London Student V.32 Issue 2 by London Student

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH EDITION VOLUME 32 ISSUE 02 FREE

COMMENT

Should universities focus more on preparing students for work? Two students give their differing opinions in The Great Debate - page 12

FEATURES

Eye of the panther: An Exclusive interview with Robert Hilary King The former Black Panther activist who spent 29 years in solitary confinement page 18

COMMUNITY

A night out to save lives As well as science, entrepreneurship and academia news, our Community editor report on the work of their featured student charity - page 22

SPORT

Can mere muggles cope with quidditch?

Sports initiations, women’s football, the ‘Rooney Rule’ and quidditch- get the latest sporting news - pages 29-32

24 PAGE CULTURE PULL OUT

This is Black History...

Play interview the musicians looking to mark Black History Month in style.

NUS joins national demonstration as union members begin industrial action

NUS spurred on by “damaging” White Paper

Writers Hesham Zakai Editor

UCU commence industrial action in 67 universities, including all Russell Group institutions

Cathryn Parkes Sub-editor Union leaders escalated their pressure on the government as the NUS joined the call for a national demonstration on November 9 and University and College Union members began industrial action on October 10. Voicing his support for the student demonstration, NUS President Liam Burns said: “The proposals in the White Paper are even more damaging than the prospect of £9000 fees.” Meanwhile, UCU members at 67 UK universities have begun to ‘work to contract’. This means they will carry out only the tasks they are contractually required to, and will refuse to undertake any other duties. The initiative is part of a campaign of sustained action by Union members in a row over changes to their pension scheme. UCU general Secretary, Sally Hunt said: “We are keen to resolve this dispute as quickly as possible with

Debate over “flawed” blog rages on Writer Bassam Gergi News Editor

Darkness looming over Westminster Photo by Flickr user: Trodel

minimal disruption and hope those universities keen to avoid unnecessary confrontation and disruption In May of this year, Dr Satoshi Kanazawa, a reader in the management department at the LSE, sparked a row when he penned a controversial blog post for Psychology Today asking, “Why are Black Women Less Physically A5ractive Than Other Women?” In response to widespread condemnation, the School appointed a commi5ee of senior academics to investigate the blog posting and its impact.

will start to apply pressure on those refusing to talk.” However, Union leaders warned Sherelle Davids

“His apology is weak in terms of acknowledging the people he insulted and the sort of ideologies that he panders to with such work.”

The commi5ee concluded that

that failure to see an adequate resolution would lead to an escalation in industrial action with rolling strikes “some of the arguments used in the publication were ﬂawed and not supported by evidence” and that “an error was made in publishing the blog post and that Dr Kanazawa did not give due consideration to his approach or audience.” As a result, Kanazawa has been banned from publishing in non-peer reviewed journals for a period of twelve months and he will not teach any compulsory courses this academic year.

and a boyco5 of student assessment a real possibility. The action could affect over 1 million students. Union members are angry at changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) which they say will see them “pay more to work longer with less protection should they lose their job”. Several major trade unions, such as Unite and PCS, have also announced support for the national student demonstration on November 9. In a statement in The Guardian, they wrote: “The profit motive has no place in education. We recognise that the fight against the coalition government’s cuts offensive is a joint fight, by workers and students, in defence of common interest.” Michael Chessum, a member of the NUS National Executive Commi5ee and the National Campaign against Fees & Cuts, said that the student movement was profiting from the foundations laid the year before. “It’s clear that the movement that we built last year has grown into something much bigger, and it’s vital that we keep fighting on education as well as linking to the broader movement.” This fusion of student and staff forces could reach its climax on November 30 in what could be the biggest public sector strike since 1926.

In his le5er of apology to LSE Director Professor Judith Rees, Kanazawa wrote, “I deeply regret the unintended consequences that its publication nevertheless had because of my error in judgment. I accept I made an error in publishing the blog post.” Citing his reasons for writing such a post he says, “The blog post in question was motivated entirely by my scientiﬁc curiosity and my desire to solve an empirical puzzle. Continued on p. 2

VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2 LONDON STUDENT

Continued from p. 1

Sherelle Davids, Anti-Racism oﬃcer at the LSESU, welcomes Kanazawa’s apology but she does not believe the apology or the action of the School goes far enough. Davids writes, “His apology is weak in terms of acknowledging the people he insulted and the sort of ideologies that he panders to with such work.” She maintains that Kanazawa should be removed from LSE and says, “I will continue to campaign against Kanazawa throughout the year as I do not believe expressing ‘regret’ for his racism excuses his behaviour.” When asked about what part student feedback played in the review process, LSE press oﬃcer Danny O’Connor said, “Many students got in touch with the School administration to make their views on this matter clear. All comments from students were passed on to the panel for their consideration.” Yet to some students, they are concerned that the panel focused more on the public

embarrassment and less on the offensive nature of the claims. At LSESU’s ﬁrst UGM on Thursday, one of two motions submi0ed dealt directly with whether it was too late for Kanazawa to apologize. The motion stated that “on multiple occasions has published articles and research of highly dubious academic quality and containing extremely offensive claims.” It went on to list what it viewed as his most blatant transgressions, including an accusation that his work was being used on neo-Nazi and white supremacist websites. The goal of the motion, which was still being voted on as of Friday afternoon, was to “openly condemn Satoshi Kanazawa's poor research,” and to “continue to call for the immediate dismissal of Satoshi Kanazawa by the academic board.” An extension of Davids’ eﬀorts to continue the campaign against Kanzawa despite the outcome of the LSE’s investigation and report. It seems doubtful though that the

School will take any further steps unless prompted by fresh evidence. The report into the case concluded with, “The School has accepted that Dr Kanazawa has learnt from this experience and will not make the same errors in future.” In his own apology le0er Kanazawa made it clear that “The past three months have been most diﬃcult for all concerned, and I would never want to relive the experience. I give you my solemn word that in the future I will give more consideration to the approach to my work and I will never again do anything to damage the reputation of the School.”

London Student, Europe’s largest independent student newspaper Editorial team

LONDON STUDENT Malet Street ULU WC1E 7HY 02076 642054 www.london-student.net facebook.com/london-student twitter.com/london-student

Editor Hesham Zakai editor@london-student.net --

News Editors Hattie Williams Toby Thomas Bassam Gergi news@london-student.net

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Science Editors Hariett Jarlett Rachel Mundy science@london-student.net

Academia Editor Valeriya Nefyodova academia@london-student.net Entrepreneurship Editor

Ahmad Bakhiet entrepreneur@london-student.net

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LONDON STUDENT VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2

Student protesters shout “Tories out!” as University fees and graduate unemployment hit the Conservative Party Conference Illustration: Andy Murray

Writer Hattie Williams News Editor

Around 1,500 students gathered outside the Conservative Party conference in Manchester last week in protest to unpopular policies of the coalition government. The numbers included a self-organised coach party from the University of London Union (ULU). The rally, billed as “The Alternative – jobs, growth, justice”, was organised by the Trades Union Congress to challenge the government’s cuts to public services and pensions. The protesters congregated in Albert Square with street music and dancing continuing through the worsening weather. Greater Manchester Police – “With memories of the student protests and August riots still fresh” – promised a robust response to any unrest. No incidents occurred though it was one of the largest demonstrations in the north of England in recent years. 30,000 marched through the city including le1-wing protesters, unionists and animal rights groups, carrying banners and blowing whistles. The slogans read 'Tory fat cats', 'Strike together to win' and 'He's got to go', in reference to David Cameron. Demotix, a pro-demonstration website, reported: “The day was an overall success but one couldn't help feeling that it did not gain enough media attention as would have been wished for.” Key student issues over fees and cuts were discussed at the conference. Cameron’s party touched on graduate unemployment a1er new ﬁgures last month showed a third of those graduating from University remain unemployed three years a1er their degree. Chris Keates, General Secretary of the Teacher’s Union NASUWT, said at the conference: “The Chancellor and the Coalition Government have cornered the market in irresponsibility to the detriment of young people, ordinary families and economic growth.” He continued: “It is irresponsible to slash public spending leading to loss

of thousands of jobs in schools and school support services and across the economy.” The panel, including universities minister David Wille2s, answered pre-prepared questions from the audience. A graduate questioned the "vicious cycle of unemployment" meaning that they are both over-qualified and underqualified for most jobs. He asked: “What is the government doing to create more graduate positions?” The panel answered: "The private sector must come forward and lead the way and offer more jobs. Over 500,000 jobs have been created by private sector since the last election. We will have

the most apprentiships under any other government. Internships are also important in this tough job market.” Speaking last Tuesday night on Sky New's Jeﬀ Randall show, David Wille2s said that the UK need to do be2er in creating jobs by easing the burdens on business. "We have to raise performance of schools and expect our universities to reach out to people," he said. National Union of Students (NUS) President Liam Burns and other NUS oﬃcials were in a2endance at the Tory Conference. The Telegraph commented that Tim Loughton, Children's Minister, and

Wille2s were “pleased as punch” to have Liam Burns on stage. Wille2s showed his enthusiasm for continuing relations with the NUS. "I hope we can work further with the NUS," he said. “There'll be blood,” the newspaper concluded. The two men are keen to keep in touch with student issues and youth unemployment. Loughton tweeted: “I'm fed up with all the negative stuﬀ we read about young ppl in the media” whilst Wille2s referred to social media including "Spotify and Spacebook”. At the Conservative Party Conference, Liam Burns asked what extra powers students will get to ensure that tuition

is of a high standard at a time when the costs are rising so dramatically. Wille2s said that he agrees students must have a louder voice and welcomes Mr Burns to the conference despite the, at times, strained relations between the NUS and government. Burns also a2ended the Labour Party Conference the previous week. Ed Miliband said that cu2ing tuition fees will give “hope for the future” to which Burns responded: “I’ve been told this is not a long term policy position,” informing the BBC that if it were long term then “questions would need to be asked”.

ing over £65,000 a year to pay more interest on their loans. The pledge pressurises Cameron and, speciﬁcally, Clegg who sparked uproar by breaking his pre-election promise to ﬁght rising fees. Labour’s proposal is therefore designed to appeal to millions of students who voted Lib-Dem in the last election. Critics have accused Miliband of a Uturn, reversing his opposition to fees above £3000 while shrinking from Labour’s proposals of a graduate tax

scheme. Lib-Dem MP Gordon Birtwhistle also highlighted that cuts in corporate tax would damage the companies potentially employing students. NUS President, Liam Burns, has labelled Miliband’s announcement a ‘stopgap’. He welcomed the suggestion as an immediate solution, claiming: “This partial halting of the rise in fees, coupled with equivalent reintroduction of public funding, would... rebalance the long-established compact between state, graduate and employer in paying for higher education.” Equally however, he warned against

Labour’s policy as a manifesto pledge for the 2015 election. Under the proposed 30-year cut-oﬀ for repayment of loans, the lowered cap would disproportionately beneﬁt richer students likely to repay the full debt. To earn the student vote, Labour need make a greater challenge to the system. As Burns argues, the proposal is a good step so long as it eventually moves towards introducing a graduate tax. Shadow Business Secretary, John Denham announced that graduate tax remains the party’s long term aspiration.

Miliband’s £6000 Tuition Fee Cap is a ‘Stopgap’ Writer Rae Boocock

Labour would cap tuition fees at £6000 a year, Ed Miliband announced at September’s Labour Party Conference, slashing the current £9000 limit by a third. The party leader said, “We want to... make it easier for people to go to university and not feel burdened down by

debt” and accused the coalition of “destroying the ambition of a generation.” The cut, he hopes, would encourage a wider cross-section of people going to university and move towards greater equality. Polls surrounding last year’s Browne Review, reveal a majority reckon £7000 is the upper limit of reasonable tuition fees. The £800million plan would be paid for by reversing planned tax cuts for banks and by asking graduates earn-

VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2 LONDON STUDENT

Goldsmiths students get ‘Under the Skin’ of 2012 hopefuls Writer Hattie Williams News Editor

Students from Goldsmiths, University of London have had their multimedia projects showcased at the National Portrait Gallery as part of the Olympics-inspired exhibition, ‘Road to 2012’. Competitors were asked to create a digital project experimenting, exploring and reflecting on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the importance of the event to individuals, communities and neighbourhoods in east London. The winning postgraduates Yuval Gerstein and Cristina Picchi pitched before an ‘X Factor’ style judging panel in February 2011. The student’s work ‘Under the Skin’ – a film following the life and training of prospective 2012 athletes – was selected by judges Brian Griffin, Martyn Ware, Anne Braybon and Julian Henriques. These artists behind the ‘Road to 2012’, a three-year project run by the National Portrait Gallery, set the competitive commissions in November 2010.Photographer Griffin, sound artist Ware and commissions manager Braybon gave a presentation at Goldsmiths, se9ing a live project brief. “We are looking for exciting and interesting stories connected to people and the changing landscape of East London in response to the London 2012 games,” said Braybon. Gerstein, a music postgraduate and sound artist for ‘Under the Skin’ explained: “Cristina and I basically presented two different projects but in the turn of events the judges pro-

posed that we join our talents and work together. We were pre9y amazed and we did not know each other at all but we both agreed and we’re both ever so happy that we did.” “This immersive audio-visual project sets out to explore carefully chosen Olympic sports from a fresh angle” he continued. “We are capturing portraits of local London-based athletes and revealing a world which sports fans do not normally have access to in television broadcasts and interviews.” Goldsmiths college explained: “He used binaural recording techniques to allow viewers access to "hidden sounds" and experience a sense of being in someone else's shoes.” Picchi, who is studying for an MA in Screen Documentary, filmed the athletes during training. The footage is reflecting the intensity of physical exertion, with HD GoPro cameras tied to the Olympic hopefuls hands and legs as they leap over hurdles and swing from the bar. The film has been selected to be part of ‘Making Tracks’ event at the Wirlygig cinema at Richmix centre, east London at which a selection of short films will be re-scored live on the night in front of their filmmakers. ‘COUNTO12’ was the second winning film created by Yujin Yun, Christina Katsantoni and Ewa Balazinska. The three Goldsmiths students, all on the Digital Media MA programme, captured over 500 photographs of people working, living and studying in the Olympic host boroughs of Greenwich, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Newham and Waltham Forest. The photographs compose a digital clock that counts down to the

Writer Lizzy Turner

Cristina Picchi attaches HD cameras to cyclist Jason for the winning film ‘Under the Skin’

Olympics. “We felt eager to portray our local environment of people living, working and studying in east London and represent them in their natural surroundings and everyday occupations,” said Balazinska. In a statement earlier this month, the three artists expressed their pleasure in undertaking such a task. “The Road to 2012 project has been an exciting experience for us,” they said, “The freedom oﬀered through both artistic and multimedia means to express the range of emotions of the people of east London on the journey to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, has been a decisive factor in our participation in this project.” The original scheme, in collaboration with BT, is in its second phase: ‘Road to 2012: Changing Pace’, a8er a successful run with the opening portraits

of ‘Road to 2012: Se9ing Out’. The ﬁnal stage, ‘Road to 2012: A Local Story’ is already underway a8er the public exhibition of portraits by photographer Katherine Green last month. Green’s stories of East London community groups are designed to compliment ‘Changing Pace’. A National Portrait Gallery spokesperson was enthusiastic as to the future of the exhibitions, saying “Thanks to funding from BT, the three-year project will create up to 100 newly commissioned photographic portraits celebrating the people who will collectively make the London 2012 Games happen.” The Gallery will be displaying each annual phase with free access for the public. The ﬁnal exhibit in summer 2012 will include highlights of all the commissioned work in addition to the new portraits.

from disadvantaged backgrounds.” A UCL spokesperson told the London Student: “ At 35.6%, UCL has committed a large proportion of additional fee income to working with and attracting underrepresented groups to study at UCL. We are pleased that we are meeting or exceeding the majority of our targets, but we recognise that there is still work to do in key areas.” UCL chose to cover the story, which broke on September 29, on their media web page. By contrast, King’s did not, opting for stories on Chinese space exploration and doping in sport instead. The university has declined to respond to the London Student’s repeated enquiries despite being contacted before UCL. A second-year King’s historian who preferred to remain anonymous told this paper: “This suggests a lack of penitence from King’s. I am surprised they have not taken the issue more seri-

ously.” Representatives from both universities will have to explain their failure in specially arranged meetings with Offa. The fair access body has the so-called “nuclear option” of refusing to allow them to charge fees over £6,000 from 2012, if they do not honour their access agreements.

UCL and King’s miss access targets Writer Toby Thomas News Editor The Provost of UCL has dismissed suggestions that his university is to be blame for failing to meet its access targets, attacking “the want of aspiration and ambition” of schools and sixthform colleges instead.

Professor Malcolm Grant’s comments came after the Office for Fair Access (Offa) released figures last week which showed King’s and UCL to be among the five Russell Group universities which failed to meet their own targets for accepting students on full means-tested bursaries, available for students with a family income of less than £25,000 in 2009-10. In a newsletter released last week, the UCL Provost did not

dispute the veracity of the government watchdog’s figures, admitting “it’s a fair cop”, but went on to defend his university. He said UCL’s failure was “not from bias, or for want of trying on the part of our admissions tutors, but too often for want of aspiration and ambition on the part of the schools whose students simply fail to aim high in their applications.” He suggested UCL was leading the way for other universities by opening its own academy in Swiss Cottage.

The Provost’s views appear to clash with those of Universities minister David Willetts, who, reacting to the figures, emphasized the need for universities to “redouble their efforts” to enhance access. He said: "We need to see real progress in fair access, especially at our most selective institutions. That is why our funding reforms ensure that from next year universities will redouble their efforts to recruit students

Central St Martins moves to Kings Cross

A possible defence for King’s and UCL is that the smaller number of students on bursaries enables them to increase the amount of funding offered to those that get them. However, Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union pointed out last week that it was “over-simplistic” to expect bigger bursaries to attract more poor students. She said it remains the case that “The universities with the best records of recruiting students from the poorest backgrounds have higher dropout rates and cannot offer bursaries to match the elite institutions.”

The University of Arts London has unveiled a brand new £200m campus for Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design. Located near King’s Cross, the new campus will bring together over 4000 students and 1000 members of staﬀ. The stunning development is part of a 67 acre area around King’s Cross which is in the process of being regenerated. With alumni including Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen, Central Saint Martins has achieved international recognition for its creative education and research. It now boasts a state-of-the-art campus too. The development combines old architecture (the main feature is a Grade II listed Granary Building) with cu9ing-edge design. It will house Central Saint Martins’existing Schools of Art, Fashion & Textiles and Graphic & Industrial Design, plus a newly created School of Performing Arts. The impressive facilities include a 350-seat public theatre, four levels of multipurpose workshops plus gallery and exhibition space. Nigel Carrington, Rector of University of the Arts London, says: “This is a major investment to be making at a time when the UK higher education sector is characterised by a sense of caution and uncertainty. We are making it because we are absolutely conﬁdent about the future of creative education and its value and importance to the UK’s economy and quality of life”. Paul Williams, of Stanton Williams Architects, adds: "Our design draws inspiration from the ambition and scale of its Victorian architectural se9ing and introduces a strong contemporary intervention that celebrates the juxtaposition of old and new in its detailing. The thought of 4,000 students inhabiting this once redundant and isolated building on a daily basis is breathtaking”. London institutions missing access targets Courtauld Institute of Art Guildhall School of Music & Drama King's College London Kingston University

London Studio Centre

The University of West London University College London

University of the Arts London University of Westminster

LONDON STUDENT VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2

Total accepted applicants set to soar NUS reveal £8000 drop in before rise in tuition fees student support funding Writer Hattie Williams News Editor

New Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and UCAS statistics have revealed the number of students studying at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) has risen by 8.1% in the last two years. Colleges of the University of London have linked the increase with the proposed changes in higher education fees in 2012, set to rise from £3000 to £6000 next year. Over the past five years, the number has gradually increased to an overall rise of 9.3%. In 2009/10 there were a record 2.49 million students studying for a HE qualification at Universities in the UK. The total qualifications awarded rose to 716,940 that year. Of these, 31.6% were at postgraduate level, 48.9% were first degree qualifications and 19.5% were other undergraduate qualifications. Soaring figures in 2010 have continued into admission and application figures for 2011 with speculation arising as to the influence of new government plans for £6000 tuition fees in 2012. UCAS statistics, disclosed late last month, show that the number of ap-

plicants accepted so far this year is up by over 2% on this time last year. 694,935 people have applied for University entry 2011 so far, up 8580, 1.7% over this time last year. By the end of the cycle, the total figures for this year are expected increase by 3% or higher. The number of accepted applicants, as recorded until mid-September, stands at 486,917 from last year’s 476,755, showing a faster rate of acceptance. The total for 2010 – when all applications were accounted for including extra and clearing – was 487,329. The figure has increased by an average of 24110 applicants since 2006, showing an average 5.7% rise each year. On results day, April 18 2011, a record 384,649 applicants were accepted into university or college, compared with 379,411 last year. Following the changes, Mary Curnock Cook, UCAS Chief Executive said: "While this is another very competitive year for HE admissions, the majority of applicants whose places are results-dependent are likely to be successful.” Goldsmiths College has seen a significant increase in home and overseas postgraduate students from 2010 to 2011. Figures show a 27% rise in the number of overseas post grads accepted into the college over last year and a 11% rise in home postgraduates. Similarly, overseas undergradu-

ates admissions increased by over 23%. Similarly, Birkbeck College have seen large increases in applications to their part-time undergraduate programmes which are up 12% on last year, on top of a 41% increase the year before. The College said: “We suspect that students who struggled to find a full-time place this year chose parttime programmes as an a0ractive alternative to full-time study or going through the clearing system or deferring until 2012.” 6.9% deferred entry in 2010 to start University in September 2011, a figure down 0.2% the previous year. Deferral requests for 2012 entry are expected to decline further from last year’s number due to the rise in tuition fees commencing next September. “Students,” Birkbeck pointed out, “may also be a0racted by the fact that they can combine degree study with full-time work, to minimise the debt that they have on graduating.” Birkbeck specialise in part-time courses but had five full-time undergraduate programmes in clearing this year. According to a College spokesperson, clearing places were filled, “with high quality students” and within two days.

