Issue 684 21 May 2018 by Exeposé

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ISSUE 684 21 MAY 2018 exepose.com @Exepose

THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1987

Guild fails to sign Brexit letter

Image: Owain Evans

that Theresa May agrees with the European Union.

Gwyn Wright News Editor

HE University of Exeter Students’ Guild has failed to join 60 other students’ unions across the country in signing a letter demanding a people’s vote on a Brexit deal, despite For Our Future’s Sake having sent them information about it in April. The letter, drawn up by a student campaign group called For Our Future’s Sake, calls on local MPs to give the British public a final say on any final Brexit deal

Lots of student unions who signed the letter passed policy, or had a referendum on the issue

Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson, For Our Future’s Sake

It has so far been signed by students’ unions (SUs) representing 980,000 students at universities including Birmingham, Durham, Cambridge, and St An-

drews. Despite only having formed a few weeks ago, the organisation is already beginning to make its presence felt in campuses across the country. The Guild have claimed that insufficient interest in the letter amongst students is at least partly resposnsible for the fact that they have not signed the letter. They claim that there needeed to be a mandate for them to sign the letter, whether this was a vote, a campaign or a Student Idea, and that this was not the case with this letter. However, the Guild’s Student Ideas platform is closed until

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Image: Infrogmation

Image: Hannah Timson

Interview with President of Humanists Students UK

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FEATURES

September. Shades, Guild President, said: “Not a single student approached the Sabbatical Team about signing the FFS Open Letter to Parliament; the team are dedicated to representing student needs on campus and we’re more than happy to talk to any student who wishes to discuss this with us.” The group have said that they are planning action which they hope will dwarf the protests against the trebling of...

Food Fight removed from Pride

Edd Church and Owain Evans Online News Editor and Sport Editor

EMBERS of Exeter Food Fight have described being “infuriated” at Exeter Pride’s decision to remove their stall from Northernhay Gardens during the event on Saturday. However, Exeter Pride has claimed that Food Fight did not provide “health and safety details, complete risk assessments, food allergens or details of what they intended to sell or give away.” Food Fight were at the event, hosted in Northernhay Gardens, to give out free food to passers by from a table they had brought from home. The campaign has been running for several years, and can often be found on Bedford Square on weekends. The Exeter student-led group was told to leave by a person identifying themselves as the event’s treasurer, purportedly on the grounds that they were harming the profits of traders. They were then approached by event security. Videos posted on Facebook, both live and recorded, depict the extensive argument between them and event volunteers, who asked them to leave as Food Fight had not submitted paperwork prior to Pride. At one stage the police were called, but this proved inconclusive, with the officer leaving having allegedly told Food Fight they could remain in place should they stop serving food. Despite the group promising to do so, their table and equipment were removed from Northernhay Gardens by Pride security staff and placed outside the grounds of the event where they were told they could continue. In the video, boos from nearby event attendees can be heard as security carried the equipment away from its original spot.

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COMMENT

Stop appropriating my culture! PAGe 8

Editors Print: Megan Davies & Graham Moore Deputy: Katie Jenkins & Alicia Rees Online: Harry Bunting & Natalie Keffler editors@exepose.com

Comment Editors Print: Isabelle Gray & Deepa Lalwani Online: Bea Fones & Josh Gammage comment@exepose.com

Arts + Lit Editors Print: Lauren Newman & Tabi Scott Online: Emily Pirie & Kristina Werner artsandlit@exepose.com Music Editors Print: Aaron Loose & Alex Wingrave Online: Jaysim Hanspal & Jamie Moncrieff music@exepose.com Screen Editors Print: Chloe Kennedy & Ben Faulkner Online: Harry Caton & David Conway screen@exepose.com Science Editors Print: Scarlett Parr Reid & Gabriel Yeap Online: Ayesha Tandon & Rhys Davies sciandtech@exepose.com Sport Editors Print: Josh Brown, Owain Evans & Wil Jones Online: Luke Clarkson & Ben Hart sport@exepose.com Chief Photographer Chelsea Lee photography@exepose.com Copy Editors Peter Firth, Charlotte Forrester & William Harrop Proofers Charlotte Forrester, William Harrop, Scarlett Parr-Reid, Niamh Elstone, Alex Wingrave, Dorothea Christmann, Jaimie Hampton, Ben Faulkner, Johnny Chern, Deepa Lalwani, Neha Shaji, Molly Gilroy.

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UCU to vote on no confidence regarding General Secretary PAGE 4

COMMENT Dungeons & Dragons: not just for nerds? PAGE 7

FEATURES Social smoking and peer pressure PAGE 12 Image: H. Zell

Lifestyle Editors Print: Bethan Gilson & Rhiannon Moore Online: Katie Baker & Rowan Keith lifestyle@exepose.com

Respect Festival on Campus', a surefire hit for all of us who like to celebrate and consolidate our University's diversity (page 3). If you're more into your industrial action than your festivities, then we've got you covered with some followup UCU news (page 4). Comment have been putting all those library hours to good use with their newest feature, 'Overheard in the Library' (page 7). If any of those comments sound familiar, we promise we weren't eavesdropping - we're usually too busy getting frustrated at those people who eat crisps inexplicably loudly anyway. Over in Features we're taking things a little more seriously, and looking at the possibility of peace on the Korean peninsula (page 11). Lifestyle are taking a look at mental wellbeing, with the lowdown on Mental Health Awareness Week (page 14) and the Do Not Think I Am Alone project (page 15). In light of the Sydney Writer's Festival, Arts + Lit are asking whether 'Time's Up' in the literary world (page 16); meanwhile Music are grappling with separating Kanye's art from his outspoken Twitter opinions (page 18). Screen place Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster) under our Director Spotlight, whilst Science turn the spotlight outwards and look forward to the near future of space tourism (page 26). Oh, and for those of you who are mostly here for the crosswords, don't worry; we have our usual complement of Study Break too (page 24)! That's about it from us - we'll see you in two weeks, for our super-summery final issue of Term 3! Megan and Graham

Image: Max Pixel

Features Editors Print: Niamh Elstone & Neha Shaji Online: Chloë Edwards & Bryan Knight Foreign Correspondents Co-ordinator: Ellie Cook features@exepose.com

XAMS are fun, are they not? What’s that you say? They’re not fun at all? Ah, you’re probably right. We’d probably have to agree with you there; it’s been a strange few weeks over here at Exeposé, what with fitting our editorial lives around our exam lives, and generally pretending that revision isn’t just something that happens to other people. But life isn’t all just revision (and that particular kind of hand cramp you get from three-hour exams): indeed, some lucky people have finished for the year already, and are out enjoying the sunshine. Meanwhile, the rest of us have been just pretending that we’ve finished, taking suspiciously lengthy ‘breaks’ out on the various sun-dappled grassy areas that our campus affords us. Sit outside Costa for three hours getting mildly sunburnt? Don’t mind if I do. Days like these you can almost count up that famous treeto-student ratio on the spot, an activity which certainly sounds more appealing than spending any more time going over my notes,and/or berating my past self for not doing half the seminar reading. Instead, however, we’ve opted for that most productive of procrastination methods – making another 32 pages of premium Exeposé content! It's been a bumper couple of weeks for Sport this time around - not only do we have the lowdown on Exeter City's upcoming trip to Wembley (page 32), we also have an in-depth interview with Spurs legend and current Exeter Director of Football Steve Perryman (pages 2829). Elsewhere in current affairs, News are very excited to report on an upcoming campus festival, in the form of 'Exeter

NEWS

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News Editors Print: Jaimie Hampton & Gwyn Wright Online: Edd Church & Hannah Stevenson news@exepose.com

Editorial E

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EXEPOSÉ

Devonshire House, Exeter, Devon, EX4 4PZ

SCIENCE The periwinkle - a potential cancer cure? PAGE 27

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Worldwide university news Uni students report over 100 abuse cases

NEW online system introduced by Cardiff University has seen 101 students report incidents of sexual assault and violence since October. The most common issue raised was abuse within relationships. There were also 30 cases of sexual assault and 24 cases of rape reported These figures include multiple incidents reported in one disclosure. Though the process can be anonymous, the University stated it was surprised at how many students chose to give their details. Those who use the system are offered an appointment with a staff member where they can discuss the incident, its impact and any practical support, such as help with finances, housing or contacting the police. The University was also surprised at the number of responses they received. "It's been used more frequently than we would perhaps have thought," said Amy Sykes, in charge of the team who handle disclosure responses. Images: Adrian Pingstone/Wikipedia

Academics released from North Korea

AST week, three Korean-American citizens were released from detention in North Korea, including two professors who taught at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST). Kim Hak-song had been working at PUST’s experimental farm in the North when he was detained on "suspicion of hostile acts", while his colleague Kim Sang-duk was arrested at Pyongyang airport for espionage charges. In a statement, PUST said: “The leadership and the whole international faculty and community at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology are very grateful to learn of the release of the three US-Korean citizens who have been in detention in the DPR Korea. We are especially pleased by the release of our two co-workers, Kim Sang-duk and Kim Hak-song.” The release coincided with the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to North Korea, in advance of the planned summit in June.

Bristol Uni confirm student suicide

HE University of Bristol has confirmed the death of first-year student, Ben Murray, the third student to die at Bristol in three weeks, and the tenth since 2016. The university authorities released a statement urging students affected by the recent deaths, and those feeling anxious about the upcoming examinations, to seek help from wellbeing services. The statement expressed commitment to providing a supportive environment for students. Bristol vice-chancellor Hugh Brady said: “Sadly we have suffered the loss of a number of our students in the past two years… I feel strongly that for any institution to get ahead of the growing problem it needs to take a joined-up and proactive approach.” The University of Bristol is working with charities such as the Samaritans, to address the challenges of mental health.

Students occupy Chilean universities

HOUSANDS of female students occupied universities in Chile last week, demanding an end to sexual harassment and abuse cases as well as non-sexist education. The protests were spurred by the transfer of a researcher, at the Universidad Austral de Chile, who was found guilty of gravely harassing a female administrator. Protestors are asking for him to be dismissed. Students are asking for the proper enforcement of sexual abuse protocols, as well as measures that address the causes of harassment and abuse. In communications addressed to students, academics from the Universidad de Chile stated that “[We] agree that existing institutional mechanisms are insufficient to resolve gender problems.” Stories by Alex Wingrave, Deepa Lalwani, Bea Fones and Jaimie Hampton

News

BodySoc wins ‘Best Society of the Year’

Katie Jenkins Deputy Editor

ODY Society (BodySoc) has won Best Society of the Year at the National Societies Award. The award, presented at Cardiff University on 9 May, celebrated student societies across the UK. BodySoc President Kate Jameson told Exeposé: “We are absolutely delighted that BodySoc has won this award. As a committee, we have loved having the opportunity to continue growing and improving the society, with [the award] being the perfect way to end a fantastic year.” “We are so proud and chuffed to receive this award. We have worked really hard to make BodySoc an inclusive and sociable society to be a part of, and we are confident it’s just going to get bigger and better

next year,” agreed General Secretary, Cat Suttie. Boasting over 1300 members, BodySoc specialises in a wide variety of fitness activities from Zumba and Aerobics to Yoga and Circuits. In a statement, The Guild wrote: “We commend all of those nominated and shortlisted for awards at this national level – it’s a testament to the work our students do to improve the experience of everyone studying at the University of Exeter.” Becca Hanley, VP Activities, said: “We are so excited for the society, and their efforts, to be recognised on a national stage.”

Image: National Societies Awardss

NEWS EDITORS: Jaimie Hampton Gwyn Wright

New artistic director for Northcott Theatre Carys Wilkinson News Team

ANIEL Buckroyd is set to take over as from Paul Jeppeson as aristic director of Exeter Northcott Theatre on 20 August 2018 Buckroyd has worked with the Northcott Theatre on previous occasions, having directed Monty Python’s Spamalot there in October last year. He is the current artistic director of the Mercury Theatre in Colchester. During his time there he launched Made in Colchester, a production and touring programme that has recieved widespread critical acclaim. His résumé also includes an adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s book The Butterfly Lion, a show nominated for a TMA Best Family Show award, and Farm Boy (another of Morpurgo’s books), which transferred to New York. He can boast a whole host of other productions including Turn of the Screw, Sweeney Todd, Betty Blue Eyes, and has directed Shakespeare and premiered new plays including Abi Morgan’s first stage play Skinned. Buckroyd’s version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs received five nominations for the 2018

Great British Pantomime Awards and the Mercury Theatre that he is leaving behind was shortlisted for The Stage Regional Theatre of the Year Award 2017.

I am thrilled to be joining the Northcott team at this hugely exciting time Daniel Buckroyd

Buckroyd has also engaged extensively with the productional aspect of theatre, which includes directing, programming, writing and touring. He also works with schools and young people to nurture and embed emerging artists and companies.

The Chair of the Northcott’s Board of Trustees, Lady Studholme, said “We received a large number of strong applications for this post, and Daniel Buckroyd’s was exceptionally compelling.” He will build on all that has been achieved at the Northcott over the last four years, and will make a significant contribution to Exeter’s growing reputation as a thriving creative and cultural centre. ‘‘I am thrilled to be joining the Northcott team at this hugely exciting time for the theatre.’’ Daniel said. ‘‘I have followed the Northcott closely ever since I directed my first professional production here.’’

Image: Exeter Northcott

“No mandate” to sign For Our Future’s Sake letter Respect Festival launches campus event CONTINUED FROM FRONT

...tuition fees by the coalition government in 2010. They argue that the 1.4 million students who were too young to vote in 2016 deserve to have their voices heard, and that the promises made to the British people by the Leave campaign have so far not been kept. Amanda Chetwynd-Cowireson, student mobilisation officer for For Our Future’s Sake, told Exeposé: ‘‘The promises that were made by the Leave campaign at best were misguided, and at worse outright lies. We aren’t going to see £350 million to the NHS, we aren’t going to see a massive financial bonus of leaving the EU (we’re

actually paying £40 million in a Divorce Bill for the privilege of having less power) and we aren’t going to get those massive trade deals that were promised as ‘easy’. ‘‘We don’t believe it’s a case of refusing because they think their students disagree. Lots of students’ unions who signed the letter passed policy to support remaining in EU or a People’s Vote, or had a referendum on the issue. ‘‘Other Students’ Unions unfortunately have a too strong a loyalty to Jeremy Corbyn – despite disagreeing with him on the most fundamental issue impacting young people – to publicly oppose him on Brexit.

“Ultimately, Students’ Unions and Guilds are representative of their members. They will act when they believe their students feel strongly enough about something.’’ So far, both Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn have insisted that the public want Britain to leave the EU and that they are intent on delivering withdrawal from the bloc. The letter appears in the wake of mounting tension in both parties over Brexit, and a string of recent defeats for the government in the House of Lords. Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn has come under increasing pressure to take a tougher line against the government’s Brexit policy.

Megan Davies Editor

AKAR Audio Club and Macondo are to play at the new Exeter Respect Festival On Campus on 3 June outside the Great Hall. The event will also include, among others, poetry readings, music from genres ranging from folk, reggae, and electro-punk, festival food vendors, and the film premiere of UNMASKed, a student-made documentary about student communities affected by discrimination on campus.

Let’s overcome ignorance by getting to know one another Kat Karamani, VP Welfare & Diversity

Image: Ilovetheeu

In the wake of the BLS scandal, the Students’ Guild has secured funding to organise Exeter Respect Festival On Campus, in collaboration with Exeter Respect Festival, which normally takes place after the end of term. Described as a ‘student-led celebration’ on campus, it is a free day festival dedicated to celebrating diversity across staff and students at the University. The Guild has secured three areas for events and is planning to also run a quiet

zone. It aims to arrange a yearly event where student communities can meet and learn from one another, with space to meet societies and businesses, and a presence from the Unmask Exhibition. The Festival is getting its funding from the newly founded Provost Commission. Janice Kay, the University’s Provost, said: “We are delighted to be working with the Students’ Guild and Exeter Respect to bring to life the Exeter Respect on Campus festival for the first time. We are committed to ensuring our campuses are welcoming to everyone who studies, works or visits us.” Kat Karamani, VP Welfare & Diversity, told Exeposé “I’m so excited to have this opportunity to bring students together for a dedicated day of celebrating diversity in Exeter, with many activities being led by the students themselves. The Respect ethos is a simple one: racism and prejudice often spring from fear, and fear is often based on ignorance, so let’s overcome ignorance by getting to know one another and sharing not shunning our cultures.” Becca Hanley, VP Activities, added: “Following the success of the student-led ‘Unmask Rally’ in March, I can’t wait to see our groups leading the way in breaking down barriers on campus.”

21 MAY 2018 | EXEPOSÉ

NEWS

Breakdancing society to debut summer event

XETER University’s Breakdancing Society are bringing their first ever Summer Dance Jam on 2 June, with a multitude of talent on display. The free public event, taking place on the Piazza Terracina, will showcase a variety of performances and exhibition battles, as well as dance workshops. These workshops will teach popular dance styles, such as breakdance, hip hop and afrobeats. They will also be led by talents from the university, including Dre J Lee, Nadine Sheik and Gabriella Nkom. Speaking to Exeposé, Breakdancing Society said: “The jam is about dancing in the dance – as simple as that. It’s summer, we love boogie-ing, so why not celebrate both together at the perfect summer location – the quay!”

No-confidence vote set for UCU General Secretary Owain Evans Sport Editor

HE Exeter branch of the University and College Union (UCU) has called for a vote of no-confidence in General Secretary Sally Hunt - and their motion will be debated at the union’s Congress later this month. The motion, which calls for the immediate resignation of Hunt, notes that “the conduct of the USS dispute raises serious issues of accountability and process on the part of the national leadership.” If adopted, Congress would accept that there is “a democratic deficit in the union affecting mem-

bers across sectors”. The motion follows broad criticism of Hunt’s performance during the negotiations earlier this year, with the activist wings of UCU accusing her of endorsing a weaker deal than could have been achieved.

[The actions of leadership are] representative of a democratic deficit in the union

UCU Congress Motion - Submitted by Exeter

The motion is to be debated on 30 May, the first day of UCU National Congress. A seperate motion, calling for a censure of Hunt, has also been submitted by King’s College London.

