Palatinate 818

Palatinate Officially the UK’s Best Student Publication, 2018

Monday 17th June 2019 | No. 818

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European Election results: Brexit Party or NEWKIP?

From freshers to finalists, Features reflects on the Durham experience

▲ The examination period ended on 7th June, leading to the honoured tradition of finalist ‘trashing’ (Mark Norton)

Vice-Chancellor: “We do the wider student experience better” than Oxbridge • In an exclusive interview with Vice-Chancellor Stuart Corbridge, Palatinate discuss issues from the past year at Durham, from University expansion and the Operations Review to whether Durham’s main competition is Oxbridge Jack Taylor & Anna Tatham Vice-Chancellor Stuart Corbridge said that Durham “aspire[s] to have the same standards around education and the wider student experience” as Oxbridge but admitted, “we do the wider student experience better” in an exclusive interview with Palatinate, Palatinate sat down with Mr Corbridge to discuss topics ranging from the Faculty

and Department Review and the University’s Ten Year Expansion plan, to mental health and what it means to be a Durham graduate.

The Vice-Chancellor reiterated that the process of student and staff consultation over the Faculty and Department Review has been successful, and revealed that “the [financial] saving that we might end up with... will be lower.”

Mr Corbridge also stood by his previous comments that a Dur-

ham degree offers value for money and paid tribute to the “incredibly special students here at Durham.”

Questions were raised about the current implementation of the Operations Review, as well as the Faculty and Departments Review, that will see both changes to Durham’s academic departments and colleges.

Issues surrounding mental health, the Universities impact on the local community, environmental targets and elitist reputa-

tions were all addressed following the questions sent in by Palatinate readers.

The Vice-Chancellor also revealed that he preferred the term “DurCamOx” instead of “Doxbridge”, whilst emphasising that the University aims to provide the same standard of education as Oxbridge whilst hosting, what he argues, is a better wider student experience, thanks to our college system.

“We know from employers that Durham graduates are much sought after. I would also hope that a Durham education has made people suitably critical. One thing I always try to cover at congregation is that idea of University being an intellectual transformative experience that stays with you for the rest of your life.”

Read the full interview on pages 3 &5

Monday 17th June 2019 | PALATINATE

Editorial

So we meet again, for the last time

E

ndings are strange. All good things must come to them, of course. The completion of my time at Durham University is the end of a very ‘good thing’ - four years of brunches at Flat White, Lloyds Wednesdays, late night chats on Palace Green, walks along the river, failed barbecues on observatory hill and pints on picnic benches in a glorified carpark, to name a few.

I am happy to see the end of many ‘bad’ things But there has also been the ‘bad’ things which I’m happy to see the end of. The sheer relentlessness of writing two summative essays at once; waking up at 7am to rush for a seat in the Bill Bryson Library; the University nonchalantly raising accommodation fees; fellow students blatantly disrespecting the community which welcomes us as students with impetuous socials.

The sheer relentlessness of writing two summative essays at once, I won’t miss Palatinate, I hope, has done all it can to combat said ‘bad’ things. As Editor-in-Chief, I have made it my personal priority to cover issues which matter to Durham students, and give students and staff a voice.

We have pressed the University on its decision to raise accommodation fees; its implementation of a Review which could jeopardise staff jobs; its status as fourth worst university in the UK for social in-

clusion. In turn, staff put their trust in us: Modern Languages staff confided in us with their concerns about being “singledout”, and countless staff members across the University provided emotional testimonies about the potentially career-threatening consequences of the Operations Review. I am proud to have led a paper which is run entirely by untrained volunteers and trusted with crucial and serious issues.

I have worked on this newspaper since my first year and have been on the editorial board for just over three years. Getting involved with Palatinate and meeting others who share my passions and ambitions, has solidified my sense of belonging at Durham. My ambivalence towards my degree was alleviated by joining a new community of creative and talented people. I would like to say I fit in here.

And I’ve loved every minute of it. From arguing with the DSU about who will pay for new bins for the office; to laying up 30 minutes before my French oral exam; to receiving scary legal threats over image rights, I genuinely wouldn’t have changed my Palatinate experience in any way.

end. I’m excited, also concurrently sad, to handover my role to the next generation of student journalists and see where they take the paper.

I want to finish by saying a special thank you to everyone I’ve worked with on this newspaper.

This includes the plethora of editors, contributors and readers: amongst the editorial board I have met some unbelievably talented people and created long-term friendships.

Getting involved with Palatinate has solidified my sense of belonging at Durham Thanks in particular to Alex, Olly, Charlie, Ryan, Adam, Eugene, Sophie, Cameron, Julia and Oscar, for teaching me how to be an Editor-in-Chief (!) and continue your legacies. You have each taught me invaluable skills about how to be a better person - and journalist.

Palatinate, don’t you forget about me. And never back down when the students’ union tells you to buy your own bins.

Inside 818 News pages 3-7 Comment pages 8-10 Profile page 11 SciTech page 13 Politics pages 14-16 Sport pages 18-20

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

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

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BOOKS: Unheard Voices: Edward Bulwer-Lytton In the second of Palatinate’s Unheard Voices series, Issy Flower looks at obscure novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

COMMENT: The women’s world cup is the key to kicking sexism out of football “Women’s football should not be viewed as a sub-genre of the men’s game, but rather a sport in its own right”

NEWS: Durham University ranked fifth in the UK Durham University has been ranked fifth in the UK by The Guardian in their 2020 University Guide.

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 Anna Tatham & Oscar Elmon editor@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Editors Millie Fender & Tom Mitchell deputy.editor@palatinate.org.uk News Editors Jack Taylor & Alex Leggatt news@palatinate.org.uk Deputy News Editors Melissa Tutesigensi, Lydia Blundell, Joshua Hurn & Naomi Clarke deputy.news@palatinate.org.uk Investigations Editor Anna Marshall investigations@palatinate.org.uk Comment Editor Tom Davidson & Hannah Anson comment@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Comment Editors Jacob Whitehead, Emily Kilner & Jamima Westermann Profile Editors Ella Catherall & Alexandra Beste profile@palatinate.org.uk Science & Technology Editors Ewan Jones & Charlie Hetherington scitech@palatinate.org.uk Politics Editors Matthew Spivey & Alice Lassman politics@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Politics Editor Katie Fraser, Tom Loring & Alisa Anwar Sport Editor James Smith sport@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Sport Editors Alana Ker Mercer, Tim Sigsworth, Finlay Smart & Hector Pearce Indigo Editor Shauna Lewis indigo@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Indigo Editor Carys Frost Features Editor Kleopatra Olympiou features@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Features Editor Mary Bradshaw deputy.features@palatinate.org.uk Food & Drink Editors Piers Eaton & Philippa Murrison food@palatinate.org.uk Fashion Editor Anna Gibbs fashion@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Fashion Editors Ana Hamilton & Frankie Reffell Film & Television Editor Hugh Johnson film@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Stage Editor Martha Wrench Music Editors Theo Golden & Matthew Prudham music@palatinate.org.uk Creative Writing Editor Rhiannon Morris creative.writing@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Creative Writing Editor Susie Bradley Books Editors Lotte Hall & Imogen Usherwood books@palatinate.org.uk Visual Arts Editor Stella Botes visual.arts@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Visual Arts Editor Jo Chandler Travel Editor Abir Mishra travel@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Travel Editor Alex Bicknell-Cummings Interview Editors Zue Leong and Nathan Kelly Chief Sub-Editor Daisy Robinson Sub-Editors Heather Craddock, Ines Pandzic, Isabella Beaumont, Constance Castle, Namrata Menon & Freya Ellingsen Photography Editors Madeleine Flisher & Mark Norton photography@palatinate.org.uk Illustrations Editor Nayva Lobo illustration@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Illustrations Editor Elena Onwochei-Garcia, Olivia Amura & Kaitlyn Cranston Website Administrator Bilal Mohd Advertising Officer Harriet Willis advertising@palatinate.org.uk Social Media Officers Connie Castle & Shoaib Ahmed

PALATINATE | Monday 17th June 2019

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News “We have to be doing more on mental health, there is no doubt about it” Continued from the front page

First up, I just want to say a big congratulations to everyone who has finished their exams. I hope you’ve been having a well-deserved rest/celebration! Last Friday we held a Town Hall meeting with the Vice Chancellor, Stuart Corbridge, to give students the chance to ask questions directly to senior leadership, with a focus on University expansion. Many of the concerns raised were about the effect of University growth on students and the impact on their experience of the University and wider city. We will be requesting written responses from the Vice-Chancellor to the questions submitted, and will share these with students once we receive a response. I’m really pleased to say that following consultation with stakeholders across our community and visits to partners across the country throughout this year, I am proposing a Durham SU community Strategy to our Board of Trustees. I hope the strategy will help make students be seen as a key part of the wider Durham community, so that we can address common issues, and shape our collective future, making Durham a great place to live for everyone.

With this in mind, if you’re looking for things to do this summer, you can find a new calendar of events in Durham on durhamsu.com. You should have recently received an email regarding the University’s Respect Commission, which was established following a report to Council last year by the SU President on University sexism, which aims to collect student feedback and experiences, so that recommendations can be made to the University on how to create a better culture of respect in Durham.

As well as the survey you have been asked to fill out, Meg Haskins, your Welfare and Liberation Officer, and I have organised a meeting with student leaders and members of the commission, to talk about experiences as a student leader, particularly in working with senior members of the University. We are planning further meetings with a broad range of students and we hope that these conversations will help inform crucial work in this area. As this is my last ever President’s Column, I want to say a big thank you to the incredible staff and students who have worked with me over the last year, supporting me to represent Durham students and drive the change that is needed within, and beyond, our community. I’m so proud of everything we have achieved together, leading a political student rights organisation which is never afraid to fight to make the future better. Thanks also to Palatinate, for consistent high-quality reporting on the ups and downs of this last year, and for giving me this space to share the SU’s work with you. I have every confidence that next year’s Officer Team will do incredible work to positively transform Durham and I look forward to seeing everything that they achieve.

The first question of “What is the purpose of a University?” was met with the response: “I love that question, can I give you a fairly long answer?”

The Vice-Chancellor considers his view of a University to be traditional: “We have to achieve two things: teaching you to think well and better, whilst building up your knowledge base, and taking the best staff that can flourish with academic research.

“I’m firmly behind this view of what we call the wider student experience at Durham” “If you do those two things well, that is how you contribute to the public and I am strongly committed to that idea.

“I don’t think any longer than that is enough. I’m firmly behind this view of what we call the wider student experience at Durham and proud of what we do around drama, sport, music, volunteering, and leadership.”

It is clear that the ViceChancellor cares about the wider experience of students, telling us before the interview that the same day he his attending an event to celebrate the sporting achievements of Durham students.

Many readers sent questions which concerned about some students’ ability to gain this wider experience due to their background and the disproportionate number of students from disadvantaged background in Durham. A Palatinate report earlier this year reported that the University is the fourth worst in the country for social inclusion.

The Vice-Chancellor addressed this concern by expressing a hope that the University will see progress in this area “in the next 5 years” and are “en route to change.“ “One measure that the government doesn’t use but that the media do is the percentage of state school students admitted.

In the 2018/2019 this intake was around 65%, and it used to be around 59/60%.”

“Doxbridge?

I prefer it as DurCamOx

”

The University currently offers contextual offers, with the ViceChancellor stating that the recent plans of Oxford to offer lower entry requirements to disadvantaged students as “a variant” of what the University already does.

The Vice-Chancellor revealed that, with council approval, the University planned to open a Sixth Form centre in Durham City that would offer Maths and Further Maths courses, something that is difficult to provide in some areas of the state school system.

As well as this, the University has plans to introduce guaranteed contextual offers to students in County Durham, and possibly the North East, at the very top of schools “based on potential perhaps as much as exam results that they might have.”

A larger number of questions were submitted around the Universities current expansion plans, part of the 10 year Estate Masterplan, which would see an increase of around 4000 students by 2027 and the updating and construction of University buildings.

Questions were asked of the Vice-Chancellor as to the need for this expansion. He replied by explaining that “when you want to conduct research, you have to have critical mass, by that I mean you need a certain number of academics in each department, in order to be competitive.

“It’s not that we are chasing students but in order for us to be competitive in research terms, we need to be a bigger university” “If we were just concentrating on education and the wider student experience, we could probably remain smaller.”

The Vice-Chancellor went on further to explain that Durham is ranked 23rd of the 24 Russell Group institutions for the equivalent number of academics within each department. If the university is to hire more for every department, extra students will be needed for that increase.

If these increases are introduced around multiple departments, the predicted number of 4000 students is reached.

“It’s not that we are chasing students but in order for us to be competitive in research terms, we need to be a bigger university.”

It is commonly expressed that a large proportion of Durham students also applied to Oxford and Cambridge. Palatinate asked the Vice-Chancellor if he considered Durham’s main competition as being Oxbridge.

