January 18

JUSTY

NOVEMBER 2013

NUMBER: 01

24 LOREM IPSUM SPACE FOR TITLE LOREM

FOOD MAGAZINE PAGES LOREM SPACE

ANOTHER TITLE LOREM IPSUM SPACE FOR TITLE LOREM

FOOD MAGAZINE PAGES LOREM SPACE

ADD+ SMTH HERE MULTIPURPOSEMGZ | 1

CONTENTS Francis looks forward to Jan GUU Debating in Mexico

The 2018 Political Preview

The Left-Right Labyrinth

FROM THE BOARD

CURRENT AFFAIRS

POLITCS

PAGE 4

PAGE 5

PAGE 6

The Problem with Millenials CURRENT AFFAIRS PAGE 6-7

Knowing Me, Knowing Flu

Labyrinth Motif in Popular Culture

The Problem with Australia Day

CULTURE

HEALTH

CULTURE

CULTURE

PAGE 7

PAGE 8

PAGE 8-9

PAGE 9

Behind the Scenes of D*** F*****

Lost in Leaves

Alternative Oscars

NATURE

CULTURE

Do you think Times Up?

SOCIETY PAGE 10-11

PAGE 12

PAGE 12

10 of the Best Views in Glasgow NATURE AND ENVIRONMENT PAGE 13

Scottish Snow Edit

Exclusive Interview: Capri Collective

Urinetown: Cecilian Society

In defence of Friends

GUCFS

INTERVIEW

OPINION

SPORT

PAGE 15

PAGE 16

PAGE 17

PAGE 14

ART FEATURE: 'We're All Mad Here' p18 COMIC: Labyrinth p19 2 | MULTIPURPOSEMGZ

6 Nations

CONTRIBUTORS Sophie Bryer Francis Webb Skye Brettell Michael Carteledge Regina Buffey Julia Nyerges Isla Cunningham Matei Botez

WELCOME

Taggy Elliott Johanna Crighton Tom Anderson Olivia Erikson Michael Finlayson George Bell Maggie Mize

EDITORIAL TEAM Cover/Graphic Design - Rachel Mccarney Politics & Current Affairs - Owain Campton Views & Column - Amy McShane Lifestyle & Culture - Anya Brzeski Sports, Health & Science - Ciaran Doherty Nature & Environment - Isabelle Thornton Website/Features Editor - Caitlin Young Artwork & Photography - David Nkhansah Social Media & Socials Editor - Tom Smits

Cover Design: Sophie Bryer This illustration was designed as a cover for the first 2018 issue of G-You based on its ‘Labyrinth’ theme, drawing parallels between the theme subject and the experience of university life. Upon beginning the university journey, one must find their own individual way through such a sometimes complicated, puzzling, and confusing – albeit fulfilling – experience, and for this issue I wanted to personalise it to an exclusively University of Glasgow theme for the students here.

Hopefully a lot of the illustration will be familiar to many.

Hello readers!

I hope everyone had a lovely break. New Year, New Us? Well, sort of.

Our theme of 'Labyrinth' seemed quite fititng this year, entering into a maze of work, social life and other committments as we get our teeth into semester two. If, like me, this is your last semester at Glasgow, it feels quite fitting for entrance to 'The Void' (as most of my friends without plans after graducation like to refer to it) of unknown.

While it's a bit disorientating, theres lots of fun and excitement to be found in the mystery.

This issue is jam-packed with content from lots of fabulous contributors and the lovely editorial team, including interviews with a number of societies, a political preview for the new year and a feature on 'Friends'.

If you'd like to get involved in the next issue, please come along to our open meeting on Mondays at 6pm @ G12 or email libraries@guu.co.uk.

Lottie van Grieken Editor-In-Chief

MULTIPURPOSEMGZ | 3

FROM THE BOARD

FROM THE BOARD Francis Webb Games Convener

Welcome back! I’m Francis, the Convenor of Games here at the GUU. As January somehow already draws to a close, we have a huge range of fun activities and facilities on offer here to fight away those remaining winter blues, and keep the distant but slowly encroaching exams and deadlines pushed to the back of your mind!

First up, I can’t describe my excitement for our upcoming month of games, with events for everyone and prizes to rival any university academic achievements – your name in gold leaf in the Beer Bar. Starting the month of with our Darts competition, it will be closely followed by dodgeball (organise your teams of five now and get practising), Iron Stomach, B.A.D.G.E. and culminating with our End of the Month Party! Keep your eyes peeled on the Facebook page for exact dates and times, and expect a raft of cash prizes as well as amazing days and nights out!

Since returning to University, many of you may notice the relaunch of our Saturday Nights – “Switch”. With a range of brand new resident DJs we are hoping to continue the success of our Thursday and continue to provide the most friendly, welcoming and exciting night out for students in Glasgow! Alongside this, we have trialled our first ever Monday Night Hive, an overwhelming success and something

GUU Circulo De Debates van a Mexico Julia Nyerges One of the most distressing feelings every first year is bound to experience is the fear of being stuck in a never ending loop of the same small talk for the next four years without ever finding a group of people with which a deeper connection could be shared. Yet, writing this from the largest city in the Western Hemisphere, surrounded by piñata stores on all street corners, hundreds of plants I don't recognize and possessing a questionably small mobile data package, I have never felt further from that feeling.

For some context, Mexico hosted this year's World Universities Debating Championships, gathering more than 900 overly ambitious, wonderfully friendly, 'The Economist' reading students from ninety different countries across the globe. Despite being enrolled in university for a grand total of three months, yours truly was among them representing Glasgow.

Thanks to multiple late night debates at the Union, weekends spent travelling to tournaments around the county, and the financial backing from the GUU board; GUU’s own Noémie Gauthier, and myself, succeeded in advancing to the tournament's final rounds for students who are non-native English speakers.

From the perspective of the new kid of the block participating in their first international competition, the amount of support we received is as hard to describe, as it is to believe. We received the good news about our performance in the first moments of 2018, followed by congratulatory shouts and hugs from the Scottish contingent. Friends from South Africa, Ireland, Malaysia and Ecuador wished us good luck, came to watch out rounds or simply shared some of their own debating stories to boost our confidence.

Outside the rounds, we went wandering around the Centro Historico de La 4 | MULTIPURPOSEMGZ

we are looking to build on for one off events in the future!

Our Debates team have enjoyed another strong winter break, with eight members taking part in the World Universities Debating Championships in Mexico. They had a wonderful competition, with a team breaking in the English Second Language category, a huge achievement against a truly world class field. Building on this success, we are looking forward to the first parliamentary debate of 2018, and all are welcome at training and show debates, even to spectate and dip your toes in for first time debaters.

Expect another smashing semester for any budding musicians, singers or people who simply enjoy listening to live music for our Entertainments committee, with Open Mic every Friday night! Over at games we will continue to run our bustling Beer Bar Quiz every Monday evening, offering some comfort at the start of a busy week and our Libraries committee (the guys that write this!) will hold a variety of workshops as well as weekly contributors’ meetings, allowing YOU to have a say in G-You magazine.

This is only a drop in the ocean for the events and activities taking place at the GUU as we get back up to speed with university. There is no better place on campus to hang out, go out and chill out in 2018! And with our brand new kitchen extending its opening hours to seven o’clock after an incredibly positive and tasty first semester, you can study, have dinner AND go out – why not make a day of it?! Don’t forget all of our events mentioned here run by the committees are completely free to take part in, we are a students’ union, run by students for our friends and peers!

ciudad de México, the Teotihuacán ruins and the Anthropology Museum, experiencing the local cuisine along the way.

Mexico has only gone to confirm something I had been suspecting for some time: if you ever find yourself in search for a group to belong to, regardless of whether you are a shy fresher or a confident masters student, GUU debating is waiting with open arms. And who knows, if you're willing to put in the work you might be the next one who gets to debate in a UNESCO world heritage sight, then relax by watching Mexican wrestling accompanied by Mariachi background music, best enjoyed with the complementary fried cockroach and tequila shot(s).

So join us at 6pm Tuesday night, in the Bridie, I promise it'll be worth it!

GUU LANGUAGE CAFE

T

he GUU is an increasingly international union- from Hispanic panic to our various international ceilidhs. The union is a place where anyone across campus can get together for a drink, a dance or just a game of pool. In times where the world is becoming much more closed off and less accepting, it’s important to keep our doors open to other cultures, languages and people. Which is why this academic year a new initiative was launchedthe GUU Language Café, which runs from 5-7 every Wednesday night in the reading room. Every week, language learners of all abilities come along, drink tea and eat biscuits while conversing to various degrees of fluency in a modern language. This event has proved very popular with language studentsregularly forming groups of German, Spanish and French speakers- but also with students of science, business and other unrelated subjects wanting to pick up or keep up a new skill which will be infinitely useful in the job market.

From learning a few basic phrases in a new language, to practising fluency in an old one, this is a great opportunity worth getting involved in.