Bella Read, News Team

Uni to become plastic free by 2020

Image: Owain Evans

HE University of Exeter has recently announced that it has plans to be plastic free by 2020. The initiative took off nationwide after the BBC’s Blue Planet TV series heightened public awareness as to the amount of disposable plastic currently in the oceans. By September 2018, the University wants to have phased out the majority of single use plastics, such as drink stirrers and straws, replacing them with recyclable, biodegradable alternatives. In recent months, the University has been promoting the use of reusable cups, which has reduced the number of paper cups used by more than 50,000. Automatic receipts for those who pay with cards has also been scrapped by retail and catering departments. Carys Wilkinson, News Team

Student founds surfboard company

UCAN Lyster, a fourth-year physics student at the University of Exeter, has founded a lightweight wooden surfboard company. This has been assisted by the University initiative Think Try Do, a collaborative student startup programme which offers funding opportunities that promote and enable entrepreneurship in Exeter. Wood is the traditional material used to create surfboards, however, it is more common to use polyester. “My dad is a cabinet maker, so while that is a bit different from surfboards, his carpentry skills were a great help when making the first board in my first year of University,” says Lyster. Emily Davies, the winner of Best Employability Support at the 2018 Teaching Awards, helped Lyster solidify the grant that allowed him to start the company.. Jaimie Hampton, News Editor

Exeter Phoenix announce new design commission Neha Shaji Features Editor

AJOR refurbishments are planned over the summer for Exeter Phoenix, the arts and music venue located in town. Exeter Phoenix prides itself on being the Southwest’s most eclectic arts venue, supporting artists, filmmakers, and other performers. A Design and Build Commission is being offered, in order to collect new ideas about a reception desk installation in the foyer, one the changes that the venue will benefit from, including upgrades to their foyer, galleries, auditorium seating, and bathrooms. In order to reflect the repute of the establishment as a contemporary and modern creative arts venue, proposals to the Design and Build Commission are being accepted until 21 May, in order to create a “striking, robust, and practical design feature” to be placed at the front to welcome visitors into the building. The company’s website details the budget and dimensions of the project, and examples are provided for

reference. In order to submit a proposal, email art@exeterphoenix.org.uk to either submit your design or to obtain more information about the project. Exeter Phoenix states that the wider refurbishments will include “an expansion of the main gallery spaces, the installation of a glass vestibule to the front of the building, and improvements to the visitor facilities.” Funding for the whole project comes from Art House England and the Foyle Foundation, the first of which is one of Phoenix’s supporting charities. Image: Derek Harper

Exeter Food Fight stall removed at Pride festival CONTINUED FROM FRONT Since the event, Exeposé sat down with two members of Food Fight, who insisted they “had the right to be there”, Image: Deepa Lalwani but that their removal was not unexpected, saying that they’re “desensitised to these things these days”. They also stated that Exeter Pride, as a structure, “represent[s] the commodification of Pride” and one of them added: “I was infuriated, I thought, what is happening right now? How small of a person to you have to be to do this? Most people supported us, most people thought it was outrageous”. Food Fight told Exeposé that they had been at other events in council locations, such as Bedford Square, when events had been going on - adding that “the only difference was that this public event had profit involved”.

pointed out that several requirements of paperwork were laid out by the Council. Pride claimed that the main reason for their removal was that they had not given advance warning, meaning that they “were not insured for them to be there.” They also pointed out that, with a third of stall space going to charities and non-profit community groups,

Food Fight would have been allowed to attend had they “had any contact from them prior to the event.” “In future years,” they added, “we would love to work with Exeter Food Fight to help highlight issues around homelessness and food poverty, especially given the disproportionate number of the LGBTQIA+ community affected by these issues. Our awareness

The safety and inclusion of everyone who comes to Exeter Pride is and remains our utmost priority

Exeter Pride Spokesperson

In response to the allegations, Exeter Pride told Exeposé that they had been alerted to the presence of Food Fight by “trader complaints”, and

Image: Deepa Lalwani

of these concerns is one of the main reasons that we strive to keep Exeter Pride as a free event.” However, they did also admit that the “potential impact on traders” had been taken into account in the decision to remove them, and that they feel it was unfair on those traders “to allow EFF into the event without an opportunity to explain the ethos of the group to them”. .A separate incident also took place, in which attendees on the march complained about a person holding a sign saying “No to Sharia” and “Allah is gay”. Exeter Pride told Exeposé that “the safety and inclusion of everyone who comes to Exeter Pride is and remains our utmost priority”, and that once trustees became aware of the person, they attempted to speak to them, only to find that “they didn’t speak English”. This fact has been disputed by one eyewitness, who told Exeposé that they had uploaded a video showing the offending party to be repeatedly “denying that their sign was racist, and claiming to be a UKIP supporter”. Exeter Pride is an annual event that takes place in the City Centre, with the 2018 version having taken place on Saturday 12 May. The event is organised by a team of volunteers.

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21 MAY 2018 | EXEPOSÉ

Comment THE SABB Bryony Loveless VP Education

Deepa Lalwani Isabelle Gray

Local elections who?

Ben Faulkner Screen Editor

’D like to start this with a confession – I didn’t vote in the recent local elections. This was not a choice born out of ignorance, but certainly came from some place of apathy. I had fully intended on voting. It was scheduled in for the evening, right after my busy day of hopping between Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube – or, as it’s better known, ‘revision’. But, alas, time got away from me – and do you know why? Because I spontaneously decided to go to Fever. Fever! My hypocrisy dawned on me when I woke at some ungodly time on the Friday. This is the same guy who, after Theresa May announced her infamous snap election last year, posted a link to online voter registration on Facebook, demanding that anyone who read Pic t u re: P the post exercised ix a b ay their democratic right. And I did it because I didn’t want May

to be right – to extend her majority, she was banking on a poor turnout amongst the youth. As we all now know, we rumbled her – at that point, the weight of each individual vote had never felt so important. But here I am, a year later, not voting in local elections because it’s absolutely paramount that my stomach is lined with a big old carb-y meal before my latest pointless night-out.

The weight of each individual vote had never felt so important And yet, I’m still happy to go and tweet my disgust about the Windrush Scandal. We’re quick and happy to hurl abuse at Amber Rudd and Theresa May, but a much lower number of us engage with politics on a local level. In Stig Abell’s book, How Britain Really Works, he expertly outlines the paradoxical nature of British society: “we experience life locally, but we only discuss it nationally”.

Local politics does matter for us. It’s the local councils that dictate how we live on the daily basis; our roads, our local hospitals, our emergency services, even bloody Fever – these things matter. Education, housing, the environment – issues that we all like to commonly cite as some of the greatest that face our nation – are all managed on local levels. Those are enormous, national issues, but it’s the local actions that help the people that it actually affects. Ultimately, politics is personal; people get so invested because they want to feel the change. But tangible change comes from the politics that is most intimate. Sure, it’s unfair to lump all responsibility on this age group – turnout for local elections is much poorer amongst the whole population. Yet, our apathy feels the saddest, because ultimately, we’re the future. It’s a tired and hollow cliché, yet it’s completely true. After messing around for the previous 18 years, it’s our turn to make our own unique, serious mark on the world. And here’s the exact problem: I try and intellectually engage with current affairs, I pursue student journalism, and I use words like “alas”. I’m begging to be taken seriously. But how can I, when I can’t even find time to exercise my right to vote on a platform where it’s

going to affect me most? How can we, as a generation, expect those in power to shape policies around our needs and desires, if we won’t even turn up to draw a little cross next to their name? I know many of my friends did vote, and I know many care about these politics – but an even larger proportion of my friends didn’t even seem to know about it.

It’s the local councils that dictate our daily lives Part of the problem, of course, is that politics can be horrendously boring. Even those who are passionate about it generally agree with that – beyond the headlines and the scandals, it’s a string of technicalities and traditions. But, as we descend (yes, descend) towards adulthood at an alarmingly fast rate, we’re already coming face-to-face with a whole jungle of ‘boring’. Budgeting, rent, the bin schedule, mortgages (let me dream), form after form – we hate these things, but we endure them. Even if you find politics completely uninspiring, let it be a chore. If we really want the elite to listen, it has to be a chore. And you know what happens if you don’t do your chores.

Waving goodbye to Exeter Lauren Geall Contributor

O me, my time at the University of Exeter has been one big, exciting (and slightly tiring) blur. It feels completely crazy that my time here has come to an end, that three years have passed by in what has felt like a short amount of time. But, simultaneously, my time here has felt like a lifetime. University has been so much more than an academic experience. Not only have I learnt how to adult (slightly, I’m still working on that), I’ve got to know myself in ways I never anticipated.

University has been so much more than an academic experience One of the most valuable things I’ve come to learn at university is

learning to be alone. The reality of life is that you can’t always have a companion to go with you every step of the way, and going about my day to day life at university has helped me to become accustomed to this. Carving out an independent life for yourself is more rewarding than I ever expected.

My experiences have shaped the way I navigate the world The friendships I have made at university have also played such an integral part of the experience. I still live with some of the people I met in my first-year halls, and they have transformed from strangers, to flatmates, to friends, to a second family. That may sound completely cheesy, but it’s so lovely to have people to come back home to day after day who know you so well that you can unashamedly just be yourself.

The friendships I’ve made along the way are also just as important. After joining Exeposé in second year and being on committee last year, I have discovered a whole new group of friends who share the same interests as me. Having a whole world separate from the stresses from my degree has been particularly valuable to me in third year, and I would highly recommend getting involved with as much as you can. As I prepare to wave goodbye to Exeter, my housemates and I have collated a few little things we’d like to do (hiring some bikes and cycling down the Quayside when the weather’s good)

and visit (there’s a whole host of restaurants I still want to try out) before we leave. However, I don’t think I have anything big left to achieve. Exeter has been my home for three years, and although it definitely hasn’t been plain sailing, I think my experiences have shaped the way I navigate the world around me. That’s certainly something I can hold on to long after I’ve left Exeter. Image: Kalsom Cheman (Wikimedia)

E’VE all had exam nightmares. Maybe you’ve had one: got the wrong date or the wrong time, or revised for an exam and suddenly realised hours before that it was for a different module. Maybe you’ve had three exams on one day, or stayed up for four nights consecutively to finish your dissertation. Maybe all your friends have already finished their exams and, whilst your Instagram feed is full of photos of disposable BBQs, Exmouth, and Morrison’s Savers Burgers, you’re still in Silent Study. As painful as exams are, there are few things that make us bond more. There’s nothing quite like sitting in the Library for three weeks in a row, knowing your neighbour – whose name you probably still don’t know – is going through the same thing. Or having a ‘working party’ in your living room with your housemates, where coffee is as bountiful as coloured gel pens and index cards. There have been tears, sweat, too much coffee and too little sleep – but we’re nearly there. For those of you who have already finished; congratulations; enjoy your freedom! For those of you who are facing the referral/deferral period, it’s really important you know that you’re not alone. There is still a great number of students – both undergraduate and postgraduate – who remain on campus over the summer to finish their studies. Though many University and Guild services run on reduced hours, we remain open to support those who work outside of term times. As another academic year comes to an end, it’s a great time to reflect. Like a lot of our finalists, I’m leaving Exeter this summer. I arrived as an 18-year-old who couldn’t really cook properly, who had only done laundry a handful of times and who cried on the street (yes, I was that person) when her parents drove away with an empty car. So reflect and raise a glass to everything you’ve achieved this year. Thank you for making Exeter exceptional.

COMMENT EDITORS:

21 MAY 2018 | EXEPOSÉ

COMMENT

Dungeons, Dragons and Dissertations Amelia Chisholm Contributor

HEN I mentioned my flat’s plan to start playing Dungeons & Dragons, my dad made a face. “Isn’t that game for nerds?” And I knew what he meant. Despite featuring in hit shows such as Community, Stranger Things and iZombie, D&D has been unable to shake the lone image of the geeky, misogynistic, basement dweller. This stereotype pervades nerd culture, especially the fantasy genre, featuring as many sexualised women, abusive relationships, and rape plotlines as you’d expect from an episode of Game of Thrones. In a shocking twist of events, this stereotype is, in fact, a stereotype, covering only a small percentage of D&D players.

This stereotype is, in fact, a stereotype

sannia described that “Dungeons & Dragons has left me feeling empowered in a way Beyoncé never has”, a sentiment that I’ve absolutely experienced. She notes “It’s the perfect game for someone still coming to grips with who they are, trying to understand their place in the world. By building a fictional character, you essentially learn to build your own self ”. The idea of developing and understanding yourself is not only a great reason to play, but also gives an explanation for why the game is especially popular with younger people. And this development of a deeper understanding of yourself, further deepens your friendship with the people around you. For co young women, I would arnn f ra u r a gue that this self-exploration is c e: ag particularly significant. Im And not just as a way of exploring themselves, but specifically their femininity. Rather than encouraging one of the reasons I enjoy the game girls to step outside their gender expecso much is that allows you to create tations, to play more masculine charcharacters, thus enabling you to explore acters, and become comfortable with aspects of yourself (think West World, a violent, aggressive fantastical world, but with less literal murder of arguably we should start valuing the healers, the sentient beings). negotiations and interpersonal relaIn an article, comedian Tina Has- tions that are crucial to a ‘good’ game. know seem reluctant to play as female characters. When I asked a friend why, he explained he’s “not a good enough character actor to play anyone who isn’t me”. This is actually a fair point, but

Feeling HOT HOT HOT Shiwangi Singh Contributor

HERE are two possibilities of how my day will go when the sun rises every morning. In this hot weather, it will either be a backdrop for a perfect day in the park, or it will cause an immediate ‘why don’t we have air conditioning?’ rant. After the long cold winter that seems to have extended into a snowy March this year, the sun is refreshingly warm and welcome.

Hot weather is the last thing any of us want

in the morning than my repetitive alarm clock. Although human beings don’t have the power to control the weather, you can keep your body temperature in check by staying hydrated and eating smart. So that’s exactly how I kickstart my day; a glass of water followed by a glass of cold coffee/juice along with my fruity, veggie, and non-spicy breakfast. A quick Google search will fetch you a list of foods you should avoid and adopt to keep your internal systems cool.

To keep your mind sound you need to head outside and have fun All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. As cliché as that might sound, to keep your mind sound you need to head outside and have some fun. Spending six hours straight at my desk trying to cram information into my brain is a highly inefficient way of prepping for exams – instead, I’ve been trying to spread my study hours throughout the

day, making sure that I stay focused while revising. No matter how hot it gets, we’ll always have the golden hours of sunrise and sunset, which are certainly the best times to get out of your room or the library if you are not a big fan of the heat. Maybe even consider taking your work out to a park (unless you’re easily distracted by cute dogs, in which case definitely don’t do this). Exeter has some of the nicest green areas I’ve ever seen, and during my time here I have scouted the best trees near me that provide the most shade and are surrounded by the softest patches of grass. Just remember to take another layer with you – you never can trust this tricky English weather.

Image: Soubor:Sun Wikipedia

Yet, as the British summertime sets in, I’ve suddenly become less keen about the sunshine, and, along with my friends, have started frantically searching for ways to cool down. It’s a classic ‘grass is always greener on the other side’ scenario, as the sun that we’ve been

craving has finally arrived to scorch us, and to make matters worse there’s a heatwave on the way. With exams around the corner, hot, sticky weather is the last thing any of us want. For me, it’s not that bad here – back home in New Delhi, the temperture reaches up to 45°C during the summer. That is an extreme that people in the UK will probably never have to experience (unless global warming really takes hold). Unfortunately, putting things into perspective doesn’t change the fact that it does still get hot here as well. Pretty much no-one here has air conditioning installed in their houses. At uni, my room heats up within a few minutes of sunrise and opening the windows can only do so much to save the temperature. It can seem like the end of the world when you’ve got a pile of revision to get through and the sun is shining through your window. As annoying as it might be, it’s best to look at the bright side of things: the natural early rising of the sun certainly works better at waking me up

Image: Malcolm Wong

Dungeons & Dragons is a communal game, comparative to escape rooms, or any team sport, just with more imagination. It can be an excellent way to bond with new potential friends, or deepen any existing friendship, especially if

you’re looking to solidify your friendship circle at uni. I spoke to some fellow players, men and women, about their experiences playing D&D. It was noted that less girls tend to play than boys, and that some male players disrespect female characters in the game – one quoted a fellow player saying that they ‘weren’t hot enough’. Female players noticed some disparity between the roles of male and female characters in the game – their characters were used more often for seduction and negotiation than any male characters – but generally felt as welcome and included in the game as their male peers. If it isn’t the treatment of women that’s preventing girls from playing, then what is it? It might be argued that girls just ‘don’t enjoy’ the game, but I think that’s nonsense. Both the Dungeons & Dragons campaign I play and Monster of The Week game I run have a majority of female players. They feel safer to play in our majority-women friendship circle, whilst our male friends who play are fully aware of the misogyny that persists in nerd culture. Despite this, male players that I

Femininity is already part of games like Dungeons & Dragons – I would go as far as to argue that the interpersonal and problem-solving skills you get from games like these are essential for everyday life, especially at university. These characteristics just need to be respected when expressed by female players.

At fifteen, I used to claim I was ‘not like other girls’

As someone who, at fifteen, used to claim she was ‘not like other girls’, I’ve always had a complex relationship with my own femininity (and frankly, I think that complex relationship is true for every woman). Playing D&D and taking the lead on similar games has encouraged me to not only grow creatively, but to better understand myself. Through the characters I create, and their traditionally feminine skills and behaviours, I’m able to better understand the inherent strength of femininity – specifically, my own. For anyone who is unsure of who they are, especially the girls reading this, go play Dungeons & Dragons. If nothing else, it’s a good excuse to drink, let out your frustrations on some goblins, and spend some time with your friends.

Overheard in the library

“I could do a hundred squats, but I’d get a pain in my spleen.” “No-one’s gonna come to my wedding...” “Short-term pain relief is the bomb.” “That’s the highest I’ve ever seen him.” “Yeah, he did it in a text.” “Do you ever, like, vomit straight after an exam?” “I feel like my husband wouldn’t really care.” “I’d rather, like, age really quickly.” “I put him in charge of looking after all the vegetables.” “Do you think I could get a 50-piece bucket?” “I had breakfast this morning!” “So, do skirts have pockets?” “Yeah, just ordered some protein.”

COMMENT Image: matthahnewaldphoto

#ReclaimTheBindi I

WANT to first acknowledge that I know that this is a contentious debate. Normally, I can’t even say the words “cultural appropriation” without being shut down, accused of being a “social justice warrior perpetrating call-out culture”, whatever that’s supposed to mean. A calm, intellectual discussion about this “nonissue” is as rare as a four-leaf clover, so I’m grateful for this opportunity to elaborate my thoughts on the matter.

Cultural appropriation is pure ignorance, and seriously disrespectful

This article will be presented from the perspective that cultural appropriation is an important issue, and that it’s ignorant to describe it as a form of “cultural appreciation”. I am a Hindu Indian and I see cultural appropriation as pure ignorance, and seriously disrespectful to minority cultures. I’d advise you to stop reading if you think this is all “political correctness gone mad”, or perhaps I’m “making a big deal about nothing.” They said the same about the suffragettes when they fought for women’s right to vote. I also recognise that this isn’t a crime solely committed by white people, and that my minority culture is not the only one that gets appropriated. The restaurant chains Turtle Bay (Caribbean) and Las Iguanas (Latin-American) are owned and founded by Sri Lankan Ajith Jayawickrema, for example. I’ll write mainly about the appropriation of Indian culture as it’s not my place to narrate the experience of other marginalised ethnic groups. The focus of this article will discuss two things: the Met Gala, themed as “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination”, where celebrities including Rihanna came under fire for “religious appropriation”, as well as the University of Bristol scandal where a student held a party with the theme of “Night of the Raj”, a blatant celebration of colonial history. Members of the Catholic Church

have been oppressed in the past, yes, but they have also been the oppressors in many moments of history. Remember indulgences, anyone? And the fact that priests conducted sermons in Latin in small villages despite most of the audience being illiterate peasants? And in this century, the nine-year-old girl in Brazil who was raped by her stepfather, impregnated with twins, and then excommunicated for having an abortion? The Catholic Church’s attitudes towards safe sex and the LGBTQIA+ community cannot be forgotten either. It has consistently oppressed other religions with their crusades and evangelism, forcing conversions in communities all over the world, in the name of a God that might not even exist. Yes, followers of Catholicism come from various ethnic backgrounds, but the leadership is largely white and male: it’s not a marginalised, minority culture. There is no reverse racism; there is no reverse cultural appropriation. Before any white person cries “#AllLivesMatter! We all belong to a race and can be attacked because of it!”, but how many of you have had your lives threatened based on the clothes of your culture? How many of you have had your humanity stripped away and been reduced to your skin colour? This is not a once every now and then occurrence. For me, this

Image: SharonaGott

Jasmin Priya Contributor

happens regularly. I can’t even own my own existence. But I will reserve the right to own my culture. Also, religion is about God and faith. Culture has links to religion, sure, but it primarily deals with people, real people, who see your ignorance, and feel real pain.

Image: 422737/2074, Pixabay

I can’t even own my own existence.

