InQuire 17.6

InQuire The University of Kent’s student publication

www.inquiremedia.org

Gift ideas, NYE & more: Christmas Special

Friday 3 December 2021 17.6

Natale on the other side of the Channel Culture: Page 16

Lifestyle: Page 5-7

Kent Union votes to Support our Striking Lecturers

By Alex Charilaou, Newspaper Editor

K

Kent

Unio

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President Claire Hurley, who spoke about the reasons staff are on strike this week and why student solidarity is important.

She was followed by Kent Union President Aisha Dosanjh, who explained that Kent’s student representatives had voted overwhelmingly to support staff on the picket line. Other speakers included members of CCCU UCU, Kent Union VicePresident (Academic Experience) Lupe Sellei and the Chair of DemocratiseUKC, who spoke of the importance of studentstaff solidarity. There were further events throughout Wednesday and Thursday.

Kent Union’s position of supporting this week’s strikes was arrived at after consultations between Kent Union, UCU and university management, as well as a series of student forums which took place in November. A recording of the 24th of November student forum can be found on Kent Union’s Instagram page. Postgraduate UCU member Anamika Misra

Phot

o by

ent Union Parliament passed a motion which commits Kent Union to supporting University and College Union (UCU) strike action from 1st – 3rd December. 13 members voted to support strike action, while 4 members voted against and 3 abstained. UCU are striking as part of two national disputes.

One dispute is about planned cuts to the university staff national pension scheme – UCU claims this cut might amount to over 40% of the current pensions rate in real terms. The other dispute concerns UCU’s Four Fights campaign. Four Fights is challenging falling pay, precarious employment practises, unmanageable workloads, and inequalities in the higher education sector: problems echoed by staff disputes at Kent. At the University of Kent, both the pensions ballot and Four Fights ballot for strike action received 53.4% turnout – over 50% turnout is the legal requirement needed for a workforce to begin strike action. The ‘Yes’ vote at Kent for the national pensions dispute was 79% in favour of strike action, around 3% over the national average. The ‘Yes’ vote for Four Fights strike action was 75%, which is 5% higher than the national average. Kent UCU will join 36 others across the country in undertaking strike action: tens of thousands of university staff across the UK are likely to be on strike this week. The strike opened on Wednesday with a series of pickets held by schools and divisions, followed by a larger march and rally at 10am.

After a loud, well-attended march from Plaza, a number of people were invited to speak outside Registry – the location of the Vice-Chancellor’s office. The first speaker was Kent UCU Branch

presented the reasoning behind strike action, and university management was represented by Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education and Student Experience) Richard Reece and Deputy Human Resources Director Nikki Hyde. Hyde said in her presentation that some exceptional circumstances required precarious contracts. When InQuire asked Hyde which circumstances she referred to, she responded that some reasons they’ve been used are legitimate, and some have been because “they’re the easiest thing to pick off the shelf”. Exceptional circumstances Hyde listed which she argued required precarious contracts included temporary cover, maternity cover and one-off events.

InQuire asked if this meant the university would commit to eliminating precarious contracts outside of these circumstances in the medium term, to which Hyde responded with the following: “in the medium term, we need to review how they’re being used”, before speaking about coming to an arrangement with Kent staff. Zaid Mahmood – Chair of the Activities Network and KU Parliament member – told InQuire why he felt it was necessary to vote for supporting these strikes: “Our teaching staff deserve better

from the uni because if they are overworked and underpaid, students won’t get the education that they deserve and pay for. I supported the motion because I believe that the teaching staff had the right to strike to get the university to listen to their demands.”

Another motion was presented to Kent Union Parliament in November: the foundation of a Medway Students’ Network. This motion was rejected by Kent Union Parliament. InQuire spoke to Thomas Freeston – a postgraduate representative on KU Parliament, and student representative on the University of Kent Council – about this motion, which he proposed. “I study at the Medway Business School.

I know there isn’t the same support or representation as there is in Canterbury.

There are currently networks for a range of marginalised communities: I thought having a Medway Network would be a great platform for Medway students.” We asked Thomas why he suspected the motion was rejected: “I was quite surprised – there was nothing controversial or bad about the idea, just more representation for a community which doesn’t often get it necessarily. I’m glad to have started a conversation about better representation for Medway. Even though this door has closed, it’s opened up more opportunities to fight for Medway’s voice.” Kent Union Parliament decided to invoke a KU by-law which allows Parliament to hold a secret ballot. The 25th November session practised such a ballot: in practise, this means students cannot know how their individual elected representatives voted.

As an anonymous third-year student told InQuire, “what kind of functioning democracy works in the shadows? We should know how our representatives are voting, and even if they bother to turn up.

Simple as”. InQuire will cover industrial action updates throughout 2022.

Feature: Pages 12-13

It's time toNews be Page 2 honest about Kent's history Entertainment: of slavery Pages 18-19 Satire Page 20

The Grinch speaks out: Why I stole Christmas

Magnetars & Strangeness: An Astrophysics Mystery Science & Technology Page 14

Plus:

Sport: page 24 it's ole over: social media's effect on manager sackings

2

Friday 3 December 2021 InQuire

News

Meet the team Committee

Tarini Tiwari Editor-in-Chief

editor@inquiremedia.org

Alex Charilaou Newspaper Editor

newspaper.editor@inquiremedia.org

Jake Yates-Hart Website Editor

website.editor@inquiremedia.org

Ainy Shiyam Head of Photography & Design photography@inquiremedia.org

Grace Bishop Head of Media & Events

media.events@inquiremedia.org

Johnathan Guy Head of Technology

technology@inquiremedia.org

Editorial Nathan Collins-Cope Newspaper News Editor

newspaper.news@inquiremedia.org

Gharam Al-Zubi Website News Editor

website.news@inquiremedia.org

Sam Webb Newspaper Opinion Editor

newspaper.opinion@inqiremedia.org

Dan Esson Website Opinion Editor

website.opinion@inquiremedia.org

Priya Hawes Newspaper Features Editor features@inquiremedia.org

Vacant Website Features Editor

website.features@inquiremedia.org

Grace Bishop Newspaper Lifestyle Editor

Interview with Kent's award winning student radio

By Ariana Piras and Sofia Saenz Hernandez News Writers

O

n the 30th anniversary of the Student Radio Awards, run by the Student Radio Association, Community and Student Radio (CSR) won the award for Best Station Sound.

The Student Radio Awards aims to give student stations a platform and celebrate student achievements within the radio community. This year’s awards were hosted by Aimee Vivian from Capital Radio and Dean McCullough from BBC Radio 1. CSR is the student radio station for the University, funded by Kent Union and the University of Kent. This year’s committee has worked hard on the station, winning their first award in 5 years. The Station won the same award for Best Station Sound in 2016. On the 10th November, the students involved in the radio station had the opportunity to present themselves at the O2 Indigo Arena. There, they were judged by a host of influential individuals in the Radio world, including James Stodd, an award-winning creative audio producer. Popular stations and big hitters in the industry such as Heart and Capital Radio were also in attendance.

The award was based off the Station’s sound, described by Station Manager and Production Team Leader Matt Podd as “all the stuff between t h e

newspaper.lifestyle@inquiremedia.org

songs”, which includes jingles and IDs. The entry consisted of all the content that the station had produced during 2021. The main focus was their stripped on-air output that cut to the jingles; however, it was a judgement of the radio station as a whole. After a difficult hand-over from the previous committee, CSR saw the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to revolutionize the radio station - with the help of Kent Union, who provided the station with tech support and process help necessary. Using a diverse range of voices and with the help of local artists, they recorded jingle packages to give CSR a new sound in an attempt to “put the station on the map.” The team were reassured and thrilled to be told that their jingles “wouldn’t be out of place on a national radio station” by one of the esteemed judges. The team were delighted to win the award after feeling as though the station had been “destroyed” by the pandemic, adding that it was “nice to finally put something back into the awards cabinet” in the SMC.InQuire had the opportunity to sit down with the Station Manager Matt Podd, discussing not only about the event but also his journey with CSR. A third

year Politics and International Relations student at the University of Kent, Matt joined CSR in his first year and has gained valuable experience in the industry and gained many prospects for his future. At the age of 18, he was scouted by the BBC after posting show reels of radio imaging on SoundCloud, and is now working as a Freelance Assistant Producer for the national broadcaster. His team produces audio for Radio 1, 1 Extra, 6 Music, Radio 2, and Asian Network. He informed us that most of the time when you hear songs mixed on the radio, they are pre-recorded into a package by someone like Matt – not mixed by the DJ. Notable work he has done with the BBC includes a project called Radio One’s Minute of Me – a project about the environment for which he led the creative process. For this project listeners from all over the world sent in their one-minute opinions on the environment - for which Matt then created the jingle. He has also had the opportunity to be involved in work for Reading and Leeds Festivals and Radio 1’s Big Weekend. Matt acknowledged that the opportunities he has received aren’t “normal”, and that he has been very lucky, though has worked hard to be in

the position that he is in today. On the topic of getting into the production and radio industry, Matt advised that the first step for a Kent student would be to buy a CSR membership and get involved in the various student media opportunities around campus. He told us that the most important step was simply to get in a studio and “teach yourself everything, don’t just learn one thing”. With the state of the current job market, Matt believes that diversifying your skillset and being versatile is essential to adapting to the labour market. Another useful tool is social media – following people in the industry on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn is crucial to “getting your name out there” and an accessible way to connect with professionals and seek advice from them. He emphasised the importance of being unrelenting in reaching out to as many professionals as you can. InQuire would like to congratulate Matt and the whole team, and thank them for bringing the spotlight on to University of Kent student media.

You can listen to CSR by going to the Kent Union website and clicking the 'CSR LISTEN LIVE' button on the homepage.

Katie Daly Website Lifestyle Editor

website.lifestyle@inquiremedia.org

Ed Streatfield Newspaper Entertainment Editor newspaper.entertainment @inquiremedia.org

Elena Martyn Website Entertainment Editor website.entertainment @inquiremedia.org

Juliette Moisan Newspaper Culture Editor

newspaper.culture@inquiremedia.org

Photos

by CSR

Eleanor Summers Website Culture Editor

website.culture@inquiremedia.org

Johnathan Guy Newspaper Science & Tech Editor technology@inquiremedia.org

Jamie Neil Website Science & Tech Editor science@inquiremedia.org

Samuel Leah Newspaper Sport Editor

newspaper.sport@inquiremedia.org

Omar Ahmed Website Sports Editor

website.sport@inquiremedia.org

Harvey Blazquez Newspaper Satire Editor

newspaper.satire@inquiremedia.org

Tahmid Morshed Website Satire Editor

website.satire@inquiremedia.org

Are you interested in running for office? The Kent Union Officer roles are up for election next term.

Positions like Kent Union President, Vice-President for Academic Experience, Vice-President for Student Engagement, Vice President for Welfare and Communities and Vice-President for Postgraduate Experience are all up for grabs. These are full-time, paid positions which will begin in 2022. For more information, check out the Kent Union Website.

Corrections

Enquiries

We will report any inaccurate information published as soon as the error is discovered. Editorial corrections, including factual errors, missing photo credits etc., will be printed on this page. For more information, contact Tarini Tiwari at editor@ inquiremedia.org

Mail and Office: Student Media Centre, Above Venue, Kent Union, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NW Additional copies may be found online at issuu.com/inquiremediagroup or on our website: www.inquiremedia.org Please report suspicious activity at our distribution racks by emailing editor@inquiremedia.org. © MMXXI InQuire Media Group, in partnership with the Canterbury Media Group. All rights reserved.

There are no corrections for 17.5 that we are aware of.

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If this is incorrect, and/or you have spotted a mistake in this issue, please contact us at editor@inquiremedia.org so that a correction can be issued in 17.7.

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3

InQuire Friday 3 December 2021

News

KTV RElaunch: "We're back Baby" T

he dawn of the post-covid period has brought about a new era of student media.

KTV has taken this opportunity for a fresh start and relaunched the station. “We’ve been going through a process of rebranding KTV – Covid has meant that we have been at a standstill for pretty much 2 years” Station Manager, Lina Ali told InQuire, when we sat down with her.

“It was a real struggle to just get content out. A lot of people didn’t know what KTV meant, and if

we were operating. It also happened to be our 10 year anniversary. So I thought it would be a great opportunity to have a whole refresh on campus.

That included changing the logo up, bringing out new merch, and bringing out a new website”, the latter of which Lina informed us was done inhouse by their Head of Graphics.

When we asked what KTV was all about, Lina read out their mission statement. “KTV will be entertaining, engaging and informative. It will be a source of entertainment and interactivity for all University of Kent students, regardless of your campus (which Lina said was big for her, being a Medway student), disability, gender, sexuality or religion”. KTV’s Head of Editing – Sven Stears - who also took part in the interview, interjected at this point. “You can quote me on saying: we are the shit”.

InQuire is happy to oblige this request.

Lina expanded on what the mission statement meant to her at this stage.

“We’re really big on pushing equality Logo provided by KTV this year – I don’t want student media

to just look one way. I want it to be as approachable as possible. It’s going to be a safe space for people to work with us on our content, but also work on their passion projects too” Lina affirmed with a friendly smile.

Sven added to this sentiment: “I think university as a whole concept gives people the chance and opportunity to ‘piss around’ – and when it comes to KTV specifically: we have access to a studio, to cameras, to editing equipment, to knowledge and expertise from the committee. You would struggle to find easy access to this type of thing outside of university. You normally don’t just walk into 3 years of your life where you get to play around with £5000 cameras, £1000 subscriptions to Adobe” he said with an understandably excitable tone. “Our membership fee is £5 a year!”

"For all of this equipment,” the Station Manager added, once the Head of Editing had finished speaking, “the workshops – any avenue you want to go down - and you can bounce around different departments. Essentially, you are just playing around - we push you to make mistakes” The pair then went on to talk about the opportunities KTV has to offer, talking proudly of their relationship with KMTV – a TV station based in the county, which has an audience of between 300,000-500,000 per day. They even hinted at a potential collaboration with the station in the near future.

Sven highlighted that the relationship with KMTV is particularly exciting because “if you want to go on an internship at a TV channel, then we can arrange it!” He told us of an experience where he was sat in their studio, while ITV was playing on one monitor, with the BBC on the other - and observed that “both of the presenters used to be KMTV employees”, showing the doors that KTV can open for students. “We’ve had con-

By Nathan Collins-Cope Newspaper News Editor

versations with previous KTV committees and members who have gone on to work in television, journalistic and professional media roles”.

On the flip side of things, he also paid tribute to the more humble and playful side of KTV. “Sometimes it’s just fun to piss about with your friends and a camera, and it doesn’t need to go further than that” he said with a reminiscent smile on his face.

When asked what different departments KTV has to offer, Lina told us of a few. KTV News, which she referred to as her “baby” – covers the Kent Union elections, as well as campus and local news. She also aims to bring coverage of ‘highlights of the week on campus, hopefully to be broadcast at Woodys in between matches. Varsity and BUCS coverage was also mentioned as a priority, with recognition to person of the match, when it came to KTV Sports.

Society spotlight was also something KTV plan to bring back – focusing on any student or campaign group that has done something amazing that month. They also mentioned the aim to generally give societies some air time, whether it’s stand-up comedy or spoken word. Sven indicated that KTV are open to any approaches from students or indeed student bodies, on whatever they think should be broadcasted. “We are not the arbiters of what gets produced.”

“If someone comes to us and says ‘you should have a half an hour show of somebody slapping a plastic cat’ and the student body goes crazy for it – then absolutely we’ll do it! But that’s a bad example” Sven said with a chuckle.

When asked what message KTV has to Kent students, Sven simply said “Work hard, party hard, fuckup hard.” Lina grinned, adding “We’re back baby, and we’re ready for you!”

Head Of UK Supreme Court Visits Kent

By Amber Lennox Local Affairs Correspondent

O

n the 15th of November, Kent Law School welcomed a very special guest. The President of the Supreme Court, Lord Reed arrived on the Canterbury campus at 11.30am, welcomed by Vice Chancellor Professor Karen Cox, the Head of Division, Professor Toni Williams, and the Head of School Professor Lydia Hayes.

Lord Reed accepted an invitation from Darren Weir, Kent Law School’s Director of Lawyering Skills, to visit the University after adjudicating on a moot (a simulated trail for the sake of education), by Kent mooters back in April of this year. Darren informed us that although Lord Reed had never previously visited, it had long been a desire for him. He wanted to see for himself what Kent Law School (KLS) land the University has to offer.

Lord Reed began his time with a tour of the campus, led by student ambassadors, before a meet and greet with the various Student Law Societies of KLS in the Eliot Staff Common Room.

For lunch, Lord Reed was welcomed into Beagles restaurant in Darwin College, where he proceeded to partake in an interview for the student-led journal, the Kent Law Review, which the author of this article was lucky enough to co-conduct.

Responding to questions such as how Covid has affected the inner workings of the Supreme Court, Lord Reed explained that it had increased the speed of transition towards a more digital workplace. He told us that it had always been his aim to move the court towards a paper-free means of working, but that the

lockdowns had made this reality more tangible, due to the demand created by people working from home and the potential transmission risks involved in physical documents.

More anecdotally, Lord Reed mentioned there had been the classic case peoples pets interrupting people video calling during trials. Indeed, he had to take precautions to keep his own cat out of his study, to ensure that proceedings were not disturbed - something that most can relate to.

