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Is Humans of New York an internet oasis? (page 16)

indigo looks at the onstage portrayal of war (page i11)

Durham’s independent student newspaper

Palatinate www.palatinate.org.uk

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Thursday 6th November 2014 | FREE

News Features: How important are world rankings?

SciTech: 13 Durham tops global space science rankings

Stockton students living in Rede House, Middlesbrough, have been without Wifi since they moved in over a month ago

Fashion: Are fashion and feminism incompatible?

Photograph: James Poole

Students denied “basic consumer rights” James Poole

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No. 766

Stockton students living in a new block of flats in Middlesbrough claim that they are being denied “basic consumer rights.”

The students, who live in Rede House and study courses at Durham’s Stockton campus, were told they would have “superfast 300MB Wifi” by the accommodation company Fortis Student Living, but arrived at the development to find no

working router to connect to.

In a letter of complaint sent to Palatinate, students expressed serious concerns about their academic progress as they are unable to download essential course information and assessment documents from DUO. Durham University claims that issues with the building’s Wifi have now been “resolved” but students have since described the speed and reliability of the wifi as

“terrible.”

Faulty or missing furniture, water leaks, and windows that do not open have also wreaked havoc for students living in the new build.

One student, Victoria Perfaihova, told Palatinate: “The Wifi situation is horrible, it only works between 2am and 6am so I have to work through the night to get my work done. I’m really angry about it.”

Bhavya Bakhda, a 1st year

Accounting and Finance student, added: “The Wifi router is two doors down from my room but I’m unable to access the internet – it’s just a joke.

“I feel betrayed by Fortis Student Living for advertising something that they are not providing. They are breaching basic consumer rights.

“When I arrived on moving day I had to wait six hours to get into my room.”

Continued on page 5

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Editorial The term for dreaming dangerously During each of my three years in Durham I’ve been shocked at how quickly November sneaks up out of the excitement of a brand new term.

The days are becoming distinctly colder, darker and shorter as that postsummer fresh feeling diminishes, making way for the familiarity of a by-now well established routine of lectures and work.

I, for one, find myself going through the motions of a term now steadily approaching its halfway point.

But this year, perhaps more than ever, Durham students are not simply going through the motions of university life.

In this time of upheaval, as the search for a new Vice Chancellor continues, Durham students across the city, in Stockton and beyond are finding their voices and speaking up about issues that matter.

The recruitment of the first new VC since the tuition fees hike represents the start of the next chapter for Durham University.

As a student body we

must appreciate the unique opportunities this represents.

This year presents the chance for meaningful, progressive change at this university.

We hope you’ll sense it as you read through this issue of Palatinate, with stories covering the University’s responses to the demands by students printed in our last issue, as well as calls for more to be done to increase riverside safety and backlash after the move of the Anthropology BSc course from Stockton to Durham.

After we extended our invitation to speak up in the last issue we received a letter signed by students of Rede House – a new accommodation block for Stephenson College – who were concerned by a number of significant problems, including serious health and safety concerns, in their new home.

Because of this letter we were able to bring this issue to light, fulfilling our role.

As your student newspaper we serve first to inform, of course, but also to bring

Thursday 6th November 2014 | PALATINATE

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to account the university of which we are all paying customers.

Last week there was some very good news from Durham, with the announcement of the University’s programme of criminology classes inside two of the county’s prisons - the first of its kind in Europe.

What’s more, Palatinate has confirmed that the University is, after much campaigning from students and staff, reviewing its position on the living wage.

These are the sorts of good-news stories that give reasons to feel proud to be a Durham student.

This year there’s change in the air.

Find your voice, speak up, and let’s work for more of those reasons.

Chris Somers

News pages 3-9

Politics pages 11-12 SciTech page 13

Comment pages 14-16 Sport pages 17-20

indigo

Editorial page 2 Features pages 3 Travel pages 4-5 Books page 6-7 Fashion page 8 Food & Drink page 9 Film & TV page 10 Stage page 11

Music pages 12-13 Visual Arts page 14 Creative Writing page 15

Letters to the editor

Want to see your name in print? We’d love to hear your opinion on our stories. If you have praise for Palatinate or a bone to pick with us, email editor@palatinate.org.uk.

Your letter could appear on this page in the next edition.

The best of Palatinate Online www.palatinate.org.uk

News: MP urges University to pay living wage

News: Durham to launch Europe’s first prison exchange programme

Film & TV: Interview with Dennis Alink

Fashion: The Brit Pack

Durham City MP, Roberta Blackman-Woods, has called on Durham University to pay its entire staff the living wage in a strongly-worded statement released this week.

Durham is to be the first university in Europe to deliver criminology classes inside prisons to both students.

The classes will take place inside HMP Durham and HMP Frankland.

Jonathan Theuring interviews Dennis Alink, 25-yearold Dutch film director and critic, on his work so far and how to succeed in the industry.

The nominations for this year’s British Fashion Awards were announced last week. Katie Shuff takes a closer look at the dazzling talent that constitutes this year’s nominees

Palatinate is published by Durham Students’ Union on a fortnightly basis during term and is editorially independent. All contributors and editors are full-time students at Durham University. Send letters to: Editor, Palatinate, Durham Students’ Union, Dunelm House, New Elvet, Durham, DH1 3AN. Alternatively, send an e-mail to editor@palatinate.org.uk

Editorial Board Editors-in-Chief Christopher Somers & Justin Villamil editor@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Editor Lawrence Holmes deputy.editor@palatinate.org.uk News Editors James Poole & Tom Fenton news@palatinate.org.uk News Features Editor Henry Clare news.features@palatinate.org.uk Deputy News Editors Josh Smith, Rebekah Wilson, Pippa Cole Politics Editor Marcus Natale politics@palatinate.org.uk Business and Economics Editor Richard Morgan business@palatinate.org.uk Careers Editor careers@palatinate.org.uk Science and Technology Editor Sadie Bartholomew scitech@palatinate.org.uk Comment Editor Patrick Brennan comment@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Comment Editors Ellen Orange & Sandy Thin deputy.comment@palatinate.org.uk Sport Editor Nick Friend sport@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Sport Editors John Evans & Mark Ganly Indigo Editor Kate Wilkinson indigo@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Indigo Editor Sraddha Venkataraman indigo.deputy@palatinate.org.uk Features Editor Francesca Jaworska feature@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Features Editor Zosia Eyres Food and Drink Editor Anisha Mohan food@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Food and Drink Editor Tanya Birkett Travel Editor Oliver Collard travel@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Travel Editor Naoise Murphy deputy.travel@palatinate.org.uk Fashion Editors Jessica Ng & Megan Magee fashion@palatinate.org.uk Film and Television Editor Jonathan Peters film@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Film and Television Caroline France Stage Editor Amy Price stage@palatinate.org.uk Music Editor Ana Symecko music@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Music Editor Will Throp deputy.music@palatinate.org.uk Books Editors Atifa Jiwa & Florianne Humphrey books@palatinate.org.uk Visual Arts Editor Frances Marsh visual.arts@palatinate.org.uk Chief Sub-Editor Lucy Hart sub-editing@palatinate.org.uk Sub-Editors Morgan Hayden-Kentt, Marianna Mukhametzyanova, Kiara Murphy, Isabel López Ruiz, Ellie Mullan Online Editor Kat Hind online.editor@palatinate.org.uk Web Editor Ian Ager web.editor@palatinate.org.uk Photography Editor Venus Loi photography@palatinate.org.uk Illustrations Editor Mariam Hayat illustration@palatinate.org.uk Blogs Editor Katie Winter blogs@palatinate.org.uk Publicity Officer Alexandra Fitzgerald publicity@palatinate.org.uk Advertising Officer Jess Sham

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PALATINATE | Thursday 6th November 2014

Union President’s Column

News

www.palatinate.org.uk

News

@PalatinateNews

Dan Slavin The first term of the year is now in full-swing and it’s been great meeting so many of you over the last few weeks. I’d like to begin this week with some updates on two of our Union policies which were adopted last year: the Living Wage and Fix International Fees campaigns.

The Living Wage is set at £7.85 an hour and this aims to ensure a basic minimum standard of living. Many students have voiced their support on Durham University becoming a Living Wage employer. To progress this policy we have written a letter to the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ray Hudson, asking him to investigate how the University can become a Living Wage employer.

Secondly, every year some international students face unknown increases in their tuition fees. They are unable to plan for these increases. A campaign team made up of interested Durham students worked hard to inform as many students as possible about this uncertainty faced by some students. Nearly 2000 signatures were gathered in support of the campaign. We wrote to the chair of the scholarship, fees and awards advisory group to share this information. A working group has been set up by the University, which includes the Academic Affairs officer, to look at this issue.

They have now produced a report with recommendations. This report will to be sent to the University Executive Committee (UEC) for consideration. I look forward to updating you further on the progress of both of these campaigns, which we know are very important for many students.

One of the officer team’s priorities for this year is to improve how we gather information from all of our students. We have already been out talking to lots of students face-to-face and asking for feedback on three big questions. We will continue this activity right throughout the year, so please be sure to spare a moment of your time if you see us out and about. We are also keen to hear from first years (both postgraduate and undergraduates) about your opinion of induction week.

We will be inviting you to complete a survey so you can share your thoughts on what was great and what could be improved. The research will help to improve and shape the induction period for future students so your opinion matters!

Palace Green heaved with children and parents from across the north-east last week as the University’s ‘Celebrate Science’ event got underway. Durham students and staff ran a range of free activities, workshops and experiments in a giant marquee that was ripped apart by high winds just days before the event was due to start, causing the whole of Palace Green to be cordoned off from the public. The marquee was repaired in time for the event, which ran from Tuesday until Thursday last week. Photograph: Venus Loi

Genderneutral toilets reinstalled in Dunelm House

Anthropology leaves Stockton for Durham City

Students challenge Students’ Union over river safety

Photograph: Venus Loi

Photograph: Josh Smith

Photograph: Ellen Orange

Durham Students’ Union has reinstalled gender-neutral toilets in Dunelm House after the original sign had been “inadvertently removed.”

Turn to page 4 to read more

Student outcry follows the Anthropology department move from Stockton to Durham City.

After the death of two students last year and an assault on a Durham student last month, students are speaking out about the lack of river safety in Durham.

Turn to page 5 to read more

News in brief

Turn to page 4 to read more

THE SUN OFFERS STUDENTS MONEY FOR HALLOWEEN PHOTOS

BRISTOL APPOINTS CHANCELLOR

NEW

VICE-

Student journalists at Manchester, Bath and Leeds have said that they were asked by The Sun to take and provide photos of “controversial” Halloween outfits in return for cash. Editors say they were asked for photographs of students dressed as ‘Jihadi John’ or Ebola victims.

Bristol’s University Council has appointed Professor Hugh Brady as the new ViceChancellor of the University. Professor Brady will become Bristol’s 13th ViceChancellor and will take over from the outgoing Sir Eric Thomas in September.

STUDY SHOWS PRIVATELY-EDUCATED GAIN £1500 PREMIUM The Institute for Fiscal Studies has revealed that privately-educated graduates earn significantly more than state school peers, even when they are employed in the same role. The report used data from graduates who left university in 2007.

4 www.palatinate.org.uk

Thursday 6th November 2014 | PALATINATE

Gender-neutral toilets reinstalled in Dunelm House

Tom Fenton

Durham Students’ Union has reinstalled gender-neutral toilets in Dunelm House after the original sign had been “inadvertently removed.”

The toilets are located on Floor D underneath the stairs.

Laura Carter, the Union’s

“We hope this will be a small step in creating a more inclusive environment for students” Laura Carter, Student Union’s Community Officer

Community Officer, told Palatinate: “We re-allocated existing toilets as gender-neutral toilets last year after requests from students and the LGBT association.

“It is important that we respect and adapt to the changing needs of our members and we hope this will be a small step in creating a more inclusive and accessible

environment for students. The original signage was inadvertently removed so we put up new signage this month.”

The Union would not comment further on the removal of the sign, saying only: “The signage was originally put up approximately one year ago and we are unsure when it was taken down.”

Phil Mullen, Executive Member at Durham Pride and 1st year PhD student, told Palatinate: “We at Durham Pride are delighted that the University has taken this step to promote inclusion and free expression for trans* people, who are often an afterthought in the LGBTQ community.

“Toilets are one site which impose a gender binary onto people. For many trans* people this gender binary just does not fit.

“It is a false choice, and furthermore some people may be made to feel uncomfortable by others in choosing a single-sex toilet.

“Gender neutral toilets challenge this false choice for everyone, making everyone feel more included.”

Durham’s LGBTA Association has been campaigning for genderneutral toilets.

Thom Addinall-Biddulph, President of Durham’s LGBT Association, confirmed to Palatinate that “the Association had been involved in discussions” for some time, “as it was our

principal campaign a couple of years ago.”

He continued: “We think the gender-neutral toilets are a fantastic step forward for the university community at large that has the potential to be of broad benefit in reducing discrimination and making people think about gender issues.

“We have in the past campaigned to the University by pushing them to consider the issue and work out potential sites for such toilets, so are very glad to see this step taken.

“Anyone who questions their gender, or is trans*, is likely to often face abuse and discrimination because of ingrained cultural views about gender roles and gender essentialism.

misgendered in conversation; verbal abuse, and, sadly, physical abuse can happen if people are visibly seen to not be conforming to established gender roles such as men wearing skirts, or women not shaving their body hair.

“More than anything, people simply not understanding the idea of gender as a fluid social construct is a major problem that needs working on.”

maining time as a student or to transfer college to Durham.

“Most chose to transfer and have been supported by both the old and new college during the transfer.

“Colleges have ensured that there are no additional costs associated with this move.”

