Term 1, Issue 2

the badger

9 Feburary 2015

in pictures • 2

IN PICTURES Your pictures of spring sun across Brighton

Daniel Roberts

Sophie Jones

Sophie Jones Editor-in-Chief Deborah Batchelor badger@sussexstudent.com

Sports Editor Joe Cummins josephcummins.sportseditor@ gmail.com

News Editor Jack Williams Comment Editor Victoria Farley Tech/Science/Features Editor Jordan Ellis Arts Editor Tom Powell Head of Publicity Lili Pammer-Zagroczky

News Sub Editors Daniel Green, Zoe Halse, Alex Ferguson, Rosie Dodds,Jess Pitocchi badger-news@ussu.sussex.ac.uk Comment Sub Editors Miriam Steiner, Alice Nettleship badger-opinion@ussu.sussex. ac.uk

Daniel Roberts

Letters Sub Editor

Arts Sub Editors

Publicity Coordinator

Louis Patel badger-letters@ussu.sussex.ac.uk

Victoria O’Donnell, Ioana Matei, Raymond Jennings, Lily Cooper, Lottie Brazier badger-arts@ussu.sussex.ac.uk

Lenart Celar badger-publicity@ussu.sussex.ac.uk

Tech Sub Editor

Online Editors Steve Barker, Pete Humphreys

Connor Cochrane badger-tech@ussu.sussex.ac.uk

Sports Sub Editor

Features Sub Editor

Vladislav Hristov Grozev

Ryan Bourne

badger-sports@ussu.sussex.ac.uk

badger-features@ussu.sussex. ac.uk

Photo Editors

Science Sub Editor

Nelly Tookey, Sophie Jones

Jade Groves badger-science@ussu.sussex.ac.uk

thebadgerphotography@gmail.com

badger-online@ussu.sussex.ac.uk Media Development Officer Paul Millar mediadevelopment@sussexstudent. com Communications Officer Michael Segalov communications@sussexstudent.com

the badger

9 February 2015

NEWS • 3

UKIP candidate to be left out of campus debate Alexander Ferguson & Daniel Green News Sub-Editors The UKIP candidate for Brighton Pavilion, Nigel Carter, has been left off a Sussex University campus debate alongside other prospective parlimentary candidates.

Planned for 4 March, the Hustings, jointly organised by the Politics Society and the Students’ Union, was thought by some to feature five candidates for the upcoming general election in May. The realisation that this would result in extending an invitation to UKIP has sparked controversy and has led to discussion in the Union Council in support of a vote to exclude some candidates.

After little opposing debate, the decision was made on the basis that UKIP is “not a viable option in Brighton Pavilion”.

Emily Pinto, a Union Council member and LGBTQ Students’ Representative, said: “Considering that UKIP are nowhere near

being a major party in Brighton Pavilion, I see no good reason why they should be invited”.

The Union Council decision echoed that of the Executive Committee which concluded that UKIP could legitimately be excluded since they only attracted 1.8% of the Brighton Pavilion vote in the 2010 election.

Michael Segalov, Communications Officer, said: “Through our democratic bodies, the Executive Committee and the Union Council, the Students’ Union has decided to extend an invitation to all the parties who polled above 5% in the 2010 elections in Brighton Pavilion.

The number of candidates standing in the election was too high so we allowed a number that we thought was fair.

“The SU refutes any allegation that we made this decision for any other reason”.

However, a committee member of the Politics Society has called this argument

“inherently flawed from several angles” pointing out that: “Firstly, the debate will cover national issues as well as local concerns and secondly, many of the students attending the debate will be voting in their home constituencies in May and so it makes no sense to exclude a party based solely on Brighton Pavilion representation. In any case, recent polling by Lord Ashcroft attributes up to 9 percent of the vote in Brighton Pavilion to UKIP in the upcoming general election. This is well above the 5 percent threshold that was flippantly decided upon by the Students’ Union”.

The same poll suggested that the Liberal Democrats will only obtain roughly 3 percent of the vote in May; this is below the 5 percent threshold and so would therefore make the Liberal Democrat candidate, Christopher Bowers, valid for exclusion.

In addition, much of the Union Coun-

cil discussion revolved around how UKIP policy did not match the values of the Students’ Union.

The most heated comments came from the Committee’s Acting Chair, Vee Cartwright, who, when confronted with the argument that excluding UKIP would directly contrast with the right to freedom of speech, asked: “Why should we invite them? Is it to be ‘ooooh freedom of speech’ to people who are genuinely disgusting? I have no time for their speech”.

As part of the debate, Dan Greenberg, Operations Officer, stated that if an invitation was not extended to the UKIP candidate then there was a risk that the Students’ Union could be seen to be favouring or disadvantaging certain parties in the run up to the election. However, prior to the debate he said: “Obviously, we think we’re hopefully going to get around this by saying they are horrible people and contradict a lot of our policies”.

In defence of freedom of speech, a Politics Society Committee member said: “For a union who prides themselves on being democratic, this goes against basic freedom of speech rights.

“This event was trying to emulate the national candidate debate which UKIP will be a part of. Like it or not, UKIP are a main party up for election in this country. You can’t pick and choose who gets to voice their opinion just because you don’t agree.

Where is the democracy in that?!”

This Union Council vote comes in the wake of the Sussex Students’ Union receiving a ‘RED’ ranking (the lowest possible) in a university survey on free speech by the online magazine Spiked. The survey described the University as being a “hostile environment for free speech”, citing the Union’s ‘No Platform Policy’, as a reason for its poor ranking.

See page four for more

Students want to create UKIP society Alexander Ferguson News Sub-Editor

Three University of Sussex students are planning to create a UKIP society on campus.

The Students’ Union Societies Committee has recently met with the potential President of the University’s UKIP society but has yet to make a decision as to whether or not the society will be allowed to form.

The issue of having a Young Independence Society (as it currently would be called) on campus was recently brought to the Union Council for discussion.

When speaking about the issue, a member of the Societies Committee said: “We obviously support repre-

sentation but we have worries about what’s in the newspapers about UKIP and how they, as a society, are going to stop these issues being spread, how they are going to address these issues.”

The Committee member went on to say: “We have a problem with the society calling itself the ‘Young Independence Society’. This university has post-graduate students and mature students, students of varying ages. It feels like it’s almost UKIP trying to recruit in a young student area and we don’t like that idea.”

When asked for their opinion on the possibility of a UKIP society being formed at Sussex, the President of the Sussex University Conservative Society said: “I think a UKIP society is a step forward for Sussex, not in politi-

cal terms but in its movement towards representing everyone on campus, not just those who sit on the left side.

“Whilst UKIP has made some headlines, these are individual actors who have since been removed due to the stupid things they have said. Sussex is supposedly a university that claims it is for freedom of speech, so why not prove it?”

Expressing a similar opinion, the President of Sussex’s Liberal Democrat Society added: “Definitely students should be able to form a UKIP society on campus if they want to!

Freedom of speech, expression and equality of opportunity are fundamentally being undermined if they are not allowed to form.”

This issue has occurred alongside

the news that the Students’ Union Council, in ongoing discussions with the Politics Society, has voted to only host four candidates, leaving out UKIP amongst others from attending the campus debate between the prospective parliamentary candidates for

“Sussex is supposedly a university that claims it is for freedom of speech, so why not prove it?”

Brighton Pavilion, to be held on 4th March.

The potential President of this UKIP society was contacted but declined to comment.

In January, a group of students at Nottingham Trent University were banned from starting a UKIP society after students voted against it. This decision was later overturned by the Students’ Union who were facing accusations of unfairness.

The Local UKIP MEP in the East Midlands, said that the original ban on the UKIP society at Nottingham Trent University “disgraceful” and “an affront to democracy”.

An opinion poll conducted by Studentmoneysaver.co.uk found that support for amongst students has doubled to 8.1 percent since the 2010 general election, while support for the Liberal Democrats has decreased to 3.7 percent, an 18 percent drop since the last election.

Untidy accommodation halls cost students £4,751 Rosie Dodds News Sub-Editor In response to a recent Freedom of Information Request, the University of Sussex has revealed that the total amount charged to university students for untidy accommodation halls by the University during the 2013/2014 academic year was £4751.77.

Charges were made to students who breached clause 2.4 of the tenant’s terms and conditions agreement which states that students are to “pay on demand a charge for cleaning the room or communal areas of the building provided that such charge will only be levied by the university if the room or communal areas are not kept in a reasonably clean and tidy state”.

Total charges for cleaning and rubbish removal was £3854.25 which was charged to 241 students, and the total charges for damage, mainly in communal areas, was £897.52 which was charged to 43 students.

Alec Thompson, a second year American Studies student who lived at the university’s residence East Slope in the 2013/2014 academic year has commented: “My flat was never charged, but we did have a few of threats from

the cleaner that our kitchen and living areas were too dirty.

“When we left the flat in June we also had people who came in and told us to get rid of our rubbish unless we wanted to be charged. I thought that charges were just a threat though and never would be properly implemented.”

In response to these figures, a University of Sussex spokesperson said: “As noted in the terms and conditions of the tenancy agreement and Residence Handbook, we expect all residents to behave well and be considerate of their fellow residents to make for harmonious living.

“Refuse and recycling facilities are provided around the residences, with clear details about their locations and ways of working in the residences. Our network of almost 100 Residential Advisors (RAs) also provide one-to-one guidance and advice to new residents.

“With 5,004 bed-spaces in total, as a proportion the figures are low, with less than 1% of residents (0.8%) being charged for evidence-based damage attributable to them. Cleaning fines are also low as a proportion, at just under 5% of all residents (4.8%).

“Ahead of moving out of our resi-

Liz MC via creative commons dences, residents are provided with clear guidance about where to deposit rubbish and recycling. We also work very closely with the Students’ Union to encourage re-use of items, and we provide collection points around campus. It is therefore disappointing when residents choose not to make use of these facilities, as colleagues from

Sussex Estates and Facilities are then required to remove rubbish when it is left behind and dispose of it safely so that the room can be cleaned and prepared in good time ahead of the next student in residence. “£10 charge per bin bag removal is less than the industry average, which is typically double that figure at £20

per bin bag removal. We are not proposing to increase our charges during this financial year or next to reflect the industry average, keeping costs at half that level to support our students.

“We consider the token charges to be fair, as they contribute to harmonious living for the benefit of all of our residents.”

the badger

9 February 2015

NEWS • 5

£10,000 postgraduate scholarship New Officer roles released by the Students’ Union introduced by the University Isabel Taylor The university recently announced that it will be offering £10,000 scholarships to all Sussex students graduating in 2015 who immediately continue onto a Masters program with Sussex.

