The Leopard Issue 014 (Spring 2013)

April 2013 Issue 014 Free

Web: www.theleopard.co.uk E-mail: leopardnewspaper@gmail.com Twitter: @leopardnews

CONTENTS NEWS

London Student Election Controversy

By Olly Bellamy The London Student are at the centre of political controversy this week after the results of the next editor position has been deferred to the senate, following a number of complaints against the magazine regarding unfair publicity towards current deputy editor Katie Lathan in one of the election articles.

The hostile backlash was centred around the publication of two small pieces of text in the newspaper’s

coverage of the elections. The titbits of information under the headed title “Random Fact!” appeared to promote Katie Lathan, publicising her nominations from teams and societies across London, while also discrediting her competitor Oscar Webb by clearly insinuating the UCL student’s lack of affiliation to the newspaper.

This is not the first time voting controversy has hit the University of London, the London Student reported on two

separate instances of voting complications in 2012. The first over alleged unaccountable votes at the general secretary elections for the London School of Economics, the second on votes being cast on students’ behalf without their consent at King’s College.

An official report based on the tribunal hearing about Lathans’ unfair support was posted on Facebook by the University of London Union which cited that, the content printed “has

impacted disproportionately on the candidates running for LS Editor”.

Lathan herself argued on the Facebook comment that “students, surprisingly, are in fact capable of cognitive thought” yet acknowledged in a London Student article that she was aware of people voting for Oscar Webb based on the articles content, making it unsurprising if people voted in her favour based on the very same piece of information.

(Continued on pg. 2)

Goldsmiths Elections

By Courtney Greatrex

Four new full time officers were selected last month; after the highest students’ union election turnout in four years.

Goldsmiths Students Union reported a 20% turnout, after a week of robust campaigning that saw walls plastered with posters and halls littered with candidates’ leaflets.

Current campaigns officer Conrad Grant won the position of Student Union president for 2013/14 against third year Luke Hyland and fellow officer Tama White.

Soren Goard, who was re-elected Education officer, will accompany Grant on the full time sabbatical team, along with Howard Littler, Campaigns officer, and Joe Killen, who won the highly contested role of welfare and diversity, taking over from current officer, Tama White.

The most contested position, Welfare and Diversity, had five candidates running in the elections.

One candidate dropped out after giving an insult-laden speech in the candidates Question Time, held on February 21st. Aashti Bawa put up a strong fight, coming second to Killin with just 53 votes between them.

Killin commented: “I’m very excited to be working in this [officer] group next year. I think overall the elections went well but I think a lot can and should be done to engage students in a democratic way over the course of the whole year instead of just elections week and this is something we’ve already been taking about.”

Initially there had been two candidates running for the position of Campaigns Officer, but Jamshed Ahmed dropped out a week before campaigning started, leaving that position uncontested. The newly elected officer, Howard Littler said: “Obviously an uncontested position isn’t something we should be happy about. I’m going to make it my personal mission next year to

improve engagement in the students union - and that goes beyond simply focusing on election turnout.”

The four winning sabbatical candidates will take full time positions, paid £22,000 from July this year.

Grant plans to lead the Students’ Union towards a more active and engaged role within the university.

He said: “As President one of my priorities will be to involve excluded groups into the representation of the Union as I feel it should always be a priority for a President.”

The election also welcomed new Smiths magazine editors Charlie Brinkhurst and Lucie Horton, new Leopard editor Courtney Greatrex, and new Wired Radio station managers, Roberto Floris and Rebecca Carter.

ELECTION BATTLE L O N D O N S T U D E N T NEWS IN BRIEF FEATURES

H O R S E M E AT NHS AVAILABILITY SELF-CENSORSHIP LIFESTYLE & CULTURE

C O M P L I C AT I O N S

BOOK REVIEW OVERTHINKERS COMMENT

ROMANIAN C U I S I N E D E V I L ’ S A DV O C AT E MUSIC

S&M vs.FEMINISM E L E C T RO N I C BULL & GATE PHOTOGRAPHER’S PAGE

V A R S I T Y P I C T U R E S SPORT

V A R S I T Y FOOTB ALL R U G B Y

THE LEOPARD APRIL 2013

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NEWS News in Brief: Stories for the breakfast table Letter from the Editors

The end is near It’s hard to believe that it’s already April and very soon the term will end – so will our editorship!

So, before anything else, let us say a big THANK YOU for all the support and the contribution to the Newspaper.

We are also endlessly grateful to have such an amazingly dedicated editorial team without whom none of this would happen; thank you Bart, Olly, Charlie, Grace, Dean, Chris, Radu, Michael, Gary, Josh, and Camillo for all the hard work. Last but certainly not least, we would like to thank our designers: Ted, Sophie, Will and Daniel for working the InDesign magic!

Still along the editorial line, … congratulations on the election, Courtney Greatrex! All the best with the editorship next year!

Moving on.

Check out our coverage on the Goldsmiths elections and the ULU elections – particularly the London Student controversy. For our Features section we have another controversial topic: horsemeat, along with self-censorship and a review on

NHS coverage for non-UK citizens.

Our Devil’s Advocate is bringing feminism back in discussion. Don’t miss that.

Moreover, we all know this is the hectic time of the year again: the oh-so-precious weeks before essay and dissertation deadlines – and for some of us, exams – we have some tips on how to keep your cool, with or without alcohol, only on our Lifestyle and Culture.

Also don’t miss The Leopard’s view on the future of electronic music, the ‘death’ of the Bull & Gate pub, and whether Rihanna is selling sex or music.

Lastly, go on to our Sports pages to see our coverage on Varsity – once again, congratulations Goldsmiths! Also, since it’s pretty clear how we’re into appreciation here at The Leopard, so please let us know who do you think deserve to be Player of the Year (more on this on our Twitter and Facebook).

Good luck on making some impressive progress with your revision, essays, and dissertation!

Nindy and Alice

By Dean Courtne

News 2013 Goldsmiths Debut Series

For more details head to gold.ac.uk/ library before April 3rd.

Third Year Fine Art & History of Art students have created a series of pop-up art exhibitions of their work in central London.

The exhibitions have been mooted as a diverse cross section of approaches to contemporary art practice in their embryonic stages, and as a taster of what’s coming up for the students’ final degree show projects.

The next and final show will take place at the Red Bull Studios in Tooley Street, from 6 – 9pm on March 28th.

Email for a mandatory RSVP at goldsmithsdebut@gmail.com. You can find out more and see work from the previous exhibitions at goldsmithsdebut.tumblr.com.

News Recognise great teaching with a staff award

News New Library Bag Design Competition Fed up with lugging around 60kg of books in a bland, everyday tote bag?

Why not brighten up the backbreaking labour by designing your own bag?

Goldsmiths library have launched a competition to create the next series of bags, open to all current students.

The winner won’t just win a £50 Amazon voucher, but can take solace in actually making people’s lives better!

No more beige bags here, no way José!

Has a member of staff being particularly helpful? Or have you enjoyed excellent lectures, seminars or tutorials at the hands of one inspiring tutor?

Then now is the chance to recognise and reward them by nominating them for a Peake Award.

The Peake Awards celebrate excellence in learning and teaching and identify good and/or innovative practice that can be shared within the institution and the wider Higher Education sector.

All awarded lecturers will receive a certificate of nomination and a personal financial award of £300. You have until April 7th to get your nominations in via learn.gold.

News New Leopard Editor announced Has a member of staff being particularly helpful? Or have you enjoyed excellent lectures, seminars or tutorials at the hands of one inspiring tutor?

Then now is the chance to recognise and reward them by nominating them for a Peake Award.

The Peake Awards celebrate excellence in learning and teaching and identify good and/or innovative practice that can be shared within the institution and the wider Higher Education sector.

All awarded lecturers will receive a certificate of nomination and a personal financial award of £300. You have until April 7th to get your nominations in via learn.gold.

Goldsmiths Elections (continued from front page) The Leopard est.2010 Editors-in-Chief: Nindya Atmodipoero Alice Yehia Layout: William Course, Sophie Hardcastle & Ted Low Leopard Logo: Emily Harthern Interested in becoming a contributor in any area of The Leopard?

E-mail: leopardnewspaper@ gmail.com 0207 71 72 220 THELEOPARD, Dixon Road New Cross SE14 6NW

News Editors: Dean Courtney Chris Dillon Features Editor: Bartholomew Foley Comment & Opinion Editors: Radu Istrate Michael Lovelock

Des Freedman commented in his book The Politics of Media Policy over the usefulness of modern media in reaching mass audiences.

Oscar Webb @owebb “Shambolic @LondonStudent continues to publish heavily biased election coverage” The report produced continued by exonerating both Katie Lathan and Jen Izaakson, the current editor, who were not present at the time of publication. They claim this is why certain procedures were not carried out to

ensure equality in the newspaper, however only one day after the results were annulled, the London Student released an online article defending their actions. The article also reported on their intentions to force ULU into publicising the results via the use of the freedom of information act, something that has been supported by twitter followers with @MichelleLipi tweeting “whether you voted for @ owebb or @katie_lathan the results should be released”.

Despite the tribunal being satisfied

with the integrity of all other results, members of the public have taken to various social media sites voicing their dismay at the unfair situation the editor position has been put under. One person on Facebook commented that at least two other people have made complaints to ULU over biased media coverage.

