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PA L A T I N A TE

Outraged and priced out

Durham University criticised for £9000 college rent

Nicole Wu, Emily Doughty & Ben Webb Editor-in-Chief and News Editors

Durham University students have been left angered after Durham University announced that accommodation prices would rise by 10.3%, the biggest increase in accommodation prices ever.

The increase means that a standard catered room with a shared bathroom will be £9156 for a 39 week contract, with students paying £234.77 per week. This is the first time a standard catered room will be over £9000.

This has led to an outrage among students, with a Cut the Rent protest now being planned by several prominent organisations on 28th January in an a empt to get the increase reduced.

In their initial statement, Durham University said “The University has approved a 10.3% increase in both accommodation and catering charges. As you will be aware, the University is experiencing rises in our operating

costs in the current economic climate. We have tried to keep increases to our accommodation and catering charges as low as possible, and to make sure that college-managed accommodation remains competitively priced in relation to private accommodation in Durham City”

In a poll conducted by Palatinate where 1014 students were polled, it was found that 89% of students disagreed with the rise of prices. 67% of students completely disagreed with the rise, with 22% of students mostly disagreeing.

Many students voiced their anger to Palatinate with one Durham student saying “this is disgusting and I still can’t believe the university is doing this to its students. My rent this year was £9000 - next year it will be higher than my max maintenance loan. What am I meant to do?”

Another student echoed this anger but wanted to know where the money was being spent, “I would love to see a breakdown of this cost. I’m living in college this year, and have switched to being

self-catered this term.

“College food is poor quality, has small portions and is really quite disgusting. Where’s this money going?”

Other students have raised concerns that porters in college and catering staff are not seeing wage increases in light of the cost-ofliving crisis and are concerned about where the money will be going.

Durham UCU PGRs highlighted this issue saying for those who both work for the University and who also live in University run accommodation “While [Durham University] refuses to become a living wage employer, continues to exacerbate the issues in the private housing market, it also remains commi ed to fleecing its students. And PGRs are impacted by both.”

Durham University chose not to add to their initial statment to Palatinate over whether porters and catering staff were receiving an increase in wages to match inflation.

Concern was also raised about the impact on working class students due to the increase in prices.One alumna criticised the decision as

impacting inclusivity saying “literally pricing out working class students. Maximum student loan is now £9978, leaving £822 to live on. Durham don’t allow you a job for more than 12 hours a week if I remember. Students with additional needs who require an en-suite will need to pay more.”

The University allows students to work 16 hours per week, though they do not advise working any more hours.

In a statement to Palatinate, 93% club said, “Recently, Palatinate has produced articles discussing why state-educated students are most abundant in self-catered hill colleges, Josephine Butler having a 67% state-educated majority intake over the last 5 years. Now, with the 10.3% rise set for the next academic year, where will stateeducated students from low socio-economic backgrounds go?

“Durham continues to push out talent and position itself as a figurehead for universities ‘inspiring the extraordinary’ who are privileged enough to

a end, and not for talent of all backgrounds. Durham University is unfortunately reinforcing structural inequalities, which make the institution less accessible for those from low and middle socio-economic backgrounds.”

When contacted by Palatinate regarding the issues facing working class students, Durham Universtiy chose not to add to their initial comment, they “offer to all students who need to bridge financial gaps to support grants of up to £6000 per annum.”

The decision to raise prices also comes in a year where Durham students have faced unprecedented issues with housing. In October 2022, Palatinate reported about students forced to camp out overnight last term to secure housing for next year.

The situation also sparked a private housing protest which took place last term and garnered national a ention.

With rising costs of housing, which saw some houses going for

Students gathered outside the Bill Bryson Library to protest student housing price increases in October 2022 (Emily Doughty)

Life’s three certainties

It was Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, who, in 1789 wrote a le er to prominent French scientist Jean-Baptiste Leroy stating that “Our new Constitution is established, everything seems to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes,”

More than two centuries later, the popular idiom derived from Franklin’s le er has a special role to play in life in Durham. These two certainties can be joined by a third: exorbitant rent increases. Life’s three certainties. These are by no means specific to our university - but they are particularly noticeable in this tiny city. People are being priced out of coming to Durham, at this moment, now.

The increase in price that was revealed last Friday morning is possibly one of the best examples of defining the mantra “shocked but not surprised”. The outrage at this announcement has been palpable - one wonders if a rent strike will ensue, following the reports coming from Manchester University over the past week.

On top of this, a protest is taking place this coming Saturday and will be a poignant reminder not only of the price increases seen in college, but also the housing rush that we witnessed back in October.

For context, on Monday, there were 99 properties available to rent in Durham

for 2023/24, according to the Sturents website (having said this, it depends how you define ‘Durham’, some of these were as far away as Belmont or Framwellgate Moor - a solid three mile walk). Of these properties, only 11 had the weekly rent coming in at less than £159 per person per week.

announcement. People were ready and almost prepared to be angry, and the only way of avoiding this would have been if the University had gone against their own precedent and not increased prices, which of course they did not do.

It is curious that the University opted to use the RPI rate of inflation (13.4% in December 2022) up against their housing price increase so that they can argue that they are keeping the accommodation and catering charge 3.1 percentage points below the rate of inflation. This is especially so when the ONS uses CPIH, running at 9.2% in December and the Bank of England’s CPI measurement places inflation at 10.5%.

Editors-in-Chief

Nicole Wu & Daniel Hodgson editor@palatinate.org.uk

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Elle Fitzgerald-Tesh deputy.editor@palatinate.org.uk News Editors

Emily Doughty & Ben Webb news@palatinate.org.uk

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Charis Lim, Anna Calzada, Freddie Corrin, Nina Bu erfield, Becks Fleet, Maxim Meinertzhagen, Lucy Baldwin & Anne Parsons-Proctor

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If you’re keen, properties are available for 2024/25, one of which is coming in at £225 per person per week (bills not included of course). All of this makes it seem all the more ludicrous that until 2022, Durham University recommended that students could expect to spend £60-£100 a week on rent.

In spite of all of this, we as students have go en so used to shocking price increases that no one was surprised by this

Using an RPI inflation calculator, one can easily see that while “The University has an agreement with the Students’ Union that accommodation and catering charges will increase by no more than inflation (RPI) each year”, this has not been applied over the last decade. We can work out that a room in 2013/14 at £5,595 should cost £8,041 heading into the next academic year. This is over £1,000 less than what it will cost those living in college from September.

Telling students that: “The increases to our accommodation and catering charges will not cover the rises in our operating costs” will come as li le comfort to those having to fork out for London-

the world is significantly lower. Equally pointless is the “contact email available from Monday 13 February to provide support and guidance in finding accommodation”. Many students spoke to Palatinate about the issues they faced entering the new year, unknowing of whether they will have a place to stay from September. A large number of these people described how they were relying on availability in college to save them. If the college accommodation does not solve a student’s housing issues, then it begs the question, what tangible support can the University offer?

Daniel Hodgson Editor-in-Chief

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 le ers to: Editor, Palatinate, Durham Students’ Union, Dunelm House, New Elvet, Durham, DH1 3AN. Alternatively, send an email to editor@palatinate.org.uk.

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(Rosie Bromiley)

The outrage at this announcement has been palpable - one wonders if a rent strike will ensue

Busy Billy B complaints

Emily Doughty News Editor

A poll conducted by Palatinate has found that 95% of students believed that study spaces, including the Bill Bryson Library, were busier than last academic year.

However analysis by Palatinate has found that that the library is not significantly busier than in 2019, the last year before Covid-19 restrictions began being used.

Students who talked to Palatinate spoke about how they had to get up “earlier and earlier” to secure seats in the library. One student spoke of their frustration saying “if (they) don’t get to the library by 9am it feels like I won’t be able to get a seat at all”.

them, yet over 20% of Durham students have declared a disability.

“The amount of support there is inadequate and it means that students like myself don’t access library facilities as often as other students even though we really would like to.”

The anger among students was evident in a poll run by Palatinate where it was found that 96% of students out of 922 respondents felt that the University should create more study spaces to combat the increased numbers. .

However, analysis done by Palatinate has found that the Bill Bryson Library, while busier than the last academic year, is similarly busy to 2019. 2019 was the last year not impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic measures were put in place, such as seat booking and limited seating which continued in the 2021/2022 academic year.

The data, which was collected by Michael Crilly, a Durham University student, also found that the busiest day for students in the library for the 2019/2020 academic year and the 2022/2023 academic year only 173 more people used the library in 2022/2023 on that day.

develop new study space, including for disabled students.

“Library managers regularly meet with Durham Students’ Union Academic Officers to understand any areas of concern, seek student input into library development and provide updates on services and facilities.

UCU confirms 18 strike dates in Epiphany

Another said they “literally had to get to the library before 8:30 every day last week just to get a decent spot and not have to walk around for 15 minutes until I found a seat”.

Some students raised concerns about the availability of certain spaces like disability study rooms, with one student saying, “As a disabled student, it is almost impossible to book one of the 4 disability study rooms because there’s so few of

However it was also revealed that the busiest day out of the three year period came in November 2022, where the library had 1817 people in it, 17 people over the actual capacity of the library.

It is also important to note that the exam period for the 2022/2023 academic year has yet to take place, which is often the busiest period for use of the study spaces.

Liz Waller, Director of Library Services and University Librarian, said: “We are continuously exploring opportunities to

“We also run a regular student focus group and carry out user experience activities on different aspects of library provision throughout the year.

“There are currently 1,800 individual and group spaces in the Bill Bryson Library and 450 in the Teaching and Learning Centre, as well as study spaces at the Calman Learning Centre, Elvet Riverside, Leazes Road Library, the Business School, Mathematical Sciences and Computer Science and the Barker Research Library at Palace Green. Additional study spaces are also available at Dunelm House and College libraries.

“Students can find out what study spaces are available through the Library’s regular social media updates or by visiting our website where they can also book spaces. They can also check how busy we are at the Bill Bryson Library in real time on our Library occupancy page.”

Vice-Chancellor salary revealed to be £164,000

was paid total emoluments of £198,000.

In the annual report and Financial statement released by the University it was revealed that Professor Karen O’Brien, the current Vice-Chancellor, was paid £164,000 in base salary for the seven months she held the role in the financial calendar.

This was lower by a thousand pounds a month than both her predecessors, Professor Anthony Long and Professor Corbridge. When this was considered within the full calendar year, this would mean Professor O’Brien would be paid £7000 less than Professor Long and £9000 less than Professor Corbridge in salary.

The Annual Report details: “The Vice-Chancellor’s salary is reviewed annually in accordance with our published pay policy by independent members of the Remuneration Commi ee. This includes external benchmarking and consideration of the scale, complexity, and performance of the University.”

When taking into consideration emoluments such as pension payments, provision of accommodation and life assurance contributions, Professor Long was paid total emoluments of £145,000 for 5 months in the role of ViceChancellor, while Professor O’Brien

In calculations done by Palatinate it was found that Professor Long was paid £29,000 per term for his role, while Professor O’Brien was only paid £28,000 for her role when emoluments are considered.

Professor Long was also paid more per month than the outgoing Vice Chancellor, Professor Corbridge, as if Professor Long were to have remained in the role earning the same salary, he would have received £6,000 more than Professor Corbridge when considering emoluments .

A Durham University spokesperson said “Durham University is a large and complex institution with over 4,300 fulltime equivalent staff and more than 22,000 students. It has an annual turnover of almost £460m per year, an ambitious ten-year strategy and generates £1.9 billion Gross Value Added for the UK economy.

“The Vice-Chancellor’s salary is set, benchmarked and then reviewed annually in accordance with our published pay policy by Remuneration Commi ee – a commi ee of University Council, the governing body of the University and its Trustee Board – all members of which are independent of the University.”

Emily Doughty and Ben Webb News Editors

[I] literally had to get to the library before 8:30 every day last week

We are continually exploring opportunities to develop new study space

Nicole Wu, Emily Doughty & Ben Webb Editor-in-Chief and News Editors

89% of students

Continued from front

£500 per week and some increasing in rent by over £100 in a year many students felt they could only rely on college accommodation.

Durham Tenants Union Executive Commi ee which has worked on issues surrounding housing said, “Durham University has announced an increase in the cost of college accommodation, the increase is 10.3%. Meanwhile, the maintenance loan for students has only increased by 2.8%. This is absolutely unacceptable, the housing situation in Durham was already completely untenable, with rent costs being too high and the conditions of the housing being abysmal.

“Despite all this, the University has still pushed through this increase - they clearly do not care about students during this difficult time, and they clearly do

not care about the terrible housing situation they are now actively contributing too with this increase. It is time to show them how angry we are.”

Maximum

maintenance

Palatinate have found that college residence charges have

Durham Uni rent higher than London student halls

After the release of the 202324 academic year university accommodation prices, Palatinate conducted a study comparing the costs of a standard, catered room at Durham, surrounding northern universities, as well as London universities which have released their pricing updates.

The study showed that compared to all other London universities that have released their 2023-2024 accommodation prices, Durham University is more expensive than their student halls per week.

London students are given 30.5% more funding in their maintenance loan. Using this adjustment for Durham college accommodation would take the price of a standard, catered room to £306.37 per week, significantly higher than the average catered accommodation cost of University College London (UCL), The London School of Economics (LSE), King’s College London (KCL), and Royal Holloway.

This is detailed in the graph below, highlighting the more than £150 per week disparity between a standard, catered room at Durham University, and the average price of a similar room at Royal Holloway.

Such figures have been met with criticism from Durham University alumni, with one alumna saying, “This is genuinely absurd. This is nearly 3 times what I was paying

when I was a fresher in Durham. Even in my last year [2017] living in a house I wasn’t paying more than £95 a week. Durham is ensuring that working class students will be etched out of a ending because they can’t afford to live”.

Further, an alumnus said “This is nuts considering County Durham is one of the cheapest counties in England to rent otherwise, when I was struggling financially at uni I was told I should have come with a “strong financial plan”, i.e. funds that weren’t available to me and many others”

Palatinate’s study also demonstrates the disparities between a standard catered room at Durham University and that of more local institutions.

The universities of Northumbria and Sheffield have both published their prices for the next academic year, with the gap between the average Northumbria standard, catered room and that of Durham standing at over £95.

In the graph above, Palatinate also compared prices of selfcatered accommodation, with Durham again having the highest priced accommodation of its surrounding universities.

When contacted by Palatinate regarding the disparity between Durham accommodation costs and both London universities and northern universities, Durham University chose not to add to their initial statement.

College rent outpaces inflation

Research by Palatinate has found that the increase in rent prices has gone above the rate of inflation, despite the fact that the increase in accommodation has been a ributed to rise in inflation.

Using the Office for National Statistics’s Consumer Prices Index including housing costs (CPIH) puts average inflation at 9.2% in December 2022. Even when it peaked at 9.6% it never went above 10%, while accommodation prices have increased by 10.3%

This makes the Universities accommodation rent rise a whole 1.1% above the rate of inflation.

Further research by Palatinate has also found that by using this measure Durham rent prices have never been in line with the rise in inflation, with prices also being risen above the rate of inflation in every single rent increase in the last decade.

The worst disparity in this relationship was in 2015/2016 where accommodation rose by 8.4% despite inflation only being 1.5%.

Durham University chose not to add to their initial statement when asked by Palatinate why the price rises were over the rate of CPIH inflation.

spokesperson said, “The University has an agreement with the Students’ Union that accommodation and catering charges will increase by no more than inflation (RPI) each year. This year, mindful of the exceptionally high rates of inflation, we have worked hard to keep the increases in accommodation and catering charges to 3.1% below the latest RPI figure. The increases to our accommodation and catering charges will not cover the rises in our operating costs.”

However according to the ONS’s website, “The Retail Prices Index (RPI) and its derivatives have been assessed against the Code of Practice for Official Statistics and found not to meet the required standard for designation as National Statistics; the RPI, its sub-components and the RPIX continue to be published as they are tied to long-term contracts.” However in their initial statement, a Durham University

government student

loan has only increased by 2.8% to £9978

The Office for National Statistic’s CPIH puts average inflation at 9.2% in

polled disagree with 10.3% increase

increased by over 54% over the past decade; in the 2013/2014 academic year a standard catered room with shared bathroom cost £5955.

Meanwhile the maximum government student maintenance loan has only increased by 2.8% to £9978 whilst living away from home outside London. Students on the maximum maintenance loan in 2023-2024 will only have £822 to live on for the entire year. This amounts to £21.08 per week during the 39 week contract.

The 2023/2024 academic year will also be the first time when 30 week contracts will advertised as an option. On the University website, Durham University has for the first time introduced 30 week contract options for term only and 34 week contracts ‘(shorter license)’ - these costs are

priced at £15 and £8 more a week, respectively. Students have raised concerns regarding why there are higher charges for students to sign shorter contracts and lack of inclusivity and transparency regarding the decision behind this.

