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Glasgow University Magazine
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GUM
37
Issue 1
Features For Queen and Country Gluttony In Glasgow On Patriotism Speaking for Themselfs Glasgow Guide
Arts A Walk Down Albert Drive A Pavilion For Glasgow Choose Life Just for Laughs
Fashion The Skin I Live In Common People Obscure Couture
Politics A Salmond and a Beetroot Walk into a Bar Wealth of Nations: Vision vs Reality The Fracking Debate
Music First Words Lean Beats Queer as Folk The Beat Goes On Sound and Music
Science Trying To Make It In Science as a Grrl Particle Physics and The Higgs Boson
Any views or opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of Glasgow University or the SRC
Photograph: Thalia Kemp
O
bscure Couture are not jus t another f a c ele s s brand following trends and mass producing items. A l l p i e c e s a r e p e r s o n a l, something to be cherised, and all handmade lovingly in Glasgow.� - Page 21
Sep t ember 2 013
GUM
EDITOR’S LETTER
3
EDITOR -IN-CHIEF
Hailey Maxwell DEPUTY EDITOR
Hailey Maxwell
Yasmeen Hussain ART EDITOR
The academic term has descended upon
Anna Smith
us again, following a scorching summer made historically significant via the birth of the latest addition to the UK monarchy and the coronation of Scotland’s national treasure Andy Murray as a Wimbledon champion. The summer felt long and full of debate, underlying each national conversation were allusions to the impending Independence referendum.
FASHION EDITOR
This issue is concerned with establishing and exploring themes of community, locality and nationality; we hope to offer a broad introduction to the diverse range of activity Scotland has to offer. The pages that follow will specifically explore the Scottish contribution to our usual fields of interest; music, art, politics, science and fashion.
DESIGN
Leila Khoshoie POLITICS EDITOR
Michael Borowiec MUSIC EDITOR
Patrick Owens SCIENCE EDITOR
Alexandra Embiricos
Glenn Mullan Paul Wilkie PHOTO EDITOR
Paul Wilkie COVER ILLUSTRATION
Hannah Nixon ARTWORK
Amelia Bayler Cheryl Wills
We discuss themes of nationality and Scottish identity; exploring differing opinions on what these concepts mean. We approach the challenge of integration and cultural exchange; presenting both the problems facing peaceful multiculturalism and and an example of where diversity has triumphed. Whether you have lived in Scotland your whole life, if you are here for one year or four, you are undeniably a member of a community, be that in student halls, across the river or outwith the route of the Clockwork Orange. Scotland is a small country, and Glasgow is a small city, however you are living in a place with a prestigious history, an exciting present and a promising future.
WRITERS
Milly Douglas Glenn Mullan J. Urquhart Ross McLachlan Robyn Limond
stretching across the city map. Being a student awards a level of freedom that should be seized as a mandate to experiment, to discover and to take action. Whatever your interest, hobby or skill you can be sure there is a group or organisation within the University or in the community that you can become involved in. We learn through experience as well as through study, so explore everything the Dear Green Place has to offer whether you are a Glaswegian through and through or you are only here for a year. We hope your time in Scotland will be full of discovery,
Megan Gallacher Sophie Platts-Palmer Ari Neilsson David Kay Laurie Alan Niall Morris Amelia Bayler Pedro Cameron Joshua Nielsen Jack Fawcett Maria Ionnou Jessica Oliver-Bell PHOTOGRAPHERS
Thalia Kemp Bryan M Feguson Felix Welch
GUM
It is tempting to stay within the so-called ‘West End Bubble’ around campus, but the city sprawls far beyond the coffee shops and vintage stores of Byres Road; there is an abundance of cultural activity
Hailey Maxwell
4
Glasgow University Magazine
FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY? Milly Douglas
Issue 1
What would a day entail when you’re on duty in Afghanistan? On operations, in general, those of us working in the kitchens could see military action from anything between twice a day to once a week. It totally depends upon what’s going on – one day you could be called up on guard duties, the next day you’ll be preparing a full fry up for breakfast. We never know when something is going to happen, when we might be attacked. They’ll need you in and you’ll be called up straight away. So you go and do what you have to do. As far as I’m aware I haven’t killed anyone, I’ve just shot at people shooting at me. At the end of the day, I get by on about 4 hours sleep a night Why did you join the army? It was always something that really interested me. Since I was younger I enjoyed the Boy Scout’s, and I had intended to join since I was 14 years old. Mum kind of talked me in to it. I have always been the ‘outdoors’, adventurous type, and I thought getting a normal job would be an irrational thing to do. But, I got in to a bit of trouble when I was…15? So I couldn’t join the army for four years until my criminal conviction was spent. What was it you got in trouble for? Attempted murder. Yep. Really? Did you plead guilty? It got dropped. Basically, I managed to plead guilty for attempting to stab someone. I had a sentence of four years community service, and one year of probation. When I was younger I used to dress like a bit of a ‘mosher’. One day I was walking past a group of neds, and for no reason at all they just ran for me, and kicked the absolute shit out of me.
FEATURES
And you had a knife on you?
Military intervention being threatened upon Syria clarifies that soldiers are still deemed ‘useful’ in our time; a time of forever more frightening nuclear weapons. The events of Channel 4’s recent masterpiece drama, “Southcliffe” are only very loosely based upon the stories of myriad random lives. However, the representation of a British town with a history of military affiliations is a far cry from fiction. The drama touched a raw nerve nationally. Residents of towns like Southcliffe are both upheld and torn down by the profits and losses of war. I was schooled near an Oxfordshire R.A.F base, and saw at first hand the complicated emotional defences the families of troops barricaded themselves with. Whatever your political beliefs, servicemen and women have careers that are at once exhilarating, boring, violent, fearless, and, for some, unenviable. In this interview, ‘J’, a Scottish chef for the RLC regiment in Afghanistan, gave me his honest, un-romanticized perspective on working for the British Army, and why some young people choose to join it. For reasons of safety and security, specific people and places will not be directly referred to in this article.
No, ha, I was absolutely battered. I got taken away in an ambulance, and blah blah blah… Back then all my friends from B— used to speak to people on all the Yahoo and Google chat websites. At the time, they saw people bragging about how they had “smashed a goth last night” and “left him for dead”. My friends, being my friends, managed to find out who the guys were. We went to meet them, and went up expecting a fair fight, and they pulled knives on us. We managed to get a knife of one of them, and stabbed a guy in self-defence. It wouldn’t have happened if they didn’t have them. Would you say that perhaps you were drawn to the army because there is a violent streak in you? Slightly... I wouldn’t say it was a violent streak. More like a competitive aggressive thing. I feel like when I use aggression, it’s for the right reasons, opposed to mindless violence. I wouldn’t go out and find a fight, but if my friends are involved, I’ll be first to step in. Do you believe that other members of the forces have a similar background to you, and can you briefly describe your background? Definitely. 100%. A lot of the boys that I know from the army are from rough council estates, quite often in Glasgow. Mostly, they’ve either left school with no education, or not much education. Basically they had to join the army, or most like-
ly the crimin ment
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Sep t ember 2 013
ly they’d be in jail! [Laughter from us both] Before my own criminal conviction cleared, I did catering. You get a commitment bonus if you have a civilian qualification before you join. Do you ever see young guys on their first time up, and think, “God, they don’t know what they’re getting themselves in to”? Or, do you think they’re well prepared? Naw, not a clue. It’s funny to see, because my little brother joined the army 14 weeks ago, and he’s just finished in basic training. He’s completely changed. Not completely, but he’s changed for the better. It’s not instantly noticeable, but his posture, the way he presents himself... So you think that being in the army gives a young man or woman’s life more structure? It gives more structure, and it often gives them a pride about themselves. When they get their uniform, and on the passing out parade? That’s the day when you finish basic training, and all your family, all your friends, come down to see you? It’s probably one of the proudest days of your life when you’re younger. How would you respond to accusations that some sent off to fight in war zones, such as Afghanistan, are brutalised beyond repair? And how often have you encountered fellow soldiers suffering Post Traumatic Stress disorder, or other mental health issues triggered by their experiences in the army? One person I know, it wasn’t PTS, but he just couldn’t handle being away from his family so long. He’d just had a baby daughter. He ended up flipping out a little bit. He drank too much, and ended up trying to attack people. It was the first and only time I’d seen someone have issues like that where there weren’t some already. Some people have had mental health problems before they get there, and they are likely to face some tough problems. Not in terms of violence or brutality in my personal experience, but you hear about it happening. From what I’ve seen, lots of us change for the better. Quite a lot of people I’ve met before they’ve got out there were… uncultured? Sometimes, sort of ignorant. When they start working with the Afghani people, they get to know more about their religion and culture, and respect it. During Eid and Ramadan I fasted with the guys. Local nationals, who help us in the kitchens.
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Do you think Cameron and Clegg support the forces? Have they made bad decisions? Terrible decisions. The way they’ve handled the manning reductions in the past few years, its… Basically what they’ve done is cut down all of the long term serving corporals and sergeants. Those with all the frontline knowledge, if you get rid of them, who the fuck are you going to get to teach the new, younger guys coming over? These new lance corporals haven’t had the time or the training. They’ve been promoted at 18 or 19 years old – little boys, who think because of that promotion, they’re prepared, but it doesn’t. That puts them, and those below them, in unnecessary danger. I also think it’s crazy that women aren’t allowed to fight on the frontline. The only loophole is for them to become medics, and in many ways that’s more dangerous anyway. What are your thoughts on protesters who gate crash processions and parties welcoming troops home? What would you say to them? How might you derail their argument? Try and take a trip over to where we’re placed. Speak to the local people. Speak to them, and you will know that they are pleased that we’re there. The minority of people, stuck in the Stone Age, religious and political extremists, are seen as the problem by the majority. I don’t think there is anything to say that will derail an argument as serious as this. Your beliefs are your beliefs, and some people would die for them. As a soldier, could you not, potentially, be dying for a cause too? When you’re out there, at the end of the day - you’re doing a doing a job, with your friends. I wouldn’t die for a political cause. Not for Queen and Country, but I’d die for my friends.
And is there camaraderie between you? Completely, we have a laugh, throw tomatoes at each other, they make us traditional Afghani food, they teach us swear words, we teach some to them! There’s this assumption that everyone who joins the army is full of hate for indigenous religions, for the places they’re sent to. It’s not the case for most of us; it’s a shame that more people don’t know that. To what extent do the politics of war effect you and your peers, both on and off the frontline? Do you ever feel you’re doing something you shouldn’t be doing?
FEATURES
One thing I can’t stand is the ignorance of people who believe, for example, “Why are we in Afghanistan? We’re there for the oil”. There’s no oil in Afghanistan. In Iraq, I can’t say much because I wasn’t involved there, but I think that’s a different story. I try to get involved with politics as little as I can. Politics, for me, is one of the biggest… eugh.
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Issue 1
Glasgow University Magazine
GLUTTONY IN GLASGOW All budget advice will warn against spending money on take away food and will encourage students to shop frugally; to purchase in bulk from generic non branded lines. Realistically this is not always a sustainable approach to grazing. Inevitably the day will come when the student- hungover, overworked or just plain lazy will rifle through the pile of takeaway menus which have formed a hazardous Welcome mat. You will commit sins of gluttony and sloth. You will order from one of the many unholy fast-food establishments wafting sweet clouds of MSG and vaporised fat. The advent of modern technology has been a key feature of the evolution of mankind and the digital intervention in the takeaway food industry has developed leaps and bounds, advancing the eating habits of the hungry sloven student. One can order food without having to speak, negotiate or repeat oneself. One doesn’t even have to make any cash transactions in person. The website we chose to use even gives the option of tallying each group member’s bill, so everyone knows exactly how much change to dig for when the buzzer goes. For too long has the hungry young adult excitedly leapt from the depths of the sofa to answer the door to an angry delivery guy bearing clammy, grease coated Tupperwares filled with indiscriminate matter. Adhering to strict criteria of evaluation in the name of science , we decided to conduct a study. We evaluated three of the highest rated takeaways delivering to the G3 postcode on Hungryhouse.com in order to provide information and support to those wishing to break the vow of poverty. The accumulated data offered complex and surprising results, however we hope the information we have meticulously collected will guide the hungry reader to order responsibly. Pizza Port 618 Alexandra Parade G31 3BT 1 x Glaswegian Burger 1 x Medium Deep Pan Cheese and Tomato Pizza Total Cost: £13.95 + £2.00 delivery charge Waiting Time: 34 minutes
FEATURES
Glaswegian takeaways offering kebabs, pizzas, handmade gourmet burgers Mexican dishes and excellent desserts. There is a good, refreshing vegetarian menu and the restaurant is certified Halal and there are loads of really good meal deals. Our food
arrived quickly and the delivery guy was extremely pleasant, which does make the difference. We decided to go with the Glaswegian burger from the gourmet burger menu which smashed all of our expectations. The burger is huge. Its the size of burger many burger places would set as a challenge to customers, and consuming it entirely would be worthy of your photograph going on a wall somewhere, however the restaurant makes even bigger patties up to the 12” Fantasy Burger which we felt was outwith the limits of our experiment. The Glaswegian burger was intimidating, we has to devise complex calculations before dissecting the thick layers of cheddar cheese, pulled pork, fried egg,onion rings, BBQ sauce stacked between a toasted bun. More than enough for one person on its own and very tasty, the burger comes with a side of chips so is extremely good value at £7.95. The standard cheese and tomato pizza was of a good standard, size and consistency. Pizza Port was an impressive all round performer. New Golden Bell 1024 Argyll Street G3 8TQ 1 x Chicken Curry Set Meal for 1 veggie mini spring rolls + sweet chilli dip chicken curry rice prawn crackers 1 x Beef and Mushroom Set Meal for 1 chicken noodle soup beef and mushroom curry rice prawn crackers 1 x Chips Total Cost: £15.80 + £2.00 delivery charge Waiting Time: 52 minutes The New Golden Bell was rated highly on the Hungry House website, however our analysis concluded that the takeaway was a fairly standard competitor in its field. While the menu impressed us with its variety of starters and special dishes, we waited longer than anticipated and received average dishes. The portions were good sizes and good value; we selected the set menu options which allowed us to maximise our budget, however the quality of the lukewarm food was not spectacular and the prawn crackers were decidedly stale. The food was accompanied by complimentary, fortune cookies which tasted strangely of orange and each contained two contradicting fortunes.