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS

The 2018 Political Preview Owain Campton Politics and Current Affairs Editor Due to a scheduling error the end of the world has been cancelled this year, so we should probably look ahead at what we might expect politically across the Globe.

UK Brexit will be a nightmare, and not the kind you wake up from. We will likely slip into a “No Deal Brexit” meaning limited investment from foreign companies, and headquarters moving to the more Stable France or Germany. May will keep on in her role as PM, because the Tories know it is all a sinking ship now and nobody can save it, so are keeping her as a scape goat before ousting her prior to the next General election. Corbyn will still float on his unsuccessful success from the snap election, however there will be more and more chat of replacing him with somebody who is more “leader like” while also supporting some of the socialist-liberal agenda that Corbyn used to bring in the youth vote. This person probably looks like Emily Thornberry, however she won’t ever put her name in the ring while still shadow first secretary of state.

N.I. will remain in assembly deadlock, with the DUP messing things up (to put it lightly) in May’s Westminster.

The Republic of Ireland The referendum on the countries 8th Amendment will pass with somewhat flying colours, legalising abortion in the country for all cases. Like the same sex marriage referendum, Irelands population come together stand up a say “see it’s just you British who don’t know how to use a referendum properly” France Macron, who already has been positioning himself beside Merkel, will lead France to the forefront of Europe. Using the rise in French nationalism, he will bring together the voters to back him, potentially allowing him to get away with anything. Come the “No Deal Brexit” he will very politely flip the bird to May as he steps up to be the joint biggest power in Europe, and now an even stronger player on world stage. He will only accept a trade offer with the UK that is

massively beneficial to France, somewhat at the expense of Britain, because why not?

Britain needs France, but France already has the E.U. Germany They will form another Grand Coalition party between the CDU, CSU, and SDP. This will stabilise the uncertainty in Europe’s largest economic power, but Merkel will be a weaker force, perhaps seeing a slight demise in their E.U. role as a resurgent France becomes more fore front The E.U. There is a disturbance in the force, Macron becomes one of the most influential voices in the EU, only a few steps away from uttering “I am the senate”. Okay maybe he isn’t quite an Emperor Palpatine figure, but with Merkel having to focus internally to keep power in Germany, Macron is in prime position to throw his weight around.

UK falls out of Europe with zero grace, and little impact on the running of the single market…

The U.S. Unfortunately, the midterm elections will not return the House to the Democrats, despite their push for it, in fact even when Robert Mueller releases incriminating findings against President Trump, it won’t hand the house over to them, they need to run a fresh ideas based campaign, but as the currently energy and hype shows it, they are to fixated on “Dump Trump”.

Likewise, The House will not aim to impeach Trump until they have a suitable candidate groomed for the 2020 election, as they know a VP running after an impeachment president just doesn’t work.

However, as the Democrats will likely start running earlier because of the anti Trump sentiment, The republican held house may jump the gun and hit impeach just after the midterms.

Japan Saxo Bank analysts predict the Bank of Japan finally loses control of its monetary policy, causing a huge plunge in the Yen. This will cause trouble for both Japan and their head competitor China, in the High-Tech markets, as there is more risk

to Chinese factories if the yen depreciates causing a Chinese Yuan drop. Politically this looks like backlash from Trump’s US as they try to slip into the market by placing restrictions on foreign tech importation.

China China being effected by the drop in the Yen, will likely look to make up for its defecate in the High-Tech market in other places, including fuel and weapons spending, selling to countries like Pakistan, so that India feels they have to up their defence spending, limiting the Indian market. This may also look like them further surreptitiously supporting North Korea in order to have the US split their focus.

Russia Putin will run and be re-elected, while throwing around accusations of western involvement against him in the election. He will use this to continue fuelling the antiwest sentiment within the state. However, he will start to feel the pressures from the growing economic power that is China, and perhaps concede on his North Korean stance, as to Play China and the US against each other more so Middle East and Africa Suadi-Iranian tensions will continue to rise, but will not result in a regional war, primarily effecting the non-elite of the region. The relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem will put the peace process back ten steps.

Israel will use this as backing for further illegal expansion into the Palestinian controlled region.

After the “not a coup” coup d’état in Zimbabwea, the power vacuum caused by the fall of Mugabe will be a very precarious situation to deal with, it will be unlikely new leader Mnangagwa will be given much room for movement as many other groups seek to take opportunity from this.

Events in Zimbabwe will also likely lead to struggles in other African nations with some what murky democratic conditions, leaders in the likes of Cameroon, Uganda, and Equatorial Guinea may be trying to work out how to best protect themselves from similar upsets. Unfortunately, we may see this turn violent like we did in the Arab Spring Revolutionary Wave of 2010. Only time will tell.

MULTIPURPOSEMGZ | 5

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Left-Right Labyrinth Isla Cunningham Since the French revolution, western political beliefs have been imagined on a spectrum between left and right. I imagine it is this same fetish for “twoness” which also urges us to simplify gender, sexuality and race into two dimensional spectrums whereby unique and diverse individuals must describe themselves via an incremental likeness to opposite poles. The arrangement of political beliefs on a spectrum between left and right, progressive to conservative, socialist to capitalist, democrat to republican, is equally obsolete. Perceiving individual policies in this way is confusing and dangerously inconsistent with the reality of democratic choices on offer. In 2018, it is time to untangle the labyrinth that this spectrum has produced.

The “left” want social equality, progression and a better quality of life, but the “right” want, well, social equality, progression and a better quality of life. In the recent budget, Hammond outlined the desire to build a “prosperous and inclusive economy where everybody has the opportunity to shine”, an objective that bears a striking resemblance to Corbyn’s lament “for the many, not the few”. Labour and the Tories say they are after the same things. Which is really not at all surprising; any vaguely sane, vaguely moral person probably wants some balance of equality and prosperity too, and politics is just the game of trying to get lots of vaguely sane, vaguely moral people to agree with you about stuff.

Sometimes the left and right spectrum is described by reference to time, the Tories controlling the pace of time to a safe, sluggish crawl towards change and Labour bounding towards the future all guns blazing. Firstly, this is literally insane - time is time, you can’t speed it up or slow it down! Secondly, taking time as a metaphor for change, both parties seem to encourage change as and when it seems appropriate. The conservatives claim the budget “expresses a resolve to look forwards not backwards”, and sometimes, as in Yvette Cooper’s campaign shown, the “progressive” Labour party expresses a preference for “pride” in “values” which seem to hail from some previous time.

For a few years now, parties have shaped policies by this recognition that their traditional position on the spectrum does not have to dictate their politics. It was the “conservatives” who bought in same-sex marriage. It was Labour who initiated the privatisation of healthcare and education systems. In foreign policy, is was the “anti-imperialist” Labour who led interventionist (to put it lightly) attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq, while Cameron described how it was his conservative

ideology which made him sensitive to “the complexities of human nature” and therefore “skeptical of grand schemes to remake the world”.

The term “right-wing” covers a complex array of ideologies from monarchism to libertarianism; fascism to fundamentalism. Chairman Mao, Fidel Kastro, The Green Party, Tony Blair, Vegans, Chelsea Manning and Palestinian sympathisers are all considered to be “left wing”, although finding a single issue this group of people concor on would be nigh on impossible. The pressure of their perceived alignment on political parties was none-the-more evident than in the flurry of resignations Corbyn’s election as leader produced in the Labour party, and in the continual challenges he faces from Labour MPs. The difficulty in attributing political views the label left or right comes down to three main reasons. Firstly, the distinction between public and private is an absurd one considering the overlap on the ground. For years now, commercial branches of local governments have been selling goods and services to turn over a profit, while private companies are formed specifically to offer services to government bodies, but also to control and advise things like procurement decisions.

Secondly, the methods and outcomes traditionally attributed to the left and right continually misalign. Free tuition looks like a “left wing” method to achieve a “left wing” outcome, but we don’t live in a politics textbook. In reality, decreased funding for bursaries and the middle-class hegemony over our universities mean that a “right wing” method (tuition fees), may in fact better achieve this “left wing” outcome, improving access for the worst off.

Thirdly, an increasing number of issues simply cannot be explained in relation to big or small government principles. Today the government faces questions like how best to incorporate digital into government; whether to discourage the consumption of meat; how to safeguard the planet from climate change; how to defend against hackers and how to penalise drug use. Modern issues do not fall neatly into the left/right spectrum. Take into account industry and constituencyspecific issues, and you have a sense of the scale of confusion for party thinktanks.

China’s totalitarian capitalism and the rise of “competitive autocracies” further typify the out datedness of viewing state-control and the free-market as mutually exclusive. Capitalism more than ever depends upon state power, and state legitimacy relies upon the thrust of the free market. It is over-simplistic to view political ideologies on a two-dimensional spectrum. Perhaps it is time for the hiking up of referendums, paying attention to individual candidates and the factioning off of sections of the two main parties. As a voter, it is certainly time to interrogate manifestos for their individual policies, rather than the colour of party they represent. To make an informed democratic choice, policies must be viewed from outside the spectrum, rather than from within.

