Serpentes Issue 2

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RADLEY COLLEGE ACADEMIC JOURNAL

SERPENTES LENT 2019

Welcome to Serpentes, the Radley College Academic Journal. Before you start reading, let us briefly introduce you to our aims. We aspire to change the way academic study is perceived in Radley. Due to the relatively restricted content of GCSEs and A-levels, academics often becomes more about ticking a box than thinking beyond it. We would like to fundamentally change this misconception – there is so much more to academics than what is written in your textbooks. Do you have an outlandish interest you would like to write about? Have you read an especially good book recently? Did you solve or create a particularly challenging maths puzzle? Send it to us and it could be published in the next issue. Whether you are 6.1 or Shell, this journal belongs to you. The Editorial Team

Declan McCarthy, Matija Conic, John Fu, Alfred

Mawdsley,

Angus

Parker,

and

Christoph Wallendahl Don-in-Charge

DLC

Contributors

John Bruce-Gardener, Alfie Cameron, Jake Hubbard, Usman Ladan, Rob McMahon, Kevin Mosedale, Henry Portwood, Alex Senior, Tobias Southwell, Albi Tufnell

Cover and parting shot

Jihao Li

Upcoming Speakers........................................................................................................ 4 Ayn Rand and the Incoherencies of Objectivism ......................................................... 6 Boys Maths Society 2018 .............................................................................................. 10 A Brief History of Pylons ............................................................................................... 15 The Geology Behind the Perfect Bottle of Wine ....................................................... 18 The Economics of Brexit............................................................................................... 21 The Importance of Open Source Software ................................................................. 28 A Broken Church ........................................................................................................... 32 Busting the Myth of Free Radicals and Ageing .......................................................... 34 Treatise on Infinity......................................................................................................... 38 An Intimate Holiday in the Artist’s Studio................................................................... 40 The Role of Relativity in GPS ........................................................................................ 42 “The Narrow Road to Deep North” by Richard Flanagan ........................................ 44 “The Finkler Question” by Howard Jacobson ........................................................... 47

RADLEY COLLEGE ACADEMIC JOURNAL

EVENTS AT RADLEY UPCOMING SPEAKERS

Oliver Thorn – The host of Philosophy tube

and everyone was talking about godlessness. Well I was in high school when that started and I signed on big-time; whether it was out of a desire to be contrarian or what, I don't know, but I was already a nonbeliever and I got pretty aggressive with it. It must have read just about everything Hitchens wrote, and watched hours of his stuff on YouTube. Nowadays we recognise that there's potential for young white guys to be radicalised towards the right-wing from that starting point: there's a pipeline on YouTube from atheist content to antifeminist content to anti-“SJW” content to white nationalism, and there but for the grace of God went I. Luckily, that changed when I read Sam Harris' book The End of Faith expecting it to be the same kind of 'Hitch-slap' compilation of antireligious stuff I was used to. But it wasn't. I got to

Olly Thorn is an actor and the host of a famous

the bits where Harris started defending aggressive

YouTube channel called Philosophy Tube. The

US foreign policy and realised that I wasn't just

channel started out as an ambitious project to

being asked to reject the supernatural but to adopt

share his degree with the ones who couldn’t afford

a particular view of the natural; I was being sold on

higher

his

something bigger without even really realising it.

undergraduate studies at St Andrews, he started

So although I didn't (and still don't) believe in God,

recording short lectures on philosophers like Kant,

I started questioning whether the whole New

Berkley and Descartes, which quickly became very

Atheism thing was the right direction for me …

education.

Upon

finishing

popular among an interested crowd of aspiring philosophers.

Olly

I got interested in philosophy … when the New

to tell. We are very lucky to have him in Radley on

Atheism thing was gaining steam, when Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens were massive

is

an

immensely

interesting

and

knowledgeable person with a lot of exciting stories the 7th of May.

Sir Martyn Poliakoff – The host of Periodic

leader in the field of green chemistry and he’s

Videos

specifically interested in the applications of these fluids to environmentally friendly processes. These are highly compressed gases which possess certain liquid properties, allowing them to mediate interesting chemical reactions without the need for organic solvents which are a danger to both health and the environment. His contributions have enabled the development of supercritical carbon dioxide and water solvent systems to replace traditional organic solvents at the industrial scale. He became involved in Periodic Videos as a result of the University of Nottingham’s work with a video maker, Brady Haran. Brady thought it would be really good to make one video about each of the elements in the periodic table. I told him he was bonkers. It’s easy to make a video about sodium or hydrogen – they do exciting things like explode – but, at that time, element 117 had not been synthesised – there wasn't even a single atom – so how could you make a video about that?

Proffesor Sir Martyn Poliakoff has certainly become an iconic figure in the world of chemistry. Apart from his mind-boggling number of recognitions (CBE, CChem FRS, FREng, FRSC, FIChemE), he is the charming host of Periodic Videos, one of the most famous science channels on YouTube. He will be accompanying us in Radley on the 8th of May for a lecture on his area of expertise – supercritical fluids. Dr Poliakoff is a global

Brady eventually persuaded me, and I found some money – but the money was time-limited. So we began the first video on the 8th of June 2008 and we had made 118 videos by 17 July. Because there isn't much news in the summer, we attracted really quite a lot of press excitement. We thought we'd finished, but the viewers wanted us to continue and ten years and 650 videos on we're still going.

5

AYN RAND AND THE INCOHERENCIES OF OBJECTIVISM MATIJA CONIC

Yaron Brook – The chairman of the board at the Ayn Rand institute

We have all, in one way or another, been affected by Yaron’s charismatic presence in Radley a few weeks ago. Some of us, including me, have left the theatre fuming with anger; some, perhaps, with conflicted feelings; a few boys might have been utterly convinced by his persuasive defence of capitalism. There were lots of objections flying through my mind during his talk––various political philosophers and critiques of capitalism whizzing through my brain. But there was something I couldn’t quite articulate on the spot. Indeed, I was appalled by his ethical beliefs. Setting aside my political views, something seemed incredibly

wrong with his ‘moral’ defence of capitalism. Was my instinctive recoil towards objectivism an irrational reaction of an ethically indoctrinated mind (as Yaron would undoubtedly point out)? Or does my repugnance have a justification? For someone who has read a decent amount of moral philosophy, the apparent simplicity of Ayn Rand’s objectivism seemed a bit too ambitious. For those of you unfamiliar with the ideas of objectivism (as I was until recently), I will try and summarize Rand’s claims in a few bullet points. • Reality

exists

independently

of

our

consciousness.

6

• Human beings have direct contact with reality through sense perception. • One can attain objective knowledge from perception through the process of concept formation and inductive logic. • The proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness (rational selfinterest). • The only social system consistent with this morality is one that displays full respect for individual rights embodied in capitalism. In response, these are some of my thoughts. The first thing that struck me as unusual was her talk on morality as a concept which can exist in a complete social vacuum. Indeed, Rand’s praise of selfishness as the ultimate virtue doesn’t seem to support any measurable form of morality. Most accounts of morality I’ve encountered so far find their justification in the way our surroundings are affected by our actions, making them possible to determine empirically––is it helpful to discuss such an idea self-referentially (i.e. purely in relation to the individual)? Another assumption which always scares me is the over-reliance on autonomy and the idea that we are fundamentally rational beings. I don’t believe that our selves can be fully separated from societal influences. If anything, our selves are comprised of countless stereotypes and many other forms of irrational belief, along with a tendency to post-rationalise most of our actions. Our

decision-making

processes

are

hardly

autonomous either and are heavily influenced by various factors entirely outside of our control, such as upbringing, social norms, relationships, and religious convictions. Lastly, it felt incredibly unrealistic that, with all that limitless liberty, people’s interests will never come into conflict. Something felt seriously wrong about her claims.

Ayn Rand – The mother of objectivism After this amateur brainstorming, I was interested in what the real experts had to say. Interestingly, serious academics don’t even go so far to discuss her conclusions, as her philosophy is incoherent and, as they put it, simply of ‘poor quality’. On the other hand, Yaron Brook claims that Rand is ‘one of the greatest people of all time’ and asserts that ‘she’s going to be one of the giants’. He reckons Rand is ‘up there with Plato and Aristotle’ and he is not alone in his belief. There could hardly be a larger

opinion

divide

-

according

to

all

commentators, she is either a genius or a pretentious fraud. There seems to be no middle ground. Much to the delight of objectivists, when it comes to criticisms of her philosophy, the rhetoric is fraught with ad hominems and often focuses on her personal life rather than her ethical system (i.e. her exile from Russia) which inevitably reinforces their beliefs in the strength of Rand’s arguments. The truth is, however, that many philosophers just dismiss her claims like ‘existence exists’ as obvious nonsense. Many of the things she writes––such as ‘“To say “I love you” one must first be able to say

7

the “I”’––sound more like Dr. Phil than Plato to

Upon examining the premise that ‘life’ is a

me.

necessary precondition for the existence of value

My thoughts on the Yaron Brook talk have largely been focused on Rand’s conclusions about capitalism - which can indeed be reasonably debated - but what I didn’t realise was just how flawed her premises were. With the exception of Robert Nozick, very few philosophers have even bothered to take down her arguments. Even Nozick has struggled to see what her logic actually is. His humorous summary of her value theory is as follows: Only living beings have values with a point.

•

Therefore, life itself is a value to a living being which has it. Therefore, life, as a rational person, is a value to the person whose life it is.