Consolidation bursaries have been offered to affected students to ensure those living locally to Stockton are not financially disadvantaged by additional travel or childcare expenses because of the move.

Professor Coningham continued: “Students choosing to move to Durham have applied to cover additional rental costs where needed. A series of dedicated meetings were organised to keep

students informed and to receive their concerns - all of which were acted upon.”

Cara Milton-Edwards, a second year from Stockton who has had to move to Hatfield, said: “Generally the move has been great. There is so much more going on in this campus and it feels much better to be part of a much larger department.”

However, the move has caused outrage amongst some of the students originally from Durham.

Milton-Edwards added: “The department has gone back on a few promises it made to us when they announced the move… I know a few individuals who have had no contact at all from their new colleges.”

A second year from St Aidan’s

studying Anthropology told Palatinate: “It feels like the Anthropology Department wasn’t quite ready and has been disorganised about the whole situation.

“For some lectures, our classes are way too big, to the point where people are actually having to be turned away from their allocated seminar groups for another one.”

Although the Department and Anthropology Society helped transfer students and provided them with activities to help settle in, it is clear that the move has left some students disgruntled.

Professor Coningham reassured Palatinate that students were allowed to be a part of meetings involved with the process and voice an opinion.

“We are delighted that the University has taken this step to promote inclusion for trans* people” Phil Mullen, Exec member of Durham Pride

“The view that the genders are fundamentally, biologically different is a view science is rapidly proving to be pretty wrong except in certain obvious ways such as different genitalia.

“This includes trans* people being told they cannot use facilities reserved for the gender they identify as because they ‘look like’ their birth gender, or being

“The view that the genders are fundamentally different is wrong”

Thom AddinallBiddulph, President of Durham’s LGBT Association

Anthropology department move sparks student anger Josh Smith The Anthropology BSc course has moved from Queen’s Campus in Stockton to Durham City, meaning that all Anthropology modules are now taught in Durham and many students have been re-allocated colleges.

Stockton students will now have to travel on a regular basis to take any Anthropology modules as part of their degree.

Professor Robin Coningham, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Social Sciences and Health, spoke to Palatinate, saying: “Students affiliated with colleges in Queen’s were given the opportunity to remain with their college at Queen’s for their re-

DUCK Chair’s Column Jordan Riley DUCK has been manic this week; our expedition trips now all have leaders and are currently open for applications, our much anticipated event Jailbreak is open for sign ups and we are in the first stages of planning DUCK Week 2014/15 – which is going to be epic!

I thought it might interest readers to know a little more about one of the companies we work with and support through our expeditions. The FutureSense Foundation supports international development through fundraising and volunteering in some of the poorest regions of the world. Their charity work targets education, child welfare and livelihoods as a means to address a range of development issues. Through our expeditions to Thailand, India, Tanzania, Kilimanjaro, Romania and Cambodia we support the work of FutureSense by fundraising thousands and thousands of pounds and sending students to volunteer in various projects. This year these projects include undertaking refurbishment and renovation work in the local communities, teaching children in local schools and running summer camps for children under the care of the state.

Our expeditions play a large part in what makes DUCK unique, as we’re the only student-led university RAG to offer such a diverse range of opportunities for the student body. If you haven’t got involved with DUCK yet, I can highly recommend you join in one of our expeditions. They’re a fantastic way to get to grips with and see first hand, some of the phenomenal ways in which the money raised by DUCK helps to improve the lives of people across the globe.

In other news, Jailbreak takes place on the 15th-16th November and sign up is only open until this Friday, so make sure you get online and don’t miss out on a place! I’m off to our weekly Exec meeting soon and we’ll be brainstorming more ideas for DUCK week – if you have any ideas or want to get involved, drop me an email at dsu.duckchair@durham.ac.uk. I’d love to hear from you.

PALATINATE | Thursday 6th November 2014

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Students challenge Students’ Union over river safety Pippa Cole After the deaths of two students last year and an assault on a Durham student in the past month, students are speaking out about the lack of river safety in Durham.

The area of biggest concern is between Klute and the College of St Hild and St Bede, where the path is poorly lit and the river exposed with no railings or barriers.

At the Durham Students’ Union Assembly on Wednesday 29th October, students raised the issue of river safety as a matter of concern.

Dan Slavin, the Student Union President, was questioned on the matter at the meeting, as neither river safety nor alcohol awareness were points on his action plan for the year.

When questioned, Slavin said that he had been working with the University and the emergency services, and that the safety of students was of “paramount importance.”

He also said that the possibility of putting up fencing down by the river would not be feasible as the stretch is owned by various different parties, namely the University, the Council, and the Cathedral.

Additionally, bouncers in Durham nightclubs will be receiving ‘vulnerability training’ in the coming months.

Calls for better river safety have grown since Durham students Sope Peters and Luke Pearce were both last seen around the stretch of river between Old Elvet Bridge and Hild Bede last year before their bodies were later recovered from the river near the area.

Palatinate spoke to a student who attended the meeting: “Dan’s attitude was that it was the individual’s responsibility not to get themselves in that condition,” while another said that the Union Continued from front page

“There was no paintwork done and no carpets. Just this week my door handle’s fallen off and my fire extinguisher broke yesterday, posing a serious health and safety risk.

“The building’s basically falling apart and not fit to live in.

“What’s insulting is that as soon as we spill something or get a mark on the sofa we get an e-mail telling us off, yet they’re unable to fulfil the basic responsibility of providing us with liveable accommodation.”

Another student, Adam Ng, told

was only looking at “campaigns” rather than “practical things.”

Another student in attendance felt that “very little had been mentioned about the twin issues of riverside safety and alcohol awareness,” and believed that they should be addressed as a pair.

According to a student who spoke to Slavin, he also allegedly said that this “wasn’t an issue in Stockton.”

The chairman of the Assembly meeting reportedly shut down the discussion because it wasn’t focused on the points in the action plan.

Laura Carter, the Union’s Community Officer, said: “Last term we set up a student safety action group in conjunction with the council, police, fire service and University.

“The group took the informed decision that student safety is a much wider issue than river safety.

“As requested by the Students’ Union during the summer, the Council are conducting a review of river safety and all door staff will be given vulnerability training.

“We are very close to securing additional funding from the council for a long term education campaign which focusses on student safety.

“Each section of the working group has taken responsibility for particular elements of student

“If we can’t change something like [this] then the student body is truly useless” Durham Student

Palatinate: “Superfast broadband was advertised to us by Fortis Student Living but we’re simply not getting it.

“I study Pharmacy so need to watch video demonstrations to prepare for lectures and assessments but I’m not able to do this at the moment. It’s just not practical.

“When I arrived at Rede House my room was incomplete to say the least.

“There were builders everywhere, I had no desk and others didn’t have a bed, carpets or finished paintwork.

“Some people have had to move

safety. The Union are responsible for educating students, whilst the council are responsible for practical steps.

“We don’t have any concrete actions to report from this, but will give an update during the next Assembly meeting.”

Alleged reports that a CCTV camera on Bath’s Bridge has not been switched on by the Council as an attempt to save money, provoked a response from one student who told Palatinate “if we can’t change something like that then the student body is truly useless.”

Students seemed to agree that the whole path along the river does not need to be changed, only certain sections where there have been previous incidents.

Palatinate spoke to a member of the Health and Safety division at Durham County Council about the issue of river safety in Durham City. They told Palatinate that “water safety in Durham City is a matter of concern”, describing it as a “hotspot” which is on their “agenda.”

The Council commented on the problems with erecting railings on the riverbank, saying that the “length of the riverbanks in England [is] huge,” and that they “can’t fence them all.” However, they noted that “there are areas where there is an increased risk,” highlighted by the recent incidents near Hild Bede.

They confirmed that the “issues are under review.”

The Council also said that “alcohol has a big part to play as well,” and that there is a “massive issue around education.”

Professor Graham Towl, ProVice-Chancellor and Deputy Warden at Durham University told Palatinate: “The recent tragic incidents have reinforced our drive to comfrom room to room whilst builders carry out work.

“The University should be doing more to help, we need a voice with more authority to explain our problems.”

Scott Thompson, also a first year Pharmacy student, said: “We’re paying a lot for this accommodation so we expect a good service but we’re simply not getting that at the moment.

“Durham says it’s a collegiate university but if it carries on allowing private contractors to provide accommodation, it’s going to be anything but.

“More accommodation needs to be built by the University within

Towpath by College of St Hild and St Bede at night

municate clearly with students regarding their safety and wellbeing.

We are doing this in partnership with Durham Constabulary, Durham County Council, and Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service.

“During Induction Week, we arranged for representatives from Durham Constabulary to give presentations to our students on the dangers of alcohol, providing advice on how many units are in different types of drinks and guidance on safe drinking.

“They also advised students about staying safe on nights out.

The Freshers’ Representatives and Welfare Officers reiterated these key messages throughout the week. The Police have a robust plan in place to help ensure safety which complements the activities we run.

“The excellent Students’ Union and our Colleges run sensible drinking campaigns and raise awareness about student safety around the city. Safety messages have been reinforced by the Col-

colleges.”

In response to the student outcry, Professor John Ashworth, Principal of Stephenson College, said: “Rede House is a new purposebuilt student accommodation block, offering en-suite rooms to a high specification.

“Initially scheduled for completion later in the year, Stephenson College staff and members of the campus departments were very pleased to be able to move students in to a newly-revised schedule right at the start of term so creating a community of students there.

“Naturally there have been

Photograph: Ellen Orange

leges following recent events.”

Last year, York University lost two students to drowning. This month York City Council is launching a £100,000 river safety campaign, which will involve replacing life rings and installing fencing alongside the River Ouse and River Foss.

There will also be a studentfunded campaign where students will be paid to patrol the riverbanks at times when there are likely to be students leaving from local nightclubs and making their way home.

Slavin told the Assembly that night wardens are “not appropriate” in Durham. The Student Union Executive Committee expressed concern as to what would happen if someone was hurt or killed while a student was on duty.

One student at the meeting argued that, while a perfect solution may not be available, surely a safer one could be found. The student later told Palatinate that they weren’t sure if the committee “didn’t hear or didn’t listen.” snagging issues, such as a burst heating pipe which was resolved the next day and we were pleased that Fortis were able to move the very small number of affected students away from the burst area.

“The Wifi issues have now been resolved and have not affected Wifi access on campus or in the College’s IT suite, which are wellused by Rede House students.

“We believe that all issues that were brought to our attention are now resolved.

“If our students would like us to increase our College accommodation further it would be a conversation that we would be delighted to have.”

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Thursday 6th November 2014 | PALATINATE

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University responds to de

But campaigners criticise the response: “This is the regr under the previous Vice-Chancellor in which individuals ar Tom Fenton

Students: “Deeper underlying issues have not been addressed” “Sustained positive campaign” promised

The University has given a number of responses to proposals printed in the last edition of Palatinate.

The proposals, issued by Durham Students for University Reform, were made as the group described relations between the Vice-Chancellor and “numerous groups within the University community” as “deteriorating.”

The proposals and corresponding responses from the University are as follows: Proposals 1 and 9:

Current consultations with students and staff to be extended throughout the year with a wider agenda concerning each stage of the Vice-Chancellor recruitment process and issues of University policy, facilities and governance.

The long- and short-lists of candidates to be made public in the current and all future Vice-Chancellor recruitment processes. Candidates present on the ballot paper to include submissions by both the Senate and the DSU, and to consist of 50% women.

Clare Curran, Director of Human Resources, told Palatinate: “Our Professional Search Consultancy Perrett Laver has advised that candidates now prefer confidentiality.

“We have committed to a gender balance for all recruitment processes”

Clare Curran, Director of Human Resources “It would not be normal to share the names of those who are long-listed. However, until we know who the short-listed candidates are and we or Perrett Laver are able to discuss their application with them, we won’t know how open they wish their candidature to be. We cannot confirm

whether names will be released at this stage.”

Regarding quotas for women on the lists, Curran replied: “Durham University prides itself on being a diverse international community which provides equality of opportunity for all.

“We aim to create an environment to maximise the benefit of our diverse community, enabling all staff and students to achieve their full potential and help us to attract and retain some of the most talented and motivated staff from around the world.

“We have committed to a gender balance for all recruitment processes.”

Proposal 10:

Direct elections by all students and staff for the position of ViceChancellor. The position to have a fixed term before standing for reelection.

Curran told Palatinate: “Staff and students have been sharing their thoughts on the type of skills and expertise they feel are required for the role of ViceChancellor at a series of consultation meetings.

“They were also asked to provide any names that they would like to be considered as part of the search.”

Proposal 2:

Have a target of a 2/3 state school intake of undergraduates.

Dr Michael Gilmore, Academic Registrar, told Palatinate: “Durham is a highly selecting institution, with demanding degree programmes and a high ratio of very qualified applicants per place.

“The University works hard to generate applications from students from under-represented groups who might not otherwise apply to us and to identify those with the greatest merit and potential amongst all our applicants.

“Durham has an access agreement with the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), an independent public body that helps safeguard and promote fair access to higher education. Through the agreement we commit to a range of fair access activities such as the Supported Progression Scheme and the Sutton Trust Summer School, which encourage applications

Campaigners hold copies of Palatinate with their front page proposals Photograph: Durham Students for University Reform from under-represented groups.

“The proportion of state school entrants in 2013 increased by 4.2% on the previous year, and the fair access activities contributed significantly to this improvement.”

Proposal 3:

Fix international and postgraduate student tuition fees.

Professor Tim Clark, Dean and Deputy to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) told Palatinate: “The University’s Scholarship, Fees and Awards Advisory Group will be meeting for the first time this academic year in November; the issue of fixed fees for international students will be discussed then.

