SABB ELECTIONS 2012: YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE
Exeposé
Exeposé review and analyse all the candidates’ manifestos in our in-depth election coverage from page 18
Monday 6 February 2012 • Issue 589 • www.exepose.com • Twitter: @Exepose • www.facebook.com/Exepose
Exeter avoids UCAS slump Lucy Cryle Senior Reporter
APPLICATIONS to the University of Exeter have suffered only a slight decline compared to last year, despite nationwide university application numbers falling significantly. So far the University has seen a decline of 0.38 per cent in applications for study beginning in September 2012, compared to the decline of 8.7 per cent seen in universities nationwide. English universities have seen the most dramatic declines in the UK, receiving 9.9 per cent fewer applications than last year.
“The high number of applications shows just how popular Exeter is among students” Professor Janice Kay, Deputy Vice Chancellor
The decline in applications to English universities has been blamed by some on the increased cap on tuition fees, allowing universities to charge up to £9,000. Sally Hunt, general secretary of the UCU lecturers’ union, said: “Applications in England are down over 50 per cent more than in any other part of the UK as a result of the government making it the most expensive country in the world in which to gain a public degree.” University of Exeter Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Janice Kay commented on why she believes Exeter has not suffered the declining application numbers seen at other institutions: “The high number of applications shows just how popular Exeter is among students. “Being one of the top ten universities in the UK and among the top one per cent globally gives students confidence that we
Photo: Josh Irwandi
will offer a first-class educational experience.” The University has also seen changes in applications between different courses. Applications for subjects such as History, Law, Biosciences and Engineering have increased, while other subjects such as Philosophy, Sport and Health Science have fallen. James Eales, VP Academic Affairs, said: “There is no doubt that the fall in admissions in some areas reflects the increase in fees, as students look to apply to traditional or vocational subjects. “However, underlying consideration must be given to the increase in entry tariffs and the long term gradual decline for some subjects – which the increase in fees has merely exacerbated.” A second year Law student commented: “Courses that cannot guarantee a job upon graduation will probably be less appealing for new students, as without a job they cannot pay off their increased debt.” Figures for applications to the Cornwall campus have not yet been formally released. Ian Blenkharn, Head of Admissions, said: “It is very difficult to get a like-for-like comparison for the Cornwall campus on its own, as there have been big changes to the course provision on this campus between 2011 and 2012.
Writing centre launched Hannah Mawdsley
A PIONEERING initiative by the College of Humanities is offering students peer advice on their writing skills. Located at Queen’s Building on Streatham Campus, the support is given by student ‘Peer Advisors’, high acheiving students who have undergone extensive training to assist students making the leap from writing at college level to writing at degree level. Dr Siân Harris, the lead academic in charge of the initiative, said: “The Writing Centre ethos is driven by the idea of peer-review, so that student advisors offer feedback and support to other students.” She added: “It’s very much a ‘by students, for students’ environment. Peer advice is frank, open and nonjudgemental, and encourages students to think beyond assessment targets and focus on developing their writing as a skill in itself.”
“It enables students to receive feedback in a relaxed environment without the pressure of the student/tutor relationship”
“Courses that can’t guarantee a job will be less appealing for new students”
Greg Hoare, a third year English student
A second year Law student
“In particular, we are no longer accepting new entrants for Law at Cornwall in 2012, which was previously a big recruiter for the campus.” Other universities in the South West have seen more dramatic falls in applications: 6.8 per cent at the University of Bristol, 7.7 per cent at Plymouth University, and 13.9 per cent at UWE.
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As they are students themselves, the Peer Advisors say they can relate more easily to the challenges faced by other students. James Eales, VP Academic Affairs, said: “It’s great to see a peer support system in place that utilises students’ talents to assist in the academic development of others.” Continued on page 5
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CA reach out to senior citizens with socials Giverny Masso
Music P 26 Howler frontman Jordan Gatesmith reveals his rock star moments
COMMUNITY ACTION members launched a new outreach programme for local senior citizens on Thursday 26 January. The project ‘Senior Socials at St.
Sidwell’s’ now runs every Wednesday from 14:00-15:30. As one of two projects working with the elderly, it increases the number of volunteering opportunities available for students. A 2011 community survey revealed that some local residents and students
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Arts review the Footlights production of Thoroughly Modern Millie
Video Games
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Aaron Porter fights for students
Joe Johnston & Hannah Sweet - news@exepose.com
Ben Bradshaw speaks out about the challenges facing Exeter students today
Arts
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Video Games explore the world of App based gaming
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SSASS aims to reduce the isolation felt by some elderly Exeter residents
Student protestors vow to fight eviction Tom Payne Books Editor STUDENT protestors from the Occupy Exeter movement are vowing to fight eviction from their camp on the Exeter Cathedral Green. Church authorities have issued campaigners with notices for immediate eviction, and are prepared to threaten them with legal action following reports of antisocial and aggressive behaviour, as well as damage to the grass of the Cathedral Green. Protestors maintain they are peacefully protesting as part of a global movement against inequality and corporate greed. There is now a total of 30 tents present on the Green. The camp has had a presence on the Cathedral Green since November. Tom Ormiston, a student protestor, told Exeposé that around 10-15 students have stayed on the camp since its inception, including University students and pupils from Exeter College. Abdulla Alshamataan, one of the Exeter students on the media team for the Occupy Exeter movement, has said: “There aren’t many ways to resist eviction. We will go to court if asked to but our main priority above that is to keep the Occupy community together, whether on the Green, physically elsewhere,
had concerns about elderly citizens living in isolation - particularly in largely student areas. Rory Cunningham, University Community Liaison Officer, said: “I feel it is hugely positive that students not only expressed concerns about this issue, but that students themselves have helped address the problem through the SSASS project.” Rory added: “The Student Community Wardens have been promoting this scheme locally and helping to identify residents who might like to attend. The response has been extremely positive.” Sophie Myers and Becky Carey, two students involved with the project, attended the first regular session on 1 February. They said: “The volunteers were fantastic and enthusiastic throughout, however the member turnout was low.
“Sadly the nature of the project makes recruiting members rather difficult, as the people it will benefit most are stuck in their homes so do not see the publicity, especially with this cold weather!” However, they added: “The seniors that did come were very positive and had a great time playing Bingo and Boules. “We are now working really hard to get to the target areas of Exeter as we know the project has such great potential. We are very optimistic about next week’s project as we know that this week’s was thoroughly enjoyed we just need more seniors!” The aim is now to extend the project to engage as many elderly people as possible, including members of Age UK, and those who can be reached through contact with the council. Photo: Hannah Walker
or at least as a network of activists. “We have developed a tightly-knit activist community within the city of Exeter and have changed the lives of some of the marginalized folk of society.”
“We will go to court if asked to but our main priority above that is to keep the Occupy Exeter community together” Abdulla Alshamataan, Exeter student on Occupy Exeter media team
He added that students play a significant role in the everyday operation of the protest and within the camp’s working groups. When asked for details about the legal case being made against Church authorities, which is being drafted by some students, Abdulla said: “The manner in which we will make our case is somewhat experimental. We want to keep our legal arguments under wraps.” Members from the Occupy group recently protested outside the Princesshay branch of Topshop. Negotiations between protestors and the Cathedral remain ongoing.
The 30 tent camp includes 10-15 students who have been there since November
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Exeposé WEEK sixteen
News
Northcott rescued from brink £6m MyExeter upgrade Photos: Josh Irwandi
Arts Council England have awarded the Exeter Northcott Theatre £125,000 every year until 2015, allowing for more performances
Joe Johnston News Editor THE EXETER NORTHCOTT THEATRE has confirmed £375,000 of Arts Council England funding for the next three years. Kate Tyrrell, Executive Director, said: “It’s extremely exciting to at last have some good news and be able to plan with confidence for the future.” The awarded money will allow the Northcott to continue running its yearround programme and consider new projects. Tyrrell continued: “It’s been a tricky few years for the Exeter North-
cott Theatre and the talented team here have shown exceptional professionalism and commitment throughout. The University of Exeter has been extremely supportive and if it wasn’t for their efforts we very much doubt ACE would have made this decision.” The money will enable the Northcott to continue presenting companies such as the Out of Joint, Richard Alston Dance Company, and English Touring Opera. Nick Davis, Guild President, commented: “The funding, in addition to the funding provided by the University, will ensure that the city of Exeter remains a real cultural hub in the South
West. Student groups such as Footlights and EUTCo will benefit greatly from the funding, allowing them to continue putting on top quality performances.” The Northcott is currently collaborating with student societies on their annual productions and is also developing opportunities for work placements. Katharine Bardsley, third year English student and employee at the Northcott, said: “It is really great for Exeter that the Northcott Theatre has finally received well-deserved funding. It’ll be a great boost for the next three years and will allow the theatre to continue to provide excellent entertainment and shows.”
Campaigning begins on campus Jon Jenner STUDENTS can now vote for their preferred candidates in this year’s Sabbatical Officers elections to have their say on the next academic year’s Students’ Guild. Nominations are down from last year, with a total of 22 students vying for the positions of VP Academic Affairs, VP Participation and Campuses, VP Welfare and Community, AU President and Guild President. However, Nick Davis, current Guild President, is optimistic: “Although candidate numbers are not quite as high as last year, I am incredibly excited about their quality.” Candidates will be looking to prove that quality with a week of campaigning for students’ votes around campus. James Fox, current VP Participation
and Campuses, said: “Campaigning to be a Sabb last year was one of the most fun and tiring weeks I have had at Exeter.” He continued: “The ideas that everyone had for their campaigns were fantastic and I cannot wait to see what this year’s candidates come up with.”
“I can’t wait to see what this year’s candidates come up with” James Fox, VP Participation and Campuses
Despite the lack of a Guild-run Candidate Question Time for this year’s elections, University societies have stepped up, with Xpression FM hosting a series of debates during the week, as well as the Debating Society
holding an event for the Guild President candidates in the Amory Building. Nick Davis has some final encouragement for this year’s candidates: “Good luck to all those involved and let’s see if Exeter can once again lead the way with the highest sabbatical election turnout in the country!” Of the 6,491 voters in last year’s Sabb elections, 88 per cent were full time undergraduates and 37 per cent were first year students. College of Humanities students were the most active voters on-large, but looking specifically at subjects, Economics students are at the top of the list. Less than 17 per cent of those who voted were international students. Students can vote until Friday 10 February using their university log-in details via the Guild’s website: www. exeterguild.org/vote.
Hannah Sweet News Editor
EXETER UNIVERSITY has hired a new Chief Technology Officer to lead a £6 million push to upgrade the University’s data network via a three year project. Following recurrent issues with the IT system at Exeter, Lynne Tucker has recently joined the University from King’s College London to plan IT strategy and oversee spending on IT infrastructure over the coming years. The new investment aims to increase Wi-Fi provision across campus, improve upload and download capabilities and ensure a more resilient high speed network. Tucker told Exeposé that the biggest challenge the IT system faces is coping with the pressure that the huge increase in the use of mobile devices is putting on it. According to Tucker, the University’s email system is downloading three times the number of messages compared with last year. Luke Appleton, third year Politics student and creator of MyExeterisdown.com, is not convinced that students’ main concerns are being prioritised: “Can the IT department justify spending thousands on touch screen tables for the Forum project when wireless isn’t universal on campus and services such as ELE and BART still crash too often?” However, Tucker stated: “Exeter IT staff are also addressing the issues we have had with the MyExeter portal service, and I will be looking to modernise this to provide easier con-
nections to more services, information and people and integrate with internetbased services.” Further plans include building an online submission service to allow academic staff to mark coursework and give feedback online, upgrading ELE software, and implementing a new smartphone app. Aside from the network upgrades, the first priority for Tucker is to install a ResNet wireless service into study bedrooms in all Halls of Residence.
“They are making improvements one moveable weather widget at a time”
Luke Appleton, third year Politics student and creator of MyExeterisdown.com Since meeting with the heads of IT last year, Appleton said: “I get the feeling that they are driven to make things better. Despite this, MyExeterisdown. com is used by up to 5,000 students a day, even when My Exeter is up.” “Their overall priorities seem sensible and they are making improvements one moveable weather widget at a time. It might not be perfect, but it’s on the right track.” Appleton has established the MyExeterisdown development group which will be putting pressure on the IT department to improve. If students would like to be involved in this group they should contact Luke by emailing la256@exeter.ac.uk.
Promote your society here. Email editors@exepose.com
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News
Plymouth mag trivialises rape
PLYMOUTH UNIVERSITY student magazine has been condemned for trivialising rape. The online magazine UniLad published an article stating that 85 per cent of rapes go unreported, before trivilaising these statistics. The article went on to state the magazine did not condone rape without the attacker introducing themselves. Technical director of the website and design student Jamie Street faces disciplinary action from the University. The National Union of Students has branded the website “misogynistic” and has called for it to be shut down. Estelle Hard, National Women’s Officer, has stated: “These pathetic attempts at humour feed into a view in society that women are to blame for the violence committed against them. We cannot let them get away with such degrading attitudes.” Alex Partridge, responsible for the site content, has apologised. He said in a statement: “The article in question was a shambles and should never have been printed. “UniLad will be greatly improving its editorial policies.”
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Chin-Chin for business win Raj Kular FOUR second year Business students have progressed into the final stage of the PwC Bright Futures Business Champions competition. The competition challenges groups of undergraduates to raise the largest amount of money from a business they have set up themselves, and Emily Cross, Luka Nikolic, Nkiru Uwaje and Ohioma Imoukhuede, collectively known as ‘Team Zuma’, have high hopes of winning. Last year, a team of Exeter University students came second in the competition with their business ‘Ex-Bay’, an online shopping website for students to buy and sell a wide range of goods
such as sports equipment and tickets. Team Zuma have chosen to sell a popular Nigerian snack food with the brand name ‘Chin-Chin’. The team are producing the snack themselves, and claim the production is fairly easy as it is deep fried. Emily Cross states that the team like to call them “little squares of happiness.”
“We call them little squares of happiness” Emily Cross, member of Team Zuma
Last Christmas, Team Zuma took their product to the University’s Bulgarian Society to see how well it would be received. Social Secretary Dimitar Ivanov stated: “A lot of members asked
about Chin-Chin and seemed interested in finding out where they could get more.” Chin-Chin is being sold on stalls throughout Streatham campus until 16 March, and all of the money raised will be donated to the charity ‘School of Social Entrepreneurs’. The chosen charity tackles inequalities and social segregation by supporting entrepreneurs to utilise their talent into creating solutions for poor and disadvantaged communities. Joe Pearce, Business Support Manager at the Innovation Centre, commented: “It is great to see Exeter Students taking a keen and active interest in starting up businesses and demonstrating an entrepreneurial flair.” Photo: Emily Cross
Rethinking mental health EXETER STUDENT Kayleigh Toyra is leading a pioneering support group for the siblings of those with mental illness. The group, part of a national project run by the charity Rethink Mental Illness, was launched on 31 January and is one of the first of its kind set up outside of London. Rethink Mental Illness’ Siblings Network is a specialist project which supports the brothers and sisters of people who have mental health problems such as depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Toyra has a brother with schizophrenia. She said: “When my brother was diagnosed it felt that there was no hope for a normal future. However, when I visited the Rethink Mental Illness group in London, I met brothers and sisters of people who had been diagnosed years ago. They showed me ways of dealing with issues that might arise in the future. “I decided to open a group in Exeter so that local people didn’t have to travel far for support. I hope that people from all ages join the group so that we can all benefit from a variety of experiences.” The group will be held on the last Tuesday of every month from 18:0020:00 in the Pippa Langston Room in Cornwall House. It is open to anyone over the age of 18 who has a sibling with mental illness. For more information email: rethinkexeter@gmail.com.
Team Zuma are marketing Nigerian snack food Chin-Chin in the hope of winning the PwC Business Champions competition
Exeposé
New jobs site means business Peter Collins A NEW website aims to open up internship opportunities within the South West to Exeter students. The website, co-founded by Alain Desmier, former President of Exeter‘s Students’ Guild, is to work closely with small businesses in the region and publicise the work placements that they offer. Students looking for internships often find that most positions advertised are based in London, an option that can prove too expensive for those with houses outside of the City. Enternships, the company behind the site, connects current students and graduates with a variety of start-up firms. The intention is that interns will receive first-hand experience of a new business establishing itself, becoming more aware of the highlights and pitfalls of the entrepreneurial lifestyle. Desmier said: “The very premise of www.enternships.com is to showcase the vast array of entrepreneurial career opportunities out there to students and graduates.” The University of Exeter has produced a number of successful entrepreneurs over the years. Student-founded e-businesses such as Fantasy Shopper, or Unisportonline, are a few examples of successful innovations. Enternships aims to encourage more graduates to follow this path. James McNish, third year History student, commented: “In today’s climate you often need to find an internship to get into work.”
‘I’m in’: Students look to impress Dragon Sarah Holmes EXETER Entrepreneurs launched their annual Exeter Apprentice competition on Friday 27 January. Katie Hopkins, former The Apprentice contestant, was guest speaker at the ceremony where each team received £100 which they must use to finance their projects over the coming term. Deborah Meaden will judge the final products on 17 May, giving competitors a unique chance to discuss their business plans with the Dragons’ Den star. Oliver Springate, Enterprise Training Fellow of Exeter Entrepreneurs society, told Exeposé: “Essentially, the competition gives people a sand-box attempt at running a business. I think it gives a lot of people the skills, practice and confidence to just go out and do it.” Three prizes are awarded in the competition including Most Profitable
Business Idea, Most Socially Responsible and Most Creative. Teams can create any kind of business, although 10 per cent of the profits must be returned to the society.
“Essentially, the competition gives people a sandbox attempt at running a business”
of this.” The Exeter Apprentice has produced some very successful products in the past which have continued to generate sales beyond the competition. These include the Exeter water bottle, Exeter branded lingerie and the first
ever organic lube which is still on sale in Ann Summers. Katie Hopkins said: “As an employer, seeing entrepreneurial instinct in a potential employee is critical and Exeter Apprentice provides evidence of that.”
Oliver Springate, Enterprise Training Fellow
Jess Drew, President of Students In Free Enterprise society, said: “With the recent decline in the job market, more and more students are deciding to set up their own business after university. So the Exeter Apprentice is really important in giving students valuable experience in this area. The University has invested a lot of money and staff time in student enterprise this year, and the competition forms an inherent part
Dragons’ Den star Deborah Meaden will judge the final products on 17 May
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Exeposé WEEK sixteen
Interview Bradshaw: Defending the people of Exeter Alex Wynick BEN BRADSHAW, MP for Exeter, has admitted concerns about the changes to universities: “I’m very worried about the big drop off in student applications for next year, which is exactly what [Labour] said would happen if the government trebled fees.” The Labour politician who held his seat outside of a majority government for the first time last year, has talked to Exeposé about his concerns for student prospects following the increase in tuition fees.” He said: “I’m not only worried about young people not realising their potential life chances, but about the knock-on impact this is going to have on universities and their income. Because of the government’s new student visa rules, I know Exeter University has lost a lot of students from the Gulf and other parts of the world, which is also causing me concern.” Defending Labour’s plan for higher education, Bradshaw continued: “We had a different approach to university funding; Ed Miliband is a strong advocate of graduate tax rather than student fees. We’ve already committed ourselves to reducing fees to £6,000 in the immediate term and investing that money back into universities.
Commons very seriously, I have to represent my constituents in London and hold the government to account.” When it came to looking to the future, Bradshaw said: “We’re in a different economic climate, and my main priority trying to ensure that the gains we’ve made in Exeter are not lost and not reversed. “We’re lucky to have a relatively buoyant labour market. This is helping to reduce the impact of the coming economic situation, but Exeter is not immune. I see my job as working with the Labour City Council trying to protect Exeter from the worst excesses of the coalition government.”
Ellie Busby Editor ALONG with the rise in tuition fees and decline in university applications, Bradshaw has also discussed with Exeposé the Occupy Exeter movement and relations between students and locals. Concerning the ongoing protest outside Exeter Cathedral, Bradshaw has called upon both students and local residents involved in the Occupy movement to “move on peacefully” from the Cathedral green. Occupy Exeter began their protest on 12 November as part of a global anticapitalist movement. After 12 weeks of occupation, the protesters have been Photo: Henry White
“I would defend to the hilt people’s right to protest peacefully, but here you also have the right of the Cathedral to protect its property”
“I’m not only worried about young people not realising their potential life chances, but about the knock-on impact on universities”
He added: “I would like to think that we’d recognise the value of higher education and broadening access, particularly from middle and low-income families; if you’re serious about social mobility that has to be a main priority.” Bradshaw denied that the coalition government has drastically changed his ability to help Exeter, saying: “It doesn’t really change the fundamentals of doing the job. If anything it’s made my job more important, I’m one of only two opposition MPs in the South West. “I have to make sure the decisions taken in Westminster are scrutinised and the interests of Exeter are properly recognised and defended, which is a challenge I relish. I take Parliament and the Continued from page 1 The centre has been inspired by similar models in North America and is among the first such initiatives in the UK. Greg Hoare, one of the Peer Advisors for the Centre, said: ‘‘I have really enjoyed my time at the centre so far. It is particularly satisfying when you can see that you have helped a student to improve an aspect of their
threatened with legal action from Exeter’s Cathedral due to their refusal to evict the camp. Speaking to Exeposé, Bradshaw said: “They’ve had some very important and interesting things to say and I would defend to the hilt people’s right to protest peacefully in a democracy. However, all rights in democracy have to be balanced against other rights, and here you also have the right of the Cathedral to protect and maintain its property.” The protest has been criticised for provoking anti-social behaviour. To this, Bradshaw said: “I think if you have a camp like that in such a public place, where we have a growing problem of homelessness in Exeter, then it’s very difficult to manage that situation without issues arising.”
Bradshaw vows to “protect Exeter from the worst excesses of the coalition government”
writing, as the shift in writing style from college to university is a dramatic one, regardless of ability.”
“The shift in writing style from college to university is a dramatic one” Greg Hoare, a third year English student
Greg added: “It is a fantastic new resource – it enables students to receive feedback in a relaxed, less formal environment, without the pressure of the student/tutor relationship. We can offer help to students of all abilities, whether they are pushing for a 2.2, or attempting to nail down a 1st.” Dr Siân Harris said: “I think that one of the positive trends in higher education has been that universities
The Dean of Exeter recently attempted to compromise by offering a permanent site on the Green. Occupy Exeter rejected this proposal. Bradshaw commented: “I believe it was a very reasonable and generous offer and I think it’s a shame that Occupy Exeter movement didn’t accept it. It’s left the Cathedral with no other option than to take action to move the camp on.” The Occupy Exeter movement has seen both local residents and students actively campaigning together against injustice and greed. On the relationship between the city and the University, Bradshaw claimed that the students were greatly appreciated within the city. He said: “The overwhelming sense in Exeter, from both Exonions and students, is that the city benefits hugely from the University and the presence of the students here.” However, some students have claimed to feel tension living amongst local residents. To this, Bradshaw admitted: “There are issues that need managing, noise late at night or people putting their rubbish out at the wrong times, but I believe those are issues which the University and the City Council have managed pretty successfully.”
increasingly appreciate how important it is to deliver a good student experience, and listen to their student communities, and I believe that the Writing Centre project reflects that.” For more information search on Facebook for ‘Exeter Writing Centre’, or to make an appointment email: humanities-writing-centre@exeter. ac.uk.
News
National Student News Commission to investigate fees
THE government has launched an independent commission to investigate the impact of higher tuition fees in England. Working closely with UCAS, the panel will be paying particular attention to the effect of increased fees young people from low and middle income backgrounds. The panel will be chaired by University of Oxford principle Will Hutton, and will compile a report every year for three years. He said: “It is incredibly important that we provide an independent check on the biggest reforms for higher education in a generation, particularly looking at what impact higher fees have on prospective students from less privileged backgrounds. “We will be keeping an open mind; the aim will be to produce a dispassionate and authoritative analysis of the data as it emerges.”
Bubble for student news Dominic Holbrook ENTERPRISING Exeter student Robin Chu has created Bubble Today, a website for national university news and articles as a response to what he saw as the lack of a student focused news-site. “It’s a completely student generated website where any student can just go online and submit their article, interview, or video to the site,” said Robin, who launched the site in October last year and now serves as an editor for content, along with other students from Exeter, Oxford, Newcastle and Edinburgh. Robin hopes that the site will create a place for budding journalists to have their work published, as well as encouraging dedicated writers from other universities to specialize in locally relevant news and issues. He added: “It allows students to submit articles they’re passionate about. It really is trying to be a site for students by students.” Although there are similar websites online already, Robin believes that Bubble Today represents a step away from the blog pages and general forums that are common in the online community. So far, the site has seen contributors from universities all over Britain, from both under-graduate and post-graduate writers. Students can visit the site at www. bubbletoday.com.
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Comment Exeposé
The Exeter Student Newspaper
The election fever strikes again
It’s that time of year: the corridors and paths of campus are awash with colourful t-shirts, equally colourful slogans, placards, banners and a gauntlet of eager campaigners all vying for your attention. Election week is one of the most hectic weeks of the year, eagerly awaited or dreaded by students on campus. The standard of candidates is exceptional and as you will see in our Sabbatical Election Coverage on pages 18- 25, the calibre is such that some tough decisions will have to be made when it comes down to the vote. This year is going to be very close and every crucial vote will count. Be expected to see an intense results night at the end of the week, with recounts and double checks likely. This year it really is open for the taking. Particularly strong categories are the Guild President and VP Participation and Campuses roles, where the standard of candidates is extremely
high. However, we have gone through all the manifestos and created a concise guide to all the candidates for you to read and make a judgement. Criticism which befalls the elections every year is the view, held by many, that it is merely a popularity contest. Inevitably there will be voting for friends, but it is important that people read the full manifestos online and consider their choices carefully. These people will represent you and the Guild next year, and so their aims are far more important than their popularity or their attractiveness. Exeter is a record setting University when it comes to elections, and the Guild is hoping to continue that trend this year. It is interesting to see there are almost half the number of candidates to last year, and whilst the number is still respectable, one has to wonder what the causes of this dramatic drop are.
Whilst the drop in Sabbatical candidates is surprising and unexplained, the fall in applications to universities is not. As revealed on our front page, Exeter has managed to avoid the worst of this drop, with only a 0.38 per cent fall, whereas nationwide it is 8.7 per cent.
as a middle class, elitist institution, an accusation levelled at many of the top ten universities, so it is crucial this reputation is not reinforced over the coming years, as disadvantaged and poorer students are put off by the cost of education and living in Exeter. Despite these issues, Exeter is still popular, which is very promising.This suggests students still view the University as an expanding and developing place which will benefit them in the long term. To ensure the applications do not significantly decrease next year, the new Sabbatical Officers will hopefully focus on ensuring that students get the value for money they deserve and that accessibility to study at Exeter is at the fore of the University’s policies and advertising.
Application drop
“Sabbatical officers will hopefully focus on ensuring we get value for money, which we deserve” Exeter has maintained its reputation and appeal despite the rise in annual fees, but this does raise questions about accessibility and the diversity of students. The University is often cited
Thanks to all those who helped proof this issue: James Crouch, Imogen Crookes, Fiona Lally, Callum McLean, Megan Furborough, Emily Tanner, Clara Plackett, Charlotte Farland, Eleanor Christie, Maddie Soper, Tom Nicoll, Alex Tindall, Tom Bond, Ciara Long, Alice Boorman, Thomas Ling, James Dyson, Ben Wright, Josh Irwandi, Calum Baker and members of the Exeposé Editorial team
6 february 2012
Exeposé
Editors: Ellie Busby & Henry White Deputy Editors: Ellie Bothwell & Rosie Scudder editors@exepose.com
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INTERVIEW: Graduate employment
Ellie Bothwell and Rosie Scudder, Deputy Editors, speak to Jo McCreedie, Employer Liaison Officer, about preparing oneself for the world of work
Photo: Hannah Walker
Internships are a hot topic for students. Some claim that the prevalence of unpaid opportunities is merely a form of exploitation, whilst others view internships as vital preparation for the workplace. As students of this University, we are faced with disconcerting statistics about Exeter’s often disappointing level of graduate employability. Often falling down on league tables because of this, employment is a particularly pressing issue for students at this University. Add to this the troubling figures recently released regarding high levels of unemployment (2.6 million across the UK), including record levels amongst young people, and you’d be forgiven for thinking the future isn’t bright. Keen to uncover a more positive perspective, Exeposé spoke to Jo McCreedie, Employer Liaison Officer for the University, to see if internships are worth the trouble.
“The University of Exeter produces world-class graduates who are intelligent, knowledgeable and competent”
So are internships even that important? “Yes,” McCreedie emphatically replied, before explaining how they are a vital pre-requisite in preparation for employment: “The University of Exeter produces world-class graduates. This shows an employer our graduates are intelligent, knowledgeable and competent. However, employers also want to know
that you are ready for the workplace. You could be competing with applicants who are highly educated and have work experience.” Yet, importantly, McCreedie came down firmly against unpaid internships: “Most people need money to live, so it is unfair to expect students or graduates to work for free. If someone undertakes a project or role with certain responsibilities and the employer expects you to behave as an employee, then, by law, that person should be paid national minimum wage.”
“The University’s Employability and Graduate Development helps students find and maintain employment” Though reassuring, this does not prevent a large number of students giving up their time without pay, and so we were interested to ascertain whether there are any realistic alternatives. “The alternative is to work for a salary!” McCreedie
told us. “There are always some paid internships available, including internship schemes I manage which can be found on My Career Zone.” As well as applying for one of these internship schemes, McCreedie was keen to point out that there are many support services available at Exeter University for students seeking experience and information about careers: “The University’s Employability and Graduate Development (EGD) offer a range of events, activities and support to help students find and maintain employment.” Taking part in Widen Your Options, the Career Mentoring Scheme and the Exeter Award, to name but a few of the services available, can all increase students’ chances of finding employment after University. So what are McCreedie’s top tips for entering the world of work in such a rocky climate? “Have a career focus – register on My Career Zone and select your preference for internships. Network - register with the University’s Alumni Relations office. And most importantly, be positive. Even if 200 graduates are applying for one position, it could be you that is the successful candidate!”
Exeposé WEEK sixteen
Are online submissions student-friendly? Tom Payne Books Editor
AS if collective student laziness wasn’t pervasive enough, the University has now deemed it necessary to make preparations for a new online assignment submission programme, currently being trialed across 33 inter-departmental modules. Technology for technology’s sake? Or a genuine benefit to our ailing academics, burdened daily with the invariable trauma that comes with carrying “piles of essays around,” as James Eales, VP Academic Affairs helpfully reminded us last issue. Woe to them indeed. If the focus is going to be anywhere, it’s got to be on the students. There are numerous benefits to online submissions that I think will genuinely improve student satisfaction and the efficiency of assignment hand-in days. Most importantly, if it works as it’s meant to, the system will lessen congestion at department offices at peak hours. This will also prevent further congestion at library computer rooms and in the
Print Shop. Eales rightly emphasises that the scheme will eventually be a cheaper and more environmentally beneficial system. The pilot scheme, which is currently limited to select modules across the University, sounds like it could work very well. The trouble seems to be in applying the system to all modules, which organisers hope to achieve in September 2012 after a summer evaluation. In my experience at this University, and with experimental technology in general, these things rarely have a spotless success rating. Inevitably, the system is liable to crash at peak times – ELE in itself is most commonly accessed through the woefully inept MyExeter mainframe, which in spite of frequent efforts from University tech teams, suffers from periods of sustained downtime throughout term. If the scheme is to be made available to all of Exeter’s vast student body, then the system will need to be made completely watertight. Those behind the scheme also need to ensure trust from students by making improvements to the existing online infrastructure. So long as the focus stays on improving student satisfaction, rather than academics, online submissions will be a welcome option for assignment submission.