The Problem with Millenials is...

Regina Buffey As a borderline Generation Z-Millennial, “snowflake” student, solemnly deliberating the state of our generation in my sub-zero Glasgow flat, I come to a concluding question: are we getting absolutely MILKED by a financial system which profits previous generations? To clarify, are we being unknowingly financially exploited in a neo-liberal socio-economic system which demands us to consume unwittingly in order to feed it.

Let’s look at the socio-economic background of previous generations to see how it has shaped ours.

The ‘Baby Boomer’ (1940s-60s) being born just after an age of austerity in WW2, they became a generation of savers. In their 20s, they would have lived in an economic ‘golden age’ as Britain’s boomed after the economic dip of WW2, with unemployment 6 | MULTIPURPOSEMGZ

at 2% and a 40% increase in real wages between the fifties and sixties. Next is generation X which spans from 1960s – 1980s. GenX were encouraged to spend more due to the relative economic security of the previous generation. However, interest rates were very high in order to control inflation during the ‘91-2 recession, so their spending and debt accumulation was limited. The subsequent generation, Gen-Z, broadly labelled as ‘Millennials’ (which also encompasses generation Y) is a group born from the mid 1990s – mid 2000s; a generation associated with the rise of social media. They are encouraged to consume fervidly without much thought to debt they have cheaper availability of consumer credit due to securitisation. Banks can afford for them to be in debt as finance has become cheap, allowing them to fund their consumer goods. Previous generations did not have this luxury. However, I argue that this system has inimical effects with the formation of a

materialist, instant-gratification, consumer mentality, leading to blind economic exploitation in exchange for material gain.

Let’s look at the specifics. According to the council of Mortgage lenders, the average price of a first home has increased by 5,225% over the past 46 years and so just at this moment, only 8% of 25 year olds can make it onto the property ladder. Renting perpetuates this inequality, as it takes money from the hands from those who cannot afford to buy property (Millennials), and puts it into the pockets of richer landowners (Boomers & GenX). Student Millennials often have to take out large loans to be able to rent in the first place, adding to our debts and the feeling of financial pressure which is becoming even more severe with the rise of renting prices. Not only does this property system show a large inequality gap between Millennials and property owners, it also

creates intra-generational inequalitiy as buying property requires you to be in the top 20X of earnings. This means that only the very privileged can attain financial security with property in our generation.

Having large amounts of debt has become so normalised for Millennials, it has enabled the government to raise university fees, scrap maintenance grants, and increase the interest rates to 6.1% on these loans. The inequality between the generations here is stark, as previous generation never had the worry about tuition fees.

This would be bad enough, but on top of all the debt we are accumulating in going to university, we are also, in many cases, expected to do unpaid internships or low-paid work. A survey by Prospects shows that 48% of 16-25 year olds have undertaken an unpaid internship, whilst just 17% had been paid for their work experience. This reveals that we are stuck in a circular system, that requires us to work for free in exchange for more debt, with the promise that later on we can start earning to pay it off. Not only is this unfair, it will have massive impacts on intra-generational inequality, as only those with rich parents will escape the negative impacts of this financial cycle. A lot of us will have choose whether we want to do low-skilled paid work such as bar work

or waitressing to support ourselves, or an unpaid work experience programme in hope that it will better our future prospects.

Even in our leisure time we are being harassed to consume through constant advertising on social media. Social media is starting to reveal itself to be an insidious and addictive network of advertisement, profiting from adolescent vulnerability and this instantaneous, consumer mind-set fed to us by the economy. We are bombarded with images of attractive people wearing beautiful clothes, in fancy hotels, showing off their photogenic food in restaurants – all things that we ‘must’ have in order to be happy; all with company and product names placed inconspicuously in the caption. The idea of saving, which would have been important for previous generations, is obsolete for us, and due to this, our money is financing their businesses instead of our future.

Everything we do seems to be capitalised on as part of a neo-liberal system which empowers those who are actively earning money from it. The lack of precaution as to the extent that millennials are being exploited, comes hand in hand with an alarming increase in mental health problems. The Independent showed that rates of depression and anxiety among teenagers has increased by 70% in

Do you think Anya Brzesi Culture and Lifestyle Editor On the 1st of January this year, putting paid to the stigma that New Year’s resolutions never turn out, the movement Time’s Up took off. And really, it hasn’t slowed down since. Rather, it’s remained in the spotlight- largely thanks to the ladies and gentlemen at the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards. Unless your hangover from the festive season lasted over a week (no shame in that), you’d have been hard put to miss the attention and activity surrounding the campaign.

On October 5th, The New York Times published an article detailing decades of allegations of sexual harassment, in what would become one of the biggest scandals of 2017 (alongside Kendall Jenner appearing in that Pepsi advert).

To put things in perspective, Harvey Weinstein was, at the time, the second most ‘thanked’ person in Hollywood acceptance speeches, behind Steven Spielberg, and ahead of God. This is a man with his own film company, and an estimated wealth of hundreds of millions of US dollars.

What followed can only be described as an opening of the floodgates for women coming forward to speak about sexual harassment in the workplace.

Whilst Harvey was threatening to sue the New York Times for their article, #MeToo was going viral on Twitter. Women coming forward to share that they, too, had faced sexual misconduct in their place of work. Many actresses, models, and high-profile women used the hashtag after actress Alyssa Milano used it in the hopes that if every woman who had been affected shared the hashtag, “we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem”.

The phrase Me Too actually has links to women empowering each other as far back as 2006, when activist Tanya Burke created it on Myspace as part of a movement to show women that they weren’t alone in experiencing sexual harassment.

And then came the letter from the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, an organisation of female farmworkers, or women who are from a farming background. They printed a letter in Time magazine, expressing their support for the women who had spoken out against Harvey Weinstein, and stating that sexual harassment is a sad reality for so many women in the agricultural industry, too.

And from these shifting sands, from the toppling of some of the titans of the film world (Weinstein isn’t the only one accused of sexual harassment), and from

the past 25 years. This is a disquieting statistic, which shows, above all else, that our generation is not dealing very well with the pressure that the current system of life puts on us. Elder generations have shown their indifference to us and our situation by labelling us “The Snowflake Generation”, mocking us as being hypersensitive and weak. Perhaps it should not be indifference that they are offering, but solutions as to how we can dynamically challenge how finance is affecting our lives.

So, what can we do as a generation, to make ourselves heard and be more active in a society that has rendered us completely passive to the financial system. Firstly, we could gain some advantage in voting and therefore asserting our right to influence politics. Only 22.5% of millennials actually vote, compared to 53.2% of Boomers and 44.6% of GenX. This means that they have even more than double the amount of say with political issues. We need to let the officials know that inter and intragenerational equality is something we care about; we cannot let the economy isolate and oppress different groups of people within our generation.

We can attack and challenge these issues via social media platforms; resisting compliance to its system of consumer gratification, and employing it to spread social awareness of a system that breeds economic passivity.

CULTURE

#METOO the vocalisation of so many women: Time’s Up has resurfaced.

It was necessary, as so many have concluded, to bring the #MeToo movement into something with a unified feel, something suggesting action. Whist #MeToo was important, and gave way to huge numbers of women coming forward, there were many, many women for whom the risk of speaking out was too great. Time’s Up has shifted the focus from an individual level, to something which can capture the political and cultural spheres.

But it has not been a smooth journey. The organisation, which has resurfaced after it was first founded in 2006 has faced criticism. The decision for actresses to wear black to the Golden Globes received backlash for being ‘half-hearted’ and essentially vain. There is a feeling amongst some, that an organisation which wants to change the way women are treated should not start out by focusing on what women are wearing. Another issue with the campaign is this: what are the men doing about it? I wholeheartedly agree that, as men play a fairly large role in, oh you know, EVERYTHING, they need to be part of this campaign if it’s going to have the impact it wants. Yes, many men wore Time’s Up pins on their tuxedos, and are now auctioning off those tuxedos to raise more money for the campaign. But where was the nod to the movement in their speeches? In short, nowhere. Gents, we need you with us on this. We’re just beginning to see the scale of the problem now, and it’s a huge, it’s massive, its global. Without men, the campaign can only go so far.

But it’s also crucial that the movement doesn’t lead to ‘trial by media’, in which we jump to conclusions about individuals because the media and social media fixate on stories. It’s a fine balance between listening to all voices, and recognising that #MeToo encompasses many different varieties of transgressions, from men contradicting their reputations, to the cases of men breaking the law, and we need to be aware of this.

But after the women’s march on the 20th of January, where Halsey made that speech, which speaks true of so many women’s lives, it’s clearer than ever that we need a movement which will change the way we deal with sexual misconduct, and that, as Oprah said in her speech accepting the Cecil B. DeMille award at the Golden Globes, to the men who abuse their positions of power “Their time is up.”