•

that she can’t just reach the conclusion that life itself is a value merely by conjoining together many sentences containing the world ‘value’ and ‘life’ or ‘alive’ and hoping that, by some process of association and mixture, this new connection will arise. On a more serious note, he comments that should-statements can be given content by a vast number of other dimensions or possible goals, regarless of whether we view life as a value or not. It might be argued, of course, that only

•

•

and is, therefore, a value itself, Nozick comments

Therefore,

‘some

principle

about

interpersonal behaviour and rights and purposes.’

against a background in which life itself is a value can they be given their correct sense, but Rand gives no argument of such kind. Her value theory is derived from her metaphysics, which is even more flawed. She is convinced that logic is a source of empirical truths about the world rather than simply a method for coherent deduction from given premises. She is most strongly criticised for her relentless abuse of the identity ‘A is A’. The laws of logic allow Rand to deduce that ‘existence exists’, a claim which is just as meaningful as saying ‘the concept of obesity is fat’ or ‘the formula of ethene is reactive’. As Nozick puts it: ‘The followers of Rand treat “A is A” not just as “everything is identical to itself” but as a kind of statement about essences and the limits of things. “A is A, and it can’t be anything else, and once it’s A today, it can’t change its spots tomorrow.” Now, that doesn’t follow. I mean, from the law of identity, nothing follows about limitations on change. The

Robert

Nozick

philosopher

–

An

American

libertarian

weather is identical to itself but it’s changing all the time. The use that’s made by people in the Randian tradition of this principle of logic that everything is identical to itself to place limits on what the future

8

behaviour of things can be, or on the future nature

was just outraged and disappointed. Instead of

of current things, is completely unjustified so far as

taking a rigorous and humble approach to

I can see; it’s illegitimate.’

modifying our society––based on empirical data

What seems most distressing, however, is that Rand thinks she can explain psychology and economics with three “self-evident” axioms: identity, existence, and consciousness (however true or false those premises may be). Even the

and a healthy reflective equilibrium––Yaron invites us to fanatically follow Rand’s axioms and accept all of the conclusions she brilliantly derives from the ingenious ‘A is A’ as absolute truths which any rational person should find self-evident.

hardest of sciences make no attempts to be

I stayed behind after the talk to ask him how he

axiomatic today. Physics might give one an illusion

thinks the mindless deregulation he advocates can

of being axiomatic, as its algebraic manipulations

affect the Earth’s climate and he simply told me to

are largely based on deductive mathematics, but

‘buy an air conditioning system if it gets too hot’––

its true basis lies in experimental results. When it

a clear and scary demonstration of the dangers of

comes to the wet, messy, and chaotic world of

bad philosophy. What I hope you will take away

chemical reactions, though, it is glaringly obvious

from my brief analysis of Yaron’s arguments is

that an axiomatic approach is bound to fail. How,

general wariness towards pseudo-philosophy and

then, can we expect to model society from first

seemingly convincing but flawed and overly

principles knowing that its very causes, our biology

ambitious belief systems. While there are many

and psychology, are notoriously non-linear and

libertarians out there to be debated, Yaron is not

unpredictable?

one whose conclusions are supported by his

I was looking forward to hearing Yaron’s moral

philosophy.

defence of capitalism and went into the theatre full of questions and potential objections. Frankly, I

9

BOYS MATHS SOCIETY 2018 USMAN LADAN At Maths Society, we try to uphold a high standard with our speakers. From members of our own maths department to a plethora of visiting guests, there have been many intriguing and stimulating talks over the years. With lectures on various topics - rangeing from the most abstract areas of number theory to the optimum time for a mathematician to get married there’s rarely a dull moment. On Monday 12th of November 2018, it was our turn to put on a show in the annual Boys Maths Society. I’ll try to give you a taste of some of the exciting topics we discussed.

The expression <&#√= > is the famous, slightly over$ rated mathematical constant called the “Golden ratioâ€?, which crops up in various places in nature as part of the Fibonnaci sequence. Recurrence relations also find their use in discrete calculus, which is just what the name implies – a non-continuous version of calculus. The common derivative is replaced by ∆đ?‘˘" = đ?‘˘"#& − đ?‘˘" and the integral is written down as a sum in

the following way: EF&

A ∆đ?‘˘B = đ?‘˘C#& − đ?‘˘C + đ?‘˘C#$ − đ?‘˘C#& + â‹Ż + đ?‘˘E − đ?‘˘EF& = đ?‘˘E − đ?‘˘C BGC

Usman

Ladan:

Reccurence

relations

and

discrete calculus

This closely mirrors the fundamental theorem of calculus, which links the concept of differentiation

In maths, recurrence relations are defined as sequences where each term is somehow related to the previous terms. An example of a recurrence relation would be the well-known Fibonacci sequence where each term is defined as the sum of the two

with that of integration. Pretty cool right? In fact, there are multiple discrete allegories for rules in continuous calculus. Here’s a summary table with continuous analogues most A-level Mathematicians should be familiar with:

previous terms. The starting terms are normally 0 and 1. Mathematically, you would write it as such: đ??š"#$ = đ??š"#& + đ??š" , đ?‘¤â„Žđ?‘’đ?‘&#x;đ?‘’ đ??š. = 0 đ?‘Žđ?‘›đ?‘‘ đ??š& = 1

It is possible, however, to produce an explicit function for the nth term in this sequence i.e. define đ??š" in terms of n. This is done by assuming that đ??š" = đ??´đ?‘? " where A and c are constants. If we substitute this into the above and solve for c, we can find an explicit function for the nth term of the sequence. When done for the above, we discover the following: 1

"

1 + √5 1 1 − √5 đ??š" = 8 : − 8 : 2 2 √5 √5

Continuous

đ??? đ??&#x;(đ??ą)đ?? (đ??ą) = đ??&#x; N (đ??ą)đ?? (đ??ą) đ???đ??ą + đ?? N (đ??ą)đ??&#x;(đ??ą) đ??? đ??&#x;(đ??ą) đ???đ??ą đ?? (đ??ą) đ?? (đ??ą)đ??&#x; N (đ??ą) − đ??&#x;(đ??ą)đ?? N (đ??ą) = đ?? (đ??ą)đ?&#x;?

Discrete

ΔuQ vQ = vQ ΔuQ + uQ ΔvQ + ΔuQ ΔvQ Δ

uQ vQ ΔuQ − uQ ΔvQ = vQ vQ vQ#&

T đ??&#x;(đ??ą)đ?? N (đ??ą) đ???đ??ą

A uQ ΔvQ = uQ vQ

= đ??&#x;(đ??ą)đ?? (đ??ą)

− A vQ#& ΔuQ

− T đ?? (đ??ą)đ??&#x; N (đ??ą) đ???đ??ą "

10

John Fu: Fourier series Fourier series is a mathematical invention used to write down any periodic function as a sum of cosine and sine waves. In other words: X

a. f(t) = + A(aQ cos nt + bQ sin nt) 2 QG&

Where đ?‘“(đ?‘Ą) is a periodic function with period 2Ď€. If a Fourier series đ?‘“(đ?‘Ą) is even (i.e. đ?‘“(đ?‘Ą)=đ?‘“(−đ?‘Ą)), then the function only has cosine terms; in contrast, if a Fourier

Square wave With a bit of work, one discovers that the square wave can be defined as:

series đ?‘“(đ?‘Ą) is odd (i.e. đ?‘“(−đ?‘Ą)=−đ?‘“(đ?‘Ą)), then the function only has sine terms.

X

4 sin 3t sin 5t 4 sin ((2n + 1)t) (sin t + + + ⋯) = A π 3 5 π 2n + 1 QG.

Fourier series are a truly wonderful area of calculus. If you wish to explore this exciting topic further, I recommend watching related videos on Khan Academy.

Christoph Wallendahl: RSA

After introducing us to the concept, John went on to describe how one finds the coefficients in a Fourier series. It’s relatively complex, but in short, we use what is known as the inner product, which is the equivalent of the vector dot product for functions. To close off his talk, he derived the Fourier series for the square wave. This strange function is defined as: 1, 0 < đ?‘Ą < đ?œ‹ đ?‘†đ?‘ž(đ?‘Ą) = c −1, đ?œ‹ < đ?‘Ą < 2đ?œ‹

After John, Christoph introduced us to some high level cryptography. RSA is a network and computer security company founded in the 1980’s, named after

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its 3 creators: Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard

Belousov-Zhabotinsky oscillating reaction

Adleman.

Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman These three men were responsible for developing the RSA cryptosystem - the main topic of Christoph’s talk.

Matija presented us with a chemical reaction in which

The main idea of how this cryptosystem works is

reaction began colourless, then went to light brown,

outlined as follows: If you have a piece of digital information, you can “lock” it by multiplying two prime numbers together. This lock is then available for the public to find online. The only way to unlock the information is to have access to the original pair of prime numbers used to create the lock. For example, if I gave you the number 3233, this would be the “lock” to my information. The only way to “break my lock” is to have access to the original prime numbers, which in this case are 61 and 53. For small numbers like 3233, this isn’t a very difficult task for a computer (or even a human) to solve; however, say I now give you a 40 or 50 digit number. It would be very hard to find the original pair of prime numbers used to generate it. Even a computer would have a tough time trying to find a solution. This seems rather simple, but the RSA algorithm itself is more complicated. Christoph went on to explain

a sequence of colour changes took place. The onto deep navy blue, followed by colourless, which led onto light brown, processing into deep navy blue, resulting in a loop. At a first glance this looks impossible, as it seemingly violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics – chemical reactions simply can’t behave like physical pendulums, spontaneously going backwards and forwards. Luckily for scientists, this isn’t what actually happens. It all boiled down to coupled differential equations, more loosely referred to as “predator-prey models”. Predator-prey models are, at a simple level, a pair of differential equations which describe how two connected variables vary with one another. An example would be the Lotka– Volterra model: dx = αx − βxy dt dy = δxy − γy dt

how the algorithm worked and proved its correctness

Here, x represents the “prey” compound (which is,

using Fermat’s Little Theorem.

say, yellow), y represents the “predator” compound (which we’ll call green) and α, β, γ and δ are parameters that define the two species. The more

12

“predator” chemical you have, the faster it will

onto a thin plate, forming interesting patterns which

consume the “prey” chemical, itself decreasing in

were described by the famous mathematician Alan

concentration at a faster and faster rate throughout

Turing.

the process (the biological analogue of this decrease, which is perhaps more intuitive, would be a consequence of intraspecific competition for food and resources). When the concentration of the “predator” chemical is sufficiently low again, the “prey” can afford to thrive, thus taking over once more - and so the colour flips between yellow and green.