As a side note, the Vatican and Catholic Church approved, endorsed, sponsored and even attended the Met Gala this year. They literally “blessed” it, so it’s the opposite of blasphemy. Cultural appropriation attacks minorities, diluting our authentic heritage to a superficial fashion statement. For a real example of cultural appropriation, look no further than that Bristol student’s 21st birthday party, or “A Night at the Maharajah’s Palace”. A student in need of some real education, evidently. Now this theme is more than problematic. On Facebook, the party was described by his father as “Indian glamour meets Colonial chic” (seriously?) and “a luxurious yet debauched throwback to the glory days of the early 20th century, where Britain and India lived side by side” (okay, that’s actually horrifying). These two sentences were removed from the event, even though the event itself wasn’t removed from existence, and apparently “he didn’t intend any colonial connotations”, according to The Tab Bristol. Well… why did you use the word colonial then? I mean, I really don’t know what to say. Was this just typical white ignorance? I really hope so, because that’s the best case scenario. Maybe colonisation was a “glorious” time for the culprits of the British Raj. I’m sure it really helped the British nation prosper, draining India’s wealth and leaving the economy in shambles, causing the man-made Bengal famine that took the lives of four million Indians, imposing the English language as a tool of oppression, and forcing the Indian taxpayers to pay for, build and die during the construction of a railroad on

which “Dogs and Indians [were] not allowed”. Millions of innocent Indian people died because of the British Raj. Millions. It goes without saying that it’s extremely inappropriate to celebrate this.

Festival-goers, you are NOT celebrating my culture

After the numerous instances of cultural appropriation that I witnessed last weekend at Warm Up festival in Murcia, I have to say to festival-goers that you are NOT “celebrating my culture” by wearing bindis. You’re exploiting it for your own vanity and ruining my experience. It’s pretty ironic that the bindi corresponds with the seat of the sixth chakra, representing concealed wisdom, when I saw so much ignorance last weekend, (and have seen more in my life). I understand that sometimes there’s a lack of awareness of other cultures, the system failed you, it’s not your fault. I applaud the people who unknowingly appropriate cultures, and when discovering their error, apologise and promise it won’t happen again.

However, there are some people who really should know better. Maybe I should explain myself so you understand: if I decided to start exclusively wearing bindis and sarees, and the other traditional garments of my culture, I’d be taking a massive risk. I’m not being dramatic. Even just a bindi would be like a bright red target on my forehead that screams “Attack me! I reject your culture! I am different!”. Instead of being my birth right, it would become an anti-conformist statement attracting racist comments and discrimination, like moths to a flame. It’s not fair.

Was this just typical white ignorance?

There are quite a few rhetorical questions in this article, more than I’d normally use, but I just don’t understand why people react so badly when I say that cultural appropriation is a serious issue in our society. You can’t just cherry-pick the most attractive elements of a culture for the sake of your own narcissism. Wake up. Stop exploiting my culture, don’t oppress me by reducing it to a costume, and I won’t reduce you to your ignorance.

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17/05/2018 10:36:43

21 MAY 2018 | EXEPOSÉ

Features

FEATURES EDITORS: Niamh Elstone Neha Shaji

“Anything but atheist”: interviewing apostasy

Neha Shaji, Features Editor, sits down with the President of Humanist Students UK and an Exeter Humanists volunteer to discuss apostasy and discrimination

POSTASY was once punishable by death. But as of 2017, 53% of England is non-religious, with 71% of young people between the ages of 18 and 25 professing to have no religion. Hannah Timson is the President of Humanist Students in the UK, a student group which supports students who are losing faith and provides a network of discussion and provision for nonreligious students across universities in the UK. I sit down with Hannah and Emma Swain, a support worker for students with special needs at Exeter college who is also a volunteer at Exeter Humanists in town, to discuss the growing population of non-religious students and the discrimination faced by them.

You just don’t recognize the person in the mirror any longer Hannah, who comes from a Baptist family, describes the discrimination she faced for losing faith. It seems to be easy to compare a professedly secular country like France or England to the Middle East or other countries run by religious law, but discrimination and ostracization exists within families in the UK. “It’s not just discrimination but often emotional and physical abuse, especially with emotionally oppressive religions – the religion is your whole world, every second of every day, Jesus was there, you know? Moving from certain religions into another or into apostasy, it’s a death sentence in certain countries and even in the UK, honour killing.” Indeed, it is estimated that 5000 honour killings occur every year worldwide. The reasons span from adultery and apostasy, to being seen with a boyfriend in Sixth Form. It’s not just murder, but exclusion and shunning

from the community, and even physical abuse that can occur when one confesses to apostasy. Hannah explains “the signs that you’re looking for in people who are losing faith are the same as the signs of people abused for anything else, and I feel that when I was growing up I was indoctrinated and that is a form of abuse – even if it was done out of love.” Humanists UK attempts to provide a space of support and advice for people who are being shunned or ostracized due to their lack of faith – with their website linking to advice forums and speeches for anyone, from those questioning to full blown atheists. Emma, who was brought up Evangelical, shares her own story one that involves what is technically excommunication and the loss of a community that had, as Hannah had mentioned, been her whole life. Emma shares the story of her niece, who at seventeen “was seen talking to a boy at school which led to a massive family implosion that led to her leaving the religion, where people from the church would tell us to ignore her and tell her to leave the house. So, she suffered discrimination within her church, you know, because she didn’t follow these rules – and a lot of people don’t know this kind of

discrimination goes on in the country.” She details the levels of shunning, involving a pastor who apparently had God tell her Emma was a lesbian (whilst she was not) and claiming that to be the reason she should not make friends within the Church.

Humanism seems to have more of an empathetic edge The loss of community is perhaps what English apostates feel the most. England is built around its holidays and traditions – Christmas and Easter are times when families get together, regardless of religious viewpoint. Someone with a religious family who now shun them due to their apostasy is faced with nowhere to go during national holidays which almost exaggeratedly emphasizes community spirit in advertisements in order not to offend religious sensibilities. Emma recalls how it felt like to suddenly be faced with that personal change and interpolate it to her place in the public, saying “It is very daunting to lose that community. One day you just look at the person in the mirror and you don’t recognize who they are.” Imtiaz Sham, who founded Faith to Faithless, describes himself as a cultural Muslim. Hannah agrees with the ability to become a cultural Christian whilst not necessarily holding Christian dogma or following doctrines. As a student

of Theology who has to deal with religion academically, she admits she often finds herself “exploring the fact I was a Baptist Christian and sometimes tended to be more sceptical of the Catholic position, there are some beliefs I will hold all my life long.” She cites the Jewish community as an example of being culturally part of a community – a 2011 study stated over half of American Jews dispute the existence of God, yet manage to remain part of the Jewish community. Whilst an apostate, or a nonbeliever could consider themselves culturally Christian or Muslim, the religious community itself is rather reluctant with accepting those who do not fully “belong” to the religion. Hannah herself recalls how at Humanist meetings, people from vastly different religions confess stories that run eerily parallel to each other – the ostracization, the refusal to accept. She also acknowledges that atheist forums on the internet can also tend to be a toxic place, regardless of whether they claim to offer support. She says “some groups of course tend to be misogynist and sexist, these qualities are only marginally more hidden in atheists – which is shocking to me, since what is the point? There is no book to tell you to think this or that. I think the answer is to come and talk about Humanism – it isn’t perfect, but it’s about acceptance

and love and celebrating who you are.” Humanism seems to have, from my conversation with Hannah and Emma, more of an empathetic edge than several atheist groups which focus purely on rationalism and “disproving” the existence of God. Indeed, this approach seems to be proving more supportive – over the last eight months, there are over a thousand Humanist students across the UK, with even more local based groups affiliated to the wider organization of Humanists UK. To finish off, I ask Hannah if she had a message for religious or dogmatic groups out there who demean the work they do, to which she responded “in this day and age there is no place for groups of people who are illiberal or fanatical and take away the rights of people to live their life. The majority of Britain now is non-religious – clearly, there is a problem with the ostracization of people. I believe Humanism is the answer to that.”

The loss of community is what English apostates feel the most.

Emma wanted to address her closing words to those who themselves were looking at apostasy, or found themselves losing their own faith: “to those who are on the borderline of losing their faith and thinking – “oh God, anything but an atheist. Don’t be afraid of the word, don’t be afraid to explore your thoughts and feelings. You’re not crazy and you’re not alone.”

Image: Fyodor Bronnikov

EXEPOSÉ | 21 MAY 2018

The possibility of peace

Lauren Geall discusses the history of tension between North and South Korea and the possibility of stability in the future

HEN Neil Armstrong became the first man to land on the moon in 1969, the Korean peninsula had technically been at war for 19 years. Despite a 1953 armistice, which saw the fighting between the two countries cease, no formal peace treaty was ever agreed. The two countries remained hostile towards each other.

Transforming the aggression which has often characterised North Korean diplomacy Flash forward to 49 years since the moon landing. Neil Armstrong’s famous line “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” is one which, ironically, describes Kim Jongun’s decisive step across the North-

South border last month. Through fundamentally transforming the aggression which has often characterised North Korean diplomacy, Kim Jong-un altered the political dynamic across the globe. Now more than ever, a spotlight has been placed on this historically tense relationship, which North and South Korea are now working to repair. Whilst Kim Jong-un’s step across the border may have been a significant one, the relationship between the two countries is complex to say the least. Despite signing the Panmunjom Declaration for peace, prosperity and unification during their meeting in the demilitarized zone, South Korea’s Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un are overshadowed by the presence of the United States and China. Both countries must be included in any final peace treaty as a result of their involvement in the original 1950s conflict. If peace can

be achieved, the result would reverberate beyond the Korean peninsula.

If peace can be achieved, the result would reverberate beyond the Korean peninsula However, many initially feared that the declaration had avoided any concrete statement on the denuclearisation of the North Korean state, a threat which has dominated tensions between the North and South for years. Although there are still no definite agreements, Kim Jongun has recently said that he will invite a global team of journalists to watch the closure of the countries’ current nuclear test site. We may be a long way away from certainty yet, but relations between the two Korean nations are better than they have been for a long time. Having

changed the North Korean time zone to match that of the South’s, both sides of the border have shown encouraging signs that change may be on the table, especially ahead of the upcoming summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in Singapore.

For many experts, cynicism still abounds; however, as many have signalled, the signs for hope are too great to be ignored. Writing in The Guardian, Mary Dejevsky echoed the sentiments of many in asking: “Is it not worth, for once, giving optimism a chance?”

Image: Kremlin

America: the world police?

Edd Church, Online News Editor, analyses the influence of the US in foreign policies

VER since the recent announcement that peace talks had begun between South Korea’s Moon Jae-in and DPRK leader Kim Jong-un in April, the role of the United States of America in the Korean question has been in the forefront of many people’s minds. Questions to the tune of ‘Did President Trump fix Korea?’, and ‘Has America saved the world again?’ and ‘How much has US intervention in Korea actually helped?’ have sprung up. However, looking at what the US has actually done for the Korean peninsula since 1945, it’s not a

Image: Gage Skidmore

Image: Kremlin

pretty picture. America, or as it has been often satirically portrayed, ‘The World Police’, has developed a reputation for exporting certain Westernised systems of

government to other countries. It has influenced the toppling of states and the installing of America-friendly capitalist government systems for ‘containing’ ideologies that it deems to be ‘toxic’. Cases where this has happened include the US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista’s coup in 1950s Cuba, the initial CIA cooperation with Hussein, or indeed the case of South Korea.

How much has US intervention in Korea actually helped? Direct US involvement in the Korean peninsula dates back to the immediate postSecond World War era

and the splitting of the peninsula into North and South. The early years of US rule saw the self-governing Republic of Korea outlawed, and a UScontrolled military rule implemented. This government was partly staffed by some of the same Japanese officials from whom America was meant to have liberated the Koreans. Given this early intervention, it would be no exag geration to say the US was more concerned with preventing the spread of communism than it was with reconstruction. Of course, the role of the US and Allied troops in the Korean War has been emphasised in the media since NorthSouth talks began. Whilst US coalition forces did prevent the South from being annexed by the DPRK in the Korean War, many have speculated whether this was more out of fear of Soviet influence in the East than a concern for the welfare of the peninsula. 21st century tensions between the North and South had been consistently

heating up until April of this year. Despite the US closing some of its military bases, there still exists a huge American presence in South Korea and nearby Japan - something Koreans and the Japanese have been protesting for years. President Trump’s signature tweeting style saw him face criticism for threatening what many saw as an upand-coming nuclear state shortly before the North had been seen as taking a more conciliatory approach to the US and South Koreans.

We should be cautious to pat Trump on the back just yet

While it could be easy to see a direct link here, and those calling for President Trump to receive a Nobel Prize for his work evidently do see one, we should be cautious to pat him on the back just yet. Reports of a collapse in the North Korean nuclear research facility are something which cannot be ignored. If we ask whether or not the US has facilitated peace in Korea, there is no clear answer. What is clear, however, is that a Nobel Peace Prize for Trump is likely still a way off.

FEATURES

21 MAY 2018 | EXEPOSÉ

Butthead in public

Alicia Rees, Deputy Editor, discusses peer pressure and issues surrounding social smoking

HE time old phrase “everything in moderation” is one bandied about all too often when it comes to social smoking. Picture the scene: you’re in Cheesies. It’s at peak capacity. The sweat is becoming unbearable so you pop outside to catch some fresh air. Before you’ve even had time to find a suitable patch of wall on which to lean, a Marlboro Gold has been thrust into your hand and lit. As easy as that, you’re a social smoker. Of course,

journey from one drunken cigarette to having the shakes before the first nicotine hit of the day is a lot shorter than many people anticipate. Although 24% of people consider themselves to be social smokers, as opposed to the 19% who smoke regularly, the actual figure is likely to be much higher. Social smoking is defined as being addicted to the act of smoking rather than the nicotine, most people can go several days without craving a cigarette. Yet, I’ve seen people who wouldn’t dream of lighting up sober plead for a cigarette after that first sip of a VK. It’s not that they’re unaware of the health risks. Everyone has seen the images

Image: Lucasbieri

plastered on the packaging with the added warnings of decreased fertility, cancer, heart disease. French cigarettes simply say ‘Le tabac tue’ or ‘tobacco kills’.

if your doctor asks, you’ll say no. What’s the harm in having a cheeky puff once or twice a week? The issue arises when you purchase your first pack yourself. I started smoking socially at 16, I bought my first pack at 17, my first 20 pack at 18. The

The desire to smoke arises out of a pattern of behaviour The main problem with social smokers is that they believe the risks for them aren’t as great. Smoking based illnesses are thought to be limited to

the 40-a-day, raspy-voiced elderly, and far removed from the fresher who has a sneaky one at Timepiece. However, the UK Social Smokers Survey, which involved 1,651 Brits between the ages of 18 and 45 has suggested that there is little difference in the effects. Just one cigarette forces the lungs and heart to work harder to supply the body with blood. Blood pressure increases and lung capacity diminishes. Social smoking in Britain is most common between 18 and 25 year olds, unsurprisingly, and is almost evenly split between male and female with 48% and 52% respectively. The same survey found that women are more likely to smoke due to peer pressure or a fear of missing out, whereas men prefer the feeling that cigarettes can give them. Women are more likely to accept a cigarette in order to forge an identity within a group, or to have an excuse to go outside and not “look weird”. In contrast, men enjoy the light-headed rush nicotine gives when the blood supply to the brain is thinned.

The main problem with social smokers is that they believe the risks for them aren’t as great It has also been found that even in regular smokers, the desire to smoke arises out of a pattern of behaviour rather than a need. The daily routine of having a morning cigarette, or a glass of wine after work with one,

is a more powerful impulse than an addiction to nicotine. This is also true for social smokers who have made a lasting association between socialising and smoking, and it is the addiction to socialising that can be more lasting than the need to smoke. There’s also a feeling of doing something that maybe you shouldn’t be. The thrill when you see the once squeaky-clean head girl necking back a Sterling Dual, a complete new side that has never been seen before. Perhaps, most simply, it is the feeling of being grown up, of making a decision that you know is not good with no one to tell you off.

It is the addiction to socialising that can be more lasting than the need to smoke Smoking has been in decline since the end of the mid 90s heroin-chic fashion era. The risks are more visible, the price has increased, and attitudes are changing rapidly. With the introduction of the smoking ban in 2007, which prohibits smoking in almost all public spaces, numbers of people taking up the habit have rapidly fallen from 25% of all adults in

2006 to 19% in 2018. Smoking is no longer cool. People wanting to imitate the glamour of the 20s or 30s now do so without a trusty cig between your fingers. If Chandler from Friends could quit, anyone can. With the ever-increasing price and ever souring attitudes, smokers are literally and metaphorically dying out.

The journey from one drunken cigarette to having the shakes As a regular smoker, of course I am aware of the dangers. I’ve even given myself a deadline; I’ve got to stop smoking before I turn 30, so that gives me a solid nine and a half years to have my fill of Marlboro Red. Will I regret it when I’m old and wheezy? Probably. Am I happy at the minute? Happy enough to not mind the consequences.

Image: Lindsay Fox

Some statistics you may not be aware of from Cancer Research UK 15% of cancer cases in the UK are caused by smoking

Graphics from- http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/risk/tobacco#heading-Two

Image: Rose Brasil

Image: JoeInQueens, Chi Chia-Wei

Almost 19% of all adults in the UK smoke

lifestyle

ARTS + LIT

E X H I B IT MUSIC

STUDY BREAK

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Image: 495756, Pixabay

What’s the hype: paddington

Image: : anastiev/Pixabay

WHO NEEDS A BIKINI BODY?

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Image: Bill Ebbesen

tranquility base hotel in review

met gala 2018: is it cultural appropriation?

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LIFESTYLE EDITORS Rhiannon Moore Bethan Gilson

ARTS + LIT EDITORS Lauren Newman Tabi Scott

MUSIC EDITORS Alex Wingrave Aaron Loose

SCREEN EDITORS Chloe Kennedy Ben Faulkner

STUDY BREAK Puzzles by Alfred and Alicia 21 MAY 2018 | EXEPOSÉ

lifestyle

Are you bikini body ready?

MENTAL HEALTH WEEK

AST week was Mental Health Awareness Week. The focus this year was workplace and everyday stresses - something university students deal with aplenty.

Image: @kalvisuals

The timing of Mental Health Awareness Week is perfect with exams in full swing and summer looming over us. It seems like a never ending cycle of anxiety and stress - exam season, as always, has been putting insurmountable pressure on all of us and with the strikes of term 2, it is more difficult than ever before to feel confident that we'll do well. After that, it is as though there'll be no more stress until next year, and we celebrate the end of the year and finally relax. However, soon enough, there are plans to go to the beach, and men and women alike struggle with the pressures of society on their body image. Mental Health Awareness Week is, as always, an incredibly important time for us to reflect on the struggles we face every day, and we need to find ways to discuss and acknowledge all of the issues many of us have to deal with in a productive way. Bethan Gilson and Rhiannon Moore, Lifestyle Editors

Olivia Powell shares her thoughts on the so-called 'Bikini Body'

HE phrase ‘bikini body’ is used primarily to describe having the ‘perfect’ summer body for a bikini – normally after dieting and working out. Whilst the bikini was originally a symbol of women’s sexual and social liberation when it was invented in the 1960s. It (unfortunately) was soon co-opted in order to shame women for not fitting into the narrow idea of female perfection.

IT'S AN IDEAL THAT MANY WOMEN WILL NOT BE ABLE TO REPLICATE It is not surprising then that the phrase ‘bikini body’ was first popularised in 1961 by Slenderella International in an ad campaign for weight loss pills that proclaimed, “High firm bust – hand span waist – trim, firm hips – slender graceful legs – a Bikini body!”. Likewise, in 1970, Pretty Body, a ‘figure salon’ ran an ad that said that their flesh firming machines could help women achieve a “firmer, slimmer, sexier body…a bikini body”. This trend of using the ‘bikini body’ to urge women to lose weight has stayed popular, shown by the 2015 Protein World advertisement for weight loss pills that asked, “Are you beach body ready?” with a very slim woman stood in a tiny, yellow bikini. A quick Google search for ‘bikini body’ will reveal a multitude of suggestions like ‘bikini body workout’, ‘bikini body diet’, and ‘bikini

body challenge’, and I’ve noticed that countless magazines have started to run articles that claim to help you shed the final pounds before bikini body season. Since the ideal bikini body is a very slim hourglass figure, it’s an ideal that many women will not be able to replicate – myself included. It’s truly sad that something that used to represent women throwing off the stuffy ideals that had contained them for so long has been twisted to shame the vast majority of women for not having the ‘perfect’ body. Having a bikini body shouldn’t be a challenge, it should just be a reality – if you have a bikini and put it on your body, then you have a bikini body. I never really worried about my figure when I was younger – my mum always told me that my body was beautiful, and I had no real reason to doubt h e r . Unfortunately, this changed when I hit puberty and started using social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook. When you’re online, you’re Image: @pxhere barraged with adver-

tisements and pictures of girls who have the perfect ‘bikini body’, and growing up I felt really discouraged – my body didn’t look like the models' did, so did that mean I was ugly?