These scholarships are available for one year only. The people eligible for the scholarship are First Generation Scholars (people from underprivileged backgrounds who are the first of their family to come to Sussex) and anyone graduating with a first-class degree this year who paid £9,000 fees for their time at Sussex.

The University are also awarding 100 Masters applicants from outside the university a £10,000 scholarship, called Chancellor’s Masters Scholarship, to those who’ve paid over £9,000 and are awarded a 1st class degree.

There are a certain number of Masters programs which are not open

to the scholarship, notably most of those in International Development and those at the BSMS. People who have paid fees of less than £9,000 are also ineligible.

A spokesperson for the university says that the scholarships have in mind those who have more debt now because of incurring higher fees.

Professor Claire Mackie, Pro-Vice Chancellor commented: “This is a big commitment from the University that shows just how vital we see postgraduate study to be.

“We want to attract the best and brightest to study at Sussex without financial barriers.”

For the last three years, Sussex have offered bursaries to all Masters students. In order to apply in the first place, you need to be predicted a 1st or a 2:1. For these £3,000 and £2,000 was offered respectively.

This across the board scholarships policy was originally introduced to encourage students to make a straight progression from undergrad-

uate to postgraduate study as nationally there had been a drop in people doing this. It’s unclear whether the grant will be awarded to second-class honours Sussex students.

Masters programs cost £6,060 so the scholarship offers a substantial amount towards living costs. It’s not possible to defer the scholarship if you want to defer your place and the money will not be offered to people who undertake a part-time program.

The deadline for Masters applications is 1st August and applicants will be accepted in lots every few months.

Michael Segalov, Communications Officer said: “Whilst this is very exciting news for Sussex students, the Students’ Union has raised a few concerns with the University. There will be some students graduating this year who will want to study their Masters part-time and currently the University has not made equivalent provision for them.”

Louis Patel Letters Sub-Editor The Students’ Union is currently gauging student feedback on the proposed changes, following their voting in favour of restructuring the full time officer roles.

Students are invited this week to give feedback through the Students’ Union website on the changes which will be introduced in the new academic year.

The results of the referendum, held in the final week of last term, revealed 60 per cent of students voted in favour of axing the both the roles of Communications and Operations Officer, while also splitting the Education Officer’s role into ‘undergraduate’ and ‘postgraduate’. Students were also asked if the role of President should be rebranded but this was marginally rejected with 51 per cent voting ‘no.’

The restructured roles will merge aspects of the previous roles, while also taking on new responsibilities to their respective portfolios. The Welfare Officer duties will be changed, whilst a Society and Citizenship Officer will take on

a new remit covering environmental issues, social justice and a whole lot more.

The new full time officer will also replace the Communications role, with the emphasis being on organising and promoting Union campaigns. The Activities Officer will continue to head student societies, and will also support student media outlets, including The Badger.

The two new Education Officer roles will separately preside over undergraduate and postgraduate students, including Associate Tutors. Current Education Officer, Bethan Hunt, said: “Currently the Education Officer role is too broad as it incorporates all UG and PG students on top of being a key part of the Student Rep scheme.

“By splitting the role, the Students’ Union can be more effective at representing these students.

“I think this marks an exciting time for a PG community at Sussex, where traditionally PG students have felt excluded by Students’ Unions.”

Universities slam Labour’s plan on tuition fees

Daniel Green News Sub-Editor

Leading universities have condemned plans by Labour to reduce tuition fees, claiming it could result in a black hole in universities’ funding.

Although not officially announced, it is widely anticipated that Labour will reduce the cap on tuition fees from the current £9,000 to £6,000, aiming to eventually replace fees with a graduate tax.

In a letter to The Times, universities expressed concern that a reduction in fees could result in a £10 billion shortfall in funding, which would “damage the economy, affect the quality of students’ education, and set work back on widening access to higher education”.

The letter, signed by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Brighton amongst others, also argued that “a

better way of supporting students would be for the Government to provide greater financial support for living costs, especially those from poorer backgrounds”.

President of Universities UK Sir Christopher Snowden, defended his position, stating that Labour’s position “risks the equality for education for all”, saying: “If you talk to students and to many mums and dads, the £9,000 fee is no longer the key topic. The real issue is actually subsistence, the cost of living at university, particularly for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. This hasn’t been addressed at all by Labour.”

Shadow Universities minister Liam Byrne denied these claims, arguing the current system costs the taxpayer more than the system it replaced. He said: “The Tory-led government trebled fees and now it is crystal clear that the

News in Brief

Jack Williams

University agrees to give up to £5,000 towards student’s MA The University have pledged to match the £5,000 raised in a crowd funding campaign for a student to pay for his postgraduate degree at Sussex.

Luqman Onikosi, a student at the University of Sussex on the Global Political Economy MA programme, was denied access to the routine routes of funding postgraduate degrees due to his immigration status but will now have the money he needs to pay for his studies.

Last Month, a student led crowd fund-

ing campaign was created, calling for donations to assist Mr Onikosi in paying for his postgraduate degree. Within the space of a few weeks, the campaign raised £5,000.

Following negotiations between the University management and the Students’ Union, the University agreed to provide £5000 from the Sussex Fund, taking the total amount raised to £10,000.

Michael Segalov, Students’ Union Communications Officer said: “‘I am extremely proud of the Sussex students and staff who have supported throughout this difficult time. Whilst it’s such a shame that the University have taken so long to see the right thing to do, I am pleased that as an institution we are doing the right thing in the end.”

student finance system is going bust, saddling students with debts most will never pay back”. He also suggested that “according to new UCAS analysis, trebled fees have deterred thousands of potential students from applying”.

The letter made by leading universities follow comments by the Universities Minister Greg Clark, who defended the increase in tuition fees in 2010 because it only costs the same as a “posh coffee” every day to pay back.

Clark claimed that a graduate earning £30,000 would only pay back £2.22 a day, which is “a good investment for the student, as well as for the taxpayer”.

However, Labour have slammed his comments as being “out of touch” and “demonstrate a deeply dismissive attitude towards the real concerns which students and parents have on the cost of a degree”.

A University of Sussex spokesperson said: ““We are pleased that, through the University’s Sussex Fund, which is generously supported by Sussex alumni and friends, we have been able to come up with a solution which achieves a positive outcome.”

Universities unfairly changing student courses Students at UK universities are subject to unfair changes to their course after they enrol, according to the Consumer group Which.

Out of 141 Freedom of Information requests sent universities in the UK, 40 were deemed by Which to have bad practices in varying their courses after students are enrolled and eight needed improvements in their course-changing policies. The report says that unexpected courses for students “pose a significant risk of detriment

The Guardian

Caroline Lucas encourages Sussex students to vote Vicky Grantham Caroline Lucas MP for Brighton Pavillion visited campus to encourage young people to vote, last Tuesday. The ‘Sitting on the Fence’ event was organised

by Students for Caroline to help people chose who to vote for and to register them on the electoral role.

The rally saw members of the group detail the policies of the Green Party with Caroline Lucas coming in for an extensive question and answer session.

Caroline Lucas, said: “Young people should vote because it’s their world that the current government is screwing up.

Their policies are going to have a massive impact, but the decisions are being

made now by politicians who are by and large not in touch with young people, by a government that appears not to want young people to vote hence the change in registration.”

The current government have changed the way students are registered.

Previously, universities could auto-enroll their student body, but now people have to register individually with their national insurance number, another change.

This year will see around 3.3 million young people have the opportunity to vote for the first time in a general election, but according to research by YouGov for British Futures more than 2 million will not vote. Only four in ten say they will definitely cast their ballot.

the badger

9 February 2015

FEATURE • 8

FEATURE

Sophie Jones

Sussex University: internationally acknowledged Charlotte Wade examines Sussex University’s new high-ranking international status alongside her university application.

Charlotte Wade So it looks like Sussex University is up there with the best of them.

Congratulations are in order as recently, it emerged that our University is joint 46th place in the world, according to the Times Higher Education Magazine.

Last year, Sussex University was in 55th place. The magazine has said, “a university’s international outlook matters” and “both the diversity of a university’s student body and the extent to which its academics collaborate with international colleagues are signs of how global an institution really is.”

Sussex has been branded as one of the lucky elite; one of the top 400 universities from a considerable wealth of 3,000 universities across the entire globe.

This is taking into account factors such as the percentage of international staff and students and the percentage of research papers published with at least one co-author from another country.

Sussex currently has around 20% of International students and members of staff from over 50 different countries.

The University’s Director of Student recruitment Marcus Williams has said: “We are rightly proud of the contribution our international students and staff make to our teaching and learning experience and to our research environment at Sussex.

Our One World Week celebrations in spring 2015 will once again celebrate the richness and diversity of our international campus community.”

The One World celebrations will build on this appreciation of Sussex’s strong international core. Katherine Stevens, who is a second year psychology student, said: “the feeling of community at the University is definitely always prominent around campus. The fact that is has been hailed as one of the best in the world is amazing and a deserved title”, which is a statement I would have to agree with.

The ‘internationality’ of our University shows the world-class status that it has achieved because of its departure from the traditional, red-brick label. To me, this is an incredibly important facet in today’s society when it comes to an institution of education. This is, therefore, brilliant news in terms of modernity.

To be of world class status, as Sussex now is, means that it has to be on the pulse of the ever-changing globe and I believe that it is because we all know how radical and contemporary Sussex dares to be (recent events such as The Sussex Five).

Marcus Williams also revealed that between 2009 to 2014, the international recruitment performance was the most improved of any research intensive university and there has been a steady rise of 40% in welcoming overseas doctoral students.

“Why would you wanna go university? I can’t think of anything worse’.

This is one of the many remarks I received from pupils at my comprehensive school when I was doing my GCSEs and in sixth form doing A-levels.

In my school-year, I was one of the only students to take an interest in the prospect of university.

I had always wanted to go ever since the days I had spent in classrooms dressed in my gingham dresses and constantly quoting (to my annoyed peers) that ‘Knowledge is Power’.

I had no idea where, I just knew that I wanted to go as a stepping stone into the big, (scary), wide world.

University has, until now, proven to be a challenge for someone like me. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that a lot of students here aren’t all from grammar schools or independent institutions, and cannot be placed into one of society’s ‘one size fits all’ boxes.

