The
Cambridge Student
05 March 2015 Vol. 16 Lent Issue 8
With spring decidedly on its way, it looks like even these geese know the winds are changing. See more on pages 16-17
Image: Rob Humphries
CUSU revived by highest turnout in over a decade
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Jenny Steinitz and Anna Carruthers News Editors
riscilla Mensah won a landslide election for CUSU President in their most exciting election in years. Turnout was double last year’s with over 4,000 votes cast, and the highest since online records began in 2001. Priscilla beat controversial candidate Milo Edwards to the post with 2,077 votes, compared to Milo’s 1,520. Priscilla pledged to retrain existing tutors on top of the current training for incoming tutors, reduce the 50% disparity in contact time among colleges, and rank colleges according to welfare provisions. Priscilla was previously the Black Minority Ethnic (BME) Women’s Representative for the CUSU Women’s Campaign and
is a co-founder of Fly, the Cambridge University BME Women’s Network. She commented to The Cambridge Student: “I’m genuinely delighted. I’ve really, really wanted this, and I have an incredible machine to thank. I’m overwhelmed by their support.” On the high turnout, she added: “It’s been fantastic, and made the candidates galvanise their campaigns.” She defeated Milo, who has been surrounded by controversy. His initial campaign video, which offered students jam sandwiches and subsidised Freddos, and proposed a Reading Week in which all students would be obligated to travel to Reading, led many to believe that he was a joke
candidate. Milo was keen to clarify in the Presidential debate that he was “not a joke candidate”. A later anonymous blogpost inspired more controversy after accusing Milo of making an insensitive joke about domestic violence at a fundraiser for the Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre. One of Milo’s many supporters commented: “Whatever happened, Milo galvanised the electorate. More people voted. We always wanted a campaign where CUSU engaged with people. Priscilla now has a mandate, that is fantastic and therefore CUSU is a more representative body, which has always been its purpose.” Continued on page 4...
Comment – Reclaim The Night must remain a women’s only space: p11 Features – Tale as old as time: The colleges as Disney characters: p19 Cartoon – Cambridge time: p20 Music – Cambridge’s best buskers: p24 Fashion – Our faculty of fashionable fellows: p26
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News 2 Cambridge house prices soar by 30% over the last seven years Catherine Macguire Deupty News Editor National property consultant Bidwells has revealed that house prices in Cambridge have risen by 30% in the last seven years, with the average price of a house in the city at £423,904. Whilst the UK as a whole saw house prices rise by 5.1% between 2013 and 2014, property figures in Cambridge soared by 10%. Bidwells also revealed that average house prices in Cambridge are around 10 times higher than average earnings in the city, compared with a national figure of seven times the average wage. Head of New Homes for Bidwells, David Bentley, commented that “with the benefit of a strong economy, high demand and limited housing supply, house prices in Cambridge have risen more than in any other British town or city over the past seven years.” In a nod to upcoming developments, he added that “The city will see a dramatic increase in new housing provision over the next five years. This should temper price growth to more sustainable levels.” Nonetheless, the Bidwells firm
predicts that “in part due to the May election, it is likely that, with the constricted supply of stock moving forward, Cambridge demand will continue to outstrip supply.” This new information on Cambridge’s disproportionately high house prices comes less than a month after a report commissioned by Halifax in advance of the BAFTA awards, which found that house prices in an area appear to grow in line with the popularity of films which are set there, notably Cambridge (The Theory of Everything) and Milton Keynes (The Imitation Game). Halifax did, however, acknowledge that Cambridge’s trend for rising house prices began long before the release of The Theory of Everything. The increase in house prices affects both new and existing properties. Figures depicting the growth in house prices in 2014 alone indicated that the average cost of a property in Cambridgeshire, regardless of whether or not it was a new-build, rose by 9.8%. A greater change was reflected in the statistics for new homes, which according to Bidwells rose in price by an average of 12.7% over the course of the year. Last year saw an unprecedented
Paying for the postcode? increase in the sale of new homes in Cambridge. Property consultant Bidwells sold over £300 million worth of new homes over the course of 2014. Cambridge is currently struggling to meet housing demand. This demand has come about in the wake of the decision made during the mid-1990s to relax planning restrictions in the city, allowing new homes to be built. The primary intention was to take advantage of extensive brownfield sites, though
A government minister has this week hailed researchers from the University of Cambridge for their work in tackling global poverty. Baroness Lindsay Northover, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development met with the University’s Vice-Chancellor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz last monday to discuss four Cambridge-based research projects funded by the Department for International Development. Among the academics presenting research to the minister was head of Cambridge University Veterinary Science School, Professor James Wood who has conducted research into the spread of bovine TB in Ethiopia. Professor Wood’s research has received a total of £12.6 million in funding from the Department for International Development in addition to a further £9 million provided by other research councils. In a comment to Cambridge News,
Professor Wood said: “There was a very broad range of different science covered in the presentation, but I think all of it demonstrates the high-quality research science that Cambridge delivers.” He also added: “I am funded by a multi-agency grant to look at bovine TB in Ethiopia, where the disease is very common in the expanding dairy sector.” Baroness Northover praised the University’s commitment to tackling various global problems that feed into the wider crisis of global poverty. She argued: “If you’re trying to address extreme poverty you have to work out how to deal with crop diseases, but also if people have been doing things in a particular way for a very long time, you need to look at how you change behaviours or encourage people to do something different.” One first-year HSPS student from Sidney Sussex College was quite happy to echo Baroness Northover’s comments, telling The Cambridge Student: “With growing global inequality, research into poverty is really important right now and Cambridge is definitely the place to do it.”
House prices have risen more here than in any other town or city over the past seven years.
some green belt sites were later made available for development. However, the subsequent population growth and the unprecedented demand which this caused has made the improvement of the city’s infrastructure an urgent issue. Considerable development is planned for 2015. A number of key projects are currently taking shape, including Cambridge University’s ongoing work on the North West Cambridge site.
The Vaults launches new menu
Minister hails Cambridge Poverty Research Olly Hudson Deputy News Editor
Image: Sebastian Ballard
Anna Carruthers News Editor
“Gourmet hot dogs seems a strange way rejuvenate a tired establishment”
Cambridge favourite, The Vaults, has now re-opened following refurbishment and is aiming to become one of the city’s go-to venues for both students and residents. Both the drink and food menus have seen a complete overhaul and bar entertainment has been livened up. Patrons can now enjoy a range of bar games, including backgammon and table football. Cocktails, wines and craft beers will complement the pared down menu which focuses heavily on hot dogs. For instance, one option is a hot dog in a brioche bun with truffle butter and a Parmesan crisp, priced at £6. Sides include rosemary fries, chunky wedges and salsa. Owned by the man behind the vintage dance night Itchy Feet, The Vaults is also seeking to attract a daytime audience. Internet and printers will potentially make it an attractive option to students and there are plans to paint board games onto the two person tables, encouraging a chilled atmosphere. Owner Leo Bedford said: “I’ve been
visiting Cambridge for years while working in events, and have always loved the place and the people – so when The Vaults came up for sale, I jumped at the opportunity. “The Vaults is an awesome venue, a Cambridge institution, and it just needed some TLC – now we’ve done that we’re so pleased to be part of the Cambridge scene. “We’ll be selling lip-smacking food at great prices and we’ll have a host of amazing cocktails, wines and craft beers to please residents, students and visitors to this great city. “We also want to be known for being a relaxing place to hang out. We’re a friendly bunch and we’re more than happy to see a group of mates in having a game of ping pong, or alone with their laptop and a coffee. “We can’t wait for everyone to see the new and improved Vaults.” One Caius student was less impressed by the new state of their local bar, however: “Frankly, gourmet hot dogs seems a strange way rejuvenate a tired establishment. Until they can stop their drinks being quite so overpriced, I doubt I’ll be frequenting The Vaults anytime soon.”
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News 3 Cash, meals, accomodation and grace: The perks of getting a First Ellie Hayward Investigations Editor Most students who succeed in getting a First in Tripos will be satisfied enough with the sense of pride, and the knowledge that late nights spent in the library instead of Cindies were worth it after all. On top of this, however, an investigation by The Cambridge Student has shown that the vast majority of students awarded Firsts (known as scholars) can expect substantial rewards from their college, including a higher place in the room ballot in some cases. With the exception of Homerton, which offers no prizes – although this policy is currently “under consideration” – all colleges offer cash prizes to scholars, normally in the region of £100 to £200. The vast majority of colleges also offer a scholars’ dinner, and in some cases getting a First entails extra obligations. At Selwyn, for example, scholars are given the duty of reading a Latin grace at Formal Hall. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is scholars at St John’s who are the best off, with every student who achieves a first class being awarded a prize ranging from £400 to £600. Furthermore, at some colleges, scholars
Such swag are given preferential treatment in choosing accommodation, often through a higher place in the room ballot. These include Corpus Christi, Fitzwilliam, Caius, St Johns and Pembroke. At Christ’s, for example, once exam results are known in July, students who have obtained Firsts are allowed to
working on a proposal to replace the scholars’ ballot with a randomised system, and a forum on the issue is to be held this Friday 6 March, with a referendum set to follow. Conrad Allison, the St Catharine’s JCR accommodation officer, told TCS: “I do not believe a system that rewards achievement at the expense of others under the guise of incentivising effort, a system that benefits the few to the cost of the many, some of whom suffer mental health issues or have other extenuating circumstances, a system that only benefits scholars who can afford to pay the higher rents for the better accommodation, is just and fair in today’s climate. “I hope to see an end to this anachronistic system at St Catharine’s College, which the majority of colleges have already abolished.” A third-year student at Caius who did not have exams in first year, and so was unable to get a first, declared the system Photo: King’s College, Cambridge “entirely ridiculous. Operating on the understanding that people will only work relinquish the room that they chose in for a first for a good room is bizarre.” the standard room ballot, and instead One Girton student, who was awarded Scholars at choose a better room elsewhere. a First in Part I, said: “It’s nice having However, this policy of rewarding St. John’s are a free dinner, and I think getting cash scholars with better accommodation the best off or book tokens is a deserved award, has proved controversial among some but getting preferential accommodation student bodies. based on your academic performance At St Catharine’s, the JCR is currently does seem a bit over the top.”
Cambridge women’s colleges and trans students: The case for clarification? Ellie Hayward Investigations Editor Cambridge occupies a relatively unique position as a university that continues to have women’s colleges. However, there remains some ambiguity over the status of transgender and non-binary students in relation to Cambridge’s three women’s colleges, Murray Edwards, Lucy Cavendish, and Newnham. The Cambridge Student recently sent Freedom of Information Requests to Newnham, Murray Edwards, and Lucy Cavendish, requesting clarification on their policy towards trans students, including students who decide to undergo gender transition during their time at the college, and the wider admissions process. In their responses, all three colleges emphasised their support for the rights and interests of transgender students, although none appear to have a specific or clear written policy on the issue, instead preferring to treat it on a caseby-case basis. Newnham, while acknowledging that they have no written policies specifically
addressing the matter of trans students, stated that they aim “to protect and respect the rights of transgender and transsexual students including especially their right to privacy and to exercise their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association without discrimination on those grounds.” Murray Edwards, meanwhile, commented that, “Instead of having a general policy”, the College “treats each case in the most appropriate fashion for that individual with their best interests in mind.” Neither Murray Edwards nor Newnham provided clarification on their admissions policy for trans students, although it is understood that the former is looking to improve clarity on the issue in coming weeks. Lucy Cavendish said it “actively welcomes transgender and transsexual undergraduates and graduates, and is proactive in addressing applicants’ concerns relating to cisnormativity.” The college added: “We are, however, by statute only able to admit students who are legally female, so an applicant biologically born male, but identifying as female, would need to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate prior to entry.
Lucy Cavendish “actively welcomes” trans students
“A student biologically born female, but identifying as male, could be admitted to Lucy Cavendish if that student remained female in law.” In August, it was reported that UCAS was looking into changing its rules demanding that applicants declare whether they were male or female, as it was said to violate the Equality Act. The admissions service decided to review its policy after the Nonbinary Inclusion Project presented a petition demanding that they change the “application form to ask about gender rather than legal sex and offer more than two options.” Asked about their College’s policy relating to students who undergo gender transition during their time at University, neither Newnham nor Murray Edwards provided a detailed response. Lucy Cavendish was exceptional in giving the following comment to The Cambridge Student: “We would support the student, pastorally and academically, within Lucy Cavendish College, for as much of the transition period during which she remained legally female as she wished, and would then assist the student in transferring to a mixed College.”
Commenting on the issue, Rob Cumming, the trans* rep on CUSU’s LGBT+ committee, said: “From what I’ve heard the women’s colleges are currently doing a fairly decent job of looking after their trans students. “However without a concrete policy this is all subject to change with the turnover of administrative, admissions and pastoral staff involved. “The University is in the process of rewriting their policy on so-called ‘Gender Reassignment’ and it would be good to see the women’s colleges formulating some kind of written policy off the back of this when it is released.” Cumming continued, emphasising that such a policy “must be done very carefully, engaging trans students at every turn,” and that “any policy written must be forward-looking with respect to gender as a non-binary concept.” Nate Dunmore, the LGBT+ Campaigns Officer for CUSU, also pointed out that “treating each case on an individual basis is likely the best course of action when a student comes out to the college as identifying as something other than female – following a strict policy may not be in the best interests of every student.”
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News 4 On Wednesdays, we wear pink: Cambridge stands up to breast cancer Cambridge Pink Week got off to a flying start last Friday, with a launch party at Clare Ents marking the beginning of a week of events aimed at raising both funds and awareness for various breast cancer charities. A series of different events are lined up for the week, including a dance class, a Formal at Clare and a selection of pink goodies. The Pink Week team took to Market Square last week where they held a flashmob. Individual colleges also held their own events. On Sunday, the sold-out Pink Night at the Museum took place at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, where there were also bands, magicians and tarot readings. The dress code was “smart with a twist of pink,” a theme that was sustained in the food and drink offerings. This was followed by an after-party at The Fountain. On Monday night, Dr Walid Khaled, who researches breast cancer at the Department of Pharmacology, gave a talk entitled: “The war on cancer rages on”, discussing technological advances in the field of breast cancer research. On Wednesday, in the vein of Mean Girls, everyone was encouraged to wear a pink item of clothing and visit
the Pink Week stand on King’s Parade where there was a photoshoot for the #pinkbecause campaign. A number of businesses around Cambridge are also supporting Pink Week, with special cupcakes on sale at Fitzbillies, Pretty in Pink fudge at the Cambridge Fudge Kitchen, Eton Mess Frozen Yoghurt at Chill and a special cocktail at Ta Bouche. Pink Week began in 2011 in memory of the Guardian columnist Dina Rabinovitch, who died of breast cancer in 2007. Her daughter, Nina Rauch, now a student at Cambridge, founded the initiative, launching it at her school and subsequently bringing it to Cambridge with her. Pink Week is now Cambridgewide, with 63 representatives across the University and colleges. Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK, with approximately 50,000 women and 350 men diagnosed each year. Nina Rauch told The Cambridge Student: “I started Pink Week in memory of my mother Dina Rabinovitch ... Pink Week aims to be a fun, lively and colourful reminder to the student body of the UK’s most common cancer, and we aim to be at 10 UK campuses by 2016. “It is an incredibly important cause and awareness is most important of all as early detection saves lives.”
Continued from page 1... The two other candidates, Leo Kellaway and Katie Akers, received 336 and 552 votes respectively. Leo and Katie both looked to address the issue of student engagement with CUSU. Leo took a single-issue approach to the campaign, focusing mainly on getting a Student Union building, whereas Katie felt that the answer lay in a “peripatetic” system, whereby each college would in turn host College Council. CUSU Women’s Officer went to Charlie Chorley with 878 votes in the third round of voting out of a possible 1,785 valid ballots. Charlie campaigned to make the Women’s Campaign more inclusive, rather than what she described as a “narrow, exclusive brand of feminism”. Her proposals included running leadership/public speaking workshops for female students in Fresher’s Week and creating a report on inequality in gender attainment at Cambridge. She beat ‘Whose University?’ founding member Daisy Hughes, and Amy Reddington, who received 659 and 462 votes respectively. One third-year historian said: “Charlie’s victory is something of a blow to the current Women’s Campaign. Women’s Campaign as it stands is far left of the general student opinion, and Charlie’s election acts as a referendum
on this position”. Helena Blair was re-elected to serve as CUSU Access & Funding Officer, beating the two other candidates, Eireann Attridge and Melanie Etherton, with 1,507 votes. Her campaign focused on A-Level reform discussion and formulating a new CUSU alternative prospectus and website, for which she had already acquired £30,000 of funding. Helena said of her victory: “[I’m] so happy, I might cry”. However, not everyone was overjoyed at the news. One student, who wished to remain anonymous, commented: “It is disappointing to see that Helena was re-elected this year after her limited deliverance on her previous manifesto… I hope that despite the limited fruition of her plans this year, namely the alternative prospectus, real progress will finally be seen in her second year.” The role of CUSU Welfare Officer went to Poppy Logan, who saw off a challenge from one anonymous prospective candidate calling on students to vote to re-open nominations. Students were asked to re-open nominations so that the potential candidate would be able to contest the position, following initial difficulties in relation to a graduate job. Jemma Stewart was closely re-elected
Rachel Balmer Deputy News Editor
“Awareness is most important of all as early detection saves lives”
Pretty in pink to raise awareness
for a second term as CUSU Coordinator. She defeated Ivan Tchernev, otherwise known as the ‘flag bearer of Sidgwick’ with 1,164 votes compared to Ivan’s 1,092. Jemma pledged to change the nature of the role from administration work to support of CUSU campaigns and wider services. Jemma commented to TCS: “This year has been one of the most tumultuous years of my life, I have loved and hated this job. There’s been times I wanted to quit and times I wanted to go on with the job, and it is not until recently that I realised that this job could be seen as being a vital part of the team and genuinely improving CUSU. As much as this role is about administration, it is also so much more than that.” In other news, Rob Cashman, Cornelius Roemer and Tiantian Chen were all successful in their uncontested bids to be CUSU Education Officer, University Councillor and Ethical Affairs Chair respectively. Meanwhile, the turnout for the Graduate Union was one of the lowest of the night with just 689 votes cast. Eric Lybeck was narrowly elected with just four votes more than the secondplace candidate Kate Crowhurst. Eric also beat the previous GU President for 2013/2014 Richard Jones, who campaigned partly on the basis of
Image: Nina Rauch
his work putting the GU “back together after its near collapse in 2012”. He asked for a second term from GU students, so that he “can finish what [he] started”. The voters appear not to have agreed. In his manifesto, Eric spoke of the lack of training and adequate mentorship for graduate students undertaking a supervisor role. He also criticised the payscale for supervisions. Eric spoke to TCS with some optimism about the low turnout for the Graduate Union Presidential elections, commenting: “I haven’t seen the full run down, but I understand that more people have voted in the Graduate Union election than last year.” Overall, however, turnout for CUSU elections was one of the highest in years with over 4,000 students voting. This is a significant increase on last year’s 2,675 votes cast. Murray Edwards student Charlotte Furniss-Roe commented on the turnout: “Huge congratulations to Priscilla and all the successful candidates on great campaigns. Ultimately, however, this ‘high turnout’ still only represents 4,000 out of a possible 21,000 votes. “Say what you like about the high engagement of this election, it still didn’t excite the vast majority of students enough to make them bother to vote.”