Writer Hasna Haida

New analysis by the National Union of Students (NUS) has revealed that governmentprovided student support falls considerably short of the actual cost of being a student for the 2011/12 academic year. For students outside London this figure is expected to be £16,279 with an average income from government funded loans and grants being £8,242. For those living and studying in London the cost is £17,428, with a potential income of £9,880. The shortfall of £7,548 represents an increase of 11% on 2010/11 whilst the shortfall of £7,310 for those living outside of London is an increase of 10%, demonstrating the need for the Government to increase the amount of support available to students while they study. The NUS have launched a new Student Financial Support Commission to perform an indepth analysis of the costs faced by students, the support measures available and to find out if the right people are getting the help they need. The commission, which is being convened by NUS

President Liam Burns and NUS Vice-President (Welfare) Pete Mercer, is made up of eight serving student officers and will be supported by five other experts in student finance and will issue calls for evidence. Burns says “it is important that we get a full picture of where the failings are.” While he acknowledges tuition fees to be a “major disincentive” for many students, he stresses it is the support funds available at university “that define its affordability.” He promises to make “some clear recommendations for the Government that they must listen to if we are to avoid rising numbers of students being unable to afford to study.” Commenting on the “shocking leap” in the gap between funding and average student costs Burns states “not enough of the student support in the higher education system is getting in to the pockets of students”, with “a real danger” that the situation is getting worse. The Commission will convene for the first time on 17 October 2011.

www.thouronaward.org

Fully Funded Study in the USA Up to TEN awards, each with a total value of approx US$80,000 per year, covering tuition fees and living expenses, including travel in the USA, will be available (for 1 or 2 years) from 1st September 2012 for candidates who wish to pursue a postgraduate programme at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.

Applications are invited by 5pm on 1st November 2011 from UK university graduates. Come along and learn more at a Thouron Award presentation on 12th October 2011 (see our website for details). All welcome: ideal for final year undergraduates and master’s students considering a master’s or PhD programme in the USA.

in association with

For further details visit www.thouronaward.org or contact Jennie Eldridge, Award Administrator on +44 (0)20 7848 3376 quoting ref TA11.

VOLUME 32 ISSUE 1 LONDON STUDENT

World Briefing Writer Bassam Gergi

Illustrator Nathan Clutterbuck

Security staff protest throws airport into disarray 1)

CANADA

An illegal protest at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, by security guards led to chaos as travellers faced long lineups and delays stretching to several hours. Passengers were le5 waiting in the terminals for hours without any explanation as to why no planes were coming in or leaving. The security staff is in a contract dispute with their employer, Garda Security, a private company that is contracted by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority. These staff members are responsible for passenger screening at airports across Canada, and Garda is the nation’s largest security services supplier. Shortly a5er the staff went on strike, a court injunction forced them back on the job, the delay however led to many passengers missing connecting flights.

2) Wall

Street protesters take on greed

USA

Several hundred people have camped out on Wall Street since 17 September as part of a growing anti-corporate movement. Their main grievances are widening inequality and frustration against corporate greed and politics. The loosely organized group says it is defending the other 99 percent of Americans against the wealthiest one percent. Though slow to start, their message is has begun tp resonate as the protests have grown in size every day since their inception and are being covered more and more by mainstream outlets. Though not without conflict, some 80 people were arrested during a march on 25 September, mostly for disorderly conduct and blocking traffic, but one person was charged with assaulting a police officer. Angry at what they see as police hostility, demonstrators have marched on New York's police headquarters to protest against the arrests.

3) Brooms

are for sweeping out corruption BRAZIL

Protesters in Brazil are calling on legislators to sweep out political corruption. They are making their point by planting 594 brooms in front of Congress. The brooms are green and yellow, the colors of Brazil's ﬂag, and there is one for each representative. The protest was organized by the groups ‘March Against Corruption’ and ‘Rio for Peace’, who planted the brooms in front of Congress on Tuesday night so that the legislators would seem see them on their way to work Wednesday morning. The planted brooms are just one in a series of anti-corruption protests held over the past month, sparked by four ministers who have resigned amidst allegations of misconduct.

LONDON STUDENT VOLUME 32 ISSUE 1

7) Thousands

protest relocation of Negev Beduin

ISRAEL

4) Near-daily

protests are added hardship

GREECE

Several thousand residents of Negev Beduin and their northern supporters gathered in front of Beersheba’s Soroka University Medical Center to protest their pending forced relocation. Carrying banners and chanting, they were united in protest against a cabinet decision to rese6le tens of thousands of villagers while providing ﬁnancial incentives. The plan to relocate the Beduins was devised by Ehud Prawer, director of planning policy in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Oﬃce. Prawer was charged with turning earlier discussions and recommendations about Beduin development into an executable platform. For the Beduins and their supporters, however, the plan is unacceptable because it force people to leave their homes, and it was recommended without prior consultation. A white banner draped across the protesters read, “Israel has stolen the lands of its Arab Negev citizens.”

For those who live or commute to the center of Athens, the neardaily protests have cast a dark cloud over a center which was once supposed to showcase what many hoped was a dawn of Greek prosperity. The demonstrations are o5en marred by clashes between rock-throwing youths and riot police, and the violence has made customers scarce. Stores and coffee shops are forced to close every time a demonstration masses. The Greeks whose livelihoods lie downtown do not know whom to blame. The government says it has no option but to significantly reduce spending while the protesters claim they are fighting for their own livelihoods. Nikos Trovas who runs a parking garage downtown was quoted as saying, "It's a catastrophe. This has destroyed us." "The roads shut every day. So we just sit around here with the employees, looking at each other with no work to do."

5) Power

outages spark outrage PAKISTAN

Power outages, a result of electricity loadshedding in Islamabad, have sparked outrage among Pakistani opposition parties. The main opposition part, Pakistan Muslim League-N (PMLN), along with smaller groups held a nearly hour-long sit, or ‘dharna’ to protest the festering outageS. Pakistan’s National Assembly began its session last Monday, and ia already facing growing opposition pressure. Marching to the gates of both the President and Prime Minister’s house, they shouted “Go Zardari go,” “give another push to falling walls.” They wore black armbands and carried placards with slogans like “loadshedding unacceptable”, “corrupt government unacceptable.”

6) 33

more convicted for protest violence

BAHRAIN

Bahrain's security court has convicted 33 more activists on account of violence from the protests last spring. Charges include violence and a6empted murder during anti-government protests; all 33 were sentenced to prison terms. The verdicts capped a week of back-to-back decisions by the court, which has issued more than 110 convictions relating to the demonstrations against the monarchy. The latest sentences range from one to 15 years in prison, and Sunni leadership has come under increasing pressure for sentencing the Shiite protesters. The court process is set up under martial lawstyle rule and so far hundreds have been tried. Under increasing international pressure, authorities have promised to shi5 the remaining cases to civilian courts.

It isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t capitalism thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s to blame for the decline of the humanities Nicholas Bas - page 10

Hesham Zakai Editor

Zoe Gardner LSE

Voltaireâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exhoration that â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is be er to risk saving a guilty man than condemn an innocent one was a whisper in the windâ&#x20AC;?.

VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2 LONDON STUDENT

Why Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a Debate Mate and why you should be too! Matt Williamson - page 10

The misogyny of the Knox case has echoes of medieval witchcraft trials Anya Pearson- page 10

Let my people shop: chain supermarkets arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the antichrist Tom Chambers - page 11

The Great Debate: Should university be about knowledge, or preparing for careers?

Andreas Vorotsis & Rosa Wild- Page 12

The case of Troy Davis must sound the death-knell for death row

At 11.08pm on September 21 a 42-year-old man who had endured over two decades on death row was given a lethal injection that sent him into a permanent slumber. The deadly cocktail of drugs worked to render him unconscious, paralyse his lungs and stop his heart. As this happened, hundreds lined up outside Georgia prison chanting and millions across the world waited with baited breath â&#x20AC;&#x201C; first in hope, then in exasperation, and finally in defeat, dejection and despair. Troy Anthony Davis was executed for allegedly murdering a Savannah policeman; a crime that we will now never get to the heart of. The inconsistencies of the case are well-versed: no murder weapon was ever found; 7 of the original 9 witnesses recanted their testimonies; there was no DNA evidence conclusively linking Davis to the crime; his protestation of innocence was unwavering, and starkly juxtaposed to the alternative suspectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s admissions of guilty behaviour; his case even managed to unite the Pope, a former US President, a former FBI Director and a plethora of Non-Governmental Organisations in his defence. In spite of this, Voltaireâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exhortation that â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is better to risk saving a guilty man than condemn an innocent oneâ&#x20AC;? was a whisper in the wind as the Supreme Court denied Davis commutation and the US President denied him clemency. They cast aside all these doubts, which made an irreparable miscarriage

of justice a serious possibility, against the better advice of the Council of Europe. Davisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; life was gambled and lost. Yet whilst the struggle to save Davisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; life is over, the battle to end the death penalty goes on. The dramatic final moments of his life, in the context of his execution date being set and changed three times already before that, has provoked anew questions about the morality of the death penalty and the cruelty of death row. Davis had spent 22 years on death row, a damning sentence in and of itself, unsure how far into the future he dared to look. As well as an interrogation of the death penalty itself, the process too must be interrogated, beginning with death row. Aligning ourselves with countless human rights organisations, our opposition to death row stems from the fact that it is a form of mental and psychological torture. William A. Schabasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; study on capital punishment provides an expert conspectus on the many attempts â&#x20AC;&#x201C; both successful and foiled â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to challenge capital punishment in the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s courts, as well as an illustration on the many legal and humanitarian flaws with both the death penalty and death row. We hope that the now familiar image of the bespectacled Troy Davis, which has circulated around the world, will continue this positive trajectory. Davis has become a symbol of a movement which, in his own words, seeks â&#x20AC;&#x153;to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to

expose a system that fails to protect the innocentâ&#x20AC;?. It is not our intention here to romanticise Troy Davis or his death. Nor is it our intention to protest his innocence. Our intention is to respond to the serious questions that have been raised about the viability and sustainability of a system with limited accountability and nil reversibil-

Illustration: Elizabeth Eisen

ity. Seen in this context, Davisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; death is a tragedy, but the greatest tragedy would be for the world to allow his death to go in vain. Instead, his death should signal the rebirth of an honest discussion on the perils of death row and capital punishment, and lead to its ultimate demise.

LONDON STUDENT VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2

Fanny Malinen SOAS

“The morals of a society are

measured by how it treats its minorities.”

Sam Langton LSE

“we as the people need to ac-

knowledge these concerns. Nothing will be ﬁxed by the banning of the BNP or associated organisations"

Dale Farm is a ﬁght for basic human rights which musn’t be lost

Basildon, in Essex, is only half an hour from London by train. On a rainy a2ernoon it seems like any sleepy village, but it is home to a community of Irish Travellers, who are ﬁghting a legal ba3le against eviction from the former scrapyard they have turned into a home. This eviction is one of the biggest human rights issues the UK has faced in decades. The eviction was supposed to take place on Monday, 19th of September. Activists and media from all over the world had arrived on site. But at the last minute it was postponed. A2er two more hearings on October 3rd the judge ruled that most of the caravans can be moved. But thanks to a court injunction the eviction will be held oﬀ until the legal process has been fought through until the end. The Travellers have refused to leave peacefully, and why should they, when they have nowhere else to go? Most of the adults in the community are illiterate, and their lack of education is the major reason for travellers having a life expectancy up to ten years lower than average. These must be among the country’s most vulnerable people. The story of Dale Farm dates back to the 1970s, when 40 Romany families were given permission to stay next to what was then a scrap-yard.

In the late 90s a group of Irish Travellers bought the scrap yard, and the population swelled to 86 families. In 2005 the community first came under threat when Basildon Council voted to take action over planning breaches - the site is built on land designated as “green belt”, despite scapyards not being known for their role as havens of countryside peace. The legal ba3le has been going on since then, creating a climate of increasing tension. The process has bee traumatic for the children of the community. Many of them have lived their whole lives at Dale Farm and attended the local school. Jess, a photographer who has been working with the community for five to six years, told that even though the children seem joyful during the day, many suffer from insomnia and nightmares. Two community workers, Jan and Margareth, who were at the site on the day of the planned eviction as legal observers, emphasise the need of the children to belong to a community and stay where they are se3led. Margareth and Jan have been among many, including international observers, criticising Britain for not considering the special needs of Gypsies and Travellers in planning processes. “The UN observers said they are amazed this is

happening in the UK today. In a country that promotes human rights.” The UK government has rejected an oﬀer from the UN to help negotiate a less extreme solution. Despite all the international a3ention, the Conservatives are still backing Councillor Tony Ball in his willingness to go forward with the at least 18-million-pound eviction. In the Conservative Conference the communities secretary Eric Pickles downplayed UN’s criticism on the eviction decision: “You hear a lot about human rights these days. But rights and responsibilities cut both ways... It's time to respect the property rights of law-abiding homeowners.” However, calls for planning laws to be enforced seem to miss the crucial point in the case of Dale Farm. According to CERD, the rejected over 90% of planning permissions for Gypsies and Travellers compares to less than 20% average. Every third Briton admits having prejudices against Gypsies and Travellers. The eviction is clearly about institutional racism, not about the need for the concreted former scrap-yard as part of the green belt. The morals of a society are measured by how it treats its minorities.

ity’, and yet barely 2 years ago the BNP won two seats in the EU elections, while parties across Europe placed in the same far-right ball park such as the BNP have shown increased popularity more recently. The Sweden Democrats, for example, gained 20 seats in the Swedish parliament last year on a populist anti-immigration platform – enough to deny the governing coalition a majority. The threat is undeniable, and yet it is the consistent denial of the threat that is creating support for far-right movements. More le2-leaning public ﬁgures and publishers can turn a blind eye to issues of immigration and the apparent menace of Islam to Europe as much as they want, but they are fuelling the ﬁre of the farright. When major political parties fail to understand, or even worse, choose to ignore these concerns, we cannot blame anyone but ourselves for an increase in popularity for the far-right, voting for the politicians we did, and being just as passive as them. In a recent survey commissions by European and American thinktanks, it was revealed that 59% of

“too many” immigrants than comparable nations. The important fact is the there is a significant number of people in the UK, and in Europe, who are worried about immigration. Given these figures, one has to ask where these worried people are supposed to turn when the main three parties and so many agendafilled news broadcasters fail to even admit the issue. That is not to say it is ‘okay’ to turn to far-right groups, but many would claim it is understandable that many choose to do so. If people really want to tackle extremist movements based on anti-Islam and immigration policies, the government needs to face up to the concerns the majority of British people, and many across Europe, seem to have. Not only this, but we as the people need to acknowledge these concerns. Nothing will be fixed by the banning of the BNP or associated organisations. Instead, we must enter debate devoid of delusions and instead grounded in reality. The longer we wait and continue to deny the concerns so many people in Britain have, the more likely Europe will be overcome by an ugly and extreme right-wing ideology.

Ignoring the issues that inﬂame the far right will just make them stronger likely to appeal to a small minorpeople in the UK believe there are

It is a real and very ugly reality that far-right views are far from devoid in Western European politics. They are by no means taking over, but the past decade has shown increasing popularity for political parties that favour extreme-right solutions to social issues in the modern world. The general reaction to these changes seems at first sight to be anger. Most will find far-right views on immigration and Islam – the subjects much far-right politics in Europe is based on – both disgusting and ignorant. But the underlying emotion seems to be more of fear rather than anger. People are afraid rather than angry, simply because there seems li3le established explanation for its popularity. David Miliband has tried to explain the threat from the far-right by claiming that groups such as the BNP and the EDL prey on insecurity. Far-right political parties and groups are said to take advantage of communities that lack unification and have become jaded by economic decline. Mr Miliband has stated that ‘groups like the BNP, the English Defence League… are only ever

Politics, Police and Protest.

Sean Rillo Raczka, ULU VP

Students wishing to protest this term are facing unprecedented political policing, physical violence from authorities, victimisation and harsh sentences, as the Government uses the police and Judiciary to help ram through their ideologically motivated slash and burn cuts programme. Multiple students and others a/ending the 10th November 2010 Tuition Fees Protest, and the 28th March TUC ‘March for the Alternative’ have been put in prison (or are facing jail) for the most flimsy of reasons, like putting a placard into a burning metal bin. We have seen protestors dragged through the courts for throwing strawberry yoghurt at the frontage of a bank, and, shockingly, under 18s held by the police without access to lawyers for many hours. What of the Fortnum and Mason protestors, who peacefully occupied the tax-dodging store, ended their protest and were promptly arrested by the Met, all a.er being given assurances by a senior officer that they would be allowed to leave? Several are still being prosecuted. Over the Summer we have witnessed extraordinarily stiff sentences given out to ‘rioters’ (disturbances we should note that were kick started by the police murder of a black man in To/enham, one of a regular series of deaths at the hands of the police or in custody), including custodial sentences for those stealing bo/les of water, not to mention those handed four years who merely ineptly created Facebook events. If you are a young black (mostly likely) male in London, the amount of times you will have been stopped and searched must also be taken as an affront to basic civil liberties, being allowed to get on with your own business. I myself have seen the violence and aggression of the police on multiple occasions, such as the young girl batoned over the head outside Milbank Tower, and the extraordinary scenes outside SOAS when we tried to protest at the visit of David Willets- it was like a military operation with barriers, vans and riot police on our campus. What has changed in the last year are the police tactics, much harder and unpredictable now (always possibly violent for time immemorial), as well as the eagerness of the Judiciary at all levels to harshly punish protestors in order to intimidate others and prop up the Government, whose interests are of course their own. It is sad that Universities, which should be places of free expression and learning, have accepted this agenda too. We see police officers invited onto campus, ‘extremist’ students monitored, private security guards hired in to prevent students a/ending meetings- and even student unions are in on the act. Continued on p. 13

Nicolas Bas

“Government policies have

produced too much red tape and turned universities into bureaucracies that need to conform to whatever ministers decide” Matt Williamson Stage Editor

“And you’ve seen nothing till

you watch a group of primary school kids hold their own against a bunch of year elevens before cheerfully but firmly rebuking the audience for saying ‘Awwww’.”

VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2 LONDON STUDENT

Agree? Disagree?Your views: comment@london-student.net

Response: capitalism is not responsible for the decline in humanities, government policy is

Contrary to David Paxton’s ‘The difficulty of defending humanities in a world of capitalist orthodoxy’ of , capitalism is neither an evil force endangering human flourishing, nor is it to blame for the downfall of the humanities. Mr Paxton laments that life has become increasingly colonized by economic systems. It is unclear to me what exactly the author wants to say with that. Capitalism indeed had a profound impact on people’s lives in the West for more than 200 years. It li5ed hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, created huge amounts of wealth and was the driving force behind the modernization of society. All of this created immeasurable benefits such as dramatically increased life expectancy, decreased child mortality, and much, much more. In other parts of the world people are beginning to experience the same fruits of capitalism. Insurer Allianz recently published its Global Wealth Report that showed that since the

year 2000, families from poor countries saw an increase in their wealth by an average of 17% per annum which is seven times faster than families in rich countries. As a humanities student, I do not need to be convinced of the importance of the humanities for individuals and society. I strongly believe in the Ancient Greek conception of the Academy as a place where students are taught to be knowledgeable and virtuous, to be good citizens of the polis, the social and political community, and to spread its values. The humanities are a crucial contribution to the education of such citizens. The true enemy of the Academy is not capitalism but government policy. Government policies have produced too much red tape and turned universities into bureaucracies that need to conform to whatever ministers decide. They have become mass education institutions which are misused by governments as tools for their social policies. The

quality of education has gone down, there is a high pressure to deliver degrees so there is widespread grade inﬂation, professors are terrorized by forms, evaluations, trainings, mandatory research targets, etc. so they can devote much less of their time and a6ention to their students. Hence, the problem for the humanities is too much government involvement, which made them also highly dependent on government support. If you really want to laud the humanities then you should argue in favor of the government rolling back its grip on higher education. Aristotle, Locke, Hegel, Shakespeare, and many others who we admire, did not write their master pieces under the eye of policymakers. They wrote because they had the freedom to do so. The humanities do not thrive when quantity and red tape are the keywords. On the contrary, quality and freedom are its natural allies.

Debate Mate is an innovative charity, which has at its heart a rather simple idea: by using bright university students to run after-school debating clubs they aim to inspire children who might otherwise be allowed to slip through the cracks in our education system. This year the programme has expanded hugely, working with around 140 schools across the country, including 24 London primary schools. Although largely based in Britain, they’ve also launched programmes in places as a far flung as Nepal, America and the United Arab Emirates. Mentors receive a generous payment of £20 per hour long session, plus travel costs. But more importantly they have the chance to work with some of the liveliest, brightest kids, spending one or more hours a week surrounded by potential that might all too easily be wasted.

tainties. In a good debate, nothing can be taken for granted and every point must be argued for. That’s a hugely liberating experience. You’d be amazed how quickly students as young as 12 or 13 while throw themselves enthusiastically into debating motions ranging from whether or not school uniform should be compulsory, to the future of the Arab spring. And you’ve seen nothing till you watch a group of primary school kids hold their own against a bunch of year elevens before cheerfully but firmly rebuking the audience for saying ‘Awwwww.’

really is invaluable.

Why I’m a happy Debate Mate - and why you should be too!

