824

MEDIA GROUP GIAG: TUESDAY JANUARY 20th, 5-8pm, 2nd FLOOR STUDENT CENTRE

Beaver

the

Issue 824 | 20.01.15

newspaper of the LSE Students’ Union

The City Sport

The Nicest People Why Women’s in Business? Sport Matters Page 24 Page 30

Government’s Student Monitoring Proposals Scrutinised by LSESU Mahatir Pasha News Editor

Pulling Together for Charity: LSESU Rowing start their virtual London to Edinburgh attempt on Houghton Street early Monday

THURSDAY’S UNION GENERAL Meeting (UGM) was welcomed

by General Secretary Nona Buckley-Irvine as a ‘record turnout’, with students attending in large numbers to discuss ‘Prevent’, one of four elements making up the government’s counter-terrorism strategy, ‘Contest’. The Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, which is currently before parliament, aims to respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and extremism. Along with other things, it involves preventing apologists of terrorism from

entering the country, guiding local authorities to properly understand the threat of terrorism and, through the use of the ‘Channel’ process, closely monitoring individuals who are deemed of being susceptible to terrorism.

The methods involved in the counter-terrorism strategy have raised widespread concern with critics accusing it of being “unworkable” and “heavyhanded”. The scheme identifies schools and universities, along with nurseries and some childcare providers as having a duty “to prevent people being drawn into terrorism.”

Home Secretary Theresa May introduced the Counter-

Terrorism and Security Bill, which aims to gain cross party support, to the House of Commons in November 2014; the first time major coercive measures have been introduced since the coalition government was elected in 2010. Prior to this, there was an informal expectation for universities to report any students they saw to be vulnerable to terrorism, through the ‘Channel’ programme. Under the new measures, universities will be legally obliged to report students they suspect, without the student’s knowledge or consent. A failure by universities to comply with guidance set out by the Home Continued page 3

Comment: A Solution For Our Broken Two-Party System

LSE Postgraduate on standing for parliament and the importance of independent candidates

Elliot Ball

Independent Parliamentary Candidate, Bethnal Green and Bow

WE CAN ALL SEE THE problems in British Society and it seems glaringly obvious to me that our current political class by and large are simply not addressing them. Public services are starved of critical funding and currently operating at breaking point.

Public sector workers have accepted successive pay freezes and cuts. A housing crisis on an unprecedented scale. Austerity measures chipping away our so-

cial safety net whilst billions of pounds is pumped into the very financial sector that caused the crisis of 2008. Stagnation of working class wages. Continued tax evasion by multinational corporations. A cost of living crisis. Child poverty. Social exclusion. Political disillusion. Youth unemployment.

Benefit sanctions. A political and electoral system which protects its own interest. If these are signs of a functioning democracy, then I

want out!

The 2015 election is predicted to be the least predictable election of a generation. No-body really knows what the outcome will be.

Yet, to me, the outcome is obvious.

Come May the 8th when the results are in, the counts completed; one of two men wearing a blue or red tie will either have a governing mandate, or more likely make a backroom deal with another man to form a coalition.

Promises will be made, public speeches given and it’ll be business as usual. By May the 9th, allowing time for the dust to settle and the party machines to polish their marching boots, we ‘the electorate’ will marvel at the promise of the most cohesive, fair and transparent government this country has ever seen, because at the end of the day; What choice do we have?

Continued page 9

Katie Budd and Emmanuelle Andrews editorials: page 2 battle of the halls: the rematch: page 5 Philanthropy and business: page 24

Bronwen Mehta and the pocket philosopher: page 28 netball vs. men's football preview page 31

Room 2.02, Saw Swee Hock Student Centre, LSE Students’ Union London WC2A 2AE

Beaver

the

the

Beaver

Executive Editor Jon Allsop

editor@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Managing Editor Alexander Fyfe

managing@thebeaveronline.co.uk

News Editors Megan Crockett Mahatir Pasha

news@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Comment Editor Ellen Wilkie

comment@thebeaveronline.co.uk

PartB Editors Jade Jackman Vikki Hui

partb@thebeaveronline.co.uk

The City Editor Julia Wacket

city@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Features Editors Liam Hill George Harrison

features@thebeaveronline.co.uk

The Nab Editor

nab@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Sport Editor Robin Park

sports@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Design Editor Liam Hill

design@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Acting Online Editor Leen Aghabi

web@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Collective Chair Dorothy Wong

collective@thebeaveronline.co.uk

The Collective:

A Badwe, A Doherty, A Fraser, A Fyfe, A Howells, A Laird, A Leung, A Lulache, A Moro, A Qazilbash, A Santhanham, A Tanwa, A Thomson, B Phillips, B Twins C Holden, C Hulm, C Loughran, C Morgan, C Naschert, C Hu, D Hung, D Lai, D Sippel, D Tighe, D Wong, E Arnold, E Wilkie, G Cafiero, G Greenwood, G Harrison, G Kist, G LinfordGrayson, G Manners-Armstrong, G Rosser, G Saudelli, H Brentnall, H Prabu, H Toms, I Mosselmans, I Plunkett, J Allsop, J Cusack, J Evans, J Foster, J Grabiner, J Hodsoll, J Heeks, J Jackman, J Momodu, J Ruther, J Wacket, K Budd, K Kalaichelvan, K Owusu, K Parida, K Quinn, L Hill, L Kang, L Kendall, L Erich, L Mai, L Montebello, L Schofield, L van der Linden, L Weigold, M Akram, M Banerjee-Palmer, M Brien, M Crockett, M Domenech Ensenat, M Gallo, M Jaganmohan, M Johnson, M Kamal, M Malik, M Morissette, M Neergheen, M Pasha, M Pearson, M Pennill, M Petrocheilos, M Rakus, M Rakus, M Strauss, M Warbis, N Antoniou, N Bhaladhare, N Buckley-Irvine, N Stringer, O Ampuero-Villagran, O Hill, O Gleeson, P Amoroso, P Blinkhorn, P Gederi, R Browne, R J Charnock, R Chouglay, R Chua, R Huq, R Kouros, R O’Rourke, R Park, R Serunjogi, R Siddique, R Soni, R Uddin, R Watt, S Ali, S Ash, S Barnett, S Crabbe-Field, S Donszelmann, S Haynes, S Kunovska, S Povey, S Sebatindira, S Thandi, T Maksymiw, T Mushtaq, T Odayar, T Poole, T Rampton, V Hui, Z Chan, Z Mahmod Any opinions expressed herein are those of their respective authors and not necessarily those of the LSE Students’ Union or Beaver Editorial Staff.

The Beaver is issued under a Creative Commons license.

Attribution necessary.

Printed at Mortons Printing

Tuesday January 20, 2015

Established in 1949 Issue No. 824- Tuesday 20 January 2015 - tinyurl.com/beaver824 Telephone: 0207 955 6705 Email: editor@thebeaveronline.co.uk Website: www.beaveronline.co.uk Twitter: @beaveronline

2

Week 2015

Katie Budd on the importance of RAG Week for its chosen local, national and international charities

From the LSESU RAG President RAG WEEK IS UPON US and I, for one, am excited. For those of you who don’t yet know what RAG is, we are the fundraising arm of the SU. Over the last few years we’ve grown enormously and completely transformed what we do. We’ve gone from being a regular society to becoming a fully integrated SU support structure for all student fundraising on campus.

We’ve taken charge of the biggest nights of Freshers’ Week, doubled the amount of people taking part in all of our challenges, and our fundraising totals have gone through the roof. I’m incredibly proud of how far we’ve come, and I’m proud that LSE is now home to London’s biggest and most successful RAG. RAG week, in essence, is about celebrating this and all of the incredible fundraising that happens across campus. The week is a way of bringing the LSE community together, with individuals, societies and clubs taking charge of their own unique events. I’m amazed by the creativity that fundraising

brings out in people. The societies taking part this year are testament to that, from the Northern Society’s pie eating contest, to the Drama Society’s 24 hour play. In short, it’s an extremely fun week.

That being said, it’s also important to remember why we fundraise in the first place. I believe that, as relatively privileged people, it is the responsibility of us to give something back. And there’s no doubt that we are all in some way privileged, just by the virtue of being at an institution like the LSE. It’s easy to forget this inside the LSE bubble.

But the local, national and international charities that the proceeds of RAG Week are going to this year (and were voted for by you) all represent very worthy causes that aren’t too hard to get behind.

One of the charities that we’re supporting this year is a small homeless shelter, Spires, and their work is something that I am particularly passionate about. I’ve lived in London my whole life and the dramatic rise in people sleeping on

the street has been obvious. Not to mention that rough sleepers don’t even account for all the homeless people in this city, like those who are couch-surfing or living in otherwise insecure housing. It’s troubling that we can be such a vibrant and wealthy city and yet tolerate the fact that people are forced to live this insecurely. It’s charities like Spires that are changing this, little by little, and transforming lives.

Our national charity, IntoUniversity, deals with the issue of widening participation in higher education, by individually mentoring children from disadvantaged backgrounds. This issue is particularly close to home, as LSE consistently ranks among the worst in the country for percentage intake of students from ‘low participation neighbourhoods’. IntoUniversity support over 18,000 children at their centres and offer long term support through personal support and out of school study. Amazingly, 77% of IntoUniversity school leavers end up going to university. They have several LSE

volunteers and I’ve, on occasion, seen a group of IntoUniversity students being toured around campus.

Finally, War Child, our international charity of the year, represents a cause that is perhaps a bit more distant to most of us. Their focus is on protecting the, often forgotten, needs of children in war zones, through direct services and advocacy work. Their work ranges from creating child friendly spaces in conflict areas, to rebuilding schools, to counselling children, to reuniting child soldiers with their families.

The horrors of war should not be inflicted on anyone, not least children, and War Child is working to change this.

With RAG Week coming up it’s important to remember that this university was set up to find solutions to some of the world’s most pressing social problems. This is exactly what all of these charities are trying to do. So why can’t we start now? Why not, in a small way, give a bit back this week and get involved?

From the RAG Vice-President Comms Emmanuelle Andrews on how you can get involved and help charity this RAG Week A MOMENTOUS WEEK IS UPON us ladies and gents. That’s right: it’s RAG WEEK. A chance for the whole LSE community to come together in aid of charity. It’s a beautiful occasion really and from pie eating contests to the Jailbreak launch, we’ve got it all.

Yesterday you will have already seen the Rowing Club’s attempt to row from London to Edinburgh.

Well…not quite. They weren’t on the Thames, but on campus, using ‘ergs’ and sheer brute strength in order to row the whopping 550km to the north. There was even talk of Craig Calhoun having a go this year.

We also welcomed the brilliant charity that you, the student body, chose as our national charity for the year: IntoUniversity. They discussed the brilliant work they do in disadvantaged postcode districts, where young people are six times less likely to go to university, providing local learning centres for children as

young as seven years old where they are inspired to achieve. To find out more, come along to the Saw Swee Hock (1st floor).

Finally, the epic Battle of the Halls Rematch commenced last night. With a Passfield win two years in a row, it remained to be seen at the time of going to prin whether CarrSaunders’ hosting trials for their team this term paid off.

So what’s happening in the remainder of this week?

On TUESDAY, from 10am4pm, our fantastic international charity, War Child, will be paying a visit. They are on the ground in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Syria and Uganda, refurbishing schools, providing advocacy, education, livelihoods and a whole lot more, to children and their families affected by the devastating consequences of war. To hear more about their work, come to the 1st

floor of Saw Swee Hock.

From 3pm-4pm, we have the privilege of watching the ‘inevitably laughable failure of the netball novices’ (thanks Molly Brien for this apt summary of the FC) in the Netball vs Men’s FC netball match. Come along to Lincoln’s Inn Fields to cackle and eat cake.

At 7pm, join the Jewish Society at Bounce in Holborn for some table tennis fun or head along to NAB 2.13 (from 7-9pm) where you can taste some FREE CIDER (but please donate!) courtesy of the Cider Appreciation Society (since when did this exist and how can I get involved?).

On WEDNESDAY on Houghton Street, in true Northern style, the Northern Society will be hosting a Pie Eating contest! This one speaks for it self really, pie + contest = fun. Then from 10pm, RAG is collaborating with the AU’s Re-AUnion raffling the chance to

win an array of sporting merch.

THURSDAY night is the RAG Refreshers Ball. Don your glad rags as we take you to Chelsea’s Kings Road and enter the sparkling world of the rich and famous at Embargoes Republica. There will even be a champagne reception.

Finally, to end the RAG week festivities, on FRIDAY we’ll be seeing off the Jailbreakers outside the Saw Swee Hock centre as they race to the furthest stretches of the globe.

We’d really like to trump all previous RAG totals, so make sure you get involved in all the amusement.

Thanks to the Drama Society’s 24 hour play, which raised over £300, we’re already off to a brilliant start.

The Music Society are also very generously donating whatever they raise from their chamber music concert on Wednesday at 7pm!

A massive thanks to all the societies getting involved. Let the RAG week festivities BEGIN!

3

News

Tuesday January 20, 2015

Section Editors: Megan Crockett and Mahatir Pasha news@thebeaveronline.co.uk

ReOrientation Week took place this week with Tampax Tuesday, wehre Nona Buckley-Irvine, General Secretary of the Students’ Union (SU) and Tom Maksymiw, Education Officer, handed out free condoms, bodyform, tampax and pregnancy tests. Wednesday saw the SU play host to a rock climbing wall for students to take a break out of their busy schedules to burn some calories and have some fun. ReOrientation week continues this week with Give It a Go sessions from a multitude of socieieties such as Latin America society, Cider Society and our very own Media Group. This week also sees RAG week, with the London to Edinburgh Rowathon, Women’s Netball vs Men’s Football Netball Match in Lincoln’s Inn Fields and RAG Jailbreak!

Continued from Page 1 guidance set out by the Home Secretary will result in ministers being able to issue directions to them, enforceable by a court order.

Currently, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has checking systems in place to combat terrorism, including the monitoring of extrem-

ist speakers. However, BuckleyIrvine said in her presentation at Thursday’s UGM that the new measures proposed by the government would put “universities in a compromising position,” and was a “disgusting attack on civil liberties and our values of freedom of expression.” She added, “Moreover, it’s an undeniably targeted, Islamophobic agenda that will result in our Muslim students being

targeted more than ever before.”

In contrast to Theresa May’s belief that, “this bill includes a considered, targeted set of proposals that will help to keep us safe at a time of very significant danger by ensuring we have the powers we need to defend ourselves,” Jasim Malik, President of the LSESU Islamic Society supported Nona by saying, “the new legislation is a dangerously ill-formed

approach to counter-terrorism… this will not only fuel further radicalism, but will alienate the biggest assets in the fight against radicalism- the Muslim majority.”

The necessary next steps by the LSESU and student community within LSE were discussed in the final stages of the UGM. A number of ideas were brought to the surface with Nona suggesting the LSESU issue a statement re-

garding the bill and arrange ways to potentially lobby local MPs and ministers against the legislation.

Buckley-Irvine concluded, “if we let this legislation go through without a fuss, we are tacitly giving consent to a worryingly 1984 style agenda. In a time where we have spoken up for freedom of expression internationally, we also have to speak up for it at home.

Now is the time to do so.”

News Analysis: Freedom of Speech at LSESU

Liam Hill THE UNION GENERAL Meeting (UGM) last week focused on the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill currently before parliament; a bill which, given that formal cross-party agreement exists in its favour, is likely to become law. General Secretary Nona Buckley-Irvine presented a talk outlining various reasons that LSE Students’ Union might register some kind of formal opposition to the bill, and exploring the feeling of LSE students and what form any opposition might take.

One curious facet of the UGM was the seeming justification of opposition to the Bill on free speech grounds, as well as on grounds that the Bill, if enacted, would be discriminatory, an egregious attack specifically targeting LSE’s Muslim students in a disproportionate and unjustifiable way.

Buckley-Irvine told the audience, the largest for any UGM this academic year, that “the Bill undermines freedom of expression,” adding “we come here to learn, to explore ideas.” This was certainly the first UGM I have attended at which a Sabbatical Officer has taken to the stage and declared the importance of the freedom of expression of students that they were elected to represent.

The recognition that LSE is a space for open debate, and that, at the very least, it is the Students’ Union’s role to act as a protector of students’ freedom to express themselves as

well as to protect students who might suffer from discrimination and hate speech.

“This was certainly the first UGM I have attended at which a Sabb has declared the imoprtance of the freedom of expression of students they were elected to represent.”

Well-placed opposition to government legislation grounded in concern for LSE students is simply part of the job description for LSESU’s Sabbati-

cal Officers. Well-placed opposition to government legislation grounded in concern for LSE students’ freedom of expression is a welcome change from the trend we have seen in the recent past.

Restating some of what she presented at UGM, Buckley-Irvine told the Beaver: “The bill is problematic in that it means that students will be monitored, without their consent, and their details sent to CHANNEL, a police enforcement agency, without their knowledge or consent. The lack of transparency over this monitoring will have a chilling effect on our freedom to express ourselves.

Worse, the criteria to detect someone at risk of radicalisation is loose and arbitrary - it describes someone who wants political and moral change, or someone at a transitional point of life.

“As university students at the LSE, this covers most stu-

dents studying here. The deliberate vagueness of the criteria opens up this monitoring to subjective judgements about who is potentially dangerous, and will ultimately be used to target Muslim students, who are under ever increasing scrutiny by the state.”