Turing patterns in the Belousov-Zhabotinsky system We start off with some horid and messy chemical

Shepherd Lee: The Minus First Law of Classical

equations …

Mechanics

… but after a few assumptions, it all boils down to something rather more simple. Matija went on to describe how we can plot our results on a phase space which allows us to clearly observe the conditions necessary for periodic behaviour. He concluded by showing us a cool video of what the Belousov-Zhabotinsky Reaction does when placed

Finally, to conclude the night, we had Sheppard Li laying down the ground rules for classical mechanics under the title “The Minus First Law of Classical

13

Mechanics” (yes, we let a physicist give a Maths Society talk. I’m sorry). He began by explaining that

Anyone with some ground knowledge of physics can

for a classical law to be valid it must uphold to two

probably recall Newton’s Second Law – the famous

tests; firstly, it must be deterministic. This means that

F = ma. Newton rightly claims that the force acting on

the law must be able to make predictions about future

a moving object is proportional to its acceleration. In

events. Secondly, the law must be reversible. This

other words: d$ y ∝y dt $

means that the initial conditions of a system should be derivable by observing the system which the law describes. Aristotle attempted to formulate a physical model which described all natural bodies - a so called “natural law”. Today, this is more commonly known as Aristotelian physics. He even brilliantly came up with his own laws of motion. One of the laws he postulated was that the force acting on a moving object is proportional to its velocity. In other words F = mv or

How do we know that Aristotle is wrong? Taking into account our basic conditions to postulate a valid law, we can see that Aristotle’s law is neither reversible nor deterministic, but Newton’s second law is, which is good news. Nice to end the evening knowing that physics isn’t broken.

dy ∝y dt

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RADLEY COLLEGE ACADEMIC JOURNAL

SICUT SERPENTES A BRIEF HISTORY OF PYLONS KEVIN MOSEDALE

A scenic photograph of pylons taken by Mr Mosedale

The words ‘cross-curricular’ are guaranteed to put

Let’s go back to 1926, the year of the General

a smile on the faces of those who oversee teaching

Strike. In that year, a Conservative government

and learning in any school in the land. It’s all about

passed the Electricity Supply Bill and initiated the

thinking outside the box, making links between

construction of the National Grid. The electricity

different areas of the curriculum, STEM (Science,

pylon that we all know and love came into being as

Technology, Engineering, Maths) or should that

a result of a design by an American company,

include Art to make STEAM? In this short article

Milliken brothers, that was then modified by the

I’m going for acronym overload with STEPCHAMP

architect Sir Reginald Blomfield. The word pylon

(Science,

has a classical heritage, as defined by the Oxford

Technology,

Engineering,

Poetry,

Classics, History, Art, Maths, Politics) and the cross-

English Dictionary (OED):

curricular vehicle of choice for this learning expedition is the electricity pylon.

The monumental gateway to an Egyptian temple, usually formed by two truncated pyramidal towers connected by a lower section containing the gate.

15

There is no primary source that I know of to prove

Of that stone made,

that this name was adopted for electrical

And crumbling roads

transmission towers by Blomfield himself, but as an

That turned on sudden hidden villages

Oxford classicist and a well known anti-modernist, it seems quite likely that at the very least he would

Now over these small hills, they have

have approved of the name. The earliest OED

built the concrete

reference to the use of the word pylon in relation

That trails black wire

to

Pylons, those pillars

electricity

transmission

(A

tall

tower-like

structure erected as a support for a cable, etc.; a

Bare like nude giant girls that have no

lattice-work metal tower for carrying overhead

secret.

electricity lines) is: Lenin’s definition of Communism as “Soviet power 1930

W. H. Auden Poems 67

Pylons fallen or

subsiding, trailing dead high-tension wires.

plus the electrification of the whole country” points towards the left wing sympathies of the pylon poets and for two of the most famous of them, W H Auden and Stephen Spender “the pylon-line resembled a heroic ideal, stalking off over the hills into a clean, rational future”(Purdon 2013). Needless to say, not everyone welcomed the addition of pylons to the landscape.

For the

conservative and country-loving poet Edward Meyerstein, the pylon was: That carrier of life-imperilling light, That skeleton to mar the lovely sight Of shaw and pasture, like the old Temple of Isis – The first pylon Which leads me to the pylon poets, a group of who

Gibbet on hill that ghasted travellers bold.

saw pylons as symbols of the modern world that

Rudyard Kipling, John Maynard Keynes and John

were going to sweep away old inequalities and

Galsworthy, in a letter to the editor of The Times in

who were named after Spender’s ‘The Pylons’ a

1929 were clear that pylons led to “the permanent

poem whose legacy is arguably more famous than

disfigurement of a familiar feature of the English

the poem itself. The first two stanzas are below:

landscape.” Reginald Blomfield would have none of this and in a reply made the case for looking

The secret of these hills was stone, and

forwards rather than backwards:

cottages

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trees of every stature”. Hepworth was one of the artists associated with Unit One, a grouping of modernist and surreal artists whose only exhibition was in 1934. One of the paintings in this exhibition was Tristram Hillier’s 1933 painting ‘Pylons. It’s now time to turn to science and technology. In order to transmit electrical power over long distances, very high voltages must be used and in order to achieve this transformers are required to step up the voltage for transmission and then step it down again before it is used at the far end. In 1933, 132 kV was the highest voltage used for transmission (today it is 400 kV) and many of the transformers

that

made

this

possible

were

manufactured by Metropolitan Vickers in Trafford Park Manchester, the company with which my father completed his apprenticeship in the early 1960s.

Metropolitan Vickers also had strong

connections to the Cavendish Physics Laboratory in Cambridge where high voltages were needed to accelerate charged sub-atomic particles. The use Image at The Estate of Tristram Hillier (Reeve 2017) “Anyone who has seen these strange masts and lines striding across the country, ignoring all obstacles in their strenuous march, can realise without a great effort of imagination that [they] have an element of romance of their own. The wise man does not tilt at windmills – one may not like it, but the world moves on.”

of Metro-Vick transformer technology played a crucial part in the splitting of the atom by Cockcroft and Walton in 1932, a seminal event in the history of nuclear physics. I’m pretty much at the end of my STEPCHAMP cross-curricular journey, with only maths to go; very much a case of last but not least. Next time you’re in London, visit the Science Museum and go to the Winton Gallery which “examines the fundamental role mathematicians, their tools and ideas have

It wasn’t only poets who appreciated the addition

played in building the world we live in.” As you

of pylons to the landscape. The famous sculptor

enter the gallery, look out for the model electricity

Barbara Hepworth, wrote that she had seen

pylon near the entrance and take a selfie with it as

“pylons in lovely juxtaposition with springy turf and

many others before you have done.

17

THE GEOLOGY BEHIND THE PERFECT BOTTLE OF WINE JAKE

HUBBARD

Wine is a delicacy enjoyed all around the world. But

Firstly, we must understand that the water table

many of the people who drink it do not realise the

where vineyards grow is key to the taste of the

significance of geology to its taste. Some wine

wine. This could also be a source of water for

producers use it as branding. Wines with names

irrigation and can therefore affect the growth of

like “A Fistful of Schist” may sound like a pun to

the grape and the typicity of wine. When water

some people, but geologists realise it is about the

passes from the surface as rain to the water table,

rocks from which the grapes may have grown or the

it will pick up any soluble minerals. Minerals will be

springs from which the water used for irrigation

brought into the vines via osmosis, due to the

may have come. In this article, I will be exploring

negative water potential in the roots. Minerals such

how wine varies according to its geological

as dolomite are very useful in wine production.

position and set out the perfect conditions to

Dolomite is present in areas of karst topography –

create a theoretically ultimate bottle of wine.

it has the chemical formula CaMg(CO3)2 and and will dissolve in slightly acidic water.

Dolomite

When dissolved, the Mg2+ ions are liberated and move with the water into the vines. Magnesium is key to the healthy growth of plants, as it’s a crucial ion in chlorophyll a - the necessary pigment for A Fistful of Schist

photosynthesis. An example of a wine region situated in a karst topographical area is in Slovenia. The region is called Kras and so gave birth to the

18

nomenclature of karst topography. Although the

make a discernible difference to taste or quality.

wine of the region is mostly produced from grapes

This leads us to consider two features: boron

grown on limestone hills, the presence of the

deficiency and excess in vines, and soil acidity. One

nearby sea can bring a salty tang to the wines.

quote that was found for the geology competition

“Malvazija” is a wine from the winemakers Branko

says, “Austrian Riesling wine has complexity

and Vasja Cotar who live in this region. It is a

because of the slaty paragneiss, amphibolite and

perfect example of how the conditions affect the

mica soils” which seems to suggest that soil and

flavour profile. It is in the top 3% in the world and

geology are key factors for wine producers. Boron

has brine notes with medium acidity (pH of around

deficiency can occur in sandy or highly acidic soils,

3.5). The brininess is due to the vineyard being only

particularly when irrigated with water with non-

5km from the sea. The wine is almost a golden

ideal boron content. Boron-deficient soils result in

sunshine colour which comes from the iron-rich

shedding of unripe grapes from the vines. Sodium

terra rossa.

borate (borax) is sprinkled over the hills where the vineyards are situated too help tackle the lack of boron. Due to the unevenness and inconsistent application of borax, however, the soil can actually have too much boron, causing the leaves to wrinkle and die. This then leads to the decrease in photosynthesis and a reduction in grape yield. Due to the obvious desire for porous and permeable rock for irrigational purposes, one would assume that most, if not all vineyards would be positioned on sedimentary rock. Yet igneous rock also plays its part. Igneous rocks, in the form of cooled basaltic lava flows, are perfect for growing vineyards due to the high fertility caused by weathering of basalt to the high-CEC (cation exchange capacity) clay mineral montmorillonite an aluminium-rich clay mineral of the smectite group. Limestone is held in high regard by some wine enthusiasts. Apart from being good for drainage, limestone has nothing else obvious to offer. The

Malvazija Kozlovic

high-status of limestone in the production of wine comes from the famous wine of the Champagne region, and the South-East of England where

Secondly, I’d like to explore whether the geology

sparkling wine is made. It is interesting to note that

and the rock formations where the vines are grown

both of these wine producing regions only make

19

white wines, as limestone is usually very low in iron,

imparting their particular, identifiable notes on the

which

wine. Due to the change in Earth’s climate over the

is

the

required

ingredient

for

the

pigmentation of red grapes.

last 50 years, the harvesting of grapes now takes place two weeks earlier in the year than in the period of 1961-1980, arguably causing a less developed wine. Wines whose grapes are left longer on the vines before harvest develop a bolder taste, similar to how a 30-day, dry-aged steak will be “funkier� than a 14-day, dry-aged steak. Overall, a perfect bottle will come from a vineyard

Limestone vineyard

that is situated on an iron and magnesium rich sedimentary rock providing not only bold flavour,

Although the main focus of this article is on the geology of an area and its effect on the wine, the climate can also have both a primary and a secondary effect on the wine. Too much rain will cause the water table to rise. Some roots can grow down to 20m below the surface, meaning that if the water table was too high, the roots could become waterlogged and result in a lower yield of grapes or stunted growth of the grapes, causing a grape to ripen later in the season and possibly making it more bitter in taste. If it is too hot during the summer growing season, the vines will be drawing more water up from the water table meaning that

but also a bold colour of wine. A porous, igneous intrusion providing a plentiful amount of minerals such as montmorillonite would also guarantee that the soil will be plenty fertile. If ulexite is present, then little work is required to ensure that the boron content of the soil is at the right amount and therefore will allow for the healthy growth of leaves on

the

vines

for

maximum

amount

of

photosynthesis, thus reducing the price of the bottle due to the reduction in labour costs. I leave the rest to you, and challenge you to not only think about the taste and effect of the wine, but also the geology behind it.

more minerals are brought into the vines,

20

THE ECONOMICS OF BREXIT DR

ROB

MCMAHON

Over the last two years we have all become

exclude discussion of political issues – for example,

something close to experts when it comes to the

that we must ‘take back control’ for reasons of

economics of trade policy; which is curious

sovereignty (the ultimate legal authority within a

because before June 23rd 2016 many of us had not

nation-state). That is a clear argument, but it

thought in great detail about what trade is and how

ignores the question of economics. Also, we may

it works. Let me clearly state my thesis:

argue that the level of immigration is too high and

There is not a single piece of original economic research of quality, published in an academic journal that supports the economic claims of Brexiteers – not one. The likely reason is that there are neither good economic arguments for leaving the European Union nor evidence to support them. In this article I want to tackle one aspect of the

must be limited. This argument is logical but as presented in much of the media it largely ignores the economic costs and benefits of immigration. I do not engage here with questions of politics (who should decide what?) or questions of society and culture (are immigrants a good thing per se?). I engage only with the economic arguments – since they are the ones that are dominant in our current national discourse.