The senior judge then sat in on a seminar on ‘Law, Literature, and Film’ led by Dr. Hayley Gibson. He expressed great interest at the prospect of this, speaking of his pursuit of films and books in his spare time.

InQuire was reliably informed that he found his time in the seminar very interesting and was greatly impressed by what the students had to offer, as he had been throughout the day.

Our highly esteemed visitor then went on to take in various Pecha Kucha Presentation (a style of where the speaker spends 20 seconds on each slide, for the sake of keeping the delivery concise), by Kent Law School academics and researchers on their areas of interest at the moot court, before then sitting in on an hour-long speed-Moot event with 36 students in Woolf Lecture Theatre.

The judge finished his day with a student Q&A, also in Woolf Lecture Theatre, where he was asked a wide range of questions from the funniest thing to happen to him in Court, to his take on legal education in relation to the profession which it is meant to prepare students for.

Lord Reed explained that he has, funnily enough, witnessed genuine “runners” from court, although

they rarely got very far. But the judge had a funnier tale to tell. He recounted to the room the story of a woman who was meant to be testifying against her son-in-law on behalf of her daughter.

However, things did not go as planned. It turned out that the mother had fallen out with her daughter prior to the court appearance, resulting in the woman refusing to answer any of Lord Reeds questions.More seriously, during the Q&A Lord Reed asserted that the w a y in which we learn t h e Law at university is almost entirely inconsistent with how the practice actually works.

Law changes every 2-3 years, if not every year.

Thus, rather than equipping students with knowledge that will no longer be current a few years after they’ve graduated, he suggests that we equip them with the skills to adapt to a constantly changing legal landscape, such as how to perform statutory interpretation.

Which begs the question: what would other leaders of their fields say about the education leading into them? Perhaps our approach to learning, in general, requires an overall shift?

Photo of article author and Lord Reed,

by Amber Lennox

4

Friday 3 December 2021 InQuire

News

Westminster Bubble Burst by Tory Sleaze

By Harvey Blazquez, News Writer

T

he government’s response to Owen Paterson’s parliamentary conduct developed into a political scandal that has relevance outside of the “Westminster bubble”. With interest rates projected to hit 5% this spring, the debate over MPs having lucrative second jobs looks likely to retain political salience as the average voter feels a financial strain.

Paterson, former MP for North Shropshire, was found to have made multiple breaches of lobbying rules by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, with the findings released in late October. The

breaches included ten separate approaches to the Food Standards Agency on behalf of Randox and Lynn’s Country Foods, companies for which Patterson was a paid consultant, as well as a further four approaches to the Department for International Development on behalf of Randox. Paterson defended his actions, claiming that his approaches to government agencies constituted whistleblowing that “saved lives”, rather than amounting to paid advocacy for the benefit of Randox and Lynn’s Country Foods.

Photos via/by Irish Mirror and Diego Nunes

Despite the standards committee recommending a 30-day suspension for Paterson, the government backed Paterson when the suspension motion was debated in the Commons on the 3rd November. The government issued a three-line whip instructing Conservative MPs to vote for the motion, with an amendment from Andrea Leadsom that proposed delaying the suspension of Paterson until changes were made to the conduct investigation process.

Leadsom argued that the existing system was unfair and that “our investigatory process should more closely reflect the laws of natural justice”; Leadsom particularly emphasised the need for accused MPs to have access to an independent appeals process.

The motion passed with a majority of 18, with 13 Tories voting against it and many more abstaining.

Within a day of this vote, the government u-turned on its stance and announced that another vote on Paterson’s suspension would take place in the future. Later that day, the 4th November, Paterson announced his resignation as MP for North Shropshire. Keir Starmer, Leader of the Opposition, reacted: “What happened

in the last 24 hours is corrupt. There’s no other word for it. To rip the whole system up to protect Owen Paterson is corrupt.” Starmer’s attack on Johnson continued on the 8th November, during an emergency Commons debate that Prime Minister Johnson did not attend. Starmer accused Johnson of “running scared” and described a “pattern of behaviour” from the PM that was also visible with Johnson’s attempts to weaken the Electoral Commission after it investigated his Downing Street flat refurbishment.

The extent of Paterson’s earnings from his side jobs opened up a debate into whether MPs’ ability to take on second jobs should be restricted.

This issue is particularly sensitive to Conservative MPs with 90 of them, a quarter of the parliamentary party, holding second jobs. The revelation that Geoffrey Cox MP, a Conservative, had earned £900,000 in the last year working as a lawyer in the British Virgin Islands was especially damaging. Natalie Elphicke’s £36,000 a year second job was also exposed, only months after she suggested that Marcus Rashford ought to stick to his day job. However, there is little desire within the Commons for a blanket ban on second jobs, with MPs such as Rosena Allin-Khan carrying out valuable work as an A&E doctor. Analy-

sis from The Guardian found that 30 MPs, including 28 Conservatives, hold roles as consultants or advisers for private companies; it is in these jobs that the line between consultancy and lobbying can become blurred.

Starmer sensed a chance to exact an embarrassing defeat on the government by bringing forward a proposal to ban MPs from taking on consultancy jobs, but Johnson announced a weaker proposal on the 16th November, the day before Labour’s proposal was to be debated. The government backed proposal passed on the 17th November. The government’s proposal suggests the banning of consultancy jobs, like Labour’s proposal, but does not give MPs a deciding vote when the standards committee eventually publishes its recommendations.

The issue of second jobs is far from over, as is the broader issue of ‘Tory sleaze’. Starmer is voicing his intentions to introduce even tougher limits on second jobs should Labour win power. On top of this, Labour has already made its first moves on the next sleaze scandal, as it presses the government to release full details surrounding the allocation of Covid-testing contracts worth £600 million to Randox, the company which Owen Paterson himself worked for.

ETHiOPIA - FROM NOBEL PRIZE TO CIVIL WAR

By Sophia Lueneburg, Politics Correspondent

O

n the 2nd of November the Ethiopian government declared a state of emergency after rebels from the northern region of the country (Tigray) started their advance on the capital Addis Ababa.

In year 2019 prime minister Abiy received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to resolve conflicts with neighbouring Eritrea. Now his country is close to falling apart, possible dragging down some of its neighbours with it.

Since Ethiopia’s government transition in 2018 there has been tension between Mr. Abiy’s central government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a rebel group that ruled Ethiopia from the 1991 until 2018 as a leading coalition party. Under the TPLF Ethiopia’s economy grew and remained stable, even though the region around it did not. However, democratic rights were largely restricted.

This led to large protests and resulted in Mr. Abiy becoming prime minister in 2018, promising democratic reforms for the country. The TPLF has since refused to take part in the new government, even though other former rebel groups from the last coalition have moved into the new ruling party. In their home region, Tigray, the TPLF remained in power, representing Ethiopia’s third largest ethnic group that makes up to 7% of the pop-

ulation.

During the first years of the new government, fears that Mr. Abiy plans to centralize Ethiopia’s government grew. Critics even say that the peace agreement with Eritrea had been a facade to go after their shared enemy the TPLF. Last year Tigray held regional elections, that led to an escalation of tensions. Regional elections were not the issue, as Ethiopia is a federalist state, but Mr. Abiy had postponed them due to Covid-19.

The TPLF ignored this call and held elections. Since then, the central and regional governments refuse to acknowledge each other, escalating the situation further.

The government cut its funding for Tigray as a response and later, in November 2020, Tigrayan forces attempted to steal weapons from a military base. A violent conflict erupted, leading to more than two million people fleeing from their homes in Tigray.

Tigray in total has a population about seven million.

During the last year government and Tigrayan forces have been dragged into a drawn-out struggle for power and military supremacy in Tigray.

Now the government has lost important ground and was forced out of the region in June. Tigrayan forces began to march east and south aiming for the capital Addis Ababa.

During the past year a multitude of human rights abus-

es have been recorded, as both parties have been extremely aggressive.

Ethiopian and Eritrean forces have killed hundreds of civilians in Tigray, going as far as murdering men in their hospital beds, while Tigrayan armed groups have been accused of murder and rape within UN refugee camps.

Since the outbreak of the conflict, the situation has only worsened.

In November 2021 more than 1000 people, suspected to have ties to the TPLF, have been detained by the government in only 7 days. UN staff is still being held in the capital and international aid has been hindered from providi n g

food and supplies to Tigrayans, as the government has blocked roads.

The UN has warned that the region will experience a famine, if no aid is allowed in, 400.000 Tigrayans are already starving. As a response, UN officials were expelled from the country.

Other humanitarian aid organizations have already been banned. Now fuel supplies are running low, making humanitarian activities even more challenging. The Economist state that only a UN arms embargo would deescalate the situation, but that the veto power of Russia

and China have already stopped the UN security council from discussing Ethiopia for then times already.

Both countries have however, not granted Mr. Abiy any support outside the council. Sanctions by US are prone to come, and the EU and US can stop the Ethiopian government from an IMF emergency loan.

Ethiopia’s future today is unclear, but a quick end to the conflict is unlikely and Ethiopia’s special status as a stabilizer for the region is gone. After Myanmar’s late president Aung Sang Suu Kyi, Mr. Abiy is now the second head of state in recent years with both a Nobel Peace Prize and a country drowning in a humanitarian crisis, largely by the hand of government forces.

Photo Ethopian Woman who fled Tigray, from Reuters

5

InQuire Friday 3 December 2021

Lifestyle

How to Spend NYE after Two Years of Covid?

I

don’t know about you but I have zero plans for New Years Eve this year. It almost feels weird going out having been imprisoned in our houses for the last however many months. Lockdown has almost forced us into becoming home bodies and to be completely honest; I don’t mind it?

Despite this, since being back at University I have definitely made the most of my social life having been deprived of this for what seems like forever.

Spending 6 out of 7 nights drinking has definitely done my liver some damage and in need of a few nights at home.

Although now we are able to Photo by Ibrihim Boran Elinar/Unsplash go out, how

would you like to celebrate New Years Eve? Will the biggest night of the year be the same?

Cocktails at Home: Although New Years Eve is the biggest night of the year; I can’t help but want to stay in? The idea of being pushed and shoved in a crowd and manage to get one mediocre but massively overpriced drink doesn’t seem that appealing anymore. Staying at home in the warmth with a fully stocked booze cupboard remains my personal favourite choice. Invite all of your nearest and dearest over and pop open the bubbly with some Christmas music on in the background.

If you fancy going the extra mile then you can always mule your own wine? Pick up some party food (M&S do great bundles) and enjoy a night of fun with your girlfriends.

Clubbing: If you’re a partier and crave a night out then a classic pre drinks and then bar crawl is the perfect combo before going to your favourite night club and dancing until you hear the countdown from midnight. It’s also the easiest place to find someone to kiss at midnight if you believe in good luck. Who knows, you might meet someone special to spend the New Year with? Ending the night at

an early hour of the morning with a greasy plate of food is a fun way to celebrating the end of lockdown! Its also a great opportunity of getting some glamorous and candid Instagram photos for 2022.

Pub and Food: If you’d like to celebrate while still getting an early night then going out during the day is perfect. Choosing to go out for breakfast, lunch or dinner is the best option for those who don’t crave a night of boozing it up (just make sure you book!). Order a cosy meal with a nice bottle of wine and you are set for a relaxed evening with those you love the most around you.

Head home at a sensible hour to the sofa for a relaxed evening in front of the TV to watch the London fireworks.

Cosy Night in: For those who don’t drink or fancy a sober and cosy night in then we have the best option. Grab yourself some games; whether it be monopoly or a classic game of charades - and your loved ones for a night of fun. Or cosy up on the sofa with a takeaway or a hot chocolate and pick a festive film to binge.

Alternatively a night of self care ready for the commencement of 2022 is ideal; run a bubble bath and put on a face pack. What better to go into the new year than relaxed?

"It almost feels weird going out having been imprisoned in our houses for the last however many months."

By Grace Bishop Newspaper Lifestyle Editor/Media & Events

Best Lunch Spots on Campus W

Photo by Jennifer Schmidt/Unsplash Schmidt/Unsplash

ith exams and assignments piling up, sometimes we need to treat ourselves to lunch on campus - and I’m not talking about the sad meal deals from co-op, because let’s face it, they’re only “okay” on a good day. On top of all this, the weather has decided to take a turn, leaving us with a feeling of frostbite when entering the cold seminar rooms of Elliot or Templeman. So, when you don’t feel like packing a cold lunch and just want something warm to fill you up, consider making a little stop at these places on campus: Taste of Thailand: If you haven’t tried taste of Thailand yet, are you even considered to be a student at UKC? Located just opposite the Co-op on central campus, the stall will have your mouths salivating with the scents of noodles, curry and garlic wafting through the air the closer you get. All for about 7£, this food truck will give you that extra strength and will to live when re-entering the “Templeman of doom” with it’s aromatic pad thai and red thai curry (meat and vegetarian items available). My own personal favourite place to eat on campus as you also get a loyalty card meaning if you buy 10 meals, you’ll get the 11th free! No wonder this place has everyone coming back, time and time again.

Hut8: Next up we have Hut8. Located just under turing reception, it is admittedly a bit of a walk from central campus however, it is worth it. Trust me. With an American theme of burgers, pizzas and wraps, it is the perfect place to wined down and play some air hockey with your friends. There are so many tasty treats to choose from, you’ll end up going back to try everything. For only 6£, the meal deals are a steal and will leave you with a full stomach and won’t leave your bank account crying either. Be warned: the churros will end up filling a void you didn’t think you had.

Sibson café: For all you health nuts out there, don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you. Although stuffing your face is amazing

at the time you’re doing it, you often feel sluggish after and are unable to be as productive as you wanted to be. If you want something fresh and healthy but tasty, Sibson café -located close to the campus gym - is the place to go! With vegan and vegetarian options being widely available and a weekly changing menu, there are a plethora of healthy options for you and your friends to enjoy; maybe even after having a good workout in the gym. The calming atmosphere will contribute to your productive day without you even

By Priya Hawes realising.

Newspaper Features Editor

Photo by Tessa22/Unsplash

6

Friday 3 December 2021 InQuire

Lifestyle

Gift Ideas for your Loved Ones This Christmas!

By Grace Bishop

Newspaper Lifestyle/Media & Events

Photo by Olesia Buyar/Unsplash

S

truggling on what you’ll get your loved ones this Christmas?

It seems like a never ending battle of figuring out what to get someone followed by the dread of them opening it. If you’re family is efficient then you’ll make Christmas lists for one another.

However ours tend to just guess; which can sometimes be great and sometimes be terrible as you can probably imagine.

The customary socks and underwear seems to be a plus when you’re constantly running out of these. Maybe the dog has taken them or they just magically disappear in the laundry. But socks remain a (semi boring) but practical and appreciated present.

Stocking Fillers: Stocking fillers are a great opportunity to give some practical and some may say boring gifts. Socks, underwear, cleanser and everyday toiletries are perfect essentials to ensure the person will love and more importantly use. Stationary, mugs and candles are perfect for the workaholic of the family.

Calling all of my hot drink lovers out there. Whether it be a coffee mug, chocolate bomb or high quality coffee beans, there is always a great present out there. Costa coffee do a gift set of their most popular coffee syrups including Honeycomb, Gingerbread, Hazelnut,

Vanilla and Caramel. Alternatively Pret a gifts always trump expensive. A homemade Manger do a monthly subscription to their scrapbook of photos or a day trip somewhere coffee for £20 in which you can get unlimwill always be a top tier gift. Maybe ited coffee. try taking them out for dinner Bigger Presents: When thinking about somewhere or make their ‘main’ present, try and think about something sentiwhat the person needs or wants? For wommental. en you can never go wrong with some self Regardcare bits including face masks, nail polish, less of the hair masks and bath salts. Men can be a presents, little trickier however I’d stick to shaving whatever toiletries such as shaving foam, razors and you are after-balm or (if you are brave enough) given; venture into clothing? Jumpers, slippers try to and dressing gowns are the exception put on wherein you can buy them clothes without a smile them ever wearing them outside the house. even if it Its a win win! isn’t your Obviously vouchers are always great! favourite Whether they’re cinema tickets, meals out present beor clothing discounts they are a perfect cause chances present when you are stumped on what are they’ve to buy. Alternatively money is also a good spent a lot of time present; although it is less thoughtful trying to make you younger teenagers will really appreciate this happy. The least you can you financial independence from their parents. is fake it until you make it and tell them you love it. Even if it is the Unique Ideas: Although everyone asmost horrible jumper in the world. sumes that you need to give a physical presPhoto by Irena Galeeva/Unsplash ent at Christmas, it is not necessarily true. Who said you cant give something handmade and personal?

Previously I made a little hamper for my sister; filled with face masks and things personal to her with a collage of photos on the top.

Its safe to say she loved it! Although it was cheap to make, the time and energy that went into the handmade present meant more than money spent on it.

If you’d like something a little different then why not organise a day trip?

Virgin Experience Days remains bookmarked in my phone and is a great way into tricking the person into thinking you got them nothing this year. After lockdown I organised a weekend trip in the Isle of Wight for me and my partner and it was ridiculously cheap as well as a memory that I will treasure for years to come. My own personal favourite gift is something in which the person has spent a lot of Photo by Tailsia Shestopal/Unsplash Shestopal/Unsplash time thinking and planning. Thoughtful

"Struggling on what you'll get your loved ones this Christmas? It seems like a never ending battle of figuring out what to get someone followed by the dread of them opening it."