Access Officer Helena Blair was ‘so happy she might cry’
05 March 2015
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News
5
Cambridge arts students have a greater chance of getting a First Tonicha Upham Deputy News Editor A study has been published this week to assess the disparities between the awarding of Firsts and other degree classes at the University of Cambridge. The study, conducted by Bernard Rivers, a recent visiting fellow and retired economist, identified subjectrelated patterns in the allocation of Firsts and 2.is. Overall, there has been an increase by 14% since 1960 in the number of students awarded a First for any Tripos exam across the courses offered by the University. The data suggests that students studying for an Arts Tripos are more likely than their counterparts studying Science to gain a First or a 2.i. Rivers’s report, entitled ‘An analysis of how often ‘Firsts’ and other classes are assigned in Cambridge University exams,’ indicated that between 2000 and 2014, the percentage of arts students receiving a First rose from 17% to 30%, and those receiving a First or a 2.i increased from 84% to 94%. For the same period, Rivers reports that: “no meaningful growth” took place among the science Triposes.
On average, between 2000 and 2014, 69% of final-year Chemical Engineering students were awarded a First or a 2.i, whilst examiners for the final-year History Tripos awarded a First or a 2.i to an average of 97% of their students. Further to this, Bernard Rivers claims that in 2014, all of the students who received a 2.ii in the Part II examinations for Chemical Engineering, Mathematics, Engineering, and Computer Science would have received an 2.i if they had achieved the same scores in the Part II exams for the Music, Theology and Religious Studies, Classics, History of Art, English, History, MML and Land Economy Triposes. Reflecting on this, first-year Natural Sciences student Ben Edwards commented: “It would mean getting a First in a science subject means more than a first in an arts subject... It just shows how science subjects are maybe a bit more difficult.” He suggested that work should possibly be undertaken to even out the disparity, which is in line with recommendations by Bernard Rivers in his report that students in all faculties be “treated equitably regarding the assigning of Firsts and Upper Seconds”.
The percentage of arts students receiving a First rose from 17% to 30% between 2000 and 2014
Cambridge students this week have had mixed reactions to Labour’s recently announced proposal to lower the annual cap on tuition fees in England from £9,000 to £6,000. The plan is to introduce the new fee cap immediately following the election. An extra £400 to the maintenance loan has also been pledged. The announcement just preceded the annual conference of ‘Labour Students’, the national organisation of Labour Clubs at UK universities. Speaking about the conference, CULC Publicity Officer Rory Weal said: “The tuition fee cut and extra £400 in maintenance grants is a great step in the right direction, and will benefit students who are already at university – this demonstrates the real impact that Labour Clubs can have in fighting for a better deal for students. However there is still much further to go.” However, the proposals were not met with universal acclaim across Cambridge. Some students had some
serious reservations about the proposed cut to tuition fees. Outgoing Editor of The Cambridge Tab, Charlie Bell, commented: “Yet another cynical move by the party which brought in tuition fees, failed to talk about them in their 2010 manifesto, and is desperate to hook student votes. Not to mention the utterly uncosted nature of these proposals. I fear for the future of HE if Miliband takes over at No 10.” Elsewhere, the Cambridge Student Liberal Democrats (CSLD) echoed the words of local MP Julian Huppert who confirmed in a tweet that he would vote against Labour’s proposals, were they to be implemented. In a comment to TCS, Reece Edmends argued: “CSLD believes fees are wrong in principle and should be phased out.” He added: “Julian opposes the Labour Policy because the immediate priority right now should be help with cost of living, not a cut in contributions for the wealthier graduates.” A Caius student commented “I would be absolutely shocked if Labour followed through with this. Seems like an obvious PR move with no policy implications.”
4 A* grades at A-Level) compared to 39% of History students. However, between 2012 and 2014, the number of final-year students being awarded a First was higher for History than it was for Mathematics. Brief comparisons with other universities were also made. According to the study, Cambridge awards fewer Firsts and 2.is to final-year students than Oxford does, but the University still awards the top degree classes to a greater percentage of final-year students than the other 22 Russell Group universities collectively.
Arts vs. science Part II : percentage of Firsts over time
Cambridge students react to Labour tuition fee cap pledge of £6,000 Jenny Steinitz News Editor
However, Edwards went on to say that: “I don’t really compare myself to what other people from other subjects get. I just care about what standards I set for myself and what I want to get.” Looking more closely at the disparities between achievement in arts and science subjects, Bernard Rivers has noted that achievement at A-Level or equivalent does not necessarily impact on the finalyear Tripos exam results of students across the two disciplines. Between 2011 and 2013, for example, 83% of Mathematics students arrived in Cambridge with a UCAS Tariff score of at least 600 points (better than
“Seems like an obvious PR move with no policy implications”
Photo: Bernard Rivers
Increasing admissions of UK’s poorest students to Cambridge Shilpita Mathews Deputy News Editor The Office for Fair Access (OFFA), an independent public body that regulates fair access to higher education, has stated it wants admissions of the UK’s poorest students to increase from 3.2% to 5% at Cambridge and other “elite universities” by 2019/20 (using figures from 2011). It also wants an increase in the number of poor school leavers entering higher education from 20% to 36% by 2019/20. The Times states that this would mean a doubling of student numbers from around 22,000 in 2011 to 40,000 in 2020. The Huffington Post reports that currently students from more privileged backgrounds are 6.8 times more likely to enter selective universities than those from the poorest families. A spokesperson for the Russell Group was critical of the report’s findings saying “We are concerned ... it could disincentivise universities from continuing with some activities in deprived areas which target the students who are hardest to reach.” Cambridge has various schemes in place to address problems related
to access with the two main CUSU initiatives: the Shadowing and Target Schools Schemes. Ruby Stringer, Access Officer at Downing stated, “As a participant of this scheme [Shadowing Scheme] now studying at Cambridge, I can say for sure that I would not have applied to Cambridge having not done it. “I think a lot of the barriers to students from poorer areas to Cambridge are aspirational – if you think that Oxbridge is just for posh people, you won’t apply.” She added the Target Schools Scheme, which allows schools to request a visit from current Cambridge students, allows “certain off-putting myths to be expelled about Oxbridge”. Other initiatives run by the CUSU Access Campaign include the Alternative Prospectus and Cambridge Ask A Student Facebook group. Les Edbon, Director of Fair Access to Higher Education, stated: “There are now record rates of disadvantaged young people entering higher education and we are also starting to see significant progress at universities with the highest entrance requirements.”
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News 6 College Watch
Images: Hannah Taylor (above), Jessica McHugh (below)
Churchill
Magdalene
Caius
Medwards
The still-young presidency of Churchill’s Freddie Downing continues to be dogged by controversy as students have reacted with shock after it emerged that JCR committee members will now be given priority in the room ballot. This fresh clash with the student body comes only weeks after Downing was featured in these very pages after coming under fire for his restructuring of the JCR committee. Downing claimed in an email to the student body responding to the developments that “the proposal got forgotten” amongst the various other JCR business of term, and has apologised to the student body for this oversight. He went on to defend the proposals as fighting apathy, and alleged that an open meeting of 70 members of the JCR approved the motion. Whether this attempt to quell the groundswell of discontent will succeed remains to be seen, but it seems certain that the rifts in Churchill JCR will take time to heal.
Indie rock fans were left hyperventilating with excitement this week, as it was announced that The Fratellis would be headlining Magdalene May Ball this year. The BRIT award-winning trio, whose debut album Costello Music contained the two top ten hits ‘Whistle for the Choir’ and ‘Chelsea Dagger’, will be playing at the exclusive whitetie event on 17 June 2015. The committee released the news with a new trailer, depicting various Magdalene students dancing to ‘Chelsea Dagger’ on college grounds. Commenting on the coup to The Cambridge Student, May Ball President Hannah Grace Shaw said: “We are delighted that The Fratellis will be headlining the main stage”, adding “we hope the video portrays how excited we are about our headliner.” With dining tickets coming to over £200, revellers will be relieved that at least some of their cash is going towards spectacular musical entertainment.
Caius Politics Society hosted controversial Green Party Parliamentary candidate Rupert Read last Sunday. The Green Party hit the headlines this week following Natalie Bennett’s interview on LBC, which has been described as the “worst political leader’s interview ever”. Commenting on the interview, Read said, “I’ll let you into a little secret. I was obviously a little bit dismayed by the trouble that Natalie Bennett had last week. But I think that that was the secret – it may have knocked and moderated people’s expectations.” Discussing the Green Party’s chances at the next election, Read stated: “Realistically Natalie Bennett or Caroline Lucas are not going to be Prime Minister on 8 May. What we want from this election is a massive increase in the number of votes and an increase in our number of seats. We want people elected in our target seats – places like Norwich, St Ives, Liverpool Riverside, here in Cambridge.”
Baroness Lawrence, anti-racism campaigner and mother of Stephen Lawrence, this week spoke at Murray Edwards College on her experiences of racism, police corruption and life in Westminster. She gave a moving account of the days and weeks following Stephen’s murder in 1993. It was only later she discovered that, despite having been given the names and addresses of the murderers within 24 hours, the police instead focused their scrutiny on the family itself. In spite of these obstacles, Baroness Lawrence has taken great steps in affecting law related to police race-relations and was appointed to the House of Lords in October 2013. She commented on why she took to campaigning following her loss: “I have nothing to lose. They’ve already taken my son.” One student in attendance commented to The Cambridge Student: “I think it’s great that Medwards is continuing this lecture series, inviting such inspiring women to come and engage with students.”
Sam Rhodes
Colm Murphy
Anna Caruthers
Jenny Steinitz
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
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News 7 Interview with Cambridge Spy uncovered Stevie Collister-Hertz News Reporter A rare interview with one of the Cambridge Five has been discovered after more than 50 years. The interview, conducted in 1956 by Canadian television channel CBC, is believed to be the only time one of the Cambridge Five spoke to a western camera crew. It was lost when the journalists failed to notice its significance and categorised the interview under the name of a different guest. Having been recruited for the NKVD while students at Cambridge in the 1930s, Guy Burgess and the other members of the Cambridge Five went on to become some of the most significant moles in Britain. Burgess leaked more than 380 top-secret documents in the first half of 1945 alone, through his role as assistant to the Minister of State in the Foreign Office. Later, when he was working at the British Embassy in Washington, Burgess supplied the USSR with information on the Marshall Plan. However, Burgess’ spying career was cut short in 1951 after he fled with fellow member of the Cambridge Five, Donald
Maclean, when it appeared that Maclean was about to be uncovered. Five years later, they emerged in Moscow, where another rare interaction with the media took place in the form of a press conference organised by the KGB. In the newly re-discovered Canadian interview, Burgess discusses his desire to “go back to England for a month to see my family”, but acknowledged that he could not risk it due to the threat of prosecution, in addition to the unmentioned KGB restriction on his movements. The interview was only rediscovered when an archivist looking for footage about the Cold War astumbled upon it, and realised the significance of the interview. The official historian for MI5, Professor Christopher Andrew, believes that the KGB allowed the interview to be buried, despite originally organising the meeting, because it was not desirable propaganda. This was partly due to Burgess’ condition – he had requested that his interview fee be paid in scotch. Four members of the Cambridge spy ring have been identified. Of these four, three members of the group, including Burgess himself, studied at Trinity At least three members of the ring attended Trinity College College during the 1930s.
Burgess had requested that his interview fee be paid in scotch
Photo: Chen Zhao
Eight UK law schools delisted from Singapore’s list of accepted universities
Cambridge achieves historic Fairtrade milestone
Shilpita Mathews Deputy News Editor
Imran Marashli News Reporter
Eight high ranking UK universities, including Manchester, Leeds, Exeter and SOAS will no longer be recognised by Singapore’s Ministry of Law from this year onwards. The other delisted universities are: Leicester, Liverpool, Sheffield and Southampton. Channel News Asia has previously reported that these universities accounted for 30% of Singaporean graduates from UK law schools in the last three years. Cambridge and Oxford were among the 11 schools which remain on the list of accepted universities. Thio Shen Yi, president of the Law Society, said: “As a profession, we will only hire the right numbers that we want. It is all about economics – the supply and demand. We are not going to hire extra lawyers because there is extra supply.” Cyrus Chua, a Singaporean law student at Gonville and Caius College argued, “There is no reason why a law graduate must work or expect to work in the legal sector. We could have relied on the market to remove the glut. Wages
would fall, and the competitiveness of the industry would rise as top firms could afford to be more selective in hiring. “In any event, if the fear is really about maintaining the quality of lawyers, the government could have raised the bar exam standards instead.” However, Darshini Ramiah, a Singaporean law student at Newnham College argued, “I agree with the rationale behind it. It’s really tough getting into a Singaporean University to do Law and I don’t think it’s fair that tons of students get to go overseas to a whole range of universities and then come back and compete for the same jobs.” This comes as the number of Singaporeans reading law in the UK has more than doubled from 2010 to 2014, according to Channel News Asia’s estimates. The law minister, K Shanmugam, warned last August that the increase in Singaporeans studying law overseas could lead to an oversupply. Chua concluded, “For a country that openly espouses both meritocracy and free-market principles, this decision strikes me as misguided at best and protectionist at worst.”
“This decision strikes me as misguided at best and protectionist at worst”
Cambridge has been officially awarded Fairtrade status by the Fairtrade Foundation. The achievement comes in the middle of Fairtrade Fortnight, which will finish on 8 March. After Oxford Brookes University became the first university to be accredited with the Fairtrade Mark in 2003, the University of Cambridge has now committed itself to using and selling as many Fairtrade products as possible. In celebration of this landmark status, Louise Whitaker, Ethical Marketing Manager of Peros Ltd (the largest UK Fairtrade distributor in the food sector) gave a talk in Cambridge on her experiences in coffee-growing communities in Uganda. With more than half a million hot drinks in the University annually, the event explored how Fairtrade coffee growing empowers women and helps growers face the threat of climate change. The move to source ethically and sustainably produced goods was a joint venture between the University’s Central
Catering Service, the Environment and Energy Section and CUSU. CUSU’s Ethical Consumerism Officer, Susanna Hartland, explained to Varsity that to fulfil the necessary criteria for Fairtrade status, an official policy had to be created and approved by the University of Cambridge’s Pro-ViceChancellor for Institutional Affairs, Professor Jeremy Sanders. However, the accreditation applies only to University-run facilities (such as lecture colleges, where JCRs have different levels of provision for dealing with Green and Fairtrade issues. Currently Newnham, King’s, Robinson and Fitzwilliam have Fairtrade status, while only Gonville and Caius College has a specific Fairtrade Officer. In spite of the University’s success, the acquisition of Fairtrade status has not thrilled everybody. One student at Newnham College – one of the few Cambridge Fairtrade colleges – commented: “To be honest, I had no idea my college was a Fairtrade college. It’s a bonus, but I would prioritise cheaper buttery food over Fairtrade stuff in the majority of cases.”
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
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Science & Research
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Interview: Professor Nicola Clayton on brainy birds and dance can we approach that in birds?