Comment
7
Is Exeter truly International? Anthony Prodromou EXETER has always prided itself upon its international reputation, and rightly so – every year it attracts some of the brightest global students as it continues its ascent through the world university rankings. The benefits of being in such a diverse, multicultural environment are lost, however, upon a lack of integration that stems from a University set up that facilitates the jarring separation between international and domestic students. We live and work in a University that is already renowned for its rarified atmosphere, with this certainly not being helped by the fact that there is, disturbingly, often talk of international students and then of ‘us’. How often do you come into regular contact with international students? The international perspective that university affords is utterly priceless, and anyone would agree that it is certainly a prerequisite for receiving a wholesome, balanced education. Seminars and lectures aside, there is little assimilation outside of contact hours. International halls, buildings, dining and working areas all detract from the ‘international
environment’ that Exeter prides itself on being. Of course I understand that there must and always will be a distinct international community and that tailored university support is necessary, but at Exeter this has led to an overarching feeling of grating detachment. It seems that the myriad cultures here all go about doing the same thing – getting a degree – but in entirely disjointed spheres. This is not only a huge shame, but a waste of the intellectual agitation that is the product of a global learning environment. A move towards a more homogenised university experience is not only a way to make Exeter genuinely international, but to make it a better University. Small steps would make big changes. Instead of the clumping of
international students into predominately ‘international blocks’, a more equal ratio between international and domestic students throughout the halls of residence would have innumerable benefits in terms of increasing inter-cultural harmony sustainably, rather than the superficial facade of a numerical approach that makes Exeter as ‘international’ as it is today. The large number of solely international buildings must be incorporated more fully into the University, allowing all students to mingle and make friends outside of their comfort zones; there should be as little differentiation between ‘international’ and domestic students as possible. A candid reassessment of its international student policy must certainly be the next step for the University. Photo: Henry White
The INTO building - the International Student Centre
Sabbatical elections: A survivor’s guide Tori Brazier Screen Editor
THIS week is Sabb elections week, and if you haven’t had several flyers thrust at you or been ‘walked and talked at’ by at least one potential candidate within your first 15 minutes or so on campus, then I commend your evasion techniques! They won’t last. Levity aside though, this week is a vital one in Exeter’s calendar each year, and with good reason. It is perhaps the most influential period for all students, regardless of year or ‘status’ within the University, as it affords them the right to have a say in the running of our Students’ Guild. Exeter boasts the nation’s highest level of student participation in these elections, with a record voting turnout of 38.3 per cent last year (or 6,491 individual votes). The Guild also enjoys a reputation as one of the best all-round student unions in the country. I am therefore encouraging everyone to continue the excellent work laid down by current and previous sabbatical
officers and incarnations of the Guild, and persuade you all to get online and voting! It is, however, all very well and good for me to blithely advise every student to pop onto the Guild website and choose their favourite candidate for each post as if it’s that simple. Sabb elections week can be trying for even the most patient of students, with its constant bombardment of literature and canvassers doggedly determined to snag every passing student (and accidental lecturer) for their candidate. Having both canvassed and avoided canvassers, I know that it can be soul-destroying for both: students rushing to lectures or meetings, or just after a casual stroll, might find it hard to conceal their resentment for campaigners interrupting their conversations/peaceful day with frantic snippets of manifesto. Equally, it’s pretty suck-y when you politely (hopefully) attempt to engage someone in a quick conversation about your candidate’s credentials and plans, only to have them ignore you, aggressively confront you or, most often, pretend to be on the phone, listening to their iPod or talking to the stranger nearest them in a moment of blind panic. Some of the more extreme evasion methods can be
rather entertaining though. Regardless of any students’ potential active involvement with canvassing this week though, I can only implore the student body to be sensible in their methods for selecting their chosen sabbatical officer.
“Having both canvassed and avoided canvassers, I know that it can be soul-destroying for both” Co-ordinating T-shirts, vast overexposure and/or a witty slogan do not necessarily a good candidate make. Many nominees do launch organised and slick campaigns, which can be a sign that they are taking their potential positions seriously, but it is always worthwhile checking the manifesto behind the candidate. Check on the website, or if that’s too much effort, question them in person. Anyone running should be adequately prepared to take any passerby through a brief summary of their proposed ideas, or engage with them on point which they feel has particular relevance for that student. If you’re feeling particularly keen, why not attend one of
the candidates’ debates during the week, where you can judge for yourselves how prepared or impressive the nominees are when under pressure? Holding off on casting your vote as early on in the week as possible can be a shrewd idea too, because you may find yourself charmed by another candidate on campus and wishing that you could go back and alter your vote. On the other hand, you might cast all your votes without first setting foot on campus, in order to play the “I’ve already voted” avoidance card, only to find that the obnoxious student currently participating in some awfully embarrassing publicity stunt is in fact the person you’ve just voted for as your first-choice candidate for Guild President… Another crucial tip is to take full advantage of the Single Transferrable Vote system: the UK might not have it, but our Guild most certainly does! This means that you can rank the candidates in order of preference, thereby ensuring that even if your first-choice student doesn’t win, there’s still a chance that your second-choice could. You can be tactical by only voting for one candidate per role but then you risk losing any say at all if said candidate is eliminated in the early rounds of vote-counting,
and I’d rather have a second-choice candidate successful than one for whom I have complete apathy.
“Anyone running should be adequately prepared to take any passer-by through a brief summary of their proposed ideas” My final, and perhaps most difficult piece of advice is to try not to be swayed into voting for any of your friends who may be running, as this only enforces the view that these elections are a ‘popularity contest.’ Select the candidate who you think can offer the most to the students in their chosen role. The student body is ultimately responsible through their voting for the caretaking of the Guild and its policies, which only aim to improve everyone’s University experience. Right, now it’s time for me to step down from my soap-box and wish the best of luck to candidates, canvassers and voting students alike. I hope all goes according to your campaign or evasion plan! See pages 18-25 for Exeposé’s Sabbatical elections coverage.
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6 february 2012 Exeposé
Comment
ECU’s toastie-samaritans Laura Gardner-Cuesta “TEXT us on Wednesday or Thursday (25 and 26 Jan) night between 12am-2am, with that one question you have always wanted to know about God and your choice of toastie: we’ll bring it right to your door!” – was the message on posters around Holland Hall and posts on Facebook. I must say I was a bit surprised at this idea, definitely a new one. Was I getting a midnight meal in exchange for a minute’s lecture answering one of my many doubts about God? I did feel a little guilty when I texted surely they must feel used? Most of us texted them solely for the toastie, but then it was their idea after all. So I ended up texting the Christian Union on both nights. The service turned out to be great: after only 15 minutes of sending my text two really nice girls answered my question and gave me my hot toastie.
ECU seems to have a recurrent theme: they lure you into listening with food. Take their “Jesus for Sceptics” investigation (30 Jan to 2 Feb), where the main goal is to question Christians but they are perfectly happy if you only want a free lunch. Also, they are very active (one of the societies that had the most events going on during Fresher’s week), so much so that this Saturday (28 Jan) the same toastie-samaritans were giving out bread and butter outside the Lemmy. What’s more, ECU members from other halls (James Owen Court, Mardon) have decided to deliver free toasties too.
“Was I getting a midnight meal in exchange for a minute’s lecture answering one of my many doubts about God?”
I come from a country where religious matters are taken very seriously and people are quite traditional when
“Most of us texted them solely for the toastie, but then it was their idea after all”
it comes to manifesting their faith. This appreciation of orthodoxy rubs off even if you are not a Christian. So when I first came to Exeter I couldn’t help thinking that all these activities organized by the CU were simply a way to attract people’s attention that I found too eccentric. But I have to admit that this method allows them to have their say and create a discussion (albeit a short one). And not only does it work for them, it also seems to make everyone else happy. So, thumbs up to ECU and their toastie campaign! Exeposé would like to apologise for an error in the last issue. We published a Letter to the Editors without the author’s name. We would like to acknowledge that this letter was written by S. Steele.
National Student Volunteering Week Alex Tindall
FROM 20-24 February, National Student Volunteering Week will hit Exeter. The week aims to raise awareness of different types of volunteering and the abundance of opportunities to get involved locally. I would hazard a guess that most Exeter students associate volunteering with RAG or CA alone. These societies are invaluable to our university; they provide the means for students to raise money for charity and make a difference in the community. Then why do we need NSVW? The point of the week is partly to encourage students to get involved with existing projects, but also to show students that there’s a lot more to volunteering than just charity work. In fact, many students may already be volunteers without even realizing it. Volunteering encapsulates anything anyone does in their own time, free of
charge, to help someone else. Simple. This not only includes community work like helping the elderly or working on a conservation project abroad, but also things you may not have previously thought of as volunteering. Anyone who gets involved at university, for example by running a society or being an SSLC representative (even if it is just for the CV), is a volunteer. There’s also a whole lot more out there to get involved in than you may think, and pretty much anything to suit your specific interests, whether it be dog-walking, political campaigning or coaching a sports team. That’s why I think it’s a great idea for Exeter to finally get involved in the week. Volunteering already has a significant presence on campus but the net needs to be thrown wider to encourage volunteering from an even wider range of people offering different skills and interests. It’s set to be an exciting week for students with events held by current volunteers and plenty of ways for you to get involved and get thinking about what you can do for someone else.
Letters to the Editors
Send your letters to editors@exepose.com Re: “What grinds Georgia’s gears? Best friend marketing” (Lifestyle, p16, Issue 588) Exeposé Firstly, the reason this ‘best friend marketing’ is so prevalent is because it works. Cynicism aside, it sells. However, what I believe is Georgia’s main gripe, is the element of ‘trickery’ in this type of advertising and marketing. The main reason, in my opinion, that the advertising and marketing worlds get such bad stick is because 90 per cent of advertising is just bad and very lazy. Take the GoCompare (sing it) campaign for example. That cost £28 million pounds, and for me it epitomises everything about the industry that is poor. It’s gimmicky, it’s annoying, it uses every trick in the book but… it works. GoCompare site usage is up 450 per cent since the campaign started. Then take the new Twinings ad with the girl and the song (sing it) and the boat. Whether or not you find the cover of The Calling’s song insulting, the ad is brilliant, because there is no trickery and there is nothing hidden in the wings. All the creators have managed to do is pinpoint the exact relationship between consumers and Twining’s product. It’d be really easy to call this ad a trick, because it might actually make you want to choose that brand, rather than a competitor’s. That’s not a good trick, that’s a good advert. I’m not trying to idealise or roman-
ticise advertising and marketing – at the end of the day they are just trying to sell products and build relationships between companies, brands and customers. Advertising is everywhere, and the only way to beat it is to recognise it for what it is and make independent, informed and objective decisions about what you buy. However, if you look deeper at what good advertising can show us, it’s that, as well as wanting to make money, companies also believe that they are selling a product that people want to buy. If you don’t want to buy it, you’re not their target, so they’ve already lost that battle and there’s no need for you to make a song and dance about it. I think that Georgia feels that because she is exposed to all this advertising that it is trying to force her to spend money and trick her into ‘[racking] up lots of juicy debt’ on a company credit card. If you don’t want a company credit card, then don’t get one. Think intelligently about advertising and you’re already beating it at its own game; it is what it is, and it’s only a trick if you fall for it. Best wishes, Rose Cresswell Re: “Is second hand smoking really dangerous?” (Features, p11, Issue 588) Exeposé In the article you ran last Monday, “Is
second hand smoking really dangerous?” James Dyson suggests that the evidence for second hand smoke being a Class A carcinogen is lacking, and that new anti-tobacco laws are the result of a political conspiracy that the world’s health authorities are complicit in. James’s claims are based on a single court review of one scientific report, a few dodgy quotes and - ironically considering his early denouncement - a cherry-picked quote from a 1998 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into second hand smoke. Significantly, every scientist James quotes has well-established links with the tobacco industry. Dr Gio Batta Gori, for example, is vice-president of the Franklin Institute Policy Analysis Center - a group founded by a $400,000 grant from B&W Tobacco, which to this day continues to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars annually from B&W. In 1993, Gori himself received between $200 and $1000 a day, directly from B&W. Also, Deborah E. Barnes and Lisa A. Bero published a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1998, finding that: “The only factor associated with concluding that passive smoking is not harmful was whether an author was affiliated with the tobacco industry.” In James’s commentary on the 1993 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report he seems to confuse the report’s a priori hypothesis with being “before any actual research had been done [...] publicly committed [...] to the
conclusion”; a reading of the entire report shows how out-of-context the quote seems to be. Judge William L. Osteen did indeed lambast the EPA, as James’s article states, but he did so because their report (a meta analysis of previous research papers) failed to state the criteria used for identifying and excluding previous results that were of poor quality. This left the EPA open to allegations of cherry picking - however, considering the weight of evidence that has followed this report, it seems more likely that this was a case of poor authorship as opposed to dodgy science. The 1998 WHO report did indeed conclude that ‘Our results indicate no association between childhood exposure to ETS [environmental tobacco smoke] and lung cancer risk.” However it continued with, “We did find weak evidence of a dose-response relationship between risk of lung cancer and exposure to spousal and workplace ETS.” This result is supposedly embarrassing to WHO and is routinely used as ‘evidence’ for the lack of danger from second hand smoke. To be thorough, though, the result should really be considered alongside the numerous other papers that have pointed towards second hand smoke being a carcinogen, causing an increase in the relative risk of lung cancer by approximately 20 per cent. In epidemiological terms this is certainly a low risk to detect reliably, yet again, the evidence should be considered in the context of other findings. None other than the
tobacco corporations themselves have found chemical similarities between smoke that’s directly inhaled and smoke inhaled passively. There is also a wealth of evidence demonstrating the risk of low level cigarette smoking, with no evidence of there being a threshold level for carcinogenicity to occur. Also, tobacco smoke biomarkers are routinely found in people exposed to second hand smoke, dispelling any idea that there isn’t any metabolic uptake of it. All of this on its own forms a biologically plausible argument that second hand smoke is a carcinogen, that is only further cemented by the findings of organisations like WHO and EPA. It’d be dull to refute James’s claims in their entirety here, but I hope I’ve at least given a broad overview showing that there isn’t much to them. I’ll end with one more piece of evidence, though. Multiple studies have looked at the effect of public smoking bans on the rate of hospital admissions for heart attacks, and almost all have found that bans lead to a decrease in hospital admission rates for heart attack, in some cases by up to 40 per cent (see reports by Naiman et al. 2010, Sims et al. 2010 and Lightwood et al. 2009). So even if second hand smoke isn’t carcinogenic (which it almost certainly is) there are certainly further ‘vague [...] health reasons’ for the implementing of bans, as opposed to any kind of political conspiracy. Chad Byworth and Jack Nicholls
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Exeter take you this summer?
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL 18 June - 13 July 2012 Courses in Chinese Language, Business, Engineering, Science, Social Sciences and Humanities International Exeter scholarships available, subject to eligibility.
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10
Features Sam Lambert & Clare Mullins - features@exepose.com
6 february 2012 Exeposé
Addressing online piracy
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Hannah Brewer discusses the latest clampdown on filesharing websites Photo: AP
The group, including Kim Dotcom, are being held in cutody in New Zealand
2012 BEGAN with an unprecedented crackdown on internet piracy. The overnight shutdown of online file sharing platform Megaupload.com on 19 January 2012 is significant. Now any attempts to access what was once the 13th most visited site on the world wide web are blocked by a US law enforcement and FBI warning page. The United States Department of Justice seized and disabled the site which was accused of costing copyright holders more than $500m (£320m) in lost revenue by offering a service which encouraged the pirating of films, television and movies. Megaupload founder and former criminal hacker Kim Schmitz, and six of his associates, have been arrested and are awaiting charges. Dubbed a “Mega Conspiracy” by US law enforcers, the rise and fall of Megaupload.com has been sensationalised by the media. Reporters couldn’t resist constructing a dramatic Hollywood-esque narrative of the modern day ‘pirate’s’ fall from grace which climaxed with a helicopter raid on his island mansion in New Zealand and seizure of $5 million worth of
luxury cars with number plates reading “GUILTY”, “MAFIA” and “GOD.” Yet, putting all character ‘convictions’ and lifestyle choices aside, Schmitz (aka Kim Dotcom, Kim Tim Jim Vestor, or “Kimble” to his friends) faces being charged with facilitating one of the biggest copyright violations in history. If extradited to the US the web entrepreneur could be given 20 years in a United States federal penitentiary, the same length of sentence has previously been given to terrorists and child molesters. Schmitz’s supporters have accused US authorities of making a scapegoat out of him. Other supporters of Schmitz have claimed that the American Department of Justice’s deliberate release of sordid stories of Schmitz’s past and the dredging up of unproven allegations against him is an effort to prove him guilty in the court of public opinion before any legal battle has even begun. The US authorities have also been accused of acting rashly by closing Megaupload in order to ‘save face’ following the failure of the SOPA and PIPA (Stop
Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act, respectively) legislation in the same week. Wikipedia staged a 24 hour blackout to protest against the governments proposals to “censor the internet” by making it easier to cut off pirate websites. Hacker group Anonymous, who were responsible for attacking the websites of the Motion Picture Association of America and the US Federal Justice Department in protest against the shut down of Megaupload, believe that the closure of the site is a nail in the coffin of the freedom of speech. As the figurehead of Megaupload. com does Schmitz deserve the blame? It is undeniable that his website was illegitimately used as a platform for internet piracy. A European study says more than a million more jobs will be lost by 2015 unless such online piracy isn’t tackled. The debate over the legitimacy of Schmitz’s conviction is whether the conspiracy to pervert copyright laws was his prerogative or that of the site’s users. Authorities claim that whereas other data sharing websites such as Youtube. com immediately disable files once notified of their copyright infringement, Megaupload repeatedly ignored warnings that their site was hosting illegal content. This is why the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) fully supports the closure of Megaupload and the punishment of its operators for allegedly making over $175 million in illegal profits. In a statement they said: “By all estimates, Megaupload.com is the largest and most active criminally operated website targeting creative content in the world.”
They are seconded by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) who say that those who “thumb their noses at international laws, all while pocketing significant advertising revenues from trafficking in free, unlicensed copyrighted materials” deserve to do time in prison, as do all other criminals who deliberately and repeatedly defy the law. According to the prosecution, Megaupload knew what they were doing, but did nothing to stop illegal activity and the corruption of the entertainment industry. But others have been less sympathetic. Megaupload enjoyed support from a string of successful music artists such as Kanye West and Alicia Keys, who were involved in a promotional video for the site. Conspiracy theorists are suggesting that the real reason Megaupload was shut down was because they were planning to launch a new site called Megabox.com. Music artists could have uploaded their songs to the site for free and would be able to retain 90 per cent of their earnings by
doing so. Was the US Department of Justice ultimately defending global market economy? Yet the main concern now for Megaupload’s 150 million registered users is whether their files stored on the site are to be lost forever in cyberspace. Nearly a quarter of all online activity around the world involves the consumption of pirated material. Yet it is undeniable that such illegal sites are providing unrivalled accessibility which the entertainment industry is struggling to match. Attempts to legislate against Internet piracy may have been defeated for now, but there still remains the need to find a compromise between online freedom and legality.
Who are the real victims in the fee rise?
Cathy Thom looks at the short-changing of students from middle-income backgrounds AS widely predicted, figures have been released that show that the increase in university tuition fees for UK students has led to a 9 per cent drop in applications. Yet, despite the UK becoming one of the most costly places in the world to enrol for a public degree, David Willet, the Universities Minister, has insisted that there is little evidence that those from disadvantaged backgrounds have been affected considerably more than those from more privileged ones. Applications from prospective students in the most disadvantaged groups only dipped by 0.2 per cent. In Scotland, where students are not expected to pay tuition fees, there has only
been a 1.5 per cent drop in admissions, and while Northern Ireland has seen a 4 per cent decline, this seems slight when compared with England, which is down 9.9 per cent. Perhaps Willet’s analysis of the data, and his enthusiasm regarding the stable plateau of applications from those who are less well off, misses a vital point of exactly who will be most affected by the rise in fees. With the government offering grants to the lowest income families, those with aspirations of attending university and whose parents earn below the set threshold will not be in debt to the same extent as those who apply for a loan and are expected to pay back what they’ve borrowed with interest.
Therefore, it seems clear that the poorest and the richest are less likely to be influenced by the rise in fees than those from middle-earning families. By this, I am referring to those who applied to university with the intention of taking out a tuition loan as they were found to be over the income boundary, which would make them eligible for a grant. These students will be in debt and, in most cases, unable to solicit financial help from relations. Exeter University serves as a perfect example of this, as the first year accommodation has become so lavish, it is a struggle to find a room which can be rented for the less than the maximum government provided maintenance loan.
With tuition fees for most institutions almost tripling, these students may no longer be attracted to the opportunities provided by university life, as the anxiety, which accompanies owing money, particularly without a strong framework of monetary support behind them, may
“It seems clear that the poorest and the richest are less likely to be influenced by the rise in fees than those from middleearning families”
prove overwhelming. Thus, while UCAS representatives warn against paying too much attention to the recent figures, claiming they must be considered in proportion to an increase in the number of students dropping out from school before 18, it seems most sources will readily admit that “decreases in demand are slightly larger in more advantaged groups than in the disadvantaged groups.” So while the government may be able to successfully to deflect suggestions that their policy limits opportunity for the most underprivileged, the influence of increased fees on university applications is undeniable.
Exeposé WEEK SIXTEEN
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Gay marriage: a matter of equality
Features
Harry McCarthy addresses Conservative backbench concerns over allowing same-sex couples to marry TRADITIONALIST members of the Conservative party’s revelation earlier this month of their plan to lead a revolt against David Cameron’s movement to legalise marriage for same-sex couples was by no means surprising, but was nevertheless certainly disappointing. That a party who can proudly boast the largest number of openly gay politicians among its ranks can still fail to recognise the importance of addressing the issue of equal rights to legal partnership is nothing short of sheer hypocrisy. Legalising gay marriage is not, contrary to popular belief, merely a question of rainbow-flag waving militants getting what they want at the expense of the heterosexual majority; it is
an important step in the reconstruction of our society. Perhaps the most troubling of the arguments put forward by those who aim to rally over 100 backbenchers to oppose the move is that put forward by David Burrowes, one of the organisers of the revolt. Burrowes, speaking to The Independent, claimed that Cameron’s proposal would ‘fracture’ the institution of marriage, highlighting concerns amongst his fellow opponents that it ‘would fundamentally affect how marriage between a man and woman has historically been viewed in this country’. My question to Mr Burrowes is this: how, exactly, would admitting a new influx of committed and Photos: Reuters/Landov
David Cameron speaking at a Gay Pride reception at Downing Street in 2010
monogamous couples to marriage’s great ‘institution’ cause it any kind of harm? And who, exactly, is to say that the common perception of marriage between heterosexual couples is not one which needs ‘fundamentally affecting’ anyway?
“How would admitting a new influx of committed couples to marriage’s great ‘institution’ cause it any kind of harm? ”
As it currently stands, the proportion of marriages which end in divorce in Britain is no longer one in three, but, according to statistics published by BBC News, one in two. That 50 per cent of marriages are unsuccessful is a substantially depressing statistic in itself, but it becomes yet more so when one considers what that statistic denotes: that there is a major flaw in the system. Something is not working in the institution that is marriage. That much is clear. Those who, like Dr Dave Landrum, director of advocacy at the Evangelical Alliance, claim that denying homosexual couples the right to marry ‘conserves the institution of marriage’ would be advised to consider what exactly it is they are aiming to conserve:
an institution in which half of those couples fortunate enough to be ‘institutionalised’ are doomed to separate, often leading to broken families and ultimately, as the press would have it, ‘Broken Britain.’ It would be ignorant to suggest that the legalisation of gay marriage would solve this issue completely, but it would be more foolish to disregard the notion of it having a positive impact on society as a whole. According to Pink News, the leading online gay newspaper, the divorce rate of samesex couples who had entered into a civil partnership within 30 months of their introduction in 2005 was less than one per cent. While I accept that civil partnerships are still in their infancy and that this statistic could drastically change in years to come, I cannot help but see it as strengthening the case for fully recognised gay marriage. Having successfully campaigned for the introduction of civil partnerships and proven, if the statistics are to be believed, to be more than capable of maintaining a legally binding contract, it is surely not out of the question that gay couples, if granted the right to legally recognised marriage, could contribute to the current constitution of marriage, and the Big Society, in a hugely positive way. Legal marriage for homosexual couples is not merely a question of ‘rights’. Rights came with the introduction of civil partnerships. What
lies at the heart of the matter is being viewed as equal in the eyes of society, which is altogether entirely different. There are, in my experience, very few gay couples who would describe their civil partnership as a ‘marriage’. Until full equality is granted, there will continue to be a divide in the minds of homosexuals and heterosexuals alike.
“Rights came with the introduction of civil partnerships. What lies at the heart of the matter is being viewed as equal in the eyes of society”
For a Big Society to operate in the manner intended by the government, it has to be precisely that: big. A society which refuses all of its members equal recognition in marriage is not inclusive, therefore it is not a Big Society, and Mr Cameron recognises this. Speaking at the annual party conference last October, he said, ‘Conservatives believe in the ties that bind us; that society is stronger when we make vows to each other and support each other. So I don’t support gay marriage despite being a Conservative. I support gay marriage because I’m a Conservative.’ The rest of his party would be advised to do the same.
Starbucks: a café in every country (except Italy) Jack Flanagan looks at the struggle of the corporate caffeine giant in Italy
AS beverages go, coffee is a bit of a powerhouse. In fact, next to the swaggering, misty-eyed alcohol, itself the derivative of fetid plant material, coffee stands tall as the sober man’s drink: sultry, moody, efficient. For that reason an entire industry has grown up around the bean that over a relatively short history has conquered the world over. And who leads this empire? It is, it could only be, the monolithic Starbucks Corporation. The statistics read fantastically: 18,000 stores worldwide, 140,000 full-time employees – and its not all coffee: there are Starbucks books, music and films, Starbucks merchandise and groceries. According to ABC News, every day three Starbucks stores open across the world. Reading the press releases for Starbucks is somewhat like reading the news during wartime, “four new stores in China”, “Starbucks set for Saudi Arabia”; one expects to hear news of militant repulsion, and comes pretty close to finding it. It is surprising to note that the coffee giant has only recently celebrated its 40th birthday. Founded in 1971 in Seattle, the name inspired by a Moby-Dick first mate, it boasted that it “evoked the romance of the high seas” through coffee, the memory of the early coffeetraders served in a cup. Howard Scultz,
arguably the man behind the store’s colossal success, officially came to Starbucks in 1987, after he found inspiration in Italy’s coffee-house culture.
“How long can Italy resist the slow march of homogenous globalisation?”
Ironically, Starbucks has still not found a niche in Italy, the home of the barista – maps of the extent of their conquest leaves the little boot alienated amongst blots of green and white. Though it was Scultz’s dream to give to American’s what the Italians had, for four centuries, perfected – the home
from home, the coffee-house that cared – it suffered from the implicit American spirit –that of haste. Americans are fast-moving people, and Starbucks could never blend so well an Italian and American coffee culture as it has, say, its coffees. However, this relaxed café atmosphere was said to be true of all Europe, but Starbucks now has French, Spanish, Portugese, Swiss and Russian cafés – all of which purported to have an infallible and idiosyncratic coffee culture. How long can Italy resist the slow march of homogenous globalisation? An Italian newspaper recently, in defiance of an aggressive move from Starbucks, chides sardonically “Italy did not realize all she needed was Starbucks.”
In a haste to condemn the company, though, there is the risk of becoming determinist anarchists that forget why certain institutions rise to prominence, despite several disadvantages (namely globalisation, in this case). Starbucks rose to prominence not because of a chink in American culture, and certainly not as a means to extirpate the clan of traditional coffee-houses, but because they provided a service the public desired. It may have been good coffee, because Starbucks does contain a creative menu, but it is more likely the suave, Euro-Americano lustre that accompanies every store. This appeal is what forces the hand of a patron who wants to be enveloped in a American sense of industry and self-worth.
So, in fact, Italian coffee-houses have nothing to fear from Starbucks – a relaxed coffee remains the domain of the traditional café. The only real enemy of Howard Scultz are the other coffee chains who wish to emulate the success of Starbucks, and for the time being probably will continue to do so. Starbucks continues to rise to exponential new marketing heights and it’s up to the consumer to decide whether they wish to support a merited rise to prominence, or to abstain from a globalised whitewashing of coffee-store cultures – two motives both equally appreciable. The remaining curiosity is in which creative location Starbucks will set up shop next - two stores on the high seas having recently been established.
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6 FEBRUARY 2012 Exeposé
Features
Does the UN still have a place in International politics? The United Nations is stuck in the past, argues Meg Drewett
67 years ago, when the world was emerging from the destruction of World War Two, there was a beacon of hope for humanity. The United Nations was established on the foundations of what had been the League of Nations, with the aim of ensuring that the fragile world peace was sustained. Since that time, the UN has monitored and intervened in conflicts and diplomatic crises around the world.
“International politics is calling for a different world forum now than it was in 1945” I, like many, hold great respect for the ideas behind the UN; it has the potential to be one of the greatest world organisations. Many of its branches do much good; the World Health Organisation, for instance, does brilliant work coordinating health policy, despite having to negotiate different beliefs and values held around the globe. Most importantly, the idea that all nations can sit down together in everybody’s best interests and talk it out to reach a compromise, is so obviously the most logical way of dealing with issues. The UN should be a very successful organisation; they should get a lot done. But despite this premise, the fail-
ures of the UN in our past are all too clear to see. Just look at the mess that the United Nations has made of the Israel-Palestine conflict or their failure to intervene in genocides around the world, Rwanda in 1994 being an obvious example, and it’s clear that even in its relatively short history, the UN has just made mistake after mistake after mistake. Maybe this is a problem that belongs to the past? Perhaps these failures within the United Nations were simply ‘teething problems’ as it gets used to its role in the international community? Or maybe these are just one off cases, when the rest of the time, the UN works well? Unfortunately, this is not the case. Just this week, another clear sign that the United Nations is failing in its duty to the world has arisen. Currently being presented to the UN Security Council is a draft resolution calling for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to resign in the light of the democratic
uprisings and violence in his state. It represents a move that many have long been waiting for the United Nations to make; to stand up for democracy and non-violence in the Middle East. A vote on the resolution is expected on Thursday this week, and yet, there’s a problem: Russia is highly likely to veto due to fears that it will lead to Western intervention in Syria. What seems to be an insignifi-
cant example, when compared to some of the horrors of past UN mistakes, perfectly sums up the very failures of the institution. The United Nations in no way represents a body that attempts to take on board the views of all people of the world equally. Instead, it plays host to childish fights between the permanent members of the Security Council - the US, UK, France, China and Russia - who still make judgements and decisions on international politics as if they were living in the Cold War. Indeed, the basic structure of the UN, giving these five nations a greater voice than any others when it is silently accepted that there are other up-and-coming countries (the Indias and the Brazils of the world) who should have a say, is not only deeply unfair, but also fundamentally irresponsible. Also, until the United Nations begins to cut away the red tape that so often limits its ability to be effective, there can be no real hope for a more influential UN. Too often, technicalities have got in the way of preventing conflict and
lives have been lost. This is not to say that there is no hope for the UN. As I’ve said, it has great potential to be a leading and fair force in the world. But it must recognise that it cannot continue the way it is. Since 1945, countless resolutions have been brought up, proposing reform to its key bodies, and the vast majority have failed to win a vote. In order for the UN to become a better organisation, it must acknowledge that international politics is calling for a different world forum now than it was in 1945, and it must not be afraid to stand up and change for the better.
“The World Health Organisation does brilliant work coordinating health policy, despite having to negotiate different beliefs and values around the globe” I, for one, hope it will do so. The United Nations once stood as a symbol of the best parts of mankind; it would be a great day if it did so again. The international community must realise that the world deserves better.