7

InQuire Friday 3 December 2021

Lifestyle

A Guide to Your Christmas Caffeine Fix A

re you obsessed with coffee? I proudly hold my hands up and say that ‘I am addicted to buying coffee’. My bank account may hate me for it but I just can’t contain my thirsty addiction. Especially when Christmas is just around the corner and the new Christmas menu’s come out! How can you muster up self control and not try them all? It would be rude not to..? There is something about freshly ground coffee drank out of paper cups warming your hands whilst you’re out and about that you just can’t beat.

As is gets colder and darker outside a cup of something is a great way to warm yourself up.

Hopefully this article provides some recommendations to my fellow coffee lovers; I hope I don’t disappoint.

Chai Latte: With Autumn and Winter creeping up on us, a hot cup of something always hits the spot. Plus if you’re like me and drowning in assignments then a caffeine boost is exactly what you need on those mundane Monday afternoons. A cosy blend of cinnamon and coffee is the perfect addition to a rainy day. Chai Latte’s hold a very special place in my heart and for a very good reason, if you haven’t tried these then I don’t know what you are doing with your life. The truly taste like Autumn in a cup.

Gingerbread Latte: For me, the pinnacle of Christmas is the emergence of the Costa Christmas menu which features my one true love; the gingerbread latte. If you’re feeling like treating yourself then opt for cream and a little gingerbread man to complete the mid afternoon snack. A spiced autumn drink is the perfect motivation to finish your

Uni work and reward yourself for a productive days work at the library. Although gingerbread is not everybody’s first choice, the latte tastes like a cosy blend of nutmeggy sweetness and spiced coffee.

Old Fashioned Hot Chocolate: You can NEVER beat a good old fashioned hot chocolate. Covered in an abundance of whipped cream and as many marshmallows as you can fit in your mug. If you’d like to switch this up this Christmas then Costa do a white hot chocolate (which I can safely say is delish!) It tastes like a warm and comforting mug of slightly sweetened milk with loads of cream - obviously filled with calories but worth every single one in my opinion. Or the newest Ruby hot chocolate which is bright pink! Definitely worth an Instagram picture if you opt for one of these. The ruby hot chocolate is a perfect balance between cocoa and strawberry (I know it sounds strange but trust me here). It is ideal for those with a sweet tooth.

Pumpkin Spice Latte: Similar to the Chai Latte, a pumpkin spice latte really does feel like Autumn in a mug. With flavours of nutmeg, cinnamon and (the obvious) pumpkin, its really does feel like Christmas is well on its way. Personally the Starbucks latte is my favourite, however the Library cafe do a great cup at a much more affordable price! So when you’re cramming through hours of lectures and endless pages of assignment prep in Templeman, why not treat yourself? You deserve it!

Terry’s Chocolate Orange Hot Chocolate: Similar to last year Costa

"Are you obsessed with coffee?; As it gets colder and darker outside, a cup of something is a great way to warm yourself up."

brought out the Terry’s Chocolate Orange Hot Chocolate. This is quite possibly the richest hot chocolate I have ever dared to order and so only managed about 3 sips. Luckily my boyfriend was there to finish the rest and he adores them. If you have a sweet tooth then these are perfect for you. You even get a tiny Chocolate Orange segment on the side as well as whipped cream. By Grace Bishop Its like a warm Newspaper Lifestyle/Media & Events cup of melted chocolate.

Photo by Katie Azi/Unsplash

The Best Christmas Movie Watchlist!

By Grace Bishop

Newspaper Lifestyle Editor/Media & Events

W

hen is it too early to start watching Christmas movies?

If you’re like me then I want to put one on the minute Halloween is over. But following orders from loved ones I need to wait until December. (Christmas Grinch’s if you ask me). Its often feels like a punPhoto by Dilyara Garifullina/Unsplash ishment, that may be slightly dramatic however Christmas is the best time of year.

With an abundance of coloured lights, cosy and cold weather, twinkly decorations and of course the classic films make

this time of year special. A way to escape the mundane routine and celebrate with your loved ones annually. Get cosy on Christmas Eve with a warm cup of hot chocolate (covered in marshmallows) and put the crackling fire on to heat up the house. Snuggling up to a film once all the work is done is a great way to start the festivities.

Hopefully below are some Christmas movie recommendations that you will enjoy.

Classics: When you think of Christmas films there are always the certain ones which pop into your head immediately considering you’ve probably sat through them about a thousand times over the years and will probably sit through them another thousand times because of how great they are.

They probably not only remind you of your childhood at Christmas but will also remind your children of theirs; a never ending cycle of tradition.

Recommendations: Home Alone, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Elf, The Holiday, Scrooged, Miracle on 34th Street, Love Actually, Bad Santa, Deck the Halls, The Christmas Chronicles, Home Alone 2 Lost in NY, Last Holiday, The Night Before, Four Christmases, Office Christmas Party, Krampus.

Older: There is something oddly comforting about old movies.

The black and white Hollywood productions, maybe reminding you of your childhood. These heartwarming classics will always remain staple movies of Christmas history. athe Red Nosed Reindeer, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s a Wonderful Life, Meet Me in St Louis, Jingle all the Way, Frosty the Snowman, Prancer, White Christmas, Jack Frost.

Children Films: Often around Christmas there is a lot of to.

Endless wrapping of presents, cooking and cleaning which feels never ending and decorating your houses as best you can.

If there are younger children running around it may feel like an impossible task. So by putting them in front of the TV with a mince pie and leaving them to their own devices can be the best distraction.

Recommendations: A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Nightmare before Christmas, A Christmas Carol, The Family Stone, The Polar Express, Christmas with the Kranks, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas, Fred Claus, The Man who Invented Christmas, Arthur Christmas, Jingle all the Way.

"With an abundance of

coloured lights, cosy and cold weather, twinkly

decorations and of course

the classic films that make this time of year special."

8

Friday 3 December 2021 InQuire

Opinion

The Astroworld tragedy shows a fatal lack of judgement.

By Sam Webb, Newspaper Opinion Editor

A

fter the horrific events at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival a month ago, many questions are still unanswered. The festival now ranks as one of the deadliest US concerts ever.

Many have questioned how there could be so much of a lapse of concentration on safety for attending festivalgoers now deep into the 21st century. At least 10 are confirmed to have been killed, including a 9-year-old. The tragedy has been compared to a 1979 concert by The Who where 11 people were

killed after fans stampeded into the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati.

In the aftermath, it has been questioned who will be held legally responsible for the incidents. Many were injured, including 23 hospitalised (11 in cardiac arrest), and more than 300 treated in an onsite hospital. At least 46 civil lawsuits have been filed in Texas seeking damages for death or injuries, and among those sued have been Travis Scott, Drake, and Live Nation Entertainment, the organisers. While normally after mass deaths at previous events, the onstage performer has not been held liable, Astroworld may be a different issue. Scott

Photo by Tijs van Leur/Unsplash

wasn’t just a performer at the event, but also an organiser and supervisor. Not only this, but he is known for his history of riling up crowds, with little concern for safety. He’s been arrested twice for encouraging concertgoers to ignore security and storm his stage, and in 2017 was sued after encouraging fans to jump from a balcony at a New York venue which led to one fan becoming paralysed after being pushed.

Concert organisers and Houston city officials were aware that crowds at the festival would be difficult to control. The Houston police chief reportedly met with Travis Scott before the main event, expressing his concerns regarding public safety and crowd control. At the last event in 2019, three fans were transported to hospital with leg injuries after they were trampled. However, only 47 police officers were at the 2019 festival, which was vastly increased to over 500 on-duty officers at this year’s event.

One organisation named as a defendant in multiple lawsuits is a security contractor called Contemporary Services Corporation.

People employed by this company have claimed that there was little training given, and was haphazard and rushed. There was reportedly ‘nothing regarding crowd control or what to do if a crowd surges’, as well as an instructor giving out answers so that workers would not fail the basic tests. It is for this reason that many hired have said that they felt unprepared for the event, especially as they were not informed as to what specific tasks they would be undertaking. Many of those employed allegedly abandoned their posts, removing their security vests and choosing to go and watch the concert instead. Some people have come forward explaining that training was so dire that they did not feel comfortable undertaking their duties, and so quit before the festival had

even begun.

This lack of extensive training for security is likely to be where many issues started. When those meant to be taking care of concertgoers are not comfortable with their duties due to minimal training, there is little hope that an event will have sufficient security measures. When contractors are more concerned with securing lucrative monetary deals rather than teaching their employees basic CPR, there is a colossal issue. The safety and security of those in attendance should always be of the highest priority. This is not to say that the artist and organisers should not bear some responsibility. While at this stage it is debated how much Travis Scott was aware of the events taking place in front if him, individuals attempted to inform authorities in order to calm the situation. Scott reportedly paused the show multiple times, informing security of specific issues, as well as attempting to calm the crowds.

However, these were immediately followed by its resumption, including encouraging further energy and chaos in the crowd. Images on social media have also emerged of people scaling structures in attempts to try and inform organisers of the conditions, as well of crowds chanting to ‘stop the show’.

One disturbing video shows two people climbing onto the stage, shouting at a cameraman that ‘there is someone dead down there’. Rather than investigating further or enlisting others to help, they were ignored.

Whilst Scott finished playing around 20 minutes earlier than advertised, this was still half an hour after the significance of the disaster was apparent. Those in charge of event security should have stopped it before it got even worse, but this had to be balanced with the danger of further exacerbating the situation, such as causing a crush at the exits. In all, the horrifying events that happened in the third Astroworld was a failure on a number of different levels. There is not just one individual to blame.

The intersectional aspect of street violence is too important to ignore.

By Amber Lennox Local Affairs Correspondent

I have written about violence on the streets, in one capacity or another, a few times now; I’ve spoken about it with various people far more times. The more I write about it, and the more I discuss it, the more I realise that it’s not a problem faced by just one specific group of people. This may seem an obvious statement, however, it is something I am realising is apparently forgotten, often by the groups themselves.

Last year I wrote an opinion piece on Sarah Everard and what her tragic case highlighted; earlier this term I wrote a piece about my own experience with a certain Wetherspoons bouncer, and what microaggressions against women can lead to. I wrote my last feature piece on violence faced by homeless people living on the streets; and in InQuire’s last edition I covered the Reclaim these Streets march in Canterbury. I myself may be guilty of taking a biased approach; most of my pieces have centred on women and the violence we face both on and off of the streets. Admittedly, this is because it’s the group I most identify with, but it’s not an excuse to pay less attention to those facing the same problem. In fact, it’s reason to pay more attention to

them, so that we can allow the voices of all groups to be heard.

For instance, When I covered the Reclaim these Streets march, I noticed a man following along with the parade. He was homeless and, evidently, wanted to share his story with the crowd (as many others were doing). When I asked another participant of the march about him, they explained how they had seen one of the protest leaders tell him that although they were sorry to hear he’d faced hardship, the march was not a suitable platform for him. She explained that she had witnessed his story negated and ignored and explained that she didn’t believe it was right to choose which people you can focus on when concerning any subject. Later, Ray, another participant of the march, stood up and highlighted this when they said that ‘street safety, like everything, is an intersectional issue’ that everyone can be affected by.

Despite this, I then witnessed, at the final stop on the march, the same man attempting to share his story again. This was something that everyone else in the march had been invited to do (no matter if they were trans, non-binary, gay, or identified with any other group, as they should). However, yet again, before he could get up, an organiser grabbed the microphone from the previous speaker and ex-

plained that they would be saying the final thank you and holding a vigil. Both important things, however, it persisted in shutting down a significant story from a member of the homeless.

Patricia Shulz, a scholar on intersectionality, defines it as a ‘negative synergy of the various elements that operates to deprive a person of their rights and to submit them to domination, discrimination and oppression’. Kimberlé Crenshaw, the seminal writer on intersectinality describes it as 'a frame that prompts us to ask what falls between movements and what happens when these different systems of power and oppression overlap'.

Essentially, we’re not just one thing and one time; we’re multiple things, all of the time. I recently had a debate with someone who believes that intersectionality is too broad with no clear parameters for when to ‘stop’. They explained they feel there’s no true definition of anyone by the time you’re finished applying all the potential different groups.

Although I understand the idea of questioning why we should put people in ‘boxes’ to begin with, it’s important to acknowledge these groups that people belong to so we can then identify the struggles they face. However, perhaps there is then an argument to let people ‘out of their boxes’. Combatting an issue cannot be reliant on the group which faces it, it

is dependent that the perpetrators of the prejudice and violence can recognise they are the issue, and act to change this.

Either way, even if the term ‘intersectionality’ is debatable or argued to be problematic, it shouldn’t matter! Don’t get caught up in the terminology, focus on what that word is capturing; the fact that it represents different issues that different groups are facing. It’s not about the word, it’s about what it represents. The point remains, you cannot champion the rights of some while ignoring the rights of others. You cannot in one breath state that the right to safety on the streets is a human right, but then silence the voice of those who do not suit your narrative. Human rights are for all people, and when you silence one of those people, you are either saying they have no right to speak up and share their problems, or you are dehumanising the group you elect to ignore.

The views expressed in each article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of InQuire Media. To publish a response, contact newspaper.opinion@inquiremedia.org

9

InQuire Friday 3 December 2021

Opinion

Have we become too caught up with the ideals of a ‘perfect Christmas’?

By Alice Stone Opinion Writer

T

he beginning of the Christmas period leaves us all feeling differently, usually separating us into two different groups: those who love it and those who don’t. Whether you’re a festive fiend or a grinch, the Christmas season does give most people a much-needed break. It offers an opportunity to see family members that you may or may not be avoiding and, most importantly, festive food. However, Christmas has become more and more like a masquerade that's done not because we enjoy it but because we feel socially obligated.

And whilst this may appear to be a cynical and jaded mindset to have, can you really blame me? Once the magical realm that Christmas had in childhood dissipates and you realise that Santa wasn’t actually in your primary school assembly hall and may instead have been someone’s Grandad reluctantly dressed in red, you see Christmas more for what it is: a money-grabbing, consumer-driven machine.

For those who don’t celebrate Christmas, the craze around the season must seem ridiculous, and especially the commercialised scramble it has become.

This seems pronounced with the ongoing shortages in a post-Brexit era, as supply-chain shortages will only exacerbate this frenzy. Even in an uncertain ‘post’-pandemic market, the run up to Christmas is worth billions to many European and Western economies. The UK and US in particular spend the big bucks on the festive period, and expenditure figures rise each year. In 2019 alone, before the pandemic had hit us, the UK is estimated to have forked out £26.9 billion for Christmas gifts

alone, with the average British household spending £1,116 on the festive period. In the same year, the US is estimated to have spent over $1 trillion. And admittedly, the season can be hugely economically beneficial. Consumer demand creates jobs, boosts production and gives businesses an opportunity to explore new avenues. It’s a spending mania that,

off. In some countries, one in five people go into debt to pay for gifts and festivities. The commercial pressure to spend big leaves many of us worse off: two-fifths of Europeans feel pressure to spend more money than intended. It seems that then we lose the spirit of Christmas in our consumerism.

This pressure to splash out therefore appears to be

Photo by Juliana Malta/Unsplash

in most places, guarantees a positive cash flow for companies every year, and in doing so gives a temporary boost to the economy. But despite its notable economic benefits, the pressure to ‘have a good one’ often puts the average person worse

governed by this ideal of Christmas, rather than the ‘spirit’ of it. Even though the magic of Christmas may have faded in childhood, we are keen to try to maintain it as consumers.

I will say, I’m not heartless. I’m not saying to

eradicate the spending on Christmas entirely, I’m merely wishing the whole thing didn’t feel so superficial, so driven by the need to keep up appearances.

I wish it wasn’t a masquerade and I could go back to the days of believing Santa and his reindeer were on my roof. Despite my cynicism, there are aspects of Christmas that are unique to the season. I can’t be the only one that gets slightly giddy when they start hanging lights in the town centre, or when festive markets start popping up, even if they are a little early. The energy of Christmas coming back and the promise of turkey sandwiches and mince pies (or other festive food if you find those abhorrent) is almost enough to combat the feeling of dread when you start seeing Christmas cards on supermarket shelves in August. To me, Christmas appears in its best form in the little things. It can still be the promise of a good time, even if you aren’t spending big. Gathering family members and friends we haven’t seen for a while around someone's house, food on the table and the same five songs playing on repeat in the background makes some of that frenzy worth it. Whether it's making decorations to hang on the tree, building flimsy gingerbread houses, or unwrapping a fourth pair of socks, it’s the little things that count for the most. This is what we remember most fondly, rather than the overly expensive gifts that’ll most likely be forgotten by next year. So, hang up your decorations, put up the tree and embrace the festive season as much as you can without getting too caught up in the consumerist masquerade of it all. Make the most of the little things and remember in the case of disappointment, there's always next year!

10

Friday 3 December 2021 InQuire

Entertainment

It's a Wonderful Life: All Time Greatest Xmas Film?

By Harry Brown, Entertainment Writer

C

hristmas is a very wonderful time for those who celebrate; There is a unification of family, food and cheer. And with every year we sit down with our families and watch Christmas films that include Santa, being swayed by the Christmas spirit or Die Hard (Home alone is in the third category). One Christmas film that has persisted through the decades into the hearts of families is Frank Capra’s 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life.