Others have hit out at the University of London Union’s readiness to discard over 2,500 student votes, instead opting to let a board of 12 - 22 individuals from each college elect the next editor.

Lifestyle & Culture Editors: Charlie Brinkhurst Cuff Grace Dayton Music Editor: Gary Spencer Josh Hobson Photography Editor: Camilo Fernandez Sports Editor: Oliver Bellamy Proof reader: Gamel Oki

Apologies

The Leopard is a publication printed on mattwest, so after you have finished with it please pass it on so others can read it or take care to recycle or re-use it. Save those trees, reduce those rubbish dumps and be kinder to the environment!

&Corrections

In the last issue the author of ‘Protesters chant as Save A&E continues’ was infact Alex Coop and not Alex Cooper.

APRIL 2013 THE LEOPARD

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COMMENT & OPINION

Romanian Cuisine Radu Istrate

Horsemeat managed to leave a bitter aftertaste in the mouths of British consumers in the last few weeks. Some regard the incident as shocking, while others do not regard it at all. Behind the scenes of this incident, however, lies Romania, a country targeted by a sea of negative feelings, as of late, from the Western side of Europe. The Eastern European country now finds itself – unjustly, as far as we know – up to its neck in horse manure, leaving us with more questions than answers.

“We were a textbook

suspect,” Romanian Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, declared and considering the country’s image is a real handicap, his words could not be more true. Romania has been accused of supplying horsemeat sold as beef in the UK – “an accusation that not only is a kick to a country that’s already on the ground, but an offense to our kitchens and traditions,” chef Cristian Sustra said, a man who is responsible for meat quality-check and a Romanian cuisine specialist.

Although the accusers had no proof

Devil’s Advocate

Feminism:The Unfortunate and Awkward Male Perspective.

by Bartholomew Foley I am a male liberal feminist. I selfdefine as such. I do not necessarily accept all ideas ascribed to this label, and I sometimes accept other feminist critiques. To me, the fight for female emancipation remains a noble one.

Female circumcision, abortion bans, female exclusion and sweeping essentialist absurdities are all worth fighting against. It is my personal opinion that female education and giving, at minimum, basic rights to women is the most concrete way of curing poverty and is a start in controlling over-population. This I can confirm considering the widely accepted evidence that free and educated women have fewer children.

I am confronted day by day, however, with people who have opinions on this issue, people who have arguments that they espouse. These people, whether male or female, often give me the distinct impression of naivety, shortsightedness and frightening conviction.

There are those that claim “men are the problem,” “matriarchy would stop war and aggressive competition for resources.” These ideas strike me as evidently irrational.

Wrapping feminism in an attack against capitalism or as a critique of human nature often becomes misguided.

While I accept many criticisms of capitalism as a patriarchal system, I reject the notion that this transcribes universally to all individuals, societies and businesses. To proceed on the view that individuals aren’t rational beings; that they can’t value and perceive women independently of social and economic influences, seems unfair.

Dr R. Danielle Egan in her book Becoming Sexual says that, “Sexist exploitation is real. Sexual violence is real. But to portray girls as only victims suffering from false consciousness and therefore as trapped in a sexualised culture that they can’t change is a mistake.” This is not an apology for rape; it is an espousal of human free will. It says that women have the right and the desire for sexual liberation and can choose how this is manifested. It says that women are rational beings and are capable of making self-interested decisions.

I myself am both optimistic and pessimistic about human nature. I see our ability to achieve, although in a limited fashion, a level of altruism and selfsacrifice that is sought in both the social and political sphere. I see the lone and unheard mother slaving away to provide a future for her child, but I

of its guilt, a country that is known for its corrupt ways is hardly one that can put its hand on its heart and deny everything. And so, the “textbook suspect” became a scapegoat whose already tainted image turned darker than ever.

While Romania does show signs of corruption, as its former Prime Minister, Adrian Năstase, now resides in the comfort of a prison, their cuisine shows no clear evidence of horsemeat in their diet.

On the contrary, it shows great diversity with its countless culinary traditions and specific foods gathered all throughout history from the gastronomic culture of other nations Romania has crossed paths with. With great diversity, come great meals – ranging from foods made up from vegetables, cereal, milk and dairy products to the ones made with carefully selected meat, usually from animals grown by trusted Romanian farmers, also known as ciobani. “Meat is a tradition in my household, a tradition that has been furthered by my family and me ever since I was a little boy,” claims Ion Tache, a Romanian cioban from Sighişoara, who works with a respected meatpacking company, AGIL. Last but not least, the unmistakable traditional pies and jams serve as the ultimate proof that Romania’s cuisine has reached excellence in all its courses.

However, its fineness has suffered a great deal from the collateral damage produced by the rise of the horsemeat scandal. To its rescue come the always tasteful sarmale, an omnipresent Romanian dish.

They are there at their weddings or their funerals, on Christmas Day or Easter, on porcelain plates or in the suitcases of visiting Romanian mothers, who come to aid their sarmale-deprived children, who may as well be studying in the UK. They can either be made from pork, beef or lamb, which are then deli-

cately wrapped into sour cabbage, or sauerkraut. They are then boiled into a melting pot and their teasing smell serves as a reminder to most Romanians of their Ottoman cultural heritage, but also of their food- and love-filled kitchens.

Finally, they are served with what Romanians take pride in calling mămăligă, a porridge made out of yellow maize flour which resembles the Italian polenta, and one spoonful of sour cream.

“I’ve been working as a chef in Manchester for a couple of years and I find these allegations highly disappointing,” Cezar Munteanu, a Romanian TV personality in charge of his own cooking show, said. “I am usually pleased with how Romanian students are viewed in the UK, but our country’s image is clearly suffering. What hurts most is that I feel that these accusations do not stand on solid ground – they don’t know what they’re talking about,” he added.

And, in case the British do not actually know what they’re talking about, it is good to know that Romanians use quality meat in their traditional sour soup, also known as ciorbă, with its distinct taste of borş, which is fermented wheat bran that works as a souring agent. Once again, there is no horsemeat to be found in their delicious tripe soups or their ciorbă de ciocănele, which is soup made out of pig legs. The list goes on with traditional AustroHungarian recipes for these kinds of soup, which may also include a variety of vegetables, such as leek or pig weed. The surprise elements that can be often found in these soups are forest mushrooms, which are more varied in shape, colour and taste than the boring champignons found in every local supermarket.

“This is clearly just another way to poke at Eastern Europe,” Sustra said. “I say this because even if the accusations were true, horsemeat is almost five times cheaper than

beef and cows eat less than horses and give you more calories, fat and protein per pound, so there is nothing wrong with horsemeat, per se, it’s just its image.”

All these Romanian dishes will leave most people with a thirst that will require to be quenched by the finest beer and it so happens that theirs is less expensive than the average bottled water in England.

For those who appreciate the authentic taste of Romanian beer, with well over a hundred years of tradition, they will provide you with Ursus, also known as “the king of beers” in Romania. It is also a comforting to know that Ursus Breweries is in the morethan-capable hands of Monica Mândruţiu, an internationally respected brewer, who knows more about beer than her husband and all of his friends combined.

Lastly, whether you are full or not, the average Romanian grandmother will not let you leave the table without trying her cozonac, which also happens to be the Romanian national dessert.

Cozonac is essentially sweetbread often filled with walnuts and cocoa, which can be served with a glass of wine and seeing that Romania is one of the world’s largest wine producers, they will have plenty. If one finds himself craving for more, the Romanian grannies bake delectable apple pies or cheese cakes with filo dough, while also making extensive use of naturally grown fruits. They also come prepared with a rich repertoire of European cakes and tortes, which range from chocolate, walnuts, hazelnuts or even chestnuts.

Clearly, the next step in order to get rid of the watering mouths these lines might have provoked is to dust off the suitcases, travel to Romania and see what the country tastes like.

Enjoy your meal or poftă bună, as they would put it.

also see the ‘capitalist state’ there and willing to help her, to provide benefits and a safety net.

It seems, therefore, that I diverge confidently from the general views of radical feminism. But much still remains a mystery to me. There still seems to be a lack of societal coherence, for instance, on male expectations.

I often feel stuck between a rock and a hard place, between chivalry and chauvinism, between gentlemanliness and sexism. Often faced with conflicting but legitimate social and cultural expectations, it leads one to assume that general understanding of appropriateness is minimal.

So too is the definition of a ‘feminist’

undecided. I’ve heard, “She says she’s a feminist, but she’s not a real feminist.” As if somehow to assume that there is one correct way; as if it’s an all-encompassing and decipherable mode of thinking. That it’s ‘my way’ of feminism that is truly just or egalitarian.

It’s because of such disagreement that the modern feminist movement is fractious. Some perceive women as the new international proletariat; others think militant feminism is a just means. Although there are ideas that all can agree on, what divides us is far greater. Without a clear understanding of the role of the state, without clear agreement on human nature and without a clear vision on political mobi-

lisation, feminism remains indefinite and side-lined.

What we are left to think, therefore, is that the ‘feminism’ or ‘feminist’ labels alone no longer hold much meaning. To proclaim one as such is to say surprisingly little about oneself. What we’re perhaps seeing is a movement that no longer has clear goals or means.

One is left with the impression that this movement’s re-uniting motivation will only come in reaction to something particularly foul. For the moment though, I’ll continue to support women’s rights and hope that justice will be sought under whatever heading and for whatever reason becomes necessary.