MULTIPURPOSEMGZ | 7

HEALTH Ciaran Doherty Sports, Health and Science Editor It’s that time of year were we usually claim to have the ‘flu’, but in reality most of us just have a bad cold or a case of man flu. However, this year, if hospital admission figures are anything to go by, you might actually be right.

This year the rate of flu cases being reported per 100,000 people has more than doubled from 46 to 107 in the first weeks of January. In the majority of people catching flu is no more than a major inconvenience for a few days, but for the elderly and frail out there it can be much more serious.

So what actually is flu?

Anyone who has had a full blown flu infection will know that it’s nothing like your standard cold. Influenza (to give it it’s full title) is a virus spread through the air via people sneezing and coughing. Symptoms of this should be familiar to most, fever, chills, cold like symptoms (runny nose, congestion), muscle

KNOWING ME, KNOWING FLU

aches, fatigue and headache.

Over the years many different strains of flu have emerged, usually given a combination of letter such as H9N2, and the majority of these have caused very little more than a lot of sick days for some people.

However, some strains have a more concerning history, for example H1N1 (more commonly known as Spanish flu), which around the year 1918 is said to have claimed 50-100 million lives.

These days the population is on average a lot older than it used to be, this creates a problem in flu season. Older people are less able to fight off the effects of the flu and often end up in hospital because of it. If you’ve read the news lately you’ll know that the NHS isn’t in the greatest the shape, so as you can imagine the last thing it needed was one of the worst flu outbreaks in recent times. This year has seen a rise of over 50% in hospital admissions in

January, most of which have been related to flu, which has brought many NHS boards to their knees.

This year’s flu outbreak is said to be from multiple strains. One of which has been has dubbed ‘Aussie flu’, this is a strain which lead to a similarly bad flu season for those living down under during their last winter, but experts believe while it has reached here it is not causing as much difficultly as it did for those in Oz, but instead its believed to be two unknown strains causing the issues here.

If after reading this you start to feel shivery and achy, here’s a brief guide what to do.

Unfortunately going to see your doctor isn’t the answer (unless you think it’s really severe), due to its viral nature there’s absolutely nothing antibiotics can do (in fact, they’re likely to make you more ill), your best bet is to simply stay in bed, drink plenty of water and even take a bit of paracetamol

Labyrinth Motif in Popular Culture Matei Botez While the labyrinth has been an enduring motif in Western art across centuries, in the past couple of decades no medium has made better use of its connotations than film. Usually present in - but not limited to - science fiction and fantasy movies, the labyrinth can function on many levels, whether as an obstacle in the protagonist's journey to reach heroic status or as a metaphor for a character's mind. In this sense, major Hollywood directors have reinterpreted the labyrinth in creative ways in order to engage audiences on a deeper level with the movie's symbolism, often to explore the universal theme of finding your identity. This article examines a selection of emblematic movies from various genres, where the labyrinth plays a central role in the story and in the evolution of the protagonist.

The Shining (1980) Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's eponymous novel needs almost no introduction: considered one of the best (and scariest) movies of all time, The Shining has captivated audiences for decades and become a staple of pop culture. The story focuses on Jack Torrance - aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic 8 | MULTIPURPOSEMGZ

- who moves into the Overlook Hotel for the winter, together with his wife Wendy and his son Danny. However, the building is haunted by supernatural forces, which coupled with Jack's isolation and his violent history, will cause him to gradually lose his sanity and become a danger for his family.

The labyrinth symbolism is particularly interesting in this movie, as its presence can be felt in multiple ways. Implicitly, the hotel itself can be considered a maze, with long corridors and parallel hallways, which make it very easy to get lost. Explicitly, the hotel's hedge maze is the location for two key scenes of the movie: the one where Jack looks through a window at his wife and child play in the garden and the final scene where Jack chases Danny through the maze in the middle of a snowstorm. Thus, the labyrinth as a motif essentially embodies the protagonist's descent into madness: a place easy to access but difficult to exit, with a twisting path that ultimately leads to death, as demonstrated by the final shot of Jack frozen at its very center.

Labyrinth (1986) No treatment of the labyrinth motif in movies would be complete without this cult classic.

Directed by Jim Henson and starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly, the musical fantasy tells the story of 15-year old Sarah

for the fever and the aches while you wait for it to pass. This can unfortunately take anything up to two weeks but most people will be back on their feet in 5-7 days.

When it comes to preventing yourself getting flu, here again, there isn’t much you can do. Getting your flu vaccine is probably the best chance you have at avoiding or even getting a lighter dose of flu, but even this is no guarantee. Viruses like the flu can mutate very quickly allowing them to dodge even the bright minds who come up with each year’s flu jab. Although I’d still highly recommend it!

Thankfully this year’s flu strain doesn’t seem to be leading to anymore deaths than recent years (despite almost doubling hospital admissions) thanks to the efforts of NHS staff everywhere, even if you do have to wait a little longer to be seen at the moment!

CULTURE

who wishes away her baby brother Toby to the goblin king Jareth. She then embarks on a quest to reach the center of an enormous maze and save him. The maze clearly serves as the chief symbol of the movie: the microcosm of a bizarre world of muppets, odd bureaucratic rules and drug-induced hallucinations, among many others, it functions no less as an allegory for life. In this sense, the labyrinth embodies Sarah's coming-of-age journey as she transitions from childhood to womanhood: by crossing the boundaries to a different world, she is forced to grow up and take responsibility for her decisions in order to rescue her brother and survive the ever-present danger of death.

Pan's Labyrinth (2006) Guillermo del Toro's Oscar winning film builds a surprisingly original premise around its central motif: set in Spain in 1944, the story follows a young girl named Ophelia who must complete three seemingly impossible tasks in order to earn immortality from a faun who resides in a labyrinth near her house. In a sense the spiritual successor to the 1986 classic, the movie also applies the fairy tale structure to its narrative, interweaving the real and the fantasy world and focusing on a girl with a vast imagination and a passion for books.

However, del Toro's film vividly explores more complex themes, revealing the dark side of humanity: at its heart, the plot represents a young girl's quest to escape from the cruel reality of the Franco regime and an abusive stepfather in order to reunite with her real parents. Thus, the labyrinth functions as an alternate world with peculiar creatures and dangers at every step and Ophelia's journey will teach her about mortality and the importance of self-sacrifice; moreover, the faun, guardian of the maze, serves as her guide through her initiation process, showing her the way to depart from the absurdity of the material world and reenter the glory of the spiritual plane, where illuminated beings live: the Underworld.

Inception (2010) The most recent film on this list is also arguably the most visually stunning and mind bending. Christopher Nolan's sci-fi stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a Dom Cobb, a professional thief who steals people's secrets by infiltrating their subconscious; meanwhile, his only wish is to retire and spend time with his children following his wife's suicide. Thus, he jumps at the occasion when he is offered a chance to have his criminal history erased as payment for the implantation of an idea into the mind of a business magnate. However, since the only way of accessing a person's subconscious is through dreams Cobb hires

young architect Ariadne to build dreams in the form of mazes. Of course, the labyrinth serves not only as a device to increase the dramatic tension of the movie, but also as a fairly obvious metaphor for the unconscious. Indeed, the entire world of the dream takes the shape of a maze - full of obstacles that embody a person's doubts, fears and desires - defying the laws of space and time: this alternate world can grow, bend and collapse over you at the slightest disturbance of the target's sleep cycle.

Whether or not you are a fan of Jungian analysis, this movie gives its audience food for thought and manages to stay with you long after the credits have rolled.

THE PROBLEM WITH AUSTRALIA DAY

Taggy Elliott

The 26th January is Australia Day, which in popular culture has become a day when beer is drunk, flags are worn and barbecues are held for the national holiday. However, it has become a topic of debate, particularly in recent years. This is for a multitude of reasons, but the main issue is the day on which the national day is held. 'Change the date' is a phrase that has become common, with many arguing that celebrating being Australian on the date that the First Fleet landed is insensitive to Indigenous Australians, whose people and land were taken over by the British when they began to colonise in 1788.

What it means to be Australian is at the heart of the contention surrounding Australia Day. Although Australia’s colonial history dates back to 1788, the Aboriginal people have lived on the land for thousands of years, long before it was discovered by the Europeans. Unfortunately, due to nature in which Australia was colonised the history, culture and traditions of Aboriginal people were ignored throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. With massacres of tribes, as well as the Stolen Generation and other atrocities committed against Indigenous Australian, the 26th January has caused many issues. Due to this Colonial power, Aboriginals were suppressed, oral traditions lost and the culture of their tribes were deeply impacted. They were treated as subhuman, despite having inhabited the land for centuries before the Europeans arrived.

Kevin Rudd officially apologised for the treatment of the Indigenous population in 2008, 220 years after the First Fleet landed. Saying 'sorry' was a step towards acknowledging the deep-rooted problems at the heart of the Australian national identity, and what it means to be Australian, but the issues cannot simply disappear.