LIFE'S TOO SHORT TO SIT ON A BEACH COVERING UP Thankfully however, my attitude has changed a lot since I was in my teens. There was not one pivotal moment for me with my body confidence, but it’s been more of a process; I’ve gone from a girl who was too scared to sit on the beach in her swimming costume to a confident girl who will happily take pictures with her friends in their bikinis - and I love it. Whilst I do still struggle with some selfconfidence issues, I am truly looking forward to getting a cute bikini and hitting the beach this summer. It’s fun to talk to my friends and send them countless screenshots of the bathing suits I’m thinking of getting. Life’s too short to sit on a beach covering up and sweltering on the off chance that someone thinks your body isn’t nice enough, trust me. Love your body, it’s the only one you’ve got, and it’s perfect just the way it is. If you’re not sure about getting a bikini because of what people might think, get the bikini.

The lunchbox lowdown

Lifestyle Editors share their money-savvy lunch ideas for the exam season

HERE is absolutely nothing more temptso easy to make - simply add chopped veg ing than a Guild Shop meal deal on a of your choice (my personal favourite comday spent in A&V cramming an bination is carrot and sweet potato) to Image: @Kristina Paukshtite essay in the hours before it’s boiling water, a stock cube and due. However, £3 here and any herbs, spices you want there adds up – fast. until they’re soft, and then That is why, especially blend until creamy. With during exams when such a low maintenance we’re spending every recipe, it can be done waking moment in each night without the library, we need much trouble, but ala solution that isn’t ternatively, batch cook going to break the a week’s worth of porbank. tions and store it. Heat it I have some wisdom for in A&V and, just like that, you all: soup. you have yourself a cheap and It might be one of the most easy lunch. basic culinary creations ever made, Rhiannon Moore, but it is also one of the most appetising. It's Lifestyle Editor

Y third term my bank account is in no faithful and you can’t go wrong with it. Just position to support my usual ‘treat yo boil some pasta and chop the veg of your self’ lifestyle. Sadly, this coincides choice (my personal favourites are with exam season, the period cucumber, tomatoes, red onin which I feel most inclined ions, sweetcorn and pepto treat myself. pers), whip it all together, If this sounds anything and if you’re partial to like your situation I a bit of mayonnaise sympathise, but we’re add some of that too, in luck because there then stick in the fridge are plenty of yummy, overnight and pop it in healthy lunches that your bag the following you can make to help morning. It transports save those all-important well, it’s not time-conpennies. suming to make and you’re Image: @samuelfernandezrivera I present to you, the pasta likely to already have all the salad. ingredients needed. Yeah, I know, I’m not exactly changing the Bethan Gilson, game with this one, but the pasta salad is Lifestyle Editor

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lifestyle

21 MAY 2018 |

EDITORS: Rhiannon Moore & Bethan Gilson

You are not alone

Barbara Balogun discusses the Do Not Think I Am Alone project

HIS is it. We’re in the middle of revision month. Stress is at its peak. “We need to graduate.” “We need to pass with at least a 2:1”. These are just some of the thoughts running through our heads throughout the months of May and June. For some of us, this feeling of stress and upset might be present for a month or two, but for others, the feelings can last far beyond exam season.

THE FEELINGS CAN LAST BEYOND EXAM SEASON Whilst I was scrolling through my Instagram (as a means of procrastination) I discovered DO NOT THINK I AM ALONE. Though I've personally never suffered with a mental illness, mental health problems have impacted on the lives of many of my friends and I've always tried to support them as well as I could. DO NOT THINK I AM ALONE is a project raising awareness of mental illnesses amongst adolescents and young adults, acknowledging their existence and working to remove the stigma surrounding mental health. The goal is to spread awareness and make mental illnesses easier to discuss. The project really interested me, so I decided to get in contact with Jenske, the

founder of the project. She was great, and I am herself for her incapability to do things any extremely glad to be able to share her story. ‘normal’ person could. Jenske had been struggling with Eventually, through conversations with depression and mental illnesses for years. friends and a lot of time spent reflecting, However, whilst she was at her lowest, she came to realise that the person she one sentence came floating into thought she was becoming her mind and never left: 'Do was not a reflection of not think I am alone'. As her. Instead, it was she recovered, she depression - a disease started noticing which had taken that, as a result over her body of depression, and mind. After many people realising this, around her she stopped were, in the b l a m i n g same way she herself for how had, falling she felt and into stress and behaved during mental illnesses. that time. More and more For this of her young reason, she now friends were not only strives to make feeling at their lowest, depression and other but very few were finding it mental illnesses easier to Image: Barbara Balogun comfortable to share information talk about. She hopes to get some about their mental health, which made it people who struggle with mental illness out even harder. of their own vicious overthinking cycle. Jenske began to feel embarrassed The project DO NOT THINK I AM ALONE admitting her mental illness, especially during is for people who are dealing or have dealt the first few months. She even started blaming with mental illness, and for people who want

to help spread awareness. Jenske produces t-shirts and sells them on her website. For every t-shirt sold, five euros are donated to the Mental Health Foundation NL.

SHE STOPPED BLAMING HERSELF FOR HOW SHE FELT AND BEHAVED If you want to follow Jenske and her project follow her on Instagram, Facebook and her website. I wish this project all the best and I hope to see those t-shirts more often. If you have a friend who you think is suffering with a mental illness, don't hesitate to reach out and remind them that they're not alone. To visit the website and buy a T-shirt: http:// donotthinkiamalone.bigcartel.com/links Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donotthinkiamalone Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ donotthinkiamalone/

kra

om @r

Looking forward Three Lifestyle writers reveal their favourite post-exam celebration Summer on the Quayside.

A food and drinks night with friends.

Spending time with housemates.

So, I’m guessing you have also spent most of the last few weeks staring at books and computer screens. But – with the end in sight - I am very much looking forward to doing anything but staring at a screen. In fact, I aim to spend the next few weeks avoiding screens completely and frequenting the Exeter Quayside. If you have yet to visit the Quay (I’m looking at you, freshers) then you are missing out one of Exeter’s summertime gems. From pedalo rides to bike hire, street food markets to cute coffee shops, the Quay is the ideal post-exam destination. If you are feeling especially adventurous, you can head to Double Locks (the location of the dance festival Hijacked). Or if you are really wanting to get off the beaten path, then Turf Locks is worth the trek. But if we are lucky and this beautiful weather continues, then you are very likely to find me in the heavenly position of sunbathing on the grass verges, a cold beer in my hand and deadline stress a distant hazy memory. Phoebe Davis

I’m a big believer in making time to look after yourself, even in the most stressful of situations. However there really is no better feeling than being able to truly enjoy yourself with absolutely no responsibilities or deadlines looming over your shoulders. My favourite way to do this is to get everyone together for an evening of drinks and nibbles - a simple, no-fuss gathering to make it as easy as possible for our stressed and exhausted hearts. Time spent in the kitchen is a welcome break for me from anything, so I’m more than happy to be the host and spend the daytime making baked goods and snacks to soak up the drinks we’ll have to unwind. It can be a harmonious group effort too. Everyone can bring something to drink or a cheese for the board, even contributions to dip in a chocolate fondue! It’s really about having the opportunity to catch up on time otherwise lost revising – comfort food and drinks just helps in nursing the soul! I’m hoping the weather gets bright again so we can bring it out to the garden, because a sunset and content friends sounds pretty close to perfect to me. Charley Cross

As a final year English student with no exams, I almost feel a bit out of place here. In fact, my dissertation deadline was 10 May, so I've been free for a while now. However, as my fellow third years will reiterate, there is much more to celebrate than the end of exams. For most of us, this year has been a bit of a trek, and that’s why my hope for the postexam period is to spend some quality time with my housemates. You may think you see a lot of each other when you live together, but the reality is that the amount of time we have all spent on campus or working in our rooms has cut short anytime for socialising. This often means that we get to spend little quality time together, except the quick catch-ups we've had as we cook our meals. When exams are over, I’m looking forward to spending guilt-free time together. Whether that be in the garden, at the quay, visiting the new IKEA (all the food please), or simply chatting in the kitchen - it’ll be nice to have the stress we’ve all become accustomed to taking a back seat for once. Lauren Geall

Image: Vinicius Amano

Image: Giovany Pineda Gallego

Image: Brooke Cagle

arts + lit Time’s Up

Emily Garbutt discusses accusations at the Sydney Writer’s Festival and misogyny in the arts

IME is up everywhere - or so it would appear. Harvey Weinstein and others of his ilk have dominated headlines this year, as have campaigns such as the MeToo hashtag on Twitter and actors wearing black to the Oscars in protest - albeit with differing levels of effectiveness. The MeToo movement has raised awareness and support, but men wearing black suits to award ceremonies is about as radical as Exeter students wearing active wear to campus.

MISOGYNISTIC ABUSE OF POWER ISN’T JUST LIMITED TO HOLLYWOOD The movie business isn’t the only industry coming under the spotlight. Whilst this year’s Nobel prize for literature was cancelled amid a sexual assault scandal at a panel at the Sydney Writers’ Festival earlier this month, the awardwinning author Junot Diaz was questioned by a woman accusing him of forcibly kissing her. In an article detailing the events at the Sydney Writers’

Festival in The Guardian, Steph Harmon said, “For their actions are an “open secret.” However, in anyone who thought the #MeToo movement such situations you often have to know the right had lost momentum, the last few days proved people to find out these things, creating an onus otherwise.” If these events signal anything, it’s on women to find out for themselves, thereby that authors and artists need to be included exacerbating victim blaming culture. in the promotion of the #MeToo movement. Irin Carmon, one of the journalists behind Misogynistic abuse of power isn’t just the investigation into claims of sexual limited to Hollywood. harassment against American Following the allegations TV host, Charlie Rose, said, “I against Diaz, a panel discussed wish people knew that what ‘trial by Twitter,’ when women reporters publish is just the make allegations against tip of the iceberg of what men on social media, thereby we know, because it has to sidestepping journalism and meet such a high standard.” the justice system, which both When one of Harvey so often take a victim blaming Weinstein’s accusers had a Image: Pixabay stance. This is an especially recording of her harassment difficult task for women who don’t and “still wasn’t believed”, she fit the mould of the majority of high told The Guardian that “old media” profile victims whose stories have been in the organisations have started “to pull away from media lately, namely white, straight, wealthy, some of these stories… Not only is it costly, and famous women. There is also the issue with so- not only is it difficult because of defamation, but called “whisper networks”. Often serial harassers “it’s getting a little bit too close to executives.’” and abusers are known to many in the industry; Allegations of sexual harassment are rife in

journalism, such as those against the digital executive of VICE earlier this year. Unfortunately, this is also the case in academia, confirmed by the TimesUpAcademia hashtag.

SEXUAL HARRASSMENT IS RIFE IN JOURNALISM So what has yet to be uncovered? Diaz may be the first of many authors to be exposed, but I’m sure there’ll be many more. Harassment and abuse is a subversively acknowledged facet of creative culture; these instances aren’t exceptions. In the penultimate moment of the aforementioned Sydney Writers’ Festival panel, Australian writer and feminist Eva Cos said, “It’s not ‘How do we stop that man from doing that to us?’, but ‘How do we stop men feeling like they’re entitled to?’” There isn’t a straightforward answer to that question, but making sure that no stone is left unturned in any industry, including the arts, seems like a good place to start.

Bestseller to blockbuster? Arts+Lit writers review book adaptations that have made the grade or fallen short of the original

DAPTING an author as well-known as Agatha Christie will always be difficult. However the BBC did an incredible job with presenting the unexpected in Ordeal by Innocence, shown in a recent threepart series. Sarah Phelps’ adaptation of the book even changed the murderer so that not even people who had previously read the book knew how it ended. The book is based around the family of the Argylls, discovering who was really behind the brutal murder of Rachel Argyll, as well as the death of her adopted son Jack and son-inlaw Philip. The dramatic change of who is behind these murders arguably alters the plotline, questioning how close this adaptation is to the original book. However, it is this decision that results in it being a series of unexpected twists and turns, forcing you to give it your complete attention due to being unable to become complacent over how it’ll end. Natalie Keffler, Online Editor

Image: Macedo_Media

SINGLE Man (2009) adapts Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel and depicts a day in the life of George, a college professor in LA, as he endures the aftermath of his longterm lover, Jim, dying. Isherwood’s writing is honest, witty and heartbreaking, and I was skeptical of Ford’s adaptation before watching it. The marketing campaign appeared to de-emphasise the homosexuality of Colin Firth’s George, in favour of his ambiguous friendship with Julianne Moore’s Charley. Thankfully, however, the film deals unashamedly with George’s gayness. Fashion designer Ford imbues the film with gorgeous, hazy visuals, and Firth puts in the performance of a lifetime to ensure the subtle power of George’s arc isn’t trivialised by Hollywood dramatics. Nicholas Hoult also shines as Kenny, one of George’s students with whom he forms an unusual bond. A Single Man is a dazzling and affecting adaptation of one of the greatest stories about grief ever written. Alex Wingrave, Music Editor

GOOD adaptation should translate the essence and spirit of the source material, while finding a way to push the narrative even further. With his 2013 adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic, The Great Gatsby, Baz Luhrmann completely smothers the emotional drive and complex socioeconomic themes that make the novel so captivating. As the narrative rushes along at a nauseatingly fast pace, it’s easy to forget about all the elegance and intimacy that Fitzgerald wrote with. Sure, it’s not a complete abomination: Maguire (particularly) and DiCaprio (mostly) command the leads well. But, honestly, that’s about it. The soundtrack – that is admittedly widely lauded – only adds to the unease. The whole affair is far too loud and far too obtrusive. The novel is overwhelmingly rich with symbolism and pathos – it’s a story that demanded a set of careful, empathetic hands. Tragically, Luhrmann lets all the nuance slip through his fingers. Ben Faulkner, Screen Editor

HEN I discovered that the critically acclaimed novel Room, by Emma Donoghue, was being transposed for the screen, I was both worried and excited. Four words, it did not disappoint. The story revolves around the abducted Ma and her son, Jack and documents their escape and transition back into the outside world. As the book itself is so focused on the development of these two characters, the choice in actors was critical. Jacob Tremblay and Brie Larson enabled these characters to fully come to life on the big screen. Larson captured the manner in which Ma must disguise their horrific situation from the eyes of Jack and still manage to provide an engaging “safe” space for a five year old in confinement. Tremblay’s excellent performance complemented the perspective of the novel which did not change. What makes the story so unique is the fact this situation is being interpreted by a child who knows no better, and Tremblay enacted this powerful narrative excellently. Tash Ebbutt

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arts + lit

EDITORS: Lauren Newman and Tabi Scott

Met Gala: a-POPE-priation?

21 MAY 2018 |

Emma Bessent discusses this year’s controversial Met Gala theme

VERY year on the first Monday of May, the Met Gala gathers together the crème de la crème of modern society, under the guise of fundraising for a premier example of curatorial excellence. The Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art welcomes the glittering upper echelons of the celebrity world to witness the opening of its spring exhibit, and parade the red carpet in costumes of their own. The costumes were designed to correspond with the theme of that year’s exhibit, and stun the rest of the world into continued adoration for the beautiful, wealthy few who can afford the five-figure entry tickets. This year, the glittering event saw celebrities flock to the Met to display their “Heavenly Bodies”, each one achieved through endless physical conditioning and showcased by celestial textile offerings. This year, the event and its parent exhibit was invested in the dialogue between “Fashion and the Catholic Imagination”, and the resultant designs trotted out of the world’s fashion houses sent ripples through the wider community. Fashion is an industry which continuously demonstrates an inability to respect diversity and promote equality in both its high street chains and invite-only boutiques. H&M has suffered boycotts following their adverts showing a black boy dressed in a hoodie which named him “King of the Jungle”. This decade’s festival-goers have faced backlash over the commodification of ancient religious symbols (e.g. bindis and headdresses) as must-have accessories. Social outcry has demanded redress for discriminations guided by severe misjudgements regarding race, size, age, gender, class, and, perhaps most importantly, culture.

WHITE CULTURE STILL DOMINATES OUR WORLD The question of where we, as a society, draw the line in our manipulation of textiles to construct, borrow and replicate identity is essential and difficult in equal measure. Can one truly appropriate from a culture which gave rise to many of the most offensive atrocities which the medieval and early modern worlds witnessed? The history of Catholicism is spattered with as much blood as it is with materialistic decadence; the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and the tempestuous, bloody events of the Reformation, all spurted at least in part from the sanctions of the Latin Church. Such adamant violence and suppression is now more or less contained by the past and, in an increasingly secular world, people of faith are more and more commonly being undermined and ridiculed for believing in something beyond our mortal comprehension. However, the Catholic faith can hardly be considered a marginalised group whose identity is at risk

of being permanently reduced to a fashion trend with the click of a ruby-soled pair of Louboutins. It is the cultural and religious populations who lack a voice in world conversations who suffer when their symbols are capitalised upon; The Vatican postulates that 1.2 billion of the world’s population profess Catholic faith, retaining a prominent place within international dialogue for the Church through their sheer volume. White culture still dominates our world, and a few photographs of Rihanna bedecked in crystal-studded papal gear hardly seems likely to change that. Host to a somewhat staggering 35,000 items of clothing and accessories, the Costume Institute itself boasts the ability to tell the stories of five continents and seven centuries’ worth of human history through the artistic medium which is quite literally the closest to our hearts: fashion. Whilst the Institute’s collection is infinitely detailed and incredibly diverse, its guiding policies and ethics are considerably less so. The items which decorate its catalogue are not on permanent public view; a conservation choice which would be much more understandable if this singular collection were not the abiding host of a no-expense-spared fundraiser, which topped the Institute’s coffers up by 12 million dollars with the proceeds of its 2017 event alone. Such an astronomical sum far exceeds the financial aspirations of most curators, and certainly ought to be sufficient to cater for the restoration and safe display of the artefacts already in the Institute’s possession.

The Met Gala annually reinforces that the world of art and culture does not truly belong to the masses, who are kept satiated with exhibits and tours offering only the merest snippet of the veritable treasure trove which this branch of the Met possesses. Primary access to these items comes with a thirty thousand dollar price tag, preserving them as the right of the privilege few whose footsteps the rest of us ought to consider ourselves lucky to follow in.

THE WORLD OF ART AND CULTURE DOES NOT TRULY BELONG TO THE MASSES In today’s world models, designers, actors, singers, reality stars, and Instagram influencers have a direct and palpable impact on the rest of us mere mortals. Once scorned as the nouveau riche, this class of self-made people are now worshipped as semi-deities in an idolatrous manner hardly dissimilar to the canonising of saints within the younger Catholic church. Dressing celebrities in apparel inspired by the Catholic imagination is certainly an appropriation of the faith’s historically demonstrable social power, but it is not the impact of this borrowing upon Catholic identity which is truly troubling. Much more concerning is the cyclical predictability with which this event transferred an imbalance of power from one elite group to another. Narratives of power have and - it seems - will always dominate the production and consumption of all art forms. Fashion is no exception.

