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is exam feedback, “That’s my main policy ... that’s really important”.

He said next year Humanities students will no longer have to hand in hard copies of work, something he achieved as Humanities faculty rep.

Thanking his campaign team he said his girlfriend “has just been a force of nature”.

Winning by the night’s largest margin, Tom Currie took VP Activities.

An astonished Tom said “I keep expecting someone to wake me up and say it’s a dream”. He

emphasised the importance of communicating with societies: “I’ve outlined what I want, but now I want to find out what they want from me.”

The final result was Union President in a close finish that saw Tammy Naidoo win, saying “it hasn’t properly kicked in yet”. She beat outgoing VP Sports, Chirs Bull, by a narrow margin of 30 votes in the final round. “It’s surreal really; I really didn’t expect to beat him.”

Tammy said the worst part of campaigning was “having to annoy people so much, by the

end people where like ‘leave me alone’”.

Faced with the responsibility of Union President, Tammy said “there’s a lot of bureaucracy you have to face to try and change what you want to change”. Her main focus will be inclusion: “I just want to include everyone in the union.”

The new sabbatical officers will take office in June, with Chealsea Moore (President), Amy Gilchrist (Activities), Alex Murray (Education) and Chris Bull (Sports) all leaving their Kent Union positions.

21st March 2014 kent fc win division

sport - back page

students in record breaking sabb elections Felix Morris

KENT Union’s record breaking election results were announced during a tense night on Friday 14th March.

Four new sabbatical officers were elected, with Megan Wells also re-elected for a second term as Vice-President Welfare.

Supporters packed The Venue, cheering and shouting, joined by the candidates after an exhausting week of campaigning. 26.72% of the University took to the polls, over 10% above the national average. In total 4776 voters cast 20,133 votes, beating the previous two years.

First was VP Welfare, won for the second time by teary eyed Megan Wells. She said it was “just amazing, I’m so happy” as she hugged a friend. She thanked her campaign team, “they’ve just been so fantastic”.

Megan said running a second time made it more difficult: “It’s yours to lose, you’ve got that job in the first place and you want to keep it.” Megan also said she wants to push the zero tolerance policy.

The role of VP Sports received the most votes and saw Nina Mehmi elected. Nina said the campaign was “absolutely worth it, I’m 100%. I just feel very, very weird right now.

“The best part was being out in the sunshine with my friends, worst part was the four hours sleep a night”. An important part of her manifesto is “making sure sport becomes more inclusive to all”.

Next was VP Education, won by Jack Lay. The first thing Jack is going to tackle

Photo by Tina Stavrianou

The Night in Numbers - 4,776 individual voters.

- Sports had the most votes, with 3949. Welfare the least, on 3723.

- The smallest winning margin was Tammy Naidoo (President), who won by 30 votes, with 1,242 to 1,212.

- Tom Currie (Activities) had the largest win, with 1,568 votes, 917 more than his nearest competitor.

- R.O.N got a total of 419 votes over the five elections.

2

News Editor’s Note

Hello everyone, Last Friday was the elections results night, so we’ve got loads of coverage for you. You’ve already seen the front page report and stats breakdown, but on page four we’ve got highlights from interviews that were done with candidates after the results announcements.

If you already knew about the results, or just don’t care, then we’ve got all sorts of other stuff for you. In Sport, there’s a report on Kent FC winning their BUCS division or in Comment you can read about Nymphomaniac and student house prices.

Matt.

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58% of students expect to owe over £20,000 Benjamin Coode STUDENT life in the past 10 years has changed significantly in areas such as debt, time spent studying and why people even go to university according to a lifestyle survey conducted by Sodexo, a Paris-based services company.

Taking information from over 140 institutions in the UK, the survey has yielded some interesting results that come in tandem with the changing nature of university funding the the past 10 years.

The financial implications of student life are one of the main focuses of the report, with the influx of students that can pay up to £9,000 in tuition fees at university. According to the survey, 58% of the 2,000 surveyed students expect to take on debts exceeding £20,000, a rise from the 2% who expected similar debts in 2004.

These higher debt expectations come in tandem with a decrease in course satisfaction. 28% of students did not think that their

decree was worth the amount of debt that they accrued, up from 18% in 2012.

In terms of living costs, a fifth of students who responded said that they required an overdraft at some point during university, with 13% staying completely debt free.

Other findings in the survey included 84% of students worrying about their final grade, 50% said that a successful open day influenced their choice of university and 40% said they drank alcohol once a week.

Jane Longmore, a co-author of the survey, said: “This year’s survey results suggest that a time bomb may be ticking...

“Would nearly two-thirds of students be drawn to a plausible alternative to higher education if their return on investment could be better justified elsewhere?...

“Universities will have to work harder to demonstrate the value of higher education to students.”

Peter Taylor, Strategic Development Director at

Sodexo, said: “With greater challenges facing the students of tomorrow, universities need to be aware that living as a student, for three or more years, is a bigger decision to undertake than it was in the past.

“Not only must universities work harder to attract students, they must also accommodate dramatic changes in lifestyle and provide the best environment possible, to prepare students

for the challenges they may face after they graduate.”

Findings in Kent Union’s University Living Costs Report, released in February, included some similar statistics.

57% of students at the University of Kent agreed with the statement: “I regularly worry about not having enough money to meet my basic living expenses such as rent and utility bills.”

Photo by Karen Roe

gb unis fall in reputation ranks legal action over frozen loans Sven Bjerg BRITISH Universities have dropped in world reputation rankings released by the Times Higher Education supplement.

The rankings list the top 100 universities by 'reputation', based of the subjective judgement of 10,536 senior academics worldwide.

The United Kingdom has ten institutions in the top 100, the most for any country outside of the United States. he universities of Cambridge and Oxford sit at fourth and fifth respectively.

The other British universities in the top 100 are Imperial College London (13th), London School of Economics (24th), University College London (25th), King's College London (43rd), the University of Edinburgh (46th), the University of Manchester (51-60), the London Business School (91-100) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (91-100).

Since 2011, the universities of Sheffield, Leeds and Bristol have all dropped out of the table.

The editor of the table, Phil Baty, said: “The UK has lost three big-name universities

from the list of the world's 100 most prestigious institutions since the rankings were first published in 2011. In 2012, Sheffield exited the rankings, in 2013 Leeds followed suit, and this year Bristol missed out.

"Given how important global reputation is in attracting top international talent, collaborations and investment, this is cause for concern. The UK has some of the world's biggest university brands: we must protect them."

The United States dominates the rankings, with eight of the top 10 from the country, and 46 of the top 100. The University of Tokyo, ranked at 11th, is the highest university outside of Europe and the United States.

The University of Kent were not in the top 100.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, said: “The UK has a global reputation for excellence in higher education.

We have strong institutions, a world-class research base and dedicated staff. To stay ahead in the global race, we are protecting the research budget, making UK research more accessible and delivering a better student experience.”

Felix Morris STUDENTS from Bulgaria and Romania have had their maintenance loans frozen, leading some to take legal action.

The loan suspension occurred last November after the government reported a rise in funding applications for students from the two countries.

Students were asked for proof they had lived in the UK for three years and were eligible for maintenance loans.

The apparent targeted nature of the clampdown has led a group of students to take legal action against the government. Stuart Stevens, head of Holborn Chambers representing the students said “It appears these students are being discriminated against for political reasons”. Court proceedings are expected to continue in the near future.

Stefany Yordanova, a University of Kent student from Bulgaria said: “It hasn't directly affected me... However, for future students it would be a huge problem.”

Some students have questioned the motives behind the crackdown as the

tightening of regulations for foreign students came when the government expressed concerns over the lifting of working restrictions between the UK and the two countries.

There are fears students are being targeted in an attempt to appear tough on immigration.

The Romanian ambassador to the UK, Ion Jinga, said “these students appear to have become caught up in this political and media storm around immigration” David Willets, the Minister for Universities and Science, announced tighter enforcements in November 2013 which have been applied to other students from the EU, but only Romanian and Bulgarian students at both private and public universities have been affected by the enforcements.

News 3

24/7 library plans questioned

strike referendum inquorate

OUTGOING Kent Union VicePresident Education, Alex Murray, has expressed concern about plans to extend library opening hours over the exam period.

“I don’t think”, he said, “that 24/7 access is the first priority particularly where no transport allocation has been made after midnight in Medway”.

Both Templeman library at UKC and the Drill Hall library at Medway will be open 24/7 over parts of the summer term, and for the end of the spring term for a trial period.

In Medway there will be no transport available except public transport. In Canterbury, when library hours have been extended in the past, there has been a shuttle bus until 3am for students to book. It is not yet confirmed whether such a service will be operating in the summer, or how late into the night it would run.

“The priority should be for

THE recent Kent Union referendum on whether the Union should ballot all its members before supporting any industrial action did not reach quoracy. Only 140 students voted in the referendum, less than the 161 students that had signed the petition originally calling for the referendum.

Those proposing this referendum argued that this would be more democratic and give students more of a voice concerning any strike action.

However, those against argued that the proposal would give power to the Board of Trustees, which includes unelected members, and would add “bureaucracy to the current support process, making it harder to offer our support and prolonging the industrial dispute”.

Alec James, leader of the campaign against the referendum, reflected on its results: “We’re really

Matthew Gilley Newspaper Editor

later opening hours but opening until 3am with transport provision”, said Murray.

“Between 3-7am the buildings will not receive quite such heavy usage and many of the colleges have spaces open during that time.”

Extending library opening hours to 24/7 all year round to “enhance student experience” was a key manifesto point for Jack Lay, the recently elected Vice-President Education.

Although he admitted that he won’t know the full situation until he takes office later this year, he stood by his commitment, saying: “A 24 hour library is a big priority for students, as students should be able to study at a time that suits them.”

“However, 24 hours and transport provision are not mutually exclusive, we can lobby for both.

“I will work with the VP Welfare, when I start, to make sure there is transport provision for students, with a 24 hour provision.”

tuition fees “may have to rise” Annie Langton THE Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter has argued that tuition fees “may have to rise again”, defeating NUS President Toni Pearce in a debate over whether tuition fees should increase.

The two were debating on the motion “This House Believes Tuition Fees Should Not Increase”, which was strongly supported by attendees before the debate, but defeated afterwards.

Sir Steve Smith, the vicechancellor, said that his “priority” was to increase the standards of the University of Exeter.

Arguing that pragmatism was the best course, he said: “whatever my moral position, I believe there will have to be an increase.

“My personal preference would be for income tax to pay for university fees [but] it is unrealistic to hope for the public to pay.”

Pearce argued that the tuition fee increases were not lowering national deficit but were instead increasing it, calling it a “clever public accounting trick”.

She did not argue for the

abolishment of fees, but instead making universities have more value for money.

Students at the debate voted strongly in favour of Sir Smith’s arguments, despite leaning the opposite way prior to the debate.

Students are asked to vote ‘on the merits of the arguments they have heard’ rather than on pre-existing opinions.

He also pointed out that students living on campus can be walked home by campus watch at any time.

The 24 hour trial period will begin on Monday 31st March.

Photo by Jessica Mills

Ginny Sanderson Newspaper Comment Editor

pleased this policy won’t be implemented.

“The fact the referendum was inquorate just proves our argument and hopefully the ‘For’ campaign will listen to the message students have sent.”

Conversely, a backer of the referendum, Kent Union LGBT Officer Philip StephensonOliver said that “the fact the referendum was held during the sabb elections meant that there was very little attention from the wider student electorate for such an issue.”

He drew attention to the larger numbers who signed the original petition, saying that “this shows students do care about [the matter] but very few students knew there was even a referendum at the time”.

George Hopkin, the leader of the ‘For’ campaign, said “it’s obviously disappointing that the referendum didn’t reach quoracy but we managed to create conversation about the issue during a hectic election week, where there was not much of one before”.

student loans causing “black hole” Christopher Heron Newspaper News Editor

THE Opposition and the Government have clashed over the financial implications of students repaying their loans.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary accusing Labour of creating an “imaginary black hole” in the budget.

Labour’s figures come from the expectation that fewer students will fully pay back their student loans.

Student loans are written off 25 years after they are eligible to be repaid.

Students who pay £9,000 a year in tuition fees are set to pay back their loans in smaller portions, and the threshold in which payments start is higher than their £3,000 counterparts.

Labour’s concerns come from a projected £600 million shortfall per year from 2015/16, however this is challenged by the government.

In 2013, the Commons Public Accounts Committee reported that the government was underestimating the amount of loans that would be written off.

The value of loans that would remain unpaid has been forecast to quadruple from £46

billion to £200 billion by 2042.

Chuka Umunna, the Shadow Business Secretary, accused Mr Cable of underestimating the numbers and questioned how the government would fix this problem.

He said: “the [National Audit Office] published a report which revealed that because ministers have dramatically overestimated the number of graduates who will be able to repay the loans to pay for higher tuition fees, you have in effect blown a hole in the department’s budget.

“Can you explain to this House now how you are going to fix this problem?”

Vince Cable, said that it was an “absurd misunderstanding”, and that their method used to forecast how much would be repaid was flawed.

