The Seaside Standard - the Student Magazine - Issue 5

The Seaside Standard ISSUE 5 SUMMER 2021 The magazine of the students

SUMMER READS BOOKS By Jane There’s no better time to catch up on that long reading list, or pick up something new, than the stretch of holiday that lies ahead.

Here are some new releases…

Exciting times Naoise Dolan’s fierce debut does not disappoint; somewhat similar to Sally Rooney – in more ways than just upcoming, female, and Irish – her imaginative examination of language and cutting humour in this story of a young teacher in Hong-Kong means it is not one to miss.

IN THREE WORDS: wry, contemporary, sexuality

The Vanishing Half Shortlisted for the Women’s prize for fiction and soon to be a HBO series, Bennett’s skilful grappling of themes such as identity and belonging span decades, as she retraces the story of twins who have chosen different lifestyles.

TW: racism, ab*se, transphobia.

IN THREE WORDS: race, sisterhood, 1970s

Red, white, and royal blue If you are even vaguely on ‘BookTok’, you’d have head of this, and with good reason too.

This light-hearted romance is ideal for getting out of a readingslump. Suitable for Year 10 upwards.

IN THREE WORDS: LGBTQ+, royals, charming

Klara and the Sun

Is free will an illusion?

PHILOSOPHY By Cherry

T

om got a C for Maths in this past assessment week. He figured that it was because instead of studying, he went out with his friends the night before. Still, It appears intuitive to say that he could have chosen to stay in and revised. This is the common conception of free will. That people have control over their actions.

That people could have done otherwise if they chose to do so.

Meanwhile, most students of science would agree CONTINUED »

Ishiguro’s new dystopian is brilliantly imaginative, and this time the focus is on AI, and narrated from the perspective of one, Klara, who’s environmental observations make for a deeper read.

IN THREE WORDS: coming-of-age, class, environment

Malibu Rising Following Jenkins Reid’s dazzling The Sever Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, this read is beach fiction down to a T. When a swimsuit model’s perfect life spins out of control at the end-of-summer party, facades will be broken as family secrets surface, and human emotion steers this character-driven novel.

IN THREE WORDS: secrets, glamour, melodrama

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WHAT DO ELTON JOHN, FREDDIE MERCURY AND A 19TH CENTURY PAINTER HAVE IN COMMON? CULTURE By Megan

that natural laws mean that the past determines the future. That every event or action is caused and can be explained and can then be predicted given all the information in the world.

Some then think this includes human action. In Tom’s example, we can know that he will hang out with friends by analysing chemicals in his brain etc. This is called determinism.

Now the question is, if all our actions are determined by factors like biology and environment, then how are we responsible for anything we do?

Henry Frankfurt tries to accommodate for both determinism and free will to enable moral responsibility.

First, he rejected the notion that free will and responsibility can only exist if a person could have done otherwise. Take Tom; suppose there was a demon who is determined to have Tom hang out with friends and has the ability to make Tom do so, however, he lets Tom make a choice first and planned only to intervene if Tom chose to revise. Suppose Tom chose to go out on his own, clearly, he is responsible for his action, even if he could not have done otherwise. This removes the contradiction between determinism and free will. What is free will then, if not the ability to do otherwise? Frankfurt offered the following.

First, he identified different levels of desires in humans. First order desires and second order desires. First order desires are the desire for actions.

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“Want to” in the everyday sense (to hang out or to revise). Second order desires are the desires for wanting certain things (the desire to want to revise). Frankfurt thinks that free will is that a person is free to decide on his second order desires.

This distinction is useful because it provides explanations to the situation of a drug addict. Classical theories simply states that there is free will if the person is not physically coerced. They cannot explain why we rarely say that a drug addict has free will on whether to take a drug or not even though they are not physically constrained. Using Frankfurt’s theory, we can say that he does not possess free will because he is unable to align his second order desires with his first. He does not want to do what he does.

However, there is still a problem with Frankfurt’s theory. Think about this, what makes you want what you want? What makes Tom want to desire to revise? Maybe it is his parent’s expectation, societal norms, or the desire to graduate. And if you think carefully about it, you do not decide any of that. Even if Tom purposefully chooses not to want to revise after learning about the debate on free will, this desire is still determined by his personality to not conform and the environmental factor that he came across writing in free will. There is no escape!

