Netherhall News June 2013

netherhall news june 2013

space invaders!

the obscure life of cyber athletes also: the banality of evil peruvian peregrinations waugh revisited

contents Cover page: An obscure occupation in the West, a ‘cyber athlete’ can nonetheless earn buckets of money.

Where does the money come from, and with such lucrative winnings, why are e-Sports relatively unheard of? Jonny parreño reports p.8 CONTENT EDITOR Jonathan Parreño MANAGING EDITOR, DESIGN & SETTING Luke Wilkinson CONTRIBUTIONS AND ADVICE Peter Brown, Douglas Tatz, Luke Wilkinson, Jonathan Parreño, Along Ying, Gautam Balaram, Joe Quinn, James Osborn, Alex Osborn, Charles Pigott, Rafael Sumalinog PHOTOGRAPHY Various CIRCULATION Netherhall News is sent by e-mail to current and past residents of Netherhall House. It is also available at http://www. nh.netherhall.org.uk/netherhall-magazine/ CONTACT US Would you like to be included in our mailing list, contribute to or express your opinion in Netherhall News? Write to:

regular features 4

editorial

Jonny parreño on the peculiar pasttime of cyber-athletes

director’s notes

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peter brown on an historic cricket match

LUKE WILKINSON C/O NETHERHALL NEWS, NETHERHALL HOUSE, NUTLEY TERRACE, LONDON, NW3 5SA, U.K. or E-MAIL: alumni@nh.netherhall.org.uk DISCLAIMER All opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the authors concerned and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors of Netherhall News, Netherhall House, Netherhall Educational Association, or of Opus Dei.

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life of the house passing through

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12 she never turned the passing of the iron lady

the banality of evil exploring hannah arendt’s work

the silver bullet

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waugh revisited

peruvian peregrinations aztec adventures

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14 structuring a fund 24 dna: unlocking life’s code 28 athlete’s foot

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editorial

An obscure occupation in the West, a ‘cyber athlete’ can nonetheless earn buckets of money. Where does the money come from, and with such lucrative winnings, why are e-Sports relatively unheard of? Jonny parreño reports

e

Sports, otherwise known as electronic sports or cyber games, have seen an explosion in interest over the past few years, coupled with a steady rise in the amount of prize money offered at tournaments: in 2011 League of Legends maker Riot Games announced that a total of $5 million dollars would be up for grabs in their second international championship, a huge jump from $100,000 in the first. And they are not the only ones to be offering multimillion dollar rewards. To see why companies are so willing to invest millions of dollars in hosting tournaments, it might be useful to understand the historical background of the industry. As early as 1947, before the advent of the digital computer, the British mathematician Alan Turing wrote a theoretical program for a computer to play chess, but it could only calculate checkmate-in-two moves. The earliest digital computer designed specifically to play a game was the British NIMROD which was presented to the world at the Festival of Britain in 1951. A duplicate was displayed at the World’s Fair in New York. It weighed over one ton. Its game, Nim, was a mathematical strategy game for two players in which light bulbs were switched on and off.

In 1972 Atari produced the first commercially successful game: the one and only Pong. For those who have never heard of it, Pong emulates a table tennis (ping-pong) match. One line down the middle of the screen; digits keeping score; two small, moveable lines as paddles; a single block to represent a ball, all drawn in white lines on a black background. This slot machine (you inserted coins to play) was four times more profitable than any other arcade game at the time. Cue rapid replacement of mechanical pinball machines with the heady mixture of rasterized (pixel-based) graphics complete with basic sound effects; a definite step up from flashing light bulbs. Pong ushered in the age of arcade games. The final segment of this early history belongs to the highest grossing entertainment product of its time, for which we must briefly turn to East Asia. Space Invaders was released by Japanese developer Taito in 1978, becoming an instant hit. It was so popular that entire arcades contained nothing but this iconic machine. Riding on the wave of Sci-Fi fever, its financial success would be compared to the highest grossing film of the time, Star Wars. The film collected $486 million, the game $450 million.

However, while Obi-Wan Kenobi worked his Jedi mind tricks on audiences to give George Lucas a net profit of $175 million, Taito had gained net profits of $500 million. Back in the US, Atari took notice and cashed in on the franchise. The story of competitive multiplayer gaming then began in 1980 with the nationwide Space Invader tournaments held in the US, attracting over 10,000 participants.

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The iconic game, Space Invaders

What this early history teaches us is that gaming has its very origins in multiplayer interaction, and it was a surprisingly profitable product. The next crucial development would be the ubiquity of the common desktop PC. When I encountered Pong’s 2D black and white images as a child at the Science Museum in London, I scoffed at its simplicity, comforted by knowing that the new Windows NT 3.5 at home could present the most sickly shade of turquoise as the standard background, or to spice life up, one could choose a myriad of colours and simple patterns.

Instead of a bouncing white dot, Microsoft’s state-of-the-art OS started up with a bouncing, coloured Windows flag - I remember marvelling at this vista, believing it was really 3D because the flag seemed to flutter. A truly moving sight (in both senses of the word)...I haven’t embarked down this trip to memory lane for a mere comparison of two technologies, however. What I wanted to point out is that the PC’s popularity and market penetration

was waxing. Particularly for gaming purposes it was a more capable, more portable, more affordable machine than the heavyduty arcade boxes only programmed with a few games.

The 1993 first person shooter (FPS) game Doom introduced a whole generation to PC gaming, but it also became the prototype for the modern FPS multiplayer experience. Doom’s ‘team deathmatch’ mode placed teams of players in a competition to eliminate each other. The limitations of general internet connections meant that to play multiplayer matches, players had to physically be close, such as in an office or a house. The alternative was to have an expensive internet package and working knowledge of MSDOS (an earlier text-based version of Windows). To

“Space Invaders was released by Japanese developer Taito in 1978, becoming an instant hit. It was so popular that entire arcades contained nothing but this iconic machine. Riding on the wave of Sci-Fi fever, its financial success would be compared to the highest grossing film of the time, Star Wars” overcome this daunting barrier, a company called DWANGO started up in 1994 to provide a dedicated line for Doom players.

They charged just under $9 a month and provided a program to subscribers which would automatically handle the technical difficulties of finding other waiting gamers - no longer was there a need to master the arcane gobbledegook of MSDOS. Within a year DWANGO had over 10,000 subscribers. Such success could hardly go unnoticed. In 1995 DWANGO announced that they had partnered with id Software (the makers of Doom) and Microsoft, and that a major tournament would be hosted to accompany the launch of Doom II. The winners of each online regional competition would be flown to Microsoft HQ in Redmond, WA for the final round. The prize was a day at Microsoft’s new studio, a year’s subscription to DWANGO, a lifetime supply of id Software games, and a brand new customized PC (reputedly worth $10,000). The finals were held on the night before Hal-

loween, and the sponsors did not fail to deliver. Redmond HQ turned into a carnival as Bill Gates decided to hire a Ferris wheel, a full-sized circus tent with a banquet, and a three-story light-up volcano; celebrity comedian Jay Leno was the MC. Why all the effort? Because Microsoft had timed the finals to coincide with a party for their new flagship Windows ‘95, their new games studio, and their new program DirectX (used particularly for game programming and video rendering). Gates himself appeared in a bizarre PR video (‘Bill Gates Doom’ on YouTube). All in all this was Microsoft’s announcement that they were embracing gaming as a key component of the future, and it would set the trend for using tournaments as advertising platforms. By the end of the century Microsoft had the majority of the gamers in the palm of its cold, corporate hand.

As time progressed the availability of affordable PCs increased

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A South Korean ‘PC Bang’

and the internet became faster than ever with broadband. This meant that fans of games could reach out to hundreds of other fans. With ever more adrenaline-inducing games like id Software’s Quake series, teams began to form. More sponsors entered the game, led by the primary developers. For example, Blizzard have created some of the most popular games in history and they have always had dedicated services and hosted tournaments for their fans. Warcraft III (2002) is still competitively played (especially in China). StarCraft (1998) and its 2010 sequel are the most well-known games tournament games, and the largest number of fans can be found in South Korea. Each of these games has already made millions of dollars individually. However, the shelf-life of a strategy game is limited, which is where the decision to provide competitive multiplayer servers and tournaments with strong financial incentives becomes an excellent strategy. It keeps the game popular for a much longer period of time (Doom II may look and feel ancient to the modern gamer, but it is still very popular online), it attracts newer users who may have been initially put off by aggressive pricing, and it ensures a hardcore loyalist fanbase who are likely to continue buying future products - not only games but merchandise related to the games such as novels, artwork, special editions containing limited and rare extras (these editions are notoriously pricey, usually sold at three to four times the market price of standard versions). Third party sponsors are usually heavily involved in the PC industry. They often provide cutting-edge hardware for professional teams (although not always for keeps). But there are other more unexpected industries involved. Energy drinks,

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“South Korea’s position as the number one place in the world for competitive gaming is the result of its semi-mythical Internet speed and quality - the cornerstone of gaining critical mass for a competitive tournament, and the cheap cyber cafes, called ‘PC bangs’”

particularly the Monster brand and Red Bull have been some of the biggest sponsors in the past few years. Considering that high intensity matches require constant multitasking and total concentration for an hour or even longer, it is little surprise that they would make a killing. Just as Microsoft had realised back in 1995, the money in today’s tournaments is provided mainly on the basis of market exposure. Want to get a sponsor for your new pro team? You need to prove you’ve got lots of followers on social media. Several TV channels around the world are dedicated to broadcasting ranked matches. ESPN has a programme showing Madden NFL (American Football equivalent of FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer) for the Xbox 360 with players playing for cash prizes. Online streaming channels such as TwitchTV are more popular. TogetherTV and webstreams draw audiences numbering in the millions. The larger tournaments such as World Cyber Games (international), Ongamenet Starleague (South Korea), Electronic Sports World Cup (international), and Major League Gaming (US) are primarily gaming conventions, but they have also become prime locations for tech fairs.