“I can assure you that if the recovery of the economy continues as it is the Rab Charge (the method used to calculate loan repayments over time) estimates will be very substantially revised down and this imaginary black hole will very soon disappear.”

Photo by Steven Punter

4

News

#kentvotes: meet your new sabbatical team

The votes are in, results counted and disappointed candidates aplenty. You have your new sabbatical team! InQuire, CSR and KTV had a chat to the officers-elect at results night to get their immediate reaction after a long week of campaigning...

Jack Lay, VP Education “Really tiring, really stressful, but in the end it’s all been worth it”, was how Jack Lay, elected to Vice-President Education, described his campaigns week and results night. The high point, he said, was “definitely the start of the week talking to students before they started getting annoyed”.

His priority on taking office is going to be exam feedback. “It’s the one policy I’ve been talking to voters about all week”, he said. “Exam feedback is so important for students. It’s a great way to learn and a great way to improve for you second and third years. There have been trials in various schools this year and it’s worked out pretty effectively. You can’t do it for third years unfortunately – it’s too difficult. But certainly for your first year, certainly for you second year it’s a chance to go back to your lecturer, talk through your exam and get some feedback.”

He thanked his campaign

team for all their hard work, the voters “for putting their trust in me” and said that to win was “just an incredible feeling”.

Megan Wells, VP Welfare Megan Wells, elected for a second term as Vice-President Welfare, said that campaigning for the second time was “harder”. “It’s yours to lose; you’ve got that job in the first place and you want to keep it.”

In a recurring theme of the evening, she said was exhausted and that the first thing she wanted to do was sleep. The first policy she wants to push through, however, is the citywide zero-tolerance policy, which aims to crack down on sexual harassment and discrimination in clubs and bars and encourages victims to report it. “We brought it into the Venue two years ago and it’s made such a difference. So I just really want to get that going.”

Having already completed 14 out of 15 manifesto points from last year, she said she wants to

“hit the ground running”.

Nina Mehmi, VP Sports “Four hours sleep a night”, was the average during campaign week for Nina Mehmi (elected Vice-President Sports). She expressed her surprise at being in this position: “If you’d told me four years ago that I was going to be the head of sport at the University of Kent I probably would have laughed at you. It’s the most bizarre feeling”.

“I’m a bit nervous that I’ve made these promises and now I have to impress everyone, but mostly I’m excited”, she said.

The first thing she wants to do in office is to “talk to everyone.

I know that sounds cringey, but just to get everyone’s ideas down and start with little steps – simple things like a results board because there are sports clubs on campus that no-one has a clue who are. Little things first and then try and build on what we’ve got with the big clubs and work with the small clubs”.

Photo by Tina Stavrianou

Photo by Tina Stavrianou

Tom Currie, VP Activities

Tammy Naidoo, President

Tom Currie, elected VicePresident Activities, described his campaign strategy as “essentially, I knew I was going to have a huge amount of ground support, like bootson-the-ground kind of thing.

I thought ‘I’ve got to do something that makes me stand out’, so I figured I’d make lots and lots and lots of banners – get a factory production line going”. “It sounds corny”, he said, “but I’m always thinking someone’s going to wake me up and say it’s a dream.”

The first thing he’s looking forward to getting into in his new role is “working out exactly what I can do”. “Before, you’re running for the role and you talk to a lot of students, a lot of societies, say ‘I want to do this’ and they sort of think you’re just saying it because there’s an election going on. So I want to do now is go to those societies and say ‘I’ve been elected now, now tell me exactly what you want.’”

He won with over 900 more votes in the last round than his nearest competitor. He said he felt “fantastic, over the moon.

I’m mellow, but instead I feel absolutely fantastic”.

Finally was Tammy Naidoo, elected President, whose victory over Chris Bull, the outgoing Vice-President Sports, was seen by many as an upset. She said: “It’s surreal really. I really didn’t expect to beat him at all. A lot of people know who he is, plus he’s got a lot of brilliant points and I think he’s done amazing this year.”

She thanked her campaign team, particularly her campaign manager Alex, who she said had been up on campus at 7.30 every morning. Her priorities, she said, will be night-life – “because it’s really important that students enjoy the nightlife that’s on campus. Not only is it nicer because it gives more of a community feel, it’s also a lot safer, especially for first years” – as well as “getting students more involved in the Union, those who aren’t so much at the moment because they’re worried about all the politics of it”.

She also said that “there’s a lot of bureaucracy you have to face to try and change what you want to change”, although she feels she’s prepared to tackle that and “I’m going to try my best to achieve what I can”.

Comment 5

SPOTTED, DON’T TELL WOMEN WHAT TO DO Ayla Soguksu PONDERING the questions of ‘should men be allowed to tell women what to wear?’ and ‘does what women wear directly affect our self-respect?’ for about five minutes, I’ve come to the simple conclusion of answering it with a two letter word: no.

Over the years women have struggled with their bodies and sense of beauty, with eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia a response to society’s perfect expectations of the female form.

So it’s no suprise that women nowadays find it extremely difficult to find self-confidence in their body, particularly with any imperfections. To be able to show off your body by wearing more revealing clothing, such as skirts and shorts, is arguably a sign of hard-earned confidence in that body.

Fundamentally, the choice of attire, as with the lifestyles, of women should not be dictated by men.

On 20th February, 2014, a man wrote a derogatory post on SPOTTED: Kent University, commenting on the appearance

of women: “…when you go out and decide to wear shorts, PLEASE try to cover your ass…”

In the 1920s people faced the challenge of changing their traditional ways for comfort and fashion. Now, and for many years in the past, women face and have faced the challenge of having their clothing, their fashion sense, their ability to feel secure within their own flesh and skin restricted by men who believe they know better.

“Have some self-respect for once”, he said to the female students of the University, igniting many angry rebuttals from other students.

Fashion has come a long way since the 19th century. Women’s clothing has changed: full skirted gowns, dresses, shorts and now short shorts. Fashion trends have constantly been both influential and important, not only for women but for men as well.

These days we tend to come to rapid conclusions about people simply by what they may be wearing: those glasses are hipster; his shoes don’t match his suit; you can tell she’s easy; her dress is too short, etc.

We’re faced with prejudice on

a daily basis, being judged like we’re just another typical cover to another typical book.

Feminine fashion was often used to ‘keep women in their proper place’: in the kitchen, on a shelf, or out of the boardroom.

As psychologist Jennifer J. Baumgartner said in her article The Psychology of Fashion, “as women were given greater rights, privileges, freedom, and opportunities for success and independence their fashion

choices shifted”.

Most women don’t wear clothes that are intended to attract attention, prejudice, and ignorant men. Their intent is to show liberation from restrictions set by the male patriarchy. Their intent is follow fashion. Their intent is to be able to show independence and self-confidence.

The ‘bottom’ line is people have conflicting beliefs, ideas and opinions, and they always

will.

If revealing clothing, like shorts, bothers you so much the simplest solution is to avert your eyes.

With all the problems people go through in life, adding to it will never make it more bearable. Men (or even women) should not be able to dictate the clothing of individuals.

It boils down to the fact that women should not be ruled, we should be free.

Photo by Chris Heron

student housing fees are a joke

Callum Tyndall

£420 in one week. I’d like to think that went on something awesome, like a week of epic nights out. Or a TV. Or literally anything but what it actually went on. For last week I spent £300 on a house deposit, fair enough, and £120 on what basically amounts to a few emails - A.K.A. an admin fee.

Isn’t student life wonderful?

A little background to start.

I’m a second year student moving out of my current house to live with a different group of people next year. I’m moving in as a group of five and recently signed the tenancy contract.

Having missed the student housing fair, in which many landlords can be met individually - a mistake that I will freely admit was on us - we were forced to resort to going through a student housing site.

Now, I have never previously had a problem with these sites.

They provide a great service, showing a huge amount of

potential houses to students in an easily viewable way that allows you to find a house without too much hassle.

However, I found my current house through personal contact with the landlords, so I wasn’t aware of one of the most extortionate costs that a student can face.

For the privilege of moving in to this new house next year, found via the student housing site, myself and my friends are paying £120 each. That is £600 in total. That is double what I paid as a deposit for the

house. It is an absurd amount of money to charge for a service that is painfully simple.

I tried to get around it, requested to deal directly with the landlords. But because I used the site, I had to pay them.

As will every student out there who uses such sites. They will be robbed blind because of the very simple fact that these sites completely control the viewing of these houses. And they have no shame in taking full advantage of it.

Now you may say that it’s perfectly reasonable to charge

this money given that I did use the site’s services. The problem is this: site maintenance isn’t that expensive, emails are free and I really can’t imagine that whatever process it is that these sites use to confirm the legitimacy of the landlords is really that expensive. So I can’t help but wonder where exactly all the money from these “referencing fees” is going. To me, £600 is an extortionate amount to charge for what amounts to very basic services.

And interestingly, the £120 per person charge seems to apply regardless of how many rooms are in the house. So if you’re moving in to a 4 person house, you’ll pay £480. It seems somewhat strange to me that it costs to reference per room.

Surely referencing is referencing, regardless of how many rooms there are, it shouldn’t cost more or less to set up contact with a landlord.

I understand that a service is being provided and if a site provides a service it can fairly

expect recompense. If that recompense was £120 for the whole group maybe I’d be more open to paying it. But to charge so much money, from a group of people who are not known for rolling in cash, just seems so far outside of reasonable that I can’t fathom the logic behind it.

I appreciate such sites provide a service, I appreciate they need to pay the salaries of their staff and I appreciate that I used said services. But the difficulty is that as long as these sites maintain a cornered market on the viewing of student properties, students will be forced to pay over the top, unjustified fees because they simply have no other choice.

I’m not trying to say these sites shouldn’t charge. But as long as they maintain such a monopolised grip on student housing, it seems unfair for them to bleed their clients quite so dry. A £300 deposit is a big enough down payment without having to drop another £120 in the same week.

6

Comment

should rigby’s murderers have rights?

Stuart Smith MICHAEL Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, the killers of the British Army soldier Lee Rigby, have both been handed life sentences with varying terms. This has astonishingly sparked debate over the morality of a ‘life means life’ sentence.

May 2013 saw the pair run down an off-duty Lee Rigby in their car, before chopping and hacking at his body with knives and a meat cleaver.

Adebolajo then claimed that the murder was in reaction to what British soldiers killing Muslims in “[his] land” – the murder was following the ideology of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth ”.

On the 18th February the court of appeals ruled that “Life means life” sentences could be given to perpetrators of “the most heinous crimes”, despite the European Court of Justice ruling that it’s a breach of human rights.

As a result Adebowale was handed a minimum sentence of 45 years, whereas Adebolajo

was hit with ‘life means life’ with no chance of parole.

The sentence has divided the public into three distinct groups, those who agree with the sentence and feel that justice will be done; those who claim it’s a breach of human rights and so do not advocate it; and

some who think the sentence is too soft and are calling for the reintroduction of capital punishment in the country.

We’ll begin by dismissing calls for a death sentence as reactionary and not thoughtout. There may be some reasonable point made about

Adebolajo’s own call for “an eye for an eye” to be used against him in a twisted example of poetic justice, but it’d be a stepbackwards for a country that likes to see itself as the ‘good guys’ of the world.

I find claims that the sentence is too harsh just as (if not

more) laughable than calls for their heads on spikes. I just fail to see how anyone can bring themselves to fight in the corner of the killers as if they’re the victims of this all. Living and dying in prison does not sound like a nice thing at all it’s certainly not something I plan to do - but no one is more deserving of that misfortune than this pair.

Perhaps a “life means life” sentence is close to a breach of human rights but as far as I’m concerned they renounced their human rights when they butchered a man in the street in front of men, women and children alike.

Generally I view prison not as a punishment but as a way of rehabilitating criminals in order to prepare them for their return to a ‘normal’ way of life.

‘Life means life’ sentences are clearly not rehabilitating – they’re there to punish and prevent more damage being caused, but characters like Adebolajo are beyond redemption and need to be locked away indefinitely, whether it seems harsh or not.

the veil should not be banned in uk Layla Haidrani

PICTURE this: you’re walking down Canterbury High Street and two eyes are staring back at you, cloaked in black. Do you recoil in horror or do you simply walk past? The ‘cloaked in black’ reference refers to the niqab face veil worn by Muslim women, an item of clothing which is currently a hotly contested issue in the UK.

Just recently, on Friday 28th February, a proposed law to ban it was debated in Parliament.

So why has Britain become so fixated with an item of clothing worn by a tiny minority of women? From the mini skirt of the sixties to Lady Gaga’s meat dress at the 2010 MTV Awards, nothing has quite garnered as much controversy as the veil.

And with a Channel 4 News survey revealing that 55% of

people want to see a ban on full face veils and niqabs, the debate shows little signs of ending any time soon.

From headlines such as “I was forced to wear the veil” and “Non-Muslim teachers ‘forced to wear veil’ at faith school”, it is little wonder that the majority of Britain want to see an end to the veil which they perceive as oppressive to women. But it would be unwise to take such media at face value, particularly as such headlines are isolated cases.

