as it is a platform that most students are familiar with and gives victims the power to choose how anonymous they are. Hannah Price said: ‘It’s shocking, I cannot think of many people who have not had something happen to them. I get participants who come to me with these long lists and it’s so normalised that we’ve stopped talking about it. ‘It doesn’t just happen in Bristol, it happens everywhere.’
Alex Boulton Co-Editor in Chief
When asked about the objective of her campaign, Price told Epigram, it is ‘to make people feel more comfortable with reporting sexual assault. Eventually, we shouldn’t have to hide behind filters and emojis and everyone should be able to speak without feeling shame and fear.’ In terms of promoting change within the university, Price wants the institutions she visits to acknowledge their duty of care. She said, ‘It is not enough to just be told to go to the police. Universities need one network, someone on campus and in halls who is trained to help with these incidents. ‘There needs to be a stronger connection between the police and universities as well as pastoral workers dedicated to help victims of sexual assault.’ Hannah also added, ‘Bristol told me they had 25 reports of sexual assault in the last year yet I have had over 25 people volunteer to speak to me today.’ The university also said they ‘realise that it can be difficult for students to report these issues. We are working with our Students’ Union to ensure that all students feel able to raise issues and share their experiences, including launching a new online reporting tool to make this process easier.’ The campaign is being followed by BBC3, who are including it in an episode about casual sexual assault and how it is normalised in university campuses. The episode will be part of a series due to be released later in the year.
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Epigram | 16.10.2017
Editorial
A note from Noa...
In an age of endless referendums and easily broken promises (especially to students), it is easy to feel like your voice isn’t being heard. We are constantly promised better accommodation, tuition fees, services and facilities, and often these quietly dissolve. I came to Bristol with a sense that wellestablished systems and institutions like schools, universities and national politics could not be changed. Despite being an ambitious person, I never felt that anything I could do would make a difference. It was only through engaging with Bristol’s wide range of openminded students and societies that this view began to transform. Food waste cafes, body positivity groups, Bristol Fossil Free and PEN are just a fraction of the groups that inspired me to change the way I think. It is groups like this that facilitate conversation about issues which were previously silenced or ignored. This is also where Epigram can help. I found Epigram through friends and writers’ meetings when I was a fresher, and quickly realised it was a place where students could find their voices and feel heard. The meetings and socials were places of discussion, satire, and debate, and above all everyone was, and still is, welcome and included. In addition to the campaign on the front page, this issue includes articles about demonstrations against air pollution (p.4), an SU campaign to make sanitary products more accessible (p.5), and an Epigram video covering students’ reactions to the new tuition fee promises (p.3). Anyone has a right to add their voice to the conversation, whether in support or opposition (as long as it won’t get us taken to court!) - this is a place where you will be listened to and given response. In addition to being a medium for students, we also strive to make active change. Last year we worked with Burst Radio to produce our #14Conversations campaign, where we opened up discussion between politicians, students, and university staff about mental health - which also helped us raise money for Off the Record. Our former Online Editor, Hannah Price, also led a campaign against sexual assault which has since gone national. As our front page reports, this campaign was reopened and the Revolt Sexual Assault campaign now plans to de-normalise sexual assault and help make changes to support systems in universities across the country. This was one of two successful campaigns in just the first weekend of October. The second saw the University signing the Time to Change pledge, a campaign led by charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness. Vice Chancellor Hugh Brady signed this pledge which promises to improve student and staff wellbeing. Our editorial team has been in discussion as to what causes are important to students, and how we can make further change this year. We want to use the creative and innovative ideas of our editors and writers to work with the student body and make a difference that doesn’t just see us to the end of our degrees. I have found it all too easy to fall into cycles of thought that decide for me that I’m too busy to make change with all the work I have. Or sometimes it’s that the effort I do put in is not nearly enough to achieve anything substantial. Perhaps you too have these thoughts, and when thinking about Bristol-related issues specifically, you also don’t want to commit to changing an issue that will no longer affect you when you’ve left. Join me in pushing these thoughts aside for the sake of current and future students – and yourself. It’s so much easier than you think to be at the centre of change. Help us with our campaigns, even if it’s just sharing our hashtag or retweeting our content – or simply reading about it and telling your friends. Whatever your engagement is, it is these conversations that cause the beginnings of mass change of thought. And if you feel strongly about anything, then tell us, our readers, and the university by writing for us. You might even want to contact us with your own ideas for campaigns! It’s time to think sustainability and create fair and responsible systems which will last long after we have left – whether the system is social, physical, or else. We as students have the power to affect change – a fact which is too easily forgotten. Environmental conservation is something I am particularly passionate about, and I am determined to make use of this platform in my final year here. What is it that you care about?
Noa Leach, Co-Editor in Chief
2 Co-Editors in Chief: Alex Boulton and Noa Leach
Online Editor: Georgia Marsh
editor@epigram.org.uk
georgia.marsh@epigram.org.uk
Deputy: Edie Essex Barrett
Online Deputy: Lucy Thompson
Editorial Assistant: Mary Richardson
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From the archives- ‘More places for State School Students...’ ‘...and perhaps the future King?’
This article announces the implementation of a new admissions policy in 1999 to ‘accept less-privileged students’ and encourage ‘promising students from state schools to apply’. The new scheme meant that departments could start reviewing potential students from disadvantaged state schools who may have had vocational qualifications rather than ‘excellent A-level predictions’. This followed a similar policy that the Law Department had implemented in 1993 that ensured lessprivileged students had lower offers. The second half of the article is dedicated to the opposition the policy received from Independent schools. The Independent Schools Council responded that ‘the potential for injustice is considerable’, while Vivian Anthony of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference was ‘horrified’ at the news and expected legal action to be taken against the university - ‘there must be a serious possibility of a parent, whose child has higher grades than others being admitted, testing whether the university was breaking the law.’ The Pro-Vice Chancellor at the time, Professor David Evans, commented ‘we felt we should broaden our base because we were missing out on talent.’ He dismissed criticism from representatives of independent schools, stating ‘it is not a matter of state versus independent... we are simple developing better methods of assessing potential for successful completion of a course at Bristol.’ Matt Springett, then Union President, praised the scheme arguing ‘this is not dumbing down, if anything it is dumbing up.’ The article shares the front page with a piece about the rumour that Prince William was considering attending Bristol to study History of Art from the year 2000, with an article further on in the issue discussing the pros and cons of the future king attending. The article continues to state that Wills Hall was the accommodation the Prince was considering and features a quote from the warden of the time who adds he would not be keen on
the publicity and security issues that would arise if the Prince stayed there. However, the Press Office countered the rumours, saying it was ‘pure speculation’ and that the Prince had not yet submitted an application via UCAS. First published in Epigram on the 8th of October 1999
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Chief Proofreader Lucy Moor Sub-editors on this issue Yasmin Hamidi, Nadia Hassan, Chloë Moloney, Izi Miller, Imogen Benson, Lena Ferriday, Jess BrowneSwinburne, Jamie Muddimer, Samuel Wong, Laila Freeman, Dani Salvalaggio, Alice Chancellor, Max Lewthwaite Managing Director Calli Keane Director of Communications Joe Jones Director of Finance Josh Moloney Deputy Finance Jeremy Mei Head of Ads and Sales Aravin Skantha Ads and Sales Assistants Grace Rose, Frances McNab, Cameron Hooley Head of Marketing Lowri Daniels
Epigram is the independent student newspaper of the University of Bristol. The views expressed in this publication are not those of the University or the Students’ Union. The design, text and photographs are copyright of Epigram and its individual contributors and may not be reproduced without permission.
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Epigram 16.10.2017
News
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@epigramnews Editor: Nikki Peach news@epigram.org.uk
Deputy Editor: Hannah Wakefield
Online Editor: Emma Chittleburgh
Deputy Online Editors: Emily Vernall, Jecca Powell
Tuition fee repayment earnings threshold to be increased Jecca Powell Deputy Online News Editor Graduates will benefit from a delay in the repayment of their student loans, as earnings threshold is to be increased to £25,000. At the Conservative party conference in Manchester, Theresa May announced her decision to increase the tuition fee repayment threshold, along with plans to freeze tuition fee levels, and launch a review of student funding. Under the new system, graduates will start repaying their student loan once their income reaches £25,000, instead of the previous
threshold of £21,000. Tuition fees will also be fixed at £9,250 a year; a decision that will prevent previous plans to raise them to £9,500 next year. Theresa May pledged to review student funding, by looking at potential changes such as the introduction of varying tuition fees for different courses, and a return to maintenance grants. At the conference, May argued the changes would be beneficial; ‘we are pledging to help students with an immediate freeze in maximum fee levels and by increasing the amount graduates can earn before they start paying their fees back.’
However, the policies have been heavily criticised as limited in their attempts to reduce the overall burden of debt on graduates. Older graduates will benefit least by the increase in the fee repayment threshold, which is likely only to apply to those who took out loans after they were raised in 2012. This will mean that, under new plans, those who took out loans before this time will be forced to repay their debt of around £3,000 at a similar rate to those who took loans of £9,000. The announcements were seen by some as little more than a poor attempt to win over young people, who voted largely against the Conservatives in the last election.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s shadow education secretary, called the move ‘a desperate attempt by the Tories to kick the issue into the long grass.’ There was also criticism within the Conservative party, as Michael Heseltine, the former deputy prime minister, argued it was impossible to ‘outbid’ Labour in its promises to younger voters, after Jeremy Corbyn’s recent pledge to scrap tuition fees entirely. Several Labour MPs saw the changes as inadequate. Luke Pollard, Labour MP for Plymouth, tweeted ‘so your choice is annual tuition fees of £9,250 with the Conservatives or annual tuition fees of £0 with Labour.’
Bristol students react to changes in tuition fees
Epigram / Jecca Powell
‘I do just think they should be abolished altogether’
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It sounds quite good, but it’s still too expensive
Most saw the announcements as positive, but many had reservations. One student said; ‘it sounds quite good, but it’s still too expensive.’ Another believed it was ‘good that they’ve raised the cap of when you pay it back’, but that ‘it doesn’t detract from the fact that the Tories did raise tuition fees from £3,000 to £9,000 originally.’ There was a critical opinion among some international students, to whom the changes will not apply, and who expressed anger at the extortionate fees they have to pay, which are sometimes as much as double that of UK students.
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Epigram / Jecca Powell
‘Oh really? That’s great! Yep, I like that’
At the Conservative party conference last week, Theresa May promised to freeze tuition fees at £9,250, and increase the earnings repayment threshold from £21,000 to £25,000. In collaboration with UBTV, Epigram asked Bristol students what they thought of the changes.
Any saving or reassurance to students that they’re trying to make things better is a good thing Epigram / Jecca Powell Epigram / Freya Cox
‘It doesn’t detract from the fact that the Tories did raise tuitiion fees from £3,000 to £9,000’
Many Bristol students expressed disbelief at Theresa May’s claim that the changes will save them £15,700 in debt. Some felt that this figure proved the value of the changes, with one adding that ‘any saving or reassurance to students that they’re trying to make things better is a good thing.’
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Jecca Powell Deputy Online News Editor
However, several of those interviewed saw the savings as inadequate, with one student arguing that Theresa May was only ‘trying to pander to younger voters rather than actually initiating a long term commitment to help them.’
It’s pretty outrageous how much we spend on university
Most Bristol students felt that not enough was being done to reduce tuition fee debt. One said; ‘it is pretty outrageous how much we spend on university. I think we are overpaying, especially considering what’s been in the media recently about Vice Chancellors and how much they’re paid. I think there is a lot of money in education that’s not getting to us.’ Some endorsed Jeremy Corbyn’s proposals to scrap tuition fees entirely. One student believed ‘they should be abolished altogether’, as she argued ‘we shouldn’t be having to pay for our education.’
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We shouldn’t be having to pay for our education
However, some were against the abolition of fees. One student said; ‘a lot of people at university are very middle class. I don’t want the burden to be on people who don’t earn as much money as me or my parents will in taxation.’ All of those interviewed told Epigram and UBTV that the announcements will not affect their vote at the next election. Some felt that the changes were not substantial enough to sway their opinion, while many pointed out that tuition fees were not the sole driving force behind their political views. Watch the full video online.
Epigram 16.10.17
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Epigram / Emily Vernall
Mental health campaigners Jonny Benjamin and Neil Laybourn
Mental health campaigners give talk on Time to Change pledge
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Award-winning mental health campaigners Jonny Benjamin and Neil Laybourn have shared their inspirational and incredible story with Bristol students and staff, to honour the University making the commitment to the Time to Change pledge.
The event was completely sold out, demonstrating the support for mental health awareness
The event on Friday 6th October was completely sold out, demonstrating the support for mental health awareness within the University community. The pair shared the moving tale of their first
encounter on a cold winter’s morning in 2008, when Neil’s simple act of reaching out and starting a conversation convinced Jonny not to take his life by jumping off London’s waterloo bridge. Giving this talk almost ten years on, the importance of simply reaching out to others was still at the focus of their message. The audience were shown how through opening up as they did at the event, Time to Change aims to end cultures of stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health by normalising conversations and discussion around the issue. In conversation with Epigram, Jonny expressed how he hopes the campaign will help achieve further parity between attitudes towards physical and mental health. He explained ‘I think mental health has to be a priority in terms of education. Physical health education has always been a priority. There has always been a focus on obesity and other physical health problems amongst young people. Yet, mental health has never had that spotlight. Time to Change will absolutely help with that. We know a number of schools who have signed the pledge and it has completely changed the culture in terms of mental health. It really does change an organisation. Particularly when an educational organisation signs the pledge, it is a message to
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Emily Vernall Deputy Online News Editor
students and parents that we are going to take mental health seriously and we are going to address it.’ The University is now one of over 600 organisations who have committed to sign the pledge nationwide. With research by the Mental Health Foundation suggesting that 75% of mental health problems are established by the age of 24, this is an especially important step for higher education institutions.
Hugh Brady hopes to ‘establish our University as a beacon of best practice’
At the event, Vice-Chancellor Hugh Brady introduced the practical changes being made at the University this year to support the wellbeing of its staff and students. Brady told the audience that with positive progression and research, he
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hopes to ‘establish our University as a beacon of best practice.’
Mark Ames, Director of Student Services says ‘This will provide another port of call for students’
The University’s plan includes a scale up of the Student Services and investment into support with University residences. 28 full-time mental health advisers and managers have also been appointed and will be embedded in to academic departments to provide personal and tailored support. Mark Ames, Director of Student Services at the University, told Epigram: ‘This will provide another port of call for students. The wellbeing advisors will spend time in their respective schools and faculties, getting to know staff and students.’ He also explained that Time to Change is a whole institution approach to wellbeing, which includes increasing investment into staff mental health support in addition to student support.
Park Street blocked for demonstration against air pollution Nikki Peach News Editor
Epigram / Nikki Peach
As part of the ‘Stop killing Bristolians’ movement, several Bristol student activists protested against pollution this afternoon by blocking off the top of Park Street. The protest was organised by the group RisingUp, a growing network of people who seek positive societal change. With the support of police officers, the demonstrators aimed to raise awareness of pollution levels in the city. They covered the top of the road by the traffic lights with a banner which read, ‘Stop Killing Bristolians. Cut Air Pollution.’ Mild disruption was caused during the protest on one of Bristol’s busiest streets, forcing buses to stop their journeys and cars to redirect their routes. Cyclists were able to dismount and ride around the demonstration, avoiding any major inconveniences. Stuart Basden, one of the protest leaders, informed Epigram that 300 deaths a year can be attributed to exposure to both nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter. This
amounts to 8.5% of deaths in Bristol per year. He said; ‘We are just blocking the street for five minutes to highlight this problem.’ The demonstration lasted no longer than ten minutes and involved Basden and other protesters chanting from a megaphone, holding up banners and handing out flyers to the public. They chanted ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way! Clean air today!’ The police involvement meant the demonstration was carried out peacefully, their presence meant motorists were less aggressive towards the protestors. Second-year Modern Languages student, Kim Schewitz, witnessed the protest on her way back from Cabot Circus and said, ‘this is quite disruptive, but I think it’s an important cause.’ Olivia Critoph, second-year Sociology student, who took part in the demonstration by handing out flyers said, ‘It’s really important to raise awareness of how bad the air pollutions is in Bristol, even if only a handful of people listen.’ Once the demonstration was complete the group cleared the area and the road reopened as normal.
Demonstration held at the top of Park Street
Epigram 16.10.17
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Students arrested at #DivestBarclays protest bank branch. Why wouldn’t they take it to Canary Wharf?’ The students partaking believe this type of protest is the best way to raise awareness of the bank’s involvement with fossil fuels investment and global warming. They told Epigram, ‘We want people in the office to see an uprising and know that what they put their money into is unethical. Despite the two arrests, they gained over 50 signatures for their petition and received a lot of attention from students and passing members of the public.
This type of protest gets people’s attention
The society has also recently been involved in a protest with the Green Party, and are seeking to get support from local government with more of their campaigning. When asked if today’s consequences have made them reluctant to protest at Barclays on Queens Road again, they said ‘no way, we will definitely do this again.’ The students were fined but have not received further prosecution.
Epigram / Nikki Peach
Two students from the University of Bristol were arrested outside Barclays on Queens Road as a result of their protest against fossil fuel investment on the 28th of September. Several students, some of whom are part of environmental groups such as Fossil Free Society, sprayed chalk on the walls and doors of the branch reading ‘stop funding global crisis’, ‘#DivestBarclays’ and ‘400bn into fossil fuel industry.’ They used chalk spray so that the graffiti could be removed at the arrival of the police and had a bucket of water and sponges ready to wash off the writing. They hoped that by washing away the graffiti they would not be prosecuted but the two students who sprayed the building have been arrested for criminal damage. The protest also involved society members and supporters handing out leaflets to passers-by and getting signatures for their petition against Barclays. Barclays currently manage the University of Bristol banking and the participating students claim they invest £700,000 into the bank. One protester said ‘Barclays are practically funding global warming’ and ‘we want to get the university out of bed with Barclays.’ A couple who witnessed the protesters whilst walking past in Clifton commented, ‘I see what they are doing but this is just a small provincial
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Nikki Peach News Editor
Chalk graffiti on bank wall
It’s that time of the month! SU hosts Period Party Nikki Peach News Editor
Flickr / m.p.3
Free sanitary products will be available at the SU
Des Ibekwe - Equality, Liberation and Access (ELA) officer - has started a campaign to get free sanitary products at university. Free sanitary products were available at the ASS Library and the Students’ Union from the 9th-13th of October, with a Period Party being held on the Friday of that week. The party took place at the SU Balloon Bar from 6.30pm. The event was created to raise awareness of the issues behind taxed sanitary products and period poverty. Ibekwe says: ‘Sanitary products should be treated as an essential just like toilet paper, soap or even condoms all of which are available for free at the University.’ The ELA officer will lobby the University to provide free sanitary products in all study spaces and student health centres. ‘Periods are unavoidable so in order for those who menstruate to be properly functioning
members of society, to go to work, to school, and to university we need sanitary products,’ Ibekwe commented. At the Period Party were guest speakers from ‘The Homeless Period’ and Bristol Women’s Voice as well as music, activities, period-themed baked goods and the opportunity to meet student support groups. The ELA officer also commented, ‘Period poverty is real and as an educational institution we have a duty to ensure no barriers to education exist for those who suffer from it. It is a hot button issue with retail giants such as Waitrose and Tesco absorbing the 5% tax and Scottish towns piloting schemes where the National Health Service provides free products for young people. ‘The institution should commit to ensuring there are no barriers to education posed by biological functions in the same way, admirably, it seeks to look after our sexual health via free STI/D checks and condoms on tap.’ You can support the campaign by searching ‘Bristol SU Period Party’ on Facebook and signing the petition attached to their events.
Student Health Service doctor nominated for Bristol-wide award Hannah Wakefield Deputy News Editor Dr Dominique Thompson, the director of the Student Health Service, has been nominated by a former student for the Bristol Post’s Healthcare Professional of the Year award.
Dr Thompson has worked for the Health Service
University of Bristol
She was one of the first people who made me feel like it wasn’t a weakness to ask for help
as a GP for 17 years. The former student who nominated her had been struggling with depression and was in the final year of his degree. He has said of Dr Thompson that she ‘normalised mental health’ for him and had an ‘instinctive grasp of the associated guilt and shame that can come with it’. He went on to say that Thompson ‘was also one of the first people who made me feel like it wasn’t a weakness to ask for help. ‘She made some of my issues bearable and understood that the process of recovering from years of feeling so low wasn’t instant.’ The award which she had been nominated for is open to health care professionals who deal with all types of health issues, both physical and mental. The results are to be announced at an evening awards’ ceremony on 25th October.
Dr Dominique Thompson has been nominated for an award
Epigram
16.10.2017
Features
@epigramfeatures
Editor: Ellen Jones
Deputy Editor: Dani Bass
Online Editor: Olivia Cooke
features@epigram.org.uk
Once a cheat, always a cheat? Ellen Jones examines the government’s intention to clamp down on ‘essay mills’
Following a report by the Quality Assurance Agency last year, last week, Universities minister Jo Johnson announced a pledge to ‘clamp down’ on so-called essay mills for students. The QAA’s investigation found that hundreds of companies were exchanging students’ cash for university work, and charging up to £7,000 for the service. Apparently so popular and widespread were these services that companies were even found distributing leaflets on university campuses last year.
Mr Johnson, announcing his intention to reduce the prevalence of this cheating method, claimed that paid essay-writing services ‘not only undermines our world-class universities, but devalues the hardearned qualifications of those who don’t cheat’. As I read this announcement on the BBC website, I found myself nodding along, huffing and puffing with indignation at the outrageously righteous behaviour of such privileged, undisciplined students. Who would be so lazy?! And who on earth has the money, above their £9000 fees, to
by exploiting these anxieties is disgusting.’ Of course, this is true. When students see advertisements telling them they can do better and can reach their goals more easily with this one simple trick, their fears of not doing well are surely just exacerbated. But other than simply block these tempting websites, as Mr Johnson has pledged to do, how are students being helped out of a dependency on these professional essay writers?
Yes, cheating is a definite act of misconduct, but it seems as though not all ‘cheats’ are simply privileged, lazy students
At Bristol, such ‘misconduct’ appears to be treated as a disciplinary matter. Under the university’s ‘Regulations on Research Misconduct 2017/18’ it is outlined that any cases of ‘plagiarism, or dishonest use of unacknowledged sources’ will be referred to the Vice Chancellor, who ‘may take immediate action under disciplinary regulations’ or may appoint a panel to review the claim. It also appears as though the university is making efforts to support students more academically, perhaps as a prevention method for cheating. Just a few days ago I received an email from the humanities support office inviting all students to 1-1 study skills tutorials, bookable via blackboard. Just a quick Google of ‘essay support at
the University of Bristol’ produced a mass of results regarding the services available for students: an online resource called ArtsSkills, aimed to help students realise and capitalise on their existing skills; Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellows, intended to help students improve their writing ability; and various counselling and pastoral support services to help students cope better with their workloads. For me, it seems that this kind of engagement with students and open, inviting, academic support is essential in order to reduce cheating at university. It’s refreshing to see the university approaching this difficult
issue with attempts at prevention and cure. Yes, cheating is a definite act of misconduct, but it seems as though not all ‘cheats’ are simply privileged, lazy students with, as my mum would say, ‘more money than sense’. I’m glad that this is hitting the headlines, as we will all benefit from a fairer, more honest system of academic work. Whilst the government looks into blocking these ‘exploitative’ websites and encouraging universities to employ software to spot changes in students’ writing styles, we should continue to encourage Bristol to not only punish but support students who are struggling to keep up.
Epigram/ Ellen Jones
“ And who on earth has the money... to splash on professional essay writers to bag themselves a First?!
splash on professional essay writers to bag themselves a First?! I shared my outrage with my flatmates. ‘Mmmmh… you can see why people do it’ one shamelessly admitted. ‘Yeah… I mean, if it’s that or missing your grade, then it’s worth the money, right?’. At first, I was appalled. Then I realised that my friend was right. We’ve spent so much money on our university education – our fees, our books, our living costs – all for this one magical piece of paper that will hopefully get us to where we want to be in life. For all of us who want to be professionals, whether that’s journalists, lawyers, doctors or actors, the fact is that today, we need our 2:1 or above to prove our worth in the big wide world. I started to think that actually, for those who are struggling to hit their target grades, the idea of parting with £100 in order to secure a solid mark is very understandable. Because that’s what university, in the face of so much marketization, has become about. In reality, I’m here to buy my way into a better life. Is paying for an essay mill really any different? Amatey Doku, the NUS vice-president for higher education similarly sees the prevalence of this form of cheating as part of a far larger problem in British universities. He noted that some students are having to spend so much time earning money during their studies that they just don’t have enough time for academic work. ‘Many websites play on the vulnerabilities and anxieties of students, particularly homing in on students’ fears that their academic English and their referencing may not be good enough… Making money
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Ellen Jones Features Editor
Academic support is essential in order to reduce cheating at university
Ireland takes the right to choose to the ballot box Jessica Doran discusses whether Ireland’s upcoming abortion referendum is a step forward Jessica Doran Second Year, English Last week, Ireland’s Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar announced that in May/ June of 2018 the Republic of Ireland will hold a referendum to re–evaluate the country’s abortion laws. Since 1983, the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Act has established the rights of the unborn child. This has made any termination of a child illegal unless in exceptional circumstances such as putting the mother in severe physical danger. The Catholic church, a major influence over Ireland’s political decision making as the country’s main religion, were highly in favour of these strict abortion practices. In 2012, as many as 84.2% of the population described themselves as Catholic, but more recently, surveys and referendums are noticing a decline in
religiously influenced decision making amongst the population. Last year, Ireland became the first country to ask its electorate to legalise gay marriage, resulting in more than a 70% ‘yes’ vote in many parts of Dublin. Leo Varadkar is also Ireland’s first homosexual Prime Minister, despite the country’s previously strong homophobic stance. Perhaps this is a sign that Ireland is becoming more liberal and diverting from a traditionally Catholic political consensus. Based upon the 2015 gay marriage referendum, it is evident Ireland are intent on enabling their country to decide the outcome of these controversial laws. Until last year, other countries such as the United Kingdom had legalised gay marriage based on the government’s decision alone. The decision to hold a referendum has raised the question as to whether the whole population should be voting on a
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decision that only concerns a marginal audience. Should heterosexual couples have voted on a gay couple’s right to marriage? And now, should a man be given the right to vote on what may be considered as a women’s rights issue?