“Our strategy builds upon where

(Grace Tseng) we are, so the truth is that we don’t have a medical school, so we are never going to be like Oxford and Cambridge in that sense, or UCL. The medical school went in 1963 and that has tilted us in another direction.

“We aspire to have the same standards around education and the wider student experience. In fact I think we do the wider student experience better” “We tend to be very strong on the arts and the sciences are very strong. Where we do think in terms of Cambridge and Oxford is that we are a collegiate university. We know that a lot of students who applied to Durham have historically also applied to Oxbridge, the same way to Bristol, Exeter, Nottingham and St. Andrews. We aspire to have the same standards around education and the wider student experience.

In fact I think we do the wider student experience better.”

Over the past two terms Palatinate has reported on the University’s planned changes to colleges and academic departments. These changes, under the Operations Review and Faculty and Department Review respectively, will see changes made to staff roles which will lead to amended roles and possible negotiated redundancies.

Over the past two terms Palatinate has reported on the University’s planned changes to colleges and academic departments The Vice-Chancellor stressed that: “These reviews we are conducting, whether it’s this one or the faculty and department one, is more about inconsistency that has built up over periods of time.

Some inconsistency is fine but you want to ensure that students in department X or college Y are getting roughly a similar deal.”

Many members of different colleges have previously expressed fears that the Operations Review would lead to parts of colleges that make them unique, such as events and life long staff members, being eradicated.

These fears were understood by the Vice-Chancellor and he replied by stating: “Potentially those changes could affect a large number of people but when you work through the consultation period, the number of people actually affected nearly always ends up being a smaller subsection than originally planned.

“I think the strong process of consultation has worked” “What we have tried to do during this review is work with trade unions of those ‘in-scope’, then work under the student consultation framework with the student body. The original proposal for the Operations Review, through consultation, has led to a new proposal emerging that took into account most of the concerns that people raised.

That has been shared with JCR Presidents and others. I do think the strong process of consultation has worked.”

When Palatinate pushed the Vice-Chancellor for specifics on plans for change, he explained that many people had raised concerns about the employment grade of a staff member that would help organise student events (originally set at grade 4).

After the consultation period, the Vice-Chancellor revealed that this was changed to grade 5.

The Vice-Chancellor recognised that these reviews would be cost saving but argued that after consultation, the total savings would be less than originally reported targets: “The initial saving that we would have predicted and the saving that we might end up with, the second number will be lower.”

When asked about the possibility of redundancies due to these reviews, the Vice-Chancellor stated that....

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Monday 17th June 2019 | PALATINATE

News

Tory leadership contest puts doubt on higher education reform Jack Taylor News Editor The current Conservative leadership contest has cast doubts over the implementation of the Augar report, which suggested a decrease in tuition fees and interest rates.

The review, put in place by Theresa May, recommended reducing the cap on tuition fees from £9,250 to £7,500, with the government paying the shortfall.

Dr Augar, head of the review, also recommended the reintroduction of maintenance grants for poorer

students, which was previously abolished in September 2016.

The review, put in place by Theresa May, recommended reducing the cap on tuition fees from £9,250 to £7,500 However, after Theresa May stepped down as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party on June 7th, doubts have been cast over the future of government higher education funding and whether or not the conclusions of the Augar

report will be introduced.

The various candidates now vying to become the next leader of the country have varying stances on the issue.

Most of those with a realistic chance of becoming Prime Minister have previously spoken against tuition fees being decreased.

Gove has spoken out about reducing tuition fees Boris Johnson, the current frontrunner, previously in 2015 spoke against Labour’s plans to reduce tuition fees. However in 2017,

whilst a minister in May’s cabinet, he stated that student debt was an issue that needed addressing.

Johnson’s two main challengers in Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt have had varied views in the past.

Most of those with a realistic chance of becoming Prime Minister have previously spoken against tuition fees being decreased Gove has spoken out about reducing tuition fees by stating in 2017: “If we have to fund higher

education, and if people who get university degrees go on to earn well, they should pay something back, which is what the current system does. It’s wrong if people who don’t go to university find that they have to pay more in taxation to support those who do.”

Hunt, on the other hand, has been quiet on university issues, only notably writing in 2017 in support of University funding for mental health treatments.

HEARD ANYTHING NEWSWORTHY? Email news@palatinate.org.uk

Charity set up in memory of Castle student Olivia Burt Jack Taylor News Editor A charity has been launched in memory of Olivia Burt, a Castle student who died last year whilst on a night out in Durham.

The charity, Olivia Inspires, aims to help children and young people aged 11 to 18 whose families live in the New Forest District Council area and

are facing financial hardship.

Grants of, normally, no more than £500, will be awarded to young people for items and services that will enhance their potential in STEM subjects, arts and sport.

Olivia’s parents stated when launching the charity: “Our daughter Olivia was a gifted and beautiful young woman who inspired others.

“She was just embarking on a journey that would have doubtless

seen her leaving a lasting mark on our world. But more than this, everyone who knew Olivia remembers her smile and her kindness, and how she would go out of her way to help people.

“Olivia has been taken from us, but Olivia Inspires aims to allow her spirit to live on by helping young people in the New Forest to realise their potential.”

(Olivia Inspires)

1 in 11 received university mental health session last year Lydia Blundell Deputy News Editor A Freedom of Information request submitted to Durham University has established that student demand for mental health support has increased during the last five academic years.

The number of undergraduate students who have had an appointment with a Mental Health Advisor has increased from 1039 to 1237 between 2013 and 2018, meaning around 1 in 11 students received and appointment last

academic year. The number of scheduled appointments increased from 5382 to 6335.

During this time, the University has increased the number of Mental Health Advisors employed from 0 to 2, which does not include the provision of Counsellors and Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners.

Palatinate has previously reported that the 2017/18 academic year saw a decrease in Full Time Equivalent (FTE) counsellors from 6.2 to 5.4, with one counsellor having a provision of around 3,300 students.

However, these figures don’t tell the full story with students receiving mental health treatment and support.

Palatinate understand that there are a number of Durham students that take other options available when seeking out help.

Many go to private appointments in Durham whilst others take sessions when they are home or use Skype to call a therapist.

As a result of many issues such as waiting times and number of sessions available, students commonly turn to the College Welfare system.

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) counsellors decreased in 2017/18

(Maddie Flisher)

The Senior Welfare Officer for Grey College, Rhiannon Idczak, told Palatinate: “Grey Welfare is committed to providing a service that aims to support our fellow students. In the face of increasing demand, we will continue to provide the best service we can with the limited resources and capabilities we have.”

The system in college provides weekly drop-ins for students to address any concerns, but a lack of anonymity may prevent students from making full use of

this service.

Trevelyan Welfare officer, Jarren Santos, commented: “College Welfare is an essential part of the University welfare system as it is often the most accessible point of contact for students. However, with the increase in student intake this does mean that College Welfare is being continuously stretched to accommodate more students, and more complex cases.”

The Counselling Service website states that counselling available from this service is timefocussed for up to four sessions, with the possibility of follow up appointments. Its website says: “You may find that one or two sessions is sufficient for you to continue without further help.”

Despite an individual tab on the website for sexual violence, students are referred to the generic counselling service for support in this area.

The Mental Health Foundation estimates that 70% of children and adolescents do not seek treatment at an early enough age, with many concerned that their problems are not sufficient enough to use such a service.

The University also provides a Nightline service, with a phone number and online messaging service available 24/7 to students who wish to talk to someone about: “friends, relationships, stress, late

night thoughts or anything else.”

Professor Martyn Evans, Pro-ViceChancellor (Colleges and Student Experience), said: “The wellbeing and mental health of our students and staff are hugely important to us and we invest significantly in their pastoral care.

“Our counsellors offer appointments for students facing issues that are affecting them in or away from their academic studies.

“We also support students in accessing other services, including from the NHS, charities and private practitioners.”

“ College Welfare is an essential part of the University welfare system ”

PALATINATE | Monday 17th June 2019

5

News

“We always thank people for the work they have done for the University” Continued from page 3 “We are still waiting to see what the outcome will be. It might be that some people will leave the University through in house redundancy as a negotiated choice but we are not imagining compulsory redundancies.

“We always thank people for the work they have done for the University.”

Last November saw Durham react to the news that Matthew Hedges, a PhD student from Hatfield College, had been imprisoned in the UAE and was being accused of spying. He was eventually pardoned and released later that month, returning to his wife Daniela, who had launched a petition that gathered over 250,000 signatures.

The Vice-Chancellor said: “I’ve had a lot of meetings with Matthew and Daniela. What happened to Matthew was absolutely appalling and shows the risk that some staff and students take in parts of the world.

“What happened to Matthew was absolutely appalling” “Now the University is in the process of doing a review, through the Secretary’s Office, about whether our support systems are where they need to be and then the Foreign Office are also doing their own review, using the Russell Group as a bridge to all its member universities.”

“We’ve also got support, in my

view, of the right for academics whether they are staff or students to go to difficult, sometimes dangerous places, and ask awkward questions.”

One Palatinate reader asked if the University had a plan to go carbon neutral within the next 20 years. The Vice-Chancellor responded by saying: “We won’t be able to do it within that time frame. What we’ve done is the divestment commission back in 2015/16 which led to us divesting our investments in fossil fuels.”

He also emphasised the University’s attempts to always source power from wind turbines and its current work, in partnership with the council, against single use plastics.

He also responded to the increased issue of a climate emergency: “We’ve set up a

working group to advise the University on it and that will advise us on how far we can get with our ambitions to become carbon neutral over a time period.

We’ll get that report, I expect, next term.”

“Over the coming years we are putting more resources into dealing with mental health” Questions on mental health issues and what the University can do to support students were high in frequency. The Vice-Chancellor commented that: “We have to be doing more on mental health, there is no doubt about that. The statistics are worrying across the sector and its not just students,

I think we are seeing more pressures with staff.”

“There are two things that are constantly looked at, one is the level of resources that we need to have at the University and we want to work to make sure our student body feels supported. The other issue is how we deliver them. I do firmly accept the argument that colleges are absolutely essential in helping students with mental health.

“We are trying to build a strong student support, counselling and wellbeing service and then ultimately there is the hand off to the NHS. This is under constant review, as with other Universities.

Over the coming years we are putting more resources into dealing with mental health.”

Decrease in number of returning students living in college Naomi Clarke Deputy News Editor A Palatinate investigation can reveal there is a steady decrease in the percentage of returners living in their colleges.

This is despite the “University’s aspiration to house 5055% of students in Collegeaffiliated accommodation by 2027”, according to the “University Estate Masterplan”.

The vast majority of first year students will live in college in the first year of their studies, whilst the trend for ‘college returners’, students in 2nd, 3rd and 4th year, continues to be for them to live out of college.

The intake for returners has been steady for the majority of colleges. Although, some have seen a significant decrease in the proportion of returners they are accepting over the past five years.

Van Mildert college returners have increased from 685 in 2014/15 to 828 in 2018/19 but their percentage intake of returners living in has decreased by 16.85% between the 2014/15 academic year to 2018/19.

Hatfield has had a greater percentage drop by 17.72% from housing 156 returners to 84, despite the returner student body rising from 530 to 717.

Durham University’s 10 year ‘Estate Masterplan’ was initiated in 2017 to “ensure it remains competitive in the global higher education market.” In order to achieve this, it plans to “strengthen its research and education by growing staff and student numbers, to enable academic units to achieve critical mass.”

Despite the “rooms predicted to be available for Undergraduate

Returners” decreasing each year.

Grey College has had a percentage decrease of 53.4% in the period 2014/15 to 2018/19 from 131 rooms predicted available to 61. University College has also reduced their predicted availability from 126 to 63 rooms.

The University has announced this year that college residence fees will rise by 3.5% to £7,672 for the 2019/20 academic year The University has announced this year that college residence fees will rise by 3.5% to £7,672 for the 2019/20 academic year.

Catered single en-suite rooms will increase from £7,883 to £8,149, and self-catered ensuite rooms will rise from £5,655 to £5,846.

Prices have increased from under £5,000 a year in 2011/12 to over £7,000 this year. The significant increase in accommodation prices may have been a factor in deterring students from returning to colleges.

This price increase has led students to protest in the SU organised “RippedOff” Campaign.

More students are choosing to live out in private accommodation within Durham City, causing the Durham housing market to become more competitive over the past few years, causing the threat of rising weekly housing prices and pricing out lowerincome students and carers.

In a previous Palatinate investigation comparing the student pricing of Lancaster University to that of Durham, it was discovered that despite the average house price in Durham being lower than Lancaster, the

average weekly rent of the cheapest catered college accommodation was £59.79 higher per week, with Lancaster averaging £142.10 Equally, the City of Durham has seen a sharp increase in the construction of PurposeBuilt Student Accommodation (PBSA) in recent years, with a staggering number opening across the Viaduct, Claypath, and Gilesgate Bank areas.

