The Navy Book - STAHS Scholars Anthology 2022 by STAHS

THE NAVY BOOK IVOLUME SCHOLARS’ ANTHOLOGY 2021-22

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Our thanks go to everyone who has helped make this publication a reality.

BACKGROUND TO THE SCHOLARS’ PROGRAMME AT STAHS

Mrs Cat Kordel Head of Hodgkin Scholars

Mr Joe Pepper Head of Atkins Scholars

FOREWORD

Everything published within these pages represents a labour of love. In many cases, students have chosen their subject matter and approach to suit the most personal of interests. In others, the end products are the result of a team effort to meet a challenging brief.

Assistant Head Academic Development

Mr Jonathan Marshall

In its second year, the Academic Scholars’ Programme aims to foster a love of learning and enable students to make the most of their talents. Scholars meet weekly in their respective sections and engage in collaborative projects, try their hand at problem-solving, or research, discuss and debate topical issues. In Years 7-9, our Academic Scholars are named after Vera Atkins, a linguist who joined the Special Operations Executive in the 1940s. A clever cryptographer, she would often interpret seemingly indecipherable messages that had defeated all the efforts of official decoders. Our Year 10 and 11 Scholars take their title from Dorothy Hodgkin, notable not only for her work on penicillin and vitamin B12, but also for bringing together scientists from the east and west in pursuit of nuclear disarmament. Our Year 12 and 13 Fellows are named in honour of Simone de Beauvoir. De Beauvoir started what has become known as second-wave feminism, writing in her work The Second Sex (1949): ‘One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.’ Besides general Academic Scholarships, pupils can also apply for Scholarships in Art, Design and Technology, Drama, Music and Sport.

Welcome to the first anthology of The 1889 Club, the society of Scholars and Fellows at STAHS.

We’ve called our anthology The Navy Book Besides being one of our school colours, navy is often said to represent wisdom and commitment, qualities which each contributor has demonstrated.

HodgkinDorothy AtkinsVera

Many aspects of the Scholars’ Programme are open to all interested STAHS students and we are delighted that so many have participated in the projects this year. We celebrate their contributions on the pages which follow.

12 To What Extent is the A* Pathfinding Algorithm Justifiable as the More Efficient Algorithm in the Mazes of 2D Games?

29 ATKINS SCHOLARS’ TRIP TO OXFORD Leila Rose Chinn (Atkins Scholar, Year 7)

65 PEER-TO-PEER

03 CONTENTSTHENAVYBOOK–VOLUMEI–SCHOLARS’ANTHOLOGY2021-2202FOREWORD

57 How Can We Reduce Reoffending Rates in the UK? Olivia Wintersgill, Maya Kanani, Amy Smith and Meg Finch (De Beauvoir Fellows, Year 12)

76 A

74 RECLAMATION

09 Killing Remotely: Consequences of Drone Warfare. Lauren Nesbitt, runner-up, Mary Lucey Research Prize 2021 (De Beauvoir Fellow, Year 13)

Mr Jonathan Marshall (Assistant Head Academic Development), Mrs Cat Kordel (Head of Hodgkin Scholars), Mr Joe Pepper (Head of Atkins Scholars)

34 THOUGHTS ON A POSTCARD FROM BRISTOL. Joan Alabi (Hodgkin Scholar, Year 11), Chelsea Cheng (De Beauvoir Fellow, Year 12), Arshya Bommaraju (Hodgkin Scholar, Year 11), Tyra Corbin (De Beauvoir Fellow, Year 12), Emily Wijeyawardana (De Beauvoir Fellow, Year 12)

58 How Can We Reduce Youth Unemployment? Tyra Corbin, Sophia Christophorou, Lucy Buyers and Emily Wijeyawardana (De Beauvoir Fellows, Year 12) HODGKIN SCHOLARS’ SUCCESS AT THE MIDDLE SCHOOL DEBATING SHIELD. Anoushka Sood, Olivia Hudson, Amy Hutchinson, Margaux Hill (Hodgkin Scholars, Year 10) ATMUN 2022. Atkins Scholars, Years 7, 8 and 9 Speeches and Resolution Passed at ATMUN 2022 with Amendments. Aanya Apte (Year 9), Emma Billingham (Atkins Scholar, Year 9), Maryam Dibbens (Year 8), Darcey Foster (Atkins Scholar, Year 8), Alice Finnie (Year 9), the team of Atkins Scholars (Years 7, 8 and 9) TUTORING Scholars, Year 10 ULTRA Maryam Dibbens the Atkins Scholars, Year HODGKIN SCHOLARS’ CULTURAL TRIPS Hodgkin Scholars, Year 10 BEAUVOIR FELLOWS’ CIRCLE Beauvoir Fellows, Year 12 DRAMA THIS YEAR Rosan Trisic (Drama Scholar, Year 10) FROM PODCASTS TO PUPPETRY PLAYWRIGHTING Louisa Noble (Head of School and Drama Scholar, Year 12) & DESIGN Amelia Wynn (Design and Technology Scholar, Year 12) YEAR AS TEXTILES DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY SCHOLAR Alice Baddon (Design and Technology Scholar, Year 10) WARS Harriet Lucas (Design and Technology Scholar, Year 10) FOOD CLUB Olivia Hudson (Design and Technology Scholar, Hodgkin Scholar, Year 10)

plus

55 THE FIX: TRYING OUR HAND AT GOVERNMENT POLICY-MAKING. De Beauvoir Fellows, Year 12 56 How Can We Reduce Refugee Unemployment? Emmie Newns, Chelsea Cheng and Annabel Bienfait, winners of The Fix (De Beauvoir Fellows, Year 12)

32 HODGKIN SCHOLARS HIT THE AIRWAVES

Hodgkin

READING

20 To What Extent Do Prosthetic Running Blades Give Male Short Distance Runners an Advantage over Able bodied Athletes? Millie Pennell (Year 13)

33 Identity Politics in Art. Emily Withnell and Sophie Issott (Hodgkin Scholars, Year 10)

24 BECOMING LEGAL EAGLES Elena Pura, Sophia Adams, Grace Hybel, Emma Billingham (Atkins Scholars, Year 9), with courtroom illustrations by Anoushka Sood (Hodgkin Scholar and Art Scholar, Year 10)

66 OPERATION

33 Herd Mentality. Polly Rees and Alice Boon (Hodgkin Scholars, Year 11)

05 THE MARY LUCEY RESEARCH PRIZE AND SYMPOSIUM: FOSTERING THE NEXT GENERATION OF RESEARCHERS

40 ALICE AMBER’S DAD IN WONDERLAND. Amber Liu (Art Scholar, Year 12)

14 To What Extent Can the Messages and Themes Promoted by the Poetry of the English and French Romantics Be Considered a Blessing or a Curse? Emily Stevenson (De Beauvoir Fellow, Year 13)

17 Comparing the Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases Using Immunotherapies Against Present-day Treatment of Immunosuppressants. Samayah Hussain (Year 13)

33 Do Climate Conferences Lead to Measurable Actions? Are Electric Cars Actually Eco-friendly? Jess Fereday, Maria Bertolotti, Onyin Okpara (Hodgkin Scholars, Year 10)

33 Flat Earth Theory. Joan Alabi and Beth Noble (Hodgkin Scholars, Year 11)

Yukie Zhao, runner-up, Mary Lucey Research Prize 2021 (De Beauvoir Fellow, Year 13)

68 DE

06 Should the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021 Have Been Made UK Law? Kiera Hybel, winner, Mary Lucey Research Prize 2021 (De Beauvoir Fellow, Year 13)

03 WITH THANKS

78 ROBOT

33 Friend or Foe? Should the West Fear China? Anoushka Sood and Darcey Dalwood (Hodgkin Scholars, Year 10)

and

46 STAHS WELCOMES BRITAIN’S FIRST ASTRONAUT. Mr Jonathan Marshall (Assistant Head Academic Development)

79 WACKY

AND

48 International Space Hotel Competition: Winning Design. Isabel Gokcek, Beth Noble, Louisa Brown and Joan Alabi, winners, International Space Challenge (Hodgkin Scholars, Year 11)

8 67

33 The Future of Space Travel. Amy Hutchinson and Olivia Hudson (Hodgkin Scholars, Year 10)

WITH THANKS TO THE JUDGES AND PRESENTER OF PRIZES: MrsHeatherGreatrex,BA,MSc,ACA,[PresenterofPrizes] MrsCarolJewell,MA(Hons),NPQHMrSimonMartin,MA(Oxon) MrsSarahBrown,MA WITH THANKS TO THE SUPERVISORS: MrsAWaite,BSc,MSc(Oxon) MrDThomson,BSc(Hons) MrJMarshall,MA(Oxon),MSc(Oxon) MissDBeazleigh,MSc,BSc(Hons) MrsZBriggs,BA(Hons),MAMrsCCottingham,MA(Cantab)MrsJHall,LLB(Hons),MA MissCFoster,BA(Hons),Med MrsHFoster,BA(Oxon),MScMrsRFrost,MA,BA(Hons),BEd,PACES(Cantab) MrsSGardiner,BSc(Hons)MrsDLewis,MA(Oxon),MPhil(Cantab) Ms.KNeale-Kenwright,BAMissJScott,BA,MA(Oxon) MrJStanford,BADr.SStocks,MA(Cantab),PhD(Cantab) Mrs.SVinther,MA(Cantab) THANKS WITH 04

November saw us break boundaries through thought-provoking entries to the inaugural Mary Lucey Research Prize. Open to everyone in the Sixth Form, this innovative competition encouraged us to explore a question of our choice, before presenting our findings in the form of an undergraduate-style research paper and academic poster at a symposium.

RUNNER-UP

The

De Beauvoir Fellows (Year THE13)

THE MARY LUCEY RESEARCH PRIZE AND SYMPOSIUM: FOSTERING THE NEXT GENERATION OF RESEARCHERS

Congratulations go to the winner, Kiera Hybel, for her investigation into the morality of the Covert Human Intelligence Sources Act (2021) and to the runners-up Lauren Nesbitt and Yukie Zhao for their entries on the ethics of remote warfare and the pros and cons of pathfinding algorithms.

MARYLUCEY SYMPOSIUMPRIZERESEARCHAND

Mary Lucey was Head of STAHS from 1966 to 1982 and saw education as a gateway to independence, opportunity and equality. She had a strong social conscience and believed that the benefits afforded by attending STAHS should not be confined to those who could afford to do so. Her generous legacy has assisted young people from the local community to attend our school. Speaking at the awards dinner, Governor Mrs Carol Jewell commented on the social conscience demonstrated by many of the entrants, of which we hope Mary Lucey would have approved. A selection of the best essays and posters follows.

Thank you to the Governors for their generosity in awarding the top prize of £500 and their expert assistance with judging the entries. We are also grateful to the many teachers who volunteered to supervise the projects, as without their help this competition would not have been possible.

WINNING ENTRY: Should the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021 have been made UK law? By Kiera Hybel.

RUNNER-UP ENTRY: Killing Remotely: Consequences of Drone Warfare.

By Lauren Nesbitt. ENTRY: A* Pathfinding Algorithm and 2D Mazes. Yukie Zhao.05

WINNER SHOULD THE COVERT HUMAN INTELLIGENCE SOURCES (CRIMINAL CONDUCT) ACT 2021 HAVE BEEN MADE UK LAW? 06 KIERA HYBEL WINNER MARY LUCEY RESEARCH PRIZE 2021 (DE BEAUVOIR FELLOW, YEAR 13)

The Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021 (‘CHIS Act’), formerly known as the ‘Spy Cops Bill’, was passed in March 2021 to allow various government agencies to authorise someone they are deploying as a covert human intelligence source (‘CHIS’) to commit crimes. The CHIS Act not only provides intelligence services with the ability to grant authorisations, but also authorities ranging from the Food Standards Agency to the Environment Agency. Described as ‘one of the most dangerous pieces of legislation’ (Chakrabarti, 2021), the CHIS Act is highly contentious, particularly given the recent growth of protest movements and the government’s uncompromising response (Griffin, 2021).

in such activity and Parliament must have intended for it to continue’ (Bindman, 2021). Nonetheless, the ruling’s majority of 3-2 highlighted it as the first display of dissent in the IPT. The legal basis of the Secret Service’s criminal conduct was ‘fragile’ (Bindman, 2021) and the government, as a result, feared the IPT’s ruling would not withstand appeal. Consequently, the government sought to introduce legislation to establish a more solid legal framework surrounding authorisations for criminal conduct.Lawyer

The origins of the CHIS Act stem from the case Privacy International&OthersvForeign&CommonwealthOffice[2019],alsoknownasthe‘ThirdDirection’case.Inapreviouscourtcase1regardingthebulkcollectionofpersonaldata,MI5haddisclosedanextractofaconfidentialannextotheIntelligenceServicesCommissioner’s2014annualreportwhichreferredtothreedirectionsgivenbytheprimeminister.Whilstthefirstdirectionwaspublicandtheseconddisclosedinthecontextoftheproceedings,thethirddirectionremainedsecret,promptingPrivacyInternationaltotakelegalaction.ThislegalactionaroseintheformoftheThirdDirectioncasewhichrevealedthesecretdirectiontobeanauthorisationbytheprimeministerforintelligenceagentstocommitcriminalacts.However,suchactswerenotsanctionedundertheRegulationofInvestigatoryPowersAct2000(‘RIPA’),despiteMI5policyoncriminalconductauthorisationshavingexistedsincethe1960s(LázaroCabrera,2021).Thecasethereforerevolvedaroundwhetherornottheprimeministerwascreatingnewlawswithoutparliamentaryapproval.TheInvestigatoryPowersTribunal(‘IPT’)ruledthattheSecurityServicesAct1989(‘SSA1989’),whichcreatedtheSecretServices,conferredthepowertoauthorisecriminalconduct.However,thisinterpretationwasinferredfromthestatement‘ThefunctionoftheServiceshallbetheprotectionofnationalsecurity,and,inparticular,itsprotectionagainstthreatsfromespionage,terrorismandsabotage’andthepurposesoftheSSA1989atthetimeofitscreation.TheIPTconstruedthat‘MI5hadalwaysengaged

Act enables authorising officers to grant Criminal Conduct Authorisations (‘CCAs’) under RIPA. It stresses that such authorisations should only be granted where ‘necessary’ and should be ‘proportionate’, terms which have great scope for interpretation. Necessity is defined as acts ‘in the interests of national security’, ‘for the purposes of preventing or detecting crime or of preventing disorder’ or ‘in the interests of the economic wellbeing of the United Kingdom’. The threshold for CCAs is worryingly low, including, significantly, the authorisation of crimes for the ‘prevention of disorder’. As has been proven by Special Demonstration Squad (‘SDS’) operations from 1968 to 2008 unveiled by the Undercover Policing Inquiry, the Metropolitan Police are not beyond deploying CHIS agents to infiltrate peaceful protest groups. As the actions of protest groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter become even more of an ‘irritant of right-wing government’, Chakrabarti (2020) questions whether these groups will be ‘tempted to stray from [their] long-standing noble and peaceful path’. Crucially, she asks ‘how will we ever know if the agitator who took this step was, in fact, an undercover agent?’.