A condom failing us shouldn’t result in unprepared women faced with unplanned motherhood
This question has been raised after those in favour of legalising abortion have targeted the argument as a cause for supporting women’s rights. Mumsnet took the question ‘should men be able to vote in Ireland’s abortion referendum’ with a mixed response. Whilst some insisted that both parents should have a say over the life of their unborn child, others
insisted that men should not be allowed to dictate what a woman can do with her own body. A Mumsnet user, SpaghettiAndMeatballs, left a comment.. ‘It doesn’t sit right with me, the idea you can vote on something that will never affect you…Men being able to vote on what women do with their bodies is infantilising, placing them in a guardianship role that they do not have’. Ellen Jones, Epigram’s Features editor, agrees. ‘This is a really positive move, although monumentally delayed, by Ireland. In the 21st century, women should be able to enjoy relationships and sex without being punished and terrified if they were to end up pregnant. As students, we’re all here to get an education, to land a good job, and start a life which will set us up to start a family, if that’s what we want. A condom breaking,accidentally skipping
a pill or contraception simply failing us, shouldn’t result in unprepared women faced with unplanned motherhood.’ Currently, the law stands that women can face up to 14 years imprisonment for taking abortion pills which they can purchase online. However, the risk of abortion remaining illegal has the potential to put women’s lives in more danger. The UK’s Abortion Act made abortion legal in 1967 for pregnancies up to 24 weeks (or no time limit if the woman’s life was at risk) partly for this reason. It is legal for Irish women to travel abroad to get an abortion, but on average this costs them up to £4,000 in travel, accommodation and medical costs. The referendum could propose a monumental change for Ireland, and will affect the whole population whatever the outcome. It seems the Irish people will have a tough decision to make this following May.
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How far is porn penetrating student life? Sally Patterson and Jess Klein question the extent of porn’s effect on students Third Years, Sociology/Politics
“ Do student porn preferences have any role to play in the unprecedented numbers of students facing sexual assault?
And it’s not all that great for the consumer either, as the same research summary by the National Centre for Sexual Exploitation reports. ‘The more pornography a man watches, the more likely he is to deliberately conjure images of pornography during sex to maintain arousal, and to experience decreased enjoyment of intimate behaviours with a partner.’ In other words, the more porn one consumes, the more porn they need to feel gratified. What’s more, modern technology has made accessing and downloading porn easier than ever before. Students at Bristol are no strangers to Apps such as Snapchat and Instagram,
Flickr/rawpixel.com
It’s not hard to find pornography; it only takes a couple of clicks on the internet, a brief scan of the magazine isle, or even just turning on the TV to find breasts, bums and more. Few students will come to university having never been exposed to some form of pornography. In a research summary of ‘Pornography and Public Health’ prepared by the National Centre for Sexual Exploitation, ‘a study of (American) university students found that 93% of boys and 62% of girls had seen Internet pornography during adolescence’. So, most students do not come to university as a ‘porn virgin’. In fact, these statistics suggest that many children are likely to have come across pornographic content before most parents had The Sex Talk with their children, and long before any form of Sex Education has been taught to them at school. With such wide-spread availability of pornography from such young ages, we must ask what effect this is having on students and their attitude to sex and relationships. Pornography has been widely criticised for constructing unrealistic views of women and sex, whilst simultaneously being presented as a platform for female empowerment and exploration of their sexual identity. The
former opinion claims that in the act of making pornography, the woman (or man) submits themselves to the demands of a patriarchal market; the very term ‘pornography’ comes from the Greek ‘porne’ meaning ‘female sex slave’.
Porn has become more widespread and easier to access since the rise of the internet
which enable instant communication, but do they have a role to play in students’ demand for porn? One second-year student at the University of Bristol thinks they can actually be quite harmful; ‘After exchanging numbers with a guy in Fresher’s, he began sending me texts demanding to see nude pictures of myself. After initially saying no, I felt pressured enough to send him a topless photo. This obviously wasn’t enough because I received a message saying ‘is that all?’ I’d hate to think what more vulnerable people might have sent.’ This resonates with the longstanding debate around the correlation
between consumption of pornography and rape culture; do student porn preferences have any role to play in the unprecedented numbers of students facing sexual harassment and assault on campus? Equally, there are cases to be made for people who find porn sexually liberating and an exploration of their sexual identity. Unsurprisingly, many students were outraged when, in 2015, Ormond College, Melbourne University blocked porn websites on their WiFi network, to supposedly enable students to develop a healthy attitude towards sex. The question must then be asked, was this an exercise of the
‘duty of care’ universities have over their students, or a devastating blow to students’ freedom of expression? Of-course, debates around depictions of sex in pornography can be heard from across the sexual spectrum. For example, a Third Year Bristol student told Epigram that the frequent lack of contraception in porn videos can ‘stimulate unsafe sexual practices amongst students, and ignores the risks of many sexual diseases, such as HIV, that are unfortunately prevalent within the gay community’.
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Sally Patterson and Jess Klein
There are cases to be made for people who find porn sexually liberating
In an age where pornographic images are instantly and easily accessed we cannot ignore the role that pornography now plays in the sexual education of children and adolescents. Moreover, in a campus environment where we are fighting to challenge longstanding stereotypes, how much leverage does pornography have in creating and cementing attitudes towards gender dynamics and our personal sexual identities?
Has our visible online presence rendered us invisible in the real world? Jess Browne-Swinburne looks at why we engage with current affairs online, but not in real-life
Over the last decade, we have seen our online presence as individuals, organisations and nations grow from zero to hero, and that hero is infinite. Ever-growing, every developing, and consistently amazing us with the possibilities it provides. In this day and age, we live our lives on internet time. What we get can done in a day, an hour or even 5 minutes is more than one could ever have imagined 20 years ago. Half an hour is all you need to send that important e-mail, schedule a meeting, buy your food for the week, work out how to fix your washing machine, buy tickets for that art exhibition, apply for an internship and sign an e-petition to stop Topman printing vicious pictures of Rottweilers on their merchandise. It’s giving the dog a bad name! The internet continues to satisfy our daily needs. We carry out each task with the greatest of ease, with as little effort as possible, without moving from the comfort of our sofa. The worldwide web has come to permeate our lives in every sense. Our health problems, both physical and mental, are reconciled online. We google our symptoms and dangerously
self-diagnose, just as we confide in computerised cognitive behavioural therapy provided by the NHS to treat our depression, anxiety and panic disorders. It’s an all-you-can-eat counter for absolutely anything you want. So whilst we’re letting the internet access the inner most workings of our minds, why not give it the chance access to the inner workings of our government, providing it with free reign to dictate debate through online petitions.
“ Do we choose to bolster support for issues we care about through our e-presence rather than our physical presence?
The e-petition has gradually gained momentum as yet another internet phenomenon, providing a global platform for exchange of ideas and concerns of citizens all over the world. Change.org, iPetition, 38 degrees and directgov, are only a few of the petition sites that provide you with the tools necessary to build up a following for
what you think matters. Whether that be your strongly felt belief that Trump should not be allowed to visit the UK, or a lifelong goal to ensure a hotdog is added to the emoji set (with both the ketchup and mustard involved – obviously!), the possibilities are endless. Every one of us can accurately record our opinions on every single possible issue we can think of. So, whilst the internet has created a new dependency, it has also managed to foster a new type of democracy. But why is it that these issues we feel so strongly about, we choose to bolster support for through our e-presence rather than our physical presence? Is there not something to say for the power of standing out in the streets, with your placard, amongst a sea of like-minded people, in trying to make a change? Here in the UK, we are all born with the right to freedom of speech, and live within a system that is constantly adapting according to our democratic needs. It is therefore interesting to consider that the majority of us are more likely to insert our name and email into an e-petition, rendering us an invisible and faceless code on a database, than pick up our placards and storm down the streets, in the hope that our visible public presence and demands will echo down the corridors of power, and into the heart
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Jess Browne-Swinburne Third Year, History
of the decision-making machines. Harriet Bell, third year Film student, tells us how she sees it. In an ideal word, she ‘wouldn’t be a keyboard warrior protester’, preferring to be ‘an active protester, out there, getting it right’’. ‘Realistically, out of ease and timewise, I would almost always default to the online petition option’ she admits.
To sign an e-petition seems far more professional and peaceful
Rosie Carbutt, Third year Psychology student however, states that it is not so much to do with laziness opting for the e-petition, but rather what it is that she believes protests can represent. ‘To sign an e-petition seems far more professional and peaceful, which in turn makes a point to policy-makers that as citizens, we are prepared to calmly negotiate with them. Often, the image a protest can give off is a lot more irrational and mob-like compared
with the silent force of a petition with over 100,000 signatures.’ Either way, whether signing epetitions is just a default of your own busy life living on internet time, or if it’s your preferred method of making your voice heard, the effectiveness of it as a political tool is limited. Whilst your petition may reach the stages of debate in the House of Commons once it gets to 100,000 signatures - even this does not secure its place in the green bag hanging behind the speaker’s chair - most don’t go much further than that. More than half of petition requests submitted to the site by the public are rejected before they reach publication stage. The sad truth for all the epetitioners out there, is that the success of what may seem at first to be a powerful e-movement, set to turn the tides of social, economic, cultural or educational policy, relies on one individual: a backbencher willing to champion your cause. Without this golden ticket, the gates to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory of change remain firmly locked. It is at this point, as we peer through those ever-impenetrable gates, that we must realise the power of picking up a placard, and rallying together as a visible and physical presence, rather than as an invisible database of emails.
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The value of sadness: why are we so obsessed with pursuing happiness? Asher Breuer Weil discusses society’s constant strive for happiness Asher Breuer Weil Third Year, English
As an experiment, type into Google ‘films about happiness’ – what you should see is an inexhaustibly long list of films all centred around happiness, the pursuit of it and how to achieve it. Having done this, type in ‘films about sadness’ – now you should see a selection of about 6 or 7 films, one of which is Pixar’s Inside Out, and another is a Japanese tale about a dog. There clearly exists a preference here. This isn’t to say that there aren’t any films about sadness, rather it suggests that this is a topic limited to the arthouse, to the less popular, outside the main stream of discussion. Equally, browse fauxpsychiatric pages on Google, and the overwhelming majority of articles you’ll see will be on ‘how to be happy’, ‘how to cure depression’ and ‘ways to cope when depression hits’. Again, the idea of welcoming sadness is almost non-existent.
‘happy’ than they are. The problem with this is that it’s cyclical; the more I lie about my perceived happiness, the more everyone else tries to exceed it, yet the more they exceed it, the more I should have to strive to exceed them. Of course, this is all ridiculous when looked at from the outside, yet once embroiled in the world of social media, these ludicrous habits become remarkably hard to kick, and it becomes difficult to realise the absurdity of it all. As an English student who has spent time studying older works of literature, the terms ‘sadness’ and ‘melancholy’ seem to occur in a far greater capacity than they do today, a fact I found to be telling. Back in the 16th Century, the idea of being sad was almost a positive one. There are texts advising on how best to be sad, of the virtues of it and how it brings you closer to God. Sadness is an emotion that humbles you, and allows you to think in greater depth. Those
who experienced great sadness were typically those branded with the tag of ‘genius’. The discourse of happiness is obviously discussed as well, but bears no preference in the face of sadness. This shows that over time we have come to bury feelings of unhappiness, due to its perceived weakness.
“ Understanding that melancholy is inevitable makes you stronger as a person
Sadness however, much like depression, is a word that lacks romanticism. To be happy is obviously a romantic dream, an aspiration (albeit one in vain) that we all hope for. What’s been neglected is the romanticism of melancholy; the idea that you welcome the uninvited sadness when it comes, for it will always come,
and embrace the spell it puts you under. As Keats wrote in one of the great Odes: ‘When the melancholy fit shall fall Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud Feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes She dwells with Beauty’ Indulging in melancholy is a virtue. It carries a ‘Beauty’, what Keats would probably define as thoughtfulness and humbleness, a time to reflect on the things in your life that you would never consider whilst in a state of happiness. What Keats wouldn’t have known however is that there’s scientific grounding to his claims. Quoting the cultural historian Tiffany Watt Smith, ‘stronger physical and mental health is correlated with experiencing a range of emotions instead of just being happy or content all the time. It means allowing yourself to feel sad, angry, irritable, bored, and frustrated. All the things we’re
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Why I’m saying this is because it’s representative of a more general attitude in today’s society that seeks to subvert sadness in the face of all things ‘happy’. Our world is tailored to the pursuit of happiness; a pursuit that can only lead to one feeling inadequate or lesser than everyone else. Now is this actually wrong? Surely a society that strives for happiness is a good one? In moderation, yes, yet we have taken it too far. The more one uses Instagram and Facebook, the more one sees how ‘happy’ everyone’s life is. Very few people, at least in my experience, ever post anything sad. Even when I know a friend is having a rough time, you’ll look at their social media presence and it will clearly show an opposite reality. So, what’s happening is that we are lying in the face of public judgement. We see that everyone else is unwaveringly ‘happy’, and as such are faced with the pressure to make sure that we are equally, if not more
We live in a society which is so against the idea of sadness
told we ought not to feel.’ Understanding that life is a struggle will enable you to cope better with that struggle when it eventually comes, understanding that melancholy is inevitable makes you stronger as a person.
Sadness is an emotion that humbles you, and allows you to think in greater depth
Much like anything, overdosing on happiness is detrimental. The social pressure to be happy is enormous, especially with the Instagram accounts of people like the Kardashians and the Youtube vlogs of Casey Neistat. If you live by what you see on your screen, as many people now do, you’ll be in an eternal struggle to prove that your life is as theirs
Flikr / Nicu Buculei Flikr / Lesley Scott
“ Our world is tailored to the pursuit of happiness
is, that your life is as happy. What then happens when things go wrong? When you have nothing to post online? Rather than melancholy, depression and anxiety will take its place. It’s telling that the rising anxiety and depression figures coincide with younger and younger generations growing up in a happy-centric world. It’s unsustainable; no one can live a perfect life. If you find yourself tailoring your Instagram to make it as perfect as possible, realise that you yourself might be the victim of your own actions, that you are part of the circle. Of course, this is nothing new; the pitfalls of social media are welldocumented. Rather, it’s the emphasis on understanding melancholy that I think is so vital to becoming a truly happier society. If its worth anything, of all the emotions in Inside Out, it’s sadness that saves the day, sadness that can be the hero, but only if you let it.
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Epigram 16.10.2017
Comment
@epigramcomment Editor: Ed Southgate
Deputy Editor: Jake Porter
Online Editor: Cameron Scheijde
@ed_southgate comment@epigram.org.uk
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Epigram Comment is the home of the student voice. The opinions expressed here are from individual students with an individual perspective. As an independent newspaper, we do not affiliate or associate ourselves with any one view, but aim to publish all views of the student body as and when they come to us. If you would like to respond with an opposing point of view in a subsequent issue, please contact the Editors.
We must act on huge dropout rates
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Max Langer considers the potential causes and consequences of rising dropout rates Max Langer First Year, FIlm and TV with Innovation Going to university is a huge investment in both time and money. We should be worried, then, when we see some courses around the UK with first year dropout rates standing at 67%. We need to look at the issues causing people to drop out and come up with comprehensive solutions; people do not drop out on a whim. What might cause a student to drop out? In recent times, going to university has become a much more accessible experience for people, rather than only being for a privileged few. Regardless of the increasing opportunities opening outside of our traditional concept of higher education, such as a big push from the government to promote apprenticeships, there has been a building pressure for young people to go to university - even if they are not particularly driven to go or suited to it. You can see this when you look at the top ten universities with the lowest dropout rates: eight out of the ten are Russell Group universities, and six out of the ten are among the ten hardest universities to get in to, according to the Complete University Guide. This shows that when high-achieving students push themselves to get to university, they are much more likely to stay there and complete their degree.
However, for many young people, their career path is not so clear cut; they rely much more on their school and family to guide them post A-Levels. There is a severe lack of career guidance in secondary schools across the UK. Cuts in recent years have meant that schools have been unable to implement an adequate system of support, leaving students without the necessary counsel to make informed decisions about their future. We need a complete overhaul of how schools guide their students, so that they can find the opportunity that is right for them. The issue extends outside of career guidance. Our whole schooling system is geared towards exam grades, with A-Levels proving completely inadequate in preparing students for university life. Students
By adjusting our school system, we could prepare and guide students in a much better way
We must also look at the ways in which universities teach as another possible cause for people dropping out. Student numbers keep rising, forcing universities to switch from smaller seminars to lectures to accommodate, and - as anyone who has ever been to a lecture can testify - they are extremely boring. When you are sitting in a large theatre it is hard not to lose focus and become disinterested. Seminars and tutorials are proven to be more engaging and interactive, improving both students’ academic and social lives. While dropout rates are slowly rising in general, Bristol seems to be bucking the trend with one of the lowest rates in the UK. Why could this be? Firstly, Bristol is a wonderful place to live. According to Rough Guides, Bristol is the ‘coolest’ city in the UK, and it is easy to see why. Cultural opportunities litter the streets of Bristol: great independent cinemas like the Watershed or the Cube; museums of art and history like the Arnolfini and the SS Great Britain; plenteous outdoor areas to explore like the Clifton Downs or Brandon Hill. Add on to this a great clubbing scene, and shows that happen every day at venues such as the Fleece or the Hippodrome, and you are left with an unbeatable combination. These things may initially seem like they have nothing to do with dropping out of university, but being in a place that you love can significantly affect how you feel. Thus, by simple virtue of being located where it is, our university has a head start on other universities in less exciting cities. Our university also does a lot of things right to stop students from dropping out, including having a
quite flexible policy on transferring between courses. This is a great resolution, as it means that students who may have simply chosen the wrong course are able to easily switch to a programme that might suit them better. I myself switched course and I have no doubt that it stopped me from dropping out. Bristol also has a strong culture of student societies, with over 330 student-led groups. Not only do these let students pursue both new and existing hobbies, but they also add to the growth of social groups across years and subjects. Any students getting involved in societies can create new and diverse friendships, making university a much more welcoming place to be. This can possibly be the silver bullet for reducing people dropping out: even if students dislike the city or their course, a group of close friends might be what gets them through. There are many reasons why university dropout rates are getting higher, and they should be a
warning sign for universities and schools across the country. When students’ needs and concerns are not effectively taken into account, increased dropout rates are an inevitable consequence.
When students’ needs and concerns are not effectively taken into account, increased dropout rates are an inevitable consequence
The government is taking notice, with Minister for Universities Jo Johnson speaking out that universities need to start showing more ‘value for money’ . With a university funding review underway soon, perhaps dropout figures will play an important role.
With more and more students turning their back on their courses, should universities be taking dropout rates more seriously?
What the #editors are saying...
Epigram / Ed Southgate Instagram / bristol_SU
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We need to look at the issues causing people to drop out and come up with comprehensive solutions
start their course with a huge learning curve to conquer, which adds extra pressure at an already stressful time. The International Baccalaureate addresses some of these issues, forcing students to study a broader range of subjects as well as requiring independent study and extracurricular participation. By similarly adjusting our school system, we could prepare and guide students in a much better way. They would be able to find the path that is right for them, and we would hopefully see a reduction in the number of people needing to drop out or transfer courses.
Epigram 16.10.2017
World politics: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize UK politics: The major parties have held their annual conferences, with Theresa May coughing up a shambolic speech and Labour skirting the issue of Brexit Bristol politics: Tensions rise between councillors and Marvin Rees, as the Bristol Mayor calls them ‘untrustworthy’ for speaking against the appointment process of former Chief Executive
A response to the news...
A response to the round-up...
Labour: define your Brexit stance
Ollie Smith argues that Labour must shake free of Momentum’s influence and take the lead with Brexit
Ollie Smith Bristol Labour Students, TU Officer Labour surprised the nation by gaining seats in June’s election, and is currently cruising on a wave of populist optimism alongside perhaps the most shambolic government in living memory. This has given Jeremy Corbyn the confidence at the Labour Conference to present himself as a Prime Minister in waiting. Something which captured the headlines at Conference, however, was the debate surrounding Brexit, or rather the lack of it. Brexit is the priority issue of our time and, unless properly dealt with, will seriously impede Labour’s efforts to bring equality and ensure that people can achieve their aspirations. The Labour manifesto, for example, credited raising corporation tax as a key means of funding its investment schemes. The potential economic fallout of Brexit, however, could seriously damage businesses and thus Labour’s ability to fund its socialist programme. Why then was the most pressing political challenge of our time not properly debated at Conference? While a final vote on current Labour Brexit policy was eventually held, there was no debate or voting on potential policies such as remaining in the single market. The far left campaign and pressure group Momentum had a plethora of members at the Labour conference and used its new-found power to block meaningful debate or votes on Brexit, instead pushing for other issues. This seems strange given such a large number of Corbyn supporters are young, outward-looking and
pro-EU. Jeremy Corbyn, however, is historically a Eurosceptic. The 1983 Labour manifesto - the last time Labour proposed such a radical programme like that of June - called for a withdrawal from the EU as it apparently impeded the implementation of a socialist agenda. The lack of Brexit debate at Conference therefore suggests the leadership is at odds with the majority of Labour members and fears being pressed to accept potential policies like a commitment to remaining in the single market. Momentum chose to block committing the leadership to something the majority of Labour members want, instead choosing to back Corbyn’s Euroscepticism. I cannot help but wonder how many Momentum members agreed with this stance.
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Why was the most pressing political challenge of our time not properly debated?
The Party’s official approach is to renegotiate access but not remain a member of the single market during a transitional period once the two year exit negotiations have ended. The EU, however, has so far taken a hard-line approach to compromise, first with David Cameron and now David Davis. High profile Labour politicians such as Sadiq Khan last week spoke about wanting to remain in the single market; this may be a more realistic goal that benefits Britain best and is in-
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Political round-up
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tune with the Party membership’s wishes. Article 50 was triggered without a clear plan or agreement within the cabinet and, as Boris Johnson’s recent antics highlight, this is still true. David Davis is struggling to meet the demands of his position with an outdated view of international relations and pales in comparison to the talent and determination of Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer. The Tories have been reducing corporation tax to try and make businesses more competitive; if they believe this is the best option now they will likely continue to lower it to remain competitive if we lose single market access. I heard an interesting opinion recently that current politics, because of Brexit, is less a left/ right issue but rather whether you are outward or inward looking. The majority of Labour voters backed Remain but a large number also voted for Leave. Arguably one reason Labour did better than expected in the general election was its ambiguous Brexit approach that held onto both sides. An election, however, is not going to be called during the Brexit process; it would be incredibly damaging for Britain and the Brexit negotiations, while the Tories would also never risk it with current polling. Unfortunately, this means very little will be achieved domestically. Without the threat of an election losing it Leave voters, Labour can take a firm, definitive stance to put pressure on the Conservatives and avert the worst outcomes of Brexit. Backing membership of the single market would be supported by its members and help ensure the government does not make a failure of Brexit. The voice of reason must prevail; Labour can provide it.
The pollution protest won’t make a difference
Responding to the recent protest on Park Street, Ed Southgate criticises it as being largely ineffective Ed Southgate Comment Editor Bristol is a city very familiar to protest. From protesting Brexit, to protesting Donald Trump, and now to protesting pollution caused by traffic. I am usually extremely sceptical about the successes of these protests, and I have been very vocal about my opposition to the way in which the Trump protest was conducted – why, for example, were people spurting antiBrexit sentiment when Brexit has no relevance to Trump? If you are going to protest, at least know what you are protesting. But the recent protest against traffic pollution has made me question opposing these sort of protests universally. It was conducted in a perfectly unified and comprehensible manner, it sent out a clear message and it was calm. The only problem, however, is that it probably won’t make the blindest bit of difference.
The organiser made clear that they wanted not to cause a fuss, but to spread a message. A message of peace. In the pep-talk to his squad he made a very clear point: ‘we are here to be friendly’. That sounded nice. I mean, who doesn’t like a bit o’ friendliness, and who doesn’t like people who like to stay on the right side of the police? I certainly do. And I am certainly glad that this group certainly isn’t the same group harbouring the criminal who had vandalised
own cars, so maybe, just maybe, they may think twice about getting in a car unnecessarily. I mean they probably won’t, but they might.
A ten-minute sing-song will hardly be educating nor energising the masses
But perhaps this is where the main irony lies. We all know very well that pollution is a problem, and we all very well know something needs to be done to cut it down. And here I am writing about how the protest was probably ineffective in the grand schemes of things. But does the fact that I am writing about its ineffectiveness suggest that perhaps it has been effective? A conversation which
undoubtedly needs to be had, seems to be getting started by individuals such as myself writing articles on them -- so perhaps they have done a good job? Equally, however, perhaps they have not. All I am doing is writing about how amusing it was to watch a few people stand semi-awkwardly in a road, having a little sing-song. I haven’t really discussed the issue of pollution at all, not that I really need to. Indeed, most people already know there is huge problem with pollution, and that this is largely caused by traffic. A ten-minute sing-song will hardly be educating nor energising the masses. But, hey, even if it stands little chance of prompting much real change, at least they get to go home with the feeling of moral righteousness. Read the original news story on page 4 or online.
Epigram / Ed Southgate
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It did attract a crowd who were watching the protest...which could be seen as some form of success
Barclays just a week before. Oh, apparently that statement is not true. Now that is a shame. Indeed, just a week before this protest, a few members from the University of Bristol were arrested for spraying graffiti on the walls of Barclays on the Clifton Triangle. Can someone please tell me how on earth they expect us to take them seriously when one week they are criminalising the city, and the next they are preaching about friendliness and working with the police to minimise aggressive behaviour. Call me old-fashioned, but something just doesn’t seem quite right there. He also told the limited number of campaigners to ‘disco, dance [and] chant along’ because, as I’m sure we all know, having a disco - which really did not have all that much energy - at three on a Wednesday afternoon is absolutely the most effective way to initiate change. Furthermore, the campaign was presumably targeted at motorists, so it would have been a real shame if the motorists who were disrupted by this protest were to simply drive off in another direction to get to where they needed to be, instead of stopping to see the message. Alas, that is exactly what happened. With the cars at the front just changing direction, and the double-decker buses holding up the cars behind so they could not actually see what was going on, the motorists probably learnt nothing. Admittedly, however, it did attract a crowd who were watching the protest – whether this was for amusement or interest, I am not at liberty to say – which could be seen as some form of success. Despite what I saw as a very low-energy campaign, people actually stopped, watched and took the leaflets. Presumably those same pedestrians also
The protest blocked traffic on Park Street for around ten minutes - will this actually create change?
