Palatinate 799

Palatinate Thursday 2nd November 2017 |

Racism: #RecogniseAndResist indigo sit down with the President of the Durham People of Colour Association

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No. 799

Durham University: ‘money-grabbing, shameless and shambolic’ Comment gives voice to the students angered by the college fees rise

Team Durham block popular sports app Jack Reed Deputy News Editor

“Freeze the fees”: Protestors storm the Palatine Centre on Thursday 20th October, in a 100-strong student demonstration against the University’s 3.5% increase to college accommodation costs. News Features summarise the reaction to the fees increase on page 7, while Jazmine Bourke excoriates the decision on page 3. (Sebastian Sanchez-Schilling)

Castle football club banned for entire season over initiation misconduct

All three college teams ruled out of competitive fixtures for the rest of the year after two altercations at the club’s ‘Welcome Drinks’ event Tania Chakraborti News Editor Castle AFC has been banned from participating in all intercollegiate fixtures for the remainder of the academic year after two altercations during their club initiation on Monday 9th October.

During the social, individuals of the club exposed themselves to members of the public after stopping a vehicle at the zebra crossing on Church Street.

Another incident that same night involved two members making inappropriate comments to two female students in the Under-

croft Bar of University College.

Five to six students were implicated in altercations overall, resulting in the ban of 35 students and all three teams from the remaining intercollegiate fixtures this year.

An email sent out to all Castle football teams stated: “We unfortunately had two complaints made against us.

“The first was during our traditional zebra crossing shenanigans where the line was crossed, and the second involved certain members of the club being rude to two girls in the Undie.”

The email added: “Having said

this, we should view the punishments as a wake up call as our socials should never lead to other members of the public feeling intimidated and certain conduct on the night was unacceptable.”

The mass email also stated the team plans to appeal on behalf of the club to the University and offered support for individual members who wished to appeal on their own behalf.

An anonymous member of Castle’s football team told Palatinate: “Obviously action had to be taken.

The powers that be rightly have to be seen to take a stance against sex-

ual violence and harassment of any kind, and making an example of the football team of the most renowned college at the university was the perfect opportunity.

“What I take issue with is that at least 95% of the club have done absolutely nothing wrong and have been punished too. Why not just ban those responsible from college bars and from playing rather than the entire team?”

Another member of the club, who also wished to remain anonymous, commented: “While we accept that a few individuals...

Continued on page 4

Team Durham, as part of Durham University, has discouraged the use of the popular Proteam app, despite its successful operation at nine other major universities, including Oxford and Cambridge.

A series of meetings between Proteam and Team Durham that began in March, with the aim of launching the app this academic year, culminated in an email from Durham to all University and College captains, informing them that the app was not to be used in a Durham-wide capacity.

The University cited a clash between the terms and conditions of the app with the University’s constitution as their justification for the discouragement.

The email stated: “At this point University clubs are not in a position to work with and supply information to Proteam until the legal department are satisfied that their concerns have been addressed.”

The app is designed to aid the administration and running of University and College sport.

Proteam, founded by a Durham alumnus, aims to boost the significance of college sport on university campuses by increasing its online presence and also improve the organisation of the college leagues.

The Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, and Loughborough are among nine universities that now use the app for organising their leagues and fixtures.

Team Durham, however, raised concerns with the app.

The sponsorship option that comes as part of the app was one such area of concern. This feature enables companies and businesses to sponsor teams.

Continued on page 5

Thursday 2nd November 2017 | PALATINATE

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Editorial

“Good value for money” is a tired lie On 20th October, I was one of around 100 students who took part in a demonstration against the continued rise of university accommodation fees. On a blustery Friday afternoon, voices suffused with anger pierced the embittered air. The atmosphere was febrile.

After a number of speeches protesting the rises, we marched down the hill to the Palatine centre.

Placards raged against the wind, as our voices sought to perforate the ivory towers of the Vice-Chancellor.

Entering the building, shoes were raised in the air: a show of defiance against an increasingly cruel and uncaring university.

I had chosen a bad day to wear socks with holes in, but that is perhaps by the by.

Everyone was outraged, and rightly so. Not by the socks, mind, even though I did catch a couple of glances, cast at me askance.

We, like many students, dissecting the news across campus, were furious at a university that has continued to let us down time and time again.

As Rome burns, they continue to turn out the same tired old clichés.

“Good value for money” is a phrase bandied round carelessly, as if it is a mysterious panacea for all our ills. Treated like ungrateful school children, our attention is directed to a new gym at Trevs, a library extension at Josephine Butler and a refurbishment of Grey’s Fountains Hall. As if this is acceptable recompense for the loss of many of our brightest pupils in future. It is not.

The problem is not this current increase in rise with inflation. It is the fact that the price was so high to begin with, rising drastically between 2011/12 and the present.

Ruby-Rae Cotter writing in this paper a week ago described Durham as a “shameful and discriminatory institution.” She is right.

Jazmine Bourke, writing on page three this week, describes this as “a direct attack on the accessibility of working-class students”, an attempt to “freeze almost an entire demographic out of their statistics for more money.” Cuts to the Durham Grant and Supportive Progression offer few options for working-class students who want to come to Durham.

Bourke continues: “I remember I’d had my heart set on this place for two years… now, I imagine 17-yearold me looking at accommodation prices … Quietly scratching Durham from my UCAS list.”

If only one student decides not to apply to Durham because of college accommodation fees, it is a tragedy. Homogenisation and a lack of diversity will be the result.

Who will lose out then? Not just the University, not just those students who decide not to attend, but all of us. We all lose.

This is a travesty of terrible proportions.

Elsewhere in Palatinate this week, indigo focuses on POC (People of Colour) in Durham and farther afield. This is part of a necessary drive to improve diversity at Palatinate and something I spoke

about in my first editorial of term.

Palatinate needs to be as diverse as possible in order to represent as many of the student body as possible.

Books (pp. 8-9) discuss June Sarpong’s speech Diversify at the Durham Book Festival, and whether it’s possible to live without prejudice, and Visual Arts (p. 10) focus on Yinka Shonibare’s latest exhibition on empire. Creative Writing (pp. 12-13) features a wonderful short story on contested identities and zebras.

This is by no means the be all and end all of what we intend to do however. This needs to be the first step on a journey to structural change. We hope this can be the beginning of many more conversations about diversity at Palatinate and what we can do to improve.

We’re looking for feedback on this edition of indigo, what we’ve done well, what we’ve done less well and what we can do to improve in future. Please don’t hesitate to email us at editor@palatinate.org. uk with your thoughts.

Adam Cunnane

Inside 799

News pages 4-7 Comment pages 9-11 Profile page 12 Politics pages 14-15 SciTech page 16 Sport pages 17-20

indigo Editorial page 2 Features page 3 Fashion pages 4-5 Film & TV page 6 Music page 7 Books pages 8-9 Visual Arts page 10 Food & Drink page 11 C. Writing pages 12-13 Travel page 14 Stage page 15 Interview page 16

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NEWS: Burglary reported in Claypath

STAGE: Five Lesbians Eating a Quiche review

FEATURES: It’s time to stop being such lazy anglophones

BOOKS: An English writer with Japanese heritage

Sophie Gregory reports on the theft of several items from a student house, including a key that allows access to the communal door of the building.

Indigo Deputy Editor Adele Cooke describes the latest performance to grace the Assembly Rooms as “farcical and delighful”.

Emily Jopling decries Brits’ linguistic laziness, and argues: “knowledge of another language can only bring opportunity, and is never a hindrance”.

Helena Chung profiles the recent Nobel Prizewinner and exalts the author’s “masterful skill in understanding and exploring the emotions of human beings”.

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

Editorial Board Editors-in-Chief Adam Cunnane & Eugene Smith editor@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Editors Anna Tatham & Caitlin Allard deputy.editor@palatinate.org.uk News Editors Sophie Gregory & Tania Chakraborti news@palatinate.org.uk News Features Editor Ben Sladden news.features@palatinate.org.uk Deputy News Editors Jack Reed & Clara Gaspar deputy.news@palatinate.org.uk Comment Editor Zoe Boothby comment@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Comment Editors Danny Walker & Hana Kapetanovic Profile Editor Isabelle Ardron profile@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Profile Editor Holly Adams Science and Technology Editors Martha Bozic & Jack Eardley scitech@palatinate.org.uk Politics Editors Eloise Carey & Cameron McIntosh politics@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Politics Editors Rhodri Sheldrake Davies & Jack Parker Sport Editor Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero sport@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Sport Editors James Martland, Ollie Godden, Will Jennings & Ella Jerman Indigo Editor Tamsin Bracher indigo@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Indigo Editor Adele Cooke deputy.indigo@palatinate.org.uk Features Editor Divya Shastri feature@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Features Editor Katie Anderson Food & Drink Editor Emma Taylor food@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Food & Drink Editor Sapphire Demirsoz Travel Editor Harriet Willis travel@palatinate.org.uk Fashion Editor Anna Gibbs fashion@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Fashion Editor Emma Denison Film & Television Editor Meghan Hosch film@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Film & Television Editor Imogen Kaufman Stage Editor Helena Snider stage@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Stage Editor Helen Chatterton deputy.stage@palatinate.org.uk Music Editor Tom Watling music@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Music Editor Ashleigh Goodall Creative Writing Editor Chloe Scaling creative.writing@palatinate.org.uk Books Editor Julia Atherley books@palatinate.org.uk Visual Arts Editor Madeleine Cater visual.arts@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Visual Arts Editor Anna Thomas Chief Sub-Editor Yongchang Chin chief.sub@palatinate.org.uk Sub-Editors Inka Karna, Aoife Clements, Mint Parabatra, Zuzanna Gwadera & Angelos Sofocleous Photography Editor Max Luan photography@palatinate.org.uk Illustrations Editor Faye Chua illustration@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Illustrations Editors Charlotte Way, Katie Butler & Akansha Naraindas The Digital Team Craig Bateman (Digital Coordinator) media@palatinate.org.uk Alex Stuckey (Website Administrator) Helen Paton (Social Media Officer)

PALATINATE | Thursday 2nd November 2017

3

Featured Comment | Accommodation Fees

Durham University: money-grabbing, shameless, and shambolic It’s been a busy week or so!

Students have been arguing about Dunelm House (an icon, but in my eyes not one which is fit-for-purpose as an accessible students’ union) and protesting against accommodation fee rises in the Palatine centre (amongst much else!).

A big shout-out to all those protesters and organisers who have shown their support for the #RippedOff campaign by coming out in force!

The protest has generated discussion and support across campus and beyond.

Given that next year college accommodation will cost £7,422 for a catered room and £5,195 for a self-catered room, the fact that students are angry about this will come as no surprise to anyone who has tried to make-do on a student loan. I am at least able to tell you that Durham SU persuaded the University that they just couldn’t continue to raise their college fees at such an alarming rate as in previous years.

In 2011/2012, for example, the University increased fees by 13.41% which means that even though they’ve now committed to an inflationary increase, they’re inflating an already extortionate cost. An inflationary increase is a small win, but if this rate of increase continues, fees will top £8,000 within three years. Easter term will become a week longer and I’m pleased that, as a result of Durham SU’s lobbying, the University has agreed that students living in college will not incur the cost for the additional week.

Our partnership working has therefore saved catered liversin £211.

I continue to be concerned that the University will try to pass this charge onto students next year, but I don’t accept the principle that the University can change their academic calendar without considering the extra cost to students.

Please support the #RippedOff campaign by signing the petition or coming along the next demo on Wednesday 29 November at the Science Site.

Jazmine Bourke

As far as top institutions go, Durham University is miraculously incompetent.

I don’t mean this in an academic sense. Don’t get me wrong: I could go for days on the various departments and procedures that have failed – continue to fail – my friends in their studies, but that’s not the point I’m getting at. What I mean is on a bureaucratic level, Durham’s actions are shambolic. They’re the kind of thing you expect to see contained within the borders of a satirical comic, or, failing that, a documentary on America.

If Durham’s actions were not so brutally real, they’d be laughable They’re the kind of thing you squint at suspiciously in your Facebook newsfeed, trying to work out whether someone has an incredibly sick sense of humour or you’re just suffering a caffeine-induced hallucination. They’re the kind of thing that, if they weren’t so brutally real, they’d be laughable.

And I must admit, part of me wants to howl regardless.

After every protest, every campaign, parley and claim to care, the University are raising their college accommodation prices again. £7,400+ for the standard college room.

If you’d asked me theoretically how I’d feel finding out, there would be quite a few emotions I could have predicted successfully: disgust, anger, appalment.

One thing I wasn’t banking on was astonishment. Not at the fact that Durham would do it – that seems obvious enough from the two years I’ve been here – but at the

(Katie Butler)

pure shamelessness of the university’s stance. Whatever I may think of Corbridge and Co., one thing I know is they’re not idiots. There is money grabbing, there is exploitation, and then there is a direct attack on the accessibility of working-class students.