In 2018, The Radio Times labelled It’s a Wonderful Images courtesy of NTA

Life as the favourite Christmas film of the Brits, and places top in many lists alike.

The film follows the ‘Wonderful’ life of George Bailey, played by the ever-brilliant James Stewart.

From when he was a child working in a chemist and sweet shop to becoming a family man as an adult.

However, after one eventful Christmas Eve George ponders committing suicide. He is then saved by angel trying to earn his wings called Clarence, played

by Henry Travers, when Clarence shows George Bailey what his life would be like if he didn’t exist. The typical supernatural Christmas theme we have been used to since Gabriel spoke to Mary.

The film was not the popular giant it is now upon release. It just about made even, despite Frank Capra was considered box office gold at the time, and received mixed reviews with New York Times Critic, Bosely Crowther, saying ‘the weakness of this picture…is the sentimentality of it—its illusory concept of life’. However, many have argued since that the story presented in It’s a Wonderful Life is not one full to the brim with roses and smiles. It’s story features abuse, death and tragedy, a story I would argue not caught up in ‘sentimentality’ and to me this is what makes the theme of It’s a Wonderful Life perfect. The good actions of George Bailey happen

with no external interference.

When you look at the most popular Christmas fable, Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is only a good and kind-hearted man after the interference of supernatural forces; I believe most people would change if a being shrouded in black cloth showed you your death.

In other Christmas films the swaying of personality becomes most apparent at this point in the year as there is a rejuvenation of heart through the holiday spirit and characters, like how every deadbeat dad becomes a hero to their children.

This is why George Bailey is so important and the themes of It’s a Wonderful Life so important, George Bailey i s constantly a good man

whose actions constantly have good outcomes. The film focuses on his inability to see those outcomes with only the last 40 minutes being set at Christmas and having supernatural elements. George goes through the death of his father and having to sacrifice his dreams of travelling to stop his father’s business falling into the hands of the despicable Mr Potter, played by Lionel Barrymore. This realistic sacrifice makes the audience relate to their own tragedy and sacrifice. From there we connect with him through the rest of the film as we can ourselves at time feel we have little impact on the world. George Bailey pushes through the hardships of life to better the lives of others, but no Ghosts visited him in the night to make him do it. He is an average man with a kind heart and has always been; his flaw is being blind to it’s effect. The personalised nature of the film and of George Bailey’s story of persistence of goodness over hardship makes it more relatable to viewers then other Christmas films.

It's a Wonderful Life is available to stream on Amazon Prime, and to rent on Youtube, Google Play and Apple TV

Eternals: Atmospheric Action Divides Viewers

By Rhona Lonergan, Film & Television Correspondent

T

he newest Marvel movie is out, and the world can’t seem to decide if it’s one of the best Marvel movies, or one of the worst. It’s the marmite of the movie industry right now, you either love it or you hate it but just like Eternals’ mix of cinematic styles, I think the real truth lies somewhere in between two extremes. Eternals has all of the scale, scope and great action set pieces that have become expected norm for Marvel movies, but it also has the space and strikingly beautiful cinematography of an Oscar seeking prestige movie thanks to director Chloé Zhao (Nomadland). I suspect it is this mix of styles that is the cause of these extremely divergent opinions (ignoring those people hating on the film simply b e cause of its diverse cast). It may b e too much of a Marvel movie for some and not enough of one for others. Even as someone who likes both of those types of movies, the combination was a little jarring, and it took a little while to feel comfortable with the rhythm and pacing of the movie as well as the slightly different nature of the movie’s jokes.

However, once the movie had done the heavy lifting of establishing its methods of storytelling

and a foundation for its characters, it was easy to get swept along for the ride. Introducing us to ten brand new characters at once and giving them all satisfying character motivations and development was never going to be easy or maybe even possible, its like trying to do an Avengers movie without any of the introductory movies (Dc, I see you) but Eternals gives it a good shot and even manages to partially succeed. There are some beautiful character moments and relationships explored particularly between Gilgamesh (Don Lee) and Thena (An- gelina Jolie), and Makkari (Lauren Ridloff)

and Druig (Barry Keoghan). My unexpected stars of the movie were Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) and his human sidekick Karun (Harish Patel), whose comic moments were thankfully a well-kept secret unspoiled by the trailers. Each Eternals powers are also nicely showcased and balanced, disproving people’s worries that there would suddenly be ten more people in the MCU with unassailable god-like powers. One of Eternals biggest advantages is its disconnection from the rest of the current MCU. The main body of the movie felt completely disconnected from any bigger plan

and as such, the movie could really lean into some of its twists and establish real stakes with that uncertainty.

Not everything works in this movie, some relationships never have the fire you feel they’re supposed to and Zhao’s lack of experience in filming epic action sequences definitely shows at points. The plot was pleasantly more complicated and emotional than expected but didn’t actually put any real effort into debating the complex moral question (what lengths should you go to for the sake of the greater good) that is at its core. The movie’s climax is definitely satisfying although some of this good will is then retracted thanks to the jolting post-climax sudden end of the movie.

Overall, despite its problems, there is no doubt that this is a movie that is worth seeing for Marvel and non-Marvel fans alike. The key is to just sit back, enjoy the beautiful natural lighting, touching character relationships that are all the richer for the diversity of experiences present in the characters and let yourself be swept along at the pace that Eternals wants to take you, even if its not the pace you were expecting.

Images courtesy of Disney

Eternals is available in cinemas now

11

InQuire Friday 3 December 2021

Entertainment

30 - Adele: A Devastating Diary Of Mournful Heartbreak

By Sergio Niblett-Morales, Entertainment Writer

dream-like song with lush string arrangements, sets this mournful tone immediately with the first line reflecting this, ‘I’ll be taking flowers to the ix years after her previous studio album 25, cemetery of my heart’. This track is also sonically Adele’s return feels like a consoling hug puncrich, with a sombre piano transitioning into an ortuated with both glee and heartache. Followchestral flourish of strings as the song progresses. ing the separation from her husband in 2018, 30 is It is the best song on the album, encapsulating the laced with themes of mournful heartbreak in which raw emotion that every other track also exhibits.

Adele is best known. These include songs like ‘Send ‘Easy On Me’, a mid-tempo piano backed track, My Love (To Your New Lover)’ and ‘Someone Like is classic Adele, harking back to some of her previYou’ which are, sonically, very much present in 30 ous songs. The track details the breakdown of her but Adele teeters on the boundaries of genre shiftmarriage and a reflection on her past. Melodically, ing numerous times.

‘Easy On Me’ is one of the stronger songs, particuThe result is a devastatingly enchanting diary of larly as the verses transition into the choruses. her divorce, to which she comically responded to The album then moves to the brooding ‘My Lita fan on her inaugural Instagram Live saying the tle Love’ which is interspersed with recordings of album is about ‘divorce babe, divorce.’ 30 is both Adele speaking to her child and also contemplatthe embrace of Adele’s luminary status as an iconic ing loneliness. These recordings further the heavy soul singer but also a step into a bold, new direcemotional gravitas of the song, with the strings tion. following this pattern. ‘My Little Love’ is one of Opening the album, ‘Strangers By Nature’, a the stronger tracks, with the pensive nature of the lyrics such as in the chorus, ‘I’m holdin’ on (Barely)/ Mama’s got a lot to learn (It’s heavy)’, matched by the production.

‘Cry Your Heart Out’ moves Adele into a different sonic direction, taking a reggae tone in the product i o n .

Lyrically, the song contrasts to the relativel y up-beat production, with Adele ruminating over how to deal with emotions.

This is revealed almost methodically in the chorus, ‘Cry your heart out, it’ll clean your face/ When you’re Image courtesy Image courtesy of Columbia Records in doubt, go at of Rolling Stone

S

your own pace’.

Working with previous producer Max Martin, who also worked on ‘Send My Love (To Your New Lover)’, Adele sonically returns to pop on ‘Can I Get It’. Though the whistling on the chorus is catchy and memorable, the song as a whole is almost lyrically distant in comparison to the other tracks as it is about casual sex. The production, with the lively strumming of a guitar in the majority of the song, is definitely enjoyable but contrasts to the personal dimension that the other tracks exude.

‘I Drink Wine’, described by Adele in an interview with Rolling Stone, is a song about the contemplation of one’s ego backed by a mid-tempo piano and drums. Sonically, the song does not branch out into any new realms, but it is lyrically strong particularly in the bridge ‘We both will find (We both find), peace of mind/ Sometimes, the road less travelled is a road best left behind’.

‘All Night Parking (with Errol Garner) Interlude’ also takes Adele into a new sonic direction, following a semitrap lo-fi beat. It is a refreshing change of pace, sounding organic with Adele’s lower register vocals in the majority of the track.

Returning to the mournful piano ballads, ‘To Be Loved’ is another lyrically strong track. Adele states how she will no longer change herself in order to be loved by anybody anymore, with the first verse being a lyrical highlight, ‘All I do is bleed into someone else/ Painting walls with all my secret tears’. The vocals on the final chorus into the outro are also powerful and raw, as they are throughout the album.

The final Image courtesy track on of CBS the album,

‘Love Is A Game’, returns to the dream-like strings in ‘Strangers By Nature’. Lyrically, it is self-reflective, with Adele stating on the chorus ‘Love is a game for fools to play/ And I ain’t fooling again’.

It is another of the strongest tracks, shimmering with a classic sounding flare in its production that rounds out the album beautifully.

All in all, 30 is a very strong return to form that delivers lyrically, vocally and sonically. Alongside being like a consoling hug, it is almost like reading Adele’s own diary, something so personal yet so beautiful which takes her into a new direction in her personal life and her music.

Sergio's top tracks: 1. Strangers By Nature 2. Love Is A Game 3. My Little Love

30 is available on streaming services, CD and Vinyl now.

Valentine - Snail Mail: Refreshingly Sophisticated Punk

By Louis Norton, Entertainment Writer

L

indsey Jordan, the songwriter and indie-rock guitarist behind Snail Mail, is my age, and at first glance- first listen- you wouldn’t know it. Her debut 2018 LP, Lush, rode in on a wave of young female watershed acts that were all discovered seemingly in the same summer: Soccer Mommy, Clairo, Boygenius.

Lush, all ripe with detailed accounts of jealousy, betrayal and emo grievances (“it just feels like the same party every weekend, doesn’t it?”) encapsulated a Snail Mail world in the same way early Bright Eyes imbued the dust of Omaha into an emo chronicle, and American Football made living in its album cover seem downright Sisyphean.

Image courtesy of Matador Records

Image courtesy of In short, Jordan did what many of her cohorts didn’t The Guardian quite capture: effectively bind style and substance.

For a genre that concerns itself with wasted time, Lush felt surprisingly fresh, in large part to how wellplayed it is. Snail Mail isn’t as flashy as the lurch-andstagger instrumentation of say, Black Midi, but with her precisian drummer (Ray Brown) and bassist (Alex Bass-not a typo) Snail Mail delivers un-fussy sophisticated punk. Lush was a big win. Emo was back.

Or not. It took three years for signs of Valentine, Snail Mails new album, to appear; a late graduation. Quickly we had three gorgeous singles and Jordan- in a pink suit pinned with roses- gazing at us from the cover of Valentine, maybe showing up to a date, or at a party she feels a stranger to, like Manet’s barmaid.

Lead single Valentine: a neat, whistling synth and Jordan’s voice, sounds as if it has been newly broken, healed, and cracked open again. An incendiary gasping chorus: “ SO WHY’D YOU WANNA ERASE ME?”.

The revelations keep coming, and often out of tune: “post-rehab, been feeling so small”, she sings in Ben Franklin. That explains the hiatus. Press releases and interviews told of the habitual self-harm of a young woman on a huge tour, and those

scars are all there in her new record. To say this album is a rebirth is an understatement: it’s the kind of article that comes after self-destruction, when you find the bedrock of you, and whatever you express is the most core representation of your being: “so much destruction, look at what we did/ that was so real/ and you don’t just forget so much destruction”, she sings on the woozy Forever (Sailing).

This isn’t to say the minimalist perfection of Lush has been lost: Jordan’s a classically trained guitarist since early childhood, has a pop-producers ear for clean production and song economy, and is a stickler over perfect, evocative lyrics: "I consecrate my life to kneeling at your altar My second sin of seven being wanting more Could that have been the smell of roses, backseat lover?

Praying you'd fill my empty cup Or cursing myself for even getting dressed up…"

There isn’t a song on Valentine that hasn’t been written from the heart, borne of thematic passion and hurt. A touch of dirge-like cello on Light Blue, then the resplendent violins of Glory

and closer Mia. Ben Franklin is infernal, thrilling punk. Over impossibly groovy electric guitars she extols things like “got money, I don’t care about sex”, and “I deserve it, I’m crazy”, and it’s freeing for Jordan, playing a character, expanding from her lovelorn diaristic mode. But mostly she’s just Lindsey, writing pretty songs about heartbreak.

Piano sounds twinkle like gemstones on Headlock, but are used to an opposite, discordant effect on Automate, bobbing over a tide of distortion as Lindsey staggers through a torturous party like Dante: “I could die if I had the guts, puked it up, drank too much” and later- “Blank lips/ dark room, I pretend it's you, but she kissed like she meant it”. It is, in the end, a breakup album, and if there is any kind of conclusion to Valentine, it is only that heartbreak hurts, and by that line of reasoning, Snail Mail is the purest punk-emo act alive; wherever you go; there you are.

Valentine is available on streaming services, CD and Vinyl now

Image courtesy of NME

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Friday 3 December 2021 InQuire

Feature

It's time to be honest abou

By Amber Lennox, Local Affairs Correspondent

W

hen I made my module options for my final year, I had no idea that I would find my understanding of the world being completely restructured only a few short months later.

On the 23rd of September, I went into my first class of the Race, Sexuality, and Gender Justice module (LAWS6540), more worried about the fact that I was running 5 minutes late and that it was my first time on campus in over a year, than the fact that I was about to receive a major wake-up call to something which I had previously thought I knew all about, but was, in reality, disgustingly ignorant of.

I knew I’d be learning about the law and its treatment of different minority groups, but I figured I’d be learning about how same-sex couples are held to a different standard of consent in criminal law, as I had in first year, or how jury biases can cause problems in the trial process. In short, I thought that I’d be learning about things that were - in one way or another - removed from me; however, instead, I have faced truths much, much closer to home.

That first day we were to go on a guided tour of the campus; odd, given the fact that we’d all been here for over 2 years. However, the tour, led by student Anamika who had taken this module previously, proved to be about so much more than where you could find Templeman Library.

The route started at the Gulbenkian, and took us up and round to the Locke Building; dear reader, who among you even knew we had a ‘Locke Building’, let alone where it is? Because I didn’t. In case you were wondering, the Locke Building is located at the end of Co-op, and it acts as the ‘Student Activities Centre’.

The building is named after John Locke who is considered to be one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers, often credited with being the ‘Father of Liberalism’. His philosophies on social contract theory, private property, and natural rights are widely thought to have informed the foundations on which a lot of our political and legal landscape is based on today.

If I sound like I’m regurgitating a lecture, it’s because I am, more or less. Locke was a key figure I learnt about in Public Law 1 in first year; it was a core module and, I’m ashamed to admit that, at the time, I was fresh out of school and still very used to taking things taught to me at face value and as fact.

Therefore, I learnt that Locke was an, albeit kind of boring, historical figure who did some ‘stuff’, but otherwise was pretty inconsequential to me in the modern time. I could not have been more wrong.

The guided tour that I went on back in September,

set me on a path of learning from which, rightfully so, there was no return. As it turns out, my first year teaching missed out a thing or two about Locke: such as his responsibility for legitimising and entrenching the rights of White Europeans, and their descendants, his major investment in ‘The Royal African Company’ (which would kidnap and transfer almost 90,000 African people in its first 16 years), or that he was heavily involved in entrenching trans-Atlantic slavery, and made possible the maiming and killing of those enslaved, by prescribing “absolute power” to slaveholders.

The list goes on, but you can perhaps begin to see why it might be problematic (to put it mildly) that it is upon this man’s values which our modern-day political and legal philosophies are built on.

Locke’s principles are terrifying when considered in a modern context, where they are so deeply entrenched it is difficult to unpick them from everything that’s since been built on them. But the bottom line is inescapable: philosophies which sought to exclude a massive part of the population, more or less anyone who wasn’t a White European, are philosophies that remain as the building blocks for modern legal and political values; and, like a festering splinter that’s turned to gangrene, you cannot heal something when the infected entity remains at its core.

But it’s not just Locke, I’ve come to understand, that has been sold to me with the harder edges softened. Kent as a whole played a major part in the slave-trade and slavery and, thus, has also had a role in entrenching the institutional inequalities that remain quietly prolific today.

The UCL project on Legacies of British Slavery places 213 slaveholders, and beneficiaries of the slave trade, in this County that we all call home for most of the year. Chatham Dockyard’s role in supporting the British Navy (something the area’s very proud of), actually meant that the dockyard played a key role in the English adoption of plantation settlements in the Caribbean and, ultimately, the expansion of the slave trade (something not so

widely publicised).