It is also interesting to note that those who wear the veil are completely silenced. Aamirah Patel, a History student concurs: “It’s a woman’s choice to exercise wearing the niqab [veil covering the face], for many of us in the UK, the choice to put on the hijab [veil covering the hair] is one which empowers us, allowing us to express our faith.

It’s an expression of liberation for many women. Society and politicians do not have the right to dictate what women can and can’t wear- when discussions around that arise, it becomes an

infringement of our individual freedoms”.

Banning the veil is a complete contradiction of British principles. We pride ourselves on our respect for other cultures and traditions, something that certainly cannot be said for many countries in the world.

We also simply shouldn’t subscribe to the view that wherever you go you must dress or look the same. This is the exact reason that makes the UK such an exciting place to live. Difference, as opposed to homogeneity, should be celebrated, not dismantled.

Rehema Mnende, President of the Islamic Society at UKC shares this viewpoint: “British society boasts freedom of choice, to be or wear whatever we choose. It is then a blatant contradiction when we turn around and try to impose on a woman the certain amount she is allowed to cover herself.

Islam conspicuously states that there is no compulsion in religion. The hijab empowers a woman and women should reserve the right to wear the veil

without speculation based on ignorance.”

From my perspective, national debates centring on the veil are a clever ploy used by politicians to divert attention away from real issues at hand. From the Scottish independence debate, to health care reform and even child pornography scandals in our very own government, it is an easy way for politicians to direct our attention to something arguably less vital.

The veil isn’t and certainly never will be the biggest issue we face in the UK right now, yet politicians keep calling for a ‘national debate’ over it.

If we follow in the footsteps of our European counterparts, France and Belgium, who have already banned the veil, it certainly won’t liberate women. Rather, it will in effect sanction state prejudice, curtail liberty and destroy freedom of expression. As author M.F. Moonzajer argued aptly, “freedom of religion is the only way towards universal peace.

As long as there is irrationality, peace is impossible”.

Comment 7

nda deserve victory in indian elections Karam Gill

GIVEN the massive population and immense diversity in India, elections are a rather complex affair. Giving both major parties the benefit of the doubt for a moment, I can definitely see two different approaches to the election.

In my opinion the centre-left Congress-led UPA government seems to be putting on the face of secularism, representation and regulation, whereas the centreright BJP led NDA opposition has attempted to focus on development, development and yet more development.

For the 2014 election, the Prime Ministerial candidates of both parties represent very different personalities.

Narendra Modi (NDA) has held the Chief Ministerial office in the state of Gujarat for 4 consecutive terms. During his time in power, Modi has turned Gujarat into an industrial hub, a hotspot for big corporates,

and has bragging rights for orchestrating the highest growth rate of any state in the country. He comes across as being a charismatic and ambitious individual.

Rahul Gandhi (UPA) on the other hand is a largely unproven politician, and for me and many others, represents nothing more than a symbol of the dying Gandhi legacy. It is not difficult to see that he does not posess any charisma or leadership quality. When informing the public about the various policies that the UPA government will implement if voted into power, he draws a highly generalised picture, rarely backing up his statements with concrete evidence or figures.

The present Prime Minister of the Congress led UPA, Dr Manmohan Singh, despite his impressive academic qualifications, comes across as being a weak individual who is unable to control ministers in his party.

He has made this abundantly clear in recent times, when he did not speak up on a number of occasions where his ministers have clearly been in the wrong.

For me, one incident in the very recent past indicates a complete loss of control - it involves the extremely competent health secretary of the country being sacked. His crime? Opposing the appointment of a scam -accused minister. The fact that the Prime Minister has not spoken up, despite the media exposing it to an outraged public, brings to the fore his weakness.

As a member of the minority Sikh community in India, secularism is a principle that is of high importance to me. The fact that several members of the Congress party (Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar to name but two) actively participated in and promoted the Sikh genocide in 1984, and the fact that the accused still hold high positions of authority 30 years

later, represents a travesty of justice.

India has witnessed unprecedented levels of corruption and numerous scams

the NDA being the largest opposition party, is enjoying massive waves of support.

My vote lies with the NDA and Narendra Modi, and I

under the UPA government involving hundreds of crores of rupees.

Nobody trusts them.

The UPA is in disarray, while

can confidently predict they will come into power after the elections with a landslide victory. Whether they will deliver or not, time will tell.

nymphomaniac: don’t look past the sex Jake Cunningham FOUR hours of hardcore sex, violence and misogyny. I think that’s the socially accepted way to sum up Lars Von Trier’s latest opinion divider Nymphomaniac.

Four hours of cinematic provocation, exploration and importance. That’s what I will call Lars Von Trier’s latest masterwork Nymphomaniac.

People will claim it is provocative for its unsimulated sex scenes, but in a world where pornography is so easily accessible, what’s provocative about showing sex to an audience that, with the help of the internet, have already seen far worse?

Nymphomaniac is provocative because of its propositions not regarding intercourse, but for definitions it extends to the world of art, and to an extent, the definitions of life.

In defining art, Von Trier has created a defining art.

The film marks the end of the director’s self-styled ‘Depression Trilogy’, beginning with Anti-Christ (the genital mutilation one), followed

by Melancholia (the end of the world one) and now

Nymphomaniac (the sex one).

Strangely, however, the finale of the trilogy is the black sheep of the Depression family.

It is, perhaps, Von Trier’s most accessible film in his entire filmography. It is as funny as it is heartbreaking, as beautiful as it is painful and as intelligent as it is explicit.

Of course people will be outraged, appalled and confused by the film.

As the protoganist Joe, an impeccable Charlotte Gainsbourg, recounts her sexual misadventures to Stellan Skarsgard’s Seligman he translates the tales into allegory, religious symbolism and metaphor. Rather than let audiences interpret his film, Von Trier has a middle man, revealing the meaning behind it all.

Well, that’s what the outraged, appalled and confused people will think.

To go off now on a tangent, much like Seligman, when I was an English student I was forever annoyed by my teacher’s insistence on an author’s ‘meaning’ behind each word, or full stop, or even letter.

I was annoyed by this because I thought, maybe the author

just wanted to write that word, maybe it’s not a poetic allusion to historical context, maybe it just is. Seligman is said English

teacher, an embodiment of our society’s requirement to find meaning and reason and reference in every piece of art,

or piece of life, that confronts us.

Von Trier is trying to get people to stop analysing for just one moment, to stop overthinking, stop the constant gesticulation about every waking moment.

How does one go about getting that message across? Make a 4 hour hardcore sex drama.

For that fact alone, sadly, more people will probably watch Nymphomaniac than any of his other films. It’s true that people will just think he’s a sick minded, misogynistic, sexbsessed maniac.

I am not saying that you need to ‘see past’ the sex, because you shouldn’t, in the same way that Lady Chatterly’s Lover is about sex, it is also a vastly important piece of literature.

Don’t look past the sex in Nymphomaniac. It might be hard to watch, it might be nice to watch, but it is essential.

It is a car crash happening in front of you: you can’t do anything about it, but you know you’re not going to turn away.

You don’t know know the liability, the fault, the reasons why, but it is not the cause, or the aftermath that lingers in the mind, but the impact.

8

Editorial & Interview

trials and tribulations of the travelling student Emily Adams Newspaper Entertainment Editor I actually like public transport.

Coach, train, tube, whatever.

I like it. It’s travelling without responsibility. I don’t have to pay for fuel or insurance, just my ticket to wherever I want to go. It’s not that I can’t drive. I can (not very well I’ll admit, it’s always a little bit dicey), but I’d prefer to sit by the window with my headphones in, and a book in my hands.

So why is it that everyone else seems to despise it so much?

Well, have you ever tried travelling on a bank holiday or when the entire country has transformed into a bathtub? I most certainly have. Seeing as the next time I travel home, in just a few weeks, it will indeed be another bank holiday, I thought I’d prepare myself (and you) by reliving my past travelling nightmares.

Let me take you back to the festive season, when once upon a time I very sensibly chose to travel home by tube, train AND coach on the day

before Christmas Eve, one of the busiest days of the year and when the clouds had decided to cry over every road I wanted to travel on. A two hour journey took me seven and a half hours.

After a delayed start on my first leg of the journey, Mr Train Driver felt it necessary to let every other train pass each junction before him. So when I finally got off the train with just five minutes to spare before my coach left, I naively thought I might actually make it. But three flights of stairs, a ridiculously heavy suitcase and my pitiful strength stood between me and Christmas. Thank you to those of you who stood in my way and refused to help the panicstricken, struggling girl with her present filled suitcase. You are all off my Christmas card list.

Having made it to the top, looking like I’d just fought my way through a herd of buffalo, I managed to get my case stuck in the turn style and then found that my ticket didn›t work. Ever the optimist I convinced myself my coach and everyone on it had their noses pressed against the coach window, banners and balloons in hand, waiting for my arrival. So I ran, in the pouring

rain, to the coach station which I now realise is not “just down the road”. Thanks for that.

I sprinted with all my luggage only to be held up by the most obnoxious Londoners around. Why stroll down the middle of a busy pavement and just meander from side to side. It felt like the ultimate blockbuster movie. Me against the clock, sprinting for the only coach out of the city before a meteor would strike. It was intense. Unlike the movies, I only made it in time to watch my coach pull away and see the

meteor hit. I did not live happily ever after. That could be a slight exaggeration of the truth but my mum certainly thought the end of the world had come when I rang her sobbing convinced I would be spending Christmas in Victoria Coach Station.

Tears and tantrums aside, I did eventually make it home. And in hindsight it was an interesting adventure. It’s all part of the fun of public transport. Picking your way across the country, sitting next to someone different every time and getting to eavesdrop on everyone else’s lives is quite

an experience - kudos to the mother teaching her four year old son about the best Class A drugs.

So, when you travel home for Easter, take my advice. You have three options: walk all the way home (Google informs me this will take 47 hours.

Considering I live nearly 150 miles away I think it’s assumed I’m a racehorse), travel in the middle of the night (obnoxious Londoners may have gone home by then) or, unlike me, just travel on a day that isn’t a national holiday. Simple.

None of these people are Emily

some people call it ocd, others just being organised Emma Shelton Newspaper Features Editor SOME people call me OCD. I prefer to think of myself as organised and meticulous.

My room is not the neatest but if anything, it’s organised mess. My bag is packed the night before, and that is not nerdyness: it’s thoughtful on behalf of my morning self who will most certainly forget the day’s essentials.

I do sometimes try hard to relax and loosen control but it never works. For example, I recently attempted to leave the pile of washing up unattended downstairs and read my novel upstairs, but one paragraph in and my skin was crawling at the thought of an unclean kitchen. I physically couldn’t stop myself from putting the book down, walking downstairs to clean. It truly is the newest form of procrastination but once finished, I could read peacefully.

Yes, I admit, this is quite

strange. It cannot be helped. It’s similar to that feeling you get when you buy chocolate and put it in your bag for later. That has to be the worst lie. The thought of chocolate sitting next to you is too tempting to resist. You can’t even pretend to work until that chocolate is finished and no temptation lies in your sight for distraction. Or is that still just me?

Churchill said “The best spontaneity is rehearsed”. That is basically me summed up in a sentence. I plan to make

plans. Making lists is a talent I have pretty much mastered.

The satisfaction is like no other when all I set out to do that day is ticked off. But then this becomes an addiction like any other. Now, making a list has become an arduous task in itself that it necessitates breaks and a day’s productivity can be judged by the number of lists created.

At times when I know my brain is just not up to it, but it would be a day wasted if nothing had been done, I purposefully trick myself into believing I was

efficient by writing myself a list including “take shower” and “wash hair” as two separate items to be victoriously ticked off.

As if making endless lists on notepads, post it notes and diaries wasn’t enough, last year alone, I had 5 calendars in my room. Needless to say they each has a specific purpose but this is beside the point. I hope you’re following my mentality that the more calendars and diaries, the more lists and post-it notes, the more things to tick off, even if

Emma’s notebook is probably neater than this

it’s the same thing twice, and double the satisfaction. Genius, I know.

By now, you may have gathered that I do not do spontaneity. Give me a week or so, and everything can be planned accordingly. Ask me out to the cinema tonight, and my hands literally shake at the prospect. I admit, this may sound odd, or secretly familiar to you. I have no shame, or at least not anymore as I’ve made this quite a public confession.

The irony of this situation is that my parents are exactly what I have just described. They were never and will never be spontaneous. Birthday parties are examples of incredible punctuality: I was always the first to arrive and the first to leave. I hated it, and swore to never be like that. And what am I doing at the minute?

Confessing to you exactly the opposite. Watch out people, it’s contagious.

Right, article finished.

Victorious air grab. Lean back with a sigh of relief. You know what’s coming … tick.

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iq theatre reviews and interview iq entertainment and culture, pgs. 15, 18 & 20 is tv binging bad for you? iq entertainment, pg. 16

getting ready for festival season iq entertainment, pg. 16 recipes iq features, pgs. 12 & 13

IQ Features 11

creative writing courses: waste of time?

Ayla Soguksu

Hanif Kureishi, photo by Chris Boland

Hanif Kureishi, a creative writing teacher at Kingston University in London, has claimed that Creative Writing courses are a waste of time and money. Kureishi has made it abundantly clear that, in his opinion, students who take or want to take the course should refrain from doing so because being taught to write is near impossible.