This divide exacerbated in that many Australians

today are still first or second-generation migrants.

That is, their families come from countries such as Greece, Lebanon, China, the UK and other countries from around the world. It is, as it has been since 1788, a country of immigrants. The question of national identity is thus a complex one. Australia Day is seen to unite these differences, with everyone encouraged to take part in celebrations, but one must always remember what 26th January 1788 meant besides the founding of modern Australia.

To comment on whether it's right or wrong to keep the date as it is, is difficult. Ignoring the date and what happened may lead to a complete ignorance of the events that, for better or for worse, have shaped Australia to become what is today. Certainly, there needs to be a greater acknowledgement of what Australia Day means for many Australians. It is not a celebration but a day of reflection, to remember their ancestors and the actions of violence that were perpetrated against them.

Pretending that something didn't happen is greatly damaging; you cannot rewrite history. The celebrations of Australia Day can therefore be viewed as insensitive and ignorant, if people don’t consider what has previously occurred, and how Australia as we know it today came into being.

Changing the date could be beneficial if it means another day is chosen for all Australians, no matter their heritage, to celebrate living in such a diverse and multicultural society.

Modern historians have shown that one cannot simply draw a line under the centuries prior to 1788, as Aborigines have their own culture. This is perhaps not addressed enough in Australian popular culture. If someone had asked me what happens on Australia Day prior to learning more about Australian history, I would have said it's one big party when in fact, it's much more contentious than that. Before moving to Australia, I had no idea about the number of protests that occur on Australia Day, and what these people are protesting. The demonstrations can become quite violent, showing that the national day is not a day of celebration for everyone.

On the other hand, there is more acknowledgement of Aboriginal cultures and traditions in everyday Australian society than ever before. For example, a Welcome to Country occurs at the beginning of lots of university events. On exchange at Macquarie University, last year, I learnt that the site of the university was built on the land of the Wattamattagal clan of the Darug nation tribe.

They are the traditional custodians, addressed through this ceremonial custom which shows respect to the elders. In this way, it's possible to see how much Australia has progressed in embracing its pre-1788 history, but there are also unfaltering problems in the national psyche of what being Australian means, and where Australia Day fits within this.

Ultimately Australia Day is complicated. While I'm all for a national day where everyone enjoys the sunshine, beer and a public holiday, we shouldn't forget what came before. The 26th January 1788 marks a turning point in Australian history, not its beginning.

MULTIPURPOSEMGZ | 9

FEATURE

DOWN THE HOLE:

BEHIN

D*** F

A busy D*** F***** Sunday

With first term over and done with, the committee of dedicated workers for this year’s Daft Friday ball find themselves with a feeling of emptiness on a Sunday morning. Usually this day would be spent getting creative in the Debates Chamber of the GUU, building boards, painting colourful wonderlands, and drinking too much of the venomous VK in preparation for the upcoming student event.

The seemingly ancient tradition of the Daft Friday ball goes back to 1908, when the Honorary Secretary at the time James Bridie, after which the pre-ball dinner is named, was in his office bored on the last day of term when he decided to create a ‘smoking concert’ that night to celebrate the current president.

At the time, there were no women allowed unless invited to a partiuclar event - therefore becoming a dance. It’s come a long way since and every year the bar seems to be raised, meaning the pressures on for the 20-strong team of painters and 25-strong team of builders.

This year, the theme had less movie content to play with, compared to the eight Harry Potter movies, and three Pirates of the Caribbean. However, this worked to the Committee’s advantage, allowing a certain amount of creative freedom. Instead of using only film content we managed to glean certain themes from Alice in Wonderland and spread them throughout the building, for example, we had playing cards incorporated everywhere to continue the theme. A large amount of fluorescent paint was used wherever possible to create a glow in the dark effect that would make the film scenes stand out and be exciting to look at. We also enjoyed being able to throw in some scenes of the animated version of Alice in Wonderland to contrast the live action scenes on the larger boards.

The Daft Friday process begins in early October with the interviews of potential committee members based on experience with either building of painting. The following week is when the graft starts, with boards first needing to be built from plywood before being grey-washed to create a better surface for painting. The boards are then drawn on to create

Commit 10 | MULTIPURPOSEMGZ

Johanna Crighton Joint Head Painter 2017

E RABBIT

ND THE SCENES AT

F*****

the scenes using a projector and stills from the movie, and then these images are painted to come to life. The background is painted when the boards are installed to bring all the scenes together as one flowing piece, then the builders work in teams to either build props or hoist up tons upon tons of fairy lights to create the magical effect you see on the night. The painters dedicated their Wednesday evenings and all day Sunday to painting and the builders committe all day Sunday to build, which meant a lot of time spent in the Union and around other committee members, creating a great community atmosphere.

Painters would share work between two or three people per board and would use scaffolding, tables and chairs to paint the tallest 12-foot boards.

In final week we had an amazing team effort to pull everything together which felt incredible for everyone involved.

It consisted of 6 days of early starts and late finishes for the team as well as PSMs, lighting crews, and union staff members working hard to get everything finished. Even those with exams dedicated some time from there study schedule to help! The entire building was taken over by the committee with building and painting taking place in every nook and cranny. The team takes a break on one night of the week to enjoy a group Christmas dinner made by members. This is also the week in which a board with the president’s face needs to be painted by the head painters to incorporate him with the theme, last year Fergus Grieg became Dumbledore, this year Ash became the Mad Hatter for the night.

It feels like an incredible achievement on the evening, realising that the immense work done by the committee makes Daft Friday the unique event it is today, and watching people enjoy something you’ve put a lot of effort and thought into.

Suddenly, all the planning, drawing up, painting and re-painting becomes worth it as you see the finished product. There truly is nothing like being a member of the committee that not only builds the set for the event people queue for hours to buy tickets for, but it also establishes friendships and encourages camaraderie like no other.

Head Painters Rachel and Johanna before and after with the Presidents' board

2am prop painting in Final Week

ttee Christmas Dinner MULTIPURPOSEMGZ | 11

NATURE AND ENVIRONMENT

Lost in LEaves

lead people astray. It is said to take around 20 mins to wind your way to the centre, then I’m going to assume another 20 mins to unwind yourself, so it may not be the simple stroll in the park that most people hope for on a Sunday afternoon.

Ciaran Doherty Sports, Health and Science Editor Long before the day of the internet and TV the royalty and wealthy of the world had to find ways to entertain themselves. Throughout the years they have came up with some unique, weird and even sadistic ways of doing this. Within the grounds of their large estates, gardening teams toiled to create an escape for their lords and ladies and one creation was the hedge maze.

These contained hundreds of metres of path hidden by well-tended 8 foot high hedge rows, with the intention of testing the minds of the noblemen and his friends.

Nowadays the noblemen have mostly disappeared but many of the hedge mazes contained in their estates are still around and available for the public to test their navigational skills. In recent years hedge mazes have made a bit of a resurgence among horticulturalists making them a popular day out for people. Here we will we look at a selection of the best rated hedge mazes around the world. In case on your next trip away you fancy testing your wits instead of simply staring at buildings or walking around art museums.

Ashcombe Maze and Lavender Gardens, Mornington Peninsula, Australia For those wishing to venture further afield, hedge mazes have made it to the land down under. Set within beautiful gardens this hedge maze is said to be one of the most visually pleasing of the lot, thanks to the almost year round sunshine. Naturally a gardening great such as this is not easy to maintain and reportedly the maze keepers must trim the hedges quarterly, with this taking them at least a month at a time.

Villa Pisani Labyrinth, Srta, Italy A hedge maze that in rumoured to have once proved too much for napoleon himself, this cunning maze in northern Italy is considered to be the most difficult in the world.

At the centre, for those who can navigate it lies an 18th turret, designed to allow those who complete the formidable maze to well… look down and laugh at those who haven’t.

Schonbrunn Maze, Palace of Vienna, Austria Sadly, in this list this is the only hedge maze I’ve personally attempted (and completed) in my time, but it did spark my interest in them Constructed in 1998, its boosts over 1715 metres squared of frustrating fun. At the finish there is a viewing platform in the trees where you can watch from above as your friends struggle and if all this isn’t enough to make you visit this location, within the grounds sits the stunning palace of Vienna and even the city’s zoo.

Hampton Court Palace Maze, Surrey, England Commissioned around 1700 for King William III, this makes this by far the oldest maze in this list. This maze unlike many others contains one single spiral path, but does contain many false paths which despite its simple sounding design can still

Alternative Oscars

Anya Brzeski Culture and Lifestyle Editor

Best film to watch on a hangover – The Lego Batman Movie. I loved the Lego Movie, and was extremely pleased when this one lived up to expectations. It’s easy watching, a bit ridiculous and the hilarious Zach Galifianakis (Alan from The Hangover) voices the Joker. All round, a great way to wait for that hangover to pass.