Epigram 16.10.2017
12
Offensive memes should be allowed - with caution In light of a recent Bristol meme, Phoebe Chase contends that we must have our right to post freely on social media, but with that right must come a certain responsibility In recent years, progressively more issues have surfaced regarding what we as a society post online. The main issue appears to be that much of the content shared on social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are often offensive. Whilst this offence is largely to minority groups, it can also be to individuals. These expressions of offence have caused some to claim that people are merely too easily offended, and need to stop taking what they see
Facebook / Wills Meme-orial Building
Can meme pages ever go ‘too far’?
so seriously. But where does a lighthearted joke cross the line into something darker and more harmful? In mid-September a popular Bristol Facebook meme page – namely Wills Meme-orial Building - made a post that caused a lot of backlash and debate from its followers. The post was a list of ‘freshers tips’ that included, most controversially, an item that read: ‘rope is cheapest at Wilkos’. This was followed by a large number of comments demanding that it to be taken down and pointing out the ignorance and insensitivity of the joke, described as ‘…not only out of touch but downright stupid’, by one commenter. Although the actual wording of the statement may not in itself be deemed particularly provocative or hard hitting, for many, the issue lay in that it was specifically referencing the high number of suicides at Bristol University during the past few years.
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Phoebe Chase First Year, Archaeology & Anthropology
Does it really seem appropriate for a ‘j0ke’ like this to be published?
While frankly a rather tasteless and not particularly amusing article, the post also makes light of the very serious issue of the high counts of suicide from Bristol residents and university students. According to articles in The Guardian and Telegraph newspapers, published in March
and April of 2017, five students of Bristol University committed suicide last academic year, while the Office for National Statistics have stated that in the last ten years the number of student deaths by suicide in England and Wales have risen by over 50%. With this information in mind, does it really seem appropriate for a ‘joke’ like this to be published onto a page whose demographic is so largely formed of students attending the University of Bristol? If we refer back to the main aim of the page, it is to be funny. Indeed, memes are only funny when relatable, and I wouldn’t say that killing oneself is exactly ‘haha same’. Indeed, it is always important to consider what our responsibilities are to our fellow students, going beyond just a funny page. What we put out there, however trivial it may seem, will be received in different ways by different people. Although some might just need to get over it and keep scrolling, others could be more genuinely affected. Ultimately, we should all be more awake to how our comments and actions can affect those around us. Undoubtedly the post was insensitive and rather thoughtless -- I doubt that the poster even thought about the negative impact that their joke might have - however, the reality is that this is ultimately a Facebook meme page. Has this possibly been blown a little bit out of proportion? It is surely possible to say that, in this case, people may have taken too seriously something that was meant in no seriousness. Usually when I stumble across something on
Facebook that I don’t particularly like, I unfollow the page and, if the content is truly shocking to the eye, I report it. The Bristol Meme-orial Building page is definitely not forcing anyone to follow them. If it so happens that someone felt they were being forced to do this against their will, I would be overjoyed to inform the general public that one can actually unfollow a Facebook group at any given time. I think it is important to remember that the internet is so filled with information, some highly credible and some fairly useless, and there is always the freedom to remove oneself from something that is disliked.
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I do not think we should be looking to control what is posted online
We should not be looking to control what is posted online on pages such as this, when so much real hatred and bullying occurs so frequently on the internet. It is a matter of perspective, and I do not think we should be wasting our time focusing on something as trivial as a small meme page. Each of us must have the freedom to post what we want. It is our basic right. But, naturally, with our rights comes great responsibility not to abuse them. It is a fairly simple solution. Just, you know, be a decent person.
International students must be welcomed Curbing immigration must not be prioritised over economic and academic success, argues Oz Ozkaya
Oz Ozkaya MSc, European and Global Governance More than a year has passed since the volcanic Brexit referendum. We are now, to my disdain, left with a makeshift - and severely weakened government that has since taken the distasteful stance of both intense dogmatism and economic nationalism - all of which has been manifested by a hell-bent pursuit to achieve complete sovereignty at all costs. Long-term study and university courses have felt the brunt of this political outcome, as 41,000 fewer students opted to study in the UK; the vast majority, 31,000, of these being non-EU students. A recent set of Home Office policy alterations for international students has left not only myself, but the entire academic community aghast at such mindlessly inconsiderate posturing. The panoply of muppets running our state would appear no longer largely interested in attracting some of the most prosperous academic brains from lands far and wide. They feel the Brexit vote has given them a concrete mandate to exercise a relentless anti-immigration modus operandi. The snap election result proved otherwise.
In a 95-page paper entitled ‘Tier 4 of the Points Based System: Policy Guidance’ - which came into effect as of June this year - the Government laid out a strict set of policies for foreign nationals wishing to pursue academic exploits in the UK. The paper, rather surprisingly given all the u-
And, having studied PPE at Oxford University, Pakistani Benazir Bhutto, became the first female Prime Minister of a Muslim country. I could go on. Moreover, foreign students were responsible for £10.8 billion of UK export earnings and have further contributed nearly £5 billion annually in tuition and fees. They uphold the UK’s reputation as the multicultural destination of choice for students. And, these figures could all but rise in the coming years - assuming we don’t deter too many students as on my course, for instance, overseas students will pay £16,400 per annum. This poses the question: are our universities envisaging tough economic times because of Conservative economic negligence? The pound is stagnating and if it continues to dip, £16,000 for a year of study will be pittance to our Chinese and American friends, per se, who are both presently enjoying healthy economic growth. ‘This will be the first time since WWII that a British government hasn’t placed economic competence and performance central to its programme’, Vince Cable, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, quite rightly pointed out in a recent article for The Guardian. It baffles me as to why the Government would want to create an inhospitable environment for international students, particularly as another Home Office report showed 97% of overseas students left before their visa expired in 201617, and indeed, let’s not forget, that a lot of them go on to achieve academic excellence. Just over a decade ago, in a survey conducted by International Graduate Insight Group, Britain, under the guidance of PM Tony Blair, was crowned the world’s most popular destination for overseas students. Irrespective of the consistent buffoonery displayed by Boris Johnson, the humdrum image of our politics, and indeed our culture, that this Government are collectively projecting to the
outside world, is one of very poor taste and is somewhat troubling for an internationalist liberal like me. Immigrant workers and students have done wonders for the United Kingdom. International students deserve better than the stress currently being inflicted by the Home Office, which could, in some instances, result in poorer grades and lower future intake. Let us hope that the incumbent Government’s tenure is short lived, otherwise it won’t be long before detrimental social and economic side effects are felt.
Epigram / Ed Southgate
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It baffles me as to why the Government would want to create an inhospitable environment for international students
turning since the announcement of the election back in April, duly applies the grandiloquent script set out in the Conservative GE2017 party manifesto. ‘[O]verseas students will remain in immigration statistics and within scope of the government’s policy to reduce annual net migration’, the paper states. It begs the question: are we aiming to be a country that desires fewer international students enrolling in our universities? In the USA, Australia and Canada, international students are classified as temporary migrants, not migrants. The ramifications of this impetuous positioning could prove damaging for our country in the long term. Under the unsavoury and disquieting subheading ‘Controlling Immigration’, the Tories use language such as: ‘we will toughen visa requirements for [international] students, to make sure we maintain high standards’, and ‘we will expect students to leave the country at the end of their course’. How much of an adverse long-term impact could this kind of incoherent babble have on myriad UK industries and institutes alike? International students, permitting they want to stay after graduating, generally better our society. They reinforce our academic communities with flourishing diversity, and they have collectively played a key part in cultivating the world-class status that so many of our institutions have long possessed. In the past, we have seen countless foreign nationals study here, and then go on to achieve remarkable things. Sir Alec Ignossis, born in Izmir, Turkey, came to Britain in 1923 to study engineering at Battersea College. He went on to design British car classics the Mini and the Morris Minor. Malaysian shoe designer Professor Jimmy Choo, OBE, who studied at the London College of Fashion in 1986, has since become a globally regarded name in the fashion industry.
‘International students, permitting they want to stay after graduating, generally better our society’
Epigram
16.10.2017
Science & Tech
@EpigramSciTech Editor: Emma Isle Online Editor: Sadhana Kalidindi
Deputy Editor: Oliver Cohen
scienceandtech@epigram.org.uk
Bristol research shines light on planet creation Matthew Parker PhD, Physics
of violent accretions) are too small to form standing magma oceans, so the liquid-vapor fractionation does not occur and isotopes are lost at an equal rate. As bodies become larger than onetenth an Earth mass the gravity of the forming planet is too high for the vapor rock atmosphere to escape and the process stops, which accounts for the roughly similar levels of heavy isotope concentration between Mars, Earth and Vesta.
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Flickr / Kevin Gill
Research led by the University of Bristol has explored the process that lead to the formation of planets in new levels of detail by carefully analysing the chemical composition of samples from Earth, Mars and meteorites. Isotopes – atoms with the same atomic number but different weights – can be concentrated by processes called fractionation and appear in different ratios to each other. The researchers used a new technique to measure two isotopes of Magnesium and found that samples from relatively large bodies (Earth, Mars, and the asteroid Vesta, effectively a planet that failed to form) have heavier compositions than chondrite meteorites, meteorites that best represent the primordial material of the early solar system. At the beginning of planet formation, some of this same early material accumulated through a process called accretion, which also generates enormous quantities of heat. The researchers posit that these early protoplanets were covered with oceans and atmospheres of molten and vaporized
rock. Exchange between the vapor and molten rock favour lighter isotopes to be concentrated in the former (called vapour fractionation) and depleted in the oceans. When these atmospheres are subsequently lost, the remaining protoplanets contain higher amounts of the heavy isotope. These proto-planets then formed the larger bodies of the solar system like Earth and Mars. To fractionate this amount of magnesium (one of the largest constituent elements of Earth), modelling estimated that early protoplanets lose a substantial amount of their masses (40%) through vapor loss. The quantities involved also allowed researchers to rule out other possible fractionation processes, such as the formation of distinct planetary layers. Another competing proposal is that this fractionation occurred during the first condensation of material in the early solar system, before any planetary formation at all, but this fails to account for anomalies found in chondrite meteorites. Modelling also added constraints to the mass range this process operates over; bodies less than a thousandth of an Earth mass (though not short
Our work changes our views on how planets attain their physical and chemical characteristics.
They also looked at how this effect would influence the composition of other heavy isotopes, such as iron-56 and silicon-30, and the loss of more volatile elements like Sodium and Potassium. As an example,starting with the composition of Vesta, a vapor loss of 47% was predicted to account for the remaining differences in isotope composition with Earth. By careful analysis of the unique isotopic anomalies of different bodies,
researchers can uncover the history of the collisions that formed them. Lead researcher Dr Remco Hin, of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences, said these results ‘change our views on how planets attain their physical and chemical characteristics. While it was previously known that building planets is a violent process and that the compositions of planets such as Earth are distinct, it was not clear
that these features were linked. We now show that vapour loss during the high energy collisions of planetary accretion has a profound effect on a planet’s composition. This process seems common to planet building in general, not just for Earth and Mars, but for all planets in our Solar System and probably beyond, but differences in the collision histories of planets will create diversity in their compositions.’
Is Uber still good for students?
this as much of a problem elsewhere? Outside of London, Uber drivers have been accused of more than a dozen sex attacks, including at least two rapes. What about in Bristol? Just two accusations of sexual assault by Uber drivers have been investigated by Avon and Somerset police since 2015. Time to cut Uber some slack. There are several reasons why, at least in theory, Uber is far safer than using a normal taxi. Firstly, for each driver you are given a name, their registration number and a rating from previous users. As you can see the planned route on the app you know the driver is taking the shortest route, which is particularly handy in foreign countries where local taxi drivers may attempt to lure you into a tourist trap and take you on an unnecessarily long route to maximise the fare. Being emailed your receipt immediately after your ride means you cannot be ripped off by a cabby when you are drunk, such as overpaying in cash, as you have evidence of what you paid. In addition, the fact that you book a cab through the app and
pay for it through your phone means you never need to jump out at cashpoints. Not only is this convenient but it’s also safer. For example, in Brazil almost all ATMs are inside buildings, and even those close after 6pm due to the level of cashpoint crime. If you think as a tourist I’d have been comfortable jumping out of my Uber in the dark to get cash out in Rio de Janeiro, then think again! In general Uber is cheaper, (split between enough friends it can even undercut public transport), obviously much more convenient and efficient, and is also better for the environment due to its ‘pooling’ system whereby you lift-share with other commuters on route (a lovely way of meeting the locals in a foreign place I might add). Rather than a consequence, is the stalling of Uber in London actually a cause of danger? 40,000 people will now be out of work, and 3.5 million regular users stranded. Is this compromising the safety of women in the capital? Of comments found circulating the internet in reaction, one stated Uber is the ‘safest way for a woman to get away from an unsafe environment
… I would not want to go back to having to walk in the street on my own late at night in London, trying to hail a black cab or find a taxi office.’ This was echoed by another: ‘As a woman who lives alone and goes outside after dark, I’m really annoyed. Uber is so useful (and cheap) when in uncomfy situations.’ From masturbating Uber drivers, to a ride where the driver put on a radio station which was being broadcast live from the mobile phone of someone in the backseat, I have heard it all in my Uber-interesting conversations. All students I have spoken to feel safe in an Uber, and whilst the TfL Uber ban will not be welcomed by all, I find it hard to believe it will cause the demise of the London transport system, which boasts one of the best Tubes in the world and has fantastic transport links 24/7. The question of whether Uber is truly ‘safe’ is one which readers should decide upon for themselves (what exactly is ‘safe’? Are you really ‘safe’ anywhere anymore?) …anyway I must dash, I have an Uber waiting outside.
Rain Rabbit/ Flickr
Aside from wrenching the hearts of avid night-revellers, the revocation of Uber’s private hire licence by Transport for London (TfL) has raised serious questions over its widespread safety for the student population. The move by TfL was Uber’s coup de grâce in what has been a long and ignominious series of events, which has seen more disgruntled faces exiting Uber than stdents from a cancelled 9am lecture, and more executive-position changeovers than from a primary school relay race. TfL’s reasoning to the market heavyweight concerned their approach to carrying out background checks on drivers, and the inadequate reporting of serious criminal offences to the police. Clearly this constitutes a public danger. When you step into an Uber vehicle, you enter - albeit briefly - into a consumer contract. Students need to be confident that the company they are with is safe, employs medically fit drivers, and is ultimately liable to deal with any misconduct from drivers. Complain all you want, but with the recent cascade of terror attacks in London, these background checks are of paramount importance and it would be morally repugnant of TfL not to do something about it. Owing to such media sensationalism, you’d be forgiven for believing that Uber does not carry out proper background checks on their drivers… but is this actually true? No. Fred Jones, Uber head of cities for the UK & Ireland, reports that Uber drivers have to pass the same safety checks as black cab and mini cab drivers in London. Until recently, these enhanced DBS checks were done for Uber by Onfido, a third party approved by the Home Office. Earlier this year, in an unexplained
yet subtle policy change, TfL amended its policy on DBS checks to only accept checks done by its own contractor GBGroup, and not third parties such as Onfido. So perhaps Uber aren’t all that bad after all… Not so fast, there really is a dark side to Uber that warrants public attention. There is a serious problem with how they treat both their workers and their passengers, and with their ability to address such problems. In June this year, 20 employees were fired after the law firm Perkins Coie investigated 215 complaints made to Uber about sexual harassment, bullying, and retaliation for reporting problems. In London, in the last year alone there has been one passenger accusation of rape/ sexual assault by an Uber driver every 11 days. Is it really any wonder why TfL intervened? It is Uber’s lack of action, once made aware of such issues, which is equally as worrying. Recently, Inspector Neil Billany, head of the Metropolitan Police’s taxi and private hire unit, wrote a letter to TfL outlining how Uber failed to report the sexual assault of a female to the police earlier this year. According to Billany, Uber did ‘nothing more’ than speak with the driver who denied the offence. The same driver then assaulted a different female passenger four months later, which Billany argued would have been prevented if Uber had notified the police originally. But are you anymore likely to be assaulted by an Uber driver, than say, a London cabby? It does appear so. Of the taxis and private hire drivers who were charged for sexual assault in 2014 and 2015, 47 worked as private hire drivers (which includes Uber) and only one was a black cab driver. It is worth considering that sexual assaults are underreported and so the actual number is likely to be even higher. Is
Flickr / Núcleo Editorial
Tim Dodd Third Year, Biology
Epigram 16.10.2017
15
This Month in Science
Hilary McCarthy Forth Year, Chemistry
Flickr / Sergey Odintsov
Flickr / ZEISS Microscopy
Seeing Double Two images can now be displayed in the same space thanks to state of the art polarization-switchable nanomaterials pioneered at the University of Glasgow. Microscopic punctures in a thin aluminium sheet facilitate the printing of two different colours to a single unit area. The crossshaped apertures comprise two incisions of different lengths which each correspond to the wavelength of one of the desired colours of light. These innovative dual-state plasmonic ‘nanopixels’ only allow a single wavelength to pass through at a time, so the colours and resulting image depend on the angle at which the approaching light is polarised. Despite being in early stages of development, the plasmonic colour filtering technique is already holds promise for application in both counterfeit security and image preservation.
Flickr / mbeo
D e s t r oy i n g Disorders Base editing of lab-made embryos has recently become part of the quest to cure one of many inherited blood disorders: Beta-thalassemia. The disease is caused by a point mutation in a gene known as HBB, meaning the detection and replacement of a single guanine with an adenine within this gene can ‘correct’ the disease. There is hope that this could be the first step toward curing the disease in patients and preventing it in unborn babies. However, amongst the excitement and hope that the transferable technique could one day be used to cure other hereditary diseases, ethical debates have been sparked.
Flickr / warrenski
Origami Transformers Would you trust Optimus Prime to be your surgeon? Me neither. However, cutting edge metamorphic robots can now swiftly change shape to allow them to complete a variety of tasks, bringing this bizarre idea closer to a reality. The robots’ shape shifting abilities are thanks to the origami-like plastic exoskeletons moulded round their bodies which allow outfit changes to be induced by heat or contact with water. At present these transformations facilitate walking, rolling, gliding and sailing, and pioneers hope that this innovative technology could one day allow miniature robots to perform internal, incision-free surgery, complete construction jobs or even be sent on expeditions – the sky is the limit!
Flickr / Stuart B
A New Hope
Body Clock
Recent models suggest that a new source of renewable energy has huge potential, but there is a catch; we need to work out how to capture it. According to calculations carried out at Columbia University, evaporation of water could produce energy in quantities comparable to that produced by wind and solar power. To quantify, it is estimated more than 2.5 billion megawatt hours of electricity could be generated annually in the US – easily the lion’s share of the power demand. Additionally, researchers estimate that water lost to evaporation could be halved, potentially killing two birds with one stone in dryer parts of the world. Developing the evaporation engines from their current prototype stage to an operational reality is a great engineering challenge. The question is, will it be worth it?
What time is it? How do you feel? Be it early morning alertness or a midafternoon slump, there’s a good chance that it is down to your circadian clock, which is ticking away in practically every cell in your body. The 2017 Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine has been awarded to the US scientists Jeffery Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young, for being the first to explain the molecular mechanisms behind your body clock. The trio unravelled this mystery by extracting DNA in fruit flies and isolating and characterising the gene responsible for their innate rhythms. This gene behaves as a timer, allowing the accumulation of a protein through the night and inducing the subsequent degradation through the day. The same phenomenon is observed in human biology. This discovery is crucial in developing the previously established links between circadian rhythms and health, in understanding mechanistically how our internal clocks work could be a milestone in improving our well-being.
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Jonathan De Oliveira... talks about a new bionic spine for the paralysed.....
Emma Isle... informs us of the chemistry Nobel Prize winner
Flickr / thellr
Epigram
16.10.2017
Letters
@EpigramLetters
Editor: Ellie Chesshire letters@epigram.org.uk
Adapting to university: the best (and worst) 3 years of your life You get to grips with the marking schemes and marks in general. You begin realise that the people you once thought were talking in Morse aren’t really, they’re just using a lot of unnecessary long words to say something like ‘the British Empire was bad’.
Victoria Dyer Second Year, History
Your university friends understand you like no one else.
gave me the special treatment. I was the one whose essays everyone copied. But now, in this unfamiliar place, I was just another krill and my essays were below-average. I remember getting my first essay back and feeling as though I’d just been winded after receiving a meagre 52! I’d never received less than 80 on a history paper in my life. I felt like I was drowning. I was a drowning krill. Moreover, seminars fried my brain. The reading may as well have been in a different language. I spent about four hours flicking from article to dictionary when consulting my first seminar readings. I specifically remember my first session, in which an intensely clever and overly talkative boy dominated the seminar. He eloquently told the group how he found the paper on the history of statistics very mentally stimulating and enjoyable. I, on the other hand, had contributed that my favourite food was Sunday Dinner and I really liked turtles. The krill was being eaten by whales.
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I think the hardest part for myself was transferring from the tiny pond of Cardiff, where I felt like a pretty big fish, into the bottomless ocean of Bristol and feeling like a mere krill. In school, I excelled at my subject, I was the only person in my year group going to do History and because of that my teacher
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“ University is a struggle but it is in this institution that you get to thrive
Epigram / Victoria Dyer
University, the place you come to grow as a person and develop into the adult you want to be. The place you come and meet your life-long friends. The place you come to explore the subject you’re so passionate about. The place the best three years of your life are supposed to take place in. It’s not quite like that though, is it? I mean, I don’t want to speak on behalf of the whole student population, but I for one struggled in first term, and when I say struggled, I mean struggled. The pressure on you in your first year of university is immense. Yes, nothing counts and yes, the second and third years will consider you slightly pathetic for moaning about your completely irrelevant essay. However, it is still hard. For nine months, you vacate your human body and instead, assume the role of a headless chicken, desperately running around trying to make friends whilst attempting to figure out how to use the library system and make your own dinner without burning it or giving yourself food poisoning.
Being a Welsh girl, I was a minority and I knew it. My Welsh accent has caused me to be the brunt of jokes for quite some time.
There will be days when the world seems like it’s against you
Luckily I’m someone that doesn’t take themselves too seriously, so this was funny but wow, did I get judged. I particularly remember one boy telling me that my accent made me sound stupid. Combine that compliment with a nice 52 on your first essay and the feeling that people around you were talking in Morse and university doesn’t seem quite so nice anymore. I spent about three months trying to perfect Received Pronunciation and stamp my singing accent out… It never worked. ‘I’ll be there now in a minute’ still very
much exists in my vocabulary today. On top of all of that are the nights out. The first week or so is funny. Past that, your body starts to hate you and you can almost feel your liver screaming for you to take a night off. Your skin breaks out and you start to grow outwards – you curse your teachers for telling you to come to university. You’re a krill and you’re an ugly krill too! Leaving the krill jokes behind, university is no breeze, it’s not as easy as everyone tells you and there will be nights when you cry to yourself or your mum or your friends. There will be days when the world seems like it’s against you because you don’t understand a word your lecturer said and then you came home and burnt your stir fry, but university is the best place. Of course, you have to adapt and in adapting, you come into contact with some of the struggles that I’ve mentioned in the article. You slowly find your friends and transition back to a human from the chicken you once were.
“ You meet your best friends abecause you’ve cried together about how hard university is and laughed together at how incredible it is
You realise that you quite like the person you are and your different accent, your differing sense of style, your differing sense of humour makes you different from the other krill. Slowly but surely the drinking calms down and your body returns to a state of moderate health. University is a struggle but it is in this institution that you get to thrive. You get to read the work of experts and discuss it with people who care as much as you, as passionately as you do. You get to meet the most extraordinary people, people who will go onto do amazing things and inspire you in that process. You meet your best friends and you remain best friends because you’ve cried together about how hard university is and laughed together at how incredible it is. Your seminar tutors and peers aren’t there to intimidate you or make you feel stupid, so contribute, they want your opinion. You’re not a krill here; you’re a starfish, a seahorse, a whale, what you want to be. That’s the beauty of this bottomless ocean, once you’ve adapted and realised that you’re not in a pond of goldfish anymore, you see an ocean of unexplored territory where anything goes.
W.G. Grace v.s the Berkeley...
Lily Hammond Second Year, History
The answer to this is, of course, The W. G. Grace Which Wetherspoons is better: The Berkeley or The W. G. Grace. The answer to this is, of course, The
Epigram / Lily Hammond
I understand that here in the Letters section of Epigram the discussion of important, topical, and impactful issues is at the forefront of its purpose and it is due to this that I have decided to discuss a matter close to both my heart and that of the masses.
W. G. Grace, but in the flavour of debate I have to declare the attributes of both fine establishments. The Berkeley is a very key location if you are going out on the Triangle and is pretty much always busy so generally has a good vibe.
We have to be honest. The Berkeley is pretty disgusting
Also, the space around the back is great for big groups and it’s really cool - if slightly distracting - to sit underneath the glass dome and hear the person on the other side of the room’s conversation as loudly as if they were chatting in your ear.
Spoons is always a great place for a chilled night out.
However, we have to be honest. The Berkeley is pretty disgusting. The carpets are sticky; the food comes out alarmingly fast; and I refuse to accept that, just because it’s a ‘Spoons’ and the drinks are cheap, that we should accept the stench of vomit that hits you as
soon as you open the doors! The Grace is, in comparison, a complete luxury. For the same pricing, you are getting such a huge upgrade in the environment which is definitely worth the extra two minute walk to get to the Triangle. I think most
people agree that the Grace has a much more chilled vibe than The Berkeley which can work both in its favour and against. But, if anything is going to persuade you to go Grace and not Berkeley, the Grace now does pizza.
E2
Epigram / Charlie Gearon
Sliding through October
Living Wellbeing Food Style Travel
18
Online Editor Josie Roberts
Editor Jordan Barker
Deputy Editor
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Emily Hayman
living@epigram.org.uk
@EpigramLiving
Epigram Living Section 2017/18
Student stereotypes Georgia Marsh spends a week inhabiting the psyches of four Bristol uni stereotypes, all proven to be completely accurate Stereotypes, though they can be offensive and damaging, are nonetheless rife in all strands of society – including at our (and in any) university. I decided to try on these different Bristol stereotypes to see where life would take me. Will I blend in with the crowd or stick out uncomfortably like that putrid sick smell at The Berkeley?
Weekend rudeboys
Epigram / Jordan Barker
It’s Wednesday night - because mid-week ragers are all that bit more muuuuuuaaaadddddd - and I am ready for Lakota. I’m not sure who’s playing, but the Facebook event (which, of course, I’ve clicked ‘going’ to, because my entire feed - including my grandparents who live in Suffolk - need to know that I am out tonight!) promised copious amounts of bassline. Two years in Bristol and I’m still not entirely sure what that is… Staring at my wardrobe, I throw on the ensemble that feels most natural to me: my Adidas tracksuit, my second skin. Ironically, my selective memory fails to recall how I used to bully youth from the council estate in my local village for dressing exactly how I do now. To remain true to my roots, I slip on my signet ring. Find me front row in the main room, suited and booted in my bucket hat and recording the set on Snapchat. My jaw swings from side to side, I shout ‘LENNNNGGGGGGGG!’ and wave my gun fingers around. I leave just before three and argue with my friend on the way home – he just doesn’t understand the incongruity of Labour’s financial policies: socialism is not economically viable, and that’s why I vote Tory.