Liv Grant For it is one thing to say they can Science & Research Contributor remember that they can remember what Professor Nicola Clayton studies the learning and memory of animals, in particular members of the crow family (corvids), which exhibit highly intelligent behaviours. Professor Clayton is also a dancer, and combined her love of tango to became the first ever Scientist in Residence of the prestigious dance company Rambert in May 2011. Professor Nicola Clayton is a Fellow of Clare College and a Fellow of the Royal Society. How did you come to be interested in animal behaviour? Since the age of two I was fascinated by birds, and I’ve always wanted to fly. When I went to Oxford University, I would have loved to have read a joint degree in zoology and psychology, but as this wasn’t possible, on the advice of John Krebs who told me that there would be lots of bird projects in zoology, I chose zoology. I then did a PhD on birdsong learning. What are the big questions in the field of animal cognition? Obviously one problem is the thorny problem of consciousness; to what extent, are these abilities that we are seeing in the birds, similar or dissimilar to our own cognitive abilities, and how can we ever assume humans are associating with various levels of consciousness and how
happened where and when, it is quite another to say that like us they are aware of being the owner or the author of the memory. How could you get to that in the absence of any agreed non-linguistic markers? One approach is to take these tasks that we have done on birds and apply them to humans. Another thing is trying to understand what the cognitive milestones are, and asking if rooks, jays and children go through the same developmental stages, and do they make the same kind of errors in the patterns of thinking. Given different types of brain, different types of past evolutionary history you would expect similarities and differences, but that pattern of similarities and differences might help us have a better model of what is going on. I think that there is a danger otherwise that we just label it as cognition without actually understanding the underlying mechanisms. There needs to be a big emphasis on really trying to understand more of the underlying processes, and how they might work. You have been involved in numerous critically lauded dance projects – how does this tie in with science? One of my science-dance collaborations is with Rambert, specificially working with the choreographer and artistic director of Rambert, Mark Baldwin, who choreographed a piece called “Comedy
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A long night’s sleep of more than eight hours a night, is associated with a greater risk of strokes
Shreya Kulkarni Science & Research Editor
Combining creativity in dance and science of Change”; which was all about evolution and includes a section that was inspired by the bird of paradise’s moves. Rambert won a Laurence Olivier award in part because of this project. We are now working on a piece for 2016 for Rambert’s 90th anniversary, based on Haydn’s ‘The Creation’ about the origin of life and of time we argue that time didn’t exist before life existed, or to put it another way, without consciousness who has a concept of time?
Image: nickyclayton22
right questions, and in truth an artist also needs to measure and to evaluate. I think back to the days of Da Vinci – why can’t we be both?
“I think that creativity is very important in both artistic and scientific processes”
Do you have any advice on how to lead a career as interesting as yours? I have a little phrase that I like to use, which is ‘enthusiastic serendipity’ because I think that so much of life is precisely about serendipity, about luck, but you make your own luck, because if you are too busy and you cram your life too much, all the big things can pass you by. Sometimes you just have to be opportunistic and intuitive, and think ‘that sounds like it would be fun’. You have to have this passion to be a scientist or an artist, above all it is about being willing to engage with creativity.
How important is creativity in your work? I think that creativity is very important in both artistic and scientific processes. I think that a lot of people think that sciences and arts are very different, that is that the arts are all about creativity and ideas, and that science is all about measuring things. But in truth, to do a good experiment you need to be creative, To see the full interview please visit and to have good ideas and to ask the http://www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/science
Those who sleep more than eight hours a day have a higher risk of stroke, according to research by the Department of Public Health and Primary Care. The group looked at just under 10,000 subjects through this 10 year study, noting how much participants slept. The majority, seven out of ten participants slept between six and eight hours, whilst only one out of ten slept more than eight hours a day. On post-hoc analysis, the group found that those who had long sleep bouts, were at 46% higher risk of stroke than the average. Those who slept less than six hours also showed an increase in stroke risk, but due to the small numbers of subjects this was not statistically significant. Moreover, a change in sleep, from short to long, further increased the risk of stroke to four times that of an average length sleeper. Yue Leng, a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, noted the clear link between length of sleep and risk of stroke, adding “What is far less clear, however, is the direction of this link, whether longer sleep is a symptom, an early marker or a cause of cardiovascular problems.”
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Financial incentives, including shopping vouchers, could stop one in five women stop smoking during pregnancy. The work done by the University of Cambridge and King’s College London, comes at an important time for society as the number of women smoking during pregnancy continues to rise. In England 12% of women continue to smoke during pregnancy, with the average varying from 0.8% in areas of low social deprivation from to 27% in less deprived areas. During the study, women were awarded vouchers starting from £8, increasing by £1 each visit, for quitting smoking. However women in high areas of social deprivation were less likely succeed in quitting. Professor Theresa Marteau from the Behaviour and Health Research Unit at the University of Cambridge, who led the study, said: “We all know of the dangers of smoking, particularly during pregnancy, but quitting can be extremely difficult. Offering financial incentives clearly works for some women – with very few ‘gaming’ the system and a significant number stopping smoking at least for the duration of their pregnancy.”
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Researchers from around the world, including the University of Cambridge, have found that the world’s protected natural areas attracted around 8 billion visits a year. This large area of nature-based tourism generates billions of dollars annually, and researchers have called for more to be invested into the conservation of the protected areas. The team used a database of 550 protected sites worldwide that could be extrapolated to predict the attraction factor of a further 140,000 protected sites. Despite this the group still believe their current numbers are conservative estimates, and the number of people visiting and the money generated could be even greater. Lead author, Prof Andrew Balmford of the Department of Zoology, noted that “It’s fantastic that people visit protected areas so often, and are getting so much from experiencing wild nature – it’s clearly important to people and we should celebrate that,”. Investing in these popular protected sites could ensure their survival for many years to come, sharing these cherished places with future generations.
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
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Editorial 10 The cat saga and other editorial privileges Letters to the Editor Jack May Editor-in-Chief
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irstly, it’s probably about time we set one thing straight. It’s been causing us unfathomable problems for weeks and weeks on end. On Thursday 22 January 2015, the second issue of this editorship featured a ‘Creature Feature’ on page 11, which introduced the delightful pets owned by The Cambridge Student’s editors. It has since been revealed that a cat on that page was misattributed to Colm Murphy, Associate Editor. This cat was in fact Social Media Manager Yema Stowell’s. Confusion spiralled over the following weeks as repeated and escalating incompetence on the part of the editor of this newspaper meant that the cat saga spiralled out of control. To be clear: this newspaper has never printed a picture of Colm Murphy’s cat, Boots. This was our mistake as a newspaper, and we cannot express more sincerely our earnest and heartfelt apologies. Reacting to the news, Colm Murphy said “I feel devastated and betrayed. I have no idea how this could happen.”
“Why do I love TCS so much? Two words: Jack. May.”
“You get some of the wisest, silliest, most adorable people in Cambridge who will definitely be your BFFLs because that’s what frequently staying up ‘til the wee hours in a strange-smelling office quibbling about commas does to pals.” – Freya Sanders, Associate Editor “Being part of a group of individuals who are all striving for the same goal, collectively helping each other, is a pretty rare experience at Cambridge. TCS have it down.” – Bronte Philips, Comment Editor “I’ve interviewed Ed Miliband, met Robert Downey Jr., sprinted to Sainsbury’s to pursue a rogue fire alarm, and hastily negotiated with Uni Press Officers over the details of big stories.” – Colm Murphy, Associate Editor “If there’s a better way to spend a term than holding people in power to account who aren’t used to it, I haven’t found it.” – Sam Rhodes, Associate Editor
Dear Editor,
The author references the presence of a Slytherin and a Hufflepuff, and suggests the troupe seek to include a Ravenclaw. This quite clearly omits the house of Gryffindor, which I would like to stress was the late Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore’s very own. Gryffindor’s championing of courage is, to this day, vital in our world of war, famine, and slightly underbaked croissants. Therefore, I propose that a Gryffindor should have been included. Someone such as, say, Neville Longbottom. Who was it that slew the snake Nagini, stood up to He-Who-Must-NotBe-Named, and would be most likely to appreciate the delights of Parisian cuisine? Longbottom, that’s who! I hope my notes will be taken on board in future.
While I was perusing the latest issue of the best student newspaper in Cambridge, I came across a letter from “Your biggest fan” that caused me considerable discomfort. With your permission, I shall explain why. The author quite beautifully and poetically justifies the presence of a ‘Hermione’ figure alongside Messrs Potter and Weasley, specifically in reference to the recent travels of Editorin-Chief Jack May and Associate Editor Sam Rhodes across the channel – known to the more technologically literate as ‘#CaiusToParis’. However, I felt quite strongly whilst reading this that the author was, regrettably, missing one more, utterly vital, personage. The trio of Potter, Weasley and Granger (or May, Best wishes, Rhodes, and Sanders *cough* I mean anonymous letter-writer) is insufficient. Your other biggest fan
– Jenny Steinitz News Editor
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njoying the spiralling confusion created by an untoward harem of cats is only one of the many perks of working for The Cambridge Student. Here’s how great it is, in the words of some of our editorial team: “TCS turned a difficult year into a brilliant one. The people are creative, caring, and critical of our institution in the best way possible; this is – surely – the most fun you can have at Cambridge” – Maddy Airlie, Fashion Editor “It keeps me more sane than otherwise when not in Cambridge.” – Will Amor, Dispatches Editor
Sound good? Go to www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/apply. Applications close Friday 06 March.
Image: Alex Brooks Shuttleworth
Lent Term Team 2015 Editor-in-Chief
Jack May
Associate Editors
Colm Murphy Sam Rhodes Freya Sanders
News Editors
Sam Raby
TV & Film Editor
Grace Murray
Fashion Editor
Maddy Airlie
Books Editor
Alice Mottram
Julius Haswell
Lifestyle Editors
Jessy Ahluwalia Lucy Meekley
Amelia Oakley Elsa Maishman Chase Smith
Food & Drink Editor
Julia Stanyard
Sian Avery
Sport Editors
Charles Martland Flora McFarlane
Design Editor
Daisy Schofield
Production Editor
Tom Saunders
Shreya Kulkarni
Comment Editors
Albi Stanley Rebecca Moore Brontë Philips William Hewstone
Jenny Steinitz Anna Carruthers Interviews Editor
Deputy News
Technology Editor
Science & Research Editor
Investigations Editor
Rachel Balmer Shilpita Mathews Features Editors Tonicha Upham Olly Hudson Catherine Maguire Columns Editor Ellie Hayward Theatre Editor
Dispatches Editor
Will Amor
Music Editors
Harry Parker Miriam Shovel Tom Ronan
Social Media Managers
Yema Stowell Ru Merritt
Sub Editors
Kat Karpenko Shreya Nanda Sydney Patterson
Chief Sub Editors
Megan Proops Char Furniss-Roe
Directors
Ciara Berry Jemma Stewart Siu Hong Yu Hazel Shearing Thomas Saunders
TCS Top Dogs
Rachel Balmer Sam Rhodes The TCS Team
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
www.tcs.cam.ac.uk
Comment 11 Women’s only spaces must stay Sarah Jane Tollan Comment Contributor
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alking down a dark road at 2 a.m. is one of the most terrifying things I have to do. I do it all the time and it should be so simple: you walk, you reach home. Yet, as soon as you take that first step onto the pavement, something odd happens; your muscles tense, your breath becomes shallow, the blood rushes to your head. You become acutely conscious of the fact that you’re a woman. It is no longer a straightforward walk to your door, but a battle for survival. It was in 1977, during the infamous reign of the Yorkshire Ripper, that Reclaim the Night was born. Official police advice warned women that to stay safe, they should avoid walking the streets at night. Because of one man’s violence, women everywhere were told they could not move freely without fear from attack, and that it was their livelihoods and routines that had to change. Reclaim the Night was a much-needed response to the restrictions this warning placed on women, and to the shifting of responsibility from the perpetrators to the victims of sexual assault. The police warning carried an implication of blame; if you were on the
streets at night, then you were ‘asking for it’. The annual Reclaim the Night march was and reamins a chance for women to take back the streets they have been excluded from. Yet it is marred and attracts media attention for its ‘anti-male’ and ‘antiegalitarian’ policies as it focuses on male violence towards females, and conscientiously choses to exclude selfdefining men from the march itself (although they are permitted to have their own demonstration, and are involved elsewhere in the campaign). That the march is only open to selfdefining women is not a denial that female upon male violence occurs, nor a rejection of the idea that men can be attacked during 2 a.m. walks home as well. Rather, it is affirming the existence of that midnight female fear, of the percentage of sex crimes committed against women by men at night, of survivors’ unwillingness to testify because they will be met with disapproving remarks regarding their blood-alcohol level, or the dress they were wearing, or the fact that they shouldn’t have been out that late. It is about the need for women to be able to reclaim the spaces that society forbids or warns them from, it is about their right to be able to move freely as a human being,
Women need to be able to reclaim the spaces that society forbids or warns them from
and not to be chained to the home. The opponents of male exclusion need to be aware of the part the march plays in the macroscopic role of feminism and equality. They are ignoring the fact that a ridiculous majority of women fear walking their own streets at night, and as a result, that it is women who need to march in solidarity as a symbolic eradication of this fear. The ‘self-defining women only’ policy is at the epicentre of a march that is campaigning against the slut-shaming, victim-blaming culture which is upheld by the male gaze. It is campaigning to break down the barrier that society has placed around us, of the
Women Unite {text}
E L C Y C DON’T LIGHTS! WITHOUT
…AND AVOID A £30 FINE.
Bike lights available from CUSU for just £8. Old Examination Hall, Free School Lane, Cambridge, CB2 3RF.
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unfair responsibility that we are forced into the cattle pen with. Making the exclusionary principle at the heart of Reclaim the Night the focus of column inches and public discussion is sadly undermining of the true symbolism of the march itself. Women’s only spaces are about solidarity; women standing together to address the overwhelming statistical violence perpetrated against them by men. For women to march together without men is a reclamation of the spaces male violence make unsafe for them. It is not anti-men, nor anti-egalitarian, anymore than the word ‘feminist’ is.
Image: Sandy Rushton
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
www.tcs.cam.ac.uk
Comment 12 Student journalism is relevant inside and outside of the University Elsa Maishman Comment Contributor
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tudent journalism is vital. It provides us with the means to hold the University and colleges to account, as well as allowing students to join the debate and have their own opinions heard by thousands of other people. There are student publications in Cambridge which look outwards, focussing on events and news unfolding on both a national and global scale. This is important in reminding us that the world continues to turn beyond the confines of the Cambridge bubble, and that there are billions of people who could not care less about our workload, or about whether or not we get a reading week. And then there are those that are more inward-facing, focusing on life within the confines of Cambridge University. It is this brand of student journalism that is in many ways the most relevant; written by Cambridge students, for Cambridge students, it functions as a platform for issues that directly affect the student body. In the name of this inward-facing journalism, teams of dedicated students spend weeks conducting investigations, sending out Freedom of Information requests, and compiling statistics.
When these stories hit the headlines, it can sometimes be tempting to ask whether it was all worth it, and whether these articles really are as important as the student journalists responsible for them seem to think. My answer is yes. In some cases the controversy revealed is quite small, with only relatively few people affected. However sometimes it blows up into a huge media campaign, travelling even outside the university, as in the case of #endweek5blues. This movement now has a change.org petition with almost 500 signatures, as well as coverage in national newspapers and other university publications. In this instance, the various student newspapers provided a vital media outlet, both in publicising the campaign and providing a platform for students to give their opinions each way. Student media is the most effective way of forcing our University to be accountable for their actions. Through it we can make sure that everyone is aware of how much the University pays its staff, of the inconsistencies of the college rent system, or of how many students don’t return to study after intermitting. We can also report on the activities of important organisations – such as CUSU, the Union and CUCBC, and publish the opinions of students in support or condemnation of their activities.
Student journalism keeps us updated on issues inside and outside the bubble
Student journalists operate on a much smaller scale, but are often no less dedicated than their professional counterparts. Yet there are obviously differences between professional and student journalism. One of the most striking of these is accessibility. Getting published in a world-renowned broadsheet is something of a challenge, whereas every student at this university has the opportunity to express their opinions through student media. Having your thoughts printed by a student newspaper often involves little more than an email or Facebook message to one of the many editors, and many of Cambridge’s publications hold regular
writers’ meetings where all are more than welcome, regardless of experience. Whether or not you write for a publication which goes to print, your article can be shared on Facebook and Twitter accounts with thousands of followers, as well as being put up on websites where, in theory, the article could be read by any of the 3 billion people connected to the internet. Student media is fundamental to the democratisation of the university, creating an environment in which every student is able to find out about the activities of those in positions of power and influence, as well as express and debate the issues of their University.
TCS: a bastion of democracy
Image: Jack May
Atheism is beautiful, but it shouldn’t be a cult Alice Chilcott Comment Contributor
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theism would seem to have committed the ultimate hypocrisy. In raising the profile of their stance, prominent atheists have broken their own law, and converted their non-belief into a quasi-religious movement. These days, Muslims have Allah, Christians have God, and atheists have Richard Dawkins. The latter is perhaps more
Is atheism just another cult?
active in converting people to his beliefs than either of the ‘real’ deities have been for a few millennia. If theism is the belief in the existence of a God, atheism is quite simply the lack of such a belief. Why, then, should it even exist as a community, let alone require the same authority figures as, say, Christianity? Perhaps the temptation to religionise atheism becomes more understandable when one considers the need for some sort of positive account of our belief system. Atheism today is
popularly defined in negative terms. Atheists are people who are too cynical to believe in God, or grew up in nonreligious households, now unable to reconnect with the abandoned spiritual side of themselves. Asked why one doesn’t believe, it is easy to shrug one’s shoulders and mutter something about ‘glass half empty’. Making a positive case for atheism is difficult – especially if you are concerned that doing so would cast aspersions on the faith of the person you are talking to. So we go on pretending we are atheists because some capacity for faith, some cosmological optimism, is lacking in us. But I am not just an atheist because of a string of reasons beginning ‘I don’t’ and ‘I can’t’. I am an atheist because this world is enough for me; and I am sick of hearing how sad it is that I don’t believe in God. I do believe in the world I know – a world which is beautiful and certain: the experience of human friendship and love, the power of good poetry, the glory of Cambridge in the early morning sun. These are undiminished in the absence of a deity. And the idea that, from the Image: Atheist Bus Canada beginning of time itself, billions upon
billions of fantastically improbable chances have conspired to create me, to create us, is at least as miraculous as the concept of Eve being fashioned out of Adam’s rib. As the marvelous Brian Cox said, we are literally made of stardust. And what of death? Philip Larkin called it “the solving emptiness / That lies just under all we do.” The paradox of a “solving emptiness” is, admittedly, bleak. Life culminates in death, and death solves the questions of life only in the sense that it obliterates them, replacing them with a final blank. However, I prefer to interpret those lines in a different way: death does solve life; the idea that one day our time will run out forces us to do something meaningful with it. It’s why we encourage one another to ‘seize the day’; why happiness and quality of life matter to us so. How much would we value our lives if we knew them to be endless? The truth is that some people simply don’t have a “God-shaped hole” in them. Atheism is not about a “lack” of anything. It is a faith in the world we know, the people we love, and the principles we stand for.
