EPIGRAM 320

Fortnightly 27th November 2017 Issue 320 Winner of Best Publication and Best Use of Digital Media 2017

University of Bristol’s Independent Student Newspaper

Journalist Michela Wrong refuses to talk at University of Bristol due to Safe Space Policy Alex Boulton Co-Editor In Chief

Wellbeing

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Michela Wrong, a former Reuters, BBC and Financial Times Africa correspondent, has refused an invitation to speak from the International Affairs Society (IAS) due to SU policy.

According to the International Affairs Society, Wrong was all set to attend but backed out when the SU looked into her and her work, for fear of feeling she was implicitly endorsing the sentiment behind safe space policies.

The SU’s Safe Space policy was introduced in 2009 by the student council.

In June 2016, the Student Council passed a motion to abolish the Safe Space Policy as it stood and ‘engulf the anti-discrimination and not-threatening spirit of it into the revised Code of Conduct’.

Societies currently have to fill out an External Speaker Request Form so all aspects of the speaker’s visit can be considered.

In an email sent to the society on the 8th November, Wrong said that she is ‘very sorry, but as you probably guessed, [she] won’t be coming to Bristol’.

She continues: ‘I take exception to the entire notion of “safe spaces” and the practice of “no platforming”.

‘I suspect I would sail through your Students Union vetting process without any trouble. But that’s just not the point, somehow.’

In justification, she writes about her work in and about Africa and the number of journalists who have been ‘detained, arrested, threatened and sacked’ in an attempt by African regimes to silence criticism.

Considering this, she argues that she sees ‘no call for “safe spaces” on campuses: the world I have lived and worked in as a reporter offers none, after all.

‘Students need to be prepared for that gritty reality. As for “No Platform”, that’s exactly what governments in Eritrea, Ethiopia, DRC, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi, Angola, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Togo etc etc. routinely grant writers, journalists, analysts, human rights campaigners and members of civil society.’

Continued on page 2

Illustration by Harry Coke

Students warned after series of house burglaries Nikki Peach News Editor There have been a series of burglaries in student areas such as Clifton, Redland and Cotham in the past month.

The burglaries coincide with the closure of the Police specialist burglary unit and new figures show only one in ten burglaries get solved.

According to figures from a Freedom of

Information Act (FOI) attained by the Bristol Post, Avon and Somerset Police have only solved one in ten burglary cases since 2011. In 82 per cent of those cases, they failed to identify a suspect.

The figures from the FOI ‘also revealed burglars have made off with more than £39million worth of stolen goods in five years- of which the police have managed to recover less than one per cent.’

The Bristol Post has also used police statistics

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to reveal that 391 burglaries were reported to Avon and Somerset Police during the month of September, which equates to over 13 crimes a day.

Philly Strahan, third-year Geography student, had her house burgled on Halloween. She told Epigram, ‘We got burgled between 1am and 7am. We had a feeling we were being watched for about a week before but could never prove anything.’

Continued on page 3

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Epigram | 27.11.2017

Editorial

2 Co-Editors in Chief: Alex Boulton and Noa Leach

Online Editor: Georgia Marsh

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Deputy: Edie Essex Barrett

Online Deputy: Lucy Thompson

Editorial Assistant: Mary Richardson

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A note from Alex...

It’s the time of year where people start thinking about and signing for nextyear houses. It can be a stressful timefriendships are tested as you fight over who to live with, rooms, location, size and price. No-one is willing to compromise. After all this is going to be your home for the next academic year.

Student housing is notorious for being a nightmare- stereotypes of lazy landlords out to squeeze as much money as possible out of you, damp, inconsiderate flat mates and pest infestations. When I moved into my flat last year, the boiler broke on move in day so we were left without hot water until it was fixed, the radiators broke numerous times, we also had a bees nest, dripping walls and noisy neighbors. This year, we have dealt with damp, a flooded toilet and broken hob.

I know people who have woken up with frogs in their rooms, had rat infestations and broken front doors. There are so many horror stories out there. Inevitably, there will be problems in your house, but it is important to know you can nag your landlord until it gets fixed- they are getting enough money out of you.

Once these problems were fixed, I thoroughly enjoyed living in both of my houses.

But before you can encounter these problems, you need to actually find a house. This can cause major dramas. If you’re in first year, you simply haven’t known anyone for long enough to know if you could live with them.

Once you have decided your future housemates, there are the inevitable discussions of location- Clifton, Redland, Kingsdown, Stoke Bishop, City Centre. Everyone will inevitably have a different opinion, usually dependent on what side of the campus their lectures are located.

The next task is to trawl through estate agent sites, identify potential and bulk arrange viewings. Inevitably, you will see so many they will all start to blur into one. You will see numerous houses that you can’t imagine will ever be taken. No-one ever cleans the house for house viewings so they always smell weird, are usually dark and grim and have mountains of washing up so you can’t see the kitchen properly.

Once you do find one you love, you may ring up the estate agent only to be told its been taken. After numerous rejections, we had to literally sprint to the estate agent to sign for our second-year flat to beat the other groups who viewed it the same time. If you haven’t found a place through UBU lettings (which I highly recommend), you will have to hand over agency fees, as well as a deposit, normally a killer amount that certainly makes a dent in your student loan.

It is important to remember that most people encounter the same housing-finding experiences. Unfortunately, this type of experience is inevitable in a city like Bristol considering the evergrowing number of students and finite housing stock. If you feel like you need some help, Bristol SU have just released their Ready to Rent campaign. It includes a house hunting guide and a viewing checklist.

As someone who has experienced this housing madness twice now, I have some words of wisdom for you- do not panic!! If you haven’t started thinking about it yet, don’t be freaked out by the super-organized people who signed for their house in October (there are some every year). I found both of my houses in February/March- don’t listen to the estate agents and landlords who claim the stock is running out, houses go up all year round.

As much as I realize it is a stressful time, I want to reassure you that everything does click into place and you will find somewhere to live. I definitely prefer living in a student house to halls- you have so much more freedom, get to live with your friends and it feels less regulated and school-like. Try to enjoy house-hunting (it’s an excuse to be nosy after all), act quickly if you find a place you like and once you move in, (politely) nag your landlord until everything is how it should be. Finally, enjoy living in your housechances are you will only be living there for 9 months and move out day comes around quickly.

Alex Boulton, Co-Editor in Chief Printed by: CN Newsprint Cumbrian Newsprint, Newspaper House, Dalston Road, Carlisle CA2 5UA

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From the archives: ‘The Lesser-Spotted Lecturer’ Epigram’s close look at contact hours across the arts and sciences This week’s From the Archives looks at the Epigram issue that reported on the University’s consistent ranking as a lowcontact hour university for arts subjects.

We thought this was appropriate given the success of Phoebe Chase’s article ‘Self-directed learning has gone too far’ in Epigram over the past couple of weeks (originally published in issue 318, page 13).

The article outlines the survey that ‘slammed’ the University for its ‘daylight robbery’ of students in the form of low-contact hour courses for increasing fees.

Looking particularly at the History, Politics, and English departments, the article claimed that ‘all three courses offer students just six hours of lectures, seminars and tutorials a week’, a statistic which has not changed in over 10 years.

According to a lecturer at the time, ‘measuring value for money by contact hours is crude to say the least… the majority of students in English and other arts and social sciences subjects at Bristol seem to recognise that self-directed study is the name of the game’.

What makes the article particularly poignant is the sentence: ‘With top-up fees rising to £3,000 a year in September the report raises the question: are today’s arts undergraduates getting good value for money?’

Now that we’re paying £9,000 (at least – before the book bills come in) the answer to this question is even more sought after.

First published in Epigram on the 1st of May 2006

Front page article continued...

‘I am more aware than most of the way such policies distort our understanding of the world and silence informed debate, so why on earth would I endorse that system at home, as part of British society?’

Wrong also refers to the SU’s attempt to no-platform the philosopher Sir Roger Scruton in October 2016 due to homophobic comments.

An IAS spokesperson told Epigram: ‘The International Affairs Society is disappointed that this policy leaves distinguished individuals such as Michela Wrong unwilling to speak at our university. We respect her decision not to attend based on her principled opposition to ‘no platforming’. We are, however, happy her decision brings attention to an important and ongoing debate at universities across the globe.’

Wrong’s opposition to safe spaces follows the announcement that Jo Johnson, Universities Minister, wishes to challenge the safe space culture at universities by holding them account over their duty to secure free speech.

Last year, Spiked magazine also gave the SU a red alert and the University an amber alert for free speech, arguing that ‘the University of Bristol and the University of Bristol Union collectively create a hostile environment for free speech’.

In response, a spokesperson from Bristol SU said: ‘Bristol SU doesn’t have a no platforming policy. This speaker was made known to us and we did run it through our external speakers process as we do with all speakers. We would have approved the speaker coming but they withdrew from the process before we communicated this to them. At no point did we suggest that they shouldn’t visit Bristol.’

Read Wrong’s full email to the IAS online.

Chief Proofreader Lucy Moor Sub-editors on this issue Jess Cselko, Nadia Hassan, Izi Miller, Jamie Muddimer, Samuel Wong, Dani Salvalaggio, Max Lewthwaite, Chloe Moloney, Alice Chancellor, Jess Browne-Swinburne 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 Marketing Assistants Kate Nissen, Tara Lidstone Distribution Manager Thomas Jordan

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Epigram 27.11.2017

News

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@epigramnews Editor: Nikki Peach news@epigram.org.uk

Continued from front page...

‘The burglar smashed a pane of glass in our door to let themselves in,’ continued Strahan, ‘and proceeded to go through all of our drawers and possessions, escaping through a window on the ground floor.’

They have now had to fit alarms to all the windows and are replacing the glass paned door with a wooden one.

Philly added, ‘I would advise people to get their landlords to put in proper security before it’s too late.’

A similar experience happened to group of girls living in Redland. Second-year student Alice Owen-Lloyd said, ‘Someone had clearly been watching our house and waited until we had all left. They broke in through the window and stole two laptops but nothing else.’

She added, ‘The police were helpful but nothing came up when they did a forensics test, luckily we had insurance on the laptops but it was a horrible experience.’

Avon and Somerset police have released a statement about their removal of the specialist burglary unit: ‘Burglary is a priority for everyone in Avon and Somerset from the call taker, to the responding police officer and the forensic investigator.

From 2011 to 2016 there has been a 14 per cent reduction in burglary, which is around 2,000 less victims over that time period.

‘In addition, there has been a 73 per cent reduction in the value of stolen property in 2016, compared with 2011, which is £7million less. However, we do have other priorities including child sexual exploitation and other serious sexual offences, modern slavery, human trafficking as well as high risk missing people.

‘It is our role to get the right resource with the right skills to all requests for our services which require a response.

‘As a result, we no longer have dedicated burglary squads as we have changed the structure of our organisation to meet reductions in funding. There has also been a reduction in workforce in terms of police officers and police

Online Editor: Emma Chittleburgh

staff, as highlighted in The Tipping Point report recently published by our force.’

Bristol student Ellen Jones told Epigram about another recent account, ‘I haven’t been burgled but the flat two doors down from me was a few weeks into term. It was quite unsettling because all their windows and doors were locked, but the burglars bashed the door in and smashed the CCTV camera off the wall outside.

‘Our landlord and agents Flats4Students were really good about it, and after we raised concerns they fit internal locks on all our bedroom doors and higher spec CCTV outside the house.

‘Our agents also reported another of their student properties in Kingsdown being broken into just a few weeks later, so it looks as though students are most definitely targets at the moment.’

Another Bristol student who has recently been burgled commented, ‘the police arrived quite quickly and the CSI team came the next morning but the robbers left no trace.

‘They said they’d rather come out for a false alarm and have the chance of catching someone than for people to feel they can’t call until they’re completely sure.’

Deputy Online Editors: Emily Vernall, Jecca Powell She warned fellow students to ‘always double lock, and if you’ve got faulty windows or doors, get them fixed.’

The police also informed the student that you can get your valuables insured through www.immobolise.com and they recommend the use of device tracking systems such as Find my iPhone.

Student Oliver Cohen’s student house had been burgled twice in the past two years before he moved in. He and his friends found this out from their neighbours and phoned the police to get advice on how to prevent intrusion.

The police provided the students with leaflets, alarms and timer plugs.

Oliver said that ‘the Police were really helpful and nice about it’ and noted, ‘Kingsdown is very popular with students which makes it a big area for burglaries.’

The recent targeting of student houses, especially cases where students have felt they were being watched is very concerning. It is advisable for all students to take the necessary precautions.

Students can contact the university’s security services for help and information by calling the non-emergency number: 01179287848.

Huffington Post

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Someone had clearly been watching our house and waited until we had all gone away

Deputy Editor: Hannah Wakefield, Lucy Downer

Motions announced after first Student Council meeting of the academic year Olivia Santoro News Reporter

Huffington Post Epigram / Olivia Santoro

The University of Bristol Student Council, one of the Student Union’s democratic events, took place on the evening of the 16th of November in the first of three meetings this year.

Chairman Hari Sood describes the Student Council as “a forum for everyone to debate and decide on policy and motions,” using democratic procedures. Participants can suggest amendments of policy, then vote on these changes. Any items, or motions that pass will become active SU policy for three years.

Not only is student policy debated, officers are held to account by students who are able to judge if they are doing their jobs correctly.

On arrival, course and faculty reps, society presidents, sports club captains, JCR presidents, and other student trustees, were handed voting cards to voice their decision. Students could vote FOR, AGAINST, or to ABSTAIN from the motions put forward.

After voters ratified motions from all past January, February, March and June Student Council meetings, a range of new motions were contested and voted on. These included Boycott Barclays, Husting Requirement for Full Time SU Officer Positions, Speaker Disinvitation Procedures, NSS Boycotting, Standing Mandates for all Networks, and Accommodating for Students of Faith.

Motion 1 on Boycott Barclays, proposed by Papatya O’Reilly and Robin Boardman asked that students “commit to never dealing with [Barclays] until they ditch fossil fuel finance”.

It also asked students to support People & Planet’s Divest Barclays campaign, and help the University of Bristol’s Fossil Free Society lobby the University to cut all ties with Barclays.

No speeches were made against this motion.

It was passed after gaining a clear majority.

Motion 2 was proposed by James Heale, to require the SU to host hustings for all full time SU officer positions. This would offer all candidates the chance to speak at hustings.

Participation would be voluntary.

This motion received opposition. A participant noted “there are many other ways people can get their views out to the public other than hustings”. Hustings, contrastingly, come with accessibility problems for those who lack confidence.

Archeology and Anthropology course rep Morgan Black replied to this comment: “is it weak leaders that we are after here? Face your fears… grow stronger”.

Participants continued to oppose the motion.

“It is not equal for a non-native English speaker to compete against a native English speaker”.

People, it was suggested, discriminate on the basis of accents and broken English.

Regardless of these arguments AGAINST, after several recounts, the motion was voted FOR with a very slim majority.

Motion 3, on Speaker Disinvitation procedures, was proposed by Lucky Dube and Stanford.

It claimed that Students should be able to disinvite external speakers to give a talk or presentation under the auspices of either the University of Bristol or Bristol Students’ Union.

This provides a platform from which assessments can be made to see whether that speaker has the potential to incite violence, racial or religious hatred or to encourage people into terrorism.

Arguments on the defense of free speech criticized this motion. It was commented that “we must allow for every single idea to be spoken out loud – think of same sex marriage and homosexuality which could not be contested in the past”.

After the amendment to raise the number of complaints necessary from 10 to 50 was passed, after a tight vote, the motion was voted AGAINST. Motion 4 moved on to question whether boycotting the NSS should be continued or stopped.

‘Stop’ promotors agreed that there is a lot wrong this the NSS, but argued change would not be achieved through boycotting. Stopping

Students voted on key issues facing the University

the boycott “is not a change on principle but a change in tactic”. Stopping the boycott is a proposal to work with the NSS as a means to reform it.

A member of Debating Society added that the overall power of the boycott is reducing. It is much better to change tactic.

Those who defended the continuation of the boycott argued that boycotting is one of our stronger ways to make a stand – “there is no point turning back when we have only seen minor successes”.

The debate ended with the argument that there is no point in continuing when the government has made plans to ensure that outcomes are not impacted by further boycotts: ‘the government do not care about the boycott’.

When voted on, it was passed that the boycott would be stopped.

Motion 5 on Approving Bristol SU Networks Standing Mandates, proposed by Stanford and Desiree Ibekwe, was presented and passed

quickly.

During the discussion of the final motion on Accommodating Students of Faith, it was argued that students of faith not taken into account for the timings of certain university and SU events, for example, freshers fair clashed with Jewish New Year. When planning events, religious calendars should be checked prior.

Questions of pragmatism were drawn up in regards to this: “are you aware of how many feast days there are for catholic saints? Another question: “is this over accommodating?”

Following the reply “we are not saying we have to change all events, just saying that when a situation arises it should be dealt with”, the motion was passed with a large majority.

The Student Council meeting therefore passed the following motions: Boycott Barclays, Husting Requirements, Stop the NSS Boycott, Approving Bristol SU Networks Standing Mandates, and Accommodating Students of Faith.

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Men earn £1.02 more an hour than women in Bristol Hannah Wakefield Deputy News Editor Women are earning 7.1% less than men in Bristol, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS.) This will impact female students planning to work in Bristol after they graduate.

The figure shows that women are, in effect, working from 5th December to the end of the year for free. However, the pay gap in Bristol is slightly smaller than the national average of 9.1% less for women, which equates to women working from 30th November to the end of the year for free.

A campaign has warned that it is going to take another 100 years for the pay gap to be closed.

Vivienne Hayes, the chief executive of the Women’s Resource Centre, has said in a statement: ‘Even though we have had a law [in the UK] since 1970 outlawing the practice of sex discrimination in pay, our progress is probably not even at a snail’s pace.’

Julia O’Driscoll, a fourth year Liberal Arts student at Bristol, told Epigram that ‘it’s shocking and incredible that in 2017 this is still a battle women are fighting every hour of the working day.’

She went on to say how ‘if the tables were turned something would have been done about it a long time ago.’

It was further found by the ONS that in 183 of 206 local authority areas that men in full-time work earn more on average than women, although the pay gap does vary in different areas of the country.

Bristol unites against Islamophobia Hannah Wakefield Deputy News Editor

University of Bristol changes fee refund policy Cameron Scheijde Online Comment Editor The University of Bristol has changed its fee refund policy for this academic year, bringing it in line with the majority of other UK institutions.

Epigram has learnt that from this academic year, students who wish to drop out or suspend their studies will be charged 25% of their fees if they withdraw after the first two teaching weeks, 50% if they withdraw after the start of the second term and before the third, and 100% if they withdraw after the start of the third term.

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Before this change, Bristol was one of the only UK Universities to still use a pro-rata system for fee refunds

This is a change from previous years where students were charged on a pro-rata basis. If a student withdrew within the first five weeks, they

would be charged five weeks’ fees, and so on. New first year students would not be charged if they withdrew within the first four weeks of term.

This brings Bristol in line with other UK institutions such as Glasgow, Oxford, City University of London, Exeter, Sheffield and Edinburgh.

Before this change, Bristol was one of the only UK Universities to still use a pro-rata system for fee refunds.

This change has brought about questions surrounding who will be effected by the new policy.

One student said: “two weeks seems barely enough time for a student to adjust, and the fact that this doesn’t take into account circumstances such as medical reasons for withdrawal also seems unfair” Another said: “I completely understand why it’s necessary to charge for the teaching a student has received when they drop out, and in a way I can see a potential motivation behind this change.

“But it is wrong to keep students at university purely because they don’t want to unnecessarily pay; the university should be investigating why students drop out and making the necessary changes, whether it be course-related, mental health related or anything else.

“No one wants students to feel they have to drop out, but charging them extra for doing so isn’t the solution”

The new Tuition Fee Refund Policy aims to treat all undergraduate students fairly and consistently

A University of Bristol spokesperson said: “The new Tuition Fee Refund Policy aims to treat all undergraduate students fairly and consistently, as well as bring the refund value calculation in line with Student Loan Company loans, “We intend to defer the introduction of the new policy to the start of academic year 2018/19 to provide current and potential students with adequate notice of this planned change. The new Policy will also amend the period where no charge will be due, from four weeks including Welcome Week, to two weeks excluding Welcome Week (i.e. equivalent to three weeks versus the previous four). This change brings us more in line with other universities”.

Students react to Thekla closure plans Nikki Peach and Emily Vernall News Editor and Deputy Online News Editor A scheme to build a five-storey office block at Redcliffe Wharf, was approved by the city council despite concerns over the effect of potential complaints from residents about noise from Thekla. Work is expected to begin in summer next year.

A council planning committee voted in favour of the scheme by 10 votes to one at a meeting on Wednesday, November 8. Labour councillor Kye Dudd was the only member to object.

The Council voted in favour of the development that will occur around the site of the iconic music venue.

The development will also include flats, shops and restaurants. However, only three out of 36 flats will be affordable, which is well below the council’s stated minimum for new developments.

Julie Tippins of DHP, the company which owns Thekla, raised concerns at the meeting that the venue had not received a fair sound assessment by developers as it was

carried out when the venue was half full and therefore not at its loudest, meaning the f lats’ soundproofing might be insufficient.

Mr Breckles also defended the venue, stating that potential tenants of the new f lats should “rent with their eyes” and accept that they are moving next to a live music venue.

After the discussion it was agreed that a new sound assessment must take place at a more suitable time before work begins, so that adequate soundproofing measures can be put into place.

A statement from Thekla has been released, they have said: ‘We appeal to the developer to keep to the promise they made in this hearing; to work with us on a new noise survey and then liaise with us on improved sound insulation scheme to protect Thekla and their future residents against noise problems.

‘We expect the Council to follow up on the assurances they gave to Councillors to only give the go ahead once they were satisfied that Thekla would be protected from future noise complaints from residents of the development.

‘This is certainly not the end of the fight to protect Thekla as we have to ensure that all parties keep to the commitments made this evening. We urge out supporters to contact

Epigram / Alex Boulton

The #IAMBRISTOL campaign is running for the whole of November as part of Islamophobia awareness month.

The campaign is being led by the UWE Students’ Union, Bristol SU, and the Islamic Society in collaboration, and has the intention of fighting Islamophobia by helping to raise awareness on the issue, whilst educating people on what to do if they witness harassment.

Zain Choudhry, the president of the UWE Students’ Union stated that the ‘campaign aims to challenge some of the stereotypes around Muslims and Islam, while encouraging people to talk openly about the subject, and helping those who might fall victim to harassment.’

As part of the campaign, a series of digital and print posters have been placed around the city, on public transport, in schools, community locations, and the university campuses. The posters provide information for people who may witness Islamophobia, advising them on how to diffuse the situation without being confrontational. #IAMBRISTOL is the biggest Islamophobia campaign the city has ever seen, and has garnered support from UWE, Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND), University College Union (UCU), and Bristol Muslim and Cultural Society (BMCS).

The Bristol regional manager of MEND, Sahar Al-Faifi, has said, ‘Islamophobia is real and is impacting individuals, as well as the community and the wider society, and needs to be tackled.’

The campaign also includes a series of talks, two of which are being held at the University, a resilience workshop on 15th November and a lecture on what is Islamophobia on 23rd November.

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Epigram 27.11.2017

Thekla waterside club

their local Councillors and MPs to ensure the Council does all it can to protect our venue’s future’.

Epigram has since spoken to students from the University to find out how they felt about the potential loss of the legendary maritime venue. Most reacted with shock and disappointment at the potential closure.

A second-year politics student commented ‘I’m starting to regret I didn’t go there more in first year’.

Likewise, Isabella Matthews, second-year Theatre and Performance student, responded ‘Thekla going would have a massive impact on student life and atmosphere as it is one of the most alternative, reliable yet affordable nights. It’s such a unique experience being on a boat that it is becoming a staple of being in Bristol. I know it’s not just me that would genuinely miss it.’

Thekla has also taken to social media, campaigning to encourage music-lovers to voice support and #savethekla. They told their supporters on their Facebook page, ‘Our beloved ship is under threat from proposed residential developments across the harbour in Redcliffe. Across the UK, an estimated 35% of grassroots music venues closed down between 2007 and 2015, many due to issues like this. Let’s not let this happen to Thekla!’

As a result, many have taken to twitter with the hashtag #savethekla to show their support.

Epigram also spoke to its very own Music Editor, Alexia Kirov, to guage how she felt the loss of such an important venue for up-andcoming, alternative and established artists would affect Bristol’s music scene: ‘The loss of Thekla would be a dagger in the heart of the Bristol music scene. Any small, independent venue closing down is a travesty in an increasingly corporate music industry, but for Thekla to close would be particularly heart-breaking.’

Not only is it an iconic, integral part of music in Bristol, but it’s host to a very special atmosphere ‘The city’s music scene was one of the things that made Bristol my top choice university – before I’d ever stepped foot in Bristol, I knew Thekla as ‘the venue that’s a boat’. Not only is it an iconic, integral part of music in Bristol, but it’s host to a very special atmosphere.

There’s nowhere quite like it.’

Epigram 27.11.2017

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Gordon Brown gives talk in Wills Law Society expand free Memorial Building

legal services

Cameron Scheijde Online Comment Editor

Emma Chittleburgh Deputy News Editor Epigram / cameron Scheijde

Gordon Brown gave a talk to Bristol students and members of the public in the Wills Memorial Building as part of the Bristol Festival of Economics.

The former Prime Minister and longest serving Chancellor of the Exchequer spoke on his life in politics, Brexit, the Labour party and the greatest changes to global politics today. He recounted his greatest regret; not being able to persuade the British people to vote for his economic plan for the country.

The talk was arranged as part of the Bristol Festival of Ideas, a series that wants “more debate in the city. We also want to celebrate the work of great writers, commentators and thinkers in and outside the city”. Tickets were free.

Brown discussed funny anecdotes of his time in Number 10, such as stories of hiding champagne from Nelson Mandela’s wife during the late statesman’s 90th birthday, and being outbid by Oprah Winfrey. He disclosed that the gift he gave President Obama for his inauguration was worth £250, rather than the reported £16,000.

He also commented on Brexit, stating that people feel “let down” by the elites, and that a new discourse is needed if the country is to survive the Brexit process. He described modern political discourse as a

Gordan Brown at the Wills Memoral Building

“shouting match without an umpire”, and proposed a “single national conversation”. He commented: “If we had a single national conversation, I don’t believe for a minute that people would defend or want to advance the case that the bankers made for their bonuses.

“If we had a national conversation, do you not think that if we were talking about bigger issues in a more sensible and a more constructive way then we’ll get some answers by agreement with us talking to each other” Brown also promoted his book, My Life, Our

Times, and discussed the impact of new political movements such as social media, globalisation, and the collapse of free-market, neoliberal economics.

He finished his talk to a sold-out crowd with a comment on hope for the future: “I believe that the old economic consensus has gone, I believe we have a new paradigm waiting for us in the wings waiting to be adopted.

“I believe that people are ready to discuss the ethical and moral basis of the decisions we make, I believe that it is possible to persuade people that the world can change and can be made better”

Bristol ranked the top university in South for student experience Emily Vernall Deputy Online News Editor Bristol University ranked the top for ‘student experience’ in the South, according to a new league table, outcompeting regional rivals including the Universities of Exeter, Cardiff and Bath.

The study was undertaken by the University Compare Annual Student Experience Awards which ranked the UK’s universities based on criteria including institute and course, accommodation, employment prospects, and social life.

In the national leader board, Bristol was ranked 10th, with a score of 4.2 out of 5. The top nine spots were all secured by Northern universities, with the top spot for student experience being to Newcastle University.

Following the news, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Bristol, Professor Hugh Brady, commented: ‘This accolade is testament to our wonderful staff and Students’ Union who have been working so hard to ensure that we offer our students an experience that is on a par with the very best in the world.’

Epigram has also spoken to a number of other student about how they felt about the new ranking and the quality of student experience whilst studying Bristol.

Sara Roberts, a Second-year English Student, said she would definitely agree with the Bristol’s top ranking. She told Epigram ‘Bristol is such a great city to be a student in.’

Another second-year English and Theatre student, however, replied ‘Think I would be inclined to disagree with us being ranked best for student experience. Bristol is such an

alternative city, but it is equally such a big one.

A student can so easily get lost and forgotten with a University population of around 22,000.

Equally, it’s up to us to find support if we do need help – teaching included. So, while all of the clubs, bars, cafés and city life can make for many good student experiences, I think it can do quite the opposite for a substantial percentage of students too.’

This highlights the difficulty in league tables reflecting the plethora of student voices and experiences within such a big institution, which are hard to generalise.

This is but one of the universities latest accolades in national and global rankings, following the result in September that Bristol was awarded 9th best University in the UK and 44th in the World by the QS World University Rankings 2018.

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We offer our students an experience that is on a par with the very best in the world

Flikr / Rockamn of Zymurgy

Once categories were broken down, the results showed that Bristol was ranked 9th overall for best city university and higher again at 7th for its sporting opportunities.

Second-year History Student, Grace Haselden, admits she was very involved in vast sporting scene at the University in the first year of her degree which hugely enhanced her student experience.

‘Bristol’s student union has a huge range of societies and events, meaning there is something for all students to get involved with.

Whether it’s a sport, something more creative or course based, it provides you with experiences outside of just your degree and provides a way to get to know new people, as well.’

Bristol nightlife

The University of Bristol Law Clinic, a free legal advice service run by students have expanded by moving into their own offices.

The service which was expanded due to popular demand will now run from 8-10 Berkeley Square. Professor Donald Nicolson OBE, a former academic at the University of Bristol who founded the Law Clinic in 1995, opened the new offices.

The Law Clinic which has been providing free legal advice for the past 21 years, received over 410 enquiries, worked on over 200 cases, and picked up over 80 referrals from other advice centres last academic year alone.

Almost ten per cent of the University of Bristol Law School are involved with the Clinic. All cases are overseen by Law School academics and law firm, Osborne Clarke, who provide the volunteers with support and training.

Amidst cuts to legal aid and austerity measures, the Clinic is a valuable resource for those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford a solicitor.

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I am aiming to build and better our practice this year

John Peake, Director of the University of Bristol Law Clinic, said: ‘We’re providing a service which we know is desperately needed in Bristol, where the public can access basic advice and help for free if legal aid isn’t available.

