Lent 2016 Issue 2

Christiane Amanpour

Celebrity Deaths

Preview: Alice

→ Interviews, p.14

→Features, p.11

→ Part 2, p.2

On storytelling and Syria

Why do we mourn?

Circus comes to Cambridge

The

21 January 2016 Vol. 17 Issue 2

www.tcs.cam.ac.uk

Petition to foster at-risk academics

Cambridge Student

Petition urges University to increase support

A

Sherilyn Chew News Editor group of Cambridge PhD candidates has started an online petition, “Cantabs for Persecuted Scholars”, which has thus far attracted over 500 signatures from University students and academics.

The petition calls on the University to help at-risk academics fleeing oppression in their home countries.

The University has not yet responded.

A fundraising campaign has also been established to raise money to support more at-risk masters’ students.

As well as urging a public commitment to support threatened academics, the petition calls on the University to commit to facilitating a “centralised coordination point” to assist the work of the organisation ‘Council for At-Risk Academics’ (Cara), and provide housing and financial support.

Cara was founded in 1933 to help academics who were being persecuted by the Nazi regime.

It currently supports 180 academics and their 300 dependents. This is the largest number they have helped since the 1930s.

Last week, campaign supporters met at King’s College, Cambridge, with Stephen Wordsworth, Cara’s Executive Director, to publicly discuss the issues surrounding vulnerable academics.

Wordsworth told The Cambridge Student that Cambridge has “hosted many [at-risk academics] in the past”, but the work would be easier if there were “one coordination point” between the colleges, as has recently

been introduced at Oxford. Cambridge has taken at least one academic a year for the past eight years.

Oxford is currently hosting four academics, but since the new system has been introduced, “half a dozen” more applications have been made.

Brendan Mahon, now the president of St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge, Combination Room who started a similar campaign in Michaelmas 2015, expressed his hope for positive results, and “urged everyone to sign it.”

Kaitlin Ball, one of the creators of the petition, who is studying community justice for her PhD, told TCS that “we should never underestimate the power of community [grassroots] movements as they create the potential for real, positive change.”

However, she stressed: “No one is asking the University of Cambridge to relax its standards in any way. Any atrisk academic must meet the rigorous academic standards of Cambridge.”

Anne Lonsdale, Chair of Cara and a former President of New Hall, previously spoke to TCS about an “Iraqi woman who is a Professor at Baghdad Technical University. She goes on working as long as she can take it in Baghdad and then has three months or so in [a Cambridge] lab able at last to get access to the equipment to test her work... She said to me: “When you sit around the table at breakfast with your family you wonder who will be there at suppertime.” It is the chance to keep working and get out to Cambridge that has kept her going and she is a great role model”.

The museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Downing St, after the announcement that Continued on page 3 → Archaeology is to form a single tripos.

Image: Amelia Oakley

Archaeology to become single tripos for first time Lili Bidwell Deputy News Editor Cambridge, the first university in Britain to teach Archaeology, will now offer a single-honours undergraduate degree in the subject.

Previously, it has only been possible to study Archaeology with another subject. It is currently part of the Human, Social and Political Sciences (HSPS) undergraduate degree. Prior to the formation of the HSPS tripos, just two years ago, it was studied as a joint honours with Anthropology.

Within HSPS, first-year students choose introductory Archaeology modules, then specify their degree as they progress through the course.

Under the new system, students are no longer obliged to combine Archaeology with any other subject.

When recommending the new course, the General Board of the University of Cambridge cited the subject’s loss of visibility since joining with Politics, Psychology and Sociology to make HSPS. This has led to a “considerable drop” in undergraduate archeology students.

There are approximately only 10 Archaeology students per year. The new course will aim to take 20-30 in its first intake in 2017. There are currently 72 graduate students studying Archaeology at the University.

Research in the Department’s 17 laboratories covers a broad range of topics, “everything from carbonised pollen to archaeogenetics.”

Prospective students can gain some insights as to how the course is taught and what this area of study involves through the University’s access events and open days throughout 2016.

One first year HSPS student commented to The Cambridge Student: “I think that that’s a good idea. HSPS and archeology students don’t tend to socialise because we have such different courses. It makes sense to institutionalise it.”