Passive-aggressive environmentalists
Flickr / Steve Brown
Apparently my harem pants and bindis are culturally inappropriate, but please don’t assume I didn’t actually get them from my gap yah in Thailand. Have I mentioned my gap yah before? Thailand was stop number two – I also travelled to Rwanda to work with an ethically dubious charity to help them rebuild a village. By rebuild a village, I mean I got there and complained it stank and cried because there was poor wifi. No one has to know the bad bits: I took loads of cute pictures with African children and I raked in hundreds Facebook likes. My diet is sugar-free, gluten-free and vegan AF (except on a Tuesday night post-Lola Lo’s when I can’t resist a Taka Taka Magic Roll. I’m drunk - it doesn’t count!). You’re not vegan? I mean, that’s your choice, but do you, like, not care about the treatment of cows in the dairy industry? Aren’t you worried about all that cheese you’re addicted to clogging up your arteries? If you think about it, milking cows is utterly perverse. Your body is a temple – how could you even consider consuming animal by-products? Returning from an anti-fossil fuel process, I cycle to my dealer’s house in Redland to pick up some coke for The Black Swan tonight. My subconscious is trying to remind me how unethical the substance is and how it’s more-or-less responsible for the corruption and destruction in impoverished countries like Colombia, but I need to concentrate on the unjust gradient of St Michael’s Hill. As droplets of perspiration drip from my beet red forehead, I can’t help but wonder if all this sustainable malarkey is worth it.
London via Stoke Bishop Flickr / Perzonseo Webbyra
After 30 minutes of traipsing through ASOS on my Macbook, I decide it’s time to take a break from this relentless study. Strolling into the ASS Café, I see a fair few people I know – so much so that I struggle to choose who exactly to sit with. I love Bristol because it’s basically a mini-London and I haven’t really had to bother with making any new friends. Just before I tuck into my Tupperwared lunch, an iMessage comes through on my rose gold iPhone. It’s from Sophie who – OMG! – wants to meet for brunch. Although my leftover spaghetti bolognese (Mama Bear left me 5 boxes of frozen meals when she dropped me off) looks dreadfully appealing, who am I to turn down crushed avocado on sourdough toast with a side of smoked salmon? Pulling on my pink puffa (each of my tight-knit group have the same one in different colours #squadgoals), I say a heartfelt and sad goodbye to my girls (“miss you already, babe!”) – I won’t see them until later tonight when we all reconvene at The White Rabbit – and congratulate myself on how hard I’ve worked today and how deserving I am of a divine brunch.
Society bitches Oh my God, has anyone ever told you how stressful it is being in a society? It’s not the end of the world, and although I acknowledge somewhere deep down that it is certainly insignificant in the wider scheme of things, I literally feel like the world is collapsing around me. My life is a crisis and everybody’s* going to hear about my society and its problems. Most people come to uni to complete a degree, yet I have come to find it is the least of my problems when I have a society to run. Did I mention I am running a committee? Although I’m not tooting my own horn or anything, I have climbed the societal hierarchy and am now sort of a BNOC (except not really because no one cares about societies except for the people in the societies. I, a society bitch, have still not realised this.). Society stardom comes at the price of becoming a stranger to my own friends. Goodbye First Year ‘friends’: I’ve moved onto greener pastures (the media suite on the fourth floor of the SU). Now they only ever catch a fleeting glimpse of me on Thursdays sardined on the Mbargos dance floor, dressed in some ridiculous costume that slightly panders to a theme ordained by a stressed-out social sec in the desperate need for everyone else to have a good time. *My house, our circle of friends, my extended circle of friends (the majority of whom are on the committee with me, duh!), my neighbour, and obviously his dog too.
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Bristol Blind Dates: Epigirl meets Tab-boi On a date to end all dates, two mortal enemies set aside their differences for an evening of romance. Will sparks fly? Or will it end in fisticuffs? What do you normally look for in a person?
What was their chat like?
Jamie: I try to look for honesty and openness in someone.
Jamie: We talked about a lot, from my time at school to housemates, to political issues like student loans and IsraelPalestine. We even got a free drink voucher from the bar so that’s a huge bonus! She was a very nice girl and I would love to meet again.
Helena: Usually when I date, I gravitate towards sad boys. A pair of glasses goes down well with me.
Why did you decide to go on a blind date? Jamie: Just wanted to meet someone new. Also, thought it would be fun going on a date with someone from Epigram.
How did you feel before the date?
Facebook / Jamie
Helena: To be honest, I just always like meeting new people and going to new places, so, being single and rapidly running out of ‘friends of friends’, when I heard about Epigram’s blind dates, I signed right up for the shits, gigs and the promise of a decent shag.
Helena: I mean, the date began with some idle chat; we chatted about Shrewsbury, as he went to school there and my grandparents live near there, as did Charles Darwin, I learned. After the small talk and a couple of tasty cocktails, we hit the hard stuff. Brexit, naturally, student debt and Israel’s occupation of Palestine. No messing about was had, we made sure to draw lines in the sand and either build or burn bridges. Fortunately, we survived that conversation.
Rating out of ten? Jamie: 8/10.
Jamie: A little tired, so wasn’t on my best form. Helena: 6/10 for The Tab affiliation, 8/10 if I put that aside. Helena: I was nervous. Once I’d sat down I grabbed a napkin and started doodling, to save fidgeting and biting my nails. But it was a lot of fuss over nothing in the end, after a couple drinks I was too drunk to feel my nerves.
Would you see them again? Jamie: Yeah, going on a second date boiiiiii.
Any awkward moments?
Helena: I think I would, yeah.
Jamie: Only the fact that I was late, which was embarrassing! Helena: Was a bit awkward when I found out he wrote for The Tab. Understandably, I’m not a fan, but we were willing to put our moral/journalistic differences aside to enjoy a bev.
Jamie: I liked her honesty and quirkiness. Helena: I found his level-headedness and informed opinions on divisive issues refreshing. Made for good conversation!
the cockles of your heart? If you’re miserable Facebook / Helena
What did you like most about them?
Well, doesn’t that just warm
and single, there’s no better way to beat those lonesome blues than going on blind date, organised by us here at Living. Email in and we’ll sort you out with a nice bit of alright.* *no guarantee that your bit of alright will be nice.
Dear Aunt Aggie... This week, Aunt Aggie offers advice to a porn addict whose life is in disarray Dear Aunt Aggie, I’m just going to spill it out now: over the past year I’ve become addicted to watching online pornography. There, I’ve said it. Whenever I’m bored and have a moment to spare, I go into my bedroom, flip open my laptop and watch hardcore sex. This isn’t something I’m proud of and am desperate to stop. I’ve not spoken to any of my friends about this. I think they’d just take the piss and think I’m weird. Who wants to admit to something like that? But it’s becoming such an issue and it’s having a seriously detrimental impact on my life. I feel like my happiness is at stake, and if I don’t sort it out I’ll never be able to live a normal life, find stability or find love. I don’t even enjoy watching it anymore. I can’t help it though. I’m hooked. From, An orgasm addict
Dear O.A., I’m not going to beat about the bush here: this is a serious health problem. According to scientists, it’s similar to a heroin addiction and should be treated with the same legitimacy. Obviously, though, it’s important to recognise that it’s not, like, the same. Think how different Trainspotting would’ve been if it had been about a bunch of palm jockeys! Porn is an incredibly powerful sedative that lulls you into a false sense of happiness. A lover of mine was into porn, in a very big way. He was actually a porn star, ‘Titus Anulingus’ (for a while he also went by ‘Albert Cumus’). It was the 70s, and there was a lot of avant-garde pornography being filmed. But no matter how hard he tried to bring a bit of class to the industry, his attempts to elevate it to a higher art form ultimately failed. Society just wasn’t ready for it. I advise you tell someone you’re close to, who will understand your pain and offer their support. As embarrassing as it sounds, it’s not an affliction that should be made light of. Confronting it with humour, however, is a good idea. If you can joke about it with someone close, the
guilt and disgust you experience will become more bearable. Curtail your porn-watching gradually. If you stop too soon, you’ll only fall back into bad habits. Once you start cutting down, you’ll see your life drastically improve. It won’t be easy, but it is possible. At the end of the day, everyone’s a wanker. I mean that in every sense of the word. And that’s a comforting thought. Hell, even Martin Luther King Jr. choked the chicken every now and then! So bear this in mind if your friends mock you.
Wow, so that was pretty... uh... wow! If you’ve got a problem, our Aunt Aggie has the answers! Email her at living.agonyaunt@epigram.org.uk
@EpigramWB
Deputy- Editor Jasmine Burke
Online Editor Leila Mitwally Epigram Wellbeing
University pledges it’s ‘Time to Change’ with mental health
Whilst this is an amazing step in the right direction regarding mental health, we are left with one big question: what happens next?
Epigram / Jasmine Burke
Silent Struggles at University So you’re starting university: you know which vaccinations you need, but do you know the mental advice you need too? Following the suicides of six university students, Bristol has expanded its student-counselling and wellbeing services to accommodate more students struggling with mental health issues. These services are equipped to deal with a variety of mental health issues including anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, eatingdisorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, personality disorders and depression.
Whether you’re a budding journalist or just have an interest in mental health and wellbeing, we want to hear from you! If you are interested in writing about your own personal experiences with mental health, offering advice or writing about current mental health events, join our Facebook Writers’ Group or email us at: wellbeing.epigram@gmail.com
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In a discussion with Director of Student Services, Mark Ames, he outlined the University’s intention to ‘Create an environment where people feel they’re able to talk about their mental wellbeing’ and insisted that a number of significant changes will be made throughout the course of the year. The addition of £1 million in mental health funding will lead to wellbeing advisors in the different schools, which he hopes will encourage more students to come through and talk about their problems. As well as this, more emphasis shall be put on the mental wellbeing of not only the students, but the staff as well, because as the Time to Change Ambassador so rightly said, we must ‘remember to put our own mask on before we support others’.
With the six student suicides that took place at the University of Bristol last year, creating a dialogue surrounding mental health is extremely beneficial. The more we can normalise the discussion of these issues, the more we can prevent people from feeling isolated with no one to talk to. One in four people suffer from a mental illness, so they should not be shied away from, but rather recognised and acted upon. Hopefully, this will mark the beginning of Bristol’s efforts to bring these discussions forward.
The more we can normalise the discussion of these issues, the more we can prevent people from feeling isolated with no one to talk to
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The time to change is now and the University appears to be ready and willing to put in the effort. Before being allowed to sign the pledge, the University was made to submit an action plan, so it is evident that there has been some thought behind this and they are truly looking to make a difference.
By signing this pledge, the University has now committed itself to change, now all we can do is wait to see how they deliver.
Your core-belief system is your internal compass which informs how you think and identify yourself every day. Whatever they might be, you hold numerous core-beliefs about yourself. These are formed and cultivated during your childhood, and your thoughts, behaviours and feelings maintain them into adulthood.
You have no idea the worth of your life and how many people you can touch, inspire and help through the struggles that you are feeling right now – struggles that will soon become a distant memory. Please try and talk to others, and if you physically can’t, please follow the advice above and your gut feelings. Finally, if you are reading this and know someone who is struggling, promise them at every chance you get that they will eventually be okay.
However, your core-beliefs can be good or bad, and true or false. So, if you are the sort of person who holds false and/or negative core-beliefs about yourself, you may find that you are more susceptible to mental health problems because they are a response to internal trauma. More people than not will struggle at some point during their time at university. Degrees are marathons not sprints. Not a lot of people will discuss this side of university, but it isn’t all sunshine, nights out and rainbows - it is tough. If you feel like you cannot go and get help, there are many things you can do from the comfort of your own home. For example, make your room a safe, homely and positive place. This can be on a budget – I know friends who have cut out jazzy magazine backgrounds and backed them onto coloured paper – and their rooms look bomb. com. You don’t have to voice your mental health issues to a bunch of people you have just met. However, it might be a nice idea to invite your new flatmates to try out a society or mental health workshop, such as the mindfulness programme run by the University. This is a subtle way to indicate that you are struggling, whilst also strengthening connections and doing something which will do you and your new flatmates good. You wouldn’t think that a friend who is feeling down is pathetic or a burden, so why would it make sense to think that about yourself ?
Jasmine Burke Wellbeing Deputy Editor
Catharine Hammond Geography, Third Year
Find for your mind
Here you’ll find a new person or service to follow or check out online which you might find beneficial to your wellbeing. This weeks is... Jonny is a campaigner who spoke at the Time to Change pledge, sharing his story Twitter: - which has since been made @MrJonnyBenjamin into a BBC Documentary called Stranger On the Bridge - about how he started a viral social media campaign in order to find the stranger that talked him out of jumping off London Waterloo Bridge. Now he is a mental health advocate and tweets about his campaigns and general information/advice regarding mental health.
Flickr / Rachel Andrew
Epigram / Jasmine Burke
This offers great hope to students who are receptive to professional help and support, but for others this news changes nothing. These students are the ones who will end up suffering in silence because they find it physically and mentally impossible – for whatever reason – to speak out.
WE ARE LOOKING FOR NEW WRITERS!
The fact that the University is acknowledging their importance with this pledge is indicative of a brighter, more supportive experience at Bristol. However, at this early stage all we have are words and promises; the actions taken as a result of these are what matter the most. What we need to know is what actions the University will be taking to ensure that mental health is indeed more openly spoken about.
What we need to know is what actions the University will be taking to ensure that mental health is indeed more openly spoken about
The event itself not only involved the signing of the pledge, but also included an exhibition promoting various mental health charities and organisations around Bristol. Guests were met with various activities that allowed them to express their own feelings towards mental health, as well as discuss activities and actions that often make them feel better. Time to Change and the University used this event to really get the ball rolling and encourage conversation using entertaining and consequently
@epigramwellbeing
Epigram / Jasmine Burke
On the 6th October the University of Bristol made a stand for mental health, as Vice Chancellor and President, Professor Hugh Brady signed the Time to Change pledge - a pledge promising to be more open and proactive regarding mental health in this institution.
16.10.2017
more comforting methods.On signing the pledge, Brady promised to work towards building a community that not only allows improvement of personal resilience, but also supports the needs of the staff and students, as mental health and wellbeing are embedded within the university experience.
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It’s ‘Time to Change’ - but will it?
Don’t forget to register for the GP! Student health service: bristol.ac.uk/students-health/
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Editor Chloe Payne-Cook
16.10.2017
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Diary of a depressed Undergrad It’s easy for someone to stand back and tell you ‘it gets better’, but sometimes when you’re at your lowest, you cannot see the light at the end of the rainbow. The ‘dark side’ of mental illness should not be taboo; it’s important to talk about these dark times in the same way we talk about the light. PhD student Garreth Griffith recalls how he felt at his worst whilst he was an Undergraduate battling with depression.
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I’m sick of waking up every morning and just being unbelievably tired. I never get to not feel tired, especially now. And it’s so frustrating because when I’m not tired, or when I’m working, then I’m actually pretty good, but when I’m not I’m just awful, and then I can’t work and it’s horrible. I have very briefly seen how good I can be, and that’s always in my head somewhere being chased around and held down by being suicidal and always being tired and by self-hatred, guilt and regret. I don’t know how to get it out, or bring it to the forefront, or do anything.
Slowly - and this is quite weird - all the people that I care about and want to protect came out of this fire. They were there, standing around the fire, on this island in the middle of a river of black suicidal thoughts and death. It was like I was the fire, and I was making myself better by having been through all the stuff that I’ve been through, and they were slightly warming themselves by the fire as though I’d made this fire so that they could be warm, and so that I could be warm too. But it was a really surreal feeling because there were hundreds of people, and they were all sort of standing around this fire, with the people who I’m closest to standing nearest and then everyone else taking a slight step back. They were shifting, and in the front row of this circle were my family and my friends from home and university people, although I’m not sure how much to read into that. But anyway, everyone was standing around this fire which I’d made. I think in this dream, I was supposed to think that the best part of me was getting better and giving myself wholly to this fire, that didn’t just warm me, it warmed other people too. Once I thought that, everyone sort of lit up, not like a light bulb, but instead the people standing in front of the fire were lit by a flickering light - and it made no sense because obviously the people in the front would cast shadows, but there were no shadows.
And eventually I’d get sucked back into the river; because the island would get washed away, and I’d have to gather it all back up again with more of the same. Medication helps: I think that in the context of this played out river metaphor, the medication doesn’t teach you to swim, it just gives you something to hold on to and stay afloat whilst you teach yourself. Anyway, in this meditative state I was in, I’d made a fire on that island, and that fire was everything that I’d ever hated about me, and me paying for having been who I’d been - and it was awesome. I don’t really know how to describe something so spiritual. I know this might seem tangential, but it feels like writing down one of your dreams, so excuse the self-indulgence for a moment.
Epigram / Sarah Wilson
I’d made this fire, and on the fire I’d put everything. I’d put all the stuff that I’d done to stay here. It was weird, it was like putting events on the fire but they were more like pictures of the events. So I put pictures of me cutting myself, and me crying, and pictures of me isolating myself from my family, so many pictures of all that, and they were all things I did to survive. And then this fire was growing, except it wasn’t really a fire, it was me and it was the person that I wanted to be. It was taking all the bad stuff that I’d done to get to where I am, and burning it - not as though it was burning away, but as though it was fueling the fire. My dissertation was on there too, and all the times that I’ve beaten myself up when I’ve been an idiot in social situations were on there, and the fire was getting quite big now.
And then everyone really gradually started smiling, not sympathetic smiles, but a compilation of all the smiles that I’d ever made them smile. It was only really small, like a little twitch on the corner of their lips, but it was there. And it made me want to carry on, and it made me think that I wanted to carry on building that fire, despite how awful it has been and how awful it still is, because it’s not just warming me, it’s warming other people too, or at least preventing them from heading into the black river. And that was the other thing: it made me think that in my life if I could ever stop people from falling into that river, then I should, and I will, that’s what I want to do with my life. And at the end of it all I was crying, but in real life, because I hate it 99.99 per cent of the time. I hate having to make a fire and not just jumping into the river and giving it all up, but then sometimes it is worth it, having a fire, not just for your sake but for other people.
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I tried to meditate this morning and for a couple of minutes I actually felt alright. It was like I had picked up and wrenched my life out of this horrible black river of depression, and slowly scraped all of what I wanted out of that river, and piled it up into an island. That island is what I clung to before and it was a horrible island, it was made of self-harm and video game addictions and drinking and promiscuity. But it wasn’t death, which I think is what the river is, and it wasn’t suicide, for at least as long as you were on the island.
Epigram / Sarah Wilson
I think suicide feels different now; it’s not actively wanting to die, it’s wanting to not exist, because existence is 90 per cent tiredness and guilt and regret and hate, and trying and failing to cover all that up at the same time.
I wanted to carry on building the fire, despite how awful it has been and how awful it still is, because it’s not just warming me, it’s warming other people too
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And I think in some sense, it’s something that I’ve thought before. I’ve probably even mentioned it before - if you can’t find a reason to live for yourself then you should find it in others. I first thought this when I tried to kill myself, but couldn’t because I thought I heard my mum coming home. That was when I first thought ‘if it weren’t for other people I would almost certainly be dead right now’. And that’s okay, I think. But yeah, I’m actually semi-smiling right now, because I think from imagining that fire thing a couple of hours ago, that’s what I’ll think about now when I feel myself heading down that path. Because - and this is huge, and that’s why I’m smiling - I felt myself going down that breakdown path when I started writing this, but now, I’m actually okay. That is the first and only time that I’ve ever managed to avoid a breakdown, and it’s just because I typed out this fire thing. So even if you don’t read it, it’s still served a huge purpose for me, and it feels really great. So thank you for reading this.
Gareth Griffith Mental Health, PhD
Epigram / Leila Mitwally
I have very briefly seen how good I can be... I don’t know how to get it out, or bring it to the forefront, or do anything
Giving Mindfulness a chance
‘You should try mindfulness!’ Your GP has said it. Your mate has said it. The mumsnet forum you’ve found yourself reading in the midst of a 4am anxiety fuelled rampage has said it and you think you heard your cat say it once. It’s an epidemic - but does it work? Mindfulness, in its simplest sense, is nothing new. It’s essentially just meditation, which involves taking some time out of your day - five to ten minutes is enough - to concentrate on noticing how you feel in the present moment, made simple with the help of guided-meditation apps. Hopefully, this eventually will help to reconnect the thoughts in your mind with the sensations in your body - which can often become detached in the modern lives that we lead. The problem with this concept - to me at least - seemed glaringly obvious. Why would I want to be present in my mind? I don’t really like my mind. It’s often not a very nice place to be. That’s kind of the whole point. There’s a reasonable chance that you have found yourself reading this article because your mind too is often a difficult place to be - and perhaps the idea of dedicating a portion of your day to concentrate on it sounds equally unsettling. Despite this objection, I initially gave mindfulness a go… By that I mean I tried it once, for ten minutes, and it did nothing but ramp my anxiety up into a frenzy. When the app told me to count my breathing, I stressed about my breathing. When it told me to become aware of the sensations in the body, every sensation in my body suddenly became extremely uncomfortable and needed urgent attention. Clearly, mindfulness was just adding fuel to the fire. Being the determined, perseverant individual that I am, I deleted the app and immediately wiped the episode from memory. It was only when I finally raised this issue with a therapist, however, that I realised I had completely missed the point. Mindfulness, it turns out, is far from the calming coping strategy I’d imagined it to be - at least in the short term. The aim is not to replace the uncomfortable feelings with more comfortable ones, it is simply to allow them, understanding that they are all a significant part of you. I’m giving mindfulness another go now. Because surely anything that might encourage emotional contentment in the long run is worth sticking with at least for a few weeks. So far, honestly, I’m still finding it difficult, though I’m trying my best not to see that as a bad thing. You can have all the therapy in the world, but it’s not going to help you feel better without some hard work on your part. If nothing else, I do get a sense of accomplishment when I’ve finished my daily mindfulness session, and I find that doing it in the morning puts me in a good mindset for the rest of the day. Even though the process is a little uncomfortable, it encourages me to feel as though I’m taking active steps in my self-care and moving forward. If you haven’t tried mindfulness - or, like me, you attempted it once and then cast it to the flames just like yoga and bulletjournaling - do give it a chance. It may not be the answer to everything you’re dealing with, but it’s free, requires minimal physical movement and might just do you good.
Leila Mitwally Wellbeing Online Editor
PHD STUDENTSHIPS AT LSE LSE is awarding over 100 full studentships for PhD students in 2018. All covering full fees plus an annual stipend of £16,500-£18,000.
Apply for a PhD by 8 January 2018 (or 13 December 2017 for Department of Economics) to be considered for these awards.
Search LSE PhD funding VQ ƒPF QWV OQTG Students work in LSE’s new PhD Academy
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Editor
Deputy Editor
Online Editor
Jane Cowie @janecowiefood food@epigram.org.uk
Holly Penhale
Sarah Roller
Epigram Living 2017-18
16.10.17
@epigramfood
Battle of the Burgers: Best Buns in Bristol Georgia Marsh shares with us her favourite places to dig in to the best burger in town
The Hobgoblin As we travel up to the tip of Stokes Croft and cross over into Gloucester Road, blink and you may miss Bristol’s most unassuming burger hot spot. The Hobgoblin is something of a local watering hole, but don’t be fooled by the pub’s beer and booze exterior – step inside for the most surprising fried treats. The Hobgoblin serves up delectable patties at a generous size for more than decent prices that’ll leave your mouth watering with every bite. In the mood for sharing? Their dirty fries are truly unmissable – a mountainous pile of cheese, condiments and pulled pork heaped onto perfectly salty chips. A heart attack waiting to happen, but it’s certainly worth it to say you died so happy.
The Burger Joint has gained something of a cult-like status among fast food fans
experience. The interior itself is paradoxically garish and pleasant; proudly nerd chic in its display of vintage memorabilia hanging on walls painted a bold, sickly lime green. Great food, but maybe too long spent inside could induce a headache. Burger Joint Whiteladies Road’s Burger Joint is here to represent the Clifton side. A favourite among students, The Burger Joint has gained something of a cult-like status among fast food fans for its build-aburger approach to dining. While other establishments offer diners their perfectly tried-and-wwtested meaty creations, The Burger Joint puts the power in your hands. From beef to bacon, to black pudding, pineapple and, er, kangaroo patties, the possibilities, though some revolting, are endless.
Georgia Marsh
Online Editor
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Atomic Burger/Atomic Diner This multi-venue greasy spoon, the original Atomic Burger sits on Gloucester Road whereas its younger sibling Atomic Diner was recently opened in Broadmead, has become something of a Bristolian favourite. Inspired by all your comic book and cartoon favourites, its menu plays host to unique combinations of flavours alongside familiar favourites to deliver a one-of-a-kind burger
Pixabay / Pexels
Meat Liquor Stokes Croft is famed for its vibrant culture, colourful graffiti and vivacious nightlife - including the best club in Bristol: The Love Inn. Yet, the area also houses a diverse assortment of outstanding eateries. Meat Liquor stands out for its too-cool- for-school interior but also for a menu which plays host to the most exciting range of burgers you could dream of. There’s something for everyone – what are you in the mood for? They have beef, chicken and truly decent vegetarian and vegan options that don’t leave any room for dissatisfaction. And that’s just the burgers! The sides are also out-
of-this-world – can I get a hallelujah up in here for the fried mac ‘n’ cheese squares? However, these burgers may just break the bank so keep your eyes peeled for their 50% off vouchers.
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Three Brothers If you’re housed in any city centre accommodation – particularly UoB’s Riverside digs – there’s no doubt that a climb aboard burger boat Three Brothers will become something of a weekly occurrence. Docked in the glittering harbour, this burger institution is home to not only the patty with the perfect meaty chemistry - a tiny bit greasy, a little bit moist, full of flavour, and the perfect cook - but also the all-day everyday £5 burger and chips student offer. You don’t have to dent your student loan if you have some serious deep fried cravings to satisfy, and these buns may just be the best in the city.
Flickr / Michael Stern Epigram / Jane Cowie
Pixabay / Free-Photos
Flickr / Foodista
Bristol: the jewel of the South West. A city famous for bridges and Banksy, it’s time another big was added to that list… Georgia Marsh dives into the city’s greasiest eateries and discovers that Bristol is also home to a host of world-class burgers. Forget your corporate giants, your high street GBK’s and Five Guys: in Bristol, the best burgers are born and bred here.
Seasonal Eating for October: Cox Apples Cox apple and sultana cake For a housemate’s birthday, exam celebrations, or simply a way to warm your kitchen up without turning on the heating. Pixabay / Couleur
Enough of your clichéd pumpkin spice latte, it’s prime time for the Cox Apples!