Bullshit.

I’ve been writing since I was a fiveyear-old, since the first time I picked a pen up and thought, “maybe… this is worth writing.” (Though of course being that young and trying to write rarely ends well for grammar, punctuation, and plot ideas). Over the years, I’ve taken creative writing courses, I’ve been a co-editor for my high school magazine “Esperanto”, taken an internship at one of Saatchi & Saatchi’s sub-divisions,

Zenith-Optimedia (based in Istanbul), proof read countless stories and essays, and have continued with my love of writing.

Being an aspiring writer is no easy job, but it isn’t impossible. Through my experiences I’ve learned and continue to learn from my mistakes through the feedback, suggestions, and downright brutally honest opinions I’ve gotten over the years (and I’m not even a creative writing student). Writing is no easy job, but it can be done.

Photo by Ayla Soguksu

The way I see it is that writing is the sum of two concepts: ideas (the catchy plot line that appeals to whatever age group you’re writing for) and the

features within the piece of writing (e.g. the tone, style, theme, etc.). The idea is what keeps the reader reading without being struck by boredom. As Stephen King said in his book ‘On Writing’, “words create sentences; sentences create paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and begin to breathe”. A single idea can spark many imaginations. It’s just about how you use and present that idea, and that is why creative writing courses are useful and worthwhile.

Tim Clare, a poet, author, and musician, recently wrote an article in response to Kureishi’s statements, claiming that he’s right in the sense that people need to find the right teacher for them, but wrong in just about everything else he’s said about creative writing. Kureishi claimed that the “99.9% of his untalented students focus more on their writing and prose than the story itself”. Clare’s response, summed up, is that he needs to learn how to teach the write way: “Here’s an idea,” he said, “FOCUS YOUR FUCKING LESSONS ON STORY, YOU MONUMENTAL BERK.” Being a writer in this nerve-wrecking world is a difficult task and a passion to uphold. You learn how to write (with help from teachers who care enough to teach the right things), you write a story

and publish it, only to find that half the population thinks you’re a bad writer, or sexist, or racist, or just not good enough for their standards.

Writing can be taught, it always has been. As Tim Clare has said “The question is not ‘can it’ but ‘how well?’”

Once that has been dealt with, maybe then writers won’t fall into Kureishi’s path of writing for the market to earn profit. Though no one can blame him for doing all he can to support his family, maybe it’s time he thought more about what would benefit his students in the classroom.

Tim Clare, photo by Knox O (Wsi Daniju)

diamonds made from human ashes: art?

Hetty Sieling

The latest weird news to intrigue and disgust us in equal measure comes from lovely Switzerland: it has come to our attention that a company called Algordanza heats and compresses human ashes into diamonds, which are then given to the family of the deceased.

My own reaction to this news started out somewhere around a stomachchurning physiological sensation before

moving stealthily in the direction of acceptance, finally lurching back to the fence on which I now sit. I now feel that although such a process sounds repulsive and it does somewhat lack ‘taste’, if the deceased (and their family) have previously expressed a wish for it to happen, it should happen.

Perhaps one may have an ethical objection to the potential profit for Algordanza? Having one’s relative’s

Photo by James Jordan

ashes made into a diamond takes a few months and costs $5-22,000.

Algordanza heat, pressurise and compress 900 peoples’ ashes per year.

Yes, there is a significant income.

This distinction, by the way, between ‘one’s relative’s ashes’ and ‘one’s relative’ is important, because I imagine the latter would be used as an objection to the process by making the physical ashes of someone seem sacred in ‘containing their spirit’.

If one has a vague belief surrounding the ‘soul’, ‘spirit’, ‘atman’ or their equivalents, one might argue that the ashes of a person - inevitably whilst being viewed sentimentally by the relatives (I feel ‘of sentimental value’ would be an inappropriate turn of phrase here!) do not contain the spirit of the deceased and therefore turning them into a diamond is not disrespectful. This idea is only put forward for the sake of exploring different views.

Ethical matters aside, these diamonds are art, but only in the sense of something intentionally made to

appreciate with the senses. The problem is the source of these diamonds and the connotations of the scientific process utilizsd.

The only factors that settle the debates are consent and intention: if the deceased has said they would like this to happen, it is ethical, and if they expressed a wish for it to be made in a certain way or for the sake of being a beautiful reminder of their life for the family, it must be art.

Diamonds made from ashes are tasteless for two reasons: they involve beauty out of death and they have no irony or knowingness. It is not a matter of public debate over the ‘decline of standards in art’ in my opinion because art is not generally poorer for including the tasteless.

My problem is finding a way to deal with these seemingly contradictory responses: these diamonds are made sincerely for the family to ‘enjoy’, the thought of them makes us feel sick and yet they are beautiful. However, it’s probably a problem I’ll never have to deal with.

12

IQ Features

thinking about thoughts news in improves thinking. i think. science Kyle Boyd

So, it isn’t only seniors that have ‘senior moments’.

I often talk myself into believing that my forgetful nature and lack of awareness of the world is nothing more than harmless woolgathering.

It’s certainly no easy feat given the advanced level to which I have developed this skill. I once very nearly missed my bus to work, thinking I had left my phone at home when I realised it wasn’t in my pocket. The person on the other end of the line assured me that I did have it, I got to work on time, and life continued.

I’m almost 26 years old, so in reallife-terms I still have many years ahead of me (I hope). Unfortunately, in the cushioned and make-believe world that is university, I’m up 20% on most of my fellow undergrads in terms of years lived, and to make matters worse, I played football recently and fairly seriously injured my hip. Yes - my hip!

So if I can’t get back my years, and my body is no longer holding up, then as a psychology student, I can at least learn to restore my mind. Spring term is a busy one for most students, and with exams on the horizon, we may all benefit from recent discoveries on mindfulness.

Mindfulness is a form of meditative practice commonly used in modern

psychological interventions. In its most basic form, mindfulness encourages us to be aware of thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations without self-criticism and allows us to accept them as they are, and then to move on.

Now, I’m very aware that in comparison to modern medicine, this all sounds a bit like quackery. You may trust that this particular quackery is supported by three decades of empirical and clinical testing and is widely used to help reduce depression, stress, anxiety and increase performance. Not bad for what is essentially an age-old form of Buddhist meditation.

In the research conducted by a team at the University of California last year, participants were assigned either to an eight week mindfulness class or to an

Photo by The Random Hiccup

eight week course on nutrition.

Students in the mindfulness group were asked to practise mindfulness outside the class and to apply what they’d learned to their everyday life. For those of you who would like to try this at home, here’s what the mindfulness classes involved: 1. Sitting in an upright posture with legs crossed and gaze lowered.

2. Distinguishing between naturally arising thoughts and elaborated thinking.

3. Minimising the distracting quality of past and future concerns by reframing them as mental projections occurring in the present.

4. Using the breath as an anchor for attention during meditation.

5. Repeatedly counting up to 21 consecutive exhalations.

6. Allowing the mind to rest naturally rather than trying to suppress the occurrence of thoughts.

Put simply, when your mind isn’t distracted and jumping around so much, it’s easier to keep things in your short-term memory and to give a task your full attention.

The perfect way to end would be to inform you that I wrote this article after having practiced mindfulness and that I can verify its excellence. Sadly my bad hip wouldn’t allow me past step one.

what could you do with £2 today?

Caitlin Webb

£2 isn’t very much. It could get you two things from Poundland or a bottle of Crabbies. You could buy a single bus ticket up to campus with change to spare, buy a large latte in the Library Café and a soft drink in Origins, Mungos and K Bar. There are a few students that I know who would easily be able to survive off £2 per day.

After not spending any money for a whole year, in 1975, Alex Smith used £2 that he found on the street to start a business. It would become the world’s first cereal company to be certified organic and produce around half of all organic muesli sold in the UK. Instead of using £2 to buy a large latte, he decided to invest in his future and start selling food that would have ordinarily been thrown away and wasted.

I am not suggesting that you should flee your accommodation to squat in an abandoned building, no longer shop for food and sell what you’ve found bin diving. However, this does

make you wonder what you can do with £2 nowadays. Here are a few nifty examples.

1. It’s mother’s day on March 30th and there are many gifts you can get for only £2. If you live local or if you are going home for the special occasion, the markets on Canterbury High Street on Wednesday and Friday sell bunches of flowers for £1. Alternatively, you buy a card for £1 and then 60p would get you a stamp to send it home. Your mum will appreciate the sentiment, just don’t tell her the price 2. Fancy baking on a small budget?

Photo by gordonplant

To make a quick and easy Victoria sponge cake, from Tesco, you can get 22p sponge baking mix to which you need to add 1 egg, 29p strawberry jam and 60p double cream. If you’re feeling adventurous, you could try selling the cake and strive to follow your dream just like the heroines from 2 Broke Girls (if you find yourself a partner).

3. With £2 you can buy yourself a pen and notebook and become the next J K Rowling with your rags to riches bestselling novel.

4. With exam timetables now published, you can start preparing by buying both useful felt tip pens and revision cards with your £2. This £2 could help land you a £15,000 starting graduate salary, provided you revise right.

So before you spend your change on a bus ride when you could walk, on a soft drink when water is for free, you could use that money to be a good daughter/ son, sell cupcakes, become the next J K Rowling or just ace your exams.

Stefan Vassalos Khan swept to power by good weather With the dust settling after a bout of highly competitive Kent Union elections, it’s tempting to reflect on university democracy with a certain sense of satisfaction. It turns out, however, that sometimes the power of the climate is as much to thank as people power.

In a new study published in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists from West Virginia University claim that the growth of the largest contiguous empire in the history of planet – that of Genghis Khan – was precipitated by, well, precipitation.

By studying almost 2000-year-old Siberian pine trees in Mongolia, the scientists deduced that before the time of Genghis Khan, there had been a long history of arid, cold weather, but at almost exactly the same time as the warlord rose to power, there was a decade or two of unusually heavy rainfall.

Dr Amy Hessl at West Virginia University, an expert on tree rings, which represent their relative growth over time, explained that the rings between 1180 and 1190 show a period of intense drought, which most likely created the socioeconomic turbulence in which Genghis Khan took power.

A few years later, between 1211 and 1225, the rings show increased growth in conjunction with the most lush conditions seen in central Asia just as Khan’s reign began.

The Khans’ empire eventually expanded far away from the Mongolian steppes all the way to Korea, Eastern Europe and India.

When considering the impact of climate and its unpredictability, it’s easy to underestimate the worldchanging effect it has on human communities.

Studies like Dr Hessl’s show that it’s not just that rising sea levels and changing weather conditions affect the way we live, but rather that a sudden drought or fortuitously-timed monsoon can literally change the course of history.

IQ Features 13

recipe human interaction: overrated of the week Kuba Shand-Baptiste

Tom Hagues Website Features Editor

Negligent boyfriends of the world, rejoice! Your saviour is here and it comes in the form of an app that aims to further your quest tospend even less time thinking about that special someone in your life.

Sambuca Kisses I first came across this baking treat when Nigella introduced them to our television screens. They are aniseedy and liquorice-like in every way imaginable. Although these treats are delicious with a coffee, I’m not completely sold on the idea of Sambuca. If you want to be really adventurous, try replacing the Sambuca with Frangelico - it’s an Italian hazelnut liqueur that I can’t get enough of. Buying a bottle of Frangelico is more of an investment rather than luxury expenditure.

Ingredients 1 free-range egg 100g/3½oz ricotta 40g/1½oz plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 2 tsp sambuca liqueur 1 tsp sugar 1 tsp grated orange zest vegetable or corn oil, for frying 1-2 tsp icing sugar, to serve Instructions Put the egg and ricotta into a bowl and beat together until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder, Sambuca, sugar and grated orange zest.

Pour little oil into a frying pan, and heat until a small piece of bread sizzles when you drop it in and browns in about 40 seconds.

Oil a teaspoon and gently drop rounded teaspoons of the ricotta batter into the pan, about four at a time is manageable.

The little kisses will puff up slightly and turn golden underneath, so flip them over carefully to colour the other side.

Once they are golden all over, place them on a plate lined with one or two sheets of kitchen roll to get rid of any excess oil.

Carry on until the mixture is finished. Once the kisses have cooled a bit, push the icing sugar through a small sieve to dust them thickly.

To keep them warm if you are not eating them straightaway, pop the pre-sugared cooked kisses on a rack over a tin in a 150C/Gas mark 2 oven.

Photo by Freddy The Boy

BroApp, the “clever relationship wingman” created by and tailored for guys who subscribe to the notion that sending texts to one’s girlfriend is a process so arduous that only an automated messaging system is fit for the job, has been whipping up a storm worldwide since its release last month. And it’s surprisingly apt. As

described on its website, BroApp has clever features such as “girlfriend safety lockdown” which sends “inquisitive girlfriends” lists of potential gifts that you allegedly planned on buying her when she attempts to gain access to the app, so as to deter her from probing any further.

The app (which will set Android users back £1.49) was created by Australian twenty-something’s Tom and James, whose communication issues with their own girlfriends served as inspiration for the new phenomenon. How romantic.