The University are willing to freeze an almost entire demographic out of their statistics for more money, and they’re not even bothering to hide it.

I’m not under the illusion that most universities are somehow benevolent with their letting costs. You only have to look at the rent strikes across Bristol and London to see how extortionate other institutions can be. But when it comes down to it, I struggle to think of another university so blatantly elitist and classist as Durham.

Whatever I may think of Corbridge and Co, they’re not idiots The North East is the cheapest housing bracket in the UK, and yet our University dares to churn out prices hot on the heels

of London. In an alarming amount of cases, Durham even manages to eclipse the capital: a quick Google is all it takes to find £7,200 (King’s College), £7,250 (UCL) and £6,279 (Imperial). This is before you consider that our southern counterparts get up to £2,000 more funding for their studies.

Expertly oblivious, Durham decimates financial support in the same breath with which it calls for diversity. Anybody can tell you about the absurd cuts to the Durham Grant within the past several years, but even more recent is the University’s attacks on Supportive Progression: students on the scheme will have their bursaries slashed in half, dropping from £5,500 p.a. to little over £2,000.

The phrase ‘magic money tree’ has been thrown around carelessly in 2017, but it occurs to me that there is none more magical than the one that Durham University expects of its working-class students. Most don’t qualify for the maximum loan. And yet, even if they did, the costs of accommodation would leave them with little over a grand for the year. From this

grand, how are you expected to lay down a £350 deposit?

How are you supposed to foot JCR costs, buy a gown, your course books, afford train fare, a social life? How are you supposed to live happily, healthily, like a human being who isn’t constantly counting the coins in their purse?

In the midst of all these questions, Durham blinks and whistles nonchalantly. It has no answers, and it intends to give none. We have money for investment in fossil fuels, it seems to say, we have money for artwork, for expansion, for relocation, for tearing down a Grade 2 Listed building and rebuilding it from the rubble.

The only thing we don’t have money for, is you.

It’s been three years since I applied here, thus in some ways it’s incredibly difficult to remember what it was like to do so.

This is a direct attack on the accessibility of working-class students But I do remember some things: I remember I’d had my heart set on this place for two years; I remember pouring over example reading lists and deciding which authors to name drop in my personal statement; I remember squinting at the page on bursaries and thinking that there must be some mistake. And now, I imagine 17-year-old me looking at accommodation prices. Pulling out my thenbattered iphone and doing some calculations. Quietly scratching Durham from my UCAS list.

I can imagine all I like, but money isn’t figurative, and neither are rent increases.

This is going to be reality for some teenagers this year and it’s on Durham’s head.

Thursday 2nd November 2017 | PALATINATE

4

News continued from front page... “...on the social made poor errors in judgement, we feel extremely harshly punished by the University.

“It is unfortunate that we have been used as a scapegoat to implement a University level agenda.

“That said, the club remains in good spirits, we have entered three teams into a local 6-a-side competition starting this weekend.

“It is unfortunate we have been used as a scapegoat to implement aUniversitylevelagenda” “The club will continue to function as normal and will return to the intercollegiate leagues next academic year with all teams competing for promotion.”

When contacted for comment, the University stated it did not comment on individual cases.

Heard anything newsworthy? Let us know at: news@palatinate.org.uk

Durham SU’s Help and Advice Service to be expanded Sophie Gregory News Editor As part of the Durham Students’ Union’s new five year strategy, the SU’s Help and Advice Service is to be increased and housing contract checking is to become a separate service.

Currently, the Help and Advice Service has 1.6 full-time employees. These employees are spread across casework, advocacy and preventative work tackling systemic welfare and academic fairness issues.

Of their 1.6 employees, the 0.6 focuses on one-to-one advocacy, concentrating on complex cases that require the expertise of the DSU. In 2016/2017, Durham SU supported 126 students with academic casework, 126 with housing contract casework, 83 with other housing casework, 39 with finance casework, and 13 ‘other’ cases.

The SU predicts that demand will

remain at the same level in the coming year.

The changes will see the addition of a full-time equivalent; the time is comparable to that which a full time employee would commit to the Help and Advice Service.

This will not affect the one-onone advocacy, which will continue to act in the same capacity as at present; however, there will be increased capacity for challenging greater, systemic issues. Such issues include sexual violence and tenants’ rights.

The contract checking service, popular among students, will become a separate service. The strategy will also be investing in more digital support for students.

Rosa Tallock, the SU Welfare and Liberation Officer, told Palatinate: “I believe in the power of systemic, mass, collective change.

The SU is shifting focus to be proactive rather than just reactive – I have a commitment to making sure we are tackling the big issues

facing students.

“Of course, we will still maintain our one on one advocacy as students require it.

“Redirecting resources to make sure we are looking at things like tenants’ rights and sexual violence, is our priority. I’m excited about the changes we’ve made.”

“

I believe in the power of systemic, mass, collective change

”

▲ Durham Students’ Union (Ross Younger via Creative Commons)

People and Planet again urge University to shun Mitie contract renewal Sophie Gregory News Editor The University continues to face pressure regarding its relationship with outsourcing giant Mitie Group plc, as a new open letter to the Vice-Chancellor will urge Durham University not to renew its contract with the firm.

Mitie, a FTSE 250 strategic outsourcing company, has a contract worth £5 million with Durham University that is approaching time for renewal. As reported last year, as well as providing facilities management services, the company is also the largest single private sector provider of immigration detention centres in the UK. These facilities have repeatedly come under fire for their inadequacy.

In September, BBC News reported that a Polish man detained at Harmondsworth, near Heathrow Airport, died in hospital four days after trying to take his own

“

The University seems to be doing little in response to concerns Mitie violates human rights

”

life at the Mitie-controlled immigration centre.

Reports have also highlighted overcrowding, poor sanitation, hunger strikes and lax fire safety procedure in the detention centres, while official Home Office figures state detainees are being used for cleaning and maintenance tasks.

For these tasks they are paid £1 per hour.

The Undoing Borders Campaign, run by People and Planet, claims the new contract Durham University are looking to sign would be significantly expanded to include the porters and ground maintenance at new colleges.

Companies interested in the contract have already started to bid but as yet, it is uncertain who these companies are.

In response to People and Planet’s original letter in May, Stuart Corbridge, Vice Chancellor, stated: “On the specific subject of our contract with MITIE, we will be reletting this contract in anticipation of its expiration via a competitive process in the near future. We will be asking all bidders to confirm their compliance with our CSER policies, including that related to the Modern Slavery Act.” The Vice-Chancellor also stated in his reply: “Having consulted with our in-house legal counsel, we can confirm that we have no grounds to terminate the current contract with Mitie; however, we have arranged a meeting with

company representatives to discuss the matters raised in your open letter.”

People and Planet have since written a new open letter addressed to Pro-Vice Chancellor (Colleges and Student Experience) Owen Adams, urging Durham to take action against Mitie.

In the letter, the campaigners state: “We feel that it is clear that Mitie Group PLC is not a socially responsible company and, further, has extremely worrying negative social impacts.

“It has been criticised for human rights abuses in the operation of its immigration detention centres.

For example, a report by the Independent Monitoring Board into its centre in Harmondsworth documented that detention had a negative impact on detainees’ welfare and people who had been deemed unfit to be detained had not been released.

“A report in 2015 into Campsfield detention centre found that a child was detained ‘by mistake’ for 62 days, even though they were below the age at which children can be legally detained.”

The letter calls for the University to: “Commit not to sign any further contracts with Mitie Group PLC whilst it continues to commit human rights abuses and treat detainees inhumanely.

“To the greatest extent permitted by the Public Contracts Regulations, to update the University’s procurement policy to exclude any bidder which is guilty of socially-

damaging practices, in particular the institutionalised mistreatment, subjugation and exploitation of vulnerable people.”

It is to be signed by People and Planet, Durham for Refugees, Durham Young Greens, Durham Left Activists, Enactus, Durham Labour, Durham University Amnesty International, DUCK, Durham People of Colour and St Cuthbert’s Boat Club.

Bethany Holden, the coordinator for the Undoing Borders campaign, told Palatinate: “I’m very disappointed that the University seems to be doing little in response to our concerns that Mitie has violated human rights.

“We feel that as an institution that prides itself on making a

▲ How Palatinate covered the

original open letter in print, Thursday 9th March 2017

positive contribution to society, it should be ensuring that it protects the most vulnerable members and that it causes no harm, whether directly or indirectly.

“Moreover, the lack of transparency in the process is worrying as it shows the University is not accountable to students and is not responding to our concerns. We plan to continue campaigning by mobilising student and staff support, particularly through a petition and JCR motions.”

“The lack of transparency in this process is worrying,” says the campaign’s coordinator People and Planet’s campaign last year made significant strides in passing motions within JCRs expressing opposition to the extension of the University’s contract with Mitie. These include Grey, Josephine Butler, St. Chad’s, St. Mary’s and St. Cuthbert’s. On Friday the 15th of June, Durham SU passed a motion “to publicly oppose and lobby against the University to ban future contracts with Mitie Group plc and similar companies operating detention centres”.

The campaign has an SU petition running at: www.tinyurl. com/StopItMitie.

PALATINATE | Thursday 2nd November 2017

5

News

Proteam “have found dealing with Team Durham to be a uniquely frustrating process” continued from front page...

“

What can take 48 hours elsewhere can take a year and a half at Durham ▲

The team then receives money as part of the sponsorship and the firm receives publicity on the app as well as on the team’s kit.

Proteam emphasised the popularity of the sponsorship feature at other universities in a statement to Palatinate: “There has been a serious interest expressed by a prominent graduate employer in sponsoring an Oxford University Collegiate tournament covered on Proteam for a five figure sum. This tournament was previously unsponsored.”

Proteam also assured Team Durham that the sponsorship feature was completely optional and they they did not have to include it, sim-

ply preventing any firms from being able to offer sponsorship to sports teams in Durham.

However, Team Durham remained unwilling to launch the app due to legal issues they claimed needed to be solved.

These centred around data protection, with Quentin Sloper, Director of Experience Durham, stating in an email: “The University takes proper handling and protection of student (and staff) personal data very seriously, and can only support or endorse technologies in which the University can have complete confidence in.”

Again, Proteam countered this,

”

Proteam Logo (Dean Garlick)

showing Durham that no data was being sold and that only users of the platform are able to download data. Further, Proteam agreed not to use any of Durham’s IP, such as the college crests, on the app, since Team Durham claimed the IP could only be used by a programme they officially endorsed.

Other issues raised by the University regarding terms and conditions were addressed by Proteam as the app’s terms and conditions mirror those of Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, while they were also professional enough to be supported by the Apple Store.

The company told Palatinate: “Regrettably Proteam have found dealing with Team Durham to be a uniquely frustrating process.

What can take 48 hours at other universities may well take a year and a half in Durham. Several individuals within the organisation have proven hard to contact over the last six months whilst simultaneously claiming to have ‘reservations’ about Proteam.

“Back in June, Team Durham referred to ‘data protection’ being a ‘big issue’ but when Proteam finally got to see a Team Durham legal representative in September, the representative quickly

and unreservedly confirmed that there were no such issues.

“It was then agreed Proteam’s terms and conditions are in line with those of Facebook and Twitter but dubiously claimed that this would ‘not be enough’. There was a simultaneous refusal to share what would be ‘acceptable’.

“Proteam welcome any contact from Team Durham in which specific questions are voiced.

“In the meantime Durham students are legally free to download the app and watch the upcoming November live streams of Oxbridge and Loughborough’s sport fixtures.”

The app’s features include: a ‘tournament builder’, which allows league secretaries to organise the leagues and fixtures; a platform for alumni to follow leagues or teams; and a space for uploading video highlights of matches.

The application received a great deal of support from the club captains and students at Durham, with many advocating its use in University and College sport. However, Durham’s reluctance to use it University-wide means that the app cannot be used in the coming year.

Owen Adams, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Colleges and Student Ex-

perience), said, in a statement to Palatinate: “The University has been approached by a technology company to endorse the use of their app for both College and University Sport.

Nine universities are currently using the app across the UK “Having reviewed documentation provided by the company, particularly its privacy policies and terms of use, the University has concluded that this is not something it is prepared to support at this stage.

“We are aware that some of the functions associated with the app are conceptually popular with many students and clubs. Moving forward Team Durham will work with representatives from both College and University Sport to establish whether there is sufficient enthusiasm amongst the student body to undertake a formal tender process to appoint an app provider.

“BUCS, the governing body of University Sport, is currently trialling two separate apps and we will also be seeking feedback from them.”

“Madness” of exam proposals that may increase erroneous papers Clara Gaspar Deputy News Editor The Exams and Assessment Review for 2016/17 has suggested changes to the examination process that could see erroneous papers go unchecked and toilet breaks banned for two-hour exams.