The season of falling leaves and orange skies only means one thing… Cox apples are at their best! Spoil yourself with these tasty and easy recipes using Cox apples, for a post-long-day-atuni treat.
Ingredients: 200g salted softened butter 200g light brown muscovado sugar 1 large lemon, zest 1.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon 0.5 a whole nutmeg (grated) 3 eggs 200g self-raising flour 4 cox apples (2 peeled and grated, 2 peeled, cored, quartered, and cut into 3mm slices) 2 large handfuls of sultanas 1 handful of flaked almonds
Nicole Abou-Abdallah
Third Year, Dentistry
Pixabay / TesaPhotography
Summer has closed its doors and its beginning to get darker and colder. Shorter days and longer evenings means more time to indulge in the warmth radiating from your ovens.
Cooking time: 1 hour 40 mins Serves: 12
Method: 1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C, gas mark 4; grease (with salted butter) and line a 23cm loose-bottomed cake tin with baking parchment. 2. Using electric beaters, beat the butter, sugar, lemon zest and spices together. 3. Add the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the flour. 4. Fold in the grated apple and sultanas, then pour into the tin. 5. Arrange the apple slices on top of the cake, scatter with the almonds and bake for 65-70 minutes. Cool in the tin for 20 minutes before serving.
16.10.17
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Where to go when your parents are in town Sarah Roller recommends her pick of the best restaurants for when your parents come to visit The Ivy, Clifton Housed in an old bank, The Ivy is always a popular spot to take parents, no-one says no to a free lunch here! Plus the upmarket interior and smart-looking staff make it feel very swanky. The food is classic, British and plentiful – make sure you leave room for the famous Chocolate Bombe though… You won’t be disappointed! Pixabay / jstein81
42-44 Caledonia Place, Clifton.
The weirdest thing I’ve ever eaten: Sweet potato, peanut butter and pear For me, the beginning of second year
The Cowshed
Epigram / Holly Penhale
It’s a couple of weeks into term, your parents are coming down to visit, you’ve panic-tidied your room so you look like your life is a bit more together. All that’s left now is to convince them of your sophisticated/expensive palate by choosing the perfect place to eat when they inevitably take you out to lunch. The options are almost endless: there’s a restaurant to suit every set of parents, every set of taste buds, every occasion. Here’s our low-down of some of Bristol’s best…
convenience - of catered halls meant the dawn of a new era of cooking and hence getting creative (and lazy) with food.
Aqua Italia Conveniently located both near the top of Whiteladies for Stoke Bishop students and on Welsh Back for those in the city centre, Aqua has a light, airy, well-lit interior and tables outside for people-watching or soaking up some of the last of the autumnal sun. Classy Italian food without being clichéd or breaking the bank: there’s something for everyone here. Also a great spot for brunch – we recommend the Eggs Pomodoro or pancakes with pancetta.
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The Cowshed, 44-46 Whiteladies Road.
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153 Whiteladies Road or Welsh Back Harbourside.
If your parents think of themselves as foodies and you want to impress them with your culinary expertisetake them here
The Clifton Sausage
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Within the first few weeks I have taken advantage of the freedom of exploring food combinations, imagination limited only by
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An absolute classic. Conveniently situated on Whiteladies, The Cowshed does a roaring trade in Bristol students ft parents, and there’s a reason for it. Beautiful steaks, top notch Sunday roasts, and good value weekday lunches mean it’s a crowd-pleaser and suitable for the whole family, and the food never fails to impress me. Vegetarians are probably better off somewhere else - the clue’s in the name…
Convince them of your sophisticated/ expensive palate by choosing the perfect place to eat
and emerging from the comfort - or at least
the uphill walk from Sainsburys.
Delicious and nutritious, just weird enough to be fun
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This has been exciting so far, yet my food choices have earned me frequent questionable looks from my flat mates. Whilst some of my
Pixabay / StockSnap
Tucked away in beautiful Clifton Village, The Clifton Sausage is homely, friendly and quintessentially British. They do some really great sausages, as well as a couple of vegetarian options and a banging Sunday roast. Not pretentious in any way, just really great, locally sourced food.
meals have been rather unsuccessful I’m a fan of this combo that my flat mates averted their eyes from.
7 Portland Street, Clifton.
The sweet and salty taste of sweet potato and peanut butter works surprisingly well, yet
Bulrush Pixabay / TheAndraBarta
One for the real foodies: Bulrush offers 3 courses for £20 on weekdays, and the food really is to die for. Tucked away in a corner of Cotham, and nothing to look at from the outside, it makes up for its simple exterior with mind-blowing, fancy food. If your parents like to think of themselves as foodies and you want to impress them with your culinary expertise and sophistication, take them here. Not one for the fussy eaters. 21 Cotham Road South.
its richness means that the pear is refreshing. Also tastes great with pomegranate, plum, peach or cantaloupe melon (not watermelon, I’m not that crazy), the possibilities are endless. Delicious and nutritious, just weird enough to be fun.
Sarah Roller
Online Food Editor
Antara Bate
Second Year, Liberal Arts
16.10.17
25 Is Aldi worth it? Bea Kelly shares her opinion on whether every student’s favourite supermarket is really worth it
The first Aldi trip is definitely an eye-opening experience; a breath of fresh air in terms of the prices. It is unarguably cheaper than any of the main supermarkets which are based on the triangle. These are primarily Sainsbury’s, Tesco and, if you’re looking for a particularly high calibre of vegetable (and a free coffee), Waitrose. Aldi prices really are incomparable, especially if your shop is heavily weighted by meat, fish or potatoes. You will definitely notice a big batch shop will be much cheaper, and much less time will be spent trawling down those shopping aisles. This one big shop can last you a month if you plan it right - and if there is enough room in your fridge. But I have to admit, recently I have questioned whether
Aldi really is worth the hype, and more importantly the drive/bus to get there. With Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s very literally on my doorstep, it really does need to be significantly worth the extra time and effort.
open, it’s not even been a week before I’m back food shopping on the way home from lectures, always thinking whilst I’m in there ‘why don’t I just shop in here all the time?’.
As previously mentioned, Aldi is brilliant for big monthly shops, but these also need a lot of planning ahead. Unless I want to be eating beans on toast for the next month, sufficient meal planning needs to be done before an Aldi shop.
Because Aldi is a drive away it can also mean you go a bit crazy in the supermarket; you feel like you have to make the petrol costs worth it, so you buy the whole of aisle four and hope for the best.
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Whether you endured learning how to fend for yourself in the kitchen in first year by living in a self-catered hall, or are just moving into your second year flat and are already fed up with late night kebabs as your main meal of the day, it is becoming very obvious to everyone… a big fat Aldi shop is inevitably approaching.
The first Aldi trip is definitely an eye opening experience
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Without doing this, I can say from experience, you end up buying things you’re just never going to use. Why have I bought a bag of parsnips? When have I ever used parsnips in a meal? What even is a parsnip?
Doing big shops is great, but things like vegetables and fruit go off very quickly, so when they do start rotting in the fridge drawer nobody dares
Although Aldi is good for just buying the basics, like canned tomatoes, pesto, potatoes, pesto, pasta, pesto, curry sauces and more pesto, personally I find all these basics are pretty similarly priced in Tesco or Sainsbury’s. Also as a side note, I’ll warn you that baked beans are a basic that Aldi absolutely cannot do. Would not recommend to a friend. Nothing on Heinz. However, in saying all of this, the meat and fish are really quite noticeably cheaper. As I don’t eat meat, or at least try my best not to, I have found the extra time and money to get to Aldi is not worth it for me, and maybe this will be the same for all the vegetarians or vegans out there.
Bea Kelly
Third year, History
Recipe: Spicy Roasted Butternut Squash with
Recipe: Chicken and
Fried Halloumi
Mushroom Stroganoff
Holly Penhale offers her own recipe so you can conjure up a vegetarian treat for
Nicole Abou-Abdallah offers her recipe
tonight’s dinner
so you can whip up a creamy chicken dinner
Squash season is upon us and what better way to see you through those chilly winter nights than a warming dish of curried veg, crunchy seeds and crispy fried halloumi? Admittedly this is no 15 minute meal but the squash can be roasted in advance and refrigerated for up to five days.
to comfort you on the cold nights ahead Cooking time: 40 mins Serves: 5 Epigram / Holly Penhale
You can tailor the level of spice to your own taste, but the sweetness of the squash is refreshing against the fiery kick of the cumin. Serves 2 Ingredients: 1 Butternut Squash ½ Red onion ½ Courgette 3 Mushrooms 1 Red or yellow Bell pepper 2 Cloves of garlic 1 Handful of pumpkin seeds 125g Halloumi 1 tbsp Plain flour ½ tsp Ground cumin ¼ tsp Ground turmeric 1 Pinch of chilli flakes 1/8 tsp chilli powder
Method: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6.
7.
9.
Tip: To counter the heat, serve with a dollop of soured cream or natural yogurt.
Holly Penhale
Deputy Food Editor
500g chicken breast (cut into strips) 300g closed cup mushrooms (chopped into slices) 300ml single cream 4 tablespoons plain flour 1 onion 2 garlic cloves A handful of chopped parsley Rice (to serve) Method: 1. Take chicken breast strips and cover individually in a layer of plain flour. 2. Place floured chicken in a non-stick, greased pot and turn over until they are golden brown on the surface. 3. Chop onion and garlic into fine pieces and add to the frying chicken, fry for 5 mins until onion is browned 4. Add half a cup of water to the pot, scraping the bottom to release the onion into the liquid. Add the mushrooms and bring to boil, then simmer for 10 mins. 5. Add the single cream and the chopped parsley. Simmer for another 10 mins. 6. Serve with rice.
Nicole Abou-Abdallah
Third year, Dentistry
Epigram / Nicole Abdou- Abdallah
Epigram / Holly Penhale
8.
Preheat the oven to 200C and roast the whole squash on a baking tray for an hour and a half. Meanwhile, finely chop the red onion, courgette, bell pepper, mushrooms and garlic. Gently fry the vegetables on a medium heat until softened and add the cumin, turmeric, chilli powder and chilli flakes. Remove your squash from the oven, cut in half length ways and remove the seeds. Scoop out the flesh and add it to the spicy vegetable mix leaving just enough for the squash halves to maintain their shape. Season your filling with salt and pepper before spooning the mix back into the squash halves and placing them back in the oven at 150C. Drizzle the pumpkin seeds in olive oil and place in the oven for 3-4 minutes until crunchy. Slice your block of halloumi into six even squares, roll in flour and fry in olive oil until golden and crispy on both sides. Remove the squash halves from the oven and serve each one with three halloumi slices and a scattering of pumpkin seeds!
Ingredients:
Editor Nancy Serle style@epigram.org.uk
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Deputy Editor Lottie Moore
@epigramstyle
@e2style
16.10.2017
Online Editor Hannah Worthington
Epigram Style 2017/18
What is in your makeup bag?
Ellie Chesshire, Letters Editor, reveals her go-to products, and how trial and error often leads to the best makeup Eyes
When it comes to makeup, I like to keep it fairly simple. I am a shopaholic through and through when it comes to fashion, but where makeup is concerned, I have been relying on a few essentials for several years.
I have been wearing liquid eyeliner since I was about 13 and have been using the NYX liquid eyeliners ever since. I once tried the Benefit They’re Real Push Up Liner, but hated it and soon reverted back to NYX. I have both the black and the brown eye liners - they are quick, easy to apply and always last.
Skin care When I was younger a good foundation and concealer were essential as I suffered quite badly from acne. I fell totally in love with the NYX Total Control foundation, which gave me a proper coverage without looking cakey or too thick. More recently I have started using the NYX HD Studio Photogenic concealer as well, which gets rid of any blemishes that the foundation hasn’t quite sorted out. The two go very well together and have become my essentials for my every day.
Benefit’s Roller Lash mascara has been my go-to for a long time and again is another product that lasts for ages. It is super easy to apply and it is incredibly hard to smudge. My go to for eyeshadows have been the Morphe palettes for the past few months. I particularly love the 35O palette and am dying to get my hands on several more. They are just so much cheaper than palettes such as the Naked palettes and you also get so many more eyeshadows. The colours are highly pigmented and also seem to last a while. I have loved experimenting with them all!
Facebook/ Ellie Chesshire
Feel Unique £24.50
Lips
Cult Beauty £14 HQH Hair £6 It is completely generic but I love Benefit’s Hoola bronzer. There is definitely a reason it is everyone’s favourite, I am still using the same product that I purchased two and a half years ago, so it is definitely cost effective. Alongside this I also love Mac’s Soft and Gentle highlighter. John Lewis £24.50
Beauty Bay £22.50
I am extremely low maintenance with my lips and up until very recently I didn’t do anything to them. Then over the summer a friend of mine recommended NYX’s Lingerie lip creams so I decided to try them out. I bought Exotic and have totally fallen in love. I don’t wear it all the time but it’s perfect for a special occasion and will last the whole evening.
John Lewis £20.5
Ellie Chessire Letters Editor
Is it acceptable to appropriate working class fashion and culture?
Matilda Haymes gives her opinion on Bristol students’ infactuation with working class culture and fashion I remember in my very first week at Bristol, a fellow student characterising the general aesthetic of the University to be “spending all your money to look like you have none”. This summarises the contradictory nature of Bristol style: middle class students donning expensive second-hand sportswear, emulating the working class visual at a hefty price. There is an unspoken conflict in the popularity of this fashion, where a great expense is required in order to appear less well off than you are. Working class appropriation in fashion is often criticised because it creates a fake-poverty, which is perceived as desirable and trendy, whereas the actualities of living in this way could not be more opposing. Although this paradox is clear in Bristol student style, it is certainly not our unique situation. In recent years, typically working class trends have inspired many global fashion houses,
with a multitude of designers delving into this aesthetic and glamorising it for the highend market. Since the introduction of luxury sportswear in mainstream brands, the working class influence in fashion is now ubiquitous. Working class culture has emerged one of the most popularised trends of the past few years, resulting in an interesting reversal of opinions. Things that were once dismissed because of their working class associations are now at the forefront of what is perceived as cool. Think of Burberry’s iconic ‘nova check’ print. What was once a destructive force to the brand because of its popularity amongst the lower classes, is now the pinnacle of the 2000s-revival trend, with even a second hand t-shirt demanding a three figure price tag. There has been a complete turn around in how working class style is being perceived in the fashion world.
It is important to recognise the significance of this sudden embrace. After years of being perceived so negatively, an uncomfortable irony arises in the fetishizing of working class culture by the upper classes. We shouldn’t ignore the contradictions that are visible when lower class fashions are appropriated throughout a University that is often so alienating to people from a lower class background. Although I don’t think people should necessarily be discouraged from enjoying the styles that have emerged from lower class fashion, I think the individual should accept the double standard they are likely to project when they enjoy working class culture but are ignorant of social inequalities. People should not have to change how they dress, but rather their exposure to and understanding of the life of people from different backgrounds.
Instagram/ @ anitasterndepop
Matilda Haymes Third Year , English
16.10.2017
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Put the fur aside - is wool the next big fashion no no? Online style editor Hannah Worthington discusses the fashion sphere’s damaging relationship with the wool industry
What are you wearing and why?
museling takes place, ‘where without anesthesia, large strips of flesh are cut out of the backs of lambs and around their tales’. Along with transportation where the sheep are packed tightly into holding pens, with lambs trampled to death, one really starts to question why this ethical emergency is not getting more press. Now knowing the thorough, harmful system in place behind shearing wool in select industrial practices – and I emphasise select for it would be entirely wrong to claim that all shearers treated their sheep as such – it certainly appears the fashion world has a long way to go before it gets its ethics right. Though wool does not sell for the same margins that fur can through haute couture fashion, the same principles can be applied – if the process is harming the animal, it simply should not be happening, and the designers we idolise should not be endorsing it either.
The fact that one needs a stimulant to get through the process surely explicates the disastrous nature of this activity – for both the sheep and its shearer. Silverstone similarly talks about the conveyer belt process: ‘They’re cut. They’re harmed. They get very seriously wounded, and there is no care for them when they are wounded.’ Alongside the wounds that result due to the quick ‘on to the next one’ process, domesticated sheep cannot shed their own fleece. VeganPeace, a page that focuses on animal rights, introduces us to the process of museling, an equally harmful procedure aside from sheering: ‘If the fleece is not shorn, their wool will grow longer while flies lay eggs in the moist folds of their skin’. Consequently,
Juliet S Philosophy and Politics I love layering up my garments. Today, I’ve opted for a black mesh jumpsuit that I’ve had since the age of 15. I’m wearing it under my embroidered jeans and an old vintage waistcoat shirt.
l-r: Flickr/Colton Kats, Instagram/ @woolandthegang, Instagram/ @woolandthegang, Instagram/ @woolandthegang
Hanna Worthington Online Style Editor
Epigram/ Hannah Worthington
From the tiny cages that lead to selfmutilation, poisoning via hot unfiltered engine exhaust, to electrocution and neck breaking, it is unlikely that one cannot see the wrong in producing fur for industry. However, others – myself previously included – are less informed on the dangers of the shearing process in order to obtain wool. While many farmers take pride and care in shearing and caring for their flock, cruel measures are
They smash them on their backs, they punch them in their face
Epigram/ Hannah Worthington
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It is unlikely that one cannot see the wrong in producing fur for industry
found to be inflicted on sheep specifically reared for wool. Ingrid Newkirk, founder of PETA, outlines to the Guardian the naivety yet potential dangers in domestic shearing: ‘People would always say: ‘It’s just shearing. It’s a haircut …’ [But] ‘The shearers, a lot of them, are on amphetamines because they have to work at speed. Men punching these sheep. They smash them on their backs, they punch them in their face. With their fists, with the metal clippers, they sew them up without painkillers’. So, these humans doing the shearing are stimulated to perform this operation by having a rush of norepinephrine.
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Fur protesting is nothing new to the world of fashion. As ever, swarms of anti-fur organisations filled the London Fashion Week streets earlier in September. However, emerging among the multitudes of fur slogans from ‘London Fashion Week Go FurFree’ to ‘Cruelty is never in style’, were placards repeating PETA’s established slogan: ‘I’d rather go naked’. But this time it wasn’t just for fur, instead, wool. The ‘I’d rather go naked’ campaign has been in action for more than thirty years, and the purpose is pretty self-explanatory; to spread cruelty awareness. However arguably, fur related slogans generally seem to circulate more widely than those associated to woolens. Such was until last November, when Alicia Silverstone stripped bare to share the increasing danger of sourcing wool in the textile industry. With enough online dissemination, more and more people are becoming educated to understand the torments inside fur farms.
Chantelle O Psychology I like to be comfortable and my harem elephant pants are the way to go
Editor Nick Bloom travel@epigram.org.uk
28
@EpigramTravel
Deputy Editor Evy Tang
Online Editor Ellie Caulfield
16.10.2017
Epigram Travel Section 2017/8
@epigram_travel
Bristol wins UNESCO learning city award Heard of the Bristol Love Learning campaign? Travel Editor Nick Bloom travelled to Cork to find out more
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Epigram / Nick Bloom
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Since Bristol won the European Green City award in 2015, the city has launched the Love Learning campaign, a long-term initiative with ambitious and far-reaching targets: to be a green fuel city by 2050; to encourage all Bristolians to learn throughout their life; to tackle educational inequality and adult illiteracy; to educate on climate change; and to establish strong partnerships with stakeholders, such as the University of Bristol. While my time in Cork was a fantastic experience away from home, and I learnt a huge amout from the conference itself, as well as a lot about Irish cultural traditions - ever given hurling or Irish dancing a go? - it was also a reminder that lending a helping hand locally at university can have a truly global impact. So go “glocal” and engage with the Bristol Love Learning campaign! Epigram / Nick Bloom
Epigram / Nick Bloom
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More than half the world’s population live in cities, and that proportion is expected to increase to two thirds by 2050
For me, the highlight of the conference was the Learning City awards ceremony. This year, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning has rewarded 16 cities worldwide - from Santa Maria in Argentina, to Huangzhou in China, to N’Zérékoré in Guinea - for demonstrating oustanding commitments to inclusive and quality lifelong education (SDG 4) and sustainable urban development (SDG 11). And Bristol is one of the winners! I was so proud to watch Claire Hiscott, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills for the Bristol City Council, collect the Learning City award - the first English city to do so - and present the Bristol Love Learning Campaign to a packed Cork City Hall.
Epigram / Nick Bloom
A few weeks ago, I joined over 700 delegates from 92 countries across the globe in Cork, for a conference on learning cities organised by the United Nations’ education, science and culture organisation, UNESCO. For three days, representatives from charities, UN bodies, international public sector organisations, local and national governments, the private sector and academic institutions, as well as urban planners and education experts, descended on the Irish city. More than half the world’s population live in cities, and that proportion is expected to increase to two thirds by 2050. The conference, standing in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, was an opportunity for key city stakeholders to share and discuss their experiences and identify good practice in using education and learning as drivers of sustainable development.
Check out the Bristol Learning City website here: bristollearningcity.com/get-involved/love-learning/
I was so proud to watch Claire Hiscott collect the Learning City award and present the Bristol Love Learning campaign to a packed Cork City Hall
To become a Bristol Learning Ambassador, go to: bristollearningcity.com /get-involved / become-a-learningambassador/
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Nick Bloom Travel Editor
What do German students think about Brexit? Deputy Travel Editor Evy Tang interviews Florian Messemer, Second Year Politics and Economics student, and Lukas Kohmeyer, Chemistry student at Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg, in the wake of Merkel’s re-election
Florian: My friends stayed over that night to watch the votes coming in. In the morning we were all quite upset and wondering what would happen next. Lukas: Totally surprised, because it is such a stupid decision. It’s obviously a bad decision but it wasn’t so important in Germany. It was a topic in the news for about a week but that’s it. Do you think there is any connection between the Brexit vote and the AfD getting 13% of the vote? (AfD is the Alternativ für Deustchland, a right-wing political party) Florian: Yes. In many countries, including the UK and Germany, many people are experiencing social or economic hardship and feel that this is a solution that may help them. This is of course not the extent of both problems but I do think there is a connection.
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It’s obviously a bad decision but it wasn’t so important in Germany. It was a topic in the news for about a week but that’s it
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Florian: A grand coalition can never last more than one term so it comes as no surprise, especially for the SPD (Social Democratic Party) that the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) did not renew an alliance. With regards to how things stand now, the AfD will pose a major challenge to German democracy and social liberalism. What is dangerous about the AfD being in government is the threat of becoming overly radical and these extreme attitudes slowly entering the mainstream. Endorsing the use of weapons on the border against migrants or being proud of soldiers in both World Wars, for example, are simply unacceptable in my view. Lukas: Merkel hasn’t formed a coalition yet, but that isn’t anything out of the ordinary. It’s quite normal for parties to take around a month to form a new government after an election.
Some people believe Germany should leave the EU; maybe Brexit was “proof” that the EU has its imperfections
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How do you see the relationship between the U.K. and Germany progressing? Florian: I think it will get more tense, especially if there is a ‘Jamaican’ coalition in Germany which will be committed to the EU. Germany and France will put a lot of energy into invigorating a pro-European outlook. Germany will not bow down to the UK post-Brexit, as both powers have different interests and ambitions. Britain wants to get the best deal out of the negotiations, but Germany won’t be pushed around. Lukas: It is important for Germany to educate on the benefits of the EU and prevent parties such as the AfD gaining in popularity. With regards to the UK, the best thing they could do would be revoke the implementation of Article 50 and not leave. Are you less inclined to plan a long-term future in the UK?
Epigram / Evy Tang
Lukas: No. Without the Brexit vote, I think the AfD would have almost the same or even more votes. Some people believe Germany should leave the EU; maybe Brexit was ‘proof’ that the EU has its imperfections. Many people who voted for the AfD were from low-income and low-educated backgrounds so perhaps the similarities lie there.
How are things looking in Germany right now?
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What was your reaction to Britain’s 2016 EU referendum result?
Florian: Yes. I didn’t come to the UK with a long-term plan but this certainly makes the idea of staying after graduation less attractive. Lukas: I think so. If the UK leaves and gains more distance from an integrated Europe, I would be far less inclined to settle there.
Evy Tang Deputy Travel Editor
16.10.2017
29 Lima: the city of love
Tale of tolerance
Anna Stephens, Second Year History student, describes one of the most interesting and inspiring cities in the world
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It’s easy to fall in love with this city, if one can call it a city. Lima is almost a country in itself, made up of several districts as culturally and geographically separate from one another as nations are. The city is unique in Latin America for being the only capital set along a beach break, explaining the incredible number of skilful surfers. Peruvians set the bar high for surfing here. The surfer doing tricks on the horizon is merely getting some playful waves in before work. In Lima, more than in any other place I’ve experienced, surfing is part of everyday life; it still has its own trendy culture, but it’s hardly unusual.
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Standing within this diversity, so apparent in the many lifestyles co-existing together yet separately within the Lima bubble, it’s hard not to be reminded of the uniqueness of the individual, as well as, of course, the less philosophical and more pressing social and political issues raging in Lima every day. It’s admirable to see the way life is valued here, despite the country’s very violent past. Plaza Maya in central Lima is perhaps the most culturally vibrant part of the city: comprised of brick yellow plazas, grand buildings, busy backstreets, fountains and museums. It’s the most obvious hotspot for tourists, yet far outnumbering tourists are traditionally dressed Inca descendants who have journeyed down from the mountains to find work in the bustling city. One would assume they experience a shocking but interesting lifestyle transformation.
Epgiram / Anna Stephens
Love is inescapable, subtly resting in the background as a suitable backdrop to a city of colour and beauty
Lima is almost a country in itself, made up of several districts as culturally and geographically separate from one another as nations are
Growing up in rural Germany, I was often told that it was so ‘cool’ that I got to spend Christmas on the other side of the world, in 42˚C, unwrapping my presents under the long-thorn acacia tree the boys had cut down from the side of the road. People passing by stopped and stared in confusion when they heard my mother ask me, in English, how my presentation went, and me, promptly reply in flawless German. I spent English class sitting at the back writing short stories while others were desperately trying to wrap their heads around why ‘through’ and ‘threw’ sounded identical but were written differently.
A long metro route runs between here and the richer districts of Miraflores and Barranco, which could easily be mistaken for New York as smoothed over pavements and glassy buildings divide the district into US-style blocks of flats and apartments. Miraflores’ development obscures traditional Peruvian culture to an extent, but Barranco’s bohemian-style parks and long open staircases act as a blank canvas for the many artists living in Lima. On almost every corner of the district is another work of art; expressions of life, often based on the sea, or of course on love, sparking intrigue and emotion. If the ambling surfers and hippies aren’t enough to make Barranco a cultural hotspot in the day time, the hot nights draw even bigger crowds. Street dancers of every kind turn the dusty plazas into dance floors as the vacant onlookers become their audience, watching with awe.
