The Cambridge Student

The

Cambridge

16th November 2017 Vol. 19 Michaelmas Issue 4 www.tcs.cam.ac.uk

Protests for Cambridge to ‘come clean’

Student

Chrystel Papi Deputy News Editor

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t midday of the 14th November, the Zero Carbon Society rallied nearly a hundred Cambridge students to march against the central offices of the University, demanding an end to the institution’s involvement in “climate injustice.”

Working with Oxford University’s Climate Justice Campaign, Zero Carbon’s Press Officer, Angus Satow, led Cambridge’s campaign from Magdalene Bridge onto Bridge Street, passing by the Colleges of Trinity and St John’s, along to Market Square past the Senate House, and completed the protest at Old Schools, which houses the main administration of the institution: the Cambridge University’s Offices.

The protest comes as a response to last week’s Paradise Papers leak, revealing how the Oxbridge, together with many of their constituting colleges, have committed “tens of millions of pounds” to “multibilliondollar private equity partnerships” primarily based offshore.

Cambridge University has attempted to justify its position, and that of its colleges, on the basis of holding the

status of “charities.” A charitable status would not require the institution to pay taxes on investments. Angus Satow responded to this directly, saying “but what kind of charity avoids US taxes with dodgy offshore funds while pumping millions into the destruction of natural world and the global south?”

Satow commented, “We all know the history of this institution. A steeped in privilege, a finishing school of the British elite, legitimising projects of class domination, racial domination, and colonial domination. As the Paradise Papers have revealed, that continues to this day.”

Until now, public disclosure of the University’s management of financial endowments was rare. These recent leaks, however, contradict what had been the past assurance that Cambridge held only “minimal investments in fossil fuel companies.” Angus repeated throughout the protest: “We’ve marched, we have protested, the University’s governing body region house has voted for divestment. The University College’s Union has voted for divestment. This is supposed to be a democratic university so why have A group of students, led by the Zero Carbon campaign, march through they not divested?”

Cambridge centre on Tuesday 14th. Photograph by Noella Chye.

Pitt Club votes to allow female membership

Juliette Brytan Deputy Editor

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fter 180 years of men-only membership, the ‘resident’ participants of the notorious private Pitt Club elected to allow female members in a vote held last Tuesday.

The news comes after years of rumours of infamy, including controversies involving initiation rites and general actions performed by members.

From its creation in 1835 as a political and dining society, female participation with the Club has been limited to the position of guests accompanying male members.

Whilst males could join the ranks of the association, female contribution faced hurdles.

Though the Club’s ambition has become more social than political over the decades, with their website boasting, “The Club’s founders intended the clubhouse to be a meeting place for members and their guests – a place where they could eat and drink in pleasant surroundings”, little has been completed to ameliorate the position of women within the club until now.

Their formal statement, released two days after the vote by a Pitt Club spokesman, said: “On Tuesday 7th November, a majority of the resident members of the University Pitt Club voted to elect female members. The Club looks forward to welcoming its first female members.”

It is understood that Pitt Club members have been discouraged from speaking to the Press about the recent development.

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16th November 2017 • The Cambridge Student

News

Editorial Team 16th November 2017

Volume 19 • Michaelmas Issue 4

Editor-in-Chief

Sophie Dickinson

Deputy Editors

Juliette Brytan Noella Chye Molly Moss

Deputy News Editors

Beatrice McCartney Chrystel Papi Catherine Lally Hollie Earlam

Science Editors

Simon Langer

Features Editors

Caithlin Ng

Deputy Features Editors

Jane O’Connor Sabrina Asghar

Comment Editors

Sebastian Shuttleworth Gianamar Giovannetti-Singh

Interviews Editor

Will Bennett

Theatre Editors

Carina Harford Rose Aitchison

The Thursday Magazine Books Editor

Ellen Birch

Music Editor

James Mackay

Fashion & Beauty Editors

Miriam Balanescu Gabby Koumis

Lifestyle Editors

Roshni Prasad Katelyn Nash

Sex & Relationships Editors

Jake Kroeger Aleph Rosenbaum

Food & Drink Editor

Finley Kidd

TV & Film Editor

Megan Harding

Chief Sub Editors

Hannah Prentice

Sub Editors

Olivia Norris Nikhil Mohindra Ece Osman

Staff Illustrators

Beatrice Obe Hosea Lau

Directors

Urvie Periera Will Tilbrook Sophie Dickinson

Applications for

editorial positions are now open Interested in journalism? Want to manage a team of writers, and see your name in print regularly? Applications for Editor-in-Chief, and all other editorial positions are now open. More information about how to apply can be found at tcs.cam.ac.uk

Editorial: Don’t fetishise the working class Sophie Dickinson Editor-in-Chief

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llies are important.

Dissuading members of privileged groups from joining in with areas of activism they aren’t explicitly a part of is counter-productive.

Often, an underprivileged group requires a powerful voice to shelter them from the hostility of protest; to provide support and access to resources whilst not overpowering their experience.

But the fetishisation of the working class is something I can’t help but see regularly in Cambridge, and it’s damaging.

Being underprivileged shouldn’t be something to aspire to. If anything suggests a lack of character, desperately searching for something to be aligned to, a fun club with music and fashion and accents.

Repeatedly asserting a tangential link- being ‘from the north’ is a classic- undermines

access efforts, and, like week 5 blues, becomes a self-fulfilling insecurity for those legitimately struggling with class identity at university.

The horror of imposter syndrome shouldn’t be neglected, and it certainly doesn’t help if insecurities somehow become desirable for others. Feeling out of place can affect everything from social life to academic performance and mental health.

Conversations that segue between an individual’s experience of dining with members of the house of Lords, for example, to some humorous anecdote about the ‘problem with working class politics’ are offensive and, frankly, audacious in their lack of self-awareness Class, remarkably, is becoming an undiscussed facet of the Cambridge experience.

Seemingly obvious privilegessuch as parents going to university, or more, parents going to Oxbridge- prepares you for educated conversation, for interviews and supervisions.

This is, of course, from a social perspective, and the stress of the complications of financial backgrounds warrants a whole other article. The professional context of a parents’ life, however, is not a factor that can

be brushed aside in order to make way for some fresh-edgyleft-wing perspective.

Regardless of whether your upbringing was physically miles away from Cambridge, this kind of background prepares you for a world of formals and matriculation and academics, and the looming presence of 900 years of elite history isn’t quite the daunting experience it could be. Cambridge is about confidence, and class privilege affords this.

I want to be clear that there is nothing damaging about being an ally for a cause, it’s vital and change can be impossible without it. Taking on an underprivileged voice that isn’t your own silences the voices of those who really should be heard. Speak alongside, but not over.

As my time as Editor-inChief comes to an end, it seems appropriate to end talking about something I feel particularly frustrated about. But I’m also still full of excitement about TCS. Take a look at through this issue to see wonderful interviews, comment and features about the city. I would like to thank the Michealmas team for all their work this term, and look forward to handing over the reigns.

The Cambridge Student takes complaints about editorial content seriously. We are committed to abiding by the Independent Press Standards Organisation rules and the Editors’ Code of Practice enforced by IPSO, and by the stipulations of our constitution. Requests for corrections or clarifications should be sent by email to editor@tcs.cam.ac.uk or by post to The Editor, The Cambridge Student, Cambridge University Students’ Union, 17 Mill Lane, Cambridge, CB2 1RX. Letters to the Editor may be published.

The Cambridge Student • 16th November 2017

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News

In pictures: Students march to call for full disclosure of University’s offshore investments in fossil fuels Noella Chye Deputy Editor

A crowd of approximately 70 students gathered to march through the streets of Cambridge on Tuesday, November 14th, in protest of the Guardian’s revelation that the University of Cambridge has invested millions of pounds in offshore investments into fossil fuels.

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16th November 2017 • The Cambridge Student

Investigations

“A supervisor told me, if he were me, h Students respond to TCS survey on supervision experience Catherine Lally and Molly Moss

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he beginning of November saw outcry over an email sent by a Queens’ supervisor to NatSci freshers. The email warned them about going through their first few weeks in Cambridge without being “completely focused.” It states that if they “enjoy their social life,” instead of using their “FULL brain capacity,” they will not “easily survive” the course.

The professor’s remarks were highlighted by Memebridge and Student Minds Cambridge, as it serves as a telling example of a dangerous and unhealthy culture in Cambridge of encouraging students to prioritise work over mental well-being. The story eventually reached the BBC and other media outlets following coverage from this newspaper. While the email begins by warning students against ‘pennying’ and drinking games, it tells them that Cambridge is “NOT” like “any other uni,” where students are allowed to have “what they regard as ‘a good time.’” It even goes on to tell students that “ALL of [their] attention” to the subject may not be enough for some to cope with the course.

Queens’ JCR President, Hope Whitehead, commented to TCS: “While the JCR certainly doesn’t endorse irresponsible drinking, we are deeply disappointed with the comments made by this fellow. Queens’ as a college has made a strong commitment to student welfare and we as a committee work hard to do so as well.”

Following this, and concerns that Cambridge academic staff place unhealthy demands on undergraduate students, TCS ran a survey to investigate people’s experiences with their supervisors.

Answers to the survey were generally positive, with 58.5% of respondents saying they do not feel their supervisors have had unfair expectations of their academic work, as opposed to 30.1% saying “Maybe,” and 11.4% saying “No.” In a similar vein, 55.7% of respondents claimed their supervisors had never commented unhelpfully on their academic work, compared to 35.2% who wrote “Yes,” and 9.1% on “Maybe.”

76.7% of respondents said that their supervisor had never made a comment that was unhelpful or inappropriate about something other than academic work,

while 17% said “Yes” and 6.3% said “No.” TCS took particular interest in how gender dynamics affect supervision environments, following individual complaints.

83.5% of participants felt the gender dynamic between them and their supervisor had not affected their performance, and 79.9% of participants said that the gender dynamic between them and their supervision partner(s) had not affected their performance.

When asked if they would feel comfortable speaking to a supervisor about non-academic issues, the responses were split the most evenly, without a majority of respondents decisively picking any one option. 38.6% of respondents said they would not feel comfortable, while 34.7% said they would. A further 26.7% of respondents answered “maybe.”

This is an ongoing investigation. If you have information or are interested in helping in any way, email editor@tcs. cam.ac.uk

TESTIMONIALS: Students share their experiences with supervisors

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ome participants in the TCS survey spoke favorably about their experiences, with one writing: “My supervisors, from the level of PhD to Professor, have consistently delivered valuable teaching, at the highest level, [...] regardless of any aspect of my identity or their own.”

A second participant said, “My supervisors have been pretty fantastic throughout my time at Cambridge,” and added that they hoped the investigation article would acknowledge that, “a lot of supervisors are hard-working, passionate academics who genuinely care about their students.”

Some responses fell in the middle, with one student commenting to TCS: “I have generally had good experiences, but I see that to be the exception rather than the norm. I’ve been very lucky in which supervisors I have had, as I know there are problematic ones in my faculty and other students who haven’t been as fortunate as me in their experiences with them.”

However, some individuals entirely countered the positive narrative, and

spoke of supervisors who set their demands too high. One student told TCS, “I told my DoS I was feeling anxious and having attacks of imposter syndrome and he said I should “stop the false modesty.”

Another wrote that, “One supervisor said I should “put a pill in it” when I was trying to explain something” and an additional student mentioned that a supervisor “once told me, if he were me, he’d be reaching for the whiskey bottle.”

Another added that their female PhD supervisors had been of a “bullying nature.”

A common theme was that supervisors failed to realise the pressure students faced in terms of other subjects, with one writing, “It would be nice if supervisors would take the fact freshers are still settling in into account” - and a second saying they felt, “some supervisors don’t seem to acknowledge that students also have other work to do than their specific essay or task sheet.”

The most common complaints centered around supervisions as an environment more hostile to female voices.

“Supervisions with all male supervisor and two supervision partners makes it hard to get a word in edgeways. [I] have to listen to gender jokes followed up by, “Oh sorry!” when they realise I, a girl, am there!”

“Our supervisor will often address major points and invitations to contribute to the only male member of the supervision group, whilst not acknowledging the others

as frequently.”

“A supervisor this year refused to teach me based on the fact they believe feminist readings of any literature which predates the last 20 years are “a pointless exercise which will come to the same conclusion every time”. They recommended I find another supervisor more suited to my interests and basically refused to engage with my arguments or my essay.”

Several respondents referenced the “class divide” as making them “uncomfortable” in supervisions, with the comment that, “supervisions with private school students when you went to a bad [comprehensive] are awful” TCS also enquired as to whether students would feel comfortable approaching supervisors about non-academic issues, receiving predominantly mixed responses: “My supervisors have for the most part been very helpful when I went to them with personal issues to discuss [...], so they’d know what was affecting my work.”

Finally, one participant reflected on their experiences by telling TCS, “Cambridge supervisors can be the best part of the Cambridge experience, leaving you feeling fulfilled and intelligent and hopeful.

However, they can also leave you feeling depressed, alone and incredibly inadequate.

The university has far too much faith in the supervision process as it stands, because it is undoubtably the best way to learn.”

The testimonials are anonymous.

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The Cambridge Student • 16th November 2017

Investigations

he’d be ‘reaching for the whiskey bottle’” Juliette Brytan shares her thoughts on the statistics COMMENT: Though these figures may seem, on the whole, positive about the supervision system – a unique mode of learning on which Cambridge prides its academic reputation – there are still underlying issues. The numbers may suggest a majority of approving voices – but majority approval is not approval from the entire cohort. While even minor discontent reports on teaching in Cambridge remain, something must be done.

But some of the data we received is more telling than others: a flooring number, nearly 40% of respondents, claimed they would be uncomfortable approaching their supervisor with non-academic issues,

Something must be done.

whilst 30% said they felt their supervisors had unfair expectations; discoveries that perhaps go some way to explaining the innate complexities of the relationship between supervisor and students in Cambridge. Yes, we have tutors for personal problems, but supervisors should also be available to talk to if assistance is needed. If not – and this is key – then work struggles may go unnoticed, amplifying the pressure and ripping apart the already aching schism between teacher and student even further. What matters here, then, is communication, and we hope that by publishing these statistics, we are making some steps towards eradicating such issues for good.