Moving on to the question of why professional, competitive gaming is still relatively ignored in the West: the answer lies partly in Western attitudes to the world of computers, but I think it is probably more revealing to ask why it is so admired in the East? I’ll answer the latter question first. The major economic powers in East Asia - China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan - are wealthy and tech-hungry.

Japan has been at the forefront of technological innovation for the past 40 years and Korea since the early 90s. One need only recognize

Seoul in South Korea

some of their major transnational brands to realize this. From Japan: Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, Sharp, Hitachi, NEC, Pioneer, JVC. From Korea: Samsung, HTC, LG. There is a difference in gaming trends between the two countries because Japan was the birthplace of all the major consoles. Nintendo’s video games branch was born in 1974 (although the conglomerate dates back to 1889!) Two years after the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) had been released, Super Mario Bros. broke on to the scene in 1985 and secured Nintendo’s dominant position for years to come. The handheld Game Boy was launched in 1989, and the Super the Super Nintendo (SNES) was launched in 1991. The direct competitor to the SNES was Sega’s Mega Drive (aka Sega Genesis in the US). Sony’s PlayStation would come in 1994. Most people should know the current generation of consoles, so I’ll just end with the reminder that only Microsoft’s Xbox and Xbox 360 (2001-present) have ever been suc-

cessful at challenging the Japanese giants on the global stage.

South Korea’s position as the number one place in the world for competitive gaming is the result of its semi-mythical Internet speed and quality - the cornerstone of gaining critical mass for a competitive tournament, and the cheap cyber cafes, called ‘PC bangs’. By 2002 Seoul had been dubbed ‘the bandwidth capital of the world’.

By 2005 it was the first country to complete the conversion from dial-up to broadband. By 2006 it became the first country to achieve over 50% broadband penetration per capita. Even though PC ownership and broadband penetration per capita is extremely high, it is still quite normal for young Koreans to hang out in ‘PC bangs’.

Bangs typically have many of the latest games available to play for an affordable price, between 1000 - 1500 Won, roughly 60 - 90 pence per hour. This ‘pay as you play’ model bypasses the ordinary restrictions faced by a Western gamer. In the UK, AAA titles can cost as much as £50. Bangs are also more likely to have PCs capable of running the most recent games which now require expensive hardware components. South Korea’s social attitudes towards heavy gamers, and the PC bangs that house can be very negative. The country has one of the highest rates of addictions related to computers in the world. People spend hours on end playing or surfing and the situation isn’t helped by the comfortable chairs, good headphones, free caffeine and cheap food provided in many bangs. One foreign blogger described her experience as being no different from being in a casino due to the dim lighting and lack of clocks on the wall. She understood why some people would stay so long in a bang when she learned there was a special offer: £8 for 12 hours. The government

The Taipei assassins, winners of the 2011 league of legends championship

has focussed its efforts on curbing the appeal of bangs, limiting their size, restricting their food service to certain hours, and prohibiting younger customers from visiting bangs at night. But at the same time, the glamour that has developed in the world of professional gamers is left unchecked. A successful gamer is part of a high-profile team with its own professional PR management. In South Korea their salary is often higher than the national average, while a large portion of their living costs and logistical needs (such as travelling to a tournament) can be shouldered by their sponsor. They party hard, get invited to exclusive events by sponsors like Red Bull, all while having a seemingly easy and fun job. My concluding answer to the original question then, is that the level of awareness in Western society is within the expected range. Those that enjoy gaming will learn about eSports. It is only when we compare it to the high levels of awareness in the East that it seems low.

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director’ s notes peter brown speaks of titans both in the fields of play and academia

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hose of you who read this column in the last edition will, I’m sure, be keen to receive an update on Andrew Hegarty’s health following his heart attack on the night of the election of Pope Francis. Well Andrew is now out of hospital and back home in Orme Court. He has made a very good recovery in so far as his mental faculties are concerned. He is able to talk normally and his fantastic memory is intact. Physically however my impression is that he is very tired and as yet a good way short of his former self. Please continue to pray for him.

I don’t often get a chance to write about the great game of cricket and so it is with considerable pleasure that I am able to relate the outcome of the Netherhall England v India cricket match that was played in Regent’s Park on the second May Bank holiday weekend. The more observant readers will know that this is the

“it is with considerable pleasure that I am able to relate the outcome of the Netherhall England v India cricket match that was played in Regent’s Park on the May Bank holiday...”

The cast members of the legendary match

third year we have played this fixture after Prakarsh Singh (200511) arranged the first such match in 2010 and that this is the first time that the English have won. It would not be appropriate to rake over grievances of previous matches (Indians changing the rules of cricket etc) but I don’t think it unfair to say that an English victory was long overdue.

The England team included alumni James Somerville (2012-13), Mark Gibson (2009-12), James Osborn (2010-12) and Moham-

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mad Nasir (2008) as well as Fr Joe Evans (chaplain 2002-12) and the Indians included Khuram Asad (2005-8). Sachin Nehra (2012-13) was a wonderful captain of the Indian team. Prakarsh would have been proud of the ‘Laggan’ like passion with which he performed his role.

The end of year dinner on Friday 24th May was a poignant moment as we were once again saying goodbye to a number of residents who have been here for some time and who have con-

tributed considerably to the House. Amongst those departing is Juan Pablo Luna from Mexico. Juan Pablito arrived in 2009 to study the violin at the Guildhall School of Music and he is now, as far as I understand, off to play waltzes in his new school in Vienna. For the last three years or so Juan Pablo has rounded off each Netherhall formal dinner with a virtuoso performance on the violin thereby making the dinners even more memorable.

Thank you very much Juan Pablo, formal dinners won’t be the same again.

Also departing is Vincent Karyadinata who arrived in 2008 as a young medical student from Indonesia and who is now off to practice as a medical doctor in Cambridge. Vincent is a wonderful example of a Netherhall resident who, throughout his stay, has always been ready to help with whatever he is asked to do in the House. I am very sorry to see him go.

The oldest departure (in terms of length of stay) is Philipp Wirtz who arrived in Netherhall back in 2007. Philipp has been the House historian for the past six years. In addition to introducing us to the wonders of the Ottoman Empire, Philipp has done wonders for the Guest speaker series having introduced us, over the years, to a large proportion of the SOAS history department!

To Philipp and to all our departing residents, thank you for all your help and I wish you every success for the future.

And finally Miguel Lim. Miguel has been at Netherhall since

Middle: Philipp at the Netherhall 60th anniversary celebrations

2009 when he arrived with his Filippino smile to study at the LSE. It’s hard to sum up his contribution to the House, mainly because as he is a man of so many words, it seems almost unjust to use only a few words to ‘sum up’. Miguel has been a tremendous support to many people over the last four year particularly in the talks and circles that he has given. His passion for the economics of China and India are legendary. He is now off to Copenhagen to continue his studies. He will be greatly missed.

“To Philipp and to all our departing residents, thank you for all your help and I wish you every success for the future” netherhall news

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the banality of evil Hannah Arendt witnessed the trial of a man responsible for transporting Jews to the extermination camps. But her own reflections of the proceedings led her to a troubling conclusion on the nature of evil. along ying

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fter the end of the Second World War, prominent Nazi leaders were charged with war crimes at Nuremberg between the 20th November 1945 and the 1st October 1946, but a contingent had managed to successfully flee from Germany. One of those fugitives was Adolf Eichmann, a member of the SS and the transportation administrator for the ‘Final Solution’ and who was responsible for the trains that carried the Jews to the concentration camps. Having fled to Argentina, Eichmann lived out his life under the alias Ricardo Clement, for another 15 years before being captured by Mossad agents in Buenos Aires in 1960. He was then brought to Jerusalem, held on trial by the Israeli courts and sentenced to death. It was this particular trial which would later influence the political theorist Hannah Arendt’s ideas on the nature of evil and the problems of international justice.