“The President of the Students’ Union will represent the student viewpoint at this meeting.

“Any recommendations arising from the meeting will be presented to the University’s Executive Committee for consideration.”

Proposal 4:

Pay all Durham University staff at least the Living Wage.

An anonymous University spokesperson would only tell Palatinate: “The University has agreed to review its position on the living wage, taking into account the range of benefits available to our staff.”

Proposal 5: “University-wide commitment to cultural change regarding rape, sexual abuse, assault and harassment accommpanied by a policy

“The University has agreed to review its position on the living wage.”

Anonymous University spokesperson with clear sanctions for perpetrators, centralised systems for reporting, pastoral care and support for victim-survivors, and training for staff to support and empower victim-survivors.”

Sam Dale, Deputy Academic Registrar at Durham University said: “We have a matrix model of support across the University bringing together staff from the Colleges and central teams who are able to support students with a full range of issues in a compassionate way.

“Staff receive internal and external training and the support network they provide is easily ac-

cessible and well communicated to students.

“The University takes all reported incidents very seriously. We deal with extremely sensitive and difficult issues in relation to sexual assault and there are a range of policies in place to ensure these are managed carefully.

“Many of these cases require partnership working with external agencies such as the police.

“Our counsellors are highly qualified and provide effective support for survivors of sexual abuse.

“In addition to this, the counselling team bring in external specialised counsellors on weekly bases who can provide long term therapy for those directly affected by sexual abuse or by the abuse of those close to them.”

“We will take ethical considerations into account when we let the new contract”

University spokesperson regarding G4S contracts

PALATINATE | Thursday 6th November 2014

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emands for radical change

rettable legacy of the toxic working environment created re afraid to publicly criticise the University’s management.”

Proposal 6:

Reform group: “There is no openness to structural reform of the governing bodies” Student and staff participation in VC recruitment process described as “limited”

The cancellation of the University’s G4S contract due to its track record of human rights violations in its global operations, “including in Palestine, South Africa and Guantanamo Bay.” An anonymous University spokesperson told Palatinate: “G4S is contracted to provide the University’s access control system.

“This contract has been in place

“We have no plans to withdraw from investing in or engaging in research financed by fossil fuel companies.”

Ray Hudson, Acting Vice-Chancellor

for a number of years and will be tendered in 2015. We will take environmental, social, and ethical considerations into account when we let the new contract.”

Proposal 7:

“Durham University to divest from fossil fuel companies” Professor Ray Hudson, Acting Vice-Chancellor at Durham University said: “Durham University is committed to reducing its environmental impact and improving the local environment.

“We have no plans to withdraw from investing in or engaging in research financed by fossil fuel companies.

“The issue of carbon emissions is hugely complex and significant for the future of our planet, but we recognise that there are no viable alternatives to fossil fuels yet available at the scale required for the predominant forms of current energy use, i.e. heat and transport.

“In addition, fossil fuels underpin modern food production methods, through the use of fertilisers, and the chemical and process industries which produce a vast array of plastic and pharmaceutical products.

“We will continue to engage with the fossil fuel and other industries in carrying out research on alternative, sustainable geoenergy resources such as geothermal and CCS.” Proposal 8:

Improve engagement with residents.

Professor Graham Towl, ProVice-Chancellor and Deputy Warden said: “Durham University convened a meeting over the summer with other universities and the National Organisation of Residents Associations to address some of the national issues.

“Additionally there is a regular attendance at the Durham City Liaison Group.

“Thirdly, just the other week there was a productive and constructive meeting held at the University with representatives from local residents groups.

“Another such meeting will be in diaries for this side of Christmas. Throughout these meetings we have very much appreciated the level of student engagement in partnership with our excellent Students’ Union.”

Responses

Executive members from University College Feminists, which signed the document, criticised the University’s response: “The University may have a support network to deal with sexual assault, but there is a lack of awareness of its existence within the student body.

“Also, it appears that the University is concerned with dealing with the effects of assault as opposed to its prevention.

“Furthermore, how do they propose to deal with incidents that go unreported and victim-survivors who don’t actively seek help which is the vast majority?”

Students from It Happens Here Durham, which also signed the document, agreed. One student, Elizabete Smildzena, told Palatinate: “All of these efforts focus on the aftermath, there is no focus on prevention.

“Although some victims-survivors have had a good experience, many victim-survivors tell us support they received was absent or inadequate, so currently it’s a

college lottery- specific response to disclosure training needs to be given to all staff, in departments and colleges.

“Because of this, we need a specific sexual violence policy that recognises the specific nature and causes of sexual violence, with a strong commitment to cultural change and eliminating rape culture and victim blaming.

“We hope to work collaboratively with the University to share skills and improve the outcomes.”

Joseph Male from People and Planet, which signed the document, was also critical of the University’s response. He told Palatinate: “The idea that carbon emissions is hugely complex is a fallacy. Carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels results in the heating of the atmosphere.

“A rise of more than 2˚C in global temperatures is enough to put the world beyond the acceptable limits as outlined by scientists.

Fossil fuel companies already have proven reserves of five times the

“All of these efforts focus on the aftermath, there is no focus on prevention [of sexual assaults]” Elizabete Smildzena, It Happens Here Durham

amount needed to take us past this limit.

“The current share price in the fossil fuel industry is based on the idea that all the reserves held by fossil fuel companies will be burnt.

“This situation is of course not viable given the severely detrimental impact it will have on the environment.

“This disparity between the safely useable reserves and the proven reserves results in fossil fuel companies being not as safe a long-term investment as they are held up to be.

“The suggestion that there are no viable alternatives will remain a self-fulfilling prophecy until the

money that is needed to develop these alternatives is invested in them.

“The growth of the divestment movement globally shows that increasing numbers of investors, including Glasgow University, are taking the moral imperative to act

“There is an unwillingness to give students, staff or workers a say” Co-chairs of Durham Students for University Reform

on climate change.

“Given the inviability of fossil fuels as an investment strategy and with the scientific facts stacked against them, does it not make sense for any forward-thinking institution to divest?”

Harry Cross and Sofia Hewson, Co-chairs of Durham Students for University Reform, said in a statement to Palatinate: “We are glad the University has been willing to respond to some of the issues raised.

“There is a clear willingness to consider the University’s policies on several issues (Living Wage, international student fees and contracts with G4S) which is largely the result of sustained campaigns by student groups and trade unions.

“We strongly hope that this translates into concrete policy changes.

“Like many of those supporting our project, we feel that the deeper underlying issues we wished to highlight have not been addressed.

“There is no openness to structural reform of the University’s governing bodies and an unwillingness to give students, staff or workers a say.

“The extent to which staff and students have been consulted in the Vice-Chancellor’s recruitment process has been limited and the University has not responded to these criticisms.

“Residents and maintenance staff were not consulted at all (except through trade unions).

“These issues can be resolved by wider consultation between the University and these groups as well as effective, coordinated campaigning by these groups.”

The pair also told Palatinate they were pleased with the response: “We have had an overwhelmingly positive response to our proposals published in the Palatinate.

“Our petition was successfully launched, new clubs signed up and both our e-mails and that of the Palatinate have been flooded with messages of support from students and staff.

“With the aim of opening a wider discussion around the proposals, JCR, MCR and SCR Presidents as well as college principals were forwarded individual copies of the proposals.

“This was particularly fruitful in yielding messages of support. At this point, some individuals do not feel comfortable publicly associating themselves with the campaign.

“We have had an overwhelmingly positive response to our proposals” Co-chairs of Durham Students for University Reform

“This is the regrettable legacy of the toxic working environment created under the previous ViceChancellor in which individuals are afraid to publicly criticise the University’s management.

“We are prepared for a sustained positive campaign lasting into next year when the new ViceChancellor will be pressured to support democratic and ethical reforms of the University as proposed by our campaign.

“We therefore encourage all those who identify with the proposals to contact us and find out how they can support our campaign.”

The group’s Facebook page has garnered - on the day of print - 56 likes, although many are executive members of the organisation.

Its Change.org petition page has 91 signatories.

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Thursday 6th November 2014 | PALATINATE

Should we listen to uni

Durham remains one of the top 100 universities in th

Henry Clare It’s that time again. Just weeks after the arrival of a new batch of freshers, staff across the University will be primed and ready, eagerly waiting for applications from sixth form students hoping to study at Durham University in 2015.

Up and down the country brighteyed sixth form students will be making their minds up. With the deadline for UCAS applications set for mid-January, they have just over two months left to answer some very difficult questions indeed.

Can they make the grades for an Oxbridge university? Should they seek the bright lights of London? Or should they burst their way into the Durham bubble?

Many months of fact finding and soul searching will go into their final decisions. Considerations like location, job prospects and nightlife will all be weighed up and calculated, before the long list of potential universities is narrowed down to just five.

Choosing which university to commit to involves considering an almost infinite number of factors, but university rankings tables make the job a lot easier.

In 2013, a study by economists at Royal Holloway, University of London, revealed that, in light of the recent rise in tuition fees, modern students take far more care when choosing where to study, and will therefore consult the university league tables extensively before making a final decision.

“Choosing which university to commit to involves condering an almost infinite number of factors, but university rankings tables make the job easier.”

The study also revealed that individual departments experience a 5% rise in applications when they move up a place on subject-level league tables.

Two of the most prominent ranking systems are the Times Higher Education (THE) and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) rankings, which compare universities on a global scale.

On the basis of these, the Oxbridge

Durham is the 82nd best university in the world, according to Times Higher Education universities seem to be the place to be: both Oxford and Cambridge sit in the top five of the QS and THE tables.

From a Durham perspective, the recent publication of the rankings ensures that administrative staff are likely to have a busy time filing through applications.

Once again, the THE and QS world rankings put Durham in their top 100, reinforcing its status as one of the most attractive universities in the UK. Furthermore, the University was recognized for the quality of its research, as the top performer among universities across the world in the THE’s research influence category.

In response to these successes, the Acting Vice Chancellor, Professor Ray Hudson, praised the University’s staff and researchers.

“We are pleased to have further consolidated our world top 100 position in THE rankings, following on from our recent success in the QS World University Rankings, which is testament to Durham’s excellence in academic research and teaching, and the hard work of our staff.”

The Acting Vice Chancellor also alluded to the fact that Durham has

four departments in the top 50 in the QS rankings, which he labels a ‘tremendous achievement’. The University’s History, Physics and Law departments all finished in the top 50, whilst the Geography Department was declared the fourth best in

“We are pleased to have further consolidated our World top 100 position in THE rankings.”

Professor Ray Hudson, Acting Vice Chancellor

the world.

Despite these successes, the rankings don’t paint a very clear picture.

Although the University has held on to its status as one of the top 100 universities in the world, its global ranking is seemingly at odds with its national ranking.

Earlier this year, The Complete University Guide claimed for the second year in succession that Durham is the fifth best university in the

Photograph: Nicoletta Asciuto

country, just below the likes of Cambridge, Oxford, the London School of Economics (LSE) and Imperial College London.

By contrast, the QS and THE rankings place Durham at 92nd and 83rd respectively. Needless to say, such a drop is inevitable given that the world rankings consider far more universities than the national league tables.

However, the fact that the QS rankings places no less than fourteen UK universities above Durham is startling, as it means that nine rival universities ranked above Durham in the world rankings, despite being lower down in the national rankings.

Similarly, the THE places nine UK universities above Durham. So, why are there such discrepancies between the national and global rankings, and which should prospective students trust?

Andrew Robertson, the MCR President at Hatfield College, believes that the differing methodologies used by the national and global rankings could be the cause of such wildly variable results.

“My, perhaps somewhat uni-

formed impression, was always that the world rankings focused on research, whilst the national rankings were more likely to consider things like entrance requirements and student satisfaction.”

Phil Baty, the editor of the THE, concurred with Andrew’s “somewhat uniformed” impression, and confirmed that the THE rankings consider research to be more important than student satisfaction

“The fact that QS rankings places no less than fourteen UK universities above Durham is startling.”

and entrance requirements, on the grounds that research could be compared globally in a way that student satisfaction and entrance requirements cannot.

“In terms of student satisfaction, if you accept the premise that satisfying students is what universities should be doing, and there are

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iversity league tables?

he world, but just how accurate are the league tables? strong cases against this, there is a problem with collecting credible data at a global level.

“There are several national systems in place, such as the NSS (National Student Survey) in the UK, but they are not directly comparable and many countries do not have such systems.

“Entrance requirements tell us nothing about what value a university adds, and we prefer to look at measureable outcomes when possible.

“Also, entrance requirements can’t be compared globally anyway, as we judge completely open access universities, where if you graduate from high school you get a university place, with extremely selective institutions, such as French Grande Ecoles.”

Although the THE and QS rankings look to answer the same question, they do so with completely different methodologies.

The THE groups performance indicators into five distinct areas, with teaching, research and citations each accounting for 30% of a university’s final mark. 7.5% is decided by looking at international outlook, whilst innovation accounts for 2.5%.

By contrast, the QS rankings heavily emphasize global academic reputation, and also consider employer reputation, student-to-faculty ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio and international student ratio.

However, they both share a focus on global academic reputation and, when speaking about the matter, the Acting Vice Chancellor confirmed that Durham needs to raise its international profile in order to rise up the world rankings.

“The UK league tables mainly focus on undergraduate provision and outcomes. The Times Higher and QS rankings place more emphasis on our international reputation amongst other academics, highlighting the importance of enhancing our

QS’ ranking methodology

global research profile in all disciplinary areas in which we choose to engage”.

So, in order to climb up through the rankings it seems that Durham will need to improve its global academic reputation. But how should it go about doing this?