‘Demand for the services of the Law Clinic continues to grow, just as demand for Law Clinic experience from the students grows.

Having new offices is a real boost, providing a dedicated space for appointments which makes it easier for those in need to reach us and receive a professional service.’

The 160 students which make up the Clinic advise clients on matters ranging from housing and family law to problems with landlords and criminal cases.

Five students were funded by donations from the University’s alumni throughout the summer to allow them to continue work on active cases.

Bethane Harland, Student Director of the Law Clinic, said: ‘I am aiming to build and better our practice this year. I want to make people more aware of the service we provide, and continue to support those in need of our legal advice with the utmost professionalism.’

The Law Clinic also works with other organisations in the city such as CLIC Sargent, Bristol Drugs Project and Bristol Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB) with the aim to extend legal provisions in the city.

As Harland said: ‘While we also advise those seeking help from CLIC Sargent, Bristol Drugs Project and through the LiP Service, I want to branch out even further to other groups. This will ultimately benefit more people in need and enhance the student advisers’ real-life experience.’

Epigram

@epigramfeatures

Editor: Ellen Jones

Deputy Editor: Dani Bass

Online Editor: Olivia Cooke

features@epigram.org.uk

27.11.2017

Features

Be that Bristolian who bucks the trend Jess Swinburne Brown discusses the decision of reject London life after graduating

Jess Swinburne Brown Third Year,History

“ It’s really easy to feel alienated in a city as big as London

The stock response to the stock question, ‘so what’s the plan after you leave?’ that has been asked over fifty times to most undergraduates by the time they get to this point in their final year of university, tends to be along the lines

Epigram/ Nicky Withers

Seasonally, November is the month where layering up is a necessity to avoid the bitter bite of the winter wind that gets that little bit tougher each morning we step outside. Academically, November can be characterised in the same way. The persistence of essays and dissertation proposals as we work up to the final weeks of the first term is like the consistent drizzle that hangs over Bristol. No matter how much we layer up with procrastination, the soggy reality of deadlines weighs heavy on our minds.

For third years, the silver lining on that grey cloud is ever harder to find as application deadlines for graduate schemes, internships and masters loom and our future in general becomes another concern we are forced to confront.

of: ‘I’m applying to grad schemes in London’ or ‘I’m looking for internships in London,’ or ‘I’m going to travel for a year and then go to London.’

You rarely find a buck in this consistent trend as London life continues to be that knee-jerk reaction for most graduates.

However, there is no point panicking if the elusive grad scheme applications for the best graduate jobs in London have passed you by. The pull factors of London will inevitably mean that a lot of us, at some point in our lives, will end up working and living in the Capital. But have you ever considered the benefits of staying in Bristol, or even returning to your home city? Rather than letting the London life reject you, why don’t you take control and reject the London life?

Ben Mullins, Third Year Geography student, since starting his studies, has always known he would stay in Bristol. Ben’s response to the question of where he would like to end up after he graduates is a refreshing break from the status quo. ‘Essentially, the reason I would prefer to stay in Bristol is primarily because it’s really easy to feel alienated in a city as big as London. There isn’t any sense of community like there is in smaller cities like Bristol which I think is important for young people.’

As aspiring DJ’s who have recently set up the Bristol-based night, Deep Discs, Alex Bouchier, Third Year Philosophy and Politics and Ben both believe that the impact they can make in Bristol is far more than what they could achieve in London as they build up their brand as ‘everything you do in London gets lost to the scale of the city.’

London is the default destination for many third years Alex equally focuses on the attraction of Bristol as an environment that is far more accommodating and nurturing than London.

‘I prefer the city as it’s a much more pleasant environment for a young person, and staying here would ultimately give me more freedom as it is less expensive. In general, the only thing from stopping me from staying is the fact that most people leave for London. If it was a thing that students stayed, I would definitely stay.’

It is unsurprising that London is the default destination for many third years. The attraction of moving to such a globally influential city, surrounded by a huge array of opportunities as well as a vast majority of your friends is second to none. However, there is equally something to be said for staying where you are, establishing your confidence, your experience, your income and your influence, before you dive into the smoky depths of London city.

Pursuing further education

Amelia Edgell Cole evaluates the benefits and drawbacks of embarking on a path of further education

For many third years, the looming end of first term and beginning of Christmas mark a significant point in deciding their futures after graduation. For some, the holidays are devoted to writing countless applications for graduate jobs and internships, whilst others are looking towards further education.

Continuing to learn through postgraduate study can be an excellent thing: you’ll learn new skills, develop specialised knowledge of an area of interest and it may pave the way for a dream career path. But whilst completing a masters

may be a resolute ambition for some, others may be unsure of taking this step. In a current economic climate of uncertainty, and with our futures already tainted by undergraduate debt, is a masters really a viable - or necessary - option for all?

So what does a masters entail? Postgraduate programs allow for the specialization of study and are generally completed over the space of a year. For some, developing a specific area of expertise may anticipate study at a PhD level and perhaps a subsequent career in research and education - whilst others may seek a master’s to forge a way into a specific career path. Studying an English degree at undergraduate level, for example, may be the stepping stone for a masters

Flikr /HendersonStateU

Many jobs require a masters degree

in journalism, where the professional skills of this career can be learnt.

There are multiple distinctions between undergraduate and postgraduate study: the latter is more likely to include practical placements and internships, is largely led by self-directed learning and is certainly more work. For a gauge of how much additional study time is required, a year of undergraduate study is equivalent to 120 credits whilst postgraduate study requires 180 credits over the same time period.

The QAA (Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education) calculates that one credit is roughly approximate to 10 hours of learning, meaning that you’ll be expected to work around 600 more hours than you (possibly) already are, not forgetting the extensive dissertation that most programmes require.

As much as it pains me to say, a masters is a lot more than just an extra carefree year of university and should be considered carefully. Perhaps the largest factor to take into account is just how necessary it is. There are countless career paths that require or would benefit from a master’s degree, from health professionals to roles in business and HR, where this qualification could increase your potential earnings and make it easier to find a job upon graduation. Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) shows that of those that graduated in 2011-12, 86.6% of postgraduates were working in professional positions after six months, compared with just 64% of undergraduates. Clearly, a masters can help you stand out in an already saturated job market.

Cost will also doubtless be a pivotal factor in anyone’s decision to undertake further study, as, although a masters generally costs less than undergraduate study, the fees aren’t capped

and can go anywhere up to £30,000. Luckily the majority fall between £5000 and £10,000, and with government loans available up to £10,000, funding further education is doable. One option many undergraduates opt for is to take a year out after graduating to earn the funds for a masters the subsequent year, something which can also be beneficial for a CV.

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Epiigram / Amy Stewart

Amelia Edgell Cole Second Year, English

Undertaking a masters requires a significant amount of money, time and dedication

Postgraduate tuition fees are no small sum - add to this the cost of rent and living, and pursuing further study can quickly become something that seems unachievable for many - but there are numerous grants and bursaries available for those willing to do some research and the cost, although sometimes extortionate, shouldn’t be a deciding factor.

As with any undergraduate degree, undertaking a masters requires a significant amount of money, time and dedication. But, also like a undergraduate degree, it will develop your skills and knowledge, provide an amazing experience and release you to the world of employment more prepared than you may have previously been.

That said, whilst a masters can improve job prospects and increase wages, this is not the only way to enhance your prospects. Gaining practical work experience can be hugely valuable in some professions, and may even be more beneficial than further education - it all depends on the profession.

Epigram

8

27.11.2017

White, middle class, straight and male- dominated Dani Bass addresses the lack of diversity in our curriculum Dani Bass Second Year, English and Theatre After reading a recent article about the need to ‘decolonise’ the English syllabus in schools, I began thinking about the lack of diversity that exists in our own curriculum at University. In recent years, there has been a push to broaden and diversify our education with campaigns including ‘Why is my curriculum White’, starting in UCL, along with ‘decolonise our Uni’ both of which have picked up momentum throughout other universities.

I started questioning whether this is a real issue in our university. When talking to my friend, a second-year history student, about the issues of having a male-centric curriculum, he replied by telling me that ‘it isn’t really an issue as there’s always that week we learn about women.’ This response, for me, brought the issue to the forefront. By having one week dedicated to women; reducing the experiences of half the population into a single weeks reading and discussion, we consider our curriculum sufficiently diverse.

Despite my initial anger at this comment, after reflecting upon it, I realised that my friend had successfully epitomised the issues with the way in which we are taught. The majority of our curriculum is focused on the works of white, middle class, straight men with a token week to discuss women or ethnic minorities. I found this to be true when looking over my own units. In one of my English modules last year, Literature

the past the work of women and ethnic groups was not recognised which has resulted in such a demographic.’

Diversifying our education is an important step in assuring that the student population is well represented and do not feel alienated or disillusioned by the curriculum. The NUS Black Student survey found that 42% of people said that they did not believe their curriculum reflected issues of diversity, equality and discrimination; the majority of them feeling unable to bring their perspectives as black students onto their education. Furthermore, BME (Black and minority ethnic) constitute for only 1.5% of

the total academic population. It is a possibility that the reason BME students do not take up further academic study post university is due to the exclusion and isolation felt from the white dominated curriculum.

Having a non-diverse curriculum is not just an issue of misrepresentation, but it marginalises our learning and contributes to a lack of varied knowledge. Mariya Hussain, a student journalist for NUS states that a non-diverse curriculum, ‘leads to a blindness to other perspectives, and a complete dismissal of the large amounts of thought-provoking work produced throughout history by non-white thinkers and scholars.’

Epigram/ Liv Little

“ What we learn is from a very select demographic

1550-1740, every week bar one consisted of studying the works of white, middle-class men.

Although it may be true that we can learn about the struggle of women through books written by Richardson or many of Shakespeare’s plays for example, it feels slightly disconcerting that our only education of the plight of women is taught to us through the words of a man.

The University does offer courses which focus on the work of ‘minorities’ such as ‘Wring the Working classes’ in English or ‘Woman and Power in The Middle Ages’ in History. Having the option to study these units is of course positive and definitely a step in the right direction. However, by separating this work from the mainstream, it reinforces the premise that these groups are in fact ‘minorities’ and are not ‘good’ enough to be incorporated into the core modules offered. It also suggests that the only people who can study these topics are those with a particular interest in them, leaving the rest feel alienated. For example, 90% of the people on the History unit ‘Re-thinking History’ which looks at oppressed groups, particularly women, throughout the ages are female.

Ben, a third year history student, believes that ‘to engage in an academic discussion about colonialism it is imperative that we focus on both sides of the story, including that of the oppressed. To reveal an alternative side to the story, we need to focus more on non-western history and uncovering non-white voices.’

There is a similar issue in other subjects.

Kayleigh, a second-year Philosophy and Politics student argues that ‘what we learn is from a very select demographic to the point that my seminar tutor marked me down ‘for not using another political theorist works’ within my comparative politics essay because he did not recognise the work of the African theorist I used (I managed to convince him eventually). However, I would say that while this is true, there is a reason for the lack of diversity in the works that we study as in

There has been a push to broaden and diversify our education system from interest groups of all kinds

Dealing with death in the family

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An anonymous student discusses coping with a family member committing suicide Anonymous

I can still remember when we got the call. Those moments after hearing that my Grandmother had committed suicide, are haunted by the image of my Dad sat on a chair literally gasping in shock as my Mum clutched his hand tightly. I had never seen my Dad like that before. He was utterly wounded.

The guilt I have felt is indescribable

members know that I was worried about my Grandmother, made me feel overwhelmingly ashamed that I hadn’t prevented her death. It’s taken me all these years to learn that myself and my family couldn’t have done anything to stop

my Grandmother’s suicide. Knowing this has enabled us to help mourn properly, and allowed us to move on and remember our Grandmother for the beautiful person that she was and not for the way she died.

Flikr/ Romain Decker

Suicide is at its highest rates since records began. In a recent report by the Samaritans, 6188 suicides were registered in the UK from 2016-17.

Currently, female suicide rates in England are at their highest figures in a decade. Taking these figures into mind, it is incredibly important to state that suicide does not affect only one person’s family and closest friends- it affects a whole community. A suicide can have an extensive rippling effect which touches the lives of many people, from the emergency response teams which deal with the immediate aftermath of a suicide, to the neighbours of the deceased.

Myself and my family still question why my

Grandmother decided to make that choice. Aside from our first-hand knowledge that she had been experiencing severe mental-health issues for many years, her death still left us in a sense of limbo. Why did she do it? Why didn’t she speak to us? Could we have done something? Did she even love us? All these questions coupled with emotions which ranged from sheer despair to anger, hung over the family in the initial weeks after her death, and are still palpably felt by us today.

I find it incredibly frustrating that suicide is still treated as a taboo topic in our society. In promoting either platforms or discourses in which people feeling suicidal can talk about how they feel, so many deaths could be potentially avoided. Suicide then doesn’t become the only option- talking through resolutions to issues and questioning why a person is feeling a particular way, can provide relief to those experiencing suicidal thoughts.

In the years since my Grandmother’s death, the guilt that myself and my family have felt has at times been indescribable. It’s the “what-ifs” which contribute to creating a cycle of crushing regret which makes your heart ache. Trying to imagine what you could have done to prevent them from making that choice, leads you to feel almost culpable in their suicide. I should have done something. I could have stopped it. These thoughts circle round in your mind as you try to determine the reasons why they chose to die.

In the months after her death, the guilt I felt in not reading the signs and letting other family

Sometimes it’s hard to know when someone needs help

Epigram

27.11.2017

9

Bristol ‘Reclaims’ November Ellen Jones talks to the participants of the Bristol Women’s Network’s Reclaim Month, looking at what made it such a huge success

Reclaim Our Bodies:

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Students of all year groups and disciplines joined the lifedrawing workshop

Reclaim the Night:

Epigram / Sally Patterson

The month kicked off with the Reclaim Our Bodies initiative, which sought to address the verbal and online harassment women face every day about their physical appearance. The online campaign involved the publication of photos, blogs and articles by Bristol students, for Bristol students, to foster a universal sense of pride in our bodies. This included a photo series published

by That’s What She Said Magazine, dedicated to celebrating the wonderful variety of women at our University, of varying ethnicity, height, and shape. The Women’s Network also held an all-women life drawing class in partnership with Helicon Magazine, where female students could but their artistic skills to the test whilst celebrating the female form.

Tatty Martin, third year English student, attended the Reclaim Our Bodies life drawing workshop. ‘Reclaim life drawing created an amazing atmosphere, empowering the people modelling and the people drawing. As the event went on everyone began to see bodies as what they truly are, rather than what we think they should be’.

The month kicked off with the Reclaim Our Bodies initiative, which sought to address the verbal and online harassment women face every day about their physical appearance. The online campaign involved the publication of p Reclaim Our Power aimed to unite the student body to send a clear message about sexual harassment: enough is enough. This began with a zero-tolerance workshop which aimed to show how all students can support each other in preventing sexual harassment on campus, on the streets, and in nightclubs. The second event aiming to help women reclaim their power was a jiu jitsu self-defence class, where female students learned some simple techniques to protect themselves in potential situations of physical intimidation.

Jess Klein, third year English student, felt empowered by the self-defence class. ‘There needs to be a compulsory Jiu Jitsu self defence class when we start at university. I came away from this workshop knowing that I have power in any situation and that I can defend myself even if my strength doesn’t match my attacker’s.

A huge thanks to the Reclaim campaign for introducing me to a simple and effective way of asserting my power, I wouldn’t have had the courage to independently try out self-defence if this workshop hadn’t been organized.’

Epigram / Sally Patterson

As most students will be aware, this November has been the official University of Bristol Women’s Network Reclaim. Throughout the month, the Women’s Network, in partnership with Bristol SU, has put on events, talks, and discussion forums for female-identifying UoB students, to enable them to ‘reclaim’ their sense of empowerment, self-worth and pride.

The Reclaim initiative is focussed around students’ experience of sexual harassment, and aims to create a stronger sense of unity to combat physical, verbal, and online harassment.

This year, for the first time, Reclaim has taken the form of a month-long initiative, separated into three ‘phases’: Reclaim Our Bodies, Reclaim Our Power and the infamous and ever popular street protest, Reclaim the Night.

The month has been a phenomenal success so far, with five different events throughout the month attracting considerable attention and support. Epigram has spoken to organisers, participants and advocates to find out how and why Reclaim has been so successful.

Reclaim Our Power:

Students learnt how being physically weaker doesn’t warrant intimidation

I could stand up and just feel good in my own skin

Epigram / Sally Patterson

Nura Alyah, participant in the Reclaim Our Bodies photo series, told Epigram how being part of Reclaim Month helped her ‘stand up and just feel good in my own skin’: ‘I really enjoyed taking part in the Reclaim photo campaign. The organisers were really keen to make sure those of us taking part were comfortable every step of the way. For a campaign that focussed on the harassment that makes us so fundamentally uncomfortable, this was so refreshing’.

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Ellen Jones Features Editor

Students showed off their creativity at the life drawing workshop

The third and final stage of Reclaim month aimed to send a ‘hands off’ message to perpetrators of sexual assault, uniting students to send a message that there is never an excuse for harassment. This began with a banner making workshop, in preparation for the well-attended Reclaim the Night march through the city, which saw women of all ages, backgrounds and experiences reclaim the streets where they are often victim to harassment.

Whilst it’s so normalised to accept harrassment, it’s never ok

Sophie Ward, President of Bristol’s Body Positivity Society told Epigram what Reclaim has meant to her: ‘Reclaim has been so important to shed light on the issue of sexual harassment – whether it’s comments on the streets or sexual assault – that women face every day. Whilst it’s so normalised for women to accept this behaviour, it is never ok, and I’m so glad that Reclaim has drawn attention to this, and campaigned to combat these issues.

Reclaim has helped women feel empowered, and it’s certainly made me feel really positive!’

Sally Patterson, Chair of the Women’s Network and the brains and energy behind this fantastic month, feels Reclaim Month has been an overwhelming success. ‘There is something incredible about seeing women from all walks of campus life coming together to engage with issues such as body confidence and safety on campus, and finding innovative ways to challenge them together. This is just the start of our journey, and I’m hoping that everyone who’s been engaged thus far has felt empowered in a way that is meaningful for them’.

Epigram 27.11.2017

Comment

@epigramcomment Editor: Ed Southgate

Deputy Editor: Jake Porter

Online Editor: Cameron Scheijde

@ed_southgate comment@epigram.org.uk

@porterjake

@camscheijde

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.

First year students must step up and face their responsibilities First year student, Will Charley, argues that whilst his peers should have fun at uni, they must realise their responsibilities to themselves and to others Will Charley First Year, History ‘I’ve already missed a lecture and my seminar, and it’s not even 12pm’.

This was the message that greeted me as I swigged on my burnt Source café coffee, rushing past Wills Memorial Hall in the rain. There is always that one guy in every group chat. He’s a mess, and everyone knows it. It is no surprise when he wakes up at two in the afternoon, and yet every day you somehow let yourself hope that he is going to make it to the odd seminar. And every day, he fails.

This disappointment is the feeling of having a bad ‘sesh’ in Lounge, and not quite understanding how it happened. But, eventually, this makes you think: should universities do more to support freshers?

University is the first time that most students have lived away from home, and escaped their nagging parents. This means that many students, and particularly arts undergraduates, are unlikely to have ever had as much freedom before, as first year ‘doesn’t count’ towards the degree.

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There’s always that one guy in the group chat. He’s a mess, and everyone knows it

What the @NUSUK is saying...

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What the #editors are saying...

As well as this, it is unlikely that students will have ever been able to go out on ‘Bunker Mondays’, ‘Sports Wednesdays’, and so on before. As a first year straight out of sixth form, the concept of going out on a Monday or Tuesday night seemed alien at first, and it left uni feeling more like one giant holiday

than an academic experience.

Now, let’s be clear, many students - myself included - revel in the ability to submit an essay in the evening, go clubbing that night and stumble into lectures the next day, unsure whether you’re hungover or still drunk. But the problem arises with students who cannot moderate themselves.

For some, this much freedom can be overwhelming and confusing, even if they do not realise this at first.

With such an unstructured lifestyle, students can fall into the trap of skipping lectures and seminars everyday on a weekly basis. In essence, some students begin to treat Bristol as the Magaluf of West England, meaning the only time they’re seen is when they are using a key to ‘get waved’, or later struggling to stand at 4am. Put simply, some students struggle to structure their lives and motivate themselves.

Even worse, and perhaps more dangerously, some first year students can go the other way.

With no-one forcing them to go to school and no old mates dragging them to the pub, some end up sleeping in all day, skipping all lectures and never going out. With no authority or friends looking out for them, university life can very quickly become a miserable existence that provides a quick road to depression, and avoiding everyone altogether.

But what could universities actually do, both for those who become depressed and for those who lack the willpower to make it to a 9am, just hours after getting back from a ‘mad one’ at Motion?

Well, the uni already offers options for those who become isolated and depressed, such as the UniSmart talks, the Bristol Nightline and a dedicated counselling team. However, for those who struggle to manage their time, Bristol is limited in its ways to make students work. The only real restrictions possible would be the threat of being fined, or even kicked out if you repeatedly did not ‘attend’, and similar ineffective restrictions already exist.

So, the question remains, should universities be doing more to look after first year students? Should Senior Residents act as quasi-parents who put their foot down when you skip multiple seminars and act as friends by encouraging those who are shy or lonely to go out?

For some, this much freedom can be overwhelming and confusing, even if they do not realise this at first

Well, quite simply, no. Students shouldn’t be mollycoddled.

Any sort of restrictions on students, particularly fines, would make the University of Bristol unpopular at a time when it is already sinking in the league charts. As well as this, harsh coercion was condemned in the press last week after a Cambridge professor griped at students for not giving academia their all.

More importantly, university is intentionally different to school, and it is certainly not meant to be prison. At university, students have to take control of their lives and understand that only themselves are responsible for whether they work or not.

First year is a time for students to learn ‘how to adult’: how to manage their finances, how to keep commitments and how to balance their social life alongside their work. It is a skill they will need their whole lives.

The harsh reality is that at university, you either sink or swim, and like children in a pool, students must realise that it is up to them to learn how to succeed. Sure, you can have the armbands of the Senior Residents and the foam float of the lecturer’s nagging emails, but only you can kick those legs. No one can ever make you succeed except yourself.

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Universities should not parent students

Epigram / Alice Crilly

Are first years in a vulnerable position in which more help is necessary, or should they recognise their new responsibilities as independent, young adults and strive to live up to them?

Although not wanting to sound like a loony Libertarian, it is good that there are so few restrictions at University. Roll back restraints, and this allows teenagers to grow into strong, mature adults who learn from their mistakes.

If you want to skip all your lectures, go for it. Don’t fancy attending those seminars on the Middle Ages because ‘nothing really happened’? Don’t go. Decide that finishing that Epigram article just isn’t worth it?

Drop it, no one is going to punish you.

But you will learn that there are consequences to all your actions. You will probably fail your exams; your personal tutor will write you a bad reference and Epigram will never give you another commission.

When uni has made you learn all this, you will come out a better, more intelligent and more organized individual. Universities should not parent students.

But more importantly, students are here to have fun as well as get a degree, and university shouldn’t feel like a sentence in the Gulag.

Epigram 27.11.2017

11

Political round-up World politics: Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, was deposed as leader of the ruling party and pressured to resign UK politics: Priti Patel resigned from Theresa May’s cabinet after it was revealed that she had unofficial meetings with the Israeli Prime Minister

The round-up is from the time of writing; developments in these events may since have occured

The cabinet can’t hide its failings

Tyler Royce-Liddle argues that May’s cabinet is becoming increasingly less strong and increasingly less stable Tyler Royce-Liddle Second Year, History Politics is wildly unpredictable. The most powerful argument trumpeted by Conservative politicians, in the run-up to the June election, was that in the onslaught of precarious Brexit negotiations, only a ‘strong and stable’ government would be fit to battle with the ruthless Euro-crats. There was no time for lofty idealism, as the Tories argued, now was the time for pragmatism. Vote for a united political party - supposedly able to acquire an unprecedented majority of seats - and there would be less selfdestructive infighting in parliament, and more efficiency in negotiations.

Parliament, however, was not flooded with a Blitzkrieg of Conservative representatives on June the 8th. On the day the very votes were counted, one of the most convincing arguments for voting Tory was invalidated.

Ever since the Tories narrowly regained their majority, we have seen a government beleaguered

by controversy and, as I’m sure we’ve all picked up on, surrounded in an ironic air of weakness and instability. Though I’m sure many students will revel in the failings of the Tories, it needs to be pointed out that an anxious and insecure government is a danger to the nation at large.

The Priti Patel scandal exemplified the danger of subverting national interest and genuine honesty to the preservation of the government’s limping reputation. I would argue that ‘The Jewish Chronicle’s’ exposé of No 10 was more than likely true; that No 10 knew about Patel’s meeting with Yuval Rotem in August and tried to cover it up, and that although Patel was not authorised to meet with Netanyahu in advance, the government was made aware of it within hours. Indeed, on 22 August - the same day as Ms Patel spoke to Mr Netanyahu - Middle East minister Alistair Burt and Tony Kay, the deputy British ambassador in Israel, met Michael Oren, Deputy Minister at the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. According to the notes of the meeting, Mr Oren referred to Ms Patel having had a successful meeting with

Twitter / @yairlapid

Bristol politics: £31,000 worth of fines issued in first week of Bristol City Council’s ‘litter police’, who punish for dropping gum and cigarettes etc.

A response to the round-up...

Priti Patel resigned from May’s cabinet for having unauthorised meetings with Israel’s Prime Minister

Mr Netanyahu earlier. It simply seems to be too much of a coincidence that the Middle-East minister went to Israel on a diplomatic mission at the same time Patel was there on a family holiday. No 10’s reasoning in trying to cover up Patel’s unauthorised meeting with Rotem was - according to the sources of the Chronicle - in order not to embarrass the Foreign Office.

“

The Priti Patel scandal exemplified the danger of subverting national interest and genuine honesty There is, of course, nothing inherently wrong with the Secretary of State for International Development conversing with Israeli officials, as much as the likes of George Galloway would insist that there is. Israel is relatively free of corruption, and aid sent to military hospitals in the Golan heights - which are being used to treat Syrians - would probably be more likely to reach its intended destination than aid sent to the dictatorships of, say, Afghanistan and Pakistan, which are some of the most corrupt countries in the world.

The serious issue here is the fact that the government has hidden the truth, in order to obfuscate its incompetence and incoherence.

In May’s frantic effort to cling onto any shred of credibility, she and her government have endangered the interests of the people they represent.

A response to the news...

Gordon Brown is still a relevant political titan

“

Following Brown’s speech, Ollie smith argues that he is stil worth our attention on important issues Ollie Smith Bristol Labour Students, Trade Union Liaison Officer Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently came to Bristol University. Given my interest in politics I had to go.

What I saw was a wealth of knowledge. He told funny stories, proudly discussed achievements like tax credits, taking pensioners out of poverty and increasing the NHS budget.

He discussed his attempts to build a global consensus during the financial crash and his regret at failing to push investment, not austerity, as the solution to the British people.

He spoke of the end of Neoliberalism, the state of the centre ground, the need for more national co-operation and, of course, Brexit.

There were even policy suggestions: a need to exploit untaxed resources in tax havens and a graduate tax to pay for university education.

He said that persuading people that raising taxes to pay for the NHS took years, a lesson in how progressive politics requires careful planning.

Despite what some may argue, Gordon Brown is still relevant. Yes, he has retreated from political life; yes, the party he once led has lurched leftwards from the centrist ideology he and Tony Blair painstakingly

I’ve always felt Brown is unfairly remembered as Prime Minister. Years of blaming the Labour Party for the financial crisis (that actually began in America) and overspending became a Tory narrative that completely ignored the fact that by spending vast amounts on bailing out the banks Brown actually saved the British economy and the savings of millions of Britons.

Brown was the longest serving Chancellor for two centuries, gaining the nickname ‘The Iron Chancellor’ for his unprecedented economic competence Some may read this and think Brown pales in comparison to Jeremy Corbyn, given the fact that Corbyn won 40% of the vote in the last election compared to Brown’s 29% in 2010.

But 2017 saw a return to two party politics, with a loss of trust in the Liberal Democrats and declining SNP support. Despite receiving 11% more of the vote than 2010, Labour won only four more seats, with 262 compared to 258, and did not have to contend with the backlash of being in office during a financial crisis. With Brown’s economic policies, Labour in 2001 won 40.7% (412 seats) and in 2005 35.2% (356 seats).

During the Scottish Referendum in 2014 Brown was praised for his strong and passionate defence of the Union, showing his huge political weight; the Labour vote in Scotland actually increased in the 2010 election despite Labour losing office nationally.

Brown is defensive of his record but admits

his personal failings, particularly with social media, now an integral part of modern politics. He would perhaps have been an even greater success had he lived in an earlier era.

At the end of the talk Brown was heavily applauded. I stayed for the book signing and to shake his hand. I honestly believe Gordon Brown is leagues ahead of any politician currently in Government, and Labour today would struggle to find someone of his stature. I can’t imagine anyone in the current government even attempting what he achieved with the global community during the financial crash. He is as relevant today as he was in office, a titan of our political era.

Read the original news story on page 5

Epigram / Ollie Smith

“

Despite what some may argue, Gordon Brown is still relevant

dragged it to; and yes, he made mistakes, but he remains a man with a great legacy and is of a far higher calibre than those currently in power.

Brown and the New Labour masterminds Tony Blair, Peter Mandelson and Alistair Campbell hauled the Labour Party to electability from a generation in the political wilderness following four election defeats. It was only by modernising and adopting the centre ground that victory was and could ever have been achieved. Brown made the Labour Party economically trustworthy; this, combined with the appeal and charm of Blair, meant the record 1997 landslide came as no surprise.

Brown was the longest serving Chancellor in two centuries, gaining the nickname the ‘Iron Chancellor’ for his unprecedented financial competence. His achievements were numerous: keeping Britain out of the Euro proved very wise; Bank of England independence was sensible; the National Minimum Wage is an extremely powerful means of poverty reduction, the number of children in poverty fell by 600,000; NHS and education funding were improved with 44,000 more doctors and 42,000 more teachers brought in during Labour’s time in office, to list just a few. Yes, some decisions can be questioned with hindsight: selling gold when it was cheap, initial support for the Iraq war and failings in bank regulation among them.

