ISSUE 1522

Friday 11th March 2022

Redbrick Issue 1522, Vol. 87

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Changes to Student Loan Eligibility page 3

Redbrick

The Official University of Birmingham Student Newspaper, est. 1936 Redbrick

Acacia Matthews Elected as Guild President Dan Hunt News Editor

Kitty Grant

Print&Features Editor

The President of Reclaim Campus, Acacia Matthews, has been elected Guild President for the 2022/23 academic year, following a failed re-election campaign by incumbent Mikey Brown.

Campaigning with a focus on safety on campus, Acacia’s manifesto included increasing lighting on and around campus, introducing ID scanning at Fab ‘N’ Fresh and Sports Night, and creating a termly ‘Prime Minister's Questions’ style panel so Guild Officers can be held to account. Other policies include campaigning for the University to declare a climate emergency and providing every student with a personal protective alarm to keep them safe.

At the results ceremony, there were also 'fun awards' handed out, including Most Meme-orable Social Media, which was also won by Acacia. Much of Acacia's campaign was run on social media, with her Instagram account, @acaciaforguildpres, gained 1,472 followers, and her TikTok of the same name receiving 1654 likes over all videos.

Acacia’s victory follows a difficult year so far for the current Guild Officer team. The spikings that took place in the Guild in November and the subsequent response was heavily criticised, with Mikey Brown admitting during his campaign interview with Burn FM ‘there are some things we got wrong.’

Last year, 5691 votes were cast for Guild President. By comparison 4836 votes were cast for President this year, a drop of 15%.

2100 of these were for Acacia Matthews.

The Russia/ Ukraine Crisis Explaned

News 07

Mikey Brown received 1417 votes, Louise Lyons-Appiah received 965 votes, and The Ghost of Margaret Thatcher received 427 votes.

The result is all the more surprising considering the delivery of the ‘Renters Union’, a manifesto promise from Mikey Brown that was announced just weeks before the polls opened.

Shortly after the Guild Election results were announced, Mikey Brown took to Facebook to wish ‘the warmest of warm congratulations’ to the newly elected officer team, and praised the ‘positive and upbeat campaigns.’ Meanwhile, Acacia posted on Instagram ‘Thank you so much to everyone that voted,’ and that she ‘can’t wait to see what the next year brings.’ She went on to give ‘a special shout out’ to Mikey Brown and the third candidate, Louise Lyons-Appiah ‘for being such positive and encouraging competitors.’

Acacia told Redbrick ‘I’m still taking it all in and can’t quite believe it still! I’m really excited about getting stuck in and already have progress with a compulsory consent course and my green spot manifesto point which is really exciting. I’m also looking forward to getting to know the officer team better as I campaigned with some of them and feel like we’re going to not only be a really strong group that gets policies through but also one that gels really well!’

The elections also saw campaigns for seven part-time roles and six other full-time officers. The first part-time officer announced was Hannah Wilson, who was elected as Disabled Students’ Officer after receiving 284 votes. Madupavitra Palani was elected as Women’s Officer with 615 votes. Robin Hayward was reelected as Trans and NonBinary Students’ Officer after receiving 120 votes. Chinaza Nwankwo was elected as Ethnic Minority Students’ Officer with 336 votes. Maiar Elhariry was elected as Ethical

Much Reviewed About Nothing

& Environmental Officer after receiving 3069 votes. Chirag Sejpal was elected as LGBTQ+ Students’ Officer with 465 votes.

Aaminah Saleem was elected as Campaigns Officer with 2728 votes.

The full-time officers were then announced, the first of which was Reeve Isaacs Smith who was elected as Welfare & Community with 2607 votes. Ben Lockley

Acacia Matthews

Songs Inspired

by Books

Culture Music 18 21

INSIDE: Travel the world with Redbrick's favourite global cocktails

was elected as Postgraduate Officer with 1436 votes. Izzy Lawson was elected as Activities & Employability Officer after receiving 2736 votes. Florie Craddock was elected as Sports Officer with 1695 votes.

Tianjie Liu (Alice) was elected as International Officer with 673 votes. Ness Chigariro was elected as Education Officer after receiving 1290 votes.

Veganuary's Enovironmental Impact

Food& Drink 29

www.redbrick.me

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Redbrick

Friday 11th March 2022

www.redbrick.me

A Letter from Committee Cerys Gardner Digital Editor

I cannot believe that my time at Redbrick is almost over, like Ella I have been a member and writer since my very first week at the University of Birmingham in September 2019. It has definitley been an interesting time to be at university, and especially involved in the paper, but I have still managed to create some great memories.

For example, a highlight of first year was liveblogging the General Election results in December 2019, we all crammed into a tiny kitchen of someone’s student house whilst BurnFM brodcast live from the living room. I stayed awake for 27 hours and it was so much fun reporting the results of different consitiuencies as they were brodcast by ITV and the BBC, it felt really exciting to be a part of something like that. The less said about the result the better but the actual experience of doing an all-nighter and liveblogging were highlights of my Redbrick experience.

Then, last year I was a News Editor, again alongside Ella. That was also a fantastic experience, getting to go ‘behind the scenes’ and actually edit articles. We also published some really important articles that year from an exclusive about used COVID19 test swabs being handed out, that was picked up by the BBC and made the front page of Metro, to an article about reports of sexual harrassment and assault on campus.

Finally, this year it has been

amazing to see the return of print and all the hardwork that goes into it, especially from Kitty and Jas who do so much every print.

It has also been great as a digital editor to get to see the whole range of articles that Redbrick publishes as my job involves overseeing all the sections.

Redbrick has truly been a fantastic experience and looking forward to the AGM next week I would really encourage anyone thinking about committee to run, or if that feels too intimidating applications for section editors will open shortly after the AGM and is another great way to get more involved with Redbrick!

Saskia Hirst Digital Editor

So, Issue 1522. Writing an editor’s letter at this current moment feels, in all honesty, weird but wonderful. Mainly because I’m a recent member of committee, and never thought I’d have the chance to write an editor’s letter. But c’est la vie, here we are! Somehow in the year I’ve joined Redbrick I’ve climbed from the ranks from a writer, to a Life & Style editor, and now as a committee member too — and each part has been full of life and full of style. My time at Redbrick, in the grand scheme of university, has been quite short but ohso-very sweet. Not to be cheesy — but also to be completely cheesy — it’s been an amazing time and I didn’t think that Redbrick would bring nearly as many opportunities as it has, or as many lovely friendships, either. I joined Redbrick in my second year of university during

a rough patch, and was very quickly welcomed with open arms.

Through my time in Redbrick, I’ve become a student journalism enthusiast. Even as someone who doesn’t wish to pursue journalism, student journalism has become very close to my heart.

The skills you learn are versatile to nearly every career — as someone who’s (fingers crossed) going to student Graduate Entry Nursing, my editorial experience means I can later go into research nursing and be an editor of a scientific journal, and discussing on my personal statement that I’d written some medical articles for my university newspaper was a unique skill set not many other applications would have. I love Redbrick for its versatility, both in career aspects, but also for the types of articles and interests you can exploreThe opportunities in Redbrick are endless, and everyone is appreciated.

Very sadly, as my third and final year draws to a very anxious close, I’m getting quite emotional writing this because Redbrick is a highlight reel of some of my most treasured moments at university — from the first in-person social in June 2021 where me, Jas (Deputy Editor) and Ellen (News Editor) made an iconic entrance into Editorship, and Ellen and I screamed Zitti E Buoni at the top of our lungs (and by Zitti E Buoni, I mean gibberish because we can’t speak Italian), the welcome talk where I met people who are now some of my best friends, and to the fabulous Media Ball (if you know, you know).

I’m so grateful to have had

the experiences I’ve had with Redbrick, and the friendships I’ve made working so closely with creative people who love Redbrick as much as I do. But as the whimsical magic of Redbrick begins to come to a close for a sad third year, I’d love to thank everyone in Redbrick for making the experience so lovely. But mostly Kitty and Jas, whose dedication to ‘running print like the navy’ for endless hours during the weeks leading up to print day I’m in awe of and very grateful

Redbrick Editorial Team Editor-in-Chief Chelsie Henshaw

editor@redbrickonline.co.uk

Deputy Editors Jasmine Sandhar

deputy@redbrickonline.co.uk

Print&Features Editor Kitty Grant print@redbrickonline.co.uk

Digital Editor Cerys Gardner Saskia Hirst

digital@redbrickonline.co.uk

Lead Developer Billy Harding

News Editors Sophie Handler Dan Hunt Ellen Knight Anastasis Mauriac Oliver Shaw

news@redbrickonline.co.uk

Comment Editors Emily Baldwin Colette Fountain Ffion Hâf Phoebe Snedker

film@redbrickonline.co.uk

TV Editors Sian Allen Isobel Radakovic Josie Scott Taylor

tv@redbrickonline.co.uk

Gaming Editors Sonny Elliott comment@redbrickonline.co.uk Finn Russell

gaming@redbrickonline.co.uk

Culture Editors Leah Renz Sofia Salazar Studer

developer@redbrickonline.co.uk culture@redbrickonline.co.uk

Marketing Secretary Jennifer Prince

Music Editors marketing@redbrickonline.co.uk Samantha Andrews Lorcan Drury Social Secretary Ellie Harris Ella Kipling Aimée Sargeant social@redbrickonline.co.uk

Film Editors Samantha Hicks Emily Wallace

music@redbrickonline.co.uk

Food&Drink Editors Sarah Cayless Chloë Hyde Cara-Louise Scott

food@redbrickonline.co.uk

Travel Editors Sarina Shah Helen Sun

travel@redbrickonline.co.uk

Life&Style Editors Emma Davis Natasha Farwell Saskia Hirst Julia Lee

lifestyle@redbrickonline.co.uk

Sci&Tech Editors Daniel Bray Gwydion Elliott Elliott Haywood

tech@redbrickonline.co.uk

Sport Editors Lauren Coffman Oscar Frost Rachel Higgins Sophie Utteridge

for. I’d also love to thank them for being two of my many close friends in Redbrick, and, not to get too soppy, but I hope (and know!) that they will go on to do great things for Redbrick in the years to come. I’d also love to thank the rest of the committee, section editors, EAs and writers for making my time at Redbrick so wonderful — Redbrick love and up the Brick!

I hope you enjoy Issue 1522!

Editorial Assitants Weronika Bialek Daniel Bray Kylie Clarke Sonny Elliott Charis Gambon Iris Penfold Louis Redway Sophie Rue Jolie Summers James West Rebecca Whalley Designed and typeset

by Redbrick Copyright (C) Redbrick 2021

Redbrick Guild of Students Edgbaston Park Road sport@redbrickonline.co.uk Birmingham B15 2TT 0121 251 2462 editor@redbrickonline.co.uk The views expressed in Redbrick do not necessarily reflect those of the editors, the Guild or the publishers. If you find an error or fact in our pages, please write to the editor. Our policy is to correct mistakes promptly in print and to apologise where appropritate. We reserve the right to edit any article, letter or email submitted for publication.

News

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbricknews

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GCSEs to be Required for Student Loan Eligbility Charis Gambon News Writer

New government plans mean students who do not manage to achieve Maths and English GCSEs, or two A-levels at grade E, will not be able to receive a student loan in England.

Government ministers outlined the new requirements for obtaining a university loan on Thursday 24th February.

Additionally, the idea of limiting the number of university places will be discussed. Arts and Humanities subjects are the most likely candidates to be affected by the cap.

The move is intended to deter admissions to courses that do not lead directly to a graduate job. This is due to the fact that the number of students attending university is rising and they are looking for a way of controlling the overall number of students. This proposal will result in certain university courses being viewed more unfavourably and will make gaining places on some courses harder than in previous years.

The Department for Education (DfE) said there

would be a consultation on the above proposals. It was also stated that they were considering entry grade exemptions for student loan qualification for certain types of students: for instance mature students without the required grades may still be eligible for a student loan.

“The move is intended to deter admissions”

One of the ideas behind limiting university places and the grade requirements for a loan is to prevent universities from recruiting students into higher education before they are ready.

Not every individual is ready to attend university at the same time in their lives and one of the ideas behind the new proposals is that it will force universities to consider admissions carefully, especially due to the fact that there will be less places available within the institution. Another argument behind the proposals is that it will cause individuals to consider apprenticeships or other nonuniversity avenues.

The number of applicants to UK universities has increased in recent years, with the latest data showing 320,000 candidates had applied this year so far, compared to 306,000 in 2021. With the current proposals put forward by the government that number will likely begin to fall in the years to come.

Being able to access the government loans as a way to access higher education is often the only way for individuals from a disadvantaged background to be able to improve their social standing. With access to loans taken away if students do not achieve Maths and English GCSEs and two A-Levels at grade E, some individuals will no longer be able to access university.

Sir Peter Lampl, founder and executive chair of the Sutton Trust education charity suggests that ‘The introduction of any minimum grade requirement is always going to have the biggest impact on the poorest young people, as they are more likely to have lower grades because of the disadvantages they have faced in their schooling.’

MChe Lee

Community Campaign Builds Skate Park in Selly Oak Ella Kipling Social Secretary

The space known as Bournbrook Recreational Ground, which is located on Bristol Road tucked away behind the Aldi, was once a place people tended to avoid.

The area was overgrown, filled with waste, and scattered with needles. However, in 2020 a young skater by the name of Shaun Boyle set out to change the space and create a skatepark for local riders to enjoy.

Now known as Bournbook Skate Park, the project undertaken by the local community was named the UK’s first ever DIY skate park by Skateboarding GB. Costing only £7000, the space was transformed by volunteers into a fully functional skatepark. But how did this happen?

Berni Goode, one of the directors of the project, spoke to Redbrick about the park’s development. Goode explained that she got involved with the project after being approached by those wanting to transform the park. She helped them to set up a Community Interest Company called Birmingham Skate Spaces because ‘there were so many volunteers building this space and we wanted to protect this space.

‘The reason that the park start-

ed was just because there was nowhere to skate in the area free of charge and this area at Bournbrook Recreational Ground was very much in a dilapidated run down state,’ Goode told us.

The group knew it would not be easy getting the council onboard, and as DIY skateparks have a history of being knocked down it was vital to Goode that the park adhered to the proper guidelines. The park was built to the appropriate safety standards ‘so there would be no question as to the safety aspect of this park’ and so that ‘it would mitigate any exposure for Birmingham City Council’ who own the land. While the group worked with the council, who were reluctant at first, they eventually managed to secure a waiting lease. Essentially, this means that the land could potentially be sold by the council for development.

The skatepark is now at risk of being knocked down as there are planning applications submitted to build new homes and to extend the Aldi in Selly Oak into Bournbrook Recreational Ground. Goode said that while they ‘understand the need for social housing of course’ the area ‘needs to be preserved.’

She also said that ‘in particular we don’t want any commercial

entities to acquire the land.’

Goode explained that volunteers not only built the skatepark but also renovated the gardens there too, so ‘if Aldi were successful in expanding their proposal and this skatepark were to be taken away, there are a number of issues in terms of the impact on the community.’

‘It’s going to impact really negatively on the local community because of this beautiful resource, these gardens, the beautiful art and the skatepark itself. These are really important things for solid mental health and wellbeing and then to strip away the autonomy and the sense of competence that people have had building this skatepark would really be detrimental to the community,’ Goode explained.

It is also hard to ignore the financial benefits of the skatepark. ‘If Birmingham Council or another organisation were to come to build a skatepark it would cost them around £150,000.’ It only cost Birmingham Skate Spaces £7,000. ‘Fiscally, it’s taking away something that’s worth £150,000 from the area.’

A spokesperson for Aldi told Birmingham Mail that current proposals were not ‘fixed.’

They explained that they are ‘eager to work alongside the

community’ and that their proposal has ‘the possibility of changing after consultation with a wide range of stakeholders.’

Boyle told the publication that the space ‘holds much value to all who use it’ as the park is a ‘cherished green space and social, community hub in an area of predominantly young people and students.’

Final-year geography student Lauren Frewin-Smith often walks her dog through the park and told Redbrick that it has ‘been lovely watching a community come together to create a space for everyone to enjoy.

‘I would be disappointed if it was all knocked down. I see friends and families there often and so much work and effort has gone into making it a better, safer community area than it once was,’ she explained.

Another student, Robyn Oleshko, actually helped to build the skatepark. She described the process as ‘so amazing’ and explained that the transformation of the park was ‘incredible.’ Oleshko told Redbrick that all the volunteers got stuck in ‘and soup was made and provided by someone local.’

What would happen if the park Adi wasUlic knocked down? ‘It would Ulicia loss as it’s more than beAdi such Jordhan Madec a skatepark now,’ they said.

However, the space is not just used by young people and Goode explained that it is ‘wonderful’ to see the intergenerational relationships that take place down at Bournbrook.

‘For me to see the traction and the momentum that has built with this and to see people giving up their time to participate freely in the volunteering has been quite emotional really, it gives me a sense of enormous pride. I’ve never worked on a community project like this before,’ she said.

Arthur Ogleznev

04

NEWS

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbricknews

Lecture Cancelled After Guest Speaker Refused to Cross the Picket Line Charlie O'Keeffe News Writer

This week Saima Razzaq was scheduled to do a talk on ‘intersectionality’ at the University of Birmingham. In solidarity with the strikes, Ms Razzaq asked if the talk could be held in the Guild, allowing her to avoid crossing the picket line. Ms Razzaq has said that she requested the location change 35 minutes in advance, and that she found a room herself.

However, rather than making this change, Ms Razzaq says the University cancelled her talk completely.

Ms Razzaq was the first queer Muslim woman to lead a Pride parade, in the UK. She is also the head of diversity and inclusion for Birmingham pride.

Ms Razzaq is a member of SEEDS (Supporting Education of Equality and Diversity in Schools), an LGBT organisation set up following protests about the No Outsiders programme in schools. In addi-

tion, she is the founder of Boatel Birmingham, Birmingham’s only floating hotel and kitchen. This is a project which aims to make Birmingham’s canals more accessible to ‘Black people and people of colour’ through donating 20% of its profits to a creative fund and canal-based apprenticeships.

Redbrick spoke to Ms Razzaq: ‘If I'm honest, from the tone of this person's voice, it felt like I was an inconvenience before I'd even arrived. I'm not even sure if this representative even knew we are in LGBT History Month from the interactions I had.’

“It felt like I was an inconvenience before I'd even arrived” ‘What I experienced yesterday was a microaggression and it certainly wasn't the first time.

Microaggressions in the work-

place create hostile and toxic environments that discriminate against marginalised groups. As someone at the intersection of many identities, I'm not sure whether this individual took offence from having to take an order from a woman of colour, a Muslim or an LGBT individual, who had a differing stance to the protests then her.’

Redbrick asked the university for comment: ‘We were disappointed that Saima wasn’t able to deliver her lecture. Saima requested the change of location 20 minutes before it was due to start and despite our best efforts, the short notice made this impossible. As a result, the session was postponed.

We are looking forward to arranging a new date soon and to Saima sharing her thoughts with students.’

“The short notice made this impossible”

Nathan Dumlao

Maintenace Loans Due to Receive Real-Terms Cut Joshua Herman News Writer

Nathan Dumlao

‘The government is quietly tightening the financial screws on students, graduates and universities,’ reports the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), an independent microeconomic research institute.

Ben Waltmann, a Research Economist at the IFS, details the ways in which many students will not be granted their full maintenance loan. The publication, released on February 10th, states: ‘Students will see substantial cuts to the value of their maintenance loans, as parental earnings thresholds will stay frozen in cash terms and the uplift in the levels of loans will fall far short of inflation.’

The IFS report claims that maintenance loans will undergo serious real-term cuts due to the parental earning threshold being frozen at £25,000 in 2008.

Presently, the threshold should have risen to £34,000 as estimated by how much the average earnings have changed. Meaning that the current threshold is not representative of current average earnings, but of the average earnings recorded in 2008. The report continues to suggest that if the threshold accumulated according to the current average earnings, twice as many students would be able to apply for the full maintenance loan. And for those who earn £34,000, the report says that they ‘would be eligible for the full

amount, or about £100 more each month.’

“The IFS report claims that maintenance loans will undego realterm cuts due to the parental earning threshold being frozen” Middle-earning parents are affected even further by the eligibility for the lowest possible loan being frozen at £62,000 in 2016.

With both freezes implemented, middle-earning parents are being distanced further and further every year from the maximum loan eligibility, and quickly moving towards the minimum loan eligibility. This is due to earnings rising in cash terms but losing value in real-terms as a consequence of the earning thresholds being frozen. The report also points out that the inflation of maintenance loans has not reflected the Office for Budget Responsibility projections, with this year’s rate of inflation only increasing by 2.3%.

With this report and the government releasing the student finance assessment criteria, it has come to light that many students

are struggling to afford living costs with ‘inflation being at its highest in 30 years’ according to BBC News. The living costs are becoming overwhelming, and with the application bracket for higher maintenance loans becoming tighter, many people feel that they are missing out on the student experience they were expecting.

Redbrick reached out to University of Birmingham students and asked them whether they felt that their maintenance loan has been able to support them well on a consistent basis.

One student said, ‘To be honest no. I’m on one of the higher loans and between my rent being extortionate as I let my housemates pick the house, and my dietary requirements meaning I can’t always just shop at Aldi. It can be really hard to find enough money to scrape by sometimes.’

Another student expressed concern that if they had to rely on the maintenance loan alone, then they wouldn’t be able to afford living expenses as well, ‘I’ve not struggled financially at university, but I do receive two scholarships from the university every year.

But if I did not have these and just had my maintenance loan I do not think it alone would be able to support me well consistently.’

News

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbricknews

Student Journalists Condemn Channel 4 News NDA Scandal Ellen Knight News Editor

An open letter backed by thirty high-profile campaigners is calling on Channel 4 News to rescind non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) claimed to have been utilised to ‘silence’ women.

Signatories include Carrie Gracie, the BBC’s ex-China editor who resigned in 2018 over unequal pay, and Labour MP Jess Phillips, as well as whistleblowers Zelda Perkins and Gretchen Carlson. Perkins famously broke her NDA relating to her experiences as an employee of Harvey Weinstein in 2018, and Carlson - a former Fox News anchor - sued her boss Roger Ailes for sexual harrassment. Perkins recently stated that ‘when used wrongly, [NDAs] become secret settlements used to hide wrongdoing.’

A former Channel 4 News employee recently revealed that the settlement agreement she signed on her exit from the company – containing a confidentiality clause – left her ‘traumatised and gagged.’ A spokesperson for ITN told The Guardian; ‘The settlement agreements used by ITN for employment matters are standard across many industries and

include a whistleblowing clause enabling any individual to speak out about wrongdoing where it is a matter of public interest.

‘The inclusion of confidentiality provisions is agreed by mutual consent, often at the request of the individual and their lawyer.’

The letter has attracted support from across the political spectrum, with the SNP’s Alison Thewliss, Labour’s Stella Creasy, and Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, the chair of the women and equalities committee. MPs have reportedly seen ‘at least seven’ gagging orders related to the women employed in the Channel 4 newsroom Labour MP Jess Phillips told The Guardian; ‘the silencing of women furthers the abuse, it’s part of the pattern of abuse.

‘People don’t sign these things in a completely freechoice environment; where there is a power imbalance, you cannot say that.’

“People don't sign these things in a completely free-choice environment”

Aneesa Ahmed, a former Redbrick Editor-in-Chief who is currently working as a journalist for Mixmag, told us; ‘Entering an industry where I know people who are victims of sexual assault etc [sic] but are being silenced is scary.

Journalism is supposed to hold people in power to account and to expose the truth, but NDAs and gagging orders do the complete opposite.

‘Instances like this highlight the deep-rooted nature of elitism, sexism, structural misogyny and patriarchy within society.’

As well as those already in the industry, student journalists have been speaking to Redbrick about how this revelation affects their perspectives regarding the world of media.

Lauren McGaun, freelance journalist and Head of News at the University of Nottingham’s Impact Magazine has previously worked with Channel 4. She tells Redbrick News; ‘even though I was only at C4 [sic] for a week I didn’t notice that sort of culture towards women at all - although [it’s] not good the stuff that’s come out. A lot of the management there is men I think.’

Zeenia Naqvee is the Sports Editor of Liverpool Guild Student Media, and tells

Redbrick that ‘it’s vile how ITN get away with [NDAs] [...] ITN is such a big company it makes you think how this stuff goes on in smaller regional networks.’

Zeena also adds that ‘it’s more worrying as a BAME [person] to be honest. It’s concerning for anyone who has a marginalised identity I’d say, so as a disabled Muslim and Asian female it is very worrying.’ Sanjana Idnani is Editor-in-Chief of Empoword Journalism and Deputy Editor of The Croft Magazine at the University of Bristol. Speaking to Redbrick, Sanjana tells us that ‘as a female journalist of colour, there are already so many barriers to entry. Hearing about this, like Zeenia was saying, just adds to lowering the morale about what it might be like [in the industry].’

“I hope things can change soon” Redbrick’s own Print & Features Editor and aspiring journalist Kitty Grant said; ‘I think it’s really disappointing to see something like this from an industry I admire and would like to be part of.

‘I hope things can change soon.’

'Pills by Post' Scheme to End Charlie O'Keeffe

News Writer

On the 24th March, Maggie Throup, the Public Health Minister, confirmed that the ‘pills by post’ scheme will no longer be in place by September.

The scheme started as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and allowed people to be sent the two pills necessary for a pregnancy termination, which could be taken at home. This was put in place in order to deal with the disruption to NHS care, ensuring that those in need of an abortion would still be able to get one without the need to go to a health facility.

The original plan was for this scheme to end next month, instead it has been extended until midnight on the 29th August. The pre-pandemic system will then be reinstated, where those seeking abortions are required to have a consultation with a clinician and take the first of the two pills in a healthcare setting. It will continue to be possible for the second pill to be taken at home.

However, in Wales the decision has been made to keep the ‘pills by post’ scheme in place.

Eluned Morgan, the Welsh Health Minister, said that she is ‘satisfied that the arrangements are safe.’ Ms Morgan stressed the benefits of this newer system, highlighting the ‘reduced waiting times’ which mean that it is possible to get help ‘more quickly than would have been possible under the previous arrangements. In addition, Ms Morgan pointed towards the benefits to the NHS, since a reduced number of appointments means less strain on the services.

Wales is not alone in its support of the scheme. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) called it a ‘safe and effective world-leading service’ and said the consequences could be ‘disastrous’ if it is stopped. Clare Murphy, the BPAS chief executive, warned that scrapping it may make people who are unable to access in-clinic treatment, ‘resort to illegal methods again and face criminal sanctions as a result.’

Additionally, Dr Zoe Greaves, chair of the British Medical Association’s medical ethics committee, said ‘those most affected by this change will be those who are at the greatest risk of harm.’ The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child, however, said allowing people to receive abortion drugs without an in-person consultation was ‘reckless and deadly.’

Ms Throup has said that the decision to scrap the scheme will remain under review.

Redbrick spoke to the University’s Students for Choice group and they said: ‘At Birmingham Students for Choice, we are extremely disappointed in the government’s decision to remove telemedicine as an option for early medical abortions following its instatement during the COVID19 pandemic. We have personally reviewed the available evidence that has been published so far on both physical and mental health outcomes for patients using telemedicine compared to in person care. We found there were no significant

differences in physical health outcomes and in some cases, these were even improved. We found only one study specifically addressing mental health however qualitative data suggests that telemedicine is both accepted and often preferred for users. For example, it is more convenient for many people, it also allows it to be more discrete in cases of young people or people with safeguarding concerns as there is less questioning over where they are going when they go to the appointments.’

Julia Zolotova

05

Troy Deeney Calls for a More Diverse Curriculum Charlie O'Keeffe News Writer

Birmingham City FC captain Troy Deeney has written an open letter to Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi calling for the diversification of the national curriculum, through teaching about Black, Asian and minority ethnic experiences. Deeney argues that this can better represent children of different backgrounds and help to combat racism. Deeney talked about how the outrage that was sparked by the death of George Floyd, close to two years ago, has faded to ‘an eerie quiet.’ He referenced to the 2021 Sewell Report whose author Tony Sewell claimed no evidence of ‘persistent discrimination’ could be found.

Mr. Deeney referred to his and his family’s experience of ‘vile racist abuse’ which has occurred online and in public.

His own experience of the education system was poor, with him admitting he felt that he only experienced Black history and culture at home. In addition, he talks about his ‘mixed race’ background leaving him feeling detached. He recalls one teacher telling him he’d be dead by age 25, and he was expelled from school at 15, which he points out fits a pattern as there are a ‘disproportionately high number of exclusions amongst mixed race or Black Caribbean boys.’ Mr. Deeney’s concern is that his negative experience of the education system will be repeated for his children.

Over the past two years close to 400,000 people have signed petitions that call for a diversification of the national curriculum. Despite this, teaching Black, Asian and ethnic minority histories and experiences is still optional. Deeney commissioned his own research with YouGov, which surveyed 1,000 British primary and secondary school teachers, which found that only 12% of the teachers felt ‘empowered’ to teach the optional black related topics, like colonialism and migration. 72% of the teachers felt the government should be doing more to support the teaching of cultural diversity. 64% of the teachers said they were not provided with sufficient ongoing training and personal development to feel able to teach these diverse topics. 75% of the teachers were not aware of the available teaching resources to aid teachers in educating on cultural diversity. Finally, 80% of the teachers agreed that it is vital to introduce more culturally diverse, and representational topics, as this will be enriching for both white and ethnic minority students.

In response to Mr. Deeney’s actions, a Department for Education spokesperson said that the current curriculum does provide pupils with the opportunity to study significant figures from black and ethnic minority backgrounds and the contributions they have made to the nation.

06

NEWS

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbricknews

Campaign Launches to ban 'To Let' Signs in Selly Oak Dan Hunt News Editor

A campaign has been launched to ban letting agents from putting up ‘To Let’ signs on houses in Selly Oak, following years of ‘infestation.’

A petition created by local residents points out the aesthetic as well as practical issues with these advertising boards, and is calling for Birmingham City Council to implement a Regulation 7 Order making it illegal for letting agents to erect such signs.

This would follow trends in other cities such as Leeds, Leicester and Manchester – all with large student communities – doing the same.

The problems associated with these boards include; alerting thieves that houses are occupied by students (thus making the houses a target for burglars); creating the impression that Selly Oak is ‘studentville’, despite an abundance of families also living in the area; making properties on the housing market less attractive to local residents, which creates a surplus of landlord-owned, uninhabited and poorly maintained properties; and pressuring students into renting houses too early (especially with regards to ‘Let’ and ‘Too Late’ signs).

Selly Oak is well-known for its student population and this means the area is regularly targeted by burglars. According to campaign group Love Selly Oak between 50 and 100 burglaries take place at student properties during the first semester every year. The petition argues that ‘To Let’ signs highlight to potential burglars which houses are occupied by students, and are therefore more likely to contain valuable items such as smartphones and laptops.