The anger voiced over this has been echoed by Presidents’ Commi ee (PresComm), a group representing the presidents and Senior people of all Junior Common Rooms in Durham, In a statement to Palatinate they said, ”JCR PresComm is disappointed with the decision to inflict an extortionate increase in college accommodation fees of 10.3% upon the student body. This is just the latest in a long series of increases over the past decade, and further compounds one of the most prevalent obstacles students face

whilst joining and being a part of Durham University.

“When we consider the current financial climate, between the Cost-of-Living Crisis, Housing Crisis, and a pitiful increase in the maintenance loan of 2.8%, students are worn out. This 10.3% increase is the final straw. However, it is not too late for our voices to be heard and to make the university listen to us.”

The outrage from students has led Durham Students’ Union, Durham Tenants Union. Durham University Labour Club, the 93% Club, and PresComm to jointly organise a Cut the Rent protest at 1pm on Saturday 28th January on Palace Green. This was done with the support of other student associations and societies such as the Durham Labour Club, Durham

People of Colour Association and Durham Student Protest. Their demands are:

• A reversal of the planned increase in the cost of college accommodation.

• A fee cap for college accommodation which is calculated relative to the maintenance loan.

• A further increase to the amount of college accommodation available for returning students.

• The University to host a public meeting with student leaders and student groups about the above issues.

When contacted by Palatinate to address concerns raised by students, the University chose not to add to their initial statement.

Durham Grant continues to decline in value

Analysis done by Palatinate has found that, despite rising by 13% for next academic year, the Durham Grant covers just more than half the amount of rent it covered a decade ago.

So if you were a Durham student receiving the full Durham Grant in 2013/2014, the grant would cover 50% of your rent, while for students in college accommodation in 2023/2024 the grant will only cover 27% of your accommodation.

This decrease is part of a continued trend of the Durham Grant covering less and less of the accommodation cost, something that has been seen in the past decade and is part of the reduction in value of the programme.

“The University is aware of the pressures of cost of living on students and is investing significantly in the Durham Grant Scheme, supporting students from low-income families. The Scheme has been increased by 10% this year and will increase by up to 13.6% in academic year 2023/24. This means that from next academic year, home undergraduates who do not already have an undergraduate degree and who have a household income of less than £30,000 as assessed by Student Finance England (or equivalent) will receive a Durham Grant of £2,500. Similar students, who have a household income of between £30,001 and £47,200, will receive a Durham Grant of between £2,495 and £780.

This is despite the University announcing a review of the money in the scheme last year. Though this prompted a rise in the Durham Grant the reduction in value means it still holds less value than it did a decade ago.

Furthermore, the increase in rent prices means the amount of maintenance loan a student has available has fallen dramatically if living in college accommodation. Students next year will only have £822 left of their student loan to live on for the year, compared to £1405 last year, a decrease of almost £600.

This is a sharp decline from this academic year, when the amount of loan left only fell by just over £100.

In their initial statement Durham University said ”For any students still unable to find a room for next academic year, there will be a contact email available from Monday 13 February to provide support and guidance in finding accommodation.

“Overall, we are investing an additional £600,000 in the Durham Grant Scheme this year, with an additional investment of £900,000 next year. This will take our annual spend on the Durham Grant Scheme to c.£7.5 million next year. The Durham Grant is payable in addition to government funding, and eligible students do not have to pay it back.

“In addition, the University offers to all students who need to bridge financial gaps support grants of up to £6,000 per annum on a planned or urgent basis. We are in discussion with student leaders about the best way to promote and target these grants.a

“We also have instant access funds for students in urgent need of financial assistance. These funds allow students to obtain shopping and catering vouchers, or cash.

“We will continue to invest in measures to support students. There are already a number of other initiatives available, including free breakfast clubs and the ‘Too Good to Go’ surplus food scheme. Full details can be found on the Cost of Living Hub: Cost of Living HubDurham University.

“Students who are experiencing difficulties should contact their College in the first instance, where they will find support.”

Durham Students’ Union, 93% Club and PresComm have jointy organised a Cut the Rent protest at 1pm on Saturday 28th January on Palace Green

We have instant access funds for students in urgent need

County Durham News

Durham Police search for owners of runaway ferret

Charis Lim News Reporter

Police have taken a ferret into custody after spo ing the animal running around Gilesgate earlier this month.

An officer noticed a “strange beastie” running around on Sherburn Road, Gilesgate, after dark on 15th January. After chasing the creature on foot, Officer Anabelle Chambers noticed it was a ferret – most likely a pet escaped from a home in the area.

With the assistance of a member of the public who was described as a “expert ferret handling hero”, Durham police managed to capture the escaped pet.

The ferret is currently being housed by Blue Ferret Boarding. They provide “luxury accommodation with ensuite facilities, formal suppers, and

University urged to end contract with company due to treatment of refugees

Becks Fleet News Reporter

silver service” for ferrets whilst their owners are on holiday.

Though this creature may have been mistaken for a polecat, the cousin of the ferret family, these animals do not live in the wild in the UK. Likewise, the cinnamon markings on the animal show it is a household pet.

If you are concerned, Blue Ferret Boarding recomends seeking assistance from a local vet, who may consult the animal’s microchip and be in a position to provide more advice.

The police say they are hoping for a “ferretail ending” for this missing pet.

Durham City Police have stated: “If you have lost your ferret or know anyone who has, please email anabelle.chambers@ durham.police.uk . We are keen for the ferret and its owner to be reunited forever.”

Durham pub named as a runnerup for National Pub of the Year

Becks Fleet News Reporter

The Station House, located under the Viaduct on North Road, is the runner-up for a prestigious national ‘Pub of the Year’ award, organised by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

The pub, which opened in 2015, was shortlisted for the 2022 competition along with 3 other pubs and was narrowly beaten to the top award by the Tamworth Tap in the West Midlands.

The winner & nominees for the award are selected by CAMRA volunteers and are judged based on their “atmosphere, décor, welcome, service, community focus and the quality of the beer”.

The Station House still made history by reaching the final four; they were the first north-east pub

to reach this stage in 17 years, since the 2005 contest.

Alongside the national award, CAMRA also chooses 16 regional winners: The Station House was chosen as the North-East winner in 2022, being crowned as the best pub in the region.

Following the announcement of the Tamworth Tap as the winner, The Station House shared the news on social media. They were not deterred by the result, stating that “We’re still thrilled to be Runner Up! Huge congratulations to the Tamworth Tap, we can’t wait to visit.”

Station House co-owners Susannah & Chris Mansfield told The Mirror: “Our central aims have remained: great beer and cider, great community, and a welcoming space for all.”

Durham Church expands Social Justice Café in March

Lucy Baldwin News Reporter

The social justice café at St Nicholas’ Church in Durham City is increasing its hours in March, due to high demand. The café receives between 30 and 40 visitors when open, with space to seat only 28.

Staff at St Nic’s plan to increase the opening hours from 12pm2pm to 10am-2pm in order to accommodate more visitors. They will also be starting ‘St Nic’s kitchen’ a volunteer running cookery class to support new cooks and increase their outreach further.

They describe themselves as a ‘Church for Everyone’ and aim to provide services useful for both students and locals.

The café operates out of St Nic’s Church in Durham Market Place from Tuesdays to Fridays and is a

A group of students have sent an open le er to the Durham University senior leadership team urging them to end the University’s cleaning and securities contract with Mitie when it comes up for renewal later this year.

The group, Durham Student Action for Refugees (STAR), claim that “Working with Mitie means that Durham is complicit in labour and human rights abuses against migrants” due to Mitie’s record of management at immigration and detention centres.

STAR’s open le er, signed by nearly 1000 students and delivered to the University leadership, argues that Durham’s continued financial support of Mitie is at odds with their desire to welcome “migrant students, refugees and international students” and cites Mitie’s “incredibly poor conditions” at their Harmondsworth centre and former Campsfield House

immigration detention centre, which was closed in 2019 after accusations of unsafe, dangerous conditions and unclean rooms.

As well as demanding the University cut ties with Mitie, STAR are also asking the University to amend their ‘Responsibly Procurement’ policy to prohibit “engaging with companies involved in the border industry”, and that the University leadership make a statement opposing the local Hassockfield/ Derwentside detention centre and “other bordering operations”.

In a statement to Palatinate, STAR said: “Durham Uni STAR are commi ed to supporting the refugee community in the UK, showing solidarity and compassion to all those seeking safety.

“The contract our university holds with Mitie, in our opinion, directly contravenes these principals. Mitie is a company with subsidiaries such as Mitie Care and Custody group who are responsible for the detention of

vulnerable asylum seekers across the UK, with lone and highly vulnerable females in Hassockfield just 12 miles from Durham under Mitie’s care, a particular cause for concern.

“Conditions in facilities run by Mitie such as Manston short-term holding centre have been subject of extensive criticism in official inspections. Durham University’s responsible procurement policy indicates that it “expects relevant ethical and sustainability standards are applied to business transactions”, and yet there seems to be nothing ethical about the choice to continue renewing its contract with Mitie.

“Durham STAR stands with the refugee community and our open le er - nearing 1000 signaturesshows wide support from Durham students and locals for our demand that the university cuts all ties with Mitie.”

In response to the demands made by STAR, Durham University said in a statement to Palatinate that “We awarded a new facility management contract with Mitie in 2018, following a rigorous, transparent and competitive procurement process.

“Representation from the student body was included, and consideration of our corporate, social and environmental responsibilities and equality and diversity commitments.

“We will review our contract with Mitie at the point of renewal, as with any other contract.” They also added that the University’s contract is with Mitie FM Ltd, which does not manage the Hassockfield centre.

Mitie Group did not respond to Palatinate’s request for comment.

Durham restaurant week returns after Covid-19

Emily Doughty News Editor

registered Warm Space. It provides a free heated space for people to visit and free soup on Saturdays.

The café operates as part of St Nic’s Social Justice Hub, designed and overseen by their Social Justice Enabler. It opened in August 2022 with its popularity growing in a ma er of months.

This Hub also operates services in aid of financial inclusion, enabling employment, mental health and wellbeing, climate change care and growing in faith.

The café is run by a Social Justice Enabler and Café Supervisor with all other staff being volunteers, some of whom are Durham University students and staff members.

The church aims to give back to volunteers by providing them with training and help with their careers in future.

The second Durham restaurant week has been announced as it returns for the first time after Covid-19. The week which will run between Saturday the 28th of January and Saturday the 4th of February aims to give people a “taste of what Durham city has to offer” and to get out of their “january blues’ ‘.

Organised by Durham BID, restaurants like The Nudo, Turtle Bay and Zapatista are ge ing involved in the week, with more restaurants yet to be announced. It hopes to entice old and new customers to eat out in Durham with a range of deals on food and drinks.

Participating venues have put together a £10, £15, £20 and £25 menus to allow customers to try out places they would not necessarily have tried. To take advantage of these deals customers must choose the restaurant week

menus.

On their website Durham restaurant week said “Foodies across the North East can enjoy a taste of what Durham city has to offer with the first-ever Durham Restaurant Week”.

said: “The city has an amazing food and drink scene with lots of independents as well as big-name restaurants.

“From Turkish cuisine to tapas, to Mexican burritos and Japanese flavours, the city has a strong culinary offering that people can sink their teeth into. Whether it’s visiting their favourite place or trying something new, customers can enjoy dining out at bargain prices during the week.”

Emma Wright, marketing and events at Durham BID, echoed the excitement saying, “Whether it’s a lunchtime bite to eat or organising a night out with friends or family, Durham Restaurant Week promises to offer a tasty experience for all.

“Durham BID successfully held a Restaurant Week in 2019 which was organised by the BID’s former management team. As a new BID team, we decided to bring back the event post covid – and we are hopeful we can build Restaurant Week into our events calendar year on year.”

STAR Commi ee members at a protest (Livvy O’Hagan)

BID Manager Paul Howard

Whether it’s visiting their favourite place or trying something new, customers can enjoy dining out at bargain prices during the week

DurhamstudentwinsinternshipwithSiemensEngineering

Nina Bu erfield News Reporter

Vedika Bedi, a third year engineering student, recently took part in the prestigious Sir William Siemens Challenge to great avail. Her participation in the 48-hr nationwide event culminated in the acquisition of an internship with Siemens Engineering.

The program describes itself as a “pipeline of future talent”. It is a 48 hour engineering Hackathon, bringing together students from all over the UK to work on projects requiring a range of skills from coding to building.

The contestants were required to present this data any way they desired, with creativity encouraged.

However, they had to order all the equipment that they could use to represent the data before they were informed about its nature. Ms Bedi’s team identified two strategies to overcome this: “You have to guess what sort of data you’ll get or you’ll have to order a kit that’s quite versatile”.

The team met for the first time on Zoom shortly before the hackathon itself. They went for the versatility model, ordering LEDs, an LED matrix, and a microphone.

However the microphone was never put into use, as the team mate with the skills to code it dropped out before the event. In fact, two of her teammates opted not to be present at the event. Despite the changes, Ms Bedi said she “got quite lucky”.

The program began on Friday and ran until Sunday. On Friday, they were provided with a variety of data, which spanned gaseous levels in the area, to temperature and voltage of the heating and cooling units.

and down the column to represent how humid it was in the room throughout the day.

Out of 70 participants, Ms Bedi was one of 30 to receive an internship opportunity at the end of the event.

The hackathon organised the participants into teams, providing them with a variety of data sets, such as CO2 levels, oxygen levels, atrium temperature, and cooling unit temperature.

They choose to represent three of the data sets, Co2 levels, humidity, and temperature in three separate building projects, which they constructed over the course of the weekend.

To represent Co2 levels within the atrium used, they fabricated model humans out of acrylic and added LEDs. When Co2 levels increased, more people would light up.

For humidity, they built a column full of marbles designed to look like bubbles. The marbles then moved up

Finally, they placed a LED coil outside the building near the heating unit and had it take the temperature, changing colour from blue to red. Ms Bedi described: “What you could see when you ran it was the room was hot, and the heating unit was cold, because it was trying to cool it down and vice versa”

The Durham student primarily took on the role of the builder in the group, saying “a lot of our group had done coding, but I mainly looked over the building part of it because I was quite experienced with how to actually use workshop tools, which is quite nice, it’s quite a nice feeling”.

The winning group was guaranteed internships and graduate jobs. Although Ms Bedi’s team “didn’t win, [they] came

runners up, but the people who won really deserved it, they built a robotic flower that opened and closed and grew taller and shorter based on gas levels’.

However, not winning the competition was not the end of the road, Ms Bedi explains: “The rest of the event is scouting out who they think could be good interns”.

According to Siemens the event is “designed to identify the emerging engineering talent from across the UK”.

But Ms Bedi’s own experience was somewhat tumultuous. “A lot of people in my group got called up for a chat with the Siemens people, but I hadn’t, and I was like ‘oh no I’m not gonna get a job’”. But her luck was set to change, and on the final day she was called over to some of the organisers. A few weeks later, she was contacted by the company. “I don’t really know why they emailed me…but they chose to email me and I got an interview”.

The interview went well and Ms Bedi was offered an internship

at Siemens. With aspirations of working in energy engineering, this internship is a great accomplishment. When discussing her ambitions, she said “I’m not sure, I want to do different projects, different research studies—I don’t want to do the same thing everyday”.

While reflecting on the experience Ms Bedi did not hesitate to recommend it to other students, specifically for the exposure it provides, and the proximity to industry officials. Furthermore she described how “You can also chat to graduates who went through the whole application scheme and they were really helpful in telling you how to bag internships and how to bag graduate jobs”.

Her advice to future participants and engineering students was, “its good to get involved in a lot of things, as much as possible, even at uni. I think a be er way of learning engineering is by doing it, any sort of project or anything that you come across I think is be er than reading a textbook”.

From the Archives

In January 1960, Palatinate reported that Durham was expanding its campus to accommodate for more students. This included creating more college accommodation and expanding what is now the Science Site on South Road.

“Considerable expansion will take place in the Durham Colleges during the 1960s in order to accommodate in a student population that will rise to 2,000 or more”. This was according to the Secretary of the Durham Colleges, Mr. Ian Graham who was interviewed a week prior to the print edition.

Palatinate describe a building programme which includes “Grey College which, by 1964, will house at least 300 fully residential students, an

extension to St Mary’s College to house another 100 students and a gate block for Hatfield College which will contain a number of residential places.”

The article references that “a new women’s college is planned and will eventually provide accommodation for 250 students.” This is likely referring to Trevelyan College which was fully built in 1966. Owengate meanwhile was “rebuilt as residential quarters for University College.”

In terms of teaching buildings - “the Applied Physics building, already under construction, will be the most significant new development.”

The article reports that “Next October will see the entry of the Colleges, for the first time, into the field of

Applied Science. “The first phase of the Chemistry and geology building is already approaching completion and it will be followed in a year or two’s time by a substantial extension.

A new Physics building will be a ached to Applied Physics building to give a “facial uplift in a few years’ time.”

Elvet Riverside was also planned for: “A new Arts block is also in the offing along the river bank between the Toffee factory and the northern end of Church Street. It will contain new lecture rooms as well as departmental offices and staff rooms.”