But no one, I repeat no one, prepares you for having to get rid of insects by yourself without the help of mum picking one up off the floor for you (I tend to use hairspray and a hoover now to be on the safe side.

It’s an important life lesson, I swear).

I can never forget the day when I found out that I would be attending Sussex for the next three years until I was 21.

I had been on a morning run seeing as I had been wide awake staring at the ceiling with a million thoughts running through my mind the entire night before.

My mum had to check the dreaded UCAS website seeing as I refused to do it myself, and, being the pessimist that I am, I had told myself that I wouldn’t get into a university as prestigious and politically charged as this one.

Not only this, but it is now more prestigious for me with its high international ranking.

This was because of where I went to

school and my irrational fears of not feeling good or clever enough. I ran to the kitchen to busy myself, pretending that this wasn’t the single most important thing that had happened in my life so far.

Hearing a few frantic clicks, my mum yelled, “YOU’RE IN!” from behind the computer screen. After a considerable amount of time dancing around the house screaming in my underwear, a few snapchats and of course some tears of happiness and sheer adrenaline rushing through my body, I stopped to think about how proud I was of myself.

It may be over-exaggerating to some people, but the sheer pride and hard work that had gone into my application, the building up of it and now finally the entrance into a University like this one was enough to make me faint with happiness.

When I had initially visited Sussex campus on one of their open days, I fell in love with everything about the place.

The campus, the setting, the people, and, as cringe-worthy as it sounds, the general pull that felt like I belonged there. I had finally found a University that fitted finding my individual place in the world.

Days after the visit were spent looking at the prospectus and imagining a new life moving away from home.

I couldn’t think about anywhere else and like a crush; Sussex had me hook, line and sinker.

I remember seeing the library and picturing myself as a student running up the stairs excited at another full day spent working and gaining

knowledge (it hasn’t quite turned out like that…).

But the point is, that I went away that day with a determination that I could get into somewhere as wonderful as this institution and I have never looked back.

As a result of this new, highlyranked international status, to be a part of a University as modern and funky as this one, which is now 46th in the whole world ‘is no mean feat’, as Marcus Williams says.

It makes all the crying over essays, exams and people taking the mickey out of my Kent accent frequently, (no, I am not from Essex) completely worth it.

Well done to our amazing Sussex, long may she reign!

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the badger

9 february 2015

Comment • 10

Happiness is just a ‘swipe right’ away Louis Patel Letters Sub-Editor Where did you parents meet? School?

Gig? Pub? Work? Somewhere which involved one of them crossing the floor and saying ‘hello’, I’ll bet.

When you yourself eventually copulate and produce your own mini-me, will it bother you that you and your spouse met via the sadistic medium that is online dating?

Before I go off on one, I admit: I am on Tinder. I am on Grindr. I am even on Badoo (the Bebo equivalent of dating). So, I really can’t point the hand of judgement and lambast people who use these sites.

I can, however, lambast online dating culture and the perverse instant gratification it endorses.

For journalistic purposes (and to spend a night away from Netflix), I went on a Tinder date last Friday, with a guy I’d been chatting with for a week.

Our online conversation took an age to go anywhere; long gaps in between the generic ‘How are you?’ or ‘What do you study?’

The awful robot generated questions which you use to get the ball rolling.

Through our conversation, we’d both ascertained that we had some kind of mutual interested to scrape into a face to face conversation, that and there was evidentially some mutual attraction.

To be truthful, on the way to meet him, I was quite excited at the possibility that this could be the start of.... something. No. As with many of these dates which are constructed online, we had very little in common.

Sure, you can talk about how you both used to watch Waterloo Road in year 11 and that the uni is pretty good but your second choice was blah, blah.

We only talked for an hour, but that was fine. After the awkward goodbye I assumed that was that.

Creative Commons An hour later he sent me a picture of himself naked from the waist down.

I guess I got lucky.

Despite my distrust for these sites, more and more people (including myself) are on them and are becoming addicted to them.

Why? Because they create both a false self-confidence and also give you instant gratification.

On Tinder, you judge someone purely on their aesthetic value. You spend, at most, ten seconds on their page looking at their pre-drinks photos, or maybe the odd autumn morning selfie.

Not satisfied? Swipe left. Found someone you like? Swipe to the right.

Do that enough times and you’ll

eventually find someone ‘liked’ you too.

The short term ecstasy it gives you is no more than the rush you get when someone likes your Facebook status, but it’s enough to keep you going back for more.

And I admit, being ‘liked’ feels good; it’s an up, and we crave all the up’s we can get.

Online dating culture has grown as 1) we rely on the internet to make choices for us; 2) have become to need instant gratification; and 3) traditional meeting places have changed.

Clubbing has become the main venue for young people to meet; a venue which encourages people to just bob

up and down in close quarters, with the occasional lewd grope or shout to ask where the loo is.

I’d argue that gigs, or concerts, or even house parties are much better places to meet potential dates. It seems people have come to rely too heavily on an app to fix them up.

And sure, there are happy endings.

People who’ve met online can have perfectly happy and fulfilling relationships.

But admit it: ‘we met online’, still evokes a certain stigma. I’d argue that it’s a stigma with legs on it; online dating de-humanizes people, and purely puts an emphasis on looking your best, rather than talking your best.

People’s innate goodness or attractiveness can’t be demonstrated online; the only thing that can is their #nofilter photos or washboard stomachs can.

But like I said, I’m on the band wagon too, because at the end of it all, people are losing the ability to communicate face to face.

So, then, how do you meet people if not for Tinder, Grindr, Badoo, match. com?

The next time you see a person who you’ve liked for a while, ask them out for coffee. Just ask them, using your words.

Words are a better turn on then a selfie.

What will the face of feminism look like in 2015?

Ralph Palmer

Last year was, what seemed to be, a very noisy year for feminism.

It seemed to be one of the most talked about topics across social media with global trends on Twitter such as #HeForShe and #YesAllWomen.

This, in itself, is a success. People should be talking about it.

For way too long, feminism has been an issue that has been swept under the carpet, but now there is a resurgence fighting not only what is an equality issue, but a human rights issue too.

2014 seemed to be the first year in a long time that feminism seemed to have a real voice, but the real challenge now is to act upon it.

The involvement of men in campaigns such as ‘He For She’ has to be one of the key developments for feminism of 2014.

Finally, men are starting to recognize the issues that women face and realize something needs to change.

Despite this, the support by men is

Creative Commons still disappointingly low.

It must be realized that for an equality issue to be tackled, there needs to be action from all parties, not just the suppressed ones.

People cannot expect for the only people to tackle gay rights issues to be gay people, so why is this any different?

It is, however, important that feminists, people who want to achieve gender equality, to recognize issues men face too.

It is very easy to turn a blind eye to sexism issues men face but unequal

treatment of fathers in relation to custody of children and a tendency to ignore domestic violence towards men are just two problems men do face today.

A lot of men are put off supporting feminism because they feel excluded from it themselves as their issues are ignored.

Some may argue the word ‘feminist’ is extremely outdated and to encourage more people to be a part of tackling this global issue, it could do with rebranding.

Personally, I feel this is a weak excuse men give. There are problems that men face and men’s involvement in feminism is how these problems will be addressed and I can really see this being one of the big differences for feminism this year compared to last.

One of the main reasons that more and more people have become aware of and got involved with feminism is because of the highly influential He For She campaign, headed by Emma Watson.

Joined by a lot of other high profile

celebrities, Emma Watson has inspired millions of women and men.

She, for one, recognized it is an issue for everyone. As this campaign gains more momentum throughout 2015, we will see more action being taken, which is the key target He For She sets out for everyone.

The failed campaign to get rid of page 3 of the Sun will only add more fuel to the ever-growing flame. People have had enough.

Society does want change. 2015 will be a very interesting year, with most of the attention likely to be turned to across the pond to see how successful the start of Hilary Clinton’s campaign to be US President will go, but feminist activism will surely continue here too, only bigger and better.

The message seems to be very clear: if you support equality in the slightest, stop just sharing articles on Twitter that empower you, get out there and make a difference, because 2015 could quite possibly be an historic year for feminism.

the badger

9 FEBRUARY 2015

COMMENT • 11

COMMENT

Is the UK government’s policy of drug prohibition outdated?

Rhys Baker

With politicians such as Boris Johnson, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton admitting to drug use in the past and with currently 554 people serving sentences for possession alone in the UK, the question raised is; why are drugs still illegal?

Drug prohibition is a clever smoke screen designed to hide the social and economic factors that lead people to use drugs dependently.

Self-medicating and wealth division are at the core of problematic drug use. Though poverty and desperation are by no means drug-based problems.

It is only until we take a more Freudian reflection at the underlying causes of problematic drug use that we can start to decrease harm to drug users.

By legalising all drugs we eliminate the criminal market and the corrupt way that they successfully function within our society.

This as a result reduces violence and theft (used to fund addicts’ drug habits), overall reducing crime. Pris-

on populations would half saving billions in the economy.

More important than any other argument, drug prohibition simply goes against personal cognitive liberty and free will.

It stunts personal development, exploration and creativity that one could achieve and experience.

The war on drugs is actually a war on minorities as studies have shown that both white and black people report using drugs at similar rates however black people are much more likely to be sent to jail.

White people are also more likely to deal drugs however again black people are much more likely to be imprisoned for it.

One non-governmental organisation trying to fight the war on drugs are the UK drug policy reform group ‘Release’, an organisation aimed at tackling the stigma attached to drug use.

They have challenged stigmatisation with campaigns such as ‘Nice People Take Drugs’ and ‘Better Drug Laws Now.’

Despite common misconception studies have shown that the majority of drug offenders are non violent, completely functional in society and use drugs for recreational purposes opposed to addiction.

On top of that psychological studies have shown that intelligent people are more likely to use drugs recreationally.

In comparison to alcohol related offending which is nearly always violent based, alcohol related harm (mostly consisting of drunk violence) is estimated to costs the NHS over £3.5bn a year in England alone.

Alcohol abuse has taken the lives of at least 5,000 English and Welsh citizens every year for the last decade.

Yet for some reason it is a drug that we all choose to ignore.

The decimalisation of drugs debate is making a small but important impact on modern politics with political parties such as the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party vouching to end the imprisonment for possession of drugs for person-

al use, meaning that no one will be sent to prison if his or her only offence is possession.

Looking at addiction for a medical perspective opposed to a legal one.

If our current government were brave enough we would follow in the footsteps of countries like Portugal, Uruguay, Czech Republic and even certain states within America.

Hard line Tories simply lack the rational thought to comprehend that drug legalisation does not correlate with wider use.

