Michaelmas 2015 Issue 9 by The Cambridge Student

Seasonal satchels shoot: The ultimate quintessential look from The Cambridge Satchel Company

→ Part 2, p.8–9

www.tcs.cam.ac.uk

International student rules set to be eased Non-EU student numbers to increase by 55,000 Stevie Hertz News Editor

Winter getaways abroad: How to get out of Cambridge

Which Facebook fox sticker is your college?

→Part 2, p.6–7

→Features, p.10–11

The

03 December 2015 Vol. 17 Michaelmas Issue 9

nternational students may well be excluded from official migration figures, the chancellor George Osborne has hinted. This comes after the Autumn Statement in which the Treasury announced plans to increase student migration by 55,000 by 2020. It is believed that this move will add £1 billion to the UK economy. The government aims to reduce net annual immigration to under 100,000 by 2020. Osborne has said that “the public’s concern about migration is about permanent migration, it’s about people staying permanently or for many years in the country, and of course students come and go and I think that’s a good thing for the UK.” In August 2014, 59% of the public agreed that international student numbers should not be cut. In a move to attract more international students, the Autumn Statement also revealed that dependent relatives of postgraduate students would have the right to work in the UK. Osborne has also rejected proposals for tougher English language tests and to require students to have a certain amount of bank savings before they can enter. He has said that these schemes, proposed by the Home Office over the Summer, are not government policy and will not be implemented. The chancellor said: “I’m not aware there has been any agreement in the government or any hard and fast proposals like that. We are not advancing them.”

The college guide:

However, Osborne continues to support plans to shut down ‘bogus’ colleges and stop people abusing student visas to seek work. 13% of students in 2012/13 were from non-EU countries (deemed to be international). This is up 10% from five years earlier. They contribute £7 billion to the UK economy. On a global scale, 13% of all international students come to Britain. Restrictions on international students have increased in recent years, in attempts to lower immigration. In 2012, post-study work visas were abolished; these had allowed non-EU students to work in the UK for two years after graduation. Now, they may stay for only four months. In July, Cambridge University’s vicechancellor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz described using international students in the net migration target as “ludicrous” and “crazy”. He also wrote that “one of the biggest threats currently facing UK universities is the issue of international movement and controls on immigration. It is a threat that clashes profoundly with both my values and the values of all the higher education institutions, especially research-intensive universities”. Audrey Sebatindira, a Cambridge international student from Kenya, said “Getting rid of some of the extra pressures that come with being an international student makes the prospect of finding graduate-level work in the UK far less daunting.”

Editorial Comment page 15 →

Cambridge Student

Calls for diversity at literary festival Elsa Maishman News Editor

Speaking at the Cambridge Literary Festival earlier this week, the novelist Jon McGregor has criticised the lack of diversity within publishing circles. McGregor spoke in conjunction with novelists Elif Shafak and James Runcie at an event entitled ‘The Blank Page – Reading and Writing for Everyone.’ Their discussion, chaired by Ellah Allfrey, was also the finale of the National Conversation, a year of events across the UK by Norwich Writers’ Centre. Speaking about the world of publishing, McGregor told the assembled listeners that: ‘‘The problem is one of structure. The problem is one of form. The entire culture and apparatus of the published novel was developed by an economic elite with leisure time on its hands, and the descendants of that class work to perpetuate an environment in which their own sort feel at home.” He continued, saying “others are accepted only as hyphenated anomalies: the working-class-writer, the black-writer, the gay-writer, the disabled-writer, the woman-writer. ‘‘If we’re serious about diversity, and about wanting to hear the great stories that we’re currently missing out on, then it’s time to do things differently.’’ McGregor, author of If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things and Even the Dogs is also well known for his short stories. The Cambridge Literary Festival was founded in 2003, and runs annually both in spring and winter. Speakers included Sue Perkins, Charles Clarke and Carol Ann Duffy, who spoke at preview events. There have been a number of student campaigns to diversify the selection of books on Cambridge reading lists, notably from the CUSU Christmas trees are up in colleges, including this one in Corpus Christi’s hall. BME Campaign.

See more on page 12 of Part 2.

Image: Corpus Christi Conferencing

03 December 2015 • The Cambridge Student

News

Editorial Team 03 December 2015

Volume 17 • Michaelmas Issue 9 www.tcs.cam.ac.uk

Editors-in-Chief Jack May Freya Sanders Art Director Alice Mottram News Editors Stevie Hertz Elsa Maishman Deputy News Editors Will Amor Catherine Maguire Tonicha Upham Theo Demolder Investigations Editors Colm Murphy Anna Carruthers Deputy Investigations Editor Olly Hudson Features Editors Magdalen Christie Sammy Love Anthony Bridgen Interviews Editor Chase Caldwell Smith Comment Editors Amelia Oakley Julia Stanyard Grace Murray Columns Editor Audrey Sebatindira Food & Drink Editor Lucy Roxburgh Books Editor Jemima Jobling Music Editor Olivia Fletcher TV & Film Editor Anna Bradley Theatre Editor Tom Bevan Fashion Editor Jessie Mathewson Lifestyle Editors Maddy Airlie Isobel Laidler Sport Editor Paul Hyland Deputy Sport Editor Jack Ranson Social Media Manager Sydney Patterson Chief Sub-Editors Charlotte Furniss-Roe Megan Proops Sub-Editors Urvie Pereira Josie Daw Ines Boxman Directors Jack May Freya Sanders Sam Rhodes Tonicha Upham Thomas Saunders Jemma Stewart

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

The Mitre pub gets into the Christmas spirit by putting the final touches to its tree A Cambridge Diary

Martin Bond is a professional photographer. His project A Cambridge Diary, where he posts a portrait photograph from Cambridge online each day, is his own labour of love. It is now in its sixth year, with nearly 2,000 photographs and counting. A Cambridge Diary pictures feature every month on the front cover of Cambridge Magazine; they are the pictures behind the Cambridge Literary Festival and they are seen by thousands of people every day. Follow @acambridgediary on Twitter or like A Cambridge Diary on Facebook.

tcd

• tcd@tcs.cam.ac.uk • SYRIA’S LITTLE TWISTS

JACK MAY

On the way home from a Sainsbury’s trip, this Diarist stumbled across a protest marching its way down Trinity Street. Ever news-hunting, this Diarist asked a group nearby exactly what was going on. “I think they’re protesting against military action in Syria”, replied one, “but I’m just trying to get home from Sainsbury’s”. His companions nodded, at which point this Diarist realised that at least half of the immediate throng were in fact student bystanders. Perhaps the protesters had clocked onto the timing of the student rush so as to maximise the appearence of greater numbers.

FREE SPEECH & THE ART OF MATRIARCHY

With the latest round of elections for the Cambridge Union Society over and done with, this Diarist is more than happy to congratulate Charlotte Ivers on her election as president of the Union for Easter 2016, despite running on a flawed platform (typographically speaking). The

results of the election mean that all but one of the elected positions are to be held by women, with only one speakers officer – to be occupied by a male officer. It was on such a topic of discussion that a ‘source close to

the Union’ (as The Tab would say) commented: “the matriarchy has taken over from the gaytriarchy”. This Diarist naturally witholds all judgement as to which can be considered preferable.

Three times a paper

As another term closes, it’s good to look back and reflect. This Diarist’s founding column bemoaned the fact we had not gained access to a new office promised for September. As of 3 December, we still do not have access to this office. This was not all in a befuddling term. In week two, this newspaper’s printers threatened to stop printing The Cambridge Student (pictured left) as CUSU had failed to pay an invoice. Perhaps, then, it was last week when, having successfully made and printed a paper, it emerged that CUSU had forgotten to pay our delivery man. At the time of writing, Issue 8 of this term is still sitting at the printers’, as the delivery man wisely took industrial action until he had been paid for his labour. This Diarist sincerely hopes that greener (and more competent) pastures lie ahead for Lent’s relationship with CUSU. Front page: TOM DORRINGTON, RHIANN RONE-CLARKE, POLYBERT42

The Cambridge Student • 03 December 2015

News

PalSoc protest Union speaker Police, security and journalists outnumber PalSoc protestors as fears of 60 person strong protest prove unfounded

Elsa Maishman News Editor

make as much noise as possible. A increase the volume of the Union’s member of the protest also led chants sound system in order to drown out the disturbance. The Cambridge University Palestine with a megaphone. Chants included ‘‘Gaza Gaza don’t The noise could also be heard from Society (PalSoc) launched a protest on inside the ADC theatre next door, Monday, during the Cambridge Union where Greg Forrest, producer of the Society’s hosting of Yiftah Curiel, head “Gaza must have food CUADC pantomine Robin Hood, said spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy. and water, Israel Israel that he was ‘‘slightly concerned’’ that The protest only involved about stop the slaughter” the protest would disrupt the show. 20 people at any given time, yet was Protestors remained outside attended by five police officers and you cry, Palestine will never die’’, ‘‘Gaza more than ten security personnel must have food and water Israel Israel throughout the event, despite the stop the slaughter’’ and ‘‘One two increasing drizzle. privately hired by the Union. Max Goodall, a first-year Homerton Both Police officers and security three four occupation no more, five six student, attended the protest despite told The Cambridge Student that seven eight, Israel is a terror state.’’ The shouts could be heard from not being a PalSoc member. He they had been expecting ‘‘about 60’’ protestors, based on those who had inside the Union chamber, where the commented that Curiel had not clicked ‘‘attending’’ on the Cambridge head of Audio-Visual was forced to seemed ‘‘impartial’’ on the summary STUX University Palestine Society (PalSoc)’s Facebook Event ‘‘Protest against Israeli apartheid at Cambridge Union.’’ The lack of numbers seems not to have discouraged PalSoc, who called it a ‘‘great success’’ in a statement released on their Facebook Page.

of the Union’s termcard event. ‘‘We would like to clarify that PalSoc’s statement to their Facebook multiple options for the configuration page accuses the Union of ‘‘side- of these events were considered and lining’’ with the Israeli Embassy. suggested to both Embassies. As a neutral party, the Union organised “We do not recognise the the events that were agreeable to both speakers’ representatives. Both version of events being Embassies made requests regarding circulated by PalSoc’’ the format of any potential event/ events, which were respected.’’ Earlier this term, on Monday 2 The Union has also issued a statement, saying: ‘‘We do not November the Union hosted Professor recognise the version of events being Manuel Hassassian, the Palestinian circulated by PalSoc, who were not Authority’s Representative to the privy to the arrangements with either United Kingdom since 2005. Embassy as they declined to be involved with either event. STUX

20 The average number of people who were involved in the protest at any one time Protestors blew whistles and banged objects such as saucepans against the large plastic bins outside the Union’s entrance on Park Street in order to

Ancient solution to assault Students abandon Hopkins Will Amor Deputy News Editor

American director Spike Lee has suggested that women disengaging from sex entirely will lower incidents of sexual violence in US colleges. He made the comments on US TV programme The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Lee said “I think a sex strike could really work on college campuses where there’s an abundance of sexual harrassment or date rapes” This so-called ‘sex strike’ is based on the plot of the Ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes Lysistrata which Mr Lee has adapted in his latest film Chi-Raq. Rather than stopping the Peloponnesian War as in the orignal drama (first performed in 411BC), however, the women of this new film want to stop gun crime in Chicago.

Spike Lee is known for his films which engage in race politics in contemporary America, which is especially pertinent today given the Black Lives Matter movement. His 1989 film Do The Right Thing lost out on the Best Picture Oscar to Driving Miss Daisy starring Morgan Freeman. Feminist blog Jezebel has criticised Lee’s suggestion saying “This kind of thinking perpetuates the myth that rape is an act formed from sexual desire, when it actually stems from power and control.” A campus survey across 27 universities by the Association of American Universities found that 12% of student respondants reported that they had experienced nonconsensual sexual contact by physical force, threats of physical force, or incapacitation, since becoming students.

Will Amor Deputy News Editor

The ‘sex strike’ is based on the plot of an Ancient Greek comedy

A debate including controversial celebrity Katie Hopkins saw crowds of students at Brunel University abandon the auditorium as soon as Ms Hopkins began her speech. Hopkins was speaking at a debate on “Does the Welfare State have a place in 2015?” as part of the University’s 50th anniversary celebrations. Ali Milani, the president of Brunel’s student union, which helped to plan the protest, condemned Hopkins as “the physical manifestation of online trolls” with no “valuable intellectual insight to add to the debate”. Coming to fame through the BBC game show The Apprentice, Ms Hopkins starred on other reality shows such as I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and appears on daytime TV.

“I’m looking forward to speaking at the Cambridge Union next week”

Ms Hopkins has been invited to speak to the Cambridge Union Society today (Thursday 3pm), indicating that her acerbic suite of right wing policies remains popular entertainment amongst students. She will be debating the motion ‘Tabloid journalism is bad for Britain’, alongside multiple Guardian journalists. Hopkins responded to the protest on Twitter by saying “Many thanks to the students of #brunelmassdebates for getting me trending on Facebook. You Rock”. She went on to say that she was “looking forward to speaking at the Cambridge Union next week” Ms Hopkins is an Exeter graduate, and has over 600,000 followers on Twitter. She also writes a weekly column in The Sun, where she has been particularly vocal about the recent migration crisis.

03 December 2015 • The Cambridge Student

News

Students mobilise in mar

Protest to keep lights on Theo Demolder Deputy News On 28 November, Cambridge students took to the city centre to protest against the proposed switching off of street lights. Protesting just hours after a large demonstration by the Stop the War coalition against air-strikes on the IS in Syria, at 16:00 the group marched from the Guild Hall, through the city centre to the

“We are planning to carry out traffic censuses, to show that many roads are used” county council’s offices on Castle Street. Amongst the group was former Business Secretary, the Liberal Democrat Vince Cable who lost his Twickenham seat in May – invited by the event’s Cambridge Liberal Democrat organisers, who said they were “extremely pleased” to have him there. This is the latest development in opposition to the Council’s plans to switch off street lights between midnight and 06:00 from April. Campaigners have also set up a petition to highlight the dangers posed to both pedestrians and cyclists of the plans – warning of the risks to both students and residents, as well as attracting the support of University staff, including Selwyn College Bursar Nick Downer. Former Cambridge MP Julian Huppert, who attended the protest, told TCS “It was good to have so many people join us to highlight the importance of adequate street lighting in Cambridge, and loads of people

signed our petition as well. This is an important issue for students in particular there is a very real fear for people walking home late at night, especially alone. I hope our campaign will force the County Council to change its policy.” Organiser Sophie Bell, a second-year ASNAC at Selwyn, said “We have a lot more planned for Lent Term, and welcome anyone interested to join our campaign team. This is a very important campaign for the people of Cambridge, and thus needs to remain strong and united if we are going to see some success.” She added “We are planning to carry out traffic censuses, to show the council that many roads included in this proposal are frequently used by pedestrians and cyclists. We’re also going to analyse data on assaults.” The county council has said that their proposals will save £262,000 which “would need to be met elsewhere from budgets

6 Hours a day certain streetlights will be turned off for from April already under significant pressure, such as care for elderly or vulnerable people.” An online consultation has been launched, including alternative measures, which is taking place until 11 December.

Ivers victorious in election Activists take to the streets to p Stevie Hertz News Editor

Former Tab editor, Charlotte Ivers, has been elected Union president-elect, following a campaign against Sachin Parathalingham. Ivers received 517 votes, compared to Parathalingham’s 304. Ivers won with 61.8% of votes cast, as 15 Union members voted to re-open nominations. She will serve in Easter 2016. She campaigned on a ticket of rewarding the work done by volunteers at the Union, saying in a Facebook event “I want to see that hard work is recognised and rewarded”. She was also in favour of “more diversity in the Union’s line up... because a variety of voices lead to a broader and more interesting debate”. Meanwhile, Parathalingham campaigned on his experience as speaker’s officer this term and previous experience as president of the Cambridge University Law Society, promising a “phenomenal Garden Party.”

Alongside Ivers, three other women were elected, including Leyla Gumusdis as treasurer and Page Nyame-Satterthwaite for social events officer. This will make women the majority among current voting members, who decide the future of the Union, with seven men and six women. Of the 52 Union presidents since 2000, Ivers is one of only 14 women. Following the voting announcement, Ivers posted on Facebook thanking people for voting and congratulating “Sachin on his campaign. Sachin has been an excellent speakers officer and has given so much to the Union. I could not have wished for a more worthy opponent.” In a similar post, Parathalingham congratulated Ivers and thanked his “mom” and former Union president Amy Gregg for her support. James Hutt will be President in Lent term, following on from Oliver Mosley.