So, what do you think? Do we have free will or is it all just an illusion?

Elton John left, Freddie Mercury right

THE WOMEN WHO CHANGED THE FACE OF MUSIC MUSIC By Thea

H

enry Scott Tuke was a British painter best known for his intimate paintings of young men swimming and sunbathing on the Cornish coast, and for his beautiful renderings of water, often employing dashes of violet and turquoise to capture the glittering sunlit sea. During a time when smooth, almost invisible, brushstrokes were in vogue, Tuke preferred the more visible marks used by the French Impressionists. The critic, Abraham Cooper, described Tuke as a “sunshine painter, one of the pioneers of that outdoor school which makes beach and boat, field and wood, its studio and its model”.

Although widely celebrated for his ability to capture the soft translucency of flesh, Tuke fell from fashion shortly before his death in 1929. It was not until the 1970s when his work experienced a revival after he became an icon for a new generation of openly gay artists.

Elton John has collected Tuke’s work since the 1980s, including paintings in oil and water-colour. Elton was close friends with Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, who died

of pneumonia brought on by AIDS in November 1991. Still grieving on Christmas Day, Elton received a package.

“A friend showed up at my door and handed me something wrapped in a pillowcase. I opened it up, and inside was a painting by one of my favourite artists, the British painter Henry Scott Tuke and there was a note from Freddie... Here was this beautiful man, dying from AIDS, and in his final days, he had somehow managed to find me a lovely Christmas present.” – Elton John The note read “Dear Sharon, I thought you’d like this. Love, Melina.

Happy Christmas”. Sharon and Melina were the nicknames the pair had given each other long before, described by Elton as “our drag-queen alter egos”.

While this story is one of beauty and tenderness, it is also important to discuss the complexities surrounding Tuke’s work. A desire to capture youthful male beauty remains troubling and provokes challenging questions about how we observe and display the body today. Although his paintings are never sexual, many critics agree that the ages of Tuke’s models

Boys Bathing, oil on canvas, 1898

are not always comfortable by our modern viewing standards.

So what do Elton, Freddie and a nineteenth-century painter have in common? The answer lies in Freddie’s gift of “sunshine” to Elton and this story as not only a tribute to one of Britain’s greatest nineteenth century painters but also a beautiful tribute to two of history’s greatest musicians.

Kate Bush

Patti Smith

Nina Simone

Björk

Anyone who knows me will know me as Kate Bush fan first, human being second. Yet my love for her does not just derive from her enchanting voice and thoughtprovoking lyrics, but her pioneering force in the British music industry.

1978 was graced with Kate’s first single: Wuthering Heights. Her musical adaptation of Bronte’s classic tale of the femme fatale was greeted with instant popularity, and eventually a spot at number one, making her the first woman to have a number one single in the UK, at the age of just 19. This revolutionised the music industry, paving the way for all other female musicians who have since earned such a title, and in kickstarting the art pop genre. Since her second album, Kate has written and produced all of her albums, giving her full artistic control over her work despite being in a male-dominated industry.

Nicknamed, the Godmother of punk, Patti Smith has become one of the key contributors to the punk movement, making her legacy that of a musical pioneer. From a working-class background, she sprung to fame after song-writing legend, Bob Dylan, gave her the opportunity to perform at one of his concerts, providing her the audience she needed to showcase her immense talent. In 1975 she released Horses, one of the most important albums of the 20th century, which provided a totally new approach to music. The album ranged from technically astute phrases to impressions of animals, making it both original and well-thought. In short, Smith’s musical status is well deserved.

Nina Simone was not only a talented jazz and soul singer, having classically trained in piano at the Julliard School, but an activist and political force in the 1960s. Her music began as simply a series of expressions of jazz, utilising her talent for the piano to create dreamy songs that have received mass popularity since their release.

However, once the political status of 1960s America turned to that of the Civil Rights Movement, Simone began to a write protest songs, that have become seminal to the soundtrack of both 1960s America and activism in general. She was, of course, a talented artist, but her political contributions as a force for change in the 20th century have made her part of something much, much bigger.