Image:Maxpixel

Image: StockSnap, Pixabay

WRITERS’ CORNER Spotlights Olivia Powell The lights burn bright, hot. I am blinded. I do not mind. What matters is the audience. They must see. I step into the Spotlight. I want to escape to the wings. To stay in the dark. But I can’t. I need to make them see. I will expose the darkness by standing in the light. My inspiration for this piece was the #MeToo movement. The movement revealed how people can use fame to abuse and exploit others, often without consequence, but also how others can use their fame in order to fight back against those who are exploitative. I used the idea of being on a stage as a metaphor for those who first spoke out against sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood, as I feel like the anxiety that they must have felt before speaking out could be something akin to stage fright. They did not know how the public (their audience) would react, and this must have truly scared them.

Image: Dominick Dusseault

BOOK OF THE WEEK Talking as Fast as I Can Lauren Graham Lauren Graham’s Talking as Fast as I Can is like a warm hug after time away. It’s having a chat with a friend. If you love Gilmore Girls and your heart is a little empty after the end of Year in a Life, this is what you need. Lauren muses on her love of Lorelai whist taking us through her origins as a person and actress. Plus, this book has great pictures of a young incarnation or Lauren – a great breather for a brain clogged full of revision. Talking as Fast as I Can is a little beam of light and a nostalgic dwelling on everyone’s favourite show and character. Chloe Kennedy, Screen Editor

music

My Beautiful Dark TMZ Fantasy K

Isabelle Gray, Comment Editor, ponders whether we can separate Kanye's art from the artist

ANYE West has been my hero for a long time. I remember my brothers would play The College Dropout on repeat and how 'Jesus Walks' became my everything. His albums have never disappointed me. Even Yeezus to me is a masterpiece in its own. For years, despite his controversy, I have always loved him and been excited about what he would do next. For years, we have had a healthy, passionate relationship. And now, he has broken my heart. What I must make clear immediately is that while I am in pain, I can't imagine what it must be like for others who are directly affected by his recent words and actions. For a long time, he has been a role model to the black community; he was the man who said George Bush doesn't care about black people; the one that reminded us that we need to do something about Chicago; the musical genius, the innovator.

WHAT KANYE BELIEVES TO BE FREE-THINKING IS CARELESS AND HARMFUL What Kanye believes to be 'free-thinking' is careless and harmful. People have been genuinely hurt by what he has said. Until he takes important

steps in rectifying his actions, I cannot support him. I've unfollowed him on Twitter, but he feels like an ex I can't get over. I can't help but look to see what nonsense he has said next, which only inevitably makes me feel worse. To me, Kanye's idea of free-thinking is spilling out his thoughts online knowing there won't be any significant repercussions. Sure he lost a lot of followers and some genuine fans, but at the end of the day he will still be sat in his mansion, and most of us will even listen to his album. Free-thinking to Kanye is ignoring what is happening to the black community in America. His free-thinking is saying we need to stop going on about racism, while offering no genuine solutions to the apparent systemic problem. When things like this happen, we always ask ourselves "can we separate the artist and the music?". When I listen to Kanye, can I forget that he said slavery is a choice? I don't think so. When Chris Brown was found to be an abuser, Images: Jason Persse/Fibonacci I stopped listen-

ing to him. I used to believe this was my consensus when it came to problematic artists, but then I remember that Chris Brown is nowhere close to Kanye West when it comes to musical ability. Not even close. Kanye taught us that its okay to drop out of college, that you can show the world your worth even when people don't be-

lieve in you. He gave us the break-up album, the f**k the establishment album, and now what do we have? I'm scared to find out the answer. A lot of people have been referencing this scandal as Kanye having a mental breakdown. I can understand where people are coming from. His behaviour is indeed erratic. However, I think these conclusions are inaccurate and only create further problems. Not only does it give the those struggling with mental health a bad reputation, but it also seems to be put forward as simply a way to excuse his behaviour. Mental health and sheer ignorance are simply two different things, two different conversations. As privileged as it is for me to say this, I will always have some love for Kanye. This love may be misguided, or futile, but for anyone that knows me, he was my life for a while. But that time is over. I doubt I'll be funding his career any time soon, but I'll be watching for the Kanye I know and love to return.

Live from the studio

Rupert Morgan-Wicks dissects the political impact of Childish Gambino the song hauls into trap-heavy rap. However, it’s repetitive and trance-like, the bass getting into you like a monotonous drone. In the infamous music video, the two sections change with gunfire, more explicitly reflecting the point: America is staccato, plagued by jarringly repetitive gun violence amidst jovial entertainment distractions. Gambino isn’t the first rapper to cover Image: Kim Metso

socio-political issues, but whether these songs make a difference is debatable. Music and politics have been a divisive pairing for decades, covering a myriad of genres, but the most powerful works have often been in wartime, rallying people to protest. The Guess Who’s 'American Woman' is classic anti-war rock, framed around American women, but with lines rejecting war machines. Meanwhile, Country Joe McDonald led thousands at Woodstock to sing “One, two, three, what are we fighting for?” These tracks inarguably reached millions of people, and in Vietnam’s case did make a difference – increased protest helped lead to Nixon pulling out. Elsewhere, however, it’s clear that political music makes an impact on the public and the media, but creates little real change. The rebellious punk movement of the 1970s and 80s saw countless embittered rally-cries against government and society. The Clash’s 'Going Underground' critiqued the Conservative government’s excessive nuclear spending, while The Jam’s cover of Junior Murvin's 'Police and Thieves' critiImage: Mark Kent

F there are two things you currently cannot miss in the media, they're politics and Childish Gambino - the musical alter-ego of Donald Glover; now the two are finally linked. From the boisterous sex-and-summer-camp rap of 2011’s Camp to the flawless funk masterpiece of 2016’s Awaken, My Love! , Gambino’s styles and subjects have shifted, maturing from brash youth to parental anxieties. Rarely though, did Gambino ever venture into politics. However, the drastically divided political landscape in which we live today has likely prompted him to tackle the subject, and his latest track 'This Is America' doesn’t so much ease into the topic as burst in fully-formed, loud, and angry. Comprising two distinct parts, it structurally and stylistically reflects current America. A funky gospel choir opens “We just wanna party/Party just for you”, indicating black culture and music being taken for white audiences, for money over art. Suddenly, they’re interrupted as Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls

cises racism and police brutality. If these topics sound familiar, though, that’s because they are. These problems still remain in society, suggesting that the music itself had little effect.

THIS IS AMERICA BURSTS IN FULLY-FORMED, LOUD, AND ANGRY

Hip-hop has become punk’s spiritual successor - a voice for social struggles. The best artists embrace this, like A Tribe Called Quest, whose recent single 'We The People' used a pounding bass beat to wax lyrical about racism, Islamophobia, and homophobia. Kendrick Lamar’s seminal album Good Kid, m.A.A.d City chronicles the struggles of growing up black in America, while subsequent tracks like 'King Kunta' examined the price of African-American fame and the lingering history of slavery. Only time will tell if these modern political chants will impact society, but it’s undeniably a positive thing that we can enjoy music that is both catchy and teaches us to be better. While I’d be remiss not to mention Kanye’s recent foray into politics, I don’t think the lyrics“Whoop-scoop, poop poop” will be making any political waves anytime soon.

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music

EDITORS: Aaron Loose and Alex Wingrave

21 MAY 2018

Soundtrack to salvation

Megan Frost compiles the ultimate revision mixtape

UR unconscious attention span is operated by emotions. This explains our high sensitivity to particularly irritating noises, like chalk scraping a blackboard. It also explains why libraries enforce silence. However, noise can often be used as a positive means of amplifying our concentration when focused on a task. Studies by experts, such as Maria Witek, have found that music enhances abstract processing when played at the perfect pitch, tempo, and noise level. This involves finding the mean between two intensities; this excludes both experimental, fragmented intervals and monotony. Despite people typically abiding by the 'Mozart Effect', using classical music or even white noise to stimulate concentration levels, finding the middle ground is very difficult, pendent on personal preference. I’ve included a mismatched mix of tunes that help me to concentrate. 'Youth', Daughter: Contains ethereal guitar riffs with vocals that saunter alongside.

'Mystery of Love', Sufjan Stevens: Its lo-fi vibes being perfect for a low-key study sesh, you can skim over the lyrics, but still appreciate its beauty. 'Hey Now', London Grammar: Hits the spot with an infusion of electric guitar, then fades into a desire to hit replay mid-essay. This is a tunnel-vision tune suited to intense concentration with the optimum BPM for studying- 120.

song is perfect for breaks. Also, one of the best ways to relieve stress is listening to mood-inducing music like this in order to create a less narrow focus field in terms of carrying out a task. 'Loving is Easy', Rex Orange Country: A slurring of simple R&B with a poppy man-meetspiano arrangement. Wholesome and relaxing. 'Wasting Time', Day Wave: A shoegaze slowburn, telling a tale of wasted time. Nevertheless, the low volume of vocals blends into the tune. Works especially well if you are distracted by singers who pronounce their words properly.

Image: Paul Hudson

'Silk', Wolf Alice: Beginning with a sound resembling a take-off to space, it launches into a staccato guitar line. Overall, its inverted-ballad-like dissonance sounds apparitional; fitting for an half-awake library trip where you may

resemble that “some half-human creature thing” Ellie Roswell muses over in the verses. 'I Can Talk', Two Door Cinema Club: Unlike the other tunes, this euphoric, feel-good indie

The Instrumentals: Say cello Emily Reader explains why she is all about that acoustic bass

Image: Sun & Moon Theatre

NYONE who knows me knows I play the cello because I actually don’t think I have the ability to shut up about it. I probably put more time and effort into music than into anything else in my life, despite avoiding GCSE Music like the plague. It’s not the satisfaction of knowing I can reliably create decent sounds; it’s the people I get to play with. I know I’m sounding like an advert for NCS, but it was such a comfort turning up to rehearsal in Freshers’ Week in my first year and feeling immediately at home. The music department is particularly special at Exeter because it isn’t actually a department; it’s entirely made up of people playing in their spare time. So there’s no hierarchy or snobbery about playing; it’s just for fun. I didn’t always enjoy playing. I actually disliked the first five years of it, probably because I sounded like an angry buffalo. The one thing that kept me going was

my mum insisting that I would reach a point where it felt easy and fun. I’m not sure it’s ever been exactly easy, but I have reached a point where I don’t have to overthink it. And getting to play pieces that people have actually heard of is so fulfilling. Well, some people have heard of the pieces. The cello is never going to be easy to carry up Cardiac Hill, but I wouldn’t enjoy university even half as much without it. It was the easiest way to integrate myself into student life and is still the most fun way to fill my time.

IT WAS THE EASIEST WAY TO INTEGRATE MYSELF INTO STUDENT LIFE For anyone reading wishing they’d started the piano aged four: why not try something out now? It may seem like a lot of work and expense but Exeter give generous subsidies for instrument lessons and now is probably better than later to give it a go. Still, there is so much music to experience around the city. Of course, there are the professionals who come to the Lemmy, but I think the university groups are really underrated. Want an introduction to jazz? Jazz Orchestra (EUJO) at Monkey Suit is the place to start. It’s time to turn off your Spotify summer hits playlist and shimmy down to your nearest drinking hole.

'Pools', Glass Animals: Despite sounding like a jungle-esque hullabaloo against the workspace, the song still offers an escape from the inevitability of deadlines. 'Dreams', Gabrielle Aplin & Bastille: A haunting, stripped-down cover of the Fleetwood Mac original, it’s definitely recognisable enough to zone out without being a predictable copy of the classic tune.

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE After Bathing at Baxter's November 1967

EFFERSON Airplane’s 1967 Surrealistic Pillow was something of a generational landmark. A hit-machine that mapped out psychedelia, it brought the band prestige and cultural attention. Naturally, they were determined to fritter that mainstream success away. After Bathing at Baxter’s is, perhaps, a continuation of the dazed, folk-rock effect found in songs like 'White Rabbit' and 'Somebody to Love'. But fundamentally, it’s different: a little harder, more baroque, and conceptual. Where any sane band might have played experimentation safe, Baxter’s explodes into a succession of shrieking suites; tracks bleed together as it lurches from one idea to another. The mid-point number, 'Rejoyce' sums it up. There’s a heady sense of paranoia as grim guitars back orchestral instrumentation, Grace Slick's powerful contralto rebounding between exultation and dramatic lament. This all happens only a few tracks before nine minutes of sinister noodling in 'Spare Chaynge' While parts might resemble the folkpsychedelia Airplane was known for, it’s the album’s movement that feels so fresh. If there is an overall tone, it’s hazy disassociation. That’s a fitting epitaph for an album mostly dead-on-arrival. It never quite knows what to make of itself- but is just as fascinated by the confusion as you are. Harry Caton, Online Screen Editor

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21 MAY 2018 |

EDITORS: Aaron Loose and Alex Wingrave

music

Ground control to Major Turner Harry Bunting, Online Editor, checks in to the Arctic Monkeys' hotel on the moon

ARCTIC MONKEYS Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino 11 May 2018

OMEHOW, five years have passed since the Arctic Monkeys released any music, and to say that their return has been highly anticipated is an understatement. 2013’s AM was a megahit full of stadium anthems and irresistible choruses that propelled the band to global fame, but their new offering, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, is as far from that as you can get. Bereft of catchy hooks but rife with meandering streams-of-consciousness tracks and piano-led ballads, it’s the band’s furthest stray from their comfort zone. Most of the songs seem less suited to a stadium and more to a hazy lounge bar somewhere in the depths of space; and that is precisely the setting of Tranquility Base. Named after the site where Apollo 11 touched down on the lunar surface

in 1969, it’s a concept album which orbits around the eponymous location of a luxury resort on the moon, where Jesus visits the day spa and a nearby crater is being gentrified. It’s the most experimental they’ve ever been, but if anyone can be trusted to take a musical detour off-planet to create 11 ethereal tracks under the guise of a space-hotel’s resident crooner, it’s Alex Turner. I specify Turner because this does feel like his album. Of course, it wouldn’t sound anywhere near as good as it does without the rest of the band, but it’s as much a trip into the dreamlike consciousness of the lead singer as it is a trip into outer space. Tranquility Base is bookended by lyrics drenched in personal nostalgia: ‘Star Treatment’ opens with Turner claiming “I just wanted to be one of The Strokes,” and on ‘The Ultracheese’ he sings the album out with “I’ve done some things that I shouldn’t have done/ But I haven’t stopped loving you once.” Turner’s reflection on a decade of stardom means that past and

memory are recurring themes throughout, complemented by musings on the modern fixation with technology, insights into the world of the extra-terrestrial retreat that is the Tranquility Base, and the odd flirtation with politics.

A MESMERISING LISTENING EXPERIENCE THAT GETS RICHER EACH TIME Unsurprisingly, Turner once again displays an aversion to taking himself too seriously. He constantly undercuts any sentimental moments with wry jabs at himself: “So I tried to write a song to make you blush/ But I’ve a feeling that the whole thing/ May well just end up too clever for its own good,” sings Turner on ‘Science Fiction,’ poking fun at how his writing can sometimes cross the border from clever into self-indulgent. In an interview with Pitchfork, he pictures people rolling their eyes

at how meta this song is. As the album is so very different, it’s no surprise that its reception has been mixed. Labelled as both a “masterpiece” and simply “shite” within hours of release, it is undoubtedly the Arctic Monkeys’ most divisive record and the one which is the least accessible to casual listeners. However, this is also their most interesting outing, both musically and thematically, and listening to Tranquility Base all the way through is a mesmerising experience, one that gets richer and more rewarding each time. Although there are forgettable moments and the record’s excessive cohesion makes some tracks a little too homogenous, this new world they’re exploring is ultimately very satisfying. Disappointed fans who were expecting something akin to the Arctic Monkeys’ earlier work should take a step back, listen again, let this cosmic coalescence eclipse their mind, and accept the band’s invitation to “Take it easy for a little while/ Come and stay with us.”

Exeposé Music Editors offer their opinions on the controversial album

‘VE never been as indecisive on an album as I have with Arctic Monkeys’ sixth LP. My opinion has zig-zagged everywhere from seeing it as pretentious, dull background music even lazier than 2013’s AM, to thinking it’s their bravest and most intriguing record yet. One thing is for certain; this is an Alex Turner album, and I’m not sure why he didn’t release it as a solo project. He may have changed since the days of their rough-and-ready debut, but Turner hasn’t lost his ability to poetically express the world he sees around him. A concept album based on a hotel on the moon isn’t a radio-friendly move, but it’s one I really enjoy, and my favourites, ‘Science Fiction’ and the title track, embrace the zaniness of Turner’s ideas as he croons over Nick O’Malley’s smooth basslines, ethereal keys and echoing guitars from Jamie Cook. At its best, the album is funny, self-aware, and pleasantly floaty. At its worst, Tranquility Base drags. There’s barely a hook in sight to anchor the spacey soundscape, and drummer Matt Helders is given so little to do, it hurts. Songs blend together, and Turner starts to sound too clever for his own good. It’s a strange listening experience, requiring focus to appreciate its nuances. This album may well be looked back on in ten years as a necessary and interesting stepping stone to wherever the Arctic Monkeys land next musically. For now, this is an era starting not with a bang, but a whimper. Alex Wingrave, Music Editor

ELEASED without any singles to whet the appetite, Arctic Monkeys fans had to take this album for its entirety, and despite my dislike, I have to admit that I do respect this attitude. Tranquillity Base Hotel & Casino initially seemed to ooze the cool new aesthetic that Turner and his bandmates have cultivated over the last couple of years. But, worse than a greased-back quiff, this album disappointed me. When I think Arctic Monkeys, I think iconic albums with a distinctive sound and lyrics that subconsciously tattooed themselves onto my mind. I do not think throwaway musical accompaniment and half-arsed catchphrases. ‘Star Treatment’ relies on studio effects to create a distant tone, but Turner’s warbling doesn’t quite hold me like it used to. ‘What do you mean you haven’t seen Blade Runner?’ is among the thoughtful lines that had me cringing in my headphones. But it’s not all terrible; some songs are reminiscent of the arguably superior AM. ‘One Point Perspective’ and ‘The Ultracheese’ try and win back the lack of clarity that is so blatantly obvious in this album. The latter seems like a throwback to AM, with a slow paced drawl that seems like the perfect prom song - if I was American and into that sort of thing. In general, there is an almost theatrical element to this album that I haven’t heard before from the band, but it is still unclear to me whether this works or not.

Image: Cromarko1:

Jaysim Hanspal, Online Music Editor

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Paddington: can you bear it? Exeposé Screen debates the merit of the first Paddington

What’s the hype?

HEN I was younger, I loved both animated films and TV series. The X-Men, Green Lantern, Teen Titans, The Incredibles. I was not immune to the craze and the fantasy that animation created for my younger self. And then, I grew up.