Falklands furore reaches fever pitch
What’s the impact, asks James Crouch
FALKLANDS
CONTINUING the war of words between Britain and Argentina over the Falklands, the imminent 30 year anniversary of the conflict has precipitated a new round of argument over who owns the islands in the South Atlantic. Of course, from Britain’s position there is no controversy, their status is not under review and there is no reason to review it. From Argentina’s point of view, nothing is right about a European power having territory in its own back garden. Argentina has geared up its rhetoric about the injustice of (what they call) Las Malvinas being held as a colony when it is supposedly their rightful land. Now almost any excuse to argue about it is being used. When it was announced last year that Prince William would be doing training exercises in the Falklands, Buenos Aires claimed it was an act of aggression and demanded an immediate retraction of the plans. In truth, when was the last
possible heir to the throne allowed to fully go to war? In fact they are positively sheltered from it due to the obvious dangers; William’s posting to the islands is hardly an act of aggression. Despite that more humorous suggestion, Argentina is still determined to get the Falkland Islands back. With the calls from Argentina getting louder, many back in the UK are making things clear - any military action would result in immediate British retaliation and the islands would be reclaimed. The first problem comes from our own lack of military might. Our navy and army are far smaller than in 1982, and for the foreseeable future we have no aircraft carrier to actually participate in taking them back, which would make a war thousands of miles away impossible. Regardless, this is now the less important issue. Argentina is now a democracy, and has grown up to be a part of the age we all live in where aggressive military action is not accepted. Even Argentina no longer wants to use force. They have something far more dangerous they can use: diplomacy. For the past few years, other South American countries have been taking steps to shut out Britain. Last month, a grouping of South American countries called Mercosur all decided to refuse ships flying the Falklands flag the right to dock at their ports. This group in-
cludes Brazil, one of the emerging economies that will play a far bigger role in the future global economy. British foreign policy would like Brazil to be on friendly terms, especially for future economic and trade links that could be beneficial for the UK. But the issue of the Falklands is something which puts most South American countries on edge.
“Falkland islanders are quite clear about their thoughts on the matter and have no wish to become a part of Argentina” Cameron’s remark that Argentine behaviour was an example of “colonialism” was in one respect true: Argentina is treating the Falklands as a slab of land to be traded and negotiated over without any concern for the opinions of those that live there. However, to say so was incredibly unwise. Former colonies do not like the colonial slur, especially when flung from London, the former capital of the largest empire in history. It may work well with the British public, but it annoys most other international actors involved in the process, and they mat-
ter more. Falkland islanders are quite clear about their thoughts on the matter and have no wish to become a part of Argentina, at least not while memories of their occupation in 1982 lives on. The issue is, will two aspects of British foreign policy collide? Will Britain ever want South American trade and favour more than it wants to hold up to a notion of honour about protecting its citizens? Fortunately for those on the islands, it’s not quite that simple. The Falklands also could entitle Britain to a slice of any resources which may or may not be under the Antarctic.
So if there is a very practical reason for starting negotiations to give them away, there is an equally practical one for following the islanders’ wishes. The hope is that the bark is worse than the bite with Argentina, just as it has been for most of recent history. But it still doesn’t change the fact that they are serious and are putting as much pressure as they can on Britain to rethink its stance. Whether they have the ability to seriously damage our national interests in the region is yet to be seen. Photo:BBC
Soldiers in the original occupation in 1982
Exeposé WEEK SIXTEEN
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Features
The thing about Feminism
Rosemary Lewis examines the history behind the word
I HAVE lost count of the amount of times I have been described as a feminist. Whether it’s sharing my distaste for our patriarchal political system, or futilely singeing my bra over the ineffective electric hobs of Lafrowda, it seems that having a strong sense of the issues that my gender faces warrants the label ‘feminist’. The problem is, I have a lot of issues with that word and it seems that I’m not alone. As sucessful blogger Tavi Gevinson puts it, people avoid the ‘F’ word because it ‘prevents them from being taken seriously when they challenge sexism’. Feminism, by definition, is the advocacy of equal rights for women. That’s great; equality is a wondrous idea. But if advocating gender equality, why on earth choose a name for your movement that singles out one gender? This name does not promote equality, but implies female supremacy. It’s completely hypocritical. Some men that I’ve heard supporting the idea of equality refuse to call themselves a feminist, even though by definition, that is exactly what they are. This is silly but understandable. I can imagine that, as a man, describing yourself with an adjective that includes the prefix ‘femin’ might be a little, well, emasculating. In an ideal ‘feminist’ world, men should have a right to have an identity too, but this name gives the
movement entirely the wrong connotations in modern society. So why is this movement named only after women? It is important to look at origins of feminism to really understand its name. I say this, because I assume it must have made sense at some point in history to give it such a paradoxical name.
“People avoid the ‘F’ word because it ‘prevents them from being taken seriously when they challenge sexism’”
So, on to one of feminism’s more famous instigators: the Suffrage Movement. It began in 1903, back in the days when women were a necessary appliance of any home, much like a dishwasher or central heating is nowadays. Emmeline Pankhurst led the Women’s Social and Political Union, taking matters into her own hands after receiving insufficient support from political parties campaigning for the vote for working class men. She formed the group in her home in Manchester, and the group’s anger led to political activism such as interrupting political speeches. Suddenly, politicians were being openly questioned by rightfully indignant
women, much to their discomfort. This led to the police removing the women from political debates in a vain attempt to discourage them. Of course, the women resisted the authorities, and their subsequent arrests and imprisonments, led to a media outcry - a key ingredient of any successful political movement. After the First World War, the movement gained momentum, and as a culmination of many tiny admissions, women over the age of 21 were finally given the vote in 1928. Over the years that followed, a gradual trickle of legal changes meant that women were given the same rights as men, and certain atrocities against women began to be recognised, such as marital rape (disturbingly only made illegal in the UK in 1991). The change was slow, and it took many more political stunts to gain enough of a following and enough attention to be taken seriously. During my research I discovered that the infamous bra-burning event never actually happened, and was really a media-spun myth. The real event took place in a US beauty pageant in the 1960s, where feminist activists threw the symbols of their own oppression into a huge dustbin, including pots and pans, and those weird cone-shaped bras that Madonna seemed to like so much. These bras symbolised oppression because they were designed primarily for appear-
ance, and did very little to support the wearer. The name feminism was coined in the USA, much later than the suffrage movement, and I feel that having looked closer at the gargantuan fight that women had to give, it seemed quite appropriate to name the movement after them. Feminism was created by women, and it was largely fought by them. They had to create a counter-attack against the patriarchal society that oppressed them. These days, when women of the
“No nation can negotiate with terrorists”
western world face a different type of struggle with gender discrimination, it seems an inappropriate name if it causes so much misunderstanding. It has adverse effects on the promotion of gender equality, and creates a tension that doesn’t need to be there. It’s not that it’s irrelevant, quite the opposite. It’s so important that it doesn’t make sense to neglect it – feminism needs a rebrand. Rename it Equalism, GenderEgalitarianism, anything, so long as it doesn’t scare men into thinking that you wish to eradicate them.
Is it ever advisable to enter negotiations with terrorists, asks Lizzie Mackley at the DebSoc Debate “NO nation can negotiate with terrorists,” President George W. Bush said in 2002, and indeed many governments across the world do refuse. Yet is this really the best way to tackle one of contemporary global society’s biggest concerns? Since the 9/11 attacks, terrorism, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as the “unofficial and unauthorised use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims,” has become a key threat in the modern age. The attacks on 7/7 in particular, where over 50 people were killed and 700 injured, personalised terrorism for our generation in Britain. The question as to whether or not governments should negotiate with terrorists to help resolve conflict is thus
of national significance, and one that Exeter’s Debating Society addressed on Friday 27 January. Joel Mason, 1st Year PPE, and Arran Mornin, 2nd Year Politics and Economics, argued that governments should not negotiate with active terrorists because negotiation actually encourageds terrorism. Negotiation opens discussion between parties, and governments would be expected to concede to certain demands to prevent further attacks. In this way terrorists would achieve more politically than other groups pursuing more peaceful and democratic means of achieving change. Consider the case of the Basque nationalist group, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) in Spain. On 24 March 2006, Photo: BBC News
Members of ETA make a televised statement
ETA declared a “permanent ceasefire” and negotiations with the Spanish government commenced, but the process was fraught with setbacks. In September, masked ETA members declared they would continue to wield arms until they achieved independence, and in October a cell was suspected to have stolen 300 handguns and other weapons. Negotiations ended when on the 30 December ETA detonated a bomb at the Madrid Barajas international airport. Mornin argued that evidence such as ETA’s behaviour in 2006 demonstrates that “negotiations whilst the ... group is still organising often lead to poor outcomes and ineffective conflict resolution.” A negotiation policy would inform other groups that acts of terrorism would guarantee an audience with the government without really having to make concessions. In effect, governments would succumb to the blackmail of atrocious terrorist attacks. Mason and Mornin argued that negotiations with terrorists could only be considered once a ceasefire had been declared and arms relinquished. The success of this method can be seen in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 which ended the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It was only when the British Government had reached agreement with the IRA to ceasefire and relinquish weapons that negotiations were entered into. However, this does not necessarily mean not negotiating with active ter-
rorists is the best course of action. It is well known that despite the Good Friday Agreement the Real IRA continues to operate and initiate terrorist attacks both in Northern Ireland and the British mainland: relinquishing arms and negotiating with inactive terrorists has not been able to prevent further atrocities by the Real IRA.
“Governments cannot afford to be blackmailed with threats of atrocities into conceding too much to terrorist demands” Becky Hall, Xmedia Online’s Site Manager, and Lily Noall, President of Model UN, opposed the proposition and argued that governments should consider negotiating with terrorists. They called for the need to recognise that “both states and external groups do good and bad things,” and a policy of negotiation would enable conflicts to be solved in a peaceful manner. The OED defines negotiation as an attempt “to reach an agreement or compromise by discussion.” Thus negotiation, as Hall argued, “is not conceding ... you’re not giving them what they want.” Both terrorists and governments have to compromise.
The Beslan school hostage crisis is one example of how difficult it is to gauge the success of negotiations with terrorists. On 1 September 2004 over 1100 people, including 777 children, were taken hostage by Ingush and Chechen militants demanding Russian withdrawal from Chechnya. Negotiations between a paediatrician and the terrorists led to the release of 11 nursing mothers and 15 infants, saving lives where they might have been lost. However, over 380 men, women and children were killed during the three-day siege despite the negotiations. In considering whether or not governments should negotiate with terrorists, therefore, they need to consider whether these figures are good enough to warrant concessions that might have to be made to terrorists. The closing vote was closely won by the proposition. The closeness of the vote commends the strength of both opposing arguments, and highlights the difficulty of the question about whether or not governments should negotiate with terrorists. On the one hand, it is clearly necessary that lines of communication need to be opened in order to solve conflict at its root. On the other, governments cannot afford to be blackmailed with threats of atrocities into conceding too much to terrorist demands. Ultimately this is a question for our generation, and debates upon the right approach will trouble us for a great many years to come.
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Lifestyle
6 FEBRUARY 2012 Exeposé
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Zoe Dickens & Cyan Turan - lifestyle@exepose.com
FASHION
Twentieth Century classic
Zoe Dickens, Lifestyle Editor, charts the rise of an iconic British staple: the trench coat THE trench coat is a quintessentially British addition to sartorial history and, as may be unsurprising for anything hailing from this island, has its roots in the weather. Although now largely seen as belonging to Burberry, the history of the trench coat is somewhat tumultuous, with both Burberry and Aquascutum claiming to have created the first one. Whilst many contend that it was Thomas Burberry’s 1901 design for an army officer’s raincoat that was the original trench, Aquascutum dispute this, saying that they invented it 50 years earlier for officers fighting in the Boer War. Although this remains unresolved, it cannot be denied that the trench coat’s original inception was as a functional, masculine garment for military use and they were manufactured as such throughout the First and Second World Wars. What makes the trench coat so apt
for these gruelling conditions is the ingenious material, gabardine, used to make it. Invented by Thomas Burberry in the 1870s, this unique wool fabric is water repellent, durable and virtually crease- proof, whilst also being porous and well-ventilated enough to keep the wearer cool. So impressive was this new fabric that in 1911 Ronald Amundsen elected to use Burberry equipment made from gabardine to conquer the South Pole, it has been used as recently as 1984 for the same purpose. But this was only one of the reasons the trench became so popular with the rest of the world. Its practical design and smart aesthetic meant that civilians (who weren’t at war or trekking through the Arctic) soon saw the everyday appeal of the trench coat. So great was its popularity and so high the demand that a 1917 New York Times article felt compelled to comment on this as an item of important news. For Burberry, however, functionality remained at the fore of the design for the trench and it was marketed as sport and active leisure wear for the first 60 years of its inception. Over the years, designers and eras have put their own spin on the trench but the one element that has always remained is its structural integrity. The coat has always maintained its historic roots, with military inspired features such as the D-ring belt, cuff straps, storm flap on the right shoulder and epaulettes, which make it
iconic. This, Christopher Bailey says, is what made the trench such an enduring garment, ‘Everything was designed for a reason, which is why it is so beautiful and why it has become a classic design.’
The trench only really came to the fore as a must-have fashion item in the 1960s, when HRH Prince Charles began sporting the decade’s slimmer, simpler version. By the 1980’s the trench coat had become such an established feature of sartorial history that trendsetters, loath to rid themselves of such an established look, began to experiment with new ways of wearing it. Artist David Hockney frequently styled his with a polka dot bow tie whilst Princess Diana
and Prince Charles unashamedly wore his-and-hers trenches. As with the tuxedo suit and the black dress, the trench coat has become an enduring classic largely because it is so flattering. Its tie waist creates a desirable hourglass silhouette on all women and its traditional khaki tones transcend seasons and make it the perfect coverup for any outfit. Nancy MacDonell Smith, author of The Classic Ten: The True Story of the Little Black Dress and Nine Other Fashion Favorites, suggests its appeal is also in its ambiguity. “It’s a garment that means business. You may look all buttoned-up when you’re wearing one, but underneath you could be any number of things.” Having long been the Hollywood detectives’ first choice in outerwear, the neutral colour and classic shape of the trench have always been associated with secrecy and mystery. It tells you nothing about the wearer other than to hint that there may be something enticing and unmissable hiding beneath that tightly buttoned gabardine. If you are determined to find your perfect trench this season then you could do much worse than head to Burberry where there are no less than 52 new versions on offer for SS12. Varying from the classic khaki to fiery orange and azure, choose any length from knee to thigh, with or without a hood and in an array of fabrics –after
Spring forward in sorbet shades
The hottest hues for Spring are sherbet sweet says Charlotte Dallin
GIRLS, it’s time to get out your pastel palette this Spring! With Prada and Louis Vuitton both jumping on the sherbetshades bandwagon, it’s probably time we think about doing it too! The Prada catwalk’s pale pinks, blues and lemon yellows may have resembled a baby’s clothes shop but the three pastel primary colours really work together to create a fresh, soft-but-bright look. Wear with monochromes or dark reds to really make the pastel shades stand out. If you’re not feeling brave enough to colour block in fear of looking like an easter egg, simply add a pastel accessory, such as a lemon bag or a pastel blue skinny belt or perhaps just paint your nails a pastel lilac or peach: Barry M’s ‘peach melba’ and ‘berry ice cream’ are both really wearable shades. Anything candy-coated goes this Spring, so ditch the dark dreary winter blues and embrace these paler hues as the days get brighter too!
all, what else would you expect from a house founded on this signature piece? If you’d prefer to stray from the beaten track with something a little quirkier, Moschino Cheap and Chic put an interesting twist on the classic with black detailing on the cuffs, belt and epaulettes; perfect buttoned up with bare legs and Brian Atwood’s fringed tribal platforms. For something a little more feminine opt for Orla Kiely’s version from the Pre-SS12 collection. Double-breasted and made in soft cotton with just a hint of shine, this coat hangs beautifully and is floatier and more voluminous then its traditional counterpart. In Bailey’s words, and as is quite true of all three of these classic pieces, ‘Everyone finds their own way of wearing the trench coat.’ (He wears his open with the belt tied behind).
Exeposé week sixteen
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What grinds Georgia’s gears? Bad Manners
Manners don’t cost a penny, says Georgia Goodyer WHETHER from Sting’s 1987 hit ‘An Englishman in New York,’ or William of Wykeham himself, most have heard the expression: ‘Manners Maketh Man.’ Charming alliteration with a seemingly simple message that has stood the test of time for 650 years (give or take). So how has this delightful notion gone AWOL in the 21st century?
“What if she develops a maladjusted vision of herself as a bacteria-less superhuman free to inappropriately impart bodily fluids?”
Now I’m no Lady of the Manor but manners seem to be antagonising me into premature grumpy old woman status at the grand age of 22. Is this the result of the disintegration of basic social etiquette, or a sign that I should live in solitary confinement? The modern irritations that presumably weren’t around in Will’s days lead me to think that had he been here, he would have been none too pleased with aspects of contemporary society, such as the public sharing of personal turmoil to a mobile phone (and anyone with ears) whilst boarding a cross-country service. On a train I always book a seat in the quiet zone, get my laptop out and attempt to do that work that quite frankly should have been done weeks before. For the most part, this system works well, but, occasionally, the journey will incite grievances. When complete stran-
gers start chatting loudly, it’s irritating, but quite nice really in this era of the socalled ‘Big Society.’ But certain quirks or, let’s be honest, bad manners of the general public are more difficult to abide. On one of these train journeys a man sniffed roughly every five seconds. (The same man you understand. Not men in general). Sniff sniff sniff. The poor love’s got a cold, I thought as I rifled through my bag and passed him a tissue. He refused my Aloe Vera infused kindness, so his sniffs narrated my journey... and my essay. If I do badly, I blame him unequivocally. There was a time many moons ago when I altered all of my songs on iTunes so that I could listen to Sum 41 just that bit louder, this must have ground down the gears of some of my fellow passengers so I really shouldn’t be getting on my high horse. But if there is one perk about getting older, it’s that you can look at that teenager you used to be in disgust, safe in the pretence that you wouldn’t have dreamed of such impertinence. I certainly wouldn’t abide by my children behaving in an impolite manner... or would I? Some parents look at their little darlings with such adoration that they miss the bigger picture of common decency. I remember going to a barbeque a couple of years ago and wincing when my friend’s seven year old cousin dribbled into the couscous. When her mother was informed of the sad fact that the cous cous was now off limits because of her daughter’s dribble-fest, she did not react in the way I had expected. I thought she might sit down with the charming child and remind her that it is impolite to sali-
vate in other people’s food regardless of how cute you are, child or puppy, it just isn’t nice. I thought she might at the least retort with a harangued parent sigh and wash up the bowl. But this didn’t happen. She looked back at my friend; a touch surprised, and said: ‘She doesn’t have germs!’ What if this kid goes on to be a dysfunctional adult who attends dinner parties where she loutishly dribbles on the canapés, or develops a maladjusted vision of herself as a bacteria-less superhuman who imparts bodily fluids in inappropriate places. What on earth will happen when she has her first alcoholic beverage?
“Manners seem to be antagonising me into premature grumpy old woman status”
As I don’t have children of my own (as far as I’m aware) I can’t really make an informed opinion about this parent’s decision, but perhaps some new laws should be imparted for the sake of civilization: The Basic Manners Act 2012. Parliament could stamp out villainous behaviour: lifetime banishment from Public Inns for pushing in front of small people in the queue, sneeze particle or crumb spraying in public places could warrant a citizen’s arrest, community service for leaving the toilet seat up... These are just a few ideas I’ve been brainstorming. Feel free to add to the list or start a petition. I’m not planning a political career. Probably just as well.
Lifestyle
Your problems solved Aunty Jess and Uncle Ben are here to help “Dear Lifestyle, My housemate just broke up with his girlfriend, who’s also a good friend of mine. He’s already slept with someone else, but she’s still in love and doesn’t know. He’s also talking to her all the time and making it seem like he wants to get back with her, even though he’s flirting with other girls every day online. I feel I should tell her because it’s not fair that he’s messing with her feelings, but I don’t want to compromise my friendship with my housemate. I really don’t want to lose either friend- what should I do? Yours, Conflicted Finalist
Jess Rayner
Ben Wright
PUT yourself in your female friends shoes. Would you like to be strung along while your friends know your ex is sleeping around? I don’t think so. However, this isn’t YOUR relationship and by jumping the gun and telling her, you could cause conflict between you and your housemate. Try talking to him, explaining that what he is doing is not fair and that he has to tell his ex-girlfriend the truth. Although he broke up with her, he must still have some scrap of feeling for her. If he doesn’t take your advice then it is time to take matters into your own hands and tell the poor girl the truth. Your housemate might be annoyed for a while but he does come across as the type of guy to get over things quite quickly and, at the end of the day, you were simply doing the right thing.
YOUR housemate seemingly wants to have his cake and eat it. Someone invariably gets hurt when couples break up. Your housemate appears to be afraid of hurting his ex-girlfriend and is attempting to maintain the statusquo, maybe for his own security, whilst enjoying the freedoms of single life. As his housemate, explain to him how his actions are not only unfair on his ex, but will also scupper any eventual friendship between the two of them as it is destined to lead to an explosive ending. You need to do right by your friends; if he is determined to carry on like this you need to be a good friend to both of them, even if that means talking to her against your housemate’s wishes. Just make sure that you give them both a chance to express themselves; if it gets too messy, you could even stage a cross-house intervention.
Campus Style Spotter: Bold Brights OUR roving photographer and style aficionado, George Connor, brings you the best style on campus! “Well StyleSpotters, it looks like February is going to be as cold and grey as January. We went onto the Siberian campus this issue looking for the best in bright and fun splashes of colour. Zeina’s bright red bobble hat from Lebanon brightens up her casual outfit while Rosie’s great green suede bag from a boutique in Oxford adds a little zest to the trudge around campus. While accessories can be great to lift a neutral outfit, Marie’s coat from FCUK shows block colours can be the way to bring a little bit of life into your frosty wardrobe. So fight off the cold with a splash of something fun and hold out for the spring; it can’t be too far off.”
Left-right: Marie, Zeina and Rosie
6 febrUARY 2012 Exeposé
16
Lifestyle
FEATURE
From my hometown...
Laura Castree reflects on returning home after her first term at Exeter
IT’S an issue that many parents will fret over whilst parked outside the train station at the end of your first term, tentatively unwrapping a Werther’s Original and awaiting the arrival of their overburdened, underfed and enlightened child.. You may even find yourself pondering it, en route to the inevitably overhyped reunion with friends. Will university have changed them? Or perhaps even, has uni changed me? For me, and indeed for most first years, the summer of 2011 was one of farewells, countdowns and promises not to forget one another which, by Christmas, seemed faintly ridiculous. The great wrench at the end of September is combined with the excitement and wealth of potentially lying in some remote corner of the country. All of the above are taken for granted. What is not, however, is that you’re often right: university is a different world, and if it hasn’t changed you, perhaps you’re not doing it right. Of course, everybody’s experience of university life is different. There are a few things which are inevitable, however unsettling it may be to find yourself so pathetically unoriginal. You will develop a ‘uni phrase’, you will begin 60 per cent of your sentences with ‘this one time at uni...’ and you will, at some point, find yourself descrying the inadequacies of your formerly beloved hometown and its ‘top’ venues in favour of Arena and the Lemmy... It’s natural to feel underwhelmed by home. Everything about the student lifestyle, regardless of location, has an irre-
sistible vibrancy, and I’m not just talking about the neon face paint, foam parties and ecstatic yet wholesome faces which seem to occupy every flyer thrust in your general direction. Even that formidable nemesis of student revelry, the seminar, offers an opportunity to thrash out opinions in a liberating manner quite alien to the painful silence of the A-level classroom and indeed the family dining table. The startling reality is that even cooking your own dinner acquires a certain glamour when accompanied by flatmates gyrating to Eric Prydz, like the carefree and blooming young things that we’re all fortunate enough to be.
“Home may become an abstract concept, but you’ll still find yourself relieved, if not excited, to step off the banter carousel at the end of each term”
The promise of independence is often the prime allure of life away from home, daunting for some but tempting for most. Of course, what nobody prepares you for is the return home, when said privilege is torn from your hands and you are again responsible for chores, getting up before 2pm and perhaps worst of all, being accountable. It quickly becomes sickeningly clear that the lovingly prepared pork chop dinner you spent the last week of term fantasising about comes at a much high-
er price than you’d bargained for. Then there’s the frustration of coordinating your much celebrated ‘friends from home’ for every attempt at a night out, rather than simply knocking on the nearest five doors even before firing up Facebook. But perhaps the biggest challenge is remembering how to survive outside of the bubble of studentdom. Your first night out at home will often provide a cruel and harsh awakening, as no matter how hip your hometown you’re forced to remember life before university: £3 a pint really isn’t that cheeky, clubbing in a onesie isn’t quirky, it’s just bizarre, and 4am is kind of an unsociable hour. Add to this the presence of your local townsfolk dressed to the nines and saturated in Lynx (and not even doing so ironically) and you might well find yourself, as I did, wondering why on earth you’re back there. The answer is simple, the student lifestyle isn’t forever. It’s a euphoric, messy, life-altering blur of nights barely remembered and 9am lectures best forgotten, and you need to come down from it occasionally before you begin to mistake it for reality. Home may become an abstract and colourless concept, but if you’re lucky, you’ll still find yourself relieved, if not excited, to step off the banter carousel at the end of each term. The transition is often sudden, startling and difficult to master, with frustration being unfortunately inevitable, but it’s the experience of each lifestyle which throws the other into harsh relief. At university we trade comfort for freedom, and at home we trade nondescript yellow filth for Cathedral City.
ClUbbing
Disturbance
Francesca Morosini reviews Exeter’s new night
WITH Luminar in administration, Cellar Door open and rumours of Arena being turned into a soft play area flying around Exeter, perpetuated by Rococo’s bouncers, there is a lot to prove this term. The good news is that Arena isn’t going anywhere just yet and is greeting the new year with a new night: Disturbance, courtesy of Rapture Events. Although the Facebook event’s exaggeration of Exeter’s students as “the sexiest, most up-for-it crowd this side of Ibiza” was fairly laughable, there was a bit of a buzz around this event. Oddly placed on a Sunday, the Disturbance launch party saw Exeter’s favourite dancefloor fully transformed (by which I mean they’d hung up some banners and balloons) for the start of a new student tradition. The champagne was flowing (apparently, I got there too late to receive the reception reserved for the first 100 guests), the music was playing its usual Monday stuff and the club was, for some reason, freezing. The place filled up by 12 and everyone seemed to be getting into the spirit. Staff were wandering round with neon paint and cameras, just to make sure everyone who couldn’t make it along got to see all the fun they were missing out on. And it was a fun night, but not particularly different from Fuzzy Logic or Monday Madness. For one thing, the promised oxygen bar, video booth and ice shot bar were nowhere to be seen (if they were around, they must’ve been hidden) but then I never really feel that my nights out are missing a big ol’ shot of oxygen.
From the speed with which everyone on the dancefloor started popping balloons when they were dropped, I assumed this was some sort of giveaway, but again I missed this part.
“The Facebook event described Exeter students as ‘the sexiest, most up-for-it crowd this side of Ibiza’” The neon paint, paint can drinks and odd smiley maraca freebies were nice touches but nothing had drastically changed or been added. I guess it wouldn’t be Arena without its mouldy ceiling and nasty foot smell. Disturbance looks set to be a good night out, with Arena pulling out if not all the stops, then at least a few. Arena might not be particularly impressive but it is the best Exeter can do and continues to be seen as our main club. Having spent a year and a half going to Arena at least once a week, I always know I’ll have a good night there and I think loyalty alone will keep students coming (and the fact that it’s the closest to campus and most student accommodation). If you’ve hated Arena until now, you’re probably not about to change your mind because of Disturbance but it is worth checking out. Just don’t go expecting the ‘full club transformation’ to be more than a sign tied to the stairs, that falls down halfway through the evening.
SEX-On-the-exe
Testing times
An anonymous student discovers the perils of the S.T.I test...D.I.Y style THE sun’s rays gracefully seeped across the morning sky, the birds were softly singing and a cool breeze whistled through the sleeping streets. It really would have been a lovely morning if I hadn’t been running through the streets carrying a box of my own piss. When I agreed to an STI screening I’d imagine myself chirpily filling up a test tube, perhaps even whistling some Bob Marley until I’d finished, before handing the urine sample to some friendly nurse who’d undoubtedly then let me have a lollipop for being such a brave boy. Nothing prepared me for the horror of the one morning I received a package through my letterbox consisting of a plastic beaker, a cardboard box and a set of instructions demanding that I fit the enclosed ‘BIOHAZARD! DO NOT TOUCH!’ sticker across the sample box
before posting it to ‘the lab’. Had the NHS really sent me an invitation to become their own dirty Postman Pat? Could it perhaps be that my personal details had been put on the market and somebody was trying to sell my bodily fluids online? I could see myself losing an eBay bidding war over the beaker, probably advertised something like ‘Genuine colour and still inside its original packing! May contain Chlamydia’. It was still early, so I quickly fulfilled all the instructions provided before rushing out the door, frantically searching for the nearest post-box to get rid of the dirty package. I had to run only 100m before finding one. I raised the pee parcel towards the hole of the post-box, feeling a surge of relief that I’d managed to get this all out of the way while the sleeping world remained unaware of my misfor-
tune. It wouldn’t fit! The bloody parcel was too big! I pushed and shoved as hard as I could, but it simply wouldn’t fit into the tiny hole. I tried for a few more minutes to thrust it in but this just crumpled the box. I ran to the next red-pillar box up the road, yet the hole was still too small. I was quickly running out of options. It wasn’t as if I could go to the post office and slam the ‘BIO-HAZARD!’ parcel down and then ask for a helping hand.
In the end I spent two hours roaming Exeter trying to ram a urine sample into every post-box
until I finally found one that fitted, which was so far away from home I’d gotten myself hopelessly lost. It was almost a disappointment when the test came back clean; it seemed the entire thing would only be worth it unless the test had detected a life-threatening STI or at least mild scurvy. No good can ever come from peeing somewhere other than a toilet.
Intelligence Officers £24,750 + benefits UK based Analysing information. Spotting connections. Making decisions that really matter. This is what MI5’s dedicated and focused Intelligence Officers do every day. Working together, we help safeguard the security of the nation. This is challenging and vitally important work that demands strong communication, analytical and organisational skills – not to mention a good deal of patience and attention to detail. If you enjoy solving problems, becoming an Intelligence Officer is one of the most rewarding and interesting career paths you could choose. Make sense of it at www.mi5.gov.uk/careers/intelligence To apply you must be over 18 and a British citizen. Discretion is vital. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member.