In the Student Registry’s annual review of the assessment process, several concerns regarding the examination process were identified, and the report includes a set of suggestions to combat these issues.

One concern raised in the report observed the significant increase in the frequency of requests for toilet visits in examinations over recent years.

Student Registry reported: “In Maiden Castle we now have to provide two additional invigilators solely to manage the constant flow of students who ask to use the toilets.

“When only one invigilator is present in the exam room their ability to monitor the room for inappropriate behaviour is reduced”.

The proposals therefore aim

to combat cheating, with six suspected cases of cheating in relation to toilet visits being used to justify the changes.

The proposals might limit the ability of students to go the toilet during an examination.

In the report seen by Palatinate, Registry asked: “Is it necessary for students to go to the toilet during a 2-hour exam? [...] Students with a medical need for toilet facilities are already exempt from the rules as their needs are recorded in their concession arrangements.”

The report also acknowledged a significant number of errors in examination papers. In 2017, 36 errors were found in papers used by students in last year’s examinations. 80 other errors existed on papers from all manner of departments, which would have gone out to exams had they not been caught by Student Registry.

However, due to the exam period starting a week earlier, the Registry report noted that in 2018, they will “not be undertaking any checks on the content of the paper in order that the deadline for submission can remain the same”.

The Deputy Head of the Student Registry acknowledged that errors “will only increase when Registry stops checks”.

In order to counter this, the Registry report suggests that: “Departments must carry out additional checks on papers before submission”.

Due to the large number of late exam concessions received, Student Registry took the decision to cut off any more entries from 10th May. In an attempt to solve the issue of those needing emergency concessions, some Departments issued students with “department concession letters” that were rejected by invigilators. Students thus had raised hopes going into exams for concessions that were not granted.

Students found some 36 exam paper errors last year The report included the suggestion for departments: “A deadline should be set for late concession requests, which both accepts that illness and accidents can occur and recognises what is practical and reasonable to deliver.”

When contacted for comment, representatives of the Durham SU were scathing about the proposed

changes.

Sabrina Seel, Postgraduate Academic Affairs Officer, told Palatinate: “It is now questioned whether students really need a toilet break when the exam is only 2 hours, as some HE institutions don’t allow toilet breaks. This is madness.

“Furthermore, starting in 2018 Student Registry will no longer be undertaking checks on the content of exam papers. Good luck with that!

“A couple of exams this year had the incorrect title and other departments gave out exams which had so many mistakes that the entire paper had to be replaced.”

Meanwhile, Professor Alan Houston, Durhan’s Pro-ViceChancellor (Education), stated: “Durham University takes the integrity of the examination and assessment process extremely seriously.

“We understand examinations can be stressful for students and we seek to minimise disruption, while also offering a range of student support throughout the year.

“An Examinations and Assessment Review (EAR), focusing on issues relating to

the University’s assessment process, is prepared annually for consideration by the Education Committee.

“From 2018 Student Registry will no longer be checking papers. Good luck with that!”

“Feedback was sought from Academic Departments in September and discussion papers will go to Faculty Education Committees in November, before any final proposals are made in the EAR, which will be considered by the Education Committee in December.

“Both Faculty Education Committees and the Education Committee include student representatives, who will be able to contribute to the discussion and be part of the decisionmaking process.”

Mr Houston also emphasised the University offers support to students through its Colleges and Academic Departments working with the central student support services, which includes Counselling and Disability Support.

Thursday 2nd November 2017 | PALATINATE

6

News

Durham Police to clamp down on anti-social behaviour

Clara Gaspar Deputy News Editor Rising levels of antisocial behaviour in Durham have prompted police to take action to manage begging and homelessness in Durham City.

Residents have become increasingly aware of recent bouts of antisocial behaviour and violent crime, particularly centring around the North Road area.

Jana Walsh, a student at Durham University, observed: “North Road seems to be the centre of homelessness and crime in Durham City, particularly around Durham Bus Station.

“I know that myself and a few of my friends have seen police cars and ambulances on several occasions around there recently.”

Recent incidents, such as the as-

sault of an elderly man in Market Square two weeks ago and the assault of an 81-year-old woman on Nevilledale Terrace last month as reported in The Northern Echo, have prompted police to consider methods of making central Durham safer.

This has been outlined in a 12week project involving police and those affected by antisocial behaviour.

Police have introduced more patrols in the area around North Road whilst discussions are ongoing over whether a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) should be introduced.

PSPOs prevent begging and sleeping in doorways, which have been cited as potential causes for recent assault in Durham city.

Councillor Elizabeth Scott has expressed her concerns to The

Northern Echo about the rising levels of violent crime: “I think people are thinking this is not the norm for Durham. I’ve lived in Durham all my life and I’ve never thought that I should be wary of being attacked in the day time.

“It’s never crossed my mind but these sorts of incidents raise that profile, which is not as it was.

“I don’t think anyone is living in terror but people are thinking more about their personal safety than they did in the past.”

According to Sergeant Kay Howarth, it is a small group of people who are perpetrating antisocial behaviour in the city: “Lots of different things are going on. For me, crime is low but antisocial behaviour is there and we’re aware of it.

“That fear of crime is what we’re

Popular Uber app launches in Durham Tania Chakraborti News Editor It was announced last week that Uber, the popular taxi app, was to begin fares in Durham.

The company estimated journeys from the University to Durham station would cost between £4 and £6, while anyone travelling from the city centre to Newcastle airport should expect to pay around £39 to £53.

Uber faced conflict last month in the capital city when it was announced that Transport for London (TFL) had decided to forgo renewing its license for private hire.

The grounds cited by TFL included poor reporting of criminal offences and a lack of appropriate

background checks on behalf of the company.

Despite this, Uber has been launched in Durham due to popular demand, joining more than 40 other UK towns and cities that still retain use of the app and its services.

Uber’s General Manager for Durham, Neil McGonigle, spoke of the Durham launch: “In the last six months, people in the city have opened the app more than 100,000 times in anticipation.

“Starting today (Thursday 26th October), you can use the Uber app to get from A to B at the touch of a button.”

The response from Durham students last week regarding the launch was mixed.

Ellie Drescher, a second year

Economics student and Gilesgate resident, stated her delight at the move: “I’m really pleased that Uber has launched in Durham as I frequently have to use taxis to get home and the cheaper alternative means I can save more money and also avoid a walk to the taxi rank in town to find cheaper fares.”

Abigail Walker, a second year law student, expressed a different view: “I don’t think Uber will be particularly useful in a city where everything is within a 15-minute walk.”

Having been in service for a few days now, students have commented on Uber’s new presence in Durham.

Ethan Ruperelia, a third year Mathematics and Physics student stated of the service: “The driver

“

North Road seems to be the centre of homelessness and crime in Durham, particularly around the Bus Station

”

was professional and provided a flexible service with a great introductory offer.”

trying to stifle.”

She stated: “We’re pushing for it to happen. It can be controversial because it can look like we are targeting homeless people.

It’s a difficult one.

“A lot of time and resources are going into North Road and people want to help.

“The businesses and the bus station want it to be a place where people feel safe.”

She added: “There aren’t any homeless people in Durham. People are choosing to sleep rough because they’re making money from begging.”

A similar situation in Newcastle earlier this year prompted an order to be introduced which clamped down on aggressive begging, charity collectors, people consuming alcohol and people using legal highs.

▲ The Uber app (freestock.org via Flickr and Creative Commons)

SU supports University to appeal for immunity from Dunelm House’s listed status Ben Sladden News Features Editor Durham Students’ Union set out its agenda regarding the future of Dunelm House on at its Assembly on October 24th, resolving to support the University’s plan to demolish the building.

Durham University applied for immunity from Dunelm House’s listed status, noting its state of disrepair would present excessive renovation costs.

The University has estimated that repairs would cost £14.7 million.

Assembly noted its belief that Dunelm House is “unfit” for the SU, with its lack of lifts rendering it inaccessible for many students.

The lack of sufficient interior space “necessary for student groups to hold regular meetings, activities and events” was underlined.

Additionally, Assembly stated that the building’s state renders it dysfunctional for continued use, noting “a leaky roof, damp and mould”.

However, the Save Dunelm House campaign group has maintained restoration would be cheaper than a rebuild.

Assembly noted that the building’s “leaky roof, damp and mould” renders it dysfunctional

parency” in the lead-up to Assembly’s vote on the future of the SU.

▲ Dunelm House (Tom Page via Flickr) The Twentieth Century Society continues to campaign to have the controversial building listed on the grounds of its apparent architectural significance – a campaign that the University has opposed.

St John’s College student, Joe Mathieson, who campaigned to save the building, alleges that there was a “glaring lack of trans-

“There was a glaring lack of transparency” in the lead-up to Assembly’s vote, one campaigner claims Mathieson alleges that a group of student campaigners were not given sufficient time to prepare their defence of the future of the building for Assembly.

“There was clearly an attempt by the SU to shut down debates of the cultural significance of Dunelm House,” Mathieson alleged.

Megan Croll, SU President, said: “It is, in all honesty, an inhospi-

table space for students yearround, but particularly in winter, when it is often too cold for students to sit still to study for any length of time.

“The resources, both in time and expense, which it costs both the Students’ Union and the University to mitigate for these issues are substantial, and I believe that many students would feel that those resources were better spent elsewhere.”

Repairs would cost an estimated £14.7m Dunelm House was opened in 1966, and is viewed as an example of brutalist architecture in the North East.

PALATINATE | Thursday 2nd November 2017

7

News Features

College residence fees increase prompts student fury Ben Sladden News Features Editor On 18th October, the University announced a 3.5% hike in College accommodation fees to £7,422.

This, alongside years of appreciating fees, has prompted a swift backlash amongst some of the student community.

The cost of a catered single standard room for undergraduates will increase from £7,171 to £7,422, while standard selfcatered rooms will cost £5,195 a year, up from £4,891.

Two days later, over 100 people (by Palatinate estimates) turned out for a protest against the fees increase.

Palatinate spoke to some notable voices in Durham regarding what they see as the wider consequences of the University’s decision to increase fees.

Harry Cross, a postgraduate student activist who has campaigned over Durham College rents, told Palatinate: “Despite the North East having the cheapest property values in the UK, we now have among the most expensive student accommodation in the country, approaching London prices.”

George Walker, who was involved in the protest, stated: “This

decision from the University reinforces the unfortunate image of Durham as an elitist institution.

“I think the latest fee hike is yet another event that shows how out of touch senior University staff are with Durham students,” he added.

“This decision reinforces the unfortunate image of Durham as an elitist institution” Despite the University carrying out outreach work to target North East England applicants in lowparticipation areas, some have highlighted cases of prospective local students feeling priced out.

Harry Cross stated that at a University Open Day, a local headteacher told him that many of his students received offers to study at Durham through access agreements whereby they received preferential offers, but turned them down as “they [could not] afford the rent.”

Palatinate also spoke to Sheehan Quirke, Van Mildert VP Welfare Officer, who cited the case of some students from the Tees Valley area, home to some of the most deprived parts of the country, who chose to live out in their first year

due to the price of college accommodation fees.

Sheehan stated that this led to a lack of integration within the College for these students, and suggested that in many cases, led to “definite effects on mental health”.

“There is a very real minority of students who are deeply concerned by both the high cost of accommodation and other collegerelated fees (e.g. JCR levies) and as a result there are many freshers who have quite serious concerns about being able to make friends,” Sheehan said.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Colleges and Student Experience), Owen Adams, told Palatinate: “I appreciate the financial pressures faced by students and we are working with student representatives to review our charges.

“In particular the Residential Accommodation Differential Pricing Group is considering ways to achieve a greater range of charges via differentiated pricing – a new model that could be introduced in 2019/20, if it is agreed.

“In addition, the Durham Grant is available to home undergraduates who have a residual household income of £25,000 or less as assessed by Student Finance England (or equivalent) and a College accommodation bursary is

available to first year students for whom the SLC residual household income is between £25,000 and £35,000.”

Last Thursday’s Sutton Trust report called on universities to better target low participation neighbourhoods through use of contextual data.

However, figures in the report demonstrated that less than 6 per cent of entrants to Durham came from low-participation neighbourhoods.

“Ibelieve thatthestudent body is highly supportive of the campaign” But both Harry Cross and Sheehan Quirke suggested that the University had no qualms about raising rents in the past due to the assumption of Durham students’ wealth.

A NatWest report recently revealed that Durham University students receive the most financial assistance from their parents than at any other Russell Group institution.

Sheehan said the fact that Durham students are “drawn from a very homogenous group”, contributes to a lack of engagement in activism surrounding issues such as

College accommodation costs.

However, George Walker countered the “common belief that Durham students are apathetic” by stating there had been a “high level of engagement” surrounding College fees.