One of the more perplexing aspects of the trial which Arendt had noted in her book Eichmann in Jerusalem, was that Eichmann appeared to be an ordinary person in many respects. Many had imagined Eichmann to be a monster. Indeed, this is how the prosecution portrayed him - yet what stood before Hannah, reporting for the New Yorker magazine, was a man who loved his family, who was a respectable neighbour and who in his own words, was merely following the law of the Nazi State and the orders given to him by his superiors.

What was problematic was that Eichmann did not have a bad conscience, because his conscience had never been in action.

Eichmann did not observe any atrocities in a moral light, he only saw a task that needed fulfilling, and which was his job to implement. Throughout his life, he had acted in the same diligent routine, obeying his superiors in order to get promoted, and it made no difference whether he was transporting petrol and chemicals in his youth or transporting Jews to the gas chambers in Treblinka.

It was precisely this attitude and lack of engagement which led Arendt to subtitle her account for Eichmann’s trial as a ‘report on the banality of evil.’ What Arendt meant by this term was not that evil was an unimportant or trivial matter; Eichmann derived no joy from the suffering of the Jewish people, nor did he have any other motives except possibly his own personal advancement, but for Arendt, this thoughtlessness and lack of reflection - this banality - was itself evil.

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“a man who loved his family, who was a respectable neighbour and who in his own words, was merely following the law of the Nazi State and the orders given to him by his superiors...Eichmann did not have a bad conscience, because his conscience had never been in action”

Above: Hannah Arendt Opposite: Adolf Eichmann on trial in Jerusalem

The notion that evil is banal was not just a comment on what made Eichmann’s actions evil, but also a warning targeted at the social conditions that made such a mode of life so prevalent.

In other words, Arendt was criticising the tendency of liberal modernity to trumpet a self-serving individualism (What Max Weber would call ‘means-end rationality’). Modernity, which so often told the individual to take care of his own private affairs, had the tendency of alienating people and neutralising the normative concerns that govern our lives. For Arendt, our ability to judge our actions according to norms was intrinsically bound to the idea that individuals can relate to each other and to a public sphere. Thus, there was a connection between social alienation and a lack of moral judgement of one’s own actions.

ted not by monsters but by ordinary people. Eichmann, as much as he was a monster, was fundamentally, an ordinary man. Secondly, Arendt warns us of the danger of acting to achieve certain objective aims without normative reflection, whether those aims are the personal aims of the individual or those of a capitalist society. What Arendt saw during the Holocaust was totalitarian ideology as a perversion of modernity: as modernity having radicalised itself by throwing away its norms. No wonder then, that she likened the Holocaust to an industrial process, the concentration camps being factories of death, every bit as organised and efficient as their counterpart under liberal capitalism, but with human corpses as its product.

The key point to take from Arendt’s notion of the banality of evil is that she reminds us that the greatest of atrocities were commit-

Along Ying is a law student in his second year at Kings College London. It is his first year at Netherhall.

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she never turned james osborn examines the premiership of mrs thatcher, and decides that her unyielding character was the essential greatness of the iron lady

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or those, like myself, too young to have experienced it, it can be hard to comprehend the state of the nation in which Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of in May 1979. The ‘’Winter of Discontent’’ had seen uncollected rubbish piled up in central London and other cities, and, in perhaps the most remembered of all the strike action during this time, the Liverpool Parks and Cemetries Branch of the General & Municipal Workers’ Union’s refusal to bury the dead gave rise to a sense of real chaos. Through all this came Margaret Thatcher who was swept to power with nearly 43% of the vote to become the first female Prime Minister in British history, dubbed by the Daily Mail at the time as ‘the woman who can save Britain’.

Yet the differing reactions to her death on 8th April highlighted the controversies of her three terms as Prime Minister, spanning 11 and a half years. Whilst friends and former colleagues paid glowing tributes in the House of Commons and House of Lords respectively, there were scenes of rejoicing from some, who appeared to feel almost personally targeted by some of her policies.

On the other side of the globe the Falkland Islanders held a memorial service in honour her whilst Argentine military veterans set fire to a picture of her together with the Union Jack.

If there are two words to describe Margaret Thatcher and her politics, I would choose ‘courage’ to sum up her and ‘divisive’ to sum up her politics. But behind the divisiveness (which some might say is an essential ingredient of truly great politicians- for what is more disinteresting than a politician that merely follows trend?) lies a character of tremendous courage and determination.

The early years of Thatcher’s premiership were dominated by her government’s economic policy. Having seen spiralling inflation in the 1970s, Mrs Thatcher and her government bravely applied the principles of monetarism to tackle the 10.6% inflation that she had inherited. Monetarism relies on controlling the money supply but by the early 1980s, recession had hit and the policy of cuts and tax rises to take the money out of the economy was starting to bite. Add the 1981 riots in Brixton and Toxteth and rising unemployment to this and most politicians would have changed course.

But Thatcher remained sure of her approach, famously squashing any suggestion of a U-Turn in her 1980 conference speech with the memorable phrase, ‘You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning’. If this was defiance, then her later message to the Tory Party: ‘This is the road I am resolved to follow. This is the

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“This is the road I am resolved to follow. This is the path I must go. I ask all who have spirit-the bold, the steadfast and the young at heart- to stand and join with me” path I must go. I ask all who have spirit - the bold, the steadfast and the young at heart - to stand and join with me’, portrays a leader utterly confident in her convictions with an element of the heroic. Would any politician today deliver such lines?

Determination to pursue a specific course, however, lends itself to a lack of concern for those affected. The aim to reduce inflation was reached, by 1982 it was down to 8.6% from 18% during the recession and economic growth improving. But at what cost? 3.3 million were unemployed come 1984, and manufacturing output had dropped. The old world of heavy industry gave way to the Big Bang, as the City of London exploded into life in the mid-eighties through deregulation and encouragement of borrowing. A look at the some of the desolate former mining towns and villages in the north of England are a sobering contrast to the success of the City, showing that in Thatcher’s revolution, just like in any other, there will be victims.

1984 saw both courage and divisiveness in the most dramatic of ways. Not even her detractors could question Thatcher’s bravery in response to the Brighton hotel bombing in October of that year.

The Troubles in Northern Ireland had continued during her first ministry with Provisional IRA and Irish National Liberation Army prisoners carrying out hunger strikes in 1980 and 1981 in an attempt to regain political prisoner status. Thatcher refused a return to this status and violence increased in Northern Ireland during this time. At the 1984 Conservative Party conference, the IRA attempted to assassinate Thatcher and her government ministers staying at a Brighton hotel. It prompted a dramatic and forthright response.

Her assurance that the Conservative party conference would ‘go on as usual’, was followed by a typically robust response to those that sought to injure her and the members of her government - ‘all attempts to destroy democracy, by terrorism, will fail’ - expressed with her steely determination that years of graft and successes against the odds had given her.

In the 1984 Miners Strike, Thatcher needed to be divisive if she and her government were going to defeat the National Union of Mineworkers led by Arthur Scargill. Nothing emphasised this more than describing them as ‘the enemy within’. The Conservative government was committed to reducing trade union power which crippled Britain in the Winter of Discontent, and a program of pit closures.

But Margaret Thatcher, whilst possessing courage and a willingness not to compromise, also had that most useful yet uncontrollable quality: luck. In Arthur Scargill she was lucky that he refused to call a national ballot of his union members. Other unions did not come out in sympathy with the miners, and though the strike contained several flashpoints, most notably at Orgreave in South Yorkshire, the miners slowly returned to work.

Luck had also played its part in the Falklands conflict. A task force was able to be sent to recapture the islands, the Argentine navy did not have enough Exocet missiles, the British Harrier jets had the latest US missiles available- all were circumstances of good fortune. Mrs Thatcher deserves credit for initial her determination to win the Falkland Islands back in 1982 following Argentina’s

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invasion. But here received wisdom can play its tricks, for Britain had left the Falklands at risk of invasion as HMS Endurance, which patrolled the Falklands, had been withdrawn six months before the invasion - not the best signal to send to General Galtieri, who saw this as a sign that perhaps Britain was no longer interested in defending these islands. The final victory was indeed beneficial for Thatcher and her government, contributing to the Conservatives’ crushing 1983 election victory, but though courageous, this victory was as much luck than judgement, if not more.

Europe has long been an issue for the Conservative party and it was equally so for Margaret Thatcher. She bravely took a decisive stance against the increasing centralisation of the European Community, which had expressed proposals for a federal structure and had started to pave the way for later monetary union through the Exchange Rate Mechanism, to which Thatcher was opposed. Her 1988 Bruges Speech and her famous triple ‘No!’ in the House of Commons left no one in doubt of her convictions. But this conviction was to contribute to her eventual downfall- as ever with great figures, their greatest strengths can become their greatest weaknesses.