Brexit debate and exclude others: I want largely to

21

Let me start with a health warning: the easiest but

Project Fear?

weakest economic argument in favour of Brexit goes like this: economists have been wrong in the past (they have); they cannot predict the future (they cannot); therefore, we can ignore the entire discipline of economics. You can see the sleight of hand here: it is effectively the classic ad hominem argument where we kick the player not the ball. Economists have been wrong before, therefore economics cannot be trusted as a profession and therefore we can ignore anything said by an economist about Brexit. Okay: but let us be clear what this argument really is – we should ignore economics because it is fallible. Which subjects are not? Let us be clear what the above argument is not: it is not an argument based on any factual engagement with the claims made by economists based on data, on research, on hard graft. You say Potato and I say I don’t believe in tuberous crops… All potato claims are now equally valid.

There is only one group in the UK that has produced an analysis showing that we will be much better-off after Brexit in economic terms (actually in a No Deal Brexit in which we trade on ‘WTO Rules’ on which more below). The group can be accessed here.1 They argue in their September 2018 paper that Brexit will reduce prices by 7% and boost the economy by 8% of GDP over the next fifteen years. If that does not sound much – it would be an economy £1 trillion bigger than today (2018 prices). That’s a lot given that our entire economy this year is about £2.3 trillion in total. The lead academic in this group is Professor Patrick Minford. There are three reasons why his analysis is problematic. First, his model was not published in an academic journal but on a website that is in no way a serious academic institute. If he tried to publish in a journal

The claim made by Brexiteers is that they have evidence on their side. They don’t. Assertion is not evidence. So let me give you something to research. Please fact-check me as much as you like.

the article would get rejected for a number of basic reasons. First, the data he uses is 18 years out of date (a bit odd when 2018 trade data are available). He fails basic Quality Control. Secondly, the assumptions made in his work are bizarre – Minford states that the consequence of

22

his post-Brexit world is that UK manufacturing and

manufacturing. Most of the cars on the planet get

agriculture would largely be wiped-out, as cheap

their drive shafts from just a few companies. Most

goods flow into the UK as we ditch all regulations

of the UK cars get their drive shaft from GKN (now

(health; sanitation; meat quality; use of antibiotics

called Melrose) and GKN have three forges that

in meat; safety of children’s toys and so on). I said I

make these things. The forges cost £100 million

would not address political questions – but I would

plus to build and are about the size of The

not want to be the PM who sells this one to farmers

Mansion. The nearest forge to us is in Poland. We

and factory workers. [For a detailed critique of

get the shafts sent to us via Eurotunnel, we add a

Minford’s research see Professor Sathi Dinghra et

few bits on to the shaft and send a larger

al.2]

component to France to get some of the

Why does Minford suggest a model that delivers an outcome that is nigh-on impossible politically? Why does he use a model that is seen as bogus by other economists? My speculation, it’s the best there is. It’s all there is.

suspension added…bits of Land Rovers go up and down the motorways to Europe. Eventually we complete the car in the West Midlands and sell them – many go to China. Bits of car cross the Channel many times before it is a complete vehicle.

Thirdly, the Brexiteer economists do something that almost no professional economist does: ignores gravity. Gravity Models of Trade are how economists model trade.3 It works. How do we know? Because they don’t try to predict the future, but rather they predict the past. Take your gravity theory of trade and use it to explain trade in the last 50 years, from any nation trading anything and anywhere. Gravity is intuitive: the bigger the country (or planet) the stronger its pull. The nearer the country the stronger its pull. If you are big and near (France) you have a stronger pull than China, India and the US (very big and very far away). Ireland has a very big pull on us – it is tiny but

But here is the point: you can sell a finished car to China in the glorious No Deal Brexit world. You cannot trade components easily with China – it takes three weeks on a container to get there (and three weeks to send something back again).

close.

Supply chains are complex and require speed and

Let me give you one example of why Gravity

we can trade with China misses the point: before

matters.

we can trade it we have to make it, and if the cost

Jaguar Land Rover make cars in the West Midlands and a central component in every car is the drive shaft which joins the gearbox to the engine. These things are hard to make and require some complex

geographical proximity to work well. The idea that

of making it goes up then they won’t buy as many of them. Gravity matters. Brexit economics only works because of nonsense assumptions and a trade model that would not get past any serious

23

student of economics. And there are data to

leave with No Deal…to No Deal is what the people

support (not prove) it.

voted for…

At the risk of breaking my own rule and seeming ad hominem (but it is not) I would note that the only other so-called Brexit economist that gets on the news a lot is Shankar Singham. Rees-Mogg called him one of the country’s leading trade experts. Michael Gove called him the ‘Brexiteers Brain’. He is on TV a lot. But here is the thing. What he writes is never published in an academic journal – but only on certain websites. He fails basic Quality Control too. The BBC get criticized for bias: but they should not allow him to appear on any programme without sitting an economist next to him. She would certainly expose his questionable evidence in short order.

Let us dismiss Clean Brexit, Managed Brexit, Hard Brexit, Soft Brexit…this is trade and not a boiled egg (not sure one cleans and manages an egg, but be that as it may…). These terms are largely meaningless. No Deal means we do leave with a deal: it means we move onto a deal based on WTO Rules. This is not a deal we negotiate with anyone. It is the default setting for any nation that does not make a specific trade deal with another nation. WTO would be economically damaging to the UK economy (I leave it to you to chase the data here). We could do one of two things in a No Deal

In sum, when it comes to the Brexiteers’ economics – the Emperor Has No Clothes – lots of claims, everyone says it will be great – but no one has seen evidence that has passed the Quality Control test of peer review.

WTO Rules Over two years the Brexit argument has morphed: from we can make deals really easily with the EU; they need us more than we need them; we can make deals with big nations like the US and China and that is better than the EU; we can and should

scenario: • We could open our borders to all trade. No tariffs; little or no regulation of what comes in and what it is made of (US chickens washed in

chlorine;

US

beef

full

of

antibiotics)…prices would fall we think, but we

would

kill

our

manufacturing

and

agricultural sectors. Bizarrely, our trade secretary, Dr Liam Fox, argued that we should consider this option since prices could fall. There is near consensus that this option

would

be

disastrous.

The

PM

24

contradicted her Trade Minister the day he

loss of GDP per household under the 3 alternatives

made the above pitch to the Commons

after 15 years are: • £2,600 in the case of EEA •

‘Brexit’ Committee.

£4,300 in the case of a negotiated bilateral

• We trade on WTO rules: which is a bit like the

agreement • £5,200 in the WTO The negative

UK being a castle with a big moat around it;

impact on GDP would also result in substantially

you have to cross the moat to get to us which

weaker tax receipts.

means you have to pay a tariff in order to import to the UK. The tariff we charge is the same as the tariff we pay to export to other countries. The tariffs vary depending on which good we are talking about but they can be high for some items (car parts faced a tariff of 10% that we levy on imports and pay on exports). They average about 1.5% but vary a lot. And we pay tariffs on the stuff that we send out past our moat to the outside world.

Let us be clear about the analysis that is called Project Fear: the analysis models where we would be in 15 years’ time in a number of different scenarios. Every move away from EU membership makes us poorer, but WTO makes us poorest. Let us remember one other thing too: we have not actually left yet. The Treasury modelling looked at what could happen over fifteen years – after we leave the EU. The analysis said nothing about what would happen before we left. There were comments made about this time-frame, but no

Brexiteers argue that trading on WTO (so-called

modelling thereof from HM Treasury. If you

No Deal) is a good thing. I saw Rees-Mogg argue

thought the last two years were tough just wait until

that most nations trade under WTO. This is plain

we move towards negotiating an actual trade deal

wrong: of the 164 members of the WTO only one

rather than simply (!) the terms of our departure.

(Burundi) did not have at least one trade deal in place with its neighbours (but then it signed onto the

African

Continental

Free

Trade

Area

Agreement in July 1 2018). Every nation in the WTO has worked hard to make trade deals. These deals usually are formed with neigbouring countries – gravity explains why this is so. Every nation looks to make deals to get away from trading just on WTO rules. A few more myths before we go: “the Treasury said we would go into recession and we didn’t – Project Fear at it again”. No, it didn’t say that even though the newspapers reported it. Here is the analysis from Page 8 of the Treasury report of April 2016:4 The central estimates – defined as the middle point between both ends of the range – for the annual

What Leaving Looks Like Politics aside, there a number of options we have that (free-) range from the so-called Soft-Boiled Brexit (closest to where we are now in a Single Market for Goods and Services) to the Hard-Boiled Brexit (No Deal). The argument for No Deal is based on ideology with no clear economic evidence and hard data to support it. Having applied current trade models to accurately predict the past, we see that the models we have are about the most robust models in the entire field of economics: in some ways trade just is not that hard to understand. We should be cautious about how confident we are in saying what the future would be like: it could be our economy goes

25

into recession (not that likely); it could be it grows

As Michael Gove said “I think the British people

even more slowly that now (0.1% annual GDP looks

have had enough of so-called experts”. When he

reasonable); it could be that we grow at 2% in

said so-called experts he meant experts – and the

which case everything is great. That we are not sure

idea that we have had enough of experts would not

about the magnitude of what will happen does not

(or should not) make sense when it comes to

mean that we know nothing and can say nothing

climate science or oncology but it seems we can

about possible outcomes. That we do not know

say that about economists and central bankers. We

everything does not logically demand that we

don’t like experts when their research has

accept we know nothing.