“I believe that the student body is highly supportive of the campaign for a more affordable and accessible Durham and I look forward to seeing students engage in even bigger action to hold the university to account in the coming weeks.”

The Durham Students’ Union #RippedOff campaign, calling for a slash in college fees, has received over 2,000 signatures on Change. org.

Beyond the Durham student community, Harry Cross suggested that the decision to increase College fees could have a knock-on effect on the wider local community.

“Spiralling college rents have a knock-on effect on private rents in Durham” “The University is the biggest landlord in the city and a study

by StuRents a few years ago demonstrated that spiralling college rents have a knock-on effect on private rents in Durham,” Cross alleges.

Cross stated that the spiralling rents encourage a “business model of landlords who do not invest in their properties seeking instead to extract high rents from short-term tenants, thus deteriorating the housing stock of the city.”

Durham students are “drawn from a very homogenous group”

▲ Protest against rising college fees at the Palatine Centre on 20th October (Sebastián Sánchez-Schilling)

Palatinate contacted Michael Costello, a long-term Durham resident and Secretary of the Durham University Residents’ Forum, who spoke in contrasting tones about the need to turn the scales of the perceived ‘studentification’ of Durham City – described emotively by Michael as “this once fine city”.

Michael stated: “The key to this rebalancing is to return to the truly collegiate nature which the university promotes thus returning family homes to families and the 3,000 residents in the housing waiting list.

“College fees are obviously key to promoting this rebalancing.”

PALATINATE | Thursday 2nd November 2017

9

Being BME at Durham Page 10

Comment

►

The jobs rush: are we giving too much?

Samuel Betley It’s that time of the degree. As a fresher, nothing really mattered apart from getting paralytic at least three times a week and trying to convince a handful of new people that you weren’t too weird. Second year arrived, and with it the realisation that 40% probably wasn’t going to cut it for parents still reeling from your failure to get into Oxbridge. You started putting some effort in, ideally scraping a 2:1 if the latenight summative work was able to make up for the inevitably poor exam revision.

Then, third year. It hits you like a freight train. You finish second year optimistically hoping that you’ll never spend so much time in the ‘Billy B’ ever again, but summative-only modules and the small matter of a dissertation soon obliterate that idea.

So, after a mere two weeks as a finalist, the dissertation is (very)

slowly taking shape, and tracts of time are taken up by reading, seminars, and the rest. You think you don’t have time to do anything else. Then some knowit-all reminds you that you’re supposed to have a job once you leave.

Employers are turning to more innovative sifting methods Naïvely, I didn’t think obtaining a graduate job would be too difficult. After all, aren’t Durham graduates meant to be some of the most sought-after?

You wouldn’t think so, judging by the speed with which numerous graduate schemes inform you of your unfortunate rejection.

Yet a brief lull in the rate at which I am firing out applications has given me time to reflect on the processes involved. Despite figures from the ONS reporting record U.K employment levels in June 2017, for graduates the job market appears to be just as saturated as ever.

As a result, employers are

turning to more innovative methods of sifting through the piles of applications that pour in at this time every year. In addition, anonymity now plays a central role due to positive efforts to increase diversity in the workplace.

Nevertheless, I was amazed at the tiny amount of personal details that some graduate schemes request during the early stages of the application.

Instead, the initial assessments now focus on an online examination of numerical and verbal reasoning, as well as character traits that employers judge favourably. Apparently, if my online assessments to this point are anything to go by, I have the situational judgement of Napoleon or Hitler when they contemplated invading Russia.

How far are we willing to go to make ourselves look employable?

However, it is probable that by judging applicants on their results, without considering their social class or educational background,

employers are helping to provide a significant boost in favour of both ability and diversity in the workplace.

Other aspects of the application were less rational, and some requirements came as a complete surprise. The personal details stipulated by one business opportunity included the applicant’s Twitter account. As it happens, I have already been dragged kicking and screaming into the modern job market, and my Twitter and LinkedIn details are on my C.V. For some graduate schemes though, even this is not enough. It has been suggested that a number of employers now even ask for Facebook and Instagram details.

This development leads to an important question: how far are we willing to go to make ourselves look employable?

As someone who puts a very high value on individual liberty and privacy, my response to this question is clear. Even if my dream job were at stake, I would not be prepared to give certain personal details to a prospective employer.

I must have the situational judgement of Napoleon or Hitler What, precisely, do the organisations seek to gain by accessing the Instagram accounts of students? I’m sure that many Durham finalists wouldn’t want their own mother to see the visual evidence of their alcoholfuelled antics. The answer is not for us to be more careful about what we publish on social media.

The answer is for employers to reassess precisely what it is that they need to know about us.

Yet the combination of student debt with a high cost of borrowing, and the condition of the job market means, regrettably, that we need employers more than the employers need us. For now, we must accept that we cannot set the terms of the debate.

And so begins the inevitable, yet often pointless, grind of churning out applications for graduate schemes that, statistically, have a negligible chance of success.

Happy job hunting!

New NHS guidelines will help LGBT+ patients Thomas Pymer Disclosing your sexuality to your GP could soon be the norm. NHS England has announced a new move to help it better meet the standards of the 2010 Equality Act. Under new guidelines, GPs will be permitted to ask patients about their sexuality once they turn sixteen, allowing doctors to give coherent guidance on sexual health and tips for dealing with prejudice against sexualities or identities differing from the heteronormative binary style.

Under these guidelines, patients will be asked to express whether they are: heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, other, don’t know or are not sure.

Transgenderism was not included in the review or new guidelines, as this move is intended to be exclusively focused upon giving

sexual health advice.

The question patients shall be asked is: ‘Which of the following options best describes how you think of yourself?’. The open-ended ‘Other’ can cover a wide range of identifications, ranging from asexual to ‘queer’, which the 2017 NHS England Implementation Guidance publication defines as “a complex set of sexual behaviours or desires, or to make a statement against categories such as lesbian, gay, bisexual or straight.”

The state is not interfering with the lives of its citizens any more than usual The new terms are designed to help GPs better classify, and therefore treat, those who suffer from health problems more prevalent among the LGBTQI+ community. These problems, as suggested by the research of the U.K.’s leading LGBT+ charity

Stonewall in 2014, include mental health problems, STDs, alcohol dependency, and loneliness in old age.

NHS England’s move has inevitably attracted a lot of criticism. Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, known for opposing LGBT+ causes like gay marriage, has denounced the move as “Orwellian.” Some LGBT+ rights activists are also angry. As the libertarian thinker Claire Fox put it, ‘tell a 16-year-old to define their sexuality and it immediately forces them into a box. The whole point of the sexual revolution was to remove the box’.

Other LGBT+ rights groups and campaigners, including Stonewall, have embraced the move. Veteran campaigner Peter Tatchell pointed out that the NHS keeps tabs on ethnic minorities to ensure that there is no discrimination being carried out. The same practice, he argues, should be applied to the LGBT+ community.

(Ted Eytan via Flickr)

Whilst the libertarians do perhaps have a point about the difficulties of asking a young person to declare their sexuality (the average age of ‘coming out’ as LGBT+ in the UK is 21), the NHS has evidently anticipated this problem, hence the presence of an ‘I don’t know’ option. People retain the right not to answer the question, so provision is made for those who do not know or would prefer not to say.

It is also significant that, under the Hippocratic Oath, doctors are not allowed to divulge any information without their consent of their patients. By implementing the new health guidelines, the

state is not interfering with the lives of its citizens any more than usual.

This information, naturally, is not going to be perfect. Some people may be in denial about their sexualities or afraid of the possible consequences. But for these, arguably most vulnerable individuals, knowing that they have an impartial source they can trust might help to alleviate their psychological insecurity.

The new questionnaire might well therefore develop an even deeper doctor-patient relationship, which is something we should certainly strive for.

Overall then, the guidelines can and will do a lot of good among the LGBTQ+ population of this country.

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Tell us what you think by emailing us at comment@ palatinate.org.uk

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Thursday 2nd November 2017 | PALATINATE

Comment

Black History Month offers a unique chance to reflect Hanna Suliman-Nicol Black History Month presents us with a unique opportunity to celebrate those who have in the past contributed to our current national, social, and cultural state, but have often been marginalised and discounted from the larger British narrative due to the colour of their skin.

One of the criticisms commonly levelled at Black History Month is that it is redundant, a ‘token’ event if you will. Yet, when we live in a society where the majority of black men and women are still systematically held back from opportunities as a result of their historic socio-economic circumstances, it is impossible to deny the fact that these historical inequalities are still relevant. BHM provides a time for reflection: a chance to see how far we have come as a society, but also to note that there are still changes to be made.

Perhaps part of the reason why there is such uncertainty regard-

ing the need for Black History Month in the UK stems from the fact that, in recent years, the story of Black-Westerners has been dominated by the African-American narrative. As stories of police brutality and oppression at every level in the US fills our newsfeeds, it is easy to neglect the problems faced by black people in the UK.

I alone represent 25% of my year’s black population in college Culturally, the UK is far more integrated than the US. This summer, the Tate Modern put on an exhibition celebrating black art in the US from the 1950s to the 1980s. Such an exhibition would never – and has never – happened at a major US museum. Yet there are still significant problems within the UK. Black people, for one, still find themselves underrepresented in high ranking positions across the country.

A large part of this is down to our education system, which tends to hinder those from dis-

advantaged backgrounds. This, of course, often tends to disproportionately affect ethnic minorities.

It is why I alone represent 25% of my year’s black population in college.

It is true that in the past Durham University has not been explicitly connected with black British history; indeed, its story thus far has been largely concerned with privileged white men. This is understandable given the context of the university, but it is no longer acceptable in the 21st century for an institution that strives to be one of the leading global cenHanna Suliman-Nicol (Alan Nicol)

tres of education. It is this image that perpetuates the stereotype of Durham being a place exclusively for privately-educated students. It is also the image that drives away not only BME students, but also those of other ethnicities and even individuals from state schools.

In an ideal world, Black History Month would be redundant This was something I was very conscious of when I made my decision to take up my place at Durham. I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner every day in a great hall adorned with paintings of past college members. Every figure is a white male. There is not a single woman or person of colour.

Yet at the same time, the Senior Student at University College this year is a black woman.

At the start of term, during his opening speech, the Chaplain looked around the hall and noted the lack of diversity. He said that this was something that needed to change. And while I have been at

Durham, I have noticed an effort to diversify syllabi in humanities subjects, to create outreach programmes, and to partake in schemes that seek to broaden the student body and experience.

In an ideal world, Black History Month would be redundant, because black people would be adequately recognised and given equal opportunities on a daily basis.

In my college’s great hall adorned with paintings, every figure is a white male Maybe that will be the case one day, when we reach a point where the dominant narrative is inclusive and reflective of the diverse society we actually are.

But until that day comes, we must continue to actively celebrate people of colour and recognise their place in the past, the present, and the future to come.

Being BME at Durham: a potential minefield Victoria Lincoln 95% of the time I do not feel that different from my friends or other students at Durham. However, being a British-Asian in a very white university does have some rather annoying pitfalls now and again.

One of the main issues is that many people stereotype BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) students, and expect them to act a certain way or to fit a certain personality type, which is pretty ignorant in itself. One of the other issues is that often BME students feel pressured to ‘fit in’ with their white peers.

Personally, I haven’t experienced the latter, but I have definitely experienced the former more often since moving to a less diverse part of the UK. This pressure is something a number of my Black-British friends have voiced their concern with. Their experiences have been invaluable to me in approaching the issue of BME people feeling pressured to either wear a ‘white’ mask or to play up to their stereotype in Durham.

Every BME person’s experience of racism or even just plain ignorance in Durham is unique and it’s important not to generalise. For

that reason I am just going to focus on the experiences of me and the friends aforementioned. However, I am sure many BME people can relate to these incidents and I hope it makes you think twice judging people too quickly based on their outward appearance.

BME students can feel pressured to play up to stereotypes in Durham I do get hit with the ‘Where are you originally from?’ question more often than I’d like in Durham. The answer is Kent. I am from Kent.

Such ignorant snap-assumptions also affect my academic life and the societies I am a part of.

My first tutorial in my first year, a politics tutor asked a question about Indian nationalism. He then asked me to answer it, obviously because I was the only brown person in the room. But how would I know? I’m British.

Such stereotyping had not happened to me before I came to university. However, here this kind of thing happens whenever we discuss colonialism, global development, or other topics related to ‘brown people.’ This is irksome because BME people are not a

collective and we shouldn’t be treated as such. Just because I am the only BME person at hand does not mean that I can or should represent every British-Asian ever.

However, this annoying stereotyping is not permanent and I do not think it is malicious. It comes from a place of misunderstanding and a lack of exposure to other classes and ethnicities.

In my time at university I have had the positive experience of introducing people to my background and hopefully breaking down their assumptions regarding, in my case, British-Asian women.