The University has stated in their ‘Estate Masterplan’ that ‘where appropriate, we will also work in partnership with some of the purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) providers, thus mitigating the need for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).’ Many houses, however, are still privately owned.

The significant increase in accommodation prices may have been a factor in deterring students from returning to colleges To accommodate the student body increase the University is planning to open up a 17th College in 2020, alongside the new home for John Snow College.

The university has stated between these new facilities they will have 1,000 student beds. John Snow currently already has 358 undergraduate and postgraduate students living in college.

Professor Martyn Evans, Interim Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Colleges and Student Experience), said: “We are currently investing heavily in our student accommodation, including building two new College facilities at Mount Oswald and refurbishing our existing Colleges.

“Like any other enterprise, our running costs increase each year. Residence charges are set to reflect rising staff, utility, and building costs.

To accommodate the student body increase the University is planning to open up a 17th College in 2020 “We know some of our students face real financial pressures. The Durham Grant Scheme offers bursaries to home undergraduates, studying their first degree, who have a household income of less than £25,000 a year.

He continued: “We are, and will remain, a proudly Collegiate university, and it is vitally important that our Colleges continue to be mixed communities, of new and returning students, undergraduates and postgraduates. Increasing the number, and thus proportion, of returning undergraduates is arguably the single most

important aspect of the onward development of our College communities, and achieving this is, to my mind, a clear priority.

“Clearly, this depends crucially upon increasing the total number of rooms in Colleges beyond the rate at which we increase our intake of first year students. We are currently investing heavily in our student accommodation, including building two new College facilities at Mount Oswald and refurbishing our existing Colleges. A new home for John Snow College and our new South College will open at Mount Oswald in September 2020, each with accommodation for 500 students.

“We are also currently considering how we can most effectively develop our Leazes Road site, home to the College of St Hild and St Bede, which we recognise requires significant investment.

Beyond this, further Colleges are also under consideration within the lifetime of the ten-year Estate Masterplan, and the goal of College accommodation for 50-55% of students remains firmly in place.”

(Mark Norton)

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Monday 17th June 2019 | PALATINATE

News

Academic appeals increase over a third in five years

Julia Atherley The number of academic appeals submitted to the University has increased by a third over the past five years, Palatinate can reveal.

A total of 256 appeals were submitted to the University last year, compared to just 192 in 2013/14.

Students can submit a formal appeal for various reasons, including unexpected adverse circumstances, evidence of marks being calculated incorrectly, and discrepancies in decision making.

256 academic appeals were submitted last year, comparedwith192in2013/4 An Anthropology student - who prefers to remain anonymous struggled in her first year exams due to circumstances she couldn’t disclose to the University. She was told via an email that she would have to withdraw from her course unless she appealed the decision.

Speaking to Palatinate she said: “The University and my college were very helpful and kind towards the situation. I had a meeting to discuss how academic appeals work and what I needed to do.

“They told me it usually takes 8 - 12 weeks to process the appeals however they got back to me within 2 weeks of submitting it, and allowed me to resit

first year on exam status only.”

The number of appeals upheld by the University has more than doubled over the past five years. 43% of all requests made last year were reviewed and accepted, according to a Freedom of Information submitted by Palatinate to the University.

The number of appeals upheld by the University has more than doubled over the past five years Most appeals are dealt with within a Faculty, but around 15% of all requests go on to

be raised at a Senate level.

Another student told Palatinate that she was forced by the University to withdraw from her degree in November last year. They claimed that she hadn’t attended any contact hours, which she refutes.

What followed was “hell for five months” as her appeal was first rejected by her Faculty before being accepted at a Senate level.

She didn’t have much hope going into the Senate appeal and said: “I didn’t think I’d win at this point so I just went wrote about every single thing to do with the situation. It was quite brutal looking back on it... and I won at the senate level, on the grounds of them breaking several University policies.”

Despite difficulties with the Academic Appeals, around one in every hundred Durham students was involved in the process last year.

Around one in every hundred Durham students was involved in the process last year Students from the Social Sciences & Health faculty were more than twice as likely to submit an appeal than those from Arts & Humanities. 1.6% of all Social Sciences & Health students requested an appeal last

year, as compared to only 0.7% of Arts & Humanities students and 1.1% of Science students.

Appeals can vary from summative assignment marks to a change in degree classification Appeals can vary from summative assignment marks to a change in the classification of a student’s degree. A Modern Languages student spoke to Palatinate about the difficulties she had faced whilst on her year abroad: “They decided halfway

through my year abroad that they couldn’t provide health insurance/ pastoral support and therefore said that I couldn’t travel, despite me saying that I felt well enough.

“Having completed all the requirements, I sent the case to appeal and it was decided that because I couldn’t give medical evidence that I was well, the year abroad could not be accredited.

“The whole process was a complete nightmare with no one really knowing who was responsible” “The whole process was a complete nightmare with no one really knowing who was responsible and the University generally being pretty ill prepared to support students whilst abroad.”

The reason behind the increase in appeals is unclear but could be linked to last year’s academic strike action over pension disputes. The action was led by the University and College Union (UCU) and disrupted 14 days of teaching in April 2018.

Speaking to Palatinate, The University and College Union (UCU) said: “Whilst the rise in appeals could be due to a number of factors, that it came at the same time as the most significant and widespread strike action that we have ever undertaken is probably not surprising.

“14 days of strike action by academic and academic related staff was always going to have an impact on the day-to-day running of Durham University, and the student experience was always going to take a hit.”

“The potential impact of our action was well understood.

The University engaged various staff, strategies and processes

in an attempt to mitigate those impacts. But the impact was always going to be felt in one way or another – which it was.

“UCU members do not feel totally vindicated by taking the action that we did [the 2018 strike action]” “UCU members taking industrial action at Durham University for such a prolonged period of time in the first half of 2018 was always going to be felt in different ways. Let’s not forget that it also included working to contract, as well as 14 days of strikes.

“When you look at what has happened in terms of the outcomes of the strike, UCU members do feel totally vindicated by taking the action that we did.

“The various factors which could be attributed to this rise could perhaps be the subject of a piece of academic research! Possible reasons for the rise in appeals may well include the fact that some students were emboldened by our strike action. They came out and supported us on picket lines and saw what could be done to fight for what you believe in. An increasing belief in challenging an injustice or a decision that has been made that you do not agree with, may well form part of the story.

“We have well-established transparent processes to help students who make an appeal” says the University Professor Alan Houston, ProVice-Chancellor (Education), told Palatinate: “We have

“ The rise in appeals came at the same time as the most significant and widespread strike action ”

well-established, transparent processes to help students who wish to make an appeal.

“The number of appeals we receive remains very low, relative to our student numbers. Whilst there has been an increase in the past five years, this can largely be attributed to the rise in the number of students over that period.

“We encourage our students to engage with their studies, and to be active participants in their own learning. Having the opportunity to challenge academic decisions forms part of this process.”

Graphics: Julia Atherley

PALATINATE | Monday 17th June 2019

7

News

New Chief Constable calls for preventative drugs policy Lydia Blundell Deputy News Editor The New Durham Chief Constable, Jo Farrell, has stated that the police ought to “help, not criminalise,” addicted drug users.

Farrell, the first female Chief Constable for Durham, succeeds Mike Barton in the post who served for seven years.

She joined the Durham Constabulary three years ago as a deputy and was interviewed by a panel of senior public figures before securing her new role.

The new Chief Constable has 25 years of experience in the police, with previous posts at the Cambridge Constabulary as

well as at Northumbria Police.

Farrell told ITV Tyne Tees: “I’d be on the how do we prevent and help people (side of the debate), rather than them ending up in a cycle of being criminalised because of an addiction.”

Her approach seeks to prioritise a preventative, rather than reactive, approach to policing the issue of drugs.

She told ITV: “Part of our approach is around problem solving, rather than reacting all the time, how do we prevent somebody being in harm, at risk of harm, or how do we prevent them from a victim of crime?”

In looking to revolutionise the approach to drugs, Farrell continues the work of Mike Barton,

who called for addicts to be given free heroin in a safe environment and for the legalisation of cannabis.

In his resignation letter, Barton stated that he hoped for: “sensible conversations about how the approach to controlled drugs is not working.”

He wrote: “It remains a lingering sadness and deep frustration that heroin-assisted treatment for heroin addicts is not de rigueur.”

Barton has recently been named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, becoming a Commander of the British Empire for services to policing.

Durham Constabulary has recently been rated outstanding by government inspectors for an unprecedented fourth consecutive

year under the leadership of Mike Barton. Farrell told ITV

that she hopes to secure a fifth year of outstanding ranking.

(Pixabay via Creative Commons)

University hosts TEDx event: “Things Left Unsaid” lead to greater understanding.”

Alex Leggatt News Editor Durham University hosted the annual TEDx event on 8 June at the Gala Theatre.

The independently organised conference was led by copresidents Laura Sprogyė and Henrietta Kent and a team of ten other students.

In a statement on the event’s Facebook page, the event announced their theme as “Things Left Unsaid,” and highlighted that they would be “exploring the many inspiring possibilities that spring from asking the questions that are often ignored and the power that comes from challenging the norm.”

They added: “This year’s conference is about breaking boundaries and asking important questions that will ultimately

“The team was very inspired to work on the event as Durham students were so keen to attend” The event featured three speakers and various performers from Durham University.

Speakers included current student Lewis Alexander Baxter, a first-year law student who gave a speech on “Mental Health: Where do we go from here?” which explored how mental health can be better understood.

Geography and Anthropology student Richard Waters gave a speech titled “Addicted to growth - GDP as a hallmark of the Anthropocene” which focused on the environmental consequences of growth.

Second year Geography Student Alice Lassman addressed the need for economic indicators to promote collaboration between nations in her talk “Enough with Economic Growth: why our entire approach to the economy must change” Performers at the event included the Northern Lights A Cappella group, Durham Instep Dance Society, Durham University Gospel Choir, and Castle String Quartet.

Speaking to Palatinate, copresidents Laura Sprogtyė and Henrietta Kent said: “The team was very inspired to work on the event as Durham students were so keen to attend. We spent months planning it and trying to make it the best TEDxDurham University experience so far.

“We really hope that everyone who had a chance to attend enjoyed it, and we are already looking forward to the

next event - the conference is becoming better each year!”

The event was highly anticipated, with tickets selling out in 2 minutes. The half day event was attended by over 90 people, with refreshments and lunch provided.

(TedxDurham University)

HEARD ANYTHING NEWSWORTHY? Email news@palatinate.org.uk

Durham alumni make Queen’s Birthday honours list Lydia Blundell Deputy News Editor A number of Durham University alumni have featured in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for 2019.

Eleven previous students of the University are featured on the list this year, graduating between 1968 and 1985.

Miss Julie Carlton MBE, who attended St John’s College to study Classics in 1985, has been honoured for services to maritime safety. Miss Carlton is Head of Seafarer Health and Safety at the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) and has worked to increase consideration of wellbeing issues

facing seafarers. Mrs Jennifer D Charles MBE, who attended the College of St. Hild & St. Bede to study Arts Combined in 1968, has been honoured for services to the Administration of Justice and the community in Hampshire.

Mr Alastair D W Fothergill OBE, who attended St. Cuthbert’s Society to study Zoology in 1983, has been honoured for services to film.

Mr Fothergill joined the BBC Natural History Unit after University and has worked on many of their programmes, eventually becoming head of that unit. He then became Series Producer for The Blue Planet (2001) and Planet Earth (2006)

and co-directed their associated feature films Deep Blue and Earth.

In November 2012 he left the BBC to set up his own production company, Silverback Films.

Mrs Valerie J Hepworth BEM, who attended Graduate Society to study Education in 1973, has been honoured for services to the Yorkshire Gardens Trust and conservation.

Mr Carl S P Hunter OBE, who attended Hatfield College to study Arts Combined in 1984, has been honoured for services to business and international trade.

Mr Anthony H G Laithwaite CBE, who attended Hatfield College to study Geography in 1968, has been honoured for services to the

UK and Global Wine Industry.

Mr Richard Ovenden OBE, who attended St. Chad’s College to study Economic/ Modern History in 1985, has been honoured for services to libraries and archives.

Mr Ovenden is currently the 25th Librarian of Bodleian Libraries at Oxford University. He has also worked at Durham University Library, the House of Lords Library, the National Library of Scotland and the University of Edinburgh. He also holds a Professorial Fellowship at Balliol College, Oxford.

Mr Hugh G Pearman MBE, who attended St. Chad’s College to study English Language and Literature in 1977, has been honoured for

services to architecture.

Mr Peter H Ransom MBE, who attended Grey College to study Natural Sciences in 1976, has been honoured for voluntary services to mathematics education.