Curry Pot 139 Dumbarton Road G11 6PR 1 x Saag Paneer 1 x Taster size Ginger and Lime Chicken 1 x Taster size Keema Mutter 1x Pilau Rice Waiting Time: 32mins Total Cost- £14.95 + £1.50 delivery charge
Both the qualitative and quantitative data obtained from Curry Pot was extremely positive. In terms of catering to dietary needs, Curry Pot under-performed compared to other outlets; although verified Halal we were slightly disappointed by the lack of exciting vegetarian options. Despite this the saag paneer was delightful; it was very tasty and had a far more agreeable texture than others versions we have tried. The menu offers several taster sized dishes which were ample sized for one hungry mouth and very good value, the full sized versions were pretty cheap too. Our researchers were overwhelmed by the quality, taste and fragrance of the two taster sizes we ordered; the keema mutter and particularly the ginger and lime chicken which was described emotionally by one tearful participant as ‘unbelievable’ coming out on top as the taster’s favourite. We didn’t have to wait long for Curry Pot to deliver and the prices and portion sizes were outstanding, they offer good set meal options and 10% discount at peak times which is a nice touch. The overall experience left the takeaway as the solid champion of the study, we would definitely recommend.
Sep t ember 2 013
GUM
7
ON PATRIOTISM S
ome people really love their country. The past few years have been filled with moments that, for me, cynical bastard that I am, were discomfiting and bemusing experiences. I have yet to wrap my head around the idea that an old woman having had the same inherited job for sixty years would inspire bovine joy in so much of the populace. Or that some people from vaguely near you on a map being good at sports could boost the whole nations’ self esteem. Or that the birth of a single baby will somehow take the country back to the good old days. All of these “magical moments”: the Queen’s jubilee; the Olympics and Wimbledon; the Royal birth - were broadcast into the world as if all these bizarre emotions-by-proxy were completely rational and not absolutely mental.
Glenn Mullan
patriotism does for intelligent political discourse, as the right wing screams “UNAMERICAN” at anyone with a differing opinion, because you can’t be “American” unless you believe in unfettered capitalism and a God who despises gays and the poor.
I suppose I should add I am vehemently pro-Independence but I’m as proud of my British heritage as I am my Scottish. I hear a lot of talk of patriotism from both sides in the debate, and it means nothing to me. “I love my country and that’s why I’m voting no/yes” means absolutely fuck all and just shuts down any sense of intelligent debate - just look over to ‘Murica to see all the good
There’s nothing wrong with being proud of your country, with loving your country. Scotland and the UK have achieved so many things over the course of history, and still do, and that’s great. But bringing the idea of patriotism and unpatriotism into debate obscures the actual debate, and reduces it to idiots screaming about who loves their country the most.
FEATURES
Perhaps all these flew over my head because I think royalty and sport are for morons, but certainly these are considered “patriotic moments” for us all to rejoice in, and those who don’t buy into it are miserable and hate their country. I think that’s totally wrong. I may not wrap myself in the flag or get lightheaded every time I think about our unelected head of state, but when I think of all the good that Scotland and the UK do and have done, I am proud. More elements of the periodic table were discovered in Britain than anywhere else in the world - pretty cool. Scotland gets 25% of its energy from renewables which is cool and laudable, and we’re still pushing forwards to have more and more sources of power we don’t have to frack out of the surface of the earth. (England is pushing ahead with a controversial and environmentally risky fracking scheme, which I’m sure is absolutely nothing to with George Osbourne’s father-in-law being president of a think-tank funded by BP and Shell).
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Issue 1
Glasgow University Magazine
SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES Hailey Maxwell
In exploring into the multiplicitous nuances of Scottish identity, one quickly deduces that the national landscape is a patchwork of cultures, beliefs, attitudes and ideals, most of which coexist and co-operate peacefully. However the view is not an unbroken glade of tranquillity and exchange and this disruption comes in the form of the radically right-wing Scottish Defence League. Reportedly, the SDL have links to the notorious BNP and extreme aggressor the EDL and are often considered a threat to integration and peace. The group is not a political party but as a small, aggressive organisation the SDL appear to be committed to a campaign aimed at creating cultural tension, often organising provocative demonstrations, for example a recent attempt to march through Polloksheilds during Ramadan was quickly extinguished by Glasgow City Council. In order to give a varied and representative picture of the full spectrum of belief and views existing under the scope of ‘Scottish identity,’ I decided to make contact with the SDL in the hope of ascertaining how the group fit into a diverse society which they appear to stand staunchly against.
FEATURES
Over the course of one month I began correspondence with the group. Making first contact was a challenge; links to official websites were mostly removed or broken and contact details were invalid. Eventually, I got a response on Facebook from an anonymous administrator. Initially, he was unwilling to speak to GUM, explaining that the press appear to be “biased against” the group and never give a fair representation of what the Scottish Defence League actually stand for. Unable to obtain an interview in person, via e-mail or over the phone I eventually sent over a list of 14 questions, enquiring as to the SDL’s stance on various subjects within the theme of ‘nationalism’ from attitudes towards the EU and Independence to what kind of relationship the SDL feels it has to Gaelic speaking Scottish communities. Without even discussing the ideological concerns of the organisation, the conversation quickly became confusing, convoluted, frustrating and at times bizarre. To avoid any question of media bias or the distortion of truth, this interview contains the exact answers I received from our SDL spokesperson via Facebook message.
Over the course of the one month period of broken conversation, I received answer to three of the fourteen questions; 1. Could you tell us a little bit about how your organisation formed/ How did you go about organising from a number of like minded individuals into a established movement? Our organisation formed in direct response to a homecoming parade of British soldiers being spat on and abused by Muslim extremists, that was the straw that broke the camels back as we already had massive problems with Islamic extremists nationwide like the terrorist attacks on 7/7 and Glasgow airport. 2. Are there particular geographical locations or areas where there is particularly strong support for the SDL? We have nationwide support from the Orkney and Shetland isles to the Scottish Borders our support is strongest over the central belt 3. Do you have a diverse range of members? (variety of ages, both men and women, both rich and poor) We do have a very diverse membership, we have both men and women, a youth division with ages 13 to 21, we also have adults who bring their young children to demos and we have old war veterans who attend our demos in their 60s and 70s and also disabled members, we don’t have any very rich members we are all mostly working class people on average and low wages we have no funding like the government and trade union funded UAF and other leftist groups.
The men
“The as n temp prot from as a the freed pres don’ we r have marc stag in th marc even stud is no attem tion answ usua anar left w pow ban usin their any your usin the g from that 16k prea 25k negl cal a and marc ism, prea tell u issue a ra race racis vers diffe this
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The SDL inner council also decided to send us a press statement, the exact text of which is as follows; “The objections of the senior student representatives comes as no surprise to us as we are used to far left extremists attempting to deny us our basic democratic right to peacefully protest. Firstly the letter signed and sent to councillor Barrie from the students was a complete waste of time, paper and ink as a bunch of fascist students do not have and never will have the power to deny law abiding citizens their human rights of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, calling for a march to be be banned just because you don’t agree with the participants views is pure fascism. Can we remind you that we are not a illegal or banned group, we have never had any trouble or arrests at our demonstrations or marches, we fully cooperate and liaise with the police at every stage of the march process and that the police have confirmed in their statement to the councils licensing board regarding our march that there has never been any disorder at any of our events. Taking the above into consideration we ask what is the students justification for asking for us to be banned? There is no justification other than that they disagree with us and attempt to use fascist demands to silence us. As for your question about us facing negativity from other people we would answer that by saying we have only faced negativity from the usual fascist MSPs, trade unions, UAF, socialist workers party, anarchists, councillors and of course the universities and their left wing Marxist students. None of the above people have the power to ban us and never will, even when the council did try to ban one of our marches in Edinburgh with no basis in law and using tax payers money we took them to court and overturned their ban as the judge agreed with us that we have never cause any trouble and we are entitled to our human rights. Regarding your question to what drove us to organise this march, we are using our march and demonstration as a platform to highlight the governments neglect of our brave troops when they return from war zones such as Afghanistan, we find it unacceptable that a soldier who fights for our country has a basic pay of only 16k a year and hate preachers such as Anjem Choudrey who preach hatred against our soldiers and country can claim up to 25k a year in benefits. We also want to highlight governments neglect of soldiers returning with terrible injuries both physical and psychological and that many soldiers are left homeless and have to sleep on the streets. The other reason for our march is to highlight to the public Islamic issues such as terrorism, child grooming, forced marriages, honour violence, hate preaching and the spread of sharia law. Can you Ian please tell us what the students problem is with us highlighting these issues? Our opponents call us racist when Islam is not even a race its a religion and we oppose Islamic extremists of all races so what race are we being racist to, the accusation of racist doesn’t even make sense I would have thought that university and college students would be better educated on the difference between race and religion. Finally your question of this event becoming a yearly occurence, we already march/
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demonstrate in Edinburgh every year and have done for the last 3 years with no trouble or disorder and we plan to continue coming to Edinburgh at least once every year. We will probably have another march during the festival next year as is our democratic right as the festival will bring us heightened publicity and media coverage and therefor gain us more support for our cause. If you have any more questions please send us them and we will do our best to answer them, how can we get access to your article can we read it in the daily record or online or can you send us it? -James Smith SDL spokesman”
Democracy means giving everyone the opportunity to have their views expressed fairly, which is what we attempted to give the Scottish Defence League. It is still unclear what the political stance of the group actually is, other than deeply ingrained xenophobia. The recent SDL demonstration at the Edinburgh festival was met by a force of anti-fascist protesters, more than double the size. The ‘Nae Nazi’ campaigner’s defence of Scottish culture was very clear and triumphantly drowned out the loud minority.
Want to Illustrate for GUM? get in touch...
FEATURES
and dults war also s we ages und-
Sep t ember 2 013
10
Issue 1
Glasgow University Magazine
A
GUIDE
TO
GLASGOW
Welcome to Glasgow! Coming to a new city, university and place can be both scary and thrilling. This article will help you discover, explore and find all that Glasgow has to offer. Here is a map of the wonderful, weird and hidden gems that make Glasgow incredible. J
Urquhart
1. Glasgow Necropolis-The first place on our list is the beautiful, but morbid Glasgow city Necropolis. A Non-denominational Victorian graveyard near Glasgow Cathedral, the architecture, stories and art of the place is remarkable. Notable inhabitants include a possible influence for Frankenstein; the Glasgow Uni scientist Dr James Jeffray who did experiments on dead animals with electricity which Mary Shelley may have witnessed. 2.Anatomy museum-The Glasgow Uni Anatomy museum was created by The Anatomist/doctor William Hunter and features creepy but amazing specimens from his medical career. Everything from brains to naughty things are there, although you shouldn’t have lunch in it. 3.Mr.Bens- Glasgow in recent years has become a treasure trove for good vintage and second hand stores. Although there are great ones nearer the uni such as Starry Starry Nights I believe the best store in town is Mr.Bens in Kings Court, Merchant city. The store features everything from vintage to designer and things from every decade . Great to explore and find items in. Just don’t say ‘and if by magic the shopkeeper appeared’ or they might get pissed off. 4.Plan B-Glasgow has various comic book stores including franchises such as Forbidden Planet on Buchanan street however I suggest you visit the lovely store Plan B on Parnie street, Merchant city. The store specialises in Graphic Novels and has everyone you can think of while also doubling as a café. The staff are incredible and they also host gigs and signings as well. Comics and Graphic novel selling with a smile. 5.Mitchell library-Yes…I’m recommending a library which might be a bad idea when you hear people boasting/lying about never using the uni library during their entire degree. The Mitchell is one of Europe’s largest libraries ,but is also a theatre and café. As well as having every book you can ever want the place is a haven. There are also rentable soundproof rooms where you can do everything from study to sleep to practise with musical instruments!