SHOULD THE COVERT HUMAN INTELLIGENCE SOURCES (CRIMINAL CONDUCT) ACT 2021 HAVE BEEN MADE UK LAW?

and Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti argues that the introduction of the Spy Cops Bill in 2020 was a consequence of the ‘nasty populist culture war’ waged by the Conservative Party and facilitated by Labour. Chakrabarti (2021) states that Conservative prime ministers including Johnson and Cameron ‘have been weaponising human rights as unpatriotic, even traitorous, elitist lawyer tricks’ whilst the Labour Party have ‘the idea that I’ve just discovered human rights as a means of being factional.’ Chakrabarti’s proposition may be a long-term motivation for the introduction of the CHIS Act, whilst the Third Direction case acted as a catalyst, or perhaps even an excuse, for the new law. Due to the questions arising from the IPT’s ruling, the introduction of legislation seems warranted, however it is the nature of this legislation that sparks controversy, providing further ammunition for the ‘culture war’ between those in favour of, and those opposed to, greater human rights protection.TheCHIS

There is also no prescribed limit on what criminal conduct can be authorised after a House of Lords amendment prohibiting serious crimes such as murder, torture and rape was defeated in the House of Commons. The defeat was coupled by a failed amendment to introduce safeguards for children and vulnerable adults as the victims of CHIS’ crimes. In a response to the Joint Committee on Human Rights, the government aaasksalsoseeking‘Therestated:arecertainOrganisedCrimeGroups(OCG)that,intoensuretheirranksarenotinfiltratedbyCHISposingasnewmembers,mayinsistnewrecruitsundertakeheinouscrimestheyknowaCHIScouldneverundertake.WeshouldconsiderwhathappenswhenacriminalorterroristgroupsomeonesuspectedofbeingaCHIS,whoisinfactnotaCHIS,toundertakeaproscribedcrimeinordertotestthem.Inbidtoprotectthemselves,apersonfalselyaccusedofbeingCHIScouldbemorelikelytoundertakeacrimetheymightotherwisenotcommit.’Bindman(2021)findsthepropositionthatcriminalsarelikelytorelyontheCHISActtoidentifyundercoveroperatives‘laughable’.Certainly,theauthorisationofseriouscriminalactsbyaCHISinordertopreventcriminalsfrombeingpressuredintocommittingsimilaractsappearscontradictory.Thegovernment’smaindefencefornotincludingprovisionsprohibitingtheauthorisationofseriouscrimeisthatallCCAsmustbegrantedwithinthelimitsoftheHumanRightsAct1998(‘HRA’)whichincorporatestheEuropeanConventiononHumanRights(‘ECHR’)intoUKlaw.TheHomeOffice(2021)statesthat‘ThelimitstotheactivitythatcanbeauthorisedunderthisBillarecontainedintheHumanRightsAct.Thisincludestherighttolife,andprohibitionoftortureorsubjectingsomeonetoinhumanordegradingtreatmentorpunishment.’Surely,byusingtheHRAtodetermineactivitywhichcannotbeauthorised,thegovernmentareeffectivelyprovidingorganisedcrimegroupswiththe‘checklist’theysostronglyoppose?Ifactssuchasmurder,tortureandrapecannotbecommittedduetotheHRA,whywouldthegovernmentrefusetoincludeadditionalsafeguardsintheCHISAct?Interestingly,similarlegislationinCanada2specifiesthatagentsaren’teverauthorisedtocommitcrimessuchasmurder,falseimprisonmentandsexualoffences,withoutnotableproblems.TheresultoftheHouseofLords’failedamendmentisanActwiththepowertograntcrimesofanyseverityinthenameof‘nationalsecurity’.07

BY KIERA HYBEL

The lack of redress provided under the CHIS Act is also of great significance. The only option for victims of operatives’ crimes is to go to the IPT, a decision governed by a strict twelve-month time limit. The tribunal itself is partially secret and ‘not readily accessible as a court in the ordinary way’ (Bindman, 2020). The IPT is ‘costs-free’ which, whilst signifying that applicants do not have to pay costs if they lose their case, also enables the state to use public funds to file repeat applications to dismiss an applicant’s claim. Kate Wilson (2021), an applicant who filed a claim in 2011, stated ‘I think I had seven days from starting to talk to the lawyer to the limitations time running out so it very nearly wasn’t possible.’ Notably, Wilson has only received the tribunal’s judgment in April 2021 after more than a decade struggling to fund her case.

2 Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act 1985

Wilson’s case stems from an eighteen-month relationship she had in 2003 with a man who was also a member of her environmental protest group. In 2010, the man’s current partner discovered he was actually an undercover operative named Mark Kennedy, who was married with six children. Kennedy had been part of Operation Pegasus which ran from 2003 to 2010, and had engaged in a sexual relationship with Wilson whilst living in her apartment. Wilson (2021) states that ‘since the Human Rights Act has been passed in the

year 2000, I know of at least twelve women who have been deceived into these kinds of relationships.’ Given that the HRA is provided as one of the only ‘safeguards’ in the CHIS Act, it can be inferred that the protections in place are inadequate. Wilson only received police disclosure in February 2020 that acknowledged the violation of her article three, eight and ten rights under the ECHR (the right to live free from inhumane and degrading treatment, the right to a private and family life and the right to freedom of expression). Of the eight women she appealed alongside in 2011, Wilson was the only one to receive acknowledgement of police violations. Her case provides a clear example of the impact which CHIS have had on individuals and the problems incurred holding authorities to account if they overstep. However, the use of CCAs strays ‘far beyond the ‘national security’ imperative at the heart of the Third Direction case’ (Bindman, 2021) so we can expect undercover operatives to have a far greater impact in the future.

When concerns surrounding the authorisation process were raised, the government’s response was that only a handler has

1 Privacy International v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Secretary of State for the Home Department, Government Communications Headquarters, Security Service and Secret Intelligence Service [2015] IPT/15/110/CH

Under the CHIS Act, there is no requirement for judicial authorisation of a CCA. Authorising officers working in collaboration with handlers and controllers are provided with the authority to issue CCAs and, by extension, determine whether conduct conflicts with the HRA. Whilst judicial warrants are required for acts such as tapping a telephone, ‘they are not needed for the far more intrusive and dangerous placing of spies in people’s homes, offices, trade unions, friendship circles and even bedrooms’ (Chakrabarti, 2020).

the personal connection to an agent to consider all the factors relevant for granting an authorisation, an answer Bindman (2021) regards as ‘surprising to say the least.’ Whilst handlers and authorising officers may have personal connections with CHIS, they lack the legal expertise possessed by judges and vital for determining whether to authorise criminal conduct. An additional safeguard instated by the CHIS Act is the requirement for all CCAs to be reviewed by the Investigatory Powers Commissioner in their annual report. However, Privacy International states that these reports are often published two years late (Lázaro Cabrera, 2021), leading Lázaro Cabrera to remark that the ‘pseudo-safeguards… don’t really do much to mitigate the enormous power that is conferred to agents by way of a CCA.’ Notably, whilst both the UK and Canada require the commissioner to report on the number of CCAs granted, the Canadian disclosure of the nature of each CCA is not a requirement under the CHIS Act.

The statement that CHIS’ criminal conduct is ‘lawful for all purposes’ effectively grants immunity to operatives, directly conflicting with the rule of law. As defined by A. V. Dicey (1885, pp.193), ‘every man, whatever his rank or condition, is subject to the ordinary law of the realm and amenable to the jurisdiction of the ordinary tribunals.’ Never before has there been legal immunity from prosecution or civil action in the UK, yet by including this provision, the CHIS Act highlights agents to be above the law governing all citizens. Prior to the CHIS Act, operatives licensed to commit crimes were not granted immunity, but the police (or relevant government agency) could make representations to the Crown Prosecution Service (‘CPS’) to explain that an individual should not be prosecuted as their actions were in the public interest. Chakrabarti tabled an amendment to the Spy Cops Bill in January 2021 which proposed a formal public interest defence rather than full immunity, a provision successfully used in Canada, which she claimed was ‘closer to the status quo, but on statutory footing.’ Upon defeat in the House of Lords, Chakrabarti (2021) remarked, ‘to give that kind of total advance immunity to undercover agents of the state is terrifying to me.’ Lázaro Cabrera (2021) similarly identifies blanket immunity as having ‘enormous potential for abuse [of human rights]’. In the Third Direction case, the court used the lack of immunity provided under SSA 1989 to argue that authorisations were lawful as the possibility of prosecution provided a safeguard that prevented serious crimes. Hence, the government’s granting of immunity in the CHIS Act contradicts their prosecuting argument, removing vital safeguards and eroding the rule of law.

In conclusion, the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021 should not have been made UK law. Whilst the Third Direction case highlighted the need for legislation governing the actions of undercover operatives, the provisions of the CHIS Act are ‘thoroughly undemocratic, unBritish and contrary to the rule of law’ (Chakrabarti, 2020). Instead of full immunity, operatives could have been granted the use of a public interest defence. However, our law already requires any prosecution to be in the public interest and there is not ‘a single example of rogue prosecutors going after police officers or MI5 agents for minor crimes necessarily committed in the course of their duty to keep the public safe’ (Chakrabarti, 2020). The ‘egregious’ (Lázaro Cabrera, 2021) range of serious crimes permitted by the CHIS Act are not restricted by strong safeguards. As seen in Wilson’s case, the IPT is not a viable method of providing redress for victims. Additionally, the lack of judicial authorisation required under the CHIS Act increases the likelihood of HRA violations similar to those committed as part of Operation Pegasus. As the government fervently pursues ‘national security’, there is a serious risk that citizens’ human rights may be sacrificed along the way.

05 UPRUNNER KILLING REMOTELY: CONSEQUENCES OF DRONE WARFARE LAUREN NESBITT RUNNER-UP, MARY LUCEY RESEARCH PRIZE 2021 (DE BEAUVOIR FELLOW, YEAR 13)09

BY LAUREN NESBITT

The morality of warfare is a contested topic in itself, but the rules attempting to create a universal guide for ethical

warfare are based off the idea of a ‘just’ war. This means that war should try to reconcile three very different things: taking life is wrong, people have a right to defend themselves, and sometimes force is the only effective form of defence. Just war has two principles: ‘jus ad bellum’ (the reasons for the war are justified) and ‘jus in bello’ (the war is carried out in an ethical manner) (BBC, 2014). The Geneva Convention aims to create laws covering the latter, and make sure everyone is restricted by the same moral code.

Is it ‘easy’ to kill remotely?

One of the primary military advantages RPAs provide is enhanced surveillance and reconnaissance, to aid troops when deciding how and when to attack. Not only can this save the lives of foot soldiers, it can also reduce accidental civilian casualties by ensuring everyone has the most up-to-date intelligence. When a Reaper team was watching a possible improvised explosive device (IED) production base for ground troops planning to attack, suspicious activity spotted at sunrise and the ground troops deemed it ‘hostile behaviour’. This term allows the troops to attack under the Geneva Convention, but the Reaper operators continued to analyse the base over the next few hours. They realised that the activity was a farmer with tools, planting new crops, who posed no threat (Lee, 2013, pp.19-20). In this scenario and elsewhere, RPAs saved many innocent lives because they allowed for more perspective and accurate intelligence before making final decisions. A report (Chapa, 2014, p.38) states that before remote warfare, there were around 10 civilians killed for every combatant, but since remote technology, this number falls to around 0.5. Considering this, the enemy civilians are much safer when being attacked remotely, as generally they are not the target.

Assuming military conflict is unavoidable, do the military advantages of remotely piloted aircraft outweigh the possible impact on both the pilot’s mental health and the morality of Introductionwarfare?

The Geneva Convention monitors actions taken in wartime and includes two main principles: the military must ensure civilians are ‘protected and treated humanely’ (BCN, 2019) and that any civilian lives lost should not be ‘excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated’ (Geneva Conventions, 1949, 1977). As these rules were written long before RPA warfare was even a possibility, they do not successfully cover remote situations e.g., inaccurate data from RPAs, failures in technology or greater military advantages justifying excessive force (De Silva, 2019, pp.803–805). It also becomes much harder to prosecute infringements, since it is unclear who is primarily responsible – this is made even more uncertain by some autonomous craft with programmed instructions. As these rules become less relevant and remote technology advances, it is going to become more important to understand how far human nature can be relied upon to retain ethical warfare, as the threat of punishment for acting immorally decreases. For example, in a conversation with an RAF operator at Creech Air Force Base, when a strike was ordered, the RPA operators decided that the chances of there being a civilian outside the range the RPA could see were too high, so they called the strike off (Lee, 2013, pp.4-5). Giving RPA operators this level of control over decisions has huge potential if inherent morality can be relied upon but could also have disastrous effects if not monitored. A potential improvement would be to have commanders and operators making joint decisions as then fewer rash decisions would be made and the burden split. This would not always be possible in timepressured situations.

KILLING REMOTELY: CONSEQUENCES OF DRONE WARFARE

The concept of ‘convenient killing’ is also conducive to an increased risk from moral injury, which can have effects similar to those caused by PTSD. There is equally a harsh work environment and a lack of psychological support for operators (IMEG, 2020, p.2) as the role does not fall under any previous guidelines and there is limited historical evidence to draw upon.

What is ‘ethical warfare’?

The common misconception when launching remote attacks, phrased well in ‘RPA Warfare: Killing by Remote Control’, is that ‘it makes killing too easy’ (Benjamin, 2012, p.14). This implies that killing remotely is both physically easy and psychologically easy. Forming the multi-disciplinary team to provide the technology requires considerable preparation but is certainly less challenging than moving soldiers across the globe. However, the reality of pulling the trigger is no easier remotely than in person. According to one British pilot from Creech Air Force base who has killed both remotely and in manned aircraft, ‘the body’s reactions are the same – it surprised me.

The use of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) has become increasingly prominent within the military all over the world, especially after 9/11 induced fear in the population and made 24-hour surveillance more important. The first use of RPA for surveillance, outside testing, occurred in the US Air Force in 1994 with the MQ-1 Predator. There was no attempt to weaponize these RPAs until late in 2001, with the aim to launch attacks in Afghanistan after 9/11 (RAF, 2021). As this is a new and rapidly advancing technology, there are long-term implications being realised on both its morality and the effect on operators. Consequences of emerging technology are vital to consider when thinking about future progressions.

What are the technological advantages of RPA?

One philosopher whose views on morality reflect those of the Geneva Convention is Walzer (2000), who believes that the intrinsic knowledge of another’s rights is the reason we agree to a just war. Walzer does not contemplate the reasons behind this knowledge (2000, p.54) and as it is not defined, relying on it for ethical warfare will not create a peaceful or fair environment.

A common opinion on the morality of RPA, is that if operators only see blips on a screen, ‘the potential for this to lead to a culture of convenient killing’ (Cole, Dobbing and Hailwood, 2010, p.4) is very likely. While this is not representative of reality, the risk that wars are fought with less regard for ethical fighting is real, as the immediate threat to those piloting the craft is reduced. This and the increased threat to foreign civilians, was concluded to be a significant contributor to the negative views held by US citizens on using RPA in war (Davis, 2019, p.36). Only the new discussions as a result of remote technology will be discussed in depth.

If only one side has remote technology, they have a huge advantage over the other, and the desire for this advantage has spurred technological advancements since the invention of the cross bow. As unbalanced technology has always been a key factor in deciding the victor of conflict, it cannot be said that this is unethical. However, as desperation to acquire military advantage deepens, often the influence of morality on decisionmaking becomes less important. For example, the bombing of Nagasaki was, in hindsight, unnecessary, however both the technology and the desperation to win was there, and so the order to carry out the bombing was given (Carroll, 2006).

reviewed by IMEG say stress caused 10% of trainees to drop out of this high-pressure role into another less demanding one, and a further 10% developed ‘recurrent psychological symptoms’ (IMEG, 2020, p.4). IMEG’s findings consider as many reports as exist, but there is very limited data with sufficient evidence to draw any final conclusions. According to the report, the main causes of stress are long working hours and a lack of respect. Shifts can be up to 12 hours with a brief and debrief, and shift work is notoriously bad for your health as it forces you to change your natural sleep pattern, resulting in exhaustion. This can impact your physical health by causing headaches, a slower immune response and reduced cognitive functioning (Caruso, 2015). The lack of respect for this role causes the operators to feel undervalued and most likely stems from the belief that remote work is an easy job compared to manned deployment, as you are not away from family, there is no risk to yourself and there is less physical exertion required. All of these are true, however they miss the reality of the job.

The widespread development of remote technology within the military indicates its military advantages have been deemed worthwhile. There is little way of accurately measuring its effectiveness, however, as quite a lot of its usage is classified. The technological advantages gained from surveillance and intelligence can save innocent lives on both sides, therefore this aspect is definitely beneficial. When attacking however, the negative implications on mental health and the morality of warfare have the potential to outweigh the military advantage gained. Within the wider UK military, it is estimated that only 2.7% suffer from mental health issues requiring professional treatment (Ministry of Defence, 2019). This is much lower than any reports covering RPA operators, suggesting that there is excessive stress in this role.

Trusting operator’s inherent morality should not be relied upon in the future as it is both uncertain and will negatively impact the operator’s mental health. The current situation where operators are balancing different opinions on what is ethical – ‘keeping the lawyers happy, the boss happy, and letting me sleep at night’ (Lee, 2013, p.20) – is not a healthy one. It will likely result in the rates of PTSD and moral injury rising due to increased responsibility and therefore guilt. Support could be provided to help those affected, but current treatments are not effective enough to reliably prevent all longterm negative repercussions. Most of those treated recover within a few years, but about 1/3 will never fully recover (The Recovery Village, 2021). The safest solution would be to stop using RPAs for attacking and use them only for surveillance and intelligence gathering. This would greatly reduce the stress on operators and reduce the chance of unethical warfare, whilst retaining a significant number of the life-saving benefits.

because it feels more like a ‘fair fight’, however if the attacker is comfortable and safe, killing someone you have spent days watching results in severe guilt. This is worsened when civilians are hit accidentally, which is a permanent risk due to the immense power of this technology.

Your mouth goes dry and the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Everything goes tense and you get that sick feeling in your stomach. You know what you are about to do.’ (Lee, 2013, p.7) This account from someone who has experienced both sides of the argument demonstrates well how pilots feel in that situation. The pilot’s only motive when recounting this was to educate so it will be truthful. A differing view from a navigator on an RPA team was that the only immediate feeling after witnessing the bombing of a college in Afghanistan was one of excitement – ‘I also felt electrified, adrenalized. My team had won.’ (Martin, 2010). This account of the experience was given by someone who had seen atrocities but was not directly responsible for causing them, so his experience will be less affected by guilt. He was also writing this as part of a book, so his recount could be dramatized for public consumption and might not reflect reality. This contrasting view reduces trust if relying on reluctance to restrain excessive killing, however the roles and context mean no conclusion can be accurately drawn. The classic scene from films shows a dot on a radar-style screen which disappears with a button press. With current technology this is wildly inaccurate as RPAs convey highquality surveillance footage, and therefore operators witness the effects of their actions more intimately than those on the ground; they don’t just hear a bang in the distance, they see the aftermath and the reactions of those around.