Given some of the debates on campus that took place last year, regarding specifically the successful banning of Blurred Lines on campus and the failed attempt to introduce ‘no platform’, a consistent commitment to defending LSE students’ free speech, as well as offering safe spaces and protection from harassment, from the leadership of our SU is to be encouraged.

Perhaps it means we can spend less of our time needlessly debating who can say what and when, and more time holding the SU to account and supporting its efforts to improve the lives and the education of LSE students.

News In Brief This week’s Gearty Grilling: Richard Layard on Happiness RICHARD LAYARD, EMERITUS Professor of Economics and Director of the Wellbeing Programme at LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance, discusses what really makes us happy.

Professor Layard is the latest LSE academic to undergo a Gearty Grilling, a weekly series of short, to-the-point video debates from LSE’s Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) on key issues affecting the world today. Conor Gearty, Director of the IPA and Professor of Human Rights Law, subjects academics to a five-minute grilling to showcase the School’s world class research and faculty.

Family Beliefs a Barrier to Aged Care Health Reform Older parents are boycotting the development of long-term care funding and insurance, fearing their children will relinquish all responsibility for looking after them in their old age, new research shows.

Dr Joan Costa-i-Font’s study shows that Europe can be divided into a north-south model of care: a Southern one, where 49 per cent of Greeks, 43 per cent of Portugese and 39 per cent of Spaniards think the family should be responsible for an elderly person’s care; and a Northern one, where 58 per cent of Swedish, 59 per cent of Danes and 52 per cent of Finns and Dutch think the government or private care providers should take the prime responsibility.

Dr Costa-i-Font says people need to adjust their expectations of family responsibility to become more in tune with reality so that much-needed reforms in the aged care sector can be pursued.

Tuesday January 20, 2015

4

Picturing Race and Inequality: a Public Lecture at LSE Suyin Haynes Staff Writer ON 13TH JANUARY, THE OLD Theatre played host to a highly stimulating discussion with artist Mark Neville, political commentator Yasmin AlibhaiBrown, the London School of Economics’ own Tim Newburn and Oxford’s Gwendolyn Sasse, entitled ‘Picturing Race and Inequality: the potential for social change’.

Neville, whose work is being displayed in a small retrospective exhibition in the Old Building’s Atrium Gallery, guided the audience through a whistlestop tour of ten years of his work; an unusual and refreshing approach that highlighted his belief in art having the potential to impact and affect social policy in a variety of ways. Having spent time immersed in and exploring the people of communities from Port Glasgow to Helmand Province, London and Pittsburgh, Neville explained

his artistic vision of using “the camera to implement changes on the real world in a positive way” surrounding social issues and representation. Regarding the Port Glasgow book project in particular, Neville explained his sources of inspiration from iconic photographers of the late twentieth century to give the images an ahistorical feel, which were later distributed in print copy as a book solely to the residents of the area and subjects of the photographs themselves.

The discussion that followed proved an engaging exploration covering a range of different themes. Despite being under the weather, Alibhai-Brown presented her condemnation of British society’s ignorance of racism as part of inequality, calling it “alarming” that “the permission you need to have to talk about obvious injustice and inequalities is now rarely given”. She drew upon her own experiences and anecdotes, both in her personal life as a Ugandan Asian woman, and her pro-

fessional life as a journalist in a range of fields, commenting that “it is almost impolite now to say that there is terrible inequality in our society”. Newburn praised Neville’s work, commenting that each image has “a power and immediacy which is extraordinary”. He also spoke of Neville’s London/Pittsburgh series, currently showing at the Alan Cristea Gallery in Mayfair, and the powerful impact that this location has on the view, noting that after viewing the exhibition, “I then walked out onto the street of Mayfair, and looked at people slightly differently…noticing the juxtaposition of extreme poverty and social exclusion against extraordinary wealth in that area”.

In perhaps an era where images have a more profound effect than ever before, the conversation then focussed on the merits of art as a medium of communication over academic work. The cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Gardner in New York City were

given as examples where powerful visual images such as the placards of “Don’t Shoot” and “I Can’t Breathe” have a potency which “the outpourings in black and white words in academic writings simply fail to achieve”. In relation to Neville’s extraordinary breadth of work, Sasse praised his ability to gain insights to communities that are often overlooked in the official media sphere or in mainstream academic work, commenting that Neville “claims a space for discussion that doesn’t perhaps exist otherwise”.

A retrospective exhibition of Neville’s work, curated by Gwendolyn Sasse, will be at the LSE’s Atrium Gallery until 23rd January. Neville’s exhibition exploring the social dynamics of contrast, change and inequality between communities in London and Pittsburgh is currently showing in London/Pittsburgh at the Alan Cristea Gallery, Mayfair, until 24th January.

LSE Conference Discusses Shift in Global power Renowned politicians, economists and academics from around the world will debate the challenges of the emerging world order at the second CAF-LSE Annual Conference this Friday 16 January at LSE. Topics addressed will include the growing role of China in Africa and Latin America, the changing power relations between the USA and the Global South, Russia’s geopolitical post-Crimea ambitions in the region, as well as the growing role of non-Western development banks.

Read Jade Jackman’s interview with Mark Neville in issue 823 or on www.beaveronline.co.uk

Mark Neville

5

News

Tuesday January 20, 2015

Battle of the Halls: the Rematch!

Kanan Parida Staff Writer AFTER THE TREMENDOUS success of RAG Battle of the Halls in Freshers’ Week this year, RAG presented a Battle of the Halls Rematch on the first day of RAG week, Monday 19th January at Bar Rumba.

An intra LSE competition, the Battle of the Halls is an attempt to foster a sense of loyalty and kinship amongst students staying in the same hall (particularly Freshers) and healthy competition between those in different LSE Halls. Wearing the designated hall colours, however, is not enough. Hall residents may demonstrate their dedication to their respective halls not only by wearing the hall colours, but by participating in the various games and challenges throughout the night. The hall that gets the biggest percentage of their residents to the event and that performs the best in the challenges is crowned the winner.

With Passfield hall dubbed the winner at RAG Battle of the Halls in Freshers’ Week, RAG week gave the opportunity to other halls to snatch away this victory (result not known at time of print). In an attempt to garner support and foster spirit, some halls gave away free tickets to all those who agreed to participate in the challenges.

Carr-Saunders residents posted a video via RAG on Facebook demonstrating its preparation for the night, with residents practising their “limbo” skills and Rosebery is rumoured to have been practising for weeks for the cracker/cream contest. Carnival themed, the night promised to be a spectacle full of further interhall competitiveness with drinking games, carnival-themed challenges and much more.

More than a chance to showcase hall spirit, along with all the other events during RAG week, all proceeds will go to RAG’s three chosen charitiesSPIRES, IntoUniversity and WarChildUK.

UK Constitution CrowdSourcing Experiment Started by Gearty’s IPA Sam Barnett Staff Writer THE MOST AMBITIOUS AND interactive phase of a constitutionbuilding experiment began last week. Led by the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE) Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), Law Department and Public Policy Group members of the general public have been invited to contribute their thoughts and opinions over the next ten weeks.

This is part of a nine-month long overarching public discussion of the current state of constitutional affairs in the United Kingdom.

The project was launched in October 2013 with a public debate at the Sheik Zayed Theatre, featuring former Home Secretary David Blunkett. Since then, awareness of the issues and undertaking has been built via a Constitutional Carnival and a subject-specific blog. The consultation phase began on Thursday 15 January, with the intention of producing a draft on 15 June 2015, the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta, an English constitutional milestone.

The UK lacks a formal constitution, instead relying on an unwritten collection of laws and conventions created and added

to over the centuries. According to IPA Director Professor Conor Gearty, “The aim is to demystify the word ‘constitution’ and make people realise that it is not an abstract theory but something that affects each and every one of us in a very direct way.”

The Constitution UK project will canvass opinion on ten issues of constitutional issues, many of which have been hotly debated recently in British politics, such as Britain’s status in the European Union, the existence of the House of Lords, and devolution of power.

Professor Gearty stated that the core values of the project, such as ‘diversity, protection of freedoms and self-esteem, and a guarantee of human security’, had been established in the earlier phases of consultation, and stressed that the views of ordinary people were key to the project.

Contributions and opinions can be submitted at www.constitutionuk.com, where the public can also vote ideas up and down and question the experts. The top twenty online contributors will be invited to a Constitutional Convention in March when the project will culminate in a draft document, which will be presented to Parliament.

COLLEGE CHIEFS CLASHED over King’s London rebrand slogan.

KING’S chiefs wanted to change the College’s slogan to “At the heart of world thinking” as part of the King’s London rebrand – but the top governing board clashed over the plans.

The ‘new look’ of the rebrand was intended to be “more coherent” and “would emphasise the connection between King’s and London”, according minutes of a College Council meeting.

The proposed slogan was favoured by the Principal’s Central Team (PCT), but the highest decisionmaking board – the College Council – couldn’t agree on the strapline..

College Council members also said that “King’s appeared to lack confidence in the image it projected, and to undersell itself in the media in comparison to other, smaller rivals like the LSE.” The rebrand proposals included a core ‘brand narrative’ “intended to articulate the ‘essence’ of King’s” – it’s thought that this could still could be rolled out even if King’s London is dropped.

News

Tuesday January 20, 2015

LSE Student’s Charlie Hebdo March Tweets Criticising World Leaders Go Viral Megan Crockett News Editor A CURRENT STUDENT OF the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE), Daniel Wickham, spiralled into the news this week after he tweeted during the Charlie Hebdo rally on the 7th Janurary 2015, criticising world leaders who attended for being hypocritical.

The rally followed the assassination of seventeen people in Paris, including cartoonists and editors of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine,as well as police trying to prevent the situation.

The “Je Suis Charlie” march was organised in response to the assassinations as a unity march; it took place in Paris wherein world leaders joined together to ‘symbolically announce they would not cover before terrorism’. Over forty world leaders took part in the March heading from Place de la République and arriving at Place de la Nation.

Wickham pointed out that

many of the world leaders attending the rally did not have a perfect track record when it came to promoting and upholding freedom of speech, an issue that has been central to the Charlie Hebdo saga.

Upon realising Wickham decided to name and shame the guilty leaders on twitter; by doing so Wickham was propelled into the News, featuring on websites such as the Huffington Post.

Wickham received an extraordinary number of responses to his tweets, with one tweet shaming Prime Minister Netanyahi of Israel receiving 6,453 retweets. Wickham’s response the the evening’s events on twitter was “Ok guys I think you’ve broken my phone now lol’.

Wickham was not the only individual to condemn attendees of the rally; Reporters Without Borders (RWB) also condemned some of the world leaders present, even going as far as to suggest they were “predators”. RWB released a report on Sunday 11th January stating it was “outraged by

the presence of officials from countries that restrict freedom of information”. In addition, Christophe Deloire, secretary general of RWB claimed “it would be unacceptable if representatives of countries that silence journalists were to take advantage of the current outpouring of emotion to try to improve their international image and then continue their repressive policies when they return home”. Only time will tell whether this will be the case, but any headway countries make during this rocky time will not be maintained if they fail to uphold the values being promoted in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo assasinations, one would assume.

It seems that Wickham’s tweets were presenting the opinion of many people watching the rally. One can only hope that the message becomes clearer and clearer and not only do we stand up to terrorism in the wake of the Charlie Hedbo attacks, but that we also stand up to those who curb freedom of expression and freedom of speech.

Cartoon by Jack Hodsoll

6

THE ESSENTIAL STUDENT DISCOUNT CARD Available from LSESU shop and online

AND MUCH MORE

Comment

Tuesday January 20, 2015

8

Section Editorial:

Section Editor: Ellen Wilkie

MY EDITORIAL THIS WEEK is a plea. The beginning of Lent Term has seen me lose one co-editor and two deputies. Whilst sole power is fun in its own way, it has also left me with a very heavy workload.

Of course, editing The Beaver is a weekly joy and an experience that I treasure. This does not mean, however, that single-handedly finding content, copy editing and section design all on my lonesome has been something that I would like to repeat. For this reason, I am recruiting for two new deputy editors.

Many of the current Editorial Board started out their Beaver careers as deputies, so the position has plenty of opportunity for progression. To apply for one of the places, send a quick email of around 150 words introducing yourself and detailing any relevant experience that you may have to comment@thebeaveronline.co.uk by this Friday.

Applicants who come to our Media Group Give It A Go on Tuesday evening will be thought of favourably, but attendance is in no way a guarantee of appointment.

The EU Must Heed Changes In Hungary

Comment

Ellen Wilkie

comment@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Deputy Editor Vacancies: Email 150 word manifesto to comment@thebeaveronline. co.uk. Deadline 23.01.15.

Orban’s Leadership is causing problems that the EU must face Max Budra PITY THE EUROPEAN Union. Having barely recovered from the near-wreck of the common currency it was forced to confront first a resurgent Russia, and now a recalcitrant United Kingdom sullenly threatening to leave the Union unless its demands are met.

This on top of the rise of Eurosceptic parties across the continent, and a slowing-down of the German economy that has for so long acted as the engine of the EU’s largely stagnant shared economy.

With all this going on it may be understandable why the EU has failed to react to the events occurring in a smallish memberstate of only ten million people.

Make no mistake, though; what is happening in Hungary will have profound implications for the future of the European project.

Just what is happening there? Simply put, an autocracy is being born on the banks of the Danube. Under its popularly elected President, Viktor Orban, Hungary has had its constitution amended to restrict free speech, the independence of its judiciary destroyed, and its media largely muzzled. This summer in a meeting with ethnic Hungarians in Romania Orban declared the Western model broken and pledged to create an “illiberal democracy” in Hungary, citing China and Russia as exemplars. As if to add insult to injury Orban has also moved increasingly closer to Vladimir Putin and has done nothing to stop the rehabilitation of Miklos Horthy, the Hungarian dictator and ally of Adolf Hitler.

While he may not be there yet, Orban is clearly attempting to eliminate Hungarian democracy. This in a country that is a member of the EU, an organisation that supposedly has as one of its goals the entrenchment of liberal democracy throughout the continent of Europe.

What, then, has been the EU’s response to Orban’s increasingly authoritarian rule? Well the European Commission successfully sued the Hungarian government over a constitutional amendment that lowered the retirement age for judges—an obvious bid to stack the judiciary with pliable magistrates. The grounds on with the Commis-

sion sued? Age discrimination.

Pathetically, it has fallen to the United States—a country on the other side of the world—to stand up to Orban.

President Obama recently condemned Hungary’s increasing authoritarianism in a speech, putting it in the same rhetorical category as Egypt and Russia.

The American government has also blacklisted ten Hungarian officials on the grounds of corruption. The EU has issued no such condemnations, nor has it moved to place sanctions on any Hungarian officials, or curb Hungary’s privileges within the EU.

“The EU has to do better. For once, it has to be seen to live up to its values.”

The EU has to do better. For once, it has to be seen to live up to its values. While it has always been something of an elite project, the popular appeal of the EU will only fall as a new generation matures—a generation that is not haunted by the memory of a warring or divided Europe that did so much to drive the creation of the EU. Rather, this generation will see an opaque bureaucracy that can impose economic austerity on its member-states but cannot seem to muster the strength to actually protect democracy within its own borders. That generation may begin to question what the EU’s priorities and values really are, and wonder whether being part of such an organisation really is desirable.

By standing by and allowing the rights of its own citizens to be trampled in Hungary the EU is fanning the flames of Euroscepticism throughout the continent; by failing to live up to its own values it is weakening the case for its own continued existence. In his speech in Romania, Orban said that Hungary’s membership of the EU would not stop him from creating an illiberal state. Let us hope for the sake of both Hungary and Europe, that the European Union finds the courage to prove him wrong.

Photo: Flickr: Józsa Róbert

Letter To The Editor Dear Editor, I am writing as I was deeply upset by the sexist nature of the sports part of “The Year Ahead: 2015” column featured in this week’s paper.

Although many sports were featured which include both men and women, such as tennis and the Special Olympics, there were no sports events specifically for women mentioned in the article.

2015 sees the 7th FIFA Women’s World Cup being arranged in Canada, The Women’s European Volleyball Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands (and to make things worse: the Men’s European Volleyball Championship was mentioned), the World’s Women’s Handball Championship in Denmark and the World’s Women’s Ice Hockey championship in Sweden, amongst others.

Not one of these tournaments were mentioned, and it makes women’s sport appear insignificant, trivial and minor.

I know that this is not something which has been done on purpose. I am sure that the Beaver supports everyone who wish-

es to participate in a particular sport to do so, no matter which gender, sexuality, race and class they identify with. However, this unconsciousness is exactly what we need to tackle in sports, as minority and marginalised groups often face several stereotypes and prejudices. The fact that The Beaver did not take any Women’s only sports events into consideration contributes to the most damaging stereotype of them all: that women cannot/ are not able to play sports.

As Taylor mentions in his article, both men and women are successful in sports at the LSE (and in the world in general). I hope this view can continue to dominate the paper in the future, in order to fight the stereotypes and inequalities which continue to persist in this arena.

Best wishes, Jenny Johanson (Women’s Football Club Captain) Read more about women in sport on Page 30

9

Comment

Tuesday January 20, 2015

A Solution For Our Broken Two Party System Elliot Ball Continued from Page 1 I contend that the current organising paradigm for politics is inherently a party system perpetuated by the first past the post electoral process and it is the party system for which I take issue. Whilst the party system of government has its obvious benefits, from its ability to form stable governments to its organisational capabilities, when the electorate come to exercise their democratic right to vote, can we really consider the process to be truly democratic when the choice of candidates for whom we wish to represent us offer little more than more of the same. In the pursuit of capturing each and every haloed vote, the diversity along the political spectrum where the leading political parties operate has

all but vanished. For example both the Labour and Conservative parties have begun their election campaigns, and the questions they are answering are ‘how’ we continue with austerity measures, not should we.