As well as Durham Students’ Union building, Dunelm House “a new S.R.C building will go up on the southern end

of that site and will include, among other features, a cafeteria and officer for S.R.C, D.C.A.U and Palatinate”

Sport Facilities were improved with “a new pavilion” planned on the Racecourse with “ten changing room and will include separate sections for men and women, a large tea-room with kitchen facilities and a terrace on the roof.”

The article ends saying “But since we cannot expect any increase in lodging accommodation in this City, it can only mean that more new colleges with fully residential facilities will have to be built.”

“Teaching and other facilities will have to be increased accordingly.”

The program describes itself as a “pipeline of future talent”

Ms Bedi did not hesitate to recommend it to other students, specifically for the exposure

Vedika Bedi and her team at the challenge (Vedika Bedi)

Holocaust Memorial Day

Durham commemorates Holocaust Memorial Day

Nicole Wu Editor-in-Chief

Every 27th January, Holocaust Memorial Day is commemorated across Europe to remember millions of Jewish people who were murdered during the Holocaust, as well as other groups that were

murdered during Nazi persecution. This year, the date marks the 77th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in 1945.

Durham Castle will be lit up in purple on Friday night, joining many important landmarks across the country in remembering victims of the Holocaust.

Durham County Council are holding an event on Friday (tomorrow) at 10am, free for all to a end. Durham University Physics lecturer, Professor Marek Szablewski, will be sharing the story of his family’s life in Nazioccupied Poland during World War II. Professor Szablewski’s father was a Polish resistance fighter, so his

Jewish step-grandmother and aunt were hidden from the Nazis during the war.

He has been researching his family history and the journey that brought his parents to Yorkshire since 2011, when he was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship.

Durham JSoc, Durham University Chaplaincy Network and Stephenson College have organised a remembrance event on Friday at 2pm, it includes a talk with Martin Bandel from the 45’ Aid Society and a remembrance Event and Candle Lighting. A Service of Remembrance is being held on Thursday 26th, 8:30pm at University College which is open to all.

Durham cathedral is hosting an artwork exhibition around this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day theme ‘Ordinary People’. Students from local schools: Belmont Community school and St Leonard’s Catholic school have worked with artist Jayne Blacklock to produce portraits.

An exhibition that recounts Porrajmos - the term used to describe the genocide of Europe’s Roma and Sinti communities - will also be on display in the Cathedral. These exhibitions can be viewed in the Galilee Chapel, Durham Cathedral from Friday 27th January to Sunday 29th January.

A conversation with Sophie Tasie Wimborne, Durham’s Jewish Society president

Nicole Wu Editor-in-Chief

In preparation for Holocaust Memorial Day, I met with Sophie Tasie Wimborne to speak about her role as Jewish Society (JSoc) President this year and her experiences of being Jewish in Durham. Sophie is in her final year. She was Social Secretary for the society in second year and really enjoyed pu ing on large socials for big Jewish festivals such as Hanukkah. I begin by asking Sophie about JSoc and her current role as President.

“Of course it’s a society for people who are Jewish, but also it’s for people who want to learn about Judaism. We’re a fairly small society, for example, we only have 6 exec members.”

JSoc hosts regular events for Jewish students as well as the entire student body. “We host Friday Night Dinners which are a really important part of Jewish culture - we move between colleges and catering staff provide us kosher food which is lovely.

“We also have Lunch and Learns which is as simple as it sounds. We also host more usual student socials such as drinking nights. The society tries to cater to everyone “whether you’ve just found out that you’re Jewish or you’re the most religious person ever.”

JSoc are helping to organise

Holocaust Memorial Day events at Castle and Stephenson colleges. Sophie describes that the Stephenson event is “organised with a charity and will have a Friday Night Dinner afterwards - this is likely to be a more traditional and reflective dinner than usual”. On Friday, at Castle College, a service has been organised with “moments of poems and music so people of any faith can reflect and spend time commemorating”.

This leads us to talk about the first time Sophie learnt about the Holocaust growing up in a Jewish household. “My step grandpa was actually on the Kindertransport [the name for the mission which moved 10,000 children from Nazioccupied territory to the UK before the war] out of Germany and his parents we think were killed in Auschwitz.

“I’ve always had that in the back on my mind - he never really spoke about it too much or asked any questions. My personal connection was finding out about the Holocaust through reading about it. I loved The Once series by Morris Gleitzman, it’s essentially fiction about the Holocaust for 9-10 year olds. I picked it up in the shops and started reading it even though my mum was like ‘Are you sure?’”

loads more.

“I went to a Jewish nursery - because it was the local nursery - which also has guards around it 24/7. And they do need to be there because Jewish schools, nurseries and synagogues do get threats. Thankfully I haven’t experienced

beyond horrifying.”

We also discussed that “Judaism is classified as ethnoreligious - it passes through the mother’s side. This way you can be the least religious person in the world but still be Jewish.

We moved on to talk about this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day theme ‘Ordinary People’. “People of the Holocaust and also people of today are ordinary people.

“It’s easy to think ‘this is an extraordinary tale’. In reality, it happened to people who are just like any other. I think being an ordinary person is calling out any racism and persecution that you see in any way shape or form.”

Prompting Sophie for more recommendations of Holocaust literature, she recommended When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr and The Ta ooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris. She championed autobiographical accounts such as The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and Lily’s Promise by Dov Forman and Lily Ebert.

We moved onto speaking about antisemitism, its prevalence and how it threatens the community“Literally as long as I can remember - probably as long as my parents can remember - there have been guards outside my synagogue 24/7. And then on a Saturday, Shabbat,

any antisemitism in Durham.

“A really personal conflict for me - it was a dilemma to put JSoc president on my CV. In the end, I went for it because if someone is going to discriminate against me, I don’t want to work there.

“I have to make choices about when to be proud and when to be silent for my own safety. Which luckily again I don’t have to make the choice too often but it’s always in the back of my mind.”

We moved on to talk about general misconceptions about Judaism. Pausing to think, she says “I recently saw a statistic that a ridiculously high percentage of Americans think the Holocaust was exaggerated or ever happened. Hearing that as a Jewish person is

“This goes back to the misconception of the Holocaust - the Nazis didn’t persecute all the rabbis, and everyone who kept Shabbat and kept kosher. They persecuted anyone with a Jewish grandparent - but in Judaism, if it’s not your maternal grandparent, then you’re not Jewish. A lot of Jewish people are white, so people think they don’t suffer from racism. Although I know I benefit huge amounts from being white-presenting, there are so many Jews that aren’t white-presenting.”

I ended the conversation with Sophie asking what we can do to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day this year. “Take a moment to reflect, take a moment to see if you’re calling out antisemitism and discrimination, racism, everything when you can.

“That doesn’t mean joining every campaign and society you can, but instead being an ‘ordinary person’ and calling out racism. Just trying to find the marginalised voices - find a book and read as much as you can.”

Commemorative candles lit at the Treblinka death camp memorial (Nicole Wu)

Being an ordinary person is calling out any racism and persecution that you see in any way shape or form

Take a moment to see if you’re calling out antisemitism and discrimination

Auschwitz

I concentration camp (Nicole Wu)

A problem beyond maths

Oliver Jervis

Before I embark on my quarrelling journey, I feel an irrepressible urge to clarify a few relevant ma ers.

The first, and most significant, is that I despise Maths. I detest the incorporation of unnecessarily complex algebraic symbols; I hate the high-mindedness of the subject and its self- indulgent sentiment of importance; I find its rigid absolutism infuriating. All fun, to my mind, is lost when debates are prohibited.

Yet, despite my petulant protestations - today’s Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has proposed a plan to force all students to study Maths until the age of 18. This is, according to his office, to ensure that the country’s numeracy needs are met in an employment economy increasingly constructed upon the stilts and pillars of statistics.

Such a move is meant to, in turn, propel the nation to the frontline of education. England (not the United Kingdom) will finally be able to stand on par with most other countries, including the brilliant minds of Japan, Germany, France, Canada, Australia, Norway and many other familiar names.

So, what are the merits of this proposal? Immediately, one’s mind is hit by the obvious: education. The art of learning is, naturally, never a bad thing to enforce on the younger

brains and souls of the world. It is the ladder by which we can grapple and climb towards lofty heights and fulfil all our wonderful dreams and ambitions.

However, all this seems too good to be true. Will such a slight alteration in our academic priorities truly uplift the country’s fortunes to such a vast extent? Possibly, but nothing is guaranteed. Additionally, there are also several fundamental flaws present within this educational masterplan – some more damaging than others.

For example, where will all the teachers come from? If my state secondary school plight is comparable to the rest of the nation, then the Maths departments of England and its many counties are in a dire situation. During my five years studying the subject, my class digested and spat out eight teachers. The room itself was rickety in foundation, the academic leadership precarious to a greater extent.

More often than not, and in an extremely general sense, education can prove to be the antidote to deprivation and despair. How many great voices have risen from obscurity to greatness by simply being given a kind, teaching hand?

Moreover, there exists the less obvious benefits to this shifting in focus. Such a dance with digits will also tender some economic promotion for the country, as the employability of swathes of the population shall seemingly increase as the CV grows. Competitiveness in the job market may possibly rise, and Western counterparts will supposedly no longer possess a monopoly over the statistics market.

Who in their right mind would want to be a teacher, anyway? As reported earlier this month, the National Education Union has voted in favour of strike action during February due to ongoing pay disputes. If Sunak is unable to adequately pay the staffrooms of this nation, then proposals to extend compulsory teaching for specific subjects will inevitably come tumbling back down to Earth.

The Department for Education claim that ‘just’ half of 16–19-yearolds study Maths. That appears to currently be our saturation point.

Further practical problems arise when considering this proposal, especially in relation to

its content. England, at present, is deeply set into a socio-economic crisis. Such may not be seen too clearly within our fine, li le Durham bubble. Nevertheless, it is there and it is bleak.

Education, as aforementioned, is one vital key through which we can break out of this ever-spinning cycle. However, it must be the correct form of education and not merely an overly generalised method of political self-promotion and deflection.

Will statistics and mechanics allow those with a more artistic mindset to find their rightful place in life? How will the restriction of liberal education enable this country’s young minds to really grasp the chances they have?

Some simply do not have the

appetite for Mathematical studies.

I am myself of that position. Throughout my GCSEs, those stretched hours were more of a chore than a blessing. No ma er how talented one may be at a particular subject, sometimes the desire is merely lacking.

Why dull bright minds with ambiguous notions of selfimprovement? This question is especially poignant considering the lack of apparent resources to see the plan through. Instead, rectify the real issues present in our wilting education system. Chops and changes will not do that. Investment, care, and consistency shall. Some problems require proper solutions.

(Rosie Bromiley)

"Pre y cold isnt it": Britain's weather obsession

One of my favourite books is The Lion and the Unicorn by George Orwell. Although this accolade is somewhat hollow seeing as I seldom read books, it does include fantastic insights into the English psyche, which still remains somewhat untouched despite decades of time gone by. Orwell names multiple things that conspire to set England apart from its European neighbours: the mists of the autumn morning, the gloomy Sundays, and the sensation of breathing a different air. It becomes clear to us that the weather and Britain, as a whole, are romantically interlocked. It is strange that something so temperamental and dynamic as the clouds above our head, or lack thereof, can form such a core part of our national identity.

The initial editorial brief for this article was a comment on a peculiarly warm January in

Durham welcoming students back up to university. Just as can be expected, at the time of writing this, the weather has morphed into a cold snap. What was a welcome warm spell has all but vanished for a few days at least. The benefits of a warm January only lasted a while, like going to the club without an extra layer than usual or not breaking into a hypothermic shivering fit when going for a cigare e. This cold snap has brought us quite the opposite effect.

Pre-drinks are more likely to be held at home rather than braving a walk to the local spot. Club owners may expect crowds to arrive slightly later than usual, and with red faces and layers that imply a brisk walk to the venue as opposed to the common slow and loud stumble. Sport too has suffered. Grass training has been cancelled for many sports and frozen turf and tracks have either led to a warm night in at home or a grim fitness session instead. Lectures will be missed, knitwear will be worn, and Deliveroo riders will perhaps be busier than usual.

Whilst writing this article, I can’t help but think that only in this country could a slightly warmer January, or what once was, perhaps be inked into a newspaper. We, as a

nation, are famous for our fixation with the weather. Bill Bryson (yes, the library guy, Billy B) once remarked that forecasts like “warm and dry, with cooler and rainy spells” could apply to any day of the year. If the most striking hallmark of British weather is actually the lack of it, then why can’t we stop talking about it?.

awkward silences that Brits are so uniquely talented at creating. But looking out the library window and onto the shivering masses as I write, I can’t help but feel that despite the banality of this humdrum cultural norm, I wouldn’t rather have it any other way. The weather is a collective environment in which we live. Comfort can be taken knowing you’re not the only one freezing to death on a walk to town. University sports can be disrupted, impacting not only clubs but whole leagues.

All these factors can even prompt wider thoughts on our global climate, and perhaps the eventuality that our

jokingly trite weather complaints may become uncomfortably desperate in years to come.

With all things considered, and with discourse between people arguably becoming ever more divided, a common comment on the rain ahead ought to be welcomed with a warm and nostalgic reverence. In Shakespeare’s Richard II, John of Gaunt characterised Britain as “This fortress built by Nature for herself”. Seeing this fortress is shared by us all as well as nature, I think it’s only right we keep whinging about the weather. What else could fill awkward silences so perfectly?

Even on a mild, warm-ish and inoffensive day, some still manage to comment how the weather “isn’t too bad” or how it’s “actually quite a nice day”, as if we’re used to biblical floods every other Tuesday and Stalingrad winters every other Friday. In line with the Oscar Wilde school of thought: “weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative”, it has become clear that we now use the topic of weather as merely something to punctuate the

Rishi Sunak has proposed a plan to force all students to study Maths until the age of 18

(Victoria Cheng)

Famous for our fixation with the weather

Spare won't win the War of the Windsors - it evens it out

Like them or loathe them, it feels impossible to avoid the royal family currently. This has only intensified with the recent publication of Prince Harry’s ghostwri en memoir, Spare.

Spare isn’t afraid to pull punches, castigating the royal family and portraying palace courtiers as slimy sycophants. Harry’s main gripe, encapsulated in the book’s title, is with being treated throughout his life as a throwaway second child, according to traditional royal hierarchy. The mediaeval relic of the ‘heir and spare’ idea highlights the separation between the royal family as “institution”, as Harry calls it, and the royal family as people.

surrounding hysteria won’t die down. Conspiracy theorists would be forgiven for imagining that Harry has cut a deal with the media he so despises to keep churning out content like this. It keeps the royalties coming in for him and provides gossip columnists with easy jobs — everyone wins.

Spare is unlikely to silence Harry’s doubters. Eyebrows will be raised over the wisdom of publicising intimate family arguments and admi ing his Afghanistan kill count, thereby pu ing a Taliban target on his back. This is especially so given his welldocumented anger at invasions of privacy and lack of paid-for security.

Equally, the Sussexes do have a right to tell their side of the story, and it must be frustrating for Harry that Buckingham Palace have thus far refused to respond. The dignified silence from Windsor HQ serves the added purpose of making Harry look immature, which somewhat reinforces his point that that’s what they’ve deliberately done his whole life.

Venues must learn from Brixton Academy tradegy

of legitimate ticketholders when this sort of corruption is taking place whilst they are being refused entry.

Harry pleaded emotionally in an interview pre-publication that “I would like my father… and brother back,” but what he wants back are “Pa” and “Willy”, not King Charles III and the Prince of Wales. Harry’s current source of suffering is that his nearest and dearest have chosen the institution over the family. The lesson is that you can’t have both.

Spare makes that divide between the public and personal real. There is undeniable tragedy here, most obviously the trauma of Harry losing his mother at age twelve, which haunts the memoir.

Equally, elements of the book are absurd, from the story of Harry losing his virginity, to William pushing him into a dog bowl and leaving him to pick shards of china out of his back.

Spare makes a family that was revered as God’s representatives on Earth look like a troupe of clowns. We’re watching the messy divorce of the country’s most overprivileged family.

One of the most ludicrous moments is the princes’ quarrel over charitable causes. “Africa is my thing, you can’t have it,” William says petulantly, reducing all the Windsors’ charity work to kids scrapping over the last Quality Street at Christmas.

More importantly, fighting over Africa like a pair of old colonial empires hardly helps the monarchy’s defence of itself as “not a racist family,” as William has claimed.

One thing the book will do for certain is ensure that the

Harry’s revelations get at one of the fundamentals of Britishness: the a itude of stiff upper lip, ge ing on with things no ma er how awful they might be. Given the princes’ bereavement at a young age and its damaging impact on him, Harry dumps his trauma into a lucrative book deal. It is hard to argue that the royal family’s silent approach is any be er.

As someone who saw their first gig in the 02 Brixton Academy and lives there locally, I was deeply shocked to see a crowd crush as such a historic venue. Loss-of-life should never be a remote possibility at music events. However, overselling and understaffing at the Asake show led to the deaths of Rebecca Ikumelo, 33, and security guard Gaby Hutchinson, 23. Wale Ikumel, brother of Rebecca, has called for “all of the justice that can be given on her behalf because she deserves it.” But we must ask, why is justice necessary?