Coming to the stage in the 1990s, Björk defined art pop with her eccentric and original tunes.

Mixing influences of house and electronic music with her uniquely beautiful ideas, Björk received mass popularity. Debut, her first album, uses technology to create an incredibly human set of songs and Post, her second album, compromises of eleven tranquil songs that all showcase her voice rather than the more instrumental focus of her previous album. Her career has since involved singing of her relationship with nature and heartbreak over a breakup. This strange combination of themes makes Björk a presence of utter eccentricity in today’s music industry, with her influence being present in many modern singers as well.

Kate Bush

Nina Simone

Patti Smith

Björk

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WHY SHOULD YOU CARE? The G7 Summit what was it?

WSYC? By Marina

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couple of weeks ago marked a significant moment in history, as the G7 Summit meetings took place at Carbis Bay in Cornwall from Friday 11th to Sunday 13th of June. The aim of these meetings is for seven of the world’s largest economies to come together to tackle highly important issues including climate change, world debt and particularly this year, the recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic.

WHO MAKES UP THE G7?

UK – led by Boris Johnson USA – led by Joe Biden France – led by Emmanuel Macron Germany – led by Angela Merkel Italy – led by Mario Draghi Canada – led by Justin Trudeau Japan – led by Yoshihide Suga Surprisingly, China and India are not members of the G7 despite having thriving economies due to them having relatively low wealth per person.

The G7 holds no legislative power as it is composed of separate nations which all follow different democratic processes. They can, however, impose significant global changes/ effects due to their collective economic influence around the world. Past examples of G7 initiatives resulting from the meetings include The Global Apollo Programme, which was launched after the 2015 Summit meetings, created to tackle climate change through clean energy research and development.

The agenda of the Summit meetings this year focussed heavily on dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic recovery, with the leaders making an impressive commitment to vaccinate 1 billion people by the end of 2022; the UK pledged to donate 100 million of these vaccines. The communique, which is the official statement released after the G7 Summit declaring what was discussed throughout, stated that “The COVID-19 Pandemic is not under control anywhere until it is under control everywhere”. There was also a clear focus on improving the early warning systems to prepare and prevent any future health crises.

Other issues discussed included the steps to tackle climate change, with the ambitious goal being set to have net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. As the members of the G7 are responsible for 20% of carbon emissions, Boris Johnson rightly claimed that “action needs to start with us”, which came as a rather ironic comment considering his chosen method of transport to Carbis Bay had been private plane. In addition to this, the leaders made a pledge to get 40 million more girls into education by 2026, an empowering and imperative objective to say the least.

The G7 Summit Meetings of 2021 have proven to be a success, allowing powerful leaders to build on relations and establish clear goals for the near future, creating a positive outlook for the recovery from the pandemic and the constant fight against climate change.

The G7 meet regularly throughout the year, however, this was the first time the leaders were able to meet in person since the start of the pandemic in 2020. This was greatly significant particularly for Joe Biden, who was making his first appearance at the Summit as the 47th US President. Biden stated in a press conference at the Summit that “America is back at the table” as he seeks to make a conscious effort to distance himself from his predecessor Donald Trump, who had famously stated that climate change was “not a problem”. Biden met with Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday 16th June, in an attempt to re-establish relations between the USA and Russia, with specific effort on issues including COVID-19 and cybercrime and conflicts.

G7 leaders at the 2021 Summit

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SOCIAL MEDIA: IS IT MORE HARM THAN GOOD? It’s easy to fall into the trap of engrossing yourself into someone’s seemingly ‘perfect life’ on social media, when in reality, it all has a filter.

Social media has its positives: it can be a source of information and a place to catch up with friends, however it’s not without negative impacts, since what is posted online is like a mask.

We have all found ourselves scrolling endlessly through a feed. You will find countless photos of smiles and laughter, showcasing the lifestyles so many aspire to. There is no issue with this as we are all guilty of usually only posting the photos where we look the nicest in, however, it is important to remember that if everyone is doing the same, no one is showing their struggles behind the camera lens. So, check up on friends and family regularly and see how they are actually doing without assuming so from an Instagram post. Despite all this, social media is a good platform to share photos of you and your friends and is nice to see where everyone is and what people are doing, but remember not to accept everything presented to you online as representative of the truth.