Best Film That Reflects Reality a Little Too Much – Get Out. Wildly successful, amazingly watchable (this coming from someone who hates horror films). Critics raved about it, and it tackled the issue of race in America amazingly well. The villains aren't stereotypical - they aren't rednecks or alt-right fanatics, they are middle-class, white liberals. This film started conversations about race, the world over, right in amongst Trump's presidency, and it also had me on 12 | MULTIPURPOSEMGZ

So the next time you fancy a day out and puzzle all in one, maybe see what challenges lie within your local (or not so local) gardens or ex-royal estate!

CULTURE

tenterhooks the entire time.

Best for learning whilst still avoiding uni work – Blue Planet II. Ok, technically it’s not a film, but was there ever going to be much competition? Let David Attenborough’s incredibly soothing voice wash over you as you avoid that pile of uni work. Hey, you’re still learning- admittedly it’s mostly stuff about life in the oceans, but that doesn’t make it any less interesting, or any less educational, and the 14 million people that watched it’s opening episode obviously agree that it’s incredible, too.

Most adaptable to drinking games- Star Wars: The Last Jedi. 2.5 hours and so much potential to get drunk. You know the score by now, as with all other Star Wars films- drink when a lightsaber is turned on, a ship jumps to lightspeed, anyone says 'jedi' etc. etc.

Please enjoy this film responsibly.

Best motivator to hit the gym – Wonder Woman & Baywatch. One of these is a superhero film, the other features The Rock. Ripped physiques and incredibly cool stunts are sure to encourage even the laziest of us. Wonder Woman was the 3rd highest grossing film of 2017, and rightly so- it’s a great watch, whereas

those looking for something more light-hearted (read: ridiculous), should opt for Baywatch.

Best Nicolas Cage Flick – Arsenal in the best of the 4 Nicolas Cage films of 2017, Cage sports an extraordinary moustache as a violent drug lord determined to get his money back. There’s not much else in the way of plot, which makes for a great film to stick on when your mind is elsewhere. We also present Nick the award for Least Supportive Actor. This film has a 4/10 rating on IMDB. Best film to make you sound cultured AF - The Florida Project. The critics loved it, it has swept up awards left right and centre, and has high ratings across the board. Not one if you want to mindlessly stare at a screen for 2 hours, but an interesting watch none the less. To heighten ilusions of being a culutural know-it-all use phrases like "the lens of social realism", "terrific grit and humour", and "visual beauty and lyricism are rooted in a recognisable world" Honorable mention- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - This is another one sweeping up awards, and it should be, the incredibly dark humour and poignant storyline are fantastic and moving.

10 of the best views in glasgow Amy McShane and Tom Anderson

1

. Necropolis A trip to the necropolis might not sound like the most appealing day out, but this Victorian garden cemetery next to the cathedral (which is also worth visiting) provides scenic views of the East of the city. There is something satisfying about the contrasting forest of ancient stone sculptures against modern concrete high rises in the distance. . Ruchill Park A lesser known spot close to Murano halls of residence, this high point offers great views of both the West End and the centre, even over to the airport and the Campsie hills. Perhaps the most panoramic view of the city available.

2

3

4

. Lighthouse If you’re in town doing some shopping on Buchanan street, cut off to Mitchell lane and visit The Lighthouse, Scotland’s National Centre for Design and Architecture. The gallery is free, and worth a visit, but there are also two viewing platforms which provide uninterrupted views of the cityscape.

. Science Centre At the Science Centre, the ‘Glasgow Tower’ offers great views over the whole of Glasgow. It is the tallest freestanding 360 degree rotating structure in the world, and the tallest freestanding building in Scotland at 127 metres. Entry costs a few pounds but it’s a great view, and it also keeps you dry.

5

. Glasgow University Flagpole Standing at the front of the main building, overlooking the West End like Simba over his kingdom, this well known viewpoint will provide terrific views of Kelvingrove Gallery and Finnieston, and even the Southside in the distance.

6

. Lord Robert’s Monument Located in Kelvingrove Park adjacent to Park Terrace, this popular viewpoint is a relatively easy climb for a rewarding sight. Take a seat at the benches and feel as if you are amongst the treetops of Kelvingrove, where you can ogle the layout of the main campus.

8

. Windows Restaurant If you’re ever looking for some dinner with a view, try the centrally located rooftop restaurant. Just off George Square, this dining spot has a terrace where you can eat al fresco amongst the chimneys.

7

. Cineworld It sounds silly, but if you’re ever in Cineworld just off Sauchiehall Street, take the elevator to the top floor and admire the free views of the centre from the lift.

Perhaps even take some popcorn.

9

. Glasgow University Library You’ve almost definitely entered this building, but perhaps you’ve never ventured to the eleventh floor. While the view might be obstructed by studious figures and laptops, the open plan layout and large windows spanning over two floors, an impressive sunset can be caught from this point.

10

. Govan Riverside There’s not specific ‘viewpoint’ for this one, but if you’re in the Govan area and you walk along the riverside back towards town, you can appreciate the Transport Museum, the Science Centre, the SECC, several bridges and various other impressive structures all in one.

MULTIPURPOSEMGZ | 13

SOCIETY Isabelle Thornton Nature and Environments Editor

Exclusive Interview: Capri Collective

G-You had the pleasure to exclusively interview the DJ headlining for GUCFS: FOCUS taking place on the 24th February – the home-grown boys of Capri Collective! Big thanks to Chris for his energy and enthusiasm. It is clear FOCUS 2018 is set to be an absolutely unmissable night.

What made Capri Collective want to be part of GUCFS: FOCUS? It’s been obvious from the get go that FOCUS is going to be a really impressive event, both production and organisation wise. We’re chuffed to have been asked to get in on the action and it’s always great to be able to play in support of charity.

clubs across the country trying to use their events to give something back and we’re very fortunate to be in a position where we can do same. It’s great to see such a large scale event like FOCUS helping out as important a cause as the Glasgow’s Children’s Hospital Charity! They do great work, it’s an honour to be able to help.

I've heard Capri Collective's personal aim is "to bring the best parties possible to the people of Scotland."

Why will the FOCUS after party be unmissable?

The FOCUS after party will be our first time in SWG3 and we have a tendency to get a It’s great to see local Scottish DJs such bit overexcited about playing a new space. as yourselves working in collaboration Combine that with the energy and effort with a Glasgow charity. What are that’s been poured in by the GUCFS team, your thoughts on the main aim behind it’ll be something special for sure - plus the event? you’ll be dancing for all the right reasons.

There’s a huge range of local nights and

What national event would Capri Collective be stoked to headline?

There’s far too long a list of events we’d be stoked just to attend, to be eyeing up those headline slots just yet but a lot of them for sure!

Capri Collective are making a big name for themselves in Glasgow, from Flat 0/1 to Sub Club you guys are killing it across the city. What can we expect from you at the FOCUS after party?

We’ve been really lucky to find ourselves behind the booths in some our favourite clubs over the past couple of years with some unreal crowds carrying us along the way. You can expect the after party to be packed full of Capri antics, some favourite tunes we’re saving for the occasion and a of course a whole lot of juice and sketchy dancing.

What is it that makes the Scottish DJ scene different from other parts of the UK? For such a small country it’s ridiculous how good the scene in Scotland is! We’ve had the pleasure of playing in a few different spots around the country and anywhere you go people are keen to dance. So many great local party starters alongside top

notch big bookings in a whole host of different environments, it’s some place.

14 | MULTIPURPOSEMGZ

Interview: The Cecilian Socitey Michael Cartledge Coming up in February is the Cecilian Society’s main show, Urinetown.

So, naturally I decided to get a look behind the scenes by sitting down with the Production team, Katie Hart, the Director, Marnie Yule, the Musical Director, and Ellie Trimby, the Choreographer.

Thank you for sitting down with me. First question, the show, Urinetown, what can you tell us about it?

Katie: Urinetown is a satirical musical comedy about a world not that far removed for our own, in which there has been a really bad drought, which the people refer to as ‘the stink years’ and there is a water shortage after that drought and what happens is, in order to try and control the water that’s left, the private corporations take over control and a company called Urine Good Company take control of the toilets and you have to use Urine Good Company’s toilets, because its illegal to pee anywhere else and like any private corporation, they start to abuse that power and start hiking up the fees to make more money from people urinating, and in response a young, unlikely hero named Bobby Strong leads a rebellion against Urine Good Company. That’s a very basic plot summary.

Well, you don’t want to give too much away. Moving on from that, the characters and indeed the cast behind them, what can you tell us about them?

Katie: I guess, because it’s a satire, they’re all sort of playing on clichés.