Tabitha Brown, a second year History student from Van Mildert College, believes that improving Durham’s year abroad schemes could help the University to scale the rankings: “I think that in terms of world

“I was having a look at the options for study programmes and wasn’t particular impressed by them” Tabitha Brown

rankings, the fact that Durham study abroad programmes are not that popular, other than for linguists, could be a reason for Durham’s position.

“Also, the universities that Durham has international connections with are not as reputable as other university connections such as Edinburgh.

“I was having a look at the options for study abroad programmes and wasn’t particularly impressed by them.

“I also know friends who were considering studying abroad but decided against it because of the lack of choice. So maybe improving those would help Durham’s position”.

However, despite Brown’s feelings towards the year abroad schemes, Durham appears to have partnerships with many illustrious universities. Indeed, some of these have even been placed above the University in the world rankings.

Data: QS

For example, Durham has an international partnership with the University of Tokyo which, according to the THE rankings, is the 23rd best university in the world. The National University of Singapore, another university that Durham has a partnership with, ranks just two places lower, in 25th place.

Similarly, the University of British Colombia, another university with which Durham is partnered, sits 32nd in the world rankings.

It would therefore seem that many of the University’s year abroad schemes give students the opportunity to test themselves in some of the best universities in the world which will inevitably help to improve Durham’s worldwide reputation.

Saada Gurung, a first year studying Anthropology at Van Mildert College, believes that Durham’s minute population could be one of the reasons why the University languishes behind its Russell Group counterparts in the world league tables: “I think Durham’s lower position in the world rankings has a lot to do with its small size and scope. It’s not as well connected as bigger cities like London and Manchester.”

Furthermore, Laura Chen, an international fresher from Hong Kong studying English at Van Mildert College, claimed that landmarks like Durham’s castle and cathedral are unknown back home.

“It’s such a small place, and in most countries no one has heard of it.

Places like Manchester, for example, are far better known for things like their football club”.

There seems to be a wealth of evidence to support this assertion.

Of all the fourteen UK universities that QS place above Durham in the world rankings, only Warwick and St Andrews have smaller populations.

Furthermore, of all these universities, no less than twelve boast populations double the size that Durham.

This seems to paint a very bleak picture indeed. If the world rankings are predominately decided on the basis of academic reputation, and Durham’s small population prevents it from matching the reputation of fellow Russell Group universities, then it seems the quest to rise up the rankings is destined to be a perilous one.

However, if population does has such a large influence on the rankings, then are the rankings really accurate? Furthermore, if something seemingly as arbitrary as population does have an impact on the rankings, should we pay attention to them?

This is a question that has puzzled many experts across the field of education over the last few years.

Durham’s world rankings history

One of the most high profile cases of this occurred in June 2012, when Simon Marginson, a professor at the University of Melbourne, claimed that the QS rankings “are not sufficiently robust to provide data valid as social science.”

Perhaps the most scathing attack of all came from David Blanchflower, a tenured Economics professor at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, who, in an article published in the New Statesman in 2011, called the QS rankings “a load of old baloney.”

When justifying this, Professor Blanchflower commented that the rankings tend to underestimate the quality of research in favor of what he calls “fluff.” The professor also questioned the emphasis that the rankings place on having foreign students and faculty members.

Furthermore, it seems that students are now less inclined to consider league tables as important.

Looking from a postgraduate perspective Andrew Robertson, the MCR President at Hatfield College, did consult the rankings when considering whether to move from Cambridge to Durham in order to take a PhD in Astrophysics, but it did not play a decisive role in his decision.

“While deciding where I should go for my PhD, my final choice was between here and Cambridge. I had been in Cambridge for my undergrad, and thought that a move would probably be best, but I was slightly put off by the level of research and the importance of PhD students in Durham versus Cambridge.

“Having said that, I think most people looking to do a PhD are less interested in the reputation of their university at large, and are more interested in the reputation of the department to which they are applying.

“For me, that was why I was happy to come to Durham because despite Cambridge clearly having a better international standing, the Astrophysics department to which I was applying in Durham does immensely well internationally, and features near the

Data: QS and THE

top of various lists specifically for the subject.”

Robertson also makes the point that, although Durham has significantly fewer PhD students than Cambridge, it has the second highest number of Astrophysics PhD students in the UK, which further influenced his decision.

However, despite claiming that his decision wasn’t ultimately based on league tables, Andrew did make the comment that they would have played a more prominent role in his considerations had he not wanted to remain in academia.

“My thinking that the overall university reputation is not so important for a PhD probably relates to my desire to stay in academia after finishing.

“If I was hoping for a job outside of academia this would probably be

“I think people looking to do a PhD are less interested in the reputation of their university at large.”

Andrew Robertson

very different, as most graduate employers would not know that Durham Astrophysics is regarded particularly well”.

Robertson’s comments could be seen as reflecting the overriding opinion towards league tables, which is that a university’s performance in league tables will never fully reflect its strengths and weaknesses, but they are an informative guide for both current and prospective students.

With so many differing and conflicting systems and methodologies involved, it would seem that the choice of which league table to employ is almost as troublesome as the choice of which university to enroll in.

PALATINATE | Thursday 6th November 2014

@PalatinatePol

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Hong Kong: broadcasting the revolution Isaac Abraham On the night of September 28th, two final year journalism students at the University of Hong Kong set up a Facebook page with the simple title of: ‘LIVE, Verified Updates’. A few hours later at 5:57 AM, Hong Kong police fired 87 cans of tear gas into a crowd of largely-peaceful protesters who were occupying one of the city’s main thoroughfares.

Images of protesters using umbrellas to defend themselves against the gas proliferated rapidly throughout the world and the Umbrella Revolution was born.

Even though the world’s mainstream media had full coverage of the chaotic events that gripped Hong Kong in the early hours of the morning, lots of people were instead choosing to pay attention to what the Facebook page, set up hours earlier, was posting. In just 24 hours it had received 70,000 ‘likes’.

Part of the reason the page was successful was because along with news, it was posting valuable information relevant to those in the midst of the protests.

This included the location of first aid stations, details of disruptions to public transport, and information about cafes and buildings where people could charge their batteries -- both their phone’s and their own -- for a couple of hours.

However, this was not unique and countless other pages were doing exactly the same thing. What separated LIVE: Verified Updates from the rest was the emphasis that those running the page placed on one word, ‘veri-

fied’.

When LIVE was conceived, Isaac Cheung, a second year journalism student at the University of Hong Kong heard that its founders were looking for fellow students to act as editors and administrators. Cheung applied, was vetted, and has been working for the page ever since.

Summarising the role of the page, he said: “Our job is to take those rumours that are floating around in Hong Kong, try our best to verify them, and then notify our followers about what is true and what is false.

The clarification of rumors is one of our core values and one that we have observed since the start of the page.”

In a dynamic, ever-changing situation like the Umbrella Revolution, the importance of separating news from rumour cannot be stressed enough.

Normally one would expect the traditional news media to separate fact from fiction, but in a country that ranks just 61st in the Press Freedom ranking and where a majority of local news outlets are owned by tycoons accused of being sympathetic to China, in the midst of the ‘revolution’ the public were, more than ever before, wary of large local news agencies.

When people looked for an alternative, they naturally turned to what now dominates our lives: social media. In Hong Kong it was Facebook, more so than Twitter, that ended up becoming a primary source for news about the ‘revolution’.

Uniquely, and most problematically, Facebook hosted news that not only came from semi-credible sources but also from individuals who posted whatever they heard or saw

People Power in Hong Kong Photograph: Daren Leung Shi to their wider circle of friends. confront the protesters.

As a result a large majority of At first glance these posts, which these reports were tabloid in nature. almost always were accompanied These were often one-source stories by either a photo or video as ‘proof’ which had little to no credibility but could be thought of as legitimate. Dig nonetheless were often taken for face a little deeper however, and it was all value by those who read them, who nonsense. then in turn spread the ‘news’ themThe pictures and videos were all selves. old and PLA tanks were not going A prominent example of this type anywhere near the protesters. of story that popped up from time In this vibrant social media news to time were those claiming that environment that thousands were in a Tianamen Square-esque turn using, the main thing missing was of events, PLA (People’s Liberation someone trusted who was essentialArmy) tanks were on their way to ly doing the job of old media and sep-

arating true from false. This is where LIVE: Verified Updates stepped in.

At its peak, and when the revolution was most active, the page consisted of twenty editors camped out in a common room at the University of Hong Kong’s Journalism and Media Studies Center.

The editorial team’s primary role was to try to verify reports that they were receiving through the page itself and from various other sources.

Cheung says that they quickly learnt to be very wary of certain sources, the most prominent of which was WhatsApp, where people blasted often unsubstantiated and politically motivated reports through huge group chats.

Verification of stories that the team pursued often took the form of an official statement from one of the groups involved in the movement or confirmation by one of the student reporters that the page had on the ground.

Ultimately, the editors had to be as close as they could to 100% sure that what they were posting was the truth.

Cheung admits that, initially, adopting the page’s ethos of only posting verified news was “tough”, especially in a situation where so much information was flying around.

Ultimately, the conscious decision the team made to sacrifice speed for accuracy was one that paid off.

By showing restraint and posting only verified news, even if it meant they were a little bit slower, the page was able to legitimatise itself and gain people’s trust in the midst of what still remains an uncertain situation.

by altering the visage of intra-EU immigration. He hopes new quotas on low-skilled immigration from the EU will form the basis of a British renegotiation of the EU’s very open immigration system.

Yet Germany, the now somewhat stifled powerhouse of Europe and Britain’s main EU ally, despite being understood to be backing the UK, has come out against such plans to limit immigration.

When questioned in a recent summit Merkel strongly opposed any involvement by Germany to alter the freedom of movement of peoples within Europe. Something even Mr Cameron will admit his government’s quotas will violate.

Despite this dramatic, almost Athenian defence of the principle of freedom of movement from Merkel,

both sides have come to an understanding over improving the transEuropean bureaucracy to prevent the violation of both states’ benefits programs that result from claims made by EU migrants.

But why Germany’s anti-quota stance? It relies on immigrant workers to feed its huge industrial manufacturing machine, wherein the principle of freedom of movement is absolutely key.

It is a tough time for the Prime Minister who seems to have the EU dominating domestic troubles, to the extent that his tenure as leader of the party may be in jeopardy as Eurosceptic back benchers threaten a motion of no confidence.

Last week the European Commission asked for £1.7 billion in further contributions as Britain was found to

the organisation is supposed to engender. Whilst reform may elude the establishment, the EU remains as divisive as ever. Last week the cabinet was split over the issue of the European Arrest Warrant, with big names in the Cameron cabinet against the PM’s decision to withdraw from the plan. Despite the huge constitutional and domestic implications EU policies have on UK domestic life, the Conservatives remain the only major party promising to hold an ‘in/ out referendum’ ahead of next year’s General Election.

Indeed, the UK needs to re-evaluate its relationship if not for the perceived amelioration that a new deal could infer then for the harmonising effect that such a move would have on our political system and national domestic politics.

Cameron’s EU reform meets new obstacle in Merkel Marcus Natale

Against the background of Angela Merkel’s damning comments on the Prime Minister’s plan for caps on immigration, one could be forgiven for thinking that EU policy makers and European ‘allies’ were aware of the term limits and imminent electoral battles that their counterparts are set to face.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, over the last three years – the majority of his term in fact – has faced severe opposition from both his own party and Parliament over his policies and reform agenda aimed at ‘renegotiating’ Britain’s relationship with the European Union.

Cameron has attempted to combat domestic concerns over the EU

have outperformed European rivals over the last twenty years. This has thrown a very clear ideological line in the sand. Will Britain surrender the contribution, thereby denoting a weaker stance? Or will she fight it?

It seems for the moment the government has selected the latter. To fight the very underhand, low sensitive demand by the EC. The Chancellor, George Osborne, is now set to lobby European counterparts to prevent the huge bill before meeting with them tomorrow.

It is easy to see why the EU has been stagnant in efforts to produce any meaningful reforms in any part of the bumper bureaucracy it now commands. It seems clear that the systemic nature of the organisation is one of raison d’état and realism, far from the collective prosperity that

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@PalatinatePol

Kobane: a town between two worlds Kaan Bakkalbasi The battle for Kobane between ISIS and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces (supported by the US-led coalition’s airstrikes) continues.

After ISIS’s very rapid territory conquest during summer, Kobane – an ethnically Kurdish Syrian town bordering Turkey – was encircled by the radical Jihadist group.

It has been over a month since the world started to watch Kobane’s – at the beginning, at least, hopeless – fight. Obviously this town, the third biggest Kurdish town in Syria, was not the only place where fighting was going on.

Whilst the world witness ISIS’s mass executions and civil massacres; how Yazidis had been pitilessly targeted, their women enslaved and abused; Kobane has taken the limelight as a microcosm for the region - one town, isolated and completely encircled by ISIS and an ‘impassable’ wall (according to the international media) to the north.

And as the days stretched on, the world feared that, should Kobane fall after such a stubborn fight, ISIS would have been very, very cruel.

This was when the international community pressured Turkey to take action.

Indeed, Turkey had massed troops at its border with Kobane

and Turkish soldiers were watching the fight going on from the hills at the other side of the invisible line.

The pressure was also domestic. Many families in Turkish towns and villages bordering the area had relatives or acquaintances in Kobane. Many Turkish citizens of Kurdish ethnicity protested.

Tensions failed to be abated, when clashes between supporters of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) and supporters of Hüda-Par, an Islamic radical party and Turkish branch of the Hezbollah, led to the deaths of over 30 people from both sides.

For many, it seemed that Turkey ought to leave aside its political and geopolitical strategies and interests and help Kobane: this was presented as a human and moral duty.