We the electorate are offered to decide between two sides of the same coin as the electoral system favours a party approach to politics, where marginal and minority views are inevitably ignored in the pursuit of the swing voters ‘x’. Is it not time for change? Can we the electorate not expect to be given a better choice for whom we vote and the policies we want to see implemented? The simple answer is yes!

Independent candidates represent a broad range of issues and are often the voice of the marginalised members of society. They are able to inject a diversity into the politi-

cal spectrum from the far right to the far left and whether you agree in principle with their ideology, there inclusion within the political sphere is in itself an expression of liberty and the freedom to speak. Independent candidates reflect the cultural and social makeup of society far better than the disproportionally white, male, privately educated MPs we have currently and provide a political outlet for the issues that directly impact the day to day lives of the communities they represent.

However the current electoral process, offers little chance for independent candidates to achieve success in amassing political support and becoming an MP, with the lack of resources, money, man-power and media biases that will favour the parties that maintain the statusquo cited as some of the obstacles they have to overcome.

“The electoral system favours a party approach to politics, where marginal and minority views are inevitably ignored in the pursuit of the swing voters ‘x’.”

Constitutional and electoral reform offers us the greatest chance to change the fabric of politics for good and provide new dimensions to exercise our democratic right. With a wider choice of non-partisan candidates who have a real opportunity to win in elections,

real social change will be possible and that is a democracy I want to be a part of. It is for this reason, I am standing on behalf of the 30-50 coalition in the May General election.

The 30-50 coalition propose that 12 non-partisan MPs be elected by statue in order to diversify the political debate and to break the monopoly the large parties have enjoyed on defining the political agenda for at least the last 5 decades which has ultimately led to the disillusionment of many of the electorate today. I believe it is time that we the electorate are given a real choice in deciding the leaders of our nation and provide an outlet for the members of society this democracy has purposely forgotten.

If you do to and want to help with the campaign then please contact me via email on: Elliotball3050@gmail.com.

The Many Reasons That I Won’t Be Voting UKIP The protest party stands for sexism, homophobia, ableism, racism and xenophobia

Perdita Blinkhorn I WAS ALMOST BROUGHT to tears recently when the constituency of Rochester, in my home town of Medway, elected Mark Reckless as the UK’s second UKIP MP in a by-election.

I could begin with why I am personally disgusted by many of UKIPs policies, even more with the lack of public knowledge of them and the fact my home is degraded by their presence, but I feel it would be best to launch straight in and let UKIP defame themselves.

To begin with- oh the misogyny. Even with Farage’s track record of distancing himself from the outrageous statements of his fellow party members, he has made a fair share of outrageously sexist comments himself. Allow me to share some of my personal favourites with you; on the topic of breastfeeding “It isn’t too difficult

to feed a baby in a way that’s openly ostentatious… perhaps sit in a corner?”. I am fascinated by the divine insight Mr Farage seems to have on breastfeeding. He clearly has more experience than, say, mothers who breastfeed. He also defended one party member who commented that “no employer with a brain in the right place would employ a young, single, free woman”. UKIP hold policies that would scrap maternity leave and make gender discrimination by employers legal. In European parliament they also vote against or simply do not bother to turn up to votes in the European parliament on combatting violence against women and ending FGM, to name just two. Amid their tirade of oh-sohilarious jokes that include slutshaming, and Farage’s claim to UP Front Magazine of “I’ve got so many women pregnant over the years”, it may be understandable why the party attracts many sexist rape-apologists who pleasantly describe feminists as “shrill, bored, middle-class women of a certain physical genre”.

I think that brings us nicely on to Ukippers’ dislike of queer folks, or as the likes of former parliamentary candidate Kerry Smith affcetionately call us, “poofters”. Now I’m sure all UKIP supporters can’t be homophobic; there must be some who don’t think homosexuals are paedophiles, that bisexual

relationships are the same as polyamorous relationships and that gay marriage will naturally lead to bestiality? Possibly, but their manifesto is clearly against gay-marriage and diverse sex education with one candidate even going so far as to say that there is “no such thing as homophobia”. Nikki Sinclaire disaffected from UKIP in 2010 after facing transphobic threats from colleagues who discovered that she identified as a trans-woman and over which she won a sex

“Their policies are based on no more than pomp and the abstract concept of good ol’ fashioned British propriety.” discrimination case against UKIP. What a delightful bunch.

There is no word yet invented that truly describes how disgustingly ableist some of what UKIP members come out with is. The charming Geoffrey Clarke from Kent seems to have taken an interest in eugenics, as he wrote in his personal manifesto there should be “compulsory abortion when the foetus is detected as having Downs, Spina Bifida or similar syndrome”.

They aren’t ashamed to abuse

people to their faces either. The Godfrey Bloom, the notorious former party member, asked one differently abled University student, after noticing his visible disability, “are you Richard III or not”.

Can you imagine what my next reason could be? Why hasn’t it come sooner- too predictable? Many of UKIP’s policies and members are no less than unashamedly (yep, you guessed it) racist, xenophobic and Islamophobic . They boast being the only party to exclude people that were previously members of the BNP, and this is because they are arguably one of the only parties that needs to have such a policy because it attracts people associated with BNP. They are also the only party that spends more time convincing people why they’re not racist than actually coming up with useful policies. Not only are they anti-multiculturalism (I personally think cultural diversity is a wonderful thing), but they seem to have a strange delusion that the poor white, middle-class Christian men and women of the United Kingdom are being oppressed by the invasion of sharia law that is making their lives a misery. Their rampant Islamophobia knows no bounds and they are clearly paranoid that “The Muslims” are out to get them, helpfully demonstrated by UKIP peer Lord Pearson’s statement that “The Muslims are breeding ten

times faster than us… I don’t know at what point they reach such a number we are no longer able to resist the rest of their demands.” Did anyone else not

“There is no word yet invented that truly describes how disgustingly ableist some of what UKIP members come out with is.” realise we were being blackmailed by a homogenous group of religious fanatics?

Finally, many of their policies are based on no more than pomp and the abstract concept of good ol’ fashioned British propriety. Vote UKIP; be forced to dress formally if you want to go the theatre. No one should wonder at such policies when you might think (probably rightly) that politicians have no say in your leisure time dress code, but this hideous sense of elitism is prevalent throughout their manifesto. If you want to vote for an immoral party who believes that global warming is all a hoax and that a flat-tax is fair then go ahead, but there is not enough common-sense in the world to help you.

Comment

Tuesday January 20, 2015

10

Homelessness in Central London

Seeing homelessness daily in London is an issue I’ve never really had to witness before Esohe Uwadiae HAVING MOVED TO ESSEX at a young age, homelessness is an issue that I’ve never really had to witness. The most I’ve ever seen was the occasional person selling the Big Issue when I made the short bus journey to Grays. However, since starting at the LSE, it is now an issue that I see daily. And I don’t like how we are dealing with it.

Most of the time, we just walk past these people as though they were invisible. They cease to exist as individuals worthy of respect and simply become faces without names, a part of the background. What scares me most is how easy it is to ignore the suffering of these people.

When we watch the television and see those adverts about people in need, it’s easy to say

we’re a million miles away, turn the TV off and do nothing. But this is a problem that is literally on our doorstep and still we do nothing.

The other day, as I made the short trip from Fenchurch Street to Tower Hill I saw a man who I frequently see asking for change. Even when people walk past him on their rush to catch the train (myself included), he still calls after them thank you and God bless.

Today I stopped.

His name’s Gareth but he goes by Gary. He’s 42 and homeless. But he was lovely and polite and offered me his coat when I shivered and one of the cakes someone had given him even though he didn’t have to.

In addition to this, he answered my questions even though he could have dismissed me and

gone back to asking the numerous amounts of people walking past us for change but he didn’t.

He told me about what it was like living on the street and the fear that accompanies it.

He told me about how hard it was to get back into the system and how he hates that he has to start over again at his age. He choked up when telling me the story of a lady who tried to give him money but her boyfriend physically restrained her in order to stop her from doing so.

He told me how hard it was to stay positive but that he needed to because the other option was unthinkable. When we were done talking, he thanked me for stopping and walked me to the tube station. On the way, he introduced me to his friend who had set up shop around the corner from him and then he left.

It’s easy to walk past and forget these people but if you’re willing to do a small action to make a big change in the life of someone else then here is a short list of things you can do: 1) Give Change I’m not saying that you should fork out this week’s lunch money but if you have a few pennies you can spare then give it. A room in a hostel costs £12.50 a night and the money you give gets them one step closer to a warm room, a soft bed and a door they can shut behind them. Even if they don’t make enough for that night, there’s always tomorrow night, or the night after that. Your pennies matter.

2) Give Things One of the concerns people often express to me about why they don’t like giving money

to homeless people is that they don’t know where the money will go. That is a fair enough complaint. So instead of giving them money, give them tangible items like food, hygiene products or old clothes if you have them.

3) Give Time Smile when you see them even if you can’t do any of the above and wish them a nice day.

If you have time between lectures and classes, to quote Carrie Underwood, “ask them their story, ask them their name”.

Remember they’re human and humans have an innate need to connect with other humans.

Remind them they do exist and that someone cares.

I’ve always believed in the kindness of strangers; show them that they should believe too.

Photo: Flickr: Euysuk Simon Kwon

We Need To Talk About Rape On Campus Attention towards Campus Rape in the USA is growing, and the same needs to happen here Nadeem Shad CAMPUS RAPE IS AN ISSUE and it’s not being talked about enough in the UK. In fact we’re guilty of the exact same failings as seen in the US. Over the past few years campus rape has garnered unprecedented levels of attention across the pond in the US. Having long been an issue dangerously under discussed we are seeing it finally getting the media attention that these egregious crimes warrant.

However the media attention that has come with this new

awareness has been problematic. The victims are frequently blamed and there has been misleading and shoddy reporting riddled with mistakes as the recent Rolling Stone UVA incident has shown. Throughout all this we still see uncooperative university administrations not doing anywhere near enough to punish the perpetrators or prevent these crimes happening again. Many US universities have an honour code to govern the academic community but make no mistake there is nothing honourable about universi-

ties that haven’t done enough on this issue.

This is an issue that has been broadcast around the world and international mainstream and social media has had its say on the subject. However as university students some of us seem to be under the impression that this is purely an American issue.

This is far from the case, whilst there no statistics to determine how big the problem is for many reasons, this is occurring all over UK campuses as many young people unfortunately know only too well. In fact it

doesn’t take a huge amount to logically assume that wherever in the world there is a university campus environment that this kind of behaviour exists.

Of course different countries and universities have different, legal mechanisms, cultures and systems in place to prevent and deal with campus rape; however as students it is still our moral obligation to raise this issue. Campus rape may not be prevalent at a university, it may be that there are only a handful of cases, but the size of the problem is irrelevant. It is

happening and we need to talk about it and more importantly put an end to it.

Thankfully multiple social and university campus groups like the NUS as well as individuals across the country are raising this issue. However we still need to push this and intertwined issues of sexual harassment and sexism on campus to the top of the education agenda and create a culture at universities where it is the victim that has the power and is unafraid to come forward for fear of social repercussions.

11

Comment

Tuesday January 20, 2015

The Constant Threat Of Terror In Pakistan The Peshawar killing was horrific, but not the first attack on the Pakistani people Khawaja Akbar 16TH DECEMBER WILL BE marked as a horrific and dreadful day in the history of Pakistan. 132 innocent children were slaughtered mercilessly by the Taliban at a school attended predominantly by children of army officials in the capital city of the country’s northern province- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 9 members of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) conducted a terrorist attack on the Army Public School. The Pakistan Army’s Special Services Group launched a rescue operation only 15 minutes after the attack initiated but the beasts moved children to a particular part of the school and took them as hostages. After hours-long attempts, the SSG was successful defeating the terrorists and rescuing the remaining traumatised lives.

This was the deadliest terrorist attack to ever occur in Pakistan.

The stories of the survivors and the heroic martyrs at the hands of the attackers leave me daunted. They have encountered every living individual’s nightmare. A teacher sacrificed her life saving her pupils. Not only was she violated in the worst possible way in front of her innocent students, but the attackers set fire to her and let her

burn. One of the students that she saved said ‘she is my hero’.

Another story that touched me deeply was about a boy who survived after being shot in both his legs. He lay along his lifeless friends breathing when the terrorists came to check if they had killed everyone. They shot each child again to ensure that they had not left behind any trace of life. This boy told the Pakistani media that when the terrorist turned to shoot him, ‘I rolled my tie and pushed it into my mouth so that I wouldn’t scream’.

“The fear of the Taliban is not unknown to any Pakistani, even those residing in peaceful parts of the country” These are just two stories of many. The pain of these individuals, their families and friends cannot be described in mere words.

I saw pictures of the dead terrorists as they were circulated on Facebook accompanied, naturally, by a range of the most abusive comments. Their faces had an evil demonic grin that

continues to haunt me daily. I can only wonder how the children would have felt facing these people. Most of the terrorists did not seem ethnically Pakistani. It was later revealed that all of them were not Pakistani including an Egyptian, Chechen, Moroccan and Afghan.

The target was the Pakistan Army that is fighting the Taliban in Operation Zarb-e-Azab attempting to bring an end to their atrocities. However, their targets are not limited to those related to the army especially when, on 17 December 2014, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved paperwork to remove a moratorium on the death penalty in terror-related cases. I fear how the TTP will respond to this. My friends studying at the Lahore University of Management Sciences and Lahore School of Economics (another LSE) are now under constant threat as are the other people in the schools and colleges of Pakistan. The TTP chief, Fazlullah, has said in a 12 minute video that this was just a ‘trailer’ and that more ‘spectacular’ events are still to come. He claimed that ‘every action has a reaction.

Killing of people or shedding or blood is not our wish (Really?) but if you target our people irrespective of their age, then we

would also hit your people. You killed many of our prisoners and remember we would not spare you.’ He continued, ‘we would target you everywhere and if

“Terrorist groups remain as alive in Pakistan as they were before the death of Bin Laden” you found me, don’t spare me.’

The fear of the Taliban is not unknown to any Pakistani- even those residing in peaceful parts of the country like me. When I was at school, we faced evacuations twice because of bomb threats. We never found out if anything was found or not. I remember my parents having to rush to school and the anxiety on the faces of my teachers. I remember being taught how to respond if my school was under siege after the threats. We were told where to hide, how to gather chairs around ourselves and stay extremely silent. I also remember the noise of a planned explosion in my city which disrupted my geography class. We all looked behind through the window and

could spot a distant grey cloud.

The most horrific of all my memories is my grandmother going to the market and us finding out that in a similar incident to Peshawar it had been bombed. I remember our frantic condition until we found out that she had left the market safely five minutes before the attack took place.

What happened in Peshawar last month were fears existent in every Pakistani turning into reality. It could have happened to my school and me.

The world makes big claims about being successful in the War on Terror by the death of Bin Ladin. However, terrorist groups remain as alive as they were before. They have strongly mobilised in Pakistan fleeing from the Afghan borders. The terror and threat persists for us, if not for the rest of the world.

Thousands of people have died across Pakistan and many more are predicted to die. I don’t know what solution there is to all this and I honestly don’t have any in my mind. We have fought a war already and I don’t personally think we could fight the terrorists through an ideology. I just know that a solution is needed and the quicker the better.

Please take a moment to think about and pray for the innocent lives lost last month.

Peshawar’s Unforeseen Consequences In India

Relations between Pakistan and India have been affected by the tragic killing Rayhan Chouglay THE RECENT KILLING OF schoolchildren in Peshawar, Pakistan was undoubtedly a despicable criminal act and a great tragedy not only for Pakistan but for the whole world and society in general. This incident has effects for many of the contexts it is set in, such as the war on terror, the conflict between the Taliban and the Pakistani state and the continuing tension in the border regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

However, one long running conflict has been disregarded in this particular instance. I refer to the India-Pakistan ‘conflict’. I place the word conflict in quotation marks because the state of relations between the two long running rivals is up to debate depending on who you talk to.

While both countries are technically in a state of peace with each other at the moment, the history between the two states as well as the effects of the war on terror has meant that the

possibility of conflict is always possible, albeit a lot less likely than in previous years. The recent of election of Narendra Modi as Indian prime minister is also a potential trigger due to his history as a Hindu nationalist and chequered history in terms of Hindu-Muslim relations during his time as Chief Minister of Gujarat.

“Both countries are technically in a state of peace but the possibility of conflict is always there” Going back to the context of Peshawar, relations between India and Pakistan have taken a turn and it is actually hard to say whether it is a good change or a bad one. On the positive hand the popular trend on Twitter #IndiawithPakistan

saw the general Indian public express their support for their neighbours in the wake of the tragedy which everyone agreed was completely unjustifiable.

Furthermore Modi also made a public statement of support for Pakistan. Relations seemed to have improved in the wake of this incident-a possible silver lining during this terrible time.