POLITICS
6.Mono- Mono (owned by the musician Stephen Pastel) opened in 2002 at Kings Court as a place in Glasgow in which to eat, drink, see good music and more. The Building also has a record store and an independent bookshop/gallery. A great place to discover new bands, see old favourites, get records or simply have a good night out. 7.Art School-The art school isn’t very hidden ,but central to Glasgow’s cultural heritage and everything from the music scene to architecture. The university was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and has been described as his masterwork.The Arts school union is also really worth exploring as it hosts many events such as gigs and club nights.
8. Ruthven Lane-Is a hidden gem opposite Hillhead Subway. It houses a collection of totally unique stores and weirdly enough cats. The best of the bunch are Relics, Starry Starry Nights and Play it again records. Relics is like a combination of the Tardis and Wall-E’s home…Very small on the outside ,but on the inside a trove of antiques, treasure and more. Anything can and will be found in it. Starry Starry Nights is one of the three vintage clothing stores in the lane and perfect for more formal retro/vintage gear. 9.Oran Mor-This item is an arts & entertainment venue on Byers road. Once a church, it was close to being destroyed, before it was bought and made into Oran Mor. Two restaurants, a lounge, a gig venue , a night club and their theatre productions all make Oran the perfect place for any experience. 10. Kelvingrove- Kelvingrove park and the museum/art gallery are a stone’s throw away from campus and well worth visiting. The park is a haven for animals and great for walks whilst the museum/art gallery is the most visited gallery out with London. 11.CCA-The Centre for Contemporary Arts is a focus for creativity in Glasgow .It plays host to exhibitions ,films, gigs, club nights and other things. It also includes an indie bookstore and vegan café. 12. Love Music- For your music needs one of the best locations is Love Music in the centre of the city. It is right next to Queens Street station and is an independent music store which sells everything from new releases to classic vinyl and everything in-between. 13. Voltaire and Rousseau-V&A is an independent bookstore in Otago Lane. A bit like Relics, in the way it looks like an explosion of items, in this instance of books. Mountains of books can be found within as well as another cat that seems to enjoy living in the store. The owners of the store are charming and will go out of their way to help you find the rarest or weirdest books you could ever want. 14.Glasgow Film Theatre-The GFT is an indie/art cinema on Rose street, Glasgow. One of the oldest cinemas in Scotland yet still going strong. The GFT shows everything from art cinema/indie films/classics/cult classics/new releases/ theatre recordings/foreign cinema/Bollywood and more as well as hosting many events, groups and even the Glasgow Film Festival. 15.Tchai-Ovna- The last place to discover in our list is the tea shop Tchai-Ovna which is just a few yards away from campus and next to V&A. The perfect antidote to countless coffee shops all over town . It sells teas from every country imaginable any type of tea from green to flavoured .My favourite is the Turkish green apple tea. If you aren’t much of a tea person then they also have other great beverages and an amazing menu of vegetarian food. The alternative gigs they regularly have make a visit even more fun. So this term head down , sit in front of their lovely fire and make yourself at home.
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Glasgow University Magazine
Issue 1
A WALK DOWN ALBERT DRIVE Megan Gallacher
ARTS
Having an interest in the arts my whole life, being brought up around it and having studied at Tramway for the last two years I always loved getting the opportunity to see the performance and contemporary art going on. I always heard that Albert Drive was an extremely diverse street and wondered why I didn’t really see proof of this being in the Tramway so much. I never ventured much further than the Tramway end however, until now. The Albert Drive Project is what encouraged me to do so. The project, organised by Tramway, Glass theatre company, Junction 25 and the local residents living in and around the area is a large scale creative project that brought together the community and allowed them to share their stories with one another in a very unique and effective way, it built itself around the purpose and theme of ‘introducing you to your neighbour’. In this issue I interview James, a Theatre Studies student at Glasgow University who took part in the project, and project manager Rosemary James to get the scoop on the art for everyone that played a huge part in the positive energy and community spirit bursting from every corner of the drive I walk down today. James told me of the various events that went on which included: a performance live on Albert Drive and within Tramway’s theatre space that allowed the residents to tell their story, older residents spoke of Tramway before it was an art space, it’s history as a working depot for the trams that ran from the South side of the city into the city centre. One man wrote a poem about the man he remembers who used to walk along the drive lighting all the street lamps before they were powered by electricity as they are now. There was also an exhibition of paintings by artist Janice Parker who painted exquisite portraits of the residents living on Albert Drive reflecting on the various cultures present on the street. James’ favourite part was the shared meal that took place; small restaurants and takeaway business’ from the street came together to put together a meal open to anyone who wished to sit and enjoy it. The long table was decorated with flowers picked locally by the residents. The queue to come in and join in the fun went all the way out of Tramway and along the street. ‘It was just lovely to see neighbours who had never spoken
in their life but passed each other every day to sit opposite each other sharing a meal and telling each other their story’ he said. So how do you feel the project benefitted the community? James: It’s an interesting thing to look at actually. How do we measure the success of community theatre, does it sort of come here and then it disappears or does it have a continuing effect after the project is officially over. I think that because the project has this theme and purpose of introducing you to your neighbour, that sense of community has been re-established throughout Pollokshields and the project has helped, I’m quite confident in saying that it has enabled the community to re engage with the idea of what a neighbour is? It’s an invaluable thing I think would benefit any community, and community spirit is something that I feel has been lost in modern society. I grew up in Cumbria, I came here for university and I certainly feel it would benefit the community back home. Where I’m from you walk past your neighbours everyday, no one talks to each other, no one looks at each other and we kind of assume the worst about our neighbours rather than coming together which is a shame as you are sharing a community. I think the community in Pollokshields is very strong despite the negative press that it has got in the past. I think the project has encouraged the residents to come together and not dwell on the negative press that they get a lot of the time due to racial tension. So do you think that the project will spread to other communities throughout Glasgow and beyond, and is this something that the Tramway may be interested in getting involved in? James: I hope so, I think the Albert drive project doesn’t necessarily have to be Albert Drive specific. It would translate well in any community, the problem that the project was trying to address was just people not thinking about what the idea of neighbours is, and forgetting what that means. It’s a problem that’s found all over. I hope Tramway would take the performance and take it somewhere else. Tramway will be holding a symposium bringing together those involved in the Albert Drive project and reflecting on what outcomes it achieved. I asked Rosemary what is on the
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horizon for this, and she told me of how this may be the start of bringing the concept to other communities; “It was always planned from the start there would be a symposium put together as a way to share the learning and and then put what we’ve learned back into the development of the arts organisation. The symposium is a way for us to gather our thoughts and what we’ve learned and share that with a wider community, with lecturers, with arts organisations so that as much as possible, what we’ve achieved with the project doesn’t become stale. To make sure that the project doesn’t just come and go, but it has a life beyond it. I think there are definitely opportunities for the Albert drive project as a concept to find its way to other communities. The project is obviously about representing and working with the whole community, sharing creativity, and talking about what it means to live together, whether that’s in visual art or performance or another creative means. Although the context of Albert drive was very specific as it was about a very diverse cultural area and about every artist working with a wider audience. I think the project is open to travel, open to be reinterpreted, and the symposiums about bringing together the artists, the producers and members of the Tramway to reflect on that and also start conversation about how we can open access to high quality art and get a more diverse audience.” The project didn’t just benefit those who lived in the community it benefitted everyone involved and everyone who went to see it. I asked Rosemary and James how they felt it benefitted them personally being involved in it. James said “students that come to Glasgow to study from various other areas the UK, and the world are kept in a bit of a bubble of the West end and the city centre. I feel that being involved in the Albert Drive Project forced me to explore a little bit more of Glasgow. Its such an interesting city, not just because of its history but its modern day cultures and everything that’s here thats on offer for students, but that we’re not really encouraged to go out and explore.” Rosemary later tells me that she never actually left the West end and city centre until her 3rd year at University. I also have a huge affinity for Pollokshields now, like I’d like to live here one day. Time went by and I grew to fall in love with the place, I think Tramway is great and all but I don’t feel like its used to its full potential by the rest of the community. Some people who came to the Albert Drive project had never stepped foot in Tram-
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way despite living 100 yards away. It’s quite sad. It’s such an amazing arts facility yet I feel a lot of the people who visit it are somewhat elitist, like many galleries, which I think intimidated the residents until the Albert Drive project took place. Rosemary said “As project manager on the Albert I was there to support the evaluation, to makes sure the team worked well together, I think I learned a lot about the positive result of common shared experience and how it brings people together. it showed me that living in the same area as someone and never really speaking to them is what encourages communities to be more judgmental, and the lack of trust in our neighbours that is so prominent in today’s society really comes from not knowing anything about them. And I think that a celebration like the Albert Drive project that encourages communities to talk, and interact with each other really helped to tackle the problems surrounding diversity and equality, and I think that has gone to be discussed and looked at further than Albert Drive”. Do you think the projects resulted in contemporary art being made a bit more accessible to a different groups of people? James: I think that’s the bigger picture, I think it’s a good way to encourage people to engage in contemporary art, that’s such a big question. I think there’s a long way to go, you definitely see the start of this happening however in the end result of this whole space filled with people, and they weren’t all arty farty theatre goers, that’s something that a lot of the time puts me off going to the theatre, it’s quite exclusive to a certain group of people. A good story actually reflecting of the negative effect this separation has as well as the positive effect that the Albert Drive project had on combatting that is while I was watching the performance there were two women talking in Urdu the whole entire way through, and my first initial thought was god I wish those women would shut up, that’s really rude, having been taught for so long about the etiquette of the theatre, but I then realised that it was actually a daughter translating the play to her mother so she could understand, and this made me think wow, the project really has reached an audience that tramway never has before.
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Glasgow University Magazine
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I asked Rosemary if she felt a Tramway has reached a more diverse audience since the project took place; she said “I think the project is very ambitious, were trying to do a very big thing in a short space of time, if you think about the enormity of trying to encourage a more diverse audience that in a lot of cases have never stepped into a gallery in their life never mind just tramway to come and see the contemporary art that goes on, it took a long time to gain trust, and involved a full year of extremely intensive work, but were only really going to know if it has made contemporary art more accessible on a bigger scale further down the line. The people involved from the community, some had never performed in their life. We’re going to make sure that the work that encouraged that interaction will be used in developing Tramway and the arts sector in Glasgow as a whole. I think that a lot of what will bring people back in is the projects that Tramway will be doing during the Commonwealth games next year, we’re going to focus on making sure we’ve got high quality family art experiences, and other workshops aimed at a much wider audience.
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The fashion shoot was very successful, the clothes were exquisite and the shop owner was extremely welcoming and enjoyed helping us set up gorgeous backdrops for the shoot in her shop which was attached to a cafe selling some of the most delicious eastern pastries and snacks. Shazia told us of her parents who opened the first Eastern textiles company in Scotland and she was brought up learning the skills from a very young age. In fact, her parents initially converted the flat next to their home into a studio and sold the clothes and fabrics from the family home. We asked her about what she thought about cross-cultural exchange between Eastern and Western fashion and she couldn’t have been more enthusiastic, telling us about the different styles and designs which crossed over from European catwalks into Asian fashion and commenting that brands such as Monsoon often incorporate Eastern inspired beading into their high street designs. GUM were blown away by the beauty of some of the pieces we found on Albert Drive and we actually got a few little hidden gems for ourselves from Islamic Relief, who also kindly donated clothing for the shoot. One of the other shop owners also told us of her nephew who performed in the Albert Drive Project. All in all the experience was a real eye opener, as we walked back to Tramway I couldn’t help but notice that even the Mother and Toddlers meetings that take place there had grown, with more of the local mothers from all backgrounds and cultures going along to share a coffee and watch their children play together.