It is hard on social media not to start comparing yourself with others you see online. With this known ‘filter’ that social media has, it can be hard

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2012 Olympic Games fondly. It was a pretty impressive event, as the country came together with great

national pride to host one of the world’s most prestigious international sporting events.

The event was deemed highly successful, and London was left with an Olympic legacy which helped to transform part of Stratford in East London. However, not all Games have been nearly as successful, as the scale of the event makes it prone to major disasters.

Hosting the Olympic Games provides a

SPORT

By Liv

to stay happy and positive with yourself and your appearance or even your life. It is hard as it always seems like someone else looks prettier than you or looks like they are having a better time than you or more fun than you or has nicer clothes than you, the list is endless. This is why it is important to stay true to yourself using factors you can control, such as who you follow. This will have a positive effect not only for you, but you will radiate positivity to those around you. Everyone is their own unique person, and we should all love ourselves and each other for who we are and our individual appearances and not let Instagram models differ or impact your love for yourself and your body.

Although Instagram and other social media platforms are great in some ways, please ensure you are using it in a positive way as it will not only help you personally but also others around you. Being aware of the impacts social media can have on someone’s everyday life and only letting it effect you and your wellbeing positively will really change the way you think and view yourself and others, leading to a positive experience online.

IS HOSTING THE OLYMPICS WORTH IT?

ou probably remember the London

WSYC?

London Olympics opening cerempny, 2012

By Molly

city with great opportunities to rebrand and redevelop major urban areas and improve

positive impacts of the games on the host

negotiable deadline made last minute

national spirit. These benefits do however

city. Over ten years on, a number of the large

constructions much more expensive. Another

come with a number of potential costs.

stadiums and infrastructure built for the

reason for the high costs was the lack of

Contrary to what is often believed, host

games has been left to decay, and the biggest

typically pre-existing infrastructure which

countries do not typically bid to host with

and most famous stadium, the Bird’s Nest,

needed to be constructed for the Games,

the aim of making huge amounts of money

although still in irregular use, faces estimated

such as efficient transport availability and

– breaking even is typically an impossible

upkeep costs of $11 million a year.

the quantity of visitor accommodation. Rio is

task, and the Los Angeles Games, 1984, are

At £9 billion, London 2012 cost just a

a city of extreme inequality, with numerous

the only Games to have turned a significant

quarter of the Beijing Games. In fact, for

squatter settlements located across the city.

profit. Poor management of the Games

some time it was nicknamed ‘the austerity

As part of the city’s attempts to clean up

also risks losing public support for them

Games’ because of the UK Olympic

ahead of the large influx in visitors, there

and causing more harm to the society than

Development Agency’s initial decision to

was an attempt to hide the presence of these

good. Costs can be minimised, depending on

attempt to keep costs minimal. However,

squatter settlements from tourists. This

the quality of a country’s preparation and

long term planning and preparation of

involved a combination of the brutal process

execution of the event.

the construction and management of the

of pacification and building physical walls to

Games meant the budget was spent wisely

hide populations from view. Both attempts

in Beijing, London, and Rio, are examples of

and the games is typically thought of as very

succeeded only in the short term and

events hosted to varying degrees of success.

successful overall, leaving positive long-term

attracted a huge amount of protest globally

The Beijing 2008 Games were the most

impacts on the host country as almost all of

at the city’s treatment of its citizens, serving

expensive to date, costing a total of $40

the infrastructure constructed for the games

only to increase social tensions across the city.

billion (although Tokyo is likely to surpass

was repurposed for permanent use of some

this). However, the rapidly growing nature of

kind by the city’s population.

and its ability to prepare for and manage an

the country’s economy at the time allowed it

Olympic Games determines the outcome of

to avoid significant debt, and internationally

of as an Olympic Games which did more to

the Games and its overall long-term benefit

the Games were deemed a success despite

drive the city apart than pull it together.

to the city and its residents. Therefore, it will

prior concerns about pollution levels

Completed way overbudget, at a cost of $20

only ever be a worthy investment for fairly

affecting athletic performance and tourist

billion, the country was left in significant

wealthy cities specifically in need of the

experience. What Beijing failed to do was

debt post Games. It was a poorly managed

rebranding and redevelopment the Olympics

leave a positive Olympic legacy – long lasting

event, leading to rising costs as the non-

has the potential to bring.