Anna Stephens Second Year, History
I loved being the different one. I loved getting an extra two weeks off school because my relatives lived two flights away. I loved it when my friends stared with fascination at the pictures I showed them of our family friends’ pet cheetah and farm in Namibia. So, when my father told us to pack up our family home and move to the world’s biggest city, I was surprised to learn that I was only one of hundreds of thousands of unique little snowflakes with equally ‘cool’ heritages. For six months, I refused to accept that this was my new life. Shanghai was not, and never would be, my home. I hated that, rather than sunshine, mooing cows and the scent of freshly cut grass, I now stepped out onto a minefield of cigarette stubs and flying spit, as a heavy cloud of smog pushed down from the stark, grey sky. One needed a death wish to even consider operating a motor vehicle on the seven-lane monster of a motorway, and the stuffy heat appeared to trigger a severe shortage of shirts in the middle-aged, bigbellied male category (an enjoyable prospect when cramped under a fragrant armpit of the person next in line at the till). As a born-and-raised German, this highly non-functioning chaos was deeply disturbing. I wanted to go home, to where I was safe and comfortable.
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If there’s anything Lima’s busy citizens have time for, it’s love. Tourists look on admiringly as elderly couples tenderly express their love through dance, waltzing romantically on the steps of the central plaza to smooth jazz music booming through gravelly speakers. Love is scrawled on the walls of the city itself; graffiti hearts and heart-felt dedications - the words ‘Lima Love’ in a distinct style, bright against building edges, high and in clear sight of onlookers. Love is inescapable, subtly resting in the background as a suitable backdrop to a city of colour and beauty. It is inherent in the sunsets which colour the sky in a rainbow of affection. Perhaps the most striking evidence of romance, however, are the dozens of young couples who sit looking out onto the expansive Pacific Ocean along the Malecón - an extended stone esplanade - as if positioned there to decorate the city’s coast intentionally, like lego figures. This phenomenon, I was told, is part of Peruvian culture and not at all unusual, but naturally serves to reinforce the culture of romance.
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Their passion encapsulates the vibes Peru’s booming capital gives off; a busy city where time seems to be of the essence yet paradoxically remains still
From the Jesus statue which stands upon one of the many dusty hills which roughly encase Lima, the main sections of the city are visible, as breath-taking as they are unequal. There is a jarring juxtaposition between rich districts, lined with aesthetically watered and conscientiously planted trees, and mountains of shanty towns characterised by tin roofs and clothes racks.
Flickr / Alfred Weidinger
Two bohemian-looking young adults stand on a grassy section of the long cliffs which line the edge of Lima. Beneath them is a long drop to the sea which stretches on uninterrupted for miles, framing the city. They clutch each other passionately, drawing each other in and dramatically silhouetting the landscape. Their group of friends sit in a line facing the sea amongst other scattered onlookers, barely paying attention to the couple. Their passion encapsulates the vibes Peru’s booming capital gives off; a busy city where time seems to be of the essence yet paradoxically remains still. Here there is an intense level of static activity reflected in the eyes of the many types of street dwellers who pass through, or forever stay, to watch the turmoil unfold. Movement in the city never ceases; taxis float around and families wander through the various gardens, yet the streets remain congested in a haze of frustrated traffic, sun and laziness.
Learning to love Shanghai
For six months, I refused to accept that this was my new life. Shanghai was not, and never would be, my home.
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Epigram / Anna Stephens
Epigram / Anna Stephens
And yet, I look back onto those six years with heart-wrenching nostalgia. I can barely remember the paralysing fear of being suffocated that I felt when taking my first metro-ride at rush-hour, or starting to cry when a group of women in the outskirts wouldn’t stop prodding my funny-looking foreign face. I remember going down to the market with my Chinese textbook, and stumbling my way through the shopping list in broken, heavily-accented beginner Mandarin. I remember the hours I spent with my two best friends as they introduced me to the technical wonders that are a Nintendo DS and this thing called Facebook. I remember the warm treatment that we received from locals, for no reason other than their tolerance and open hearts. The thing about international school is that you suddenly have access to exotic knowledge and experiences that you otherwise wouldn’t even know existed. You are randomly placed in a country completely different from your own, often thousands of miles away. Yet, instead of assuming that everyone around you is, or should be, like you, you begin to love and appreciate other cultures. How could you not, when your entire friend group consists of – what back home would be branded – foreigners. You stop differentiating in terms of skin colour and nationality, because if you did, everyone would be running around in their parties of one. I’ve been lucky to grow up with people from all over the globe. Tell me a country and chances are I know someone who lives or is from there. I don’t expect to get on with everyone regardless of their origin, but if I can misjudge a city of 28 million people, maybe it’s worth reading that book, before you judge it by its cover.
Alex Schumann Second Year, Liberal Arts
Rainbow road HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE VARSITY COLOUR RUN LEARN NEW SKILLS
EQUALITY & DIVERSITY CAREERS WEEK EXPLORE BLACK CULTURE
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
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BLACK
HISTORY MONTH 2017
Bristol SU’s celebration of Black History Month 2017 continues! We’ll be carrying on with our series of events throughout October celebrating black culture, looking to the past and present. Check out our range of events which we have coming up in the next fortnight.
Jam for hurricane relief
BME Network
Black women’s brunch
This event will be Jazz, Funk & Soul’s regular jam but this time it’s in collaboration with BME Network's Black History Month in aid of the Dominican after Hurricane Maria. All donations will JR WR WKH 2IÀFLDO 'RPLQLFD +XUULFDQH Relief Fund. The idea is to bring fast assistance, with the goal of alleviating the plight Dominicans who have been left with nothing. 17 October, 7pm
This event will bring together the amazing black women of Bristol University, giving them a space to celebrate just being them! Join us for a brunch on the 29 October at midday in the Multifaith chaplaincy as we bring Black History Month to a close in style. See the SU website for further details.
Pole + Twerkshop with Kelechi Okafor
Anson rooms fest
Join us in the Anson Rooms on the 21 October where we will be having a Black History Month festival. Further details to be announced. Keep an eye on our website.
Kelechi Okafor (@Kelecnekoff) better described as the one and only ‘Benz Punani Womanist’ is an acting, WZHUNLQJ DQG SROH Ă€WQHVV LQVWUXFWRU ZKR LV WDNLQJ WKH Ă€WQHVV VFHQH E\ storm. Kelechi crowdfunded to open her own studio creating a space where women can express themselves DQG JHW Ă€W LQ WKH SURFHVV 7ZHUN KDV strong links to Kelechi’s West African heritage. For Kelechi, twerking is an act of reclaiming something that has been deemed oversexualised and giving it cultural context. 22 October, Anson Rooms, 1pm
Bristol SU BME & LGBT Presents Moonlight
Hosted in conjunction with LGBT+ 6RFLHW\ WKLV FRPLQJ RI DJH ÀOP LV DQ exploration of sexuality and identity, as it follows the life of protagonist Chiron. 0RRQOLJKW LV LQà XHQWLDO LQ WKDW LW LV WKH ÀUVW ÀOP ZLWK DQ DOO EODFN FDVW DQG WKH ÀUVW /*%7 ÀOP WR ZLQ WKH 2VFDU IRU %HVW Picture. AR2 Bar, 20 October, 6pm
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Equality & diversity week Equality & diversity
Careers week
All this week, Bristol SU and Bright Network are planning to run an Equality and Diversity Careers Week. The aim of the week is to empower and train students that belong to marginalized groups including BME, LGBT+, Women, Disabled and Widening Participation students. 7KH ZHHN ZLOO LQYROYH ZRUNVKRSV SDQHO GLVFXVVLRQV DQG HPSRZHUPHQW VHVVLRQV UXQQLQJ WKURXJKRXW WKH ZHHN DQG HQGLQJ RQ WKH 7KXUVGD\ HYHQLQJ ZLWK DQ (TXDOLW\ DQG 'LYHUVLW\ &DUHHUV )DLU :H KDYH FKRVHQ WR SDUWQHU ZLWK %ULJKW 1HWZRUN DV WKH\ DUH DQ RUJDQLVDWLRQ WKDW SURYLGH RSSRUWXQLWLHV IRU XQLYHUVLW\ VWXGHQWV 0RVW LPSRUWDQWO\ WKH\ VKDUH WKH VDPH YDOXHV HVSHFLDOO\ DURXQG (TXDOLW\ DQG 'LYHUVLW\ DV WKH 6WXGHQWV· 8QLRQ %ULJKW 1HWZRUN·V %ULJKW:RPHQ VFKHPH VKRZV D FRPPLWPHQW WR LQVSLUH DQG HTXLS ZRPHQ ZLWK WKH VNLOOV DQG FRQÀGHQFH QHHGHG IRU WKHLU FDUHHUV %ULJKW 1HWZRUN DOVR KDYH DQ (TXDO
2SSRUWXQLWLHV +XE LQ ZKLFK WKH\ SDUWQHU ZLWK WRS HPSOR\HUV WR KHOS SURPRWH under-represented communities in WKH ZRUNSODFH DQG EXLOG D GLYHUVH DQG LQFOXVLYH HQYLURQPHQW RI %ULJKW 1HWZRUN·V PHPEHUVKLS LV VWDWH HGXFDWHG IHPDOH DQG %$0( %ODFN $VLDQ 0LQRULW\ (WKQLF RI WKHLU PHPEHUV KDYH UHFHLYHG IUHH VFKRRO PHDOV DQG DUH WKH ÀUVW JHQHUDWLRQ WR JR WR XQLYHUVLW\ 2XU HYHQWV WKLV ZHHN LQFOXGH 0HHW DQG *UHHWV &9 &OLQLFV DQG /LQNHG,Q +HDGVKRWV For more information see: bristolsu.org.uk/edcareers
Don't forget to vote! have your say. voting open: 16 - 19 october EULVWROVX RUJ XN HOHFWLRQV
WHAT'S ON EQUALITY & DIVERSITY CAREERS FAIR Friday 20 October 2pm-4pm, Anson Rooms, Bristol SU :H YH LQYLWHG WKH ELJJHVW ÀUPV ZLWK WKH EHVW GLYHUVLW\ LQLWLDWLYHV to Bristol to introduce themselves and let you know about their opportunities. Meet representatives from the biggest names in Law, Accounting & Finance, the Public Sector and more. It's your chance to ask questions, get some advice and get a feel for the ÀUPV WKHPVHOYHV Find out more: bristolsu.org.uk/events/equality-diversity-careers-fair Women of Colour in Leadership. Tuesday 17 October, 5.30pm-7pm, AR2 Bar. Part of our Equality and Diversity Careers Week, this session will explore the skills needed to be a successful, leading BME woman as well as looking at ways of dealing with sexism and misogynoir during your career. There will be a panel discussion followed by a Q&A where you will be able to hear from our inspiring female leaders.
European Outdoor Film Tour. Sunday 29 October, 7pm, Anson Rooms. The European Outdoor Film Tour curates the most inspiring stories from the great outdoors, breath-taking athletic feats and fascinating encounters, bringing adventure back to the big screen.
LGBT+ Empowerment and Employability, Wednesday 18 October, 5pm-7pm, AR2 Bar. We will be running an empowerment session for LGBT+ students. This session will be centred on discussions around being LGBT+ in a workplace with insight from a leading professional at a top UK ÀUP
Comedy Central Live Presents: Proper Jokes. Thursday 19 October, 8pm-10pm, Anson Rooms Bar After the success of Welcome week, our comedy season continues, with performances from Ed Night (Edinburgh Newcomer Nominee 2017), Kelly Convey (Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year 2017 nominee) and Paul McCaffrey of Impractical Jokers!
Fit & Fab Pilates, Monday 23 October, 8am - 9am, Carpenter Room, Bristol SU. Open to all who identify as women at the University of Bristol, with Fit & Fab membership. Join us for Pilates, where we will be working, head to toe, on a variety of core muscles.’
Open Mic Night Hosted by LiveSoc. Thursday 26 October, 9pm, Balloon Bar. Free live music, cheap beer and tasty food. Pretty much the perfect Thursday night - see you there.
Bristol Quidditch Club: Charity Tournament, Sunday 22 October, 10am - 4pm, Durdam Downs. Bristol Quidditch Club are raising money for local charity Off the Record. With loads of societies, halls and sports clubs getting involved in the tournament - this is an event not to be missed! Tickets ÂŁ4.
For more information on all upcoming events see bristolsu.org.uk/events
Epigram
16.10.2017
Film & TV
filmandtv@epigram.org.uk Editor: Charlie Gearon Deputy Editor: Gabi Spiro @GearonCharlie
@GabiSpiro
@epigramfilm
Online: Tim Bustin Deputy Online: AshleyYonga @timbustin1
@ashyonga
Will Hollywood whitewash another anime classic? Jessica Ginting Third Year, Engilsh
It feels like we’re being cheated by Hollywood
Indeed, the recurring trend of Hollywood adapting anime films rarely ever ends successfully, even when looking further back into the past to Dragon Ball: Evolution (2009). Both fans and critics alike seem to resist these films, yet film studios keep trying to push for more adaptations to be made in a desperate attempt to widen its viewer base. The result usually is a movie that becomes devoid of its original meaning and cultural value, and is simply reduced to a generic Hollywood action film, packaged with a sprinkling of Asian cultural set pieces. For starters, Ghost in the Shell was filmed around Hong Kong, with noticeable landmarks in the background, despite the original anime being set in Japan. Hollywood blockbusters
Twitter / @RottenTomatoes
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It was recently announced that JJ Abrams will be making a Hollywood live-action adaptation of Your Name, the hit Japanese anime from last year written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. Almost immediately, fans and critics raised the issue of whitewashing and were concerned that the remake of the film would follow in the footsteps of recent anime adaptations such as Death Note and Ghost in the Shell, both released earlier this year.
tend to portray various Asian cultures as interchangeable—its empty commodification at its best, and cultural appropriation at its worst. The very premise of Your Name would be difficult to translate into the context of another culture. The story revolves around Mitsuha and Taki, two young Japanese teens who swap bodies and end up in a fascinating and mind-boggling romance looped in with complex themes of time and destiny. Mitsuha lives in the Japanese mountains of the Hida region, whereas Taki lives in the bustling metropolis of Tokyo. These specific settings play an important role in the film’s complex narrative, often acting as a source of dramatic tension between the two characters. Mitsuha’s dream of living in the city comes true, while Taki learns to navigate rural Japanese life and traditional customs. The stunning hand-drawn animation is also second to none, and a live-action remake is bound to lose the magic of the unique visual experience. If Hollywood decides to go the Death Note route and forgoes these settings for American ones, then the movie simply won’t work. The rural versus urban narrative could be set up, using Missouri and New York for example, but the cultural impact changes completely without its Japanese roots. The movie depicts ancient Japanese traditions older than America itself. It would be a much more interesting adaptation if Abrams decided to portray Native American culture, for example. But if Hollywood’s track record is anything to go by, the notion of seeing Native American representation seems fairly slim. If they go the Ghost in the Shell route and retain the original setting, will they finally cast Japanese actors? Or will they continue to ignore whitewashing concerns due to perceived “marketability” fears? It feels like we’re being cheated by Hollywood. With the rise of the superheroes, and the onslaught of sequels, prequels, reboots and remakes, audiences are often voicing their complaints about the lack
of original films in cinema nowadays. Your Name was like a shining diamond when it was released last year and is still winning various critical awards and accolades. However, not a lot of mainstream filmgoers seem to know about it, and it was (predictably) snuffed by the Oscars earlier this year. The film had limited marketing support when it was released in the US, remaining mostly under the radar. So if Abrams and co. fails to properly represent Japanese culture in their adaptation, it would feed into the narrative that only Western stories are worth telling and Hollywood will keep stalling their own progress. In the end, one positive thing to take away would be the fact that perhaps the Hollywood treatment - as skeptical as most people may be of it - can shine a light on this gem and attract a wider audience for the original film.
Stephen King - popular for his psychological manipulation of the audience
After the recent release of IT, Ella Alalade looks at the processes behind many of the author’s film adaptations Ella Alalade Second Year, Ancient History
crime, imprisoned in the terrible prison, Shawshank, and enduring horrible conditions of abuse and emotions. Like Stand By Me, it is a touching drama of injustice and finally achieving fulfilment, when the main character realises his plan to escape. This popular and critically acclaimed film is King’s story educating the audience that the true morals and values of redemption are not always explicitly shown. King also does this with The Green Mile, with ideas of redemption and awe to entice the audience through emotionally damaged characters. Stephen King is the king of horror films, but he also knows how to create a good psychological, ‘Oscar-worthy’ drama. He wants the audience to feel how every individual has a destructive side, whether it is fully functioning or erratic. His recent horror, IT shows how fear is something that one must overcome, especially in 2017. King loves horror to reflect to the audience that his psychologically disturbed societies with destructive characters are in fact reflections of our own society or even themselves.
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Twitter / @Screenweek
As IT continues to dominate the box office, it seems that Stephen King, the infamous novelist, is truly a fan favourite amongst filmwatchers. The question is: do the central characters in King’s adaptations have a destructive personality, and do they terrify the audience, or do the audience find his characters relatable to society? It appears that both his horror and dramatic films are enticing as they present a destructive, psychologically disturbed society, where each character mirrors that mental state. King likes to use a method of playing with the audience’s mind. In the 2017 IT, King’s story uses a clown, usually comical and fun, and turns into an interdimensional being who feeds off children’s fear and children themselves. IT is terrifying as it takes something that children especially are meant to love and warps it into something that children and adults become fearful of. So, Stephen King’s popular horrors like to show the audience that things are not always as you first perceive them. Much more than this, they scare the audience with children b eing killed, a psychologically disturbing act to commit. Yet IT is popular partly because of 2016’s incident of ‘Killer Clowns’ c h a s i n g p e o p l e around their streets. King’s adaptation becomes pop culture as he reintroduces the idea of scary clowns which the audience wants to now
see on the screen. King likes to show how destructive protagonists lose their mental state, within a destructive society, which horror fans love to watch. Such is the same in the 1976 teen cult horror Carrie. King’s story takes the result of extreme bullying to another level; Sissie Spacek’s prom queen gets pigs blood poured all over her, setting her off to kill everyone at their senior prom through her discovered telekinesis. When she kills the bullies and those who laughed at her, it gives the audience the relief, that such a disturbed girl has got rid of the society that treated her so cruelly. The build up of tension and anticipation is what especially entices the audience to the characters’ next motives. The Shining is another 1970s horror classic. King was famously upset with how the film was directed, missing out parts of the original novel. Nonetheless, many horror fans see this film as a cult classic. This film, like Carrie, shows how an individual’s psychological state, due to frustration, can be pushed to insanity and murderous thoughts. The New Yorker describes the film as ‘introspective… unsettlingly plausible when you visit a creepy hotel’. King’s story sets up the perfect setting for his protagonist/ antagonist, Jack, to lose his sanity. This film is haunting through the manipulation of cinematography, most notable for the scene with the ghosts of the twins communicating with Jack, through a low camera angle. The creepiness of the twins, not seen breathing, followed with shots of them butchered on the floor, entices the audience into the horrors of murder. This scene and Jack’s own character development reflects a destructive personality which terrifies the audience to what Jack could potentially do to his family. Misery is known to be a horror but this film is more of the ‘crazed woman’ psychological thriller; this is a popular film because it is about abnormal fan obsession, which mirrors King’s own fans begging him to write another story or sequel. This is a film which should be hailed as one of the best psychological thrillers, with Kathy Bates’ character portraying how obsession with novels determine the degree of the individual’s insanity, the author’s vanity producing or affecting that result. This displays how King reflects his own audience as destructive beings. Shawshank Redemption is a tale of someone accused of a wrongful
Epigram 16.10.2017
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Dr. Foster Series Two review - ‘almost as intense and engrossing as the first’ Alicia Wakeling analyses the new series of Dr Foster; stellar acting, intense emotion but an unsatisfying ending
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The first series was based on the ancient Greek myth of Medea by Euripides about a woman seeking violent revenge
We are once again treated to a highly addictive and well written series. While we understand the protagonists’ initial emotional responses to the events, their reactions feel as heightened and unrealistic as they did in the first series. But sometimes realism isn’t
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Doctor Foster has just finished its second series, which has managed to be almost as intense and engrossing as the first. The season jumps two years forward and the empowered female lead Dr Gemma Foster, played by Suranne Jones, has built a fragile life for herself and her now teenage son Tom. When ex-husband Simon (Bertie Carvel) and young mistress Kate (Jodie Comer) return to Parminster, Foster is unable to resist the paranoid thought that Simon has ulterior motives for returning. And so, a revenge war between the two begins.
necessarily what we want, and it would certainly detract from the fast-paced, suspenseful drama that is Dr. Foster. The acting continues to be stellar. It is difficult to carry intense emotions over a span of five episodes and not bore the audience, but Jones and Carvel somehow manage it. Tom Taylor is given a larger role this series as an older Tom Foster, and proves to be a highly gifted young actor whose future work we anticipate readily. That’s not to say the show is perfect, or that it hits the same marks as the first series. The character of Simon, without the veneer of being a nice guy or the shared hope of both audience and Gemma that he is innocent, is severely stunted. While he is still a complex character played well, he has become less compelling than in the first series. There is also now a lack of containment. The first series was based on the ancient Greek myth of Medea by Euripides about a woman seeking violent revenge against her adulterous husband, going as far as to kill her children to make him suffer. This meant that it was almost entirely focused on Gemma’s thoughts and actions, as well as providing coherent structure and a climactic and satisfying ending. Series two, however, is more convoluted and meanders between characters. Almost a whole episode each is dedicated to Tom and Kate respectively. This does make sense, as the consequences of Gemma and Simon’s actions are explored and it is shown that they are not the only ones who must live with the consequences, but it loses the focused energy of the first series, which is a shame if understandable.
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Alicia Wakeling Second Year, Film & Television
Gemma and Tom end up paying what is nearly the ultimate price when Tom finally leaves, an outcome that was well foreshadowed and is interestingly a relief for the audience, as we struggle through believing he has killed himself after witnessing him suffer emotionally at the hands of his parents. In a way, Tom’s suicide may have been a fitting conclusion. Gemma constantly worries that Simon will corrupt Tom, and that Tom will end up like his father. It would have been interesting to see Tom commit the suicide that his father backed out of.
The second series was deliciously engrossing, but sadly suffers from unnecessary sequel syndrome
Overall, the second series was deliciously engrossing, but sadly suffers from unnecessary sequel syndrome, and it may well have been better left as a single series in the vain of National Treasure (2016). It is certainly not unreasonable to wish for this to be the end, as to leave Dr. Foster on a high. But with Tom’s disappearance, Mike Bartlett has left it open for a third. Can he get more emotions out of this relationship and keep it fresh? We’ll just have to see.
This day in cinema history
16th October, 1923: The Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio is founded by Roy and Walt Disney
Twitter / @Disney
For most of the English-speaking world, ‘Disney’ is practically synonymous with animation. It’s difficult to imagine a cinematic landscape unaffected by the cartoon behemoths whose influence is as far reaching, if not more so, than any other production company to ever have existed. In the near-century since its creation, the Disney company has made innovation after innovation in the world of animated cinema. In 1927, they simultaneously created the first synchronisedsound animation and introduced the world to Mickey Mouse with Steamboat Willie. Ten years later, they created the first feature-length animation with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). In more recent years, they changed the face of animated cinema once again with their pioneering use of computer animation. The Rescuers Down Under (1990) was the first feature film to make use of computer animation, while the ballroom scene from Beauty and
the Beast (1991) popularised this approach, eventually resulting in computer animation becoming the industry standard. From the mid-90s onwards, Disney’s primary contributions to cinema have come in the form of collaborations with animation/ production company Pixar. Toy Story (1995) was the first fully computer-animated feature and marked the start of a new era for Disney. In the two decades since, Disney-Pixar have been responsible for some of the greatest animated feature-lengths to ever grace cinema screens from Monster’s Inc. (1996) to Inside Out (2015). It’s no understatement to claim that The Walt Disney Company is one of the most culturally significant forces in the history of cinema.
Charlie Gearon Film & TV Editor
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Spielberg HBO Documentary: how the most popular director of all time came to be Spielberg, the new HBO documentary releases on October 7th. Max Langer looks back on Steven Spielberg’s filmography
What this documentary aims to do is no small feat. It tries to give a comprehensive overview of one of the greatest careers in cinema history through the people who know him best. Through interviews with his family, fellow directors and actors who have worked under him, we should hear the inside story of a life that has changed film forever. Everyone has their own favourite memory of Spielberg’s films. Mine is watching Indiana Jones for the first time and being struck by a sheer sense of awe. He is almost uniquely able to put these adventures on screen and he has been
doing this his entire life. This wonder manifests itself on the faces of his characters as well as his audience. As a child, Spielberg was obsessed with filmmaking, winning amateur film competitions with short films made with an 8mm camera. He even created a full 140 minute film for $500 which was shown for a single night at his local cinema. It’s obvious to see that he has had serious drive from an early age. While still a student, Spielberg was offered a seven-year directing contract with Universal, making him the youngest ever director to sign a deal with a major Hollywood studio. So, dropping out of college, he began work directing straight to TV movies and his first feature The Sugarland Express (1974) which was well reviewed but only
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Spielberg’s early works are the epitome of escapist cinema
Spielberg’s early works are the epitome of escapist cinema, showing fantastical stories that often explore the theme of father-son relationships. Spielberg’s own parents divorced when he was 19 so in many of his films, such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), the
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Max Langer First Year, Film & Innovation
received a limited release. However, if this got his foot in the door then his next feature Jaws (1975) rocketed him into the spotlight. Jaws set a domestic box office record and caused what was described as ‘Jawsmania’. Since then, Spielberg has repeated that feat several times over making him the highest grossing director of all time. In the process, he has also altered the direction of the entire industry, becoming instrumental in shaping the modern blockbuster. Spielberg acheived success at a transitional time for filmmaking. The studio system of the fifties and sixties had broken up and a new breed of filmmakers, who had grown up studying film, were just coming on to the scene. Spielberg stood out though, having learnt his craft on TV sound stages rather than at a university. Maybe this is what enables his films to stand out from the crowd.
concept of fatherhood plays a key role. However, in more recent times he has begun to experiment with other issues. Think about the difference between E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and Schindler’s List (1993) for example. This just shows the mastery that Spielberg has with his craft, as very few other directors have ever attempted such a breadth of subject matter. Despite this, he has had his missteps: who could forgive him for the absurdity that is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)? Most importantly, Spielberg has been able to stand the test of time. While many of his peers from the seventies have passed away or ceased filmmaking (Martin Scorsese being the exception), he has continued to develop his work. He has several projects on the go at the moment including a fifth Indiana Jones movie and Ready Player One (2018), a futuristic adventure based on Ernest Cline’s novel of the same name. It seems that the most successful director of all time is not done just yet.