However there was an unhealthy change in the situation when former Pakistani general and president Pervez Musharraf blamed India for the Peshawar attacks. Arguing that India was supporting the Taliban to carry out terrorist attacks in Pakistan, Musharraf launched a scathing but foolish attack on India with little backing or evidence to support his claim. Furthermore, again on Twitter, some figures in India refused to show solidarity with their neighbours as they still felt that Pakistan did not deserve any support because of the continuing tension over the disputed region of Kash-

“Musharraf has simply made himself look out of touch with the people, the country and the world” mir. Just like that, an event that could have potentially to led to closer, more peaceful, relations between historic rivals instead ended up in a squabble, mostly because of the ignorant and unintelligent comments by certain people. Musharraf ’s comments are especially perplexing as they came out of nowhere. It has been clear to everyone that the Pakistani Taliban were responsible for this attack and therefore India, or anyone else for that matter, had absolutely nothing to do with it. The reference to Kashmir as the reason for not sup-

porting India is almost just as unwise as it is an example of going off on a tangent on a completely unrelated topic.

Ultimately this is just another example of the problem with certain politicians and leaders in Pakistan. Constantly, figures like Musharraf refuse to admit that there are problems at home and continuously blame others for their own problems.

It is a cowardly response and is indicative of one of the main issues that the country will have to resolve if it is to avoid disasters like this in the future.

In my opinion certain leaders should stop blaming others and start looking introspectively at themselves. Musharraf has simply made himself look out of touch with the people, the country and the world by making comments like that. I just hope others don’t follow him.

Peshawar has had many terrible consequences and effects.

The increase in tensions between Pakistan and India is one particularly distressing one.

Comment

Tuesday January 20, 2015

12

Western Privilege Blinds Us To MENA Atrocities We are all Charlie, but we are ignoring the global issues that also require our attention Jarrett Bunnin HERE WE GO AGAIN, THEN, with that old debate centring around the two seemingly distinct, yet not at all separate worlds of the ‘West’ and the ‘East’, the ‘Orient’ and the ‘Occident’, the predominantly white Caucasian of Anglo descent peoples of Eurocentric systems vs. the traditionally more ethnically plural civilisations of the Sino-centric nature. In light of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Sydney, and Canada, Western states and their peoples are unifying under a rallying call of solidarity against extremist Islamic, jihadist terrorism.

Stemming, in this modern era, from the uprisings of the 2010 Arab Spring throughout the Middle East, and North Africa, from which, followed the Arab Winter, which one could very easily make the empirical argument, is still in its throws of death, inhumanities and destruction. The Arab Winter terminology used here entails the subsequent period of disorder, anarchy, and instability that immediately followed the uprisings and overthrowing of regimes throughout the MENA region.

The instability caused by the Arab Winter has led to the formation of several extremist religious organisations in the region, all wanting to seize power while it’s still there for the taking; Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al Nusra in Syria, the Islamic State itself, the examples are numerous and their transgressions and humanitarian atrocities innumerable. And yet, looking at how these organisations impact us from our inherently Eurocentric, westernised stance affords us the ability to shy away to the true atrocities being committed by them and others like them on a daily basis in the MENA region.

Of course, the terrorist attacks

that occurred in Paris and in other places around the globe were acts of complete shame, abhorrence, and disgust, and I am in no way alleging that they should not be mourned and publicised in the manner that they are being done.

However, that much al withstanding, this is, at its essence, such a typically Westernised perspective on the horrific doings of these groups. That is to say, tragically, a few people of primarily privileged, Caucasian descent from first world countries have died, and yet, from the how we characterise these groups by what they do to peoples of the West, we ignore the thousands more that are killed, raped, displaced, and live every day in fear for their lives in the MENA region. Again, it goes back to the tendency to make it more about ‘us’ than ‘them’ because we are the privileged society, we are the haves, they, the have-nots. Precedent is guided in this way in terms of how we of the West view atrocities committed by these terror organisations.

Our minds become preoccupied with the few that control the headlines, whilst, subconsciously or not, ignoring the several other smaller, more local factions of terror and extremism in the region that commit unspeakable crimes against humanity to the level that, if committed in a like-to-like fashion upon the West, would threaten to throw it into a state of unrest and instability not seen since the era of the World Wars.

An empirical example I will now bring into discussion here is the ongoing ethnic cleansing situation in the Central African Republic, of which similar occurrences have happened in recent years in Rwanda, South Sudan, Nigeria, Libya, and the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. This nation is on the cusp of becoming a failed state,

and is one where the cleansing situation is rapidly deteriorating into genocide, yet, the crisis is seemingly innocuous to the rest of the international community.

Yes, the UN, and other NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned the situation and attempted to raise the profile of it to the eyes of the global public, but raising awareness is only valuable if there is multilateral action to be done following from it; to date, outside of the typical humanitarian funds being sent from various Western states, little has been done to combat the situation.

Long a nation-state of intercommunal strife, tension, and military coup d’état due to its deep religious social cleavage among its people, has been mired in a civil crisis since, officially, March 24th, 2013. The majority of C.A.R’s populous is either Christian or Muslim, with the Muslim population predominantly living in the Northeast of the country. On that day, March 24th, then-President Francois Bozizé, who was Christian and whose regime tended to marginalise the Muslim community in the country, was ousted from power in the capital Bangui by a faction of Muslim rebels, called the Seleka, led by a one Michel Djotodia.

“We are the privileged elite of the world’s populations, the majority of which live in poverty and struggle to make ends meet” Djotodia quickly installed, once in power, a systematic cam-

paign of looting and killing against the non-Muslim population in C.A.R. But, Djotodia quickly lost control of the Seleka rebels, and, in response, denounced their presence and attempted to dissolve them. However, it was kept up by the members partaking in it, and, in response to the Seleka attacks, the Christian rebel group the Anti-Balaka were formed. Brutal attacks by the Anti-Balaka on the wider Muslim community as a whole spiraled into a situation of ethnic cleansing on the Muslims of the country by this Christian faction, with over 80% of the Muslim population in C.A.R. being suspected to having been killed, or displaced.

Yet, both sides continued to commit atrocities upon one another, and the violence rages on. After Djotodia lost control and resigned, Catherine Samba-Panza, a former mayor of Bangui, was appointed interim president by the transnational government in 2014. With no one leading the rebel groups, however, chaos and crimes against humanity remain widespread throughout, and even though just three days ago the UN classified the situation as a top-level humanitarian crisis along with Syria, Iraq, and South Sudan, the general feeling of the world’s populous can be described as one of apathy and unconcern, in light of the recent terror attacks in Europe and the Westernised world. Although the situation is transforming from a somewhat religious one, to a more political, secular one, in light of the upcoming elections in August, 2015, whereupon Seleka groups and their opposites the Anti-Balaka, have intentions to transform into political parties, the general lack of impunity and rather incongruous international response from the major powers threatens to perpetuate the state

into the further throes of disorder and uncertainty. To date, it is estimated that over 5000 people have been killed since the crisis began, over 852,000 people have been displaced, 2.5 million more are in need of humanitarian assistance, and over 6000 children have been recruited or abducted into armed militia groups.

As a Westerner myself, I am guilty of often succumbing to our first world, Euro-Centric views on different situations and scenarios that occur throughout the world.

We are the privileged elite of the world’s populations, the majority of which live in poverty and struggle to make ends meet in ‘la vie quotidienne’. But this is no excuse to shamefully turn a blind eye to situations akin to the one in the Central African Republic, just because we are being subjected to extremist threats now (on a daily basis, it could be argued, as well) similar to the ones these peoples in the heartland of these terror organisations are subjected to. In the globalised nature of the modern world today, contrition of abstention from action is as much an atrocity as what is being done to these peoples in the MENA region having to live like this, if we are able to actually impact the situations in a positive way. So while the West continues to struggle with how to combat Muslim extremism from the centre and not just the periphery anymore, it is perhaps time to give due diligence and thought to the peoples that live in the countries from which these terror groups sprung, and the lives they must endure, and have endured, throughout all this. While we in the West have sat comfortably regarding, debating, and adjudicating aid and ideas of what to do from afar, for most of the post-colonial, post-imperial era; bemoan the privileged, commiserate the poor.

Photo: Flickr: Alexis Demachy

13

Comment

Tuesday January 20, 2015

When #BlackLivesMatter Met #JeSuisCharlie

The Justice for Mike Brown campaign must continue after the Hebdo attack

Busayo Twins

LSESU ACS President NOBODY WITH AN OUNCE of consciousness needs to be convinced that the shooting of civilians in Paris is a tragedy nor do people need to be told that murder is not the correct way to air out your frustrations. But unfortunately, it seems that the world needs to be convinced that extremists do not represent entire religions and that the untamed rhetoric of ‘Freedom of Speech’ does not easily complement pursuits for peaceful coexistence. Rupert Murdoch evidently failed to grasp the former notion as he accused the world’s Muslim population of following an inherently violent doctrine. But hey, all in the name of Freedom of Speech right? What is more concerning is that, once again, the black community needs to be persuaded into remaining committed to our campaigns, of obtaining international human-status and eco-

nomic empowerment. The media’s focus on the latest European incident threatens to push our #blacklivesmatter campaign into the shadows, never to resurface with the degree of empathy it achieved last year. Although the implications of achievement is too generous a word to be associated with the progress of the movement, it is almost certain that support will be near non-existent post-#jesuisCharlie. This is not to say that there is no room on the ‘black agenda’ for defending universal morality and justice worldwide but we should not create a detrimental opportunity cost in the process.

We blacks need to fight for our

“The black community has offered a lending hand to a civilisation that before the shootings did not invest the same energy into our campaign.” causes because nobody else will. In

our efforts to show loyalties to our fellow French civilians we have replaced hashtags overnight whilst becoming the unofficial spokespeople for our innocent Muslim brothers and sisters. The latter, especially, is discussed thoughtfully on social media forums. Blacks and Muslims have tried to shed light on the prejudicial themes of the cartoon publication, usually directed at France’s minority groups. The problem isn’t with our selfless instinct but the premise of black campaigns in a racist international system. Our race-specific movements tend to be triggered by a murder or genocide that pulls on our emotions after reluctant media attention. It picks up momentum on social media as pro-black individuals and groups use this opportunity to share, retweet & educate the masses on additional ‘evils’ that preceded the event, inevitably spilling over onto the news feed of the non-black population. During this time you will also witness many blacks turn revolutionaries. Non-blacks appear to be just as outraged as us. I say outraged, more that people see the ‘cool’ aspect of rebelling against traditional structures and authority in hopes of being seen as ‘conscience’ or un-racist. But because the black campaigns are only reactionary in nature after 3 weeks the ‘hype’ wears down and only a few revolutionaries

remain standing. When blacks slow down so does everyone else. What speeds up this slow down, though, is the change in the media focus. This time it is France. The black community has offered a lending hand to civilisations that before the shootings did not invest the same energy into our campaign. Blacks stand in solidarity with a world which cannot stand us. We seem to think that if we stop tweeting #Icantbreathe another race, out there, will tweet on our behalf. Even more are we so naïve to think that we have made so many new alliances during popular protest. It is rarely authentic or long-term. We cannot afford to lose sight of our pursuits for liberation. Black lives do not matter yet so why are we acting like we have completed level 1 of the mission and are entitled to take a 5 minute rest?

This is not about turning our

“2000 Nigerian civilians were slaughtered but what is an African life to a European one?” backs on France or Muslims in such

dire times. It’s about demanding reciprocity in solidarity. It’s about addressing the bias in the international system as a whole and how they portray events in order to create this sickly xenophobia. It’s about forcing people to recognise the value WE have put on our own lives and not stopping until we have made it consensus. It’s about drawing similarities between the shootings of the Parisians to that of Mike Brown and the murder of Eric Garner.

Our lives have been and still are the guinea pigs for world-wide acts of oppression. We haven’t the luxury of diversifying resource and emotion into everyone else’s protests without underperforming with our own. We can’t keep getting so easily distracted from our overarching project once sky news decides that Europe needs our retweets. They tell us to hide behind the ethics of common humanity or western citizenship whenever they need to produce a standardised perception of their latest enemy. 2000 Nigerian civilians were slaughtered but what is an African life to a European one?

Don’t get me wrong, defending the innocent is always important irrespective of race but doesn’t charity start at home? Time to put on our fighting armour and get back on the battlefield… the 5 minute break is over. #Blacklivesmatter

Meet Charlie: The Biggest Hypocrite in Europe Modern society is only committed to a superficial right to free speech and expression Darya Loika TWO ISSUES HAVE SPRUNG up in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical newspaper: the right to free expression and the issue of tolerance. Both are highly praised in the western world, but are in fact quite incompatible. The enormous show of solidarity from a range of countries in support of France’s tragic loss is commendable and I greatly admire it. However, the issue at stake here lies with the interpretation of the attack as an assault on free speech and the message all the protesters now uphold of never allowing that right to be crushed.

The question is: does it make sense?

Free speech? Free expression?

Great! Only it seems to me the west wouldn’t like to see gay marriage or feminism ridiculed. I have a feeling this would somehow not bear the term of free expression that the right to joke about someone’s religion does. “We will not give in. The spirit of ‘Je Suis Charlie’ means the right to blaspheme” - declared Richard Malka, a Charlie Hebdo attorney. But does it? Maybe the French are tougher

than the Brits in this respect. In England I certainly don’t feel like I have the right to blaspheme in public. I can get away with an occasional non-PC joke or comment in a small group of people who I know will take it half-heartedly. It is no longer acceptable to do that when you know that someone may be sensitive to your opinion. We live in the ‘You can’t say that!’ culture which absent-mindedly praises free speech. Anybody of a bit of a more conservative mindset than average must have experienced the ‘you can’t say that’ treatment from a more liberal person. A case in point of all-pervading tolerance for individual beliefs and opinions taking over free speech. I am not passing a value judgement here on which one is more valuable, only asking the question: ‘Do they fit together as a coherent ideology?’. I am focusing precisely on the response of liberal developed countries such as the UK, who pat themselves on the back at any convenient moment for being tolerant and respecting the human right of free speech.

‘Respect the minorities, protect them and integrate them into our society’ - you hear them cry on

every corner. It is no longer socially acceptable to ridicule somebody for being homosexual (let alone being at any other intermediate position of the entire ‘gender spectrum’) or tell a woman to get back to the kitchen. ‘Today’s students want the right to be comfortable’ - writes Brendan O’Neill in his insightful article for The Spectator. ‘Free speech is so last century’ reads the headline of what appears to represent the common attitude of today’s young generation. People no longer want to hear what makes them feel at a disadvantage or unequal, even if that goes against the second part of their liberal mantra, the right to free speech. UCL recently banned their Nietzsche society on the grounds that it was too radical and posed threats to the ‘safety of the UCL student body’.

The prevalent mood of today implicitly places the comfort and tolerance above free speech (even though that paradoxically involves intolerance towards the more conservative-minded, in other words, they are unable to tolerate intolerance). So where does this leave us with the Charlie Hebdo debate?

Has the western world suddenly

re-evaluated it’s values and turned political correctness on its head in

“Has the western world suddenly re-evaluated it’s values and turned political correctness on its head in favour of free speech?”

favour of free speech? Maybe not.

Despite the popular movement of comfort and equality, the French newspaper somehow seems to have reserved it’s ‘right to blaspheme’ and when that gets brutally attacked, all of Europe (and several other countries) joins a show of solidarity for something which is not its ‘by default’ system of values. I respect the collective mourning for the loss of precious life and talent but not the hypocritical protest in defence of long-forgotten values.

‘Nous sommes tout Charlie!’ But are you? The ethics of the black humour-filled pages, by and large,

go against the popular equality and freedom from discrimination movements. In order to show respect and condolences for the brutally murdered, it is not required to take on the ideology of the deceased. I have a feeling that the West wouldn’t be so tolerant of a Muslim or any other country regularly patronising, drawing satirical cartoons and simply ridiculing gay marriage or feminists. Somehow the general all-pervading rule of political correctness which has plagued the UK only applies to certain groups and at certain times. So they have a right to blaspheme. Great! I want one too. But then isn’t it just a little hypocritical to frown upon such a right of other countries, let alone subtly frowning upon your own for the sake of comfort and inclusivity?

I am in no way supporting the violence involved, I merely point out the hypocrisy behind the ‘Je suis Charlie’ movement in pretending to share the values which are, under normal circumstances, frowned upon. We have sold our right to free speech to the devil, it is no longer in fashion. What is left is its pretentious name, shouted on every corner by the ‘You can’t say that!’ generation.

Photo

Tuesday January 20, 2015

14

Name: Sebastien Ash From: Blandford Forum, Dorset, UK Course: BA History Describe your perfect workspace. What makes it perfect for you? The beauty of the LooSE TV booth is that once the door is closed, it’s like utter sensory deprivation. No noise. No phone signal.

Tidy and structured or creative chaos? Everything in its right place.

Noise/Music or silence? Silence.

Lyrics interrupt my thoughts.

Day or night? In the day, preferably.

What is missing? It’d be better if there was natural light.

Name: Camilla From: Luxembourg Course: BSc Management Describe your perfect workspace: My desk at home. Its essentials never change: Laptop, books and usually a hot drink.

What makes it perfect for you?

It has enough space, light, quietness and the coffee machine is never far.

Tidy and structured or creative chaos? As tidy as possible – it helps me organise my thoughts.

Noise/Music or silence? Usually silence – or some low Ben Howard tunes.

Day or night? Either, really!

What is missing? Occasionally the inspiration of hard working people in my vicinity – but that’s what the library is for.

The Perfect Workspace

by Camilla Naschert

Special Report

Photo

Name: Julia From: Germany Course: MSc Management Describe your perfect workspace: My desk at home: nice view, bit of music in the background.

What makes it perfect for you?