The Cambridge Student • 03 December 2015

News

arches across Cambridge KEEP THE STREETLIGHTS ON: CAMBRIDGE

New action on divestment Colm Murphy Investigations Editor

in fundamental science that underpin technologies that the companies are On Monday, dozens of students marched interested in. “Energy companies are all working ... to through the city centre to demonstrate against Cambridge University investment Cambridge MP Daniel in fossil fuels (see pictures below left). This marks the latest protest organised Zeichner: It is “time to by the new campaign Zero Carbon. It divest from destruction” coincided with a national day of action, ahead of the global climate change summit address the transition to a non-fossil fuel in Paris. Around 40 students attended economy. Cambridge’s work in advanced with banners and placards. Students also materials for example is improving dressed in black to “mimic an oil spill”, and batteries [and] energy storage systems.’’ The University is currently undertaking called for “climate justice”. On Sunday, Cambridge students joined an in-depth investigation into the ways tens of thousands of protesters in London their endowment is invested in order to demand from the conference a binding to make it more “environmentally and agreement to keep temperature increases socially responsible.” The results are set to be announced in May 2016. below 2 degrees celsius. Zero Carbon relaunched at the beginning of November with a banner drop stunt at King’s and Clare using college bedsheets, calling on the University to divest. It has a petition calling for divestment which nearly 1,800 people have signed, and CUSU Council recently passed a motion supporting the campaign unanimously. Degrees cooler the Earth can become Cambridge city MP Daniel Zeichner has before climate change is irreversible expressed his support for the campaign, Zero Carbon claim the University should saying on Twitter that it is “time to divest “follow the global momentum for a low- from destruction.” Marcus Gehring, a Liberal Democrat carbon world and withdraw its investments from environmentally destructive and Cambridge councillor also supports divestments, previously telling The financially insecure fossil fuels.” A spokesperson for the University has Cambridge News that “Divestment sends a previously told The Cambridge Student that very important commercial signal.” these investments “are used for a variety of reasons; including addressing advances Editorial Comment page 15 →

push for University divestment Student’s £120,000 grant ZERO CARBON CAMBRIDGE

Elsa Maishman News Editor Siang Boon Koh, a student in the University’s Oncology department, has been given £120,000 by the national charity Pancreatic Cancer UK, in order to work on research into chemotherapy. He plans to examine the process by which cancer cells repair damaged DNA after chemotherapy, which results in them resisting the treatment. The award is part of Pancreatic Cancer UK’s £500,000 Future Leaders fund, and will be under the supervision of Professor Duncan Jodrell. Speaking to Cambridge News, Professor Jodrell commented about the grant: “We are thrilled that Pancreatic Cancer UK’s Future Leaders Fund award has allowed us to support a bright young student to work alongside us on investigations that will help us to gain a better understanding of

the mechanisms that lead to the resistance of pancreatic cancer to chemotherapy, hopefully leading to ways of improving the efficacy of current treatments.” The other grants were awarded to researchers at institutions across the UK including London, Oxford, Manchester and Glasgow. Alex Ford, CEO of Pancreatic Cancer UK, said that the charity was ‘‘delighted to be announcing this research at the University of Cambridge as part of our latest round of grants under our Future Leaders Fund.’’ He continued: ‘‘We feel confident that the projects we have chosen to fund have the potential to make an important contribution to the fight against this disease.’’ A second-year student commented that ‘‘it’s very positive to see one of our own students given the means to carry out such a vital project.’’

03 December 2015 • The Cambridge Student

College Watch

Images: Jessica McHugh

Peterhouse

Emma

Pembroke

Corpus

Actors in Peterhouse’s freshers’ play Table Manners had a special guest in the audience for their dress rehersal last week. Sam Mendes, director of the latest James Bond film Spectre, attended the dress rehearsal in the Peterhouse Theatre. Mendes previously attended Peterhouse, where he directed his first play 30 years ago. Mendes was a member of the University’s Marlowe society, with other noted former alumni Ian McKellen, Stephen Fry and Derek Jacobi. A renaissance man, while at university Mendes also represented Cambridge at cricket. Since graduating, Mendes has worked with Judi Dench and Simon Russell Beale as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has also recieved an Oscar for Best Director in 1999 for American Beauty. He is married to Kate Winslett, who he directed in Revolutionary Road. The students were performing in Table Manners by Alan Ayckbourn, which was first performed in 1975. It is part of a trilogy of plays called The Norman Conquests.

Catering staff at Emmanuel College had to contend with more than usual during Sunday evening’s Formal Hall. 15 guests were left without a main course, explained by reports of an ‘‘accident in the kitchen’’ between the first and second courses. Rumours later circulated that a sheet of glass had shattered above a heat mat designed to keep food warm before being served. Food on the heat mat was contaminated with glass and could not be served, so 15 guests did not recieve a main course of lamb. Several students who had been served clubbed together to share their food with those who had not been so lucky. Adi George, a second-year engineer, told The Cambridge Student: ‘‘I wasn’t served, but those around me were kind enough to share. Emma catering gave us extra trays of sides (roast potatoes, carrots and broccoli) and even a big tray of mince pies! And they were kind enough to refund us the cost of the meal.’’ Both the starter of paté and chocolate gateaux dessert were unnaffected by the incident.

This Tuesday 1 December Pembroke College celebrated the launch of PemWomen@30’s new book, Excellence in Diversity: Values and Visions of Pembroke College, Cambridge since 1984. Copies of the limited edition book were available at the launch. The book, featuring over 70 contributors and more than 300 people acknowledged for their efforts towards PemWomen@30, is the largest single programme of events published in the history of the College. PemWomen@30 aims to commemorate the 30 year anniversary of the introduction of women to the College in 1984. A number of events, organised in collaboration between students, graduates, staff and fellows, commemorated the anniversary over the course of last year. The stated objectives of PemWomen@30 are to ‘‘reflect on women’s trajectories in Pembroke up until now, from the moments preceding the admission of women to where we stand today’’ and ‘‘to consider our future and discuss what we want Pembroke to look like in terms of its own diversity in 30 years’ time.’’

Corpus Christi College’s master, Stuart Laing and his wife Sibella, found a new way to connect with students, by DJ-ing at the Christmas Slack this week. A ‘slack’ is Corpus’ terminology for a party, replacing the commonly used and equally understable term ‘bop’. At the slack, Laing played “old tracks they could find on cd” but to ensure relevance to the young students, he was wearing a Santa snapback. One Corpus student, Tom Bevan, said that one of the highlights of the DJ set was when the master “introduced an Elvis song by saying ‘I am the master... but here is the King’” Bevan said that both the master and his wife are “super popular”, staying after their DJ set to spend time with students. Another memorable moment included when the dean of the Corpus chapel entered the room, so the master’s wife put on The Monkees’ ‘I’m a Believer’ with the commentary “this one’s for the dean – we all know that he is a believer!” Before becoming master, Laing was a foreign diplomat, having been ambassador to both Oman and Kuwait.

The Cambridge Student • 03 December 2015

News

70% of students want to stay in the EU, says new poll Colm Murphy Investigations Editor Seven out of ten students would vote to stay in the European Union, according to a new poll. However, many are undecided and do not support lowering the voting age for the upcoming referendum. The poll of over 1,000 full-time undergraduates was conducted by the Higher Education Policy Institute. Student support for staying is much higher than national support, which currently polls around 50%. However, students are not a lost cause for the Leave campaign: 34% had given the referendum “little” or “no” thought. First-years were the least likely to vote to stay, at 63%. Just under half said they would be more likely to vote yes if prime minister David Cameron secured “meaningful reforms”. According to Nick Hillman, Director of HEPI, “The headline results are unequivocal. Students back the UK remaining inside the EU by a huge majority.” However “there is much to play for. Most students say they have not followed the debate closely and there is clearly a soft underbelly” to the Remain support. The poll, Hillman stressed, also showed that most wanted debates, with both sides, on campus. He added that while student voting power is diluted in a general election, in a referendum it could be a “two million” block of votes. In September, vice-chancellor Sir

Leszek Borysiewicz warned that if they left the EU, the UK could lose its research excellence and be left to “pick up the scraps.” Universities UK also support staying in; they have launched a new website, called ‘Universities for Europe’. Both Daniel Zeichner, Cambridge Labour MP, and Julian Huppert, Lib Dem former MP, support staying. Leader of the city council, Lewis Herbert, argued that: “While Britain and Cambridge could both get a better deal from the European Union, our membership is vital for everyone in Cambridge”, and highlighted human rights and environmental legislation as benefits. The Cambridge Union Society held their Bicentenary debate in London in September with the motion “This

Student support is much higher than national support for staying

house believes that the European Project has been a failure”. Last month, the Cambridge University Conservative Association also discussed Europe at their ‘Port and Policy’ debate. The Cambridge Universities Labour Club has also recently invited two Labour politicians from both sides of the referendum to speak. Most students believe they are registered to vote, and three quarters indicated they expected they would. Meanwhile, only 34% of students support giving 16 and 17-year-olds the vote, compared to 44% who support the status quo. However, in Scotland the picture is different: 57% of students support giving under 18-year-olds the vote and only 29% would change nothing. ROCK COHEN

Police were called to the Peterhouse JCR Christmas party on Sunday evening, after a male student smashed a Sedgwick Museum window. At around 11pm a small group of about six students had left the festivities in order to smoke outside the venue, the Cambridge City Hotel on Downing Street. At this point a male undergraduate reportedly threw a stone, smashing a ground-floor window of the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences. Students attending the event told The Cambridge Student that police arrived on the scene and asked the perpetrator, who had been caught on CCTV camera, to come forward in order for the party to continue. The offender, a male first-year

MP voices concerns over Black Friday and ‘‘value of queueing’’ Daniel Zeichner, the Labour MP for Cambridge since May, has once again engaged in the great issues of the day – not about air strikes in Syria or the refugee crisis, but rather on the subject of Black Friday. In particular, a press release from his office bemoaned the import of the American sales day to British shores. Mr Zeichner stated, “I fear that the important British value of queuing is being lost” and that “we have to remember [that] this is a sale in a shop and not American football”. Cambridge and its ‘pre-America’ colleges were an important centre for the US armed forces in the second world war, which is why there is an American cemetery just outside of Cambridge, while the tourist trade from US citizens is a key part of the city’s economy.

Cambridge academic boycotts 13-year-old Israeli student A retired Cambridge academic has refused to answer an Israeli 13-year-old’s questions on horses “until there is peace in Palestine.” Dr Marsha Levine, who was a fellow at Cambridge’s McDonald Institute for Archaeological research said to the girl “you might be a child, but if you are old enough to write to me, you are old enough to learn about Israeli history and how it has impacted on the lives of Palestinian people.” Levine told The Telegraph that “Kids have questions, I usually answer their questions, but I have agreed to BDS [the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement], and I do want to see justice for Palestine.” The email exchange came to light after the schoolgirl’s father posted it on Facebook.

Local primary school receives surprise £50,000 windfall

Police called to Peterhouse Christmas party Elsa Maishman News Editor

NEWS BULLETIN

undergraduate, was identified inside the hotel as having caused the criminal damage and subsequently spoken to by police officers. A police spokesperson told The Cambridge Student: ‘‘We were called at just after 11pm on Sunday (29 November) with reports of a window being smashed at The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences in Downing Street, Cambridge.’’ The police granted the student in question street bail. This meant that he was not obliged to accompany them to Parkside Police Station at that time, on the condition that he present himself at the station on Thursday 3 December, Representatives of Peterhouse have declined to comment. Speaking to The Cambridge Student, one second-year Peterhouse undergraduate commented that:

The offender was granted street bail

“It was a really lovely event, organised admirably by the JCR, and it’s frustrating that someone did something to end the night so badly. It’s just destructive and unnecessary to do this sort of thing” The JCR Christmas party has been held every year at Peterhouse for the past three years. HITCHSTER

A £50,000 charitable donation to a local primary school is likely to make Cambridge colleges green with envy. The money was left to the school in Caldecote, to the west of Cambridge, in the will of local resident Frederick Whittaker, who had lived in the village since 1912. The school were initially fearful of a scam when they received the news of the donation, however are now thrilled to have the extra funds. They hope to spend the money on a new music room at the school, to spruce up the library and to pay for the school’s 230 children to go to a pantomime in the city centre. The Cambridge Student regrets that the pupils of Caldecote Primary Schools will be subjected to such unfunny seasonal theatre.

Lancaster University creates Professorship of comics Lancaster University has become the first UK university to hire a Professor of Graphic Fiction and Comic Art. Dr Benoit Peters is a specialist in the Orientalist Belgian cartoons Tintin, and has also produced his own comics. The new course will look at the origins of the medium in the 19th century up to modern graphic novels such as the influential V for Vendetta. A master’s student at the university was unimpressed with the new hire: “It is ridiculous. A lot of students are disparaging of this kind of study. But the academic in me thinks there is some merit as it can provide a good lens for looking at past events and attitudes.”

03 December 2015 • The Cambridge Student

News

Letter from the Editors: Goodbye to another term, and to the best part of life at Cambridge Jack May & Freya Sanders Editors-in-Chief

t was on a dark November day in 2014 that Freya and I sat down on the floor of my room, cups of tea on coasters close at hand, to discuss the possibility of our co-editorship. It was a slightly awkward meeting. Neither of us knew each other very well at that point, and neither was quite sure what the other wanted. “Do you want to... apply to be... editor?” came one nervous question. “Do... you?”, came the response. As it happened, that term’s editorship was not to be, and instead a coalition

To that end, we’ve achieved our goal – we leave behind a redesigned newspaper of four was founded (all four of whom are featured right). Myself, Freya, Sam Rhodes, and Colm Murphy took on Lent Term 2015, and then Sam stayed on in Easter as a solo Editor-in-Chief. Freya and I came back to the paper for Michaelmas 2015 because we had a big project in mind – we wanted to redesign the entire paper, creating a new supplement, and a completely new aesthetic for the paper as a whole. To that end, we’ve achieved our goal. Hours worth of work over the summer and in the first few weeks of term have meant that we can leave behind a fresh, clean, easy-to-read paper for Elsa Maishman, the Editor-in-Chief for

LIVERING

A, BU Y ONE PIZ Z GE T ONE *

24HRS

Lent Term, and her deputies (Amelia Oakley and Jessie Mathewson) to carry forward into the future. Under Freya’s leadership, the new Part 2 has gone from strength to strength, with beautiful, visual, and varied content every week. Part 1, meanwhile, has enjoyed the formidable duo of Elsa Maishman and Stevie Hertz taking the lead, producing a jam-packed section every week that’s the biggest TCS has ever made. They’ve been matched by the experience of Colm Murphy, Anna Carruthers, and Olly Hudson (all former TCS News Editors) on Investigations, and spectacular Comment, Features, Interviews, and Sport teams, too. For my part, it’s been a year exactly since I first took the helm of TCS, and I’ve been lucky enough to play a leading role in the 19 print editions since then. Most importantly, I’ve been so lucky to have my closest friends working alongside me as co-Editors and Associate Editors. TCS has, without a doubt, been the biggest, most enjoyable, and most transformative part of my Cambridge career. So – as it’s the last time I’ll get to say it, and have my words reproduced 9,000 times in ego-glorifying newsprint, thank you. To everyone who has made, makes, and will make TCS the wonderful environment it is. Thank you, and goodbye.

YS A W

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Sam Rhodes Chair of the Board of Directors

Colm Murphy Investigations Editor & Director

Sam first got involved with TCS as an Opinion writer in Easter 2014, followed by a term as Opinion Editor in Michaelmas 2014. Rising swiftly through the ranks, he became Associate Editor in Lent 2015 before taking top spot as Editor-in-Chief in Easter. Post-graduation, he’s filled spare moments with board meetings and being coy.

Thrust into the deep end as soon as he put a toe in the swimming pool that is TCS, Colm’s term as News Editor in Michaelmas 2014 gave him a lust for journalistic sniffing that has failed to die down. A stint as Associate Editor in Lent 2015 gave him a taste of glory that only full-scale hackery as Investigations Editor has been able to satiate.