Editors’ Picks
The best Disney films to celebrate it’s founding Twitter / fiImart
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Charlie Gearon
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Tim Bustin
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Editor
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Inside Out (2015)
Mulan (1998)
Cinderella (2015)
Lilo and Stitch (2002)
Historically, Disney animations were not known for their exploration of human psychology. The majority their most ubiquitous films from the 20th Century were based on fairy tales and traditional folk stories. In 1995 when Disney teamed up with Pixar, this began to change, and Inside Out (2015) can be seen as the pinnacle of this evolution. Rooted in the emotional psychology of Paul Ekman, Inside Out is a detailed exploration of a young girl’s first foray into unhappiness. Five of the girl’s emotions (Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear) are portrayed as individual characters in her head, each battling with each other in an attempt to shape Riley’s life experiences. It’s a successful allegory for the complexity of emotion and is entirely free from the overly simplified emotional states of characters from Disney films past. It’s an essential and important piece of cinema which isn’t afraid to discuss the difficulty of childhood.
Disney is often criticised for its representation of women; overtly feminine princesses swoon over men and do anything in the quest to find love and, ultimately, get married. What makes Mulan interesting, and for me a favourite, is it’s feminist protagonist and message. Mulan bravely volunteers herself to fight in the place of her father during forced conscription. She dresses as a man, and despite initial struggle, perseveres and proves herself to be an adept warrior and cunning woman generally. Though she does inevitably fall in love, we still see a Disney princess who has autonomy and agency. The film is also notably beautiful in it’s animation style. Hitting the Disney peak of the 90s (or perhaps just the films our generation nostalgically cherish), the Mulan cartoons are simple but beautiful, depicting the Japanese snowy landscapes and internal house scenes with the classic Disney magic.
Nostalgia forms just the bare bones of one of the earliest live-action Disney adaptations. Here we meet a Cinderella struggling to keep her parents’ promise to always ‘have courage and be kind’. The often forgotten simplicity of the original 1950’s Cinderella blossoms here into a heart-wrenchingly beautiful film, more perfect for its introduced contrast of realistic despair against the classic fairytale magic. Also a perfectly-executed visual adaptation between formats, it captures the importance of moments rather than just recreating shots, the film equally adorned in butterfly blue dresses and golden palaces as it is in story. The cast are perfect, relishing in the delight – be it kindness or wickedness – and depth, making these characters properly 3-D for the first time. It’s a genuine Cinderella story and guaranteed to bring a tear to the eye – be it for her resilience, her honest compassion, her beauty, or for her truly deserved happy ever after.
Lilo & Stitch is a tale of family, friendship and the sacrifices a guardian makes for the child they are responsible for. The poignant relationship between Lilo and her big sister Nani, who becomes her guardian after the death of their parents, is just one of the highlights of this film. It is beautifully accompanied by Lilo making a new friend that makes their little family feel more whole, despite the fact that this new friend is an alien with serious discipline issues. Not only does Stitch heal this family that has gone through so much, but he also learns the beauty of humanity, friendship and love. It is through him that we do as well. Lilo & Stitch emphasises the importance of ohana, and how you can find family, even if it is small or broken, in the most unexpected places.
39 Epigram
16.10.2017
Arts
@EpigramArts
Editor: Alina Young Deputy Editor: Anna Trafford
Online Editor: Helena Raymond-Hayling Deputy Online Editor: Avital Carno
arts@epigram.org.uk
The work of a lifetime: Kim Yong-Ik at Spike Island Sometimes political but always human, the work of Kim Yong-Ik’s 40 year career is now on show at Spike Island. Anjum Nahar gives her thoughts on the exhibition Anjum Nahar Second year, English
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THIS WEEK IN Kazuo
Ishiguro wins Nobel Prize in Literature 2017
University of Bristol’s Dr Peter Sloane introduces us to the acclaimed author...
We can easily relate to the desire that Kim feels to leave past works behind in order to make space for the new
The work exhibited also focuses on the disruption of the perfect surface of the canvas. For instance,
Flickr / Tulsa City-County Library
ARTS NEWS
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The prevalence of wrapping and packaging throughout the exhibition can be seen as a symbol of protest against not only alliances to the movements but also to institutions in general. How much control do art galleries have in influencing our perceptions when they dictate how art is to be hung and presented? What else is presented by institutions in specific ways to influence our perceptions of society? Seeing packaged art can feel somewhat intrusive, as if we are looking at something that is not quite prepared to enter the gallery space - a product not quite ready for consumption. After all, how can we see packaging and not be reminded that art can be commodified? Kim Yong-Ik has some very unique ideas about the use of canvases in art. This is demonstrated in his Polka-dot series where he uses the canvas to signify the ‘human’ and the dots as our thoughts and agonies. The series is hung chronologically,
and as the paintings develop the dots appear to move further apart as if they are in the process of leaving the canvas, suggesting that it is possible for us to free ourselves of our mental pains and stresses. And yet, the fact that this is followed by Kim’s Coffin series of works exploring finality and mortality, seems to convey the dark notion that this bliss can only truly be achieved in death. The highlight of the Coffin series is Aerial Burial (2015), a hanging installation containing some of Kim’s writing and past exhibition materials. The artist left the installation outside with the hope that it would get struck by lightning, destroying its contents. I think that we as university students can easily relate to the desire that Kim feels to leave past works behind in order to make space for the new when we reflect back upon our own academic work and consider how much we have improved in our areas of study over the years.
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some of the works have berry juice rubbed into them and notes and scribbles written in Korean giving an aged and dirty effect to the artwork. These Korean notes have been translated into English in pencil directly onto the walls of the exhibition, highlighting how the artist has not strictly limited himself to the surface of the canvas.
Kim Yong-Ik’s works will be open to the public, free of charge, until the 17th December 2017.
Does imperfection have a place in art? Add your comment online at : facebook.com/epigramarts @EpigramArts @epigramarts
As students ourselves, we can engage with Kim’s dedication to imperfection in being forgiving to ourselves and allowing room for mistakes One of the works that Spike Island was not able to get a hold of, as it was sold to a buyer in Los Angeles, has been recreated by the artist directly onto the exhibition walls. Kim is open to adapting and changing his work for different exhibition spaces and this bold move displays a complete independence from the use of a canvas, which Kim believes is not always a necessary component of ‘good art.’ Kim provides a list of what makes good art in a piece called Closer... Come Closer..... (1996 - 2013) a mixed media canvas wrapped in vinyl. He outlines that good artwork should be transportable, and be made simply and cheaply. Kim’s work could be considered to be quite low energy as nothing
Kukje Gallery / Nathing Studio
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How much control do art galleries have in influencing our perceptions when they dictate how art is to be hung and presented?
Kukje Gallery / Keith Park
It is a strange responsibility, having the task of reviewing an exhibition where a good deal of the artist’s best works are wrapped up in plastic packaging or packed up in cardboard boxes. But packaging is one of the key visual stimulants of Korean Artist Kim Yong-Ik’s Spike Island exhibition, I Believe My Works Are Still Valid, and it is one of the aspects which allows Kim’s works to speak to those of us who are tired of society dictating how we should think about art. You might think of me as not in my right mind for recommending a stack of cardboard boxes to an audience of busy university students, but I can promise that you have more in common with Kim Yong-Ik’s attitude on creative processes than you would think. So far, I have been quite disingenuous in suggesting that cardboard boxes are the centre of Kim’s exhibition. The boxes are certainly a notable part of his earlier works from the 70s and 80s, when the artist found himself caught in between the new Korean Modernist movement and the so called Minjung art (People’s art) of the time. Sending his art to galleries but exhibiting it still in its boxed form became Kim’s method of declaring that he would not align himself with either side.
is presented as polished and perfect and there are no signs to betray that a great deal of effort has been exerted into creating this art (when, in reality, putting this exhibition together was no easy task for either the artist or the team at Spike Island). As students ourselves, we can engage with Kim’s dedication to imperfection in being forgiving to ourselves and allowing room for mistakes and errors in our own work. Indeed, self belief is central to Kim’s work, as demonstrated by the confident and self-assured title of the exhibition, I Believe My Works Are Still Valid. If you haven’t visited Spike Island yet then this exhibition is a great introduction to the gallery space. Take a break from studying and head down to the waterside to check out all that Spike Island has to offer.
Why Ishiguro : Like Doris Lessing, the last British novelist to win literature’s greatest accolade, Ishiguro was not born British; his status as an outside observer informs his writing, often set in, as he remarks, ‘imaginary’ as opposed to real historically or geographically situated spaces, even if they masquerade as ‘The Real’.
A writer of subtle insight, and a profound sensibility to human fallibility, to regret, and to the failures of memory, Ishiguro is, foremost, a humanist, deeply invested in the tragedy and comedy of the human condition.
Epigram
16.10.2017
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Can’t decide what to see next?
Esther Bancroft, Nora Gunn and Carina Murphy advise you on what productions you should see based on your Bristol ‘image’. Illustrations by Harry Coke
Urban Outfitted
Sesh Grem The sesh gremlin, rarely seen in uni, but a regular of Blue Mountain, may enjoy the offthe-wall comedy nights from two of Bristol’s own societies. Early enough in the evening as to not interfere with any night out, their shows are reliably weird enough to make sense to any grem’s wonked brain. Bristol Improv Soc is the Uni’s purely improvised comedy troupe performing games and sketches on the audience’s suggestions. Catch them at their fortnightly show at the Brewhouse on Cotham Hill. The Revunions deliver premier sketch comedy and stand-up, with a variety of popular performances throughout the term. And don’t worry if you’ve already spent all of your student loan on Red Stripes, their events are always cheap or free. So roll a zoot and get out of bed for an evening of quick witted comedy.
For the image conscious, Instagram savvy, urban outfitter clad student I would recommend The Way I Look. New collective O&O use true tales from people with birthmarks and facial scarring to tackle tough questions relating to appearance and identity. This production promises to be ‘a story for anyone who has ever felt different,’ something the most alternative students are very familiar with. But don’t let the serious subject matter put you off. This will be a high energy, funny and honest production about establishing yourself in a frantic and vain world. Not only that, the venue itself is completely insta-worthy, so you’re bound to rack up some likes.
Seasoned Travellah
Stash Clad Lad
You probably wrote a play when you found yourself in SouthEast Asia; after all, when you’re left to yourself journeying from hostel to hostel, you really learn something about deeper humanity. Seeing as on that mountain in Vietnam you renounced the West and decided that modern day culture simply prescribes to the many not the few, only something so intellectually demanding that you can relive the out of body experience you had on that beach in Bali, can ever suffice. Maybe The Weir will ground you a little. Set in a rural Irish pub, the play revolves around shared stories, missed connections and reminiscencepretty much sums up your trip to China. Yes, Ireland is maybe a little different to Cambodia, but maybe the supernatural elements will take you back to taking shrooms in Laos. Sadly, it’s not as instagrammable as South Africa, but is still absolutely worth it.
So you like sport, you like people knowing you like sport, and you do so by buying cloth with the sport that you do printed on them. A trip to the theatre means you have to resign yourself to sitting still for two hours - and have to actually enjoy something called culture. Legally Blonde is the show for youdocumenting the climb of a suitably artificial and hot sorority girl and her exploits at Harvard Law School. Think two hours of watching pretty musical theatre girls - you can do that, it’s no different from watching girls at the gym. Feel her pain as Elle Woods encounters ‘wordy books.’ Even the mention of the number ‘Whipped into Shape’ will make you itch for the interval, eagerly thinking how to slip into interval-convo. If you’re a stash whore Legally Blonde is for you, though don’t let anyone know that you went because theatre is sacrilege. This is all, of course, if you can afford a ticket after ruining your bank account with stash purchases.
Bedroom Dweller
Keen Bean
Are you that person who always promises they’ll come out, but never quite makes it to pres? Struggles to get to afternoon lectures? Never seen your flatmates before noon? Can’t remember what breakfast looks like, let alone tastes like? Closer Each Day’s The Improvised Soap Opera may be just the show for you. This fortnightly production is the world’s longest running improvised narrative – its been going for over 5 years and 120 episodes, which for a serial theatre soap is the equivalent of a ninety plus percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Here is a totally unique experience that’s halfway between an unscripted sketch show and, well, EastEnders. There’s drama, comedy, romance, and at a perfectly reasonable £7 a ticket - it’s like Netflix, but on a night out. Get out of the house and experience the wonderful Wardrobe Theatre without missing your favourite show; Bristol’s cult hit may just become that very fix.
Theatre? Completed it mate. You love theatre, worship anything Shakespeare, and practically live for the Oliviers. You have a rubber with ‘Out damn’d spot’ written on it, hoping that a fellow Macbeth lover will try and make friends, until you insist that they call it ‘the Scottish play.’ What else could you see but Waiting for Godot, seen as Samuel Beckett’s ‘Masterpiece’? Synonymous with the late Sir Peter Hall, it’s an intellectually stimulating absurdist play. But of course you know that. You practically cried when he died. Although I’m quite satisfied with my recommendation, my efforts are redundant as I feel that you will have seen it already. But well done for the dedication - waiting outside theatres for last minute tickets is the middle-classes’ trial by fire. What could be worse than not having your social elevation guaranteed?
What this Means: Some might argue that this year’s award is, after Dylan’s, a return to a more traditional recipient: that is to underplay the experimentalism of Ishiguro’s fictional worlds.
Flickr / Tanisha Pina
His fictions, rendered in a richly textured, deceptively simple prose, have been translated into around 30 languages, testament to the panhuman appeal of his version of humanism, and evidence that he is at the forefront of world literature.
What to Read: The Remains of the Day (1993)
Ishiguro’s most accessible reads, and good entry points thematically and formally.
Never Let Me Go (2003) The Unconsoled (1995)
The adventurous reader should attempt his disorientating masterpiece: not for the faint hearted.
Epigram | 16.10.2017
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Blood, snow and what remains when hope is lost Online Editor Helena Raymond-Hayling and Editor Alina Young offer diverging views on immersive theatre production, Ice Road
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I wonder whether Eric Fedini really existed then, and if he hadn’t, would his identity mean any less?
Flickr / Leon Yaakov
Ice Road is set in Leningrad, 1942. Four orphans join forces in the wreckage of an old apartment block to survive the bitter cold and the brutality of the Leningrad blockade, where German armies surrounded the city of Leningrad and bombarded its inhabitants. By the end of the siege, 645,000 people are thought to have died, many from starvation through the cruel winters. The crowd are led into the main theatre space where we stand at the foot of the wreckage, a giant cascading network of scaffolding and ladders at one end of a large, echoey room at least ten metres high, that is blanketed with an inch of snow. It is so spectacularly realistic that I get goosebumps and put my hands into the fine polystyrene in disbelief of its accuracy. We are instructed to lay down our flowers by our feet in solemn unison. On the ground in front of each of us is a speaker with a strap, which we are directed to wear around our necks. After closer inspection, it is clear that each speaker is marked with an identity and a date of death, much like a tombstone - our flowers lay on the unmarked graves of the dead. Throughout the performance some of the speakers erupt in a monologue, animating the faceless identities of the deceased of Leningrad. My identity reads ‘Eric Fedini. 1899-1937. Loyal friend, loving uncle. A truly terrible singer.’ I wonder whether Eric Fedini really existed then, and if he hadn’t, would his identity mean any less? A confetti of propaganda posters appear from nowhere, and three of the four main characters fall about frantically trying to gather the posters for fuel to keep warm. Leah, Zoya, Tati and their young companion Kub dream of escape on the only road out of the city – the Ice Road. They wish to pay a driver to take them across the frozen
Tati, played by Elin Phillips, takes a different attitude towards survival during the siege. She is callous, and the starvation has turned her into a disgraced scavenger and an unkind taunter of the younger Zoya and Kub. She mocks Leah’s dream of reaching the Ice Road and talks of the fatalities there - where ‘faces of children lie beneath the ice where the trucks fall’. She makes her companions uneasy, talking of battling the surge of people lusting after a piece of meat from a dying horse in the street, and takes payments for disposing of corpses. Zoya has a dream Tati rips the others limb from limb, and devours them all one by one, out of feral hunger and frenzied desperation.
Alina Young Arts Editor Ice Road’s production is undeniably powerful. The frankly stunning use of space, the sophistication of lighting and sound that bring the Siege to life, and the creativity of the story-telling all contribute to an original play that simultaneously punches and enchants. Ingenious and immersive, it would be enough to recommend the play simply due to these attributes. The play’s potential to educate is enormous. The Siege of Leningrad was a devastation that lasted from 1941-1944 and took with it so many lives it is dizzying to even think of such numbers: an estimated 645,000 civilians, over a million soldiers lost on the front, and countless others who were never accounted for. The horrors of that period, from crippling starvation to cannibalism, were symptoms of a society that crumbled along with the hopes of its people. Ice Road aims to make this history accessible, by presenting it through the eyes of four orphans whose concern isn’t politics, but simply survival. This, however, is where my personal emotions towards the show begin to struggle. As a halfRussian having lived in the UK for the majority of my life, it often pains me how little Russia and its history is understood outside its borders. Let me clarify that I do not take offence at this, or believe it to be unique to Russia; it is common, as any immigrant experiences, for cultural and historical understanding to be a slow process. However, what disappointed me about the play was that it had so many opportunities - to inform of the depth of Leningrad’s atrocities, to show the haunting and harrowing effects on unimaginable numbers of people, to express the Russian spirit and how it suffered - yet, for me, the play doesn’t manage to live up to what it could be. This is not to say that I feel the play isn’t produced with great care, research and intent. In fact, quite the opposite. The immersive nature of the production aims to create a real sense of the Siege, from walking in snow throughout the performance, to the rumbling audio that you feel under your feet as a plane is projected above. It is evident that a huge amount of work was conducted to make the production more authentic, and I was honestly impressed at the inclusion of less well-known Soviet posters and snippets of folk songs. It would be an understatement to say that I admired the inventive multimedia: using projections as a storytelling tool was as affecting as it was imaginative, and mental escapism was demonstrated in a scene through wearable speakers that transformed us into a symphony orchestra. Yet, what is inescapable is the sense that the play is very distant from what it seeks to represent.
Raucous / Jack Offard
As I enter the Jacob’s Wells Baths to view Ice Road, I am met by a cloaked figure looking furtively up and down the street. ‘Welcome comrade’, they say, and hand me a blackened lily so I can ‘pay my respects’. With just minutes until the start of the performance, I manage to catch the end of the drinks and mingling reception. Another hooded ‘comrade’ hands me a vodka shot, which I accept. I had forgotten that quality vodka tastes really good, so I accept another two before three characters dressed in dirty black clothing burst into the antechamber and start a frenzied dialogue in Russian.
lake, but are struggling to find enough food to stay alive. Leah, the eldest of the group and the fierce protagonist, played by Heledd Gwynn, tries her hardest to provide for the others, sneaking off every night without explanation and returning with food, and the others try to uncover her secret, with disastrous consequences. The use of the performance space and incorporation of technology into the piece is truly spectacular. We, together with the characters in the performance, experience aerial bombardment, where a cacophony of explosions and chaos rumbles through the room and reverberates beneath our feet from the surrounding speakers. An impressive incorporation of projected moving images recreate planes flying overhead, and the retelling of Kub being abducted by a man trying to sell human meat. Gwynn’s performance as the eldest orphan is outstanding; she communicates Leah’s strength in the face of adversity so powerfully. Leah takes charge, undertaking some gory tasks with magnificent pragmatism, and I really feel the determination to survive that Gwynn gives Leah when stitching an open wound on Kub’s forehead, whilst he thrashes around and wails in agony.
The real psychological trauma of entrapment and human atrocity does not come through as much as it could in immersive theatre- the play should be heartbreaking and beyond distressing, yet the post-show attitude of the audience seemed largely to express vague pity or remark on the spectacular design. The play didn’t express the facts or breadth of the tragedy, or leave the audience especially more knowledgeable than when they arrived. The writing leaves bizarre plot-points unexplained and presents characters that feel too obviousthe calm older child, the rebellious and swearing middle child, the weepy young one- saved only by the actors’ superb portrayals that make them seem more nuanced and relatable. It was impossible not to be reminded that no one in the production or audience could have experienced something similar, and the show doesn’t do enough for us to completely be able to suspend our disbelief and feel the emotions that would make the history hit our hearts.
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Helena Raymond-Hayling Online Arts Editor
What is inescapable is the sense that the play is very distant from what it seeks to represent
Perhaps I expected too much. Perhaps, in a time and a place where it is so difficult to relate to the horrors of wartime, the task of recreating it in 70 minutes is an impossible one. Still, my belief is that the scope of imagination in theatre and its ability to connect one mind to another across borders and time is unparalleled- through inventive productions, we can begin to learn and understand experiences that are so other from our own. It is my hope, then, that even if I feel the production didn’t educate or carry the weight of the disaster, that others would disagree. It is my hope that, later that night, others thought about what they had seen and felt a little closer to those countless lives that suffered.
Flickr / Vinci71
Want to get involved? Join our writers’ group, ‘Epigram Arts 2017-18’ on Facebook.
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16.10.2017
Music Superfood @ Thekla, 04.09 Nicola Hamer Second Year, English
Editor: Alexia Kirov
Deputy Editor: Kate Hutchison
Online Editor: Joe Samrai
music@epigram.org.uk
In memory of Tom Petty Following the tragic news of the death of Tom Petty, Chloë Moloney remembers the American musician famous for selling ‘upwards of 80 million records’, solo and with The Heartbreakers. Chloë Moloney Sub Editor Much to our dismay, the pitiless hands of 2017 have snatched another star from the tapestry of the American music scene. The confusion over Tom Petty’s health, and now subsequent death, sent fans into a tailspin on Monday. The American rock singer was found unconscious and not breathing in his home in Malibu, after suffering from cardiac arrest. Petty was admitted to hospital, but unfortunately did not survive the evening. His death was falsely recorded by media outlets, which Petty’s daughter firmly denounced, before his passing at 20:40 Pacific time – officially confirmed by his family and manager. Tom Petty was born on 20th October 1950 in Florida and was best known as the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – releasing their debut album in 1976. Throughout his career, Petty sold upwards of 80 million records, therefore marking him as one of the most successful musicians of all time. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers was not the only group to be graced with Petty’s virtuosic talents. Petty also played with the Sundowners, the Epics, and Mudcrutch, but it was the Heartbreakers which brought the nation to its knees. With anthems such as ‘Refugee’, ‘American Girl’ and ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance’, Petty’s nasally voice and all-American twang proved to be seminal in shaping the music of today. In 2002, Petty was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and his authoritative stamp on the industry has inspired artists such as Kings of Leon, The Strokes, The Foo Fighters and more. Spreading his wings and launching a solo career in 1989, Petty’s first solo album Full Moon Fever heralds titles such as ‘Free Fallin’, ‘I Won’t Back Down’ and ‘Runnin’ Down A Dream’. These few songs alone are marked as some of the most influential and distinguished gems in musical history. The star’s childhood proved to be particularly rough. Growing up in poverty, with an alcoholic
EP review: Coucou Chloe - Erika Jane Joe Samrai Online Music Editor
Ian Cheek Press / Superfood
Originally from Nice, Chloe studied contemporary art at the Villa Arson and is now based in London, focusing entirely on production. On Erika Jane, her sound has clearly taken shape: she makes use of the militant percussion similar to artists such as Swedish producer Kablam, who also features on the EP, but imprints her softer, sleeker touch. A prime example is the collaboration between the two artists on ‘Sylph’: Chloe’s haunting and distorted vocals wail above the aggressively pounding kicks and drilling snares, idiosyncratic of Kablam.
Flickr / Musicisentropy
There is a crackling feeling of anticipation in the dank Thekla air tonight as everyone waits for Superfood to come on stage. It’s the first night of their first tour in three years, and it’s clear that the size of their following has been affected by a loss of momentum between their debut and new release Bambino - that all-important second album. Nevertheless, Superfood are eventually welcomed onto the stage with a delighted roar and without hesitation they launch into ‘Where’s the Bass Amp?’ Much like the rest of Bambino, it differs massively in terms of genre and style from their first album. I initially wondered whether fans of Superfood as they were in 2014 – two indie boys who like Blur – might be less interested in material which is indebted to funky 90s hip-hop. I was wrong, though - everyone loved it. Their influences are more diverse than that as well; the lovely, melancholic ‘Unstoppable’ draws heavily from ska, whilst ‘Clo Park’ has a psychedelic feel which reminds me of bands like Tame Impala and Temples. Band members Ryan Malcolm and Dominic Gamberton are joined by a third musician who provides beats and samples so the more production-heavy new stuff works well live. Despite this, Malcolm still scurries about on the left of the stage, adding guitar, vocals, percussion, and keyboards to the mix, which is impressive to watch. The only problem for me is that the old songs don’t sit well against the new. The two albums have very distinct sounds, to the extent that I could identify which album the songs were from even if I hadn’t heard them before. Maybe I’m being cynical but I wonder if the band would be playing their old material at all if they didn’t have to; they perform it well but somehow it still feels like they’re covering someone else’s songs now. As often seems to happen at Thekla, the gig gets more moshy with time and by the encore, circle pits have turned into a stage invasion and two crowd surfers manage a few laps of the audience before security can intervene. It’s an electrifying ending to a really strong first gig of the tour, and I leave happy in the knowledge that Superfood doesn’t seem like a band that is planning another three-year disappearing act.
@epigrammusic
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, live, 2010
and abusive father, Petty claims a pivotal moment in his tumultuous life was his encounter with the king of rock and roll. Meeting Elvis Presley in 1961, and shaking his hand, the rocker asserted that, ‘That was the end of doing anything other than music with [his] life’. Nonetheless, Petty’s relationship with the music industry was certainly fraught at times. A lyric from Full Moon Fever’s ‘I Won’t Back Down’ encapsulates his fight for musical justice: ‘You can stand me up at the gates of hell but I won’t back down.’ Petty was regarded as being staunch in the fight for artistic control and freedom, with frequent legal disputes to his name.
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Tom Petty was unable to escape the ruthless grasp of 2017
Tributes to the star have poured in, from the likes of Cyndi Lauper and Brian Wilson. Dylan,
Berlin’s ‘3hd’ festival programme, of which Chloe was a part in 2016, described her sound as ‘Crooked ballads (that) offer romance without sentimentality on wavy vocal pitch-shifting and contemplative simulated environments that posit a passion for the future’. Chloe clearly has a passion for the future that is revealed through her unique sound.