They are scared to try an alternative that might work better in fear of being judged as too liberal or being associated with the ‘loony left’.

In Portugal recreational drug use initially rose when decimalised in 2001 however levelled off and eventually dropped below levels when drugs were criminalised.

George Hegel said that ‘we learn from history that we don’t learn from history.’ Prohibition does not work and is deeply flawed.

Just look at the prohibition of alcohol in the United States during the

1920’s for example.

Organised crime went through the roof, alcohol was the strongest it had even been percentage wise, oh and guess what?

People still had easy access to alcohol and people still consumed it despite it being illegal.

The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is out-dated and not even scientifically based.

We need to stop jailing addicts and recreational users for the possession of drugs.

We need to stop needless ruining peoples lives and futures for life style choices they choose to make.

We need to stop being on our alcohol-fuelled high horse just because it is deemed legal.

We need to stop this blissful ignorance and scapegoating drugs as an evil and something to fear.

Everybody does/tries drugs however only a small minority are punished on behalf of the majority.

As Hunter S. Thompson said: ‘In a closed society where everybody’s guilty the only crime is getting caught.’

Selfridges department store and the new ‘unisexy’ Isabella Tesler For six weeks, starting in March, Selfridges London will be ridding themselves of their perfectly organized men and women’s departments.

In their place, they plan on creating a monstrous three-floor cornucopia of unisex clothing.

Selfridges is a store that holds historical relevance in the retail world; a relevance of such traditional value that it was even made into a television show.

Therefore, the news came as a surprise to me.

As someone who lived 18 years of my life in central London, I never called myself a regular ‘Selfridges shopper’.

I must admit, I even related it to those ‘boring overpriced mum shops’ akin to John Lewis, or even Harrods (am I the only one who finds Harrods incredibly boring and artificial?)

The extent of my experiences in

Selfridges climaxed in getting my ears pierced there, aged 14, and trailing around afterwards being very, very disappointed in the selection.

There is no question that Selfridges is iconic in regards to the London shopping world, but I never had the urge to visit again.

Hence, the idea of Selfridges making such a wild leap with such a modern, interesting take on shopping really shocked me.

Not only will the store axe the dividing racks, but it will also edit its infamous window displays with androgynous mannequins, as well host an array of gender inspired film, music and design presentations around the store.

Let’s be honest; an entirely unisex store has never been attempted before, let alone for two months.

While Selfridges does stock genderneutral clothing from designers such as Gareth Pugh, it is clearly very tradi-

tional in terms of styling and layout. I think it is a wonderful idea.

I hope the high street clocks onto this concept, and takes note.

As Linda Hawson, Selfridges’ creative director stated, “it is not about harnessing a trend, but rather tapping into a mindset, and acknowledging, and responding to a cultural shift that is happening now” Wise words, Linda.

After snooping on various website comment boards, I discovered that most of the online population finds the idea - and I quote, from one rather angry man - “ridiculous”.

Another percentage of the population is excited to buy some “snazzy shared outfits”. It seems the project is a marmite concept.

Whilst some people may be sitting chuckling at the idea of a unisex store, the idea is itself is not as unusual as first thought. As Linda states, genderneutral fashion is a “cultural shift”.

With women frequently appearing alongside male models, and the awash of gender bending clothes at this year’s catwalks, there is possibly no better time to take this wild leap.

Moreover, whilst I was thinking about this article, I realized that unisex fashion is very present, in hidden corners, on high streets all over the UK. Take for example, the American Apparel newsletter I received this morning. I woke up at 7.30 for a seminar, and checked my emails with a coffee. I skimmed through the newsletter, without even realizing that the title was Unisexy Fashion.

American Apparel advertises a range of unisex fashion, and has done for a good few years now.

Another example of this happened to me whilst looking through H&M over the Christmas period. I saw a shirt on a female mannequin that I loved, but couldn’t find it anywhere in the

women’s section of the store.

On later inspection, I found it in the men’s section. Sneaky.

Whilst perhaps I find buying men’s clothing pretty normal, I feel that to a multitude of female shoppers, the idea of wearing menswear or unisex items is deemed a bit unusual.

However, I see that masculine fashion is still very much integrated in the womenswear world.

Take the recurring trend of boyish chic, for example, a trend that began in the 1920s, and clearly takes inspiration from menswear.

There is no better time for Selfridges to take on such an exciting project.

Hopefully, it won’t be a short and sweet, but instead a nod to things to come in the world of fashion.

And hey, it means I’ll be definitely making a trip back to Selfridges, and this time, not just to get my ears pierced.

Richard Jones

the badger

9 February 2015

SCIENCE • 12

SCIENCE

Scientists aim to solve the problem of aging Daniel Stuart Many Doctor Who fans will remember the somewhat strange image of The Face of Boe who, and I hope I am not revealing any spoilers for readers, is revealed to be the visage of Captain Jack Harkness after living for over 1000 years.

While the Doctor himself can regenerate, the Captain simply cannot die and is at the full mercy of the ravages of time.

This is one of the first images of a 1000 year old human that Science Fiction has been able to conjure up, something beyond the realms of reality.

However, Dr. Joon Yun, a hedge fund manager in Silicon Valley, believes this not to be the case. The Palo Alto Investors President has set up the Palo Alto Longevity Prize in order to “solve aging”.

In fact, one of the scientists involved has speculated that the first person to live for 1000 years may already be alive.

Although that prospect is somewhat fanciful, the aim is apparently to get humans to live to more than 120 years old, yet this seemingly simple problem is slightly more complex once we analyse the question itself.

The aim of the project is to find the root cause of aging and it is currently believed there are four major factors that contribute to this process. They are the problem of telomeres, oxidative stress, glycation and a process termed ‘chrono-

logical aging’ each of which we shall look at in turn.

A telomere is the term for the end of a molecule of DNA which is included to stop the ends of this molecule from being cut short when the DNA in a cell is replicated. The problem being that the addition of these short DNA sequences is reliant on another molecule known as telomerase. As the production of telomerase decreases over time, the telomeres themselves shorten and eventually the DNA molecule itself is shortened and cannot perform its functions and dies.

Many believe this to be an unavoidable imperfection of the process of DNA replication. On the other hand, there is also a case to say that it is a well placed one. Telomerase is one factor in the uncontrolled growth of tumours and it is not yet known as to how a degradation resistant form of this enzyme might affect the body negatively.

Oxidative stress is the damage to DNA and other molecules by the reactions of oxygen. Whilst oxygen is of course vital to our survival, it is also harmful to many processes in the body and brain. Its reactions will on a few occasions leave residual damage to DNA, fats and proteins among other molecules in the body. Although this damage is rare, over time it accumulates, affecting bodily functions.

Thirdly, we take a brief look at glycation. This is another unfortunate side ef-

Science factoid of the week-The power of a french kiss Jade Groves Science Sub-Editor Your mouth is one big hive of activity, with 700 different species of bacteria adding up to ten billion bacteria living happily inside your mouth.

Fungi, archaea and viruses, of which most are useful to keep your mouth healthy. The composition of this mini environment differs from one person to another; unique to each individual.

In a single ten second kiss, 80 million of these microscopic bugs are exchanged.

French kissing is usual in 90% of human society, but it appears to be a habit only adopted by mankind.

Fish, monkeys and birds have been noted to have mouth to mouth contact, but it is either just skin contact or sharing food.

Research carried about by Professor Remco Kort at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research suggests that the more you ‘french kiss’ with the same person, the more similar the collection of bacteria in the silva in the mouth becomes.

Couples were asked a series of questions to assess their kissing habits, including how frequently they had kissed in the last year and when they last locked lips. The tongues of these couples showed that the collection of microbes found in the mouth of the partner is far more similar than that of a random stranger. However, this may well not just

be caused by kissing.

Factors such as sharing the same toothpaste and eating the same food also contributes to your mouths unique bacteria composition.

It’s all very well to know that the collection of microbes in your mouth is similar to that of your partners, but what are the practical uses for this information? According to Kort, it’s part of a major puzzle that will one day help design future bacterial therapies and help people with troublesome bacterial problems as well as the prevention of disease.

Kurt notes ‘we live in symbiosis with our 100,000 billion microbes. They complement us. Without microbes in our intestine, we could not produce vitamins or break down our food.

Therefore research into which micro-organisms people carry, its influences and what causes it to change helps to solve medical problems. Not only does kissing help with research, it also helps boost resistance to bad bacteria as the broadens the biodiversity of the mouth, thus the better than mouth is equipped to deal with unwanted microbes.

The Dutch scientists working alongside Kort have collaborated with the first museum dedicated to microbes; Mircopia in Amsterdam. In the newest exhibition, couples can lock lips and are instantly provided with an analysis of the bacteria they have exchanged.

fect of an essential molecule for us. Glucose can very occasionally bind to DNA molecules and other important molecules in the body. This can change their shape and severely inhibit their function.

Although individually, the effect of this damage is unnoticeable, again the accumulation is what eventually causes the effects of aging.

The fourth factor mentioned is ambiguously known as ‘chronological aging’ and is the umbrella term for all minor effects of damage primarily to our DNA, but also to other molecules in the body that, like the afore mentioned processes, accumulates over time.

Things such as UV radiation from the environment, mishaps in DNA replication and even many foodstuffs we eat have what is known as ‘mutagenic potential’.

Far from meaning they can grant you super powers, unfortunately this only refers to their ability to cause minor alterations to DNA molecules. As alarming as this could appear, the damage goes on to billions of people and organisms across the globe and only in the vast minority of cases, 1.1x10-8%, does a mutation occur.

It would appear that the initial effort

by Dr. Aubrey de Gray is focussing on the genetic level to analyse the differences between older and younger people, however on current projections it does seem difficult.

It would also be worth noting the impact on the species of such a scientific breakthrough. With the current advances in medicine, over the past 200 years our global population has grown from 1bn to roughly 7bn. This has had a huge drain on global resources and however, wonderful an effect of extending lifespan would have on countless microcosms of society, it is worrying to think of what an effect a further decreased death rate would have.

We have seen in China how rapid growth of population has an effect and their choice of control was to limit birth rates. The few choices to limit population growth in this case should this be available en masse would seem to be totalitar-

ian at best. It is a harsh but nonetheless true fact that the Earth has a limit of physical resources, the most rigidly limited being actual space!