This was shown in her approach to the Community Charge bill,

“Not even her detractors could question Thatcher’s bravery in response to the Brighton hotel bombing in October of that year. At the 1984 Conservative Party conference, the IRA attempted to assassinate Thatcher and her government ministers staying at a Brighton hotel. It prompted a dramatic and forthright response.

The conference ‘would go on as usual’, and ‘all attempts to destroy democracy, by terrorism, will fail’” 14

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or Poll Tax as it became known, which was a single tax that everyone, from the poorest to the richest had to pay at the same rate.

Thatcher’s determination and courage began to overreach itself in the late eighties - the hubris, you might say, that comes from years of success and three big election victories. She had always believed that the State doing too much was the cause of social problems, but in her determination to see this through, her political divisiveness encroached too far - for example introducing the new Poll Tax which around 20 million people had never paid before. It was courageous to attempt to improve the ‘rates’ system through a single tax, but it seems that there was only so much that many people could take. Eventually she was pushed out of office as party divisions over Europe came to the fore, exacerbated by the Bruges speech and her withering dismissal of Jacques Delors’ proposals for monetary union. She left Downing Street, in tears, on 28th November 1990.

Andrew Marr has written in his book A History of Modern Britain that ‘in politics, if your tactics work and if you are lucky - then you will be remembered for your principles’. This is true of Mrs Thatcher. Her tactics worked, I think, due to her courage and willingness to be divisive, to impose upon Britain policies which

though unpopular to large numbers of people, led to Britain no longer being a nation of powerful trade unions, crippling inflation, and lacking in confidence as a result. Her luck was such that these policies were not strongly opposed by either those within her government, or the Labour opposition. And her courage allied to this made her able to defeat the military junta of Argentina and Arthur Scargill, as well as her doubters.

But for all this, as a Conservative Prime Minister her ministries could be said to be somewhat scanty on tackling issues where social conservatism had answers to give, such as morality and the family.

Perhaps attention was sometimes too focused on economic issues, which though very necessary in coming to office, clouded other areas of importance. In responding to specific challenges, perhaps she did not have the overall vision to tackle bigger social concerns.

It will be interesting to see how Margaret Thatcher is assessed and how her ministry is studied and analysed. By virtue of being the first woman Prime Minister, her name leaps out of the list of British Prime Ministers, but I hope that it is for her courage, determination, and the major challenges which her governments were faced with that draw people’s interest for years to come.

James Osborn completed his Masters in Theology at King’s College London last year. He is a former resident of Netherhall.

“her courage and willingness to be divisive, to impose upon Britain policies which though unpopular to large numbers of people, led to Britain no longer being a nation of powerful trade unions, crippling inflation, and lacking in confidence as a result” netherhall news

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structuring a fund douglas tatz reports W

hile the term ‘fund’ sounds simple when compared to its siblings from the family of financial jargon, the average person might struggle to explain what exactly it is.

A fund is a collective investment scheme formed when a large group of investors pool their money and thereby take advantage of opportunities that would otherwise be unavailable. For example, funds often maintain a professional manager who has more knowledge and expertise than the average individual; the large pool of money yields benefits from economies of scale; and the fund can be diversified, therefore less risky, than the portfolio of the average individual investor. Funds can contain any combination of a broad range of different financial securities, including stocks, bonds, and money market instruments. Typically, investors can buy into a fund and obtain shares, which can be traded

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at any time. A fund normally employs a manager who makes the investment decisions, an administrator who handles the trading and unit pricing, and a board of directors to safeguard the assets and ensure regulatory compliance. Philipp Schenk, who works in the Complex Structuring Department for Citigroup Global Markets, was welcomed to the house on Tuesday 7th May to explain how funds operate, and what role he plays as a fund structurer.

The talk focussed around a specific type of fund, which is determined by the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) directives. These guidelines aim to provide a common and efficient market for fund investment throughout the European Union. Most importantly, UCITS funds have been subjected to rigorous legislation to ensure that they are now the

“A fund is a collective investment scheme formed when a large group of investors pool their money and thereby take advantage of opportunities that would otherwise be unavailable. For example, funds often maintain a professional manager who has more knowledge and expertise than the average individual; the large pool of money yields benefits from economies of scale; and the fund can be diversified, therefore less risky, than the portfolio of the average individual investor� gold standard of regulations and transparency in the fund investing world. UCITS funds specify in great detail the responsibilities of the various roles. In addition to the typical positions, there are several jobs, such as the auditor, that UCITS regulations require.

The auditor is independent of the fund and therefore is an unbiased analyst of the fund’s adherence to UCITS regulations. UCITS funds are an important step forward in providing transparency and reliability to the investment world.

Although a fund requires many different roles to ensure it functions properly, the terms and structure of the fund itself have to be determined before it can be sold to investors. This part is where Mr. Schenk comes in. As a fund structurer, he determines the contents of the fund and the relationship between the in-

vestments and potential yields of the funds. He also acts as the mediator between the many different teams that are involved in the production and sale of the fund to the public. For example, the bank will employ a team to ensure that the fund meets all the regulatory requirements, a research team to test the maths behind the fund structuring, and a sales team to connect the fund to the public, among other roles. Mr. Schenk ties in the information from the various teams to craft a fund that will be a viable investment for interested buyers. As a result, the position is an important one which requires a broad range of skills.

Furthermore a fund structurer like Mr. Schenk can uniquely influence the structure of funds and investment banking to reflect practices that are focussed on the customer, instead of the greedy, money-making trends of the past.

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peruvian peregrinations charles pigott reaches out to the soul of the Andean people, highlighting the diminishing respect for their ancient language

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hen I began studying Spanish at Glasgow University, I never believed it would make me an Inca. Being a Scot, I chose the course with an eye to a bargain: three languages – Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan – for the price of one. And I didn’t even have to travel away from home. Little did I know that, two years later, I would be living about as far away from home as I could get – South America. This was my Venezuelan stint, and, by the time I came home again, I’d already contracted the Latin American bug. Not the various bugs I acquired through local salads, but a kind of psychological bug that gives you the urge to keep returning, and returning – for stimulation rather than relief.

By the time I started my PhD, I’d had my fling with the tropical north, and became captivated by the mysterious Andes further south. This was the ancient world of the Incas, whose language – Quechua – is still spoken today. Enthralled as I was by the thought of a millennia-old culture whose spirit lingers in remote settlements of the present day, a strange idea began to form in my mind: to delve into this hidden universe through the lens of its poetry. The idea became compulsively stronger, more and more concrete, and materialized as a resolution. So that was it.

Decided. Over the course of a year, I would travel from village to village in the Peruvian Andes, documenting their songs and poetry, immersing myself in the voices of the mountains. And, by opening myself to the secrets therein revealed, I hoped to learn about more universal issues, such as the nature of identity, what we mean by knowledge, and how we relate to the world around us.

It was with the usual mix of trepidation and tingling excitement, familiar to all travellers, that I stepped off the plane and into Peru at five in the morning, May 23rd, 2010. By the time I emerged from the terminal, dawn had broken and I was ready to take on this unfamiliar and exotic world that was unfolding before me, shedding its veil under the first rays of the Peruvian sun. After two days acclimatizing, I climbed onto a bus and made my ascent to the Andes, following rivers that led from the sandy desert on the coast to their origin in the towering ranges beyond.

If I was to study the native poetry, I would have to speak the language, which meant learning Quechua. So this was my first task.

I went on a six-week course, which gave me the solid grounding that I would build on through actual interaction. Quechua works like a single rung of an abacus. The rung is the word, and the beads are the chain of endings that are added to the word.

Instead of using lots of words – as we do in English – Quechua just adds lots of endings. This makes for some very long words.

Look at this one: miku-tsi-yka-ma-nqan-tsik-raykur-tsu-raq. It

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translates as ‘Could the reason be that he is inviting us to eat?’

Now that’s a bargain: eleven words for the price of one. Quite a mouthful. But, when you learn the endings and their logical order, it all falls into place.

After learning the language, I took to the road and began my journey across the Andes. My quest for the secrets of Incan lore would take me from the gushing torrents of the Pativilca river – which separates two dialects of Quechua, past the ancient pre-Incan fortresses of Yayno and Qarway – powerful citadels of the fifth-century Recuay culture but now abandoned to the elements – along precipitous ridgeways frequented by pumas on the road to Yamyan, and through the bucolic wild flower meadows that caress the settlement of Llaclla, a sub-tropical haven that lies sheltered between rugged peaks. Of course, I had my mishaps as well – such as when I slipped on a toad, or sat on a plantpot which, in an unlit room, I had mistaken for a seat. How was I to know that what looked like the back of a chair was actually a cactus?