They thought I was from the South-East version of Slumdog Millionaire I am involved in politics on campus, but none of the groups here have a significant BME presence, if any. I didn’t join my party for over a year because I didn’t feel I had anything in common with them, and at first they didn’t know how to talk to me. It was another case of awkward stereotyping, where I thought they were posh idiots and they thought I was from the South-East London version of Slumdog Millionaire. However, after getting to know each

(Durham University)

other, I regret not joining sooner.

I think for a lot of people I am the only one, or one of a couple of, BME friends they have. This lack of exposure to BME people can lead to some pretty cringe assumptions, but by engaging with each other, after a while the stereotypes become chiselled away.

Even though I have had a positive experience of breaking down such barriers, there are clear challenges for BME people in Durham. There are few BME role models available in academia, colleges, sports, and societies, which keeps BME students’ voices often unheard or feeling pressured to blend in. This can lead to ‘imposter syndrome’ where people hide part of their person-

ality, which is not healthy at all.

There have been some improvements in recent years, such as the ACS fashion show last year, which showcased some incredible African and Black-British talent and debunked some unfounded stereotypes in the process. It was a celebration of diversity done in an inclusive way.

Events like this show students that it is a good thing that we don’t all come from the same cultural background. As a student community we should be doing more to make everyone feel that they can be themselves here. Perhaps then Durham would stop losing talented young BME people to Warwick!

PALATINATE | Thursday 2nd November 2017

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Comment

The new inclusive Hamlet: Netflix and the Dane Jacob Whitehead Consider this earth-shattering image – Hamlet walks onto the stage, skull in hand, tears in his eyes, revenge on his mind. The audience gasp. The actor stumbles, shocked.

Has he forgotten his lines? Is the audience being choked by dry ice?

Is his fly undone? Something far stranger has occurred. This Hamlet is being played by a minority actor.

To be blunt, British theatre has a dirty little secret. Not a startling lack of emerging playwrights. Not dwindling public participation in the arts. Not even Tom Hiddleston.

Acting roles for ethnic minorities in the UK have regressed.

Who’d have thought that 87 years after Paul Robeson’s Othello, his portrayal of the doomed Moor would be considered a high point for inclusivity in the British arts?

Don Warrington was the first BME actor to play Lear for 20 years,

alongside an all-black cast. Only established TV star Adrian Lester has ever played Henry V as anything but white. There has never been a black Richard the Second.

Acting roles for ethnic minorities have regressed But what about Hamlet? Generations of minority actors have faced the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Paapa Essiedu’s groundbreaking portrayal of the doomed prince last year for the RSC was a key step in the right direction, but we need to go further.

This is exactly why Riz Ahmed‘s casting as the Dane in a Netflix adaptation is so significant. A bona fide British BME star is to play the greatest role acting has to offer. A part on which lasting reputations are made, or broken. A chance to play the procrastinator’s procrastinator. And what makes this particularly significant is the medium. It’s not a mere three-week run at one

of London’s most exclusive theatres.

It’s not a production so alternative you’re lost in the Shoreditch backstreets, still trying to find it. It’s part of the Netflix behemoth.

Make no mistake, Netflix is the Globe Theatre of our times. It’s where we go to laugh, cry, and occasionally chill. Yet it is the Globe on a macrocosmic scale. If all the world’s a stage, then Netflix is the stage that can be seen by all the world. We consume in our beds, on our phones, in our underwear. We don’t have to don top hats and tailcoats to watch the latest privately-educated darling fresh off the RADA pipeline. There are 110 million subscribers, dozens of original shows, and a shoot budget to rival the GDP of a small nation.

The power of the theatre has been decimated, and so the importance of a BME actor playing Hamlet on Netflix cannot be understated.

Consider the platform’s impact on popular culture: a world without Making a Murderer, Stranger Things, or Narcos. Imagine the Ham-

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let memes! Netflix’s progressive nature has undoubtedly played a part in their success. Their hit shows and stars are the antithesis of theatre’s elitism. There is no white middle-class stranglehold in shows like Black Mirror or Orange is the New Black; minority stars are not squeezed in to fulfil a quota.

Netflix is The Globe of our times Hamlet’s transferral to Netflix should be more worrying to theatre impresarios than they may realise. The streaming service’s mobile, classless, youthful consumer base is everything your Tuesday night theatre audience isn’t. Riz Ahmed’s star is now far more likely to grow through the Netflix grapevine than a West End wine and dine. How many 6th form common rooms are punctuated with theatre discussion, save for the more artsy wings of some of our most famous pub-

lic schools? But consider the buzz about The Crown, Better Call Saul, or Beasts of No Nation.

Theatre does owe BME actors a living. But they are equally reliant on doing as such for their own survival. A whitewashed Shakespeare is Romeo and Juliet without the sacrifice, Hamlet without the introspection, Othello without the racial tension. The white, middle-class stranglehold needs to be broken, not only in the interests of society, but for the sake of British theatre, the very productions which seek to prolong it. For them to change, they must be threatened, confronted on their own territory.

Ahmed’s potential performance of theatre’s greatest role could be the most significant Hamlet of our times, not only for his acting skill and verve, but for its potential to add colour to the drabness of British theatre.

Thursday 2nd November 2017 | PALATINATE

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Profile

“I want to make sure I do something worthwhile” Profile talks new policies, new colleges, and taking the University to task with Durham Students’ Union President Megan Croll Isabelle Ardron Profile Editor Megan Croll is perhaps not the typical Students’ Union President.

Admitting she “wasn’t really involved with the Students’ Union when [she] was an undergrad,” it was her term as JCR President for St. Cuthbert’s that exposed her to student issues.

Despite her late initiation into the world of student politics, Croll’s passion for Durham and genuine desire to see change is striking throughout our conversation.

The University’s ten-year Masterplan was a crucial factor in Croll’s decision to run for President. She realised that the proposed developments meant that this year’s President would have the “potential to have a huge impact on students”, and wanted to be the leader to ensure a positive outcome for students.

Croll also cites the importance of her experiences as a JCR President in inspiring her to become DSU President. She became frustrated with the lack of progress the JCR Presidents could make on student issues, and even suggests that they sometimes failed to make the necessary effort to bring about change.

However, Croll suggests that “a lot of that [lack of momentum] was because they knew they couldn’t make the last step”.

The ten per cent accommodation fee discount for students below the £25,000 threshold is “a bit of a half-arsed effort” When trying to make big changes, according to Croll, the JCR Presidents could “get to here, and then you need the Students’ Union” to go further. This realisation of the importance of the SU in making progress on key student issues inspired Croll into thinking “I’ll just do it myself” and run to be President.

Croll is committed to her central concern: the cost of the overall Durham experience. Croll shares the anger of many Durham students towards the annual increases in accommodation

fees, but cautiously welcomes the progress made particularly with regard to differential pricing, proposed for the 2019/2020 cohort.

Croll also praises the impact of the SU on the recently released fees for the coming academic year, warning that “it could have been a lot worse”.

Croll is aware of the apathetic attitude with which many Durham students regard their union She emphatically declares her commitment to changing the Durham grant, which supports students from lower income backgrounds, criticising its current “all or nothing threshold” for eligibility. To improve the grant, Croll proposes a tiered system to help “more people in a more appropriate way”.

She is also critical of the current 10% discount off the total cost of accommodation for students who fall just over the £25,000 threshold, condemning it as “a bit of a half-arsed effort”.

Croll also pulls no punches regarding the University’s spending of its income from students. She states that her requests to “track the pound through the system” met with failure, because “nobody can give me an answer”.

She hopes to force the University to give clarity on its expenditure, and explain where students’ money goes.

The Common Rooms also have plenty of room for improvement, according to Croll.

Diplomatically stating her desire to “work with them rather than imposing stuff”, she wants to improve the “terrible” training for common room executives on issues such as governance and consent.

She also hopes to ensure the practice of the JCRs can “stand up to any scrutiny” against the investigations of an increasingly “nosy” University, through encouraging JCRs to communicate in sharing best practice, and helping to develop long-term strategies to outlive individual Presidents.

The “bizarre” costs pertaining to membership of individual JCRs are of further concern to Croll. Among the stranger expenses which Croll takes issue with are the “hidden” charge for membership of alumni communities added to accommodation bills at certain colleges, and fees to cover library membership at others.

The initial phase of the development of the Mount Oswald colleges, the major change facing Durham over the next decade, is another obvious priority for Croll, and one she approaches with cautious enthusiasm.

The increase in student numbers is “something that we’re majorly aware of”, but is “necessary, because, if we don’t grow, certain departments are not going to be able to keep up in the global rankings”.

“If we don’t grow, certain departments are not going to be able to keep up in the global rankings” Falling down the league tables would not only derail the University’s strategy but, according to Croll, also devalue our degrees.

Croll is aware of the pressure

that a growing student population will place on housing, teaching, and library space, but believes steps are being taken to mitigate these issues.

She points to the new teaching development planned for St. Mary’s Fields, and the extra seats added to the library in preparation for the arrival this year of the Queen’s Campus students.

She suggests that city centre housing is not “that much of an issue because we’ve got more beds than students”, but believes this is something to watch out for in the future.

Croll wholeheartedly endorses the work being carried out by the Students’ Union, Durham societies, and the University, on the issues of consent and sexual violence.

She is supportive of the recent development of a new online reporting tool for incidents of sexual violence and misconduct, and also praises the new “Respect Means” campaign and introduction of compulsory active bystander training for Freps.

Despite the undoubted progress made by the SU on issues from accommodation to consent, Croll is aware of the apathetic attitude with which many Durham students regard their union.

Whilst acknowledging that the common rooms are there for many

▲ Megan Croll, President of Durham SU (Megan Croll)

of the day-to-day student needs, she suggests the SU’s role is to help resolve wider issues, such as fees.

Croll indicates that the attitude of many Durham students towards university-wide issues is to think “that’s not good, but I don”t really know what to do about it”, and suggests that it is here that the SU should step in.

She concedes that “we can definitely communicate better” to enhance the Union’s visibility and awareness of its role in Durham, but emphasises that its reputation has significantly improved from its nadir during her first years in Durham.

From reflecting on the status of the SU in Durham, Croll turns her attention to the NUS. She believes “the NUS […] doesn’t work as well as it should do, and I think everybody knows that but doesn’t know how to fix it”.

“The NUS doesn’t work as well as it should do,” she says. “Everybody knows that but doesn’t know how to fix it” Despite her awareness of its problems, Croll voted to remain affiliated to the NUS in last year’s referendum, stating that she “didn’t want to do a Brexit and jump ship rather than fix it from the inside”.

Croll is optimistic about the future of the NUS under the leadership of its new President, Shakira Martin, believing that they can make real, positive change to government policy.

She emphasises the need for the NUS to be a “national united voice for students”, but admits that her priority will be to “focus on Durham’s issues.”

Croll’s evident passion for her role, and desire to have a positive impact on the lives of students in Durham, defines our interview.

She believes it is crucial that every year, students must be able to identify “that’s what the Students’ Union did for me that year”.

Durham may be in for a year of “unprecedented” development, but Croll is clearly a determined leader, ready to take Durham through the changes and challenges which lie ahead.

14

Thursday 2nd November 2017 PALATINATE

Politics

Politics News in Brief: What you missed

Mugabe dropped by WHO

Nationalism into nativism?

Abe wins landslide

Eric Sargent

Tom Cameron Rhianna Cameron

Hana Kapetanovic

The presiding head of the WHO has rescinded the appointment of controversial president Robert Mugabe as a WHO Goodwill Ambassador, following a backlash.

The WHO received criticism for choosing a president, whose tenure has seen the collapse of his country’s healthcare system, to represent the organisation.

While Mugabe initially expanded Zimbabwe’s healthcare system when he took office in 1987, the developing country’s healthcare system has yet to recover from economic collapse in 2000. Payments for medical staff often never arrive and basic medicines are commonly scarce.

President Mugabe travels abroad for all major medical treatments.

Following Shinzō Abe leading the LDP to a landslide victory in Japan’s snap election, the world has one question: will he finally be able to amend Article 9 of Japan’s Pacifist Constitution?

Implemented by America following WWII, Japan has been committed to not maintaining any military power. The political right has argued this to be untenable in a world of declining US military influence and a continually aggressive North Korea.

Abe now has the two-thirds house majority needed, but still requires a referendum to make any codified changes. A heated debate on the issue is certain and a referendum is likely, but its result is unclear.

George W. Bush criticised the current US political landscape in a speech at the Bush Institute’s ‘Spirit of Liberty’ forum, noting its partisan politics and vulnerability to “outright fabrications”. Without directly referring to President Trump, he condemned the atmosphere of “emboldened bigotry” and defended the “dynamism” of immigration. He described it as “Nationalism distorted into nativism”, also condemning isolationism in the face of globalisation.