On the other hand should the technology be exclusive, it poses a more difficult philosophical question of how could it ever be fairly decided who should receive it? This prize shows the need of the individual over the need of the species under the guise of the opposite. As a species this would appear to pose more problems than it actually solves. Unfortunately, however amazing the benefits would be in the short term, the long term would show this to be more fantastical than fantastic.

Oly Darke

Nerd Nite: Science Festival Preview Jade Groves Science Sub-Editor Music, cake, laughter, quizzes and nerdy science talks - yes, you guessed it. It’s time for this month’s Nerd Nite. As you most probably know, Nerd Nite delights and fascinates our fellow nerds with three talks from some very passionate people.

This month is no exception; hosted at Komedia (a larger and upgraded venue to the usual gathering spot), Nerd Nite features a SciFest Special with appearances from Professor Mark Hindmarsh, Dr John Wood and The Science Museum’s resident comedy team, Science Punk.

of wild animals and explains what ducks, fruit bats, camels and civets all have in common.

The truth behind sci-fi Last and in no way least: Science Punk, who will be examining the science behind Science-Fiction. How much of Science-Fiction might actually have a basis on hard science? If you have been to see Science Punk before, you surely know that there will be lots of silliness involves (even some

crisp eating and bizarre sign language!

Who knows!).

Keep an eye out for The Badger’s review of the Nerd Nite: Science Festival in the coming weeks.

Doors open at 7:30pm for am 8pm start. £4 for regular nerds and £3 for NUS/ 65+ nerds. 19th Feb 2015 @ Komedia. Tickets are available now at: www.brighton.nerdnite. com Further info about Nerd Nite can also be found on their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/NerdNiteBrighton

The Big Bang Turning the clock back to the first few picoseconds of time, Professor Mark Hindmarsh explains the little bangs in the Big Bang. A particle cosmologist at the University of Sussex, we will learn what connects our kettles with the Higgs and a Laser Interferometer in space!

Animal Disease The night will also explore why is it that some animal diseases have little impacts on humans and some can jump to humans to create alarm and panic? Dr John Wood, previous influenza virologist at the World Health Organisation (WHO) laboratory in Hertfordshire looks in detail at complex and remarkable viral diseases

gewitterhexer via Flickr

the badger

9 february 2015 ARTS • 15

Reviews film

Bitter Lake Jack Stockdale Adam Curtis’ latest documentary, Bitter Lake, examines the roles of America, Britain and Saudi Arabia over the past sixty years in Afghanistan.

Taking its title from the location of a meeting between US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, Curtis traces the failures in Helmand back to this moment in 1945 where US governmental support was pledged in exchange for oil.

Beginning with the American spearheaded dam projects in southern Afghanistan during the 1950s, then the Soviet driven modernisation efforts in the 1980s, Curtis charts the devastating naivety of the last 13 years as arising from oversimplified political narratives of good versus evil in a complex social and economic environment.

Curtis frames this thesis as a prominent feature of British military initiatives in Helmand, arguing that this approach only fuelled

further problems based on misunderstandings of government corruption and ancient tribal wars.

There is a certain palpable feeling of frustration in most of the scenes, from exhausted soldiers engaging local villagers in terse interpreted conversations to Kabul students receiving a bemusing lecture on Duchamp by an earnest British volunteer teacher.

Coming in at just over two and a quarter hours, Bitter Lake is a disorientating compilation of BBC archival footage, film clips and home movies all interlaced with a dysphoric soundtrack.

However the film itself will not be broadcast as part of the BBC’s television schedule; instead it’ll be available on iPlayer for 30 days from the 25th January.

The choice of constraining this analysis of international relations, greed and conflict to iPlayer has led many to claim that this is only a partial endorsement of Curtis’ conclusions.

However, these views fail to acknowledge that this documentary was directly commissioned for BBC’s digital services as part of a new strategy, which has seen improvement in design and technology along with investment in

content.

Still, one might wonder why this is the case for a project of this scale with a director of long standing association with the BBC. For the most part this can be explained directly by the digital strategy itself which identifies ‘new forms of storytelling’ as one of three creative priorities for the online platform.

This type of restructuring allows for the types of commissions that are unhampered by fixed durations and such other scheduling concerns, producing more desirable conditions for acclaimed directors and storytellers such as Curtis.

Certainly it is obvious that this approach has worked well in this instance, Bitter Lake’s reflective atmosphere and complex multilayered narrative is more reminiscent of independent filming than anything commissioned for general broadcast.

At the same time, the existence of these conditions seems to imply that a shift towards different approaches to content development has already happened.

In the past few years we’ve seen internet broadcasting such as Netflix or Vice produce a richer, more interesting variety of material

music

Emmy The Great Green Door Store

Wednesday 28th January Arts Sub-Editor Victoria Rodrigues O’Donnell

Alex Lake

The Green Door Store hadn’t known what hit it as people continued to excitedly squeeze in to see Emmy the Great.

The same could be said for her support act, Dems who warmed up the relatively chilly venue with their atmospheric electronica.

Infusing intricate beats, overlaid vocals and far-reaching melodies, the South London trio were a definite signal of what we were to expect from Emmy herself.

Once Dems had left to great applause (their sense of humour having almost as much effect as their music), a short interval led to the stage’s main focus being a projection of Emmy.

Two holographic versions of the singer moved and sang to the opening song as she and her band came to the stage, one by one.

which challenges the status quo of traditional broadcasting.

The possibility of this move seems to hinge on the savvier digital generation who not only want a more convenient viewing platform, but are also open to challenging narratives which don’t just parrot the party line.

Finding support for the development of provocative and demanding stories such as this has always

been a challenge.

However, this move presents a new opportunity in an environment which is already in a state of flux, to change the way in which we consume media and revolutionise visual storytelling.

Bitter Lake is available now to view on BBC iPlayer.

Cat

Bitter Lake Press

With virtually (ha!) no introduction, Emmy plunged into songs from her latest release – four years after her last solo album, Virtue.

Playing with just a keyboardist and second guitarist, Emmy’s famously powerful vocals were still able to soar whilst also shedding light on the immense depth of her new music.

Full of feedback, dub and heavy beats, Emmy has definitely evolved from solely singing over finger-picked guitars and being hailed as ‘anti-folk’.

In many ways, she is still an ‘anti-folk’ artist; the lyrical prowess still dominates, only now, she has shifted from introspective and confessional poetry to one which examines her environment.

Although she bluntly joked that the song ‘Solar Panels’, from her new EP, S, was just about mobiles, it doesn’t half reinforce how Emmy’s landscaping has left London and moved onto other topics of technology and the wider world without entirely leaving the everyday dramas she is so known for covering.

Texturally rich and more refined, it’s interesting how her look has evolved to complement the music.

As if her holographic projections weren’t saying enough, Emmy was dressed head-to-toe in a white ensemble that was both futuristic whilst being very much of our time.

This minimalism was most certainly reflected in her music, no more so than in her latest single, ‘Swimming Pool’.

I couldn’t help but picture David Hockney’s paintings of swimming pools as she sang about wanting to ‘a blue swimming pool’ that’s ‘so clear and so, so new’.

A slow beginning falsely calms before immersing you in the chorus’ layered vocals, just as if you were diving into a pool itself.

By bitter-sweetly declaring Brighton as her last date on the current tour, Emmy was more than happy to oblige audience requests of older songs such as ‘Trellick Tower’, ‘We Almost Had a Baby’ and ‘Atoms’.

Once we’d learnt that the guitarist to her left was also her brother, the atmosphere was definitely one of intimacy and comfort.

On a new path for sure, Emmy still remains as honest as her lyrics.

the badger

9 february 2015 ARTS • 16

LIFESTYLE

Is volunteering abroad the most self-indulgent gap year?

Lily Cooper We’ve all known that person.

He pops up in seminars, she’s talking about it at the bus stop, he’ll give a patronizing, impassioned speech about it because he can, and occasionally, that person will meet another, and they’ll compare their never-ending stories over pre-drinks.

They are the dreaded gap year bore.

Gap years, I would say, are essentially a joke on the British middleclasses.

Oh, please, tell me more about your gap yah travels.

I’m sure it was a totally unique and unforgettable experience.

But, in fairness, it’s an easy laugh.

Would I take the chance to go travelling round South Asia for six weeks?

Am I jealous of someone else’s beach picture on Facebook when they’re traipsing round Mexico whilst I’m in the library at 8pm on a Sunday?

Yes, yes, yes.

Gap years are the ultimate selfindulgence year.

Even the www.prospects.ac.uk/ website essentially advertises it as such: the chance to ‘learn a new skill, raise your cultural awareness or buy yourself some time before making the move into work or further study.’

And in my opinion that’s what they should be.

Some time away from home and parents, a parenthesis where you can test yourself and come back with some good memories.

Chedra.org To tell everyone about.

For the whole of your first year.

The issue with gap years, in my opinion, isn’t there.

It’s when they become about something else than fulfilling yourself.

Volunteering abroad has become incredibly popular in the last decade, championed by schools and charities, with at its heart, truly intentions.

Yet these intentions have come under fire recently, as the actual value of volunteering abroad has been questioned.

What impact do these good intentions really have on the local community?

In an article for the Guardian, Ian Birrell argued, a highly negative one.

He argues that ‘wealthy tourists prevent local workers from getting much-needed jobs, especially when they pay to volunteer; hard-pressed institutions waste time looking after them and money upgrading facilities; and abused or abandoned children form emotional attachments to the visitors, who increase their trauma by disappearing back home.’

This raises the somewhat uncomfortable question of who is then benefitting from these gap years, if not tourists themselves.

Helping out others becomes another form of self-fulfillment - but

sometimes to the detriment of those they seek to help.

If you’re wondering where you might be needed, it has been suggested that you should look much closer to home.

Although, would you truly want to do that?

In October, Katie Glass nailed this problem on the head, tweeting about the matter: ‘Conference told it’d be better if gap years helped UK communities.

Although doubt Bedales kids will fancy a year off in Wolverhampton.’

Volunteering abroad provides the glamour of foreign travel and all the clichés that go with it, of discovering a world removed from your own and immersing yourself in a completely different culture, which a year in Britain would certainly not provide.

And obviously, it is impossible to slate the entire concept of volunteering abroad: there may very well be opportunities abroad where there is a real need for volunteers, which isn’t to the detriment to the local community.

But if you truly feel the altruistic need to help abroad, donating on a monthly basis to a charity might prove more valuable than your two weeks helping out.

So if you are tempted to sign up to help out in a school in Africa this year, ask yourself who it will mostly benefit.

Because you might just find the answer to be staring right back at you.