Notwithstanding these inconveniences, I was able to document the songs and poetry of many indigenous festivals. One that stands out is the Apu Inka ritual in Huanchacbamba, where par-

“I’d already contracted the Latin American bug. Not the various bugs I acquired through local salads, but a kind of psychological bug that gives you the urge to keep returning” ticipants re-invent their village as a microcosm of the Incan Empire. They metamorphose into their ancestors, emerging as dignitaries in the royal retinue of the Incas, and re-enact the journeys of their forebears throughout the ancient realm. The song lyrics were recited to me by Don Marianito, a shaman who divined the future by reading the stars, and lived in a small windswept cottage below the ruins of Yayno, along with his herd of llamas.

Here is one verse from the song, with the translation following it: Titicaca yaku mamaata rikarinaapaq Intipa churin killapa wawan Llapan ayllu wiyarinampaq Hanan ayllu urin ayllu

sha, it’s an agricultural rite, where men compete to cut down a tree placed in the centre of the village. He who succeeds in chopping it down will organize the festival the coming year (on learning this fact, I succumbed to a sudden weakness of the arms). From an Andean perspective, chopping down the tree isn’t a destructive act, but a life-enhancing one, since the tree, if nurtured respectfully, will provide the fuel for warmth, cooking and, ultimately, survival. The respectful treatment of nature is beautifully conveyed in this verse from Pacllón: Wayillaykita depositayki Chakrallaykita depositayki Arbollantiskta parlapaanaykipaq Arbollantiskta rimapaanaykipaq You deposit your house You deposit your field To speak with our tree To talk with our tree The first two lines describe how the organiser has had to give up his property (temporarily) in order to be able to afford the festival. This isn’t as drastic as it sounds as his neighbours are obliged to give him food and shelter, but it shows how the festival centres on communal solidarity, just like Apu Inka and Masha.

And relations with nature are conveyed in intensely interpersonal terms, not as exploitation but as a form of communication.

To see my mother, the water of Titicaca Son of the sun, son of the moon So that every ayllu may hear Upper ayllu, lower ayllu.

This verse conveys the Incas’ belief that they emerged from Lake Titicaca (on the Peru/Bolivia border), and that their original ancestors were the sun and the moon.

The word ayllu just means ‘community’, so this verse is suggesting that all Andeans are part of a single, Incan, community.

The mention of ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ ayllus reflects a very common feature of Andean settlements: their division into two halves. This was central to another ritual which I found, the Masha of Mangas. During Masha, different people represent each half of the village, and exchange goods in an expression of solidarity. In the past, the two halves were highly complementary – the upper half focused on animal-herding, while the lower half was dedicated to crop cultivation. In this way, the whole village had the resources it needed

to survive. This is all communicated in the Masha songs. While the whole festival centres on cooperation, the last song describes a mock bullfight which occurs between each half. The rationale behind the bullfight is simple: difference must be reinforced since, if the two halves were the same, there would be no basis of exchange. Here is a verse from the bullfight which depicts the intimate relation between ritual and agriculture in the Andes: Alli toromi torollaaqa Allawkinupa torullaaqa Paja castillo michikoq toru torum torullaaqa My bull is a strong bull The bull of an allauquino My bull is a bull which eats tough straw Allauquino means ‘someone from Allawkay’, the upper half of Mangas.

Puqllay, another festival which I witnessed, is performed in many settlements. Like Ma-

As I travelled along paths unknown to other foreigners, I was sometimes met by bemusement (not least because of my height, which I put down to eating grasshoppers in China).

But, as I greeted people in their native tongue, I found Quechua to be invaluable in breaking the ice and building trust. Quechua is so undervalued in contemporary Peru that people are even discriminated against when they speak it. Not one to tolerate injustice, I spoke it as much as I could, and the result was that people opened their hearts to me as I did to them.

This is, I believe, what the voices of the mountains had been telling me all along, even before I followed them to the land whence they came.

That, if we tread a path that’s true to ourselves, fulfilling our intellectual, emotional and spiritual aspirations, then we’ll always be open to novel perspectives from the people around us.

Thus, though we follow our own unique path, we may make our journeys in unison.

Charles Pigott is working on his PhD at SOAS, University of London. He was a resident of Netherhall from 2011 to 2012.

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waugh revisited

alex osborn on the great british satirist

Left: Eveleny Waugh Right: The dining hall at Christ Church, Oxford

“There are so many popular, and in my opinion unfair, stereotypes about Waugh that have entered public perception from a variety of different sources. The most common is that he was an unashamed snob, preferring to walk to the Hampstead post office as a boy so that his letters could bear the more superior NW3 postmark as opposed to NW11, the postcode of his actual home in Golders Green”

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t is often fascinating to look back at famous authors’ earliest examples of writing in childhood, so as to witness the traits evident even at such a young age that will later make them distinct and, in their own ways, extraordinary. The earliest literary composition of Waugh’s that we have is a brief self-portrait named ‘My History’, which he wrote in September 1911, aged seven. As with many similar exercises written by young children, it gives a great deal of steady factual description, but it already speaks volumes about the child’s developing character and view of the world.

‘We all hate Mr Cooper, our arith master. Today is Sunday so I am not at school. We allways have sausages for breakfast on Sundays I have been watching Lucy fry them they do look funny befor their kooked. Daddy is a Publisher he goes to Chapman and Hall office it looks a offely dull plase. I am just going to Church. Alec, my big brother has just gorn to Sherborne’.

Already, one can see much in these words that is so characteristic of the older Evelyn Waugh speaking in interviews towards the end of his life– forthright, outspoken, keenly observational,

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aware of his status, of the importance of routine and tradition, and unafraid to voice some quite strongly held opinions. As Paula Byrne wrote in her excellent biography of Waugh and his writing career, Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead, ‘here is Evelyn Waugh the writer in embryo’. The young Evelyn is about to set off for church, and of course in later life he would eventually be blown completely in the direction of the Catholic faith. The scene is so typical of the English upper middle class, who, along with the aristocracy, people Waugh’s novels – comfortably well-off; the domestic servant, Lucy, cooking the Sunday breakfast in the kitchen; the house dominated by the figure of Daddy, away from the intimate dealings of the family with his important sounding job in the City; and an older brother who has just been sent to a big and imposing public school (Sherborne). At this age Waugh already demonstrates the literary style that would be prevalent in all of his novels, that of the detached observer trying to view the inside from the outside perspective.

He shows himself to be an author with a very high attention to detail, and one not afraid to make even the most ordinary or mundane things (such as preparing sausages) an opportunity for wit or unexpected comment.

Arthur Evelyn St John Waugh was born in Hampstead on 28th October 1903, and was the second son of Arthur Waugh, a literary critic who also acted as managing director of the London publishers Chapman and Hall, and Catherine Raban. His elder brother, Alec Waugh, also later became a well-known author.

Despite the strained relationship that he was to develop with his father in later years, Waugh admitted that ‘Daddy’s’ love of literature became ingrained in his youngest son for the rest of his life. Arthur Waugh regularly recited aloud passages of Dickens, Shakespeare and his favourite poets to the family in his marvellously sonorous voice. Evelyn later wrote in his recollection of his early life and education, A Little Learning, that his father ‘read aloud with a precision of tone, authority and variety that I have heard excelled only by John Gielgud’. It is ironic, therefore, that Gielgud himself revelled in the role of Charles Ryder’s father in the 1981 Granada television adaptation of Brideshead Revisited, which became one of the most successful serials in television history. Waugh believed that his father’s love of English prose and verse ‘saturated my young mind, so that I never thought of English Literature as a school subject...but as a source of natural joy’.

It was Waugh’s time at Oxford, however, that became the most influential period of his life in shaping what we largely know of him today. It was there that he formed most of the friendships that would greatly sustain him in later years. He studied History at Hertford College, upon winning a scholarship. However, despite his keen intelligence and aptitude, he was not a conscientious student. He was in fact determined to get through the three years with the utmost minimum of work possible. He subscribed more to the notion, as Byrne believes, that Oxford was a place ‘simply to grow up in’ rather than a platform to gain an education or step into a career. However, it meant that Waugh did not even achieve the minimum required to gain a third class degree, and so he left Oxford without any qualification to his name.

Despite the ultimate failure of his academic existence at Oxford, he took great delight in looking back at his time there with more than a hint of nostalgia, and his university experience is most memorably memorialised in the opening sections of Brideshead Revisited, his most famous novel which tells the story of Charles Ryder and his infatuation with the aristocratic Marchmain family. Waugh’s earlier novels, such as Vile Bodies and A Handful of

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Dust, are in the most part bitingly satirical, detailing the directionlessness and emptiness by which the ‘Bright Young Things’ of the late 1920s and 30s were largely living their lives.