THE LEOPARD APRIL 2013

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FEATURES NHS AVAILABILITY IS UNDER REVIEW

By Bartholomew Foley

On February 26 the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced to the Commons that the Government “intend to take some very profound steps, because it is a National Health Service not an International Health Service.

And we have to ask whether it is appropriate for us to be giving free healthcare to short term visitors, to students, to people on temporary visas. And that’s an issue which we’ll be saying more about very shortly.”

This came in response to Conservative MP Christopher Chope’s reiteration that the Prime Minister “promises to prevent immigrants free-loading on our NHS.” In light of these comments and with the significance of NHS changes in Lewisham, 100 students were polled on their opinion of NHS coverage eligibility.

In the poll, Goldsmiths students showed resounding support for wide coverage of the NHS. 62% of students favour coverage for short-term visitors to the UK, who under current regulations don’t receive full NHS coverage.

At present, short term visitors can access GP services, but will incur costs for hospital treatments.

85% of respondents were in favour of coverage for EEA (European Economic Area) citizens, who are currently receiving partial coverage including, “all medically necessary treatment during your stay here in order to prevent you having to return home before the end of your stay.”

Of the students polled, 92% said that international students should be

covered by the NHS. While students studying courses longer than 6 months are receiving full NHS coverage, upcoming changes may affect this status.

The NHS website lists the following as available to all UK visitors: “If you are taken to A&E (accident and emergency department), a minor injuries unit or walk-in centre for emergency treatment then this is free of charge.

“UK hospitals will treat you for most infectious diseases, including sexually transmitted infections (STIs) free of charge, to limit the spread of those diseases.”

It is these areas that may be under consideration. Furthermore, the ability to receive GP services may also be altered.

Currently, “If you need to see a doctor during your stay in the UK then you can register with a GP practice as an NHS patient.”

It appears that both the GP and hospital services will be under review. Jeremy Hunt will be scrutinising the eligibility and conditions for NHS coverage of non-citizens. What these proposed changes may entail, we are yet to know, however, rights to emergency care and protection from infections may no longer be extended to international students, EEA citizens and short term visitors.

These services are currently available to all overseas visitors. Where differentiation lies is in the hospital treatment coverage, which includes charges on those procedures that aren’t detailed

above.

Any changes may also have international repercussions. There are 30 countries with which the UK has a bilateral healthcare agreement with, and a further 30 countries that are within the EEA. We may well see a re-negotiation of the terms of these agreements.

This remains an unresolved question affecting non-citizens and international students. While there is little reason to suspect radical changes to NHS availability, those seeking care may now receive raised eyebrows or labels of ‘free-loading’ and ‘health tourism’ as an unfortunate consequence of their status.

With all these developments, the plight of the international student is burgeoning. From their inclusion in Home Office migration targets to the crackdown on student visas, many issues are becoming prevalent for international students; something we’ve seen manifested in the London Met University debacle.

Accusations of ‘negative rhetoric’ have been made by Prof Edward Acton, vice-chancellor of the University of East Anglia (Katherine Sellgren, BBC) and even Boris Johnson admitted the Government was giving out the ‘wrong signal’ to foreign students. With pressure from both the Home Office and the Health Service, international students risk becoming enfeebled. Not only that, but the UK may well see a large reduction on its international student intake, a well-known source of funding for UK universities.

GROWING THROUGH SELF-CENSORSHIP

By Syed Mujtaba Rizvi.

After my birth in Kashmir, my family moved to Iran. We returned when I was five years old.

From my faint memories and from what my mother tells me, it was a strict curfew day. Shoot at sight orders had been enforced. I was too little to understand all this, but I do remember walking outside the somewhat desolated airport road towards the buses that had been arranged for passengers. It was a rainy day. The reflections in a puddle got my attention and I tried to splash water with my feet. My mother grabbed my hand and we rushed towards the bus. Men in uniform and their loaded guns stared at us.

Our journey back home was that of horror. At one checkpoint, my sister, who was 6 years old at the time, made an innocent statement seeing my mother in fear – “Don’t you worry mom, I will beat this man if he scares you.” The trooper gave us a stern look, but luckily we made it home – alive.

This is where I would live and grow up.

I recently found a note in my diary that I had written just a couple of years after our return to Kashmir. It talks about the ironies and the troubles that I witnessed as a child, in a very childish language - my difficulties with absorbing the disturbing visuals around me, how I missed my father, how I found Kashmiris different from Persians and other random things. It ends with a line that has disturbed me ever since I

re-discovered it – “In spite of the fact that I have spent very less time with my motherland, I know, and I will, do anything for her.”

This line has made me reflect a lot on my artistic practices in particular. I have produced hundreds of works in the form of drawings, paintings, installations, prints, photography and film. I have exhibited extensively at various places; but where is Kashmir in my works?

I have realized that my entire art practice has grown out of continuous and subconscious self-censorship. I have made works that are loud and obvious in their political and narrative voice, but they are not a part of my general practice.

Why I indulge in self-censorship is a long story altogether. Fear of the state, obligations, force, conformities, pressure – words like these would often re-occur in that long story.

But I have also realized that the core idea of my works is greatly influenced by ironies in Kashmir. It revolves around ideas such as comfort and discomfort, life and death, truth and falsehood, inner peace and havoc, challenging pre-conceptions, the obvious and the oblivious - the experience of liberating a person from experience itself!

I have witnessed clampdowns on freedom of speech and artistic expression. I’ve spoken to beaten journalists. I know musicians like MC Kash

whose studio was raided for producing ‘offensive’ songs. Even Man Booker Prize and Sydney Peace Prize winner Arundhati Roy was booked on charges of sedition for proclaiming solidarity with Kashmiris. Social media is also seeing restrictions.

Creative expression has been greatly damaged in the last two decades of turmoil and the immense art talent in Kashmir has gathered dust. This is one of the reasons why I founded “Kashmir Art Quest” as an art promotion and revival organisation. I did this because I believe that art paves the way for open discussion, it challenges and pushes our imagination to the limits and it helps to facilitate critical thinking.

What Goldsmiths students believe: In favour of NHS coverage for–

International students: 92% Short Term visitors: 62% Permanent Residents: 98% Refugees: 93% Non-residency full time UKbased employees: 93% EEA Citizens: 85%

Yuck, Horsemeat!

Thoughts from Julian Savulescu on the ‘Yuck’ Factor.

By Bartholomew Foley

Julian Savulescu is Oxford University’s Uehiro Professor of Practical Ethics We are familiar with ‘yuck’ reactions that we have to different objects or ideas. To some it’s broccoli, to others it’s incest. These responses can be both genetic and social and have been recently highlighted by the on-going horsemeat scandal.

One example is Conservative MP James Gray who announced in the Commons that, “The trade in horsemeat is fairly revolting,” suggesting that we “kill the horsemeat trade altogether and we wouldn’t have to worry about this.”

This ‘revolting’ response stems in part from our ‘yuck’ reaction to eating horses. As we know, however, horsemeat has been, and remains, a legitimate and widely accepted food source.

Our collective ‘yuck’ reactions have historically brought about similar aversions to: abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, paedophilia, incest, cannibalism, sex with animals, stem cell research and other biological experiments.

While decisions based on emotional retorts like the ‘yuck’ reaction cannot be dismissed entirely, intuition isn’t a reliable basis of logic, says Oxford University’s Julian Savulescu. He says, for instance, that one would have to be emotionally cold not to perceive the abortive termination of human life as awful. However, our emotional response should not dictate our moral understanding.

“Well everyone is familiar with disgusting tastes, you taste something extremely bitter and you go ‘yuck’, but in many cases we see or think about some particular ethical issue and we have exactly the same disgust response.

“Many of these reactions, these disgust reactions are evolutionarily programmed in order to protect us from toxins or adverse situations. So for example the revulsion to incest has a very good biological reason in the sense that you’re much more likely to

have a genetically abnormal child with a relative.”

This was also consistent with attitudes to homosexuality says Savulescu, “Many people thought this threatened the moral fabric of society or that it’s just disgusting and that homosexuality should never be legalised.

“Fortunately we’ve moved ahead of that and we found that we couldn’t find good reasons to create or to sustain a legal ban on homosexuality within the privacy of people’s homes.” He says that while this disposition may have had a previous evolutionary advantage, it doesn’t belong in modern society.

The ‘yuck’ instinct has brought about aversion to stem cell research and genetics experiments in spite of various advantages. Savulescu says, “What’s really on offer is the ability to unshackle ourselves from our evolutionary constraints. Evolution was only concerned with creating organisms that existed long enough to reproduce.” Advancements that could extend human life, capacity and general welfare are being road-blocked by emotions, fears of demonic humanoids or allegations of playing God. Allegations have also been made against the attempts to overcome the ‘yuck’ instinct, describing it as analogous to Nazis overcoming their reaction to killing humans. Savulescu says that this is without basis and that Nazis didn’t “appeal to any sort of fundamental values that we all share.”

He said, “I don’t think the fact they were able to overcome their emotional reactions was the fundamental problem.”

Valuation and trust in our intuitive responses requires conscious review.

In the past, ‘yuck’ reactions have stood in the way of interracial marriage and have repulsed people to the ideas of female voting and racial equality. It has stood in the way of scientific and social development and its moral relevance requires reconsideration. As individuals, we’ve put gut reactions before rationality and we’ve suffered because of it.

