Roar! by KCLSU Student Media

ROAR!

189 DAYS SINCE STUDENT COUNCIL PASSED THE MOTION FOR THE REMOVAL OF LORD CAREY FROM THE STRAND CAMPUS WINDOWS

King’s TV goes to NaSTA, pg 9

Tuesday 30th April 2013

roarnews.co.uk

GAME OF

MOANS

SENATORS FAIL TO ‘KILL OFF’ JEN IZAAKSON

PLUS TUTU’S CLOSURE SHAM(E) ULU Senate has acted in favour of supporting Jen Izaakson in her role as London Student Editor, following a vote of no confidence, led by UCLU student officer Sam Gaus. Izaakson currently edits London Student, Europe’s largest independent student newspaper, which serves the constituent colleges of the University of London. She studied for her undergraduate degree at Gold-

smiths and then for a Master’s at the LSE. She is due to start her second Master’s at UCL in September. Since the motion of no confidence was announced, the controversial editor and others have started a petition and written articles for the London Student website in support of her. FULL STORY on page 5

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THANK YOU AND GOODBYE ROAR! BEN JACKSON EDITOR editor@roarnews.co.uk BEN WILSON NEWS EDITOR news@roarnews.co.uk NIDA ALI LONDON NEWS EDITOR

@Jackson12th

SAMUEL SPENCER ARTS EDITOR KATIE SINCLAIR FILM EDITOR film@roarnews.co.uk WILL DAVENPORT & JOE BROOKES MUSIC EDITORS music@roarnews.co.uk

LIAM JACKSON SPORTS EDITOR sports@roarnews.co.uk

EVA CHAIDEFTOS FASHION & LIFESTYLE EDITOR fashion@roarnews.co.uk

HENRY CROSS COMMENT EDITOR comment@roarnews.co.uk

JULIANA RUSEVA CAREERS EDITOR careers@roarnews.co.uk

ANTHONY SHAW FEATURES EDITOR features@roarnews.co.uk

MATT LEVER & AREEB ULLAH ONLINE EDITORS

MAX EDWARDS DEPUTY/ARTS EDITOR arts@roarnews.co.uk

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CHARLOTTE RICHARDSON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF vpsme@kclsu.org

WHAT’S HOT Summer holidays. Game of Thrones! Finding the book you need in the Maughan. Re-decorating the Roar! office notice board with a lovely mood board for next year’s Culture pull-out. ‘The Future of British Journalism’ conference we went to! The New Statesman holding their centenary celebrations at the Strand Campus. Apparently, the Left did win the 20th century! Going to Belgium. Going to Derry/Londonderry because you have a friendly Irish housemate. And his mum’s making us mashed potato. Finishing an essay.

WHAT’S NOT Having a shit-load of essays to do. Revising late into the night and sleeping on your desk at the Maughan. Not getting spotted on the Maughan Facebook group. NOTICE ME. When ULU Senate holds a vote of no-confidence in you. When your door gets too big for its frame because your room’s so moist. And then you can’t shut or lock your door. Running out of milk. The Roar! finances. The security staff at King’s campuses. When a year comes to an end... Margaret Thatcher’s funeral causing your bus to be diverted. Ffs. If you have a complaint about the editorial content in this newspaper which directly affects you, then email the editor-in-chief with your complaint: vpsme@kclsu.org

Above: Closing the door on another year at Roar!

Editor’s note It’s been a stunning year at Roar! and I’m honoured to have been a part of the newspaper’s most successful year in recent memory. Whether you love us or hate us, you can’t argue with the progress we’ve made. We exposed a secret society, uncovering their weird practices and revealing the names of the alleged second-year members, started a massive campaign against Lord Carey that reached national media, asked questions others were too afraid to ask, like why is the College sending humanities departments out of central London, and what does it mean to have an all-male sabbatical team? As always, we kept you updated on the major motions at Student Council, and we covered the big KCLSU events, apart from the London Varsity, of course. The union’s kept quiet about that debacle since it died down. This year has seen many a controversy for our team. The number one rule for journos is to make sure you don’t become the news. Suffice to say, we’ve had our fair share of mishaps. Sometimes, it’s felt like the news section has focused mainly on the goings-on at this very newspaper. It’s like working at the BBC. What will I remember most fondly from my year in the bowels of the Chesham Building? Probably the drink-fuelled aftermath of the NUS Demo in November, as some of the team remained in the office till the small hours so we could go to print the next day. Aside from the usual rush to supply entertaining and insightful copy, many questionable activities took place as the hours drew on, and,

much to Anthony’s discomfort, I still have some pretty damning evidence on my laptop (and a separate PC). Look out for the Inquiry into Behavioural Standards at Roar! Newspaper next year, chaired by Lord Carey. I was speaking to Liam last week when he said people don’t realise how much work this newspaper actually commands. He’s absolutely right. Countless nights are spent sourcing articles, talking to people, proofreading, editing and putting the paper together. Before you get the tiny violins out, I’d like to assure you that although it’s a huge process that takes constant effort, I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. I love Roar!, I love the buzz of the story, the fights over Max’s heavy-handed subediting, the long days of proofreading in the Maughan, the meetings, pissing organisations off with our unforgiving angles, and the drinking, oh, the drinking. There’s a long list of people to thank; students who have sacrificed a lot to make this paper what it is today. So much invaluable work gets done behind the scenes. I want to thank my editorial team - Max, Ben, Nida, Henry, Anthony, Liam, Sam, Will, Joe, Katie, Aoife, Juliana, Eva, Sneha, Sophie, Matt and Areeb - and the people who made the paper awesome this year: Our Editor-in-Chief Charlotte Richardson, Laura Frater, Matt Capon, Jen Izaakson, Chris Rogers at The Beaver, KCLSU President Thomas Clayton and everyone who’s written for us. It’s been a pleasure to read through your articles.

Roar! took its first tentative steps towards something this year. I’m not sure what that something is, but it certainly involves national awards and recognition. With the work we’ve done so far, I think we’re on the right path. This week, we were thrilled to find out about the flurry of Crowns we’re to be awarded at the KCLSU Crowns and Colours ceremony. Please apply to edit for Roar! next year. There’s always more to be investigated, exposed, written, perfected, proofread, argued over etc. and we’d love you to be a part of the team. We’ll train you in the creative software and you’ll develop in-demand editorial skills. You’ll also be among the best students at this university. The most driven, ambitious and creative King’s students come to Roar!. Some of our former editors have gone on to work for outlets such as the Independent, the Sun, Huffington Post, Metro, Marie Claire, local news organisations and PR agencies. What’s more, a former editor has just started an MA at Columbia School of Journalism. With the Roar! name on your CV, you’ll be in good company. Have a good summer, Ben Jackson

TWEET US @ROAR_NEWS!

Too lazy to check your Twitter account? Here are some of our favourite tweets from the last few weeks.

@hurrumble Er, no. RT: @roar_news “Has London Student been good for our campuses this year?” @Allan_Katie @roar_news I’d be extremely surprised if any of my friends had read a single issue [of London Student], to be honest. @CapnGalaGuthrun Sean Richardson: “Transphobia is not libel, it is hate speech” #ULUvotes” GO SEAN! @major___tom @roar_news The ignorance of cis people who think the police take transphobia seriously is

beyond painful #uluvotes

@JasonForLSE @roar_news I don’t answer to irrelevent, unemployable Sociology students. Oh, I meant the ULU Senate. #ULUVotes @VoteThomasAnkin @JasonForLSE just stop talking @RachaelKrishna @roar_news I suggest you do a giant harlem shake. I feel thats the only way this meeting can go #ULUvotes @TheoWP @roar_news The college pays over £100k for this beacon of ineptitude. What could @kclsu do with another £100k... #openTutu’s? #justsayin

@alsy77 just found @roar_news from a Kings graduate. I used to edit Roar back in the day - lovin’ your work :o) @Jackson12th I’ll be nominating @roar_news for the student media award at #NUSAwards2013 -- You can nominate us too! http://www.nusawards.org.uk @tash_wynarczyk Got sidetracked reading a lot of @roar_news 2010-12 while packing. Our puns were class but we used ‘whilst’ too much #forevertabloid @LuanGKT @roar_news You’ve beaten the BBC to the scoop by 3 hrs - nice bit of journalism!

NEWS Ben Wilson News Editor news@roarnews.co.uk

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TUTU LITTLE TUTU LATE KCLSU has already begun consultation with students about Tutu’s and Waterfront

Ben Wilson What do you look for when you go out on the town? Eclectic nights? Cheap drinks? The best music and a rooftop view of the capital’s skyline? Well according to the KCLSU website, ‘you’ve got it right here at your own university’ in the form of Tutu’s nightclub! The only problem, however, is that you won’t for much longer, as many who attend King’s will already be aware. Despite the fact that ‘our students don’t stop until the lights come up’, the decision has been made to end the bust of Desmond’s dancefloor reign. No longer will his benevolent features watch over the clubbers of King’s, his omnipresent gaze approvingly observing an onslaught of Jagerbombs and the resultant loss of dignity.

Planning for the future...?

Clayton calls time on Tutu’s... On March 11th KCLSU President Thomas Clayton released a statement declaring that ‘despite our best efforts the popularity of Tutu’s Nightclub has declined and with that has come some significant financial losses… prompting the need for review’. This review, however, will begin with Desmond’s favourite dance spot closing at the end of this academic year. Students immediately took to Roar!’s Twitter account to express their views. Thomas Smith disputed Clayton’s club-closure tagline “Goodbye Tutu’s means hello London!”, arguing that it in fact meant “goodbye our identity and hello overpriced drinks”. There were supporters of the decision though – Lydia Gray claimed that “anyone kicking of bout [sic] Tutu’s closing is as naïve as they are foolish. Was losing shed-loads of money that can be better spent”.

Meanwhile Christopher Hares wittily observed “I look forward to seeing ‘Occupy Tutu’s’ because they will clearly smash the record attendance for this academic year”.

£100,000 Loss So where exactly did it go wrong for Tutu’s, and how did it reach the point of (last year alone) losing KCLSU over £100,000? As not only the designated Student Union nightclub, but also a key pillar of Clayton’s presidential election campaign, it seems surprising that this should have been allowed to happen. Documents obtained by Roar! show that as far back as February 2011 the financial situation at Tutu’s was being raised as a serious issue with the Board of Trustees.

Minutes from discussions held on the future of the club record that ‘to do nothing’ was ‘not considered an option’, while the ‘potential to re-establish Tutu’s as a great student facility’ was recognised. The main areas acknowledged as bringing about the downfall of Tutu’s seem to be the lack of use as a daytime venue, and general apathy and unawareness on the part of the student body. The 2011 KCLS You Tell Us survey revealed that of the 82% of undergraduates that were actually aware of the nightclub’s existence, only 59% had actually been there on a night out. The figures are much worse for postgrads – only 56% knew about Tutu’s, and of that select few only 27% had graced its dance floor.

The Tutu Tester - find out what’s hot and what’s not in this whole situation Tutu (The Archibishop) Great live music A Student Union community

Desmondelightful!

Desmondisastrous! Tutu’s (The failed nightclub) Generic playlist club nights No Student Union community

Meanwhile, what was this prime real estate, situated in central London and with an incredible view of the capital’s skyline being used for during the daytime? According to the board meeting minutes ‘some student clubs and societies do use the space, for example the Table Tennis Club use it twice each week for practice’. Several different proposals were made with regards to investment strategies that would revitalise the club, ranging from the outright closure of Tutu’s (a move that at the time was recognised as most likely causing ‘damage to reputation with students’ and losing ‘opportunity for growth’) to a £750k upgrade that would see Tutu’s become ‘a functional daytime space with catering provision and an improved nightclub offer’.

NEWS

@BenWilsonROAR

FOR KING’S NIGHTCLUB

Murder of the Dancefloor

Yet instead they opted for a £75k revamp that mainly involved ‘investing in superficial refurb [sic] (furniture/ decoration)’ in a move that was apparently intended to ‘create differentiation or “wow” factor’ – for those who actually visited Tutu’s in the last year, you’ll have to judge the “wow” factor for yourselves. The benefits cited for this approach were that it ‘does not require massive capital investment’ and that it ‘provided opportunity to turnaround risk of potential losses.’ It would seem that rather than make a direct commitment of the funds needed to transform Tutu’s into a profitable venture, KCLSU and the Board

of Trustees decided to try and paper over the cracks and hedge their bets in case of a closure that, at this stage, seemed all but inevitable. All the while the crucial problems for Tutu’s remained unaddressed, with ‘Cheapskates’ at the Moonlightings nightclub in nearby Soho offering enough alcohol on a student budget to kill a small pony, and ULU’s ‘Friday Fever’ providing a club night for the University of London student community that was consistently full to capacity. Tutu’s much needed ‘differentiation’ and ‘wow factor’ was never going to be brought about by simply applying a few cosmetic improvements.

As many have argued, one real avenue of potential for Tutu’s lay in it becoming a more prominent live music venue.

With a proud heritage of past performers that includes The Cribs, The Vaccines, Arcade Fire and KCL alumnus Kele Okereke’s very own Bloc Party, both the layout and location would have been a dream for promoters, bands and fans alike - with the possibility of being used not only to host established acts but to support up-and-coming performers from amongst the student community. Instead, King’s students who braved the 5th floor of the Macadam building were faced with ‘Afterskool Club’, 80’s themed ‘Truffle Shuffle’ and the indie disco ‘Des Was a Bowie Fan’. These are the kinds of generic nights you could expect to find at any provincial town’s Oceana with a captive market, not a nightclub in the centre of the capital faced with discerning customers and surrounded by stiff competition.

What now? By the time the 2012 KCLSYou Tell Us survey took place, Tutu’s had received a predicted Net Promoter Score of -65, a ‘very negative response showing most customers would actively not recommend Tutu’s to friends/colleagues’. The future of The Space Formerly Known As Tutu’s remains a mystery at this point, although some suggestions are already stating to appear. Above: What Tutu would have looked like if he was angry at the news of the closure (he wasn’t - he sent a pleasant email to Thomas Clayton)

Photo Credit: Chalie Ding

Make your voice heard! Although at this stage it is mostly pure speculation, there are some theories which are starting to gather widespread approval of opinion from different groups of the student body. While some are calling for an extension of the Waterfront Bar a floor below into the now vacant space, others are mooting the idea of a gym facility intended exclusively for King’s students and staff. Dark rumblings are even emerging from the student body of a growing movement calling for the establishment of ‘Reginalds’, a gentleman’s club with the roaring spirit of the King’s mascot at its heart. The only thing that is certain, at this point, is that your opinions as the students of KCL are important. You need to be vocal about what you want for the future of the Macadam Building’s 5th floor, and ensure that the process

of deciding its use is more democratic than the decision to close Tutu’s in the first place. If one thing has been proven from this whole affair, it is an apparent lack of willingness to provide investment in real terms when it comes to a Union for the student community. Even though it was understood back in 2011 that while ‘competition for late night business was fierce... those that have invested in their business are seeing rewards in terms of additional income’, the adequate steps were clearly not taken in ensuring the survival of an undeniably integral feature of any university - the Student Union. So over the coming months tell KCLSU exactly what they should be doing to fill the impending Tutushaped void, and ask yourself at all times - what would Desmond do?

