Exeposé Issue 648, 18 January 2016

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Examination errors stress out students

18 JAN 2016 | ISSUE 648 | TWITTER: @EXEPOSE | WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/EXEPOSE | FREE

Politics, Economics & Biology exams disrupted Angry students describe responding with “panic”

Susannah Keogh News Editor

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ULTIPLE errors in exam papers have affected hundreds of students across the University, raising questions regarding the scrutiny of exam papers.

Three separate exams known to Exeposé were disrupted by errors and confusion. The first, was in a Biology Animals exam on Wednesday 6 December, worth 50 per cent of the module mark. Students were repeatedly stopped by invigilators as it became apparent that the exam included numerous errors.

In one instance, a four-option question was incorrectly listed as a five-option question. Elsewhere, a question with options iii, iv and v were wrongly detailed as options ii, iv, and iv. The exam was interrupted in order to communicate the Biology exam inaccuracies, an action which also affected final year Modern Foreign Language students sitting their exam in

Features: Should Britain stay in the EU? An indepth analysis of student opinion Page 12-13

the same room.

Sophie Wakefield, a Biosciences student affected, said: “As a first year student, this exam was one of my first and therefore I was surprised that so many issues were present on one of the first papers I sat. It was frustrating that we were interrupted mid exam for the corrections to be made, but the invigilators seemed to deal with it well and we were given extra time to compensate for the time we were distracted.”

An anonymous fourth year Modern Foreign Languages student sitting her exam in the same hall commented: “Our exam was only one hour long so it was very troubling to be distracted, as it’s very hard to get back into the exam flow. Advanced translation requires an immense amount of concentration, and I feel that the disruptions, alongside the location choice - we were at the Tennis Courts and could hear gym music from next door! severely hindered this.”

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Housing fair: too little, too late?

Photo: Natasa Christofidou

Fiona Potigny News Editor

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TUDENTS and letting agencies have expressed concern that the Housing Fair was left too late this year, following “unprecedented” student panic in finding off-campus accommodation for the coming academic year.

Jon Carden of Cardens Estate Agents, which had 270 student properties available in November last year, claimed that students who attended the fair on Tuesday 12 January were left “disappointed to find that we had only 22 properties to offer following the rush for accommodation pre-Christmas.

“We would anticipate that the majority of those properties would be let in the coming week, leaving a very limited choice thereafter. The market has un-

Lifestyle: The nation’s fave First Dates star: Exeter’s Louisa interviewed Page 16

doubtedly changed and it may be that consideration ought to be given to the Housing Fair being held earlier in future years, in order that students who wait for the fair to look for their accommodation are not at a disadvantage.”

Star Lettings, who came to the Housing Fair with just seven houses to advertise, echoed these remarks, claiming that they had let “about 90 per cent of properties before Christmas”.

Speaking at the Housing Fair, Star Lettings Director Cara Khadaroo told Exeposé: “It’s been the quietest Fair we’ve had in about five years, and that’s because a lot more were let before Christmas. It seems like more exhibitors aren’t here either. At half past one, it was very quiet and that’s very unusual indeed.”

With fewer properties on offer at this year’s housing event, many students were

Music: We pay tribute to pop pioneer and cultural icon David Bowie Page 18

left “panicked” – some even resorting to queuing outside estate agencies in the early morning in order to sign contracts.

“I queued outside a letting agents this morning at 8:30am to sign for a house to make sure we’d get it,” Dom Self, thirdyear Engineering student, told Exeposé: “We’ve left it to January in the past, but this week was chaos. I made bookings at the Housing Fair that were cancelled by 9:00am on Wednesday, and there were landlords at the fair advertising for 2017/18!”

Amid this “chaos”, Rory Cunningham, Community Liaison Officer, still believes “students who don’t rush into housing contracts have a much better experience. Taking some time to reflect on the kinds of people you want to share a house or flat with can result in a more...

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

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2 NEWS

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COMMENT FEATURES LIFESTYLE 12-14 16-17 8-10

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In brief

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BUCS PULLOUT

ARTS & LIT SCI & TECH 24-26 28-30

GAMES 32-33

SPORT 35-36

Exeposé News

NEWS EDITORS Susannah Keogh Fiona Potigny

Chopping food to 10,000 steps now cut student costs on the curriculum Student life is well known as a time to scrimp and save but, with the average UK tuition fees now the highest in the world, it seems that some are taking the principle to extremes.

According to a survey of over 800 university students, almost one third said they had gone without eating for a day or more in order to manage the cost of living. Some students even reported that they had turned to food banks for help.

The survey, which was conducted by website The Student Room, also revealed that one in ten students had resorted to a payday loan services, while 13 per cent admitted to stealing goods.

Meanwhile, one fifth claimed to have ditched heating and electricity for a week or more.

SCREEN 20-22

An American university is asking that incoming freshman wear a FitBit in a unique fitness program.

Freshers at Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma will wear the electronic fitness device, monitoring whether they take 10,000 steps a day.

Speaking about the iniative, William M. Wilson, President of the university, described the program as “one of the most unique educational experiences in the world”.

Launching the iniative in 2015, ORU was the first university in the world to pilot such an initiative.

In 2013, the Christian university was rated the fifth healthiest campus college in America. The FitBits will allow professors to access the information logged.

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University news from beyond Exeter Stories compiled by: Susannah Keogh and Fiona Potigny

Student expelled for Fed up freshers working too much are dropping out An academically-talented foreign student at a Danish university has been forced to abandon his studies in his �inal year, after being deported.

Marius Youbi, an electrical engineering student at Aarhus University, returned to Cameroon earlier this month after working ninety minutes more than overseas students are permitted in a week in his part-time cleaning job.

Despite Youbi’s hours not exceeding the limit when averaged across the year, the Danish agency for recruitment and integration rejected his appeal.

Youbi spoke of his disappointment, but remains hopeful that the Danish authorities will change their minds. “These are four and a half-years gone up in smoke,” he said.

Nearly one third of freshers have given the thumbs down to university life, having either already dropped out or planning to do so this this summer.

Reasons cited in the MyVoucherCodes survey of 1,200 students from across the UK included expenses, disliking their course or university, having found a job or being generally “disenchanted with further education”.

Psychotherapist and wellbeing researcher at Uni of Derby Gareth Hughes advises: “No matter how many activities and events students cram into the first term, they will still benefit from trying new things and meeting new people.

“First-year students should try joining some new students’ union clubs and societies. If they are worried about making friends, they can contact their university’s student wellbeing service.”

Hoverboards banned Academically, looks Student nurses protest bursary axe are everything from taking off

Uni survey studies student sex habits

Hoverboards may have been the hottest product last year, but a fire hazard has hindered their launch at a multitude of US universities.

More than 20 US institutions have forbidden all use of the self-balancing electric scooter on campus, after reports that the device can burst into flames, often after it has been placed on charge.

The decision comes following a report from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is currently investigating 28 fires caused by the ‘Swegway’ devices in 19 states.

While many university campuses have claimed that the “safety of students, faculty, staff, and visitors” is their priority, one second-year student at Shawnee State University in Ohio was less than grateful.

“Honestly I was really disappointed.

I don’t think it’s right to ban them. I mean, it’s a college campus – not a high school,” he said.

Student nurses across the country have been protesting government plans to axe their bursaries.

The annual bursary from the NHS, which can range from one thousand pounds to four thousand depending on the place of study, will instead be replaced with loans, similar to how most undergraduate degrees in the UK are funded.

Eight hundred million pounds a year will be saved through the changes, according to ministers, who argue these extra resources will lead to the creation of more training places for nurses in the UK. However, Chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, Janet Davies, said: “Removing the bursaries will have a serious impact on nurses financially and put the future supply of nurses at serious risk.”

The University of Southern California has been criticised by students after it required them to disclose a three month sexual history before they could register for classes.

The questions, which were optional, but part of a mandatory online survey, asked students to tally how many sexual partners they had been with in the period.

In an email apologising to students, USC said the survey was needed to keep compliance with the federal Violence Against Women Reauthorisation Act. Undergraduate Jacob Ellenhorn said he was concerned about the confidentiality of the data.

“It said it was anonymous, but at the same time, they were keeping track of whether I was answering or not, because I wouldn’t be able to take classes or graduate without completing it,” he said.

Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who’s the cleverest of them all? According to new research from Colorado, it’s attractive females.

A research project run by professors from the Metropolitan State University of Denver found that students who are more attractive tend to get higher grades and earn more money in later life.

Presented in paper Student Appearance and Academic Performance, the research compared performance of students in online classrooms, with participants’ ID photos rated in advance.

While appearance had a smaller impact online than in class, there was still bias, leading the authors to conclude that teaching staff were more likely to invest time and energy into good-looking female students, improving their academic performance.

For males, physical appearance had no impact on achievement.

EXEPOSÉ

House of horrors: fair fails to deliver CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE ...harmonious tenancy,” he said.

According to students, such advice shows the University to be “out of touch”. With an estimated attendance of nearly 2,000 students battling for the remaining properties, “nearly everything I saw [at the fair] was signed for by someone else 2 hours after the viewing.

There’s not enough time to deliberate, leaving everyone feeling panicked and potentially signing for a house just to make sure they get one,” Engineering student Dom Self added.

I think the uni could do a whole load more Marcus Baldwin, Private Landlord So far this term, the Advice Unit has received 37 contracts and other enquiries relating to accommodation in for 2016/17 this week, while 151 were received in the period 1 November to 31 December - an 84 per cent increase compared to the same period last academic year.

Private landlord Marcus Baldwin points the finger at local estate agents for causing the rush. “I know a lot of landlords and the Uni want this to happen after Christmas and the New Year, but the letting agents want it to start in November and December - that’s

NEWS

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no good for anyone,” he said. “It all used to be done using the accommodation list that was published later in January, but as a result people don’t want to wait anymore.

“I came to the fair with just four properties, and have given out about 200 flyers and taken down 50 or 60 names.

The Housing Fair is a ‘way’ to go about things, but it’s really been a ‘fight’ for accommodation. I think the uni could do a whole load more to stop this fight.”

Such a “fight” may be attributable to rising student numbers. A report from the Exeter branch of the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), published in June 2014, suggested that the city needs more student accommodation, highlighting “the need to offer student accommodation options more widely across the city by improving transport links and introducing planning policies to dis-incentivise property developers and incentivise students to live further away from the university”.

Still reluctant to live further from campus, however, students are finding themselves paying premium prices for a good location. One student property based on Sylvan Road rose by almost £10 a week, while a Danes Road house increased by as much as £20.

Students also bemoaned the Housing Fair’s emphasis on expensive private exhibitors advertising studio

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Photo: University of Exeter

>> Students speak with a private landlord at the Housing Fair, held on Tuesday 12 January. Photo: Natasa Christofidou apartments such as Printworks and Collegiate AC, taking to Yik Yak to express their concerns:““There’s plenty of housing for everyone” - true, though only if you’re willing to spend £140 a week on a studio flat,” one student posted on the anonymous social network.

Not all feedback has been negative, however. Lou Aubey, a first-year Flexible Combined Honours student, described the fair as “really useful”. “Without it, we probably wouldn’t have found anything at all,” she said.

This year also saw the Guild expand their support offering with last Thursday’s ‘Housemate Finder’ event, which was “an overwhelming success with nearly 200 students attending during the evening”.

Does Exeter have a housing problem?

Comment Page 9 Speaking about Housing Week, VP Welfare and Diversity Naomi Armstrong

told Exeposé: “The first ever volunteer Housing Team has been a great success.

The team has supported numerous property viewings and students have commented on how useful it is to have this opportunity.

“House hunting can be stressful so it has been a great experience to be part of the Housing Team to help students through their first renting experience.”

For anyone concerned about housing, the Guild Advice Unit offers confidential advice.

Attenborough joined by AU scores with Exe biologist in new doc female football Olivia Horncastle News Team

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UNIVERSITY of Exeter marine biologist has been chosen to accompany David Attenborough in his new interactive series on the Great Barrier Reef.

Dr Steve Simpson, Senior Lecturer in Marine Biology and Global Change,

joined Attenborough in the three-part BBC series taking viewers on a journey across the Great Barrier Reef on board a state-of-the-art research vessel and a submersible.

Dr Simpson appears in the first episode, using his expertise based on the seven field seasons of research he has undertaken on the importance of the acoustic world in coral reefs. Filmed on

Photo: The Pool

Lizard Island in Queensland, Australia, the episode explores reed noise’s vital importance for fish during their early life and habitat selection.

Dr Simpson also advised the team on the series’ website content. Other scientific contributions to this new series included research from other globally renowned research institutions including the Australian Institute of Marine Science, James Cook University and the University of Queensland.

The website, David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef: An Interactive Journey, was created by Atlantic Productions.

The interactive elements of the website enable viewers at home to get involved with aspects of the programme by following marine animals travelling across the reef and exploring the changing weather and ocean patterns.

Dr Simpson said that the programme and website creators had made “an authentic immersive experience that is educational, innovative and extremely enjoyable”.

Susannah Keogh News Editor

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TUDENTS are celebrating following the creation of a women’s intramural football league.

Last term, Exeposé reported that the only way for women to play football at the University was to join the Exeter Women’s Football Club, for a membership fee of £100. This was despite women paying the same intramural fee as men of thirty pounds, whilst men are able to play for mixed netball and football. Until now, women were restricted to netball.

First-year Politics and International Relations student Clara Miret Carbonell, who played in the Politics six-a-side match earlier this month, said: “When term started I thought about joining the actual football club but I wanted to do

something just for fun.

“I think it’s encouraged people to get involved - this morning no one wanted to play but now we persuaded seven of people to turn up.”

The women’s intramural six-a-side league, which was featured as a manifesto promise

by AU President Jack Bristow earlier this year, will operate in the same way as the other intramural teams.

Bristow told Exeposé: “Having the opportunity at first is the main thing. Hopefully now the league is set up and can go from here organically.

It’s making sure [women] have the opportunity to get involved if they want.”

Pavel Kondov, President of the Politics Society, also reiterated his certainity that the league will continue to grow next year.

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NEWS

NEWS 1-5

COMMENT FEATURES LIFESTYLE 16-17 12-14 8-10

MUSIC 18-19

BUCS PULLOUT

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ARTS & LIT SCI & TECH 24-26 28-30

GAMES 32-33

SPORT 35-36

18 JANUARY 2016 |

EXEPOSÉ

Jan exam disruptions Lecture series cause upset for students line-up announced CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE

Dr Mark Ramsdale, Director of Education for Biosciences, said the exam disruptions were due to a “typographical error”. Commenting on students’ distress, he said: “I would like to apologise to all students affected in the examination. All students were given ten minutes extra to complete the examination as a result of this error. Once the results of the paper are available, we will be able to assess the most appropriate action that does not impact on student performance.”

The constant announcements were disrupting everyone sitting an exam in the hall Natasa Christo�idou, PPE student Much confusion also surrounded a Globalisation of World Politics exam for first year students, which saw students stopped halfway through the exam, worth 50 per cent. Students were told essay questions could no longer be answered due to similarities to a previously set coursework question -

only for the department to reverse its previous statement ten minutes later.

Ellie Collett, a History and IR student in the exam, told Exeposé: “Obviously everyone who had answered [the coursework-style] question was really angry because we had written at least two pages. Ten minutes later, after I started panic writing another question, the invigilator told us we could do any question we liked and we got ten extra minutes.”

However, students sitting the same exam in a different location were not told about the suspected error. Politics student Alice Whittingdale, who sat the exam in the Old Library, said “I thought it was an odd question to ask as I had done my coursework on it as well. I didn’t realise the seriousness of it.”

Professor Andrew Massey, Director of Education for Politics, explained the events: “The question paper did not include a void question. The Politics department will be communicating directly with all affected students to ensure that no one is disadvantaged.”

As yet, however, students have told Exeposé that they have not received any communication from the Politics office.

Further freshers were hit with exam

horror in their Microeconomics I twohour multiple choice exam.

Are exams too early in January?

Comment Page 9 Politics, Philosophy and Economics fresher Natasa Christofidou spoke of the disruption caused to her exam, sat in the same hall as Microeconomics.

“It became apparent that the Microeconomics paper was filled with mistakes, meaning the constant announcements were disrupting everyone sitting an exam in the great hall. The papers should be scrutinised effectively beforehand.”

However, the University-wide Director of Education and Student Experience Ian Blenkharn, insisted such issues occur “very rarely”. He said: “The University makes every effort to ensure all exams are organised and conducted fairly, accurately and appropriately. Any student who wishes to raise concerns regarding an exam can discuss them directly with their College.”

Additional reporting by Sarah Gough and Fiona Potigny.

Owain Evans News Team

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XETER research and innovation will be celebrated in a series of lectures starting next Tuesday.

Beginning with a talk by Dr Darren Schreiber on his upcoming book Your Brain is Built for Politics, the series will cover topics as diverse as biophotonics, bad decision-making and child soldiers, before concluding on Tuesday 8 March with a talk on medieval dragons.

All of this year’s lecturers were nominated by students who were inspired by their research. From the nominees, a panel of subject chairs chose the final line-up.

Dr Natalie Lawrence is a lecturer in translational medicine who was chosen to take part in Research Uncovered. She told Exeposé: “University of Exeter students are a very bright and very discerning bunch so it was very flattering and rewarding to be asked to deliver one of this year’s Research Uncovered lectures.”

“Anyone who’s ever tried to cut down on junk food or alcohol intake knows how hard this can be; in my lecture I’ll explain why this is and describe the promising online and smartphone ‘brain training’ apps we’ve developed to tackle these

impulses. People will even be able to sign up and have a go for themselves!”

Professor Daniel Ogden, who is also taking part, said of his research topic: “We know that dragons have been at the heart of people’s imaginary world in Europe and the Near East for at least 4,000 years - and possibly for at least 6,000 in China: no wonder they still have the power to speak very directly to us. The story I’ll be telling in my lecture is precisely that: how the very particular image of the dragon we share today in the West developed out of the Ancient World’s variety, which was fundamentally just a big snake, albeit already a fiery one.”

All lectures will be held at 6:30pm at XFI Lecture theatre.

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The full line-up: - Your Brain is Built for Politics - Why do Intelligent and Experienced Groups Make Poor Decisions?

- Apps for Addiction?

- All Things Bright and Beautiful - Children at War: Child Soldiers and International Humanitarianism in Africa - The Birth of the Medieval Dragon

Social media sways political Exeter student opinion, says Uni research cares for Calais Fiona Potigny News Editor

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OLLOWING recent and severe clashes between police and migrants at the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp, one University of Exeter student has found a unique way to lend her support.

Final-year student Georgina Lewis is currently raising money to buy swimming goggles for refugees living in the ‘Jungle’ in an attempt to protect them from police brutality, which has increasingly involved the use of tear gas.

“A need for swimming goggles in a refugee camp might seem absurd, but the reason for it is growing ever more important and necessary by the day. The police are using tear gas more frequently, in higher volumes, often without much provocation, if any at all.

“Swimming goggles will at least provide protection for eyes, so refugees can see, and aren’t left with painful eyes as a result of the tear gas,” she told Exeposé.

Having visited Calais in October last

year in order to deliver physical donations and letters of support, Georgina made many friends - both support workers and homeless migrants - on the scene.

Based on reports from these contacts, she described the current situation on the ground: “Sometimes hundreds of tear gas canisters are thrown into the camp often at night - forcing people to leave their camps in the middle of the night.

Men, women, children, and babies are affected, and the effects are very severe.

One person last week went into cardiac arrest, for example. Mostly the symptoms are not this serious, but are horrible - they make eyes burn, can affect the respiratory system and make skin burn.”

With a pack of 500 goggles costing around £240, the Exeter student is now seeking fundraising help via her YouCaring page. While she recognises that they will “not solve the problem”, she hopes they should still “make a huge difference” in making refugees’ lives more comfortable.

Thea Bichard News Team

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CADEMICS from the University of Exeter have revealed the results of research indicating how social media affected voters’ perceptions.

In a survey of 1,830 participants from 600 constituencies, the team of researchers, which was headed

by Professor Dan Stevens and based at Exeter Q-Step Centre and the University’s Centre for Elections, Media and Participation, also looked into how the outcome of the 2015 election was influenced by the media.

Our research highlights the differences in tone and content of General Election coverage Dr Ekaterina Kolpinskya The media coverage was analysed, revealing that Ed Miliband was presented

more negatively than David Cameron in the run-up to elections.