But what was not emphasised in the western media was the fact that the vast majority of Kobane’s inhabitants (the civilians) had fled to Turkey at the beginning of the fights; those remaining were chiefly fighters who chose to stay behind.

Turkey has accomplished its humanitarian duty, firstly by welcoming between 150,000 and 200,000 thousand Kurdish Syrians coming from Kobane so far, and secondly by treating wounded Kurdish soldiers.

Yet, the international community is asking for more: Turkey has been pressured to undertake a territorial military op-

eration, creating a corridor for weapons and fighters destined for Kobane.

Demands were not of a humanitarian dimension anymore, but political and strategic.

The demand for this intervention was both illegitimate and unreasonable. It was illegitimate because neither Turkey, nor the Peshmerga, wanted a Turkish military intervention in the region; it was illegitimate because Turkish troops would then enter Syria without the consent of the Syrian State (this is important in terms of international law; the legitimacy of the current Syrian government is

tion fees responsible.

The payment of fees often entirely bypasses students – with the Student Loans Company paying the appropriate university directly. These low-interest loans are paid back by a nominal sum, once graduates earn over a certain threshold (a sum increasing with salary, just as any good-natured leftie should wish).

With the 2012 fee hike, the base salary for repayment was raised, and indeed, the Institute for Fiscal Studies have forecast that 73% of students will not pay back their full loan.

I appreciate that there is a separate issue for international students and postgraduates who don’t share the same access to the UK loan system – and I’m entirely in favour of addressing this. However, the current approach of protesting against tuition fees as a whole prevents clarity by failing to identify genuine problems.

Similarly, the noise about tuition fees masks the real causes

of financial difficulties faced by students: living costs, extortionate student rents, and, for many, the peer-pressured and alcoholdominated social scene, to name but a few.

Instead of complaining about headline-grabbing sums that have little direct impact on those pursuing further education, we should be taking steps to tackle root causes.

Moreover, it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that for some people, three years of minimal contact time, unengaging lecturers and a systemic lad culture might not be the most enriching educational experience, let alone the glorious opportunity of “exploring your own humanity” that columnist and comedian Josie Long waxed lyrical about in a recent article.

At the risk of sounding like a dirty capitalist, there is even an argument to suggest that the increased fees will lead to more power on the part of the students and a higher quality of university experience. And I’ve

another question).

Furthermore, it was completely unreasonable.

First of all, no one ought to and should expect Turkey to engage ISIS alone on Syrian soil: there is a huge difference between airstrikes and territorial engagement. Many claimed that it was in Turkey’s own interest to intervene because if Kobane were to fall, Turkey would have ISIS as a neighbour along a huge part of its south eastern border.

There is a difference between directly attacking ISIS, engaging with it, even becoming one of its primary targets, and sharing a border with it.

Kobane: On the Turkish/Syrian Border Illustration: Patrick Mason

Tuition fees: a new perspective

Mel Beckerleg On Wednesday 19th November, the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts is staging a demonstration to demand the abolition of university tuition fees.

Student groups from up and down the country are rallying together in support of the issue and against the backdrop of Germany’s recent decision to scrap tuition fees for both domestic and international students, the movement is gaining momentum within the UK. Yet, speaking as a student who firmly believes in the importance and the sanctity of education, I fail to quite understand the motivation behind the campaign.

It is true that cost is a significant issue for university students. I’d consider myself pretty fortunate, and even I have lived on spaghetti and peas for a week. But at no point have I, nor my fellow students, held the tui-

not even got started on the lack of provision for those for struggling to beat their own path in a society that operates as a 2:1 members club.

“The Institute for Fiscal Studies have forecast that 73% of students will not pay back their full loan”

Those who argue against tuition fees on an ideological basis often claim that high tuition fees discourage students from disadvantaged backgrounds from applying to university. The evidence supporting this claim is flaky at best.

In fact, according to a House of Commons report, although the number of students from ‘disadvantaged’ backgrounds did drop following the rise in

Furthermore, Turkey sees Kobane as the fight for two enemy forces: the Kurdish Peshmerga (tightly linked to the PKK, responsible for the deaths of 30,000 people since the 1980s) and ISIS for Turkey.

The good news for Kobane is that Turkey has changed its attitude towards this in the last week: following a phone call that took place between the President of Turkey and the President of the United States, American aircrafts have begun dropping aid supplies and arms to Kurdish forces in Kobane on Monday, while Turkey officially announced that it was to allow a safety corridor to Peshmerga fighters so that they could reach Kobane and take part in the fighting.

The geopolitical issues in the area are far too complex for simple solutions such as Turkish military action.

Turkey also has its own priorities, such as not sinking into the chaotic state of warfare that has taken over in the region, protecting the unity of the country and ensuring the safety of its citizens at home.

It has also succeeded in playing a key humanitarian role by welcoming hundreds of thousands of refugees from the region; we should remember that such a large number of refugees constitutes an additional struggle for Turkey which will last well into the future and take up valuable resources and funds.

tuition fees, in the context of a wider slump these groups were significantly less affected.

Moreover, this overall slump can largely be explained by the surge of 2011 applicants and the drop in deferred entry in anticipation of the fee hike, rather than by students being directly put off applying for university.

Of course, the tuition fee issue is an old political chestnut seen as a way to attract younger voters by left-leaning parties. To be perfectly frank, I find that approach rather patronising. We as students should not allow the perpetuation of myths about student life in a fashion that detracts from real, concrete social issues.

In a world where, according to UNICEF, nearly 50% of children aren’t guaranteed early childhood education, surely it’s possible that complaining about tuition fees is not the noble, ideological fight that the sociallyminded masses would hope, but misguided, ill thought out, and kind of irrelevant.

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A QUICK LOOK AT SCIENCE

Durham stars in global space science rankings

AS RIGHT AS RAIN?

Joshua Stocco

The Met Office have invested £97 million in a new supercomputer in the hope that it will increase the precision and accuracy of its weather forceasting to the extent that the UK becomes the world leader in meteorology. The Cray XC40 will be able to perform calculations 13 times faster than the present machine, at 16,000 trillion every second, allowing for hourly forecast updates. It is expected to save the country £2 billion by reducing the disruptive effect of severe weather events. But we will have to wait until next September, when it becomes operational, to determine whether it is reliable enough to make it safe to leave umbrellas and coats at home when venturing out into blustery Durham.

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE

A research paper published in Physical Review X has proposed that quantum mechanics is the manifestation of collisions between parallel universes. These universes were introduced into science in 1957 with the “many worlds interpretation” of quantum theory, which postulates that observation of a physical system leads the universe to branch out into several new ones representing each of the possible probabilistic outcomes.

The authors of the new paper suggest that interactions between such “parallel” worlds are the cause of the bizarre behaviour of nature that is observed experimentally. Their idea could explain why wavefunctions live in an infinite-dimensional space as well as why the universe is intrinsically non-local.

GOOGLE SEARCH FOR CANCER

Google Inc. are developing a pill that will be able to detect the early stages of cancer and other diseases including heart disease, in a major step to break into the health industry with their research unit Google X. Once swallowed, the pill will release magnetic nanoparticles, attached to antibodies or proteins, that will travel through the bloodstream and identify biomarkers indicative of various conditions, for example fatty plaques or cancerous cells. The particles can then be probed using a magnetic wrist sensor. The hope is that diseases can be diagnosed before symptoms start to appear.

Durham has again been named as the leading university in Europe for highly cited research in space sciences. Durham was also the only UK university to rank in the world top 10 (coming 6th), even outperforming well regarded institutions such as NASA and the Harvard Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics.

The term ‘space sciences’ refers to all branches of cosmology, astrophysics, and astrophysical instrumentation, which form a large part of the work that goes on in the Physics Department.

Thomson-Reuters, who published these rankings, based their findings on the number of top-cited researchers within each department.

There were four researchers who were highlighted in the rankings: Professor David Alexander, Professor Shaun Cole, Professor Ian Smail and Professor Carlos Frenk FRS. Prof Alexander is renowned for his work on active galactic nuclei, the sites of supermassive black hole growth, and their association with star formation. He has been at Durham since 2006 and has published more than 200 scientific papers with over 15,000 citations.

Prof Cole is the deputy director of the Institute of Computational Cosmology (ICC) and has been here at Durham University since 2005. He was recently a joint recipient of the

Shaw Prize for Astronomy for his contributions to the measurements of features in the large-scale structure of galaxies.

Prof Smail is head of the Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics and is well known for his work on dust-obscured starburst galaxies, environmental influences on galaxy formation and gravitational lensing by galaxies and clusters of galaxies.

Finally, Prof Frenk, the Ogden Professor of Fundamental Physics and

“Durham was the only UK university to rank in the world top 10”

director of the ICC, this year received the Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal for Astronomy for his work on the cold dark matter theory for the origin of galaxies and cosmic structures.

Through the use of large computer simulations Frenk and his collaborators have pioneered many of the developments which have resulted in the cold dark matter model becoming accepted as the standard paradigm for structure formation.

He has co-authored over 300 papers and boasts more than 57,000 citations.

Prof Martin Ward, Head of the Department of Physics at Durham Uni-

versity, said the rankings recognised not only the world leading research of senior academics, but also the contributions that many early career researchers and students had made to the research work that has been highly-cited by the international community.

Professor Ward said: “Physics research at Durham, and in this case our work in both observational and theoretical astronomy and cosmology, continues to flourish and we are widely seen as one of the world’s leading institutions in this field.

“We are home to some of the

world’s finest minds, exploring key issues in physics such as the search for dark matter and the origins and evolution of our expanding Universe.

“This provides our students and early career researchers with a tremendous opportunity to learn from and work with some of the outstanding leaders in their field.”

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Durham astronomers have access to world-class observational facilities as well as on-site telescopes Photograph: Andrew Gray on flickr

Mars One: a mission in jeopardy?

Bryony Hockin The Netherlands-based Mars One project, which aims to establish a human colony on Mars by 2024, may have run into potentially disastrous difficulties while still in its planning stages.

Based on computer simulations run by a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it seems that the first colonists could be poisoned by the very oxygen they depend on in Mars’ thin atmosphere.

The source of this oxygen is the crop growth system, which the colonists would rely upon as their only source of food.

With no way of venting oxygen to a safe level, the concentration and pressure of oxygen would rise to over 30%; this presents a fire hazard

in an enclosed space (such as that of a habitation module).

“Future studies like this will prove invaluable in the development of the technical details of Mars One’s plan”

Hannah Earnshaw, Durham PhD student and Mars One candidate

Additionally, the high pressure of oxygen in the environment would quickly result in a type of poisoning known as oxygen toxicity, which is

most common in underwater divers.

Its symptoms include seizures, nausea, lung inflammation, damage to the eyes, coma and eventually death.

The paper published by the team at MIT contains considerable detail about many other potential failings of the mission, including difficulties with water supply, crop growth and life support systems.

It perhaps even goes a little too far in picking holes in the technologies proposed by the Mars One project; after all, the equipment required is all purely theoretical, based on predictions of how technology will progress in the next ten years.

When asked for comment on the issue, Durham’s own Mars One candidate, Astronomy PhD student Hannah Earnshaw, had this to say: “This is a good study which raises

issues that Mars One will need to address, and future studies like this will prove invaluable in the development and adjustment of the technical details of Mars One’s plan.

“Keeping people alive on the surface of Mars, like all space travel and exploration, is an incredibly challenging thing to accomplish, and criticism of Mars One’s plans is going to be absolutely vital to ensure that they are the best they can be and will actually work.”

The link to Hannah’s full blog post on the issue can be found on Palatinate Online.

This kind of study certainly raises a lot of questions that will need to be addressed in the next decade, but it shows that the scientific community has finally started to take the Mars One mission seriously.

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Doxbridge: A chip on our collective shoulders?

Should Durham and Oxbridge be grouped together? Or is this an insult to our unique university? Durham students give their opinions

GK Teh

Doxbridge. A dream come true for some, heresy for others. I’m starting with a definition from one of the definitive authorities of post-modernist sociological theory - Urban Dictionary. ‘Doxbridge’ is “a term referring to Oxford, Cambridge and Durham rah students to further inflate their sense of worth by associating themselves with and em-

“

Durham has never belonged with Oxbridge.

”

sities, namely Imperial, LSE, King’s, and UCL. These latter universities were founded as healthy Oxbridge alternatives - not an unscratchable itch in the pants of the Oxbridge top brass. We were founded in 1657, but Oxbridge effectively prevented us from gaining official university status until 1832. We were not undermined

by Oxford or Cambridge individually for nearly two centuries, but by them collectively.

And then what, if we become part of the clique? Become the soft-spoken and overshadowed sibling? The McCartney to John Oxbridge Lennon? Or better them? Because we’ve already done both. Mention Oxbridge to Malaysian parents and watch the jealousy spew. Mention Durham and they’ll pretend to know where it is. At the same time, Durham is top of the league tables for English and History,

and in between Oxbridge for Geography and the Environmental Sciences.

And there’s the growing minority of students who choose Durham over Oxbridge. We do not need the stigma that inevitably comes with being in the uni equivalent of the Gossip Girl clique. We’re fine on our own.

Doxbridge? No thanks. I don’t want Durham going to the dox.

barrassing the two ancient, far superior universities.”

The key word here is ‘embarrassing’. Let’s face it. Durham has never belonged with Oxbridge or its clique of London univer-

Katie Allen

“Try and get the rowing boats in too, it makes it look more like Oxbridge.”

This was the earnest advice given to my friend as she leapt at yet another opportunity to insta-fy our beloved Durham. Yet I found myself wondering why the captured image would seemingly be improved by trying to imitate Oxbridge.