APRIL 2013 THE LEOPARD

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LIFESTYLE & CULTURE

S p o n s o r G a re t h !

Ladies and gentleman of Goldsmiths College, I’m running the London Marathon this year for Oxfam and the NSPCC. They are both super good charities that are well worth supporting so pretty please can you sponsor me. I got ballot entry and signed up to the charities after so all the money will go to the charities not covering any entry fee and when it gets to the charities they do a swell old job with the money so please sponsor at this address:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=garethsnelling Thanks a lot if you do sponsor me!

Short Stories

Complications, The Finale

By Radu Istrate

And here I am now, in bed with my past, realising that she can’t be my present after she starts to wail.

“So you do have a significant other,” I say, not really knowing what to believe.

She looks down at her feet, wiggling her toes. She turns red and faces the wall. Then she nods, letting out a huge sigh to let me know that she, in fact, is very sorry for the fact that she has a boyfriend or a fiancée or a husband and that we can no longer continue having sexual intercourse.

“I still want to see you again, though,” she cries, which is strange because she just let out that huge sigh, which I thought was a sign of remorse and that it expressed her wish to discontinue our affair. I begin to get angry, as I put my clothes on. Fucking bitch, I think.

Fucking, fucking bitch.

“You are a fucking bitch!” I shout.

She begins to cry; as if I was the one who offended her and that she had nothing to do with my now-tainted honour. She acts as if all her lying to me was okay and that now that I’ve called her a fucking bitch I am the one in the wrong. She starts throwing clothes at me, and a lamp. The lamp hits me in the face and I feel like I’m about to explode. So, I do the only thing that seems reasonable at the time: I run.

I run so fast I lose my blazer on my way out, but I don’t care. I feel my body slowly dying from the running, but I don’t care. I run so fast, my eyes begin to water and I assure myself it’s not due to the heartbreak I’ve just suffered, it’s because of me running too fast. I begin to wish to stop running, but I don’t.

People watch me as I go past them at an amazing speed and I wonder what they think. I wonder if they think I’ve stolen something and I’m running from the authorities or whether they think I’ve just killed a person and I’m running away so that I won’t get caught. I don’t want people to think that because I think that I’m an honest man who would face

the music if I were to do such atrocious things. So, I stop running.

My body is dying, because I haven’t had a run in months. Maybe years. I sit down on a bench and look at the river.

The river is running, too. I wonder what’s it running away from. I wonder whether the river is running away from something or just because he or she enjoys it. Do rivers even have a gender?

I don’t know.

I now begin to think about what has happened. I put my hand on my chest to feel my heart beating. It’s beating really fast and I assume it’s because of the running. But it might also be because of the fucking bitch. I wish it was from the running because the Fucking Bitch doesn’t deserve to make my heart beat so fast, but I have to face the music, like I said I would. She did make my heart beat this fast and now I hate her for it. She did stir emotion inside my chest and my mind and I was infatuated or maybe even in love with her. I cannot stand this thought and I start running again, hoping that all of this will soon end. I wish that my mind would leave me alone but it doesn’t.

It throws random thoughts at me with a speed even greater than my running. I now realize that I’m lost in a city I have only lived in for a couple of months.

I have no idea where I am or whether my home is northbound or southbound or eastbound or westbound. Are there any more? No, I remember there’s only four, because each stands for a direction one could look in. So, if I look up, that’s supposedly north and so on. The fact that I knew that made me smile, it made me think that I wasn’t so stupid after all. But then, my mind says that I am stupid and that knowing things like that doesn’t make me smart at all, it just makes me average. I hate the fact that I am average, it makes me want to cry. I cannot stand it.

I stop running yet again and I position myself on another bench, approximately a kilometre further than the

Modern Witches By Michael Handrick A Book review: The Daylight Gate Set in the grip of the early 17th century’s fascination and feverish obsession with witchcraft, Jeanette Winterson’s latest novella is a laden tale of passion, darkness, and fear.

The Daylight Gate is inspired by the Pendle witch trials of 1612. Winterson, with ease and delicacy uses the Lancashire landscape to give a suitable back drop of gloom and foreboding; using the wild and primitive forests, moors and hills to intensify the fear of the events that took place in the 1600s.

The novella accurately portrays a period of history in which even the King supported and approved of the witch hunting that swept the nation after the publication of his book, Daemonologie, seeing the persecution of hundreds for suspected witchcraft. Winterson’s protagonist, Alice Nutter a widowed and

powerful noble, is swept up in the events that occurred in Pendle. The novella follows Alice Nutter’s dive into the underworld of witchcraft and midnight meetings. A dark gentleman, spells and conjurations haunt the book, which moves between the fanatical provincial area of Pendle and the haunting London streets. The reader follows Nutter’s life and bisexualism, the seduction of the female body and the world of witchcraft. With each chapter the darkness and tension grows as the widow becomes deeper embroiled with the persecuted locals.

While the book is filled with the supernatural – from talking heads to blood rituals and visions – it is within the reality of society that Winterson truly conjures the horror and grotesque nature of the Jacobean era. The novella reveals the social

By Jeanette Winterson

inequality, squalor and unjustified persecution of the lower classes. It highlights the power of the church and the ability of people in power to use religion as a tool to control and subject people. Winterson astutely and with great verisimilitude explores the visceral, thinking and desperation of the people that endured the tyranny of the upper classes. Shockingly it reveals how those deemed socially different, such as strong women, the old and the poor were ostracised, becoming targets for the witch-hunts.

This is where the novella excels as on the whole, the book surprisingly lacks the usual flair and erotica that is associated with Winterson’s writing. Perhaps after the recent wave of erotic literature, Winterson has toned down her work preferring to let what is

unwritten have more impact rather than being explicit with sexuality.

What it doesn’t fail to do like all of her work is to make an important statement on our own contemporary society. The vote against female bishops by the Church of England, the opposition to gay marriage and the protests of thousands in Paris against the proposed legalisation on gay marriage conjures parallels with the society of The Daylight Gate.

Despite great progression in equality for women and other social and ethnic minorities, there is still a sense of these groups being the ‘Other’, reminiscent of the social outcasts in Winterson’s work.

Whilst not one of Winterson’s most thrilling works, The Daylight Gate is an interesting and compelling insight into a unique period of English history.

Short Stories

previous one. All this running is making my body die and I don’t know how I feel about that. I don’t know whether I’m happy or sad that my body is dying, because I don’t know if I want to go on living in a world without happy endings. I cannot seem to find one and look how much I’ve already run. Let’s assume I’ve run five kilometres since I’ve left the Fucking Bitch’s apartment.

I’ve run five kilometres and I am not happy. How much do I need to go on before I find my happiness? Don’t I deserve to be happy just like this couple kissing right in front of me? Are they really happy or are they just tricking themselves into thinking so? Can you really be happy or is it all just a fucking illusion? What the fuck does being happy even mean anymore, because I have no fucking idea. My mind begins to swear a lot, signalling my anger. I take a deep breath and look at the river that is running, still. I take another deep breath. And another. And another. And another.

I am still unhappy, but it’s clear to me that I am now calm. I feel as if I’m about to have a massive breakdown and I dislike that thought tremendously because I don’t want other people to see me cry. I hate that idea, I cannot show other people that I’m unhappy, because then they’ll feel sorry for me and that disgusts me. People who cry in front of other people, especially strangers, are the weakest ones, I think. I see a girl standing alone on my left, which I know is west. It may not be west, but I just know that if you look at a map and look left, you call that ‘west’. She’s there, not doing anything, looking at the river. She has long hair that is getting curled by the wind. Holy fucking shit, she’s fucking beautiful. My mind swears when thinking that, which, in turn, symbolises that it really thinks so, because of the intensifying quality of the word ‘fucking’. I get closer to her and say hi. Please, God, please make this my happy ending.

THE LEOPARD APRIL 2013

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LIFESTYLE & CULTURE Gaiety is the Most Outstanding Feature of the Soviet Union and Breaking the Ice: Moscow Art, 1960-1980s

By Michael Handrick

The Overthinker’s Guide to Keeping Your Sanity During The Exam Period

By Nindya Atmodipoero

Photo: The Bubble Chamber.org

Photo Courtesy of: www.londontown.com

Mabuhay, workaholic brains. Welcome to the Overthinker’s Guide, a column dedicated to my fellow people with analysis paralysis. This Spring, I’ll cover the difficulties of maintaining your mental health during the exam period, a time that can shift overthinkers into a deranged studentzilla, dragging them to a hell of excessive selfblaming, self-loathing, and mental breakdown.

SO: Deadlines are crashing down

21st November 2012 – 9 June 2013 Nikolai Bukharin’s statement that ‘History moves in contradictions’, remained fixed in my mind as I walked around the Saatchi Gallery’s exhibition of 20th Century Russian Art. The politician’s words summarise this evocative and enlightening collection that responds to the Communist regime of this period.

Gaiety is the Most Outstanding Feature of the Soviet Union is an insight into the lives of the Russian people; it features artists’ reactions and documentation of the contradiction in history, in which the people, who should have thrived under the Communist regime, suffered instead.

The first, and most striking, of the collection is Sergei Vasiliev’s photography entitled Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia. It is a series of black and white photos taken between 1989 and 1993. The photos comprise of Russian prisoners, nameless and without any history, wearing only their underwear, baring their tattooed bodies.