Her sound has clearly taken shape
One can put it in the same category as releases from experimental labels such as Janus, Non and the Staycore collective, who are constantly encouraging the futuristic experimentation of club music. It appears NUXXE, a relatively unknown label, has the same idea in mind. Alongside her solo career, the French producer is also one half of Y1640 — a collaborative project with producer Sega Bodega, a similar artist with
who was a member of group the Traveling Wilburys with Petty in the late 1980s, told the Los Angeles Times that it was ‘Shocking, crushing news’. Carole King, Sir Paul McCartney, and Sir Mick Jagger have also led tributes to the late musician. Having performed at British Summer Time in Hyde Park, London only a few months ago – alongside Fleetwood Mac’s wonder woman Stevie Nicks – Petty successfully tied up the summer with a 40th anniversary tour. His career ended with three sold-out dates at the Hollywood Bowl, the last being only a week ago. Nevertheless, it appears that Petty was conscious of his career perhaps coming to an end, stating to Rolling Stone that he was ‘Thinking this might be the last big one’, with the members of the Heartbreakers ‘All on the backside of [their] 60s’. Despite a gleaming career as one of America’s most renowned rock stars, Tom Petty was unable to escape the ruthless grasp of 2017. With Steely Dan’s Walter Becker passing only a month ago, and innumerable talents slipping away over the past year, we pray and plead that our most gifted musicians lay untouched.
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Epigram
a passion for film music. You can catch him regularly broadcasting from NTS Radio. Sega Bodega co-produces Erika Jane’s most distinguishable track ‘Flip U’, the only point in which Chloe’s lyrics are understandable through the warping and distortion. Though listeners may find this irritating, the warping plays into the producer’s advantage as it adds a further sense of attitude to the immaculate and glossy production.
The ghostly synths and twinkles combine to form the perfect ending
The EP’s closer, titled ‘The Letter’, embodies the rhythmic foundations of Latino reggaeton, but morphs it into a haunting and cutting-edge banger. The ghostly synths and twinkles combine to form the perfect ending to this unique EP.
Epigram 16.10.2017
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Skype sessions: an interview with Kowton
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Assumptions overturned: techno producer Kowton Skypes Kate Hutchison, Deputy Music Editor, to chat about upcoming projects, Bristolian associations, and Drake
“
Drake is a kind of cultural barometer: being sampled by him is as big as it gets, right? ‘It’s a blessing and a curse isn’t it. Bristol has this amazing heritage, I think it would definitely be disrespectful to disregard all of that, but there was definitely a point where everything coming out of Bristol was kind of painted with this brush of being this ‘Bristol-sound’, and not that it was restrictive, but it just seemed to, perhaps, lack a bit of nuance for the various things coming out of Bristol at the time…It’s a little bit of a
In contrast to dub, disco has seen a glaring popularity recently
Joe tells me it is ‘undoubted’ the sound would have been different if it had not been for Bristol, but entertains the thought that Bristol played the role of a ‘springboard’, and that Livity was rather a concept looking to create something new, and not to be just ‘another Bristol label doing more of the same’. Our conversation moves to the topic of trend and sound. With the popularity of dubstep in steady decline, while formerly being a prominent aspect of his sound, I ask Joe whether he thinks trend has influenced his production. ‘If I sense something is getting overcrowded I try and move beyond it. I guess my output has become more 4/4…that’s part of a trend for that - you could say. I’m more interested in trying to push new ideas and trying to do something new… I think if you were to literally sit down and watch what everyone else was doing and followed that path it would be quite a despondent way to be making music. I don’t think that’s a good way to inspire yourself at all. Use things to push off by all means, but actually following anything isn’t that positive a place to be really.’ In contrast to dub, disco has seen a glaring popularity recently, with huge names such as Hunee regularly dedicating full sets to funky vinyl collections. While we talk about the influence of trend on sound, and with disco being one sound unfamiliar to his own – I ask Joe’s opinion on it. ‘There’s a lot of great disco records - it’s not something I’ve ever been that into…It was a bastard to mix so I never really got into it. …You have this permanent rotation of sounds coming around and being kind of expanded on or reduced or tweaked in some way that makes releases slightly different from the last time it was relevant - that just seems to be the way things go forward at the moment.’ Despite recognition of music’s reformative rotation, Joe involuntarily embodies an outsider
Facebook / Kowton
After an amicable introduction at The Love Inn, despite having interrupted his post-set drink, techno producer Joe Cowton agreed to elaborate on his current musical whereabouts. Over a lengthy Skype chat, Joe brought enthusiasm and insight to a usually idle Wednesday morning, as we talked about his neoteric sound, Bristol and beyond. Joe’s music has unarguably departed from its original influences. With varying characterisations of his sound flooding online articles, I ask Joe what he personally describes it as. ‘I almost wonder if it’s almost getting to the point where it kind of is like a - excuse the pun - but a Livity Sound.’ Livity Sound is the techno label founded in Bristol by Joe, Tom Ford (Peverelist) and Craig Sennett (Asusu). Highly esteemed for producing a sound that disobeys the usual dance-floor mix formula, Livity makes the monotonous engaging, scaterring nondescript samples across unmelodic and deeply percussive foundations. Their output entices listeners without the usual hooks. Yet, despite having moved to London a few years ago, the associations between Kowton, the collective and Bristol remain the most common. In response to this, I ask Joe what he thinks of these perpetual associations, and whether they have been overplayed.
simplification. But to be honest, it’s a great city and it’s not a bad place to be associated with.’
Kowton playing live
take on the innovation of sound - and it seems to be working just as well. He is one of many formerly Bristol-based names to be recognised way beyond the South West: Livity Sound has a monthly slot on London-based online radio station NTS, an outlet which Joe labels a ‘very genuine institution’.
“
He lists an impressive backlog of new projects
‘…It kind of gives you a listener base that isn’t just your mates…or people that are obsessed by the minutiae of dance music. It can be while someone is making their dinner, and you can be playing them some record that they’d probably never otherwise hear. Maybe they hate it, maybe they love it, but it gives you the opportunity to do that and I think that’s vital.’ But it’s not just the techno-addicted audiences of NTS who like Livity. Drake recently sampled Peverelist’s ‘Roll with the Punches’ on a Twitter clip, where the artist’s voice can be heard over cuts of the track, See Below. Despite laughing between ourselves at the complete novelty of such recognition, and after facetiously alluding to Tom’s disinterest in it, Joe turns to the deeper significance of the video.
“
Kate Hutchison Deputy Music Editor
I’m a big fan of Batu...Shanti is on fire
Facebook / Kowton
L.I.E.S Mixtape, out now!
‘Drake is a kind of cultural barometer: being sampled by him is, like, about as big as it gets, right? I think if it gets Tom a larger audience from it that would be fantastic. We’re very much at the stage where no one really knows what’s going to come out of it yet… but it’d be amazing if it became a big tune. Tom has been grafting for 20 odd years or whatever – it’d be nice if he finally got a bit of time in the limelight.’
Alongside a recent mixtape released on close friend Ron Morelli’s electronic label, L.I.E.S, we talk about Joe’s upcoming agenda. He lists an impressive backlog of new projects, including collaborations with both Peverelist and Parris and a remix with Randomer and Hodge due for release in a couple of weeks. ‘There has to be so much going on…You need to keep pushing to stay in people’s vision but also just for the fact that if you stop, it’s harder to start again – creatively. It’s no coincidence that if you have a month in the studio, by the end of it you’re really good at it, or at least technically flowing… The ideas come best when you’re technically proficient.’ Throughout our discussion, Joe refers to the concept of supportiveness when describing fellow artists and the Bristol scene. In a subconscious testament to this, he’s eager to provide advice for musicians at Bristol. He’s committed, primarily, to perseverance within music-makers – among some other things: ‘Be nice to be people who run record labels, be interesting, don’t put yourself down.’
“
He’s eager to provide advice for musicians at Bristol
As well as recommending Cosies as his go-to Bristol venue, the final thing Joe shares is his favourite music at the moment. ‘There is a new Jabu album on Blackest Ever Black, you can get that from Idle Hands – it’s really good. I’m a big fan of Batu…Shanti (Celeste) is on fire at the moment. Beatrice Dillon - she has just done a thing for Batu.’ At first, I was somewhat taken aback by Joe’s genuine approachability. But now, I’m not so sure why. Before, I would most likely have assumed established artists like Joe may have been unresponsive, or distant – especially to student journalists. Yet throughout our chat, this assumption of mine has been dimmed – or certainly for now. Assuming makes an ass out of you and me.
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Epigram
Puzzles
16.10.2017
@EpigramPuzzles
Editor: Joselyn Joanes puzzles@epigram.org.uk
Solutions will be posted online at www.epigram.org.uk before the next issue is released.
The Omnipuzzle The aim of The Onmipuzzle to find a word. Some clues here can give you a letter, a number or a symbol. A hint will be released online on Epigram’s website and tweeted on Wednesday.
Word Sudoku ladder
Fill the empty squares with numbers 1 to 9, so that each number appears once in each row, column and 3x3 box.
Can you get from top to bottom, changing only one letter from one rung to the next?
Killer sudoku
Sudoku rules apply and all the numbers in a cage must add to the number in the top left corner of the cage.
If you need any help, contact the editor by email or through social media
Word grid Word links
Just a phrase
How many words can you find including the middle letter, with at least four letters per word? There is at least one nine-letter word.
Find the word which can come before each of the three words given, in each case giving a common two-word phrase. E.g. CAR park, CAR stereo, CAR alarm.
Find the three letters that can suffix the word on the left or prefix the word on the right, in each case giving a real word. E.g. HE-AR-MY.
COPY SO CROSS GRAND COW
18= Average 24 = Good 30= Excellent
Quick crossword
CALLS SIGHTNED MAN NETS RIOTS
1. Rant, Rating, Tupping 2. Light, Fare, Ion 3. Hic, Ten, Her 4. Ant, Ail, Dons 5. Off, Out, Tee
Kropki Sudoku rules appy and adjacent sqaures sharing a white circle must have a difference of one, and all adjacent squares sharing a black circle signifies that one of the squares in half the other.
BY: PHOENIX ACROSS
DOWN
1. Canada’s capital (6) 4. Opposite of beginning (3) 8. Proximity (4) 10. They eat only fish (12) 13. Preposition (2) 15. Organ (6) 16. Cavity (6) 17. Adopts (7) 20. Query (3) 21. Listening tools (4) 23. Worn as part of a uniform (4) 24. Method of communication (5) 26. Bird’s home (4) 27. No (2) 28. A direction (4) 29. Group 4 element (2) 30. India’s currency (5) 33. British prime minister (3) 34. Bacterial infection (2) 35. Behind (3)
2. T-shirts (4) 3. Very old (7) 5. Deoxyribonucleic acid (3) 6. Evaporated substance (3) 7. Californian city (2) 9. Jealousy (4) 10. UK’s highest legislature (11) 11. Bangladeshi currency (4) 12. Airwaves receivers (6) 14. Sums (4) 17. Festival (6) 18. Examined (6) 19. Fights against (7) 22. Log (5) 25. Disable (4) 31. Father (2) 32. Alien (2)
Follow us on Twtter @EpigramPuzzles Get in touch if you have any feedback or would like to write a puzzle for the paper.
Epigram
46
16.10.2017
Crazy or captivating? An introduction to cliff diving Tim Godfrey Twiss Deputy Sports Editor
Epigram / Tim Godfrey Twiss
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Jumping from a cliff in Gold Diggings Quarry, Cornwall
stand up on the horse you’re probably going to get hurt. To ensure your safety when cliff jumping you only need a pair of goggles and a 2m stick that you can steal from a tree. Always check the depth of the water and look for hazards, the general rule of thumb is that the water needs to be half the depth of the height you’re jumping off, ideally more – if a bridge is 4m make sure the water is at least 2m. I would also wear a wetsuit to avoid backslaps and try to enter the water as straight as possible and spread yourself once submerged. Finally, cliff jumping is best done with at least one more person. This guarantees that someone can help you if you do get in trouble and also increases the fun.
“ Cliff jumping being infinitely dangerous and unusually deadly has crept its way into the social consciousness of society
Now that the world’s worst safety briefing is done I will try to articulately explain why you should cliff jump and. more importantly, where you can do so near Bristol. The thing about cliff jumping is that it’s really fun. Like proper fun. It’s the best. This isn’t a ‘pop a few pills at Lakota’ type of fun, this is a heart racing, screaming in terror type of fun – the best kind. There is something unexplainably addictive about throwing yourself from large heights into water. I think it lies in the moment of sheer helplessness you experience as you leave the edge and your whole world focuses in on the water below - there is literally nothing else and nothing that you can do, it’s done and you have to accept it. What’s even better than this feeling of helplessness is the fact that you’ve put
yourself in that position. Nobody else can make you jump, it’s just you versus the edge. The overcoming of fear, the exhilaration, the relief, the buzz and even the journey to the jump location all combine to make cliff jumping a worthwhile sport. If you don’t believe me then go and try it and then give me a big ol’ kiss when you realise I was right all along.
There is something inexplicably addictive about throwing yourself from large heights into water
Depending on your mode of transport and time constraints, there
are multiple locations within the wider Bristol area. I will give you a brief rundown of some of the best. One of the nearer places is Wick Quarry. The quarry is a short car journey, or an hour’s bike ride away, which makes it one of the more accessible spots. There are some big jumps and it is also a good place for a swim. Tithe Bridge is in Bradford-OnAvon and is ideal for those who haven’t jumped before. Just a 2.5m bridge into a pretty river, accessible by train or by car. Lady Falls is about an hour and a half by car into Wales. This is easily the most beautiful location, but I would recommend fully exploring where you jump because some areas of the pool are deeper than others. Tintern Quarry is 30 minutes away by car and has some decent 20ft jumps, once again I would fully scout out where you jump. Gold
Diggings quarry and Meldon Pool are 15 minutes away from each other and about 1hr 45 away from Bristol down the M5 into Devon and Cornwall. Gold Diggings is my favourite location as it has a range of jumps and is also in a stunning location. I appreciate this isn’t the best time of year for a cliff jumping article, but in the words of my PE teacher: ‘There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad equipment.’ Cliff jumping is a great alternative to university based sports and can make a boring Saturday a great one, I highly recommend grabbing a group of friends and heading to one of these locations. If you need any further information then hit me up. Oh, and also invite me along… I really like cliff jumping, - can you tell?
Jump Life Wales / Chris Stevens
Over the course of about a year my friends and I have been hurling ourselves off of increasingly high structures in varying locations and environments. We aren’t part of a harrowing suicide pact but have instead been engulfed in the world of cliff jumping. When I returned to university I had a quick search for cliff jumping spots near Bristol and, as it turns out, Bristol is a sort of centre point to some unbelievable locations. This article will hopefully serve as a defence of cliff jumping and an invitation to get involved. Cliff jumping, or tombstoning, has garnered a very negative reputation in recent history with much of mainstream media veraciously attacking the sport, including The Telegraph and The Daily Mail. The various articles criticising cliff jumping normally stem from a death or serious injury of typically a young male – there is often an archetypal narrative attached to the incident such as the victim being drunk or trying to impress their peers. The view of cliff jumping being infinitely dangerous and usually deadly has crept its way into the social consciousness of society. As I have become more involved with cliff jumping, people around me whether close family or strangers - have openly expressed their fear for my life, despite never having actually jumped themselves. This fear manifested itself most humorously when a shopkeeper asked why I was buying some tent pegs. I explained that I needed them for a tent and that I was camping by a quarry, as I wanted to jump from the walls of it into the natural pool at the bottom. She then refused to sell me the tent pegs because they were a catalyst to my inevitable and certain death. It did not take long for me to convince her that a) tent pegs weren’t essential to the cliff jumping and that: b) I could buy the tent pegs from a different store who have less investment in my continued existence on the mortal coil… like Mountain Warehouse. Although this interaction was out of the ordinary, it effectively illustrates the unjustified public perception of cliff jumping. I find it so irrational that someone with no diret experience of a sport would tell somebody who does that sport how dangerous it is. It would be like telling an astronaut: ‘Be careful when you go up into that ol’ space mate, no air up there – you need air to breathe’. Just as astronauts are fully aware of the atmospheric properties of space, cliff jumpers are aware of the relative risks of backflipping from 50ft high into a body of water. Luckily, there is an easy rule to avoid certain death, as there is with every other sport, and that is: don’t act like a knobhead. In almost all sports if you act like a knobhead you are going to get hurt and cliff jumping is no exception. If you jump into a body of water without any idea of its depth or what hazards are below the surface then you will probably get hurt. In the same way, if you’re horse riding and you try to
A backflip from a cliff at Lady Falls, Wales
Epigram
Golden gamble: Bristol student has book on betting published Felix Rusby Deputy Sports Editor
We caught up with the English literature student to find out a bit more about the book:
On my gap year I worked for a company called Smartodds as a football analyst. They are one of the most profitable - and secretive - gambling syndicates in the UK. The company turns over hundreds of millions of pounds each year. I basically got paid to collect match data, which was then used by “quants” (quantitative analysts) to work out which teams were performing at the highest level. The company found its success on its ability to accurately predict the outcome of matches. They also sell the data to professional gamblers, in the same way that companies like Opta sell stats to the media. What was your role at Smartodds? I was part of the data collection team. Essentially, I watched football matches and logged data on those games. I got paid £20 for each match I analysed. I watched some high quality matches in leagues like the Premier League, but a lot of what I watched was complete rubbish. I don’t know if you’ve ever watched the Azerbaijan Third Division, but I wouldn’t recommend it. The company would analyse the data that my team collected in order to generate their own odds for matches, and
Nicky Withers Sports Editor
Wednesday 20/09/17
I just saw all this really cool, innovative stuff happening and thought there was a huge market for it. Lots of people like gambling, but not many people know how to do it well.
SGS College 1 - 3 Bristol Saturday 30/09/17 Bristol 1s 2 - 1 Warwick 1s
Will your book allow its readers to win millions?
Bath 2s 1 - 5 Bristol 2s Bath 4s 2-3 Bristol 4s
I’m not going to say that the book will enable you to consistently win money. Gambling is hard and requires a combination of skill and luck. What The Football Code will do is give you the best chance of succeeding. It aims to teach ordinary punters how to bet like a professional gambler, and give an insight into the secret world of professional sports betting. being a professional gambler like?
People tend to think of professional gambling as a dream job. They see it as a vocation which allows you to make loads of money through watching sport. In my experience, it really isn’t that great. I’m not a professional bettor, but I worked in the same offices as some at Smartodds. They spend all their time staring at screens, analysing data and watching hours upon hours of press conferences. They try to collect as much information as they can to inform their decision-making. As such, many are social recluses who don’t spend much time with friends or family. Gambling for a living isn’t as glamourous as its made out to be. What specific methods do the company use to win bets? One of the main revelations of the book is that Smartodds have used the
Men’s Football
Bristol 2s 1 - 1 Hartpury 2s
What inspired you to write The Football Code?
What’s
Pre-season results
Bristol 1s 0 - 2 Hartpury 1s
The Football Code / James Tippet
Can you give us a bit of background about yourself?
47
Wednesday 13/09/17
placed bets when they thought that the bookmakers had made a mistake.
A Second Year Bristol student has published a book revealing the secret methods of the gambling consultancy that he worked for on his gap year. The Football Code, written by 20 year-old James Tippett, has broken into the top 250 best-selling books on Amazon, and peaked at #3 bestseller in the category of ‘Football’.
16.10.2017
Fantasy Football
James Tippett’s recently published book titled ‘The Football Code’
Expected Goals method (xG) to find great success. Expected Goals is a metric that allows analysts to accurately gauge the ability of teams and players. Put simply, it measures how many good chances each team are creating. The teams who are creating the most dangerous scoring opportunities are clearly the best teams regardless of how many goals they are scoring. It’s essentially a way of removing the damaging effects of randomness from the sport, revealing a clear image of what is happening on the field of play. xG is now slowly being embraced by the media as well - Match of the Day have started using it too. How much money have you made from the book? I knew that question was coming. Amazon don’t like their authors disclosing how many copies they’ve
sold or how much they’ve made. What I can say is that I didn’t think the book would be as successful as it has been. The best thing for me is that it ranked above Joey Barton’s autobiography on Amazon’s best-sellers. Have you got any advice for students trying to publish their work and how can they manage writing with studies and student life? Being a student is difficult. For me, there are three areas you have to find a balance between: work, play and sleep. You have to study as hard as possible whilst also maintaining a social life and getting enough sleep to function. Often you can only fulfil two of the three sectors. Last year my “work” segment was taken up with the book, meaning my grades took a bit of a hit. You have to make a choice
Epigram Sport is running its very own Fantasy Premier League. Feel free to join! Epidivisie Code: 787477-1079615 Good Luck! about what will make you happy. If you’re interested in reading the book it is available on Amazon under ‘The Football Code: The Science of Predicting the Beautiful Game’.
Epigram Introducing... Quidditch
NW: Why did you choose quidditch? GF: I love Harry Potter so thought I’d try it, but to be honest I wasn’t expecting to stay. I thought it would be playing pretend but it’s far from that. Quidditch has grown as a sport and is now in its sixth year in the UK - it’s also the first year the referees don’t have to be retested as the rule book has stayed consistent. NW: What are your aims for the season? GF: The regionals are really tough
this year, so we want to place. Some players have moved teams which has strengthened the opposition. We’ve qualified for the European Championships for the last two years so the main aim has to be to qualify again. There are some first team only training sessions to try and get us prepared,
but we’d like the second team to reach the upper bracket of regionals, they’ve got the potential to achieve a lot. NW: What would you say to anyone thinking of joining? GF: Whether you’re looking to compete at a high level or just want
to come along and try something new and a bit different, there’s a place for you. It’s a mixture of lots of sports and really fun! If you think quidditch might be for you, training takes place on the Downs at 2pm on Wednesdays. and Saturdays. Check out their Facebook page for more information.
Epigram / Nicky Withers
Welcome back to Epigram Introducing: our fortnightly feature that introduces you to some of the lesser known sports around campus. Walking around the Welcome Fair, you may be surprised to see a quidditch team advertising for players. You may be even more surprised to learn that it’s a fast growing sport, with the Quidditch Premier League having launched in 2017. Bristol was also the first city in England to have a quidditch league, started by Tom Ower, who is also the founder of Brizzlepuffs. The sport is a mixture of dodgeball, rugby and handball. The game begins with chasers, keepers and beaters on the pitch and all players must use their brooms at all times (sticks held between the legs). The seeker, who chases the snitch, is not allowed to interfere with play until the 18th minute of the game. As in the Harry
Potter series, when one team’s seeker catches the snitch, the game is over. Formerly the Brizzlepuffs, Bristol Quidditch Club have had a hugely successful season, finishing second at the National Championships which makes them the highest ranked university team in the country. Unusually, Bristol and UWE students play together and also welcome community members who have graduated or played in another city. I spoke to Gabby Fitzgerald, President of Bristol Quidditch Club, about her experiences.
Bristol Quidditch Club playing an example game at their taster session on the 27th September at Horfield Leisure Centre
Epigram
16.10.2017
Sport
@epigramsport Editor: Nicky Withers
Online Editor: Ben McCall-Myers
Deputy Editors: Tim Godfrey Twiss & Felix Rusby
sport@epigram.org.uk
Varsity series will now span seven months Results BUCS 4th October Men’s Rugby Bristol 1s 33-26 Bath 2s Bristol 2s 26-37 Bath 3s Men’s Hockey Bristol 1s 3-3 Cardiff Met Women’s Hockey Bristol 1s 1-2 Cardiff 1s Women’s Badminton Bristol 1s 4-4 Southampton 1s Men’s Lacrosse Bristol 1s 16-2 Cardiff 1s
Nicky Withers Sports Editor There have been big changes to how Varsity will run this year, with the traditional onslaught of events in March abandoned for a seven month span. The Bristol Varsity has always been big, but a survey of UK universities has revealed it is the 2nd largest, with 3000 participants last year. The aim is to grow even more and to become the biggest in Europe by increasing that figure to 4000. By spreading out the events, to times where there aren’t NSS surveys (or boycotts) and approaching dissertation deadlines, the aim is that more people will find the time to get involved in Varsity. The University in heavily investing into wellbeing services and it is well known that physical activity plays a huge part in that. Varsity could be the key to making broad impacts on mental health, by developing this huge event with an institution that everyone can be part of.
There will be a major shift from spectating to participating and it would be naïve to ignore the crowd violence at last year’s Varsity rugby as a factor. The change in tagline
That said, this year is also an opportunity. New events such as the One World Games will take a leaf out of Nottingham University’s book, with a similar concept to their Malaysian Games. Developed by the Nottingham Malaysian Society, the event now attracts around 5000 athletes and spectators. The aim is to encourage sportsmanship and facilitate friendships between Malaysian and other students.
Netball will be making its debut as a standalone event, joining the usual candidates of rugby, basketball and darts night to name a few. Ticket and venue details are still awaiting confirmation. Due to the size of Varsity, the board - made up of Bristol SU, Student’s Union at UWE and both university’s sports departments - have employed a Varsity Events
Manager. I met with Kirsty Tomlinson, who has taken on this role, to discuss the progress being made. Participation isn’t limited to competing, Kirsty explained. The leadership opportunities available will develop employability skills too. ‘Last year two Bristol students on the Sports Leadership Program were event leaders. We’re aiming to integrate the Sports Leadership
The One World Games will involve numerous communitybased societies, playing a variety of sports, drawing out people who may not have previously been involved. Also new for this year is an inflatable obstacle course, along the lines of Total Wipeout and the size of a football pitch. Scheduled for the end of the series, it’s designed to be a fun blowout before exam season starts. Students will enter in teams of eight to ten and tackle the course (and each other) while surrounded by mates. The traditional standalones will still take place, welcoming spectators and atmosphere despite the heavily limited capacities.
Program here and a similar one at UWE with Varsity event leadership. Four students have signed up already. There are also talks with the event management course at UWE for them to run a module for the students on the leadership programs.’
Also new for this year is an inflatable obstacle course, along the lines of Total Wipeout
Twitter / UBRFC
“ The aim is to grow even more and to become the biggest in Europe
from ‘Embrace the rivalry’ to ‘Two universities, one city’ appears to be connected to that behaviour. There was plenty of rivalry last year, but a distinct lack of embracing. Smaller venues will create capacity issues for crowds and the opportunity to play at the Ashton Gate is no longer available, which is no doubt disappointing for clubs and fans alike.
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Twitter / Bristol SU
The finish line at the first of two Varsity colour runs - the first Varsity event of the year
Keep up to date with what’s happening on Twitter at @epigramsport
UWE and Bristol team captains having a drink after the Varsity rugby last year
Alongside these leadership opportunities, John House - Sport and Student Development Officer has designed a way to give students more control over Varsity. As well as the scheduled standalone events, there are four vacant spaces in the calendar. Teams who want a spot in a standalone work with their UWE counterpart and put together a combined bid for the event in front of a panel. If successful, they play this year and also give their club the chance to be a regular on the standalone calendar in future years. There’s a lot changing this year and in some ways this new format is a new start. A few things remain the same however: the competition, the passion and the fact that #WeAreBristol.