If we’re not considering the geographical area, let’s consider the people. Seamen would have been enlisted to man the ships constructed in Kentish shipyards. These men would have been directly engaged in the slave trade, either shipping goods produced by people who were enslaved, or indeed the people themselves, from the West Indies to British ports.

Let’s not also forget that at the point that slavery was abolished in 1807 it was those who had been benefitting from slavery who were “compensated”. The Archbishop of Canterbury at the time actually received £9000, which equates to around £500,000 today, in return for “losing” 411 people who he had been keeping enslaved. This became a debt that we were still paying off in 2015!

This is to say that, although the Government try to spin it as

ending the slave trade, the tax payers of today effectively contributed towards the slave trade.

This isn’t where it ends, however, our University is directly entwined with this history. The Medway campus, in fact, sits on the Chatham Dockyard which, among everything else, had John Hawkins as its founder. This is the John Hawkins who is actually known as the first Englishman involved in the triangular slave trade. This is notwithstanding

the fact that the University has no apparent issue with naming buildings after people who are, essentially, mass murderers and more or less obliterating it from its curriculum.

During Black History Month in October, Kent Union made a number of statements in relation to campaigns they have started concerning some of these issues.

Lupe Sellei, VP of Academic Experience, wrote about decolonising the curriculum, explaining that many young people of racial minority groups are held back in how far they are able to engage in education because the curriculum has its roots in colonialism, inherently demotivating students from engaging.

Sellei explains that decolonising the curriculum should be everyone’s responsibility, because it currently presents a very

Phot specific set of narratives which are inaccurate and unrepresentative, and many of its recipients are unable to identify with them.

In explanation of how decolonising the curriculum might be approached, Sellei makes mentions of aims for student-led research, the involvement of

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InQuire Friday 3 December 2021

Feature

ut Kent's history of slavery. student representatives, and of the keenness of the university to understand what students want to see.

Although the issues Sellei raises are not wrong, and the proposed ways in which the University might “diversify” are not bad, the statement presents as very vague and somewhat apolitical, which we cannot remain where an issue such as this is concerned; there remains, what appears to be, no clear potential for creating actual change.

The same, unfortunately, might be said for the campaign, “Black History Month: Black 365 at Kent” summarised by Favour Salami. There are some brilliant suggestions to acknowledge Black history all year round, and references to a variety of events that were planned for October; however, there remains a failure to directly call out the specific instances in which the university remains complicit in the colonialism and racism upon which many of our systems are built.

There does exist the module ‘Expect Respect’, a cross-school module which is, apparently, compulsory for all registered students at our university and expected to be completed within your first term here.

But be honest with yourself, have you ever even looked at this module, let alone completed it? In the interest of authenticity, I can admit that

inclusive learning environment”. Again, this still doesn’t address the point head-on, but it is essentially meant to make us aware of our unconscious biases and help us to combat them. However, if not properly promoted, then the module shall remain futile.

Even if we were properly made aware of this module, it still wouldn’t be truly effective. The unconscious biases are a direct consequence of systemic and historically institutionalised racism.

The module is mostly made-up of aims to understand things such as the Equality Act and what it means to discriminate in modern times, which are obviously vital, yet it does no good if it doesn’t first help us to understand the history that has entrenched these inequalities to start with. The fact remains that we are still trying to build an idealistic palace upon a rotten core.

It’s like trying to pin the tail on the donkey when you’ve been spun around and are facing the wrong way; you are, inevitably, going to miss.

So where do we go then? Well, it starts with you. Cheesy and cliché?

Perhaps. But it’s the truth.

We have to hold ourselves accountable; it’s not going to be easy or comfortable, no matter whether you’re looking at your ancestors as those who were victims or those who were beneficiaries of the slave trade, it’s going to be upsetting.

As for those

I hadn’t, and neither had most of my friends whom I asked about it. That said, was it ever flagged to you in any great detail by your school?

The ‘Expect Respect’ module is intended to create an awareness of “policies and institutional structures that actively work to co-create a safe and

make it widely known that the Locke tour is also there to better understand where we’re now living.

Although the University are aware of the history of Locke, and the existence of the tour, they are yet to implement any such measures.

We need to accept that we are benefitting from land which has previously benefitted from the enslavement and the dehumanisation of millions, and we need to remember them properly in order to honour their legacy.

To start, the premises of the Race, Sexuality, and Gender Justice module should be taught to all people, everywhere; not just raising awareness for modern issues, but educating on the history that has cemented them. Let’s not start this learning at the 18-21 age bracket.

This is the kind of information that needs to be familiar to children in Primary schools, with the heavier issues then introduced at Secondary. If we educate our something worth having, because if we decide that children on the horrific history of the issues faced it’s not, or that we’re ‘as good as there’, then we’re a by minority groups today, then we might actually part of the problem. see a generation inclined to do more about it by It’s the 21st century, ignorance is no longer an exthe time they get to adulthood; something that the cuse. In fact, we’re finally waking up now, to know Government evidently missed when they refused to that things are not okay, so if we aren’t going out implement a more complete curriculum, and that’s to understand more, then we’re officially wilfully what it is. A complete curriculum. ignorant, and complicit in the issue.

Currently, our education is incomplete, and we But it only starts at us, it certainly doesn’t end are ignorantly upholding historic injustices which there. Firstly, why is the Locke Building still the are rife in the foundations of society today. We ‘Locke’ Building? It is the equivalent of must divest ourselves from the system ecoin.club n i l n yo renaming Templeman Library somewhich seeks to keep us in the b o ot thing like ‘Bundy Library’. Only, dark with only half truths, h P it’s worse. Bundy is known to spun from a point of white have killed approximately supremacy.

20-30 women, and he was Our history, of course, a psychopath. Locke was has causes for celebraresponsible for countless tion and pride, but it more lives taken than is also mangled, and this and, as far as we ugly, and can be difknow, he was apparentficult to digest. Most ly of completely sound importantly, our hismind. He knew what he tory is multicoloured. was doing. He chose his White can no longer be actions. the de facto because it It’s true that the most never really was to begin terrifying monsters are no with. We have the oppordifferent in mind or appearance tunity to learn from where from the rest of us. But we know we’ve been and move forward to better, and we must be better. Let’s where we’re going, together. start by petitioning the University to change Research, discuss, collaborate, challenge, the name of the Locke Building! Or at the very least, together. After all, it is only once everyone has a let’s get the right information out there. The John seat at the table, will what’s being served be truly Locke guided tour is readily available, why not have fair, and will society be whole, possibly for the first it has a part of the introductory week we all experitime. ence in 1st year? In the same way you can get a tour of Templeman Library and get a notebook, let’s

"The Archbishop of Canterbury at the time actually received £9000,

which equates to around £500,000 today, in return for “losing” 411

people who he had been keeping

enslaved. This became a debt that we were still paying off in 2015!"

truths that are close to home? Well, I’m an advocate for complete honesty in writing, so I’ll

to by bestvaluetours.co.uk

critical self and social reflection.

I’m now actively noticing things that I would have otherwise walked by blindly only a few months ago.

I’m talking to my friends, who are a part of various racial minorities about their own experiences, in greater detail than before, because I now know what questions to ask.

We won’t understand anything unless we make an effort to do so.

Again, it’s not always going to be comfortable, but nothing worth having ever is and, frankly, we don’t get to decide if equality and understanding is

confess, in the first few weeks of having my eyes opened to this matter, I struggled. I’ve always regarded myself as someone who is an ally of the social movements in support of people who are members of racial minorities, but I began to realise that I couldn’t call myself an ally of something which I didn’t fully understand.

But this only highlighted to me how much I needed this module, now more than ever; I’m understanding it now, and a large part of that has been

14

Friday 3 December 2021 InQuire

Science and Technology

Magnetars and strangeness: an astrophysics mystery Background photo by Ivana Cajina

By Johnathan Guy, Guy, Newspaper Science & Technology Editor

A

s far back as 1933, just under two years ticed, but interest has (in the last decade or two) star, known as a Magnetar. These are anywhere would certainly kill you (in a particularly horrible after neutrons were first discovered (as been renewed, as it has been suggested that due from city to country sized remnants of long since way), by effectively dismantling you at the subattributed to atomic level, interJames Chadwick), fering with the very two scientists probonds of your atomic posed the existence nuclei. of a new kind of star So why do we find – a super dense remthese stars so fascinant of super massive nating? Well, they stars that have longare, as mentioned, since died and gone incredibly dense. In supernova – as part fact, so dense, that of an explanation suthey might just be pernovae. one of the few placWe had known for es outside particle a while that large accelerators (where stars went supernothey emerge only va when they died (a fleetingly) that we huge ejection of encould possibly find ergy and mass), but strange quarks, and the mechanism by under the right conwhich this happened ditions, something remained a mysknown as ‘strange tery, as it had been matter’. This matter assumed that huge may have existed at stars should collapse the instant immediunder their own mass ately after the ‘start’ and become a singuof our universe, when larity, or black hole, everything was luuntil Walter Baade dicrously hot and and Fritz Zwicky dense. proposed that when It may also therea large star dies, it is fore give us insights (sometimes) convertinto the conditions ed into a collection of that lead to what we tightly packed neusee around us. Such trons. matter, however, Photo by NASA This can only occur, would (much like the as far as we know, Magnetar itself) be when the mass of the both fascinating and matter left over after a supernova is just right – to the nature of neutron dead massive stars with incredibly dangerous, as it is theorised that upon too little and it evaporates into space, while too stars they might give key incredibly powerful magcontact with ‘ordinary’ matter, strange matter much, and it does collapse into a black hole. insights into how the uninetic fields that were lucky would convert it into more strange matter (effecIt wasn’t until 1967, when Franco Pacini theoverse began, and the condienough to not collapse into tively, if that matter is part of a living being, killPhoto by rised that, as according to Zwicky and Baade, if tions immediately after the a singularity. ing it). It’s even been suggested that this strange Physicsworld.com neutron stars have large magnetic big bang.

However, those matter already exists in space and is fields, then when they move, In April 2020, we are aware of thrown out during supernovae, (as they should), electroseveral teams of seem to be far with some scientists bemagnetic waves would researchers detected too large to have come lieving it to be the true be emitted. This itone such FRB comfrom any one star, so source of ‘dark matself came (rather ing from a massive it is theorised that ter’. fortuitously) very neutron star in(at least most) are For now, shortly before side the Milky the result of colthough, this is the discovery Way – the first lisions between all speculation. of high fretime such a two smaller We need far quency radio thing has been neutron stars more knowlpulses from detected, and – though edge about what was besomething this has nevneutron stars lieved to be a which means er been oband their neutron star, we can be sure served or core material and we now that these stars proven. before we can know that this are at least part If both radio even begin to neutron star in of the source of telescopes and work out which particular is a FRBs (An FRB the LIGO were to of these theories pulsar. from a neutron spot such an event might be correct, Let’s bring it forstar outside our own at the same time, if any.

Photo by Sophia Dagnello, ward a bit to 2001, galaxy would have that would certainly So, might these NRAO/AUI/NSF Photo by NASA when an Australian radio been indistinguishable lend credence to the idea. dense, dynamic and telescope detected a fast rafrom other types due to the These stars are so massive deadly stars and the FRBs dio burst, or FRB, coming from distance). The FRB that was deand have such a strong magnetic they emit hold secrets about the far outside the Milky Way. tected came from a particularly extreme field that according to some predictions, origins of the universe as we know it?

For a long time a lot of these FRBs went unnoand hazardously dense version of a neutron approaching within even 1000km of such a star Only time will tell.

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InQuire Friday 3 December 2021

Science and Technology

The never-ending search for novel ice phases

By Holly McPhillips, Science Correspondent

I

ce continues to be a simulating area of research. tures beyond our environment.

The motivation of which is its abundance in our For example, metastable cubic ice, Ic, forms beSolar System and beyond, yet it is the frozen tween extremely cold temperatures of -140 °C (130 solid state of water – simply composed of two elK) to -50 °C (220 K) under ambient pressure and ements hydrogen and water - which is essential to exists well above the upper atmosphere. Applying life on Earth. Consequently, the existence of difpressure (300 MPa) in the same temperature referent ice s t a t e s spans a wide range of conditions, which allow for a very complex phase diagram to be mapped, see figure.

Incredibly, twenty crystalline and amorphous forms of ice are reported to exist, with the most recent phase, Ice XIX, published in Nature CommuPhoto by Hansen, Nat. Comm., 2021, 12. nications earlier this year. Ice as we know it on Earth adopts a crystalgion leads to two crystalline phases, namely Ice II line hexagonal phase, Ih. To access other phases, and Ice III, which adopt trigonal and tetragonal all of which can be differentiated by their crystalcrystal systems, respectively. linity, density and proton (hydrogen ion) ordering, Existence of amorphous ice, where the structure requires higher pressures and varying temperais disordered and lacks crystal structure, is found

in outer space and has variable density.

As it happens, phase Ice XII can be accessed by heating high-density amorphous ice under very high pressure (800 MPa) and is reported to be approximately 1.3 times denser than water.

Emergence of novel ice phases due to proton ordering is dictated by how

this means that the surface H2O oxygen atoms do not realise their full valence and some electron density, in the form of single unpaired electrons known as radicals, is left unaccounted for.

This can be rectified by intermolecular forces, specifically hydrogen bonding, where an incomplete oxygen valence can be satisfied by a weak attraction towards a fully realised water molecule.

The phenomenon of dangling bonds is known because similar chemistry and complexity are observed in quartz glass.

Novel ice phases continue to be a hot topic of conversation in science.

Different research groups around the world add new arguments to rationalise their existence, perform new and Photo by Scott Rodgerson improved measurements and further develop computer simulations to uncover how at least r a n twenty phases can occur. domly Therefore, it is safe to say that the phase diagram oriented water molecules are in the structure. for ice will not be solved completely any time soon, Governed by the second law of thermodynamics, but as more phases are studied fully, we may gain which drives the spontaneous formation of certain insight into how ice, and ultimately how water be‘favourable’ phases over others, the ice surface may haves in our Universe, contributing to the underbe decorated with ‘dangling’ bonds. Structurally, standing of our planet.

Winter survival: how do Christmas trees stay green?

By Johnathan Guy, Newspaper Science & Technology Editor

E

very year, across the globe, millions of people celebrate Christmas – a festival that is known for family gatherings, presents, food, lights galore and, notably, trees.

These green staples of Christmas as we know them today have been a tradition since the 16th century in Germany, when people first brought them into their homes (it’s claimed that Martin Luther was responsible for first ‘lighting’ a tree with candles, but this is, as with many historical events, disputed). But one thing (especially in times now when many trees in homes tend to be artificial) that is often overlooked, is why these trees stay green in winter while being surrounded by dying/fading others.

Plants produce the energy they need via photosynthesis, which is a process that allows plants to convert the energy from sunlight into usable food.

The hard work for this is carried out by the chlorophyll in the leaves, and in winter, ordinarily, light energy is absorbed by the green chlorophyll molecules but cannot be utilized by the usual chemi-

“Evergreen conifers in boreal forests can survive extremely cold (freezing) temperatures during long dark winter and fully recover during summer” cal reactions as freezing temperatures tend to stop most biochemical reactions. This can often really lead to problems in the early spring when temperatures can be low, but sunlight is strong, and the excess energy can, in some cases, damage the pro-

teins of the leaves that are required for photosynPhoto by Stefan Jansson and Pushan Bag thesis.

Until recently, then, it has been somewhat a mystems that deal with the chemical reactions in the tery as to how trees used as Christmas trees are plant, and they are kept separate during the seemingly not subject to this restriction. warmer months of the year by a membrane A paper published last year by a team of scienknown as the thylakoid membrane. tists working internationally have shed light When this breaks down, it creates a sort on this. It is due to a process known as “susof ‘short-circuit’, allowing the energy to be tained quenching”, which, according to shared between the two sections. These trees them, means that “Everare not the only plants to have this adaptation, green conifers in boreal but they do display some of the most extreme forests can survive variations of it, allowing them to survive extremely cold harsh northern hemisphere winters (freezing) temalmost unscathed. In the opinion of peratures durone of the scientists involved in the ing long dark project, professor Stefan Jansson, winter and these trees may have been the bafully recover sis of civilisation in the northern during sumhemisphere too: “Hadn´t conifers mer”. been able to survive in extreme We know harsh winter climates vast areas that all plants in the northern hemisphere may have a form of not have become inhabited, as cosafety valve that nifers provided firewood, housing, allows them to and other necessities.”. remove excess light Photo by Markus Spiske energy via dissipating “Direct energy transfer from photoit as heat or as fluorescent system II to photosystem I confers winlight, but most do not have this abilter sustainability in Scots Pine” ity in these conditions.

Trees such as conifers have two main photosysDOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20137-9

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Friday 3 December 2021 InQuire

Culture

A Walk Through the Christmas Market

Photo from AlphaCoders

Lush has their own stall due to their shop being currently closed for refurbishment, There are at least two bars tucked within the market – I would highly recommend the mulled cider from the one by Barclays Bank (top tip: don’t accept the shot of ‘Christmas spirit’ the bartender will offer, unless you’re prepared to pay through the roof for it!), You can even find a stall selling different types of cheese! Might be a bit of a novelty when you’re stuck with what to buy your granddad this coming winter, One stall over towards Tiger-Tiger is selling handmade wooden figures, with the reindeers being a personal favourite of mine, If you need to stop for a snack whilst out wandering, there is a stall selling burgers that may be right up your street, I f you fancy something sweeter – why not try the stall selling churros?