Atheism is not a ‘Godshaped hole’; it is a faith in world as beautiful and certain
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
www.tcs.cam.ac.uk
Comment 13 Erasing Marx in the name of liberalism Lucy McMahon Comment Contributor
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he Philosophy Faculty today meets to discuss the proposed new changes to the political philosophy syllabus. This revised programme greatly reduces all options that do not come under the remit of liberal political thought. The basic reason behind this is that the Faculty no longer has staff willing or able to teach the more varied syllabus offered to students in the past, a foreseeable result of hiring decisions. However, the department claims that the changes are primarily responding to the contemporary research climate, as well as to student input, choices Should all black women politicise their hair like Angela Davis? Image: Thierry erhmann and interests. They claim that their proposals are not a narrowing-down of coverage but a ‘contextualisation’ of topics such as Marxism. The letter sent Hannah Okorafor That Coleman’s locks were expected out to students justifying these changes Comment Contributor to smell of ‘patchouli oil or weed’ suffers from precisely the confusions are examples of the types of microof poor definitions, blurred distinctions he recent comments regarding aggressions that are constantly hurled at and unconvincing argumentation that Zendaya Coleman’s faux locks black people. It suggests that blackness an undergraduate philosophy course is created a social media storm can only be understood or expressed supposed to teach students to recognise. about ethnic or black hair and in particular archetypes. It undermines It sounds like a sales pitch – and many hairstyles. In the mainstream media the individual identity black people of the students aren’t buying it. a black person’s hair or hairstyles tends have – surprisingly we are not a In the past weeks students have to be tainted by controversy or negativity. monolithic group. presented two separate petitions to Some claim that wearing black hairstyles The debate about what constitutes the Faculty. The Faculty dismissed is a ‘political statement’. blackness occurs within our own the first one, claiming that it was Images of the Black Panthers, communities. A frequent point of based on ‘misinformation’. One staffnationalism and street culture comes contention is wearing straight weaves The system student meeting and one five-page to the minds of many. Yet, how can and hair as examples of ‘appropriation’ is rigged piece of Faculty propaganda later, a something that grows naturally from my of non-black hairstyles. The wearing so black second petition politely explained that scalp be considered ‘political’? of straight hairstyles, whether many women just students still don’t buy it. It remains During a conversation with a friend it black people choose to admit or not, to be seen whether they will be cannot win was said that black women with an Afro is a form of assimilation. As a black listened to this time. hairstyle are seen as ‘militant’ or defiant, women I will hear others state The one remaining paper that and that’s why the look is avoided. The they straighten their hair to look system is rigged so black women just “professional”. Likewise, some black cannot win, we can’t blend in with the men will not let their hair grow more dominant white / European culture. than one centimetre, before going to the But why should we try and change our barbers as they want to look ‘kept’. To be natural hair? black is to be unprofessional, we must trim The versatility of black hair is amazing, and maintain ourselves as protection a lot of effort, time, skill, and money against unemployment and racial abuse. goes into crafting black hairstyles. The The journalist has apologised and black hair-care industry in the United the situation has served as a learning States is worth a billion dollars. For point so, we can certianly consider many, it is an embodiment of one’s it a ‘win’. But I doubt this will be culture and heritage. the last time black hair or hair styles Internet commentators have noted that will be the centre of a controversy. The when one of the Kardashian / Jenner constant battle many black people face sisters wore faux locks and a cornrow with parts of our identity being considered style the media praised her ‘uniqueness’. controversial, falls into a greater The media’s reaction or double-standards societal problem. Coleman has since is the perfect embodiment of the effects removed her faux locks, and changed of cultural appropriation. When a thing her style. This is exactly why we should is associated with a black person it is treasure the versatility of black hair. We considered negative or criticised; and yet have more scope to experiment with our when a non-black person, in particular identities, we can refuse to be defined a white person, is associated with this only as something other than white. That Look at his sad little beard... aspect it is celebrated as edgy and exotic. is the beauty of our hair.
Dreadlocks and weed: Black hairstyles
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professes to deal with non-liberal politics is a Part II option entitled ‘Radical Politics’. ‘The moral limits of markets’ comes under this heading, which to even the most libertarian economist would not exactly constitute a ‘radical’ topic for discussion – and certainly post-2008 the inclusion of this under the heading ‘radical’ is strange. I graduated with a degree in Philosophy in 2009, back when the syllabus contained Marxism but basically no other non-liberal political philosophy. Feminism, for example, was taught only as liberal feminism. My experience studying political philosophy here left me with a strange and confused understanding of many things. For example, I presumed that socialism could be seen as just one option under liberalism, and that there was no obvious conflict between the two. I understood ‘liberalism’ to mean something vaguely associated with a pure and universal concept of ‘freedom’, rather than a culturally situated set of ideas that actually exclude most of the political systems and relations of power in the world today. Today’s proposals look like a return to this situation but with the additional removal of the Marxism paper, guaranteeing that more students will leave as politically confused and uninformed as I did. Far from moving with the times, reducing coverage of topics like Marxism and Power seems particularly perverse in light of such significant contemporary political shifts as the Arab Spring, financial crisis, the continued entrenchment of neo-liberalist thought, and the growth of anti-neoliberal opposition movements.
Image: Elliott Brown
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
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Interviews
14
Bonnie Tyler on childhood, inspiration and life without a perm Phoebe Thomson Interviews Contributor
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onnie Tyler is very glamorous and so incredibly friendly. Her hair has famously always been perfect: “Everybody thought I had a perm in the 1980s.” she says, “because I had my hair sort of scrunched, but actually I had my hair layered … it made my hair look massive, you know, it was never a perm!” It was during the 1980s that Tyler released ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ and ‘Holding Out for a Hero’. She was also asked to do Eurovision during the 1980s. “But,” she says, “I was number one in America and number one in the UK! It would have been so really naughty if I had done it!” Instead, she says, “the right time for Eurovision was a couple of years ago, because I’d just had an album released, and it was great publicity.” Tyler spends a lot of time touring Europe, and other “foreign countries.” She has recorded songs in many languages. But, she admits, “I’m a very naughty girl because I don’t speak other languages, so I tend to write the songs down phonetically.” She grew up with lots of music in her home. “I used to go to Chapel twice a day.” She explains, “I used to go in the morning and the afternoon. And I used to go to Church in the evening up until I
Bonnie rocking hard was about 15… The first song I ever sang on my own in Church was ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’” she smiles. “My mother, you know, she was always singing opera. She wasn’t a professional singer, but her voice was incredible. She had a wonderful voice, but she was just very shy.” At home, Tyler says, “it was all different kinds of music.” Elvis Presley
Image: Adam Bowie
“I sang in my bedroom with a hairbrush – we’ve all done it”
with her brother, Frank Sinatra and Tamla Motown with her sisters, Mario Lanza with ‘mammy’. “But”, she says, “I always went for very powerful singers like Janis Joplin, Tina Turner – a lot of energy, you know, that’s the kind of songs I was inspired by!” “One of my all time favourite songs is ‘River Deep Mountain High’, and I used to sing that in my bedroom with
a hairbrush,” she says, and then smiles conspiratorially – “we’ve all done it!” She suddenly bursts into song, a powerful rendition of ‘River Deep Mountain High’, and then just as suddenly returns to speaking. “I incorporate that into my act now!” she says with a smirk. Her act now is still impressive. She tells me that her 2004 collaboration with Kareen Antonn was a number one in France, and that it kept the Black Eyed Peas at bay for weeks. “And” she exclaims, “I didn’t know what the hell I was singing about!” She has also worked with Meat Loaf, Andrea Bocelli, and Rhydian Roberts. “Oh!” she says, “let me tell you about when I met him! I walked in, and I fell off the step, and I went flat out on the floor,” she laughs, “and I said “Oh! Nice to meet you Rhydian!”… what an entrance, right?” Even more recently, Tyler tells me that she “just did a gig at the O2 … and it was a-mazing, I tell you, I loved it. I don’t get to do many shows in this country.” she continues, “because I‘m always in foreign countries.” And in the future? “My diary’s absolutely chock-a-block with gigs,” she replies, “I don’t like all the travelling… the packing and the unpacking… but it’s really worth it when you get onto that stage, you know.”
Sir Quentin Blake - Illustrator for the nation’s children, in Cambridge Miranda Gabbott Interviews Contributor
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his drawings are an expression of the carefree youth he was denied. If Blake sees himself in his characters, do his drawings ever then relate to specific incidents he has been through? “They don’t relate to the dramatic moments in my life – I don’t think there’ve been any!” He gleefully says that instead of reflecting real-life events, he constructs his pen and paint fantasy worlds “like a play in which I am the director, writer, set designer and all of the actors.”
His friends apparently describe him as a frustrated thespian. Indeed, a sense of theatricality pervades all of Blake’s drawings – from the larger than life gestures to the exaggerated faces and dramatic settings, his style of scratchily rendered villains and heroes is accurately defined as “pantomime-esque”. When I ask Blake how he manages to capture the emotion of a face so recognisably in so few lop-sided pen strokes, he again talks of using a
ir Quentin Blake is the man who drew a nation’s childhood; I challenge anyone to think of Roald Dahl without immediately returning in their mind’s eye to the spindly figures wiggling and fluttering through the pages. From the second he shuffled, grinning into the Union to take up the speaker’s chair, it became delightfully apparent that Blake is every bit as caricaturish, kind-hearted and energetic as his cartoons. I was hoping to catch some witty anecdote from his childhood, but Blake emphatically shakes his head when I ask if he was a naughty child “I was horribly good! All of my mischief is done vicariously, I’m afraid.” He explains with no trace of regret that his drawings allow him to vividly imagine doing things which he could never do himself. Thinking back to the skipping and cartwheeling children portrayed in The BFG and Matilda, I picture a somewhat restricted childhood – Blake was evacuated twice during the Second World War. Perhaps the little devils in Exhibition in front of the chapel. Standard.
half-imagined version of himself as a model. In order to determine which parts of the face are moving in a particular expression, he finds himself unconsciously mimicking the expression of the character that he is trying to draw. He recalls how friends walk catch him working and tell him “you’re making the faces again!” Blake was more than happy to answer the big question - what was it like working with his most famous partner in crime, Roald Dahl? From Blake’s betraying grin I imagine the famous children’s author to have been something of a character: “If Roald was unhappy, you sort of knew about it!” There are apparently an entire set of drawings for The BFG which were completed but rejected by Dahl. Blake has the old man’s habit of seeming not to censor his thoughts before they turn into speech, but the extraordinary empathy which goes into making his drawings so relatable is clear from the warmth and openness with which he responds to every question. His age aside, there is a charming, plodding kindness about the pen-wizard which Image: Chris Huang makes him feel rather like a granddad.
All of my mischief was done vicariously, I’m afraid
05 March 2015
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Dispatches
15
Wandering through Jerusalems Dorota Molin Year Abroad Columnist, Israel
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rom my window I can see it, just across the road. At first glance, a normal residential area. Except that it’s enclosed by the security barrier and corked with a ‘feedbox’ (checkpoint in local slang). And that it is supposedly a refugee camp. Since I’ve been here, Shu’afat and I have sat quietly and observed each other curiously. I have peeked at the modern apartment blocks and at the countless unfinished building sites. I have seen the children playing outside, just in front of the barrier by the rubbish dump. I have been woken up early by the merciless horns of the cars heading to work jammed at the checkpoint. And I have witnessed the occasional firecrackers. Eventually, I decided I had to break the barrier of my ignorance of it. Over time, I realised that the houses in my window were the perfect political case study: “[Shu’afat is] the only location where the three main issues at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict overlap: refugees, security, and Jerusalem.” While this place is undoubtedly an extreme illustration, it
also shows the desperate entanglement of the issues. I’ve heard this kind of debate many times. Jerusalem: who should have sovereignty over it and what exactly are its borders? As for Shu’afat residents, they are legally Jerusalemites. But the practical side is a different story altogether. The majority of services, from rubbish collection to healthcare, are provided by someone other than the municipality. And they tend to be rudimentary: piles of rubbish, no pavements, crime in broad daylight. So my neighbours across the barrier ask, why doesn’t Ramallah step in? Probably because, for the Palestinian Authority, it isn’t the most urgent issue. And so for now, these ‘Jerusalemites’ are stuck in a political limbo between Israel and the West Bank and tangled in poverty. When I told my friend that this neighbourhood was a refugee camp, he was astonished. This place, despite poverty, has nothing of the vein of temporariness. Another way in which this place defies expectations. Yet about 50% consider themselves as refugees because their (male) ancestors were displaced by Israel some 50 or 70 years ago. And most strikingly, for many, their desire to return to the orange groves
Their desire to return to the orange groves of their ancestors is still alive Shu’Afat: An allegedly temporary refugee camp of their grandparents is still alive. A dream awkwardly problematic for the peace process and harmful for refugees themselves: the only thing left of many of the groves is their own mirage. And finally security, completing the vicious cycle. For Israel, protection is the main justification of the wall erected around Shu’afat. Yet it is collective punishment. And needless to say, this restriction only adds to the already existing frustrations, which are proving
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to be breeding ground for extremism. Embittered by Ramallah’s cold feet, Shu’afat is turning decisively to the more hot-blooded Hamas. And if one has to deal with a politically radicalised neighbourhood, the security concerns are perfectly legitimate. At the same time, it is clear that isolation and restrictions are not going to improve the social and economic situation in the camp. Something has to be done, but exactly what is perhaps beyond all of us.
Not quite the Louvre: Into the Fitz Laurelin Middelkoop Dispatches Contributor
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*
Image: Benjamin Chun
e have all been, voluntarily or not, to renowned art galleries in major urban centres around the world: the National Gallery in London, the Louvre in Paris, the Museo del Prado in Madrid, and so on. However, too many of us neglect a gem in the heart of Cambridge. If you wander down King’s Parade, on to Trumpington you’ll arrive at the stately Fitzwilliam Museum on your right. As a first year historian, our DoS thought it prudent to take us there early to acquaint us with all the art and artefacts it stores and to encourage us to use them in our weekly essays. While that last bit was perhaps rather too optimistic, I am glad she took us there. The museum offers a wide range of art and decorations from different origins. In a relatively rare manner, the pieces have been exhibited amongst decorative arts (i.e. furniture and the like) to create an environment similar to the ones they were meant for. Although this is rather artificial for mediaeval or ancient pieces, and I have heard that just about all of the furniture in the Dutch gallery was not
actually Dutch, it works. So the Fitzwilliam is not quite at home amongst world-famous museums like the Louvre or MOMA, and it could definitely benefit from doing more with the collection in terms of rotation and creating different exhibitions, but for a fairly small town like Cambridge it’s a remarkable museum. It shouldn’t be compared on this global scale. The Fitz easily accessible, completely free for everyone, and houses a good variety of art. So it does what it’s supposed to do: create an opportunity for anyone to enjoy art.
Image: Zyllan Fotografía
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
www.tcs.cam.ac.uk
Features 16 Be the change I’m looking at the student in the mirror, I’m asking them to make a change...
Tim Lennox
Every day, three teams of three people each deliver food to people on the streets of Cambridge. Volunteers buy food in Sainsbury’s and then head to St. Columba’s church to make sandwiches and fill flasks with hot water. We then go around offering the food and drink to anyone who seems like they need it.
Jemma Stewart
If you have ideas and strategies, joining your college’s JCR or student union can be a great way to instigate the change you want to see.
Lola Olufemi
If you see something that you know isn’t right, work to change it
Cambridge has taught me that you don’t need permission to change things. We are working in a centuries old institution that isn’t going to budge unless we force it to. So if you see something that bothers you, that you know isn’t right - work to place pressure on decision making bodies, from your JCR to CUSU itself. Apathy is not a neutral position, your silence on issues helps maintain oppressive power structures. From the Women’s Campaign to lobbying for the separation of the International and Ethnic Minorities officer role on my JCR to being part of FLY, a network for Women of colour, I can personally vouch for how rewarding it is to see that your actions can actually make a difference.
One plate fewer: Moving forward from loss Sarah-Jane Tollan Features Contributor
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osing someone is a strange thing. I’ve lost several things in the past – my prized doll at the park, my passport at a shifty bar in East London, my little brother in Primark. Yet that sense of utter frustration – of parasitic regret as you realise the emptiness of your hands, envisioning your ‘Baby Born’ lying abandoned by the swing set – is trivial when compared to losing a person, with no hope of finding them ever again. Everything changes, and yet nothing does. A mortal thread is cut, a voice ceases to echo in the world, footsteps disappear, and a chair suddenly becomes empty. The husky tones of Clint Eastwood are no longer heard resonating from behind the sitting room door on Saturday morning, and the fridge is empty of Carlsberg and black pudding. His friends don’t visit as much as they used to, and when they do, their booming bellows are replaced with
quiet, shaking tones. Even his name isn’t mentioned anymore. There is a sense that something is wrong – that perhaps you forgot to turn the oven off, or lock the front door. Yet you convince yourself that you’re being paranoid. So you lay out all six plates at the kitchen table, leave the crosswords empty in the newspaper, write Carlsberg on the shopping list. You watch Only Fools and Horses every Sunday evening and remember to tiptoe past his bedroom when you arrive home at 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Nothing has changed, you tell yourself, “everything is fine.” The few moments of recognition are painful. I mean those moments when you stop yourself from asking how he is during a Skype call with your brother, or when the student you’re sitting next to in a lecture innocently asks what he does for a living during small talk. The holidays are the hardest, especially Father’s Day. You are reminded of your exclusion – reminded of the smile you will only be able to see now between
There’s a sense that something is wrong, like you forgot to turn off the oven Coming to terms with it all the wrinkles of a photograph. “Nothing has changed.” It has become a mantra, given the number of times you have repeated it to yourself. And yet with every repetition you are damaging yourself, preventing yourself from progressing, doping yourself on a lie. Losing your doll at the park taught you something: you must adapt to your empty hand, filling it up with
Image: Larry Went other things. You lose some of them, you mourn for them, yet you continue stretching your hand out, grasping for more. Life does not end with the loss of another; it just changes. You walk past the black pudding in Sainsbury’s without crying, you finish the essay despite the gnawing sadness, and you lay five plates out at the kitchen table instead of six. Life goes on.