“Between 50 and 100 burglaries take place at student properties during the first semester every year” According to Town and Country Planning Regulations (2007), letting boards should be removed within 14 days of agreed letting, yet residents have reported that some of these signs have been attached to properties for almost 20 years. Several letting agents have refused to remove the boards,

despite multiple requests from residents and Local Councillors, citing the importance of the boards being on homes for advertising purposes. The petition also cites this argument as a concern as it creates an ‘unfair advantage’ for the bigger letting agent firms, and reduces the chances for smaller letting agencies to expand their businesses.

Another issue that the petition cites is the problem of litter, with many signs becoming damaged after several years, falling onto the streets and making the area look untidy.

Although the petition has been set-up by local residents instead of students, an insider on the campaign told Redbrick that the removal of the signs ‘could help improve the standards of student housing as students won’t feel under pressure to sign the first house they see,’ and therefore, ‘poorly maintained housing will be left until last.’ They also highlighted that with regards to the friction caused by the presence of the signage between residents and students, ‘the fault is with the letting agents,’ and that the removal of the boards will ‘create less of [an] “us” and “them” feel.’

Dan Hunt Wan Yan Sip

Guild Launches Renter's Union Oliver Shaw News Editor

On 8th February, Guild President Mikey Brown released a video outlining the new Renters’ Union, an initiative aiming to protect students from possible financial targeting from Selly Oak landlords and estate agents.

The Renters’ Union was a key part of the manifesto put forward

by Mikey Brown which resulted in him winning the position of Guild President back in February 2021.

In an interview with Redbrick News, the Guild President faced questions concerning the outlines of this new reform and potential concerns felt within the student population regarding the Union.

With the introduction of the new Renters’ Union (RU), Mikey Brown is wishing to sort out ‘the big injustice that students face in the private renters market.’ This is going to be addressed through three main points. Firstly, an improvement in the information resources available to students which will hopefully place them in a better position to know what their rights are. Secondly, an increase in robust advice and advocacy in order to stop students making the wrong decisions with their house contracts and finally and most prominently through campaigning. Brown continued to explain how the RU will hope to be, ‘radical, assertive, in your face,’ whilst also anticipating it to

be, ‘much more vocal and much more outward looking.’

“The Renter's Union was a key part of the manifesto put forward by Mikey Brown”

The President followed on by mentioning one of the first projects that will take place under the new Renters’ Union, that being the campaign against Oakmans Estate Agents. Evidence in the form of student experiences have begun to be drawn up in order to spearhead the campaign to ultimately, ‘change their ways,’ with Mikey Brown wanting to, ‘use the force of the student body and the Guild to help us do that.’ The interviewer then proceeded to question whether the campaign against an estate agent such as Oakmans would ultimately be detrimental for students. He mentioned that radical measures may result in bad relationships being formed and due to the power which these estate agents hold, it would be the students who ultimately pay with their pocket.

In Brown’s opinion this would not be the case. He believes that with the adequate housing already present in Selly Oak and with the competitive nature of the housing

market in the area, landlords would hopefully decide to register their properties with the estate agents which are approved by the Guild and that have not been, ‘at the sword with the Renters’ Union.’

These campaigns are essentially seen to encourage particular landlords and estate agents to change their ways, but in the instance that this would not be the case, there was mention within the interview of the creation of a formal notice in which the Guild would recommend not to go with that certain party.

There have been some queries put forward by the student community at the University of Birmingham regarding the introduction of the Renters’ Union, name whether it differs from services already available to students, an explanation for the time it has taken to be released and also the timing of the release of the RU in context with the recent Guild Officers Elections.

The University currently offers a range of services for students trying to find a house in Selly Oak, with Community Living and Rent Right to name a few. When asked how the new Renters’ Union differs from what is already available, Mikey Brown emphasised that it is more, ‘action over mere words,’ with the hope to make changes for good in the private sector of student accommodation in Birmingham.

With students at the University

of Birmingham having been here for almost six months, questions had been raised as to why it had taken so long for the Renters’ Union to be created, especially seeing as though most students have already signed their contracts for the upcoming academic year. In response, Brown admitted that it was a valid point and that it was something that he wished to roll out between October and November. There have been a range of reasons however for it being delayed. In addition to personal circumstances, Brown stated how he wanted to ensure that they were in the best position available and for it to be in the best position to hit the ground running with enough resources available. The spiking epidemic across UK universities was also a factor in pushing back the release of the RU, with the task of implementing suitable measures, ‘the absolute priority at the time to try and get in a position where people were safer in university venues as well as in the city.’

“All we want is decent quality housing”

When asked about the timing of the release of the Renters’ Union in conjunction with the beginning of the Guild Election Period, Mikey Brown saw it merely as a coincidence and continued to mention his previous

ambitions to have it in place at the end of last year but simply was not the case. He also mentioned that it could have been released after the result of the election in order to separate it from any speculation but at the same time, it would be more time in which students would not be helped, something that was a clear priority for the Guild President.

To round off the interview, Mikey Brown was asked when we will hopefully see results from the new Renters’ Union. In turn, he explained how it is, ‘difficult to tell, but once the election is over it will be a clear priority.’ He does however expect to see an increase in content on the Guild website and on social media very soon and with regard to the campaign against Oakmans, hopes to have more news and traction by the end of March. This is dependent on the level of cooperation from the estate agents; however, Brown did say he was certainly not opposed to bringing a group of students down and picketing the offices! ‘We’re not asking for the Earth [...] All we want is for decent quality housing that is kept in a good state of repair, it's safe and it's relatively affordable.

Those are fairly modest things that we are after but so many people are falling short of that marker at the moment.’

The Renters’ Union introduction page including a video from the Guild President can be found on the Guild of Students website.

News

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbricknews

07

Russia's Invasion of Ukraine: What You Need to Know Maurice Brisland News Writer

According to the Institute for the Study of War, Russian forces have attacked Ukrainian territory along three main axes.

From the north, with a view to capturing the capital – Kyiv, from the east, through pro-Russian separatist regions – the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics and from the south, to take port cities like Mariupol and cut off the Sea of Azov.

Reports coming out of the country are difficult to verify and there is creative licence on both sides. Take for instance the Ghost of Kyiv story, about a Ukrainian fighter ace who purportedly shot down six Russian fighter planes on the first day of the war. Or the much-shared recording of the Ukrainian soldiers on Zmiinyi Island telling a Russian warship to ‘go fuck yourself’ before all being killed in the subsequent shelling. Both have now been debunked by various sources and the defenders of the island are alive.

In addition to the mass of misinformation and propaganda being published by the combatants and different factions, the situation is highly fluid and difficult to stay abreast of. As such, this article will aim to give you a foundation of knowledge surrounding the conflict so you can be better informed and better evaluate the political and military goings on.

The roots of this conflict can be traced back to 1991 and the fall of the USSR (Soviet Russia). The various Warsaw Pact satellite states of Moscow (countries like Poland, the country formerly known as

Czechoslovakia and Ukraine) began to shift towards Western European institutions to recover from the effects of communism.

Many went on to join the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). The latter of the two - which is a military alliance between the postwar allies and other European countries - has always been a bone of contention for Russia who see it as a threat. However, one by one, most of the former Soviet Eastern European states have joined its ranks to insure themselves against Russian aggression.

In 2014, Ukraine witnessed the Revolution of Dignity which ousted the then Russian backed government, returned to the 2004 constitution and promoted a shift towards Western Europe and liberalisation. Some argue that this shift away from Russia’s sphere of influence is what triggered the 2014 annexation of Crimea, the precursor to the conflict now underway, which we can look at as a sort of microcosm or prototype of the war in Ukraine.

According to a BBC article from 2014, the ‘infiltration’ - as it is described – was carried out by the mostly Russian speaking, pro-Russian people of Crimea. This brings us on to our first point as to why Russia feels the need to intervene, or justify intervening. Historically speaking, Ukraine has been a part of the USSR and the wider Russian empire. In particular the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk have largely ethnic Russian populations and as such are more aligned to Moscow.

As such, Putin uses a rhetoric of liberating the oppressed to

put a positive light on his actions.

Another argument that is often pushed by the Russian state and RT (the Russian state sponsored news outlet) is that they are trying to ‘de-Nazify’ Ukraine. It is generally known that there are portions of Ukrainian society that harbour far-right sentiment. This can be seen in the rise of the white supremacist militia, the Azov Battalion, that came about during the Russian aggression in 2014. This military unit has its roots in the National Corps, the broader political wing, but the Azov social movement even has ‘youth camps, book clubs and sports classes.’ However, while the right-wing is a major problem and has to be dealt with by Ukraine, there are few others in positions of power Nathan Dumlao who would agree with Mr Putin that this constitutes legitimate grounds to invade a sovereign nation. Interestingly enough, a recent Guardian article drew attention to the nationalist far right in the US, and how they support the Russian President’s actions in Ukraine as being anti-woke.

To sum up briefly, we have seen Russia’s geopolitical, ideological and rhetorical reasonings for invading Ukraine. It is also worth remembering that Putin is a populist strongman and much like other authoritarian regimes before him, could be using an external display of strength to improve his standing domestically. Regardless, it is paramount to remember that the ultimate result of this conflict is human suffering.

According to the UNHCR, 1,534,792 refugees have fled Ukraine to neighbouring coun-

tries and figures for death tolls range from hundreds to thousands depending who you ask.

It is important to stay informed and help how we can. It is also worth noting that Ukraine isn’t the only conflict ongoing and if

you would like some further reading, just quickly search Myanmar, Tigray, Syria or Afghanistan to learn more about what’s happening in our world today.

Eugene

Universities Review Links to Russia Owen Milton News Writer

After the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week, universities across the UK are responding.

Warwick, who are looking at ‘terminating contracts where possible,’ will review its relations with all Russian institutions – adding that this ‘challenging’ move could affect students. Its Vice-Chancellor Stuart Croft has written to the Russian ambassador to the UK in protest of the invasion. He states: ‘To be clear: I would ask all in our community to stand with Ukraine in these terrible times.

And, with those Russians including our own students who are not responsible for this war, many of whom bravely speak out against it - thousands of whom have been arrested by the Russian State for the crime of peaceful protest.’

He calls on all to stand with

Ukraine in these ‘terrible times,’ adding that all Ukrainian students and staff must be ‘cared for and supported.’

“Ukranian staff and students must be 'cared for and supported”

In an email to all Warwick students on Monday, Professor Croft outlines the university’s response: ‘We worked to secure a clear statement with our partners in the Guild of European Research Intensive Universities.’ He also summarises a shared statement between the university and the European University alliance EUTOPIA: ‘We condemn violence replacing the diplomatic dialogue that should be ongoing between all the parties involved in the conflict.’ Professor Croft has furthermore arranged a meeting

with Coventry City Council to discuss how they may collaborate in supporting Ukrainian and Russian nationals in both the university and the city. His email to students also includes encouragement to support Ukrainians in any way that they can, providing information on how students can help.

‘Universities, by their very nature, are international and that has consequences: when all that is important is put at risk, we must speak out. Today, that means we must stand with Ukraine.’

“We must stand with Ukraine”

Following this, University of Birmingham has responded to the crisis in an email to all students. Vice-Chancellor Adam Tickell reassured students of the university’s action, adding that actions of the Russian government ‘should be condemned unequivocally.’ He outlines

that although the university has only a very small number of research projects involving Russian partners, none of which are Russian-state funded, Birmingham is ‘reviewing all our Russian engagement, looking especially closely at any links to Russian state institutions.’

“The actions of the Russian government 'should be condemned unequivocally”

Professor Tickell has offered support for Russian colleagues and students, adding that the University of Birmingham is ‘working with other UK universities to develop the sector's response.’ Beyond its condemnation of the Russian govern-

ment’s actions, the university has ‘most urgently’ taken measures to ensure the safety of students and staff in the region, as well as the well-being of students and staff from the region.

The University also announced it will ‘apply formally to become a University of Sanctuary; and to increase significantly the number of Sanctuary (formerly Article 26) scholarships for refugee students, from 1 a year to 5.’

University of Birmingham students have been replying to the situation on social media.

On a Facebook poll posted on the unofficial UoB student page ‘Fab ‘N’ Fresh’, almost 100% of students voted that the university should review its ties with Russia, while about half of these would accept an impact on the quality of their education. Students have held oncampus marches in protest of the Russian state’s actions, as well as fundraisers in support of the Ukrainian people.

08

COMMENT

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbrickcomment

The Pressure To Be Perfect

Emillee Foster discusses students, stress, and the pressure to achieve success Emillee Foster Comment Writer

Content Warning: suicide and mental health In July 2020, just hours after receiving incorrect automated exam results, 21-year-old Mared Foulkes committed suicide. The ‘devoted’ second-year pharmaceutical student at Cardiff University was mistakenly told she would not be progressing to her third year. She later jumped off a bridge in ‘a split second’ decision.

Mared is not the first student that has succumbed to the immense pressure of university.

Her tragic death is a sad reality seldom spoken about in relation to further education. She joins the likes of Lauren McQuaid, Rafael Ochoa, Natasha Abrahart, and Matthew Ward, to name but a few. Chillingly, student suicides have been on the rise over the past decade. In 2018, the Office for National Statistics published that, across a 12-month period, there were approximately 95 student suicides. So, why are so many students working themselves to literal death?

Even in primary school, I felt this pressure to be the perfect student. If you show signs of having a natural flair or being gifted at this young age, you

begin the cycle of feeling like a walking grade. In my opinion, if you are already anxious, insecure or bullied, you are more likely to cling to this praise during your adolescence as a badge of honour. Your grades define you as somebody. Seemingly, your grades show you have something to be proud of. You have to maintain it by any means necessary.

“Your grades define you as somebody” It does not end there. Some students end up on the news opening up their results because of the expectation that they are going to achieve outstanding results. This is an unbelievable amount of pressure to put on a young person’s shoulders. It also can be distressing if they do not receive the grades they have been bolstered into thinking they will definitely achieve. For example, A-Level student Milan opened his results on live TV under the pretence he was going to achieve three As. Instead, he received two Bs and an A. This meant he could not attend the University of Manchester. By building up this expectation of

being gifted, we anticipate success as inevitable. We strive for nothing short of perfection.

When I achieved a 2.1 in one of my first-year formatives, I felt physically sick and completely useless. I no longer felt like me because I defined myself by my academic ability. I deprived myself of meals and sleep to focus on studying. I also started skipping lectures and contemplating dropping out.

However, I did not want to be known as that girl that had some potential but gave up.

The jump from being a gifted A-Level student to being a seemingly subpar undergraduate was overwhelming and depressing. I silently struggled with my feelings of inadequacy until I took a Leave of Absence after my mental deterioration proved I was not going to cope with second year. I saw it as ‘giving up’ but it was the best thing I could ever have done. I substantially recouped and saw the bigger picture. I wanted to finish my degree for myself, not for anyone else.

During my sabbatical, people assumed that I was not going to return to university. Especially because, during my year away, I gave birth to my first child.

Becoming a mother was also seen by some people as me ‘ruining my potential’, but I digress. I took a break, so it was surmised

that I no longer had ‘it’ in me. I did return, but so what if I had not?

We need to erase this pressure from society, our family, and our universities. We need to learn that we are not defined by a grade on a piece of paper. As George, the brother of Andrew Kirkman, said in a documentary exploring student suicides, ‘a successful life is not a life where you win a Nobel Prize or hundreds of thousands of pounds, a successful life is a life that you enjoy’. Indeed, we have so much more to live for.

What can we do to open up this conversation about stress?

Of course, the NHS is criminally underfunded when it comes to mental health services, this is not new information. Crucially, we should be providing more support to students who wish to leave university and pursue a less-pressured life instead of expecting them to excel academically. We should be encouraging people to truly do what they want to do in their life – not what their parents or teachers want them to do. We should become more aware of the signs that someone is struggling.

Often, they will hide it or suffer in silence until it is too late.

Try to help put things into perspective for your loved ones.

Try to help them understand that

they are doing their best and that you love them no matter what.

Schools should also proactively care for their students outside of their paper credentials.

I have begrudgingly accepted that I will probably graduate with a 2.1. Am I particularly happy about it? No; I wanted a first. Should I be happy?

Probably. Will I ever be? Maybe, in time.

When I put it into perspective, a 2.1 would be a brilliant result considering I have had an infant to contend with whilst studying and, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic throwing everything into uncertainty. Even so, the number on my transcript is merely a reflection of some academic strengths; they do not define me. They do not define you either.

Albert Vincent Wu / Unsplash

Staff, Students and Strikes

Josie Scott-Taylor argues students and staff are fighting for the same things Josie Scott-Taylor TV Editor

Lecturers are striking, students are angry, and the stress levels of everyone at university are rapidly increasing, all because of the same core reasons - the pandemic, poor teaching and learning environments, and a callous and oppressive approach from university management.

So, why is there such a divide between staff and students, when we are all fighting for the same cause? After all, their teaching environment is our learning environment. University staff are on strike because their workplace circumstances are not conducive to productive teaching and happy lifestyles.

As every university student will be aware by now, the last few weeks of campus life have been severely disrupted by industrial action that has stretched across ten days this time. The main reasons for the strikes are reduced pensions, workplace discrimination, and the casualisation of university employees. The UCU has announced that pension cuts will result in the average lecturer losing around 35% of their guaranteed retirement income, with university Vice Chancellors choosing to ‘steal tens of thousands from the retirement income of staff,’according to UCU gen-

eral secretary Jo Brady. A May 2021 report surveying 122 LGBTQ+ members of staff from six different UK universities showed that a shocking 77% of respondents have considered leaving the higher education sector due to discrimination and workplace inequality. Another UCU report, published in 2017, estimated that it will take around 40 years to close the academic gender pay gap. These appalling statistics illustrate exactly why university staff are striking, but there is still a surprising lack of outward support being shown.

Students cannot continue to learn effectively if so many university staff members are being discriminated against, burnt out, and stripped of their ‘guaranteed’ pensions. They are tired, stressed and overworked, and the last thing they want to do is go on (unpaid) strike for ten days. It seems to me that many students, however, seem to be under the impression that staff are simply taking time off for fun, and that striking is a choice they are all too happy to make.

The motivations behind the strikes reach further and wider than you might imagine, too - I spoke to one postgraduate student, who highlighted that he and many of his peers are staff too, meaning that they are also affected by the pension cuts. ‘A lot of postgraduates I know are even more worried about the

viability of their career choice, particularly because it will offer them little to no security in retirement’, he told me, explaining that low pay, high workloads, pay inequality, and staff casualisation can ‘filter out who can carry on in higher education too, tending to mean it’s only viable for the independently wealthy.’

I also spoke to Vicky Blake, President of the UCU, and she highlighted the importance of student-staff solidarity, particularly in post-pandemic life.

Although the pandemic offered staff and students an opportunity to band together and view the quality of higher education under a new lens, it has also led to more and more members of staff ‘working into the night, working at the weekend, and working at the expense of time spent with loved ones, at the expense of loved ones,’ often leading to many members needing to take time off for overwork and stress.

She explained that many students do not understand why staff are so angry until they become aware of just how much work they are expected to do, but the strikes and picket lines have opened up a space for more conversations about this to happen.

While being on the picket lines has been disheartening at times (particularly in miserable weather conditions), being given

the opportunity to show my support and be inspired by others has been empowering. Although many students look away when offered a leaflet, or give picketers a wide berth, I do not think criticising those who do not show support is not the way forward. Instead, we need to recognise that staff and students have a common enemy and a common goal, and work together to achieve what we want. When asked why it is important to demonstrate support for university staff, one member of the student group Solidarity UoB explained that ‘strikes may be disruptive in the short term, but we have to stand together in solidarity to achieve our long term goal of a better, fairer university system, where staff and students are put before profits and education is viewed as more than just a commodity to be bought and sold.’ No one is denying that strikes are extremely frustrating for everybody involved, but it is vital to remember that the teaching environment for staff is the learning environment for students, and we serve to gain from the potential benefits that the strikes will bring.

Solidarity between students and staff is becoming increasingly important in a world where we are more and more divided, and we are not going to achieve the desired and deserved quality

of life in higher education unless we stick together. Every member of staff understands that strikes are inconvenient and frustrating, but they are not the enemy - university management is.

Universities UK, representing employers, claims that ‘it is unclear why UCU thinks it’s appropriate for students to suffer due to the scheme’s increased costs and the regulatory constraints under which pensions operate in the UK,’ but what they fail to highlight here is that we as students are suffering at the hands of their greed and callousness. If they sought to improve the quality of higher education, the strikes would not need to happen. Education is not a commodity, so show solidarity in support of a free, fair, and equal university system for all.

Dave Pickersgill / Wikimedia Commons

COMMENT

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbrickcomment

09

A Discussion of Education Reform

Thomas Barry criticises the dated standards of education, arguing for reform Thomas Barry Comment Writer

Education has two primary functions: to establish hierarchy and to prepare students for the academic realm. When I mean hierarchies, I do not refer to power politics, or the ‘patriarchy,’ I refer solely and exclusively to the socio-economic system where a chain of command is shaped by experience, talent and work ethic. It is an efficient and effective system because each and every individual involved in it can maximise their talents whilst being reminded that they can always be more. It motivates all to be active and passionate in order to raise their socio-economic position whilst simultaneously contributing to society from such efforts.

The latter role of education to prepare students for further academics is good but also limited. Academia has many notable merits; in particular, it serves the vital role of understanding the world in which we live – its strengths and weaknesses, how it operates, and what it is. Yet the primary problem with the academic realm is that it is

unfortunately a small self-contained bubble that at best operates as an advisory body to select committees and politicians.

The function and benefits of education, however, should not be limited to hierarchies and academics, those should be its by-product, not its most notable.

Rather education should be about getting students to engage with the present, looking at the world’s problems and contemplating solutions to them. Being educated should not mean being effective at regurgitating engrained arguments and memorised facts; but to be active in looking at problems, utilising knowledge and interpretation to come up with possible solutions.

For students, education should be exciting and enthralling – not something they are forced to do, or because it is where they can socialise. The poor state of education has been illuminated by the pandemic: if education was truly as brilliant as it could possibly be, students would have mourned and felt deflated from leaving it prematurely, not rejoicing at being freed from it due to a plague enveloping the globe that

snatched the life from their loved ones before they got the chance to even say goodbye.

When a student writes in an essay-based subject (like Politics, Geography, History, or English), they should not be doing so ‘because it is what the exam board demands’ or it is ‘what you have to do,’ but because they want to. Because they appreciate that an essay is the forum for intellectual discussion, where they can engage with problems in the world that they care about and can write solutions to. All essay-based subjects, in fact, should be centred around this premise: finding solutions.

“All essay-based subjects, in fact, should be centred around this premise: finding solutions” For example, Geography should be engaged with climate change, teaching students about

why it has happened and what has been done to counter it, students then can write essays on what the next steps should be.

Or in Economics, students should be taught about the types of economic systems that exist – or have existed – and are presented with the problems that the economy has been facing since the 2008 financial crash, to which they can write potential solutions to, ranging from tweaking capitalism to completely overhauling it. The solutions that students provide likely will not be overly effective, but that is not the point. Education is not about being ‘right,’ it is about getting students to engage with their intelligence and actively looking at the world’s problems and thinking about ways to solve them.

Such a mentality is urgent because, in truth, the world is falling apart – environmentally, economically, and socially – and it is not going to get better any time soon. Part of the problem is that everyone is so engaged with spreading the word of its problems that no one actually thinks of how to solve them. It is the plight that social media and ‘clicktivism’ has entrenched –

encouraging everyone to share stories about racism, humanitarian crises, sexual abuse and harassment – but never on how to actually solve such issues.

Indeed, most people are more likely to kick down a solution, than to actually think of one.

This can only be changed if education changes.

In the UK, there are, officially, 67.1 million inhabitants (according to the Office of National Statistics.) Should education be reformed to make people consider solving problems, (rather than moan about them, or wasting their energy on a pointless and essentially intellectually-void 50-minute ‘essay’) then there could be 67.1 million solutions to the problems the UK, and the wider world, faces.

Imagine the difference: the world would genuinely become better, and all of us would be happier, active, and intellectually ambitious. It would inspire an evergoing cycle of meaningful progress where we are challenged to always be better, enabled to fulfil our potential and to stretch ourselves, as well as appreciate how far we have come as individuals and what we have achieved for the world.

Rich House, Poor House, Uni House Aimee Sargeant explores the alienation of working class university students Aimee Sargeant Music Editor

When joining university two years ago, I did not fully comprehend or realise the amount of students from differing backgrounds I would meet. By coming to a higher education institution, it highlights the existing differences between students from varied backgrounds.

Coming from a comprehensive state school, within an area that is relatively working and middle class, and an area that is ranked the 13th most deprived local authority in England, my experience in the schooling system is highly different to anyone who went to an independent/private or grammar school. Even though there is a similarity in the content taught and exams taken, within comprehensive state school you face other challenges.

Within comprehensive state schools, university is not the most accessible institution to get into. There are more barriers in place than I first realised when I was applying to university. A recent report by The Centre for Social Justice states that half the schools that teach the privileged 20% of students in the country (private and grammar schools) have one (if not more) dedicated ‘university advisor.’ In my school, we did not have a university advisor. In the same report, it states that just one third of state secondary schools appoint in-house specialists. This

is due to there being less money to hire such professionals. The report also states that one in six secondary schools were not approached by a higher education institution for the purposes of outreach in the six months prior to being surveyed.

Institutions such as Birmingham offer the A2B scheme. The idea of this is that the institution becomes more accessible to individuals from more disadvantaged backgrounds than other students. I was made aware of this scheme by my Deputy Head of Sixth Form when applying to UCAS. This scheme gives individuals a fairer chance to access higher education, but is also not promoted that loudly. I did not even see it when applying. This is even more prevalent in Oxbridge. The vast majority of state school offers (more than two thirds) went to 300 schools.

These schools represent ‘the highest performing 10% of state schools in the country and are mostly grammar schools, highly selective sixth-form colleges or academies in wealthy areas.’

Regular comprehensive schools are more disadvantaged, just because of the area and the performance of the school - something that may not reflect an indiv i d u a l ’s per-

formance. Top universities often speak loudly about their state school intake, but these figures prove that it can just be a PR stunt.

I am the first person in my family to go to university, and when I got the offer back from Birmingham, I was ecstatic.

After the controversy of predicted grades being used after A-Level exams were cancelled, I definitely saw more inequality in the world of education.

Figures that were published by the Joint Council for Qualifications showed there was a 20% point gap between independent schools and state schools in 2019; however, in 2020 this rose to 31%. Furthermore, this was 35% between independent and state sixth form colleges.

Students from disadvantaged backgrounds were among the most affected throughout this controversy. The reason for this is still completely baffling to me - the area and school’s performance should never reflect what an individual is capable of.

Many people lost places at top universities or apprenticeships because of the controversy. This event opened my e y e s

more to the inequalities faced between different incomes and privileges that are available to different students. I was originally told I could not make it to Birmingham, and yet I made it and am happily getting on with my degree. However, these misconceptions and stigmas are still with me. I often experience imposter syndrome and compare myself to others who I think deserve to be here more, partially down to background and grades. Even my accent, which is slightly more northern than others, can make me feel like I stand out in a room where the majority of people have a southern accent. It has made me revisit how I view my personal achievement and position within education.

Meeting various people who have experienced a similar background to me feel the exact same way. Everyone I have met at university comes from different backgrounds.

Within my house at university, w e

often chat about the difference in our backgrounds and what our schooling experience was like. It really opens your eyes since we are all not from the same location or background. Nevertheless, the thing that does give us equality is the fact that we attend the same university, live in the same house, and pay the same bills.

We are also friends. Even though the education system seems to cause more inequality and believes it can cause factions within the class system (which it no doubt does with certain students and universities), I have found that the people I have made friends with certainly do not judge or care about your personal experience within the education or class system.

Mitchel Lensink @ Unsplash

10

COMMENT

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbrickcomment

Class and Football Hooliganism

Molly Day writes about the classed portrayal of football fans in the news today

PCOS & Me

Siân Allen discusses her experiences with PCOS Siân Allen TV editor

Even though one in ten AFAB people have PCOS in the UK, there is little awareness about how the condition can impact mental health. Short for polycystic ovary syndrome, PCOS is a common hormonal disorder that is characterised by irregular periods, excessive androgen levels (such as testosterone), and enlarged ovaries. However, symptoms of PCOS can vary widely from hirsutism (excessive body hair growth), thinning hair, weight gain, acne, oily skin, and insulin resistance. Given that the condition typically affects the ovaries and disrupts the menstrual cycle, there is a huge focus on how PCOS impacts fertility. This is an important thing to foreground, but in doing so, it becomes easy to forget that PCOS is first and foremost a hormonal disorder that affects people’s brains and bodies way beyond the womb.

As a young person with PCOS, I have struggled to find specialist support that does not revolve around fertility issues.

Many people who have it start showing symptoms in their late teens or early twenties, but most only get diagnosed when they are having trouble getting pregnant. However, for those of us diagnosed with it earlier, having such a focus on infertility can be extremely isolating. For many young people, pregnancy is either a far-off possibility or not something we want at all. I believe there is a lack of support for young people with PCOS, as many forums and online spaces centre around fertility. It is crucial to have spaces like that, but many teenagers and young adults with conditions like PCOS or endometriosis need a different kind of support.

“I have struggled to find specialist support that does not revolve around fertility issues” I was diagnosed with PCOS at 17, after an ultrasound (cold and weird), an MRI scan (loud, cramped, and weird) and fainting during an embarrassing number of blood tests. It is something that I try to get on with in my day-to-day life; I have been lucky enough that the contraceptive pill helps me regulate my periods, so I never miss out on the joys of menstruation.

Yet after years of living with PCOS, I know first-hand that it is not just a condition that affects

you physically, but mentally as well.

People with PCOS are estimated to be three times as likely to experience depression and anxiety as those without the condition, and just like a lot of other things to do with PCOS, the exact reason why is unclear.

Given the links to hormone imbalances (not to mention how treatments such as the contraceptive pill are also associated with depression and anxiety), the mental health link is obvious to me. I have also found symptoms like weight gain and hirsutism have inevitably impacted my self-esteem and consistently made me feel awful about my body. Initially, I was told to lose weight to improve my symptoms, but few healthcare professionals seem to acknowledge how PCOS can drastically slow your metabolism and make weight loss a daunting, practically Sisyphean task. Moreover, the risks associated with PCOS - such as being at increased risk of developing type two diabetes or high blood pressure - have made me paranoid and anxious about my health.

In a recent BBC News article, Prof Rees, a professor of endocrinology at Cardiff University, stated that the link between PCOS and mental health issues is ‘under-recognised and underappreciated.’ He went on to say that ‘there needs to be greater emphasis for patients and doctors that any consultation they have includes a discussion about mental health because there is an effective treatment available,’ but ultimately did not disclose what this effective treatment is.

Diet and exercise are usually automatically recommended.

They are important factors in taking care of your mental health, but especially as people with PCOS often struggle with weight, support for those with the condition needs to go above and beyond a diet plan.