It’s quiet, atmosphere is not as tense as in the library, close to the Pimlico Fresh café (probably one of the best cafés in London).

Tidy and structured or creative chaos? Creative chaos.

Noise/Music or silence? Music.

Day or night? Night.

What is missing? A bigger desk would be nice!

The Beaver 09.10.2012

PartB Cover credit: Flickr - Peter Miller

14

Tuesday January 20, 2015

16

FILM

REVIEW: WHIPLASH

"The film’s message – about transcending your peers and pushing yourself beyond human expectation– may be a troubling one to take in light of what’s preceded it, but as a result, as well as being a tense viewing experience, this is also queasily inspiring." - 4/5 STARS

T

That being said, the plot of Whiplash is decidedly unassuming, and it’s in the execution rather than the idea that the film earns its stripes. This is clear from the opening, which, via the feverish ascension of beating drums, deftly draws us into the world of Andrew (Miles Teller), an aspiring drummer. During an impromptu audition that shows no shortage of promise or of sweat (the blood and tears will come later) he nevertheless fails to hold the attention of Fletcher (J.K Simmons), a fearful music conductor who leaves mid-performance. Undeterred, Andrew will later show just enough promise to be picked for Fletcher’s orchestra, but considering the punishing trials that his new mentor subjects him to, that may not be an entirely good thing.

The following film is very much a two-hander, centring on the ongoing conflict between teacher and student. Having written the pithily effective script for Grand Piano, Chazelle focusses once again on a pressurized individual trying to produce perfection under hostile circumstances. Only here, rather than an invisible audience assassin, this hostility comes in the form of a monstrous teacher, the kind of man who has no qualms about hurling chairs at students to get the very best out of them. Testament to a career-best performance from Simmons, you really feel fearful for the safety of our protagonist, wincing along with him as his mistakes invite torrents of emotional and physical abuse. Unpredictable, imposing and genuinely scary, Simmons is a force of nature, making Spider-Man’s J. Jonah Jameson seem positively sunny.

It’s an incredibly wide-ranging performance; as well as producing a series of memorable insults; he also shows a knack for displaying a more cunning side, in one scene cruelly turning Andrew’s personal life against him.

While it’s always fun, even darkly comic, to see Simmons delivering hearty bollockings, this is not without

I

N his talk with Paul Holdengräber, German filmmaker Werner Herzog shines through as a man of detail, focused on the minutia of life. A scene from Death Row, the recent documentary TV series, portrays an inmate who ecstatically describes that if he had a thousand dollars and a wad of freedom, he would go to the supermarket, line up shopping carts and purchase as much produce as they can hold, so that he may perhaps remind himself of what an avocado tastes like, what peeling it feels like, what it all means to him who is deprived of it. Whether it is in this, or in Herzog’s recounting of obscure German poets and ignored sixteenth century painters, you get a sense that not only the devil’s in the detail, but also our sense of self.

its purpose. From a simple conceit, Chazelle provides a smart, confident rumination of the pain and gain implicit in the pursuit of brilliance, as well as assessing the best conditions for which creativity can flourish. This leaves Teller, in the lead role, with a lot of material to balance on his young shoulders, and thankfully he delivers; starting the film as a doe-eyed rookie, he makes a believable transformation into a driven, obsessive drumming machine, the desire for greatness hardening his heart and coloring his every decision. There’s a sense of grim inevitability as he cuts off the cute girlfriend (Glee’s Melissa Benoist) and the cushy family, showing the uneasy relationship between artistic dedication and compassion, which is presented here as the key to what makes us human.

What with all the bloodshed and Band-Aids, this makes for a very grueling watch, particularly as Fletcher puts three budding drummers to the test by having them drum, literally, un-

til their fingers bleed. Fittingly though, there’s a sense of artistry and rhythm underpinning the brutality; while Sharone Meir’s cinematography produces moments of stark beauty (a bloodied fist submerged in a glass of water), Chazelle’s direction keeps a tight, methodical hold on proceedings, resulting in a handful of cinematic, dazzlingly orchestrated musical sequences. The film’s message – about transcending your peers and pushing yourself beyond human expectation– may be a troubling one to take in light of what’s preceded it, but as a result, as well as being a tense viewing experience, this is also queasily inspiring.

From its taut direction to its intense performances, this is a masterfully orchestrated, knockout piece of cinema.

In a film about the costs of achieving greatness, Whiplash comes mighty close.

RYAN CRANE

Holdengräber tries to push Herzog to define what his “gang of characters” is. There is an element of “herzogianism” to them, it seems, something stemming from the minutia of life that gets transcribed into his films and his writing, that something which allows Klaus Kinski or Bruno S. to be as real as they can be. You recognize solitude in all the leads of his works, the kind of loneliness that comes with great ambition, whether looking at Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre, the Wrath of God or even Little Dieter Needs to Fly. The latter emphasizes Herzog’s dislike of vanilla stories, the simplified versions of things which usually have a positive causality. In the case of Dieter, it was not some childhood dream that instigated his craving, but a near death experience as an enemy fighter jet flew by his house with guns blazing, commanded by a pilot whose glance young Dieter caught for no more than a fleeting

second.

His focus on such documentaries has garnered Herzog great acclaim, establishing his hallmark narrative with strong German undercurrents something that would be a great addition to spice up the occasional course readings. Encounters at the End of the World, Into the Abyss or Grizzly Man are just some of the exceptional ones produced within the last decade – the latter, a phenomenal piece of

analysis on the communion between man and nature. If you’ve seen any of them, you instantly understand Herzog’s critique of highly journalistic ventures into the world of documentary film making: it is not about putting together a convincing dissertation on film, but rather of finding

an expression of humanism which transcends fact or fiction.

For a guy who worked in steel mills in his youth and first used a phone when he was seventeen, you can sense to this day a great fascination for technology. The talk began with Herzog detailing his experience of a 360 degree virtual reality device, which is astounding up to the point you realize there is considerable discomfort in the artificial detachment from reality. His remarks reminded me of Max Frisch’s book, Homo Faber, wherein the protagonist is critically viewed as a serial documentarian, who only perceives reality through the lens of a camera. It does sound kind of familiar and this theme of technological detachment has always felt embedded to me in the reality Herzog creates on film. But the value it brings needs to be mediated and understood within its limitations.

It all parallels nicely with the legendary collaboration between Herzog and Kinski, who he admits that he never fought to control, but only to provide a frame to, for his devastating creative potential.

His book with Paul Cronin, “Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed”, is the latest addition to the wondrous world of the man. Plentiful minutia resides within, the natural consequence of a life well lived. Yet, I look at the connection between some of the topics discussed with Holdengräber, such as the potential for obscurity of talented persons and the advent of the Internet, and wonder if unrestricted access to platforms for artistic expression works for or against the former. Herzog would probably say that it all works in favour of those who have the desire to find themselves in the world which surrounds them. Or perhaps he wouldn’t say it, because some things are better left unsaid.

STEFAN CARPANU

PARTB EDITORIAL TEAM PARTB

FASHION

FILM

Jade Jackman Vikki Hui

Sanya-Jeet Thandi

Jade Jackman Maryam Akram

partb@thebeaveronline.co.uk

fashion@thebeaveronline.co.uk

film@thebeaveronline.co.uk

FOOD

LITERATURE

MUSIC

TECHNOLOGY

THEATRE

VISUAL ARTS

Caroline Schurman-Grenier

Gareth Rosser

Rohan Soni

Jon Rhys Foster

food@thebeaveronline.co.uk

literature@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Conor Doherty, Will Locke & Dominic Tighe

techonology@thebeaveronline.co.uk

theatre@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Jade Jackman Maryam Akram

music@thebeaveronline.co.uk

visualarts@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Photo credits: Flickr - Andrés Fevrier

HERE are a pick of memorable images in Whiplash, but few come as striking as the splatter of blood on a drum set. A symbol of artistic sacrifice, it perfectly encapsulates the themes explored in Damien Chazelle’s film, which ponders the lengths that one should go to achieve perfection. If it’s subsequently fitting to see this as Black Swan for musicians (Bach Swan, if you will), the reality is that this is probably the more compelling thriller; terse, daring and dizzying, it’s a rare film that actually lives up to its hype.

THE HERZOG WITHOUT A TITLE

17

17

Tuesday January 20, 2015

TECHNOLOGY

T

WATCHES TO WATCH IN 2015

HE ultimate symbol in male luxury for a number of years has been the watch. Despite having humble origins, the watch has become a beautifully and intricately crafted piece of art. A classy timepiece combined with an elegant suit is the purest symbol of refined luxury. Here is a pick of some watches which are likely to cause a splash in 2015.

OMEGA DE VILLE TRESOR Price: £9,490 It seems 2015 is the year of the timeless classics. This Omega watch came to the world’s attention a few months ago, as it was the same timepiece worn by George Clooney at his wedding. Inspired by a piece made by Omega in 1949, the De Ville features a honeycomb dial housed in a white gold casing, with an alligator black leather strap.

CALIBRE DE CARTIER DIVER

LONGINES HERITAGE DIVER Price: £1,440 The Longines Diver is reminiscent of their designs from the 1970s, bringing back the bold shapes and accented colours on the watch face to accentuate the dial. The dial is finished in satin black, with red accents, and the hands and indexes are coated in Luminova, meaning the time can be read clearly underwater. The steel casing features a raised dodecagon, heralding back to the chic 70s design elements.

APPLE WATCH

Price: £5,700

Price: £300-£1,500 ESTIMATED

Cartier is arguably one of the finest jewellery and watch-makers in the world, with an unprecedented level of refinement and class. Their newest launch is the Calibre Diver, a modern twist on the classic Calibre de Cartier range. It features the in-house Cartier 1904 movement and is certified to be waterproof to 300 metres. The hands, indexes, dive time indicator and XII are all applied with a Superluminova coating, meaning they glow both underwater and in the dark. The Diver features a rubber strap, and the casing is finished in steel. Additionally, a rose gold version is available for £7,300.

We couldn’t write about 2015’s watches without mentioning Apple Watch. Although it does not feature a traditional movement, it may be the wrist choice for a huge number of tech lovers this year.

Coming in 3 variations, from the sporty to the luxury rose gold version, there will be an aesthetic look (and indeed accompanying price) for most people. The Apple Watch has inductive charging and will be available in a 38mm or 42mm face size. A number of virtual watch face will be possible and customisable on the digital touch screen, making Apple Watch an individual experience.

ROHAN SONI

14

Tuesday January 20, 2015

18

LITERATURE/FASHION

ROSSER ON ROSSER ACTION

This week Literature Editor Gareth Rosser reviews the poetry of similarly named Gareth Rosser, an atheist poet from South Wales.

(Yes, this is slightly confusing, but let’s just go with it.)

L

IKE most stereotypes, the image first conjured up by the term atheist is hardly flattering. Picture an atheist and your first instinct is likely an angry individual, a keyboard warrior with an axe to grind with the whole religious establishment. Thanks for that Dawkins! Of course a poet is a term with its own connotations too: a teenager scribbling declarations of love into a notebook. It is for this reason that the description ‘atheist poet’ is slightly strange on the tongue, rather like hearing Chris Martin break into perfect rap as an encore after Yellow.

Amongst the more refreshing qualities of his work is Rosser’s decision not to to strike at the jugular of religion.

He chooses to emphasise the beauty he sees in the world rather than criticising religion repeatedly. Instead he skirts around its edges, as can be seen in And?, a poem in which a single question shines a light on the futility of life.

But this is not aimed solely at religious believers - asking ‘and?’ repeatedly to anybody will inevitably remind them of the base randomness upon which all of our actions are based. There is also a degree of unity in this and other works

by Rosser: he deals with the we more than the I: ‘And?’ is a unifier, reminding us that however futile life may appear there is still beauty in each other and in the world around us. Truly a message worth remembering, regardless of our beliefs.

Photo credits: www.garethrosser.com

But when I discovered - to my disappointment - that GarethRosser. com is already a registered website, I simultaneously discovered my first atheist poet. And despite my initial trepidations, the poetry itself was, well, intriguing. The first stanza of Rosser’s latest poem, Lucky, Lucky Eyes, sets the tone for his work in general. It has to be a strength of impossible life - to smile in the face of infinite darkness. We see here many of the themes Rosser continues to revisit throughout his work.

We see here his understanding that life exists by chance, against inconceivably large odds. We see his conviction that there is no afterlife, and his belief that the achievements of humanity are all the more remarkable when put in that context.

The work of Gareth Rosser can be found on www.garethrosser.com GARETH ROSSER

PATTERN ON PATTERN... REALLY?

T

HE little black dress, the simple denim and t-shirt look, the boring jumper we all pull out in the winter is coming to an end. In the past year, we’ve seen an emergence of designers and brands mixing patterns and colours - something we’d previously associate with those who ‘dress in the dark’. The ‘looking like you’ve dressed in the dark’ look is now not an offence, but almost a compliment.

A pioneer in pushing pattern on pattern is none other than J. Crew’s Jenna Lyons. No other upper high street brand has pushed pattern on pattern or colour blocking quite like J. Crew has. We may have previously known dresses and trainers as belonging to Lily Allen but since this new-age preppy-meets-hipster brand arrived here in November 2013, their distinct weird mixes of colours, patterns and shoes are becoming more visible and making a strong emergence in London.

When we look back to what our parents used to wear, sometimes we cringe and sometimes we own some of those items. I’m not quite sure if the flare jean can ever be fully revived no matter how hard the catwalk tries, but this new pattern on pattern look has made me wonder whether this is a thing of the present or a thing of the future.

In twenty years, will we look back at pattern on pattern and be thankful that it’s over? Or will we look back and remember being a part of its reemergence as we throw on our striped jumper with tartan trousers and our slip on vans.

SOPHIE NEVITT (AKA QUEEN OF J CREW AT LSE)

19

17

Tuesday January 20, 2015

FOOD

W

REVIEW: PIZZA PILGRIMS

HEN it comes to pizza, everyone’s taste it different. Some like thick crusts, others thin, some swear by peperoni or mushrooms, others request a cheese filled crust (which I just don’t understand, personally). And then there’s always someone who orders, but we’ll just pretend that person doesn’t exist right now. Basically, it can get a little complicated to find a pizza restaurant that everyone will enjoy.

If you’re a fan of pizza that tastes like it’s been imported straight from Italy, Pizza Pilgrims is the place for you.

From what I understand, it started as an outside stand but it quickly became so popular that it didn’t take long for them to open a proper sit down place in Soho. You walk in, and you smell the amazingly fragrant Italian flavors of a perfect pizza.

The menu is small but has enough choice to cater to every taste. There’s the classic Margherita as well as a nice looking option with Italian sausage. Meat eaters and vegetarian are all welcome. The décor is classic but with a nice modern twist. The tablecloths are checkered, and on the walls, you can admire a wide variety of posters while you await your delicious feast. It’s a great atmosphere to sit and chat. Not too noisy, just the amount of brightness, it’s ideal either for a date or just a fun night out with friends.

When your pizza arrives, you will be so happy you waited for a table (because yes, there can be a queue). The smell is gastronomically bewitching; it can be difficult to restrain yourself from gobbling it all up as quick as you can. There is just the right amount of cheese and tomato sauce that keeps you wanting more when you finish each slice. I had aubergine on mine and I was very happy about that.

It made it even tastier. We also had the tomato sauce-less truffle oil and mushroom pizza. We felt as though we had died and gone to pizza heaven.

The pizzas are a decent price, ranging from 5 to 10 pounds per pizza. A good investment, I can assure you. And just when you think you’re too full, you look at the dessert menu. There, you have a choice of a nutella pizza or a lemon sorbet “served in its own skin”.

Both are divine, it just depends how hungry you are. Pizza and a good night in Soho? How could you not go?

Find them at 11 Dean Street, W1D 3RP. CAROLINE SCHURMAN-GRENIER

The Beaver 09.10.2012

PartB

Cover credit: Flickr - lab604

IT AIN’T ABOUT WHAT GETS DISBANDED, ALL THAT MATTERS IS WHAT I DECIDE

IT’S THE CLIMB

by Smiley Tyrants

#1 (3rd Year) I had sex in the PuLSE booth and it turned out it was broadcasting.

Turns out Mike Pearson’s voice is really quite a turn on #LSESecretions

#5 (Public nuisance) I still believe #jasonforlse

#2 (Student representative) I really hate the people I work with, I wish they’d stop cropping me out of photos

#6 (2nd year, sort of) I became a BNOC and Andrew Farrell added me on Facebook. Made it!

Lots of pics of yoghurt though :/

#3 (Philosophe) One of my jokes got a little out of hand and is now Dare to Think Society #thinkwank #daretothinkofourcv’s

#7 (Academic, sort of) I opened my birthday card from Hu Jintao and 13 million yuan fell out.

Should I register it as an interest?

#4 (James Wakefield) We still play rugby. #topbants

#8 (Irrelevance) I put together a twatty anonymised Facebook page because I have no friends. Rumours I am the editor of The Beaver remain unconfirmed

Tuesday January 20, 2015

22

Three reasons to cycle in London. You only need three – this isn’t BuzzFeed.

Maurice Banerjee Palmer

As we get stuck in to week two of 2015 many of us similarly encounter a growing waistline we’d like to see shrink, a shrinking bank balance we’d like to see grow and a sense that somehow we’d like to be more fulfilled this year than we were in the last. Cycling, perhaps, has the key.