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A PAVILION FOR GLASGOW “Scotland + Venice,” an exhibition curated by the Common Guild presents the work of three Glasgow based and trained artist: Duncan Campbell, Corin Sworn and Hayley Tompkins at the 55th Venice Biennale. All graduates of the Glasgow School of Art, their work travels across different media and space, transgressing literal and metaphorical borders, resulting in an extraordinary physical and mental rapprochement between Venice and Scotland. Corin Sworn is a Canadian artist, born in London whose work often deals with questions of history both personal and universal. Moving across three rooms her work consists of a Floor Piece, a Film – with footage taken from Peru, Vancouver and Glasgow – and an installation including two sets of curtains covering the windows and layered prints. All three pieces are interlinked through their personal and universal histories, playing with time, layering and repetition. The layered images in the third room were taken by her anthropologist father which she has used again in her film. The floor piece mimics ceramic tiles that are found in many tenement flats in Glasgow, however they also reflect tiles Sworn saw in Peru and the mosaics she saw in Venice. Her work touches upon how intertwined our histories become, creating a seamless link between Glasgow, Venice, Peru and Vancouver. Hayley Tompkins’ work can also be understood as a reaction to the unique environment of Venice. Her work consists of a floor installation that moves across two rooms displaying photographs, paintings and bottles filled with coloured water. Playing with ideas of reflection, water and light her work sits comfortably in the surroundings of a Venetian Palazzo. Her work allows the viewer to create connections between the objects and the environment they are in, allowing for subjectivity as well as new ways of looking.
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ANNA SMITH
Duncan Campbell’s work for the Biennale includes two films: a film by Alain Resnais, Les Statues Meurent Aussi (Statues Also Die), an essay film from 1953 and his own film, It for Others (2013), a piece that interacts both contextually and aesthetically with Resnais’ film. Les Statues Meurent Aussi is a film that discusses the commercialization of African art as well as questions of life and death and historical subjectivity. It For Others is a segmented film that brings together images of African art, performance, as well as images of commodities and archival material that acts as a response to Resnais’ film. Though Campbell usually displays his work in one space, he has said that it is the unique architecture of the Palazzo that allowed him to create the effect he wanted by displaying the films in two connecting rooms. Each artist has brought something different to the exhibition, addressing different themes through an array of media. However despite their differences, there are consistencies and similarities that run through all the work. Memory and history and, above all the subjectivity of our interpretation of both, play a central role in our understanding of these works, allowing for an art form that crosses borders and boundaries whether literal or metaphorical, prosaic or artistic. Sworn, Tompkins and Campbell’s work is truly reflective of the growing internationalism of art as well as the growing importance of Scotland, and above all Glasgow and the GSA in the international art scene. In fact should we perhaps be talking about a Glaswegian rather than a Scottish pavilion after all?
The “Scotland +Venice” exhibition will be shown again at the Common Guild in the summer of 2014 http://www.scotlandandvenice.com http://www.thecommonguild.org.uk
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Glasgow University Magazine
Issue 1
Ross Deans
CHOOSE LIFE In Scotland, the idea of heroin is inextricably linked to the Irvine Welsh novel Trainspotting and, more commonly, the film of the same name. We think of those feet pounding Edinburgh’s Prince Street to the sounds of Iggy Pop; of Renton’s proclamation on what it means to be Scottish; of that toilet scene. What comes to mind less often, though, is the utter destruction wreaked upon communities and individual lives by heroin and its attending social effects through the 80’s and 90’s. Everybody’s Child is the story of one of these communities and one of those lives. Filmmaker Garry Fraser was taken from here into a care home at eight years old, where he was sexually abused by an older boy. After spending a number of years being shipped from home to home, at sixteen years old he was released from care back into wider society – “a multi-tasking criminal”, as he describes himself, at the most vital stage of adolescent development. He discovered heroin, started dealing, developed a problem, lost control, and so on, and so forth. This story is not new. Of course, one does not necessarily choose to become a career junkie; rather, it is something one falls into. The larger issue here at is that, just as a nice private school and university education makes it easier to slip into a comfortable societal niche, so the milieu of the care home and prisons leads to another. The path we take, the path society takes, is largely determined by a number of interconnected systems over which we have little or very limited control. In Trainspotting, Renton reacts to this situation by insisting on the right of the individual to opt out of society and its behavioural norms. He adopts a cynical, opiate-fuelled nihilism. On the other hand, Everybody’s Child is analytical, methodical but ultimately constructive. As both the documentary’s maker and its material, Fraser must negotiate the boundaries of subjectivity and objectivity. In this respect, Fraser sets himself out as being a remarkably astute and intelligent director. Moreover, Fraser’s narration lends itself to more than one listening. For those of a particular philosophical bent, that large, looming, Heideggerian bell in back of your mind will ring to the opening line, “I wasn’t born into this world, I was thrown into it”. His musings are of the kind that fill tomes: thoughts on free will and agency; on the individual and society; on family and life and death and smack. However, the entirely predictable accent coupled with the frankness of Fraser’s writing results in a jarring effect which at times often feels oddly poetic.
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Everybody’s Child is noble and tragic. It is noble how Gary Fraser seeks to find a voice for himself, to be heard by a society which has failed him and would now seek to shun him. It is tragic, when one considers how many other such voices we have lost.
Photography: Ingrid Mur
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JUST FOR LAUGHS Robyn Limond
The Fringe Festival descends upon Edinburgh every August bringing tourists, food trucks and over a thousand stand-up shows. While comedy reigns supreme, many new writing productions bring darker themes to the stage. The Fringe may be gone for another year but here are three writers and productions to look out for. Urban Fox Theatre debuts with Globophobia ‘a fear of balloons’, a play that deals with anxiety and its effect on the human spirit. Performed by an ensemble cast it entwines the fears of its seemingly disparate characters by links of chance and the writings poetic flow. Writers Dave Fargnoli and Lindsay Miller evoke the rhythm of fear rising and falling until it becomes unbearable. The character of Flick, played by Clare Ross, is an insomniac that wanders the night contemplating her fears. She leads the tempo of the piece and it is her acting strength that navigates the fragmented stories and makes the connections clear. Globophobia verges on devastating its audience with the melancholic tone of Flick before taking a left turn into the irrational absurdity of such fears as Globophobia itself. It blurs the lines between the ridiculous and the terrifying, a thought provoking analysis of the human psyche. There are many monologue based plays that quickly descend into an angst driven tirade about the world we live in. Thankfully, the Fringe debut of Here’s Connie is not one of them. The main character, Connie, deals with the loss of her first love, her brothers post-traumatic stress disorder and her subsequent bad life choices with an air of wit and determination to change. Written and performed by Carrie Anne Wilde the play juxtaposes the hard hitting reality of its subject with fascinating storytelling, involving Wilde’s portrayal of Connie, her brother and her all-knowing Granny. Wilde’s seamless transformation between characters aids in the dynamism of an otherwise simply staged piece. The language is coarse and sometimes relies too heavily on stereotypes for dramatic effect but the overall outcome is a believable, critical examination, of how to move on from loss and mistakes. At only thirty minutes long the snappy banter of The Goddess of Walnuts goes by almost too quickly. The play explores the tenacious relationship between ageing star, Vivien Frey, and her dutiful dresser, Vicky, through the struggle to prepare for the evenings performance. Vivien’s delusions of grandeur; self-sabotage and gin all serve as obstacles to drive the relationship of the characters to the brink. Writer Tim Foley’s third Fringe offering, shows the theatricality of the backstage ritual and a stars fall from greatness with sharp, witty repartee. The actors’ ability to highlight the vulnerability behind the larger-than-life façade of Vivien is outstanding. Unfortunately the lack of breaks in the constant dialogue does not always allow the audience to appreciate this softer aspect of Vivien’s character. The audience’s laughter begins to mock the ageing star and the bittersweet nature of the comedy becomes ever more apparent as the play draws to a close. The Catherine’s Club. Photograph by Aubrey McAllister
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Glasgow University Magazine
Issue 1
THE SKIN I LIVE IN
Sophie Platts-Palmer
I’m very proud of my job, although how I got into it wasn’t your classic ‘Muse’ story. I wasn’t discovered, nor did I fall in love with an abusive artist, I’m not Dora Mar or Edie Sedgewick. I read Quentin Crisp’s The Naked Civil Servant at 17, realised I hated waiting tables and then just took a risk. I come from a family of artists, we are loud and I’m very proud of who I am (I’m sure my friends wouldn’t hesitate to use the word ‘exhibitionist’) and Life Modelling allowed me to be that person in a professional sphere. Of course I have a few more superficial reasons for loving this line of work; firstly, I’m useless at waitressing, the hours are perfect for a student and the pay is generous, but more than I thought was important is that I love the smell of turpentine. Everyone asks me about the first time I stripped bare and posed, was it scary? Of course it was, imagine the first time you strip bare in front of someone else, you’re nervous, you can almost feel their gaze on your skin scrutinising every detail of your body comparing it to theirs, trying to define what ‘beauty’ is and whether you embody it. The first disrobe is the hardest but Glasgow School of Art were kind and I was eased into it. I had a class of women. It was cold despite the heaters but I think the cold was amplified by my nerves, but I would contest that it is still much scarier being nude in front of a prospective partner than it is in front of a class of artists. I am a piece of fruit. I am a prop. I am a body but not in the way we imagine a naked body, in the studio, to the artist I am simply a collection of cells, muscles, bones and skin, contorting and giving insight into the very nature of what it is to be human, to be, to move and to live. In those few hours that I’m throwing shapes in front of artists, I represent the only pure, immutable thing in our existence; body and thus, the self.
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People always ask me a lot of questions when they find out that I take my clothes off for money. Some people are ignorant “So you’re like a posh stripper then?” Far from it. There is nothing sexual about what I do. I never have I felt vulnerable or out of control in my job, I am the one in control and luckily for me there has always been a harmonious partnership between artist and model, a mutual understanding of what is expected from each.
Although you have to choose your audience wisely, most people I encounter are mainly just intrigued and have a lot of questions to ask. Yes, it does sometimes hurt, imagine holding the same pose whilst you’re watching telly for two hours, your arm crooked in the same position without any possibility of movement, even something that seems comfortable like lying on your back will lend itself to discomfort and numbness. But, I like this discipline. It is my Pilates or meditation; I’m alone with my thoughts. If I can hold a pose through discomfort, I have completed a task of willpower, if I move or shake just an inch, the whole image will be changed.. Not only is it me being examined, but the space around me, light and shadow and any minor movement can destroy the image. I joke that I’ve been nude pretty much all over Glasgow, but I do try and take up any class that is offered to me and anyone who may be interested in pursuing this career should be made aware that where there is a body, there is a class who will want to paint it. Glasgow is rich with art classes, students and artists and I can happily quote Life Modelling as my part time job, not just a hobby, I have never once felt uncomfortable. I started in the Mackintosh building. Standing there in the middle of the room, physically so tiny and insignificant yet still the most important thing under those lofty white ceilings. As I pad charcoal footprints around the room looking at all the different representations of my one form through fresh eyes, it’s a feeling of art at its most raw, before any finished product glitzed up on a gallery wall. I’ve posed in Pollock park in a converted barn, the Metropolitan College for students, small off street galleries, large studio spaces, artists living rooms, pubs, all manner of places but I think the most impressive, place when it finally hit me that I had become ‘A Naked Civil Servant’ was in Sandy Grant’s art class in the Botanic Gardens. I was stood on a raised platform in the middle of July in the Kibble Palace at the foot of a marble statue of Eve. I have never felt more beautiful, I have never felt more natural and I have never felt more alive than I did at that moment, exposed to the elements and the judging eye, but appreciated, for just being human.