Associate Lecturer in Quantative Methods at the Q-Step centre, Dr Ekaterina Kolpinskaya, said: “Our research highlights the differences in tone and content of General Election coverage between traditional and social media and also shows that there are differences in the way parliamentary candidates are presented in the media based on personal characteristics such as gender.

“Many voters might have the perception that most media coverage focused on which party was ahead or behind in the polls, but we found there was a great deal of focus on party policy and issues facing the country.”

The research discovered that voters who are shown reports highlighting the Conservative’s slim majority in last year’s

election consequently feel less confident in the government’s ability to deliver on promises.

However, when participants read articles which emphasised the party’s 16 seat margin, they were then more inclined to believe that a powerful government is important in order to hold MPs accountable in elections.

Using data from 400,000 news stories and 371,000 tweets, the study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council - will be shared during a workshop in London with those involved in the planning of future election campaigns.

The Exeter Q-Step centre is one of only fifteen in the United Kingdom, and seeks to increase the number of undergraduates carrying out quantitative methods training as part of a social sciences degree.

Exeter Vice-Chancellor fifth highest paid in Russell Group EXEPOSÉ

James Beeson Editor

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NIVERSITY of Exeter ViceChancellor Sir Steve Smith was paid £341,000 last year, almost six per cent more than the average Russell Group Vice-Chancellor, according to information released by the Times Higher Education.

The figures, released earlier this month, show that the average pay for a university Vice-Chancellor at a Russell Group institution in 2014/15 was £321,830 including taxable benefits, £19,170 less than Sir Steve Smith received. Once pensions were included

www.exepose.com

in the data, the average remuneration rose to £355,664, whilst Exeter’s own Vice-Chancellor received a grand total of £393,000 including pensions.

This data places Sir Steve Smith as the 5th highest paid Russell Group ViceChancellor in the UK last year. The highest paid Vice-Chancellor was the outgoing Andrew Hamilton of The University of Oxford, who received a total of £462,000 including pensions in 2014/15. This was followed by Ed Byrne (King’s College London), Alice Gast (UCL) and Sir David Eastwood (University of Birmingham), who all received in excess of £400,000.

However, transitional arrangements

at the University of Durham meant that their total cost of office in 2014/15 was a huge £593,000. Once Durham was removed from the data, remuneration of Russell Group leaders, including pensions, increased by just 1.9 per cent on average last year.

As head of a highly successful institution... it is entirely appropriate University spokesperson On the whole, salary increases for Russell Group Vice-Chancellors were modest, with the average pay, including pensions, just six per cent higher than in 2013/14. Just five Russell Group ViceChancellors enjoyed a pay rise in excess of the 2 per cent awarded to rank-and-file university staff in 2014/15.

A report in March 2015 by The University and College Union (UCU) found that the average salary of a ViceChancellor at a UK university in 2013/14 was £260,000, with Professor Neil Gorman of Nottingham Trent University receiving the largest amount, reported to be £623,000.

Speaking about the data, a University spokesperson said: “The ViceChancellor’s salary is independently set by the University’s remuneration committee, which is primarily made up of lay members of the University’s Governing Body.

“As head of a highly successful institution, which is both firmly established amongst the top 10 universities in the country and now ranked in the top 100 globally, it is entirely appropriate that he receives a commensurate remuneration.”

É Russell Group’s Top Dogs: 1. Andrew Hamilton Oxford, £462,000 2. Ed Byrne, KCL, £458,000 3. Alice Gast. UCL, £430,00 4. Sir David Eastwood, Birmingham, £416,000 5. Sir Steve Smith, Exeter, £393,000

‘Slavery’social ditched by Classics Photo: The Guardian

Sarah Gough Editor

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originally approved under the name of ‘Joint Humanities Social’. As soon as Guild Photo: Sarah Gough staff became aware of the name the event was promoted under, we approached the organisers who recognised the issue and

quickly updated the theme.”

Classics Society’s ‘Gods and Mortals’ event will still go ahead on 18 January at The Imperial pub. Togas will be compulsory.

I can’t believe the Guild would have let an event like that run for years

65th best uni worldwide Theo Stone Online Features Editor

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XETER University has been ranked as the 65th most international university in the world, according to new university rankings.

The University of Qatar topped the list, with an international outlook score of 99.9, whilst the University of Exeter scored 87.3. Nation-wise, the United Kingdom emerged on top - almost a third of the top 200 universities are based in the UK, with 39 of them in the top 100.

All universities that were featured in the top 800 of the overall THE 2015– 2016 rankings, in which Exeter was placed 93rd, were considered.

Mental health online help Tessa Boyd News Team

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HE Wellbeing Information Directory (WID) - a ‘Students as Change Agents’ project - has officially launched on the Guild website.

A result of the over-subscription of the Wellbeing Centre and a lack of general knowledge about mental health support, the directory offers both advice and a list of services. Created by Beth Williams and Fran Mobbs, the directory will be signposting students to available services.

‘Students as Change Agents’ allows students to identify areas which they feel need improving and assist them in researching solutions and change.

EX4 prime crime spot R

Louisa Grif�ith-Jones, Theology Soc President Louisa Griffith-Jones, President of Theology Society, criticised the ‘Masters and Slaves’ social. Speaking to Exeposé she said: “I opposed the idea of a Masters and Slaves social and refused to involve the Theology Society due to the social and ethical implications. I can’t believe the Guild would have let an event like that run for years.”

Katie O’Connor, Students’ Guild VP Activities, told Exeposé: “The event was

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Josh Mines Deputy Editor

Photo: Classics Society

XETER Classics Society has renamed their ‘Masters and Slaves social’ due to take place this week, following concerns from the Guild.

The original ‘Masters and Slaves’ social was planned for 18 January and included a slave auction where Classics males were bid on by the society’s females. A ‘Masters and Slaves’ social has been a long-running Classics event, with the Guild approving a poster for the social in 2008 (shown right).

However, after complaints and committee deliberation, the name of the social has now been changed to ‘Gods and Mortals’ to avoid misappropriating the atrocities of the slave trade.

When talking about the event, Toby Gladwin, Classics Society President, said: “As is often the case for Classicists, we place a lot of importance on the ancient world and as such their notion of slavery (not at all negative but essential) was one we were acknowledging (not celebrating) with the social. The committee and I felt that with it being a Refreshers’ event open to other Humanities students, we did not

want it to come across as trivialising or misunderstanding alternative viewpoints and so we changed the name. No forced change was requested.”

Despite the social’s name change, remnants of the previous plans still remain. On the Facebook event, it is stated that: “Attribution of mortals to their divinities will commence once the slaves arrive at the Impy.”

NEWS

>> A 2008 poster advertising the Classics Masters & Slaves social

ECENT statistics have revealed that an area of Exeter is the South West’s second biggest crime hot spot.

The news comes following information released by Devon and Cornwall police after a Freedom of Information (FOI) request issued by local newspaper Exeter Express and Echo.

The FOI showed that for the year ending 31 December 2014, there were 3,302 crimes logged by the police.

The area in question - EX4, which was the only Exeter postcode listed encompasses various student housing locations including Pennsylvania, St David’s and the University itself.

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18 JANUARY 2016 |

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Tests and tenants

A

H, what says welcome back better than exam-related chaos and housing panic?

Exam week was a walking disaster, and for once, it wasn’t the students’ fault.

With multiple errors and confusion over questions, three exams spanning Politics, Economics and Biology saw disruptions.

This affected hundreds of first year students, as well as a final year cohort from Modern Foreign Languages. MERDE! If slaving away at revision over Christmas isn’t horrific enough, students sitting the affected exams suffered even more stress, forced to handle miscommunication and panic-writing answers. You would think that the University could do us the courtesy of checking exam papers before they’re brutally shoved in front of us?

House hunting is never an easy task but our other lead story this week proves it’s becoming harder than ever. While the Guild are intent on keeping students from rushing into contracts, the reality is that there is no alternative in doing so. There were far too few houses available at what was a packed housing fair last week. Both estate agents and students are complaining that January is too late in the day, whilst private landlords are pointing fingers back at the estate agents for releasing houses too early. No-one knows who to blame but it’s certain that this system is completely flawed. Sort it out, Exe. Elsewhere in News, Sir Steve is officially fifth in the Russell Group’s ViceChancellor remuneration rankings (page 5). The more we hear about Sir Steve’s finances - his remuneration package is a whopping £341k - the more cynical we feel. We’ve said it before but we’ll say it again: as final year students preparing to leave University with 40 grand’s worth of debt, how can this ludicrous pay packet be justified, regardless of Steve’s achievements? *** A chaotic week soon turned into a mournful one with the deaths of two British greats. On Monday we were devastated

to hear of the passing of the iconic genius, David Bowie, aged just 69. In a career that spanned five decades and spawned 25 albums, Ziggy Stardust constantly defied expectations, refused to conform to norms and produced some utterly brilliant music. Has there ever been a more significant figure in pop culture? Read Music’s tribute to the Starman over on page 18. Things went from bad to worse on Thursday, as news of acting giant Alan Rickman’s passing, also at the age of 69, reached us. Best known as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films, Rickman touched the lives of many with his heartfelt performances, and will be sorely missed. For Screen’s eulogy, see page 22.

On a lighter note, Lifestyle features an interview with Exeter’s latest BNOC. Third year Theology student Louisa Griffith-Jones graced our screens twice last month for Channel 4’s First Dates and the nation fell in love. With attention from Buzzfeed and The Guardian, she now talks exclusively to Exeposé about romance and rollerblading over on page 16.

Elsewhere, Features cover the most pressing political question facing us in 2016: should Britain leave the European Union? Our survey heard the views of 238 students and an overwhelming 73 per cent voted against a Brexit. Of the surveyed masses, 55 per cent chose democracy as the most influential factor in their decision. After Ben Bradshaw’s visit to campus last term, it’s clear that Labour politicians want students intent on preserving the sanctity of the EU. Whether or not our voices will be heard, however, remains to be seen.

A more immediate concern however, are our post-Christmas bods. Science & Tech get appropriately scientific about fitness fads and so-called ‘superfoods’ on pages 28-29. Whilst for those excited about returning to sport, we have yet another BUCS wallchart for all the AU fanatics out there. With an updated home fixture list for this term, there’s no excuse not to bleed green.

Thanks to those who helped proof this issue: Victoria Boss, Owain Evans, Sam Woolf, Nia Parry, David Jones, Jack Jones, Josh Jewell, Victoria Gilmore, Ellen Daniel, Bea Fones, the Exeposé copy editors and members of the editorial team.

Eamonn Crowe Deputy Editor

T

HREE days after ringing in 2016, I departed London and began my journey back to Exeter. My suitcase was brimming with brand new socks, some stolen Quality Streets (soz Mum) and unfortunately, my revision notes were in there too. The worst part about heading back to Exeter so early, is that I was leaving behind home friends who to this day, still haven’t started back at university.

Compare that with my friends who travelled back to Exeter the day after Boxing Day and on New Year’s Eve respectively.

January exams are no joke, especially for those in second and third year, so why does the University hold them at such a laughably early time in the month? I am actually one of the lucky ones, in that this was the first time I have had a January exam in my university career. I watched in first year as my flatmates came back to Exe a week before me and put up with all the ‘is your degree even real?’ jokes in second year, when the same thing happened again. To be honest, I thought they were

all exaggerating about how tough January exams are – students are given three weeks to revise, so surely that’s enough?

However, don’t worry serial Janexam takers, I have very much seen the error of my ways. This is because you don’t actually get three weeks to study.

Of course, in literal terms you do. But the University fails to account for the fact that it’s CHRISTMAS.

The university fails to account for the fact that it’s Christmas Whether you’re religious or not, the festive period is great for spending time with your family and friends and it is kind of impossible to escape from. I’m an atheist myself, yet I can still enjoy a mince pie and get down to some Silent Night (one thing I’ll give Christianity is it has some banging tunes on its roster).

When you’re spending your days around family and friends who want to hang out, decorate the tree, go shopping and watch films, revision falls down your

priority list pretty quickly. While I struggled to motivate myself to revise for the one exam I had, some of my friends had to sit three or four exams, with a few unlucky souls sitting two in one day. Pressure on university students is so much higher than we are given credit for and beginning January exams just ten days into the calendar year is just another source of stress and anxiety. It also doesn’t help when said exams are then littered with mistakes (see News, page 4).

The truth is that January exams will always be more difficult than their summer counterparts, simply because they come right after Christmas and as we are given significantly less time to revise for them. However, if we had an extra week to revise after the New Year, I think students would be a lot more comfortable about having to dodge beaming SABBs in mobile phone costumes as they make their way up to the Great Hall. As we are often reminded by our well-meaning parents, exams are not the be all and end all. Yet, when you are paying nine grand a year and need a certain grade to secure that elusive grad job, it would be nice if they started a week later.

Scrambling for shelter

Cartoon: Emily McIndoe

Housing crisis hits home EXEPOSÉ

COMMENT

www.exepose.com

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After Exeter’s disappointing housing fair, Exeposé Comment debate the severity of the problem Zak Mahinfar Comment Editor

W

E’VE all been there. You come back from reading week in your first term of Freshers’ to hear that large swathes of your peers have already signed their housing contracts for second year and the panic sets in. Why commit to £135 per week on Penny Road when you can sleep in your crate of VKs? You begin planning who you can recruit to your student madhouse. Creepy Chris has a criminal record for indecent exposure in public but he assures you that was only one time. Your current flatmate Beth personifies passive aggressive but at least she’s never hit you. Before you know it, you’ve scraped together a house.

But now you’ve got to live with them for a year and you’re wishing you made better life choices.

None of this is helped by the fact that houses in Exeter are utterly extortionate.

It’s the most expensive place outside of London. Letting agents and landlords really go to town when capitalising on that ‘Exetah’ stereotype. They know a disproportionate percentage of

the student population went to private school, and if they can pay the school fees, they can pay high rents.

Some of the houses advertised would not provide adequate shelter for a litter of vermin Last term, I turned up to a house viewing with my prospective flatmates and after waiting in the cold for fifteen minutes we got a call to tell us it had already been let. They proceeded to take us round another seven houses, half of which wouldn’t have provided adequate shelter for a litter of vermin, never mind remotely sanitary human beings, and at prices that we could only afford by indulging in part-time sex work.

A few days later we sat down in a letting agency, disgruntled by the slim pickings, to browse through their catalogue. Just as we started

flicking through the pages, a lady came over to cross off ten houses from the list that had been let that morning, “they’re going like hot cakes,” she said. She also divulged that she got a call from the university in September because they didn’t have enough accommodation for freshers and subsequently some of them were forced to defer a year. It’s hardly surprising that we put down our deposits there and then. Did we panic buy? Yes. Because there’s a huge sense of urgency when you find something vaguely appropriate; it might go and nothing better might come up. That’s what happened to me in first year when I left it all until January. We took the ‘chilled’ approach, and let me tell you, it was anything but chill.

In second term we booked in several viewings a day. We went in and out of a house only to discover that in the five minutes it had taken to

have the tour, it’d already been let. Students are being walked all over, because we’re naïve and they know we’ll cough up. At this point it’s all too clear how ridiculous it is that private landlords are profiting directly from the maintenance loan system.

Students are being walked all over because we’re naive and they know we’ll cough up

happy with. That’s why it’s the Guild and the University’s responsibility to liaise with letting agents and students and try and push the process back. Because while living in a sub-standard house can be frustrating, living with the wrong people can become intolerable.

Whilst I must admit that I’m yet to meet someone who didn’t find a house and sleeps alone under the Exeter stars every night, maybe that’s because they died. Cold, alone, and miserable.

That said, leaving housing till January in first year meant that this year I’m living with people I’m really

“Not being able to get an ensuite isn’t a crisis” Rebecca Broad

“T

WO bathrooms between seven of us? That’s just not going to work.” “Ugh. What is with Exeter’s housing crisis?!”

DH1 is a great place for eavesdropping. Committee arguments, essay meltdowns, Tinder hilarity: you name it, I’ve overheard it. But housing crisis? That’s a new one.

Just because you can’t get a double en-suite with all your mates a five minutes’ stumble from Timepiece, does not mean Exeter has a housing crisis. That’s the sort of phrase I’d reserve for an actual crisis, such as the 2000 people sleeping

rough across England.

Yes, Exeter is expensive: I want to cry every time I talk to friends who live up north, getting much more for their money than we do. But we’re students, with maintenance loans and interest-free overdrafts and part-time jobs. And yes, landlords and agencies can fuck you over – but don’t let them. Talk to the current tenants, read the contract, ask the Advice Unit for help.

Yes, Exeter is expensive: I want to cry every time I talk to friends up north So back to that non-existent housing shortage. A search on spareroom.

co.uk returns 339 results for Exeter.

Rightmove students has a whopping 119 properties still on offer. Of the 14 room categories offered by Unite, only two are sold out. Email alerts grace my inbox everyday with new properties arriving on the market.

Being a part-time student who lives in Exeter all year-round, I’ve held five separate tenancies. Three of them were sorted out less than a month before the start date, and were fantastic. The closer to a tenancy’s start date, the more likely a landlord will lower prices and be willing to negotiate on deposits.

Then again, I am a total hypocrite.

Fresher Becca and friends had signed a five bed house by November of first year. We were gonna be bffs4eva! Hor-

ror stories emerged of fallings out and couple break-ups and contracts folding.

We got lucky, avoiding all that (still bffs) but that’s certainly not the case for everyone rushing into a housing decision. I felt like offering the students who viewed my house last October a cuppa and a hug.

They looked scared, took one look round the place, didn’t see the mould, and asked to sign the contract on the spot.

I’ll wait until the summer, when prices drop and choice is high Ah, but rising admissions, you say.

That bugger that bites us all in the arse, making Ram queues lengthen and the

library more packed than ever. Sure, it might make rooms a bit harder to come by. You might even have to settle for a single bed. Or it might drive prices down, and show developers and landlords the demand for student accommodation, à la Cricket Field Court.

I think it’s fabulous that the Guild is reminding people not to be hasty in making accommodation decisions. Whether the student population will actually listen is another thing.

Everyone needs a home that is safe, and clean, and ideally in a good location.

The rest – bed sizes, number of bathrooms, bill packages – are all nice extras.

You can keep your housing panic. I’ll wait until the summer, when prices drop and choice is high, to pick my property.

Male rape victim shares his story

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COMMENT FEATURES LIFESTYLE 16-17 12-14 8-10

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18 JANUARY 2016 |

EXEPOSÉ

‘‘No longer do I want to be defined by what happend to me.’’ Trigger warning: Rape and suicide Anonymous student

E

VERYONE has secrets, secrets from their friends, secrets from their parents, maybe even secrets from their other-half. I’m a person who doesn’t have many secrets, I wear my heart on my sleeve and share with everyone. I have one big secret though, at the age of 13 I became a male rape victim.

My secret lasted six years, for six lonely and long years I told no one My secret lasted six years, for six lonely and long years I told no one, I tried to forget. But as with any big secret it eats you up. I spent my time falling into a long and deep depression that led to me attempting to take my life. Pills were my method and I wake up every day realising how lucky I am they failed in their intended task. My life isn’t all flowers and balloons, I still go through what happened to me everyday, every second of the attack

is memorable as if it were yesterday.

I know though, that if those pills had worked and I did leave this world, the sick man that raped me would have won again.

At the age of 19 I decided that I wasn’t going to let the man that raped me define my life, I started by telling my best friend and his girlfriend who I was good friends with. I decided to only tell them it had happened, not any details or anything like that, only baby steps. They are both still great friends to this day and I love them dearly. They didn’t know how to react though. They were there for me but never really understood and I felt they thought they had to act differently around me. But this didn’t matter, telling them was one of the best things I’d ever done, it lifted such a weight off my shoulders and made me feel I could start to put what happened behind me.

I told a few more friends some months later, still not in any detail or anything like that but still people didn’t understand. They were amazing and were there for me but I never felt understood. I don’t blame those people and in hindsight, how can they understand? It’s such an unthinkable thing to go through it’s incomprehen-

sible to fully understand. I’ve still not told many people, but with each person I told, the more free I felt. I then found someone who I felt got it. When I told them, the way they acted around me didn’t change one bit. They listened and rather than stare blankly they asked me questions and I felt they wanted to understand. They were never afraid to bring it up and it even got to the stage where I gave them a second by second account of what happened.