The word ‘crush’ brings to mind the nightmarish events of Travis Sco ’s ‘Astroworld’ festival in 2021 where 10 people died and 25 were hospitalized. Astroworld received criticism for a poor guests to staff ratio, something that the Brixton 02 whistle-blower has also reported.

According to a document by the BBC, Brixton Academy reportedly needs 200+ security staff for Afrobeats and Dancehall events classified as risk tier-5 like Asake, presumably due to the majority of fans being teenagers. Only 110 security staff were present on the night. Telling young people to behave in these situations is clearly fruitless as Asake warned his fans on Twi er before the show, saying “Please do not come to Brixton Academy if you do not have a valid ticket”. Venues have a responsibility to hire enough security staff to protect fans.

Ultimately, the idea of dividing the public into pro-royal family or pro-Harry-and-Megs completely misses the point. You can feel sympathy for Harry’s traumatising childhood, and the undeniable racism and nastiness thrown at Meghan, while also thinking they’re self-serving and entitled.

Se ing the two perspectives in conflict ignores how they aren’t mutually exclusive, benefiting the press machine which profits from this division and anger. It prevents productive conversations occurring about the nature of the British royal family.

It seems incredibly apparent that the whole dysfunctional family would be happier living normal lives as ordinary people, with the added benefit that we wouldn’t have to listen to any of their nonsense.

And the final (and unintentional) message of Spare is that we are probably be er off without them.

Some have blamed over-eager individuals who forced their way into a side entrance and videos have even surfaced online of crowds shoving past security and police into the front doors. In videos posted on social media, crowds are seen surging forward and police pushing back, with one woman being shoved down the stairs. The police look overwhelmed and aggressive, but the crowd are undeniably breaking the entry rules of the venue.

These rules, however, were breached by the hired security company ‘AP Security’ first, with one anonymous guard suggesting that bribes were taken. The whistleblower told the BBC that “some staff made £1,000 cash” by charging individuals without tickets straight in. It is difficult to blame the crowd

Anyone who has seen the horrific Woodstock ’99 documentary on Netflix will be familiar with the thin line between excitement and out-and-out carnage. Idyllic scenes of hippy-ish community reminiscent of the 70’s Woodstock festivals quickly fade into violence and flames. Does this deterioration suggest the younger generation is ge ing more and more rowdy?

But it’s not only young people at gigs. The final of the Euros football competition in Wembley saw spectators breaking through barriers and past security staff in order to steal a seat. English football fans are notorious for their hooliganism and this event only worsened their image in the global football world. Passion is something shared by music lovers and football fans, but when the herd mentality kicks in, security must be equipped with crowd management techniques will keep fans safe.

Event runners like the Academy clearly haven’t learnt from this and

have allowed outsourced security let the historic venue get overrun. The rise of the gig-economy means that private security in venues like the Brixton Academy have less incentive to refuse bribes and to put themselves in the way of pushy concert-goers.

Durham club-goers will be familiar with the burning desire to get into venues. There have often been rumours about a backdoor entrance to Jimmys and speculation that a homemade stamp with a permanent marker can gain you access to certain clubs via the smoking area.

But the Durham club-goer, familiar with minor overselling and crowded venues cannot, in reality, compare their experience to the trauma of Astroworld or Brixton Academy. No doubt there are many students who will be travelling to Newcastle in the coming terms concerned about the crush in Brixton. Hopefully the event will mark a change in event management.

The owners of Brixton Academy said in a statement that, “Academy Music Group is commi ed to understanding what happened and cooperating with the various investigations that are under way, including providing full cooperation to the police”. More must be done by venue owners than hiring ineffective security companies. The tragedy in Brixton must not spell the end of the Academy.

Johnny Luker

Florence Cliff

Loss of life should never be a remote possibility at music events

Venues have a responsibility to hire enough security staff to protect fans

Spare isn't afraid to pull punches

Harry dumps his trauma into a lucrative book deal

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (Northern Ireland Office via Wikimedia Commons)

(Anna Kuptsova)

Forty strikesdays: and full tuition fees

Ellie Dyer-Brown

Trump's Superman is the first, prepare for Captain Rishi

Arjun Seth

Just before Christmasshopping got underway, Donald Trump unveiled his festive offering in the form of $99 NFT cards featuring him cast as various superheroes – from Superman to someone far, far away from reality in outer space; some perhaps were more accurate than others.

And whilst some American commentators were outraged and infuriated with one describing the “Trump train at the last stop… [the] transition from surreal to absurd to pitiful is complete” and another saying the former President “couldn’t humiliate himself any more than he has”, I was left wondering what is the real fuss?

Trump is not alone though - there does seem to be a bit of a trend here of our leaders trying to portray themselves as superheroes. During her Instagram self-promotion blitz, Liz Truss, posted pictures of herself driving tanks and posing as a racing driver. Are you really a leader, not an intern, if you only do it for 45 days though? Whilst another PM from that year, Boris Johnson, famously did a Captain Maverick photoshoot when posing in a typhoon jet last Summer, having already stood down.

Not only is the theme popular amongst our has-been leaders, but it made me ponder about arguments both for and against such behaviour. Displaying yourself as a superhero is just another publicity stunt that all our politicians deploy through many forms anyway. Whether its them appearing uncomfortably with the public or hopping on a zipline in front of the city, a empting to seem heroic and

formidably strong is nothing new.

If anything, it is a must-do for them to market themselves in the new digital age. In a job in which they are constantly required to win our favour as a population, it is not surprising to see a new, innovative and slightly varied approach, even though Trump cards are ridiculous.

Being a leader is after all, the world’s longest running and somewhat semi-permanent job application. We scrutinise every element of their lives, be it morning runs or how they travel to an NHS hospital in Leeds. Our political system dictates that for politicians to be successful, they must permanently have captured the nation’s a ention and be in step with its mood. That’s not such a bad thing given that we trust them not to crash our savings, and with the nuke codes - it is in fact healthy in a democracy to see them so aware of it.

prefer the image of a strong figure rescuing the nation.

With the digital revolution, the world faces more complex threats than it previously did. We only have to look around to see the war in Ukraine, cyber-a acks, and yet some of our population feeds off TikTok.

Perhaps the image of a strong leader, a ‘superhero’, standing tall in the face of threats is what some in the modern world expect and demand of their leaders to match their consumer habits and justified fears.

Politicians recognise the need to come across as favourable and memorable, and that isn’t a necessarily a bad thing.

Like any other political stunt, Trump’s has sought to push a campaign narrative – portraying himself as the ‘superhero’ who will ‘make America great again’ in contrast to an opponent who seems both frail in age and in the polls.

It is an election narrative, but one that is being articulated through very weird and different means.

As the American commentators have argued, Trump’s major announcement of unwanted playing cards only illustrates his desperation and lack of substance for the campaign this time around.

Forty days. Eight weeks of teaching. That’s how much of my university education I have lost to strikes, and there’s still more to come. The three-day walk out in November was the biggest ever - now, 18 additional days are planned for February and March. I’m angry; we all are. But the focus of my anger isn’t the staff who are fighting for be er pay, working conditions and pensions. It’s the universities which, time and again, have shown an u er disregard for students, who are paying an eye-watering amount for the privilege of being told their lectures and seminars are cancelled. Again.

The problem is that, although universities are run like businesses, there isn’t enough accountability regarding their customers. Yes, there are procedures in place to ensure that university courses deliver - in theory - what they are expected to. But what happens when students miss weeks of their education due to strikes? A deadline might be pushed back here or there; extensions may be granted; some content might be removed from the final exam. All these possibilities have one thing in common: they deliver less without an adjustment on the other side of the balance sheet. In any other business context, failure to provide the complete service a customer has paid for would be unacceptable. Yet universities are happy to send their students into the world with less knowledge than promised and an equally large hole in their pockets.

shouldn’t be something that’s up for debate, especially when undergraduate fees are an eyewatering £9250 per year (even more if you’re an international or master's student). There is a great deal of solidarity from the student community, who voted to support all forms of industrial action in the Durham Students’ Union preferendum back in November. However, a petition asking for the Government to step in and require universities to refund tuition fees during strikes received only 12,291 signatures. Perhaps this was the wrong way to go about things since universities are ‘autonomous institutions, independent from the Government’ (so said the official response). Nevertheless, there are regulatory bodies, such as the Office for Students, who should do more to ensure each student affected by industrial action receives the compensation they deserve.

As well as voters, we are all also consumers, especially of content in the digital world. Gone are the days when placards and caps could win an election. We see countless advertisements a day and given how ever-crowded the consumer’s market is, it is no surprise political strategists are aware of the need to make a splash.

We have to ask ourselves whether we really want to see our leaders in suits shaking hands with dignitaries or whether we would

An absence of major policies or a clear message risk making the campaign a dud, just as the pack priced at 99 dollars each, isn’t exactly flying off the shelves, either.

As Trump slips into irrelevance with Republicans preferring DeSantis and he himself faces a criminal investigation, the Trump cards seem less the dangerous item and more just material for satirists.

Whilst it is a ridiculous stunt and we must be cautious about any Trump activity after the Capitol riots, heroic portrayals might well be the future for how some leaders present themselves to the nation. Captain Rishi anyone?

Somebody is losing out here, but it isn’t the fat cats at the top of the food chain, such as the Vice Chancellors (the pay of Durham’s VC rose by £19,000 in 2021 to £290,000 a year - well above the rate of inflation), it’s students who bear the brunt of the consequences. And while it is possible to seek compensation for days lost to strikes, universities aren’t always forthcoming. When approached for compensation, one referenced a ‘Force Majeure' clause, which essentially said the issue was out of the university’s control and it therefore did not have to fulfil its contractual obligation. Unsatisfied, the student in question involved the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA), which referenced consumer protection legislation and advised the university to pay £1283.75. There was, at least in this case, a happy ending. However, universities know that most students won’t go through this process, no ma er how rightfully angry they are.

Compensation for strike action

Right now, universities are making money on each day of strikes through unpaid wages, while students are effectively losing money by paying for a service that isn’t being delivered. Until there are serious financial consequences on the horizon for higher education institutions, rather than their staff and the students they serve, it’s hard to see how any progress can be made. Issuing a statement asking universities to ‘make up for any disruption’ and suggesting they consider whether ‘partial refunds of tuition fees are appropriate’, as the OfS did in 2021, only pays lip service to the problem.

At the end of the day, it’s about more than money. Most students come to university to learn about a subject they are passionate about, not just to receive a certificate that will open certain career doors. Staff deserve fair pay and good working conditions, but students also deserve the education they have earned through years of hard work at school. As much as I’d like to see universities forced to give out partial refunds to everyone affected by strikes, it’s clear we’re not going to get any money back without fighting for it. Perhaps if enough of us do, it will finally have an impact.

A empting to seem heroic and formidably strong is nothing new

Universities are making money on each day of strikes through unpaid wages

Profile

From BUCS to the Tokyo Olympics

Christian Vince speaks with Durham student turned Olympian Fiona Crackles about her progression into professional hockey and winning an Olympic bronze medal

Christian Vince Profile Editor

Fiona Crackles, sports science student turned Olympic athlete, spoke to profile about her career progression and unconventional student experience. Having recently won bronze at the Tokyo Olympic games and gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth games, I was eager to talk with Crackles about this and her life as a young professional athlete.

Ever since Crackles was young, hockey has been “part of my family’s lifestyle”. “We just played it to have a run around”. With her mother umpiring games, she grew up on the pitch and aspired “to be just like my older brothers”, who also played hockey.

Having played England under 16s and 18s during her time at school, it was clear that Crackles had a “proper love for it from a young age”. However, as she entered her final year of school, it became clear that “things entered into a war of a rition”, as she tried to balance social life, schoolwork and hockey. “I felt like I was making sacrifices for hockey, so I took a year out and embarked on a gap year”.

It took Crackles going on a sabbatical from hockey “to work out what I wanted to do for myself” as she was surrounded by those “assuming that I was going to keep playing”.

team became a family to Crackles and together they reached the BUCS final. Due to Crackles being part of the COVID year, the team never managed to play the final game which “I still think about to this day”, she says.

team being so quick. However, Crackles explains that, after training for the Commonwealth games, this began to disappear as “I was being valued for my roles on the pitch and off ”. “It was nice not to be the newbie”.

As if these training seasons have not been intense enough, Crackles is now “building up for the Europeans”. The team are also training with Paris 2024 in mind, with a key focus for the team to promote the sport and encourage people to watch and support.

I am interested to see whether or not Crackles struggles with balancing her personal life and professional hockey due to the intensity of the commitment required to the la er. “On a whole, I love being a professional athlete”. Crackles admits, “I love being absolutely exhausted at the end of the day”, which I unfortunately cannot relate to. However, Crackles admits, “there can definitely be shit sessions or even weeks” but, “because it’s something I love, I know that it’s so worth it”. With the intensity of this lifestyle, Crackles clarifies that it is important “to have a blow out every so often”.

love being a professional athlete. I love being absolutely exhausted at the end of the day... there can definitely be shit sessions or even weeks

“At the start, it may feel like there are all these hurdles to overcome” which are often daunting at the start. However, instead of holding her back, “I used these more as a motivation – a goal”. Additionally, not coming from a school with specific hockey facilities or training, Crackles says that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. All she had was “three legend PE teachers” who taught her the soft skills of team sports which have proven to be invaluable in her professional career.

As Crackles no longer lives in Durham, I ask the final question to allow her to reminisce on her short time here. I ask her which was her favourite club, to which she responds “I would say players when players was players”, after saying she was “fuming” about the name change. However, Crackles also admi ed to loving a “rogue Sunday night Klute”. You heard it here first, Klute is officially endorsed by an Olympian.

As Crackles heads into intense training for her next games, I was honoured to talk with her. She is symbolic of what hard-work and determination can achieve.

Upon re-entry into second year, Crackles was voted as team captain and within a ma er of months, Crackles “had the opportunity to fill in for the GB team in Holland and Belgium” due to team injuries. “I went away with the mindset that I would just be filling in numbers”, but “I ended up playing in all 4 games”.

Crackles says she felt like a “rabbit in headlights” as she was faced with a pace of game that she had never experienced before. Following this whirlwind experience, it was only a ma er of time before Crackles was plunged back into student life and “back to normality”.

Following this, within a month, Crackles got a call in which she was asked whether she would join the senior squad who were, at the time, preparing for the Olympics.

“I moved away from Durham and became a part-time student”.

I ask Crackles what her advice would be to any aspiring athletes.

During this gap year, Crackles applied to study sports science at Durham to learn more about the sporting industry and pursue hockey on the side of her studies. Having visited Durham a lot as a child for hockey fixtures, “it just seemed right going to Durham”.

Crackles tells profile, “my first year of hockey at Durham was mental”, as she describes sports Wednesdays as “just something else”. The hockey

Crackles began preparing herself for selection In which she would either “make it or get dropped”. After fighting “like any gri y northerner would”, Crackles “got selected and two months later I was on my way to Tokyo”. After playing numerous games, Crackles and the GB hockey team walked away with a bronze medal. Crackles says “it was a pre y phenomenal 9 months”.

Crackles goes on to talk about the aftermath of this massive win, saying “I had this weird imposter syndrome because my situation was so niche … I felt like I’d cheated somehow”. She explains that this is was borne out of the whole experience and entrance into the

(Fiona Crackles (Fiona Crackles))

Profile’s

I had this weird imposter syndrome ... I felt like I’d cheated

My first year of hockey at Durham was mental

I

Dr Becky Smethurst: “Work out not what you want to do, but how you want to be identified”

Profile speaks to Aidans’ alumni astrophysicist and Youtuber

There’s a bad stereotype about scientists which has leapt straight from the popular media and into the public consciousness that Smethurst is keen to address headon.

“Remote, robotic – the only thing they do in life is science. Literally it is one of the worst tropes. One of the reasons I decided to go into science communication was to show people that there was nothing that was mutually exclusive with being a scientist.”

Dr Rebecca, “Becky” Smethurst matriculated at St. Aiden’s College in 2008 where she studied physics and astronomy. After graduating she moved on to Oxford to study for her PhD and has since established herself as a researching fellow there and one of the most prominent faces in science communication through her YouTube work. She also regularly appears on national television and radio and has had two books published.

Becky is particularly fascinated by black holes and their galaxies.

“There’s so much mystery around black holes. They’ve intrigued me since I was a kid, so the chance to work in that aspect of science, especially from an observational perspective, was amazing”.

As well as science, Becky has been able to pursue another childhood passion in her career.

“I was also a musical-theatre kid. You couldn’t shut me up either, I’d regale family and friends with facts about space, even if they weren’t interested. I guess I carried that with me”.

(another science communications project). We had 3 minutes on stage to explain something in physics with no slides. It’s a fun challenge! When friends and family went ‘I’d never understood that before’ I was hooked. I would have helped someone understand. That’s really cool!”

advice for. Work out not what you want to do in life, but how you want to be identified.”

Becky returned to academia and earned her doctoral degree from Oxford in 2017.