For the pet parents out there, you can book Santa Paws as part of the Christmas Market where humans can book their furry friends in to visit Father Christmas, with tickets being from £4; children under 11 have

Photo from itaka.pl

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s the festive season approaches and Britain braces herself for the Christmas thrill full of crackers and mince pies, let’s take a closer look at another European country: Italians have different traditions, and they celebrate the period with a series of fun and interesting traditional activities and treats!

An Early Start

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ll year round, people wait for mid-December to announce the holidays with its tinkling bells, but Italians have an earlier start to their holidays, which officially begins on the 8th of December, marked by the Immaculate Conception (“Immacolata Concezione” in Italian).

In these two weeks preceding Christmas Day, families travel to beautiful locations, the most iconic one being Rome, which attracts thousands to St Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican City. People also travel to the snow-coated peaks of the Alps, skiing their way into one of the longest European Christmas holidays.

Sweet Christmas Treats

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talians deeply cherish sweet food, even more during the Christmas holidays. It is tradition to enjoy big slices of sweet breads during the festivities, the most famous being Panettone and Pandoro.

The first is spotted with Photo from italianfoodexcellence

the chance to visit the new Santa’s Grotto in the Marlowe Arcade!

You can also enjoy live music within the market on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

Photo from katlast

If you happen to visit the Market after it begins to get dark, you can appreciate the full festive spirit.

This is enhanced by the wonderful lights that now shine all through town, from Westgate to Whitefriars, making our historic city sparkle in the early evening!

For more information on the Christmas Market, you can visit its website (canterburychristmasmarket.co.uk). You can also find maps and further information about visiting! Do go along, support small independent businesses, and find those unique gifts to give to family and friends this festive season.

Natale on the other side of the Channel

Photo from InkandChroma

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November saw the turning on of the Christmas Lights in Canterbury, and along with it, the opening of the Christmas Market for this festive season! Back in full swing now that things have finally returned to some sort of normal, with stalls ranging from cheese to bars, there’s something for everyone! Let this article open your eyes as to some of what is on offer if you decide to wander down the hill to partake in a little Christmas shopping.

Housed in proper sheds, making each product for perusal appear straight out of Santa’s Grotto, the market will be open right up until 24 December, making it a perfect stop-off for any last-minute Christmas gifts you may need.

The opening times are as follows: Monday-Friday 1 0 a m 6pm; Saturday 9 a m 6pm; and Sunday 10am4pm.

As you stroll along the Highstreet, towards Whitefriars, here are some highlights of the stalls you may pass along your way:

By Tracy Okundia, Writer Photo from italianenthusiast

raisins and nuts, and the latter with thin white powdered sugar. While these delicious treats can conclude a long Christmas meal with family, tradition has it that this delicacy can also be exchanged between households as presents or given to the less fortunate as a sign of support from the community.

Presepe

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rivate and public Christmas decorations are never complete without the Presepe, a creative display of the biblical birth of Jesus that can be as simple or as fancy as people want it to be.

The scene always features baby Jesus in the manger, flanked by Mary and Joseph, a bright shooting start glimmering above them as the three wise mages approach with their pricy gifts. This tradition allows artisans to produce and sell their fine and prestigious artefacts. City councils even invest inhuman size displays set up in public squares often accompanied by a colossal Christmas tree. A delightful sight on a cold winter night!

Photo from holyart

By Elle Summers, Website Culture Editor

Tombola

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talians can get very competitive when lured in with sweets and chocolate and Tombola is the perfect game to get everyone involved. Players are given one, two or more tables of numbers dotted with blank spaces. Throughout the game, a caller randomly picks out numbers from a bag full of numbered balls and yells them out one at a time.

In this game of chance, players need to cover the numbers on their tables with seeds hoping to score and win the allocated price. Whoever covers all the numbers on their tables calls out Tombola and wins the biggest price with the most treats. Better be lucky!

The Good Witch

'Tis the season for a Christmas Carol

By Sheleena Jasmine, Writer

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lways accompanied by the laughter and smiles of the carollers and the attentive ears of those who listen, carolling is a Christmas custom dear to English hearts. It brings with it the Christmas spirit, running through veins and creating an atmosphere in which anyone and everyone can participate. Christmas carolling was always something that made you feel like you were a part of the community, and with the Carol Service approaching, what better time to look back at the history of carolling and grasp what makes it so special.

From the 1100s to the late 1300s, songs were written to accompany dances at gatherings, which became a tradition that was passed down generations. Over time, many of these melodies took on religious or seasonal themes, and the Christmas carol was formed. Until Saint Francis of Assisi began mixing comparable sayings and songs of well wishes into his Christmas ceremonies, singing remained separate from Christmas. During the holiday season, he encouraged his church members to appreciate music and people began taking these songs home to enjoy with their families as Saint Francis' method became popular. These songs were passed down from one generation to the next for some hundred years, until they were finally gathered, written down, and published in 1582. This served to establish the tunes in cultures across the world. They quickly moved away from the church and became a popular holiday activity to what we know today. While most famous songs have been modernised from their medieval origins, they nevertheless convey the warmth and comfort of the festive season.

The Christmas mood has already begun to spread throughout Canterbury, with the lighting of the Christmas lights and the opening of the Christmas Market. There's still more to come, with a Carol Service at 8 p.m. on December 6th at the Cathedral. There are also a number of events taking place at the Gulbenkian, ranging from Christmas movies to performances of Christmas music!

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n Italian tale books, Santa is not the only one to reward good kids with gifts. At the end of the Christmas season in early January, the Befana, literally meaning “the Good Witch”, brings stockings stuffed with sweets for the good kids and stockings stuffed with charcoal for the naughty ones. The tales portray her as a good housekeeper: as she uses her broom to sweep the house, she sweeps away all the bad things that occurred the last year to give households a bright and fresh start to the year.

Photo from explo-re

Photo from kent.ac.uk

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InQuire Friday 3 December 2021

A review of

Culture

A

Photos from the Marlowe

s the Christmas lights turn on and the Christmas Market opens, it is safe to say the festive season is upon Canterbury.

To heighten this festive cheer, White Christmas has been showing in the Marlowe Theatre for the past few

By Elle Summers, weeks.

Website Culture Editor Transporting the audience all the way to 1954 Vermont, United States, the West End show’s latest tour is truly a wonder to behold. Having never seen the film before (I know, it’s a classic!), I wasn’t sure what kind of performance I was walking into when I had the immense pleasure of attending this performance. Armed with my programme, I hoped for good things – I was not disappointed!

The set design was truly amazing, with seamless changes and clever choreography, the stage transformed from one scene to another. I especially liked the way in which the train journey was portrayed, with the entire cast moving simultaneously as if being thrown around by an old locomotive. I also appreciated the cyclical nature of the set changes.

Indeed, the first introduction to Bob Wallace and Phil Davis the audience gets happens in 1944 with a Christmas celebrated in an old barn, far away from home, and, at the end, the narrative jumps forward ten years, still in a barn but at a much happier time.

The actors exhibited an amazing range of talent onstage, you could really tell it was the West End cast, with Matthew Jeans’ Bob Wallace really stealing the show. One of my favourite parts was the tap dance performance to ‘I Love a Piano’ that opened the second half of the show, with Emily Langham and Dan Burton really showing off their skills as

Judy and Phil respectively. Burton’s understanding and representation of Phil really shines through, and so it was highly unsurprising to learn how Burton has held this role for several years. All the main characters came across as comedic and lovable, really connecting with the audience. Immersed in the love stories occurring simultaneously, it was clear the audience wanted a happy ending for all!

Although the plotline could be considered somewhat predictable, this feel-good musical had me singing the catchy songs for days and reliving the dance numbers in my head. As the snow fell onto the audience during the last musical number, I watched on with awe, for it may be the case that I have just found a new all-time favourite musical!

If you want to get in the Christmas mood, the Panto is coming to town soon, so check out the Marlowe’s rich upcoming programme!

SUPPLIANT WOMEN reviews from on & off the stage

By Rhona Lonergan, Film and Television Correspondent

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ast week, a production of the 2,500-year-old Greek play ‘The Suppliant Women’ ran for six performances on campus.

I was one of the people who didn’t get a chance to watch the show, but, fortunately for me, that was because I was actually onstage as part of the titular chorus of Suppliant Women. So without further ado, let's take a closer look at this production and the work that went into it!

The process started at the end of August with a very unique audition. Disguised as a workshop, we spent several hours singing and doing movement exercises all while getting to know the creative team. From there, we spent four weeks working harder than you can imagine, roughly four days a week. We had the opportunity to work alongside the composer as well as a West End vocal coach who helped us learn the beautiful harmonies and complex rhythms of the piece. They also taught us to stop being fifteen individuals and to morph into the single entity of the chorus.

Moving into November, the other choruses joined our rehearsals and we were also joined by the director and choreographer. We then began rehearsing with the professional actors, our accompanying musicians and, most importantly, with the Suppliant Women’s fearless chorus leader. One especially important memory to me was getting to hear the aulos, a once dead instrument, for the first time.

With everything coming together, it became clear how special these performances were going to be.

The production week and 12-hour tech and rehearsal days were, by then, upon us. We were all tired and sore, as we were on stage for 90 minutes for every show, but we were loving every minute of it. The level of professionalism in the production and the people around us gave us a taste of what it could be like to do something like this for a living. It gave our team of amateurs the chance to have a first and possibly unique professional experience. The six performances flew by.

The amazing thing about having so many performances is that after the first one,

Photos from mistereb

the creative team took a step back and let us make the play our own. Each morning, we would run our own warm-ups and our spacings for the major points in the play. We would discuss any issues that came up in the previous performance and what we could change to help fix those. We were so together as a group that sometimes we would make spontaneous changes on the night because we just felt them differently. We still got notes from the creative team and small changes were being made right up until the last performance! It was a beautiful lesson in live theatre, especially its changeability and the need to stay on your toes and adapt.

Over the run, we were honoured to hear many stories of how people related to the themes of asylum seeking and violence towards women and how the story had moved them. The Mayor of Canterbury gave the opening libation at one of the performances and he then spoke to us afterwards about how the performance had affected him and made him think about his responsibility as a man in power. There was a moment of silence when this was passed on to the rest of the group, it was an incredible feeling to know that we had been a part of something that had a real effect on people in power.

We have grown so close as a company, brought together initially by chance but bonded forever by our shared experience. I don’t doubt that Covid had its role to play in how deeply this experience affected myself and the others involved. The play called for a certain amount of physical closeness to be able to look and behave like a chorus, but we took that opportunity and ran with it, adding our own extra little touches of closeness to the play, making us believable as a group of sisters holding each other close for comfort.

Many tears were shed on the last night, mourning the end of this amazing experience and the end of our opportunities to perform this amazing material. It is now deeply ingrained in our hearts and minds but I took comfort in knowing that through our hard work we had put something amazing into the world, gained new skills and met lots of amazing creative people along the way during a once in a lifetime experience.

Photos from mistereb

By Holly McPhillips, Science Correspondent

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imple, inspiring and thought-provoking: The Suppliant Women explores themes of forced marriage, asylum seeking and democracy through the eyes of a chorus of women who flee North Africa to seek a better life in Greece. It is one of the oldest surviving Greek plays, written 2,500 years ago by Aeschylus, and it was brought to life by renowned writer David Greig in our own backyard by an extremely talented group of local women and a phenomenal production team. This play lacked flash costuming and used limited props but personally, I liked this because it did not distract from the storyline. It also made the chorus relatable to the audience as they were dressed in normal, everyday

clothing. This play is also very fitting to see in the modern day as we are confronted with the themes explored here in the news daily. We can only sympathise with those who embark on such a journey to seek refuge and safety as we could not possibly imagine the difficulties and challenges faced – whether it be from an abusive partner/family or a wartorn country. Though the outcome for the women was positive, being successfully admitted to Greece by a vote, this play is a solemn reminder that seeking a better life is never straightforward.minds, to such a high standard, but I took comfort in knowing that through our hard work we had put something amazing out into the world, gained new skills and met lots of amazing creative people along the way during a once in a lifetime experience.

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Friday 3 December 2021 InQuire

Culture

By Juliette Moisan, Newspaper Culture Editor

"Artivism" For Climate I

n the wake of COP26, held from the 31 October to the 13 November 2021 at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland under the direction of Alok Sharma, light was brought to the crisis that climate change constitutes. While government leaders discussed potential courses of actions and future policies to implement, regular people were reminded of steps that can be taken and of the importance of going in the right direction. While climate change activists have been vocal about the emergency of the situation for a long time, the matter of climate change has been discussed more and more in the last decade. Everyone has a role to play for things to change, including artists. Indeed, as “A World of Art”'s author Henry M. Sayre puts it, artists have four key roles in society and one of them is to help people view the world from a different or novel perspective. Many artists, using diverse mediums, have tried to raise awareness regarding climate change and the threats to biodiversity. Despite the number of such instances, let's take a closer look at four performances and exhibitions that mad real strides, in the UK and elsewhere.

Photos from 1stAveMachine

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in an interview that, even if “real panthers don’t actually melt”, the artist's goal was "to artfully show how extreme heat and other effects of the climate crisis, like rising seas, are a threat to their very existence". Indeed, rising temperatures have a direct impact on wildlife diversity, so panthers and other wild animals could actually disappear from some places of the world in the near future if no steps are taken to protect them.

lines

Photo from Bopekka Niittyvirta & Timo Aho

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n 2020, in a zoo in Tampa, Florida (United States), o b Partington, known for

his works combining art, science and technology, created a real-sized wax sculpture of a panther and its cub. While, at first, the sculpture fit in the zoo and looked like a simple animal, the high Floridian temperatures slowly started to melt off the wax, revealing a hidden message stating, "More Heat, Less Wildlife". The aim of the performance, which is part of a series of three different wax sculptures, is to alert of the danger of rising temperatures. The creative director of the exhibit, Iván Calle, stated

BoPekka Niittyvirta and Timo Aho

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slands are the places most directly threatened by the rising tide level. Indeed, while it is well-known that poles are slowly melting off due to the rising temperatures, it is harder to concretely understand what it could mean for us, and how it would change

ice watch ofur eliasson

fur Eliasson, a Danish-Icelandic artist, decided to bring attention to a crucial issue that climate change brought about: the warming of the poles. While everyone knows this is alarming, it is hard to realise what it actually, physically means. "It is so abstract, Greenland is so far away, it's literally out of our body and it's in our brain and I wanted simply to change that narrative of the climate from our brain and emotionalise it into our bodies." To give a more tangible account of what it means, Eliasson extracted 30 blocks of glacial ice from areas surrounding Greenland and arranged them in public spaces across London, where they slowly melted. People were encouraged to interact with the blocks so that they could essentially

touch Greenland and the ing icebergs represent. The choice of London, as one of the central cities in the world, was also significant, as it put the reality of the climate change directly at the heart of the discussion.

the shape of the landscapes we know.

Finnish artists Pekka Niittyvirta and Timo Aho tackled the topic by focusing on a small coastal town in the north of Scotland. Connected to sensors that detect the changes in the tide, beams of lights appeared alongside some of the coastal buildings. They are located at the height the sea could rise if the pattern of tide rise does not

danger that its melt-

Photos from Ofur Eliasson Studio more scarce, they are also in danger of slowly disappearing. Jenny Kendler created a number of exhibits entitled Birds Watching to bring awareness to birds' potentially dramatic fate. Originally created for Storm King Art Center's Indicators: Artists on Climate Change, which ran from May to November 2018, the exhibit featured a 40-foot long sculpture composed of a “flock” of one hundred reflective bird’s eyes mounted on aluminium, each eye representing a U.S. climate-threatened species.

Birds Watching was also recreated in the UK in

Birds Watching

Jenny kendler

T Photo from the Storm King Art Center

Georgia T O'Keeffe, exceptional figure Photo from canterburymuseums.co.uk

change rapidly. It is obvious that all of the buildings would be flooded, if not submerged, if the sea actually rose to this level. "We felt that this solution possibly illustrates dystopian projections of the sea-level rise in the most tangible way: a threat that is encountered within coastal communities all over the world," the pair explained.

here exists an incredible richness in the varieties of birds across the world, but as their natural habitats and their food becomes more and

he latest Beaney exhibit is putting the spotlight on one of the most prominent American artist of the 1900's, Georgia O'Keeffe. Dubbed by many as the "mother of American modernism", O'Keeffe was an exceptional woman and had a significant impact on the development of American art as well as the affirmation of its specificities.

Born in 1887 in Wisconsin, O'Keeffe led many different lives and artistically experimented with different techniques and mediums. The Beaney exhibit focuses on a formative part of her life by putting at the forefront of the exhibit a series of abstract charcoal drawings she made while she taught art in West Texas. This part of

her life is especially important as this is what projected her to fame, after one of her friends sent the drawings to Alfred Stieglitz, who would become the first person to organise an exhibit around O'Keeffe in 1916, as well as, eventually, her husband.