At the age of 19 I decided that I wasn’t going to let the man that raped me define my life No longer do I feel defined by what happened to me, I’m never going to stop being a rape victim, I’ll never ‘get over it’, but now I know I can be defined by so much more. In future, being a rape victim is going to be a side note, I’m going to be a husband, a father a whatever career will have me.

I’ve got to this stage by unlocking my secret. Letting something hide within you is never healthy - don’t ever think it’s a good thing to do.

COMMENT ON CAMPUS Having guns makes people feel safe and put the public at ease, as long as they are not used I don’t see the problem.

Second Year, Physics

The UK police don’t need to be armed, they manage at the moment and in my mind do a bloody good job without guns.

Arming them only distances them from the public further and makes people less trusting of them.

I thought all UK police already had guns.

First Year, Geography

No we shouldn’t, the stats behind deaths from police shootings in America highlight why we don’t need police to be armed.

First Year, Engineering

85,000 women raped each year

raped 12,000 men each year 11 adult rapes an hour cent of rapes are 15 per reported to the police

6

per cent of reported rapes lead to a conviction per cent of all rapes lead to a conviction

0.9

I don’t think they should have guns, the use of more violence doesn’t solve anything, it will only make the problem worse.

I think we have a perfectly functioning police as it is, I’m proud of our country having a police force without guns.

Third Year, International Relations

There are certain situation and instances where guns are needed, especially in light of recent terrorist instances.

Photo: Huffington Post

Second Year, Theology

If you have been affected by anything in this article you can contact Voice on 01392 724000.

The stats behind the headline

“Should all UK police officers carry guns?”

Third Year, Politics

I don’t think they should be, we have a good armed response unit and that is all we need.

I’ve never told my parents and family and I don’t think I ever could, it would destroy my parents to know their child, who they love so much, went through that and never told them. I don’t know if I ever will tell them, maybe I will, maybe some things are best left under wraps, would the heartbreak be worth it? It’s why I write this article anonymously, I’m sure my parents are avid readers of Exeposé and I wouldn’t want them to find out this way. The reason I wanted to write this article was to share my experience and hopefully show others how sharing secrets can lift such a burden.

You don’t have to share them with everyone, but talking through things helps. There are so many people that go through life being upset on their own, not feeling you can tell people your problems. You can, they won’t think you’re a depressive, they probably have their own issues too. So please as we head into 2016 think about your secrets and unlock them. Yes, it’s hard at first, but I can tell you now it makes things better.

Third Year, Politics

Third Year, Law

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FEATURES

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COMMENT FEATURES LIFESTYLE 12-14 16-17 8-10

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18 JANUARY 2016 |

SPORT 35-36

EXEPOSÉ

FEATURES Students vote ‘no’ to Brexit Exeposé Features

FEATURES EDITOR Flora Carr

@ExeposeFeatures

features@exepose.com

Key Stats

Exeter Students

Based on an EU survey conducted

by Exeposé Online Features

238

responses to the survey

73% of Exeter students vote against Brexit

11% of Exeter students surveyed identified their nationality as “European Union”

In the UK 62% of recent graduates hope the UK will stay in the EU, according to a YouGov poll

50% of voters in an ICM poll for the Vote Leave campaign were in favour of leaving, if undecideds were excluded

Following an Exeposé survey, Helena Bennett examines Exeter student responses to a possible vote on Britain’s position in the European Union

T

HE ongoing debate on whether or not the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union has led Prime Minister David Cameron to pledge that his government will hold a referendum on the issue by the end of 2017. While the Conservative Party leader believes that working to reform the political union from within is the best course for the country, putting the matter to public vote will give those calling for “Brexit” – British Exit – to express their views.

To see where Exeter students stand on this highly contentious issue, Exeposé Features ran an online survey, the results of which suggest that around 73 per cent of us feel that the UK should retain its membership to the European Union.

The survey, which asked participants to give the main reason behind their reply, also showed that 7.6 per cent of respondents were undecided on the matter – hardly surprising given the huge significance of this issue and the strength of feeling expressed on both sides of the debate. This has been the case since Britain first entered the European Economic Community in 1973, and if you speak to anyone who remembers that occasion, they may well observe that the key arguments on both sides of the debate have remained largely the same ever since. While touching on many important questions including the economy and legal jurisdiction, what these often boil down to is how we want to see our country and its future.

Despite the EU’s imperfections, its principles are positive On the one hand, there are those who feel that the United Kingdom is unfairly shackled by its commitments to the EU, which prevent it from flourishing as it did as the world’s leading imperialist power. On the other hand are those who feel that, despite the EU’s imperfections, the principles behind its foundation are broadly positive, and give our country the opportunity to belong to a productive and democratic community of nations.

Exeposé’s survey asked participants to give the most important reason for answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’, with a choice between the economy, personal value, hu-

manitarian reasons, employment, educational and career opportunities, and democracy. Personally, I remember being stuck between personal value, democracy and humanitarian issues, the last two representing very important aspects of my personal values. Designing a survey of this kind is very difficult, as every decision is fraught with political implications; including the humanitarian question raising the issue of the European Convention on Human Rights and attempts by members of the Conservative Party to reduce its impact on British legislation and judicial decisions. The fact that 20 per cent of respondents who voted ‘no’ to leaving the EU shows that this is by no means a side-issue. One of our survey participants commented that “EU laws are a valuable safeguard against the erosion of personal rights as the perceived threat of terrorism increases”. This arguably points to the few aspects of the EU debate which are specifically relevant to the current global climate – security, and the refugee crisis. The EU was founded to help promote peace across Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War, a conflict too massive for any one country to deal with alone. The current refugee crisis is arguably just as difficult for individual nation states to tackle without co-operation with their neighbours, and the EU represents a pre-established mechanism for doing so. Given that Sweden, which is not part of the EU, has taken in the most refugees of any European country so far per capita (an estimated 30,000), there is little to suggest that leaving the Union would allow the UK to bury its head in the sand on this issue.

It is also interesting that the survey made a distinction between employment and career opportunities, as this highlights the ways in which membership to the Union affects us as individuals, as well as the nation as a whole. As students, we are undeniably given many fantastic educational and career opportunities by our country’s membership in the EU – just ask anyone who’s spent a year abroad in another member state. Many of those students would have been unable to access this fantastic experience without grants and support from the Erasmus Programme, which arranges study and work exchanges for EU students. When answering ‘no’ to the question ‘should the United Kingdom leave the EU?’, edu-

cational and career opportunities were the third most popular factor motivating people’s decision, chosen by 20 per cent.

The refugee crisis requires co-operation between neighbouring countries While many of us might like to think that our political beliefs are based on what’s best for everyone, there’s actually nothing wrong with taking our own interests into account when forming a view. Whatever your views on the EU, there’s no denying that it plays a significant role in our lives, and it is only natural to take that into consideration. This might account for

why Exeter students’ willingness to stay in the EU came out above national averages, which suggests that only around 40 per cent of the voting population would choose to stay in.

EXEPOSÉ

Exeposé EU survey results

Should the UK leave the EU? No Yes Undecided The people we surveyed were inevitably homogenous in terms of current occupation and belong predominantly to the ‘under 30’ age category, which YouGov has shown to be the most likely to favour membership. The respondents’ level of education must also be taken into account, as around 62 per cent of university graduates nationwide hope the UK will remain in the EU. That our results show even greater support for preserving the country’s membership is very interesting, perhaps suggesting that those below the age of 30 who have also experienced higher education are one of the most proEU sections of society.

Interestingly, the economy was given as the most important factor among both those who voted against the UK leaving the EU and those in favour – chosen by 56 per cent and 29 per cent, respectively.

It’s very easy indeed to get bogged down in all the ‘facts’ used by campaigners to show that the EU is either brilliant for the UK’s economy or a disaster for it.

The Eurozone crisis has undoubtedly added to the complexity of this discussion, forcing even the most convinced supporters of the Union to admit the flaws inherent in how the single currency was set up. This was certainly reflected in the written

FEATURES

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If yes, which was the most important factor for you?

comments students added to their survey answers; many who were in favour of remaining in the EU were keen to point out that it is by no means perfect.

Some felt that to leave the EU would weaken Britain’s prospects with regards to the global economy, perhaps due to concern that non-EU countries may prefer to trade with the larger Union rather than the UK on its own. This can be tied in with the steady growth of other EUstyle multinational organisations in other parts of the world, particularly ASEAN (The Association of Southeast Asian Nations). It may well be called counterintuitive to move away from multinational trade groupings just as they are becoming the norm outside Europe, with Arab Gulf states having reformed their own Gulf Corporation Council in the last few months to make it more like the EU. Of course, as one of our respondents pointed out, the UK could save billions of pounds – our net contribution in 2013 worked out at about £8.09 billion – if it were not a member.

However, during that same financial year (2013–14), the UK government’s revenue totalled £620.4 billion, which makes our subscription to the EU seem more reasonable. We do also have the right to take money out of the EU pot. For example, those regions of the UK which experienced flooding over the Christmas period could benefit from the EU Solidarity Fund, which exists to help member states to deal with the aftermath of natural disasters. You could of course argue that we don’t take enough advantage of EU funding for large projects, but surely the answer to that problem isn’t to cut ourselves off without a proverbial shilling.

As one student who took part in our survey pointed out, “being part of the EU means not only getting the advantages/positives of the Union but also getting the negatives”, which presumably includes our financial contribution.

Democracy was the second most popular reason for wanting the UK to leave the EU, with 36 per cent of students expressing concern about national sovereignty and the bureaucratic systems which run the international organisation. Even some of those who voted ‘no’ to the idea of leaving raised similar concerns, suggesting that by staying in, the UK could help effect reform of this highly complicated multinational organisation.

Concerns about the EU’s representative-

ness and accountability are widespread and understandable – not all its decision making bodies are elected, and those that are can feel distant and unconcerned with more local issues. Where does Exeter stand, for example, when only six Members of the European Parliament represent it as part of an area which also includes large cities such as Bristol and Plymouth? How important is the vote of one person from a remote hamlet in the Outer Hebrides when lumped in with everyone else in the whole of Scotland?

Democracy was the second most popular reason for wanting the UK to leave the EU When I interviewed Molly Scott Cato MEP about the Green Party’s position on Britain’s membership in the EU, she focused on the problem of the unelected European Commission, but I personally feel that the problem goes much deeper than that. Sure, the UK population could probably make more of an effort to engage with the EU and influence their MEPs, but where is the effort to engage with us? Perhaps it just isn’t possible for an organisation as large as the EU to keep us all up to date with its inner workings; perhaps the UK press doesn’t report on the European Parliament enough.

Nonetheless, it would be naïve to assume that the EU can rest on its laurels with regards to its relationship with the UK populace. If we are going to stay in, we need to know that it will still be worth our while in ten, twenty or thirty years’ time.

Personally, I think the global security situation means that is absolutely the case, but all EU citizens deserve to have the benefits of the Union explained to them on a regular basis. This is the responsibility of our own political parties too; they can’t say they’re in favour of remaining in while using EU legislation as a convenient scapegoat whenever it suits them.

Although Exeposé’s survey asked participants where they came from, the results could have been made more interesting and informative by allowing more specific answers, especially the option to distinguish between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland for UK citizens.

Many polls have suggested that the European Union is far more popular in Scotland and Wales than in England, with around 57 per cent of Scottish voters and 44 per cent of Welsh voters say-

Democracy The economy Personal value Humanitarian Employment ing they would vote to stay in the EU in recent polls.

Attitudes in Northern Ireland are more complex due to the division between nationalists and unionists, but on the whole, the province is in favour of retaining EU membership, with 58 per cent of voters saying they would vote against leaving in a referendum.

Unfortunately, we are unable to say whether Exeter students reflect these trends. What I will mention is the importance of recognising regional differences in attitudes for campaigners on both sides of the fence.

If David Cameron, for example, fails to consider the needs of the different parts of the UK in his negotiations with other EU leaders, he risks throwing the baby out with the bathwater by making it less appealing to those currently in favour of staying in.

This is also true of members of the UK’s incredibly broad pro-EU coalition.

What seems like a positive outcome of renegotiation to a Conservative might be disastrous in the eyes of a Green or Labour voter.

This is one of the fundamental problems that arises when debating the EU – just when you think you agree with someone, you realise you completely disagree with their reasons for thinking the same thing as you. Our survey reflects this only too clearly, with a wide spread of party affiliations across the ‘no’, ‘yes’, and ‘undecided’ categories. Those who would have the UK leave the EU were the most homogenous, with 60 per cent saying they sympathised with the Conservative Party.

The Conservatives were also the most popular among the undecided group, 50 per cent of whom favoured the governing party. Among those who voted ‘no’ to leaving the EU, Labour were the most popular party, but only by a small margin with 37 per cent, followed by the Liberal Democrats with 18 per cent. This could prove problematic for those who wish to stay in the EU, as a lack of unity can often weaken political campaigns by making their aims less clear.

Of course, if winning the referendum depended solely on convincing Exeter students to vote as they did in this survey, that wouldn’t be a problem.

However, with the referendum’s date still uncertain, the Conservative party divided over the issue, and so many important factors at play, it will be interesting to see how people’s opinions towards the EU develop in the context of a rapidly changing world.

13

What you said Exeter students leave their comments on Brexit The European Union is a necessary institution in today’s internationalist world. Whilst it is not perfect, the benefits it brings to us as a nation far outweigh the vices.

It’s been rocky since 2008, but we need to weather the storm together. It’s always darkest just before the dawn.

It’s a very one-sided relationship and things need to change for the UK to remain in the EU.

If the United Kingdom wishes to ‘get more out of Europe’ then it has to be prepared to integrate itself within the European system. For too long we have coasted off our status as ‘the old empire.

The EU is a bit crap for a number of reasons but it’s better to foster change from the inside. The only people who seem to want to leave are far right and offer “sovereignty” as a reason, which I just don’t think is a compelling enough reason to leave.

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18 JANUARY 2016 |

EXEPOSÉ

Photo: www.alcoholic.org

“I worry that I’m an alcoholic”

Kathy Giddins was living the alchohol-fuelled student life, downing pints and shots. However with mental health issues and a family history of alcholism, things took a turn for the worse

I

WAS probably a borderline alcoholic at one point. The first time I got drunk I was 18 and all it took was two cans of Magners at a house party. It was quite a night, really. In a short space of time I managed to offend MP Gerry Kelly’s daughter by telling her that Sinn Fein were all just IRA terrorists in suits and also have my first kiss with an abnormally tall Spanish boy. Before that I’d never really seen getting drunk as a prequisite to having a good time. For my school friends and I, sneaking into a club and having a couple of WKDs was as wild as life got.

Then I went to university, and once free from the shackles of parental judgement, alcohol became a way of life. Like the vast majority of students, I fell into a routine of drink-party-sleep-studyrepeat. A sober night out was unheard of and Freshers’ Week should have been called ‘a week where you get as drunk as possible without dying’. It was all ‘top bants’ though, or so I thought at first.

From Lambrini and red wine to Baileys and whiskey, there wasn’t much I couldn’t or wouldn’t drink, and when someone told me to ‘see it off’ or ‘down it fresher’, I didn’t think twice. My nationality worked against me in all of this.

People would either say “Go on, you’re Irish - you can handle it” or would chide me for letting down my country when I seemed to be fading - which I of course saw as a personal challenge to drink more and conform to the stereotype. This was all well and good when I was in the confines of halls, but when we were out and about in the streets and clubs of Exeter, things got a bit more dangerous.

I have some hilarious stories though.

Exeposé News, September 2014 Undercover Exeposé cameras reveal EUAFC ‘Welcome Drinks’ scandal

Like the time I was kicked out of Vaults and ended up sitting with a homeless woman and playing her tin whistle, or the time I was kicked out of Arena whilst dressed as a Kit-Kat because I couldn’t stand (I suppose I was melting). But there are other stories which aren’t so hilarious.

Like the alcohol-fuelled one night stands which I always regretted the morning after, or the times I ended up outside a club crying for no apparent reason.

I was kicked out of Arena whilst dressed as a Kit-Kat Since I was about 16 I’ve had an ongoing battle with depression and anxiety, and naively, when I moved to Exeter, I thought I’d be leaving all of my past troubles behind. At times I wasn’t just drinking to have a good time or because everyone else was. I was drinking to get drunk, because I was down and I hated myself and momentarily blocking out the darkness with wine or whiskey seemed like an easy form of escapism.

I was on anti-depressants too, which I really shouldn’t have been mixing with alcohol in the first place, but I tended to act impulsively and think of the consequences later. At the time I usually wouldn’t realise that I was being self-destructive. It would only be later, when I’d had time to reflect that I could see I was using alcohol as a coping mechanism.

In second year I was a bit calmer. I still got drunk but my mental health had greatly improved, which meant I didn’t

feel the need to use alcohol as a crutch.

I still drank more than I should on occasion, but I was pretty adept at having a good time whilst sober and even managed to give up alcohol for Lent.

Then I went on my year abroad and things took a bit of a downward turn again. My first few months in Italy were like Freshers’ all over again. The only difference was, this time, I was doing a work placement. For a good few months I lived a lifestyle of partying and drinking cheap beer and spritz til 4am, before getting up at 6.30am to get the train to work.

After a while this took its toll and my problems with anxiety began to rear their ugly heads once again. Panic attacks became increasingly common and in the end I had to leave Italy early because I just couldn’t cope anymore. I barely wanted to leave the apartment and I couldn’t face going to work. I spent a month at home and started on some anti-anxiety medication which helped a lot, but I reproached myself for having not kept tabs on my drinking or my mental health.

Then, in March, I started a work placement in Paris which I really enjoyed. After a while though I began to feel quite alone. I was in a big city where I didn’t know anyone and I longed for the close group of friends I’d made in Italy.

I started to go out to bars on my own in the hope of meeting people and also because sitting alone in a room full of people seemed less depressing to me than just sitting alone in a room by myself. But even though getting totally trashed on my own wasn’t my aim it still happened, and with disastrous consequences. A few times I blacked out and woke up in bed

Exeposé Comment, October 2015 Nadia Zajancauskaite gives a teetotaller’s perspective on university drinking

having not remembered how I got home.

It was a bit scary but the more it happened, the more I became desensitised to it and I began to accept it as the norm. I didn’t pause to consider that I could get myself into some serious trouble if I carried on like this.

The last thing I remember is chatting to a boy and ordering wine At this time, I was living with a kind elderly woman called Liliane whose only house rule was that I didn’t bring anyone back to the apartment. Fair enough, I said. Then one night I was out til late drinking in the bar of a nearby youth hostel which I frequented in the hope of meeting people my own age. One of the last things I remember is chatting to an American boy and ordering a bottle of wine. The next morning I stumbled into the kitchen and was met with a stoneyfaced Liliane. “You had someone in your room last night,” she said. “Um, non.

I don’t think so,” I replied because, although plausible, I actually couldn’t remember. Liliane attested that she’d seen him leave in the early hours of the morning and since I’d broken her trust she requested that I swiftly find alternate accomodation. I’d never been so mortified in my life. The worst part was that she’d invited her friends over for lunch that day too so as I dragged my suitcase towards the door, shamefaced and repentant I was met with the steely glare of four other Parisian pensioners.

I checked straight into the same hostel I’d been drinking in the night before and just so happened to be placed in the bunk above the American boy I’d spent the night with. This could have been potentially awkward but when I told him my tale of woe his response was: “Geez I feel like a shmuck.” He then promptly offered to buy me dinner. This time though, I decided to lay off the wine.

You’d think this would have been my wake-up call but since then, even now I’m back in Exeter and in the crucial final year of my degree, I’ve still had a couple of black-out drunk nights. Thankfully I’m in familiar surroundings and I only go out with friends here so nothing bad has happened, but I shouldn’t be complacent.

I do worry that I’m an alcoholic sometimes but it’s not like I’ve ever felt that I needed to drink. It’s just that I’ve always struggled with knowing when to stop once I’ve started.

My grandpa is an alcoholic, and seeing how alcohol has ruled and ultimately destroyed his life is motivation enough for me to not want to fall into the same trap. Like a lot of people, my New Year’s resolution is to drink less. I’ve downloaded the Change4Life drink tracker to keep tabs on my alcohol intake, and I’ve also embarked on a healthy vegan lifestyle which I don’t want to counteract with alcohol abuse. When I go out now I tend to leave my card at home and only take out a limited amount of cash so I’m not tempted to keep drinking.

At university, it can be difficult not to yield to peer pressure, but alcohol isn’t necessary to have a good time. No night out is worth putting yourself at risk.