“There’s so much fun around being a scientist. It’s a collaborative process, not a competitive one. We’re all working towards a common goal which makes it such a brilliant environment to be in. Everyone has this tiny li le niche they embody.”

Becky’s particular niche is the coevolution of black holes and their galaxies, specifically how a black hole might expel gas from its’ galaxy and inhibit star formation despite its’ comparably small size.

“The way I had it described to me as a student was that if the black hole was the size of an atom, the galaxy would be the size of a grain of sand; and some of the jets could extend the width of the palm of your hand. It’s incredible that they have such an impact across such a large scale.”

Before pursuing a PhD and becoming Dr Smethurst, like many finalists, Becky was stumped about what to do next.

“I’m going to be very honest; I got to my final year and had no answer to that question, ‘what do you want to do when you grow up?’. I was just thinking, I’m really happy at university and I don’t want to leave. You almost get into this denial of the end to the point where you just want it to pause so you just make any decision. I didn’t think it through. I just did what everyone else was doing and applied for grad schemes. I thought as long as it’s in a physics-ish subject, I’m sure I’d love it”

She then began in an engineering scheme with Rolls-Royce where she worked on jet engines.

“I would work with jet engines, which would somehow lead to a career in satellites and eventually rockets. Get on the ladder and walk sideways. I could see other people flourishing while I was thinking ‘I actively hate this’. I’ve always been a really happy, optimistic person and all of that had disappeared. Part of me died inside when I had to say, ‘I’m an engineer’, it wasn’t what I identified with.”

Of course, it’s not unheard of for students to seek profitability in post-university careers.

In addition to her research, Becky is a science communicator. After her PhD, she became a postdoctoral fellow at No ingham on their YouTube Channel, ‘60 Symbols’.

In her last year as a master’s student, Becky’s musical theatre background intersected with her degree through science communication.

“I did things like Bright Club (a comedy club described as ‘where funny meets brains’ and Fame Lab

“But profitability in what sense? Will it be profitable in terms of happiness? Your life experiences? I realised what I missed was talking to researchers and proudly saying, ‘I’m an Astrophysicist’. It was a part of my identity I did not realise until I left it behind. That’s one of the massive things I can give people

“They wanted someone young who had recently graduated so prospective students could see the path clearly made by someone who had just followed it. I did 60 Symbols for 3 years and absolutely loved it. When I started at Oxford, I thought I’d speak to them about spending 8 hours a day on science communication rather than tutorials, and they agreed! In a very Oxbridge-Durham way. ‘Yes, broaden your horizons!’”

Her channel – Dr Becky - has since garnered over 40 million views.

“I think people liked the idea of there being no middleman with YouTube and social media. Traditional media has the benefit of reach, that EHT image of M87 was estimated to have been seen by 4 billion people around the world because of coverage with traditional media. With social media, however,

you can get real people in front of other people showing science is not just an ivory tower. That role model aspect as well – there’s no gatekeeping for who can be a role model.” Many readers may recall how an image of a black hole’s accretion disk was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) in 2019.

artist’s impression, but when that image came out in 2019 I was gobsmacked! 8-year-old me had gone ‘we will never get this!’”

Many of Dr Becky’s videos cover news in the world of science besides concepts and theory.

“I’ve been covering the James Web Space Telescope for 3-4 years. I was trying to hype it up before everyone knew about it, so that when it was reported in the news to be costing $8 billion more than previously thought, they’d know we were still so excited for it. I think that’s a massively important part about doing science communications, communicating not just what you found but why its’ exciting because at the end of the day this is all taxpayer funded.”

And will it ever come to an end? Will all the answers be found, and the great telescopes go silent?

“Oh my gosh, oh the day! We do always joke that we’ll all be out of a job one day when science is finally done. I think it would be arrogant to proclaim, ‘we’re done’ because it would assume that we know everything and there’s always some unknown unknowns.”

“I resigned myself at 8 years old that black holes would always be an

You can watch Becky’s videos on her YouTube channel @DrBecky

I got to my final year and had no answer to that question “what do you want to do when you grow up?”

Luca Veronese

Dr Rebecca Smethurst (www.gleamfutures.com)

Work out not what you want to do in life, but how you want to be identified

With social media, however, you can get real people in front of other people showing science is not just an ivory tower

There’s so much mystery around black holes. They’ve intrigued me since I was a kid

Does the UK need a digital pound?

Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey, has raised some scepticism about the need for a new digital pound, in response to announcements from the Economic Secretary to the Treasury (EST), Andrew Griffith, that the finance department intended to launch a public consultation on a ributes of a digital pound. While the EST is keen to stress that “the consultation is going to say this is an if and not a when,” the British government is among many others around the world that are giving serious thought to the possibility of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

a global cryptoassets hub” while in Number 11 and who immediately demanded a cryptocurrency change to his own bill upon acceding Number 10, it is no surprise that Rishi Sunak intends to pursue the concept. What then are these digital currencies and what might we expect to be their implications?

Conceptually, they have been around in a crude form for some time as “central bank reserves” but the expansion of their rhetorical remit to a currency really indicates how they would be “more widely available to use than just to counterparties” making them another medium of exchange for everyday transactions. One might pay contactless for a bo le of milk just as before but the money would be drawn from an account held with the Central Bank, as opposed to a commercial one.

This is a neat example of one of the most frequently cited reasons for CDBCs and cryptoassets in general:

app-based system for CDBCs makes it almost unimaginable that banks will not get involved in some form. Add this to the litigative task of providing a robust legal framework for their inclusion in British society and the task is likely to be immense for both the public and private sector. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing, but it may not be the beacon of financial inclusion that some claim it to be.

into the economy, perhaps giving them greater control in times of inflation. Alternatively, if digital currencies were the only store of value, governments could even charge negative rates to stimulate spending during recessions though they would do so at the risk of reputational risk.

a concern for “financial inclusion” which has seen vastly more press coverage and social media a ention in the past few years.

Research by The Economist has found that 89 countries comprising 90% of the world’s GDP are exploring the possibility of CBDCs. China has already rolled out a digital Yen to several cities, with the EU, Sweden, Canada and Mexico looking soon to follow suit. For a man who repeatedly stressed his desire “to make the UK

By holding cash assets with a Central Bank, proponents of the concept argue that those mistrusting of traditional consumer banks are likely to be enfranchised by a digital currency. These systems are ideally more efficient and would reduce the percentages of national income that are remi ed to providers or payment and se lement services. Moreover, it appears that the public would be quite content to hold liquid assets outside of the commercial banking sphere with a Canadian study indicating that households could hold between 4% and 55% of their liquid assets in CBDCs, depending on the conditions of use. However, those excitedly envisioning the mass shafting of the private banking sector are likely to be disappointed. The amount of capital, labour and IT literacy required in order to implement an

Some governments do not make any pretences in this regard: the new Bahamian sand dollar can only be held in wallets above £8,000 for those who have passed identity tests. This is first, to act as a deterrent for laundering capital through the currency and, second, to make the currency sufficiently unappealing so as not to expose the economy to crippling bank runs.

Of course, with their newfound supremacy, Central Banks may be able to reinvest deposits back into banks so they can accommodate more diverse portfolios. Though as Goldman Sachs has recently shown us, policy shifts in the financial world can prove to be very vexing and the only alternative would be for these institutions to scale back. With these policies in motion, and louder calls for financial sovereignty, it is highly likely that Central Banks are due to take more powerful roles on the global stage in future.

In a radical world, if cash were to be largely eliminated, regulators could charge interest on digital wallets in order to sharpen transmission of downward monetary policy

As economic libertarians, I suspect that many Conservatives will be happy to argue that the British public should be entitled to these financial objects. However, in a strange turn of fate, it could be Andrew Bailey who finds himself the best off

Success for mRNA cancer vaccine trial

Eve Kirman

While the Covid-19 pandemic has led to many innovations in terms of science and healthcare, arguably the most significant of all is the acceleration in the development and use of mRNA vaccines. mRNA (messenger RNA) is a ribonucleic acid molecule that functions as cellular instructions in protein synthesis, basically instructing which proteins should be made and when. Principally, Covid-19 mRNA vaccines work by introducing a small piece of genetic material from Covid-19 into the body. This triggers cells to construct a harmless piece of the virus, called the spike protein. The immune system can then recognise this as foreign and induce a suitable immune response against it.

Due to the success of mRNA Covid-19 vaccines, it may be a surprise to learn that mRNA vaccines were originally intended for a very different use – the treatment of cancer. For almost a decade, mRNA-based cancer treatments have been put through various trials.

In comparison to Covid-19, extensive obstacles lie in the way of an mRNA cancer vaccine due to the multifarious nature of cancer. Cancer can occur in many tissues, organs and physiological systems while varying in severity. This means that tumours can incorporate a vast array of different proteins, thus producing a vaccine that targets merely cancer cells without harming healthy tissue is a challenge.

more trials and greater regulation being needed to check the efficacy of the treatment, Paul Burton, the chief medical officer at Moderna has called it a “significant finding” as it’s “the first randomised-trial testing of an mRNA therapeutic in cancer patients.”

of BioNTech, have also claimed breakthroughs in the field of mRNA cancer vaccines.

Speaking in a recent interview with the BBC, Şahin made claims that an effective cancer vaccine “will happen, definitely, before 2030.”

Despite this being a somewhat bold statement, BioNTech cancer vaccine trials in the UK could start as early as this autumn due to the UK governments recently announced collaboration with the firm. This new partnership aims

to provide 10,000 personalised therapies in the UK by 2030.

Despite these ambitious goals, Türeci advises that it is sensible to remain cautious about the prospect of a mRNA cancer vaccine. “As scientists we are always hesitant to say we will have a cure for cancer,” she said, regardless of having “a number of breakthroughs” so far. Therefore, while this new science has exciting potential, we shouldn’t yet jump to any conclusions that a miracle cure has been found.

Despite this, one recent study has shown success. Moderna and MSD’s cancer vaccine has recently achieved lower mortality and cancer recurrence in skin cancer patients when combined with a commonly used prescription treatment. Despite

Specifically, the trial found a “44% relative reduction in the risk of dying of cancer or having your cancer progress” which Burton argues is an “important finding” and that shows this vaccine “has the potential to be a new paradigm in the treatment of cancer patients.”

However, Moderna and MSD are not the only pharmaceutical companies pursuing this potential ‘golden bullet’ in cancer treatment. Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci, husband and wife duo and founders

(Andrew Griffith, UK Parliament, CC BY 3.0)

Aidan Hague

These systems are ideally more efficient

China has already rolled out a digital Yen

(Generated via OpenAI's DALL-E 2)

One recent study has shown success

Aims to provide 10,000 personalised therapies in the UK by 2030

(National Cancer Institute, Unsplash)

Gigabit Internet: Accessibility vs Affordability

Cameron Sco

Due to new legislation introduced on December 26th, 2022, all newly constructed residences must be built with gigabit internet access. Passed in response to a recent consultation by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS), which found that 12% of new builds are not constructed with this essential connectivity, the law aims to increase the proportion of UK households with access to gigabit broadband; a utility currently available in 72% of UK households.

In addition to this new ruling, the new Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2021 aims to make it easier to install these faster internet connections in existing multi-dwelling units such as flats or apartments. Before the legislative change, broadband upgrades could only be made with the permission of the landowner, but such requests are often denied or ignored. The new law permits broadband companies to seek access to the property if requests are not responded to within 35 days.

Should these new regulations prove effective, residents can expect to take advantage of broadband speeds of up to 1000Mb per second – typically ten times fast than the current “superfast” broadband options and fast enough to download a modern game in a couple of minutes. In addition to the obvious reduction in download times, a faster broadband connection

promises increased upload speeds when file sharing and be er stability when videoconferencing or gaming.

This distinction appears to be ready made. In a thorough statistical analysis by USwitch, they report that 66% of UK homes currently have access the gigabit internet whereas the average actual internet speed is about 50 Mbps. Until gigabit internet becomes the affordable standard, there will remain a digital divide in the UK.

divide before larger uptake equalises ma ers.

These are certainly welcome improvements, and the new laws will be a step in the right direction towards revitalising the UK’s internet architecture, but the question of cost remains. For many users, the prospect of greater speeds will not be worth the extra charge on their monthly internet bill. In spite of the new laws that ensure gigabit connectivity, the benefits offered are largely unnecessary for most users and so, deep in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, the upgrade to a faster broadband package may be turned down. Average spending on broadband services increased by an average of £42.96 between August 2021 and August 2022. Accessibility of gigabit internet is a vastly different issue to affordability of gigabit internet.

The improvement to our internet infrastructure were sorely needed. The same USwitch survey provides other statistics to shine a light on the digital divide. The survey reveals how the Isles of Scilly, the location in the UK with the worst average download speeds, can only access broadband that is seven times slower than that which is available in Southampton which possesses the fastest. The fact is perhaps expected, but the statistic underscores the deep technological disparity between rural and urban areas in the UK. The point is made even more clearly when considering average upload speeds – there is a factor of sixteen difference between the two extremes. The survey zooms in further to the digital divide and provides information on how some individual streets struggle to get above 1Mbps whereas, on the other end of the spectrum, streets are graced with average speeds of up to 900Mbps. Hopefully, the new government legislation and continued investment in internet architecture can alleviate these inequalities. However, it seems likely that – at least in the short term – access to gigabit for those who can afford it may deepen the

Like the UK Government, the European Commission hopes to have gigabit connectivity to all homes in the EU by 2030 but currently a great disparity between member states. Malta claims to have 100% of its homes connected to high-speed internet whereas Greece appears to only have 20% of its homes connected and 0% of its rural homes.

Considering a global perspective, the USwitch survey estimates the 65.79% of households have a broadband internet connection. This number seems respectable

until you look in more detail. Only 2.93% of African households have a broadband connection compared to 86.64% of European households. This is shocking variance is slightly relieved by the fact that many people in the developing world access the internet through mobile networks and not broadband but even then, the wealthiest countries unsurprisingly have the fastest mobile internet speeds.

It only remains to conclude that the digital divide persists and not only within the UK. The problem is global and unless legislation and investing akin to that happening in the UK occurs, the problem is here to stay.

Going round in circles: Vegas Loop and public transport

Becks Fleet

Let me ask you a question: How do you get people around a busy city, quickly & easily without congestion, whilst hiding all the infrastructure underground? Most of the world has pre y universally answered that question using a humble, centuries-old technology: the train. However, Las Vegas has decided that the answer to that question isn’t the classic, economical, eco-friendly train, but an underground road network where Tesla electric cars drive, one by one, in a system of tunnels that currently needs an individual

driver for each vehicle but might be driverless one day, maybe, possibly, potentially. Oh yeah, and it cost over $48 million (so far) to build. While we in the UK are blessed with a huge and comprehensive train network (even if the government has no idea how to operate it), our friends over the pond don’t benefit from the same amenities; Amtrack, the US’ main passenger railroad network, only provides good coverage in urban areas on the east & west coast, and doesn’t even pass through two entire states. Instead, the only real way to travel across the US outside of the urban cities is by car, the most American of American ways to travel across America. Even within the cities, huge highways often

dominate the landscape and, in the vast suburbs, a car is often a musthave if you want to travel anywhere beyond the end of your street.

The proposed Tesla-based tunnel transportation system in Las Vegas, called a “Loop” by its builders The Boring Company (owned by Elon Musk as one of his many, many pet projects), was trialled during the recent CES convention held in Vegas. The Boring Company claims that the tunnels are “safe, fast-todig, and low cost”, and are designed to “solve traffic, enable rapid point-to-point transportation and transform cities”. They also make the questionable claim that the only way to solve traffic is for roads to “go 3D”, conveniently ignoring the existence of transportation options that don’t involve cars. How very stereotypically American of them. During the CES trial, it immediately had a number of glaring

issues; according to Jalopnik, each car needed an individual driver (despite Tesla’s reassurances that the system will eventually use driverless vehicles), each station needed dozens of employees to stop the whole system from falling apart, some riders were taken to the wrong destination, and parts of the line were even abruptly closed, leaving users who relied on it stranded. Basically, it’s like if you combined the worst aspects of travelling by car, the worst aspects of travelling by train, shoved them together and wasted millions of dollars making it unfortunately real. It’s almost cartoonishly bad, and downright embarrassing for the city that they allowed this to be built over an actual, useful system, such as a train or metro network.

Worst of all is that Vegas already has a far superior (albeit flawed) public transportation system: a monorail network. Besides it just looking really cool – far be er than the gaudy neon of the Loop tunnels – it’s much more efficient at taking passengers across the city in a quick, reliable and environmentally friendly fashion. Of course, this provides a threat to Musk’s proposal, and although the monorail system is fairly short and has run into financial difficulties in the past, investment into the monorail network surely makes a lot more sense than Musk’s half-baked system of not-driverless driverless cars in a tunnel. On top

of this, the proposals for the Loop system, if fully built, apparently run the risk of damaging the support structures of the monorail, as the tunnels are planned to go directly below the monorail track. What a great idea.