implications we don’t like. Of course some experts

Except we again miss one point: we would have to ask how the economy grew between 2019 and 2035, then ask how it would have grown had the trend growth from 2008 to 2016 continued. We can

can be more certain of their research than others: economics and medicine is not a perfect comparison, but the point stands: expertise beats an absence of it and data beat no data any day.

look at the average GDP growth of the EU27, of the

We should be cautious about ignoring the wishes

members of the OECD and so on: we will know

of the people of our country, we should be careful

whether we have suffered as a result of Brexit.

of dismissing the views of others, and we should

If, in a few years, someone tells you “look, the sky did not fall in, we are still growing at 1%” then I would make two points by way of conclusion. • Is this what Brexit success looks like? Anaemic growth, falling behind our EU neighbours, no trade deals with the US or China, increased supply-chain costs? No extra money for the NHS… • Trade is not really complex to model, but the only robust and data-driven modelling has been wholly on the REMAIN side. The Leavers have pedalled Voodoo Economics. But if you don’t agree then I come back to my first

ask why it is that so many people in our nation feel left behind, feel excluded, feel they count for less than others. Those living in the affluent South of England might do well to tour around Hartlepool or Dudley before we (I) make pronouncements about the citizens of our nation. However, we should not deny facts and neither should ignore high standards in research. Nor should we be allowed to say that expert and nonexpert opinion counts for the same. As US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan put it: You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.

challenge: find me a single peer-reviewed piece of

If I am wrong then I will be richer over the coming

research that shows we will be better-off under No

years than otherwise. If I am right then I will be

Deal. If you find it you will have undermined pretty

poorer than would have been the case if we

much the entire sub-discipline of The Economics of

remained in the EU. The debate is too important to

Trade Theory.

see as a mere parlour game, a mere aspect of debating. And if you read the research then you see that the people who will be hit hardest are

26

those in overwhelming Leave areas: which raises

but I know that I have to listen to you when the facts

another interesting question…Unless we ignore

are on your side. If you have some good facts on

this expert research too. Project Fear 2.0?

this question I would be surprised, but then aren’t

The last two years should have taught us at least

we always surprised in such situations?

one thing: we have to challenge our own

If I end-up being wrong I expect you will tell me.

assumptions, we have to ask what the research

But knowing you all, you will do so in a polite and

suggests (as well as whether the research is

helpful way: and that is the kind of debate that we

accurate), but we have to be driven by evidence

must hope will return to the domain of our political

and not, in the first instance, by ideology: policy is

masters, and soon. Brexit should not be an Uncivil

not made well when we know the answer before we

War, it should be an opportunity to ask some hard

have asked the question and done the hard yards.

questions, many of which should have been asked

If you want to fact-check me I would expect

by now.

nothing less. I don’t like it when I am shown to be wrong – to say otherwise would be to lie to you –

27

THE IMPORTANCE OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE TOBIAS

SOUTHWELL

From purely a user’s perspective, open source software provides a great deal of benefits. The freedom that is granted to a user of open source software is the primary benefit. Users have full

•

The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others. By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes.

freedom to tinker with the software as they please,

I believe that the 3 fundamental characteristics that

unlike with proprietary software. The freedom one

are applicable to all open access products are

has when using open source operating systems is

accessibility, the ability to collaborate, and the

extraordinary

freedom granted to the user.

when

compared

to

popular

proprietary operating systems such as macOS and Windows. In these operating systems, users do not have the freedom to remove certain applications. In some cases, they do not have the freedom to stop applications running, let alone uninstall them, Cortana on Windows being the first to come to mind. Cortana can be “disabled”, but it still runs in the background constantly.

Accessibility refers to the right for anyone to redistribute Open Source products, with or without modification to the original product which allows for more users to access it. This characteristic is what makes most people question the viability of Open Source development as they believe that this will prevent them from profiting from their products. This is definitely not the case. A recent

Let me begin by defining “Open Source Software”.

example of this is IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat for

There are many different definitions, most based

$34 Billion. In addition, Linus Torvalds annual salary

on

(roughly $10 million) is also a good indicator that

the

Free

Software

Foundation’s

“Four

Freedoms”: •

The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose.

•

The freedom to study how the program works and change it so it does your computing as you wish. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

•

this is not the case. I also believe that a truly passionate developer would not value his salary over his morals though I do also understand that a financial incentive can attract more talented developers to the industry. The characteristic of collaboration present in Open Source projects is important, as anyone can modify the work and submit it for consideration to be

The freedom to redistribute copies so you

implemented in the final product. Websites like

can help others.

GitHub make this easy by allowing any user to

28

“clone” projects hosted on GitHub, modify them,

“spins” available of each edition. Every “spin” has

and then submit a request to the original

a different desktop environment to try to

developer

accommodate the preferences of every user.

for

their

modifications

to

be

implemented. This system allows development costs to be reduced as both passionate hobbyists and large companies can aid development of a project (as shown in the table). The Linux Kernel is a good example of this. The Linux Kernel, combined with the GNU Operating System, forms the complete system GNU/Linux (more commonly referred to as “Linux”). The aspect of freedom in open source software is also important. This is the freedom to modify the software to suit your needs without having to consult the original developer and is important because it allows users to tinker with any software they have. The collaborative aspect of Open Source would not be possible without the freedom of modification as users would not be able to make and submit their improvements. I apologize to anyone that would prefer me to refer to it as “free” software, but this term can be more confusing without a full explanation of the differences between the two. “Open Source” is good enough. Linus is the creator of the Linux Kernel and is currently employed by the Linux Foundation to help with kernel development: Freedom also allows more customization options. If you do not like the look of something on an open source operating system, then you can change it. With proprietary operating systems you cannot change nearly as much. Many popular Linux distributions even come with multiple editions, each with different default looks and functions. Fedora is a good example of this as there are

Proprietary software also poses a danger of containing hidden code that harms the user. The Free Software Foundation collects examples of this. Their list currently contains over 350 examples, with a few high-profile examples such as The Weather Channel, Microsoft and Amazon. This is because with proprietary software all of the source code is hidden but with open source software all of the source code must be open to the user to read and modify. This is not to say that no open source software can, or does, contain hidden code designed to harm the user. However, the freedom

29

that users have to view all of the source code is a

Station uses Linux, CERN uses open source

good deterrent.

software, and even hardware, to operate. In 2004

In addition, while not all open source software is free in price, many are. This is a very obvious benefit to every user. You could pay £59.99 a year for a personal Microsoft Office subscription or download LibreOffice, which provides almost all of the same functionality, free of charge. On an enterprise scale, the cost of buying a Windows

CERN, Fermilab, ETH and DESY collaborated to make Scientific Linux, a distribution with a name that says it all, in order to create a standard for research facilities around the world. Since then CERN instead began to use CentOS but still advocates open access products and open data, sharing most experimental data from the LHC.

license for each computer in the office is a large

There are also some more surprising users of open

sum. Alternatively, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

source software. The United States Department of

comes at a much lower cost and the additional

Defence is “one of the largest consumers” of open

benefit of your company being able to customize

source products in the world and the NSA even has

their operating system as much as they would like.

its own GitHub page with multiple open source

90% of the Fortune Global 500 understand this and

projects.. The focus on cloud technology will aid to

use RHEL.

further increase the prominence of open source

I have been talking about how useful open source

software as the large majority of cloud applications

software is, but I have only given one example of

are open source. Most Internet of Things (IoT)

anyone using it so far. Open source software is

devices use Linux or some other form of open

extremely prominent around the world, yet most

source software and they are becoming more

people have never heard of it. Linux is the most

popular at an extraordinary rate, with the amount

popular example. The whole world uses Linux

of IoT devices expected to double by 2021. You

without even knowing it. Android is open source

have likely seen this change yourself as more and

and runs a modified version of the Linux kernel

more households acquire an Amazon Alexa or

(though it does contain some proprietary software

similar device. This figure displays their rapid

such as Google applications), most servers run a

growth well. Linux and other open source software

Linux distribution, all of the top 10 cloud service

affect your life in many ways so having a better

providers use Linux, the International Space

understanding of them is important.

30

As I have mentioned, open source software is

likely to have a higher number of citations or users.

important due to its growing prevalence in our

Open access also allows for greater quality of

lives. However, there are additional reasons for its

products as more people can access and review

growing

constantly

your work. This means that you can receive more

becomes more relevant in society and our lives, yet

feedback and constructive criticism to allow your

some people do not have access to even the basic

future work to be improved. This feedback cycle

technology that we have had for years. Open

continuously

source software allows greater accessibility to

products. Passionate workers should strive to

developing countries. Even if a piece of open

benefit everyone, which sharing does. Making work

source software is not free, all it takes is for one

open allows more people to benefit from it, so you

person to buy it and then they have the right to

can measure your success in the amount of people

redistribute it as they please. Getting hardware

who

distributed in developing countries is a challenge

publication and so on, not by how much money

but the financial strain of the software can be made

your product makes. This is not to say that you

almost nonexistent. The One Laptop Per Child

cannot earn money from your work, you are

charity distributes laptops for free to developing

obviously expected to have a salary if you are

countries and has developed their own Linux

doing something professionally, but money should

distribution that comes preinstalled on these

not be your only goal. Furthermore, Open source

laptops. This charity attempts to give everyone an

software also provides users with better security. If

opportunity

of

they wish, they can inspect each line of code and

information available on the internet that we all

ensure that there is nothing intended to exploit

take for granted. China, India, Cuba, Indonesia and

them. If the encryption is strong enough then

other developing countries even have their own

being able to see the source code will not be nearly

“national operating systems� based on Linux.

enough to allow someone to break the encryption

North Korea also has their own national operating

but it does allow for the security of the software to

system based on Linux, Red Star OS, but

be judged.

importance.

to

Technology

access

the

abundance

apparently it is not widespread around the country.

have

improves

used

your

the

quality

software,

of

read

open

your

While there are many more benefits to open

The mindset behind open source software,

source software, these are the ones that I feel are

anything open access, is beneficial for our society.

most important. Try to consider the open mindset

Instead of trying to capitalize on your work, take

in any work you do in later life, and if you ever write

pride in it and allow it to be shared. It may even be

any software, a scientific paper, develop some

directly beneficial to you to do so as you are more

hardware - consider making it open.