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16th November 2017 • The Cambridge Student

College Watch

Images: Jessica McHugh

Sidney

Queens’

Selwyn

Emmanuel

Last week, Sidney Sussex decided to scrap ‘Meat Free Mondays’ and replace it with ‘Sustainable Fridays’. At a meeting of the Sidney Sussex College Student Union, it was agreed that SSCSU would reopen the converstaion with Hall to push for the reintroduction of Meat-Free Mondays, with at least one vegan option and no fish.

A survey taken at the beginning of Michaelmas found that 70% of 120 Sidney Sussex students were in favour of having Meat-Free Mondays. However, the catering department decided to move the day to Friday, arguing that there was a noticeable decline in attendance since Meat-Free Mondays were introduced and so more food ended up being wasted.

The move was not welcomed by Sidney’s vegetarian and vegan students, with James Delany and Conor Sheehan submitting a motion to SSCU, asking them to push for a return of Meat-Free Mondays.

A group of Sidney vegetarians have now set up an alternative food service on Mondays, offering vegetarian and vegan options for around £2.

Beatrice McCartney

A billboard was seen parked outside Queens’ College on Monday, advertising a Norwegianrun website, ‘RichMeetsBeautiful.co.uk’, which specialises in matching up sugar-babies with sugar-mamas and sugar-daddies. The caption on the truck read “Romance, passion, fun & 0,- in study loan? Date a Sugar Daddy Sugar Mamma (sic)”, a clear , if badly translated advertisement aimed at encouraging students to take advantage of the offer.

The website defines the role of a sugar baby as the “freedom to live the life others dream of...the perfect partner you deserve...a mentor with class”.

According to the company, the billboards is part of a national campaign to recruit more young participants for the site.

CEO Sigurd Vedal claimed that the “Our research shows there is a large demand for sugar dating in the UK.” It seems the campaign has gone international too, with a man arrested in Paris for promoting the site outside the Sorbonne.

Cambridge University declined to comment.

Juliette Brytan

Selwyn College held a multi-faith Remembrance Day service last Sunday, with readings from Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths to commemorate all who had suffered in the war.

The Master of Selwyn claimed he was “very moved” by the service, which took place alongside other city-wide events of commemoration.

Selwyn’s website also remarked on their own rememberance service, stating, “At this time of year we remember all members of this college who died in conflict. The names of the fallen in the First and Second World Wars, which are inscribed in our war memorials, are read out on Remembrance Sunday; and there is music and poetry in chapel for people of all faiths and none.”

The College website then went on to detail the story of Ralph Upton, a student who attended Haileybury School and who was awarded a scholarship to Selwyn in 1916. but never attended due to perishing in the war. The College said they were “saddened” to hear this story, stating that “we think of all Selwynites who fell in conflict, and those like Ralph who never came here.”

Juliette Brytan

The transgender pride flag was flown on the roof of Emmanuel college yesterday to celebrate the beginning of Transgender Awareness Week.

The college, which also shined rainbow lights against the chapel in the evening in solidarity with its trans student community, is the first college in Cambridge to celebrate the week in this way.

It is hoped that the flying of the transgender flag at Emmanuel will be the start of similar attitudes across other colleges.

Emmanuel LGBT+ Officer, Katie Nelson, commented: “Flying the transgender pride flag for Trans Awareness Week is just as important as flying the LGBT+ flag is during history month in February, transgender people being one of the most marginalised minorities in society. It was paramount for me that within my role that visibility actions were not just directed towards LGB people, and that the T was not forgotten. It is a big step for the university as a whole.”

Molly Moss

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The Cambridge Student • 16th November 2017

News

Former Big Issue seller takes up place at Hughes Hall College Catherine Lally Deputy News Editor

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xford and Cambridge have come under increasing fire in recent weeks for ‘elitist’ admissions policies, with MP David Lammy’s freedom of information requests showing a disproportionate number of places went to wealthy students from London and the SouthEast. However, one story that seems to be an exception to this narrative is that of Geoff Edwards, 52, who spent years selling the Big Issue on the streets of Cambridge before taking up his place to study English Literature at Hughes Hall this year.

Edwards grew up in Liverpool, and after leaving school with two O-levels, worked on farms around the country before beginning to sell copies of the Big Issue in Cambridge. The Guardian detailed how his life-long passion for reading helped him cope with years of “unemployment, depression and homelessness.” He found books where he could - “everything from Jack Kerouac to William Burroughs and John Steinbeck.”

He spent time living in squats in Cambridge, before eventually being housed - although he then found it isolating, and decided to try to re-enter education. Edwards began studying at Cambridge Regional College, doing a gateway course before an access course, and performing so well that he decided to apply to Cambridge.

When commenting to The Guardian, he spoke about his first

term of English, which tends to focus on medieval literature, adding: “Chaucer’s losing its appeal a bit,” he said. “I’m looking forward to things becoming a bit more modern.

“The essay writing is a big step up from the access course. I knew that when I started. It’s pretty intense. It’s like a 40-hour week of reading and writing. It does feel a bit weird. It’s still like … Cambridge! They are trying to encourage people from more different backgrounds to study at Cambridge, and good on them.”

Edwards said that selling The Big Issue gave him “some self-respect” and made him eager to re-enter education.

He began studying on an access scheme at Cambridge Regional College after attending an open day there.

The course is aimed at adults who do not have the required qualifications to attend university, and as Edwards “only had Maths and English O-levels”, praised the college for its assistance.

Edwards also said, “This is what I have always wanted to do, but no-one in my family had been to university, so I didn’t consider it.”

But he declared that it was his move from Liverpool to Cambridge which changed his life, sparing him from anxiety about his future. He said winning a place is “the first thing I am proud of in my life”.

Hughes Hall, where Edwards now studies, only accepts mature undergraduates and gradutes. It is the oldest of the four mature colleges.

CAMBRIDGE REGIONAL COLLEGE

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ill Road’s Carlos Café closed down on Monday after the owner, Carlos Kahraman, was sued for £10,000 and lost the resulting court case. Esther Leighton, a wheelchair-user and Homerton College undergraduate, submitted 28 letters of complaint to businesses on Mill Road, and seven court actions, in March 2017. Kahraman has been orderd to pay £6,500 in compensation, and an extra £2,500 to cover costs.

The Cambridge News reported that Leighton says she has been addressing businesses in the area “informally” since 2010 – and points to the Equality Act, which ‘requires shops to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate disabled people.’

She has complained of a culture of

harrassment, which saw the Café violate “[her] dignity or created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment’, on two separate occasions, in addition to failing to have a ramp.”

Local disabilities access campaigner, Anne-Marie Masterson, expressed upset at the judgement, having been a patron of Carlos and saying, “I have never had a problem getting into the cafe and Carlos or one of his staff have always helped me if I needed to get in.” At the time of the complaints, members of the Mill Road Traders’ Association warned that they might have resulted in some of the businesses no longer being able to stay open.

Piero d’Angelico, vice chairman of the Association, called an emergency meeting for closed traders, and said to Cambridge News:

Rememberance Sunday commemorated across city Remembrance Sunday was commemorated across the Cambridge area over the weekend, with events, readings and services across churches and colleges, and a minute’s silence held by various groups, from Friday through to Sunday evening.

A wreath-laying service was held at the City’s war memorial, attended by officials, war veterans and school children, where Cambridge mayor Councillor George Pippas laid a wreath on behalf of the city; whilst the deputy mayor, Councillor Nigel Gawthrope, took the lead in a civic procession of councillors and officers to a Service of Remembrance at Great St Mary’s Church, followed by a reception at the Guildhall. Crowds of citizens lined the streets to pay tribute.

Louis Theroux Appreciation Party comes to Cambridge Fez will be hosting a Louis Theroux Appreciation Party on Friday night, bringing a celebration of the documentary-maker to Cambridge. The Propaganda “Rock and Roll” night, which usually sees a smaller number of students than Friday Life, is held weekly on Fridays at Fez and at universities across the UK. The Louis Theroux night will also be making appearances at universities across the country, and while Theroux will not be present, the Facebook event promises free t-shirts and £3 guest list entry. Theroux’s documentaries, spanning subjects from Scientology to ‘mega’ jails, and his deadpan style have gained him a cult following – with Stormzy declaring himself a fan. Theroux’s most recent documentary, ‘Talking to Anorexia’, came out at the end of October.

New NUS delegates already in row over representation

Edwards in a photograph for Cambridge News

Mill Road café closes after disability court case Catherine Lally

NEWS BULLETIN

“A hostile environment”

“We are having an emergency meeting tonight to see if we can help those affected by these lawsuits.

“Carlos just couldn’t afford to pay the fine and has gone bust. This is an awful situation. The traders are joining together to see what the community can do to help.”

It was reported by the Cambridge News on Tuesday that the emergency meeting resulted in Carlos Café being offered an emergency lifeline of £10,000 through pledges. Other businesses on Mill Road that have been sued are as follows: Culinaris, Charisma Hairdressers, the Amnesty International Bookstore, Zi’s Piri Piri Restaurant, Nutters Hair Salon, and Penguin dry cleaners. These were the businesses that did not respond to her letters of complaint, or move to make their businesses more accessible.

The new NUS delegates already appeared to have descended into factionalism and discordance. In a Facebook post, successful candidate Angus Satow made a thinly-veiled attack on the other delegates. He wrote that, “when people criticise student politics for not focusing on the ‘ordinary student’, most often than not that’s code for ’not focusing on me.’”

His post was mainly directed at Connor MacDonald and Carine Valarché. He criticised MacDonald for “[attacking] NUS/CUSU as ‘out of touch’ or ‘ineffective’” while remaining opposed to fossil fuel divestment, and supporting £9,250 tuition fees. Satow appeared to brand Valarché a “faux-progressive”. When approached by TCS for comment, he responded with, “I’m looking forward to contributing to a radical National Union”

Sheep rev-ewe faces in new scientific field

A recent Cambridge University study has revealed that sheep can be trained to distinguish familiar faces; suggesting they can be useful models for understanding brain disorders.

The study, instigated by researchers from Cambridge’s Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, encouraged sheep to pick the faces of four wool-known celebrities following a training period; and then to identify their handlers with no training. The sheep were initially fleeced by the latter, but after rev-eweing the photographs, by shear recognition techniques managed to successfully choose their handler’s face.

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16th November 2017 • The Cambridge Student

Features

Column: Reaching Toni Morrison CUSU Council column:

James Daly

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oni Morrison is one of those names that has been floating around my head ever since I began paying attention to intelligent people. After years of not having any strong compulsion to engage with her writing, I only got around to Toni Morrison this year. Arguably one of the most, if not the most, prolific black writer of our time, I find it fairly shocking that schools (or at least the schools I went to) don’t put more of her work on the curriculum and that she isn’t talked about in society alongside the likes of Steinbeck and Fitzgerald, and other writers who so greatly harnessed the voice and feel of the 20th century.

I’m (semi-)ashamed to say that the boost I needed to finally go out and discover Morrison’s writing was an episode of Girls where Hannah was in a writer’s apartment and she saw a photo of him with Morrison. If Hannah Horvath loves it, I’ll love it too, went my impressionable, millennial’s mind. Such is the slightly terrifying influence of popular culture on my life that the next day, I went out and bought Beloved and Song of Solomon, as they were the two titles I had heard of –

I have no intention of being niche here – plus, things get famous for a reason, right?

Cut forward to now, having read several of Morrison’s books and it’s been a life-changing time.

I read a phenomenal article in the New York Times Magazine by Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, titled “The Radical Vision of Toni Morrison”.

Honestly the article itself was something of a radical vision, so its beneficial contribution to your life is twofold. The main comment that stood out, that I have really become aware of in Morrison’s writing, was that there is no feeling, no emotion that Morrison cannot encapsulate and emulate with her words and narratives. She doesn’t just create and navigate characters and stories, she inhabits and portrays souls.

Her work includes such fabulous passages about grief, joy, fear, desire, confusion, belonging…

Morrison allows her characters depths that very few writers grant their stories in a tone that is utterly inimitable; she delves wonderfully into imagery and metaphors, fleshing out the smallest of ideas, without ever being indulgent. The writing is in fact so good that even when I have lost touch with the plot, I can still relish in every word.

Morrison’s language manipulation is complex and highly intellectual, but it remains accessible. I seldom miss out on the meaning or intricacies of sentences, but I am consistently blown away by turns of phrase and her ability to draw out such beautiful images from the simplest choice of vocabulary.

More than ever, Morrison needs to be read for her presentation of

black Americans. Whilst Beloved and Song of Solomon are situated around the end of slavery and the era before the Civil Rights movement, she never relies on the drama of historical events to define her characters. Instead, she alludes to the socio-political climate in an informed manner that explains the characters’ lives. Her protagonists are so complex and access such a range of emotions and statuses; she gives a profound voice to a range of very human black people, something we just don’t see enough in literature.

A trait that distinguishes all of my favourite books is when the author allows themself the time to reflect, in the context of the novel, on the larger world and society as a whole.

It is something I love in the likes of Steinbeck and Donna Tartt’s work, and something that Morrison does spectacularly well. So much of her writing reminds me why we bother to write and read. Some of the most valuable moments serve very little for advancing the plot, but they let the Morrison develop universal themes and ideas, from the perspective of the anonymous narrator, giving us moments of sheer enlightenment and images that embody sheer wisdom and literary beauty.

You must read Toni Morrison’s novels because she has established herself as an iconic, classic writer, whose work deserves to be proliferated in decades to come. Read her for the flawed, inspiring characters, the harrowing, moving stories, the universal, poignant themes, and above all for the absolutely exquisite writing.