Anna Carruthers Investigations Editor

Alice Mottram Art Director

Ever since her inaugural term as Deputy News Editor in Michaelmas 2014, Anna has been one of the most dedicated editors TCS has ever known. Never one to complain, in her roles as News Editor (Lent 2015) and Investigations Editor (Michaelmas 2015) Anna has done some fabulous work.

After an uncertain start as Books Editor in Lent 2015, Alice took to TCS like a fish to water, with a term as Reviews Editor in Easter 2015 before her current role as Art Director. In it, she’s helped with the redesign, and played a key role in tackling the unwieldy beast otherwise known as Part 2.

Charlotte Furniss-Roe & Meg Proops Chief Subs

Jack May & Freya Sanders Editors-in-Chief

Lurking behind the scenes as the brains of the operation since Lent 2015, Charlotte and Meg have taken great joy in tearing each print copy (and, indeed, the website) to grammatical shreds for each of the 52 weeks since they started. In their retirement, they will definitely not keep mentally subbing any TCS articles they stumble upon.

With a collective total of 10 terms’ worth of TCS experience under their belt, this indomitable duo have left their mark on the paper as Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editor respectively in Lent 2015, followed painfully by a term of exams, and then more enjoyably by a term as joint Editorsin-Chief of the paper they’ve called home for two years.

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The Cambridge Student • 03 December 2015

News

Education courses under threat Caps on numbers threaten PGCE courses at Oxford and Cambridge Universities Tonicha Upham Deputy News The History PGCE programme at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities was recently threatened as a result of caps on numbers. Before government intervention saved the courses at the two universities, it appeared likely that national limits on the recruitment of students to postgraduate teacher training courses in History was likely to lead to both courses being closed. The courses appeared threatened because they are yet to interview candidates and offer places, but will be able to proceed as normal because they have not allocated places to at least 75% of the number of students they took on last year. This comes a few months after the Education Tripos at Cambridge appeared to be at risk of closure. The minutes from the Senior Tutors’ Committee’s Standing Committee on Education reported in May on discussions to discontinue the Education tripos temporarily, stating: “The Committee noted the agreement that the current Tripos was not sustainable, and that the Faculty should be asked seriously and urgently to consider discontinuing it whilst it took time to reflect on other options available, and to develop a new programme”. “Given lead times involved in admissions, a decision temporarily

to discontinue the Tripos from 2017 would need to be made early in the Michaelmas Term 2015.” However, when contacted for comment by The Cambridge Student Head of the Faculty of Education Professor Geoff Hayward said: “The situation has been resolved. A revised form of the Education Tripos will admit its first cohort of students in 2017. There will be no break.” PGCEs are declining in popularity as a route into teaching, with one in five places left empty on secondary training schemes. Figures show that the percentage of students opting to commence their teaching training in university dropped, from 65% last year

“Teach First is definetely not for everyone”

to 49% in this academic year. At the same time, routes such as School Direct and Teach First are becoming increasingly popular routes into the profession. It is possible that these new routes may become something of a threat to traditional PGCE courses in coming years. One student who plans to train as a teacher commented: “I would actually argue that you can’t give value to one route ... Teach First is definitely not for everyone. That doesn’t mean they are not a good teacher or have no potential to be, but I think the threat to education as a tripos, and as a PGCE is alarming, because surely they are amongst the most important courses.” H C KUO

Chancellor George Osborne has revealed a significant amendment to the repayment of student loans in the 2015 Autumn Statement. The £21,000 threshold for repayment of student loans will be frozen until April 2021, meaning that over two million graduates will pay up to £300 extra per year. These changes will not only affect future students but anyone who took out a student loan from 2012 onwards, as they are being applied retroactively. Currently, graduates begin repayments on their student loans when they start earning £21,000 a year, paying 9% of all their earnings above that level. Introduced by the ConservativeLiberal Democrat coalition, the intention of this scheme was for higher paid graduates to repay more than

Naughty or nice: Night-time thieves escape with sugary loot Large amounts of sweets and fizzy drinks were stolen from a catering business on the A10 in Landbeach, to the North of Cambridge. The raid happened over night on 18 and 19 November, in Glenmore Business Park on Ely Road. The burglars gained entry by removing a window from a large door. This is not the only time sticky-fingered miscreants have struck in a calorie-related crime; on the same night, another business, in Melbourn, to the South of Cambridge was raided. There too, burglars gained access to the veritable cornucopia of sweets by prising glass off doors, and getting away with cash, alongside the food and drink. It is not known whether the two crimes are connected.

Stop the War group march in Cambridge against air strikes Cambridge’s Stop the War group marched through the city in a rally against the bombing of Syria on Saturday 28 November at 2pm. The group marched from King’s College to the Guildhall, where a peace vigil was held for Syria and refugees fleeing the war. The Cambridge Stop the War coalition is a group of peace activists, faith groups, Trade Union members, political parties and individuals. Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner has said that he does not support air strikes on Syria, saying on Twitter “We need to ensure our security and that of the Syrian people. Bombing won’t achieve that security, so I’ll be voting against air strikes.”

University and Council joint pledge for LGBT equality

Student loan changes “a breach of trust” Anna Carruthers Investigations Editor

NEWS BULLETIN

those on lower incomes. At the time, the government had stated that the £21,000 threshold would increase each year in line with average earnings. This will no longer be the case. A post-consultation report by the Department for Business, Skills and Innovation stated that “In 2020–21 borrowers will be paying £6 per week, or £306 in the year, more than they will be in 2016–17.” In a statement, NUS vice president Sorana Vieru outlined their understanding of the implications of the change: “If you earn £25,000 and the threshold is £23,000, you repay £180 a year. If the threshold is frozen at £21,000, you pay £360 a year.” A government consultation on the issue resulted in 84% of 489 respondents rejecting the proposal. Only 5% were in favour. MoneySavingExpert founder Martin Lewis, who has previously chaired

“The Chancellor didn’t even have the balls to put it in his Autumn Statement speech”

an independent taskforce on student finance information, has taken issue with the government’s response to these results. “This is a disgraceful move and a breach of trust by the government that betrays a generation of students. It has chosen to freeze the repayment threshold even though 95% of the consultation responses did not support the freeze – what was the point of a consultation if when there’s huge objection it does it anyway?” The changes were not mentioned in Osborne’s speech itself, leading to Lewis to decry: “The fact that the chancellor didn’t even have the balls to put it in his Autumn Statement speech shows that he knew how unpopular it would be.” Lewis has also highlighted the fact that such retrospective changes would not be allowed in a commercial setting. Osborne has also revealed that nurses’ grants are to become loans.

The University of Cambridge has pledged its commitment to LGBT equality, alongside the city council, Cambridge hospitals and the police. The pledge is in broad terms of ‘the strength that comes with difference’, hoping to ensure Cambridge is ‘safe, welcoming and inclusive’. The University unveiled its pledge at a ceremony at Queens’ College where some of the events planned for LGBT history month were revealed. The city council flies the rainbow coloured LGBT flag every February for the past few years to mark LGBT history month. LGBT issues are increasingly prominent amid movements for same-sex marriage in a number of Western democracies. Recent surveys show that fewer than half of young people identify as totally straight.

Anglia Ruskin appoints new university vice-chancellor Cambridge’s favourite other university has elected a new vice-chancellor. Professor Iain Martin, an ex-surgeon, will take up the post in March 2016. He has experience in university administration from his time at the University of New South Wales in Australia and at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. The post had become vacant as the current vicechancellor, mathematician Professor Michael Thorne, is due to retire next year. Probably the University’s most famous alumnus is Lord Ashcroft, the author of the recent scandalous biography of David Cameron.

03 December 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Features Clare

The ghosts of past personal statements

Clare students get a lot that’s extra. Extra space, extra applications: Clare clearly is the perky present fox.

he past is a foreign country. They do things differently there. Things like personal statements, which thankfully are now a distant and not altogether fond memory for us all. In the interest of dragging everyone’s good name Small, intimate, and blissfully spinning through the dirt, we fished through around the face of its bizarre clock, our personal statements to find the spooning fox is a perfect fit. most offensively terrible one-liners. “This plurality of cultures encouraged me to mix and match my own identity, combining a deep-rooted British love of Wimbledon, tea and cynicism, with raw American quixotic idealism, love of pie and the desire to shout at people on cable news. I embody the Special Relationship.”

Stevie, History

Those extra two and a half miles don’t seem so bad with a brightly-coloured bike and a smug attitude.

Homerton

Is there any other college (or fox) willing to endure the trials and tribulations of the Uni 4?

Fitzwilliam

Robinson

Dozing away within their iconic red-brick Grange Road site, nobody sees much of this particular fox, but it’s very cute.

Anna, History

“‘’I wish to read Modern Languages because I enjoy learning, want to work hard, and intend to pursue my passion for French and Spanish. I want to be multilingual and so open up a world of possibilities in translation and international relations. I also want to reach beyond the learning of words and phrases into the study of the people, literature and history behind Famous for its gardens a language.” and generally lovely atmosphere, Newnham Elsa, MML is flowers fox. “I played for the Irish U19 netball team, which taught me valuable communication skills.”

Christ’s

Just a breath away from a Cindies trip and always bustling, Christ’s has that ‘be right there’ attitude.

Newnham

Caoimhe, Engineering

Francesca, Geography

Which Facebook fox s Cheekily emerging from the pond in the blissful surroundings of the Paddock, Emma is perky and ready.

Gonville & Caius

Thomas, English

“IB taught me not to compartmentalise.”

Medwards

Basking in its famous female art collection and dreaming of the feminist utopia, Medwards is really quite placid.

Emmanuel

Coyly sitting at the top of King’s Parade, where most don’t even know “I now have a thirst to concentrate my it’s a college, Caius is so coy, and it energy and intellectual enthusiasm imposes the coy MDR on its students. on my central passion – to explore and develop a deeper understanding of an ever wider range of literature, and to be exposed to texts and cultures that are emotionally and academically challenging.”

Jack, English

The two halves of the college reach out to each other, their tails meeting on the beautiful Mathematical Bridge.

Girton

Corpus Christi

With its really rather “As an avid reader of Private Eye, I surprisingly good coffee have come to greatly enjoy political shop, and work-hard satire and the questions it poses about play-hard attitude, Fitz is coffee fox to a tee. societies past and present.”

“The determination to engage in serious study of English Literature at a higher level has begun to feel almost like an imperative as I’ve become progressively fascinated by the communicative possibilities of language, with its rich history and its unparalleled ability to assimilate and evolve.”

Queens’

Jack May & Freya Sanders Images by Rhiann Rone-Clarke

Trinity Hall

King’s

Often known as the mini-me of Trinity, Tit Hall is small, chirpy and always keen, much like fox cub.

With the next campaign, cause, or heated political issue in mind, King’s is always the ultimate red fox.

Part 2 3

Festive cards that sum up Cambridge

The iconic satchel, made seasonal

The Cambridge Student 03 December 2015

Best of the college christmas trees

03 December 2015 • Part 2 • The Cambridge Student

Culture

‘Tis the season to be not wholly jolly The alternative to On feeling jolly and melancholy in equal measure as term draws to a close Freya Sanders & Jack May Editors-in-Chief

t’s hard to feel Christmassy at Cambridge. Few people find time in between deadlines to put up decorations; sprinting to Sainsbury’s last minute to buy your Secret Santa some five-pound wine is usually the extent of present buying; and does anyone actually have a spare evening to get into a reindeer onesie and watch Love Actually? At the end of the day, everyone’s exhausted – too exhausted to capitalise on the fun the season offers. Once everyone’s two or three weeks into the vac – weeks spent curled up on a sofa somewhere, ploughing through several seasons of Friends and multiple cheese platters – we’ll look back at this with regret. Why, the hibernating fresher might ask, does Cambridge feel the need to grind us down to the bone every term, sending us home knowing that we couldn’t have made it through another week? Why, the fearful finalist might plead, can’t it go on forever; why can’t Cambridge save me from the real world, instead of sending me off into the next calendar year, which means graduation and a job and living miles away from all my friends? Things are drawing to a close, and the opportunities that have been missed and future plans that haven’t been made seem overwhelming. This is probably a flaw in the Cambridge system, which inevitably affects the mentalities of those who exist within it. But as term winds down – whatever’s happened, whatever’s coming – and we transition into the lives we have outside

the system, there’s often a massive shift in values. Essays seem distant, work no longer looms, socialising need not be so intense and energetic. It’s strange, but when we’re given time to reflect, it’s actually easier to live in the moment and stop over-analysing the past and over-planning the future. We can actually enjoy conversations without keeping one eye on the clock, we can learn to like reading again, have lazy lunches, and return for a new term revitalised. Regrets seem less significant, and the future less scary. Endings are easier to see in a positive light, rather than negatively. As our editorship draws to a close, it’s easy to be melancholy. We’ll miss the creative satisfaction of producing 32 beautiful pages per week; the buzz of working up to the deadline on Wednesday night, fuelled by Domino’s and hyped up by Abba; and most of all we’ll miss the incredible team who’ve made us so proud (and laugh so much) this term. It’s been a blast; but we’re excited to hand over the reins and see what the future holds for the paper. If there’s one thing to be jolly about, it’s the incredible keenness of all the up-and-coming journalists we’ve been lucky enough to meet. If you’re one of them, don’t forget to apply to be part of the team (see our website for details.) You may be setting out on a path that will be the highlight of your Cambridge career; now our paths have reached an end, we can say without doubt they’ve been the highlights of ours. Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Christmas carols... Holly Musgrave

lthough it may be the time of year where it’s more tempting to wrap up with a hot drink and stick some Christmas songs on, there is certainly something oddly effective in the film soundtrack and its ability to stimulate you enough to get some work done, without making you actually sing along to it. Last year, I noticed a friend of mine listening to film soundtracks while she was revising. As I can’t do any work to anything with words in it, it seemed like a good alternative; so I thought I’d give it a go. This Michaelmas, yet another friend was telling me about his favourite soundtracks to listen to while trying to get work done. Is everyone doing it? The more I talk about it, the more people are fighting the uneasiness of white noise with their favourite OST. With this in mind, and also the different situations in which a soundtrack is needed, I explored the different options when choosing film soundtracks to work to, and chose some of my favourites. Atonement (2007) – Dario Marianelli This one is great to start an essay to; it begins with frantic typing at a typewriter and it’s only about 50 minutes long so it will give you a good spurt of work motivation before you can take a well-earned break. It is also so varied with pieces like ‘Two Figures by A Fountain’ that are intense and fastmoving, against other parts such as ‘Clair de Lune’ which convey a more relaxing feeling. One that will keep you thinking and typing. FOXSEARCHLIGHT VIA YOUTUBE

Best of the bookish Christmas gifts Jemima Jobling Books Editor

tuck for what to get for your Secret Santa? Looking for the perfect gifts for your bookworm friends? Cambridge’s best-loved bookshops are rife with cute, thoughtful, and even useful presents to fulfil any bookish Christmas-list dreams – and these items come in at under a tenner! Check out

Waterstones for badges, bookmarks and book wraps to jazz up any drab weekday trapped in the library. Heffers have tonnes of literary posters, mugs and notebooks, including the classic and colourful Penguin merchandise. And why not jump on the adult colouring book trend and ensure that that stress head friend chills out over the Christmas break?

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) – Alexandre Desplat For those who haven’t seen the film, there is something confusing and strange about it, whilst it still retains a characteristically Wes Anderson repetitiveness and symmetry. The main sound of the film is created by a ‘Balalaika’ (a Russian instrument with three strings), as well as many other frantic musical themes being woven in and out over the course of the film. At the same time these motifs are always changing, making it a really fascinating and developing soundtrack to listen to without being distracting. A good one to do a worksheet or some annotations to. Princess Mononoke (1997) - Joe Hisaishi A soundtrack of combat and resolution, Hisaishi’s masterpiece is not long (just over 65 minutes), but will help you grapple with ideas. As in the plot, there is a focus on nature and organic growth. The soundtrack tumbles through the aggression of fighting music towards songs of journeying and the restoration of nature. Certainly one to try if you’re feeling stressed, as although it battles with moments of tension and violence, it ultimately culminates in the most gorgeous string melody maybe ever: ‘The Legend of Ashitaka’.