EVEN WALL-E WAS MORE BELIEVABLE THAN THIS

I’m not saying that I don’t still enjoy the occasional binge of meme-favourite The Bee Movie, or laugh at adult cartoons like Family Guy, but c’mon, Paddington? Paddington interestingly stars legendary actors such as Julie Walters, and Sally Hawkins, recent Oscar nominee for Best Actress in The Shape of Water. It presents Nicole Kidman as the ultimate villain, proving that botox can give you a face that chooses your roles for you. One might think that this dreamboat of actors equates to a great film, but you will be sorely disappointed. Acclaimed actors pretending to be quirky British stereotypes in a clean and empty London, is both laughable and insulting to someone who has spent many a day trying to find a seat in an overcrowded and gum-infested train carriage. Now I have to move on to what is - for me - the greatest slip-up of this farce of a film: the animated bear. As I have mentioned, I am perfectly accepting of the fan favourites of studios such as Pixar, and even the stopmotion creations of Wes Anderson. However I must now address my distain at the incredible technological advances of what is known as CGI. Does anyone remember the show Bananas in Pyjamas? It was brilliant, grown men dressed up as bananas who were wearing pyjamas. Classic British kids television. And then in May 2011, Southern Star Entertainment comes out with a shitty CGI version of creepy ripe yellow bananas with weird smiles and squinty eyes. I can only imagine the therapy

sessions. The point of the matter is, we are talking about children’s entertainment, aimed at kids who surprisingly enough have the capacity to imagine that Paddington is a real bear — without Dave in special effects spending 18 months working on the twinkle in Paddington’s eye. I am not going to pretend, however, that Paddington is not a critically acclaimed sensation, sparking an apparently “much better” and “actually pretty good” sequel. Rotten Tomatoes (although who actually listens to those guys) gave the film an unbelievable 97% on the Tomatometer, because that seems a legitimate way to critique film. The Sunday Times said: “It is quite unlike any other meditation on paranoia and displacement I have seen.” No, not an interpretation, or even a take, but a “meditation on paranoia and displacement”. The plot of the film is a bear that gets lost. Has no-one seen Wall-E? Even that was more believable that this trollop. After endless scanning of film critics who seemed to be amazed by even the idea of a talking bear, I came to an article by the good folks over at The Independent, who, like me, agreed that the story was “choppy and very episodic”, which is perhaps the more academic and less anger-induced point you may want to focus on. I must remind you that we are talking about a film in which a young Peruvian bear with a British accent is taken in by a family of Londoners, who welcome a stranger into their home and treat him like one of their own. And they say I’m crazy.

Jaysim Hanspal, Online Music Editor

PON having a seemingly innocuous conversation with a friend recently, I was shocked to hear her say the most horrible, and frankly untrue things about Paul King’s masterful Paddington, released in 2014. This upset me mostly because it made its way very quickly into my roster of favourite films, and even now I still think of it as one of the best children’s films to have been released this decade. Naturally, I did the mature thing and cut said ‘friend’ out of my life. When I first watched it, I remember being worried that the filmmakers would have sacrificed the tone and essence of the books in favour of ‘modernising’ them for contemporary audiences, as we have seen recently in the cinematographic travesty that is Peter Rabbit, released earlier this year. What we get with Paddington, though, is a wonderful story with a clear pro-diversity message for our troubled times, told in a way that doesn’t compromise the spirit of Michael Bond’s books. This is, I think, the most important thing when considering a film adaptation of a cultural institution such as the Paddington books; stray too far from the source material and you risk alienating a portion of your viewership. As a self-proclaimed purist when it comes to children’s books, I certainly didn’t feel alienated by Paddington. Its concept is a simple one: a talking bear who has learned everything he knows (or thinks he knows) about London from a midcentury record, left behind in his native jungle in “Darkest Peru” by an explorer, emigrates to the city in search of a better life after the death of his uncle in an earthquake. There he Image: Studio Canal is taken in by the be-

IN DEFENCE OF nevolent Brown family, who help him escape the clutches of an evil taxidermist, played with flair and surprising humour by Nicole Kidman. The various misunderstandings that arise from this cultural mix are funny and well-executed enough to please adults and children alike, and the film is packed full of visual gags that keep viewers on their toes. The welcoming London reception promised to Paddington by his record (that also assures that Londoners have 107 ways of saying “it’s raining”) is shown to be a misconception, as the frosty response he receives at the eponymous station sets the tone for the attitudes of many characters in the film. This is clearly a thinly-veiled critique of the mistrustful nature of many Western (and in this case, British) people’s views of immigrants. This is exemplified in the film by the Brown family’s neighbour, the ironically named Mr Curry, who complains that with the arrival of Paddington will come “jungle music” and “all-night picnics”. Perish the thought. The inclusion of this message both enhances the original story by highlighting its focus on inclusion, and adds an extra dimension to an already effective story. On top of all this, we are treated to some truly wonderful performances by a stellar cast. I’ve already mentioned Nicole Kidman, who shines in her role as a villain, while Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins are sweet and, above all, very believable as the Browns, who grow to love Paddington as much as the audience do. Julie Walters as Mrs Bird is excellent casting as she has some scene-stealing moments, not least at the film’s climax. I could go on and on singing this film’s praises, but if you are that way inclined, feel free to peruse my former friend’s thoughts across the page. All I will say is that we need more positive stories of inclusion such as Paddington to set an example for our young minds to follow as we move into a very uncertain political future. George Pope

Editors’ Picks Images: 20th Century Fox; Dandelion Films; Deedle-Dee Productions

Isle of Dogs (2018)

The Rachel Divide (2018)

Parks and Recreation (2009-2015)

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EDITORS: Ben Faulkner and Chloe Kennedy

21 MAY 2018

Director Spotlight Jacob Heayes takes us through the beautiful peculiarity of Yorgos Lanthimos

Image: Getty Images

The Lobster was nominated for the Best Original Screenplay by the Academy His second feature Dogtooth, won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes

WILL never forget the first time I watched Dogtooth. This feature – earning Lanthimos deserved recognition at both Cannes and the Academy Awards – is hardly casual watching, arguably elevating itself into the realm of taboo. Yet, the onslaught of provocative imagery, bone-dry dialogue and a viciously satirical attitude seared it upon my conscience instantaneously. There was no going back - I had fallen into the abyss of Yorgos Lanthimos’ bizarre mind. Dogtooth tackles a captivating domestic nightmare, revolving around a suburban family entirely isolated from the outside world; whilst living under the autocratic rule of their father. Lanthimos deftly explores identity (or the lack of one), ideology and patriarchal au-

thority throughout a blisteringly unsettling hour and a half. However, as one quickly learns upon absorbing a Lanthimos film, it’s acceptable – even necessary – to laugh. Dogtooth is undeniably peppered with brilliantly absurd scenes. Such highlights include: a cat being mistaken for a deadly monster, the mother allegedly giving ‘birth’ to a dog and an infamous dance scene. When delving into his filmography, Lanthimos’ sheer pleasure in offsetting horrific tragedy with unorthodox black comedy firmly engrains itself as a unique trait. Lanthimos is often associated with his dialogue – the syntax of his films is peculiar, resembling human conversation yet lacking any sort of empathy or emotion. Miraculously, the director has managed to execute his unorthodox style in both Greek and English. Take his most recent work The Killing of a Sacred Deer as an example – an early dialogue exchange involves an unusually detailed breakdown of metal and leather watch straps. The hospital setting intertwines with the clinical conversational styling brilliantly, only adding to the uncanny effect. These quirks rarely dampen the sense of engagement or immersion within

the diegesis either. If anything, the stripped-back approach heightens the power of Lanthimos’ emotional cruxes, whilst enhancing those absurdist black comedy setpieces. These films undeniably benefit from Lanthimos’ frequent collaborations with fellow Greek cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis. The cold colour palette and minimalist framing work in symbiosis with Lanthimos’ intent to create distant, unsettling worlds. His filmmaking prowess has only grown over time – The Lobster experimented with dystopian science-fiction settings whilst The Killing of a Sacred Deer introduced lengthy Kubrick-esque tracking shots. Lanthimos isn’t afraid to collaborate across all fields, most recently with actor Colin Farrell. Whilst his collaborations with Martin McDonagh revealed a wonderful comedic edge, Farrell’s work on both The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer have cemented his multifaceted talents. The aforementioned transition from Greek to English is no small feat, yet as with Bakatakis, one can truly sense that FarImage: A24

Grossed out

rell and Lanthimos’ minds truly think alike. The lack of any weak cast members in any Lanthimos work speaks to the power of his inhuman worlds. In a promotional Q&A, Nicole Kidman admitted that her performance for The Killing of a Sacred Deer was entirely guided by the distinctive script, without any further advice from Lanthimos. Ultimately, it is those inhuman worlds that entrench Yorgos Lanthimos as a thrillingly original voice in the contemporary film scene, speaking to our very human concerns. Dogtooth and The Killing of a Sacred Deer both visualise the terrifying destruction of fragile domesticity – the former from an internal threat, the latter external. Alps expands on Dogtooth’s scope yet remains focused on human intimacies, notably death and grief. The Lobster touches on the most powerful human intimacy of them all – love. There are critics who argue Lanthimos’ films simply lack empathetic qualities – the cold dialogue, provocative comedy and absurd narratives are too far removed from reality. However, I would nonetheless implore you to try at least one of these brilliantly peculiar films. It is those inhuman distortions that make Lanthimos’ works strangely human indeed. One thing I can guarantee – just like my first viewing of Dogtooth, you will never forget watching these films. Welcome to the mind of Yorgos Lanthimos.

Johnny Chern voices his concern over film being created purely for profit

ANS of the Marvel Cinematic Universe should have been left stumped by the end of Infinity War. Yet – without giving too much away – the conclusions the film ends on are weightless, taking away the dramatic punch of the movie. Why? Because there’s a sequel around the corner and furthermore, certain creative actions of Infinity War (if followed through) would slash Disney and Marvel Studios’ future profits. This is a red line no Hollywood studio would cross. The film has been criticised for its paradoxically sincere-yet-obviously-insincere ending, but one cannot blame the writers nor directors. The film, rather, is victim to the environment, where profits are more valuable than the endeavour which Infinity War teased us with. As a consequence of knowing what will come, the sense of peril in the film is not only seriously reduced, but the film feels almost insulting to our investment in it. For the record, I think Infinity War did nothing that wrong. It was the best film it could have been given the obvious artistic constraints of being made in the Hollywood system.

With all the multiplex cinemas and the big Hollywood studios, the accountant steroid sequels and the red carpet film festivals, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking film through the language of money. But this illusion is disrespectful to the medium of cinema. Cinema is not an industry; it is an art form. Of course, there is an industry built around cinema; just as there is around books, music, photography, and other forms of art. But in a capitalist culture, the medium – art – is transformed into an industry, and devalued by becoming a means to profit. Infinity War’s insincere ending is there because Hollywood did not treat the film with respect – the effect of this is on the films shown in our cinemas/streaming services. Paramount aren’t going to make an artsy film when they could throw another abhorrent Transformers film at us which will make £1 billion (I too am shooketh) at the box office. The box office adds another dimension to cinema: it makes absolutely vivid the distinction between cinema as art and entertainment. Critics may despair,

but Avatar – an exercise in maximised averageness–is the highest grossing film of all time. In market culture, cinema is arguably the result of what fans want, and I’m being a grotesque snob in denying the legitimacy of this. The recent musical The Greatest Showman split this debate wide open, with audiences and critics being as divided as the current Labour Party. But such an answer isn’t good enough for Infinity War, a film trapped by studio expectations before it was even conceived. The film industry in Hollywood began so filmmakers could use cameras which had been patented on the East Coast

Image: Marvel

of America. Its birth celebrated a freedom of artistic expression without the constraints of budget. Hollywood was a place of escape from the callous realities of industrial America. It was a fantasy world; but very shortly, reality caught up. One may look to the Golden Age of Hollywood with the view of those fantastic and colourful Busby Berkeley numbers. But beneath the thin veneer, studios became industrious factories for content where workers were religiously held to their demanding contracts; and putting other companies down became a top priority. Clearly, this approach to cinema does not only stretch as far as box offices; it is a culture that reinterprets film as not being something with inherent value. Films speak and embody our cultural truth: capitalism. Despite the domination of money, people still want to watch films. An optimist may say people are voting with their wallets: what does it matter if Marvel will never harm its characters when people want to see more of them?

study break

| 21 MAY 2018

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STUDY BREAK CROSSWORD

Across

SUDOKU

Down

1 Beneath (5) 1 Join into one (5) 4 Earth (6) 2 Aridity (7) 7 Large town (4) 3 Hill-range (5) 8 Region (the green 16 of the 1 Across4) (8) 4 Rig cast (anagram) - of the stomach (7) 9 Sunglasses, goggles, etc. (7) 5 Man-eating monsters (5) 10 Pace (4) 6 Of a nucleus (rare) - LA uncle? (anagram) 11 About 3.26 light years - capers (anagram) (7) (6) 12 Idiotic (7) 14 Ring (the yellow 16 of the 1 Across4) (6) 13 Middle (the red 16 of the 1 Across4) (7) 16 Long narrow mark (4) 15 Substance used as a chemical test (7) 18 Team game (7) 17 Go in (5) 21 British queen (the blue 16 of the 1 Across 19 Detect (5) 4) (8) 20 South American transport animal (5) 22 Dutch cheese (4) 23 Car fuel (6) 24 More (5)

ANSWERS

Trivia corner 1. what does club stand for in club sandwich? 2. what is the logo of the camino de santiago? 3. which is the only american state to begin with the letter â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;pâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;? 4. WHICH actress has won the most oscars? 5. In which year did eurovision start? 6. true or false: Falstaff has appeared in 3 shakespeare plays

Miserables Pennsylvania; 4. Katherine Hepburn; 5. 1951; 6. False (4); 7. Les Trivia: 1. Chicken and Lettuce Under Bacon, 2. Scallop shell; 3.

7. which is the longest running musical in the west end?

12 Asinine, 13 Central, 15 Reagent, 17 Enter, 19 Trace, 20 Llama. Down: 1 Unite, 2 Dryness, 3 Ridge, 4 Gastric, 5 Ogres, 6 Nucleal, Petrol, 24 Extra. 11 Parsec, 14 Circle, 16 Line, 18 Netball, 21 Victoria, 22 Edam, 23 Across: 1 Under, 4 Ground, 7 City, 8 District, 9 Eyewear, 10 Step,

21 MAY 2018 | EXEPOSÉ

Science

SCIENCE EDITORS:

Scarlett Parr-Reid Gabriel Yeap

Images: Pixnio.com and Nubia Navarro , Pixabay.com

Watch this space

Ludovico Vermeir reveals how scientists are elevating decades of dreams into our reality with space tourism

AVE you ever felt the need for speed? Want to run away from your exams? Tired of carrying your friends in Fortnite? Have no fear, for soon you’ll be hurtling towards lower earth orbit at around 2,000mphwith Texas in your rear view mirror.

It’s estimated that manned rocket flights will be underway by 2019 For many, the idea of travelling into space seems like a fantasy. Not for the Chief Executive Officer of Amazon, Jeff Bezos. He has a different plan. With the successful launch of the New Shepard Rocket on 29 April the billionaire’s spaceflight start-up, Blue Origin, has estimated that manned rocket flights will be underway by 2019. Just in case you weren’t up to date,

here are the details: Blue Origin plans on propelling space tourists 66 miles into the atmosphere, where they will experience four minutes of weightlessness and breath-taking views. Interestingly, the rocket that sends them through the Carmen Line (the official boundary of space), detaches and makes its way back down to the launch site where it lands and can be used again for subsequent flights, in a similar fashion to Space X’s Falcon 9 rockets. Meanwhile the passengers eventually return to their loved ones back on Earth. Three enormous parachutes open, slowing their speed down to 10mph. Just before touchdown, a final burst from the capsule booster cushions the landing and the passengers can now tell the tale of the journey. The eighth test flight for Blue Origin, which occurred in their West Texas Launch Site, had one passenger - albeit not the traditional human being. In fact,

this brave soul was a test dummy who goes by the name of ‘Mannequin Skywalker’. The dummy was kitted out with sensors which would relay information back to mission control. Along with the test dummy, the capsule carried various experiments organised by both the German Space Agency and NASA. Additionally, a test package was also placed on-board to demonstrate that Wi-Fi communications are viable in sub orbit. (We wouldn’t want to be missing out on that sub orbit selfie, would we now?)

It is no secret that funding has plummeted in the last decade By accommodating test packages on board their rocket, Blue Origin is simultaneously aiding technological advancement whilst paving a promising road for space tourism. It is no secret that fund-

ing for space programmes has plummeted in the last decade. Governments now rely heavily on the private sector, and a piggy-back ride on New Shepard rockets will have NASA weak at the knees. Missions like the ones carried out by Blue Origin have also underlined the successful use of reusable rockets. The idea can be traced back to the 1980s where space shuttles would be propelled into orbit, then flown back to earth and landed on a runway. Nowadays, reusing rockets has perhaps become the industry’s biggest game changer for some time. The cost of these rockets is immense, and the fact that we can now land them for reuse not only makes space travel much more affordable, but also marks a technological breakthrough for mankind. Space tourism often receives a sceptical response, but with the dream of sending civilians into space, great things can be achieved. If we take SpaceX as an

example, many find it ludicrous that the company dreams of eventually sending humans to Mars. Even if a human population on Mars seems like something of a sci-fi movie, Elon Musk’s start-up has already placed multiple satellites into orbit, delivered payloads to the International Space Station and revolutionised the world of commercial space flight. Don’t be fooled. Dreams really do come true.

It is time to ride the waves of our advancement But let us dream even bigger, that one day we could be eating floating M&Ms in space whilst looking down on the savannahs from which we emerged. It is time to ride the waves of our scientific advancement and galvanise a generation of dreamers. The tide of space travel is changing and we all stand to benefit..

Mars-ter Of Worlds Rhys Davies, Online Science Editor, talks about why NASA’s latest mission is out of this world

mobility with the seismometer. This tech monitors and measures for ‘marsquakes’, layer thickness and composition. Then it takes its internal body temperature by measuring the heat flow inside the planet and finally we take a hammer to its knees with some precision tracking equipment to test its reflexes. Like other Mars missions, Insight will parachute down to the landing site where it will set to work setting up the seismometer and hammering the 5m long heat probe into the ground, with its very thermally stable tungsten hammer. Exactly 30 days after this the lander will begin what NASA have termed, its science activities! InSight’s purpose is to provide information into the planet’s geological history, its radioactive make up and its layer by layer composition so that we can establish how Mars lost its magnet-

ic field and whether it once hosted plate tectonics like our beloved planet. This mission finally marks NASA’s return to planetary seismology after 4 decades, and geophysicists have been pushing for this type of mission just as long. It is scientists’ hope that this mission will be a glimpse into the future of our own planet and will provide valuable information for actually going to Mars and living there. The biggest changes that a planet can go through are driven almost entirely by the heat flow out of a planet to space, with the kind of information that is hoped for from this two year mission NASA should be able to tell us the safest, least radioactive and most hydrated place to set up camp. If you ask me, the sooner the better. Going

off world and becoming interstellar is quickly becoming more and more plausible. As technology improves with more and more people looking to the stars, industries, economies and of course science will climb higher along with it. I tend to agree with the late Professor Hawking: “I don’t think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space.”

Image: Good Free Photos.com, OpenClipart-Vectors, Pixabay.com

AUNCHED: 5 May, 2018. Estimated landing: 26 November, 2018. Landing site: Elysium Planitia, Mars. A grand sum of $814 million has been pumped into the InSight project for over two years. It is a Mars lander, sent out to give the red planet its first ever interior examination. It carries three instruments to study its most important vital signs in telling us how its been doing for the past 4.5 billion years. First it will check the planets

Twinkle-winkle little star

Scarlett Parr-Reid, Science Editor, shines the spotlight on the Periwinkle plant

HE C word. Painfully prevalent and responsible for 28% of all deaths in the UK during 2016 (Cancer Research UK), cancer is deadly. With over two hundred different shades of the disease and one in two people in the UK being diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, it’s not difficult to see why research into its treatment is taking precedence. But, might there be a shining star and burning beacon of hope in the pursuit of cancer treatment? Plant Scientists at the John Innes Centre (JIC), in Norwich, have reason to believe so, after a sixty year- long forage for the secrets of the Madagascar Periwinkle plant. Fifteen years and thirty one chemical steps later, and the team of researchers at the Professor Sarah O’Connor laboratory, JIC, have made significant strides in cancer research. They have successfully found the final missing genes of the Periwinkle plant genome needed to synthesise a crucial cancer fighting drug: Vinblastine. The drug is one of a plethora of chemotherapy drugs named vinca alkaloids. Referred to as plant alkaloids, the first of these is derived from the vinca plant. Their job is to inhibit microtubule activity which

SCIENCE

HOCOLATE is a deity that needs no introduction. We crave it, dream of it, and some even live on it. Yet, even deities are not immune to the conveyor of mother nature’s selection. Cacao trees which produce the chocolate that we all know and love have been increasingly plagued by insect and fungal pests and withered by the ominous waves of climate change sweeping across the globe. An unlikely saviour in the form of CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) could be a powerful demonstration of cutting-edge biotechnology which sets the stage for a revolution in genomic editing in a huge range of scientific fields, including healthcare, agriculture, food production and more. The swirls and twirls which adorn the infamous DNA double helix have always been imprinted in our minds as the symbol of our identity in both the metaphorical and literal sense. Every one of our 37.2 trillion cells is magnificently assembled according to the specific architecture laid out by the blueprint of the same genetic material which is present in all our cells. It governs and regulates our every movement, thought and breath. DNA

is a key cytoskeletal cellular component needed for the division of a cancer cell into two new cells. Hence, intravenous injection of Vinblastine into the bloodstream can block cancerous growth. The precious Periwinkle is able to inhibit the rapid, uncontrolled cell division involved in Lyphomas, breast, lung, bladder and testicular cancers. From ornamental to monumental, this pink and white perennial plant seems to be something of a pharmacological phenomenon.