ZARATEM

Breaking the Silence

Sophie Dickinson Editor in Chief

N CHADWICK

C

USU council this week discussed the University’s Society Funding group.There had not been any applications for funding societies, but Council asked for two more members to join this committee, stressing that it would look impressive as an example of committee work for CVs and job applications. There were speeches from CUSU Council regulars Connor MacDonald, Emma JCR president and recently-elected NUS delegate, and Fran Jenkins, Sidney JCR pres, for the roles. The former said he wants to meet “cool people”, whilst the latter remarked that she has experience in sports societies, and as a result of seeing issues in last 12 months wants to sit on committees/represent views etc. Leo Paillard, the chair of ICUSU, detailed how he wanted to ‘represent people.’

A motion was also discussed for CUSU to endorse the Cut the Rent campaign. Speakers noted that the campaign had been successful nationally, especially at UCL where campaigners won a rent freeze. In Cambridge, “student experience can be worsened because of the insistence that three years are spent in college”. In Robinson, one speaker noted, £1350 is lowest the lowest band for a term. As a result, people who are not on bursaries can suffer. Results from the Big Cambridge Survey showed dissatisfaction with certain colleges, including Newnham especially. However, members of Council noted that not all colleges provide accommodation for all three years, and therefore a comprehensive campaign might be difficult. A friendly amendment to the motion asked for “consideration of MCRs and graduates, as the initial motion was ‘too undergraduate oriented’”. After some debate, the motion passed by a large margin.

The saga of the CUSU Finance Enquiry Committee continued, with Simon Percelay, head of CUSU LGBT+ campaign, applying to be on the committee on the grounds that no one from the liberation campaigns was currently on the committee (although Daisy Eyre, current CUSU president, is).He was voted onto the committee.

The liberation campaign also presented a motion to the council, headed

by Emrys Travis, the WomCam disabilities officer. She proposed that all the liberation campaigns should have more votes, especially as their funding has recently been cut by £500. All affiliated JCR and MCRs have three votes compared to an allocation of one per liberation campaign, which Travis argued was an unfair representation.

Simon Percelay, having just been elected to the Finance Committee, supported the motion by acknowledging that the campaigns deserve a “stronger institutional voice. The motion was passed unanimously.

Any student can attend CUSU Council. To find out about the agenda for the next meeting, follow the CUSU Facebook page. Information about how to submit a motion (which any affiliated student can do) can also be found there, and there is a mailing list which can be joined.

The final CUSU Council of term will be held on Monday 20th November in the Graduate building.

16th November 2017 • The Cambridge Student

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Siri, explain artificial intelligence to me Simon Langer Science Editor

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rtificial intelligence (AI) is defined in computer science as the study of intelligent agents, devices which perceive their environment and maximize their chances to reach a certain goal.

While having existed since 1956 as an academic discipline, the study of AI shows accelerated progress in the 21 st Century thanks to advances in computer performance and improved theoretical approaches.

The overall purpose of AI is to create technology and computers which function intelligently and to implement said technologies to better the lives of humans. However, intelligence is a highly complex psychological trait. In the domain of AI, intelligence has often been divided into traits like reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, perception, creativity and social as well as general intelligence. In this issue we describe a recent study of self-taught machine learning, namely the AlphaGo Zero AI from Deepmind.

The application areas of artificial intelligence are diverse and prevalent in our modern everyday life.

Straight forward examples include digital helpers like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, facial recognition softwares or self-driving vehicles like cars or underground carriages. Subtler examples include online shopping, translation softwares, analysis and prognosis of stock exchange trends and automated weapons. Humanity has crossed a line and at this point we are already heavily dependent on artificial intelligence.

Many public figures have weighed in on the question, whether the

development and improvement of artificial intelligence will be the downfall or the salvation of humanity.

In this article, you will be presented representatives and arguments from both sides.

A prominent adversary is business magnate, engineer and Tesla-CEO Elon Musk. He has been known for his futuristic ideas and willingness to gamble, but Mr. Musk is scared of an overhasty development of AI, which could “lead to a third world war”. Musk names as one problem that the human and humanitarian way is not always the calculated best way, warning in an interview with The Guardian of an overcautious AI that decides that a pre-amptive strike is the most probable path to victory. Musk is one of 100 signatories who are calling for a United Nations ban on lethal automated weaponry. These weapons lead to the possibility that large-scale armed conflict can be instructed far more carelessly. According to Elon Musk, the development of AI is a Pandora’s Box and Shane Legg, a cofounder of DeepMind Technologies, is quoted by VanityFair “I think human extinction will probably occur, and technology will likely play a part in this“.

Other problems of AI, at least at this point of development, are safety issues which arise if the AI doesn’t do its job.

For example, an AI software has a huge responsibility and is used to detect weapons outside a sports stadium.

Researchers from MIT showed just recently that they were able to convince Google’s object recognition software that a turtle was a rifle. They used a concept called “adversarial

image”, slowly adding visual noise to the turtle’s image, which resulted in confusing the AI, while a human would have had no trouble recognizing the difference.

Proponents of AI include Bill Gates, who disagrees with Elon Musk, believes that AI will make human life more productive and creative and urges the public not to panic about artificial intelligence, Marc Zuckerberg, who calls Musks statements about AI „pretty irresponsible“, and Wladimir Putin, who can be quoted that „artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind.

It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world“.

Cambridge’s own Prof. Stephen Hawking, speaking at the opening of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, took a moderate approach.

Prof. Hawking is quoted that the creation of powerful AI will „either be the best or worst thing ever to happen to humanity“. Furthermore, Hawking said that „We cannot predict what we might achieve when our own minds are amplified by AI. Perhaps with the tools of this new technological revolution, we will be able to undo some of the damage done to the natural world by the last one – industrialisation. And surely we will aim to finally eradicate disease and poverty“.

As experts disagree about the fate of humanity and the role of AI, there seems to be no other way than to make up your own mind about the ethics behind the development of

James Bond may just be next in line to get a new secret agent gadget. This gadget is a leadbased ink that can be made visible, then invisible and back again multiple times, developed by Zhang et al. (2017). The ink cannot, like most normal “invisible” inks, be read under UV light but it becomes legible when combined with a chemical trigger. Application areas for the ink include security services, but before James Bond can get his hands on this invisible ink the scientist need to find a way to decrease the toxicity currently still prominent in the ink.

this connection regulates the pattern of methylation at CA sequences (mCA). mCA then continues to modulate the gene transcription, which is ultimately crucial for brain function. A simplified example for the described process would be an adverse early childhood experience, which leads to altered DNMT3A function, which in turn leads to modified mCA deposition and therefore alters the gene expression as an adolescent or adult.

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Simon Langer Science Editor

The influence of early life experiences and environment on neural development is based on epigenetic modifications.

The research group around Greenberg et al. (2017) have now shown a concrete process representing these epigenetic modifictaions: In mice, DNA methyltransferase 3A (DNMT3A) binds to lowly-expressed genes and

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An automated vessel-tracking system, developed by the South African Oceans and Coastal Information Management System (OCIMS), aims to fight back against poachers and pirates on the African coastlines. The South African Navy desperately needs help, having only a small fleet which is equivalent, according to Navy captain Mark Blaine, to a country the size of Algeria only using six police cars to patrol the whole country.

AI. But maybe the question experts ask themselves is wrong. Maybe we should not be asking “will the development of AI lead to the end of humanity or save it?” but rather ask ourselves how we need to go about the development process and discuss what principles and rules we need to set ourselves in order to create the sophisticated AI that can lead to a bright future without compromising it.

STEVE JURVERTSON

Science AI which teaches itself Simon Langer Science Editor

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esearchers from DeepMind in London have been able to reach a main goal of artificial intelligence. This goal is to create an algorithm that learns, starting from scratch, extraordinary proficiency, like it was in the case of AlphaGo. This AI was the first computer program to defeat a world champion in the abstract and complex board game GO. Now, this AI has been modified with a new algorithm entirely based on reinforcement learning, which lacks any input of human guidance or knowledge.

Nobody told the AI that a certain move is good or another one pretty helpless in a certain situation.

The modified AI, called AlphaGo Zero, teaches itself and has been able to beat the championvanquishing AI AlphaGo 100 to 0.

Over thousands of years and millions of games, humanity has congregated knowledge about GO and AlphaGo zero was able to accumulate much of this knowledge as well as new strategies in just a few days.

AlphaGo Zero is an AI that is based on neuronal networks.

Systems like this are also in place in image recognition and analysis as well as translating and the development of new medications.

The breakthrough using the self-teaching AI AlphaGo Zero has been described

by Christian Stöcker, columnist for the German newspaper Der Spiegel, as an event that will alter the history of mankind just as much as the development of the telephone.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

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16th November 2017 • The Cambridge Student

Features

Mental health resources in the internet age Emma Turner

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n the coming week, Cambridge will see the official launch of a brand-new Student Minds Cambridge website, which includes information about who to approach with personal difficulties as well as sharing more general information on self-care and supporting others.

Carolyn Irvine, co-creator of the website, explained, “We created the website as a way for students to get access to really important information about support services from the privacy of their own rooms.

“There is so much support out there for students, but we are just not given enough information about where to start and what is available. The personal tutors are for the most part really well trained to direct people, but the system means that students would have to feel comfortable talking to someone they may not know very well about their wellbeing.”

While this is an incredible resource for Cambridge students in particular, it is also an example of a growing number of online websites which are centred around the topic of mental health. A large proportion of these are educational in some way; we can learn about symptoms and find out about side effects of medications without needing to always go through a medical professional. It is also a tool in reaching out to others, allowing us to send information to loved ones when we can’t express it in our own words, or find the details of organisations to contact when we need help.

Nevertheless, information on mental health is only a narrow facet of what the internet has the power to do in combatting a stigma which is still rife despite years of evidence against it. The internet offers the power of community, and within that

community, anonymity. This is crucial when we consider that a large part of the stigma which surrounds mental health conditions is the element of (sometimes unavoidable) secrecy.

We are ashamed to bring up the topic, fearing the room might fall silent at the mention of the Depression Dementors or Anxiety Attacks as if they were literal monsters that accompany us, and we might scare people away by making them known… or perhaps worse, that people might readily accept the struggles we are facing, but respond with ‘helpful’ advice about how other people have it worse and we just need to pull ourselves together, when for many of us this is a fear we have already.

The internet, then, provides the sometimes-necessary anonymity to be able to speak the truth, to remove the social constraints and the polite “fine, thank you”s and let the truth pour forth.

Whether in the shape of personal accounts and experiences, poetry, art, or a series of tweets typed and sent out into the void at 4am, there is a reduced sense of feared judgement, of reality.

The internet also provides a community of people who understand and can express that understanding freely; strangers unite over common experiences, and many websites offer forums or live chats for listening or venting, or spaces to post and ask for advice on personal issues.

It also helps to normalise these illnesses in society, particularly in the use of social media platforms which allow sufferers to speak out and reach a wider audience.

Alongside specific online campaigns, many prominent public figures from JK Rowling to Stormzy have spoken about mental health online, showing that it is not a problem for just a subset of the population – it can affect anyone from any

Starting conversations

background, at any time.

Of course, we cannot talk about the internet and mental health without acknowledging its flaws. Communities can also function the other way around, with some internet spaces encouraging disordered eating or pictures which might exacerbate or perpetuate existing symptoms.

While it’s important to surround

The internet can provide anonymity to encourage speaking the truth

ourselves with a community that understands and supports us, it’s also useful to take breaks from it and ground ourselves in reality, to ensure we don’t fall prey to normalising thought spirals and believing that late-night tweeting is actually fully solving any issues.

The internet is a tool, not a solution by itself... and like any tool, it has to be used with care.

Why the mental health media charter is so important Caithlin Ng Features Editor

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he Cambridge Student signed The Mental Health Media Charter on World Mental Health Awareness day, October 10. In an article published on the paper’s website, Editor-in-Chief Sophie Dickinson stated that “the values expressed in the charter are shared amongst the editorial team”, and that the paper has “made a commitment to the sensitive reporting of mental health issues”.

This act only seems more important in light of this week’s Features theme: mental health awareness. Mental health is a pertinent issue worldwide, and as most

students in Cambridge will know only too well, a pertinent issue in the University itself. CUSU’s 2016-17 Big Cambridge Survey Report found that only 36 percent of undergraduates found the University a “healthy and positive place to study”, and that only 24 percent of students with a mental health condition agreed.

On a more unofficial note, mental health issues have extended further to university-based social media, including the popular Facebook pages Memebridge, Crushbridge and Grudgebridge. While many mental health related posts on these platforms have been positive and

supportive, often encouraging students to seek help or to simply offer comfort, there have also been several posts calling students out on the “special snowflake syndrome”. Others further claim that the inability to cope is a sign of weakness or failure.

Such comments are only counterproductive, and undermine how important the issue really is; The Mental Health Media Charter recognises the importance of the press’ responsibility.

It stipulates that the press should “avoid giving too much detail on suicide/selfharm or eating disorder methodology”,

Only 36% of undergrads found Cambridge a healthy place to study

acknowledging that “stories should focus on ‘whys’, now ‘hows’”. It also calls for links to “good quality sources of support if content might trigger need for help in a reader”, thereby emphasising the media’s potential to not only report, but to help.

This is what this week’s Features section has set out to do – by shedding light on available resources in the University, as well as allowing the people behind these movements to share their opinions, awareness about mental health issues can hopefully be increased. Conversations, after all, must first be started in order to offer support or to find solutions.