The last three Olympic Games, hosted

By contrast, Rio 2016 is typically thought

In conclusion, the nature of a host city

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CHELSESA: CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE!

F

BIG PROBLEMS NEED BIG SOLUTIONS

ollowing our FA cup loss, we were certainly in it to win it. Led by the legend himself, Azpilicueta (aka Dave), Chelsea beat English opponent, Manchester City, proving once and for all that royal is the better shade of blue.

THE BIG DEBATE: Mount vs Foden. The two have constantly been compared to each other by the media, being just 22 and 21 years old, respectively. Mason Mount’s energy and pressing, whilst Phil Foden’s intelligent passing and dribbling, have led the two youthful players to prove fundamental to their teams. And so, as the two lined up against each other, they reflected the rising of youth players and proved why they are guaranteed the start from game to game. And, although I should probably remain impartial, I cannot help

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WSYC? by Lara

In this new column we want to hear about your big ideas to help tackle some big problems.

To get us started, here are some from me…

but declare Mount as the player who proved himself superior.

Though it is important not to discredit Foden’s ability, as he has arguably been City’s most influential player, making important appearances in the quarter and semi-final of the champions league. Indeed, Foden was almost on the score sheet until the maestro of Antonio Rudiger, delved in, making an important tackle against Foden. This game illustrated why both are certain midfield starters for England in the forthcoming Euros.

TWO WORDS: Thomas Tuchel. I mean what a guy. Tuchel’s ability to create a new and refreshing atmosphere in Chelsea and indeed building a very tight relationship with the players, combined with his passion, smart thinking and a winning mentality, all together were a recipe for success and were certainly received well from the players. Focusing on the Champions League match, his ability to unpack the Man City

PROBLEM 1

SPORT By Serena

Phil Fodden and Mason Mount

KILLING TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE?

To state the obvious, farming is seasonal, i.e., higher demand in the summer months for workers due to it being harvesting time. Farming is an area of the UK economy which suffers from seasonal labour shortages, which have been made more acute by foreign workers from the EU going home due to Brexit and of course, by Covid. Student debt is a worrisome prospect for many young people and students get long summer holidays. See where I’m going

with this? Growers would really benefit from an influx of young and fit workers to help with harvesting in the summer months, so why not re-brand this job opportunity as a chance for students to pay off some of their student loan, swap claustrophobic, stressful city life for a summer in the beautiful, British countryside in specially designed temporary accommodation full of other like-minded young people?

DJs, cook ups, open mike sessions and alike could bring the camps to life at evenings and weekends. What’s not to like?

N’Golo Kante

PROBLEM 2

team, allowed Chelsea to keep more possession and create chances. Moreover, something that ought to be highlighted, is the fact that this man had only been with Chelsea for five months and yet still managed to win the Champions League; we’re talking about the most important title in Europe, in his first season! Consequently, this has led me to what I think is a reasonable conclusion, that Thomas Tuchel is in fact the G.O.A.T and a soon to be club legend. He is the main architect behind this Blue revolution and has remarkably defeated Pep Guardiolo three times since being Chelsea manager.

A RUN-DOWN OF THE MATCH: It was a tactical focused final, with the golden gem from Chelsea’s record signing player and my personal favourite, Kai Havertz, scoring just before half time. Chelsea were clearly the more threatening side, as we saw complete domination from the start, with Timo Werner having two opportunities early on, although

GLOBALISATION GONE TOO FAR?

I am not a fan of bottled water; not only there is obvious environmental impact but also the daft idea of paying for something I can get for free out the tap. I acknowledge I’m lucky to be from a highly developed country, which has the resources to provide clean drinking water to all citizens. So, my point relates to developed countries but nevertheless, here’s my argument. If people insist on buying bottled water, then I believe it is obscene for that water to be imported from another country (if that country

has the resources to bottle its own water), for example why is it that we’re given the choice if we want Evian (Naïve if reversed) from the French Alps or Voss from Norway and don’t even get me started on Fiji water, just why? It seems incomprehensible to me that this cheap and bulky liquid is being mass transported across oceans, when we’re perfectly capable of getting local water from our own large reserves.