Mr David J R Strang CBE, who attended St. Chad’s College to study Engineering in 1980, has been honoured for services to law and order.

Dame Sara J Thornton DBE, who attended Trevelyan College to study Philosophy & Politics in 1984, has been honoured for services to policing as previous Chief Constable of the Thames Valley police and now Chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

PALATINATE | Monday 17th June 2019

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Comment

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The Greens Page 10

Are you expecting there to be another Earth?

Lauren Naughton It is an undeniable fact that the environment has been altered by humans. We have released gas pollutants, used harmful levels of pesticides, and dumped toxic waste. In addition to this careless exploitation, humans have held a general apathy when it comes to solving the issues created by their actions. It is this apathy and disinterest which suggests that environmental issues are not the problems themselves, but merely a symptom of poor human character.

Our actions reveal a selfishness and recklessness To explain, consider the following example. This exam period, as in preceding years, was rounded off by some students throwing plastic confetti outside exam halls, cracking eggs on windows and coating the pavements with white flour. Behaviours such as these actively harm the environment; plastic confetti is non-

biodegradable and cracked eggs must be cleaned from windows with contaminant chemical products.

Knowing this, what type of person would choose this destructive behaviour anyway?

Environmental issues are merely a symptom of poor human character From an environmentalist perspective, such actions reveal a selfishness and recklessness that prioritises one’s own pleasure. However, if these poor traits were replaced with positive traits such as benevolence and stewardship, destruction of the same kind would not take place, as individuals’ behaviours would naturally be more considerate.

Unfortunately, combating the issues of character are often neglected in favour of small-picture solutions, like bans and substitutions. Banning plastic bags and encouraging people to switch to public transport does nothing to affect underlying human selfishness. Even if plastic bags are banned, people still opt to use takeaway cups and other oneuse plastics, thereby continuing the

problem.

An alternative approach places human character front and centre.

This approach is known as Environmental virtue ethics. The moral theory promotes the view that we should encourage people to develop positive character traits and to avoid negative character traits. Positive traits, or virtues, such as respect and gratitude, would allow individuals to appreciate the worth of the environment, and therefore seek to preserve it. Negative traits such as

indifference and exploitation would be heavily discouraged.

Human behaviour is unlikely to change quickly By altering underlying traits rather than specific destructive behaviours like using one-use plastics, there may be no need for bans, as people would manage their own behaviour in line with the environment. Problems with the environment - the symptoms of poor human

behaviour - would therefore reduce.

The suggestion is of course ambitious. Human behaviour is unlikely to change quickly, and it would be even longer until virtue could be seen as usual. Complex systems of moral education would need to be implemented, and conservation would have to be prioritised over capitalistic norms. But, perhaps keeping in mind the shift as a longterm goal would be a useful development in preserving the environment.

“

Humans have held a general apathy when it comes to solving issues created by their actions (Vlad Tchompalov)

”

Commemoration and colleges: The tale of Ruth First Jacob Whitehead Commemoration of historical figures has long been a contested issue in universities.

The #RhodesMustFall movement and WW1 mural controversy at the University of Southampton have provoked both column inches and student protests. Yet more insidious in universities is the pervasive issue of misrepresentation, in which the commemoration of male figures is hegemonic.

outdated and exclusive system? The new college must be named after a modern female figure to redress this imbalance. My suggestion?

Ruth First, a Durham lecturer assassinated by the South African state for her opposition to apartheid in 1982.

First was born in South Africa in 1925, and as a young woman joined the South African Communist Party due to their alliance with the

The University’s bastions reflect an outdated and exclusive system Naming the new seventeenth college will undoubtedly be a battleground. As it stands, only three colleges are named after women, only one of whom, Josephine Butler, is not a saint at least a millennia old. How can Durham aspire to be a diverse and modern university, whilst its bastions reflect an

(Derek Smith)

ANC against the apartheid regime.

A fellow student of both Nelson Mandela and Eduardo Mondlane, the founder of the Mozambique freedom movement FRELIMO, she was a radical activist at student rallies.

First lectured between 1973 and 1978 Working for the party throughout the 1940s, she became Editor-in-Chief of the South African newspaper The Guardian, which was banned by the state for its agitationary politics, whilst also running the journal Fighting Talk.

Amongst 156 other anti-apartheid activists, she was a defendant in the Treason Trial of 1956, which led to her being blacklisted, unable to publish, attend meetings, or be quoted.

Ironically, many arrested were detained in communal cells in Johannesburg, which Mandela called ‘the largest and longest unbanned meeting of the Congress Alliance in years.’ Seven years later, she was detained in isolation for 117 days without charge, eventually

being forced into exile in Britain in 1964.

After holding a number of positions in the British AntiApartheid Movement, First lectured in development studies at Durham between 1973 and 1978, living on Mavin Street off Hallgarth.

Publishing a number of books whilst at Durham, including Libya: The Elusive Revolution and a biography of Olive Schreiner, she was the first woman to ever interview Colonel Gaddafi. Often on secondment in African universities as well as working for UNESCO, First moved to Mozambique in 1978, to become research director at the Centre for African Studies in Maputo.

What will the seventeenth college be called?

Yet four years later, as she opened her mail at the university one morning, a parcel bomb exploded, killing her instantly. The package was found to have been sent by the South African police, disguised as a parcel from the UN, intended to silence one of the most provocative voices of the anti-apartheid movement. The two

men who assassinated her, Craig Williamson and Roger Raven, were given amnesty as part of the postapartheid peace efforts, and testified that First had been killed to have a destabilising effect on the liberation movement in South Africa.

Durham has commemorated Ruth First in a number of ways over the years, naming an annual lecture after her, and creating a scholarship for a southern African student from a historically disadvantaged background to undertake postgraduate study at the university.

Yet shouldn’t there be more, for an activist who lectured at Durham for half a decade, and gave her life to the cause of liberation?

Commemoration is an important issue, and should be used to provide a space in which a life’s work and ideology can not only be viewed, but used as a source of inspiration.

If seven saints, two bishops, and the subject of Earl Grey tea can all have colleges named after them, a figure with the relevancy and vibrancy of Ruth First is surely deserving of a similar honour. The University must think long and hard about what to name the seventeenth college- or face a student backlash.

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Monday 17th June 2019| PALATINATE

Comment

The Women’s World Cup is key to kicking sexism out of football Tom Davidson ‘We play for a nation that doesn’t even know our names’. This was the resounding opening line of Germany’s squad announcement video for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France. After years of being sneered at and shunned by followers of the men’s game, this summer the women will take centre stage. ‘We don’t have balls, but we know how to use them’, the video continues, planting a well-delivered blow to the sexual discrimination that still lingers in the sport.

invitation with a composed tut and an unyielding ‘no’, testament to her professionalism. Needless to say, Luka Modrić, the male winner of the award, was not asked to flaunt his derrière on stage.

Indifference towards Hegerberg’s feat didn’t stop there. Later that night, Antoine Griezmann, visibly disappointed after missing out on the men’s prize, sent his congratulations to Modrić and ‘that

itself,’ Hegerberg recently told the BBC. For the Lyon striker, it’s not a matter of money, but attitude and respect.

‘If you can change attitudes in the beginning, things will change. The men in suits can’t ignore that’

the BBC at a men’s World Cup, has spoken openly about the rape and acid attack threats she’s received online. In February, Iranian state TV cancelled their coverage of a Bayern Munich game after catching wind that female referee Bibiana Steinhaus would be officiating.

Additionally, prominent figures in the men’s game have been hostile to women, with former Manchester United boss David Moyes telling

‘We don’t have balls, but we know how to use them’

Nowadays, however, female footballers are stars in their own right. Take Ada Hegerberg, the winner of the first Ballon d’Or Féminin and scorer of a 16-minute hat-trick in last month’s Champions League final. Hegerberg’s historic award last December was infamously marred when DJ Martin Solveig asked her if she knew how to ‘twerk’. Hegerberg met the

As for the World Cup, the gap is beginning to be bridged. The winners of this year’s women’s tournament will claim $4 million, double what the USA earned for their triumph in 2015. Double, but only a fraction of the $38 million France’s men brought home from Russia last year. For many, improved investment can only be justified with increased interest in the women’s game. That’s why, for all football fans across the globe, now is the time to watch.

Women’s football should not be viewed as a sub-genre of the men’s game, but rather a sport in its own right, worthy of its own attention

“Nowadays,

”

For many, improved investment can only be justified with increased interest in the women’s game

“

For many, knowledge of women’s football doesn’t stretch far beyond Keira Knightley’s performance in Bend It Like Beckham or the occasional women’s friendly match on FIFA 16. Of course, in comparison to the men’s game, women’s football is fairly fresh in the UK. Whilst men’s football continued to develop throughout the 20th century, women’s teams suffered a 50-year ban enforced by the FA which saw them refused access to grounds for matches. In 1971, the ban was lifted but they’d have to wait another two decades for the inaugural Women’s World Cup in 1991.

however, more and more female footballers are rising to stardom

UEFA write a cheque of €250,000.

76 times less.

Illustration: Anna Thomas

girl from Lyon’. That girl who, just last month, netted three goals to ensure her team’s fourth consecutive Champions League triumph.

It’s not a matter of money, but attitude and respect That girl who, in Griezmann’s native France, has led Lyon to five successive league titles. That girl who, in the name of gender equality, refuses to represent Norway at international level in protest at a lack of respect for women’s players in the country.

‘If we don’t push for the change for women’s football to go in the right direction then it won’t come by

‘If you can change attitudes in the beginning, things will change. The men in suits can’t ignore that. They are going to understand one day.

They are going to understand that this is about society and it’s about modern football,’ she continued.

Ticket sales for the 2019 Women’s World Cup continue to break records Whilst the lack of exposure suffered by the women’s game has been primarily due to structural failings, it’s not just the men in suits who need to change. Alex Scott, the first female pundit to represent

journalist Vicky Sparks to ‘watch herself’ because she ‘still might get a slap even though she’s a woman’.

As viewing figures rise, structural improvements are a must. Ticket sales for the 2019 Women’s World Cup continue to break records, passing the 720,000 mark in April.

Yet, the disparity is still glaring.

Although reliable information of players’ salaries is hard to come by, we can compare the prize pots for major tournaments as a measure of economic support for the game. Qualifying, group stage, and knockout bonuses aside, the winners of the men’s Champions League final can expect to take home €19 million. For the women,

”

For the game to evolve, attitudes towards it must first evolve.

Women’s football should not be viewed as a sub-genre of the men’s game, but rather a sport in its own right, worthy of its own attention.

As this summer’s Women’s World Cup will show, quality on the pitch is not lacking. It’s the inequality that exists beyond the white lines that is holding the game back.

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PALATINATE | Monday 17th June 2019

10

Comment

Are the British public warming to environmentalism?

Jonty Head The Green Party were among the UK’s biggest winners in the recent EU elections, becoming Britain’s fourth biggest political presence in Europe. But a note of caution for any environmental enthusiasts who may be reading: this probably says more about the state of the Labour party than it does about the political priorities of the British public.

There is no doubt that the Green Party will be proud of their success in the European elections, and rightly so. With 7 seats and a vote share of 12.1%, they were ahead of the Conservatives (9.1%) and just two percentage points behind Labour. So, is this a sign that attitudes towards the climate are changing?

Taking into consideration the recent progress of environmental groups, that might seem to be the obvious conclusion.

The Extinction Rebellion protests in London dominated national headlines in April. Following weeks of pink boats, film stars in dungarees and indeed some serious political debate, the UK government declared a climate change emergency.

Unlike so many protests, which for all their noble intentions often fail to have any real impact, these

demonstrations caused enough noise to give Westminster little choice but to sit up and listen.

Earlier in the year, schoolchildren had been making their absence known in the ‘Youth Strikes 4 Climate’, fed up with a lack of action on the part of their parents’ generation. Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old leader of the movement, was even invited to speak before both the EU and UK parliaments.

Perhaps most importantly of all, the now well documented ‘Attenborough effect’ has, thankfully, ensured that nobody will ever be able to look at a straw again, without imagining the sad eyes of an unfortunate turtle, pleading with them to reconsider their preferred method of cola consumption. rely, then, the success of the Green Party is a reflection of the changing

values of voters, courtesy of Frozen Planet and Emma Thompson? Perhaps, but it may have rather more to do with the performance of Labour: finallyw, a meltdown that the Greens can cheer about.

EU elections have always been a chance for voters to ‘stick it to the man’ EU elections have always been a chance for voters to ‘stick it to the man’ and vote for someone other than the two main parties, safe in the knowledge that, on balance, a slightly different UK cohort of MEPs will have less of an impact on their day-to-day lives than an upheaval of Her Majesty’s government.The Greens would always expect to do better in a European vote than in a

general election.