The fact that Vegas has allowed this dreadful concept –a billionaire’s ill-advised vanity project – to actually become reality is a perfect demonstration of America’s unwavering, questionable commitment to the car as the only real form of transportation. Why build a train network, when you can build a network of cars that act identically to trains but are significantly less efficient and reliable? Apparently Vegas is convinced.

A perfect demonstration of America's unwavering [...] commitment to the car

Accessibility of gigabit internet is a vastly different issue to affordability of gigabit internet.

(Mike Baumeister, Unsplash)

(Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0 [cropped])

It's almost cartoonishly bad, and downright embrassing

DU researchers reveal ‘cosmic factory’ origins

Cas Gudgeon SciTech Editor

In a paper published this month in Nature Astronomy, a group of researchers – including astronomers from Durham University – have shed light on the origins of the first ever detected binary neutron star merger.

Neutron stars form from the collapsed cores of supergiant stars. They are so dense that one teaspoon of a neutron star would weigh a billion tonnes. When two neutron stars merge, they create a kilonova – an astronomical explosion, or ‘cosmic factory,’ in which heavy elements such as gold, platinum, and uranium are formed.

The neutron star merger was initially detected in 2017 using LIGO (Laser Interferometer GravitationalWave Observatory). LIGO uses mirrors, lasers, and extremely sensitive instruments designed to detect passing gravitational waves which move through space at the speed of light. The existence of such gravitational waves was predicted over 100 years ago, when Einstein theorised that two orbiting bodies could produce ripples in space which would squeeze and stretch objects in their path.

But even now, li le is understood about the parent systems of binary neutron star mergers. This paper introduces a new framework for characterising the genealogy of kilonovas, wherein end-to-end analysis is carried out in order to retrieve physical information about the host galaxy of the kilonova. This is in contrast to previous work, which involved the use of multiple models, each with its own set of

diff

ering assumptions.

In order to find out more about the origins of the kilonova, the researchers analysed information which was encoded in gravitational waves, as well as the light emi ed by the merging neutron stars. When stars or galaxies give off light, we can plot a spectral energy distribution (SED). The SED of a galaxy is a complex mathematical function, which contains lots of information about that galaxy – such as its star formation history, and how stars and gas are arranged geometrically within the galaxy

a period called the ‘Cosmic Noon,’ a time when the universe created most of its stars and black holes. Throughout the Cosmic Noon, back when the universe was roughly 2 – 3 billion years old, most galaxies were much larger than their progenitors, home to many supermassive black holes, and forming stars hundreds of times more quickly than in today’s sleepy Milky Way.

The two neutron stars are also

believed to have been through a ‘common envelope phase’ on at least two occasions (a common envelope is a gas which contains a binary star system). During this brief phase, one of the binary stars grew into a large red giant, and the two stars orbited one another inside a shared envelope, close enough to orbit each other in a ma er of days. This meant that a huge amount of star dust was expelled from the binary system,

bringing the stars even closer, and ultimately causing them to merge into one another, 130 million light years away from our home.

In order to find all this out, the researchers had to produce brand new, extensive data pipelines. Thanks to their hard work, these are now openly available for other teams to use in future astronomical studies – phew. Time for a cosmic afternoon nap.

Geoengineering: technological triumph or sci-fi idiocy?

Heather Searle

By developing new data analysis techniques, the researchers were able to uncover information about the kilonova’s home galaxy, and the neutron stars which spiralled into one another to form the kilonova. Within the binary system, the smaller star was 10 – 12 times as massive as our sun, and the larger star may have had a mass up to 24 times that of our sun. Moreover, they estimate that the stars were born about ten billion years ago, during

Geoengineering is defined as largescale, human intervention in the Earth’s climate systems, but it has come to symbolise much more than this. Elaborate schemes to modify the composure of our atmosphere, such as using nitrates to reflect solar radiation, or the creation of artificial rain to water crops, are examples of geoengineering which ferociously divide the scientific and sustainability communities. This article hopes to provide the reader with a basic understanding of what geoengineering is, and how it proposes to help fight climate change. More importantly we dive into why this is such a divisive topic and bring into conversation different viewpoints from across the academic community.

geoengineering as a potential solution to the climate crisis, how do we manage these risks and how can they be justified?

Additionally, in the evercontested international political environment, how does geoengineering fit into notions of sovereignty and international law?

Geoengineering is a term which encompasses a range of interventions in the Earth’s systems. From sci-fi-inspired projects to launch thousands of mirrors into space to reflect the Sun’s radiation, to less glamorous carbon sequestration initiatives, geoengineering is definitely a topic which is climbing international agendas and receiving substantial investment. These interventions differ from traditional human interventions in the Earth’s systems, because they are focused on a regional-to-global scale and have potentially atmospherewide effects. Climate change is a global crisis, and it makes sense that people are drawn towards large-scale solutions to slow the breakdown of our planet’s climate. At the heart of the debate surrounding geoengineering are the risks involved. Unintended consequences of tampering with the Earth’s natural systems are likely to be irreversible in many cases. But if worst comes to worst and we must resort to

Dr Haomiao Du, who completed her PhD thesis on geoengineering and international law at the University of Amsterdam, offered some really useful insights into the practicalities of this issue. Our exchange covered a lot of topics, given my overenthusiastic list of questions, but there are some key points that stand out. First, Dr Du pointed out that “All of the research and informal debate is gradually pushing forward a multilateral, mature, and widely acceptable regulatory framework”, which is encouraging when we think about minimising risks. When people are informed about the possibility of geoengineering, we can move forward democratically, however growth in the geoengineering space is likely to be dominated by large private enterprises, such as SpaceX. Intellectual historian and lecturer Dr Chunglin Kwa stressed that “what issues become problems and what problems become issues” is entirely to do with the discourse surrounding something. Only when society problematises infinite economic growth on a finite planet can we start to see a more hopeful future.

We must overcome this ‘eitheror’ perspective on this issue, and acknowledge that reducing

emissions immediately should always be our priority. It is only then that we will have the luxury of sufficient time to move towards geoengineering solutions. The planet is not a passive object that can be conquered, controlled and bent, and I think it’s this mentality that created the ecological crisis in the first place. Max Keijzer, also at the University of Amsterdam, agrees that sci-fi techno-fixes are something that we should avoid. In his opinion, such proposals are “a dangerous distraction from the main objective, i.e. reducing emissions as fast as possible”. The embrace of geoengineering as the solution to climate change is convenient for our world’s big emi ers, because it allows them to continue their business as usual, while promising that future technology will save us… at some point… definitely before we lose hundreds of species and society collapses… right?

Geoengineering could be part of the solution to the mess we have created and help to slow climate breakdown, but I can’t help thinking about how sad it is that we would rather risk irreversible, global damage to our planet than reimagine our lives, just a li le, and live sustainably.

Special thanks to Dr Haomiao Du, Dr Chunglin Kwa, and Max Keijzer of The University of Amsterdam for providing their thoughts on this topic and the teaching team of Rethinking Sustainable Societies for introducing me to geoengineering in the context of sustainability.

It makes sense that people are drawn to large-scale solutions

When two neutron stars merge, they create a kilonova – an astronomical explosion, or ‘cosmic factory’

Free speech in Durham - extent or expired?

Joseph Message James

In recent years, freedom of speech has become an increasingly politicised and partisan issue. In the UK, the debate appears to be culminating with the passage of the Higher Education ‘Freedom of Speech’ Bill through the House of Lords on 13 December 2022. With its progression into law extremely likely, it is important to consider the potential impacts within universities.

have a path to follow if they feel that their free-speech has not been respected.

Supporters of the bill hope it will enable debate and discussion to flourish within universities by enabling challenges to unjust censorship. The flip-side is that the fear of rebuke or legal action could make universities cautious and ineffectual in handling genuine cases of hate-speech and abuse on campus. In a empts to mitigate this, the bill allows the OfS to dismiss complaints that it considers “frivolous or vexatious.” However, even if illegitimate complaints are unlikely to be upheld, the threat they pose may discourage victims from coming forward, and the University administration from acting when they do.

Although free-speech is fundamentally important, the conversation has become a partisan, culture-war issue. The state of the current debate was perfectly illustrated in one of Liddle’s interviews with GB News where, with total sincerity, he slammed Durham’s failures to safeguard his right to free speech, in the same breath as dismissing his critics as “jabbering infants”.

Durham has recently become a hotbed of free-speech issues

Homelessness in North East worst in the UK

Leonora Lynn

Without a doubt, the cost of living crisis has hit everyone in the past year, but the impact it has had on the issue of homelessness is debatable.

The bill dictates that Universities and Student Unions (SUs) have a “duty to take steps to secure freedom of speech” in academic and social se ings. They must ensure that academics and students are able “to question and test received wisdom” and “to put forward new ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions” without risking suspension or expulsion from the university. This mandate is to be implemented in two ways. Firstly, the bill allows for a general increase in the powers of the Office for Students (OfS) to regulate and monitor the activities of Universities and SUs that relate to free speech. For example, it makes the eligibility of SUs for funding contingent on following OfS directives. Secondly, it creates a legal framework for handling freespeech disputes at universities. By providing a formal appeal procedure, students and academics

Durham has recently become a hotbed of free-speech issues, most notably journalist Rod Liddle’s controversial speech during the South College 2021 Christmas formal. Liddle’s comments, which were described as “transphobic and racist”, sparked national outrage, and resulted in a series of student protests following the event. Others came to Liddle’s defence, arguing that this response illustrated a systematic failure on the part of the university to protect freedom of speech. Toby Young, a columnist, and founder of the Free Speech Union, said: “Durham is the front line in the ba le to restore free speech at British universities.”

Young scored a recent victory when one of Durham’s largest donors Mark Hillery halted all funding over the University’s stance on free speech. Hillery stated that he will “not give a penny more until [universities] get their free speech house properly in order.”

Instead, in 2022, he gave £400,000 to Young’s Free Speech Union, a group that works to protect ‘cancelled’ academics. If others follow his lead, the increased economic pressure on the University could force it to pursue a radical free-speech agenda.

Conversely, those who look to challenge the bill on the grounds that it may legitimise racist, sexist, and anti-queer rhetoric, risk denying the political importance of freedom of speech and the genuine nuance required to engage with the current debate. A recent Economist article captured this division, arguing that ‘a cartoonish version of the free-speech debate prevails, one which too often boils down to the middle-aged being annoyed with their teenaged children.’

Durham’s situation had mirrored the national and international debate both in its toxicity and partisanship. If the recent bill does pass into law, it appears unlikely to end the conversation. Instead, it will receive criticism from both sides of the debate, some arguing that it proves an unjustified interference in university autonomy and that it protects hate-speech, others that it does not go far enough in securing free-speech. While there are well-meaning actors on both sides, addressing real, fundamental issues, their voices are often drowned out.

A recent study by Shelter found that the North East was the region with the highest proportion (31%) of homeless households, including those living in temporary accommodation, such as hostels or B&Bs. Newcastle, Gateshead and County Durham currently have the highest numbers of completely homeless people within the region, with an estimated 232, 229 and 226 respectively. This is amongst the currently reported statistic of 1,250 people in the North East who are homeless, including 360 children. This has risen greatly in the last few years, and has now risen to pre pandemic levels. By the end of 2021, just a year ago, it was reported that there were 967 homeless people in the North East region including 230 children. This figure has increased dramatically to 1,250 individuals including 360 children.

49% from the peak in 2017 but up 38% from Autumn 2010. A different study reported that in the North East there were roughly 49 individuals sleeping rough in Autumn 2010 which increased to 66 individuals by the Autumn of 2018. This definitely suggests that homelessness is becoming an increasing issue.

During the first year of the Covid lockdowns, there were nationwide efforts to house as many homeless people as possible, which had a positive impact and contributed to homelessness levels falling across the North East, however levels of homelessness in 2021 were 10% higher than in 2020 and only 50 people fewer than it had been at the end of 2019, suggesting that we are now at higher levels of homelessness than we were prepandemic. It is also likely that the figure is an underestimate due to limited reporting of homelessness, and the fact that some types of homelessness such as sofa surfing go completely undocumented.

The question is: is this similar to previous pre-pandemic levels or are we seeing an upwards trend in homelessness? A study in 2021 estimated that there were around 2,440 people sleeping rough on any single Autumn night in 2021 in England, which was down by

The cost of living crisis is likely to have a profound impact on these figures. With inflation at a 30 year high and increasing food, fuel and energy prices without rising wages and benefits, people are struggling to meet their basic living needs. Families are really struggling to cope and it is expected that many more will find themselves homeless as rents skyrocket this year. For example, essential supermarket items have seen an 11.6% increase in price — without wages and benefits increasing accordingly. Research firm Kantar also said that there was a £533 annual rise in the average UK household’s bill, or £10.25 a week, which is not a figure that many should take lightly. It is estimated that average house prices in Great Britain have risen by 53% over the last decade from £222,989 to £41,019 and therefore the huge lack of affordable housing means that the situation has only got worse for those who were already struggling or trapped in temporary accommodation.

Living in temporary accommodation can also increase particular costs for lower-income people as they may not have proper kitchen facilities. For individuals facing homelessness, their outgoings are increasing at a rate higher than their income and some people can no longer afford their current rent. For others it has become harder to navigate the pressures of living in insecure housing due to rising costs. Many are having to make sacrifices like skipping meals or avoiding turning on the heating and who can blame them?

The homeslessness crisis (Henrique Pinto via Wikimedia Commons)

The cost of living crisis is likely to have a profound impact on these figures

The North East was the region with the highest proportion of homeless households

...the conversation has become a partisan, culturewar issue

Saving Big Dog: the secret Boris comeback - planned in plain sight

Alex Everest House

The last words u ered at the despatch box by Boris Johnson during his final Prime Minister’s Questions were widely interpreted as a hint that he would eventually walk through the famous black door of 10 Downing Street once more: “Hasta la vista, baby”. The road, however, is bumpy. Two separate inquiries over two separate issues may well see his career finished off, there is deep resentment towards him from much of his core parliamentary base, and to top it all off, ITV’s new podcast series has some explosive new revelations about ‘partygate’ in the words of the sources that helped bring the former Prime Minister down.

days that Downing Street partied the nights away. Numerous polls had Johnson’s net approval rating close to -50 at the time of his departure, and to many within the parliamentary Conservative party it is hard to see how that can possibly improve. Indeed, the British electorate can be very tolerant to scandal, yet history suggests hypocrisy and lies are extremely hard to earn forgiveness for.

lied to Parliament, a suspension of more than 10 days from the Commons would likely trigger a by-election under the Recall of MPs Act – something he is not certain to win in his current seat.

Additionally, the separate coronavirus inquiry will begin in the spring to scrutinise the government’s response to the pandemic, particularly in the early days. Many believe it will be embarrassing for Johnson, with former special advisor Dominic Cummings likely to seek revenge for his ousting from the top team in November 2020. With phrases such as “let the bodies pile high in their thousands” ready to re-enter the public domain, it is difficult not to see any kind a empt by the Big Dog team to reinstate their man as leader marred.

popular than Johnson, the two sides in the coalition are deeply sceptical of each other. With the party in such a fractious state, it will take very li le for MPs to begin undermining their confidence in the government, and that only spells trouble for Sunak.

election? With Sunak currently trailing far behind Labour, and with very few experts predicting a positive economic outlook for the year ahead, many backbench MPs on the government side have already privately concluded that loss is inevitable.

Indeed, we have just witnessed a wave of Tory MPs announce that they will not be standing again next year. As a result, it is not hard to imagine them looking towards who they see as a ‘proven winner’ – some have even declared this publicly already. The very fact that Johnson managed to garner 102 nominations in the autumn party leadership contest is testament to the fact that significant parliamentary support remains even if public support has waned.

Yet, allies close to him seem to believe, all is not lost. The team behind ‘Operation Save Big Dog’ – ministers that served in his cabinets like Nigel Adams, political strategist Ross Kempsall and special advisor Charlo e Owen –believe support for Rishi Sunak will eventually wear thin. Perhaps they are right about support for the current government, with Labour now regularly more than 20 points ahead in polls, but their answer is not likely to go down well either. The ailment that the Conservative party faces is a fundamental split –is saving Big Dog really the remedy?

Boris Johnson may no longer be in office in Number 10, but his political future only continues to grow more uncertain. A new podcast series from ITV News, Partygate: The Inside Story, has only added fuel to the fire; civil servant sources have only confirmed that the culture inside Whitehall stemmed from the very top: Johnson was supposedly heard at an event during lockdown declaring “this is the most unsocially distanced party in the UK right now”.

Further suggestions that “multiple couples were ge ing it on”, with some even having sex in plain view of other guests at another event is only more insufferable news for the people who had loved ones die on the

Of course, that is not the only barrier to re-entry that Johnson has. The Commons Privileges Commi ee will this year determine whether the former Prime Minister deliberately misled the House with his denials of parties and events in Whitehall. If they do indeed find that he

Perhaps the greatest difficulty, however, comes in that the public will not decide whether Sunak takes the Conservatives into the next election – Tory MPs will. After a tumultuous half-decade which has seen four different Prime Ministers, the desperate struggle for calm on the backbenches is felt intensely by many who sit on them. To cause a further rift by imposing someone as controversial as Johnson would be a suicidal move to many; Sunak noted that the Conservative party must “unite or die” during an inaugural speech as Prime Minister.