Money: Second and third years inevitably move further out. As well as higher rent and bills arrives the choice between public transport or setting up staging posts with food and water to sustain you through the arduous trek to Houghton Street. Even with the student discount, you’re paying around £650 to be crammed onto the tube for three terms or about £430 to arrive late by bus. For well under £200 you can be sorted with the kit to last you years. And whether you’re travelling on foot, by bus or by tube, they say time is money and I am certain that cycling is the fastest way across central London.

(This doesn’t work quite as well if you spend all your time and money rewarding yourself with pints.)

Fitness: The archetypal New Year’s Resolution is one with famously low success rates. But travelling by bike promises an easy form of exercise that improves your health. Pedalling to and from LSE each day probably takes about half an hour a day, five days a week.

Lo and behold, that is exactly what the British Heart Foundation recommends as a minimum. When you think you’re commuting, you’re exercising for free.

Satisfaction: You’re in London, to many the most incredible city in the world. By cycling through it, rather than cocooning yourself in the tube or being boxed in a bus, you become more a part of that city. You learn London (which comes in handy when trying to walk home from anywhere other than Saucy), and along the way notice the architecture, pubs and people that are the city’s bones, blood and spirit. Best of all, you can enthral your friends with fascinating monologues on the excessive number of traffic lights in London, the recklessness of bus drivers and a suspicion that pedestrians really are aiming for you.

23

Tuesday January 20, 2015

Society Listings FOODCYCLE Tuesday January 20th 4pm 32L.B.09 FoodCycle at LSE raises awareness about food waste and works in conjunction with the LSE FoodCycle Hub. Come along to find out about the different events we have planned for raising food waste awareness and opportunities to cook at the LSE hub. Food & drinks provided.

LSESU ENTREPRENEURS AND LSESU EMERGING MARKETS Evening with KweekWeek Founders Mehdi Nayebi and Tina Mashaalahi In partnership with the LSESU Emerging Markets Forum, we are proud to be hosting Mehdi Nayebi & Tina Mashaalahi of KweekWeek.

Since its launch in late 2012, more than 150,000 tickets have been sold through London-based startup KweekWeek, with the site seeing over 100,000 visitors each month since the beginning of 2014.

Describing itself as a ‘one-stop-shop for event organisers and a personal concierge for event attendees,’ KweekWeek lets hosts advertise and manage their events and helps attendees find personalised events for them based on location, history, and personal preferences.

Having recently raised $3.25m in seed investment from several angel investors, KweekWeek co-founders Mehdi & Tina have thrown themselves into further expanding the business.

The investment is being used to continue the development of the KweekWeek product, to grow the company’s technology and sales teams, and to initiate its expansion into new markets with a launch in New York & a few European cities on the horizon.

Join us as Mehdi & Tina share their insights and experiences, and pass on a wealth of information on the topics of entrepreneurship and technology startups. Mehdi & Tina will be happy to take any questions you may have.

We will be in NAB.2.04 - New Academic Building- at 19.00 on Tuesday January 20th.

LSESU UNSOC AND LSESU CHINA DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY GIVE IT A GO Date: Wednesday the 21st of January Venue: STC S75 Time: 2:30pm to 5:30pm

LSESU CHINA DEVELOPMENT FORUM LSE SU China Development Forum 2015, entitled “Paths to Modernisation”, will take place on 7th February, 2015 at New Academic Building, London School of Economics.

Now in its seventh year, the annual LSE SU China Development Forum, organised by LSE SU China Development Society, is one of the largest China focusing forums in the UK. It aims at establishing a platform for vibrant, in-depth intellectual discussions on a comprehensive range of topics about China among scholars, academics and professionals from across the world, as well as building a bridge to promote mutual understanding between China and the rest of the world.

On the China Development Forum 2015, we aim to hazard an answer to the myths and questions surrounding China’s path to modernity. Our speakers will touch on topics such as China’s current anti-corruption campaigns, prospects of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone and possible impacts of the burgeoning Chinese social media. There are also 5 discussion panels focusing on topics including International Relations, Soft Power, New Urbanisation, China’s Social Policy and last but not least the Economy panel-the New Normal where we will hold quality talks pertinent to major challenges and opportunities that China is confronted with.

LSESU UNITED NATIONS SOCIETY Houghton Model Parliament 2015 (inaugural) Date: Saturday 31st January Venue: LSE (Exact Location TBA) Time: 10 am to 6pm Delegate Fee: £2 (To be paid at the training workshop) For the inaugural year, the parliament will be discussing and debating the issue of Education in the United Kingdom. By role-playing members of parliament, we hope that it will give individuals a first-hand perspective to an issue that is salient not just in the upcoming UK elections, but in countries across the globe as well.

A Special Rules of Procedure has been crafted to make the MUN crisis format, which LSEMUN is famous for, accessible to both new and veteran delegates.

The GIAG JCC will be based on the contentious region of the South China Sea. Participants will take on the portfolio of stakeholder countries and engage in discussion on the underlying issues the region faces, as well as the new counter-factual scenario that will arise over the course of the simulation. Expect dynamic debate and quick thinking!

No prior MUN or Crisis experience is required. A Study Guide and a brief introduction will be provided. You are highly encouraged to bring your laptops for the drafting of proposals.

Do note that the composition of the parliament will not be that of the current UK parliament. This is so as to promote the generation of new policy ideas independent of existing party stances. There will be a training workshop scheduled on the week of the parliament (L3).

Please direct any and all questions to p.s.haller@lse.ac.uk, y.hu14@lse.ac.uk or joshedwardmartin@gmail.com. Sign up before January 24th at 11.59pm via the following link: (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1k5M7owTSQUW2i 379NKrR4U1kCYC2cIPKWr3fQx478sQ/viewform)

The City Section Editorial:

IN RECOGNITION OF RAG week, this week’s ‘T he City’ is taking a look at the more caring side of businesses, for better or for wor st. On one hand, Camilla Naschert contrib uted an interesting piece on the commodification of care which is really worth a read. On the other hand, we’ve also made a pro file of some of the British business-owner s who contribute the most to philanthopic causes each year. While in the UK ce lebrities like Elton John and Bono are widely acknowledged for their con tributions to charity, it’s important to remember that is often big business who contribute the most to local and inter national charities.

On the topic of contri bution, ‘T he City’ is also recruiting a new Editor for this ter m, and as usu al we are alway s keen for submissions and commen taries which are a f lexible way to share what interests you and g ain experi ence for your CV!

Tuesday January 20, 2015

Section Editor: Julia Wacket Deputy Editor Mika Morissette city@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Features: Sport: Media Bias and Tunisia Fight Night Preview Page 26 Page 31

Corporate Philanthropy Who are the City’s biggest philanthropists?

Mika Morissette Deputy Editor

WE ALL KNOW THAT THE likes of Warren Buffet, Bill Gates or Li Ka-Shing, feature promienetly on the list of top global

philanthropists, but which British business people are keenest to re-invest their profits into social causes?

Forget about Bono or One Direction, philanthropy in the UK is led by the City as The Sunday Times points out in its ‘Giving List’.

1. Lord David Sainsbury

3. Terry Bramall

Fortune: £540 million Donations: £165.3 million % of Fortune: 30.62 Causes: education, arts, humanitarian

Fortune: £425 million Donations: £107.4 million % of Fortune: 25.26 Causes: community, rehabilitation, medical

The heir to the supermarket fortune, founded by his great-grandfather in 1869, was made a life peer in 1997 and has dedicated much of his political career to knowledge and education, serving as the Labour Minister Science and Innovation from 1998 to 2006. On top of being a major donor to the University of Cambridge, his alma matter, he also founded the Gatsby Charitable Foundation in 1967 (at the age of 27!) which donates generously to causes in plant science, engineering education, neuroscience, public policy, the arts and towards alleviating poverty in Africa.

The Bramall family became one o f Yorkshire’s richest families after selling their construction company Keepmoat for more than £500.

Thourough Northerners, after the sale Terry Bramall and his wife Liz dedicated themselves to several artistic philanthropic causes in the North (including the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition and the Northern Ballet) as well as channeling money to science and medical research through the Princes Trust.

2. Dame Janet de Botton

Hohn is a real City giant, working at and managing several hedge funds on Wall Street and in London in the 1990s before setting up The Children’s Investment Fund, and innovative business which transfered 0.5% of its assests a year to The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, a charitable foundation managed by Hohn’s ex-wife Jamie Cooper-Hohn. The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation’s main aaims is to improve the lives of impovrished children, particularily those affected by HIV/AIDS and humanitarian crises.

Mika Morissette

The City

24

Fortune: £200 million Donations: £54.7 million % of Fortune: 27.37 Causes: medical research, education, arts Dame Botton is the ex-wife of multi-billionaire Michael Green (founder of Carlton Communications) and widow of the Swiss financier Gilbert de Botton who founded Global Asset Management, though a large portion of her fortune also comes from the company her father founded, GUS (formerly Great Universal Stores), the conglomerate which owns Argos and Homebase.

4. Chris Hohn Fortune: £657 million Donations: £156.5 million % of Fortune: 23.82 Causes: children, climate change

5. Mike Uren

In comparison....

Top world-wide philanthropists by total contributions so far: Warren Buffet: $30.7 billion (healthcare, extreme poverty, eduction, IT) Bill Gates: $29.0 billion (healthcare, AIDS-prevention, education, sanitation) Li Ka-shing: $10 billion (education, healthcare) Chuck Feeney: $6.2 billion (healthcare, youth, ageing, poverty, human rights) George Soros: $6 billion (healthcare, human-rights, social reform, anti-Fascist publications) Azim Premji: $2 billion (healthcare, education)

Fortune: £190 million Donations: £35.7 million % of Fortune: 18.77 Causes: medical, military medical education and universities An engineering graduate from University College London, Uren founded the successful cement manufacturer Civil Marine Ltd. in 1993 and has since dedicated his efforts to philantrophy, founding the Mike Uren foundation in 2002 and earning an OBE.

25

The City

Tuesday January 20, 2015

A Comfy Business: Free and Paid-for Hugs When businesses start commodifying some of the most basic aspects of human existence, should we be wondering whether there can be limits on what is for sale?

Camilla Naschert City Correspondent

are off-limits. Some rely on security cameras in the bedrooms.

The contracts sometimes include cleanliness requirements as well, such as brushing teeth and showering before a session.

With the rise of paid-for embracing, more and more free social media platforms emerge with the aim of matching those who “just need a cuddle”. Cuddlr, an app promising just that was set up in September – now Charlie Williams, founder and developer, told the Wall Street Journal that it has clocked in over 240.000 downloads already, with over 10.000 people using the service daily. Cuddlr is location-based, allowing users to meet up with nearby cuddlers. Instead of physical attractiveness what counts here is cuddle compatibility, which is established through a profile on the app. Unlike most apps, Cuddlr omits the user’s age. People can send cuddle invites which need to be accepted within one hour. A map offers real time walking directions toward the chosen cuddle partner.

Other services such as Cuddle Comfort require a profile with photos and more information on the user, and even allow for group discussions around the topic of spooning.

While only a small proportion of people use the services, this unusual business trend is likely to raise questions. What does it say about society when even intimate meetings like cuddling are planned and available just an app away? Does it bring us closer, does it detach us

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

IT IS A SUNNY AFTERNOON in late 2014. A man is walking around a park looking down at his phone, sending a message to a woman he does not know. As her phone beeps, she checks the screen and smiles. She turns around and walks towards the park, guided towards him by a map. The two see each other for the first time, embrace in a long hug and lie down in the grass gazing into the sky.

A few miles away a man signs a contract and is led to a bedroom by a friendly stranger. They recline on a beanbag and just lie there holding each other.

After an hour both couples get up and leave, never to meet again.

Most people like to do it regularly: Spooning, hugging, snuggling – physical contact and closeness with another person is known to release anti-stress hormones, reduce social anxiety, boost the immune system and even relieve pain.

Cuddling has stayed out of the realms of business for a long time.

But in Canada, Japan and the United States, professional cuddlers have now set up shop, especially online. Just a quick Google search away one can find “Snuggle Buddies” – a U.S. based cuddling service offering “cuddling, snuggling, conversation, platonic outside dates to dinner, movies, etc.” as well as “hour long phone sessions”.

The site makes clear that “any pla-

tonic activity you would do with a friend” is acceptable. Prices begin at $60 for an hour of snuggling, and the cuddlers (men and women who operate in all parts of the country) are listed, many of them “believing in the therapeutic healing powers of cuddling” and wanting to help people with overcoming anxieties or fear of touch.

While their businesses cannot obtain licenses yet, snugglers are often professionally trained, especially in communication skills. Many also follow the ‘Cuddle Sutra’, a guide to different poses such as Cheek to Cheek or Sardines.

Pioneer in the cuddling business and founder of San Francisco based Cuddle Therapy Travis Sigley explained to the WSJ that his cuddle-for-pay service arose from frustrations about restrictions around touch between therapists and clients.

With the for-sale cuddling come risks. Many of those offering the services have experienced sexual advances or had clients expecting more from a cuddling session, which has led to several businesses being shut over the course of last year according to the Wall Street Journal. Some confusion was to be anticipated, as the new services usually have a somewhat hazy description often mentioning massage therapy and physical closeness.

To avoid misunderstandings, some websites ask customers to sign a contract spelling out what type of snuggling is within bounds, others feature a body diagram that specifies in bright red which body parts

Can hugging ever become ‘for profit’? from each other? Does putting a price on hugs reduce their value?

Whatever the answer to these

questions, it seems like there are too few huggers around nowadays. So what are you waiting for?

Features Section editorial: WE LIVE IN A WORLD in which Russell Brand can spout pretentious nonsense and can be hearalded by some as a revolutionary political character. He certainly is a character, but not one who should be celebrated; instead, he should be exposed as the self-righteous enemy of democracy that he truly is.

Undoubtedly, for as long as he enjoys the profits from sales of his autobiography, he will remain a prominent political personality. His routinely unfounded comments tend to simply criticise, without offering any form of tangible or fair solution. Even worse is his apparent aversion to democracy; by encouraging people not to vote, he is actively dangerous and undermines the principles upon which our society is built.

As ridiculous and irritating as Al Murray’s decision to stand in South Thanet is, at least he is encouraging people to vote, albeit for himself.

Democracy, although occasionally tasteless, is the only sustainable and fair system of governance. Whilst Brand may be a revolutionary, he certainly is not one for the better.

Tuesday January 20, 2015

Section Editors: Liam Hill and George Harrison features@thebeaveronline.co.uk

26

Deputy Section Editors: Zita Chan, George Greenwood, and Taryana Odayar tweet @beaveronline

Analysing Tunisia’s 2014 Election:

Understanding News and Narratives WE PREFER A COMPACT story over raw facts. From stockmarket fluctuations to our dayto-day lives, we reconcile and rationalise events by building causal narratives. Nassim Taleb refers to the tendency as a problem of overinterpretation. Causal explanations bind facts together, making them easier to remember and

a problem from a greater variety of perspectives. In relation to the news, though, it is often the raw factual answers to the questions: “what happened?” and “when did it happen?”, that we are after. Unfortunately, reporters are aware of our craving for narratives and slip them into their articles.

Take, as a case study, Tunisia’s 2014 presidential election. Though there is clearly a set of events that occurred in a specific order, that is not what our news-sources portray.

tion, major newspapers focussed on its worrisome aspects. Specifically, the protest after the results had been announced during which an office of Nidaa Tounes, Essebsi’s political party, was set on fire and rioting which lead to the police firing teargas canisters at a crowd of several-hundred students received attention. More analytic articles mentioned the geographic split in the voting, with the affluent North voting for Essebsi, while the poorer South voted for Marzouki,

tion, it conjectured about what implications could be drawn for Indonesia’s future, pre-empting dialogue on gender equality and its presence in a national constitution.

Some of these stories, particularly those overly pessimistic, seem to omit too much. Given the turmoil that existed not long ago, it is somewhat remarkable to have free and fair elections in Tunisia.

Others seem to add unnecessary information.

Narrative-building in the me-

understand. However, when such a causal explanation is misplaced, it wrongly creates an impression of understanding where there is none.

The problem, then, is that our preference for narratives is stronger than our aversion to being wrong: we construct narratives even when we know we probably should not. History is a discipline that aims to gain a better understanding of what happened in the past. However, with the narrative fallacy in mind, it is difficult to see how always seeking causal chains in history helps us achieve that end. A Marxist, who sees history through the lens of class-struggle, and a subscriber to the Great Man theory, who attempts to explain history through the impact of a few “great men” as a consequence of their personal intelligence or charisma, understand an identical sequence of events in drastically different ways.

Whether either of them gets closer to the raw truth through the causal chain they construe is debatable and probably depends on the case. Sometimes polarisation is purposely fuelled to encourage academic debate, which can increase our understanding by looking at

Partly, it’s a problem of there being too much to write about, so a choice has to be made about what to include. However, another part is what sentiments are included without necessity or what information is purposely omitted.

In the West, where democracy is universally and intrinsically valued, the media celebrated the event as the “first free and fair presidential election since the country gained independence in 1956”. In late November, the words “Tunisia has won today, democracy has won, we need to stay united”, a quotation from Essebsi’s acceptance speech, circulated Western news sources from Reuters to the Daily Mail. Some included praise for Essebsi himself mentioning a description of him as “an experienced technocrat able to bring Tunisia the stability it needs”. Reuters went on to comment on Tunisia as “a model for democratic change and compromise between its secular and Islamist factions”.