Perhaps you’ve never debated before, or doubt that you could ever teach it – well don’t stop reading. While I’ve always found debating hugely enjoyable, I was far from being an expert when I started. I can safely say that my year seven kids are a sight better at it than me. Far more important than technical know-how is enthusiasm and a genuine desire to inspire the children you are mentoring. The whole point of debating at its best is to re-evaluate old cer-

By taking part in the programme, the children develop an astonishingly wide range of skills. They gain in confidence, develop interpersonal skills and learn to communicate coherently with flair and imagination. A recent Ofsted report has also demonstrated the extent to which the programme has a knock on effect on their regular school work, particularly in subjects like English. Crucially, these are precisely the sort of skills which kids in private education get as a matter of course. Sure, Debate Mate isn’t going to do away with elitism, but at least it goes some way towards creating a level playing field. From job interviews to Oxbridge applications the ability to put your ideas across in an exciting, structured manner

Of course, the kids aren’t the only ones who benefit. Quite apart from the delicious feeling of smugness which comes from appearing to devote your time to charitable works, while in reality earning a neat twenty pounds a session, there’s also the opportunity to network with companies including BSkyB, Deutsche Bank, Shell and Deloitte.

And you don’t just have to be a budding media mogul or investment banker to benefit. Teach First have just formalised their relationship with the charity, recognising the invaluable help that first hand experience of working with young people provides for those hoping to pursue a career in teaching.

If you’re interested in working for Debate Mate then act now – you can sign up for an evening of introductory training at www.debatemate.com/signup, and you can also follow @debate_mate on twitter for more news and updates.

With its Medieval accusations, the Knox case was a trial by ordeal

Anya Pearson So Amanda Knox has been acquitted. But for anyone who has been following the infamous trial and frenzied media reportage, you half expected to see Knox engulfed in flames instead, burning alive for witchcra5 in the town square of Perugia. As has already been emblazoned on tabloid headlines, the convictions of Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of student Meredith Kercher were overturned on Monday. The accusations oscillated between the misogynistic and the downright ridiculous To quote rosecuting lawyer Carlo Pacelli: “[Knox] is a spell-casting witch, a virtuoso of deceit… a demonic, satanic, diabolical shedevil”. It looks like Pacelli slept in late and missed a few things (the enlightenment, the sexual revolution - or maybe he’s just been watching too much Buffy). In fact, you could be forgiven for thinking that we were in sixteenth-century Europe, where as many as 80,000 women were executed. These persecutions were partly fuelled by the paranoid ramblings of the notorious Malleus Maleficarum, a treatise on these so-called ‘maleficent women’. Women, apparently, are “by nature instruments of Satan” and enslaved to their sexual desires (sound familiar, Pacelli?) Any woman who commi6ed the heinous crime of deviating from traditional femininity - whether experiencing sexual desire, being educated, or even having a strong personality - could be accused of witchcra5 and grilled like a shish kebab. In the case of ‘Foxy Knoxy’, her main ‘crimes’ include appearing drunk in a YouTube video; having had sex on a train; having slept with seven men; owning a sex toy; and being a6ractive (oh, the nerve). Pacelli also referred to her devotion to “lust, drugs and alcohol " on the night of the murder, trying to paint a picture of Knox’s “double soul”; a dichotomy between her “angelic” persona and her “Lucifer-like” capabilities. Italian society may be not be known for its overly permissive a6itudes to premarital sex, but as far as I am aware, it is not illegal to own a Rampant Rabbit. Would the world have been so judgmental if Knox was male? By Pacelli’s rationale, most women have the propensity to be modern day ‘she-devils’ by behaving outside of approved gender norms if they so much as drink a lager shandy. This misguided belief subtly permeates our society and remains one of the cornerstones of modern-day misogyny. But, as Knox put it herself during her final words to the jury, “I am not who they say I am”.

LONDON STUDENT VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2

Agree? Disagree?Your views: comment@london-student.net Tom Chambers Comment Editor

“the only people with power

are the shoppers themselves who will not simply turn into unthinking zombies the moment that a slighter glossier storefront appears in front of them”

Let my people shop

As is currently happening in towns around the nation, a debate is raging in New Cross over the planned siting of a new Sainsburys on Lewisham Way just opposite Goldsmiths college. The conﬂict has not escalated as far as it did in Stokes Cro-, Bristol, where there were violent clashes between the police, protestors and a Tesco Metro’s windows, but tensions are high and opinions are divided. Banners hung from local businesses proclaim their opposition to the new shop, urging people to protest against Sainsburys plans with somewhat dubious and unreferenced claims, one of them being “When you spend £1 in a supermarket, 70p leave the area. When you spend £1 in a local shop, 70p stays in the area”. Quite how one deﬁnes the local area in somewhere as metropolitan as New Cross, where few people actually exclusively live and work there is unclear. I, for one, am all in favour of a new opportunity for people to buy what they want at reasonable prices, and

I see the majority of objections to these plans as being elitist and undemocratic. If the makeup of New Cross road does change then all the be.er. There is very li.le worth defending on the main drag, being as it is largely composed of be.ing shops, fried chicken and dodgy internet cafes. Those shops that provide value to the community will be rewarded with shopper’s money, and those that aren’t will wither and die. It is not automatically true that any shop that is small and locally owned is more virtuous and provides more value than a corporate owned supermarket. These are not quaint village post oﬃces, although these shops might sell a few useful obscure items, largely their stock is of poor quality, the service entirely disinterested and refunds are generally a challenge, if not out of the question. By contrast, while Sainsburys may be a li.le sterile, you know what you will get and it will be clearly labelled. This isn’t to say that anything independently owned should be run

out of town, there are places in New Cross such as Cafe Crema, Goldsmiths Cafe and the soon to be opened Allotment that make it a genuinely nicer place to live and shop. Sainsburys is unlikely to be stepping on their toes, as they provide a diﬀerent service, rather than the oﬀ licenses and corner shops who will be threatened. However, what I or you believe their merits are is largely irrelevant unless we are actually passing over our hard earned coin, which is the real test of what people want in their area. The protestors argument is that Sainsburys will force other businesses in the area to close. But this is not true, the only people with power are the shoppers themselves who will not simply turn into unthinking zombies the moment that a slighter glossier storefront appears in front of them, but will still be able to make an informed decision. I want to be protected from people who assume they know better than me about what I want for my community, not from the op-

portunity to make my decision about where to shop and what that means. If you are opposed to Sainsburys then cast your vote by choosing to continue shopping in the kind of businesses you want, but don’t get angry with me when I make the ‘wrong’ choice. Yes, some shops that no longer get as many customers through to door may disappear, but if they cannot a.ract customers, then what is the purpose of them at all? I am no rabid free marketeer, but this is not a nuclear power plant or a library. The people who use the service are the same as those who pay for it, and they are the same people that experience the changes, whether they be good or bad.

THE GREAT DEBATE

VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2 LONDON STUDENT

Agree? Disagree?Your views: comment@london-student.net

Should the modern university focus more on preparing students for the world of work? As another ra1 of education policies set out to reorgaise how our universities work, should universities drop the idea of knowledge for its own sake, and focus courses more on ge2ing students ready for the job market?

YES

Andreas Varotsis

SOAS The modern university is something of a schizophrenic. Once upon a time, in a more idealistic world, it aimed to produce cultivated men and women, instilling wisdom instead of mere knowledge - although mostly, it provided a convenient way for very rich white men to meet other very rich white men and discuss life whilst sipping expensive whiskey. Universities justified themselves through their elitism and exclusivity: locking yourself away from society for a few years to discuss theology was perfectly acceptable if you were rich enough. Fast forward a few hundred years, and universities are now open to the very-nearly-common man (and women). A degree is no longer the hallmark of the intellectual elite, but a prerequisite entry ticket to our ever-growing middle classes, a stamp of approval from HM Government that you’re ready to enter the working world. A university system once designed to teach wisdom to the intellectual elite is now issuing degrees showing you’ve been taught the necessary skills to begin a career something degrees were never meant to measure, and something universities were never meant to teach. The reason for this bizarre dissonance is one the entire world seems to be aware of, but that nobody seems to want to admit: three-years of full time education is completely and u2erly unnecessary for the vast majority of us. Unless you’re an engineer or a doctor, there is no reason whatsoever for the state to pay for your degree. Is university fun? Fulfilling? Enlightening? Yes. Is it also a colossal waste of cash? Most definitely true. When university gates parted only for the terrifyingly loaded, nobody

cared if they spent three years of their lives ge2ing drunk and discussing 13th century Russian literature, but the overnment subsiding a three year holiday for nearly half the country - because, let’s be honest, for most students, that’s what university is - borders on lunacy. It can’t be a holiday. It needs to be leading to something. The solution to our university’s financial struggles aren’t the tepid, half-handed reforms the current government has so struggled to implement, but epic reforms to the very foundations of our higher education system. . There are a ra1 of measures we could implement, if we simply admit what we all already know: the current university system does an u2erly abysmal job when it comes to teaching people anything actually useful in the wider world. That isn’t to say we should stop people learning for the sake of learning - but we should use the savings we’d make from a new, more streamlined higher education system to create truly fit-for-purpose institutions specifically designed to freely teach all those who want to learn. Last year’s occupations did an incredible job of showing how we can set up free-schools, organically and sustainably - we should support such initiatives. Public spaces around the country should host free lectures on history, philosophy, and whatever else people care to learn. We’ve shown it’s doable, now let’s convince the government to get behind that vision - but let’s not support the antiquated, dilapidated institution that is the modern university. Free education for all is a necessity, but we cannot build this brave new world of education on the bricks of our elitist past. It’s high time we wiped the slate clean and started afresh – keeping learning for its own sake separate from preparation for the world of work.

“the current university

system does an u2erly abysmal job when it comes to teaching people anything actually useful in the wider world.”

“The university of the future is a factory churning out model employees.”

Rosa Wild

Comment Editor

Just under a year ag, an interesting li2le event about the future of the university took place in Senate House. Its target audience was clear from the burly security guards who wrestled potential hecklers - that is, students - away from the doors. But for those of us who made it inside, it was a fascinating window into what our universities are becoming. One of the speakers, the UStrained, pinstriped-skirt wearing representative of Morgan Stanley was an education in herself. She chose a pre2y metaphor for the education process: students, apparently, are iPods. The university pieces them together, and the employers add the apps they require. Graduates are “raw material” for employers. “What kind of products do we want from universities?” she chirped. Excuse me? Now obviously we have to think about our careers when we pick our courses. But isn’t there a world of diﬀerence between that,. and going to university to be molded into the “product” employers want? What you’re passionate about should surely come ﬁrst, even if that’s Uzbek nomadic music or the private habits of King George the second. But no; the university of the future is a factory churning out model employees. There’s no space here for the enthusiasm I feel when tossing back and forth ideas about third-world social movements with my supervisor, or the intense satisfaction of reading Rumi’s poetry in its original language. The universities of the futurewwill sell themselves on employability statistics, the qual-

ity of the careers department, and the sweet li2le phrase transferrable skills. And that’s what people will buy it on, because when you’re looking at tens of thousands of pounds of debt, your priority is going to have to be making it a good investment. You want a university whose priority ismaking sure employers will want you. You want to pay thousands to be transformed into what someone else wants you to be. Of course university has always been about shaping its students from eager kids into adults. It’s just that back in the day, it used to be about curiosity, criticism and audacity It was about making citizens who would be an asset to society. Now, of course, it’s innovation, out-of-the-box thinking and aspiration. You’re only an asset to society if you’re making money. If it seems hugely selﬁsh to want a university experience which is about exploring your personal fascinations, consider the fact that twenty years ago, an examination of the intricacies of Afghan tribal politics would have seemed absurdly irrelevant. Now lives rest on our ability to understand it. Who knows what we will need to know about in another twenty years? It might not be what we can sell to employers now. But it might turn out to be invaluable. This year, when the ﬁrst batch of £9000-a-year students pick up prospectuses, they’ll be full of promises of he1y bank balances in the future and hints of the useful skills a university education can give you. I’m looking for the one which says “we can teach you everything you need to know about the world except how to kiss your future boss’s arse”. Many students want the university of the future to make us seekers of knowledge, not products. But who’s asking us?

LONDON STUDENT VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2

Agree? Disagree?Your views: comment@london-student.net Abubakr Al-Shamahi Comment Editor

“Saleh’s inability to accept that

Yemenis simply don’t want him, or him simply not caring what Yemenis want, is now slowly killing Yemen, and bringing the impoverished, but revolutionary, country to the brink of civil war.”

Marienna Pope-Wiedermann SOAS

“between those who see higher

education as a means to mold the correct number of cogs for this Big Society they're building; and those who see intrinsic value in knowledge”

Yemen’s tenacious President is back, whether he’s wanted or not

On the morning of the 23rd September, Yemenis woke up to gunfire, only this time it was ‘celebratory’. And in a country where the people have got used over the past few months to not having any power, that is how most Yemenis found out that President Saleh was back on Yemeni soil. When the Arab Spring arrived in Yemen Saleh pulled out all his usual wily tricks in an a8empt to prevent himself from going the way of Ben Ali of Tunisia, Mubarak of Egypt, and now Gaddafi of Libya. That didn’t work – and millions have continuously protested for nine months against his rule and his corrupt system. The instability eventually caught up with him; a bomb exploded in his presidential compound and he was severely injured. On the 6th June he le7 for Saudi Arabia for treatment, seemingly never to return. Well guys, he’s back. President Saleh seems to be that fly that you just can’t swat away. Or, more aptly, that tumour that the doctors can’t heal that’ll eventually kill you. Saleh’s inability to accept that Yemenis simply don’t want him, or him simply not caring what Yemenis want, is now slowly killing Yemen, and bringing the impoverished, but revolutionary, country to the brink of civil war. Saleh’s return was a huge shock to Yemenis, very few thought the Saudis would be that idiotic, or go that low, to allow him to return to Yemen. I was entertaining myself by watching late night Yemen State TV propaganda (an unhealthy

habit) when the ‘breaking news’ banner appeared at the bo8om of the screen. Ten minutes later preprepared songs ‘congratulating’ Yemenis on the return of the fatherleader appeared. I felt sick. Many Yemenis shared this initial feeling of disbelief, worry, shock, hatred of our neighbour to the north, and disappointment. But this soon wore off. The Yemeni youth/opposition movement is a very determined grouping. They have faced sticks, bullets, anti-aircra7 guns, fire, mortars, RPG’s, and anything else the regime has thrown at them, and maintained their will to bring down the corrupt system. The return of the antiChrist isn’t going to stop them. Faizah Suleiman, a leader of the youth movement, defiantly told the Guardian’s Tom Finn, a former SOAS student, “If we’re alive this a7ernoon, we’ll march.” And they did. In their hundreds of thousands in Sana’a, and in their millions across the country, Yemenis poured into the protest squares and plazas to send a pre8y clear message to Saleh – we will not be cowed. Saleh’s arrival coincided with a pre8y big date in the Yemeni calendar, the 49th anniversary of the September 26th revolution against the North Yemeni Imamate (Monarchy). His plan is clearly to turn up a7er the bloodshed of the past week and present himself as the saviour. What he is clearly forge8ing, and Yemenis definitely haven’t, is that the bloodshed is as a result of his own a8empt’s to des-

perately cling onto power. Saleh reinforced his message by giving his first televised speech since his return on the eve of the September 26th anniversary. In it he called for an end to the bloodshed (once again, who’s he kidding) and early elections. “Let’s all go towards dialogue, understanding and peaceful exchange of power through elections and early presidential elections,” he said. Very few believe him to be genuine in this. This is the same guy who promised to sign a power transfer agreement three times and didn’t. The last time that happened all his ruling party officials signed and the US ambassador observed with a look of confusion on his face. This is not a man to be trusted. Saleh thinks that Yemenis will fall back into his arms, and think that he is the only one to guide them out of this crisis. In that he has misjudged the situation. Most Yemenis didn’t even bother listening to his speech, knowing that they’d heard all the lies and rhetoric before. Instead many went to the protest camps and celebrated the anniversary of an earlier revolution – one that promised to end hereditary rule, tyranny, and corruption, but has been betrayed. They saw the children of the martyrs of the revolution light the flame of the revolution. For an evening Yemenis sang and danced and laughed, forge8ing about all the death that has been visited upon them this last week. They hope for a be8er Yemen, they deserve a be8er Yemen.

The last year has seen the biggest increase in cost of living since records began. While Cameron assures us he knows we're "feeling the pinch", between the commute, the bills and the barbaric price of a beer in Central, it's starting to feel more like a vice. Higher tuition fees are only the sharpest thorn in the big ball of barbed wire the Coalition keeps bouncing against our side. Commuters may look forward to the shared repayment of the £15 million annual Oyster over-charges, but Boris is going to want it back. We can expect big rises in fares in January averaging another £180 per year from Zone 6. Mayoral candidate Mike Tuﬀrey publicly opposes the rise but he IS a Liberal Democrat, so we might just see the introduction of ﬁrst class carriages on the underground instead. One study states that the average twenty-something would need a 74% pay rise to enjoy the same lifestyle our parents did. USwitch

has estimated a £42.56 increase per month in expenditure since last year. With some universities advising applicants they'll need £13,700 a year, even maximum student finance falls dwarf-short. The discrepancy amounts to about three hours paid work per day, 365 days a year. Stack the increased tuition fees on top of THAT. Well done to those of you who manage to slip through that closing door - just don't let the Tories hit you on the way OUT. And they will. We all know internships are the gold dust of the new job-rush, and the validity of the unpaid internship has been hotly debated. Sure, it's probably easier to get the experience if you've got a benevolent uncle or a banker boyfriend helping with the rent. But Cameron's 'relaxed a8itude' to coa8ail internships has even extended to auctioning off top finance internships to affluent supporters at his Black and White (but mostly white) Party. As Labour MP Tom

Watson asserted: "Most young people could only dream of this opportunity. The Conservatives flog them like baubles and fill their coffers with the profits. It is obscene." No doubt "the pinch" will be pushing many applicants away from university and making life harder for the rest of us in the meantime. There ARE those who say Britain could do with a few fewer graduates anyway and when it comes to the place of the student in society, that's the real dividing line: between those who see higher education as a means to mold the correct number of cogs for this Big Society they're building; and those who see intrinsic value in knowledge and recognise it as a human right which brings immeasurable social and individual benefit. So maybe we don two jumpers before hi8ing the thermostat this winter. But it's be8er to be cold than a cog.

Hard times for today’s students

Continued from p. 9

Birmingham Guild of Students (Birmingham Uni’s SU) have indefinitely suspended one of their sabbatical officers for dropping a banner off a bridge, protesting against Nick Clegg’s broken promises. Edward Bauer was, outrageously, kept in prison for 10 days by the police and later a magistrate, a young man who poses no danger to society (unless having a different conception of society is dangerous to the authorities). Instead of backing him and protesting against his sickening treatment, basically internment, his Union and University have failed to support him, he has not even been convicted of the ludicrous road traffic offence that he has been accused of (the banner was unfurled high over a road), and even his Lib Dem MP has said it is a waste of public money to prosecute him. This is the crazy world we are living in now, and the mainstream media seems to not care one bit. That’s why we need a fightback against this repression, we need to demand our civil right, the right to protest. We need to assert our Universities as spaces for free thinking, radicalism and democracy, not police vans and riot shields. An important part of that fightback is unity and solidarity, solidarity with those injured, victimised, arrested and prosecuted. And the best way to defy the police’s message? Go on a protest! We have to assert our rights, together we are stronger and if we make our student protest on the November 9 massive, and indeed come out and close down our Universities on the 30th of November alongside our lecturers and public sector workers, that is another blow against fear and repression. See you on the streets!