Even so, they had just 3 MEPs after the 2014 European poll, so clearly something has changed. The question is, where has all this extra support come from? The Tories suffered what can only be described as a collapse, losing 15 of their 19 seats, but it seems unlikely that many Conservatives would have jumped to quite such a left-leaning ship. The Liberal Democrats, who this time last year could just about cater for their party conference by putting two tables together at Zizzis, disproved the naysayers by earning a 21% vote share. It doesn’t seem that the Greens gained much support from them either.

Which brings us, of course, to the Labour Party. Surely, in light of the crumbling of their main rivals, this election would be a glorious triumph for Corbyn and co? As it happens, not quite. They were down from 20 MEPs in 2014 to just 10 this time around. A less embarrassing night for them than the Tories, admittedly, but not by much.

The Green party must keep up its momentum when faced with a strong and focussed Labour Party

European Parliament via Flickr

The Conservatives are in disarray over Brexit, but the position of the Labour party isn’t any clearer.

Meanwhile, the Greens were vocal in their desire to remain, and they were

rewarded for it. The breakdown of the EU election results shows that, generally speaking, the more proRemain an area was during the referendum, the more likely people were to lend their support to the Green Party. Voters who were too left-wing for the Liberal Democrats but too anti-Brexit for Labour had a party to turn to, and they did.

“The Greens were

vocal in their desire to remain, and they were rewarded for it

”

This means that it is too simplistic to put the success of the Green Party simply down to a change in the public’s stance on environmental issues. That is not to say that climate activists have not had any success, but before anyone gets carried away, the Green Party must keep up its momentum when it does eventually come up against a strong and focussed Labour Party.

If that happens, which it may, that really will be a sign that the British public are warming to the environment.

Everest: Realm of human possibility or devil’s playground?

Aadira Parakkat In 2017, Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala, the first Sri Lankan to successfully scale Mount Everest, visited my school to talk to us as inexperienced high-schoolers about her exceptional struggle and accomplishment. A sense of empowerment settled over a sea of focused teenagers as a woman of petite build spoke to us with unwavering confidence about the fulfilment of her lifelong ambition to scale the Himalayan peak; the ideal picture of the power of human initiative and willpower.

However, although Jayanthi spoke with a twinkle in her eye about t h e

hypnotic obsession with mountaineering that consumed her throughout her adolescence, she spoke with an undercurrent of awareness of just how unlikely her odds were, for she started the ascent with a fellow Sri Lankan companion who had to turn around after Camp 4 because his Sherpa told him that he probably wouldn’t be able to make it.

Jayanthi told us more than once that if her companion hadn’t listened to the Sherpas and turned around, he would have likely suffered a horrible fate. This maturity was a product of Jayanthi’s prior experience with mountaineering and her acknowledgement of the fact that there lies a fine line between fulfilment and futile risk.

However, as the notion of climbing Everest’s peak becomes more and more sensationalized, hundreds of individuals set out to make their attempt; this year, 381 permits were sold by the Department of Tourism despite the shrunken

windows of opportunity due to climate change.

As a result, there was a shocking bottleneck of over 200 people in the Death Zone on May 22, an area of the peak named for its dangerously low oxygen levels.

This year, numerous climbers complained of the dead bodies they had to witness during their climb, a harrowing sight when durability and willpower are being tested to their limits.

And here lies the harsh reality; in the Spring of 2019, there were 11 deaths, the highest in a year since 2015. Additionally, a cleaning endeavour by the Nepal government collected 11 tonnes of rubbish from the mountain, including torn tents, oxygen cylinders, and 4 uncovered dead bodies.

When does effort shift from being inspiring to simply selfish?

Experienced Sherpa Ang Tshering Lama told the Himalayan Times, “They should listen to their body and

know when to turn back”, echoing Jayanthi’s words. It becomes clear that the secret to a successful Everest experience is not sacrificing everything to reach the peak, but possessing a self-awareness and rationality to stay alive.

Therefore, while attempting Everest should entail the pure love of mountaineering to propel you forward, it should also come with the knowledge that turning back can sometimes be the most fulfilling decision.

In such a case, it would only make sense to assume that the requirements for scaling Everest would be made stricter, yet what is currently happening is the opposite.

With the Nepali government dependent on its income from ambitious mountaineers, regulations have been relaxed, and participants are no longer required to scale a mountain of 8000 metres or more prior to their journey, favouring the deluded ambition that motivates some recreational mountaineers.

Upon watching the documentary Free Solo, actor Amy Poehler compares the mountain expedition

of Alex Honnold and all such dangerous attempts to the people who run in marathons. ‘Everybody who’s running a marathon talks about like, “I’m training for the marathon” […] and it’s like, you don’t have to run it,’ she ranted on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

And in an exaggerated and satirical way, Poehler really shines light the worst aspect of human endeavor: when does effort shift from being inspiring to simply selfish?

Has the elusive realm of Everest’s peak started to fade?

The Atlantic declared this year’s tragic statistics as evidence that “Everest is Over” due to the shift in such a personal journey becoming a race for recognition and public validation, citing the phenomenon of the “Everest Selfie”.

And if the wastefulness and recklessness displayed in this year’s statistics is to be considered, then it is very possible that the idea of Everest is beginning to lose its cultural reign unless we consciously try to restore it.

Photograph: Christopher Burns

PALATINATE | Monday 17th June 2019

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Profile

Ted Gup: “It’s easy to piss people off - it’s harder to give them hope” Profile speaks to writer Ted Gup on engaging critically in politics and falling in love in your 60s Ella Catherall & Alexandra Beste Profile Editors Durham is pretty lucky to call Ted Gup a member of its community.

He is originally from Ohio in the United States, but he now lives at St Cuthbert’s College on the Bailey as their official Writer-inResidence.

“I especially like the North, I prefer the North”

He seems to like living in the UK, and he speaks highly of the city of Durham and its residents.

“I really truly enjoy the culture and the country” he explains. “I especially like the North, I prefer the North.”

“

May and Corbyn, whether you like them or not, they can both complete an English sentence

”

He teaches a non-fiction writing class to students once a week, and spends the rest of his time reading, writing, and observing what goes on around him.

Ted is most well-known for his work as an investigative reporter on government secrecy and national security in the 1980s and 1990s, but he did not always intend on becoming a journalist.

“I didn’t want to sit at a hedge fund and get rich, it didn’t appeal to me ” “I never took a course in journalism, I didn’t have any idea what I was doing”, he admits. “I wanted to be a poet”.

He immediately loved journalism, however, and he soon discovered that he was “kind of born to do it.”

“It’s very patronising to say ‘If you knew what I knew you would choose the way I do’”

know exactly what they were voting for.

“It’s very patronising” he adds, “to say ‘if you knew what I knew you would choose the way I do.’”

Ted does believe that journalism can help citizens make betterinformed decisions, however.

“If you don’t hold leaders accountable, and you don’t provide information to the public, then you’re pretty damn sure that

UK and US governments, Ted is quick to admit that he is no expert on the British political system.

“That’s part of the joy of writing- you can touch people”

He does point out, however, that often he finds UK politicians to be more articulate than leaders “In journalism, they take you in the US. seriously” he “May and explains. “I feel Corbyn, whether like I’m part of a you like them or community and not, they can that I can make a both complete difference”. an English Investigative sentence” he work gave Ted the says. license he wanted The rise of to “be curious the internet and ask a lot of can also cause questions”, and problems for he learnt so much the democracy on the job that of a country, Ted it provided him explains. with a “wonderful Although c o n t i n u i n g information education.” can now be Since then, Ted disseminated has reported on universally stories from all a l m o s t around the globe, instantaneously, and he feels very the issue is that lucky to be a writer. “lies also travel “Things worked at the same out for me”, he says. speed”.

“I didn’t want to sit In order to at a desk at a hedge solve this, he fund and get rich, it believes, “you didn’t appeal to me. have to educate I like adventure. I citizens to ask like not knowing themselves what I’m doing the ‘is this true?’ next day.” when they read A lot of Ted’s i n v e s t i g a t i v e Writer-in-Residence Ted Gup is well-known for his investigative work on government something.”

“If something work concerned secrecy (Photograph via Durham University) doesn’t feel right, the transparency they shouldn’t of government be afraid to demand the source. intelligence, but he questions you’re going to get nothing but “Every citizen should have a the widely-held belief that bad decisions and bad leaders” he shockproof bullshit detector when democracies live or die depending explains. they encounter information”, he on the accessiblity of information. adds.

“Conventional wisdom is that “Every citizen should have a When asked how citizens can people make wrong decisions or shockproof bullshit be persuaded to engage more bad choices as the result of not detector when they critically with what they read, Ted being well informed. I don’t think suggests they must be made aware it’s as simple as that” he explains. “A encounter information” that “their laziness can be fatal.” lot of people make terrible choices even when they have all the facts.”

“If you do provide that He cites the election of Trump in information there’s no guarantee “They must be aware that the US and the Brexit referendum that you’re going to get good laziness can be fatal” in the UK as examples to explain leaders and good decisions, but what he means. your chances are somewhat If they understand that they In both of these situations, he better.” have a “deeply vested self-interest says, “a lot of people actually did When asked what he thinks in the world predicated on an about the differences between the

adequate grasp of information,” then they might take a bigger interest in determining what is true, he says.

Politics aside, Ted also finds “ordinary life” incredibly interesting. He recently wrote a piece on falling in love later in life for the New York Times, which has now been read by at least 6 million people.

“People care about romance - everyone has a desire to find someone special”

“I feel very lucky to be in love at 68”, he explains. “People care about romance - everyone has a desire to find someone special.”

He received hundreds of letters thanking him for the article from around the world, and describes a reaction like that as “part of the joy of writing.”

“False information can lead to very real deaths”

“You can touch people” he explains. “It’s easy to piss people off, it’s harder to give them hope, it’s harder to make them laugh.

People are dying to laugh.”

Despite its joys, Ted recognises that being a writer is a position of “great privilege” at the same time.

“It’s a huge responsibility” he explains, but it is a duty that he does not take lightly.

“You write the wrong thing, very bad things can happen” he says. “False information can lead to very real deaths. You have to take it seriously.”

“

I feel very lucky to be in love at 68

”

To see more Palatinate Profile interviews, including Anton du Beke and Ed Gamble visit: palatinate.org.uk/category/ profile

12

Monday 17th June 2019 | PALATINATE

SciTech

Antibiotic resistance: An underestimated threat? Reader’s

Ewan Jones SciTech Editor Frustrated with a lack of action in regards to the threat posed by antibiotic resistance, 11 of the UK’s most senior medics have composed a letter imploring the government to implement changes in how antibiotics are used in the farming industry. A recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development suggests that more than 90,000 Britons will die before 2050 unless steps are taken to prevent the further spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, describing this issue as “one of the biggest threats to modern medicine”.

“One of the biggest threats to medicine” Antibiotics work by disrupting the activity of bacteria, inhibiting their growth and spread or simply killing them directly. The use of antibiotics allowed the development of radical medical

treatments that were previously incredibly risk-heavy due to the risks posed by bacterial infection, revolutionising the medical field and paving the way for the miraculous treatments we have today.

However, antibiotics have a serious weakness that arises from a simple trait of evolution: random mutation. Whilst antibiotics kill almost all bacteria, mutations in the genes of a tiny fraction of bacteria can allow them to survive an onslaught of genocidal antibiotics.

These antibiotic-resistant bacteria are then in a prime position to survive and reproduce, thriving in the empty space left by their fallen comrades. The resistant bacterium’s offspring will also contain the gene granting antibiotic resistance, leading to the eventual formation of huge colonies of bacteria that cannot be killed by conventional antibiotics. Even worse, bacteria have an incredible ability to pass on their genes to surrounding bacteria through the use of short, circular segments of DNA called plasmids. Once another bacteri-

um ‘picks up’ a plasmid it is then able to express the gene it codes, for example, the antibiotic resistance gene. The combination of these two processes is the driving force behind antibiotic resistance, and in order to tackle the threat it poses, serious changes need to be made at the governmental level, especially in regards to antibiotic use on farms.

The current climate of antibiotic use is one of rampant over prescription Farmers will often dose all of their animals with antibiotics at the first sign of an individual animal falling ill. This is a highly dangerous activity, as the more antibiotics are used, the faster antibiotic-resistant bacteria are able to develop.

The letter signed by the senior medics calls on a complete ban on this preventative use of antibiotics on farms, which EU countries will be implementing by 2022. The UK government, however, will not be

obliged to commit to doing the same following Brexit, lending to the letter’s necessity.

In our daily lives, we can help stall the evolution of antibioticresistant bacteria by holding our doctors accountable for the treatments they grant us. A recent survey showed that 38% of people expect to receive antibiotics when visiting a GP, even if they are afflicted by an illness that cannot be treated by their use (such as viruses like the flu, which are not bacteria-caused).