The genes needed to synthesise a crucial fighting drug have been found So, just how much should we be celebrating? Discovered in the 1950s by a group of Canadian researchers and approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for chemotherapeutic use, the anti-cancer capability of the Madagascar Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) isn’t exactly new. However, there has been a void in our understanding of the complex chemical pathways recruited by the plant. A hefty five hun-

dred kilograms of its dried leaves are required to produce just one gram of Vinblastine. Fortunately, a recent studyled by the author Dr Lorenzo Caputipublished in the peer-review journal, Science, harnesses current genome sequencing methods to isolate the last of

Image: Suanpa , Pixabay.com

the genes in the Vinblastine pathway. Identification of the Catharanthine and Tabersonine enzymes, crucial in the formation of Vinblastine precursor molecules, has allowed us to generate Vinblastine synthetically in a lab. Either by increasing the amount of Vinblastine produced by the plant or by inserting synthetic genes into hosts, such as other plants or yeast, this new

knowledge unlocks important weapons to target the rapid multiplication of white blood cells observed in some cancer types, such as Leukaemia. Indeed, with Vinblastine already in use for treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and non-Hodgkin lymphomas, it’s powerful enough to increase the survival rate from ten percent to ninety- five percent (John Innes Centre). Importantly, the potential to increase Vinblastine’s yield via synthetic biology will see a domino effect: combatting the challenge of maintaining a steady reliable supply, likely to reduce the cost of drugs, and enabling more patients to access treatment. With considerable collaboration and competition within this field of research, Professor O’Connor forecasts that scientists will accomplish the production of "microgram quantities of Vinblastine or its precursors… in the next twelve to eighteen months". Far from an easy feat, it’s been a journey of perseverance, not without its pitfalls. In fact, along the trail of technicality, trial and error, Dr Caputi describes "one molecule…so volatile it’s known as angry-line”, in place of its convoluted title, Dihydroprecondylocarpine. Mean-

Cutting-edge CRISPR

while, there are undeniably side effects of using the chemotherapy drug, Vinblastine (known as Velbe). One or more of the following side effects occurs in more than ten in every 100 people: higher risk of infection (due to a reduction in the number of white blood cells in the immune system), breathlessness and pallor of the skin (resulting from a decrease in the number of red blood cells- anaemia- which causes a lack of oxygen reaching cells), tiredness during or after treatment and hair loss (on the scalp or body due to a reduction in hair follicle cell division). These may occur in addition to other common side effects of chemotherapy, including temporary amenorrhea (periods stopping), soreness of the mouth, and feeling or being sick.

It can increase survival rate to 95% So do the risks outweigh the benefits? Well, it’s truly a matter of choice. But, you can’t put a price on saving a person’s life. Risk taking brings revelation. We might not be blasting our way to a direct cure for cancer, but we are closer than we’ve ever been before. Image: USAID, Pixnio.com

Gabriel Yeap, Science Editor, follows the latest in CRISPR development makes you who you are. Unsurprisingly, it is also responsible for your flaws like that big nose or the large ears. Sometimes, these flaws damage much more than our vanity. Diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and cancer, currently have limited treatments available, although they are always getting better. Now imagine if I told you there is a way to eradicate them once and for all, would you take it? In 2012, two scientists from the University of Berkeley – Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier co-discovered the world famous CRISPR system. It shook the bedrock of genetic editing, revolutionising its future to potentially become one of the world’s largest and most profitable pieces of technology. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. Allow me to make this genome editing technique a little crisp-er for you.

Criminals could use it to alter their DNA at crime scenes Forget the fancy term, CRISPR is essentially a pair of molecular scissors which can precisely find and cut specific sequences of our

genes. It originated from a bacterial defence mechanism employed against viruses to edit out their genome, thus preventing the bacterium from being taken over by the virus.

The most widely used system of CRISPR is called the CRISPR Cas9 system. Its components include a guide RNA which works in tandem with an enzyme that cuts open This guides the enzyme to It's a bacterial DNA. the precise gene sequence, altering defence mechanism it by removing or adding different Suanpa , Pixabay.com in its place. The guide RNA employed against viralImage:genes can be manufactured to precisely genomes match the gene that is to be altered, CRISPR is now the standard thus it has unlimited potential uses. mechanism used to manipulate DNA Not all is as simple as it seems in all kinds of research. Just recently, though. The increasing amount of I have been part of Dr Asami’s team research using CRISPR in universiat the RILD(Research Innovation ties particularly in the US and in China Learning and Development building) have brought about the issues of patnext to the Royal Devon and Exeter ents and royalties. Since CRISPR has hospital researching the genes that the potential to win the coveted Nobel cause a rare but deadly genetic disease Prize in the near future, its seemingly that leads to severe autism, called 3P infinite uses and magical abilities are Deletion Syndrome. CRISPR is used likely to land the owning party a windto nimbly snip off suspect genes fall profit. Although the University and thus allow their effects on neuof California discovered it first, they rons to be revealed. Other uses of it filed a patent which was to cover all its stretch from trying to modify the geuses while the challenger comes in the nome of elephants to bring the exform of Broad Institute affiliated with tinct woolly mammoth back to life, MIT(Massachusetts Institute of Techto altering the genes of mosquitoes, nology) and Harvard University, which rendering them incapable of carrying claims its patent is specifically stated to the pesky malaria parasite which kills be used in human cells. An analogy of nearly half a million people a year. the patent dilemma here would be like

filing for a patent for all tennis balls versus a patent for green tennis balls.

We could modify the genomes of elephants to bring the extinct woolly mammoth back Of course, hidden behind the spotlight of CRISPR’s infinite advantages lies the shadow of its uncertainties. The system itself is not entirely perfect, as it causes unwanted side effects such as cut DNA not being able to fully rejoin, as well as gene therapy not being able to affect all the cells in the human body. Criminals could also use it to alter their DNA at crime scenes, although the technicalities of such an endeavour are not always practical, although possible in theory. Furthermore, the ethics of altering genes willy-nilly are not widely accepted and for good reason. Therefore, we wield an immense power to potentially eradicate cancer or cure global food shortage, yet we are also responsible for using this imbuement of power purely for the advancement of mankind and the alleviation of suffering, and not to play God. Image: gagnonm1993 , Pixabay.

21 MAY 2018 | EXEPOSÉ

SPORT

perryman's career in numbers

854 appearances for Tottenham Hotspur - the most of any player in the team's history

3 different clubs played for - Spurs, then Oxford United and Brentford

10 career honours - 5 with Spurs, 3 in Japan. 6 team awards, two individual.

1 international cap - playing for England against Iceland in 1982

45 football seasons involved in, with only a four year break interrupting a career from 1969-2018

39 career goals

Spurred to su

As he approaches retirement, Tottenham legend and Exeter City Director of Football S

TEPPING out of the game that he's served for over 50 years at the end of this season, I was fortunate enough to be able to sit down with Spurs legend Steve Perryman to talk football, his career and Tottenham Hotspur. The only appropriate place to start was, ironically, not with Steve himself – but the manager who signed him. The name of Bill Nicholson is one associated with past greatness – but the person behind the name of the man whose name was given to the black gates we walked through to enter White Hart Lane remains shrouded in some kind of mystery. Like many of the modern greats, Steve said that he “felt I was playing for him…when you were playing well, that lifted us higher than what I really was. [He was] a wonderful manager and a fantastic man; you couldn’t look at him and say he had all the trappings of success – he lived in a small house around the corner of the ground, he drove a nice car but not a magnificent one, his wife rode around Tottenham on a bike and us players would regularly see her out shopping. "He just had a lot of class about him, sometimes people try and buy class but he just had it.” This idea of class is one that came up frequently in describing Nicholson – Steve opened up about how he ended up signing for Spurs; he recently found the letter from Nicholson expressing his wish for Spurs to sign the 15-year-old Perryman. He described it as a “such a caring letter, but it was classy too – signed W. Nicholson, I tingled at that; W meant business – every time I’ve seen his autograph since it was “Bill” and he only ever wanted to be called that, never Mr Nicholson, or boss or gaffer or these other terms – only Bill and that’s how he signed his signature. But on this letter to this 15-year-old’s father, it was W. Nicholson, because I guess he didn’t want to come across as too chummy – I thought that was really classy. For me, Tottenham stands for style and class.” In his first years at Spurs once he signed in 1969, he recalls being a ‘bitpart player, an extra to the bigger players’ – his role in the team was winning the ball and playing forwards from there. He realised early on that he needed to give the team in the early 70s something they didn’t already have, and this was his legs and energy. He spoke fondly of his role in the

1972 UEFA Cup win, where he played primarily behind Alan Mullery and Martin Peters, but had a key attacking role in the semi-final, where Italian giants AC Milan were in town: he scored twice as Spurs came from 1-0 down to win 2-1. He described how the defensive role he had afforded him the breathing space to come onto the ball from deeper, and because the Italians were frustrating Spurs in front of their own goal, Perryman’s efforts from range gave Spurs a narrow lead in the tie, which they eventually won by securing a draw in Milan. Spurs would go on to defeat Wolves 3-2 on aggregate in the final, with a team i n c l u d i n g some of the best players that Perryman says he ever played with – Pat Jennings in goal, internationals including Cyril Knowles, the aforementioned Peters and Mullery, Alan Gilzean and Martin Chivers. But Steve said it was the semi-final that was his most important game – “I couldn’t put a foot wrong, every pass I made went right, I had two shots at goal and scored twice – in some seasons I didn’t have two shots!”. It was certainly a coming-of-age for the man, who picked up more silverware after a League Cup victory over Aston Villa. From a team perspective however, Perryman views the 1981 FA Cup Final win as a game that has no comparison with any match he’s witnessed then or since. Spurs had been poor in the latter half of the 1970s, and were even relegated from the First Division in England, but they got back on track – in Perryman’s words, actually going somewhere – and needed to underline that with a trophy. The FA Cup victory in 1981 was “what nudged us over the line into being a proper team – there were good signs of it; quarter finals a couple of years before but we didn’t carry it through”. Ricky Villa's wondergoal in the 1981 FA Cup Final might be one of the best Cup Final goals ever scored, but Perryman regards it also as one of the most important. “The first trophy is the hardest to win, and the team that was emerging out of the relatively poor 1970s got that edge of confidence that we can be successful; that you’re not just nearly men. We were nearly men in 1978, 1979 and 1980, and all of a sudden in May 1981 we became worthy of wearing that Tottenham shirt.

"We emerged from a good team to a classy team – and we had a purple patch of success, which is built on yearon-year…if success is handled in the correct manner it can lead to a lot more. Most teams have a bulk of success in a 4-5 year period and then go off the boil, that’s typically what happens unless you’ve got the money like a Manchester City have now, where you can keep topping up excellent players with even more excellence, then maybe it can keep going longer. But eventually the manager might look for another challenge, and it all starts again.”

In his first years at Spurs, he recalls being a 'bit-part player' Perryman’s fondness of the FA Cup might be considered anachronistic by some, but it’s a hallmark of both the times he grew up in and more recently, its importance to lower league sides – a massive tie against Manchester United helped to save Exeter City from financial issues in 2005, while West Bromwich Albion and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side have also recently travelled to Exeter in the trophy. But at Spurs, in the 1970s and 1980s, the FA Cup had international allure – it was the only guaranteed televised game throughout the year, and Perryman recalled how the Argentines Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa talked about the FA Cup when they joined Spurs. I asked him to pick out some of the best players he played with, and the best squad. The latter was difficult, as team comparisons often are, but given his more influential role on the later squads, Steve prompted for the early 1980s squad because of his personal role in the team – which was key in escaping the lurch of the late 1970s. “Tottenham had been successful before me, and they were successful at the very start of my playing career, in their own way, but then they became unsuccessful and for a player that played all through that, then to help make them successful again was vital, actually. I quoted when we were relegated that teams wanted to take me out of Totten-

ham and I said no, if I ever leave Tottenham it'll be when they're back where they belong - I played 42 out of 42 games the season we were relegated and therefore it must have had something to do with me. I couldn't rest knowing I'd left Tottenham in the lurch, as it were, and that was personal to me.” In terms of players, Perryman recites some of the greatest footballers to ever wear a Spurs shirt off the top of his head as casually as one might recall items off a shopping list; it’s another reminder, if it were needed, that Steve was part of some of the best Spurs sides in history. In goal, Pat Jennings is a clear choice, and he opts for Jimmy Greaves as the best striker he ever trained with – they only played together for six months, but Steve said he saw enough in training and watching games off the touchline to justify his choice. Defensively, he opts for Dave McKay, who was a multi-faceted defender and a fearsome opponent, even in training, and in midfield, it’s impossible to separate Hoddle or Ardiles. The venue for these great players is, as we all know, making the way for what will surely be one of the greatest sporting amphitheatres in the world. But the old White Hart Lane is full of history, and for those who played there, memories. When asked about some of his special memories of the ground, Perryman recalls the best half of football he ever played in: after Johann Cruyff made disparaging comments about Glenn Hoddle in the build up to a European tie involving Cruyff ’s Feyenoord and Spurs, Hoddle proved the great Dutchm a n wrong, a n d played a pivotal role in a first 45 minutes that saw Spurs go into the interval having stormed to a 4-0 lead. “Typical Spurs,” he says with the hint of a smile, “we went on to concede twice, and so if we went to Feyenoord and lost 2-0 we’d have been out, which would have been a crime, but we ended up winning 2-0 in Holland. That first half at White Hart Lane was such a special memory in terms of the way the team was like a well-oiled machine; everyone did their bit, everyone stepped up to the plate.” The White Hart Lane faithful gave Perryman an ‘abiding memory’ in a game he didn’t even play. The Spurs captain at the time was

SPORT

EXEPOSÉ | 21 MAY 2018

uccess

Steve Perryman chats to Josh Brown, Sport Editor, about his many years in the game suspended for the 1984 UEFA Cup Final against Anderlecht, and the team were without Ray Clemence, Hoddle and Ardiles – but recovered from a goal down to equalise through Graham Roberts in the 84th minute. But what stands out even more is what happened in the corresponding penalty shootout – Spurs’ Danny Thomas, taking the penalty that would win the game if it went in, saw his penalty saved well. It could have lost Spurs the game – but the sympathy that he felt for Thomas was matched by the crowd, who sang his name back to the halfway line. “The crowd proved to me that night, though not only that night, how special they are at knowing the tone of what’s going on. If I’d been the next penalty taker, I’d have been more at ease based on how the crowd accepted Thomas’ saved penalty. That said to me how classy that place is. The fans have such an opinion on football, and it definitely spreads to the pitch. Sometimes it can be negative, but in the moments of crisis like Danny Thomas had at that moment, they showed pure class.” The final question I asked was on the current squad. Perryman remains close with Ardiles, who in turn is close with Pochettino, and Steve speaks very highly of the current setup: “It’s becoming a very special group of players. I think they’ve got the right man to lead it forward. I don’t like everything I see, but I like the defenders that recover quickly, I like the commitment shown to defending their own goal just as much as I like a forward like Harry Kane who does the dirty work. They’re developing an emergency gear too.

Tottenham runs in his blood and this was clear from the first few words to the last "I’m delighted they’re persevering with the youth policy, which is showing itself to be such a good asset through Winks, Kane and so on. My message has always been not to undersell or undervalue homegrown talent, because of things like Harry Kane’s phenomenal goal-scoring abilities, Glenn Hoddle’s technique – even myself in captaincy terms, all homegrown. . As we all know, a combination is everything. Experience, with a bit of naivety – maybe our boy from MK Dons – great teams have a bit of everything, but they’ve got to have the man that gels it all together, and I think they’ve got him”. For a while, in Asia, Perryman himself was that man. He and Ossie Ardiles took charge of Shimzu S-Pulse in 1996, with Ardiles managing the J-League outfit for three years, before Perryman took over. He described it as “three of the best years

of my life; totally at home there, in this different place, different culture, but we felt respected, we felt that we were useful and we improved one of the financially weakest teams in Japan – they eventually became champions and one of the best teams there.” It was a period that served to reinvigorate a man who had lost his love for the game; Alan Sugar’s Spurs became a business-led football club, as opposed to Bill Nicholson’s football-led football club, whereas in Japan treatment of players was “as good, if not better than

what was happening in England” – he detailed the medical teams and the training grounds. The desire to improve of the Japanese players made Perryman’s job that much easier. By the time Perryman finished in Japan, Spurs was under new ownership, with a new style at Tottenham, and it’s developed into what it is today. The story in Japan gets even better. “Critics might say it’s only Japan – well Arsene Wenger did not win what we won in Japan, and he had more power, more money to use, and went to Eng-

land and did the double and had such a great period of success. Don’t get me wrong, he was a great manager in Japan but he didn’t win what we won”. There was more than a subtle hint of glee about having got one over future Arsenal manager, which shows just how deeply Spurs runs in Perryman’s roots. Make no mistake, he may have been involved in Asia and now in League 2 with Exeter City for the last 20 or so years, but Tottenham Hotspur runs in his blood and this was clear from the first few words to the last.