Undoubtedly there are many similarities between Oxbridge and Durham, namely the collegiate system and the fact that it is in no way out of place to be seen strutting the streets wearing a Harry Potter-esque gown. And yet there are also distinct differ-

ences. The opportunity offered to Durham students to get involved in clubs and societies is mind-blowing; whilst Oxbridge also provides these, it arguably doesn’t provide the same time and space in which to partake of them, due to the constant pressure of the weekly essays and supervisions.

And there are some experiences and skills which just can’t be learnt from a book at the library!

So instead of trying to Oxbridgeise ourselves, let’s embrace and endorse our uniqueness by recognising that we too receive an outstanding education, and not simply an academic one, but a holistic one.

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Arya Thampuran

As a fresher, the debate encircling this infamous portmanteau is still ‘fresh’ in my mind. This was most prevalent during Freshers Week, where every introduction to a new face seemingly culminated in the dreaded question - “So was it Oxford or Cambridge?” At Durham, we have almost become resigned to this inevitable reality. We may not have crossed into the idealized waters of Oxbridge, but we came pretty close. While the people at Oxbridge may scorn us for our inflated sense of entitlement, I feel that we cling on to the term simply as a binding force. It’s more about the retrospective sigh we collectively exhale when we admit this shared source of disappointment, and not any desire to penetrate the ‘pinnacle of academia’.

Illustration: Patrick Brennan Barring the negative connotations many have attached to this innocuous term, it has undeniably solidified our identity as Durham students by surfacing something most of us unabashedly share! The term itself is not endorsed in the academic world, and is simply used as a playful portmanteau in jest. Rather than go on a crusade to defend the title to the outside world with evidence of our intellectual comparability, traditions or collegiate system, let’s step back and take a look at the term for what it really is - a testament to the unifying factor that binds us, or in lighter terms, simply a good conversation starter!

Isabel Cridland The age old question returns – should it be Doxbridge? What even is this? I’ll tell you: a pointless term used to join Durham together with Oxford and Cambridge.

For those of us who are Oxbridge rejects, does it make us feel any

better? No. Anyway, why would it?

Why kid ourselves; Durham is no Oxbridge.

It is, in fact, a superior university. Having filtered out all the peculiar workaholics and pretentious personalities through the intensive Oxbridge interview process, Durham undergraduates are incredibly intelligent yet surprisingly normal people. We can be found somewhere other than the library and certainly won’t be encountering the majority of our year for the first time walking into the exam room.

What’s more, who wants to be

grouped together with these elitist institutions? Durham is a wholly different university, located in the North rather than the South of England, with a preferable atmosphere and its own identity (full of Oxbridge rejects, although we are so much more). For a large part of my life I believed Oxbridge was an actual university! Despite what it may be, Durham has a distinguishable identity – say no to Doxbridge!

Oxford and Cambridge will be forever known as Oxbridge, but Durham can, and will, remain Durham.

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DUCK expeditions: money better spent elsewhere?

Emma Yeo responds to Alice Evans’ recent Indigo article: ‘DUCK volunteering: egotism or altruism?’

Emma Yeo

The application process for this year’s DUCK charity expeditions has begun and many students are currently waiting to find out if they will be spending part of their summer helping the less fortunate in countries as diverse as Romania and Nepal. Despite the good work that they will be doing there, their time and effort might be better spent in other ways.

While Durham is a predominantly middle class university, efforts must be made to ensure that activities are inclusive to all. Fundraising targets as high as an eye-watering approximate figure of £3900 for the Kilimanjaro trip were enough to preclude me from taking part, in the fear that I might have to fork out the difference if there was a shortfall.

The idea of committing to raise such a figure was daunting, especially as I know that currently my family and

friends would be unable to donate a substantial amount even to the causes closest to their hearts.

Regardless of the practicalities of fundraising, the most unsettling aspect of the costing was that the reminder, tucked away at the bottom of a page, that living expenses for the ‘tourism’ element of the trip are not covered. Just like the tales of gap years spent helping the less fortunate in far away and exotic lands, such events as these strengthen the existing disconnect between the experiences of affluent and less affluent students, both groups whom should be able to play a full part in university life.

The DUCK Commitment to Best Practice policy of 2010 states that the target is for 50% of the funds raised to go to charity; meaning that a large proportion of the money raised goes to funding costs such as flights, visas and accomodation for participants. If instead of running these expeditions all of the money could be given to worthwhile causes, the effect could be astronomical. It costs around £1 for a child in Uganda to be tested for malaria.

Surely this is more important than what is, at least in part, a holiday?

Charitable giving should be focused on benevolence and aiding the less fortunate, rather than on the promise of an exciting safari or a trip to see the Taj Mahal.

While this one is an debate that endlessly gets dusted off and used

as an argument by many different groups, I can’t help but think that sometimes ‘charity should begin at home’. The recession and the austerity measures of this government have led to an increase in food bank users in Durham, with the percentage of users attending the Durham foodbank due to benefit changes rising from 6% in October 2011 to 27% in September 2014. When coupled with the fact that over 900,000 people needed emergency food in 2013-14 alone, it really is clear that we need to do more to help those suffering on our doorstep.

While I hope I am not being presumptuous by guessing that poverty is far from the experience of the majority of Durham students, I personally know many young

people who are living what is scarcely more than a subsistence lifestyle and struggle to afford enough to eat.

Helping these people in areas of Co. Durham or further afield may not be as glamorous or as exciting as visiting India or Nepal but it can be just as rewarding. I am by no means denying the needs of those who are helped by the DUCK charity expeditions, but simply suggesting that when we are surrounded by such privilege we should help those around us who have so little.

I am lucky enough to be writing this article in a beautiful Georgian townhouse, but just a few minutes away is a community centre and the Salvation Army. This disconnect between our lives and the lives of many of the permanent residents of Durham is of real concern to me.

DUCK charity expeditions are a worthwhile endeavour and undoubtedly rewarding for those who take part but I can’t help question whether there is a better way of supporting the poor and vulnerable abroad - as well as at home.

Illustration: Katherine Hurst

All about that bass: the age of the big booty Ellen Orange explores the pitfalls of a new wave of female body perception

Ellen Orange

Recently the discussion about body image, and particularly its representation in celebrity and pop culture, has once again become a prominent topic of discussion. This time the discussion is about perpetuating images of larger women, those who are curvaceous or have big, and more importantly ‘attractive’, bums. We can hold Nicki Minaj, Jennifer Lopez, Iggy Azalea and Meghan Trainor all responsible for this. Some have heralded Nicki Minaj’s controversial

Instagram posts as celebrating larger women, and fighting against a cultural notion that sexualised images are negative. We may applaud Minaj’s confidence over her body and sexuality, however it should also be considered that this comes much easier when you are considered as attractive as she is.

On a similar note, but with perhaps a more accessible message, Meghan Trainor’s ‘All About That Bass’ has been hailed as an anthem of body positivity. The hugely popular song is a feel-good celebration of women who may be a bit larger than society would normally deem as beautiful.

While this is the message many women have been waiting for, the message is not entirely positive. The line ‘all the right curves in all the right places’ could infer a natural body shape

rather than the having a model-like figure; however, it may also suggest some women have curves in the ‘wrong places’, wherever those may be. Moreover maligning thinner women as ‘skinny bitches’, as Minaj also does in ‘Anaconda’, is just as detrimental as attacking larger women.

It may also serve to start fetishizing a trend of being curvy, even if this is unnatural, as previous trends of being skinny have done. This may be evident in recent celebrations of women like Christina Hendricks and Nigella Lawson.

The most worrying thing is that this ‘age of the big booty’, as it has been termed, is not celebrating natural body shapes, but instead promoting skinny waists with large hips and big behinds. Many have criticised Minaj for appearing to have had implants to create her ‘big booty’.

This body image trend is something unattainable for most

women, and it may be dangerous to make it desirable.

Fetishizing any body type is dangerous; we have seen rises in plastic surgery and eating disorders with past trends, and though the trend may be moving in the opposite direction, we cannot necessarily deem this as a good thing. There are some women who are naturally skinny, and can’t put the weight on, so judging them against an unattainable standard is not fair.

We may say judging body shapes and sizes at all is unfair. This is a very valid argument and far more beneficial to women’s wellbeing than to suggest there is a standard we need to aspire to. However, in the real world, removed from celebrity culture, we also need to be careful that this is not also dangerous.

W h i l e being all-accepting is a far m o r e pleasant approach, we also need to be careful that we don’t legitimise unhealthy habits.

The number of people who are overweight or obese is still a huge issue in today’s society,

as is those at the other end of the spectrum who may be underweight or suffering from eating disorders, even when they are completely unrelated to their body image.

While it is unacceptable to be hostile or discriminative towards any individual on the basis of their weight, we should be encouraging acceptance of natural, healthy and wholesome body shapes, rather than aspiring to unattainable beauty standards, or falling into a trap of legitimising unhealthy ones. So if you eat fairly healthily, do some exercise and you still don’t have a flat stomach, or you feel like you have no curves, then that is fine. Embrace what your figure does give you, whether you are curvy, athletic, tall or petite, and learn to be comfortable in your own skin.

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Illustration: Charlotte Gurr

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Thursday 6th November 2014 | PALATINATE

In praise of ‘Humans of New York’

Patrick Brennan

Patrick Brennan finds solace in Brandon Stanton’s forward-thinking project

In a recent article for The Guardian, Irish academic and journalist John Naughton claimed that “couch potatoes have killed the internet dream.” A bold statement, considering the staggering variety of things that go on throughout the internet, from education, to fundraising, right through to the darkest parts of the ‘deepweb’. But his statistics speak for themselves. He quoted Dr Craig Labovitz, CEO of Deepfield, a company that specialises in software to track internet traffic. According to Labovitz’s data, more than half of today’s prime time internet usage can be traced back to the websites of just thirty companies, including Netflix and Google.

So capitalism may have killed the internet’s creativity. But the web is still a polite and open-minded

place, right? Wrong. I’m not even going to quote statistics here - I’m not sure I need to. Just take a look at any of the major social networking or media sites, and scroll through the comments part of any random post, and you’ll see for yourself how devoid the internet can be of common courtesy: an article by a wellknown newspaper? People at each others’ throats over nothing. A music video on Youtube? A random and completely unprovoked flame war regarding the Islamic State. And this isn’t even taking into account the effects of ‘Troll Culture’, discussed in depth by Kieran Moriarty in the last issue of Palatinate.

And then along comes ‘Humans of New York’. The photoblog, which now has over ten million followers on Facebook, is the brainchild of photographer Brandon Stanton. After losing his job as a bond trader, Stanton turned to his passion of photography and started to take photos of people on the street.

His portraits are simple, straighttalking and always bold. The stories that accompany them can be uplift-

ing, absorbing, tragic, heartfelt, and sometimes just plain funny. They range from a simple exchange of one or two words, to small essays. Sometimes his subjects are illiterate, and sometimes they’re not even human.

The name ‘Humans of New York’ is a conundrum, in that it appears to be treating people as low value, like mere animals in a nature documentary, or a circus parade. And yet, for a page with such an apparently dehumanising title, I have yet to find anywhere on the net so full of compassion, good humour and cultural acceptance.

HoNY, as it is frequently referred to, is the exception to everything I have previously stated. In a social media environment where comments jostle for a position at the top and compete for ‘likes’, all too often it is the crass, uninformed and darkly humorous remarks that win out. Top comments can be vile, off-topic and ad hominem, merely trying to ‘get one up’ on those who are attempting to add something constructive to the discussion - they get ‘liked’ for their humour and

shock value far more than for their genuine worth or intellect. But with HoNY, people of all ethnicities, ages and cultures are united by the sheer humanity of Stanton’s images. Top comments for his images are always ones of sympathy, interest and, above all, positivity.

As internet communication ingrains itself ever deeper into the public psyche, these aforementioned patterns of popularity through humour and shock will no doubt be seen more and more - not just on our screens, but in the real, actual world. A week or so ago, Nigel Farage got into a Twitter spat with comedian Frankie Boyle. Yes, a potential future leader of our country was joining ranks with and justifying the comments of a comedian, a man whose job it is not to solve the world’s problems, but simply to be funny. I weep for a generation that can’t tell its politicians and its comedians apart; its leaders from its clowns; its mentors from its trolls.

For me, HoNY is a refuge; a safe place, hidden away from all this oneuppery and cyber-bullying. People

tering van on the set of the superb movie we just saw: the room would not have emptied any more quickly had it been on fire.

Who starred in it, directed it and wrote it would remain a mystery were it not for IMDb, because during the first 30 seconds of closing sequence the screen was completely obscured by a sea of raised arms sliding into jacket sleeves. This kind of behaviour isn’t just discourteous, it’s plain bad manners.

Debrett’s have recently launched their latest incarnation of their famous Handbook, a guide to manners, etiquette and form in polite society. Whilst I’m sure there are the usual rules laid down regarding which spoon is for your sorbet and which one is for your caviar, the newly published 480­page tome now covers contemporary issues such as the use of mobile phones, e-cigarettes and reclining seats on a plane.

Quite what it has to say with respect to behaving like a selfish oaf in a cinema I’m afraid I can’t say because I haven’t read it, and nor do

I intend to. If you have to refer to a book in search of instructions on how to carry yourself in a modern, multi­cultural setting then I’m afraid to say that maybe you have missed the point. But, for those amongst this readership who are unsure of what is and isn’t polite, let me offer just few suggestions of my own that I hope will offer a little clarity on the matter of conduct in a bustling university environment.

Your mobile. Hopefully, this isn’t the only stimulus in your life so try to look up every once in a while and take in the wonderful surroundings you may never have noticed. Even more importantly, avoid speaking into this device whilst purchasing goods from a vendor as they may require your full attention and not just 5% of it.