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
www.tcs.cam.ac.uk
Features 17 Easter is coming Elsa, First Year. My Director of Studies assured me that it would be a ‘tough time’ during a supervision in week one. Since then I’ve heard that ‘you won’t sleep,’ that ‘nobody comes out of their bedroom until May Week’ and that ‘getting a seat in the library is like trying to get Taylor Swift’s signature.’
Their faces cloud ominously, and a single word sours my smile – “exams”
Image: Jessica McHugh
Chase, First Year. Whenever, smiling sweetly, I express my excitement for the warmth of Easter Term, I am met with grim glances from any third years in the room. Their faces cloud ominously, and a single word sours my smile – “exams” – always whispered in an awkward hush with an admonitory glare. And then when I remind them (not thinking very hard) that as a first year historian I have no Part I Exams, they simply walk away. Freya, Second Year. Revision keeps everyone in the same predictable places, so it’s never hard to find your favourite procrastination partner. Easter Term is the best for lazy lunches in hall and five minute tea breaks that become three hour chats about life, the universe and everything. Sure, the big, unassailable, fanged e-words are looming over you, but in there’s no pressure to be constantly producing. It’s all about reconciliation. There’s time to follow up those bits and bobs scribbled at the bottom of supervision notes; you can get in touch with your favourite supervisors and ask them intelligent-sounding questions. And it all counts as work.
Battling Inertia: Surviving Cancer Flo Sagers Features Contributor
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tanding in a chocolate shop, holding my phone desperately close to my ear, I listened to the voicemail message that brought a huge smile, and tears, to my cheeks – I had just got into Cambridge. This moment, familiar to so many of us here (although easily forgotten in the inevitable essay crisis), was particularly poignant for me. I had missed the phone call because I had been in the basement of a hairdresser’s (with the resultant crappy signal) getting a wig cut. My Cambridge interview had been held the day before my first chemo session, and perhaps it was apt, then, that Cambridge kept me going throughout the rest of my treatment. On the days immediately following yet another round of chemo, when I felt too weak to do anything other than listen to Harry Potter, all I had to do was to remember that I was going Cambridge. Eventually, I got here. I looked rather
different, but none of my new friends were to know that. My hair had grown long enough to cut into a peroxide blonde pixie cut, and I was free from the the wig. My eyebrows had grown back, although I still looked perpetually startled. I was determined to enjoy myself, to go out, and most of all to get drunk, something that I had not been allowed to do for the best part of a year. I was going to change, to put Sick Flo back in her box, and release Fun Flo! Sadly, Fun Flo didn’t last long, and after one night out in Freshers’ Week I was exhausted. My immune system was nowhere near up to scratch, and I promptly developed an impressively severe bout of tonsillitis. I told myself that it didn’t matter, that Fresher’s week was nearly over and that the work would begin soon. Sick Flo could be put back in the box again, and it would be time for Clever Flo to get stuck in. My body, however, as per bloody usual, had other ideas, and wasn’t changing with my brain. I was exhausted, I struggled to read even a
I’ve realized that it’s okay not to be able to change completely
Get back on track at your own pace page, and ended up sobbing down the phone to home that I couldn’t hack it. My parents used a wily combination of tactics to get me to stay: “we’ll come and get you tomorrow” was my personal favourite, although my sister’s snapchats of my cat were also effective. Finally, I managed to change. I succeeded in getting my body and my
Image: Sophie Buck mind to sync up, and now in second year I’ve managed to throw myself into Cambridge life almost as much as I once dreamed I would. I’ve realized that it’s okay not to be able to change completely, to go to bed embarrassingly early before a big night out, and to listen to Harry Potter – to be comforted, and to be reminded of how far I have come.
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
www.tcs.cam.ac.uk
Features 18 All Experiences Matter
I just don’t know what to do with my visiting friend... Amelia Oakley Features Editor
Chris Page Columnist
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Ultimately, what is the point?
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epressing old title, eh, especially for my last column. But then again, as I write this I feel depressed, in every sense of the world. I’m depressed because I have depression (shocker), but also because I’m currently asking myself what is the point of campaigning for welfare at Cambridge? There’s been a vein of intolerance towards welfare campaigns which eclipses any legitimate criticisms. Trolls and intolerant idiot keyboard warriors aside, the main thing that depresses me is just how little progress we’ve made. As I mentioned in a previous column, I was involved in the campaign to reform the intermission process and the requirement for intermitted students to live outside Cambridge. We campaigned hard, and it appeared we won. Imagine my horror when, browsing the Senior Tutors section of the University website (which, let’s face it, is the kind of thing I do for kicks), I came across guidance notes which stated that intermitted students “should not reside in Cambridge.” This is, presumably, the latest regulation, offered as guidance to the top decision makers in colleges. Now, it’s possible that the University never updated its guidance. Which, given that ‘Degrading is Degrading’ was three years ago, is a poor show. Or, what’s more likely, pipes the pessimist voice in my head, is that the rules have been changed back because Cambridge thought no one would notice. If that’s true, frankly fuck it. What’s the point of campaigning for better welfare if we’re taken right back to square one? Perhaps the University relies on the fact that most students are only here for a few years in order to repeal reforms it doesn’t like. Only old sods like me are still around to remember. But maybe that’s why it is important to keep campaigning. Ultimately, things in Cambridge change slowly, and not always on the first go. What you do now may have an impact on future generations, and for that it’s worth it. I hope students do continue to campaign for welfare reform. Depressed as I am, I’ll be joining them. So that it: end of column. It’s been swell. Keep fighting for better welfare. Good night and good luck. The full article, along with a link to the guidance notes, can be read online.
It’s a moment so beautiful that I could vomit glitter
anging up, I exclaim: “see you then, it’ll be so much fun!” So ends the Skype call arranging a friend’s weekend visit. It has come. My time to shine, my time to prove that Cambridge isn’t really “all work and no play.” Where to begin? Well, by awkwardly asking if she doesn’t mind spending an hour or two in the library one day… just whilst you get some reading done. Great start, Amelia, you’ve smashed that stereotype to a veritable pulp. Step two: let them know that the station is a thirty minute walk away, and as committed as you are to the friendship, the soul destroying trek into the dark and mysterious world of ‘that’ side of Cambridge is quite literally a step too far for you. A cab it is. Cue intense excitement and slow-mo Baywatch style running out of plodge and into each other’s arms. There’s a babble of incomprehensible catching-up and compliments thrown aggressively at one another, of course underpinned by a narrative of ‘I just can’t believe you’re here.’ It’s a moment so beautiful, I could vomit glitter. And then it comes, the question, the question which stumps you even more
Wandering aimlessly along King’s Parade than Piers Plowman – ‘so what are we going to do?’. You falter, you stumble... ‘do?! You want to do things?’. Bugger. Whilst making incredibly subtle decoy conversation about your respectively non-eventful love lives, you pull up Google. Punting: Too cold, I’m fond of my fingertips and would love to keep them. Visit the Fitz: No, you want to show your friend that Cambridge isn’t pretentious. Nightlife: You sigh. Your friend is only staying on Friday night, and any night out prefixed by ‘danger’ is to be avoided. Disaster. Your dreams of showing your friend that Cambridge isn’t really that off the wall are cruelly thwarted. But you power through, like the valiant soul you are. First stop: formal, and a whistle-stop education in the complex
Image: Kosala Bandara
rules of pennying. Suitably drunk, it’s time to hit the college bar for some top quality post-formal pre-drinks. Before you know it, somehow you’ve ended up there – the heathen place – Gardies, a feat you instantly regret the following day whilst you point out, mildly hungover, the sites of King’s Parade with a feigning arm and yawning tone. The only thing for it is to spend obnoxious amounts of money at an actual restaurant to soak up the remaining wine in our bloodstreams. You wave your friend off to the station (let’s get real, she’s getting a cab again) out of pocket, horrendously behind on your work, but savouring those couple of days spent escaping the bubble without even leaving Cambridge.
Student Spotlight: CU Amnesty International Elsa Maishman Features Editor
A By the end of the weekend CUAI had 15 metres of signatures on our petition
mnesty International is a global movement of over 7 million people. Founded in 1961, it has grown into an influential organisation which campaigns against the violation of human rights. The Cambridge contingent is somewhat smaller, but very active nonetheless. The group meets every week in Clare Memorial Gatehouse to discuss future campaigns and work on Urgent Actions. This involves responding to a situation in which human rights are being violated somewhere in the world. Students write letters to presidents, ambassadors, and other influential figures, calling upon them to take action. All students are welcome to come to meetings, regardless of previous involvement or potential commitment. Cambridge University Amnesty International (CUAI) run an annual campaign called The Cage at King’s. Legend has it that this event has been ocurring for over 40 years. It runs for a 48 hour period, from 6 p.m. on Friday until the same time on Sunday evening,
during which members of CUAI occupy a wooden cage erected on King’s front lawn. This year’s event took place last weekend, and focussed on Amnesty’s Stop Torture campaign. The aim of the event was to raise awareness, and also to collect signatures on a petition. This will be sent to the UK government, calling for an independent inquiry into the UK’s complicit involvement in torture, following reports that the British government has offered logistical support to CIA aircraft engaged in rendition excersises. During the day we talked to people passing the cage about the campaign, asking them if they’d like to know more about the Amnesty Stop Torture campaign, and whether they wanted to sign our petition. It was interesting – there were some people who were in support of torture, and one of the highlights of the experience was when, after a short debate, one such person agreed to sign our petition and join the fight against torture. Some people simply ignored us, but that is always to be expected. From the majority of people, however, we had a really great response. Staying in the cage overnight
was very different to the daytime experience. There were much fewer people about, but those that saw us were more likely to come over for a chat and sign the petition. The Cage campaign was an amazing experience, and by the end of the weekend CUAI had a 15 metre long piece of fabric covered in signatures.
Cagelife
Image: Darcy Levison
05 March 2015
the cambridge student
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Features 19 Homerton – Olaf
“Some people are worth melting for.” Warm, friendly, and lovable.
Cambridge Curiostity Cabinet
Newnham – Mulan “Let’s get down to business!” Fighting gender inequality since 1871.
Guy Lewy Columist King’s College Chapel: A history in bits
Medwards – Merida
“I am Merida, and I’ll be shooting for my own hand!” AKA I don’t need no man.
Jesus – Maximus
“You should know that this is the strangest thing I’ve ever done!” So many horses.
Tale as Old as Time St. John’s – Maleficent
“Stand back you fools!” Entry for tourists: £7.50.
The Colleges as Disney Characters
See our website for the full list! All images via YouTube Magdelene – Cruella De Vil
“We lose more women to marriage than war, famine, and disease.” Last college to admit women... what more can one say?
Gonville & Caius – Pain & Panic
“Coming, your lugubriousness.” Mildly evil, but ultimately incompetent.
Girton – Ariel
“I wanna be where the people are! Wish I could be part of that world...” Castle Hill sure keeps Prince Eric at arm’s length.
King’s – Quasimodo
Emmanuel – Anna
“Safe behind these windows and these parapets of stone, gazing at the people down below me.” Great singers, living aloft in pretty buildings.
“For the first time in forever I won’t be alone!” One word: ducks.
Trinity – Hercules Trinity Hall – Megara
“No man is worth the aggravation – that’s ancient history, been there, done that.” When Trinity’s your neighbour, sass is the name of the game.
“I have often dreamed of a far off place where the crowds will cheer when they see my face.” For now, Trinity, we all just hate you. All that money must make life tough..
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ing’s College was Henry VI’s idea – a place for Etonians to be given the unique privilege of unexamined degrees. He wanted its chapel to be the grandest around, “in large fourme, clene and substancial [...] gret curious werkes of entaille and besy molding”. Unfortunately for Henry and his ‘werkes’, he was taken prisoner in the Wars of the Roses and the chapel was left for 15 years an open, lopsided shell. Richard III continued the work, ordering a building frenzy which stopped abruptly when the next King, another Henry, violently had him killed. King’s chapel then spent nearly 25 years as a strangely functional but not-yet-completed construction. Services were held in the five Easternmost bays, the only ones which were roofed. A diagonally sloping wall of empty building fell away from this makeshift place of worship. Henry VIII’s craftsmen quickly finished when England became more peaceful. Today you can still read the chapel’s fitful history in its stone. The three phases of work used three different quarries, each a different colour. When you’re next in Front Court, notice where the white magnesian lime stone morphs into the more golden variety on the buttresses. Those two bricks were laid 20 years apart. Back in the present day, history isn’t just seen through these stones, it is actually carved straight into them. If you’re ever lucky enough to be taken onto the roof, stop off in the vault chamber in between the ceiling and the roof itself. On the walls of this dark gallery, whose floor rises and dips to the rhythm of the fan vaulting beneath it, are carved the names of visitors dating all the way back to before the civil war. This charmingly carved graffiti, some in Latin, contrasts with more recent chalk additions like, “Catherine 2009”. Asides from tourists and clergymen in dresses, the occasional clash occurs between visitors and the building’s ostentation. The grand altarpiece, Rubens’ ‘Adoration of the Magi’, had “IRA” scratched into it in 60cm high letters on one of the Magi’s red coats. The chapel’s bitty history is plainly evident for anyone to see. Look out for opportunities to visit the roof, or simply check out the historic stonework.
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
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Cartoon 20
Cartoon by Miranda Gabbott
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
www.tcs.cam.ac.uk
Games & Technology
21
It’s not just a game, it’s an esport: In favour of competitive gaming Julion Willis Games & Tech Contributor
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than Wimbledon. And it’s not hard to see why. Computer games are exciting because they can offer interesting and fresh game design, creating new situations for decision-making which are impossible to emulate for sports in real life. Introducing concepts like incomplete information and player asymmetry make for engaging games that are both fascinating to watch and to play, and this is just part of the story. My game is StarCraft 2 (SC2). I’ve never before encountered a game so
ights. Sound. Action. Lots of action. It’s tense. The audience can’t believe what they’re seeing. The commentators are going wild. The skill is unprecedented. The match is on edge. It could go either way. One player makes a daring move. If it works, it could win him the game. If his opponent spots it, that’s game over. The audience holds its breath. The suspense is palpable. At the last second the plan is discovered. There’s a scrambled defense but the reaction is too late. An edge turns into a lead and the wining player is unrelenting. His opponent taps out. “GG!” (‘Good game’) is screamed. The crowd erupts. The climax of the tournament is reached: a new champion crowned. Winner of fame, glory and prize money. Adored by fans. But he’s just sitting behind a computer, playing a computer game, isn’t he? Exactly. Welcome to eSports. Electronic sports are relatively new but already massively popular. ‘The International 3’, last year’s largest tournament, saw teams compete for $10,000,000 of prize money in a packed stadium watched by over 20 million people across the world. That’s bigger There’s sport under the confetti, promise.
impossible to master fully. But for me it’s not daunting, but exciting. It’s a type of game named real-time strategy (RTS): imagine chess with no turns and both players playing as fast as they can. What makes this type of game so interesting, both a sport and a mental challenge, is that your time and focus now become a resource. It’s in acute demand, and there’s never enough. You’re playing against another human in real-time. The faster you make decisions and act the more advantage
Last year’s largest tournament saw teams compete for $10,000,000
VideoGameVisionary. com via Flickr
you have. There is no limit to the speed at which you can play by yourself. But you can’t be everywhere at once. What will you prioritise? What will you ignore? What will be your strengths and what will be weaknesses? You can win by taking the time to think and make the best decisions; or by playing fast, doing everything with flawless control. Both are essential at the highest professional level of play. These games push and pull you in every way, both mentally and physically. It is not enough to understand the game completely – you also have to pull it off. Your mechanics (how you use yhe keyboard and mouse) are vital too. This is what elevates SC2 above being a game and makes it a sport, an eSport. The physical and mental are combined and indeed required. Some games, like SC2, are single player; others are team based. But all involve not only high level tactical and strategic decision making but also a level of execution that is quite impossible to comprehend. The best players have APM (Actions Per Minute) counts exceeding 300. Three hundred. That’s over five different actions per second! Sustained over games up to an hour long. Their reaction times are lightning quick, their focus unwavering and their multitasking unbelievable. So yes, eSports are a sport.