But the issue doesn’t necessarily lie in the possibility of being caught, which the creators have been so careful to prevent. No, the problem is that ideas like this, despite being marketed as a way to simultaneously please your significant other and hang with your ‘bros’, perpetuate dated and sexist notions about women being inherently clingy.

It is yet another step towards the propagation of ‘bro culture’ – a philosophy which celebrates myths about manhood in ad campaigns such as ‘Snickers: Get some nuts, anyone?’ or relationship advice articles from magazines with headlines that may as well read “how to further disrespect the person you love”.

Thankfully, however in spite of its alleged notoriety for sucking the authenticity out of human interaction, there have been numerous developments in technology which offer useful (albeit, unconventional) and non-discriminatory means of sincerely seeking to enhance couple’s love lives.

Take the Kahnoodle Couple App, the free app designed specifically for couples to help them improve communication and romance in their relationships. Amongst many other features, Kahnoodle awards points for thoughtful acts and sends suggestions for romantic gestures when a couple’s “love tank” is low, which can serve as a nice alternative to covertly ignoring your partner.

Or if, perhaps, the idea of resorting to applications in order to enhance your love life does not appeal to you, there are good old fashioned relationship advice columns such as XoJane’s “Sex/ Love” page (which is particularly useful for women), The Guardian’s “Relationships” sub-section of the “Life and Style” page or whatever media publication tickles your fancy, which can be great sources of information. But when in doubt, generally remembering to talk to your partner on a fairly regular basis is probably your best bet.

how to prevent food waste Tom Currie Environment Officer

As part of Fairtrade fortnight, on Wednesday 26th February, Chef Shane Jordan came down to Kent University to deliver a talk on the issue of food waste and the ways we can prevent it.

The problem of food waste is particularly prevalent in the United Kingdom with over 7 million tonnes of food being thrown away every year, half of which is perfectly edible food.

In order to reduce this problem, the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) established the Love Food Hate Waste initiative in 2007. As part of this work, the initiative helps chefs, such as Shane, tour the country and deliver talks on the food waste issue and the steps people can take to stop it.

According to Shane, food waste can be defined as any waste that is raw, cooked, edible or inedible material (e.g. bones, egg shells, fruit and vegetables peelings), generated during the preparation or consumption of meals.

The steps Shane recommended to reduce food waste included:

Photo by comedy_nose

Stock rotation: Bring all the older items in your cupboards and fridge to the front. Put the new food towards the back. This will reduce the chance of finding something mouldy at the back of your cupboard.

Compost: Ultimately some food can’t be eaten so it is recommended you set up your own compost heap as this prevents wastage and provides you with soil for your garden plants.

Avoid throwing things away: Food, such as fruit and vegetables, is often thrown away when it starts to go off. However, fruit can be easily turned into smoothies and fruit pies while vegetables can be turned into soup.

In addition to these steps, Shane also recommended students should save their leftovers and try to use them as

ingredients for tomorrow’s meal. As part of this, Shane explained, a number of easy meals students can make to use leftovers. One of these included the Circular Bruschetta Canapés.

Here is the recipe: Time: 15 mins Ingredients.

6 or 7 ripe plum tomatoes 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 and a half chopped basil or dried 6 table spoons of extra virgil oil 4 slices of bread heel or crusty bread Instructions 1. Cut tomatoes or cucumbers into small pieces and place in bowl.

2. Add half the olive oil.

3. Toast bread on both sides until golden brown (using a toaster or grill).

4. Spoon tomatoes and cucumber mixture on top and serve.

According to the Love Food Hate Waste campaign since their creation in 2007, through these steps, they have helped almost two million homes reduce their food waste by 137,000 tonnes and save households nearly £300 million.

14

IQ Features

soap! st patrick’s green ball what’s

on at Friday 21st March #Trend

Saturday 22nd March Soap presents Despicable Us Wednesday 5th March Jellibaby with their special guest DJ Marvin Humes from JLS

IQ Entertainment 15

events table manners review: well, i want seconds!

Myles Corley

Oscar Wilde once said that you

can fool any crowd with a tragedy, but comedy is a serious business.

Well, it’s safe to say that the cast of Table Manners, with director Eleanor Hicks at the helm, gave the audience a journey deep into the heart of what true British comedy is all about. As part of playwright Alan Ayckbourn’s trilogy The Norman Conquests, Table Manners follows six characters over one weekend, based solely in a dining room.

Working as a tight knit team, weaving across the stage with precision and purpose and delivering every line with meaning, heart and the occasional twinkle of an eye, the cast complimented each other’s talents perfectly.

Liam Horrigan prowled the stage like a lion trapped in a cage, as Norman, a frustrated middle aged, three-women-aday man. He’s desperate for more, a love, a fulfilment that his wife can no longer give him. This internal torment is portrayed to the audience ingeniously with at times just a careful whisper, yet at others with over the top, passionate acts of lust. His wife Ruth, perfectly encapsulated by Rose Trustman, allows

Norman’s breakdown to be even more prominent with her subtle ignorance towards his downward spiral. The careful yet cutting delivery of their lines creates just enough comedy to keep the audience alert and in the palm of these talented actors’ hands.

T24 cast of Table Manners

The contrast of characters is a consistent theme, for example the arrival of the simple, yet loveable Tom portrayed by Ollie Graveson. Winning the audience over with his dead pan persona, there were moments where Tom didn’t have to say a word, but the audience was howling with laughter at the nuances in his hilarious but tragic character. The audience was dying for the relationship between Tom and Annie (Katharine Bristow) to develop. Perhaps he loved her far more than he could ever show but as a simple vet, Tom didn’t know how to express himself. The climactic scene

of Tom walking away from Annie was reminiscent of any great romantic ending; perhaps even a touch of Gone with the Wind.

The glue, which desperately tries to hold the spiralling weekend together before it spins wildly out of control comes in the form of Reg and Sarah.

Steven Owen plays the fed up husband, who still wants to be the kid playing with his toy planes and stuffing his face with plenty of food, whilst Philippa James is the foreboding wife who looms over her weakening husband with a dominance that only a wife could.

With Reg fussing, stressing and being a general nuisance, when Sarah breaks this cover, we finally see her as a woman trapped into being a mother. And with a useless husband, the fall into Norman’s hands is just too tempting. The change and slow revelation as to what is truly behind her frosty façade is expertly conveyed.

The play was a joy to watch. Being drawn into this 1970s world with vintage clothes, set ambiance and a soundtrack that would rival Tarantino, Eleanor Hicks has created a spectacle that would rival any professional showing of Ayckbourn’s work.

should actors really suffer for their art?

Jack Hadaway-Weller

An excellent performance by an esteemed actor or actress has the power to influence our perspective and change our opinions. But with this responsibility, actors sometimes unwittingly cause themselves harm in dedication to a role.

Regularly, movies tackle harsh subject matters which require a complete physical transformation by an actor in order to maintain authenticity.

Performers often feel that they should become totally immersed in their role.

They do this by learning a new skill, adapting their accent or, more seriously, physically transforming themselves.

Often called method actors, they may put themselves through extensive programmes to ensure that they emulate the genuine article correctly.

Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club

Recently we saw this in Matthew McConaughey’s Oscar-winning performance as an AIDS-stricken patient in Dallas Buyers Club, a role which he reportedly lost 21kg for, reconstructing himself from the beefcake stripper he played in Magic Mike to this gaunt character. More famously, Christian Bale mutated himself into a skeletal, eerie and emaciated 55kg insomniac in The Machinist before piling the pounds back on to play Batman just a year later.

Contrastingly, it’s not just weight loss which actors put themselves through but also severe mass gaining. Renée Zellweger gained almost 30 pounds during her development of the titular character of Bridget Jones’ Diary, a courageous move which garnered respect from both the public and the media alike.

However, a large fluctuation in weight does have its drawbacks with the risk of inducing permanent health concerns. Tom Hanks, who announced his diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes last year, manipulated his weight on several occasions for his acting career, most notably his role as a scrawny island survivor in Castaway. It’s uncertain whether this assisted in his

Tom Hanks in Castaway

development of the disease although many medical advisors have speculated that it may have been a contributing factor.

Whether or not it was a factor, it is certain that this kind of erratic and extreme weight change would not be recommended by any health expert.

It is important to consider that actors, who are often aided by dieticians, are not the only employees putting themselves at risk in their career. It is courageous of actors to re-invent themselves for full commitment to a role but it should be by no means expected of them. Those that choose to risk their health for others should be respected although those that risk their health for the purpose of entertainment should wonder, ‘is it worth it?’.

listen, watch, use and follow Julia Mitchell

Listen: Warriors - Coco and the Butterfields With not long left until our very own Worldfest 2014, you can prepare by listening to Warriors by the Canterbury-born band Coco and the Butterfields, who are a unique blend of folk, pop and hip hop or ‘fip fok’. The band will be playing in the Worldfest tent on the Senate Lawn from 9 10:30pm on Thursday 20th March: give them a listen.

Watch: Pokémon: Indigo League Netflix, I choose you! Revisit your childhood with Ash and Pikachu, as the entire original series of Pokémon: Indigo League is now streaming on Netflix. Relive the classic moments in the Pokémon series that introduced the franchise to our TV screens for the first time.

Watch Ash set off on his journey, soon with Misty, Brock and Pikachu in tow, on his quest to become a Pokémon master.

Use: Fall Out Bird We’ve all witnessed the rise and fall of the infamous Flappy Bird, and if you haven’t downloaded it by now, you’ve missed your chance! Never fear, all is not lost. Although Flappy Bird may be off the market, American rock band Fall Out Boy have responded with their own app, Fall Out Bird. It’s the same, but with the band members’ heads doing the flapping, accompanied

by Fall Out Boy tunes. Yes, this is a thing.

Follow: @Compassionit It’s time for us to show a little bit of compassion. A relatively new social movement, Compassion it was launched in July 2012, and operates with the aim to increase the world’s positivity by inspiring daily compassionate actions. Their twitter account ensures that you have regular reminders to act compassionately every day, encouraging you to change the world one action at a time.

16

IQ Entertainment

tv and festivals

should we binge on tv programmes or starve ourselves?

FOR Tom Turner

AGAINST Louise Bellwood

I admit it. I am addicted to television.

I cram as many episodes into my day as I can, from dawn to dusk and sometimes back around to dawn again.

But why is there such a stigma associated with binging on television shows? It’s a criticism that hasn’t spread to other creative media. How often do we hear people say they loved a book so much they ‘couldn’t put it down’, but binge reading literature is never given the same negative connotations as TV? Is it because we have been trained to expect episodes to be released weekly?

This is a questionable reason since it is a largely practical decision by the television studios to alleviate the pressure of producing content. Most of Charles Dickens’ novels were originally serialised into weekly journals, so how is reading large chunks of Great Expectations any different from binging on copious episodes of House of Cards?

The fact is, binge watching is helping fantastic shows survive. In September 2013, Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad, said “I think Netflix kept us on the air”. Without the people who caught up online, the series probably

plan your festival -filled summer now:

Walter White in Breaking Bad

would have been cancelled very early on, robbing us of not just one of the best TV shows ever made but one of the greatest works of fiction, full stop.

It’s exciting to see how some shows are adapting to the trend, such as the fourth season of Arrested Development which was unmistakably designed with binge watching in mind, with all fifteen episodes released simultaneously.

The writers told one story arc that wove throughout the season, each episode happening at the same time but revealing more of the story, often with jokes set up in one episode but the punch lines in another. It’s a season that begs to be watched in one sitting, with a structure that rewards viewers for doing so.

The increasing access to television on demand has shown that people want to consume shows at their own pace, and if that pace is a mad dash to the finish, then who are we to judge?

Victoria Park, London

Seaclose Park, Newport, Isle of Wight Glastonbury - 25th June Somerset Hop Farm Festival - 4th July Paddock Wood, Kent Wireless - 4th July London and Birmingham V Festival - 16th August Hylands Park and Weston Park Creamfields - 22nd August Daresbury, Halton, Cheshire Reading- 22nd August Little Johns Farm

Glued to the TV screen?

malnourishment and music: why i’m pumped for summer

Field Day - 7th June

Isle of Wight Festival - 12th June

I’m sure everyone has at some point been guilty of ‘binging’ on their favourite TV series. I’d be lying if didn’t admit that I am currently hooked on Sex and the City. The problem is that Netflix and internet streaming just make it too easy to access entire series. Gone are the days when DVDs restricted you to few episodes. Netflix prevents any kind of self-restraint because there are no limitations to the amount of TV we can watch. So that optimistic “I’ll just watch one more episode” actually becomes five and before you realise, you’ve stayed up all night and wasted your entire weekend watching TV. However, what seems concerning is that ‘binge-watching’ TV is now deemed normal. Spending endless hours in front of your laptop is not unhealthy, but even beneficial and “restorative”, according to The Independent, as it allows you

to unwind and relax without effort or stressful thinking. I can understand how watching an entire series is a way of rewarding yourself after an essay, or how watching episodes back to back could perhaps heighten the drama or the excitement of a TV series. But surely any activity that is labelled as ‘bingeing’ cannot be construed as healthy - surely it’s just a way of making us feel less guilty about our obsessive TV habits?