Yet, the Conservative party is already split: with MPs like former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries openly a acking Sunak on Twi er and polls of party members consistently showing he is less

The local elections in May could well be such a turning point; with Labour so far ahead in polls, numerous councils in traditionally safe areas could be lost, only driving up resentment against Sunak amongst the grassroots.

Perhaps it is no surprise then that allies of Johnson have been briefing the papers on leadership challenges: The Times reported that a challenge was being considered for after the local elections, but that it could be avoided by moving Johnson to an even safer seat for the next general election. It was, of course, shot down very quickly by a spokesperson, but it speaks volumes of the tactics that the Big Dog team will use.

So what about after the 2024

If Sunak’s electoral prospects remain as dire as they are currently, there is li le doubt that Johnson’s allies will be reading the room well in advance – perhaps a party leadership contest will have started in all but name before the election is even over.

Will Boris Johnson be Prime Minister again one day? It is an uphill ba le: he must avoid being found to have misled parliament, must avoid being implicated in the coronavirus inquiry, and must not be a disruption in Parliament. Even if luck is on his side, the public are clear in their perception – they do not want him back. Those who are more pragmatic have realised that, but the Conservative party is just as ideological as it is pragmatic.

Saving Big Dog has already failed once; trying to do it again might simply be flogging a dead horse.

The local elections in May could well be a turning point Indeed, the British electorate can be very tolerant to scandal, yet history suggests hypocrisy and lies are extremely hard to earn forgiveness for

Boris Johnson (Prime Minister’s Office)

Politics Green Sums: financing the EU’s transition

Will the

new Social Climate Fund deliver the economic help needed for a just climate transition ?

Connie Doxat

‘The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much: it is whether we provide enough for those who have too li le’. It was with these words that Franklin D. Roosevelt vocalised the centrality of economic-justice to his New Deal in 1937. Devised to pull the United States out of the wrath of the Great Depression, the New Deal encompassed various social security plans specifically designed for those hardest-hit from the economic crises. If you squint a li le, these intentions are strikingly similar to those set out within the EU’s new Social Climate Fund – part of its wider ambitions for a Roosevelt-esque ‘Green New Deal’.

In replacement of the Great Depression, the EU’s existential backdrop is climate change, but the core principle of assisted development in order to reach a common-social good stands key to both. Whether the targets encompassed within the EU’s support package will be as transformative as those under FDR, however, are yet to be fully discerned.

The Social Climate Fund (SCF) was passed by the European Parliament just before Christmas – following a marathon 30-hours of negotiations – and represents a significant step within the EU’s efforts towards a green transition. Not to be confused with the “Loss and Damage Fund” provisionally agreed at COP27 shortly beforehand, the EU’s own SCF is set-up not to compensate for climate impacts but to reduce the economic inequalities that will arise during the green transition. It will be up to national governments how the funds from the SCF will be translated into financial aid. Support packages for poor communities boosting the affordability of electric vehicles, improvements to home insulation and grants for the installation of renewables, such as wind and solar, are most likely.

As part of the negotiations in December, an elaborate system has been devised to help finance the 86.7 million euros calculated as necessary to cover the fund’s first phase between 2026 – 2032. As mapped-out in its own Commission Proposal, the EU will syphon off revenues from its existent Emissions Trading System (ETS) – which was first launched in 2005 and spearheaded the ‘polluters pay’ principle. Under the ETS, European polluters’ emissions are capped to a specific amount, and function as part of a larger system of carbon allowances

distributed by the EU. Regions that find themselves within their set emissions cap are then able to trade these remaining credits to larger polluters who are conversely looking to ‘off-set’ their own emissions.

Although the system has faced a deal of controversy, the EU maintains it has contributed to the 42.8% cut in emissions of its energy-generation and energyintensive industries. Through the auctioning off of millions of these current ETS allowances, the EU hopes that it will be able to accumulate 75% of the cash needed to be dedicated to its poorest communities – the extra 25% for the fund will be collected nationally from member states.

Some critics have been quick to point out that despite its good intentions, the finances put aside for the Social Climate Fund would be far more effective in the fight against climate change if assigned to poorer non-EU developing nations instead.

The EU does remain the richest economy per capita in the world after all. However, proponents of the scheme, contend that the current economic climate speaks differently and, with unprecedentedly high energy prices across Europe as much of the world, the prospects of genuine poverty now loom over many even in Europe. In establishing the Social Climate Fund the EU is indicating its belief that none of its citizens should be disproportionately impacted by the transition towards a greener future.

Nuclear fusion : hope for green energy?

Olivia Legge

On the 5th December 2022, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California managed to release for the first time 2.5 MJ of energy after using 2.1 MJ to heat the fuel capsule. Previous a empts at fusion have been unable to release more energy than is used . This wa a landmark moment for the field.

There is also a clear legislative incentive behind the fund and through targeting resources to its poorest communities the EU is also looking to ensure that it meets its legally-binding netzero aim by 2050. Though climate change is certainly a fight that requires global collectivism, and developing countries need the highest financial assistance to ensure a greener future, hopes remain that the Social Climate Fund will enable Europe to trailblaze the possibility for a decarbonised planet and encourage others to keep fighting.

Nuclear fusion has been seen as a possible solution for climate change as it produces low carbon emissions and is considered near limitless. The process involves light elements, such as hydrogen, being forced together to form a heavier element. Smaller atoms are fused into larger ones which creates energy. The Sun’s light and heat is produced by fusion so a empts to achieve fusion on Earth are complex as the conditions present within the Sun must be replicated. This is created by using lasers as demonstrated in the experiment at the LLNL as 192 lasers were fired at the 2mm fuel capsule. The pressure experienced by the fuel capsule according to Debbie Callahan, a member of the team was ‘like compressing a basketball to the size of a pea’. Through compression, immense pressure and temperature are produced which leads to the fusion reaction.

Scientists within the nuclear fusion community have hailed the research as a turning point for the field. Dr Robbie Sco , member of the Science Technology Facilities Council’s Central Laser Facility Plasma Physics Group, said that ‘the scale of the breakthrough for laser fusion cannot be overstated’ as the ‘experiment demonstrates

unambiguously that the physics of Laser Fusion works’. Although purely theoretical up to this point, the holy grail of fusion has finally been achieved. According to the Director of the LLNL, Dr Kim Budil, ‘the pursuit of fusion ignition in the laboratory is one of the most significant scientific challenges ever tackled by humanity, and achieving it is a triumph of science, engineering, and most of all, people’. This achievement has taken almost 60 years to accomplish, has involved billions of dollars, and teams of scientists dedicated solely to making theory become a reality.

research and have the full support of the Biden-Harris administration. The US Secretary of State for Energy, Jennifer M. Granholm, said that fusion would help solve ‘humanity’s most complex and pressing problems, like providing clean power to combat climate change and maintaining a nuclear deterrent without nuclear testing’. No other country has been able to achieve successful nuclear fusion and so this places the USA at the forefront of developing and utilising this cu ing-edge technology for the purposes that it chooses.

However, it may be a while before fusion becomes a reliable, clean energy source. The theory has been proven but scaling up production will take time. For fusion to compete with other energy sources, simpler, cheaper, and more efficient methods are required which could take years to develop.

The political dimensions of this scientific breakthrough have yet to be explored. The LLNL is part of the National Ignition Facility that was founded to develop classified US government research. Experiments conducted at the Facility directly support the US’s development and maintenance of nuclear weapons. The scientists receive funding from the US government to conduct their

The Guardian details that ‘the technology is a long way from being a mainstay of the energy landscape’ and so hopes on fusion contributing to the ba le against climate change may have arisen too soon. Other countries have the potential to achieve fusion with international partners, including the UK’s Atomic Weapons Establishment, actively contributing to the successful experiment at LLNL. The US hegemony over fusion will be challenged as The Conversation revealed that a fusion reactor, currently under construction within France, is ‘expected to be the first power plant that produces more energy than it consumes to sustain a fusion reaction’. Whether used to combat climate change or develop nuclear weapons, fusion will be highly influential in the years to come.

EU ’s

It represents a significant step within the EU’s efforts towards a green transition

Nuclear power station (Raimond Spekking via Wikimedia Commons)

Nuclear fusion... is considered near limitless

The Bailey: not so cool now is it?

Caleb Tu

As a Hill college student walking down the Bailey, there are multiple things giving you a feeling of worthlessness and inferiority. You’ve entered main character country now- if all main characters exclusively wore overcoats and canterbury tracksuits bottoms. These aren’t your average Durham Jonty and Monty. On the Bailey, Scots are more Sean Connery than Mark Renton, singers more Michael Ball than Billy Bragg, and accents more Made in Chelsea than ‘Made in the Royal Navy’. But why do Durham students flood so readily to this Oxbridge simulator?

The Bailey sells a dream to those who believe Harry Potter was a documentary.

A New year's note

From : JocastaThomasina Frillybo om

Lucinda Lovick

Well, here we are. Another year and another one-sided talk with Daddy about my spending. I have awakened from Bunty’s wickedly sinful New Year’s Eve party to dictate some resolutions. Because people must have goals, otherwise they become idle, unsettled, and distempered. Or at least that’s what Daddy said when the labour candidate made the mistake of knocking on the door. Something about keeping the masses working hard, not hardly working. I can’t believe he’s expecting me to accept my allowance dwindling to a meagre £4,000 a term. Well, it’ll give

Whilst you may end up with the Gryffindor common room experience of Castle, you may equally find yourself in the St. Cuthbert’s Azkaban campus.

This Holier-than-Thou attitude extends to their college bars. 93% club bar crawls may as well be travelling freak shows for Bailey inhabitants and a strict policy of campus card checks on the door gi s you a

me a couple nights out at least. Chums will think the funds have dried up, but I’m not above stooping for charity. I will do what I must to avoid social suicide and drinking off-brand alcoholloitering hypothermically in the Jimmies smoking area is the sacrifice in lowrise jeans I am willing to make Resolutions:

1.Find a well-bred boy who possesses the three M’s: manners, manors, and money. Of the old variety. It’s like looking for horses. Of course, if I’m still with him by the end of this sodding degree, I will have to marry him.

2.On Christmas Day, Mummy managed to focus and string three sentences together. “We got you another horse Darling”, “where’s the Bolly?” and “your nose is still working?” Like, she can’t talk, at least mine is real. Regardless, I’ve decided to only sniff some of the sweet Columbian marching powder if those offering have a crisp 50 with

nice judgemental look when it becomes obvious you’ve come from the Hill. This isn’t Berghain, it’s Chad’s bar. Culture on the Bailey is different. Regional accents are muted, jeans are flared, and cigarettes are straight. Laptops confoundingly must be carried by hand. Explaining to a bailey student the concept of a self-catered meal is the idea of Denmark to a dog. This cobbled street is truly a hive of our finest and brightest. Were a devastating fire to raze the Bailey into a neat heap of singed MacBooks and charred memories of Val d ’Isère, the future workforce of PwC and Deloitte would vanish along with it.

But the Bailey has seen its popularity wane recently. Hatfield ranked a mere 8th among students’ college preferences in 2021. They were beaten by South

which to snort. Some of us have standards.

3.As for Uni work, the only work I’ll commit myself to …I’ll turn up to a lecture. Anymore than that, and frankly they should be paying me. Who really needs to know about the writings of Cicero. History of Art – now there’s a useful degree. Or I should’ve taken modern languages, then maybe I’d stand a chance of understanding the locals.

Try to insult fewer freshers when they join DUCPC. Adding a ‘Darling’ on the end cancels it out

4.Venture into Iceland. God, how undignified. With

College, famous only for an atmosphere of a Soviet apartment complex and one Christmas Ball gone mildly awry. The Benedictine monks over at St John’s now meekly boast (and then vigorously atone) the title of everyone’s 10th favourite college. Clearly the Bailey illusion is slowly evaporating, and other colleges may be showing more social bang for your £9,000 buck. We have evolved, associating more with Fresh Meat than Brideshead.

Never has it been so expensive, yet seemingly so trite to live on the Bailey.

. So just think before your £120 gowned ball with the Bowes-Lyons and the mulleted mob, sipping gin in your damp Edwardian shoebox of a room, how cool do you feel now?, or more aptly, how cool do you think you look to others?

Daddy acting like he’s Keir Starmer, high on moral superiority, it looks like the Waitrose trips and my Tanners wine subscription will have lay dormant for a painful week or two until he gives in. My dinner parties might feature chicken nuggets and powdered mash potato with an Iron Bru chaser. Makes one gag just thinking about it.

5.Act interested when talking to anyone from FemSoc and agree through gritted teeth – “women having equal opportunity in the workplace is more important than a man opening the door for me?... of course, it is!”

6.Try to insult fewer freshers when they join DUCPC. Adding a ‘Darling’ on the end cancels it out. For example, “You don’t seem at all like the type of person who shoots, Darling” or, “God, you can’t hit a single thing, are you sure you’ve done this before, Darling?”

This is turning into a classy ‘Bridget Jones’, isn’t it? Great larks!

Durham student offended by state students' unawareness of skiing

Ollie McKenna

To my dismay, I have found that some students have never had the joy of an apres-ski and live their lives in a constant state of pre-ski. Not only does this negatively affect their grades, physical appearance, and ability to sit on a high horse. It has terrible implications for their love lives.

A er returning from an uneventful winter break with his family in St Albans, the student placed himself carefully into a seat of a lecture in the Chemistry Building. To his utmost surprise a girl, that he had never spoken to before, turned to make conversation with him. His adulation was understandable, I spend most of my lectures on my own –perhaps it is because I am still in bed most of the time.

Nonetheless, I believe it to be quite the achievement to receive attention from the other gender in the Chemistry Building. Sadly, like Romeo and Juliet, this story takes a turn for the poisonous. As, to his confusion, the lady to his adjacent uttered the question, “So then, where did you go on your ski-season?”. At this point I shall interject. This fresher – from St Albans –has never been skiing in his life, I’m unsure if he can even comprehend what a pair of skis are, beyond their propensity for rustic-yet-chic wall art. Let’s just say he panicked. “Croatia” he responded with more confidence than any fresher should possibly have, especially a er he was sure his aunt had just returned from there with an even tan.

The story becomes rather tenuous from here on in, and thus, I will retell it how I see most likely. The female to his adjacent turned her back to this poor helpless fresher. It would appear that unlike Romeo and Juliet these were not two star-crossed lovers, in fact, it was fate that they shall never speak again.

Rump: o ingloriously smacked in the throes of passion.

Todger: (N.b. Never 'willy': one's brother) A sensitive chap, prone to frostbite under duress.

Nose: A predisposed to copious amounts of cocaine in a rural setting.

Mouth: Most suitable for placing one's foot in, causing international humiliation.

The Anatomy of a Prince

Molly Mihell

But why do Durham students flood so readily to this Oxbridge simulator?

Sport

ITV’s Mark Pougatch talks Qatar, social media and Roy Keane’s moustache

Joe Harston Deputy Sport Editor

In 2015, sports journalist and Hatfield alumnus, Mark Pougatch spoke to Palatinate after he had recently been appointed ‘the new face of ITV Football’.

Almost exactly eight years later, fresh off the back of his second World Cup, I had the chance to speak to Mark about his time with ITV, the importance of freeto-air football punditry and his experience in Qatar.

With football becoming increasingly focused on statistics, I was curious to know how Mark sees this having an impact on punditry. More specifically, does it make it harder for players to make the transition from player to pundit, as in-depth, data-based analysis becomes more popular?

“That depends on what channel you’re on. When we did the World Cup, I said to Gary Neville, “You’ve got an hour on Monday Night Football to explain why Manchester City should defend the near post be er on corners and you can spend five minutes drawing diagrams and showing us because you have a captive audience like me at home, but we only have four minutes to talk about England and France here. You have to paint with a much broader brush stroke.”

“It’s not a question of more statistics or not, but a question of knowing your audience and your timescale and shaping accordingly to that.

“For instance, England vs France, you might have 3 million hard-core England fans watching but you’ve

also got my two sisters and my wife watching. They are interested in emotion, feeling, what this means and the atmosphere – kiss the badge stuff. Don’t be afraid to talk in those terms”

“There is a national feel that surrounds the World Cup and the Euros, and part of my job is to be aware of that.”

Yet a similarity between ITV’s coverage and subscription coverage in recent years has been the use of former Premier League referees to bridge the gap between supporters and officials, especially since the added confusion that the introduction of VAR has brought. A question on this led to an intriguing insight into the relationship between broadcasters and social media.

“I think the answer to [if it has been successful] depends on whether you read social media or not. The problem with social media is people just want to be offended.

“There are a group of fans – no ma er who they support – who just want to know you hate their team.

“When I got the job on ITV, I said to my wife, “Do me one favour. Do not go looking for my name on social media!” About a week later she said “I’m really sorry! I won’t do that again.””