Are esports the future? An opposing view
Varsity esports: See it yourself
Vijay Maharajan Games & Tech Contributor
Sam Raby Games & Tech Editor
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lectronic sports (eSports) is a term used to describe organised video game competitions, and on the 27 January, was officially recognised as a second level Olympic sport. While some gamers actually lament the potential inclusion of eSports into the Olympics, it does nonetheless highlight its growing popularity. The industry has rapidly expanded to rival many other sports, bringing in more viewers and offering more alluring prizes. The International 2014 offered a prize of over $10 million, whereas the 2014 Champions League Twenty20 in cricket only offered a prize of $6 million. Furthermore, while the 2014 Football World Cup Final brought in a peak of 17 million viewers, this was dwarfed by the League of Legends 2014 world finals, which boasted 27 million viewers. So eSports really is a phenomenon of the modern day, and is more than just a bunch of gamers wanting to create a brand for themselves. As video games became more socially acceptable, the number of active players has increased,
and thus so has the success of online games. The more who play, the more that want to join. So perhaps the future of video games themselves is eSports. They’re already at the stage where they can rival sports both in viewers and funding and there is talk of joining the Olympics itself. Certainly the wider public is becoming more aware of eSports. But personally, I believe the future of gaming lies elsewhere. While the Internet does provide the ability to directly compete with people around the world, it also allows people to share their experiences of playing single player games as well. Several highly popular YouTubers, such as PewDiePie and Markiplier are testament to this, and boast subscriber counts in the millions. In addition, the future of video games may also be determined by the success of new technological advancements: as virtual reality technology becomes more attainable, for example, single player games that take advantage of this may increase in popularity. The focus of video games will thus probably shift from a scene dominated by esports to a balance of single and multiplayer games.
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The focus of video games will thus probably shift
sports are part of Cambridge life as well, and next term will see 25 Cantabs face off against a team from Oxford in what promises to be a fierce Varsity match. It is only the second time such a competition has been held, but the event drew 60,000 online viewers last year, behind only Rugby and rowing; and is being organised this year by ESL – the biggest esports logistics company in world. Production
You really have no excuse not to.
values are thus clearly running high, and fittingly the Union’s hallowed debating chamber will be host to the five games being played: Dota 2, League of Legends, Starcraft 2, Counterstrike: Global Offensive; and Hearthstone. The setting in a way proves a striking metaphor for the event. Old, antiquated, university buildings juxtaposed with a very 21st century sport; just as this new form of competition now goes hand in hand with the oldest university rivalry in the world. Interesting food for thought certainly. The event is on 3 May if it piques your interest.
Julian Willis via Facebook
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
TV & Film
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Catch-up TV: Curse of the Netflix queue Bek Sarsenbayev TV & Film Contributor
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y friends tell me that The Americans is a great TV show, that Keri Russell is wonderful, the costumes are amazing, and best of all, the wigs are hilarious. More than that, I’m a history nerd, so the idea of a show about Soviet spies in Reagan’s America is enough to make me believe that it could be my perfect weekend indulgence. The reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, and the series will be renewed for a fourth season. By all accounts The Americans is a great show and one well worth my time. Thing is, a year and a half after it came on the air, I still haven’t watched it. Of course I have questions. Do the stars of the show (Keri Russell, an American, and Matthew Rhys, a Welshman, play the Soviet spies) attempt to speak Russian in an intensely cringeworthy way? Does disco music play every time the producers want to remind us that this is, in fact, the eighties? Yet these remain unanswered, and The Americans sits untouched in my ‘to watch’ list. When The Americans started, I was catching up on Breaking Bad and Mad Men. Then I discovered Justified, and then Hannibal, which scared me witless and then disappeared for a devastatingly lengthy hiatus. By the time I cleared my
For a TV junkie like me, it’s just a matter of time before my Netflix queue is empty
slate, I was too emotionally scarred to try and tackle something which came as highly recommended as The Americans. In fact, I now find myself turning to 21 minute sitcoms that tell a funny, light and self-contained story. The Americans, on the other hand, is a story of deception and lies, and right now I just can’t handle emotionally investing into characters that turn out to be evil, or storylines that make you sympathise with meth dealers, serial killers, and advertisement executives, who are bound to be ruined by the series finale. The other problem is that when it comes to TV, I am my own worst enemy. When I begin a show, I have to watch it until completion; it’s like eating a bag of Doritos. I can’t just spread it out and enjoy it. There are two completed seasons, around 17 hours of viewing time. With deadlines, applications, and the customary four hours of sleep, that’s two days I can’t afford to lose, if I start I know for sure that I will. For a TV junkie like me, though, it’s just a matter of time. There’s only so much Parks and Recreation I can rewatch. The flu season is here, which means I also have the excuse to postpone everything for a couple of days and watch TV. After all, there’s nothing else left in my Netflix queue. That, or another episode of Friends. The Americans can For all we know the show’s just hours of this still frame surely wait another week.
Image: To....
Outside the bubble, Disney doesn’t cut it
Here we find the best of ‘Friends’
Grace Murray TV & Film Editor
his week we asked Cambridge students to defend their all-time favourite Friends episodes. If you’ve somehow resisted watching the Netflix classic this term, here’s your chance to relive some of the best moments from the show.
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e all know that Cambridge can be just a little bit insular. It’s week eight, which means that we’ll all soon be back to a world where accommodation is not arranged by picking names out of a hat and Lent bumps conjures up images not of rowing but of some sort of disease. It also means that I’ll have to face the fact that the only films I’ve seen recently are the Disney ones that have made it to Netflix, because why trek to Cineworld when you can lounge in bed with a pack of biscuits by your side? Returning home is suddenly like being the only kid in year six who didn’t watch The X Factor. Yes, you might seem like a bit of a hipster, but after all everyone knows you weren’t out hitting the town on Saturday night. You find yourself at the centre of a debate as to whether Michael Keaton really did subtly put his acceptance speech away once Eddie Redmayne won Best Actor, and your only contribution is to mumble, “The Stephen Hawking film was set in Cambridge, wasn’t it?” And then we’re back in familiar territory.
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Ross’s love for Rachel is confirmed in the sweetest way possible.” – Alistair
“The one where everyone finds out about Monica and Chandler. It’s got true love on so many levels and all the Friends’ classic talents are on display: Chandler’s awkwardness, Joey’s ability “For me, the best Friends episode to reveal a bra in two seconds, Phoebe has got to be the one where there’s a being weird and sexy.” – Maddy powercut. There’s Ross’s attempted confession of his love for Rachel, “The one with Brad Pitt is a Friends the discovery of the missing cat, and Thanksgiving episode, so even at the Chandler trapped in the dark with a beginning you know it’s going to be Reflection, show who I am inside Image: Loren Javier Victoria’s Secret model. a classic, but there’s just nothing like This week even my mum, whose We get to experience Chandler’s Brad Pitt as a neurotic dieter to top off grasp of film is roughly equivalent to the amorous inner monologue, laugh at an episode. You go in expecting him to average pensioner’s understanding of Ross’ perpetual shyness towards Rachel, be essentially playing himself, but he Returning iPhones, passed on some news about the and Phoebe even sings a special song commits. He gives an Emmy-worthy Star Wars sequels as I nodded in silence. home is for the occasion. As she so tunefully performance.” – Grace There are worse cases of friends whose like being tells us, a powercut simply cannot be only cinema trip this term has been an the only kid “scary” at all!” – Genevieve “‘The One that Could Have Been, ironic viewing of Fifty Shades of Grey, in year six Part I and II’. Let’s face it, we’ve always during which one of them fell asleep. “‘The One with All the Poker’ is a wondered about the big ‘what ifs’. who doesn’t A case could be made that cinemas are Season One gem of an episode that What if I didn’t get into Cambridge? far away and too expensive for regular watch ‘The X obeys the three unities of classical What if I did allow myself to get lunch visits, but there’s always that perennial Factor’ drama: it’s a game of poker, in one night, at Aromi every day? These two Friends Cambridge problem: before, I was a film in Monica’s apartment. We get some episodes help us to realise that actually, geek, a big fish in a small pond. Now I outstanding one-liners from Chandler you know what, who needs ‘what find myself with a lot of catching up to and the girl vs. guy competitiveness if’, because right now is just so much do in the holidays. thing works a treat, but best of all is that better.” – Ru
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
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Theatre
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Review: ‘The Strip’ Beth Oliver Theatre Reviewer
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his production feels not unlike an evening in the sleazy Vegas it portrays. You feel like you’re having fun, and at certain points you are convinced you are having fun but in the end you are only left confused and dissatisfied. The play is a series of 10 interwoven narratives from a female impersonator who just happens to be a woman, to a Ku Klux Klan member who unknowingly enters a gay club, and an enthusiastic astrologer who seems to be able to see the future. Each character, a transatlantic mix of Americans and Brits, is manipulated by the enigmatic Otto (Sam Fairbrother) to head either to Liverpool or Vegas, for reasons we never really discover. It’s a complex mess where people come and go, storylines become connected yet, other than a solar eclipse, the play never seems to move towards anything. This isn’t to say that there aren’t great moments. The play is full of dark humour which, despite the baffling plot, keeps you entertained. Katurah Morrish is a particular highlight as Ava Coo, the (female) female impersonator,
What to see: Easter term
bringing boundless energy and humour to the role whilst never letting us forget Ava’s profound fragility. Similarly, the interactions between Joe Spence’s Ku Klux Klan mass murderer Lester and Tom Beavan’s menacing, leather-clad kidnapper are always a delight. The insistence on partially lighting set changes meant that we were regularly treated to the inadvertently comic sight of the stage manager mopping the floor between scenes. But these were minor details in a design which was otherwise able to portray the grime and allure of its different locations. Credit must also go to costume designer Agnes Cameron, for providing distractingly excellent snake skin cowboy boots and a fabulous platinum wig. This attention to detail helped to maintain the overall aesthetic of the play. There also has not been better use of a fake baby prop since American Sniper, as Baby Ray proved to be a regular scene stealer. There’s no doubt that The Strip is a fun evening. But if you are looking for a play with a comprehensible plot then maybe this isn’t the one for you. We are promised a “kaleidoscopic pinwheel of a play” but really it all feels rather Katurah Morrish in ‘The Strip’ confusing and a little disappointing.
Image: J Hjorth
The characters’ monologues are delivered from a double bed
Image: J Hjorth
Harry Parker Theatre Editor
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Review: ‘FREAK’ Will Spencer Theatre Reviewer
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he recent lives of the two protagonists of Freak have been defined by their perception in the eyes of males. Reeling from the end of a long-term relationship, 30-year-old Georgie seeks validation as an object of arousal in her new job as a lap dancer. Leah is 15, and discovering sex for the first time. Largely told directly to the audience, their stories are strikingly candid. This honesty drives the play, as the drama comes from within the stories, negating the need for exaggeration or self-conscious poignancy which often envelop such intimate tales. Eleanor Mack is captivating as Georgie, perpetually panting her words out in a kind of unbalanced stream of consciousness. She begins by relating an outlandish erotic dream tinged with humour, to which her often crude language contributes. This gives a starkness to her words, which becomes more shocking as her language begins to apply to her experiences. Though the occasional overly flowery line sounds like scripted melodrama, Mack embraces this aspect, carrying it off as part of the instability
which engulfs her character’s psyche. Beth Dubow has most of the play’s best lines as Leah, but her ability at delivering them as a convincing 15 year old is remarkable. Despite her character’s naïvety, she displays a latent complexity as she tries to convince herself of her happiness with her sexual experiences. The inevitable intertwining of the two, when it comes, contextualises
Largely told directly to the audience, their stories are strikingly candid
their one-off monologues, while revealing fascinating new aspects to their personalities. The tales of Georgie and Leah damn their male protagonists, but more pertinently, the imbalanced discourse of which they are a product. The uncompromising, sincere yet despairing way in which they are conveyed makes this one of this year’s most formidable productions.
xam term is always a strange one in the theatre world: the usual buzz around the ADC and the Corpus Playroom dies down, as the two theatres start to scale back their full complement of shows. But as applications are open to direct, produce and perform in summer’s programme of shows, Easter already looks set to be a promising term of theatre. Here are TCS Theatre’s picks for the coming term. First up, The Quick and the Damned takes to the Corpus Playroom stage for a full show, having completed a hugely successful Papercuts showcase night earlier in the month. Guy Clark and Tom Stuchfield’s colonial drama follows the story of four 17th-century Spanish soldiers in the New Mexico desert as they are confronted by a stranger. Continuing with the Spanish theme, Federico Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding takes the week two mainshow spot. It’s a dark, emotionally powerful tale of marriage, family, and grief. Fans of Shakespeare will not be disappointed by next term’s schedule: Easter sees two, rather than the usual one, Shakespeare plays. First it’s director Jamie Armitage’s adaptation of Henry IV Part I; expect blood, death, and tomfoolery. Next we have a new interpretation of Othello by Robbie Taylor Hunt, director of this term’s enormously well-received Lean. Set in Army headquarters, with a genderswapped Othello, it’s an ambitious new take on the play. Violence is seemingly not something which the directors of next terms’ shows seem to shy away from. Week four’s The Evil is a story of domestic abuse, gang crime and cruelty, as young Erik is sent to a boarding school to correct his ‘evil’ ways. Week three’s BARE uses another boarding school setting, but takes it in something of a new direction, as young lovers Jason and Peter struggle with the Catholic environment in which they grow up. Rapper, poet, novelist, activist, and now playwright Kate Tempest will grace the Corpus Playroom stage early on in the term. Following the interweaving stories of three friends in a London night, expect the usual Tempest mix of grittiness and profound life-lessons. Directorial team Kaiti Soultana and Lucy Moss, of Road and Ajax440 fame, once more reunite for this week three Corpus mainshow. Finally, no theatrical calendar would be complete without the Footlights International Tour Show, taking in a brief run at the ADC in week eight before they jet off around the world.
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
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Music 24 Best Buskers
Poetry and lyrics: Are they on the same page?
Grace Mooring Music Contributor
William Noble Music Contributor
ambridge has a very relaxed approach towards busking and doesn’t require people to obtain a license. This is definitely a two-sided coin! Here’s our roundup of some to look out for:
hilst not discounting the fact that song lyrics can often be pretty abysmal (although so can poetry), creating a division between lyrics and poetry is quite arbitrary. After all, setting poems to music has been quite a common practice for a long time. Probably one of the most well-known cases of this is the hymn ‘Jerusalem’, which was originally a poem called ‘And did those feet in ancient time’ by William Blake, but which acquired a greater emotional depth when it was set to music by Sir Hubert Parry in 1916. Creating a distinction between poetry and lyrics also perpetuates the divide between ‘high’ culture on the one hand and ‘popular’ culture on the other, which carries with it an implicit value judgement: the former is seen as being of more artistic merit than the latter. This is reflected in the unfortunate rift between classical and popular music, which leads to class and age divisions in enjoyment. In some ways, song lyrics are different from poetry. They are far more present in most people’s lives than poetry, and can therefore be seen as having greater relevance. Rather than acting alone, lyrics work with the music to create an effect. But this does not mean they are less worthy of criticism and do not stand
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Warren Daniel This is the guy wearing sunglasses who sings Ben Howard outside Great St Mary’s Church. More of this lovely music please – 9/10 Awesome jazz band Not quite sure what their name is, but they have a trumpet, trombone, squeezebox and a double bass. Great fun, but can add somewhat to the stress of shopping on a busy Saturday – 8/10
Many of the best song lyrics seem to have a poetic quality to them
Zambezi Express These are an African singing and dancing group. Only losing points because they make me feel guilty for not being as fun as they are – 8/10 Tightrope-walking violin player Not great at either but still fairly impressive! – 6/10 Bagpipe man Bagpipes are annoying, and this man once literally ran to a spot and started playing so that my friends and I had to find somewhere else to carol sing – 3/10 Man in the bin Let’s be honest here, the novelty wears thin after 11 years of playing guitar in a bin – 1/10
Could the prize go to a lyricist?
Image: Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
up as great artistic achievements on their own. Indeed, many of the best song lyrics seem to have a poetic quality to them. It seems almost cliché to mention him, but Bob Dylan’s lyrics have been lauded for their quality by people such as Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate, who named Dylan’s ‘Visions of Johanna’ as his candidate for best song lyric of all time. Many argue that Dylan is worthy of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Regardless of whether one agrees with that, there is certainly a case to be made for the argument that some song lyrics have literary merit. There are far more similarities between
lyrics and poetry than differences. One is set to music and the other is not, but both create a mood and impart meaning through the medium of language. Both use linguistic devices like imagery, rhythm, and rhyme. Perhaps most importantly, both can have nuanced and subtle meaning which invites analysis. Taking the lyrics of a song and comparing them with a poem on the same subject would probably reveal that they have similar technical qualities. Whether poetry and song lyrics should be analysed in such minute detail is a separate issue, but it is certainly the case that lyrics also offer this possibility.
Review: Father John Misty’s sentimental sophomore Sandy Rushton Music Contributor
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he latest offering from Father Old man ‘playing’ the saw John Misty – the alter ego Bryan, I (sort of) respect your bravery of Fleet Foxes’ ex-drummer but my heart drops whenever I hear a Joshua Tillman – is an album faint, irregular, tuneless ‘boinging’ sound on the border between adoration and in the distance and know that I will soon abhorrence. At times Tillman’s lyrics have to hear your ‘singing’ as well – 0/10 verge on uncharacteristic, almost teenage, sentimentality. Tender words bring a sense of reverence to the many songs about the singer’s wife and muse, Emma. ‘Chateau Lobby #4’ is a sweet and nostalgic ode to first loves, peppered with explicit references to lifting up wedding dresses and bursts of mariachi horns. This mixture of lust and love are again encapsulated in the title track, ‘I Love You, Honeybear’: early crescendos of strings fall away, treating the listener to a stripped back, guitar driven ballad which highlights the power of Tillman’s soulful, starry-eyed croon. Just as the listener’s heart starts to melt, Tillman kicks them straight back into reality with stark cynicism and at times eye-rolling frankness. The biting character assassination ‘The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment’ is Still here Image: Andrew Stawarz almost cringe-inducing in its belittling
Listeners are treated to the power of Tillman’s soulful, starry-eyed croon
of a former sweetheart. Though full of criticism for others, Tillman doesn’t shy away from admitting and confronting his own flaws. His boredom, self-loathing, and fear are all dealt through the bleak lyrics of ‘The Ideal Husband’ and ‘Bored In The USA’, the latter of which was superbly performed on David Letterman earlier this month. Whilst sticking to his roots as an acoustic folk singer-songwriter, Tillman moves purposely through musical styles during the course of 45 minutes. Flashes
of electronica give a somewhat literal manifestation to the singer’s frustrations with technology-driven relationships on ‘True Affection’. The sexually charged ballad ‘When You’re Smiling and Astride Me’ is a highlight of the album: it is rare that a love song captures the exquisite joy and absolute fear inherent to loving someone wholeheartedly. This balance is intrinsic to the album as a whole, and makes it a joy to listen to whether you’re a cynic, a romantic, or, like me, a little bit of both.