The photos force the viewer to analyse and regard the criminals not by their government assigned status, but as humans. Their partially naked bodies and gazes that are distant, forlorn, and don’t confront the camera reveal everything to the viewer. They aren’t hiding anything. Their identities are not deceptive. It reveals a vulnerability and sensitivity of the men, a clear contrast to their masculine bodies and violent histories. Vasiliev, makes the correct choice in not using colour in these photos, as it would detract from the real focal point: the men. The lack of colour allows the story and imagery of the subjects to be reinforced, depicting them as individuals, not their collective status as criminals.

Boris Mikhailov’s photography Case History is shocking; not only for the nudity of the models but also for the portrayal of poverty, disease and desperation experienced by the lower classes

and the helplessness and disintegration felt after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. There is a fine balance between the grotesque and its poignancy; the viewer is forced to address the startling conditions of post-Communist Russia.

On second viewing, there is a subliminal tension of extreme sexuality from the models’ interaction with the intimate nature of the locations, which speak of prostitution as a result of poverty.

Unfortunately the last collection, Breaking the Ice: Moscow Art, 19601980s, is reminiscent of a typical Saatchi exhibition. While it gives a comprehensive yet brisk insight into subversive art movements from Conceptualism to Abstractionism, a lot of the work is too lost in concept. The paintings lack the direct analysis of the previous floors; not truly identifying or portraying an aspect of Russian life and society. It doesn’t question, penetrate or illuminate, leaving the work merely glanced over before moving on. Whilst it is interesting to see how painters reacted in the metropolitan city of Moscow, as a presentation of Communist city life, it is a let down visually and artistically.

Bukharin, like so many of the Russian people became victims of Stalin and the regime he helped implement. For the first time it feels like there has finally been a cohesive and relevant exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery. Previously, the collections have seemed random and lacking in substance, but this time the experience has been particularly emotive with most of the artists presenting a different outlook on Russian life pre and post Communism.

Saatchi Gallery has brought a refreshing collection of non-traditional Western art that exposes the macabre and contradictory lives of those living in that period of time.

on you; within a month or two, you will have essays/dissertation to hand in, exams to write, portfolios and projects to finish, proposal to submit and the list goes on. It’s that time of the academic year again and as an overthinker, you hate it so much for the following reasons: 1. EXAM PERIOD MEANS A CHANGE OF LIFESTYLE.

And change means readjustment, readjustment equals new plans, planning requires thinking, thinking takes time, time is money, money is the root of all evil.

Typical changes in an overthinker’s lifestyle during stressful times: • Productive Procrastination. These activities can range from spring cleaning and baking to making a thousand origami and knitting.

The key is to do something considerably useful and/or worthy of self-enrichment value.

Otherwise an overthinker will feel guilty and it’s all downhill from there.

• Sleeping all day. The idea of working already makes you exhausted. Besides, you’re a night owl. It’s perfectly justified to rest in the day if you’re going to work all night long. Right?

Right?

• Not sleeping at all. You’re busy making a list of things you need to do by the next day. To be honest, the thought of brutally

sacrificing a warm, sunny day by reading and revising repels you, but you have forbidden yourself from complaining – how dare you to have the audacity to whine on a warm, sunny day IN ENGLAND? You’re being inconsiderate.

• ‘Forgetting’ to eat properly. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

2. EXAM PERIOD LEADS TO AN UNCONTROLLABLE REEXAMINATION OF ONESELF.

You know this all too well: been there, regretted that.

General topics for the overthinker’s monologue: Identity. You think you’re this smart, critical person huh? LOL, who are you kidding, using big words doesn’t equal intelligence and you know that!

You know what Holden Caulfield would say about you? You’re a phony!

HAHAHAHAHA! Go droun yourself in that pool of pseudo-sagacity, you quasi-philosopher!

Life decision. Specialising in Creative Writing? Not taking a second language? Quitting an instrument after three years? That stupid thing you said on a date? Spent £80 last weekend and can’t remember what on? WHY? Why are you whining about university when there are a lot of people suffering from a much more serious issue? Why do you need to do those essays in the first place? To get a degree? So it’ll be easier to get a job? So? Life comes down to nothing in the end anyway. You’re gonna die. And then what? Hm? Then

what?

It is obvious that exam period often causes overthinkers to go down a path of irredeemable misery that will end with an existential crisis. Of course this crisis does not only have the potential to take away one’s sanity but also that first-class grade that one aims for.

Here are some tips: • Killing yourself, though might take a lot less effort, is not an option.

• Take your time and dedicate yourself with a calm mind to the task at hand. (Yes, I rip that off from a fortune cookie.)

• Go out, take a walk and sit on the grass with your book. Preferably alone.

• Peer pressure is a bitch. Stay away from people who have the tendency to rub their success at revising/productivity in your face, whether they do it unintentionally. Save yourself from the guilt and self-blame.

• DO NOT ask for an extension unless it’s super necessary because the extended time will not worth the stress. So, as long as your deadline does not clash with an invitation to dinner with the Dalai Lama/Barrack Obama/ Benedict Cumberbatch, you do not ask for an extension.

It will be over soon. Summer is only weeks away.

It’s perfectly okay to stress a little.

It really is.

APRIL 2013 THE LEOPARD

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LIFESTYLE & CULTURE

Fire in the Blood - Documentary Review

Come Dine with Grace

By Charlie Brinkhurst Cuff

Recently premièring at the Sundance Festival, Fire in the Blood was shown at Goldsmiths on February 26. In one of the smaller theatres, tucked away behind the back of NAB, a small collection of students were introduced into the corrupt world of drug manufacturing in the fight against HIV and AIDS in Africa and the rest of the world.

As the director of the film pointed out in the Q&A immediately after the showing, however, ‘The film is

By Grace Dayton not about HIV’. The focus is on the businesses operating behind the scenes, the governments who failed to support the sale of generic drugs in replacement of hugely expensive branded products, and the activists who successfully attempted to help get these generic drugs to the general population for the price coined ‘$1-aday’. With figures such Desmond Tutu, Bill Clinton and Joseph Stiglitz the film was filled to the brim with in depth knowledge about the issues surrounding the lack of drugs, and the huge amount of lives that could

have been saved if drug companies such as Cipla had not acted with such money-lust.

Shot in a clear, calm manner, footage taken from the protests and conferences were interposed with recently filmed figures talking about their experiences post-1996 when the lack of access to drugs was brought into the forefront of many people’s minds. The director, Dylan Mohan Gray, breezed in a little late after the showing, apparently having seen the film too many times to count, and gave the audience further background to the film. Obviously intelligent, with no particular background in documentary making, it was clear that Gray had stumbled upon the issue and knew that it needed to be broadcast to a wider audience.

Because much of the documentary is about things that happened up to seventeen years ago, he realised that much of the story had been lost.

“It was very much the story of the incredible injustice in Africa,” he tells us candidly about the events depicted in the documentary, “nobody had any interest in doing anything about it. They were accused of raising false hopes.”

My one criticism of the film would be that although its story is strong, it does feel rather useless. Gray told us that those in the UK could help with ongoing branding issues by getting involved with Tearfund and Oxfam – but because it seems that the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Africa is now currently being controlled by very cheap generic drugs, in some ways the fight depicted in the film is over and the documentary is merely bringing to light ‘old news’.

Nevertheless, as Gray said, the film is a story that needed to be told; it shows a different side of the fight against H.I.V and AIDS than what is normally shown, and the inclusion of a man who worked with the drug companies against the generic drugs is a chilling bonus. The rather technical manner in which the film is shot can drag a little, but Fire in the Blood is definitely worth a watch.

Photo Courtesy of: TheUpcoming.co.uk

With my dissertation currently biting at my heels, the third year pressure mounting, and the realisation that I am slowly but surely running out of time, (as well as the fact that it is ‘Spring Break’) I’ve figured that focusing on alcohol as opposed to food is probably quite apt for this issue.

One of the reasons I love London is how easy it is to randomly stumble upon new places to eat and drink. My new favourite being a bar in Borough: The Old School Yard. Owned by a bartender who first started work in a scrubby Chicago Rock where I grew up, it holds a particularly nostalgic pull for me – enhanced by the working, free-to-use Nintendo 64 (Mario Cart anyone?). The quirky, shabby chic décor is warm and inviting, the bartenders are all friendly, accommodating and as an added bonus are top class farers, providing entertainment whilst you wait to be served.

The cocktails are mostly around the £6 mark or less – a bargain compared with any other cocktail bar in London – and are all delicious and well made.

During happy hour (every night from 5.30pm – 8pm) cocktails drop to £4.50 and beers are 2 for £5.00.If you decide to check the place out,make sure you’re clued up on the location, which is surprisingly suburban. It’s not the kind of place you stumble upon but this only adds to its charm – truly worth a visit.

The Old School Yard 109-111 Long Ln London SE1 4PH www.theoldschoolyard.com

Whilst finding new watering holes has become somewhat of a hobby of mine, one thing that remains constant is my choice of beverage, the Pornstar Martini. Having made it my mission to sample this cocktail from menus across the capital I decided it was high time I learnt how to make one…

Ingredients: Method: 1 fresh passion fruit SCOOP the seeds and flesh of passion 2 shot Vanilla vodka – £13 per 700ml btl fruit into base of shaker. Add next four for Absolut (Asda) ingredients (all but champagne), ½ shot Passion Fruit Liqueur – £9 per SHAKE with ice and fine strain into 700ml btl for Passoa (Asda) chilled glass. Separately, ½ shot Vanilla sugar syrup – av. £9 per ltr POUR champagne into chilled shot btl for Monin (Amazon) glass to serve on the side. Garnish with a ½ shot Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice halved passion fruit.