The importance of the audience in the Jeremy Kyle Show Sasha Khan Watching The Jeremy Kyle Show while procrastinating from work always brings forth a number of interesting dilemmas: spats about people disowning children, sleeping with their girlfriend’s mothers, and using their dead parents inheritance to sell crack just to name a few of the highlights.

While the guests on the show may not be the crème de la crème of British culture, it is fair to say that the studio audiences who watch these complex narratives unravel are equally, or perhaps more troubling than the guests on the show.

The show, which first aired on ITV in 2005, aims to help people solve their various personal issues in front of a live studio audience.

The show does achieve this to a certain extent, having links to various rehabilitation centres and creating an admirable amount of success stories.

However, this success is undermined by the pantomime-style ‘boo-

ing’ and ‘aww-ing’ of the crowd, making the people on-screen appear cheap stock figures to be made fun of and mocked on national television.

While we can laugh at the absurdity of many of the stories and indeed the actions of the show’s guests, I can’t help but feeling that a more sensitive approach should be taken with regard to such serious issues as drug abuse, children abandoned by parents, and alcoholism.

Dealing with these issues under the crass cries of the audience becomes a hindrance to what the show claims to achieve; as phrased by ITV to ‘deal with…dilemmas and topical issues.’

Conversely, however, in terms of the ‘essence’ of the show, the studio audience seems vital. Without them,

the show would essentially be an angry middle-aged man shouting at people and occasionally sitting at the front of the stage laughing at them.

However, having Jeremy Kyle be clapped and cheered at after yelling abuse at his guests adds a strange sense of showmanship to his actions, somehow making the insults he yells seem justifiable.

Suddenly, shouting at a stranger to ‘shut up’ is made acceptable, as it is followed by applause.

In this respect, the studio audience is vital, as it allows the viewers at home to accept these instances suitable.

Likewise, having the guests on the show be booed, in contrast, makes us side with Jeremy Kyle, no matter who may be in the right.

“It is fair to say that the audience who watch these complex narratives unravel are equally, or perhaps more troubling than the guests on the show.”

This pantomime-styled contrast created by the studio audience reactions is heightened visually; Kyle always dressed in a suit while his guests are much more casually attired.

The studio audience becomes a reflection of the audience at home.

This is why the audience in Jeremy Kyle is problematic, as the viewer at home, like the studio audience, has a say in the issues fought out on television, whilst not being appropriately qualified, in many instances, to do so.

Therefore, whilst the studio audience of the show becomes morally problematic, in making a national joke of the people the show seeks to help, in terms of viewing, it does add a sense of drama to the show.

With the audience’s participation, we are manipulated into siding with Kyle.

The fact that the audience has a voice creates a pantomime effect - a pantomime of the sometimes disturbing narratives that are played out on the stage.

Recipe of the week Rob Frost’s

Sweet potato chips Ingredients For two people: Three large sweet potatoes A good tablespoon of paprika, preferably smoked Two teaspoons of sugar Half a teaspoon of salt A good glug of olive oil (although vegetable oil will do) Method It is a truth (almost) universally acknowledged that sweet potato chips are just the best.

And this recipe, in my opinion, elevates them to a new height.

Crispy, sweet, smokey and salty, they bring together all the best flavours, but prove also versatile enough to provide the perfect accompaniment to most meat dishes.

They’re also ridiculously quick and easy.

First of all, pre-heat your oven to 230C. This will give them their pleasing crispiness which can be difficult to achieve otherwise.

Then peel your sweet potatoes, and chop them into chips about 1cm thick.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine the oil, sugar, salt and paprika. The measurements are what I put it, but sweeten, salt and spice to taste. Toss your sweet potato into the mix. You should have enough oil so that each chip is fully coated and glistening.

Place on a shallow tray - space them out enough so they cook thoroughly. Cook for 15 minutes, then remove them from the oven and turn them over.

Put them back in for an extra 10 minutes, and they should be done. They will come out everso-slightly blackened - feel free to remove them five minutes before.

Devour.

As I said before, these work really well with lime pretty much anything.

I like it with butterfly chicken: chicken bashed until flattened, pan-fried, then served with a mixture of lime juice, sugar, olive oil and chopped coriander. Or burgers. Or, well, anything really...

the badger

9 February 2015 ARTS • 17

ARTS & MINDS

Selfie, Ego, Anxiety

In this weeks Arts & Minds feature, Badger contributor Tom Day attempts to locate the ‘selfie’ within the broader scope of visual culture.

ABC

In a few short years there has been an unfettered upsurge in a journalistic and social media based activity: photography of the self.

‘Everyone is a photographer now’ so the saying goes, but the democratisation of the art of photography has always been a way to understand self-produced snap shots; from holidays to bird watching, train spotting to amateur pornography, all have been consummate parts of our relationship to the medium since the wide availability of Kodak’s Brownie box in the early 20th century.

We have always been photographers, the crucial difference is that now personal photography has a platform outside of private space.

It is splashed and celebrated across all manner of online public spaces, which have an undeniable and heretofore unrealised intimacy with the image producing self.

When did this become such a mode of expression? Are we looking at some instantaneous digital index as a replacement for self-portraiture?

Can the selfie be spoken of in the same hushed reverence as the fine art of revealing yourself to the world?

Perhaps, but what we have instead is artists like Amelia Ulman, who’s recent Excellences & Perfections uses sites like Instagram to create fake selfies documenting plastic surgeries and eating disorders that she has never experienced.

Ulman fulfils psychoanalyst Vincent Dachy’s assessment of ‘art as the inexistence of a total image’, by positing a form of metacriticism, she positions the

audience in a place where they are forced to question the validity and pathos of feminine subjective projections in online spaces.

Her art derives not from the image but from the image’s affect, and specifically the subsequent revelation that all the images were a performance.

Ulman seems to want to ask us: are selfies and their related media a space in which to project our innermost selves?

Or are they easily manipulated images of the surface that simply show, never allowing us access to the full story?

Ulman’s work can tell us a lot about two distinct but interlinking areas that can be mapped onto the space that the selfie now governs, both in our own image making and in culture more widely.

The first of these is the selfie as ego.

It would be easy here to enact some kind of balletic cynicism, fastidiously tearing apart the banality of the selfie, ridiculing its posturing, its gormless drive to document meetings with celebrities, demarcate the beginning, middle and end of trips abroad; in which the place itself is dethroned to the auxiliary of the frame and instead filled with the photographer’s beaming elation to be present in place we cannot actually view.

We may then elegantly sweep into broad questions: Wasn’t that the point of photography?

To show us something we have never seen before?

To act as a signifier for the memories of real experience, linking to stories and anecdotes of the things we have done with our lives?

It is precisely the logic of the selfie to show not to tell.

In many ways we can see the inscribing of the self as both object and subject of pictures as a reaction to the image saturated culture in which we exist.

How many hundreds of thousands of images exist, more expertly arranged more circumstantially caught in perfection, of the places we wish to naïvely capture with our phones and cheap digital cameras?

We know that the next best thing to recording the place itself is to momentarily capture our own fleeting existence in this space through the mode of the selfie.

There is indeed an optimism inherent in this kind of narcissism, it, if only briefly, cements us in place, in space and in time.

The selfie shows the world we were there.

There are countless breathtakingly realised images of the Eiffel Tower or the Brooklyn Bridge, they may tell us something about it, but they do not have us, an image of ourselves front on, dominating the foreground of the picture, more often than not looking like we are truly happy to be there.

But the selfie exists on planes other than our willingness to document experiences outside of the everyday.

To flip the narcissist argument around, one of the things one notices about the selfie is its potential, to return to psychoanalysis, to be an ego machine, a self-assertion of our own individual identity in the hyper reality of cyberspace.

More often than not one can notice that selfies are a constant in

people’s photographic repertoire, and even, for some, they are becoming the only mode of photography.

Ulman’s work is a testament to the selfie as a diary or a form of capturing oneself in the everyday.

There are deep seated cultural issues at play here.

This is inherently linked to the other distinct notion explicated through selfie culture: the selfie as anxiety.

By saying this I do not wish to insinuate that the act of selfie making is itself a way of alleviating personal anxiety or issues (though of course it may play out in that manner, as Ulman’s work attests), but rather as a much more telling symptom of the cultural neuroses of our contemporary surveillance society.

The technocratic construction of the self is multifarious and multifaceted, a complex interrelation of what is now, for many, our online and offline personas.

The corporations which govern online spaces; Facebook Google etc. have the ability to boil down complex nodes of information about us into algorithms, feeding the most personal aspects of our tastes, interests, in short our understanding of the world, into loops which relate back to us things which will be subjectively applicable.

A regime of surveillance has existed in the physical world for a long time now, our own images are captured by a massive network of closed circuit television cameras which feed into control centres, keeping an eye on our whereabouts and activities 24/7.

It is perhaps tautological to state that we are the most recorded peo-

ple in history, and it would not be unreasonable to suggest that there are more filmed images of the public than there are filmed images of fiction, with over 1.5 million CCTV cameras in the UK. It is a pertinent issue that we are the subjects of a surveillance society, is it so surprising that we have now, in this contemporary moment, become so obsessed with making our own images of ourselves?

We may then immediately share them on sites like Facebook which will notice our excitable hashtags: #Holiday! #Paris! #EiffelTower! And subsequently offer up adverts to us, promising cheap return flights and accommodation to newer and even more exotic destinations.

But will we not have, in some fragmented way, offered selfcreated images of ourselves as a point of resistance in all of this?

In a culture predicated on the construction of the self through modes of production which exist outside of our control, is image making and more explicitly this new regime of the self-mediation of subjectivity a way of protecting us against this unruly gaze?

The gaze of the elites and corporations which now create ideal images of us as nodes in a network of information consumption?

The selfie it would seem offers a last ditch rebuttal, an attempt to create an image ourselves, a striking and truly democratising mode of expression which sees the individual proliferating once more in its most basic form of expression, as simply a human face, selfishly occupying the entire frame of the image.

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9 february 2015 Arts •18

Arts

Editor’s Picks

Arts Editor Lottie Brazier shares her tips on the week ahead in culture PREVIEW Kate Tempest Concorde 2

Tuesday 10th February

£15

Spoken word saw somewhat of a revival last year, with the F*ck Buttons Mercury Prize nominated Kate Tempest at the forefront of this. Combining her love of rap and literature, she has said to be influenced by WH Auden and the Wu Tang Clan. Although ‘Everybody Down’ was her debut album, Tempest is already a prominent figure in the arts world, as a poet, spoken

word artist and playwright. Refreshingly, she very much rails against the current saturation of the middle and upper classes in contemporary culture. With a highly developed cynicism, her lyrics draw on her life in Brockley, South London, as well as the struggle to be taken seriously as an artist. So far, she has toured with John Cooper Clarke and the poet Benjamin Zephaniah.