Joshua Tillman on stage at the Ogden Theatre
Image: Julio Enriquez
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
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Books 25 Going the distance: How to choose the right travel guide for your holiday Alice Mottram Books Editor
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s the end of term fast approaches, the promise of an exotic getaway beyond the limits of Cambridge is difficult to resist. Choosing the right guide for you is of the utmost importance, as it will become your pioneering companion in the face of adversity. You will be defined by your travel guide: the fastidious traveler, the ‘gap yah’ student, the hipster. So, which will you choose and where will your guide take you?
and guide books are backpack friendly. Images – Lavishly illustrated pages fill these guides, as DK endeavour to “show you what others only tell you.” The stylised city walks and architectural drawings are an endless delight. Overall – Designed for the fastidious traveler, with a DK guide in hand, the world really is your oyster.
is the quintessential ‘gap yah’ souvenir. Price – The pocket guides retail at £3.99, and the full guides around £10. Size – Leaving no stone unturned, the good people of Lonely Planet have produced a 960 page guide to the whole globe. For the ‘gap yah’ student with only a limited backpack for company, the standard and pocket size volumes will provide solace in even the darkest Lonely Planet of hours. Range – No corner of the Earth too Images – Lacking adequate images, remote, a shelf of Lonely Planet guides these guides have sacrificed aesthetics
Dorling Kindersley Range – There is a DK guide for most places on Earth, but there are noticeable exceptions. Whilst there are guides for most European countries, regions, major cities, and top spots, there isn’t a single guide to the great land of Nepal. Price – As the guides are updated annually, the older editions can be purchased at a reduced price online. Catch a flavour of Rome’s top 10 attractions from £3.99, or roam Italy at leisure for £14.39. Size – Whilst the guides to whole countries are better for pre-trip planning, the USA edition pushes baggage allowance at a comprehensive 772 pages. The slimmer pocket map This guide will not show you, only tell you (so say DK)
You’ll be defined by your choice: the fastidious traveler, the ‘gap yah’, the hipster
for reams of text detailing information on every aspect of foreign travel. Overall – This is surely the first choice for every student adventurer. When you check in to your hostel and see a stacked pile of battered Lonely Planet Vietnam copies, in five languages, you’ll know you’re not alone.
Wallpaper* City Guide, Phaidon Range – If Wallpaper* have not published a guide to the city you are visiting, then it is either under the jurisdiction of Lonely Planet, or simply not cool enough to warrant a guide. Price – All sell for £5.95. It would be a reasonable price, and less than most competitors, if the content were less glamorous and more useful. These guides might suit the seasoned traveler, but not the novice. Size – Pocket size and less than 250 pages, these are ightweight volumes to have in hand as you travel. Images - The block colour covers betray the aesthetically pleasing, image heavy content. Unfortunately, a glossy photo of urban life is not necessarily helpful when lost in a foreign metropolis. Overall – The serious traveler might laugh at these assuredly hipster guides, but just think how artsy you will look photographing these great spots for Image: bigbirdz your Instagram feed.
Revision with a view: Reading around the literary landmarks on the syllabus Francis Lake Books Contributor
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Literature
a trip to the seaside town of Whitby is a must, where you can lose yourself staring at the Abbey and reading your tea-stained Penguin Classic paperback. Viewing the real-life settings of literature adds another dimension to your understanding of a work and creates a stronger sense of connection
his holiday, instead of flocking forms part of to predictable holiday haunts our national (the Tate Modern, the Globe identity Theatre, Canterbury Cathedral, or maybe Ibiza for the rogue Cindies fanatics missing their Valhalla), why not embark on a literary road trip? Why bag that Goldman Sachs internship or to shadow a barrister when you can embrace your inner culture-vulture; the literati are everywhere with any cultural significance in summer. Wandering the wild moors of the West Riding, searching for a glimpse of Cathy or Heathcliff, is far more rewarding than any structuralist or psychoanalytical interpretation of Wuthering Heights and leaves you without the despair of having just killed your favourite novel. Any summer trip to the Lake District is usually marked by incessant rain, wet feet and poor ice cream, so be prepared and take some of Wordsworth’s poetry with you next time: marvel at the beauty of both nature and poetic device whilst disappearing into a world of esoteric literary bliss. For the fans of the Gothic, Did Wordsworth muse on this very lake?
with the author. A visit to the Brontë parsonage, Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage, Hardy’s Cottage, or Bateman’s where Kipling lived strengthens the connection between author and reader, and proves a far better way of ‘reading around’ a text. Literature forms part of our national identity and it is impossible
to truly understand a work until we understand what inspired the author, one of the few things which Sparknotes can’t help us out with. So whilst your literary road trip this holiday may not seem as relaxing as slumping in front of the television for a box set binge, for the avid reader of literature it is an extremely rewarding experience and there are plenty of opportunities. Your trip need not be limited to these isles either: Mary Shelley’s detailed descriptions of the Swiss landscape make for an outdoor museum far more exciting than anything London’s galleries have to offer. There is a plethora of literary landscapes waiting to be explored outside of the narrow definition of ‘English Literature’. Modern linguists may enjoy reading Hugo’s Notre Dame de Paris in the romantic city itself or wandering around Berlin with a copy of Anna Funder’s non-fictional Stasiland, imagining the colourful metropolis as its former Cold War cityscape. It is time to step away from your desk this holiday and to start seeing literature in the world around us. And besides, Image: walkinguphills there is always time for a beer en route.
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
Fashion
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Our faculty of fashionable fellows Maddy Airlie Fashion Editor
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or the final issue of Lent, I wanted to try something a little bit different. Members of the TCS team nominated fellows whom they thought of as particularly fashionable or stylish within the University, resulting in me sending out pleading emails to people I had neither spoken with nor seen, trying to convince them to be part of this feature. It was interesting to see just how many students were willing (and enthusiastic) to put forward academics that had clearly made an impact upon them through the way that they dress. However, although our supervisors take centre stage in lecture halls, many felt reluctant to take a seat in front of the camera. I got many kind emails from fellows who were flattered by the request, but unwilling to have their photo taken, perhaps suggesting that it is still difficult for academics to believe that style and substance can exist side by side while being taken seriously. Surely all of our academic disciplines are creative at heart, so why should there be a problem in channelling that creativity into the way we dress? I decided to have the photo shoot in
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each supervisor’s room, rather than try to gather everyone together; the point here was to celebrate each individual fellow in their own setting. Dr Anne Stillman, a supervisor in English Literature at Clare, is seen as something of a style icon amongst both fellows and students. Maybe it is because her clothes seem to be a natural extension of her playful personality. Dr Andrew Bell, an early mediaeval historian from Gonville and Caius, commented on the difficulties of dress as distraction; you don’t want the students to be paying more attention to what you’re wearing than to what you’re saying in the crucial first 10 minutes of a lecture. He recalled having seen a respected academic of Ancient Roman history wearing an NWA t-shirt during a lecture in Sheffield, which became the main talking point amongst the audience members. Dr Martin Ruehl, who specialises in the intellectual history of modern Germany, appeared to be quite the dedicated follower of fashion amongst his stacks (and soft toy) of Nietzsche – chancing suede shoes in the Cambridge spring weather is always a risk. But taking risks in expressing ourselves, sartorially or intellectually, is what life at Cambridge should be about.
“Fashion is instant language” – Miuccia Prada
“Clothes change our view of the world and the world’s view of us” – Virginia Woolf
Photography: Maddy Airlie Fellows: (clockwise from top) Dr Anne Stillman, Dr Andrew Bell, Dr Martin Ruehl Clothes and accessories: Fellows’ own
05 March 2015
the cambridge student
Food & drink
27
Review: Thanh Binh Vietnamese Ru Merritt Food & Drink Contributor
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ou’ve undoubtedly walked past this cosy little Vietnamese restaurant, huddled next to Magdalen just before the junction. Perhaps you haven’t noticed it before as it’s easy enough to miss – a simple shop front hosts some brightly coloured flowerpots which contrast a somewhat dated décor indoors. But this family-run business is potentially one of the most delightful places to eat in Cambridge. Not too overpriced, or a
Review: Butch Annie’s
big food chain, Thanh Binh makes a welcome change to the burgers, French bistro and Sainsbury’s Basics options available in the centre. Following a recommendation from a friend, my boyfriend and I decided to book Thanh Binh for dinner (apparently working in the same room together for hours on end isn’t overly romantic). We walk past the restaurant every day and it’s always seemed promisingly busy. We ordered Vit Nurong Ngũ Vi (number 12); roast duck breast in five spice sauce, garnished with coriander and spring onion, served with steamed
Flavours were spot on, with the coconut and peanut perfect with the meaty curry
rice for only £12, and Bò Tiem (number 15); braised beef slowly cooked in a coconut cream, flavoured with lotus seeds and peanut sauce and garnished with coriander and spring onion, served with steamed rice (£12.50). I can tell you now that both dishes were, frankly, delicious. The portions were the perfect size for what were richly flavoured foods, and the rice was perfectly cooked (being half-Chinese, poorly cooked rice does bother me more than most). The duck was moist and the five spice sauce paired with it superbly. The beef was sadly slightly overcooked, but the flavours were spot on, with the coconut and peanut complimenting the meaty curry.
The service was also commendable. We were welcomed by an older woman who sat at the desk and invited us to take our seats, and before we knew it our food had arrived. We washed it all down with some good old Jasmine tea, although I hear that their iced coffee is something not to be missed. They also serve starters and desserts but we found that a main was a satisfying enough dinner by itself. I’d recommend that you book (this can be done online) and have a look at their opening hours before setting off because they’re shut in the afternoons. They also encourage you to bring your own booze. Don’t leave Cambridge this term without paying Thanh Binh a visit.
Cambridge: A world of food
Flora McFarlane & Ru Merritt Food & Drink Contributors
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lightly hidden, located at the bottom of the stairs just off Market Street, is Butch Annie’s – Cambridge’s newest burger joint. We talked to co-owner Nigel about burgers, beers and a special TCS offer. To kick things off we asked Nigel what it is that makes Butch Annie’s stand out. Essentially this came down to two things: quality and provenance. They source their food from just two farmers which means that, not only is there a personal relationship between the restaurant and their providers, but also they know that there are no chemicals in the burgers they serve. The same goes for their alcohol, specifically chosen to match the flavour of their burgers, which includes Spain’s best beer. Impressive stuff. Admittedly the menu is not extensive (beer options aside) but this serves as a testament to their faith in their menu as opposed to any lack of creativity. Service was exceptionally quick, and to call the burgers delicious doesn’t even cover it. We ordered a ‘Lewd Lizzie’ (beef) and a ‘Topsy Turvy’ (pork) with flavoursome sides. Served in artisan brioche buns, the meat is perfectly cooked with fillings like oven-roasted tomato and beef bacon, making these burgers really something special. Three options of chips are available and we opted for rosemary salt and ‘Za’atar’ as well as their ‘onion popcorn’. The rosemary salt stood out, but the spiced yoghurt dip was also a highlight. Washed down with a cider and a milkshake, we missed out on the beer side of the Butch Annie’s experience but we don’t think this detracted from what was a genuinely fantastic meal. When asked how to sum up his restaurant in three words, Nigel declared
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All of the food, all of the time Butch Annie’s to be “uncomplicated. Relaxed. Hopelessly satisfying.” (We’re aware this is four words, but we let him off). Following this, we asked him who personifies the restaurant and after some careful thought, he settled on Joanna Lumley. Make of that what you will, but make sure you pay them a visit. It was definitely worth it. SPECIAL OFFER for our readers: Retweet our photo @TCSNewspaper with #TCSButchAnnies to claim your two free sides with every purchase of a burger and drink, until the end of March.
Butch burgers
Image: Ru Merritt
tasting and easy-to-make dish. Curry leaves are hard to find but don’t worry: this recipe is just as good without. Ingredients: 2 cloves of garlic, chopped 1 tin of chopped tomatoes 1 aubergine A handful of curry leaves 1 green chilli, deseeded. 1 tbsp oil A handful of fresh coriander, chopped Instructions: 1. About an hour before you’re ready to cook cut the aubergine into thick slices, sprinkle salt all over these slices on both sides and leave for an hour. This extracts any bitterness from the aubergines. 2. Wash the salt off of the aubergines and dry them with kitchen towel. Now put a griddle or frying pan over a medium heat and start cooking the aubergine slices in batches. Once cooked put them to one side while you make the curry sauce. 3. Heat the oil in a heavy based saucepan and add the garlic. Cook for a few minutes Illustration: Alex Brooks Shuttleworth but don’t let the garlic burn. Next add the tinned tomatoes, chilli, curry leaves and aubergines. Let this bubble away until the sauce reduces (for around 5 minutes) and becomes thick. Taste and season and then serve with fresh coriander, rice and chapatis! For more quick, healthy recipes see my blog (thegreedystudent.wordpress.com) or Instagram page @thegreedystudent. Amber Dillon Please bear in mind all recipes make Food & Drink Contributor enough for one greedy student!
The greedy student’s best aubergine curry
Burgers include the ‘Lewd Lizzie’ and the ‘Topsy Turvy’
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s we all know, and are constantly being told, food is one of the most important factors affecting brain function: something fairly important at Cambridge! So, in order to help myself (and hopefully you) I started being inventive with ingredients and limited kitchen space to produce some delicious, brain enhancing grub. This recipe is based loosely on one in Madhur Jaffrey’s book Curry Nation. The simple combination of tomatoes, garlic, aubergines, green chillies and curry leaves creates an amazingly fresh Brain food
Image: Amber Dillon
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
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Lifestyle 28
Born to be wild?
Image: Martin Stone
Cambridge’s secret gardens Alex King Lifestyle Contributor
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rom the scrupulously designed college and Botanical gardens, to the open parks of the north and tranquil pastures of the south, Cambridge as a city is famous for its multitude of captivating gardens. Apologies must be given to Newnham, Sidney Sussex and the like, whose notable gardens are certainly worth paying a trip to.
1.Sheep’s Green A sprawling fenland to the southwest of Cambridge, the arbitrary appearance of Sheep’s Green can offer a welcome alternative to the geometric nature of courts, and rigid structuring of Cambridge life. Broken up by the dividing, merging and meandering of the river Cam, Sheep’s Green offers many diverse areas to explore. Though one or two are spoiled by graffiti, the presence of streams, twisted trees, and the ever present murmur of the Cam, offers a very different sort of Cambridge experience.
2.Christ’s College Gardens Christ’s Fellows Gardens are particularly famous for Milton’s Mulberry tree, under which the pamphleteer and author of Paradise Lost is said to have wiled away the hours, lost in his reading. However, the eye is more immediately drawn to the central lawn, in which an immense Horse Chestnut grows, ringed by a circle of snowdrops and bluebells. Christ’s College also has the Darwin Garden to offer, the pride of which is Anthony Smith’s sculpture of Darwin as a student. 3.Little St Mary’s Churchyard Currently under renovation, St Mary’s Church has been a site of worship since the 13th century, when it went by the slightly less endearing name of ‘St Peter-without-Trumpington Gate’. But once the brick walls and scaffold poles are negotiated, a visitor will find themselves in a mysterious little world of cracked tombs, creeping ivy and faded headstones. Not to be enjoyed by taphophiliacs alone, wildlife flutters between the branches in the form of wrens, robins and thrushes. Within the atmosphere of the churchyard, Cambridge, work deadlines, tyrannical tutors, all begin to slip away, until the world entire seems enclosed within the tilted stepping stones and slanted trees. 4.Clare College Fellows’ Gardens Redesigned in 1947 by E N Willmer in coherence with his artistic theories
Maybe we should have a reading week or something
on colour perception, Clare Fellows Gardens are always worth seeing. However, at dusk, they take on a new level of enchantment. As the sun begins to fade, Willmer’s aesthetic brilliance begin to emerge; the changing light creating a kaleidoscope of alternating and darkening colour. Once through the elaborate looking glass door, the gardens hold open lawns flanked by borders of vibrant flora. Beyond this lies a sunken pond and fountain, closed within a den of hedges. The view from the bank is stunning to behold; when stood under the willow tree, King’s College Chapel rises behind Old Court and Clare Bridge for a curious juxtaposition of the beauty that can be found within stone and life alike. 5.Coe Fen Fairly inconspicuous during the day, the grassland of Coe Fen gains a queer appeal at night. In particular, the circular water feature pictured – personally dubbed ‘the water hole’ – with its curiously shaped trees allows an escape from the Cambridge milieu while barely being out of the city centre. It’s undeniably difficult to find time to go exploring during the hectic terms that Cambridge imposes. Maybe we should have a reading week or something. Regardless, if a person can find time to step away from the desk and hunt for where the wild things are, then interesting experiences can be had along the way.
I’m struggling
and I don’t know
WHERE to turn. Drop in, call, or email…
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
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Lifestyle 29 The one hour project: Abstract painting Meggie Fairclough Lifestyle Contributor
Spring is here!