IZAAKSON HAS CLOSE CALL IN FAILED COUP AT ULU Ben Jackson CONTINUED from front page Izaakson, accompanied by her solicitor at the Senate meeting, argued that the discussions were unlawful because they went against ULU’s own regulations. She also likened the meeting to a “show trial”. It was revealed later that she hadn’t received any complaints from students or warnings from ULU throughout the year in relation to her conduct as editor. The motion of no confidence failed with 9 votes for, 5 abstentions and 0 against. It needed 10 votes to win. KCLSU President and ULU Senator Thomas Clayton abstained from voting. When the results were announced, he requested a re-vote, which was

rejected by the chair and the meeting was then closed. Speakers in support of the motion focused on Izaakson’s decision to print a transphobic piece by LSE student Jason Wong in the newspaper’s first issue of the year. The article in question formed part of a debate feature, in which Wong argued against the introduction of gender-neutral toilets at LSE. In reference to the transphobic article discussions, ULU student Tom Robinson tweeted ‘While it may not seem very nice to sack someone, it’s also not very nice to publish things endangering students.’ The biased elections feature in the last issue of the year, which caused an elections tribunal to annul the results for next year’s London Student Editor, provoked a discussion about Izaakson’s future at the previous Senate meeting.

A group of Senators met after the meeting to lay out plans for a motion of no confidence. The ‘ULU believes’ section of the motion stated: ‘1) That the elections coverage which caused the annulment of the results constituted a gross misconduct on the part of the London Student Editor. 2) That the trip to Australia did not benefit the London Student in any way, but only benefitted Jen personally. 3) That the behaviour of the Editor in relation to the outcome of the Elections Tribunal has been misleading and cynical. 4) That the London Student is in danger of becoming a personal vehicle for the Editor, not a serious newspaper.

5) That a general level of dissatisfaction with some output and the odd copy error is a part of the course of student journalism - but the present conduct of the London Student and its editor cross a line.’ Gaus, who was unable to attend the

meeting, tweeted in response to the result, ‘Erm... is there anything stopping the calling of another Emergency Senate?’ After this win, Izaakson looks set to remain in the London Student Editor position until the end of the year.

COMMENT Henry Cross Comment Editor comment@roarnews.co.uk

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THERE’S A CRISIS AT ULU! Ben Jackson

(Originally published on Huffington Post UK) THERE’S A CRISIS at the University of London Union (ULU). In the last month, students have seen a flurry of petitions, articles and debates all over the web. And it’ll surprise you to know that unlike the stereotype, it has nothing to do with issues such as Palestine or microwaves in the SU bar. The complaints, insults and Twitter discussions are all about one thing - the student officer job of London Student Editor.

freshers - “Here, have a free tote bag, and some pizza vouchers, oh and don’t forget to take some transphobia too!” The infamous feature referred to the introduction of gender-neutral toilets at the university as a “ghastly game of social experiment”. I’m not going to publish the other, much worse, slurs he came out with. London Student already gave him that platform.

This was only the beginning of a questionable year for the newspaper, culminating in the recent debacle over the ULU elections. While Izaakson was on leave, the newspaper printed a biased elections issue. In a feature called ‘Random Facts’, London Student Editor candidate Oscar Webb was assigned the illuminating aphorism, “Oscar has never written for

or been involved with London Student”. Izaakson claims the facts were sourced from Google. I’m interested in how the popular search engine could find such a specific negative.

featured an unfriendly solicitor making firm claims about employment law, the motion, needing a twothirds majority, failed by just one vote - 9 for, 5 abstentions, 0 against.

Last week ULU Senate held an emergency meeting to hold a noconfidence vote on Izaakson. After three hours of rich debate, which

The leaders of ULU’s colleges are dissatisfied with the newspaper and its editor’s conduct this year. This won’t change, of course. I expect to see the same old rubbish posted on London Student’s website, which continues to favour some colleges over others. My own college, King’s, has been waiting since March 2012 for its next article.

For those who aren’t ULU hacks like me, London Student is the largest independent student newspaper in Europe and serves the twenty-one constituent colleges of the University of London with news, comment and culture. With such a massive potential readership, this sleeping giant could easily become a journalistic powerhouse, campaigning for students’ rights and supporting grassroots movements. However, this year, under current boss Jen Izaakson, the newspaper has failed to support anyone other than the editor herself in the form of a substantial paycheck.

The elections issue blunder was the final nail in the coffin as far as some senators were concerned. In response to over 20 complaints, a tribunal had nullified the votes for London Student Editor and now legal injunctions, lawyers and, allegedly, wine bottles are flying all over the place at Malet Street. Much to ULU President Michael Chessum’s dismay, Izaakson’s reign looks set to continue until the end of the summer term. The unpopular London-wide union still hasn’t announced what they intend to do about the election for next year’s editor.

So, what went wrong? Well, in the first issue of the year, way back in September, Izaakson published a ‘transphobic’ article by LSE student Jason Wong.

It’s an exciting time to be a part of ULU. Embarrassing and totally farcical, but exciting.

Clearly a great first impression for

STATE OF EMERGENCY, OR ALL TALK AND NO TROUSERS? Benjamin Jones It all sounds a bit familiar if you ask me; autocratic state, building up weapons that could cause destruction on a ‘massive’ scale, looking to impose its regime over its neighbouring countries. Perhaps it’s going to be a decennial occurrence. Kim Jong-Un, the third ruler of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, has announced that military action towards the USA and other countries is an inevitable result of their actions and, naturally, of North Korea being the most militarised nation in the world. Over the last few weeks, tensions have been rising in the far east over the instability of the North Korean leadership, with many democratic experts claiming that Kim Jong-Un is just a puppet leader for the military obsessed generals that pursue Kim JongIl’s regime of Songun (military-first). As a nation created out of the Cold War dichotomy of capitalism vs. communism, North Korea has forever being trying to find its position on the world stage, and now seems to have ‘cried wolf’ one too many times, states Emily Rauhala in Time magazine. For decades since the establishment of ‘a monster’ created by Soviet officials who ‘seemed to have had little idea of state creation’, as former UK ambassador to North Korea John Everard put it, the nation has threat-

ened the world with claims of nuclear Armageddon. Yet nothing has come from the startlingly violent outbursts of the ‘Dear Leader’ Kim Jong-Il. In 1994 US President Clinton’s administration was on the brink of war with North Korea because the latter kept violating international agreements over checks on its nuclear plans. In 2002, tensions flared again as North Korea expelled international nuclear inspectors amid concerns, later confirmed, that it was secretly developing nuclear weapons. And once again, the ominous deadline of foreign officials’ safety being compromised if they remained in Seoul has been and gone. Peace keeping corps have not relocated, and Seoul shrugged off the warning, more goaded, than anxious. “North Korea is using provocation because it has worked in the past,” stated Cho Han-bum, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification. “North Korea is not preparing for war.” One key aspect of this latest threat, however, is the role of the neighboring countries of North Korea. So long a supporter of their regime, the Chinese state have given North Korea the equivalent of a clip round the ear at the BOAO economic forum in the southern Chinese island of Hainan. Without naming or blaming any country,

the new Chinese president Xi Jinping warned “No one should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gains”. This lack of support from North Korea’s one longstanding ally, a position that came from the friendship between both nations’ former leaders, may prove pivotal. Without support from China, North Korea would truly be left in the wild, never to be

seen as the ‘big player’ role they desperately want to be known as on the world stage. We could, of course, speculate as to what may happen if the North Korean regime were to collapse: millions of refugees pouring into the nearby Chinese borders, a unification of Korea that may result in the USA having an ally right on China’s doorstep. Because of this, China may indeed go against Mr Xi Jinping’s words and maintain

the status quo with North Korea. The manner in which people are viewing Jong-Un’s threats, however, paints a picture of a nation that demands to be taken seriously, but that is forever making false claims about absolutely everything. Claims of free universal healthcare and 99% literacy rates may highlight the brutal fact that this latest threat proves that North Korea’s bark is worse than their bite.

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DING, DONG... DIVISIVE LEADER DEAD

James Leeman

The reaction to the news of the Lady Thatcher’s death on Monday only goes to show the sheer divide her name can cause throughout Britain. Whilst political leaders of the left, right and centre rushed to offer their sorrow at the news, parties were held in parts of London, Bristol and Glasgow to celebrate the announcement. Whatever your opinion of the Iron Lady, there is no doubt that she shook up the stuffy, grey world of British politics, leaving the most divisive political legacy Britain has ever known. Before Miss Thatcher became Prime Minister, Britain was a nation of political consensus. From the end of the Second World War the country was led by a political elite who agreed on a strong welfare state and the need for government to direct economic

activity. But mild British socialism broke down in the late 1970’s and the consensus began to falter even before Thatcher entered number 10. Rising oil prices, weakening productivity and a strong, provocative trade union movement had all contributed to a nation experiencing spiralling inflation, mass strikes and the humiliation of appealing to the IMF for financial assistance. Thatcher offered a stark and consensus shattering solution to turn Britain from the sick man of Europe back into a world leader. But her bitter/ sweet medicine struck through families, communities and the nation. Austerity, privatisation, reduced union power, deregulation, and selling off the council houses are the policies that even 20 years after she left

office can still provoke harsh debate among the British public. And to understand why, one has to try to look at the Thatcher era through the eyes of the people who experienced it. For many, Thatcher saved Britain. In the 1970’s Britain was at a standstill, with economic activity stagnating, high inflation eating away at people’s earnings and union strikes regularly bringing the country to a grinding halt. In the infamous winter of discontent in 1978 the rubbish wasn’t collected for weeks and dead bodies weren’t buried due to union strike activity. But through Thatcher the British government began to let go of its grip on the economy and Britain shook off its economic disease of high inflation and by the end of the decade a growth bubble began,

spurred on by the ever growing city of London and the expanding service industry, which continued virtually uninterrupted until 2007. She took on the union problem and won, and allowed many ordinary families to enjoy the humble pride of being able to buy and own their first home by selling off large levels of council houses. But as the British economy took off, for many others it crashed and burned before their eyes. The mining industry became engulfed in a fatal war of nerves with the Prime Minister, only to lose and to see their whole livelihoods privatised and eventually shut down. Still today whole communities in parts of England and Wales bear the scars of losing an industry the whole town was dependent on, the scars of high unemployment, lower than average levels of income, and higher than average levels of poverty. And many claim her legacy has led to an era of individualism and risk which has not only sunk the final nail in the coffin of British Communal life in a country which has accepted there is no such thing as society, but also created the conditions for an economy that would pay for being highly dependent on the banking and service sectors which collapsed in 2007. Through the eyes of a young family in the 1980’s who were able to buy their first home off the government, and were able to get their first jobs in service industries no longer thwarted by constant union activity, Thatcher allowed them to get on and get wealthier. To them Thatcher’s legacy will

WE’RE ALL HUMAN

be allowing a nation to get back on its feet and become more successful. But through the eyes of a hardened miner who became unemployed in the era of union defeat and industrial decline, and who had to witness the communal life of working class Britain wither and die a slow death, Thatcher took away many livelihoods from mainly the poor and left nothing but shame and unemployment in their place. To them, Thatcher’s legacy will be one of a nation that has chosen greed over care for the most vulnerable in society. Maybe Thatcher’s most lasting legacy is the fact that the actions she took still shapes the politics of modern Britain. Ed Miliband admitted on the day of her death that he, David Cameron and Nick Clegg were all products of the Thatcher era. No longer do mainstream politicians talk of breaking the neo-liberal order in order to bring back state ownership. The political centre has shifted, due to her strong and focused political determination. So Thatcher’s highly bitter and divisive legacy comes from the fact that she is one of very few British politicians that challenged the status quo, and destroyed one political consensus, only to leave another in her wake. To do this she had to withstand heavy criticism, and tough political challenges. And it is where you were during this consensus conversion that largely decides your opinion of Britain’s first female Prime Minister.

Lucy Price At 10:00 am on the 17th of March, Baroness Thatcher’s funeral procession set out from the Palace of Westminster. It travelled down Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, round past our very own Strand Campus, onto Fleet Street, then up Ludgate Hill to the service at St Paul’s. David Cameron and Lady Thatcher’s granddaughter Amanda gave readings to more than 2000 guests that had gathered to pay their respects to the late Prime Minister. There was a lot of controversy surrounding the occasion; Thatcher was a famously divisive leader, and her death has sparked masses of debate about her success as Prime Minister. But I’m not here to talk about Thatcher’s politics; they were before my time. The only opinions I could form on her would be based on the views of my parents and others who experienced her leadership first hand, and I don’t think it would be wise to discuss views with such a weak basis. Instead, I think what needs to be addressed is the way our generation has responded to her death. It has divided many, with respectful mourning on one end, and excited, almost aggressive pleasure at

the

other.

There were a lot of rumours in the days leading up to the funeral concerning protests against Thatcherism, and consequently, the affair was heavily policed, with over 700 armed forces personnel lining the route. There was a feeling of tension, and a certain expectance in the air, that fortunately was not deserved. Among the crowd there were several protests, but nothing as large as expected. The general feeling, in my eyes at least, was one of reverence coupled with the sense that something historical was happening. Big Ben was silenced, Prime Minister’s Questions cancelled, roads were closed and public transport either halted or diverted – it felt as if life in the capital had been put on hold for an extremely contentious occasion. Overall, I think that the atmosphere at the funeral was a lot better than expected. Yes, there were some protestors, but they weren’t doing anybody any harm, and none of them seemed especially aggressive, it was more like a fun way for them to show how they felt. During the service, the Right Reverend Chartres said, “Lying

here, she is one of us, subject to the common destiny of all human beings”, and I think this, in the end, was how a lot of people felt. Attacking someone when they are alive is one thing, but to attack a person after their death, when they can no longer defend themselves, seems cowardly and unnecessary. We need to remember that in the end, Lady Thatcher was a mother and a grandmother, and celebrating her death will not affect her, but will cause upset to those who want to mourn instead, and for our generation in particular, who weren’t even around to witness her leadership, this is something that, in my opinion, should be avoided.