Your campus card. Yes, you need this to get in and out of the library, so instead of feigning surprised at this revelation and block the turnstiles whilst you frantically search for it, why not have it ready before you try to enter or exit the building.

Your conversations. In an out-ofthe-way location to one side of a corridor or pavement is a good place to hold them. An active lecture theatre doorway or the foot of a busy set of stairs is not.

Your dress. Although you may expect the contrary, there is actually very little you can get wrong in an environment such as this. However gentlemen, you may wish to consider some form of support beneath your joggers as inadvertently displaying the outline of your junk may potentially lead to awkwardness.

Your group mentality. A collection of three individuals may more easily part to make way for one than vice versa. Bear this in mind when using narrow walkways, as it is considered poor courtesy to force a lone walker into the road merely on account not wishing to upset your group dynamics.

For advice on what kind of hat to wear at Ascot, refer to Debrett’s. For day-to-day living I don’t think a 480 page manual is required but instead just one word: consideration.

flock to Stanton’s photos to gain a wider perspective, to be educated, and to listen to the voices of the everyman. He has served the internet a fresh steaming bowl of world awareness, using only a camera and a Wifi connection. But perhaps his greatest achievement has been showing off the kind and openminded side of the social media generation, in a way that few others have managed.

Illustration: Lara Salam

Common courtesy and modern manners James Colville

This week a companion and myself paid a visit to the cinema. We went to see Fury, a World War II action drama set amongst a Sherman tank crew fighting the last few months of the war in Germany. It was excellent.

However, this isn’t a review of the film and nor is it a comment regarding its content. This critique is of the audience and my observations on their conduct.

It’s rude to disturb other patrons with your idiotic banter during a serious and harrowing screening.

It’s thoughtless to sneak beers in and then annoy everyone else with countless trips to the toilet. And it’s particularly poor etiquette to stand up and bugger off the very second the credits start to roll.

Out of a packed auditorium I’m certain we were the only people who can tell you who drove the ca-

For all the lamenting I have made, I must confess that Durham students are recognised by both myself, local residents and visitors as being kind, co­operative and polite. There is room for improvement of course, and there always will be, but it is my belief that the common courtesy required to make the whole world a tiny bit better is already within everyone. It just requires a little bit of thoughtfulness behind every action to be made apparent.

Good manners are all in the intention, and the recognition that you share your place on the planet with others. Keep this in mind and it will be appreciated. Maybe you’ll even get invited to a stately dinner party. And if you do, remember that Debrett’s is readily available to help you decide what to wear.

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Cowboys touch down in London for Wembley showpiece Sam Ross

Wembley Stadium: home of England football, some of the world’s biggest events and concerts, and the London Jaguars?

As early as 2017, this could become reality as NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, has made it abundantly clear that he is looking into a possible NFL franchise in London.

But, how real is the possibility of an overseas expansion, and what sort of impact would this have, both on England and the NFL, besides increased confusion regarding the word “football”?

The NFL’s increasing overseas exposure is undeniable. From 20072012, the NFL held just one game per year in London as part of their International Series.

However, that number rose to two games in 2013, and three this season.

It is rumoured that next season, NFL officials intend to schedule five regular season games in London, which would be an astronomical increase

from just two years ago.

These figures show that the NFL views England as a serious expansion opportunity – one that is being rapidly cultivated.

If the NFL were to permanently ally with London, there seems two possible routes that it could follow: establish a franchise in England, or continue to increase the number of games played overseas so that it is the equivalent of a full season.

Exploring a permanent franchise in London, a few prime targets for relocation come to mind: St. Louis Rams, Oakland Raiders, and Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Raiders seem the least likely to make the big move, Los Angeles being the far more appealing destination for the West Coast franchise.

That leaves St. Louis and Jacksonville, both of whose owners have interesting connections to the London area.

Rams owner, Stan Kroenke, also owns Arsenal, and Jaguars owner, Shahid Khan, owns Fulham. The Rams, however, also appear closer to moving to Los Angeles than England.

Team Durham President optimistic for year ahead Beth Barratt

Having spent my three undergraduate years living and breathing Team Durham sport, I was honoured to be elected as Team Durham President in March 2014.

Hustings seem a long time ago now that we are three BUCS Wednesday’s in, half way through the Michaelmas Term and are already having another successful year of Palatinate Sport.

My main aim for the coming year is to support all our clubs, no matter how small they may be, to grow and develop for the future.

We are focusing on opening the communication channels through individual meetings with club captains

and a series of feedback sessions throughout the year.

As well as the day-to-day administrative tasks involved in managing sports clubs, I will be organising a number of events throughout the year including a Wheelchair Basketball Competition at Queen’s Campus in November and a series of local Canoe Polo Tournaments.

We are also excited to announce that we have just won the bid to host the BUCS Conference Cup Finals at Maiden Castle in March 2015, which will be another fantastic opportunity to showcase Team Durham Sport.

With back-to-back sports matches, regular music concerts and theatre productions coming out of our ears, Experience Durham has something for everyone.

Men’s Lacrosse in action against Manchester Photograph: Ben Iremonger

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reports that Kroenke purchased a 60acre plot of land in the Los Angeles area, potentially for a stadium.

This leaves the Jacksonville Jaguars who, in 2013, signed a deal to play one home game in London for the next four years.

The Jaguars ranked 28th in attendance last season, and they lack the storied history of many NFL franchises, due to the fact that they did not exist as an expansion team until 1995.

If the NFL ultimately decided to set up a permanent franchise in London, the Jaguars seem very interested and would be a nice fit.

However, there are many logistical obstacles to establishing a franchise in London, which, I believe, prove insurmountable.

First off, scheduling and travel would become a huge problem. Asking a team to travel 3500-5500 miles on a weekly basis is no small request.

Players would likely miss practice time due to travel, and be jet-lagged upon arrival.

This sort of schedule could seri-

ously impact on-field performance and player lifestyle.

Additionally, a London franchise would be at a distinct disadvantage during the free agency period, as few players would find a move to London

beneficial to either their career or family life.

If the NFL is concerned about their on-field product, I see no justification for committing a franchise to London, no matter how mouthwatering the revenue numbers may seem.

There is, however, another path that the NFL could pursue which would not be as consequential as franchise relocation, and would still allow the NFL to take advantage of a sexy London business venture.

According to ESPN’s Adam

Schefter, an increase to as many as 16 games per year in London may occur, every team playing in London once per season.

This would allow the NFL to sell a season-ticket package that would provide Londoners a new team to watch every week.

Logistically, this sort of plan would eliminate travel and performance concerns associated with a Londonbased franchise, as each team would only have to make the trip once a year.

Economically, in terms of ticket sales, a rotating 16 game slate would bring in more money each year than a permanent franchise, because each team only plays 8 home games per year, as opposed to the 16 offered with this plan.

To establish a permanent franchise in London would be rash and could seriously damage the NFL product.

But, even if the London Jaguars never come into fruition, the rapid increase in London games ever year, shows that the NFL is touching down in Britain, and it’s here to stay.

Nick Friend

their opposition – the men whitewashing Chester and the women beating Liverpool John Moores – also 12-0 victors.

Perhaps most excitingly was the news that the 5th team conquered Teeside University’s 1st team in a shootout after a 6-6 draw in their Cup match.

Loughborough were also in town as Team Durham’s water polo team took on their rivals. The Palatinates ran out 17-9 winners.

The 1st golf team announced themselves back in the Premiership with a convincing 5-1 victory over Nottingham. The 2nd team were unfortunate to lose to a good UCLAN side 3.5-2.5. The 4th team were on exceptional form in seeing off Newcastle’s 1st team 4-2.

The fencers had a mixed afternoon – the women crushed local rivals Newcastle with a 135-98 victory.

The men, however, were surprisingly defeated 118-112 by the same opposition.

On the hockey field, the men’s 2nd XI gained a very credible 1-1 draw with Manchester’s 1st team whilst the women won well, beating Lancaster 3-1.

In the Cup, the men’s 3rd XI easily disposed of Leeds 8-0, the 4th team won 2-1 against Newcastle and the 5th side claimed a 5-2 victory over Leeds’ 3rd XI. The women’s 3rd team beat Newcastle 2nd XI on penalty flicks and the 4th team comfortably defeated Leeds 3-1.

Perhaps the games of the day came on the rugby fields. The women put on a dazzling display to hu-

miliate Newcastle 51-0. The men, on the other hand, 17-6 down at the break to Loughborough, very nearly dragged the game back into their hands. Ultimately, they fell one point short, losing 17-16.

Yet, for sheer size of victory, it is hard to look past the women’s 2nd XV, who hammered Bradford’s 1st XV 85-0 – averaging more than a point per minute.

The 3rd XV travelled to Scotland to take on Glasgow’s 1st XV. Durham put in an exceptional shift to be in the game for long periods against one of the top rugby universities in the United Kingdom.

In badminton, the men beat Liverpool John Moores 5-3 to remain top of the table. The women were narrowly beaten by Birmingham by the same scoreline.

In the National Conference Cup, the men’s 2nd team heavily beat Hull 8-0.

However, the 3rd team were, themselves, taken to the cleaners by Northumbria’s 1st team – losing 7-1.

The women’s netballers claimed a fantastic win, defeating league leaders Liverpool John Moores 56-48.

The 2nd team overcame Sheffield Hallam 48-27 in the Cup, although both the 3rd and 4th teams were knocked out by strong opposition.

The men’s table tennis 3rd team was soundly beaten at UCLAN 12-5.

Finally, in the Conference Cup, the basketball 2nd team was narrowly beaten in a cracking game – losing to York St Johns’ 1st team 78-74.

Get down and support Team Durham next week.

“A permanent franchise in London could damage the NFL”

Durham top BUCS table

Last Wednesday saw Team Durham have their best day of the season thusfar.

Recording 33 wins and just 14 defeats in the 49 matches in which they competed, Durham sits top of the British University points table – 64 points clear of Loughborough.

In the first round of the National Conference Cup, Durham also saw an excellent percentage of victories.

Arguably, the footballers stole the headlines with all five sides winning.

Both the men and women secured 1-0 away wins against strong Northumbria sides.

The men’s 2nd XI also won 1-0 away at Sheffield Hallam. The women’s 2nd side thrashed Sunderland’s 2nd XI 10-0 and the 3rd XI snuck past Newcastle, winning 2-1.

The lacrosse sides ran them close, however, with two huge wins. The women, having been agonisingly beaten by Birmingham in the BUCS final in April, avenged that defeat with a crushing 15-3 victory. The men also played brilliantly, brushing Manchester aside to win 27-2.

The tennis sides were equally ruthless, with the men and women’s 1st teams both defeating Loughborough 12-0.

The women’s 2nd team were unfortunate to lose a final match decider by the same scoreline.The men’s 2nd team fared far better, humbling Leeds 8-0.

Both 3rd teams easily despatched

18

Sport Sport

Playing in the Women’s Super League ‘a dream’ Nick Friend

Given

that twelve months ago, Durham Women’s Football Club had never played a match, the progress made by the club under the management of Lee Sanders and Andy Thorpe and in partnership with Durham University has been simply staggering.

Formed by merging Cestria Girls FC with DUWFC, few could have predicted the success that would follow.

Perhaps overawed by the magnitude of their situation, the side started slowly in the inaugural Women’s Super League 2. Midfielder Kate Bradley – a second year student at St Aidan’s – admitted as much.

“It’s been amazing to play against these teams. For most of the girls here, it’s been the first experience of such a step up.

“The standard’s a lot higher and the games are a lot faster, the intensity’s higher and more physical – even compared to BUCS,” she tells me.

“You really know the difference.

We train twice a week and you really recognise the difference when you play against the likes of Manchester City who train every single day and are doing this as their profession.

“It’s been a great opportunity for everyone involved. It goes to show that there’s a lot of talent out there, given the opportunity.”

Both Bradley and key player Jen King are keen to emphasise the improvements made over the course of the season by the side.

King acknowledged that “the first part of the season was tough but we found our feet eventually.”

Indeed, Durham failed to win any of their nine opening games. Bradley, though, is keen – and correct – to stress the sheer might of their opponents.

“We had a shaky start at the start of the year but once we managed to get that first win, we really got our confidence and from then, we’ve really improved.”

Such was the improvement over the season that international honours have arrived with England calling up four of Durham’s girls.

Last month, Beth Hepple, Jemma Purfield, Vic Linsley and Anna Moorhouse were selected for England’s U19 training camp.

Manager Lee Sanders is ambitious about his young side’s future.

“I never stop looking for players. I was at the 3rd XI trials, 2nd XI trials, 1st XI trials. At the end of the day, you never know who’s going to arrive. We’ve got to get the right blend. Yes, we’ll always have a relatively young squad but that’s a good thing.

“Younger players are generally a bit hungrier and they all want to learn. It’s all about finding the right balance. Caroline Dixon, for example, was brought to the club.

“She’s 27 and the team captain.

She’s brought experience to the squad and excellent leadership.”

Bradley agrees with her manager and has set an “aim of finishing in the top four and an FA Cup run.”

King, whose future is in doubt as she comes to the end of her Masters degree, is equally ambitious.

She points out that “had we collected the same amount of points in the first half of the season as the second half, we’d have finished third” – a remarkable achievement for a side that a year ago, did not even exist.

Thursday 6th November 2014 | PALATINATE

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Kate Bradley in action against Manchester City

Photograph: DWAFC

A debut year to be proud of for DWFC

Lee Sanders

DWFC Manager

2014 saw Durham Women’s Football Club compete in the 1st season of The FA Women’s Super League 2.

With names such as Aston Villa, Watford, Sunderland not to mention Liverpool, Manchester City and Everton in the Continental Cup it was always going to be a season of learning.