But since her Mercury Prize nomination, she’s started to pack out the bigger venues. See her at Concorde 2 next week.

Tickets are already selling fast.

MUSIC Boxed In

Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar Tuesday 10th February

FREE (ticketed) Despite taking his moniker from a famous Francis Bacon painting, Boxed In’s music is more dancey than doom-y. A great set for fans of New Order, Neu!, School of Language - or gigs which are completely free.

Boxed In Press

Edward Moore

PHOTOGRAPHY Cartographica

COMEDY (?)

Simon Munnery Sings Søren Kierkegaard

The Old Market

The Old Market

Jan 1st - Feb 28th

Wednesday 11th February

FREE

Kate Tempest Press

MUSIC Ex Hex

The Green Door Store Sunday 15th February

£10.35

Fronted by the former lead of Wild Flag, Ex Hex are a grand collision of glam rock, punk and all-American grunge. Received to all-round critical acclaim, it’s probably work forking out a bit of extra cash to see this rather one off show.

‘Cartographica’ showcases the work of Linda Burris Webster. She utilises photography as a means to creatively explore the politics of space, cartography and biases established the ways in which we map the world. Her work can be found in the foyer space of The Old Market.

£12

If you’re in the mood for the plain bizarre, you can always go and see Simon Munnery’s adaptation of the works of Danish philosopher Kierkegaard into the medium of song.

Cartographica

FILM Inherent Vice

Duke of York’s Picturehouse

Wednesday 11th - Thursday 12th Student: £8/Adult: £9 In this film, Paul Anderson adapts Thomas Pynchon’s frequently bizarre and psychedelic prose for the big screen. For fans of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and drug-fuelled treks across darkest America.

Warner Bros.

watch, write, review

Brooklyn Vegan

MUSIC Shopping + The Soft Walls + Keel Her (The Hope and Ruin Launch)

The Old Market

The Hope

Thursday 12th February

Thursday 12th February

FREE

The Hope is relaunching themselves as ‘The Hope and Ruin’, and in honour of this event they’ve chosen punk rockers Shopping, The Soft Walls and Keel Her to play their host. A completely free opportunity for moshing.

Get involved in the Arts team by joining us at our writers meetings or searching on Facebook for

COMEDY Laughtermarket (with Zoe Lyons)

Keel Her Press

£8 Laughtermarket is a regular occurrence at The Old Market.

This week’s headliner is the likes of Zoe Lyons, who made her name at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival last year. For a well-spent £8, come and see this queen of the one-liner alongside others.

Badger Writers

THE Zoe Lyons Press

BADGER

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9 FEBRUARY 2015

SporTS • 20

SPORTS

“On a dreary February afternoon, Sugby made history” Sussex seal title with immaculate display, beating UCL 47-0 Vladko Grozev Sports Sub-Editor The 4th of February brought to the forefront, as the biggest game in the home schedule, the Rugby Ladies’ second and final encounter with their UCL counterparts. Prior to the game, the Ladies (affectionately known as Sugby) have had a stellar season, which saw them amassing the whopping amount of seven victories and only a singular defeat. By standing five points clear on the top of the table in Division 1A, the UCL fixture was poised to be a major celebration for the team and supporters as a win would have clinched the title - one fixture before the end of a magnificent journey.

The start of the game did not disappoint the partizan crowd braving the

horrific weather conditions. UCL were up to the challenge and held their own for the first five minutes, but great teamwork soon saw Sugby take the lead. Up until halftime, Sugby had built

To cover the great experience your beloved newspaper sent a reporter to give Sugby warm Badger support in their quest for Sussex immortality

ten minutes to completely obliterate UCL’s hopes and kick off the awaited celebrations. With opposition reeling, Sugby scored three more times to finish the game in style.

And then, immediately before the final whistle, two bottles of champagne arrived straight from the CoOperative. In a matter of seconds, the girls were celebrating ecstatically, having capped off a spectacular season.

Heres to you Sugby!

their lead, but there were still some lingering questions.

And then the cheeky sun decided to show up and warm their smiles. Under the brilliant management of coach Gavin Richardson, the ladies scored four consecutive tries in less then

Sussex Women Rugby’s perspective Emily Robbins Sugby Media Representative After Sussex kept a clean slate against UCL on their home turf last term, the opposition came to our ground eager to get their revenge.

The game got off to a slow start for the Sussex girls, with UCL matching them for strength and speed. By the last ten minutes of the first half both teams were showing signs of fatigue, however Katie finally managed to break through UCL’s strong defensive line and score the first try of the game before the whistle blew, bringing hope back to the home tea.

An then as soon as the second half got under way, the team dominated in the scrum and put constant pressure on UCL’s defensive line. The next quar-

ter brought with it a flurry of trys from Sussex, with Bethan stepping through their defence to score under the posts.

This was followed by a strong run by Anna Clarke, handing off the opposition. This 15-0 lead gave Sussex the confidence boost to dominate the rest of the game. The next try came from Emily Robbins, sprinting past multiple players before scoring down the wing.

This was followed by Claire Murray’s moment of the season - sneakily blocking an UCL kick and taking the ball over the line. Another one then came from Poppy Gardiner, who managed not only to score for the second time against UCL, but also to convert her own try. The final try of the game came from Emily, to bring the final score to 47-0. ‘What a cracking victory’ - said coach Gavin Richardson.

Club profile: The Sussex Saxons Joshua Littlefair Club President

For the Sussex Saxons American Football Team, last season’s 1 and 6 record (the sole victory coming against an Oxford side that had never before recorded a competitive BUCs win) was a disappointing and humbling, although positive, experience of life in the BUCs league.

But what a difference a year makes.

The Saxons currently sit in 1st place in the South Eastern Division 1 Conference, having gone unbeaten at home, with an overall record of five wins and one loss. This includes victories against over Southampton and Portsmouth (ranked #2 and #9 in the division respectively during pre-season).

Not only this, but they currently are the highest scoring team of any BUCs American football team, with 213 points – 3 more points than last year’s BUCs champions, the Birmingham Lions Teams do not change their fortunes so readily simply by chance. The players, committee, coaching staff and Students’ Union have all contributed to the team’s rise in prominence in BUCs.

committee

This year’s committee has a very clear idea of the way it thinks a sports club that needs to be run, ensuring stability and producing positive results on the field. First coming together as a group in the summer of last year to discuss aims and objectives, we secured several sponsors, began a process of changing our home ground to Falmer Sports Complex (which ultimately fell through) and sought out ways to maximise the amount of equipment the club owns.

It was clear from the outset that every committee member favoured a new type of philosophy that focussed on openness, with minutes of each meeting now being provided by the clubs secretary so that non-committee members can keep up to date with club operations, and improving the club’s relationship with other local teams (like senior side the Sussex Thunder) and the Students’ Union.

The last of these was exemplified by choosing sponsorship with SU bar The Globe, rather than the other, perhaps more commercial offers, that the club had choice of too.

The strength of the committee is also helped by the variation in its members, which include first year students all the way up to Masters and include the degree disciplines of Neuroscience, Physics, Maths, History and International Relations. This variation has certainly benefitted the club through a wide range of viewpoints being aired when decisions are being made, allowing for wellconsidered outcomes. To encourage a similar level of co-operation between next year’s committee, the initial discussion of its membership took place in January 2015. It is intended that future committee members will be chosen well before the end of this academic year, allowing them to shadow existing members and gain some valuable experience, enhancing their ability to run the club effectively next year.

coaching

The coaching staff that the team now has in place are some of the best available in the countr y.

Head Coach

Duncan Workman stated that he “has improved the coaching staff by bringing on four new coaches this year alone”. Each of these new coaches has a wealth of experience playing and coaching the game, having played in the 1980s for the Brighton B-52s.

They have played against national teams from Russia, Australia and semi-professional teams from around the world. Other coaching staff of note include champion power lifters, current players and coaches from senior teams and strength and conditioning coaches.

committee, of which £500 is due to be repaid this year. This is a result of the high costs of setting up a new American football team (costing around £250 just to kit one player), as well as the team having to finance their operations in their associate year (20122013) – home games cost around £600 per game.

Despite the constraints this high level of debt has on the club’s operations, the committee has still found ways to continue the expansion of the club and provide more and better equipment for its members. It used accrued credit with Football America and EP Sports (two equipment proThe club inherited a debt of over viders), as well as a £300 sponsorship £3,000 from the last payment from Porsche Centre MidSussex (earmarked specifically for this purpose), to purchase new kit. This allowed an increase in membership on last season and also allowed for players to have kit that fitted better, increasing player safety.

On top of this, the committee re-located the team’s socialwear store from Football America to Custom Club Clothing.

As part of this deal, the team received a £150 one-off payment and receives a percentage of all sales. Additionally, the Saxons organised two fundraisers this year: a Toga Party at the nightclub Wah Kiki and their annual Super Bowl fundraiser at Falmer Bar, which included a raffle and quiz. These events will allow the team to make significant payments towards

financials

their debt, increasing the likelihood of the team succeeding in the future, as more money will be able to go towards purchasing equipment.

the future

The goals of the club over the next few years are very apparent to the current committee. A continuation of the excellent fundraising effort put forward this year must occur to allow further expansion and to continue to make debt repayments to the Students’ Union to secure the long-term future of the club.

Now the Saxons have begun to consolidate themselves as a full sports club, they are looking at improving on their social responsibilities. The club already has a chosen charity; the Genesis Foundation. The Genesis Foundation is a specialist charity in the UK which funds research into breast cancer cures and prevention – an issue that has affected Saxons’ both old and new. This year the team raised £244.25 (including £29.45 gift aid) during the NFL’s ‘Pink’ Month, October. The current committee are also in discussions with Rianna Gargiulo, the Welfare Officer, about being involved in the I Heart Consent campaign and workshops.

The club welcomes contact from anybody wishing to discuss ideas, social campaigns or anything else relevant.

If you would like to contact the club please do so by: Sending them a Facebook message at www.facebook.com/pages/Sussex-Saxons/468812189805569, or sending them an email at sussexsaxons@hotmail.com The Sussex Saxons face the Surrey Stingers in a clash between first and second on the 14th February

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9 february 2015

SOCIETIES SPOTLIGHT ADVERTISE YOUR SOCIETY

On this page you can find out about what our societies have been up to and what their plans are for the coming weeks! You can view and join all of our 150 + societies online at www.sussexstudent.com/societies.