Above: The conflicting views of Lady Thatcher’s funeral in many ways epitomise the nation’s divided opinion on all aspects of the ‘Iron Lady’ Below: George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, moved to tears by the scene at St. Pauls Cathedral

FEATURES Anthony Shaw Features Editor features@roarnews.co.uk

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OUR TOP TEN TIPS FOR HAVING A WORTHWHILE EXPERIENCE AT KING’S COLLEGE LONDON WITH LOTS OF LOLS AND HAPPINESS Alvy Singer

the exam and pass.

1. Don’t shit on your doorstep.

3. Don’t say “thank you” after she’s tossed you off.

I was so drunk, I couldn’t focus my eyes on anything. No wonder I ended up bringing MY NEXTDOOR NEIGHBOUR back to my room one night in the first semester. I even got her to stay the night. The results of that tryst were far-reaching. I kept bumping into her at Sainsbury’s and my ‘friend’ did knock-a-door run on her door when we were walking past. Learn from my experience, kids.

Apparently, it’s not cool. To be honest, I’m just grateful whenever a girl gets naked in front of me, let alone when they touch my disco stick. Politeness in the bedroom is so not chic, guys!

2. Don’t go to the AKC lectures.

I exaggerate. I didn’t fucking fall asleep. I just shut my eyes. Why won’t anyone believe me?! Sarah Cox’s DJing skills at our beloved Tutu’s nightclub proved too much for one fellow fresher, who got with me and - quite frankly - did a lot more than that when Take That’s seminal hit ‘Never Forget’ came on. I heard she got distracted by the allure of McDonald’s at Camberwell Green on

If you’re going to do the AKC, fair enough. But you don’t actually need to go to the lectures. Midday on a Monday is far too early for a lecture on philosophy of religion from some dreary old git from the University of Sussex. All the course material is made available on KEATS. Why put yourself through it? Just turn up at

4. If a girl says she’ll meet you back at her room after Tutu’s, don’t end up sleeping on the cold hard floor in the corridor.

WHY STUDY ABROAD?

James Thorpe

Last week, I met David Smith, Information officer for King’s worldwide, the department in charge of extending KCL’s international connections. He said the university should be sending more students to more locations. King’s students can study at over 150 universities across 30 countries, from California to Brunei. Smith said KCL needed to do more to entice students to go abroad but he acknowledged it would be a long, gradual process. He looked frustrated when he mentioned the ties which King’s had recently established with the University of Sao Paulo. In the first year of the partnership, no students had applied because you need to speak fluent Portuguese to

study there. This week marks the half-way point for study abroad students. We’ve been out here for just over nine weeks and it won’t be long until we leave our temporary foster universities to go travelling or return to England. I spoke to other study abroad students to see how they were getting along. Craig McDonald at the University of Toronto said the city had given him as much enjoyment as London had. ‘Toronto is significantly less hectic than London - it’s definitely a city for weekend warriors, while London’s busy all day every day.’, he said. ‘That’s not to say there isn’t much to do here, it’s

the way home. Ronald McDonald’s got a lot to answer for. Prick. 5. Make friends with the bar staff at Waterfront. Especially if they’re Irish. If you’ve got a pal behind the bar, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get ¾ rum and a splash of Coke for a quid. Keep it to yourself though, we don’t want everyone knowing! 6. Don’t make friends with study abroad students. This is a sentimental one. In my first year, I became close friends with several students at my halls who were on a semester abroad. IT JUST HURTS TO SAY GOODBYE, OK? And once I started second year, I realised I had about 3 friends who were full-time King’s students. 7. Spend less time wanking and more time walking.

just a different dynamic’. A foreign institution will present very different challenges and provide a different kind of fulfilment. North American universities, for instance, will assess you frequently and they will demand things which you didn’t acknowledge at King’s. I regret that I didn’t research the possibilities of the exchange programme. I applied to study abroad on a whim and although I have few complaints about UNC, I wish that I had tried harder to get a place at Columbia University in New York City. Marcus Belli, studying History at the University of Melbourne, said pre-departure research was essential. ‘Check out all the places where King’s offers study abroad placements, regardless of the subject you’re studying’, he said. ‘If you get in early enough and keep badgering

A serious one, I suppose. I know it’s tempting to sit down and have a wank after a meal. But London’s got so much more to offer than a stuffy, semen-stained bedroom in South London. Go outside, feel the unerotic breeze, see this spellbinding city. We’re lucky to be here. 8. Speak up in seminars. Most people in your seminars are morons. The worst thing you could say is probably better than the best thing the loud-mouthed, nondescript blonde girl called “Hetty” has to offer. You’re a smart person with valuable ideas. I know it’s annoying when the ones that never fucking speak are scribbling away at their notes when you offer a gem of an argument about Derrida’s views on the myth of Echo and Narcissus. But they’ll probably be the ones getting done for plagiarism in the end. Probably. 9. Don’t fall in love with the first

them, you can request an institution that isn’t normally offered for your subject.’ Sadly, I can only offer a glimpse of what it’s like to experience university life abroad. Using the most concise reasoning possible, it combines the two most enjoyable lifestyles: student and traveller. KCL’s study abroad department is looking to expand and diversify, and you may well become a part of this vision. To read more of James’ work please visit his blog at amanshouldtravel. wordpress.com Roar! would like to extend a massive thank you to James for his contributions to the paper this year!

girl you kiss at Cable in freshers’ week. There are going to be more conquests, more flings, and more heartbreak. Take it in your stride and move on, you soppy twat. I don’t give a shit if she’s into the same 19th century French philosophers and European jazz bars as you. You’re only as good as the other options. She’ll find someone else, someone better, someone who won’t ask her if it would be alright if you kissed when it’s bloody obvious she’s up for it. I think that’s how it’s always going to go. 10. Cause havoc. Break every rule. It’ll give them something to do, at the very least. Fucking jobsworths. Disclaimer: All points were heavily falsified for comic effect. And if you find any of them really controversial, well, they’reare definitely not true.

A WORD FROM THE EDITOR And so the time has come when I must bid you farewell! I’ve had a great two years at Roar! Newspaper, I’ve emt some amazing people and had somegreat times and gained alot of valuable life experience from my time with the newspaper.

However, this will be last issue as I move on to take up my posistion as Vice-President of Representation and Communications. Unfortunatly this means I can no longer write for the paper and so I am resigning my editorship. I want to thank all the writers and I would encourage you all to get behind your student newspaper. I look forward to reading your work next year. Signed, Anthony Shaw

FEATURES

@roar_news

KINGSTV: A YEAR OLD AND MAKING A NAME FOR ITSELF Giedre Balseviciute & Jessy Howard NaSTA introduced a short-listing The National Student Television Awards – known as NaSTA - is the annual get-together for thirty-six affiliated student TV stations across the United Kingdom. A few hundred students travelled to Exeter University this year to compete in 24 categories at the ceremony on 6th April. As NaSTA celebrates an impressive forty year anniversary, KingsTV is quietly celebrating its own first birthday. Out of the eighteen shortlisted stations, KingsTV came 7th in the line-up for Best Broadcaster, an award given for overall output. For such a young station, to come 7th is pretty amazing.

system for all categories only this year, which was as well for KingsTV. They surprised everyone – even themselves - by being short-listed in four categories out of the nine entered: Best Broadcaster, Best Light Entertainment, Best Documentary, and Best Marketing. Of course as a student event, an award ceremony isn’t the only thing that goes down at NaSTA. You’d be forgiven for thinking it was merely an excuse. The (rather expensive) ticket provides A LOT of drink. Let me say now that alcohol combined with the nerves of waiting around for Saturday’s competitive ceremony yields interesting results. By interesting I mean the full range: from ‘so-

drunk-I-can’t-make-it-to-the-stage’, to ‘so-happy-I-am-crying-on-stageomg’ The event is slightly notorious. Kicking off the weekend were the ‘hustings’ or elections for next year’s NaSTA committee. One highlight was the Twitter feed for #nasta40 that was projected behind the candidates throughout. Most were about how bored the various TV stations were, of course, and that they couldn’t wait to get pissed at the Welcome Party that night. Saturday morning may not have been easy for all of the delegates (and it really has nothing to do with the Welcome Party the night before, no…), but most still mustered the strength to crawl into workshops led

by leaders in the television industry: Steve Hughes, a director of Dr. Who; Jon Kay, a news reporter for the BBC; and Ted Kravitz a Sky Sports Formula One reporter. Exeter University was a very welcoming host. On Saturday evening they laid on an honest-to-God banquet hall, complete with fairy lights, red carpet and three course meal. The Exeter student TV station XTV were running around the entire evening wielding intimidating cameras and walkie-talkies so the event could be streamed live on the internet. For the delegates, for whom this event is as important and thrilling as the BAFTAs for the ‘grown up’ telly, Exeter didn’t let the side down.

And considering it was competing against stations that have been out there for more than half a century, KingsTV didn’t do half bad. This is owed, more than he’ll admit, to the NaSTA legend that is Matt Capon, a member of staff at KSLSU, who guided KingsTV through its first year. So even though they didn’t take home any trophies, KingsTV have taken in what it means to be in Student TV and how huge (and occasionally alcohol-fueled) that really is. They’re not perfect yet, but they’re getting there and making a name for themselves along the way. Bring it on NaSTA 2014.

LONDON NEWS

Nida Ali London News Editor news@roarnews.co.uk

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A DEMONSTRATION OF SOLIDARITY AND RESILIENCE Nida Ali

Marathons have claimed the news this April, though fortunately most of the recent coverage has been more positive due to the perseverance, respect and success of the London marathon participants. Following the double terrorist attack at the Boston marathon finish line earlier this month, responsible for 3 deaths and injuring over 180, the commencement of the London event was briefly bought to question. However, despite admitting initial concerns over security implications for London, there was solidarity amongst participants in commending the decision of London organisers to proceed. Scotland Yard reportedly maintained close contact with the FBI and Boston police throughout preparations, and finding no evidence to suggest any UK link to the Boston bombings, evaluated no change to the threat level of the London event. Nonetheless measures were taken by London security officials to ensure

public safety and confidence at the first major international marathon since Boston. As outlined by Met Police Chief Superintendent, Julia Pendry, prior to the event: “I have increased the number of officers for reassurance patrols by several hundred. It’s about making sure that people who come to London on Sunday feel safe when they are in the city. It is a good 40% increase on last year on numbers of officers on the ground. We’ve got more search dogs out, we have got more on high visibility patrols.” In addition, Westminster Council removed all litter bins from the marathon route and public attendees were requested to keep their belongings with them to avoid triggering security alerts. On the day, marathon staff and other officials carried out thorough bag searches before allowing spectators access to the finish line. Although the contribution of these extra measures in ensuring public safety remains indeterminable, they certainly aided public reassurance

as 36,000 runners and an estimated crowd of half a million claimed the marathon spirit back on a magnificently sunny Sunday.

The Boston attack was acknowledged by a 30-second silence at the start of each race and various personal tributes including the adornment of black ribbons and armbands, as well as blue and yellow face paint. Moreover, Virgin London Marathon pledged to donate £2 for every finisher to the One Fund Boston, an initiative to raise money for victims of the attack. Despite each runner’s personal motivation, most agreed the Boston events to have increased their determination and applauded the silent tribute. Surgeon Bill Speake, 42, from Derby, said upon crossing the finish line: “It was particularly poignant at the start, standing there at Blackheath in complete silence. It was the right thing to do. It should have been done, and it was done. When it [the bombing] happened, you had a little shock to begin with. But there was

no question of not running. I think it spurred people on even more.” Prince Harry, as one of the event’s presenters, payed tribute to the “remarkable way” Bostonians dealt with the atrocity, adding London’s response and the huge turnout as “fantastic” and typically British.

“The great thing about the marathon is no matter what colour you are, or religion, no matter what nationality you are, everyone comes together to run a certain distance to raise money for amazing causes. I think that you can never take that away from people.” Barbara Stephenson, charge d’affaires at the US embassy in London praised the tributes, commenting: “It’s moments like this when you know what the special relationship’s really all about.” Winners of the race include Ethiopia’s Tsegaye Kebede, who won the men’s race, completing in 2 hours, 6 minutes and 4 seconds. The women’s race was won by Kenyan Priscah Jeptoo in 2 hours, 20 minutes and 15

seconds.

The women’s wheelchair race was won by Tatyana McFadden in 1 hour and 24 minutes, the Russian-born US Paralympian had won the same race in Boston a week earlier. While the men’s wheelchair title was taken by Australian Kurt Feamley, who completed in 1 hour and 31 minutes. Special mention goes to Susan Partridge, the first Briton to complete the race, who came in ninth place having taken 2 hours, 30 minutes and 46 seconds. During the event, more than 5,000 attendees received medical assistance from St John’s Ambulance volunteers for minor conditions, whilst at least 40 competitors were taken to hospital due to more severe injuries including suspected fractures. This year’s London marathon was summed up well by a banner that read: “Run if you can, walk if you must, but finish for Boston.”

ACCUSATIONS OF INSTITUTIONAL RACISM PLAGUE MET POLICE Nida Ali

On the eve of Stephen Lawrence’s 20th death anniversary, the Metropolitan Black Police Association (BPA), as the largest union representing minority officers in the force, issued a statement deeming the Met institutionally racist and sparking a fresh debate about prejudice within the police force as well as in police conduct towards coloured individuals. The BPA’s statement claimed that despite new training and community initiatives, Scotland Yard has failed to tackle the mindset at the heart of failures over Lawrence. Stephen Lawrence was a Black British teenager from Eltham, south-east London, who was murdered in a racist attack while waiting for a bus on 22nd April 1993. A 1998 inquiry into the investigation of his death resulted in the Macpherson report, a heavily critical assessment of the Met that overall cited the organisation to be “institutionally racist”. The BPA’s present reinforcement of this view has served a devastating blow to senior officers who have worked hard to fight off the label.