Adept at serial work, O'Keeffe explored many themes, from the surrounding of her New Mexico hacienda to views from planes. Her most famous series, and possibly the most controversial, is the one she did on flowers. When she realised that simple depictions of flowers had grown too banal, she decided to paint exclusively close-ups of pistils, which became controversial not only because this approach was new but mostly

July 2019 with climate-threatened bird species from the UK. This sculpture has since become part of the permanent collection of The Eden Project in Cornwall. The striking sculptures' colours are what rope you in at first, but the significance of the project soon becomes apparent when you behold it and it feels increasingly hard to escape the watchful eyes. This gives a direct insight into the piece and creates a relationship between the art and the audience, reminding the latter of the urgency of the situation.

Photo from the Independent

because the paintings looked highly erotic. This series was a breakthrough in her artistic life as it was one of the key moments in her emancipation from norms, and paved the way for her future.

While she played a key role in the development of American art, she stayed relatively unknown and confined to the artistic spheres for a long time, but, in recent years and with a rising desire to promote female artists whose importance has been lost to history, she has gained more and more popularity. A significant exhibit at the Centre Pompidou in Paris is currently paying homage to her, and the Beaney exhibit is also key as it brings to the centre of the stage an artist that

highly deserves the While the Beaney's it in itself is small, worth checking the drawings are incredibly de-

tailed and beautiful, and, as an added bonus, it's free and open to all!

praise. exhibit is out as

Photo from the New Yorker

Melting Panthers Bob Partington

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InQuire Friday 3 December 2021 Have something you want to say? Write a letter to newspaper.editor@inquiremedia.org and be featured in the next InQuire newspaper

I Tarini Tiwari Editor-in-Chief

n this most recent period of industrial action, we have an important question as students to ask ourselves. Why should we bother supporting our staff?

What’s in it for us? Well, even if there wasn’t anything we’d benefit from, I’d still say you should come out in support of your lecturers. That being said, the reason why I encourage people to support the strikes is because we are on the same side. Throughout the pandemic, the university overcharged us, charging £9,250 for local students and up to £19,000 for international students.

We paid this on the promise of hybrid learning. If the university’s priority was truly our safety and wellbeing,

K Alex Charilaou Newspaper Editor

ent Union supports our striking lecturers! Hark!

The work doesn't stop there though. Kent Union Parliament only voted to support the December round of strikes, not ones coming up. I know it's scary to think there could be more strike action in the new year, but look at it this way: our anger should be directed at university management, who have consistently degraded working conditions for our staff since time immemorial at Kent. Our anger should not directed at our mentors, teachers and colleagues - the vast majority of whom work tirelessly on our behalf, far outdoing the require-

T Jake Yates-Hart Website Editor

he past nearly two years of the pandemic has felt like some type of prolonged fever dream; we were thrust into a near insufferable situation and the only way to really ease the pain of it was to play Among Us with friends while completely smashed.

Even though I spent a lot of 2020 and 2021 three sheets to the wind, I still surprisingly remember the strike action that took place in the spring term of my second year, just before COVID changed the world forever.

In February 2020, The University of Kent was hit with a two-week strike from staff over issues surrounding pay

Editorial

they’d have cut tuition fees to account for the lack of facilities in use. Similarly, if they cared about our staff’s wellbeing, they wouldn’t have their pensions at risk of being cut by 35%. When we asked the university for support as our mental health suffered during lockdown, we were offered no-detriment policies that never got implemented and one-week extensions on essays. Staff, meanwhile, also received little to no support, juggling home life, caring responsibilities, university work and the pressure of maintaining the teaching quality they were able to offer when they had access to proper resources, only now online. Our mental health continues to suffer

and as does that of our staff. The university management were happy to let our tuition fee payments, pension cuts and staff ‘voluntary redundancy schemes’ pull them out of their £60.1 million deficit. The harsh reality is that the senior management here at Kent does not care about us, and they also do not care about our staff. If you find staff strikes disruptive, good. That’s the point. We need to recognise that we’re on the same side, and the sooner we show solidarity with our staff, the sooner we regain power and democracy from the university.

ments of their contracts to make up for the dereliction of responsibility left by senior management. Poor mental health, precariousness and unmanageable workloads are common to both the student and staff communities at Kent - this is a sign of a university that cannot meet its basic requirements as an institution. Something needs to give. Instead of seeing strikes a hindrance, look at them as an opportunity to demand things of university management we haven't been able to in the past, and support our lecturers as they do the same. They deserve a living wage. They deserve job security. They deserve a com-

fortable retirement. How do we help? Good question.

Come out to pickets, learn from striking staff! Take time to understand the reasons our staff are striking - it will make you much more sympathetic. Support campaigns at Kent which tap into the issues both students and staff care about. Most importantly, help Kent Union reach a position in favour of our striking lecturers - it will not affect the fact of whether they strike, but our support can make that one, crucial difference. Making our university management listen. Oh, also, wrap up warm on the picket line. Bring snacks.

and working conditions. At the time, I was admittedly disgruntled with the length of the strike. Most of the social sciences department were participating, so while it meant I got a reprieve from seminars and lectures, I felt cheated out of the £9,250 I was spending on my degree.

Now, post-lockdown, I’m older, wiser, and a lot angrier at the apathy and disorganisation of the country’s institutions, including the education system.

After all, if a year of working from home has taught me anything, is that all organisations care much more about their end-goal - money - rather than the means of how they get it.

The University and College Union, which represents many of the University of Kent staff, voted to go on strike from 1 to 3 December 2021 over disputes about cuts to pay, unsafe workloads and workplace conditions.

For those frustrated by the strike action, remember that the ‘new normal’ we’ve been dealing with highlighted that the current bureaucratic systems in place support only the few and not the many.

Our professors are not only protesting having their human rights stripped away, but they are also trying to ensure this cycle doesn’t continue for future generations, including ours.

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Friday 3 December 2021 InQuire Views expressed in InQuire's satire articles are those only of the writer and InQuire does not endorse any of these opinions, this section is dedicated to entertainment purposes only. We use fictitious characters in our stories, except in regards to public figures being satirised directly.

The Grinch speaks out: why I stole Christmas

By The Grinch, Guest Writer TW: abuse, alcoholism, mental health

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Photo by University of Kent

ell, isn’t it obvious? Aren’t you flabbergasted by the fake family festivities that we must be submerged in, once a year?

The absolute epitome of over-indulgence, wrapped up in a flaky sense of cheer that peels away at the slightest scratch. Sure, it helps us to smite the cold that we feel biting at our consciences. It encourages us to rise above the evil of winter that bites at our toes. But would we not feel better if we were not standing on our toes in the first place? Attempting to rise above the very nature of ourselves that we ignore, through summer and winter?

Sure, let’s pretend for that one month - for that one day – that we love one another. That we care for weird uncle Rob – even though he lingered with a cuddle just a few seconds too long. That we love Nana and Grandad – although they are the real reason our parents are ruthlessly unloving towards us. That Mother didn’t go through post-natal depression, and only decided to stop neglecting us because some c*nt with a psychology degree told her to. That Dad is a fucking alcoholic who, from a young age, ruined our sense of masculinity by sobbing and sipping at his bottle of Christmas joy. Lockdown was the best thing that ever happened to Christmas.

Yes - I stole Christmas that one time. And you all moaned and fussed, as if the PS5 had gone out of

stock again for the umpteenth time. You groaned and grovelled for me to give it back, grieving over your lost presents that Father Fatmas brought you for being oh-so malevolent. But you should have thanked me.

If you need the season to be the reason you give someone you value an expensive offering – you have lost sight of the spirt of sharing in the first place. Why wait for the winter solstice, or the birthday of some bastard born 2000 years ago. Value you the ones around you – let them surround you. And if that’s not possible - DM them! Tell them they are profound to you. Don’t let capitalism ground you, for this celebration is just another way they are seeking to financially bind you!

“Oh great - the Grinch is a bitter Marxist now – typical” – I hear you say as you break your bank account spoiling your children with needless splendours for good deeds they contrived when the brats noticed December on the horizon. That’s the point! It’s all so fucking fake! This counterfeit cry of joy we call out for one day a year, while the other chunky daddy in 10 Downing Street dismantles our god given rights for the remaining 364 days a year.

All I’m saying is, I’ll happily take out Santa Claus.

Shoot him right out the sky with a 360 no-scope with my Intervention. He deserves it – why does he always give the richer kids better presents, even though they seem to get more obnoxious with wealth?

The offers there anyhow. Season’s greetings to all you cult-ey, Christmas c*nts. x

2021: A Year in review

By Tahmid Morshed, Website Satire Editor

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t’s basically over. 2021 has gone by like a flash in a pan. Is it a relief? Who knows? Now is an apt time to look back at everything and see what happened. Here are a group of topics and some expert thoughts to go with them.

read the first chapter, but it’s still genius. Go buy it from Blackwell’s, only £9.99. Literally the most affordable book there.

Do this or don’t. So were you wondering if you could live life on the edge? The answer is no.

Forget whatever you read in those substandard lifestyle magazines. You can’t drink carambola and kale milkshakes to bring back your joie de vivre. Calisthenics won’t make whoever you want jealous. There’s no sash proclaiming you “monarch of the universe” and there’s nothing you can do about it. Ulrich Mayr once wrote a story about this situation.

The Beginning? We started 2021 off with mild dissatisfaction. The first few months were a continuation of the previous year. Nonstop news about the issue that shall not be named. Probably for good reason. There wasn’t much else going on. No forest fires in Australia or scary detergent consumption trends this time. Then spring Admiral Saylor: So where are we? and summer happened. That’s when things got Sailor: Somewhere on the Atlantic seaboard, interesting. We started to get back into the swing sir. of things. The return of music, hyperinflation, the Admiral Saylor: How do we get back to old fall of Rome et cetera. Now we’re in winter and Blighty?

NASA is saying a meteor strike might wipe out Sailor: Take a right and another one from Le the South Pole. Honestly, if someone told me that Havre.

Dumas was revived and telling everyone D’Artagnan was actually a notorious Life is like a pizza. Reality is the base, philosocryptocurrency fraudster then it would phy is the sauce, and being decked by the ghost of be the cherry on top. an unearthly abomination is the cheese. This tale Was there any fun? Fun existed is why you should be careful. You might end up in (especially for Matt Hancock). Our Rennes and find that the Intermarché is closed. favourite sources of entertainment Now where are you going to find your were still active. Yeah, surprise packaged fish for your stale bread? Lidl? isn’t it? Someone painted a masGet out of here. sive mural somewhere in South Ruminations. Society has shifted Canterbury. Small Nasir released to ersatz relationships that parody any some songs. Time Warner remajor anthropological or sociological leased cool television and films. work from the 70s. Okay, hippies say Fashion went a bit crazy. If you this often, but I have a point. I promwant a more comprehensive ise. Humanity seems to be shifting to understanding of fun then read a quixotic way of handling things. This ‘The Fall of Atlas’ by Harvey year has put a massive spanner in the Blazquez and Mingo Sanz. works. Remember when you’d do a It’s a 250,000-word book on thing and then you know how it would how some people fell from be? But now you don’t know how it the graces of destiny. There’s would be. It’s a right mess.

Photo by Chris action, philosophy, and unconCan’t really sit down without the full McAndrew trolled levels of emotion. I only force of impermanence hitting you like a ton

Underworked and overpaid?

By Harvey Blazquez, Newspaper Satire Editor Vice-Chancellor Karen Cox Photo by Kieran White, Unsplash

Photo by University of Kent

Satire

K

aren Cox admirably took a £55,000 pay cut in 2020 as the university suffered from the financial consequences of the pandemic. This begs the question: if you could also throw £55,000 down the drain how would you do it this Christmas? We’ve dug out the old Casio calculators and have eight options for you.

2290 turkey roasts, 165,000 cheap Christmas crackers, Citizenship in Dominica (well, two-thirds of it), Two undergraduate degrees (and a £500 overdraft), Membership of the Tory Leader’s Group - a chance to influence top politicians, 13 full courses of Invisalign, 305 Toggenburg goats or 10,000 Hot Wheels monster trucks Karen, which of these did you have to give up?

Chancellor Gavin Esler Photo by Lasse Bergqvist, Unsplash

Photo by Peter Morrison of bricks. It’s like walking into the scorching sun with factor -50 sunscreen. Sonora called and it wants the sepia filter back! That mysterious figure in the side-lines is yelling “go get ‘em!”. Get what?

New yoga mats? But you already have them… In general, you have no idea what is going on. Go beyond the mountains? No, you won’t find the answer to life. It’s not 42.

Sport. I don’t know anything about sport. Did Mercedes win F1 again? Who won the Euro ‘2020’ championship? Who cares?

Closing Thoughts. Falling so far off the mark, it’s been an uneventful year. It’s better than the previous year though. Don’t take that for granted, December hasn’t happened yet. As Cogent Clarence would say, it’s been a mixed bag. If you had to summarise everything then I still couldn’t tell you. It’s like an undulating blur. At one point you may have seen someone call you a gormless cockwomble in your dreams. It wasn’t a dream; it was your enigmatic relative from far away. They’ve borrowed your favourite baking tray again. Guess who’s not getting a card this year. Congratulations and have a Happy New Year.

Photo by University of Kent

G

avin Esler is probably crying after he failed to win Celebrity Masterchef. Greg Wallace and John Torode proudly displayed their lack of knowledge, disagreeing with the guest judges over the cooked-ness of Gav’s scallops. Students at the university collectively shed tears as Torode harshly commented that Gavinho’s sorbet looked more like a soup than a dessert. Gavin (and Stacey) has been known on campus as a soup-lover of sorts.

One on occasion he was found shoving boiled £50 notes in a blender, having no idea what to do with his excessive earnings. To be fair, Gavvy Boy has earned the paycheque, with Kent students able to roll out fresh chants aimed at CCCU students in the upcoming Varsity showdowns. You can hear them already “Our figurehead Chancellor was on Celebrity Masterchef – you’ll never sing that!”

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InQuire Friday 3 December 2021

Satire

Militia Clashes in Park Wood

By Harvey Blazquez, Newspaper Satire Editor

I

n September, the University of Kent’s Park Wood accommodation was named ‘the official home of unlicensed boxing’ by Unlicensed Boxing UK magazine. There was a real sense of excitement around Park Wood and the wider campus, a feeling from students that they were partaking in an important episode of the university’s cultural history.

Late in September, thousands of spectators watched on as Jimmy Slim knocked out Bobby Bodacious in five rounds. The bout attracted a number of famous faces, including Wayne Lineker and Pete Best.

Those days feel a long way away now, with Park Wood gripped by an unabating conflict between rival militia groups. Ivor Dog, a local historian, explained how the events developed, “The organisers of the boxing matches disagreed over how to split profits, tensions escalated and after a few eggings an all-out war began between two sides.” Ivor, who has been living in Park Wood houses for six years thanks to illegal subletting, was not entirely surprised by the developments. “There have been a number of smaller conflicts in the last few years, if you put thousands of people in one area eventually someone will mobilise them.”

It is in these circumstances that the bitter conflict has erupted, with many belligerents willing to fight without concern for disciplinary action from the university, as they simply do not attend the university. A first-year student spoke to me about life in these awful conditions, “We knew it would be rough in Park Wood but nothing like this, half of my friends have already gone home for Christmas and I’m not sure if they’ll come back, we can’t live in a warzone.” As

I began to ask further questions we were suddenly shelled, we managed to run to one side and avoid a series of 5 individually packaged portions of Co-op trifle. Just seeing those puddings brought back memories of awfully balanced flavour and hellishly sweet jam, packaged in innocent looking mini plastic pots.

Thankfully Co-op has now redeemed itself with its surprisingly adequate £1.25 cherry lattice pie.

I ran for about four minutes before taking refuge in a nearby house, having noticed that the front door was slightly ajar. I soon realised that I had stumbled into a tactical briefing of the ‘Oozy Uzi’ faction. The leader, referred to as ‘Boss’, had evidently developed an obsession with the Schlieffen Plan, and was instructing his troops to copy it by attacking the ‘John the Scot Fanboys’ (JTSF) base in Homestall Court by trekking through the grass land between Whitstable Road and Park Wood, avoiding the patrol groups in central Park Wood. Boss roused their troops with an unholy shriek, “We haven’t had a steady stream of MD for a week now, who wants MD?!” Curiously, it appeared that we all wanted MD. After an awkward moment where Boss attributed a Kanye West quote to Sun Tzu, the oddly charismatic leader continued. “We’ll go down in history as heroes, who knows, they might even write about us in the newspapers,” Boss finished his speech and we charged onwards, towards death.

At a certain point it became clear to us that basing our military strategy on the Schlieffen Plan was not a good idea. We were so tired that by the time we got close to Homestall Court many troops were flagging, standing in a scattered formation as if we were asking to be picked off. It was quite shocking to witness the first of our troops getting shot down, but soon I

Down: 1 Corkscrew, 2 Under, 3 Bribery, 4 Perhaps, 5 Lie, 6 Evil, 10 Challenge, 12 Tempest, 13 Fighter, 15 Iron, 16 Organ, 18 Axe.

Solution for last issue's sudoku 6 5 1 3 9 4 7 8 2

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Photo by Tahmid Morshed was preoccupied by a deep confusion as to how my subconscious had decided to escalate the violence to this level. Maybe it was time for the dream to end, and guns would facilitate that nicely, without straining too many neurons in the process of conjuring up pointless fabrication. In the typical fashion of dreams, I can only recall the moment before my death, not the actual moment that I was shot. I suppose in some ways this is more realistic, you wouldn’t expect someone to stick around and process their surroundings for minutes after they’d died.