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 03 December 2015

Eight Christmas cards that perfectly sum up life as a Cambridge student Jemima Jobling Books Editor

Culture The Cultural Christmas List

he holidays are here, and suddenly there’s time to do those things you’ve had your eye on all term. Here’s a selection of the cultural events, shows and sites we’re longing to get a load of this vacation.

Alice in Wonderland Exhibition, British Library Only a step away from King’s Cross Station, the British Library is easy to access and full of gems. The thing to see at the moment is the exhibition celebrating 150 years of Lewis Carroll’s indomitable work. Until Sunday 17 April 2016 wonder.land, National Theatre Also celebrating Lewis Carroll’s well-loved story, this new musical by Damon Albarn is set to be the hottest tickets of the new year. Good seats available January–April 2016

How you feel when you get positive feedback from a particularly mean supervisor

That end-of-term feeling

When you try to foist your Christmas excitement on your more ‘alternative’ friends

Student loan realness

Child’s Play:Toys and Technology, National Museum of Scotland If you’re totally desperate to escape adulthood and retreat into memories of youth, but can’t make it to London to check out the various versions of Wonderland there, head to Edinburgh’s National Museum to have a peak at a century’s worth of fun and funky paraphernalia. Until 10th January 2016 Ronald Searle: Obsessed with Drawing, Fitzwilliam Museum It may have been on for most of Michaelmas, but it’s understandable if you haven’t found time to pop down there Now that the final deadlines are out the way, take a look at the work of this local Cambridge cartoonist. Until 31 January 2016 Matisse in Focus, Liverpool Tate ‘The Snail’, one of Matisse’s best-loved works, is making a rare trip outside of London to be displayed in Merseyside. Until May 2016 Christmas at Kew, Kew Gardens The Christmas installation this year has a one-mile trail through the gardens with massive light displays as you go, including ‘playful ribbons of light’ to walk through as well as marshmallow toasting and a fairground. Until 2 January

When your essays get torn apart in supervision When you try to flirt with that special someone you’ve had your eye on all term

When all your friends have finished their work and you’ve still got 60 million deadlines left

Frankfurt Christmas Market, Birmingham ‘The largest authentic German market outside Germany and Austria’, this market is full of delightful Germanic treats, from Glühwein to traditional handicrafts. Until 22 December I Spy... Nature, National Museum Cardiff Described as “hands-on”, this exhibition is a detailed, entertaining insight into the link between observation and discovery. If you’re anywhere near the Welsh capital, don’t miss it. Until 3 January 2016 Hogwarts in the Snow, Harry Potter Studios The Harry Potter Studios are pretty awesome at any time of year, but they become particularly enchanting at Christmas, when wreaths and baubles pop up as if by magic throughout the castle and grounds, and snow is sprinkled liberally across the environment. There’s never a better time to visit. Until 31 January 2016

Enough said

03 December 2015 • Part 2 • The Cambridge Student

Culture

Wrapping around the Christmas tree Happy Holidays Scene Sainsbury’s, £2.00, or 3 for 2

Alice Mottram and Stevie Hertz Art Director and News Editor Tartan 2 Poundland, £1.00

The cheapeast of papers, this is a thin paper which would rip easily once wrapped around a present.

Tartan 1 W. H. Smith, £2.00

For the Cath Kidston lover in all of us, this paper recalls a post-war idyll of ice skating and snow capped picket fences. Its sweet alpine scenes of skiing can console those who aren’t Varsity bound this winter.

Gold Glitter Paperchase, £2.50

As glittering as the light of a thousand stars; this paper is truly golden. Whilst most glittery papers are messy to say the least, this paper does not shed glitter. Luxuriously heavyweight, it would be suitable for both gift wrap and crafting. Sold with glue dots included, this is a paper to share with those whom you love this yuletide.

Proceeds from this paper go to charity, and if that isn’t enough to convince you to buy it, there are guidelines on the reverse to help you cut it neatly.

Black Gold & Copper Sequins Sainsbury’s, £2.00, or 3 for 2 This is perhaps the most ugly of all the wrapping papers in the world. Reminiscient of coach seat fabric circa 1973, Sainsbury’s have really outdone themselves here. Whilst the colours could potentially lend some class to this gift wrap, combined with the sequin pattern it results in a hot mess that would ruin any festive tree.

Man on the Moon John Lewis, £7.00 for pack of three

Following on from the success of their Christmas advert, which featured an old man watching the festivities from space, John Lewis have launched a line of themed gift wrap. The paper of a pleasantly heavy weight, it would wrap any present, no matter its shape, with precision. Its celestial design is charming, for adult and child alike.

Ode to the art of couch potato-ing Christmas means many things to many people, but to most it means a well-deserved chance to be lazy Jess Payn Columnist

think we have earned the right, after eight, exhausting, non-stop weeks, to be a bit lazy. We can become idlers, wastrels, loafers, couch potatoes, sleepyheads, sluggards and bludgers – and not feel guilty about it because we’ve been fighting an endless stream of work and commitments for the past two hectic months. Too often laziness is heavily negatively inflected. We tell someone off for being ‘lazy’. It’s used as an insult, to criticise someone for their disinclination to action or exertion; and in the Christian tradition, it’s even one of the seven deadly sins. It’s time, however, that we accepted laziness, rather than revile it, as a part of daily life. It’s not possible to work all the time; being a bit slothful every now and again is highly normal, and it’s unrealistic to expect otherwise. True, there’s a difference between having a break or a rest

and being ‘lazy’ – but it’s more a difference of emphasis rather than one of action. They involve the same activity of taking some time out, of having a bit of a lie on the sofa, on the bed, or on the floor, and not thinking about work for a bit but enjoying passive activities. So maybe, therefore, it’s a question of balance: we still shouldn’t be so completely damning of a bit of leisureliness, even while recognising that it’s not a good habit to practise all the time. Laziness, after all, is deeply ingrained within culture as a widespread tendency – a ‘thing’ that everyone does now and again, for otherwise there wouldn’t be so many words for it. Dossing around, skiving, being a slugabed – laziness enjoys an energetic verbal life, even despite its meaning of inactivity, spanning a host of weird words. Couch potato is my personal cliched favourite.

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 03 December 2015

Culture

If your degree were on screen... Should auld Medicine: Lord of the Rings (Extended Edition) Brutal, protracted and emotionally draining, a degree in Medicine may as well be a quest through hostile lands swarming with menacing mythical creatures towards an aptly-named dangerous landmark. Surviving Helm’s Deep is like surviving first year, only to find that there’s worse to come; the stairs of Mordor represent the endless, trecherous ascent to qualification. And when you get to the end of it all, broken and weary, you look back and realise that so much of it was unnecessary.

Law: Avatar This is the big dog. The one that makes all the money. The one that tops the highest-grossing film (or starting salary) list. To begin with, it looks like a great idea, but it gets very dull very quickly, and the excessive attention to detail results in disillusionment and despair. Ultimately you’re forced to conclude that you could have yielded a pretty similar result in a third of the time, and meanwhile you discover that the whole of Western society is a capitalist, militaristic and authoritarian scam. MOVIECLIPS VIA YOUTUBE

MML: The Notebook You know how it is. You live near someone, spend literally all your time with them, do bird impressions with them when drunk, lick ice cream off their face in dark times – and then they just vanish. Even if you write them every day for a year, your letter gets lost in the vacuum that is the Egyptian postal service; your Facebook messages can’t get through to them in China. And then one day, after seeing neither hide nor hair of them, they’ll just turn up at the set that you lovingly prepared with them in mind, and everything will go back to normal – well, as normal as things ever are in Cambridge, anyway. Classics: Game of Thrones Sex, death, and the occasional lashing of obscene incest: Ovid in a nutshell.

Geography: The Lion King Like Geography, people don’t take The Lion King seriously, but it’s actually pretty deep. Geographers, like Simba and Nala faced with a trio of cackling hyenas, hold their heads high and ignore the ridicule, as they pursue a path that encompasses everything from the nutritional value of grubs to regicide. And of course never forget: a Geography degree and an Oscar-winning, billions-grossing animated feature probably take roughly the same number of colouring pencils to achieve. Philosophy: The Shining This degree escalates quickly from tranquil panoramas to horrific scenes of transcendental agony and pervasive existential crises. The only thing you can do is treat it with good humour. CLEVVER MOVIES VIA YOUTUBE

acquaintance be forgot, there’s new music for 2016

Randeep Nag

his year has been one of the best years for music to date. With only one month left on the calendar, Adele’s latest album, 25, has become the top-grossing album of the year, in its first three days. This is no mean feat when you consider that 2015 was the year in which Dr. Dre decided to drop a brand-new album – a mere 16 years after his last; Drake’s notorious ‘Hotline Bling’ dance reached upper echelon meme status; and, lest we forget, Kanye West informed the world that he would be running for president in 2020. We’ve had excellent records from the likes of Tame Impala, Sufjan Stevens and Miguel, and we’ve seen the rise of new talent such as Fetty Wap and Courtney Barnett; on the national front, Jamie xx, Florence and the Machine, and recent Mercury Prize winner Benjamin Clementine, have shown the world that Brits can hold their own too. If 2016 continues along this vein, it looks as though it will be an equally exciting year for music. Here are a couple of predictions of the types of songs you should expect to hear throughout 2016, we suggest you add them to your Christmas list! Grimes – Art Angel Grimes has been rising in popularity steadily over the last couple of years, with ‘Oblivion’ and ‘Genesis’ still being the ear-worms that they were since 2012. Her latest album Art Angels is full of weird and wonderful pop gems waiting to be discovered and we definitely need more left-field and creative artists like her in popular music today. ‘Venus Fly’ is a funky jam featuring the vocal talents of Janelle Monáe, another under appreciated gem. Thundercat – The Beyond/Where the Giants Roam Thundercat is a name that you should be watching out for in 2016. This year has already seen the bassist-singer emerge into public consciousness with his contributions to Kendrick Lamar’s afrocentric opus To Pimp A Butterfly, amongst others. For further listening revisit ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ from this year’s album and be prepared to wonder why you haven’t discovered him sooner. KIM METSO

English: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire After a slow start, a degree in English, like HP4, intensifies pretty rapidly. Like Harry as he faces the Hungarian Horntail, in Easter term of second year there’s the sudden realisation that there’s quite a lot more you could and should have done – gone to lectures, become an animagus – and that constantly winging it probably isn’t the best idea. And so you spend a lot of time whinging to friends that have a much rawer deal, and spend all night in the library until a house elf – or caffeine and sparknotes – saves your skin, and everything turns out alright. Until you look back and realise you haven’t actually achieved that much. But you’ve learnt a lot about yourself. And that’s what’s important.

NatSci: Les Mis With so many unrelated and often inexplicably digressional narratives, a degree in Natural Sciences is characterised by a sense of futility, latent sexual frustration and rage towards the establishment. There’s an unspoken hierarchy among NatScis, causing most of the drama. There’s Enjolras, who spends too much time discussing theory – and the amount of work he’s doing – to ultimately succeed; then there’s poor Eponine, wracked with regret and self-loathing; there’s Marius, the well-meaning and bumbling one who scrapes a First because his supervision partners gave him a hand; and then there’s Jean Valjean, who ploughs on, with patience and aplomb, and eventually triumphs.

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 03 December 2015

Lifestyle Great expectations: Holiday reading goals The Christmas vacation will soon be upon us and that means it’s time to dust off those books you brought with you to college this term under the naive pretense that you might have time for some leisure reading in between essay deadlines. Here are the epic tomes we’ll be kicking back and relaxing with this holiday! I don’t think Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher is exactly a literary classic but I used to read this all the time when bored on holidays in the countryside with the fam. Despite being 991 pages long and covering the whole lifetime of the main character (so definitely one to save for the holidays) it still manages to be an addictive read. Lucy Roxburgh I think Hilary Mantel is our greatest living writer, and A Place of Greater Safety, is a dazzling example of her talents. Dealing with a cast of thousands, juggling historical fact with her own inventive fiction, Mantel depicts the young French revolutionaries at each stage of their journey, trying to secure freedom and power in a time of change. Both terrible and inspiring – you won’t know what to do with yourself when you (finally) reach the end. Maddy Airlie As a self-confessed Morrissey fanatic, it’s taking me an embarrassingly long time to read his Autobiography. A Cambridge term just doesn’t allow for the hours I would spend lost between reams of lyrical pages, pouring over his velvety articulateness. I’m saving this for the holidays so I can properly sink my teeth into it. Plus it was (rather controversially) published as a Penguin Classic, so has a beautiful cover and would make a great present for the diehard Morrissey fan in your life. Jemima Jobling THOMAS GALVEZ

When I grow up (if I grow up) Holly Musgrave Although I’m not sure I was fully initiated into the world of ‘adulthood’, this is precisely what makes me the ideal candidate to write this: I am still escaping adulthood. In fact, I have become better at not being an adult since I legally became one. When you leave home, you have to spend your own money on things you don’t want, like books and train tickets, and can no longer spend it on endless supplies of Galaxy counters and Coke bottles. It is difficult to retain your inner child, but there are ways, and Christmas is the perfect time to try. Invest in some body glitter For £3 from Claire’s Accessories you can get three colours of body glitter, but if this isn’t for you, why not borrow some wrapping paper as I did last week, attempt to wrap a present and you’ll have glitter all over yourself and your room. Nothing says ‘adult’ like ‘No, I deliberately put this glitter on myself ’. It makes you stand out, is fun and ideal for dressing up (a good way of escaping adulthood), and socially acceptable in the Cambridge climate of bops and Christmas.

Cartoons This is the main thing that kicked off my reversion to childish ways. It is a good coping mechanism. Everyone needs something completely separate from deadlines and academic interests to completely chill out. Adventure Time is the perfect medicine. The episodes are 11 minutes long and it’s the silliest thing you’ll ever watch. Only listen to nineties/early noughties music This can include grooving to S Club 7 classics (I’m talking about you ‘Don’t Stop Movin’’), and musical statues and pass the parcel. Nothing screams cool like knowing all the words to the ‘Cha-Cha Slide’. Bonus points if you combine this with accessories from your childhood, like butterfly clips and mood rings. You can’t do these things all the time and still do reading for your degree, but occasional escapes from the world of lectures and red wine mean that the next time you get some lentils you might come home with flying saucers instead – even if you eat them while writing an essay.