Although BPA chairman, Bevan Powell, insists that the issue is much broader: “Institutional racism is not about labelling individuals racists but rather police practice and procedures that bring about disproportionate outcomes for black and minority ethnic communities and police personnel.” He further condemned how whilst minorities conform over 40% of the capital’s population, minority recruitment in the Met is merely 10.4%. Of course this could be down to the number of individuals from minority backgrounds actually willing to enter the profession, and is a big improvement on 1993 when minority recruitment was a mere 2.3%. However, the BPA insists that even of those hired, “these officers disproportionately hug the lower ranks, face significantly slower rates of career progression and are over-represented in disciplinary actions, in comparison to their white counterparts.” They further allege this “severely impacts on police legitimacy and more importantly erodes trust and confidence in BME communities.” The idea of hostility and eroded trust of the Met police in minority ethnic

communities has also been highlighted as a result of present police conduct towards coloured youths. Particular focus has been given to the use of ‘stop-and-search tactics’, for which figures reveal Black youths are upto six times more likely to be stopped than white youths, and of those stopped only 1 in 10 are ever arrested. Perhaps even more alarmingly, since 1999, the year after the Macpherson report, the stop rate for Black individuals has risen from 4.9% to 10.8%. The rate has also nearly doubled for Asians, while for white individuals it only increased from 1.5% to 1.6%. An individual who has been stopped more than 20 times is Stuart Lawrence, Stephen’s younger brother. He has no criminal record, is a teacher, and comes from a family who have been praised by prominent figures including the Prime Minister. In an interview with the Guardian in 2012, he remarked: “There is no reason I can give, other than I am a young black man, who usually wears a baseball cap in my car, which is my god-given right.” This disproportionate handling is

seen by some as entrenched in the system, partly because in operations authorising localised stops under section 60 of the 1994 Public Order Act, minorities are said to be 28 times more likely to be stopped. Questions of “racial profiling” have been raised, especially as Black youths questioned by the BBC have claimed to feel targeted and disrespected, and thus to have lost trust and a willingness to cooperate with the police. Davis Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham reaffirmed these impacts:”It introduces policing by fear through the backdoor. The disproportionality breaks trust between the police and vast majority of law abiding ethnic minority people.” A Black policeman presently with the force commented that a lot of crime happens within coloured communities so it makes sense for more coloured youths to be stopped. However, such statements fail to address the existence of hostility between coloured communities and the police, and how these ties can be

severed. Responding on BBC Newsnight to criticisms of the force’s performance, the Met assistant commissioner Simon Byrne said the force had come a long way in tackling those disproportions, but agreed there was still much to be done. “The Metropolitan police is a very different organisation to the one it was at the time of Stephen’s death but we know there is more work to be done to improve our service to Londoners from a black and minority ethnic background. The commissioner recently said he was an ‘implacable enemy of racism’ and the Met is committed to challenging and driving out any racism in its ranks.” Whether such claims remain hollow assertions or successfully ensure erosion of the barriers between minority ethnic communities and the Met, remains to be seen. However, in a country as proud to be democratic as Britain, institutionalism racism within any government organisation or in police conduct is simply unjustifiable.

ROAR! MORE. The Roar! Culture Section

“ROCK MUSIC IS DEAD. LONG LIVE DAVID BOWIE.”

GEND.

THE ALBU

. THE LE N A M E H T . N IO IT IB M. THE EXH

ARTS Max Edwards Arts Editor arts@roarnews.co.uk

EDITORS’ PICKS

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HE’S IN THE BESTSELLING SHOW...

DAVID BOWIE IS..., V&A Samuel Spencer

*****

David Bowie is... @ the V&A. Until August 11th, tickets from £10. Face the strange (and fascinating) ch-ch-changes of this year’s biggest exhibition.

*****

Macbeth @ Trafalgar Studios. Until April 27th, tickets from £15. Toil and trouble from the bloodiest of the Bard’s oeuvre , featuring Mr Tumnus’ most power-crazed turn yet.

****

Lichtenstein: A Retrospective @ Tate Modern. Until May 27th, tickets from £13.50. A comprehensive look that shows more his art than just spots and dots.

****

Ice Age Art @ British Museum. Until May 26th, tickets from £8. Questionable use of modern art, but a fascinating look into art’s very beginnings full of stunning objects.

****

People @ National Theatre (Lyttleton). Until May 15th, tickets from £5 . True, it’s hardly revolutionary, but it is Bennett at his witty , whimsical best, and is the most fun I’ve had in a theatre for a while. Seen any amazing art recently? Tweet us @onechaptermore or@roar_news

I imagine some of you out there will be highly cynical about the V&A’s retrospective of the life, music, fashion and general godlike nature of David Bowie. ‘It’s a bloody museum’ you cry. ‘Surely they should be having exhibitions about, like, the Tudors, ming vases or Picasso’s blue period. Why should we care about some glitter-clad pop star from the ‘70s? Surely he should be in the same place as flares, the music of Showaddywaddy and racist sitcoms - rightly forgotten indicators of a time that taste if not completely forgot than at least only sent Christmas cards and occasional postcards. To you people, I have only three things to say; you’re wrong, go see this incredible exhibition and thirdly you’re wrong. Admittedly being a bit of a superfan (Ziggy Stardust has been my Halloween costume of choice since 13 and have had hair dye disasters in both blonde and red in tribute to him,) I’m biased, but this show is the most fun I’ve had in a museum since...well, since the V&A’s British Design exhibition actually, but that’s just because the 20th century department at the V&A is amazing. Rather than a show stuck in a glitterstained nostalgia for the ‘70s that you might be expecting, David Bowie is... is very much an exhibition looking forward into the future (much like the great man himself). Apart from the giant video screens and projection that give it an almost rock concert feel, with Bowie concerts and performances playing large across the walls and video installations like those so well used at the British Museum’s Ice Age Art show, the museum has teamed up with Sennheiser to create an ‘immersive audio environment, which works by some form of digital witchcraft to bring music and speech to whatever you’re looking at at the time. Although this leads to an occasionally frustrating show (with my audio set at one point changing almost at random between Space Oddity and Bowie talking about madness in his family, creating one of the more bizarre

mash-ups I’ve heard in my life...) at its finest it adds an exciting extra layer to the show, especially in the area playing the best of his music videos, where they all play at once, but only the sound of one plays depending on where you’re standing. I had much fun jumping from square to square and making my headset move from Ashes to Ashes to Where Are We Now?. Even amongst the neon lights and digital trickery, though, the real stars of this show are the items that the curators have collected together. They’ve had full access to Bowie’s own archive, and they’ve really made the most of it. With pieces like this, it’s no wonder Bowie’s Starman worried about blowing our minds.

Everything is here - from the classic outfits that seemed to come from the Planet Transsexual long before the Rocky Horror Picture Show (with my particular highlight being a catsuit being made from not much more than string and gold hand mannequins...) to his 2003 tour costumes, from handwritten lyrics to the computer program he built to randomly generate lyrics in the 90s, from a publicity shot of one of his earliest band s (the ill-fated Kon-Rads) to the initial sleeve designs for The Next Day... basically, enough to send a fanboy like me into palpitations!

you who don’t know your Stardust from your Scary Monsters .

Much like the aforementioned British Design and the V&A’s also fantastic 2011 exhibition on postmodernism, anyone who appreciates good design or the artistic process will find much here to justify the (admittedly expensive) entrance price. Anyone with even a passing interest in fashion will be fascinated by the mad exuberance of Bowie’s Ziggy-wear and razorsharp tailoring of the ‘cocaine-andpeppers’ years, as well as his early collaborations with designers such as Alexander McQueen (he has always had a famous knack for chosing the best designers early in their careers and coaxing groundbreaking and exciting design out of them). Also, those who can appreciate great music cannot fail but be wowed by the soundtrack, full of songs you must at least half-know from parents and the cooler indie nightclubs - Let’s Dance , The Man Who Sold the World (perhaps the only song covered by both Nirvana and Lulu), Starman, Space Oddity, Fashion, Changes... songs your life will be richer for knowing.

“It’s no wonder Bowie’s Starman worried about blowing our minds...”

That is not to say, that there is nothing here for those of you who are (to use a geeky Bowie pun) absolute beginners to the world of the Thin White Duke, or those of

As Tilda Swinton said at the exhibition’s star-studded opening, David Bowie is ‘every alien’s favourite cousin’, and this show is a must for all us freaks - if you’ve ever totally overdone it on the glitter (and that’s just the boys!), dreamt of rock stardom or (rebel) rebellion, or had your mother in a whirl, you must see this show as soon as alienly possible.

NEWS ARTS Samuel Spencer Arts Editor arts@roarnews.co.uk

@samspencer1993 @onechaptermore

HOORAY FOR THE SCOTTISH PLAY!

BAAM, THANK YOU MA’AM

MACBETH, TRAFALGAR STUDIOS

Emily Folkes It is an experience like no other when a theatrical production transports you away from reality, displacing you in an unfamiliar dream-like sensation. Over-exaggerative, you say? I say not. Today I went and saw Jamie Lloyd’s production of Macbeth and indeed, excuse the use of hyperbole, experienced the performance of a lifetime. Although I have to admit that it was the promise of seeing James McAvoy in the flesh that led me to see the production rather than any particular love of the Bard’s tragedies, I was truly not disappointed. Presented in a dystopian, fractured Scottish landscape, William Shakespeare’s Macbeth came into a new light through this interpretation. Traditionally, the tragic hero Macbeth is interpreted on the same wave-length as Hamlet: deluded and decaying into a self-conscious layer of madness. However, here we saw a revolutionary performance as the audiences witnessed the blood-driven, ambitious and terrifying portrayal of Macbeth. McAvoy, I believe, picks up Macbeth’s tortured conscious like no other has done before: creating a futuristic, yet realistic and timeless, interpretation. Here was a character who was not an immature also-ran Hamlet. Instead, here was a shell-shocked, troubled and anxiety-ridden soul who was not comfortable and seemed to share our own personal issues, particularly the very contemporary dilemma that is how do we deal with our fears and struggles when we know we are in the wrong?

McAvoy brilliantly depicted Macbeth’s slow psychological turmoil; bringing to life and emphasising Shakespeare’s haunting soliloquys as he gagged and over the lines. and moments of deep delusiom Indeed, ‘the dagger of the mind’ was enticing and metaphorically powerful. Moreover, the Scottish setting of the play was, in a peculiar phrase, beautifully presented. Never have the words of Shakespeare contained so much power as the actors seemed to almost sing their lines of conflict, calamity and chaos. Shakespeare’s haunting language has never seemed to reveal so much prophetic layering. Clair Foy’s portrayal of Lady Macbeth of course also cannot escape praise, particularly strong as she confidently and almost psychologically abused Macbeth to kill Duncan struck a new level of dark depth. For such a young actress it was deeply interesting to watch a new portray of what is so traditionally perceived as a mature role. Her slow isolation from her husband is outstandingly captured as she too descends into her madness. Drawn to tears, I left Trafalgar Studios emotionally drained. Undoubtedly this is a remarkably production; one which doesn’t deserve the three stars given to it by the Guardian!! Definitely catch this if you can! It is bloody, brutal and undeniably brilliant. Macbeth is at the Trafalgar Studios until April 27th. Day tickets available from £15.

ROY LICHTENSTEIN, TATE MODERN

Jessy Howard & Anna Tomlinson What does it mean to be an artist in an age when an image can be mass reproduced? Roy Lichtenstein, the artist you know from his pastiches of romantic comic books and who is the subject of a rare retrospective at the Tate Modern - spent his career asking this question. He used the rise of pop culture during the 50s and 60s to make subversive statements about high art and mass consumption. Think Mad Men, The Beatles and John F. Kennedy – the age of hype and the first globalized movements – that created a new field of meaning, boiled down into widespread images. When we first walked into the Tate Modern, we were looking for the iconic Lichtenstein images – blownup comic book vignettes featuring tearful blonds and guys named Brad. You’ve probably seen them on postcards or pillowcases - ironic given Lichtenstein was reacting to his extremely consumerist environment. He tried to break down the reproduced images we see every day in order to tease out the elements that are, in fact, ‘high art’, because they make us see our world with new appreciation or insight. While we did see the renowned “Jeff, I love you but...” we were actually most impressed by some of his less well-known pieces. Take, for example, the stack of teacups. Initially you think it’s just a stack of teacups. But it’s not. Actually, it’s a sculpture of stack of teacups. They have been taken directly from real life,

and then without rescaling or reinterpreting them, Lichtenstein raises the ordinary to an abstraction of the ordinary: from functional to exhibitive.

chitecture – the deconstructed Art Deco of his native New York was memorable – as well as “high” art, from Picasso to Matisse.

Suddenly, what can be found on any messy kitchen counter becomes a comment on the individuality of objects, the very thing high art tries to portray. Lichtenstein is putting household objects on a pedestal for us to see anew, just as he did with comic books. At the time no one else had done this; even Warhol hadn’t quite happened yet.

By reducing these artists’ most famous works – themselves articles of mass consumption - to their defining features, Lichtenstein again captures the individuality of each piece.

You are first struck by this theme of deconstruction in the pictures of brushstrokes, placed at the beginning of the exhibition. Lichtenstein is

pulling apart art itself, down to the building blocks of brushstrokes and primary colours, portraying art‘s fundamentals as works of art in themselves. In a further level of perception, Inception-style, there are brushstrokes within the paintings of brushstrokes. It isn’t just what you do with the brushstrokes that is art, this is saying - it’s the act of painting itself. He carried the idea further with parodies of ordinary decorative ar-

And yet, he puts his own personal spin on things and shows them for the mass products they are, for example by adding the characteristic dotted print of cheap comic book paper. He picks out the building blocks of these works of art as if to say they too can be infinitely replicated. And yet by personalising his images of these works, as with the brushstrokes, he undermines this initial message by reminding us that no, these are pieces of art in themselves, thank you very much, and not just copies. He’s not only breaking down both high art and everyday images into their component concepts, but delivering his own commentary. One of the few three-dimensional works, Galatea, portrays a woman as a round stomach, a curvaceous chest and a wisp of blonde hair – it isn’t a million miles, conceptually, from those caveman statuettes over at the British Museum’s Ice Age exhibition. Lichtenstein draws from the pop idiom and yet makes a new statement by questioning the way this idiom objectifies women. We see an abstracted fertility goddess that corresponds to a male perception of female beauty, asking us to reevaluate our idea of femininity.

FILM Katie Sinclair Film Editor film@roarnews.co.uk

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QUEERING THE GAZE: LLGFF 2013

Shashank Peshawaria

With its sometimes shaky and incoherent emphasis on animals and animalistic behaviours, and the distracting and under-utilised presence of British star Martin Freeman, the idea of Pol’s complicated sexuality is left to the fringe, even lost entirely to the series of other strange connections within the plot, subplots and characters. One begins to wonder how pivotal, really, is gayness (or queerness) in this film? Where to draw the queer line, in looking at cinema and in the world at large? What makes ‘gay’ and what doesn’t? And what makes more than ‘gay’?