So, our male lead, bobby, is in many ways a traditional rags-to-riches story of an unlikely hero. “Everyone loves Bobby Strong”, that’s one of the lines from the show and if you met Josh Tinline-Bartholomew, who plays Bobby, everyone does love Josh TB. And then you have our romantic interest, whose very much a cliched ingenue within the show and Cladwell’s the very stereotypical

baddy, but all these characters do have hidden depths to them, so Pennywise, who seems to be one of the antagonists, the character development there shows that she’s more than that and I think they’re all very nuanced characters, for all they seem on the surface to be two dimensional and quite silly at times, there’s a lot more there.

Ellie: I really like the fact that for a lot of the characters, sometimes you want to laugh at them and sometimes you’re very invested in their story.

And anything more to say about the actors behind said goofy characters?

Katie: Yeah, we’ve been really fortunate that we had over 80 people audition for the show, and we have a cast of about 70 just now (including ensemble). And we have a really phenomenal cast I think, a cast that we’re very proud of, a cast that, to be honest, have really done this themselves, I’ve had a very easy job because I’ve not done much at all. And a fantastic ensemble, Ellie and I are ensemble members at heart and I do think they are the heart of any Cecilian show and in particular this one, they are the people of the revolution and that becomes a really important and significant thing, so I think the real stars of the show are the ensemble, which sounds like a total cliché, but it’s true.

And shifting the topic if I may, Marnie, what can you tell us about the music and songs of the show?

Marnie: The music of the show, I remember saying when I was first applying to be Musical Director, one of the things I said was all the usual spiel “oh, I’m good at Musically Directing”, but also that I don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to be a part of the music in Urinetown, because its so diverse and interesting and every single one of the songs are, its not quite a parody of a different kind of musical theatre song, but its not done badly as you would expect, it very well written, concise, tongue-in-cheek parodies of a range of different musical styles and its

quite a small band with a reed part and a euphonium and trombone part and then a bass and piano and percussion, so it creates a very specific sound that I’ve only ever really associated with Urinetown.

Coming to the third member of the trio, Ellie, what can you tell us about the dancing in the show?

Ellie: The dancing in the show is a little bit different to what one might expect when you say the word dancing.

There’s a lot of choreographed movement and I quite like being able to play around with having things that aren’t necessarily typical dance moves, but like fidgeting or movement that you just do in your daily life that then become part of a routine and it becomes a dance. I think the music really lends itself to that. You do have a lot of upbeat songs, but there are also some where you feel you have limitations on what you can do with it, but in a good way. Its like you put yourself in a box and think “right, we can do these things with it”, rather than “oh, I could do anything, I don’t know what to do”. That’s what I like most about the show, in terms of being able to come up with dances for it.

And finally, why should people come and see this show?

Katie: I was talking to someone the other day and I was saying that, in a time where reality often feels like a bad dystopian movie, there’s something really refreshing about this show and its very dark humour and its almost ridiculous take on life. I think that people will find it funny, but I also think people will look at it and see a lot of our current reality in it, they will see themes of power and greed and how you can come back from that and the role that ordinary individuals can have in effecting change. And I hope that theme comes across as much as any of the humour and the silliness of it. I hope that people leave laughing, I think people will leave laughing, but that people will also leave thinking. I think that there’s a really impressive cast and a good story and the tech team, the unsung heroes of it, have been working really hard, its going to

be a very good visual experience too. but I think at the heart of it it’s a really good story sand that’s all we want, really, from the theatre.

Marnie: Its such a large ensemble, of so many people who’ve been working so hard at it. Everyone’s been picking up things so fast and working really hard to keep it going. Some musicals you know what going to happen and it’s a less widely known musical with a plot that’s interesting, fun things happen in it, its funny and its dark, its very tongue in cheek. But its never too dark, it walks the line very well. I just think it’s a good evening, regardless whether it’s an amateur show, we’ve got some amazing young performers, lead performers and ensemble performers and specialists who’ve been working really hard.

Ellie: I agree with what both of them have said about having the comic side, but also a bit of depth to it. I think, watching it come together now, its got a very good intensity about it, where, when its funny, its very funny and when it’s a bit more dark and sinister it has that real level of intensity and I think that’s what’s going to make it such an entertaining show.

Even though I know what’s coming in the plot, I still get so excited watching it in rehearsals and so invested, so I think that, to an outsider that doesn’t know what coming, that is going to be really, really good.

Katie: There’s a moment in the Act 1 Finale that the Assistant Director Julia and I, every single time, look at each other and are on the verge of tears.

And that intensity is just so incredible.

Any final comment; dates, times, ticket prices etc?

Katie: So, Urinetown the Musical is on at the Mitchell Theatre from the 14th to the 17th of February. We have 7.30 starts every night and a 2.30 matinee on the Saturday. Tickets are £10 for concessions, which includes students and £15 otherwise. Come on, come all.

There you have it folks. The Cecilian society’s production of Urinetown is fast approaching and, if I were you, I wouldn’t hesitate to get your tickets now.

MULTIPURPOSEMGZ | 15

OPINION

In defense of Olivia Eriksen Fourteen years after its final episode aired, the American sitcom, Friends, was added to Netflix. However, the show was hit with a backlash of negative criticism on the part of millennials, labelling it ‘homophobic’, ‘sexist’ and ‘racist’. Isolating the storylines in question, and selecting a handful of scenes from literally hundreds of episodes is surely not a fair representative. I’m not disputing that the show has some questionable moments that make me uncomfortable now, upon re-watching, but we must not forget when the show was made. Running 19942004, the writers were dealing with some controversial subject matter at the time, and instead of conforming to their societal norms they instead put front and centre issues which were rarely touched on at the time. It has only been in very recent years that the need for equality and inclusion of all genders, races, sexualities, to name a few, has been so publicly celebrated by such a large proportion of the population. Depictions we now don’t blink an eye at, and have come to expect on our televisions were not there in anywhere near the same numbers not so long ago.

Men suggest their superiority to the leading male cast members of Friends, unwilling to admit perhaps that the show’s leads are still relevant and realistic, if brutally honest, depictions of the everyday man with their immaturity and every so often sexist remark.

In this day and age it is not something many want to admit to, but in everyday life sexist remarks are still casually made by men

16 | MULTIPURPOSEMGZ

about, and in the company of, women. Even the most inclusive of men make remarks such as we see in Friends from time to time.

I am not suggesting that this is in any way acceptable, nor an issue to dismiss, but simply that it does still happen; slamming a television show which began more than twenty years ago, for something which is still prevalent in today’s society is hypocritical to say the least.

Objectification of women was another issue flagged by millennials as being problematic, and my raising it is not to defend Friends, but instead to demonstrate once more the hypocrisy of this outrage. Figures akin to Joey Tribbiani fill nightclubs and bars in our cities today, on a night out with the intention of going home with whoever they deem to be good looking enough for them to associate with. These same men then boast about who they took home with them, and in some cases how many women they hooked up with in one night. If you need an example of this behaviour look no further than your typical university rugby team. Despite the glaring issues with this behaviour – often a large factor in warped body image of so many young people, women and men alike – frequently the women in nightclubs and bars willingly hand themselves to these men, the prospect of going home with them an excitement. And then they talk to their friends about it the next day, detailing the events of their night in much the same way as the men do, feeling special to have been chosen by that man, on that night. Despite the progress

female empowerment and equality has made over the years, Friends is not wholly wrong with their depiction of men sexualising women, and women allowing it. Millennials stating that this sexism is completely out of place in today’s society is not accurate, and whilst I do not agree with this, nor am I stating that this form of sexism is especially prevalent today, you need look no further than our own university’s fight night to see exactly what I mean in the shape of table girls, wearing next to nothing, serving men by their own volunteer.

Whilst the show clearly has its issues, it is highly progressive for its time. Consciously or not, the writers of the show made small changes to the lead characters, especially the men, softening their harsh misogynistic shells.

Chandler, once finding every excuse available to avoid housework, volunteers his hand to help with the cooking of a thanksgiving meal, and very easily transitions into becoming a fan of bubble baths, something considered feminine by many, even Chandler himself previously. Ross grows to become a fan of the male nanny Rachel hires, putting aside his initial homophobic remarks to genuinely grow as a man; and Joey, once a lothario moving from one woman to another, holds two genuinely loving relationships proving himself to be more sensitive than previously seen. The storylines may not be as inclusive as may be desired of 2018, but we must give credit where due and Friends has a lot of good to offer, as well as many laughs.

SPORT

LETS GO TO THE MOUNTAINS Caitlin Young Website and Feature Editor We finally had a White Christmas and the snowy January that until recently was only seen on postcards. It may have caused a bit of a commotion for our Southern counterparts that are less practiced in dealing with snow but the snow fanatics up here were more than thrilled. Snow covered streets may make your morning walk to uni a bit more of challenge but snow covered mountains are only a short(ish) drive away.

Scotland is home to some of the world’s most scenic spots – Glencoe I am talking about you here.

Come winter they become a snow sport enthusiasts dream, those who enjoy skiing or snowboarding know how expensive a trip to the Alps can be, it is definitely not kind on your bank balance. This is why Scottish resorts are so popular; the vast ski areas can easily provide a day of fun and there are plenty of places to go afterward for the fans of a bit of Après Ski.