By 2007, when power was handed over

by Blair to Brown, their relationship had apparently soured. Perhaps one conclusion to draw would be that, despite the friction, the sheer dynamism and talent of the two men transformed British politics.

Gordon Brown addresses students at the Wills Memorial Building

Epigram 27.11.2017

12

Epigram / Cameron Scheijde

Islamophobia Awareness Month: it matters Almas Talib argues Islamophobia occurs without us even realising, and we must face up to it

Islamophobia has always been a relevant topic in my life. For anyone who has lived through 9/11, it’ll always be a relevant topic. When the media spews negativity towards Muslims every day I can understand why people have such warped beliefs about Islam. Why girls in my school would unflinchingly ask me if I was ever upset by the fact that my religion didn’t value women. Why Muslim men are domineering and sexist. Why Muslims partake in honour killings and sex rings and violence and terror and on and on. These questions were frequent but there was such dissonance between these widespread beliefs and what I had experienced of the religion through myself and my family.

I’d see my dad walk into the house, a little man with a white beard, returning from the shops, carrying the groceries. And my mum, an equally small woman returning from work, hair thrown about by the wind, carrying exercise books in her bag. I put my Muslim parents next to the media image of Muslims and it’s almost funny. If ‘harmless’ had a face it would be my parents. Surely the religion the media speaks of cannot be the one they have followed and passed onto me. But is Islamophobia Awareness Month (IAM) about educating people about Islam? Are we using this as our opportunity to convert you all? Let me explain why we won’t be having group study sessions of the Qur’an this month.

“

A phenomenon that emerged in the past few decades has been accredited to a religion that has existed for thousands of years

Whilst I would love to tell everyone about how Muslims are actually great people who bake cakes and run long-distance, Islamophobia is so much more than religious hatred. If the discrimination began and ended with ignorant comments, that would be pretty sweet. I’d hand you my favourite translation of the Qur’an and be on my merry way. But it’s not as though Muslims haven’t gone out of their way to dispel misconceptions. Why, then, do prejudicial ideas escalate to the perpetration of violence?

The London Metropolitan Police reports that Islamophobic attacks have almost tripled from 2013 to 2017. The Tell MAMA project reports a UK-wide increase in Islamophobic incidents.

There is a massive victimization of the Muslim community and individuals who are merely

perceived as Muslim. And this is our first lesson of the day: 1. Islamophobia is racialized. Yes, it is religious hatred, but how do we differentiate a Muslim from a non-Muslim? When Sikhs, Hindus, Arab Christians (the list goes on) can suffer Islamophobia, you know it has nothing to do with whether or not they are Muslim. The hijabi, the bearded, the brown, the black - they represent the other. You have to look Muslim, not be Muslim.

I used to put this unfair demonization down to the conflation of radical Islam with ‘normal’, moderate Islam. The terrorists are the problem, not me. But does it make sense to say that the thing that unites perpetrators of terror attacks is their religion? Are they the bad Muslims and we’re the good ones? Or is it more to do with the geopolitics? Think UK foreign policy and neo-colonialism. This brings us to our second lesson: 2. Islamophobia is driven by politics. Here are the facts: it’s been reported that less than 2% of EU terrorist attacks were perpetrated by Muslims. An analysis of 462 suicide bombings worldwide also found that the biggest reason behind these acts was in fact secular or political protest.

Yet a phenomenon that emerged in the past few decades has been accredited to a religion that has existed for thousands of years. The dichotomy of radical or moderate Islam seems unhelpful and only contributes to the scapegoating of Muslims as the reason behind the violence that we continue to see in the headlines.

But if it’s just misconceptions around Islam and the so-called ‘war on terror’ that fuel Islamophobia, can’t we just rectify them and be done with it? If only Islamophobia was as cute as that sentence. The truth is, discrimination runs deep within the policies and institutions of many Western nations - here’s looking at the UK. And thus, we’ve arrived at our final lesson: 3. Islamophobia is systemic. At the end of the day, UK counter-terrorism policies, such as PREVENT, encourage racial profiling of Muslims. The likelihood of reporting Muslims to the general population is 113 to 1. With regards to the working world, Muslim adults are far less likely to be in employment. Muslim women wearing the hijab face significant discrimination at the workplace. It can do as much as curtail your freedom of expression to impede your employment prospects.

This is why we need IAMBristol. To tell people about the discrimination that happens right under our noses. To encourage people to divert from Islamophobic rhetoric. To re-humanise the Muslim community, whether we’re absolutely outstanding or absolutely mundane.

It should be enough that we exist.

Twitter / @Bristol_SU

‘This is why we need IAMBristol. To tell people about the discrimination that happens right under our noses’

Does lad culture put unnecessary pressure on those who do not conform to the stereotypical ‘lad’?

Let’s reclaim manhood Cameron Sheijde asserts it is time to rethink and reclaim masculinity

Cameron Scheijde Online Comment Editor Damaging, dangerous and potentially disastrous. Men are suffering an identity crisis, and we don’t know how to deal with it. ‘Lad culture’ is an old fashioned and out-of-date form of masculinity and it desperately needs to be reformed. Men need to reclaim and redefine the concept of ‘masculinity’.

I want to make two things clear before I continue. This may seem an uncomfortable read if your experiences do not match mine; I completely understand that. I simply want to draw attention to the trends I have noticed in my time at school and university and what people can do to combat that. I also want to make clear that this is a personal account of hyper-masculinity and its dangers, which is of course linked to the misogyny found in ‘lad culture’ and sexual assault. I am not in any way equivocating my experiences with those who have suffered from sexual assault.

‘Do it for the lads’ seems to be a pass in male dominated circles that justifies anything. It justifies coercing people into undressing, drinking or taking intoxicating substances, against their will. Male-lead gang mentality exists in UK Universities and it is terrifying. As many as one in three women in UK Unis have been sexually assaulted - and such a mentality in part contributes to this terrifying statistic.

“

I simply want to draw attention to the trends I have noticed in my time at school and university

Now, sexual assault is again in the headlines.

Tales of people in positions of power abusing the control they have over impressionable and younger members of society are dominating the news. The attitude that drives this is found far closer to home than Fleet Street, Westminster or Hollywood. Historical hypermasculinity has traditionally centred around misogyny. Patriarchal and sexual dominance manifest themselves by painting women as ‘prizes’ that are ‘won’. In many cases where these views are born, they are accepted as fact.

Challenging them simply isn’t an option. Fear of being lambasted and pilloried for voicing alternative opinion has silenced moderating voices.

In a modern age of social media, a personality-centric environment has enabled the rather more bombastic and dominating personalities to impose and intimidate.

Whilst at school, I witnessed a number of people, driven by a desire to fit in or to be accepted in a social group or to make friends, be forced into uncomfortable, compromising

situations or going along with the attitude I described above. Anyone, in any situation, wants to feel accepted. In groups dominated by loud, aggressive or bully-like men, the more quiet types are sidelined. Those that dare to defy are victims of ridicule and social exclusion. Whether it be sports initiations, ‘lads’ holidays, club nights, parties and stag dos, examples of such behaviour can be found everywhere. According to The Guardian, men don’t actually enjoy the debauchery, humiliation and peer pressure of stag dos.

It’s a worrying but unsurprising find, and applicable to any number of the other occasions. Across the pond, this ‘fraternity’ attitude is named and shamed. Over here we can’t define it clearly, but it still exists in spades.

“

Almas Talib BME Network Liaison Officer

Masculinity can be so much better than it is now. Let’s reclaim it.

The effect of so-called ‘lad culture’ on men is clear: male mental health is in absolute crisis.

For men aged 20-49, suicide is the number one cause of death. In 2016, 75% of all suicides were men. For men, and arguably in society as a whole, femininity is seen as negative and masculinity, macho-ness, strength and dominance are seen as positive traits. In order to conform and feel accepted, men are forced to deny the existence of sensitivity (for fear of being feminine), feelings and emotions.

This month, November, is Reclaim month at Bristol Uni. Reclaim the Night is a fantastic movement for women’s liberation, combating sexual assault, body image, questioning everything about that ‘femininity’ is. It is a brilliant example of questioning ingrained gender norms and challenging society and men should take note. We can escape traditional mascu-linity and break it down to escape the damaging and aggressive image of ‘lad culture’ and the toxicity that surrounds it. Let us join ‘Reclaim’: reclaim masculinity from its old meaning. Reclaim a sense of inclusion where we let men be whoever they want. I don’t believe that society, especially at Uni, allows this yet.

Throughout my time at school and University, I have tried to bring this cause to light and show that men do not have to conform any more. Masculinity can mean sensitivity, gentleness and kindness. The backlash I have had to fight has been difficult in cases but I think it demonstrates my point.

Aggression has been the standard response to defying a coerced status quo.

However, I think it only takes one voice to start a chorus. Masculinity can be so much better than it is now. Let’s reclaim it.

Epigram

27.11.2017

Science & Tech

@EpigramSciTech Editor: Emma Isle Online Editor: Sadhana Kalidindi

Deputy Editor: Oliver Cohen scienceandtech@epigram.org.uk

Could Facebook be bad for students?

Emma Isle discusses whether Facebook is causing a negative impact on students mental health, among alarming words from its founding president Emma Isle Science Editor

“

and being constantly bombarded with pictures of other people’s seemingly perfect lives is bound to make even the most resilient of us feel inadequate every once in a while.

Social media use has also been linked to increased feelings of social isolation

Social media use has also been linked to feelings of social isolation, which is the opposite of what it promises us.

Perceived social isolation can cause huge problems, both physically and mentally, as it triggers stress symptoms that can lead to illness. Other people’s social interactions can therefore make us feel lonelier, which can lead to such health problems. The increased personalization of Facebook news feeds can cause other

Flickr/ sue seecof

In the years since Facebook was founded it has gone on to become one of the most used social networks in the world. But is the use of social networks damaging the mental health of students and young people? While social media is fantastic in many ways, recently it has been getting a bad reputation for the actions of so called ‘trolls’, bullying people to the point of suicide entirely via the internet. It is also a huge time drain, as anyone who has ‘just checked’ Facebook 8 times in the last hour will know.

This week Sean Parker, Facebook’s founding president, aired his concerns about the impact of the site he helped to build. Talking on stage to Mike Allen from Axios he stated that “The thought process that went into building these applications, Facebook being the first of them, was all about: ‘how do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?’

And clearly Facebook has been successful in its endeavor, with more people getting sucked into its pages on a daily basis than ever. How many times has someone you know deactivated their account over the exam period so that it can’t distract them? But is this aggressive attention grabbing damaging to the people using the service? Social media can suck up our time, distracting us from what is really important, like uni work or actually spending time with friends. And this daily disruption can also cause problems in other areas.

This constant search for the most likes, all while comparing ourselves to the people that we see on our news feeds, is bound to have some sort of impact on our wellbeing.

A study undertaken four years ago showed that an increased use of Facebook caused a decrease in both moment to moment happiness and how satisfied people were with their lives. Not surprising since the versions of life that people can see on platforms such as Instagram rarely reflect real life,

Sean’s comments come at a questioning time for social media

problems as well. For many people, it is one of the main sources of news and discussion, and such personalization can lead to a false sense of consensus, preventing us from accessing alternate viewpoints, and seeing a realistic view of the world. Facebook may even be changing the way we interact with each other, pushing us away from meaningful

face to face contact. So maybe it’s time we ask ourselves the question ‘do I really want to spend more time on Facebook?’

Social media can be a force for good, but like all addictive substances, should probably be used with caution. In the words of Sean Parker “I use these platforms, I just don’t let these platforms use me”.

The Neuroscience of division

Asher Mohr sheds some light on the Neuroscience behind why today’s political scene has become so polarised and divisive how easy it is for emotion to influence

“ Emotion plays a huge role in how we make political decisions

Emotion plays a huge role in how we make political decisions. It allows us to sympathise with a leader, or become strongly opposed to a leader we don’t like. Here’s an example: You’re a judge deciding how long to sentence an armed robber. He’s broken into someone’s house, knocked out the owner when challenged, resulting in permanent brain damage. 10 years would be a fair sentence.

But what if I now told you the armed robber had two kids.

The situation changes. The robber still assaulted an innocent home owner.

He’s still committed the crime. But now if I ask you how long to sentence him for, you’d probably give a lower value. See

Flickr / Núcleo Editorial Epigram/ Katy Hubbuck

Conservative or Labour? Europe: In or out? Immigration, free health care, LGBT rights. Society remains in a constant ideological tug of war, and it is the essence of human behaviour to pick a side. Your brain makes this decision to keep you alive, in an evolutionary environment that might mean joining the tribe with more food or with a stronger leader. But in modern day society when we make the political decision which way to vote, what are the brain mechanisms which lead us to make that decision?

your decisions?

This is the same problem in politics.

Humans allow emotions and how they feel about a candidate to influence their decision, rather than the politician’s track record or what they’re actually proposing.

A study found that when testing a sample of people on their political stances, subjects had an inflated view of how much they knew on the matter.

When asked to explain the matter, their subsequent uncertainty caused their views to become more moderate and less polarised.

But what leads someone to formulate their views in the first place?

Traits like conformity, valuing tradition, security and death anxiety are associated with conservatism.

There is a growing amount of evidence which shows that there are fundamental differences between the brains belonging to liberal people versus those of conservative, particularly in the amygdala, one of the older parts of the brain which deals with decision-making, emotional response and fear processing.

Researchers were looking at grey matter in the brain. Grey matter is a more flashy word to describe where neurons have their nuclei. Imagine the brain were a map of motorways in Britain, all the roads are neurons conveying messages from city to city, each neuron originating in a city. The cities are comparable to areas of grey matter. The study found liberals had larger amounts of grey matter in their anterior cingulate cortex, whilst conservatives had higher volumes of grey matter in their right amygdala.

This second finding is particularly interesting, as another study in the USA used an fMRI machine to monitor

“

Asher Mohr PhD, Neuroscience

Our tribal, animal like brains influence how we vote

amygdala activity during a risk taking task, and found that republicans had a much higher activation of their amygdala than their democrat counterparts.

Traits like conformity, valuing tradition, security and death anxiety are associated with conservatism

With the role of the amygdala dealing with processing of emotion and fear response, it seems intuitive that perhaps someone with more conservative views, such as being anti-immigration or hold more nationalistic principles

may be more fearful of outside threats, coinciding with their brains having a larger activation of the amygdala.

This information suggests that as humans, our political beliefs may not be solely down to our higher thought processes, but due to our basic brain biology. There’s also evidence that differences in our political beliefs may also be due to differences in our nervous system outside of the brain.

Another US study found that people who supported more protective policies, like military spending and patriotism, had higher startle responses after being made to jump with a loud noise, and larger activation of their sympathetic nervous system when shown threatening images - the side of the nervous system which deals with the fight or flight response. The researchers used this information to suggest that it is because

of our physiology being tied up with political views that people have such strong, unwavering political beliefs.

Whilst it is clear that our political decisions are based on far more than higher thought processes, the question still remains as to why we develop these political polarisations within society.

Author Hannah Holmes argues that it is because of our tribal ancestry; that behind each political decision lies caveman-like priorities that have been conserved during evolution. These are the need for territory, available mates, resources and safety.

With all this in mind it is no surprise that there is constant political conflict, society has evolved so fast over the past century that the old brain has not yet had the chance to catch up, leaving us to rely on these evolutionarily conserved regions rather than higher thought.

Epigram 27.11.2017

15

This Month in Science

Oliver Cohen Deputy Science Editor

Flickr / IsaacMao

Acrobatic Androids

What’s the worse that’s happened to you for being unpunctual? A school punishment, maybe even lost a job. If you’re a blue tit, the prospects are far worse, divorce. New research published

by Carol Gilsenan at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology shows that if one partner was more than three days late to the breeding site the chance of the bond between birds remaining was five times less likely.

An explanation for the phenomenon resides in evolution. In the words of Anne Peters from Monash University in Australia: “For a species with high mortality like the blue tit, it makes sense to pair with a new mate rather than waiting around, because they don’t know if their former mate is alive or dead.” Blue tits are one of many monogamous species; interestingly, breakups have been observed in over 90% of the species!

Flickr / Emil_95

Divorced for being late

Flickr / e-lame

In an infitesmilay small time after the universe began, there was but one force. In time this split into two and then four, giving rise to the four fundamental forces we see around us today: Gravity, Electromagnetism, the strong force and the weak force. The first of those two are responsible for many macro effects we see in the world around us, from the rotation of the planets to the light that illuminates your room when it gets dark. A grand unified theory that combines all these forces and describes them in one mathematical framework has been the holy grail of physicists for some time. A new step towards such an achievement may have just been made. A new theory by Bartosz Fornal and Benjamín Grinstein from UCSD, aims to incorporate 3 of the fundamental forces. However, this theory doesn’t predict the decay of protons, something previous theories have predicted in contrast with experimental observation.

Flickr / Steve Herring

Flickr / Helen Jones

The force awakens

Walking to the shops may not seem like such an a hard task but in robotics terms, it’s a bit like a marathon. Despite what movies like Terminator and Transformers may lead you to believe, getting a robot to walk and balance of its own accord is a challenging task. However, big strides are being made in the field, with many of them being led by Boston Dynamics, a DARPA funded company which looks at creating humanoid and animal-like robots. Their latest development on their humanoid project, Atlas, was its ability to do a backflip and balance itself completely unaided. Coincidentally the announcement came out in conjunction with a recent UN meeting discussing how fearful the world should be of the prospect of“killer robots.”All is not to fear though as recent competitions have demonstrated, as opening a door and tasks of manual dexterity are still beyond reach for the current generation of robots.

Brain boosting implant For the first time,scientists have been able to boost memory function using a device implanted directly into the brain. Dong Song and colleagues from the University of Southern California, implanted electrodes in patients brains. They then analyzed the activity of their volunteers while doing memorizing tasks and subsequently used the electrodes to stimulate the brain into these same electrical patterns artificially.

The results were more than promising, with up to a thirty percent increase in performance on memory tasks. The team hopes they can extend these positive effects to individuals suffering from more defined memory problems such as Dementia.

The researchers believe the shock to the hippocampus, a part of the brain integral for memory creation helps stimulate normal memory functioning. There are also possibilities to extend the technique to other areas, boosting different aspects of brain functioning and cognitive skills.

Alien Chitchat Racing through space at 300,000 kilometers a second, a message has just been sent by METI, the organisation for Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

They’ve targeted the signal at a recently discovered system that has good prospects for life, owing to its habitable environment.

GJ 273 in Canis Minor is only 12 light years away. This year it was discovered to have two planets, one of which was positioned within its habitable zone. There may be the prospect of it having liquid water, which is integral to many aspects of life.

Being only twelve light years away the message will take 12 years to get there.

This means that if did happen to have intelligent life, in just a quarter of the century we could get a reply. The message itself contains mathematical information and information on the carrier signal itself, in hopes that any intelligent life may understand how to send a response. Let’s hope they’re friendly.

Under the microscope: Sheep, new stars and innovative carbon capture.. k vel al p im h le t thin has e n a g i u e t ge ages h b s d h ri fir ing s, b e im e i S ese t m h gin abili f Ca brity ct th at et a b th im ap yo ele ot ele t n hen ory c ersit ise c en s hown 2D gh v h s i i w n t a m n s g m a !), to of t me e U reco h ma , it w er in acity k s t a n a o i y b n l t th nd v d b cap y itio and kO ed e you ce a duct train Barac n add eir h ving atel o n I th pr ultim ge con n be n to ted. of g e, elli udy p ca atso ge efor y can ssin t m int a s p o r e e r m W e r A e i e p ! p h h sh in en ex tal ma at t .T aga that Em es wh men nise nd th even g m d . c , a D o n s a , ro 3 rec tion idual them fou ing f iliar f te a n a n v a g s a i e l m c n ri (ra unfa trans hey emo n ind etwe t b e r m e n e t e v a a e c w o t pl th yc be feren the cture d sim ish re u n i g o p ap n y be disti

Paloma Morrissey- Durrant... reports on some celebrity star recognising sheep.

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s use CO2 ed ive th on egat d. It ng ump ne, i m ‘n t o an tur p s l p a e re r a e est L c im nts a al eve in I air, c s ar l e l a d m l t f tri e u firs pen ses o olec o for re p ndus ic o u i t s d t m e a lt nt ap om th 2 m lan pla est asa on c fr Ice ely CO b ’ e t g s e t a h rb ith ion to in . Th Ca e he er, t xima iss t w on. v o g t er c e r t s l a i i em bines p a w l fi p o a n re olut r w t. H ar, a . Sc ur of a hey s t o c t ye ge nt se old du ny ng gia u ere stora curri ypro 2 per useh ve a h h a w o b c t g O h h o n u y C d l e o . f to thr groun rman rally ir on es o U.S t is e er atu r the tonn of a l if i tion. p d n a un ng a ing 50 ate ut vit educ eri d us esh w only outp fore f 2r f o re fr al re ere al CO u , e u t h s n t w p b po cesse n ca e an y is glo g a pro nt c verag nolo ct on a pla e a ech imp th the t

Alex Behrouzi... speaks on the subject of a new carbon capture technology.

Matthew Parker.. tells us about the reopening of an old stellar conundrum.

Flickr / thellr

Epigram

27.11.2017

Letters

@EpigramLetters

Deputy Editor: Lily Hammond

Editor: Ellie Chesshire

letters@epigram.com

Contextual offers are a temporary solution with misplaced blame

There is always some controversy on the issue of state school students and private school students at the University of Bristol. Now this is a fair enough debate and it is, of course, fantastic that students from ‘aspiring schools’ achieve on par with their peers from better schools here.

Epigram / Amelia Griffiths

“ I am looking for real change

This would suggest that the University of Bristol is correct in recognising that disadvantaged backgrounds can limit a person’s ability to meet their potential, and it is helping to encourage social mobility without deliberately forcing it. I, as well as Caitlin, was very grateful to receive such a contextual offer, as it relieved much of the stress I felt taking an exam in a college which was seldom academically supportive.

However, if we use this scheme as a permanent solution, it could risk an unnatural forcing of social mobility;

Wills Memorial Builidng, one of Bristol University’s iconic buildings. currently, we are dealing with the symptoms of the problem, as opposed to the problem itself.

We seem to be blaming the University for the number of students from state schools it accepts. This blame is incredibly misplaced. Whilst the problem manifests itself in universities, Higher Education institutions are not where the issue originates.

The problem that state schools are performing so badly means that

lowering entry requirements is of greater concern, and our efforts should focus there. The University of Bristol is working with state schools which they must continue to do, as should other universities around the country, if we are to create a secondary and further education system which meets the needs of the pupils.

Having attended an ‘aspiring college’ myself, I have seen first-hand how bad some schools and colleges are run

and how unenthused some teachers can be. This is the problem. Teachers at these schools need to be shaped to inspire within their students a hunger for learning which would then help them achieve the standard offer to the university of their choice.

I am looking for real change. I do not want a privately-educated student to feel guilty about their parents having sent them to the best school – as indeed every parent wants to do – due to having successfully secured a well-paid job

that entitles them to do so. I certainly should not and do not need someone to “recognise” their so-called “privilege” to consequently give me a step up, or to give me some academic advantage.

That thought is the greatest insult to my individual ability, and indeed to the ability of my peers. If, as the University of Bristol has recognised, we have academic potential then I want our state schools to be in a situation by which they help us to meet that potential; a situation by which their pupils can meet the standard academic offer of universities. Hence, I am proud that in 2016 1.8 million more pupils were in good or outstanding schools than in 2010 (a 20% increase), because this is how we solve the problem.

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Ed Southgate Second Year, English

Everyone must succeed on their own merit

Everyone must succeed on their own merit, without little moderations to our academic requirements creating a façade of equality. For this to occur, we must focus stop blaming universities for a problem which is it not theirs to deal with, and focus our attention on where the problem starts.

Dear supporters of the October Revolution

“ Let us be frank, Lenin was a brutal murderer

The issue is that still far too many people regard this event as some sort of glorious act. The problem is that Communism just does not have the social stigma attached to it as Fascism.

To me this seems incredibly wrong as in terms of pure numbers, no evil ideology has killed as many as Communism, Fascism does not even come close.

It is rightly not socially acceptable to be a supporter of Stalin (a man with a death toll only second to Chairman

We must remember their suffering so we never go down that road again

The worry is in a modern context Marxism is on the spread again. This cult is once again rearing its ugly head

Flickr / LHOON

After being a student at Bristol for well over a year now, I am used to seeing the Socialist Worker Party leaflets attached to the lampposts around the University in support of some ridiculous policy or another. I have learned to ignore them, but the recent posters glorifying the Russian October Revolution struck a nerve with me.

Mao), but there seems not to be this stigma surrounding Lenin or Trotsky.

Lenin is still revered as a great social revolutionary by many parts of the modern left. This is not only simply disgusting but deeply distressing that otherwise intelligent people have fallen for Soviet propaganda.

Let us be frank, Lenin was a brutal murderer who would stop at nothing to cement his grip on Russia. His and Stalin’s outlook on how to rule Russia were the same. They used the same tactic: terror. Lenin killed 4 million people, executed political opponents and set up the Cheka, the dreaded secret police. These were not the actions of a ‘man of the people’, rather those of a power-hungry monster. Despite what many Leninists claim, Stalin was Lenin’s true successor, he took the system Lenin had built and dialled it up.

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Harry Eastley-Jones Second Year, History

Lenin is still fondly remembered all around the world. and we know from history it can have deadly consequences. The emphasis on ‘group consciousness’ and the identifying of ‘oppressors’ leads to the horrors experienced by the people of Russia and Eastern Europe throughout the 20th Century.

Its poison brings out the worst parts of human nature, envy and jealousy.

Your neighbour is more successful than you? That must be because he’s oppressing you. What should we do with oppressors? Kill them. This sort of attitude led to the wiping out of the Kulaks (successful peasant class) during

the ‘Great Terror’ in Soviet Russia.

Being a Democratic Socialist is not immoral: I may not agree but I understand that, like me, you want a better society - we just disagree about the way we go about this. However, being a Communist is not moral, believing force and intimation is the way to put your policies into place means firstly you are no different to any other despot and secondly they aren’t good policies as many people clearly don’t accept them.

Gladly most Communist despots were overthrown during the late

20th Century. However, this means many of our generation really don’t know the horrors of these regimes.

Many claim ‘oh but that wasn’t real Marxism’, 100 million deaths down the line and the audacity to claim that is quite extraordinary. It either points to extraordinary historical illiteracy or the turning of a blind eye. This should not be tolerated, these victims were not some far off obscure fantasy, they were good innocent citizens like you or I, who dared to stand up to autocrats. We must remember their suffering so that we never go down that road again.

E2

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Faces of Bristol: Jack Dryhauge Phoebe Faulkner gives a shout-out to the founder of Next Steps, an organisation helping to eliminate the stigma surrounding developmental disorders

I want to help young people that feel aggravated and frustrated with being told they can’t achieve what others can

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There is a massive need in the UK for people like this and with other disadvantages to be given a chance

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Epigram / Phoebe Faulkner

In the future, Jack hopes that his Foundation can start to make a dent in an issue that is currently left unaddressed in the UK and elsewhere, and succeed in the purely selfless and aspirational aims that it sets out to achieve.

Epigram / Phoebe Faulkner

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Jack, who grew up with ADHD and Aspergers himself, was intially inspired by the difficulty and discirimination he experienced when trying to enter the professional world. ‘I want to help young people that feel aggravated and fustrated with being told that they can’t achieve what others can, due to unnecessary stigma. I know the feeling because I went through the same thing, so it makes sense for me to play my part and offer help.’

Unemployment due to stigmatisation is rife for those with Aspergers and Autism in the UK, with only 16% of autistic adults in full-time paid employment and 36% in any kind of paid work.

‘There is a massive need in the UK for people like this and with other disadvantages to be given a chance in the working world.’

But with foundations like this one, and forward thinkers like Jack to initiate them, the stigma surrounding vulnerable groups can be challenged, with young people being given the chance not only to start long-term careers, but to ‘thrive and excel’ in them.

The Foundation aims to work closely with candidates that sign up, getting to know them, their backgrounds, passions and goals.

The aim is to turn these goals into real possibilities, helping them to apply their assets in a way that can enhance their performance in the employment process.

Despite being founded so recently, it has already gained support from sponsors such as Microsoft and SAP, along with the council and local MPs. This is largely due to Jack’s determination to make the Foundation grow. It is now defined as a ‘community interest company’ rather than a charity, as it is a tailored recruitment platform that relies on funding from external companies and sponsors, rather than the public.

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This April, Jack Dyrhauge, 22, founded the Next Steps Foundation.

‘The Foundation is something I set up this year with the primary aim of reducing unemployment amongst those with Aspergers in the UK, but also all young adults with neuro-developmental disorders, such as ADHD, as well as those from troubled backgrounds who are new starters in the professional world,’ he explains.

Phoebe Faulkner Third Year, Sociology

Caught by the fuzz: travelling with sex toys How many times have we heard this classic love story? A tale of passion, vibration, and a run in with the law

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There are many aspects of long-distance relationships I’d expected. The loneliness, the frustration and the infuriating way time seemed to slow down while counting down the days to the next visit, were all things I’d been warned about when my transatlantic partner and I decided to commit to a long-distance relationship last summer.

However, there was one thing I hadn’t bargained for, and that was the uncomfortable business of travelling with sex toys.

I have no idea if this is just terrible luck on my part, or if this is in fact an unspoken routine inconvenience of long-distance relationships, but I have had not one, but two, mortifying experiences in the past year between visits with my partner.

The core problem, I think, is that both of us come from fairly socially conservative families - we’re terrified at the thought of our parents finding out some very intimate secrets.

The first nightmarish episode, during a road trip from the American to the Canadian Rockies, occurred when my friend ran a

red light. Unfortunately, that red light happened to be the Canadian border.

That cardboard box? A butt plug, a harness, and two strap-on dildos. I’d brought them with me from the UK, buried at the bottom of my duffel in preparation for two weeks with my girlfriend towards the end of our trip in the Rockies.

And now armed men were demanding to know what was in it, in front of two friends I wasn’t sure I’d be able to look in the eye afterwards. I stared resolutely at the ground, and mumbled ‘sex toys’. The border patrol agents tried to keep a straight face and proceed with helping us repack the car, but in a few seconds, they were howling with laughter, along with my two friends.