Indeed, even in the most trivial way, being cooped up in your bedroom in front of a screen just seems so antisocial. For me, this argument just seems ridiculous. How can binging on TV be good for you, or be as restorative as reading a book or going out to the cinema or the theatre? We all know that we shouldn’t spend all of our time watching it, but the fact that it’s a guilty, solitary pleasure is probably what makes Netflix so popular.

Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t watch TV on the internet; I regularly use Netflix for its convenience and choice of programmes. But, what I am saying is that we should just use our common sense and not spend every waking hour staring at the screen simply because the internet allows us to do so.

Photo by Beacon Radio

Will Butler

The distinct aroma of mud, strongbow and the charred remains of camping chairs - oh yes, festival season is on the horizon, approaching fast. For those who are unfortunate enough to have never braved a festival because maybe you could never finance one or because you’re just ‘too cool’ to get covered in beer and urine and dance to music you actually enjoy, I heartily recommend going to one. Take the plunge before you’re at an age that you become a booze mule for underagers hopped up on the last three cans of K that you smuggled in for them yesterday afternoon.

The question remains though, to which festival do you venture? Right off the bat you can sack off V; it sounds cruel, but what it packs in shoving commercial refuse down your throat it falls short in providing the genuine festival experience.

The three-day haven I’ve been to

before and will always hold a place for in my cracked old heart is Reading (or Leeds, I guess). Rife with recent GCSE qualifiers, the normally barren wasteland of Richfield Avenue becomes a hotspot for the most exciting bands that are circulating or have ever existed. Pigeon holing Reading for its popularity because (insert bratty and sarcastic intonation) “everyone goes to Reading” perplexes me, since surely there’s a valid reason “everyone goes to Reading”; its line-ups cannot be beaten.

It provides a platform to see all the bands that released records in the last twelve months that you may have missed on their headline tours as well as showcasing legendary names people aged 18-25 may never have gotten the chance to see. I was fortunate enough to see Pulp, a band that I thought I would never see live in my lifetime, back in 2010 and it was a show to behold.

Nowhere else will you witness such cascading visceral energy channeled through a communal vehicle. You’re surrounded by 80,000 friends while simultaneously being totally alone, immersed in your personal festival experience - it’s almost religious.

But that might not appeal to you. The high octane burnout weekends aren’t as inviting to everyone. You want to chill

out and explore the eclectic boundaries that the scene has to offer? Well have I got the festival for you: Field Day. Set in Victoria Park packing headline spots from Metronomy and Pixies, this is one not to miss. With an array of the hottest artists within electronica (Dusky, Jon Hopkins, Oneohtrix Point Never), indie (Temples, Pond, Warpaint) as well as spots from alternative rapper Danny Brown, offbeat Australian songwriter Courtney Barnett and Syrian psychDJ Omar Souleyman, there is truly something for everyone.

Suffice to say the UK has a lot to offer in the festival department, from small time Standon Calling, to the big leagues of Glasto.Waking up hungover at 5am hypothermic and hungry knowing you’ve got an unpredictable day bursting with live music and new friendships to be made is the ideal way to spend your summer. Drink safe, be responsible and I look forward to seeing you there. I’ll be the only guy in the headband and tie-dye T-shirt….. right?

Photo by Michael Spencer

IQ Entertainment 17

tv and film

ressurecting the past: heroes is reborn

Farah Chowdhury

Dig out the step ladder, climb to the top, clamber about the heights of the cupboard and reach for that dusty box of solace. You know the one I’m talking about. It pulled at your heart strings, transported you to an alternate world, had you on the edge of your seat or wishing you had superpowers. It looks at you longingly and you wonder… what if? What if it hadn’t ended the way it did? What if there was more?

But you cast such ridiculous thoughts away. Why ruin a good thing? It’d be like Simba waking up and realising it was all a dream; no Timon, no Pumba, Hakunama-nada. Who would be foolish enough to make that mistake?

While Fox breathes new life into 24 in an event miniseries, NBC, hot on their heels, follows suit with one of its most popular serialised dramas of the past decade, Heroes, returning in 2015 with thirteen episodes as Heroes: Reborn.

Now, I know your treasured box set ended with the usual controversy, but nothing soothes the soul better than revisiting your coveted series. We watched them religiously, for years, there was an affinity between the character and audience, even the odd,

The original cast of Heroes

albeit one-sided on screen romance.

You could rely on your favourites to fill you in on all the gossip, reveal a secret or two and leave you wanting more for a good couple of seasons. So your favourite series is being resurrected; you’re a little excited and nervous. Your palms are clammy, but you sit down to dinner and begin this familiar journey once more.

It looks the same as it did before, but it’s not quite the same, nothing is. It’s both familiar and unfamiliar.

You recognise the taste but it isn’t as exciting, there is no suspense, no sense of the fantastic; you’re waiting for something, unexpected, but it doesn’t come. And where are those old original friends, who never failed to grace our screens? Now there’s an alternative, cheaper replacement cast, but half as delicious. Some of our firm favourites are missing. An

underwhelming experience and who are these new characters? What about the Cheerleader? NBC plans to release the storylines of the new characters in a digital series prior to the TV launch; in my opinion this is one relationship which should’ve ended in 2010.

If a series is brought back to tie up loose ends and put an end to those ghastly conspiracy theories, on par with how Sherlock planned his death, then maybe, just maybe, I could get reacquainted with my old friend, but as far as Heroes: Reborn goes, I’ll pass and so should you. Get comfortable, kick off your shoes, push work out of the door and be sure to lock it behind you while you cosy up to your dependable and faithful box set and relish in the nostalgic experience of watching forgotten episodes. “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World.”

the hidden truths the directors didn’t tell you

Emily Bright

Writer Jon Negroni has struck Disney fandom of late with a realisation which is nothing less than shocking to any nineties kid. The blogger has uncovered a hidden truth within Toy Story, recognising Emily, the original owner of cowgirl Jessie, to have grown up to become Andy’s mother. Although it’s not technically a cinematic game changer and my childhood has not been entirely redefined, it is true that this information gives new meaning to the popular franchise. It is with this in mind that I delved into the depths of movie fansites to uncover other similar mysteries.

Negroni doesn’t stop his animation obsession with his Toy Story discovery; instead the super-fan shows us the bigger fish he’s been frying through forming the ‘Pixar Theory’. The concept is based around the existence of a Pixar universe, in which all their animated movies are set. Negroni’s argument

is that each of these films describes personified animals or objects, which are being oppressed by dominant humans. This theme is intensified throughout Pixar, until in futuristic movies Wall-e and Monsters Inc. the effect is that machines and animals become dominant over mankind.

Negroni’s theory is complex and undeniably farfetched, nevertheless to lovers of the animated classics it cannot fail to fascinate.

It’s not only those passionate about animation spending time developing conspiracies; Quentin Tarantino fans have also formed a Tarantino Universe, in which many of the director’s characters are related. One example is seen through Vince Vega in Pulp Fiction who is considered to be Mr Blonde’s brother in Reservoir Dogs. Other fans have gone further, suggesting that Tarantino portrays an alternate universe running parallel to our own. It is argued that the worlds are separated when Adolf Hitler is murdered in Inglourious Basterds, with the significant historical twist making the Tarantino-verse a separate realm in which people are obsessed with violence.

Hidden truths in film extend past broad beliefs, with basic character background being a topic of fascination.

Speculation about Batman’s antagonist The Joker is controversial. It comes with some fans attributing his facial scars and weaponry to an army background. This theory arguably lacks concrete proof. Though admittedly it isn’t every day a clown who can handle a rocket launcher appears on our screens.

Similarly Captain Jack Sparrow’s past incites interest. In the deleted scenes his past offence of releasing slaves he was paid to transport is mentioned.

Whilst such sensitivity technically makes Jack an ineffective pirate, his lovability is heightened.

With these conspiracies being just a few of the weird and wonderful that the internet has to offer, I urge you to consider your own movie collection.

Perhaps your understanding will be entirely altered or enriched through discovering that Mary Poppins is actually an alien or there’s a hidden link between the Saw movies and The Sound of Music. The possibilities are endless within the world of film.

albums on the go Amy Bliss Love Letters Metronomy This album seems to be a literal take on 808s & Heartbreak, with Metronomy drawing lyrical inspiration from the hardships of relationships and creating an album that is essentially a collection of jazzed up love letters. At first it’s mixture of melodies is baffling but after a few listens it becomes oddly intriguing.

St. Vincent - St. Vincent St. Vincent’s fourth album is one that her previous albums appear to have been working towards. Whimsical vocals that deliver her sharply honest lyrics to funky, electronic rock tunes make for an album that really is a treat for the ears.

Self titling the album is an indication that she has finally found herself, producing something bolder and braver than before.

G I R L - Pharrell Williams Pharrell’s comeback is smooth, elegantly suave and laced with cameos from a few of his pals in the industry. G I R L is a simple album but isn’t boring, the 10 songs make for charming, easy listening and are guaranteed to be stuck in your head. There aren’t any dreadful songs on the album but it all seems a bit safe, a step away from something that could’ve been really exciting.

Present Tense Wild Beasts There is an overwhelmingly depressing feeling on this album. It could be the combination of the hauntingly high voices that echo within their layers and the darkly synthesised electronics that create an atmospheric, melancholic sound.

Nonetheless Present Tense possesses something desolately alluring that keeps you fascinated. There isn’t a band out there at the minute like Wild Beasts and this album truly proves that.

18

IQ Culture

that can’t be true...

Sometimes, I cry a little inside

about the fact that I always have to spell my name out to people: “It’s Rebekah - ‘k a h’ not ‘c c a’.” It’s HORRENDOUSLY inconvenient. And yet, it’s nowhere near as unfortunate as the names given to these poor souls. Read on, and feel better about your lives...

1. Matilda Suckcock. Well, that blows. I can only wonder about the origins of that surname...

2. Dick Brain. His parents must have really hated him.

3. Peter Piddle. Although the alliteration effect is nice, the name itself isn’t so good.

4. Minty Badger. Having an animal as a surname was obviously not enough for this person’s parents; they also called her Minty? What?

5. Dickie Head. I wish for the sake of this guy’s pride that it wasn’t his name, but he doesn’t seem too upset about it to be fair.

6. Blo Job. I don’t understand some people’s thinking when they choose their children’s names...

7. Connie Lingus. This name should be illegal.

8. Harriet Nicewonger. Oh, that surname... At least it’s a nice one.

9. Luke Warm. What are the chances of Mr and Mrs Warm agreeing that a phrase for a temperature was a good name for their child?

10. Dwain Pipe. What a waste!

“everyone’s read gatsby at some point: it’s relevant to real life”

Website Culture Editor Natalie Turco-Williams and Newspaper Culture Editor Rebekah Chilvers caught up with Charlie Quinn (Gatsby), Becky Gibbs (Daisy) and directors, Pip O’Neill & Luke Ofield to talk about T24′s production of The Great Gatsby at The Gulbenkian Theatre.

InQuire: So, how have the preparations been going for your production of The Great Gatsby at the Gulbenkian later this month?

Luke: At the moment we’ve got all of our dancers coming in to practise with some live music, which is pretty cool. And we have an amazing playlist including Tinie Tempah.

IQ: If you’re using Tinie Tempah does that mean you’re doing a modern take on The Great Gatsby?

Pip: It’s still set in the 20s but it’s got modern music – a lot of it is electroswing. What we’ve tried to do is to stay true to the era but update it a bit. We’ve tried to go a bit more traditional [than the film].

IQ: Have you kept the lines traditional or have you modernised them?

P: We wrote the script from the book, so we’ve been as strict to the book as we can be.

IQ: Did you take much inspiration from the recent film?

P: No, not really.

Charlie: They changed the story!

L: Yeah, you don’t need to change the story – the story is perfect on its own.

Becky: They kind of ‘Hollywoodified’ it.

IQ: Yeah, that’s true. Although saying that, I quite enjoyed that version actually.

P: Yeah, the party scenes are amazing.

L: Visually, it’s absolutely brilliant.

And I think we’re kind of trying to go for the same visual effect. The whole point about it is that it’s supposed to be glamorous, and we’re trying to put that on stage with a huge ensemble. We’ve got over 40 people on stage at some points.

P: It’s a big show.

IQ: You’ve got lots of cast members, then?

P: We’ve got 33 cast members.

L: That’s not including dancers. So it’s going to be like a big spectacle. We wanted to keep the big spectacle but have something that the film lacked – substance.

C: They made choices that were counter-productive to the purposes of the story.

P: If you watch the deleted scenes on YouTube, they’ve cut some of the best scenes from the film. There’s loads of amazing bits that they’ve cut which were really integral to the story, we thought, so we’ve put them all back in

again. They also cut out a lot of real relationships as well.

L: What we said, when we were kind of working out the script, was that without all this stuff it literally just becomes EastEnders for rich people.

P: We cast entirely based on real relationships and chemistry. We cast entirely on who we thought would be good together.

IQ: So, was it hard to create the chemistry between Gatsby and Daisy?

B: We’re getting there! It was just a bit weird.