Exeposé on drinking culture Exeposé Features, February 2014 Following the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Isobel Burston discusses the ever-present drug and alcohol abuse in celebrity culture

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18 JANUARY 2016 | Exeposé Lifestyle

LIFESTYLE EDITORS Sabrina Aziz Jack Wardlaw

EXEPOSÉ

@ExeposeLStyle

lifestyle@exepose.com

Photo : www.theguardian.com

Tweets of the week These people are clearly loving life and are back into the swing of things since getting back from their Christmas holidays...

Tweet us @ExeposeLStyle Poppy @PoppyHarrison2 I think nothing will top having a friend on First Dates. This is all too much Evan @Evan_257 By being an Exeter Student, I have now developed a fault where I keep trying to type words beginning with ex- with an extra e. E.G. Exeponential Jack @jackwardlaw94 I was not ready for that vine of a racoon accidentally dissolving his candy floss in a puddle. I actually cried Sarah @sarahgoughy Forever turning to Daniel Bedingfield for motivation.

Exeter Strikes Yak •

It’s 9:30am and I’ve accomplished two tasks. Attended my first 8:30 lecture and attended my last 8:30

•

When you have an 11:30 but you cut that many shapes the night before that you don’t need no geometry tutorial

•

It burns when I pee. Let’s Google whats happening here. Oh. Oh god. I have 48 hours to live

•

I know you’re not supposed to leave cooking unattended but I can’t exactly have a wank in the kitchen can I?

•

You know he’s a catch when he offers to buy you a burger rather than a drink when you’re on a night out

Exeter’s Queen of Hearts

Sarah Gough, Editor, discusses fame, romance and cathedral costumes with Exeter’s favourite first dater, Louisa Griffith-Jones

L

OUISA Griffith-Jones went on Channel 4’s First Dates “as a dare”. Little did she know that she would immediately overtake Cheryl FernandezVersini to become the nation’s new sweetheart. Not only did she get pride of place on the popular reality show, she was asked back a second time for ‘The Proposal’ special - and they’re still ringing her.

Referred to by The Guardian as ‘Miranda Hart’s kid sister’, she charmed the viewing public with awkward anecdotes and cute quirks. The time when she went to a party dressed as Exeter Cathedral was Buzzfeed’s favourite, the moment when she revealed her Van Gogh-inspired socks was mine.

The public responded to her modesty, her self-deprecation, her desire to be nothing but a completely accurate version of herself and what’s more, she was simply excellent TV.

I’m going to have to write to them...with the words ‘SINGLE AND VERY POOR’ Just your average (well, extremely eccentric) third-year Theology student, Louisa describes her new-found fame as truly “bizarre”. Always fairly undisturbed on nights out, last Friday in Arena she was forced to grant the drunken masses a staggering 20 stranger selfies. “Exeter needs to be cool,” she giggles.

For two episodes, Louisa was selfadmittedly the very opposite of ‘cool’, constantly reminding her dates – Will, a Tesco manager and Will, a similarly awks public school boy – of her weirdness. But what was the First Dates process actually like, I wonder. “I was really afraid of the entire experience, but I just went with the flow. My parents were like … umm is this a good idea?! But when else am I going to be on television?”

With the second date going

monumentally better than her first, Louisa and Will (number two) bonded over a shared passion for stand-up comedy. However, they did have the added pressure of appearing on ‘The Proposal’ episode: “We were having our dinner and suddenly I was like ‘oh my god I think someone’s being proposed to!’

It’s not actually shown on television but we didn’t know how to respond so we just sang ‘Happy Wedding Day to You.’” With the impetus of fully fledged First Dates relationships in the same room, are wedding bells already ringing for Louisa and Will Number Two? The last thing we saw of them was a mutual entry into the same taxi - did further dates unfold after the drink? “No, we didn’t actually go for a drink”, Louisa reveals, “it was actually very late, like 3am, nowhere was open.” Commence national sob-fest. Would you ever meet up again, I ask? “He’s a really nice guy but he’s in London and I’m in Exeter. If I ever met him for a drink I think we’d just be like lol remember when we went on First Dates?”

With Will cast to the wayside, there is surely a queue of people at Louisa’s door, loving her just the way she is.

Is she ready to embrace the Exeter dating scene? “Yeah maybe,” she says, “I think email is an underrated form of communication.

So I might email some people.” I can see it now: ‘Dear human, May I request your company this evening? Yours, Louisa. P.S. Fancy dress costume and gin compulsory.’

Whilst university is nearly at an end for Louisa, her obsession with fancy dress was not sparked by Freshers’ Week. She has forever been

a “fancy dress Nazi”, we concur, as she remembers the time she was put in charge of World Book Day costumes in sixth form. She made her fellow students traipse up to the art department to create Mr Men suits: “I said to them, ‘if it’s not made out of cardboard, I’m leaving.’”

She also describes her approach to the age-old public school quandary: “Home clothes day. Am I going to wear Jack Wills or am I not going to wear Jack Wills?”

Obviously, Louisa decided on the latter and purchased a banana suit to sport on the special day: ”I was 14 and I bought a banana suit for myself, and I wore it on home clothes day.”

Obviously keen to get this level of comedy gold back on our screens, the First Dates production team rang her up AGAIN last week.

However, this time she declined their request for a repeat appearance: “I don’t want to appear desperate!”, she laughs.

“I was like ‘I’m not going to come back but can I be your runner please?’ I’m definitely going to write to them after I’ve graduated with the words “‘SINGLE AND VERY POOR.’”

I was 14 and I bought a banana suit for myself, and I wore it on home clothes day However, fear not - Louisa will be back. Inundated with tweets and messages telling her she needs her own show, she’s gone and gotten one. Exeter’s student TV station XTV are collaborating with Louisa to launch a spin-off version of Britain’s best-loved programmes First Dates and The Great British Bake Off, named First Bakes.

Bakes Set for release in February/March, Louisa will host the show which sets up singles in the kitchen: “They’ll probably have to bake a nine-loaf platter in the shape of Exeter Cathedral, I imagine.”

With other plans to capitalise on her recent fame, Louisa admirably aspires to raise money for charity. She’s already organising an anti-bullying stand-up night and wants to do a sponsored rollerblade across America in the summer – a decision she tells me about nonchalantly, as if everybody does it: “I bought some rollerskates. It was a Sunday night, late-night purchase. I can’t roller-skate. My housemates and I are going to do a trial run from Bordeaux to Toulouse. Then we want to do San Francisco to LA.” So there you have it – Louisa: Theology student, First Dates queen, fancy-dress Nazi, baking show host, stand-up comedian, amateur rollerskater. One thing’s for sure: Exeter’s definitely got itself a new BNOC.

New Year, new you? No way EXEPOSÉ

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www.exepose.com

17

Two Exeposé Lifestyle writers give us their views on making New Years Resolutions

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EW year. New opportunities.

But new you? Probably not, but there’s still hope. Just because something is unlikely it doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Just look at Justin Bieber’s recent resurgence. What I prefer to see it as is – new year, same opportunities, pretty much same you, but perhaps a new attitude. More achievable, and something that shouldn’t be scorned just because you’ve decided to start around a particular time of year. Because what’s the harm in trying to punch away winter blues with a bit of chipper positivity?

Join surfing, start salsa, jog up Cardiac (poor joke, only a miracle can help with that) Luckily, there’s plenty of support around for those of us that are optimistic enough to attempt a self-spring-clean.

Most societies let you sign up afresh, so if you previously weren’t brave enough, or capable to manage more than a croak whilst battling Freshers’ Flu, why not try now you’ve lived to tell the tale? If you attended zero auditions yet still envisage a Pitch-Perfect-esque life, don’t let it be

T

a fantasy. Join surfing, start salsa, jog up Cardiac (poor joke, only a miracle can help with that – but yak about it to let us know if you do). But seriously, if you’ve always dreamed of making the perfect Victoria sponge then join Bake-soc, or if you really fancying making your friends and family horrid gifts for years to come, join Knit-soc. Cliché as it is, the world’s your oyster.

So, although the time of year shouldn’t stop anyone from becoming a ‘better’ person, pulling fewer allnighters, or simply relighting that light within you that might’ve died during exams, why be a new-years’ Scrooge about what glorious opportunities 2016 brings?

Yes, there are always the pessimists that will try to bring you down and doom you to fail, but pay them no attention - they’re not going to shift their Christmas bulges anytime soon. Although admittedly, with the naysayers, the ‘how-do-I-keepat-this’ part is where problems occur, but don’t worr, I believe in you. MLK’s dream didn’t stay a dream, and I have a dream that ‘new resolutioners’ can and will still be utilising gym memberships

by December. Or maybe just February, to start with.

HE majority of resolutions are made with the best of intentions, and are entirely admirable. Exercise more? Great physical and mental health benefits. Spend more time with family and friends? You’ll feel more supported and love yourself if you show people you care. Quit smoking or reduce alcohol intake? What kind of person is going to sniff at you for doing that?

Growth must be chosen and wanted by the self, for the self There is absolutely nothing wrong with making commitments to yourself which will make you happier and healthier. In fact, that behaviour ought to be nurtured in every one of us. However, making these commitments just because everyone else is and you feel that you ought to, rather than want to, is simply inviting extra pressure into the next year of your life, coupled with guilt if you fail to keep to your resolutions, which, figures suggest, only an iron-disciplined eight per cent of us do. Hardly a positive beginning to the new chapter which you’ve been waiting months to start.

If you really want to make a New

Year’s Resolution, make sure you are doing it with truly good interests, rather than just doing it to keep up appearances.

Perhaps you may even resolve to not bow to traditions that encourage you to think that you must be in some way insufficient.

All of us are flawed, and we all have room for personal growth. But to be genuine, that growth must be chosen and wanted by the self, for the self. When it is coerced - even with a tiny bit of unwillingness it has a strong (92 per cent!) chance of backfiring, and leaving us disappointed.

É

EMMA BESSENT

Top 10 New Years Resolutions 1. Lose weight 2. Get organised 3. Spend less, save more 4. Enjoy life to the fullest 5. Staying fit and healthy 6. Learn something exciting 7. Quit smoking 8. Help others with their dreams 9. Fall in love 10. More family time

Ask your Auntie Kathy SAKSHI RAIZADA

Kathy Giddins, our Lifestyle Agony Aunt, is here to solve all of your uni problems (well, she’ll try...)

Mozzers Mystery Man

Dear Auntie Kathy, Last term I met this amazing guy in Mozzers. Our eyes met across the dance �loor, we shared our �irst kiss and talked and laughed the night away. From what he told me that night he seemed like the perfect guy: he’s sweet (he told me that he never normally gets with girls in clubs!), he’s athletic (on the rugby team) and he’s well-travelled (did a gap year)! I texted him the next day but term had already ended and he never replied. I’m scared that I’ll never see him again, what if he was the one?

Please help me, Anon

Dear Anon, If you really think he’s the one then I think you should de�initely send him a text declaring your undying love. That’s what I usually do with guys I’ve just exchanged saliva with on a sweaty dance�loor. Try something along the lines of “Hey babe, I loved meeting you in Mosaic the other night and I think we could really tessellate. You are the one. You are my missing puzzle piece.

Marry me. I want four children... and �ive cats.” If he doesn’t respond positively to that then fuck him (�iguratively) and become a lesbian.

Men are all scumbags anyway.

Auntie Kathy xox

Seminar Slacker

Send in your dilemmas to Auntie Kathy at lifestyle@exepose.com

Dear Auntie Kathy, There’s this girl in my seminar and we’re in a group to do a presentation together.

There’s four people in the group altogether but it may as well be three because this girl never turns up to any group meetings! She ignores our messages but then when we see her in seminars she acts all nice and as if it’s no big deal. I don’t get how she can do it! It’s so infuriating as we all get the same marks in the end but she’s done none of the work! What should I do?

All best, Anon

Dear Anon, This girl needs to get her act together so here’s how it’s going to play out. After your seminars you should follow her home, see where she lives and then post print-outs of your presentation slides through her letterbox or under her door. If she doesn’t get the message after a few days then up the ante and start sellotaping them to her windows and sticking them on her back until she can no longer ignore her responsibility. If passive aggressiveness fails then I would just start your presentation off by saying ‘Good morning everyone, before we begin I just wanted you to know that [insert name here] did fuck all for this’, and point at her for about one minute.

Auntie Kathy xox

18

MUSIC

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MUSIC Gig Listings

Tuesday 19 January Alien Ant Farm The Lemon Grove, Exeter Wednesday 20 January Beats and Bass presents the Busy Twist Cavern, Exeter Thursday 21 January Wreckage 2 - Live Bands!

Cavern, Exeter Friday 22 January Craig Charles The Lanes, Bristol Saturday 23 January Indie Club + Green Haze Cavern, Exeter Sunday 24 January ExTunes Variety Show The Lemon Grove, Exeter Tuesday 26 January Mayday Parade The Lemon Grove, Exeter Wednesday 27 January The Lone Bellow Thekla, Bristol Saturday 30 January Lucy Rose Colston Hall, Bristol Sunday 31 January Soulfly Motion, Bristol

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Exeposé Music

MUSIC EDITORS James Atherton Katie Costello

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@ExeposeMusic

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Bowie: A Life on Mars After David Bowie’s death, Sam Harvey looks back at the life of an artist like no other

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AVID Bowie’s contribution to art was phenomenal. His impact on world music is engrained in all walks of life, from his ambitious early career to his bravely experimental later work, Bowie has always managed to push boundaries in ways most artists could only ever dream of.

Really finding his feet in his 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Bowie created one of the most successful alter egos of all time. His previous albums, Hunky Dory and The Man who Sold the World had already showcased Bowie’s musical talent, but it was the creation of Ziggy Stardust which secured this album as one of the most important and influential of the 20th century. Every song is simply brilliant and his Top of the Pops performance of ‘Starman’ became an iconic moment in music television history. Aside from spawning some of his best-known hits, the album also set the high standards for music production that he would follow in all of his later output.

Here was an established pop icon making difficult, nuanced music

which had given him such success.

One of his greatest creative periods was the time he spent in West Berlin, producing tracks including ‘Low’, ‘Heroes’ and ‘Lodger’. They represent a period of wide experimentation in his music where he always managed to remain ahead of his time and although songs like ‘Breaking Glass’ and ‘Yassassin’ were rarely heard live, they endured amongst his most dedicated fans. Here was an established pop icon making difficult, nuanced music when it would have been easy to stick with a winning formula.

Bowie knew how to be different and knew how to do it well.

By the 1980s Bowie was finally receiving the stateside acclaim he had long deserved.

‘Ashes to Ashes’ and ‘Let’s Dance’ were received particularly well and have held up far better than most 1980s fare. His creative output expanded, as he continued to develop his acting career with a fantastic and overlooked performance as Jareth the Goblin King in the fantasy film Labyrinth. The androgynous character made Bowie the man both your Mum and your Dad had pinned up to their wall and it’s not hard to see why.

B o w i e moved on to make some of the most challenging and thought-

And yet, despite the success of Ziggy Stardust, Bowie killed off his own creation, announcing the androgynous figure’s retirement at the end of his 1973 tour. But this wasn’t the end of Bowie. He returned in other guises, as the Aladdin Sane and the Thin White Duke, each time breaking with the character-

provoking music of his career in the 1990s and it’s this account of Bowie that resonates with me most. His 1995 album Outside saw him experiment with progressive and industrial themes. It’s a concept album that tells the story of a detective trying to make sense of a new murder craze in the art world. The concept was so ambitious that Bowie had originally planned three albums to make it work.

He collaborated with Nine Inch Nails’ frontman Trent Reznor, simply showing his determination not to become a pillar of his generation. Bowie was always open to exploring contemporary styles in his music, and this aggressive ambition will always play a part in how we remember him.

The concept was so ambitious Bowie had originally planned three albums to make it work In his last two albums, Bowie again changed it up. The Next Day was a lasting statement after ten years of silence to show us he still had a voice and Blackstar was his final gift. Few artists have a talent like Bowie’s, and his death is hard to take for the generations he inspired. It’s this long lasting, cross-generational appeal that has cemented his place as one of the greatest artists of all time. Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust but Bowie will never be forgotten.

And with Blackstar, Bowie bows out

Tristan Gatward, Online Music Editor, reviews the final album from the music legend Alien Ant Farm @ The Lemon Grove Exeter Tuesday 19 January The Lemmy’s school disco reputation is being upheld as they play host to a band most renowned for a their 2001 cover of Michael Jackson’s ‘Smooth Criminal’. They have five albums, so expect a lot of people waiting a long time for the one song they actually know.

Blackstar David Bowie 8 January 2016

W

HEN Bowie covered Ronnie Spector’s ‘Try Some, Buy Some’ on 2003’s Reality, he simultaneously traversed his own mythology and the Wall of Sound fabled by Ronnie’s late husband.

His fixation with texturing often incredibly dense and provocative instrumentation continued over a ten year synapse to The Next Day, to be lucidly resurrected

again in Blackstar as the artist bows out.

His final studio release has curtsied to the unabashed experimentalism of Phil Spector’s sound, subverted into Bowie’s signature marque of make-believe. Blackstar mediates Bowie’s universally creative holism – his predicating philosophies that life, the universe and everything cooperate within an extraordinary delicate human interconnection.

Bowie treats mortality with humour.

The standout track comes near the halfway point. ‘Lazarus’ is a retelling of the Biblical resurrection story, as told by the Gospel of John. Where synths became a

tenet of Bowie’s Berlin period, they return here with potency, crying back to an era fuelled by “red peppers, milk and cocaine”.

Where synths became a tenet of Bowie’s Berlin period, they return here with potency Blackstar’s final song begins with a harmonica sample from 1977’s ‘A New Career in a New Town’, from the first of

his collaborative releases with ambient minimalist Brian Eno. What seems to be a direct address to his terminal cancer, conceding that he’s “seeing more and feeling less”, is put again atop an amazingly visceral and coloured-in sound.

The last song on his last album circles exactly back to where he started, amid the Vaudeville tradition of English musicals, which co-opted rock music as a theatricality. In this sense, Blackstar acts as Bowie’s innovative nostalgia trip, revisiting the world which he has changed forever, and the world that will forever pride his immortality.