Mercifully, I didn’t have to open the box to prove it. To conclude, it turns out you can smuggle whatever you want into Canada, as long as you look embarrassed enough and tell them it’s sex toys.

The second occurred over a recent reading week, as I was flying back to London. My girlfriend had insisted I take the infamous box home with me, so that she’d have more room for packing when she visited over Christmas. I was late getting to the airport and had left myself only 45 minutes to get to the gate. My flight, it transpired, had been heavily oversold, to the extent that the airline could not

guarantee everyone a seat. For this reason, I was asked to take my checked bag through security with my carry-on, and once they determined that I had a seat, the bag would then be checked at the gate. But first, as the woman at the check-in desk reminded me, I would need to hand over any liquids larger than 100 millilitres to them. I wanted to cry. I wordlessly pulled out a can of deodorant and a massive Ziploc bag of lube and put them in the bin, praying nobody had noticed. But as I shouldered my bag and headed for the security screening, I heard the laughter swelling behind me once again.

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‘What’s in the box?’ they asked me, as I tried to think of a way out

Flickr / Ben Mason

Flashlights pierced the late-evening gloom, blinding myself and two friends, as border patrol officers surrounded our car. We were hauled out, questioned at length, and every item we had packed for a month of hiking and climbing - which was a lot - was thrown in a heap on the ground as the sniffer dog got to work.

They found traces of marijuana in the car, which we were able to dismiss as the work of a previous occupant. Their final question was whether we were carrying anything as a gift. We pointed to a small, innocuous cardboard box and nodded.

‘What’s in the box?’ they asked me, as I tried to think of a way out.

I hung my head. This was it. They’d pinned me down.

I wordlessly pulled out a can of deoderant and a massive Ziploc bag of lube

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The thing I took away from that experience was that you literally are never safe from crippling embarrassment when travelling with sex toys, even if it’s a checked bag. People tell you long-distance relationships are awful because you spend most of your time being grumpy, solitary arseholes, spending every wa(n)king hour missing your partner. But in my experience, the very worst part of such a relationship is trying to travel with sex toys without wanting to die.

In one respect, I hope these are two isolated incidents that just happened to befall me, and no-one else, because I wouldn’t wish that level of mortification on my worst enemy. But on the other hand, knowing that I wasn’t the only one would offer a slight sense of solace.

In short, if you’re in a long-distance relationship, I hope for the sake of your mental fortitude, that your sex life is very, very vanilla.

Anonymous Third Year

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Thekla: should it stay or should it go?

With Thekla at risk of closure, we asked Nora Gunn and Emily Hayman to offer their two cents on the club that’s also a boat!

Why Thekla should sink to the river’s murky depths...

always create a bottle neck. People (I mean girls - I’ve never been in the boys’ loos for obvious reasons) spend so long in the cubicle (wink wink) that the queue for the toilets blocks the way out into the smoking area, creating hot, sweaty, tense and confusing vibes, even for the most seasoned clubber… and in this particular spot you can’t even hear the music which IS LITERALLY THE ENTIRE POINT OF GOING. The one saving grace is the smoking area, which is amazing.

But if you’re going to a club exclusively for the smoking area you need to seriously revaluate your motivations for going out. If it’s the smoking area you like, go to Steam - it’s free to get in and has student discount on drinks.

The news of Thekla’s potential closure has spread round Bristol like wildfire. People who haven’t visited since first term of first year have lamented that Thekla is their ‘favourite club’. And while it may be a symbol of Bristol life after its brief cameo in Skins all those years ago, this whole thing has got me asking, did I even like Thekla before I knew it was closing?

On reflection, it’s a hard no. (Not a popular opinion, I know, but bear with me.)

First thing’s first, the queue. Now, normally if you have a ticket you expect to be let in fairly quickly (unless it’s Motion, but that’s Motion, this is Thekla). Instead you spend what feels like hours in skimpy clothes waiting in what I’m pretty sure is the windiest and most exposed queue ever.

Once inside, things aren’t much better. The way the doors are positioned, near to the ladies’ loo and steps up from the dancefloor,

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If it’s the smoking area you like, go to Steam

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there, maybe because I’m basically Bambi on ice when drunk. But still, it’s a club, of course people will be drunk!)

Then when trying to leave the dancefloor to go to the (admittedly wonderful) smoking area, the staircases are like the ones from Hogwarts which move and change places and take you to random corridors that definitely weren’t there last time.

The sticky floors and long queues at the bars mean that by the time you actually get your drinks, you’re already sober enough to realise that coming to Thekla was a massive mistake. While sipping your horrendously overpriced drink, and trying to find a way out of the boat’s belly and back to the safety of the smoking area, you bump into three people from halls you genuinely never wanted to see again, and end up back at theirs for afters, despite being freezing from spending your entire (expensive) night on the deck of a boat that should just be a floating smoking area and not a club, because honestly, that would be so much better...

Rant over.

And can we mention the layout? Steep, slippery steps down to a dancefloor that isn’t quite big enough to house the guests, are a huge falling hazard (I’ve fallen down them every time I’ve been

Nora Gunn Second Year, English and Classics

Instagram / @theklabris

Instagram /@ s

theklabri m/

In s t a gram / @t hek

agra

Inst is

labr

ek @th

‘What clubs did you guys have?’

I was curious to know, ‘the only one still standing, Is the award-winning boat you know!’

A converted German cargo ship, Moored since nineteen-eighty-four,

With itching feet and a hip hop beat, Ample dance space a la discotheque, Not to mention the outside smoking zone Fresh air on the twinkling deck.

‘So why on earth would they close it?!’

I hear the many cry, The Boat WHICH ROCKS forever, The Boat which cannot die?

The list of the acts who’s played here, Is too long to relay So here’s just some of many Who’ve embraced the sway and spray.

The Redcliffe Wharf development, If it were to go ahead, May prompt an increase in noise complaints, Leaving Thekla and Redcliffe at loggerheads.

Jamie T, Frank Turner and The Hoosiers, The Mystery Jets and Kate Nash, Florence with her trusty Machine, All been and smashed it in a flash!

The campaign #SaveThekla has now been launched, You must climb the riggings of support too,

The Noisettes, Duffy and Eats Everything, The wonderful Noah and the Whale, Two Door Cinema Club and Mura Masa, All aboard as the music sets sail!

is

So when my parents come to visit, Or more come to reminisce, As they met here twenty-five years ago For them Bristol remains a bliss.

labr

An Ode, in defence of Thekla’s honour...

Thekla, with live music and a club space Can never be a bore!

Most recently Van Zeller Jammed out and surfed the crowd People heads were banging As they screamed in glee out loud.

Alongside an outstanding outpouring defenders, Retweeting the message as they pull through.

of

The future of Thekla remains unknown, But we all must do our part, So, I beg you to share the campaign, Through this Ode and from the bottom of my heart.

#SAVETHEKLA ... (OR NAH?)

Emily Hayman Third Year, English

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27.11.2017

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Epigram Wellbeing

How are you dealing with the winter blues?

Epigram / Chloe Payne-Cook

Long beforegenderstereotypes were consciously realised or actively discussed within society, the female gender has been burdened with an overgeneralised and oversimplified archive of personality traits we are each assumed to possess.

Society, unwittingly or not, generally upholds these as true by default and leaves the individual to face the consequences of being unjustly judged in certain sectors of life. This includes one’s emotional responses.

something that I will not go into detail on now, is being objectified and positioned as ‘subject to’ an array of external forces around us. One may see this imprecise emotional pigeonholing to be a woman’s assumed position in society, manifested in the individual. In this article I am limiting myself to discussing men and women in terms of the standard biological make up that contributes to each gender’s anatomy.

We are all subject to the biology that makes each of us up and it seems absurd to attribute this solely to a particular gender group.

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Human beings are human beings and we all are subject to the biology of our bodies

Many may assume that women are seen as the more irrationally emotional of the genders and that this is rooted in biology. The monthly cycle of hormonal fluctuations females experience is a scientific truth.

Without getting into the chemistry of it, it can’t be doubted that hormones produced in our bodies can have an effect on our moods and emotions. However, the frustration arises when, all too easily, a female’s emotions or actions are dismissed or questioned in the face of potential ‘PMS’ or it being ‘that time of the month’. This is an infuriating battle to contend with and seems to be one way by which the female voice is belittled. This is not to say that everyone is guilty of this presupposition, however it is definitely no anomaly.

Every single person is, of course, vulnerable to one’s inner mental and biological state. However, as gender perceptions would have it, women are seen as being substantially more vulnerable to these forces than men are. Females are all too often pigeonholed as being at the mercy of their emotions and powerless to the multitude of feelings which may sneak up on them, warranted or not, at any given moment. A more dismal stereotype of the female gender, and

Human beings are human beings and we all are subject to the biology of our bodies. Therefore, why aren’t men’s hormones held accountable in the same way women’s are? When a man has a strong emotional reaction or acts in a sensitive way, no one stops to wonder whether it is partly a by-product of what’s going on inside. This brings me to my pivotal point: It would be nonsense to think that hormones don’t impact a man’s emotions in just the same way as they do in females, so

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If you feel that you or anyone you know, may be experiencing the symptoms described above to an extent that it gets in the way of their everyday activities, it would be beneficial to seek out a professional for an accurate diagnosis

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But, while we all agree that adopting a healthier lifestyle is never a bad idea, don’t beat yourself up if your symptoms don’t improve right away.

Asking for help is a sign of strength and motivation towards a better version of yourself. Sure, almost everyone experiences some winter days when they feel lethargic or uninterested. But if your symptoms occur for days at a time and you notice major shifts in eating or sleeping habits, withdrawal from society or habitual activities, then it may be time to pick up your phone. It could serve you well in the future to consider how you can start managing seasonal affective disorder today and live a hearty life in every season.

Alisha Suhag Experimental Psychology, Second Year

why does this problem hold such gender bias?

There is scientific evidence that the amount of testosterone in one’s body, a hormone that should not be necessarily associated solely with men but is thought of as being more prominent in most males, can trigger a wide array of effects. These range from generating feelings of power and aggression, to depression and problems of memory.

Therefore, in the face of science, it is clear that men’s emotions have the probability of being just as connected with their inner states as females’.

Ultimately, there is not a single human being on this earth that has complete control over the workings of their body. We are all subject to the biology that makes each of us up and it seems absurd to attribute this solely to a particular gender group. Needless to say, it is unacceptable, and deeply irritating, to make women feel inferior or embarrassed about something which is outside of their control, usually unjustifiably assumed and that which is also evident in men.

This perpetuates the inequality that we all should be so desperately trying to rid our society of.

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Boys have hormones too

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Although several theories have attempted to account for why Seasonal Affective Disorder occurs, the exact cause is yet to be fully understood.

The most accepted explanation is linked to the reduced sunlight

It may be useful to think of SAD as a spectrum, in that it varies in severity. On one end of the scale, there are people completely unaffected by these seasonal changes.

Further along, there are those who experience mildly debilitating symptoms of SAD, called ‘subsyndromal SAD’ or ‘winter blues’. Approximately 20% of people in the UK experience this version and might find themselves feeling tired, irritable and a bit low. Finally, at the other end of the spectrum, are people who may have to take time off work and drastically limit their daily routines to overcome SAD. In the general population, those most at risk are female, are younger, live away from the equator, and have family histories of depression, bipolar disorder, or SAD.

Although one can not ascertain a singular cause underlying seasonal affective disorders, it is safe to say that adopting a healthy lifestyle can aid, if not completely prevent the appearance and persistence of SAD. Keeping that in mind, researchers advocate a diet high in proteins, vegetables, unprocessed foods, and complex carbohydrates. Furthermore, it is highly recommended to seek as much exposure to natural light as possible. Lifestyle measures such as exercising regularly and managing one’s stress levels also help in smoother seasonal transitions.

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It would be understandable if when looking at these symptoms, you think to yourself, ‘Well, that’s mostly me postbreakups/in the holiday season/pre-exams and so on’. However, the debilitating nature of the symptoms taken together should not be discounted. When left untreated, those affected by it are prevented from functioning normally in their everyday lives.

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In attempting to understand whether we or someone we know, could be experiencing SAD, the undefined nature of the symptoms could pose a challenge. Yet, there are some clues which help us identify them better and appreciate the line that separates a general low and a persisting disorder. The main indicator that SAD is at work is the timing of these feelings: when does the depression set in and fade away? Most commonly, SAD is a winter-related ailment that reappears each year. In the northern hemisphere, it usually occurs between the months of September and April.

Diagnosis can usually be made after two to three consecutive winters with the symptoms.

Epigram / Chloe Payne-Cook

This toll comes in the form of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) popularly known as the ‘winter depression’, which is a complex depressive illness, affecting approximately one in 15 people in the UK. It is a sub-category of depression. Yet, unlike ‘traditional’ depression which is usually accompanied by sleeping problems and a reduced appetite, SAD is often associated with a yearning to ‘hibernate’. The most common symptoms of SAD include a persistant low mood, concentration difficulties, and a loss of pleasure or interest in everyday activities. These are further intensified by feelings of despair, guilt and worthlessness.

People affected by it also experience an intensified desire to sleep and eat, with a craving for carbohydrates, comfort food and sweet treats.

The most common symptoms of SAD include a persistant low mood, concentration difficulties and loss of pleasure or interest in everyday activities

If you feel that you or anyone you know may be experiencing the symptoms described above to an extent that it gets in the way of their everyday activities, it would be beneficial to seek out a professional for an accurate diagnosis. As with any mental health problem, there is no one-size-fits-all treatment. There are quite a few options one can explore with their doctor. For example, light therapy is a popular method employed to treat SAD. It comprises regular exposure to a light box (which emits light similar in properties to sunlight) for about 30-60 minutes a day. According to the Seasonal Affective Disorder Association it has been found to be effective in 85% of cases and usually works within two weeks. Alternatively, doctors can offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or counselling, which has been found to be helpful too. Further, in specific cases, doctors may prescribe antidepressant medication for treating SAD. Epigram / Jasmine Burke

Epigram / Chloe Payne-Cook

As the days grow shorter and nights turn colder, there is a rhythmic slowing down that the winter affords. As prospects of a sunnier sky become rarer with each passing day, the gloomy weather makes it harder to get out of bed, be social and exercise enough. While these seasonal changes may be nothing more than a natural progression for most, for some, this shift can cast a disturbingly heavy toll on their lives.

exposure in winter months, which may prevent a part of the brain called the hypothalamus from working properly. Since the hypothalamus plays a central role in maintaining our body’s internal clock by taking cues from external levels of light, a lack of exposure to sunlight disrupts it and could lead to symptoms of SAD. Consequently, this may lead to an imbalance in melatonin production - a hormone which makes people sleepy. In people with SAD, the body may produce it in levels higher than normal. The production of serotonin - a hormone that affects your mood, appetite and sleep - may be affected too. A lack of sunlight may lead to lower serotonin levels, which is linked to feelings of depression. Further, there also exists a possibility that genes may play a role in vulnerability to SAD.

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What Seasonal Affective Disorder looks like... and how to know for sure

When a man has a strong emotional reaction or acts in a sensitive way, no one stops to wonder whether it is partly a byproduct of what’s going on inside

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The answer is not to turn this argument against men as well, but instead to actively acknowledge and reject this double standard until it is no longer a standard at all.

Mia Jaccarini English and Philosophy, First Year

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Misconceptions of anxiety: seven things anxiety sufferers wish you knew

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Anxiety affects different people differently

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Although you may not be able to ‘see’ anxiety, it exists, it’s very real and often quite physical When I’m having a ‘bad’ day, all colour drains from my body. I look pale and people often remark on how ill I look. Panic attacks cause

The last thing in the world I want is attention, especially when I’m mid panic attack, so why would I be actively seeking it?

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We’re not being dramatic or attention seeking and no, we can’t just ‘stop worrying’ Oh, IF only it were that easy. Do you not think I’d love nothing more then to tell my brain to stop feeling anxious? The fact of the matter is, my body has been conditioned to release cortisone and adrenaline at the tiniest events. I can just be sitting in the sunshine, enjoying some cider, when I suddenly feel a slight ache in my chest. Something as minuscule as a muscular ache can trick my body into overwhelming panic, and before I can even attempt to calm down, I’m hyperventilating and shaking uncontrollably - not so easy to stop, I can assure you. The last thing in the world I want is attention, especially when I’m mid panic attack, so why an earth would I be actively seeking it?

It may seem irrational to you, but to me, it’s very very real Yes, I can objectively understand how irrational my anxieties are. Anxiety causes me to have highly intrusive visions of horrific scenarios, which can make walking down the street feel like a death trap. Literally. I know that my thoughts are irrational, and at times may seem ridiculous, but they are real to me. You might not get worried standing in a room full of people, but for some people, it can feel like the most claustrophobic situation in the world. If somebody trusts you enough to open up about their particular anxieties, take the time to understand them, instead of dismissing them as irrational and silly.

Anxiety can take many different forms, and no category is any more or less debilitating than the other There are various different anxiety disorders which somebody may experience and the charity, Mind, outline the five most common anxiety disorders. These disorders can range anywhere from GAD (Generalised Anxiety Disorder), which is usually categorised by relatively high constant feelings of anxiety, to PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) which occurs after experiencing a traumatic event.

People, like myself, may also experience combinations of these disorders, which as you can imagine, can make day-to-day tasks overwhelmingly difficult. Don’t look at anxiety as an umbrella term which should only be used for people who are ‘worriers’ or ‘over-thinkers’. Anxiety disorders exist over a wide scope and people experiencing anxiety should not be boxed into one category.

It’s ok to take medication, but it isn’t for everyone If somebody is diagnosed with tonsillitis,they are given the appropriate medication to help their body fight the infection. Yet, if somebody with an ‘invisible’ mental health condition is given medication, there is huge stigma attached to it. Think of it as a deficiency, where I need to take a pill to get my serotonin levels back to normal. There needs to stop being such shame and stigma attached to taking medication if you are suffering with a mental health condition. However, for some sufferers, medication doesn’t help. There are other forms of help available, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and counselling, which can greatly help

But it does and will get better.

If somebody had told me a year ago that I would be writing openly about my struggles with anxiety, I would have probably had a panic attack - oh, sweet irony. Often, I’ve felt completely helpless and trapped inside my own body. But the moment I began acknowledging my anxiety as a part of who I am (whether it be temporary or permanent), my world seemed a little less scary. I spoke to my doctor, friends and family openly about my anxiety disorders and through understanding the disorders themselves, I was able to understand my body and its reactions a little more. I now choose to nurture and thank my body for its amazing responses, instead of running away from it. The best advice I can give to anybody suffering from any mental health disorder, is to talk about it and to give yourself a break if you need it. Help is out there, and you are not alone.

Chloe Payne-Cook Wellbeing Editor

Find for your mind Here you’ll find a new person or service to follow or check out which you might find beneficial to your wellbeing. This week, we recommend you try....

Marbling Art Epigram / Ruth Bannister

This may seem blindingly obvious, but much like depression, anxiety affects people differently. Some people may be able to balance work, university and social life, with the stresses of anxiety. Some may choose to avoid busy social situations for fear of having a panic attack. Or like myself, some may need to take a complete break from university - which is also absolutely fine. This is how mental illness differs from, let’s say, flu. If you have flu, there are certain symptoms you will be exhibiting, which are pretty universal. With anxiety, you may find it hard to compare your experience with somebody else. I’ve met some of the most sociable, easy-going, seemingly happy people who tell me that they have anxiety. This doesn’t mean their anxiety is any less real, or unworthy of the time and care it takes to understand it. There seems to be this stereotypical idea of anxiety being prominent in people who are shy, timid and socially awkward. I have a busy social life, I like going out, meeting new people and I drink copious amounts of cider (Devon represent). This doesn’t make my anxiety any less real and it certainly doesn’t mean that the problem has disappeared. For every ‘good’ day I have, where I’m actually able to make it out of bed and out of my house, there is a ‘bad’ day where I am crippled by multiple panic attacks which leave me completely exhausted and often feeling hopeless and extremely depressed. Additionally, other people’s experience of anxiety can, and quite possibly will, be very different to yours. That is ok! It doesn’t make your condition weird or strange (getting anxious about anxiety, what are the chances).

”

There is much more to anxiety than overthinking or worrying. For most people suffering with it, it can manifest itself in the most physical ways and often leads to feelings of isolation, depression and hopelessness

But you don’t have to experience panic attacks to suffer from an anxiety disorder. I happen to have panic attacks, that’s just part of my condition, but many anxiety sufferers may be panic attack-free. This doesn’t mean they don’t experience the physical impacts of anxiety, and it certainly doesn’t make it any less real or debilitating.

people suffering with anxiety disorders.You wouldn’t shame somebody for taking antibiotics, so why shame us?

Epigram / Chloe Payne-Cook

People use the term ‘anxiety’ loosely in day-to-day interactions, which over time, has meant that people suffering from the condition are usually just seen as ‘over-thinkers’ or ‘worriers’. Of course, most people will deal with anxious periods in their lives, with students being particularly susceptible to mental health conditions, navigating heavy workloads with busy social lives and - usually - excessive drinking. However, there is much more to anxiety than overthinking or worrying. For most people suffering with it, it can manifest itself in the most physical ways and often leads to feelings of isolation, depression and hopelessness.

my entire body to shake, my muscles begin to twitch uncontrollably and I often feel as though I’m about to faint with dizziness. These very physical symptoms are in no way imagined and aren’t easily stopped.

Most people have experienced a ‘fight or flight’ moment in their life, and understand the icy rush of adrenaline. That sense of imminent danger we’ve nearly all experienced at one time or another. Whether it be as a women, walking alone in the bleak early hours of the morning, with a hurried urgent pace in order to avoid any unwanted attention. Or the moments before an unstoppable accident where seconds feel like minutes and play out in slow motion. Now imagine that sense of imminent danger and imagine carrying it with you constantly. Panic attacks are basically our fight or flight responding when there isn’t any ‘real’ reason to be panicked. My body is tricked into thinking danger is pretty much constantly on the horizon and therefore adrenaline is shot into my blood stream, bringing with it all of the physical symptoms.

Epigram / Chloe Payne-Cook

When I was diagnosed with anxiety three years ago, and more recently Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), I had no idea what it meant. I had always just assumed that everybody had it. I thought that it was common thinking to assume my best friend had been involved in a fatal car accident every time they missed my call. I thought that most people experienced a domino of destructive thoughts everyday, meaning that standing behind an elderly lady in a queue for my weekly shop, quickly escalated into loud, intrusive, overwhelming visions of her choking and me being unable to administer the Heimlich manoeuvre on her. Anxiety can be a crippling and deeply debilitating condition, which can make the simplest of tasks seem unimaginably difficult.

Unfortunately, much like many other mental health conditions, anxiety is often misunderstood, which can leave sufferers feeling incredibly isolated and alone. Put plain and simple, anxiety has wreaked havoc on my life. It has caused me to temporarily drop out of university, and recently, even caused me to have suicidal thoughts. Still, when people ask me why I haven’t been at university, my instinct is to tell them i’ve been ill with a ‘real’ illness, like tonsillitis. So, why, when I’ve been suffering with an incredibly destructive disorder, must I still feel the need to conceal it?

Student Ruth Bannister looks to marbling art as a mindful activity when she’s feeling particularly worked up, and we at Epigram Wellbeing think it looks amazing!

‘I started marbling when I had a really bad phase of mental health a couple of years ago. It was a creative outlet for me as it’s such a therapeutic and organic art form. The colours and free form patterns made it such a positive process!’

Why not try it yourself, and see if marbling works for you as a creative outlet?

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Editor

Deputy Editor

Online Editor

Jane Cowie @janecowiefood food@epigram.org.uk

Holly Penhale

Sarah Roller

Epigram Living 2017-18

27.11.17

@epigramfood

Dreamy date spots for all you romantics Food Editor Jane Cowie shares with you her favourite places to enjoy a delicious meal with your other half

Epigram / Jane Cowie

Chance & Counters Chance and Counters is located at the bottom of the Christmas Steps, just opposite the Christmas Steps pub. This café opened just last year, but ever since it has become a real favourite. Chance and Counters is the perfect place to come for a date as you can cut the small talk and dive straight in to picking one of the 600+ board games to occupy your time. These guys have anything from brand new games (such as First Dates the board game: a definite win for anyone on a double date), or old school classics like Cluedo and the Game of Life.

on top? Sergios is BYOB - so you can get over the nerves by getting drunk on the cheap. Win win.

Nutmeg If you’re brave enough to go for a curry date, then take yourselves to Clifton Village to a little place called Nutmeg. The décor in Nutmeg creates an amazing ambiance, and with dim lighting and smooth background music, you’ll be sure to have your other half swooning.

The food is really exceptional: offering a quirky twist on classics, such as their beetroot mango chutney. I recommend opting for the cod curry as one of the nicest Indian dishes I’ve ever eaten - it’s a place to remember!

Bristol is a city of romance. Whether you’re going for a delicious brunch on the crisp, wintry morning, stopping in for a warming lunch after a romantic stroll around Ashton Court, or glamming up for an indulgent dinner date: Bristol offers every situation the perfect solution.

Cosy Club The Cosy Club is located in the middle of Corn Street amongst the hustle and bustle of Bristol’s city centre. Upon first arrival you’ll be dazzled by the stunning architecture of the building. The building is a converted high Victorian bank, and the décor is truly memorable: from the elegantly painted ceilings to the marvellous artwork hanging on the walls. Immediately I assumed the menu would be far out of my price range, but was pleasantly surprised to see the reasonable prices on the varied menu.

I have visited the Cosy Club on numerous occasions: both for brunch, lunch and dinner. For brunch you can get the full English for £8.50.

Triple Stacked- Buttermilk Pancakes for £6.75, or even a Lobster tail dish with scrambled eggs on Puccia bread for £12.50 - if you’re really looking to push the boat out.

Whilst you play the board game of your choice, tuck in to one of their delicious craft beers and ciders, with a delicious wrap or sandwich (£5.50) for lunch, or even their tapas (£4 each or £10 for 3). The toasted wraps are all made fresh in the kitchen, and the Bombay chicken & lemon sour cream is truly delicious. If you’re looking for a fun way to spend your day matched with some delicious food in a snug environment: Chance and Counters is the place for you.

Aquila Aquila is a beautiful modern Italian restaurant located in the city centre on Baldwin Street. This place is elegant and stylish; it is perfect for an anniversary spot, celebrating a birthday or any special occasion.

Aquila won the Best Modern European restaurant in the Bristol Good Food 2015, and they definitely live up to this title.

They have an extensive menu, and are very good at giving options for dietary requirements such as those who are vegan or gluten free.

The menu is packed with light and refreshing salads, mouth-wateringly good starters (opt for the garlic bread - you will not be disappointed), handmade pizzas and indulgent calzones.

”

Sergios Located at the bottom of Park Street, this family run Spanish restaurant offers a wealth of delicious, freshly cooked food. The seafood is really fresh - if you’re a fan of a shared starter, the mussels are a great option (just try and control yourself by not drinking the sauce straight from the bowl. It’s that good.) The pizzas are enormous and you can even choose your own toppings so it adds a personal touch. The cherry

Epigram / Jane Cowie

”

They offer a variety of salads, traditional British favourites such as Macaroni Cheese and Fish & Chips, and well as some winter warming dishes such as the Slow-Cooked Pork Belly or Cosy Fish Pie. From personal experience I can recommend the Tapas plates, which are £4.25 each, or 3 for £11.95, each served with ciabatta. Whether it’s the King Prawns, Pigs in Blankets or Goats Cheese Croquettes that take your fancy, you’ll be sure to leave feeling sufficiently full, and that your date night has been a roaring success.

”

Whilst Aquila is on the more expensive side, especially if you opt for the meat or the fish (ranging from £16.95 - £27.25), if you’re looking for a really special spot, the price tag for the excellent service, delicious food and overall delightful evening.

Jane Cowie Food Editor

Recipe: banana and walnut loaf Nicole Abou-abdallah offers up her own banana bread recipe for you to enjoy on these cold, Autumnal nights Ingredients: 100g softened butter 200g granulated sugar 2 eggs 3 ripe bananas (mashed) 2 handfuls of walnuts (crushed) 250g self-raising flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 tablespoons milk Icing sugar (for decorating) Method: 1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan oven) 2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the ingredients using an electric whisk or a wooden spoon 3. Spoon the mix into a medium sized loaf tin 4. Place in oven and allow to bake for 50 mins until golden brown 5. Remove from oven and leave to cool. Decorate with icing sugar if desired.

Epigram / Nicole Abou-abdallah

The ‘Major- General’Burger is allegedly the ‘best burger in Bristol.’

”

Epigram / Jane Cowie

The Cosy Club stands out as the ideal dinner date for two reasons: the intimate atmosphere and the enormous variety on the menu. Whether you and your partner have the exact same tastes or are polar opposites, you’ll be sure to find something to catch your eye. They offer 7 different burgers, however the ‘Major-General’ - which includes 6oz beef patty, a macaroni cheese fritter, smoked streaky bacon, melted cheese, balsamic onions, salad and burger sauce - is allegedly ‘the best burger in Bristol’.

This monstrosity is £13.95, and when you consider it is served with a homemade slaw and fries: that’s a damn good deal.

What with the decor, smooth background music and dim lighting you’ll be sure to have your other half swooning

Epigram / Jane Cowie

Epigram / Jane Cowie

So, whether it’s for your first date with that special someone you’ve shared a few flirtatious conversations with, or your other half visiting from the other side of the country; here’s a list of some of the most romantic places to dine in Bristol.

Nicole Abou-adballah Third year, Dentistry

27.11.17

23

The best pubs in Bristol

Leila Mitwally offers up her definitive guide to the best places to fill your pint glass in Bristol

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A word of warning though: just one of these potent half pints can be the difference between your ‘I’m so excited to be on this nice boat drinking cider with my new university friends’ level of drunk, and your ‘I can’t stop crying because I miss my dog and I might be sick on my shoes’ level. Except you’ve never had a dog and you lost your phone an hour ago so none of your new friends can investigate to either confirm or negate the existence of said dog.

Alterego I don’t want to be accused of misleading anyone so I’m going to admit

What better way to warm yourself in your freezing student home than a wholesome soup?