Champagne/Cava

Pam Hogg A/W 2013 Collection

By Javid Rezai

When you step into a Pam Hogg runway show, you know that you are going to get more than just stick-thin models strutting (or sometimes struggling) down the runway. Pam Hogg is a visionary in the fashion world, one that is making her way up the ladder and will very soon, I predict, fit right into the likes of Prada, Dolce & Gabbana and Michael Kors.

February was my second season working at London Fashion Week with the PR company that represents Ms. Hogg, amongst other incredible designers such as Bernard Chandran and Ashley Isham. It was a busy few days, but the Pam Hogg show was going to be the highlight of my time working. Anybody who has worked with Pam Hogg knows she’s

a perfectionist in everything she does.

That even means kicking out almost everybody during her run-throughs.

Whether you call it being a diva, or just being a professional, Pam Hogg, with her colourful hair and wonderfully quirky personality, is a gem in the design world. This leads me onto the show.

It was such a grand success.

The crowds and celebrities cheered as if it were a football game as the models walked down the runway and showed off the gorgeous collection and damn, was this collection – called The Emperor’s New Clothes – a winner. Monochrome cubes with neck straps and an array of colourful furs were placed on the models heads as they walked; a statement piece if

anybody saw one. Dancers from the Royal Ballet came on in her signature full-body suits, which caused an uproar of intense applause whilst they danced at the end of the runway. And finally, it wouldn’t be a Pam Hogg show without a little controversy: nude models, in open leather coats and heels, bearing all for the audience and photographers to see.

The collection got immense applause and appraisal, leaving people in awe as they walked out of the Freemasons Hall. News reports have since speculated that Pam Hogg will be moving to Somerset House next season to present her collection, putting her amongst the big league. Whether it’s true or not, Pam Hogg is an absolute show-stopper.

THE LEOPARD APRIL 2013

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MUSIC Music and S&M: is sex the dominant and music the submissive?By Amy Hollinrake There seems to be a trend at the moment with a wave of female pop stars presenting their idea of female empowerment most explicitly by using their bodies and a dominatrix-themed sexuality in their music videos, stage performances and media representations. The prominence of sexualized images in their performances has led one to question whether they are selling music or selling sex. Around 2007, Lady GaGa revived this trend started by Madonna, which has since been picked up and “flogged to death” by many other female artists, such as Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Beyonce and particularly Rihanna.

Interestingly, some of these female artists have aligned themselves specifically with feminism or female empowerment in response to critics. But this is a misinterpretation of their so-called self-expression, when it is in fact much more about selling music through sex.

It is the sensationalism that sells, overriding whatever quality there is in the music or any of the suggested sociopolitical ideals within it, producing a contradiction in terms within these female singers.

It can be argued that this is not feminism but rather an attempt at reversing the power relations between men and

women. The way these artists are marketed offers no critique about the position of women in society. From the perspective of the music, their lyrics are about love and similar generic themes; empty of anything but conventional meanings. The female image that they project on stage further reinforces their conformity to traditional stereotypes of young women: slim, slaves to fashion etc. It also promotes conventionally subordinate images of women within sexual encounters, which cannot be said to be liberating.

Their claims to feminism are false. Girl power became a slogan for the Spice

What became of the Bull & Gate? By Gar y Spencer It is with a heavy heart that I report the news of the Bull & Gate’s closure. If you need to take a moment I fully understand.

I first heard this news from a friend – his offhand delivery caught me off guard and I was made dumb with disbelief. It felt a bit like being broken up with: I wanted to make a passionate plea that things could be different, that we could work it out but they had made up their mind. The Bull & Gate is set to close on May 4 to become a gastropub and that is final; it is a rather ill-fitting end for

the bastion of live music, reduced to an overpriced eatery as if the North did not have enough of those already.

It is hard to say what first attracted me to the venue, which has now become somewhat of a spiritual home for my sporadic forays across the river and onto London’s live music scene.

Situated in the shadow of the HMV forum, the far more humble Bull & Gate is split into two distinct halves, the pub which I’ve barely visited, fearing that its punters would not take too kindly to my intrusion when situated next door is the purpose built venue for ‘my kind’. The venue proper is reminiscent of a school hall, with benches

Girls in the ‘90s, and in its revival it has been taken to extremes exploiting the idea from a commercial perspective. It is about record sales, not about promoting liberation for women.

Record companies and producers jump on the bandwagon of capitalism where they incorporate female dominance and use it for their own ends in the market place. Notably this does not happen to the same extent with male artists. As Natasha Walters highlights in Living Dolls, “In one recent analysis of popular music videos, researchers found sexual imagery, usually women dancing in a sexual manner in 84% of the videos.

71% of women in the videos were seen

pushed to either side of the room.

Nightly live music ushers in clusters of indie kids who have, through some unspoken mutual agreement, decided that not acknowledging each others existence is probably the safest way to get by and that’s how we all like it.

So, now settled in for the night, one may expect to bear witness to some of the most nerve wracking sets by upcoming indie bands trying to break the London scene. Club Fandango have somewhat taken over the running of the Bull & Gate’s venue since 2010 and pushed this approach, offering up a stage for musicians from all over the country to come and try to drum up some kind of audience for what are routinely sub-par sets. They were even so gracious once as to let my own band play there once despite the lacklustre demo we supplied the venue with and

to be wearing provocative clothes or not many clothes, compared to 35% of the men.” This representation of women in commercial popular music, demonstrates that women are valued more for their sexual attractiveness than their musical ability. In essence, this trend is anti-feminist.

Furthermore it reveals personality traits very much at home within contemporary capitalist individualistic culture.

For instance Rihanna's extreme individualism demonstrates a very narcissistic approach in order to sell albums.

Her risqué video for the song S&M displays explicit dominatrix themes with the intent of symbolising female empowerment with men as the subservient. However, it is important to note that dominatrices are defined through male fantasy and are not about female empowerment.

It is also interesting to note the correlation between Rihanna’s rising album sales and popularity with her more sexualised branding. Rihanna's first album peaked at number 10 and received a mixed reception, whereas the album closely associated with her image as a sexual icon 'Rated R' debuted at number 4, it's title an allusion to the X-rated, implying connotations of explicit content. In her most recent album “Unapologetic” she

so we joined the stage with a band from Glasgow and entertained a crowd of 10 or so friends who were cajoled into coming, slogging our way through a set and quickly coming to realise playing London didn’t mean you’d made it.

Yet, amongst this mass of mediocrity, the venue is also graced by the presence of real promise and talent such as Dingus Khan, St. Spirit and Hawkeyes who all played there last year. Whilst also providing a stage for bigger names like Art Brut, The Wave Pictures and Future of the Left, who tour away from the arena and stadium circuits. To list others who have progressed away from the venue reads as a role call of some of the biggest acts of the last 20 years including Blur, The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys, Manic Street Preachers and Coldplay before their respective rises to national stardom. It was rumoured

is featured naked on the cover with song titles scrawled upon her body, as she becomes more exaggerated and narcissistic.

So what does this all do for women?

It does not seem to be liberating them.

Rather it is an expression of neoliberal ideology within capitalism, which emphasises the free market within which the artist becomes a commodity.

This has influenced the music industry to promote an illusion of artistic freedom and artistic license. In his book, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, David Harvey has commented, “The narcissistic exploration of self, sexuality, and identity became the leitmotif of bourgeois urban culture”. Capitalism uses this narcissistic provocation as a marketing ploy. On the one hand, women can express themselves as individuals however they like. But on other hand, these images are used to push boundaries to become more extreme in order to capture the market place in an arena of competition where ultimate goal is to sell millions of records.

This comes at the expense of the music, where the focus has shifted to style and not substance, resulting in manufactured artists who have enough ego to think they’re good musicians and to make others believe it too.

that Nirvana even played there once (but perhaps this is an overly romantic suggestion than a substantiated claim).

With Shoreditch and Dalston now recognised as the ‘trendiest’ parts of London, while Peckham and Brixton billed as the ‘next big thing’ catering for the shift in popularity away from indie guitar music to electronic/dance music, the truly disheartening thing about the fall of the Bull & Gate is that it has held on for so long. It is incredibly frustrating that a venue with all the good fight could actually think of giving up.

The Bull & Gate are currently taking bookings at booking@clubfandango. co.uk, inviting bands to ‘play their respects’ for the final time; a final hurrah of sorts to play the old girl out.

APRIL 2013 THE LEOPARD

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MUSIC What lies ahead for electronic music? By Dan Barnes It’s a simple enough question, albeit a slippery one. It’s safe to say that house music has suffered the same astronomical rise in popularity that put so many off of dubstep and drum n’bass – mainstream hype building up for a genre, with an inevitable end. Along with its other electronic predecessors, house’s popularity has become its greatest issue as it has now achieved the accolades of daytime radio and over-saturation.

Fifteen-year-old producers clamber to be the next big thing, a laptop full of RnB vocal samples in tow and a smattering of support from similar folks’ Wordpress accounts. However, as many of us know, anything within music deemed a ‘fresh’ take, will forever be a perishable.