Nature in art Sarah Maclean Lifestyle Columnist
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arlier this week, I flipped my calendar over to ‘March,’ and with the change of month comes the reminder that spring is coming to Cambridge. The arrival of March indicates that term is nearly over, and I begin to think about home – the daffodils in the garden will probably be blooming in two short weeks, and soon the trees will be blossoming. Spring, it seems, equates to the sudden re-appearance of colourful nature. I begin to think
Botanical Image: Sarah Maclean illustration just doesn’t match the sensory about the beauty of the Botanical life to death in one image. experience of Gardens, a place where we can witness Less concerned with symbolism live nature. the greenery and blooming flowers of Spring for ourselves. A visit to the gardens gets me thinking about representations of nature in art. Botanical illustration just doesn’t seem to match with the sensory, varied experience of live nature. The Botanical Gardens provides an image of moving nature, one that shifts with the wind. All is alive here, and this reminds me of Van Gogh’s famous Sunflowers paintings. As an impressionistic representation of nature, Van Gogh’s series of sunflower paintings depict their swift decay from
than earlier art seems to be in the representation of nature, Van Gogh’s paintings are a colourful impression; yet, the notion of the impermanence of the sunflowers still seems to preside the scene. Spring is the recognition of death previously, and the celebration of the birth of nature hereafter. Perhaps the joy of flipping my calendar to March is merely joy at having nearly finished term; but then perhaps it is a joy at the sudden rejuvenation of a natural landscape. Spring is coming – enjoy it!
Spring clean your CV: six top tips to bloom Lucrezia Baldo Lifestyle Contributor
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here’s no time better than this to put your hands on the creation or polishing of your CV. So, here are some tips to give it a boost. Self-Reflect What are your strengths and abilities? What’s the aspect that you particularly enjoy about working? What do you really hate doing? A bit of self-examination can make you understand what kind of job you want to do and what you need to do to in order to obtain it. The Careers Service website gives examples of how to boost your CV through studies, societies and sports. Self-confidence The CV is the first thing that an employer sees of your application. If you have something that you can bring to the table, why shouldn’t you say it in your CV? Use ‘action’ verbs, such as achieved, co-ordinated and created. A warning: be honest. If you overinflate your CV with skills and experiences that you’ve never had, you’ll be found out at interview. Less is more No excessively fancy fonts or designs, no long accounts of experiences. Give a
Polish up to stand out good first impression. A CV should not exceed two pages and should be concise, ordered and easy to read. It has to be informative but relevant. Sometimes that means keeping facts for the cover letter or eliminating unimportant work experience or personal details. Employers are loaded with work and job applications, so keep it simple! Target Tailor your CV to the job. Make your CV relevant to the specific job or career area for which you are applying, rather than sending the same generic CV. This way, instead of using over-worn terms like “communication” and “teamwork”,
Image:Flazingo Flickr.com you can surprise the employer with a refreshing “effective dealing with demanding customers”, or “handling of conflict”. It’s important to show your interest. Starting a blog, writing articles or joining a society related to the career area can enhance your possibilities to impress the employer. Check and double-check Pay attention to grammar, spelling and punctuation. Take a fresh look at your CV the next day and have someone read it before you send it. A fresh look can tell you if it’s not clear or if there are mistakes. A polished CV is a hint that you can be professional.
A polished CV shows you can be professional
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Image: Filter Forge Fliickr
rt is all about expression, and expression is all about art. Unlike a lot of things in a Cambridge student’s life there is no right or wrong ‘type’ of art and no criteria that needs to be filled to constitute to ‘good’ art. So, if you have a spare hour, don’t waste it; but be creative and let your inner self come to the surface. Be abstract and don’t bother intricately painting a Picasso, or a portrait of your Great Aunt’s dog as it is too much time, and too much effort; you can make something much more awesome in only an hour. For that matter, don’t even bother picking up a paintbrush! Use your hands, feet or even nose and just smear different colours using paints to crayons all over a canvas or piece of paper. Add glitter, stick random things lying around (the more bizarre the better), and tear, stick and cut away. In a nutshell, let rip and make a mess! Be a kid again and have fun getting completely covered in glue and gunk, so much so you could be a bit of art as much as your creation by the end of it. At first, it may seem daft and you may think a 2 year old could havmade something more artistic, but that’s the whole point of abstract art! It’s abstract and is not supposed to have a static meaning to everyone. Different people will draw different conclusions from the same piece. The whole point is that who have made something personal to you, and can attribute your own meaning to it, and what your take on it is. As you only have an hour, I would dedicate 20 minutes into making your piece, 20 minutes tidying up (your cleaner will hold a grudge if there’s feathers, splats, and splodges on your ceiling) and then 20 minutes just sitting and looking at what you’ve made with a cup of tea and biscuit. That way, you can really ponder what it is you are trying to convey (if there was indeed anything in the first place) and really get to grips with the fact that it’s something unique to you.
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
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Sport 30 What’s the Blatter with FIFA?
Chambers: looking to the future
Paul Hyland Sport Contributor
Eleanor Simmons Sport Contributor
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greatest ever debacles, you know your number is up. But of the pretenders to Blatter’s crown, Figo is the only one who’s presented a manifesto. And it doesn’t make for pleasant reading. He wants to transform the way the game is played on the field with the introduction of sin-bins for yellow card offences and a return to the offside rule that saw players flagged, whether or not they were active in the game. But it’s his proposal to expand the World Cup, from 32 to 40 teams, or to host two 24team tournaments simultaneously, that most catches the eye. It sounds all well and good until you realise that, if an expanded World Cup benefits anyone, it’s Figo in his campaign, and he knows it. Promising too much to countries that hardly feature on the world stage, he practises the same politics that makes Blatter such a figure of hatred.
he story goes that Thomas Hobson, a 17th Century stable owner in Cambridge, offered his customers the chance to take either the horse nearest the stable door, or to take no horses at all. The football world must have felt something like Hobson’s customers when the candidates for the FIFA Presidency were announced last month. The president will be chosen on May 29th in Zürich, from Michael van Praag; Prince Ali of Jordan; former Real Madrid and Barcelona star Luís Figo, as well as Blatter himself. Blatter will be hoping to tighten his grip on the highest office of football’s governing body. Much of the football world will be hoping he doesn’t – and quite rightly. This is a man who has overseen the handing the World Cup to Qatar, which recently ruled out the summer tournament originally promised. When asked what homosexual football supporters should do if they wish to visit a homophobic country, he shrugged and said that they should stay away. When you confuse your role as FIFA President for a political one, yet you live in ignorance of the political ramifications of one of football’s Blatter...
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He didn’t like what he was doing, but there seemed to be no way out
Image: thierry ehrmann
wain Chambers is a World and European medallist, whose career came crashing down in 2003 when he tested positive for the anabolic steroid tetrahydrogestrinone. Describing his experiences at the Cambridge Union last Tuesday, he asked the Union’s audience “Have you ever had the dream where you’re falling, and then you wake up? I didn’t wake up for 12 years, I kept falling.” In the end, the discovery of the banned substances in Dwain’s blood came as a relief. He gave the audience a candid insight in to a life plagued with secrecy and shame. Harbouring the drugs in his fridge, he was forced to distance himself from family and friends. He didn’t like what he was doing, but there seemed to be no way out. The drugs were fuelling his blossoming career, but were eating away at his conscience. While his account came dangerously close, at times, to self indulgence, there was a sincerity about Dwain that earned the respect of the audience. When the talk began with Dwain’s manager, Siza Agha, quoting Nelson Mandela, it looked like a heroic tale of one mistake and a self-sacrificing admission was in
store. But Dwain gave a real sense of his head space at the time. Growing up with celebrity status and nothing but success from athletics, his desire and hunger to be the best got the better of him. Having moved to America when the furore surrounding drugs was not at the level it is now, he went one step too far and paid the price. Amicable and open on the stage, Dwain renounced all resentment towards his adversaries and enthused over his rediscovered love for the sport.. The charity Teens Unite Fighting Cancer will receive a donation from the Union in payment for his talk, which he began with a video of 23 year old Sadie, who has suffered from cancer for a number of years and whose journey will soon be at an end. It is clear that the end of a career with some very low points, Dwain’s focus is to use his experiences as a force for good.
Image: virginmediasport via YouTube
Captain’s column: Cambridge University hockey Flora McFarlane Sport Editor
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a week and then two match days, with fitness as well so not many rest days but the boys work really hard on the pitch. What is the rivalry like between the two teams? What was the result? TdS: It’s quite a big one, obviously we’ve already met Oxford at the 2s and 3s varsity, but I would say there’s a lot on the line here. So last year it was a 3–2 loss, but that wasn’t very representative because we played really well on the day. I would say that we’re confident but not arrogant!
Our he last issue of Captain’s Coumn sees Blues hockey preparations captains, Therese de Souza and couldn’t Wesley Howell detailing their have been preparations for the big day. better When is Varisty and where is it? Therese de Souza: Varsity is on Sunday 8 March at the Southgate Hockey Centre, near Watford. How has the season gone so far? TdS: Our preparations couldn’t have been better: we’ve only lost one game so far this season. It’s been a very positive year, despite the huge turnover that we’ve seen. Wesley Howell: It’s been going really well. We’ve had some great results this year in BUCS and regional hockey – we’re three wins away from a spot in the second tier of English hockey. Has training been going well - how do you train? TdS: We train 7-9pm on Mondays and Thursdays which can sometimes be tough (!), but the drinking ban has definitely helped concentrate us these past few weeks. WH: Really well, we train hard twice Disappointing ack of symmetry on the right hand side...
WH: It takes as much precedence as how badly, or well, the season has gone up to that point, I think. We’re absolutely flying in the league and we’ve got a chance to be promoted with three games left. So Varsity, whilst important, there hasn’t been as much hype building up to it this year. Last year we won 2–1 – it was a very competitive game but both teams have had a big turnover, as to be expected. We’re doing slightly better in our league than they are but I don’t think there’s much to be read into it.
Any star players to look out for? Any fresh new talent? TdS: The return of Lily Elliot from injury, who plays premier division, has been a boost. As well as our new Irish Fresher, Faye Kidd, who played Ireland U18 and she’s basically our star forward. WH: I’d rather talk about players who have stepped up this year. I’ve been really proud to be able to select five or six players who have stepped up from the 2s last year, so I see that as a very proud moment for CUHC. What are your preparations going to be like over the term? TdS: We’ve got an intense schedule, with two matches this week and training – so quite a lot of hockey. I think everyone’s feeling the pressure a bit! WH: We’ve got three games this week, with a top of the table clash on Saturday at home. Some light training and quick recovery will be on the cards. If you were to pick an anthem for the team to run out to, what would it be? TS: I really like Chase & Status’ song ‘Alive’! WH: Mark Ronson’s ‘Uptown Funk’ Photo: Faye Kidd has some good memories.
05 March 2015
the cambridge student
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Sport
31
From Plymouth to Man United: The ‘U’s 2014/15 Clara Buxton Sport Reporter
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s the Football League season enters its final months, TCS Sport looks at the ups and downs of Cambridge United’s season, as well as what the remainder of the campaign has in store for the ‘U’s. The season so far This season has been somewhat of a rollercoaster for local football club, Cambridge United. Having re-entered the Football League at the beginning of this season after a nine-year long absence, a few months later the U’s found themselves stepping out in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Despite currently enduring a period of inconsistency, Cambridge look more than capable of escaping relegation and finishing in a respectable position come the middle of May. The ‘U’s started their League Two adventure against Plymouth Argyle. It all got off to a good start culminating in a 1–0 win, courtesy of a Josh Coulson strike. Both home and away defeats to Morecambe and Portsmouth respectively, however, coupled with a disappointing and unlucky draw with York, soured some of the early optimism
surrounding the squad. Cambridge needed to bounce back, which they did with aplomb versus Carlisle United – a newly relegated side from League One. It was a miserable day for Carlisle as they found themselves on the receiving end of a 5–0 black and amber drubbing. Issa Diallo scored early on, Robbie Simpson scored a brace, and ‘U’s debutant Jayden Stockley made it 5–0, scoring two goals in five minutes. Ensuing convincing wins over Burton Albion, Oxford United and Newport County proved that the ‘U’s were capable of causing any team a problem on their day, an irrefutable fact that contributed to their successful FA Cup run, eventually earning them a home match against the 11 time winners of the competition: Manchester United. The highlight On 23 January, Cambridge United prepared to face Manchester United at the R Costings Abbey Stadium in front of a bumper home crowd and amidst an unprecedented amount of media attention. After an odds-defying performance against a lethargic United side containing £180 million worth of talent, the ‘U’s secured a hard-fought 0–0 draw, rendering the 76 league positions between the sides irrelevant. The players won themselves an Old Trafford replay
and the club a handsome payday. In total, the two ties earned Cambridge United more than the club’s average annual turnover allowing them, in the words of their manager Richard Money, to “grow quicker” in the future. The low point Richard Money had voiced concerns earlier in the season over a lack of consistency. One week it would be a thumping win, the next a disappointing home defeat. After the euphoria of the FA Cup, it was back to business in League Two where the ‘U’s struggled to find their form. Cambridge have only won one of their last seven matches. Despite picking up a few valuable points through draws, the downturn in form was characterised by a brutal 6–2 home defeat by Portsmouth, only the visitors’ second away win of the season. The run-In With 12 matches of the League Two season remaining, Cambridge United should feel confident in their ability to secure Football League safety. On a good day, Money’s side have proven themselves capable of formidable organisation, the ability to maintain their shape even against players of Manchester United’s quality, and they can also show sufficient creativity to overcome League
Crossword 2.
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4.
3.
5.
7.
10.
Two teams with far more expensive squads than their own. Certainly, this season has seen some standout individual performances worthy of note. The performances of Crystal Palace loanee Kwesi Appiah during his spell with the ‘U’s early in the season were dynamic and effective. Chris Dunn was imperious in goal against Manchester United, Greg Taylor confidently nullified the threat of Antonio Valencia, whilst Ryan Donaldson was a thorn in the Red Devils’ side all night long. Cambridge still have time to find some form and reassert themselves in the league as a team more than deserving of their place in League Two. Hovering seven points above the drop zone, Richard Money will be hoping that the U’s find a winning streak again sooner rather than later. Of one thing there is no doubt: the potential is there.
Cambridge should feel confident in their ability to secure Football League safety
11. A mineral comprised mostly of magnesium, silicon, and oxygen (4) 12. There is a specific checkout area for those with 10 ___ or fewer (5) 13. An ___ bar was recently opened in London, to some consternation (3) 15. “Honey you mean Hunkules” (8)
Thomas Prideaux-Ghee
Down
9. 11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Across
Image: John Lo
Sudoku 6.
8.
The U’s in action
7. “The editorial team of The Cambridge 1. What Jack May, Editor-in-Chief, and Student have become ___ to late nights Sam Rhodes, Associate Editor, said to in the office.” (6) Paris (2, 6) 8. To have possession of (3) 6. The ancient Egyptian solar deity (2) 10. To show approval, physically (3)
1. The CUSU election results will ___ many students (8) 2. An animal highly irrelevant in the current season (8) 3. Ermergerd hert dergs (6) 5. Some groups of ___ have ‘2 many man’ (8) 9. You ___, m8? (3) 13. Postcode area around Oldham (2) 14. Us (2) The solution to this week’s puzzles will be printed in our next issue. We’re also looking for more crosswords and sudokus to appear in future issues. If you think you’ve got what it takes to devise a bamboozling masterpiece for us, send it over to editor@tcs.cam.ac.uk.
Last week’s solutions
05 March 2015 the cambridge student
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Sport 32
Cambridge men’s lacrosse beat Warwick 30–0 on Wednesday
Image: Will Lyon-Tupman
Trio of victories as Varsity weekend approaches
Anna Wilson Sport Contributor
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ambridge secured victory in their final game before the Varsity match. After a slow start, a break was made by speedy winger Grace Brown leaving the Blues in a threatening position, which, after a few more phases of play, brought an opening try for Bryony Coombs. Cambridge then created space with a series of quick offloads, allowing Sian McGuinness to run the last 20 metres to the try line. Leicester then responded, however, capitalising on a series of Cambridge handling errors; their number eight drove over the line from close range. Quick thinking from scrum-half Molly Byrne, whose quick penalty allowed McGuinness to score, soon re-established the lead. An even second half saw one try scored each, giving the Blues the win as they step up their Varsity preparations.
Cambridge Warwick
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Cambridge Notts Trent
Charles Martland Sport Editor
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ambridge easily overcame Warwick to remain top of their BUCS division, in which they remain undefeated. The key to the Blues’ dominant display was their cohesion in attack and pressing in defence, allowing them to score 16 unanswered goals before the break. Cambridge regularly regained possession, preventing the visitors from gaining sufficient rhythm to get back into the contest. Warwick began the second half determinedly, but proved no match for the attacking firepower of Cambridge. In truth, the second period was very similar to the first, with the Blues adding a further 14 goals without reply. The Blues welcome Nottingham next week in their final BUCS fixture of the season. Before then, all eyes turn to the Varsity match this Saturday.
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Gerald Wu Sport Contributor
Men's Tennis
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Men's Lacrosse
Women's Rugby
Cambridge Leicester
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he Cambridge tennis Blues rounded off an unbeaten BUCS campaign with a 10–2 win against Nottingham Trent on Wednesday 4 March. Captain Tim Prossor returned to action and partnered Michael Pedersen to win comfortably 6–0 6–1 as first pair. The second pair of Cole and Ganendra, teaming up for the first time, also enjoyed a routine 6–3 6–3 win. Prossor was on the offensive throughout his singles to win 6–1 6–1. At number two singles, Pedersen withstood strong pressure in the first set, but eventually prevailed 7–5 6–0. Cole continued his good form in the BUCS season and won 6–2 6–1 at number three. Ganendra fought hard throughout but could not take it and lost 5–7 3–6. All in all a very comfortable victory for the table-topping Blues.