Skin in the game

Wil Jones, Sport Editor, talks to Exeter Chiefs' Sam Skinner

T'S been another stellar season for the Exeter Chiefs. The 16/17 English champions have been a ruthless winning machine once again, sitting eight points clear at the summit of the Aviva Premiership table. But for the small matter of the play-offs, the Sandy Park outfit would be backto-back winners already. It would be hard to argue they haven’t deserved it. Nevertheless, the Chiefs’ remarkable rise shows no sign of slowing down, with an impressive, if ultimately frustrating, European campaign marring a season that has already seen them add the Anglo-Welsh trophy to a growing trophy cabinet. Much is made of the Chiefs values. Words like ‘honesty’, ‘integrity’, and ‘home-grown talent’ are bandied about by many professional sporting outfits, yet few clubs embody these values with quite the same on-field success as the Chiefs. Exeter-born Sam Skinner, formerly of the University and Exeter University Rugby Football Club, is a shining example of the Chiefs’ ethos. The 23-year has made headlines for his athletic displays at both lock and in the back-row – a remarkable feat for his first full season as a professional and, as he admits, something he’s delighted with. “You always hope [the first season] will go as well as it can, but I probably didn’t expect it to this extent,” he says. It’s the culmination of a journey that began just down the road from Exeter. “I started playing for Topsham RFC, which isn’t too far from the University grounds actually. I watched my Dad play there when I was younger, about 5- or 6-years old. I just went down for a few sessions and haven’t stopped since then, really.” Having failed to pick up an academy contract when he left school in

2013, Skinner feared a profession- of guys and it was an awesome experial rugby career may not be on the ence to be honest. The whole atmoscards. Undeterred, he joined National phere […] and support that came with League Two South side Taunton, and it was just fantastic.” the year after was picked up by the The links between the Chiefs and Chiefs. From there, three years at Ex- EURFC are well documented, a symeter University saw him become one biotic transfer of expertise and access of the most promising prospects in that benefits both, with a number of the Chiefs’ set-up. players graduating from the University “I wanted to go to University and into the Chiefs’ set-up. Sam Morley the club were really good here, they al- and James McCrae signed contracts lowed me to go,” he says. “The stand- at Sandy Park back in April to join ard of rugby at Uni was really good up with former Exeter students Tom – playing in the top division of the Lawday, Pete Laverick and Jack OwlBUCS league was actually as profes- ett, as well as Skinner. sional as it gets without being techniSkinner admits that he “didn’t cally professional, so I was really for- really want to let go” of University tunate to be given that experience. life, something he’s managing by stay“Playing at University allowed ing involved with EURFC: “I still do me to focus and develop my game some forwards coaching every Monin a kind of part-time environment day night with the first team. I’ve enand allowed me to develop physi- joyed staying involved, and I’ll do that cally as well,” Skinner states. Having next year as well. I guess the way I captained EURFC to a comprehen- coach is similar to the way Chiefs play. sive 46-8 hammering of Bath in the Hopefully it’s just a familiar face for 2016 Varsity, Skinner picked out that the boys as well – you’ll have to ask season’s BUCS success as his on-field whether they like my coaching or not, highlight whilst at Exeter I suppose!” University. Whatever the merits of his coach“The standout moing, it’s on the pitch where ment was when we Skinner is making his won the BUCS troname. Following phy at Twickenhis full-debut Sam Skinner celebrating Exeter's ham. We had a at Sandy Park Varsity success in great bunch against Wasps 2016 – “a special moment for me” – Skinner picks out the 2217 defeat at eventualchampions Leinster as a highlight of his season so far, scoring two minutes into the game Image: Edwin Yeung

with a classic Chiefs try: a close-range rumble. “I really enjoyed the Aviva. Despite the result, for me personally I think that was a standout.” The versatility that allows Skinner to play across positions is one that has been particularly eye-catching – a forward very much in the mould of the newly-dubbed ‘third lock’ that has seen international sides interchangeably pick the likes of Maro Itoje and Courtney Lawes as blindside flankers and second-rows. And, having been involved with the England u20s, Skinner seems to have all the hallmarks of an international-in-the making. His exclusion from this summer’s England squad to South Africa, when so many star names have been rested, seems somewhat unfortunate for the Chiefs – particularly so considering teammate and captain-against-Newcastle Don Armand’s excellent form has seen him discarded since his solitary Six Nations performance. Skinner is remaining diplomatic on that front: “Everyone wants to play international rugby, they’d be lying if they said they didn’t. Ultimately, you’ve got to be starting from your Premiership side week in, week out, and to be performing at the top level in the Premiership to deserve those opportunities.”

Playing at Uni allowed me to develop my game

SAM SKINNER, EXETER CHIEFS

“For me right now, my goal and focus is very short term, and I’m just focusing on trying to get a consistent place in the Chiefs squad, focus on my performances, and who knows what’s around the corner.” With Newcastle’s Dean Richards and Vereniki Goneva collecting the Premiership’s top coach and player awards for 2018 respectively, and as this issue going to print the day before the play-off semi-final against Newcastle, Skinner’s approach of setting short-term goals and not looking beyond their Tyneside visitors might be advisable. Even so, with Exeter’s near-perfect record at Sandy Park this season gearing all expectations towards the Chiefs returning to Twickenham to defend their title, you’d be brave to bet against them succeeding in front of the Devon faithful. “Our home support here is phenomenal. Having supported the Chiefs [growing up] it’s a little bit of extra motivation for myself, but more importantly it’s just the culture that there is here." And what is that all-important cultural ingredient?"It’s a group of mates playing for each other.”

21 MAY 2018 | EXEPOSÉ

SPORT

EUTriC end season strongly Alex Foyn EUTriC Publicity Secretary

HIS year saw the University of Exeter Triathlon Club mark its 7th birthday. Despite being among the younger sports teams on campus, it is one of the fastest growing- thanks in part to the international success of the Brownlee brothers popularising the sport, and the club’s openness to potential members keen to try out the sport for the first time. EUTriC have had one of their most successful race seasons to-date, with a number of firsts for the club and success at local and national events. In November, they took 34 athletes up to Wiltshire to race BUCS Duathlon, the club's largest team ever, where the men’s team finished 9th. This placing secured the club's second ever BUCS point - a fantastic achievement considering the standard of racing which pitched the club against the professionally run Triathlon programs at Leeds and Loughborough. Another highlight this year was incoming club captain, Seamus Sheard, taking 2nd place in the 20-24 Age-Group at the British Duathlon Championship this spring. He is hoping to perform well at the European Championships later this year, while Finn Arentz is looking to qualify for the world Ironman Championships in Kona. They are both looking to add their names to the growing list of members who have had success at international completions. Such successes are testament to the work ethic and commitment of all those involved at the club. In addition to a number of club wins at events across the southwest, the season was rounded off with one of the strongest showings at the BUCS Sprint Triathlon, on 6 May. A team of 26 was taken, more than half of which were racing for the first time. With improvements throughout the season there for all to see, EUTriC is clearly a sports club on the up, and the committee have high hopes for the coming year.

Exeter's Jack Bond, the club's highest-placed finisher at the BUCS Duathlon. Image: Frank Arentz Photography

Back the Brits this summer - and not just Andy

Kieran Jackson previews the British players' hopes at Wimbledon

NOTHER year, and another Wimbledon is very nearly upon us. With the French Open finishing at the beginning of June, the grass-court season in the UK takes centre stage thereafter, clashing irritatingly with the World Cup in Russia. Whilst Wimbledon may not get the usual devoted observation from sports fans and broadcasters alike this year - the World Cup final actually takes place on exactly the same day as the Men’s Singles Final on 15 July, and will likely overlap - you may well be more likely to see British sporting success on the grass in London this summer than in Moscow. Whilst this assertion is partially down to the now-accepted inevitability of English major tournament failure, it is also be down to the steady rise of British prospects on the tennis court. On the men’s side, new British number one Kyle Edmund, a Yorkshireman who has recently relocated to the Bahamas, reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open in January, beating the likes of Kevin Anderson and, rather impressively, Grigor Dimitrov along the way. He has since progressed to a new, best-ever world ranking of 19 following his impressive streak of victories at the Madrid Open two weeks ago. Although not natu-

rally comfortable on grass, his forehand has become a fearful weapon on the tour, and given his form he will be confident of a run into the second week.

Edmund's forehand has become a fearful weapon on the tour Fellow Brit, Cameron Norrie, has been highly impressive in his surge up the rankings since turning professional last year. Plying his trade in the American college system for the past two years, the 22-year old was exceptional on his Davis Cup debut in February, beating the then-world number 23

Roberto Bautista-Agut in a five-set marathon. A talented and athletically gifted lefthander, Norrie is one to watch this summer. Others to look out for include Dan Evans, who has just returned from a yearlong ban for taking cocaine, rising star Liam Broady and Sir Andy Murray himself. There are still serious doubts about Murray’s fitness, following a near year-long layoff, but he has entered two grass-court events (including Queens) in the run-up to Wimbledon, which can only be promising news. It’d be wise not to expect too much from Andy though, especially given he is unlikely to be seeded at the All England Club. On the women’s side, British number one Johanna Konta will be hoping to go one step further than last year and reach her

Image: Pixabay

City at Wembley

CONTINUED FROM BACK Boateng began the move by winning a header about ten yards away from his own penalty area, securing the second ball by using his strength to shield off a Lincoln forward, before driving from deep inside his own half to the edge of the Lincoln box. His force and physique were used to full effect, bullying his opponents and breaking the lines brutishly. But he didn’t stop there – opening up his body on the inside left flank, and shifting the ball onto his favoured left foot, he curled a shot through a mire of Lincoln bodies and there was only one place it was going to end up – smacking against the inside of Allsop’s right-hand post and nestling in the back of the net. It was a superb solo effort at a key time in the game; to score so soon after half-time negated Lincoln manager Danny Cowley’s tactical changes held significance, but also to give City a two goal cushion that they didn’t appear in any danger of squandering. Again, Lincoln responded well to conceding, and had the lion’s share of the play in the immediate minutes after Boateng’s wonder-goal, but it always felt like City would be able to

punish Lincoln on the counter as the seconds ticked down and Lincoln had to push forward. Indeed, it was City who scored a third, but it wasn’t on the counter – and at the time, it defied description.

Two goal of the season contenders with a trip to Wembley on the line City had a throw-in on their right-hand side after 69 minutes, after clearing a ball upfield and forcing an error. The ball was thrown to Ryan Harley, and from about 30 yards out, with nothing else on, the City man let fly. He won’t ever connect with a football any cleaner, let alone score a better goal, as his effort powered past Allsop and flew into the top right corner. It was a superb left-footed strike that was on a par with Boateng’s earlier strike – two potential goal of the season contenders, not just in one game, but with a trip to Wembley on the line too. The celebrations could be heard from nearby houses. Three goals up with just twenty minutes remaining –

surely there was no way Lincoln could recover the deficit? The support on the night – not just from the eternally vocal Red Legion, but the Big Bank as a whole – provided myriad bonuses; every interception, every tackle, every clearance was greeted by cheers, as if the crowd were willing the ball away from Exeter’s goal. Even when the Exeter defence was finally breached – on 78 minutes, after Rhead held off Moxey, and allowed Matt Green to beat Jordan Moore-Taylor to the ball and slide past Pym. The supporters responded, preventing a difficult end to the game – including seven minutes of injury time – from throwing up any further surprises. Steve Perryman could be heard barking instructions from the stands, and the players on the pitch managed the dying remnants of the game superbly, and secured a second consecutive play-off final appearance at Wembley – in less dramatic circumstances than Jack Stacey’s 95th minute winner last season, but in no less important ones. The Grecians will take on the victors of the other semi-final at Wembley on 28 May – Bank Holiday Monday – with a place in League 1 at stake.

first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon. Since her determined run to the semis, where she succumbed to an inspired Venus Williams, Konta has struggled for form. Nonetheless, with three grass-court tournaments in her locker before Wimbledon, the world number 22 will be confident of putting together another run. Supporting acts include Heather Watson, who aside from her singles prospects will be hopeful of more mixed-doubles success after reaching two finals with partner Henri Kontinen in 2016 & 2017, Liam’s sister Naomi Broady, and rising stars Katie Boulter, Gabriella Taylor and Katie Swan. And if you’re not interested in British hopes, and now want me to state who can realistically challenge Roger Federer and Serena Williams for the titles, this is where I disappoint you. The two 36 year-olds, who boast an incredible 43 Grand Slam singles titles between them, are the greatest players to ever play the game for a reason. Even with both Federer and Williams lacking match practice, due to a clay-court hiatus and a year-long absence to give birth respectively, their record at the All England Club speaks for itself. Fear not though - drama and upsets are always a certainty at the world’s most famous tennis tournament.

TEAMS: EXETER CITY: Pym; Sweeney, Storey, Moore-Taylor, Moxey; Harley, Tillson, Boateng, Taylor; Simpson, Stockley. Subs: Archibald-Henville (Boateng, 76), James (Simpson, 85). Unused: Jones (GK), Woodman, McAlinden, Jay, Edwards. LINCOLN CITY: Allsop, Eardley, Bostwick, Waterfall, Wilson, Woodyard, Frecklington, Whitehouse, Green, Rhead, Anderson. Subs: Farman (GK), Long, Wharton, Pett, Palmer, Chapman, Williams.

MATCH RATINGS Christy Pym .............................................. 8 Pierce Sweeney ........................................ 9 Jordan Storey ............................................ 8 Jordan Moore-Taylor ............................... 8 Dean Moxey ............................................... 6 Jake Taylor ................................................. 6 Hiram Boateng ......................................... 9 Jordan Tillson ............................................ 7 Ryan Harley ............................................... 9 Robbie Simpson ........................................ 7 Jayden Stockley ....................................... 10 Subs: Troy Archibald-Henville ........................... 6 Lloyd James ................................................ 5

SPORT

EXEPOSÉ | 21 MAY 2018

FORMAT 50 overs a side Preset powerplays: Overs 1-10 - maximum of two men outside the circle Overs 11-40 - four men outside the circle Overs 41-50 - five men outside the circle Pink ball, coloured kit Play expected to begin at 11:30

squad Eleven from: Will Harris Alex Sweet Ben Slade Ben Twine Ethan Bamber Giles Robinson Husnan Kazmi Jack Marston James Fitzjohn Jonathon Burden Max Mannering Max Mortimer Ross Powell Sam Harris Seb Lawson Shivv Patel Tom Massey Luke Matthews (C)*

cricket varsity preview Josh Brown, Sport Editor, previws the EUMCC Varsity match against Bristol

XETER University Men’s Cricket Club (EUMCC) 1s host their Varsity game against the University of Bristol 1s on Monday 28th May, in an eagerly anticipated fixture that EUMCC are hopeful will kick off their season in earnest. We caught up with Luke Matthews, captain of the 1s, who revealed that the extreme weather experienced at the end of March had ‘destroyed an entire preseason’, and with only a handful of games played this year – including a training game against the EUMCC 2s side – hopes are high that a victory against Bristol 1s, a side playing in the premier tier of BUCS cricket, can prove a catalyst for further success; in their only BUCS game so far the 1s lost by 45 runs at home to the University of Portsmouth 1s. And the 1s are raring to get going, eager to exact revenge on the opponents that defeated them in last season’s playoffs. But Matthews is aware of the challenge that Bristol pose, being exceptionally strong this season,

season, made at almost a run a ball, that allowed Exeter to maintain a stellar record in the Varsity fixture that dates back several years to an Exeter side captained by Joe Barrs – now captain of Marylebone Cricket Club, the owners of Lord’s Ground and previously recognised as ‘the sole authority on the Laws of Cricket’.

A game-changing century made by Will Harris allowed Exeter to maintain a stellar record For Matthews, it would have been a hattrick of Varsity appearances, but for an injury to his hand that required minor surgery. He remains optimistic, however – there are more than enough characters in the dressing room to make up for his absence; first-year Ethan Bamber was part of the England U19 side that featured in the World Cup in New Zealand over winter. Bamber earned his first contract with

double, winning the Premier B South division. While successes since haven’t quite matched that elite level, there is undoubted talent within this side and if the men in green perform to their potential, it will make for an enthralling match. It promises to be a day of entertainment even outside the cricket, with a variety of bars and food tents setting up for the day. In previous years, there has been a hog roast, amongst other food stalls, while a deal Carlsberg have with the neighbouring squash club, who share the facilities, means they are also likely to have a tent.

While successes since haven't quite matched that elite leve, there is undoubted talent in this side With a high quality of cricket on offer - the likes of Bamber offer international experience for the men in green - it promises to be an enthralling day's play,

Venue: Exeter Cricket Club, Prince of Wales Road Tickets: £5 Chosen charity supported: NSPCC

ethan bamber

THAN, a first-year studying Theology, is likely to prove the star in Exeter's bowling attack. Bamber has played representative cricket at every age group, recently signing his first contract with Middlesex, who were relegated from the premier division of county cricket last season. He was part of the England U19 team that competed in the World Cup over the winter, and finished as tied leading wicket taker. Bamber's background is almost as interesting as his playing career. Both of his parents have backgrounds in film - his father played Adolf Hitler alongside Tom Cruise in the 2008 film Valkyrie while Bamber himself used to be a chorister at St John's College, Cambridge. Highly rated both within and outside the first-team squad, Bamber is certainly one to keep an eye on - expected to open the bowling, he'll be hoping to make early inroads into the Bristol batting lineup. Expect fireworks.

will harris

the day

Start: 11:30

ones to watch

Image: Marie-Lan Nguyen

* = ruled out through injury

Time: Monday 28 May Bank Holiday Monday.

Harris batting in the Varsity fixture, 2016. Image: Yong Yan Wang

despite being comprehensively beaten in their opening game, losing against Cambridge MCCU by 7 wickets.

The 1s are eager to exact revenge after last season’s playoff He points to a game-changing century made by Will Harris last

Middlesex soon after, for their summer fixtures, to work around his university commitments, and is definitely one to keep an eye on. The EUMCC have had immense historic success. In 201516, they defeated Loughborough 1s in a cup final that saw them crowned the best BUCS team in the country. That year, they went on to complete a league and cup

with Exeter looking to defend a recently unblemished Varsity record, while Bristol will doubtless be keen to end their losing streak, and ruin the party in doing so. . As big a crowd as possible will be needed to support the men in green as they look to overcome their neighbours, in what will surely be a closely-fought game. This is certainly not one to be missed.

AST year's Varsity hero, opening batsmen Will Harris will surely be hoping another stupendous innings won't be required to see Exeter over the line - but if it is, it will likely be Harris who steps up. There's little doubt that his century in last year's game was pivotal; scoring his hundred with an impressive strike rate, and it took the game away from a talented Bristol side. Harris, an economics student in his third year of study, will likely open the batting alongside Jack Marston, who will be looking to see hold down an end and provide the stability required for the more explosive players in the team to play expansively.

Sport

21 MAY 2018 | EXEPOSÉ

SPORT EDITORS:

Sensational second leg for City

Josh Brown Owain Evans Wil Jones

Image: Martin Pettitt

SkyBet League Two Play-Offs Exeter City.................................. 3 Lincoln City ................................ 1 Exeter City win 3-1 on aggregate Josh Brown Sport Editor

XETER City progressed to the League 2 Play-off Final on Thursday night after a fantastic performance, and three sublime goals, against Yorkshirebased side Lincoln City at St James’ Park on Thursday night. It was a clinical performance from the Grecians, who set the tone for the first half with a lively opening ten minutes. Pierce Sweeney’s free kick was blocked by the Lincoln

wall, before Robbie Simpson nearly opened the scoring for the home side after finding half a yard of space inside the box. However, the striker couldn’t sort his feet out in time and his effort from a tight angle, surrounded by defenders, trickled the wrong side of the post. The Grecians kept pushing for the opener, with claims for a penalty turned down after a potential handball that made Ryan Harley’s effort from the edge of the box an easier save than it might have otherwise been for Lincoln goalkeeper Ryan Allsop. City came even closer just two minutes later, as Hiram Boateng drilled a low cross across the face of goal but somehow there was nobody on the end of it.

Exeter were not to be denied, however, and what had felt somewhat inevitable in the minutes before proved to be so 27 minutes in. City’s top scorer, Jayden Stockley, so often the hero this season, was left totally unmarked on the inside right flank about six yards from goal. When poor defensive play from the visitors allowed Pierce Sweeney to win an unchallenged header in their own box, the ball fell kindly for Stockley who smashed it home into the bottom corner. It was a spectacular volley, demonstrating the technique that has made Stockley one of the league’s most potent strikers this season. Lincoln responded well to going a goal down, and were able to match the intensity that had, in

truth, blown them away in the opening third of the game.

It was a spectacular volley, showing why Stockley is one of the league’s top strikers Imps striker Matt Rhead – a brutally effective player, if not a supremely talented one – began to peel off the central defensive pairing of City academy products, Jordan Moore-Taylor and Jordan Storey, and found more luck contesting aerial duels against the fullbacks – Dean Moxey and the aforementioned Sweeney. He provided an outlet for the Lincoln defence, and was heav-

ily involved in the most controversial event of the game: five minutes before half-time, Lincoln midfielder Elliott Whitehouse thought he had Image: Owain Evans levelled the game after smashing past Pym, but the referee – after consultation with his linesman – disallowed the goal following a handball from Rhead in the build-up. Rhead’s claim that he had been pushed held no sway, and City survived a scare, and saw out the rest of the half defending well as a collective unit. Exeter would punish their opponents in spectacular fashion. The second half was two minutes old when the home side doubled their lead, and what a goal it was - a moment of pure magic from City midfielder Hiram Boateng.

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