At last year’s BFI London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, Indian docudrama 365 without 377 – about the year following the parliamentary repeal of a colonial law criminalising homosexuality in India – had such a powerful hold on me that I had immediately made my mind to be back at this year’s Festival, by hook or crook. It was very disheartening then that some of the films I had wanted to watch most this year – James Franco and Travis Mathew’s Interior. Leather Bar., for instance – were too quickly sold out. And even my Press Pass was of no avail here because these films had strictly limited screenings or were not open to private, database viewings. That said, there was a good variety of queer and queered cinema that I did manage to watch. My first was director Glenn Gaylord’s American feature I Do, centred around a gay English ex-pat in New York, whose visa is about to expire and who must find ways to stay on this other side of the Atlantic. Questioning marriage and immigration laws in the States through a softhearted and conventional queer-romance narrative, the film is perfectly cut out as a ‘gay film’, and for the ‘Hearts’ segment at LLGFF! While there is nothing aesthetically striking in the film, in my opinion, and nothing about its form or subject matter that is expressly new, it is particularly crucial at the very least in contributing to, and spreading, an

equality-enforcing queer ideology. On the other hand, the old, controversial classic of the Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodomy, was given a totally fresh, queer context by the BFI, merely by its listing within LLGFF and its parallel run against the BFI’s seasonal focus on Pasolini. For me, its place within LLGFF was most interesting because it triggered several questions about the boundaries of the ‘queer’ label.

In watching the film on a few occ asions in the past, I had not given much thought to Salò as explicitly ‘gay’, and its appropriation by LLGFF offered me a wholly revived and renewed interpretation: does marginal homoerotic and homoviolent representation call for an overall ‘gay’ designation? Do Salò’s sexually diverse displays make it more than a ‘gay film’, or do they make it a ‘gay film’ at all? Is it more ‘queer’ than ‘gay’? How central are Salò’s dealings with queer politics to the film as a whole? Does the work of a gay

man require a ‘gay’ reading by necessity? These were interrogations that I carried to the other films I watched at LLGFF (and films I watch otherwise, in general) as well. A case in point is Spanish director Marçal Forés’s debut work, Animals, which does not seem to be purely and precisely ‘gay’. It’s a slightly haphazard story of Pol, a teenage boy whose closest friend is an English-speaking animatronic teddy-bear and whose life is driven by the fantastical visions of his overactive mind.

The BFI’s programme selection raised exactly these very pertinent doubts about queer identity and queer cinema, which are of critical concern especially when the name of the Festival is also up for speculation. Is ‘London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival’ a fitting name, we are asked by the BFI? Is it inclusive enough, queer enough? On a notice board in the foyer at BFI Southbank (pictured above-left) the LLGFF staff put up sticky notes on which people could write their suggestions for a new name. Considering the sheer range of sexual identifications showcased at the Festival, I wrote my suggestion, “London Queer Film Festival”. Simpler, shorter, crisper, far more encompassing, far more mad – and it’s got a ring to it. Do you agree? Tweet us your thoughts @roarnews or email film@roarnews. co.uk!

WHY MEAN GIRLS IS OUR CLUELESS

Katie Sinclair

I recently introduced my housemate to Mean Girls, and I could have predicted his reaction. After almost every line, there was a twinge of recognition. Because, like it or loathe it, Mean Girls occupies a space in our cultural psyche filling the void left by 1995’s Clueless, after people stopped wearing Sketchers. Like Clueless, the film ecapsulates and embraces everything pop-culture, bringing it up to date for those of us who grew up with the Internet. On the surface a fairly standard highschool romantic comedy, 2004’s Mean Girls depicts naive girl Cady Heron’s ascent into popularity and simultaneous descent into mean girl. What keeps Mean Girls popular nearly a decade later? Well, for starters it’s funny. Written by the reknowned TV-star Tina Fey, almost every line is funny. Many a memorable phrase in our teenage lexicon started off here. For who hasn’t at least once screamed ‘She Doesn’t Even Go Here!’ at someone where they shouldn’t be. Or who hasn’t sat down to lunch with the words ‘You Can’t Sit With Us!’ annunciated in jest. And ‘Four For You, Glen Coco, You Go Glen Coco’ is a phrase so malleable it can be used in irony and in all seriousness to tease or congratulate, despite Coco never even appearing in the film. Quoting

Mean Girls has become an international past-time, connecting continents with reanunciations of Fey’s winning dialogue. In the high school corridors of the 90s, Clueless star Cher’s ‘AS IF?!’ was bound to resonate; in the noughties, Mean Girls’s ‘Fetch’ was the mot-du-jour. And as Clueless satirised the Beverly-Hills Rich kids of the 90s through their language, Mean Girls is a stinging satire on the hilarious insanity of teen culture through our own words. The fact the words spanned the Atlantic and resonated in Britian reflects the huge American influences in our own popular culture.

Whilst Clueless is based on Jane Austen’s literary triumph Emma, Fey adapted her film from the novel ‘Queen Bees and Wannabes’, moving its themes away from romance and to the so-called ‘girl world.’ Here, bitchiness reigns, and Mean Girls makes this obvious in regularly comparing the animal kingdom to the high school cafeteria. The outlandish behaviour of the spoilt brats at the centre of this story might seem ridiculous, but in my own high school - in tribute to the film - girls made their own burn book and practiced an equally raunchy Jingle Bell Rock dance. Mean Girls clearly struck a chord. The film examines the inherent cattiness within the teenage existence with humour and wit. The film’s snarky dialogue betraying Tina Fey’s

real message - that if you want to be bitchy, be creative. Do it through art, film or music, not to your peers.

The film’s stars have mostly since garnered worldwide acclaim, unlike Alicia Silverstone who remains essentially frozen in time as Clueless Cher. Meanest of the mean girls Regina George (Rachel McAdams) cemented her rom-com queen status with The Notebook, also 2004, and has since fronted many a ‘must-beaccompanied-by-Ben-and-Jerry’s’ vehicle. Bimbo Karen can currently be seen on DVD in a little known sleeper hit called Les Miserables after finding her Daddy in Mama Mia. And most, most importantly of all, we have one Lindsay Lohan as heroine Cady Heron, whose biggest train wreck in this movie is a questionable wardrobe. But, sadly, none for gal-pal Gretchen Weiners (Lacey Chabert), who was last seen in The Telling of the Shoes. No, I didn’t see it either. For all these reasons and more, Mean Girls deserves a place in the Inflluential Critically Acclaimed Movie Canon Of Our Hearts alongside classics like The Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump and indeed Clueless. Every year the National Film Registry of America preserves up to 25 ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films.’ For our generation, and beyond, Mean Girls should be one of them.

TOP 10 MEAN GIRLS QUOTES... off the top of my head... 10. “Ex-boyfriends are off-limits to friends. That’s just, like, the rules of feminism.” 9. “She’s a life ruiner. She ruins people’s lives!”

4 “Don’t have sex. Because you will get pregnant. And die.” 3 “My breasts can always tell when it’s going to rain. Well… they can tell when it’s raining.”

8. “You smell like a baby prostitute.”

2. “Nice wig Janis, what’s it made of?” “Your mum’s chest hair!”

7. “There are two kinds of evil people in this world. Those who do evil stuff and those who see evil stuff being done and don’t try to stop it.”

1. “I wish that I could bake a cake made out of rainbows and smiles, and we’d all eat it and be happy.” “SHE DOESN’T EVEN GO HERE.”

6. “Is butter a carb?” “Yes.”

TIP: Check out unrecognisable Amy Poehler as Regina’s boob-jobbed mom. Talk about method acting.

5, “On Wednesdays, we wear pink.”

NEWS FILM @roar_news

GOT THAT SUMMER FEELING?

Aoife Dowling Film Sub-Editor film@roarnews.co.uk

Forget exams and deadlines, King’s is buzzing with that end of term feeling. Here at Roar! Film, we’re celebrating with a round-up of the best summer movies. We’ve got your summer movie schedule covered: from our all-time favourite summertime classics, to The Great Gatsby, to the fabulous Film4 Summer Festival at Somerset House. Pull up a stripy deckchair and pick up a Pina Colada from the poolside bar...

SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD Stella Toonen

SUMMER SCREEN A

Nina Sandhaus It might not be a real classic yet, but Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is definitely one of my summertime favourites. A colossal asteroid is approaching Earth, giving everyone only twenty-one days left to live. On a quest to see their families for the last time, Steve Carell and Keira Now that we’ve finally lost the snow and seen some sun, can you think of a better way to see Knightley join on an impromptu road trip across the United States, during which they hit upon old your favourite summer movies than under the stars? In August, just a stone’s throw from our Strand campus, the stunning Edmond J Safra courtyard at Somerset House stages one of Lonfriends, crazy parties, lots of sunshine and – inevitably – love. Regardless of the nearing tragedy, the film makes you want to hit the road yourself, don’s most beautiful open air cinemas: Film4 Summer Screen. and to seize every day of summer. This year will be an extended programme for 14 nights of films 8th – 21st August, featuring classics, comedy, romance and thrillers. The first 2013 film season highlights have just been announced, including: Li-Lo and her canteen clique antics in much-loved comedy Mean Girls, J.E. Stupple Ken Loach’s beautiful 1969 debut British classic Kes, bright and romantic Broadway musical Guys & Dolls, and thrilling action from Robert De Nero, Kevin Costner and Sean Connery in I can think of no better summer film experience than a walk through the sumptuous streets of The Untouchables. The rest of the programme will be revealed in May. Vienna with the most charming cinematic couple of all time, Jesse and Celine of Before Sunrise (and its equally glorious sequel Before Sunset). It begins as a light film centred on a whimsical act More than just a film event, each atmospheric night warms up with early-evening DJ sesof romance that evolves slowly into a profound meditation on the inexplicable connection we can sions, food and drink, and special live introductions to selected films. Inspired by this year’s sometimes feel with strangers and foreign places. It is a film that always leaves me in a hypnotic films, the West Wing galleries of Somerset House will also be displaying a one-off exhibition state of contentment and sometimes with a minor ache for the romance that is so well wrought of specially created poster prints from a unique collaboration with Dalston studios Print Club on screen. It is woefully underwatched and you should seek it out this summer, or this spring or London. Some of the biggest and best illustrators from the UK and USA will be producing 17 whenever really. original silk-screen prints based on your favourite films, which will be on sale as limited editions.

BEFORE SUNRISE

FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL Charlotte Woods

Tickets go on sale May 17th, online at www.somersethouse.org.uk. Book them now so you’ve got a post-exams summer treat to look forward to!

One of the best summer films is Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Nicholas Stoller). Peter (Jason Segel) takes a break to the picturesque beaches of Hawaii to help him recover from heartbreak. Little does he know that his ex, Sarah (Kristen Bell), is going to the same resort with her new boyfriend Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). Hotel concierge Rachel (Mila Kunis) takes pity on Peter and they start spending time together. After Aldous and Sarah’s relationship turns sour, Sarah decides she wants Peter back and succeeds until Peter realises his true feelings lie with Rachel. This is a feel-good Summer film about the ups and downs of love. Set on a glorious Hawaiian beach, it’s sure to give you that holiday feeling without dealing with airports!

SALAAM NAMASTE Anupriya Tailor Salaam Namaste! This unique, Bollywood classic is one of my favourite movies. Set in Melbourne, it shows stunning, summery scenery of Australia. Salaam Namaste stars much-loved actors Saif

Ali Khan and Preity Zinta. I love the hero’s character because you can imagine him being your perfect prince charming with his attractive and appealing approach. The storyline is one of a kind; shocking but excellently done. The scenes are extremely funny and the songs have amazing beats to them; especially the beautiful, heart throbbing ‘My dil goes mmm’. Every time I listen to it, it makes me want to fall in love all over again.

HIGH EXPECTATIONS OF GATSBY

Photo Credit: James Bryant

Charlotte Woods

Set to be one of the biggest films of the summer, The Great Gatsby has high expectations from audiences. Based on the classic novel, of the same name, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Director Baz Luhrmann brings this beloved book back to life. Leonardo DiCaprio is cast as the mysterious, wealthy and obsessed Jay Gatsby and Carey Mulligan as his love obsession and mistress, Daisy Buchanan. DiCaprio has starred brilliantly in a Luhrmann production before as Romeo in Romeo+ Juliet and is set to be perfect for this role of a flashy, (very) good-looking, wealthy man with hidden dreams and secrets. Tobey Maguire is also an ideal Nick, a quiet and tolerant man who gets caught up in the dream, secrets and lies but comes back to reality eventually. As for Carey Mulligan – well, she’s a brilliant actress but personally I am unsure whether she will be able to portray the idiosyncracies of Daisy Buchanan; she’s characterised by her innocence and sexual allure, as well as being fickle, shallow and a little bit loathing. Daisy is a complex character that would be a challenge for any great actress; it will be interesting to see how Mulligan plays this. Personally, I have a feeling that this film will leave audiences feeling that it would be impossible to imagine casting anyone better. As for the director and production of the film, there are great expectations from Luhrmann fans but also some split views, as Luhrmann likes to push boundaries. Having directed Moulin Rouge and Romeo+Juliet, fans of Luhrmann expect huge showcase-style parties, extravagant costume design, incredible sets, very original interpretations and a whole load of surprises, and the trailers suggest that this film won’t disappoint. Critics, however, might predict the ‘destruction’ of a classic. Luhrmann was criticised in 1996 for damaging Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet by modernising it too much and confusing audiences with his original perspective. Critics aside, Luhrmann is an incredible director and this new film looks set to be no different. Expectations are high from such a hugely popular book and the pressure is on Luhrmann; he will be heavily criticised if he does not meet these hopes. However, I feel that as cinema-goers we need to embrace the unique perspective that Luhrmann portrays in his films, and embrace his extravagancies. I am sure the novel will be brought to life and audiences can relive the magic, as if reading the book for the first time.