Photograph: Cliff Andrade
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Glasgow University Magazine
Ari Nielsson
COMMON PEOPLE With an aesthetic and modus operandi focused on quality and provenance, Common People’s Kestin Hare picks up neatly where he left off as head of design at Nigel Cabourn. Indeed, evidence of the creative gestation at Cabourn is to be found in their common emphasis on hardy, workwear inspired pieces and premium manufacture. It is perhaps unsurprising then, that Common People has been nominated for Creative Excellence in the 2013 Scottish Fashion awards. What is surprising, on the other hand, is the youth of the brand, barely two years old, compared to its exceedingly mature output. Though it is stocked by Urban Outfitters and numerous other shops throughout the world, their own brick and mortar locale-cum-atelier in Edinburgh’s New Town opened only recently and is arguably the ideal place to explore the brand’s output. Ranged in the intimate space are garments that speak of attention lavished on both form and function: crisply tailored shirting, tops and outerwear all vie for attention. Eminently wearable and true to its word - that word being ‘premium’ - Common People doesn’t disappoint. Feast your eyes, certainly, but only to do so would be an injustice, these are clothes to be felt, and worn. This delicacy couldn’t be confused with flimsiness however; a somewhat stoic sensibility runs through the collection, an evident durability and lack of any frills, underlining the workwear shapes, the high-buttoned blazers and rounded edges and cuts with room for sensible layering, ideally suited to the Scottish climate. Location indeed plays a central role in Hare’s emphasis on creating clothes that assert an identity for themselves. In part this is achieved by seeking out locally and specialist fabrics and manufacture to, and perhaps less subtly, the collection’s location-based naming strategy, featuring Brixton polos and Lambeth tees juxtaposed with Cambridge and Windsor blazers. As with most quality menswear, the devil is in the details, something that can be seen not only in the immaculate finishing of all the garments but also in the tasteful and naturalistic incorporation of discrete elements to elevate the look of the piece, such as subtle prints, contrast buttons and the inclusion of hardware in some of the jackets – small gunmetal clasps of the same design used in WW2 jackets. This kind of aesthetic weight 0r the implication of a certain timelessness doesn’t belie the contemporary edge of the collection however, despite occasionally flirting with sentimentality. It is a stylistic ethos and sensibility often imitated but rarely matched, the presence of impeccable quality and expert handling being key, which sets the garments a cut above most of the competition whilst fitting into a wide variety of other current collections, ensuring their versatility and value.
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Value is definitely something to be considered here as quality, though evident, comes at a cost that students might find a little high though not entirely unreasonable, especially when compared with competitors offering a similarly high quality output. Thought of as relative to the definite sturdiness and use of these garments, and though it is a phrase bandied around more often than it is actually appropriate, this initial outlay might easily be justified as a sound investment for your wardrobe, since it is clear that ‘Common’ People is anything but.
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OBSCURE COUTURE Leila Khoshoie We here at GUM wanted to make sure that we incorporated and showcased fashion designers that we thought truly captured something about the place we call home. We felt that Glasgow-based Obscure Couture fit this description perfectly. The brains behind Obscure Couture are Lyndsay Pagan and Jennifer Coyle, graduates of Heriot-Watt’s School of Textiles & Design in Galashiels. Since being launched in the Barras in 2010 - a place of established history, tradition and very Glaswegian - founders of the label Jenn and Lyndsay have been working incredibly hard to establish themselves in the industry. The award-winning duo have continuously brought out collections that are versatile yet refreshing, drawing much attention to Scottish fashion with their impressive designs and outlandish pieces. Some noteable publications that Obscure Couture have featured in include Vogue, The Skinny and Herald Scotland. Initially only making and selling couture pieces, the brand has now expanded to feature both couture and a ready-to-wear collection every half year. All pieces for both collections are limited edition (only 100 couture pieces and 250 Ready-to-Wear pieces are created for each collection) and made in Scotland in their studio, based in the Barras Art and Design space (BAaD). I caught up with the O.C. girls prior to the photoshoot, wanting to find out more behind the pieces we would be integrating into GUM’s first issue. Obscure Couture’s newest collection for AW13, titled ‘A Weekend In Hell’, is of a total contrast to the collections that came before it. Jenn and Lyndsay both admit that it was very much out of their comfort zone, something more mature and different to what they have explored previously – “It’s totally not us, so much more grown up! ” Lyndsay says. But however scary a venture it may have seemed initially, these ladies knew what they were getting themselves in to, and
the end result was far better than they could have hoped for. In earlier collections, everything was very much colour-based and “in your face”. Their SS13 collection, ‘Fake Believe’, was über girly and revealed plenty of pastel colours and soft fabrics. Leather, silk, handpainted items – all of these displayed side by side. This new collection, however, is quite the opposite. Displaying a heavy focus on black, with its aim to shock people (or rather, to continue shocking people), ‘A Weekend In Hell’ exhibits Obscure Couture’s growth and development as a label. Not only that, but it demonstrates their willingness to move away from what they are used to and to explore new territory. For AW13, the girls wanted to play a bit more with texture rather than colour, and this really comes out in the pieces (a few of which will be featured in this issue’s photoshoot!). “We wanted to explore our goth side, the pieces in this collection are a lot more sexy!” Jenn explained. It is clear to see the contrast between this new collection and the previous one, as AW13 is not in the slightest bit cutesy or pretty, but much more sophisticated. Obscure Couture are not another faceless brand following trends and mass producing items all pieces are personal, something to be cherised, and all handmade lovingly in Glasgow. These ladies are bold and fearless with their pieces, helping encourage others to be more experimental with their wardrobes. Like they say: Make your other clothes jealous! If you want to get your hands on one of their fabulous items, get in touch with the girls directly (Jenn and Lyndsay areboth lovely and super friendly!), or contact them via their website. Website: www.obsure-couture.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/obscurecouture
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Clothing: Obscure Couture Models: Kotryna Zelt, Kirstin Watt & Taylor Collier-Brown (thanks to Superior Model Management & Elect Agency) Hair: Emma Diamond Makeup: Debbie Bowie Stylist: Megan Duffy Black Gallacher Director: Milly Douglas Assistant: Caroline Duncan Photographer: Thalia Kemp
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Glasgow University Magazine
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M ay 2013
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Glasgow University Magazine
A Salmond and a Beetroot walk into a bar… Jack Fawcett
Time and time again David Cameron has dismissed the possibility of a televised debate with Alex Salmond over the Independence Referendum in 2014. Why? It could be interesting. Due to legal matters, and the more general limits of human experience, we were unable to anticipatorily publish an exact account of the hypothetical meeting. However, we were able to give our readers a tantalising and ever-accurate glimpse into how we imagine this great meeting of the minds might come to play…
[Mr. Cameron walks into the studio; crisp suited, munching on several fresh beetroot to help bolster the ruddiness of his complexion. Osborne is on the front row live-tweeting and lackadaisically clapping. Mr. Salmond follows slowly, dripping with oil. He is affixing his eyebrows with superglue, whilst cheers and a pair of flyin knickers greet him, seeming to come from the arm of Jeremy Paxman who is crooning loudly in the back row. In the chair is a forlorn Jasper Carrot.] Chair: Would each party please provide a brief opening statement. David: The United Kingdom is excellent. Scotland’s pretty great too. I love Adam Smith, Govanhill and Biggie David Hume. But it’s not that good. I lost my train of thought. Vote No. Alex: Scotland should be allowed to bury its own head in a bucket of warm Tenants and collapse naked outside a Tesco express without Britain saying: “Is it time you went to bed?” No. And, no, I’m not speaking from experience. Thank you.
Alex: [His dripping visage reaches at 1000% on the smug-o-meter.] Listen, too much fear mongering within the ‘yes’ campaign has turned this into a huge issue, which quite frankly it isn’t. We can apply for whatever we wish as an autonomous nation. [stated proudly due to his correct use of autonomous] David: [Scoring slightly lower on the smug-o-meter.] Let me be absolutely clear, with the state of the European economy, any old Tom, Dick or Alex won’t be able to just strut in and take, take, take. Alex: Oh yes we will. David: No you won’t. Alex: Yes. David: Nope. [A scuffle ensues. At this point, a 15-minute intermission is provided to help calm the two fiery opponents. David uses this time to Snapchat Rebekah Brooks 6 seconds of a satisfied wink and blown kiss. He follows this with a 4 second pout to John Major and just 2 seconds of top-down selfie to celebrity pal and self-confessed ‘political perv’, Ricky Gervais. Alex on the other hand, fills up on tepid orange squash as a means to maintain pressure on his bladder. This, he is told, helps keep him on edge. He frantically logs into his Bebo account, removing David from his top friends, and changing his mood to ‘ frisky’. A bell chimes. The two stallions return to their stalls.]
Chair: Does the Yes campaign have too great a reliance on the North Sea oil reserves to maintain the Scottish economy?
Chair: Will breaking the Union strain Anglo-Scottish relations?
Alex: [Still dripping with oil.] I am confident that the revenue generated will not only make Scotland prosper as an independent nation, but also help fund our acquisition of the moon. That’s right the moon. There’s going to be Salmond on the moon.
David: Let me be clear, uniting England and Scotland was one of our greatest achievements as a nation… [Mumbles. … Something about the queen.]. As you all know, I am very much at home in living well past the border. Our little chalet in Easterhouse has our kids most entertained all year round.
[Feint sound of George O. heckling with verbal hash tags echoes across the eaves of Holyrood.] David: Let me be clear on this one, once big daddy Braveheart here runs out of that sweet nectar, who’s he gonna call? [Osbourne begins with his pre-rehearsed Dan Aykroyd routine.] That’s right. He’s calling 0-800-savemedave. There isn’t any oil Ali. Face it. It was all a conspiracy to keep Norway at an arms length. Chair: Should the Referendum be merely a ‘yes/no’ vote, or is the issue less black and white? Alex: In all honesty the voting card should read ‘cool guys’ or ‘lameJane’s’. [Smug-o-meter starts producing thick smog.] Either you want Scotland in or you want it out. There is no best of both worlds. This isn’t the West-End of Glasgow.
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David: Look, Devo-Plus and Devo-Max were great in the late 70’s but are we not men? How about we get this thing out of the way so we can focus on the bigger issues facing our great nation? Namely, do you guys think I should dye my hair? Or go natural? I think some of my grey hairs look nice? I don’t know. Samantha said so. But she has to say nice things because she’s my wife… Chair: Will Scotland be able to continue using pounds sterling and also re-enter the EU?
Alex: OK, well, I’m willing to come to some sort of deal with you Dave. I promise I won’t de-friend you on MySpace as long as you stop updating your Bebo with all those pictures of me and Nicola Sturgeon in Malia. Chair: Thank you to both speakers. This, I think everyone will agree, has been very informative. [The polls following the debate had Mr. Salmond as a clear front-runner. The outcome of the referendum however, was a perfect 50%-50% vote. This led to a bizarre 5 years of political turmoil, culminating in Scotland briefly changing its name to Unionshmoonion.] But seriously:At the end of the day, David Cameron’s questionably romantic view of the Union will not decide the referendum result. Alex Salmond needs to provide a plan for Scottish independence that gives clarity to such a contentious issue. He has the opportunity to transform the country into a radically new hub of modern social democracy by strengthening the Scottish identity, fortifying the welfare state, integrating with the European Union, taking firm action on the environment whilst promoting economic and social equality. This cannot be achieved with an excessive focus on North Sea Oil and unconvincing rhetoric. But there is another year left, and if Alex and the Yes campaign ramp it up, we might see a brighter and more creative Scotland finally choosing its own future.
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Wealth of Nations? Vision Versus Realty
MICHEAL BOROWIEC
The modern world abides to the universal ideology of capitalism. This ingenious formula proved so potent and aggressive, it has prevailed over its adversaries establishing it as the dominant doctrine in world economics. Having evolved through the ages in many different forms, the general ideas, which rule it to this day, can be traced back to a Scottish academic, Adam Smith. Having both studied and later worked at the University of Glasgow, the ideas amassed in his second book ‘An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations,‘ provided the blueprint for the future of global economy in the 21st century. This seems even more extrordinary if we consider that he has spent his life in considerable seclusion in a tiny coastal Scottish town over two hundred years earlier. His work included such revolutionary ideas as modern free markets, recognising the proto-industrial potential of division of labour and suggesting the positive, self-regulatory behaviour of the marketplace he has dubbed ‘The Invisible Hand.’ Current trends in the global climate however don’t suggest that Smith and his supporters had the right answer for how humanity should organise itself. The world we live in today has many prevalent problems, many of which can be traced back to vanity and greed arguably inspired by capitalist ideas, be it the environmental degradation or the widening gap between poor and rich. With Earth’s resources strained and various social injustices inspiring dissent from Abuja to Lower Manhattan, the freemarket global economy seems to be heading towards another grotesque crescendo, during which it will again collapse under its own weight. Is this the vision Adam Smith anticipated for humanity to overcome obstacles of life with? A closer investigation of the ‘Wealth of Nations’ seems to suggest otherwise.