Bannon responded in an address at a Republican Party convention, saying that “[he] embarrassed himself” and went further in calling him the “most destructive president” in American history for his role in China’s economic rise.

(Al Jazeera English via Flickr)

(Presidencia de la República Mexican via Flickr)

Natasha Livingstone

(kellybdc via Flickr)

‘Social apartheid’ scandal Amy Stokes David Lammy recently called out the ‘social apartheid’ of Oxbridge.

How much truth is there to this statement? Data published last week displayed a decline in the social diversity of their students, with 82% of offers made to applicants in the top two social classes. More offers were made to applicants from four of the Home Counties than the whole of the North, and 13 Oxford Colleges failed to make a single offer to black A-level applicants over a six-year period.

Despite efforts to widen participation in Higher Education into the political spotlight, the persistent rhetoric of inclusion and accessibil-

ity narrated by these institutions is exposed as having no real substance when analysing diversity figures.

“

Accusations of increasing elitism

”

The accusations of increasing elitism highlight the failure to draw on Ivy League style schemes which personally encourage students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

One in five Harvard students are from families with an income less than the national average, yet – excluding bursaries – Oxbridge are

(Policy Exchange via Flickr)

Malta journalist bombing

spending around £10m a year on outreach schemes which are clearly failing in their purpose.

Less than 1% of the student population graduate from Oxbridge, yet they have produced most of our prime ministers, senior judges and civil servants, Nevertheless, is it unjust to place the blame solely with these institutions?

“

The rhetoric of inclusion [...] has no real substance

”

It is far easier for the Department of Education to criticise these institutions than address their own failure to support those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Black A-Level students are far more likely to miss their predicted grades; just 4.9% in 2012/13 achieved 3 A*-A, the typical Oxbridge offer.

This catch-22 of a failing education system dominated by those who benefit from it means Oxbridge will continue to be unrepresentative.

Calls for Brexit clarity

Anna Gray

Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated on Monday 16th October.

Her death was due to a remotelytriggered car bomb that exploded as she left her house.

The journalist was a key figure in the Panama Papers investigation, which triggered an election earlier this year. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat remained in power despite the scandal. A crime syndicate, that Galizia accused of fuel-smuggling, has recently been linked to her murder.

Italian authorities have arrested several gang members, but not in relation to the journalist’s death.

Galizia’s son called Malta a “mafia state” run by “crooks”, after finding his mother dead.

In a letter to Brexit Secretary David Davis, five of the largest business lobby groups demanded greater urgency in securing a transitional deal with the EU by the end of the year.

The letter urged both sides to finalise a deal, as current uncertainty is holding back investment. If there is no agreement by the end of the year, companies have said they will enact contingency plans, moving businesses and jobs from the UK to mainland Europe.

This letter underlines the need for greater clarity in the Brexit process, which currently neither side is providing.

(Conecta Abogados via Flickr)

(Matheus Swanson via Flickr)

Ardern for NZ Hefin Rees Edwards Jacinda Arden, 37, will become New Zealand’s youngest PM in over a century after her Labour Party successfully formed a coalition with the New Zealand First and Green Party.

Having only become leader just 7 weeks before the general election in September, Arden defied expert opinion by leading Labour to win 46 parliamentary seats.

Arden has branded capitalism a “blatant failure” with regards to issues such as homelessness and looks to roll out a legislative programme that is left leaning and interventionist. She plans to build 100,000 affordable homes in a decade, invest $6 billion in education, raise the minimum wage by 75 cents to $16.50 an hour, as well as promising free 3-year university tuition by 2024.

“

She has injected fresh energy

”

Arden is socially liberal, having promised to decriminalise abor-

(Ulysse Bellier via Flickr) tion and proposing to legalise cannabis for people with terminal illnesses or who are in chronic pain.

On immigration, she is taking a harder stance by pledging to cut net migration from 70,000 down to 40,000.

Cast in the same mould as other world leaders such as Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron who have invigorated younger voters, she has injected fresh energy into New Zealand politics with her young, charismatic and authentic approach.

15

Thursday 2nd November 2017 PALATINATE

Politics

Beginning of the end for a united Spain?

Jack Parker Deputy Politics Editor The Spanish government has stripped Catalonia of its autonomy after one of the most dramatic days in recent European history.

The move came just hours after Catalonia’s regional government emphatically voted to declare independence from the Spanish state, following a controversial referendum earlier this month.

In a bid to prevent Catalonia from declaring independence, Spain’s Prime Minister, conservative Mariano Rajoy, had for weeks threatened to remove the region’s autonomy by invoking Article 155 of the country’s constitution, which has been described as the ‘nuclear option’. Addressing the Spanish Senate earlier on Friday, Mr Rajoy argued that Article 155 was the only way for “law, democracy, stability and tolerance” to return to Catalonia.

The recent rapid escalation in tensions came after the disputed independence referendum on October 1st, held by Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, in defiance of a ruling by the Spanish Constitutional Court, which had declared

( Jordi Payà via Flickr)

any referendum illegal. Catalonia and Spain have been at diplomatic loggerheads ever since.

Alongside removing its autonomy, Mr Rajoy dismissed the entire regional government and fired senior Catalan police officials, calling regional elections for December 21st. This means that while Catalonia is currently under direct Spanish control, at the hands of the Deputy Prime Minister, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, Madrid’s direct rule is not indefinite.

Earlier in the week, Mr Puigde-

mont had been rumoured to be dissolving parliament and calling elections for himself in an attempt to stop the Spanish government from triggering Article 155. However, after an outcry from proindependence supports, Mr Puigdemont appeared to change his mind behind closed doors.

On Friday afternoon, a motion to declare independence was passed by 70 votes to 10 in the region’s 135-seat parliament, with opposition MPs snubbing the vote. Amongst the growing

Can the internet combat terrorism?

Liam Fell Although terrorism has been in steady decline in the UK since the 1980s, the nature of it has changed markedly in the last ten years. No longer the work of organised cells whose activities are directed by foreign terrorist groups, the most recent attacks faced by the UK have been so-called lone wolf attacks; the attacker has acted under their own volition.

“

Thoughts and ideas are impossible to contain

”

Prime Minister May has called for more action to be taken by internet companies to help prevent terrorism. This comes after Britain experiences its highest number of deaths due to terrorism since 2005. But is she right to suggest it is internet companies who need to play a larger role in helping to reduce terrorism?

At first glance, this seems sensible. If companies like Facebook and

Google are able to limit the spread of radicalising material, perhaps this will in turn reduce the number of people being radicalised. However, there are several issues with this. The first of which being the sheer scale of the task at hand. It is easier to make broad statements that these companies ‘should be doing more’ than to offer a practical solution to the problem. The amount of content posted on sites like Facebook each day is vast and the time needed to thoroughly search for, and remove all of “dangerous material” is impractical.

Even with far more comprehensive systems in place, determined content-sharers are likely to find ways around filters. In short, the government faces the same problem today that governments throughout history have faced: thoughts and ideas are hard, if not impossible, to contain. But even if we could completely prevent the spread of these ideas, not to mention the human rights implications behind limiting free speech, we come to a more fundamental issue of whose role it is to decide what material encourages terrorism and what does not.

With a relatively small number of technology companies dominating both social media and search, to give them sole discretion in po-

licing the content hosted on their platforms might put us at risk of giving a very small section of society a disproportionately large role in shaping public discourse and the spread of ideas.

“

Whose role is it to decide what material encourages terrorism?

”

We have to accept these ideas will exist with or without government or corporate intervention.

Perhaps, instead, the Prime Minister should be asking what makes a British citizen turn on their country and commit such abhorrent acts of violence.

Internet companies instead should certainly focus on removing content which falls foul of UK law, but also creating a platform where a free market of ideas can flourish.

We may find that putting faith in the ideas and values of western liberal democracies could be the most powerful tool we have with which we can fight terrorism.

crowds across the region, every vote for independence was rapturously cheered; every vote against was met with scathing boos.

Separatists inside and outside parliament broke into a rendition of the Catalan national anthem, while Spanish and EU flags were torn down from government buildings.

The international response to Catalonia’s declaration of independence has been almost unanimous – governments across the world, Downing Street included, refused to recognise an independent Catalonia. Scotland’s parliament was one of the few to support the decision.

“

Rapid escalation in tensions

”

Despite his sacking, Mr Puigdemont has publicly urged supporters to peacefully “maintain the momentum”, while Spain’s public prosecutor responded on Saturday morning by announcing that he would be filing charges of

rebellion against him, an offence which carries a sentence of up to 30 years.

The issue of Catalan independence is deeply rooted in Spanish history. The pro-independence movement can be traced back to the mid-19th century, but has come to a head in recent years, particularly while the conservative party Partido Popular (PP) and Mariano Rajoy have been in government. But this month’s events have sparked bitter divisions at home and abroad.

Separatists believe that the 90% support for an independent Catalonia in October’s referendum means a united Spain is unjustifiable. The Spanish parliament, united against independence in an uncharacteristic example of cross-party support, maintains that the referendum itself was illegal and therefore non-binding, and chooses to highlight the low turnout of 43% as evidence that many Catalans are indifferent towards change from the status quo.

No matter what stance you take, these are challenging and unprecedented times for the people of Spain and Catalonia.

Corbyn’s new agenda Max Jeffery “We are now the political mainstream”, he spoke, nodding nervously, as if trying to justify the comment to himself. As with every sentence of Jeremy Corbyn’s conference speech, it was met with elated applause.

His recent success is less the consequence of his party’s support than the appalling failure of the Conservatives to govern with gusto, and recover after a terrible election. Jeremy Corbyn is not the mainstream.

The Conservative’s own conference gave them this opportunity.

They met it with hollow platitudes and embarrassing politicking. This was just the opening Labour needed – attacks on all fronts.

The next battle lines were drawn over Universal Credit. It is a genuinely good policy that should have sailed through Parliament. Again, it has become marred. This time, over a 55p-a-minute call charge that should never have been included.

Another opening for Corbyn: an embarrassing climbdown was followed by a unanimous passing of a motion to pause the policy.

Yet, luckily for the Government, support from the country seems to be holding relatively steadfast.

(Collective Voice via Flickr)

There should be no complacency however – they teeter on the edge of a Government that would struggle to pass key legislation. If they forget these failures, Corbyn’s opportunism will become the agenda and people will listen. Their failures give him the chance to advocate re-nationalisation, to push for a National Investment Bank and to force a massive increase in government spending. Unless addressed, the Conservative’s failures will indeed allow the centre-ground of British politics to creep to the left.

Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour is not yet the mainstream; they are a loud and dangerous voice against the Conservatives, yanking the rope in the political tug-of-war a little closer to the left.

Thursday 2nd November 2017 | PALATINATE

16

SciTech

An interview with... Festival of the Spoken Nerd

Martha Bozic SciTech Editor You Can’t Polish a Nerd is the latest in a string of pun-laden live science comedy shows created and delivered by ‘geeky trio’ Steve Mould, Helen Arney and Matt Parker.

This is the third outing for the group, who “tour a new show every few years”, according to Mould.

Their style is quite literally all bells and whistles, with Arney providing musical interludes and accompaniment throughout the show. Having previously “serenaded Jon Snow on Channel 4 News”, this time she promises to “sing all 118 elements of the Periodic Table in under two minutes.”

Arney promises to “sing all 118 elements of the periodic table in under two minutes” If that’s not impressive enough, she has also previously smashed a wine glass with her voice, videos of which can be found on Youtube.

For Parker, a highlight of his performance is “[when] I use a combination of mathematics, computer programming and

Reader’s Scigest Seal Turnbull With Halloween having just past, its only natural that the latest scientific breakthroughs have had a suitably spooky twist.

Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have developed a horror story writing AI: Shelly AI uses deep-learning algorithms and data from the subreddit /r/nosleep to compose seriously scary additions to input sentences. You can make your own suggestion by tweeting @shelley_ai.

On a darker note, the German research network BIOACID has suggested that infant sea creature populations will be especially harmed by increasing ocean acidification, with cod populations being particularly challenged, so get your fish and chips before the prices become truly terrifying!

Join us for our live event!

Angela Saini: ‘How Science Got Women Wrong’ November 7th, 6.30pm in CG93 For more information, visit the Palatinate Facebook page

▲ Arney, Mould and Parker performing on stage during their 2015 tour geometry to high-five myself in another dimension.” This aptly sets the tone for Festival of the Spoken Nerd. Between them, they possess the niche but surprisingly applicable talent of taking subjects which are for many unrelatable – and often mocked – like maths and programming; doing something seen as uncool – and often mocked – like high-fiving yourself, and turning it into an informative and entertaining comedy spectacle.

It’s everything you would expect from a show that promises to “[put] the recursion into recursion”. More impressively, perhaps, they manage to do this without becoming the butt of the

joke themselves.