The Lyric Pic

Our special photo competition which runs every issue and features a photographer taken by one of our readers page 16-17

VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2 LONDON STUDENT

Money, money, money

Tips on job-hunting in a difficult climate as well as advice on how to manage your money whilst in the capital- page 15

Parlez-Vous Student? Writer Tony Thorne

‘The sesh was gout - a sausage-fest of keeners and Brendans!’ Translation: ‘That seminar was awful – an all-male gathering of swots and unattractive losers.’ Are you fluent in the colourful code known as ‘student slang’? Is there really any such thing? As founder of the Slang Archive at King’s College London I can prove that it exists, having been collecting and analysing examples for two decades now, but the further my undergraduate days recede into dim memory, (‘if you can remember them, you weren’t really there’ is the operative cliché) the more I rely on the latest generation of students to send me samples of authentic argot. Look on the websites of some UK universities and you will find slang ‘dictionaries’, aimed at translating the insider jargon of the campus for the benefit of incoming students or visitors. The content of these sites falls into two categories: at Durham and Cambridge, for example, the lists are made up of nicknames for the places on and off campus where students congregate, plus some terms for rules, regulations and rituals peculiar to that institution. Virtually all of Leicester’s ‘student’ terms are well known items of general slang and ‘rude words’ in use by most age-groups. A couple of years ago Oxford graduate Lucy Tobin published Pimp Your Vocab which claimed to explain student slang to bemused and baffled parents. The title was actually crammed with secondary-school teenager-talk like flossing, butters and peng. In fact ‘campus-talk’ is a melting pot into which go all of the above. It brings together in one place the national and regional slangs of students’ home bases – walk of shame from the US, meff from Liverpool, lush from the westcountry - but also so-called multiethnic youth dialect or MEYD, the Afrocaribbean-flavoured gang-oriented lexicon (known also as ‘Jafaican’ or ‘Ali G-speak’: bare, endz and waste-man are examples) and accent that has spread

from innercities across the entire UK. Every clique, each campus differs, but some common features I have noted are puns (married alive), cultural allusions (Yea, verily, Brother Kyle), babytalk (lickle gay bear), faux-yiddish (shnippy, shnide), ‘French’ pronunciation of words like rummage (sex), and bummage (enjoyment). Very rarely do you come across an expression that has no obvious derivation, is a one-off invention: bosfotick, meaning drunk and mahoodally, confused,

are recent examples from King’s. What is slang for? To find new ways (striking, funny and provocative if possible) of describing the communal experiences (getting messy, chirpsing and sharking, swotting and cotching) of a new phase in one’s life; to show that one belongs to the in-crowd (or rather nowadays the multiethnic innitcrowd) and simply to celebrate the window of freedom that comes be-

Eye of the Panther

Exclusive interview with former Black Panther activist Robert Hilary King page 18-19

tween family, school and work. There are always some who affect to be shocked by the irreverence, profanity and excess enshrined in slang, highlighted by what Dr Tony McEnery of Lancaster University identified in a survey as ‘18 different terms for being drunk.’ As far as I know there are actually more like 200 synonyms for intoxication by drink or drugs in active use (carnaged, wazzed, wombled, rubbered, mullered among them). The multiple references in campus slang to sex, drugs and alcohol and

the very few terms having anything to do with work (SDW means ‘secret degree worker’ or swot and is a term of abuse; ubiquitous CBA stands for ‘can’t be arsed’) has been held up as evidence that UK students are feckless, workshy and spoilt, if not actually totally depraved, but of course that argument is flawed: the evidence only proves that these are the topics that students love to

The importance of Black History month

LSE’s anti-racism officer explains the importance of Black History month page 19

talk about. Students should be - often are – the most articulate, inventive and wittiest users of our language and, unlike most academics who focus on ‘serious’ issues, I think that their – your - coinages deserve more attention, whether from technical analysis which proves that slang is as valid linguistically as poetry or literature, or just recorded and publicised as examples of inventiveness and creativity. My database at King’s needs constant updating, so please do send me examples of the language that you

Students chatting Photo: Cristiano Ravalli

and your fellow students are using (to tony.thorne@kcl.ac.uk) and if I can use them in upcoming articles and dictionaries I’ll acknowledge all contributors by name. You can find more on student slang and new language on Tony’s webpages at www.kcl.ac.uk/study/elc/resources/tonythorne/slangarticles.aspx

Society Spotlight

This week’s focus in on fencing page 14

Fencing

SOCIETY SPOTLIGHT

Writer Carolyn Shearman

I am crouched by a brightly lit stage peering through a borrowed camera at a room holding its breath. Two duellists have just three seconds to score a hit before the timer runs out. The crowd let out a deafening scream as the ULU fencer hit the opponent square on the chest in the closing moments. Last year I was the President of the University of London Fencing Club and in Spring 2011 I witnessed the Men’s Foil team win gold at ‘Challenge International D’escrime de l’Ecole Polytechnique’, simply known to us as ‘Paris’. The pride and jubilation felt at that moment by the entire club is still difficult to convey, I can tell you that the night was spent in black tie, champagne from trophies and disco dancing with French Naval students. Going to Paris is one of the many highlights in the ULU Fencing calender. Stories that come back, that dare to be retold, take on a legendary status as they pass down through the academic generations. As you walk past by the many stalls, offering up your email to every society and club for reasons you can not quite remember, pause by the Fencing stall. Fencing combines mental strength with demanding physical stamina, plus you get to wield a sword like a Jedi. The diversity within our club never fails to astound me, from musicians to lawyers, political students to classicists there are few subjects that fencing membership isn’t drawn from and from undergraduates to the alumni that stay in contact. This was always evident as I looked around preparing to make my weekly speech, something all the more daunting considering everyone was wielding a sword. This year was our most successful year and the future is bright, from touring in Mainz to the local pubs and the traditional Chinese restaurant at the end of year we have a full calender that is just waiting for new legacies to be made. As for my Presidency, I was told the greatest thing I could take from it was the memories that I helped make and be part of. There are so many moments to reflect on I couldn’t possible regale them all, suffice to say we will always have Paris.

LONDON STUDENT VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2

Job-hunting in the capital Writer Jess Blake Once again a body of research claims that we student incompetents ‘only spend 20 minutes a day thinking about finances’. Having just worked my socks off all summer to keep afloat and knowing many London learners a in a similar situation, I think more credit is due for surviving. I opted to stay in the house I am obliged to rent for the next year rather than shack up with my parents for the summer. With no dead relatives or lucky lo3ery tickets to hand, this meant that I had to find a more substantial source of income. A London Student loan and bursary meant that I only needed to do a few paid surveys a week and stick to Sainsbury’s basics to keep myself going during term time. However, the stretch between the summer term payout and the autumn one was just too long. It was time to jobhunt.

The Dick Whi3ington myth that the streets of London are paved with gold, or at least that jobs are very easy to come by, still seems to be the common consensus. A quick glance on Gumtree lists hundreds of potential job opportunities, but I would argue that London is actually one of the most difficult places to work. An advert for part-time bar staff in Shoreditch, posted yesterday, for example, has had over 1000 views so far. Even if only 10% apply, that’s still a hell of a lot of competition. This of course ignores those cra2y individuals who applied in person or are sleeping with the manager. With the unemployment having risen again to 2.51 million last week, it seems that employers can afford to be extremely picky. Even with previous experience as a vegan baker, I wasn’t considered as qualified enough to be interviewed for a parttime job in a vegan bakery. There seems to be an increasing number of minimum wage roles that ask for second or third languages. The recently accepted practice of unpaid

internships, or free labour, has meant that student employees are made to feel lucky that they are given a wage at all. When I finally secured a waiting job in central London, having beaten 60 other interviewees, there was a constant feeling that I was completely replaceable. I worked long hard hours to keep myself employed. Admi3edly, having a National Insurance number and good English meant that I wasn’t worked quite as hard as some of the people there, but it was enough to stop me from seeing the summer as any kind of holiday. I recognised my permanently jaded expression in a lot of fellow students as the summer wore on. If we are financial ‘sleepwalkers’ it was only because we are too exhausted. A generation of overworked and underpaid young people have emerged from the economic downturn, with the blame falling on us rather than the employers who are exploiting it. Is it any wonder that our sorry financial state is the last thing we want to think about?

Managing your money Writer Helena Goodrich

Whilst other friends worked in café’s, shops and offices, I spent my summer teaching financial education in schools with an organisation called London Citizens. My friends find this hilarious since I have a reputation for being terrible with money. I hate to think how much I spent during my first term, that Topshop 20% off student deal seemed like such a good idea at the time… With student loans giving you most probably more money than you’ve ever seen, and student overdrafts going into the thousands of pounds it’s easy to get carried away. I used to procrastinate dealing with my desperate money situations until I literally had to or I wouldn’t be able to eat. I am now a reformed character, so here are my Do’s and Don’ts for your first year at university on how to avoid a financial melt down.

DO 1 / 7

Get a Student Account. If you have one, make sure you’re getting the best deal, and if not it may be worth switching. Compare the different options and try not to be too swayed by freebies, go for one with a decent overdraft; lots of them offer increas-

ing overdrafts in second then final year. The Co- operative Bank offers the largest guaranteed overdraft. Check when you will have to start paying your overdraft back, many banks offer graduate accounts, and you usually don’t have to start paying overdrafts back until a year after you graduate.

DO 2 / 7

Insure your phone, laptop and valuables. Shop around online for the best deals and check the excess charge. I was insured under my parent’s policy, but had to pay a £100 excess to replace my blackberry after it was stolen.

DO 3 / 7

Write a budget plan, and do your best to stick to it. I finally wrote one this summer, which made me see that some things such as Pret sandwiches (one a day for a week= £22.75!) were a huge waste of my money. Basically work out how much money you get a week, then work out your expenses, including rent, food etc. If your expenses are more than the money rolling in, you either need to cut back or find a job. It’s easier to control spending if you take out how much money you want to spend in a week (say £70) then budget that money. This stops you paying for everything by card, and ignoring your bank statements- speaking from experience this is a bad idea!

DO 4 / 7

Claim tax! Yes it’s boring and time consuming, but if you don’t, you’re giving money away. If you’re confused, check out www.online.hmrc.gov.uk/home or call the helpline 0845 300 3900.

DO 5 / 7

Open a Savings Account. I had some money in a building society, which I transferred into savings account, and am trying to put in extra money when I can. If you invest £10 a week (only 2 less McDonald’s) and pick an account with the highest AER (interest rate that you earn; 3% is about the best you will get) you will earn extra money, which could go towards travelling or a postgraduate. .

DON’T 6 / 7

Go heavily into your overdraft in your first term. You will need the money far more when putting money down on a house for second year; just because the money is there doesn’t mean you need to spend it.

DON’T 7 / 7

Get a Credit card. Or a Store card. The APR (interest rate) is huge, and it isn’t worth the risk that you’ll forget/ be unable to pay it back.

THE LYRIC PIC

Every issue, we open up our centre spread to submissions from photographers in a new competition called ‘The Lyric Pic’.

The idea is to shoot an image that you associate with one of your favourite lyrics. For example, you may choose to take a pastoral picture of forests to accompany Bob Dylan’s ‘upon four-legged forest clouds the cowboy angel rides’ lyric. Send your submissions to: photo@london-student.net

The best submissions will feature in the paper throughout the year.

NAME:PETERYEUNG INSTITUTION: SOAS

CAMERA SETTINGS: Canon 550D

LYRIC: O thou who passest thro' our valleys in, Thy strength, curb thy fierce steeds, allay the heat, That flames from their large nostrils! thou, O Summer, O pitched'st here thy goldent tent, and o , Beneath our oaks hast slept, while we beheld, With joy thy ruddy limbs and flourishing hair. William Blake

LOOKING THROUGH THE LENS OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER: The recent charming weather reminded me of this picture I took in the leafy Parc de Belleville of Paris. Laden with a gushing waterfall, cool stonepaved walkways, swathes of vibrant flowers ba+ling like an artist’s pale+e, a team of amiable gardeners, not forge+ing staggering panoramic views; it was an inspiring location. But for me, the delicate modesty of the sunflower stood out.

VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2 LONDON STUDENT

LONDON STUDENT VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2

VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2 LONDON STUDENT

Eye of the Panther: Black History throu

King will be speaking at ULU on October 19 a4er being invited by London

Students’ Unions. In this special report,

Jody McIntyre caught up with him ahead

of the event to get his wide-ranging thoughts on Black History Month. Writer Jody McIntyre Guest Writer We are driving through Brixton, home of the infamous riots of the 1980s and, indeed, were affected by the Tottenham based ones of 2011. Both had the same cause; yet another black man dying in police custody. The burnt-out shell of a Footlocker store may not equate with the romanticised images of makeshift barriers and Molotov cocktails, but, as What do you possibly ask a Robert King tells us, different cirman who has spent 31 years ofcumstances prohis life in prison, duce different 29 of which were reactions. boxed in the But we are not brutality of meeting King ‘solitary confinement’? down Acre Lane, Brixton; we are meeting him at a house in Clapham, where he is staying. There is an anticipation of uncertainty as we knock on the door; what do you possibly ask a man who has spent 31 years of his life in prison, 29 of which were boxed in the brutality of ‘solitary confinement’? Nevertheless, King is relaxed as he comes in from the garden to greet us. He has a busy schedule during his two weeks in the UK, but says he simply asks what event is happening today, and then goes to do it. October is Black History Month, an event that sparks a new round of debate and discussion each year. “There wasn’t any recognition of black history in America,” Robert King tells us, pausing to remember a time long ago, “it was snuffed out... repressed. First of all, we had Black History Week, then it became a Month, but they gave us February, the shortest month of the year!” BHM has been praised by many sections of the community as a chance to celebrate a common experience, but for King, many of the conditions that led to its creation still exist. “People can recognise and commemorate, but there are still too many problems. This can be one part of a forest [to rectify them], but it doesn’t become the

forest itself.” What about Boris Johnson, I ask, the Mayor of London who, last year, slashed the allocated budget for BHM from £132,000 to a mere £10,000. At the same time, the £100,000 ‘Africa Day’ fund was slashed completely, only to be replaced with a new ‘America Day’ commanding exactly the same amount. “It’s a shame and an affront,” says King. “It’s an insult. But when people in society are insulted, affronted, or placed into a position of poverty, they have to make their feelings known.” Here is King’s attitude encapsulated within the space of a few words; never one to dwell on the bitterness or glorification of the past, he knows from personal experience of the importance of making your voice heard. The words of another Mr. King, Martin Luther Jr, come to mind; “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.” Whilst in prison, King was to feel the price of demanding his freedom or, indeed, that of the people around him. He explains he was placed into solitary confinement after being accused of ‘attempting to play lawyer for another inmate’ by the prison authorities, and would stay there until his release. “They gave a lot of reasons but yeah, that was the initial reason,” King reflects. “I didn’t know anything about no law, but if an inmate spoke up for another inmate... yeah, something would happen. I wasn’t trying to play lawyer, although ironically, I did act as a lawyer for another inmate at a later date. At that time, I was just trying to speak up for “I think things s o m e o n e ’s have moral right that regressed,” he I saw being acreplies. “Since costed. 1966, perhaps “I’ve seen peothere have been ple go in to soliindividual t a r y successes in confinement as race relations. outgoing peoBut ple, and come institutional racism still out as what exists. many people would describe as insane. In

fact, I think people can sometimes just give up, and wilfully go insane. But for me, during my time in prison, to allow my thoughts to retreat into a cocoon like that was completely out of the question.” As well as Black History Month, this October also marks the 45th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party, of which Robert King was a member. I am keen to hear his experiences of the Party, which he joined whilst in prison. But King is eager to take us back even further. The BPP, after all, was not created in a vacuum. “The Black Panther Party emerged in 1966, but this started with many other organisations,” King tells us. “The National Association for the A d va n c e m e n t of so-called “There wasn’t “Coloured Peoany ple” is one of recognition of the oldest, and black history in America,” you had the NaRobert King tional Urban tells us, League. There pausing to was a long sucremember a cession of ortime long ago, ganisations “it was snuffed out... before us keeprepressed. ing black issues First of all, we at the forefront. had Black In fact, people History Week, had been strugthen it became a Month, but gling continuthey gave us ously since February, the slavery, but shortest nothing was remonth of the ally changing. year!” Malcolm X came on the scene, he was assassinated. Martin Luther King came on the scene, he was assassinated. The Black Panther Party emerged as a result of this. Malcolm X was killed in 1965, and the BPP emerged one year later. We even had our co-founder, Huey P Newton, being a bodyguard for Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X’s widow.” I mention the recent riots in London, and the way the people involved in them were denounced throughout the English media as ‘violent animals’. Were the Black Panthers demonised in a similar way? “Of course!” King emphatically replies. “We had Emory Douglas doing our artwork, but the police would also draw posters, in the same style as ours, to try and portray us as violent. They would say that we started all the confrontations but, conversely, it was the police shooting in on the Black Panther Party. Why did they do that? Because we were raising the consciousness of the people. We said that if racists or if the KKK attack you, then you should defend yourself. You don’t need any law to have the right to defend yourself. But our biggest self-defence were the survival programmes.”

For many people studying the history of revolutionary movements, the Black Panthers have become a symbol of the “ideal” organisation. Through their survival programs, the Panthers provided local communities with the clothes, breakfasts, housing and education that they either couldn’t afford, or weren’t receiving elsewhere. But King seems intent on emphasising the naivety of relying purely on organisations for a way forward. “I did become a member of the Black Panther Party,” he tells us, “but, more than that, it was a struggle that I was joining. This is what we really need; a constant struggle of people. It goes beyond organisations. Because sometimes, when organisations de-activate, people also de-activate. That is why I am emphasising the importance of the people! People say that someone should re-start the Black Panther Party, but you can’t re-invent the wheel. You can, however, make the wheel better! The Black Panthers don’t have a monopoly on what you should do; maybe young people here can take what they see as the best parts of what we did, and apply it to their own situation. And not just us, but any organisation that you think did something good.” Perhaps there is a sense of frustration at people’s tendencies to focus solely on the achievements of the BPP, rather than the people behind it. Or perhaps this is a recognition of a system similar in its foundations, but ever-changing in its methods of oppression, and a need for a response that can challenge it in any context. Of course, there is no use looking back to the past without using it to inform your actions in the future. So, I ask King, how has the movement developed since the Black Panthers were established.

A short history of the Black Panther Party 1966

1967 1969

1971

Founded in Oakland, California, by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. Set forth a doctrine calling for the protection of African American neighbourhoods from police brutality. March on the California State Capitol in Sacramento in protest of a selective ban on weapons. Release the Ten-Point Program, calling for "Land, Bread, Housing, Education, Clothing, Justice and Peace", among other demands. The Black Panther Party splits in violent disarray.

LSE’s Anti-Racism Officer on the im

Writer Sherelle Davids LSE

October in the UK marks the month of Black History, a month which is supposed to be a time when we emphasise the importance of black participation and experience throughout history. Ever since I can remember, Black History Month has been a time when we discuss the lives of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks and other famous black icons throughout history. While there is much that can be criticised, it was the one and only time I got to learn about history that was remotely relevant to me. While history taught in the British educa-

tion system is Eurocentric, Black History Month is a time when the system is pressured to step outside of that small box. Figures such as Morgan Freeman have criticised Black History Month in the past as it is seen as relegating fundamental parts of history to one month and therefore making it subservient to the history of the dominant culture, White History. Despite agreeing on one level, I disagree that Black History Month is the cause of the subservience. The reason why Black History is pushed aside in our society and in our education system is rooted in racism. Criticising people who make an eﬀort within the month is not helpful and, more importantly, inaccurate. A month dedicated to Black History, if done correctly, can counteract the neglect

LONDON STUDENT VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2

ugh the Lens of Robert Hillary King statements like ‘We want our country back!’ They would probably rather assassinate the guy!” What about Troy Davis, the man recently executed at Georgia Diagnostic and Statistics prison, after spending 22 years on ‘death row’. “There was not enough evidence and too much doubt for this man to be executed,” says King. “People say that this was legal, and therefore correct. I tell people that it was completely legal to own a slave! It is not until people took a stand against legalised slavery, from a position that it was morally reprehensible, that we achieved

King spent 29 years in solitary confinement. Photo credit: www.angola3.org

“I think things have regressed,” he replies. “Since 1966, perhaps there have been individual successes in race relations. But institutional racism still exists. The system that was built on racism still exists. In the US, you take privilege from your skin colour. 45 years ago, the prison population was 350,000, if that. Now, we have over two million, as well as another four million on indirect probation. So, have things progressed? No, they have worsened. There might be more black people in politics, there might even be a, quote, black President. But he just happens to be a black man; first of all, he is a politician, and he is an American: an American

politician. If you take an oath into a system built on racism, they will not allow you to deviate from that. People are saying that having a black President means that racism doesn’t exist anymore! Well, you still have a huge amount of people who didn’t vote for Obama.

it faces within the education system. It’s a time when the contribution of black people to our society should not just be taught, but celebrated.

used as an excuse to forget about black history for the other 11 months of the year. It should act as an opportunity to ﬁght for having black history incorporated into our education system. There is no reason we should not politicise Black History Month and use it to campaign to get black history into the curriculum and regarded as important as European history.

It was legal to kill Troy Davis. It was legal to hold me in prison for 31 years, 29 of them in solitary confinement, but morally it was reprehensible. That’s why we need to change the mind-set, to show people that just because something is legal, it doesn’t mean it is correct, or something deified by God.

The Republicans are making

mportance of Black History Month

Although I am an advocate of the month, I do not think it is perfect in its current form. The month o4en focuses on men and has a habit of modifying radicals and focusing on black people post-slavery, things which need to change in order to stop Black History Month being repetitive and irrelevant. If Black History Month was to fade away, what opportunity would black people in the UK have to learn about their past? Black History Month came as there was no space for it in the curriculum. Until that issue is addressed, it must always remain.

Black History Month should not be

The fact that we still need to have a month where we highlight Black History is not the cause of its inferiority; we have a responsibility to our black children to keep Black History Month going. It takes the place of something our education system is not providing and it needs to continue ﬁlling that gap until the racism that is entrenched in our education system is abolished.

anything. I’m not saying slavery disappeared; indeed, it reversed itself and came back in the form of a prison. People seem to think legality and morality are friends; in the courthouse, they are not. It was legal to kill Troy Davis. It was legal to hold me in prison for 31 years, 29 of them in solitary confinement, but morally it was reprehensible. That’s why we need to change the mind-set, to show people that just because something is legal, it doesn’t mean it is correct, or something deified by God. This is what America is constructed on; a legalism that is completely void

of morality.” Who are Robert King’s role models? People like Harriet Tubman, Assata Shakur, and his grandmother, he tells us. “It wasn’t until I was five or six years old that I realised that this woman bringing me up was actually my grandmother, not my mother. She didn’t have an education. She worked for a nickel a day cutting sugar cane... getting handme-downs and left-over food. But she worked so that we ate. She’s my hero.”

Berlin, Germany WRITER

Paul Sharratt

After two years of a bachelor's degree in German at KCL, a day and a half of frantic packing, and an hour and forty five minute flight, exhaustion and exhilaration were my two main feelings after finally arriving in Berlin. I'm here to study at Humboldt University for my ERASMUS year and so far it's been great. We, my friend Nick and I, landed at around nine o'clock last Saturday night. Almost as soon as our bags hit the floor of our friend's flat, we headed out into the city for a couple of drinks. The quiet first evening we'd planned predictably and rapidly became a night involving a birthday party for someone called Dominik, vodka mixed with lemon Sherbert, a pitchblack stroll around a Volkspark (it seemed like a good idea at the time), bottles of beer for half a Euro and the best 4am kebab I've ever tasted. Sunday morning, however, wasn't pleasant. We stayed with Ollie, our mutual friend, in Frankfurter Tor for a few nights whilst we searched for a more permanent place. Finding a flat in Berlin is much easier than it is in London. Student flat sharing sites like wggesucht.de are really easy to use and are updated constantly. Though German bureaucracy online and off can be bewildering. Having waited for two hours to register with the police, it took less than three minutes for a friend to fill out the forms and be officially acknowledged as a resident in Germany. Nick and I are currently staying not far from Alexanderplatz in a flat we found online. Our current, and thankfully only temporary, landlord seems slightly mad but I'm sure it's just a matter of cultural differences. I'm sure we'll get used to paying five cents per wash, no key to the lock on the toilet door (to prevent the lock from breaking), and paying four Euros for every night that Nick's girlfriend is here. There's a lot I don't miss about London: TFL, the EDL, UCL. It's particularly refreshing to not see a coffee chain shop on every street corner. You can forget your baristas and cancel your loyalty card. It's much more fun to get to know the random Turkish guy who can't remember the last time he cleaned the coffee pot and practise your German. There's a real corner shop culture in Berlin that means you can buy a beer for fifty cents and sit outside chatting away for as long as you like and nothing need disturb you except your own bladder. The problem is that all that beer, having been swallowed and so on, has eventually got to go somewhere and public toilets are not readily available in Berlin. There's a lot about Berlin I like (too much to fit in here): the architecture in the East, the kebabs, the random eccentric characters who flash past on bicycles (everyone has a bike here), that the history of this place is so unavoidable and that the Berliners keep it that way, but mostly I like just being here. There's an old idiom that says that 'first impressions are the most lasting', I hope and expect that I'll be just as thrilled to be here in twelve months time.