Brideshead Revisited is very different in tone to Waugh’s earlier works. It was published in 1945, only a few months after victory in Europe was achieved, and Ryder, a disillusioned middle-aged army captain, is widely believed to represent Waugh himself, as so much of the novel is directly autobiographical on Evelyn’s part, and many of the characters are modelled on figures Waugh knew in real life. What readers love most about Brideshead is the exquisite richness of its lyrical passages in which Ryder reminisces about Oxford: ‘Oxford, in those days, was still a city of aquatint...her autumnal mists, her grey springtime, and the rare glory of her summer days...when the chestnut was in flower and the bells rang out high and clear over her gables and cupolas, exhaled the soft airs of centuries of youth’.

It is hardly surprising that in the midst of low post-war morale, the novel captured readers’ imaginations so vividly and effectively with its depiction of a world of lost beauty, glamour and innocence. Those who were part of the small group of Netherhall residents who visited Oxford at the end of May will now be able to directly appreciate the beauty and artistic promise that Waugh and many other writers have seen in Oxford.

There are so many popular, and in my opinion unfair, stereotypes about Waugh that have entered public perception from a variety of different sources. The most common is that he was an unashamed snob, preferring to walk to the Hampstead post of-

“For Waugh, human relationships meant nothing unless they were strengthened by faith in God. Faith is, ultimately, our only kind of hope, providing a transcendent and objective moral vision that can help prevent the kind of disintegration and lack of wholeness so rife in the decadence of 1920s and 30s ‘Society’ living. This message is the most central to his religious vision, and is perhaps most beautifully summarised in the very closing lines of Brideshead Revisited, when Charles Ryder glimpses the sanctuary lamp in the chapel at Brideshead still burning brightly amidst the war-torn chaos surrounding him” 22

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fice as a boy so that his letters could bear the more superior NW3 postmark as opposed to NW11, the postcode of his actual home in Golders Green. When asked by an interviewer in 1962 why the characters in many of his novels are invariably taken from the nobility or certainly the upper echelons of society, he famously replied: ‘I don’t know them [the working classes], and I’m not interested in them. I reserve the right to deal with the people I know best’.

The principal focus of my research into Waugh during this academic year was to try and disprove the existence of a prevailing tone that the critic Edmund Wilson believed pervaded Waugh’s works, which is that of a ‘mystical veneration of the upper classes’ and a construction of the aristocratic ideal as an ‘alternative religion’. What stands out to me more about Waugh is the sublime contradiction, in many ways, between the two styles of writing for which he is most famous – the almost cruelly satirical social observer of youthful hedonism and the breakdown of moral cohesion on the one hand, and the beautifully restrained vision of nostalgia for his youth which exists in his later works.

For anyone who has read or seen the television production of Brideshead Revisited, there is arguably something in it that any university student can identify with in terms of the emotional experiences involved when leaving home and embarking on what is often one’s first experience of genuine independence. This novel speaks so accurately about the complex nature of human love, particularly first love, and the endurance of faith in a broken world.

For Waugh, human relationships meant nothing unless they were strengthened by faith in God. Faith is, ultimately, our only kind of hope, providing a transcendent and objective moral vision that can help prevent the kind of disintegration and lack of wholeness so rife in the decadence of 1920s and 30s ‘Society’ living.

This message is the most central to his religious vision, and is perhaps most beautifully summarised in the very closing lines of Brideshead Revisited, when Charles Ryder glimpses the sanctuary lamp in the chapel at Brideshead still burning brightly amidst the war-torn chaos surrounding

Above: Arthur Evelyn St John Waugh Opposite top: The Radcliffe Camera in Oxford Oppostie bottom: the front cover of Brideshead Revisited

him, a self-sustaining light that has survived despite all attempts to destroy it: ‘Something quite remote from anything the builders intended, has come out of their work, and out of the fierce little human tragedy in which I played; something none of us thought about at the time; a small red flame...it could not have been lit but for the builders and tragedians, and there I found it this morning, burning anew amongst the old stones’.

Alex Osborn is in his second year studying English Literature at UCL. It is his second year at Netherhall.

“forthright, outspoken, keenly observational, aware of his status, of the importance of routine and tradition, and unafraid to voice some quite strongly held opinions” netherhall news

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dna: unlocking life’s code we’ve discovered the secret of life, but what will we do with that knowledge? asks rafael sumalinog

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n February 28th, 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick were having lunch at the Eagle pub in Cambridge. There they declared to its patrons that they had ‘discovered the secret of life’.

Perhaps they had one too many to drink, but these young scientists were in the midst of the 20th century’s signature breakthroughs in biology. After years of searching and countless setbacks, they had just reviewed the latest x-ray pictures of DNA from colleague Rosalind Franklin, and solved the molecule’s elusive structure. The fundamental stuff of life, as it turns out, is elegantly simple: two intertwining threads of polymers, as in a helix, with nucleotide building blocks intercalated between the threads to hold the threads together. Like a blueprint, the DNA maps and contains instructions for the structure and functions of a living factory, from the simplest organelles, to single-cell germs, to the trillions of cells that make up the human body. Always occurring in complementary pairs, the nucleotides bases would be lined up along the polymer thread in a specific sequence, and would be read out like lines of a book, except this text would have only four ‘letters’ (A, C, G, and T) to denote the four nucleotide base pairs. Long combinations of these bases, known as genes, are then translated to form proteins, which are essential for cell to survive and perform basic functions. These sequences could be copied, modified, or combined with other DNA, and can be passed down to instruct the lives of future generations.

Indeed the DNA’s structure, with interchangeable nucleotide bases on a double helical backbone, means that it can be edited to change the organism’s characteristics without affecting the basic structure of the molecule itself. Thus, the fundamental structure has been conserved across virtually all organisms, with only minor modifications in its shape to suit special circumstances. In order to adapt and change, Nature has wielded her creativity on the sequence of the DNA, which can vary greatly depending on the species. For example, sequences can be as little as five million base pairs in primitive E. coli bacteria, to 140 million in fruit flies, to three billion in humans. Nonetheless it is important to note that the length of the sequences do not necessarily determine the complexity of the organism: although there are significant differences in the sequences across species, they are not as disparate as previously thought. Human genomes, for example, are about 85% similar to those of mice and more than 95-98% similar to an ape’s. Oddly enough, when the human genome was first decoded in 2003 by Francis Collins and Craig Venter, it seemed then that large swaths of the sequences—about 98%—did not have any apparent function, and were called ‘junk DNA.’ We have since learned that these sequences are not entirely useless remnants of our genetic makeup, but rather important non-coding sequences that are critical for regulating gene expression. Many of these sequences, for example, can determine one’s likelihood of developing cancer, heart disease, and susceptibility to bacterial and viral infections.

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“Not only has the molecule that directs life been determined, we have also learned to manipulate it in ways that could fundamentally change how we do medicine. Yet, a bit of humility is in order. As we move further toward the cusp of ‘playing God,’ we should, as NIH Director Francis Collins, recognize our limits in rewriting the book of life” Dr. Liming Ying, from Imperial College London’s Molecular Medicine and National Heart and Lung Institute, visited Netherhall House on Monday 4th March, 2013 to explain further today’s available technologies surrounding the DNA. We have, in fact, gone a long way. Whereas x-ray crystallography half a century ago would have provided rough clues about the DNA’s structure, we can now use single-molecules to precisely track DNA ‘in action.’

We have also significantly reduced the time it takes to decode genomes in general—from the Sanger sequencing method commonly used in the 1970s, which would have taken hours to decode a maximum thousand base pairs per sequence, to high-throughput single-molecule nano-sequencing, which could process up to millions of sequences simultaneously in a day. This has enabled a new avenue of biology, namely the age of –omics, such as genomics, where the goal is to collect data not just on the human genome, but (theoretically) on all organisms in the planet to determine relationships between species. Genomics has had significant implications in various fields, such as infectious disease and agriculture. In fact it has become part and parcel of modern medicine’s holy grail, personalized medicine. In 2003, Allen Roses, vice-president of GlaxoSmithKline, admitted that it was ‘an open secret within the drugs industry’ that ‘our [GSK’s] drugs do not work on most people’. This is because drugs are generally developed and approved on the basis of general results from large clinical trials, where the ‘one size fits all’ approach assumes that most people will respond to a drug in a certain way on average. Often this disregards as outliers

the many unique side effects, the different levels of drug efficacy, and tolerance individual patients will have with their treatments.

With our enhanced knowledge of genomics, however, we can understand more precisely the type of drugs we can give to patients, dosage, and the types of dangerous effects that might occur. Moreover, knowing one’s complete genomic sequence (in the context of everyone else’s information) in theory should help us gain better insights into our body, and predict our likelihood in acquiring certain diseases such as cardiovascular anomalies and Parkinson’s.