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Saturday 30th Men’s Cricket 1 v Exeter 2

Women’s Squash 2 v Bristol

Women’s Cricket 1v So’ton Solent

Men’s Table Tennis 1 v So’ton

Women’s Cricket 1 v UWE

Women’s Table Tennis 1 v B’mouth

Women’s Cricket 1 v Plymouth

Women’s Tennis 3 v Southampton

Women’s Cricket 2 v Southampton

Men’s Tennis 3 v Exeter 2

Mixed Golf 2 v B’mouth

Women’s Cricket 2 v So’ton Solent

Men’s Volleyball 1 v UCL

Mixed Golf 3 v Cardiff Met

Women’s Cricket 2 v UWE

Wednesday 20th Men’s Badminton 2 v UWE Women’s Badminton 1 v Imperial

Men’s Rugby 2 v Hartpury

Men’s Squash 1 v Edinburgh

Men’s Squash 2 v UWE

Men’s Squash 1 v Sheffield

Women’s Tennis 2 v Kent

Women’s Squash 1 v Northumbria

Men’s Volleyball 1 v East London

Men’s Tennis 1 v Leeds Beckett

Men’s Water Polo 1 v Cardiff Met

Women’s Volleyball 2 v So’ton

Wednesday 27th Men’s Fencing 1 v Aberystwyth Men’s Football 5 v Winchester Mixed Golf 3 v Bournemouth Men’s Hockey 1 v Bristol Women’s Netball 1 v Hertfordshire Women’s Rugby 1 v Cardiff Met Men’s Rugby 3 v Gloucestershire Women’s Squash 2 v UWE

Women’s Volleyball 2 v FXU

FEBRUARY Wednesday 3rd Men’s Badminton 2 v Bristol Men’s Football 1 v Chichester Mixed Golf 1 v Bath Mixed Golf 2 v Cardiff Met Mixed Golf 3 v Bournemouth Mixed Golf 4 v UWE Mixed Golf 5 v Gloucestershire Men’s Hockey 3 v Plymouth Men’s Hockey 6 v Plymouth Men’s Hockey 5 v Exeter 4 Women’s Hockey 3 v Bristol Men’s Lacrosse 2 v Bristol Women’s Lacrosse 1 v Bath Women’s Lacrosse 2 v Cardiff Women’s Netball 3 v Exeter 4 Women’s Netball 5 v Plymouth Men’s Rugby 4 v Bournemouth Men’s Rugby 5 v UWE Men’s Rugby 6 v Gloucestershire Men’s Rugby 7 v Southampton

Designed by Rob Cross, Sport Editor

Men’s Rugby League v Bristol

Women’s Rugby 1 v Glo’shire Women’s Rugby 2 v Bristol

Wednesday 10th Men’s Badminton 3 v So’ton Solent Men’s Football 2 v Southampton Men’s Football 3 v Southampton Men’s Football 4 v Southampton Men’s Football 5 v Winchester Women’s Football 2 v So’ton Men’s Hockey 2 v KCL Men’s Hockey 3 v Bath Men’s Hockey 4 v Southampton Men’s Hockey 5 v Bath Women’s Hockey 2 v KCL Women’s Hockey 4 v Exeter 3 Women’s Hockey 5 v Southampton Women’s Lacrosse 2 v Bristol Women’s Lacrosse 3 v So’ton Women’s Netball 4 v So’ton Solent Women’s Netball 5 v Southampton Women’s Netball 6 v Southampton Men’s Rugby 1 v Cardiff Men’s Rugby 2 v Bristol Men’s Rugby 3 v Southampton Men’s Rugby 4 v RAU Men’s Rugby 6 v Winchester Men’s Rugby League 1 v St Mary’s Men’s Squash 2 v Southampton Men’s Squash 3 v So’ton Solent Women’s Squash 2 v Glo’shire Men’s Tennis 1 v Bournemouth Men’s Tennis 2 v Bournemouth Men’s Tennis 4 v Southampton Women’s Tennis 4 v Winchester

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URES TERM 2 2016 Saturday 13th Men’s Cricket 1 v UWE Men’s Cricket 1 v Gloucestershire

MARCH Wednesday 2nd

Men’s Cricket 1 v Plymouth

Men’s Badminton 3 v Glo’shire

Men’s Cricket 2 v St Mark & St John’s

Women’s Basketball 1 v Bristol

Men’s Cricket 2 v UWE

Mixed Golf 5 v Exeter 4

Men’s Cricket 2 v Plymouth

Women’s Hockey 3 v Plymouth

Women’s Futsal 1 v Cardiff

Men’s Rugby 1 v Bath Men’s Rugby 5 v Exeter 6

Wednesday 17th

Men’s Squash v Bristol

Men’s Football 2 v Bath Women’s Football 2 v Plymouth

Wednesday 9th

Mixed Golf 4 v Aberystwyth

Men’s Badminton 1 v Bath

Mixed Golf 5 v Swansea

Women’s Badminton 2 v Bath

Men’s Hockey 2 v Plymouth

Men’s Basketball 1 v Cardiff

Women’s Hockey 2 v Cambridge

Men’s Fencing1 v Southampton

Women’s Hockey 4 v Exeter 3

Women’s Football 1 v So’ton Solent

Men’s Lacrosse 2 v Aberystwyth

Men’s Hockey 3 v UWE

Women’s Lacrosse 2 v Warwick

Women’s Netball v Southampton

Men’s Rugby 6 v Cardiff

Men’s Table Tennis v Cardiff

Men’s Rugby League 2 v TBC (K.O.)

Women’s Volleyball v Glo’shire

Women’s Squash 2 v TBC (K.O.) Men’s Table Tennis 1 v Nott Trent Men’s Tennis 2 v East London

Wednesday 16th

Women’s Tennis 2 v Bristol

Men’s Badminton 2 v Southampton

Men’s Ultimate Frisbee 1 v So’ton

Men’s Badminton 3 v Winchester

Women’s Volleyball 2 v TBC (K.O.)

Men’s Football 2 v Bristol

Women’s Water Polo 1 v TBC (K.O.)

Men’s Football 3 v Bristol Men’s Football 4 v Bristol Men’s Football 5 v RAC Women’s Football v UWE Men’s Hockey 4 v Bath Men’s Hockey 5 v Bournemouth Men’s Hockey 6 v Southampton Women’s Hockey 4 v Bristol Women’s Hockey 5 v Bournemouth Women’s Lacrosse 3 v UWE Women’s Netball 4 v UWE Women’s Netball 5 v UWE

Women’s Netball 6 v Winchester Men’s Rugby 4 v Bath Men’s Rugby 6 v Bristol Men’s Rugby 7 v Gloucestershire Men’s Squash 3 v Bristol

Save our venues www.exepose.ex.ac.uk

Following the oncoming closure of The Owl Sanctuary in Norwich, Joe Stewart, Online Music Editor, discusses the necessity of small venues to the UK music scene

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HE Owl Sanctuary is a small pub/ music venue/ coffee shop in Norwich, dedicated to providing muchneeded space for independently minded bands and artists to showcase their work to dedicated fans and newcomers alike. Like many small venues in the UK, The Owl Sanctuary offers what bigger venues, from the O2 Academies, to massive arenas like Wembley, cannot: affordable ticket prices, often below £10, an intimate atmosphere in which you can see every detail of the instruments rather than just stick-figures a mile off, and a genuine sense of community and appreciation for the music.

Despite the essential and important part that The Owl Sanctuary plays in the Norwich and UK music scene, however, one developer called Richard Pratt didn’t seem to care. According to a Facebook post by the venue, which has since attracted local and national media attention, Pratt bought the venue outright just before Christmas, paying way above the odds in order to secure the sale. His reason? According to legal advice given to the venue owners, who were at no stage informed that their building was being sold, Pratt’s intention is most

likely to tear it down. Having previously planned to knock down the buildings he owns next door to the venue and build a block of flats, Pratt was refused planning permission, as he would have contravened a number of planning laws in respect to the fire exit and natural daylight of The Owl Sanctuary. To get round it he’s simply bought the place to do with it as he pleases.

This closure will have the sort of repurcussions for the music scene in Norwich that Exeter would face should the Cavern ever close its doors, God forbid.

To those with a free market economic mindset, Pratt’s purchase may be justifiable: he has the money, and it is his right to buy the property. However, regardless of your economic position, the purchase and imminent closure of The Owl Sanctuary speaks to just one form of attack in a wider onslaught against small and independent venues across the UK, one that could see them destroyed altogether. In a 2014 interview with Exeposé Frank Turner, who despite his mainstream success has always championed small venues, explained that “in recent years there have been a lot of instances of venues, particularly on the underground circuit, coming under threat due to development of the areas surrounding

these venues and the inevitable noise complaints which stem from that”.

They are a place of memories, great gigs, even life-changing musical discovery Noise complaints apply to venues in much the same way as they do individuals, and can result in strict policing, license removal and even closure.

They are often lodged in an incredibly selfish fashion: more and more people are moving in to brand new blocks of city-centre flats, located next to established venues, and making noise complaints, an illogical and entitled decision which simply glosses over the fact that the venues exited first, and the complainant chose to move in. In this cold disregard for venues that often choose their location so as not to disturb the neighbours to begin with, new city-centre developments become a serious threat to small venues that cannot afford a custom-built and totally soundproofed premises, and as such are faced with closure.

For Frank Turner, the solution is the ‘Agent of Change’ principle, one that he has proposed directly to Sajid Javid MP, the government’s then culture secretary.

Very simply, this principle states that the one who changes the existing situation – e.g. a new development, or conversely a new venue near residential buildings, must pay for soundproofing. Under this system, the onus is rightly on developers and their residents to respect the important cultural space provided by independent venues, rather than moving in and expecting a change.

The support that The Owl Sanctuary has received so far in the media and online speaks volumes about the place that small venues hold in many people’s hearts: they are a place of memories, great gigs, even life-changing musical discovery. The case of The Owl Sanctuary is only one of many, and with the increasing development of our city centres, we are likely to see many more noise complaints, attempted closures, and disregard for an essential part of the cultural fabric of the UK. Without small venues, bands lack places to gain exposure, cut their teeth on the touring circuit, and experiment with their sound.

If The Cavern Club in Liverpool, the first haunt of The Beatles, existed in Exeter today, there’s a fair chance someone from a £220-per-week flat block would lodge a noise complaint, it’d close, be knocked down, and replaced with yet another Co-op. I don’t know about you, but I’m not prepared to just ‘Let It Be.’

Artists to watch in 2016 Blossoms Victoria Gilmore

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IPPED for a successful 2016, Blossoms have reached number four on the BBC Sound of 2016 list. The quintet produce psychedelic indie rock that is mesmerising and catchy in equal measure, their ear for a great melody meaning that tracks such as ‘Charlemagne’ will no doubt be gracing Saturday nights in the Cavern before long.

Muncie Girls Jim Atherton

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UNCIE Girls are part of a crop of incredible indie-punk bands currently active in Exeter, and 2016 looks set to be a big year for them. The trio are set to release their debut LP From Caplan To Belsize in March on Specialist Subject Records, and if the singles released so far are anything to go by, it will no doubt be forcing its way into everyone’s ‘Albums of the Year’ lists.

Pinegrove Alex Hall

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HIS group of youngsters just released a compilation of every song they’ve written so far. If you are a sensible human being that can’t listen to a band with awful lyrics, you will thankfully be able to jam to this day and night.

Now, close your curtains, lie down on your bed, pre-order the new LP, and while you wait, Spotify the hell out of Everything So Far.

Will Varley Matt Herjoin

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ILL Varley is a folk troubadour from Kent who plays honest, funny and political songs from the heart.

Varley recently signed to Xtra Mile, which boasts an impressive roster including Frank Turner, and his popularity is set to soar in 2016. Make sure not to miss his show at the Phoenix on 28 February as it may be your last chance to see him on a small stage for some time.

MUSIC

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Hot / Not / Long Shot / Forgot Katie Costello, Music Editor, lets us know which songs she thinks are hot, which are not, one which is a long-shot and one which has been forgot(ten).

Hot: ‘Wide Open’ – The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers’ latest release strikes a different tone to their previous successes.

It’s the kind of song that makes you want to stare pensively out of a window as the rain pounds on the glass.

Not: ‘Adventures Of A Lifetime’ – Coldplay It’s easy to hate on Coldplay, but this time they deserve it. All accusations of blandness seem well founded with this first release of their latest album. The most exciting section of the track is the jingly-jangly instrumental, which is mildly irritating above a sea of unimpressive vanilla.

Long Shot: ‘Taffy Come Home’ – Telegram Treading a fine line between irritating and good, newcomers Telegram have created a strikingly different single.

It could grate, with hard guitar chords and repetitive chanting of the title making up most of the chorus, but it’s catchy, and inventive enough to be appealing.

Forgot: ‘Computer Love’ – Kraftwerk Krautrock at its absolute best.

It’s atmospheric, has a catchy hook and lyrics which revolve around electronic software.

Coldplay sampled it in ‘Talk’, but Kraftwerk did it better, and that has been scandalously forgotten.

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18 JANUARY 2016 | Exeposé Screen

SCREEN EDITORS Akash Beri Ben Londesbrough

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2016: this year on screen Photo: blogs.indiewire.com

Ben Londesbrough and Akash Beri, Screen Editors look at the slate of television and film releases for 2016 respectively, picking out the highlights coming up in the next 12 months

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HE phrase ‘The Golden Age of Television’ has been thrown about a lot over the past decade, and is arguably justified when you considered the mammoth amount of quality shows we’ve been treated to.

Output in 2015 was really rather good; from the continuation of well established shows like Game of Thrones, to the sad but justified ends of Mad Men and Parks and Recreation, 2015 set the bar very high for upcoming programming. With now more platforms for TV shows than ever before, the range of TV in 2016 will continue to be as diverse and as exciting as ever.

2016 could form its own category of quality beyond the ‘Golden Age’ Firstly yes, Game of Thrones is returning in April, and yes, it will be good.

Other well established properties such as Orange is the New Black, American Horror Story, The Walking Dead and Daredevil will also return. Dramatic exploits will also come in the form of Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad’s prequel-spinoff that was met with warm reviews upon release. The first season was essentially exposition, and now we’re past that, the show can delve deep and hopefully provide us with some Breaking Bad style exploits along the way. Also returning after a long absence on TV is The X-Files, after its not-so-successful second attempt at a feature film. Everyone knows the show’s supernatural premise, but this new season of six episodes, designed by the brain trust of the show’s veteran writers, will tap into the notion of government conspiracies. Also returning is Jessica Jones, continuing Disney’s scary domination of the media we consume. However, my highlight of returning drama shows is Amazon’s Mr. Robot, expected at some point in the first half of 2016. The show follows Elliot, a hacker who wants to take down the biggest corporation in America.

It was brilliant, if somewhat derivative, and it will be interesting to see where the show goes and to see if Amazon can deliver consistency.

In terms of new drama, Preacher will finally get an adaptation, helmed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The series

will adapt the much-revered comic book about a small-town American preacher who embarks on a quest to literally find God. For Game of Thrones fans, also debuting is The Shannara Chronicles, a scifi/fantasy drama based on novels by Terry Brooks that follows three characters on a quest to save the world from a demon army that will emerge if the mystical Ellcrys tree dies. Another one for fans of Suits to watch out for, is Billions. Exploring Wall Street vs Washington, and created by a very talented set of screenwriters, the show boasts Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis in its cast.

Returning quality comedy shows include It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and New Girl, l, alongside the mandatory shitty tea-time programming of The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family. Whilst not confirmed, but possibly taking the prize for the comedy highlight is the second season of Aziz Ansari’s Master of None.. The series, written by and starring Ansari as a 30-year-old actor who attempts to make his way through life in New York City, was met with critical acclaim and was honestly beautiful and beautifully honest about emerging adulthood. New comedies include Superstore, a show that is being described as The Office,, if were set at Walmart; and Baskets, in which Zach Galifianakis of Hangover fame plays a black sheep who’s forced to move back hometown after his big-city dreams fail and then goes on to become a clown. We will also get to see Louis Theroux’s long awaited documentary titled Stairway to Heaven: Louis Theroux and the Church of Scientology,, on the BBC in 2016.

It’s time to renew those Netflix and Amazon subscriptions When considering the apparent quality of new and returning shows, 2016 could form its own category of quality beyond the ‘Golden Age’, possibly the ‘Platinum Era’. It’s time to renew those subscriptions and keep avoiding the TV license man.

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N reflection, 2015 was a great year for film, capped off with a solid Star Wars movie that is breaking all kinds of records. As we look forward to 2016, there are so many new films lined up it can be daunting to think about.

But you’ll soon realise that a few stand out from the crowd, one of which is Rogue One: A Star Wars Story set for release in December. After Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Awakens people are now turning their attention to the spin off of which we know little about. We do know that it will focus on the hunt for the Death Star plans, which appeared in Star Wars: A New Hope.

Hope Director Gareth Edwards, known for his films Monsters (2010) and Godzilla (2014), is returning to direct the spin-off which will star Felicity Jones in the lead role, an element I am really excited about considering her successful career so far.

A few stand out from the crowd, like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story A trailer is likely imminent, and I can’t wait to see what they do with their universe, despite the fact it will be a prequel to the original trilogy. The most exciting part of this project is the inclusion of Donnie Yen, renowned martial artist and star of his own franchise Ip Man. I really hope he gets a chance to kick ass in this movie, and inject some epic fight scenes into the franchise. It won’t live up to the hype of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but it’ll come damn close.

Another movie I was excited about was Star Trek Beyond, another franchise kickstarted by J.J. Abrams. However, I feel the steam was taken out of the hype train by the lacklustre trailer with a bizarre tonal direction that did not suit the trek universe at all. Despite that blip in the radar, this movie is primed for success as Simon Pegg himself has been listed as a co-writer, a huge fan of the franchise. If anyone can ensure that the movie is a success, it’s Pegg. The entire cast is returning, but the plot is an ab-

solute mystery. Hopefully it will not just be rehash of previous material like Star Trek: Into Darkness was, but it looks set t o rival Star Wars (that was a joke - that’s an absurd hope).

Marvel and DC have been engaged in a tense movie conflict that both sides seem adamant to win. The fact that two superhero versus movies are coming out of both camps is testament to this. However, Captain America: Civil War might be the victor in both our hearts and the box office, with a stellar trailer that did not divide audiences like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice did. The movie centres on the conflict over superhero registration, and whether superhoes should serve the government or act on their own free will. The former is supported by Tony Stark (Iron Man) while the latter is upheld by Steve Rogers (Captain America).

With their teams formed, both sides will be bashing each other’s faces in with amazing effects and heart that promise to be a sensation. The inclusion of Black Panther, a new superhero soon to be on the big screen, has people hyped, as well as the announced return of Spider-Man. The BFG is another flick I’m looking forward to, mostly because it’s directed

by Steven Spielberg. He’s had a fantastic track record, so I have faith he can bring our childhood to life on the big screen. If you don’t know the plot to The BFG, it centers on a girl named Sophie encountering the Big Friendly Giant who’s been outcasted because he refuses to eat boys and girls. I love this story, I love Spielberg and I can’t wait.

Black Panther, a new superhero on the big screen, has people hyped The last on my list is Finding Dory, a film which nobody wanted but a film everyone will see. I consider Finding Nemo as one of my favourites of all time, with a great story and characters. Their return to the big screen is something I can’t complain about, as the lovable Dory goes missing requiring another rescue mission to save her. Technology has improved massively, and to see the colourful animated sea, as well as my favourite characters again in 3D will be an experience.

Is Eddie ready for another Oscar?

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Kathy Giddins reviews Tom Harper’s latest biopic concerning Lili Elbe’s gender reassignment surgery

The Danish Girl Stars: Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Ben Wishaw Director: Tom Hooper 2016, 119 minutes

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HE Danish Girl is an adaptation of the 2009 novel by David Ebershoff based on the life of Lili Elbe; one of the first known people to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Set in the mid 1920s, it charts the story of married couple Einar and Gerda Wegener who make a living as artists. One day, when Gerda’s female model is late she asks her husband to put on some stockings and a dress which then awakens in him an inherent desire to be a woman.

With dashes of humour and heaps of emotion, The Danish Girl not only deals with an incredible story in a sophisticated and stylish way but also of-

fers visually delightful scenes as it flits between the galleries and streets of Copenhagen and Paris. Eddie Redmayne is brilliant in the role of Einar/Lili and despite having faced criticism from those who don’t think a cisgender man should play a trans woman, I think he pulls it off pretty well.

performance as the remarkable yet conflicted Gerda. She loves Einar and wants him to be happy so therefore helps to bring Lili into existence but this of course means sacrificing her own needs and wants. The only part of the film I would criticise is the character of Hans, Einar’s friend and Gerda’s slight love interest. To me he is just a bit one dimensional and not really essential although he does have one of the funniest lines in the film when he says to Einar ‘I’ve only known a handful of people in my life and you’ve been two of them.’

Nevertheless, the film is certainly topical. It seems that in the last year alone, issues affecting the transgender community have really come to the fore, in particular the high profile transition of Caitlyn Jenner.

Alicia Vikander also gives a heart wrenching performance as the conflicted Gerda The fact that Redmayne has quite a feminine face definitely helps, but what is more important is the way in which he portrays Einar’s emotions as we see how a bit of cross-dressing develops into a real identity crisis.

Alicia Vikander also gives a heart wrenching

Despite this, the real issue is is why are so many unwilling to accept transgender people when the first operation of this kind took place 90 years ago? It’s strange that it’s taken this long to tell this story, but hopefully now the door will be open for more dialogues to take place. A film like this, concerning such a topic will no doubt be a welcome addition to the attention that the subject deserves. This will be futhered by Redmayne’s Oscar nomination and his recent Golden Globe nomination.

It takes a lot for a film to move me to tears but The Danish Girl did just that It takes a lot for a film to move me to tears and The Danish Girl did just that. Whether it makes you laugh or cry, I’d definitely recommend it.

Tarantino’s latest - hateful or lovable

Carmen Paddock considers the controversial Quentin Tarantino’s violent take on the wild west The Hateful Eight Stars: Samuel L Jackson, Kurt Russell, Tim Roth Director: Quentin Tarantino 2016, 187 minutes

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IGHT strangers snowed in together can go two ways: a madcap farce or a bloodbath. With Tarantino at the helm, there is no surprise as to which way the scenario progresses. While a high bar to clear, this may be Tarantino’s biggest gore-fest. The exhibition of blood and guts reaches a glee reminiscent of Django Unchained’s final scenes. However, the viewer’s loyalties were not divided in Django.