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behaviour was the most beneficial to others. Greed is one thing this Scottish enlightenment thinker detested, warning of dangers of an overly unregulated market economy where a great part of the capital of the country will be hoarded and laid to waste by what he dubbed ‘prodigals and projectors’. However, a free-market economy and the freedom of individual enterprise do not have to equal behaviour characterised by impunity with no definitive benefit for the society as a whole. Examples of individuals carrying the torch of global philanthropy could be tech giants Bill Gates or Elon Musk, who hates patents and has been behind developments including PayPal, SpaceX program and the environmentally sustainable Tesla-motor car range. We have to remember that apart from pondering on the future of our resource management, Smith was also a moral philosopher and his first work; ‘The Theory of Moral Sentiments’ resonates throughout his economic magnum opus. Another important aspect in the forward-thinking, Fife-born academic’s work was his vision of a pluralist global climate, an early take on a globalised world where the power of human potential overrides class, gender, race and nationality. Already in the 18 century he argued that Chinese and Indian entrepreneurs are not lesser than Europeans in their inborn ability, but hindered by their institutions. He was also concerned by how class divisions spur potential talents and abilities of the supressed classes. His words ring true if we compare the state of countries with prevalent social divisions over those who have learned to put ancient rhetoric behind and begin taking pragmatic steps towards the future, like in Thailand or Northern Ireland. Smith was staunchly against extended military budget, which in his mind was detrimental in the long term and drained investment from more beneficial projects, which is exactly what is happening now in military superpowers such as United States or Japan. Rather than that making him a pacifist or a utopian, Smith was simply a thinking man, who already so early has recognised that the key to success of mankind lies not in petty squabbles and fabricated divisions, but in a fair and safe environment for an individual to flourish. Paradoxically, it seems that the elements of Smith’s vision that are moving us forward are also the ones that are holding us back. On one side his assurance of the great things that can happen if a man is let free to make his own fortune contributed to the very essence of the world we live in today, improving lives of billions. On the other, his concerns about the inequality and despair that might remain in an otherwise successful market economy have realised themselves in ways that this Scottish Enlightenmentperiod thinker could not have fathomed. It’s improbable that if Adam Smith lived today he would be firmly against the contemporary take on global capitalism, but it’s safe to assume that he would be displeased with how shallowly his work was read by some of those it inspired.
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Firstly, we need to note that Smith’s work transformed the subject of economics. Rather than being an outright capitalist or arguing against regulatory economic institutions, he was first and foremost for establishing a well-functioning market economy for mankind. The element often quoted by proponents of capitalism, is Smith’s observance of ‘selflove’ as the driving force for enterprise instead of any idealistic notions of benevolence of the worker. That is not to say however that Smith saw greed as the sole necessary catalyst for human greatness. Smith argued that while prudence and self-love of all virtues were the most helpful to the individual, public consciousness equalling in a generous, humane and just
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Glasgow University Magazine
THE FRACKING DEBATE RASING GAS AND
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invention was dubbed “Hydrafrac”, later shortened to “fracking”, and it would go on to have profound effects in both the oil industry and the global energy economy. Today, it is estimated as much as 60% of all gas and oil wells drilled are fractured. While it operates on the same principles, napalm soap and oil has been substituted with water and various chemical cocktails. Additionally, the development of horizontal drilling has allowed wells to extend for several miles radially underground. These advances have not only increased productivity, but finally drawn fracking, 60 years after its initial discovery, into the public spotlight, as the UK considers the implications of a potential new resource – shale gas.
The UK’s first encounter with shale gas did not end gracefully; shale is an impermeable rock with few natural pores or cracks, so to release the contained gases it has to be fractured. It has taken not only technological advances but rising natural gas prices for this to become economically viable. A licence was granted to the drill Joshua Neilsen ing company Cuadrilla in 2007, but following fracking near Blackpool in 2011, two earthquakes occurred, leading to a moratorium on the process, until such time as it had been proven safe. After two years, and considerable lobbying, the government has lifted the ban, and companies In October 1948, J.B. Clark, a chemist, are poised to begin fracking at sites across published a research paper. It detailed Britain. a process whereby napalm soap, mixed with sand and kerosene, could be pumped into an oil-well at high enough pressures Shale gas promises much; new jobs, deto crack the surrounding rock formations. creased dependence on fickle foreign imThe resulting fractures would allow the ports, and muchneeded tax revenues for a trapped oil to leak out, while sand would government feeling the constraints of ecohelp to open up the cracks in the rock. At nomic recession. It has been credited with the time, Clark’s paper didn’t create much healthy contributions to the US economy, of a stir in the industry, preoccupied as it where shale gas now accounts for over was with emerging producers in the Mid- 20% of domestic gas production, and been dle East. But a year later a patent was lauded as a cleaner source of energy than granted and the first commercial applica- conventional gas or coal, that can help nation was performed successfully in Texas. tions “bridge the gap” in the transfer to Within a year, 332 wells had been treated, renewables. The appeal for the UK, which profits soared, and it rapidly became the has relatively few natural resources to expreferred method for “stimulating” oil and ploit, is clear. gas wells to increase their yield. The new
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But the move to adopt shale gas has faced fierce resistance from environmental groups and communities. Dozens of opposition groups have sprung up at both a local and national level, and protests at fracking sites in Balcombe have attracted national press attention and led to on-going confrontations with police at blockades. Unlike your average environmental protest, these have drawn people from across the political spectrum, both leftist hippies and NIMBY Tories who remain sceptical of the practice.
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moral imperative”, yet coal mining and new road building have both increased under his leadership, and Scotland missed its targets for reducing emissions in 2010 and 2011. It appears the SNP want the best of both worlds. Scotland currently generates 35% of its power from renewables, and the SNP have hopes of eventually making that 100%. It’s hard to say whether Scotland can afford these ambitions. The realities are confounded by the influence of industry lobby groups on one side, and the overoptimistic projections of environmental groups and renewable companies on the other. However, the reality of climate change is just that. At a time when the majority of Western countries are doing precious little to combat climate change or even simply ignoring it, the SNP’s apparently genuine commitments to the problem have been heartening. Whether or not they make good on those promises remains to be seen. As for fracking, what does its’ future hold? One US company is considering using the technique to mine uranium, the substance famed for its use in nuclear weapons and armour-piercing munitions. It seems for J. B. Clark’s clever idea, the only way is down.
Fracking’s critics’ greatest worry is the risk of groundwater contamination, from both the gas being removed and the chemicals used in the extracting fluid. Climate scientists have also questioned the claims that shale gas is cleaner than coal – methane, the principal greenhouse gas produced, has a far higher global warming potential than the carbon dioxide produced by burning coal, and large quantities escape during drilling, leaking over the lifetime of a well. Local residents have to cope with the noise pollution from the drilling and pumping itself, and from the trucks needed to carry equipment to and from the site. And though their significance is still a matter of debate, few people are pleased at the possibility of earthquakes in their neighbourhood. Industry spokesmen have offered frequent reassurances on the safety of fracking and the minimal risks involved, and it is tempting to take them at their word – but to say the fossil fuel industry has a history of misconduct is putting it mildly. The vast majority of studies done on fracking’s safety and risks have been paid for by the industry, and thus require a healthy degree of scepticism.
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While Westminster has pledged its full support to shale gas drilling, heavily incentivising companies with generous tax arrangements, Holyrood have been more ambiguous in their position. Despite the SNP’s commitments to green policies, they have refused to rule out the possibility of fracking, and planning applications have been submitted for several potential areas around Falkirk and Stirling. In interviews, Alex Salmond has acknowledged the dangers of climate change, and called action “a
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F I R S T WORDS Patrick Owens
Scotland’s electronic music scene is thriving. Patrick Owens sat down with three young, Scottish producers - Atlus, Bessa and Nativ - to see how being Scottish has affected their musical experience. Do you think there is a particular reason that there are so many young people in Scotland are trying their hand at producing? Do you think this is a symptom of the ever increasing popularity of electronic music? Do you think this is a positive thing? BESSA: Aye, definitely positive, man. Well if you’re into music anyway, I’m sure anyone appreciates someone coming out. A lot of DJ’s will appreciate all the new producers, getting new tunes that they haven’t heard before and shit. NATIV: It’s getting a lot easier as well.
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BESSA: Aye, inspiring other people, as well, to start. I don’t know why everyone’s started producing. ATLUS: Yeah, I reckon it’s ‘cause when I was younger, I played musical instruments and I thought, like, I thought that’s how you did it. Y’know? I’d never made music on a computer before but now it’s really easy to make music on a computer. All you need is a PC and some cracked software and then you can become a producer. And it’s quite good for the people that can’t like afford to get musical instruments or buy software or whatever. It opens doors for them despite the fact that it’s illegal. BESSA: [laughs] ATLUS: D’you what I mean? It kinda opens doors for people. It’s a good thing obviously because it motivates people to make music all the time. You know, like, everybody can make music if they want. Sometimes it does lead to a lot of people just making a lot of music that just sounds like everything else. Yeah, you can be skilled at music production but if you’ve got no foundation or any kind of baBESSA: A determination to put the effort in.
ATLUS: Yeah! NATIV: The only thing I’m not liking, you’re seeing a lot of people that are producing music and, you know, I’m not saying obviously my stuff is up there [laughs], you’re seeing a lot of producers making music, or the fact that they’re even calling themselves producers when they’ve put out a few tunes. They’re not really doing it for anything other than the recognition and that it’s the cool thing to do. That’s what I don’t agree with. BESSA: Like Hector said, it’s so easy to do. You get Garage Band free with the Mac, you can start anywhere man, no matter how shite it is. Is there anything or anyone in the Scottish music scene that got you into producing or at least got you interested in making the kind of music you make? A: Yes! HudMo was my first Scottish producer. I think he’s, like even though a lot of the stuff I make does not particularly sound like him whatsoever, I think he was the first guy that I knew that was from Glasgow that fucking killed it. He kills it. Every time.
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B: Basically when I was starting producing, he was in the limelight from Glasgow, anyway. I always got so hyped off of his tunes, man, even though, same as Hector, I don’t make tunes like him. I’m just appreciating it. Like he’s from Glasgow and he’s tannin’ it. A: [laughs] Aye, he’s tannin’ it like fuck now. Doing it big boss now, man, seriously. It fills me with a little bit of hope, it really does. I mean, there’s loads of people from Glasgow. B: They’re all so helpful, as well, and sound. Like to bring them [ new producers] into the world of music and shit. Like Pasty (HANDPICKED) and all that straight away were giving me gigs even though I wasn’t ready. They were still getting me out there and getting me used to it. N: I don’t take a lot of influence from Glasgow in what I make. Obviously the kinda feel, the atmosphere, always up for it, kinda feeling. That inspires me. A: I was very lucky. I took a lot influence from everybody that I’ve met through work [at Rubadub]. All the Numbers guys. All of those guys, I mean, when they were young they kinda grew up and did it themselves and they had all their influences. I don’t even know if it’d be heavy weird to say that those guys are who I look up to. Well what do you think of Scottish labels like LuckyMe and Numbers? Do you think their success helps young producers from Scotland or overshadows them? A: [laughs] You gotta watch what you say, man, these muthafucka’s close by. N: I think that LuckyMe, at the moment, might be overshadowing. B: Yeah, even if it’s not intentional, they’re still just doing it big. N: But I think Numbers are still doing what they originally set out to do. Still keeping it local?
N: Well, I wouldn’t say local but they’re definitely being original in who they’re choosing to release and choosing to sign. I mean, that new Redihno release is fantastic and there’s not much else like it. A: I think it’s quite hard to say whether or not they overshadow. At the end of the day, if you’re going to do it properly, you have to have the best music and if it was brought up on putting your friend’s tune out even if it wasn’t that good. It just wouldn’t work. There’s got to be a line where you say, ‘I know you’re my mate but it’s not good enough for Radio 1’ or whatever. But you gotta keep trying though because one day you’re gonna make it good enough and you gotta strive for that day that Jackmaster, Eclair Fifi or The Blessings turn around and say, ‘this is really good’. Then you can trust that they have made a really good decision. Until that day comes, you gotta keep trying. B: Still hustlin’. A: Yeah, keep hustlin’, man. I think those guys do wonders to rep Glasgow and Scotland and stuff. They’re doing their own thing now, you can see the growth. You have all been featured on large platforms from outside of Glasgow (Rinse, Radio 1, Fabriclive). Do you think it is important to get noticed in this way early or do you put your emphasis more on building a following on a local level first? N: For me, I never got noticed locally at all until the people in England started noticing me. I don’t know if I was backwards rather than trying to send it to the DJ’s that were here. I don’t know if you two work better locally? B: I think it would be much more comfortable getting a local rep. I started three years ago so I’ve not had a lot of time to get any sort of rep really. I’ve just got some sort of rep so far, I don’t know man. Radio 1 was good for me though. A lot of people recognised after that. A: I was dancing around my room when my shit got played [on Rinse FM]. I remember it so well, man, it
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was lovely. It snowed that night. To be completely honest, I think that to build a local rep is good but it’s quite easy to build a local rep and then never escape it. There’s a lot of people that will just be big in Glasgow and big for however long and then, y’know? I say that but I don’t really have any examples but I guess it’s cause I’m quite scared of it. But shouts to them every time ‘cause they’re doing their thing and they love Glasgow. The thing is, I don’t really send my music to anyone, I’m really bad at it. I don’t ever feel that it’s ever going to be good enough. The day that I feel I’ve done something amazing, that’s when I’ll send it to people. Jack[master] was like my only semifriend, ‘cause I worked with him, that I could approach because he wouldn’t think bad of me if I sent him something that was half finished. It was a blessing that he played my track. You gotta be pretty tenacious to get it done. B: Like going out your comfort zone or some shit? A: Letting your babies go, man. N: I still freak out when I send an email for a new tune when I don’t even know myself if it’s g Tood enough. Glasgow hails itself as an important area for new music. Do you think this view is justified or do you think we have a long way to go to compete with other big musical cities? A: Naw, I think we kill it. I think London’s overrated. I’ve not been [laughs], but I think it’s overrated. Just ‘cause whenever people come up here they always say it’s fucking mental, people have a great time here. I think the licensing law is actually a blessing in disguise more than anything else. ‘Cause people come out and they want to have the best time within those three hours. This city has got promoter coming out it’s arse. Everyone tries so hard in this scene putting on unbelievable nights that we take for granted. We’ve not even got half the population of London so we do pretty well for ourselves.