They are, however, careful to stress that this is not just a performance for scientists or hardcore geeks. The “science comedy extravaganza”, as Mould describes it, should be equally accessible “to people who just like watching The Big Bang Theory”.

The last time I saw them was in 2015 at their second live show Just for Graphs, and I can confirm that you won’t just be paying to watch a particularly polished lecture. All three are natural performers, and grace the stage with their energy, comedic timing, and a wellrehearsed precision.

Between them, the trio have

many TV credits to their names – most notably an appearance on QI – and have a “genuinely experimental” comedy show, Domestic Science, on BBC Radio 4. They have also performed at venues ranging from the Hammersmith (now Eventim) Apollo and Latitude Festival, to the British Library and the Royal Institution. The Gala theatre, packed with an audience of mildly geeky students, should therefore sit quite comfortably in the middle of their range.

Mould, the “experiments guy”, was once a presenter on Blue Peter, and can be often be found playing with real fire. As such, you shouldn’t be surprised if his sections of the show really do ‘go out with a bang’.

As well as taking vaguely hazardous experiments to stages around the country, Arney and Mould have written a popular science book ‘The Element In The Room’, which was released this October. Parker jokes that having written a book before, he passed up the offer, “[knowing] that the correct answer was ‘no’.”

Describing himself as a ‘standup mathematician’, Parker holds the prestigious title of London Mathematical Society Popular Lecturer. As a student, he says, he “saw comedy writing as a

hobby alongside my actual mathematical studies.” Despite this, “on reflection, it was clearly what I was better at.”

In an email exchange with Palatinate he tells me of an incident with “a bunch of liquid nitrogen” reminiscent of the kind of science he now does on stage.

After tipping it “all over the floor… it proceeded to freeze and shrink all the carpet tiles, [leaving] a room with exposed concrete and comically small carpet squares!”

For Parker, the highlight is “when I use a combination of mathematics, computer programming and geometry to highfive myself in another dimension” It should be noted, however, that the experiments in their show are far less dangerous and more intentional than such student antics. Indeed, science has never been more showbiz.

So maybe you can’t polish a nerd, but if you want to see one rolled in glitter, watch this space.

Festival of the Spoken Nerd are performing at the Gala Theatre, Durham on Saturday 4th November.

Stupid primates can still make friends Jack Eardley SciTech Editor

It seems sensible that brain size should relate to primates’ social skills; surely a larger brain is needed to understand rigid hierarchies like the Macaque’s or to live in huge social groups like the Gelada Baboon. According to recent work done by Durham PhD candidate Lauren Powell and collaborators this may not be the case.

Through careful statistical analysis she disputes the ‘Social Brain Hypothesis’ by questioning the correlation between brain size and social group size. Previous work has suggested that primates who live in larger groups and therefore have more complex social structures will have larger brains to accommodate for this.

Not only does Lauren question the link put forward by the ‘Social Brain Hypothesis’ but also the very premise that brain size is a good measure of intellectual capacity and that group size is a good measure of social structure complexity. “The brain is a mosaic

of functions,” and because of this, simply measuring brain size is an inadequate and blunt tool for understanding a primates intellect.

The brain is a mosaic of functions Lauren’s work actually finds more evidence to support a link between a species foraging area and its brain size, perhaps due to the mental requirements of navigating larger areas of land.

In interview, Lauren is keen to point out that correlating simple metrics like this can only tell you so much and that studying primate mental capacity should be far more nuanced to reflect the complexity of the brain. Many feats that humans would consider indicative of intelligence such as Chimpanzees using tools to fish for termites or rocks to break into nuts are not considered in this sort of analysis.

Finding links between brain size and foraging area does not answer questions about evolution. How can we know if

primates developed larger brains to accommodate larger foraging areas or if they developed larger foraging areas due to larger brains?

Perhaps larger primate groups were established to protect from predators, these then needed larger feeding areas and so larger brains to know their way around.

Maybe larger brained primates had a competitive advantage as they were capable of searching for food in a larger area. With current methodology it is only possible, and indeed enjoyable, to guess.

Maybe larger brained primates had a competitive advantage “We hope that our study will stimulate other researchers to study brain evolution with more sophisticated measures of both brain and behaviour.” The nature of the primate and human brain as well as its evolution is a subject whose surface researchers are simply starting to scratch and moving on from simple models

will surely allow for a more complete understanding.

In the future, it will become increasingly possible to use growing computer power and sophisticated genetic algorithms to answer these evolutionary questions, using a technique called Ancestral reconstruction. This may allow greater understanding of how primates evolved to their current state and may even help explain the nature and evolution of the human brain.

(Marwell Zoo)

PALATINATE | Thursday 2nd November 2017

17

Sport

Palatinates impress at Student Yachting World Cup James Martland Deputy Sport Editor Two weeks ago, a crew from Durham headed to The Frioul Islands in Marseille, chosen to represent England for the 37th edition of the Student Yachting World Cup. The crew, made up of Kochaun Yang, James Roe, Tom Goodbourn, Becky Eno, Guy Wilkinson, Verity Hopkins and James Thomas, went into the competition unsure what to expect, with little knowledge of the strength of the other crews.

As James Roe comments: “The only team we’d competed against going into the event was Team Scotland so we weren’t sure what to expect from the rest of the competition.

“Based on our experiences at the BUSA Yachting Nationals last year we decided to go into it aiming to beat Scotland and to see where we were overall.”

However, despite this lack of experience, Durham were able to surpass expectations, securing a second-place finish behind the crew from Kobe University representing Japan.

Nevertheless, Roe’s assertion proved correct as this was one place above the Scottish team, who finished third, despite leading after the first three days.

Roe also points out that whilst the choice of Durham as the representative of England was an honour, it was well deserved considering the club’s recent success over the last year, particularly in BUCS. “The opportunity for us to represent England was well deserved and we enjoyed representing the country and our club on a global stage.”

Durham remained competitive for first place throughout, but remained second at the end of each of the five days.

Even so, they did well to claw back the Scottish side who were first overall after three days and can be very pleased with the overall result.

The second day of competition was perhaps the most successful for the Durham crew, as they won three out of the four races.

However, going into the final day, Durham had a great chance to claim an overall victory.

Causes outside of the crew’s hands meant that this was unable to happen, but as Roe states, despite this disappointment, Durham can hold their heads high now and should be regarded as one of the best in the world.

“The team are incredibly pleased with the result. Team Japan and Scotland were good

▲ Durham (left) finished runners-up behind Kobe University (Binet Photo) competition throughout the regatta, with first place coming down to just two points going into the final day, which was unfortunately cancelled due to strong wind after the first couple of days of racing, after which we fortunately ending up in second where we stayed consistently throughout the regatta.

“Every member of the crew gave it their all and while it is obviously a shame we didn’t get to try and

Durham hockey duo fall just short of glory after GB Under-21 selection Will Jennings While the Durham student population brace themselves for the impending chilly winter, Ollie Payne and Jack Waller have had more exotic prospects on their mind.

The First XI hockey pair were recently selected as part of Great Britain Under-21’s 18-man squad to travel to Malaysia, taking part in the annual Sultan of Johor Cup against the likes of the United States, Australia and China.

Such an achievement saw the two players exchange the north-east’s ensuing autumnal conditions for a more tropical climate, departing earlier last month for the week-long tournament in Johor Bahru.

Great Britain played five group games in the competition, winning all of them, before eventually being pipped in the final by a welldrilled Australia.

The tournament started so well for John Bleby’s side, with the team triumphing in all of their opening five matches.

A narrow 1-0 win over hostnation Malaysia preceded an 11-0 romp against the USA, before two closer encounters saw the Durham-influenced side defeat Australia and Japan 4-2 and 3-1 respectively.

Great Britain completed a flawless group campaign with a 2-1 victory over India, with captain Waller scoring the winner in a closely-run affair.

Despite such a promising opening to the tournament, Great Britain were thwarted in the final, losing 2-0 to an Australia side who successfully defended their title after last year’s triumph.

Waller is no stranger to the Malaysian conditions, having represented England in the previous two tournaments, and having scored the winning goal in last year’s third-place play-off

against Japan.

The surroundings were less familiar for Payne, whose call-up represented his first and therefore more unfamiliar territory.

Despite Australia’s triumph, Waller and Payne remain confident about the future, retaining optimism about securing a first team call-up. Indeed, the Durham students’ efforts in Malaysia will have done little to inhibit their chances of further success.

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aim for the gold on the final day, second is still a fantastic result, and on top of our success in BUCS over the last couple of years we have cemented ourselves not only as the best university yacht club in the north but now also as one of the best in the world.

“The event was excellently run, we had a good variety of wind conditions and the racing was very competitive in every part of the fleet.

“The Frioul Islands where we were based are stunning and a fantastic location for sailing with good weather throughout the week.”

The competition is one which England last won in 2014 when represented by Southampton University.

However, Durham will want to continue to put their name on the trophy and hopefully go one better in the 2018 edition.

Saints raring to go after Stirling heartbreak Alex Neal After last season’s heartbreaking defeat in the National Final to close rivals Stirling, the Durham Saints are looking to go the distance in the 2017/18 BUCS Premiership season.

“We use that feeling of hurt after losing in the National Final to make us work twice as hard on the field and in the gym, to prevent it happening again,” Club President Joe Partington says.

To avoid a repeat of the 2016/17 National Final, the Saints need results from their experienced core of refined returners and American scholars. However, the newly-acquired rookies are, in many ways, as important. It is solid depth that earns Championships, and the rookies should provide this.

“The rookies’ progression has been exceptional, this year. At least one rookie will be starting

in our preseason game against Newcastle.”

Defensively, the Durham Saints have obtained scholars with previous experience in both the NCAA and the NFL. These new acquisitions will be joined by the likes of proven Cornerback Euan Cormack and Defensive End Joe Partington when the revamped team makes its season debut in Loughborough on 5th November.

Offensively, the roster is perhaps the strongest in Saints history. The team boast an elite receiving corps with finalists Harry Robinson and Donovan Swanepoel.

After standout rookie and sophomore years respectively, they will be joined by scholars from the University of Chicago, Cornell University, and the University of Miami.

Partington clarifies what we should expect from the 2017/18 Saints: “We want to send out a statement of intent to the rest of the country in our first game.”

Thursday 2nd November 2017 | PALATINATE

18

Sport

“I didn’t know we’d won until

Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake anchored the men’s 4x100m relay team to a gold medal a sprinter talks to Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero about moving to Jamaica at the age of 1 Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero Sport Editor

I

t is easy to tell when Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake has won. Most athletes will raise a fist or collapse to the floor in exhaustion when they cross the finish line, but not him. When Mitchell-Blake wins, there is no holding him back.

“I can only speak for myself, but the way I carry myself after a race, it’s not rehearsed, it’s not premeditated, that’s just how I express my happiness.

“It’s a euphoric moment and my body is jubilant, I like to have fun.

I could be the person to clap and shake [hands]… I don’t want to be deemed arrogant but it’s winning, it can’t really be explained. It’s something that can’t be explained but I hope that I show you how I feel through my celebration.”

That happiness was evident as Mitchell-Blake anchored the men’s 4x100m relay team to a gold medal and a British record at the World Athletics Championships this year. As Usain Bolt stumbled in the final leg, Mitchell-Blake powered ahead to send the London Stadium wild. But before he could celebrate, he had to be sure of the result.

“I didn’t know we’d won it until I’d seen it on the scoreboard.

“It was a race of fine margins, and [running] the anchor leg, I didn’t have the chance to lose focus, my main focus was running and passing the line, staying relaxed. I told myself all of this prior to the race because if you do that in the race you can overthink things and things go wrong.

“When I realised that we had won, once again, it was a crazy celebration, but it was just sheer joy, almost disbelief that we’d actually done it. When Iwan Thomas gave me the mic, when we were talking to the crowd, all I could say was ‘We’re world champions, we’re world champions’.

“Even me saying that now, I still get goosebumps because it’s crazy, it’s a big thing to be a world champion.”

If the magnitude of what he and his teammates had just achieved did not sink in at first, it certainly did when they visited 10 Downing Street after the Championships.

Mitchell-Blake has fond memories of that day.

“I got the opportunity to shake Theresa May’s hand, I got the

▲ Mitchell-Blake in action at the Muller Anniversary Games prior to the World Athletics Championships in London (workandplaypictures) opportunity to talk to her, and she even said something like “Great celebration!”, and I was like ‘Woah, she actually knows who I am!’

“That’s something, also, that’s a generational thing. I’ve got

“

I was always the fastest in the playground... you take great pride in things like that when you’re a little boy in primary school

”

some pictures, and down the line you show your kids, they show their grandkids, [that] with my gold medal I went to 10 Downing Street, so it’s pretty special.”

And yet, it could all have been so different had Mitchell-Blake decided to pursue his first love instead: cricket. He recalls the day he first realised he wanted to run.