Ali Cottam shares her nourishing and delicious roasted red pepper and tomato soup

The Love Inn This is another sneaky bar listing but it’s all blurred lines these days. The Love Inn hosts some great live music and DJ nights, and is in a really eccentric area of Bristol surrounded by loads more alternative bars and pubs to explore if crawls are your thing.

The name of this place kind of gives away the atmosphere; so if you aren’t looking for fun, cosy and feel-good you can skip this suggestion. Having said that, if you dislike the adjectives ‘fun’, ‘cosy’ and ‘feel-good’ I’m not sure what to suggest.

It deserves an honorable mention for essentially one reason alone- strong drinks at low prices

”

Bag of Nails This one is going to be a bit like marmite - except not at all like that because it’s about whether you like cats rather than whether you like marmite. You like cats? Now imagine beer AND cats!

Together! In the same room!! In all seriousness; you’d be pushed to find a more unique and friendly place to drink than this lovely little pub.

Leila Mitwally Wellbeing Online Editor

Calling all foodie writers!

We are looking to appoint new writers for the Food Section of Epigram!

Epigram / Ali Cottam

Method: 1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees (180 degrees fan oven).

2. Chop up the pepper and onion and place in the oven to roast for 20 mins.

3. In the mean time, chop up the celery and make up 500ml of vegetable stock.

4. Once the vegetables have roasted, melt the butter in a pan on a low heat with the garlic, allowing it to infuse.

5. Add the roasted vegetables to the pan and mix in until coated in the melted butter.

6. Add the stock, tinned tomatoes, chilli powder and the season stirring thoroughly.

7. Turn the pan onto a medium heat keep stirring, allowing the soup to thicken.

8. Blend the contents of the pan until there is no large chunks of vegetables.

9. Serve with a sprig of basil.

The Avon Gorge Hotel On the more upmarket side of student pubs, but the views are well worth the higher prices. This place fills up pretty swiftly on a sunny day though, so go early for a good spot on the terrace to get that all important ‘did you know I moved to Bristol’ picture in front of the Suspension Bridge.

”

It may take perseverance to find a good seat, but I assure you it’ll be worth the wait

Recipe: roasted red pepper and tomato soup Ingredients: 3 Red Peppers 1 white onion 2 sticks of celery 3 cloves of garlic 1 vegetable stock cube 1 teaspoon of tomato puree 1 teaspoon of chilli powder 400g of tinned tomatoes 40g butter Salt and pepper to season

If you’re feeling particularly frisky, head down on a Thursday evening and get involved with their karaoke night - if you’re brave enough to sing you are given a free shot for your troubles, and there’s no better way to bond with new friends than over a horrifying rendition of Islands in the Stream which will be etched into everyone’s memory forever.

It’s the kind of quirky pub you see television hanging around at, getting in to hilarious drunken shenanigans

The Apple You know that age-old proverb, ‘everything is better on a boat’? No? That’s because I literally just made it up. My point remains though: drinking on a boat is inexplicably more exciting than drinking in a building. There’s much more to this pub than simply ‘being a boat’ though. A trip to The Apple involves a choice of forty different ciders (some which are unique creations and some locally sourced), a wonderfully spacious outdoor area, and the exact atmosphere that you crave as soon as the sun comes out on a summer afternoon. Their speciality cider, the ‘Old Bristolian’ is a must try, and at 8.4% ABV and £1.50 (with a student card) it’s almost as cheap as drinking at home.

”

The White Bear The White Bear is the kind of quirky pub you see students on television hanging around at and getting themselves into hilarious drunken shenanigans which almost never happen in real life. Drinking here won’t make your life as exciting as theirs, but it might make you feel as though it is for about the amount of time that it takes to put a photo of their cute beer garden on your snapchat story.

this from the outset: this one is not a pub. Regardless, Alterego deserves an honourable mention on this list for essentially one reason and one reason only - strong drinks at low prices. If you’re looking for a chilled-out, civilised atmosphere, this student cocktail bar is unfortunately not where you’ll find it. However, if what you’re looking for is a sociable way to drink genuinely well-made cocktails that really pack a punch alcohol-wise (Wetherspoons pitchers I’m looking at you), give Alterego a go. Make sure you check ahead on their website (alteregobar.co.uk) to see when their deals run, as the bar often offers two for one cocktails (making them just £4 each) and deals on spirit mixers and shots.

Epigram / Jane Cowie

Epigram / Leila Mitwally

The drinks are cheap, there’s Strongbow Dark Fruit on draught, and if you get hungry or need to sober up at speed you can get a solid meal for a fraction of the price of a kebab anywhere on Whiteladies. Though it boasts fairly large seating area, the Grace seems to be buzzing with students on any given evening - and though this means it may take some perseverance to find a good seat, I assure you it’ll be worth the wait.

With a wide selection of drinks, a laid-back atmosphere (that isn’t trying too hard to appear as such), and reasonable prices, The White Bear is a bit of a people pleaser. This is the kind of place you could take your parents for a late lunch, only to return within a matter of hours for a messy round of pre-drinks with your friends before you traipse down to the triangle to make a multitude of decisions that you already, on some level, regret. The White Bear also regularly hosts a huge variety of events: DJs, lectures, film screenings, and comedy and drama nights which either take place in the pub itself or in the fifty seat theatre which casually sits upstairs.

”

W.G. Grace I’m not here to preach to you the (countless) virtues of a Wetherspoons, but to exclude such an important institution from my list would be, quite frankly, insincere. Arguably, The W.G Grace is the best of the four that you’ll find in central Bristol, beating out the Berkeley (smells weird), the Commercial Rooms (not many students), and the V-Shed (occasionally turns into a disco which can be disconcerting) for the title of the most suitable Wetherspoons to host your weekly (triweekly) meetups with friends.

Epigram / Emily Hayman

The pub is about to become so much more than the place you visit occasionally with school friends to pretend to be adults for a few hours: now, it’s the home-from-home you can escape to when you’re happy, sad, bored, or just to forget the fact that you’re kind of now considered adults for a few hours. It’s important that you make an informed decision about your pub of choice - and lucky for you I’ve got a few recommendations to get you going.

Ali Cottam Third Year, Dentistry

Whether you’re a budding young chef whose culinary skills simply need to be shared, or you love to dine out and want to share with us some advice on where to eat in Bristol, we want to hear from you.

If you are interested, simply join the Epigram Food Writers (17/18 ) on Facebook or email us at: food@epigram.org.uk

27.11.17

24

Mad about meat: is this way of life sustainable?

Sarah Roller speaks out about her experience of reducing her meat consumption

I stand by the fact that bacon is pretty irreplaceable

”

Epigram / Jane Cowie

In the past year, I’ve met more and more people who are cutting meat out of their diet whether they’re just thinking a bit more about what they eat, going vegetarian for a fixed period of time, or permanently. Or at least I thought I was. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the people I interact with have a pretty similar background to me - middle class, left-wing, concerned about the environment, and able to have the luxury to afford fresh fruit and vegetables to cook with, and the time to learn how to cook totally new things - and to buy a pizza if it all goes tits-up.

It’s a luxury that not all can afford to be able to change diet and lifestyle around food choices.

Supermarkets and restaurants are gradually becoming more accommodating to vegetarian and vegan lifestyles: but they’re not cheap. Fresh fruit and vegetables are pretty expensive and there’s definitely a limit to how many chickpeas, tinned tomatoes and sweetcorn a girl can survive off without going crazy. Admittedly, meat can be

Recipe: sweet and savoury topped fish pie Holly Penhale offers up her warming recipe for fish pie

Meat-eating is ingrained in British culture

”

It can be as little as meat-free Mondays, or as much as going totally vegan: as long as each person is making a reduction in their meat consumption.

It’s also the responsibility of supermarkets, of global fast-food chains (McDonalds I’m looking at you), and of governments: we can’t do it alone. The more people who adopt a diet which

contains even a little less meat, the more likely this is to happen. Education is just as important as product choice: before March I was genuinely quite scared of cooking lentils. Now, I get through bags of them.

it’s the resonsibility of supermarkets, fast food chains and governments

”

Humans are omnivores, and it will take hundreds of thousands of years to change that.

My choice to eat less meat is a combination of many factors, but ultimately it is a choice. Partly for my own benefit (it’s cheaper and I find myself eating more healthily), partly because I am painfully aware of how unsustainable the current farming situation is, and partly because I can.

It’s not something I have any desire to selfrighteously impose on my family, friends or wider population. But it is something I believe we should be having an active conversation about, and something we should be better educated about. The days of vegetarians and vegans being tie-dye wearing, dreadlocked hippies are over: they’re your friends, your teachers, your boss. We need to start taking the meat crisis seriously.

Sarah Roller Online Food Editor

Recipe: cinnamon baked pear porridge with pomegranate and pumpkin seeds Jane Cowie suggests the best way to start your day using seasonal fruit and autumnal spices

Epigram / Holly Penhale

Serves 6 Cooking time: 1hr 15mins

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Epigram / Holly Penhale

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There’s really no excuse for turning this one down!

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Peel, chop and boil both the sweet potatoes and the white potatoes in two separate saucepans until soft enough to mash.

In the meantime, fry the chopped onion and crushed garlic in a pan of olive oil until soft.

Add the chopped fish, prawns, white sauce and peas allowing the fish to flavour the sauce but not allowing it to cook through.

Pour your mix into a casserole dish and allow it to stand while you make the mash.

Mash your potatoes up with a splash of milk, a knob of butter and plenty of salt and pepper.

Using a piping bag or the corner of a sandwich bag, first pipe your white mash potato in lines across your pie and then do the same with the sweet potato mash creating a striped pattern across the top.

Grate a 100g of cheese on top and place in the oven at 200C for 35-40 minutes Dish up a hearty portion with some steamed vegetables and enjoy!

Holly Penhale

Deputy Food Editor

Anyone who knows me, knows I love porridge.

Take one look at my Instagram, @janecowiefood, and you’ll be taken aback by the evident passion I feel towards that little bowl of goodness.

For me, there is no better way to start the day than a nourishing bowl of creamy oats with some warming cooked fruit and a crunchy topping of seeds. Everything seems to complement each other to perfection.

The cold, autumnal days ensue, and it is not just our wardrobe that needs to make a decisive change - our diets must follow suit. That may be switching to eating seasonably, gobbling down everything from apples to aubergines and cabbage to kale, or focusing on the warming dishes such as hearty pies and comforting soups.

Whatever food might take your fancy, make sure to whip up your fill of flavoursome porridge: whether it be to kick-start your day or a healthy alternative to pudding.

Serves 1 Cooking time: 25 mins Ingredients: 50g porridge oats (old fashioned style) 200ml almond milk 2 tsp cinnamon ½ large pear 1 tsp honey Topping: 1 tsp coconut oil Handful of pumpkin seeds Handful of pecan nuts Handful of pomegranate seeds

Epigram / Jane Cowie

This twist on a classic fish pie calls to an end the heated sweet potato versus white potato debate, uniting them in one delicious dish.

Packing in tons of flavour, omega 3 and vitamin C, there’s really no excuse for turning this one down!

Ingredients: 500g fish (mixture of cod, smoked haddock, salmon & prawns) 100g grated cheese 100g frozen peas 3 large white potatoes 2 large sweet potatoes 1 450g jar of white sauce 1 white onion 1 clove of garlic splash of milk knob of butter Method:

expensive too, but cheap meat remains cheap.

Burger King’s only vegetarian option on the menu was chips. Vegetarianism isn’t made easy by large corporations, where meat remains their primary offering.

This needs to change. The way in which we eat meat today is a relatively new phenomenon, emerging in the last 50 years or so. For thousands of years, meat was a relatively sustainable food source. Now, the world’s population is over 7.6 billion. The amount of meat we consume (around 84.2kg/year for your average Briton) is simply too much. It is totally unsustainable - it doesn’t take much to see that. I do not believe we need to permanently cut meat out of our diets, but we do need to make concerted efforts to change the way in which we consume it.

”

had to go for 40 days. Once my vegetarian time was up, I found myself eating less and less meat, almost without realising it.

”

”

‘I actively try and reduce my meat consumption’: saying those words to my family and friends makes me feel like a parody of myself, just another liberal Bristol student embracing the ethos of single-handedly saving the world, one small sacrifice at a time. I gave up meat for Lent last year and it genuinely was pretty revolutionary. Meat-eating is ingrained in British culture: growing up, meat was the building block around which every dish was constructed.

To start with, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was going to replace the chicken, the sausages, the mince, the bacon (although I stand by the fact that bacon is pretty irreplaceable).

It took me about a week to figure out that actually, an entire dish could be very easily constructed around vegetables instead. Mince was swapped for lentils, chicken for sweet potato, sausages for veggie sausages, and bacon just

Method: Preheat the oven to 175C. On a baking tray lay down a sheet of tin foil.

2. Cut the pear in half (you can save the other half for a snack or tomorrow’s porridge!)

3. Using a teaspoon scoop out the seeds. Drizzle 1 tsp of honey and 1 tsp of cinnamon over the pear.

4. Place in the oven for 25 minutes.

5. When the pear has approx. 10 minutes to go, pour in your 50g of oats in to a saucepan with the 1sp of cinnamon.

6. Dry toast your porridge oats in the pan (very lightly, make sure not to burn them!) until they look slightly golden brown.

7. Add the almond milk and keep stirring for approx. 8 minutes on a low heat.

8. Whilst the porridge is heating through, get yourself a frying pan, adding the coconut oil, pecans and pumpkin seeds. Heat on a medium heat for 2 mins, or until the pumpkin seeds start to ‘pop’.

9. Pour your porridge oats in to a bowl, slice the baked pears and place on top, along with the seeds and nuts.

10. Add a handful of pomegranate seeds for an extra crunch and sweet hit.

1.

Jane Cowie

Food Editor

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27.11.2017

26

Editor Nancy Serle style@epigram.org.uk

Deputy Editor Lottie Moore

@e2style

@epigramstyle

Online Editor Hannah Worthington

Epigram Style 2017/18

Ten feminist t-shirts: the empowering and those that miss the point From the tees that shout gender equality to those that just seem to be fitting into a style trend, Isabella Matthews tells us the best feminist t-shirts available to buy, and slogans that should be avoided

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This minimalist basic tee from ASOS perfectly demonstrates what we all know, the fundamental fact, feminism=equality. Unlike lots of t-shirts on the market right now, ASOS’ casual t-shirt does not set out to insult men nor sexualise the term - a perfect simple fashion statement.

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This wouldn’t be an article on feminist t-shirts without the iconic ‘Free the Nipple’ top. All over instagram, Facebook and every magazine, this t-shirt is rooted within the feminist movement. Used for not only t-shirts, but bags and phone cases - you name it, you can find it! Worn here by Theatre and Performance student Chloe Lytton, you can see how the simplicity of the top allows it to be paired with other items or be worn on its own, this top has become a wardrobe staple.

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Second up is a top from Female Collective, ‘a place where intersectional feminism is not a choice; but a lifestyle’ - this is definitely a blog everyone should be keeping up with! The cartoon uterus is humorous, yet still stands for its feminist message. When paired with a catchy pun, this tee makes for a comic yet fashionable piece of apparel.

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Dior’s basic tee is one of the ten that is on my list for the wrong reasons as opposed to the right. Emphasising the notion ‘we should all be feminists’ has been deemed problematic when worn on young models, most likely illegally parading down the Parisian catwalk. Those who have criticised the t-shirts suggest had Dior chosen to dress the t-shirts on older women, the correct message may have been given.

l-r: ASOS £12, Female Collective $32, Etsy £10, RedBubble $20, Instagram/ @ChloeLytton, Instagram/@soy_actitud, Instagram/@tiffanyc_watson, Female Collective $30, Instagram/@mileycyrus, Missguided £15

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This bolder graphic tee from Etsy exudes a statement of self-love and sisterhood. The floral touch of the rose adds an iconic touch to the t-shirt, which has reproductions all over Etsy at the moment. The 60s text tunes into the free love and sexual freedom movement, with close links to feminism at the moment.

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Tiffany Watson from Made in Chelsea wears this top from Missy Empire. Unlike the other tops in my top ten feminist tees, it does not have a feminist message. Rather, it plays on the cliché, juvenile phrase cultured by Taylor Swift’s ‘squad’. For someone over the age of 10, it seems odd to have to define yourself by your ‘girls’. This is not helped by Tiffany’s Instagram caption ‘Girl squad > Boys.’ Using this caption surely only enforces a sexist split - feminism is not about either sex being better, but being EQUAL!

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This uni-sex tee from Redbubble is simple yet striking. Like the other t-shirts, the black against white makes the text pop, made even more significant by the burst of baby pink - a colour (however frustrating) synonymous with gender. Using the colour in this block plays on the well-known popular phrase to give it a deeper, truthful meaning.

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Feminine Collective uses the iconic Word War II statement, ‘We Can Do It’, with the addition of Frida Kahlo, one of the most iconic female artists ever. The tee carries the same intention of the original poster, yet two icons are merged into one. Completely encompassing this idea of sisterhood, female empowerment and equality to achieve great things, this t-shirt doesn’t fail to make my top 10.

Isabella Matthews Second Year, Theatre & Performance

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The future of glossy magazines: are they at risk of becoming digital only?

In October, Glamour magazine announced it was going ‘digital first’ in a dramatic move away from style and lifestyle to become more beauty focused. The magazine will be online only in an attempt to give ‘beauty at your fingertips; the most engaging, living, breathing beauty content at every touchpoint.’

So is the era of glossy magazines over? And what does this say about the future of journalism?

December will see the last printed edition of the magazine which has been going for nearly eighty years in the US, and since 2001 in the UK. But there is no avoiding the figures.

According to the ABC report, Glamour experienced a fall in readership by 25.6% in the latter part of 2016, the greatest fall of all the UK magazines. Of the 17 Glamour products worldwide, this change will only affect the UK. The clearly financially driven move will result in loss of staff and in the merging of the editorial and commercial teams.

Glamour is not the first magazine giant to go digital. In 2014 Company magazine closed its

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Epigram/ Hannah Worthington

Deputy style editor Lottie Moore discusses the future of print print edition and last year In Style did the same.

So is the era of the glossy magazine over? And what does this say about the future of journalism amidst technological advances the industry simply cannot keep up with?

The look (and smell) of the glossy magazine is no longer enough to lure the reader who can keep up to date instantly and conveniently online.

The look (and smell) of the glossy magazine is no longer enough to lure the reader

BBC media editor Amol Rajan commented that the risk of compromising journalism in an attempt to engage readers online is ‘substantial’, arguing ‘the danger is that by moving online and focusing ever more on the traffic-generating beauty content, Glamour invests less and less in quality journalism.’ Rajan comments that high quality magazine journalism is possible online ‘but only if people pay for it.’

Former Vogue editor Alexandra Schulman disagrees, arguing the attraction of the coffee table magazine is enduring. A physical copy of Vogue is a ‘treat and a luxury’ and that she is ‘convinced that the appeal of the tangible experience of a thick glossy magazine remains strong’.

Albert Read, the managing director of Condé Nast Britain, the firm which run Glamour, insists the move is not driven by financial pressures but to develop ‘new ways around beauty to reflect the woman of today, and of tomorrow.’

Lottie Moore Deputy Style Editor

Online style editor Hannah Worthington reviews M•A•C’s sparkling new Christmas Range In late October, MAC revealed their new Snowball Christmas range of makeup. In aid of the launch, online Style Editor Hannah Worthington paid a trip to one of the central London stores and spoke with Zoe, a makeup artist in White City, about the most successful and popular products so far, and what we all need to get our hands on.

‘This year, MAC have really focused on packaging’, comments Zoe. From shimmering sequin pouches, to zip up holographic cases with faux fur poms, MAC have gone for sparkle in all the right ways. Textured quartz rose gold casings wrap up limited edition lipsticks and a beautiful new highlight.

Zoe told Epigram Style that pigments and glitter were really the target for the holiday season, ‘as it’s what the current market seems to crave’. The highlight, ‘impalpable glare’ powder, retailing at £24.50 ‘transforms cheeks into pearly orbs that light up the night’. The snow-flake embossed design in the staple ‘cool crushed champagne metallic packaging’ has really sold well. Consequently, it is now out of stock in both colours already, however you can find some which are still brand new in their original packaging on the Depop app.

In terms of eye shadow, five ‘extra dimension’ singles have been released; my personal favourite being the ‘pinky purple shimmer’. The ‘modern hybrid formula combines the smoothness of a cream with the blendability of a liquid’. When in store, just the gold shimmer had sold out, but since then all of the shades have been purchased.

We have a feeling that products may be restocked closer to Christmas, so keep your eyes peeled, or check out eBay.

Epigram/ Hannah Worthington

Like most ‘feminist’ t-shirts at the moment this one from Missguided remains fairly plain but the burst of colour on the flowers and pretty italicised text allows for a feminine, colourful touch. It’s pretty, neutral and easily dressed up or down for any occasion.

A Snow-ball for all M•A•C Christmas Range review

Zoe then moved on to explain the new lipstick kit, the first time MAC has created a 12-feature set with limited edition casings. Indeed, limited edition products are common to MAC, yet the colours chosen are staple classics in miniature form. This wardrobe of lipsticks makes a perfect gift for those who want small, on-the-go editions of their favourite lip colours. Though selling for a hefty £85.00, this set of 12 favourite colours will last you the year, if not longer. Find on MAC’s online website now.

Epigram/ Hannah Worthington

This sheer top from Local Heroes worn

by Miley Cyrus is the top to encapsulate the biggest trends right now! The hearts covering the nipples in a bold colour and female empowerment phrasing on a sheer long-sleeved yet cropped top - everything we’ve seen in 2017 in one garment. It’s flirty, fashionable and feminist.

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Epigram/ Hannah Worthington

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Epigram/ Hannah Worthington

27.11.2017

Finally, we took a look at the rose gold metallic brushes, another ‘real focus for colour’. My favourite Snowball brush kit was the compact mini kit, a perfect eye, cheek and face combination.

The set of three brushes features the immensely popular full powder brush, a rounded shadow brush and an angled liner/brow brush, foiled in a glittery nude wrapping and matching clutch. I also had to purchase the 64 Silver Lash set that features a strip of glittery silver, with a crisscross effect that will really emphasise the eye for a Christmas event.

If there is a product I’d urge you to pick up or find resold online, it would either be a snowball lipstick or pigment kit.

Following my personal preference, I love the frost lip in shade ‘I’m glistening’, alongside the smoky pink pigment and glitter kit that offers you copper tinsullated highlights, perfect for all our University Christmas balls or dinners coming up.

Hannah Worthington Online Style Editor

Editor Nick Bloom travel@epigram.org.uk

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@EpigramTravel

Deputy Editor Evy Tang

Online Editor Ellie Caulfield

@epigram_travel

27.11.2017

Epigram Travel Section 2017/8

Christmas markets: home or away?

Online Travel Editor, Ellie Caulfield, with the help of Sophia Sueref and James Turnball, give their reviews of Christmas markets both home and away to see if it’s worth going abroad for our festive cheer

Away

Cologne Set in the shadow of Cologne’s famous Cathedral, we definitely felt like we were in Germany at this market. Surrounded by German Christmas carols and what felt like hundreds of stalls selling the famous ‘Bratwurst’, this market was nice to explore both day and night.

Best bit: The drink here was by far the best - there was a bar to the side of the market which came with fire pits to keep you warm.

The cheese was also the best I had on the entire trip!

Worst bit: Aside from the market, Cologne didn’t offer quite as much as the other European cities in terms of things to do.

Epigram /

Epigram / Ellie Caulfield

Au pairing is a great way to experience another country. It’s the perfect thing to do over summer because it’s really cheap - you live with the family for free, full board, like an older sibling. You help look after the family’s children who you typically speak to in English. You are given a weekly allowance and only need to do light household chores such as tidy up the kids toys or wash up, with about 20 hours a week of work being the norm. Sounds good?

Home Although here in Bristol we may not have ‘Winter Wonderland’ around the corner, we can certainly have our own taste of Christmas.

Do our own Christmas markets live up to the rest of Europe?

Bath Not only does the city have beautiful architecture and quaint cafés, but it also has a famous Christmas market. Visiting Bath’s Christmas market is sure to put you in a festive mood as there are hundreds of stalls selling creative and unique gifts for loved ones or just for yourself. There is a great selection of food and drink and the market is in the heart of the city so you can explore it after.

Best bit: There’s lots of interesting food products to try chocolate wine was a personal favourite.

Worst bit: You’ll need to allow yourself a good two or three hours to explore the market as it gets very busy and cramped on the streets. Also, products can be quite pricey so bear that in mind.

Bristol Although perhaps not as well-known as Bath’s, Bristol does boast its own market. The market here goes with a German theme and has everything from German sausages to German beer. Broadmead is lined with huts that sell little Christmas gifts at a reasonable price.

This is a really good place to go if you’re stuck for present ideas as they have a unique selection. At the end of the market they also have an enclosed area with a bar that sells the obvious mulled wine but also a warm cider - although admittedly it wasn’t my favourite.

Considering it is 15 minutes away from uni, it is definitely worth a trip.

Best bit: The proximity. You don’t even have to get a car there, let alone a plane, train or boat.

Worst bit: It doesn’t quite have the charm of other Christmas markets, perhaps because it is right next to Shoe Zone and Vodafone, which aren’t quite the same as ancient buildings and towering cathedrals.

Manchester Manchester’s famous markets began back in 1999, and they boast a heady mix of festive food and drink, arts-and-crafts stalls and holiday cheer. With the addition of the gigantic Santa in Albert Square it makes this Northern Institution pretty impossible to ignore. Each of the nine different zones offers something special, and it’s the diversity on offer that reminds us all what makes Christmas so magical.

Best bit: There is a really lovely festive atmosphere.

Worst bit: There are some low quality knick-knacks that some stalls try and hawk and this can cheapen the market a bit.

Home or away?

Epigram / Ellie Caulfield

Prague Prague is actually where I, Online Travel Editor, spent Christmas Day last year and you’d struggle to find a more ‘Christmassy’ city.

Full of great food and cheap beer and seeping with masses of history and tradition, it’s not a surprise that the market is one of the biggest attractions on the continent at Christmas. Many other European markets can often be quite cramped, but there was a surprising amount of room in this one. Surrounded by beautiful old buildings, a giant Christmas tree in the middle and a pen full of donkeys and goats, it really did give you that festive cheer.

Best bit: Known to be one of Prague’s most famous street foods, the Trdelník at these markets doesn’t disappoint. A sugary dough shaped as a cone and then filled with Nutella or ice cream, alongside a glass of mulled wine, is all you need!

Worst bit: Prague is known for being a cheap city, especially in comparison to its European counterparts. However, knowing the amount of profit to be gained from all its Christmas-loving tourists, the market’s food and drink is considerably more expensive than other places in the city.

Epigram / Ellie Caulfield

First we go to Europe. Online Travel Editor Ellie Caulfield was lucky enough to travel Europe last Christmas, hopping between Christmas markets. As much as travelling Europe in this way is fun, around this time of year it can be expensive, definitely more expensive than travelling to the markets on our doorstep. So, was it worth it?

Amsterdam Although it is smaller than a lot of Europe’s other Christmas markets, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Pitched right in the heart of Amsterdam, the location means that the rest of the city is easily explorable after your little taste of Christmas. Full of traditional food and drink as well as having an ice-rink in the middle, this market is a must if you are in the Netherlands this December.

Best bit: In the central part of the city.

Worst bit: Less traditional than others, and full of tourists (of course, it’s Amsterdam)

Dresden As much as each city has its unique charm, the Christmas markets can often be quite similar to each other. Dresden, on the other hand, was something completely unique. This medieval Christmas market was full of people in traditional dress, the stalls were decorated in medieval crests and the gifts being sold were entirely different to other markets. This market definitely had the best food with the best selection. There’s only so many hog roasts and mulled wine a person can have, so it was interesting to try some traditional recipes with a modern twist!

Best bit: The market stall holders insisted that you ‘pay’ in the old medieval currency (it was still euros but they would ask for it in the old currency), although this may seem confusing it was actually really fun and was true to the theme of the market.

Worst bit: We stumbled upon this market by accident so you have to be careful not to miss it!

Epigram / Ellie Caulfield

Christmas markets have long been seen a quintessential part of Christmas. Originating in Germany in the Middle Ages, there is now rarely a city in Europe that doesn’t have a market on its doorstep.

Full of traditional food, drink and trinkets, Christmas markets attract thousands every year, with people catching planes, trains and boats to get to them.

The question the Travel team are interested in when it comes to Christmas markets is: home or away? Is it worth spending all that money to see the wonders of the European markets, or are our own ten minutes down the road all you need?

With the help of our Travel contributors, we are taking you on a Christmas market extravaganza…

Epigram / Ellie Caulfield

In terms of mainland Europe’s Christmas markets, they don’t really get much more authentic. From the delicious traditional food to the serene settings, it is certainly different to what we have here. All in all, Europe was definitely worth it but half way through you can’t help but think: ‘once you’ve seen one Christmas market, have you seen them all?’

Christmas markets really are a must in the festive season, if not to try the delicious food and buy the unique gifts they’re great to just walk around and soak up that Christmas spirit! When it comes to home or away it depends if you really want to be engulfed by tinsel and carols for days on end - if you’re a bit of a scrooge then it definitely isn’t worth leaving Bristol. As much as Christmas market hopping around Europe is fun, it can get a bit repetitive and probably would have got quite boring if the cities themselves weren’t interesting. So, if you’re travelling Europe this Christmas, be sure to go to the markets and try everything they have to offer, but if you’re just staying home then you can still get a near-authentic experience for a fraction of the price.

Ellie Caulfield, Sophia Sueref and James Turnball Online Travel Editor, Second Year Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Second Year Maths

27.11.2017

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Have a German Merry Christmas Sara de Sanctis tells us why Leipzig’s cold winter temperatures are more appealing than you’d think

All images in this article: Epigram / Sara de Sanctis

of the Lebkuchen, typical gingerbread biscuits that originally come from Nuremberg, the toasted almonds, the Stollen (a sort of fruit bread) the marzipan, the Rothenburger Schneebälle, chocolate balls, or many types of honey and mustard, which are free to taste (we tasted a little bit of each, every day, just to be sure not to forget them).

Those who are not keen on sweets, however, will not be spared: the scent of the Bratwurst, or the Kartoffelpuffer, a sort of potato

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Leipzig. If you’ve never heard of this German city, don’t worry - you’re not the only one. Ever imagined how cold it is in Leipzig?