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B: I can only relate to what I’ve seen, man. I’ve only seen Glasgow people tannin’ it. N: I would say recently, I disagree. I would say recently things have slowed maybe. There’s still loads of really good nights in Glasgow but recently it’s fell behind a wee bit. For my version of the heyday, I don’t think I was around for it. Obviously, I think that Ben Martin did so much good for Glasgow when he was here, with Mixed Business. Glasgow when he was here, with Mixed Business. I think he’s moved now and I’d say that’s a big loss. A: Right now, we take a lot of nights for granted and we’re really, really pretentious. No joke man ‘cause I’m pretentious as fuck! If it’s not at the Sub Club then it’s like, where’s it gonna be? Chambre 69 was a great club, now that’s gone. Y’know Make Do, we get on with it and it’s a good place but there’s a lot of people like, ‘aw what is this place?’. It’s a shame that we don’t have another really established venue like Sub Club. N: [other cities] have got nights that are more established I’d say but you know there’s loads of fucking, boring Tech-house nights down in London.
look like a stupid rave but that’s the kind of thing that made me want to do parties and I tried to make my parties as close to that as possible without treading on their soil. What is the next step for you in terms of making music? A: Me and Bessa got a project coming up, man! B: Try to make crazy shit, out of my comfort zone. Not that we need to but just for the fun of it. N: At the moment I’m trying to finish up material. I’ve got an EP coming out in November on Tumble Audio so I’m just trying to finish that really. Other than that, just keep doing what Im doing. A: I’ve got this kinda album thing coming out but it’s going to take a long time. I’m not happy with it at all. I’ve got a white label which I’m doing myself which is coming out early next year but I’m keeping quiet on that. B: I got a couple of secret white labels coming out too. A: Watch out for that secret white label shit!
A: That Tech-house is shite man [laughs].
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B: Fuck that shit. A: I think we get by and we do well with what we’ve got and there’s been some really good parties. In fact, there was one party I went to that was the dopest shit. It was that point where I was like, I want to put on parties like this. It was the Vitamins party that was in that tunnel [Vitamins 5]. I remember sitting down in this tunnel, it was sooty as fuck but everyone was having the best time ever man. From the outside it would
To hear more head over to: www.soundcloud.com/atlus001 for ATLUS, www.soundcloud.com/nativuk for NATIV, and www.soundcloud.com/sambessareader for BESSA.
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LEAN BEATS: GYM vs CLUB People are generally hot in the gym and hot in the club. In many ways. Although yes, there are a few roasters around trying to improve their pathetic lives. Think about it. You’re in spin class in your Adidas leggings and ‘Nike Free Runs’ with sweat pouring down your face and Faithless – Insomnia comes on and you get a mad ‘euphoric’ feeling because of the chemicals rushing around your body. You leave the class in a high daze and refuel with a Powerade. Then you go home and Youtube to MP3 that shit onto your iPhone ‘coz of the ‘POSITIVE ENERGY’ you just experienced. As you listen to it on the way to work in the evening you get a bit of a ‘EUPHORIA FLASHBACK’ That night you get ready to go out and put on your disco pants and Nike Air Force Ones with your hair in a ponytail and you hear a resident DJ (ko, no-one gives a fuck about them) play Man or Mistress by Levon Vincent at the start and at the end of their set and you are ‘FUCKING MAD WAE IT’ and get a sudden rush of ‘FALSE HAPPINESS.’ You are SWEATY AS HELL. You drink Bucky for breakfast and pass out. You wake up and put on Man Or Mistress and get an ‘OOT MA BIN’ flashback. WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE HIGH IN THE CLUB AND THE HIGH IN THE GYM??? I always think I have had a better night if I come out the club looking the same as I do when I come out of spin class. I also think that YES you can go on the ‘CLUBBING DIET’ and lose hunners of weight but also do it the healthy way and probably winch less roasters and more hotties…
Top 10 Gym Tunes: 1. The Dreamer – Livin’ Joy 2. Hideaway (Deep Dish Remix) – De’Lacy 3. Time to Burn – Storm 4. Freed from Desire – Gala 5. Salva Mea – Faithless 6. Touch Me – Rui da Silva 7. Toca’s Miracle – Fragma 8. Needin’ U – David Morales 9. Man with the Red Face – Laurent Garnier 10. On the Beach - York Links: www.leanbeats.tumblr.com www.twitter.com/leanbeats www.subcity.org/shows/leanbeats MUSIC
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Glasgow University Magazine
QUEER AS FOLK PEDRO CAMERON
Issue 1
I realised I loved bluegrass when I was 13, while watching O Brother, Where Art Thou, the Coen Brothers’ Deep South retelling of Homer’s Odyssey. The film’s soundtrack reinvigorated an ailing genre, going to the top of the Billboard charts, and winning three Grammys. At around the same time I started to realise I had odd feelings for George Clooney. I started to realise I was gay. Bluegrass is a kind of music steeped in history. A very American kind of playing, its roots lie in the mountains of Appalachia, while also having influences from Scottish and Irish traditional tunes. For those unfamiliar, the lineup of a bluegrass band will typically include guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, double bass, and steel guitar, or variations of that selection, along with two, three or four part vocal harmonies. Lyrically, it tends to lament lost love, detail the tribulations of the working man, or be Christian in theme. In its home country, it is very much associated with the South, what we would now describe as America’s “Red States”.
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I have played traditional Scots fiddle for nearly 18 years now, but following my falling in love with bluegrass, I began to play in that style as well. I now play for the Glasgow-based band “The Dirty Beggars”, who can at the most basic level, be described as bluegrass. Bluegrass is a sort of music one immediately associates with the white, fundamentalist Christian American. It is unusual in bluegrass, and indeed country music for a band to have an openly gay musician in its midst. For this article I have researched evidence of successful, gay country and bluegrass musicians, with limited results. KD Lang, originally a country music star, only came out after effectively switching to pop music. There is a miniscule, almost silent Lesbian and Gay Country Music Association. In 2006, frequently referred to as the “gay cowboy movie”, Brokeback Mountain was released and caused outrage amongst fundamentalist Christian organisations. To their credit, famous country acts including Emmylou Harris and Willie Nelson wrote and provided tracks
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for its soundtrack, however to muted success. In 2010, the singer Chely Wright officially declared she was lesbian and again attracted strong criticism. She is the first country music star to officially come out. In 2011, I travelled to the USA with The Dirty Beggars to undertake a sort of musical pilgrimage. We wanted to explore where the music came from, and meet some real bluegrass musicians. We arrived in Kansas City, Missouri and began our journey. A few days into the trip we secured our first gig, playing at a party which was infamous in the area – populated by what can only be described as rednecks; the Republican, Stetson wearing stereotypes one thinks of round those parts. It was the first time I have ever been genuinely frightened to be openly gay since I came out. These were white, gun brandishing, muscular brutes – driving over powered cars and pickup trucks, chewing tobacco and drinking moonshine. We lapped up the fantasy stereotype – firing guns presented to us, semi-automatic pistols, and eventually an M4 rifle and drinking the homemade alcohol served to us in jars. Sobering, loaded symbols of aggressive masculinity, handled by inherent racists and homophobes. At one stage, terrifyingly, upon the arrival of an African American man, one of our audience created a makeshift noose, and hung it on the doorstep – a horrifying symbol of violence and death designed to frighten off their unwanted guest. I was terrified, and kept quiet for much of the night, essentially waiting for us get the hell away from this arena of intolerance. As for the music, the crowd loved us – our musical tales of booze and the working man striking a chord with them. They treated us as celebrities, and we enjoyed the adulation, but I could only wonder what kind of response we would have gotten had they known if we had what I’d heard them refer to as “queers and fags” amongst us.
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the states, much of the time I kept quiet. We carried on to Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and Louisiana. Many of the cities, of course, had a very active alternative and LGBT scene. New Orleans and Nashville in particular had prominent progressive attitudes. However in none of these places did country and bluegrass overlap with any signs of homosexuality. Perhaps with the rise of the genre in recent
months, Mumford and Sons have clear influences in it, and even EDM star Avicii is dabbling in country, and collaborating with Dan Tyminski, the man who provided George Clooney’s singing voice in O Brother. Perhaps these are signs of the genre moving forward, or at least of it attracting fans with the right attitude. I hope that one day I can help, perhaps provide hope in my collision of interests. Music should be for everyone, whatever your preference or lifestyle. I mean, isn’t that the point?
www.thouronaward.org
Fully Funded Study in the USA Up to TEN awards, each with a total value of approx US$80,000 per year, covering tuition fees and living expenses, including travel in the USA, will be available (for one or two years) from 1st September 2014 for candidates who wish to pursue a postgraduate programme at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. Applications are invited by 5pm on 1st November 2013 from UK university graduates, including forthcoming summer 2014 graduates, who are British citizens normally resident in the UK. Thouron Awards were created by Sir John and Lady Thouron for the promotion of academic exchange and experience in international friendship between the UK & USA. Please visit www.thouronaward.org or contact Jennie Eldridge, Award Administrator on +44 (0)20 7848 3376 quoting ref TA13.
in association with
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As band, The Dirty Beggars have a crossover appeal, and the rest of the folk scene has a progressiveness about it which means I don’t need to worry about our audiences’ reaction to my sexuality. It rarely troubles me, it is secondary to the music and most of the time, it’s the music that matters. As for the rest of our trip to
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Issue 1
Glasgow University Magazine
THE BEAT GOES ON
David Kay and Laurie Allan
As native Glaswegians, there was little expectation of any real challenge in terms of social integration into university life; able to rely on pre established relationships and a basic knowledge of the city. This made the task of making new friends even more difficult. You might find that class mates have different motivations in terms of subject choices; these choices won’t always reflect personal interests. From this point of view, we both took a real pleasure in exploring Glasgows club scene and meeting new people that you really did have something in common with; people with an interest in music. By the age of twenty-one, I think we had both realised that the key to finding great music is keeping an open mind and your taste as eclectic as possible. Despite differences in musical taste, and being in a relatively uninformed position, we found a common interest in house music, currently popular in the Scottish night club scene. This amalgamation of musical interests has been emphasised by a distinct popularity in music of the disco era, which lead us to question the relationship of disco to house music and why it is still relevant to the current musical climate of Glasgow and Scotland. In our quest, we spoke to Supermax’s Billy Woods, who seemed happy to help put us on the right track. “Disco is the sound that bridges the gap between live & electronic dance music.”-BW Everyone knows that disco was at its peak during the 70s. With its soaring vocals, electric bass lines, strings and horns. The sound seemed to be a response to the mainstream popularity of rock music. Disco became cool. It was embraced by men and women alike and there was no place for discrimination, regardless of race gender or sexual preference. But we weren’t there. Personally, my first experiences of disco music came from the compilation tapes played in my mum’s car when I was young. After hearing the genre-defining tracks of the era, I wanted to find out more about the time. It wasn’t until we had left school and began going to clubs that we rediscovered the sounds, thought to belong to a different generation.
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With bands like Chic on the line up for Manchester s Warehouse Project, and Nile Rodgers cowriting the lead single from Daft Punk s fourth and newest album, we began to see that Disco and its influences had made it back into the mainstream.