Holiday cheer in Heidelberg Isobel Laidler Lifestyle Editor

he studious sibling of our lovely university city is nestled in the south-eastern corner of Germany, and is famed for its upsettingly pretty castle (it makes me a little poe-faced about our own city’s naked Castle Mound) as well as it’s architecture, markets and cultural delights. The time has come, TCS said, to re-acquaint ourselves with this long-lost brethren, and so we are here to give you a few ideas for a cheeky weekend in our sister city. LACKYSTRIKE

Shame on you if you haven’t read The Lord of the Rings by now – particularly if you’ve seen the films. There are lots of extra adventures, including a whole alternative ending that involves the near destruction of the Shire. At a hefty 1,000+ pages it’s not a light read, but that’s precisely what Christmas is for! Anna Bradley I love Middlemarch for its breadth of characters and description. Dorothea Brooke is a real heroine in my eyes, and a very human one at that. The length of the book means you’re completely immersed in the lives of the characters, a bit like watching four seasons of a TV show in a few days. Also the complexity of the plot is fab! Magdalen Christie

of like the Maypole, only way way edgier. It even has the literary and thespy credentials, with the likes of Mark Twain and Marilyn Monroe treading the sticky boards. Heidelberg is famous as a university town, and really people who want to visit should read Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Blue Flower, which is devastating but a perfect snapshot of the romantic German soul that often gets lost in our Nazi-obsessed school history textbooks. And, of course, German Christmas markets are awsome, but here over 140 stalls are spread over five of the city’s historic market squares until 22 December. And you can recreate that Frozen moment in the massive ‘Christmas on Ice’ open-air ice-rink just below the Castle – I mean, come on, need I say more? POLYBERT49

The Red Ox Inn is a must, especially for those lucky enough to have read Patrick Leigh Fermor’s A Time Of Gifts (for those that haven’t, you’re lucky also – what a treat is yet in store!) It has been faithfully maintained in the same calloused hands for six generations, and calls itself one of Heidelberg’s oldest and most traditional student pubs, where there is live piano music and you can sample a glass of Heidelberger Pils or a ‘Schoppen’ of wine – so it’s kind

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 03 December 2015

Lifestyle ALICE LAW

Cosy up for these cheesy christmas specials The League of Gentlemen Are Behind You isn’t strictly a Christmas episode but it is a Christmas special! Combining the quartet’s distinctive dark comedy and the festive tradition of panto, this hour-and-a-half performance is perhaps their most disturbing to date. Hilarious, skincrawling and, most importantly, local. Jemima Jobling

Christmas in the city... Making movie moments with that special someone In the morning head to Covent Garden and enjoy the bookshops, quirky Moomin shop and street performers (as well as finding some bargains at Rokit). Depending on your food fancies and hunger-levels, grab a steak and ale pie from Battersea Pie Station, or wander down to China Town and grab a char siu bau (BBQ pork bun) from one of the bakeries. Alternatively go all out and head to the Four Seasons and order anything but sweet and sour because nobody actually likes that dish.In the afternoon walk to Trafalgar Square and, if you’re feeling cultured, wander through the National Portrait Gallery, which is free. Then walk along the river as it gets dark, arriving at Southbank Christmas market in time for some mulled wine or cider

Winchester (just outside my hometown since nothing exciting ever happens actually in my town) has a Christmas market every year. All the cute little stalls and the smells of mulled wine and cinnamon make you feel almost unbearably festive. Anthony Hampton Court Palace ice rink is very cute and better than London ones because there’s actually space to move without taking out a small child. Sammy Manchester also has an absolutely fantastic Christmas market, complete with a giant inflatable Santa on top of the town hall. They have decent lights as well, we used to drive through the city centre on the way back from my Grandma’s just to see them. Anna

INSOMNIA CURED HERE

and unbelievably delicious truck food – as well as picking up those last minute little gifts of course! Ru Merritt Wandering with the family For those wanting to explore a quieter leafy part of London with the added bonus of possibly bumping into Ronnie Wood or Richard E.Grant (probably not at the same time), Richmond is a lovely place to spend a day. Watch the sunrise in Richmond park with the locals (deer) and grab a bacon butty breakfast at Pembroke lodge cafe, then stroll into the centre of town to pootle around the shops before grabbing a tasty falafel wrap in the Hollyhock cafe amongst the gardens on Richmond hill. Finally, wile away the hours till dusk at one of the many riverside pubs. Beth Jamal

...or something closer to home ot everyone lives in the capital (although it can be hard to tell sometimes) and not everyone can or wants to spend their holidays running round the bright streets of London. So here we celebrate the Chistmas delights of the rest of the country, all our other homes.

I love the Father Ted Christmas special; it ups the show’s normal zany levels to about a million and has Father Dougal in some excellent Christmas sweater vests. It’s a dangerous one to watch whilst eating because laughter to full mouthful ratio is a real choking hazard. Maddy Airlie

Birmingham has the largest German Christmas market outside of Germany. Now that is hometown pride right there. Alice This Christmas, I’m going to make sure I get to the Burrell Collection in Glasgow before it closes for renovation in 2016. It has a wonderful range of Impressionist works, and I especially love the Highland cows that graze on the front grass. Louise My local town, Sedbergh, is a book town and has a Christmas book fair which is always filled with the best pensioners Yorkshire has to offer – it’s genuinely hilarious to watch! Samuel The winter wonderland in Cardiff is gloriously naff – my favourite bit is the mock ‘Alpine Village’ Lucas Leeds has a gorgeous German Christmas market every year in Millennium Square, with loads of adorable little stalls, plenty of food on offer, entertainment and a carousel – it isn’t Christmas until the christkindelmarkt arrives! Tonicha SMABS SPUTZER

Miranda: it’s funny, clumsy and lighthearted. Appeals to all ages, you can watch it with all the fam! Olivia Fletcher The Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special – extended to a whole hour of gloriousness, this is the only Gavin and Stacey special there was but it makes you wish there were many more. Involving turkey, mistletoe, a mega family argument, a proposal and, of course, the iconic scene of Smithy singing Christmas songs in the car – it has everything you want from a Christmas special. Lucy Roxburgh Mr Bean! When he goes into Harrods and turns off the lights and plays with the nativity scene. Then puts the turkey on his head! That one has to win, hands down. Seb Horner The Doctor Who Christmas special is a must watch every year, our whole family gathers together for it. David Tennant’s first outing as the Doctor was a joy to watch, especially as he ran wildly around the space ship and pressed the notorious Big Red Button. Anna Bradley The Vicar of Dibley has some beautiful Christmas episodes. The one where Geraldine agrees to go to a few too many Christmas lunches just to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings is very funny. Although it almost makes you never want to eat Christmas dinner again! Fiona Berkely Friends has a great Christmas special. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the image of Ross as the Holiday Armadillo. It makes me very sad that there will never be another episode – let alone Christmas episode – because they were absolutely hilarious. Tom Woods My all-time favourite Christmas TV special was the Top Gear Burma special. I know it’s shameful but it was also the funniest thing on TV. To want Top Gear back is to have no brain, but to not miss it is to have no heart. Marcus Chenevix-Trench

03 December 2015 • Part 2 • The Cambridge Student

Lifestyle

Photography Tom Dorrington Direction Jessie Mathewson Models Isobel Laidler, Katherine Rose Smith, Jonathan Woolley

Bags featured: The 13 Inch Satchel (Walnut) £120, The Small Traveller Bag with Side Pockets (Ivy Green) £175, The Patent Cloud Bag with Top Handle (Oxblood) £115, The 15 Inch Classic Satchel (Oxblood) £120, The Portrait Back Pack (Pine) £150

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 03 December 2015

Lifestyle

Seasonal Satchels The Cambridge Satchel Company We’ve done it – Michaelmas 2015 is finally over! It’s probably fair to say that most of us are ready for a few weeks away from reading lists, problem sheets, and essays; but heading home isn’t always easy. This week TCS Fashion brings you a portable piece of Cambridge, courtesy of a quintessentially Cantabrigian brand: The Cambridge Satchel Company. Today it’s an international brand, featured in fashion magazines worldwide. But these satchels were originally designed for students. So we went back to the brand’s roots in the gorgeous gardens of Newnham college. Here’s to the satchel: it’s the bag that’s got us to and from lectures all term, now with a seasonal update in Christmas colours. You can see all the pictures from the shoot, and read more about Cambridge’s flagship fashion brand online. The Cambridge Satchel Company’s prices are little more than the average student budget can accommodate, but if you haven’t written your wish list this year, it might be worth taking a peak in the Rose Crescent shop while Black Friday deals last. Merry Christmas!

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 03 December 2015

Lifestyle

Keeping Camrades close Maddy Airlie Lifestyle Editor

December drinking Kate Bell Mulled wine You can’t have Christmas drinks without mulled wine, and this recipe is super quick and perfect for a crowd. • 1 bottle of red wine • 2 oranges • 2 cinnamon sticks • 1 lemon • 100g caster sugar 1. Zest the lemon and oranges into large strips, then juice all the fruit. Put the sugar, juice and 300ml water in a large saucepan with the cinnamon sticks and bring to the boil until the sugar is dissolved. 2. Simmer for 10 minutes so that all the flavours can infuse. Add the bottle of wine and bring to a simmer, then serve with a ladle into thick mugs. Cranberry fizz Cranberries are a classic festive flavour, and all Christmases should involve fizz – combine the two and you have a simple way to jazz up the most bargain Cava you can find. • 250ml cranberry juice • 1 bottle of Cava 1. Reduce the cranberry juice in a small saucepan until syrupy. Leave to cool completely. 2. Pour a small amount of cranberry syrup into the bottom of each glass, then top up with the Cava. RPAVICH

Culinary Dreamin’: Bridgemas tidings As this culinary adventure draws to a close, why not start one of your own with this easy recipe? Hetty Gullifer Columnist

‘T

is the season to talk about Bridgemas. It’s a little predictable to base my column around it but I can only ignore my Facebook feed (which assures me that I’ve actually already missed Bridgemas day itself) so long. Plus I had my first mulled wine of the season yesterday after singing in a carol concert. I only need my first mince pie to complete the trinity that tells me that the festive season has officially arrived. For me, it is the food that makes Christmas. It is a military operation. The Christmas spreadsheet is made in November. Mincemeat is on hand from 1 December and preparations for the 11 or so side dishes to the turkey itself begins whilst

listening to carols from King’s on the radio the day before. (FYI I am in dire need of a larger family because I always make too much for our eight strong extended family) I’ve tried variations on everything. I’ve mildly drugged my teetotal grandma by adding Cointreau to the custard, I’ve hogged the kitchen sink for three days to brine a turkey, I’ve even made a slimline stuffing (never again). But my favourite has to be this simple recipe for Christmas truffles… 1. Crumble up 1 small Christmas pudding into small pieces and soak in brandy overnight. 2. Melt 200g dark chocolate in the microwave using 30

second blasts. Stir Christmas pudding through the chocolate with 3tsp mixed spice and (optional) 1tsp vanilla extract. 3. Roll into truffle-sized balls. Refrigerate until solid. Eat or give away. 4. (If you’re feeling really intrepid) Melt 100g white chocolate and drizzle on the top of each truffle as icing and use coloured icing to make holly leaves and berries. If you make one thing this Bridgemas, treat yourself and be grateful you have access to a microwave – most Oxford students don’t.

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 03 December 2015

Lifestyle

Santa’s sandwich shortlist TCS Team

his is the time of year when supermarkets step their sandwiches up a gear and bring out limited Christmas editions.Whether you need sustenance for a train journey home, or you just can’t be bothered to cook for the rest of term, we’ve done the testing and discovered the dodgy ones so you don’t have to. M&S Turkey Feast: as well as making you feel classy purely by being Marks and Spencer, their Christmas sandwich offerings also donate 5% of each sale to Shelter. They have the boldest packaging of all the supermarkets tried: the turkey feast has a random but cheery penguin that we love. The flavour of the cranberry sauce is too strong. Overall, the things which are peripheral to a Christmas dinner are too dominating in this sandwich.

thing. Presumably Sainsbury’s are trying to avoid sausage related controversy, as the sausages are simply next to the bacon rather than being wrapped in it. On actually eating the sandwich, we realise Sainsbury’s is also attempting to pass off cocktail sausages as real sausages. It is nice in a horrible way: reasonably nice, reasonably weird. Co-op Festive Feast: Co-op appear to be attempting to combat the perception of supermarket sandwiches as being terrible for you by squeezing in as much veg as possible. Spinach makes a reappearance, this time joined by carrots and parsnips. We are still unconvinced about this many root vegetables in a sandwich. LUCY ROXBURGH

M&S Veggie Feast: continuing Eat’s trend of nonfestive flavours in Christmas sandwiches, the M&S one is dominated by a healthy (literally) serving of spinach. Whilst we don’t know anybody who has spinach on Christmas Day, this does actually give pleasant structure and crunchy freshness amongst the rest of the more appropriate festive ingredients – hello more roast vegetables.

Overall, it is a truly mixed bag out there. The results left us wondering whether attempting to squeeze a whole complex and marvellous Christmas dinner in between two slices of bread is a good idea at any time, other than when dealing with Boxing Day leftovers. Try at your own peril.

Festive finger foods Lucy Roxburgh Food and Drink Editor Hosting your first Christmas do or New Year’s party? Whilst your first priority is likely to be the amount of alcohol, don’t forget the food. Stepping it up from bowls of Kettle Chips with Celebrations to follow doesn’t mean you have to spend a whole day in the kitchen prepping. These three super speedy canapés will make you look fancy and help soak up all that festive Cava.

first thing to be finished. Making these with proper sausages instead of cocktail ones takes a bit more effort but is worth it as they taste so much better.

Pesto palmiers These require only two ingredients that you can grab from your nearest Sainsbury’s Local and can be ready in just 20 minutes.

1. Carefully twist each sausage in half, using scissors to divide them at the new join. 2. Melt the honey in the microwave. 3. Toss the sausages in the honey until well coated, then spread out evenly on a lined baking tray. 4. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and cook at 200°C for 20-25 minutes.

1. Unravel your puff pastry, or if you’re not using ready rolled, roll it into a square 1/2 cm thick. 2. Spread the pesto in an even layer across the pastry. 3. Starting from one long side of the pastry, roll the pastry into a spiral until you get to the centre of the pastry. Repeat from the other side until both rolls meet in the middle. 4. Cut the log into 1cm thick slices and lay flat on a lined baking tray. 5. Bake at 200°C for 15mins until golden and crisp. Sausages It is the secret rule of catering that no matter how fancy or complicated the other snacks are, sausages are always the

Eat Festive Roast Roots Bloomer: innovative packaging, being the only one to not go for red cardboard packaging or the standard shop-bought tradition of triangle sandwiches. All the shops seem to go for different variations of roast root vegetables in their vegetarian offerings which, aside from lacking imagination, sparks debate over whether this is really being festive enough – does butternut squash truly scream Christmas? Festive applicability aside, the overall is taste is good and well balanced. Boots: this one simply looked too grim to buy – a triple club sandwich vibe comprising one turkey, one cheese and pickle and one prawn. Since when were prawns a festive item?

Sainsbury’s Turkey and Pigs Under Blankets: our thoughts about this sandwich are dominated by discussion of the title alone: pigs under blankets is definitely not a

• 1 package of puff pastry (ready rolled is the dream for super speediness) • 1 tub of fresh pesto

Pret: this is the only sandwich not to list the ingredients directly on it, which is annoying when you’re buying lots of sandwiches to taste test and not eating them immediately. Although each individual component remains a mystery by the time it comes to tasting, Pret is always a solid bet for a good sandwich (their All Day Breakfast creation is surely the King of the whole sandwich sector).

• 12 sausages • 3tbsp honey • Handful of sesame seeds

RUTH HARTNUP

Holiday habits Some students share their families’ strange variations on the traditional Christmas dinner. My family just aren’t super into Christmas and none of us are great cooks, so we normally get a takeaway on Christmas Day. The biggest challenge is finding somewhere in Barnes that’s actually open and delivering, but it is our tradition now. Matty Ellis Nutella on Christmas pudding. Sounds wrong but it melts like a Gu chocolate fondant. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Freya Sanders We have a Father Christmas figuirine on top of our Christmas Cake and as we eat the cake over the Christmas period, nobody is allowed to knock him over. By the end of December it’s just Father Christmas standing on a pillar of cake. Isobel Laidler I actually don’t like Christmas dinner – one time I just had three different types of potato and some veg for my Christmas meal instead. Amelia Oakley My family have orange-themed everything. Orange and chocolate pastry with orange juice for breakfast, orange zest on our meat at lunch, with orange liqueur to drink, and obviously chocolate orange throughout the day. Nobody really knows why; it’s just stuck. Henry McNicol Our parents insist that we have our absolute favourite food for Christmas dinner. So I always have a Tesco ready-made four cheese pizza. One sister always has peanut butter and jam rice cakes. The other has porridge. Jonny Pike

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 03 December 2015

Lifestyle

Battle of the boughs Which college is wearing its greenery best? ANNA CARRUTHERS

Murray Edwards

Clare

MADDY AIRLIE

JEMIMA JOBLING

Downing

Newnham

LUCY ROXBURGH

GRACE MURRAY

Girton

Pembroke

TONICHA UPHAM

The Cambridge Student • 03 December 2015

Features

Trinity

Sidney Sussex

One need only walk into the porter’s lodge to be hit by the wave of smugness that Trinity projects.

When you live so close to Sainsbury’s that you could get there without using any limbs, you think only of pizza.

or all of us, it was a traumatic time. In the midst of application mayhem, they expected us to choose between thirty-odd colleges, all with their own various personalities and merits (see left). We rounded up all the best (and most ridiculous) reasons for choosing the colleges we did.

Hughes Hall, Lucy Cav & St Edmund’s

Peterhouse Something about the Adonians and cheeky visits to the bushes in the gardens after dinner...

These three colleges are a bit rogue, quite bright and airy, but they’re ultimately pretty cool with that.

“They wouldn’t let me in to come and visit. I really respected that.”

St John’s

JESSICA MCHUGH

Where port is the staple drink, and bow ties compulsory dress far more often than is strictly necessary.