PCOS as a whole still goes under-recognised and under-appreciated, which is staggering considering how many people are affected by it. However, I believe that it is extremely important to know that PCOS is so much more than fertility issues. At the moment, I feel like I may never know exactly how much having PCOS affects my struggles with mental health every day, but the constant fatigue, stress and shame about my body can often be overwhelming.

Young people with PCOS need spaces where they can openly talk about the mood swings, the brain fog, the hair everywhere and everything inbetween. There are so many of us out there, and it is so important to know that we do not have to deal with PCOS alone.

Molly Day

Comment Writer

Historically, violence has been entwined with the traditions of football, earning its own title: ‘Football Hooliganism.’

Hooliganism is defined by drug use), destruction of public property and fan-to-fan violence. It occupies a particular spot within the social history of Britain, especially during the 1980s, and is often referred to as ‘the British disease.’

“Historically, violence has been entwined with the traditions of football” However, football hooliganism is not an entity of the past and the rates of fan violence have skyrocketed in this year alone, highlighted by the statistics collected by the UK Football Policing Unit. The Times recently documented the disorderly behaviour of fans at a Leicester City v. Nottingham match, where Inspector Craig Berry described the fans (some as young as 12 years old) as ‘risk supporters.’

Authorities cited within the article appear to fear that the increased rates of drug use and violence reported in and around stadiums could imply a return to the rampant football violence seen in previous decades - a worrying precedent.

Undoubtedly, there is a genuine deep-rooted history of violence in football and the victims of this violence should not be ignored. There are inherent identity politics within the sport, with fans mostly supporting teams based on a shared nationality or hometown. This, combined with the patriotism of competitions such as the World Cup, has led to a longstanding culture of racism amongst fans.

At its worst, football hooliganism has been seen to perpetuate this aspect of the game and make football games less safe for fans of colour, in particular black fans. Indisputably, this is an issue that should not be tolerated or excused.

However, I wonder why there is such a social focus on the ‘football hooligan.’ With so much collected coverage of the ‘hooligan,’ I believe it is useful to think about what the term means to us. Why do we fear him? Why does the ‘football hooligan’ face more coverage than any other anti-social sports fan?

After all, there are cases of repeated violence in other sports.

Horse Racing, a large-scale event with a similar culture and history of drinking and violence, for example, manages to evade the social analysis and labelling of football and its ‘hooligans.’ In fact, there is a history of mass violence at horse racing events, with violence occurring almost yearly. To give just two examples, nine men were sentenced

after a ‘mass brawl’ at Goodwood racecourse in May 2018 and similarly, there was a mass brawl at Haydock Park racecourse in 2019. Not to mention the yearly violence at the Royal Ascot. In addition, there have been numerous reports of drug-use at the races too, particularly cocaine usage by both Jockeys and spectators.

When considering this information, I believe the reason there is not a replica term to describe unruly men who attend the races is because of its history as an upper-middle-class sport and royal tradition.

When upper-middle-class people drink too much and become rowdy it is presented as loveable and comic: a Vice article from 2019 invites us to laugh at ‘Photos of Posh People Getting Absolutely Smashed at the Races.’ In contrast, I would argue working and middle-class consumption of sport and alcohol is depicted as threatening and distasteful. In fact, even the violence reported at Horse Racing events seems unfairly pinned on the attendance of the working class. A Daily Mail article reporting violence at the Royal Ascot blames the attendance of lower-class people on the increase in violence, describing ‘unsightly tattoos’ and ‘women in cheap, tawdry dresses.’ Here, I believe the British press are making an association between violence in sport and working-class status.

“Working and middle-class consumption of alcohol is depicted as threatening and distasteful” Alongside fears that the sport is becoming more violent, I believe there is a clear association made by authorities between rowdy fans, gang violence and organised crime.

Interestingly, within its description of drug-use and physical violence The Times’ documentation of the Leicester City and Nottingham match also notes the designer clothing worn by the fans. In my opinion, this mention of designer clothing gives the article a strange tone. I believe such descriptions profile the hooligans as working class.

There is a long association with working class people and designer clothing. An article from The Independent in 2004 highlights this long-term alignment between the working class and brandsthey say that ‘chavs,’ who are defined by a ‘lack of education, taste for fighting and loud fashion tastes’ are the ‘not entirely welcome, saviours of the luxury goods market.’

Personally, I cannot help but compare this outdated, classist

Becky Woods

description with The Times’ description of ‘hooligans’ who ‘dressed and behaved exactly like older men, wearing a uniform of designer clothing.’ I think from this description, we can assume the men’s appearance is part of the police’s perception of them as disorderly.

When you look at what kind of style they are describing, it is the fashions of working-class men.

Furthermore, I think the article goes to a bizarre effort to characterise the fans within the stereotype of rambunctious, designer-clad hooligans – citing £60 gazelle shoes as extravagant ‘designer’ clothing as opposed to averagely priced, commonly worn trainers.

When I consider the football hooligans’ physicality, it is even more likely that the focus on the hooligan is not a greater, more reported issue because it is a more tangible threat than other anti-social behaviour, but because of its associations with the working class.

In my opinion, the presentation of football hooliganism does not derive from a specific craving for violence from football fans but from a wider desire to categorise working class and lower-middle-class people as ‘uncivilised.’ I believe it is no coincidence that we are seeing a ‘re-rise in football hooliganism’ under a Prime Minister who wrote that working-class men are ‘likely to be drunk, criminal, aimless, feckless and hopeless.’

Is it implausible to suggest that having a leader with such beliefs could rally a kind of pre-millennium working-class hatred?

Significantly, the height of football hooliganism was during the 1980s, under Thatcher, who found it such a social issue that she opened a war cabinet to tackle it. I believe when you consider that Thatcher lowered taxes for the wealthiest in Britain from 83% to 40% and more than doubled child poverty, it is convincing that her drive to tackle football hooliganism was classfocused.

Although there may be public disorder at football matches, it’s important to take a closer look at why the ‘football hooligan’ is such a present threat in our cultural eye. Why do we use the demonisation of football fans as an acceptable outlet to demonise working-class men?

COMMENT

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbrickcomment

11

The 2024 US Election: How To Beat Trump Kit Parsons discusses the upcoming 2024 election, the candidates, and who he believes can defeat Trump Kit Parsons Comment Writer

The 2024 US Presidential election may, rightfully so, seem a long way away. Yet after the midterms later this year, the presidential primaries will very much be on the horizon, and certainly will force their way into the public consciousness.

President Joe Biden, who is already 79, has said he intends to run again with Vice President Kamala Harris as his running mate. Despite the fact that incumbents tend to have advantages in elections, this may not be the case for Biden and Harris in 2024. I do not like saying negative things about Biden, as he does seem like a nice man; like America’s Grandad if you will. Although Kamala does not appeal to me as much, reading her book The Truths We Hold, did make me understand her journey more and subsequently like her more.

David Lienemann / Wikimedia Commons

But in this instance, my opinion means absolutely nothing. I cannot vote in America. What I think holds absolutely no weight.

The views of the American people are what matters, and they do not paint a promising picture for Biden and Harris. Polls show only 40% of Americans approve of Biden, whilst a shockingly low 28% approve of Harris’ job performance. You may think that 40% is not that bad. Trump’s average approval rating was 41%, after all; he even finished his term with an approval rating of 34%. Yet it becomes concerning when you consider how Biden is only six points ahead of a man who woefully mismanaged his nation’s response to Covid, and also incited an insurrection on January 6th. Yet the picture becomes even more concerning when you consider how Trump had, and still has an incredibly passionate base of

supporters. The same just is not true for Biden.

Although he won more votes than any other Presidential candidate in American history, I w o u l d argue that this was mainly just because so many people d i s l i k e d Trump.

However, perhaps Biden does not really want to run again in 2024. He did say prior to his election that he views himself as ‘a bridge’ to the next generation of Democratic leaders. If this is true, and he does not run again, or if he does not run again due to health reasons (which many people in their 80s may encounter), who would take up the mantle of the Democratic party? The heir apparent would usually be the incumbent Vice President but considering how Harris is noticeably more unpopular than Biden, this likely would not be a wise move from the Democrats. I also worry that if she were to be the Democratic nominee, she would become more unpopular as she does more interviews.

“The heir apparent would usually be the incumbent Vice President but [...]

Harris is noticeably more unpopular than Biden” For example, in a recent interview about the Biden administration’s Covid-19 response she said: ‘It is time for us to do what we have been doing, and that time is every day. Every day, it is time for us to agree that there are things and tools that are available to us to slow things down.’ Now, obviously one bad interview is not anywhere near enough to suggest that someone would not be a good presidential candidate everyone has bad days after all, but when you pair her seemingly poor interview skills and her low approval rating with the fact that her 2020 presidential campaign ended before the Iowa Caucus, combined with being outlasted by people no-one had

heard of before the campaign like Andrew Yang, I think it paints a clear image that Harris is not the person to beat Trump, as I think he is very likely to run again.

Other front-runners for the Democratic presidential nomination would likely be Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar, who both ran in 2020, finding greater success than Harris.

former advisor to Bill Clinton that there is a ‘good chance’ she will run again in 2024. That would be catastrophic for the country, and I think if she does win the nomination she may as well not bother campaigning in the run up to the general election, as she would get electorally destroyed.

I think Democrats need to be bold and look elsewhere. The Democratic establishment will do all they can to suppress progressives in 2024, as they did to Bernie in 2016 and 2020.

Despite this, the progressive wing of the Democratic party should never give up.

Bernie came so close, he was the first candidate to win the popular vote in all three early voting states.

Two progressives that I would like to see run are Marianne

They both endorsed Biden in a dramatic move before S u p e r Tuesday, helping him significantly to beat out Bernie Sanders. Buttigieg seems to appeal to some of the liberal wing and was often compared to Obama. But I do not think he is the man to beat Trump in 2024. This is because I think he is a career politician who will do anything to further his career.

For example, he previously backed ‘Medicare for All,’ when that was popular, but did not during his presidential run (probably to win over more corporate donors). He also had a spectacularly poor level of support among African-American voters in the 2020 primary.

I think Klobuchar would have a better chance at beating Trump.

She has strong levels of support in the Midwest, and the battleground states in the Midwest can often decide elections. Despite this, I do not think she should be the Democratic nominee because she is part of the democratic establishment that is so unpopular. Nevertheless, she certainly would be a far better choice than 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton.

In spite of her spectacularly shocking defeat to Trump in 2016, which I would argue is the perfect example that she is very unpopular and should not run again, it has been said by a

Mathew Schwartz / Unsplashed

Wi l l i a m s o n and Nina T u r n e r .

Williamson ran in 2020, championing progressive policies.

She also just seems like an incredibly n i c e person, and this should not be underestimated. Nina Turner is a former Ohio State Senator, who was also a national co-chair for Bernie’s 2020 campaign. Although she is currently running for Congress, she is a devout progressive who I believe genuinely cares about the American people. I would also love to see her debate Trump.

I asked the great Rev. Wendy Hamilton, who is running for Congress in D.C (check out her website revwendyforcongress. com) for her views on the 2024 Democratic Primary. She said 'I’d like to see a transformational candidate run. I’m not sure who

that is right now. And while I respect President Biden, and voted for him, I’m not convinced he is the one to navigate this next frontier for the US and the World.' So, although Rev. Wendy is unsure who is best to take the mantle, she agrees that Biden is not the man for 2024.

To conclude, Biden is very unpopular and may not even run again.

If Democrats are to stand a chance, they need to stop suppressing the powerful progressive voices in their own party. Although Biden won in 2020 (I would claim due to Trump’s unpopularity), we have seen from 2016 what happens when an establishment Democrat goes up against Trump. If Democrats are to stand any chance, they need someone like Williamson or Turner. But regretfully, I am seriously doubtful that the Democratic establishment will not do everything in their power to suppress progressives like they always do. If they do, mark my words. If Trump runs, which he probably will, he will win. Only a progressive can stop him.

“Democrats [...] need someone like Williamson or Turner”

Natilyn Hicks / Unsplashed

FEATURES

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Friday 11th March 2022

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International Women's Day Redbrick News writers discuss women who inspire them to mark International Women's Day Millicent Mackenzie

Audrey Hepburn

Charis Gambon

Kylie Clarke

News Writer

News Writer

I have chosen to write about Millicent Mackenzie as one of the women who inspires me as I believe she is incredibly relevant for a university newspaper. She was the first female professor in Wales and she was also the first woman appointed to a fully chartered university in the United Kingdom. In her lifetime, Mackenzie was a pioneering educationist and suffragist and she firmly believed that women deserved the same opportunities as their male counterparts. She was a dedicated promoter of moral, rather than religious, education within schools and universities and she was one of the Union of Ethical Societies’ earliest Vice Presidents. If all of that was not enough, she was also the first woman in Wales to stand for election for parliament. She was drawn to adult education, and to socialism within her lifetime and acted as head of a working men’s school. She was also close to leading members of the labour party at the time. She was a founding member of the Cambridge Ethical Society, established in 1888.

In the year 1888, Mackenzie entered the Cambridge Training College, which is where she found the vocation that she would focus on for the rest of her life.

Mackenzie had been at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, which is now Cardiff University, for seven years when she married John Stuart Mackenzie in 1989. In an unusual move for women at the time, she obtained special permission to continue in her post upon marriage which was entirely supported by her husband. Mackenzie made it to the rank of Professor of Education in 1904 and in 1910 she was promoted to full professor making her the first woman in Wales to achieve full professorship. I believe that women who hold the rank of professor in universities in the current era owe their success to trailblazers such as Millicent Mackenzie who paved the way and made it possible for many women to follow in her footsteps.

After retiring in 1915 she continued with her passion and dedication to social and educational improvements. Additionally, she was incredibly committed to the cause of gaining women the vote.

McKenzie was also a founding member and Vice President of the Cardiff and District Women’s Suffrage Society. She was also a co-founder of Cardiff’s branch of the British Federation of University Women. She always believed that women deserved the same rights and opportunities especially when it came to education.

When someone hears the name ‘Audrey Hepburn’, it seems inevitable that one’s mind would immediately be drawn to the quality which she is famously known for; her incredible beauty. To this day, Hepburn tops polls in ‘Most Beautiful Women of All Time’ lists in magazines, including QVC’s 2010 poll. It is undoubted that the actress’ physical radiance shone through on screen, in highly acclaimed films such as ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ and ‘Roman Holiday’.

However, the reasons why I have chosen to speak about Audrey Hepburn in a feature about inspirational women expands beyond just her looks. I think it would be entirely reductive to remember her most prominently for this quality, when we should also remember her for the radiance of her soul which she demonstrated in her kind and giving nature throughout her life. Showcasing this nature from an early age, Hepburn used her skills as a performer, specifically as a ballet dancer, to raise money for the Dutch Resistance during the Second World War, in ‘underground’ concerts. As well as through performance, she contributed towards the war effort through volunteering in hospitals and delivering newspapers. Later in life, after her retirement from acting, Hepburn’s volunteering work came to the forefront of her life, for which she received numerous awards. In 1989, Hepburn hailed back to her own experiences when receiving aid after the German occupation when she was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.

“She contributed to the war effort through volunteering’’ Hepburn in her later years visited countries such as Ethiopia, Turkey and Vietnam and completed a tour of South America during her aid work with UNICEF, on projects such as Immunisation campaigns. While it is important to remember Audrey for the awards that she received for her acting work during and after her career, she also less famously has been awarded for her humanitarian work with UNICEF and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from George H.W. Bush.

It is important in celebrating Audrey Hepburn on International Women's Day as an iconic actress and woman not only for her outstanding beauty but more significantly for her humanitarian contributions towards society which prove that she was more than just the beautiful face that we saw on screen.

James' Mum James Evenden News Writer

Out of all the women in my life, nobody inspires me like my mum.

She is the strongest woman I know, and she proves this to me every day. In recent years she has put her life on hold to take care of my Grandad after my Grandmother passed away in 2019. This mostly involves her simply keeping him company every day when she could be doing other things she would prefer. She has told me that it drives her mad sometimes, but there has not been one day in over two years that she has not been sitting on the sofa next to him, chatting about nothing. The dedication she has given her father has been a real inspiration to me over the years, all so he does not spend his days lonely. She gives the same dedication to me and my sister. I know that my sister leaving for university this year will be really hard on her. This does not stop her texting me all the time to ask how I am getting on and listening to all of my stressed rants about my deadlines. She puts everyone else before herself and her happiness. It has taken me moving away from my mum to realise that the lessons she has unknowingly taught me, are foundational to who I am as a person, and who I hope to be going forward. There is not one person I know who I would rather have a cup of tea with and talk about nonsense for hours on end. When I think about home, I think about how I miss my mum. She is an inspiration to me because she is the kind of person I hope I can be one day.

appointed to several commissions on the United Nations.

Her awards include World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, United Nations Correspondents Association Global Citizen of the Year, Freedom of the Press Award, Champion of the International Rule of Law Award, and Fellow of the Society of Writers.

She is also the co-founder of the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which exposes and advocates against human rights abuses around the world. Clooney is one of the world’s most decorated and recognised lawyers, famous for her passion, drive and acuity in everything she does. What is even more remarkable about her work is the fact that she has done all of this so early in her career: she is only 44 years old and has done more in 22 years of practice than most lawyers do in their lifetimes.

She is unequivocally an inspiration and deserves to be celebrated for the incredible work she does and will continue to do.

Frida Kahlo Kitty Grant Print&Features Editor

Frida Kahlo might be the obvious choice for an International Women’s Day feature, but I named my dog after her for a reason.

Born in Mexico City in 1907 to a German father and Indigenous mother, since her death in 1954, Kahlo has become both a feminist icon and the most regarded female

Amal Clooney Dan Hunt News Editor

When it comes to job titles, 'International Human Rights Lawyer’ is probably one of the coolest. Renowned for her legal mind and pragmatism in the courtroom, Clooney has represented victims of mass atrocities, advised numerous governments, and has stood up for people who would otherwise be voiceless.

Born in Lebanon, Clooney studied at Oxford and NYU before practising in New York, London and The Hague. In over 20 years of legal practice, she has represented the Yazidi people, Armenia, several journalists imprisoned for doing their jobs, and has been the prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia as well as the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. She has also served as UK Special Envoy on Media Freedom, and has been

Nickolas Muray

painter of the 20th century, but it wasn’t always that way. The New York Times’ obituary of Kahlo described her as ‘Frida Kahlo, Artist, Diego Rivera's Wife’ as the headline. It wasn’t until the 1970s that Kahlo gained widespread recognition in her own right, but has since become a cultural icon in both Mexico and abroad.

Kahlo was a sickly child, and she was left with life-long illness and pain after experiencing a bus crash in her teens. It was after this accident, however, that Kahlo became involved in politics, joining the Mexican Communist Party, through which she met her husband and fellow artist Diego Rivera. Her relationship with Rivera inspired much of Kahlo’s art, which was deeply personal, and also depicted parts of her life such as her miscarriage, and her national identity.

Despite often being in her husband’s shadow during her lifetime, Kahlo’s fame has now far surpassed that of Rivera, and she has become something of a mascot for feminism. I do, however, find it strange that the image of a life-long communist has been plastered all over commercial products worldwide, from Barbies to the walls of The Goose in Selly Oak. In some ways Frida the person and even Frida the artist have been overpowered by Frida the brand.

I choose the remember Frida Kahlo as a queer, disabled Communist, who was proud of her Indigenous heritage, but most of all I choose to remember her as one of the greatest and most personal painters of the 20th century.

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Friday 11th March 2022

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Ana's Mom

Ella's Mum

Anastasis Mauriac

Ella Kipling

News Editor

Social Secretary

I want to dedicate this day to my mom because she is my true inspiration and a feminist icon. When my sister started to get harassed in the streets on her journey to highschool, my mother supported her.

She defended her in the streets, calling out the men for their behavior. She truly awakened my feminist values. I acknowledged very early on some aspects of women’s condition, and felt a deep sense of injustice for it. She taught me to challenge the status quo, rather than accept it.

She has always made me feel powerful and unafraid, especially during our nightly walks. We would talk about everything, without the fear of being assaulted. She used to say: ‘If you do not look afraid, nothing will happen’.

Whether that is true or not, I learned to claim my space in the dark streets of Paris.

I know that being a mother

“She has always made me feel powerful and unafraid’’ was very important to her, but not any kind of mother. A mother who does not cook and treats her children as independent beings. She refused to fit in some gender roles (maybe that is just an excuse for her non-existent cooking skills).

A mother who refused to give up on her career because of her family, but who also refused to give up on forming a family because of her career, unlike Simone de Beauvoir. A mother who learns to balance work and family so well, that each of her four children know that it is possible. I think it is fair to say that we all look up to her and we are so grateful we have been raised by her.

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With International Women’s Day falling in March, it only seemed right for me to write about my biggest guiding light and inspiration, my mum. Throughout my time at Redbrick, I have written for all 12 sections and my mum has read every article so it is about time she gets her own shoutout (hey mum!).

There are so many women who inspire me that it would be hard to choose who to write about, but none who have played such a formative role in my life as my mum. While female politicians, sportswomen, and activists obviously have a huge effect on inspiring young girls and boys, I think that mothers play an incredibly influential role in making the world a better, and more equal place.

My mum would often tell me ‘there is nothing a man can do that you can’t,’ and her general presence as a girl boss, powerful woman, and incredibly hard worker has shown both me and my brother that women are capable and strong, and you should never assume otherwise.

For me, my mum is proof that you can be kind, affectionate, generous, and still be a force to be reckoned with. So many of her traits I try to emulate, her thoughtfulness, her work ethic, and the fact that she is always there whenever anyone needs her. People rely on my mum and she never lets them down, which is something I place incredible value on mimicking in my own life.

The quote that reminds me mum every time I hear it comes from Gilmore Girls. ‘My ultimate inspiration comes from my best friend, the dazzling woman from whom I received my name and my life’s blood.’ Growing up with a strong mother has made me the person I am today, and I was taught never to doubt myself, to rely on a man, or to let anyone push me around.

Ben Court

Jen's Sisters Jennifer Prince Marketing Secretary

From my girlguiding leaders to those I am incredibly lucky to call my friends, there are too many women in my life that deserve to be celebrated for International Women’s Day. But when I think of the women I admire the most, my thoughts instantly go home.

Growing up, whether my dad liked it or not, to say that our house was female-dominated is a huge understatement. My two older sisters might be the people whose names I was called all the way through school, the ones that can wind me up in seconds, and convinced me I was invisible. Yet Eleanor and Amy are the women I look up to more than anyone.

They are insanely clever, witty, and never refuse to share a dancefloor with me.

“There is not anything we cannot do or speak up about’’

Ella Kipling

Perhaps what I admire the most about them is their resolute confidence that there isn’t anything we cannot do or cannot speak up about – we have mum to thank for that. Never afraid to be themselves, I know they will always have their annoying little sister’s back, with advice, clothes

they don’t want, or some kind of daft meme. A common question I have been asked – mainly by school teachers or friends – was if I have ever felt the pressure of not living up to what my sisters have achieved before me. And the honest answer is no. Whilst we will forever be compared by looks (for the millionth time we are not triplets), at the end of the day we have our own achievements. I am proud of them for theirs, and if I had to follow in the footsteps of anyone, I would pick them any day of the week – just don’t tell them that. But that’s enough compliments, I’ll go back to insulting them now.

Women of Redbrick Ellen Knight News Editor

Like the other contributors to this feature, there are far too many women who inspire me every day to choose just one. Writing this in the Media Centre dungeons, I feel that it's appropriate to name the women of Redbrick as some of the most inspirational and motivating figures in my life.

The current Redbrick committee is full of brilliant women, from our dedicated Print & Features Editor Kitty Grant, the relentlessly cheerful Social Secretary Ella Kipling, to our tenacious Deputy Editor Jasmine Sandhar. The editorial cohort is also home to similarly dedicated members; Anastasis Mauriac from News, Emily Baldwin from Comment, Chloe Hyde from

Food&Drink, Lauren Coffman from Sport, and Sofia Salazar Studer from Culture. Our writers, too, are excellent examples of female journalists - their work in this paper really speaks for itself!

Obviously I can't name every woman from Redbrick, as much as I'd like to - and I'd credit the paper for being a society with a long history of strong female leadership and co-operation, something that I'm incredibly proud to have played a small part in.

“Redbrick fosters an environment wherein women can learn and develop their journalistic skills” Women face a myriad of challenges in the world of media, as it is an industry with a long, torrid history of patriarchal values and old-fashioned stereotypes of what women 'should' be doing.

Redbrick, however, fosters an environment wherein the women making up our committee, editors, and writers can learn and develop their journalistic skills in a safe and encouraging environment. It is no surprise, then, that so many female Redbrick alumni go into the somewhat intimidating world of media - as the atmostphere of solidarity and cooperation at the paper is secondto-none.

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Meet the Teams of Burn FM

Joe Camp

Deputy Head of Sport

This academic year has seen the introduction of ‘Burn FC’ to the university football campus league, led by the sports team but open to all Burn members.

Although the team isn’t exactly topping the table right now, we have seen excellent improvement over the course of the last six months and have given almost 20 Burn members the opportunity to get involved with an hour

Jamie Redmond Head of Arts

Over the past seven months, the BurnFM arts team has demonstrated a keen and ever-present desire to be immersed in the West Midlands cultural scene.

From the strong and valuable connections we have with various playhouses and theatres in Birmingham this has been made possible. Stemming from these branches we have towards established artistic groups, our team has gained opportunities to review and enjoy works put on in the city. These reviews can be found on the BurnFM website where they reflect the passion

Ellen Knight Head of News

This year the News team has revitalised our output, going from pre-recorded daily bulletins during the pandemic to weekly live team shows, reporting on and discussing current affairs from university-centric issues to international crises. One of the particular highlights was our interview with representatives from the UCU and Solidarity UoB during the February strikes, asking challenging questions and

Sadie Iddenden Head of Music Internal

The largest team at Burn FM is the Music team. Jasmine Sandhar and I have never been so proud to run the shows. Consistently 15 members or more turn up each week, and we delve into a multitude of topics including music news, the latest albums and recent awards ceremonies, such as the Brits. With so many members, the team and listeners are never short of new music.

Our members’ taste ranges from RnB lovers all the way to metalheads. Usually, after the show, our lovely team head off somewhere to relax and catch up. The most recent social which warmed our hearts and our bellies was a visit to the nearby Selly Oak

of sport each Friday. Following the game, the team usually heads out for a bite to eat and something to drink, improving team bonding and the friendships between players. We have also begun running training sessions once a week and encourage any Burn members who want to get involved to come down. If you catch us donning our glamorous purple kits at the Bournbrook pitches on a Friday lunchtime, make sure you come along and cheer us on!

Burn FM are also proud to have their own campus league netball team, run by the station’s Head of Music, Jasmine Sandhar.

I had the opportunity to play for them last week, and aside from it being a lot of fun, the team is very talented and well organised, making it no surprise that they are winning games all over the shop. Both the netball and football teams are mixed gender and inclusive of any Burn member that wants to come along and

participate.

If you take the time to visit the Burn FM website, you’ll see that over here at the sports team we’ve been busy providing you with some of the best sporting articles, match reports and broadcast transcripts that god’s green earth has ever seen. We offer match reports for our highlighted BUCS events from that week, Burn netball and football articles, transcripts of interviews from our sports show (catch us on air 7:008:00PM on a Monday!), as well as informative articles regarding current debates and events in the sporting world. Make sure you keep an eye out for these articles on BurnFM.com for your weekly sporting fix!

was ‘to cover major university sporting events.’ I feel, as Head of Sport, we, as a team, have certainly exceeded this target. The team have worked closely with UB Sport, another role in the constitution, to provide commentary on BUCS every Wednesday afternoon, on several sports. Up to this point, we have commentated on 19 separate fixtures, on eight different sports, with 12 different commentators from Burn FM. Highlights of this include being able to commentate over the Engage, Rebellion, and Intercept events.

The majority of these commentators have been done in collaboration with an external streaming company. However, a few weeks ago, the sports team took the matter into their own hands, and decided to set up their own commentary. After a few technical difficulties, Joe and I were able to work it out, and provided commentary on the women’s BUCS hockey fixture

between Birmingham 5’s, and Nottingham 4’s. We haven’t looked back, providing our own commentary, live on BurnFM. com, every Wednesday afternoon since, as well as the livestream.

I am so proud of all we have managed to achieve this year as a team. I want to give a huge thank you to Joe, Bella, Katie, Aidan, Alex, Ella, and everyone else who has dedicated their time to making the sports team what it is this year.

and creative engagement members have expressed during their time on the team. This aspect is only part of what we do, however, as the weekly show is our main focus.

As the Head of Arts, it has been my pleasure to host alongside the Deputy Head of Arts, Kitty Grant. Together, once a week, with the support of the entire team we break down various themes and topics that run alongside arts and culture. Some noteworthy weeks to mention would be when we discussed adaptation from book to screen, foreign cinematography, and Barthes’ theory of ‘The Death of the Author.’ Despite this, we never set out to make these conversations too pretentious. The

arts are for everyone and although we may occasionally slip into a slightly academic way of speaking, the show is very accessible.

Finally, the social side of our arts team is extremely vibrant.

Along with forging lasting friendships on the team, the previously mentioned deputy of arts organises exciting trips and events outside of the studio. The most recent of these would be a group excursion to NQ64 in Digbeth, where we played games, danced poorly, and had fun. If new members join our team then soon after more socials will take place. Our priority is to make sure people feel comfortable with one another and in the team itself. So, if you are interested in making friends, talking about the arts, and having

the opportunity to watch and review plays in the West Midlands then the arts team is for you!

we are planning the first ever Burn Arts Live, the details of which are still being ironed out, but keep an eye on our Instagram page @burn_arts for updates!

exploring why staff and students alike took the decision to support industrial action. The team has grown since our first semester, too, with eight regular contributors and frequent guest reporters.

We utilised this strong team to particular effect on Media Day on 12th February, interviewing over twenty five candidates campaigning for roles in the Guild Officer Elections. This mammoth undertaking involved Dan Hunt, Oliver Shaw, Anna-Marie Fischer, Anastasis Mauriac, Ella Kipling, Seth Nobes, Kitty Grant, Jasmine Sandhar, Sonny Elliot, Deputy

Head of News Ellie Reed and myself. This large proportion of the team, and allowed members to develop their interviewing skills and to take part in the important job of upholding Guild democracy and transparency. The interviews, conducted jointly with Redbrick News, were recorded and uploaded to Burn FM’s Spotify account, allowing the university community to listen in and help voters make a decision. A few weeks later, News reporter Oliver Shaw and I represented Burn FM and Redbrick as analysts on Guild

TV’s live coverage of the election’s Results Night, with reporter Kitty Grant taking on the task of live-tweeting the results from the Deb Hall. Even more recently, this week the News team have collaborated with the Arts team on a joint show, discussing how the arts are used in politics as well as examples of politicalthemed arts. Finally, representatives from the News team took part in a special International Women’s Day broadcast with the other Burn FM teams to discuss examples of prominent women in news reporting and the challeng-

es that they face. It’s been a really successful year so far and I’m so proud of everyone’s hard work!

restaurant Kimchi for some authentic Korean food.