In The Hateful Eight, no character comes across well – all are gangsters, bounty hunters, ex-Confederate soldiers, or other unsavoury sorts driven to shelter. The most likeable of the shanty bunch may be Major Marquis Wallace (Samuel L. Jackson), but even he has

his sadistic streak. Watching horrible people do horrible things to each other is not easy, especially with the blurred morality and lack of ‘sides’.

Perhaps the only ‘sides’ in the film rest in the remnants of the Civil War. There are several references throughout the film to the Confederate flag acting as a code for organised racism – an interesting development in light of Tarantino’s outraged, outspoken statements about the recent shootings of unarmed black teenagers in the United States.

Much of the initial tension is based around race, and these conversations seem uncomfortably contemporary.

The exhibition of blood and guts reaches a glee reminiscient of Django The post-Civil War setting and bold, blocky, colourful title sequence harken back to Django in setting and style, and the score by Enrico Morricone is excellent. The impetus behind

the plot is bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) seeking the fastest route to Red Rock, where he plans to turn in his prisoner Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) for ten thousand dollars.

The only person he half trusts is Major Wallace, a former acquaintance from the Union side.

The main factor knocking it short of perfection is the pacing

tion.

It is with no pun intended that I would rate The Hateful Eight, Tarantino’s eighth film, as an eight out of ten (well, four out of five stars on Exeposé’s scale). The main factor knocking it short of perfection is the pacing. If it were not for the promise of Tarantino glory to come, which thankfully delivered, the slow opening scenes would have irrevo-

cably dampened the film.

As it is, they may slightly depress the first half and make the director’s trademark dialogue-heavy style fall flat in a few places, but they do not take away from the climax. On the whole, this is not a film to be missed on the big screen, especially in 70mm format, and is no weak link in Tarantino’s oeuvre.

Photo: Forbes

When a blizzard drives the party indoors, they encounter the likes of a supposed sheriff and ex-Confederate guerrilla fighter (Walter Goggins), a hangman (Tim Roth), a loner who’s writing his life story (Michael Madsen), and a general still wearing his Confederate uniform. Not all characters, however, are actually who they introduce themselves to be – in some cases quite literally, in others in a more subtle way.

The ‘whodunit’ that unfolds deftly balances suspense, surprise, and satisfac-

Competition: win two cinema tickets!

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Win two cinema tickets courtesy of the Exeter Picturehouse!

To enter, simply tweet us @ExeposeScreen with your suggestion for the title of Star Wars Episode VIII! Creative and humourous suggestions are encouraged - the winner will be chosen by the Screen editors and contacted via Twitter.

The competition will end at 12PM on Sunday 24 January.

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Alan Rickman: A life on film 22

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Ellie Crisp and Ellen McDonnell reflect on the British thespian’s varied and distinguished career

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LAN Rickman has sadly died. In the week that we also lost Bowie, it is a massive shock to British culture and although we mythologise them in our minds as eternal superhumans, it is a sorrowful reminder that our icons cannot live forever.

Rickman has been a national emblem for British stage and screen for over 30 years. Born in London, he began his acting career on stage. After graduating from RADA he had early successes with the RSC including the 1985 production of Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses with his role as the predatory Vicomte de Valmont. The performance won him a Tony Award when the production moved to Broadway and established him as a pivotal figure within the Royal Shakespeare Company. Rickman returned to starring in many Shakespeare productions throughout his life, including the role of Anthony alongside Helen Mirren as Cleopatra, at the National Theatre in 1998.

Rickman was perhaps best known for capturing the perfect qualities of a villain. His arched features and languid, purring diction (greatly captured when he voiced Absalom the Caterpillar in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland)

were distinctively recognisable across generations of film fans. For many people his most iconic role as Professor Snape in all eight of the Harry Potter films will be the biggest legacy he leaves behind. A decade of his career was devoted to crafting this complex character, whose transition from villainous potion master to “probably the bravest man” Harry knew truly captured the imagination and hearts of fans. The role within the film franchise certainly earned him a new legion of fans, who will always remember him fondly.

Rickman has been a national emblem for British stage and screen for 30 years But as well as bringing to life the character of Snape, Rickman has been triumphant in many other roles. 13 years prior to his role as the Professor, Rickman took on the role of Hans Gruber, a sarcastic, deceitful adversary to Bruce Willis’s character (John McClane), in Die Hard, which established him as a household name. Rickman’s marvellous portrayal of Gruber led to him establishing a villain ‘fashion’ that

numerous screen actors attempted to mimic in the following years. It was the first villainous role Rickman took on and propelled his career forward at age 41. His performance in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves exemplifies Rickman’s ability to transform what started as a relatively unpleasant character into an outrageously wicked yet brilliant Sheriff of Nottingham, so much so that he bagged a BAFTA for his performance.

He also acted as a more unconventional baddie as Harry in Love Actually, playing the husband that infamously cheats on Emma Thompson’s character, Karen. I’m sure nobody will forget the scene of Thompson left crying in their marital bedroom listening to Joni Mitchell. Rickman appeared alongside Thompson in several other productions, such as Sense and Sensibility in which Rickman starred as the brilliant Colonel Brandon.

In 1995, Rickman made his directional debut with the acclaimed Scottish drama The Winter Guest which starred

Thompson and her mother. Their dynamic chemistry made them the perfect duo on screen and it is Rickman’s ability to be so villainously charming that makes him such a compelling talent alongside Thompson’s

warm and loving presence.

It is Rickman’s ability to be so villaniously charming that makes him such a compelling talent During his career Rickman won a BAFTA, Golden Globe award, an Emmy and a SAG Award. His death will come as a shock to many of us and he is seen as one of the greatest actors of his generation. He sadly leaves behind partner of 35 years Rima Horton, whom he met when he was just 19 – they privately married in 2012 in New York. His death comes just months ahead of the release of a new film called Eye In the Sky in which he stars alongside Helen Mirren and Aaron Paul.

The film is due to open in the UK on 8 April.

Cult cinema classics

Oliver Thompson unpacks the elaborate and obscure subculture of cult movies

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F you look into the definition of ‘cult’ on the OED you get a particularly clear-cut idea of what contributes to one of popular culture’s stranger fascinations: “a collective obsession with or intense admiration for a particular person, thing, or idea.” Yet this definition doesn’t really seem to cut it for me and, when it comes to specifically ‘cult’ cinema any kind of precise definition becomes more and more blurry.

The fans seemed to engage in an almost religious ceremony with the film Certainly ‘obsession’ is something that comes into it. For example I have been to screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a film that even after over 40 years of existence refuses to fall into irrelevance. There was something indescribably odd about my experiences there. Not only would people dress as every possible character on screen, but also the audience seemed to engage in

an almost religious ceremony with the film. They followed strict and absolute laws in their engagement with the film, reciting the script verbatim and singing the lines without a flutter of hesitation while a shadow cast danced below the screen. This small group of people, driven by obsession, had salvaged this film from obscurity.

I think that ‘admiration’ is a little more contentious in this definition. One thing that has helped to define cult cinema in an Internet age is misappropriating the vision of the author. Often bad directorial execution spawns its own cult followings, and fans will engage in an act of obsession predominantly characterised by schadenfreude – or, laughing at others’ misfortune. This isn’t necessarily with a malicious intent, as films that are ‘so bad they’re good’ gain a wider audience than they could have ever had. Tommy Wiseau’s The Room for example has gained huge cultural

weight in part borne out of Internet culture, which constantly reappropriates and distorts directors’ visions for comic effect. There is still a level of ‘admira-

tion,’ but it is often to the detriment of the

film’s initial purpose. Still if you are as poor a director as Tommy Wiseau then you can only expect your film to be admired for its schlock quality rather than its merit. In contrast, films like John Carpenter’s Big Trouble In Little China have attracted widespread appeal retroactively, which studios aim to exploit through a remake next year. Whether or not the film will pay homage to its cult roots remains a mystery.

The fact that a number of people choose how they read a film and, by extension, give a film cultural traction is very empowering.

However, it still suggests that this phenomenon only occurs in small numbers, which is debatable considering fandom that occurs in mainstream cinema. The release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens very recently further obscured the definition

of cult cinema.

Even the biggest release of the year coincided with a renewal of the ‘Star Wars cult’ en masse. People actually bought cinema tickets to watch the film and fans/critics adhered to the ‘no spoilers’ rule everywhere so that others could enjoy the film without knowing anything going in. Perhaps this revival of the franchise, which has lasted in culture for decades, suggests that cultism isn’t just restricted to small numbers or by dark humour, but is something indicative of the wider mythos that surrounds the creation filmic universe.

Cultism is becoming more mainstream on platforms like YouTube Certainly, cultism is becoming more mainstream, where films limited by physical releases are now being viewed and reappropriated by platforms like YouTube, but its democratising effects are still allusive, yet mesmerising.

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Photo: Fiona Potigny

Calligraphy class

Fiona Potigny, News Editor, has a font-tastic chat with Ian Barnard, master calligrapher

O

NCE upon a time, ascenders and descenders nobly adorned manuscripts, charters and constitutions – each word’s swishes and swirls every bit as important as their semantic significance.

Queue ‘qwerty’ and the triumph of the texting thumb a few centuries later, however, and we’re now a society sans serif.

Combining a traditional craft with something weird like a vegetable is eye-catching Indeed, repeatedly writing “the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” until one can flawlessly weld any alphabetical combination using only ink may no longer enjoy prominence on the global curriculum – Finland recently scrapped handwriting lessons altogether – but, look closely, and you’ll find that the calligraphic tradition covertly continues.

It can be found in newspaper logos, the London Underground (its characteristic font was created by human hand in 1916, no less), the ‘O’ at the beginning of this very article or, if you’re Ian Barnard, at the end of a piece of asparagus.

“Taking something that’s quite a traditional craft and then something weird like a vegetable and putting them together becomes something that people want to share. It’s unusual, and they like that,” the bespectacled handletterer tells me of his social media tactics, which have seen him work with chillies, aubergines,

parsnips and beetroot.

A kaleidoscopic wall of motivational quotes, coffee quips and ‘#calligrapherproblems’ style banter, Barnard’s Insta gallery, followed by over 46,000, betrays his aptitude for generating more than just shareables, with incredible dexterity working in blackletter, copperplate and brushscript - an apparent favourite.

But Barnard wasn’t always as comfortable working with legumes as flexible nibs. A graphic designer by training since 1999, he laughed off the teachers that told him to “always get your ideas down on paper first”.

It

wouldn’t be until years later, having tired of “doing websites, brochures and business cards” and craving “a hobby to rest [his] eyes from the constant strain of looking at screens” that he decided to go analogue. “I shut myself away in the dining room for six

months, determined to practice lettering every day.”

“I’d become a bit obsessive,” he admits, “but I was doing what I love”.

Such enthusiasm is palpable as he discusses his passion for “tying letters together in creative ways” and the “flow of the ink”, likening himself to “a painter, who adds their own nuances to each work”.

With the art of “making a letter as beautiful as possible” now mastered, Barnard is “reaping the rewards” of his “hard graft”, having been able to go fully freelance working on a plethora of projects including branding for a TearFund charity event and a summer promotion project for a clothing brand, “but I’m not allowed to tell you about that”. The latter of which will, perhaps, bring him closer to his dream of designing for the skate and surf community. “I had this one idea that, rather than sending a business card, I would handpaint a skateboard, but haven’t got round to that just yet.”

A steady flow of calligraphy commissions from his Crowboroughbased studio, which is currently “littered” with creative scribblings inspired by anything from nature to Pinterest – “paper is a bit of a nightmare” – hasn’t been the only reward, however. And no, an improvement in his day-to-day handwriting is not it. “People expect my shopping lists to look really elegant, but my handwriting is still messy, that hasn’t changed… It’s incredibly therapeutic, though. Unless I spill ink everywhere - that’s quite stressful.”

This may well explain the new gen-

eration of hobbyists thirsty for the craft, spurred on by the BBC’s ‘Great Britishes’. Could a ‘Calligraphy Off’ be next, I ponder, or will technology melt this hope like a misplaced Baked Alaska?

Barnard, an aspiring Apple Pen user, believes in a symbiotic relationship between the two. “I feel that you have to move with whatever’s going on in the world, otherwise the craft will get left behind.” In any case, its saving grace is accessibility. “I was on the Isle of Wight recently and saw a glassmaking factory and wondered, ‘how long will that be around?’ With some crafts, you need so many materials that it’s hard to believe they’ll survive.

With calligraphy, you just need ink and paper.”

Eager for a Dummy’s Guide lesson, that’s exactly what I’m armed with. Invited to write my own name for analysis, I keenly attempt some trendy brush script, ending up with primary school scratch rather than the messy chic I was after.

You have to move on with whatever’s going on in the world “It’s best to start traditional,” I’m told. “A basis like Copperplate – that scripty, beautiful style – helps with others” by showing that “letters are all essentially just a series of shapes, ‘d’ is just ‘o’ plus ‘l’, for example”. I try again, conscious of letter heights and attempting to “add weight to the downstrokes” to get that “calligraphy feel”.

“See, only once you’ve learned the rules can you break them.” Damn, better pop that carrot away then…

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25

Pria Rai discusses the important role of the professional photographer in the modern world

P

HOTOGRAPHY is a key player in our lives. With Instagram profiles to upkeep, it has become a major, if not essential, part of every day life. There is an urge to tell the world where we have been, what we have seen and the people we’ve met. We want to see what fashion and food trends we should be following, and what celebrities are doing with their lives. It is then, a big cultural trendsetter.

The picture through the viewfinder has always been politically influential Whilst technological developments mean many of us can now create a work of art on our phones, it is easy to forget that this obsession with photography is not a recent phenomenon nor a temporary fashion. The picture through the viewfinder has always been socially and politically influential. From documentary photography to advertising, we are

constantly faced with images that have the power of sticking in our minds.

Adverts and media campaigns choose the most striking photographs that make us look twice. Whether it is a sports car winding through the Alps or a watch on the wrist of an A-List celebrity, it is the image that sells. Seeing these images on billboards, bus stop posters, on our tablets, in galleries or in shop windows, makes that dream life seem touchable, and our aspirations quickly become imagined for us.

Then take the other end of the advertising spectrum, charities.

They too still need to grab your attention, but the hard-hitting, poverty-stricken photographs and television adverts have the power to stop us in our tracks.

These images need little description, but can show a world 1000 miles from your own. Yet as with the luxury items, we are confronted with a situation we may never experience.

It is this confrontation that is also fundamental to the impact of documentary photography. As an inherently honest and representative form, photography has the ability to hold an atmosphere in stillness. In 1936, war photographer Robert Capa captured his now iconic Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death. This image was pub-

lished in a French magazine and held as a universal anti-war statement.

It is not just documenting a significant event that is important. Photography serves as a microphone for unheard voices. It’s about the photographer behind the camera, who sees the importance of capturing what may seem mundane. In 1950 Elliott Erwitt photographed the segregated water fountains in North Carolina. Such images survive to remind us of the injustice of social segregation, and speaks volumes about how much has since changed.

Photography today allows us to share the present moment, but its role in history is invaluable.

Photographer Jeff Widener engraved

into history the brave, unknown figure that stood in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square that were sent to brutally suppress protesters. As TIME magazine reported it, he “revived the world’s image of courage. It is when history disguises itself as allegory that the camera writes it best”.

Photography serves as a microphone for unheard voices Film or digital, photographs have the ability to transcend time. They allow for shared experiences, communication of the unspeakable, and breathe creativity into the mundane. They reflect on the changing state of society, providing both artefacts and guidance. As computer generated images become more common, the spirit and spontaneity of authentic photographs will continue to lie at the heart of its strength.

Our photography pics of 2015

Emily Wheeler sheds some light on the dark room and takes a look at 2015’s highlights GoPro Instagram - @gopro KAY, so GoPro (other sporty waterproof cameras are available) isn’t technically ONE photographer, but their insta makes for serious life goals.

This will potentially throw into question all your life choices as you walk round campus in the freezing cold and pitch black at 4.38pm, wondering why you didn’t extend the gap yah.

From Icelandic diving to Canadian mountains, every day brings a new landscape or activity to enjoy from the comfort of your own bedroom.

Beautiful, beautiful images that show you just how epic you could be one day…

O

Arts in the news

Zanele Muholi - @muholizanele

S

OUTH African photographer Zanele Muholi’s work explores “gender, race and sexuality”. It’s been exhibited worldwide, and has won multiple prestigious awards. This striking black and white sequence of portraits really caught my eye. The bright contrast of white lips draws the viewer to feel intimately close to the subject and hints at sexuality, a key theme in Muholi’s work. Also, look really closely: she’s covered in pegs. (Actually I say ‘she’, but this portrait is in fact elusive about the gender of their subjects.) The simplicity in colour makes the content more complex and intriguing, and the connection to social and political issues means her work can be as in-depth as you like it to be.

Shakespeare’s Globe Wonder Season starts 2016’s celebration of the bard

Eduardo Leal - @eduardoleal80 S recycling campaigns go, this one’s pretty artsy. Leal captures images of plastic bags across barren, uninhabited landscapes in the Bolivian Altiplano where they blow in the wind until getting caught on trees. The series gives us a simple message that everyone understands, but these photos show the disused plastic looking almost beautiful despite the knowledge that they should not be there. Leal won 3rd place in the Professional Campaign category of the World Photography Organisation awards in 2015.

Have a glance at his work - it’s not as rubbish as it looks!

Rahul Talukder

A

Philip Pullman worries professional writers will become ‘endangered’

D

OES anyone ever take pictures for the chance that they will be used one day on a missing poster?

This intriguing conceptual work asks questions of the viewer. At first, the deformity of the picture is confusing and the content is unclear. Rahul reveals the portrait is a ‘missing’ poster, one of hundreds pinned to a wall outside the collapsed Rana Plaza (Banglasdesh).

Accompanying text reads: “Why did they take these pictures? Perhaps photos for a job application, narcissism, or to send to loved ones.” Connecting the tragedy to lives lost in the disaster, the photos encompass the practical and symbolic, becoming a shrine to people whose physical bodies were lost. These images are personal and striking.

The BBC is planning a British version of Saturday Night Live

NASA Instagram - @nasa ASA’s Instagram is really cool.

Even if you don’t have a particular interest for science or space, and like me you have never seen a Star Wars film, these images are amazing. The image caption is usually a little nugget of scientific information, so you might learn something at the same time. And you can contemplate how small you are in a universe which is so so big. Deep.

This ‘Festive Pluto’ shows that art and science can be joined beautifully: “three infrared wavelength ranges were placed into the three colour channels (red, green and blue, respectively) to create this false colour Christmas portrait”.

N

Emma Watson wants to start a feminist book group on Twitter

26

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James Landymore heads to London to see the Scottish play, featuring interpretative dance Macbeth Young Vic Theatre 26 November - 23 January

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I

NTERPRETATIVE dance is something many approach with a sense of trepidation and bewilderment. Can the movement of people’s bodies in strange and sometimes physically unbelievable ways tell a lucid and engaging story that encourages the audience to respond to well-known texts differently?

This is Carrie Cracknell and Lucy Guerin’s aim in their adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth at The Young Vic. How can a canonical text, taught in almost every single British school, be reimagined for an audience that knows it so well? Introduce bizarre and superfluous segments of interpretative dance, of course!

He’s a forgettable Macbeth, going through the motions but never fully committing to the character’s darkness In this production, however, the dance fails to complement the acting.

The cast perform a scene of dialogue, and then a piece of narrative (Birnam forest coming to Dunsinane, for example) is interpreted physically. It is almost like watching two different performances, as the main cast members do not partake in the dance segments, creating a sense

ART TO ART

of incoherence. The play lurches from dialogue to dance, the witches come and go, throwing some edgy but not remotely frightening shapes, whilst bass-heavy electronic music is used repetitively and predictably.

It is never a good sign to be looking at your watch during one of Shakespeare’s most memorable plays Josh Heffernan plays a forgettable Macbeth, going through the motions but never fully committing to the character’s darkness. It is good to see the sensitive side of the doomed king, but the ruthlessness that leads him to murder friends and allies does not surface. The lengths the protagonist goes to reach his goal should chill the audience, instead we are asked to simply accept his evil deeds and gain a glimpse into his inner turmoil through those distracting dance sequences. Anna Maxwell Martin fares better as Lady Macbeth: her dual identity as charming wife and ambitious schemer is presented subtly, although rushed lines prevent Shakespeare’s text from coming through clearly at times.