As well as intimacy with the enemy, RPA operators are in the unique position of being at no threat themselves and a huge threat to others. While this is what provides the greatest military advantage, it means the operators are vulnerable to moral injury, defined as ‘mental pain caused by witnessing or doing something that directly goes against one’s moral code’ (Norman and Maguen, 2021). This is believed to be the largest contributor to reports of ill-health. When there is a risk to the attacker as well as the target, this consequence is reduced

Conclusion:

More serious mental health implications:

Causes and effects of stress:

RPA operators perform one of three functions: surveillance, attack or intelligence (IMEG, 2020, p.3). They are based at either Creech Air Force Base in America or RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire (RAF, 2021) where their families live with them on base. Their roles entail watching monitors for days with very little activity, and then witnessing or causing an execution of the people they have been watching. Seeing this horror play out, knowing it is the reality somewhere far away, has the potential to cause PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), even if you were not directly responsible. Reports from Vietnam and Iraq (IMEG, 2020, p.2) show that those who witnessed constant trauma suffered similar effects to those causing it. After work, there is also a sudden mindset shift required to revert to civilian life. Constantly compartmentalising memories can be very stressful, especially as the operators experience extremes of war and peace simultaneously (IMEG, 2020, p.8).

By watching the enemy and their family for long periods of time, an intimacy is gained, which is one cause of mental health issues in RPA operators, specifically those in the role of attacking. According to a survey (Phillips et al, 2019), about 70% of 40 RPA operators reported negative emotional repercussions (IMEG, 2020, p.5) as a result of their role. This was reported primarily as stress, the feeling of ‘being overwhelmed and unable to cope with mental or emotional pressure’ (Mental Health Foundation, 2021). The accuracy is uncertain with surveys and reports like this, as soldiers often do not convey the extent of their feelings, due to the stigma that they would be ‘seen as weak’ or ‘be treated differently’ (Acosta et al, 2014, p.19). The IMEG report was also requested by the Chief of Air Staff, as a precaution when reports of stress were increasing, so the expectation is that the findings will show negative mental health effects. However, as it is such a recent report and specific to remote technology, it is very relevant and one of few sources of reliable information. Unpublished reports

TO WHAT EXTENT IS THE A* PATHFINDING ALGORITHM JUSTIFIABLE AS THE MORE EFFICIENT ALGORITHM IN THE MAZES OF 2D GAMES?

BY YUKIE ZHAO

YUKIE ZHAO RUNNER UP MARY LUCEY RESEARCH PRIZE 2021 (DE BEAUVOIR FELLOW, YEAR 13)

The shortest path between two nodes can be found through a multitude of methods. From the use of brute force in Breadth First Search to an estimation with the help of heuristics in A*, pathfinding algorithms vary greatly in different environments. In particular, the A* algorithm is especially favourable for implementation within games; its heuristics, combined with the pre-existing grids of in-game structures, can reduce the number of nodes that must be explored before an optimal path is

UPRUNNER

TO WHAT EXTENT IS THE A* PATHFINDING ALGORITHM JUSTIFIABLE AS THE MORE EFFICIENT ALGORITHM IN THE MAZES OF 2D GAMES?

Pathfinding algorithms are created from mathematical methods and implemented through code. Broadly, they are used for graph traversal, to find a path between two nodes (points) in a connected graph. For example, a pathfinding algorithm such as Dijkstra, which will be explained later with A*, is a key component behind how Google Maps works. Different algorithms prioritise different aspects in its decision-making whilst traversing the graph, but overall, the goal is to create an efficient algorithm. Evidently, the term “efficient” could refer to many factors: length, time, or the computer resources required. All factors are crucial in game design, as users would neither have the patience nor the resources to run slow and complex programs. As 2D games do not have a z co-ordinate, its restricted environment allows a clearer view on the steps performed by algorithms in their search for the most efficient path between a given origin and destination. Again for greater clarity, maze-like structures allow one to compare the chosen path between different algorithms and output a graphical representation of the nodes explored by the current algorithm.

MazeFig.found.1graph showing f values for each square.

Before considering efficiency, it is important to understand how the A* search algorithm finds the optimal route. When given a start and end node on a graph of connected nodes, A* calculates two variables using functions: g (the cost to travel from the starting node to the current node) and h(an estimate of the cost to travel from the current node to the end node). In figure1, the green square represents the starting node and blue for ending node. Each square displays the output of f , which is the sum of g and h . Through these numbers, A* can choose the next node as an adjacent node with the smallest f , which ensures that the shortest path is found. his the heuristic, a key factor that makes A* more efficient than Dijkstra’s algorithm in certain scenarios. The heuristic can be described as an estimation of the cost to travel to the referenced node. Hence, Dijkstra’s algorithm could be described as A* search operating in the worst-case scenario – where function h= 0, as Dijkstra does not use the heuristic. Depth First Search is a pathfinding algorithm that explores the graph by branches, until the end of the branch has been reached. Although the margin for error has increased, as DFShas a greater probability of never reaching the end node, it also has a greater chance of reaching the node faster if it chose the right direction.

To compare the efficiency of A*, I decided to work on coding my own pathfinding algorithm in Python (programming language). As it would be a 2D maze game, the graph [line 4] has been set up as tiles, each with its own properties: name, co-ordinates, and walkability. In order to use my recursive Depth First Search function [line 69], the graph needs to be processed to find how nodes are connected to each other. Therefore, the function findLinks() [line 25] loops through all the items in the graph and creates a list of each one’s neighbouring nodes. Returned as the list links[][line 64], function dfs()[line 69] can then use it to find a path from the chosen start to end nodes. However, a problem I encountered was returning the path taken by the algorithm from the recursive function, which is where a function calls itself repeatedly until a base case is satisfied. To counteract this, I created another function cleanList()[line 100] to sort through all the nodes that have been visited, and return the direct path taken. The code file can be run in any IntegratedDevelopmentEnvironment for Python, or online through Replit. The code also includes whileloopsto prevent errors from false user input, which has been tested against boundary values. Unfortunately, the A* algorithm for Unity cannot be run in Python and vice versa for the algorithm below; when comparing them, one must also consider the possibility of purposeful delays in code execution. Therefore, the comparison can only be an estimation.

Screenshots of code created, to be referenced within lines above: Note: Please see on the last few pages screenshots of the code I wrote for the competing algorithm, which is frequently referred to later on with line numbers.

To summarize, A* is undoubtedly much more complex in its calculations for the most efficient path and will return the optimal path. However, in simple mazes, one may not need to execute such complex algorithms which require greater power; though more inefficient in terms of expanding towards unnecessary nodes, Depth First Search is much simpler to implement due to its straightforward concept. As mentioned above, “efficient” has many factors, A* excels in the length and time category, whereas the variant of Depth First Search takes the lead in reducing computer resources required.

TO WHAT EXTENT CAN THE MESSAGES AND THEMES PROMOTED BY THE POETRY OF THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH ROMANTICS BE CONSIDERED A BLESSING OR A CURSE? EMILY STEVENSON (DE BEAUVOIR FELLOW, YEAR 13) 14

This notion can be further traced in Keats’ ToAutumn and Lamartine’s L’automne. Whilst the poems’ speakers evoke an affinity with this time of stasis and desolation, they also merge such themes with mellow hints of poetic fruitfulness, as in Keats’ poem, or the tranquil acceptance of death, as in Lamartine’s poem. L’automne’sspeaker, for example, finds refuge in the ‘soleil pâlissant…la faible lumière’ (Lamartine, line 7), yet, even if a state of bleakness can be found in autumn’s fading warmth, the speaker discovers beauty in the natural world, for ‘Aux regards d’un mourant le soleil est si

The birth of the Romantic movement saw a remarkable shift in the literary mindset as the arts rejected the strict guidelines of the Enlightenment that praised rationalism and scientific logic. ‘Romanticism’ is a nebulous term, a collection of radical theories perhaps generally unified by the foregrounding of ‘the self’: in essence, the movement was ‘the making of the modern mind’1. Writing at the same point in history, the works of the English poet John Keats and the French poet Alphonse de Lamartine demonstrate such introspective tendencies; this is often portrayed through a quasicommunion with the natural world. Their poetry, riddled with self-torment and the desire for an elusive ideal, provides the creative opportunity for both optimism and grim melancholia. Whilst much can be learnt from their belief in the free assertion of emotion and respect for nature, it is essential to consider the darker underside of the movement. There is perhaps a danger in this hubristic craving to reject rationalism and in the glorification of the tortured, seemingly mythic status of the poet. Through analysing the work of Keats and Lamartine, as well as revivals of Romantic ideology throughout history, the extent to which the movement can benefit the human condition or promote an emphasis on reckless egotism in society can be debated.

TO WHAT EXTENT CAN THE MESSAGES AND THEMES PROMOTED BY THE POETRY OF THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH ROMANTICS BE CONSIDERED A BLESSING OR A CURSE?

The ‘sublime’, or the incomprehensible and overwhelming forces of nature which inspire fear and admiration, was fundamental to Romanticism. These emotions are captured in Friedrich’s haunting contemplation of the glory of landscape in his painting WandererabovetheSeaofFog, the artwork’s inherent tension reminiscent of Keats’ anxiously rhapsodic veneration of nature. Indeed, ecocriticism, the study of the role of the environment in literature, has frequently analysed the Romantics’ belief in nature as an antidote to societal hardship and something worthy of preservation and reverence. At a time when humankind is increasingly determined to monopolize and dominate the natural world (the effects of which- climate change, global warming and pollution- are becoming more severe) Keats’ reluctance to limit the dominion of the nightingale through applying a logical framework upon its inexplicable aspects certainly resonates. Perhaps, then, the Romantics teach society to forge an intimate connection with the natural world, both on a spiritual and physical level through immersion into, and appreciation of, its multifaceted features.

In Keats’ OdetoaNightingale, this innate desire to reach an ambiguous ideal is apparent. The speaker’s meditation on his stance on mortality in the face of the eternal song of the nightingale is pervaded with a sense of narcotized languor. Keats’ language is laced with references to intoxication: upon listening to the song, the speaker is metaphorically provided with ‘some dull opiate’ (Keats, line 3), so that his ‘heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains/My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk’ (Keats, 1-2). The nightingale provides a transformative experience, allowing the speaker to ‘fade away’ (20) and disintegrate into a state of oblivion and depart from the ‘weariness, the fever, and the fret’ (23) that plague his earthly realm. Perhaps this sense of desolation stems from Keats’ own awareness of his transience; Keats initially trained as an apothecary and cared for his sick brother until his death before he himself died of the same illness two years later. As the

poem progresses, however, the speaker rejects intoxication as a means of escaping reality, opting to reach the eternal world of the nightingale ‘on the viewless wings of Poesy’ (33). Thus, Keats’ metaphor presents nature’s power not just in providing a temporary respite from mortality, but also in igniting his poetic imagination and capacity for self-expression.

In addition to repeated indications of this drowsy haze, Keats employs several sensory images: he writes of the ‘full-throated ease’ (10) of the nightingale’s song, the ‘breezes blown / Through verdurous glooms’ (39-40) and the ‘incense [that] hangs upon the boughs’ (42). Critic Andrew Kappel has suggested that such ‘intense engagement… [with] the consciousness now living predominately through its physical senses’2 enables the poet to attain ‘collapsed temporal focus that permits obliviousness to transience’3. Therefore, even if he is ultimately reconciled to his status as a mortal (‘fancy cannot cheat so well’ (73) for an illusion of the eternal to be accepted), the speaker nevertheless wishes to abandon reason to enter the realm of the nightingale, at least momentarily. This perhaps alludes to ‘negative capability’4, a term Keats coined in a letter of 1817 to evoke a state in which one allows oneself to be ‘capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason’5. Keats’ notion proposes a kind of poetic intuition based on sensation rather than rationality, which thus facilitates a deeper appreciation of the sublime world.

Similarly, in Lamartine’s L’isolement, a discourse with nature is evident, although as in OdetoaNightingale, this is intertwined with the burdens of reality. When the poem was composed, Lamartine was wrestling with health issues and the aftermath of the death of his beloved, Julie Charles. With great despondency, the speaker describes his ‘âme indifférente’ (Lamartine, line 17) and asserts how ‘Je ne demande rien à l’immense univers’ (36). The latter statement, although suggestive of his grief, conveys a desire to cease his quest for an understanding of the world due to the injustice he feels at the death of Charles (if the poem is autobiographical), just as the speaker in Keats’ OdetoaNightingalenotes that ‘to think is to be full of sorrow’ (27). Whilst Keats, with his concept of ‘negative capability’, is passive in accepting nature’s mysteries, Lamartine’s speaker is instead passive in his depression. Yet, similar to OdetoaNightingale’saspiration to escape the existence where ‘palsy shakes a few, sad, last grey hairs, / Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies’ (25-26), L’isolementcommunicates the hope for spiritual renewal through admission into an otherworldly realm. This is demonstrated in the speaker’s reflection that ‘au-delà des bornes de sa sphère, / Lieux où le vrai soleil éclaire d’autres cieux, / Si je pouvais laisser ma dépouille à la terre, / Ce que j’ai tant rêvé paraîtrait à mes yeux!’ (37-40). To reach this place, the speaker wishes to assimilate into the decaying aspects of his surroundings which he can identify with, notably ‘la feuille flétrie’ (51), and demands the wind to ‘Emportez-moi comme elle’ (52). Indeed, Lamartine spoke of the ‘language sublime’6 in the natural world which he felt could articulate his turmoil, allowing him, like Keats, to abandon himself to the mystery of his dream. By emphasising the importance of self expression and the engagement of the imagination through nature, the Romantics offer the prospect of a symbiotic relationship between humankind and the environment, whereby society’s reverence of the latter in turn encourages poetic enlightenment and optimism after personal dejection.

BY EMILY STEVENSON

the self is made superior to stagnant societal constructs and the reality of life. Yet despite the apparent ‘progressive’ ideals of ‘counter-culture’, it would be naïve to overlook the morally dubious qualities of the movement, notably the widespread use of psychedelic drugs. Such tendencies were likewise prevalent during the nineteenth century, opium being one of the most readily available drugs at the time (perhaps reflected by Keats’ initial advocation of intoxicating substances in Ode toaNightingale)Keats, Coleridge, Byron and Shelley were said to have taken the drug, whilst French Romantics including Victor Hugo and Théophile Gautier were part of the ‘Club des Hachichins’. Both the Romantics and 1960s counter-culturalists saw these substances as facilitators of the passage to a higher plane of existence and greater poetic creativity: the critic Colin Campbell (2006, p.115) notes that this recalls Keats’ claim that ‘what the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth’11. Yet, the motivations for such behaviour seem partly to be selfaggrandizing justifications to further glorify the mythic status of the poet, or, as seen in the 1960s, a means of vindicating the disaffected individual.

Keats to George and Tom Keats, 1817, in The Complete Poems, Keats, J., (London: Penguin, 1988), p539.

beau!’ (23). Thus, the bond that he has formed with his surroundings permits him to situate his morbidity in tranquility: ‘Moi, je meurs; et mon âme, au moment qu’elle expire, / S’exhale comme un son triste et mélodieux’ (35-36), just as Keats’s speaker confesses that he has been ‘half in love with easeful Death, / Call’d him soft names in many a mused rhyme’ (Keats, lines Recalling52-53).therichly

Overall, whilst it is unjust to align all the moral failings of the 1960s and other ‘Romantic’ revivals to the original movement, it is difficult to deny the parallels. If the rejection of rationalism in exchange for a return to nature is taken to an extreme level and reason is renounced in favour of an aesthetic of ignorance, an anarchic kind of ‘negative capability’, then this outlook is indeed destructive.