We should therefore outlaw the importing of water to developed countries with their own water sources, especially as it basically all tastes the same. Easy.

PROBLEM 3

Kai Havertz

unable to put the ball past the keeper. Anyways, moving on, we’ve got to talk about THE GOAL. It was the combination and connection of Mount’s ball perfectly placed into the space, along with Werner’s run and Havertz composure, executed with ruthless precision, that allows me to sit here today and write this article about why Chelsea are the ultimate best club and no one can tell me otherwise. (this picture is of Kai Havertz) In terms of tactics and organisation, Chelsea were the superior side and in fact, City barely caught an eye of the ball as Chelsea dominated throughout the 90 minutes (plus a VERY tense seven extra minutes), nevertheless city barely had a presentable chance. Winning the Champions League represents an incredible turnaround from Thomas Tuchel, who has surpassed any expectation after the sacking of Frank Lampard in January. Tuchel’s awareness of the weaknesses within the Man City team, being able to unpack them and present a defensive masterclass. Nonetheless, it is important not to discredit Man City, as they are no mugs. In fact, they are currently the benchmark in Europe, under Pep Guardiola, City has become one of the most dominant forces in English football, having won the Premier League this season. It was undeniably a hard team effort from Chelsea.

KEY PLAYERS: Ngolo Kante was the driving force in the match, dominating midfield, as he constantly won balls, recovering the possession and indeed shielded the backline when necessary. When City had a sight of goal, Toni Rudiger, a passionate player who has been excellent under Tuchel, was there in the correct position to block Foden’s shot on target. So passionate is Toni, in an interview Tuchel even said: ‘You wouldn’t want to get in a fight with Toni!”. Lastly, the incredible scenes, not only from the dressing room afterwards (I highly recommend watching them online), but our new goalie Edouard Mendy. From Ligue 2 to a European champion in three years, the night reflected his outstanding personal development, both as a character and as a player, who out one point in his career, was unemployed and considered quitting football as a whole! (this picture is of Ngolo Kante)

PAYING FOR WI-FI?

The recent G7 Summit in London eventually decided on a minimum corporation tax rate for multi-national tech companies of 15%. But why not go further? We are completely an utterly in the era of big tech, who have a vast international reach and even vaster international profits, so isn’t it time to set a target for free wi-fi for the whole world? Imagine what that could do for democracy, for business, for online learning, for global understanding and international friendship? OK,

Donald Trump and others would misuse it but you get the idea.

Here are some ideas about how it could be paid for – firstly, a minimum rate of corporation tax of 17% instead of 15% (and get some clever advertising agency to do something with the ‘7’ in the G7, the 2027 and the 17%). Secondly, a 0.7% tax (that 7 thing again) on the sale of all new mobile phones in G7 countries or thirdly and this is the best of the lot, seven people who are too rich (think Bezos, Musk, Gates, Zuckerberg and all of the Kardashians) all giving 70% of their wealth for this humanity enhancing gesture.

What a plan!

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GENDER IDENTITY: ITS TIME TO TALK

SOCIETY

Protestors for LGBTQ rights outside of the US Supreme Court, 2019

By Dallis

D

o ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ mean the same thing? Despite popular belief, they actually do not.

‘Sex’ typically points to the anatomical features of a person that divides them into two main groups, while ‘gender’ goes beyond biology, and is instead more of an inner sense of identity.

School biology teaches that if you’ve got XX chromosomes, you’re a female; if you’ve got XY, you’re a male. Don’t get me wrong, this for sure is an easy way to learn about the importance of chromosomes, but it’s little more

than a tired simplification. The popular belief that your sex is determined by your chromosomal makeup is only half-true. The truth is, like many things in nature, your biological sex isn’t carved in stone, but a living system with the capacity and potential for change. Why? Because biological sex

is far more complicated than two letters. Intersex people, who are born with a sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit the typical definitions of female or male, are considered to have DSD, or difference in sexual development. With research reporting that as many as 1 in 100 people are born with DSD, more

HOW IS YOUR PRIVACY PROTECTED ONLINE? A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TECH

By Olivia

Cryptography involves the process of using a secret key to encrypt or convert a message into a form that is useless or unreadable, that can then be transmitted to the receiver and be decrypted by them in order to obtain the original message.