“I DON’T THINK WE NEED TO IMPROVE SPORTS FACILITIES” VOTE ON WHO YOU WANT MAKING DECISIONS EXETERGUILD.COM/VOTE VOTING CLOSES 4PM 10TH FEB
6 February 2011 Exeposé
18
Guild Election 2012
The Exeposé Sabbatical Guide
Members of our team review the candidates’ manifestos This year’s Sabbatical Officer elections, which dominate the Guild’s calendar, look set to be the most contested in recent memory. Despite a drop in numbers from last year, the quality of candidates is high; it seems the old adage of quality over quantity rings true. The Guild has assured Exeposé that last year’s unprecedented 39 candidates was a rare occurrence and this year’s resectable 22, running for five different Sabbatical positions, is a good number for the University and still higher than the national average. For those new to Guild elections, and for those with experience too, prepare for a week of heavy and hard campaigning across campus. Leave for lectures earlier than usual as you will have to navigate hordes of eager campaigners keen to extoll the virtues of their candidate, hand out free things and shout catchy slogans until they’re hoarse. There will be mascots, sing-alongs, brass bands and relentless canvassing in every nook and cranny. Recent history has shown that student apathy toward politics is a thing of the past, and Exeter, with its long-standing tradition of record breaking results, is at the fore of student elections. Exeposé has compiled a guide to all of this year’s candidates, dissecting their manifestos and highlighting their key points and ideas. Our team has analysed the pledges and provided a commentary for each candidate, offering you an unbiased view on everyone running in the election. The hot topics this year concern the impending rise in tuition fees, the opening and further use of the Forum building and the rising costs of accommodation at the University. There is also a wide range of ideas, from the good to the more avant-garde and outlandish. Many candidates have very clear goals and ideas which would take the Guild in a bold new direction, building upon the strong foundations laid by previous years. The race for President looks set to be extremely close, and the AU Presidency, with only two candidates, is also going to be a hard-fought battle. Ultimately, there can only be one winner in each category, so we recommend you read our abridged manifestos (full manifestos found on the Guild website)very carefully and ask all the candidates challenging questions if they stop you on campus. You can also go to the debates happening throughout election week or follow our live tweeting from all the debates online.
Our criteria
Guild President
The Guild President is responsible for the direction which Exeter’s Students’ Guild takes. As a leader, they are chair of the Guild Management Committee, Student Forum and the Trustee Board. The President is the face of Exeter students on campus, around Exeter, nationally and globally. What Exeposé looked for: • This is the figurehead position of the Guild and we expect to see strong minded individuals who want to lead nearly 20,000 students forward during their year in office. • Do they acknowledge the needs of a variety of students, including postgraduates and International students? • Have they thought about the practicality of their proposals? • Will their ideas take the Guild in a direction that will benefit the majority of students? • Do they have original ideas? • Have they shown an awareness of the other Sabbatical roles, and how they will work with them?
AU President
The position of Athletics Union President had its fair share of controversy last year, but under Beth Hampson’s guidance it seems to be back on course. The President is responsible for ensuring the sporting needs of Exeter students are met, at all levels of ability. The sports facilities at Exeter are their responsibility and they have the job of managing and running everything sport related at the University. What Exeposé looked for: • We wanted candidates with a real understanding of the role; someone who will cater for both 1st Teams and casual athletes. • Do they understand the costs and financial needs of sporting events and players? • Is there drive to open up sport, encouraging all students to join?
Academic Affairs
academic Affairs represents the student body in its education needs and progression, supporting academic representatives and acting for improvements in learning and teaching. The role works closely with the University staff, both administrative and academic, and alongside all the student representative bodies, such as SSLCs and the postgraduates Union. What Exeposé looked for: • With £9,000 fees in place, we were keen
to see how candidates were planning to gain maximum value for students. • We expected to see strong ideas and initiatives for academia on campus, ranging from the use of new student spaces to lobbying the University over issues of value for money and hidden course costs.
The Review Team
Ellie Busby Editor
Participation and Campuses
With nearly 200 societies affiliated to the Guild, VP Participation and Campuses has the daunting task of overseeing and encouraging involvement in activities and volunteering at the University. Ensuring the needs of students at Streatham, St. Lukes and Cornwall campuses are individually addressed, this role fosters Exeter’s status as an inclusive, proactive University. What Exeposé looked for: • Candidates must understand the individual needs of undergraduates, postgraduates and International students, whilst promoting cohesion as a whole student body. • We looked for a high level of commitment and original initiatives to increase participation across the campuses, for all students.
Welfare and Community
The role of VP Welfare and Community bridges the gap between the student population and the wider community in which we live. The VP also ensures the safety, happiness and wellbeing of Exeter Students, defending their rights and proactively promoting awareness of student support services. What Exeposé looked for: • Exeposé was keen to see how candidates addressed the issue of student safety, a prominent concern for students in light of the serious assault which occurred last term. • We were interested in how candidates planned to build on and improve the support services already in place for students, and whether they had any new initiatives of their own. • We also looked for candidates’ thoughts on student housing, and were keen to see how they would build on the housing campaigns set up by the current Sabbatical Team. Exeposé has not corrected or modified any candidate manifestos and is not responsible for any errors or mis-
information contained within them. Our reviews are entirely impartial and were discussed with the Senior Elections Officer prior to final editing.
Henry White Editor
Rosie Scudder Deputy Editor
Ellie Bothwell Deputy Editor
Clare Mullins Features Editor
Sam Lambert Features Editor
Andy Williams Sports Editor
Tori Brazier Screen Editor
Tom Payne Books Editor
The Exeposé team members involved in analysing
Ellie Bothwell, Andy Williams, Tom Payne, Clare
the manifestos were:
All categories: Henry White and Ellie Busby
Guild President: Rosie Scudder, Sam Lambert
Mullins
Academic Affairs: Tori Brazier, Sam Lambert,
Clare Mullins, Tom Payne, Rosie Scudder, Ellie
AU President: Sam Lambert, Ellie Bothwell, Andy
Bothwell
Participation and Campuses: Rosie Scudder,
Scudder, Sam Lambert, Andy Williams
Williams, Tom Payne
Welfare and Community: Tori Brazier, Rosie
19
Exeposé week sixteen
Guild President
Sabbatical Election 2012
Nick ‘Welshy’ Davies
I have a passion for improving our time here at University. This needs a plan, here is mine; Make the Uni deliver their promises; • Let’s get tutorial classes down to a maximum of 16 students. • No excuses on contact time; a minimum of 8 hours a week. • Students deserve more for £9,000– I will campaign for achievable ‘good will’, for instance, some free printing credits for students every term. Employability through Volunteering; • Taking our subject knowledge out into the community. Whether its Politics students running citizenship workshops with Primary school students, or English students running a reading group at one of
our local homeless shelters. • Not only will this make us more employable people, but we can also give something back to this fantastic city community. Getting the most out of the Forum for students; • Ensuring affordable and competitive prices in all Guild outlets. • Making sure that the new Volunteering Hub is ran the way societies want and so groups like CA, Exe-media , RAG and so forth can continue to flourish. Housing; • I will take on unreliable Landlords and bad agencies when they let students down, and do all in my power to publicise these disgraces.
• Make sure the guild enhances support to students with the house hunt. A Guild that meets the needs of every student; • I will do all I can to support St Luke’s, and make sure the Guild and the University keep their commitments to this fantastic campus. • Work with the Uni to ensure that Post Grad students have the study space they need to get work done. • Improve cross student involvement in this University’s fantastic international culture, recent Chinese New Year celebrations being a prime example. I will ensure more publicity, so everyone has the opportunity to get involved.
Damian Jeffries
If you vote JEFFRIES, I shall ensure student SAFETY, EMPOWERMENT and VALUE FOR MONEY - PERSONALLY. • Given that the university has spent over £250 million on the new developments, they should surely not hesitate in spending more resources on better lighting, CCTV and more security. • There will be better awareness and implementation of the Gemini “no cash” student taxi service, extending this service to Second, Third years and Post-grads ensuring students get home safely. • I would provide free personal alarms and free self defense classes in association with the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary and Exeter City Council.
• Housing is extortionate. Bad landlords will be blacklisted and a comprehensive online Landlord League Table shall be compiled with regards to pricing, house condition and landlord competence. This will add a steel edge to the already existing “Housing Campaign” and aid ExeLets. • There will be a push to make Lemmy drinks more competetive and push for a Free ATM at the Lemmy. • I shall work with the University to overhaul the disciplinary system making it fairer and more transparent. • The IT department clearly does not have enough servers to cope with the demand on MyExeter at peak times. I shall push for this farcical service to be improved.
• The standardization of coursework hand-in systems as the current system can lead to confusion for those doing different disciplines. • Better eating initiative. This will be done by getting in guest speakers, handing out simple recipe cards, and carrying out competitions. • Crosskeys has been somewhat neglected and I shall ensure to improve facilities. • Unnecessary bureaucracy will be removed. • Also the University complaints procedure needs to be SIMPLIFIED. • I shall investigate ways in which to improve cross-cultural links so as to further integrate our guests.
I want to make sure Exeter is a place where everyone has the best university experience they can, where every student is offered the opportunities and the support they need to thrive. LET’S IMPROVE HOW THE GUILD COMMUNICATES WITH STUDENTS 1. Create an online events calendar on the Guild website where societies could log in and post their events. I’d set up a far-reaching review of how the Guild helps societies to make sure its done in the most efficient and sensible way possible. 2. I’d run a Guild Housing Awareness publicity drive, building on success this year, to give everyone the information
they need to make the housing choice that’s right for them. I’d also set up a message board on the Guild Website where housing issues could be discussed. LET’S GET VALUE FOR OUR TUITION FEES 1. I’d lobby the university on vital issues like affordable living for students from all backgrounds, ensuring that our bursaries don’t leave anyone behind, that our IT and email systems are reliable, that exam papers are checked properly; I’d campaign for ending hidden course costs that shouldn’t exist now anyway. 2. Increasingly internships are the only way on to the jobs market. Let’s work with the university to create more paid internships right here at Exeter. I’d make
sure Careers Advice has more focus on finding students paid internships for over the holidays. LET’S MAKE EXETER MORE INCLUSIVE, MORE DIVERSE AND MORE OPEN 1. There should be a paid, full-time International Student Representative dedicated to organising campaigns and events for the 4,000 international students at Exeter. 2. I’d review the Guild’s policy on continuation fees, ensure that all departments are allocating decent levels of office space to postgrad students consistently and that postgrad issues are treated as seriously as the difficulties undergrads may have.
I want to cultivate a university that provides you with active support in employability & housing, less bureaucracy in getting involved, and most importantly, greater communication between you and the people who represent you. It’s easy as A B C.... (more) ACTIVE • Push for exam feedback as standard procedure. • Encourage more academic networking & research assistant opportunities for Post Graduates. • Promote a free evening shuttle bus service for Lukies so it’s easier to be part of Streatham societies & reap the benefits from the £48 million investments on the forum. • With £9k fees coming up – surely every
core textbook should be in the library? I will ensure that this happens. • Organise more employability fairs & activities for a broader range of careers. • Set up Hall committees for private residences. ( less) BUREAUCRACY • I will push to regularise Sabb contact time with students – you shouldn’t always have to come to us – the Guild should have a wider base. • Sort out the Squash – signing up to societies needn’t be as difficult as this year made it. • Streamline society & hall event planning/finance process. Knowing who to see when, how to get Guild support, & how to see through your own ideas can be simplified and made much, much clearer.
(better) COMMUNICATION • Propose a new Sabb position dedicated to improving communication and supporting XMedia. Communication in the Guild is lacking, students deserve easier & more reliable access to the resources & support they need. • Make a working & daily updated calendar of events on My Exeter & an improved one on the Guild Website. • Set up a landlord review system & spare room advertising space on the Guild website for students to get a hold on housing. • Motivate more international-home student mixing. We’re here together & can learn from each other. I propose that the Guild becomes more active in arranging and encouraging more mixing.
Ben ‘BJ’ Jones
Give the Guild a BJ
Jenny Mayhew THE J TEAM
Exeposé Commentary • Nick addresses important student issues such as housing and getting the most out of the rise in fees. • Many of his policies are inclusive. He focuses on postgraduates, St Lukes and International students. • Employability through volunteering is a good idea, increasing links between the university and the city. • He recognises the importance of his role in regards to the Forum, with ideas such as ensuring affordable Guild outlet prices. • Although his concerns are broad, his solutions lack some originality.
Exeposé Commentary • Damian has a variety of ideas, and some are unique. • In his previous role as Moberly President he obtained £32,000 in compensation for the halls, which suggests he would be proactive. • His ideas on student safety and healthy eating awareness are strong. • However, points are badly researched. For example, Exelets has closed down. His focus on free initiatives seems unrealistic. • He has an impressive breadth of ideas, but many lack research and may be unachievable.
Exeposé Commentary • As President of Debating Society, Ben has good experience in public speaking and awareness of key student issues. • He has interesting and original ideas, such as creating an International Student Representative role with Sabb status and trying to create more paid internships. • The issues which he wants to lobby are promising, however, he does not give detail on how he would achieve his aims. • Overall, he has a good focus on diversity and integration.
Exeposé Commentary • Jenny has a detailed manifesto which covers many different disciplines and appears well researched. • As Students’ Guild Campaigns Officer, she has good experience in lobbying for student concerns. • She has innovative ideas, such as the introduction of a Sabb for communications as well as the free evening shuttle bus for Lukies. • The Landlord review system and spare room advertising are good ideas, but it would have been stronger with a mention of the already established Housemate Finder.
20
Sabbatical Election 2012
Mary Perham
There’s something about Mary
Ewan Williams
6 February 2012 Exeposé
As Guild President I would develop and utilise the Universities opportunities in order to strengthen academia; encourage the extra-curricular; and improve student satisfaction. BE AWARE • I will push for the university to publicise all expenditure • I will ensure that the Guild Council’s reports on the Sabbatical Officers are publicised. • I will communicate regularly with Xmedia to get relevant information circulated. BE FULFILLED • I will aim to create a common room area just for students. There are no definite plans for Cornwall House after of-
fices move to the Forum; this should be utilised as an area for you to hang out/eat your lunch without the pressure of spending money • I will make the most of the Forum finally being open. By creating a ‘what to do on campus pack’ , I will ensure all students know exactly what opportunities are available to them • I will further develop the ‘black card’ so it can be used more widely in retail venues across campus, promoting an affordable Forum. • I will encourage the use of student satisfaction surveys to highlight where Exeter’s strengths lie and immediately tackle the areas where students are dissatisfied.
BE INVOLVED. BE REWARDED. BE EMPLOYABLE • I will push academic staff to offer students more of their time • I will lobby the Guild for more money and facilities for extra-curricular participation so you can enhance your employability. • I will work to strengthen the reputation of the Exeter Award among employers. • I will develop the idea of a MyExeter log book so you can record your commitment to activities which can later be used as proof of participation for employers. So, add that little ‘something’ to YOUR GUILD. VOTE…There’s Something About MARY.
If elected for Guild President I will..... Improve Communication - If elected I will review the Guild’s use of online tools to ensure that they never substitute honest, open debate. - I will endeavour to close the ever increasing gap between our Students Guild and Athletics Union, to make sure that the student body gets the most out the universities funding. - Raise awareness of the Guild’s impact on the student body. - Hold open office hour, to allow the student body to express their opinions and ideas directly to the sabbs. Ensure Equality - With the introduction of the £9000
fees, I will endeavour to ensure that ALL students receive a fair share. - I will work to make all courses ‘allinclusive’, through ensuring there are no hidden course costs, such as compulsory text books, printing and equipment. - I will try to ensure that the Universities expansions and developments reach all students, especially with the opening of the Forum project and the creation of a new Medical School. Pushing to increase developments on our external campuses especially St Luke’s. All work and no play - no chance! - With the opening of the forum project and consequently the repositioning of
both RAG and CA. I will endeavour to ensure that we maximise the use of Cornwall House to enhance our Students facilities. - Ensure there isn’t a repeat of last years societies sign up problems, by talking to societies and finding out what they want from the staff. My experience at Exeter has been incredible and most of it is down to both the Guild and the Athletics Union. As Guild President I’d want to ensure that everyone’s experience is the best it can be, by maximising the Universities full potential. Vote Ewan!
Exeposé Commentary • Mary’s manifesto contains many well-thought ideas. Her successful year as RAG Officer proves her determination to succeed. • Her plan to develop the Black Card and her proposed Common Room suggest positive plans for the Forum. • Publishing expenditure, if possible, will promote transparency and accessibility within the University and the Guild. • She neglects to pick up on some key issues such as housing, but her ideas for increasing employability will be popular.
Exeposé Commentary • Ewan’s extensive participation in the Guild, his volunteering and knowledge of societies, gives him a good overview of the student experience. • His improvements of the activities fair will be welcome. • He acknowledges areas which need to be improved, but fails to provide specific suggestions as to how to execute his ideas. • His plan to make all course costs inclusive in tuition fees is admirable but perhaps over ambitious.
Athletic Union President
Joe Batten
Brett Richmond
Rich-What? Richmond!
Hi I’m Joe and I am running to be you’re A.U President. If elected I will: The new Sports Park You should decide: - What equipment goes into the new gym. - What and when classes are - Even what foods are going to be served in the new café! Improvements to the St Lukes Gym. - I plan to do this through a student wide questionnaire. More publicity for all clubs - Build on social networking using the new Facebook pages and the new and improved AU website that’s coming shortly. - Initiate a ‘Match of the Day’ scheme to publicize one home game for one club each Wednesday or for some clubs their
big Saturday games/competitions. Performance - Maximize each club’s potential in BUCS and in performance in all competitive games/meets and competitions. - Work closely with the clubs, using the A.U exec to good advantage. - Use the kit fund to help facilitate these needs. Intra-mural - Increase halls participation further in intra- mural. This includes off-campus halls that often miss out. - Extend the deadline at which teams sign up Events, Varsity and Healthy Living - Increase the number and promotion of healthy living campaigns.
- Implement an intra-halls league that runs throughout the year - More intra-club competitions, more charity events, and more Varsity! - With the multi sports Varsity weekend against Bath this March, I will build on it, make it bigger and involve more sports so more clubs get the varsity experience. International Involvement - Increase links between the A.U and the International Society and also the individual International Societies. - Run taster sessions in August when the INTO students arrive - With the ‘International Month’ coming in March we’re in a fantastic place to really increase participation VOTE JOE!
Hello, I’m Brett Richmond and I’m campaigning to be your next AU President. So, how would voting for BRETT RICHMOND improve YOUR sporting experience at Exeter????? Increased participation: Everyone should have the chance to enjoy sport; whether through playing, coaching or officiating. Intramural sport at Exeter can be improved with more fixtures, sports and facilities available. I woild also increase the amount of international students participating in sport at Exeter by creating a new international rep position on the AU executive committee. Increase sport budgets: In order to give everyone more access to funding, I propose an increase in sponsorship
(especially for smaller clubs), and more fundraising opportunities around campus led by the AU clubs. I would also drive a large scale increase in alumni involvement in university sport. More Varsities: Varsity is the best time of the year to show off YOUR club to the University. We can do more to strengthen the links we have with our closest sporting rivals. I would like to organise a rowing regatta, a kitesurfing jam, and a snowsports event at the dry ski slope! Equality throughout the AU: I believe that through better advertising and publicity, the less prominent AU clubs will get more opportunities to develop and increase membership. Sports Volunteering Scheme (SVS):
Through increased advertising and publicity, more students can join this scheme and can become qualified coaches/officials, at a hugely discounted price! BUCS success: We are currently sitting 6th in the country on points out of 149 Universities. By working on a culmination of the above ideas, we can push for even higher honours in 20122013!!!!! Lastly I will continue to encourage the University to invest in improving our Sports Park to ensure that facilities for all students are the best quality possible! By voting for BRETT RICHMOND we can make this happen. Thank you. “RICH- WHAT?” “RICHMOND!”
Exeposé Commentary
• Joe provides a forward-thinking manifesto which focuses on increasing participation and improving links between the AU and the Guild. • His experience as a Club Captain and AU Exec Treasurer gives Joe a valuable insight into how the AU is run. • Ideas regarding the improvement of publicity are good, but he fails to acknowledge the role of the student media. • His Varsity plans are positive but lack specific detail such as which clubs will be involved.
Exeposé Commentary • Brett’s experience volunteering at the University and on programmes in the city gives him a wide understanding of sport in Exeter and this shows in his manifesto. • His plans to create a new International Rep position promotes wider participation in the AU. • He sees the importance of improved publicity but does not acknowledge the benefits of involvement with student media. • Brett has original ideas, such as his plans to involve alumni in Uni sport and to introduce a rowing regatta.
21
Exeposé week sixteen
Sabbatical Election 2012
VP Academic Affairs
Iain ‘Flash’ Gordon Fancy a flash?
Sam Hollis-Pack HP Sauce
Samuel Longden
Together we can, we will
Imogen Sanders Imagine Imogen
Teaching vs. Research – redressing the balance There is currently an inbalance between the amount of money that is brought in by teaching and research and how much staff time is spent on each of them. Many students feel that teaching can sometimes take a back seat to research, and I will change that on a department-by-department basis. Improving communication SSLCs are very effective, but are often unknown. I will ensure that they become more of an integral part of the system. Improvements can be made to staff-staff communication e.g a superior feedback system, or a clearer module structure template.
Better use of technology Many rooms do not yet include technology as teaching aids. I will ensure that changes will be made. ELE is a valuable resource, and yet many pages are not used to the best of the system’s ability. Most students are far more willing to use a more attractive page, and so I will make sure that adequate training and guidance is given to members of staff and students. Cost of going to university I will lobby the university to try and have “core” texts included in the tuition fee. I will lobby the student loans company to alter the system so that there is access to more funds for those universities where it costs more to attend. Postgraduate support
For those PGT students whose courses are largely dependent on research, I will strive to widen access to the required resources. I will aid the current efforts to provide social space for postgraduates. Increase university-wide accessibility It is often difficult to enrol on modules outside your college or department, or to attend lectures or talks given by other areas of the university. I will endeavour to change this. Integrating international students I will endeavour to solve the problem of integration by encouraging enrolment into colleges with a lower percentage of international students, and by altering the way in which accommodation is allocated.
My name is Sam Hollis-Pack and I am passionate about making sure you get the best academic opportunity that this University can offer. Next year the University are adding an extra week to the first term. I would like to call it ‘Opportunity Week’ giving you the chance to use it as you wish. This might be catching up on work, research, attending CV and employability workshops, working on societies or just having a week to refresh yourself. Every College must offer at least a minimum of 10 contact hours a week. This could be in seminars, lectures, one to one sessions or my new drop-in sessions. This of course extends to PG and International students as well. Continuing the ‘Students as Change
Agents’ scheme. As students we are at the frontline of issues and can see them developing from the start so it is only right that we are part of making positive changes. During my year more students will be used on a regular termly basis focussing on key themes raised from SSLC. Have you been disappointed by lecturing? I would like to see ALL new staff (and quite a few of the older) given the opportunity to take more training. Making sure the teacher can teach. All cancelled lectures MUST be rescheduled without fail - slides on ELE is not an acceptable replacement. I would set up a better ‘buddy’ system for Erasmus and International students to give them the chance to meet and chat with more students who have English as
a first language. Postgraduates are also too often overlooked so equal academic opportunities must be extended to them as well. If elected I will fight to make sure ALL extra module costs are paid for. FIVE essays on the same day?! I will fight to make sure that assessed work deadlines are distributed more evenly. If elected I will make sure the trialled online hand in system becomes permanent. I will push the University IT team into creating apps for MyExeter and ELE thus giving you the opportunity to work on the go. So if you want to create, improve and make equal academic opportunity for ALL then please vote Sam HP (the ‘sauce’ of Academic Opportunity!)
As the only 2nd year student running for the role of Academic Affairs, I’m the candidate who really cares about what will be achieved next year. LECTURES. Love them or hate them, they’re here to stay. But what about all those times you haven’t understood the lecturer and wish you were able to watch it again? Or perhaps you were too hung over and weren’t able to make it to that 9am? Or even wish you had the lecture slides in advance to print? Well, I propose a change. All lectures, where facilities are available, should be recorded. All modules should have adequate notes online for ‘catch-up’ in case of absence. All lecture slides should be accessible on ELE 24 hours prior to the lecture to give
students a chance to prepare. MACE (Module and Course Evaluation). Everyone likes to give their opinion on a module, but wouldn’t it be better to evaluate the course sooner, such as after 2 weeks? I will explore the possibility of having a quick evaluation to sort problems before you’ve wasted a term of work. I also propose opening MACE after exam week, so you’ve time to reflect back accurately on the module. PEER MENTORING. Wouldn’t you like a friend in the year above to give you the answers? I propose a standardised (voluntary) university wide scheme that pairs freshers (or a group of freshers) with a ‘parent’ or ‘mentor’ in the year above.
EXAMS. If you’ve had a “bad exam that wasn’t your fault”, don’t contact *random name* solicitors, contact me. If elected, I’ll strive to introduce a new system that will PREVENT mistakes and keep lecturers on-call in-case of last minute problems. WIFI. My grandma has it, even Cornwall has it. So why do some of our lecture rooms and parts of campus not? CAREERS SERVICE. These guys currently offer a fantastic range of services from CV checking to finding jobs that you’ve never really considered before. I will continue to support this service and improve job prospects for us all. Together we can, we will.
I’m Imogen, a third year English student running for VP Academic Affairs. Here’s how I’d imagine the future… Imagine…Streamlined EMAILS: Departments should condense all circulars in to a weekly or bi-weekly round up. Imagine…READING WEEK: In the new term structure, there is going to be an extra week in term one. Different subjects will want to utilise this time differently, I’ll make sure it’s discipline specific. Imagine…More ORGANISED EXAMS: Inaccurate questions? I’ll fight for triple or quadruple checking-however many checks it takes. Imagine…FREE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOONS: This time should be for sports and society activities. I want to
extend this to postgrads. Imagine…GLOBAL Exeter: I want to build more links with universities abroad and support this with buddy schemes for all visiting students. Imagine…Better GUIDANCE for REFERENCING: Departments need to offer workshops so students feel confident with the systems. Imagine…COMMUNICATION between DEPARTMENTS: Study should be interdisciplinary. Imagine…improving EMPLOYABILITY: The university should be helping students get targeted work experience and help students with finance. Imagine…engagement with LECTURERS’ RESEARCH: Students should be
kept updated on academics’ work whilst they’re on leave. Imagine...Clearer FEEDBACK: I will introduce standardised feedback sheets, tailored for each college, which will make the comments clearer and more helpful. Imagine…Tailored CONTACT HOURS: Contact hours have to increase next year but I will ensure the university are mindful of different subjects’ needs. Imagine…DEDICATED PERSONAL TUTORS: This should be a continuing relationship that spans your entire university career, and when it isn’t, there should be a handover system which makes the student feel acknowledged. Don’t just IMAGINE, vote IMOGEN.
Exeposé Commentary • Some of Iain’s plans will be popular with students, such as core texts being included in tuition fees. • His inclusion of postgraduate and international students’ needs highlights his concern for the student body as a whole. • However, some of his points seem unrealistic. For example, lobbying the student loans company to access more funds. • Redesigning ELE seems a trivial point of focus, as the system’s merit is dependent on content and staff input rather than design.
Exeposé Commentary • Sam’s initiatives are interesting. For example, his plan to reschedule all cancelled lectures is strong and would be welcome. • The development of Apps for ELE and MyExeter shows creativity and initiative. • His plans to enforce more training for teachers and lecturers is fairly controversial as it would undoubtedly receive a mixed response from University staff. • Although his aim to have all extra course costs paid for would be popular, it is highly ambitious.
Exeposé Commentary • Sam’s manifesto incorporates unique ideas, however, he does skim over some main issues. • The peer-mentoring scheme is an interesting initiative that could benefit a wide range of students. • His simple plea for better WIFI is a strong campaign point. His idea for the early publishing of lecture slides would be helpful. • His proposal for course reviews after only two weeks may provide uninformed views of modules. • His tone lacks professionalism at times, despite this he makes some valid points.
Exeposé Commentary • Imogen’s experience as SSLC subject chair informs her well thought-out manifesto, which covers an extensive range of important academic issues. • Her plans for better exam proofreading procedures would be a welcome improvement. • Her focus on employability, an area which Exeter has been criticised for in the past, is positive. However, a scheme like this already exists so she should prehaps focus on building upon or publicising what is already there.
22
6 February 2011 Exeposé
Sabbatical Election 2012
VP Participation and Campuses
Jon Bagnall B involved
Archie Burbidge Your Archangel
Mike Evans Like Mike!
Sam Grace
Your hero next door
If elected to VP Participation and Campuses, I will do my best to: Enhance the Guild FACILITIES • Introduce an online ticketing system for the Saturday Lemmy through the Students’ Guild website in which your student ID card acts as your ticket. • Continue attracting bigger acts to Exeter and increase the on-campus publicity of these gigs. • Our library is open 24/7. We need greater availability of food on campus in the evenings and at weekends. • I want to ensure the students get the best out of the Forum project by maintaining the student voice in further discussions and decisions. Improve the ACTIVITIES AND VOLUNTEERING experience
-Societies and the AU need to utilise RAG’s experience of fundraising to aid them in their own charitable ideas and causes. • For Community Action, Voice and Welcome Team, I want to ensure this continues by increasing the publicity and participation of students in their causes. • Development of the society online system needs to continue as well as reviewing the current Guild funding allocation. • Increase the exposure of our awardwinning medias through Guild outlets and promote the use of the new X-Media Online website as a hub for all medias. Ensure ST LUKE’S is given the attention it deserves • Improving the facilities on St Luke’s and maximising its use by students and
societies, such as getting better equipment in the gym and increasing Guild presence through the Information Point. Maximise opportunities for EVERY student to ‘B involved’ • Advanced publicity and awareness of International events celebrating the cultural differences of students within the University. • Increase recognition of Postgraduate representation on Guild Council and advance social events by promoting more Postgraduate-specific Welcome Week activities. • Further collaboration is needed between the Guild and AU to promote more oneoff events and society participation in intramural leagues.
My passion, enthusiasm and experience will ensure that I do all that is possible to ensure that you have the best university experience possible. If elected, I aim to achieve: Encouraging greater and continued support to volunteering on campus - Working closely with Welcome Week team to continue their good work, aiming to encourage greater participation and safeguarding funding for the project. - Aims to increase participation in Community Action and Voice; continuing close work with RAG to ensure that Student’s Guild continue to provide a high standard of volunteering opportunities. Promoting, supporting and safeguarding societies and students
- Increased support in the cross over between academic years for society committees. Conducting meetings with society presidents every term. - Striving for transparency and accessibility in the Guild. Although no ‘open door’ policy can occur logistically, meeting students, supporting them and hearing their views is imperative. - Encouraging and supporting students so that they can make the most of the University’s fantastic facilities such as the Lemmy, the Northcott and the Forum Project. Improving participation, Guild presence and activities on St Lukes - Encourage greater participation in volunteering on St Lukes closely working
with the St Lukes RAG officers. - Developing a St Lukes Entertainment Committee, that will work alongside the Guild and efforts will culminate in organising a christmas ball. - Striving to provide a greater Guild presence on St Lukes campus, ensuring continued and increased support for projects such as St Lukes monthly magazine, G.O.A.L. Creating a committee for self catered halls - Developing an increased sense of community for students in self catered halls. Creating a self catered halls committee. - Aiming to organise a self catered halls summer ball.
Students should be involved from the start. My policies aim to improve communication between you and the Guild to ensure immediate solutions to problems. Intentions: 1. Streamline: The Freshers’ Fair, and other Guild events, need improvement; especially in advertising. An example of how this could be achieved is through better use of the Welcome Week App to improve running of the Fair. There needs to be fewer divisions on campus: rather than a series of disconnected events; undergrads vs. postgrads, UK vs. International, we are all part of the same campus community. 2. More bookable space: I will work with the University and Guild to pro-
mote new and existing spaces, and to research new locations to accommodate everyone’s interests. There should be no hidden costs - £9000+ should get you everything. 3. Proactive: I will hold more face-toface meetings with societies to ensure maximum Guild support. Whether you’re in RAG, CA, XMedia, Voice, Welcome Team or any other group, I plan to come to your meetings, and ensure you know what changes are happening in the Guild. 4. Volunteering: I intend to create an app called iVolunteer on MyExeter. This will allow you to create an online profile calendar to record all your hours of volunteering work in whatever field you choose, which can then be signed off by
a staff member. 5. Online: The Guild’s website is underutilized: I will create a more up-to-date societies’ hub, including an events calendar and info about every student group. 6. St. Luke’s: St. Luke’s needs a bigger Guild presence. I will work to ensure better use of the info point, improving society and volunteering opportunities, to create more cohesion between the two campuses. 7. EVERYONE: Undergraduates, Postgraduates and International students all deserve equal support. But: instead of forcing policies upon groups, I intend to hold open forums with all student groups and staff to find out what they want and deliver accordingly.