In Tunisia, the media expressed a weariness of instability, leading to cautious optimism alongside a seeming reluctance to declare democracy a success before experiencing its long-term effects. Directly following the elec-

party leader of Ennahda, before speaking of “the rough road ahead” and the need to overcome the country’s economic challenges such as overregulation, the conundrum of agricultural subsidies, and corruption.

In other places, news sources framed the event with reference to local interests. Arab News of Saudia Arabia provided a rather pessimistic story, portraying the election as a consequence of a “chaotic transition”, mentioning a video of jihadist threats released

by Islamic State which simultaneously claimed credit for two political assassinations in 2013. Unlike local news sources, the article showed no desire to remain neutral, portraying the outcome as the moderate Isamist party Ennahda’s loss opposed to Essebsi’s win.

It also accused Essebsi’s campaign of “having been marked by mudslinging, with Essebsi, who heads the anti-Islamist Nidaa Tounes party, even refusing to take part in a debate with Marzouki”.

The Jakarta Post, an Indonesian newspaper, viewed the event as an illustration of the compatibility between democracy and Islam.

Noting similarities between Tunisia’s and Indonesia’s own transi-

dia is, to an extent, inevitable: in needing to appeal to its readers, a newspaper must frame information in order to make it comprehensible and enjoyable. News is, after all, a business. In this article, my aim is not to celebrate or lament over this fact, but rather to unveil it.

It does matter though: in the long term, perceptions of the world can start to differ more and more based on where we receive our information, even if none of it is technically wrong, leading to fruitless debate without disagreement or, worse, conflict. If there is a lesson to be learned, it is one for the reader: any news reporter, including this one, has carefully selected what information to include and exclude in an article. Reading critically, then, entails not only doubting all the assertions that are made, but also thinking of what is not being said.

Louis van der Linden Third Year Undergraduate

Features

George Harrison

Disagree with any of our writers’ analyses?

Send in your own to features@thebeaveronline. co.uk

27

Features

Tuesday January 20, 2015

Modi: Harbinger of a New World Order?

Taryana Odayar Deputy Features Editor THE 16TH OF MAY 2014 proved to be a significant day for the Republic of India as Narendra Modi, fondly referred to as “NaMo” by his polity, and the Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), won a sensational victory over the long-ruling Indian National Congress Party. Notably, over 550 million votes were cast over a five week election cycle, in the world’s largest democratic election. Furthermore, in the run up to the election, the BJP made history by becoming the first political party to achieve a majority number of seats in the Lok Sabha or lower house of Parliament, in arguably the most decisive election win in the past 30 years of Indian electoral history.

With such a precedent, analysts are now desperately searching for clues in India’s foreign policy, especially in relation to the SAARC countries. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was first established in 1985, and as of 2014 comprises 8 South Asian member states, namely India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Bangladesh. Being a strong advocate of economic integration, will Modi seek to strengthen the economic trade that exists between India and its South Asian neighbours? And are there political gains to be won through this increased regional prosperity? And, most importantly, will these gains act as a catalyst that could potentially cause an unprecedented, geopolitical power shift towards South Asia? For a long time, international relations theorists have debated on the pros and cons of the four power systems; namely the unipolar system wherein power is concentrated in the hands of one nation which in turn influences the others, a bipolar system and tripolar system where power is shared between two and three nations respectively, and a multipolar system where power is equally distributed between all autonomous nations. Dr. Suresh Prabha, an Advisor to the Modi Government, believes that Modi’s appointment and actions to unite regional groups such as SAARC and BRICS could set into motion a chain reaction leading to the formation of a new multipolar world order, “We (India) do not believe that there should be a unipolar or bipolar world. We believe in a multipolar world. We strongly believe that just as we practice multiparty democracy in country, there should be different opinions in the world.

So there should be a multipolar world. If there is a multipolar

world, there is little space for one country to dominate, whether it is the United States, Russia or China.

It should be a world in which all should have their representation.”

Therefore, in order to gauge the feasibility of this, one must first look at the existing relations between India and the other SAARC nations, beginning with Afghanistan; the ‘heart of Asia’, and the possible course of action Modi could take to set all of the above in motion, thereby reshaping the way we perceive South Asia, and the world.

“Asia is a body of water and clay, Of which the Afghan nation forms the heart.

The whole of Asia is corrupt, If the heart is corrupt, Its decline is the decline of Asia Its rise is the rise of Asia.”

These lines were first penned in the 1930s, in a poem written

by Allamah Muhammad Iqbal, a politician cum poet who eloquently equated Afghanistan to being the pulsing heart of the Asian continent. Yet little did he know at the time how politically correct he was.

Decades later, in the 21st century, foreign policy analysts in India have only just started to scratch the surface on the crucial role Afghanistan will play in securing stability in the South Asian region and curbing terrorist uprisings.

Now, more than ever before, India needs Afghanistan’s support in quelling terrorist activities before they spill over onto Indian soil. Case in point, on May 23rd last year, four gunmen from the Lakshar e-Toiba militant outfit were taken out during their attack on the Indian consulate in Herat, Afghanistan, by the Indo-Tibetan border police and Afghan security. Immediately following the attack, Modi spoke to then Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and thanked him for the services of the Afghan security that helped to thwart the attack. If Modi wants the full support of the Afghan forces in protecting his people and country in this same way today, then he needs to quickly establish closer and long-lasting ties with the current, newly elected Afghan administration under President Ashraf Ghani.

And in order for this to happen, first a strong bond has t o b e

formed between the governments of these countries, as Modi will have to kindle the same amicable relationship with Ashraf Ghani that he had with former President Karzai.

However, just as it is in India’s interests to work closely with the Afghan government, especially on issues like terrorism, it is also in Afghanistan’s best interests to consciously strive to solidify its ties with India further, as the departure of the NATO-led coalition forces from the country by 2016 will leave a significant security void that the new President will be responsible for closing, so as to prevent the Taliban or Al-Qaeda regrouping and resurrecting themselves. Or, even worse, overthrowing the government and ending the fledgling democracy that is just beginning to establish itself in the country. For these reasons, Afghanistan should be seeking closer military and political ties with its Indian neighbour in the near future. For the moment however, both countries seem to be playing their cards right, according to Francesco Brunello Zanitti, Scientific Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Geopolitics and Auxiliary Sciences (IsAG) in Rome, who says that, “New Delhi, according to the Indo-Afghan strategic partnership, has already agreed to assist Afghan National Security Forces in formation and equipment programs.”

However, Modi must also keep in mind that he will be toeing a fine line between establishing an Indian presence in Afghanistan without causing pandemonium in Pakistan, which is geographically squashed between India and Afghanistan, and fears a growing Indian military and political presence in the latter. In order for Modi to toe this line, Omar Samad, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington DC, believes that Modi will have to soften some of the action-oriented and explosive views he expressed regarding external threats to India as well as his plans for an extensive military upgrade, “What we do know is that his (Modi’s) rhetoric during campaign was viewed as somewhat strong visà-vis terrorism and any ext e r n a l threat to India.”

He goes on to say that, “But at the same time, he balanced it with a moderate view in terms of economic cooperation

and expanded relations with the region.” Therefore, Modi needs to maintain a balance between a strong stand against external threats to India via improved military progress, whilst also soothing neighbouring countries such as Pakistan with promises of security and economic trade, and he needs to make these clear in his future action plans and foreign policy targets.

Alternately, Pakistani expert, Mansoor Ijaz, feels that there is another route open to Modi that may prove more effective. This would involve India firstly improving relations with Pakistan, before even thinking of garnering more meaningful ties with Afghanistan; a process Ijaz believes could already be underway, “Basically, he (Modi) will try to change the equation with Pakistan, and if he has better relations with Pakistan, then he can safely increase his presence in Afghanistan on the development side, if he can assure Pakistanis that Pakistan is not being sandwiched between Afghanistan and India.”

Ironically, Modi, who has never held a position in the Lok Sabha, and has virtually no national-level political experience, is being called upon to implement a course of action which is in India’s best interests and which may act as a catalyst for obtaining stability in the South Asian region once and for all. In making this most crucial geopolitical gamble, we can expect that the inexperienced Prime Minister Modi will be keen to listen to the advice extended to him by the learned diplomats in India’s Ministry of External Affairs. Modi should be mindful however that the clock is ticking, and before he knows it 2016 will be just round the corner, leaving no room for hesitation or pussy-footing. Additionally, it would be wise for Modi to rally the Russians and the Iranians to work with his government in acting as watchdogs to prevent terrorism taking root once again in Afghanistan, as both Russia and Iran have much to lose should the Taliban come to power. Furthermore, by seeking to work with China to combat a terror threat from their Afghan neighbour, Modi could potentially mend the rifts in the fabric of SinoIndian relations, which has been fraying due to overt rivalry between the two, who have been clamouring to obtain greater political and economic punch in the region.

Therefore, Modi’s next decisions regarding Afghanistan will be watched closely by political analysts; to see whether India’s openheart surgery on Afghanistan will lead to the “decline of Asia” or the “rise of Asia.”

Narendara Modi: A Political Profile AT THE NUCLEUS OF THE BJP’s foreign policy are the twin traits of Economic Protectionism and Hindu Nationalism, which, when combined with Modi’s deeply ingrained Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideology and his own brand of Hyper-Hindu Nationalism, results in a potent combination.

In the BJP’s Election Manifesto for 2014, it states that “BJP believes that political stability, progress and peace in the region are essential for south Asia’s growth and development. The Congress-led UPA has failed to establish enduring friendly and cooperative relations with India’s neighbours. India’s relations with traditional allies have turned cold.”

The threat to Pakistan has been made all the more real, given the fact that India surpassed China in 2010 to become the world’s largest arms importer. Modi has increased military expenditure, offering lucrative investment deals to foreign defence firms in an effort to beef up and modernise India’s military capabilities.

Apart from investing in military hardware to fend off unwelcome intruders from Pakistan, Modi is also seeking a diplomatic solution. He invited the Heads of State to his inauguration, including the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, in an unprecedented move that undoubtedly signals Modi’s desire for greater political and socioeconomic cooperation as well as mutual trust. Proof of this stems from Modi’s very first major speech as a Prime-Ministerial candidate, wherein he says that, “Bombs, guns and pistols have failed to do any good for the people of Pakistan … if India or Pakistan has to fight a war, it should be a war on poverty, illiteracy and superstition ”, thus underlining his yearning for the two countries to work with each other, rather than against each other.

That he invited the Heads of State of neighbouring countries for his Cabinet’s swearing-in, is in itself a symbolic indication of his independence and control in moving India towards foreign policy goals that are more in line with national interests than provincial or sectarian ones.

Features

Tuesday January 20, 2015

28

The Pocket How RAG Selects Which Charities to Support Philosopher: Grotius and Charity Bronwen Mehta RAG Secretary

Jon Allsop Executive Editor AS RAG WEEK ROLLS around again I have found myself contemplating a distinction made

by Hugo Grotius in his political theory that might help us conceptualise issues surrounding charity.

Grotius defines ‘ius’, or justice, as ‘that which it is not unjust to do’.

This relies on a dual conception of rights, which can be ‘perfect’ or ‘imperfect’. Simply, perfect rights are those that others are obliged to respect, such as our right to selfpreservation. Imperfect rights, on the other hand, enforce no obligation on others but are rights that we can claim as being ‘worthy of ’.

There are very compelling arguments to suggest that we should all have perfect rights to certain basic goods necessary for survival.

If we remove the apparently arbitrarily statist assumptions from Rawlsian justice theory then it would even seem that, as a matter of fairness, everyone in the world should be entitled as a matter of right to all those goods that a rational risk-averse person would choose.

The principal reason for Grotius’ separation of these rights is the idea that claim rights can only enforce obligations against certain legally identifiable persons and that it would be absurd to state that any random agent could owe a specific obligation to any other in need of a charity. I do not think this argument holds much water. In theory, such a ‘non-identity problem’ (as discussed by the likes of Parfit) can be easily reconciled by imagining the interests of rational actors who might be reasonably said to exist. In practice, the global Islamic ‘umma’, for example, is nominally united in its commitment to pay the tax of zakat to charity, which, whilst in some sense discretionary, does entail the notion that a right to charity might be abstractly enforceable outside of a state.

Instead, I like Grotius because of the central idea in his work that justice is about more than strict legalism. That it might seem a little heavy-handed in a liberal society to be forced to make charitable contributions is not the point. In the good society surely we should see helping the neediest as more than a staid legal-contractual duty. Ultimately, it is surely most empowering, for an active citizenry and for those in dire need, when we think of charity as something we want to do because it is just, not something we have to do because it is just.

AS YOU HOPEFULLY KNOW, this year RAG are raising money for three fantastic charities: Spires, Into University and War Child.

But out of the dozens of applicants, why these 3?! At RAG HQ , we have designed a two stage process to help select which charities to support; firstly, the committee narrow down the potential candidates to 9 possibilities, which we then open to student vote to find three causes that the LSE student body really care about.

This year we received our largest ever number of charities applying to get the hallowed position as one of this academic year’s LSESU RAG charities. The variety in scale and cause of the appli-

cants was massive- covering everything from disease to poverty, some charities were household names working on a colossal global stage, whilst others work in small communities.

Narrowing it down to 9 was not easy; there were a few disagreements and a lot of discussion. We also decided that in order to cover a range of causes and to appeal to the widest number of students, we would categorise the charities so that we would end up with one local, one national and one international. There were some criteria that we all agreed any charity that we worked with had to meet. A large percentage of annual income had to go directly to the causesome charities are criticised for too much money going towards administration or the executive committee, something that we didn’t

want from a charity we supported.

They had to have infrastructure in place to assist our teamsome charities were able to provide us with advice and materials that we can use to help us advertise and promote their cause. Having a contact or base in London was also a plus - although not essential, this meant that we can arrange meetings to learn more about the charity and even organise visits so that students can see what they are raising money for. The 9 amazing charities that we selected were those that we felt fitted these criteria the best.

After that, we left it up to you.

Using an online survey open for a week, with the charities tweeting away to try and sway the vote in their favour, popular vote narrowed down the 9 to the remaining 3.

corner

Disquiet in Dresden: Pegida Will Not Be Silenced George Harrison Features Editor WHAT STARTED IN DRESDEN in October 2014 as a humble gathering of 350 people has spiralled into a national movement that saw as many as 40000 supporters take to the streets last Monday. Pegida is the rapidly growing and controversial anti-Islamisation movement that is sweeping throughout German cities; now, perhaps more than ever, it is vital to consider its much-questioned legitimacy and role in German policy making.

Pegida is an acronym for Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes - Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the Occident, and has attracted increasing attention in Germany and more widely in the rest of Europe, something which has resulted in increasing numbers of supporters and counter-demonstrators being present on their Monday night marches through Dresden. Pegida’s growing success has seen splinter groups become established in other German cities, along with staunch resistance from the group’s opposition elsewhere in Germany.

Pegida has a 19 point manifesto, which affirms the right of politically persecuted refugees to seek asylum in Germany whilst calling for tougher immigration controls, the establishment of a centralised European refugee agency and an end to political correctness. The group’s manifesto goes on to state that Pegida is against any form of hate speech, advocating an end to “violent and misogynistic” ideologies, although the group does not oppose assimilated, moderate Muslims.

The rapid growth of Pegida

can be attributed to a dissatisfaction with immigration that has been brewing for some time in many European states, which has resulted in parallel resurgences in support of the far right across Europe. The recent attacks in Paris are expected to serve only to exacerbate the sentiment expressed by Pegida, with last week’s march including a minute of silent respect for the victims of Islamist terror.

Many German citizens and politicians have denounced Pegida and its rapidly increasing number of supporters, with Angela Merkel describing the group’s leaders as having “prejudice, coldness and even hatred in their hearts”. Indeed, the founder of the right wing organisation, Lutz Bachmann, has come under fire for his unsavoury past, which includes convictions for burglary and cocaine dealing.

Bachmann’s organisation has also attracted a number of known football hooligans and members of the German extreme right, although many commentators and a num-

Source: Flikr: blu-news.org

ber of politicians maintain that the group does consist largely of ordinary citizens.

As Pegida grows, so do the numbers of counter-protesters who oppose it. As an expression of disgust at Pegida, the lights at the Cologne Cathedral were switched off to coincide with demonstrations earlier in the year, as were the lights at Dresden’s Volkswagen plant. Whilst the majority of the German political class distances itself from the anti-Islam movement, Thomas de Maizière, the Federal Minister for the Interior, expressed an understanding that many participants at Pegida rallies are just ordinary citizens who are concerned about Germany’s contemporary challenges. Likewise, Bernd Lucke, the leader of the German anti-Euro party, Alternative for Germany, considers Pegida’s supporters to be expressing concerns about Islam and immigration that have long been ignored by politicians.

Although it is easy and con-

venient for mainstream politicians to ignore Pegida and denounce it as illegitimate, it is an organisation consisting of a growing number of empowered and loud supporters.

The sentiment expressed by Pegida is an echo of the ideology of Marine Le Pen’s Front National, the winner of last year’s European Parliament Election in France; as unpleasant as some politicians may find it, the supporters of these organisations demand to be engaged with. In Saxony, the Minister of the Interior, Markus Ulbig is in the process of establishing a new policing unit to crack down specifically on immigrant criminality, a policy decision that is widely believed to have been introduced as a response of Pegida’s demonstrations in Dresden. Pegida’s supporters will refuse to be drowned out by the voices of their passionate counter-demonstrators; unless the political class engages with the ordinary people of Pegida, their numbers are likely to continue to swell.