Strong winds and temperatures of -15°C in winter might help you get the idea.

However, there is a time in the year when you won’t feel the cold at all, as you will be too busy drinking a very hot, delicious Glühwein... Christmas!

When people talk about the German or Austrian Christmas markets, they usually refer to the wooden figurines, but I could not imagine how many there were, until I saw them...

Candles, statuettes and decorations make every corner of the city sparkle. Starting from Augustusplatz, with its huge ferris wheel and the statues of the fairy tales, the main street leads you to the Marktplatz, the real centre of the Christmas markets.

It’s impossible not to notice the big wooden house of Kathe Wohlfahrt, where you must be already prepared to spend about one hour: just when you think you have seen all the decorations, others will appear.

Another thing to bear in mind is to forget about your diet, if you have one. I did not, and that made it much easier.

Even the health nuts could not resist the sweet temptation

If you want to fall in love with Germany, Christmas is the perfect time

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pancake usually served with apple sauce, as well as the Dresdner Handbrot, a kind of bread with cheese and bacon, will capture you against your will.

And of course, as already mentioned, Christmas is the only time when the Glühwein replaces beer: with its various flavours, together with cinnamon biscuits, it will make the atmosphere noticeably happier. If you want to fall in love with Germany, Christmas is just the perfect time. Prost!

Sara de Sanctis First Year, Music

Myanmar: an experience you will never forget Travel Editor Nick Bloom travels to Myanmar to engage in debate with young people from Asia and Europe on inter-regional issues including terrorism, migration, and climate change

The strangest city I have ever visited

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Their focus remains on the future, rather than the past... leaving behind years of military rule

It goes without saying that it is a historic moment to visit Myanmar.

Many of us are aware of the refugee crisis in the northern Rakhine State, which has drawn the attention of the international community.

It is strange to be so kindly hosted and welcomed by a country which is also declared guilty of committing unspeakable crimes against humanity and violate international and humanitarian law.

Meeting students from this area has shed light on this complex topic. It has also been interesting to hear the opinions of students from Myanmar on the nature and impact of British colonial rule.

They assure me that their focus remains on the future, rather than the past, and that the Myanmar government views the nation’s recent transition to democracy, leaving behind years of military rule, as an opportunity, rather than a threat.

All in all, I have learnt a huge amount in the past week. I’ve tried new food, met new people and discussed solutions to global challenges. I really believed I was culturally sensitive before coming to Myanmar, but spending time in such a different culture, with such a painful history and such a concerning present has really broadened my horizons.

I would like to encourage fellow students at university to consider potentially fully- and partially-funded opportunities to travel throughout the year. Although university studies should be prioritised, negotiating extensions on assignments might be worth it in the long run!

Nick Bloom Travel Editor

Epigram / Nick Bloom

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Now I know that Myanmar is a fascinating and beautiful country.

Indeed, the “Land of the Pagodas”, is as ethnically diverse and it is culturally rich. Its many languages, peoples and religions are crucial components of its national identity. At the Model ASEM event, we spent a couple of days in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, cultural hub and commercial centre. As well as staying in the famous Yangon University, we visited the golden Shwedagon Padoga, Myanmar’s most sacred Buddhist pagoda which enshrines eight (yes, eight!) of the Buddha’s hairs.

Naypyidaw, however, is the strangest city I have ever visited.

Dominated by the entertainment industry – hotels and casinos – and seemingly absent of residential areas, or even people in general, Naypyidaw is specifically planned to host intergovernmental

meetings, such as the 24th and 25th ASEAN Summit, and other regional events, such as the 2013 Southeast Asian Games. In Naypyidaw, we have attended huge convention centres – the ideal setting for conferences – but barely recall seeing a shop or normal house.

”

Travelling to Myanmar in the middle of deadline week might seem like a crazy idea. And yet here I am in the bizarre, purposebuilt administrative capital of Naypyidaw, reflecting on an eyeopening time in the country.

I find myself in Myanmar as a participant of the 8th Model AsiaEurope Meeting (ASEM), a simulation event (akin to the Model UN method) which introduces students from 51 Asian and European nations to the exciting world of diplomacy, negotiation and international relations.

The youth-led project, organised by the Asia-Europe Foundation, a non-profit organisation promoting the political, economic and socio-collaboration between the two regions, takes place in conjunction with the ASEM Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, where Foreign Ministers from Asia and Europe make the most of a highlevel intergovernmental platform for informal debate.

Before leaving, I asked myself what I knew about the country. I quickly realised I knew next to nothing. I was aware that Myanmar was formerly known as Burma under British colonial rule, and had heard of Aung San Suu Kyi’s remarkable story, culminating in her awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize.

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songhoy blues

THE COMEBACK OF THE DECADE

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Our report on the comeback of the decade…

Some say it will go down as the greatest sporting event in Bristol history, others say it was the tensest evening of their lives. We are of course talking DERXW WKH ÀUVW 9DUVLW\ VHULHV HYHQW RI the year, UoB vs UWE in darts. Bristol have never before beaten UWE at 9DUVLW\ 'DUWV DQG ODVW \HDU VDZ D win to UWE. This year things looked to change with Rob Angel stepping up as Captain and the event selling out all 500 of its tickets in record time. *DPH VDZ 6HE $O +DULUL ORVLQJ RXW to UWE, followed by Nick Main sadly EHLQJ GHIHDWHG $W WKLV SRLQW LW all began to look lost and the dream RI KROGLQJ WKDW 9DUVLW\ 'DUWV WURSK\ was beginning to be a distant, faded memory. The third game begun with %ULVWRO GRZQ EXW VDZ &KDUOLH (EGRQ ZLQ ERWK KLV OHJV 6FRUH QRZ to UWE.

1H[W XS ZDV &DSWDLQ 9 &DSWDLQ DQG Rob Angel comfortably defeated KLV RSSRQHQW ZLWK WZR ÀUVW WLPH checkouts. The crowd were going wild, chants of Bristol, Robbie Williams' Angel and some more inappropriate O\ULFV UDQJ DURXQG D VROG RXW :DONDERXW )URP GRZQ 8R% KDG EDWWOHG WKHLU ZD\ EDFN WR *DPH VDZ %HUWLH /OR\G JLYLQJ 8R% WKHLU ÀUVW OHDG RI WKH QLJKW WULXPSKLQJ D ZLQ +RZHYHU WKH VFRUH ZDV OHYHOOHG RQFH more as Nathan Clarkson, of UoB, missed out on a win.

7KH ÀUVW 9DUVLW\ SRLQW RI WKH \HDU DOO FDPH GRZQ WR WKH WK DQG ÀQDO game. And who better to deal with this pressure than Neil 'The Mountain' Stephenson (famously known for his FDPHR UROH LQ WKH 9DUVLW\ YLGHR ZKLOVW sat on the toilet). ,Q D QHUYH ZUDFNLQJ EXW GDULQJ performance, Neil beat his UWE RSSRQHQW FDUU\LQJ 8R% WR EHFRPH WKH &+$03,216

The trophy was lifted, the stage was invaded, the pints were downed, and UoB walked off to Bargs with their heads held high. Congratulations to the boys for doing #WeAreBristol SURXG DQG NLFNLQJ WKLV \HDU V 9DUVLW\ 6HULHV RII WR D YLFWRULRXV VWDUW 7KH 9DUVLW\ DGYHQWXUH GRHVQ·W HQG WKHUH WKRXJK :DWHU 3ROR LV DURXQG WKH corner. Make sure you get your tickets IRU WKLV IDVW SDFHG G\QDPLF DQG ferocious event which is taking place RQ QG 'HFHPEHU DQG VHH LI 8R% FDQ FRQWLQXH WKHLU ZLQQLQJ VWUHDN #WeAreBristol Olivia Huxtable - Sports Exec.

#bristolvarsity Tickets available now varsityseries.com

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songhoy blues grace the anson rooms On December 1, Bristol SU is excited to be hosting a live performance of Songhoy Blues and their new smash-hit album ‘Resistance’.

Songhoy Blues, is not your everyday band.

They didn't start off jamming in a band member’s garage. In fact, their roots are in Timbuktu, Mali, and their story includes the imposition of Sharia Law and a FRQVHTXHQW FLYLO FRQà LFW

of music, the desert blues music group began. The name ‘Songhoy Blues’, was inspired from the band members’ ethnicity as well as the genre of music that they play - which is desert blues.

The album, ‘Resistance’, is described by the Guardian reviewer Robin Denselow as ÂśLQĂ XHQFHG E\ GHVHUW EOXHV DQG WUDGLWLRQDO songhai styles’. However, the album shows something different within these styles with ‘tight, attacking riffs, jangling funk guitar work and the addition of brass and keyboards.’

In 2012 militant Islamist group Ansar Dine took control of the north of Mali. A law which banned cigarettes, alcohol and music, was imposed upon its people, including the guitarist and future member of Songhoy Blues, Garba TourĂŠ. ‘Even though I don't smoke or drink, I love the guitar’ thought TourĂŠ, 'This isn't the moment Quotes taken from The Guardian. to hang around’. TourĂŠ travelled south, alongside future band members Aliou See Songhoy Blues on 1 December.

TourĂŠ and Oumar TourĂŠ. Free from the risk Tickets from bristolsu.org.uk of persecution and equipped with a love

Get Ready to Rent Ready to Rent aims to make the process of renting in the private sector easier for you.

We’re keen on stressing the importance of who you live with: everyone is different and will want different things from their housemates.

We’d also like to get you thinking about the more technical things about renting; what to look out for in viewings, tenancy agreements, and guarantors. We want to make sure you’re aware of these things, and we want to make sure that you get a fair deal.

Like the sound of that? Then we’ve got you covered. We have a range of resources to make house hunting an exciting and stress-free experience.

We also have our Housing Advice Fair on 30 November. This is a great opportunity to meet ethical letting agents and take part in talks aimed at making you more housing savvy!

Visit bristolosu.org.uk/readytorent WR ÀQG out more. We look forward to seeing you there! /XFN\ 'XEH 6WXGHQW /LYLQJ 2IÀFHU

WHAT'S ON Comedy Central Live Presents: Proper Jokes December Friday 8 December, 7.30pm-9pm, Anson Rooms The Anson Room Bar has seen a lot of laughs already this term and it looks like there’s no sign of it stopping. This week's Comedy Season brings you the talent of Eshaan Akbar, Neil O'Rourke and former Bristol student Fin Taylor. Akbar has been praised as a comedian who is ‘clearly going places’ who’s been tour support for both Dane Baptiste and Micky Flanagan, O'Rourke is known for his likeable, anecdotal style which has got the comedy world talking and Fin Taylor will be doing his homecoming gig!

This is a night not to be missed. Tickets from bristolsu.org.uk Boohoo Student Sample Sale, Tuesday 28 November, 12pm-3pm, Anson Rooms. Calling all students! Ballin' on a budget? We feel ya! Nothing's above ÂŁ5 and ALL proceeds go to our charity partner - Teenage Cancer Trust so dig deep and treat yourself because it's all for a good cause.

Songhoy Blues, Friday 1 December, 7pm-11pm, Anson Rooms Bristol SU is excited to be hosting a live performance of Songhoy Blues and their new smash-hit album ‘Resistance’.

Join us as this 4-piece from Timbuktu grace the Anson Rooms for a special live performance!

Freesia Film Screening, Tuesday 28 November, 8pm-10.30pm, Orpheus Cinema Freesia depicts a multi-narrative journey that weaves between three families living in present-day Bradford. Dealing with women's rights, mosques and the IDU ULJKW WKUHH \RXQJ SURWDJRQLVWV ÀQG themselves propelled into the world of prejudice when their paths collide.

What is Prevent?, Wednesday 29 November, 1.15pm-2.30pm, UWE Frenchay Campus, 2B025 Prevent is part of the government’s counter terrorism strategy & has been widely critiqued as a racist and Islamophobic legislation. Find out more about what it is, how it manifests & who it impacts.

Housing Fair, Thursday 30 November, 10am-3pm, Anson Rooms.

6WDUWLQJ WR WKLQN DERXW ÀQGLQJ SULYDWH rented accommodation for the 2018/19 academic year? Visit the Housing Advice Fair for the information you need for safe and successful house hunting.

Bristol SU Food Market, Thursday 30 November, 11.30am-2.30pm, Life Sciences Garden.

This is your chance to sample some tasty and sustainable treats from a range of local vendors in the Life Sciences Garden. Takes place every Thursday during term time!

The Big Fat RAG Pub Quiz, Monday 4 December, 8pm-10pm, Balloon Bar Expect obscure facts, near-impossible challenges, general hilarity and extremely cheap beer. By far the best thing to do with your Monday evening!

For more information on all upcoming events see bristolsu.org.uk/events

Epigram

27.11.2017

Film & TV

filmandtv@epigram.org.uk Editor: Charlie Gearon Deputy Editor: Gabi Spiro @GearonCharlie

@GabiSpiro

@epigramfilm

Online: Tim Bustin Deputy Online: AshleyYonga @timbustin1

@ashyonga

Beyond Miyazaki - Watershed’s anime festival A look into the medium of anime and its ability to explore everything from the human condition to a simple summer’s day Tim Bustin Online Editor

Wolf Children Watershed / Tommy Curtis

Your Name

and rarely kindly, into the human condition.

The most famous example of this is the series Death Note, in which a genius high school student gains the power to kill any person in the world, in any way, from simply writing their name in a book. A cat and mouse game begins with an equally genius detective, and their clash over the nature of justice makes it, just like Perfect Blue, a great anime thriller.

Perfect Blue Watershed / Tommy Curtis

Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli is the famed Pixar of Japan.

Or more accurately, it’s Pixar that’s the equivalent, not only in terms of age, but also in quality of storytelling, animation and overall influence. Whilst many of the studio’s films are based off European stories and novels, their films have in turn hugely inspired animations all around the globe. The cuddly Totoro is a cultural icon instantly recognisable in the west, and Spirited Away is the only hand-drawn film to pick up the Best Animation Oscar.

But Watershed’s ‘Beyond Miyazaki’ festival highlights that anime as a medium offers worlds beyond the breath-taking and often fantastical settings Ghibli films inhabit. The term anime simply refers to 2D animated films and series from Japan. whilst the West focuses on creating live-action media, Japan is obsessed with animating everything. Every genre and style, from whimsical everyday sitcom to intense sports rivalry, has its place in anime culture. Needless to say, the best stuff is world-leading.

So, with that in mind, here’s what Watershed thought was worth sharing during their festival last week, and what you should check out as an uninitiated anime watcher.

Appropriate for the high-level and expansive film, 2016’s unconventional, body-swapping teen romance smashed box office records in Japan and spiralled into a global phenomenon.

Cosmically experimental and modern, a rurally-bound and a city-living teen start freakily swapping lives. By getting to literally inhabit the other’s life and leaving fun messages for each other, they grow from their parallel lives before the film evolves into dizzyingly conceptual heights. Director Makoto Shinkai is being rightfully hailed as the heir to Miyazaki’s throne of king of anime, his screenplay juggling energetic youth, internal cultural conflict, weird sci-fi and bittersweet romance by playing with time like a cat with a piece of string.

If this great work seems a little too bizarre an entry point for you, check out the film that beat it to the punch for Best Animation in Japan, A Silent Voice – an equally poignant film, about the redemption of a school bully’s actions against a deaf student.

Watershed / Tommy Curtis

Hauntingly psychological and graphic, Perfect Blue uses the backdrop of Japan’s pop idol obsession to question the nature of reality. Acting not only as an influence upon Ghost in the Shell, Perfect Blue heavily inspired The Matrix.

In the late 90s, Mima is stalked by an obsessive fan after her decision to leave singing for an acting role as a rape victim certainly a different breed of film from the Ghiblis. Whilst many anime films are concerned with the trauma left scarred on the nation from the WW2 nuclear attacks, many others delve deeply,

Wolf Children is a fantastical romance and triumph of childhood.

A young college student doesn’t care the introvert she’s fallen in love with is a werewolf: until he suddenly dies. She is left with two children unable to stay set in either wolf or human form. Retreating to the countryside to hide from persecution and shame, this is as much a film about motherhood as it is the struggling to discover who you are in the early stages of growing up. Again, Miyazaki’s influence bleeds into the cutesy nature of the countryside and character design. Through the exploration of the simplest things in fragile times, the simple setting of rural Japan can open a chasm into our own lives. Studio Ghibli’s opening in the mid 80s truly changed the landscape of anime and propelled it into modern art from its roots of little-known whimsicalness.

Did you see any anime at the Beyond Miyazki festival at Watershed? Have you seen any other Japanese animation recently? Let us know on twitter @epigramfilm

From Thor: Ragnarok to Power Rangers, is 2017 a flash year for superhero films?

‘A year for trying new things within the much-maligned superhero genre’ - a look at 2017’s superhero releases Alicia Wakeling Second Year, Film & TV

Twitter / @LEGOBatmanMovie

It’s been a thrilling year of superhero entertainment, with three instalments from the Marvel powerhouse (Thor: Ragnarok, Spiderman: Homecoming and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2) two from DC (Wonder Woman and the upcoming Justice League), Fox’s Logan, The Lego Batman Movie, and forgettably but still importantly, Power Rangers.

And they have been, for the most part, both commercial and critical hits. While Rotten Tomatoes is not the be all and end all of film criticism, it’s worth noting that out of all 2017 Marvel, DC, Fox and Lego films currently released to the public, the worst performing critically was GOTG Vol.2, standing at 82%. Five of these eight films are in the top 14 grossing films of the year, scoring over $500 mil at the box office.

Following GOTG Vol. 1. and building on the comedic elements seen in the Avengers films, Marvel this year have released full blown comedies. By taking Thor: Ragnarok to full comedy, Taika Waititi has helped the film to eclipse its two predecessors, allowing the funny Thor seen in the Avengers films to finally take centre stage. The newest revamp of Spiderman with Tom Holland has also brought fresh life to that franchise, lowering the teen angst and decreasing the scale making it a better translation of the character from comic book to screen and more relatable for everyone who is or was a teenager.

And while GOTG Vol. 2. doesn’t seem to have fully lived up to its

debut, for such a strong start in a series it is impressive that James Gunn has been able to largely keep up the quality - and that the use of pop songs for a second time didn’t feel like a gimmick.

Wonder Woman was considered a risk, slightly alleviated by Diana’s welcome reception in the otherwise poorly reviewed Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice (2016). The combination of the first female-led superhero film and the first female director trusted with over a $100 million budget meant that it was a benchmark in Hollywood, paving the way for more of these types of films if it succeeded, and dashing hopes if it failed. Unfair pressure for any film, but it rose to the challenge and is now the 7th highest grossing film of the year. It stands at $800 million on the worldwide box office, and was praised for excellent character and pacing.

An early leak of the score for Justice League seems to sit it at a mere 48%, proving that while DC is certainly improving in its filmic output, ensembles are not yet their strong suite.

Logan from Fox is particularly interesting. It has been proven that Fox know how to do a superhero movie with the X-Men franchise and its past, present and future narratives, but the two attempts at a solo film had eluded them. But with this final outing for the clawed mutant, they went with a much more adult tone with increased violence, and was hailed for nuanced acting as well as breaking the genre conventions.

One must not forget The Lego Batman Movie. Following on in the same vein as The Lego Movie (2014), it parodies the superhero genre in a way that is both loving and genuinely hilarious, so it can be enjoyed by devotees and those who hate the genre alike.

Finally, it is important to note that while Power Rangers has not

lived up to the other superhero films released this year, and entered into a climate of apparent superhero fatigue (despite being only 6/7 out of the 821 films released in UK cinemas in 2016) it is socially important. As the first blockbuster to feature LGBT+ and autistic superheroes, it shows progress being made in the genre. Hopefully other studios will follow in their inclusivity.

It was a year for trying new things within the much-maligned superhero genre, and it has paid off in spades. Is it a one off or will this high-quality streak continue? With so much good source material in comic books, it would be a shame if it didn’t now that they’ve truly shown their hand.

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Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool review - an unconventional romance of glamour and beauty Patrick Sullivan reviews the low-key, memoir adaptation - a love story between an ameteur actor and an ageing star

Annette Bening shines as the waning 1950’s black and white movie star, Gloria Grahame, in this low-key political adaptation of Peter Turner’s memoir of the same name. Jamie Bell also stars as a lovable version of Turner, Grahame’s younger lover. It follows the last few weeks of her life in 1981, spent in the Turners’ family home in Liverpool, and recounts her romance with the amateur actor from 1979 to present.

At the helm is director Paul McGuigan, whose CV consists of the much derided, Hong-Kong set sci-fi, Push, the star-studded, heavyhanded Lucky Number Slevin, and four of the best episodes from the first two seasons of Sherlock. He owes much of his success here to Matt Greenhalgh, the screenwriter, and Urszula Pontikos, the cinematographer.

“

Annette Bening is near perfect as Gloria Grahame

It occurs about twenty minutes into the film, but the unusual pair send sparks flying for the first time when Grahame seductively invites Turner into her neighbouring room in Primrose Hill, London, to assist her in her disco dancing practice. Bell’s dancing in the scene transitions to great comic effect from awkward to vibrant, and is even better for the fact that this is the same ballet-

trained actor who brought Billy Elliot to the screen. From that point on, surprisingly, you find yourself willing them into bed together.

That is credit to the work of Bell and Bening.

There is a recurring contrast between art and reality throughout, and the film’s - as well as Jamie Bell’s - best moments occur in the authentic 80’s interiors of Liverpool and Primrose Hill. The grounding and developing plot happens in a small end terrace belonging to Peter’s parents, played enjoyably by Julie Walters and Kenneth Cranham, who are regularly visited by Peter’s brother played to the point of near cringe by Stephen Graham. It is here, in the second scene, we hear the phone ring, and Peter finds out Gloria has fallen ill and wants to stay with them in Liverpool. It is the home atmosphere that is the basis for liking Bell’s character work, and another, later phone call that contributes to the emotive punch-to-the-gut of the creative focus.

The structure is a little muddled, but at times has a profound effect. During one series of flashbacks, to a time when Grahame and Turner lived in New York, McGuigan and Greenhalgh show events twice, in each of the leads’ perspectives. It is a fantastic twist, and beautifully executed. But, then again, the flashbacks are randomly placed. It feels like an excuse to use an edgy cuts when Turner walks through a door in his Liverpool home in 1981 and comes out of another in Los Angeles in 1979, or New York in 1980. It is, at times, dislocating, and the exhausting length of each flashback threatens to ruin the developing drama in the primary plot line of Grahame’s debilitating condition in the Turner household.

Annette Bening is near perfect as Gloria Grahame. It might not be as noticeable as, say, Eddie Redmayne’s transformative work in The Theory Of Everything, but her movement, speech, and mannerisms are sharp and mesmerising. Everything is a performance for Gloria. She is impossible, egotistical, selfish and, most importantly, magnificent. A favourite line of mine is at the after-party of one

“

Patrick Sullivan Third Year, Engineering Design

Getty Images

Jamie Bell and Annette Bening, starring as Peter Turner and Gloria Grahame respectively

of her plays, during a flashback to the start of her’s and Turner’s relationship, where she claims: ‘Darling, everybody here wants to f*** me.’

And yet, Bening reveals the insecure, lonely, old woman behind the effervescent spirit. Before their first kiss in her room, she takes off her jumper to show a sexy negligee top, only to recoil due to a pass-away comment: “You just think I’m an old lady, don’t you?”

The film proves to be a notso-subtle two fingers up to the Hollywood elite

These comments run as a motif, a trigger, throughout the entire film. Grahame suffers a descent all the way to a Yorkshire stage in The Glass and the attitude of the film proves to be a not-so-subtle two fingers up to the Hollywood elite, who fail to regularly provide this type of outstanding platform to an actor of Bening’s ability, simply because she is a woman over fifty years old. And even before this, Bening produced a turn in 20th Century Women, my favourite film this year, worthy of at least a best actress nomination in February this year. The whole narrative surrounding the film and the explicit criticism of the toxic environment in the script could be the sort of political message required to propel Bening to her deserving stage come February next year. However, I fear her fifth nomination may elude her due to a lack of promotion surrounding Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool.

This week in cinema history

1st December, 1979: ‘Horror has a face, and you must make a friend of horror’ - Apocalypse Now is released

Flickr / Keven Law

Hollywood in the 1970s was dominated by one man – Francis Ford Coppola. In the 10 years from 1970-1979, Coppola won 6 Academy Awards, was nominated for a further 5 and received the Palme D’Or at Cannes twice. In 1974 he became the only director to have two films nominated for best picture in the same year with The Godfather Part II and The Conversation, with the former eventually winning outright just as the original Godfather had two years prior.

To end out this run of cinematic genius, Coppola released Apocalypse Now in 1979, a film which many regard as his finest work. It’s a loose, psychedelic adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness which transposes the source material onto the dying years of the Vietnam War. It’s a darkly comedic, surreal, and often at times harrowing account of the anarchic nature of war, a nature mirrored by its infamously troubling production stage.

Filming of Apocalypse Now was riddled with difficulty and controversy: a typhoon tore through Manila where filming was taking place destroying a number of valuable sets; Marlon Brando arrived on set severely overwieght and seemingly uninterested in the production; and the lead, Martin Sheen, suffered a heart attack half way through filming, delaying the production further.

All these events are explored in detail in the 1991 documentary Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse. The mythos behind the creation of Apocalypse Now has become inseperable from the film itself, and if anything, enriches it, adding to the tension and difficulty which define one of the greatest depictions of war to ever grace the silver screen.

Charlie Gearon Film & TV Editor

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Blue Planet II and the moral responsibility of environmental filmmaking

James Turnbull questions the role of nature documentaries in the fight for conservation

BBC / Justin Hofman

James Turnbull Second Year, English After Planet Earth astonished viewers by shining a light on the magic happening on dry land, Blue Planet II is here to take us back underwater – sixteen years after The Blue Planet hit television screens. It’s absolutely mesmerising, of course; remarkable technological advancements in documentary filmmaking make every frame look worthy of a museum’s walls, and David Attenborough’s storytelling abilities are a perfect fit for the aquatic theatre of the underwater world.

Of course, any foray into matters environmental nowadays means a certain inconvenient truth must rear its ugly head: climate change. Apart from a brief mention in the first episode’s opening

minutes, the topic doesn’t properly enter the spotlight until its final segment. Here we watch a herd of walruses desperately clambering atop tiny scraps of ice in an arid, slushy wasteland.

It’s a ‘show, don’t tell’ approach for the most part – and even this is too much for those who would rather skirt the issue. The Telegraph’s Christopher Booker felt the need to ‘well actually’ that segment, even using it as a springboard to criticise the BBC’s coverage of the increase in CO2 levels in 2016. Maybe he has a point about how walrus numbers have technically increased in the last thirty years, but to so aggressively pick holes in something like this speaks volumes about his priorities.

Anyway, the episode, and the subsequent reactions to it, got me thinking: what sort of stance should nature documentaries take?

Indeed, should documentaries take a stance at

all? Questions like these seem to be on more and more people’s lips nowadays, and I understand to a certain extent. In the interest of fairness, both sides surely deserve a fair shake, and it would be dishonest to just present one side and stick to it. Every question is eternal, and the important thing is that we never stop debating. May the best idea win, and all that jazz.

As much as that sort of approach may sound fair, the urge to present both sides of every argument can be problematic. Even in the case of global warming, some people seem to believe that because an opposing viewpoint exists, it deserves as much of a pedestal at all times.

Blue Planet II takes an emotive approach to this climate change centrism; before the finishing blow that is the walrus footage, the camera zooms out to a gigantic coral reef with spots of white bleaching around the edges. It taunts the

viewer: are you sure you want to ignore this?

The filmmakers set out to faithfully document the underwater world, and by simply showing the mark our actions are made, they have taken their side. If you choose to close your eyes to the inescapable truth of the situation, you’re taking yours too.

Forcing a documentary on the natural world to pander to the both sides platitude with regards to climate change is just acquiescing to spinelessness – the urge to put your fingers in your ears and yell ‘la la la I can’t hear you’ when someone suggests something needs to change and change quickly. If the truth is uncomfortable to us, that’s no excuse not to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty. Nature documentaries are asking us whether we are fine with this, and it’s time for us to take a deep breath and tell them the answer.

Manifesto - a stylistic exploration of the creation process Sára Neužilová reviews Julian Rosefeldt and Cate Blanchett’s homage to all things artistic Sára Neužilová Second Year, Theatre and Film

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Encounters / Jacqui Barr

In Manifesto the words of Dadaists, Futurists, Surrealist, Expressionists and many more come to life. The superb two-time Academy award winner Cate Blanchett transforms into various different characters that are part of the contemporary world, while delivering lines from several art manifestos. Her delivery ranges from scary to comic. Particularly ridiculous, yet chilling is her role. As a middle-school teacher, she tells her young students ‘Nothing is original. So you can steal from anywhere...’

The film pays tribute to the culture of manifestos and urges contemporary artists and public alike to think about the world we live in and how we view the creation process. The overall effect of Manifesto is one fluid, bursting experience that will leave the audience in silent bewilderment. Each sequence can be viewed as a separate piece, but once they are all put together they create a haunting choir of different voices and echoes, leaping from one to the other

without a break, the audience cannot escape it and is in a sense forced to be a witness to it.

One of Manifesto’s taglines is ‘Art requires truth not sincerity’ and that is exactly what the film offers. The editing and layering of stories is not particularly comfortable, but it is the truth.

As Julian Rosefeldt tried to explain in the postscreening Q&A session, ‘themes and sentiments tend to repeat over course of time and history,’ and so ideas that had a similar vibe were joined together to create one wholesome text narrated by one actor. The editing of the film itself is a subtle nod to a practice from long before; it views likes a Dadaist collage, putting seemingly random passages together with the purpose to impose a feeling of disturbance on the audience.

Both Rosefeldt and Blanchett agreed that the text, and the film, believe in art as a means of change in modern times.

If there is one art-house film to watch this year it is definitely Manifesto. Cate Blanchett does not simply recite the manifestos, she embodies them.

In this sense, Manifesto is a proclamation of the importance of those who create manifestos, as well as the manifestos themselves.