Thus, this drug-taking could be considered part of the Romantics’, especially the English Romantics’, preoccupation with ‘sensation’. Although Keats was by no means as consumed by the hedonistic tendencies that made a celebrity out of Lord Byron, this did not prevent his death from being mythologised into the fate of an archetypal ‘tortured artist’. Despite being one of the most celebrated poets of the English language today, Keats was met with intense hostility from critics during his lifetime, and although the real reason for Keats’ death at the age of just twenty-one was tuberculosis, Percy Shelley, a fellow Romantic, nevertheless glamorized this to suggest that Keats died due to critical dismissal. In Shelley’s poem Adonais: AnElegyontheDeathofJohnKeats, the speaker asks ‘What deaf and viperous murderer could crown / Life’s early cup with such a draft of woe?’ (Shelley, lines 317-318), and tells one particularly malicious critic (‘The nameless worm’ (319)) to ‘itself disown’ (319). This notion of the ‘tortured artist’ has been prominent in recent history, including during the 1960s: an extract from the same poem was also used as an elegy for the Rolling Stones musician Brian Jones in 1969. Thus, Jones has become part of the complex sequence of artists who have found themselves at odds with society and engaging in destructively decadent activities as a release. Although Lamartine’s lifestyle never reached the infamous heights of various English Romantics, he too was met with criticism from the Académie, and after the failure of a promising career as a politician he

However, not only the movement’s extraordinary contribution to literature, including the advent of the promotion of the individual in poetry, but also its admiration of nature through imaginative and perhaps even therapeutic contemplation, are crucial for modern society as human ties to its landscapes are becoming dangerously disconnected. Since the late twentieth century, ‘ecopoets’ have been interrogating humankind’s relationship to the environment that it is so dependent on, yet hostile towards. These writers could be seen as an evolution of the Romantic poets and Keats and Lamartine’s foregrounding of the fruitful results of the synergy between self-expression and the natural world. Ultimately, however, it is the way in which society decides how to treat its literature, whether writers’ messages are manipulated into conforming to a certain hubristic vision, or used for the benefit of the human condition, that truly determines the validity of the Romantic movement.

Ibid 6 Lamartine, A. (1822) “Chant d’amour (I)”, Poésie Française [Online]. Available 1110987chant_damour_ihttps://www.bonjourpoesie.fr/lesgrandsclassiques/Poemes/alphonse_de_lamartine/at:Walsh,W.,1981.IntroductiontoKeats.London:Methuen,p119.IbidIbid,p29Bate,J.,2019.ByronandtheAgeofSensation.GreshamCollegeLectures.MuseumofLondon,London.JohnKeatstoBenjaminBailey,1817,inTheCompletePoems,Keats,J.,(London:Penguin,1988),p535.

sensuous imagery employed in Ode toaNightingale, Keats’ ToAutumnevokes the ‘mists and mellow fruitfulness’ (1) and how ‘summer has o’er brimm’d [the bees’] clammy cells’ (11), whilst ‘the wailful choir [of] the small gnats mourn’ (27). Thus, Keats positions autumn in the context of ‘ripeness which is at once a recognition of transience, an acceptance of it and a celebration of its peculiar virtue of fulfilment’7 to offer ‘the maternal fullness and softness of autumn but also its rougher, acrid side’8, as implied through the morbid imagery. Through utilising autumn as a vehicle through which to unite dual sentiments of beautiful ripeness and desolation, both poets, as Romantics, reinforce the constructive interchange between individual expression and nature. However, it is possible to look beyond these messages of the productive establishment of an affinity with the natural world in the pursuit of introspection and find in Keats’ poem a disquieting meditation on poetic life. Continuing the fluctuation between fruitfulness and idleness, autumn is personified into a figure ‘sitting careless on a granary floor, / …Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep’ (14-16) whilst ‘Drows’d with the fume of poppies’ (17) and watching ‘the last oozings hours by hours’ (22). Perhaps this languidly narcotic evocation of the harvest could be indicative of Keats’ ‘taste for indolent, self-warming luxury…[the] intensely negative force of a passion for oblivion, an instinct for non-being’9 that he possessed. If Keats does engage in a discourse with the natural world, it is one that, like that of Lamartine, is not wholly based on rationality or virtue. Perhaps one can view this notion of indulgent, slightly destructive living (particularly as an artistic individual) as part of the Romantic legacy. Jonathan Bate suggests that ‘The spirit of [Romanticism]…live[d] on through the twentieth century. The association of creativity with genius, youth, loose living and early death has become embedded in popular culture’10 The ‘counter-culture’ and anti-establishment values that preached a return to nature and the promotion of imaginative experience over reason were, in part, fuelled by Romantic principles, with many ‘hippies’ using the work of Romantic poets to support their aims. As with Romanticism, there is a certain allure to this mindset, in which a utopian advocation of

was ridiculed until his death. This pattern that emerged during Romanticism that led to the public figure (the ‘celebrity’) being merged with the poet subsequently gave rise to the cult of the ‘tortured artist’, a concept which, although perpetually romanticized, is inherently problematic.

1 Bate, J., 2018. The Origins of Romanticism. Gresham College Lectures. Museum of London, 2London.Kappel, A., 1978. “The Immortality of the Natural: Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale.”” ELH, 45(2), 43p275.IbidJohn

A cure is a means of bringing about the end of a person’s suffering by means of a drug or procedure. It restores health. Health should not be regarded as the lack of infirmity, but rather the physical, social and mental wellbeing of a person. Specifically, immunotherapy is a treatment which stimulates an immune response and eliminates only disease-causing cells whilst sparing protective immune cells.

In the last forty years, scientists have made fundamental breakthroughs in immunology, and it seems we are on the verge of a golden era regarding our knowledge of autoimmunity. However, there are extensive gaps in our knowledge about the true cause of the onset of autoimmunity. Consequently, development is slow.

What is immunotherapy?

In this literature review, the focus will be on two specific autoimmune diseases: Pemphigus Vulgaris and Multiple Sclerosis.

COMPARING THE TREATMENT OF AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES USING IMMUNOTHERAPIES AGAINST PRESENT-DAY TREATMENT OF IMMUNOSUPPRESSANTS.

B cells bind to the antigens (structures on the outside of pathogens or foreign bodies) and produce antibodies. The antibodies essentially label the cell for destruction, attracting cells which will engulf and destroy the pathogen.

COMPARING THE TREATMENT OF AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES USING IMMUNOTHERAPIES AGAINST PRESENT-DAY TREATMENT OF IntroductionBYIMMUNOSUPPRESSANTS.SAMAYAHHUSSAIN

How does an immune response work?

SAMAYAH HUSSAIN (DE BEAUVOIR FELLOW, YEAR 13)

Firstly, we must build a basic understanding of how the immune system works. When an invading army of pathogens breach the primary defenses of the body, such as the skin and mucous membranes, an infantry of white blood cells are required to defeat the enemies. During this war there are two types of lymphocytes1 which create a specific response to infection - B cells and T cells.

T cells influence other cells in the immune system. In this paper, we will pay close attention to killer T cells (destroy infected body cells).

Our bodies are gifted with a defence system in order to protect us from harmful invading pathogens and heal us when we get sick. But what happens when the very same defense turns on itself, and starts to attack the host?

According to the national cancer institute (NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms, 2021), autoimmune disease is defined as “A condition in which the body’s immune system mistakes its own healthy tissues as foreign and attacks them.”

What is autoimmune disease?

What is Pemphigus Vulgaris (PV)?

As stated by the NHS website, there are currently no cures for PV. However, treatments can be used to manage symptoms such as blistering and help control the disease. Often, immunosuppressant drugs and medication are used to stop the immune system damaging healthy cells. Particularly for PV, steroid medications are used. Although rapid control of the disease can be achieved in uncomplicated patients, evidence is inconclusive due to the diversity of the patient population, as well as the lack of randomised clinical trials.

of this is Wraith’s trial11 for treatment of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), where 43 patients were dispensed with five different doses of treatment. Those with larger doses, showed a ‘large reduction in MS activity’. Although only three months later patients showed signs of relapse. Compared to the previous trojan horse therapy, although this treatment has been trialed clinically and shown promise, it is not as sustainable and does not provide a long-term cure at the moment.

Initially, it was evaluated in vitro4 on cultured B-cells. Preclinical testing was important as it ensured that the engineered model could bind to target cells. It was essential that the molecular mechanism of how the T cell bound to the B cell was understood. It was also important in evaluating the cytotoxicity5. However, limitations of this were that effect on whole or multiple body systems could not be monitored.

PV is an autoimmune disease affecting the skin, where the body attacks the cells deep within the skin. Specifically, B cells recognise normal skin proteins as foreign and attack them. A high concentration of antibodies (produced by the B cells) bind to antigens on skin proteins and interfere with their normal functioning, creating burn-like lesions to the skin and protective lining (mucous membrane) around the mouth and throat.

is without its limitations. In the case of this trial, few would dispute that such short-term observations of safety and efficacy in pre-clinical models provide limited insight. Unquestionably, the most important aspect of clinical research is the patients. The input and experience provided by patients is invaluable and key in refuting any assumptions. Next steps are to start the clinical trials. In order to create generate reliable and accurate data of the clinical trial, it would be necessary to randomise control groups, use a placebo and ensure the trial is double-blind.

The greatest significance of this study was that it avoided risking general immunosuppression and can likely be applied to other autoantibody mediated diseases. The harm of longterm usage of immunosuppressants, causing vulnerability to infections and increased risk of cancers, are avoided using this therapy.

Antolerance’.illustration

In 2016, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania published a paper2 after engineering a targeted immunotherapy to combat PV. They were inspired by previous research using Chimeric Auto-Antibody Receptor (CAAR) technology, where researchers genetically engineered T cells, giving T cells the ability to target a specific protein. In this research trial, they attempted to engineer the T cells to target autoreactive B cells (cells initiating immune attack against skin cells).

The trojan horse: Using engineered killer T cells disguised as skin cells to deceive and kill B cells

It was successful as observed B cells were either killed by the T-cells or mutated7 to avoid being recognised by the T cells, allowing two birds to be killed with one stone. Furthermore, by measuring the bioluminescence8 of bone marrow, it demonstrated a persistence of the killer T-cells three weeks after transfer. Given that the persistence of killer T-cells was independent of encountering B cells, it can be concluded that the generation of long-term memory CAAR-T cells is a potential However,cure.noresearch

Current treatment for PV?

In order to commence with their idea, researchers had to develop a strategy of how they would target only the B cells (anti-Dsg3 memory B cells3) attacking the normal skin cells.

Other researchers using similar technologies: To reinforce this point, Professor David Wraith, an immunologist who has discovered novel therapies in the field of T cell biology, researched a way of boosting protective cells rather than the traditional method of simply blocking dangerous cells.

As a result of this discovery, he engineered synthetic myelin proteins (commonly attacked in MS) for antigen-presenting cells10 to respond to, so that the myelin cells could be identified as self and T cells would be inactivated or taught to ’maintain

Although the molecular mechanisms of the autoimmune diseases, PV and MS, are distinct, the pathways for potential immunotherapy treatment are similar as they are specific. This is demonstrated by how a trap is used to either ambush only the disease-causing cells (trojan horse), or reboot T cells to prevent myelin cells from being attacked.

What is so innovative about this approach is that researchers engineered the killer T cell to display the extrinsic protein coat of a normal skin protein on the surface. Likening it to a trojan horse, the unsuspecting B cell would come to the disguised killer T-cell on its own and the receptors would lock onto the antigen of the killer T-cell. Therefore, the killer T-cells would only target the disease-causing B cells whilst sparing the protective cells required for immunity.

The next stage was to construct their trojan horse. By reconstructing the extracellular protein of the skin cells (which the B cells would target), they would be able to engineer T cells which could kill autoimmune B cells in PV.

Next steps involved creating a mouse model6. Researchers injected a serum containing the engineered killer T cells and encountered promising results as it was observed that there was an absence of oral blisters to the mucous membrane.

In Multiple sclerosis9 (MS), it is believed that T helper cells are responsible for autoimmune inflammation. The inflammation results in damage to myelin, which can affect the brain and spinal cord. Through his research, he realised that T helper cells responded to small fragments of antigens of myelin (and not whole antigens, which was previously thought) resulting in self-cells being mistakenly recognised as foreign and the body launching an attack.

But the greatest disadvantage of such a treatment is the increased susceptibility to infection, as immune defenses are lowered.

Their aim was to directly eliminate these B cells only.

In the light of a new dawn, we can hope that sooner or later, immunotherapies will be used for treatment of autoimmune diseases and personalised to patients to improve their quality of life.

This is important because if the root of the cause is unknown, then how can one go about precluding it?

6 a mouse genetically engineered to have PV 7 change to the DNA which results in the autoreactive B cell being unable to bind to the normal skin cells and stop the release of antibodies. Therefore, normal skin cells are not destroyed.

Whether it is more effective investigating the root cause or building on our existing knowledge, one thing is incontestable.

13 Bender, E. (2020). Could a bacteria-stuffed pill cure autoimmune diseases? Nature, [online] 577, pp.S12–S13. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00197-z [Accessed 21 July 2021].

On this basis, we can conclude that a new generation of immunotherapy is likely to be more efficient and targeted, pushing former non-specific immunosuppressive drugs out of the way.

In evaluating current research trials, it is certain that an optimistic future lays ahead of us. Transitioning from medications with dangerous side-effects and high toxicity to targeted therapies is a crucial next step, once clinical trials are successful. However, it is essential to factor in the problem that inflammation occurs in flares due to constant readjustment of the body. This means that results can be biased and potentially inaccurate. A solution lies in ensuring that clinical trials involve long term observation of patients and a control group.

To briefly explain, microbiome researchers liken the gut to a healthy forest, and are in search of hazards putting the entire ‘ecosystem’ at jeopardy long-term. Taking a glimpse into an

The key aspects of my research would include how gut microbiota influences development of the B cells and T cells, how it is associated with autoimmunity, and its responses to CAR-T therapy.

8 light produced by a chemical reaction within a living organism

2 ELLEBRECHT, CHRISTOPH T. “Science | Reengineering Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells for Targeted Therapy of Autoimmune Disease.” Science, 8 July 2016, https://www.science.org/. VOL. 353, NO. 6295

10 cells which process and present cells to T cells for recognition

5 cytotoxicity is a desired treatment of therapy as it is the selective killing of cancer cells, bacteria, viruses etc.

9 MS is a neurodegenerative autoimmune disease which is caused by damage to myelin sheath (insulating material which increases speed of conduction) around nerve cells

11 Garber, K. Immunology: A tolerant approach. Nature 507, 418–420 (2014). https://doi. 12org/10.1038/507418acompositionofmicroorganisms (such as bacteria) living in the digestive tract

If I were lead researcher, I would investigate how CAR-T cell therapy interacts with the body systems, focusing on its interaction with the gut microbiota12.

4 in a dish

article13 published by nature, researchers noted that in certain autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, they identified key differences in bacterial communities between healthy volunteers and those affected by MS. By identifying the roles of key bacteria associated with autoimmunity, not only could this open more potential for the interaction of the gut with innovative therapies, such as CAR-T cell therapy, but also a cheap preventative measure in the form of probiotics.

Conclusion:

1 type of white blood cell

3 En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Desmoglein-3 - Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Desmoglein-3> [Accessed 3 October 2021].

TO WHAT EXTENT DO PROSTHETIC RUNNING BLADES GIVE MALE SHORT DISTANCE RUNNERS AN ADVANTAGE OVER ABLE-BODIED ATHLETES?

MILLIE PENNELL (YEAR 13)

In making the blades so energy efficient the first controversy arises. Peter Weyand and Matt Bundle from the Southern Methodist University and the University of Montana respectively, uncovered an apparent major advantage for blade runners. Research concluded that since the prostheses are lighter than a biological limb by 3.3 kilograms4 it allows the athlete to run at their top speed with far less effort as well as enabling a reduced time between strides. For example, Weyand and Bundle found that once Oscar Pistorius had reached his top speed there was approximately a 17% reduction in energy usage. This statistic could provide him up to a seven second advantage when running 400 metres5. However, to oppose this, blade runners suffer from a huge reduction in energy return caused by the main difference between a running blade and leg. Unlike a biological leg, running blades do not have a component that can act like a foot by pivoting or generating its own energy. This not only means the athlete must adjust their running technique, it also greatly hinders their efficiency at the beginning of a race when using starting blocks. Due to the lack of motion the blade has, athletes are just not able to generate the same amount of power normally provided by the starting blocks. To further this point, an able-bodied foot and ankle generally return 241% of energy while a running blade

Overall, the improved energy efficiency of the blade while at top speed is strongly counteracted by the poor efficiency when coming out of the running blocks. Therefore, although there are some aspects of a race where a blade runner will be utilising a lower energy consumption, overall, they will still be at a disadvantage in this respect. The lack of a biological system and functioning muscles makes the energy return far lower than it should be despite the slightly better efficiency.

‘C’ shaped ‘J’ shaped

TO WHAT EXTENT DO PROSTHETIC RUNNING BLADES GIVE MALE SHORT DISTANCE RUNNERS AN ADVANTAGE OVER ABLE-BODIED ATHLETES?

BY MILLIE PENNELL

To help prevent these injuries, running blades are incredibly customizable which ultimately means that people with both their legs amputated have a say in how tall they want to be compared to what their natural height would have been. You could argue that if they make themselves taller, they would be able to take longer strides to further increase their speed. However, this factor should be evened out by the increased time between strides as a result of the longer limb5. Despite this equalisation in factors, the Paralympic committee have told Blake Leeper that in order to compete in an able-bodied race he would have to shorten his blades by up to 6 inches to match what his apparent biological height would have been5 meaning he would have to drastically change his running style. This decision was made despite the solid data that was provided by the team managing the tests on Leeper which concluded that he was at no advantage6. This ruling creates an incredible challenge to Leeper.

returns only around 90%. In comparison, a biological ankle is almost three times more powerful than a running blade purely because of the lack of ankle component in a running blade1 This highlights the importance of the natural structure of a leg which running blades are unable to replicate.