This is an important process in cyber-security as it means that those whom the message is not intended for will not be able to understand it.

Normally, when this process is performed without computers, the person sending the message would convert it using an already agreed encryption key, and this key would then be used again by the intended receiver to decrypt and

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read the message. For example, the encryption key could be to change each letter to the next letter in the alphabet, so A would become B and so on, and this process would be reversed by the receiver to obtain the message.

This form of cryptosystem is known as symmetric encryption as it involves the use of the same key, making it a two-way process/ function because the key can be used to both encrypt and decrypt the message. Although this method of encryption is safer than just sending the message in its plain text form, there are some issues when using it to transfer a message securely online. This is

because the encryption key must be known by both the sender and the receiver, and thereby must have either already have been agreed upon in person, which is not possible for all online conversations, or would have to be sent from one to the other online.

Sending the key online would make the message unprotected as the key could be intercepted, and since the function is two-way, this key could then be used to decrypt the message that followed.

Consequently, in order to protect your privacy online, computers tend to use asymmetric encryption techniques instead. These involve two separate keys, one

for encryption and the other for decryption, that rely on algorithms based on mathematical one-way functions. One such function is the RSA algorithm, the basis of one of the most famous cryptosystems, and relies on the mathematical concepts of prime numbers, the difficulty of factoring large primes (semiprime factorisation), and modular arithmetic to make it a one-way function. In public key cryptography, a pair of these keys is generated using such an algorithm, where one of the keys becomes your public key and the other is your private key. The public key is for encryption only and the private for decryption

biologists are acknowledging that biological sex may actually be far more complex than what the traditional male-female binary accounts for.

Now, moving on to the important part: defining gender. Society has traditionally taught us that there are only two genders: male and female.

We are told that those assigned male at birth are men and those who are assigned female at birth are women.

And here’s where the misconception usually starts; gender isn’t an either/ or scenario. It isn’t two sides of a switch or two ends of a tennis court. Gender is actually more of a spectrum, or a sliding scale. Some people identify as nonbinary, an umbrella term for people whose gender identities don’t align with the man-woman binary.

Some people identify as genderfluid, meaning they might identify as man and woman and everything in between at varying points. Some people identify as agender, meaning they don’t identify with any gender at all.

Ultimately, the concepts of gender and sex are socially constructed. If you are assigned female at birth, and you continue to identify as female, then

of the messages encrypted using your public key. The public key is then put out everywhere online, with your name on it, so that it can be accessed by anyone, and your private key is kept secret.

When somebody wants to send a message, they will encrypt it using the intended receiver’s public key before transmission, and thus this message can only by decrypted by the receiver’s secret private key, making it more secure.

This process can be made even more secure if the sender also encrypts their message using their own private key before using the receiver’s public key. This is known as a digital signature and can be used by the receiver to ensure that the message is genuine, as they can compare the transmitter’s public key to the message to verify the origin of the message.

So next time you use Whatsapp to send a message to a friend or family, you can be confident that your message has been encrypted securely by such a cryptosystem, and thus in our current technological world, your privacy will remain protected.

you are cisgender. Trans people, and gender non-conforming people, may feel that their identity does not align with the sex they were born as. It’s also important to note that gender expression doesn’t necessarily equal gender identity. Some cisgender men may enjoy wearing traditionally feminine clothing, while some cisgender women might enjoy wearing more typically masculine clothes. The concept of femininity and masculinity also changes over time. Did you know that in the 18th century, pink was actually considered a masculine colour because it was related to red? This goes to further prove that societal norms and stereotypes aren’t always necessarily what the truth is.