Downing

Jonny, Peterhouse

Magdalene

Skateboard fox is sporty and kooky, much like Downing; wheels are required to get across the massive site.

Situated in the midst of multiple pubs, and famous for its drinking society, Magdalene is beer fox.

Clare Hall

Wolfson

“I just did eenie meenie minie mo cause I couldn’t decide.”

Anastasia, Murray Edwards

“I applied to Caius because it had pretty trees in the courtyard.”

Anthony, Gonville & Caius

Churchill

“I applied to Christ’s because it was first on the alphabetical list of colleges.”

Charlotte, Murray Edwards

Full of compscis, scientists and techies, “Like pretty much everyone else, I Churchill finds its spirit applied to Emma for the ducks.” animal in laptop fox. Elsa, Emmanuel “I didn’t know anything about the college system before I applied, and then I went onto UCAS on deadline day and discovered that there was this huge drop-down box with all these weird names in it. After a few minutes I decided to apply to the college whose crest looked most like Slytherin.”

Ben, Gonville & Caius

St Catharine’s

Known for its Michelin Star worthy kitchen, and look of hope and prosperity, Pembroke is chef fox.

Audrey, Trinity Hall

Amelia, Jesus

sticker is your college? Pembroke

“I chose my college because I was told it was the most diverse. Recent FOI requests showed that it’s actually the third least diverse college in Cambridge. So I was simply told outright lies.”

“Avocado shaped bushes and a great virtual tour made me apply to Jesus.”

Even those who go here treat this college with mild sarcasm. It doesn’t even have its own name.

Full of mature students just aching to learn, this fox personifies keen and up-for-it Wolfson.

Choosing a college: Steps and Slytherin

Friendly, but somewhat posed – because it’s constantly faced with tourists – Catz squishes its undergraduates together on their small, mid-town space. With a secret passage to Sidge, it’s easy for those at Selwyn to sneak home for a cheeky mid-lecture lunch or two.

Selwyn

“I chose Newnham because I wanted a college where I could self-cater – only to spend my first year on one of the few corridors with no oven in the kitchen. Good one, me.”

Miriam, Newnham

“The front step into the plodge is really worn. It made me realise how old Peterhouse truly is.”

Sam, Peterhouse

Jesus

Sporty, perky, and ready for anything, Jesus – in its edgy red and black – is fit and ambitious to a slightly alarming extent.

“I applied to Murray Edwards because I thought it was a mixed college. To be fair, there were pictures of men on the Darwin probably spends its time college website.” studying fauna, like its founder. Olivia, Murray Edwards

Darwin

03 December 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Features

Moving Colleges: Relapse and Rejection Anna Hollingsworth Columnist

s much as I try to be a Johnian, I do have a history; I have landed in the awkward situation of renegotiating boundaries and getting over four years of thinking Corpus was The One. With the risk of being contacted by the University’s counselling service after this is published, my mind has come to be occupied by the same existential questions on a loop: will I ever get over Corpus? Does it ever think of me? Is it OK to be friends with your ex-college? Yes, I do feel strongly about my colleges, and no, I am decidedly not over Corpus. I am slightly ashamed to admit that I turned up to John’s registration day proudly sporting my Corpus hoodie, and, I fear, continued to do so for most of Freshers’ Week. I am still clinging onto my membership of various Corpus-related Facebook groups: Formal ticket exchange, TV room bookings, summer rowing (which I never did) – you name it, I’ve stalked it. Don’t even mention the pain that seeing my beloved pigeon hole gone inflicted on me, because, man, that hurt. I guess it is fair, if heartbreaking, for me to admit that I may have just taken this separation and moving on process somewhat worse than Corpus (then again, it was Corpus’s decision to end it; I did my best to make it work, but when the money to fund your degree comes from John’s – now I ain’t sayin’ she a gold digger…). Rather arrogantly, I thought I meant something to Corpus: I was expecting the college equivalent of a tantrum, being chased away from Corpus grounds by a torch-carrying, stone-throwing angry mob of committed Corpuscles but I did not even get a mock disapproving look from the porters. Instead, Corpus has moved straight onto acceptance: even the rather-be-at-Oxford chanters tend to voice happiness for me moving onto something bigger. Now that is not something you hear often from an actual ex.

Rather arrogantly, I thought I meant something to Corpus: I was expecting the college equivalent of a tantrum, or to be chased from college grounds I have a confession to make: after matriculation dinner at John’s, I found myself not at the post-matric Lola’s session but, and I’m ashamed to admit this, at the Corpus Back to School slack (or the first and most major Freshers’ ent for those not initiated in Corpus slang). As much of a huge relapse entering Corpus bar may have been, at least it was a way of witnessing just how fast Corpus had got over me: my college card, which I had so lovingly cherished alongside my John’s one, was bluntly rejected at the bar, and the freshers in their more or less Britney-replicating school uniforms were definitely more at home than I was. So, when the party ended about five minutes after I got there due to an unfortunate event involving a fresher and vomit (say no more), I was more than ready to head back to John’s embrace. It is goodbye Corpus and hello John’s for good now. Or at least until I find myself at the next Corpus ent.

A week in the life: A Union Hack in Election Season* *as imagined by Anthony Bridgen Monday

It’s here!! The most exciting week of the term, the union elections are here, the tension is real, this will decide who holds power in Easter. Sachin Parathalingham vs Charlotte Ivers: who will win this epic power struggle. God I hope it’s Sachin, I’m so screwed if Charlotte gets it, she’s never liked me, I’ll be forced out. They always push out their enemies.

Tuesday

Saw Charlotte today; she gave me the stink-eye, I’m definitely out if she’s in

Wednesday

Spring Ball tickets launch today, it’s only the biggest event of the year’s social calendar, everyone who’s anyone will be there. I HAVE to get a ticket, keep refreshing, it’s almost six…

...What’s going on? It’s almost five past and there are still tickets going, what are people thinking, this is the Union Spring Ball we’re talking about. Fools.

Thursday

Big debate today. This house believes the LGBT+ movement should split up. So chuffed, Oliver told me I could usher today. Finally, after all these weeks, it’s happening, my rise to power is beginning! Now usher, next exec officer and then, then I’ll be president. Sachin had better win or my efforts will have been wasted: the bitching, the fetching coffee, it will be worth it. Also, hustings are today; here’s hoping Charlotte fluffs it, or trips up going up to speak, that’d be hilarious. Damn it! She did well, the crowd loved her. I am so screwed, so very, very screwed.

Friday

My rise to power is beginning

Well that’s it, voting is closed and it’s finally all over. The election, my union career... What’s the point of life without the union? Now to wait. I already know, Charlotte has it but maybe, just maybe I’ll be lucky. She won…

Saturday

So it’s done, all those hopes, all those dreams, all gone in a flash. And I showed such promise too.

Sunday

Who needs the union anyway? Not me, that’s for sure, tje bunch of bureaucratic, nepotistic, power hungry fools. I’m off to join the Wilberforce Society next term, thinktanks are much nicer anyway. NICK STENNING

The Students’ Favourite: Stalking Spot Sammy Love Features Editor

eople watching is one of the best forms of procrastination, and if you choose the right spot you are guaranteed some quality entertainment during those ‘deserved’ essay breaks. It is often commented that the History faculty’s Seeley library is shaped like a prison. Indeed, its panopticon design allows you to see almost every inch of the library, providing maximum ogling potential. Previously spotted: many nose-pickers and someone watching a very saucy movie on their laptop. The layout gives you ample choice of people to spy on but also means you are likely to be caught having a nosey yourself, which would be embarrassing. Still, the history library deserves a solid 8/10 Sticking with libraries we move on

to the UL. Many find it an ideal place to work due to its hidden nooks and crannies and lack of distractions. However, the sacrifice one must make for this focused working environment is a lack of fellow humans to spy on – one can wander round the South Wing for several hours and not encounter another living being. Safe to say, this is not the ideal place to get your peoplewatching fix: 1/10 If you find libraries a bit tame and prefer to spy on people in the wild, King’s Parade is the place to head. Sit yourself down on the wall and enjoy the chaos of frustrated cyclists battling through mobs of tourists. Watching people try and get the perfect King’s selfie is always amusing, especially when the selfie stick is whipped out, providing a tricky obstacle for other pedestrians. The half-hearted or sometimes over-exuberant attempts of

If you prefer to watch your people in the wild, head to King’s Parade

Scudamore associates (other punting providers are available) to lure people onto the river are often entertaining too, particularly when you start to notice the inappropriate candidates they can target; a doddery old couple or family with a pushchair. King’s Parade definitely hits the spot: 10/10 LILI VIEIRA DE CARVALHO

I’ve got my eye on you

The Cambridge Student • 03 December 2015

Features

Student Spotlight: Scot Soc Ceilidh Magdalen Christie Features Editor

riday night in November can only be brightened by a ceilidh, and Scot Soc delivered a perfect end of week treat. Having missed out on getting a ticket for the Caledonian Ball, I was keen to get my dancing shoes on and have a really good laugh. The night was blustery, wet and awful, and walking down the hill towards Emmanual United Reformed Church I began to reconsider my choices. However, Netflix and chill could wait, because from outside the

church door, we heard the sounds of pipe and violin, and knew the night would be a good one. The ceilidh was well attended, with a fairly equal mix of men and women, and had a live band featuring a piper, a viola player, a violinist, a drummer and a pianist, who all played tirelessly throughout the night with enthusiasm. The caller was funny and friendly, and although he sometimes read off a card, the dances were easy enough to remember, and a good time was had by all, judging by the laughter all around. I only galloped down the line the wrong way once.

“It’s organised chaos, but it’s a great laugh”

KATE WILLIAMS

There was no fear of having to learn reels or wear the correct length of tartan skirt – although there were a few dashing gentlemen in kilts with the horsehair pouch and knee length socks dancing around. As Lily, the wonderfully friendly president of Scot Soc said, “it’s organised chaos really, but it’s a great laugh”. And indeed, that’s what the night was. The next day my shins hurt, and the ceaseless reels, calls and general merriment are still ringing in my ears but it was a great evening. Ceilidh dancing is an ideal way to get rid of a few inhibitions; if you can’t polka, just dance round in a circle clutching your partner, sweaty hands and all, crying out “polka polka polka!”. ‘Stripping The Willow’ is probably the most dizzying experience you’ll get outside of Thorpe Park, but also madly fun – especially after a cider or two. There’s nothing quite like endless spinning with about 20 other people. The end of the night saw everyone partner up randomly and literally leap around the hall dancing together in a mad celebration of Scottish fun and pent up Cambridge stress. It was a perfect way to spend a Friday night, and I thoroughly recommend that you all look out for Scot Soc socials coming up next term. Kilts are optional, enthusiasm is not.

Student Chat: “What do you want in your stocking?”

“You can never really get much better than a load of chocolate” Julia, Girton

“A pint”

Hugh, Wolfson

“Can you fit gin in a Christmas stocking?” Anthony, Caius

JULIA STANYARD, MAGDALEN CHRISTIE, JAMES HALL, ANTHONY BRIDGEN, SAMMY LOVE

“Special Brew. And this term’s lecture notes.” Devina, St Catherine’s

“Melons instead of my oranges...” Wafaa, Christ’s

Meet The Freshers: All of Cambridge is a learning curve Lizzie Merson Columnist

“S

o, how’s it going?” The typical mid-to-late term question is asked by my parents as they look searchingly into my face. I take a breath and have a think, resisting the urge to launch straight into a typical response gushing with enthusiasm and positivity. The truth is, there’s so much going on here that it hardly feels like I could describe the experience and actually do it any justice. Not to mention the fact that I’ve barely had a moment to sit back and think properly about it. But, as an English student, I suppose I should at least try… The fact that this week Todd and I have been unable to actually find a time to meet up and write this column might be indicative of just how busy Cambridge life can be (either that, or we just aren’t very organised, which is definitely a possibility). I don’t think anyone would deny just how intense life here can be. It’s invigorating, exhilarating, stimulating… and, especially at 3am in the Taylor Library, or after 2000m of erging, just a little exhausting. But, as I was told in one of my first supervisions; you find a rhythm, settle into new habits – hand in a good (ish) essay one week… and an undeniably mediocre one the next.

As a self-confessed over-thinker, I openly admit that I still often think: “What am I actually doing here?” As a self-confessed overthinker, I openly admit that I still often think “What am I actually doing here?” and “What do I really want to get out of this experience?” The prospect of reaching the end of my degree, minus at least £27,000, and still not having found adequate answers, is a daunting thought. Yet, I think I may be beginning to at least glimpse them. Slowly, but surely, I’m finding my feet… I think. Getting lost because you think you know where you’re going and so you don’t look it up in advance (and thus getting strange looks when you go to Trinity Hall and ask for the Clare Cellars), learning the hard way that sleep deprivation really does inhibit your mental ability (and leads to embarrassing falling-asleep-in-thelibrary situations – the bean bags in the EFL are just too comfortable, let’s be honest), and deciding on a whim to go to a meeting discussing your writing for the first time with an established editor and poet… that’s all been a part of it. I’m still slightly uncertain as to how I should negotiate a balance between the commonly referred to ‘Cambridge bubble’ and the ‘real’ world. It’s easy to let your essay and lecture schedule become what defines your week, although accepting that Thursday is the new Monday will, I fear, never be natural to me. And yet, some of the most rewarding and stimulating experiences which I’ve had since arriving here have been those where things haven’t necessarily gone to plan, or been what I expected them to be. So I think I would encourage anyone currently sitting hunched over a computer and wondering how they are going to make it through three (or more) years of intense academic study to ‘do something which scares you’ (within reason). It’s a cliché, but a good one.

03 December 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Interviews

Sophie Buck: TEDx will bridge arts and science Chase Smith Interviews Editor

itting down at a tiny table in Indigo Coffee House, Sophie Buck and I chat arts, sciences, and everything in between. Sophie, a Psychology student and prolific artist, has her hands full with co-organising this year’s Cambridge TEDx conference, set to showcase ideas this coming 13 February. This year she is proud to have chosen a theme she’s

theme has great potential. “I think it’s quite important, because there seems to be a divide between arts and science students. Often people think, ‘The sciences are too difficult for me’, or ‘Ooh I could never write an essay’. Actually there’s quite a lot of overlap, and I think when you get down to it, it’s difficult to define what’s an art and what’s a science. With music [for example], I definitely don’t know whether that’s an art or a science: there

draw diagrams in science because it helps them visualize and understand things. Both [science and art] are about simplifying things that are really complex in the world and ourselves.” On the subject of art, I ask her about her own work. “I’m really passionate about art and science and I want to bring the two together. With my own subject, I use the two [psychology and art] to interact with each other. I’ve actually improved quite a lot at ALL IMAGES: SOPHIE BUCK

talk about depression, and it’s easier to understand it in art.” Sophie thinks, therefore, that art has a crucial role to play in society today. “I actually think it’s a solution to quite a lot of things. I want to be a forensic psychologist, and I think the arts are going to be a really good way to reduce crime. I think it will help people to express their anger and frustration without resorting to violence. Maybe also [art will] help people feel more heard, [because] I think sometimes they commit crimes because they don’t feel listened to. They do use [art] as a kind of therapy in prisons, but sometimes it’s not actually encouraged. I’ve been a reading a book lately – and they were like ‘ban all art supplies.’ And people will get them almost like drugs to draw onions in their room or something. They find it quite therapeutic.” Even so, she thinks “there’s a lot more funding now for sciences, and they are cutting arts budgets a lot. I do think it contributes to the mental health problem in society today that

“I think people find it difficult to talk about depression, and it’s easier to understand it in art.”