29

Features

Tuesday January 20, 2015

The Era of the Coalition: A Political Precedent George Greenwood Deputy Features Editor WE HAVE NOW REACHED A stage of stalemate in the coalition. The Conservatives now openly pander to their core vote, with traditional rightist policies such as Theresa May’s tightening of student visa’s narrowly avoiding being introduced to the government.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats have begun to openly oppose the government with far less concern for coalition stability. Simon Hughes recently snapchatted his opposition to C a m e r o n’s plan to ban encrypted messaging

apps and services to reporters at BuzzFeed. Nick Clegg donned a “this is what a feminist looks” like t-shirt, likewise not fearing to poke fun at his coalition partner’s refusal to support the campaign.

Beyond such satire, we do face a wider problem here. Whist governments do generally wind down the business of legislating as elections approach, there has been startlingly little major legislation introduced in the last year of this coalition government.

The Conservatives have shifted to the right, in an attempt to shore up support among working class conservatives bleeding over into UKIP. Likewise, the Liberal Democrats policy proposals are now far less about what would be at all possible within the context of the coalition, and more to be what Lib Dem activists want to hear, to encourage them to get out and doorstop potential voters. The combination of these two centripetal pressures is that it has left the government unable to govern effectively with few major reforms achieved, with the

status quo largely being adhered to.

Solving this problem of disagreement will be the question for any tenable government that has the unenviable task of building a working coalition at the next election, where the potential calculations for majorities are likely to be far tighter than at the last election. So what can we learn from this government?

We will likely see a repeat in terms of a formal coalition agreement. Last time, this secured coalition government for 5 years by including many reforms that both paved the way for stability (theoretical commitment to a 5 year coalition) in governments that has not been achieved in a UK coalition government outside of wartime.

However, that said, there will likely

be noticeably fewer concrete policy agreements, and they may not cover a full five year parliament. Within the coalition this “wiggle room” will be designed to allow negotiations within parties themselves, a repeat of the PR nightmare and subsequent slump in public confidence that the Liberal Democrats had to endure after the university fees disaster.

All the indicators show that we are likely to see a more unstable process of coalition formation within UK governments, moving beyond the years of more or less straightforward majority governments. The rise of smaller parties, and the greater voter sensitivity, will prevent outright winners for many years to come.

The interesting question, seems to be in what ways the constitutional framework, especially in terms of the conventions of coalition forming, will shift as a whole, to acc o m m o d at e this trend.

Source: Flikr: Number 10

“The Pillars of Creation” Eagle Nebula Niraj Thakrar Third year undergraduate THE HUBBLE TELESCOPE recaptured images of these pillars of gas 5 light years away, following the first images 15 years ago.

The columns of gas are actually new stars in their formative stages of creation, with the blurring around the edges of the pillars showing cosmic material being destroyed and evaporating due to the intense heat of these young stars.

What is striking is how stunning the images are, but more so how we are so stunned by them.

This is not something any of us will ever be able to experience in person, nor will we be able to fully understand what is going on, yet we find the images so beautiful. I doubt that there is a single person who would say that they found them displeasing to look at. The comments below the images on the website show this, for example:

“Sometimes I encounter such beautiful images that it’s so overwhelming and makes me want to cry at the beauty and awe of such a sight. This is one of them.”

“I picture this image when I think of my own death one day, when my soul leaves my body and goes to meet my maker and all the secrets of this amazing universe shall be revealed.”

I myself cannot comprehend the picture, yet it inspires me to keep looking deeper into it.

Somehow our minds are attracted by the image of the unknown. I don't want to talk about religion or science but it seems almost unnatural to find something so abstract - when compared to our daily lives - so beautiful. In the same instance it shows something of natural beauty, and the wonder is how do these images create such an emotional response? I haven't yet understood whether it is naturally within us to find these pictures beautiful, or whether it is our insatiable curiosity as humans that make the unknown so attractive.

Coalition Timeline

11th May 2010: The UK’s first coalition government since Chirchill’s war ministy is formed

9th December 2010: Vote to raise tuition fee cap to £9000 per year passes, eroding trust in Clegg and his party

21st March 2011: Parliament endorses military action in Libya

29th November 2012: The Leveson Inquiry is published

29th August 2013: The government is defeated in a historic vote on intervention in Syria

April 2014: Farage triumphs in televised debates against Clegg, whose approval rating falls as a result

9th October 2014: Lib Dems come 5th in Clacton by election, with 1.4% of the vote, as UKIP’s Carswell retains his seat.

April 2015: Parliament expected to dissolve

Source: NASA/ESA/HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM

Sport Women in Sport Response To Last Week’s Omission: The Importance of Recognising Women in Sport Robin Park Sport Editor THIS BIT OF WRITING that follows is about women in sport. As I write this, my brain is being fracked into a volatile and vibrating mesh, because I’m struggling to write about a topic which I’ve realised I know very little about.

By this I do not mean I have no knowledge of the achievements of successful women in professional sport.

It’s just that I’m more used to writing non-sensical bullshit about the boring on-goings of little old New Zealand. In fact I’m certain I’ve only really ever written for The Beaver to make up for a lack of weekly content.

It’s also difficult for me to write about women is sport when there’s little experience I can draw upon to construct a relevant narrative.

For example, I’m not really sure if I’ve ever experienced the disadvantages of gen-

der-based discrimination in sport, which so many women do even in the high-performance and professional levels. I can also see that some might see this whole piece as being rather disingenuous, as I am only writing about this topic after being prompted by recent criticism from the SU Feminist Society. But an adequate response needs to given, which is why I am now writing something for the Beaver that I have given some thought and consideration.

It does not matter what the publication is: it is a serious omission when the sport part of a piece called called “The Year Ahead” doesn’t highlight significant upcoming women’s events, such as the FIFA Women’s World Cup or the Women’s Ashes, but manages to include the US Golf Open, which incidentally is one of the most sexist professional sports that is completely out of step in progressive, liberal societies.

I know that this piece con-

cerned was in the Features section of The Beaver last week, but the issue of women in sport is something that can undoubtedly be discussed here as well.

There has also been criticism directly leveled at the sport section itself. Whilst I believe LSE-orientated content has been given adequate coverage in terms of men’s, women’s, and mixed teams, the non-LSE sport articles have been identified as often only dealing with men’s teams. It’s an oversight I apologise for and one that will hopefully be sufficiently remedied.

However, I must also mention that whilst there has been a lack of articles on women’s sport outside of LSE, very few writers have actually sent articles on nonLSE sport in general, which has meant the few articles that did appear in the paper were written by myself and one other writer, who has written extensively on Formula One. Thus, although I

will personally address this issue in the future articles that I write, it must be pointed out that has never been a barrier, so to speak, on writers contributing pieces, regardless of what the particular type of sport it may be.

I wish to re-emphasise this point in the closing, because it is something I encourage every week in weekly emails: all contributors are encouraged to write on any topic they like.

There is certainly no aggressive bias in the sport section where only men’s sport is valued. The only bias is towards LSE sports, though this is entirely fair and justified.

Remedying the issue of publishing more articles on women’s sport outside of LSE will require more than just a few future articles by myself on women’s teams; it will need to be complemented by contributions from all writers, which will hopefully be step one in remedying the given issue.

Addressing Sexism In Sport Jenny Hovland Johanson LSE WFC Captain I WAS SEVEN YEARS OLD when I discovered my love for football. My older brother had for the longest time been talking about Manchester United, Solskjær and other Norwegian “star” players in the premiere league, but I just didn’t fall for it.

In 2000, Norway played against the USA in the Women’s Football Olympic Games’ final. It was an intense game, where Norway won 3-2 after sudden death. New stars were born, and all of a sudden, my friends and I dropped our Barbie dolls and started kicking a ball around instead.

We were fighting to be Dagny Mellgren (top striker and match winner of the final), dreaming to become national

team players and hard core superstars.

According to last week’s edition of the Beaver, there are no big sports events for women coming up this year.

Not a single one was mentioned, however, this is not the case. Among the many, we have the Women’s Ice Hockey World Championship, Women’s Volleyball European Championship, Women’s Handball World Championship and, the one I am personally looking forward to the most, the FIFA Women’s World Cup Championship in Canada this summer.

Women’s sports have been ravaged with several stereotypes – as recently shown in the Men’s Rugby’s infamous “Purple Warrior” pamphlet.

Apparently, we look like beasts and cannot play our respective sports “properly”.

However, the most damaging stereotype of them all is that women don’t play sports, which the Beaver proved (unconsciously) in last week’s paper: apparently we don’t exist.

Having played football on several continents and countries, it was first when I came to the UK that I had to play “women’s” football specifically. Never have I experienced sports as being so incredibly gendered, and it annoys and frustrates me. The men’s clubs are normally simply referred to as their sports name only, such as “football” or “rugby”.

The women, however, have to put the annoying “W” in front of everything, just to make sure people are aware that we are not engaged in the “real thing”.

Almost fifteen years after I discovered my passion for

football, I no longer dream about becoming First Goalkeeper of Norway’s national team. But what I do dream about, is for Women’s football (and Women’s sports in general) to be taken seriously.

Therefore, in order to celebrate the 7th FIFA Women’s World Championship, inclusivity in sports and just to have a good time, LSE Women’s Football Club is looking forward to organise a mixed mini world cup tournament at the end of this term, with the support of the Annual Fund and in cooperation with Active LifeStylE. Details are still to be confirmed, but we do hope that people are interested in joining us in this great event.

If you are keen to know more, please email: A U. C L U B . F O O T B A L L WO M E N S@l s e. a c . u k .

Tuesday January 20, 2015

30

WOMEN’S SPORTS

JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

ECB Women’s Tour of New Zealand

Dubai Tennis Championships will take place, with Serena Williams the defending champion.

World Women’s Curling Championships will be held in Japan.

ISSF Rifle / Pistol World Cup will be held in Korea.

MAY Romania will host EuroBasket Women 2015.

JUN

FIFA Women’s World Cup will be held in Canada.

Holders Japan will be looking to equal USA and Germany’s record of two titles each.

JUL

US odds on to win at 5/2, followed by Germany 7/2 and Brazil 11/2.

2015 Netball World Cup will be held in Sydney.

AUG

EuroHockey Championships will be hosted at the Olympic Park in London.

Women’s Ashes will be held in Canterbury.

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

World Women’s Handball Championship will take place in Denmark.

31

Sport

Tuesday January 20, 2015

Boxing Begins Fight Night Preparations Kamran Miah LSE Boxing Captain THE LSE AU FIGHT NIGHT will be on the 25th of February and it looks set to be the biggest fight night yet. Football, Netball, Women’s Rugby and Hockey will all be represented at the event. All of the fighters have started an intense training program that will prepare them for the big night. Under the watchful eye of our boxing coach Ian Streetley, they are learning about combination punching, defensive maneuvers and counterpunching. Ian showed the fighters what they signed up for by requesting them to stand at the front of the group during training, so that he could keep an eye on them and push them to work hard.

Preparing for Fight Night will not be easy. Most of the AU Club

Fighters are picking up boxing for the first time and essentially have 6 weeks to prepare for and compete in a new sport. It will not be easy but the fighters are determined.

The Fight Night will include 3 Fights by the LSE Boxing Club and 3 AU Club Fights. So whether you want to come and watch a display of boxing skill, a toe-to-toe war or just a scrap, then you will find what you’re looking for.

Tickets will be available in a few weeks so keep an eye out.

We have seen many people try boxing for the first time over the last week, so if you’ve never boxed then now is the time to get involved.

We train 6-8 pm on Tuesdays and Fridays at the Badminton Court, Old Building.

Interested in joining? Buy a membership on www.lsesu.com. If you have any questions feel free to email at: K.Miah@lse.ac.uk.

RAG Week Charity Match Preview: Netball Prepares To Face Men’s FC Alice Thompson & Molly Brien LSE Netball EARLY NEXT TUESDAY afternoon (Week 2), the world famous courts of Lincoln’s Inn will play host to a clash of the sexes between two of the AUs most integrated sports clubs.

In a match which captains

are calling “a contest to end all contests” (Cox, 2015), and, “a matchup I’ve dreamed of for 21 years” (Thompson, 2015), the two largest societies of the LSE’s globally renown Athletics Union will play some netball for charity.

Fourteen of Netball’s most talented athletes will be looking to expose their opponents’ lack

of hand eye co-ordination and general tactical intelligence to inflict a first defeat in history upon the 1-week-old NFC. Star Player: Elin Harding for leading the 8ths to cake baking glory. Biggest Liability: None.

In contrast, the NFC will be looking to break its own record; in fielding a team comprised

entirely of men with the first name of Sam, a feat that has so far eluded them in their 11-aside format, but which will be far better suited to the chosen VII taking the netball field.

Star Player: Ryan ‘The Ring’ Mills whose nickname derives from his uncanny goal shooting ability Biggest Liability: Sam ‘The

Butterfingers’ Boyle who is yet to catch any sort of ball in his two decades of existence.

When: Tuesday 20th January, 3-4pm Where: Lincoln’s Inn Field Tennis Courts Why: Inevitably laughable failure of the netball novices and plenty of CAKE ON SALE

Sport

LSEAU RAG WEEK CHARITY NETBALL MATCH PREVIEW INSIDE ON PAGE 31

the

Beaver

Editor: Robin Park Email: sports@thebeaveronline.co.uk

The New World Of Formula One THE 2014 SEASON OF Formula One was a whirlwind of new engines, new inter team battles and fresh controversy. Over the winter break this has not cooled down with Honda re-entering the frame after their last season in 2008. Reflections are also being made on the positives of the new era entered in 2014 and desires for the new season are being aired. The winter season has also seen light shed on the happenings of drivers from both the happy to the extremely sad as we catch up with those who were injured last season.

If you’ve missed the world of F1 and cannot wait until March to re-enter it then do not fear as here is your Formula one winter season catch up!

First let us look to Honda who are McLaren’s new engine partners for 2015. Honda expressed dissatisfaction with the FIA ruling that Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari could upgrade their engines during the 2015 season using a token system but Honda could not. This was due

THE FIRST ZOO BAR OF the term saw everyone return from the holidays refreshed and overfed. They say we begin as we intend to go on, and clearly this year is one of serious, long-term relationships. We never thought we’d be reporting that. But alas, the pickings have slimmed as this

column’s famous BNOCs and all-round players have decided to go for the old ball and chain over the standard Thursday morning who-are-you-what-didwe-do awkwardness.

It is at this point that we appeal to our beloved Fresh faced first years. Now is your time.

Where have you been hiding?

This column needs you to responsibly down your beverages and get down to some poor decision making stat. With that in mind, we have very little to report.

I’m-the-best-Social-Sec-everSam ditched the library for the

which is definitely something to be happy about.

In race calendar news the Korean grand prix has been dropped from the agenda and the German grand prix will be held at Hockenheim, not at the Nurburgring, for the second year in a row as the latter German track missed out on the 2015 contract. Silverstone looks set to encourage more people to grace it gates as the new managing director of the circuit, Patrick Allen, looks to cut the price for a ticket on race day by £56

to £99!

In terms of drivers for some the winter season has been a time of great distress. Jules Bianchi, who suffered a major crash with a recovery vehicle at the Japanese Grand prix in October, is undergoing rehabilitation after suffering a diffuse axonal injury.

He came out of a coma in November and can now breathe by himself but is still unconscious.

Similarly Michael Schumacher remains in a difficult position over a year after his skiing accident. News on his condition has

been minimal however it is clear he cannot move and perhaps can communicate through his eyes.

Our thoughts and best wishes go out to both Jules and Michael and their respective families. In happier driver news there has been delight for Jenson Button who married his long-term girlfriend Jessica Michibata over the festive period in Hawaii.

So that’s a wrap for my round up of the F1 winter season. Our next fix of F1 news will come in February when pre-season testing starts. Hang in until then!

Photo credit: Vincent Lee

Amelia Thomson Third Year Undergraduate

to the fact Honda had the advantage of analysing how last year’s engines worked for all the teams and were developing off the back of this whereas last year Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari were delving into the unknown.

However as of last Friday Honda won their first battle of this new era with the FIA backtracking and saying they could develop their engine during the season as well. How much they can change their engine will be based on the average of the number of tokens unused by the other manufacturers by the time of the first race.

For example the other teams get a total of 66 tokens and can make 32 changes each however it is unlikely the teams will make this many changes by the start of the season so Honda could be in for an excellent deal.

Although last season the changed noise of the F1 car caused much anguish to avid lovers of Formula One the head of Malaysia’s Sepang circuit Razlan Razali suggests that the quieter atmosphere, which the new engines create, may have attracted new fans. Families preferred the muted noise and it meant that it could be a day out for all

mating ground. Who hands their coursework in on time anyway?

A little rugby lady tried again to bed a Frosty second year. An 8th team baller ran from her class to take a dip in the Poole. And an FC captain brought the party, the vodka, and the action back with him, or did he, he’s not sure, we’re not sure, let’s just say yes?

Our favourite twins Monopolised the fresher population, scoring one each and a third to share. The netball 7s made a surprise appearance, who knew they’d heard of the Zoo? ‘Not rugby’ finally saw a Wyn. And a Mad exec member kept her eyes

on the prize.

A lady rugger found herself a Squash whats-his-name again while another made her mark on tennis. And finally, a young 4th team lady chased another Little story. We do hope she ends up Liv’ing the dream.

We leave you now to await the rush of oldies at next week’s ReAUnion. Watch and learn.

Despite being omnipotent and benevolent, the Bev Report lacks omniscience. Send in the escapades you witnessed to sports@ thebeaveronline.co.uk