But more specifically on referees’ involvement in punditry,

“We might not always agree with them, such as the Argentina vs Croatia semi-final, but at least by bringing the referee in, you get a prism by which you can see why the referee has made the decision –even if you don’t agree with it. So I like it, but I’d like it even more if

social media didn’t exist.”

This brought Mark onto how crucial it is that, as the presenter, he provided as much clarity as possible to the audience in situations that may not yet be clear for himself and the punditry team. One particular moment from Qatar sprung to mind.

“I always put myself on the sofa at home and consider what I would be thinking. When we had the Japan ball going out of play [against Spain] at the World Cup, we couldn’t have the camera angle we needed because FIFA wouldn’t supply it, so Graeme Souness was ge ing very irate – as we all were because if I’m at home I would want them to show me the angle that says the ball is still in play.

With many references to the memorable footballing moments from Qatar, it was important to hear Mark’s post-tournament thoughts having spent a month in potentially the most controversial country to host a World Cup.

“The honest truth is that FIFA and Qatar got what they wanted. What I mean by that is that the football was great, there was some really good matches and some shocks and some great stories.

“It was a very easy World Cup to work on as everything was so close in terms of travel. It meant that from a practical point of view, we physically got to the games – which made a huge difference in terms of the presentation of punditry.

“They’ll definitely do it again – a one or two-city World Cup. If Saudi Arabia don’t bid for ‘30 and ’34, I’ll be very surprised.

“There will definitely be another

Why we should all be watching netball

Parker Deputy Sport Editor

Few sports surprise quite like netball does. And that’s coming from someone who has played it her whole life.

When I spoke with a friend this week about how in this article, I would deliver my most persuasive netball pitch, he asked if I was being sarcastic. Gobsmacked, I realised that, in truth, many might have a similar reaction.

There’s a prevailing stereotype about netball just being a sport you might reluctantly play at school or that it’s a slower, more static version of basketball. But considering the end-to-end action, blistering pace, and athleticism on display at netball matches it’s both a wonder and a travesty that the sport doesn’t get more coverage.

In many countries across the globe, netball is the single most popular team sport for women and girls. According to Active Lives Sport England, more women regularly played netball in 2019 than all people who played rugby, with 1.4 million taking to the courts each week during the season.

Much like women’s football after the Lionesses Euros victory, netball participation surged following the

success of the England Roses at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Their extraordinary 52-51 win over the Australian Diamonds was a true watershed moment for the game and possibly the most entertaining hour of sport I have ever seen. Seriously, go give it a watch.

winter World Cup. In fact, you could argue it was be er because, in the middle of the season, the players weren’t knackered. It will be interesting to see what the players will be like in March.”

One of the more trivial highlighting of cultural differences was the limited access to alcohol in Qatar, and Mark noticed the differences.

But the conclusion of the recent England vs Jamaica series - another spectacle of unparalleled accuracy, physicality, and suspense - served as a reminder that netball somehow never fails to surprise me.

I simply watched awe-struck as Jamaican captain Jhaniele Fowler, standing at an impressive six foot six, scored 56 times for the Sunshine Girls in the second

game to level the series at 1-1. And for anyone who needs a reminder of exactly how impressive that is, netball hoops have a diameter of just 15 inches and are without a backboard. Accuracy truly is the name of the game.

Elsewhere on the court though grit, perseverance, and speed dictate the play. On average, players change direction every 4.1 seconds and land (often on one leg) with resultant forces of up to six times their own body weight. With those playing in the centre position consistently covering over 7,000 metres per game and rarely standing still, the fluidity in netball matches is a far cry from the static image of the sport many imagine.

The deciding match of the series was equally tense, finishing 63-59 as the Roses wrapped up the series at London’s Copper Box Arena in front of over 6,000 jubilant fans. But the sport, which is yet to become fully professional, is undergoing a further boost in viewership after the BBC showed live coverage of each game in the series, along with the streaming of the Vitality Superleague (the top domestic tier) on the Sky Sports YouTube channel.

So as potential spectators, we really have no excuse. But the thrill of the sport is even more tangible with the ball in your hands. I can

“I’ve got to say the lack of booze was a plus in terms of the fact there wasn’t any trouble. The atmosphere wasn’t great in the grounds. I don’t know if there is a correlation between lack of booze and no atmosphere. For England and France, the atmosphere was pre y flat, I’ve got to be honest.”

And as much as media coverage in the West has tried to condemn Qatar for its various beliefs and laws, Mark believes they’ve left their

confidently say that a Saturday netball match leaves me more breathless, determined, and fired up at the end of a quarter than any other sport (I promise that has nothing to do with the events of Friday night).

As college and university teams take to the courts at Maiden Castle every weekend, the opportunities to partake in the sport are plentiful and only growing. Palatinate recently reported on the first men’s netball fixture in Durham University’s history, while Walking Netball and Disability Netballwhere the ball is adapted to have a bell inside - accommodate for those with limited mobility or visual impairments.

The future for netball is looking brighter than ever. Last year, Sport England announced £21 million in funding over the next five years for the sport. England Netball hope to spearhead a drive towards the professionalisation of the sport, aid grass roots clubs in rebuilding after the pandemic, and crucially to retain teenage girls in the game.

So what are we waiting for? Head down to the courts or, when the Superleague kicks o February 11th, humour me and tune in to an elite netball match. There’s no denying that netball surprises, but it certainly won’t disappoint.

month in the limelight unscathed.

“I don’t think it will have any impact at all on how Qatar runs its own life. We’ve all gone now and all the talk about LGBTQ, migrant workers, and women’s rights is gone. The circus has moved on and Qatar have got what they wanted.

“I read a very interesting piece from a Palestinian Arab football fan who said “stop thinking that all Qatar want is positive PR from the West during the World Cup.” Qatar have got a lot of positive PR from the Gulf region during the World Cup. This is a country that was blockaded – not that long ago – by all the countries around it, but now they have become a source of pride for the Gulf world and the

It’s both a wonder and a tragedy that the sport doesn’t get more coverage

Maddie

There will definitely be another Winter World Cup

Muslim world by showing they can organize and run a World Cup – which they could, very smoothly.

“So it all depends on where you are standing and what prism are you looking through as to whether it was a success or not.”

From an English point of view, World Cup successes are historically not broadcast on ITV What was once a meaningless stat, has been blown up into the joke that is the ‘ITV curse’, despite crucial knockout wins in the last three major tournaments on ITV against Colombia, Denmark and Senegal.

“I know it’s something the media fill up their newspapers with, of course.

“I did an interview before the

Senegal game and the interviewer tried to get me to admit that I was going to be responsible for what happened on the pitch the next night. I knew exactly what he was trying to do, obviously. He was so transparent. I was thinking, “This is ludicrous! You’re asking a 54-yearold man if he feels responsible for the result of a football match!”

“We’ve done pre y well over the last couple of tournaments. Senegal was a win and I don’t think you can blame us for Harry Kane missing a penalty [against France]”

To conclude the interview, it only seemed right to discuss an icon of football who has become an icon of punditry, Roy Keane – whom Mark has had the pleasure of working

Mark Pougatch’s greatest moments covering football: Quick questions

World Cup

Probably the final. To see Messi win it was amazing and to see Mbappe score a hat trick was incredible

Champions League

closely with.

“Roy is incredibly funny, a properly, properly funny man. He’s just great to work with because I think I get the sense of what he was like as a player.

“He’s very funny, loves chocolate, loves a couple of quid on the correct score and is just really professional.

“I’ve interviewed loads of footballers when I was younger and if you ask stupid questions you get a stupid answer and it keeps me on my toes. Not just from Roy but from anybody, and I like that as well.

There is that sense of jeopardy about him and that’s priceless television, and he’s got a great ‘tache!”

I’d have to say Liverpool winning in Istanbul because when they were 3-0 down. I remember walking down the steps to a colleague saying “oh Liverpool, this is embarrassing,” and by the time I was back in my seat, it was 3-2.

FA Cup

Wigan winning the FA Cup with Ben Watson’s header. Big clubs expect to win the FA Cup and big clubs always do win the FA Cup. You knew then that for a Wigan fan, that would be the day of their life.

Durham University report calls for action against sexism

A new report, produced by a Durham University academic, is calling on men’s professional football clubs to tackle pervasive sexism and misogyny in the sport. It also recommends the creation of a national hotline so women can report incidents safely and ensure action is taken.

The report, wri en by Dr Stacey Pope, has been shared with all men’s professional football clubs in England as well as the Premier League, Football Association, Professional Footballers’ Association, and key politicians.

Its publication coincided with a Women and Equalities Commi ee meeting on 18 January to discuss sexism and inequality in football, as part of its on-going inquiry on this topic.

Dr Pope’s report suggests that men’s football could learn from the women’s game and the positive and inclusive fan culture around the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 tournament, which resulted in record a endances for the women’s game as well as a historic victory for the Lionesses.

The study follows research by a select team at Durham University which has shown that men’s

professional football in England remains one of the last bastions of male domination. Additionally, it also states that misogynistic a itudes towards women are still rife within football.

These findings also follow the relatively recent creation of institutions designed to support match-going women and girls, such as ‘Her Game Too’.

prevention. On the other hand, the Premier League claims that it is discussing plans for its Gender Equality Strategy with a range of relevant groups.

The issue is already being considered by the government through two select commi ees, on safety at major sporting events and on sexism and inequality, to which Dr Pope has given evidence.

Dr Pope argues that addressing sexism and misogyny in men’s football could lead to growth in the game, significantly increasing a endances and interest. She says it is not only the right thing to do, in terms of equality, diversity and inclusion, but could have financial benefits for clubs too.

This, in turn, should be regularly assessed as part of the annual licensing process.

Other proposals include the redesigning of stadia in a more inclusive fashion, especially in relation to basic facilities and childcare provisions.

All changes implemented, according to the report, should also be examined in corroboration with researchers, clubs, the government and female fans to ensure they are satisfactory and fit for purpose.

Dr Stacey Pope, from Durham’s Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences, said:

tournament and the triumph of the Lionesses offers lessons to men’s football. It showed that football fan culture can be a positive and inclusive experience.

“The contrasting images of fans at UEFA Euro 2022 with the disturbances at the men’s Euro 2020 final at Wembley Stadium illustrates this. Tackling sexism and misogyny in men’s football can help to make the game safer for all fans.”

According to BBC Sport, there were 80 reports filed to the aforementioned organisation in 2022 from throughout the English football pyramid. Such complaints concerned incidents including sexual harassment and offensive chanting. League One ranked highest, with 28 complaints.

‘Her Game Too’ are subsequently scheduled to host a conference with the EFL to address such issues and construct a Women’s Action Plan, among other methods of

The report’s key recommendations propose a charter for all football clubs to pledge their commitment to tackling sexism and misogyny. Other suggestions include the establishment of a national hotline to provide a safe and effective outlet for reports to be made with data collected across all football clubs.

Moreover, it is stated that if an independent regulator for English football is established following recent discussions, sexism and misogyny need to be part of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plans within each club.

“Sexism and misogyny in the men’s game must be challenged and eradicated. Doing nothing means that men’s football will continue to operate in the dark ages, failing to cater adequately for 51 per cent of the population.

“Football has seen the introduction of campaigns to tackle issues such as racism and homophobia in the sport. Yet to date there is no mechanism to tackle sexism and misogyny in football. This needs to change.”

Dr Kevin Moore, a research associate working with Dr Pope and the former CEO of the National Football Museum, stated:

“The recent success of England hosting the UEFA Euro 2022

On 12th January 2023 Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the UK’s Football Policing Unit lead, said that there is a “worrying level of disorder” present in men’s football after a 10% increase in arrests at matches had occurred between 2021 and 2022.

Home Office figures also claim that the highest number of footballrelated arrests since the 2013-14 season occurred in 2021-22. The total number for last season stands at 2,198 arrests.

Thus, it is evident that men’s professional football faces a significant point of turning. A choice must be made between prioritising the fight against discrimination, or today’s nonchalant approach. Whether its culture is rectified in the near future – with the possibility of such an eventuality being ambiguous – remains to be seen.

From left to right: Ian Wright, Gary Neville, Roy Keane and Mark Pougatch (Mark Pougatch)

Oliver Jervis Sport Editor

The report has been shared with all clubs in England

Floodlit alcohol ban: what do students think?

Polls show strong student disappointment as ban continues

Oliver Jervis Sport Editor

A recent poll produced by Palatinate has revealed that 70% of students are unhappy with Durham University’s new restrictions on the possession of unlicensed alcohol at Floodlit Cup matches. The same number also believe that it has not improved the atmosphere at these fixtures.

Palatinate’s polling additionally uncovered a desire among the student body to still bring their own alcohol to floodlit matches, despite the presence of these fresh regulations. According to the questionnaire provided, 68% were in favour of breaching the rules in this fashion.

Those who had already done so were found to have largely acted with impunity, as 96% of those involved declared that they their unlicensed alcohol had not been discovered or dealt with whatsoever.

This is a blow for the University, who at the start of this academic year made permanent a regulation prohibiting the possession of unlicensed alcohol in and around Maiden Castle.

Such a decision was made following poor fan behaviour during Floodlit Cup matches in the 20212022 academic year, which saw an outright spectator ban for students from University College, Hatfield College, and Van Mildert College.

For this academic year, students were indirectly informed by the University that they would only be allowed to possess alcohol purchased from Maiden Castle’s freshly renovated bar on the sport centre’s grounds.

However, this decision was met with outrage from some corners of Durham student life. The Junior Common Rooms of St Aidan’s and Grey College were among those to stage protests during their own Floodlit Cup matches.

Many objected to the implications the enforcement of such restrictions would have, with banners claiming that the decision promoted a “toxic” drinking culture that put students at risk. St Aidan’s JCR President, Joseph Eaton also proposed that the regulations made some feel as though they were being “priced out” of a ending Floodlit Cup matches.

With the results of Palatinate’s poll, it appears that such sentiment

has not dissipated after a term of enduring the new restrictions. The protests may have wilted slightly; nevertheless, a feeling of frustration persists as students react to what seems to have been a limited and unweighted period of consultation before the pervasive implementation of these regulations.

At the time of Palatinate discovering the extension of these rules, Quentin Sloper, Director of Student Enrichment at Durham University, said: “The atmosphere created at College Floodlit fixtures is generally very positive and the behaviour of most of the spectators is outstanding.

“Nevertheless, we did have to address some issues last year, and this is one of a number of measures designed to help ensure the safety of staff and officials, and to raise the overall standards of spectator behaviour.”

A cloud of doubt is now set over whether this has truly been done for the be er of student experience in Durham.

Analysis

Statistics, although helpful, can occasionally be flawed. Not always, but enough to cause doubt and create

an urge to see what is happening with your own eyes. Numbers are important; however, experiences are integral.

Thus, the Palatinate Sport team a ended the recent first round Floodlit Cup football match between University College and South College, which concluded in a comeback 2-1 victory for the la er. The atmosphere upon arrival was jubilant, yet rather muted in comparison to crowds present in past years. Evidence of relatively heavy pre-drinking was abundant but not bordering on the dangerous. So far, so expected.

However, our first surprise came as the steward deployed for the night began parading along the spectators’ barrier. Adorned with an appropriate snood and hi-vis jacket, the a endant concerned duly questioned those around us as to whether they possessed any alcohol. Subsequently, it was stated that no beverages were permi ed on the premises. That was when the metaphorical alarm bells started ringing.

Eventually, when asked by Palatinate Sport what was meant by this declaration, the steward

revealed that their employers had ordered that no drinks whatsoever – including from Maiden Castle’s purpose-built bar – were allowed onto the concourse. No clear reasons were given for this prohibition, and the frustration on the faces of those who had planned to utilise this designated resource was evident.

To make ma ers worse for spectators in a endance, the bar closed ahead of halftime. As a result, all were left without a means by which to secure any drink from the local area after 9pm. This was so despite the match being held on a Wednesday, during which Maiden Castle had hosted several BUCS fixtures.

When asked by Palatinate Sport for their thoughts on the alcohol debacle, on anonymous fan stated:

“Well, I wanted to drink (my drinks) during the match, but I ended up drinking them before the match outside the gates because (the steward) made me do that.

Drinking during the match adds to the atmosphere and lots here have brought them in.

“I think (the restriction) is quite hostile. I would drink anyway. I’m

(Oliver Jervis)

either going to turn up with drinks and drink them during the match, or I’m going to turn up drunk. There’s either one option or the other.

“I didn’t know they were going to take our drinks away because I was told they weren’t going to do that but because of that it made me drink a lot before the match to prepare.”

Although statistics can sometimes paint a distorted picture, it appears that in this instance accuracy has succeeded. Fan frustration has not alleviated with time and one could dare to suggest that students are growing tired with a university which continues to ignore their interests for the sake of profitability and a sanitised image.

Whether the issue concerns accommodation prices or sport fixtures, adequate communication is almost certainly lacking. Change to the restrictions does not look likely, regardless.

“There will definitely be another Winter World Cup.”

Joe Harston

interviews ITV presenter and Durham alumnus Mark Pougatch

“It’s both a wonder and a tragedy the sport doesn’t get more coverage.”

Maddie Parker

discusses why we should all be watching netball