C: ( jokes) She won’t really ever leave me alone… It’s interesting though, because we don’t tend to rehearse that often all together.

P: It can get stressful but what we’ve tried to do, is what Charlie said, not have everyone rehearsing together all the time. Because it can get too much and be like, “I hate the sight of these people now!” But if you keep everybody separate and then bring them together, you can bring new chemistry to the people you put together.

L: And also, you want to try and keep everyone happy – because it’s such a big production, it can kind of take over people’s lives.

P: It’s all coming along really well.

Luckily we’ve got an amazing cast.

IQ: So, what made you choose Gatsby in the first place? What made you want to do it?

P: Originally, Luke and I chose to pitch it after many conversations about how we’d stage the ‘yellow car’ scene. At like 3 in the morning, after a night out, we’d say “How would we do this?” That’s why we decided to pitch it – we weren’t sure we’d get it but we wanted it.

L: Everyone’s read Gatsby at some point in their lives. Everyone knows at least something from it. It’s got so much in it. It’s really relevant to real life, and there are so many things from it that everyone can relate to.

IQ: Speaking of relatable, can you guys relate to your characters very much?

C: I think that’s why it’s so iconic, because everyone can relate to it on some level. Although there is difficulty with that, like when we were auditioning, because it’s quite personal because everyone has a different idea of what it is. How I might relate to it is probably different to how you do.

B: Yeah, there’s always points where you can relate to things. There’s lots of

points where Daisy’s upset and a bit of a drama queen! At the end, there’s no one that you walk away really liking to be honest.

C: Can I ask a question? (to Pip and Luke) Why did you choose to do it as a play? What do you think a play can do that the book didn’t?

L: It is about the whole visual thing.

You can make theatre a really inclusive experience. The audience can be involved and almost feel like they are part of one of Gatsby’s parties.

P: The other thing is, Fitzgerald writes in quite a flowery way, and there’s quite a lot of parts where people don’t understand what’s happened. So, I think if you put it on stage, then it becomes that much more accessible for everyone.

It’s a great story and it’s a story that’s really relatable to everybody.

IQ: So that should be good for anyone who hasn’t actually already ‘got’ it.

L: Yeah, we want to appeal to all ages.

We’re trying to get some schools to come and see it, for GCSE students.

P: But also, this is on the English syllabus here, so if you do second year English and you do Modernism and Modern American, then Gatsby’s on both. So, it’s relevant to people who do English here as well.

IQ: So – 26th, 27th and 28th March, definitely looking forward to see how great Gatsby will be!

To read the full interview, visit inquirelive.co.uk or scan the QR code below.

IQ Culture

best and worst: fantasy films

Rosanna Shaw

The basic ingredients of the fantasy genre are fictional monsters and worlds, good versus evil, and lots of special effects. Yet, it’s surprising how differently films can turn out whilst still including these core features. So here’s my pick of the best and worst of this wide genre, not including superheroes or cartoons because that made for just too much choice.

I’m going to kick off with a true classic, The Wizard of Oz. From a young child to the twenty year old I am now, I have not stopped loving this film, and don’t think I ever will. It features great songs, and adorable characters. This film is colourful, happy and just a pleasure to watch for all ages.

My second favourite is Pan’s Labyrinth. Yes, you do have to read subtitles but it’s the best subtitled film I’ve ever seen. This film beautifully blends elements of fantasy and reality.

The backdrop is the 1940s fascist regime in Spain, which is juxtaposed with a magical underworld kingdom full of fantastical monsters. It’s grotesque and enchanting all at the same time.

The visual effects make this film legendary, but it also has a great plot. I cannot over-sell this film, you just have to watch it.

My choice for the best fantasy film is

Lord Of The Rings. Yes, I know that’s pretty predictable but how could I put anything else? Since its release, it has set the precedent for what a fantasy film should be. A great plot, legendary characters and epic battles filled with ground-breaking special effects. What more could you want from a fantasy film? My personal favourite is The Two Towers but the other two are both excellent as well.

My choice for the third worst fantasy film is Eragon.

Its major problem is not having one ounce of originality. It brings absolutely nothing new to the heroic quest narrative. Basically within the first five minutes you can predict how it’s all going to end, because it’s been done before.

Even the title just replaced the ‘D’ in dragon for an ‘E’, which just sums up the level of imagination that went into this film.

The second worst fantasy film is The Golden Compass.

After having read the book and loving it I couldn’t wait to see it on the big screen.

What I actually saw was a car crash of an adaption, which left huge gaps in the plot. I ended up spending the whole

time explaining what the hell was going on to my friend who hadn’t read it.

Never has a book to film adaption been so disappointing and that’s why The Golden Compass has earned its place in the worst three.

The worst fantasy film I’ve personally seen is The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising.

If someone were to make a list of awful things that should never be put in a film, The Seeker has the whole shebang.

Hammy acting, a plot that makes little sense, pitiful special effects, clichéd lines, predictable plot twists and a rushed ending are all features of this travesty.

Sadly, I can never get those ninetynine minutes of my life back, but hopefully I can save you dear readers from a similar fate.

On 28th July 1914, World War One began, changing the world as we know it, forever. When Britain declared war on Germany on 4th August 1914, it was said that the war would “be over by Christmas” – but, that was not to be.

WW1 lasted four years and eventually ended on 11th November 1918, what is now known as Armistice Day. By the end of the war, over 9 million soldiers had been killed, and a total of 30 countries had been involved in the conflict, making it the largest and bloodiest war the world had ever seen.

With the centenary of the start of WW1 this year, it feels more vital than ever for us to remember the bravery, suffering and selflessness of those

who fought for their country all those years ago. Although it may not seem as though we can ‘celebrate’ the centenary of WW1, as such, it is important that we don’t forget what sacrifices were made for the sake of eventual peace in the early 20th century – even if it isn’t always all that obvious how it has affected us today.

So, how can you get involved and commemorate one hundred years since World War One? As it turns out, there’s quite a number of ways: from watching TV programmes to visiting museums, there’s so much you can do to remember the First World War. And the best (and kind of the worst) part is, you’ve got four years to do it, so there’s no excuse not to find something to see or do.

The BBC are hosting a variety of documentaries, radio shows and web pages which delve into specific parts of the war: from the importance of war horses, to how Pack Up Your Troubles became the viral hit of WW1, and from wartime stories from your own region, to the technology of the war – they really have covered all bases, meaning that there’s bound to be something to grab your attention. Media of this type will be available from now until 2018,

this week in...

1999: 21st March Ernie Wise, one half of comedy duo Morecambe and Wise, died aged 73. Morecambe and Wise were highly celebrated for their work in the comedy business, as well as in show business, and were both awarded OBEs in 1976.

1963: 21st March The first automatic train on the London underground were brought into use in this year. At this stage, an operator would still be on-duty aboard the train in case any of the electrics failed during a journey.

world war 1 centenary

Holly Hepburn

19

as they will effectively be mirroring the war for four years.

Both www.1914.org and www. firstworldwarcentenary.co.uk list a whole selection of interesting events which commemorate WW1 – a ‘Trace your First World War relatives’ event is being held at Scarborough Library, and there are also loads of museum events nationwide, including that of the National Army Museum and the Royal Air Force Museum.

There are also various theatre productions across the country, depicting scenes from the war which we might otherwise never get to experience or even imagine.

And not forgetting the events which are going on here in Kent itself, and even on campus – the School of History are putting on an international conference on 15th and 16th April entitled The Great War and the Moving Image which will “explore the Great War through all forms of moving images”.

In the words of Robert Laurence Binyon, “we will remember them” – but let’s try and do it all year round instead of just on Armistice Day.

1965: 24th March Millions of people watched a broadcast of a space probe crashing into the Moon on this day. For 15 minutes, the live pictures showed ordinary Americans what it would be like to be hurtling in to the Moon.

1951: 30th March Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were found guilty of espionage for passing atomic secrets to the Russians. They were sentenced to death by electric chair at SingSing Prison in 1953.

2002: 30th March The Queen Mother died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 101. Hundreds of people paid their respects for the “fairy tale grandmother” at royal palaces nationwide.

20

IQ Culture

pause for thought St Patrick’s Day has been and gone, but, as to keep the celebration of all things Irish going, let’s have a look at a couple of famous limericks. Why are they Irish, do you ask? Because they were named after the Irish city of Limerick. Yes, it really is as simple as that.

There was a young lady of Niger who smiled as she rode on a tiger; They returned from the ride with the lady inside, and the smile on the face of the tiger.

William Cosmo Monkhouse There was an Old Man with a beard, Who said, “It is just as I feared!

Two Owls and a Hen, Four Larks and a Wren, Have all built their nests in my beard!”

Edward Lear Our novels get longa and longa Their language gets stronga and stronga There’s much to be said For a life that is led In illiterate places like Bonga.

H. G. Wells There was a young lady of station “I love man” was her sole exclamation But when men cried, “You flatter” She replied, “Oh! no matter!

Isle of Man is the true explanation.”

Lewis Carroll

TOP INSPIR ATIONAL PEOPLE OF ALL TIME

Alasdair Lawrence Chairman

It’s Gandhi, isn’t it? Every time someone asks “who inspires you?”

- they always pick Gandhi. It’s not a bad choice, he was a very influential man with a hefty contribution to both politics and philosophy. So is the Dalai Lama - he’s the other one everyone picks. If I got a penny for every Dalai Lama quote superimposed over a photo of a sunset I’d be a very wealthy man.

Or Churchill - he’s endlessly quotable.

So, perhaps we should start looking further afield for our inspiration?

Gandhi said “be the change you seek in the world” and I seek a change-up in our inspirational figures.

Theodore Roosevelt gets thrown around a lot as almost a caricature of a ‘manly man’ figure. But it is not his bravery or his moustache which makes him inspirational - it’s his tenacity.

Born with crippling, near-fatal asthma, the sickly Teddy persevered through physical exercise and conquered his debilitating condition. His father’s death pushed him to study harder than anyone else at Harvard.

In all his roles - soldier, mayor, policeman and politician among them Roosevelt locked horns with powerful, corrupt men and never once gave up on the fight - even if it sometimes led to his defeat. In one night, within mere hours of one another, he lost his first wife and his beloved mother.

He wrote in his diary, “the light has gone out from the world”. But, once again, he never gave up. He was the first president to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating a peace between the Japanese and the Russian.

He finished a speech in the biting cold despite just having been shot in the chest by a would-be assassin. The man was unstoppable and, in every facet of his life, his philosophy of bull-headed determinism saw him through.

A more contemporary example of an inspiring figure would be Benny Lewis, the self-titled “Irish Polyglot”. An engineering graduate from the Republic of Ireland, Benny worked briefly in Spain in his twenties and, for years, never managed to learn more than simple greetings. He was convinced he could never learn Spanish - that languages were something only certain people could wrap their heads around.

Benny reached an epiphany when he realised he was using English as a shield - speaking only with other English-speakers and hiding from any Spanish that came his way. For a whole year Benny forced himself to not utter a word of English. His philosophy of total, utter immersion was a radical success and Benny now speaks a dozen or so languages - half of them completely fluently. He runs a site - fluentin3months.com - which proposes ‘speak the language from day one’ as the best way to learn a language.

His methods of super-cheap travel and language-learning have earned him an international following of thousands.

Finally, and permit me to delve into the world of fiction, I would put forward President Josiah Bartlet of Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing. Bartlet treated people with compassion and fairness, stretching across both sides of the American political system, and would always reward fair debate over lackeys and ‘yes-men’.

A staunch Catholic, Bartlet nevertheless opposed in all capacities the use of religion to excuse the hate and prejudice of bigots such as the early scene in season one where he wonderfully and wittily shuts down a talk show host for her “homosexuality is a sin” rhetoric. It’s on YouTube and it’s only two or so minutes long. Please go watch it - it’s some of the finest writing in TV history. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens can change the world,” the President often said, “because it’s the only thing that ever has.”

“you won’t have a half ‘bad’ evening”: thriller live review

Rebekah Chilvers Newspaper Culture Editor

Waiting for Thriller Live to start, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from this homage to Michael Jackson. Would this musical have a storyline? Or would it just be a reel of MJ’s songs?

As it turned out, this jukebox musical didn’t have a story to it, but it didn’t really need it. The chronology of Jackson’s most popular songs was enough to fill two and a half hours with colourful, high-energy and passionate performances.

Occasionally, there was a break from the spectacle to narrate the specific part of Jackson’s life which corresponded to the subsequent set of music. It didn’t slow down the pace of the show, for me, though – it just reminded me of the many, many achievements that Jackson had. The so-called ‘King of Pop’ had success unlike almost anyone else, and it is hard to forget that when song after song is a hit.

The standout performers were, without a doubt, Cleo Higgins and Jesse

Smith, whose juxtaposition between soulful and rock vocals showcased the best in Jacksons’ songs.

From P.Y.T. to Dirty Diana, these two vocalists were the ones that, in particular, made me sit up and pay attention. The show captured the many different genres that Jackson mastered: pop, funk, disco, soul and rock were all incorporated into the show’s impressive 34-track set-list.