Although running blades are designed to mimic a human leg and function as close to one as possible, a completely different technique and training regime are needed to fully adjust to using the blade and bring out its full potential. While studying Oscar Pistorius, Weyand and Bundle discovered that he swings his legs about 15% faster than someone without running blades6. When this statistic is applied to an able-bodied athlete, their 400-metre time could be improved by around 10 seconds6 However, the advantage provided through the 15% reduction in leg swing time is a method for the runner to partially compensate for the 9% reduction in power output9. The adjusted running technique usually adopted by blade runners largely alters the runners’ gait which can cause long term hip damage.

Making a sporting competition fair appears simple enough despite being so vital. Splitting the competitors by sex and, when necessary, weight seems like enough to ensure that everyone is on an even playing field. However, what happens when complex machinery is brought onto the playing field? In the past, blade runners (athletes that use a prosthetic running blade in place of a biological leg) have historically only been allowed to compete in specialised competitions. More recently, athletes such as Oscar Pistorius and Blake Leeper have been fighting for their rights to branch out of these divisions and run alongside able bodied competitors. However, their attempts have been mostly denied as researchers struggle to conclude on whether their prosthetics places them at an advantage or Indisadvantage.ordertoanswer this question, we must firstly understand the mechanics behind the artificial limbs. Running blades are personalised prosthetics with a design inspired by the hind legs of cheetahs aiming to optimise energy absorption and return1 They are most commonly made out of a carbon fibre composite and personalised to account for the person’s weight, residual limb length (the remaining part of the limb after amputation) as well as the type of sport the person participates in. For example, in short distance running, the blade is designed to look like a ‘J’ which allows for quicker energy exchange than the typical ‘C’ shape used for jogging 2. Just like a biological leg, all blade types are designed to mimic the calf muscle and Achilles’ tendons by compressing and recoiling to store and release energy 1. However, unlike a biological leg the blade must compress by a noticeable amount to store enough energy. Hence, when the athlete has a single amputation, the blade is made approximately two inches longer than their biological limb so the two are an equal length when running and fully compressed 3. Unfortunately, this means that before a race the athlete must be constantly moving in order to stay balanced on the uneven limbs which often wastes their energy. Despite this, the blades are made to be as energy efficient as possible.

Both a ‘C’ shaped and ‘J shaped blade are depicted in this picture. The left ‘C’ shaped blade consists of an extra component called the pylon which helps aid the more effective store and release of energy. The ‘J’ shaped blade on the right is simply attached to the socket via a bracket enabling higher speeds to be achieved.

However, people with bilateral amputations are at a possible advantage to unilateral amputees particularly in short distance races up to and including the 400 metres13

Paralympic games people began questioning whether having both legs amputated instead of one is an advantage. Despite there only being eight people in the race, first to fifth place were won by double amputees8. Does this prove that they had an advantage? This question is very easily answered by comparing the Olympic and Paralympic men’s 400m records. The Olympic record was set into 2016 by Wade van Niekerk when he completed the short distance run in just 43.03 seconds11. In comparison, during the 2016 Paralympics two blade runners managed to set records. In the T43 classification (athletes with double below knee amputations) Liam Malone managed to set a record of 46.20 seconds12. Additionally, Michail Seities set a record of 49.66 seconds in the T44 classification (athletes with single below knee amputations.)12 These statistics prove that blade runners have up to a 6 second disadvantage compared to able-bodied athletes.

Unilateral amputees are faced with the dilemma that they can only go as fast as their weaker leg4, while non-amputees and bilateral amputees are able to match the strengths of their legs creating a more even running type. Therefore, while amputee records are not as fast as non-amputees indicating no advantage to blade runners, bilateral amputees may have an advantage over unilateral amputees.

Recently there has also been debate about whether some blade runners are at a disadvantage compared to others. For example, it was shown that people with their left leg amputated run 4% slower when faced with a counter-clockwise curved track5. Curved tracks in general set a disadvantage for blade runners due to their flat symmetrical sole plates. The unusual soles decrease power output by 40% during corners7 which is further enhanced by the strong air resistance the flat planes generate. Furthermore, during the 400- metre race in the 2016

His running technique would have been specifically trained to run with blades of that length, shortening them forces him to revert back to basic training in order to readapt. Furthermore, short distance ‘J’ blades take a particularly long time to adjust to using as the runner must provide a large amount of force to make the blade efficient2. Consequently, the athlete must use a significant amount of their time on basic strength training to maximise their technique and minimise injuries.

Despite how customisable the prosthetic blades are, they are not able to be adjusted while exercising like a biological limb automatically does. As the blade is not biologically connected to the rest of the body the athlete is unable to change the hardness of the ‘muscle’ or adjust the angle the blade sits at5. Therefore, a blade runner is placed at a large disadvantage when there is a change in terrain or situation. Furthermore, weather conditions can easily change a blade runners’ performance. For example, when it rains the running blade is unable to obtain as much traction as trainers. Designers have tried to combat this by adding a spiked pad where the blade hits the track. However, this problem is exemplified by the accompanying wind which can often throw the runners off track as their blades are highly air resistant. This puts them at a much higher risk of falling and slowing down8. Additionally, due to the design and material of the prosthetics the athlete is unable to make contact with the floor with the same amount of force, lowering what is called the ground force. Blade runners have been proven to have 9% lower ground force meaning in order to generate the same amount of power as an able-bodied athlete they have to swing their legs at a considerably higher rate9. On the other hand, studies have shown that blade runners require half of the muscle force and 20% less ground force in order to reach the desired speed8. Therefore, blade runners’ performances can be highly variable and dependent on the day even before we factor in the statistical advantages and disadvantages that they are placed at.

Below is a table summarising the main advantages and disadvantages that blade runners may face

Overall, evidence seems to suggest that there are both advantages and disadvantages to running with the aid of a prosthetic running blade. Although the circumstances and extents of these factors will vary between athletes, the majority of factors affected by the blade should counteract each other and create an even playing field when faced with an able bodied runner. For instance, the fact that the power output of the blade is lowered is counteracted by the decreased amount of power needed to achieve the same speeds. Thus, if a blade runner feels as if they want to run in a previously labelled able-bodied competition, they should be able to.

1 Ossur, 2021, The science of running blades, tifically-day/2020/10/28/court-ruling-barring-blade-runner-olympicsscien[articlerunner’nersan-com/blogs/amputee-life/do-blade-prostheses-give-amputee-runAmputeeolympic-games-2655123/[Accessedamputee-oscar-pistoriushave-an-unfair-advantage-at-the-2012-https://www.smithsonianmag.com/summerolympics/does-double-have[Accessedence-of-Sprinting-Femita-Ayanbeku-2020.pdfupload/v1583969077/documents/sportssolutions/Ossur-Science-of-running-blades.https://www.ossur.com/en-ca/prosthetics/sport-solutions/sci[website]https://res.cloudinary.com/ossur/image/[pdfwithinwebsite]10August2021]2Squarespace,datepublishedunknown,RunningProstheses,[website]https://www.prostheticrunning.com/runningprostheses[Accessed10August2021]3BryanPotok,5August2019,ABeginner’sGuidetoAmputeeRunning:ProstheticRunningFeet,[website]https://amputeestore.com/blogs/amputee-life/amputee-running-feet-a-beginners-guide[Accessed10August2021]4RoseEveleth,July20212,Doesdouble-amputeeOscarPistoriusanunfairadvantageatthe2012OlympicGames?1October2021]5BryanPotok,10September2019,DoBladeProsthesesGiveRunnersanAdvantage?,[website]https://amputeestore.advantage[Accessed10August2021]6LisaMarshall,28October2020,Courtrulingbarring‘bladefromOlympicsisscientificallyunfoundedstudiessuggect,byCUbouldertoday]https://www.colorado.edu/tounfounded-studies-suggest[Accessed11August2021]

7 Shawn Wasserman, 14 October 2016, Blade Runners and the Importance of Human- Centered Engineering, ics-athletes-oscar-pistoriushttps://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/nov/04/prosthetunfairtance-of-humancentered-https://www.engineering.com/story/blade-runners-and-the-impor[website]engineering[Accessed11August2021]8FractalInnovation,31July2018,Controversy:UnfairAdvantageGiventoAmputeesinSports?,[website]https://fractalinnovations.com/controversy-advantage-amputees-sports/[Accessed11August2021]9AlokJha,4November2009,Prostheticsdon’tgivesprintersanadvantageresearchsuggests,[Theguardianarticle][Accessed11August2021]10PaolaTaboga,February2020,Prostheticmodelbutnotstiffnessorheighaffectsmaximumrunningvelocityinathleteswithunilateraltranstibialamputationhttps://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-Freedom-Innovations-Catapult-FDM-B-Oessur-Cheetah-Xtend-OSR-and-C-Ottobock_fig1_339022207[Accessed19September]202111Wikipedia,August2021,400metersintheOlympicshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/400_metres_at_the_Olympics12Wikipedia,September2021,ListofParalympicrecordsinathleticshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Paralympic_records_in_athletics#400_m13AssociationofAcademicPhysiatrists,March2020,BilateralAmputeesprintersoutperformunilateralcompetitorsinParalympicgameshttps://www.newswise.com/articles/bilateral-amputee-sprinters-outperform-unilateralcompetitors-in-paralympic-games[Accessed1October2021]

Oscar Pistorius

EAGLES LEGAL BECOMING

Thus, the stage was set for us to try our hand at legal representation in our inaugural Atkins Scholars’ Mock Criminal Courtroom Trial in December.

The case was R. versus Emerson. The offence was possession of a bladed weapon in a public place. The relevant Law was Section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.

If it pleases you Your Honour, The Crown would like to call their first witness, Cris Taylor.

I would also like to take this opportunity to emphasise a particular point to the members of the jury. The defendant, Charli Emerson, works as a trainee chef overseen by his manager Drew Stevens, and has been working with his current employer for over a year. Now, members of the jury, keeping that in mind, Charli explains how he uses his gym bag as his work bag frequently, even though his manager, Drew Stevens, claims he does not recognise the gym bag. This remains the case, even though Charli has been working with him for over a whole year. This fact strongly suggests Charli could not have left his knife in his bag by mistake, because this is not his work bag.

Atkinsproceedings.Scholars (Year 9)

The lawyers’ opening and closing speeches follow. Thank you to Mr Marshall for leading this project and to the Year 7 and 8 Scholars for comprising the Jury. We are also grateful to Anoushka Sood, our Year 10 Art Scholar, for taking on the role of court artist. Her sketches on the following pages illustrate

Now jury, the first witness you will hear from is Cris Taylor. He will present evidence which proves Charli did in fact get involved in the fight, even though Charli insists he has always stayed away from the gang. First of all, Cris clearly saw Charli heading directly towards the large group and secondly, members of the jury, following the fight which broke out, Cris states he saw Charli right in the middle of it all.

The defendant Charli Emerson is charged with the possession of a bladed weapon in a public place. The Crown’s argument is that Charli Emerson did indeed possess this article in a local park and does not have a credible explanation for carrying the Nowweapon.jury,let me give you a brief outline of the facts. On Saturday, the 2nd of July, Charli Emerson was walking through Woodberry Park, heading towards the gym, where he spotted a group of people shouting aggressively towards each other, and moments after this, witnesses state a fight broke out. In Charli’s statement, he claims he recognised this gang, as some of the people involved were old friends, with whom he was quite familiar.

Congratulations to prosecution counsel Aanya, Sophia and Elena for winning the case and laying it out so eloquently, ably supported by their witness, Emily.

In this highlight of the Michaelmas Term, we were tasked with representing or prosecuting the defendant, Charli Emerson, who had been charged with possession of a bladed weapon in a public place.

Innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt, the defence had their work cut out for them! The defendant was convincingly played by Priyaa, the witness for the defence. Steph, knew her brief well, and the defending counsel, comprising Grace, Emma and Alice, delivered their speeches and questions with gusto.

Elena Pura (Atkins Scholar, Year 9)

Next, you will hear from PC Patel who also agrees with Cris’ statement and also claims the defendant was indeed in the middle of the fight. With this clear evidence that Charli was seen being part of the gang violence, what other reason is there that he would bring such a weapon to the park that day?

Your Honour and members of the jury, appearing for the prosecution I have along with me my learned friends Miss Adams and Miss Apte. My learned friends Miss Billingham, Miss Finnie and Miss Hybel appear for the defence.

If you believe that Charli Emerson intentionally brought his knife to the park, he is guilty of the possession of a bladed article in a public place. Remember members of the jury, you are the sole judges of fact. You must take the law from the judge. Thank you.

Lawyers on both sides examined and cross-examined with intelligent, pacy and skilfully sequenced questions.

OPENING SPEECH FOR THE PROSECUTION

Now, with this evidence, the Crown argue that Charli did deliberately bring this bladed article to the park that day, as he knew that the gang were going to be there, and he has no justification for doing so, as he neither had work that day, nor was he carrying the weapon as part of a national costume.

ONBEFORE?SATURDAY 2ND JULY, WHAT WAS CHARLI DIDWEARING?YOUTHINK THERE WAS GOING TO BE A AMFIGHT?ICORRECT IN SAYING THAT YOU DON’T LIKE FIGHTS?

HOWTAYLORCRISOFTENDOYOUWALK

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A TRAINEE CHEF FOR?

EMERSONCHARLIQUESTIONS FROM THE PROSECUTIONPCSAMPATEL

WHAT IS YOUR JOB?

WHAT DID YOU SAY TO THE PEOPLE IN THE FIGHT?

WHEN ARRESTED WHERE WAS YOUR BAG?

HOW CLOSE ARE YOU TO THE PEOPLE IN THE FIGHT?

DID YOU HEAR ANYTHING?

WERE THERE ANY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC NEAR AT THIS TIME?

COULD YOU SEE THE VIOLENCE BEFORE RECEIVING THE AFTERREPORT?ARRIVING COULD YOU SEE CLEARLY WHAT CHARLI EMERSON WAS DOING?

WHAT TIME DID YOU GET IN?

WHY WAS THERE A KNIFE IN YOUR BAG?

DID YOU HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH THE PEOPLE IN THE FIGHT?

DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE FIGHT?

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE POLICE ARRIVED?

DID YOU ASK FOR YOUR BAG?

AS YOU ASKED FOR THE BAG IS IT RIGHT TO ASSUME THAT YOU DIDN’T REALISE THERE WAS A KNIFE IN YOUR BAG?

IS IT POSSIBLE THAT CHARLI WAS TRYING TO GET AWAY FROM THE FIGHT?

AFTER YOU ARRESTED HIM, WHAT HAPPENED TO CHARLI’S BAG?

WAS CHARLI KEEN ON HAVING THEIR BAG BACK? DID CHARLI TRY TO COVER UP THE CONTENTS OF THEIR BAG?

DO YOU THINK HE WAS NEAR ENOUGH TO HEAR THE FIGHT?

WHY DID YOU WALK TOWARDS THE GROUP OF PEOPLE IF YOU DON’T LIKE FIGHTS?

WHAT DID YOU DO ONCE YOU GOT CLOSER TO THE WHYFIGHT?DIDN’T

ARE YOU CERTAIN THAT IT WAS CHARLI SHOUTING ABUSIVE WORDS?

AS YOU SAID THAT YOU COULDN’T SEE CLEARLY, HOW COULD YOU BE SURE THAT CHARLI WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIGHT?

DID YOU HEAR CHARLI SAYING “COME ON GUYS, YOU DON’T WANT TO GET INVOLVED IN THIS. WHY DON’T YOU JUST LEAVE?”

HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED CHARLI IN THE PARK

WHERE WERE YOU THE NIGHT BEFORE?

DID YOU TRY AND GET AWAY FROM THE FIGHT?

AM I CORRECT IN SAYING THAT YOUR VISION WASN’T CLEAR WHEN THE FIGHT BROKE OUT?

WHERE WERE YOU ON SATURDAY 2ND JULY?

DO YOU REGULARLY GO TO GYM?

AM I CORRECT IN SAYING THAT MANY PEOPLE WERE AMINVOLVED?ICORRECT IN SAYING THAT YOU BELIEVE THAT CHARLI WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIGHT?

HOW FAR AWAY WERE YOU FROM THE FIGHT?

IN YOUR STATEMENT, YOU CLAIMED THAT IT WAS “DIFFICULT TO SEE”, AM I CORRECT?

WHY WERE YOU OUT?

WHY WAS YOUR HOOD UP?

WHY DID YOU USE YOUR WORK BAG TO GO TO THE GYM?

WHY WERE YOU WALKING THROUGH THE PARK?

YOU WALK AWAY AFTER CALLING THE POLICE?