As Co-Head of Music Internal, my primary responsibility is to curate playlists for the station.

Fortnightly, a fresh new survey full of 50 songs is released from the Student Music Network. This, alongside plenty of emails from pluggers, help decide which songs will form the playlist. The playlist then falls into A, B and C categories, with A being wellknown releases, B consisting of up-and-coming artists, and C dedicated to emerging local and student talent. Listeners of Burn will hear these tracks throughout the week in a collection of shows.

With International Women's Day occurring earlier this week, a playlist (which can be found on the Burn FM Spotify page) was curated featuring songs from artists like Little Simz and Stevie

Nicks, and although decades apart they were all celebratory of women.

Michael Aldag and another in podcast format with co-frontman of the Last Shadow Puppets Miles Kane, which was conducted in collaboration with the Student Music Network.

However, by far, the most rewarding part of my role is orchestrating Burn Live, a charity gig held twice a year that is designed to showcase the best local and student bands. The first event for this academic year took place on Friday 26th November last semester and was an absolute triumph, with over £100 raised for The Trussell Trust and hundreds of people dipping in and out through the evening to see class acts, such as Amber Sky and Mutual Frogs. The second event will take place tonight beginning from 6pm and features an exciting line-up of solo artist Sunspire; the three bands

Reveries, The Monkey Butlers and Jack Frohlich; and DJ Rory Applin. In light of the current situation in Ukraine, we have chosen to donate all proceeds to Médecins Sans Frontières.

Something new I am implementing this year is a third Burn Live, which will take place in June and celebrate the work of women and non-binary artists across the West Midlands, so stayed tuned for that!

Seth Nobes Head of Sport

One of the key aims for the Burn FM Sports Team this year, as outlined in the constitution,

Jasmine Sandhar Head of Music External

As Co-Head of Music External, I am tasked with organising press passes to live gigs and interviews with both Birminghambased and touring artists. Over this past academic year so far, team members have had the privilege of seeing a variety of musicians in concert - including The Kooks, Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes, HYYTS, and Isata Kanneh-Mason to name a few at nationally-recognised venues, such as the O2 Institute and Symphony Hall. We have also had some extremely probing, successful interviews, including one on-air with TikTok star

Kitty Grant

Jasmine Sandhar

Deputy Head of Arts

Back in September I had barely heard of Burn FM; by November, our little student radio had taken over my life. We've slowly been growing the arts team this semester and we're so happy to have so many new members. Earlier this week we collabed with our besties at the news team bringing some of their lovely members onto our show to discuss art and politics, then we went on a very fun social to Ghetto Golf. Later this semester

Ellen Knight

Kitty Grant

Jasmine Sandhar

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Do You Like What You See? Do You Want to be Part of Creating Our Award-Winning Paper?

Then Join

Redbrick 10 committee roles will be up for grabs at our AGM at 7pm on Tuesday 15th March at the Guild Council Chambers, just buy your membership and come along!

We will also be interviewing new section editors soon and always welcome new writers, who can contribute to as many of our 12 sections as they like

Find out more by searching ‘Redbrick Hub’ on Facebook

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Around the World in Cocktails Food&Drink and Travel writers team up to take you on a tour around the world through cocktails to celebrate the upcoming National Cocktail Day on 24th March Singapore Sling, Singapore Invented in 1915, the Singapore Sling is among the world’s older cocktails and has a rich social history. This drink may look like fruit juice but it sure packs a punch; it was designed to disguise the bouts of gin in the recipe as a way for respectable colonial ladies to drink on the sly.

Combine all the ingredients together in a cocktail shaker and shake with ice. Strain into an ice-filled collins glass. Garnish with a cocktail cherry or an orange wedge.

Rebecca Whalley

Recipe 1 ounce gin ½ ounce cherry liquer ½ ounce Cointreau ½ ounce lime juice ¼ ounce Benedictine ¼ ounce Grenadine 2 ounces pineapple juice 2 dashes Angostura bitters Ice, for serving Soda water Garnish: cocktail cherry or orange wedge

Travel Writer

Passport to Jamaica: Rum Punch ‘Rum Punch’ is a traditional Caribbean drink. It is perfect for parties, holidays and gatherings as it can be made in big batches and drunk throughout the night. It is best served chilled with ice and a fruit garnish. With a fruity base, the tropical drink is best drunk on a hot beach in Jamaica, but if you cannot go to the Caribbean, this rum punch will provide a taste of Jamaica. The old rhyme goes ‘One of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak.’

Ingredients: Zenna Hussain 15ml to 30ml lime juice Food&Drink Writer 15ml to 30ml Grenadine 45ml white rum 45ml dark rum 120ml orange juice or pineapple Juice Ice - optional Pinch of nutmeg - optional Orange slices to garnish - optional Method: Combine all juices in a pitcher. Add nutmeg for an authentic touch. Serve chilled with ice, and you can add orange slices as a garnish.

Bramble, England One of my favourite cocktails is the ‘Bramble’ cocktail from England. The Bramble was created in London in 1984 by Dick Bradsell, a bartender at Fred’s Club in Soho. The memorable name is thought to have come from the winding nature of the blackberry liqueur when it finds its way from the top to the bottom of the glass through the crushed ice. If you like the taste of blackberries, then this is certainly the cocktail for you.

The combination of the citrusy lemon, sweet sugar and blackberries is a match made in heaven. You will find that the cocktail is both sweet and sour and the two tastes balance together perfectly. The blackberry liqueur features a powerful and layered taste, where you can find fruity, rich, bold, sweet, bright, and jammy components. When the Crème de Mûre is met by the taste of dry gin you will find yourself a splendid cocktail.

Recipe 50ml gin 15ml Crème de Mûre (Blackberry Liqueur) 25ml lemon juice 15ml sugar syrup Add the gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup to a cocktail shaker with ice.

Strain into a short glass with crushed ice, and drizzle the Crème de Mûre over the top of the drink.

Charis Gambon Travel Writer

Passport to Kenya: Dawa A delicious and unusual cocktail, the ‘Dawa’ is the de facto cocktail of Kenya, where its name means ‘medicine’ in Swahili. The perfect rejuvenation for hot days, its potency is said to cure whatever is ailing you. Although traditionally the cocktail does not always contain passion fruit, the extra flavour that they provide is well worth it if you can find them.

Ingredients: 1 lime 2 passion fruits 60ml vodka Honey Soda water

Georgia Brooks Food&Drink Writer

Method: Cut the lime up into wedges and add to a large glass of crushed ice, the pulp of two passion fruits, the vodka and a squeeze of honey.

Traditionally, a Dawa stick is used to muddle everything together, but a spoon will do; give it a good mix to release the lime juices. Then, top up the glass with soda water, add some extra honey to taste, give it a final stir and enjoy: all of your ailments will be cured!

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Friday 11th March 2022

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Bellini, Italy

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Recipe

Some cocktails require a seemingly endless list of ingredients; three mixers, four liquors, and don’t forget the garnish, but sometimes, simple is better. That is where the ‘Bellini’ comes in. This easy cocktail, which originated in Venice at some point in the 1930s or ‘40s, calls for just two ingredients. There are, however, many variations of the Bellini, including substituting the peach juice for mandarin juice, strawberry purée, or pomegranate juice. If you cannot find any peach juice, you can even substitute it for peach schnapps. Here is a recipe for a traditional Bellini, but feel free to get as creative as you want.

Kitty Grant

120ml Prosecco 60ml peach juice Pour your peach juice into a champagne flute, then fill the glass with Prosecco.

Told you it was easy!

Tinto de Verano, Spain

Print&Features Editor

Recipe

Although Sangria is by far Spain’s most internationally recognised drink, you are probably more likely to find Tinto de Verano on the menu in spanish bars that are popular with the locals. Translating literally as “summer red wine”, needless to say, it makes a refreshing drink in the warmer months. It is also far easier to make on a student budget - instead of all of the fresh fruit, you only need a lemon or orange (plus red wine, Sprite, and ice cubes).

Emma Walker Food&Drink Writer

Ice 120 ml red rine (preferably from Spain) 120 ml lemonade such as Sprite or 7-Up Slices of lemon or orange (optional) Put the ice into the glass, pour in the red wine and lemonade, and garnish with lemon or orange slices.

Passport to Cuba: Mojito This is a cocktail with a rich history. Originating from Cuba, the cocktail can be traced to the 16th century drink, El Draque. However, it didn't get its name until it was published in the 1932 edition of 'Sloppy Joe's Bar Cocktail Menu'. The classic drink is rumoured to have been a favourite of the famous Ernest Hemingway.

Pina Colada, Puerto Rico This tropical cocktail originates from Puerto Rico and is actually the Caribbean island’s national drink. There are various competing rumours surrounding who actually created the refreshment, with three different bartenders claiming the invention as their own: Ramón “Monchito” Marrero, Ricardo García and Ramón Portas Mignot. Either way - whether it was Marrero, García, Mignot - the cocktail was conceived during the 1950s/60s in the famous Caribe Hilton Hotel in the country’s capital, San Juan. To commemorate this groundbreaking moment in Puerto Rican history, there is a plaque above the hotel restaurant’s bar that reads: “The house where [...] the Piña Colada was created.” So, if you ever happen to end up in Puerto Rico, head on down to the Caribe, order your Piña Colada and get a snap with the plaque!

Recipe 6 oz White Rum (my preference is Bacardi Carta Blanca) 6 oz Coconut Cream 6 oz Pineapple Juice 6-7 chunks of Pineapple 4 cups of Ice Pineapple wedges or leaves for garnish (optional)

Jasmine Sandhar Deputy Editor

Chelsie Henshaw Ingredients: 3 mint leaves Editor-in-Chief 1 tsp granulated sugar or half an ounce of simple syrup 60 ml white rum The juice of one lime, freshly squeezed Soda water, to taste Garnish - 1 mint leaf Method: Muddle the mint by gently mashing it and mixing it with the lime and sugar. Pour the mixture into a glass and add a handful of ice. Pour over the rum and add soda water to taste or until the glass is filled. Use a long spoon to mix and garnish with a mint leaf. Sit back and enjoy, maybe it will inspire you to be the next Hemingway!

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CULTURE

Friday 11th March 2022

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Review: Much Ado About Nothing Beyond the Horizon

Ikin Yum, RSC press images

Zenna Hussain Culture Critic

From the entrance of Don Pedra (a gender-swapped version of Don Pedro, played by Ann Ogbomo), Benedick (Luke Wilson) and Claudio (Mohammed Mansaray), descending from the sky on ropes, I could tell this adaption of Much Ado about Nothing was going to entertain. Given this and the fact that most adaptions seem to be fairly straight-cut, the idea of an Afro-futuristic version of my favourite play, at the iconic Royal Shakespeare Company in Shakespeare’s birthplace meant I had no idea what to expect, but expectations were high. And they were met.

“The idea of an Afro-futuristic version of my favourite play [...] meant I had no idea what to expect” Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is perhaps one of his less valued plays due to its romantic comedy plot, witty exchange of barbs and physical humour as both Benedick and Beatrice are ‘too wise to woo peaceably.’ The adaption’s effec-

tiveness relies heavily on decent romantic chemistry between leads and the natural charisma of the actors.

“Decent romantic chemistry between leads and the natural charisma of the actors” The plot goes: Don Pedra returns from war, with soldiers Benedick and Claudio visiting Leonato (Kevin N Golding), father of Hero (Taya Ming) and uncle to Beatrice (Akiya Henry).

Claudio and Hero quickly fall in love and arrange to marry, while Benedick and Beatrice swear they never will. The others then conspire to trick them into falling into love. In the background, however, a more malicious plot emerges; Don Pedra’s brother plots to make Claudio believe Hero has been unfaithful to him.

Akiya Henry is the shining star of the production, with her quick wit, audacious behaviour, and truly incredible costumes, as well as her chemistry with both Benedick and Don Pedra as the play is set in a futuristic world where gender preference does not seem to matter.

One of the beauties of art is how every person can have a different interpretation of the same play, and with Shakespeare espe-

cially, the idea of a fully white cast grappling with issues no longer relevant can be off-putting.

Yet, this rom-com play managed to handle the themes of slut-shaming, fear of being loved and the idea of familial, amorous, and platonic love. This 400-year-old play is not only modern, it is futuristic.

The intergalactic nature of it was perhaps a little unnecessary but it did mean it could exist undated, while claiming different parts of black culture such a switch to Jamaican accents, wigs and different black identities.

With towering headdresses, powerful hair statements like Ann Ogbomo’s blue afro-mohawk, Melissa Simpson, the costume director - who has also dressed the likes of Beyonce, Doja Cat, and Little Mix - creates a feast for the eyes. The pastel shades and stunning multi-coloured wedding dress Hero wears gives an angelic, powerful, and otherworldly look.

They look like they belong on a catwalk, and the dazzling spectacle gives something to a play that could at times be described as lacklustre.

“The dazzling spectacle gives something to a play that could at times be described as lacklustre”

Perhaps the play did prioritise aesthetic over plot at times, with the romantic chemistry between Hero and Claudio lacking, and the most melancholic moments being skipped over. Claudio’s public shaming of Hero carries less weight when the audience was not rooting for them as much as Benedick and Beatrice.

However, if you are like me this can be quickly overlooked with Beatrice and Benedick’s electric chemistry. It is perhaps most visible during their tender and intimate scenes, which is offset by moments of humour. You would never be able to guess Wilson was a lastminute replacement for Michael Valogun due to his

natural charisma.

Much Ado about Nothing, and other romantic comedies, have often been seen as lesser due to having slightly less important themes and they can be seen as less lofty than Shakespeare’s other plays. However, this play is still poignant and has managed to remain relevant in a modern context, whilst also giving people a little relief from the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic and other ongoing worries.

CULTURE

Friday 11th March 2022

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Radio Four’s ‘The Archers’: an Antidote to Mayhem

Jack Gunn shares why he believes The Archers, is ‘the MCU of the radio world’ Jack Gunn Culture Critic

It is Sunday afternoon. My pot of Earl Grey sits steeping on the table in this artsy café in Msida, Malta. BBC Sounds at the ready, I press play and the gentleman says in a slightly excited tone: ‘You’re listening to The Archers Omnibus from BBC Radio Four.’

For the next hour I am treated to that week’s events from the world of the village of Ambridge in the fictional county of Borsetshire.

The sounds of rural life ring in my ears: cows, pigs, hedgerow creatures and the ongoing debates of which feeds to use, which crops to sow, and which livestock will spearhead that season’s farming.

Begun in post-war Britain, BBC Radio Four’s The Archers follows the Archer family and others, namely the Grundies, the Carters and the Aldridges, as they navigate their way through the perils of country life. Having first aired in 1951, it is the world’s longest running drama and represents something which we seem to be losing: the ability to relax and listen.

Just before lockdown, I committed to The Archers Omnibus, the one-hour Sunday collection of that week’s episodes. I had

Twitter/ @BBCThe Archers

always been familiar with the programme, heralded at seven o’clock every weekday by that classic tune ‘Barwick Green’ by the Yorkshireman, Arthur Wood.

Now on a year abroad in Malta, I make sure never to miss Sunday’s Omnibus.

“It is the world’s longest running drama” What makes this radio serial so attractive to its regular five

million weekly listeners? It is perhaps its quintessential nature. Set in a rural village, its life is reminiscent of how J. R. R. Tolkien describes the Shire. Regular traditions like the Harvest Supper and Winter plays characterise the annual calendar. Indeed, 2021’s Christmas performance of the Medieval Mysteries, adapted and directed by Lynda Snell, (MBE) was a treat for listeners, moving me to tears. It also regularly features famous voices, recently Jackie Weaver (the she-wolf of Handforth Parish Council) and soon, the Duchess of Cornwall will grace the programme. Dame Judi Dench, Sir Bradley Wiggins

and Catherine Tate have also made appearances, the latter as part of the jury which helped end an intricate and carefully constructed domestic abuse storyline.

Fundamentally, however, I think its attraction stems from its unwavering commitment to people. The pleasure of it, as one of my recently converted friends said, comes simply from listening to a series of ordinary conversations. As humans, we are fascinated by people and tales, and The Archers meets this fascination marvellously. Its introduction of narrative and character traits is steady and leaves you itching for your next visit to the fictional realm of Ambridge. In my eyes (or rather in my ears), this grants it an unrivalled ability to encourage you sit back and listen to a good yarn.

Far from a constant reinforcement of damp storylines, the programme deals with intensely complex and hard-hitting topics, all backed up by a family tree to rival the Hapsburgs. An explosion at the village’s hotel of Grey Gables in 2020 birthed several dramatic plots, including one centred on modern slavery. The death, birth or marriage of someone has, like the real world, long-reaching effects on life in a way which films and even television series

cannot replicate.

These storylines are often decades in the making, the MCU of the radio world! Following these people, many of whom you have shadowed since their birth, makes them an extension of your own life to the extent where you can become quite obsessed with

“The programme deals with intensely complex and hard-hitting topics” knowing what they are up to.

‘Why are we singing The Archers’ theme tune?’ says Miranda Hart in her comedy’s second series. Why not? Sing away, I say. Do not give in to the stereotype that The Archers is for old fogies, it has something to offer everybody. I guarantee that after one or two omnibuses, you will have a niggling feeling of wanting to know what the villagers are up to. That niggling feeling will then develop until, like me, you feel the need to take an hour of time out of your week to sit, listen and be transported.

Comedy Review: Coconut Jasmine Sandhar Deputy Editor

Before we went to review Coconut, my plus-one offered some sage words about standup comedy generally: ‘If it’s good, I’m happy. If it’s bad, I’m happy. If it’s mediocre, I don’t want to see it.’ Whilst this may seem initially counterintuitive, it actually makes a lot of sense.

Whether what you are watching ends up being greatly impressive or an absolute car crash, it will be entertaining. However, if neither of the extreme ends of the spectrum are met, the whole thing ultimately falls flat.

Clearly, stand-up comedy is a challenging skill that few seem to get right, but award-winning British Asian Muslim comedian Shazia Mirza has found the key to this enigma.

As a born and bred Brummie, Mirza appeared to be right at home on The Old Rep stage perhaps even a little bit too comfortable, given that she consistently criticised the theatre for being so cold!

Nevertheless, the setting was clearly a deliberate choice on her behalf. Constructed in 1913 as the United Kingdom’s first ever purpose-built repertory theatre, the Old Rep is over a century old, meaning it does not have the same modern tech-

nology or audience capacity as its competitors, such as The Hippodrome or the Birmingham Rep. Therefore, Mirza’s decision to host her tour at the Old Rep specifically over other venues was indicative of two things.

First, it was an anti-capitalist statement against the over-commercialisation of the arts, which allowed her to save and provide business for one of the older and less-utilised historical institutions of Birmingham.

Secondly, it allowed her to be a lot more intimate with her audience, because we were sitting so much closer to the stage than you would be able to in comparison to other theatres.

“It allowed her to be a lot more intimate with her audience” Mirza most definitely used this to her advantage in the first half of the evening. Immediately, she asked for the lights to be up so she could eye-up her audience members carefully, who turned out to be the victims of the punchlines to her ruthless jokes. For example, in a room that was predominantly packed with South Asians, it was surprising to see a Caucasian cou-

ple sitting on the second row, and in her quick-witted manner Mirza was able to make light of this by labelling the pair as her ‘Guardian readers’ who shop at Waitrose and live in Harborne (a notoriously wealthy area in Birmingham). In contrast to this, she was not afraid to call out the various duos of nonwhite men in the audience as homosexuals, despite them claiming to have wives and kids. Mirza did not hold back.

Shock-factor themes surrounding masturbation, religion, adultery, polygamy and sexism were blended together to form a whirlwind of destruction that stripped back any decency and decorum previously present.

Yet indeed, this was just the beginning of Mirza’s set. Whilst it could be argued that her hilarious bluntness in the first half was not too much of an issue because she had primarily directed it at guests she already knew – several of her friends were supporting her in the audience, including her solicitor – there were no excuses to hide behind in the second half. In an interview conducted prior to this event by culture writer Sonny Elliott, Mirza was quoted as saying: ‘I’m a comedian. I believe in freedom of speech.

The thing is I’ve made jokes about 9/11, things that people might be upset by, might be offended by, to some people the

things I’ve said aren’t acceptable.’ As someone who quite likes to value themselves as being politically correct, I was slightly concerned by this statement, and there were moments during the latter part of the show where I felt slightly uncomfortable, such as mentions of the trans and non-binary community. However, on the whole, the dark comedy was brutally brilliant. Discussing a variety of relevant news topics from Prince Andrew’s sexual abuse lawsuit to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Mirza managed to tiptoe on the tight-

rope of a line between humour and hatred rather fearlessly.

Unfortunately, the ending of the night came around swiftly, as Mirza did not want to receive a ticket for her parking. As she scurried off stage in her black puffer jacket and gloves (which she had put on during the interval to battle the chilly breeze inside the theatre), the audience was still full of hollow echoes of laughter. Undeniably, Mirza had fulfilled her task as a standup comedian, and not in the car crash way. The show was not bad, and it certainly was not mediocre – it was good.

««««« Idil Sukan

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MUSIC

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbrickmusic

Redbrick Music Celebrates the Life of Jamal Edwards Bas Bevan Music Critic

On 20th February 2022 music entrepreneur Jamal Edwards sadly passed away at the age of 31. He made a staggering impact on the British music industry, but his achievements did not always get the public recognition that they deserved, with Edwards preferring not to be in the spotlight.

At the top of the list of the many awards and honours Edwards received in his lifetime was an MBE from the Queen in 2015 for services to music.

While at school in West London, Edwards started his YouTube channel SBTV where he uploaded videos of UK grime MCs and other artists. Edwards worked at Topman to support himself while he developed his channel, which today has over 1.2 million subscribers. SBTV is credited with helping to catapult UK grime and rap music to the

popularity it has had over the last decade and helped to discover some of the scene’s biggest stars including Stormzy, Dave, Skepta, AJ Tracey, and Krept & Konan.

Its influence was not just restricted to rap music, as SBTV also helped to launch the careers of Rita Ora, Jessie J and even Ed Sheeran, whose performance of ‘You Need Me, I Don’t Need You’ on the channel in 2010 was a pivotal moment in his journey to becoming arguably the biggest artist in the world. Their partnership continued to the present and it was Edwards who encouraged Sheeran to appear on the remix of Fireboy DML’s song ‘Peru’ which reached number two in the UK. Edwards also conducted the first UK interviews with both Drake and Nicki Minaj.

Edwards’ career reached beyond music with success in multiple other industries. He was part of several fashion collaborations and released a successful book in 2013 titled Self Belief:

Facebook: @

The Vision: How To Be a Success on Your Own Terms. In recemt years, he moved into directing and began DJing.

As well as his multiple business ventures, Jamal Edwards conducted generous philanthropic work, participating in many wor thy causes. Most notably, he was an ambassador for the youth charity The Prince’s Trust, and was an advocate for mental health and male suicide awareness. He was also part of a scheme with the Department of Education and rapper P Money to encourage more young people to do apprenticeships.

Tributes have flooded in for Edwards ranging from the artists he gave a platform to, to Prince Charles and Simon Cowell, and players from his favourite football club, Chelsea. Ed Sheeran wrote ‘His light shone so bright. He only used it to illuminate others and never asked for anything in return.’ He also said that he ‘would not be here without him, profes-

sionally and personally.’ David Cameron also praised him for ‘supporting and inspiring young people to be the best they could be.’

“It is clear that he deeply impacted everyone he met [...] with his drive and generosity” Edwards’ career was filled with amazing achievements within the music industry, but also across many other fields and the extent of his success is maybe only now being fully appreciated.

It is clear that he deeply impacted everyone he met and worked alongside with his drive and generosity, and the mark he made on British culture, as well as those who knew him, will live on forever.

Eight Songs to Listen to Right Now James West Music Critic

Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers – Jeff Beck One of my favourite instrumental pieces ever, Jeff Beck covers this Stevie Wonder track impeccably, using his guitar to create so many different moods and textures in an incredibly emotional song. This is Beck’s jazz rock fusion at its finest, with him building up the atmosphere for the first half of the song with some light percussion and slow guitar work. The second half is much more energetic and allows Beck to flex his guitar abilities to their maximum, creating a dynamic piece of music which alternates between slow and fast paced very well. This is helped along by some great keyboard work which provides some contrast, allowing the guitar work to feel sharper in the song. If you want to sit back and listen to some instrumental music, this is a song to check out.

Computer God – Black Sabbath This is one of Sabbath and Dio’s best tracks. Starting off quiet, the song creates a sense of menace and foreboding from the outset with some harsh crashing sounds. However, when the drums and guitars kick in after 15 seconds, the atmosphere of the song becomes much more sinister and angry, helped in no small part by Ronnie James Dio’s snarling vocals as he sings ‘Waiting for the revolution.’ This song has some of Dio’s best lyrics, a dread-inducing mix of threatening imagery about the rise of computers, given by ‘There’s another side of heaven / This way to technical paradise.’ Musically this song is

no slouch either, I especially love the drum work on this song as it creates a very doom-laden atmosphere, more so than most Sabbath tracks.

Motion Sickness – Neck Deep

through the song, while Scialfa regales the listener with a story of how imagination changes between childhood and adulthood. Starting with the image of a child imagining her toys to be dressed regally, these flashes of imagination become more and more adult as the song continues, especially with the devastating refrain of ‘In my imagination / I could walk without fear and / I could hide from all my sorrow / Close my eyes and disappear’ which gives the song an emotional climax and resonates with the listener l o n g after it finishes.

A song from my teenage years, ‘Motion Sickness’ is the first Neck Deep song I ever heard and I’m still fond of it to this day. It is a white-knuckle rollercoaster ride of a song; it starts off strong and doesn’t let up.

Lyrically it is about taking chances despite failu r e , exemplified by ‘He s a i d Driving ‘Life is the Last the great Spike – unknown’ / Facebook: @neckdeepuk Genesis Better jump, better run and...’

‘Driving the Musically it is a heavy Last Spike’ is a Genesis guitar and drum song, which song I have discovered only really adds to the atmosphere, and recently, and I’m surprised it has you feel more upbeat even after taken me so long to appreciate it. just the first few bars. I love this A 10-minute epic, it tells the story song because of how relentlessly of the Irish navvies who came optimistic it is, and it is certainly over to Britain to work on the one to listen to if you are having a railways and the horrific condibad day. tions they endured in doing so.

This song starts off slow, but In My Imagination – Patti gradually builds and builds for the Scialfa first five or so minutes before the Patti Scialfa’s Rumble Doll is drums kick in fully. Then the an incredibly underrated album in whole song is propelled by my opinion, it is a wonderful Collins’s explosive drumming and blend of great vocals and pop/ Rutherford’s guitar work. I esperock instrumentation with some cially love the ending of this song, great lyrics to match. ‘In My and Collins’ climactic ‘Showing Imagination’ is no different. This no fear of what lies up ahead / track is underpinned by a strong They’ll never see the likes of us drumbeat which pushes you again’ is both dramatic and a

poignant tribute to those men.

Where Devils Weep – Jonathan Hultén ‘Where Devils Weep’ is a folk song, which I particularly like because of the natural and ethereal themes that runs through its lyrics. Hultén starts with ‘Oh dear bewailer, weary soul / To move on you must drive out / All your ghosts’ which immediately gives the song an eerie folky atmosphere. I find this song oddly relaxing to listen to, partly because of its imagery but also because of Hultén’s singing. His vocals really add to the atmosphere, and the wails at the end gives it a sense of mysticism which really complements the song. I also love his guitar work, as it’s soft and often subtle, and balances out his vocals very well. Definitely a song to check out.

I’m a Dreamer – Sandy Denny

schemer with an eye for the show’ and ‘It’s all those words which get in the way / Of what you want to say.’ This song presents some wonderful imagery of the doubts that someone has in a relationship of whether they should stay or go, set to the emotional backdrop of the piano and guitar. For anyone checking this song out, listen to the version on the album Gold Dust which is far superior to the studio version.

Heaven – Eliza Shaddad Probably the least well-known song on this list, ‘Heaven’ is an upbeat pop/rock song driven by guitars and drums. Lyrically it is an incredibly upbeat song about getting through dark times in life and moving on from them, best exemplified in the chorus with ‘I want you to keep holding on / I know life can be unkind / And you’ve got heaven on your mind / But I want you to keep holding on.’ Shaddad’s vocals are a highlight of the song, sounding both anguished and hopeful, helping to convey a sense of optimism all through the song. This optimism is infectious, and I certainly feel a lot better once I’ve listened to this song a few times.

I am a big fan of Sandy Denny’s work, and ‘I’m a Dreamer’ represents the best of all her work for me. Vocally, she gives it her all in this song, especially in the chorus which is incredibly moving as her voice sounds both pained and weary, conveying a huge depth of emotion. This track c o n tains some of my favourite lyri c s including ‘I’m a dreamer and Facebook: @ElizaShaddad you know / I’m a

MUSIC

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbrickmusic

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Four Songs Inspired By Books Rebeca Bernat Music Critic

Literature and music are creative outlets that interweave with one another. I think it is safe to say that song writing is a form of literary expression. So, it must come to no surprise that many artists feel inspired by famous literary masterpieces, and sometimes use their imagery or story line as a vessel to express themselves. If I created a list of all the references ever made to books in songs, this article would start looking a lot like my dissertation, so I will limit myself to focusing on four songs that were inspired by or make references to books.

does not feel any remorse or guilt.

It is a story of human duplicity and the complexities of human existence. Briggs uses this concept in her song to ‘describe the chaotic feeling of dating someone who has two very different sides.’

She explains that this is also the reason why she changed the spelling from the original name of the character to ‘hide’ as the lyrics go ‘are you Jekyll or Hyde-ing me?’; another reference to the duality of a toxic relationship.

The song currently has over 23 million views on YouTube and 15 million plays on Spotify. It is a great song for when you are angry and want to power walk your way through the day.

the main turning point in the novel, the murder of an Algerian man at the beach by the hand of the protagonist, make it obvious for those who are interested in both existentialist literature and rock music where the band took their inspiration from.

Nowadays, the song is perceived as racist and highly controversial by those who do not understand the literary background the song is based on, and the band have limited the amount of times they perform it, as well as trying to reduce backlash by changing the title and lyrics on certain occasions.

This was The Cure’s debut single in 1978, inspired by the French novel The Stranger by Albert Camus. Camus was an absurdist writer who believed searching for meaning in life was pointless as it will all come to an end someday. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature with The Stranger and is considered one of the most important absurdist authors of all time.

In their song, The Cure refer to different aspects of the novel through the direct lyrics, ‘I’m alive / I’m dead / I’m the stranger / Killing an Arab.’ The mention of the title in the song, along with

This is a pretty obvious one. Ruth B. makes a clear reference to Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie in this song, as the title ‘Lost Boy’ is what the children that live in Neverland are called.