MUSIC Will Davenport Music Editor music@roarnews.co.uk

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BESTIVAL IS TEN! Joe Brookes

Over the past few weeks, I have been tunneling through the mountain of essays which I always knew would come as an inevitability, with studying English at university. Naturally, this has resulted in a lengthy process of procrastination, culminating in the gorging of chocolate, crisps, and tea as the days seem happy to slide on by. I am sure I am not alone. But fear not, for as the weeks leading up to the deadlines quickly become days, and my healthy skin deteriorates as it begs for the outside air, so the sun builds up more and more courage to pop it’s smiling head around the clouds and through my tiny window, reminding me that this is the onset of summer. And with it comes the excitement of dreaming about which festival to go to. After making use of my procrastination time to research this year’s festivals, I have decided to jump aboard HMS Bestival on the 5th September. I prepare to be immersed in a fantasy world of colours, fancy dress, and vibrant live acts. The festival, curated by DJ and record producer Rob da Bank and his wife Josie, won best major UK festival at the UK Festival Awards for the second time last year, and what’s more is that this year will be celebrating it’s tenth birthday! Da Bank says: “2013 will be a vintage year. No increase in capacity but more land, a raft of exciting changes around the site including some great new spaces and all dressed and made up in Bestival’s signature style.” And it is precisely that signature style which I am going for, the “psychedelically wondrous”, the “magical mix of the old and the new, the vintage and classic rubbing shoulders with the ultra modern and leftfield”. As I peer out of my tiny window at yet more concrete, this imaginative and boundless landscape sounds like

exactly what I need, and the location of the festival, on the Isle of White, is notoriously beautiful in its natural landscape as well. More importantly, the line-up is set to be a musical spectacle, one whose acts are centred around feel-good rhythms, yet are powerful and intelligently artistic; one which only minds like Rob da Bank could be trusted to put together. On first glance there are the Saturday and Sunday night headliners: hip-hop sovereign Snoop Dogg on the Saturday and then glamour god Elton John with his band to close the festival. For the latter this will be his first UK Festival performance in a number of years, as-well as being a UK exclusive. He has expressed his excitement at playing the festival, not least because of the crowd ethos: “I’ve heard that the Bestival audience comes in fancy dress and I can’t wait to see that, they must all look amazing from the stage...Wearing fancy dress makes us all feel less inhibited so I think it’s

I am particularly excited to see the Flaming Lips, whose epic live set I have been desperate to experience since hearing their seminal album ‘Soft Bulletin’; it is one which, like the Bestival site itself, includes all the colours of the rainbow (and possibly a few more too), as well as dancers and cinematic props. English festival exclusives also include Franz Ferdinand and Bombay Bicycle Club: that’s right, two of the nation’s favourite indie bands of recent years will be playing Bestival as their only English festival date over the summer! Being bands that have defined many of my own festival experiences in the past, the year would feel incomplete if I missed them.

Another band I am desperate to see is Belle and Sebastian, those delicate and melodic Scottish folk-rockers, and Stuart Murdoch’s lyrics are sure to provide a blissful chorus with that ever present taint of melancholy, resonating around the site just as the sun sets and reveals it’s sublime truths to us.

(enough said). The line-up comes into its own with the smaller bands too. The four days of the festival are set to be packed with revelations to all kinds of music lovers, seeing performances from some of my favourite new bands: Birmingham’s Swim Deep and Peace, honey-voiced Ady Suleiman (who is without a doubt going to be among the next wave of soulful British pop artists of the likes of Maverick Sabre and Liam Bailey), and the Amsterdam

However, that is not all: there are still many more acts to be announced, including the third headliner. Roar! will be keeping you updated on our website (www.roarnews.co.uk) with further announcements, as well as some exciting interviews with some of the

Bestival by night a great way to enjoy live music.” And I can’t think of a better way to experience the famously eccentric live show of a true British icon; let’s all dress up for Elton! Further UK festival exclusives include performances from M.I.A., Flaming Lips, and The Roots.

Other acts include the whacky synthpop of The Knife (whose recent release ‘Shaking the Habitual’ is on course to being one of the hottest records of the year), hip hop masters Wu-Tang Clan, R&B experimentalist James Blake, the disco nostalgia of Chic feat. Nile Rogers (no doubt there will be dancing then), and the unmissable majesty of Johnny Marr

electronica artist Applescal (whose ambience is the perfect soundtrack to any summer chillout session).

acts which will give a great insight as the festival draws ever nearer, so be sure to check it out.

There is also going to be live brilliance from the London Afrobeat Collective, Little Axe, Lov, and Kawa Circus, amongst many many others who I am excited to discover yet.

If you want to get involved with these interviews then don’t hesitate to email music@roarnews.co.uk.

Naturally, the range of DJ sets is also impeccable. As Rob da Bank has said, the net has been cast “far and wide”, for example liquid beauty with legendary drum n’ bass label Hospitality doing a special Bestival takeover, funky dub from Joy Orbison, the weird and wonderful DJ Yoda, as well as a set from Rob da Bank himself, and BBC Radio’s Annie Mac.

‘I’m watching you’ - Bestival Mainstage

This is only a small selection of the plethora of DJ sets that will be providing the unyielding hip and foot moving atmosphere which is vital to any summer festival.

Also recently announced is numberone spot grabber Duke Dumount, who has probably infected you already with his hit ‘Need U (100%)’.

For ticket info about Bestival 2013 and more information on the line up, as well as other festival information, visit http://2013.bestival.net/. If, like me, you are experiencing the true grunt of student life and are thus hopelessly poor, there is now the offer of a payment plan of just £12 a week! So why not? JB TICKET PRICE: £190 (Thursday Entry); £180 (Friday Entry) CAR PARKING: £11 (advanced) DATES: 5-8th September All images courtesy Bestival

NEWS MUSIC

Joe Brookes Music Editor music@roarnews.co.uk

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TUTU’S: A BIT OF A FURORE Neil Jones

THE closure of King’s’ Tutu’s nightclub has been the subject of much debate over the last few weeks. The main reasons given for it shutting are that it has been making a loss of over £100,000 a year for the past two years, and that according to the stats and graphs of professional nightclub analysts, there is little chance of recovery. At the recent AGM where the closure was discussed, this reasoning caused a bit of a furore amongst people who saw mismanagement as the problem. As the AGM though apparently wasn’t the place where such a problem could be discussed, the whole “debate” had an air of the absurd, and if Groucho Marx had walked in blowing smoke hoops from his cigar, it would have been in fitting with the situation.

informed by a creative environment with creative participation from their immediate community, in particular a media community, the way things are currently orientated at King’s, with the restricted, somewhat stagnant media, the club would not have been a success anyway. Which calls for some self-reflection.

The majority of students come to King’s buzzing with excitement, ready to embrace everything that London has to offer culturally, which should be great news for media.

Though there are of course positive aspects to King’s media, and Roar! itself has less of what for some were grating tabloid aspects than it did last year, too many King’s students are still on the outside, put off by a media that sometimes seems like it’s being run as if there is a commercial captive market whose consumer needs are there to be satisfied, even exploited, creating a passive rather than an active relationship with most students, and thus keeping a large proportion locked out.

We can debate the loss of Tutu’s as much as we want, but until the King’s media is presented in a fashion that lends itself to the creative participation of all students, then the university has nothing by which such a venture as Tutu’s can be fed and sustained.

Yet, faced with such a media orientation, students often live cultural lives entirely outside of the university.

The potential is there to make media at King’s an exciting, collective and creative experience for everyone, rather than a pale imitation of what few people need or want. NJ Contact:musiceditor@roarnews. co.uk to share your views

Nightclubs come and go in London of course, and management is a complex issue. It is often inept, and often untouchable. But going beyond the question of a management failure at Tutu’s (which is beyond talking about anyway), what should be important to King’s student media at the moment is how we can change things that we do have power over. As it is, it is conceivable that even if the Tutu’s management had been efficient, considering the fact that, in order to be successful, clubs need to be

YOU SAID YOU WAS IN A BAND AND YOU HELD MY HAND... SO I LET YOU FINGER ME runs like sewage, accidentally uniting goths, chavs, the awkward and the plain bored all across Britain. The result is a debut album, Thalidomidas Touch. It skids down putrid streets with 10 clever hipsters in a headlock, spewing anarchy in its most despairing yet poetic form.

Neil Jones THE THLYDS Thalidomidas Touch CORPORATE RECORDS THE Thlyds burst onto the scene like a gang of leathered-up goths in a small village, ‘I Fucked the Queen’ conquering fuck-the-monarchy discos the world over, catapulting the band like (in their own words) “toxic shit over the walls of the besieged mainstream”. Their Molotov Cocktails laced with brutal rhythms then proceeded to spread like fireworks across a barren night sky, exploding over the hollow mainstream, minor-stream, or any fucking stream where the water

‘The True Price of Kent’ singles out the ‘professional’ mate-of-the-bloke journalist bereft of conscience; while ‘If I Wanted a Job (I’d Have Been Born a Cunt)’ screams like Bonnie and Clyde in a stolen Chevron doing doughnuts in a Tesco car park, deriding those who lack the substance to open automatic doors, yet enjoy telling facebook of how they fund the unemployed and Dai Disco’s shopping basket at gimpsuite.com. ‘I Fingered You’ drips with the brutality of an underclass youth, Thornton Halfwit, probably the only person left wronged enough to be a punk, enunciating the words “in a darkened underpass I managed to get three in your arse” while Karen Condom plays the part of the used, heartbroken girl

THE CROATIAN EXPLOSION Joe Brookes

RECENTLY has seen an explosion of festivals located on the islands of Croatia, some of which are British organised, by people who have unsurprisingly fallen in love with the sun, beautiful geography, and locale, thus taking the initiative to set up a music event over there. Amongst them are the Croatian based Unknown Festival and Dimensions Festival: Unknown Festival DATE: 10-14th September NOTABLE ACTS: The Horrors, Four Tet, TEED, Jamie XX, Erol Alkan LOCATION: Rovinj, Croatia PRICE: £109+Booking Fee INFO: www.unknowncroatia.com Brought to you by the creators of Field Day and the Warehouse Project, this festival incorporates both live and DJ acts, whose setup is described as an “immersive paradise [where you can] stumble across mysterious and bespoke design projects, interweaved with some of the most forward thinking music.” The event site couldn’t be more perfect, blending forest with beach, and looking out over the Adriatic. Likewise, the festival is very reachable by a number of local airports.

With the success they have had over here, the organisers for Unknown are undoubtedly blazing the way forward for foreign festivals as well.

Dimensions Festival DATE: 5-9th September NOTABLE ACTS: Boddika, Floating Points, Gilles Peterson, Mount Kimbie, Mr Scruff, Pantha du Prince, Portico Quartet, Daphni LOCATION: Fort Punta Christo, Pulo, Croatia PRICE: £135 INFO: www.dimensionsfestival.com Dimensions festival is innovative on all three fronts: line-up, its venue at Fort Punta Christo, & the sound setup itself which is “a higher technical specification of soundsystems than you will find at any other festival of its size.” It has without doubt got the most exciting line up when it comes to DJs and electronic acts that I have seen anywhere, and what better soundtrack could be wanted for chilling in such an idyllic location?While the ancient rocks pulsate in a sea of deep bass, you might want to explore the labyrinth of tunnels and exciting party sites all over the fort, or as soon as the natural ambience is filled with colour saturated synth-pads you will want to get out on the beach, or daily boat parties. JB

(“you said you was in a band / and you held my hand / so I let you finger me”). Better still is the final monologue, where hostility and disgust find a beautiful, poetic form: “I don’t even like you / you smell of milk / you belong in rags instead of jewels and silk / the stars were fucking shining when I fingered you”.

Pissing on the streets from a suicide cloud, the outcast Halfwit and his girl go out in an epic final blaze of reckless heart-rending euphoria - “I know you wrote on the girls’ toilet wall that you wanted to have my abortion / so let’s go driving / let’s get arrested / let’s give each other Chlamydia and never bother to get tested / because love is for losers / and nobody loves us / we can lay in the gutter and just look at each other / while the stupid flags flutter above us in this town / this shithole that we’re stuck in / let’s burn the fucker down!” This is the album that the Sex Pistols would have made if they weren’t shit, best enjoyed on the Thames’ beach, standing inside an abandoned tyre with a 3 litre bottle of White Ace. NJ

Neil, along with Anna Anthrax/Arts/Archbishop, runs the indie night Des Was a Bowie Fan. The final “Des” nights at Tutu’s are scheduled for Saturday May 11th and Saturday June 8th. In between these, on Friday May 31st, there will be a post-exams Des party at Paper Dress Vintage, a DiY vintage fashion boutique that doubles as a club in Shoreditch, whose regulars include Kate Nash, Keira Knightly, Florence Welch and, best of all, Adam Ant. This will be free, and at the slightly earlier disco dancio time of 7.30 till 12. For more info visit www.facebook.com/deswasabowiefan or the website at www.deswasabowiefan.com

FASHION Eva Chaideftos Fashion & Lifestyle Editor fashion@roarnews.co.uk

facebook.com/roarnews Yee Rou Quah

ROAR! REPORTER YEE ROU MEETS THREE KING’S COLLEGE LONDON FASHIONISTAS...

CATHERINE Lai is a shopping loving second year law student from Hong Kong!

JANICE Pui is a law student from Malaysia who loves singing and baking!

LAW student Veronica Shleina from Russia encourages us to experiment with our looks!

YR: What do you love about fashion? CL: Fashion is pretty much an extension of our own personality. The limitless combinations of clothes you can put together to make an outfit is an incredibly fun process and its really about showing your creativity and what inspires you daily. YR: Whose style do you adore? CL: I would say my style icon is Emmanuelle Alt. Her signature tailored look often comprises of skinny jeans, button down shirt, blazer and a pair of sexy heels – the definition of effortless chic. YR: Where do you like to shop at? CL: I love all the high street brands: Zara (I love Zara!), Topshop, FCUK... Online shopping is also my weakness; ASOS is unfortunately the blackhole that sucks me in! YR: Do you stick to any fashion rules ? CL: One - When in doubt, wear black. Two - Simplicity is the key, I hardly ever accessorise. Three - Always carry a bigger bag because believe it or not, it WILL make your ass look smaller. YR: What is your current favourite trend? CL: My favourite trend right now is studs and anything metallic!

YR: Whose style do you adore? CL: Lena Fujii from Vivi magazine. So gorgeous and fashionable! YR: What is your next ‘must buy’ purchase? CL: I’m obsessed with nail polish!! I just bought 5 lovely pastel shades from Orly. YR: Do you have any particular favourite shopping spots ? CL: A few places I frequent for my shopping sprees are Dongdaemun, Myeongdong and Garusugil in Korea and the Russian Market in Cambodia. They are my favourite because they sell good quality and gorgeous clothes at a good bargain. For shopping in Korea, the secret is to go right before a season change, so all the past season’s clothes will be on sale! YR: Lastly, any fashion advice you would give to our readers? CL: Be yourself!!! Do not wear what you feel uncomfortable in – it shows on your face and it just does not look good at all. Happy girls are the prettiest girls!

YR: What or who inspires your daily outfits and style? VS: Since I live in the heart of the City of London, my daily outfits have always been inspired by the looks of City lawyers: strict, smart and casual. YR: Whose style do you adore? VS: One of the most inspirational people in the industry’ is Katherine Middleton. She manages to look natural, sophisticated, elegant and chic YR: What is your favourite shopping spot in London? VS: Generally, I’m confined to Selfridges: this is a place where you can find almost anything. More specifically, LK Bennett and Karen Millen are my favourites since these designers are chic gurus! YR: Are there any fashion rules that you live by? VS: The basic rule of classics: black and white is always a win. YR: Lastly, any fashion advice you would give to our readers? VS: Do not afraid to experiment with looks, you are never limited when it comes to fashion.