The year started brightly with the newly formed squad taking part in the FA Cup and overcoming current Premier League holders Sheffield 3–1 at home as well as Chichester City before falling to a last minute goal to Portsmouth in the 5th round.

A highlight already was that of Beth Hepple becoming FA Cup ‘player of the round’ for a 40 yard free kick v Sheffield, something that no other man or woman had won from the Durham FA area.

Quite surreal was the 1st game

of the season and a local derby with Sunderland Ladies.

New Ferens Park was to host the 1st ever FA WSL game in North East history.

With a queue still present at KO time the players were narrowly defeated 4 – 2 against the recently crowned WSL2 champions in front of a fantastic crowd of 761 spectators.

It would be fair to say we all took time adjusting to the WSL and with only 1 win in the opening 9 games it was tough.

However, we recruited Sarah Wilson and Jemma Purfield at this point in the season and, crucially, with the introduction of team captain and Durham student Caroline Dixon to partner Wilson at centre back alongside Jen King and Ellie Christon.

This formidable back four would be key in the upturn in fortunes that followed. With a solid platform to build on and with attacking flair in Zoe Ness, Beth Hepple,

Jordan Atkinson, Beth Jennings and Jemma Purfield we started to score goals also, with one spectacular effort from Jordan Atkinson against Watford.

4 wins and 2 draws from our final 9 games saw the girls finish the season in a very respectable 6th place, and with many admirers from all in the Women’s Super League.

As a unique, University supported club, we look to improve on this position next year.

With the acquisition of Amelia Pereira, a Durham scholar and Portugal international signing for 2015, we want the support of as many Durham students as possible at our games.

We charge £1.50 for Durham students at games and you can follow us on twitter @DurhamWFC or online www.durham.fawsl.com for news of new signings and FA WSL2 season 2015 which will begin with the FA Cup in the first week of February.

you’d go and watch.

“Women can’t do some of the stuff

come and watch the game. They can meet the players and get their face painted in the Wildcat colours.

“They’re in touch with the players. They can actually see them and speak to them.

“They’re part of the club. The players stay out on the pitch and talk to the fans afterwards.

“We started with no fans but now we have 270 every week. We want these young girls to aspire to be these girls out on the pitch.”

For a club that started from scratch a year ago, it appears in excellent shape to go from strength to strength both on and off the pitch.

Students can turn New Ferens Park into fortress

Nick Friend

“There should be a lot more.” These are the words of Jen King, a key player in Durham Women’s FC’s terrific debut season in the Women’s Super League.

With a student body of 17,000, the home ground has the potential to become a fortress. A university partnership is so niche and unique that Durham must make the most of it.

Manager Lee Sanders is right when he suggests that Durham CCC

aside, Durham Women FC – despite their youthful existence – are plying their trade in a higher division than any other sporting club in the county.

For, according to their sixth place finish in WSL2, they are the 14th best women’s football club in the country.

Season tickets are £35 and students get in for just £1.50.

Defender Jen King cannot fathom why people would stay away.

She suggests that there may be a certain preconception of women’s football. However, performances from the side are beginning to change such attitudes.

“Some people that come are un-

sure of what to expect and then 15 minutes in, they start watching. A couple of meaty tackles went in and they all sat up and went – ‘all right, women actually tackle like that.’

“Then a few headers were won and some good strikes came in and it shocked some of the men who don’t really watch the women’s game.

“They didn’t realise that these things happened in the women’s game. They thought that nobody shoots from more than 10 yards out and that people don’t head the ball.

“You quickly realise that all of that happened and at a better standard than much of the men’s stuff that

“Now we have 270 fans every week” Jen King

that men can do – we can’t ping it 60 yards so we have to actually play it.

All those guys have been back since then and seem to enjoy it.”

There is an understanding at the club that innovation is required in order to ensure that this new club has a loyal supporter base.

“We want 6 and 7 year-olds to

PALATINATE | Thursday 6th November 2014

19

Sport

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From KP to Klute: Simon Hughes exclusive

Castle alumnus, Middlesex and Durham opening bowler, Channel 5’s ‘The Analyst’ and ITV4 IPL summariser Simon Hughes talks to Nick Friend.

Nick Friend

decision on 4th February?

What impact – if any – can England make at the World Cup? Do they have enough firepower to compete with Cook, Bell, Balance and Root potentially making up the top four?

His sacking was horribly mismanaged by the ECB’s media department who are absolutely clueless.

No one comes out of the issue with any credit (apart possibly from

I don’t think they will get beyond the quarter finals.

They haven’t got enough firepower at the top of the order and enough variety in the bowling.

There is a stat that says that teams who get to world cup semis have played an average of 100 odis per man. England’s average is about 50.

Yes. It is an appalling book that is just one long moan and hardly features any of the brilliant cricket that England and Pietersen played. It is sad.

Where do you stand on the Pietersen debate?

Who do you think has won the PR battle between KP and the ECB since the

What is the best individual innings that you have ever seen live?

Brian Lara’s 375. It had this extraordinary inevitability about it. You just couldn’t see how he was going to get out and he batted for two days!

When we travelled to the ground on the third day he was 320 not out and we just knew he was going to break the world record.

But the great thing about the innings was it was never boring. It was studded with brilliant attacking shots all round the wicket, blistering cuts and pulls, scorching drives and deft touches. And when he broke the record the place went mad!

Do you agree with Alastair Cook’s statement that Kevin Pietersen’s book ‘tarnishes a successful era of English cricket’?

Initially I think England got it wrong but I quickly changed my mind once I saw the way KP behaved.

He cannot see his own faults and problems, he was disengaged in Australia (I saw it for myself) and his constant demands to be treated differently just became too hard to deal with.

His batting was in decline and in the end, it all reached a tipping point.

The things he has come out with in (and since) the book suggest to me it was remarkable that England got as much out of him as they did!

I guess it’s time to try Adam Lyth but I haven’t seen him play much. Definitely not Robson, possibly Hales depending on how he goes in the World Cup.

liance) so I would have to say Desmond Haynes.

Dynamic batsman, supremely confident, capable of anything, and could bat in so many different ways.

Could be destructive or selective, happy to take strike against the top bowlers if others were struggling.

What are your memories of Durham – where you both studied and played?

My time at Durham Uni were some of the best years of my life. Fantastic place and people, enjoyed every minute of it apart from the night af-

ter finals when I threw up on my bed.

Playing for Durham was special too – it was the start of a new team with some great old players and it was party time wherever we went in the county.

The response was amazing even though we didn’t win much.

Finally, what did you think of Klute?

Cramped, noisy and hilarious.

Hear, hear Simon.

Who is the best batsman you bowled at?

Photograph: Simon Hughes

Cook) but I think over time people will realise that most of KP’s excellently promoted claims are baseless.

Who should open alongside Alastair Cook on the West Indies tour in April – and then presumably, at Cardiff in the first Ashes Test?

Viv Richards. Amazing aura when he came out to bat, you knew if it was his day you were powerless to do anything about it.

I remember him coming in after I had just broken the finger of the previous batsman.

I bowled the same fast lifter to him on a dodgy wicket and he pulled it nonchalantly for six!

When you bowled to him your one-saving fielders were about 10 yards deeper than for any other batsman because he hit the ball so hard.

Who is the best player you played with?

Ian Botham was in serious decline when I played with him at Durham (still had occasional shafts of bril-

Simon Hughes on TMS

Photograph: Simon Hughes

DUBC achieve success at British Rowing Championships Ella Hopkins DUBC kicked off their season racing at the British Rowing Championships held at Home Pierrepoint on 18th and 19th October.

The annual regatta is attended

by Olympians, university and club athletes alike, creating an extremely competitive but exciting racing environment.

The first day of competition was a great success for both squads. Sam Tuck and Lloyd Seaman put in a strong performance for the men in the Open 2x category, placing 12th overall and 4th in their Open U23

Lightweight 2x division, a great result in an event with 55 entries.

The DUBC men also entered an open weight and lightweight four into Open 4-, achieving 2nd and 6th respectively in the ‘E’ final, demonstrating the depth of the squad across both weight categories.

On the women’s side, the lightweights held their own in the O 2x division, with the first boat placing 3rd in the ‘D’ final and the second boat achieving a win in the ‘F’ final, a positive result in an very competitive field.

However the greatest achievement of the day came from the women’s Open 4- who won the U23 pennant in a time of 8:11.40.

The crew finished 4th in the ‘A’ final behind two Leander Club boats and the winning crew which included Olympic champions Helen Glover and Heather Stanning.

“A good effort from everyone racing in such terrible conditions”

Hanna Gailis Inntjore, Charlotte Drury, Amy Ellerker and Becky Dell led the U23 field throughout the day, narrowly beating local rivals Newcastle University in the time trial and

going on to extend this lead to just under 10 seconds in the semifinal.

Charlotte Drury, women’s captain commented on the result, stating that “it was a good reward for the solid training we have done and shows that we have an exciting season ahead of us if we carry on like we are.”

The second day of the British Rowing Championships in Nottingham was cut short as winds of nearly 40mph meant that the semi-finals and finals scheduled for the Sunday could not go ahead, and medals were handed out according to previous results in the time trial.

The lightweight men entered a quad and placed 16th in an open

weight category, a strong performance despite the less than ideal conditions.

The men’s eight came 13th overall and 5th in the university division in a tough field of 32 crews.

The women also entered an eight and achieved 5th place overall with the 3rd fastest time among the universities, just 4 seconds behind the fastest university time.

The weekend’s results show great promise for the season to come.

Club president James Styles summarised the event, emphasising the “excellent result from the W4- and a good effort from everyone racing in such terrible conditions.”

Sport

Thursday 6th November 2014 | PALATINATE

Simon Hughes exclusive

Former Middlesex bowler talks to Palatinate p. 19

Sports Round Up

Catch up with the first round of BUCS results p. 17

Durham Women’s Football Club

Palatinate rounds up DWAFC’s Super League season p.18

Durham squash cruise to victory over Leeds Nick Friend

Simon Hughes (front row, second left), part of Durham University Cricket Club, Universities Athletic Union (a BUCS precursor) Champions back in 1981 (page 19) Photograph: Simon Hughes

Hockey 1st XI lose unbeaten record Henry Clare

The women’s hockey 1st XI succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of reigning BUCS champions Birmingham on Wednesday.

Durham, who cruised to a 6-0 victory in Manchester last week, went into the game at Maiden Castle as strong underdogs.

However, they started the game on top, and showed no fear against a strong Birmingham team.

Durham were assured in possession, and when they lost the ball they pushed up to pressurise their opponents.

This was best exemplified when Laura Bevan lost the ball, but rushed to win it back from her opponent and make a run into the Birmingham penalty area.

Although nothing came of it, the move was a statement of Durham’s intent.

The first shot of the game came from Durham’s Alice Freeman,

which went just wide of the Birmingham goal having taken a deflection.

Despite pressing well, Durham looked shaky in defence.

Warning sirens started to sound when, midway through the first half, a Birmingham player went on a marauding run into the Durham penalty area, before smashing the ball wide of Meline Musolf’s left hand post.

The Durham defence was called into question once again when a low cross was put behind by Cat McLellan.

Had McLellan not made the interception, the Birmingham forward would have had a simple tap in.

Another determined Birmingham run meant Musolf was called into action again, doing well to palm the ball away with her right hand.

After a long period trapped inside their own half, Durham carried the ball out of defence with Nancy Picton, who set up Ellen Paterson.

Her shot was well blocked, and as a result the teams went into half time level.

However, the beginning of the sec-

ond half brought a sudden change of momentum, as an even game swung emphatically in Birmingham’s favour.

After the ball was given away inside Durham’s own area, Birmingham were in on goal.

Although Musolf did well to save the first shot, she was powerless to stop the rebound hitting the top right corner of the net.

Just minutes later, Birmingham doubled their lead, after a low shot deflected into the bottom right corner of the net.

In truth, the second goal ended the match as a contest.

Durham struggled to form any meaningful attacks, and the rest of the game was focused on limiting the damage, as a rampant Birmingham continued to attack the Durham goal.

Having had to see their team defend for so long, the spectators rose to their feet following a skilful run by Paterson, which saw her beat three Birmingham players.

It was stark consolation, however, as Birmingham saw out the match.

DU Women’s Hockey Fixtures 12.11.14 1st XI vs Leeds University (Home) 2nd XI vs Newcastle University (Home) 3rd XI vs York University (Home) 4th XI vs Hull University (Away) 5th XI vs Bangor University (Away)

Team Durham’s men’s squash team continued their fine start to the season with a convincing win over Leeds University. Previously unbeaten, 3rd placed Leeds were never really in the match after Lalit Bose efficiently saw off his opponent – winning in four games: 11-8, 11-4, 8-11, 11-8.

They briefly managed to claw their way back into the match, with Elliott Park being turned over in four games. Having taken the first game 11-3, the Leeds player began to run him ragged, winning the next three, 11-5, 11-8, 11-4. It would get no better for Leeds as James Wass and Ben Bickers cleaned up in straight games to give Durham an unassailable 3-1 lead in the match. Bickers was helped by a hamstring injury picked up by his opponent that saw him meekly surrender in the last game.

Wass, on the other hand, overcame a shoulder complaint to triumph 115, 11-9, 11-4.

Oliver Palmer brought proceedings to a close. His rapid 11-7, 11-6, 11-6 victory sealed a satisfying result for the early pacesetters. Bose spoke afterwards, affirming his belief that the side could achieve great things this year.

“The team is growing in confidence,” he started out. “If we keep working hard we should put in a strong claim for the league this year.

It’s great to continue our excellent start and remain unbeaten with a convincing win against a decent Leeds side.”

P

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