The song is narrated from the perspective of a boy who is reminiscing about how he became a Lost Boy, however, the song has a deeper meaning than that.

In an interview with Genius, Ruth B. states that

You might be familiar with her hit song ‘River’ whose music video currently stands at over 200 million views on YouTube. The singer song-writer Bishop Briggs has been an artist since 2015 and has released two albums in her career, as well as a couple of EPs. ‘Jekyll and Hide’ is from her last album CHAMPION, released in 2019. The song is inspired by the gothic novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, written

by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886.

Stevenson narrates the story of a scientist who creates a formula that, once consumed, transforms him into an evil alter ego who

Facebook: @PeterPan

Bishop Briggs - ‘JEKYLL AND HIDE’ The Cure - ‘Killing An Ruth B. - ‘Lost Arab’ Boy’

the song is about ‘being lonely and finding yourself in something.’ She uses the world of Peter Pan as a metaphor to explore the idea of freedom and finding a place where you belong.

Although the song is inspired

by Peter Pan’s universe, it seems the singer has utilised the image created by the TV show Once Upon a Time by ABC studios, which has been confirmed to be the initial source of inspiration for the song. If you have read the book, you know that the original story has darker connotations than what is being presented in the song, but for the sake of its message, Ruth B. has decided to eliminate the creepy aspects of Peter Pan’s character and focus on how happy he makes the Lost Boys. Overall, the song is a relatable track, intended to speak to our misunderstood younger selves.

Lana Del Rey ‘Young and Beautiful’ ‘Will you still love me when I’m no longer young and beautiful?’ is exactly what Daisy Buchanan asks herself in The Great Gatsby

by F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1925. The song was written by Del Rey alongside Baz Luhrman, director, co-writer

Single Review: Florence + The Machine - King Abi Kinsella Music Critic

With ‘King,’ Florence + The Machine have returned to the musical helm - in a characteristically enigmatic unannounced manner – with a battle cry to femininity. It manifests as a fusion of Welch’s newest and oldest music, which combines the raw and unrefined elemental power of her debut album Lungs with the precise, crystal vocals of her most recent High as Hope. It is a masterful weaving, into a rich tapestry of a song.

It begins with commanding drum beats evocative of an army, jarring against the gentle, candlelight vocals that follow. She speaks of private conversations and condescension, and of the question of the value of art. The discussion of human disagreements is so wonderfully integrated into the ancient-feeling environment of the instrumentation – a skill she deployed also in High as Hope’s ‘Big God.’ Much of ‘King’ is resemblant to this track in fact, notably the creaky vocals at the end of the second chorus, which conjure the track’s drowning images. Mythology creeps in, as in the Lungs track ‘Rabbit Heart,’ giving the song an otherworldly

authority.

She proclaims ‘I am no mother / I am no bride / I am King,’ harmonising with herself - one voice low and commanding and the other feminine and vulnerable.

The result is an assertion, rooted in an emotive yearn for understanding.

The song then shifts to an introspective character study on womanhood, and how to be a woman is to be a changeling – ‘Always shifting shape / Just when you think you have it figured out / Something new begins to take.’ She repeats that she is not ‘mother,’ nor ‘bride,’ unrestrained by these traditional roles of service, as a changeling figure. Instead, she is ‘King’ – master of her court. In this second chorus, the vocals are more balanced: the commanding and the appealing meet in the middle to create an assured cry of insistence.

“The effect is haunting and beautiful” An elemental quivering follows the second chorus, followed by a vaguely tribal set of drum beats. Then, she is joined by a chorus made up entirely of herself, as her different changeling

and co-producer of the 2013 cinematic adaptation of the novel. It was written as a feature for the film’s soundtrack and is supposed to be interpreted from the perspective of the female protagonist, Daisy Buchanan.

The track is perfectly made to merge the voice of the singer with the emotions the listeners are supposed to experience when watching the film. As viewers and listeners, we are supposed to feel for Daisy, and the low register of Del Rey’s voice adds to the melancholy the character experiences in the novel.

This is one of Del Rey’s most popular tracks, racking up almost 600 million streams on Spotify.

The mass success of the song could be seen regardless of whether one had seen the movie or not.

It is a staple Lana Del Rey song that, whether you are a fan of her music or not, you will know.

figures Facebook: @florenceandthemachine harmonise on a raw and untethered cry of desperation and hope. If you strain your ears, delicate h a r p strums that were such a staple of her early discography can be heard – the effect is haunting and beautiful.

‘King’ is a track that tantalises throughout. The pleteness. And then finally, Welch first two verses and choruses feel delivers a wail of strength and like they are building towards determination, for which you are something that is both times so glad you were made to wait. It snatched away, as the vocals drop is an experience as well as a song, away without ascending to the a journey from Welch’s oldest to impassioned cry that has come to newest discography, and a fine be expected of Welch. You start to piece of art. question if it will ever arrive, as the falling away of the instrumentation that follows the second chorus begins to feel like com-

Facebook: @thegreatgatsbymovie

Editors’ Songs of March: The Music Editors choose their Song of the Month: Sammy Andrews: State Champs - Everybody But You (feat. Ben Barlow) Lorcan Drury: Charli XCX - Baby Ellie Harris: Cavetown - Fall In Love With A Girl (feat. Beabadoobee) Aimee Sargeant: HAIM - Lost Track

Upcoming Events: Editors’ Pick: Sam Fender: Utilita Arena Birmingham, 27th March 2022

Upcoming Albums: Editors’ Picks: Charli XCX: CRASH, 18th March 2022 Sea Girls: Homesick, 25th March 2022

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FILM

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbrickfilm

Redbrick Meets: Kevin Markwick

Amelia Neath interviews The Electric Cinema's new owner, discussing everything from the cinema's reopening to favourite films Amelia Neath Film Critic

The Electric Cinema in Birmingham’s city centre is an important spot for all film lovers.

It is thought to be the oldest working cinema in the United Kingdom, opening in 1909. Despite witnessing most of film history, as well as two World Wars, the Electric sadly had to close its doors due to the start of the pandemic, with the previous owners deciding to sell thereafter. Fortunately for fellow Electric devotees and film lovers, the owner of The Picture House in Uckfield, Kevin Markwick, took over the Electric, which has now been screening films for just over a month now. With sold-out screens and excitement building over the rescuing of the cult cinema, Kevin talked about his experiences so far, giving some insight into his own passion for film.

What is your background in cinema owning or in the film industry?

I literally grew up in a cinema my father started as a ‘rewind boy’ in a cinema in Eastbourne in 1947. He bought The Picture House in 1962 when I was a year in a half old, so I literally grew up in a cinema, it was my childhood.

When he passed in 1994, I took over the Picture House and so my kids got to grow up in a cinema as well. I’m marinated in it. We also have a restaurant in The Picture House because my wife is a chef, and that works very well with the cinema. Hopefully, in time we will get something going like that in Birmingham, but it’s early days yet!

What was the process like with polishing up the Electric? Were there any unexpected surprises?

We took over in November, yet it wasn’t as oven-ready as I thought it was going to be. It was a bit damp, and nothing worked. Digital projectors don’t like being turned off, you must always keep them on, so they didn’t work when we arrived. I needed to get new projectors, it needed a deep clean, I needed to get the boiler going. It’s

by no means finished, but I think we can improve it a lot. I want to put in a cinema masking system (masking partially hides the edges of a cinema screen, normally a black rim), cinemas don’t do that now, but personally, I like to do it properly and then the next phase is to put screen curtains in as well.

We have a lot of plans to improve it over the next few years.

What sort of films can cinema lovers expect to see at the Electric?

We are going to play Ali and Ava (2021), The Duke (2020), Operation Mincemeat (2020), The Phantom of the Open (2021) and Downton Abbey: A New Year (2022) to name a few. At the same time, there will be the Godfather trilogy, The National Theatre screenings, and possibly the Alien franchise. On 35mm we will be showing The Power of the Dog (2021), Taxi Driver (1976), and Magnolia (1999). Documentaries such as Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted (2022) will be showing too. There will be something every week that is not the usual mainstream films. We may possibly revive the ‘double feature’ phenomenon as well, two films for the price of one. There will be something for everybody, as they say!

What are the perks of watching films on 35mm film?

Ooh - that’s an interesting question! As a person who has been showing films since the age of 16, it’s a perfectly normal thing for me to be showing film. People seem to like the fact that they know it’s a physical material passing through a projector and the photochemical process, which is what Nolan talks about, is what gives it the look. There is a romance to it. There is also a technical aspect, a digital projector projects black, yet black is the absence of light on film, so it is better in that regard. We have done The Apartment (1960), Licorice Pizza (2021) and Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood (2019) all on film so far. We are the only people in the West Midlands that can show screenings on film as of right now. We

also found two sets of Century film projectors behind a screen, which were used for the premiere of Braveheart (1995) and were never used since. It was a bit like finding a Rolls-Royce in a garage with 500 miles on the clock. It is perfect kit, so when that is set up in a few weeks it will look even better.

Supporting independent cinemas has always been important, what sets apart the new and improved Electric from Birmingham’s various multiplex chain cinemas?

We are very independent in every sense of the word; we can do whatever we want. We are directly engaged with the audience: we will be in the foyer, we talk to them, we know them, we will respond to what they like and what they don’t like. Just a more human face really, we are all much closer to the decision-making process. We care passionately about movies, and we care passionately about the technical side of things, we make sure things are up to standard. If you want something a little more curated, then we are your guys! The media is putting out the ‘this is the final nail in the coffin of cinema’ storyline when just before the pandemic we were actually doing very well. They love the narrative that Netflix is going to win, but I don’t know why.

I loved the bar when I visited last? Has the bar been kept and what is the best food/drink everyone should order when enjoying a film?

We are going to improve the bar as much as we can. We’ve got some cocktails going finally and we’ve got ‘The Electric Ale’ back from Two Towers Brewery. We are also going to put a bar up in the circle foyer too. We have the technology coming where you will be able to order drinks to your seat as well. You’ll be able to say, ‘send me a mojito to G7!’.

Your daughter Katie is going to be in charge of running the show at the Electric. What is the best piece of advice you have taught Katie in preparation?

Thom Bartley

She grew up in a similar regard to me, so she is marinated in it all.

She has also been out in the world, went out, got her degree before she came back to work in the family business. She is as passionate about it as we are. The advice I gave her is just to enjoy the ride, I wouldn’t have suggested she go unless I had absolute confidence in her.

Do you remember your first cinema experience and what you saw?

My first actual memory of sitting from beginning to end would be in 1967 watching The Jungle Book (1967) in the circle with my mum.

It had a really boring second feature called The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967) that went on forever. Like most people, their first memory of cinema is some kind of Disney cartoon.

What are your favourite films of all time?

A film needs to be not too new to be your favourite, it needs time to percolate and mature. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) had a big impact on me. I saw it when I was eight years old, and I never tire of it. Kids that watched it oftentimes responded better to it than adults.

Kids just thought it was spectacular, whereas adults wanted a beginning, middle and end, a narrative you can fully understand, which 2001 doesn’t immediately give you.

Other films I would shout out are The Man Who Fell to Earth

(1976), Don’t Look Now (1973), Performance (1970), Harold and Maude (1971), Five Easy Pieces (1970), Talk to Her (2002), Brazil (1985), The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Matter of Life or Death (1946), if…

(1968) and You Were Never Really Here (2017).

I am also a big fan of ‘perfect’ films, even if they are not the greatest work of art you have ever seen, you need to admire their perfection. Films like Groundhog Day (1993), it utterly achieves what it sets out to achieve. As well as The Commitments (1991), which is 100% satisfying. The thing about films is I have seen more than a lot of people, growing up in a cinema. However, there are still thousands of them I haven’t seen, so there is still more to discover.

What was your favourite release in 2021 and what are you anticipating in 2022?

In 2021 I liked tick, tick...BOOM! (2021), The Card Counter (2021), The Green Knight (2021), The Reason I Jump (2020) and Palm Springs (2020). My favourite film, however, was Dune (2021), I loved every second of it! I have seen it five times now. As for 2022, I am looking forward to Ali & Ava (2021).

The Electric is a staple in the Birmingham community; all film lovers at UOB and beyond are extremely excited that you got it back up and running. Thank you Kevin.

Editors' Picks: The Best Recent Releases Samantha Hicks Film Editor

Petite Maman Bereavement is always difficult, but when you are a child having to come to terms with what it really means to lose somebody, you are propelled into a world of uncertainty. It is an entirely unique experience, and incredibly difficult to capture on-screen. Despite this, Céline Sciamma’s latest film Petite Maman combines realism with a sense of magic to accurately portray the experience of

childhood grief.

In spite of their young age, twins Josephine and Gabrielle Sanz (as protagonists Nelly and Marion) give phenomenal performances. As Nelly comes to terms with the death of her grandmother, she finds Marion in the woods, a young girl who looks eerily similar to herself. Subtly displaying the tumultuous emotions experienced by the children, it is their performances that makes the film all the more emotive.

Combined with a beautiful redtoned, autumnal colour palette and a touching story, Petite Maman is a masterpiece.

Petite Maman is an endlessly

heartfelt portrait of the experience of grief during childhood.

Sciamma perfectly captures the silences and quietness that mark a child’s understanding of loss, and is, in a bittersweet way, an experience that too many children and adults alike can relate to. Petite Maman is an unmissable watch, reaching into the depths of human emotion to create a truly beautiful film.

Emily Wallace Film Editor

The Matrix: Resurrections

Lana Wachowski’s return to the Matrix franchise with The Matrix: Resurrections was both a thrilling sequel while also acting as a loving tribute to the series of films.

Set 60 years after the trilogy, we follow Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves), the troubled creator of ‘The Matrix’ games, who soon learns that the dreams that inspired his games may not have been dreams at all.

It was a joy to see actors like Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss return to their iconic roles, and alongside newcomers to the franchise like Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris and Jessica Henwick created a perfect blend

of nostalgia and freshness.

Although many may see it as fan service, the plot is engaging enough and gives enough backstory to keep those who may not have seen a Matrix film before interested. It was also very selfaware of its position as a sequel, which was used effectively both with callbacks to the original films, as well as witty, meta commentary on the concept of sequels in general.

The Matrix: Resurrections is a satisfying return to the franchise, clearly made with love by all involved, and is a must-watch even for those unfamiliar with the original films.

FILM

Friday 11th March 2022

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@redbrickfilm

Redbrick Rewind: Whip It

Emily Baldwin reflects on the 2000s teen roller-skating classic, Whip It Emily Baldwin Comment Editor

It is the typical story: small town teenager Bliss Cavendar (Elliot Page) is tired of rural American life and wants to rebel against her pageant-queen mother by finding her freedom in the nearby city.

Except, rather than apply for an out-of-state college or visit the city for the weekend, Bliss joins the rambunctious, fun-loving and intimidating Hurl Scouts Roller Derby team, lying about her age and dating an older indie musician in the process - it is always the indie boys. The layered outfits are questionable, the side partings are aggressive, the raccoon eyeliner is impossible to ignore, and the soundtrack would fill even the most well-adjusted adult with unbridled teenage angst. Whip It (2009) is not only an embodiment of the early 2000s teen genre, but an homage to my favourite activity: roller skating.

Whip It was released in 2009, which sandwiches it right in the middle of the exact indie comingof-age movies I would watch whilst scoffing a bag of Maoams on a Friday night sleepover in 2013. Think Juno (2007), Adventureland (2009), Scott Pilgrim VS. the World (2010) or even The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) and you are on the right track.

The cast is a testament to the genre. Elliot Page and Alia Shawkat play a relatable pair of equal parts frustratingly awkward and undeniably loveable best friends, who grapple with the realities of coming of age in a sleepy town with few opportunities. I could not help but think of them when I watched Olivia Wilde's Booksmart - whose protagonists Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) face similar challenges of academic expectation, anxiety about the

future and friendship drama. Yet, unlike Wilde's polished and contemporary hit, Whip It takes us back to a time of awkward silences, first-jobs and public transport, perfectly encapsulating the trials and tribulations of small-town teenhood.

You could easily play a game of early 2000s bingo while watching Whip It. The cast includes SNL superstar Kristen Wiig in an unusually heartfelt role, as well as Drew Barrymore who takes on the comedic role. On top of that, there is a slightly more random appearance by Jimmy Fallon and, of course, teen-favourites Page and Shawkat. The characters are imperfect. Their skin is not clear, they are not upper middle class, they are not all educated, employed or sensible and their decisions are questionable. Yet Whip It, while refusing to take itself too seriously - I mean, Bliss and Pash work in a cafe with a ten foot fibreglass pig on top of it - succeeds in embracing the unorthodox.

Released in 2008, there is far less feminist self-consciousness than endeavours from directors like Greta Gerwig. In fact, its plot line involving an age-gap relationship and gross references to purity culture are largely uncommendable.

Yet, they allow for moments of great heart and vulnerability.

The conversations between Bliss and her parents are particularly heartfelt, as the trio navigate miscommunicated desires for love and success there are times of frustration. This embodiment of the gruellingly laboured relationship between parents and teenage children is refreshing and draws me back to 2000s teen films. I love how Barrymore includes moments of stagnation, silence and awkwardness. We see Bliss and her mother trying to find the right words to express their expectations, and we have room to ruminate over the missed opportunities for explanation. A truly relatable mother-daughter rela-

tionship is depicted, reminding me of the Gerwig classic, Lady Bird (2017).

Throughout my teens I looked to characters like Bliss for reassurance and relatability, I remember cringing over a scene where one of the Hurl Scouts encourages Bliss to apologise to her mother.

Yet, in my twenties, I can see these relationships in a new light and feel a similar sense of responsibility for the teenagers repeating the same mistakes as me today. I wonder if director Drew Barrymore’s experiences as an unruly teen turned national treasure injected Whip It with this heartfelt nuance. After all, the portrayal of chosen family is a stand out feature.

between her and her mother, as well as between Whip It itself and the multiverse of teen-films. Juno definitely paved the way for such a stellar soundtrack, but so did the skate community itself. I, for one, already had a number of the songs featured in Whip It on my skate playlist.

Looking back, it was the gang of strong, powerful and unconventional skaters who stole my heart when I first watched Whip It. After all, I have seen a host of sun-bleached, character-driven teen movies and none have been as influential to my life as Whip It. Woven throughout the starstudded cast are actual roller derby players, who inject an awesome sense of skill and camaraderie into the group and competition scenes. For those of you who have not heard of Rollerderby, it is a “The portrayal of contact sport where teams attempt chosen family is a to earn points by having their ‘Jammer’ successfully skate stand out feature” around the rink which is being defended by ‘blockers’ who try to prevent the Jammer from passing Yet, at the same time, part of through. It is high energy, exciting what makes Whip It feel so and requires great strength and authentic is its homegrown sound- agility. In the late 20th century track. I hate to hark back to the Roller Derby was broadcast on much-spoken-about indie sleaze TV channels across the US, earnera, but songs from Radiohead, ing a similar status to MGMT, The Strokes, and Womens’ Wrestling due to Peaches immediately inject its scripted storylines, camp Whip It with an unshakeable costumes and theatrical feeling of nostalgia: ferelements. This history menting its spot among the is embodied in Whip great pinnacles of cathartic It, where the team coming of age films. There members feel more is something about indie like caricatured modmusic which makes it els of femininity than pair perfectly with the actual individuals, teen film genre. I wonbut I love it. der if every generation I was obsessed will listen to The with the team’s Smiths or The Kooks costumes when and feel that same I was younger. sense of longing, The Hurl misunderstanding Scouts wear and vulnerability. Bliss tiny girlscout-incertainly does, and her spired dresses interest in class rock proadorned with fish Facebook/@WhipIt vides a unifying line nets, tattoos and bat-

tle-makeup. From the moment I saw them, I wanted to be them.

Now, as a roller skater myself, I revel in the skating. Seeing Bliss open her first pair of Riedell derby skates with awe in her eyes and excitement running through her veins is a feeling I experienced when I lifted the cardboard lid on my first pair of adult skates. The unbridled sense of pride, the eagerness to lace them up and the gratefulness to have found a community within such an awesome sport. I have found myself forcing all of my skater friends to watch the movie, and a certain scene where the Hurl Scouts jump over each other on the track inspired my friend and I to try out some new moves for ourselves.

I love how Whip It feels so authentic. Bliss skates the streets of her hometown decked out in safety gear and soaking up the early evening air, pushing herself to learn more. As a 13 year old in a similarly dead-end town, I remember watching the film during a long evening of the sixweeks’ holiday and wanting to be the characters within it. I achieved that goal this time last year as I invested in a pair of gorgeous blue skates, an ugly black helmet and some sweat-stained wrist guards and learnt to skate. It felt like a full circle moment.

I was inspired to write this Redbrick Rewind as I hosted a Whip It screening for the Birmingham University Rollerskate Society (BURS). This is a brand new society I was fortunate enough to co-found this academic year. I may not be as naive as Bliss anymore, but I still hold her spirit with me every time I lace up my skates. Whip It is a film of great heart, and a homage to female friendships, relationships and chosen families. Next time you are looking for a homegrown teen film to watch, steer clear of the overexposed indie romances and load up Whip It. You definitely will not regret it.

Review: Uncharted

James Evenden reviews the latest action video game-to-film adaptation James Evenden Film Critic

Hollywood has been trying to crack video-game movies for a long time. Uncharted is the latest effort, a very safe and audiencefriendly film that will harmlessly divert your attention for a couple of hours. It follows the algorithm of modern studio films that fail to capture any charm found in the original games. It is Indiana Jones watered down, and whilst the film never tries to be anything more than that, it could have been so much more given all the ingredients in place. When it does on occasion reach its full potential, the results will leave you with a smile on your face.

Uncharted sees a younger Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) go on a globe-trotting adventure to find lost treasure. Riding the high of his recent success with SpiderMan: No Way Home, Holland’s

charm carries Uncharted well enough. He proves himself in his fight scenes and does well with his stunts. The fight choreography is a highlight, as Holland interacts with his environments to produce fight scenes that always feel like he is making it up as he goes, which is reminiscent of the games.

He is joined by Victor ‘Sully’ Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg), who feels half-asleep in most of his scenes. Holland’s enthusiasm as Drake is weighed down by Wahlberg, who could not seem less interested in playing secondfiddle. This is not helped by a distinct lack of chemistry between the pair.

The dialogue gives neither Holland nor Wahlberg any favours.

Attempts at humour fall flat. One specific joke about Sully having Tinder open on his phone when Nathan Drake looks at it felt particularly groan-inducing. The screenplay seems to want a fun back-and-forth with the pair, but it

leaves a lot to be desired. When the film wants to get serious in emotional moments, these moments also fall flat. We are not meant to know a lot about these characters, but when Uncharted wants to tug at the heartstrings, it feels forced. The villain, Moncada (Antonio Banderas) speaks how any generic villain would.

Banderas does his best with the material, but an uninteresting and unexplored backstory prompts little interest.

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Uncharted tries to get you interested with its whiplash pacing. For the most part, it succeeds.

The film wisely gives Nathan Drake just enough backstory in its opening. His backstory is taken from the games, so it feels like Uncharted is paying homage to the fans whilst also trying not to alienate anyone who is not familiar with the character already.

Before you know it, the adventure has begun. The plot setup feels slightly rushed, but in the grand scheme of things, it does not really matter if you are unclear on a few minor details. You get the gist of it, and for a film like Uncharted, that is all you really need.

The soundtrack for Uncharted bears mention, because despite the somewhat messy plot setup, it works as a benchmark for when the ingredients on the screen do briefly come together. In one brief flare of the theme music from the games in the final action scene, Uncharted realises its full poten-

tial. It is both exciting and poignant. It elevates the scene and was a real sign of what this film could have been if it played it less safe and fully went for it.

VERDICT: Uncharted is by no means a terrible film. I understand why director Ruben Fleischer played it safe. There are clear intentions for sequels, and I think the film does just enough to warrant it. The film is exactly what I thought it would be, I think if you go into it expecting a masterpiece, you will be disappointed.

Uncharted never steps out of its comfort zone and will most likely please most general audiences. I hope if there is a sequel they will use this as a good starting point to take the characters in more daring directions.

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TELEVISION

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbricktv

Review: Euphoria - Season Two

Sophie Handler praises the cast but loses the plot in her review of Euphoria’s second season Sophie Handler TV Critic

Content Warning: this article contains spoilers After eight long weeks of anxiously waiting for Sunday to come around, the second season of Euphoria has sadly wrapped up.

Following the glittery purple aesthetics which originally boosted its popularity, a new strippedback approach forced viewers into the brutal reality of the show and its characters. However, with countless loose ends and many storylines and characters being cut entirely, did director Sam Levinson take this simpler approach too far and destroy the masterpiece he had created?

After the dramatic ending to season one, which showed Rue (Zendaya) relapsing due to Jules (Hunter Schafer) leaving her behind, the expectations of what was to come were sky-high amongst fans. Yet unfortunately, after little reference to any cohesive plot being displayed, it soon became evident that the season's issues may begin to dominate any original promise that the episodes held.

The main issue with this season of Euphoria seems to be the complete abandonment of certain storylines, concepts and characters in order to make way for new

ones that often come across as wholly unnecessary. Just to name one example, the character of Kat was cut almost entirely due to an alleged feud between Barbie Ferreira and director Sam Levinson. After undergoing a complex development in Season One, her storyline was eventually reduced to nothing but an odd breakup acting as a prop during fights between Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) and Maddy (Alexa Demie).

“The main issue with this season of Euphoria seems to be the complete abandonment of certain storylines, concepts and characters” So many new plots kept being introduced without others being tied up that I find myself struggling to remember what actually happened before Episode Five. As a result, key characters like Jules and Elliot (Dominic Fike) were pushed away in favour of arguably irrelevant plot points. This includes a dragged out, fifteen-

minute flashback to Cal Jacobs’ youth which in my opinion would be better spent exploring something else, such as the odd relationship between Maddy and the women she babysits for.

While these eight episodes were littered with questionable choices that made Euphoria increasingly difficult to watch, there are still plenty of moments that are worthy of praise. It would be criminal to not mention the outstanding performance given by Zendaya in Episode Five specifically. With her character Rue going through withdrawal, the first ten minutes consists of a heart-breaking explosion between her family which singlehandedly beat any allegations of the show glamourising addiction. The remainder of the episode is pure chaos, with many nail-biting moments such as Cassie and Nate’s affair being exposed or Rue finding herself trapped in Laurie’s apartment. Zendaya’s acting alone makes up for the somewhat disappointing start to the season, and thanks to her, this episode is considered a masterpiece by many. Other quick honourable mentions include Lexi’s iconic play which put her entire friendship circle on blast, and a scene at the end of episode four when Rue hallucinates a church scene with her late father that reminds us of the incredible symbolic cinematography that the

show is capable of.

“Zendaya’s acting alone makes up for the somewhat disappointing start to the season” With so many plot holes being ignored, the expectations for Euphoria’s season finale were perhaps too high. We were given some long-awaited moments such as Maddy giving Cassie the beat down she deserves, and the painful scene of Ashtray’s death which many of us will never recover from. Yet despite this, the supposed grand finale felt equally as lacklustre as the majority of this season. While some storylines do need to be left open for Season Three to have any sort of impact, major aspects of the season, such as Rue owing money to the terrifying drug lady Laurie, were simply never mentioned again. Other examples such as a rather anticlimactic scene of Nate (Jacob Elordi) getting his father Cal (Eric Dane) arrested felt more like an

afterthought, or five entire minutes of screentime being taken up

by Elliot singing a song to Rue for a reason that I am yet to identify. The entire thing just felt unsatisfying and empty, especially after knowing that Season Three will not be coming out for so long.

Despite the overwhelming array of issues that this season came with, in reality, fans will be left wanting more regardless of how many unexplained conclusions we are made to sit through.

With Season Two of Euphoria now over and the entirety of Twitter forming personal vendettas against the show’s creators as we speak, we can only hope that the next few years fly by until Season Three premiers.

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Twitter/@euphoriaHBO

Review: This Is Going To Hurt Lucy Parry reviews This Is Going To Hurt, the new BBC drama chronicling the struggles of the doctors and nurses working on an NHS ward Lucy Parry TV Writer

This Is Going To Hurt is based on Adam Kay's bestselling memoir of the same name. This book was everywhere a few years ago, meaning the adaptation was highly anticipated. The adaptation was written by Adam Kay himself and stars Ben Whishaw, who is regarded as one of the best actors of his generation. All the right ingredients were there and they came together to make a deliciously funny and sometimes tear-inducing television series.

“All the right ingredients were there and they came together to make a deliciously funny and sometimes tearinducing television series”

The show is set in a generic hospital to the contrary of the hosLondon hospital in 2006. It pri- pital superiors’ intention to show marily follows Adam in his post him an idealistic version of the as acting registrar, meaning he is hospital. These problems have often the most senior doctor on only been exacerbated by the last the ward. In the adaptation proc- 12 years under a Tory government ess, Kay created new characters to and the recent pandemic. show different sides of the mediAlongside highlighting these cal profession. These new issues, This Is Going characters include To Hurt also makes Shruti (Ambika us appreciate Mod), a junior the personal doctor, and sacrifices T r a c y that doc(Michele tors and Austin), a nurses midwife. make as Through Shruti t h e s e cancels charach e r ters, the d a t e s h o w after a highlights h a r the probrowing lems that d a y , are caused attemptby not funding to help ing the NHS an expectFacebook/@BBCOne s u f f i c i e n t l y. ant mother Episode One opens who was sufferwith Adam waking ing domestic up in his car, having not abuse. made it home, revealing how Ben Whishaw’s portrayal overworked doctors are. Kay of Adam is incredibly nuanced. clearly revelled in the irony of the He could easily come across as an government minister being shown unlikeable character but Whishaw the realities of an underfunded brings a vulnerability to Adam

that makes us understand the pressure he is under and why he keeps people at a distance.

Whishaw's witty and often acerbic quips are always perfectly timed and they reflect the dark humour which is common within the medical profession. It is great to see such complex gay characters continuing to take up space on our TV screens. Adam's sexuality is only one aspect of his character, but it is a key aspect.

As the series progresses, he starts to care less about what other people think about the fact that he has a boyfriend not a girlfriend.

“It is great to see such complex gay characters continuing to take up space on our TV screens” Considering she started out in comedy, Ambika Mod does an amazing job of portraying Shruti's heartbreaking character arc. I would have never known that this was her first serious acting role.

She plays Shruti with so much tenderness and compassion that she becomes the most empathetic character. In an interview with The Guardian, Mod said that This Is Going To Hurt caused her to have ‘a bit of an identity crisis.

Am I a comedian? Am I an actor?’

I sincerely hope that she pursues acting, as she clearly has a natural talent.

“Ambika Mod does an amazing job of portraying Shruti's heartbreaking character arc” I want This Is Going To Hurt to serve as a wake-up call for everyone. The NHS is not something to be taken for granted and it needs to be properly resourced.

Staff need to be given ample time to rest and paid fairly for their labour.