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The Killing of a Sacred Deer review - an off-kilter tragedy Max Langer gives his thoughts on Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’ surrealist psychological thriller Max Langer First Year, Film & Television

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The Lobster (2015) - Yorgos Lanthimos’ dystopian black comedy - was a critical favourite when it was released a few years ago. Taking the Jury prize at Cannes as well as several other awards, its stilted dialogue and twisted plot managed to balance being both uncomfortable and hilarious.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) is Lanthimos’ latest filmic attempt and on the surface, it seems very similar. Collin Farrell still leads the cast and the dialogue is still beautifully blunt and underplayed. However, the film takes on a very different feeling from the The Lobster.

Taking its source material straight out of Greek myth, Sacred Deer retells the punishments of Agamemnon. For those of you not up to date with your Greek tragedies, Agamemnon was punished for killing a sacred deer - makes sense, right? - by the god Artemis, being commanded to kill his daughter Iphigenia.

Lanthimos’ modern take on this tale follows Steven Murphy (Farrell), a cardiologist who seems to have life pretty much sorted. However, after secretly befriending teenage Martin (Barry Keoghan), the son of a deceased patient, Steven’s family start falling mysteriously ill seemingly due to Martin’s wishes.

Sacred Deer’s tone is possibly its strangest and most effective aspect. The sinister plot, dry dialogue and screeching score really gets under your skin, making every scene feel like an impending disaster. As the plot moves forward, this premonition changes to helplessness as the characters drift ever closer to madness.

However, Lanthimos manages to subvert this feeling by breaking the tone without warning through perfectily delivered lines of pure comedy gold. The dialogue itself is not comedic,

although occasionally absurd, and the delivery is definitely not, but it manages to pierce the tension perfectly.

Substantial portions of the plot take place in spotless hospital rooms, Steven’s house is kept in a pristine condition and every line is delivered deadpan. All of these aspects give the film a sterile feel which I can see alienating many audiences.

This is compounded by the appearence of often sexual and violent actions, which take place with little notice and, at times, little reason throughout

the film. Lanthimos, like other auteur directors, favours style over the comfort of the viewer. But for many Sacred Deer may be a step too far.

Sacred Deer is interesting due to its plot, but without the high quality of performances it would have miserably missed its target. The whole cast appear to be on the same wavelength, with conversations taking on a staccato rhythm - which is a testament to Lanthimos’ direction. Although the stand out is definitely Barry Keoghan, who most people will probably

recognise from Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk (2017). He manages to strike a balance between menace and vulnerability, making him feel like a victim as well as a perpetrator in the tragedy unfolding onscreen.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer continues Lanthimos’ run of independent critical darlings and his distinctive style seems more refined and effective than ever. Whilst the cold and off-kilter tone may put some viewers off, if you can cope with its quirks Sacred Deer is well worth a watch.

Editor’s Picks

To celebrate Bristol’s Reclaim Month, here are four of the best films exploring violence towards women HBO / Youtube

A24 / Youtube

Barfurtura

Wikipedia / Wiki Commons

Charlie Gearon

Gabi Spiro

Tim Bustin

Ashely Yonga

Editor

Deputy Editor

Online Editor

Deputy Online Editor

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Te doy mis ojos (2003)

Room (2015)

Big Little Lies (2017)

Based on Tennessee Williams’ play of the same name, Elia Kazan’s version of A Streetcar Named Desire is a masterclass in human drama. It follows the story of sisters Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) and Stella Kowalski (Kim Hunter), and Stella’s husband Stanley (Marlon Brando) after Blanche comes to stay with the couple after suffering a psychotic break. Stanley is deeply suspicious of Blanche and makes this known through his abusive treatment of both sisters. It’s a perfect depiction of a deeply insecure man overcompensating for his lack of self-assuredness by asserting his dominance over those physically weaker than him. Streetcar remains a heart-breaking and woefully relevant illustration of the manipulative and destructive power of a man hopelessly trying to retain control over the women around him.

Te doy mis ojos is a beautiful, hard-hitting piece of Spanish kitchen-sink cinema, praised widely for its unflinching treatment of domestic violence.

The film features Laia Marull’s haunting, stark performance as Pilar, a housewife abused at the hands of Antonio, played by Louis Tosar. The film tackles the inescapable complexities of loving an abuser, the concerns of raising a child within this environment, and the way in which love and violence are closely tied for a lot of domestic abuse sufferers. Te doy mis ojos aptly highlights domestic abuse as a wider cultural issue that permeates society and needs to be treated with sensitivity.

Room’s brilliance is five-year-old Jack’s viewpoint of his mother’s perpetual rape and sevenyear imprisonment in a single locked room.

The simplistic setting combined with brilliant directing is a platform for imagination to flourish, both joyfully and nightmarishly – Jack is his mother’s only source of comfort and they delight in drawing together and playing games. Room is bold for how it tackles such sensitive topics and for spending a good chunk of time showing that even after escape, there is no respite; wounds take a long time to heal and sometimes they never do.

But even with themes of depression, attempted suicide, pain and divorce, Room manages to find amongst the mess a bittersweet hope in the lives of everyone who’s experienced seemingly unconquerable troubles.

Big Little Lies tell a story set in the past and present, where a murder has taken place in a suburban Monterey, California. Within this whodunit tale, the plot of domestic abuse is intricately weaved and we get to experience the life of Nicole Kidman’s character Celeste Wright. Celeste is a sophisticated, beautiful and put-together woman to the outside world.

Behind closed doors, however, her marriage with her husband, Perry Wright, played by Alexander Skasgård is anything but the picture of tranquility she has painted for all her friends and neighbours. The show highlights the effect of domestic violence on Celeste as she internalizes it, as well as indicating how domestic violence can impact a family’s children.

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arts@epigram.org.uk

27.11.2017

Arts

In conversation with Simon Armitage Alexia Kirov chats to the acclaimed poet about song lyrics, walking and ‘Gawain’

“

For someone with so many awards... there’s not a touch of smugness or pretension. What else is noticeable is the sense of poetic rhythm even in the way he speaks

Alexia Kirov in conversation with Simon Armitage

are the preconditions to thought’.

In 2007, Armitage published his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.‘I don’t speak any other languages.

Some people claim that I don’t even speak English! To have become familiar enough with Middle English as another language has been a great experience, to such a point where I haven’t wanted to let it go. I’ve gone on to translate other poems from the period.’

I know when I go out for a walk I usually come back with a poem or the makings of a poem. I think it’s just a chance to think

His translation of ‘The Death of King Arthur’ was shortlisted for the 2012 TS Eliot prize, whilst Pearl won this year’s PEN America Poetry in Translation award. He sees the translation of such texts as something very important. ‘If people don’t translate those poems, they become further and further distant. I’m not trying to pretend it’s some kind of public service that I’m performing here, but I think every once in a while a space opens up when you realise that the last translation has the language of

Epigram / Charlie Gearon

I tell Armitage that I came to his work when my English teacher saw my shrine to The Smiths, if you can call printed out pictures blu-tacked to the inside of a desk lid a shrine, and pointed me in the direction of his book Gig, about his life as a music fan, and his interview with Morrissey.

With a broad smile, he muses on his own admiration for the Mancunian singer.

‘What I always liked about Morrissey and The Smiths is the detail. The kitchen sink detail. The nuts and bolts of everyday life are all in there. It’s not just all wispy abstraction. It’s recognisable nouns, objects and phrases and I like all that campness, and just the associations with life as you recognise it and live it’.

Does he believe that song lyrics are poetry, then? ‘No!’, he says decidedly. ‘I have very strong opinions about this, which I am now about to unload on you. It’s just that song lyrics are written to go with this weird stuff called music.

We don’t really understand music, if you play a Middle C, we don’t really know what that means. It’s got associations, but it hasn’t got a dictionary definition’.

When words are set to music, ‘it becomes something else.

‘Most song lyrics are written to be parcelled up with, not just music, but performance, identity, posture, image, lots of other elements. In a song, you can get away with ‘la la la la la’. Put that to the right chord sequence, and it can be really transcendent. You can’t get away with that in poems. Poetry has to be its own score. You have to provide

Epigram / Charlie Gearon

Maybe it’s partly that weird feeling you get the day after being up most of the night finishing an essay. Maybe it’s partly the fact that I’ve spent the best part of the last decade loving his work.

Maybe it’s partly the grandeur of the oak-panelled room in Wills Memorial Building. But sitting down to chat with Simon Armitage – ‘poet, playwright, novelist, childminder, lead singer of The Scaremongers’, according to Wikipedia feels surreal.

To that list, you can add Oxford Professor of Poetry, Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds, and a remarkably lovely person to interview.

For someone with so many awards, who has just filled the 800 capacity Great Hall, there’s not a touch of smugness or pretension. What else is noticeable is the sense of poetic rhythm even in the way he speaks, as he advocates for the place of contemporary poetry in the school curriculum, ‘students can be slightly befuddled and bewildered to come up against some big slab of Chaucer’.

for all those other aspects just through language. At the end of the day, I know that they share material and techniques, but ultimately they are separate art forms’.

Filed under ‘extra-curricular’ on his website is Armitage’s band The Scaremongers. Writing the lyrics for their 2009 album Born in a Barn was a different process than writing poetry. ‘I usually get it wrong as a songwriter, I try and pack too much in there. I don’t trust the music. That’s not to demean song writing as an activity, it is an art form in its own right, and I completely admire those people who do it well. But I was definitely a poet writing song lyrics’.

He’s surprised that I’ve heard his pursuits with The Scaremongers – but the likes of ‘Less is More’ and ‘You Can Do Nothing Wrong (In My Eyes)’ could rival the output of many more well-known indie bands. He kindly offers ‘if you ever need 1000 [copies of the album] I’ve got some in a cupboard somewhere’.

More recently, Armitage has swapped the frontman’s mic for a pair of walking boots. In 2012, he published Walking Home, detailing his adventures of traversing the Pennine Way. 2015 saw the release of its follow-up, Walking Away, in which he journeys the 630-mile South West Coast Path.

Beyond writing those two books, walking also influences his poetry.

‘Somebody once said that one of the things about walking is that it’s a cross between doing nothing and doing something. I think that middle ground has a lot of associations with poetry. It’s a good place for a daydream, a walk. You’re usually only interrupted by imagery and not by conversation. So, thoughts develop, and they tumble along, and you wander, and your heartbeat is up a little bit, your blood’s moving a bit.

‘I know when I go out for a walk I usually come back with a poem or the makings of a poem. I think it’s just a chance to think. If you’re on your own in the house, you usually end up doing something. When you’re on a walk, you’re captive to not doing anything really, because you’ve got to keep walking. They

“

Alexia Kirov Music Editor

Simon Armitage reading his work

a previous generation’.

His translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has been included in the ninth edition of the Norton Anthology of English Literature. The backbone of many an English Lit degree, it could be said that being anthologised in such a way has secured its legacy as a work that will be read, particularly by students, for decades to come.

But Armitage’s aim with his translation has been to push the poem’s readership beyond a relatively esoteric, academic context. ‘It was very important to publish it, in the UK at least, in something that didn’t look like an academic volume. It was presented as a mainstream poem, that people could just pick up in a bookshop and read as non-specialist readers’.

How would Armitage like to be remembered in a hundred years’ time?

‘You’re naturally most inclined towards the things that you’re working on at the moment, just because it proves you’re still going and you’re alive’, he laughs.

After pausing for thought, he decides, ‘I wouldn’t mind, in a hundred years’ time, if my name was attached to the work of the Gawain Poet. Just because it represents a kind of lineage, heredity, and that I formed a bond with somebody from 600 years ago and pulled a bit of the language through’.

But he modestly concludes ‘It’s impetuous to think about the future. I’ve always said that you can only really write for the here and now. You can’t have any idea about which way the language is going to develop. Most poets don’t get read. Most poems only get read once, that’s by the person who wrote them!

Just the idea of having any readers in a hundred years’ time is almost too much to hope for’.

Armitage once wrote ‘only amnesia takes the past away’. For all his modesty, it would take an amnesia epidemic for his work not to be read in a hundred years. There’s something else that can be added to that Wikipedia list: he’s one of the most prolific and best-loved writers of his generation.

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27.11.2017

40

@EpigramArts

Up your dating game Cuffing season is in full swing: impress your date with some of Bristol’s most artsy destinations Star crossed muggers: George and India go mug painting Second years, George and India, trialled potterypainting café, Flying Saucers, for their date. George studies History with Innovation and India studies Medicine. The pair has been going steady for 6 months.

What kind of thing do you usually do for dates?

Why did you choose pottery painting for your date?

hands the entire time we were painting. Heartbreakingly though, George had to leave early for a lecture so that’s why I could only give this date a six.

Any final comments?

What would you rate the art destination out of 10? Please explain your score.

G: 9 - It was really hard to concentrate on painting my mug with India sat beside me, but after I resurfaced from the depths of India’s eyes I started painting a mug with my baby’s favourite animals - orcas - a heart-warming experience.

I: 6 - I could barely catch my breath for most of the date. It was almost impossible holding onto my mug - I just wanted to hold my little bear’s

G: Turns out mugs are the oysters of the art world.

I: Once your date has left a party of mothers with their babies is possibly the worst company for mug painting ever.

Epigram / George Gill

G: For our dates we usually go for long walks in the park and try and tick off another butterfly in our spotters’ guide. Then we like to get a warm hot chocolate and snuggle by the fireside.

I: We wanted to be the couple from the film, Ghost (the 1990 romantic thriller starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore). However, pottery classes are beyond our price range, and we’ve heard that mug painting is the oyster of the art world.

Since the creative date went so well, George and India are looking to strengthen their connection through the medium of art, and have booked in for an interactive body art class.

Antics at the Arnolfini: Flora and Hannibal check out Grayson Perry’s Exhibition Second year Geographers Hannibal Knowles and Flora Whyte kindled their romance over their love for features of glaciation - especially drumlins. For their first date, they wanted to try something arty so ventured to the popular Grayson Perry exhibition at Arnolfini.

Why did you choose Arnolfini?

Epigram / George Gill

H & F: A friend recommended it to us, and we needed to fill a Sunday afternoon What would you score it out of 10 for a date destination? Please explain your score.

H: As every man does in this new world of man buns and rompers, I was having a masculinity crisis and where better than to feel self fulfill-

ment and peace of mind than meandering my way through the Grayson Perry exhibition on a Sunday afternoon with my girl who does not prescribe to gender roles by any accounts - I do the cooking, she does my tyre pressure. I would give it a 10 out of 10 for inspiring good discussion as well as being genuinely engaging, no need to feign interest.

F: I’m going to say an 9.83. Perry’s work proved accessible enough to not fully expose my ignorance of most things arty and the variety in his work resulted in easily maintainable conversation. The venue also gets bonus points for having the second most flattering lighting in all of Bristol, superseded only by the Observatory at sunset with a can in my hand, a handy feature for any potential woo-ers or woo-ees.

Any final comments?

F: The whitewashed walls of the Arnolfini supplied a sufficiently photogenic insta backdrop to convince my followers back home that whilst at Bristol I have evolved into a culturally wise seductress. 5 stars, would recommend.

H: Would definitely recommend to anyone with a free afternoon, or anyone having a masculinity crisis.

Since their date, Flora and Hannibal have shared many a tender moment considering the intricacies of Grayson Perry’s work. For their next rendez-vous, they are wconsidering delving deeper into each other’s souls by sharing pasta followed by erotic charcoal drawing.

Getting flirty at the flicks : Lucy and Luke watch Loving Vincent at Watershed Second Year English student, Lucy Russell, met her Fourth Year Law student boyfriend, Luke Kosky, through Debating Society. For their date the couple went to Bristol’s independent harbourside cinema, Watershed, to watch the world’s first fully painted feature film, Loving Vincent.

LR: Most of our dates involve a lot of food and not a lot of going outside.

LK: If we go on dates they normally involve food, making food or eating food.

LR: I really like Watershed, also a lot of my housemates had seen Loving Vincent and said it was beautiful.

LK: 4/5? I thought it was a bit weird to go see a film about a painter that shoots himself as a date – bit depressing. It wasn’t a great film but I think bad movies give you more to talk about afterwards so maybe that’s a good thing?

What would you score it out of 10 for a date destination?

LR: Having said that, Watershed is such a nice cinema, the film was aesthetically beautiful but some of the dialogue was very cringe. I was also high-key aware that Luke probably wasn’t enjoying the film at all, mainly because he kept laughing at all the really sombre moments.

LR: Probably a 6? Not sure I really love cinemas for dates just because you can’t really talk to each other - even though that’s sometimes a good thing I guess.

Lucy and Luke’s shared dislike for Loving Vincent as a date film has only served to strengthen their bond. For their next date they will be returning to what they know best: food.

LK: Honestly I wasn’t interested to see the film, but Lucy was!

Epigram / Lucy Russel

What kind of thing do you usually do for dates?

Why did you choose Watershed for your date?

Supporting feminist magazine TWSS’s student writers and illustrators That’s What She Said is an awardwinning intersectional feminist magazine made by students at the University of Bristol. Due to a change in funding, TWSS is asking for help in order to keep our biannual print edition as low-cost and beautiful as possible.

Any contribution would be appreciated greatly, and if you donate £5 or more TWSS will send a free copy of Issue 14 directly to your address! You can find the link to their Kickstarter page on the ‘That’s What She Said Magazine’ Facebook page.

TWSS would also like to invite you to their print magazine launch party: ‘Join us for a magical night of live music, spoken word, drinks and intersectional feminist chat.’ This will take place at the Arnolfini Gallery on Friday 8th December, 7pm-10pm, and entry is free.

See the event on our Facebook page for more details. We look forward to hopefully meeting lots of you there!

Thanks from the TWSS Team!

Epigram

27.11.2017

41

Where are all the men in the arts?

Cameron Scheijde offers his opinion on the gender disparity within the arts at university and how to encourage male involvement

Some would argue from the biological standpoint that men’s brains are different and therefore somehow less equipped to study or enjoy the arts. Whilst this might be a small factor, I think that it is a dangerous standpoint to argue.

Instead, it would be far more apt to analyse the expectations of modern society and how, in almost every way, men are discouraged from selfexpression or artistic exploration.

From an early age, men are forced into boxes that are hard to escape, boxes that discourage outward displays of emotion, vulnerability and freedom of expression

While the girls always embrace this expression, boys overwhelmingly tended to find these activities awkward and difficult. It was as if the boys had never been told ‘express yourself, cry, be emotional’ and didn’t know what to do.

I’m not a professional psychologist so I cannot link my experiences to overarching trends, but my knowledge of societal expectations show that men struggle to express themselves. Since art is, in its very purest form, expression, it should be no surprise that society sets up a system that perpetuates a predominance of women in the arts.

Similarly, men aren’t represented in arts-level degree courses, in part, due to historical patriarchy that has favoured men as the ‘bread winners’ of families. Men have traditionally been forced

Epigram / Charlie Elsesser

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Is it because men are less capable of expressing themselves through art? Is it just the way our brains are wired?

It only takes a scan of the newspapers a few days ago to witness the horror from establishmentbacking press at self-expression. The Church of England embraced, at long last, that boys can wear tiaras or dress up in traditionally ‘girly’ clothes. The uproar was depressingly predictable.

From an early age, men are forced into boxes that are hard to escape, boxes that discourage outward displays of emotion, vulnerability and freedom of expression. I have worked for, and been a member of, youth theatres that encourage everyone to feel free to express themselves which is the underlying principle of art, after all.

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into degrees in science, technology, engineering or maths as those are the highest-paid career paths. Perhaps a lack of male involvement in arts subjects is therefore a hangover from when gender divisions were more entrenched than they are today.

Perhaps a lack of male involvement in arts subjects is therefore a hangover from when gender divisions were more entrenched

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There are, as of 2016, 66,840 more women than men in degree courses - a difference that has more than doubled in the past seven years. The degrees where the gender gaps are the most pronounced are overwhelmingly found in the faculty of Arts; History, Philosophy and English Literature being a few examples. In fact, the overall trend has pointed to one simple conclusion: women are outnumbering men at University. Whilst the gender gap is less pronounced at Russell Group Unis such as ours, it is still a huge trend amongst arts degree courses.

The difference doesn’t end there. Attend any musical theatre, drama, art or music extracurricular event at Bristol and the imbalance is clearly apparent; where are all the men?

Is it because, somehow, men are less able to be creative? Is it because men are less capable of expressing themselves through art? Is it just the way our brains are wired?

“

Cameron Scheijde Online Comment Editor

What is to be done, then, to improve male involvement in the arts? The first step is to improve, from an early age, education in Arts subjects. Patriarchy has traditionally taught that men have to be strong in maths in order to pay for their family; today that isn’t the case, but we still teach our boys to uphold this standard. The government constantly bang on about the importance of STEM subjects whilst simultaneously cutting arts grants to shreds.

Epigram / Stefania Kasouni

If we teach our boys to show emotion through artistic expression, it will not only encourage greater involvement, but men will feel more comfortable expressing emotion

The link I’m trying to make here is that the patriarchy has historically taught that the working lives of women are somehow ‘less important’ than the working lives of men. Perpetuating this difference is the rhetoric that Arts subjects or art in general is ‘less important’ than science,

technology, engineering or maths.

Of course, there are many more women getting involved in STEM subjects and vice versa with men in the arts, and to an extent this general trend will increase organically without the need for much action. However, that does not diminish the importance of arts education for boys and young men.

If we teach our boys to show emotion through artistic expression, it will not only encourage greater involvement, but men will feel more comfortable expressing emotion. The idea that the arts are ‘weak’, hence female dominated, will shatter and another step will be taken in disassembling difficult patriarchal stereotypes that, in one way or another, inhibit us all.

Do you feel men are underrepresented in the arts at university?

Will encouraging more male students to be involved in the arts help them to feel like they are able to express themselves?

Add your comment online at :

facebook.com/epigramarts @EpigramArts @epigramarts

Want to have your voice in Bristol’s Arts scene? Get involved as a writer or an illustrator by joining our facebook groups and coming to our fortnightly Writers’ meetings

Epigram

27.11.2017

Music

@epigrammusic Editor: Alexia Kirov

Deputy Editor: Kate Hutchison

Online Editor: Joe Samrai

music@epigram.org.uk

#Save Thekla: our response

Max Turnpenny talks to The Louisana in light of Thekla’s recent closure threats about how cultural hubs are consistently undercut by developers

Elliot Brett @ Crofters Rights, 12.11.17 Arthur Lawson Cross Second Year, Classical Studies

Unfortunately, however, Thekla’s story is just the most recent in a narrative of problematic planning battles and forced closures of live music venues, in Bristol and across the UK. The Fleece, another gig venue nearby, faced a similar dilemma last year when developers received planning permission to renovate an office block over the road into residential apartments.

Ultimately, The Fleece came out on top with the money for soundproofing coming out of the developer’s pocket, but not without a fight so significant that they were name-dropped in Parliament. I gather from my chat with The Louisiana team that grassroots music venues are understandably tired of having to deal with what Laure says is the ‘same problem over and over again, just in different areas of the city’.

The recurrence of these problems speaks to a streak of institutional mismanagement, predicated on a lack of understanding of the role and value of live music. Laure scoffed at the irony that, in the case of The Fleece, once ordered, developers had spent thousands on soundproofing the venue, without realising that the majority of noise caused by venues

They offered up groove driven tracks, wandering synths and hushed vocals. These elements were clearly encapsulated in their strikingly catchy track ‘Nonsense’, a clear highlight of the set and first in the tracklist of their new EP Into The Ocean, released on Memorials of Distinction.

The nostalgic haze left by Tree House seeped smoothly into the droned synth that marked the start of Elliot Brett’s set. Improvised flourishes of saxophone and cymbal shimmers were suddenly pierced by a driving drumbeat which signalled the descent into the eponymous title track of Brett’s first EP, Sanity.

Next was new release ‘So Kind’, the most hopeful and jovial song on his new EP; unashamedly bringing attention to the musical progression which had taken place between releases. Highlights in the set included ‘Why Are You Sleeping Alone?’ which descended into a surprising trap beat which got the crowd moving and ‘I Miss Loving You’ which also garnered a positive reaction from the crowd with its house inspired rhythms.

The songwriting felt mature and well thought out, with immersive melancholic vocals cleverly juxtaposed with surprisingly upbeat synth. His lyrics from what I could tell, although sometimes simple and cliché, delved into noteworthy themes such as past relationships, identity and depression.

Thekla’s campaign banner, Facebook

comes from smokers standing outside. Mig also expressed his frustration that, when applying for a brown, point-of-interest road sign for The Louisiana, the representative from the council had simply said, ‘but, it’s a pub’. By contrast, the recently renovated Tobacco Factory – a restaurant, bar and exhibition space – has been given brown road signs. Mig suggested that this was an example of how recognition relied less on the value of your contribution, but on who you know. He said that it was an unspoken rule that, as venue in Bristol, ‘if you’re not part of a certain club’, your chances of being properly recognised were slim.

The one thing we’ve got is that our local MPs do realise how important grassroots music venues are

The picture is not completely doom and gloom, however. Mig noted that ‘the one thing we’ve got is that our local MPs do realise how important grassroots music venues are’. Kerry McCarthy - the Labour MP for Bristol East - for example, raised the concerns of the owners of both The Fleece and The Exchange when they faced identical problems with new residential developments. Bristol City Council also seems, at least, aware of the value of music venues and

The rest of the band’s impressive musicianship and the inventive use of analogue synth and a sign-wave generator meant there was no risk of the night becoming too dark and downcast.

As the set ended calls for an encore were answered, with Brett getting back on stage alone with just him and his laptop. Phone lights and lighters gently swayed in the air which caused Brett to scoff at the ridiculousness of the night, clearly taken aback by the warmth of the crowd.

The song fittingly ended with the repeated lyric “I’ll be here waiting, at least till later”. It was clear the crowd certainly hoped he would be, at another venue, soon.

After the buzzing crowd filtered out of the venue chatting excitedly, CCTV unfortunately showed two men sneak in and make off with Brett’s laptop. It is so gutting that after such a positive night that not only is Brett’s laptop stolen but all his unbacked up music and future ideas stored within. A hurried search is carried out, but the men are long gone.

These events offer up a clear warning to students that enjoy nights out in Bristol to be safe and aware, as places that are meant to bring people together can sometimes be scenes of such anti-social behaviour.

It would however be a shame for such people to tar this uplifting night and I strongly recommend

their role in protecting them. Their Strategy for Bristol Culture states the importance that Bristol ‘nurtures an ecosystem of diverse practice’, which hints an inclination to recognise music venues alongside mainstay art galleries and theatres.

I asked Mig whether he thinks that the council’s commitment needs to be more evident. ‘I think so, definitely’, he replied, but he also noted important support from other groups, like Music Venue Trust, whose CEO Mark Davyd had been in recently. The MVT is a registered charity hoping to secure the future of iconic grassroots music venues, by publicising the huge sums of money they generate for the UK economy. On the back of this support, Mig said that Thekla, like other music venues, should remain confident, and ‘if developers do come along, you just have to tackle them on head-on’. Changes in the law will also be an important part of this. Though in part due to The Fleece’s case, the law has changed so that developers have to consider music venues more in the planning stage, there is still a long way to go in ensuring this is done properly.

It seems then that, despite the rivalry and frustration stoked up last week, that the overwhelming moral of #SaveThekla is a good one. Despite the struggles faced by music venues, there is an emerging network of support to rely upon. Regarding what students can do to be part of this, Mig and Laure’s message is simply to vote with your feet - ‘just go to gigs - show your support by going to shows.’

listening or buying Brett’s music to support him and to catch him at any new gigs he has planned in the upcoming months.

Epigram / Aron Shelemy

Having spent the past year cocooned, playing small support gigs and song writing, Elliot Brett’s debut headline show at The Crofters Rights was the grand unfurling of his new sound. Having released his What I Wanted EP earlier that day, and with a six-piece live band, the night was heavy with anticipation for new music.

Crofters was swamped with students, all eager to see this relatively new artist. Even the bar staff seemed taken aback by the vast turn out. Before getting stuck in the crowd were first welcomed by the Nancy Wilson-esque vocals of Rosa Gosling.

Recently back from working with producers in Nashville, Tennessee she was keen to show us what she had been creating, performing an ASMR inducing mixture of covers and originals.

Up next were North London’s Tree House.

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Thekla’s story is just the most recent in a narrative of problematic planning battles and forced closures of live music venues, in Bristol and across the UK

Facebook / Thekla

‘Have you been to the club on a boat yet?’; one of the first questions I, and probably many others, got asked when back at home after my first term in Bristol.

Last week, however, the news of threats to Thekla’s continued existence broke out of the usually insular sphere of music journalism and into national news. Alongside Jeff Johns - the arms, ears and fluffy hair of Bristol’s live music scene – a wealth of artists and DJs, from IDLES to Roni Size, gave their support and shared nostalgic memories of early gigs, providing a testament to the diverse range of music that Thekla nurtures.

The proposed development which puts all this at threat will plant itself across the harbour in Redcliffe Wharf. Much like every other development project you’ve ever heard of, this one – which now has a green light from the council – will turn two derelict buildings into a mixed-use housing, commercial and leisure space.

I spoke to Mig and Laure, who run the bookings at one of Thekla’s neighbours, The Louisiana – a legendary pub and music venue, famous for it’s role in Bristol’s music scene, about the issues ‘#SaveThekla’ had dredged up.

In 2006, The Louisiana was facing similar problems. They received noise complaints from a new neighbour who moved in two doors down.

Despite accommodating the neighbour as much as possible, and participating in meetings with the city council, they eventually had to spend thousands of their own money on soundproofing.

The cost was so high that Mig had to sell his house to pay for the changes.

The same sort of illogical narrative is being played in the Thekla case, with the new development seemingly able to decide what happens to the structure of the surroundings that it places itself in. Frustratingly, this placement rarely seems sensitive to, and far too often at the expense of, the cultural fabric of these surroundings. Especially in the context of central Bristol, noise is just a fact of life. As Mig points

out, ‘If you live in the centre of a city, particularly in the centre of a city like Bristol, expect some kind of disturbance at some point’. In which case, why should the onus lie with Thekla to justify their role in the place they already exist? After all, as Mig states, they ‘were there first’.

The Louisiana is even older. Built in 1805, originally as The Bathhurst Hotel, it has housed music for over 100 years and run by Mig and the team as a music venue for thirty years. Live music is an intrinsic part of the ‘historic setting’, which Aspect 360, the company in charge of the planning application for Redcliffe Wharf, claim on their website, the development will ‘enhance’.