31

A BROKEN CHURCH ANGUS

Tories vs. Labour—a titanic, endless struggle. Living memory knows of nothing else; elections are dominated by a get or keep them out mentality. We have seen some spasms from the norm, e.g. the impotent SDP or Nick Clegg being crushed by

PARKER

primaries to consider an independent run for president and a lifelong independent, Bernie Sanders, running in the Democratic primaries. Furthermore, the Republicans are trapped by a president untethered to Republican values.

a callous, Conservative coalition. However, overall,

Why are we seeing the displacement of moderates,

the post-war period has seen two main belligerents

now? Jeremy Corbyn survived Labour under Tony

and some minor combatants. What happens when

Blair. The political gulf in the Labour party has not

the war turns civil?

widened; neo-liberals and socialists still share the

The two main parties are being torn apart, and it would be woefully simplistic to reduce it to a single phenomenon. In America, they face a similar predicament, where there is no super-national body to blame. The Democrats are accused of being too far left, with a lifelong Democrat, Howard

Schultz,

rejecting

the

Democratic

same benches. However, the radical wing of the parties is now in control. Political parties shift all the time. We have seen the Blairite factions in control of Labour and Conservatives for a considerable length of time—it was seen as the only way to be electable. Corbyn rebelled under Blair, but he never left Labour.

32

The defectors have been accused of being

votes of no confidence at the behest or inaction of

Remoaners, Machiavellian or even paid by Israel.

their leader are not happy and tend to rebel or

You can assign whatever motive you wish and

even defect.

complain that they should call by-elections immediately. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that they no longer felt their membership of their parties, which was, in most cases, decades old, was justifiable. Also, there is no single unifying reason that they quit; they were pushed out—at least, according to them—for erring from the party line. The broad church is broken.

Some people say there is nothing wrong with the party moving to the extreme. Since the base is, arguably, most invested in the party, they should be able to direct it however they wish. This is an understandable sentiment. Give power to the grassroots. It will result in a fairer, more democratic system. However, first past the post does not allow this or at least creates an unsatisfactory system.

The parties should have split long ago. Every

For, according to Duverger's law, we will end up

Conservative leader for decades has grappled with

with two parties—small parties can only really

the issue of Europe and been destroyed by it.

thrive with geographical concentration, e.g. DUP

Typically, they tried to ignore, but this never ended

and SNP.

well. Then, they had to face down the Eurosceptics, which ended even worse—e.g. solving the Europe issue for a generation. The ERG, the Eurosceptic wing of the Conservatives, is the minority; why were they not the ones to defect? First of all, extremists do not tend to do well at the polls. However, the more important factor, explaining this and other broken churches, is the base.

Therefore, the two parties, dragged to their extremes, will represent a minute fraction of society. Either we must have a broad church, with the base curtailed, or a cult. The broad church is broken, but if both parties continue diverging, we will see this new party supplant the centre ground, unless the politicians of the main parties quash extremism. We could, of course, have proportional

The base—the ones who ardently follow their party

representation, a system that allows small parties

and stick with them no matter what—has broken

to succeed, although that could see the duopoly of

churches in so many instances. The base, in almost

despair being replaced with coalitions of chaos.

all cases, is more extreme in their views, so, if

However, that thesis is to be pinned to another

unrestrained by the leader and party politicians,

church door.

can push the party to the extreme. They ensure moderates are deselected and vote in more radical leaders. Most leaders seek to curb these moves as it makes the party less electable and MPs who face

33

BUSTING THE MYTH OF FREE RADICALS AND AGEING HENRY

PORTWOOD

Today, the shelves of many stores are stocked with

you will have been taught that electrons always

products claiming to have antioxidant effects.

orbit the nucleus as couples (this is a perverse

Indeed, it’s one of those grossly misunderstood,

oversimplification of quantum reality, but it works

but nonetheless very popular scientific terms, like

well enough for our biological considerations).

GMO, which represent a potent force in our

When one electron is separated from its couple, a

lifestyle decisions. Health magazines are obsessed

reactive free radical is formed which can inflict

with

their

damage on many macromolecules. The reason

enormous health benefits. Antioxidants seem to

antioxidants are showered with praise is that they

have wormed their way into everything from ‘health

“sacrifice” themselves by giving the radical one of

teas’ to face creams and other cosmetic products.

its electrons and oxidising themselves in the

The general public sees them as some sort of life

process. It seems like the ultimate act of

elixir that can reverse ageing, prevent cancer and

martyrdom – what’s there to dislike?

glorifying

these

compunds

and

even cure hangovers. Today, I’m here to tell you that these claims are far from the truth.

Free radicals and antioxidants Free radicals have a bad rep as a group of Antioxidants – Are they really the supercompounds we’re told they are? The reason for this obsession lies in the demonisation of free radicals. You’ve probably heard of these before, even if you aren’t doing Alevel Chemistry. Free radicals are chemical species with an unpaired electron in at least one of their atoms. Nature loves pairs, which is why at GCSE

chemicals due to the early studies done by a chemist called Moses Gomberg which mainly focused on the notorious alkyl radicals. Alkyl radicals are simple carbon-hydrogen chains with an unpaired electron on one of their carbons. Indeed, they are extremely reactive and having these around the cell would cause you immense harm. Many macromolecules would be at stake, including nucleic acids like DNA and RNA, as well as the

34

unsaturated fats in the phospholipid membranes

Harman’s theory stated that the free radicals

of our cells.

produced by the mitochondria have deleterious effects on the overall cell health and that ageing, or cell senescence, arises as a result of the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in mitochondria. ROS are produced during normal cell metabolism, but any excess is quickly mopped up by the enzymes present inside the cell. Harman, however,

thought

that

the

cells

became

increasingly incapable of dealing with ROS with the passage of time and that, eventually, the rate of ROS production inevitably exceeds the rate of their removal. He called these adverse conditions “oxidative stress”. Apart from damageing other organelles, the excess ROS were considered a threat to mitochondria themselves, inducing the production of even more ROS. Accordingly, a vicious positive feedback cycle ensues over time, and more and more ROS leak into the cytoplasm, wreaking havoc on everything they come across and severely hindering the cell’s function – or so Moses Gomberg – The discoverer of radicals All of this sounds pretty frightening, and rightfully so. One of the pioneering scientists of free radical studies in medicine, a man called Denhem Harman, came up with the famous ‘Free Radical Theory of Ageing’ in 1956.

was thought. Harman’s theory sounded beautifully simplistic and numerous papers have been published in support of it. The evidence seemed very sound - there is indeed a strong correlation between age and ROS levels. In addition, it has reliably been shown that mitochondrial

function

declines

over

time.

However, subsequent generations of scientists soon disproved much of what was initially postulated. Looking through some of the literature, it is clear that Harman falsely considered all free radicals to be bad. An ideal counter-example to this belief would be one of the main ROS found in the cell Denhem Harman – Free radical theory of ageing

the superoxide radical. It is produced as a byproduct of aerobic respiration and is simply a

35

molecule of oxygen with an unpaired electron.

leads to the production of a transcription factor

Perhaps surprisingly, it isn’t very reactive at all.

called HIF-1 which, in turn, controls a very

Furthermore, many ROS play very important signaling roles – superoxide, for instance, performs a crucial function in the hypoxia pathway. When oxygen levels are low, there is a build up of electrons in the electron transport chain - the essential system involved in aerobic respiration, during which electrons are transported towards a terminal oxygen acceptor by the electron carriers in the inner mitochondrial membrane, thus producing energy in the form of ATP. When the terminal oxygen isn’t there, however, the electrons have nowhere to go. Given that an “electron leak� is more likely in this “traffic jam� scenario, free radicals

are

created

and

superoxide

levels

important set of genes involved in the response to low oxygen levels. Given that free radicals play many more critical roles in healthy cell metabolism, we’d expect having too many antioxidants around to have harmful effects. This is exactly the case. Countless trials of increased antioxidant intake showed no significant benefits in ageing prevention, as the body simply gets rid of any excess. To make things worse,

one

trial

involving

antioxidant

supplementation tried to reduce the risk of tumour, but ended up increasing the incidence of lung cancer instead.

increase.

The superoxide radical The most shocking data came from elevating free radical levels in the cells of C. elegans. The flat worm had its DNA mutated to have increased ROS levels (and therefore higher oxidative stress), which made it experience a longer lifespan. When these HIF-1� pathway

mutated individuals were given antioxidants, the lifespan decreased again.

Superoxide is then converted to hydrogen

So how on earth can this be explained? By

peroxide by a dismutase enzyme. The increased

Harman’s logic increasing levels of ROS should

hydrogen peroxide levels inhibit enzymes that

accelerate ageing and decrease lifespan, but in

break down a protein called HIF-1�. This then

these cases ROS have done the exact opposite. As

36

it turns out, free radicals are thought to be involved

trigger apoptosis, or programmed cell death.

in beneficial responses to age-related damage. In

Although “cell death” sounds a lot like Harman’s

this scenario, the cell responds to the detected

theory, apoptosis is very different. The cell is not

damage with protective measures that use ROS as

dying as a result of free radical damage, but killing

messengers to accomplish the task. In other words,

itself in response to signals that decieve it into

the ROS weren’t causing the cell damage that

thinking it’s defective.

leads to ageing - they were part of the cell’s corrective mechanism to combat it.

Apoptosis allows our body to purge the cells which have defective mitochondria, like in the case of

This is very much another case of “correlation

mito-nuclear incompatibility – this is a disastrous

doesn’t imply causation”, many of which have

event where the genes in the nucleus cannot work

caused (and still do) numerous disputes in the

in

realm of life sciences (perhaps most infamously in

mitochondria, thus preventing respiration. If high

the case of vaccines). Taking this into account, the

levels of antioxidants were constantly around as a

increase in lifespan makes much more sense. If

result of supplementation, they would mask this

oxidative stress is increased (independently of age-

crucial signal and disable the cell from detecting

related cell damage), the ROS signals that enable

any issues.

the cell to respond to the damage are intensified and the cell starts employing various cascade reactions that lead to defense against the ageing that isn’t even there. Effectively, the cell is one step ahead of the damage that leads to its eventual destruction. This is an excellent example of the theory of hormesis, which suggests that moderate, non-lethal doses of stress will induce an adaptive response with a beneficial effect. Quite literally, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Even

though

we’ve

busted

some

conjunction

with

those

found

in

the

I hope I have shown you a tiny glimpse of how important free radicals can be. As with most biological phenomena, we don’t have a unified model for how ROS levels affect cellular health, as they have very different functions and participate in many intricate metabolic pathways. It is certainly absurd to think that such a broad group of chemicals can be labeled as “bad” and to consider antioxidants a silver bullet for every physiological problem – the biological world is far more messy

myths

and complex than we sometimes imagine.

surrounding their action, free radicals still aren’t all that good for the cell - an excess of ROS is likely to

37

TREATISE ON INFINITY JOHN

FU

Should Mathematicians really be allowed to do

infinity of integers – it’s uncountable. This seems

Maths with Infinity? Indeed, this is actually a

extremely counterintuitive. The idea that there are

surprisingly undefined region that Mathematicians

ordered sizes of something that is endlessly large

are often hesitant to approach. This is because

seems insane. However, if you were to attempt to

Mathematics is so often dealing with the definite,

count all the integers - 1, then 2, then 3 etc. – you

that regions of the unknown can easily lead to

would always know which term comes next. In

wildly different interpretations.

comparison, if you wanted to count the real

The main problem is that infinity not an actual

numbers between 1 and 0, you wouldn’t even be

number – it’s just a cocnept. This was not an issue

able to start. For every number which seems

for the greater part of Mathematical history. The

smallest, there is yet another smaller one. Hence

idea of infinity is possibly the most natural thing

the term uncountable.

which arises from counting––what’s the largest number we can go up to? Yet, the field of Maths did not really have to deal with infinity until the inception of calculus. Up until that point, Maths was essentially

completely

finitistic.