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TELEVISION

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbricktv

Redbrick TV Meets: Alex Horne

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Top TV Picks for March

Josie Scott-Taylor interviews Alex Horne, finding out what it is really like to be the mastermind behind Taskmaster Josie Scott-Taylor TV Editor

When Alex Horne graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2001 with a degree in Latin and Greek, he probably did not expect that less than two decades later he would be eating dog food and stripping half-naked every other week on national TV. 'I do think, "I’m not sure if that education was worth it" when I’m sitting on a cake' he explains, after being reminded of the time actress Liza Tarbuck made him perform this ungodly task.

“I do think, ‘I’m not sure if that education was worth it’ when I’m sitting on a cake” A few weeks ago, Alex agreed to be interviewed by me and Abi Kinsella, another TV writer for Redbrick. His pride and joy, Taskmaster, has actually just won even more awards, this time Comedy of the Year and Best Entertainment Show at the British Comedy awards. Alex is the mastermind behind the hit show which is currently preparing for a whopping thirteenth season - and he originally presented it under a different format (and slightly different name, The Task Master) at 2010’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

‘I did the Edinburgh Festival in my final year at university’, he told us, explaining that it was the best grounding for his career that he could possibly get. ‘I made a lot of friends at university that are still my friends now in the comedy world’ - namely Tim Key and Mark Watson, both of whom have appeared on previous seasons of Taskmaster - but he did not realise that he was destined for the world of comedy for a while. It might surprise you to find out that Alex is actually a self-labelled introvert, and told us that at a dinner party, he is probably the quietest person in the room, but found making people laugh too addictive to ignore.

“At a dinner party, he is probably the quietest person in the room, but found making people laugh too addictive to ignore”

Abi and I found common ground with Alex as student journalists - we discovered that he wrote for Varsity, Cambridge University’s official newspaper, as a sports journalist and satirist, before he moved onto the local paper. His history as a student writer is one of the reasons why he agreed to my tweet asking to interview him, although he did joke that Twitter is hard to ignore because you feel guilty - perhaps I simply guilt-tripped him into an interview. We chatted for a while about how difficult it is being young and not knowing what you want to do for a living in the future, and he imparted some of his wisdom to us about how life is full of surprises, and you never really know what is just around the corner.

“He imparted some of his wisdom to us about how life is full of surprises, and you never really know what is just around the corner” Although Alex is best-known for being the brains behind Taskmaster, he is also in a band, The Horne Section. An average day for him at the moment involves working on both of these, but there were certain things he was not allowed to tell us, which apparently makes his life sound far more exciting than it really is. He also has a dog, Loky - not pandemic-related who he had walked that day, and apparently she was feeling rather grumpy that day, too. Although they adopted Loky just before the first lockdown and her name is not linked to the pandemic in any way, this is not the only spooky Coronavirus prediction that Alex was involved in. Joe Auckland, the trumpeter in The Horne Section, actually wrote a song about the Spanish Flu after spending quite a lot of time researching it, eventually concluding that there was going to be another pandemic an entire year before the first lockdown hit. ‘We

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should’ve warned more people!’ he joked, but apparently no one wanted to take a trumpeter seriously.

I asked Alex if there have been times when he has ever felt genuinely embarrassed on Taskmaster, like the aforementioned cake incident. His ‘real job’ is being a stand-up comedian though, and he told us that this entails ‘putting all your dignity to one side.’ He shed some light on what making people laugh for a living is really like, explaining that it can actually be very exposing, particularly when you are on stage and no one laughs - ‘even though it doesn’t matter if no one laughs - it’s not like you’re a soldier or a fireman - it’s pretty awkward.’ He has had to develop a pretty thick skin over the years, and refers to doing humiliating tasks on Taskmaster as the ‘easiest job in the world.’ Every time he is asked to do something potentially embarrassing, he just has to think about the fact that it will make great television.

“Every time he is asked to do something potentially embarrassing, he just has to think about the fact that it will make great television” We also chatted about the increase in diversity on Taskmaster that has occurred since Season One. He told us that although they are pretty good on diversity and gender balance now, having two middle-aged white men running the show does not help their image - ‘the trouble is, we need to get rid of either me or Greg!’ In the beginning, there was only one woman to six men, whereas nowadays he would not

even think of doing that. He also notes that they are in the fortunate position to be able to help younger and slightly less well-known comedians find the spotlight, so they make sure that at least one person in every season is someone who deserves more attention.

“Although they are pretty good on diversity and gender balance now, having two middle-aged white men running the show does not help their image” We had to cut the interview slightly short because Alex was scheduled to wake up at 4:30 the next morning to chaperone his son at work experience, but it was an absolute pleasure being able to chat to him. Keep your eyes peeled for Taskmaster Season Thirteen, and in the meantime, catch up on (or rewatch) all of the previous seasons on All 4, or go and listen to The Horne Section podcast on Spotify.

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Bridgerton - Season 2 Netflix 25th March

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Moon Knight Disney+ 30th March

GAMING

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Friday 11th March 2022

@redbrickgaming

@ATVI_AB

Gamers Rise Up Finnian Russell reports on the 49-day long strike action by unionised gamers in the massively multiplayer wargame ‘Foxhole’ Finnian Russell Gaming Editor

The gamers have risen. 1,800 players of Foxhole, a massively multiplayer online top-down World War inspired shootercome-wargame (try saying that three times fast) have been on an in-game general strike this past month. Their concerns? The increased ‘stress and responsibility’ of Logistics, a role that players can take up in-game.

Many players involved in this role have unionised themselves together into the Logistics Organisation for General Improvement (L.O.G.I). L.O.G.I has been voicing the concerns of Logistics players for some time now, and has published a listed of proposed changes to the Logistics system in the form of an open letter on their website. The letter details changes that the union collectively believes would

improve

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Logistics for all Foxhole players.

A lack of communication from the game’s indie developer Siege Camp on whether they were considering any changes for Logistics led the L.O.G.I union to suggest a general strike in-game.

The membership voted in favour, and for 49 days, members of L.O.G.I have been avoiding their usual responsibilities as truckers, resource gatherers, crane drivers, and other rear echelon roles.

“For 49 days, members of L.O.G.I have been avoiding their usual responsibilities” As seen on NME, L.O.G.I has stated that a key component of the strike is to highlight the importance of Logistics players in keeping the game’s player-led wars running.

Foxhole’s unique appeal arguably comes from how its huge, multithousand soldier wars are conducted with almost no NPCs to fill the ranks. Any AI or developer involvement is kept to a bare minimum. As well as the fighting that one would expect from a wargame, stitching up wounds, mining raw materials, refining them into materiel, supplying the front are and keeping all of these systems in any kind of harmony is all the responsibility of gamers. Since players in Foxhole are organized into two armies constantly trying

to overpower one another, if enough players are off-duty then that represents a weakness for your enemies to exploit. Looking at Logistics in particular, a hole in the supply chain can spell doom if bullets and bandages stop being produced, or delivered to the front.

So what happens when thousands of players decide en masse that their role is not fun any more? Shortages follow. According to NME, L.O.G.I believes that their strike’s impact on the rest of the Foxhole world will demonstrate the importance of Logistics to Siege Camp and the rest of the Foxhole playerbase. To make up the shortfall of Logistics players, those who would normally fight on the frontline have been having to grapple with the system that L.O.G.I. members have found so frustrating.

“What happens when thousands of players decide en masse that their role is not fun any more?”

It is important to note that L.O.G.I’s impact on the normal process of logistics is not designed to make things more difficult for new players taking up the slack.

L.O.G.I welcome ‘strikebreakers’, as it were; members have offered guides and mentoring to those trying out logistics for the first time, all in the name of raising

awareness of the state of the Logistics system that has become too much for many veteran players.

L.O.G.I members are asked to forego their normal Logistics duties during the strike, but there is nothing to stop them picking up a rifle or taking up other roles.

The Union has even organized some non-violent in-game events; motorbike races and ‘bunker art.’

These have become a virtual

picket line of sorts, where union members can keep enjoying the game away from the Logistics system without impacting the outcome of the wider war or fighting one another.

As reported by NME Siege Camp have as of this week responded to L.O.G.I in an official capacity, promising several changes to the Logistics system.

Change will be incremental, and some in the Union will perhaps be

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Friday 11th March 2022

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disappointed that there will not be a one-for-one adoption of the requests put out in L.O.G.I’s Open Letter. The response has however by and large been received positively. The Union has since voted to end the General Strike after 49 days of action. L.O.G.I as union does not feel it is redundant in light of the Siege Camp response, and will continue to voice the collective wishes of the Logistics player-base.

The collective action of gamers has exercised a remarkable influence on the direction and future of Foxhole. It may seem absurd, but people around the world have sacrificed considerable time and effort to make sure that the game they love continues to be

Redbrick’s Five Big Releases for the Upcoming Year

a fun as it once was.

It is tempting to question whether all of L.O.G.I’s demands are really in the best interest of the game; whether game developers will have a better ‘vision’ of what a game should be than its players do. This editor wholeheartedly applauds L.O.G.I’s civility and restraint in their conduct, but the strike has set an interesting precedent for future disagreements in game design between developers and the players of the games they have created.

This begs a final question: When gamers rise up next, will they be as civil and make reasonable demands or will mob rule take over and steer the unfortunate game off-course?

Activision Blizzard sued following employee suicide The lawsuit comes after both an employee walkout and acquisition by Microsoft Sonny Elliott Gaming Editor

Content Warning: this article contains themes of suicide and sexual assault Activision Blizzard are now being sued by parents of employee Kerri Moynihan, who was found to have committed suicide at Disneyland’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa in

2017. As reported by The Washington Post, the complaint asserts that sexual harassment was a ‘significant factor’ leading to her death.

Kerri Moynihan was a financial manager who started working for Activision Blizzard in 2011 as an accountant. She was first associated (although not by name) with a 2020 lawsuit filed by The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DEFH) that came after a two-year

27

@thegranturismo Gran Turismo 7 (04.03.22)

@LSWGame Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (05.04.22) Jordan Matter

investigation into the company.

Their report found that ‘very few women reach top roles at the company’ and that female employees make up only 20% of the company’s workforce. The DEFH also alleged that Activision Blizzard fosters a ‘hostile, intimidating, offensive and abusive’ workplace.

The lawsuit outlines how Activision Blizzard failed in its responsibility to prevent the harassment that lead to Moynihan’s suicide. This occurred on a work trip in part ‘due to a sexual relationship she had been having with her male supervisor (Greg Restituito)’, who left the company the following month. Restituito was married and the relationship between the two employees violated company policy. At the

time, it was reported by The Washington Post that the firm were uncooperative with police and refused to hand over either of the employees company laptops.

“The lawsuit outlines how Activision Blizzard failed [...] to prevent the harassment” Included in the documentation was a mention of a December 2016 holiday party in which photos of Kerri Moynihan’s genitals were passed around by male co-workers. A spokesperson for the company stated that they were ‘deeply saddened’ by Moynihan’s suicide and that she was a ‘valued member of the company’ but made ‘no further comment’ due to the nature of the incident.

This comes after last January’s news that Microsoft were purchasing Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, with Bobby Kotick remaining as CEO, and last year’s employee walkout, largely due to the treatment of female employees at the company (according to Game Informer).

If you have been affected by the issues raised in this article, the following organisations can be contacted for guidance and support.

@NintendoEurope Nintendo SwItch Sports (29.04.22)

@StudioMDHR Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course (30.06.22)

@StarfieldGame Starfield (11.11.22)

Samaritans: Website – www.samaritans.org Phone – 116 123 Mind: Website – www.mind.org.uk Phone – 0300 123 3393

Tarcil Tarcil

Rape Crisis: Website – www.rapecrisis.org.uk Phone – 0808 802 9999

@stalker_thegame S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2: Heart of Chernobyl (08.12.22)

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FOOD&DRINK

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbrickfood

Guide To: Halal Restaurants

Halima Ahad shares a variety of restaurants and cafes that offer halal food in Birmingham Halima Ahad Food&Drink Writer

There are many halal restaurants around Birmingham which have boosted tourism and trade across the city. According to Birmingham Mail, there were around 300,000 Muslims in Birmingham in 2018, making up 27% of the local population. Here, I will talk you through the establishments which provide mouth-watering halal dishes day in and day out throughout Birmingham.

Central Birmingham Tamatanga Indian food has become increasingly popular across the region.

An increasing number of modern Indian restaurants across the UK have been inspired by India’s bustling Mumbai cafés. Inside Tamatanga, you will find that the décor is bright and cheerful, welcoming you in with open arms, with exposed bulb lights adding to the street food café effect. One dish I would definitely recommend ordering at Tamatanga is the ‘Thali’. The ‘Thali’ is an array of curries, two vegetable curries and one daal of the day. One dish is complimented with naan, pilau rice and poppadoms on the side.

Indico Street Kitchen Indico Street Kitchen is located in the Mailbox, which is a dining and retail area popular in Birmingham and just a five minute walk from New Street station.

The décor of Indico is unique and enticing with artistic murals and fascinating designs across the walls. Lighter bites are one to order at Indico Street Kitchen.

‘Gol Gappa Bombs’ are a popular

choice on the menu, which are pastry shells filled with chickpeas, mint and tamarind chutney; the flavours explode in your mouth as you take an all-in-one bite. My personal favourite on the menu was the ‘Chilli Chicken’ succulent chicken breast pieces marinated and stir fried, which instantly melt in your mouth.

Slim Chickens Located in the food court area of Grand Central, the lively atmosphere of the Slim Chickens restaurant is sure to make one excited. There are American style booths located in the area which gives a feel of the food you can expect. I ordered the ‘Classic Chicken Sandwich' off the menu - a fried chicken breast topped with lettuce, pickles and mayo, sandwiched in a brioche burger bun - which fulfilled every one of my expectations. The burger was appetising and I felt like going back for more once I had finished it.

Mowgli Located in Grand Central, Mowgli opened in October 2017 to add to the numerous Indian food eateries located across central Birmingham.

The restaurant serves up trendy Indian street food as well as a variety of curries. The place is inviting, with dimly lit and dark wood furnishings. The street food effect is also seen on the tables, with the ghee tins filled with cutlery and hanging swings you can sit on while you eat your food.

The menu ranges from ‘Street Chaat’ to house kitchen curries.

“The restaurant serves up trendy Indian food as well as curries” Cocoa by Ali An artisan café specialising in brunch, desserts, and hot drinks, Cocoa by Ali was opened by Great British Bake Off 2013 contestant Ali Imdad and is located in the Mailbox. The overall aesthetic of the café is pleasing to the eye, with flower walls, and definitely an Instagrammable spot. The desserts are very delectable and mouth-watering after every bite. I would definitely recommend the Genshes2013 waffle covered in chocolate served Pixabay with fruits and ice on cream.

diner (serving Pakistani food).

Family favourites are on the menu such as ‘Samosa Chaat’, curries, and kebabs, but the restaurant also offers burgers, stir-frys, and old -school desserts. My favourite on the menu has to be the ‘Chicken Fillet Steak’ - a tender chicken fillet coated in herbs and flame grilled, served with creamy peppercorn sauce, mash, and mixed vegetables.

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan is a luxury, beautifully presented North Indian restaurant. The décor creates a luxury dining experience with purple velvet sofas and intricate ceiling fixtures. The large capacity means you will not be waiting long to be seated even if the restaurant is full on the day. The menu is extensive, offering a wide selection of curries, biryanis, seafood, and starters. A popular menu choice is the ‘Green Chicken’ starter - desi Chloe Hyde murgh tikka marinated with yoghurt and herbs.

Asha’s Asha's is a classy and buzzy place to enjoy a classic Indian meal.

The décor is classy and elegant.

The restaurant serves up street food favourites, as well as house curries. Even Tom Cruise enjoyed the curry at Asha’s and deemed it his favourite restaurant after he ate two chicken tikka dishes served with plain naan.

Outer Birmingham

Halima Ahad

MyLahore A vibrant and refreshing café at the heart of Birmingham, MyLahore is a restaurant offering British-Asian fusion delights guaranteed to be delicious. The atmosphere of the restaurant is lively and is similar to an American

Heavenly Desserts A small luxury café located on Ladypool Road, Heavenly Desserts serve up mouth watering desserts sure to make you come back for more. The décor is stylish and sophisticated. The menu offers a large range of desserts from waffles to brownies.

Editors’ Picks: Seasonal Veg

Unsplash / Irene Kredenetes

Cauliflower: perfect for curries, or roasted whole.

Unsplash / Louis Hansel

Sweet Potato: coming to the end of its season, so make the most of it now. Ideal for fries.

Unsplash / Laura Johnston

Kale: rich in vital nutrients and great roasted with a sprinkle of seasoning.

The Importance of Eating Local Chloë Hyde discusses why independent restaurants need our help Chloë Hyde

Food&Drink Editor

Following the saddening closure announcement of the highly esteemed independent The Edgbaston Boutique Bar and Hotel on Highfield Road, at the end of February, there is much to be discussed about the importance of independent eateries. It is no surprise to say that the closing of such a wellregarded establishment is a huge loss to Birmingham’s food scene, as reinforced by @ independentbirmingham on Instagram: ‘it’s shocking and massively upsetting to hear.’

When The Edgbaston opened in 2014, it was one of a kind.

Boasting an Art Deco interior with a 1920s speakeasy vibe, this independent was very unique to the city and paved the way for more quirky independents in its wake. In a time where multiple new openings

in the city are welcomed and highly anticipated, it is easy for its forebearers to be sidelined.

Like independents all over the country, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple lockdown measures, and anxieties over leaving the house struck The Edgbaston hard.

Despite exciting new offerings, like a new specialist cocktail menu, the devastation of COVID-19 overrode this entirely, evidently resulting in its heart-breaking closure. The independent scene in Birmingham even struggled over the Christmas period last year, a time wherein eateries should have been their busiest.

Once again, @independentbirmingham posted: ‘We're devastated to hear that @the_indianstreatery have had 66 cancellations for Tuesday alone! This is absolutely awful, and we've heard of mass cancellations from @laghisdeli and a number of other independents too.’

Unlike larger chain restaurants, cancellations at, perhaps, the most bustling time of year took a major toll on these businesses, who were simply trying their hardest to recover from the financial losses caused by the pandemic.

The reason Birmingham is heralded as one of the best foodie spots in the country is largely due to the prevalence of the independent spots which create a breadth of individuality, creativity, and diversity.

While chain restaurants may be a safe option, they often lack the same character and charm found in a hidden gem independent. I have often found myself exclusively recommending the independent restaurants in Birmingham since you simply cannot encounter the same experience anywhere else in the country. By supporting smaller businesses, you are much closer to creating a real difference in the owner’s life – and this could

simply be by leaving positive reviews, recommending to friends and family, or repeating your custom. However, whilst this can be pretty insignificant where chains are concerned, it could be the making or breaking of a small business. There is so much more to independents in Birmingham than just the food – it is the people, the place, and the culture which create an experience like no other. Without customers making a conscious effort to support these places, they would not have the facilities to thrive as they deserve to.

“There is so much more [...] than just the food” As I have already mentioned, @independentbirmingham does a fantastic job of recommending independent

places all over Birmingham – covering areas such as Moseley, Stirchley, Kings Heath, and even Solihull. They even have an app wherein you can become a member and receive exclusive deals and discounts for the small cost of £1.99 per month across over 150 different independents in the city, encouraging people to support local where possible. Alongside this, there are so many different Birmingham-based social media accounts which are dedicated to reviewing all the local places, meaning you could always check out somebody else’s foodie experience before trying it out yourself.

It is crucial to make conscious decisions on where you dine out if you can. Some of the best meals I have ever had the privilege to enjoy have been from independent spots in the city, and they absolutely deserve to be celebrated for their uniqueness and dedication.

FOOD&DRINK

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbrickfood

29

Is Veganuary Actually Good for the Environment?

Georgia Brooks argues that Veganuary may have misplaced focus, but being vegan is a sustainable way of life Georgia Brooks Food&Drink Writer

As the trend of adopting a vegan diet, both permanently and just for January, grows (and with it the amount of vegan substitutes, recipes, and restaurants available), the question of how good it actually is for the environment is raised. While there are many reasons to take part in Veganuary, such as health, animal welfare, trying new foods and setting yourself a challenge, for many, the environment is a key factor. However, a lot of messages fail to take into account the nuances of the food industry and its environmental impact, which leaves us another question: is Veganuary actually sustainable?

There are regular controversies in the media regarding the actual impact of vegan and vegetarian diets on the environment. Take avocados for one: a staple of the vegan Instagram lifestyle, but one small packet of two avocados has an estimated carbon footprint of almost 850g according to the Sustainable Food Trust, a significant contribution. However, this is nothing compared to that of, for example, a chicken breast (over a kilo of CO2 argues Food Foot Print Online).

In general, while the media may try to discredit veganism with examples such as avocados, a ,

vegan lifestyle is much better for the environment when done right.

“A vegan lifestyle is much better for the environment when done right” Vegan substitutes such as soya are often demonised as they must be grown abroad, degrade the environment, and require a fair amount of processing. This could be thought of as a negative impact for the environment and fails to account for the fact that most animals farmed in the UK are in fact fed on soya grown abroad, which means that cutting out one element of the food chain (for example the meat) can have huge environmental positives.

But what about Veganuary specifically? Arguments for at least cutting meat consumption (and the emergence of trends like Flexitarian) are strong; in 2020 it was estimated by Press London that the 35,000 people taking part in Veganuary saved 41,200 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere, along with 2.5 million tonnes of water – a significant impact. It is , therefore, hard to argue that partaking in Veganuary does not have environmental benefits. However, although it definitely helps to raise awareness,

understanding and appreciation of a vegan diet, many who take part in Veganuary, will simply return to their normal lifestyle and diet on 1st February.

So, while there was a brief positive impact, the change is not especially long-term, and the increased demand for certain products for just one month a year is not sustainable for food manufacturers. Having said this, for those who are either vegan for more than just one month of the year, the trend does undoubtedly have benefits, as vegan dining and food items become more widely and cheaply available.

“Increased demand for certain products for just one month a year is not sustainable for food maufacturers” However, the potentially performative elements of Veganuary, a movement that has very much taken off as a result of the rise in social media platforms and influencers, could misplace the focus. Posting aesthetic shots of buddha bowls and smoothies on Instagram really fails to take into account

the nuances and complications of the food industry’s relationship with the environment.

I t encourages a performative approach to a new diet, rather than developing an understanding of which foods work for you personally while also benefitting the environment, an understanding that is crucial Unsplash / Jo Sonn when considering the impacts of veganism and making more sustainable and permanent changes.

That is not to say that mix- has many benefits for the enviing up your diet is a negative ronment, and if nothing else, it thing, and Veganuary undoubt- does encourage the adoption of edly promotes a more sustaina- a more sustainable way of eatble way of life. However, when ing, with a Statista 2021 survey this is a standalone and tempo- indicating that 40% of those rary change (not coupled with who took part in Veganuary other lifestyle changes, such as intended to continue being reducing single use plastic), its vegan to some extent afteractual impact is not sustainable wards. in the long-term. Becoming However, it is important to more conscious of the environ- realise that the food industry mental impact of the food we and its relationship with the eat is vital, but the emphasis on environment is complex and aesthetics and performativity nuanced, and while social that Veganuary as a trend media’s spreading of the vegan encourages only achieves this diet is commendable, it does to a limited extent. risk placing emphasis on the Overall though, Veganuary wrong aspects.

Recipes: Halloumi Two Ways Sarah Cayless cooks up a duo of delicious halloumi dishes Sarah Cayless Food&Drink Editor

Both recipes generously serve two, or make 3-4 smaller lunches.

Halloumi Noodles Ingredients: 1 block of Halloumi 1 pack of Egg Noodles 1-2 tbsp Peanut Butter 1 dessert spoon of Balsamic Vinegar 2-3 tsp Brown Sugar 50g Peas 1 tin of Sweetcorn Vegetable Oil (preferably mixed with a small amount of sesame oil) Soy sauce Sweet Chilli Sauce Method: 1. Cut your halloumi into small squares.

2. Add the noodles to a pan of boiling water.

3. Add the halloumi to a large

frying pan or wok and fry for 3-4 minutes.

4. Drain the noodles.

5. Add the oil to the large frying pan and fry for a further 2 minutes.

6. Add the peanut butter, balsamic vinegar, sugar, peas and sweetcorn. Stir until all combined.

7. Place the noodles in the pan and mix everything together.

8. Add a small amount of soy sauce and drizzle over some sweet chilli sauce to finish.

Unsplash / Andy Hay

Halloumi Curry

and

Aubergine

Ingredients: 1 Medium Aubergine 1 Onion 1 block of Halloumi 3 Garlic Cloves 1 tbsp Ginger Purée 1-2 tbsp Garam Masala 1 tin Chopped Tomatoes ½ tin Coconut Milk 300g Basmati Rice 2 tsp Turmeric Powder 50g Butter Balsamic Vinegar Brown Sugar Salt & Pepper Oil Mango Chutney Poppadoms Method: 1. Cut the aubergine into small bite sized chunks.

2. Preheat the grill to a medium temperature.

3. Place the aubergine on a baking tray and drizzle over with oil and sprinkle with garam masala, salt, pepper, and a small

amount of brown sugar. Place under the grill.

4. Dice the onion.

5. Fry the onion in a large pan on a medium to high heat for five minutes and then turn the temperature down slightly.

6. Mince the garlic and add to the pan, along with 1 tbsp of garam masala and a tsp of turmeric.

7. Fry all the ingredients together for 1 minute until the spices begin to release their aroma.

8. Add the ginger, balsamic vinegar, and brown sugar and fry for another minute.

9. Add 1 tin of tomatoes and reduce heat to a simmer.

10. Check on the aubergine regularly and keep rotating so they colour evenly.

11. Cut the halloumi into bite sized pieces.

12. In a separate pan, fry the halloumi until it is golden on all sides, then set aside.

13. Add the butter and half a tin of coconut milk to the curry and mix well. Continue to simmer.

Unsplash / Viktor Forgacs

14. Boil a pan of water and cook the rice with one tsp of turmeric powder.

15. Remove the aubergine from the oven once it is soft and lightly golden on all sides.

16. Stir the aubergine, halloumi, and a dessert spoon of mango chutney into the curry.

17. Serve on a bed of rice with the poppadoms and mango chutney as a side.

30

TRAVEL

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbricktravel

Travel Guide: 24 Hours in Seville Jessica Haines provides an insider's guide to the Spanish southern city in 24 hours Jessica Haines Travel Writer

Seville is one of my favourite cities in Spain and as it is so close to my Erasmus city, Huelva, I have visited it several times and fall in love with it every time I go.

First things first - brunch.

Seville is spoilt for choice by its brunch restaurants, and you will usually be able to tell how good they are by the amount of people waiting to get in. Some good choices are La Mala (located in the old town), Moma and Feria 83 (both located 5-10 minutes north from the Setas de Sevilla).

“Seville is spoilt for choice by its brunch restaurants” After brunch, if you head towards Plaza del Triunfo, you will find yourself in between the Giralda (part of the Cathedral) and the Real Alcázar de Sevilla.

Both were made UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1987 and are really worth visiting - you can definitely spend a couple of hours in each one.

“Both were made UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1987 and are really worth visiting” The Giralda is a 104.1 metre bell tower - the same height as Old Joe - that you can ascend via 35 ramps. The reason why there are ramps instead of stairs was because during the Muslim occupation of Andalucia, one of the Sultans wanted to be able to go up it on horseback in order to see the view without walking. From the top, you can see a panoramic view of the whole city, including the Plaza de Toros and the Plaza de España. The cathedral itself was built on the site of a mosque,

and still contains some elements, such as the architecture and orange garden. It is the largest gothic religious building in the world and famously has a monument containing the tomb of Christopher Columbus - albeit allegedly. To enter, it costs just €6 for students or €11 for nonstudents.

The Real Alcázar de Sevilla is a royal palace built on the site of a Muslim fortress, for King Peter of Castile, and it has been featured in many films and TV shows, most famously Game of Thrones. It has features of many different styles, such as baroque, renaissance and Islamic influences. It also has a tile museum in one of the wings, containing a grand collection of tiles that date back hundreds of years.

Unfortunately, if you are not an EU Citizen, it costs a bit more to enter than the cathedral - €13, regardless of whether or not you are a student.

After visiting either (or both) of these sites, head to the Plaza de España, designed for the Ibero-American Expo in 1929.

This impressive plaza in the shape of a semi-circle also has a canal by it, on which you can rent a rowing boat. Furthermore, in

the centre of the plaza, there are usually flamenco dancers that perform for donations, making it a magical experience.

“In the centre of the plaza, there are usually flamenco dancers that perform for donations, making it a magical experience” For food, if you feel like trying tapas, Bar Catedral by the Giralda is a great place to go. It has typical tapas dishes such as croquetas, paella or tortilla de patatas, as well as many other delicious dishes (one of my favourites is pork in a whisky and garlic sauce), and all for a good price. You can also get sangria here, a typical Spanish drink made from red wine and infused with apples and oranges. Another

alternative for dinner is watching a flamenco show - typically you will have dinner and then flamenco dancers will perform directly after.

In terms of nightlife, Seville has a great variety. A great student bar to try is Juri’s and a good nightclub is KoKo, situated under the Setas (a wooden structure that you can pay to go up and see the view). Alternatively, you can go up to the rooftop of the Abba Hotel (not affiliated with the Swedish band) and buy a drink, whilst overlooking the Setas and also being able to get a great view of the Giralda.

“In terms of nightlife, Seville has a great variety” If you need accommodation, Oasis Palace Hostel costs around €20 a night, featuring a rooftop, a bar and a swimming pool, as well as being in a central location in the city.

Unsplash/Joan Oger

TRAVEL

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbricktravel

31

What has Happened to the Right to Travel?

Jasmine Sandhar criticises the UK's slack attitude in accommodating Ukrainian refugees and illustrates links between racism and the right to travel Jasmine Sandhar Deputy Editor

According to The Independent, Eurostar has announced that it will allow Ukrainian refugees fleeing to the UK to travel on its trains free of charge. This decision comes following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began only a couple of weeks ago on the 24th of February, with the neighbouring country sending military troops into the eastern Ukrainian territory of Donbas.

Eurostar ’s support of Ukrainian refugees comes after the proclamations from several European nations - including Moldova, Poland and Hungary - that they will operate on an open-door policy, permitting refugees to cross their borders without formally applying for asylum. According to the United Nations, more than one million civilians have already fled Ukraine due to the Russian attacks, and the European Union has stated that they expect three million more to leave, who they are willing to welcome with ‘open arms’.

On the contrary, the UK has not waived its visa requirements. While measures have been introduced by the House of Commons - including the

Ukraine Family Scheme, which allows eligible extended family members from Ukraine to apply for a visa to come to the UK this is not enough. As Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy summed up in an interview with Sky News, the UK’s refusal to provide viable concessions on visa policies is ‘bureaucratic’ with ‘a lot of red tape.’ With tens of thousands of innocent civilians trying to flee a warzone, the UK’s long-winded approach would serve no actual purpose. It would be too slow to actually help anyone trying to escape imminent danger.