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Max Turnpenny Second Year, Philosophy

Elliot Brett playing at Crofters Rights: 12.11.17

Epigram 27.11.2017

43

An interview with The Slow Readers Club Music Editor Alexia Kirov chats to Aaron Starkie, frontman of The Slow Readers Club, about their current tour, their writing process, and filming a music video in a disused fire station.

Alexia Kirov Music Editor

Abstract Orchestra @ Marble Factory 11.11.17 Tiarnán McCartney First Year, Film and Television

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utterly transfixed to head swinging ecstasy.

Two skilled guest MCs addressed the crowd with machine gun accuracy and a fierce energy that ran harmoniously parallel to that of the Orchestra.

It was a creative interpretation rather than a faithful reproduction of the album

It was a creative interpretation rather than a faithful reproduction of the album. Abstract Orchestra dropped a few solo MF DOOM tracks here and there, as well as some original bars, which kept the Villain fans on the edge of their seats.

True music lovers know that everything of merit will transcend genre. This was proven as an East Coast modern hip-hop classic with instrumentals inspired by trips to Brazil were brought to life with jazz instrumentation by the orchestra from Leeds.

It was a vivid display of talent; lower range brass flexed its fat muscles while scorching

still writing the lyrics when we’re in the studio.

More often than not I’m doing that actually… I think I like the pressure of it.’

Most of the time we’ll write from a jamming session

From the perspective of someone who is a huge fan of both bands, getting to see The Slow Readers Club support James was a brilliant experience.

For Starkie, it was ‘mind-blowing’, and also an opportunity to develop ‘in terms of performance’.

He feels ‘I had been fairly static until that point.

That’s okay when you’re in a venue like Night and Day in Manchester, where it’s just 300 people – but when you’re playing to 3000 people you need to give a bit more’.

Whilst the 2016 James tour might have been The Slow Readers Club’s first chance to ‘play really big stages’, it certainly won’t be their last. They boarded the decks of Thekla on November 17th to play another sold-out gig to their ever-growing fanbase.

rock and roll flautists flaunted their skills.

Haunting samples filled the room like an unseen presence alongside the grins of the conductor as he threw his gang sign semaphore direction to the band, illustrating vividly the pride and passion they all have for their art.

Defiant cries of ‘hell yeah’ from MCs and the wild audience brought the show to its final climax.

Epigram / Tom Whitson

The sticky, sweet smell of Marble Factory underpinned a certain reserved anticipation on Saturday night as the room filled out ahead of Abstract Orchestra’s appearance.

The mandatory howl of Bristol and the band roared into gear with blaring, riotous fanfare.

The diversity of age and origin of this 16piece orchestra was reflected in a remarkably cohesive audience made up of Abstract fans, fans of MF DOOM and simply lovers of pure and striking live music. The expressions, I noted, of the punters in the first row ranged from

improved’ on their previous material.

‘Lunatic’ is the first of the new tracks to have been officially released. Of its music video, Starkie says ‘it’s a step up, performance wise’, as ‘I move a lot more than I’ve ever done before. It’s quite kinetic, in the choruses, especially in the way that Chris [from video production company Croftwerk] has cut it.’

The video ‘was filmed at London Road fire station, which is a massive disused fire station’ – the ‘families of fire service people used to live there’, including Starkie’s mum. With ‘crumbling seventies wallpaper’, the band ‘wanted something that sort of resembled an abandoned asylum, to fit the theme of the tune, and that was the nearest place [they] could think of to achieve that.’

So how do songs that are adored by so many fans come into being? ‘Most of the time we’ll write from a jamming session, it might start with a bassline, or a keyboard line from me, or even a beat sometimes’, says Starkie. The next step is to ‘ad lib a vocal melody over, and sing absolute nonsense for a while, just something that fits in terms of intonation’. In terms of lyrics, sometimes they come straight away, but ‘other times, I’m

“

But there has already been a taste of what’s to come from their third offering. In addition to ‘Through the Shadows’ and ‘Lunatic’, new tracks that have already become firm live favourites, the setlist for last month’s Dublin gig included two more new songs. Starkie is rightfully pleased that ‘one, in particular, seemed to go down very well’ and that they have ‘kept the standard if not

The Slow Readers Club playing at Thekla: 17.11.17

Guy Marcham First Year, English

Epigram / Alexia Kirov

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It will be released around March next year - fingers crossed

This month, Peaky Blinders returned to screens for season 4. Guy Marcham discusses its soundtrack.

Facebook / @LiceBristol

The story of The Slow Readers Club is a remarkable one, and one that proves that determination and hard work pays off. It’s also one of paradoxes. Frontman Aaron Starkie humbly says that the band are ‘just four guys who have still got day jobs’, yet they’ve sold out every gig on their current UK tour. Despite having two albums under their belts, The Slow Readers Club remained unsigned until a few weeks ago.

Yet, through word-of-mouth, supporting the likes of James and The Charlatans and undoubtedly, the unparalleled relationship they have with their fans, their fanbase has ballooned over the past couple of years. The Manchester four-piece have been dubbed ‘probably the biggest band you’ve never heard of’, but it seems that could be about to change. Starkie hopes that the additional backing of the label Modern Sky UK ‘will be another step up the ladder in terms of going out to Europe and the US possibly, and getting a lot more festivals and that kind of thing’.

With their sights set on touring beyond the UK, 2018 will be an even busier year for the band than this one has been. 2017 has seen them embark on two headline tours, play a string of festival dates, and support James again at Manchester’s Castlefield Bowl. Indeed, they are ‘getting quite near towards the end of [album three] now’ and hope ‘it will be released around March next year – fingers crossed’. With just a ‘few more tracks to finish in the run-up to Christmas’, fans have a lot to look forward to in the coming months.

A blindingly good soundtrack

Abstract Orchestra at Marble Factory: 11.11.17

Nick Cave. Check. PJ Harvey. Check. The White Stripes. Check. Radiohead. Check.

The return of Cillian Murphy as the razor flat cap wielding Brummie Gangster, Thomas Shelby, in BBC Two’s Peaky Blinders not only means the return of a remarkable TV series but also the return of an equally remarkable soundtrack.

The certainly stylish hit series about a 1920’s Birmingham gang called the ‘Peaky Blinders’ is a brutal, gritty and brilliant example of TV at its finest. The show draws an all-star cast from the likes of Tom Hardy, Sam Neil and brand new addition, Adrien Brody. However, the show is also home to one of the best soundtracks to ever grace British television screens.

In most TV shows, the music and soundtrack are only heard within the distant background.

However, in director, Steven Knight’s BBC cult drama, music plays a bolstering, raucous and spine-chilling role within the series and its overtly stylish production.

Over the top of visceral scenes of sin, deception and bloodthirsty gang warfare, the distortion laden riffs of Jack White and menacing lyrics of rock music’s ‘Prince of Darkness’, Nick Cave, add to an atmosphere of grit, crime and corruption.

The show’s anachronistic musical soundtrack accentuates scenes of immense violence and bloodshed through the electrical charge and ferocious noise of The White Stripes’ ‘When I Hear My Name’ and the muscular surging drums of Royal Blood’s ‘Out Of The Black’. Even the insidiously cool characterisation of gang leader, Thomas Shelby, is intertwined with the twisted strut of Queens Of The Stone Age’s 2005 hit ‘Burn The Witch’ and in times of uncontrollable anger, Nick Cave’s 1985 single ‘Tupelo’.

The music within ‘Peaky Blinders’ not only soundtracks a path of destruction and violence, but also works wonderfully within some of the series most intimate and emotionally evocative scenes. In particular, the use of Radiohead’s ‘Life In A Glass House’ during the finale of Series 3 and Thom Yorke’s spine tingling eerie vocals on Radiohead’s ‘You and Whose Army’.

Musical icon and legend, David Bowie, even asked director, Steven Knight, if his music could be used on the show. As a result, Bowie handed Steven Knight a copy of his posthumous album, Blackstar, just before his death so that his music and in particular ‘Lazarus’ could be used to an enthralling effect.

While other TV shows also boast brilliantly woven soundtracks such as The National’s contribution to Game Of Thrones in the form of the ghostly and sinister track entitled ‘The Rains Of Castamere’, the amplified wall of hard hitting guitars and threatening lyrics of the spectacular Peaky Blinders soundtrack is incredibly hard to beat, from the very first gong of Nick Cave’s opening song, ’Red Right Hand’ – a menacing and perfect start to one of the best soundtracks ever constructed.

Epigram

Puzzles

27.11.2017

@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 is to find a word. Some clues here can give you a letter, a number or a symbol.

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?

If you need any help, contact the editor by email or through social media

Word grid Word links 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.

18= Average 24 = Good 30= Excellent

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.

SEA THIRD STONE HIGH TYPE

HOLE BOARD FLOWER STAR BOLD

Just a phrase Find the word which can come before each of the four words given, in each case giving a common two-word phrase. E.g. LIFE line, LIFE time, LIFE less.

1. Kill, Block, Rage 2. Drop, Pack, Lash 3. Work, Time, School 4. Paper, Boy, Room 5. Stand, Ball, Written

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.

Cryptic Crossword - A look back in Time ACROSS 1. Dancing hips alter ions and bonds (13) 8. Marc’s ordered to turn around and head South. He leaves. (6) 9. Not one to play fair with a terrible teacher (7) 11. Old red cups in need of being tidied (7) 12. With energy, Gavin admitted defeat (4,2) 14. “Mr Blue Sky” band may make bullfighter cry (3) 15. Worship one of these. Pop, perhaps. (4) 16. Inexpensive rotten peach (5) 17. Set fire to fashionable soldier over by Tennessee (6) 20. Snake-like movement has lit her heart (7) 21. Friend, I’d end looking white (5) 22. Concur on a sin, endlessly (5) 23. Rats! Reverse position on celeb (4) 24. In Verona, does he sing about being out of one’s depth? (2,4,4,4) DOWN 2. Houdini’s key supporter (12) 3. A SCUBA tank will possibly help with counting (6) 4. Is Dante confused? Rather! (7) 5. Agreeable French city (4) 6. Ordered chair, Charlie? (12) 7. Funky retro pants. Right for delivery driver (12) 10. Twice the right amount of energy is soothing, say (5,5) 13. Shut headless Rhodes up and clown around (5,4) 18. Spontaneous expert in India misses vaccinations, initially (6) 19. I’m in the clear, possibly, to have chocolate pastry (6) 23. It’s about herpes, perhaps (3)

Set by Peter Kay

Follow us on Twtter @EpigramPuzzles If you would like to join the Puzzle Team email puzzles@epigram.org.uk

Epigram

46

27.11.2017

Convert lbs to £ - getting physical pays UoB Sport

Nicky Withers Sports Editor

everyone. Shift that hangover by rolling straight out of bed and into a yoga session. You’re not restricted to your own halls, so you can meet up with your course mates for a class, or follow your favourite session as it does the rounds.

If you’d rather keep your flat for sleeping in, there are plenty of activities available as part of the B: Active Campus program, with most events either at the SU or SEH. Start your day with some exercise that leaves you pumped and awake for lectures, or de-stress after a library sesh with some social sport. Some of these sessions are free and the rest are only £2.

If you fancy grabbing some mates and going to a few a week, it’s better value to get the #WeAreBristol membership, making all of these sessions free to attend and costing only £5.99 a month - a tiny investment when you consider the extra money you’ll potentially make as a graduate.

If the gym environment is more appealing, an off-peak membership is only £15.99 a month, and for an extra £4 a month, includes access to 42 classes from Monday-Saturday.

Alternatively, if you’re not keen on the gym environment, for the lower of those two prices, you can access the pool. Swimming is a great option

for a full body workout without putting strain on your joints and is a great way to keep fit. It will also help you keep your head above the water where deadlines are concerned!

Ultimately, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Finding something you enjoy is trial and error, if you don’t like football why not try

yoga? If that’s not your thing then turn up to boxercise. Whatever you end up doing, you’ll definitely feel then benefits of it rather than doing nothing.

If you’ve been involved in the This Girl Can events, keep the ball rolling!

Check out the details of all the membership options on the UoB SEH website.

Twitter / B:Active

November: a grim month full of dark mornings, dark evenings, drizzle and deadlines. It’s very easy to fall into a pit of stress and self-pity around this time of year, but eventually we’ve got to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and engage in some self-help.

After our recent article on the revamped prices and increased offer for students to participate in sport and physical activity, I went to meet Pete Burrows, who works for the University as Physical Activity and Health Development Officer.

He also co-ordinates the Healthy Minds program, which helps individuals referred from student services to improve their wellbeing through physical activity.

When asked about engagement in sport at the University he said: ‘Encouraging students and staff to be physically active is a hard sell - the benefits for general health and well-being are well-known and to continue to beat that drum would be patronising. So, instead, here is a call to arms for all students currently looking to do well in their exams and earn a decent salary when they graduate!

Engaging in physical activity both long term and during your exam period is research-proven to mediate stress, improve concentration, positively affect attainment grades and even boost employability. Don’t miss a trick here people, you can get access to the facilities for as little as £4 a week and it will likely help you a good deal more than energy drinks and all-nighters in the ASS library.’

BUCS conducted research titled ‘The Impact of Engagement in Sport on Graduate Employability’ which resulted in some astounding findings. Analysis of 155,853 graduates revealed that those who took part in sport and physical activity had an average annual household income of £6,344 than those who do no sport.

Furthermore, graduates are more likely to be unemployed if they did no sport and extra-curricular activities.

So, how can you get ahead of the game and cash in on all these benefits?

There’s more than one answer, but when it’s cold and wet there’s no need to leave your halls or spend a single penny. B: Active Residences is a programme that hosts free classes within halls for first years and they’re totally FREE. With a wide variety of activities, from pilates to tennis, there’s something for

Girls in action at social netball as part of B:Active Campus

UoB Sport

UoB student on charity cycle to the ‘Dam Leah Roberts Second Year, German & Russian

“

and affecting film I’ve seen in my life; the whole audience was stunned into silence.

The second and arguably most difficult reason to admit is that I’m extremely lazy. I don’t really do anything - just ask my friends, my mum or my lecturers.

Watching Unrest really hit a chord because I have the amazing gift of being healthy enough do so much, yet I do so little. If a 900km bike ride is what is

necessary to spur me into action, then so be it. I have the pleasure of completing this bike ride with my partner, who is frankly obsessed with bikes. It really gets on my nerves, but I guess it comes in useful in such situations.

Now that I’ve started training, I’m honestly terrified about the prospect of cycling such a distance, but at least Northern Europe is flat in

comparison to the absolute hell that is Park Street when you’re already five minutes late for your 9am lecture.

The ME Association have been wonderfully supportive of my efforts and endlessly grateful; I would encourage you to learn as much as you can about ME, the ME Association and my campaign in general.

Wish me luck, I’m going to need it.

Sometimes I wonder if I’ll make it out of Bristol

I became intrigued by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome after watching the film Unrest at the Watershed, which was followed by a Q+A with the producer of the film.

Jennifer Brea, the creator of the film, said ‘Making the film saved my life in a thousand ways. I don’t even mean that as metaphor - I mean, it literally saved my life.’

Unrest is essentially Jennifer’s story about how she’s left bedridden after being hit by a fever. When doctors tell her ‘it’s all in her head’, she turns her camera on herself and her community as she looks for answers and fights for a cure.

The film really shocked me into acting to fight the disease and I would urge you to see it. It’s probably the most harrowing

Epigram / Meloy Kelly

In summer 2018, my partner and I will begin the seemingly monstrous task of cycling nearly 900km from Bristol to Amsterdam, to raise as much as possible for the ME Association, a charity that aims to offer help and support for all people in the UK who are affected by ME/CFS, while also playing very active parts in the medical, welfare and general national arenas.

ME, or Myalgic Encephalopathy, is the official name for the disease more commonly known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Why have I chosen to do this, you may ask? Well, I’m actually terrible at cycling.

I’ve fallen off many times, including: on Park Row trying to avoid the U1 bus, outside Asda when my shopping threw me off balance, and even once on my own driveway - where I also recently broke my arm roller-skating. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll make it out of Bristol, never mind through three different countries.

The main reason I’m doing this is that the cause of ME is currently unknown, and this debilitating disease affects people of all ages, races and genders. There is no cure for ME and no universally accepted treatment.

Since there is still no cure, the 250,000 people in the UK who live with ME will probably never get the chance to do an activity like this after their diagnosis.

The fact that most of these people will never recover really resonates with me and therefore I have chosen a cycle ride to promote awareness.

Leah not looking too impressed after falling off her bike in the leaves

Epigram

27.11.2017

47

David Bates First Year, Ancient History

first year.

DB: How much potential does the sport have to grow?

NS: I think the sport has huge potential; it is starting to gain some of the recognition it deserves from the University. More and more people have heard of it or played a bit, and the quality is going up massively. It is a very exciting time. Our club continues to grow year upon year and the amount of people playing at universities across the country is increasing too.

DB: What are your aims for this season?

NS: We want to qualify for the men’s Division One Nationals, the top 16 in

the country, and we are well on the way to doing that. We have qualified for the Nationals in both the men’s and mixed indoor divisions with our women’s qualifiers around the corner. We are going all out to smash it indoors! I would also like to see some of the stunning talent we have in the club develop.

DB: How important is the ‘Spirit of the Game’ in Ultimate Frisbee?

NS: Ultimate Frisbee is unique in the fact that it relies entirely upon fair-minded players and great sportsmanship to uphold the spirit of the game. The ‘spirit of the game’ is the most important rule we play by

Ultimate

Bristol 2s 2-1 Southampton Solent 1s and in essence it says that every player on the pitch does what they should do to ensure everyone can enjoy the sport they’re playing. Nobody can intentionally violate or manipulate the rules to gain an advantage which I think makes Ultimate the most fun and fair sport while still holding on to its serious competitive side.

DB: What would you say to anyone thinking of joining?

NS: Come and try it out; everyone is welcome. We have massive beginner’s sessions at the start of every year which are great fun, and that’s where it all begins. We welcome players of any ability, just be willing to give it a go!

Bristol 2s 7-1 Gloucestershire 2s Bath Spa 1s 0-8 Bristol 3s Men’s Rugby Bristol 1s 28-7 Cardiff 1s Cardiff Met 3s 13-14 Bristol 2s Gloucestershire Bristol 3s

2s

17-24

Women’s Rugby

Fantasy Football

The ultimate frisbee team in action during their win against UWE

Next up was the captain, Rob Angel, who couldn’t help but rile up the already raucous Bristol crowd with Will Griggs On Fire for the walk on. The bicep dartboard tattoos clearly made all the difference with Angel showing his opposite man the door after just two legs to the crowd’s tuneful rendition of Robbie Williams’ Angels.

victory for the Bristol Varsity Darts team that transformed seven men into cult heroes etched into the history books.

The players posed for pictures with adoring fans and Rob Angel paraded

the trophy about the Walkabout stage in front of the crowd. Shortly after, the victors and their followers headed to the triangle for a night to remember (that they surely won’t).

Epigram Sport is running its very own Fantasy Premier League. Feel free to join!

Epidivisie Code: 787477-1079615 Good Luck!

Socio-economic and character based commentaries ensued between the two sets of fans

Socio-economic and character-based commentaries ensued between the two sets of fans before the mercurial Bertie ‘Gabbiadini’ Lloyd took to the stage, to James Blunt’s You’re Beautiful - a fitting walk-out song and a favourite with the sufficiently inebriated crowd. Lloyd lived up to expectation and despite a wobble in the second leg, he won match five 2-1 to put Bristol 3-2 up with two left to play.

UWE rallied back and took the next with Nathan Clarkson going down 2-1, leaving a clash between Neil Stephenson (Bristol) and Martin Clayton (UWE) for the title. Despite Martin Clayton being widely recognised as one of, if not, the best player on the stage that night, Neil Stephenson’s infallible bottle helped him to a sensational 2-0 win in the finale. In doing so, Stephenson sealed a dramatic

Twitter / Bristol SU

Bristol University Darts made history last week, coming back from 2-0 down to win for the first time since Varsity began. The scenes at Walkabout were a far cry from last year’s 7-1 drubbing and prior years of defeats.

Over 500 students packed into Walkabout bar on Corn Street to witness the 2017 renewal of the Varsity Darts.

The sell-out crowd was predominantly from the University of Bristol, including some top-class fancy dress with the likes of a ketchup and fries and a human dartboard bouncing about the venue.

The action kicked off with professional darts MC, John Fowler, as the bars began to run out of Carling. Chants of ‘Oh Seb Al-Hariri’ rang out as the beer man himself completed his walk-out, while rather lewd chants welcomed his UWE opponent. Al-Hariri couldn’t quite match the crowd’s enthusiasm, however, and despite winning the first leg, lost the first match to put UWE 1-0 up in the overall matchplay.

The Bristol faithful continued to roar but it was once again to no avail as UWE’s Kieran Lucas made light work of Nick Main to put the former polytechnic 2-0 up. All was not lost though as Charlie Ebdon catalysed a mammoth comeback from the Bristol boys, capping off his destruction of Luke Bunclarke with an inflatable guitar performance to behold.

Women’s Football

Oxford 1s 22-14 Bristol 1s

First Varsity victory for UoB Darts Jack Harbidge Third Year, Geography

Men’s Football Cardiff 1s 3-1 Bristol 1s

Twitter / The Mythago Beast

Ultimate Frisbee, the up-and-coming sport on the block that is captivating university students across the country.

Watching it for the first time will intrigue any spectator, as the pace and skill of the players never fails to disappoint. Colloquially known as ‘Ultimate’, the sport is a combination of American Football, Netball, Basketball and Athletics.

The aim for the two teams is to move the flying disc into the end-zone that they are attacking, without being allowed to move with the disc in hand.

The ‘spirit of the game’ is a key aspect of the sport, as it provides a friendly atmosphere because it is self-officiated.

Bristol’s club enter two men’s teams in the BUCS league and compete in many tournaments during the year.

Training takes place from 2:00 until 4:00 on Wednesdays and Sundays on the Downs. I caught up with men’s captain Nathan Sanders.

DB: What made you want to take up Ultimate Frisbee?

NS: I had heard so many good things about it. Anyone who had been gave the most positive reviews. I checked out the stall at Freshers’ Fair, and I went along with a couple of hall-mates who were also keen and we loved it. I kept going along and eventually became good enough to play competitively.

Ultimate is such a great sport because you improve so much so quickly and I was picked to be on the first team in my

introducing...

Frisbee

“

Epigram

BUCS Results Weds 15th November

We are the champions! Smiles all round from the victorious University of Bristol Darts team

Epigram

27.11.2017

Sport

@epigramsport Editor: Nicky Withers

Online Editor: Ben McCall-Myers

Deputy Editors: Tim Godfrey Twiss & Felix Rusby

sport@epigram.org.uk

Blood, sweat and pears at the Sodbury Slog

UBACCC / George Presland

Crossing the finish line after a long, tiring and muddy run

Amelia Atkinson Third Year, Medicine

was,’ he told Epigram. The success of his technique was evidenced in his placing of seventh out of a field of 1161 finishers. J-Lo contributes his success to his Inov8 mud claws (‘It was as if there was no mud at all as I glided around the course’) and due to his regular attendance of the Tuesday night interval sessions, which have clearly done wonders to his speed endurance.

Amelia Atkinson, third year medical student, has always known that her ‘spirit fruit’ is a strawberry.

‘When I found out the UBACCC theme for this year’s Sodbury Slog I was absolutely over the moon! It’s always been my dream to dress up as a strawberry and I relished the opportunity by going very ‘3D’ with my outfit. It was handmade - admittedly my amazing housemate Tess helped a LOT and Remembrance poppies were sewn onto the strawberry body to create the seeds. It was, however, a painful run as I was pretty cold and having to hold my arms out of the costume really challenged my non-existent arm muscles. I was therefore grateful for the fantastic support from the Cath Kidston clad chiddlers of Chipping Sodbury who spread ripples of giggles across the countryside as a giant berry stumbled past them.’

Naturally, there were a few wardrobe malfunctions along the way, with Daniel Van Helden

Keep up to date with what’s happening on Twitter at @epigramsport Interested in writing for Epigram Sport? Head over to the Epigram Sport Writers 2017/18 group on Facebook for more information! becoming a banana split at mile two and Harry Leonard losing the crown of his pineapple. He confides that he did feel a tad self-conscious having to hold his crown upon his head for the all-important sprint finish photograph.

Ben Burgess Smith, captain of UBACCC and a hardcore track athlete, pulled out an impressive performance, coming 52nd. The cross country girls were pretty peeved that a track guy – who should have felt alien on the muddy terrain – beat them. It was concluded that his rogue success was a testament to the level of fitness that UBACCC’s athletics training achieves. This didn’t stop the cynics among us suggesting that his height (6ft 5) was of great advantage to him in the ditches. *Fake News: avocados are botanically considered a fruit, but food-wise are classified in the vegetable group because they are not very sweet and are often eaten as a vegetable.

UBACCC / George Presland

Every November, runners travel from all over the UK to participate in this race, set in and around the town of Chipping Sodbury.

Attracting more than 1300 runners, the route has remained virtually unchanged since the first race in 1990. The course is ten miles of variation: snippets of village road running, a very marshy Sodbury Common, a few watery stream excursions, a sheep dip, multiple stiles, a twenty-metre-long pig trough, one exasperatingly long hill and vast expanses of undulating muddy field edges.

As you might be able to tell, the unique appeal of the Slog exists in making participants run through the muddiest route possible.

Another element of the slog is the encouragement of fancy dress.

The University of Bristol Athletics and Cross Country Club (UBACCC) have been long-standing attendees of the race. This year we had forty of our finest runners representing the club. Every year, we pick a theme even better than the year before. After much deliberation, we settled upon fruit and vegetables for current students, and farmers for alumni. Hand-sewn costumes,

bunches of balloons and three very absorbent banana costumes took to the mud, bravely undeterred by official emails disclaiming responsibility for any animal-borne illnesses we may pick up on the way.

At 10:40am, with just 25 minutes left before the race, the runners assembled ‘en masse’ in the car park for a HUGE Zumba warmup. A sexy pro Zumba instructor, flagged on either side by two glamorous assistants, was directing flary movements from a raised stage equipped with speakers.

Enthusiastic star jumps, hip thrusts and jazz hands were all a bit of a surprise to one of our bananas, Daniel Van Helden, who was expecting a more disciplined warm-up tailored to prepare the serious runners for a tough sixteen kilometres. Nonetheless, it’s safe to say that the warm-up is a unique aspect of the Slog. It’s shameful to think that for some of us this was our first experience of dancing ecstatically in fancy dress in public outside of the perimeters of the animal hunting ground that is Gravity (ahem, Bunker). Twenty minutes of awkward laughter later and it was time to pay our respects to Remembrance Sunday.

Next came a mad rush to the start line which involved jumping

over barriers and walls to get to the front of the pack. If you didn’t have your wits about you, you’d be stuck behind hundreds of runners which would force you to queue to get through the obstacles and make you suffer from even muddier conditions as the ground was progressively torn up by the contestants in front of you.

For Henry Putley, fourth year Physics student, this was his first ever cross country race. Although he had many miles under his belt, along with a strong performance at the 2016 Copenhagen Marathon, he admits to underestimating how difficult this race would be.

Along with many other UBACCC participants, Putley had been pondering his crop of choice for weeks before. There was serious debate over whether certain foods come under the bracket of ‘fruit or vegetable’.

‘I was going to be an avocado because I enjoyed the ‘avocardio’ pun, but then I was disappointed to be told by a Biology friend that avocados are actually a seed!

Eventually, I settled on a runner bean instead, which turned out to be more streamlined anyway.’

James Lewis - colloquially known as J-Lo - went as Pickle Rick from Rick and Morty. ‘I went as this because it was a simple costume that I could still run well in…even if many people had no idea what I

All dressed up and a long way to go! UBACCC ready to take on the Slog

UBAFC brave the lack of shave for Movember Henry Edwards Second Year, History

Ian Rush, David Seaman and even Joey Barton for a bizarre and thankfully brief spell: the famed gallery of moustached footballers knows no bounds. It is the facial hair of these greats of the game that the lads of UBAFC will have been seeking to emulate this month, as they took part in Movember for Men’s Health.

The club initially set out to earn £2,500 by abstaining from the razor, but had amazingly surpassed this halfway through the month. The aim, according to UBAFC Charity Secretary Daniel Lord, is now to be pushing towards the £5,000 mark, an ambitious but encouraging and

laudable objective.

Lord explained the club’s decision to engage in such a worthwhile enterprise, stating that the wish to make a positive difference off the field was something on the group’s mind. The opportunity to simultaneously raise awareness of and promote donations towards an issue as important as men’s health was something the club was eager to plunge into.

The matter of men’s mental health is very close to many members’ hearts. One such man is 4th XI goalkeeper James Stevens, whose relationship with mental health serves as a hard-hitting reminder of the prevalence of such

issues across our society. James’ story of his struggles at home and in dealing with his emotional fragility is available to read on the JustGiving website, where you can make donations to the cause in relation to UBAFC. James writes that living in a home in which he felt a responsibility to be “the man of the house” led to a personally negligent attitude to his emotional wellbeing, leading to feelings of guilt, perpetual negativity and even self-harm. The great strides he says he has made stem, in his view, from conversations with friends, university staff and counselors. By striving to tear down the dangerous taboo surrounding

the subject of mental health, James writes that he is “learning to deal with my emotions and who I am as a man.”

James’ brave confessional story is by no means a societal outlier: mental health problems, often caused as a result of the cultural shame associated with expressing and coming to terms with one’s emotions, have a very real hold over the lives of countless people in this country and the world. The fantastic work done by UBAFC to support an extremely worthwhile cause is a significant and inspiring one.

If you would like to support the team in their Movember challenge, the best way to do so is through the

Justgiving site, in which you can donate to the pages of individual players, which then contributes to the overall total. Excitingly, to earn yet more money for the cause of men’s health, the UBAFC players will take on the University’s very own Netball team at the latter’s own game. The big match is due to take place in the University Sports Hall and will be only £2 to watch the spectacle; proceeds will, of course, go towards the cause in question.

If you happen to bump into a group of Gary Neville lookalikes around Bristol, it is fair to assume that they’re probably members of the UBAFC, and definitely worthy of a pat on the back.