Don’t get me wrong, without the addition of the other lead vocalists - Tyrone Lee, Lascel Wood and Sean Christopher - the show would have lacked another dimension and additional powerful voices.

And not forgetting the dancing. Sean Christopher, as a sort of ‘reincarnation’ of MJ, moonwalked and crotch-grabbed perfectly, and brought Jackson to the stage visually. At certain moments, I did have to remind myself that this wasn’t actually Jackson himself I was watching.

Both the vocal performances and dancing in Thriller Live gave me something to really Smile about, and left me wondering if I could get away with seeing the show twice in one week, it was that good.

I had never considered myself a huge Jackson enthusiast in the past, but after seeing the show, I may have to reconsider that. Jackson changed the face of music in the past four decades, and Thriller opened my eyes to the enormity of this accomplishment.

Whether you’re Michael Jackson’s number one fan, or you are somewhat of a beginner to the Smooth Criminalsinger’s repertoire, go and see Thriller Live with your best ‘shamone’ ready, and you won’t have a half Bad evening!

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22

Sport

cleverley england petition is ridiculous Stuart Smith

FOOTBALL fans seem to have a generally negative reputation in society nowadays.

There are still connotations of hooliganism, sexism, homophobia and the like portrayed in the media and I’ll argue all day with anyone

that suggests this is the case – but there are times when the stupidity is just too much and I give up.

Recently, a petition has been

circling the internet that calls for Tom Cleverley’s exclusion from the selection pool for this year’s World Cup in Brazil.

The petition calls Cleverley “inept” and states he has “[no] genuine qualities whatsoever”.

Whilst he may not be England’s best ever midfielder he’s certainly not devoid of all value.

I agree that Tom Cleverley’s performances for England and Man United this season do not warrant him a spot on the plane to Brazil.

Ross Barkley would be my personal squad pick, but this petition does no good for anyone.

Primarily, if you believe the manager of England would allow his squad selection to be dictated by the opinions of less than 20,000 fans you are unbelievably deluded.

Secondly, signing the petition shows how little you know about football.

Cleverley has only become the butt of many jokes over the past year or so as a direct result of

Jordan Henderson establishing himself as a regular and useful outlet in the Liverpool midfield.

When Henderson left Sunderland for Merseyside in 2011, he became a laughing stock as a result of sub-par performances and an unfortunately inflated £20million transfer fee.

However, under Brendan Rodgers the young midfielder has come on leaps and bounds, probably just as he is maturing with age.

Though Cleverley may be a year older than Henderson, I guarantee his case will be similar.

Sir Alex Ferguson clearly saw something in Cleverley and everyone knows his track record of bringing through youth players.

On current performances I don’t think Roy Hodgson will select Cleverley for his World Cup side, but in 18 months or so people who signed this ridiculous petition will look back and chuckle at their naivety.

WHAT’S UKC QUIDDITCH?

have red bull lost their magic?

Victoria Cole

George Dagless

THERE are a number of fringe sports across the UKC spectrum, with Quidditch being one of them. The sport best known in the Harry Potter Universe has finally come to the University of Kent.

The first thing everyone asks me about Muggle Quidditch is: “How can you play without flying?”

Sadly, we haven’t figured out how to fly yet, but otherwise Muggle Quidditch is very easy to play.

The most important component is to have a sense of humour! This is pretty vital when you are running around a muddy pitch with a broomstick between your legs.

The game is very simple and is pretty much the same as the game seen in the books and films.

There are three chasers, who use a volleyball as the Quaffle and try and score.

We then have two beaters who use beach balls to unseat as many players on the opposite team.

There is one keeper to protect the goal hoops and then of course the most famous position

is the seeker.

The next question I always hear as Quidditch Captain is: “What on earth is used as the snitch?”

Well, the snitch is an enthusiastic runner, dressed in yellow with a sock with a ball inside tied to their jeans.

They can run all over campus (ours hides in bushes) and when they are caught by the seeker the game is over.

The only rule is that they can’t go to Parkwood or indoors, which means you won’t find a snitch on the bus while being chased by two exhausted seekers with broomsticks.

All in all, Muggle Quidditch is fun, muddy and gives people the chance to live out their dreams of being witches and wizards.

If you want to see Quidditch in action then come and see UKC Flying Chaucers play London on 29th March 1pm on Parkwood Pitches.

For more sport news check out our website at www.inquirelive.co.uk Email your sport events to: newspaper.sport@ inquiremedia.co.uk

FOR the last four Formula One seasons, without doubt, Red Bull have been the team to beat, consistently producing the best car as Sebastian Vettel has stormed to four world titles.

This year though, things look to have changed somewhat.

It should be stressed that a strong pre-season test pace does not automatically translate into a title win, but it certainly gives an indicator of who will be earning the points at the first few races before the start of the European season, typically a point for major upgrades.

Should Red Bull find themselves substantially adrift by this point it could be over for them.

Playing catch up in F1 is no mean feat as McLaren can put testament to after their disastrous 2013 campaign.

So what lies at the heart of the Red Bull problem?

This season has seen an influx of new rules which the teams have had to adapt to. Engine regulations mean the teams now run 1.6 litre V6 turbo charged engines as opposed to the previous 2.4 litre V8s.

This generates problems in

terms of the complete design of the car; the chassis has to be redesigned to accommodate the new power plant.

Another issue arises with the change in aerodynamic rules which have changed the dimensions of the front and rear wings. Abiding by these rules whilst maximising aerodynamic efficiency is one of the greatest obstacles a team has to overcome.

It was always likely that there would be teething troubles for most teams but the fact the champions are struggling provides real intrigue.

One recurring theme from preseason is that teams running a Renault engine, such as Red Bull, are struggling compared to their competitors with

Mercedes and Ferrari power.

However, whilst Red Bull’s plight comes as a shock, there is confidence within the team that they will soon be competitive.

In Adrian Newey they have one of the brightest engineers on the grid and feeling is if any team can overcome early struggles it is Red Bull.

They’ve adapted to rule changes well before, taking each new regulation in and maximising its potential and that’s why they’ve been so successful.

However, if they are still struggling it does provide one positive for the fans, no more lights to flag victories for Sebastian Vettel.

It promises to be one of the most absorbing seasons yet.

Sport 23

are football managers losing their head?

Henry Sandercock

RECENTLY, a brand new phrase has appeared in every football fan’s vocabulary.

To ‘do a Pardew’ is to ‘headnudge’ or ‘face-rub’ another human being in an aggressive fashion (I looked at other potential definitions on the Urban Dictionary, however they were slightly too rude to print).

Ever since the recent fixture between Hull City and Newcastle United, where Alan Pardew appeared to aim his forehead at Hull’s David Meyler, football managers’ behaviour has been called into question.

The English game has experienced some interesting characters over the years and, as a consequence, we have witnessed a whole host of appalling behaviour in and around the dug-out.

Take, for example, Roberto Mancini who went up against Mario Balotelli in January 2013.

Pictures emerged of the Italian pair gracefully pirouetting around the Manchester City training ground in obvious

harmony, as the club later claimed. Balotelli, who had miraculously got his bib on, was furious to find Mancini attempting to steal it. Both parties said their farewells to the English game soon afterwards.

The ever-outspoken Harry

Redknapp has also provided us with some entertainment over the years.

A particular favourite episode of his antics came during a training-ground interview when he was Portsmouth manager.

A wayward shot on goal

by an out-of-shot player narrowly missed ‘Arry who then descended into a tirade against the player, which was all caught on-tape for our viewing pleasure.

Ultimately though, Alan Pardew is the undisputed

irritant of football management in this country.

He has let his anger get the better of him on at least 5 occasions in the past 10 years.

Although his behaviour is appalling, I don’t think a ban is the right action to take. Let him be a bull in a china-shop.

Not only is it highly entertaining watching him hit the self-destruct button repeatedly but it’s also refreshing to see somebody that actually cares about the game.

With the advent of highearning contracts and foreign players and owners, a great deal of vitality has been sucked out of English football.

There is a growing feeling that the match result is somewhat inferior to the player’s paycheque at the end of the week and throughout the season.

Although I don’t condone violence or abuse in anyway, in the highly competitive sport that is football, we should not be surprised to see such high emotions.

Keep at it Alan, you’re doing this country a service.

is ronnie o’sullivan snooker’s best? ukc athletics charity run Joseph Armitage EVERY sport has a pivotal figure: in football it’s David Beckham; in golf it’s Tiger Woods; and whether for better or worse, in snooker it’s Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Early March saw O’Sullivan win the Welsh Open, not only beating Ding Junhui in the final but sealing the victory with his 12th ever maximum break of 147 – breaking the record coheld by himself and Stephen Hendry.

His quick-paced and attacking play style has earned him the

nickname “The Rocket” and is responsible for bringing many younger fans to a sport which is seen in society as rather slow and unexciting.

O’Sullivan’s effect is not unlike to Kevin Pietersen’s effect on the way cricket was perceived post-2005.

His career is littered with numerous indiscretions which give people reason to argue against his worth to the sport.

At the age of 20 Ronnie was labelled “trouble” and “disrespectful” when towards the end of a match he was dominating he began to play

shots with his weaker hand.

When asked about this he replied “I didn’t give him any respect because he didn’t deserve any”.

He’s been known to make crude gestures after missing shots, his alcohol and drug related issues are well-documented, and perhaps most famously following his exit from the Chinese Open, he exclaimed to a room full of Asian journalists: “Anyone want to give me a nosh? Suck my dick”.

While nobody is trying to justify the many controversies surrounding Ronnie O’Sullivan, you cannot let this overshadow the good he has done for the sport.

The current Snooker World Champion is one of the greatest to grace the baize and is the reason I began to watch Snooker; and he’s certainly more charismatic than some of his rivals.

In the age of Andy Murray and Steven Gerrard sport risks losing the personalities that keep it interesting.

He may be controversial, but he’s the undisputed Face of Snooker.

Percival Kleft THE University of Kent’s Athletics and Cross Country side are no strangers to audacious charity events, and this year, they will return with yet another mammoth effort to raise funds for a deserving local charity.

Having successfully completed their Coast to Coast challenge last summer, the team are set to embark in June on their next attempt, which will see them run from Canterbury to Paris, all in aid of local charity, the Pilgrims Hospice.

They will undertake this enormous challenge from 13th to 22nd June.

The run will see the team of 12

run 200 miles at an average of between 25 and 27 miles each day across the eight day period.

Training for the event was recently put on hold as the side competed in the Rome Half Marathon on 23rd March.

The marathon resulted in realisation of the huge task ahead of them with the side describing the Rome race as an: “eyeopener [as] it [the charity event] will be double that every day”.

The side aim for a sendoff event on 13th June on campus in order to kickstart their funding.

For further information check www.facebook.com/pages/ UKC-Athletics-and-CrossCountry/

visit our website at - www.inquirelive.co.uk/sport

InQuire sport kent fc seal bucs division top spot

Rex Ejimonyeabla WHILST we are accustomed to weekly drama in the Premier League, nothing could have prepared the Kent FC 1st team for four days of elation, disappointment and then satisfaction after playing longtime rivals, St Mary’s, on Sunday 9th March and then on Wednesday 12th March.

Kent had thought the British Universities and College Sports (BUCS) 1A championship was theirs after a definitive 3-0 victory over St Mary’s at the Oast House on 9th March.

However, the away side filed a formal complaint to BUCS

about the main official residing over the game, who turned out to be a student at the University of Kent.

BUCS regulation prohibits members of the home side refereeing a game, regardless of their level of qualification.

Therefore, the league ordered Kent to play a rematch away at St Mary’s Teddington ground in Kingston, London the following Wednesday 12th March.

The stakes were just as high with St Mary’s needing a draw to win the league and advance to the playoffs, but only a win for Kent would see them crowned as champions of 1A for a consecutive year.

Similar to the match on Sunday, the first half was largely uneventful, with both sides vying for dominance of the midfield, which led to a competitive yet cautious stalemate for the first 45 minutes.

The start of the second half brought a new found purpose for the away side as Kent were able to penetrate the St Mary’s defence from the flanks and were generally more comfortable on the ball.

The breakthrough came in the 70th minute when a piercing throw from the final third was met by striker, Oreva Amata, whose mishit shot found 1st

team debutant, Liam Wallis, who was able to direct a header past the St Mary’s goalkeeper and give Kent a vital lead.

St Mary’s were unwilling to acquiesce to Kent’s ascendency and were spurred on by considerable home support.

They consistently applied pressure to Kent’s defence predominantly through their wide men who were proving to be the home side’s most potent attacking threat.

Kent did not hold the lead for very long when St Mary’s attacked from the right flank and were able to find space around Kent’s penalty area before their captain struck to the bottom

left hand corner of goalkeeper Adam Ball, equalising for the home side. This was only the second goal Kent had conceded in their four previous games as a result of consistent displays of defensive discipline.

An excellent free kick from the halfway line by Kent midfielder, Luke Foulsham, was met by central defender, Jamal Dzotsi, who was able to climb above the defence and header past the St Mary’s goalkeeper into the top right hand corner to definitively seal the championship for Kent in the most dramatic fashion.

This meant Kent retained the BUCS 1A title as well as recorded three consecutive league wins.