The Thursday Magazine theatre - music - fashion - books - relationships - lifestyle - food - film

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music editor james mackay music@tcs.cam.ac.uk books editor ellen birch culture@tcs.cam.ac.uk lifestyle editor roshni prasad and katelyn nash lifestyle@tcs.cam.ac.uk sex and relationships editor jake kroeger and alfie rosenbaum culture@tcs.cam.ac.uk

16th November 2017 • The Thursday Magazine • The Cambridge Student

welcome to the final thursday magazine of Michaelmas term. amazingly, my time with tcs comes to an end after this issue. and i’m especially proud of the changes to the thursday magazinefrom this page (meta!) to the increasingly incredible fashion shoots. take a look at our beautiful models in our body positivity shoot on pages 4-7, and as ever, get in touch if you want to be involved. sex and relationships have two wonderful articles on the page next to this one, and on the final page we have a guide to all things succulent for people wanting to add greenery to their rooms. if you’ve enjoyed what the thursday magazine has done this term, or think you could do better, apply to be on the team next term. the list of positions are on this page, and we’re excited to hear your ideas- more information can be found on the website.

fashion and beauty editor miriam balanescu and gabby koumis fashion@tcs.cam.ac.uk film and tv editor megan harding culture@tcs.cam.ac.uk food and drink editor finley kidd culture@tcs.cam.uk theatre editor carina harford and rose aitchison theatre@tcs.cam.ac.uk staff illustrators beatrice obe and hosea lau images@tcs.cam.ac.uk

interested in photography or illustration? contact sophie at editor@tcs.cam.ac.uk to be featured in tcs.

advertise in the thursday magazine contact jennifer.payne@cusu.cam.ac.uk

tcs.cam.ac.uk

front cover

instagram: tcsnewspaper twitter: tcsnewspaper facebook: the cambridge student

model: beatrice obe photography: jess wright make up: ada gunther direction: gabby koumis

16th November 2017 • The Thursday Magazine • The Cambridge Student

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Bisexuality and the limits of labels Alfie Rosenbaum

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ecently, I’ve been experiencing all kinds of identity crises about my own bisexuality. Like a lot of other bisexual women and non-binary people, I have internalized a lot of doubt about whether or not my relationships with other female identifying people are ‘legitimate’.

For many of us, bisexuality is tied up in our own complicated relationships with masculinity: a personality trait we are taught both to admire and to fear. A friend of mine recently described her perception of sex with cismen as being an ‘invasion’ of sorts- both physically and psychologically.

Whilst this need not be true, it is an idea that is established for a lot of us very early on and that perpetuates itself through the sexually violent actions of a lot of men.

All of my bisexual friends agreed that we preferred the relationships we had with people who were not men – and yet all of us also agreed that we had a deep fear that in not sleeping with men, we were missing out on some defining

feature of our ‘femininity’.

The truth, of course, is that all of these different and peculiar manifestations of bisexuality are legitimate. There is no one way to be attracted to multiple genders, and like with all labels, most individuals will find that they possess some anomalous characteristics not typically associated the sexual identity they have claimed for themselves.

It is difficult to hold onto the fact that all of us are more than our labels tell us to be: as women, as non-binary, as queer, as survivors. It is difficult to accept that, unlike people who spend their whole lives in neatly gendered heterosexual pairings, queer people are constantly forced to re-evaluate the structures and frameworks of our relationships.

But I would argue that this is actually a very healthy thing to do, and that straight people should probably be doing more of it: it means that we are questioning our positions of subordination in relationships with men, actively unlearning the oppressive binaries of male and female, realising the beautiful and varied potential of intimacy and

Martha Gartside-Mitchell

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Embracing

queer aesthetics

y mum moved house this summer. We packed up and went through and threw away and laughed and cried over the twenty one years of stuff that our house had accumulated. This ephemera brought its own ghosts with it, but none so visceral for me than the ones lurking in my teenage diaries. In so many of my diaries I mention at least once how unattractive I am, how much I want boys to fancy me, how I longed to be conventionally beautiful. The irony in reading these entries is of course, that it’s not that boys didn’t fancy me, I didn’t fancy boys. In my later diaries I did start talking about women. In my year

sex with different people and in different ways. Nevertheless, it is exhausting.

I don’t want to abandon my labels. My labels allow me to talk about who I am and what I’m experiencing in a way that is palatable and makes sense to other people: they validate me and allow me to feel that I am understood.

Nevertheless, we are all vastly more complicated and confusing than any single word, or handful of words, could accurately describe. Under the umbrella term of ‘bisexuality’ are a million different amorphous identities, each of them shaping and reshaping everyday: as all human beings do. Just because my bisexuality doesn’t look like your bisexuality doesn’t mean that they are not both real.

The rollercoaster of queer identity is a fun and a beautiful complicated one: but its complexity need not negate its reality. In fact, it’s precisely the varied and often messy nature of all identities that we must embrace if we want our identity politics to continue to be a humanising and liberating process, rather than a debasing one.

thirteen diary I describe the first proper, all consuming, heart rending, crush I ever had on a girl. I wrote about how exciting, how comfortable and how right it felt. I wrote about her hair and her skin, how she was soft and kind and beautiful. But, because this was a teenage diary, I also wrote about how terrible it was, how she was straight and would never love me back.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what exactly throwing around the label of lesbian was supposed to mean; what was in this imagined version of female queerness that was so anxiety producing? The more I think about it, the more I am convinced it was not about about same-sex desire at all really, but rather it was a fear of gender transgression.

To be “lesbian” was to step outside what was accepted as beautiful, as good behavior, as feminine, as “cool”.

In other words to be labeled a lesbian was stop being a “woman” altogether. For years I shaved and plucked and bleached any hairs on my body that, if left, might resemble queerness. I bought clothes that I thought my friends might buy.In other words, I became an impressionist of heterosexuality, but an imperfect one.I never could quite outrun my queerness.

Compare that to nearly two years ago when I sat in my friend’s living room, armed with a pair of £10 hair clippers I’d bought from TK Maxx earlier that day, and shaved all my hair off. I’d been thinking about shaving my head for a while: I’d imagined how satisfying it would be to run my hands over my scalp, to feel the shape of my own skull. But what I fantasised about mostly was how undeniably, totally, garishly gay it would be. The whole process was, to me, the embodiment of queerness. I’d only been comfortably “out” for about nine months and I wanted a way to make myself gay: partially to signal my queerness to other gay women, and partially so I didn’t have to keep explaining myself to people.

Being excited about my own queerness, wasn’t just a case of thinking and feeling differently: it was a physical and visible shift from the hidden to the overt, the closeted to the queer. If queerness is a process of becoming then I became my queerness because I suddenly had the visual tools to make it my own. So when I stood in my friend’s house armed with the £10 TK Maxx hair clippers and shaved off all my hair I wasn’t scared by the possibility of my own dykeyness, I was thrilled by it.

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16th November 2017 • The Thursday Magazine • The Cambridge Student

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Creative Directors Gabby Koumis Miriam Balanescu Sophie Dickinson Photographers Jess Wright Xinxin Zhang Maryam Vaziri Makeup Artists: Ada Gunther Majida Begum Models Georgia Humphrey Beatrice Obe Cait Findlay Izzy Branch Michelle Wan

The Cambridge Student • The Thursday Magazine • 16th November 2017

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16th November 2017 • The Thursday Magazine • The Cambridge Student

The Cambridge Student • The Thursday Magazine • 16th November 2017

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16th November 2017 • The Thursday Magazine • The Cambridge Student

Review: Roll Over Atlantic: ‘Witty, silly, serious, moving’

T Rosa Price

his one-man show from poet John Agard, on for one night this Monday in the Corpus Playroom late slot, saw him playing Christopher Columbus, the voice of the Atlantic Ocean, a native shaman and a mosquito. Agard took on each of these wildly varied roles extremely well.

I was a little apprehensive in Columbus’ first monologue, which was repetitive and leaden, but with the introduction of the Atlantic Ocean itself, the show gained a depth but set off and highlighted Agard’s wit.

The setpiece in which Agard, from behind a tribal mask, laments for the original names of the islands of the West Indies is poignant, and is extended enough that its power first grows and then settles. Some of Agard’s poetry for those ancient voices is really beautiful.

The rapid pace of the show, however, means that not everything gets that necessary time, and some of the order of its pieces is rather arbitrary.

Columbus repeats the same few ideas; charitably, this could be a condemnation of the impossibility of a justification of colonialism which is not entirely rapacious, but actually it comes across as a lack of invention.

Columbus can only compete with the more marginal voices at the end of the show, where

RUDY0HELP

he mourns being sent back to Spain.

The songs are of varying strength: the music gets better as the shows goes on. Only two (one about mosquitos, one about Old World diseases) are anything other than inconsequential, but those two are very funny.

The piece’s strength – its eccentricity and eclecticism – also means its structure is very loose.

Its variety is impressive and entertaining, but also makes the show a baggy monster.

The bare set, with a lifebuoy hung at the back, a glowing globe and a shaman mask at the front, worked well, as did Agard’s symbolic costume items rather than full costume; the design played off the show’s fluid feel.

The pre-recorded voice of the Atlantic worked surprisingly well, but much of the amplification was, however, sometimes painfully loud in the tiny space of the Corpus Playroom.

Witty, silly, serious and moving by turns, the show’s staggering variety is its biggest weakness. Agard tries to pack too much into it. Its flaw is the structure, which is pulled between Columbus as a man and the idea and history of the New World, and can’t quite spend enough time on either. The show doesn’t quite come together as a whole, but its parts are accomplished, entertaining and ambitious.

8/10

Review: ‘The Ruling C hallucinogenic nightm Charlotte Cromie

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he Ruling Class is a campy satirical black comedy about Jack, the next Earl of Gurney, and his paranoid schizophrenia, which causes him to believe that he is God. Heavyhanded, even pantomimic in places, it’s a difficult play for any company to tackle, and Will Owen and his team make a commendably detailed and stylish effort with it.

Gabriella Gormley’s set design is most impressive, perfectly capturing the mood of the play. Neon-lined chapel windows light up in blackouts, a clever nod towards the mingling of tradition and sleaziness, as well as a skeleton and Rorschach test diagram smoothly flown in for Dr Herder’s office. Lara Wolfe provides a giddy but not distracting selection of coloured lighting states, which, combined with sound from Fernando Georgiou, complement the play’s erratic changes of mood. Costumes from Sophie van Horne are also excellent, ranging from an opulent bishop’s get-up to a red satin slip, as well as a waistcoat scrawled with the words, ‘GOD IS LOVE’.

Milo Callaghan, in the lead role of the

delusional 14th Earl of Gurney, is obviously an actor to watch. His delivery is polished and his comic timing is brilliant, with enough boyish charisma to maintain the balance between likeable and frightening. What’s more, he can’t half ride a unicycle. Harriet Fisher portrays Tucker, the self-proclaimed ‘comic relief ’ manservant, with great panache. She delivers countless comic turns with full vigour and focus, and has moments of darkly humorous world-weariness that are worthy of a far more mature actress.

Sophie Atherton is beautifully snobbish and uptight as the heavy-smoking Claire Gurney, and her scene of aggressive sexual chemistry with Callaghan with terrifying results, which could become ridiculous, is instead convincing and electrifying. Jonathan Iceton’s performance as the ‘Electric Jesus’ McKyle is a feat of striking energy (punning aside), while Emily Webster portrays Dr Herder with a stiff elegance and academic dignity, and Rob Ryan makes an endearingly baffled, disapproving Bishop Lampton.

Jamie Bisping deserves special mention for

The Cambridge Student • The Thursday Magazine • 16th November 2017

JAMIE SANDALL

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Review: Savitri: Rosa Price reviews a ‘captivating’ opera Rosa Price

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olst’s 1916 chamber opera centres on Savitri’s attempt to save her husband Satyavan from death; the bulk of the opera sets a conversation between Death and Savitiri. It’s a more reflective than dramatic piece in structure and in music, but it has an appealing dreamlike quality that was nicely played up in this production.

The opera was most effective when director Judith Lebiez embraced the static nature of the piece, creating arresting tableaus, most strikingly with the emergence of the chorus, dressed in white robes. Moments of more dynamic stage business were sometimes awkward or over-literal, Satyavan’s jarringly cardboard axe a case in point.

The disembodied voice of Death coming from the back of the auditorium at the beginning of the piece was remarkable, but his walk into the auditorium at the end much less so. Musical director Naomi Woo coaxed a remarkably full sound from the small onstage orchestra, and ensemble was precise.

The female chorus were expressive and subtle, making an ethereal sound, although there was a slight intonation problem in one of the unaccompanied sections. There were also occasional balance problems between the chorus and the principals. As a whole, however, the music was given a sensitive, varied and affect-

Class is like a mare, a good one’ his exemplary characterisation as the snotty Dinsdale Gurney. Superbly petulant, his physicality, voice and expressions are all firstrate as he moves seamlessly between smug and snivelling. Anna Wright is spirited and fluent as Grace Shelley, the Cockney actress of some dubious pursuits who steps into the role of God’s wife. Emil Sands as Sir Charles Gurney displays some corpsing and less-thanconvincing moments, but his vocals as the austere patriarch are strong and engaging, and he warms up as the play goes along. In his best moments, Sands is hilarious.

Moments of dialogue delivered to the audience are a little dodgy, skating close to school play performances. There are frequent scene changes, many of which are silent and rather abrupt; some transitional music might have been in keeping with the play’s style. But this is all just polish, and Owen should be proud.

The Ruling Class is like a hallucinogenic nightmare, and this production is designed, directed and acted like one… but in a good way.

8/10 JAMIE SANDALL

TRISTAN JAMES SELDEN

ing performance.

In the title role of Savitri, Parvathi Subbiah was captivating, giving the role spontaneous and natural inflection. She sang richly and powerfully, although her diction could have been a little clearer at times. As Death, James Quilligan was an imposing, if sometimes stiff, presence on stage.

He managed the role admirably: there were one or two tricky moments at the top of his range, but he produced a resonant and even flow of sound and projected the text extremely well. As her husband Satyavan, James Micklethwaite made a clarion sound; it isn’t a generous role, but he made the most of it.

All the principals engaged with the declamatory style, and it rarely sounded disconnected and was never monotonous. The unaccompanied opening between Death and Savitri was particularly impressive, with absolute certainty and commitment from both Subbiah and Quilligan.