A FEW PEOPLE WHO MAKE

ENTREPRENEUR AND KIMONO GURU: MEET CAMILLA SHEPPARD THE BRAINS AND KCL STUDENT BEHIND LOVEKIMONO.COM Camilla Sheppard

WHEN I returned from my gap year abroad, I began researching ideas for an online business, partly as a hobby, but also with the hope of securing an income during my studies at King’s College. Travelling in different parts of the world had given me an insight into emerging trends and fashion. I’d fallen in love with the vibrant colours and beautiful fabrics from South East Asia, so kimono style dressing gowns seemed like a good choice. Choosing the styles presented an instant conflict between what I would personally wear or buy and what my target market would like. Indeed, styles that I was initially unsure about have turned out to sell very well, and vice versa. It is interesting to see which are the most popular styles and this also influences my decisions on how to continue to grow the range tailored to demand. Another challenge was finding the right supplier – all funds had to be sent upfront, so I really couldn’t afford to get this wrong. I contacted around 250 wholesalers, using feedback from previous customers and the general manner of their sales team to build a short-list. In the end, I connected with two great suppliers and continue to work with them to this day. LoveKimono.com now has 27 different kimono robes, retailing in four countries. The mission is simple: to

offer an alternative to the unflattering, ill-fitting, traditional dressing gown without compromising on style and comfort-and all for an affordable price.

CHEEKY BLOGGER: KHYATI MODGIL

At first, I presumed sales would dip in the colder months, but many women choose to wear their kimonos throughout the year whilst getting ready, as elegant loungewear or teamed with lingerie. Christmas is of course the busiest time, with Valentine’s Day a close second.

Khyati Modgil KING’S College London has it’s fair share of talents and Khyati is onewho’s decided to put her creativity to use in her blog “Candy.In.My.Heels - Introducing the seven wonders of my world: current affairs, music, fashion, beauty, health, love, life.” Below is an excerpt from the blog, about why smoking is viewed so differently in Britain than in France.

Building the business has been both rewarding but also challenging at times. The biggest challenge for me was to stay focused during the set up process and not become deflated in the early stages. For anyone wanting to start their own business, I would say the most important thing is to keep your eye on the goal. From when I had the idea in the summer of 2010, it took me a further 8 months to actually start trading and then any profits were poured back in to continue growth; it is certainly not an overnight process.

“Franchement c’est sexy!” by Khyati Modgil I’ve returned from one year in Paris, admittedly a bit chubbier around the edges than I was prior to my having left, with a new found love for any type of stronger than necessary cheese and a more refined wine palate - both of which I can assure you create havoc in the life of a student who fast realises a love for chilled Sancerre isn’t shared by your bank account.

I hope that my story encourages others to follow and persevere with their goals; I have posted my email and twitter below should anybody have any feedback or questions for me.

camilla@lovekimono.com @lovekimonouk www.lovekimono.com

Camilla herself in one of the classic dressing gowns

So aside from the slightly tighter jeans and a more emphatic love than ever before for men with ‘ze facial hairs’, I have acquired one new tendency that I am not too proud of; Marlboro lights - menthol where possible, and if it’s an Ice Ball menthol, it may as well be Christmas. If within 1 minute of arriving at Gare

du Nord you do not see someone with “une clope’” in their mouth, you need to re-board your Eurostar because I promise you you are in the wrong place and your ETA does not make sense for a reason. Put simply, the smoking culture is embedded in France. I would go as far as to say - and I’m sure would receive considerable rebuke for doing so - that it is very firmly rooted within French culture itself. Somewhere between Sartre, La Tour Eiffel and Dom Perignon stands the cigarette. And it stands tall. (...) The conditions which are widespread and used to categorise ‘smokers’ and ‘non-smokers’ here in the UK simply do not apply in France. In the latter, it ought to be taken at face value, you would be wasting your time were you to try and dissect their political standing, educational level and socio economic background. These stereotypes simply aren’t viable. In France you can walk up to anyone and ask for a cigarette, from the waiter to Hollande or Sarko... Let’s face it, it is a cracking tool if you think someone’s a bit alright and French boys clearly know this (and a few other things) of old. To read the full article go on http:// candyinmyheels.tumblr.com or roarnews.co.uk.

LIFESTYLE Sophie Hutchings Fashion & Lifestyle Sub-Editor fashion@roarnews.co.uk

@roar_news

Sneha Choudhury Fashion & Lifestyle Sub-Editor fashion@roarnews.co.uk

GRETA BELLAMACINA – MODEL, POET, ACTRESS,DIRECTOR ...

Sophie Hutchings

pleted on the day of this interview, a fashion film for the new Nikon camera advert! We’ll be sure to keep an eye out for that one, as well as her new book ‘To December’ set to be published at the end of this year!

... AND our new idol! Yes that’s right; she is all of those things! Greta Bellamacina, an ex-KCL English Literature and Language student, has gone up and beyond since her university days, having recently created a poetry fashion film for our very own London Fashion Week. On asking how it all started, I found that Greta had quite a different conception of your typical idle ‘gap yah’, and had in fact interned not only at US Vogue, but also UK Vogue and Tatler magazine within the same year! Having not had any previous fashion experience, Greta called the US Vogue office and successfully talked her way through various people into being given some contact details. To my surprise, Greta found her experience at London Vogue dull in comparison to the adventures of Manhattan: “At US Vogue I interviewed some incredible people, and they just gave you so much responsibility. Their work ethic is crazy; you’d work so hard then go for a meal at 12pm, then head off to a party, and be back at the office

Some final things about Greta...

“You have to be willing to make yourself vulnerable and take risks in order to gain more.” - Greta Bellamacina - a true inspiration. for 9am! When at UK Vogue, everything was quite regimented and slow.” Within that same gap year, Greta was also spotted by a photographer at Teen Vogue who happened to be brother to the owner of Models1 - so Greta was signed and continued to model during her days at King’s. “Its quite addictive once you start, but it was so hard. I was always going off to five castings a day or flying off some

where, and no-one had any idea.” Whilst studying for a degree and working as a model, Greta also managed to write and publish a book of poetry called Kaleidoscope, at which point she had a personal epiphany that poetry was her true calling. After various poetry readings where listeners commented that there should be more poetry around, Greta was asked to write for the online fashion diary of Twenty8Twelve.

“The owner of Twenty8Twelve loves philosophy and poetry, it’s never advertised but if you buy their jeans they have little phrases in the pockets! I ended up making poetry fashion films for them and designing their ad campaigns, it was all very exciting.” Now also working for a company called VIVA, Greta is able to propose ideas and be put in touch with clients, producing fashion films for Harpers Bazaar, and having com

...Favourite Poem: Ooh I’m not sure about a particular favourite, but I do really like E E Cummings. ...Favourite place in London: Hampstead Heath, I grew up around there and it’s just so wild for a park! ...Style Icons: Annie Hall from Woody Allan - I really like ready-to-go and French fashion. ...When you have time to relax you… : Travel – I spend all my money on travelling! I’m also a bit of an underground painter, I always paint at night. ...Any words of advice for budding fashion journalists? Be open-minded and don’t be afraid to approach anyone with a new idea. You have to be willing to make yourself vulnerable and take risks in order to gain more. http://www.gretabellamacina.com/

KING’S COLLEGE LONDON AMAZING FOOD BLOGGER: MARIA BLUNDELL “365 DAYS OF FOOD”

Maria Blundell

MODEL WHO TRAVELLED THE WORLD: REBECCA CHANDLER

Sophie Hutchings

Currently a French and Business undergraduate at King’s, Rebecca has also led a life of travel and luxury fashion, modelling for the great Alexander McQueen in one of her first shows whilst also representing MAC cosmetics It all started on a school trip - of all places! At sixteen, Rebecca was taken to the Clothes Show Live in Birmingham with her class mates. Once there, she was spotted by a representative of Models1, the agency that later signed her up. Rebecca decided to take a gap year to pursue her modelling career and moved by herself to Milan, where she was introduced to the real world of modelling: ‘Milan is so strict about your measurements in comparison to London. When I was there I had to lose a lot of weight and

be measured nearly everyday. At my current size I would be considered a fat model in Milan!’ Let’s just say that on hearing this whilst sitting next to Rebecca, one would immediately regret indulging in that piece of chocolate cake with lunch! Rebecca admits that leading the life of a model can be glamorous but also very hard; ‘you have no control over your body, your finances, and generally your life’. She had to travel to several castings a day, deal with the odd pervy photographer and the ‘bitchy’ PRs surrounding the shoots - as according to Rebecca the models aren’t as brutal towards each other as ‘Top Model’ might have you believe... But of course, there are perks... like travelling the world! Not only did Rebecca live in Milan, but she worked at the fashion weeks in each country as they succeeded each other and spent

a couple of months in Hamburg, Sri Lanka and Sydney to name a few. One of her favourite travel moments was visiting an elephant orphanage whilst in Australia – jealous does not sufficiently describe our feelings here at Roar! With the fee increase, however, Rebecca (like all us second years) thought it better apply to university to save some serious cash. Rebecca still models part-time, but is also currently a partner in setting up ‘The Model Hideout’, a space for models to hang out and get advice. The British Council set up a suite at the Mayfair hotel during London Fashion Week, but there is nowhere permanent for models to get information and advice about things such as nutrition, or generally anywhere to relax with other models whilst waiting around for castings. This project is under development, but looks to be a great success. Check out Rebecca’s business http://modelhideout.blogspot.co.uk/

WHILST I’m currently spending most of my time, and indeed money, on studying Shakespeare at post-graduate level, my real passion in life concerns food. I am under no illusion that this may have to do with some hidden streak of creativity or need for productivity - it’s all about greed. I want food, good food and as much of it as possible. The fact that I was spending most of my daily thoughts and energy on this, I decided to capture the lot online in a blog. Cooking has become the nation’s favorite fad and I’m almost certainly one of the very last to join the already burgeoning queue to virtually discuss my feeding and eating habits, but a food blog seemed to be the only way to justify food being on my mind all-the-time! If you’d like to see how it’s done, check out mariablundell.wordpress. com; In the meantime, here is a recipe to keep you happy and less hungry! Spicy Bean Casserole This dish can easily be made ahead of the actual dinner, even days beforehand. Just don’t cook it for ages like you might do when you’re slow cooking meat, as the beans might go too mushy. Serves 2-4, Preparation Time: 20 Mins, Cooking Time: 45 Mins You will need: 6-8 Sausages (preferably Chorizo Style), 1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes, 1 Tin soaked Chickpeas (drained), 1

Tin Three Bean Salad (drained), 1 Tin Broad Beans (drained), 200ml Red Wine, 2 tbsp Tomato Puree, 400 ml Vegetable Stock, 2 Carrots (peeled and chopped), 2 Red Onions (chopped), 4 Cloves of Garlic (chopped finely), 2 Red Chillies (chopped finely), 2 Peppers (any colour, chopped), 1 tbsp Ground Cumin, 1 tbsp Paprika Powder, 1 handful Cherry Tomatoes, 2 tbsp Sugar, 1 tbsp dried Rosemary, 1 tbsp dried Thyme. Begin by frying the sausages in a pan for five to ten minutes until they’ve started to take on a golden brown colour. In the meantime preheat your oven to 180 C. Once the sausages are ready, transfer them to an empty casserole dish. Now gently fry the carrots, onions and peppers in the same pan as the sausages as it should still have the sausage juices in. When the vegetables have cooked for ten minutes, add the garlic, all the herbs and spices, the tomato puree and the chilli. Fry for another two minutes before adding the wine, stock, tinned tomatoes and sugar to the pan also. Bring the lot to the boil and then pour into the casserole dish with the sausages. Place in the oven for 25 minutes. Drain the three different tins of pulses and beans, add them along with the cherry tomatoes to the casserole dish before returning it to the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes. Serve immediately whilst piping hot with bread and enjoy!

ROAR! MORE!

R!M. CREDITS:

THE BACK PAGE

FRONT & BACK PAGE: SAMUEL SPENCER

CULTURE QUESTIONS #2: SHOULD MUMFORD & SONS BE HEADLINING GLASTONBURY?

Above: Four men and a banjo: Mumford and Sons play their ‘unique’ brand of ‘music’. Inset: Man, listening to Mumford and Sons. Probably...

YES Lucas Hammerman

Mumford and Sons may not have the best lyrics, and they may not have the most unique of images, but they are not without talent; it takes something to sell at number one both in UK and US. What they have is a definitive voice in their sound with all the facets that give a perfect crossover of everyday listening and powerful vocals. This is going to be needed at Glastonbury, where they share headlining status with musical juggernauts Arctic Monkeys and the heavilyanticipated Rolling Stones, headlining Friday and Saturday respectively. They fill out the line-up of British Rock comprehensively between the post-punk indie tones of the Arctic Monkeys and the classic rock vibes of the Stones. A fair lot of critics are being finicky on the sameness of their songs and claiming the band is boring. These people need to stop humping their eardrums that are so chained and leathered up in technical terminology and music genre definitions that it has become near fetish-like (I am looking at you, majority of the Guardian music reviewers...). Mumford and Sons are fun. People can get passionate about things that are fun. A crowd that is passionate is going to make for a festival that is excellent. However, to satisfy the apparent need of critics these days to break down every little word, I will spell it out. Lyrics that aren’t hard to remember and songs that are fun to howl to—I mean howl as in both senses, singing along and howling like a dog (try the latter if you haven’t yet, it’s quite satisfying)—in the car is something

NO Ben Wilson

that can’t be overlooked as an awesome quality. Good bass on the drums lead to recognizable atmosphere that transfers through the radio and on a sunny day, consumes you. The music is ecstatic. The sense that the singer is present in the song is addictive.

Back in 2009, a storm was brewing – a storm that threatened to provide musical debate’s marmite moment. In West London, a newly-formed four-piece were spearheading what some were calling a ‘new folk’, while many were writing it off as a storm in a quaint florally-patterned teacup. Soon after, Mumford and Sons stormed into the mainstream consciousness and all hell broke loose.

But the question remains, can they compete on the same stage as their British counterparts? While not having the revolutionary quality so stunningly delivered by the Arctic Monkeys on tracks such as Crying Lightning or I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor or the unique character delivered by the Rolling Stones across countless worldfamous, world-class songs (Paint It Black, Sympathy for the Devil, Satisfaction...), Mumford and Sons bring a reminder as to why folk and rock are such great counterparts. The components of their musicality, such as the fast-paced instrumentation of songs such as Babel, Whispers in the Dark, and I Will Wait, that is paired with their often slower vocals hold interest and provide excitement. The lifting harmonies ring smoothly while maintaining the feel of a singer-songwriter experience: their music is authentic and powerful over large crowds. This sense of intimacy and excitement is raw; it plugs into your ears and does not leave. The feeling builds continuously; unaltered instruments with smoky-man voices can control the atmosphere of large crowds in a way that is absolutely unifying. Songs such as The Cave, Little Lion Man, and Ghosts That We Knew, carry a definitive story-telling aspect to them, diversifying their songs while still sticking to what they know. There is no doubt that there may be better bands out there, but Mumford and Sons give a feeling in their music that deserves a spotlight at a festival like Glastonbury, if for no other reason than seeing the whole crowd howl like dogs....