University of Londo VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2 LONDON STUDENT

Madrid, Spain WRITER

Taym Saleh

Having spent four weeks in Madrid, I have seen enough to feel familiar with the place, but too little for those impressions to be truly accurate. I know well Madrid in the sun, but not in the rain. I have seen the avenues flanked by verdant trees, not yet by bare, cold husks. Still, I now have the same things to expect when I look out through my bedroom window every day, overlooking busy crossroads in the Argüelles district of the city – pedestrians waiting and crossing, lorries at night unloading wares into nearby shops, the same beggar hobbling in the sun between cars stopped by the traffic lights. Most parts of Madrid maintain a simple sort of majesty with long, straight avenues and boulevards, shaded by leaves and branches, and formed by stone-faced buildings with small balconies and small, almost shy, adornments around their windows. With these, it is not hard to make a city seem stately and dignified. Indeed, one of their effects is to make many of its parts seem rather similar. In this

Turin, Italy WRITER Katherine Devine

Going abroad for an entire year is a daunting prospect, it is especially daunting when you know full well that your language skills, though impressive for a holiday, are embarrassingly lacking in terms of attending lectures and sitting exams in a foreign tongue. The fact that it takes me about half an hour to construct ‘is it ok if a sit here’ does not bode well for the first semesters timetable of Plato and Kant, but I’m trying not to think about that. Primarily I am concerning myself with getting there, having a roof over my head and somehow, a bank account. These logistical preoccupations, particularly the latter, have left me in an information-addled stupor, staring blankly at a

Strasbourg, France WRITER Katarzyna Lasinska

The forecast for tomorrow is waking up at 4 in the morning, a 12 hour drive including an hour

respect, Madrid differs from London, which to my mind only has Kingsway, and perhaps Piccadilly too, (Regent Street is too grandiose for this category) as a street that resembles this continental model of thoroughfare. London, not as pretty as Madrid to my mind, has in its narrower, windier roads more diversity, for its buildings more transparently reflect their origins and purposes. None of this, though, detracts from the nonchalance of much of Spanish life. When, for example, one goes out in the evening, it is perfectly possible to drink only a little, and sit for a while with friends in a relaxed manner until 3 o’clock in the morning. There is none of the steely determination to drink as much as quickly as possible. Rather than being a fairly firmly delineated activity, “going out” at night here is little different from going out at any time of day. At midnight I have seen in tapas bars among the beer-consuming youth numerous middle-aged people sipping wine, just as they might meet for coffee in the afternoon. Only a little earlier, children could conceivably be seen running around in the small squares where their parents are dining. In this sense, there is a real society to be seen after dark in the streets and squares, on the terraces and in the bars, a community collectively

doing, well, not very much. My university’s campus quickly showed itself to be different, in substance and spirit, from that of King’s College London. The most striking difference is the rather abundant, and perhaps ostentatious, amount of political graffiti. Complutense seems to positively burst with messages and messengers that seek to express anger with the way things are, and sometimes to suggest remedies or courses of action. The anarcho-syndicalist CNT advises readers: “Don’t vote – organise yourselves and fight!” “All”, as far as the Young Communists’ Collectives are concerned, is “for the working class”. Apparently, “the coming revolution be feminist!” On my first visit to the campus, I was mildly taken aback: “Goodness, someone seems to have left a little graffiti on that wall”. Now, I eat and drink in a cafeteria fully festooned with quite elaborate artistic endeavours that tell me that the police should, at best, be treated with a stand-offish reserve and other similar pieces of advice as if they were no different from the large banners depicting Italian men drinking coffee and playing cards that feature in Caffé Nero. Each faculty is housed in its own building. Within each one there is a cafeteria, a library and a bookshop regarding the subjects taught there. This is of course very convenient

and practical, but it does rather dull any sense of collective campuswide camaraderie. The main campus, Ciudad Universitaria – “University City” – is nearly just that. It is not just a rather generously sized building like Strand Campus in King’s, but something as large as any district in Madrid, cut through by wide roads with heavy traffic. Since there are only faculty buildings, which are quite far apart, out in the open there are only paths and trees that shelter them, people walking between a building and, most likely, the metro station that the campus has all to itself. Everyone walks somewhere, nobody sits, and the large open spaces only expose us to the full heat. It is a shame that there is little resembling the lazy mixing of people that fills a vacuum, and makes places pleasant. The last thing I would like to remark upon is a small-looking cinema near the centre of Madrid. It is of a scheme called “filmoteca”, which is subsidised by the government, and it shows foreign and old films in a plush setting, with a lovely 1920s faux-palatial foyer, and sells tickets for EUR2.50, or 2.00 for students. It is to me very civilised indeed that such a place exists with the active support of the government in times when so much strain is put on its budget. It is things like this that make one affectionate towards a place.

tab-heavy computer screen, wishing heartily that we were in the Eurozone (to hell with the economic implications!). It seems, the difference between the weighty indomitable pound and the flashy new kid on the block, is £20 every time you transfer money over, £20 pounds extra on my rent! In all honesty, this rent rant could be academic. My securing of a flat in Turin consisted of a string of emails (in shocking Italian) to a man I’d never met or heard of, which resulted in a bank transfer of 500euros. I haven’t signed anything, I haven’t seen the property, and quite frankly, it would hardly be surprising if what I’d actually paid £425 for, was not a rustic piedmont abode, with shutters and balconies and tiled floors, but a camp bed in some mafiosa’s cellar. The only thing that stops me from resigning myself to the life of a hostage fed on pizza crusts, is that I have actually spoken (on FB chat) to one of my supposed housemates. He is, undoubtedly, a lovely man

but, and this brings me to my next concern, he, and everyone else in a Turin under the age of 25, is Spanish! I like I can envisage Spanish people, that inevitable don’t get me moment when wrong, and I am spoken to when I found in a lecture out that two of and have no my four houseclue what on mates would be from Spain, I earth I am was pleased. supposed to This was before respond, I had joined the having to facebook group make that and realised that decision the Spanish are between a conducting a hilariously covert invasion of northern Italy wrong answer, through the and the guise of the floundering Socrates profish look. gramme. Every post of the ‘Erasmus Torino’

page is either in Spanish or written ‘for the Spanish people:’Now, my Italian is bad, but my Spanish is non existent! By the time I return to the UK it now seems likely I will have to change my degree language. I have two weeks before I board that plane to the country where people habitually sleep in the day time, and the green cross code is blasphemous ( didn’t you know that as long as there’s a crucifix somewhere in the care, road rules a superfluous). I am scared and excited, about a 60/40 split at the moment, and can envisage that inevitable moment when I am spoken to in a lecture and have no clue what on earth I am supposed to respond, having to make that decision between a hilariously wrong answer, and the floundering fish look. Even though, there will be these moments of intense embarrassment I am lucky to be going, and everyone has told me I will have an awesome time, they can’t all be wrong.

on a ferry, with heavy traffic jams and slow driving behind trucks. I can hardly wait! Tomorrow sets the date for my arrival in one of the European Capitals – Strasbourg, France! Home of the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights and the plenary sessions of the European Parliament. I’m going to be spending my Erasmus year studying French law, in French. I’m not quite sure what I’m getting myself into this time around, so bear with me and

you’ll see for yourself! *** I’m here. I arrived. I survived. So... what now? I pulled my handbag tighter onto my shoulder for moral support, took a deep breath, and entered the reception of my French halls of residence for the first time. I glanced around and saw a couple of lost looking students, they must be Erasmus too! I instantly felt better. It was not until I stepped closer that my heart sank... they were speaking French

to the receptionist, and perfectly too! I felt the panic rise up in my chest. Suddenly all the French I’ve been learning these long years just evaporated into thin air. I was up. I mumbled something incomprehensible. They just stared at me. Oh no, oh no, what now? I stuttered “Erasmus” and “room” and they seemed to get the picture. Finally I could relax! Or so I thought.. I watched with horror as the receptionist stuffed a form into

on students abroad

LONDON STUDENT VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2

Tehran, Iran WRITER Amy Fehilly

Culture Capital Picture: Alireza S. Nejad

my hand! I guess those mock ones we did in high school sure would come in handy now.. After many hesitations and cross outs, praying that a Morse Code crack wouldn’t be necessary to decipher what I’d written, I finally handed the form back to the receptionist and received my key. Success. I opened the door to my room and found a tiny space, big enough for perhaps a small being from the animal kingdom, such as a mouse maybe, and a view on the trashcans. Fantastic. Well, not all is lost. At least I have my own bathroom! But alas, the sink is blocked.

And this is before I even mention that my fridge doesn’t work. I’m cursed, I’m sure of it. But perhaps the worst of it all I was yet to discover. I found to my dismay upon arriving at the halls of residence that there is no WiFi connection. In fact, there seemed to be no connection at all. Not only do I have to purchase an RJ45 cable or some other wirey mayhem but in order to demand a slow internet connection costing me a hefty and disproportionate sum a month (alright, you caught me, it’s not that much), I need to connect to a

website. Come again? How on Earth am I supposed to go online without internet? I’m sorry, but am I the only one confused here? I posed this very serious query to the Administration Office after 10 hours of waiting, waving around my newly acquired pink slip with all the instructions. The woman behind the counter was very French, and so, naturally, didn’t understand a word of what I was saying. She called over her barelyEnglish-speaking colleague who announced in a proud voice that in order to get internet in my room I had to visit thisdoesntmake-

sense.com. I left of course, with that feeling you get when you know you haven’t finished any of your errands for the day. In the end, I took to the WiFi connection at McDonald’s (thank goodness for Happy Meals!) after an eternity and half of clicking “J’ accepte,” the terms and conditions, which resulted in about 1500 “Technical difficulties” pop-ups. Fantastic. It’s now been 72 hours past the 48 hour deadline for setting up the internet in my room, and yet, incredulously, I’m still in McDonald’s. So where’s that Happy Meal?

As the start of a new academic year begins, thousands of students start or return to their studies at universities all over England. However this is not the case worldwide. As we continue to increase our knowledge and experience university life, there are thousands of youth in Iran who are systematically denied access to higher education by discriminatory and oppressive practices of their government. The situation in Iran today is that many young individuals with great potential and high aspirations are denied the opportunity to pursue higher education. They are barred from universities and institutions of higher learning because they have political views, social affiliations or religious convictions rejected by the Islamic Republic. This includes student activists, women's rights activists, human rights defenders and members of ethnic and religious minorities. There is a clear parallel to affairs in our own country. A hot topic in the UK is the question of university education: whether it's a right or a privilege, and how it can be made accessible to all people regardless of their background. Iran is moving in decidedly the opposite direction by making higher education inaccessible to a whole part of society. Can you imagine a group of people in Britain being told that they were not permi5ed to pursue university education? In our diverse student communities in London, it would be ridiculous if a whole group of students were to disappear based on their beliefs or convictions. Yet this is exactly what is happening today in Iran. One such group is the Bahá'í community, Iran's largest religious minority. The treatment of the Bahá'ís is one of the starkest examples of this injustice in Iran. For years the Bahá'ís have been systematically prevented from entering universities by government policies. Their own informal initiative to provide higher education, the Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education, has been on the receiving end of harassment, raids and arrests. Eleven Bahá'í educationalists are now facing charges of conspiracy against Iran's national security simply for teaching their students. Higher education plays an essential role in broadening the minds of young men and women as individuals, as well as equipping them to contribute to the development of their country and of society. The Bahá'í community is commi5ed to the "advancement and education of all the peoples and kindreds of the earth". The recent activities in Iran simultaneously prevents Bahá'ís from fulfilling their potential, but also holds the entire country back by keeping thousands of talented individuals from entering university. As the youth of Iran urgently need our support, a campaign called CAN YOU SOLVE THIS? calls on us to meet our responsibility as members of a global community and ensure the right to higher education is respected in Iran. Through raising public awareness and enlisting your support for Iranian students, CAN YOU SOLVE THIS? demands an end to the unjust and oppressive practices of the Islamic Republic. Please visit the website and show your support; h5p://can-you-solve-this.org/uk/

LONDON STUDENT VOLUME 32 ISSUE2

COMMUNITY

The Community team put together the best London pilgrimages for those short on time and money - page 22

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Google to Open Tech Startup Base in London’s Silicon Roundabout. See our coverage - page 23

Ahmad Bakhiet

Victoria Yates

ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDITOR

COMMUNITY EDITOR

SCIENCE

Enjoying the late summer? Check out our feature on whether big brands help us enjoy festivals! - page 25

Rachel Mundy Harriet Jarle*

SCIENCE EDITORS

Charity Spotlight: Bringing Fusion to London

Writer Victoria Yates Community Editor

ACADEMIA

Has the internet made textbooks a relic of the past? Exploring the revolution of education - page 26

Valeriya Nefyodova ACADEMIA EDITOR

PSYCHOLOGY

Prone to the “I’ll never get it all done” attitude? See Saul’s study skills advice - page 27

Saul Hillman

PSYCHOLOGIST IN RESIDENCE

Fusion@London launch event, 31st October at Cafe de Paris

In conversation with Fusion@London’s President Angela Udemba

We met in September when the weather was still warm but not ‘climate-change-abnormally’ so. As I wandered around the Imperial Campus in dire search of the given landmarks I began to soak up the odd aura of studiousness pervading the site and its pre-term inhabitants. I have been on many of the UoL campuses in my time (somewhere having fallen prey to a collect-em-all pa6ern) but this was somehow a world apart. At the foot of this scientiﬁc summit philosophy felt a shameful three years of whimsy, and my minimal memory of separate science GCSE a deplorable waste of good, solid knowledge. Luckily, Angela Udemba, the President of Fusion, is one of the most welcoming people I’ve met in London, and even graciously side-swiped my awe, “well at least in science there are right answers, in philosophy… I don’t think I could do it”. Spend ﬁve minutes with this woman and you’ll know that’s most likely fallacious, but it sure made me feel be6er, until I realized that I was si6ing down to chat with an unassuming, good-natured powerhouse. Our Saturday rendezvous was the equivalent to a tea break in A lot of sociUdemba’s overeties have their packed schedown smaller ule. She was in events but the middle of a nothing really weekend of lab infuses loads of work, catching other societies up on her reand especially search follownothing inteing a week grates other overtaken by universities the heavy burden of doctoral level education and organizing a London-wide event (of which we had met to talk). A5er an obscene number of required card-swipes we se6led in the break room of the chemistry building to get down to the ma6er at hand, her pet project Fusion@London.

Born in York seven years ago, Fusion is a society in the university that brings together the students with a ﬂair for fashion, art, dance, or choreography into three nights of entertainment, all to raise money for a good cause. Udemba ﬁrst came across the concept in her own studies at York, and was hooked, not leaving it long a5er her southward migration to bring Fusion to the capital with her. Her reasons were simple “because there’s nothing like it and that’s one of my main reasons… when I came to Imperial and I looked to join societies I assumed

there must be something like Fusion because it’s London. I looked around and there was nothing… a lot of societies have their own smaller events but nothing really infuses loads of other societies and especially nothing integrates other universities”. Although spawned from its northern ancestor, London’s Fusion is in itself a very different event, “London Fusion fuses three different universities, that’s the one major difference, whereas York was just York… it’s a lot bigger. We’re looking to book

headline acts, celebrity artists, comperes… although we’re still focused on showcasing student talent; most of our designers come from London College of Fashion, Central Saint Martin’s so in that sense we’ve also involved those two universities. Whereas in York they showcase mostly High Street fashion stores, like Hugo Boss, Mango, River Island, places like that”. As an outsider looking in the idea of managing to control a team of 18 from three diﬀerent universities, and wrangle sponsorship, venues, celebrity acts, and a plethora of other

Buy your tickets now, see fusionatlondon.com for more information And indeed Udemba has been chipping away at the to-do list since before the ice had thawed for the year when she ﬁrst approached the Deputy Pesident of Imperial SU and began mailing out application forms for her team, “I’ve been working since February but the team didn’t really start until the beginning of June, we still have a lot to do”. The Fusion@London project hopes to involve many more students than simply those at the helm, the entire

Fusion President Angela Udemba. Photo courtesy of Angela Udemba

tasks it seems a mammoth if not impossible challenge, “yes (she laughed), it’s on a lot bigger scale than York and also in York it was easier because it’s a campus uni so you see everyone around anyway and you tend to work with your friends. But involving three universities and a commi6ee from all those universities you have to in some ways take more of a business or formal approach coordinating meetings. You have to be really organized. There’s a lot to be done!”

concept being rooted in participation, and I couldn’t help but wonder how many would be in this li6le army by the end. “Going by what you have in York they have about 150 maybe slightly less than that and that’s including other societies, so I’m hoping to go for that same number in London. Especially with three universities involved I want to give as many people a chance as possible. And in terms of societies… it goes on and on! But because there are so many societies we are going to

merge them into official Fusion teams and mix the societies together like ACS in King’s would have to join ACS in Imperial for example, so it’s Halloween fusion” she laughs. actually turned And is this someout to be one thing she hopes will of the cheap- continue beyond this est dates to year? “I hope so… book a venue the whole point is to so it was an make this year very easy option to exciting and to get go for! all the university students from the different universities to make friends, to stop focusing on the competition and work to bring this one big show to London every year”. The power of the triumvirate heavy weights in the now Imperial free UoL could certainly do with a smattering of intercollegiate cooperation, if only for the one night. I must admit that on first learning of the Fusion’s launch event I was uncannily excited, not only does it fall on Halloween a childhood favourite that is a bit neglected on this side of the Atlantic, but it affords the chance to wonder at the bedecked innards of the landmark Café de Paris. “We wanted to have our first event around October time which is when freshers are still new and are looking to get involved, and it made sense to call it a launch event. Halloween actually turned out to be one of the cheapest dates to book a venue so it was an easy option to go for! We’ve gone for a sort of fun, classical theme; you just have to put on a mask, look funky, turn up, and don’t have to worry so much about what you’re wearing. We’ve got some amazing acts for then lined up: Sunday Girl… she’ll be DJing; Clement Marfo and the Frontline; The Lorelles; Apollo 5; The Wacktitioners, so it’s hopefully going to be one of the best Halloween parties around at one of the best venues in London”. And, I hastened to add, at a good price (£9 for students), “yeah, Continued on page 22

VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2 LONDON STUDENT

A night out to save lives: Cancer Research UK on what Fusion@London means to their work Writer Victoria Yates Community Editor

London Student: Fusion London’s target is to raise £50,000 for Cancer Research UK, what sort of difference can that sort of money make to the charity and its work? Natalie Brownless, CRUK: It’s fantastic to have the support of Fusion@London. It’s such an exciting and unique event and we’re really pleased to be involved with the first one of its kind for London. The money raised from Fusion will help Most people to make a big differare not aware ence in ge5ing us that we rethat one step closer to ceive no beating cancer. government Cancer Research UK funding for our research funds scientists who work to understand so without our support- why cancer starts, ers we simply grows and spreads. But what’s important wouldn’t is that our work save lives doesn’t stop there. We take our learnings from the lab right to the patient’s bedside and work to diagnose, treat and prevent cancer. What’s more, we are the only charity with the knowledge and expertise to tackle all 200 types of cancer. Although cancer affects many people, the picture is ge5ing so much be5er today. Thanks to research we know more about cancer and how to treat it than ever before. Compared

with 40 years ago, cancer survival rates have doubled, and it’s our doctors, scientists and nurses that have been at the heart of this progress. Obviously the Charity’s involvement in Fusion stems from the President (Angela Udemba’s) own experience having her PhD funded by your organization, how important is this sponsorship scheme? Do a lot of students get funded by Cancer Research? We fund over 4000 doctors, nurses and scientists who look into all aspects of cancer research, from ways to prevent and diagnose through to ﬁnding new and eﬀective treatments. We fund some of the best scientists in the world, but we are also commi5ed to funding the next generation of researchers. We have grants available for people such as Angela to help start their career in research. What is the importance of these small individual/group led fundraisers in raising money and awareness for cancer research? Most people are not aware that we receive no government funding for our research so without our supporters we simply wouldn’t save

Photo courtesy of Cancer Research UK

lives. With the help of the Fusion Commi5ee and other fundraising groups across the country raising money, we are able to fund the best possible research which is going to make the biggest impact. Over 90% of our donations are for £10 or less and therefore we rely on a lot of people giving us a relatively small donation to be able to continue our life-saving work to beat cancer. Students are well known for being low on money and therefore picky about where they spend it, what would you say to convince them to go out and buy a ticket for the Fusion event? I would encourage everyone to go and get a ticket for Fusion. It’s going to be a fantastic event and the commi5ee is working very hard to make sure everyone is going to have an amazing time! By buying a ticket, you’ll not only have a great time at Fusion@London but you’ll also be supporting the work of Cancer Research UK and helping to save more lives. Visit cancerresearchuk.org for more information on the work of Cancer Research UK and ways you can help

Charity Spotlight: Bringing Fusion to London Continued from page 21...

compared to what you would normally pay to get in to Café de Paris, it’s a real treat”. Eager to bond over a shared enthusiasm I enquired what Udemba was most excited about for the night, “just ge5ing the cast and the commi5ee together and having some fun, we’ve been working so hard organizing everything that we’ve forgo5en that Fusion is supposed to be fun”. The SATC viewer and occasional Vogue reader within me couldn’t help but wonder aloud if she had her outﬁt ready (as I mentally a5empted a wardrobe catalogue) “I have an idea of what mask I’m going to wear, still looking for the perfect dress –laughs- I’m taking it very seriously!” In all the excitement over the remarkable entertainment Fusion affords, its easy to overlook that at its core it has a golden heart; the event’s whole purpose being to raise money for Cancer Research UK. To question why this was the charity of choice would be a bit of an ignorant faux-pas in a world where one in three people will develop Cancer in their lifetime, but Angela’s involvement was a unique point to me. “My PhD is funded by Cancer Research

UK and I wanted to give something back. Without just deciding on my own I spoke with the commi5ee about what they thought about Cancer Research UK and they all went for it so it was a very easy choice. I mean, I thought we could raise enough that I could cover how much it cost them to put me through a PhD but actually we wouldn’t get anywhere near that much because I realized it cost about £300.000, its quite a scary amount!” Their aims are more modest, hoping to get all told “at least 50 (thousand), and that’s why we need everyone to turn up and support us. That’s the target which is ambitious for the first event but definitely doable”. The team have put a huge amount into Fusion@London, and for Udemba the sacrifices haven’t all been hers alone. As she led me back out the warren of electronic doors she told me that later that day she was going to go wedding dress shopping with her sister, the pleasure evident in her beaming smile, and she herself would be the maidof-honour. I idly asked when the wedding was, “March, just a4er Fusion… originally it was planned for February but it got moved because I’d been like ‘but I won’t be able to a5end!’”