Savitri is an always intriguing and often captivating piece of theatre, with some really fine musical performances. The very characteristics that could have held it back – its wordiness, its repetition – were performed in way that produced an almost hypnotic power.

This production makes a convincing case for Savitri as a piece of drama and for Holst’s music.

8/10

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16th November 2017 • The Thursday Magazine • The Cambridge Student

Film review: Thor: Ragnarok

Olivia Morris

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remember seeing the first trailer for this film and being in a state of shock. Thor has always been my favourite Avenger – the trailer I watched however, was distinctly not the Thor I had come to know in the MCU. He was louder, clumsier, happier and completely new.

Indeed, I think that this is the best word I can use to describe this film: new. Make no mistake – this is certainly an achievement.

Director Taika Waititi takes the seventeenth instalment of the MCU and somehow makes it completely fresh.

The aesthetic screamed of ‘80s sci-fi, rocking a synth soundtrack that is reminiscent of Tron, a fact that made me smile immediately. There is fun, fun, fun, and the colour scheme of the film is so psychedelic as to brighten everything immediately. To say that the character of Thor undergoes an appearance change in this film is an understatement: he loses his beautiful blonde locks in favour of a short, spikey haircut, his long red cape is shortened and hangs from just one shoulder, his famous hammer Mjolnir is shattered by Cate Blanchett’s deadly Hela, and during the climactic end-game fight, his eye is slashed out to make way for an Odin-esque eyepatch. And this is just his outward appearance – Thor’s personality is even more shockingly changed, making way for a witty character that is intent on dropping one-liners and delivering monologues that is in so many ways reminiscent of Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool.

Everyone’s favourite trickster god is back in this new instalment, depicted gloriously (once again) by the talented Tom Hiddleston. I for one have certainly missed villain Loki who, before this film, had been markedly absent from the MCU since 2013’s Thor: The Dark World. Yet Hiddleston has

no issues taking centre stage again, enchanting the audience with Loki’s scheming nature, and adding yet more depth to his strained relationship with Thor.

Other notable performances include newcomer to the MCU, Tessa Thompson, who does an excellent job in portraying the scarred warrior Valkyrie, wowing the audience with her strength, sass and general badassery. She is of course accompanied by Cate Blanchett’s haunting Hela, who never ceases to terrify as she slaughters hundreds and follows it up with a short quip.

Yet despite all this praise, there are elements of Ragnarok that just didn’t do it for me. I have already touched on the arguably unbelievable personality changes in the film – and whilst Hemsworth and Ruffalo do an excellent job in portraying Thor and Bruce Banner, I cannot help but feel that their characters’ credibility suffers somewhat as it is seemingly side-lined by the need for comic relief. In addition to this, I feel that Karl Urban’s Executioner is entirely wasted in this movie: his acting was great, and I enjoyed the character, I just feel that there wasn’t enough of a focus on him to make his sacrifice at the end in any way meaningful.

What really stood out to me as a particular negative of the movie was the way in which Anthony Hopkin’s Odin was done away with (unheroically, one might add) at the beginning of the film.

It is an unceremonious end, unfitting for the epic king, and doesn’t seem to have a purpose beyond making way for a sudden character arc for Thor via his ascension to the throne If you have not seen Ragnarok yet, and you need something uplifting to watch upon the onset of Cambridge’s week seven, I would definitely take a night out.

You are what you eat: Diet identity Sophie Weinmann

O

ver the past few years what you choose to eat – or more importantly, not to eat – has increasingly become a way of describing who you are as a person.

We can most clearly infer this phenomenon from the words we choose to label our diets.

We don’t say “I follow a vegan/vegetarian diet”, we say “I am a vegan/vegetarian”.

Now, one could certainly argue that labels like “vegan” or “vegetarian” have simply become more important and meaningful because we, as a society, have become more conscious and critical of our diets. This is mainly due to the fact that it has become increasingly clear that what we eat is more than just a personal choice.

I would argue, however, that there is another reason for this trend. Veganism is defined as “a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose”.

Therefore, by definition, veganism is not just a diet, but a lifestyle. Therefore, is it actually impossible to separate being vegan from your identity?

It is important to recognize here that the use of labels like “vegan” or “vegetarian” to describe someone’s identity is not just limited to self-identification, but is also very much created by the people around us.

Even though diets like paleo or vegan have become more and more popular, they are still seen as something out of the ordinary. It is only natural to remember and define people by the thing that stands out the most about them. This

applies just as much to someone’s diet as it does to playing an unusual instrument or a particularly interesting sport.

The countless amount of times I have been introduced as someone’s “vegan friend” is proof of that.

At this point, I want to mention that making dietary labels a part of a person’s identity is a very one-sided phenomenon. I would never introduce someone as my “meat-eater friend”, yet it is quite common the other way around.

The reason for this is quite simple: an omnivorous diet is still considered the norm in our society.

Perhaps this is the point where linking diet and identity becomes problematic.

I don’t want to perpetuate the idea that caring about the environment and animals is something out of the ordinary. I therefore try not make my choice to be vegan a huge part of who I am.

I don’t want to be “the vegan friend” No one can tell you how you should see yourself. You can choose how much weight you want to give your food choices in defining yourself.

However, there is a reason the phrase “you are what you eat” has been around for centuries. People will always be interested in what other choose to eat or not to eat.

Now, when this choice begins to reach even further than just your diet like it does with veganism, it becomes impossible to separate it from your identity.

However, regardless of which diet you end up choosing, to some people you may always be the “vegetarian/ paleo/ [insert your diet here] friend”.

So why not embrace it?

My Favourite Book: Journey by Moonlight Ivan Merker

I

recently revisited one of my favourite books, Journey by Moonlight, one of the best known Hungarian literary works outside Hungary, as well as, according to The Guardian, “the novel most loved by all cultivated Hungarians.” I don’t know what “cultivated” should mean in this context, but it seems true that it is among the favourite novels of many Hungarians.

First published in 1937, its author, Antal Szerb, was also a literary scholar who, by the age of 40, had written a comprehensive study of the histories of Hungarian and world literature – even if his opportunities to publish were restricted by anti-Semitic laws in the last years of his life, before his death in 1945. I also recommend another novel of his, The Pendragon Legend, a mystery novel (and its parody) set in Wales.

The novel follows Mihály, a bourgeois Hungarian businessman on his honeymoon in Italy, yet many figures from his past resurface. He tells his wife, Erzsi, of his former days, how he used to play-act stories with his friends Tamás and Éva Ulpius which often took dark turns in erotic interpretations of death. There are elements of love, regret, and suicide as Mihály grapples with his desire to conform to bourgeois respectability which struggles against the rebellious adolescent in him.

Mihály eventually becomes lost in Italy, wandering around Umbria and later moving to Rome. He is reunited with some of his childhood acquaintances, befriends an English doctor called Ellesley and has an affair with an American student. He also meets his old university mater, Rudi Waldheim, now a famous historian of religion in Rome, who tells him about the erotic nature of death – something that resonates well with Mihály’s teenage play-acts.

We also get subtle jokes, travelogues (appropriate of a book entitled Journey by Moonlight), great characters (Rudi Waldheim’s eccentricities are wonderful), detailed descriptions of Mihály’s mental breakdown and an entire subplot of Erzsi’s actions after Mihály leaves her.

I first read this book three or four years ago and while it instantly became my favourite, truth be told, I didn’t remember much of the story, except for the Ulpius subplot and the main idea of someone getting lost during their honeymoon. I reread it a month ago, and it was a joy to rediscover all the subtleties of this beautifully-written novel: contrary to my memories, it isn’t just the story of Mihály reuniting with figures from his past.

IVAN MERKER

11

16th November 2017 • The Thursday Magazine • The Cambridge Student

RESCUEGAL

The Cambridge

plant lover’s guide

Calum McCain

A

n essential part of any Cambridge students room is its greenery. Whether you’re an edgy arts student whose plants make up a key part of their Instagram aesthetic or a mathmo just wanting something living in their room; there’s no denying a house plant livens up any room.

Thankfully there are so many plants to choose from (about 300,000), there is almost certainly a plant for you.

What to get: Typically, there are three types of house plat that suit a student sized room. They are cacti & succulents, flowers and carnivorous plants. Each have their own needs but generally they’re all pretty easy to look after.

Cacti and Succulents These are by far the easiest to look after and are very low maintenance. As one would imagine they require only occasional watering (once a week in summer to once a month in winter). Having said that, they are very chill and don’t really mind if you neglect to water them for a while – if in doubt; don’t water. They are best planted in pots with drainage holes in the bottom in case they are over watered, and grow best in sunlight so windowsills are optimum.

Flowers If your room is lacking in colour a flower is a fail-safe to make every visitor say ‘10/10 bedroom aesthetic’ when they see your room. They come in every shape and size so they can be put anywhere in a room, like on a desk, coffee table or next to your bed. Caring for flowers is much more variable given the huge variation in species so it’s best to look up specific care instructions for your flower online.

Carnivorous Plants Probably the most exciting plants you can buy and definitely the best for relieving supervision-related stress.

They come in different varieties, including Venus Flytraps, pitcher plants and sundews. Carnivorous plants, however, are much more particular about their care regime. Its best to check online or instore about the details but fly-traps and sundews, specifically, can only be watered with filtered water. This can either be rainwater or water from a water filter. They normally like being in damp soil, but like cacti, make sure they have drainage holes in the bottom of the pot.

Where to buy: Other than grabbing a couple of flowers out of the college gardens, there are some great places in Cambridge for buying plants and accessories.

Scotsdale Garden Centre The largest nearby garden centre to the centre of town and hands-down has the best selection of all types of house plant. They sell orchids as well as cacti and other succulents. Most of their cacti cost about £5 and they sell pots as well which vary from £3-£10. The one down side is that it is too far to walk to. From the town centre it takes about 15-20 mins to cycle there along fairly depressing roads and the bus takes about 40 mins. Only for die-hard plant fans Homebase You can’t go too far wrong with Homebase as it’s got a large selection of pots that can cater for all price ranges. It has also got a good spread of Venus Fly-traps as well. It’s

much closer to town (10 min bike ride) and is also close to the boathouses if you want a cheeky post-outing plant shop trip.

Cambridge Botanical Garden Despite having a small selection of indoor plants, it is very easily accessible and is in the beautiful botanical gardens.

They mostly stock herbs and other small shrubby plants.

They do however have some very cool terrariums for cacti that can be a good gift. The staff inside are also really nice.

Things to consider: Plant kids Sometimes your house plant will have seeds. It is completely up to you whether you just let them fall off or whether you take them and grow into some baby plants. Like before, it’s always best to check the growing conditions for the seeds before planting them, but once they start growing there’s nothing quite like hand rearing your own baby plants from seeds.

Bugs and infections Despite their prickly appearance cacti and other house plants can get infected. If this happens it is usually best to move the infected away from your healthy plants to prevent spread of the infection. What you do next depends on how much you love your plant. If it has high sentimental value you can buy sprays to kill the infection or, if (woe betide you) you think it’s ‘just a plant’, then they are quite safe to bin; it’s probably best to find your college green waste or gardening bins.

See pictures of Calum’s favourite plants at tcs.cam.ac.uk

12

16th November 2017 • The Thursday Magazine • The Cambridge Student

orb On the plate, it stares at you, a round, glassy eye.

In the old days, all of our boys could bring home such a catch. Grandmother speaks, and your father lifts his head.

Garoupa. It has been seasoned to perfection: three slivers of ginger, a sprig of spring onion, body so ample and succulent, it almost bursts its marbled flesh.

You will serve the table tonight.

The spoon lies waiting. A circle of faces stretched across its back.

Faintly, reflected, you see a shimmer of gold from the family’s New Year fish tank.

Yellowtail. You envy it Its freedom, its movement, its grace.

Vanessa Cheok

tcs.cam.ac.uk instagram: tcsnewspaper twitter: tcsnewspaper facebook: the cambridge student

11

The Cambridge Student • 16th November 2017

Features

about mental health

CORAL DALITZ

What inspired the Cambridge Refugee Scholarship Campaign Esther Tsz Wing Ng

I

remember vividly our first meeting to brainstorm the possibility of a scholarship scheme for refugees to study at Cambridge.

That was six months ago when at least ten of us crowded into a small room in Emmanuel. The idea had come from two friends of mine, Neil Grant and Lucy Boddington, who had worked in refugee camps in Lesvos and Sicily over the summer, and were keen to encourage students in Cambridge to take action in the ongoing refugee crisis.

They noticed a gap in student initiatives to address the serious educational crisis behind the global displacement of refugees, where many were, and still are, being forced to leave behind their studies to flee their country for safety.

Over Easter term, we met with college and University staff to explore various models for the scholarship scheme, which later became the Cambridge Refugee Scholarship Campaign.

The model we finally settled on was a student-led and student-funded scholarship scheme inspired by the Oxford Students Refugee Campaign. We also recognised the need for funds to be raised in a systematic and sustainable manner, which led to the decision that donations would be made through an opt-out fee of £4 per term on the student college bill.

The campaign launched officially this term and since then we have been

working with college J/MCRs to pass motions for the opt out-donation to be added to college bills. So far, the motions have been passed in Peterhouse JCR and in the Newnham JCR Committee.

Caius JCR will be hosting a referendum for students to vote on the motion, and Emmanuel JCR and MCR will be hosting an open meeting for students to raise questions about the opt-out donation.

The aim of the campaign is to have refugee students matriculate by Michaelmas 2019.

When I walked out of the meeting back in May, I was excited but also daunted by the task of pushing forward such a huge campaign.

I would never have predicted the rapid progress of the motions, the fruitful collaborations with college JCRs and enthusiastic support from students.

We have also been receiving emails from refugees asking about the scholarship, which, to me, shows the urgent need for the scholarship scheme to be established at Cambridge.

It is clear that though these students have left behind their studies they have not abandoned their hopes and dreams.

For those interested in getting involved with the Cambridge Refugee Scholarship Campaign, CRSC is currently recruiting committee members. Further details about available positions can be found on the Campaign’s website.