Now as an avid fan myself, it is far from my belief that house music has spoilt. Agreed, in some respects it will die an agonizingly slow death at the hands of the masses (don’t get me started on foot-shufflers). But just like dubstep and DnB, there will always be purists who support solid productions of innovation and value, they will just

gratefully readjust themselves back to the fringes of our nations music culture, or as most go weak at the knees for calling it ‘the underground scene’. So people, the question is, what will be next to suffer the cycle?

Just under an hour of online browsing (I wish to fob that off as research), suggests a couple of things could be set for mass media notoriety. The groundswell around the Harlem Shake viral video craze is hardly surprising. For starters, Baauer’s tune of the same name hit Trap fans long before white American teens were stripping down to just hockey pads and humping their chums. Yet, the video did give the genre huge public attention, and with Trap nights becoming more commonplace in our fair city it could be the next to have the ‘swag’ ground out of it.

A slight shocker for some, dubstep is still very much alive and well and could be set to surface again in the coming months. Now we’re not talking Skrillex; we’re talking the heavy minimal bass that took Oliver ‘Skream’

Jones from bedroom to sell-out crowds.

Now it’s a long shot, I’ll give you that, but the trend of innovation among avid electronic fans of all spectrums seems at the moment to be deep tech-house with emphasis on the lower frequencies. Simply put, the chances are 90% of people who like bass-emphasised techno and deep house (Happa and Chunky spring to mind) would have heard of (and already adore) old school dubstep such as Kode 9, Mala and Loefah. It pains me to say this, but these are the trendsetters of the moment, so you can see where I’m going. To clarify though, unlike Trap, this is not a new genre in any respect – I just see it hitting larger audiences in the near future. All it could take are one or two major productions, maybe a fresh face to offer a poster-boy... God my stomach’s already turning at the thought.

Then again who knows, I could be completely and utterly wrong in my predictions. Electronic music is a passion of mine but it is arguably one of the most fickle and divided when it comes to what’s ‘in’. If you’re interested I just highly recommend that you check it all out and get your own perspective, you never know you might have fun scouring Soundcloud and Youtube for the next big thing!

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Women’s Football Varsity

By Olly Bellamy

With a sharp breeze kicking at their heels, the Goldsmiths ladies football team had the notorious job of being one of the first teams to kick off the Wednesday fixtures, with the weight of two consecutive wins by the basketball and volleyball team the night before, the pressure lay squarely on their shoulders.

After only 15 minutes of play, University of the Arts converted from the spot after they were awarded a penalty after one of the Goldsmiths players had obstructed them in the box.

The play was mixed during the first half and Goldsmiths were unable to respond with a goal in the same half. It was during the second half that Smiths really upped their game, a foul in the UAL half on one of the Goldsmiths players provided an excellent opportunity to level the scores. Shannen Meadows stepped up and converted outside of the box in a sensational free kick goal. With the scores tied, Goldsmiths began to find their rhythm, using some excellent close quarter passing around the wings to keep the UAL midfield chasing dust. The Goldsmiths jersey number 10 continued to be a threat up front, using some expert dribbling to pass defenders and make crucial space.

Eventually the hard work paid off after Goldsmiths went up 2 - 1.

University of the Arts responded well in play, driving more women up behind the ball and shifting the centre of play in the Goldsmiths half, once again levelling the scores to 2 - 2. With the game looking to end and head to penalties Goldsmiths continued to press forward, looking the more hungry of both teams for a last gasp winner.

After being brought down 35 yards out it seemed Goldsmiths had earned themselves a good opportunity to get the ball into a dangerous area for a potential header. Once again Shannen Meadows stepped up behind the ball to take the free kick, only instead of sending the ball into the box, Meadows curled in a finessed shot right into the bottom left corner, leaving UAL, the goal keeper and fans stunned. The Beckham styled free kick proved to be a winner for Goldsmiths, with only 5 minutes later the ref bringing an end to a thrilling comeback by the ladies team.

The ladies team have enjoyed a successful season that has seen them sit in a comfortable place in the Division 1 football league.

The Football Association released their 5 year plan after the Olympics, a plan aimed to make women’s football the second most popular sport in England by 2018, with a game that was filled with exciting twists like the one displayed by Goldsmiths very own, it’s no wonder

Men’s 2nds Football Varsity

By Olly Bellamy

Goldsmiths 2nds bossed around University of the Arts London team to claim a highly convincing 5 - 1 victory in the men’s football.

Thanks to a draw away to Royal Holloway men’s 5ths the Goldsmiths men’s 2nds have finished at the top of their table by 3 points, securing their promotion into Division 3 next season. The 2nds attacking style of play have earned themselves a reputation, scoring 20 times in their opening 4 fixtures as well as 2 clean sheets. It comes as no surprise the boys swept aside the University of the Arts team 5 - 1 in a thrilling no mercy win.

From the very start it was immediately apparent of the difference in quality between the 2 sides, Goldsmiths started the game well with a constant attacking presence, controlling the ball efficiently and with purpose around the midfield with UAL only managing to retain possession in their own half. Yet it wasn’t just the midfields attacking play that was responsible for such a high goal deficit, but their work rate in dropping back and defending the space around dangerous areas that showed high levels of discipline.

Early on in the match, it was Goldsmiths defence that really shone through, making a number of key tackles that helped keep a very high defensive line. One of

the centre backs, Perry Moody showed excellent reading of the game and was able to easily cut out passes before they amassed into any chances, as well as supplying balls forward and even having a couple of shots on goal himself.

As fatigue began to become an important factor during the game, the continued energy by the smiths really showed on the counter attacks, where you could not have blamed UAL for thinking Goldsmiths had sneaked an extra 5 players on.

Determined not to invite pressure on themselves, even after such a healthy goal lead, the number 10 Owen was absolutely key in keeping an attacking presence alive up front through some phenomenal runs.

The forward was constantly seen taking on multiple players around the edge of the box, creating some excellent chances and pressuring the defenders when they had the ball, often forcing them into mistakes while passing which allowed Goldsmiths to turn the screws even further.

As the game drew to an end UAL became increasingly agitated by their lack of ball time, with their goal keeper calling for offside after a Goldsmiths striker had played himself into space with a long touch.

The game however, marked an incredible end to a highly successful

that they have identified it as an “area with the most potential for growth in the nation’s favourite game.”

With proposed developments by the FA including new development centres, increased spending in the field and better advertising as well as talk of creating something called an “elite performance unit” it’s easy to see women’s football as becoming a major competitive sport in the next 5 years. Yet still a number of the Goldsmiths ladies have felt as though the female football has been put on the back burner, with the sports department placing the female teams on pitches much further away in the past as well as providing only 1 referee for the game.

Woman of the match: Shannen Meadows, after thumping in 2 cracking goals from an unreasonably far distance the woman of the match award was unlikely to go to anyone else.

Talking point: We can’t decide which footballing legend resembles Meadows’ free kick style the most, Xavi, Ronaldiniho or Pirlo.

season under the guidance of captain and goalkeeper Charlie McGuiness, who in a post match interview commended his sides efforts throughout the game, owing their team work and determination to such a comprehensive win.

Man of the match: Zachery Forjuor, positioned in right midfield, but seemed to be in defence and on the right wing at the same time, accurate with his passes but it was his work rate in getting back to help the defenders as well as cover runs forward that earns him the title.

Talking point: Can the 2nd team continue this attractive style of play next year? With promotion next season guaranteed and some key players moving onto pastures new, can they up their game in the new league to earn themselves a double promotion? We certainly hope so.

Men’s Rugby Varsity

By Leigh Simmons

University of the Arts, a league below Goldsmiths, has a history of upping their game in the Varsity matches. And if Goldsmiths were Goliath, then UAL would be David, rising up and beating back no matter the odds. From the very start, UAL managed to do just that, pushing the Greyhounds back, pinning them within metres of their touchline for the first ten minutes of the match.

However as the great Napoleon once said “never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake.”

UAL continued to press, they committed far too many to the rucks, leaving gaps wide and large. A loose ball was collected by captain Niall Docherty and the inside centre made a darting run from one side of the pitch to the other. The UAL full back was on hand as the last line of defence but bursting through in support like all great flankers was the mighty Leigh Simmons, who collected the ball, running it coolly under the posts and scored his first ever try for the team.

Goldsmiths were quick to realise where their strength lay, and that it was in a newly refreshed line-out system. A long drive across field peeled off and Miles set Andy Miller up for the second try of the game. Despite Goldsmiths looking strong enough to run away with the game, UAL once again caged Goldsmiths within their ten-metre line.

After a countless number of scrums and rucks, UAL were within touching distance. Credit has to go out to both Cav Shakespeare and tight head Arthur for sustaining such a myriad of scrums.

The outcome looked inevitable yet just when UAL looked ready to score, the greyhounds pulled out some last ditch energy reserves and managed to turn over the ball, kicking it out of touch and into half time having only conceded a penalty.

With the game at 12-3 and looking as though it could go either way, the restart began Goldsmiths looked ready to eat UAL alive thanks to some half time oranges courtesy of team grosser

Lentil. Despite number 9 Dan Benson and fill in number 10 Deejay confusing each other with some unusual decision making, captain Niall Docherty and Will Barnes linked up for Goldsmiths to get their third. Ben Lacey added a fourth with a very lucky and dubious try on the left. The game suddenly became messy, with Goldsmiths becoming complacent as the game progressed. Quick substitutions were too much for vice-captain Briela’s brain to handle and a line out just five metres from touch was turned over as a result of his decision. Balls from the ruck were suddenly going wayward by Benson, Deejay looked out of his depth and a shadow of the normal number 10, Rory Singh.