However, does our government’s response actually elicit any surprise from us? The UK has a historically troubled relationship with immigrants - this most prominently came to light during the Brexit Referendum in 2016. One of the major reasons behind Britons’ votes to leave the EU was because of concerns around immigration and related social consequences. Findings from the British Social Attitudes survey published a year after found that Britain’s decision to withdraw from the EU was the result of widespread anti-immigration sentiment, rather than a wider dissatisfaction with politics nearly three-quarters (73 per-

cent) of those worried about immigration voted leave. We need look no further than the scaremongering incited by Nigel Farage and UKIP as evidence of why the above occurred.

“The UK has a historically troubled relationship with immigrants - this [...] came to light during [...] Brexit” Another example from further back would be the Windrush Scandal. Although the Windrush generation who arrived in the UK from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1973 were not refugees, many of them were later affected during the 2010s by strict immigration controls. In 2012, the government’s enforcement of ‘Hostile Environment’ legislation wrongly detained, deported and denied legal rights to thousands of Black Britons who lacked documentation, despite being British subjects free to permanently live and work in the

UK. Under Theresa May’s cabinet in 2018, a ‘Windrush Lessons Learned Review’ was undertaken, which promised to find the root causes behind this tragedy. According to The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, the review found that the ‘Windrush scandal was not an accident, but the inevitable result of policies designed to make life impossible for those without the right papers [...] coupled with decades of immigration legislation explicitly aimed at reducing nonwhite immigration.’

The instances above were unfortunately born out of an institutional racism that underlies our country. Yet this is not just limited to the UK. Nonwhite Ukrainian refugees are facing oppression from their own people in their own country. Both South Asian and African refugees have reached out to various publications including The Independent, The Guardian and The New York Times - to share their stories of maltreatment and abuse. Unlike their white counterparts, nonwhite European refugees have been hindered from leaving Ukraine, not given any shelter from the cold (despite dire weather conditions of snow) or basic provisions like food and

water, and in some cases victims have been slapped or beaten with sticks.

“The instances above were unfortunately born out of an institutional racism that underlies our country” As a person of colour myself, hearing and seeing these stories of racism is terrifying. It is one failure to limit the number of refugees entering the UK, but for Ukrainian authorities to deter refugees from safety due to the colour of their skin is an atrocity.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that ‘everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.’ However, when we look at the world surrounding us, it appears that this supposed right to travel is now almost non-existent.

One for the Bucket List: Forging a Sword at Oldfield Forge Charis Gambon takes us through an experience of sword making at Oldfield Forge, highlighting the level of trust the collaborative process entails Charis Gambon Travel Writer

Oldfield Forge offers you an experience that feels pulled straight out of history - forging a sword. This process takes two days and two people, along with the expertise of the forge’s instructors. Every step is completed by hand tools, with the exception of the final grind of the blade which reveals the fruits of your labour as the blackened steel shimmers into a silver. The final assembly is completed when you can proudly hold a creation that you have made with two days of hard work.

Starting with the blade, you shape a tang that will be seated inside the grip, gaining your first understanding of the heating of steel and how much pres-

sure it takes to move it into shape. Realising how the process of forging works, you will have to trust your partner immensely, as one of you directs the shaping of the steel while the other uses a larger twohanded hammer to pound the metal with more force. The two of you will need to communicate largely nonverbally, using dings of the hammer on the anvil to signify hits following the leader, or to stop and allow solo work. A great degree of trust is needed to ensure the correct timing of the hammers is accurate and safe.

When using the forge your metal pieces need to be glowing orange as that means they will be easier to shape. If they are cherry red, more energy will be required to shape the metal, and as a result it will take you longer. If the pieces get too hot

they will begin to spark and will snap in half, as we found out during our forging experience.

Oldfield Forge encourages creativity, as different parts of the sword demand varying levels of customisation. Pommels are the least customisable element, with the guard being the most. Blades are largely simple, but still hold customisation. This, of course, only applies to one type of sword, there being other options for flamberge blades, simple sabres, cutlasses, and more historically accurate swords, as well daggers, high-carbon house knives, and utility tools such as s-hooks, and candlesticks.

The instructors at the forge do not regard themselves as teachers, but as guides, helping you to create what you want to make. They offer humour as

friends would, and can help to rescue your projects when things go awry, keeping you on track and motivated to make a piece you can be genuinely proud of.

No two creations will ever be the same; the individuality and the personality of the makers will show through in the final piece. Oldfield Forge is a place to visit, and the experience is one that will last a lifetime, through nurturing skills that you never knew you had, building trust, and creating wonderful memories between the forge

Unsplash/Hannah Gibbs

pair. In our time at Oldfield, we saw lovers who had been together for no time at all, couples that had been married for decades, parents with their children, and friends looking for an adventurous experience together, and all of them left with pride holding something they had made together.

32

LIFE&STYLE

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbricklifestyle

Nepotism: Is Relatability the Key to Deservedness?

Deyna Grimshaw debates the inevitability of celebrity nepotism, noting that public response is often negative because of apparent 'undeservedness' Deyna Grimshaw Life&Style Writer

There is an old saying: ‘It’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know.’ This statement has perhaps never felt truer than in 2022, when social media means that celebrities’ children are able to begin building a brand before they can even walk. It is no secret, therefore, that many celebrities nowadays have become so successful through connections, in many cases familial connections.

Does this nepotism mean that they do not deserve the success which they have found, or is it merely a fact of life that some people will begin with a (very extensive) advantage over others?

“Many celebrities nowadays have become so successful through connections” Of course, some families instantly come to mind when you hear the word nepotism, in par-

ticular, the Kardashian-Jenners.

Whilst all the Kardashian-Jenners have benefitted hugely from their family connections, the biggest debate over a family member’s deservingness has surrounded Kendall Jenner. Jenner bagged the spot of the top paid model in the world in 2021, earning an astounding $40 million. Whilst no one is arguing that Jenner is not beautiful, many people argue that the industry is incredibly difficult to get into. Furthermore, during episodes of Keeping up with the Kardashians that were filmed when Jenner was younger, she showed a complete lack of motivation or drive to enter the industry. Even then, the appointments had been set up by her mother and sisters, showing the help that she was given by her family in order to begin a modelling career.

It is interesting that the most mentioned industry in terms of nepotism tends to be modelling, followed by acting. This is because these are two industries that are extremely difficult to get into, and in which people can succeed even with little effort or talent. For instance, no one is angry about the fact that Miley Cyrus is, as Twitter has branded it, a ‘nepotism baby,’ because she has the talent to support the career she

@kendalljenner/Instagram

has built. Her fame does not rely solely on her family links (her father being the famous country singer Billy-Ray Cyrus, and her godmother being icon Dolly Parton). In contrast, people feel that celebrities such as Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid do not put effort into their work, and are simply gliding through life in the knowledge that they will always be provided with opportunities because of their surnames.

So why is it that nepotism angers us so much? Even if Kendall Jenner had not entered the modelling industry, the top paid model of 2021 would not have been me or you. In essence, our hatred of nepotism comes down to the fact that we want to believe that we too can achieve the accomplishments which we see from celebrities. If a celebrity has come from nothing, it inspires us to do the same – it is no secret that everybody loves an underdog. Yet if they have been helped along by successful family members, people feel that they cannot replicate the success that they see, and therefore get jealous.

We believe that we should all be given the same opportunities in life – that is certainly what would be fair, but it is just not how the world works. I think people know

that in reality, and that is why most cases of nepotism are merely accepted – but we still get angry when we see celebrities blatantly undeserving of their success.

“Most cases of nepotism are merely accepted” In the end, as unfair as nepotism may seem, it is inevitable, and we cannot blame celebrities for taking advantage of their connections, because we would all do the same in their position. What we can ask, is that we as the public provide a platform to those who deserve them, celebrity child or not. If a ‘nepotism baby’ is an incredible actor, singer, model, or anything else, then they will deserve the following they amass.

Yet even if we feel that a celebrity is undeserving of their success owing to how they got there, they have still amassed a following for a reason. Therefore, it remains impossible to claim that they are undeserving of anything that they have received. If you do not like a celebrity, just do not follow them – there really is not much else that you can do.

Cosmetic Tourism: Worth the Risks?

Ella Taylor explores the dangers of jetting abroad for cosmetic procedures Ella Taylor Life&Style Writer

Cosmetic tourism is the latest phenomenon to grip people's attention. The enticing opportunity to receive cheap plastic surgery with high standards is available abroad.

There is also the chance to have an idyllic holiday in exotic locations, such as Turkey or Brazil.

Many celebrities have travelled for the same purpose, with Katie Price and many of The Only Way Is Essex cast engaging in cosmetic tourism. However, this offer is usually too good to be true like most things. Cosmetic tourism has dangerous limitations that everybody should know about before considering it, fraught with the possibilty of the need for corrective surgeries and even the chance of death.

“Cosmetic toursim has dangerous limitations that everybody should know about”

With social media and influencers reigning the internet and a rise in altering appearances with Photoshop, it comes as no surprise that the average person may begin to compare themselves unfairly. Apps such as Instagram and Snapchat have created a dangerous precedent through their filters, especially those which tweak your body. For example, realistic filters on Snapchat give the appearance of a smaller nose or a more defined jawline. After using these and looking in the mirror, it is understandable why so many may dislike their beautiful, natural features.

Following Kim Kardashian's rumoured Brazilian Butt Lift (commonly known as a BBL) in 2012, interest in ‘butt enhancement’ rose 34% and ‘butt implants’ rose 100%. This is just one example of the vast effect that social media can have on those considering surgery. However, due to the expense of surgery in the United Kingdom, many people have turned to cosmetic tourism.

According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) ‘people can save 40 to 80%’ travelling abroad for alterations. This means that the market has grown around 15 to 25 per cent. However, we must

acknowledge the additional risks of travelling abroad for cosmetic alterations.

“Following Kim Kardashian’s rumoured Brazilian Butt Lift [...] interest in [...] ‘butt implants’ rose 100%” The primary issue seems to be the patient's distance from the UK. It is often challenging to know what qualifications prospective surgeons hold, as standards vary from place to place and between different countries. Even if the surgery is successful, there is still a monumental issue with travelling home.

Thrombosis is when a blood clot forms in a vein, partially or completely blocking blood flow.

The combination of the operation itself and flying increases the risk of this occurring. Many surgeons may neglect to factor this in, or some patients who are not edu-

cated enough may embark too soon, causing severe health issues.

Furthermore, according to the NHS website, ‘it's the surgeon's responsibility to provide followup treatment’ if an issue arises in Britain. However, it is a lot more difficult to revisit a surgeon who operated in another country for obvious reasons. Therefore, with the NHS not intervening unless the case is life-threatening, there is no choice but to opt for private healthcare if you are unsatisfied with your results.

In fact, in 2020, a whopping £8.2 million was spent on correctional surgery in Britain. As well as this, the patient is subjected to more recovery time. This usually results in them spending more money than if they initially had the surgery in the UK. Although there are several success stories regarding cosmetic tourism, in my opinion, the risks outweigh the positives. One tragic example of this is the mother of three, Leah Cambridge, who travelled from Leeds to Izmir in 2018 to receive a BBL. After complications arose, she fatally suffered three heart attacks on the operating table.

Undoubtedly, there can be complications in procedures per-

formed in the UK, yet additional risks accompanying travelling exacerbate the base level complications heavily.

I believe that social media should offer more protection for vulnerable people who may impulsively consider surgery abroad. The removal of filters that digitally ‘correct’ the user's features is a great start.

“I believe that social media should offer more protection for vulnerable people who may impulsively consider surgery abroad” It is, of course, the individual's choice whether they choose to have surgery, especially abroad.

However, it is imperative that Vogueto thorough research is performed avoid tragic consequences.

LIFE&STYLE

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbricklifestyle

Meticulous Masculinity: The Meat of the Matter Jenny Cooper Life&Style Writer

Content Warning: contains discussions of eating disorders Masculinity is often associated with the consumption of meat and the notion that ‘real men eat meat.’

In many English-speaking countries (including the UK, USA, and Australia), men eat substantially more meat than women.

Studies have suggested that men are ten times more likely to kill animals for sport and half as likely to be vegan or vegetarian in comparison to women. It is also suggested that men who eat a lot of red meat are insecure about their masculinity and are using meat as a way to present themselves as a ‘manly-man.’

It is arguable that the preoccupation with meat is due to its high protein content. Meat is seen to allow men the ability to build muscle and boost stereotypical male qualities like ‘virility and sexual strength.’

Furthermore, there seems to be a misconception within these cultures that vegetarianism is effeminate and associated with homosexuality. Research has proven that these biases exist, indicating that the consumption of red meat is perceived by both men and women to be closely connected to masculine qualities.

This starts to explain why men who have low self-esteem surrounding their masculinity use red meat as a way to combat it.

“The consumption of red meat is [...] closely connected to masculine qualities” Male obsession with meat appears to have been taken to the extreme, as three quarters of men would rather die young than give up meat. An Australian study has found that 73% of Australian men would say that they would rather reduce their life expectancy by up to 10 years than to give up eating meat. There are various potential explanations for this, including men not believing the health benefits of a meat-free diet, men being less likely to be condemned for morally depraved actions, and the habitual under-diagnosis of male eating disorders.

We should take men’s unwill-

ingness to cut meat out of their diet seriously. Even if an obsession with meat is related to their protein intake, there are still serious implications of disordered eating. The idealised masculine body is very lean and m u s c u l a r, and the trend that men are more likely to consume red meat when they feel emasculated suggests that

Men’s Health stating the benefits of consuming red meat also illustrates the disordered behaviour men have surrounding meat.

Moreover, in a study of 36 men in Sydney who tried a plant-based burger, the majority said that they were unlikely to include it in their diet. Their reasoning betrays the social pressure men have to appear a certain way - one stating that ‘I don’t want to end up with my friends laughing at me over a plantbased burger’ and another arguing that it could ruin ‘his reputation as a man.’

Not only is it pertinent to find out why there is this connection between men and meat, but we also need to discover ways we can help to address it. There are large social and environmental costs to a meat-heavy diet.

Meat consumption is the number one cause of global animal cruelty, contributing to 14% to global greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, mass extinction, and water usage. It adds to world hunger, worker exploitation, and indigenous land theft. It is also clear that overconsumption of meat is bad for the individual, increasing antibiotic resistance and the likelihood of heart disease, cancer, and high cholesterol levels.

“There are large social and environmental costs to a meatheavy diet”

Deva Darshan

there may be a more serious underlying issue in the relationship men have to meat. Meat, and red meat especially, is also very calorie dense. This means that in ‘bulking season’ men consume more meat in order to reach their ‘calorie goals’ for the day whilst maintaining high protein.

A quarter of eating disorder sufferers are male, and yet there is still substantial stigma surrounding male sufferers. This may be a consequence of the trivialisation of male eating disorders or disordered eating. An article from the popular website

An obvious way that we can help to address the obsession men have with eating meat is to remove the stigma surrounding plant-based diets. We need to make the idea of veganism and vegetarianism more palatable for men. Although this may imply that men care more about their masculinity than morals, I believe that due to the pervasiveness of male body image issues, there is more to the desire for meat than mere trivial preferences. In order to properly address the issue of men’s distaste for ‘meat-free’ we need to open up conversations which allow men to talk about why they are afraid of going vegetarianIt is suggested that one way to reduce male meat consumption is by advertising plant-based foods as nutritional, as well as through presenting new ideals to men that promote consideration for the environment rather than one’s musculature. By shifting men’s perceptions of gender roles and the ‘ideal man’ we can help to reduce the connection between self-esteem issues and meat consumption.

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Chatting With Luxury YouTuber Cassie Thorpe

Marina Ley interviews UoB alumnus Cassie Thorpe Marina Ley Life&Style Writer

How does one kickstart a career based around social media?

According to Cassie, it is all about finding your niche. Every friendship group member has a role; the mate you go to for relationship advice or the one who always has new music recommendations.

Cassie’s role has always been to give fashion advice: which shoes go best with what outfit, is this jumper y2k or is it just grandad grunge? You get the idea. Once you discover your niche, you've got all you need to start. So, how does a student on a budget build a luxury brand YouTube channel, when even going to Sainsbury’s instead of Aldi feels like the height of luxury and expense? Cassie believes that you do not need the items themselves to share your opinions. Getting creative is key – share your thoughts on luxury products and trends that you have been following, insert reference photos into your videos and visit luxury stores purely for the experience and to have your say on the pieces.

“Cassie’s role has always been to give fashion advice” What is the value in failure?

If being a successful UoB graduate taught Cassie one lesson, it's that failure is a key part of the process. Failing is invaluable in exploring exactly what it is you want to do. Trying out a few things in that process helps you

learn more about yourself and your goals. Hearing that failure may not actually mean failing at all are welcome words when university life can feel like we are ‘failing' more than we succeed.

What are the downsides to the industry?

Like most things, luxury YouTubing is not always fun and games. Putting yourself in the limelight can be a lot of pressure.

Cassie appears to have found the balance that works for her, laughing off the occasional critical comment in favour of those who support her, and keeping to a selfmade filming schedule that keeps filming days exciting. Cassie is candid when discussing the flexibility of her job; it allows her to avoid the pressure of constantly having to be ‘on’ that many careers founded in the public eye are subject to.

What are the environmental effects of the luxury fashion industry?

According to Cassie, designer items are quality pieces that are made to last, compared to the fastfashion threads that contribute to an increasingly wasteful and unsustainable fashion industry.

Afterall, who is going to throw out a Prada handbag just because they have had it for a few years?

Cassie gasps in shock-horror at the very thought of this fashion crime. Of course, high fashion comes at a price and so Cassie is an advocate for second-hand shopping and preloved luxury outlets that celebrate luxury fashion whilst doing their bit for the environment.

“High fashion comes at a price”

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SCI&TECH

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbricktech

Hubble Captures Image of Colliding Galaxies Gwydion Elliott discusses new image from space telescope Gwydion Elliott Sci&Tech Editor

The Hubble space telescope has captured a stunning new image of two distant galaxies colliding.

Visible in the image are the strands of glowing matter – gas, dust, and even whole solar systems being pulled across space from the smaller galaxy to its larger neighbour.

Though this example is rare for its clarity and beauty, this type of interaction is not uncommon in the universe. Despite the vast enormity of space, galaxies are often pulling on one another, the forces of gravity having significant impacts on their shape and structure as they brush past each other or collide and merge into one. The collision of two galaxies is also an opportunity to re-vitalise star formation in a dying galaxy, as new material is brought together, compressed by gravitational forces. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, has interacted with many others in the past, and is currently on a head-on collision course with Andromeda. In four billion years, the two will meet and pass through each other, before returning together two billion years later to form a new galaxy some have nicknamed Milkdromeda.

The colliding galaxies pic-

tured by Hubble have much less imaginative names. The larger of the two is a barred spiral galaxy named NGC 169. This is a huge galaxy – its brightest central por-

named IC 1559. The astronomer Halton Arp catalogued the pair in his 1966 Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, collectively naming the two Arp 282.

ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton, Dark Energy Survey, DOE, FNAL/DECam, CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/ AURA, SDSS Acknowledgement: J. Schmidt

tion spans 140,000 light years, with its outer arms stretching far beyond that. Its structure of spiralling arms surrounding a central glowing bar at its core, is very similar to that of our own galaxy.

The smaller polar ring galaxy being pulled towards NGC 169 is

Arp’s atlas catalogued more than 300 galaxies which were interacting or merging with each other, in order to improve astronomers’ then limited understanding of how galaxies changed over time. Interestingly, Arp himself argued that these images were not

of colliding galaxies, as is the scientific consensus, but rather showed larger galaxies ejecting smaller ones into space. Perhaps it is for this reason that he described the smaller galaxy pictured as 'raining' into its partner, rather than being pulled in, as astronomers would see it today.

Both galaxies in the image have supermassive black holes at their centres. These have enough of a gravitational pull to keep the rest of the galaxy swirling around them, and when the galaxies collide the black holes will merge into one and send gravitational waves rippling over the universe.

These waves were first theorised in 1905 but were not detected until 2015 by the Laser Interferometer GravitationalWave Observatory (LIGO) operated by Caltech and MIT in the US. By bouncing lasers inside four kilometere long tubes, scientists could detect the waves as they rippled the fabric of spacetime, passing through Earth following the collision of two galaxies 1.3 billion years ago.

The new image is a reminder that the universe is a dynamic and ever-changing place, with action playing out on scales too vast for us to watch play out. Fortunately, modern astronomy allows us to see the beautiful snapshots of dramatic exchanges such as these by the Hubble telescope.

UoB Ranks 138th on Sustainability Daniella Southin reports on recent sustainability assessments Daniella Southin Sci&Tech Writer

138th. That is where the University of Birmingham ranked in the People and Planet league table of university sustainability in December 2021.

As the largest student network of environmental and social justice campaigns in the United Kingdom, People and Planet are working to ‘empower the next generation of change-makers’, ‘achieve systemic change,’ and ‘transform the education sector.’

They utilise data published by universities and information made publicly available by the Higher Education Statistics Agency. By publishing annual league tables ranking universities based on the twelve sustainability criteria, including Carbon Management, Waste and Recycling and Sustainability Staff. Each section is granted a percentage, producing an overall percentage for each university. The league tables expose inadequacies in university strategy and policy as well as celebrate environmental achievements.

UoB was granted an overall score of just 13.1%, over 47% lower than local rivals Birmingham City who ranked 31st with a score of 60.2%. Achieving 0% in the

Environmental Policy, Energy Sources, Carbon and Water Reduction sections, UoB earned the title of Failed University alongside Leeds Art University and the University of Dundee.

Particularly notable is the university’s score of 15% in the Sustainable Food section with no accreditations or awards such as the Food Made Good Membership, the 15% awarded by People and Planet for ‘providing space or support for community food projects.’

Unlike UoB, the People and Planet’s leading sustainable university, Manchester Metropolitan, achieved 90% for their sustainable food practices. Embedded into their policy are commitments to reducing meat and dairy and increasing plant-based options on campus, as well as sourcing local and seasonal produce. Sustainable food is at the heart of the nationwide student association Animal Rebellion’s ethos. Their current campaign aims to get universities across the country to become 100% plant-based by the academic year 2023/24. Instrumental in the closure of McDonald’s four UK distribution centres, Animal Rebellion has a history of campaign success. In their recent press release, they confirmed that ‘outreach campaigns have been started and policy motions filed at six

universities.’ With interest from universities in Australia and the Netherlands, alongside many other UK universities, their campaign is spreading.

While students are yet to form a UoB Animal Rebellion society, one student stated ‘UoB should strongly consider adopting a more plant-based catering system’ believing ‘a transition to plantbased products will help the university achieve their short term emissions goals’ and ‘allow students to consciously reduce their environmental impact.’

In the past, UoB has made important steps to becoming a more sustainable campus with the installation of 272 solar panels on the Green Community accommodation, and their collaboration with recycling company BioBean so waste coffee grounds can be turned into coffee logs, ‘preventing over 20,000 virgin wood logs from being produced and burned’ throughout the first 12 months of partnership. However, as of February 2021, UoB was still investing 1.2 million into fossil fuels. Their justification comes from beliefs that such companies are committed to transitioning to more sustainable practices.

The University of Birmingham has reiterated its commitments to sustainability targets, telling Redbrick that ‘The University of

Birmingham is committed to sustainability; we have set ambitious targets to achieve net zero carbon overall by 2045. We are embedding sustainability in all of our activities, from our food and beverage practices and our infrastructure to creating new innovative energy solutions.

‘We recognise the impact that food and beverage services have on our carbon footprint and we have identified this as a key area for reducing emissions. We have already adapted our policies to favour local produce and reduce waste, and we continue to look for further opportunities to reduce our carbon emissions.’

‘As well as using our pioneering research and innovative education to make major global contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, we are empowering our staff, students and local communities to consider the personal actions they can take to also reduce their carbon footprint.’

‘We have started to develop our Smart Campus which will support the University to achieve net zero. We also continue to improve the auditing of our data to ensure we can monitor progress and improve sustainability practices; we hope to see this improvement reflected in league tables in the future.’

Creature Feature: Scottish Highland Cattle Ffion Haf

Comment Editor

Nilfanion @ Wikimedia Commons

As their name suggests, Highland cattle originate in the Highlands of Scotland. This breed of cattle is designed to withstand the harsh conditions of their environment as their long hair is double-layered, with an oily outer layer which covers a fine undercoat below.

Interestingly, although a group of cattle is typically known as a herd, a group of Highland cattle is known as a ‘fold.’ This is due to the fact that in winter, the cattle can be kept in stone shelters called folds in order to protect them from low temperatures.

“Although a group of cattle is typically known as a herd, a group of Highland cattle is known as a ‘fold’” Whilst they are traditionally identified by their distinctive long horns and red woolly coats, originally, they were predominantly black. To begin with, the breed was divided into two classes, the Highlander, and the West Highland, also known as the Kyloe. The Kyloe tended to be of smaller size, most likely due to the severe climate and limited rations of the islands they were raised on. Nowadays, however, the differences between these have disappeared, most likely as a result of crossbreeding, and all members of the breed are now known as the Highland.

Highland cattle have a reputation for being a social species that graze together in large groups.

The cattle tend to have a social hierarchy among the group, typically based upon both age and sex, and with a dominant male leading the fold. The bulls, which are the larger sex of the breed, are known to weigh up to 800 kilograms whilst the cows can weigh up to around 500 kilograms. They are characterised by their gentle temperament and intelligence which allow them to remember both creatures and places, and in some cases appear to have distinct personalities as people do.

SCI&TECH

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbricktech

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What Happens While We Dream?

Josie Scott-Taylor investigates the science behind our slumber Josie Scott-Taylor TV Editor

Sleep is something that we spend one third of our lives doing, and nearly everyone is familiar with that feeling of waking up after a vivid dream, but what is really happening in our brains while this goes on? Without enough sleep, the human body stops being able to function properly, making it absolutely essential to our survival - but what really goes on while our brains are shut off from the real world and invent ridiculous stories? Is there any meaning behind those terrifying dreams we have all had about our teeth falling out, or turning up at school wearing less than you would ideally like?

Put in simple terms, dreams are thoughts, feelings and images that occur while we sleep. Some people dream in colour, while oth-

ers actually dream in black and white, and on average, most people dream for around two hours a night, although they may not remember the majority of what took place.

Dreams occur most commonly and intensely in the rapid-eye movement (REM) stage of our sleep cycle, which first happens around 90 minutes after we fall asleep. It gets its name from the way that our eyes move quickly from side to side underneath our eyelids during this stage, and brain wave activity during REM sleep actually appears very similar to brain waves during our waking hours - it should not come as a surprise that our dreams can become so wild and intense while we are in this stage, then. New Scientist have even suggested that we dream a lot more than we might think, but we actually forget most of it. Tore Nielsen from the University of Montreal

explains that dreaming consists of ‘hours and hours of mental experiences,’ of which we remember just minutes after we have woken up.

“We dream a lot more than we might think, but we actually forget most of it”

One of the questions that has plagued scientists for years is whether or not our dreams have any kind of real meaning. Some theories, like the activation-synthesis hypothesis, suggest that dreams actually have no meaning, instead simply resulting from the brain attempting to make sense of neural activity that occurs while we sleep. According to this theory, our brains try to give meaning to

random signals that are created when circuits in the brainstem are activated during REM sleep, and this is why we dream.

Freud would disagree with this theory, though - according to his research on the subject, he believed that dreams were derived from real life and must therefore, be connected to it. He theorised that our dreams explore our unconscious desires and wishes, particularly ones we are unable to fulfil in reality for various reasons, and that if the symbols in one’s dreams are analysed carefully enough, their underlying emotions can be uncovered and understood.

Freud’s theories are certainly

taken with a pinch of salt nowadays, so it might be best just to trust the modern scientists.

Although sleep might seem like a simple process that we go through every night, there is so much more to it than just closing your eyes and nodding off. From constantly-shifting sleep phases to stimulated brainstem circuits, our brains are anything but dormant throughout the night.

Annie Spratt / Unsplash

Mystery Illness Puzzles US Officials Ashley Baker discusses the possible causes of Havana Syndrome Ashley Baker Sci&Tech Writer

Intelligence experts in the United States have suggested that a mystery illness affecting U.S. government officials around the globe, known as ‘Havana syndrome,’ may be caused by pulsed energy.

Havana syndrome was first recognised in 2016 when diplomats and agents working at the U.S. and Canadian embassies in Cuba’s capital Havana began reporting a range of unusual symptoms that had no apparent cause.

Initially, more than 20 cases of the illness were reported among embassy staff and their family members. Some of the symptoms

described by people with the syndrome included hearing unpleasant sounds such as ringing and buzzing noises, loss of memory, headaches, dizziness, and nausea.

Diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba had only been re-established in 2015 following many decades of tensions that began during the Cold War. The emergence of Havana syndrome posed a challenge to relations between the two countries, with the USA considering closing down its new embassy, less than two years after it had opened.

In the years since Havana syndrome was first identified, more than 200 suspected cases of the illness have been reported by US officials working in various parts

of the world including Russia, China, Germany, Austria, and Vietnam.

The cause of Havana syndrome has become the subject of huge debate, with a number of theories being put forward to explain such strange symptoms.

Some experts believe that Havana syndrome is an entirely psychological phenomenon linked to stress, whereas others suspect the syndrome is the result of weapons being used in targeted attacks by foreign operatives.

In early February, the CIA published an interim report providing details of an investigation into 20 cases of Havana syndrome – including many of the original group of cases that emerged in Cuba. Although the report did not

set out any final conclusions, it stated that ‘pulsed electromagnetic energy’ emitted from a device was a plausible cause for the symptoms exhibited by those with Havana syndrome.

The report highlighted that the illness could not alone be explained by psychological and social factors, and other potential causes such as ionising radiation or biological weapons were largely ruled out.

Overseen by a panel of intelligence experts, the assessment is thought to have involved the reviewing of more than 1,000 classified documents as well as interviews with people who had experienced symptoms.

Despite the CIA’s suspicion that targeted pulsed energy had

caused Havana syndrome, the mystery behind the illness remains largely unsolved. The U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who is responsible for America’s foreign policy, discussed Havana syndrome in a recent interview with MSNBC. He told the network: ‘To date, we don’t know exactly what’s happened and we don’t know exactly who is responsible.’

Further investigations into Havana syndrome are being carried out by other U.S. government departments and organisations, including the FBI, with findings expected to be released in the coming months as part of a more detailed final report.

Film Studio to Open in Space Cerys Gardner reports on new space station module Cerys Gardner Digital Editor

A film studio in space is set to be opened in December 2024. The UK-based company behind it is Space Entertainment Enterprise (SEE), who want to create a film production studio and sports arena that will show films, television, music, and sports events.

The module, a detachable selfcontained unit of a spacecraft, will dock on Axiom Station, a commercial wing of the International Space Station (ISS).