Even

infinite

geometric progressions, such as Zeno’s Paradox could be dealt with by looking at limits. By contrast, the idea of the infinitesimal was required in order for the neatness of calculus to prevail. A while later, this was mended with the idea of limits to infinity. However, the door had been opened to a new realm of uncertain Mathematics. This would be completely torn open by Mathematician Georg Cantor in the 19th Century. There are several strange phenomena that arise from allowing Maths to be done with infinity. The first is the different sizes of infinity. Cantor proved that there wasn’t just one infinity, but many. The most intuitive type is the infinity of the integers. This is what’s known as a countable infinity and it is the smallest infinity. Cantor proved that the size of the infinity of real numbers between 1 and 0, all the fractions and irrational numbers, is larger than the

In fact, there’s an infinite hierarchy of infinites with a long list of classes––‘countable’, ‘uncountable’, ‘inaccessible’,

‘measurable’,

‘Woodin’,

‘supercompact’, ‘huge’ etc. Each infinity is the size of the power set of the previous infinity. A power set is the set of all possible subsets. This leads to another problem; is this infinity of infinities countable or uncountable? This is the Continuum Hypothesis and it is undecidable (i.e. it cannot be proven to be true or false). Currently, there is a debate amongst Mathematicians as to whether it should be countable or uncountable and adding it to the axioms. To many the idea of even being so deeply entrenched in infinity is philosophically the incorrect direction to take Maths. Philosopher Max Black has argued that Maths actually tells us absolutely nothing about infinity. Black gives his example of the infinity machine to show why even simpler questions about infinity which involve geometric progressions (i.e. sums to infinity which give you a finite answer) cannot really be answered.

38

Imagine a machine that is built to pick up a ball to

paradox allows for 1=2. Moreover, the study of

the left of it and transfer it to the right. Say it takes

infinity in set theory in the early 20th Century led

5 minutes to do this. Then it rests for another 5

Bertrand Russell to discover his eponymous

minutes. During that rest time, an invisible force A

paradox.

moves the ball back to the left of the machine. The machine then repeats the procedure of moving the ball to the right, except in does so in 1 minute, and it rests for 1 minute afterwards. A moves the ball again and so on.

First by looking at sets, one soon finds that some sets contain themselves and some do not. Hence, one can construct the set of all sets that contain themselves and the set of all sets that do not contain themselves. Now, does the infinite set of

Hence, the process is repeated a countably infinite

all sets that don’t contain themselves contain itself?

number of times with each repetition being 5 times

In a purely curiosity-based sense, the study of

quicker. By using the formula for the sum of an

infinity is beautiful––the Mathematician David

infinite geometric progression, it can be shown

Hilbert once called the study carved out by Cantor

that this takes 6 minutes and 15 seconds. However,

a “paradise”. In fact, in January 2016, Keita

which side does the ball end up on? In fact, if we

Yokoyama and Ludovic Patey proved Ramsay’s

model A as another infinity machine, they

Theorem for Pairs bridging the finite and infinite

effectively “battle” for the ball eternally. Where

gap. There are some theorems in Maths that

does the ball end up? Black’s used this as a

intrinsically involve infinity that are finistically

restating of Zeno’s Paradox of Achilles and the

reducible––i.e. the strength of the statement is that

Tortoise which Mathematicians long assumed to

of something finite despite being infinite. The

be solved by Maths. The construction of the

debate truly matters on how one views Maths. In an

geometric sum simply tells us how long it would

aesthetic fashion, the study of Maths is merely an

take for the ball to be transferred if it ends up on

exploration of an abstract logical world, where the

the right side, not whether it actually ends up on

rules (axioms) are completely arbitrary and decided

the right side. It is symptomatic of a potential

by humans. Therefore, there is no issue with using

greater ailment that infinity simply should not be

infinity because it lends itself to a more elegant and

touched; the roots of Maths, for the most part, are

fantastic field, and all the consequences of working

natural and intuitive––infinity is the exact opposite

with it are part of the wonderful world of

of this.

Mathematics. But, in a more utilitarian sense, the

Indeed, working with infinity has led to incredibly strange things. For example, the Banach-Tarski paradox looks at being able to separate a sphere into an infinite number of points, and it allows for a single sphere to seemingly duplicate itself into an

study of Maths gives us a universal language to describe the natural universe. There is hardly anything natural about infinity, for nothing in our universe is truly infinite. Is the mathematical description of the universe a red herring?

identical sphere with no external input. In short, the

39

AN INTIMATE HOLIDAY IN THE ARTIST’S STUDIO ALFIE

CAMERON

In the Tate Britain’s Walkthrough British Art display

sculpture of An Athlete Wrestling with a Python

is a high-ceilinged room full of intricate detail. Mr

(1877). Do these two works complement each

Heatherley’s Holiday (1874) by Samuel Butler is

other? At first glance not especially, but if you look

hung low, in the bottom row of paintings, partially

at the surrounding pictures, Butler’s painting

hidden by Frederic Lord Leighton’s bronze

stands out for me as an original work in a sea of

40

larger,

gold-framed,

predominantly

religious

dynamic athleticism, arm perfectly stretched out

paintings and so the visual link between the

yet unsupported, adding energy to the otherwise

Athlete sculpture and the classical objects in Mr

still piece: a luminous presence within the small,

Heatherley’s Holiday is not entirely misplaced.

dark studio atmosphere.

Having made this observation, I then thought that

The other prominent sculpture in the studio is

perhaps all the pieces in the busy room fitted with

another male nude, fragmented, missing its head

the spirit and content of Butler’s painting, as it

and an arm. Why is this sculpture, though clearly

visualises an array of seemingly disconnected

physically beautiful, not as gripping as the

objects which are in tune with the painting’s

Discobolus? For me, the Discobolus is more

location in an eclectic room stacked with a range

dynamic and impressive in shape, making it eye-

of pictures.

catching and exciting to look at. However, this

The painting is not large and I am drawn into the busy, cramped composition with its single living figure, Mr Heatherley himself, on the right. He is surrounded, and almost crowded out, by a range of objects and artefacts, including pots, large-scale sculptures, and small busts. The room is dark, though there is a soft glow illuminating the scene. Mr Heatherley is focussed, bent with intent mending a broken anatomical skeleton. But why does the skeleton need mending? Thomas Heatherley ran an independent art school, which survives to this day, in Newman Street, London and his anatomical skeleton ‘was always getting knocked about’ as the students would dress it up in costumes and dance with it.’1 Perhaps he is fixing it up for further teaching after one such incident. The element which first drew me into the picture was the pale, almost glowing, Discobolus, cast

anonymous

reclining

figure

has

impact

nonetheless through its imposing presence within the painting. Both these idealised sculptures represent links with both classical antiquity and its intellectual revival in the Renaissance. Perhaps they were used as teaching aids by Heatherley himself. I enjoy the juxtaposition of the small, mortal figure of Heatherley with the muscular dominance of the two male sculptures. I respond to this scene as an amusing and intimate study of everyday life: it is anecdotal, far from exciting or dynamic, but humorous. The use of the term ‘holiday’ in the title is ironic as Heatherley famously never took one and is painted in a characteristic guise: always hard at work. The painting reveals so much about the character of Mr Heatherley. He looks mentally focussed yet physically relaxed, as though he enjoys what he is doing to such an extent that it could indeed be his ‘holiday’.

here in white plaster. I love this sculpture for its

41

THE ROLE OF RELATIVITY IN GPS JOHN BRUCE-GARDENER

GPS satellites Albert Einstein How is this achieved? Since the time the message Have you ever wondered how Einstein’s relativity

was sent is known by using the atomic clock on

plays a role in our every day lives? Is such a

board the satellite and is encoded in the emissions,

phenomenon really relevant on our Newtonian

we can deduce the time taken for the signal to

scale of reality? One of its very important uses may

arrive by substracting it from the timing at which

indeed surprise you.

we receive it. This allows us to calculate the distance from each satellite using the speed of

The GPS system consists of a network of 24

light and our calculated intervals.

satellites orbiting the Earth 20 000 km above the ground at 14 000 km/h. They are distributed in such

To be accurate to within 5-10 metres, the satellite’s

a way that at least 4 are always visible from any

clock must tick to within an accuracy of 20-30

point on Earth, while it is possible to observe up to

nanoseconds. Due to the constant movement of

12. A GPS on the surface of Earth can determine its

satellites relative to Earth, the effects of special

position based on the signals it receives from the

relativity and general relativity must be accounted

currently visible satellites with a remarkable

for to achieve this level of accuracy. Special

accuracy of 5-10 metres.

relativity predicts that if an object is moving relative to another object which is stationary, time will progress more slowly for the moving object. Imagine yourself standing on Earth’s surface and watching a photon bounce between the centres of

42

two mirrors at a specific distance from each other.

creating a difference of 45 microseconds at the end

The path of the photon relative to you is a simple

of each day.

up and down motion, but to an observer watching the Earth from a completely stationary position, the photon has a circular zig-zag trajectory due to Earth’s rotation. You and the observer would, therefore, disagree on the distance that the photon travels between each bounce. Since the speed of light is constant, the observer can only assume that the time between the bounces must

Combining these two effects, it is predicted that a GPS satellite would gain 38 microseconds each day and fail to perform its function as a “Global Positioning System” within 2 minutes if the effects of relativity are ignored. The error in calculated positions would continue to accumulate at a rate of 10 km per day.

flow more slowly for you. Special relativity predicts that on board atomic clocks should fall 7 microseconds behind clocks on Earth as each day goes by.