I believe with my experience and drive I can really improve the extra-curricular provision, so that students on all campuses have equal opportunities and access to pursue their interests. Appreciation of Volunteers • Award scheme which recognises all kinds of volunteering, such as Certificates of Achievement for all Welcome Team members. • Assistance for the Welcome Team from Sabbatical Officers to ease their workload. Societies • Promoting all volunteering opportunities and creating more to cater for diverse student interests • Improve inter-society communication by having a place that all society presi-
dents can discuss online. • Fight to keep Guild Space in Cornwall House to increase bookable spaces for societies. • Increase sign-ups to societies by promoting online sign-ups before the event and increasing the number of till stations. • Re-adjust budget into one pot for fair access for all societies Media • Improved publicity for Xmedia and appreciation of volunteering hours involved. • Promote Xtv’s bid to host National Student Television Awards in 2013 and increase publicity of achievements at National Awards. Postgraduates • Work with Postgraduate Society and
PGU to give Post Graduate Students a social space on Campus • Promote a wider range of post graduate events and inclusion in all existing societies. International Students • Increase awareness of Guild and Services with a ‘pop-up’ Guild Information Desk in the INTO Centre and Business School. St. Luke’s • Create an activities and volunteering hub on St. Luke’s. • More Employability, Accessibility and Advice Unit sessions for St. Luke’s students. • Ensure the highly popular BOP, Summer Ball and other Lukie events continue successfully.
Exeposé Commentary
• Jon’s manifesto covers key areas of participation, including XMedia, St Luke’s and postgraduates. • He has many original and feasible ideas and his role as Activities Assistant this year means they are wellthought out. • He has ideas which will be popular with students, such as the online ticketing system for the Lemmy and his aim to increase the opening hours of food outlets on campus. • He acknowledges how important the role will be next year with the opening of the Forum.
Exeposé Commentary • Archie has strong ideas about improving St Luke’s, such as creating a St Luke’s Entertainment Committee and supporting St Luke’s projects. • Balls for self-catered halls is a noble idea and should balance the gap between self-catered and catered students’ social activities. • However, her ideas are vague when it comes to how she will support societies. • Crucially, there is no mention of postgraduates, International students or XMedia.
Exeposé Commentary • Mike has clear aims for the future and knows what he wants to achieve. • His online proposals are particularly strong. For example, his ideas on having an events calendar on the Guild’s website and an iVolunteer App are original. • Good focus on value for money with ideas on more bookable space. • He has strong credentials as President of three societies. However, as Station Manager of XTV, it is surprising that he does not play more to his strengths in regards to XMedia.
Exeposé Commentary • Sam’s extensive involvement in volunteering and societies, at both Streatham and St. Luke’s, gives him a firm idea of the individual needs of these campuses. • His plans to increase the number of till stations at the Activites Fair is an important point which suggests his understanding of student concerns. • However, some of his ideas are already in place, for example a space for postgraduates, • Sam’s encouragement of media iniatives and the promotion of National Awards shows ambition and awareness of individual society needs.
Exeposé week sixteen
23
Societies and a good Uni experience go hand in hand, I think I can help that friendship. I endeavour to:
Olli Whittle
Size doesn’t matter
Make the FORUM facilities accessible to all societies • With the opening of the Forum this space needs to be used to the full extent by societies. This includes creating parts which would be exclusively for societies to use for their own aims. • The new Guild offices need to be publicised so that all students know where to go when they need Guild help. Promote SOCIETIES role in the life of the Exeter student • Improve the link between society execs and the management of the Uni-
versity so both can use campus easily and without getting in each other’s way. • Ensure that signups are continued to be made easier by advertising how societies use the Welcome Week Fair. Continue the improvements for VOLUNTEERING and the MEDIA • Make sure the points made in the Volunteering/Media Hub consultations are realised in the creation of the Hub. • Encourage the University and the students to use the skills of Xmedia to create audio tours, podcasts, blogs and videos. • Work with the University to finalise
Sabbatical Election 2012
plans for more speakers for XpressionFM, more televisions for XTV around campus, as well as continue to support Exeposé and XMO’s expansion. Improve Guild links with ST LUKES • Create a more Guild expanded community at St Lukes so the campus doesn’t become separated despite Cross Keys shutting.
Exeposé Commentary
• Olli understands that the Forum needs to be utilised, which is a great forward-thinking start. He also acknowledges that publicity is a key area that needs improvement. • As Station Manager of Xpression FM, his ideas for media come from his experience and are well researched. • Improving the link between society execs and University management will ensure life on campus runs better. • Although he makes good points, the manifesto is quite brief. He does not mention postgraduates and International Students.
VP Welfare and Community
Michael Cope
Grace Hopper
Azalia Lawrence
Serious about your welfare
I decided that I was going to run for the Welfare and Communities position long before the nominations opened, as I knew what I wanted to see happen at this university. This manifesto has been shaped by my experiences at this university and by the experiences of those I know. I intend to: 1) Create an emergency fund so that students who are really struggling to pay fees and rents will be able to receive a small amount that will help pay them. 2) Create a group comprised of both students and people from the local community. They will liaise with each other and be able to aid cooperation between the local community and the
university. 3) Create a system whereby those with part time jobs will be able to work with those creating academic timetables so as to better organise their academic commitments around their jobs. 4) Create a democratically elected LGBTQ rep for the guild. At the moment, the rep is taken from whoever is elected from the LGBTQ support group. I do not think this is fair, as it excludes those who identify as LGBTQ but don’t go to the support group. The rep needs to be elected by the whole student body. 5) Create drop in sessions at certain times in the year run by the student counselling service. I do not think this
vital service is visible enough around campus, particularly during high stress periods, such as exam time. 6) Raise awareness of street violence, but in a way that does not place blame on anyone but the attacker. Too many campaigns fail in this respect. I would also raise awareness of the many support services that are available for those who need them. One possibility is an exhibition on campus. Of course, the most important aspect of a job like this will be to listen to the concerns of students and take their advice. That is the core of this job, and, if I win, my door will always be open to those who need to talk. Please vote for Michael Cope!
I feel it is important to listen to what matters to each and every student, to make sure the guild recognises your concerns and supports you in the right way. Here are some of my policies: Green Week and Fair-trade - To ensure students know the benefits of choosing Fair-trade by securing Green Week as a regular and larger event. - To ensure students know which campus services sell Fair-trade products by creating a Fair-trade Directory online. Mentoring system - To introduce a buddy system within each school, meaning a group of first year students will have two mentors from the year above within their subject with whom they will meet once a term to ask
questions and seek advice from. - I would also introduce a similar system with the welcome teams, where each member of the welcome team becomes their buddy. Once welcome week is over, first years can e-mail, meet and gain advice from their previous welcome week team. Support systems - To introduce a Voice drop in session one day a week entitled ‘tea and toast’ where students can relax and talk to someone from the listening and information service. - To increase publicity and awareness of Voice by having strong Voice presence at all Student’s Guild led events, especially at the first year meeting at the start of year.
Housing - To introduce a step to step guide for every student on how to find a house in Exeter, that mirrors the events taking place on campus. I will ensure each student receives a copy. - To further develop the Housemate Finder Forum on the Student’s Guild website by creating an online chat function. Student safety - To work with the council to ensure all paths outside the University grounds that are heavily used by students are well lit. Environment - To introduce water bottles into departments where students study for long periods of time to prevent the continual wastage of plastic bottles.
Here’s what I want to do to address the main welfare and community issues we face and make your Exeter experience even better: - Introduce a Night Bus: Provide a shuttle bus home from your nights out on Streatham, St. Luke’s and town on Saturdays and Wednesdays. This would save you taxi money, increase student safety on and off campus, provide volunteering opportunities through the Exeter Award, as well as improve relations with our wider community by reducing noise. - Who ya gonna call? I want to revamp Voice to embody all student-to-student support services. I’d bring all peer-to-peer support groups under the Voice umbrella along with the phone service, and fortify
its links with the Guild by updating its committee structure and distinguishing between Voice and Raise Your Voice. Then we can rejuvenate publicity so every student, (whether International, Postgrad or Undergrad) knows they always have another student to chat to, Who ya gonna call? Voice. - Housing issues? We’ve all been there. I want to run a bigger, better Housing Campaign by increasing publicity, inviting more landlords and having an established student presence for advice. I also want to face-lift the Guild’s Housemate Finder to include more students and more information and relieve some of the stress of working out who to live with! - Bring bigger awareness events to
Exeter. I want to work with more charities and companies across the country to make sure we get the best speakers to Exeter to raise awareness of diversity, equality and mental health. - Support services: what, why and where. This year, access to our support services will be streamlining into the Student Services Centre in the Forum. With rising tuition fees, you’ll want more value for money so I want to tighten ties between our welfare resources and boost publicity for transparency in what they can do for you, and how to find them. -Finally, promote cultural community engagement: Add publicity of wider Exeter events (e.g. what’s on at the Phoenix and Exeter Picturehouse) to the Guild’s G Mag.
Exeposé Commentary
• Michael’s idea to create a democratically elected rep for LGBTQ has potential. • Raising awareness of street violence is admirable. • Some of his ideas already do exist, such as the emergency fund and community liason group. • Whilst other ideas are over ambitious, like his plan to organise academic timetables around jobs. • Michael has an abstract range of points, some of which do not seem well-thought out.
Exeposé Commentary • Grace’s ideas cover a range of key areas concerning student welfare. • Her role as Voice training and mentor officer informs her ideas on support systems. • She has attainable and well researched ideas, such as developing the Housemate Finder Forum and a buddy system within each school. • However, the buddy system for Welcome Team seems to ask too much from the volunteers. • Her ideas on Fair-trade are admirable, but may not be best directed at students living on a budget.
Exeposé Commentary • Azalia’s ideas to revamp Voice and increase awareness of diversity and mental health through more speakers are original. Her idea for a night bus serves as a solution to student safety. • Her role as the Guild’s Mental Health Rep, and her involvement in Mind Your Head and Voice, help her to address the important areas of welfare with sound research. • Although increased publicity of Exeter events is a good idea, the idea could have been made stronger with an acknowlegement of XMedia as well as G Mag.
6 February 2011 Exeposé
24
Sabbatical Election 2012
Delphi May
Doug Yeong
I believe that I would a strong Vice President of Welfare and Community because I have the necessary experience as a leader and bridge to the wider community. Some of the key duties that fall under this role are liaising with local agencies to ensure student safety, working with local residents to bolster ties between the university and the city, and providing formal, sabbatical support for the International Students’ Council. At school, I worked hard to ensure that Sixth Formers in conjunction with staff were out on the streets at break, lunch and after school in order to make pupils in the younger years feel more comfortable seeing people they knew and recognised looking out for them. Feeling safe in all
walks of life counts for a lot, and I would like to campaign in order to enhance such measures on campus, since some students still feel a little intimidated walking about in surrounding areas, particularly at night. In relation to tightening links between the community and the university, throughout school I encouraged students to go and read to elderly people in nursing homes, and at Christmas organised hampers to be taken by younger students to those who cannot get out easily. Not only did it please residents, but it also gave the school a good name and reputation throughout the wider community, and inspired others to do such acts of kindness. Furthermore, I supported students who came to the school from different homes
across the world, by helping them learn English, or ensuring they weren’t left out of other friendship groups. Therefore I understand how to make others who are unfamiliar with our environment feel integrated and included, and this I would like to strengthen here too. In terms of other duties and responsibilities as a Trustee of the Guild, I can only stress that I am extremely reliable and trustworthy, and have had experience in having to meet targets in short spaces of time, carrying out tasks and doing them well. I am more than willing to follow instructions and give my time to others and to the University of Exeter – and, more importantly, to make sure that those who take over the role do the same too.
I’m passionate about making a real difference for current and future Exeter students so they enjoy their social and academic life at Exeter. If I am elected I will: Promote and Enhance Student Safety • Review and improve student routes on and off campus which will include assessing lighting and vegetation. • Run an engaging student safety campaign in Welcome Week and Refresh Week to advise students how to be safe. • Review the student safety pilot scheme at the Lemon Grove and enhance the walk home team if there is a demand for it. Make support services accessible • Provide every student with relevant information about each support service at the earliest possible stage and ensure they remain well publicised
• Liaise with University Student Wellbeing services by having bi-termly meetings with the services and with students. • Support Voice by creating a new Voice notice board and regularly meeting with Voice General Co-ordinators • Ensure that the Guild advice unit remains well publicised and engages with student needs Support the International Student’s Council • Champion the work of the International Student’s Council across the university to help support international students and make them feel at home and welcome Continue to assist students on housing issues: • Continue the housing campaign • Enhance the Housemate Finder by in-
troducing a small number of relevant sections which the users must complete before being able to upload and promote the service by having a clear link from the Guild website • Regularly communicate with landlords and letting agents to ensure they engage and meet with student needs by encouraging landlords to sign up to the SHARE scheme. Help students and the community integrate • Work with student and local groups to maintain good relations so they benefit each other. • Help students contribute directly to the Exeter community through university campaigns and community based projects including the community garden.
Exeposé Commentary • Delphi identifies the key issue of student safety on campus. • It is credible that she aims to suppport the International Students’ Council. • She speaks of her past credentials at school, but she does not focus on what she has done in Exeter and she does not offer methods on how she will achieve her goals. • She fails to fully grasp what the role entails which may be down to her limited time in Exeter, as she is only in her first year.
Exeposé Commentary • Doug addresses the important areas of welfare, such as student safety and support services. • As Community Action Officer, he recognises the importance of community projects and has good ideas about sustaining a good relationship between students and the community. • His focus on the International Student’s Council is an encouraging idea which some candidates ignore. • Instead of creating new initiatives, he has placed emphasis on building upon what already exists.
What happened last year?
How the STV voting system works and what has happened to candidate numbers this year The Guild elections occur every year in February, and are used to elect the Sabbatical officers that will represent the students to the University, the Guild and the wider world for the following year. • Exeter has a high percentage of voting students, setting a national record last year with 36 per cent of the student population voting. • Every student is eligible to vote, which can be done online on the
Guild’s website. • Last year, 6,491 students voted, 88 per cent of them being undergraduates. • Interestingly, the highest proportion of votes came from first year students, who cast 2,387 votes, whilst second years showed the least interest with only 1,924 votes cast • The College of the Humanities provided the highest number of voting students (1,811 votes) and Lafrowda Halls had the highest proportion of
votes from accommodation on campus (271 votes). • Understandably, British nationals made up the majority of voters (83.13 per cent), with Chinese students in second (3.27 per cent) and Indian in third (1.30 per cent). • This year there are 22 candidates running, which is a drop on last year’s 39 (see the graph below on the right). Several candidates dropped out this year, after nominations closed on 27
January. Although there is no real explanation for the significant difference in numbers, the Guild believes the recession and economic climate last year had an impact on candidate numbers. • The voting system is based on the Single Transferable Vote (STV), which is a form of proportional representation. Candidates don’t need a majority to win, just a known share of the votes. The electorate is asked to select candidates by numbering
them in order of preference. Votes are then transferred between candidates based on their numbered preferences, so if your preferred candidate has no chance of being elected or has enough votes already, your vote is transferred to another candidate in accordance with your numerical instructions. STV thus ensures that very few votes are wasted and takes everyone’s vote into account.
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Exeposé week sixteen
Sabbatical Election 2012
In the know: What’s it like to be a Sabb? With a new team about to be elected, Exeposé asks the incumbent Sabb Officers about the highs and the lows of their year in the Guild Nick Davis Guild President
James Fox VP Participation and Campuses
James Eales VP Academic Affairs
Emma Payne VP Welfare and Community
1) What has been the highlight of your year in office? There is no euphoric seminal moment like that of the elections results night, but the closest feeling would definitely be seeing firsthand the respect with which the University hold the Guild’s and, in turn, the students priorities moving forward. To be part of the strongest relationship in Higher Education and the student movement has been an on-going highlight in my year so far and one that I expect to continue long past my time here. 2) What advice would you give to future Sabbs in your role? Be open, be adaptable and roll with the punches. It’s not all roses in the Sabb world but you have brilliant support from your team, the Guild and the University. Get to know all these groups well and your life will be better for it. 3) What are you looking for in the new Sabbs? Enthusiasm. Every team is different and has varying aspirations for the year but as long as they have that fire in their bellies they can do anything. 4) What would you like to see continued? Personally, I would love to see next year’s President continue the work the Guild is currently doing with Employability and Graduate Development. It is important to remind students about the importance of career development poststudy. 5) What would you change? I would have thrown my inhibitions out of the door on day one and got stuck in straight away. A year goes by quicker than you can imagine and there is no time to worry about what mistakes you might make or what others might think of you.
1) What has been the highlight of your year in office? My personal highlight was successfully bidding to bring the Olympic Torch to campus and the day itself. It was a fantastic opportunity for Exeter students to engage with the Olympics and to be nominated to run with the Olympic Torch. 2) What advice would you give to future Sabbs in your role? Don’t take it for granted. Chances are you will never get another job like iteveryday is different and you are genuinely given the opportunity to make a positive change to students’ time at university. 3) What are you looking for in the new Sabbs? Primarily, bags of enthusiasm for the job and passion for the things that they want to achieve. If they have both of those attributes I’m sure they will do a great job. 4) What would you like to see continued? I’d love to see the work that I’ve done on continued engagement and participation, particularly after Freshers’, continued. Building on Second Chance Sign Ups at St Luke’s and making Refresh even bigger and better again next year. 5) What would you change? For me, it would probably be some of the bureaucracy that exists both in the University and the Guild. Often it takes too long for even the simplest of things to get done.
1) What has been the highlight of your year in office? I suppose my biggest highlight hasn’t happened yet! The Teaching Awards are going to be amazing this year, with a grandstand awards ceremony in May. Nominations open 13 February and hopefully we’ll get hundreds of nominations for staff and make it the best year yet! 2) What advice would you give to future Sabbs in your role? Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t understand something; no one expects you to understand everything immediately. Indeed, many staff who have worked at the University for years don’t understand half of what’s said! 3) What are you looking for in the new Sabbs? Someone with a vision for how to improve the student experience, and is willing to overcome the setbacks and obstacles to achieve it. 4) What would you like to see continued? Hopefully, my replacement will continue to work towards ‘the vision for the future of education’ which was started two years ago by my predecessor. This document sets out the long term objectives the Guild feels would improve the academic experience of students and has had strong support from University senior management. 5) What would you change? I’m sure every Sabbatical ever would say this, but I would spend more time chatting to students. Most days I’m hidden away on the top floor of Devonshire House or in various meetings which means it’s hard to find the time.
1) What has been the highlight of your year in office? The year so far has been absolutely incredible, but I think one highlight was the big Housing Campaign, and the ‘Housing Fair’ event that took place in January, where students could meet landlords and arrange bookings. By helping students make those all important housing decisions, hopefully, we will see two outcomes: students not feeling pressured to sign for a house in term one and seeing rent prices fall. 2) What advice would you give to future Sabbs in your role? Three things; be brave and speak up, especially if something happens that you don’t feel comfortable with. Be prepared and organised for all meetings, colour coding is always fun. Thirdly, make sure you spend lots of time with the other Sabbs just chilling out. With this job, you will instantly find yourself with four new best friends, regardless of how well you knew them before. So make sure you make enough time to drink out of your shiny tankards in the Ram. 3) What are you looking for in the new Sabbs? People with well thought out manifestos which are easily achievable and who are down to earth and not on one massive ego-trip. 4) What would you like to see continued? Obviously, I would like the Housing Campaign continued, the Community Garden to get bigger and better and the ‘welfare corner desk’ in our office. 5) What would you change? That bloody picture of me that is on the stairs! No, actually, I would make sure I spent more of my summer months planning my whole year and being super organised.
What’s it like running the AU?
Beth Hampson Athletic Union President
MY biggest highlight from my year thus far is the creation of International Sport Month, which I am finalising at the moment, and it will be hitting Exeter in the month of March. It embodies all of my aims for the year. Advice I would give to future Sabbs is to listen; you will never get this sort of advice this early on in your career so think outside of the box and act on what others say, and advise as well. In the new Sabb, I am looking for someone who has learnt about the Athletic Union, who has found out about it as an organisation and used this to see how they could change student sport in the future. I think the AU is a very sustainable organisation, so I would not change much, but I think people need to make sure events are current and amend them to appeal to the masses, making sure all groups are being targeted to get involved so that we get the highest levels of participation and student satisfaction.
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6 february 2012 Exeposé
Music
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Andy Smith & Amy Weller - music@exepose.com
Upcoming INTERVIEW 12/02 - ExTunes Live! Old Firehouse
15/02 -David McAlmont and Guy Davies, Exeter Phoenix
The Howly Grail of Rock ‘n’ Roll Amy Weller, Music Editor, chats to Howler front man Jordan Gatesmith
16/02 - Steve Knightley, Exeter Phoenix 19/02 - Breabach, Exeter Phoenix 19/02 - ExTunes Live! Old Firehouse 23/02 - Roll Deep, Exeter Phoenix 27/02 - Ellen and the Escapades, Exeter Phoenix Featured Event:
Joe Bloggers Cavern 16/02
This is the latest addition to the Cavern’s musical calender. Each night, held on the third Thursday of the month, has four live acts, which best represent the local and national emerging talent of their genre. The new nights at the Cavern are being curated and DJ’d by A Pocket Full Of Seeds.com, a music blog run by Exeter University student, Marcus Brooke-Smith. You can expect to see fellow students sharing the bill with bigger, signed acts who are destined for the big time. Already booked as headline acts are Ahab and 14th. Having worked with bands such as Daughter and Emily and The Woods (an Exeter alumni), Joe Bloggers is a great new addition to the Exeter music scene.
I MEET Howler on the top floor of an independent record store in Bristol, and find frontman Jordan Gatesmith reclining on a sofa, hoodie up, base ball cap jauntily lopsided and taking a swig from a can of Blackthorn. He already epitomises the ‘I just don’t give a fuck cos I’m in a rock band’ vibe you would probably expect from a front man who has written tracks entitled ‘Let’s Blow Shit Up’, ‘Beach Sluts’ and ‘You Like White Women, I Like Cigarettes’ for his band’s album America Give Up. Howler have just finished an acoustic performance of a few tracks to promote the release of their album. 19 year old Gatesmith, who seems to be more focused on drinking his cider (he’s not quite legal to drink in America yet) than talking about this performance, responds to the reference oozing with enthusiasm and excitement: “Yeah, I don’t know what that was.” At this point I realise I’m about to have a conversation resembling one that I would probably have with my 18 year old brother, minus the fact that my brother’s not a rock star, he’s just an annoying teenager doing his A-levels. So here is a bit of background on Howler for those of you who don’t read NME, their numero uno fans who listed Gatesmith in their ‘Cool List’ and Howler in the ‘50 best bands of 2011.’ Howler picked up a decent UK following whilst
supporting The Vaccines, which, according to Gatesmith, ended with a lot of “scotch and champagne. It was a rock star moment.” Howler appear to be living every teenage boy rocker’s dream. It’s fair to say that things have happened fast for Howler, from playing to a group of 100 people in Minneapolis to now 4000 people in London which Gatesmith describes as “kinda crazy” (calm yourself Gatesmith, don’t want to sound too overwhelmed). They were discovered and signed within mere days when their label Rough Trade Records were sent their EP and flew out to Minneapolis to secure a four album deal straight away: “It was stupid, I never saw it coming.” Despite the undeniably fast rise from being an unknown band who have been playing together for less than a year to landing a four album deal at the age of 19, Gatesmith plays the whole thing down: “It seems kinda natural to me, everyone has been like ‘dude it seems really fast’ but it feels cool”. Is there anything that can faze this boy? It seems that there is, and that would be the Scottish crowds they played to in Glasgow. “The Scottish are crazy fuckers. They are insane – like they threw drinks all the time. I don’t get that, what’s that about?! It was awesome!” This is probably the most excited he has been yet. Gatesmith wanted the band to have a
“retro-ish 50s structure” which can perhaps account for the old school rock ‘n’ roll vibe which is inflected with the punk style of bands such as The Ramones. He quotes Jesus and Mary Chain and Velvet Underground as being the more specific influences on their latest record but “right now it’s all Rolling Stones.” Gatesmith is already working on their second album, which “will be very Rolling Stones and Elvis I hope.” Such influences can be seen as an asserted effort to move away from the consistent comparisons to The Strokes that have been made by almost every single music critic. Does that ever get annoying? “No, I think it’s a huge compliment to say we sound like The Strokes. They’re kind of a band who set the tone for the last 10 years so that’s cool.” And the comparisons to The Drums? “No, I don’t like The Drums, I fucking hate The Drums. Sorry.” I touched a nerve there then.
“Mumford and Sons piss me off, British fuckers” One of the reasons why NME seem to be convinced that Howler are about to conquer the world is the fact that, like The Vaccines, they are bringing back rock ‘n’ roll and completely subverting the dominant trend of indie folk. This is
something Gatesmith is actually able to get passionate about and he holds Mumford and Sons responsible: “Mumford and Sons did something awful to Minneapolis, they piss me off, British fuckers doing Americana” (said in a terrible mock English accent). This aggressive hatred for foppish and loveable folk musicians pretty much captures the spirit of this band. They’re young, not afraid to say what they think and really don’t care about much apart from playing their music and having a good time. America Give Up can, on the surface, be seen as some sort of politically motivated statement, especially as Gatesmith is keen to express that he doesn’t want to return to America any time soon, but really I don’t think their thoughts are politically inclined whatsoever. “French people like us. I don’t think they actually like our music, I think they like that we named our album America Give Up. They were like ‘I love your album, it is how you say...political?’ We’re like yeah ok who cares” (told in a mock French accent almost as bad as his English one). It’s easy to assume that Howler are putting on a conscious effort to be edgy, political, controversial, or just “whatever man,” but really I think these are just teenage boys who genuinely don’t give a damn. Jordan Gatesmith, it hasn’t really been a pleasure, but it has been amusing.
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Exeposé week sixteen
Live reviews Wild Flag Thekla Bristol 27 January WHO doesn’t love a supergroup? The success of bands such as Them Crooked Vultures and the Foo Fighters shows that what was previously considered a short-lived sensation was anything but. Out of the hiatuses and disbanding of groups Sleater-Kinney and Helium and The Minders; Mary Timony, Carrie Brownstein, Janet Weiss and Rebecca Cole all came together to form Wild Flag. With such an ensemble, the expectations were high but fortunately, the talented foursome delivered. Long before the band stepped on stage the excitement about the selfprofessed “jetlag show” from Wild Flag was palpable. A brief appearance of drummer Janet Weiss immediately elicited a surge in energy such that the inattentive began to prepare for the band’s set. This surge, of course, paled in comparison to when the female rockers eventually took to the stage.
The opening track ‘Black Tiles’ was synecdochal of the set itself. It opened hard and fast with a catchy guitar riff that recurs during the course of the song. Weiss’ drumming was relentless, changing throughout, much like the vocal focus of the song as Carrie Brownstein and Mary Timony alternated each verse. As the song drew to a close Timony and Brownstein’s guitars wailed at each other as if in disagreement, showcasing the prowess of these two seasoned musicians. Any moment where it appeared that the song was slowing down or reaching a rest period was brief. At centre stage, Timony and Brownstein have no choice but to shine. Brownstein’s riot girl attitude filled the stage as she high-kicked and pulled poses characteristic of someone playing airguitar when no-one’s looking. Timony’s presence was a tad more diluted with kicks at half height to Brownstein’s but she is still a force to be reckoned with. Together they are a formidable force despite a chemistry that makes them permanently look like two friends who decided to have a jam session. With only one 10-track album under
their belt, Wild Flag tunnelled through every track in their discography. ‘Glass Tambourine’ showcased the complimentary vocals of the entire band before shifting the attention to Cole’s keyboard as her staccato melody emerged from the quieting of Brownstein and
Timony’s guitar improvisation. A rarity, as for the most part she fades into the background. Their set ends with the song everyone’s been waiting for, ‘Romance’. The ode to rock music has the greatest audience response for the entire evening. The anthemic track sent every-
DARK, gloomy goth-pop may not be the flavour of the month but 21 year old Hannah Clark, a.k.a. Foe is set to change all that in 2012. A UK tour on the back of the her aptly-named debut Bad Dream Hotline is bringing Foe’s vitriolic grunge/pop fusion to the masses and Exeter’s Cavern was lucky enough to get in on the action. It’s almost impossible to believe that the shy, soft-spoken girl I met post-show and the loud, audacious pop-princess-gone-bad I had witnessed moments earlier are one and the same, but then creating an alter-ego to cope with crippling shyness is one of the oldest tricks in the book. Musically, Foe is a mash-up of Nir-
vana, PJ Harvey and The Cure: the sort of sound you’d expect if Lady Gaga joined Sonic Youth and started playing Nick Cave songs. Glitchy fairground synths and loud, abrasive guitars collide over a dance-beat and meld into a delicious cacophony of noise which provides a backdrop for Foe’s scathing, ironic and deeply personal lyrics. “Are you ready for the next big thing? Are you ready for a clown in a G-string?” sings a vehement Foe in ‘Tyrant Song’ – a thinly veiled (and mildly horrifying) attack on tacky, MTV-generation trash-pop. It’s testament to Foe’s undeniable skill as a frontwoman that the crowd, small as it may have been, remained utterly captivated throughout an unrelenting set, and what they lacked in numbers was more than made up for in enthusiasm. This is dark, twisted noisepop, with melodies more infectious than an STI, and with debut single
STUDENT band SPOTLIGHT ALTHOUGH Ella Janes typifies the folksy 60s troubadour, her graceful ease and unadorned enthusiasm set her apart from the effects of trending peers – particularly because she happens to be bloody good at it. “I listen to a lot of 60s music,” the second year Exeter student admits unhesitatingly before proceeding avidly to namedrop every artist from Simon and Garfunkel through to Dylan and Joni Mitchell. “The country, rootsy influence definitely comes from American folk rather than English or Irish folk,” a fact confirmed by her music itself: although her picking style owes more to the intricacies of Nick Drake, the shadows of Americana are unmis-
takable in her hushed vocal swells and fluid melodies. However, such a debt seems distinct from the parallel resurgence of similar influence in the nu-folk scene of the past few years. Although Janes is aware of her generational proximity to Laura Marling and Noah And The Whale, she makes no overt reference to them. In fact she seems entirely spared of any contrived bandwagon-jumping at all, her song writing and winsome air features of an indebtedness far more snug than smug. Neither is her record collection – nor her musicianship – a family heirloom, each having unfolded largely independent from her home life: “Neither of my parents are musical, but I’ve always sung to myself at home, around the house.” As for records, she claims
one into a frenzy, clapping and singing along as the words “We love the sound, the sound is what found us, sound is the blood between me and you” resonated around the room. SAPPHIRE MASON-BROWN Photo: Sapphire Mason-Brown
Foe Cavern Exeter 25 January
Ella Janes
Music
to have found much of her music from film soundtracks. This seems indicative of a general extra- (or pre-)musical element to her artistry, her website (currently down) boasting reams of stories and drawings, all charmingly fey and pastoral. “When I was much younger I wanted to be a children’s author and I wrote a lot of stories, somehow in my early teens that transgressed into song writing.” Despite this, she now seems reluctant to depend on narrative lyrically, preferring more personal, apolitical themes: “If I write a song about love… about life – people can relate to that.” Certainly, although there remains a literary tinge to her writing, it all feels predominately intimate, perhaps partly owing to much being written in, or about being in, bed – “they say that at three in the morning you
have your peak of creativity!” Intimate her music may be, but crucially this transfers to the stage. Having performed since the age of thirteen, she has settled into an effortless, even serene, live presence – the kind of presence that stifles chatter and has well established her in Winchester’s live scene (though she admits “there’s not really anywhere to play!”). Now emerging vividly on the Exeter circuit, this acoustic songstress has many ears left to soothe. CALLUM MCLEAN You can stream Ella Janes’s music and download “Never Posted Letter” for free by searching her on Facebook, Soundcloud and ReverbNation. Catch her live at the Old Firehouse on 26 February.
and performance highlight ‘Cold Hard Rock’ came the realisation that Foe, though far from a scantily clad clown, is without doubt the next big thing. What’s most refreshing about Foe is her reluctance to Americanise her vocals, instead favouring her own suburban Hampshire drawl. This, coupled with the fact that her debut album was written, recorded and produced (with the help of collaborator/producer Entrepreneurs who also plays bass in her live band) in her own bedroom, points to a rare sense of authenticity and genuine originality; simply put, Foe has struck oil. Judging from tonight’s performance it’s more than likely that 2012 will be a big year for Foe and if she continues on the path she’s on, Hannah Clark may well become a household name before the year is out. HARRISON WARD
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Music
6 february 2012
Exeposé
ALBUM REVIEWS The Lion’s Roar First Aid Kit
NEW album The Lion’s Roar is the second offering from Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit. After the success of their 2010 debut album The Big Black and the Blue, sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg have produced a dreamy collection which doesn’t disappoint. This time around, their eclectic folk-come-pop-come-country sound is honed and refined, moulded into a more coherent and consistent anthology. The sisters’ trademark close vocal harmonies and distinctive melodic tracks are delivered with mature confidence, firmly elevating The Lion’s Roar to the top of my January playlist.