passionate about: ‘Connecting the Arts and Sciences’. Her excitement for TED goes back to when she used to watch talks on the way to school at the age of 18. Her interest in connecting arts and sciences goes back far too. “I never know which category I fit into and I find them both interesting. I was either [going to] do psychology or architecture. “My dad’s really into sport and science and my mum’s really into art and writing. I can easily see the connections between the two, but it frustrates me that my dad is just good at science and my mum’s just good at art, when I think that they can both learn so much from each other.” Sophie believes that this year’s

are so many different elements. I think it’s important to look at both aspects.” Sophie thinks that arts students can learn much from science students: she points to History and Philosophy of Science as a prime example of overlap. Sophie thinks methodological overlap is more difficult, especially “because the scientific method seems to be really robust and the way to do things”. She does point out that “science doesn’t necessarily find truth: it’s just experimentation and trying to get at it.” So really, history and natural sciences are “looking at the same thing but coming from different angles.” What, on the other hand, can a scientist learn from the arts? She gives drawing as an example: “People

life drawing recently: there’s not that much evidence for it but they’ve found mirror neurons in monkeys (basically a monkey not doing an action watches a monkey do an action, and the same region of their brain is activated as if they were doing it themselves). With my life drawing, I kind of imagine I’m the person and whether it would work, and it helps my proportions so much. I think the arts are just another way of trying to understand things. “A lot of my work is centred around psychology. I guess tackling areas of psychology that might be difficult to talk about – it’s quite good to put them in art, especially [as] there seems to be an interest lately in mental health. I think people find it really difficult to

people don’t really value the arts.” She talks about how arts and science can work together to understand emotions, for example: “Neither the arts nor neuroscience have completely understood emotions but both are representing them in different ways. Neuroscience will look at different neurotransmitters, different mental disorders, and brain regions, whereas the arts will look at how different things make you feel. I think neither of them can capture all of it so they need to work together if they actually want to understand emotions. “I also think the sciences are really beautiful. So even if you’re a physicist and you love maths, there’s some kind of pleasure of all things fitting together a bit like in art – also the artwork that I did that was inspired by Stephen Hawking’s book. I think that the arts see quite a lot of beauty, whereas the sciences maybe have forgotten.” How can the sciences learn to remember? “I think by not dismissing arts students for a start. I think with everything you need to look at lots of

possible options. Looking at something from lots of different angles. [Also] drawing is really important to get to know things for scientists. There’s a lot of literature on scientific drawing, like Charles Darwin [and] Robert Hook. They say if you haven’t drawn something, you haven’t understood it. I think what a lot of people think with drawing is that you have to end up with something beautiful at the end. But that’s not actually the aim: the aim is to get to know something better. “I end up sketching in lectures quite a lot. I think it’s important to get over the boundary of ‘this has to be perfect’. When I was younger, I used to do quite a lot of photorealism – copying from a photo, trying to make it as accurate as possible. I’m trying to do more spontaneous things now. The other day I drew something with two hands at the same time. I had to vaguely split my attention between the two.” Her goal then, at this TEDx, is to find speakers to talk about “novel ways of putting the arts and sciences together. We’re looking for creative applications.” She offers some advice for applicants, pointing out that public speaking ability is crucial. “It’s partly how you present yourself and partly what you actually have to say.” If students don’t want to give a talk, they can also get involved with ‘TEDxhibits’, a social media campaign that will allow students to express the ways they think the arts and sciences can be connected through submissions from drawings to equations, with the best to be displayed at the conference. Students can send in their submissions via email, or post them on social media with the tags #tedxhibits and #texcambridgeuniversity. So after TED business is done, what does Sophie want Cambridge to be talking about? “I want people to wish they did minors – in the US you can do another subject – and kind of want people to wish that, and to try different things, and to talk to different people. You can learn things from everyone.”

The Cambridge Student • 03 December 2015

Comment

Deep rifts are forming in the Labour party over Syria Amatey Doku Columnist

n my column last week I highlighted some of the challenges David Cameron would face over the coming weeks as he seeks to find support for action against IS in Syria. Since then, whilst there is still some way to go, things are moving in his favour. Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show over the weekend, defence secretary Michael Fallon pointed out that whilst they were building a case, the government did not feel that at this stage they could guarantee majority support for action in Syria. But after Cameron’s statement to the House of Commons, Crispin Blunt, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee announced his backing for the prime minister’s proposals. However, much of how this develops rests on the leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, who has made it very clear that he personally does not support the government’s proposals. Speaking as well on The Andrew Marr Show he argued that he did not think that the proposals would “solve the problem that’s there” and, making referencing a letter printed in the Observer over the weekend from civilians in Raqqa, he argued that no matter how targeted the bombing campaign is, there would be civilian casualties. He also brought into question the government’s overall strategy saying that “there is no second plan, there is no effective ground force to back it up” and argued that the campaign may not actually damage IS and “may make the situation worse”.

This stance from Jeremy Corbyn is hardly surprising. He was heavily involved in the Stop the War Coalition, openly opposed and protested against Tony Blair’s decision to take Britain to war in Iraq and has more recently, on becoming leader, maintained his opposition to the renewal of Trident, Britain’s nuclear deterrent. This is completely at odds with many of his colleagues in the parliamentary Labour party. Hilary Benn, the shadow defence secretary, whilst keen to play down rifts at the top of the party, described the case in favour of air strikes in Syria as presented by the PM as “compelling”. With this in mind, Corbyn’s next move is crucial but it doesn’t appear to be straightforward

Even if Corbyn whips the Labour Party to oppose air strikes, he must be prepared for dissent either way. If he attempts to whip MPs to oppose Cameron’s air strikes, shadow cabinet resignations have been threatened whilst, on the other side, MPs such as Dianne Abbott argue that a free vote would, in her words “hand victory to Cameron over these airstrikes on a plate”. This split highlights the real tension between the parliamentary party and the rest of the Labour party. As we saw at the time of the Labour leadership election, activists, party members, union members and of course the ‘£3’ Labour voters, gave

him an overwhelming mandate to lead his party. At the time Corbyn made no apology for his views; indeed, his campaign slogan was “straight talking, honest politics”. It is not too much of an imaginative leap to assume that, concerning action in Syria, many of those voters are not shocked by his standpoint on the issue and will openly support him. This is completely at odds with the parliamentary Labour party, who didn’t overwhelming vote for Corbyn and who appear to be more reluctant about openly opposing air strikes. Although this may be damaging to his leadership, it’s unlikely to lead to Corbyn’s departure, despite two former Labour ministers calling for him to resign. For one thing, any potential challenger would have to claw back the overwhelming support he has maintained within the new makeup of the party. However, this tension between the parliamentary party and activists on the ground, to make a crude distinction, will not go away and will be brought to a head at the next general election. The Labour party manifesto must present a united, coherent set of policies, and getting a set of policies which satisfy all wings of the party will be his biggest challenge of all. On Syria however, even if Corbyn whips the Labour party to oppose air strikes, he must be prepared for some dissent. After all, as a backbencher he was all too accustomed with rebelling against the front bench of his party. 70023VENUS2009

Editors: Jack May & Freya Sanders Founded 1999 Volume 17

Firing up

The divestment campaign finally finds its feet Divestment has ridden high on the student campaigns agenda for this term. The new campaign group Zero Carbon, founded this academic year, has set itself an ambitious target – to make the University of Cambridge withdraw all investment associated with fossil fuels. As this column has previously noted, the campaign got off to a shaky start. A damp squib of a student campaign over the river Cam in week four was an insult to such an important issue. For their next trick, it seems like Zero Carbon has understood that it needs to start small in order to chip

away at an issue so as to make big changes. This week’s protest gathering was reasonably well-attended, and was staged in a prominent public space with a lot of through traffic. The campaign has also won the support of Cambridge’s MP, Daniel Zeichner, which will no doubt increase pressure on the University in the coming months. The hope is that the campaign can learn from this term over Christmas, and return in January with the knowledge that to make big change you must start small, and that this campaign will take time to win.

Burning bright

The campaign on streetlights must not be put out Our front page headline for the first issue of this Michaelmas Term bore a stark warning. Voices from across Cambridge, at both college level and wider, warned that turning off the streetlights across Cambridge in the middle of night, as is the county council’s plan, would be a dangerous and unwise idea. It is both disappointing and reassuring that the issue has come up again in the last issue of this term. The frustration is that the county council has not yet decided to discontinue its plan, and to promise to keep streetlights on for the safety of

Cambridge’s students and residents. It is reassuring, however, that a campaign has risen to oppose the plan in the strongest terms, and reassuring that they protested this week in a public and peaceful manner. The manager of the campaign has spoken out clearly of their plan to continue protests and campaigning action into Lent Term, and it is absolutely right that they do so. The county council will be hoping that this, like most issues in Cambridge, is a ‘one-term pony’, that will die out over the vacation as students lose interest. It cannot be so.

Sharing the load

Inclusive higher education needs multilateral action George Osborne’s hints this week as to a new approach to international students are a welcome change from this government’s usual combative stance, as led by home secretary Theresa May. To all appearences, figures within the machinery of government have passed on the seemingly obvious message that increased diversity in our universities is a positive step forward, and that those students can contribute greatly to our universities and to the country as a whole – not only academically, but financially, and culturally, too.

However, not all burden can fall upon the government to create the right environment for outreach to international students. The University must continue to work to attract the best minds regardless of backgrounds and means, not only in the UK but across the world. In practice, this will mean continuing to invest in bursaries, scholarships, and grants, and – crucially – an apology for the unintelligent and offensive use of David Starkey in their recent campaign video. A genuniely inclusive higher educational environment is, as of yet, an unreached dream.

03 December 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Comment

Should Cambridge give lower o Yes – Adjusted offers can help to reduce inequality in education Anna Gibbons

t was after the inevitable open day introductory conversation (where do you come from; what A-levels are you doing; what other universities did you apply to?) that I fully began to recognise the disadvantage we state schools pupils were at in applying to Cambridge. ‘We had extra-enrichment classes twice a week’, one girl professed. ‘My school subsidised my visit to Auschwitz for my EPQ.’ ‘Our school organises an annual dinner for all past Oxbridge alumni to discuss entrance tips and possible interview questions.’ It went on. Undeniably such extra-curricular activities are not limited to private schools; I particularly enjoyed a history trip to Berlin. Yet on being asked in interview “why Berlin?” the reply of “it was the only option available” was greeted with a particularly cool stare. Unlike the perpetual tutoring given to selective-school rivals, the single lunch-time ‘interview’ with an ageing Cambridge alumna had clearly not paid off. This is something reflected in the

University admissions process at large; in 2014, only 63% of the student intake came from state-schools. The significance of this statistic is that only 7% of pupils attend private schools in the UK. The application process further inhibits state school pupils because they are less likely to secure the top grades. This 7% of pupils attending private schools account for a much higher proportion of A and A* grades at A-level than the 93% attending comprehensives. Although this is not to deny the teaching quality in comprehensive schools, the much lower teacher-pupil ratio places state school children at a particular disadvantage. Indeed, the average state secondary school class size is 21.1 compared to an average of 10.1 in independent schools. Since teachers prove crucial in helping secure the top grades, children from state school backgrounds are at an immediate disadvantage. This disadvantage becomes apparent when comparing the degree results of students from private and state school backgrounds. Indeed, an independentschool educated pupil is 10% less likely to

Changing entrance requirements would level the playing field from the start

get a First or 2.i than a student educated at a comprehensive, in cases where both have the same A-level results. Changing entrance requirements would level the playing field from the start. Admittedly, concerns surrounding the complexities of introducing less uniform entry grades have been voiced. Nonetheless, it must be remembered that the colleges already do provide varying offers from each other. Other universities have already begun to recognise the disadvantages of state-school pupils, consequently offering lower grades, depending on the student’s contextual background. The University of Bristol has already started giving lower offers to some state school pupils; Cambridge, as the UK’s top university, should be leading the way in reducing inequality within the educational sector. In granting lower academic offers, the university would acknowledge not that state school pupils are less able, nor that they have had an easier time in getting in – far from it – but that they have not had the same opportunities as their private school counterparts to excel.

We need to talk about learning difficulties in Cambridge Saskia Bunschoten-Binet

found out I was dyslexic quite late, in my first year at Cambridge. Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty which, as well as affecting your reading and writing, has an impact on time management, organisation and memory. Dyslexia can affect everything you do as a student, and there are some attitudes at Cambridge that need to be changed. At school, I always struggled with writing but I still performed well. Growing up with dyslexic family members and plenty of other creative dyslexic friends meant that I should have been fully equipped for the news, but I wasn’t, and my first year studying Music at Cambridge was beyond anything I could describe in an article without swearing a lot. In the end I had to leave two weeks before exams, and there is no doubt that being dyslexic had an impact on this decision. My biggest challenge now whilst studying HSPS for Part II is most definitely writing and organising my thoughts, but also memory in general, reading effectively and constructing comprehensible ideas on the spot in supervisions. The varying challenges of dyslexia, unique to each individual, are also vastly accentuated by the very nature of

Cambridge. The sheer volume of work, under the limited time constraints and added pressure is hard for any student let alone those with a specific learning disability. In response to this, people often come back with the argument that ‘dyslexic people have other skills’ and use Richard Branson as the go-to token example of dyslexic entrepreneurship. Granted, dyslexic students are often gifted with useful alternative skills, but this should not discourage them from realising their academic potential. They have the same intellectual capabilities, they may just take longer to produce the same results. Sometimes it feels unsettling to receive money from the Disabled Students Allowance to fund my individual support sessions. I feel a bit guilty, and a bit confused about being bracketed as a ‘disabled’ student. But then again, I know that these feelings emerge from the perception that dyslexia is something that just needs a bit of extra time, and a laptop if you’re lucky. Students can be confused – believing that dyslexics are just bad spellers, or that ‘they’re at Cambridge so surely they can’t be dyslexic’ – and I think this often can stop students from coming forward and asking for an assessment. Through the sessions, and with the right support, my writing and reading

has improved considerably, and now I feel confident enough to publicly write about my experiences with dyslexia and with the Disability Resource Centre. More work needs to be done in creating dyslexic friendly working environments at Cambridge, including supervisors having a more relaxed and accommodating attitude to different ways of working.

But unfortunately the initial effort has to begin with the individual. Only after putting yourself forward (by contacting the DRC), and jumping over the many hurdles that are getting an assessment, getting funding for the assessment and doing your DSA forms, can you access the right kind of support. And this support is something that I can highly recommend. DANIEL BRITTON

Dyslexia can affect everything you do as a student

The Cambridge Student • 03 December 2015

Comment

offers for state school students? PETE

No – Reduced offers treat the symptoms of inequality, not the cause Lili Bidwell

oming from a state sixth form college to Cambridge, I was disappointed to discover how few students here attended state schools. However, on reflection on the admissions process, this is not so surprising. Students coming from private schools and grammar schools have had a different quality of education to those from state schools. From a young age an Oxbridge application has seemed a possibility to private school students. Instead of seeming unachievable, the prospect of ending up at Cambridge is one which they have probably been considering for a while. Furthermore, by the time they get to A-levels their classes are likely to be so small that they will receive personal help from motivated teachers and consequently are far more likely to meet the grade requirements for Oxbridge. As it stands, privately educated students consistently achieve higher grades than other students. Therefore, it would perhaps seem like a good solution to lower the grades required from state school

Lower offers would risk creating a hierarchy within the University

students and thus encourage more students from less well-off backgrounds to apply. Although there are terrible inequalities in our education system, at university level it is often too late to rectify these. That is to say that once you are at a certain age the damage has been done; for example, studies have shown that by the time a child begins school at the age of 4, there is already a noticeable gap in literacy between those children who have been read to as a child and those who have never been exposed to this. This undoubtedly shows that a child’s upbringing is key to their success, and it is these early years that are of utmost importance. All too frequently bright children are not in an environment where they can flourish and consequently lack motivation and sadly their talent is wasted. Even if we were to give lower offers to students from deprived backgrounds, this is unlikely to benefit a lot of students who lost their desire to learn many years ago. The problem is rooted in society, and unfortunately, universities such as Oxford and Cambridge cannot solve it alone. Another issue with this idea is that once

at Cambridge, the students who received lower offers are likely to feel inadequate compared to private and grammar school students, and this only widens the divide. We would risk creating a hierarchy within the University, and this would not be fair on any of the students. Causing state school students to feel inferior is counterproductive and regrettably giving them lower offers would probably seem patronising and this could lead to social difficulties at university. And after all, at times Cambridge needs to prioritise academic achievements. Clearly we need to increase the number of students from state schools who both apply and attend our University, however giving out lower offers to state school students is not the solution to a problem so ingrained in society. We need to take action, but in a different way. The problem is so widespread it cannot be solved by two universities alone, we need to reform our education system, and in the meantime Cambridge can work to increase outreach and access programs to help make our University more socially equal.