Between dreams you sometimes recognise those mysterious periods that you can’t fully remember, that we can probably only understand through monitoring of brain activity.

What happens in these time slots?

Are we transported to some deeper level of the subconscious, the realm of 0s and 1s constructed by those in charge of the simulation that we call life? Sometimes I like to imagine a plane of mesmerising psychedelic blotches of colour that shift in and out of animal form. Hues of pink, orange and yellow merging to produce 3D visions of Jeremy Clarkson ageing backwards, reduced to foetal form before imploding into different

Reader poetry submissions Submit poetry to newspaper. satire@inquiremedia.org.

Submissions will be reviewed by Hamberto Thickloins, poet in residence.

There will be a prize for the best poem. The winner will have a choice of: a stolen set of golf clubs, a 12 month gym membership, a hardback copy of the Book of Enoch, a bottomless mug or a £3 Lidl voucher.

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ichard Reece will soon change his name to Richard Reese after he came to an agreement with The Hershey Company over a new line of chocolates – Reese’s Sadness Swirls. The new chocolates share similarities with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, but will have a completely new appearance. A key difference between the Swirls and other Reese’s products is that the new chocolate will contain the tears of University of Kent students.

It has been alleged that Richard Reece (not yet officially Reese) has been collecting students’ tears for more than a year, getting students to cry by serenading them with his signature tune “one tuition fee, two tuition fees, three tuitions fees, four – I want a new car so give me more”. Reece had apparently offered the tears to a number of companies, with Cadbury interested until they threw their weight behind Danny Dyer’s Delicious Advent Calendar, which contains 24 identical chocolates modelled on Dyer’s face, with the same quote “you’ve been ’ad. Eat me you saucy prick” engraved on each chocolate.

During the first week of February Reece will hold a book signing event in the Gulbenkian café. He won’t be signing copies of a book that he has written, instead he aims to revolutionise the practice of book signings by offering to sign almost any book brought to him. He has made it clear that he will not sign any books with offensive or harmful content.

Interestingly, Reece will also refuse to sign any copies of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, claiming that, “Troilus and Cressida is the far superior Shakespeare play, Troilus’ emotional anguish feels so much more authentic than Romeo and Juliet’s parody-like ‘love’.”

Pick up InQuire 17.7 in January for answers!

16 South American raincoat (6) 18 Beyond question (12) 21 Skating venue (3,4) 22 Ancient language (5) 24 Garden barrier (4) 25 Tree (3) 26 Maul (3) 2

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shades, soon forming terrifying swans baring serrated beaks. What do you dream about? And what don’t you dream about? The human brain will do magnificent things to help you cope with the fact that despite the coming of a new year, you will still be a student at the University of Kent.

Don’t pack away your sleds once the festive season is over, keep them out for 2022 as our beloved university inevitably slides deeper into mediocrity, leaving behind a peak of prestige that we may never reach again.

Puzzles

Solution for last issue's Crossword Across: 1 Crumb, 4 Pull (Crumple), 7 Grid, 8 Inverted, 9 Surveillance, 11 Pretty, 13 Fiscal, 14 Swimming pool, 17 Barefoot, 19 Gone, 20 Heat, 21 Range.

Photo by University of Kent Deputy Vice-Chancellor Richard Reece

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Friday 3 December 2021 InQuire

Gulbenkian T24 brings new play to Gulbenkian

monkeyshine Two nights of student stand-up Come along and enjoy a dazzling array of raw, young comedy, introduced by your host and compère Oliver Double.

Two cracking shows in one night, starring this year’s crop of talented comedians from the University of Kent’s famous Stand-Up Comedy module.

Each show features a different line-up, stuffed to the brim with young comics each presenting fiveminute sets.

The cherry on top? InQuire's own Newspaper Editor Alex will be performing! Come support them (or throw rotten eggs, not supplied).

An amateur performance by T24 of Things I Know to be True by Andrew Bovell.

A physical theatre play surrounding the Price Family and their individual struggles that affect the family dynamic and their relationships with one another. Yet the main theme surrounding this family is the love that they have for each other.

Wed 8 Dec 2021, 7:30pm Thu 9 Dec 2021, 7:30pm

Wed 15 Dec 2021, 7:30pm Thu 16 Dec 2021, 7:30pm

Photo by T24/Gulbenkian

Festive season at gulbenkian G

ulbenkian’s Christmas Season 2021 is a scrumptiously festive selection box of treats! From merry music gigs, festive family events to comedy nights full of Christmas cheer, Gulbenkian has Christmas all wrapped up this December!

Schedule: The Nightmare Before Christmas (PG) Fri 3 Dec, 7:00pm. Tickets: £6-£8.95 The Polar Express (U) Sat 4 Dec, 11:00am. Tickets: £3.50-£4.50 Home Alone (PG) Sun 5 Dec, 3:00pm. Tickets: £3.50-£4.50 Elf (PG) Tue 7 Dec,7:00pm. Tickets: £6-8.95 ROH: The Nutcracker (Live) Thu 9 Dec, 7:15pm.

Tickets: £14-£16 Funny Rabbit Comedy Club: Don Biswas & Michael Legge Fri 10 Dec, 8pm. Tickets: £5-7 Accessible Film Club: The Nightmare Before Christmas (PG) Sat 11 Dec, 3:00pm. Tickets: £5 University Chorus and Orchestra: Tidings of Comfort and Joy Sat 11 Dec, 7pm. Tickets £7-£13

ROH: The Nutcracker (recorded) Sun 12 Dec, 2:00pm. Tickets: £14-£16 Frozen Sing-Along (PG) Sun 12 Dec, 10:30am. £3.50-£4.50 It’s A Wonderful Life (U) Sun 12 Dec, 6:00pm.

Tickets: £6-£8.95 Christmas Swing-Along! Wed 15 Dec, 5:15pm.

Tickets: £5 St Agnes Fountain Thu 16 Dec, 7:30pm.

Tickets: £10-£19 Stile Antico: A Renaissance Christmas Fri 17 Dec, 7:30pm. Tickets £10-£20 Arthur Christmas (U) Sat 18 Dec, 11:00am. Tickets: £3.50-£4.50 The Muppet Christmas Carol (U) Sat 18 Dec, 3:00pm. Tickets: £3.50-£4.50 The Albion Christmas Band Sat 18 Dec, 7:30pm.

Tickets £23 We’re decking the halls and singing merrily on high with incredibly merry music gigs this December including Grammy nominated vocal ensemble Stile Antico with a specially-curated celebration of the festive season A Renaissance Christmas on Friday 17th December. Folk in the Barn bring us not one

but two early Christmas presents with St Agnes Fountain on Thursday 16th December celebrating their 21st anniversary evolving old carols and The Albion Christmas Band are back with more Christmas music, humourous stories and spine-tingling ballads on Saturday 18th December. Plus the University Chorus and Orchestra present a sparking seasonal concert Tidings of Comfort and Joy on Saturday 11th December and University of Kent Big Band returns with its annual festive cracker of a Christmas gig, Christmas Swing-Along! featuring season classics and big band swing on Wednesday 15th December.

There’ll be hohohos aplenty at our Funny Rabbit Comedy Club on Friday 10th December, featuring possibly the angriest Irish vegan you will ever meet Michael Legge and political gag merchant Don Biswas.

Snuggle up in our cinema and be enchanted by our incredible screenings this December.

Delightful and darkly comic, ghoulish holiday musical The Nightmare Before Christmas kicks off our Christmas season on Friday 3rd December & full of Yuletide cheer, who can resist Santa’s biggest helper in our screening of Elf on Tuesday 7th December. Be wrapped up in the world of old Hollywood as we celebrate with a 75th anniversary

Photos by Gulbenkian

For more information and tickets please visit www.thegulbenkian.co.uk or call 01227 769075.

screening of evergreen classic It’s a Wonderful Life on Sunday 12th December.

Rediscover the childlike wonder of the season with Christmas family film favourites including Aardman Animations’ Arthur Christmas on Saturday 18th December, the joyous and anarchic take on the icon Charles Dickens’ tale The Muppet Christmas Carol on Sunday 18th December, and The Polar Express stops by our screen on Saturday 4th December. Cheer on pint-sized hero, Kevin as he runs rings around two would-be burglars in this Christmas caper full of pranks and booby-traps galore in Home Alone on Sunday 5th December. Let yourself go once again with Disney’s Frozen SingAlong which skates onto our screen on Sunday 12th December.

Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without the inspiring and opulent Royal Opera House’s The Nutcracker. Experience one of the most enduring and enchanting versions of the age old tale The Nutcracker. Follow a young girl’s journey as an enchanted present leads her on a wonderful Christmas adventure in this beautiful classical ballet, danced to Tchaikovsky’s magnificent score. It will be screened live at Gulbenkian Arts Centre on Thursday 9th December and recorded live on Sunday 12th December.

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InQuire Friday 3 December 2021

Sport

ebbsfleet make strong start under kutrieb T

here was a sense of excitement around Ebbsfleet United F.C. when they appointed Dennis Kutrieb as manager in June 2020.

It was an unexpected appointment in a number of ways, with only two other German managers in English football at the time, both at the higher end of the football pyramid. What really excited Ebbsfleet fans was the reputation that Kutrieb had built in Germany, with the popular publication Kicker giving him the title “Erfolgstrainer”, roughly meaning “successful coach”, a label reserved for the country’s top coaching talent. Kutrieb explained his decision to join, which did not appear to be an upwards step, “For me this is a logical step in my career. The opportunity to create the same results and progression in the competitive English system as I have enjoyed in Germany is something I am very ambitious to do.”

After a first season in which all teams battled against disruption, Ebbsfleet have made a promising start to the 2021-22 season in the National League South, the sixth level of English football.

They are second in the table and showed excellent form in their first 10 games, winning 7 and drawing 1 of them. In their first game of the season, Ebbsfleet battered Tonbridge Angels 5-1 in front of over 1,000 fans. New signing Dominic Poleon was paired with Rakish Bingham, last season’s top scorer, up front and the pair scored four goals between them in the first 30 minutes of the game.

Poleon and Bingham worked tirelessly in attack, constantly making runs and unselfishly drifting

wide to create chances for each other.

Ebbsfleet experienced a difficult period a few games into the season, drawing at Chelmsford City at the end of August before losing to Havant and Waterlooville, then losing to Hampton and Richmond Borough in September. The 3-0 loss to Hampton and RB was not as one-sided as the score line suggests, with Ebbsfleet still playing the attractive football that won them their first two Photo by KentOnline / Keith Gillard

By Harvey Blazquez Sports Writer

games. Their style yielded some decent chances, with Bingham coming close to scoring on a couple of occasions. This build-from-the-back ethos did also harm them on the day though, with the first two goals coming from Ebbsfleet players losing the ball in their own half. Hampton and RB looked superior in the air, and they were well aware of it, firing looping long balls into the middle third to challenge the Ebbsfleet defence as the game wore

on.

Kutrieb and his players clearly learnt from this short lull, winning their next five league matches in a row and progressing to the FA Cup First Round Proper. Ebbsfleet narrowly lost 1-0 to Leyton Orient in that FA Cup First Round match, a team two leagues above them, and put in a performance worthy of a better result in front of a noisy legion of away fans. The highlight of this purple patch was the entertaining 4-3 win over Hungerford on the 13th November, in which Ebbsfleet went 4-1 up before weathering a late surge from their opponents to secure the win. The first goal was one of Ebbsfleet’s best this season, with midfielder Craig Tanner playing a classy defence-splitting ball between Hungerford’s centre-backs, which striker Bingham finished confidently. Ebbsfleet had cleverly stretched Hungerford with a three-man overload on the left side of the defence, opening up a corridor for Tanner to exploit. Ebbsfleet’s second goal was fortunate, but their third was another early contender for goal of the season. Poleon chased after a clearance, which he fortuitously gathered after the ball bounced of a rogue piece of turf, before steaming into the box, brilliantly beating three defenders and the goalkeeper. Kutrieb was unhappy in the post-match interview, admitting that the result “was amazing for the fans,” but continuing, “I’m not really happy with the performance, we were sloppy at times and conceded easy goals.”

The team responded well to this criticism, thrashing Welling United 6-0 in a completely dominant display on the 20th November. The next match, a derby against Maidstone on the 23rd

November, was marked as an important fixture ahead of a difficult Christmas run for The Fleet.

The beginning of the game was chaotic, with the score at 2-2 after only 20 minutes. Maidstone won the game 3-2 thanks to a scrappy equaliser after the hour mark, with Ebbsfleet failing to create any real chances in the remainder of the match. Perhaps it was the derby setting that contributed to Ebbsfleet’s poor performance, but the team must bounce back quickly in time for a run of fixtures in which they play the current league leaders, Dartford, twice in a matter of weeks.

Overall, fans can be pleased with Ebbsfleet’s start to the season, despite their 6-match winning run coming to an end. There is an expectation that Kutrieb will have his team challenging for the single automatic promotion spot, with the promotion playoffs a minimum expectation. Ebbsfleet will be seriously tested in the next few months, with the two fixtures against Dartford offering a serious opportunity for the team to build a lead at the top of the table.

Photo by The Non-League Football Paper

Sport www.inquiremedia.org/sport

InQ Quire

IT’S OLE OVER

Does social media have a major effect on football manager sackings?

By Samuel Leah Newspaper Sport Editor

M

anchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær was sacked this week following a turbulent three years at Old Trafford, which culminated in a difficult 3 months at the end in which his team lost 7 out of their last 11 league games and conceded the same number of goals as bottom of the table Newcastle. Solskjær possessed a rich and talented squad during his time at the club, and many would have thought that with the incomings in the previous summer window including England starlet Jadon Sancho and United veteran Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as former Real Madrid centre-half Raphael Varane to strengthen the defence, that their season would be a successful one. But, after a run of embarrassing defeats, the plug has been pulled.

United’s desire to hang on to Solskjær could have been due to the history the Norwegian has at the club, having spent 11 years of his career in Manchester. He originally joined the club as manager on an interim basis but was given the full time job after a run of good form.

Ole has had runs of bad form in the past, but quickly overcame them well; an example being earlier this year when United went on a 28 game unbeaten run away from home, beating the record set by Arsenal’s 2003-04 ‘Invincibles’ team.

Though it seems this time round, and after a 4-1 thrashing by lower table Watford, the club were convinced Ole’s time was up.

Michael Carrick, former player and assistant under Solskjær has since taken temporary charge as interim manager, but United should be cautious and not make the same mistake twice, even if Carrick begins to rack up positive results. United have the quality of player as well as an extremely strong youth team to be able to challenge top teams, but under Ole they lacked tactical direction and ulti-

Photo by JOE.tv

mately lost morale when goals were conceded and games were lost. What the club needs is an experienced and tactically impressive manager, who can also increase morale through effective player communication and man-management.

Carrick is well-known within the club just like Solskjær was and morale could improve slightly during his time, but personally I think it’s important that United are not distracted by the desire to have a club veteran as coach with no managerial

ter a sacking, so for Ole to even sit that interview shows tremendous love for the club and desire to see them win, even after his departure. It’s a way to remember that managers put a tremendous amount of effort into improving their teams and winning games, especially those that have such a deep history with the club.

The process of being sacked as a football coach is never a pleasant one, and unfortunately a manager sacking usually comes mixed with negative

Photo by CNN

experience, and seek to appoint a big name so they can return to form.

In his last few days at the club Ole had a sit down interview in which he thanked the club for the experience, stressing how much the club meant to him through teary eyes. As a football fan it was tough to watch, and it’s not normally a common thing for a manager to be interviewed so soon af-

social media buzz. Fans are quick to flock to platforms like Twitter and Reddit and heap criticism on their team’s manager after a run of bad performances, or even a one-off loss.

Former United player Phil Neville spoke out about the swarm of social media criticism and negative reactions that fans have had as of recently, giving the example that you wouldn’t walk into

a shop and tell the owner that “you want them to be sacked”. This was following the dismissal of Steve Bruce at Newcastle, with reasoning being a mixture of poor performances, and a new ownership at the club seeking a fresh start.

Bruce was open about the abuse he received, stating that he “considered retirement” after things got out of hand, with his wife and members of his family also being affected. This is utterly wrong given the decades of experience that Bruce has in the game, as a player, coach and manager.

Many Premier League managers came to Bruce’s support: current Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta added that he had the utmost respect for Bruce, and agreed that the new wave of social media could even put people off from managing altogether, as well as mentioning that he was fearful for his children to use social media due to the current landscape and society we live in. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola urged Bruce to ‘not pay any attention’ to any of the comments.

Solskjær in the past has deactivated his Twitter account due to abuse from United fans, and in a recent post match interview around Halloween this year, had to stop a post match interview due to a fan who was shouting insults from behind the camera, causing Solskjær to laugh and reply: “Can I do this interview and then you can abuse me after, eh?”.

Managing in the Premier League is most certainly a tough task, and managers will have periods of positive as well as negative reactions from fans.

Social media toxicity is something that seems to get worse every day, and it’s something that has caused me to limit the amount of time I spend on social media over the last year.

I think Ole Gunnar Solskjær's sacking was fair, but the way fans treated him in the lead up to his departure was completely and absolutely unfair, and is something that needs to improve in the game going forward.

Photo by Dan Parker