Instead of making assumptions about how a person identifies, it’s always best to try to check in with the people you meet about their gender identity. Someone who identifies as female may use she/her pronouns and someone who is nonbinary might prefer they/them pronouns and gender-neutral language. If someone you know comes out as trans or deviant to gender norms, it’s important to address them how they prefer to

A NEW TARGET FOR TREATING DIABETESCOULD THIS BE THE CURE WE’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR? SCIENCE

By Bella

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease where blood glucose levels are too high. There is often a loss of insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas (specifically in the islets of Langerhans). This disease causes complications such as organ damage, and eventually can lead to an early death.

Maintaining a healthy blood sugar can be financially and socially burdensome.

The Helmholtz Zentrum

be addressed. Addressing them by their wrong pronouns on purpose invalidates their feelings and is very disrespectful overall. Research shows that transgender people as young as four can begin to feel that their sex does not align with their gender, and 85% of trans people report that they feel more comfortable in their own skin once they come to terms with their own identity. Trigger warning for suicide: trans and gender nonconforming people who are shunned for who they are, are at least 30% more likely to take their own life over those who are welcomed and accepted by society.

Gender identity is still somewhat of a controversial topic in some places.

Many people still stand by the fact that gender and sex are the same thing.

But in hand with the steady evolution of technology and science, people are beginning to discover that it isn’t as much of a myth as they might think.

But, if you ask me, it all boils down to being able to respect other people even though you might not believe in or agree with them. At that point, it’s not just about gender identity anymore - it’s about being a decent person.

Muenchen in Germany has recently discovered inceptor, a druggable insulin inhibitory receptor. Blocking inceptor’s function means the sensitisation of the insulin signaling pathway is increased, meaning it is more responsive.

This could possibly mean beta cells can be protected and regenerated for diabetes remission. Diabetes remission (in people with type 2 diabetes) means that you maintain healthy blood sugar levels without medication.

To treat diabetes, metabolic and immunological therapies are commonly used. Metabolic therapy removes toxins from body and strengthens the body’s immune system.

Immunological therapies

elicit or suppress the immune system to treat a disease. The research focus of the team is to develop regenerative treatment approaches which are complementary and alternative to these therapies.

Heiko Lickert, the research leader, upon discovering inceptor, has found a promising molecular target for the therapy which doesn’t have the negative side effects that intensive insulin therapy can elicit. They have ran experiments with mice which have shown that inceptor’s function is to shield the beta cells which produce insulin from the activation of the insulin pathway. By blocking insulin signalling, it may contribute to insulin resistance. They have also trialled blocking inceptor’s function using antibodies. This had a successful result; insulin signalling increased.

This is a very exciting new development in diabetes research. Hopefully, with continued research, this discovery will be a stepping stone to creating successful treatments.

9

EDITORS: Lara Jane

TAKE A LISTEN TO OUR TOP SONGS

A note from the editors

JOURNALISTS: Liv Marina Serena Bella Dallis Molly Thea Lara Jane Olivia Megan Cherry

Issue five, who would have thought? We’ve loved creating these papers and hope you’ve loved reading them too. Our plan was always to involve as many years as possible and incorporate as many alternative views and beliefs into this paper and hope you’ve found that true. However, we are acutely aware that this hasn’t been achieved to the extent we would’ve reached and hope that from September we can set up a newspaper club so we seem less like scary sixth formers and can become friendly faces.

Lastly and most importantly we want to thank all our journalists who despite their hectic schedules have set time aside to write such brilliant articles, and a special thanks has to go to Thea and Megan, who have written in every issue. We love you guys.

WIN CHOCLATE! Can you answer these fiendish questions? The person to email Lara with the most correct answers wins a bar of Dairy Milk!

QUIZ By Lara

1.

Joe

Biden was elected president, November 2020, what number president is he of the United States?

2.

In

December, the European Union agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by how much over the next decade?

3.

Donald

Trump supporters stormed which building?

4.

Chloé

Zhao became the first ever woman of colour to win an Academy Award for Best Director for what film?

5.

What was the word written on the side of the ship that ran aground in the Suez Canal and not only temporarily halted wortld trade bust became a meme sensation?

6.

What

was the name of the failed breakaway league of top European football clubs?

7.

Which

country won Eurovision?

8.

What

is the name of Prince Harry’s and Megan Markle’s daughter?

9.

Which

debut song has been the most played song of

2021?

10. Which

10

country are going to win the Euros?!