However,

Cracknell and Geurin’s production contains flashes of brilliance: the play set is a single long corridor, the décor reminiscent of a nuclear bunker. Playing with perspective, it narrows to a small opening upstage, creating an intriguing space. The actors’ bodies shift, mingling with shadows to create a disconcerting, warped environment, representing the turmoil of the Macbeths’ minds. We are plunged into a generic, seemingly modern-day world that lacks soul, war being a constant presence.

The directors show an inexplicable preference for almost every murder to take place using the plastic-bag-over-the-head technique, something that screams ‘current’ and ‘topical’ due to its similarity with modern day torture practices, but appears a little patronising in attempting to force the audience to place Shakespeare in a modern context.

Perhaps this was done for the benefit of the hordes of GCSE students that inevitably take up a significant propor-

This week, we’re featuring the artwork of Sophie Harrison Calligraphy - ink on paper Over the past few months, I have fallen in love with the magazine The Simple Things. One particular issue included a selection of postcards featuring calligraphy quotes: “the quieter you are, the more you hear” was a personal favourite.

Inspired by this, I decided to turn my hand to calligraphy and fell in love. Not only is the process itself quite therapeutic - an alternative to the rise in popularity of adult colouring books - but the end product is equally lovely.

In the spirit of Christmas, I created 24 calligraphy quote cards throughout December and turned them into advent bunting for my room! I was particularly inspired by Etsy sellers The Old English Company Literary Emporium. Both can also be found on Instagram, which is a treasure trove for calligraphy tutorials! #handlettering and #moderncalligraphy provide instant inspiration.

My latest project has been creating a paper flower out of calligraphy quotes. My next plan is to create a whole bunch of flowers; to paraphrase C.S. Lewis, you can never have a bouquet large enough or a quote long enough to suit me.

tion of seats in the auditorium.

Cracknell and Guerin’s Macbeth is a two hour affair without an interval, yet it feels significantly longer. It is never a good sign to be looking at your watch forty-five minutes into a performance of one of Shakespeare’s most memorable and electric plays. The directors’ aim is clear, but their execution is flawed, lacking synthesis between acting and dance, exploration of the protagonist’s complexity, and actual scary witches. A highly innovative piece that sacrifices intelligibility for originality.

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The rise of the Fitbit fad To help us with our New Years resolutions, Helen Payne discusses the hype around Fitbit

C

URRENTLY number one in the App Store, Fitbit is taking over the world. More and more people are buying into the Fitbit watch, and soon enough everyone will have the futuristic band clung to their wrist.

This tiny bit of tech tracks every part of your day – not only when you hit the gym, but even your speeding down the stairs to catch a housemate stealing your milk. The watch helps you stay motivated by tracking even the tiniest things, providing evidence that even small steps can make a massive impact on your health and fitness.

Analysis of your heart rate over time can identify trends and manage stress Fitbit have created a selection of products to suit every lifestyle and every budget. From the basic Zip (£49.99) that clips easily to clothing, tracking steps, distance and calories, to the Surge (£199.99), advertised as a “fit-

ness super watch” that combines automatic GPS tracking with a continual ‘PurePulse’ heart rate monitor, multisport modes and accurate sleep tracking to provide the best record of your ‘new year, new me’ progress.

If you’re not the type of person who gets motivated by flimsy salad leaves and cucumber sandwiches then this could be a great start for get-fit inspiration. By providing your height, weight and age in to the Fitbit App connecting the watch to your smartphone, it accurately calculates calories burnt, steps taken, distance travelled, and floors climbed using a three-axis accelerometer (a device that detects movement of a body and turns it into data), special algorithms and thresholds designed to look for patterns suggestive of walking, and your basal metabolic rate (BMR): the rate at which you burn calories.

These measurements are then analysed in any way you move, making readings more precise than single-axis pedometers.

The small monitor on the underside of the watch tracks an accurate reading

of your heart rate. Knowing this during exercise helps make the most out of your workouts, and the graphs and charts accessible through the app will help you obtain optimal health: analysis of your heart rate over time can identify trends and manage stress, as well as tracking your resting heart rate to see how your health is improving.

It also tracks how well you sleep by using your heart rate to monitor your sleeping patterns Fitbit uses ‘Smart Track’ technology to automatically recognise when you exercise, and records it in the App Store.

Experts say adult females should take in around 2000 calories per day, while men sit at about 2500. A brief walk as a revision break last week told me I burnt 16 calories in 16 minutes. Was it really worth it? Probably not However, waking up to find the watch telling me I’d burnt 500 calories – a

quarter of my daily goal - before I’d even got out of bed made me feel a lot better.

It also tracks your sleep by using your heart rate to calculate how long you slept for, restlessness and awake periods. By recording this over time and setting targets, this piece of technology could be your vital ingredient for a healthy sleeping pattern.

Finally, the in-app calorie counter estimates and compares, using a database of foods, what you’ve eaten versus what you’ve burnt that day – trackable again in charts over time, to visibly see your progress as an incentive to stay healthy. Fitbit tracks all of this information – just by the watch on your arm, and is available instantly when you tap the screen. Great for immediate motivation all day (or year) long.

The superfood myth Harry Shepherd, Online Editor, warns against ‘superfoods’

W

HEN it comes to food, I’m a lazy person. I like to eat by all means, but when I’m at university, the irresistible pull of my reading and workload often mean I don’t spend enough time making sure I eat right and bag myself a decent diet and healthy lifestyle. I’m sure that situation will resonate with lots of students, so wouldn’t it be fantastic to find certain foods that I could rely on and save myself time and money while, at the same time, staying healthy? So-called ‘superfoods’ are supposedly, according to the Oxford Dictionary Definition: “nutrient-rich foods considered to be especially beneficial for health and well-being” but the value of such foods is fraught with issues.

Examples of these ‘superfoods’ could arguably be blueberries, garlic and green tea to name a few, all because it is thought by some that they contain a variety of the nutrients we need to maintain a healthy diet. But the very

concept of superfoods could be potentially troubling for dieticians because it is thought that people might be tempted to use the consumption of such foods to replace other important foods that might not fall into the category of ‘super’, or use superfoods to make up for unhealthy lifestyles like binge drinking and the eating of excessively fatty foods.

No food, including those labelled ‘superfoods’ can compensate for unhealthy eating Alison Hornby from the British Dietetic Association argues, “no food, including those labelled ‘superfoods’ can compensate for unhealthy eating.

If people mistakenly believe they can ‘undo’ the damage caused by unhealthy foods by eating a superfood, they may

continue making routine choices that are healthy and increase their risk of long-term illness.” So it would appear that that handful of blueberries might not exactly make up for that large Dominos pizza washed down by a few too many VKs from the night before.

Moreover, and rather worryingly, the term ‘superfood’ doesn’t actually come from the health industry at all, but the food industry: ‘superfood’ is a term that is designed to be plastered onto the packaging of allegedly ‘healthy’ food in order to sell higher volumes. The interest of the food industry lies in the profit of their products, which might not necessarily be complementary to your pursuit of a healthy lifestyle.

A couple of years ago, I attended the gym regularly, using protein shakes as part of my lifestyle. However, protein shakes, like superfoods, shouldn’t replace the consumption of protein from natural sources such as white meat or

eggs.

Protein powder is a supplement, of which there is a wide variety in the health-food industry ranging from weightgain powders to your trusty Vitamin C caplet. But, protein powder should only be supplementary to a balanced diet. Superfoods and protein shakes might be a hit amongst the Exeter population whether you’re losing weight or doing your darnedest to pack it on, but using them as a replacement or as a way of making up for poor diet choices should be avoided.

So it’s bad news for me and other similarly lazy students out there: there isn’t one easy fix to guarantee you a healthy diet, but when it comes to

healthy eating there never really is, is there? According to NHS Choices “Dieticians avoid the term ‘superfood’ and prefer to talk of ‘super diets’, where the emphasis is on a healthy, balanced diet, rich in fruit and vegetables and wholegrain foods.”

So, don’t be taken in by the latest crazes and health-food industry marketing, it’s the same old balance of a wide variety of nutritious food, rather than a few especially good foods that will be your key to a healthier diet.

The forgotten evils of sugar EXEPOSÉ

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Susannah Keogh, News Editor, discusses the danger of our sugar consumption

S

UGAR. We all know what sugar’s in, right? The foods we perceive as ‘unhealthy’; fat laden. Cakes, chocolates, sweets, the whipped cream topping your gingerbread latte.

True. But also only half the truth,

a negotiated truth increasingly found hitting the headlines and making sugar fast into

public health’s number one enemy.

It seems that as a nation, we’re simply addicted to the white stuff. What you might not know is that the real evils of sugar are those that are forgotten. Yes, we all know chocolate and the like are bad for us, with one standard size Mars bar clocking in at 30 grams of sugar- but a 250 millitre portion of a blueberry flavoured Innocent smoothie goes above and beyond,

with 34 grams of sugar.

Problem is, our bodies can’t actually distinguish between the mostly natural sugars in a smoothie, or whole sugars in a piece of fruit, and the added sugars in something like a Mars bar, and neither do food labels. Regardless of whether you call it fructose, honey or fruit juice, sugar is still sugar, and has a similar effect on the body.

In That Sugar Film, Australian documentary maker Damon Gameau undertook a radical experiment somewhat akin to Morgan Spurlock’s Supersize Me. Having quit refined sugar to impress his now girlfriend (a bit extreme), Gameau goes back on it. 40 teaspoons a day, in fact, the amount an average Australian has daily.

It seems that as a nation, we’re simply addicted to the white stuff The catch? He didn’t eat any junk food, chocolate bars or anything most would perceive as being unhealthy. Instead, he stuck to food marketed as ‘low fat’ and ‘healthy’ such as smoothies, flavoured vitamin waters, yoghurts and granola.

60 days later, Gameau ended the project 8.5 kilograms heavier, pre type II diabetes and heart disease risks and with fatty liver disease.

Horrifying, right? When I saw the film, just emerging from a cheesecake and waffles induced coma after a holiday in the States, it was (almost) enough to put me off the Christmas cake awaiting my return.

Our bodies can’t actually distinguish between natural sugars and added sugars, and neither do food labels So, what can be done about it? Well, a controversial report by Public Health England, which was suppressed by the government until its release late last year, proposes a sugar tax of between ten to twelve per cent on high sugar products, such as soft drinks. Recommending that we need to reduce our daily sugar intake by half, the tax would be inspired from events in Mexico where a similar tax has reduced sales of soda by twelve per cent in just one year.

This doesn’t mean sugar is evil - but that it’s probably best in moderation. Typically, anything with five grams of sugar in or less per 100 grams is low sugar, but it’s the refined sugars in our food and drink we should really be watching. As long as they’re providing no more than 5 per cent of our energy daily, the (semi) low sugar life could be looking pretty sweet.

Now, did somebody say chocolate?

The fat that makes you thinner

Matthew Turner reveals the surprising health benefits of brown fats and cholesterol

I

F YOU are anything like me, the

one we generally associate with obe-

fat mass within the body is ursolic acid,

can begin to build up and cause vessel-

time between Christmas and New

sity and related health-risks (such as

a substance found in fruits and herbs

narrowing plaques that lead to, in short,

Year is a bent and blurred bucks fizz-

high blood pressure, heart disease and

such as apple peel and thyme – remem-

not a good time. HDLs however act as

fuelled feast of festive foods and giant

stroke). However, brown fat – friendly

ber that stuff all over the turkey? You

the circulatory cleaners, binding to ex-

Toblerones with a general payoff of

fat – when activated, has been shown to

don’t have to feel so bad about that third

cess cholesterol and transporting it to

good memories, a sprinkling of regret

burn several hundred calories a day.

helping now.

the liver where it is broken down and

and an increase in stomach circumfer-

It does this by producing heat us-

Cholesterol is an organic molecule

ence. As I’ve traded in my slippers for

ing energy from fats and sugars you

known for its casual past time of caus-

running shoes, seeking solace in this

consume – its primary function that

ing atherosclerosis, cardiac arrest and

following dreaded month of blues and

has been seen in hibernating animals

stroke. Much like fat, it’s important to

exams seems to be practically impos-

and human infants. It is also suggested

know that it is not all doom and gloom

sible.

that brown fat plays a useful role in your

when it comes to cholesterol – some ac-

blood’s sugar metabolism and metabo-

tually decrease the chance of developing

lism of white fat – bad fat.

the items in the previous list.

With “new year, new me” being uttered from the mouths of thousands or

Becca B’s science for students Why do so many resolutions fail?

And what can you do to make sure you’re successful?

A study of 3000 people making New Year’s resolutions found that a whopping 88 per cent fail. Not encouraging - *clutches brand new gym membership.* Most resolutions focus on making or breaking a habit, which is difficult to do as our brains know that by making something routine, we think about it less and are more efficient. So what can we do?

Choose wisely – You’re less likely to achieve something if the motivation is external i.e. your friends are pressuring you into doing Dry January. Aim for something you can actually achieve.

1

Choice bundle – Avoid decision fatigue and lump things together. Already up in Newman? Take the extra few steps to the gym.

2

Grow willpower – Trying to get off Buzzfeed? Studies have shown that self-control increases when you consume something sugary, are in a better mood or have spent time in nature.

3

4

Believe in yourself – Apparently resolvers with higher self-efficacy were more likely to be successful. So go whisper “I believe in me!” at the mirror or something.

Some cholesterols actually decrease the chance of developing atherosclerosis, cardiac arrest and stroke

Thankfully, activating this wonder

In basic terms, cholesterol is split

it’s important to get down to the raw,

tissue is not hard to do. Exposing your

into two categories; low-density li-

HDLs can be found in nuts, fruit,

positive side of nutritional science and

skin to the cold, especially when exer-

poproteins (LDLs) “bad cholesterol”

vegetables and fish – and I’m pretty

the truths behind the otherwise known

cising, indirectly stimulates brown fat

and high-density lipoproteins (HDLs)

sure that Brussel sprouts are vegetables.

dietary demons (it’s not all bad).

tissue and starts up the Christmas calo-

“good cholesterol”. Over time, circu-

So there’s some more benefits to your

lating LDLs within your blood vessels

festive binging.

rie furnace. Shown to increase brown

29

out of harm’s way. Phew.

more hopeful calorie counters, I believe

A notorious macronutrient, fat, is

SCIENCE & TECH

See the longer online version of Becca’s article for the scientific studies behind these ideas, plus an extra tip!

Biweekly breakthroughs 30

SCIENCE & TECH

NEWS 1-5

COMMENT FEATURES LIFESTYLE 16-17 12-14 8-10

MUSIC 18-19

BUCS PULLOUT

SCREEN 20-22

ARTS & LIT SCI & TECH 24-26 28-30

GAMES 32-33

SPORT 35-36

18 JANUARY 2016 |

EXEPOSÉ

Exeposé Science & Tech bring you the best stories to hit the headlines this week

Green genomes MIND diet gets top marks Jessica Stanier Online Features Editor

G

ENETICISTS at Trinity College Dublin have been the first to sequence genomes from ancient Irish humans, revealing deep new insights into Irish genetic heritage and migratory origins.

The team used the DNA from an early farmer woman, who lived near Belfast some 5,200 years ago, and from three Bronze Age men who were alive 4,000 years ago. From this small sample they were able produce some landmark results which were published in international journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. The people of Ireland today have several characteristic genetic traits. They have a high lactose tolerance - the world maxima for the variants of that genetic code - and have a propensity for several important genetic diseases including haemochromatosis, a condition of excessive iron retention. The three Bronze Age men displayed many of these traits in their genomes, notably sharing the most common Y chromosome among modern Irish men. However, the earlier farmer woman displayed a majority ancestry

from the Middle East, where agriculture was invented.

This new genetic information provides unequivocal evidence of mass migration in waves that combined to make up the Irish gene pool today.

“It is clear that this project has demonstrated what a powerful tool ancient DNA analysis can provide in answering questions which have long perplexed academics regarding the origins of the Irish,” said Dr Eileen Murphy, Senior Lecturer in Osteoarchaeology at Queen’s University Belfast.

Alina Ivan Science & Tech Writer

T

Similarities are strongest between the Bronze Age genomes and modern Irish, Scottish and Welsh, which suggests the establishment of “central attributes of the insular Celtic genome some 4,000 years ago,” as PhD Researcher in Genetics at Trinity, Lara Cassidy, put it. This is the first research to uncover this genetic connection between the Irish and Celtic peoples.

HE MIND diet has been ranked the easiest to follow for 2016 in the recently released US News and World Report ‘Best Diets’, coming second for Best Overall Diet.

The Mediterranean-DASH diet intervention for neurodegenerative delay, commonly referred to as ‘MIND’, was developed to reduce the risk of cognitive decline by researchers at Rush University Medical Center in collaboration with Harvard University. It integrates foods from two diets previously associated with cognitive change, namely the Mediterranean diet and the heart-healthy DASH diet.

It involves daily eating of a green leafy vegetable and another vegetable, snacking on nuts and berries, and enjoying seafood, poultry, wholegrains, olive oil, and also wine - in moderation. Blueberries are the only specific fruits on the list, having well-established abilities to

was blasted outwards from the black hole. This effect is known as ‘snow ploughing’, which the astronomers say in this case “ploughed up enough material to trigger the formation of new stars.”

In some ways, this is old news.

Jones dubbed the X-ray arcs “fossils” of two blasts. The research team estimates that the outer arc took three to six million years to reach its current position.

“It is common for big black holes to

expel gas outward,” admitted Schlegel, “but rare to have such a close, resolved view of these events.”

The 15 year old Chandra X-ray Observatory, in orbit around Earth, has continued well past its intended five year lifetime.

It has previously captured images of a new type of black hole, as well as the first X-ray emissions from the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.

This new genetic information provides unequivocal evidence of mass migration in waves

improve cognitive function. Use of unhealthy foods such as cheese, red meat, butter, pastries, sweets, and fried or fast food is also permitted – so long as it’s limited.

To test the effect of the diet on cognitive function, scientists had 960 participants with a mean age of 80 perform cognitive tasks over a period of five years.

They found that those who followed the diet had considerably lower cognitive decline in comparison to those who didn’t.

More strikingly, when they looked at data from participants at risk of developing Alzheimer’s they observed that their risk of developing the disease halved after rigorous adherence and lowered by 34 per cent with moderate adherence.

While these results are promising, randomised control trials are still needed to confirm a causal effect.

At present it is not clear whether the results will generalise to other populations.

Now in its sixth edition, the 2016 US News and World Report looked at findings about 35 different research reports and compared them on criteria such as disease prevention, short- and long-term weight loss, safety, and ease of compliance. MIND has been ranked number one for easiness of use, coming second for diabetes and fourth for weight loss. If this diet gets the recognition it deserves, people could easily use it to get closer to achieving their health and wellness targets.

Belching black holes Super-virus crisis Rebecca Broad Science & Tech Writer

T

HE public opinion of black holes might be one of destruction and mind-bending physics but, in the words of Marie Machachek, “this shows that black holes can create, not just destroy”. Machachek co-authored a study revealed last week which showed two huge cosmic shockwaves emerging from a supermassive black hole.

The images, captured by the Chandra space telescope, demonstrate a process called feedback whereby an exchange of material shapes the galaxy’s evolution. The black hole is in galaxy NGC 5195, only 26 million light years away, making it one of the closest black holes to us. So how do the researchers know this is a burp and not a giant bite?

Viewed from an optical telescope, cooler hydrogen gas can be seen just outside of the X-ray waves, suggesting material

Photo: powerlisting.wikia.com

Akash Beri Screen Editor

G

ONORRHOEA is a bacterial infection, passed on through unprotected oral, vaginal and anal sex.

Sufferers may experience pain or burning when urinating, unusual discharge and unusual tenderness in the testes (for men) and the lower abdomen (for women). However, around ten per cent experience no symptoms.

Though the introduction of penicillin in the 1940s drastically reduced the threat it imposed, in 1976, the mutating microbe rendered Penicillin useless, and since then numerous antibiotics have failed in the long term. Today, gonorrhoea can be treated by taking two different antibiotics simultaneously: ceftriaxone and azithromycin.

However, a new strain known as ‘Super-gonorrhoea’ is resistant to the azithromycin component of the treat-

ment and is therefore currently untreatable. Untreated gonorrhoea can lead to a whole host of problems, such as chronic pain and infertility. The outbreak began in Leeds, with other cases having been reported in Oldham, Macclesfield and Scunthorpe. Some patients reported having sexual partners from other areas of England. Dame Sally Davies, the UK’S Chief Medical Officer, said: “Gonorrhoea is at risk of becoming an untreatable disease due to the continuing emergence of antimicrobial resistance.”