The current climate of antibiotic use is one of rampant over prescription, which contributes greatly to the spread of resistant bacteria. We need to accept that antibiotics are not a ‘cure-all’, and that in many cases, no antibiotics, or a delayed prescription if symptoms do not improve, are the ways forward. The UK government would do well to pay heed to this warning letter, and follow in the footsteps of other governments around the world to prevent this looming public health crisis.

Children of the stars

are more resistant than trees to fire, vast swathes of forest were converted to savannah. The cause of the sudden increase in wildfires was unknown, until Dr Melott and Dr Thomas proposed an intriguing explanation.

When cosmic rays slam into the Earth they interact with its atmosphere, breaking apart molecules and letting loose electrons. These electrons go on to free others in, creating cascades that culminate in a lightning bolt.

Charlie Hetherington SciTech Editor The Supernovae are big. Very, very big. They are so unimaginably enormous, physicists employ a rough guide to their size: however colossal you can imagine, the reality is bigger. To illustrate the principle, take the following question: which is brighter? A nuclear bomb on your forehead or the Sun (if it was large enough) going supernova seen from Earth? The answer is the supernova, by a billion times.

However colossal you can imagine, the reality is bigger

Supernovae are rather toasty With this rough rule of thumb established, it’s safe to conclude supernovae are rather toasty. Indeed, anything within a 30 light year ‘kill-zone’ would be blitzed by highly ionising radiation. Any planet, such as Earth, would have its atmosphere stripped by travelling atomic nuclei, known as cosmic rays. This layer normally protects against ultraviolet light; without it, all but the most basic forms of life would be killed.

Luckily, there are no stars large enough to go supernova close to

Stuart Rankin via Flickr Earth. Nevertheless, ones further afield, in a cluster called the Local Bubble, may still have had steered the evolution of life on Earth. By measuring levels of a radioactive Iron isotope from the exploding stars within ancient seabed, researchers at the University of Kansas determined that a major

period of supernovae activity occurred within the past 10m years, showering the Earth in an abnormal amount of cosmic rays.

This period corresponds to a major shift in the Earth’s biosphere. Small amounts of charcoal in oceanic sediment indicate wildfires became much more prevalent throughout the globe. As grasses

Recent measurements made in Armenia saw this cascading effect, confirming the theory. The researchers then calculated the effect the extra cosmic rays from supernovae had on lightning generation and found it increased nearly 50 times – the culprit unmasked.

What makes this discovery particularly interesting is the impact the shift from forest to grassland had on hominids, or human-like primates.

By forcing us out of our tarzan, tree-swinging ways and onto just two feet, our hands were freed to get up to all sorts of trouble.

Scigest

Ewan Jones SciTech Editor As if exam season wasn’t bad enough, recent research from Linkoping University in Sweden has suggested that our pet dogs may feel our stress as well. The amount of cortisol, a hormone commonly associated with stress in animals, can be measured using hair extracts. The study found that higher cortisol in human hair was mirrored in dog hair extracts, confirming what many stressed-out dog owners may have felt when observing their pets seemingly copying their emotional state. So, now that exams are over, take a moment to give your dog some love and affection, because they might’ve been going through the same stressful times alongside you.

With the recent Durfess complaining about the plague of wasps on Church Street, many people may find themselves frustrated at the prevalence of these seemingly useless pests in the summer months. However, research published in the Journal of Insect Conservation and Diversity suggests that wasps play an integral part in pest control, reducing the amount of pesticides required to ensure a successful harvest.

Two researchers at the University of Gloucestershire have attempted to engage the UK population with these pro-wasp sentiments by creating the ‘Big Wasp Survey’, which encouraged volunteers to map wasp species and locations around the country.

The survey showed that hundreds of different wasp species live in the UK, with a wide distribution. So, next time you find yourself bothered by an angry wasp when walking around Durham, at least attempt to remind yourself that they do have a positive impact on your life!

Finally, a story many of you may be familiar with; President Trump last week remarked in a tweet that the moon is a part of Mars. Maybe Astrosoc should have a word!

Want to write for us?

Send an email to scitech@palatinate.org.uk

Monday 17th June 2019 | PALATINATE

14

Politics

An end to economic growth?

Richard Waters We are addicted to economic growth. It is an addiction working on the minds and the behaviours of people across the world. Even this article, the laptop on which it was written and the website on which it will be published, are products of, and contribute to, GDP. Despite such pervasiveness, the catastrophic environmental consequences of this addiction are rarely addressed.

Let’s start at a geological scale.

For the majority of the past 12500 years we have lived in an epoch, the Holocene, characterised by a relatively stable climate. We now know that humans are having a transformational impact on global climates and ecosystems. The world is accelerating towards hot house conditions; glaciers have lost ice for the past consecutive 40 years and 20 of the hottest years ever recorded have been in the past 22 years.

thropogenic climate change. When news outlets show pictures of wildfires in California, desertification in Mali or Brazil, or deadly flooding in Bangladesh, it is no longer controversial for them to explicitly identify these as direct consequences of humanity’s impact on the environment. But it is very uncommon for any second link to be made back to the growth of GDP as the main driver of this crisis.

The earth provides the resources for the growth

Growth in GDP necessarily means environmental transformation. The earth provides the resources for, and acts as a sink for, the growth fuelling the capitalist economy. Certainly, this may be a bleak picture.

We need to transfrom political discourse on growth as a solution

But once we actually understand growth, we can see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Cer-

tainly, it is a very different light from the one that technology promised at the end of the 20th century, a vague detachment between the acceleration of growth and consumption. A glance back across the span of anatomically modern humans, roughly the last 200 000 years, highlights one striking thing in regard to growth. Its measurement and the addiction to it are relatively recent.

Whilst the era of growth that has led to this crisis has also provided the technologies that could address it, we cannot only put our faith in technical solutions. As a species, we need to transform political discourse away from the idea of growth as a solution to all our problems. It is very fair to ask what else. For the answer, we must look to degrowth.

sources finite, but so too is the ability of the Earth to act as a sink for the effects of this consumption.

Growth will end. The finite nature of the planet will ensure that.

We have a stark choice. We can put the brakes on global growth through coherent, pro-people policies. The alternative is a sudden, catastrophic and uncontrolled end to the growth upon which the current economy depends. The effects of which would be disastrous - both socially and environmentally.

This is the idea that we cannot continue to extract infinitely from the resources that are fundamentally finite. Not only are these re-

REALITY CHECK? For sources on this and all our articles please see our online editions at www.palatinate.org.uk

Growth will end, the finite nature of the planet will ensure that

Humans are having a transformational impact on global climates

The link is now made between extreme weather events and an-

Ian Burt via Flickr

We demand a radical approach that challenges our preconceptions

It is a crisis. But a time of crisis is a time to demand a radical approach that challenges one of the most accepted and apparently innate norms within our society. We have shifted to this worship of GDP growth that we now take for granted, and we can shift away.

Education in the digital age Henry Warner Education, education, education!

We’re conditioned by politicians to think about it purely through the prism of the state-enforced system. Education has been turned into a policy topic by those hoping to tap into public sentiment. It’s an area that the general public has very strong opinions on but doesn’t actually conceptualize with a particularly high degree of resolution.

Rather than picking apart the government’s education policy I’d like to give an optimistic vision of how I see education developing in the next decade. There are several key technologies which are going to either make the current systems of education redundant or at least heavily disrupt their operation.

Education has been turned into a policy topic

The internet has revolutionized the distribution of information and educational material; you don’t have to have a crystal ball to see that it’s going to play an increasingly important role in how educational systems are structured and implemented. Additionally, we are currently in the early stages of

what I like to call “The Integration Race.” Technology companies are competing with each other to find ways of more closely integrating with the users of their products by rolling out all manner of wearables: smart phones, watches, glasses. Increasingly the R&D into technology with some kind of neural interface is impacting the products we see on the market.

Podcasts are carving out a large section of the digitally consumed education

Technologies currently being marketed as recreational devices (VR technologies particularly) will, after some refinement, see more practical applications being rolled out. Already, podcasts are carving out a large section of the digitally consumed education and people listen to hours of content which can only be described as educational. I, personally, along with many thousands of others, enjoy The Partially Examined Life which explores a range of philosophical concepts. Individuals, businesses, and institutions around the world are taking the time to make easily available and inexpensive educa-

US Department of Education tional material. The sheer quantity of this material is quickly rivaling traditional means of participating and consuming education. Much of the content from school syllabuses and increasingly university courses can be learnt in a more convenient fashion online.

Academics are turning to new platfroms to educate

The quantity is already there and the quality is fast catching up.

Hundreds of traditionally recognized academics are turning to new platforms to educate and a few are being richly rewarded for it. Individuals such as Jordan Peterson, Sam Harris, and Eric Weinstein are making sizable waves in the rejuvenated space of public intellectual discussion. Whilst many in the traditional institutions dismiss this kind of success as driven by

political radicalism, any kind of observation quickly shows that this certainly isn’t the whole picture.

The track record of the government provided education can be depressing at times. However, don’t let this get you down; education is so much bigger than a mere policy topic. Education innovation that we are seeing on digital platforms is very exciting, and making access to education increasingly easy.

PALATINATE | Monday 17th June 2019

15

Politics

Tory leadership: the race to the top Dan Eggleston The Conservative Party leadership contest will decide the next Prime Minister, chosen by the party MPs and, eventually, the membership. Yet, with so many people throwing their hat into the ring it is easy to become inundated with information. Following is summary of the candidates.

Boris Johnson

Long pegged for the top spot, Johnson’s Prime Ministerial ambitions have been Westminster’s worst kept secret for a lot longer than there has been an official race. Long at odds with Theresa May’s Brexit policy, Johnson resigned as Foreign Secretary last year in a final act of protest, taking a ‘deal or no deal’ approach to the October 31st deadline.

Dominic Raab

Former Brexit Secretary, Raab’s Eurosceptic credentials preceded him long before there was even a referendum on EU membership.

Much like Johnson, he takes the

October 31st deadline seriously, hoping to use his negotiating experience with the EU to achieve a ‘fairer deal’; remaining committed to keeping a ‘No Deal’ on the table should the EU need an incentive to compromise. His stance seems less controversial than his fellow competitor, Boris Johnson.

Jeremy Hunt

Taking on the role of Foreign Secretary after Boris Johnson’s resignation, Hunt has an impressive Cabinet CV under two Prime Ministers. Campaigning for Remain in 2016, Hunt has since become a convicted Brexiteer and head of the Foreign Office. His controversial comparison of the EU to the Soviet Union has satisfied the more hardline Eurosceptic backbenches.

Michael Gove

Environment Secretary under Theresa May, Gove is probably best known for his time as Education Secretary under David Cameron. Leading the official Vote Leave campaign in 2016, Gove has since served as a

committed member of the Cabinet, sticking to the Prime Minister’s deal when most others left.

2016, moving to a position of urging members of the Commons to back the Withdrawal Agreement.

A recent addition to the Cabinet, Rory Stewart serves as International Development Secretary following from his time as Prisons Minister. Claiming to be a Brexiteer, he campaigned for Remain in 2016 and built his support base upon the promise of reaching out to Remain voters. Touting his plan to ‘bring this country together’, Stewart has been well received

by Remainers, but significantly less so by Eurosceptics, who see it as a chance to scupper Brexit.

As Home Secretary, Sajid Javid has been a long term Eurosceptic, backing the 2016 Remain campaign with deep regret and reluctance. A strong résumé of Cabinet experience supports Javid’s case to ‘rebuild trust’ in the Conservative government and make a success out of Brexit. A strong Eurosceptic he may be, but his service to the Remain campaign and commitment to May’s Cabinet has brought his stance on Brexit into question.

Rory Stewart

Matt Hancock

Again, a speedy rise to prominence has marked the recent career of Health Secretary Matt Hancock. Only a couple of months as Culture Secretary preceded the promotion of this leadership candidate, who has consistently tried to present himself as a hip, young and tech-savvy Tory. Another convert to the Brexit camp, he too campaigned for Remain in

Sajid Javid

Each candidate will have to compete for the favour of the Conservative MPs. Party polling occurred on Thursday 13th and three contenders were knocked out the race: Esther McVey, Mark Harper, Andrea Leadsom. The Party hopes that by the end of voting this week there will only be two contenders left.

The second rounds of voting will take place on Tuesday 18th. with a quota of 32 votes, before rounds on Wednesday and Thursday, when the bottom candidate

will be eliminated in each. The process is a little complex but with Boris Johnosn leading by an increasingly significant margin, it is likely that the final competition will be against a ‘softer’ candidate like Hunter or Stewart. So, with that in mind, buckle-up, get your popcorn and brace yourselves for the coming weeks.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Is-this-raeli happening? Systems thinking

Abraham Leonard Keefe Of all of the contemporary world leaders it is certainly arguable that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the most troubling. Not only does Netanyahu display the aggressive, reactionary disposition of many others on the far-right, but he also has nuclear warheads at his disposal, and the USA at his back almost unconditionally. And in around 100 days, we have been presented with our best chance yet of removing him from power.