“It s such a vast, rich and untapped genre. There s so much weird and wonderful stuff out there, sounds that are every bit as modern and relevant as the most cutting of cutting edge techno. If you wanna become a well rounded dj then you gotta delve into that shit.”-BW We had to ask about Supermax’s status as one of the leading disco nights in Scotland. “I’ve been called Glasgow s King of disco or whatever, by the the Optimo guys and a few other people which is crazy flattering and kinda funny at same time because the reality is that I’ve always played a wide range of styles - disco, techno, house, new school, old school, whatever takes my fancy. I m a firm believer that if you re counting out you re missing out. I guess I was playing disco alongside a whole load of other genres at a time when it was still considered very uncool so when it came up again I was held up as a pioneer of that revival.”-BW The re-emergence of the disco genre can be attributed to a number of important factors. The genre itself is the natural predecessor of the Chicago style of house music that has enjoyed huge popularity particularly within the Scottish music scene. More recently, evolutions of this style have aided in bolstering the current Glasgow music/club scene. Another key factor in this rise in popularity is the wide demographic to which the genre appeals. This element proved groundbreaking in the early 70’s; combining social groups previously segregated by ethnicity and sexuality - into the same clubs and dance halls, basically creating a degree of homogeneity through music and dance. It still does to this day and in a city as diverse as Glasgow, no wonder. “I’ve always just played whatever I felt was right which makes it hard for folks to pin down exactly what kind of dj I am. Supermax is an extension of that. I think we’ve got one of, if not the strongest, leftfield, disco, anything goes, party anywhere in the world.”-BW We would like to thank the Supermax guys for their time, and encourage you all to get down to enjoy the ‘audiosexual soundtrack’ of dj Billy Woods. ‘Supermax is where you will find world class club audio in Glasgow and a soundtrack that will truly expand your mind and open your eyes and ears to the possibilities.’
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Photo graph: Lisa Rosebud
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Issue 1
Glasgow University Magazine
Niall Morris
SOUND
+ MUSIC
“Glasgow is a city that punches above its’ weight both musically and culturally”. I’ve encountered countless statements with words to this effect. Everytime I do, I realise how much I believe it too. We have way more musical “scenes” than a city of our size should do, each more passionate than the last, and a history of Turner prize nominees / winners proves we don’t fuck around when it comes to art either.
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Glasgow is a particularly great place to live if you are interested in electronic music and sound art. Theatre company Cryptic run a whole series of events under the name Sonica, which boasts the tagline “Sonic Art for the visually minded”. This is all well and good for those interested in the live performance of experimental sounds, but surely by tying the production of sound so strongly with visual accompaniment we are keeping these performers very much within the “theatre” category. The performances are ambitious, the programming is varied and the installation pieces are fantastic, but is any of it “music”? Where does the divide come between “sound art” and “experimental music”? Does that distinction even matter? Bill Fontana recently created one of his sound sculptures around the Finnieston Crane. The installation was hosted at GoMA in a questionable outside space on a very busy street. Technical issues aside, it’s cool to see internationally renowned artists working in our city. Education in Glasgow seems to play a key role in maintaining this ever-growing scene. Glasgow Uni offers all music students the chance to study Sonic Art, a course split between teaching key skills in creating this type of work (Max MSP programming, audio editing etc), and artistic understanding of sound works. Glasgow School of Art offer a postgraduate in Sound for Moving Image, and also recently changed the name of its undergraduate course Visual Communication to Communication Design, a move seemingly designed to en-
courage more aural works among its students. On the more musical side of the spectrum, local label Instructional Media have put out some incredible tapes so far from sound makers including Stefan Blomeier and Claire, Mother Ganga, Clip Art and Cru Servers. Promoters like Cry Parrot have brought the likes of Vatican Shadow, Helm and Lucky Dragons to Scotland, and in coming months are hosting Oneohtrix Point Never (CCA, October 1st) and Dean Blunt (Arches, December 1st). Glasgow club night institution Optimo are notorious for booking some mad shit which definitely pushes the boundaries of club music, and they also run a record label which has put out a wealth of different genres. Glasgow Concert Hall venues are offering their own two year long season of electronic music under the name PULSE. The season kicked off in October 2012 with Australian-born Iceland-based composer Ben Frost, and has since seen guests including Colleen, Philip Jeck, Scanner and David Toop. Upcoming events including Pete Swanson and Tim Hecker on the same bill (Old Fruitmarket, 20th September), which promises to be loud-as-fuck and mind numbingly good. It might not be to everyone’s taste, but the fact Glasgow boasts such a rich community in such a contemporary style of composition is definitely exciting. Glasgow artist Susan Philipsz was the first artist to be awarded the Turner Prize for a sound piece in 2010, and since then it seems as if more and more people are embracing new practices.
Sep t ember 2 013
TRYING TO MAKE IT IN SCIENCE AS A GRRL Jessica Oliver-Bell
The majority of people are oblivious to the extent of inequality that exists between the sexes amongst practicing scientists. One could be forgiven for the assumption that in the modern, sexually liberal, cosmopolitan society we have in the UK, such minor issues as access to a women’s toilet within a research institute are a thing of the past.
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the campaign [6]. The advert portrays three girls posing in stiletto heels and playing with make-up. No real experiments are performed and the only person seen to be wearing a lab coat is a male, who, rather than doing anything particularly clever, seems to be relaxing and enjoying the performance of the shortskirted girls. The only movement that the girls make to become more ‘sciencey’ is to swap their sunglasses for safety spectacles at the end of the short movie. Both men and women, of science and non-science backgrounds found the content of this video inappropriate and offensive. In terms of impact then, the video was a success, since it catalysed the confrontation of the problems around gender biases in science by scientists and the general public. From the ashes of a heated online debate arose London-based organisation ScienceGrrl. Directed by Heather Williams, they aim to challenge the degrading stereotypes of women in science - and women in general.
After all, women have been able to officially enrol at University and be awarded with degrees since1878. Sophia Bryant (1850-1922) and Louise Creighton (1850–1936) were the first ladies to attain, specifically, a bachelors of science with honours. Ever since, women have proceeded to do battle with the hypothetical, to make astounding breakthroughs in our understanding of how the world works.
The creation of stereotypes and other forms of social pressure that amount to prejudice has, for decades, dictated which roles men and women feel able to fulfil. If those pressures could be lifted and men and women then pursued careers purely based on their skills and interests, an equilibrium of men and women in science may harmoniously develop, with the best brains working together to problem-solve.
But how many famous female scientists can you name at this very moment? The average person on the street can maybe think of just one or two. The reason? Lack of recognition and proper publication of the achievements of women in science throughout history.
ScienceGrrl is trying to collaborate with like-minded groups in order to inspire girls to study science, and to support those already doing so. Chapters are opening up in cities across the UK, and here in Glasgow, our ScienceGrrl co-ordinator is Dr Mhairi Stewart. Mhairi is researching the sex life of malaria at the Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation at the University of Glasgow and likes to combine her science know-how with creativity as a science communicator. Local science enthusiasts are now regularly meeting at The Geek Retreat on Union Street to network, gossip and share ideas for future projects. Mhairi says “there is so much potential, and we are right at the start. We are riding a wave [of public interest]”. So if you’re pro-girl, into science, or just want to help make a difference, then get involved.
The insubstantial support of girls in science is something you may only become acutely aware of as an active academic. Oxford University neuroscientist Professor and novelist, Susan Greenfield pointed out that a deficiency in funding, positions, opportunities and provision of childcare is stunting the development of female scientists. Of her fellow female researchers, she noted: “as they had children, they just didn’t come back (to science).” As a result, in 2002 her ‘SET Fair’ report indicated just 2 – 18% of professors in science, engineering and maths are women. An absence of female role-models at the top of the science career ladder clearly has consequences on the uptake of science by post-graduate, undergraduate and A-level students. Surveys of final year PhD students have shown only 37% of women want to stay in research compared to 59% of men [3,4]. Meanwhile, data gathered by the institute of physics has revealed that, almost 50% of mixed state-run schools have no girls studying A-level physics
A vast budget of £80,000 (equivalent to the salary of two and a half post-doctoral scientists) was allocated to the production of a glamorous video advertisement to kick-start
SCIENCE
These shocking statistics are just snapshots of the struggle, but they have grabbed the attention of politicians. Consequently In 2012 the European Union campaign “Science: it’s a girl thing” was launched to get more schoolgirls doing science.
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Glasgow University Magazine
Issue 1
PARTICLE PHYSICS AND THE HIGGS BOSON AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW When I walk into Dr. Aidan Robson’s office, nestled in a corridor of the Kelvin Building, an experiment is waiting for me. Ramshackle and held together by tinfoil, the contraption is completely hand made and-if we’re luckywill enable us to see the trails of the tiniest constituents of matter; particle physics in action, and with the naked eye to boot. “This is a Wilson Cloud Chamber” Robson explains, “invented by Scotland’s only Nobel Prize Winner in Physics, CTR Wilson.” What was cutting edge particle physics in the 1920’s is now something Robson hopes to bring to every classroom in Scotland. The Outreach Champion for Physics and Astronomy, Robson believes that in the complex world of the minute, every bit of know-how must be used to engage students in a field that has never been taught at secondary school level before. ‘The thing about particle physics” he continues, “is as soon as you see these things zooming past you, you can’t not want to know what they are and how it all works. The challenge is to make it real and to make it accessible, because it does really change how you think about the world around you.”
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As a stranger to the world of advanced physics, the simplicity of the Wilson Cloud Chamber seemed too good to be true; a foil dish with tape attaching it to a plastic dome. In the bottom of the dish, dry ice creates a strong temperature gradient with room temperature, and pure alcohol evaporated in the chamber creates a supersaturated cloud. “What happens is simple, when a high energy charged particle goes through the supersaturated
cloud, it leaves a little bit of energy, which in turn nucleates little droplets along the way”. Robson rapidly tells me, peering into the chamber to see if the experiment is working. I peer in along side him, but not a droplet in sight, just the transparent vapor that I assume is there, just as I assume the ionizing particles (specifically muons, particles like electrons but heavier) themselves are there. It would be foolish of me to doubt the presence of these particles, especially with such a prestigious scientist besides me. Knowing a particle exists because we have been taught so is one thing, but knowing a particle ought to exist, without ever having been observed, is quite another. Robson is all too familiar with this paradox, as he was part of the team at CERN who on Jul 4th 2012, announced they had discovered what they thought might be the elusive mecca of particle physicsthe Higgs Boson. For Robson it all started as an undergrad working on the ATLAS project, which utilizes the huge energy of the Large Hadron Collider to crash particles head-on at unimaginable speeds, then watch what happens. Along with the LHC, the Tevatron housed in the Fermi National Accelerator lab in the US were the two giants on the hunt for the Higgs Boson. Luckily enough Robson has worked at both, earning a Royal Society of Edinburgh Medal for work on the CDF experiment at Fermilab. So: how do we know that a particle should exist when we have never had any experience of it? “Well,” Robson begins, with a measured inhalation of breath, “the Standard Model of Particle Physics describes the elementary particles and their interactions. It’s a hugely successful theory in the sense that it can describe the phenomena that we are able to go and measure, and it’s made predictions that we were able to go and test.“ Although the theory was popular because of its elegant simplicity, there were still problems within it- such as how to describe the masses of the elementary particles themselves. Various theorists in the 1960’s attempted to solve the problem, among them Peter Higgs. “What Higgs and several other theorists proposed was this wacky sounding idea that the universe was filled with something that we now call the Higgs field. What really makes it unique is that in the furthest reaches of outer space the field is still there and it’s not zero.” Hold your horses, you might be thinking- you’ve lost me there.
Sep t ember 2 013
But wait, think of a magnet. We know the magnetic field exists because you can feel the attraction or repulsion between the two interacting fields. Analogously, the Higgs field exists because it has a visible interaction- in this case with the mass of a particle. “If a particle interacts strongly with the Higgs field that’s what we mean by when we say it’s a heavy particle, and when it interacts weakly it’s a light particle. If it doesn’t interact at all then that’s what we mean when we say it’s a massless particle- like the photon.”
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by studying the decay products of every proton-proton collision to discern whether they’ve hit the jackpot. The method? A ridiculously huge 3D camera. “You’re looking for unusual or unexpected signatures in the detector” says Robson, “so you can think of the detector as a kind of giant 3D digital camera, taking photographs of what happens in the moment when the two beams collide.” Now close your eyes and imagine that it does this 20 million times and second, in a giant cavern 100 metres below ground at CERN housing some of the most advanced technology humanity has so far produced. If you thought particle physics wasn’t cool, think again.
Alexandra Embiricos SCIENCE
So what the hell is the Higgs Boson then? Well, it can be described as a ripple in the Higgs field, much like a photon is a ripple in the electromagnetic field, It’s a very heavy particle, and has zero charge and zero spin. “The fact that it has zero spin makes it really quite different from any other particle that we know about, it’s not really quite like one of the matter particles like the quarks or the electrons, and it’s not really like the force carrying particles like the photon or the W and Z boson either.” The thing about this elusive chap is that it decays almost instantly, so physicists have to work backwards
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