GET INVOLVED!

Fusion@London is looking for models and dancers. They’re oﬀering the chance to work with renowned designers & choreopgraphers and perform as part of the 150 person cast for an audience of 4000. Auditions will be held on the 17th&20th of October at Imperial and during the week of the 17th at Kings College. See www.fusionatlondon.com for all details or email info@fusionatlondon.com

Short on money and low on time On being a London pilgrim

Despite the sultry summer atmosphere engulfing London the holidays are now a shadowed memory where answering the question “so what did you do this summer?” seems like being asked to recite a year 7 poem. That wad of cash your parents tenderly handed you as you entered the vibrant halls bedlam is a memory of tequila shots and hangovers. By now most of you will have battled the admin staff, the landlord, the rest of London heaving down on the bar staff, and even the government’s wallet as you slide back into student hood with such ease as to replicate a NASA landing. From now on, at least if you have a shred of academic intent, your time won’t be as much your own, and your money (assuming the government has deigned to send it to you at this point) won’t really get far past Tescos, Rymans, and Tfl before you might as well hand out monopoly notes for all the substance your debit card has. Vacational whimsy to really see London this year, to finally get to that West-End Show, to get that student art pass, to make that trip to the li5le-known nook that is keenly linked to your favourite free-time hobby, will most likely go the way of a New Year’s resolution; noble intent but 5 pounds heavier. But, before you Bridget Jones it and just unpack the oversized hoodie that’s, at your best, a couple sizes too big, we at Community beseech you to have just a li5le bit of faith. From keen experience “I don’t have time” normally becomes “I’ve just wasted an hour on facebook” without ever arousing your full realization. When you find yourself facebook stalking the friend of a friend, pause for a moment to really assess your a4ernoon (but perhaps not your life or the power of social media). If just once in a year you manage to break with your essay rewrite or your idle work avoidance it will be sorely worth it. To help you squash the lethargic objections we have compiled a selection of the most worthwhile pilgrimages to pack into a study break. If you can make it, we promise it’ll be worth it. To quote the indelible Dr.Seuss “Oh the places you’ll go”.

1/5

I do bite my thumb, Sir [COMMUNITY]

It would be a travesty to spend time in London without experiencing the glory of the Globe Theatre. The theatrical season runs from April-October (it is open air after all) and offers standing tickets for the bargain price of £5. Standing for three hours may be trying but it’s the only way to get all the blood and gore of the production up-close. In its off season there are a selection of lectures/sympsia/readings to attend, not forgetting the year round museum and the marvellous pub which is as cosyily suitable to a summer libation as a snowy winter’s night out. Nearest tube: Mansion House shakespearesglobe.com

2/5

In the mean-time [SCIENCE &TECH]

If I was undertaking a pilgrimage to London, I would head straight for the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. With it's planetarium for the astronomers, refracting telescope for the engineers, meridian line for the geologists and surrounding park for the botanists, it covers almost every aspect of geek-dom. The building itself was designed by Christopher Wren and it often houses art exhibitions- so it would even keep your nonscience friends happy. Nearest Tube: Greenwich/ Cutty Sark nmm.ac.uk/places/royal-observatory

3/5

The Doctor will see you now

[PSYCHOLOGY]

In our modern pop culture you would be hard pressed to find someone who didn’t quickly associate psychology with its most famous proponent, Freud, and his unique approach to all things sexual. The Freud Museum in Hampstead was the family’s home from 1938 until 1982. Here you will find thousands of antiquities, exhibits to his work (and that of his pioneering pscyhoanalyst daughter), as well as the most famous couch in academia; part of Freud’s study which has been preserved in all its original glory. Nearest tube: Finchley Road/Swiss Cottage freud.org.uk

4/5

Dreams of the Valley? [ENTREPREUNERSHIP]

This coming weekend will host one of the highlight student technology competitions of the year. The London SVc2UK Appathon provides students the opportunity to collaborate with industry experts from Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple and more! In addition to a great experience, the prize available to the winning team is one of the most generous hosted for a student technology competition, the chance to win a trip to Silicon Valley! Best of all you don't need any prior coding experience to take part. When: 8th and 9th October. Where: Skills Matter 116-120 Goswell Road, City of London EC1V 7DP 020 7183 9040

5/5 Shhh

[ACADEMIA]

Can I interest you in a book? Interior of the British Library flickr.com/SteveCadman

Definitely visit The British Library, the national library of the UK, and explore the world’s knowledge from medieval times to the present day. The collections include more that 150 million items from ancient manuscripts to the latest magazines, 3 million of sound recordings and much more. Be it arts or science, humanities or any other subject, you’ll definitely find something that matches your character and mood. Nearest Tube: Kings Cross/Euston/Euston Sq bl.uk/

Research in Brief Babies feel pain inutero UCL [NEUROSCIENCE]

Researchers have revealed that babies distinguish between pain and touch, after only 35 weeks in utero – just before they’re born. An EEG was used to map the brain’s response to pain, and a gradual change was observed during development. The results, published in Current Biology, suggest that 35 – 37 weeks gestation is a critical time, when essential neural connections are formed across parts of the brain, allowing specific areas to react to different types of stimuli.

Step closer to HIV vaccine IMPERIAL COLLEGE [HEALTH]

HIV kills around 1.8 million people a year worldwide, but research from Imperial College London and Johns Hopkins University offers new hope for producing a vaccine. Normally, leads to the body’s immune system attacking itself, but researchers found that by removing cholesterol from the virus envelope, it becomes unable to damage the immune system. This lab-based research published in the journal Blood suggests damage to the immune system can be prevented.

Sex matters with ‘Man-flu QUEEN MARY [HEALTH]

Astounding research has been published in Blood confirming that ‘man flu’ may well be real. Biological differences as to the number, efficiency, and sensitivity of white blood cells called leukocytes showed that women’s immune systems are superior. On average they have twice as many leukocytes which are more sensitive to bacteria and viruses, and produce less chemicals. This results in milder symptoms and a faster recovery!

Is breast best? QUEEN MARY [HEALTH]

The benefits of breastfeeding young babies include protection from a long list of illnesses and from developing allergies. However, Queen Mary University published results in the British Journal of Dermatology highlighting a need for more research. 51,119 children from 21 different countries were examined for the presence of childhood eczema after they had been weaned. They found no evidence for breast feeding providing a protective effect. This study was part of Phase Two of the ISSAC – the largest epidemiological research project even undertaken.

Chrissie Jones

VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2 LONDON STUDENT

The Science of...SEX

LS_Science Online Tweet of the Week

Writer David Simpson

Over the hot, sizzling, summer months of 201l, many researchers have turned their a5ention to what really does, and does not, go on between the sheets. Researchers from across the pond, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, have put their efforts into understanding why we students are considered such a libidinous bunch. Dr Amanda Holman studied the number of times a student “hooked-up” (engaged in casual sex) over the course of an academic year, focusing on how concern for their reputation affected the students behaviour. Unsurprisingly, the more a student discussed casual sex with their peers the more likely they were to participate in sexual hook-ups. "Students who engage in hook-ups may find their behaviour is encouraged by the belief that the practice is widespread,” the study reported. We also seem to overestimate the prowess of our peers; only 37% of student participants engaged in a sexual hook-up, yet 90% of them assumed the ‘typical’ student had at least one or two casual conquests. Elsewhere, the evolutionary origins of one of the most baffling physiological phenomenon - the female orgasm - led Dr Zeitsch, from the

60 seconds with...

Writer James Lloyd

This issue, in his regular column, James Lloyd speaks to Lewis Dartnell, an astrobiologist at University College LondonThe search for Martian life is gathering pace: Mars has hit the headlines in recent weeks with the discovery of several new sites that may once have harboured life. Lewis is one of the scientists engaged in the hunt for Martian creatures.

LS: ‘Life on Mars’ conjures up images of li(le green men. What kind of life are you looking for?

LD: Any life in our Solar System will be primitive microorganisms like bacteria – bear in mind that the vast majority of all life on Earth is microbial too. LS: What conditions would be needed for life to exist on Mars?

Mythbusting: 'drop a coin from a tall builidng & it could kill a pedistrain...' the unlucky person may feel a sting, but they would live..... all thanks to aerodynamics. Brb, heading to The Shard to get rid of some loose change. 37% of students engage in casual sex. Illustration by Elizabeth Eisner

London Science Festival

University of Queensland, to join forces with Dr Santilla of Finland’s Abo Akedemi University. One theory states that the female orgasm has no adaptive function and, like a man’s non-lactating nipples, is a developmental byproduct. Zeitsch and Santilla surveyed 1,803 pairs of opposite-sex twins and 2,287 pairs of same-sex twins, asking them how o4en and how easily they reached orgasm. The researchers reasoned that the opposite-sex twins should have similar orgasmic function if the origin of the female orgasm is connected to the male’s through evolution. However, the results disputed this: though the same-sex twins did share similar experiences of orgasm, this inheritable trait was lost in the opposite-sex twins. “This does not support the hypothesis that female orgasm is maintained only

as a byproduct,” Zietsch and San5ila concluded. “The evolutionary basis of female orgasm is both important and unknown. Much more work needs to be done.” Rather than fussing over what the “biological function” of female sexual pleasure may or may not be, scientists using MRI scans have shown that stimulating the nipples, vagina, and cervix produces separate, distinct sites of activation in the brain’s sensory cortex. Barry R. Komisaruk from Rutgers University in New Jersey, found that self-stimulation of the nipples activated areas in the brain corresponding to the chest, and also regions representing the genitals. This conﬁrms a neural correlate for the erotic sensation of nipple stimulation in females. Komisaruk concludes that “[his] ﬁndings demonstrate, undeniably, [that] there is a major input to the sensory cortex in response to stimulation of not only the clitoris, but of the vagina and cervix as well.”

LD: The Martian surface is exceedingly cold and dry, and bathed in radiation from space, so any organisms would have to be pre5y hardy and probably buried underground for protection.

diation that streams from outer space. Could life survive these deadly cosmic rays?

LS: Unlike Earth, Mars has no magnetic field to protect it from the ra-

Lewis Dartnell at the geek Calendar Launch party. Image: flickr/geekcalendar

LD: As long as Martian life is deeper than a few metres underground, or else able to repair radiation damage every now and then, the cosmic rays wouldn’t pose too much of a problem. LS: How do you investigate Martian life?

LD: There are a few Mars-like environments on Earth, such as the Dry Valleys region in Antarctica, or the Atacama desert. Life exists in both of these regions, despite the extreme conditions, so I’ve been studying the survival skills from these habitats. LS: What is the ‘ExoMars’ project that you’re involved in? LD: ExoMars-C is a next-generation Mars rover, currently being designed by ESA and NASA, speciﬁcally to look for signs of life on the Martian surface. It will launch in 2018. LS: How do you rate our chances of finding Martian life?

From 19th-26th October - There are numerous events planned in and around London! Check out our favourites like Helen and the Space Rocket (a play about a girl born on the same day as Voyager) and the Festival of the Spoken Nerd.

Society in ruin

Read Joshua Howgogo’s fantastic blog every fortnight and see an extract here:

While most students were away for the summer, science got complicated. The government published a review saying that the UK needs an independent body to police the integrity of its research. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Ccouncil (EPSRC), which funds research and training in universities, dished out huge cuts in funding for physical science research. Then, the social media networks erupted in a firestorm over claims that the publishers of scientific journal are creating a knowledge monopoly, which only the well-off can access... Continued at london-student.net

LD: Maybe ExoMars-C won’t ﬁnd conclusive evidence, but I’m conﬁdent that if Mars was ever alive, we’ll have found signs of it within my lifetime.

LS: And elsewhere in the universe?

LD: Astronomers are also using space telescopes to find Earth-like planets in our galaxy. If some of these flaunt an oxygen-rich atmosphere, we may find life there.

LS: We’ve still not sent any humans to Mars. Would you like to see this happen?

LD: I’d like to see the ﬁrst human mission to Mars, yes, but I certainly don’t want to be one of the astronauts crammed into the spacecra4 for two years…!

LS: Finally, if you could create a Martian, what would he look like? Actually, in a couple of hundred years we may well have colonized Mars and started the process of terraforming, (altering its atmosphere and climate to become more Earthlike). In which case, a Martian would be just like looking in the mirror!

LONDON STUDENT VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2

Sexism- are you hostile or benevolent? Writer Sophie Constantinou

Findings of a recent study into aggressive male ﬂirting strategies offers new insights into how this behaviour is maintained, yet the public and media response has almost entirely missed the point. The research, conducted by Dr. Jeffrey Hall and Dr. Melanie Canterberry of Kansas University, has shed light on the kinds of men who admit to using an aggressive game plan when trying to ‘pick up’ women. It also characterised the kinds of women who enjoy being approached in this way. The principles of US author Neil Strauss’ book The Game formed the basis of the study. It contains a set of ‘Rules’ designed to facilitate the onenight stand: compete with other men (to deﬁne yourself as alpha male); isolate your mark (to let her know that you are in control); then tease her and make jokes at her expense. Despite the book’s wide condemnation as misogynistic, it was hugely popular, remaining in the New York Times Bestseller List for two months and later being transformed into a reality show called The Pickup Artist. The researchers initially surveyed 363 university students, later studying the responses of 850 online participants in a US-wide questionnaire. It was found that men who are more open to the idea of a one-night stand are more likely to use aggressive courtship strategies such as these, and women to respond to them. “Essentially, in using dominant behaviour to initiate courtship,” writes Dr.

Hall, “men are both signalling their availability for short-term mating and a6empting to identify women who share similar goals.” The researchers also found that sexism plays a key role in the use and success of a pick-up artist’s tactics. Hall and Canterberry looked at the relationship between people termed ‘Hostile Dr. Hall: Sexists’ - gener“men are both ally viewing signalling male dominance their availabilas a good thing ity for shortand looking to term mating put women in and a empttheir place - and ing to identify ‘Benevolent Sexwomen who ists’ - who view share similar women as goals.” “wonderful but vulnerable creatures who need men’s protection.” It was shown that men and women who were either kind of sexist were more likely to use and respond to ‘Game’ tactics. “Why women adopt sexist a6itudes has been a frequent topic of inquiry in past research,” states Dr. Hall, although there is no one unifying theory on why this may be. However, the press and public reaction to the study, appears, to be misinformed, reporting that sexist men and women have been “made for each other”. One UK newspaper even used the study to recommend The Game’s tactics, advising their male readers to “dump the chat-up lines and act like a caveman if you’re a5er a one-night stand”. Popular science bloggers also appear to have missed the point, using the study to

Ba le of the brands Writer Gemma Sharop

Huddling inside a sleeping bag trying to keep the cold out, waking up in a canvas sauna, a wet-wipe wash before queueing for a Portaloo in ankle-deep mud; these things are part of the music festival package that festival-goers are willing to put up with. But what about corporate sponsorship, large banners emblazoned with brand logos and bars selling only one type of lager, are these necessary? The results of a three-year study conducted by researchers

from Bath, Birmingham and Southampton reveal that most festival-goers are unfazed by corporate involvement, and they don’t necessarily a6end for the music. The researchers interviewed revellers at three of the largest festivals in the UK and collected opinions from social networking websites and forums such as eFestivals. The study leader, Dr Andrew Bengry-Howell from the National Centre for Research Methods at the University of Southampton, said: “At most of the large festivals people don’t really care that much about corporate branding, as it is some-

Are big brands ruining music festivals? Harriet Jarlett

Events under the microscope Oxygen by Nick Lane BOOK REVIEW Reviewed by Tarli Morgan

If you read one popular science book in your time at university, or indeed at any other time, this one would suffice. Oxygen covers many areas of science, primarily biology and geology but branches out into fields as diverse as astrophysics. It covers oxygen's role in life, and its interactions with our world, in grand, sweeping detail. Are women becoming more chauvanistic? Charlie Stokes

validate college hook-up culture. “What is much worse,” says Dr. Hall, is that “this caveman talk seems to justify ‘dump the modern examchat-up lines ples of potenand act like a tially violent caveman’ admen through the vice is o5en lens of evolumiscontsrued tion.” It seems evident that the researchers did not want to celebrate the eﬀectiveness of ‘Game’ strategies. “The more subtle story,” says Dr. Hall “is that competitive, isolating, and demeaning pick-up tactics are used or are appealing in the present day, not because of our

cavemen tendencies, but because of mutual participation in a hostile, sexist ideology by both men and women.” Taken with lessons from past research, the study concludes that this pairing-up between sexist men and women might prove a dangerous combination, and can even be associated with date rape. “Several bloggers and journalists dismisses this with a ‘so what’ response,” says Dr. Hall. “It is in the nature of the media to try to sell newspapers, but it is a li6le disconcerting when it comes to promoting strategies that endanger women. Especially when one of the purposes of the article was to show how these strategies endanger women.”

thing that they encounter at many mainstream events and they view it as securing the event.” In stark contrast “ recognisable to some of the brands helped ﬁrst festivals make festivals such as Woodmore mainstock, large stream, more music festivals traditional enare no longer asvironments sociated with a might have hippy counterbeen a bit inculture. Dr Bentimidating.” gry-Howell added, “The presence of recognisable brands at a festival has helped make it seem more accessible to a mainstream audience, who might have found more traditional festival environments a bit intimidating.” Music festivals are clearly lucrative opportunities for large corporations, but the researchers found festivalgoers got a lot out of them too. Dr Bengry-Howell said: “Society has become increasingly individualised but the communal experience of living alongside groups of strangers for a weekend gave many of the interviewees a stronger sense of com-

munity at a festival than they felt when they were at home.” In fact Dr Bengry-Howell argues, this escapism and sense of community might be more important to festival-goers than the chance to see their favourite bands. “Increasingly I think people come to festivals for the whole ‘festival experience’, which involves much more than live music. If it was just about music, I don’t think people would return once they have come face to face with festival toilets.” But some revellers at this year’s Green Man festival in Wales disagreed. Sco6 McKenzie, 25, said: “This may be true of larger festivals like Reading and Leeds or V Festival, but most people at smaller, independent festivals like Green Man are here for the music. The community aspect is fun, but if the line-up was rubbish I wouldn’t be here.” Ellie Phillips, 26, added: “At the end of the day, music festivals are about having a good time. If people feel they can do that without watching all the bands and without feeling like they’re being exploited by the sponsors, then that’s ﬁne.”

The message is supported with theories, data, and anecdotes from scientists, excellently uniting many fields. A problem, however, is that Lane can sometimes trail off into conjecture. Though erudite, it is still conjecture: either his or those of scientists whose theories are not yet commonly accepted. It would be an exaggeration to call this book 'biased', however it is best to read it with a critical mind - some of the ideas can be dubious. Nevertheless, the book is an eyeopening account of one element's role in every facet of our history as organisms and, ultimately, as human beings.

Science of Secrecy EVENT [IMPERIAL COLLEGE] Reviewed by Alexandra Ashford September 13 2011 Admission- Free

‘The Science of Secrecy’ lecture delved deep into the world of encryption and secrecy throughout history, and addressed the future of personal security. Dr. Simon Singh, author of The Code Book, joined Prof. Sir Peter Knight and others to discuss intelligence; from the infamous Enigma Code, to the discovery of the RSA cypher - an algorithm that protects our online privacy. Today, the arrival of quantum computers spell the end of the RSA. The history of Bletchley Park and the most secretive of government departments - GCHQ, were excellently reviewed by Prof. Richard Aldrich and Dr. Martin Knight. Quantum encryption enables the first unbreakable codes and offers real privacy. Will this privacy increase our safety, or will rogue individuals use untraceable communications as a means to terrorist ends? The panel concluded we should look for human error, as this was how the Enigma Code was cracked, and would enable espionage to succeed best in the future..

Science Editors:

Harriet Jarlett is studying an MSc in Science Communication at Imperial College. Rachel Mundy is a'Science Communication' student at Royal Holloway.

VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2 LONDON STUDENT

Education made higher in every aspect: is there a place for an oldstyle textbook learning in future? Writer Julie Jo

The University of London challenges the traditional tutorial teaching method. Its evolving methods of education make learning more eﬀective, innovative and accessible.

The common a6itude towards education is to encourage all-roundedness. This idea is to stand out from the talented masses. University of London provides the best conditions for its students to seize their opportunities. Its methods and a6itudes towards education have adapted, and will continue to do so, to our lives and to suit the fast pace of the busy capital life.

Often it is not enough to simply be present in a lecture and passively listen. Steps are being taken to help students to focus on and think about what is being talked about.

The Vice Chancellor of the University of London, Professor Geoﬀrey Crossick, stated that distribution of knowledge is important. To encourage this, “making knowledge available freely” is the key. There are many established ways to achieve this which largely depend on technology, and as members of the University of London (which is a federal university comprised of nineteen colleges) we share many of these services. He also believes that creative methods of education will give people a ﬂavour of what makes University of London such a special place hence a6racting outsiders and researchers to take interest in our education leading to a circulation of knowledge.

So what comes in the package of the high price tag of university fees? It must be clariﬁed that lectures, seminars (tutorials) and long hours of reading at a library is still the same. However, open lectures and lunchtime lectures are like sprinkles of chocolate in chili con carne to

bring out the kick of the spice. They provide free and voluntary access to talks on a broad range of topics by the experts. The lunch time lectures are an hour of golden opportunity to explore the areas of interest outside your degree as well as boosting the knowledge not covered in course lectures to give you the X-factor. It covers all topics from neuroscience to engineering and literature.

Now, all you freshers are in for a treat! The crème de la crème of University of London education are the podcast and Moodle. Podcast is a system which records lectures (audio or visual) which are uploaded online for students to access at any time. As for Moodle, it uploads online any notes, slides, course updates and homework that are available at all times. A law student at Cambridge University stated, “The occasional out of term lectures are voice recorded but we don’t have anything as snazzy as that.” Furthermore, the University of London has started a new system called the ‘iTunes U’ for the School of Advanced Studies. Through this, lectures and interviews are available to download and so make learning possible on the go on your iPod.

However, a word of warning must be said. Please do not abuse this system and snooze your alarm for the 9am lectures. I have learnt from experience not to fool myself to think ‘why a6end lectures at all?’ Importantly, not all lectures are audio recorded and looking at slide notes alone will not make much sense as they are just short bullet points. It is a system to help you catch up on the odd occasional lecture that you ‘had to’ miss and a perfect tool for revision and recapping. With all these niceties and all the investment, we must ask ourselves, it is working? Is it really improving education or is it all for show? There are mixed results from scientiﬁc research on cognitive eﬀects of computer based learning versus traditional text book learning.

Most students heavily rely on computer and the Internet every day. Photo: hackNY

Under these inconclusive grounds, the effects may be more dependent on students’ individual differences with regards to their preferences and educational history and habits. Therefore, the effects of the different methods of learning may be more due to the social factors than that of the cognitive. Given that most, if not all, students now rely heavily on computers and the internet as sources of information everyday, we can assert that computer based learning is a comfortable, familiar and accessible means of learning.

Some of the key beneﬁts of IT based learning is that it is interactive, allowing information to be processed at a deeper level. O5en it is not enough to simply be present in a lecture and passively listen. Steps are being taken to help students to focus on and think about what is being talked about. A live example of this is the Personal Response System (PRS) used in lectures to gain live response data. It is like using your ask the audience life line on who wants to be a millionaire. The lecturer

WHAT’S ON: Lectures, talks and much more around UoL BE AWARE

What Has The King’s Speech Done to Improve Public Awareness About Stuttering?

Speaker: Professor Peter Howell, UCL Psychology and Language Sciences Marking annual Stammering Awareness day, the lecture will provide the information about what is known about stammering and how it affects language, motor and psychological performance. Time: Tuesday October 25, 1-2pm Place: Darwin Lecture Theatre, UCL

FIND OUT MORE

Ideas Man: The Stranger Notions of Francis Galton

Speaker: Daniel Maier, comedy writer. Find out about some not that wellknown facts about Sir Francis Galton, be ready to explore his odd investigations on insect hearing or better cake slicing. Time: Thursday October 13, 7pm Place: National Portrait Gallery Pre-booking essential via http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson.com

BE SURPRISED

The State of the Nation: Taking Stock

Speaker: Professor Malcolm Grant CBE (UCL President & Provost) Touching on issues of turbulence in higher education funding and policy over last two years and consequences for UCL and other institutions. Time: Tuesday October 11, 13:15-13:55 Place: Darwin Lecture Theatre, UCL

would ask the students a multiple choice question and you would respond with a single click of the PRS single hand unit and the responses would be gathered to instantly display a statistical result. Despite sharing the same equipment, it is not used the same way between the colleges within the University of London. This is largely due to subtle diﬀerences in educational a6itudes. All colleges support the idea of multifaceted students,

Students now rely heavily on computers and the internet as sources of information everyday, we can assert that computer based learning is a comfortable, familiar and accessible means of learning. providing extensive opportunities for their students to pursue this, but LSE stands alone in taking this to another level. LSE has a compulsory course called ‘LSE 100- understanding the causes of things’ for all undergraduates which covers topics such as climate change, cultural mat-

FOCUS ON FUTURE

Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The difference and why it matters

Speaker: Professor Richard Rumelt If you are the next leader of our generation, you’d rather have a proper strategy to reach success. Come and learn how to develop and implement a strategy that will work. Time: Thursday, October 20, 6:30-8pm Place: Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE

ters and prediction of great events. It serves to teach students to explore the fundamental issues of evidence, explanation and theory from the perspective of diﬀerent social science disciplines. Additionally, this course incorporates ‘muddy points’. At the end of each lecture, students have the chance to send a text message saying what part of the lecture they found most unclear and the response is put up on moodle.

Some final words of wisdom- get friendly and familiarise yourself with your university’s computer system. Do not over rely on recorded lectures and slides that are online. If you do this you will miss the opportunity to raise your hand and clarify a point that you do not quite understand or to share a piece of mind on the genius question that someone else may ask. Research shows that 55% of communication is non-verbal so if you miss a lecture, you are definitely missing out. Your studies will be as difficult and rewarding as you make them. So remember, you snooze- you lose.

RELAX AND ENJOY

LSE Arts Lunchtime Concert

Performing: the quartet (comprised of Alina and Pablo Hernán Benedí on violins, Emilie Hörnlund on viola and Claire Thirion on cello) led by Ibragimova. Thought that LSE was just Economics and Politics? Ready to be surprised and join the event of Arts and Music at the university and just relax listening to the greates pieces of art. Time: Thursday, October 13, 1-2pm Place: Shaw Library, Old Building, LSE.

VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2 LONDON STUDENT

London Listens

Dr Saul Hillman works as a psychologist at The Anna Freud Centre/ University College London. He also has his own practice as a hypnotherapist/life coach/NLP practitioner.

ÂŠiStockphoto.com/mickyates

Saul can be contacted on 07939 523 025 or saulhillman@blueyonder.co.uk. For more information and resources visit www.saulhillmantherapy.com

Ge ing motivated: the secrets to up and allows us to persevere in study skill success ing the face of obstacles.

Self-motivation is a state of mind where you concentrate on your work so that you lose yourself in it while doing it. This autonomic condition of the mind is observed across all ďŹ elds where professionals are able to work so eďŹ&#x192;ciently and o3en in the most critical situations. A self-motivation drive is, thus, a state of mind which makes you so dedicated and focused on your work that you can easily overcome the toughest of challenges that come your way. There are three major ingredients that contribute to feelings of self: Firstly, PURPOSE. Your purpose or goal is your main source of motivation. Whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your studies, vocation or family, your purpose makes the diďŹ&#x20AC;erence. In order to develop your self motivation skills and self understanding, you need to have a primary purpose. Secondly, PASSION. Your passion is a complete investment in what you are doing. Passion is an important source of the self-motivation drive. It keeps you going and doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let you give up even in the most diďŹ&#x192;cult circumstances. Finally, PERSISTENCE. Persistence is the trait that prevents us from giv-

In Conversation with the Doctor

AW is final year male student studying Economics at University College London.

PROBLEM: Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m in my ďŹ nal year and ge4ing stressed out at the amount of work that I have got to do this year and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only going to get worse as we head towards the ďŹ nals. I am ďŹ nding it really hard to study

Combined with your purpose, passion and your self-motivation drive, persistence will help you achieve any and every goal that you set for yourself. Using your self-motivation skills to your beneďŹ t, you can make yourself persist in the most challenging sitThe internal uations, no ma4er dialogue we how long it takes for carry around you to achieve your in ourselves goals. is very powerSelf-motivation reful on our searchers Richard emotions and behaviours Ryan and Edward Deci believed that intrinsic motivation was the internal driver for the deepest type of learning, curiosity, and exploration. It is our natural drive to be happy, interested and fulďŹ lled and is therefore linked with a number of positive outcomes in childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;including creativity, be4er task performance, and higher psychological wellbeing. Many students report a lack of motivation and diďŹ&#x192;culty ge4ing started with their study. It is o3en because negative or destructive thoughts such as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll never get it doneâ&#x20AC;?, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I can always do it laterâ&#x20AC;?, â&#x20AC;?Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not really a

good studentâ&#x20AC;?, etc. The internal dialogue we carry around in ourselves is very powerful on our emotions and behaviours. Student Motivator There are a number of tried and tested motivational strategies that you may want to experiment with in order to counter lethargy and procrastination. 1. Write down your goals - this is o3en more powerful in helping exercise change and gives yourself a constant reminder of what you are aiming for. You can be quite ďŹ&#x201A;exible with how you frame the goals as in what the immediate and longer term gains are going to be from doing it. 2. Intrinsic motivators - list your motivators for achieving your academic goals: extrinsic (grades, parents, money, future work), intrinsic (mastery of material, desire to learn) and other personal reasons. Intrinsic drives are far more powerful as they focus on what you want to do rather than any externally prescribed rules (i.e. I â&#x20AC;&#x153;shouldâ&#x20AC;? do that). 3.Think Positively - it is important that you believe in yourself and that things will turn out to be what YOU want them to turn out as. Negative thinking, fear and apprehensions will never allow you to move forward and overcome failures. 4. Time management - make a com-

challenging, complete the smaller or easier tasks ďŹ rst in order to boost motivation and conďŹ dence, before moving onto the more tricky one. 7. Help! - remember to ask for help if you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand something. Obtaining clariďŹ cation from a tutor or even your peers may put you back on the right track and decrease frustration. 8. Curiosity - there are many ways to make a subject interesting when you adopt a curious mind-set and try to explore what is interesting and rele-

and have started falling behind already with my assignments. Saul I can imagine you are feeling quite overwhelmed at the moment AW Yes, and it builds up and up and starts to feel like its out of control. Saul Interesting, you make it sound like some driverless train and you need to get back in and drive it! AW (laughs) Yes, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s true. Saul But surely if it was out of control, that would suggest that you have no power to do anything to change it. AW I know what you are saying but thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how it feels!

Saul So what was it like in your ďŹ rst and second years? AW Not such a problem, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just been more of a problem since the start of this academic year. Saul Okay, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s think a li4le about what you are doing to help yourself and what youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re maybe not doing. Tell me about your studies, are you enjoying it? AW Well some of it, some parts are be4er, others are harder or donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t interest me so much. Saul And you probably o3en have several things to do at once. Which do you end up doing ďŹ rst? AW I never know, its a real headache right now.

Saul Okay, pick the easiest ones ďŹ rst and also those that really interest you. Leave the harder and less interesting ones for later on. AW Sure, I could...well I have to. Saul Sure you do, and it may help to break down these assignments further into smaller chunks so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not so overwhelming. Do you write lists? AW No, not really. Saul Well I want you to! List what you have to do so you can start to see it in front of you. And you can rank these in terms of priority, hardness and interest. It can be a constant reminder.

mitment as to when you will undertake an assignment. Be speciďŹ c about when you want to complete it and put the date for beginning the work on your calendar where you will see it daily. Then stick to your commitment. 5. Chunk it down -break down larger assignments into smaller parts and tackle these li4le at a time; set dates for completing each part. 6. Easy then DiďŹ&#x192;cult - if you are ďŹ nding competing assignments

Works a Treat. flickr.com/Kodamakitty

vant to your life and future. 9 De-Distract - removing distractions from your environment is important too. Now, more than ever, our senses are overloaded with such opportunities whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s our iPhones, Facebook, Twi4er, music, television, etc. It is wise to diminish this temptation. 10. Reward yourself - If you provide some sort of reward for when you have accomplished an assignment, it could be a great boost. This incentive may be immediate gratiďŹ cation as in something to eat or drink that same day, or it could be delayed as in a planned vacation. You may wish to take 5 minutes before you start studying to put yourself into a good state of mind. Turn oďŹ&#x20AC; any music, sit down, clear your mind, take deep breaths and make a few aďŹ&#x192;rmations to yourself about success. Finally, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a great exercise in neurolingusitic programming therapy (NLP) known as the Godiva Chocolate Exercise which I use with my clients. It is powerful for procrastination so you think you about something you enjoy, then visualise yourself doing something you know you have to (i.e. studying), then bounce back to the thing you are looking forward to, and back and forth. AW I will try this but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m so behind. Saul No you need to be your own task master. Set yourself a regime of where you are going to study/work, when (time of the day) and for how long. Keep to it and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll get used to it. And you can reward yourself at the end with a pint or hanging out with your mates. NEXT ISSUE

We will be looking at self esteem and social confidence. Please email me with any letters or experiences you have in this or any other area

LONDON STUDENT VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2

Google to open Tech Startup Base Startup tools to make your in London’s Silicon Roundabout startup life easier:

Writer Ahmad Bakhiet Entrepreneurship Editor

Google, one of the most successful companies of the 21st century, is poised to support startups in London. The multi-billion dollar company will lease a seven-floor building to provide space for developers and startups near London's "Silicon Roundabout”. The company will still retain its central London offices, but by moving into the area can stay close to technology entrepre“It shows that we neurs and can create the their innovaright environtions. ment to a(ract Elizabeth start-ups and esVarley, Chief tablished hi-tech Executive businesses.” Officer of TechHub, a flexible work-space for startups located in the area, has mentioned how Google has seen the value of “being very physically engaged” with some of the companies in the area. It would seem that Google’s presence alone could bring about some much needed exit opportunities perhaps even more so for entrepre-

neurs interested in or already involved with developing on Google platforms such as the popular Android operating system for smartphones. “Finding a suitable building is the ﬁrst major step, and we hope to announce more details about the organisations we'll work with and

how they will use the space in the coming months,” said David Singleton, Google UK's engineering director. The 25,000 square feet of oﬃce space will be a shared space for growing companies and will host training workshops, product demonstrations and 'hackathons'. The development is in line with boosting British Prime Minister David Cameron's plans to create a global technology hub in the east of the city, and Chancellor George Osborne said the investment was “great news”, adding: “It shows that we can create the right environment to a6ract start-ups and established

hi-tech businesses.” To date, there have been several high proﬁle success stories for the area - including TweetDeck (sold to Twi6er for £25 million), Last.fm (sold to CBS for £130 million) and Moshi Monsters which in June 2011 was valued at $200 million (over £125 million).

Each success is naturally a6racting more a6ention to the area. Three years ago there were thought Each success is to be around naturally at15 technology tracting more startups in the a(ention to the area, whilst in area. 2010 there were 85 startups in the area - an impressive increase of over ﬁve fold in three years. With the Olympics commencing summer of 2012 and further Government funding into the area, it looks like Silicon Roundabout entrepreneurs are at the right place at the right time.

StartUp Britain turns six months old and makes a lasting impact on the country. Writer Ahmad Bakhiet Entrepreneurship Editor

StartUp Britain is all about business people helping other businesses to start and grow. It is independent, non-party-political and is funded by sponsors from the private sector, rather than by public money. It was launched on March 28th2011 and in that time has provided over 1,500 hours of mentorshi, ran a week of events for start-ups “StartUp Britain around the Bus Tour travtheme of elled 1236 miles, marketing visiting 15 cities and adverand a(racting 72 tising and experts on board provided a to meet local StartUp startups.” guide of which 4,000

people downloaded. The vision is for it to be something which could help anyone wanting to start a business, whilst also inspiring current business owners to expand. The stats are pre6y impressive, the StartUp Britain Bus Tour travelled 1236 miles, visiting 15 cities and a6racting 72 experts on board to meet local startups. In six months the StartUp Britain website has had over 129,000 unique visitors. Moreover there has been a 25% rise in web users searching for the term ‘start up’, reports Experian. This is obviously not solely due to the StartUp Britain campaign but could perhaps some credit is due?

Cofounder Oli Barret said “we’re still in start-up mode ourselves. We’re starting out, both in terms of our journey, and in terms of fulﬁlling our potential.” University students can also look forward to another road tour with a particular focus on university startups! More details available at www.startupbritain.org

SnapPages

Haven’t even started yet? SnapPages is web design tool based on simplicity of use. With simple drag and drop features you need no prior experience. Their online introductory video is recommended.

FiveSecondTest

A fun way to test how eﬀective your landing page is. Random users will look at your page for ﬁve seconds then answer questions set by you. A great way to iterate based on honest feedback.

TheClickTest

Analyses how users engage with your interface so you that you can tweak and improve your designs. It does this by laying a screenshot of a page and recording where the user clicks in response to a question, such as “where would you next click to ﬁnd a contact number for the company?” A great way to see which section of your site your users focus on ﬁrst.

Want to write for the Entrepreneurship Section?

GET INVOLVED

We are currently hiring more Assistant Writers. If you are interested get in touch with us at: entrepreneur@london-student.net.

Fakebu(ons

Adds fake bu6ons to your site linked to statistics regarding demand. Some would argue this is bad website design, others would argue it’s an efficient way to test market demand for a feature before you build thus saving time and money. Nonetheless, while it takes less than five minutes to add, with no coding required and compatibility on almost all sites, on balance it may be be6er to test this on a predefined focus group to avoid frustrating your user base!

Google Apps

Provides customisable versions of several Google products under a custom domain name. Think Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and more - speciﬁcally for your startup. Currently with 4 million businesses and growing - they must be doing

Dropbox

Chances are that you’ll need a good tool to share files with your co-founders and team as well as to sync files between your home, mobile and office. Dropbox does this wonderfully.

Twi(er

Don’t underestimate the power of the tweet. The ability to both promote your startup from day one and follow the very best in the industry for a wealth of advice, resources and great links is crucial.

Doodle Image courtesy of StartUp Britain website

their idea at some point. The usual powerpoint can be eﬀective but dull. For something diﬀerent try Prezi the zooming presentation editor.

The best group scheduling application online. Invite anyone to submit the days and times they can make from a predeﬁne list and see the deceisive stats. Not only is it free but it requres no regisration.

Prezi

Any startup will need to present

something right!

Google Custom Search

The King of Search never fails to disappoint. This feature allows anyone to create their own search engine by themselves! You can set the search engine to search for information on particular topics on solely on your site. Very useful if your site is content-rich.

Got other great tools you know of? Get in touch with us at entrepreneur@london-student.net and we’ll feature the best submissions in our next edition!

LONDON STUDENT VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2

State of the Union

Rugby enthusiast Natalie Khan previews the upcoming Rugby World Cup page 29

A rose by any other name?

In a special report, Andrew Smith looks back over the history of medical sports teams and considers the future - page 30

Three ULU rivalries

A closer look at three of the countless ULU sporting rivalries - page 30

Why join a sports team

A ULU alumnus and hockey player explains why joining a sports team was one of the best decisions he made page 31

King’s student to carry Olympic torch

King’s representatives will be amongst the fortunate few to carry the Oympic torch this summer - page 32

Royal Holloway University London women’s football Kicks Cancer Writer Krissie Glover Royal Holloway

cancer research shirts. There will also be refreshments available on the day for spectators so if you have a spare a8ernoon free from lectures come down and watch some beautiful girls play the beautiful game.

RHUL women’s football has chosen to kick back and help get closer to, in the words of Helen Mirren, “killing off this shi9y, cheating, sly, conniving bloody disease that cancer is” by arranging various fundraising events in aid of Cancer Research UK. Cancer affects more than one in three people, with several members of the club finding this devastating fact out first hand.

Alice-May Brighty, club President, recently found out her dad has nonHodgkins Lymphoma; a form of blood cancer. “When I discovered my dad had cancer there was an instant feeling of this cannot be happening to me, he is going to die. This was over a year ago and he is still going strong due to the fantastic research being funded by Cancer Research UK. Without them my dad would not be here today. I am not the only girl in the club to be aﬀected by cancer and we are sick of feeling helpless. We want to give something back, we want to help and we are doing that the only way we know howIt was by kicking back”. interesting to say the least...people were literally opening their purses and dumping their contents in the buckets.

With the help of West London area volunteer manager, Lucie Barney, the club have planned a Kick Cancer fundraising campaign including bucketing, a charity tournament and a show stopper raﬄe

Splash the cash: Volunteers from RHUL women’s team raise money for Cancer Research

with amazing prizes.

The campaign kicked oﬀ on September 30 with the girls bucketing at Egham train station for the day. It was interesting to say the least with women asking them to shake their buckets for more money, one gentleman handing over a £10 note and others literally opening their purses and dumping their contents in the buckets. A8er a tiring day in uncharacteristic heat commuters proved just how generous they are

by donating a staggering £220- not a bad start to the campaign.