YOUR DOG?

WHY WEREN’T YOU WALKING AROUND THE PARK?

DID THE POLICE FIND YOUR BAG THERE?

WHY WERE YOU WEARING A HOODIE?

Your Honour, members of the jury, the defendant Charli Emmerson is charged with the possession of a bladed weapon, namely an 8 inch knife, in a public place, namely Woodberry Park, contrary to section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.

defence argues that Charli had simply forgotten his knives were in his bag; this suggests unreliability, as it is hard to not notice an 8in knife in such an extensively used bag.

CLOSING SPEECH FOR THE PROSECUTION

The prosecution has, therefore, established beyond reasonable doubt that Charli Emerson is guilty of the offence as charged.

Finally,knives.the

Sophia Adams (Atkins Scholar, Year 9)

You have heard the crown’s argument that Charli did not have his knife with him for work purposes.

There are two pieces of evidence to support this. The first was that Charli, who is a trainee chef, was not due in for work that day. This would mean that he would not require the knife for such purposes that day. The second is that Drew Stevens, Charli’s boss, despite Charli working for him for over a year, has informed us that he does not recognise what Charli claims is his work bag. This proves guilt for two reasons; Charli had been working as a trainee chef for an extended period, but his bag, which he surely would have used every time he had work, was not recognised by his boss.

Furthermore, Charli has claimed that this bag was also his gym bag, and that he was walking through Woodberry Park to the gym as it was a quicker route. If it indeed were a quicker route, then why would he not use it regularly – for we know Charli does not come here regularly, as informed by Cris Taylor, a familiar visitor of the park. This would also be strange, as using a bag for both the holding of work knives, which would encounter food, and for the gym would mean the knives would be cross contaminated from the gym kit in the bag, contrary to Mr Stevens’ account that Charli takes diligent care of his

Charli himself has spoken of the fact that they needed their knife for work and their boss, Drew Stevens, has stated that it is perfectly normal for a trainee chef to want to take care of their knives and that it is common procedure.

It is for you to decide whether it is beyond reasonable doubt that Charli did not have an adequate reason. If you have any doubts whatsoever, and certainly we believe that we have demonstrated more than enough, then you must find Charli not guilty.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the defendant clearly falls within both Subsections 4 and 5 and for that reason, you must acquit.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Charli Emerson was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time but any suggestion that he was carrying a knife for any other purpose outside of workrelated reasons is simply nonsensical. I implore you to weigh up the evidence and accept that Charli has a clear and unequivocal defence as to why they had the knife in their bag. Do not ruin the beginning of this young person’s bright career. You must find them not guilty.

Emma Billingham (Atkins Scholar, Year 9)

CLOSING SPEECH FOR THE DEFENCE

Charli is a good person with a good record, and they are truly passionate about becoming a chef, all of which was established by their manager, Drew Stevens. Charli’s knives are the tools of their trade and Charli wants to take care of the most essential tools that they have for their profession in the same way that a plumber, builder or gardener would.

Charli has been charged under Section 139 stating that any person in possession of a blade longer than three inches in a public place shall be found guilty. However, Subsection 4 details that it is a defence to that charge where a person has a good reason for having the blade with them in a public place. Furthermore, Subsection 5 states that it is a defence to have a blade for use at work.

Being on a jury is a great responsibility and an important function of our society.

Your Honour and members of the jury, there is no question that Charli was in possession of a blade on Saturday 2nd of July. However, we contend that Charli has a perfectly understandable reason for why they were in possession of their kitchen knife.

Thank you for listening to all the evidence.

Our first stop was the Pitt Rivers Museum, which houses an extraordinary treasure trove of objects from all over the world, sparking our imaginations about the experiences of the people who owned and used them, and enabling us to uncover parts of their histories. I was captivated by the collection of masks from a variety of cultures, worn in the past for religious or spiritual occasions, or in theatrical or ceremonial events, which would have been an integral part of the cultural life of the people who made and used them. Understanding the meaning of these masks involved seeking insights into into their emotional significance and the beliefs and traditions attached to them. The entire collection of objects in the Pitt Rivers Museum provoked many questions and increased my curiosity to research further into how people lived and thought in different cultures.

ATKINSSCHOLARS’ TRIP TO OXFORD

On 15 October, we set off excitedly to Oxford for what would prove to be an enjoyable and action-packed two days.

With a visit to Lewis Carroll’s former Oxford College planned for our next day, I wondered what Carroll would have made of the adventurous, Alice in Wonderland-themed escape room challenge that awaited us for our afternoon’s activity. We stepped inside a modern-day Wonderland confronted with the task of saving the Mad Hatter. Identifying the relevant information before diving headlong into the puzzles, we had to communicate effectively and listen to each other. When a red herring that had appeared to be a clue led nowhere, we had to remain focused on our objective of escaping the room. Although we narrowly missed saving the Mad Hatter, we worked well together as a team. We left the venue buzzing with energy, ready to climb the 127 steps to the top of University Church Tower, next on our itinerary. Having navigated the narrow climb through this ancient gargoyle-adorned tower, we were rewarded with a close-up view of the Bodleian Library and the Radcliffe Camera and a breathtaking birds-eye view over the romantic spires and stunning historic architecture rising from the city and green spaces beyond. We concluded our day by learning about the history of the city on a twilight ghost tour and were surprised by some spine-chilling revelations from Oxford’s past. Fortunately, I slept soundly without nightmares!

Leilaexperience.RoseChinn (Atkins Scholar, Year 7) 30

On day two, we enjoyed a tour of Christ Church College with its impressive chapel, which is also the cathedral for the Diocese of Oxford. Seeing lively freshers in their gowns (sub fusc) for matriculation, out and about again after the constraining lockdowns, gave us a taste of what it would be like if we were fortunate enough to study here in the future. It was also fascinating to discover the ‘No Peel’ door, where these words were nailed in a lasting statement by the antiPeel group, as a protest against the re-election of Robert Peel. Interestingly, Christ Church College provided the setting for some Harry Potter film scenes, and we followed further in the footsteps of Harry, Hermione and Ron later that day by visiting the famous 300-year-old Cedar of Lebanon tree, which featured in ‘The Order of the Phoenix’, in the grounds of magnificent Blenheim Palace. We concluded the trip with the opportunity to solve a puzzle of a different kind when we ventured into the palace’s intricate maze, which is two miles in length and made up of hundreds of yew trees. This brought us to the end of a thoroughly enjoyable and fun-filled learning

DROFXO31

SCHOLARS’ HODGKIN HIT THE AIRWAVES

In Michaelmas Term, we worked hard to research, record and edit a series of original podcasts. The format of the proposed podcasts was simple: we were to present in pairs, which each podcasting partner responsible for educating the other on a niche academic interest.

Jess Fereday, Maria Bertolotti, Onyin Okpara (Hodgkin Scholars, Year 10)

Emily Withnell and Sophie Issott (Hodgkin Scholars, Year 10)

CLICK ON THE QR CODES TO HEAR A PODCAST OF YOUR CHOICE:

THE FUTURE OF SPACE TRAVEL

The purpose of the project was twofold: firstly, to allow us to engage in in-depth scholarly research, to the extent that we became experts on our chosen subject matters and, secondly, to give us a chance to practise explaining the nuances of a topic for a non-expert audience in an entertaining, noncondescending way. There was no restriction on the choice of topic for each podcast pairing, with the only directive being that it was a matter of contemporary academic interest. As a result, the podcasts we produced were diverse in both their styles of delivery and their subject matters.

As most of us were podcasting novices, the project involved a steep learning curve both in terms of acquiring the knowledge we needed and on the technical side. The process began with us listening to existing successful podcasts with an intellectual focus and an expository style such as You’re Wrong About and In Our Time. After identifying what made them absorbing and borrowing some ideas for our own recordings, we spent several weeks researching our chosen topics. Eventually, the recording and editing process was undertaken using iPads and specialist microphones and assisted by the Audacity app. We enjoyed experimenting to find our own sounds and styles and were proud when our podcasts were made available to the school community on the Pupil Dashboard platform.

Joan Alabi and Beth Noble (Hodgkin Scholars, Year 11)

It was a great opportunity to research more about topics and create a podcast with a small amount of people. It allowed me to better my understanding on subjects and share my reseach.

ARE ELECTRIC CARS ACTUALLY ECO-FRIENDLY?

Jess, Maria and Onyin discuss the effects of renewable energy, electric cars and government action to halt climate change. They question the effectiveness of attempts to halt climate change and consider the outlook for the future.

HERD MENTALITY

DO CLIMATE CONFERENCES LEAD TO MEASURABLE ACTIONS?

FLAT EARTH THEORY

Polly and Alice consider why humans are naturally inclined to exist in herds. In their chatty, engaging style they discuss group influence on decision-making, the online disinhibition effect and the concept of diffusion of responsibility within groups.

Anoushka Sood and Darcey Dalwood (Hodgkin Scholars, Year 10)

Polly Rees and Alice Boon (Hodgkin Scholars, Year 11)

Joan and Beth consider conspiracy theories, why they come about, how they are spread and their impact on society.

Starting with common misconceptions, Anoushka and Darcey explore myths ranging from fortune cookies to opium wars. Through lively debate they urge listeners to challenge societal norms and confront preconceived views.

IDENTITY POLITICS IN ART

Emily and Sophie talk about the engaging subject of identity politics in the art world. Have you ever wondered what identity politics are? What defines art as art? We hope you enjoy this entertaining and educational podcast as much as we enjoyed making it!

Onyi

I really enjoyed doing research on a new topic and working with people I didn’t know that well before the project. Heidi

Amy and Olivia delve deep into the world of human space travel and explore its implications. They discuss the moral and physical challenges faced in this evolving field and ask important questions about the future of the human race.

Additional podcasts can be heard here

FRIEND OR FOE? SHOULD THE WEST FEAR CHINA?

Amy Hutchinson and Olivia Hudson (Hodgkin Scholars, Year 10)

The highlight for many was the chance to see (and create!) some street art and to visit an escape room. Unsurprisingly, STAHS emerged unscathed before our time was up!

THOUGHTS

With the toppling of the statue of the slave trader Edward Colston in 2020, Bristol became a centre of debate about how we in the UK deal with our colonial history, and what we do with objects that recall it. Hence, at various points during the trip, we decided to note our thoughts on postcards, some of which follow.

One painting at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery which caught our eye was A Movement Not A Moment created by Jasmine Thompson, inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests. Joan writes how she enjoyed the ‘nuances that on the surface are difficult to find but once discovered unlock more historic moments that have helped to build a better society.’

Should statues of controversial figures remain standing? How can museums encourage us to think about the past, to help us better shape our present-day society? Is graffiti art, not vandalism? These were just some of the questions discussed on our trip to Bristol in March.

FROM BRISTOL 34

De Beauvoir Fellows (Year 12) and Hodgkin Scholars (Year 11) on a postcard

Besides protest, the city also sheds light on wider social concerns through graffiti and contemporary art. Chelsea enjoyed Synoptic Connections by Isabelle Ewing with its ‘contrasting fragility and beauty reflecting the vulnerable state we were in before the COVID vaccines were developed.’

A Movement not a Moment

by Jasmine Thompson

Year 11) 35

Joan Alabi (Hodgkin Scholar,

Chelsea Cheng (De Beauvoir Fellow, Year 12)

Synoptic Connections AND Tomorrow everything will be alright

by Isabelle Ewing by Akram Zaatari

by Francis Wood

Arshya Bommaraju (Hodgkin Scholar, Year 11) 37

La belle dame sans mercis AND Daedalus Equipping Icarus

by Frank Dicksee

by Dora Lam, Winnie Lam and Sam Lam

Thoughts on ClayDumplings

Tyra Corbin (De Beauvoir Fellow, Year 12)

by Lulu Willis

Thoughts on WarriorCarer

Emily Wijeyawardana (Hodgkin Scholar, Year 11)

40 WONDERLANDINDADAMBER’SALICEAmberLiu(ArtScholar,Year12)

ASTRONAUTFIRSTBRITAIN’S STAHS WELCOMES SharmanHelenDr 46

199147

After her talk, we were grateful to Helen for staying and meeting our Year 11 Hodgkin Scholars. They talked through their designs for the International Space Challenge, the brief being to create an international space hotel. The winning design follows.

Starting her career working as a food scientist, little did Helen Sharman know that one day she would hear a radio advertisement inviting applications for a mission to the Mir space station and, some years later, become Britain’s first person to visit outer space.

Mrautographs!Jonathan

In her inspiring talk to Year 10 and Year 12 Helen regaled us with stories of how she got there, how she experimented with plants in a zero-gravity environment (where the roots do not grow downwards!), as well as talking about how to communicate, eat, sleep, breathe and excrete in space!

Helen Sharman in

Helen’s advice was much appreciated, in between the many requests for Marshall (Assistant Head Academic Development)

Her most inspirational message was about challenge. “It was not about succeeding the first time around,” she told a packed hall of students. “There were many things which went wrong along the way.” From learning Russian, to being far from home, to docking on the space station, challenges were ever-present.

48 INTERNATIONALSPACECHALLENGE WINNING DESIGN FOR AN INTERNATIONAL SPACE HOTEL THE DESIGN BRIEF: Designahotelforlaunchinginto outerspace,capableofhosting10exclusiveguestsand10staff.Includedetailsofthehotel’sshapeandsizeandplanfivesystemstoensurethehealth,comfortandsafetyofyourguests.

49 WINNER

Winning Design by Isabel Gokcek, Beth Noble, Louisa Brown and Joan Alabi (Hodgkin Scholars, Year 11)

The De Beauvoir Fellows (Year 12)

Tasked with finding never-before-thought-of-solutions to the UK’s most intractable social problems, we, the De Beauvoir Fellows, went head-to-head in The Fix during the Lent Term. We had to really get under the skin of our chosen social issues, by considering why they exist, who they effect and what the consequences are. Innovative solutions were developed by turning matters on their head and asking, for instance: What would Jeff Bezos do? What would we do if we only had one day? Should we take a carrot or a stick approach, or a combination thereof? We explored multiple ways to improve job opportunities for refugees, the rehabilitation of prisoners and measures to reduce youth unemployment.

Each team had just eight minutes to pitch our ideas to the judges. Many congratulations to the winning team of Emmie, Chelsea and Annabel. A selection of the entered presentations follows.

THE FIX

TRYING OUR HAND AT POLICY-MAKINGGOVERNMENT

A particular challenge to introducing the policy is gaining approval from the government and the public. For instance, it could be argued that it is not fair to give refugees free training when UK taxpayers and citizens must pay for education and training. As a result, we propose a loan system whereby beneficiaries pay back a percentage of stable income to the government for a certain number of years, following employment. This would also incentivise the government to provide follow-on jobs and high-quality Emmietraining.Newns,

a bank account, and secure income, many refugees are at significant risk of homelessness and/or destitution.

HOW CAN WE REDUCE REFUGEE UNEMPLOYMENT?

One organisation, Breaking Barriers has established a programme helping refugees to rebuild their lives through meaningful job, training and education opportunities. They offer intensive, personalised one-to-one employment support on a weekly basis. This includes workshops, mentoring, and assistance with seeking out paid work placements and permanent jobs.

“Everyone wanted me to have had work experience in the UK” said Bushra, reciting a catch-22 situation that vexes refugees who have spent most of their professional lives abroad.

Now we come to our policy solution which aims to build on what has come before:

Ok, so what has been previously done to alleviate the problem?

Chelsea Cheng and Annabel Bienfait (De Beauvoir Fellows, Year 12)

WINNER

First, let us put ourselves in the shoes of a refugee, Samah Bushra, 35, a Sudanese social worker who became a refugee in 2012.

So what is the extent of this problem? Non-EU migrants who come to seek asylum are twice as likely to be unemployed than other non-EU migrant groups, according to the Migrant FurtherObservatory.long-term consequences were highlighted in the Refugee and the UK Labour Market Report recently published by academics from the University of Oxford:

‘Asylum migrants are less likely to be in employment than individuals born in the UK and other migrant groups. The employment rate among asylum migrants is 51%, compared with 73% for the UK-born. The gap narrows over time but remains present even after more than 25 years of residence in the country.’

Lack of English language skills is one of the most significant obstacles to obtaining employment, as are significant gaps on one’s CV due to the prolonged asylum process during which most refugees are unable to work. What work placements there are, are often too short and do not allow participants sufficient time to acclimatise to a different language and a working culture. Some refugees have qualifications that they cannot prove because they are unable to obtain duplicates of the necessary paperwork. Lack of access to networks which would strengthen employment prospects is a further problem. Finally, cross-cultural misunderstandings can contribute to misplaced suspicion and hostility.

The success of this programme is, however, thwarted by unfavourable government policies. For instance, the Home Office provides accommodation and subsistence support of under £6 per day for people seeking asylum. This support stops after just 28 days once refugee status is granted. Faced with a cliff edge and no support to find new housing, open

1. We would create local bank centres, which provide a temporary address which can be given to banks, and to which bank statements and documents can be sent. It would also provide support for opening bank accounts and provide a way of confirming identity.