Yet as the crowd began to worry with all hope seemingly lost, main man Tom Ross stepped up. When the chips are down and the greyhounds are crying desperately for a hero, this man dons his cape and scores two lightening quick try’s within just twenty minutes.

The game was won, with the end result 36 - 3, not justifying the annihilation inflicted. The result exemplifies the strides this team have made so far this year, when you consider the last game was decided by just one try.

The season has been one of Goldsmiths most successful with no doubt that the men can carry their excellent form into the next season.

Man of the match: Niall Docherty, not just because we’ve spelled his name wrong in almost every report for the past season, the captain led by example against UAL in producing a stellar performance where he was pivotal in ensuring such a concise win.

Talking point: We’d like to know who designed the UAL kits which resemble a cheap knock off version of the QPR kit, that judging by previous years photo’s haven’t been redesigned in a millennium.

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Goldsmiths Varsity Victory

by Olly Bellamy

The men’s football 2nds, who have enjoyed tremendous success in their league, earning automatic promotion after a 3 - 3 draw with Imperial, were able to easily dominate their opponents with some sensational play and attacking prowess to end the game 5 - 1.

Read on to pg. 15 for a more in depth synopsis of the 2nds game.

University of the Arts had launched an impressive comeback to draw the overall scores 5 - 4 in Goldsmiths favour, losses in 2 of the most important games would result in UAL retaining the trophy. The Goldsmiths rugby team, who have found excellent form towards the end of the season, started well but the UAL retained a strong defence in the opening stages, however after going 6 tries up the Goldsmiths team began to take advantage of their tired opposition, ending the scoring 36 - 3.

Read on to pg. 15 for a further report

by The Leopard’s very own Leigh Simmons.

Goldsmiths triumphed against a visibly distraught University of the Arts on Wednesday, March 13 to reclaim the Arts Cup Varsity trophy after an intense day that saw the College’s take an early lead.

Perhaps not an event originally held dear to some Goldsmiths students, the Arts Cup has quickly snowballed into one of the largest varsities in London.

Formed of 11 sporting disciplines in total and spanning over two consecutive days, the competitive cup places the very best sports personalities from both Goldsmiths and University of the Arts in an annual contest.

The highly respected cup, which is regarded as one of the most important sporting fixtures in the university diary has often produced high levels of tension, yet this year’s exchange proved even more spirited with both universities having shared the spoils 3 times since its inception in 2007, making it all to play for in 2013.

The events were held over multiple days, with the men’s basketball team taking an early lead in the standings thanks to an impressive balance of possession and counter play. Shortly after the mixed volleyball made it 2 for 2 in a game that was varied in play, yet produced a thrilling end when Goldsmiths were unable to pull away by the 2-point margin at the end of set, causing an extended run of play.

After securing both wins on the Tuesday, Goldsmiths had entered the busiest day of the competition in a significantly superior position, with the men’s football 3rds, men’s hockey and women’s football all competing at 12:00. The men’s hockey team were the first defeat of the competition, despite playing exceptionally well, the UAL team, who are currently undefeated in the season and 4 divisions above Goldsmiths, were able to claim victory.

The men’s football 3rds showed exceptional attacking prowess and despite

The Art of Penalty Shoot Outs

By Olly Bellamy

Sepp Blatter has never been anything but brash when it comes to opinions over archaic football traditions; his well-publicised dislike of goal-line technology has on more than one occasion proved to be a headache for fans around the world.

The penalty shoot-out as we know it, was developed in 1968 by an Israeli nightclub enthusiast. The Israeli FA later backed his proposal, which led to the adoption of the new rule by the referee’s committee, with draws previously being decided through a replay or coin toss.

Perhaps it’s the relatively modern introduction of penalty shootouts that has led to Sepp Blatter’s public criticism, calling the method a “tragedy”.

Certainly Bayern Munich fans were left distressed

after a dominating performance against Chelsea in the Champions League final, which was decided on a penalty shoot-out in which Chelsea marked a historical win. Yet, most fans, predominantly neutral parties, appreciate the penalty shoot out as a hypothetical, high stakes version of Russian roulette.

Out of three games played by the Goldsmiths men’s football teams, two went to penalties after full time. Perhaps it’s difficult to argue whether a penalty shoot-out is the fairest method to decide a games’ fate when often, chance seems to be the biggest decider. Certainly nerves of steel are a major factor yet as displayed by Ashley Cole during England’s defeat in penalties against Italy – even after 90 caps for your

going behind twice, managed to finish the game 2 - 2 where the game went straight to penalties. A great showing by the penalty takers provided little room for either sides goal keepers to make any saves, however UAL were eliminated on sudden death after one of their penalties was saved by the stand in goal keeper. The women’s football team, who were playing on the adjacent pitch managed a last gasp winner thanks to a free kick inside the UAL half, a more detailed report on the ladies football is available further on in the newspaper.

Both Goldsmiths netball teams were unable to find success against University of the Arts having produced a dominant performance last year.

They showed excellent build up play and team work throughout the game, however better shooting accuracy and a tighter defence allowed UAL victory in both events.

The women’s hockey team were met by a strong and organised UAL team, their concise defending in dangerous areas made it difficult for Goldsmiths to place shots on target, despite this Goldsmiths did offer strong attacking opportunities down the left flank with jersey numbers 11 and 7 often linking up to make runs on the counter attack.

One of the best opportunities came towards the end of the game, where a long ball deep inside their own half allowed the number 7 to run dangerously into the UAL half before turning a defending midfielder and passing the ball to Jessica Peake on her left who calmly sent a dangerous ball into the crowded box before a shot was blocked and sent out of play.

Thanks to the win by the rugby team, Goldsmiths had secured the varsity title, however the first team football’s game still produced a huge crowd turnout and after an outstanding performance by the University of the Arts defence the game went to penalties after a 1 - 1 draw. After no clear leader emerged, it went to sudden death, with a number of

UAL and Goldsmiths penalties missing the target or being saved by the keepers.

After a penalty shoot out lasting almost as long as an anthropology lecture on the political ecology of subterranean kinship groups in western Jupiter, a miss by one of the Goldsmiths penalty takers allowed UAL to march up to the spot and calmly convert into the bottom left hand corner.

Visibly distraught after such a hard clash followed by an intense penalty shoot out, the first team and their supporters met University of the Arts chants with equal force, pointing out that despite the result, Goldsmiths had returned the Arts Cup to its rightful owner. The celebrations continued well into the night with the majority of players, fans and myself alike somewhat worse for wear at the student union.

Despite being some distance from New Cross, an impressive number of fans from both universities attended to show their support through comical flags, chants and even one particularly excitable character bearing nothing but his birthday suit amid the final celebrations. Certainly the turnout

from Goldsmiths was substantially more impressive than in previous years, where the Smiths have often been outgunned in support. A standout performance from the Goldsmiths Lions cheerleading team provided brief, yet notably loud inspirations to the various teams playing that, on occasion, overlapped with play swiftly moving over to the opposite side of the pitch.

After such a passionate display from the players, the captains of every team cannot be commended enough for their efforts and dedication to the chosen sports. Every team played to the highest standard, and while some did better than others it shouldn’t be forgotten that varsity is a university wide effort, with thanks to not only the incredible players and fans but the staff who contributed to making everything run as it did.

It’s true when they say that everyone is a winner, you just got to believe in yourself. Well done, Goldsmiths.

country, the goalkeepers research can mean all the difference.

Yet university teams often don’t have the luxury of extensive player penalty research, burdening the players even more with an expectancy to score.

The thirds were the first team to head to penalties, with a lot of them being low-drilled efforts around the bottom of the goal. After notching a finish into the bottom right corner, the next UAL penalty was saved by the stand in goalkeeper, who upon diving to his left, managed to save the shot with his foot.

The final game of the day, Goldsmiths football 1sts vs. University of the Arts 1sts, too, went to penalties after a dead lock at the end of time. Amassing the largest audience of any of the sports, the penalty shoot-out proved tense for both teams. The first player from each team to take the penalties seemed calm and confident to score, however, both shots were saved by the goalkeepers, thus creating

an edgy mood. The following two penalties from each team hit the back of the net, however a close miss from a Goldsmiths player left UAL with the advantage, if they were to score, everything would be over. Luckily the Goldsmiths keeper was on fine form and was able to get a touch to the ball that proved just far enough over for him to get a touch with his boot while diving to the left.

With the score all level, the atmosphere began to tighten further, fans once located off the side of the pitch had ventured almost adjacent to the penalty box, Goldsmiths next strike found the back of the net with a left footed precision shot into the middle of the net. UAL’s next penalty was more of a smash, despite the goal keeper guessing the right way the ball was too high and once again the pressure was on the next set of players.

Goldsmiths number 8 calmly walked up to the spot, taking a significantly

long walk back before quickly powering the ball wide, leaving Goldsmiths once again vulnerable.

UAL’s next player, not showing the significant burden, ended the first teams dreams of victory with a finessed shot to the left, despite the keeper getting a good touch to the ball it was too powerful and sprung into the top corner. University of the Arts celebrated the win but thanks to earlier wins, Goldsmiths had still won the cup overall and ensuring UAL didn’t get too carried away, the Smiths began their own chants about winning the cup.