Yet as Dr. Ying describes, decoding DNA is just one part of the project. Scientists have made much headway into using DNA for storage and manipulation of man-made information. Only recently, researchers from the European Bioinformatics Institute were able to store hundreds of kilobytes of data into the DNA with minimal error. Although this is significantly less than the storage capacities of current CDs and USB sticks, the biological nature of this storage information system—if mastered—is quite powerful. USB sticks may currently carry more info, for example, but they can’t make progenies and multiply its stored information exponentially. Even more daring was in 2010, when Craig Venter and his group successfully produced the first ‘synthetic’ cell, which was a living, self-replicating cell that functioned entirely on a DNA sequence that the group designed. It even had a line from James Joyce’s novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man encoded into the sequence: ‘To live, to err, to fall, to triumph, to

recreate life out of life.’ Although we are some decades away, the potential for synthetic biology to redesign life to suit our needs is immense, where cells could be produced that could deal with oil spills, to generating enhanced organs that match the patients, to creating new species of life.

So sums up the potential for DNA in the advancement of biotechnology. Not only has the molecule that directs life been determined, we have also learned to manipulate it in ways that could fundamentally change how we do medicine. Yet, a bit of humility is in order.

As we move further toward the cusp of ‘playing God,’ we should, as NIH Director Francis Collins, recognize our limits in rewriting the ‘book of life.’ Even though in biology we are advancing in leaps and bounds, we are becoming more like Joyce’s artist, ‘like the God of the creation, [who] remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent, paring his nails.’ The operative word here is ‘like’, and we must be careful not to forget the responsibility we hold with such power. Despite our God-like abilities to manipulate life as we wish, should we ever become as indifferent and remote as the artist, we would become blind to the dignity of life—particularly human life—which should draw the line on what we can and can’t do.

Rafael Sumalinog is currently pursuing a Masters of Public Health at Imperial College London and will soon be beginning his medical studies at the University of Toronto. This is his first year in Netherhall.

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pro-choice lobbyists’ silver bullet

the effect of savita’s tragic death on irish society. joseph quinn reports

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eflecting on the now widely publicized events leading up to 28th October 2012, the day that Savita Halappanavar tragically died in University Hospital in the medieval city of Galway, West Ireland, one can only shudder. This is not only due to the horrific circumstances which led to the death of the 31 yearold Indian national, but because of the accompanying explosion of outrage, condemnation and hysteria, not merely on a nationwide platform, but upon the world stage. The Irish state and its society were judged by the international media, and judged incredibly harshly at that. Perhaps it is unsurprising that people on foreign shores are watching events in Ireland so closely, especially in Britain where abortion is legal and Roman Catholics form a minority. For all concerned Irish citizens, regardless of what side of the abortion issue they fell into, the shame, embarrassment and the general sense of anger that such an unnecessarily harrowing death should befall a pregnant woman on the verge of a miscarriage in an Irish hospital was almost unbearable. This would not be a peripheral issue for the Irish public, but an incredibly emotive matter that soon moved to the centre of the political agenda during last November.

“For all concerned Irish citizens, regardless of what side of the abortion issue they fell into, the shame, embarrassment and the general sense of anger that such an unnecessarily harrowing death should befall a pregnant woman on the verge of a miscarriage in an Irish hospital was almost unbearable”

With the details of the National Budget for 2013 due for announcement by the government, one would have naturally assumed that the attention of the media would have been concentrated more acutely on the dire state of the economy in Ireland.

However, on the day that the budget was unveiled, the Savita story was still dominating news headlines weeks after her body was cremated in her home town of Belgaum in the Karnataka region of India. A furious debate raged on Dublin’s city streets, in Irish newspaper columns, on Irish radio and television shows, inside the chambers of the Oireachtas and, without doubt, along the corridors of Government Buildings. It raged on both private and public television networks, and Irish newspapers dedicated column after column towards the endless discussion of the tragic case throughout the whole of the month of November. Huge demonstrations were held in towns and cities all over Ireland, with some 20,000 people marching in favour of the legalisation of abortion on Saturday, November 17th. This would be matched by a by a pro-life march and vigil numbering 10,000 supporters in early December, and another vigil attended by 25,000 in February, 2013.

colleague and fellow government Minister, Shane MacEntee, just three days later affected the Health Minister very profoundly, but even this had to be put to one side quickly as the monumental problems created in the wake of Savita Halappanavar’s death remained to be tackled. All things considered, the last quarter of 2012 was a fairly traumatic period for the Irish nation and left some deep wounds which may take many years to heal.

On December 18th, 2012, the Minister for Health, Dr. James Reilly, stated in the Irish Parliament that there would be a shift in the Irish state’s policy on abortion, and that the government would clarify in ‘legislation and regulation what is available by way of treatment to a woman when a pregnancy gives rise to a threat to a woman’s life.’ The tragic death of Dr. Reilly’s party

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It could be argued that no previous death of a foreign national on Irish soil has caused such a degree of outrage, consternation and soul-searching within our society as that which was provoked by the death of Savita Halappanavar. In the aftermath of her passing, much of the corresponding negativity began to centre itself on three institutions; the Irish government, the Health Service Executive (the Irish equivalent of the NHS) and the Catholic Church.

The blame was portioned according to the perceived fault of each body. The government were, obviously, held responsible for the death because the coalition, led by the conservative Fine Gael party, adhered to pro-life principles. The beleaguered and poorlymanaged HSE were heavily criticised due to the horrifically poor level of care that had been provided to Savita while she was miscarrying, and later when she was dying of septicaemia. Lastly, the Catholic Church were blamed on three counts; the provision in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland which binds the state to the protection of unborn life, the Church’s own support for the pro-life position in Ireland and, more controversially, the words spoken by the attending midwife: ‘This is a Catholic country!’

As a result of the recent inquest in Galway which investigated the death of Savita Halappanavar, we now know that these words were spoken in a very innocent manner merely as a factual explanation to the Halappanavars for the denial of their requests for Savita to have an abortion. However, this was one of the many details of the Savita story which was misrepresented and distorted by the coverage of the story by pro-choice journalists in the Irish Times and other newspapers and media outlets in November, 2012. The full details of the case were not known until the results of official inquiries were made known. Meanwhile, the decisions that were being made within the corridors of power in Dublin mirrored the extreme bias that was being engineered within newsrooms and editors’ offices elsewhere in the city. Without seeming to pause and consider the implications of their actions, both on a moral and a political level, the Fine Gael party broke their pro-life pledge and bowed to the pressure placed upon them by their Labour party colleagues within the coalition. The legislation that was announced at the beginning of May was founded upon the legal precedent that had been laid down by an Irish Supreme Court ruling in 1993; that an abortion can be justified if the pregnancy is a threat to the life of the mother.

Known better as The X Case, this pertained to a pregnant woman who threatened suicide unless she was allowed to leave the jurisdiction to have an abortion. It is common for Irish women to travel to Britain for abortions. Estimates on numbers vary;

the BBC and the Guardian claim an estimated 11 women per day. However, it transpired that the judgement given in The X Case had been based on evidence given by a counsellor with prochoice views, who was not a medical professional. With a growing suicide problem in Ireland, one which has already claimed the life of a trusted colleague, the Irish government now seeks to make suicidality a legitimate basis for seeking an abortion. One is forced to ask the question; what does any of this have to do with the death of Savita Halappanavar, a woman who was looking forward to having her first baby, but whose death resulted from the fact that she was not granted a termination of her pregnancy even though she was miscarrying?

To put it simply, Savita’s agonising death due to a mixture of medical negligence and the lack of clear guidelines on when it is permissible for a medical professional to intervene during a miscarriage gave the pro-choice lobby the silver bullet that they had been waiting for decades to procure. As a result of her passing, Ireland is on the verge of legislating for abortion, because of the hysteria, fear and anger that was stirred, I feel very deliberately, by those of a pro-choice orientation. Of all the tragedy associated with Savita Halappanavar, this is perhaps the most tragic fact of all.

Joseph Quinn is researching a PhD in Modern Irish History at Trinity College Dublin. He is also a speaker for the media group Catholic Comment. When researching in London he stays at Netherhall.

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athlete’s foot once again kick-starting our sports column, gautam balaram rounds up some major recent sporting events Football Premiership: The clock runs down and the referee blows his whistle. 2013 marks the end of ‘Fergie Time’. No more hairdryers at halftime, no more mind games. Sir Alex led his side to their 20th league title facing West Brom in an unforgettable match, ending in a 5-5 score line. Arsenal pip Tottenham to 4th place. But having said so, this is no matter to celebrate. Arsenal have an opportunity this year to get Premiership gold especially with the managerial carousel. Wigan compounded Man City’s miserable year by snatching the FA cup, but they lost the Premiership battle. The result accelerated Mancini’s departure. Rafa secured Chelsea third position and also a place in the Europa League. Not bad for the unpopular caretaker manager who is off to Napoli. Bale looks bound for Madrid and may have the Uruguayan vampire (Suarez, who was penalised for biting opposing players earlier this year) for company. Leighton Baines and Fellaini look bound for Old Trafford. Wigan, QPR and Reading drop down, with Cardiff, Crystal Palace and Hull coming up into the Premiership.