The Axiom Station is then going to separate from the ISS in 2028, before the ISS deorbits in 2031.

The ISS was originally built to last 15 years in space and there are concerns about the age of its equipment.

Phil McAlister, director of commercial space at NASA, said ‘we look forward to sharing our lessons learned and operations experience with the private sector to help them develop safe, reliable and cost-effective destinations in space.’

SEE intends to make its own content as well as letting third parties, including content creators use the space.

Chief Operating Officer of SEE, Richard Johnston, told C21 Media that ‘from Jules Verne to Star Trek, science-fiction entertainment has inspired millions of people around the world to dream about what the future might bring.

Creating a next-generation entertainment venue in space opens countless doors to create incredible new content and make these dreams a reality.’

In a statement to C21 Media SEE co-founders Dmitry and Elena Lesnevsky said: ‘SEE-1 is an incredible opportunity for humanity to move into a different realm and start an exciting new chapter in space. It will provide a unique and accessible home for boundless entertainment possibilities in a venue packed with innovative infrastructure that will unleash a new world of creativity.

“An incredible opportunity for humanity” ‘With worldwide leader Axiom Space building this cutting-edge, revolutionary facility, SEE-1 will

provide not only the first but also a supreme-quality space structure enabling the expansion of the $2

The Challenge is about a surgeon who has to carry out an operation in space because the astronaut is too sick to make it back to Earth. It is due to be released later this year.

It will star actor Yulia Peresild, 36, and was directed by Klim Shipenko, 37. Roscomos, the Russian space agency, has said that the film will ‘popularise Russia’s space activities, as well NASAISS as glorify cosmonaut profession.’

According to Variety the Tom trillion global entertainment Cruise film is ‘is not a sci-fi industry into low-Earth orbit.’ movie but rather an action-advenAxiom are also the company ture story in which Cruise plays a backing Tom Cruise’s plans to down-on-his-luck guy who finds shoot a film in space, along with himself in the position of being director Doug Liman. This will be the only person who could save the second film shot in space, Earth.’ Additionally, only a small after the Russian film The part of the film will be shot on the Challenge which completed a 12 ISS with the rest shot on Earth or day shoot in space in October. in a rocket.

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SPORT

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbricksport

Bruno Lage has Wolves Fans Dreaming Takbir Rahman reports on Bruno Lage’s tenure thus far as Wolves manager, with the West Midlands club hoping to secure a European spot for next season Takbir Rahman Sport Writer

Wolves are hoping this season will be the one they finally qualify for Europe’s most elite competition: The Champions League.

Despite recent unflattering results against top four rivals Arsenal and West Ham, the West Midlands team have won five out of their nine league games in 2022, and are still dreaming of a European tour next season, despite it being an outside chance. This improved form is a reflection of the new found confidence under Portuguese manager Bruno Lage.

Lage took the reins following the departure of fan favourite Nuno Espirito Santo at the conclusion of the 2020/21 season.

Their former manager is somewhat of a legend at Molineux Stadium, bringing the club up from the Championship and steadying the boat to ensure security within the top flight. As the seasons went on, however, it became apparent to the whole league that Wolves were not reaching their full potential. Littered with European talent, mainly provided by super-agent Jorge Mendes, Wolves had bigger aims than what Espirito Santo could provide.

Despite two seventh place finishes in three years, Nuno was let go

and in came fellow countryman Bruno Lage.

Lage has only managed one team prior to his role at Wolves, winning the Primera Liga during his first season with Benfica and finishing second the next. In June of 2020, Lage left his role after a period of substandard results, culminating in five consecutive home defeats, a club record.

On the surface, this short record implies a lack of longevity. Whilst the league win is impressive, can the manager have sustained success over multiple seasons? This is yet to be seen. What can be guaranteed, though, is the manager’s professionalism. Lage is highly regarded for his dignity and high potential, and ultimately, his 94% win rate in his first season at Benfica is what Wolves fans will be focusing on.

This season in the Premier League has been one to celebrate so far. Wolves started slow, losing their first three games without scoring a single goal. However, these results were not representative of their performances. It seemed as though Wolves could not buy a goal, and that their hard work was not paying off. It was only from September that the performances were reflected on the score sheet with consecutive wins against Southampton, Newcastle and Aston Villa. In 2022, the West

Midlands team have beaten Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur away from home, and recorded crucial home victories against Leicester City and Southampton.

“This season in the Premier League has been one to celebrate so far”

second nature. In this way, it is apparent that Lage’s biggest impact has been on the training ground. Upon arriving in Wolverhampton, the manager implemented weekly rankings of players based on their performances in small sided games. A fierce and competitive mentality has certainly been brought to the Sir Jack Hayward Training ground, with the whole squad eager to reach first place.

Despite some recent disappointing results, Wolves fans may be dreaming of the European

promised land. After failing to break into the top six in the last three seasons, the Molineux faithful will be yearning for an elusive spot in the Champions League, although Europa League qualification would still be seen as a major success. With Pedro Neto, Joao Moutinho and Hwang HeeChan all coming back from injuries, their squad is near to full strength. The battle for the European places is finely poised and a fully fit squad for Lage to work with will go a long way. towards their pursuit.

Amidst the success so far, Bruno Lage’s name is no longer flying under the radar - the Portuguese manager is yet another Jorge Mendes client to thrive at Molineux. Lage has opted to persist with the 3-5-2 formation- the same system favoured by predecessor Espirito Santo. The back 3 include mainstays such as Conor Coady, Roman Saiss and Max Kilman who are not only physically imposing but also show quality with the ball at their feet.

Wolves have the third best defence in the league, impressively only conceding 23 goals thus far. Their sturdy defence is proof of meticulous training sessions, where the players are drilled so that their positions become

Twitter/@Wolves

Boxing: Taylor vs Catterall Sparks Officiating Controversy Will Rogers reports on the controversial officiating that crowned Josh Taylor as the undisputed Super-Lightweight Champion of the world Will Rogers Sport Writer

Whilst fans around the country cry out for changes in the way that the Premier League is refereed, judged and reviewed, Saturday night saw a controversial conclusion from three experienced scorers, north of the border at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow. After twelve gruelling rounds, to most people watching ringside it seemed that Josh Taylor, the undisputed super-lightweight champion, had lost the belts for which he had worked so hard to the relatively unknown mandatory challenger, Jack Catterall.

Yet, to the despair of Catterall and many at ringside, it was Taylor who was announced as the victor by split decision, retaining his titles before his inevitable move up to welterweight. I, like so many watching, scored it for Catterall by 115-111, and watched Taylor celebrate as an irate, inconsolable Catterall left the ring.

After Catterall’s coach Jamie Moore gave some strong words to Sky Sports, questions have to be

combat poor officiating across the globe, with home fighters often being given questionable decisions due to the roars of the crowd.

Some judges wear headphones to drown out the crowd noise, allowing them to focus solely on the fight. Amateur boxing has five judges, creating more split decisions, but usually coming to the right result. However, there has always been questions about bias and corruption within amateur boxing, with fighters like Michael Conlan and Roy Jones Jr. seemingly robbed by the scorecards.

Twitter/@JoshTaylorBoxer

asked about what can be done to stop a trend that has been occurring for too long and has turned so many fans away from the sweet science.

Taylor joins a long list of superb fighters, including Joe Louis, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, who have been involved in controversial deciMatthew Grubb

sions, and he will not be the last.

With boxing being scored as it is, there will always be differences in opinions. Yet with three experienced judges, Howard Foster, Victor Loughlin and Ian JohnLewis scoring the fight, the outrage is understandable.

Many different systems have been trialled and suggested to

“Many different systems have been trialled and suggested to combat poor officiating across the globe” It is not just the scoring that

frustrates the boxing public. The power of the sport’s hierarchy means that mega fights often struggle to come to fruition, with continuous mandatory challengers leading to one-sided beatdowns from the champions.

Moreover, the promoters often mean we do not see the fights that we want, with Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury being a prime example. AJ has been guided by Eddie Hearn throughout his career, whilst Fury fights for Bob Arum and Frank Warren. The British public, despite Joshua’s defeats to Andy Ruiz and Oleksandr Usyk, are still crying out for this fight, yet it seems unlikely to happen any time soon.

Overall, boxing’s problems have been around for years, and will probably continue long into the future. The main problem is a lack of communication from judges and governing bodies about the scores, leaving fight fans in the wilderness. Despite the controversy, Jack Catterall’s performance should not be forgotten, as he returned to Lancashire as the uncrowned, undisputed champion of the world.

SPORT

Friday 11th March 2022

@redbricksport

A Tribute to Shane Warne Oscar Frost looks back on the career of one of the greatest cricketers to play the game Oscar Frost Sport Editor

On the 4th March 2022, cricket lost one of its brightest sparks.

Shane Keith Warne was leg spin.

A true cricketing great, Warne changed the game of cricket forever, and has paved the way for the great spinners of the future.

When I think of Shane Warne, I immediately think of his first ball in Test Cricket in England. A young, blond haired Australian was brought on to bowl as England were 80-1. Mike Gatting, one of the English greats, was at the crease. Warne flighted the ball far outside Gatting’s leg-stump, seemingly a loosener that would only trouble the keeper preventing the ball whizzing through for byes. But, to everyone’s amazement, the ball jagged at a near right-angle, clipping Gatting’s off-stump and dislodging the Twitter/@hantscricket

bails. Silence rippled through the ground. Gatting stepped back in disbelief, before trudging back to the pavilion. A star was born.

Warne went on to have one of the most illustrious careers in cricketing history. He has the most test wickets in a calendar year (96), he was the second fastest bowler to make it to 700 wickets (144 matches), and also took the second most ten-wicket-hauls of anyone in test history. Even without these stats, however, Warne was still one of the greatest players to play the game.

Whenever Warne warmed up to bowl, there was an immediate sense of dread as an English fan.

The moments of magic that Warne could produce meant that any batsman could be dislodged at any time. At his best, he was unplayable. These stats are impressive, but it is the nature of his wickets that are, to me, more important.

“Whenever Warne warmed up to bowl, there was an immediate sense of dread as an English fan” Of course, Warne had a great career in himself, but he also changed the game in terms of the value of leg spin. Previous to the Warne era, there had been great leg-spin bowlers, like Abdul Qadir, but their value was still not necessarily recognised. The number of leg-spinners at the top level of cricket is due to Shane

Twitter/@hantscricket

tournament, but Warne finished with the second highest number of wickets of any bowler in the competition. If Warne could achieve this at the very end of his career, we can only imagine what he could have done if he was in his prime.

“Warne showed the cricketing world that leg-spin was risky, but unplayable if done right” Warne, in my opinion.

This is also the opinion of Jarrod Kimber, a former player and cricket analyst. In a tribute video, Kimber explains how he was unnoticed as a young legspinner until the rise of Shane Warne. Shane Warne showed the cricketing world that leg-spin was risky, but unplayable if done right.

With Warne playing the majority of his career before I was born, I missed out on his glory years in his baggy green cap. Despite this, I have been lucky enough to see him play in the Big Bash League (BBL) towards the end of his career. It was here that I realised what an intellectual player Warne was. Just his prediction of how he would get Brendan McCullum out in a BBL game was enough to have me mesmerised by Warne.

Warne was also the perfect IPL player before the IPL existed.

Warne captained the Rajasthan Royals in the 2008 iteration at the ripe age of thirty-eight. Not only did his side end up winning the

It would be wrong to say that Shane Warne was an uncontroversial figure, however. His partyboy attitude certainly split opinions as he challenged the conservative cricketing image. Full of charisma, Warne was not the archetypal cricketer by any means, but this proved popular with many audiences. In my opinion, Warne spearheaded the birth of cricket as a popular phenomenon in the mass media. A pioneer of expression in cricket, I believe he paved the way for players to be who they truly are, returning cricket to an expression of identity for young men and women.

As cricket fans, everyone except Australians hated Shane Warne because of the destruction he would cause to their batting lineups. However, everyone would also be on the edge of their seats to see what magic Shane would produce that day. Shane Warne was a true great of the cricketing world, and one that will be sorely missed.

Match Report: Birmingham City vs Huddersfield Town Daisy Griffin Sport Writer

Last Saturday, relegation threatened Birmingham City, referred to for this game as the ‘Small Heath Alliance’ in the wake of the highly anticipated Peaky Blinders series finale, took on fourth placed Huddersfield FC at St. Andrews’ Stadium. The tie ended in a 2-0 defeat, sending an increasingly confident Huddersfield further up the Championship table.

The first half saw various chances for the visiting side, including a goal within the first ten minutes declared offside.

Huddersfield’s class and onetouch football, playing the ball effortlessly round a more scattered Birmingham City side, eventually resulted in a goal for the Terriers in the 26th minute.

Following an excellent corner

delivery, birthday boy Levi Colwill, arrived at the back post to chest the ball back into the centre of the Blues’ box, forcing a contested own goal from Blues’ Gary Garnder.

“The first half saw various chances for the visiting side” Birmingham played more attacking football in the latter stages of the first half, with Onel Hernandez forcing a good save from Nicholls at his near post.

Miscommunication by the Birmingham defence, however, led to a second Huddersfield goal in the 43rd minute which saw Lewis O’Brien coolly slot the ball

in the back of the net.

The second period saw the Blues come out on the front foot, creating some convincing chances that wobbled the Huddersfield defensive unit. Both teams came close, hitting the woodwork within minutes of each other, but nothing came as close as another Hernandez chance. Having danced past the Huddersfield defenders with his intricate footwork, he forced another great save from Nicholls, who palmed the ball off the crossbar to maintain his clean sheet.

No goals were scored in the second half, with the Terriers displaying a professional team performance to hold their lead.

Speaking after the game, manager Carlos Corderan praised his team’s all-round commitment, emphasising the team’s collective performance as well as individual standout performances in defence. Unlikely goal scorer,

Lewis O’Brien, speaking in his post-match press conference, remarked on the team’s stoic mentality in taking each game as they come, with the players ‘pushing each other on to perform better’ in a team growing in confidence with each win.

Twitter/@BCFC

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Sport that Stuck With Me Oscar Frost Sport Editor

The Ashes is always a passionate affair, but in the second test of the 2019 Ashes at Lords I saw the most incredible display of bravery and resilience I have seen in sport.

In the first innings, Australia’s Steven Smith scored an imperious 92 runs - an impressive score on a difficult pitch at Lords.

In itself, this innings was sensational. Smith was struck on the forearm by a searing delivery from Jofra Archer, causing huge swelling, but carried on scoring as if nothing had happened. Smith was then caught again, but this time the ball careered into his helmet at nearly a hundred miles per hour. He felt that one.

“In itself, the innings was sensational” Despite battling on, Smith woke up on the morning of the second Australian innings with signs of concussion - Australia would have to find a replacement for their star batsman. In stepped Marnus Labuschagne, essentially a nobody stepping into the biggest shoes in test cricket.

Early in Labuschagne’s innings, Archer steamed in and smacked the Australian in the grill with another lightning-quick bouncer, knocking Labuschagne to the ground. The concussion sub had been hit in the face. However, Labuschagne immediately stood up to stare Archer down as the two stood mere feet away from each other. The tension was palpable. I watched on with awe, teetering on the edge of my seat, and I will never forget the passion and bravery Labuschagne showed in the face of a situation that would have left many others lying on the ground with Jofra Archer towering over them.

It may not have been Labuschagne’s best, or most famous, innings, but it is the one that has stuck with me the most.

He is on to get a deserved halfcentury in that innings, and is now in the conversation as being the best test batsman in the world.

Twitter/@marnus3cricket

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What Went Wrong for Team GB at Beijing 2022?

Erin Perry Sport Writer

Torvill and Dean’s magnificent Bolero ice routine. Lizzy Yarnold’s incredible back-to-back golds in the Skeleton. When it comes to Team GB and the Winter Olympics, there is never too much hope, but there is always the expectation of a special moment, one that will live on in collective memory and blur the otherwise meagre success this country enjoys in winter sport.

Unfortunately, aside from success in Curling, Team GB had a rather limp and unexciting Beijing 2022, with only two medals on the board. This result falls short of the three to seven medal target set

by UK Sport before the games began, raising questions over what went wrong.

Eurosport details 2012 Long Jump champion and Bobsleigh hopeful, Greg Rutherford, arguing that the problem comes down to money. Rutherford states that ‘funding is a major issue,’ explaining that Britain’s lack of natural winter facilities already places the team at a ‘huge disadvantage,’ adding later that investment in athletes who could succeed ‘often doesn’t take place,’ which only exacerbates Team GB’s problems.

Is he correct? U.K. Sport’s website lists an allocation of almost £28 million in funding for the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics. However, there is a

very uneven spread in how the money is allocated, with sports that Britain has historically succeeded in (e.g. Skeleton and Curling) or that are popular (e.g.

Skiing and Snowboarding) receiving a larger amount of financial backing than more niche sports.

“There is a very uneven spread in how the money is allocated” While there is clear logic here,

the lack of success has to be an indicator that a review into funding is needed. There is a need for more investment in equipment, training and facilities. Athletes in less well-known sports need to be given the chance to prove themselves.

So, where does the team go from here? The Guardian notes the example of the Norwegians who currently sit at the top of the medals table, and how it is not just their climate that accounts for their success. In fact, the Norwegians credit their impressive tally to ‘intense focus on grassroots participation in winter sport from a young age.’

This is not to argue that U.K. Sport should force winter sport onto young people, but rather that some funding could go towards making winter facilities more accessible to wider groups, in hope of finding stars of the future.

Looking ahead to MilanCortina 2026, there is clearly some major work to be done for Team GB. While no one expects to be topping the table any time soon, lessons must be learnt from these unsuccessful games, and answers need to be found. We must also hope that Team GB bosses are correct when they believe that Beijing 2022 is just a ‘small step’ towards future Winter Olympic success.

Wikimedia Commons/ MonikaP

Introducing Team GB’s Winter Paralympic Hopefuls Joi Foote Sport Writer

The 2022 Paralympics are currently taking place in Beijing, and Team GB will make Paralympic history with its biggest team set to compete. 25 athletes are competing in various sports from Para Alpine Skiing to Wheelchair Curling, and with GB having already claimed five medals as of 8th March, they have a strong chance of beating their record seven medals won at the last Paralympic Games in PyeongChang. With this year’s athletes breaking a number of firsts for Team GB, here are just seven of this year’s medal hopefuls.

Menna Fitzpatrick Para Alpine Skiing Fitzpatrick is Team GB’s most decorated Winter Paralympian.

She is competing in the women’s visually impaired division alongside new guide Katie Guest. After making her official debut in 2012, she has since gone on to make GB Paralympic history, as the first British skier to win the overall World Cup Visually Impaired title in 2016. This was followed up

with an incredible six medals at Pyeongchang 2018, including gold in the Women’s Slalom, which she will be looking to defend. She has already claimed one silver and one bronze in Beijing, and will be on the hunt for more in the coming days.

Millie Knight Para Alpine Skiing

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Knight is another Para Alpine Skiing star competing in the women’s visually impaired division, alongside her guide Brett Wild. After a previous successful run at the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympics where she secured three medals (two silver and one bronze), she will return for a third time at this year’s games. So far she has already claimed one medal, a bronze in the Women’s Downhill, marking GB’s first podium place of the games.

Scott Meenagh Para Nordic Skiing

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Meenagh will be competing in both the men’s seated Cross Country Skiing and the Biathlon in this year’s games. Despite only starting Nordic skiing in 2014, making the full-time switch from rowing in 2016, he became the

first British Para Nordic skier at his level to represent the country.

Since 2018, he has gone on to occupy a number of top ten finishes.

win two gold medals. It has been an extremely successful games for Simpson already, with a gold and a silver within the opening four days.

James Barnes-Miller Gregor Ewan - Para Snowboard Wheelchair Curling In 2018 Miller became the first Para snowboarder to represent team GB at the winter Paralympics in PyeongChang. It was here he achieved seventh place in the Snowboard Cross and 10th place for the Banked Slalom. Most recently in the 2021 World Championships, he took home three medals, a silver and two bronze for Snowboard Cross, Banked Slalom and as part of the Snowboard Cross team.

Neil Simpson Para Apline Skiing

Ewan has a rather long list of previous medals under his belt, having won bronze with his team in Sochi 2014, his first Paralympic games. He also won silver and bronze at the World Championships in 2011 and 2017 respectively. This year he will return with his team, joining Hugh Nibloe and newcomers

David Melrose, Meggan DawsonFarrell, and Gary Smith on the ice.

Hope Gordon Para Nordic Skiing

This will be Gordon’s Paralympic debut, as she becomes the first female to compete in Para Nordic skiing. She enjoyed recent success in Para Canoe at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. This saw her achieve two silver medals. Only a month later, she took the snow for her first time in the World championships for Para Nordic Skiing and the Cross Country Sprint.

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Neil Simpson competes in the men’s visually impaired division, guided by his brother Andrew Simpson. After previously expressing that an ambition of his was to compete in Beijing 2022, he has taken to the snow for his first Paralympic games. This comes after a successful run at the 2018 British Para Alpine Championships, which saw him

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Twitter/@ParalympicsGB

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BUCS Sports Club of the Month: Basketball Sophie Utteridge Sport Editor

Our Sports Club of the Month in this issue goes to both the men’s and women’s basketball teams for their incredible performances at Rebellion two weeks ago.

The women’s team certainly put on a show with their very convincing defeat of Wolverhampton, and the men backed this up with a thrilling performance against Birmingham City University (BCU) which only just ended in defeat for the Lions.

Having been lucky enough to watch both teams train in the run up to Rebellion, they prepared for the Super Series event with drive and passion. During training, they showed an exemplary club ethos

which is dominated by hard work and endless support for their teammates. This ethos was definitely a key factor in their respective matches with both squads looking strong throughout the matches.

Rebellion was a showcase of brilliant basketball. Despite not getting the win they desired, the men certainly put BCU through their paces and provided tough competition. The energy of the Lions caught BCU off guard right from the off but unfortunately was not enough to defeat the favourites coming into the game. With a home crowd behind the Lions, their performance is not to be sniffed at considering BCU’s undefeated record.

As for the women’s match, Birmingham dominated Wolverhampton right from the beginning, with Captain Kate

Biddulph leading the charge.

Currently third in their league, the women showcased some exceptional plays. Considering the impact of the pandemic on their ability to gel as a team, the women showed no evidence of this during their match, comfortably beating Wolverhampton without breaking a sweat it seemed.

Aside from their obvious competitive sides, both clubs have a real social aspect to them. As well as attending sports night, the clubs also have many team-building socials such as quiz nights that raise funds for many different charities.

Both clubs also run a mixed social session every Tuesday from 6-7pm for anyone who may be interested in having a go. The sessions promise to be fun, cheerful, and an excellent way to hone your

basketball skills. Or, if a more competitive game is what you are after, the basketball campus league may be the place for you!

To join basketball, follow @ uobwbball for the women’s team

and @uobbasketball for the men’s team on Instagram to get involved.

Both clubs are incredibly welcoming, so make sure you keep an eye out for sign-ups and trial information.

Instagram/@uobwbball Penguin Photography

British Indoor Championship Success for UoB Oscar Frost Sport Editor

The 2022 British Indoor Athletics Championships saw the cream of the crop from across the country compete against each other in the final indoor event of the year in Birmingham. The University of Birmingham Athletics Club (BUAC) had 29 athletes competing across all but two of the available events. On top of this, fifteen of these athletes had top ten finishes.

Birmingham poster-girl Laura Zialor has had a fantastic indoor campaign, and capped it off in style with a victory in the women’s high jump. Sam Khogali also spring-boarded from a strong performance at BUCS a few weeks ago, upgrading his bronze medal to a gold on the big stage in the men’s long jump. Khogali also

managed to steal back the club record with a 7.54 metre leap.

Both of these athletes are now looking for even more success in their outdoor campaigns.

“Birmingham poster-girl Laura Zialor has had a fantastic indoor campaign” Also on the podium, Amelia Quirk finished second in the women’s 3000m. After an incredibly successful indoor season, including a new club record in the 5000m, Quirk will now look to continue this momentum into the summer. Before that, however, she will have the opportunity to

compete against the world’s best following her invitation to the World Indoor Championships.

Will Battershill, following his gold medal at BUCS cross-country, finished in a very strong ninth place in the 3000m. As he transitions from muddy fields to clean track, he is definitely one to watch for this outdoor season.

Track Captain Cameron Bailey endured some poor luck at BUCS, but came to the British Indoors with a fire in his belly. He ran three personal bests on the day, a fantastic achievement in itself, and ended in fourth place overall.

Also in the sprints, BUAC’s Diani Dacres-Walker ran in the women’s 60m. Unfortunately, she missed out on the final by 0.01s, but I would be very surprised if she did not get a chance to avenge her absence next year.

Sabrina Sinha and Emily Thompson both finished on the

podium at BUCS in the 1500m, and both ran extremely well in Birmingham, finishing fifth and sixth respectively. Maisie Grice also finished in eighth position, meaning BUAC dominated the top ten in this event. As training partners, and friends, Sinha, Thompson and Grice will undoubtedly bring the best out of each other in a competitive outdoors this year.

Club President, Jake Burkey, after winning gold at BUCS in Sheffield, had a great outing in the men’s long jump. Burkey finished in sixth position, but was a mere twenty centimetres away from Khogali. Also in the jumps, Josh Woods gained some great experience in his first British Championships, finishing ninth.

Overall, Birmingham’s athletes performed incredibly well against the best athletes in the country.

The results across the board indi-

cate how well-placed the club is in the UK scene. All eyes are now on BUCS outdoors, which kicks off on 30th April, where the club will be challenging the biggest names in university athletics.

British Athletics Collection/ Getty Images

‘Floz the Frog’ Elected Sports Officer Rachel Higgins Sport Editor

On Friday 4th March, the 2022 Guild Officer election results named Florie Craddock as the new University of Birmingham Sports Officer, in an incredibly tight race. Running under the name ‘Floz the Frog,’ Florie built her campaign around three main aims that she is hoping to achieve during her time in office, which include welfare and mental health support, wider participation in sport, and improved communication.

As part of her manifesto, the new Sports Officer highlighted her major goal to make sport at UoB a safe and comfortable space, whilst recognising the importance of enjoyability and challenge that come alongside this. Another mentioned aspect of sporting life at Birmingham which needs attention is the training of welfare secretaries for each team, which requires much improvement.

Florie acknowledges that the current training for this role is often insufficient and mediocre, leaving those in position ill-equipped to deal with concerns when they arise.

Florie has been successful in

breaking the mould as the first female Sports Officer the university has seen in five years.

Representation of women in such a position of authority can only be a good thing for progression and inclusivity in sport.

“The first female Sports Officer the university has seen in five years” In the final round of voting,

Florie emerged with 1695 votes, beating out her cloest competitor, ‘Frantastic Fox,’ who gained 1214 votes, in a very closesly run race.

In conversation with Redbrick Sport, Florie has summarised her plan for the year in saying, ‘With a focus on welfare support, amateur participation, communication and sustainability, I hope to make the most of the year and implement impactful and long-lasting changes effectively.’ It is clear that Craddock is focused on her approach to Sports Officer and has set out a wide variety of changes she hopes to make across the UoB sports scene.

Floz the Frog’s success in the

election is a testament to genuinely popular and much-needed policies that students have resonated with. Everyone at Redbrick Sport wishes to congratulate Florie Craddock in her election as Sports Officer for 2022 and remain eager to see what she can achieve this year for UoB sport.

“Everyone at Redbrick Sport wishes to congratulate Florie”

SPORT

Twitter/@premierleague

11.03.2022

Sport’s Response to Ukraine Invasion Lauren Coffman discusses the various measures taken by sporting bodies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Lauren Coffman Sport Editor

With the situation in Ukraine on a knife edge, sporting bodies around the world have begun taking extensive action. Over the last fortnight organisations and individuals involved with a variety of sports have been defiant in their condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine and the vast civilian causalities that have ensued, expressing solidarity with those impacted.

Sport has the capacity to be a vital tool for change, possessing an unparalleled global reach and substantial international leverage. Given Russia’s investment and success in a range of sports the role of the sporting world has been all the more relevant. Since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24th 2022 we have seen this come to fruition, with some of the many measures taken to date outlined below.

One of the first bodies to react was the International Olympic Committee, who rec-

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ommended the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from competing in international events unless competing as neutrals; with no flags or national symbols on display and no national anthem.

“One

of the first bodies to react was the International Olympic Committee”

Their official statement said, ‘In order to protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants, the IOC executive board recommends that international sports federations and sports event organisers not invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions.’

Subsequently, the International Paralympic Committee announced that Russian and Belarusian athletes would not be allowed to compete at the Winter Paralympics currently taking place in Beijing. Originally, they permitted the athletes to partake as neutrals, but swiftly overturned their decision following backlash.

In football, the two major international bodies, FIFA and UEFA, have both reacted decisively. A joint statement released by the organisations said, ‘Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine’. FIFA initially ruled that Russia would be banned from playing at home and would have to compete under a different name (Football Union of Russia).

However, a host of nations, including England and Scotland released statements refusing to play Russia until the conflict ends, and consequently FIFA officially suspended Russia from all competitions until further notice on Monday 28th February. As a result, the men’s side will not partake in the upcoming World Cup play-offs whilst the women are at risk of being barred from UB Sport

competing at this summer’s European Championships.

On Friday 25th February UEFA announced it would be moving the 2022 Champions League Final from St Petersburg to Paris.

This was followed by the removal of Russian company Gazprom as the Champions League title sponsor as well as the exclusion of Spartak Moscow from the rest of this year’s Europa League.

Domestic teams have also shown their solidarity across the last two game weeks, with on-pitch tributes across many major European leagues. In the Premier League, Ukrainian internationals Oleksandr Zinchenko and Vitaliy Mykolenko shared an emotional embrace prior to kick-off between Manchester City and Everton, whilst West Ham’s Andriy Yarmolenko was granted compassionate leave in the wake of the conflict.

Elsewhere, action has been taken across many other sports too. Just this week Formula One officially terminated its contract with the Russian Grand Prix, declaring that as long as Putin holds power the sport will not return to Russia. This decision was announced following the refusal of many of its stars, including former and current World Champions Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, to take to the track in Russia for this year’s race. F1 team Haas have also withdrawn driver Nikita Mazepin’s contract, and Motorsport UK has banned any Russian drivers from competing in the UK. In Tennis the International Tennis Federation has stipulated that Russian and Belarusian players must compete as individuals, banning their federations from future competitions, whilst World Rugby have also banned the two nations from ‘international rugby and cross-border rugby activities’ for the foreseeable future.

In such an ever-shifting situation, this will certainly not be the end of the action taken by the sporting world. For as long as Putin refuses to move towards peace and end the war, there is little doubt that Russian athletes and sports will continue to face heavy consequences.

INSIDE SPORT THIS WEEK: Twitter/@BBCI

Shane Warne Tribute

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Twitter/ @team_muirhead

Winter Olympic Woes

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British Athletics Collection/Getty Images

UOB Athletics Success

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