If you’d like to advertise your society on this page, send your articles to societies@sussexstudent.com by 12pm on Wednesdays.

SOCIETY REWARD SCHEME

Anthropology Society The Politics society aims to stimulate debate and bring those interested in politics together.

They meet every week for Politics Wednesdays from 4-6pm in the Freeman centre to discuss current topics, talks, debates, watch movies and go for a drink afterwards.

Find out more about the Politics society by visiting their Facebook page: University of Sussex Politics Society.

TED Business, music, global issues are just three of the many subjects covered by the TED talks. TED talks are short yet powerful, mostly 18 minutes or less.

Each TED talk is got an idea worth spreading. If you have not watched a TED talk before, please visit ted.com, where you can find over 1000 videos from the world’s most influential speakers covering a huge variety of topics. TED talks are recommended for anyone who has a thirst to know more!

£8 for students and £10 for non-students on the Students’ Union website.

The show runs from Wednesday 4th March until Saturday 7th March and will be held at the Sallis Benney theatre in Brighton.

The cast have worked incredibly hard for a long, long time on this show so make sure you come along and support us!

Every year we blow our audiences away and our shows are always well reviewed. We look forward to seeing you there!

ENACTUS

Miyala Jewellery is a commercial enterprise run by Enactus Sussex, a global orCongratulations to the Ukuganization whose aim is to lele society who have earned transform lives and shape a whopping three awards in a better more sustainable the Society Leaves Reward world using entrepreneurial Scheme! action.

UkeSoc have been recogMiyala works to provide nized by the Students’ Una stable and sustainable inion for their commitment to come for all the social enterdeveloping their society, the prises run by Enactus Susfun and engaging social acsex both here in Brighton tivities they put on for their and internationally. members and their commitUsing donations of broment to being inclusive and ken and unsold jewellery, welcoming to all! sourced from major highWell done also to both street retailers, like ASOS the Anthropology and Poliand Accessorize, Miyala tics society who have both members break these mateearned the bronze level AcaThis coming March, SMuTS rials apart and create their demic award in recognition are proud to present their own unique, handmade and of their efforts to promote chosen musical of the year, environmentally friendly extra-curricular academic pieces. activity to the student pop- Sweeney Todd; The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

They then sell around camulation.

Sweeney Todd is an amazing pus and at local markets.

The Anthropology society musical of revenge, bloodAdditionally, because of are a welcoming and friendthe low overhead costs, they ly society that aim to bring lust, romance and pies.

After years in exile for can feed almost all of the together anthropology a crime he didn’t comrevenue back into these sostudents and like-minded mit, Benjamin Barker, now cial projects. anthropology enthusiasts Founded in 2010, Miyala through social and academic known as Sweeney Todd, returns to London to exact Jewellery has been making events. Find out more about revenge on all those who use of the huge high-street the Anthropology society wronged him. jewellery industry’s stock by visiting their Facebook Tickets are now on sale at that is broken during transpage: University of Sussex

SMuTS

port, or simply remains unsold.

The common fate for this jewellery is landfill; Miyala saw the opportunity to change this and took action to enable the progress of our projects in an environmentally sustainable way.

Miyala is now recruiting: If you would like to be involved in an organization that aims to empower people and make a difference to the world around them, this is the opportunity for you.

You will also get access to training from professionals and build on your own personal development.

You can acquire a range of skills working in social enterprise including sales, marketing, leadership, teamwork, finance and more!

You can make your future interviews easier by taking advantage of this great opportunity to work in a team of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers.

In the past year, Miyala have placed an increased emphasis on locations around Brighton in order to expand our customer base.

However,Miyala will still be selling its jewellery at the Tuesday Market in Library Square on the 10th February so look out for them and support a great local enterprise!

Societies - 21

THE WEEK AHEAD: Monday 9th February •Equine Today we are having our fourth fundraiser and this time it is for the Air Ambulance, an organization financed only by donations.

We will be selling delicious doughnuts and nice hot drinks in front of Falmer House so please make sure you visit us!

•Read Between The Wines The first book discussion of term will be on Monday the 9th February at Emporium on London Road at 7.30pm.

We will be discussing ‘A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’ by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Tuesday 10th February •LGBTQ As part of LGBTQ History Month 2015, we are showing the 2012 documentary ‘Call Me Kuchu’, which focuses on the fight of Ugandan LGBT rights campaigners against an anti-homosexuality bill that threatens to make homosexuality punishable by death. Fulton A Lecture Theatre at 6pm.

•Dance Sussex Dance Society’s first pub quiz of the year! Replace your dancing shoes with your thinking caps and join us on Tuesday 10th February at Falmer Back Bar for quiz fun, fabulous raffle prizes and some happy hour drinks! £2 entry on the door.

Thursday 12th February •Christian Union Come and get your weekly dose of FREE tea and toast served by the Christian Union every Thursday from 10pm until 2am in Lancaster House common room. We have an amazing selection of teas and spreads for you to choose from and enjoy. Come and see what it’s all about!

Weekly Woods Walk Friday, 1pm, Falmer Bar lawn The Weekly Woods Walk is a chance to take a break from our busy routine and practice mindfulness, in our beautiful local Stanmer Park. Mastering the skill of watching our thoughts can help with anxiety and stress and enable us to be happy, pleasant, strong and creative.

Join us on Fridays at 1pm, we meet on Falmer Bar lawn and aim to be back within an hour.

Find us on Facebook: search for Weekly Woods Walk, or contact Woods Walk Leaders Alamgir Khan and Rashid Shah

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9 FEBRUARY 2015

Careers and Employability• 23

CAREERS & EMPLOYABILITY CENTRE

It’s time to think about volunteering - Why do it and how?

Beatriz Lacerda Ratton Student Writer The first week of term saw Sussex University a successful volunteering fair with over 30 organisations offering voluntary opportunities.

For anyone thinking of boosting their CV, making friends or gaining great first-hand experience in their field of interest, volunteering is a great opportunity to do any of those things. As well as being a rewarding experience for everyone involved, it can help you gain valuable skills and make you stand out in today’s competitive job market.

Skills a person develops through volunteering can be very valuable in various aspects of life. Motivational skills such as confidence, enthusiasm and commitment can make you a great representative, while initiative and problem solving skills like reasoning, decision making and generating ideas can make you successful in business or marketing.

Furthermore, communication skills like writing, speaking and researching can help you become a great candidate for various different career paths.

Volunteering can also be a great help to your specific career plan. Employers in the areas of environment, health, conservation and psychology (among many others) often ask for previous work experience when looking to hire, and volunteering is often the only way of getting it. As well as showing that you are responsible and reliable, those who do a substantial amount of time volunteering and are efficient and successful in this, are much more likely to be looked at when competing for graduate jobs.

For those interested in pursuing this route into a career, the volunteering fair had a number of different organisations offering local opportunities for students interested in doing something exciting. They included MacMillan Cancer Support, Brighton and Hove Speakout, Sussex Wildlife Trust and Royal Voluntary Service, among others.

There are lots of other volunteering opportunities across Brighton & Hove, and there are several organisation who provide information about volunteering opportunities and local charities: Brighton & Hove Volunteer Centre; Community Base; and Brighton & Hove Community

Works. The Careers and Employability Centre can also help you to look for and apply for volunteering. Drop in to see them in the Library, daily from 11 til 1 pm, or call on 01273 678429 to book an appointment.

Volunteer with the Students’ Union Additionally, the Sussex Student Union offers many volunteering opportunities. These include volunteering for sports teams, becoming a ‘Buddy’ in the ‘Buddy Scheme’, volunteering in the Reception, being a Community Rep or being a ‘Language Café’ volunteer. These can all be applied for on the Union website.

Lyndsay Burtonshaw, Activities Officer with the Students’ Union, speaks of her experience: “I LOVE volunteering! I have volunteered all throughout my time at Sussex, fitting it around my studies and paid work. Volunteering allows you to experience activities and get into places not as easily accessible via a paid role, for instance charities and groups with low resources.

Volunteering can also lead to paid work - if not at the organisation you volunteer with, you will gain skills

and experience that can help you apply for similar roles at other organisations. Volunteering fits around your academic and paid commitments, and I feel I have been able to make a difference to issues I feel passionately about, whilst studying and holding down two other part time jobs.”

For more information, please visit: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/careers/ gettingexperience/volunteering http://www.sussex.ac.uk/careers/ gettingexperience/volunteering/ findingopportunities http://www.sussexstudent.com/volunteer/ Events coming up this week in CEC include: Full details of all our events and to sign up at www.sussex.ac.uk/careers/events All are held in the Careers & Employability Centre, Library, unless stated otherwise.

Monday 9 February: JOB SEARCH FOR FINALISTS : 12.45 pm DISCOVER POSTGRADUATE STUDY: 2 pm Tuesday 10 February: CV & APPLICATION FORM WRITING: 12 noon INTERVIEW PREPARATION: 12.45 pm PRESENTATIONS- How can I present effectively and overcome your nerves: 3 pm Wednesday 11 February: JOURNALISM MASTERCLASS with the Guardian’s Nick Davies, 4 pm (Fulton B Lecture Theatre) Please sign up at www.sussex.ac.uk/ careers/events

Library, University of Sussex T: 01273 678429 E: careers@sussex.ac.uk W: www.sussex.ac.uk/ careers

THE ROLE MODELS OPEN FORUMS - MENTAL HEALTH WITH RIGHT HERE BRIGHTON AND HOVE Lynsday Burtonshaw Activities Officer Want to improve the education of 14 year olds? Passionate about mental health awareness?

Join the Role Models Project. Everyone is welcome to the Open Forums.

We are a group of students working with Lyndsay, the Activities Officer, on three key areas missing from the current PHSEE (personal health, social and economic education) curricu-

lum: black and minority ethnic groups issues, mental health, and food, body image and eating disorders.

Provisional outline: 4-5pm - Role Models project outline - idea, development, consultation, listening exercise - Going through existing PHSEE and project partners resources - Sharing what volunteers learnt from current students at BACA school about their PHSEE

5-6pm - Sharing our stories - “What we wish we’d known” - Workshop priorities - Closing circle This forum will be an open discussion, including resources and support from local organisations, with a chance to help develop the project and the creation of our student-led workshops.

Your opinions can make a difference to young people today