Even given the volatile situation of the Near East generally, Netanyahu has not held back whatsoever on his Liberal Zionist agenda, pursuing what could be best described as “Manifest Destiny with Israeli characteristics”.

Netanyahu’s Israel has largely replaced the ‘Roadmap to peace’ with the aggressively nationalistic “Blue Line” plan, including funding Israeli settlement in strategic areas to further limit and reduce the areas to be set aside for Palestinian self-determination.

Netanyahu has also repeatedly sought to coalition with a rightwing bloc including the “Jewish Power” party, which in turn descends from the Kahanist movement of the banned “Kach” party,

which in turn is condemned by most Western countries (and even AIPAC) as a terrorist organisation, for its support for ethnic cleansing. This has resulted in the “Nation-State Bill”, a law that declared Israel to be a state first and foremost for Jews, by proxy declaring the Arab Israelis to be second class citizens.

Palestinians have been up in arms about Netanyahu and his Liberal Zionist policies

Is it any surprise, therefore, that the Palestinians have been up in arms about Netanyahu and his Liberal Zionist policies? Whilst obviously terror is hardly an optimal way to respond, is it really that surprising that certain Palestinian groups had been provoked to take more destructive action?

And now, Bibi has promised to finally do what he’s been preparing for over the last few years, and formally annex many areas of the West Bank with settlements, including East Jerusalem.

Netanyahu is currently going through a corruption scandal, on counts of bribery and fraud, and is facing potential criminal charges.

There have even been claims of body cameras at polling stations

in areas with a large proportion of Palestinians in this election itself, as well as the disappearance of ballot boxes in many places in the election earlier this year.

The only way to assuredly stop Netanyahu is to make sure that Likud do not get the most seats in the Knesset - and as we have seen in April it would seem only the “Blue & White” coalition, led

by Benny Gantz, is able to do such.

Whilst hardly wbeing the answer to Israeli politics their aim seems clear: to keep Netanyahu as far from the red button as possible.

Tom Loring Deputy Politics Editor The traditional approach to analyzing and understanding international relations has been to study individual elements through a theoretical lens such as realism or neo-liberalism in order to explain motivations and to predict responses. These are the principle ‘grand theories’ through which history can be understood.

However, these theories have often struggled to take into account the hugely significant, but relatively recent, forces of globalization and nationalist populism.

Often described as one of the most significant developments to the school of IR of the 20th century , this emphasises the patchwork of relationships between international political actors, and how these processes change over time.

A significant development in International Relations

Palazzochigi via Flickr

With theoretical foundations in post-modernism, this approach challenges the idea that there exists a ‘single equation’ or theory that can explain the complexity of IR, influenced as it is significantly by human nature. Thus ‘systems thinking’ utilizes ele-

ments of game theory, observing a nation’s behavior as a two-way activity, both taking from and giving to the international system.

Challenging the idea of a ‘single equation’

This can help to develop a more accurate lens through which to understand the complex cause-andeffect relationships inherent in global politics in a Trumpian age.

One undeniable contemporary feature is the rise of nationalist populism as a powerful domestic political force, subsequently influencing the political relationship between those states. This can be seen perhaps most notably through the rightwing drift of the Republican party, not only altering America’s stance but also forcing allies and enemies alike to adjust their stance in response.

For example, the election of a democratic administration, likely to be led by a left-leaning candidate (such as Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren), the characterization of interstate relationships could be significantly altered. Under a systems thinking approach, the nature of these relations are the best lens through which to understand contemporary global affairs.

16

Politics

Monday 17th June 2019 | PALATINATE

Brexit Party, or just NEWKIP?

Rollo Speak The major talking point to come out of these European Elections has appeared to be the enormous gains made by the Brexit Party, taking 31.6% of the vote. However, greater analysis can reveal the superficiality of these headlines.

Whilst The Brexit party received around 5.5m votes, this constitutes less than a third of those who voted ‘leave’ in 2016. Concurrently, over 6 million signed that online petition to revoke Article 50. As a result of the low - 37% - turnout, this means that only 11.7% of the country voted for the Brexit party; not exactly a clear and unwavering cry for Brexit from the British people.

This has been the worst election result for the Tories

What’s more, most of this support came from those who voted for Farage’s UKIP in 2014. When Farage led UKIP in 2014, the party won 27.5% of the vote on a similar turnout – this year, UKIP only received about 3.3% of the vote.

This just seems like most people who liked Farage in 2014 voted for the New UKIP (NEWKIP, anyone?) i.e. the Brexit Party. The increase since 2014 of about 4% can easily be accounted for by, for example, Brexit-supporting Conservatives who don’t think that their party has done enough in the last three years (does anyone?).

Tanay Vankayalapati A bitterly divisive public vote, with unprecedented engagement , seemingly raising more questions than answers. Just over three years on from the EU referendum, it appears, even after so long, nothing has changed. The country is still split between Leave and Remain.

The European elections appear to have reinforced the polarisation, giving hardliners of both sides cause to celebrate. In their wake, the established political parties reel in their rejection by a populous eager for answers, and tired of waiting.

A more accurate, but understandably less exciting, headline following the European Elections would read: “Basically the same number of people still like Nigel Farage as they did a few years ago” – in other news, water is, indeed, wet. And, to be fair to the man, Farage truly knows how to campaign and understands how to sway constituents better than most other UK politicians (and could probably put any university rugby team to shame in terms of consumption of beer).

“Basically the same number of people still like Nigel Farage”

Far more interesting to consider is the decline of the traditional parties. The Tories and Labour dropped from a combined 49.1% of the European Elections vote in 2014 to a combined 23.2% of the vote in 2019.

This has been the worst election result for the Tories and could signal the decline of the party in its current iteration. In choosing to satisfy its 130,000 members and the 61% of conservatives who voted for Brexit, the very large minority of middle-ground Conservative voters who could easily be convinced to vote for a Blairite Labour might just desert and end up voting Liberal Democrat, for example. It’s easy to forget that much of the centrist electorate might have only vot-

ed Conservative in 2015 because they thought Ed Miliband was a bit awkward and, well, weird (google the ‘Bacon Sandwich,’ ‘Tough Enough,’ and ‘Trips off of Stage’ incidents). Similarly, in 2017, because they didn’t want a Venezuelan-regime-supporting Marxist and his side-kick who enjoys ‘generally fermenting the overthrow of capitalism.’

Chances of Labour or Conservatives winning a general election seem slim

Labour didn’t do much better, losing 11.3% of the vote share compared to 2014. Corbyn was specifically ambiguous about the position of the party on Brexit and is now paying the price. Were there to be a general election tomorrow, the chances of either Labour or the Conservatives winning a majority would be pretty slim.

It seems that the electorate is sick and tired of the two major parties and are looking for an alternative. Consider the enormous gains in the European Elections made by the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party who increased their vote shares from 6.9% to 20.3% and from 7.2 to 12.1%, respectively. Together, both being staunch ‘Remain’ parties, they outnumber the share of the vote held by the Brexit Party. However, ChangeUK is also a ‘Remain’ supporting party,

filled with a number of significant ‘establishment’ MPs – and only one less MP overall than the Lib Dems have – and yet it only picked up 3.4% of the vote. What could have caused this pitiful share of the vote as compared to the Lib Dems and Greens?

The electorate is sick and tired of the two major parties

Maybe the vote swing to the Lib Dems and Greens is symptomatic of more than just ‘Brexit’ vs. ‘Remain’ – perhaps the two parties actually better represent the political stance of much of the (especially younger) electorate, who

A polarised nation

coupled with an undoubtedly popular leader amongst parts of the electorate meant they could unite Brexiteers and secure a remarkable victory. Across the country, in every region they contested except London and Scotland , Farage’s party secured the most votes, and with it, his supporters will argue, perhaps a mandate for a no-deal Brexit.

We are electing members to a Parliament we should not be in

On the other hand, those advocating for a second referendum and to Remain also performed well.

Most notably, the Liberal Democrats secured an impressive second place, and together with the other remain-supporting parties in the Green Party and Change UK, secured a higher combined vote share than the Brexit Party. Their side claims the electorate is instead sending the message that a no-deal is unacceptable, and that a second referendum is justified. In reality,

The electorate have hardened their opinion on Brexit

The big winner was the Brexit Party, founded by Nigel Farage only this year. They surpassed UKIPs achievements in 2014, increasing their seat total and collecting nearly a third of the vote share.

Their status as a hard Brexit party

Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Tiocfaidh ar la 1916 via Flickr

both sides seem correct – the electorate have hardened on their opinion on Brexit, whether Leave or Remain. Which side has a greater mandate is a far trickier question – one these election results have not answered.

It appears large parts of the Tory faithful have abandoned their party for this election

What is clear is who has lost. The Tory vote collapsed – with Theresa May securing a woeful fifth place in what will be her last election as Prime Minister. Far from just an anti-incumbency swing, it appears large parts of the Tory faithful have abandoned their party for this election – dismayed with their handling of Brexit. The main opposition party, which would have been expected to capitalise on this, also saw disappointing results. Labour suffered heavy losses with their vote share nearly halving, as both ardent Remainers and Brexiteers alike switched allegiances, seeing Labour’s hedged Brexit policy as

tend to be more interested in the issues like climate, identity, closer global ties – and who care less for the traditional establishment parties that were developed out of the political and economic structures of the last two centuries. This tendency has been reflected throughout Europe: in France, the liberals and the greens won a combined largest 35.9% of the vote. In the reasonable and steady Germany, the Greens won almost 21% of the vote.

With this in mind, the real headlines should be that the Conservatives and Labour need to be careful to avoid facing serious apathy from the UK electorate. That said, the most important take-away is that the Farage should have named his party NEWKIP.

too vague. Both traditionally major parties suffered in a polarising election.

Across the continent, a similar story was seen. Nationalists such as Le Pen in France, Salvini in Italy and Orban in Hungary were all successful. On the other hand, liberal and notably, green parties also secured impressive gains. Again, traditionally centrist and centre-right governing parties lost out, from Spain to Germany, although to nowhere near the degree of the Tories.

Across the continent, a similar story was seen

Ironically, even as the United Kingdom seeks to leave, it appears to be following the same trends as its European neighbours. For us, however, it was the election which was never meant to happen – electing members to a Parliament we were not supposed to still be in.

Perhaps it should not be surprising it resulted in the biggest protest votes, on both sides, we have seen in years. Perhaps, polarisation was inevitable.

Monday 17th June 2019 | PALATINATE

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Sport

‘Mighty’ Michael Van Gerwen “I am never lazy, I like working” World darts Number One Michael Van Gerwen talks to Palatinate about his illustrious career and what he still has to offer the sport in years to come, the Dutchman shows how he has managed to win forty-eight televised titles during his career.

In these tournaments he has hit five nine-dart finishes (the fewest darts necessary to win a leg of darts).

“We all have to work and to earn money for our families”

James Smith Sport Editor Thrice a World Champion, five Premier League titles, World Number one since January 2014, and seventy-seven non-televised tournament victories in his career, Michael Van Gerwen is undisputedly the best current player in PDC darts.

In fact, MvG is in fact the youngest player to ever win the World Championships, at twentyfour. And now with three wins under his belt, he sits only behind a handful of players in terms of overall success in the tournament.

He sits equal in wins to John Part, and sit behind only Phil Taylor, Van Barneveld and Eric Bristow; a verified ‘who’s who’ of exceptional darts players.

“I always played seriously” Part of the secret of Van Gerwen’s success is his attitude, and commitment to the game, something he was keen to emphasise to me: “I am never lazy, I like working.”

This philosophy has clearly been part of the big Dutchman’s mindset from the beginning of his career, a career he began back in the early 2000’s as he stormed the darts scene, winning the World Masters in 2006 as a seventeen year-old.

Most players of the game will be familiar with the social darts scene, in the pub, or the college bar, where the main focus may not be the game going on ahead of you.

Van Gerwen, though, tells me

that “I always played seriously,” so in a day and age where professional darts players are no longer allowed to drink on stage, this has not been any great loss for him.

“I’d rather win the leg and the match; more important to win games” It is this determination and focus that has taken Michael to the top of the PDC since he earned his first tour card in 2011, three years later he became only the ninth man to become the World Number one in PDC darts, a title that he has held since.

His most recent world title came on the 1st January this year against Michael Smith, in a 7-3 victory in the final at Ally Pally.

MvG reflects on the game with me, saying “neither of us played our best game.” Certainly this is true as the game started a little flat compared to the two semifinals the two had been involved in.

Smith, however, took out a 124 on the bulls-eye to win the fifth set, and then two more 100+ check-outs in the sixth to heap the pressure on Van Gerwen and really set the game alive.