Tough Love Pulled Apart By Horses
TOUGH LOVE is a tumultuous frenzy of distortion pedals, sweat and adrenaline. A howling, alcohol-soaked manifestation of madness coupled with undertones of chaos and a dose of showmanship for good measure - the aesthetic flair of one using a 12-gauge shotgun to capture an escaped butterfly. In so many words – Overkill. On speed. These aren’t necessarily bad qualities to have become synonymous with this much-anticipated second album. Being the second offering from the Leeds-based four-piece, you would expect it to be much the same as their eponymous 2010 debut, and whilst that is true of some of the 11 tracks found on the album, there is definitely something different going on here. Opening, with what could be deemed classical in PABH terms, the lead single ‘V.E.N.O.M’ lurches forth from the speakers with the ferocity of a wild beast poised to attack. The track certainly is a solid opening and effortlessly bridges the gap between albums. Similarly, ‘Wolf Hand’ follows suit with its pounding bass line and snare build-ups that echo ‘Back to the Fuck Yeah’, with its proclamation: “When I was a kid I was a dick, but noth-
It was the youth of First Aid Kit which surprised so many upon the release of their first album in 2010. Aged only 17 and 19 when the album was released, their lyrics spoke of experiences and perspectives seemingly beyond their years. This distinctive maturity continues in abundance in The Lion’s Roar. In ‘Blue’ - a particular favourite - an ethereal, tinkling xylophone solo creates a soft melody which initially seems far apart from the cynical world view these young Swedes have exhibited in past tracks. However, as the pure tones of the Söderberg sisters enter the mix, the cheery melody belies First Aid Kit’s less than happy lyrics: “And the only man you ever loved who you thought was gonna marry you, died in a car accident when he was only twenty two. Then you just decided, love wasn’t for you.” However, don’t be dissuaded. Though their lyrics are often far from positive, First Aid Kit’s voices are faultless and the continual juxtaposition of their songs’ heavy subject matter with the sisters’ angelic tones makes for a truly original, captivating listening experience. More upbeat offerings can, however, be found in the form of the romantic and endearing ‘Emmylou’ and the final track of the album, ‘King
of the World’, a collaboration with Bright Eyes front man Conor Oberst. This final track even features the word “laughing” in the first line. Granted, the word “crying” makes an appearance shortly after, but nonetheless a strong beat and a backdrop of rhythmical hand clapping makes for a fitting end to a brilliant album.
ing changes.” Then something strange happens. For an already ‘heavy’ band the mood suddenly becomes darker and to an extent more ghoulish with the third track ‘Shake off the Curse’. Now, I am not exactly a connoisseur of the hard-core, screaming variety of music. I first became aware of PABH when they supported Biffy Clyro at the iTunes Festival in 2010 – and was charmed by their seemingly innate need to break everything. I can therefore not accurately describe with great precision what sub-sub-sub category of metal/rock tracks like ‘Epic Myth’ or ‘Night of the Living (I’m Scared of People)’ occupy. They certainly don’t share the same in-joke sensibility of tracks like ‘I Punched a Lion in the Throat’ of bygone days – four guys hurling themselves around the stage, having as much fun and breaking as many bones as possible. But while a definite shift can be felt from the first album, Tough Love sees the band explore other influences and sounds that feel refreshing and new. ‘Bromance Ain’t Dead’ toys with a surf-rock like chorus, whilst ‘Give me a Reason’ plays like an ode to Bleach-era Nirvana. The last track ‘Everything Dipped in Gold’, a hybrid of many different styles and ideas, similarly sees the band venturing in another direction. Ultimately, with an album barely over 30 minutes in length, PABH have embarked on a slightly new course, whilst building upon and moulding their established sound, hurtling forward – throttle down and taking no prisoners – with an incredible result. It is however, not for the faint of heart.
single REVIEWS
CHRIS GROSVENOR
“An ethereal, tinkling xylophone solo creates a soft melody far apart from the cynical world view of these young Swedes” Embarking upon a brief UK tour during the last week of February, First Aid Kit are set to delight audiences with what is now a very healthy collection of beautiful music. This young duo have cemented their reputation as a truly talented folk band with The Lion’s Roar, and with barely 40 years between them, we can thankfully look forward to a lot more where that came from. ROSIE SCUDDER DEPUTY EDITOR
I’m With It Speech Debelle
Capricornia Allo Darlin’
Baby Tribes
GUITAR bands have enjoyed somewhat of a revival lately with the likes of The Vaccines and Mona both charting highly last year and now Camden quartet Tribes are being hotly tipped as the next big thing. From the droning buzz of a feedbacking amplifier to the Pixies-esque loud-quiet dynamic and distorted, angular guitars that dominate opening track ‘Whenever’, Baby promises a feast of raw, snarling grunge straight from the off. And it does deliver – to an extent. But it’s not long before it becomes apparent that Tribes’ debut offering is an old recipe. ‘We Were Children’ is arguably the strongest song on the album and one that
HARRISON WARD
SPEECH DEBELLE is forever referred to as the one who was the unexpected winner of the 2009 Mercury Prize with her debut album, Speech Therapy. However, with a new single, and album due later in the month, Speech Debelle looks to shrug off the constant retrospective comments. Ready to shake things up and really make herself heard, ‘I’m With It’ proves that Debelle is here to stay. ‘I’m With It’ makes for the perfect feel good song, with an up beat tempo and an instantaneously addictive chorus which comprises of the beautifully, gospel-esque lyrics, “I’m with it babe”. Simplistic, yet it works. A pop melody interspersed with rap shows that De-
belle is not afraid to experiment whilst staying true to her hip hop vibe, which bodes well for the new album. The influences of co-writer Eg White, who has worked with the likes of Adele and Florence + the Machine, and producer Kwes, lend to the song’s smooth blend of pop and soul. Speech Debelle looks set to cause a stir this year, with her new album Freedom of Speech out on 21 February and tour dates confirmed across Europe. If you listen to one new thing this week, make sure it’s ‘I’m With It’. You won’t be disappointed.
listener can’t help but be taken back to memories of hazy summer days in fields and lying in the grass with friends.
ing a simple meaning: “We’ll set the world to rights” – finding the one who you love and holding on to them, being there for them and making what you want of life. The repetitive chorus of “I keep having these dreams” is catchy, the simple pop melody along with added harmonies making for a pleasing reprise, which again brings a sense of nostalgia. While reminiscent of a less aurally demanding Tegan and Sara, Allo Darlin’ offer a nice, simple, catchy pop song in the form of ‘Capricornia’. Although it won’t win any awards, it’s a good start in the mainstream for these Australian songsters, and I can imagine they will build a loyal following from here on in.
“Simple pop melodies with added harmonies make for a pleasing reprise”
ALLO DARLIN’ are one of those bands that simply sound like the summer. From the opening chords of the jangling acoustic guitar and the light vocals of singer and frontwoman Elizabeth Morris, the
lingers long after the last chord, but it borrows so heavily from the Pixies (the intro could have been lifted directly from ‘Where Is My Mind?’) that a chorus of “we were children in the mid-nineties” sounds almost like a confession to blatant plagiarism. Tribes clearly wear their influences like a badge of honour but too often they sound like they’re simply regurgitating the songs of their childhood. Once you get over the fact that Baby rarely strays into unfamiliar territory it becomes easier to appreciate these songs for what they are: straight-forward, no frills rock. As predictable as it may be, ‘Sappho’ is irresistible, and the massive stadium-sized choruses of ‘Himalaya’ and ‘Nightdriving’ make a lack of originality elsewhere on the album more or less forgivable. Make no mistake – Baby is a good album and a great debut. Tribes will undoubtedly be strong contenders for best new band in 2012, but this isn’t a game changer. Baby is perhaps the ideal title for this album; this is the sound of a new band finding its feet but let’s just hope that their second album is a bit more daring. All in all though, it’s a fine effort from a band with a promising future.
‘Capricornia’ is the first single from upcoming album Europe, due for release later on this year, and is a perfect showcase of Allo Darlin’s sound. Having only had one previous album, the relatively unknown band come across as riding confidently on the wave of lightAmerican indie, and accordingly deliver a single which isn’t groundbreaking, but refreshing in a urban-dominated chart. The lyrics fit the shape of the single well, taking a simple form and convey-
DAISY MEAGRE
ANDY SMITH MUSIC EDITOR
Exeposé week SIXTEEN
Screen
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Tori Brazier & Luke Graham - screen@exepose.com
NEWSREEL
WELCOME Screen fans! To celebrate the upcoming Animated Exeter festival, this issue we’ve got all ‘animated’ with an Animation Special. Animated Exeter has been running anually since 1999 and is the largest animation festival in the SouthWest. Running from 11-19 February this year, there will be dozens of free exhibits, workshops, events and film screenings around Exeter. For instance, Picturehouse has a special screening of The Dark Crystal, a 1982 classic by Jim Henson and Frank Oz (two of the creators of The Muppets); the RAMM has various exhibits, including an exploration of animation and disability featuring shorts by Aardman Animations (creators of Wallace and Gromit and Creature Comforts), and there is a Comic Expo at the Rougemont! Our very own Campus Cinema is also screening an animated feature, Rango, for the festival in its usual Sunday slot. For a full list of events and screenings and for further information, check out www.animatedexeter.co.uk. The biggest film news recently is the announcement of the Academy Award nominations. A lot of love has been shown to Hugo and The Artist, as well as several nominations for Alexander Payne’s The Descendants, which is reviewed this issue. Disappointingly for us, however, is the lack of attention shown to Screen favourites Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling and Tom Hiddleston, as well as the brilliant Drive and Tinker Tailor Solider Spy, which only received nominations for Best Sound Editing and Music respectively. Sad times. And finally, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is being re-released in 3D. Note: this will not help the silly, convoluted story or make the characters any less boring or annoying...
Spotlight: Hanna-Barbera Tori Brazier, Screen Editor, delves into animation history BACK in the day, when I was but a young lass, Saturday mornings for me were an opportunity to awake early, bound downstairs, and get some good ol’ Cartoon Network viewing done before my parents stirred. Scooby-Doo, Top Cat, Tom & Jerry Kids and my personal favourite, The Powerpuff Girls: all were at my disposal so early in the morning. I used to get up at 7am for this golden time, if not earlier, but they were so worth it… And responsible for each and every one of them was a legendary animation company, started by two friends in 1957: Hanna-Barbera.
“Tom and Jerry won the pair seven Academy Awards”
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera first worked together in 1939 at the prestigious Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, where their directorial debut was a short called ‘Puss Gets the Boot’. This short was the first stage in a process that reached its creative peak in perhaps the most beloved cartoon series of all time, Tom and Jerry, which won the pair no less than seven Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) between 1943 and 1953. During this period, Hanna and Barbera were also involved in impressive innovations, such as the seamless merging of the animated Jerry the mouse with live-action hoofer Gene Kelly for a dazzling dance number in 1945’s musical Anchors Aweigh. After the closure of MGM’s animation studio in 1957, and after dabbling in commercials, the duo set up HB Enterprises with support from Columbia Pictures, and had their first big hit with The Huckleberry Hound Show, winning an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Children’s Programming. Having been re-incorporated as Hanna-Barbera
Productions, the company and its founders went on to become leaders in television animation, producing the longestrunning American prime time animated series ever (until that notorious yellow family in 1996) with 1960’s The Flintstones. Hanna-Barbera were also one of the first studios to successfully produce cartoons purely for television, such as The Jetsons, The Yogi Bear Show, and their next runaway hit, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? They also happily generated new shows for older characters from the theatrical era like Casper the Friendly Ghost and Popeye. For the next 30 or so years, the company continued with a steady stream of cartoon output but faced increasing competition from other newer studios in the 1980s, and controversy when they switched to limited animation in order to keep within tighter budgets (designs were simplified and re-purposed in multiple shorts, cutting the amount of individual drawings per short by roughly
25,000!) When Turner Broadcasting bought the company in 1991, it was the beginning of a re-birth for Hanna-Barbera as, after creating a slew of ‘baby cartoon’ versions of their classics, they began to embark on brand-new productions in 1995 to be shown on the Turner-owned Cartoon Network. ‘90s stalwarts developed during this time included Dexter’s Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken and, yes, The Powerpuff Girls. The Hanna-Barbera tag began to disappear from newer Cartoon Network ‘toons in the early 2000s, and after William Hanna’s death from throat cancer in 2001 the company completely folded into Warner Bros. Animation, but their copyright notices remain on new productions of their classics and, of course, those epic originals themselves. Disney might have been started by a man who thought up a mouse, but it’s fair to say that much of the rest of the animated world is indebted to two men who thought up a cat…and a mouse.
What I’ve been watching: Arrested Development
NORMALLY you grow to love a show over time, but every once in a while there’s a moment where you just know everything else that follows is going to be amazing. That moment happened mere seconds into the pilot of Arrested Development when G.O.B (pronounced Jobe) explains that his latest piece of magic is “an illusion Michael. A trick is something a whore does for money.” Arrested Development is one of the greatest and most underappreciated comedies of recent years and the fact that it was cancelled after only three series is an act of light treason worthy of patriarch George Bluth Snr. himself. The surreal plot centres on the Bluths, a wealthy family who happily run a prosperous property development company until George is arrested for every type of fraud and embezzlement under the sun. His son Michael, the last bastion of sanity in an increasingly bizarre world, is left to run the remains of the business and keep the family together. He is the moral centre of the family and is played brilliantly by Jason Bateman, giving one of the finest straight man performances in comedy. The genius of the show is in the way it makes the bizarre and illogical behaviour of the characters completely believable within its own crazy world. Blindness and pregnancy are faked, incest is considered, limbs are lost, teenagers accidentally become film producers and half the cast have their own individual chicken dances. No matter how strange that may sound, in the show, it makes sense. What’s more, it doesn’t just make sense, it’s hilarious. Although the show was cancelled after a shortened third season in 2006, there is light on the horizon. Guess which award-winning comedy is set to return with a film and a ten episode mini-series? It’s Arrested Development. Available on DVD
TOM BOND
Films to see before you graduate: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988) Director: Robert Zemeckis Cast: Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Joanna Cassidy (PG) 104 mins
FOR the ‘cartoon’ sceptics among us, to hate something as wonderfully silly as a marriage between animated comedy and 1940s noir is as impressive a feat as to guess the answer to the film’s eponymous question: who really did frame Roger Rabbit? In a Hollywood where cartoons walk, talk and negotiate contracts, we meet the very much live-action Eddie Valiant (Hoskins), a down and out,
alcoholic private investigator with a chip on his shoulder about ‘toons. Things begin to spiral out of control when the famous cartoon Roger Rabbit is framed for murder, with only our reluctant detective able to help clear his name.
“I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way” At its time this film was groundbreaking in succeeding in the difficult task of having live action interacting with cartoon animation in a believable way. Originally rendered by hand painted cells, the film’s technical achievements still stand up today. It is hard to imagine
that most of the cast were little more than thin air during the shooting process. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? has much more to offer than technical achievements. Hoskins is brilliantly stoic in a performance that offsets perfectly the wacky characters surrounding him. Indeed, they are both wacky and wonderful; as the first film to ever be allowed to include both Disney and Warner Bros. characters, we are treated to cameos from the likes of Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, and Betty Boop. This coup allowed filmmakers a host of endlessly clever and witty scenes, not limited to a sequence in which Daffy and Donald Duck perform on stage together, with disastrous conse-
quence. As arguably one of the first films to dabble in animation for both adults and children alike, we are treated with moments of child-like innocence and those of decidedly adult humour and the effect is immensely enjoyable. But if the offer of technical skill, excitement and great comedy doesn’t entice you, or if you even now aren’t intrigued by the prospect of a film that says something significant about our urge to create cartoons and the value of the laughter they perpetuate, then tune in simply to meet Jessica, most definitely one of the sexiest ‘Rabbits’ you will ever encounter.
REBEKAH HEANEY
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Screen TV Review: Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy IMAGINE, if you will, a chocolate biscuit, one of those Cadbury fingers, sitting alongside many others in a plastic tray. Now imagine that this biscuit has a face, and arms in which a small red guitar is held and randomly strummed whilst the lips move to form a song about swingball. Five minutes later this same chocolate biscuit, the one currently singing about swingball, will be sat in a tank made wholly from cheese and firing at a felt tip drawing of a footballer holding a china tea cup whilst a fully grown man with a painted face looks on in horror. Welcome to the world of E4 and the brand new sketch show, Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy. For those familiar with the output of the show’s creator and star, Luxury Comedy does not come as too much of a surprise, yet even for ardent fans of The Mighty Boosh Fielding’s new show cannot help but seem like the most surreal thing ever to be broadcast. With sketches ranging from the aforementioned singing bis-
cuit to a captive lion with cabin fever, to one of the most bizarre five minutes of television involving a ‘paprika alarm’ and a talking moon this is definitely not what could be described as a mainstream comedy show. But don’t let that put you off; it is alternative comedy of the highest degree. It may be incredibly surreal and at times it may not make much sense at all, yet the combination of Fielding’s wit with the variety of insane scenarios manages to sustain hearty laughs for the full thirty minutes. In an age where TV comedy occasionally strays on the side of offensive to generate a smile, Luxury Comedy has proved that a bit of old fashioned silliness works just as well.
IT shocks me that it has taken this long; finally an adaption of Sebastian Faulkes’ Birdsong has made it to the small screen. The book has credentials which should have made TV Execs fight tooth and nail for it; WW1, star-crossed lovers and large audience numbers thanks to the book’s success. On top of this, both Eddie Redmayne and Clémence Poésy are two of Hollywood’s ‘hottest young things’, and so I suspect my high expectations were shared by many who tuned in on Sunday night. Granted I did have reservations; ‘the BBC does Hollywood’ spelt disaster for me, however in this case, it was dramatically, and quite brilliantly, averted; I have not got one bad thing to say about Birdsong, I know, how boring! Redmayne was superb, steering clear of gallant hero territory, unafraid to embody the unlikable privileged officer the part demanded. This part was a challenging one, but he pulled off smouldering and naîve in 1910’s France, and smouldering yet damaged in 1916’s trenches. The gore and sex which found infamy in the book were not scrimped on, although less graphic detail was used for both. The second episode lacked the pace
of the earlier episode, but the unforeseen and earth shattering revelations that occured again and again kept it from letting the adaptation down. Redmayne again showcased his incomparable acting ability, deftly switching from his pre- to post-war psyche, and as a consequence highlighting war’s utter destruction of it.
Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy: E4, Thursday, 10pm. Series catch-up available on 4oD
EMILY TANNER
TV Review: Birdsong
6 February 2011
Exeposé
And they lived happily ever after?
Kate Gray contemplates the true meaning of Disney films
REMEMBER when you were little and watched Disney films? Of course you do, unless you lived in a cupboard. (Sorry, Harry.) One of the oddest things about Disney is that you think a film is all sweetness and innocence until you watch it again, 10 years later, and see that the entire thing is filled with sex, violence and inappropriate moral lessons. Here are some choice picks: Cinderella: The quintessential ragsto-riches story, teaching us that hard work (and fairies) will get you to the top. Or does it? Surely the more obvious lesson is “being unattractive makes you a bad person.” Why else would her stepsisters be continually referred to as ugly unless it was central to the plot? Besides, The Hunchback of Notre Dame gives a similar story: yes, he saves the girl and saves the day, but he still ends up trudging back to his solitary life in the belltower, alone. FOREVER. (Let’s be kind and forget that atrocity of a sequel ever happened). Nowadays, however, I’m more likely to take the view that Cinderella teaches us that “in the end, everything comes down to shoes.” Snow White: This one’s a little harder. What were they going for
here? Don’t let your father get remarried? Always check your cellar just in case your stepmother keeps all her cauldrons and evil spell books down there? I’d like to have thought that the moral was simply: “Don’t eat fruit. You will die.” Having watched it again in my student years, I can safely say that the true meaning of Snow White is: “Your friends will take advantage of you if you cook/clean their things even once.” Also in real life, any animals you invite inside are more likely to crap everywhere than rush to your aid.
“Disney is filled with sex, violence, and inappropriate moral lessons” The Little Mermaid: Probably something along the lines of: “Don’t let anything, not even your fishy genetics, get in the way of true love,” right? No. Disney wants to teach little, impressionable children that plastic surgery and eternal silence are the ways to win a man’s heart. Especially if you stalk him and/ or keep an entire shrine
devoted to an effigy of him. And you might as well abandon your home and your father, because that’s living the dream. Sleeping Beauty: Well for starters, it taught me never to learn to spin. Those wheels are dangerous. Secondly, always talk to strangers, since they might turn out to be the Prince you were betrothed to at birth! Lastly, alarm clocks are for losers; as long as you have a handsome boy to wake you up every 1000 years it’s sure to work out fine… Beauty & the Beast: Something about inner beauty, blah blah whatever. More like: “You’ll never find a goodlooking man, so settle for whatever you can get and perhaps in time you’ll be delusional enough to think he’s a stunner.” For men, however, the story runs more like: “If you’re unfortunate in the face, abduct a girl and she’ll come around to you. Eventually.”
“I have not got one bad thing to say about Birdsong” To truly sum up the brilliance of this telly experience, and to inspire you to iPlayer it, I feel I must describe the closing moments: The camera pans across the green French countryside, the sound of birdsong fills the air, and whispered as if by the wind itself, we hear a repetition of an earlier line: “Love is all we have Sir. To love and to be loved.” I think I’ll leave it at that. Birdsong is available on BBC iPlayer
TIMOTHY BRADBEER
Luke Graham, Screen Editor, comes to terms with his Disney-Pixar-fuelled emotions ABOUT a year ago, I felt a yearning. A desire… to cry. Obviously, I am a manly man; I chop wood, drink beer and enjoy punching things. Okay, that’s not true (except for the punching. Man I love punching) but still, the cynical heart within me stopped me from crying at films for a long time. I watched Pixar’s WALL-E last year and, though I did not cry, my eyes were feeling moist. I won’t spoil it, but for those who have seen it, the bit in the trash disposal between WALLE and EVE? The words “directive” and “plant” never held such beautiful poignancy. A few months later I saw Toy Story 3, and I was choked-up with salty sweet tears at the mature yet terribly sad ending. What is it about Pixar? Almost every single film has been amazing and brought many to tears! (Except for Cars because Cars is rubbish). Then I realised: if a company is so successful at upsetting people, it must be evil. Stop making me wipe bittersweet tears
of joy and sorrow from my eyes Pixar! How dare you make me feel an honest emotion! If you think about it, Pixar kind of hates people, especially women. Bad things mostly happen to girls. For instance, the only female toy in Toy Story, Little Bo Peep, gets little screen time and is written out of the third film. Jessie, in the sequel sings the saddest song ever about being abandoned by her lover, sorry, owner! In WALL-E, EVE is depicted as an independent strong women (which in movies means cold, militaristic ice queen) until her heart is thawed by the love of a real man (or robot). She spends the rest of the film chasing after him and basically doing his bidding. Finding Nemo? The mother clown fish dies at the start and the other female character, Dory, is mentally challenged. In Up, the only female DIES within ten minutes, and the rest of the film is a sausage-fest between two old men and a boy scout. Bit creepy? I remember crying as a child. Men
seem to switch this ability off during puberty, only to be used at points of great dramatic tension in our lives, while the better half of the species gets to use crying as a weapon against us men folk. When I was a child, it was okay to have a proper ballsy cry, where you’d scream and suck breath back in through your mouth because your nose was plugged with tears and snot. I remember seeing Mighty Joe Young, a crap King Kong knock-off, which tricked small children, making our tiny brains think Joe the giant, lovable ape was dead, then revealing he was alive after all. Gotcha! But I didn’t care. I was already sobbing furiously into my mother’s arms at the injustice. After a cry like that you’d always feel refreshed, cleansed, born anew. Since then, other films have made me cry: The Notebook, Blue Valentine, Beginners, and Happy Feet Two. Seriously. Crying is good, give it a try and if you need help, check out The Brave Little Toaster. That film messed with kids MINDS!
Exeposé week SIXTEEN
The Grey
Director: Joe Carnahan Cast: Liam Neeson, Dallas Roberts, Frank Grillo (15) 117mins THERE are few things I dislike more than poor films with extreme delusions of grandeur. Joe Carnahan’s The Grey is one of those films which makes every effort to flaunt its claim to some form of cultural relevance when it could have just settled on being a ‘good’ thriller. The Grey is standard survivalist thriller with touches of superficial existentialism. A septet of oil-rig workers find themselves stranded in a bleak Alaskan wilderness after their plane crashes following engine failure. They are mercifully at the prey of a pack of shoddily constructed CGI wolves.
“The Grey is burdened by an overbearing sense of cliché”
All the conventions and clichés are there: a suspenseful and moody setting, a bitter love story for the weak at heart, a famous actor like Liam Neeson looking
Shame
Director: Steve McQueen Cast: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan (18) 101mins
WITH a main cast consisting of two powerful performers, a rich and compelling combination of emotion, passion, animalistic drive and harsh reality set against the backdrop of New York, Shame deserves its acclaim. Dubbed “the most provocative and compelling film of the year” by Empire, the chance to review Steve McQueen’s latest was too sweet to pass up. Reunited with his Hunger mentor, Michael Fassbender portrays the character Brandon, whose daily grind is dominated by a deeply buried addiction. McQueen presents a particularly tricky subject filled with morality, culture and artistic beauty.
“If you’re bashful, I’d avoid this movie” Fassbender’s depiction is painfully true of an addict, his understated performance as the suffering protagonist instilling in Shame sincerity and depth. In Carey Mulligan’s character we witness the contrast between financial and moral success, posing the question as to which is greater as Sissy resonates frailty, desperation and fear, yet strong, unmoving love for her troubled brother. The chemistry between the two reminds us of the relationship between siblings, playful yet entirely capable of shifting within a heartbeat. Humour is scarce, when it appears it is intense, real and often awkward, making Shame a truthful representation of life.
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suitably weathered and angst-ridden and an ensemble of masculine, banterous and bawdy American roughnecks who make sexist jibes and somehow always find the time to make clever puns in moments of extreme agony or terror. Thankfully, this attempt at a 21st century Deliverance knows no bounds when it comes to character cliché. The film stretches on for about half an hour before one of said-masculine Americans contrives an ingenious solution: “We figure what way is south, and we start walkin’.” Then there’s a great deal more slow and heavy-handed plotting carried by an ensemble of annoying, vapid and selfless characters. Even Liam Neeson in the lead role struggled to encourage my sympathies. The Grey had potential: it could have developed the idea of stoic masculinity versus love, faith and fear of death, but is burdened by an overbearing sense of cliché and appropriation.
A Monster In Paris Director: Bibo Bergeron Cast: Adam Goldberg, Jay Harrington, Vanessa Paradis (U) 90mins
This new animated French film centres on a giant flea accidently created by Raoul (Goldberg), an aspiring inventor and his friend Emile (Harrington), a shy film projectionist, who is found by the singer Lucille (Paradis) and becomes a singer/guitarist. Together they have to keep the giant monster hidden from the police who are trying to get rid of the terror plaguing Paris whilst fitting in some awkward romance and a monkey that com- municates with written cards. Yes, you read that correctly. That is the plot.
(On the other hand, Liam Neeson punches a wolf which, for us, is worth the price of entry - Luke and Tori.)
TOM PAYNE, BOOKS EDITOR
There are minimal fancy camera angles, no clever tricks to conceal body parts, and by observing characters from behind, we experience the exclusion they are feeling. If you’re bashful I’d avoid this movie; I’ve never seen so much naked flesh or, to be blunt, sex, though after a while one becomes accustomed to the scenery. Natural lighting heightens realism as we are provided with a landscape capable of breaking or making you. Indeed, Mulligan’s soulful rendition of ‘New York, New York’ cleverly and beautifully reminds the audience of the faded glamour of the city, focussing on its potential to destroy rather than create. The use of classical music and the consistent hum of modern life creates a haunting background orchestration, reminding us that this is refined, not morally bankrupt, drama. An imaginative piece tapping into the pain of a very real addiction in today’s society, Shame is certainly worth watching. As a side note, don’t take your mother with you as one gentleman chose to do; I’ve never seen a more awkward couple.
ANTONIA
The animation is nice, and the French music is also very enjoyable. Some of the characters are quite likeable too, especially Emile. Unfortunately Raoul can be very annoying at times, and the villain is incredibly dull. One of the characters actually refers to him as “boring” at one point. There are a couple of humorous moments, but there are not really enough of them. The story is a little clunky, and the pacing is not great. The first part is okay, and has a few good scenes, including the song between Lucille and Francoeur (the giant flea - singing by Sean Lennon), but the third act really ruins the film. There is a psychotic episode from the Commissioner (I forget his name along with almost anything about him) that does not make any sense, and a random chase scene that seems to come from out of n o - where. It’s too fast paced and hard to get your head around. The ending also feels very forced. Overall, it’s not a terrible film, but it’s certainly not that good. Some may enjoy the first two thirds, but the rushed climax just is not a satisfactory pay-off. Still, if a singing giant flea is your thing, by all means check it out.
ROSY RAZZELL
The Descendants Director: Alexander Payne Cast: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Beau Bridges (15) 115mins
“PARADISE?” F**k paradise.” This is how George Clooney’s character summarises life in Hawaii in Alexander Payne’s new film, The Descendants, a simple story with surprisingly deep themes about the importance of family and forgiveness, and profound questions about what we receive from and owe to our ancestors. Clooney plays Matt King, head of an extended and wealthy family, facing business pressure over the sale of Hawaiian land, as well as personal pressures. He’s a grumpy father constantly wearing a bright Hawaiian shirt and basically having the worst day ever: within the first ten minutes, his wife falls into a coma, and he then finds out she was cheating and going to leave him. Heavy stuff... Plus his daughters are emotionally distant and dysfunctional. Most of the film consists of Clooney sternly grimacing, funnily enough. The rest of the film is spent on scenery porn. There are so many images of Hawaii’s landscape it starts to feel like a holiday commercial with too much plot. The imagery, however, is beautiful, and reflects the characters’ feelings. There’s plenty of pathetic fallacy: rain clouds and storms during sad moments, a warm sunset when Matt bonds with his daughters, and so on. Mixed with the excessively sad story, however, are moments of perfectly pitched, character-based levity. Payne
is an expert in finding humour in the mundane and the absurd. The script is sparkling and witty, with simple lines of dialogue revealing bundles of depth to the characters. In addition, the fantasic, Hawaiian-inspired music is gorgeous. I have some problems though: Matt’s difficulties with his daughters are essentially solved off-screen and dismissed with a hand-wave and a “they’ll grow out of it.” There is also a little too much emphasis on the minutia of business transactions. The humanity and emotion portrayed by the cast though is sincere and infinitely watchable, and the film deserves the Oscar buzz it is generating.