Gonorrhoea is at risk of becoming untreatable The issue has arisen due to some patients not being prescribed both the antibiotics needed to kill the infection, and has raised serious concerns in the medical community. This issue fits into a wider crisis of ‘super-viruses’ that trump all known antibiotics.

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GAMES

NEWS 1-5

COMMENT FEATURES LIFESTYLE 12-14 16-17 8-10

GAMES

MUSIC 18-19

BUCS PULLOUT

SCREEN 20-22

ARTS & LIT SCI & TECH 24-26 28-30

GAMES 32-33

18 JANUARY 2016 |

SPORT 35-36

Exeposé Games

GAMES EDITORS Jack England Evan Jones

EXEPOSÉ

@ExeposeGames

games@exepose.com

Photo: TIME

Saved with one life left

Sam Woolf gives us the overview of how Nintendo’s first home console saved gaming

I

N 2015, the video game industry enjoyed worldwide revenues of neary £70 billion. To put that into perspective, the recently released Star Wars - The Force Awakens, one of the biggest films of all time, achieved total takings just short of £1.8 billion. With a mass appeal ranging from the casual gaming on the go offered by mobile devices, to the immersive gameplay experiences on powerhouse consoles such as the PS4 and Xbox One, gaming has become a juggernaut.

However, this wasn’t always the case.

In the late 70s and early 80s, video games were still brand new. Nobody really knew how to market the product, what the limits of the industry were or even

what qualified as a good game. Despite this, the early days of videogames were promising, with the home console market just kicking off and arcades getting hugely popular releases such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Space Invaders.

Many developers and publishers didn’t care if the games were any good, they just wanted the profit However, when Atari became the fastest growing company in American history, it was clear there was money to

be made. Home consoles were released left, right and centre and, by 1982, there were over a dozen home consoles, including the Atari 2600, Magnavox Odyssey, ColecoVision and many, many others.

The market had become oversatu-

tioning whether the crash of 1983 was not because of the concept of a home console, but rather the horrendous way in which this had been carried out in practice. That company was Nintendo and, in order for them to return video games to their for-

Not only did this mean that the chances of the industry being oversaturated by low quality games were greatly reduced, it also meant that the NES was a smash hit with just under 62 million units sold worldwide.

rated by home consoles and the quality of the games available on these systems dive-bombed quickly. Many developers and publishers didn’t care if the games were any good, just that they made profit.

But by 1983, the console market crashed after consumers lost faith in the quality of video games. It appeared to be game over.

But video games weren’t out for the count. Arcades and PC gaming were still thriving. This led to one company ques-

mer glory, they would have to restore faith in the idea of quality home console video games. Thankfully, with the 1985 release of the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America, they did just that.

Whereas in the past any developer could make a game for virtually any console, the NES was different. Nintendo had to directly authorise every title released on their system and could reject inferior games.

The generation of gaming that followed also saw the release of the hugely influential Sega Master System, some of the most iconic series such as Mega Man, Super Mario Bros and Castlevania take shape, and paved the way for the industry as we know it today. Certainly, the games we play today owe it all to one console that single-handedly transformed the industry.

Build your own retro console Jack England, Games Editor, explains how to create a £25 retro console easily

A

LTHOUGH the idea of building your own games console may spark images of a neck-bearded man sat in his mother’s basement, Dorito dust covering his unwashed t-shirt, the actual reality of building your own, easy-to-use games console is very different. The Raspberry Pi is a £25 micro-computer that’s smaller than the size of your palm and can emulate every video game console up to the 32-bit era of PlayStation and Nintendo 64.

The guys who created the Raspberry Pi wanted it to be as accessible as possible so you’ll find plenty of choice on the Amazon marketplace. The two main models, A model and B model, vary slightly with the B model being ever so slightly more powerful and versatile, which for us m e a n s smoother emulation.

The Raspberry Pi connects to any HDMI port and runs off a simple phone charger (assuming it isn’t an Apple one) plugged into the mains, meaning it’s easy to carry around and travel with.

The device also comes preloaded

with an operating system called NOOBS, which allows new users to easily navigate through the Unix screens and learn the basics of coding and software development. You’ll want to find yourself a couple of USB controllers too; the standard Xbox 360 controllers do work best, but PlayStation’s Dualshock 4 is also a great choice and has been my controller of choice the past generation.

From here it’s easy sailing. You’ve got the computer and you’ve got your power source, it’s a simple case of downloading the RetroPie software, produced by GitHub, which will allow you to emulate millions of games from classics such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System and more! The RetroPie software also allows you to play games from even older generations, when people had to leave their homes and head to the

local video game arcade to play favourites such as Asteroids or Street Fighter.

This £25 video game console is a perfect gift for any gamer looking to get nostalgic This £25 video game console is a perfect gift for any gamer looking to get nostalgic for the good old days when games were tough but full of cheat codes.

It doesn’t just function as a games console though, and those fluent in Unix will find it easy to navigate through webpages and documents as well, making the Raspberry Pi a fully-fledged home computer. Of course there’s a huge difference between your fancy Apple MacBook Pro and the humble Raspberry Pi, but that doesn’t

mean that it’s worth forgetting instantly.

The RetroPie software is always being updated and as time goes on, the games we’ll get to play will only get better and better. For now though, there’s nothing wrong with the thousands of retro games available to play, as well as the chance to go back and play old PC and DOS games such as Doom.

If you’re still looking for a reason to buy a Pi, then I should probably add that they’re also great for learning how computers work and how game developers work. RetroPie comes installed with a free bit of kit that allows users to develop their own retro-inspired games and test them out. Meaning that once you get the hang of it, there’s an unlimited amount of games you can play.

So what are you waiting for? Go buy yourself some Pi and dig in!

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Does Kero Blaster croak? www.exepose.com

David Agnew reviews the newest game by the developer of Cave Story

Kero Blaster Pixel PC, Mac, Steam Out now

T

HIS is a game you’ve played before.

It’s your standard 2D, run-and-gun platformer, featuring pixelated graphics and a funky chiptune beat. Everything you loved from the 8-bit era of Mega Man and Metroid is thrown into a game starring a bipedal frog locked and loaded with guns and weapons galore. In Kero Blaster, you play as a custodian frog who works cleaning up muck and grime for C&F Inc. across many varying locations. This isn’t just your standard grime though, as it takes the form of strange black creatures that are simply out for your blood. Luckily, you’re armed to the brim and ready to clean up.

So that’s your basic plot summary.

From here on out, it’s the ‘run right and

shoot’-type of game that we’ve all grown to love. Luckily, each blaster is unique and interesting and the controls are incredibly simple. Each bullet you fire (and that is fired at you) can be dodged if your reactions are fast enough and you’ve practiced enough but they never feel floaty or unbalanced. Nearly thirty years of video gaming knowledge has been pumped into Kero Blaster that just makes it a ribbiting experience.

There’s a true level of love to the game that is unparalelled in video game development now Added to this, each enemy is varied and diverse, adding to the beauty of the world. You’ll be gunning down lethal tumble-dryers, evil clocks and a strange combination of what I think was a boil and a robot. It truly symbolises every-

thing that the NES era birthed and the varying amount of imagination produced from when limitation truly bred creativity and a developer couldn’t simply just rely on pretty graphics.

For a lot of you, it might just seem that this is another retro inspired video game that will be lost in the sea of seemingly identical titles.

Kero Blaster is a true diamond in the rough though, and the pixelated aesthetic isn’t just used to exploit your nostalgic side. Instead, it’s built perfectly into the game itself. Multiple puns and jokes are made towards the pixelated manner of the game, in a way that almost mocks those that simply use the retro style as nostalgia bait.

There’s more to it than that though, there’s a true level of love to the game that is unparalleled in video game

development now. On the whole, Kero Blaster is a fantastic example of how retro-inspired games can and should played a hundred times before, but it’s

2

No Man’s Sky Eight quintillion planets.

I simply don’t have enough fingers and toes to make sense of how large a number that is, and trust me I’ve tried.

Hello Games, a team of a mere 15 people headed up by space genius Sean Murray, have appeared to have

The Last Guardian Ever since E3 2007, many have been desperate for any scrap or tidbit of information about this elusive follow-up to the criticallyacclaimed Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.

However, gamers have known only disappointment as The Last Guardian has been locked in development hell for a good eight

years, until last year’s Sony E3 conference that is.

Flying onto screens was, once again, the ‘mysterious bird/dog/griffin type thing’ and our first look at gameplay after the announcement of the game surfaced all those years ago. Narrative details have been few and far between, as all we really know is a young boy befriends this creature and works with it to complete platforming puzzles and evade guards.

The game looks as beautiful and intriguing as it did in 2007, but it is unclear how the game’s troubled development will impact it. As for a release date, we’re promised some time in 2016, so fingers crossed the problems are truly behind Ueda-san and his team.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Resurrected platformers are fine.

Unprecedented simulations of a whole universe are all well and good too, but Nathan Drake’s latest outing is shaping up to be my game of 2016. For PlayStation gamers a new delay over Christmas

The Orange Box We asked writers to tell us their gaming New Year resolutions HAMISH MACKINNON Go to the gym - and be sure to get the badge

FRANK JONES Getting past level 255 in Pac-Man DAVID AGNEW To finally save enough for an Occulus Rift SIMON SMITH-JONES Unlock every achievement in my Steam library

Harry Shepherd, Online Editor, discusses the next year of games created a fully-functioning universe with so many planets that you’ll be discovering brand new species and star systems (that you can nam,e so be sure to keep it clean). It’s also highly unlikely you’ll even see another player, let alone play cooperatively. It’s made possible through something called procedural generation: every element in the game, from environmental flora and fauna to the makeup of planets themselves, is decided by an algorithm that produces the universe as you’re playing. If it even comes out it’ll be an astonishing achievement, but I’ll only believe it when I see it: delays seem highly likely here.

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JACK ENGLAND 1080x920

Looking forward to 2016 015 was a good year for gaming. We found a steady supply of decent AAA titles drop into our eager hands with a sprinkling of indies to boot: The Witcher 3, Metal Gear Solid V and Fallout 4 released alongside the likes of Her Story, Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture and Rocket League. Although many of these games featured massive and detailed open worlds — without a doubt we’ll still have lots to do in Fallout’s Commonwealth and Bloodborne’s Yharnam well into this year — some games have been delayed and have slipped to a 2016 release date. But, this means that we have a whole host of inevitably RSI-inducing games coming out this year. Here I present my top three:

GAMES

from March to April this year was tough to take after the game’s release had already slipped from last year.

But, everything developer Naughty Dog have shared so far make that wait worthwhile and agonising in equal measure.

With Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley, of The Last of Us fame, at the helm, new characters, sumptuous graphics for console, silky smooth gameplay, exhilarating action, detailed landscapes with multiple pathways and dialogue choices: this will be the PlayStation event of 2016 and has ‘essential’ written over every last bead of sweat on Drake’s beautifully-realised face.

And, the great thing is, I haven’t even scratched the surface of what’s to come in 2016. Legend of Zelda Wii U, Doom, Dishonored, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Dark Souls 3 and Tom Clancy’s The Division are simply a taste of what gamers have in store and the treats that will be released in the upcoming days.

2015 was good, but 2016 is going to be amazing.

SARAH CLUNES To get my girlfriend gaming XIN LAU For FIFA to be different

Free Game of the Week

Slash Quest When your theme is 'two buttons’ it’s a little difficult to get innovative. However, Slash Quest manages to create a beautifully addictive game that anyone can enjoy.

Scan the QR code to download your free copy

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18 JANUARY 2016 |

www.exepose.com

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BREAK

STUDY CROSSWORD # 80

SUDOKU # 16

Across 1

Determination (soon broken after 9’s

To read more about a role and download an application form, search for the internship’s reference code on My Career Zone.

Day?) (10) 8

Enhance (a problem, e.g.) (3,2)

9

The twelve month calendar just begun (3,4)

10

Be in debt (3)

11

Make drunk - tie-in bear (anagram) (9)

12

Leave (your 14 as a 9’s 1 Across, say?) (6)

14

Job (6)

18

Listless - large itch (anagram) (9)

20

Place (a tray, e.g.) (3)

21

American state (7)

22

Split in two (5)

23

Matchless - lurid navel (anagram) (10)

Part-time Student Internship Vacancies:

Down 1

Narrow, natural elevation (5)

2

Lighting up (that you quit as a 9’s 1 Across?) (7)

3

Hang around (6)

17

Tropical American lizard - Una? A GI? (anagram) (6)

18

Existence (improved with every 9’s 1 Across kept?)

ANSWERS:

(4)

4

Tall building (5)

5

Control (a forklift, e.g.) (7)

6

Work (6)

7

Strong desire (that a 9’s 1 Across helps beat?) (4)

13

Take a seat (3,4)

15

Spirits (given up by dryathletes as a 9’s 1 Across?) (7)

16

Decayed (6)

19

Legal defence (5)

20

Cold dish (eaten as part of a 9’s 1 Across?) (5)

ANSWERS: Down: 1 Ridge, 2 Smoking, 3 Linger, 4 Tower, 5 Operate, 6 Labour, 7 Urge, 13 Sit down, 15 Alcohol, 16 Rotten, 17 Iguana, 18 Life, 19 Alibi, 20 Salad.

WEATHER

Across: 1 Resolution, 8 Add to, 9 New Year, 10 Owe, 11 Inebriate, 12 Resign, 14 Career, 18 Lethargic, 20 Set, 21 Florida, 22 Halve, 23 Unrivalled.

Exeter’s outlook for the week ahead

Mon 18th Tues 19th Wed 20th Thur 21th

High Low

7°C

2°C

9°C

4 °C

9°C

4°C

9°C

7°C

Fri 22nd

11°C

7 °C

Sat 23rd

10°C

7 °C

Sun 24nd

10°C

6 °C

‘‘

PUZZLES BY ALFRED

WORDS OF WISDOM...

My motto is: Live every day to the fullest - in moderation.

Lindsay Lohan

Cartoon by Katie Learmont

SCP 3373 Archives Project Cataloguer - Bill Douglas Papers Closing date: 20 Jan 2016 Salary: £9.48 per hour Hours: 15 per week (flexible) Location: Streatham Campus SCP 3387 Research Support Assistant (Inclusivity in undergraduate studies) Closing date: 24 Jan 2016 Salary: £9.27 per hour Hours: 15 per week (flexible) Location: Streatham Campus SBP 3305 Engineering Intern Closing date: 18 Jan 2016 Salary: £8.10 per hour Hours: 15 per week (flexible) Location: Exeter SBP 3406 Membership and Marketing Assistant Closing date: 15 Feb 2016 Salary: £9.40 per hour Location: London

Exeter 3s steal the stage

SPORT

www.exepose.com

35

City headed for the Kop Emmott Leigh Sport Editor

O

N 9 January, Exeter hosted top Premier League side Liverpool at St. James Park in a sell-out Emirates FA Cup match which has done wonders for both the reputation and the finances of the fan-owned club. As a result of the 2-2 draw earned by Exeter in the match, they will be travelling up to Liverpool on 20 January for the replay. Exeter must either win during normal time or, failing that, defeat their hosts in a penalty shoot-out to make the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup. In the match, Exeter took an early lead when Tom Nichols latched onto a beautiful cross from Jamie Read to poke into the corner of the net. Liverpool quickly equalised through Jerome Sinclair, but Exeter continued to dominate proceedings in front of their home fans and put home a second when a corner from Lee Holmes curled all the way into the side of Bogdan’s goal. Although Liverpool managed an equaliser courtesy of defender Brad Smith, Exeter held on for a wonderful 2-2 result and a replay at Anfield.

>> George Taylor looks to dummy before attacking once more. Photo: Natasa Christofidou

MEN’S RUGBY UNION Freddie Eastwell Sports Team Exeter 3s Cardiff Met

55 5

T

HE EURFC Fresh 1s took on Cardiff Met’s 3s on 13 January up

by Exeter’s own Sports Park. A large crowd, presumably taking a break from an arduous morning’s work in the library, made the journey up to the Rubber Crumb to watch the first years thrash the visitors 55-5. This was the side’s first game back after the Christmas break and they certainly showed no signs of rustiness as they took apart a lacklustre Cardiff side in an emphatic display.

The level of skill, desire and professionalism shown by the young squad is certainly an encouraging sign for the club The tone was set right from the kick off as fly-half James McFarlane put up a

perfectly weighted kick that saw a Cardiff flanker knock the ball on as he was bulldozed by several Exeter forwards.

A few phases later, McFarlane ran a sublime switch pass with centre Jacob Bushnell, who broke through the line to score the first try of the game in the opening minutes.

With the successful conversion by the fly-half, all looked to be going swimmingly well for the young Exeter side, with the score at 7-0. However, a mix up moments later in the midfield saw a missed pass intercepted by the Cardiff winger, who ran the length of the pitch to score.

With the match now at 7-5, it looked for a moment like we would have a serious game on our hands. However, it didn’t take long for the Exeter backs to make up for their error as a fantastic step from centre George Taylor saw him slice through the Cardiff defence and trundle over the line. The try came off the back of a turnover scrum and it certainly looked as though the dominant Exeter pack would have a prominent say in the outcome of the game.

As the match went on, the EURFC forwards continued to set up good ball for the backs and another fantastic move

in midfield saw winger Dom Thorne make an impressive break up the touchline. A fantastic step and hand-off were quickly followed by an inside pass to teammate Bushnell, who drew the last tackler in and offloaded back to Thorne, who scored in the corner. A tough conversion by McFarlane meant that the lead was now increased to 19-5.

At this stage, the fly-half began to orchestrate moves inside the opposition twenty-two and a wide pass to captain James McRae on a straight running line resulted in a try under the posts. Despite being a second row, McRae showed exceptional pace and even a cheeky step to beat Cardiff’s full back.

Half-time was fast approaching when scrum half Rory Penfold increased the team’s lead, as he picked the ball up at the back of the ruck and scored his first try of the day to make it 31-5 to the home side at the whistle.

After the half-time break, the weather cleared up and Penfold was very quickly in for his second try. A darting run from full back Jesse Lipetz-Robic saw him make twenty metres before shifting the ball to the scrum half who scored in the corner. Minutes later, Penfold was able to complete his hat trick as

he pounced on an opportunity created by the forwards to scramble over the line. Another conversion by McFarlane meant that Exeter were home and dry with the score at 43-5.

In the final stages, the EURFC backs were running riot in the midfield. A glorious move saw full back Lipetz-Robic latch on to a wide pass by the 10 and dissect two defenders to run the ball in from twenty meters out. Then, the full back picked up a loose ball and put away his winger Max Himbury who handed off the last man to score in the corner and end the game 55-5.

All looked to be going swimmingly well for the young Exeter side A number of these players will be knocking on the door of EURFC’s 1s in the coming year. The level of skill, desire and professionalism shown by the young squad is certainly an encouraging sign for the club. The Exeter side showed a lot of spirit and will be delighted to have come away in their first fixture of 2016 with such a win.

Exeter will have a chance to play in front of one of the most famous and lively crowds in global football To the average football fan, a draw is not as good as a win, and Exeter hearts must have sunk when Smith secured an equaliser for Liverpool. However, when the long-term future of Exeter City is considered, the draw is a better result; had Exeter won the match, they would have won £67,500 according to Sports Intelligence, but the draw gets them a whopping £700,000 due to the replay.

Exeter will also have the chance to play in front of one of the most famous and lively crowds in global football.

Paul Tisdale, Exeter’s manager and the second-longest serving manager across the top divisions, told Exeter Express and Echo: “There’s so many things to be proud of and not just the players on the pitch but the club showed itself in a great light. The place was buzzing; we’re very proud of our football club and the people of Exeter put on a good show.”

Should Exeter manage to come away from Anfield with a win, they would play West Ham United at home.

Tickets for the replay at Anfield went on sale on Wednesday 13 January at the Grecian Lounge.

36

SPORT

NEWS 1-5

COMMENT FEATURES LIFESTYLE 16-17 12-14 8-10

SPORT

MUSIC 18-19

BUCS PULLOUT

SCREEN 20-22

ARTS & LIT SCI & TECH 24-26 28-30

GAMES 32-33

SPORT 35-36

18 JANUARY 2016 | Exeposé Sport

SPORT EDITORS Rob Cross Emmott Leigh

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Exeter reaping the rewards from Liverpool draw Page 35

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