The girls hope to build on this success by bucketing in Staines town centre on Tuesday 11th October as part of Cancer Research UK’s ﬂag day. The Metropolitan police have kindly allowed Cancer Research UK to bucket across their territory. If you see anyone in a cancer research top say hi, they do get bored, and drop some money in their buckets wherever you may be in the capital. If you are venturing into Ali G land look

Can mere Muggles make Quidditch a reality? Writer Armapal Bajwa

We've all had that dream. Yes, that dream where we walk into the open air of an icy stadium, the roars of your peers beckoning you towards victory. Your hand clasped around

your Firebolt for dear life, lining up, kicking oﬀ, and then up into the air you soar. Unfortunately, gravity, technology and the lack of magic in this world hold us back from actualising this fantasy. So, bi9er about not being sent an owl from Hogwarts, children, teenagers and adults around the world set oﬀ in pursuit to make their own magic happen,

not quite in that Friday night kind of way, but by making their favourite ﬁctional sport a reality. The immediate shortcomings are very apparent. Living on a planet that does not possess suﬃcient qualities to allow bludgers and snitches to freely levitate with minds of their own, a place where broomsticks actually have the purpose of sweeping,

out for a bunch of striking girls dressed as fools to raise as much money as possible for the most worthy of causes.

This will then be followed up with a charity football tournament being held at Royal Holloway in Egham on Wednesday 12th October between 2 and 5 o’clock. The Holloway girls will be playing Strodes College and Surrey University in a friendly preseason tournament. Each player will be donating £3 with Holloway girls donating an additional £2 to play in

puts a damper on the magical aspects of the game. Nonetheless, this hasn't sent everyone back longingly into chapters of Gryﬃndor victories. The Middlebury College in America started it's very own 'Ground Quidditch', which has steadily gathered a global following, with over 700 teams around the world coming from all corners, including that Brazil, Russia and India. In the US itself, there is the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association (IQA) which organizes competitions and leagues

Finally, and more importantly to you, the club are organising a terrific raffle with spectacular prizes. The prizes include a signed Chelsea FC shirt, a signed To9enham Hotspur shirt, a signed England cricket bat, a signed Manchester United ball, a signed Billy Connolly autobiography, a signed Vanessa Mae CD, 2 tickets to watch Reading play in the Championship with hospitality, a family pass to watch Brentford FC and loads of smaller prizes donated by local businesses such as alcohol, hair products and vouchers. If you managed to keep up with that and the prizes entice you just have a quick look at www.justgiving.com/rhulwomensfootball where you can buy tickets online and keep up to date on the prize list. The tickets cost a paltry £1 a piece, well worth a punt to win some prizes worth well in excess of £300 on their own. All you have to do is leave your e-mail address or phone number and the club will contact you if you have won (the draw is scheduled for December). The club aims to raise £1,000 but cannot do it without your supportthrow in your spare change, come watch the girls or buy a ticket. Help stop this “shi9y” disease in its tracks, lets fight back, lets Kick Cancer.

for the 400 participating colleges. One of the most difficult obstacles to overcome would be that of the ever eluding golden snitch. The quaffle problem is overcome by a volleyball thrown and kicked around the field by the teams chasers, with fear of interception by the opposition, with the ultimate aim of scoring past the keeper into the goal hoops. The bludgers are substituted by the beaters swarming around with dodgeballs, taking aim at the opposition, and if successful with their convic-

tion, temporarily suspending the hit player from the game. This leaves the seekers challenge. Their impediment comes in the form of a neutral runner, who manoeuvres about the pitch, guarding, with all their might, a tennis ball that is placed inside of a yellow sock. They are the only player on the ﬁeld that isn't required to have a broom between their legs and is allowed to evade capture by many means, some of which include tackles and wrestling (just as well that they don't have the broomstick), acts of trickery such as climbing a nearby tree, or even camping out in the audience, adding a li9le 'Where's Wally' twist to it all. Muggle rules cohere with magical ones in that the games does not end until the snitch is caught, but the team only earns an additional 30 points. There are further complexities along the lines of 'overtime' in the event of a draw, fouls and infringements with penalty time outs, and various other li9le knick knacks that even Madam Hooch would have to pull out the handbook to reference every so o8en. Now that the equipment and gravitational issues have been dealt with, Ground Quidditch strives to be just as competitive as its counterpart through being a fast paced contact sport. On one hand, it encourages exercise for all ages with the appeal

VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2 LONDON STUDENT

of feeling that li9le bit closer to their favourite characters. On the other hand, higher up the ranks, it is not a game for the faint hearted. The Intercollegiate Quidditch 'World Cup', held in New York last year, saw at least 6 players taken to hospital with major injuries varying from a broken ankle to a broken collarbone. As much as many would love to lose all the bones in their arms a8er triumph over a rogue bludger, just to feel as accomplished a player as Harry, the IQA set out to ensure that referees made more calls to lessen the sometimes brutal nature of a game, and so that those there to effectuate their imaginations were not put off by those there for fierce competition. They feel the creation of two separate divisions is the answer to this problem. Keeping with the la9er statement on the high octane nature of the game, as the rule book allows for pre9y much anything going, apart from deliberately crashing into spectators, it's no wonder that this activity is a9racting athletes from all walks of sporting life. The rapid canter and coordination reminiscent of lacrosse, tackles that would usually only be found in a rugby stadium, agility, speed and stamina drawing on sports such as football, so8ball, dodgeball and basketball, it is no wonder how it has reached such popularity with its versatile and dynamic appeal.

Nights Owls: Gryffindor quidditch players with their brooms at the ready. Alex Heberling

With YouTube videos of the American games displaying the more chaotic performances of amateurs, dressed up and ready for a good time, to the more competitive and highly skilled teams ba9ling it out as though their lives depended on it, one thing that remains consistent through this is the turnout. Stalls selling memorabilia, families on a day out, supporters coming to cheer on their teams and peers, the atmosphere is nothing short of brilliant. In the UK, there is the Southern Eng-

The ‘Rooney Rule’, English football, and ULU Writer Amit Singh LSE

The Rooney Rule is named a8er Dan Rooney who is the owner of NFL side the Pi9sburgh Steelers. In 2002 there were only 2 black coaches out of 32 teams in the NFL. Rooney felt that this was not enough and managed to persuade fellow owners of NFL sides to agree to a rule which meant that at least 1 black candidate would have to be interviewed per coaching job. It has been an unmitigated success; there are now 8 black coaches in the NFL. The improvement is not about tokenism, clubs are under no obligation to hire a black coach, just to interview one, what the improvement from 2 to 8 shows is that clubs were clearly overlooking black coaches prior to this. The crux of the rule is that it does not tell owners who to hire but merely forces them to look at a wider range of candidates. Lack of black managers in English football Whatever the cause, be it racism or lack of motivation from black candidates it is absolutely embarrassing that out of the 92 clubs in the football league only two of them have black managers, Charlton and Birmingham

AWhatever the cause, be it racism or lack of motivation from black candidates, it is absolutely embarrassing that out of 92 clubs in the football league, only two of them have black managers. City, with Chris Powell and Chris Houghton respectively. In fact only four black managers have ever managed in the Premier League, Paul Ince, Chris Houghton (then with Newcastle), Ruud Gullit and Jean Tigana. Nobody can argue that this is not a serious problem. Football is on the whole an incredibly diverse sector in Britain and it would be foolish to argue that all boardrooms are inherently racist in their selection of managers, but in the context that there are hundreds of black players in the football league and only two managers it is something that certainly needs addressing. In fact 25% of players in the football league are black and only 2% of the managers are. (One could obviously note the fact that there are no Asian managers, but there are also virtually no Asian players in the football league, which is a separate issue in itself.) Its common place for white players to

be linked with future roles in management, almost an obvious next career step, how many times have we heard players like John Terry talk about their desire to become a manager. Yet the same is not said for his black counterparts, rarely is Rio Ferdinand linked with a career in management. Regardless of what anybody says about whether a glass ceiling exists the fact that people like Andy Cole feel like it's not even worthwhile completing their coaching badges is something that needs to be addressed and highlights the fact that there is an intrinsic problem within the game. This is a player who won the treble which in its own right makes him more qualified than many other managers in the game, yet he couldn't even get a job at Huddersfield, who said they couldn't afford his wages without even consulting him. One huge problem facing black managers is not racism, but the fact that the Premier League in particular is very much an ‘old boys club’ whenever a manager is sacked (barring the top 4 sides) the same faces are touted with possibly taking over. Look how many times somebody like Gary Megson and Iain Dowie’s names come up whenever a relegation threatened Premier League side sacks their manager,

land Quidditch Association, but unfortunately, nothing that has hit the heights of recognition and popularity exhibited in the US and other parts of the world. The International Quidditch Association aims to promote the game on grounds of encouraging physical activity, more speciﬁcally, 'to foster a culture of creativity', 'to build, connect and enhance communities' and to 'facilitate competition'. It's made very clear in their rulebook, available to view on their website, along

despite none of these managers ever achieving anything of note. Blackburn were seen to have taken a real risk in hiring Paul Ince, which unfortunately did not pay off in the end. Former AC Milan and Wolves forward Luther Blisse9 described the lack of black managers in English football as ‘outrageous.’ Blisse9 has the UEFA A pro-licence but despite this his highest managerial job came with Chesham United. In contrast to, for example Gareth Southgate who did not have any of the relevant qualifications to manage when he was given the Middlesbrough job. With regards to Paul Ince it should be noted that his counterparts from England and Manchester United all were given their first jobs at higher levels, Southgate as stated with Middlesbrough (then in the Premier League) Mark Hughes, with Wales and Blackburn, and Stuart Pearce with Manchester City to name but a few, whereas Ince started off by taking a chance at bo9om of League Two side Macclesfield. Will the Rooney Rule work? The Rooney Rule would certainly act as an incentive for black managers to pursue managerial qualifications as it would mean the best black managers would be guaranteed a chance at any job that comes up. That's the key, ‘a chance’ not guaranteed the job as some critics of the plan will have you believe. Rather than being a quota or an active form of positive discrimination the Rooney Rule merely means

with the latest news, teams stats and so forth (it's worth checking out just to see the logo), that it is a non-profit game. Still not floating your boat? Well, don't be disheartened if this doesn't make you want grab your cloak and broom and set off into the stars, there's still variations such as Unicycle Quidditch for you to try your hand at, or even undertake a new Muggle sport that features aspects of the game. Feel like a beater when you find your target in dodgeball, be the bludger in a rugby tackle, embrace the chaser and score that crucial goal. Simply put, the wizarding world’s magic is everywhere, and if you can't find it then nerd up a li9le and make it happen. And for any fans, keep your fingers crossed, keep living the dream (whether it's just in your head or on the field). Ground Quidditch may not fill the void le8 in our hearts now that the books have come to a close and the films have wound down to an end, now that we're in a world where we can only re-watch and re-read, with the Po9ermore website trying to give us something worth living for, but for many the IQA is providing hope, comfort, amusement, for fans and non-fans alike, and with a continuing mount in acclaim, who knows, maybe one day Ground Quidditch will be at an Olympic games near you...

that at least one black candidate will have to be interviewed. What the rule would do is increase the exposure for black managers and give other aspiring managers further incentive to gain their qualifications. The Rule would also increase the transparency of the interview process as well as increasing the chance of other managers, meaning that clubs would be less likely to make rash mistakes such as how Chelsea did with the appointment of Scolari in 2008. In casting the net wider it would certainly benefit young English managers as well. That is another fundamental problem the top Premier League jobs are dominated by foreign managers. Perhaps it would also be wise for the PFA and LMA to focus on ge9ing more English managers top flight experience. It seems that whenever a club like Chelsea or City look at a manager he is invariably foreign. If clubs were forced to perhaps look at one English, or British candidate as well as one black candidate it would also help the development of all aspiring English coaches. The Rooney Rule would be most effective in the lower leagues encouraging black players to get their badges and giving them the opportunities to get good football league jobs. In the Premier League in the short term it won’t be effective, if Sir Alex Ferguson resigned tomorrow it would be farcical to suggest...Continued on p.31 Continued from p.30 ...Paul Ince de-

LONDON STUDENT VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2

Initiations - Night of your life or simply Nightmare? Writer Natalie Khan Sport Editor First term is entering into the third week and by now, one of the most controversial events of the University year is being feverishly planned by sports commi9ees everywhere. Initiations. Having both been initiated myself as well as being in charge of the event in the role of Social Secretary, my own experience is far removed from the horror stories that circulate around campuses and in the media. This of course doesn’t dispute the fact that some teams seem to be se9ing out to trial torture techniques rather than improve any form of group dynamics. Some of the more extreme and cruel (and it has to be said, not terribly creative) practices invariably end up drawing media a9ention. The debate circles around whether initiations should be banned or if not banned, how they should be controlled.

Because self evidently, they need to be controlled. Nobody should come to any serious harm while being initiated into a university team and the fact that deaths have occurred in direct relation to initiations around the country is completely, horrifyingly bizarre. The arguments in favour of initiations, that it builds team spirit and unity, prove rather pointless if your idea of fun translates into literally killing said team with alcohol. Which was what happened in the case of Alex Doji, who choked to death on his own vomit during a rugby initiation at Staﬀordshire University in 2003. Many universities have since banned initiations from their campuses and others enforce a strict set of conditions which have to be met in order to allow initiations to take place.

This to many bewildering tradition does serve an important function, when planned and preformed in a way which actually facilitates team unity. One of the most important elements involves pushing freshers to work together and bond with each other against a ‘common enemy’, i.e senior team members. This ensures that freshers establish a tangible con-

serves to be interviewed for that job, even Chris Houghton, who whilst being talented clearly is not experienced enough, yet. Through bedding in young black managers in the lower leagues it will in theory increase their opportunities in the Premier League in the long run. Thus the Rooney Rule could certainly

nection to each other in having overcome the challenges set for them. Being set tasks and in a sense having to ‘earn’ a place within the group also means you take greater pride in being part of it. However, these positive aspects of initiations are null and void if all the freshers can remember from the night is feeling disgusted and mortiﬁed in equal measure. Drinking is always going to play a big role at any social, even more so at Initiations. While there can be little objection to teams drinking in general, and being a rugby player

The arguments in favour of initiations...prove rather pointless if your idea of fun translates into literally killing said team with alcohol. Which was what happened in the case of Alex Doji, who choked to death on his own vomit during a rugby initiation at Staffordshire University in 2003

means you’re over-refreshed essentially 74% of your waking hours, there are limits. Alcohol poisoning is not fun, nor is spending a night in a hospital any deﬁnition of the word banter. People should preferably be able to retain their ability to speak during the course of the evening in order for there to be a point with them. Likewise is an element of embarrassment always going to be part of initiations. The key here is to strike the right balance. Tasks and challenges should be a bit daunting but there is a distinct line between embarrassment and humiliation. Senior team members aren’t stupid, they know where that line is drawn. Whether they’re happy to ignore the line all together is a diﬀerent ma9er.

Then there’s the requirement to eat various concoctions of questionable ingredients. While there is a vast amount of mildly stomach turning stuff that is surprisingly edible and won’t give anyone food poisoning, reports have shown that some teams find what is actually inedible more befi9ing the circumstances. The horror stories that float around invariably involve wet dog food or having to drink urine or perhaps worse, being made to eat your own sick. I’ve never encountered anyone who

work, by creating incentives for young black managers, as well as English managers from all diasporas to get jobs in football management. It is not perfect and it will ruﬄe some feathers but a solution is desperately needed and the Rooney Rule, at least for now could be just that if it is implemented.

Sports initiations often involve drinking. Christopher Henning

Banning them altogether serves not only to remove the possibility of a positive experience but will also most likely lead to them taking place off campus, in secret. This means no control by the SU or the University has been asked to do this but it’s not at all implausible. The men’s teams are overrepresented on this more extreme end of the spectrum. There are a number of reasons as to why this is, one of the more nuanced explanations is a desire to one up other university teams in the severity of the initiations while another just involves senior members testing how much they can get away with. While supporting the existence of initiations, one has to concede the fact that they are potentially highly risky events, if lead by an idiot with a bully streak. Newcomers have a Considering the success of the rule in the NFL it should not be overlooked. With regards to black footballers in the ULU league, when I spoke to SOAS captain Timothy Omacar he said: “I did notice a lack of ethnic diversity against some of the teams we faced last season, however I'm not suggest-

clear desire to be accepted into the group, something that anyone who has been initiated can a9est to. This is what can prove dangerous when combined with a no limits policy and unrelenting pressure from senior team members. Three people have died while taking part in initiations and such consequences should not be underestimated. Initiations are a bonding experience and an important one. Banning them altogether serves not only to remove the possibility of a positive experience but will also most likely lead to them taking place oﬀ campus, in secret. This means no control by the SU or the University. Enforcing conditions which must be met by commi9ee members and making Presidents or Social Secretaries ultimately responsible for the proceedings will allow for initiations that don’t have to end in alcohol and food poisoning. Keeping students within campuses also serves as a way of deterring the more extreme behaviour.

ing that there is a racial preference for players within the ULU league.” It should also be noted that the players at university most likely have no aspirations to pursue a career in management of professional football. On the whole though ULU leagues in the majority of sports are much more repre-

If you are a fresher about to be initiated into a team, please do not panic. The clear majority of sports teams will not go to any sort of extremes, since they do value their freshers and want them to stay (and pay tee fees). Go to your initiation with the aim of having fun and ge9ing to know and bonding with your new team mates. You are going to be asked to take part in embarrassing activities and you are going to drink an unspecified amount of alcohol. But if you’re genuinely uncomfortable with doing something, just talk to a commi9ee member and they will find a way to let you off the hook. Those responsible for initiations want them to run as smoothly as possible and this means avoiding extended confrontations. They also don’t want the privilege of holding initiations removed so if they know they will get in trouble if someone where to report the event, they’ll relent. sentative of ethnic minorities. At SOAS in particular there are a wide range of people from across the globe competing in both BUCS and ULU leagues. Amit Singh is a Masters student at the London School of Economics and the editor of www.thinkfootball.co.uk

VOLUME 32 ISSUE 2 LONDON STUDENT

Iconic sporting moments: The 1968 Olympics Salute Writer Mehdi Beyad KCL

exalted to be used to bring such issues to light. The image of America had not been “tarnished” by what Smith and Carlos did; it had tainted itself long before, but only in the eyes of those who had come under its brutal arm of oppression. Empathising with those in extreme situations and circum-

stances is difficult. Understanding what they do and why they do it, and the social contexts and experiences that lead to their actions, is not easy to comprehend. Smith later said, in reaction to the booing coming from the crowd, that “Black America will understand what we did tonight.” “White America”, I presume he believed,

Writer Jacob Morris

ers for the first season to get the club through the first season, and retained enough players to keep the club running. The club has managed to stay competitive in each season since then, and last season epitomised this, with the club amassing an all-time league record number of draws (6) in the whole of the South of England. The most impressive statistics that the club has to offer, however, are the further achievements of its alumni within lacrosse. Overall the club has produced three international players, four players that have played in the British National Championships, over seven players that are playing in the South Premiership, one that is the current captain of Oxford University mens lacrosse, and one who has won

Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the Olympic Stadium in Mexico, 1968. Photo: Flickr user Galaxy fm

Black History Month deserves to be looked at with more complexity and thought than is given it. The reflexive reaction is to applaud the notion of such a “celebration” and engage in its activities. It is also a chance, however, to reflect on some key questions – what is “black history”, why is it exceptionalised into a month of its own, and is this one month every year enough of an appreciation and acknowledgement? On October 16th, 1968, after having completed the 200m race, two African-American athletes raised their fists into the air, and became a part of “black history”. Tommie Smith and John Carlos won Gold and Bronze respectively, but this is not what people remember. They were elite athletes, but this is not why their names are so well-known. Giving the “Black Power salute”, collecting their medals wearing just black socks, and wearing a black glove each on

was too detached from the realities of what African-Americans were going through, and too indulged in their own lives, to understand the motivations behind what he and Carlos did. Whether this is an unhelpful generalisation and characterisation of white Americans at the time or not, it raises the issue of isolation and

self-isolation, and why sometimes a “controversial” and “offensive” act is necessary to wake us up from sleep-inducing comfort. “Black history” is a history of such acts – some small, some magnanimous – that all ultimately intend to encourage empathy with the weak and forgotten. It is a history of

raised fist, Smith and Carlos’s symbolic act, and its significance and meaning, are an appropriate illustration and embodiment of the wider implications and connotations of “black history” and Black History Month. The two were booed off the podium after having collected their medals. Their involvement of political issues with the sporting event angered many. Their exploitation of the opportunity to make a case on internationallybroadcast TV, and their “disrespect” of the Star-Spangled Banner, was seen as insulting and cynical. What Smith and Carlos managed to do was to bring the issue of oppression and violence towards blacks in America into the prestigious arena of the Olympics. They juxtaposed the gesture of black pride and solidarity with the oppressed, with the sacralised national anthem of the guilty state at hand – “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today”, Dr. King said in 1967, just a year before this act took place. Where injustice is concerned, the two athletes showed, no forum is too courage in the face of overwhelming obstacles. “Black history” is world history, a history of intellectuals, sportsmen, social and political movements and traditions that stem from all corners of the world, and reach back to them also.

University of London Mens’ Lacrosse looking to eclipse past glories

When the University of London Mens Lacrosse club was first established in 1955, few could have predicted what accomplishments would be made. In 1961 they won their first Premiership title, a feat they repeated in 1964, and they followed these achievements by winning the Senior Flags title (the FA cup of lacrosse in the South of England) in 1985 and 1987. Unfortunately, the club started running into difficulties soon a8er this, and eventually folded in 1993. In 2005 the club was rebuilt thanks to the work of Andrew Fernando. Having to re-build the club from scratch, he managed to dra8 in enough play-

the South Premiership once as well as the Senior Flags competition twice. While these are great statistics for the players, the club is strong and growing from strength to strength. Starting to play BUCS this year, there will be a team speciﬁcally designed to growing freshers skills by giving them the maximum amount of game time. With Mike Sco9 as president and Alasdair Mackay captaining the team this year, they bring a wealth of lacrosse experience to the club, which can only serve to raise the level of play that the club performs at. Can the club succeed in gaining a double promotion in BUCS and the South of England Mens Lacrosse league? Only time will tell.