Notes from the winning presentation:

Hello. In our presentation today, we are considering how we can reduce refugee unemployment. It’s not simply the war in Ukraine which means refugees find themselves in the UK. Decades of conflict in Afghanistan and Syria, as well as human rights atrocities in a multitude of other countries result in asylum seekers coming here. If their application is accepted, they are granted refugee status which gives them the chance to remain in the UK for five years. There are around 120,000 refugees, including children, in Britain.

So, what are the causes of refugee unemployment?

Once settled in the UK, asylum migrants earn less and work fewer hours than UK-born and other migrant workforces.

The challenges faced by refugees abound and can include mental ill health, a lack of financial stability, a culture in the UK which often makes social integration difficult, and vulnerability to exploitation as an illegal worker.

Neither her two degrees, including a masters from the University of London, nor her work history in Sudan’s state and private sectors, nor her international experience in Norway and Uganda, nor even her public-speaking at the House of Lords, could land her a job in Britain.

Our aim as part of The Fix is to create a policy which reduces the impact of certain factors which lead to refugee unemployment.

2. We would incentivise private firms to start training schemes, in partnership with the government. This would be in a variety of jobs, particularly those with staff shortages, including retail work, customer service and logistics. Excellent performance on these programmes would lead to working for the firm. Evidence suggests that such schemes could provide much needed skilled employees for professions where there are currently severe shortages. In 2016, a large number of asylum seekers coming to the UK had degrees relevant to teaching, engineering, nursing, medicine and social work – all currently professions experiencing a shortage of labour.

Olivia Wintersgill, Maya Kanani, Amy Smith and Meg Finch (De Beauvoir Fellows, Year 12)

HOW CAN WE REDUCE REOFFENDING RATES IN THE UK?

We also explored inequalities within the issue itself and how this might impact certain socio-economic groups. For example, those who grow up in poverty might struggle to find job opportunities compared to those who have had a privileged upbringing and who may have familial connections that make finding a relatively high-paying job very easy. Similarly, those who struggle with their mental health may find it harder in the application process, with lots of people concerned about the lack of support they receive in the workplace: this may be a reason as to why they struggle not only to maintain a job, but also to find one suitable. Unemployment also increases mental illness, amplifying stress and causing depression due to a lack of self-esteem. Mental health can be damaged through continual unemployment, which leads to increasing depression rates.

How can we tackle the north-south divide, in order to bring more job opportunities up to northern regions of the UK? Almost half of new jobs in England in the last decade were in London and the South-East, even though only a third of the population live in that area. This is because London is the ‘motor of the economy’, and the ‘epicentre of business’. Businesses are drawn here due to its high investment and job opportunities. Yet by moving to London, other regions of the UK - particularly those in the north - are immediately put at a disadvantage. After discovering this we decided to tackle this question with a particular focus on Yorkshire as 8.4% of young people here are unemployed, compared to the national average of 7.4%, with areas like Doncaster and Hull experiencing figures upwards of 10%.

Good afternoon, everyone. We’re Tyra, Sophia, Lucy and Emily and today we’ll be talking about the problem of Youth Unemployment within the UK. To start off, we’d like to present you with a little animation we created, in order to summarise the Youthissue.unemployment is one of the major social problems in the UK and young people have always faced more problems than adults with more experience when finding a job.

shows that whilst on the surface it may seem like a smaller problem, in reality it has a knock-on effect that may worsen certain situations.

Our question

HOW CAN WE REDUCE YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT?

Introduction

However, although youth unemployment has always been a major issue in our society, it has been hugely exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, before 2020, youth unemployment rates across the UK had started to decline, but have since experienced a 55% increase and to add to that, almost two thirds of people who lost their jobs due to the pandemic are aged 25 and under.

There has been a spike in youth unemployment rates due to Covid, and so we really want to explore this problem to see what its main causes are and how we could possibly come up with solutions to help limit it, especially as we see the world returning to normality after the pandemic.

Case study

How can we help 18-24-year-olds find employment opportunities? How can we promote employment opportunities?

So, why is it an important issue to address?

One of the most important things to do is to make sure that any job opportunities that are currently available are easily found, to ensure equal chances amongst the youth population, with any requirements, training and desired skills highlighted within the advertisement.

It’s a problem that impacts our own age group and also causes a multiplier effect; more young people out of work means a smaller workforce for the future. This negatively influences the economy and possibly increases the ongoing north-south divide that we’re currently experiencing, widening social inequalities. Not only that, but youth unemployment may contribute to other social issues such as gambling, since young people can see no other alternative to earning money, as well as alcoholism and drug addiction. People typically turn to drugs and alcohol out of despair, putting a strain on services such as the NHS. Finally, these people are more likely to become welfare dependent. This

One example of the effects of youth unemployment in Yorkshire is the story of Anisah Arif, who is 24. She has graduated with a journalism degree and even has relevant work experience, but is still struggling to find a job in her area. She emphasises that ‘the stepping stones you need for the early stages of your career just aren’t there at the moment’ and that “work experience placements dry up’. However, she hopes that the BBC moving some sectors north will help create more jobs for people in similar situations.

How can we improve mental health treatment/facilities to give 18-24-year-olds the support required to enter the workplace? As we’ve previously mentioned, this is a core issue, as young people can sometimes feel as though they can’t enter a job if they will not be supported because of their mental health. In addition, it is vital that all employees have a certain degree of mental health training so that they are better equipped to help and notice if their co-workers are suffering or need any support.

So, whilst doing our research we came across a few key questions that can help us explore the issue of youth unemployment in more depth:

How can we educate 18-24-year-olds so they have the skills (such as networking, digital expertise, teamwork and problem-solving) to find employment opportunities

We considered why young people don’t have these skills in the first place and found that they aren’t part of the curriculum; the education system is not geared towards preparing young people to enter the world of work. These skills are a crucial aspect of employment as as they help with both finding a job and subsequent promotion within a company.

Our solution

The solution we have come up with is multi-pronged, and we would like to focus on three key areas: improving mental health facilities, soft skills and increasing employment opportunities in the north.

However, these skills are only useful if young people already have employment opportunities. What we need to work on is improving job availability in northern regions - this way, young people will actually be able to harness the soft skills they have learnt at school in order to ultimately secure a place within the workforce.

In order to boost employment in northern counties, such as Yorkshire, we should incentivise large businesses to establish themselves there. The BBC has done this: between 2011 and 2016, 4,600 new jobs were created in the Salford area, and hopefully other companies will follow suit.

We hope that the infographic that we’ve created provides you with a summary of this solution as well as what we can do as a school. Thank you so much for listening to our presentation and we hope that it has been informative!

We propose improving mental health training for employers, so they are more able to notice when their employees are suffering. Since mental health problems are increasingly prevalent among young people, it is essential that the businesses they work for can support them to the best of their ability. This way, young people will feel more comfortable going to work, and may even put themselves forward for more employment opportunities if they haven’t yet found a job. This could be implemented by the appointment of a mental health ambassador team within a company who have the required training to support employees. This team would be highlighted throughout the company, ensuring that if anyone wanted help or advice, they would know who to ask.

With all this being said, hopefully Joe will now have just as many opportunities as Martha, and youth employment rates will be on the rise. By bolstering mental health support, implementing soft skills as a compulsory component of the school curriculum and moving more major companies up north, Joe and his local friends hopefully won’t have to face the hardships previously thrown in their way.

Government tax breaks and subsidies could be used to encourage these businesses to create branches in the north, as well as the introduction of publicity schemes if the business is commercial. Moreover, by just establishing branches in the north, complete relocation is not necessary therefore jobs that are already in the south can be sustained.

Our next solution is to implement soft skills as part of the school curriculum. We thought incorporating networking lessons into the PSHE syllabus might be the easiest way to do this - these lessons are compulsory to attend, so all students would be able to benefit from them around the country. Within these lessons, young people could learn how to craft an effective CV, how to increase employability, and they could also practise job interviews in mock scenarios with their peers and teachers. Leadership skills could also be explored, through events like public speaking workshops, and reinforced in careers breakfasts - these would inevitably also contribute to raising awareness about the different career paths available.

Tyra Corbin, Sophia Christophorou, Lucy Buyers and Emily Wijeyawardana (De Beauvoir Fellows, Year 12)

IntheLentTerm,weturnedourattentiontotheartofdebating.Formanyofus,itwasthefirsttimewehadengagedwithformaldebating,andittookalittlewhiletogetourheadsaroundtheintricateandformaltechnicalitiesoftheBritishparliamentarysystem. Inthisstyleofdebating,amotionisproposed.Ateamoffourwillactas‘proposition’forthemotion,defendingitsmerits,andasecondteamoffourwillbehaveasthe‘opposition,’attemptingtodenigratethemotion.Speakersfromeachteamtakeitinturnstomaketheirargumentsandarescoredonthelogicandpersuasivenessoftheirpoints,howconfidentlytheyarearticulatedandtheirabilitiestorebuttheargumentsmadebytheotherside.Afterafewweeks’practice,wewereconfidentlydefiningourmotions,settingoutourargumentsanddemanding‘pointsofinformation’fromopponents.Themotionswedebatedrangedfromthepolitical(‘BorisJohnsonshouldresign’),toethicalmatters(“theCOVIDvaccineshouldbecompulsory”),totheslightlymoretrivial(‘itwouldbebettertobe5mtallthan5cmtall’).Ourpreparationandlivelydiscussionabouthowtoorderourargumentsandthebestgroundsforrebuttalprepareduswellforourfirstforayintotheworldofcompetitivedebate.InMarch,Year10HodgkinScholarsMargaux,Olivia,AmyandAnoushkatookpartintheDebatingforEveryoneMiddleSchoolShield,thisyearhostedbyEalingFieldsHighSchool.CompetingagainstteamsfromotherpredominantlyLondon-basedschools,ourteamdebatedthemotionthatthereshouldbearequirementforhalfofallsportsbroadcastingontelevisiontobeoffemalesportandalsotheideathatthereshouldbeataxonmeat.Attheendofaneveningofpassionatearguing,werankedthirdoutof25teams.Anexcellentresult.AnoushkaSood,OliviaHudson,AmyHutchinsonandMargauxHill(HodgkinScholars,Year10)

60 SCHOLARS’HODGKIN SUCCESS AT THE MIDDLE DEBATINGSCHOOLSHIELD

Atkins Scholars (Years 7, 8 and 9)

The UK has been at the forefront of change, implementing the COP programme to discuss how nations should work together on the subject of climate change. This must continue. The UK fully believes in the efficiency of the COP programme and recognises that this is vital in order for us to push for more ambitious and sustainable targets.

Along with this, we aim to strive to fulfil the terms outlined in the Paris agreement in order to reverse the deadly effects that climate change has had on our planet. This has already been witnessed by the melting ice caps in the North and South Poles and the rising temperatures across the world. If we continue as we are, it is estimated that by 2050 New York will be submerged underwater.

During the pandemic, pollution levels fell by 50% and our planet became slightly healthier. It is important that this type of change continue.

We ask that more developed countries with high GDP rates aid their fellow countries economically in achieving these goals. The UK would also like to implement a Clean Green Initiative programme, for more economic advancement into sustainable infrastructure that will make climate-friendly advancements into the effect of fossil fuels; namely coals and cars. These advancements are critical to ensure that our planet is preserved for future generations to come. I will now yield to Cambodia.

Each country presented their policy statement as an introduction, before working with other likeminded nations to construct their resolutions. Once resolutions were complete we moved to the lobbying stage, where we attempted to win support from other nations to have our resolutions considered by the General Assembly.

resolutioncultureaAtkinsA2022ATMUNhighlightfortheAtkinsScholarsinLenttermwaspreparingforourfirsteverScholars’ModelUnitedConference(ATMUN2022).Eachofuswasgivencountrytorepresent,beforebeingtaskedwithfindingoutaboutitsgeography,andpolitics.Wethenresearchedthetopicoftheenvironment,asthefocusedonclimatechange.

The resolution chosen by an independent panel was the one submitted by the United Kingdom and Cambodia, which provided an excellent framework for a debate. The resolution was successfully passed in the conference, with two amendments approved by a majority. The debate in the General Assembly was of an exceptionally high standard, with all of us contributing in some way. There were a variety of opportunities for all to participate, whether through giving speeches, asking questions or voting on amendments. All in all, this was excellent training for potential ambassadors of the future!

Aanya Apte (Year 9)

No country on Earth has yet been untouched by climate change. We recognise that due to the Coronavirus pandemic, economic advancement into climate change may not be a priority, but we have also witnessed that change is possible.

STATEMENT FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND

I shall be representing the UK in this assembly today to discuss the actions required to tackle climate change.

The UAE does not support this resolution for three reasons:Firstly, the resolution does not offer any support orsolutions to countries with economies who currently rely onproduction of oil and legal deforestation.

Finally, the UAE believes that the resolution has too large afocus on the inevitability of the impacts of current climatechange and trying to stave off these inevitable events ratherthan a focus on prevention and reversal. It also does notadvance the clauses already signed in Article 8 of the Paris

Distinguished members of these United Nations, The USA fully agrees with the UK and Cambodia’s statement that ‘every country is battling climate change together’ and as a more highly developed nation, the USA is glad to provide financial support to countries that receive a lower income so that they too can follow a path to a more sustainable future.

Iagreement.yieldthefloor to points of information.

STATEMENT FROM THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The UAE does not support the UK and Cambodia’s resolutionand requests that amendments should be submitted andagreed upon before any such support is shown.

Maryam Dibbens (Year 8)

Secondly, the UAE also notes that the resolution has nospecific and measurable targets with which to judge thesuccess or failure of the proposed initiatives and requeststhat these specific, measurable and date-bound targets areincluded in the resolution.

This is a challenge that we can’t afford to ignore. No one can possibly doubt the impact of climate change. As one of the largest economies and expellers of CO2, we, as a nation, have work to do too and the UK and Cambodia have proposed an effective way to accomplish a definite change. Our planet needs us, and we need it, so let’s go forward with achievable, yet more ambitious, targets so that the future of our coming generations can continue to be bright.

STATEMENT FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Emma Billingham (Atkins Scholar, Year 9)

Russia believes that the UK and Cambodia resolution concerning climate change is unnecessary and, therefore, dispensable.Forexample, the resolution calls for disaster management risk systems to be implemented in countries whose ecosystems have been gravely affected by climate change. In particular, the country most affected by natural disasters due to climate change is Japan, who (along with many other countries) already have disaster education taught in schools and colleges, a government pledge to support research concerning technology to provide those affected by disasters with resources and even updated agriculture methods with new innovations to reduce food insecurities inflicted by climate Furthermore,change.the resolution also calls for more meetings with world leaders to discuss climate change. However, annual meetings allow sufficient time for countries to strive towards individual carbon footprint reductions, and also time to focus on other worldly disasters.

STATEMENT FROM THEFEDERAL REPUBLIC OFNIGERIA

STATEMENT FROM THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

How do we, as a United Nations, distinguish which countriesare in a financial position to aid others on climate change?Nigeria agrees that climate change is an incredibly seriousmatter and that countries must take steps to combat thisglobal issue, however, these measures should not be thereason for country-wide poverty.

Alice Finnie (Year 9)

33% of Nigerians, around 70 million people, live in extremepoverty and as Africa’s largest country, Nigeria is alreadyheavily reliant on foreign aid. This foreign aid is used tohelp improve sanitation, healthcare, education and manyother important things around the country, however, manyNigerians are still suffering, even with this aid.

In addition to this, the UK and Cambodia’s resolution states that the COP program should continue, with every country striving to fulfil the terms outlined in the Paris agreement. As 197 countries are already persevering to do so, this instruction is unnecessary and passing this resolution would be pointless due to its lack of new content.

Nigeria is not in the financial position to spend money, evenif it is given by other countries, on climate change, not when92.8% of the population have still not received a COVID-19vaccine. Nigeria urges foreign nations to empathise with usand many other low-income countries in the same position.

Darcey Foster (Atkins Scholar, Year 8)

QUESTION OF: Climate Change

3. Fully believing that the COP programme must continue and that every country must strive to fulfil the terms outlined in the Paris agreement and that a concerted effort should be maintained by all countries towards these goals.

Atkins Scholars, 12 May 2022

Believing fully that our climate is precious to our survival, and we should do everything to preserve it for future generations and that if we implement more ambitious targets this can be Concerneddone.

8. Requests that more new initiatives and programmes are put in place to prevent climate change, rather than just agreeing with existing measures.

Recognising that every country is battling climate change together and that now more than ever it is key to unite and aid each other in achieving our united goal that we all share to defeat climate change and reverse the detrimental effects before the consequences escalate past breaking point.