Journalism is useful, but also fraught with peril Juliette Brytan Deputy Editor

J

ournalism can be one of the best ways to gain insights into others’ thoughts and feelings; whilst also providing a platform to express your own opinions in a healthy manner. There’s no denying that writing for Cambridge student newspapers is a helpful vocation to pursue, particularly for your mental health; sharing ideas in a creative way promotes openness, discussion and acceptance.

But whilst the bubble of Cambridge student journalism may be a microcosmic representation of reporting in the wider world, there is a facet of the press that cannot be compared to that of the harmless conditions within Cambridge.

The threats that journalists face in certain areas can transform journalism into one of the most dangerous professions with which to be involved.

Since the role of journalism was established, restrictions on what exactly can be said in reports have been enforced at an alarming pace: the first handwritten

There is no easy way forward for journalism

monthly newspaper, the Notizie scritte, published in Venice in the 1600s, was limited to covering certain topics. The first English language weekly magazine, A Current of General News, published in 1622, was also subject to strictly controlled censorship, bolstered by the Licensing Order of 1643.

It was after a succession of legal cases in the 18th Century that journalists gained further liberties; though full freedom of the press was still unattained, the declaration found in English Common Law that truth was a valid defence against libel gave the press a previously unguaranteed element of security.

Yet only since the 1950s has journalism finally been secured against the threat of facing spontaneous libel cases or defamation charges, with censorship become increasingly relaxed in the years that followed.

Despite this, there are still issues, both internationally and nationally, concerning the rights of reporters. The

United Kingdom is currently 40th in the World Press Freedom Index, below Namibia and South Africa. North Korea, meanwhile, ranks last; with one of the late Kim Jong-il’s forays into published works being the 1983 tome The Great Teacher of Journalists, a book which proclaims, among other guidelines, that “it is advisable that the newspapers carry articles in which they unfailingly hold the president in high esteem, adore him and praise him as the great revolutionary leader”. This, clearly, is a sharp contrast to the approach of Norway, ranked first in the Index.

Even so, individuals involved in journalism at any level may face physical peril as a result of their work: the Committee to Protect Journalists claims that there have been 1246 journalists killed since 1992 across the world, including 182 in Iraq, and 47 in Colombia.

And there are also less serious risks involved in journalism: a Gallup poll of 2016, which invited citizens to rate

the honesty and ethics of individuals in different professions, indicated that journalists are seen to have the greatest “very low” standard than any other occupation; a state of affairs perhaps amplified by recent disgraces in the world of journalism, such as the News International phone hacking scandal.

There is no easy way forward for journalism, either: the vested interests of corporations and powerful individuals mean that the press may never achieve full freedom, damaging its output and thus skewing its readership.

Journalism may be the central method of encouraging openness and discussion about worldwide issues but, whilst doing this, it can face the greatest threats of constraint and suppression to confront any occupation.

The need to prevent any curbs to reporting remains; we must do all we can to ensure we continue, tirelessly and endlessly, to spread the news.

12

16th November 2017 • The Cambridge Student

Features

The Long Read:

Reflections of a third year: Mental health Self-care and studying don’t always fit together, but finding a balance that works for you is important Rosa Thomas

F

or me the past three years of Cambridge have not only been an opportunity to develop my academic thinking but also an opportunity to learn how to manage my mood.

Only this term have I taken the latter part seriously, before having seen it as an obstruction; something that must be shoved to one side until I’ve finished that essay but then another essay comes so it’s always a deferred promise.

I think it would have helped to have come into Cambridge more aware of mental health and with more strategies up my sleeve but of course these things come from experience so it’s sort of a catch 22 situation.

Nonetheless other people’s experience can be helpful as I’ve found generally there is more overlap than not, so I thought it would be useful to share what I’ve learnt.

The whole concept of ‘looking after yourself’ I’ve always found difficult to take (although I say it constantly to others). When I’m low or anxious I think a) I don’t deserve looking after and b) nothing will make me better.

Both of these statements are objectively wrong.

When I’m in a more positive frame of mind I can think of things that are good and worthy about myself.

This has been difficult in the past when I’ve been in longer phases of depression because I didn’t ever really believe in the good things.

If I’m in this situation again I’ll probably use objective evidence (i.e. what others say about me) to support this. I know people who keep a book or screenshot conversations when people say nice things about them and flick back through it when they’re feeling unworthy. I think I might do that too.

As for b) nothing will make me well, that is also erroneous.

I know that when I get enough sleep, get a bit of exercise, vary my environment and eat well it makes a

significant difference. A problem I’ve encountered with this is that when I’m very low I can feel quite out of body so don’t know when I’m hungry tired etc, and if I’m anxious I run on adrenaline so don’t real like sleeping.

Again there are ways around this. I find physical grounding exercises (at first really shitty and useless) helpful now. It’s just about finding one that works for you and making space for it in your day.

One that is good for me is really pushing my feet into the floor and feeling the pressure on different muscles, unclenching and clenching my fists and rubbing my palms, focussing on the physical sensations.

The mistake I’ve made in the past is trying to do these things as a method to immediately stop feeling anxious or out of body. Inevitably this will escalate panicky feelings so I’m trying to just integrate these activities into my day regardless of how I feel. The same with yoga and running which I also find bring me back to myself a little.

Another thing I think is worth flagging up is asking for help.

When I’m feeling low I feel like I’m a burden on others and not worth people’s time. I feel guilty for asking something of someone and feel scared of them feeling manipulated.

When I’ve voiced these fears to friends they’ve mostly looked slightly confused and assured me that they want to know when I’m down.

Imagine if it was the other way round- would you feel manipulated if a friend told you how they were feeling and asked for help? Honesty isn’t manipulation and if you’re that worried about being manipulative there’s a high chance you’re not doing it.

It is more difficult in relationships as there’s a risk of dependency, which is why I think it’s so important to confide in more than one person so they don’t become your sole support.

Work out who is good at listening, understanding you and validating you (if that’s important to you)

It think it would have helped to come into Cambridge more aware of mental health

ANDREW BARTRAM

and establish a network. I’ve always been a bit afraid of talking about my mental health with new people but recently I’ve branched out and more often than not people have been fantastically supportive and given new insights. I’ve also found counselling really useful to this end.

Making the time for myself is psychologically even more important to me than the help itself.

I don’t feel at all guilty about the other person in counselling as it’s their job and they don’t have any attachments to me. The smartest thing is to keep looking after yourself so you’re taking steps towards being better and also to vary your activities with people. There is room for intense conversations and fun in a relationship.

Finally, I’ve learnt not to underestimate the effect studying English Literature has had on my health, both practically and

Would you feel manipulated if a friend asked you for help?

conceptually. I love it to bits but have been deceived by the idea that it’s a subject so it can’t hurt me. Of course there is no restriction on the amount of time you spend around others but coming into Cambridge I had a romanticised idea of a work ethic which involved total isolation. I realised last year with an element of surprise that I work best with changes of environment and activities that bring me completely out of my ideas so I can go back with a clear head.

For someone who likes to become totally immersed in their subject it can get pretty heavy, and I’m not talking about trigger warnings here!

Because you get so much freedom to write on what you want to write on, when I’ve been low I’ve often gravitated towards ideas that reflect my thinking. I’ve increasingly used it as an opportunity to not only explore and understand my own thought but to open my mind up to new ideas that

might be slightly out of joint with what I know and understand life to be.

English is a symbiotic subject and you have control over what thoughts and ideas to focus on and which ones to bank for another time or to discard.

Not that I’ve avoided difficult topics that are relatable – I’ve just become more aware that what I read goes into the same part of my brain that processes feeling and affects me.

Although there is something addictive about weaving yourself a web of understanding that supports your own view of yourself and therefore the world, I’ve realised it is far more productive and liberating to challenge your own views and use literature as a lens for dispelling myths or habits of thought, both personally and on a larger scale.

Apply this approach to friendships too and you’re on the right track to living a much freer and better life.

Making time for myself is more important than the help itself

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14

16th November 2017 • The Cambridge Student

Interviews

Caitlyn Jenner discusses politics, coming out, and the Kardashian family saga W

Molly Moss Deputy Editor

hen did you know you were a girl?’

Silence fell as Caitlyn Jenner posed this question to the audience. ‘That’s what a trans person goes through 24 hours a day, 365 days a year’, she adds. ‘That’s what goes through their heads, trying to understand who they are.’

I listen to Caitlyn Jenner, one of the world’s most famous transgender women, former athlete and reality TV star whose voice is often distorted through the media, as she discusses a lifelong battle with her identity.

After 65 years of keeping Caitlyn’s voice hidden, she wants it to be heard. ‘Finally I’ve had the opportunity to tell my story’ she says. ‘We live in a very diverse world.

We have diversity in the colour of our skin, in religion, in the LGBT community. Everyone is different and we need to be understanding of that.’

What’s important to Jenner, she soon makes clear, is changing people’s mind about trans politics.

But how can she do that when she supports a party which actively discriminates against LGBT rights? ‘[Trump] has been one of the worst

presidents when it comes to LGBT issues and trans issues’ she says. ‘I thought he would do a better job.’

‘The ban in the military was devastating’, she goes on to admit.

‘I supported Donald Trump when he became my candidate. I like a lot of the things he has done but also dislike a lot.’

Jenner’s words are bizarre. Aside from the party’s transphobia, Jenner fails to realise that the trans people she wants to represent aren’t just trans— what about the intersections of class and race the party also discriminates against? Concluding on Trump, Jenner says that ‘he has the final say. It’s his responsibility.

He’s very disappointing.’

Asked whether she wants to get more involved in politics, Jenner is equally vague: ‘Do I do a better job lobbying or on the inside? Right now I think I can do a better job on the outside.’

Jenner has been accused of being a fraud and a fake, hiding behind her privilege as a white wealthy woman. Her life is ‘the easiest it’s ever been’, she says. ‘I can wake up in the morning and be myself.’

But life hasn’t always been this easy, she explains. After her success

“I thought, am I stuck with him for the rest of my life?”

as an athlete, she thought ‘have I constructed a person I could never be free from? I had identity issues which I couldn’t talk about, but when I found sport I latched onto it because it was my way of proving myself.

‘After I created this character I thought am I stuck with him for the rest of my life? I liked bruce he was a good person.’ But Jenner was always struggling with her identity. ‘I would sit there in church and think why me? I always asked that question’.

She tells the audience that she even considered suicide, but didn’t want to ‘silence her voice.’ Her transition also had a detrimental effect on her

family life. After the publication of her memoir The Secrets of My Life, she explains how communication broke down between herself and the Kardashians. ‘They don’t want me in their lives’, she told the audience.

Be yourself, is the important thought Jenner leaves us with. ‘Be who you are. It took me 65 years.’

I leave the Union not entirely sure what to make of Jenner’s words, but with the impression that although her heart seems to be in the right place, perhaps her privilege and ignorance are an obstacle in her fight for the LGBT community she claims to be so passionate about.

ALBERTO FRANK

A conversation with Jonathan Marcus of the BBC Jack Bolton

W

hen the veteran BBC correspondent Jonathan Marcus spoke at the first meeting of the Sidney Policy society, the odd thing about it was that he never really dwelt on himself.

A veteran reporter, who had been present for the UN intervention in Bosnia as well as the Second Gulf War, he was more interested in talking about the wider trends he had seen emerging across the globe - from the political sphere, to the seemingly mundane but nonetheless troubling trends in social media bubbles.

In 1989 when Francis Fukuyama proclaimed that his audience was witnessing ‘the end of history’, it seems as if one could be forgiven for agreeing with him. Marcus spoke of how for many, the prophesied triumph of liberal democracy appeared complete. Europe had escaped the ravages of an expected Russian onslaught, and a calm had descended.

That lull was punctuated by the

violence and atrocities of the Yugoslav wars, and in an extraordinary fashion, the situation seems now to have reversed itself – Russia under Putin is once again a threat, the deification of the Party leadership in China could easily produce ‘a new Mao’, and across Europe a sense of unease has returned.

With tensions steadily rising since the War in Donbass began, it appears as if the Cold War never really ended.

“I was never particularly impressed with the idea of the end of history and that all would be resolved by this moment of ideological triumph that would be in the West’s favour.

There is a theme constantly in current affairs that there is not an ‘end of history’, but in a sense that history bites back in all sorts of ways.”

“I’m not sure exactly that ‘History repeats itself ’, but you clearly have a limited palette of story lines, and as you see generations fade, so the story lines reappear.

So, for example, contemporary Europe – not so long ago one would have thought the anti-immigrant

“I was never particularly impressed with the idea of the end of history”

far right viewpoint would have been consigned to history. Now there are a set of attitudes that have remerged in European politics that, immediately after the end of the Second World War, would have been anathema.”

Before long, the evening took on a very informal tone; Marcus had chosen to adopt a state of complete candour which made questioning incredibly fruitful. While clear to state that his views were his own, he nevertheless had high praise for his employers of 30 years, but also talked of the difficulties it faced in a world in which neutrality is an almost untenable position: “The issue is there is a shallowness to the debate as a whole. In the current environment, something like the BBC, that is edited, sober, thoughtful, and attempts to be balanced, is more important than ever. But perhaps this is not enough.”

“As long as we can ground ourselves in consensus, we are alright. But when we tackle issues in an ideologically charged world,

“History bites back in all sorts of ways”

and butt heads with other partisan organisations, it is much harder to see if there is a consensus at all. It becomes very hard to trace a middle path.”

When asked about the role social media was playing in influencing voters, Marcus had a lot to say about the plethora of websites peddling contentious facts and sensational news, which, he claimed, were enveloping people in bubbles and isolating them from the real debates.

“We can see now that Facebook and Youtube and everyone are trying to make some sort of gesture to editorial control. But good luck with that I say because their basic business model doesn’t accommodate that.

And if information is the currency of democracy, then that currency has been devalued by inflation.”