Are personal statements a useful part of admissions? Yes – Personal statements could be all that save you from the Cambridge interview experience Julia Stanyard Comment Editor

’m going to go out on a limb here: personal statements are not the devils that everyone thinks they are. To all those still convalescing from the intense frustration and existential crises that the 4,000 character limit entails, I know what you’re getting at, but hear me out. My personal statement — like a lifeboat in the midst of an unfortunate academic shipwreck — was the only thing that saved me from my utter shambles of an interview. If you think it can’t have been that bad,

it was. I actually managed to lock myself in the luggage room before my first round of interviews, and the only solution that occurred to my panicked mind was to hoist myself out the window (luckily ground floor) and to scuttle through the bushes around Clare Memorial Court in a desperate attempt to get there on time. I arrived sweaty, terrified, probably with a few leaves in my hair, hardly looking like a cool, calm, collected Cambridge student. All in all, not a great start. Things only went from bad to worse as I flailed around trying to reconcile the situation

NBAHEATCH3

by cracking a terrible joke which my interviewer didn’t get. The interviewer in question was an eminent professor of Greek history who was apparently far too serious and important to put up with my frivolous sixth-form humour – the memory still makes me cringe.Needless to say I was promptly pooled and Girton — having only my personal statement to go one — made the highly dubious decision of offering me a place. The moral of this story is surely that, while personal statements may be terrible at the time, they might just save you from yourself.

No – Personal statements are an exercise in mind-reading which say nothing about the applicant Grace Murray Comment Editor

f you remember cringing as you totted up the characters of your personal statement back in Year 13, it’s nothing compared to the embarrassment of rereading it a few years down the line. I excavated mine from the bedrock of storage, partly as an example of what not to do for my younger brother, but also with a kind of terrible curiosity. The fact is that personal statements are not just a simple showcase of your

achievements up until the age of 18, regardless of how much UCAS would like them to be. They’re an 18-year-old’s attempt to work out exactly what academics want to read, and it doesn’t take long once you reach Cambridge to realise that ‘what academics want to read’ is still confusing undergraduates across the University. A few years ago, UCAS released a list of the most popular personal statement opening sentences. Words like ‘passion’ and ‘fascination’, and the lead-in ‘for as long as I can remember’ all featured strongly. None

are sentences which you would repeat out loud in a supervision without struggling to laugh. Personal statements don’t read like a confident essay; mine just lets me relive that awful pre-deadline panic and frantic googling of inspirational literary quotes. The personal statement is a bizarre form of love letter to your degree subject that you never have to repeat. Our applications already include grades, sample essays or pre-interview tests, and the interview itself: we shouldn’t need any more evidence of our ‘passion’ for the course than that.

“Oh my God. This doesn’t count. OK? The interview was over!”

03 December 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Sport

The Puzzles Column CUWRFC preview Tw 2.

5. 6.

7. 9.

10.

11.

Paul Hyland Sport Editor

he same day the Cambridge Women crushed their Oxford rivals, 47–0 on Grange Road this March, they had double reason to celebrate. That afternoon, it was announced that December’s traditional Varsity Match would become the Varsity Matches, and that the women’s team would play their match at Twickenham on the same day as the men for the very first time. I spoke to CUWRFC about what the opportunity to play at Twickenham means for women’s sport and the still8. existing gender divide in university and college sport. “I’m really, really excited to be playing at Twickenham,” says captain Nikki Weckman, “We went out to see it a couple of weeks ago and just seeing the stadium tour and taking the walk around the stadium was just incredible because you really get a sense of the history of the place, and so it’s just going to be such a good platform for us to bring our game to.” Behind the excitement to be turning out at the home of English rugby lies years of work to bring this about, Across as Newnham-based hooker, Jess 1. Walking around at a leisurely pace (8) Charlton explains: ‘This is something 5. Nothing (3) that’s been discussed for maybe three 6. Virgil’s most famous poem (6) years, the prospect of the women 7. Musical pair (3) moving to Twickenham and when 8. Pretending to be shy, especially of a woman or a would be the optimal time to do that. fox (3) It brings a different aspect to our 9. Nation that came into being on 4 July 1776 (2) season with trying to get a squad ready 11. Cantabrigian accessory featured on p.8–9 of Part 2 for December rather than March. But we decided it’d be better to just get on with it. We wanted to get ourselves out by Charlotte Furniss-Roe there, we want to put ourselves on that

Crossword Down 1. Bajan’s country of origin (8) 2. Batman villain played by Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises (4) 3. “This sceptred __” Richard II (4) 4. What this publications’ editors-in-chief are saying this week (8) 6. ‘It’s All __ You’, McFly song (5) 8. Argentinian revolutionary figure (3) 10. Abbreviation for American state containing Charleston (2)

platform. We think the level of rugby we play deserves to be seen.” I ask about the prejudices facing women in a sport dominated by men. How difficult do they find it to be taken seriously as athletes? “I think what you’ll encounter is a sense of pleasant surprise,” says Weckman, “and I think that’s one of the really good things coming out of Twickenham – you’re going up on such a big stage, and so hopefully the next time a little girl says that she wants to play rugby, it’s taken more as a thing that girls do.” Laura Nunez-Mulder, Emmanuel Second Row, agrees: ‘Often when I tell someone that I play rugby, often the first thing they ask me is whether it’s full contact. And I absolutely love that straight after I get to say, ‘Yes! And did you know we’re playing at Twickenham this year? ‘ Just to see their expectations about women’s rugby skyrocket, I absolutely love that.” The move to Twickenham has

Cambridge men look to avenge Paul Hyland Sport Editor

Sudoku U

Solutions from Volume 17, Michaelmas Issue 8

nlike the women’s team, the Cambridge men will be looking to avenge a heavy defeat in this year’s fixture. Almost a year ago to the day, the Light Blues by Thomas Prideaux Ghee were on the receiving end of the most decisive scoreline ever recorded in this fixture, succumbing 43–6 as Oxford notched up their record fifth consecutive Varsity Match success. Cambridge, with only one victory to show for their last seven attempts in this match, will be bolstered by the addittion of serious international class. 29-year-old centre Jamie Roberts, who this summer joined up with Londonbased side Harlequins, has a total of 74 caps for the Welsh national team. The Queens’ medic has already made history at Twickenham, being part of the Wales team that edged out England in the Group Stage of this year’s Rugby

World Cup, and was narrowly defeated by South Africa on the same turf. Named by club captain, Don Stevens, as a starter in this match, Cambridge will be hoping that Roberts’ experience at the top end of the game will help deliver them only their second title in eight years.

The Cambridge Student • 03 December 2015

Sport

wickenham showdown Oxford nab the lead in Hare & Hounds Varsity William Lyon-Tupman

coincided with a series of positive developments in the sport at university level, as Wilson explains: “One positive thing is that last year, we weren’t allowed to play on the pitch at Grange Road if the men had a game in the evening. If that happened, we had to play at Fitzwilliam, whereas now we play all of our home games at Grange Road, unless there’s a direct conflict. And now a lot of the men’s team come and support our games, which is great.” Weckman adds: “We’re riding on a big wave of popularity right now in terms of the women’s Rugby World Cup a couple of years ago, it generated quite a lot of support for women’s rugby. I think it’s one of the fastest-growing women’s sports in the country, and so every step forward that we make is a big step.” The ever-shrinking gender divide in university rugby is one of Cambridge sport’s success stories. So do they think that women’s rugby is laying down

a marker for other sports to become more equal? “I hope so,” says Weckman, “The more visible that you make women’s sport, the more that will feed into other sports that aren’t quite as lucky, that don’t have as much visibility or as much funding. That’s a big goal, to be able to be a role model and help make women’s sport visible.” Amongst the hype surrounding the move to Twickenham, it’s easy to forget that there’s a trophy at stake. How do Light Blues call the game? “We’re obviously going to win!” laughs Wilson, “I think it’s going to be very competitive, but we have a really good chance of winning. Our league is very challenging at the moment, so we’ve lost a lot of our games, but they’ve lost those games by more! And we’ve been getting a good vibe from the opposition, that they think we’re better, so I think we’re definitely in a good position to win.” OLIVER ROBINSON

his year’s seconds-fourths Hare & Hounds Varsity left Cambridge trailing thanks to a tough course, a muddy track due to recent rainfall, an unfortunate dispute and the strength of an excellent Oxford team. Though Cambridge had taken the title in both of the previous years, this year, it was simply not to be. Cambridge’s only consolation was that, in terms of points, Oxford’s victory this year had not been as decisive as their own victory back in 2014. Points are awarded in relation to which positions the runners finish in; the team with the fewer points wins. For instance, a runner who finished first scores one point, the second runner scores two points, and so on. In a team of eight male runners the first six usually count, and in a team of six female runners, usually it is the first four that count. Oxford, whose runners mostly performed very well throughout the

afternoon, kicked off proceedings with a highly significant victory over Cambridge in the men’s second’s match, beating the Light Blues 55–27. The Mens fourth’s match (known in running circles as ‘the mob match’) resulted in another decisive win for Oxford, who won 623–379. Cambridge were undeterred, and continued to fight on in search of a victory. Of course, to finish the course alone is an achievement, and many of the Light Blue runners’ finishing times ranked very closely to the times achieved by their Oxford rivals. However, not all went smoothly, as no fewer than two of the five races were fouled, causing one of them to be rendered null and void. The men’s thirds’ match was constested well by both teams, but one Oxford runner found himself disqualified, although this didn’t prevent the Dark Blues from narrowly beating the light Blues 45–35. But the real drama emerged in the

Womens second’s match, in which one of the Cambridge runners – who was looking certain to win, consistently running far ahead of the rest of the pack – ended up losing the track and ultimately failed to finish the race. A dispute ensued on the marshalling of the race. The issue remained unresolved, and the race was voided. The race, had it counted, would most likely have resulted in a narrow Cambridge victory, and a more respectable scoreline at 3–2. The women’s thirds’ ‘mob match’ provided Cambridge with a glimmer of hope, winning narrowly over the Dark Blues by 436–419. So this round of Varsity closes with an overall score of Oxford 3-1 Cambridge, but the thrilling adventure of cross country continues next weekend; the men’s and women’s Blues team will compete at the final Varsity match of the year, which will be held at Wimbledon Common London, Saturday 5 December, the women starting at 14:00 and the men at 14:45.

Cambridge and Oxford sing out for charity Jack Ranson Deputy Sport Editor

he Oxford and Cambridge rugby clubs have teamed up for the last time before the hotly anticipated 2015 Varsity match to release their charity Christmas single, in aid of Leonard Cheshire Disability. ‘No Christmas Without You’ was written by Matt Bond and Martyn Ford specifically for the group of vocally adept rugby players – ‘Varsity Voices’ – to transform into a charity Christmas single. The single is available to buy and the video features members of both Blues squads. This follows on from the highly publicised naked calendar produced without reply. by Oxford Women’s Rugby Club, But the Dark Blues will be without raising money for Beat and promoting their captain, George Messum, who grassroots involvement in the sport at led them to last year’s crushing defeat the University. over Cambridge. A spokesperson for OURFC stated: “He does not meet all of the criteria set out for Blues sport eligiblity.” Having featured in every warm-up game for Oxford so far, he will be a big miss for his side. Replacing him will be teammate Henry Lamont. Messum has described himself as “disappointed” that he cannot lead out his team at Twickenham this year, but went on to lay down the gauntlet to the Cambridge team: “The squad has come together over the last eight weeks following this news and we are determined more than ever to express ourselves as a collective group on 10 December.” The 134th Men’s Varsity Match kicks off at 14:30 on Thursday 10 December at Twickenham Stadium.

Varsity defeat at Twickenham It’s not just Cambridge’s roster that looks promising; their form heading into this match is also a cause for optimism, having won three of their last four fixtures. Oxford have won just two of their last four, but when they’ve won, they’ve won convicingly, notching up 50 and 53 tries respectively YON MORA William Lyon-Tupman

From the Cambridge side, Oliver Clough, Max Montgomery, Seb Tullie, women’s captain Nikki Weckman, Ayala Donegan and Laura NunezMulder provided vocals, with Bláthnaid McCullagh and Henry de Berker representing the Oxford teams. Bond and Ford – known as ‘The Senate’ – have previously produced hits with Slipknot, Tom Jones, The Cure and Duffy. Bond told Cambridge News that the pair “really enjoyed the challenge” and that “being massive rugby fans it was an honour to get involved in the Varsity match”. But the response hasn’t been universally positive. Elsa Maishman, a member of Emma’s rugby squad, expressed her reservations to The Cambridge Student: ‘This is a really great initiative for a fantastic cause.

However, this is the first year that the women’s Varsity match will also be played at Twickenham, so it’s a shame that the song’s music video begins with such a heteronormative and frankly boring ‘love story’ in which we see a female player wooed by a male counterpart. Maishman went on: “The pair stroll off into the distance, presumably to enjoy their unoriginal romance while the viewer is left wondering why even record-breaking advancements in women’s rugby are not safe from the male gaze.” In the historic year that sees the women’s Varsity match being played at Twickenham alongside the men for the first time ever, all the publicity that rugby is attracting at the University is surely welcome. VARSITYVOICES15

Sport

03 December 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Varsity Rugby Special:

We take a look at the teams heading down to Twickenham → p. 18-9

www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/sport

ABOVE: MAXWELL HAMILTON

Earlier this term the Women’s Netball team took on Oxford, and won the game 34-29 after a spectacular late-minute comeback.

Image: William Lyon Tupman

his was a momentous year in rowing, as the world-famous Boat Race became the Boat Races for first time in its 186-year history. Cambridge were defeated in both races this year, with the men’s crew defeated by six-and-a-half lengths, to make it four consecutive victories for their Dark Blue counterpart boat. The Cambridge women’s crew made history this April when they took part in the first women’s Boat Race to be contested on the same day as the men’s, but were beaten soundly by a magnificent Oxford crew, hot favourites from the very start, with 19 seconds and seven whole lengths separating both boats. The Cambridge men will be hungry for revenge, looking to extend their 81–79 overall lead over Oxford in this fixture, whose stunning recent form in the competition sees them breathing down Light Blue necks. The women’s lead over their Oxford rivals remains at 41–29, though they will be looking to avenge a humiliating defeat last time out. The Women’s Boat Race takes place at 15:10 on March 27, 2016, with the Men’s Boat Race taking place an hour later.

Varsity Football

The Boat Races

Paul Hyland Sport Editor

t was an unfortunate year also for our football teams, with both the men and women defeated, albeit in highly different circumstances. The men took on the Dark Blues of Oxford at Cambridge United’s own Abbey Stadium, and dominated proceedings. However, they let a 1–0 lead slip in the 75th minute, before succumbing 6–5 on penalties, thanks to saves from Oxford’s own Cambridge-born goalkeeper. Things were much worse for the Cambridge women, who were swept aside at 7-1 at Cambridge Football Stadium, with a free kick from midfielder Gerda Bachrati the only consolation. Though there is cause for optimism for this year: “Oxford had better be scared!” Bachrati tells me. “Our season is going a lot better than theirs currently, and they have a lot of the problems that we had last season as a lot of their best players have graduated.” Optimism among the women’s team for their upcoming game has coincided with mooted plans for the women’s and men’s Varsity Matches to be played on the same day in the same stadium, though no final arrangements have yet been made.

Varsity Basketball

Clashes of the Blues: Next term’s Varsity grudge matches

ambridge’s basketball teams enjoyed unprecedented success in the 2014–15 season. At this March’s Varsity matches, the Light Blues roared to a clean sweep, as all four teams who took to the court against Oxford brought their respective titles back home with them. Women’s second team, the Cambridge Panthers, took their fifth victory in as many years, emerging victorious by a final scoreline of 36–24, while men’s seconds, the Cambridge Lions, were not to be outdone, taking their match 61–45. The women’s firsts, having endured a difficult season in their BUCS league, secured only their third victory in this fixture in 13 attempts, by a stunning margin of 75–50, while the men went on to finish the day by crushing their rivals 64–36 to complete the humiliation for the Dark Blues and send the Light Blues home celebrating the first Varsity whitewash ever seen in the sport. This March, Cambridge’s basketball will travel to Oxford to do it all over again, with the Dark Blues desperate for revenge on their home turf. Look out for coverage of all of the fixtures in The Cambridge Student next term.