VS.

Glasto Gods orTrust Fund wurzles? Are you a Lit-

tle Lion Maniac or do you find the Mumfords meaningless? Let us know @Roar_news, and suggest

our next Culture Question #culturequestions

Up until this point, bluegrass music had found its cultural home sentimentally entwined with the creeks of the Mississippi Delta. Tweed had been the prime reserve of erudite scholars, and partygoers at Movida who were being semi-ironical about the fact that their Belvedere money came from Daddy owning Chichester. But the rules all changed when M&S arrived clutching their acoustic arsenal, dressed like sharecroppers from some mythical undiscovered suburban plantation (think Emmerdale meets Skins). From there, they transported the banjo from third-on-the-bill curiosity at Hop Farm to the kind of V Festival main-stage powerhouse that has business executives drunkenly chanting along between warm £5 pints and shouting ‘sing that song about the boy who’s like a lion but not actually a lion’. However, the banjo’s inclusion in the Mumford’s sound came from no natural fondness for the elusive art-form that is folk music, but instead as a means of getting more paid session work – while you might argue that anyone needs to do what they can to get ahead in the saturated and cutthroat world of professional music, there still should be personal conviction and idealism to stop the whole enterprise from becoming disingenuous. When you have Laura Mar-

ling claiming “there is an elegance in the sound of a fiddle and a banjo and a guitar, a whole tone shaped by history,” it becomes obvious that there is still plenty of room for romanticism in the modern climate of chart positions and album exposure. In fact, banjo proved to be such a defining factor for the band that they settled for the imaginative name The Banjolin Song for a track on their first EP in a categorically say-what-you-see (or more accurately, hear) revelation. Presumably names that didn’t make the cut were The Stamping in Time Enthusiastically Song and The Being as Twee as Humanly Fucking Possible Song, although those can be safely stored in the bank since they should still hold relevance to their artistic direction for the foreseeable future. February’s Brit Awards saw the waistcoat clad faux-folkers firmly established among a pantheon of mediocrity that included such scintillating acts as Simon Cowell’s “favourite songwriter at the minute” Emile Sandé, Kanye West nemesis Taylor Swift, and puppy-faced boy band One Direction, whose sole contribution to entertainment came when floppy coiffured Twitter sensation Harry Styles took a shoe to the groin whilst onstage (if you haven’t seen it yet YouTube has you covered with multiple angles and dubbed versions that will keep you entertained for hours.) Now this entire piece isn’t going to descend into a rant against success or a band becoming ‘mainstream’, but when it comes to a genre as distinctly alternative and established as folk music you have to wonder how long it can survive when exposed to the grinding demands for innovation and that ‘new sound’ that the commercial music market seems to depend upon. Who knows, maybe they’ll be able to get Skrillex to start making them a few dubstep remixes…

CAREERS

Juliana Ruseva Careers Editor careers@roarnews.co.uk

@roar_news

TIPS FOR SUCCESS FROM YOUR VERY OWN PROFESSORS Juliana Ruseva Many variables can define our success and even the simplest factors can influence the path we dream of following. Our college years can be said to be our golden years, the beginning of a new chapter filled with new experiences and knowledge. But let’s be honest, college life has endless ups and downs, desperate moments, painful hangovers and it makes us question who we are and why we have made certain decisions. Many strive to be the best; others just want to enjoy the ride; while a few put great effort in maintaining a balance between work and ‘play’. But the luckiest ones are the ones who can not only maintain a balance but the ones who truly love what they do, the ones who will be paid in the future to do what they love. Although any university can teach us invaluable things, whatever our field is, the most important issues of our lives, the questions which guide us, only we can discover. This may sound like a cliché but it is true. If you don’t make the effort to find the motivation to keep you going, to find your true passion, then I’m sorry, but no one is going to do it for you. Many think they can get away with it, for a few years at least, if they leave everything in the hands of their parents or relatives and just sit back and enjoy the ‘fruits of youth’. Others wait for a path to appear through the -oh so convenient! - doing of the mighty universe and lay in front of them a perfect well paying job and a 2:1 or higher degree in their hands. I don’t want to ruin their fairytale but the ‘raw’ truth is that they have to wake up. One way or another everybody, even that friend you might have who is a complete control freak or the selfmade genius in your classes, makes mistakes. That is why I have employed the advice of our ingenious professors and the years of experience they have to give us some advice we might not get from lectures. I have gathered the best tips and I hope that you will find them useful. Professor Jeremy Horder gives us a

great tip -one repeatedly ignored by students- : “Don’t try to make everything you do career orientated. Ironically, someone who can express themselves creatively in life in other ways will often make the best employee”. On a similar note, Professor Christoph Meyer states that students “Try to emulate what others have on their CVs, rather than trusting their own instincts and daring to do something a little bit different. This is more likely to differentiate them from the mass”. According to Professor Lev Kantorovich the best thing a student can do is to “Work hard, be interested in something and then become a real expert in this”, while Mrs. Jane Henderson advises each student to “Study what you find interesting, rather than what you feel you “ought” to do, because if you follow your own interests, then you stand a chance of ending up somewhere where you would like to be”. With regards to the biggest mistakes that students make, they “Don’t work hard, missing the only chance they have at this stage of their lives” (Lev Kantorovich), they “Don’t turn up to lectures and meeting with tutors (who will later write their references)” (KCL Scientist). They “Have the wrong balance between studying and socializing - a poor degree result will be with you for the rest of your life and in the current jobs climate may well put an employer off reading your application any further” (Colin Moore), “On a superficial level, panic and procrastination. More seriously, being too swayed by other people’s opinions of the “best” thing for them to do” (Jane Henderson) In the career front, students are advised to: “Think about what they enjoy doing - you don’t want to be stuck in a profession that you hate. Then go and get practical experience of what it’s like to work in that field, not only will it help your application but it can confirm whether that path is the right one for you” (Colin Moore) “Don’t ever put-down your own work or make excuses for it. If you don’t believe in it, why should somebody else?” (Christoph Meyer)

“Aim for the moon, if you miss you will land in the stars” (KCL Scientist) A special note for the lawyers or the ones aiming for big firms, “Don’t be lured in by the big salaries of the City firms - when you’re at your desk at 2am you’ll be wondering whether it was worth it. You may be able to get similar, if not better, experience in a mid-level or boutique firm”. (Colin Moore)

“Professionalism might not win you many friends but it is what matters” (Jeremy Horder)

A mistake to be cautious of is to “Look at big names employers rather

and online seminars available, plus keep an eye on the Careers & Employability website for all finalists’ events.

scheme, with a special discounted price if you sign up until the 30th of September 2013, running to help you figure out how to continue and support you.

LIFE AFTER KING’S

It is difficult to start university but perhaps even harder to leave it.

That is why the King’s Careers & Employability will be open over the summer and there will be sessions

There will also be a GradClub

than the enjoyment of the actual work they are going to do. They could easily enjoy this more at a less well-known employer and perhaps in a different field they think they are interested in” (Christoph Meyer) I had also asked our professors what they would change if they could go back in time, some said that they wish they had been more cautious and worked harder, others wished they had planned things better and had a stronger backup plan. Quite a few encouragingly expressed that they wouldn’t change anything; they are the ones who made their

passion into a career and perhaps the professors we have come to admire the most. Whether you take their tips lightly or utilize them and re-evaluate your path, one thing is certain. Time does not wait for anyone. You either strive to make the best decisions possible for you and follow your dreams or you get left behind wondering where you went wrong. (Special thanks to all who contributed to this article. Your advice is much appreciated.)

SPORT Liam Jackson Sports Editor sports@roarnews.co.uk

Liam Jackson

facebook.com/roarnews

GKT REGAIN MACADAM TITLE

It is the end of the sporting calendar for most teams and everyone anticipates the longed for finale of the season... the Macadam Cup. The tournament involves nine sports being played over the course of one day, with friendships put to one side as medical schools and nonmedics of King’s come head to head in the traditional inter-varsity duel. For those who don’t know, the cup is named after Sir Ivison Stevenson Macadam, founder of the National Union of Students (NUS) and President of KCLSU in the early 1920’s. He was known for successfully fundraising and appealing to establish sound roots for the union as a separate entity, with the Cup rightly named after him from 2004. A keen sportsman himself, it is great that we have such an honorary patron in this event, which attracts not only the sporting calibre of the institution but also all who want to exhale their identity as either medic or nonmedic, clearly seen on the day by the passionately worn red or yellow. The true awe and beauty at the day itself is that the two sides come together and get to watch other sports from around the college. No one

sport is bigger than the rest. All sports have equal value and merit and the chance for the sport to flourish under large crowds and an atmosphere like no other throughout the year. All supporters relay that they enjoy the chance to watch the rugby for five minutes, then head over to the football, enjoy the ultimate Frisbee then head indoors to watch the darts and fencing. It is a chance to see everyone before the looming revision and exam period, reflecting on a long year and to some, and their last chance to play for their university before heading off to the world.

After a long day were both sides battled out valiantly and with pride... there was no outright winner. In true King’s style no-one could leave Berrylands with a draw. There always has to be one side to reign number one. KCL could not leave for a second year without the prized cup and without having the upper hand in bragging rights. GKT could not miss the chance to further bring misery onto their counterparts for another year with shouts of superiority. Having heard the results by our very own Vice-President of Student Activities Kiki Johnson, there was only one way to end this stalemate, and this was not in the way of a communion snakebite boat race being

screamed to do by some. The winners would have to be successful in a game dating back to the 16th century that Sir Macadam would have been proud to watch...Tug-Of-War!

The rules were simple, out strength the opposing side and pull them past

your own line. In order for it not to become a second beckoning for the rugby cohort to fight it out once more,

five men and five women had to be in the team, distributed as evenly as possible from the sports taking part. All the contestants were ready; firmly wrapping their arms around the rope, painted in their relevant colours and feet stuck firmly into the ground. The air was tense as the watching masses

gathered outside the pavilion... the scene was set. With everyone giving 110%, the friendly ridicule that would

carry on until this time next year was in the balance of twenty proud King’s students... the winner was again GKT. Isaac Chan, current President of King’s Hockey, describes briefly the year and historical record of past results against their bitter rivals, “After what was a difficult season for KCLHC, we believed a win at Macadam could change everything. We’ve had an extremely impressive record against GKTHC having not lost to them since 2007-08. We were eager to continue this tradition and that we did, in a hard fought game where we came out as 2-1 winners. Our Ladies team also came out with a win, giving us the first KCLHC double over GKTHC for years!” The whole spirit of Macadam is to have that extra boost that can lead to a more positive start in the coming year, with the hockey club looking forward to new ventures next year. Isaac explains, “Next year is shaping up to be fantastic, with the first ever KCLHC Varsity against UCL on the cards as well as the opening of the multi million pound clubhouse at HOP, hockey at King’s is set to get bigger and bigger. We welcome all abilities, ages and degrees, look no further than KCLHC!”

SPORT

@Liam_SportRoar

ACCOUNT OF THE DAY BY KCLFC

Paul Raschid

hind a resolute KCL backline, an incisive breakaway broke the deadlock.

“The Macadam Cup. The day the en-

A well directed clipped through ball released KCL forward Falck, whose steely determination and gazelle-like strides took him to the by-line before crossing into the path of classy left-winger Matt Shorney to finish with aplomb.

tire footballing fraternity circles in their calendars when the fixtures are released at the start of every season. Such was the hunger of the KCLFC players, the entire squad arrived at the cauldron of Berrylands a full 2 hours before kick-off to prepare themselves for the battle ahead. Kitted out immaculately and undoubtedly harbouring a few butterflies, Captain Sam Tang led his troops in a lengthy warm-up.

FINAL MACADAM RESULTS

Mixed Fencing KCL 132-111 Swimming Gala GKT 25-4 Water polo GKT 8-7 Badminton GKT 7-1 Squash KCL 4-1 Women’s Hockey KCL 3-0 Men’s Hockey KCL 2-1

Mixed tennis Women’s GKT Football 7-5 GKT Ultimate fris3-0 bee GKT Darts 13-6 KCL 5-4 Men’s Rugby-15’s Draw 8-8 KCL (GKT win on 26-23 tug-of-war stalemate) Netball GKT 50-33 Lacrosse GKT 8-2 Women’s rugby KCL 34-0 Men’s Football KCL 1-0

Pre-match tributes were paid to notable team stalwarts who were playing their final match for the club such as Tom Ware, Steve Falck, Ali Stephens and Club President Fergus BennettOdlum, who got a last minute nod to bow out in front of the home fans. The day also marked the end of the short-term deals of international imports Alessandro Bonzio, Lukas Wirspringer and Thorben Shleffer. Indeed, emotions were running high as KCLFC had to face up to their fiercest rivals GKT. The medics were fresh off the back of a hugely successful season and comfortable victories over the men in red in their prior encounters. Tang’s men were under no illusions that they would fall short should they not raise their games to a standard befitting of the occasion. The raucous atmosphere reached fever pitch as the FA appointed official blew for kick-off and the Macadam football match was under way. The early gre, with break the ate a

exchanges were meaneither side able to other down and creclear-cut opportunity.

Just as GKT were beginning to find a few potential avenues of access in be-

An eruption of noise reverberated around the ground as all the KCL players swarmed the goalscorer... game on. The rest of the half played out as a battle of attrition with the odd lapse of concentration giving GKT a sniff. However, any loose ball in the box was dealt with by the hard-working red half of King’s. The second half played out much like the latter half of the first. GKT began to assert themselves, displaying the form that saw them dominate their league campaign. However, KCL were in no mood to lay down; block after block, tackle after tackle, the lads from the Strand held forth. Even through a deluge of balls into the box and players dropping like crampridden flies, they left everything on that legendary Berrylands pitch. As the seconds ticked down to the final whistle, GKT had one last chance to pump the ball into the KCL box. The ball was flighted in, eluding the grasp of Joe Wells in the KCL goal, but not the wise old head of the war horse Tang, who cleared off the line nonchalantly. The final whistle brought the curtain down on the 2012-13 season for KCLFC, and how! A pitch invasion ensued despite KCLSU pleas over the tannoy and 1-0 would be the final score. A day of passionate Rivalry, nerve-shredding Drama and great Football; everything the Macadam Cup symbolizes.”