“I joined a local cricket club in Ilford, and it was fine for the first

week, but there was an athletics track right by. It was just a spontaneous decision, I said ‘Dad, I want to run instead’.

“At that time I was probably about nine, and then I’d known the local track and being a young kid I was always the fastest in the playground… you take great pride in things like that when you’re a little boy in primary school.”

He describes himself as a “competitive young kid” who looked up to Dwayne Chambers as he was growing up in East London. When Chambers made an appearance at the Ilford Exchange, Mitchell-Blake stuck to him all day.

“I think I just hung around there like the fan that I was. He may have been there for a couple of hours but for some reason, I don’t know why, kind of stalkerish, I just stayed there with him.”

He loved running, but nothing could have prepared him for what he experienced when he moved to Jamaica with his family at the age of 13. Even now, Mitchell-Blake seems in awe when he talks about it.

“I thought I took it seriously but going to Jamaica, it’s a whole different thing.

“They have something called Boys and Girls Champs, and it’s

where the national stadium is packed out by people as young as babies to old men, old women… it can capacitate probably about 35,000 people and it’s full to the brim to watch high school people compete.

“In Jamaica it’s definitely your high school you go to, you pride yourself on that. In a sense, how people follow their football team in England, that’s how they follow their high school in Jamaica.”

He joined Jamaica College in Kingston after his first year, an all-boys school who were “vying for the championship, a top four finish, all the time”. There he became known as ‘British’, and the name stuck. He soon realised he would have to prove himself to his peers.

“I had to earn my respect, and I remember there was a particular meet where, say there’s 20 boys in the under-15 category, and we’re all trying to get into a heat… because I was down the pecking order, I hadn’t proved myself, I ended up getting into the last heat, I just kept getting pushed to the back of the line. I was in the slowest heat but I ended up running the fastest time of the day, and that’s when people started giving me a little bit more respect.”

Mitchell-Blake is calm and

collected over the phone. He is methodical in explaining each stage of his career so far.

“Each school that I went to primed me for another level to take it to,” he explains. “It’s just like going up the ranks in a job.”

He says he was not “that soughtout” when he left high school due to injuries sustained at Jamaica College, but he was drawn to the attention of various US colleges.

The academic side of things was never a problem for MitchellBlake, but finding a university which would get the balance right between track and education was.

Scrolling through his phone now, he says he was unaware of how many colleges tried to get in touch with him. “[On] Facebook Messenger, it wasn’t until probably about last year where, when someone messages you and they’re not your friend, they’re in a different category. I went through that list because I just discovered it last year and there were a load of schools messaging me. A lot could have happened; everything happens for a reason. I didn’t know about that part of the internet for a reason.”

Louisiana State University (LSU) had their eyes on Fitzroy Dunkley, one of Mitchell-Blake’s

19

PALATINATE | Thursday 2nd November 2017

Sport

I’d seen it on the scoreboard”

and a British record at the World Athletics Championships in London. The 23-year old 3, visiting 10 Downing Street and why he wants to be known for more than that victory good friends from school, and his coach saw an opportunity.

“He kind of said “Well, you can get two of them. This guy’s smart, he’s cleared the academic

“

I don’t want to be labelled as the guy who anchored Great Britain to victory for the rest of my life

”

standings and I’m telling you he can be something special.” And they took the risk, they took both of us, and that’s how I got to LSU.” His alias followed him from Jamaica, and again he had to prove himself as ‘British’ in the U.S. After two years at LSU getting to grips with the tough collegiate season, he decided it was time to make some “life changes” before the start of the 2016 campaign.

“I worked tremendously hard, made a conscious effort on my diet… I started to lift in the weight room properly, I met the strength and conditioning guy and I just learnt a lot in that off-season, [I’d] done a lot of research. I said I wanted to become a better athlete

and it paid dividends.”

It all came together at the SEC Outdoor Championships in Alabama that year. Mitchell-Blake won the triple in style in the 200m final, becoming the second fastest Briton of all time over that distance with a time of 19.95 seconds. Only three-time Olympian John Regis had run faster.

“That particular week I had five races in, like, three days. It was just about managing the rounds.

“Won the 4x100m, that’s one down, interview. I win the 100m, that’s two down, I get an interview.

Then John Anderson, who’s our ESPN anchor, he said to me “Are you going for the triple?” and I said “Why not?”

“I look back at the clock and [when] I saw 19, I said “Oh crap, no way” … When you see sub-20 on a clock, that’s like a striker banging in maybe 40 goals or scoring a hat-trick, and then the hat-trick [goal’s] like a Panenka penalty or something. It’s just something that’s crazy.”

He went one better in Birmingham at this year’s team trials, beating Regis’ championship record with a time of 20.18 seconds. The fact it was Mitchell-Blake’s first race back in the UK since the age of 13 made it particularly special. He says it was a “fun day”.

“Each race that you see me win has a significant story behind it,” he tells me. “As you said, I hadn’t been back in 10 years, and my

family had made the trip from London.

“If you see a picture of me pointing, that’s me pointing to my dad in the stands. I was pointing to my dad, to my brother, to my sister.

I was pointing and I was saying ‘This is for them’ because they made the journey, the sacrifice to come here.”

Speaking to Mitchell-Blake, the huge sacrifices he has had to make as an athlete become clear.

As the men’s quartet revelled in their success in the aftermath of the 4x100m final at the London Stadium, Mitchell-Blake spotted someone he knew in the crowd.

It was his mother, who he had not seen in three years.

“Being in the States, being at university, I’ve had the Olympics one summer, the summer before that I was in summer school, the summer before that I think I was at a competition or something. I’ve sacrificed a lot… that’s why when I celebrate it means so much to me, that’s why every race means so much to me, because I haven’t seen my mum in three years.

“I got the opportunity to fly her down from Jamaica, and she came every day. Every day I could see her in the stands, she was real happy.

She got a way to come trackside and we got to share a special moment on our victory lap.”

Years of bungled handovers had turned the British men’s relay team into something of a joke. So why did it all go right for Britain

this time?

“This is the first relay I’ve been part of on the senior team so I can’t speak [for] the other relay teams… But there was a real calm demeanour within the group, not just the four of us, but the whole relay camp.

“The head of sprints and relays Steve McGuire, the relay coach Christian Malcolm… Everybody was real calm, and I believe that transcended into the athletes and it was perfect, that’s what we needed. We didn’t overcomplicate anything, we didn’t overrun each other, and [that’s a] testament to all of us as a group because we believed in each other.

“I promise you, if we’d got a silver medal, we would have been upset. I feel that belief allowed us to perform the way we did.”

What was going through his head before the race?

“I remember they had us waiting for a long time… I think we went through two national anthems and it was kind of chilly, I can’t lie, so everybody was trying to bounce around. It’s also kind of daunting too, because you see all the teams there, you see the Americas, you see the Jamaicas, the Japans, the Chinas, and everyone’s just trying not to give too much away because at that point it’s all mental.

“We get introduced, then Jamaica got introduced… I think whatever race Bolt was in, [his cheer] was parallel to the cheer

Great Britain got.

“Obviously, I’m on the anchor leg, Usain Bolt’s on the anchor leg, the cameras are all in Bolt’s face.

I’m trying to get right, and I’m just trying to keep myself calm.

The gun goes off, crowd goes silent, you could hear a pin drop.

Everybody ran out their skin, it was near the perfect race for the quartet.”

In the 200m final, MitchellBlake just missed out on the podium in fourth place. The year before, he failed to make the final at the Olympics in Rio and admits he “sobbed like a baby”. I ask him how he would have felt had he not won the relay either in London, particularly given his personal disappointment.

“Yeah, that would have been pretty upsetting. The reason I also love athletics is because what you put in is what you get out, in the sense that I ran my best, I can’t blame anybody but me, I’m accountable for everything I do on the track.

“I gave my best effort and it wasn’t enough, but to be able to top off the championships… To be the last event, for 60,000 people to wait 45 minutes just so you could pass them on our victory lap, made it all the sweeter.”

He is unerring when asked about the next goal in his career, and his answer is hardly surprising.

“Individual success,” he replies immediately. “I’ve achieved the team success, which I think and I’ve said previously, is probably more satisfying than individual success, because you get to share the moment with other people who have also sacrificed many things. But I don’t want to be, the rest of my life… labelled as the guy who anchored Great Britain to victory.

“You can’t show anything for fourth place… you want to be able to show hardware. That’s what it comes down to, hardware, that’s what athletes are judged on. If you want to be deemed an elite athlete, which I aspire to be, individual success is what I need to achieve.”

You can follow Mitchell-Blake on: Twitter: @NethaneelMB Facebook: NethaneelMB Instagram: @nethaneelm.b ▲ Mitchell-Blake is targeting individual success after winning gold with the British men’s relay team (workandplaypictures)

Sport

Thursday 2nd November 2017 | PALATINATE

Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake interview Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero speaks to the British sprinter who anchored the men’s relay team to gold at the World Athletics Championships (pages 18-19)

Palatinates sail to success at the World Cup DUSC finished runners-up in the Frioul Islands at the Student Yachting World Cup, James Martland reports (page 17)

Durham make ‘D-Day’ theirs in triumph against Loughborough Ollie Godden Deputy Sport Editor

▲ Durham’s number 9 rises to head the ball against Loughborough in their 5-1 win against Loughborough. Durham won 7-4 overall (Briana Rose Norton)

Everyone has role to play in fighting homophobia in sport, new report says Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero Sport Editor A new report has concluded that sport is a “hostile and exclusive environment” for many who identify as LGBT, but that it could help create a more inclusive society.

Players, coaches and spectators all have a role to play, the report states, in changing attitudes in team sport.

It encourages those involved in sport to challenge homophobia when they see it.

The report, entitled ‘Homophobia, Gender and Sporting Culture’, was launched last Thursday at the House of Commons by the charity Sport Allies, at an event hosted by Culture, Media and Sport Select

Committee chairman Damian Collins MP with the Warwick Rowers.

“For many people in Western society, and especially those who identify as LGBT, the sporting world is a hostile and exclusive environment,’ writes Adam Lowe MSc and Professor Brendon Gough from Leeds Beckett University, in the report.

“From the ubiquitous threat of violence, to the use of homophobic language, the perceived ‘weakness’ of being anything less than the traditional masculine ideal is actively and aggressively policed and excluded.

“The task then is to alter the ideals of sport and demonstrate that sports people and teams can be both diverse and competitively strong.

“Rather than promoting exclusion, sport must celebrate inclusion.”

The Warwick Rowers first made headlines in 2009 when they launched a naked calendar to help pay for boat repairs. The calendar found international support and success in the gay community, becoming a symbol against homophobia.

It also represented the creation of a gay-straight alliance which culminated in the creation of Sport Allies.

Speaking to an audience which included members of the press and sports stars such as Kate Richardson-Walsh and Lianne Sanderson, Collins reiterated the recommendations made in the report, insisting we all have to speak out against homophobia.

“Together we will change the culture in sport so that everybody can feel able to be themselves,” he told the audience.

Sanderson, the England midfielder who spoke out in support of her teammate Eniola Aluko during the FA’s racism scandal, also made a speech after giving evidence at a parliamentary hearing a week before.

She said she was pleased to be back in Westminster for a more positive occasion.

“We need more people like the Warwick Rowers, who are prepared to stand up for what’s right, and be Sport Allies,” she said.

The report will be of particular interest to Team Durham, who have made efforts to create a more inclusive sporting environment at the University.

Varsities are commonplace now, from infamous Oxford vs Cambridge derby days to more obscure Leicester vs DMU grudges.

Durham’s own varsity holds slightly more significance, however.

Whilst it may not be against their geographical neighbours, the fierce rivalry between Durham and Loughborough counts not only for pride and bragging rights, but crucial BUCS points.

On 25th October, Durham travelled 160 miles south for ‘D-Day’, a day of competition across 8 sports and 11 teams.

Golf was first, and this continued throughout the day whilst other teams fought for supremacy.

The second match-up saw men’s badminton win 6-2, so it was then up to men’s and women’s football to restore order. This is exactly what they did, as the men put in an assured performance to comfortably win 3-0, while the women went two goals better, hammering the opposition 5-1.

As push back started in the hockey, Durham led 2-1, with seven teams still to play.

The Palatinates had failed to beat their counterparts in the previous two BUCS campaigns but Durham saw off Loughborough comprehensively with a 4-0 score.

Loughborough never looked like catching up as women’s rugby, women’s basketball, men’s fencing and men’s water polo cruised through their clashes to take a massive lead despite a heavy women’s hockey defeat.

Loughborough were unable to ruin Durham’s party atmosphere despite wins in men’s basketball and golf. ‘D-Day’ was Durham’s day, with a 7-4 overall victory.

For now, the Palatinates hold the bragging rights.