General relativity To

counteract

the

effects,

engineers

have

designed an atomic clock which ticks at a slower Special relativity and time dilation

frequency than 1 Hz so that once in orbit, the clock would tick at the same rate as clocks on Earth. Additionally, each GPS has a microcomputer which

General relativity, on the other hand, predicts the

does relativistic calculations to make a more

contrary. Clocks which are closer to a massive

accurate estimate by using the data from all the

object will tick more slowly than clocks located

observable satellites. Next time you read about

further away. Since satellites orbit at a distance of

Einstein, remember that his contribution to

26 000 km from the centre of Earth, it is predicted

mankind stems way further than simply “improving

that time will flow more quickly for on board atomic

our understanding of the universe” – without him,

clocks. This calculation predicts that the clocks in a

many revolutionary technologies we take for

GPS satellite will tick faster than clocks on Earth,

granted today would have never been possible.

43

RADLEY COLLEGE ACADEMIC JOURNAL

BOOK REVIEWS “THE NARROW ROAD TO DEEP NORTH” BY RICHARD FLANAGAN ALBI TUFNELL

This novel follows the lives of those involved in an

Flanagan) own father who survived the building of

infamous episode of Japanese history, the building

the railway, the book is a tribute to him. Split into

of the Burmese railway. Based on true events

five parts, the book predominantly follows the life

related to the experience of the author’s (Richard

of Tasmanian surgeon, Dorrigo Evans. The five

44

parts follow different stages of his life, the recurrent

re-discover his love for life performs multiple

theme being his love for Amy, a woman whom he

affairs, outbursts and reckless surgery but none of

met in an Adelaide bookshop when she had a

which allow his to regain the attitude he once had.

flower in her hair. Flanagan picks out on small details, such as a flower, an item repeatedly recalled in Evan’s mind, throughout the book encompassing the aspect of hope and memory within someone’s head when they are put through such turmoil as was the Death Railway. Materialistic items are used to provoke the emotions that so awakened the men’s souls, for Evan’s the love he shared with his uncle’s wife, Amy, was so great that when an unexpected letter reached him mid-way through his time in the camp he never again had that same lust for life.

The Burma railway had already been attempted to be built by the Allied forces but the project was deemed impossible due to the dense jungle and volatile conditions. The railway, therefore was more than just a strategic transport route for the Second World War but a way for Japan to assert its strength and global credentials against the ‘West’. This further heightened the barbarity of the Japanese guards who, already disrespecting the prisoners lack of honour as they believed the ‘honourable thing….would be to do as others had done and kill himself’, were pushed themselves by

Whilst the novel has the atrocities of the railway at

the ever shortened deadline. Flanagan shows the

its heart it goes deeper than that into exploring

intriguing raw attitudes of the Japanese towards

human nature and how events permanently

their country but most importantly their emperor.

change it. 61,000 allied prisoners were forced to work in conditions under extreme heat, monsoons, little food (just over a cup of rice a day) and where cholera was claiming 20 men per day. For many the surrender of the Japanese in 1945 was far from the end of their struggles, ‘they died off quickly, strangely, in car crashes and suicides and creeping diseases’ and many never lived a proper life after their time in the camps, except in certain instances. There is one particular instance where we find the men behaving as they once did before the War, this is in a heart-warming episode where they all collectively raid ‘Nikitaris’s Fish Shop’ completing a repeated wish from one of their fellow prisoners ‘Darky Gardiner’, a friend who didn’t make it out of the camps. Similarly, our protagonist finds little in life that interests him or re-kindles the flame that was put out by the beatings, disease and violence of man against fellow man. Evans, in an attempt to

‘Across the sea, corpses in the water, Across the mountains, corpses upon the grass, We die by the side of our Emperor, We never look back.’ This extract, reflecting the poetical theme of the novel, portrays the utter devotion the Japanese soldiers had towards their emperor. In addition to the permanent changes events have on people the novel also addresses the aspect of violence in mankind’s nature. Whilst the brutality of the Japanese is very evident there are also other aspects of inherent violence and suppression man likes to place on fellow man to assert their authority in society, like the treatment of the Korean guards by the Japanese

45

commanders. Both are working for a common cause yet the commanders treat the guards almost as badly as they do the prisoners, Flanagan addresses the more global dominance Japan had over Korea by focusing on one particularly vicious guard, ‘Choi Sang-Min’, who having been eternally stripped of his identity by those superficially superior to him in society asserts his authority on those beneath him and within his reach. When he was only 13 years old he beat his master’s dog to death with a brick in his hand, an attitude which he continued to uphold on the Australian POWs. Indeed, this attitude of suppression was globally accepted as only 111 Japanese military officials were tried for war crimes for their treatments of the POWs during the railway construction, the majority of which were so far down the authority ladder they

Richard Flanagan

barely knew why they were committing the actions they did but merely feared the consequences of disobeying.

.

46

“THE FINKLER QUESTION” BY HOWARD JACOBSON ALEX SENIOR

In the Finkler Question, Jacobson presents three ideas of Jewish identity in post-WW2 society. The protagonist is a Gentile, Treslove, which is unusual for Jacobson, who is best known for writing selfscathing comic novels centring around the lives of British Jews. Treslove suffers from a lack of identity and looks for someone to wallow with in his averageness. Jacobson takes this to satirical levels with the fact that his job is to impersonate a wide variety of celebrities at parties, lacking any distinguishing features on his face.

Finkler is the personification of a nouveau Jewish attitude (those one generation removed from WW2), quoting that, “Israel didn’t do it for him”. Finkler breaks the Jewish stereotype to such an extent that Treslove begins to use Finkler as a synonym for Jews, such that the title should actually read “The Jewish Question”. He is casual in loathing of Jews; a right he insists in maintaining for Jews only, “you have to be born and brought up a Jew to see the hand of Jews in everything. That or be born and brought up a Nazi.” It is this

47

ability to hate themselves as a collective group that

of shit is beating at its walls, threatening to

Treslove longs for, and in fact, he holds a

undermine it”.

fascination or even adoration for Finkler, it seems to the reader that Treslove believes he could have achieved Finkler’s success (a household name philosopher) had he been Jewish and not "ringed by a barbed wire fence of rights and limits". Treslove believes that the practice of Judaism gives an innate Jewishness that gave them, “Such confidence,

such

certainty

of

right”.

This

culminates in the Treslove’s obsessive fascination with one of Finkler’s off the cuff jokes. The final perspective is that of Libor, an elderly man linked to the other two as their teacher. He is recently widowed, as is Finkler. Treslove, as you would expect, is almost jealous of the collective grieving that they share. This changes as Treslove is victim to what he perceives to be an anti-Semitic mugging.

subject writer, writing about Jews in Britain, for example, “Kalooki Nights” and his own rewriting of the Merchant of Venice, “Shylock is my name,”, yet the essence of his writing is his ability to use his milieu as a lens through which he can examine the human condition: its prejudices, relationships, culture and mocking religion for its pretentious excess. The Finkler Question won the Man Booker prize in 2010; OR Andrew Motion, the chairman of the selection committee saying, "The Finkler Question should not be seen as something that was 'relentlessly middle-brow, or easy-peasy' because it was comic. It is much cleverer and more complicated and about much more difficult things

Jacobson is sceptical of the direction that modern writing/prose saying, “The problem is the reader” due to their diminishing attention spans as a result of “The infinite distractions of the Jumpin’ Jack Flash screen”. This concern is reflected in the book, as if he sees himself as the newsreel announcer struggling to be heard through a medium of an increasingly outdated technology, “writes the way cinema newsreel announcers of the 1940s spoke, as though mistrustful of the technology and so shouting to be heard.” There is something

Howard Jacobson could easily be seen as a one-

Flaubert-esque

about

Jacobson’s

approach to his audience (Flaubert writes to Turgenev, “The stupidity of the public overwhelms me,”) and at points in the book it can feel like Jacobson is living in his ivory tower whilst, “a tide

than it immediately lets you know.” This is a good summary of the essence that Jacobson captures in the Finkler Question, he manages to relentlessly lampoon both himself and his religion whilst providing a thoughtful insight into Jewish identity in Britain in the 21st century. It took 25 years of a distinguished writing career for Jacobson to win the man booker prize, many saying that some of his previous books, “Kalooki nights,” for example, deserved to win. The committee’s blatantly apologetic statement regarding the prize speaks for itself, insisting that the choice was made on “purely literary grounds,” and “there was nothing political or correct about it.” Throughout the book, Jacobson’s syntax is somewhat erratic, to the point of being able to describe his comedy as almost clumsy, often

48

relying on rhetorical questions and verbless

themselves of moral liability gifted to them by

sentences. Finkler walks around a museum: "He

association. The Finkler Question runs against the

thought he caught sight of a photograph of Sir

grain in this case. Jacobson presents the modern

Isaiah Ber-lin and Frankie Vaughan. Not together."

problem of living in another country, yet being

Not only does the whole joke seem artificial, but

handed

the use of singular “photograph” does not actually

association, Finkler’s involvement in the ASHamed

make sense with the punchline. Yet, what could be

Jews is to acknowledge not an embarrassment in

seen as a tiring need to always be funny, screaming

being Jewish but rather a conflict that they are

at you to laugh, could be easily be seen as another

associated with due to their faith. Treslove puts it

example of Jacobson’s self-scathing lampooning,

well “Ashamed as Jews of a country of which they

almost mocking the comic novel as a medium.

are not citizens …?”

Jacobson provides subtly brilliant characterisation, describing Treslove’s father as "a man who stood so straight that he created a kind of architectural silence around himself"

moral

responsibility

simply

through

Leo Robertson of the New Statesmen puts it fittingly, “The Finkler Question is characterised by his

structuring

intelligence—this

skill time

and

unsimplifying

picking

through

the

In recent years, Jewish literature has tended to

connections and differences, hardly unremarked

dodge what could be seen as the stereotypical

but

literary topics associated with Jewishness (e.g.

vicariousness

Holocaust). This trend into exploring the diaspora

Jewishness, Judaism and Zionism.” After 320

reflects writers’ search for detachment from the

pages of farcical obsession of what it is to be

political and ethical problems and their want to

Jewish and who is entitled to possess the

regard the Middle Eastern conflict as an Israeli one

Jewishness,

not a Jewish war in almost an attempt to rid

questioning the role of religion in the 21st century.

given

fresh and

treatment

here,

between

and

between

parasitism,

Jacobson

leaves

the

reader

49

We are introducing a Serpentes letters section. If you disagree with any of the themes proposed by our contributors, don’t hesitate to write a rebuttal and we’ll publish it in the next issue. Please send all submissions to matija.conic2014@radley.org.uk

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