COMMITTEE: General Assembly

Convinced that we can make a difference by calling for all countries to supply a new cleaner, green initiative programme to finance the build of disaster risk management systems to aid countries that are affected by the effects of climate change. For example, the UK has hosted the COP26 climate change summit and Cambodia is preparing to reverse the harmful effects that climate change has already had on its country by preparing for severe weather using a weather warning system and would like to spread this worldwide.

1. Requests that multiple disaster management risk systems be implemented in countries whose ecosystems have been gravely affected by climate change.

SUBMITTED BY: UK and Cambodia

Expressing our appreciation at the fact that the UK has hosted the COP26 climate change conference where world leaders signed the Glasgow Climate Pact along with gathering to discuss the next steps needed to make sure we can appear from this crisis in the best way going forward. Cambodia has upgraded its disaster risk management system to prevent flooding and other natural disasters that are harmful to Cambodia’s ecosystem.

that our current targets are too minimal to push back on the consequences of climate change and that smaller nations are unable to fight back on climate change due to a lack of adequate support.

4. Declares accordingly that a new Clean Green Initiative programme must be established in order for further economic advancement into more sustainable infrastructure that will make climate-friendly advancements into the effects of coal and cars.

7. Accepts that the economies of many countries rely heavily on legal deforestation, oil production and gas; calls upon HICs to support these countries in order to combat poverty that may occur.

We ask that other countries follow suit using the methods stated below:

RESOLUTION PASSED BY MUN CONFERENCE WITH AMENDMENTS

6. Emphasising that the need to significantly reduce fossil fuels and solve habitat loss due to climate change is needed now more than ever for the preservation of the planet’s future generations.

5. Accepts that the consequences of climate change have developed too far and that the need to push towards more ambitious sustainable targets must be achieved and more developed nations must aid other nations in doing so.

2. Noting that more meetings with other countries are required to discuss how to minimise the risk of climate change and that more developed nations should provide aid to those less developed and suffering countries.

CO-SUBMITTED BY: USA, Norway, Germany, France, DRC, Australia

In Trinity term, with end-of-year examinations on the horizon, we wanted to see if we could help some of the younger pupils with their studies.

Finley

I found tutoring really enjoyable as it allowed me to meet new people from younger years and it was also helpful for me as I could revise topics I need for GCSEs. Heidi

PEERPEERTOTUTORING

The peer-to-peer tutoring was a wonderful opportunity to expore academic problems with younger year groups and enhance the connections throughout the STAHS community.

We launched a peer-to-peer tutoring service whereby pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9 could self-nominate for one-to-one tutoring which we provided during our lunchbreaks. We undertook some training on how to tutor effectively, critiquing some models of good and bad tutoring practices. Working with the Year 7, 8 and 9 students was an enjoyable and fulfilling experience for us and the service became highly popular. We even had to run a waiting list! Here, we reflect on the experience:

(Year 10)

Hodgkin Scholars

The message stated that KMS Fischer is heading direct to point 57° North and 38° West. This point is a few degrees from ship E2Y21.

The message stated that the KMS Virgin is heading direct to point 58° North and 38° West. On the map of the Atlantic attached, this is between ships UA15 and E2Y21 – about 20° west of Reykjavik, Iceland. Message 004 was received earlier this morning at 04.26 and was encoded using the transposition cipher.

From these communications it appears that Germany is planning an attack on British ships near Reykjavik and is sending multiple ships that way. We recommend that you send multiple ships to the Reykjavik location and use the ships already placed there to stop the Germans.

TheRegards,Birthday Club

The Birthday Club have intercepted several messages from the German radio signals and have decrypted them all using various ciphers.

Maryam Dibbens and the Atkins Scholars

Message 003 was received afterwards at 07.42 in the morning and was encoded using the pigpen cipher.

(Year 8) 66

ULTRAAstheScholarsinYears7to9arenamedafterVeraAtkins,aBritishsecretagentofthesecondworldwar,itseemedappropriatetospendsometimedevelopingskillsincode-breaking.Aswegotopress,theyhavejustcompletedasecretmission:itishighlyclassifiedbutMrMarshallhasinterceptedoneofourmessages… OPERATION 27th June 1940

Message 002 was received at 06.32 in the morning and was encoded using a Vigenère square.

The message stated that KMS is requesting directions to a location near Reykjavik from where the ship was – at 57° North and 16° West.

Dear Chief Commander,

Message 001 was received and encoded using a Caesar Shift.

The message stated that the KMS Jaguar is heading direct to point 58° North and 39° West.

Hodgkin Scholars (Year 10)

A major highlight of our year as Hodgkins Scholars were the cultural trips to London which we had an opportunity to go on. These trips enriched our learning in school by exposing us to ideas beyond the curriculum in a number of academic fields.

The scholars’ trip allowed me to extend my knowledge on a variety of different subjects and teach me things that I would never have learnt about otherwise. For example, we went on a trip to the Barbican to see an exhibition. This included multiple languages which extended my vocabulary. Darcey

In September, we visited an exhibition on Emperor Nero at the British Museum. This was an interesting reappraisal of the historiography of the notorious figure from ancient times and made us question the idea of historical reputation and how reliable it is (or isn’t!). In October, we embraced our inner designers when we visited the Barbican and enjoyed an exhibition by Matrix, a left-wing feminist architectural practice which operated in the 1980s and explored questions about the social impact of our public spaces and designed environments. We also reflected on the design of the Barbican itself and our views on Brutalist architecture. In February we attended a Gresham College lecture on error-control coding and surprised ourselves by understanding more of it than we thought we might! May saw a trip to the Wellcome Collection on Euston Road and we were able to view the collections of Sir Henry Wellcome which tell a story of health and medicine across time by giving examples of the many ways in which people, through history and across cultures, have sought to understand the workings of the human body.

SCHOLARS’HODGKIN TRIPSCULTURAL

I found learning through museums very interesting and interactive, particularly at the Wellcome Collection. Noah

Barbican Museum

We feel lucky that our school is within such close proximity of a global city where the arts and intellectual endeavour are prized and there are so many opportunities to engage with scholarly pursuits.

Even for those who arenotaspiringmedics,itwasinterestingtoreadaboutthehistoryofcancerandthediscoveryoftreatmentsforit.Farfrombeingslowprogress,thepast80yearshasbeenatimeofrapiddevelopmentinthisfield.Wealsodiscussedtheroleofnot-for-profitorganisationsinfundinghospitalsandmedicalresearch.Thefollowingweek,LucyandAriapresentedtheirthoughtsontheopeningpagetoFranzKafka’sMetamorphosis.Itopenswithoneofthemostfamoussentencesinwesternliterature:‘WhenGregorSamsawokeonemorningfromtroubleddreams,hefoundhimselftransformedrightthereintosomesortofmonstrousinsect.’Seeminglyfantasticaleventsaredescribedinamatter-of-facttone,sparkinglotsofdiscussion.Thenovellaissuchapuzzlingexperience,yetspeakstomanyoftheconcernsofmodernlife.

TheTrinitytermsawusstartareadingcirclewherewetookitinturnstopresentasynthesisofabookchapterandthenleadadiscussiononit.Theaimwastoencourageustothinkaboutsomefundamentalsofourchosenuniversitycourses,tobroadenourknowledgeonareaswhicharenotdirectlylinkedtoourintendeddegrees,andtothinkflexiblyaboutbigquestions. WestartedbyreadingachapterofSiddharthaMukherjee’s

The Emperor of All Maladies.

68 DEREADINGCIRCLEBEAUVOIRFELLOWS’

Extract from Tara Corbin’s and Sophia Christophorou’s presentation on the Boeing 737-MAX

Tyra and Sophia then turned to the fatal crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX and considered the variety of factors which contributed to these tragic events. Not only were there failings in the development cycle but our discussion went in the direction of psychology and how humans react when they are in a highly competitive situation, such as the rivalry between the aviation giants Boeing and Airbus.

Next term, we hope to continue our reading circle, perhaps looking at some TEDx talks, online lectures and podcasts to widen our field of source material.

De Beauvoir Fellows, Year 12

Extract from Emmie Newns’ and Maya Kanani’s presentation on The Tiger that Isn’t

Meg and Amy looked at Paul Valéry’s Crisis of the Mind, an essay written after the second world war, which sheds light on how, prior to 1938, European society thought that its rational mind and intellect would prevent the horrors of war from ever occurring. Valéry lucidly presents a new uncertainty around human existence which has occupied the minds of many European writers since.

Finally, Annabel addressed a key question amongst linguists: How do children acquire language? The Chomskian concept of a Universal Grammar (which posits the idea that our capacity to speak our mother tongue is something innate, rather than taught) has recently been called into question by linguists. The new evidence is perhaps a turning point in a discipline which has based much of its field of study on the existence of a Universal Grammar, a point which generated much discussion amongst us during our lunchtime colloquia.

Next, Emmie and Maya took us from the literary to the statistical in their presentation on The Tiger that Isn’t by Michael Blastland and Andrew Dilnot. They talked of the importance of asking whether a number is actually large when confronted with a statistic – a question we should all ask more often, particularly in this era of fake news and partisan social media!

MDRAA

Rosan Trisic (Drama Scholar, Year 10)

Interview with Puppeteer, Maia Kirkman-Richards:

Interviewchannel. with alumnus Ros Chase, Lighting Designer at Guildhall School of Music & Drama can be heard via the QR code below:

After performing our production in school, we had the opportunity to take part in The Welwyn Drama Festival at The Barn Theatre, in which we were placed second in the senior category. Watching my character develop from the very initial stages of the writing process and having access to the extensive research Beth Flintoff put into the performance in order to make it as historically accurate as possible enabled me to create an excellent connection to my character.

The interview with Maia can be heard via the QR code below.

This year as a Sixth Form Drama Scholar, I have had the fantastic opportunity of establishing the STAHS Drama Podcast, Backstage Pass. The podcast has allowed me to host a wide range of interviews with various industry professionals and talented individuals and groups from within the STAHS Drama department. I began my journey with a podcast workshop with Temi Wilkey, an alumnus of the school who has had a fantastic career as an actor and writer. She also has a podcast show called Making It with Temi Wilkey. Temi had amazing advice and guidance which allowed us to kickstart the podcast with our first interview with Temi herself.

I was fortunate enough to be part of the process from the very beginning. It began with our fabulous playwright Beth Flintoff visiting and introducing her idea for the play. We then improvised and discussed some moments and scenes. A few months later a first draft was produced. We were able to read through it, ask questions and voice our opinions which is something I had never had the chance to do before.

Once the final draft was created, rehearsals were on and off due to COVID-19 but eventually we were able to put together the final piece.

Many thanks to Mrs Whymark, Mrs Bullen and the Drama Department for their support this year. Louisa Noble (Head of School and Drama Scholar, Year 12)

My favourite interview has been with Maia Kirkman-Richards, a professional puppeteer who created the Aslan puppet for this year’s school production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was a great opportunity to understand all the work and various processes and stages that go into puppet making. It also allowed me to gain professional advice on how best to act with a puppet which helped contribute to my final performance playing the role of Aslan within the giant puppet lion head.

7365

I have had this year is a performance role playing the part of Anne Murray in the play Milady. It was written for STAHS Theatre Company as part of the Write the girl initiative, which aims to put women at the heart of the action. Milady is a play which explores the lives and actions of female spies in the English Civil War.

To hear from the cast and more about the production, try out our podcast via the QR code below. Interview with the cast of Milady:

I now have the wonderful opportunity of sharing what I have learnt and the skills I have developed with the younger scholars who will take over the podcast, which is incredibly Anotherrewarding.opportunity

Another fantastic opportunity which the Drama Scholars have enjoyed has been the chance to work in the technical side of theatre. An alumna, Ros Chase, really inspired us to consider lighting and sound design, and just before going to press with this anthology, we were lucky to invite her onto our podcast

FROM PODCASTS TO PUPPETRY AND PLAYWRIGHTING

74 ininspiredExploringandAs&RECLAMATIONDESIGNaProductDesignScholar,Ihavebeenresearchingreclamationhowdesignerscanbecomemoreenvironmentallyfriendly.theworkofarchitectssuchasHiroshiNakamurahasmetoputintopracticeaspectsoftheirsustainabledesignsmyownwork.

This means the client would not have to pay for material again, which would greatly reduce the cost of products. It is also an environmentally friendly concept as it uses second-hand material for a new product. The idea revolves around a child growing up and enjoying different products. There would be multiple stages through the product’s life where I would reform it into something new. For example, a Lego block, to a toy car, to a phone case, to a key ring. I have thoroughly enjoyed Product Design so far and look forward to the upcoming projects I will be working on.

This year, I tested forming ABS plastic (originally Duplo Lego blocks) to try and achieve a new product made from 100% recycled ABS. This was a successful experiment and from here I started making new products from the recycled plastic. I focused on creating a concept whereby a client would return to me, for example, an old Duplo Lego set, and I would then convert this into a phone case or other simple formed product.

The De Beauvoir Fellows, Year 12 75

TEXTILES 76 THIS YEAR AS A SinceIwasyoung,Ihavehadaninterestintextiles,andthispassionhasonlyincreasedinrecentyears.GainingaScholarshiphasencouragedmetopursuetextiledesignfurtherandhashelpedmewithmyknowledgeofthesubject,socialskills,andworkethic.DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY SCHOLAR

For a long time, I have tried to be as conscious as possible of my effect on the environment and have been repurposing my own clothes into new garments, preventing them from going straight to landfill. As well as this, I have recently been experimenting and enjoying using the book Pattern Magic by Tomoko Nakamichi, which combines geometric shapes and fashion in a fascinating way. It was fun to work with, as I had never used patterns in such a way before. In addition to this I have been learning to crochet, which was tricky at first, but I soon got the hang of it! I’m hoping this summer I will be able to go to more events that haven’t been available in the past couple of years, like workshops and exhibitions.

Alice Baddon (Design and Technology Scholar, Year 10)

In the Michaelmas and Lent terms, I helped the Year 8 Textiles Club on their projects, and worked closely with one of the pupils, aiding her through her planning and production. The main focus of the club this year was sustainability and repurposing.

On the day

ready for the first of the two shows running that day. We spoke with the rest of the competitors and the organisers talked about how the day was going to work. There was a huge house robot there to make sure fights were interesting for the audience and you signed up to different fights, as and when you wanted. In advance of the fights, our team was interviewed backstage, and then the show began. It went well and we had no major repairs, but we spent our time between shows adjusting our design and adding aesthetic details.

In the second round of the competition, we again did well with no issues to report. As a result, we decided to put our design into the most advanced category so that we could get a better idea of how our design should be changed before the next competition. Our wheel was exposed and was shredded by a competitor meaning that we lost drive. Furthermore, the axe on top of the robot had caused us issues all day because the belt tension was not high enough. As a result, the friction wore through the belt, and it snapped leaving us with no active Nonetheless,weapon.my team and I had a great time and we are likely to be attending more, larger-scale competitions as we go through the school. We can’t wait! The whole experience taught me a lot about how product design exists in the real world and just one way that I could pursue a subject I really enjoy.

WARSWealsosourcedcircuitrymaterialsandpartswhicharelasercutfromsteeltoensureourdesignwasasprofessionalasthoseoftheadultsthatcompetedagainstus.Scorpiushasasteelfrontwhichslopesat45degreestotryanddeflectanylargeimpacts.ThebodyismadefromrecycledHigh-DensityPolyethylene(HDPE)whichhassomeflexibilitytopreventshocksfromgoingthroughthesensitivecomponents.Thestingerontopisdesignedtobothgrabopponentsandtoturnusbacktherightwayup,shouldwebeflippedupsidedown.Weusedbrushlessmotorsconnectedtothewheelsbyapulleythatwe3Dprintedinschool.

Harriet Lucas, (Design and Technology Scholar Year 10)

Since the Easter term of Year 9, several of my peers and I have participated in an after-school club designing robots. These are built with the purpose of fighting other peoples’ robots in organised (and sometimes televised) competitions. Using a combination of cardboard modelling, Computer Aided Design (CAD) and the various manufacturing machines in the school workshop, we designed and manufactured a robot called Scorpius that is now part of our school team ‘ConSTAHSlations’.

When we arrived, the bullet-proof arena was set up and the special effects (fire, smoke and music) were being tested. We were allocated a workstation and we had a few hours to get

Background to the event

We attended our first event in Portsmouth called Extreme Robots. It is a live competition with a large audience. An arena built from two layers of bullet-proof polycarbonate would house the competitors as they aimed to immobilise their opponents by any means necessary. There are different categories for different sizes of robots and the type of weapon they have. We competed in the featherweight category to trial our ideas and see how our design functioned in the arena. At the end of the day we joined Category 3 (the most dangerous one) to fully explore how our design fared in a more lethal combat group.

78 ROBOT

Olivia Hudson (Design and Technology Scholar, Hodgkin Scholar, Year 10)

WACKY CLUBFOOD

Acknowledgements

With thanks to everyone who helped make this anthology a reality. Particular congratulations go to all our marvellous Scholars. St Albans High School for Girls Townsend Avenue, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 3SJ Tel: 01727 853 800 stahs.org.uk