LUKE GRAHAM SCREEN EDITOR
Screen
Screen Asks: Have you ever walked out of a film, and why?
Tori Brazier: “I have never walked out on a film because I physically can’t let go of my dollar so willy-nilly. And I’d most likely trip in the dark.” Tom Payne: “I walked out on Green Lantern because all it taught me was that green is the colour of will, and yellow is the colour of fear. It was all a bit Care Bears, really.” Jon Minter: “I walked out of High School Musical because I was bored out of my skull and it looked like it was nothing more than a remake of Grease.” Christopher Preston: “I have never and will never walk out of a film. And this comes from the man who did all four Twilight films BACK TO BACK.” Calum Baker: “I walked out of The Rum Diary to get to the bar. So I could go straight back in.” Rob Seabrook: “I (almost) walked out of Sex and The City, but put up the arm rest, laid down and had a nap instead.” Jessica Leung: “I walked out of Dreamgirls because it was shit...” Dan Orton: “I have walked out of many films in the past, as I find it inappropriate to take a piss in front of the rest of the audience.” Joe Johnston: “Many years ago, I walked out of A.I. (Artifical Intelligence) because it lost all credibility when the aliens turned up. Stop putting aliens in everything, Spielberg!” Zoe Bulaitis: “I walked out of The Picture of Dorian Gray because it was an insult to Oscar Wilde.” Laura Stevens: “I walked out of The Village, because it was predictable, boring rubbish.” Owen Keating: “I walked out of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, because it was just... awful beyond comprehension. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more horrifically bad film.”
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6 February 2012
Books
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Esmeralda Castrillo & Tom Payne - books@exepose.com
Exeposé
Photo: Henry White
Sweet escapes: the future of travel writing
A street in Sofia, capital city of Bulgaria. For many years the country was gripped by communism but is now much more westernised, even if some relics of the past still linger
Does travel writing have a place in the 21st century? Henry White, Editor, delivers some home truths
THERE are certain individuals whose lives have simply been so interesting that any book they write about themselves will be an intriguing, enthralling read. Winston Churchill, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Jade Goody. Well, maybe not everyone then. Michael Palin is undoubtedly on that list though. Arguably topping it. But definitely smothering it. His varied, eclectic and diverse career, ranging from Monty Python and A Fish Called Wanda to his traversing of the globe along almost every latitude and longitude possible for documentaries, like Pole To Pole or Sahara, makes his back catalogue of anecdotes and tales almost impossible to put into writing. I chanced upon one of his most recent books, which is compiled from diary notes he kept whilst on a journey around Eastern Europe for the 2007 television series Michael Palin’s New Europe (which I didn’t see). Published a little while after the programme was aired, the book is effectively the director’s commentary, a glimpse through the porthole of Palin’s cabin once the
camera stops filming. As a piece of travel literature, this book can feel somewhat disjointed and awkward at first, being written in the first person and very much from Palin’s perspective. It also assumes you know as much about his life as he does and that you should know what to expect in the next few hundred pages.
“There are individuals whose lives have been so interesting that any book they write about themselves will be an enthralling read. Palin is undoubtedly on that list”
However, and this is the important bit, the intellectual, informed and humorous observations, musings and comments wouldn’t have worked in any other format. Put simply, you don’t really need to know about Palin’s previous trips and his back story, his diary
entries transport you back to the time and place he is in anyway, making for some gripping and fascinating reading. Palin is a companion travelling with you, sharing the experiences together, rather than him dictating it to you in the pub afterwards. Of course, as the journey was originally for a television documentary, there are more than the usual stories to read about. Palin is given unprecedented access and help along the route and the plethora of strange and eccentric characters he meets, often uncannily like caricatures of Python characters, offers a real glimpse of Eastern European life, a world that has only really opened up to the West in the last decade, and which is still a fascinating and diverse place. As fascinating as it is, whilst reading this book I can’t help but wonder what the future of travel literature is. With so much of the world now explored and documented, the grand vistas and dense jungles photographed, filmed and categorised numerous times, is there anything left that is truly
new? Well, probably not. As with everything in the 21st century, there is significant change in the travel industry and it is now easier than ever (providing you have the funds) to go and see those remote mountain crags and sylvan slopes of Somewhere-you’d-never-heard-ofuntil-you-Googled-it-istan. And as a result, everything becomes just that little bit less wild and more clichéd doesn’t it?
“As fascinating as it is, whilst reading this book I can’t help but wonder what the future of travel writing is. With so much of the world explored, is there anything left that is truly new?”
New Europe provides the counter to that argument. Palin proves that, actually, everything is exciting, exotic, exceptional and unique, no matter where.
You can go somewhere with 20,000 other people and the experience you have is yours and yours alone. You can go to Dartmoor on a rainy Sunday and be completely alone. It doesn’t really matter: the experience of the journey and being somewhere ‘new’ is what’s important. In the opening letter of New Europe, Palin points out that he has travelled the world and because of circumstances, missed what is on his metaphorical doorstep. His writing captures just how exciting a journey can be, regardless of how exotic it is. I think this is what the future of travel literature is: not the exploration of new places to educate the rest of us, but the personal journeys of the traveller. It’s a process that started with Patrick Leigh Fermor’s (excellent) written account of his walk across an inter-war Europe and has now evolved into the digital world of blogs, Apps and FlickR.
Exeposé week sixteen
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Books
feature
Longing for literary fame?
Tom Bond examines the growing trend of self-published books
SAY it quietly, but perhaps self-publishing might just be the future of books. Desperate, vain, writing about a self-indulgently niche subject matter, got more money than sense? Up until now, these were the words and phrases you could expect to hear flying in the direction of self-publishers. The collective reasoning was that if you couldn’t manage to get a book deal then there was a very good reason. Everyone has a book in them, right? Well, yours probably just wasn’t good enough. It goes without saying that there’s a certain snobbishness propagated in the world of books. Naturally elitist and high-brow, it is understood that there is a certain, ‘proper’ way to get published. Sweating blood to actually write the book is only the start of the torture. Hoop after hoop must be jumped through before that glorious day when you walk into Water-
Mother, Brother, Lover
Jarvis Cocker
Faber and Faber ISBN: 0571281907
IN the preface to this book, its writer declares that the words contained over the following pages are most definitely not poetry. He seems particularly adamant about this. “Lyrics are not poetry,” screams out to the reader only three pages into the introductory text. I beg to differ. Lyrics, especially of such a high quality as Cocker’s, are as beautiful and evocative as any modern poem should be. Or I must at least say, if poetry is too strong a word, that contained in this book are stories; short tales about love, heartache, adolescence and life which can conjure up emotions inside the reader as well as any other work of fiction.
stones to find your pride and joy nestled on the shelves. Manuscript formats must be painstakingly adhered to, agents must be found (unsolicited manuscripts are generally as useful as confetti) and floods of rejection slips must be suffered, often because your work isn’t shamelessly riding the latest bandwagon. Believe me, like every other English student secretly dreaming of literary fame, I’ve checked. That’s why anything but the mainstream path to publication can be viewed with more than a hint of suspicion and superiority. The alternative self-publishing market is whispered about in hushed and nervous tones, confined to the shadows. If a book deal with a major publisher is like a marriage then self-publishing is like prostitution. You’re left feeling cheap, dirty and too ashamed to share your ‘success’ with anyone.
There is evidence, however, that selfpublishing may be moving from being the baby in the corner to the belle of the ball. The growth in the digital market in recent years has meant that it is much easier, faster and cheaper for authors to publish their own work as an e-book and achieve a surprising level of success. The figures on Amazon’s Kindle Bestseller list tell their own story, with the news in November that Amanda Hocking had joined John Locke in the Kindle Million Club. The difference between this pair and the others in the club, is that the majority of their sales were from self-publishing; a stunning success for two previously unknown authors. The fallen colossus of the record companies provides a useful example for publishers and they have been sniffing around its carcass for signs of what their future might hold. Penguin have
Although usually set to music, the words stand just as well alone, especially in the instances of lesser known tales such as ‘97 Lovers’ and ‘Inside Susan,’ when it really does seem that poetry is now on the page before you without the wellknown backing track to interfere. Even with popular classics such as ‘Common People,’ the silent, written word allows its readers to really appreciate the story contained and is able to evoke images far better than songs often do.
the main body of the text. It may be a book unsure of just what it is, and one which sellers may struggle to classify, but be it storytelling, biography or poetry it is a wonderful work in which words speak for themselves to create worlds which are at once both fantastically fictional and extremely real.
acted decisively on what they’ve found and announced that they will provide “a direct path to publication for those who choose to go the self-publishing route,” a clear embracing and validation of a once derided industry.
“It is much easier, faster and cheaper for authors to publish their own work; and they can achieve a surprising level of success”
Whether or not this proves to be a good move for the company, it will prompt a revolutionary change in the way we read, write and buy books. Very few people write just to make money, the most important thing is sharing their work with the world and self-
The Fault in Our Stars John Green
Dutton ISBN: 0525478817
EMILY TANNER AMERICAN author John Green’s latest novel, The Fault in Our Stars was one of the most highly anticipated novels of last year. The young adult novel has had an overwhelmingly positive critical response, Time Magazine, for example, wrote that it is “damn near genius” and The New York Times called it “sweet, philosophical and funny.” The Fault in Our Stars is narrated by Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16 year old girl from Indianapolis who suffers from thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs. The tragi-comedy tells the story of how Hazel and Augustus Waters, an exceedingly attractive 17 year old amputee, find each other and, per-
“Cocker’s lyrics are as beautiful and evocative as any modern poem should be” If this book is not, as Cocker maintains, an anthology of poetry and you’re not sure that a story can be told in just two pages, then Mother, Brother, Lover may be Cocker’s biography of sorts told through his lyrics, the delightful annotations accompanying each tale, and through the brief introduction preceding
publishing makes this much easier. The inevitable drawback of this is the decline in overall quality. I died a little inside when one article said self-publishing was “accessible to more people, whether or not they can write,” mainly because I recognised how true it was. Despite this, the best authors will still gain recognition or be cherry-picked by traditional publishers and the unreadable drivel will fall by the wayside. The advantage of a more open and competitive market is that every reader will have their needs satisfied, and for less money than they might pay now. Authors, no matter how niche their subject, will be published at minimal cost. Most importantly, there will be less money and power in the hands of the publishing middle-men and bookshops, and more in the hands of the readers and writers. Who can say fairer than that? haps predictably, fall in love. The true worth of this book comes not in the plot, however, but in the writing itself; Green manages to completely subvert the genre of what he calls “cancer books” while maintaining a writing style that is both hauntingly honest and incredibly funny. He also seamlessly juxtaposes America’s Next Top Model with Dickinson, T.S Eliot and Shakespeare to great effect; the title itself is a reference to a line in Julius Caesar “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves.” The Fault in Our Stars deals with huge themes like mortality, the futile nature of human existence and our insignificance in the grand scheme of things, in an entertaining and thoroughly non-patronising way and is the only book I have ever read that had me laughing out loud and inconsolably crying on the same page. LUCY PAIRMAN
Epilogue . . . reviews of essential literary classics Saturday (2003)
Ian McEwan Jonathan Cape ISBN: 0224072994
SATURDAY, Ian McEwan’s ninth novel is a culmination of everything he does best – style, characterisation and the intimate bedroom scene. The Daily Telegraph commented that with Saturday, Ian McEwan “remains at the top of his game – assured, accomplished and ambitious.” Although it lacks the violent immediacy of Black Dogs and the startling irrationality of Enduring Love, Saturday is still an interesting read by an author who has been named among the top
50 greatest British writers since 1945 by The Times.
“Saturday is a culmination of everything Ian McEwan does best”
The novel follows Henry Perowne, a neurosurgeon living in London, throughout one calamitous Saturday. On 15 February, 2003, Henry travels around the city on the day of riots against the Iraq War. His day and the novel in its entirety are haunted by 9/11. Henry comments early on: “Everyone agrees, airliners look different in the sky these days, predatory or doomed” and every judgement he makes is overshadowed by post 9/11 pessimism and a
fear of attack. Saturday joins a whole collection of novels based on one character’s experiences on a single day. It sees Henry grow emotionally, where he sees his
wife and children in a whole new light and make judgement calls over an intruder. Henry starts off the novel trying to convince the reader that all his decisions are rational, scientific and fixed in the real world. He disdains the magical realist novels his daughter recommends and doesn’t have any religious beliefs, preferring the logical reasoning of his medical practice. This over-rational way of thinking leads Henry to long gazes out of his window, thinking at one point that: “People o f t e n drift into the square
to act out their little dramas.” McEwan evokes human mental frailty beautifully in the book, creating three-dimensional characters. Henry, the scientist, is also a daydreamer and looks upon his environment with a scientific gaze, noting that: “The city is a success, a brilliant invention, a biological masterpiece.” Some critics have noted links to McEwan’s own biography and family in the novel, suggesting that the Perowne family house is in the same square McEwan lived in. The novel shows a maturity in McEwan’s prose and illuminates the mood in Britain before the war in Iraq. RACHEL BAYNE SPORTS EDITOR
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Exeposé week sixteen
Arts
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THEATRE REVIEW
A showcase of student talent
Thoroughly Modern Millie @ Northcott 25-28 January
MILLIE DILLMOUNT arrives in New York determined to follow the pages of Vogue by disregarding love and letting finance decide her marriage. Set in 1922, the play follows Millie’s unsuccessful attempts to seduce her boss, Trevor Graydon, and her subsequent attachment to Jimmy Smith. The deliciously happy ending in which her lover reveals himself as a secret millionaire satisfies the romantics in the audience whilst the introduction of a failed Hollywood actress involved in the white slave trade provides an unusual comedic angle. Overhearing a member of the audience in the interval announcing that they “don’t really understand musicals”, I admit I usually find the vocals and orchestra in constant battle and the actors rarely excelling as both actors and singers. However, within the opening act I was forced to concede that both the talents of
the orchestra and actors did nothing but complement each other. Rosie Abraham was the ideal choice for Millie, her voice not only mastered the American accent but slotted perfectly into the exciting and ambitious atmosphere of New York City in the 20s. Credit also to Stephanie Lysé’s performance as Muzzy van Hossmere, her voice and energy was breathtaking.
“The talents of the orchestra and actors did nothing but complement each other” The actors’ ability to play upon the spark of comedy within their lines was impressive, as Ben Thomas towered over the petite Helen Cheeseman [Miss Dorothy] and announced himself in a wonderfully exaggerated erotic voice as “Trevor,” laughter spilled from the audience. The emphasis on sexual comedy rose again in Millie’s deliberate dropping and picking up of her pen which caused members of the audience to gleefully
recognise the timeless seduction move which Legally Blonde coined as “The Bend and Snap.” Standing high on the comedy pedestal, Bryony Twydle’s performance as Mrs Meers, the failed Hollywood actress, won the audience over immediately. With impressive control over both aspects of her character, Bryony created an electric bond with the audience and her catch line, “Sad to be all alone in the world,” carried off with a hysterical Chinese accent, never failed to raise an appreciative laugh. Despite the skills of the actors the performance would have been nothing extraordinary without the intimate relationship between the set designers, choreographers and costume designers. With a satisfying eye for detail, Charlotte Monk-Chipman created a riveting snapshot into the 1920s, bringing the performance to life with perfectly chosen flapper dresses and silk Chinese dressing gowns. The ability of choreographers Faye Hutchinson and Andrew Stylianou to maximise the effect of these costumes was astonishing as uniformed girls performed identical routines, their tap shoes replacing the frenzied clunks of their
art preview The Crow Dialogue @ The Ariel Centre, King Edward VI Community College Totnes 1-10 February Without a designated Art Course here at the University of Exeter, the presence of the vibrant Art Society is invaluable for those who want to remain in touch with their creative side and have a wealth of opportunity for presenting individual work on or off campus. The Crow Dialogue is an exciting new exhibition which showcases abundant material produced by members of Art Society, created during our involvement in a project which was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
“We were trained in different printing techniques including dry point etching and lithography”
“The performance was made by the intimate relationship between the set and costume designers and choreographers”
typewriters. Whilst overall I would call the performance a success, I was unsure of the
The project, in conjunction with Arts and Culture (based at the University) and with the Double Elephant Printmaking Workshop (located in the Exeter Phoenix), had an overall aim of inspiring young people across Devon to become more interested and involved in heritage. The works of American printmaker Leonard Baskin, and his collaboration with poet Ted Hughes, served as the foundation for the project, from which education, interaction and artistic inspiration sprung forward. This was particularly unique to the University because several striking and original Baskin prints are held within the Special Collection of the University’s archives. We were trained in different printing techniques such as dry point etching, relief cutting and lithography under the guidance and expertise of Double Elephant. Each method produces a different effect which enabled us to create several beautifully dark, different and thought provoking pieces in our meetings. There is a prevalence of birds of prey and crows which alludes to Cave Birds and Crow, famous publications born out of the fruitful poet/printmaker relationship. In addition to the creation of art, we played a large autonomous
casting of two white males as the ‘Chinese’ twins. The awkward attempt at the Chinese language and heavily made up faces resulted in a slightly uncertain atmosphere which detracted from the standard of the play. Despite this and a few opening night nerves, as the curtain dropped the theatre rose to a heartfelt, standing ovation. Tom Carpenter and all involved should be thoroughly proud of Footlights’s achievement. JESSICA HASKELL
role in organisation and set up of the exhibition. The Crow Dialogue includes several interactive aspects which we warmly invite and encourage visitors to engage with. Try your hand at printing and feel inspired – who knows, you could be the next Baskin!
“The collaboration between Ted Hughes and Leonard Baskin allowed us to create beautifully dark prints” Easily accessible by train and with a return from St David’s only costing around £5, The Crow Dialogue presents an easy and exciting opportunity of celebrating poetry and creativity, and exploring Devon further afield. KITTY HOWIE
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6 February 2011 Exeposé
Arts
Comedy special
Exeter’s own Comedy Festival:
Jessica Bryant interviews The Monkey Poet as part of the LOL Festival at the Northcott Theatre COMEDIAN? Actor? Poet? Monkey...? Mancunian Matt Panesh recites poetry in between stand up and if his acrostic on politicians is to go by - the one that spells out “f**king w*****s” - you will see exactly the type of humour Matt is promoting. I’m nigh on certain any student will appreciate the political faux-pas combined with use of complex literary structure.
“Comedy is filling stadiums - it’s the new rock and roll”
Considering the setting, a candle-lit table inside the bar area of our treasured Northcott, Matt’s humour was jolting. Still, I can’t discredit him; the social messages amid the blasphemous background noise were astonishingly poignant. The subject area ranged from homophobia, gender equality, politics and relationships (after all, what would a poet be if he didn’t talk about love?). It was intelligent and still hilariously insulting – a revolutionary feat. To listen, it felt liberating. After the show I put a few questions to the man himself:
Student Comedy REVIEW
Emily Tanner reviews student comedy troupe Simply the Jest at the LOL Festival at the BikeShed Theatre
OPENING with a humorous take on a twee 1950s barber shop style ditty, the audience of Simply the Jest’s, Middle Class Tripe knew they would be in for a great hour of enthusiastically performed modern comedy. Not the sort intended to brutally offend everyone present but instead to gently mock aspects of a modern and notably, and as the show’s name may suggest, middle class existence. With sketches ranging from parodies of popular chart hits to an alternate take on parents trying to get children into the best schools - there was something for everyone in this hour of sketch. Popular TV parodies played a large part in the show. A Who Do You Think You Are? sketch poked fun at the emotional reactions of the celebrities who
feature on the real show whilst the upper class version of Jeremy Kyle generated laughter through the room. Yet, it was the excellent take on the BBC’s hit show Sherlock, Sherlock Homies, which was the real highlight. As the gangster versions of Holmes and Watson pulled together a case in one minute instead of the usual hour and a half, as one character comically noted, you couldn’t help but laugh at such an affectionate reworking of the original. Word play was also used throughout with clever video parts such as the Ox Factor and The Weakest Mink. In another super sketch regarding pushy parents and good schools, this tool was used to full effect as the Royal Autism Academy became Raa and epitomised that so called class of individuals.
Any weaker moments were more than made up for through the enthusiasm of the performers and the outstanding quality of their comedic acting. Expressions could tell a whole story at times whilst the adaption to such a variety of roles in the varying sketches was admirable. As the show came to a close it seemed all of these elements combined perfectly in the final song, a hilarious parody of Jessie J’s Do it Like a Dude, not only well written but wonderfully performed and given more than the performers’ all. In any sketch show not every sketch will be for everyone, it is sadly an inevitable part of the genre, but in Middle Class Tripe there is most definitely a handcrafted sketch to suit everyone.
Q: Is there an unusual location you would like to gig at? Not really… I mean, I’ve performed in a f**king shed! If I’ve got an audience of less than five I always say we’ll have a drink together. Q: Is poetry really accessible to everyone then? Poetry is the most accessible art form, apart from painting. It doesn’t have to rhyme, can be shorter than a sentence, and it doesn’t have to be grammatically correct or spelt correctly. Comedy at the moment is filling the stadiums – it’s the new rock and roll. I wonder whether comedians 30 years ago would have seen it becoming as huge as it is now. Take Michael McIntyre; he got himself 30 – 40 grand in debt trying to be successful. But his comedy is just about making the crowds happy. Q: Does poetry have to be offensive to be funny? No. Comedy has got to be funny to be funny. Afghanistan (another of Matt’s
ART ATTACK
poems) isn’t funny at all. It’s all about taking people to quite sad moments and building them back up. It’s nice to say: everything’s s**t, isn’t it? And the audience agree. It’s quite cathartic. I have had people heckle me before though. I was heckled by a 73 year old woman who objected to me insulting the BNP. I fell in love with her. The BNP are like marmite, you either love them or you hate them! At the Fringe, I had two people every night demand refunds. Other members of the audience said ‘we really want to see the show’ – but I hadn’t even got to the bits I considered offensive. That gig was the first time I had ever received a standing ovation.
“People heckle me - at the Fringe I had two people every night demand refunds ”
Monkey Poet literally leapt around the stage and even incorporated his own asides. Thumbs up: this is the first act I have seen that totally, and unashamedly, manages to make a point. And in his own words: “As you can see, I’ve always wanted to be a children’s poet.” fan) you either love it or hate it. Luke Graham: Comics are art. At their worst, they can be cheap and repugnant (see portrayal of women by DC / Marvel). If you need an easy target for misogynism, they’re your go-to guys.At their best, comics are simple distillations of life into a relatable three panel parable. Garfield, with its focus on relationships between humans, pets and lasagne, is one of the best.
WE asked students what they thought of Jim Davis’s comic creation Garfield and whether cartoons count as art? Will Roberts: The purrfect advo-cat for an im-paw-tant (Gar)field of art. Henry White: Children’s cartoons can desensitise and indoctrinate for good or bad, and adult cartoons can satirise and politicise events through anthropomorphic methods. Ultimately, they often make a statement like more traditional art forms, which is why they divide opinion, because, like rhubarb and custard (if you get that reference you’re a true cartoon
Alice Scoble-Rees: At their best, comics can be epic, sweeping stories and I’m sure Luke has good reasons to sweepingly label all the women in Marvel and DC comics as “cheap and repugnant” other than “they have big tits.” They can also be a ginger cat that had some godawful movies made about him. When it comes to misogynism, I disagree. Why, Wonder Woman wears trousers now! And Batwoman is a lesbian who had a previous relationship with The Question (who is now also a woman). The X-Men are now lead by Emma Frost. And so on and so forth. Tori Brazier: Who wouldn’t want a sarcastic, lazy, greedy and mean orange cartoon cat in their life? I always skip to him in the *cough* Mail on Sunday. Just never ever mention the f-words, by which I mean the films. They just go to show that having Bill Murray isn’t always enough.
6 February 2012 Exeposé
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Arts
Laugh out loud or leave early? Pete Collins reviews comedienne trio Segue Sisters as part of the LOL festival at the Northcott Theatre WHEN a trio of talented singers, forged in the cultural spawning ground of the Edinburgh Fringe, find their wings and land in Exeter for their first big performance, you have to be flattered. A touch of wacky comedy fearlessly draws in and works off the audience and turns what might otherwise be an innocent musical performance into a risqué piece full of fresh and bizarre humour. Covers of popular songs, interspersed with comedy, form the meat of this decidedly oddball production, which is tied together by the relationship between the bickering ‘Sisters’ more than by any sort of plot. Sure, one wants to find love, and another is worried for a partner who is “fighting in Vietnam,” however, these plot elements are only an excuse to launch into a cover of some semi-relevant song, and
usually an argument. These songs have been chosen from a wide range of musical history and genres, with performances of pieces by The Andrews Sisters, Metallica, and The Doors, to name a few. Each piece is the equal of, and occasionally better than the original, thanks largely to the distinctive
modifications to each song. Instead of the abominable rip-offs sometimes seen on talent shows, Segue Sisters succeed with tuneful pieces full of fresh twists. Flirtatious, childish and occasionally uncomfortably vindictive, the jokes can sometimes seem a little cruel, and though the audience are spared the nastiest excesses, the performers are quite happy to tear each other to pieces. For all that, the performance was delivered with good humour, the songs being a perfect cherry on an unusual tasting cake. One friend of mine commented that it had been “a long time since I’ve heard such good music,” and while she does go to a lot of very bad clubs, the audience wouldn’t disagree.
Avenue Q: Why do a BA in English?
WHY do a BA in English? A particularly pertinent question given my current status as a final year, job hunting, English Literature undergraduate who is wondering what to do with my so termed “useless degree”. Avenue Q at the Plymouth Royal provided the answer in a hilarious, ingenious and satirical musical involving sexually active puppets, energetic choreography and lyrics that took personal delight in decimating taboos. And in case any of you fellow English students are wondering, the answer is apparently to listen to your “bad idea bears”, who tell you to drink. A lot. It all begins with the fresh faced Princeton, just out of college, who rents a room on Avenue Q, you then follow his journey to find his “purpose” in life via strippers, a porn addicted monster and falling in love with the girl next door. Whilst the plot line complexity was limited with the ending being, surprisingly, a rather predictable happy resolution through the characters all overcoming their arguments, it was not a noticeable
flaw due to the sheer hilarity of the songs performed. Racism, sexuality and schadenfreude were amongst the socially tense topics tackled wittily through exposing everyday assumptions in society, and given the applause and laughter after nearly every song they were particularly spot on in their satire. Songs that stood out for their dissecting of contemporary mores were “The Internet Is For Porn” in its crude hilarity, and “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist” with its detailing of people’s frequent double standards. What helped keep the show fresh was the use of contemporary figures such as Justin
Bieber in their jokes, showing that despite being five years old, it is still updating itself constantly: a must for a show rooted in making the audience laugh by poking fun at the society they live in. Having a musical performed with the majority of actors holding puppets and swapping roles may sound bizarre, but the cast pulled it off with energetic flair, using their skills to animate the puppets with convincing human gestures. Small details such as twiddling their hair and hand movements were subtle touches that allowed the puppets to become an extension of the singers. An impressive feat, especially when combined with singing in a large variety of roles where voices range from a highly camp man’s to a gravelly pervert’s. This is a great show for any student with an immature sense of humour but bear in mind the parental advisory rating... puppets’ sexual perversions are something not everyone wants to see! LAURA STEVENS ARTS EDITOR
Nina Fairfowl watches one of Exeter Uni’s comedy alumni at the BikeShed Theatre
I RECENTLY had the pleasure of catching University of Exeter alumnus James Mantell’s stand up comedy show - Evolution: A Love Story. In the words of Mantell, the routine was an interactive lecture, and “if anyone laughs it’s a bonus.” Essentially, the show was a comedic lecture and is what it says in the title: a playful spin on the theory of evolution. Mantell began by introducing himself as an atheist and proceeded to ask which members of the audience were non-believers. Since the routine was almost entirely about evolution and the supposed validity of this theory, it seemed appropriate that he began by asking this question. The show consisted of Mantell giving his version of the theory, which was quite outrageous yet greatly entertaining. Having only graduated in 2010, I felt I was able to relate to Mantell. His disdain at having achieved a 2:2 in his science degree was particularly hilarious to me as a student who knows the hardship of striving for that elusive 2:1. The only problem I found with the show is that, if you have any kind of religious faith, most of the comedy would come across as highly offensive. Mantell cited Richard Dawkins as one of his fa-
vourite authors, a notoriously aggressive atheist who claims that all people with faith are delusional - you see where the problem lies. In spite of this, as an agnostic, I felt I was able to engage with the show from an objective viewpoint. It was also a good opportunity to brush up on a little science, albeit slightly inaccurate at times. However, the routine can be regarded as strongly atheist and quite inaccessible to anyone who believes in God. With that being said, if taken light heartedly, I’m sure a believer could have understood the comedy in it, as the theory of evolution was presented in a comical manner and was not supposed to be taken seriously.
“For those of religious faith, the comedy was pretty offensive”
Overall the performance was worth watching; Mantell questioned the audience so you felt like you were involved in the show, and not merely a spectator. The evolutionary aspect may have been a little heavy for some, but personally I found it refreshing for a comedian to be discussing something I find to be interesting and relevant from a comedic angle.
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Video Games
6 February 2012
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Julian Hough explores the popular world of App based gaming versus its traditional counterparts ANGRY BIRDS is a perfect codifier for what’s good about App gaming. There’s the casual aspect. App games rely on people having a shorter time to play, and gear themselves accordingly. You can burn through 10 levels of Angry Birds in a few minutes whilst sitting on the bus. You’ll enjoy yourself for the time you put into it. But if you want all those gold stars, and you will, you’re going to have to invest more time destroying those pigs. And you’ll do that too. It’s simple to learn but difficult to master. The touchscreen controls are intuitive. And it’s cheap. Thumbs up all around.
It’s all about working within the limitations of the technology. A phone, unlike a console or PC, is not a dedicated gaming platform. Trying to blend the two is an unwise option (remember the Nokia N Gage, anyone?). If people want a gaming machine, they’ll buy a PC or console. If they want a phone, they’ll get a phone. Trying to shoehorn certain types of game onto a mobile device is a bad
move. I’ve played first person shooters on an phone, and while I’ve been impressed by what they’ve managed to achieve, all I can think of is that this would be so much better with a mouse and keyboard. Various peripherals have marketed for the iPhone, including controller style grips and full-sized wheels for driving games, which, while laughable, demonstrate the problem with trying to turn a phone into a console. Several classic games such as Doom, Myst, and Worms have been rereleased and optimized as app games. There have also been tie-in releases with modern franchises, including Dead Space, Need for Speed, Assassin’s Creed, and Rage. There are
approximately one billion smartphones being used in the world at the moment. The number is set to rise again to five billion by 2015. Even that figure doesn’t include the rising number of tablet computers or conventional downloads. Despite this potential market, app prices have plummeted since the inception of paid downloads. To go back to Angry Birds again, the cost of development was initially considered very high (around £83,000) but has subsequently made an astonishing £60 million in profits. That number is
“I don’t need an epic backstory of genocidal warfare between swine and fowl”
Tom Payne, Books Editor, raises a console conundrum IN a world of rapid technological advancement, it’s hard to imagine a bad future for the renowned ‘giants’ of console gaming – Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony. The next generation of consoles are already causing strident anticipation across the globe, remarked for their sophistication and innovative design details. They are, in more ways than one, the flagbearers of gaming technology for years to come. But there’s an increasingly alarming underground trend developing – the rise of smart devices and the plethora of unique, easily-accessible game apps that go with it. These days the dominance of iPhone apps over console games is more
“A phone, unlike a console or a PC, is not a dedicated gaming platform” None of this is necessarily a bad thing. But app games shouldn’t emulate this. They work as games because they appeal more directly to a casual market for the briefest bursts of play. Their very difference to mainstream gaming is what makes them unique and enjoyable. I don’t need an epic background story of genocidal warfare between swine and fowl, complete with a romantic subplot or morally complex decisions. I don’t need to admire each individual beautifully rendered feather on each bird I send shooting through the sky. I don’t need innovative full body motion controls that precisely simulate my pig slaughtering antics. I just want those gold stars at the end of the level. And then I want to turn my phone off when I get off the bus.