The Dutchman however, said that he was unfazed: “Michael is a very good player and big shots are part of the game.”

It is hard not to admire this calmness under pressure, with millions of fans watching worldwide, that allowed MvG to regain control and cruise to

victory and lift the Sid Waddell trophy yet again.

This, however, is perhaps not the most famous game between Smith and Van Gerwen. Back in the 2016 Premier League in Aberdeen MvG hammered in an average of 123.4, beating Phil Taylor’s previous record by over ten points.

Reflecting on the game though Michael says “the highest average possible is one-hundred and sixtyseven, all players should want to get that.”

Showing his self-belief that he feels he can equal or better this

He does not, however, consider any of these to be his best finishes in his career. He reflected that the two he hit against Ryan Murray in Wigan in a UK Open Qualifier in one match as the most memorable.

Still though adding “they are part of the game, I rather win the leg and the match, more important to win games” than it is to hit ninedarters.

As stated, this coolness, and this natural ability have taken him to the top, but what comes with this is a constant pressure, being the man to beat always. Despite this he simply said to me “everyone has three darts, same as me, it is how you focus to win,” adding, “pressure is on yourself not from other players.”

Some fans and those in the media have seen this as arrogance from Van Gerwen, that perhaps he doesn’t consider many players a challenge. In response to this he simply laughed and said “who… tell me who!”

In fact, despite winning in 2018 the World Grand Prix, the Premier League, The Masters, the World Cup, the Auckland Darts Masters, four Players Championships, two

UK Open Qualifiers the World Championships, and eight other tournaments, some criticised his year saying that it wasn’t his best.

Whilst this may be a reflection on the incredibly high standards that he has set, there is a smack of jealousy in these statements.

Again though Michael laughed off the criticism, saying “who said that? They must not watch darts or not like me.”

So with so many already accomplished in his career, some might question where his motivation comes from. Michael simply says “of course we all have to work and to earn money for our families.”

One cannot help but reflect that his family will probably be quite pleased with his chosen career path, he having earned nearly £7.5 million so far in his career.

Some fans and those in the media have seen this as arrogance from Van Gerwen But there are the challenges that he enjoys against certain players. Saying that two-time World Champion Gary Anderson always offers him a challenge, “Gary plays at a good pace similar to me, we just play darts.”

In fact over the last eighteen months there has been an increase in gamesmanship creeping onto the oche, but MvG never appears to get embroiled in this. In fact, he seems to just get up onto the stage, play his game, and usually walk off with another trophy for his cabinet.

MvG walking on to the stage yet again on the European tour (Sven Mendal via Wikimedia Commons)

PALATINATE | Monday 17th June 2019

19

Sport

Run to the Sun a resounding success Alana Ker Mercer Deputy Sport Editor Run to the Sun, a twenty-four hour continuous running fundraiser, took to Maiden Castle for their 6th annual event last Friday.

In aid of RTProjects, participants could choose to run in teams or individually across the twenty-four hour period, keeping the golden baton moving around the running track.

In addition to running, the event offered live music, fancy dress, face painting, arts and crafts and an induction to mindfulness sessions for all participants and spectators.

Undeterred by the rain, the event saw the combined squad from University College and St. Cuths win the team trophy for involvement, whilst one woman volunteered to perform the

challenge single-handedly. Many participants ran in bursts of hourlong legs, with some students running throughout the night so to keep the baton in transition.

One woman volunteered to perform the challenge single-handedly Founded by Beano Flude, RTProjects is a counselling and mental health charity based in Gilesgate at the ‘Open Art Surgery’. The charity aims to offer a social location within which those suffering primarily from depression or anxiety may choose to interact through the medium of art. Through offering an ‘inclusive environment’, the charity attempts to offer a situation away from the often ‘overbearing or intimidating’ medical world.

Those who seek out the charity

are not required a referral and instead the charity seeks to discover what a sufferer may require in terms of aid to overcome or manage their illness.

The charity receives twenty volunteering students from Durham University, aiding an additional six external workers.

Set up eleven years ago, RTProjects has recently expanded to participate with the ‘Never Give Up’ suicide intervention campaign, hoping to combat County Durham’s staggeringly high male-suicide rates.

Previously the event has raised over 5K, used to cover studio rent and supplies. Sadly due to adverse weather conditions, this year’s event saw a significant fall in the amount raised, however donations are still receivable until the 30th June, with Run To The Sun looking to return on a sunnier day next year.

(Sven Mandel Via Wikimedia Commons)

Will Thomas make it two in a row at the tour? will define his Tour for he can no longer displace the pressure of the leadership to Chris Froome.

Froome was set to be a prime contender for overall victory, notwithstanding a poor display at the recent Tour of Catalonia.

The four-time champion typically times his preparation to perfection, peaking in time for the start of the Tour.

However, a recent crash at the Critérium de Dauphiné has forced him to withdraw from this year’s edition of the race, and he now faces up to six months on the sidelines.

Fans will now be denied a repeat of last year’s rivalry between the two Team INEOS riders

(Constantine Kleine Via Wikimedia Commons)

Hector Pearce & Tom Mitchell Starting on July 6th, the 106th edition of the Tour de France marks both the 50th anniversary of Eddie Merckx’s first of five Tour victories in 1969, as well as onehundred years of the iconic Yellow Jersey.

Once again the hardest race will demand an analysis of the world’s top cyclists and their capacity to win the sports greatest prize.

The central question on

everyone’s minds is whether Geraint Thomas can repeat his remarkably dominant performance of 2018.

The 2018 Tour confirmed his pedigree The popular Welshman came into the Tour as a very wellrespected rider within the peloton, with the ability to win the circuit’s biggest races, but also with a terrible knack for crashing out, as

seen in the 2017 Tour and 2016 Olympic road race.

The 2018 Tour confirmed his pedigree on the sport’s grandest stage, particularly in Thomas’ dominate display atop Alpe D’Huez during stage 12, riding away from all other general classification contenders and into the Yellow Jersey.

Whilst Thomas’ ability is evident, the way in which he deals with the pressure of being race favourite and defending champion

Froome crashed while letting go of the handlebars to blow his nose, and hit a wall at 54 km/h.

Fellow riders at the scene were apparently fearful that the Brit had died in the incident, and doctors confirmed that he had momentarily lost consciousness.

He suffered a fractured right femur, a fractured elbow, a broken hip and fractured ribs. A six hour operation was described as a “success” by experts at the nearby St Etienne hospital.

Fans will now be denied a repeat of last year’s rivalry between the two Team INEOS riders, as Thomas is now likely to be protected as the team’s sole general classification rider.

Outside of Team INEOS Tom Dumoulin of Team Sunweb stands as the biggest contender for the

overall leadership.

His ability to accumulate minutes of advantage in time trials, as well as his racing panache and knowledge of his own abilities, allowing himself to be dropped rather than going into the red and capitulating, presents genuine competition to Thomas.

However Dumoulin’s current form is questionable, as he is currently struggling in the Dauphine having pulled out of the Giro due to a crash.

Behind Dumoulin there exists a multitude of riders with the capacity to be on the podium in Paris, but in reality a limited ability to actually win the Tour.

Adam Yates is yet to prove his capacity to consistently perform across a three week race, and, along with the likes of Roman Bardet and Dan Martin, his slight climber’ His frame crucially limits his performance in time trials.

Certainly, Bardet, who carries French hopes of ending the 34 year drought at the Tour exhibits a flair and talent to enliven the race, he exhibits an inconsistency in the final days of the race irreconcilable with winning the Tour.

The strength of Team INEOS, who have kept all their main stars following their rebranding from Team Sky, means they are favourites to win. Whilst Froome was aspiring to claim a fifth title, he will now have to wait until at least next year to try to enshrine his place in the sport’s pantheon of greats alongside Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault and Indurain. In his absence, few would bet against Thomas.

Sport

Monday 17th June 2019 | PALATINATE

On page 18: World darts Number One Michael Van Gerwen talks to Palatinate about his illustrious career

2019 Hexham Regatta Results are in Alana Ker Mercer Deputy Sport Editor

(Team Durham)

Another brilliant year for College Sport Tim Sigsworth Deputy Sport Editor With the end of the academic year just around the corner, college sport here at Durham has almost reached its end for the 2018/19 season.

Although Twenty20 Cricket and Tennis, as summer sports, are still to be completed, here’s our overview of this year’s college sport for the final edition of Palatinate.

For the eighth year running, Collingwood were crowned college champions after scoring a monumental total of 4,880 points.

Their complete dominance is shown by the fact that they finished a staggering 2,067 ahead of Van Mildert in second place on 2,813 points.

Grey followed in third on 2,576 points, whilst Josephine Butler, St. Hild & St. Bede and St. Aidan’s filled out the rest of the top six on 2,248, 2,132 and 1,965 points, respectively.

On the courts, Van Mildert A,

Stevenson A and Hild Bede A won the respective men’s, women’s and mixed badminton premierships as Hild Bede secured a Premiership and Trophy double in men’s basketball and Josephine Butler A retained the women’s basketball Premiership.

Collingwood were dominant in several court sports, however.

Their A teams winning the men’s squash Premiership, the women’s squash Trophy, the men’s futsal Premiership, the women’s squash Premiership for a fifth successive year and the netball Premiership for a second successive year.

The volleyball Premiership went to the Staff A team.

Over at the pitches of Maiden Castle, Collingwood B triumphed over both Van Mildert A and the Collingwood A team to win the men’s football Premiership.

This made it the first time since the 2015-16 season that a Van Mildert side did not top the men’s premiership table.

Van Mildert A did, however,

triumph in the Trophy, where they defeated a division one Hild Bede side who had enjoyed a spectacular journey to the final.

Hatfield A claimed the Floodlit Cup against Josephine Butler in an exciting 3-1 win back in March.

The women’s football Premiership went to Josephine Butler A, for the second year in a row as they won seven out of seven league matches. This was an incredible second straight undefeated season in the league The ladies from Josephine Butler also triumphed in the Trophy, 2-1 against a Collingwood A side that thrashed St. Hild & St. Bede 6-0 in the final of the Women’s Floodlit Trophy.

Grey A in Mixed Lacrosse produced an exceptional doublewinning season, by securing the Premiership and Floodlit Cup, but unfortunately losing the final of the Trophy, and the prospect of a treble with it, to Collingwood A. In rugby, Collingwood A won the men’s Premiership, Hatfield A won the men’s Floodlit Cup, Castle A

won the men’s Floodlit Plate and St. Aidan’s A, in just their second ever season, won the women’s Premiership finals after an initial third place finish.

Ultimate frisbee’s Premiership, Division One and Division Two went to Hatfield A, Josephine Butler A and St. Cuthbert’s B respectively.

Back indoors, the table tennis went to Collingwood A and in pool, Ustinov A won the Premiership as the college continue to show their dominance of the sport.

St. Chad’s A, however, did emerge as champions of the Trophy this year.

In a year where so much has been changing at Durham, especially at Maiden Castle, it is great to see the college sporting team continue to flourish as we see the addition of more and more teams year on year.

Congratulations to all the winners from this year’s college sport and to all those who took part. We look forward to bringing you more college sport action next year.

Squads from Durham University Boat Club, Durham Amateur Rowing Club and college crews took to Hexham’s one-day regatta to represent Durham in full force.

The various crews succeeded in winning twenty-five from sixtyfour races, collecting 102 medals in total.

DUBC saw individual success within development squads through the likes of Joe Nugent and Izzy Maxwell, both attaining victory within their respective single-sculling competitions, with Sam Young and Fred Deakin providing the club with an additional triumph.

A significant achievement was seen through performance at college level, with University College, St. Aidans and Collingwood attaining two wins each. Hatfield College marked themselves as dominant on the water, gaining three victories overall.

Mention goes to the somewhat unexpected success of the University College’s Women’s 8+ who ‘surpassed anticipations’. In scraping a win in the preliminary race the crew preceded to transition through three additional heats, requiring a photo finish to gain victory in the final against a strong Collingwood squad. .

Hexham Regatta results: Op 1x (B1) Castle – Burke Op 1x (B2) DUBC – Nugent W 1x (B2) DUBC – Maxwell Op 2- (B1) DUBC Op 2(B2) DARC Op 2x Grey W 2x Collingwood Op 4+ (B1) Aidans Op 4+ (B2) DUBC Op 4+ (B3) Butler Op 4+ (B4) John Snow W 4+ (B1) Hatfield W 4+ (B3) Hatfield Op 8+ (B1) Aidans Op 8+ (B2) Hatfield W 8+ Castle Mx 8+ Collingwood Op MasE 2x DARC W MasE/F 4x- DARC Op MasF/H 4x- DARC Op J13 4x+ DARC Op J16 4xDARC W J16 4x- DARC Op J17 1x (B1) DARC W J17 1x DARC