“One of the great strengths and also a great difficulty of the BBC, which is paid for by everybody, is that you can’t be partisan. The BBC tries to maintain a consensus and it is enriching for doing so.”

15

The Cambridge Student • 16th November 2017

Interviews

“We’re a pop band”: An interview with Sleaford Mods Megan Harding

F

or those familiar with the minimalist, abrasive punk sound of Nottinghambased duo Sleaford Mods, affluent Cambridge might not be the first tour destination to spring to mind. Indeed, frontman Jason Williamson agrees that further north, the crowds get “a bit more boisterous and energetic,” but the fact that they’re playing Cambridge at all is testament to how well the band are doing at the moment, performing to full houses on every leg of this current tour, and gaining a raucous fan base across Europe.

Recognition on this scale has been a long time coming for Williamson and Andrew Fearn, the other half of the duo: “it’s hard work, definitely,” Williamson says of the music business, an industry he’s been part of for twenty-five years. Only ten of those twenty-five have been with Sleaford Mods though, and even fewer with the band in its current incarnation, but the rapidity of their recent success doesn’t make him any less grounded. “It’s a job like any other job. It’s brilliant, but it’s work, and you’ve got to treat it with that kind of respect, because if you don’t it’ll just go.”

Much has been made of Sleaford Mods as a ‘working class’ band, a reputation which stems mostly from the caustic bitterness of their lyrics, especially on earlier albums like Austerity Dogs. Williamson’s fervent tirades and relentlessly bleak narratives are borne of lived experience, but even

“A working class band”

so, you can’t help but wonder whether so many critics and journalists are eager to slap the ‘working class’ label on the Mods’ sound purely because Jason sings with an East Midlands accent. For his part, Williamson believes that “the class thing got thrown onto us just because of what we were talking about, and the way I talk - but it was never about that. It was about my own experiences, coupled with Andrew’s music.” As a native of Grimsby myself, it’s easy to understand what he means. These days, a lot of high-brow media outlets try to be progressive by associating themselves with representatives of the ‘working class’, but these cringing gestures almost always feel patronising. ‘There was this consciousness about it that I resisted,’ says Jason, ‘and I tried to remember why I’d been doing this, and writing those lyrics in the first place.’

Perhaps a willingness not to be typecast as a purely vitriolic band has prompted Sleaford Mods’ recent flirtation with what is, by their standards at least, a more radiofriendly sound. “We’ll move on and forward with new stuff to make it more accessible, not as angry,” says Williamson. His writing process begins with “just the odd line - sometimes it can be fantastical, sometimes it can be very funny - it can mean nothing a lot of the time.” He’s not afraid of using mainstream labels either, eschewing alternative music’s traditional contempt for the conventional: “we’re

a pop band. We do verses, choruses, hooks. That’s what pop music is.”

That said, there are definitely parts of mainstream music culture that Williamson isn’t a fan of - so-called ‘manufactured music’, for example which he argues “isn’t really music, is it? It’s just compressed noise with very youthful-looking people fronting it, and massive amounts of money stuck behind it, like a marketing campaign.”

For Sleaford Mods, social media can be an antidote to this sense of artificiality: “MySpace really made us, it was a great source of getting to do stuff, and it’s kind of smashed this myth of ‘the rock star’ of a nameless, faceless person that nobody knows apart from when they leap onstage.”

That’s not to say that Williamson doesn’t affect a persona when onstage himself, though. In fact, one of the band’s unique selling points is the manic, frenzied way that Jason conducts himself at gigs. When I watch them at the Cambridge Corn Exchange later in the evening, he jumps and wiggles around with moves reminiscent of Madness - or, in his own words: “like an idiot - like a panto horse. [The live sets] are getting more and more ridiculous.” But he’s also very enthusiastic about engaging the crowd this way. “You’re not pretentious or arrogant with it. It’s important to involve people and cultivate that live show vibe. Make sure people know that you know they’re there.” And they certainly do: as I walk out of the gig,

“You’ll never make money off records”

Jason’s onstage antics are as much a topic of conversation as the music itself, which is just as well. “Live shows are where you make your money,” Williamson says. “You’ll never make money off records … unless you’re Coldplay. It’s really gone down the spanner.”

Even so, the band are keen to look to the future and see where they can take their sound next. Jason doesn’t believe that you should “dwell on old formulas too much. It’s important to change it.” It seems the crowds they play to are responding to this attitude; over the past few years, they’re getting a “lot more young people, a lot more women”, which is a welcome change from the older, deeply male crowds they started out with. “It’s a real honour,” Jason says sincerely, towards the end of the interview. “The more young people turn up, the bigger the achievement.”

This, I have to agree with. When at the gig, I’m still in a minority as a female student, but the vibe is much more welcoming than at others I’ve been to. Maybe the charm of Jason’s rowdy stage presence is that it keeps the ranting within the music - something which he is more than happy to do.

“I’ve spent a long time trying to get here,” he tells us. “It’s been fucking great. Dream job.” There’s no bravado to his words, either; just enthusiasm that at the moment, for Sleaford Mods, “everything’s hunky dory.”

ALBERTO FRANK

16th November 2017 • The Cambridge Student

Comment

Being a ‘snowflake’ isn’t so bad Beatrice Woods

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las, email-gate continues. Last week’s outcry over Professor Eugene Terentjev’s ‘warning’ to students studying Physical Natural Sciences at Queen’s has dominated the attention of the Daily Mail. Eleanor Harding was first to publish her unsurprisingly narrow account of the ‘revolt of Cambridge cry-babies’, which trivialised issues of mental health.

Sadly, the article failed to capture the true reason for student opposition to the email.

Ultimately, students accept that a heavy workload is to be expected, but the ability to decide how to deal with this workload should not be dictated by those who set the work. Certainly, we should not be dissuaded from adopting a work-life balance that suits us. Coping mechanisms differ hugely from one person to the next, and for many it is the social aspects of University that help us remember the importance of perspective.

Interestingly, the email’s message is one that is conveyed to Nat Sci freshers at Queen’s every year, yet only this year has

this attitude been challenged. Far from indicating an aversion to hard-work, our opposition to the email implies a greater student understanding of the work-life balance needed to perform at maximum capacity. Surely, the awareness of such a balance should be celebrated, rather than criticised by the national press.

Unfortunately, on Sunday morning, a further article claimed that there is now a national crisis – dubbed ‘the rise of the Snowflake Generation’ – as students struggle more than ever with the pressures of university life. Professor Alan Smithers, of Buckingham University’s Centre for Employment and Education Research, blamed this trend on the national movement towards greater mental health awareness in universities. Of course, a movement which aims to decrease the record-high student suicide rate can only be described as a necessity, and cannot be condemned as a scheme which students ‘take advantage of ’.

The article argues that our predecessors

“Embracing the delicacy of mental health is crucial”

coped better with the student work-load, and it is claimed that this is shown by the increasing number of reported cases of stress-related illnesses amongst students.

However, if it is true that we are in fact the ‘Snowflake Generation’, this only proves our increasing ability to admit feelings of stress and anxiety and access the help we need. The weakness once associated with disclosing mental health problems finally seems to be dissipating.

At Oxbridge especially, the ability to become lost amongst essay deadlines and reading lists is a largely unavoidable aspect of the experience. Rather than reverting to the fact that ‘we knew what we signed up for’, swallowing our pride and admitting to difficulties is rightly becoming an indication of personal strength. If we are to be called the ‘Snowflake Generation’, Charlie Walton then this can only be testament to our acceptance that stress and anxiety ought to heresa May is stuck in a be taken seriously. Embracing the delicacy Brexit-shaped straitjacket. The of mental health is crucial; we are the first Conservative government has been generation to realise this fact. rocked by the recent resignations of Sir Michael Fallon and Priti Patel. Allegations BONZO MCGURE of sexual harassment and secret meetings hardly reflect well upon a government who are fighting to establish their competency and authority at a critical juncture in the nation’s history. If Macmillan was rocked by the Profumo affair and Major struggled through a series of embarrassing sleaze stories, it is not inconceivable that the ground will rapidly disappear from beneath Theresa May’s feet.

These resignations also matter because the government has a wafer-thin majority in parliament. They have been forced time and again to make concessions to rebel Tory MPs in order to ensure they do not lose a vote in the House. From Hammond’s botched spring budget, to series of concessions with regard to Brexit, culminating in Parliament being a ‘take it or leave it’ vote on the final deal. How long can these political acrobatics last?

Yet for all this, there is a peculiarity to the situation which actually sustains Theresa May’s tenure. There is a general sense that the current political settlement is not permanent. Many inside the Conservative in which sexism presents itself in wider Party believe that following the disastrous society. These ideas are starkly prevalent in General Election in June 2017, May is light of the recent revelations of gendered merely a caretaker leader. Boris Johnson’s harassment and sexual misconduct flagrant attempts to manoeuvre himself in many structural institutions: from into Number 10 have been well charted by the media, though Amber Rudd, David Westminster to Hollywood.

This is why I think it is fundamentally Davis and Andrea Leadsom should also not naive, and even dangerous, to claim today be entirely ruled out. With Jeremy Corbyn’s that the loss of Clinton this time last year personality cult seemingly stronger than ever, this newly strengthened ‘enemy’ may was devoid of sexism and gender.

If Clinton had been a man, with the same just sharpen Conservative minds so as to experience and credentials, I think there back the status quo for a little longer.

But this cannot last forever; sooner or is a large case to say that the Democrats would have won the Presidency, and later, the Brexit negotiations will start to this is extremely concerning if we are bite. The government will have to take to consider the possibility of a female sides on a number of issues that divide the President of the United States in the near country, that divide the two main political future. It is not about finding a “better” parties and even the cabinet itself. From the woman or a “cleaner” woman; the task at question of the Irish border to the amount of access to the European Single Market, hand is much deeper than that.

May’s political

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Feminism after Trump’s first twelve months Vivienne Hopley-Jones

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n November 8th 2016 the world watched as the businessmanturned-politician who paradoxically had come to embody the anti-establishment sentiment prevalent in the US superseded the expectations and predictions of political commentators worldwide and became President of the United States. A panel discussion hosted on Wednesday evening by the Cambridge Union marked a year since the election of Donald Trump to the Oval Office. It shocked me on Wednesday that Union panellists all failed to recognise the role which gender played in the politics of the race to the Oval Office.

While the panellists disagreed on many issues surrounding Trump’s first year in office and the likelihood of future events, all three agreed that the gender of Clinton

did not play a significant role in the loss of the Democrats. This claim is an easy one to make: of course in 2017 the idea that the gender of a candidate, in any field of work, should limit their prospects seems backwards, yet undeniably in practice this is still the case. I think it assumes a very two-dimensional view to claim gender had no part in Clinton’s loss. The trope of Clinton’s critics, during the campaign and still today, is to blame the loss of the Democrats on her not being ‘clean’ enough Whilst for the most part the majority of Americans did not overtly and selfconsciously decide not to vote for Clinton because she was a woman, Clinton’s entire image and position was framed within a highly gendered context.

The loss of the Clinton campaign was symptomatic and emblematic of the way

“Clinton’s failure was symbolic of the way sexism presents itself”

17

The Cambridge Student •16th November 2017

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM

Bi the way: Remembering the reasons for trans remembrance Priya Bryant

l turbulence

there are a range of shifting coalitions within parliament that transcend party lines. When the government settles on a coherent vision for Brexit, that is when its authority will be most tested.

This is complicated by the fallout from the sexual harassment scandal, which could have major implications for the government’s parliamentary majority.

Worse, it damages the very legitimacy of May’s government at a time it is needed most. Losing important members of her cabinet will do little to project the strength and unity so urgently required.

May’s mantra of ‘keep your enemies close’ also has the potential to backfire. Boris Johnson and Phillip Hammond, to name but a few, continue to test the authority of the government and the boundaries of collective cabinet responsibility.

Indeed, the weakness of May’s authority is further underlined by the latest round of controversy surrounding Boris. Her unwillingness, or more likely inability, to cut him loose is indicative of a government on the ropes.

Theresa May is stuck in a straitjacket.

One arm is tied to the slim parliamentary majority and the backbench Tory MPs. The other is bound by Brexit and the many contradictions that it entails. Her wriggle room, though thus far sufficient to avoid a defeat in the house, is quickly diminishing.

The future is not all doom and gloom however. If Labour continues to prevaricate on Brexit, and if the more hardline Brexiteer elements of her party stay in line in order to push the result through, the government may just find that it is able to deliver on the referendum result with the government intact.

Beyond that? Sooner or later an election will have to be called, barring the endurance of the government’s majority, which history tells us is unlikely. Even if the Tories stay in power, sharks are circling around Theresa May’s leadership; her endangered state is becoming clearer and clearer. Ex-chancellors snipe from outside, possible future-chancellors sniff around from within.

Brexit. Boris. Backbench MPs. The straitjacket keeps tightening.

Comment

W

hen I mentioned the other day that I was going to a vigil to commemorate the Transgender Day of Remembrance (November 20th), my friend gave me a slightly blank look and a bemused question: “what exactly is it remembering?”

She asked this not out of malice but out of genuine curiosity, and this made me think about the basic and crucial problem facing a lot of trans activists today – many

cis people simply don’t get the issues that the trans community faces.

In my experience, this doesn’t mean that people are fundamentally prejudiced against trans folk. The problem is that the lack of education about trans people in media, entertainment and government means that unless you come into contact with discussions of trans issues by choice, you’re unlikely to encounter it much in your day-to-day life.

The situation is changing, of course: trans actors and actresses like Laverne Cox are becoming more prominent and portraying more than token roles, and there’s a greater willingness to represent gender diversity in fashion with figures like Munroe Bergdorf gaining acclaim.

Last week, Danica Roem became the first openly transgender candidate to win a seat in the Virginia legislature and one of two to win a seat in any state legislature in America.

For large parts of society, however, there’s a fundamental lack of understanding of the problems ordinary trans people face just going about their lives.