Not having a phone that could run the game, I first played it on my MacBook. There were a few advantages. It looked prettier, it was on a big screen, and it ran a lot smoother but I almost never played it. The only times I used it was during lectures. I have never gone out of my way to play it. It was strictly a boredom reflex. Conversely, the copy on my new phone gets plenty of regular usage. This might be because I use my phone more often than I use my Mac, but I like to think it’s because an app game has been shoehorned onto a platform that doesn’t suit it, both technologically and demographically.
FEATURE
still rising. It should be noted that Angry Birds is very much an exception to the rule. Games in general are gradually becoming more expensive to create. The industry standard is a constantly moving benchmark of graphical fidelity, immersive gameplay, and increasing complexity of story.
than just a piece of sensationalist technological soothsaying – there are figures and facts behind it. Last week, Nintendo posted a sharp drop in quarterly profit and forecast a huge full-year loss – its first ever. Nintendo now expects an annual operating loss of ¥45bn, which amounts to a staggering £370m. While the company plans to launch the Wii’s successor, the Wii U, across the globe at the end of the year, there are a number of analysts who agree that Nintendo might have some trouble generating excitement for its new product. What’s it up against? A number of things. Google, for example, has recently announced its plans for a Google TV, with every intention of using their
new product to take steps into gaming. Added to the fray is Apple, with its plans to release a new iPad and Smart TV which could transform the industry. Surely these new- fangled devices will have a hard time garnering enough public sway away from consoles? Not likely. You may or not agree with this, but from my perspective Apple and its products are deeply ingrained within the mass public consciousness, and, in spite of Nintendo’s attempts to broaden the gaming market, consoles remain as much of a niche as they always have been. In September 2011, it was revealed at the comScore Mobile Games Forum confer-
ence in London that over 25 per cent of mobile phone users in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain played games on their phones in that month alone. And that’s without taking figures from Asia and the Americas into account.
“Games played on mobile phones remain about as vapid and inconsequential as they always have been” Even some of the console’s leading analysts are quaking in their boots. In a worryingly pessimistic report, Citigroup analyst Soichiro Fukada said: “We think we need to consider the possibility that home consoles could become a thing of the past. We think the direction taken by marketing trendsetter Apple will be
very important and we will be watching the company’s announcements at future events with interest.” The report speaks for itself – Apple is now a marketing ‘trendsetter’ for games, in spite of the age-old dominance of hardware producers Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. In spite of these trends, I’m not sure it’s time yet to accept that traditional consoles are all but dead and buried. Before the Wii U gets sent to the same fiery inferno of failure as the likes of the Virtual Boy and the N-Gage (I bet you’d forgotten about those), there will likely be a significant transformation in the industry. For what it’s worth, I think games played on mobile phones remain about as vapid and inconsequential as they always have been. But in the distant future, after the next generation of consoles is said and done, I find it easy to imagine a world where social media, mobile technology and games become all of the same ilk.
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Exeposé week sixteen
Video Games
Look out! It’s the App-ocalypse!
We asked our writers to abandon their consoles and tell us about their favourite Apps Puzzlejuice: Colaboratory
PUZZLEJUICE claims that it will “punch your brain in the face” and this is no empty threat. Basically, Puzzlejuice is a combination of Tetris with a word search; you have to place falling blocks, formed of coloured squares, to complete rows which reveals letters. By drawing your finger across consecutive letters you spell words to clear squares and to score points. Each square also has a colour and matching three together allows you to turn them into letters. Confused? You should be, but there is more. Multiple game modes, powerups and objectives add to the complexity and provides more reasons for you to keep playing this game. The challenge comes from managing the falling blocks, whilst searching for words, and turning colours into more letters. Puzzlejuice only falls short on a few points that prevent it from being truly great. There are no customisation options to change the falling block speed or to play without colours, which would have been nice. Also, when trying to spell a word it sometimes moves the falling block instead; this can be very frustrating and ruin a game. Overall, Puzzlejuice is a brilliant time-sync, despite its few drawbacks, that offers great value for money.
Four In A Row: Optime Software
MEMORIES of successfully outmanoeuvring my sister surfaced when I saw that Blackberry had an App for one of my childhood favourites – four-in-arow. What’s more, it was free! With red and yellow counters on a blue grid, it was exactly as I remembered it. Thinking myself adept in outwitting my opponent, I selected the hard option and was frustrated and shocked with my inability to put four counters in a row. Luckily for me, the app allows you to choose your difficulty level and whether you play against a friend or a computer, so it suits all. What’s great about this App is its simplicity, which keeps you playing again and again. clara warman
“I am as far from the definition of ‘gamer’ as it is possible to be, but this simple App has me playing again and again” (Harbour Master)
“It’s sad to say that when my essay mark isn’t as high as I wanted, I can turn to Blitz to reinstate my ego in just a minute” (Bejeweled Blitz)
Scrabble: Electronic Arts
WHOEVER said technology has created a generation of short attention span half wits had definitely not had the challenging, thought provoking and intensely brain stimulating experience that is the Scrabble App on the iPad. Fiercely competitive this App not only allows you to dredge up vocabulary taught to you across any spectrum but due to the great feature that is ‘Best word’ you can learn some truly fantastical letter combinations that push your score up drastically. The only disappointment is the lack of definition in the dictionary meaning some bizarre winning words really remain a complete mystery leaving the loser a tad bitter! laura stevens, arts editor
Athanasios Skarlatos
Temple Run: Imangi Studios
TEMPLE RUN has been rated as the best free game on the App Store, and I couldn’t agree more. Who would have known that running away from demon monkeys could be so addictive? The App is a simple endless running game, with an Indiana Jones feel and an engaging touch-screen control system making it highly entertaining. The main aim is to collect as many coins as possible whilst dodging various obstacles, including the terrifying monkeys chasing you. These coins can unlock power-ups, such as invisibility to avoid obstacles and magnetism to obtain coins, which help you to improve your score. The game can be criticised for lacking a back-story and a change of scenery, but overall it is the fun and addictive qualities which make it such a popular game. One of its great elements is that the course changes every time you begin ensuring that each play stays fresh and exciting; it never feels old. It also remains a challenge to the gamer, even after multiple attempts, as the speed and difficulty increases throughout the run. Although it is a single player game this does not stop it from becoming very addictive, as the 36 objectives set make it a gripping, personal challenge. This free App is well worth downloading; I’d even go as far to say that it is outshines Angry Birds! elliE busby, editor
Bejeweled Blitz: PopCap
WITH each game lasting a speedy 60 seconds, decisiveness and fast fingers are a must for any burgeoning Blitz player. The aim of the game is simple – detonate as many gems as you can from the grid in front of you by making matches of three or more. The more gems you detonate, the more points you earn and the faster you rocket up the Facebook compatible leader board. If you have a particularly brilliant streak, you’ll be told that you’re good, awesome or even incredible. It’s safe to say that when my essay mark isn’t as high as I wanted, I can turn to Blitz to reinstate my ego in just a minute. Competing against your friends only makes the App more addictive – the risk that your cousin (with an IQ similar to that of a turnip) could overtake you at any time only strives to ignite a passion for gem destruction. If you thrive off pressure and competitive spirit, you’ll love this game. If you don’t, you’ll still love this game as Facebook connectivity is completely optional. The stand alone Blitz App is special because it’s free, fast and contains loads of fun extras that PopCap have thrown into the mix. Earning coins during game play and The Daily Spin lets you harvest rare gems. I personally love the Phoenix Prism because it’s particularly brilliant at showing my cousin who’s boss! For all budding Bejewelers, Blitz is your gem. kitty howie
Exeposé Video Games asks ‘What Apps Have YOU Been Playing This Week?’
Harbour Master: Imangi Studios YOU know you’re addicted to an App when you value your friends based on whether or not they own an iPhone. This is how I feel about Harbour Master, Imangi studio’s latest game. The premise of the game may appear relatively simple: direct incoming boats into docks according to the colour of their cargo and, once they have been unloaded, guide them off the screen. The more cargo the boat carries, the more points you get for unloading them. The aim of the game? Don’t let boats crash. However, despite the simplicity of the controls, the game soon descends into madness once more and more boats are sent on screen. Moreover, the bigger boats take much longer to dock, which becomes increasingly frustrating when attempting to prevent the other twenty boats waiting to dock from colliding. Downloadable extra levels include cyclones, monsters, pirates and canons! I am probably as far from the definition of “gamer” as it is possible to be, but this simple App has me playing again and again. And again. And again. Joanna Clifford
Let us know on Facebook and Twitter
“The game features Cut the Rope: Om Nom, a cute frog who is always hungry” ZeptoLab CUT THE ROPE is a friendly, physics (Cut the Rope) “Who would have known that running away from demon monkeys could be so addictive?” (Temple Run) “I selected the hard option and was frustrated and shocked with my inability to put four counters in a row” (Four In A Row)
based game featuring Om Nom, a cute frog who is always hungry. The aim of each level is very simple: get the candy to Om Nom. Obviously this is never a simple task as the candy is dangling by a rope on one side of the screen with Om Nom on the other. The rope has to be cut, swung and floated in order for the candy to reach the other side. There are also various obstacles such as bubbles and electricity to add an element of challenge. The App is a very simple, yet successful concept which fully incorporates the touch screen. The graphics are cute and colourful which makes the game fun even though it requires a level of skill. Although the levels are very easy to complete, there are also three stars to collect in each level, which makes the game more challenging and adds to its replay value. Jessica Leung, Videogames Editor
Will Hayman: “Angry Birds, because it is more addictive than coffee mixed with crack.” Kate Gray: “Sporcle, because I want to be able to tell people I can successfully name every bone in the body/most popular words in the Bible/the capital cities of Africa.” Kitty Howie: “Home Sheep Home because I can’t bear to leave Shaun the Sheep and his buddies a-baaa-ndoned.” Joe Johnston: “Hemisphere’s Osmos, because it makes me feel like I’m at one with the Universe (plus, both the visuals and music are the best I’ve ever encountered in an App).” James Hallinan: “Steambirds Survival because shooting down slightly Germanic aeroplanes is the national pasttime.” Jesse Eagles: “Fruit Ninja because I have a psychological hatred of fruit, especially watermelons!”
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Exeposé week sixteen
Indoor Cricket Finals Cricket
Photos: Charlotte Miles
Charlotte Miles EULC
Sport
EUWRFC squeeze past Birmingham Women’s Rugby
Will Kelleher Senior Reporter
On Wednesday 21 January, Exeter University Ladies Cricket Club went to London to compete in the BUCS Indoor Cricket Finals at the historic Lord’s Cricket Ground. Despite qualifying with ease (trouncing both Aberystwyth and Cardiff), the task ahead of the girls was set to be much tougher with the inevitable match up with Loughborough scheduled later in the day.
On a bitterly cold afternoon at Topsham Sports Ground the EUWRFC 1st XV booked their place in the second knockout round of the BUCS competition with a hard fought 27-25 win against Birmingham. The game certainly lived up to the cliché ‘a game of two halves’ as Exeter dominated the first period, only to let Birmingham back in with a sniff of victory after half time. Fortunately for them, however, they held on to keep their hopes of a second Twickenham appearance in two seasons alive. Certainly the girls in green will be a force to be reckoned with in the latter stages having been crowned national and European Sevens Champions in 2010. EUWRFC started the game well, dominating set plays and with some strong running from centres Sarah Brook and Anna Glyn Davies, the former scoring the first try of the game with a powerful break down the right. Exeter then continued their good start with captain Benjamin crashing over from five yards. 10-0 Exeter. All the possession was Exeter’s in the first 25 minutes as they scored again; Lucy Demaine setting up a defence splitting crash ball for Davies, in reply to a break down the blind side by Birmingham’s pacey number 11 taking the score to 17-5. Exeter were piling on the pressure and forced Birmingham into many handling errors; however,
“The team put on a cracking performance against Southampton, bowling them out for 92 and winning easily by six wickets”
In their first game against Birmingham, Captain Jess Rippin lost the toss and Exeter were put in to bat. In what would prove to be the game of the tournament, nerves initially got the better of Exeter as they lost early wickets. It was only when Phoebe Graham walked to the wicket did Exeter gain some control. Phoebe scored 29 runs with some excellent clean hitting elevating the team to a respectable 99/6 off their 12 overs. Birmingham’s reply started well despite some tight bowling from freshers Phoebe and Lorna Browne. Suzi Wood and Jess Rippin contributed too but it was Social Secretary Katy Dennis who provided inspiration for the opening wicket with a timely call of “Jug Ball.” The girls obliged with an excellent run out and from there Exeter out played Birmingham limiting the runs and taking a further four wickets. It all came down to the last ball, with Birmingham needing four runs to win. Unfortunately it was Birmingham who got home in a thrilling finish. Having lost their opening game, qualification for the final was unlikely. However, that didn’t stop the team putting on a cracking performance against Southampton bowling them out for 92 and winning easily by six wickets. The final game was against a strong Loughborough side which was riddled with England players. Jess had a change of fortune, surprising her team mates by winning the toss and Loughborough even more so by electing to bat first. The tactic nearly worked as Emily Robinson got stuck in scoring an impressive 30 runs against some frustrated and aggressive Loughborough bowling, getting Exeter to 72/4. However, sadly it wasn’t enough and Exeter eventually lost the match by five wickets. A young team, Exeter will have learnt a lot from this experience and will undoubtedly be back at Lord’s for another chance next year.
last year’s ‘AU Team of the Year’ were caught on the break by Birmingham’s hooker who completed a great drawand-pass to put the left winger in the corner for her second of the game. It may have seemed that Birmingham were back in the game with the score at 17-10 but in the last 10 minutes of the half Exeter forced home the advantage with two well-taken tries, wing Esther Brett taking the second of the two. EUWRFC may have been disappointed with their second half display, they lacked the cutting edge of the first period and conceded two tries in the first 20 minutes to take the score to 2720, their defence at time was too narrow and Birmingham exploited the flanks well on both occasions. This set up a tense final 10 minutes and Birmingham, to their credit never gave up, scoring again in the corner. A successful conversion would have drawn them level and could have possibly set up a nervy extra time period but a difficult kick was missed and the score stayed at 27-25. Exeter then showed their experience as they ran the clock down with a succession of close-quarter drives by the forwards. A vital scrum was won and Demaine happily kicked to touch to end the contest. Exeter’s ladies will be glad their first half effort was not in vain, and they advance to the next round confident they can score plenty of tries and close out tight encounters. Final score EUWRFC 27 BIRMINGHAM 25.
EUTC Ladies Update Tennis
Ellie Pocock Publicity Officer
EULC battle hard at Lord’s, but unfortunately face more experienced sides in the finals
Exeter Ladies 1st Tennis Team showed persistence and determination to win in their face-off against Cambridge 1sts on Wednesday 25 January. The pairing of Lucy and Ellie Pocock took to the court first. The pair started well, Lucy’s huge serving preventing Cambridge even getting into the point. The girls continued with great form until 6-1, 5-1 up, where, at this point, Ellie got into difficulties and struggled to find the court. It was down to Lucy to serve out the match, and that she did, with four ferocious first serves. The pair won the tie 6-1, 6-4. Leonard and Horder took to the court next for Exeter. After losing the first set, the pair picked up the pace, found their momentum and dominated throughout the second and third set, winning 4-6, 6-3 (10-2). At 2-0 Exeter were well-placed for a win. Lucy battled away in her singles, proving too strong for her opponent, who she’d had close previous matches with, triumphing 6-4, 6-0. Ellie Pocock, playing at number two,
started well, however her opponent got a grip on her game and pulled away. After much thigh slapping, she was eventually defeated 6-3, 6-1.
“After losing the first set, the pair picked up the pace, found their momentum and dominated throughout the second and third set” Leonard struggled with her opponents unforgiving consistency, and although playing some blinding tennis, lost 6-1, 6-4. At this point Exeter were leading 6-4 and with Megan a set up were very hopeful for a win. The tennis centre had become very quiet, even the juniors were forced to partake in a silent ‘fitness session’. Horder lost a tight and quiet second set, however her fitness prevailed as she stormed the third set 6-0. A victorious and sweaty Horder did the team proud winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.
6 february 2012
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Sport
Exeposé
Updates from the Exeter Demons Touchdow green...
2nds thrash Bournemouth Golf
Nick Hector EUGC It was an icy, cold day at the Warren but Exeter’s 2nd golf team were undeterred, beating Bournemouth 3rds 6-0 on Wednesday 1 February. The visitors, from Bournemouth, however, were nowhere to be seen, so the matches started at first without them. Leading the pack for Exeter was the Cornish fresher, Chris Fleming. He managed to win the first four holes with ease. His ever consistent ball striking undoubtedly contributed to the demolition of his opponent. He won the match 8&7. Out second was a determined Tom Watkins. The overly keen second year counted down the seconds on the first tee until eventually an immaculately struck iron set the tone, winning the first four holes. It seemed that during this period, he managed to avoid a few blobs, keeping a clean sheet and finishing his match 7&5. The third golfer to prevail was EUGC’s Fresher of the year, Ben Leigh. Even with a few loose shots in the first four holes he found himself four up. His drive, determination and thirst for points
helped him to see off a few nice putts to win 8&7. James Wallace similarly made a fantastic start in the fourth match. With the first four holes nicely tucked away, you could see he was enjoying the flawless temporary greens the Warren had to offer. All that was left was to cruise to the finish line signifying another win 4&3.
“Chris Fleming’s ever consistent ball striking undoubtedly contributed to the demolition of his opponent” In the penultimate match was Nick Hector. Inspired by the winning ways of his team mates ahead, he followed suit, also winning the first four holes. Unfortunately, the slow play ahead did not suit the second year’s rapid style of play but, he eventually won his match 3&2. Out last was 2nd team captain, Jamie Richards. With no clubs and no opponent you could see that it was going to be Jamie’s day, devouring his match with a triumphant victory of 10&8.
3 s lose 3.5-2.5 rd
Golf
James Sesemann EUGC Exeter 3rds’ first match of 2012 was against Aberystwyth 1sts at the Warren. Knowing that only a win would do, the pressure was on all six players to perform. Leading the players out was James Hollis. He came up against a solid opponent and a very closely contested match was to follow. Neither player was giving anything away very easily as the lead changed a few times. Unfortunately, Hollis couldn’t quite keep up towards the end, slipping to defeat on the 17th, 2&1. Out 2nd was Henry Nichol. Looking to start 2012 well, Nichol was against a lefty who didn’t fill his team with confidence when managing to top his drive on the 1st OOB right. However, his standard did improve, and in the end it was just a bit too much for Nichol, losing on the last, one down. James Sesemann was put in 3rd position. Starting the year as he meant to carry on, Sesemann never let his opponent into the match. With a solid par performance, he slowly ground the opposition captain down to avenge his defeat in the reverse fixture. On the 13th, the match was over with Sesemann easily coming out on top, a 7&5 victor. Next out was the captain Dan Scott. With the score currently 2-1 to Aber,
Scott knew a performance was needed from him. With some good golf, Scott was putting his opponent under pressure; however some dodgy chipping let him back into the match. Going down the last, Scott was one down. Knowing a par wouldn’t be enough Scott took aim with a 9-iron, with it ending up no more than 2ft away. This was enough to win the hole and halve the match. Andreas Lind and Joe Scibilia were in the final group. Needing at least 1.5 points to halve the match, both players needed to play well for Exeter to have a chance. Aberystwyth’s 5th man was placed in the daunting role of playing Lind. Lind played some very good golf but ended up having to hole out from off the green on 17 for the match to go down the last. It hit the back of the hole but was just going too fast, and with this the match was lost 2&1. In the anchor role was Joe Scibilia. Even though the match was lost, Scibilia was determined to get a win for the team. After 9 the match was very close, but the back 9 was where Scibilia would show his opponent that he was not going to lose. Holding his nerve, Scibilia won a closely fought match 2&1. A 3.5-2.5 defeat was not what the 3rds set out to achieve. Knowing that it was a match that they should have won, the team were disappointed but now must focus on beating Bournemouth 3rds with conviction next week.
Exeter Demons continue their fabulous season in the BUAFL with a 27-26 win over Cardiff
American Football
Dan Morrison Reporter
In only their third season together as a sports program the Demons achieved one of their wildest victories, as they came from a touchdown behind in the last two minutes of the game to win 27-26 over the highly regarded Cardiff University team. The game began slowly and there was a sense of unfulfilled anticipation at the end of a scoreless first quarter, as both teams struggled to move the ball. However, that all changed at the beginning of the second quarter as Cardiff finally got their running game going and, on a fourth down play, emerged with the first points of the game. Exeter answered back on the very next possession with a 50 yard bomb down the sidelines from quarterback
Finlay Brown to wide receiver Joshua Amis who caught the ball in stride and out ran the Cardiff defence into the end zone. As the second quarter continued it became clear that Cardiff’s offense was focused through their running game and after seven consecutive running plays they punched the ball into the end zone from a few yards out to go up 12-7 over the Demons. But, on the very next possession Exeter QB Brown sat in the pocket, surveyed the field and picked out Will Budge for a 60 yard pass and score. The two would hook up again on the next touchdown play for the Demons so that as half time approached, Exeter held a commanding 19-12 lead. A catastrophic mistake on the stroke of half time however, erased that lead as Exeter’s punting unit turned the ball over on their own goal line leaving Cardiff with the simple job of putting it in the end zone, which they did with a pow-
erful run up the middle. Cardiff failed at the extra point attempt and so Exeter clung on to a perilous 19-18 lead, but it was clear that the surrender of their advantage so cheaply had frustrated the team and that they felt their superiority warranted a greater half-time lead.
“The Demons came from a touchdown behind in the last two minutes of the game to win 27-26”
The offenses of both teams stalled in the second half. Affected by the cold and the rain, both Exeter and Cardiff looked sluggish and mistake prone. This was typified in the touchdown that gave Cardiff a 26-19 lead as Finlay dropped back to pass and attempted to dump a short pass off to one of his receivers
EUAFC 1sts edge UWE in thriller Football
Mark Cohen Reporter
The Exeter Men’s Football 1st XI won a tightly contested affair 3-2 against UWE Men’s 1st XI at Topsham sports ground on Wednesday 1 February. Both teams saw a lot of the ball during the first 10 minutes. However, it
was the visitors who took the lead, with the UWE left winger finishing a well worked move and slotting the ball into the far corner. Exeter was subjected to sustained UWE pressure following the early breakthrough, with shots peppering their goal from all directions. However, a poor clearing kick from the visiting keeper gifted Exeter an equaliser, as striker Sam James nearly caught the keeper out with a shot from distance. From the resulting corner, Captain
Jack Allman rose higher than anyone else to head home off the left upright from about eight yards out. The swing in momentum was palpable, as it was now Exeter who put sustained pressure on the UWE goal. Eventually, striker Jonathan Badrock was set through on goal, outmuscled the UWE centre back and fired into the bottom right hand corner. Badrock could have added to his tally several minutes later but for some acrobatic UWE goalkeeping.
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Exeposé week sixteen
n To Victory: 27-26
only to find one of Cardiff’s monstrous linemen, who clawed the ball out of the air with one hand, before rumbling into the end zone for the touchdown. It was a tough moment for the Demons, and when Cardiff successfully completed the two point conversion it seemed that momentum had permanently alluded the Exeter team.
“A winning record is now close to assured for the Demons this season, with the team currently having four wins and one solitary loss” But, with two minutes left the Demons were driving towards the Cardiff
end zone and in position to tie the game with a touchdown and a one point conversion. Under the guidance of Brown the team moved to within 20 yards of the Cardiff goal line, but then faced a game deciding fourth down play. A pass over the middle from Brown to Budge resulted in an eight yard gain, and a generous spot of the ball by the referee resulted in a first down. On the next play Brown called his own number, dashed past the rushing defenders and scampered into the end zone. Exeter were still down by one point however and, in the kind of decision that people call foolish when it fails and heroic when it succeeds, Exeter decided to go for the two point conversion to win the game rather than one point to tie it. QB Brown sat under centre, looked from left to right and floated a soft pass over the defence and into the waiting arms of Budge at the back of
Photos: Josh Irwandi
the end zone who carolled the ball and held on for the game winning score.
“Under the guidance of Brown, the team came within twenty yards of the Cardiff goal line, but faced a game deciding fourth down play” The players rushed the field at the end of the game and the sense of elation around the whole team was tangible after the closest win in their history. A winning record is now close to assured for the Demons this season as they go into next week’s game against Plymouth with four wins and only the one solitary loss.
to make Semi-finals of BUCS Cup It looked as if the home side were going to reach halftime with a slender lead. However, there was enough time for one more momentous swing, as the UWE striker was brought down in the Exeter box for a penalty to the visitors. The spot kick was coolly converted and at halftime the score was 2-2. The second half was a much cagier affair, with clear cut chances coming few and far between for both sides. The
Exeter keeper saved well from a oneon-one with the UWE striker. The away team also felt aggrieved to have two goals disallowed. The first came after a collision with his own player left the Exeter keeper unconscious. Despite this, the referee whistled the ball dead before the UWE striker could finish into an empty net. Another score for the visitors was wiped out for offside. The UWE man-
ager rang the substitutions and urged his side further up the pitch in search of an elusive winner. However, a swift and decisive counter attack led to Badrock bagging the winning goal for Exeter, and his second, after good work from strike partner James. The relief and elation of the Exeter players at the final whistle was clearly visible for all to see.
Crossword
No. 29 by Raucous
Across 1. Ability to tell the truth (8) 5. (& 20,10 Down) well known quote from W.H. Auden’s ‘Funeral Blues’ (4,3,3,6) 7. Relating to the shin bone (6) 8. Biblical exit (6) 9. Comeback (6) 11. Grave (4) 14. Popular pastime (7) 15. e.g. The Iliad (4) 17. Covers teeth; used in decoration (6) 19. Drunk (6) 20. Attractive man (6) 22. Graham Greene’s well known character; goes with G&T (4) 23. Played in Superbowl XLVI (8)
Sport
Down 1. Topical saint (9) 2. Get back together; improve (6) 3. James Joyce, Brian O’Driscoll, Guinness (for example) (5) 4. Besides; a blind yeti? (3) 5. Destroy; Beastie Boys song (8) 6. Friend (3) 10. See 5 across 12. Male friendship (8) 13. Behind the New Deal; Republicans resent this President (3) 16. Stereotypical (3) down foodstuff (6) 18. Nautical turn; relating to (5) 20. See 5 across 21. Miniscule drink (3)
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MOnday 6 february 2012 Exeposé
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EUMCC Lord’s Heroics Cricket
Rhys Jones EUMCC Club Captain
Following on from some high calibre performances at Exeter and then in the semifinals at Cardiff, EUMCC had earned the right to play in the finals of the BUCS National Indoor 6-aside competition at the home of cricket, Lord’s. Exeter were drawn in a tough group against Newcastle and Sheffield Hallam. First up were Newcastle and after winning the toss Exeter’s talisman and Captain Joe Barrs decided to have a bat. Hard hitting opening batsman Matt Laidman retired on 30, as did the elder statesman of the team, Chris Webb. Exeter posted a promising total of 134. At the half way stage Newcastle were on a promising 65-1; however they came unstuck by the skiddy pace of Bradley Lane who bowled an outstanding over to bring it back for the EUMCC. In a fantastic photo finish Newcastle got the required severn off the final two balls to tie the game, with Lane and Alec Barkett taking two wickets each. EUMCC were left in a tight spot after Newcastle beat Sheffield, meaning only a convincing win would do it to make the final. After losing the toss, Exeter’s openers once again strolled out to the crease to post a total. Following another sterling performance from Webb and Barrs, Exeter posted a respectable 121. To make it to the final, Exeter had to restrict Sheffield to 114. The devastating three man pace attack of Lane, Barrs and Barkett entered the fray, producing a bowling performance reminiscent of the great West Indies, sweeping away the Sheffield openers. After a fight back from Sheffield, it came down to 13 off the last over for a Sheffield win, Barrs took it upon himself to bowl the last. He bowled a tremendous over of pace and bounce to bowl Sheffield out for 111, putting the EUMCC through to the final. In the final the EUMCC faced a strong UWIC (Cardiff) side. Batting first, Exeter posted 121 with Laidman caressing the ball beautifully, with strong support from Barrs and pinch hitter Lane. After a very strong start UWIC were cruising on 51-1 off four overs. However, a superb middle over fight back courtesy of Lane and allrounder Will Clapp, Exeter still kept their noses in the hunt. Despite needing only 13 off two over’s, Lane created two excellent run outs which gave the UWIC team a serious scare and left the Exeter supporters Jubilant. However, UWIC got the three required off the last over to win the game. It was a truly outstanding performance from an excellent team, and is something the club can be extremely proud of.
EUMCC put in a valient peformance at Lord’s, reaching the final only to lose with just three balls remaining
Photo: Will Munford/EUMCC
EUWHC into Semi-finals Hockey
Claire Thomas EUWHC Exeter University LADIES Hockey 1sts have reached the semi-final of the BUCS Championship for the first time in three years after beating Loughborough 3-2 on Wednesday 1 February. Loughborough were last year’s runner’s up in this competition and had narrowly beaten Exeter at this stage for the past two years, so there was an added sense of occasion surrounding the game. Exeter are currently unbeaten this year in the BUCS league and cup, enjoying a 7-0 rout against Brunel in their previous league match and an exciting 5-4 win over Nottingham in the previous cup game. Exeter got off to a dream start, scoring within the first five minutes. Brilliant work from sports scholar Amy Sheehan allowed her to cross for fellow scholar Claire Thomas to deflect home. Things got even better a couple of minutes later when with their second meaningful attack of the game, Exeter doubled the lead – Thomas pouncing on the loose ball to make it 2-0 within eight minutes. Loughborough were stunned by the speed and quality of the Exeter attack. This lead was maintained until just before halftime when Loughborough converted a short corner to make it 2-1. Despite enjoying the majority of the possession Loughborough failed to threaten the goal much, with Exeter absorbing the pressure under the direction of scholar Annabel Driver and Jenna Wiles at the back and then with Anna Blunden outletting superbly to launch quick counterattacks. The 2nd half followed a similar pattern, Exeter managing to increase their lead soon after the restart with a fine reverse stick strike from Sheehan, however Loughborough replied almost immediately to make it 3-2. Exeter managed to hold onto this lead until the final whistle, the whole team working hard as a unit to prevent Loughborough threatening much and in fact created the better chances to put the game beyond doubt. A strong team of supporters were treated to an entertaining game where clinical finishing, superior discipline and tremendous teamwork proved the difference between the two sides. Ladies 1sts Captain Kate Kaye commented that: “Winning against Loughborough represents so much more to this team than reaching the semi-final; it shows the coming together of three years of development, both on an individual and team level.” She added: “Today the girls showed how a cohesive team is equal to more than the sum of its parts, I am very proud to have captained such a great team.” The semi-finals will be held in Nottingham against Durham on Wednesday 22 February.