In recent years the Scottish snow season has been less than impressive. Usually the season lasts from December to April, if we are lucky, but due to the unpredictability of the Scottish weather you should always keep an

eye on the weather reports and be ready head North when the snow comes. This year however is shaping up to be a good season, for the first time in years Scotland has been given a white winter, a blessing or a curse depending on how you look at it. If you believe it’s a blessing then I suggest you grab your skis and head to any of these resorts ASAP! Cairngorm Mountain In winter, the Cairngorms are a snowy paradise. As long as the conditions are good there is plenty to keep yourself busy with thanks to the wide selection of runs open, the White Lady being the most well known of them all. Some runs however can be very challenging, if you can get yourself from top to bottom here there won’t be any run that you can’t do. You’ll leave with a sense of achievement and probably an aching body the next day. A student day pass comes in at £28.50. The only downside is that it does take a while to get to if you are coming from Glasgow but that just gives more of an excuse to make a weekend of it. Aviemore is the closest town and offers transport to and from the mountain on a regular basis. If you are on a budget there is no need to spend a fortune on accommodation; there are a few hostels in the main

part of town that is perfect for those not wanting to break the bank. If that doesn’t convince you then Aviemore’s infamous club “The Vault” is reason enough to make the trip. Who cares about the skiing, it’s an experience all in its own.

Glencoe Not only is it a relatively short drive from Glasgow but also it is also home to the longest and steepest run in Scotland and boasts stunning views that you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else, it is an instagram king/queen’s dream. For a midweek day pass it’s £20 with your student card and £25 for a weekend day pass – you can’t complain when you consider the cost of flights to the Alps. A guaranteed great day of snow filled fun and an instagram that will for sure get more than 11 likes.

If you fancy making a weekend of it the resort is close to Fort William but if you want to be even closer to the snow Glencoe has its very own microlodges or “Hobbit Huts” that can be rented next to the car park. I’d recommend doing it well in advance, as they are very popular when the season starts.

Glenshee

Glenshee is a bit more of a trek; located in the Cairngorms National Park region it is closer to Inverness than it is to Glasgow. But it takes the crown of the largest resort in the UK and offers 36 pisted runs, which will suit a whole range of abilities, so you could say that it is worth the trip. Like Glencoe it is great value for money starting at £20 for a day pass. The longest run in the resort is the Glas Maol, which gives you 2km of snow to have fun on.

Another benefit of Glenshee is that it is open for longer during the season thanks to the snow making facilities on site.

Nevis Range This one truly does have something for everyone, with a whole area dedicated to beginners and a great selection of reds and blacks the further up the mountain you go. You might think that you’re pretty nifty on the snow but the off-piste area of the Black Corries will be sure to push you to your limit and show exactly what you are made of! Like other resorts there are also alternatives to skiing or snowboarding, if you want a break you can try your hand at sledging or snowshoeing. A bit more expensive for a student day pass, coming in at £27 but with all that it has to offer, it’s not a bad deal.

Why the six nations needs to expand

Michael Finlayson Since Italy joined the 6 nations back in 2000, it has no doubt done strides for expanding the game into a new market outside of the traditional centres of rugby power in the Northern hemisphere. However, the problem remains that despite the competition being highly competitive with two thirds of the teams winning the Grand Slam since the expansion, the structure of the competition continues to stifle the development of the sport across Europe.

Many have made the case that Italy ought to be relegated out of the Six Nations for repeated poor performances, having accumulated twelve wooden spoons since joining. However, this isn’t the answer to the true problem with European international rugby or the competition itself, which does not allow the consistently improving teams, especially Georgia and Romania, the opportunity

to compete against the top tier sides on a consistent basis. With their continued rise in the World Rugby rankings, Georgia now sits two sports above Italy in 12th, and only three spots below France, while Romania are only one place behind Italy in 15th. The exclusion of the Tier 2 teams in Europe is most apparent when it comes to Georgia, who over the decade have won seven of the nine Rugby Europe Championships, the tier below the six nations, yet have seen no recognition for this.

Such is the exclusion that in fixture between Georgia and Wales at the Principality Stadium in the Autumn Internationals 2017 was the first fixture between those two sides in their history. As it stands, Tier 2 teams seldom play Six Nations sides unless drawn against them at the World Cup. Although the idea of a promotion/relegation playoff scenario has been floated, this would threaten the financial stability any side that was relegated, to the extent where it is

unreasonable for any team who can in such a competitive competition could face that scenario any given year, to ever agree to it.

Evidently, what is needed is an expansion of the current competition to allow to game to continue to grow beyond the nations who have dominated the game for decades. This could also help to rejuvenate Italy’s performances within the tournament, giving opponents who they can regularly compete with, instead of being the competitions punching bag which it has been with substantial frequency.

The Six Nations is one of the most highly anticipated annual sporting events in the world, with viewership in 2017 of over 126 million, with TV coverage in 189 countries worldwide.

However, if the sport is going to continue to evolve and grow across Europe, and not just sustain for the nations who have the oldest rugby traditions, then the competition needs to expand to include high performing Tier 2 teams.

MULTIPURPOSEMGZ | 17

ART FEATURE Skye Brettell Graphite, 2013

'WE'RE ALL MAD HERE' 'I sketched this during a time when life was very hectic with exams, and I needed some escapism. A series of pieces all set in wonderland provided me with the perfect antidote to the extreme seriousness of my exams. Naturally I was delighted when the theme for Daft Friday was set to be Aslak in Wonderland, and loved working with an amazing team of painters to re-explore down the rabbit hole on a much larger scale.'

18 | MULTIPURPOSEMGZ

George Bell and Maggie Mize With the ubiquity of comic book characters appearing throughout popular culture over the last few decades and the overabundance of comic conventions popping up in cities across the world, there has never been a more exciting time to dive in and start reading comics. However, for new initiates this can be an overwhelming and confusing prospect. Existing comic fans are usually very opinionated at best about what is worth reading and at worst they can be protective to the point of exclusion of their favourite niche.

The important thing to remember is that comics are just a format, not a genre and it is surprising how many people even in the industry itself seem to forget that. So if you’re new to it all the best jumping off point is to ask yourself what books, movies, games etc you already like. Now if you’re a fan of the current pantheon of superhero movies being produced by the comic empires themselves then it becomes simple to go to your local comic store and find out what titles these characters are starring in. It can be off-putting at first to start reading a series that is already over 300-odd issues in, but comics aren’t like TV shows (no matter how much the publishers wish they could be) and there is rarely any disadvantage to skipping the first few “seasons”. Story arcs run in cycles, usually no longer

GUU collects donations for Northwest Foodbank Skye Brettell

L

iving and studying in Glasgow’s affluent west end is one of the many privileges our students enjoy- the bars, the clubs, the cafés and the wonderful architecture come together to really make the Glasgow University experience what it is, providing the perfect antidote to academic stress. However, for many people living in Glasgow, just getting food onto the table is a stressful task, facing the daily consequences of rising food prices and unemployment. It is estimated that 34% of the city’s children live below the poverty line, and it’s important for us to recognise this, not getting too wrapped

Where to start? than a handful of issues before the new scripts take over, you can pretty much jump in anywhere and if you really enjoy that run, look in comic stores or on EBay for back issues in the series.

Alternatively, you can pick up complete stories in collected editions that are released after the initial comic run if you just don’t have the patience to wait a month for the next issue.

But what if your tastes are slightly less super-powered? I can guarantee you that comics and graphic novels exist in every genre imaginable, from hard-boiled detective pulp (Sam & Twitch by Todd McFarlane), political and economic commentary (Supercrash by Darryll Cunningham) to slice-oflife semi-autobiographies that appear online (thedevilspanties. com by Jennie Breeden). In fact, the world of comics on the web is vastly underrated in the community, especially since they seem to have picked up the slack while the popular print newspapers are continually dropping their short-form comics pages. The web is not only a good way to find types of comics you like to read, but if you feel inspired to make one yourself it can be easier (and cheaper) to self-publish online, a valuable stepping stone in building a portfolio or just sharing your own unique contribution to the vast comics landscape.

up in the university bubble. This is why this year, the GUU has decided to give back to the local community- a supermarket trolley can be found on the main landing outside the kitchen where you can donate food to the North West Foodbank.

This volunteer-run organisation has dozens of dedicated members who create food packages as well as emergency relief packs for those who need it. Last semester a full trolley load was donated from GUU in November, and the smiles on the volunteers faces were to heart-warming to see when we dropped it off. This is proof of how brilliant this union is- when the members work together we can make something really important happen.

D

etails of the items most needed by the foodbank can be found on the GUU’s facebook page or at the trolley in the main foyer of GUU. All donations will be warmly received and MULTIPURPOSEMGZ | 19 help those who need it greatly.

20 | MULTIPURPOSEMGZ