Even as someone who considered myself an ally to the trans community for years, it

“There is a lack of education about trans people in media”

was not until dating a trans man for over a year that I was made to consider the reality of life for the community, because I just did not read or think about it enough.

As cis people we must take it upon ourselves to find resources to try and understand the privilege we experience on the basis of our gender alignment.

We must ensure that trans voices are lifted up and encouraged so that those who might not actively seek out material about the trans community learn about these kinds of gender issues.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance exists to remember trans people lost to suicide or murder; to recognise that life expectancy; to be angry and sad about the unbelievable inequality of it all.

It is also a crucial moment for cis allies to demonstrate a real commitment to transgender equality.

So take a moment on the 20th November to think about how we can all contribute to eliminating systems that result in 41% of trans people attempting suicide.

When trans people are dealing with issues as terrifying and deep-rooted as these – to remember the reasons.for remembrance.

Elitism highlighted by the Paradise Papers Harry Balden

T

ax havens are the difference between those who can afford good lawyers and the rest of us. Like Pall Mall clubs, they have a prerequisite level of success or status, and their price of admittance: in this case, layers upon layers of consultancy and accountancy, and those with the leisure to spend all but eighty days of the year in Monaco.

In the face of innovations like tax harmonisation, defenders of tax havens would contend, the natural greed of companies and individuals provide a service not only for themselves but for the

economy as a whole.

But the governments of tax havens aren’t interested in their impact on the global economy; they just want a rush of quick cash, and appeal to the already rich to get it. To get a permit to live in Jersey you practically have to be a multi-millionaire.

It’s emblematic of a wider tragedy of the right, particularly the intellectual right, whose one idea now seems to be that the only things governments should do is hollow themselves out. Perhaps they don’t realise how fragile their project is. Were it not for Ruth Davidson’s pick-ups for the

“Tax havens are cheating”

Tories in Scotland, and if labour had taken just ten more seats in this year’s election, left leaning parties would have a majority and Jeremy Corbyn would be prime minister.

You can kiss goodbye to your ‘competitiveness’ then.

This almost existential threat should be a time for introspection. But rather than attempting to understand why public opinion on the liberal settlement has shifted since the crash, some on the right have decided only to shout louder.

For wanting a nail, a kingdom could be PIXABAY

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16th November 2017 • The Cambridge Student

Comment

The Cambridge Diarist

T

Want a pizza this

his Diarist would like to congratulate the resident members of the illustrious society known as ‘The Pitt Club’ on their enlightened judgement to allow female members to be elected to their historical dining bash. Not only is this decision a major step forward in

A

terms of solving Cambridge’s access problems, not to mention being impressively visionary, but this will surely be a welcome boon for our local Pizza Express branch who hold the ground floor lease of the Pitt clubhouse building.

Following the crowd

scientific study, undertaken by this University, that found that sheep could be trained to recognise the faces of celebrities was found to be unsurprising by This Diarist. Anyone who has ever attended a Cambridge Union speakers’ event

can attest to the drawing power of a minor Z-list ex-celeb to a flock of shiny-eyed students. I imagine the phenomenon has many scientific parallels, though This Diarist would not choose Antony Scaramucci to be one’s shepherd.

World Enough and Time

N

ot to be confused with one’s passport and booking passes to Ibiza, the Paradise Papers investigation appears to have to put the University into something of a fluster, This Diarist hesitantly proffers.

A string of colleges implicated by the ‘scandal’ hastily held events ‘explaining their finances’ this week and on

Wednesday evening, the University itself announced it would be holding an open discussion on its investments on 5th December. All students will be able to express their views – “time permitting”. This Diarist anticipates a very lengthy preamble and swift conclusion to this ‘open debate’

cusu.co.uk

You’ll never walk alone: Cambridge and activism Emrys Travis

I

wrote my last column curled up on a beanbag in the English faculty library. I’m writing this one from my bed. I’m having to stop after every sentence to rest my arms, which can’t hold my phone up for long without hurting.

On days like these, when I’m unable to study, I marathon episodes of House MD - partly because they’re formulaic and don’t require too much focus, and partly because, maybe, dramatised obscure and complicated

medical cases are strangely comforting and de-isolating to watch.

Navigating university while chronically ill is hard; balancing that with involvement in activism is both easier and harder.

Today, I woke up knowing I had a limited amount of energy, and I spent that energy on stewarding for a protest march calling for the university to divest from fossil fuels, rather than on writing about Madame Bovary.

But it’s not just about these tradeoffs, about squeezing yet more responsibilities into a severely limited amount of time and energy; without activism, I wouldn’t have the supportive community that keeps me going.

I wouldn’t even know about the social model of disability, let alone have discovered networks of friends who are going through similar things to me, within which we can all find sources of mutual validation and, sometimes, sparks of hope.

I wouldn’t understand how issues like climate justice, decolonisation, and gender and disability liberation weave into one another, giving us all points of contact and inroads into a many-layered movement to make the world a better place.

My last three columns have all had a message - the hardest work is invisible; we’re stronger united. This one is more of a fatigued scream into the void. But that’s okay too.

We shouldn’t have to feel like we have everything together alone before we can be part of collective movements.

A whole lot of activism is made up of broken people helping broken people to fix and remake broken systems.

When we can’t find a voice on our own, we can find one together. When we can’t find the words for our own brokenness, we can march through the streets of Cambridge banging pots and pans and calling on the university, on the government, on society to start

fixing theirs (and then spend achy days wrapped up in a duvet recovering).

Sometimes we’ll drop out of everything for a while, stop organising, stop replying to messages, maybe stop getting out of bed, and that’s okay too.

Cultivating kindness along with anger is an important part of every movement – being kind to one another, and being kind to ourselves.

I still don’t have either of those

completely figured out yet, and maybe I never will, but we find each other in the dark and make the path together – however tired, however incoherent.

However broken.

Find more of Emrys’ columns online at tcs.ac.uk/columns, and the work of other columnists throughout the paper.

ZERO CARBON SOCIETY

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The Cambridge Student • 16th November 2017

Sport

Cryptic Crossword

by Cameron Wallis

1

2

3

The ugly consequences of the beautiful game Marcus McCabe

4

5

7

8

6

9

10

11

Across

1. Pompous, explosive, arsenic twitch. (9) Across Down 4. Explain, u delicate confusion. (9) 7. Hiding whore, main derivative of surplus. (9) 1. Pompous, explosive, arsenic twitch.

(9) 1. Out of focus Shakespearean protagonist in past. (6) 10. Musical canines at war in the sky. (8) 11. Another word nymphs.

(7) 4. Explain, u delicate confusion.

(9) for concealing phantasy; no2.

Serious commercials mix-up. (3) Down 7. Hiding whore, main derivative of surplus. (9) 3. I’ll never tell primary resident from a foreign 1. Out of focus Shakespearean protagonist in past. (6) 10. Musical canines at war in the sky. (8)mix-up. (3) country. (3) 2. Serious commercials 3. I’ll never tell primary resident from a foreign country. (3) 11. Another word for concealing phantasy; 5. At the end of a surprise attack comes help.5.

(3) At the end of a surprise attack comes help. (3) 6. Volatile, sounds somewhat arousing? (7) no nymphs. (7) 6.

Volatile, sounds somewhat arousing? (7) 8. Fan glows, camoußaging English origins. (5) 9. Sony, I mixed up roisterous. (5) 8. Fan glows, camouflaging English origins. (5) 9. Sony, I mixed up roisterous. (5)

Sudoku

by Thomas Prideaux Ghee

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ightly or wrongly, English football has been perennially typified as a game of long balls; an uncivilized battle of head tennis whereby one team lumps the ball up to a lanky target man, only for a legion of equally beefy centre-halves to head it back from whence it came. And so on.

However, recent research showing a possible link between playing football and developing dementia may cast doubt on the future of the aerial game – both in England and around the world.

A study carried out at the Institute of Neurology at University College London found evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a cause of dementia stemming from trauma to the head, in the brains of former football players who contracted dementia after retirement.

Out of six brains examined post mortem, four showed CTE which is present in only 12% of the general population. The buildup of subconcussive impacts to the brain when heading the ball could generate “the development of degenerative brain pathologies in later life” according to Dr. Helen Ling, senior research associate.

On Sunday, these issues were further brought to light by a BBC documentary focused on dementia in football. All-time Premier League leading goal-scorer, Alan Shearer, anxiously explored just what the price of his 43 headed goals may turn out to be, explaining that “As someone who played the game for 20 years, and sometimes headed the ball up to 100 times a day in training, I knew that if there was a danger, then I was one of those who could be at risk”.

Undergoing an MRI scan, no abnormalities were detected in Mr. Shearer’s brain, but it seems beyond doubt that heading has had serious ramifications in the past. Principally in the case of traditional leather footballs,

which doubled in weight when waterlogged, long-term damage was often inevitable; former West Brom forward Jeff Astle’s premature death at the age of 59 was famously ascribed by a coroner to a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated traumas to the head received on the football pitch.

Although modern synthetic balls are waterproofed and thus invariably light, they can travel at a much swifter pace, reaching, in the professional game, up to 70 miles per hour and so doing harm of their own; anybody who has played football, whether it be professional or amateur, knows the blunt headache of heading a clearance out of the sky on a frosty Sunday morning. And if this seemingly trivial culling of brain cells translates into a more virulent problem in the future, players everywhere may think twice before they next go up for an aerial duel.

It is easy to imagine Pep Guardiola rubbing his hands with glee at the thought of purely horizontal football.

However, as Shearer points out, the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) do not have the figures for dementia in the 50,000-odd footballers that they represent and so further testing is urgently required before action can be taken either way.

Should a causal relationship be concretely proven, a systematic rethink of how the game is played and regulated would be likely; from reducing the amount of heading that goes on in training to outlawing it completely in matches. Already, in the USA, heading for children under the age of 12 is prohibited and this could well be a sign of things to come.

Football without Peter Crouch – the patron saint, really, of the English game – heading home on a wet and windy night in Stoke, seems a sorry prospect indeed. But if the health of footballers everywhere is at risk, change may be necessary and unavoidable.

STEINDY

Solutions

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16th November 2017 • The Cambridge Student

Sport www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/sport

IMAGE BELOW: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS SOCIETY

‘University should do more to support sport’ says Alligators’ Co-captain Tiwa Adebayo

Cambridge University Athletics Club

Finn Ranson Sports Editor

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don’t think I’ve ever got this level of detailed attention,” Tiwa Adebayo said of her training with Cambridge University Athletics Club. “The coaching is really fantastic. You’ve got coaches that have coached world record holders – Jonny Peacock for example.”

And 100m sprinter Adebayo, now entering her second year studying Theology, is reaping the rewards. In the Varsity match in June she matched her three year long standing PB of 12.8 seconds. “What’s changed the most now is that I’ve added weights to my programme,” she said.

“When you get to this stage, you need to get those marginal gains, my training’s got a lot more technical. Every race you look back at the video and try break it down.

Despite a gutting 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Oxford in the summer, CUAC’s worst result since 1999, things are starting to look up again. Cambridge drew with Oxford in the Freshers’ Varsity

match last Sunday, and Adebayo was quick to praise the club’s new crop of talent.

But with a position on the club committee as Alligators’ co-captain, Adebayo is only too aware of the growing problems the world’s oldest athletics club faces.

“A lot of our conversations have focused around trying to find a sponsor,” she admitted.

“We are quite lucky in that we have some money for alumni at the moment, but it’s not sustainable.”

Beneath the shiny veneer of prestige and history, sports clubs across the University are struggling to keep afloat, with the women’s rowing team even losing their sponsorship deal this year.

“It’s a real shame because if you look at somewhere like Oxford, they have a Uni-wide sponsorship deal,” she said. “That needs to be put in place at Cambridge. It shouldn’t be the responsibility of each sport to find a sponsor.

“The vice-chancellor of the university recently said that sport is really important and we need it. I don’t think that’s translated across into the way the University treats sport.

Everything is student-run and for something that gives the University a lot of publicity and

prestige they could be doing a lot more.”

Sport is coming at an increasing premium for students as a result – hockey and netball, Adebayo points out, charge upwards of £100 a term. CUAC is unique in charging only £70 in subs for the whole year.

“There’s a lot of disparity between colleges in how much support athletes get. I know at Jesus you get quite a lot of money,” she said to me, “here it’s a bit different and some colleges don’t pay anything. I’ve had freshers come to me and say I’ve been selected for this team but I have to pay this much in subs and I haven’t got any money. Someone that’s got to that level of sport – I think colleges should be doing all they can to fund it.” For an institution trying to bat off renewed accusations of elitism after David Lammy’s recent report, sport is becoming dangerously exclusive.

For Adebayo, the issue is also a lack of empathy. “A tutor at this college has said to one of our freshers that I don’t think you’ll have time to do sport as well as your degree,” she said indignantly. “I know certain tutors have banned their students from rowing. I definitely feel a lot of pressure to prove myself academically because I know if grades slip the

first thing they’ll take away is sports. They have the ability to tell me that I can’t do athletics.

“I’ve seen people get taken off college sports teams because of grades. There are sports every year in the Varsity match that have an unnamed player and that’s because that person isn’t actually allowed to participate in sports. I think it’s ridiculous because there could be a number of reasons why you could be slipping academically.”

“If you look at the statistics people that are in Blues and sports teams are more likely to get a first,” Adebayo said. “It’s clear that sport really compliments academic study. A lot of academic staff here are really insensitive when it comes to that. You come to university to grow as a person as well as do a degree.”

Adebayo will soon be back on the track against Oxford in the indoor Varsity match, VFEAR, in Lent Term. But all eyes, of course, are ultimately on June. A rigorous training regime in the winter, warm weather training over the Easter vacation, and then honing technique in April – all for the big clash come May, the 144th Varsity Match.

Yet Adebayo, a runner since the age of seven, simply takes it all in her stride. After all in CUAC, she says, “It’s always a case of training hard and having fun.”