My team of the year: Subs – Romelu Lukaku, Chico Flores, Felliani, Hugo Lloris and lastly Christian Benteke

David De Gea (goalkeeper) Pablo Zabaleta ----- Ashley Williams ----- Jan Vertonghen ----- Leighton Baines Juan Mata ----- Michael Carrick ----- Eden Hazard ----- Gareth Bale Michu ---- Robin Van Persie La Liga: A round of games to go, Barcelona have wrapped up the title and the deal of Brazilian wonder kid Neymar now on his way to the Nou Camp for 28 million euros. They also can equal Real Madrid’s point record of 100 points with victory in the last game. Real Madrid’s hopes of salvaging this season were shattered by defeat to neighbors Atletico Madrid in the finals of the Copa del Rey. The defeat was Madrid’s first in 14 years against their local rivals. Carlo Ancellotti looks like the next candidate for Madrid’s decima (tenth European cup) dream Meanwhile all teams are in contention for league survival with Celta Vigo, Mallorca, Zaragoza and Deportivo looking likely candidates for the drop.

Meanwhile Valencia and Real Sociedad look to take the battle for the remaining Europa League spots.

My team of the year:

Thibaut Courtois (goalkeeper) Jordi Alba------ Adil Rami ----- Carlos Martinez Isco----- Koke----- Iniesta----- Xabi Prieto Ronaldo -----Falcao ------ Messi

Ligue Une: Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) got the title, and the football world also says farewell to its most prominent poster boy, David Beckham. Meanwhile, newly promoted Monaco are out to shop ‘til they drop with deals done for Joao Moutinho. Falcao is also on the radar with a reported bid of 45 million euros.

Serie A: Juventus win the scudetto (Seria A trophy; refers to the small shield-shaped badge that winners are allowed to add to their kit in the next season) and celebrations galore with Conte now aiming for European glory with deals to strengthen a stuttering forward line (Higuain and Llorente). Inter stumbled to 9th place and Stram lost his job for it. AC Milan were fortunate to beat Fiorentina to third place with a controversial penalty awarded in last minutes, turning the tide for the Milanese. Udinese secure yet another season of European football and Guodolin should be inducted into the annals of history for the miracles he keeps performing with this team. Arsenal should replace Wenger with this guy.

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Bundesliga: The league has had a vintage year with two of its representatives in the Champion’s League final and also delivering a match worthy of the occasion. The final at Wembley was dominated by Dortmund for the first half hour.

Bayern should have entered the half time talk with the lead bar. There was some dodgy play by Arjen Robben and Thomas Muller. The match exploded in the second half after a Mandukzic (Bayern) goal at the hour mark and Dante (Bayern) should have been sent off for a second bookable offence, but Gundogan (Dortmund) did well to slot home the penalty. The match looked destined for extra time and penalties (if the game had gone to penalties we would still be watching it!). Robben latched on to the long ball down the middle and slotted home the winner to crown Bayern five time champions of Europe. Bayern can complete the treble with victory in the final of German cup. With Goetze, possibly Lewandowski (hinted at by Bayern’s outgoing manager Jupp Heynckes), and Guardiola at the helm, is there any stopping the German Juggernaut? Dortmund is in the market for Christian Eriksen of Ajax and a loan deal for Barcelona’s Wunderkind Gerard Delofeou.

My Team of Year: A pointless exercise. I’d take the best of Bayern and Dortmund, add in a bit of Rene Adler from Hamburg, and Huntelaar from Schalke - et voila, team of the year.

Other news: Porto were unbeaten and wrapped up the season’s campaign, while Ajax secured yet another Eredivisie title.

cricket England have just won their second test against New Zealand in the ongoing home series. Like their national counterparts, the Netherhall English cricket team beat the Indian cricket team in the annual India vs England Netherhall cricket game.

The Indian Premier League concludes on a sour note with the issue of match fixing, stealing the limelight from another season of some glorious Twenty20 cricket. Mumbai Indians beat the Chennai Super Kings in the final to lift the trophy with Dravid’s Royals in third, completing the teams for the Champions league later this year.

formula 1 Vettel picks up where he left off and storms to the top of the standings closely tailed by Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso.

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LifeOf The House TT

his time of year is always quiet. People suddenly remember Netherhall has a library, free time becomes a fond memory - and the tiniest whisper of power tools coming from the toilets undergoing renovation becomes a hated companion. Still, there are some activities which helped break the monotony of revision!

Remember, most of these activities and other forthcoming activities can be found on our online calendar or the Facebook page.

The annual Netherhall India vs England cricket match was so important that it warrants a mention in three sections of this month’s issue. As the victor, Peter Brown gets to write history. As the loser, Gautam Balaram refuses to be drawn on any opinion. In the case of this author, he is writing under the assumption that not everybody will read all three sections of the magazine, so adding something here will increase the chances of spreading the news. The weather held out as 20 players trooped out to Regent’s Park. It was a close match. Although India lost, captain Sachin Nehra was the highest scorer with a respectable 32 not out. Both teams shook hands, and now await the rematch next year.

Former resident James Somerville-Meikle has recently returned from Nablus, a Palestinian city in the West Bank, where he has been working for an NGO. He dropped by the House on Tuesday 21st May to talk about the ‘State of Strife: Political Narratives, Identity, and Life in a Divided Land’. Rumour has it that he actually meant it to be a reading from the travel guide he has secretly been writing, titled My Magical Mystery Tour in Palestine and Israel. However, it may never be known whether that book really exists, since he actually talked about the billed subject.

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On Saturday 11th May, Netherhall House hosted a wonderful piano recital by Bruno Ferrari to mark the 30th anniversary of the Netherhall Neighbourhood Association (NNA). As the name suggests, the NNA is an organisation that brings together people living in the local area for social and charitable events. Despite his name, Bruno Ferrari is not a racing driver but a student at the Royal Academy of Music and although Bruno does not live in the House he has been coming to Netherhall to attend spiritual activities for the last year. By strange coincidence we discovered that Bruno’s teacher at the Royal Academy is Professor Sulamita Aronovsky who used to send one of her pianists each year to play in the House recital series back when it first started.

Bruno Ferrari consults his muse before the recital in Netherhall

A view of Brussels: from left to right - James Konstanczak, Douglas Tatz, Mihal Piskozub, Misurati ala Eldeen, Simone Crimella, Alvaro Tintore

Visits by Netherhall residents to the Cedars school have continued over the last couple of months to help prepare for the school’s opening in September

Above top: Edouard de Saizieu clearing a drain Above bottom: Dougy Tatz and Ben Newman Sanders sweeping up rubbish

On Bank holiday Monday, three cars containing 15 pilgrims from Netherhall made a pilgrimage to Walsingham in Norfolk. As usual, one car got absolutely lost and ended up arriving both an hour late at the shrine and back at the House that evening (despite having a Sat Nav!). The

only difference between this year’s trip and that of other years was the rather awkward moment that some of the group experienced when they went swimming at Wells-next-the-Sea. Every year some of the group go swimming and when the tide is out it means having to run for nearly a mile to find water. At 5 pm the tide had just turned when this year’s swimmers headed off on their long jog to the sea, but after five minutes braving the cold they turned to find that they had effectively been cut off from the coast. A fast moving, chest deep channel now lay behind them parallel to the shore. It was impassable. To make it to safety the swimmers (in varying degrees of awareness of the danger of the situation) had to make their way across another channel which, although similarly fast and deep, was less than ten metres wide.

The danger passed with no loss of pilgrims but with a lesson learnt.

Five Netherhall House students joined students from eight other European countries to attend a seminar organised by EUCA (European University College Association) in Brussels on May 28th29th. The seminar consisted in a series of talks covering topics such as creativity, team working and digital communication. The students had the opportunity to visit the European Parliament and talk to some MEPs during the presentation of Maria Cinque’s book: ‘Soft Skills in Action- Halls of Residence as Centres for Life and learning’.

Above: the pilgrims escape a watery end

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passing through

news from former netherhall residents

new photographer wanted! passing through is suffering this month from the new hampstead byelaw prohibiting paparazzi activity. this month’s passers through enjoyed their stay without being snapped in their undies...

Haruo Tohmatsu (1995-98 and other other times) was here from 16th to 21st May whilst attending various conferences on Naval History. On his first night here Haruo very kindly answered question in the Get together about the Battle of the Atlantic and submarine warfare, the subject of one of the conferences he was attending.

Ali El Haj (2008-10) stayed with us for a night in May. Stephen Varosanec who was a student on the 1973 summer school at Netherhall 1973 dropped by at the end of May. Andrew Soane (1984-85) was ordained to the Priesthood by the Prelate of Opus Dei in May. On Saturday 25th May. He said his first Solemn Mass at St Thomas More Parish Church.

Finally, congratulations to BenoĂŽt and Sarah Perrin on the birth of their son Gregoire!

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