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21 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

News

Editorial Team 21 January 2016 Editor-in-Chief Deputy Editors News Editor Deputy News Editors

Investigations Editors Deputy Investigations Editors Comment Editors Features Editors Interviews Editors Columns Editor Sports Editors Theatre Editors Fashion & Beauty Editor Lifestyle Editor Food & Drink Editor Books Editor Music Editor TV & Film Editor Escape Editor Images & Design Editor Chief Sub-Editors Sub-Editors

Directors

Volume 17 • Lent Issue 2

Elsa Maishman Stevie Hertz Jessie Mathewson Amelia Oakley Sherilyn Chew Hayden Banks Lili Bidwell Bea Lundy Lydia Day Freya Clarke Jane Lu Victoria Braid Tom Bevan Izzy Ryan Micha Frazer-Carroll Lola Olufemi Sriya Varadharajan Anna Bradley Taryn Challender Lydia Sabatini Maddy Airlie Julia Stanyard Tom Richardson Paul Hyland Jack Ranson Leyla Gumusdis Eve Rivers Ariel Yuqing Luo Lucy Roxburgh Charlotte McGarry Arenike Adebajo Ollie Smith Jack Whitehead Ed Ashcroft Jemima Jobling Urvie Pereira William Tilbrook Cameron Wallis Allie Weaving Ed Roberts Rosie Mearns Camilla Penney Elsa Maishman Jack May Freya Sanders Thomas Saunders Jemma Stewart Tonicha Upham

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

tcd

• tcd@tcs.cam.ac.uk • RITE OF PRESS

UWCA

This week in architectural discoveries came the revelation of an underground passage linking (via a few mediating firesafety doors) the offices of this publication with Varsity. This Diarist was reminded of the fabled ‘Bridge of Spies’ connecting West Berlin to East Germany through the Cold War, and an infamous spot for the exchange of captured spies between the USA and the USSR. Glienicke Bridge (pictured left) returned to usual activity (plus a few extra tourists) when Germany reunified in 1990. Mercifully, we’ve thus far only exchanged hacks, with spies yet to grace the newly-discovered passage.

THE LONG WAY ROUND

Spotted in the unlikely setting of Sidgwick’s Arc Café – Julian Huppert, former liberal darling and erstwhile MP for Cambridge before a slim kicking at last year’s election.

With no rerun in 2020 ruled out, perhaps ‘the Hupp’ has realised that reaching beyond his scientist’s base is the way to win.

SOD’S COLLEGE

Residents of central colleges will be bringing in 2016 with cheer as the scaffolding has come down on Gonville & Caius College’s Trinity Street frontage, after work on the roof and some good old-fashioned

cleaning. It looks, however, like their work might all have been in vain, as an unknown has managed to adorn five of the college’s chimneys with a mysterious message, which seems to read ‘Bax CTV’. Any theories? Let this Diarist know, as we’re all curious.

The Cambridge Student would like to apologise for a factual inaccuracy found in ‘St Edmund’s disaffiliates from Graduate Union’, Volume 17, Michaelmas Issue 4, 29 October 2015.

The article in question inaccurately suggested that then GU president Evianne Van Gijn resigned her position as president one day before her term was due to conclude.

TCS recognises that this was not the case and that Dr Van Gijn in fact served her term in full. In the same article, TCS suggested that the GU announced the wrong candidate as the 2015-16 president in Lent Term 2015, while in fact it was merely the preliminary announcement which was inaccurate. TCS also reported a threatened no-confidence motion by said inaccurately-announced candidate Eric Lybeck as having taken place, when in fact Mr. Lybeck failed to gain enough signatories to force an emergency meeting of the GU council. TCS apologises unreservedly for these three errors, and the online version of the article has been deleted.

Front page: ASSOCIATION OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING, KUKATIMOTA DOS, JOHNANNES HJORTH

The Cambridge Student • 21 January 2016

3

News

Cambridge 13 most international th

New rankings place Cambridge behind Oxford, Imperial College and Essex regarding students, staff and research Haroon Mohamoud According to recent rankings published

by Times Higher Education, Cambridge University is the 13th ‘most international’ in the UK. The rankings were based on the results of the ‘international outlook’ indicator in the Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings.

The ‘international outlook’ indicator primarily considers the number of international staff and students at a university and the proportion of research papers published with at least one co-author from another country.

Founded in 2004, the list provides a definitive list of the world’s best universities, considering factors such as teaching, research and reputation.

THE’s data is well-regarded, trusted by governments and universities, and used by students to choose where to study.

Having an open and international perspective and outlook can be a

Qatar University, the only government Essex, Belfast and St Andrews. funded university in the oil-rich Arab London ranks as the world’s most international city for higher education, being host to 15 universities which Imperial College and ranked in the top 200, putting it ahead of Oxford took first and the USA, Canada and France. second place But what Cambridge may lack in international diversity, it makes up for in monarchy, topped the list, with 42% of other factors. It ranks among the top 10% its student body comprising of foreign of universities worldwide for research nationals drawn from 52 countries and citations, receiving 96.7% and 97.0% worldwide. in these two markers respectively.

In the rankings, Cambridge was Cambridge has traditionally attracted outstripped by other UK universities high numbers of international students, such as Imperial College London and almost since its inception. Desiderius Oxford, who took first and second place Erasmus, the Dutch scholar, held respectively, as well as the Universities of academic posts at the university. The

student body. There are also 2,700 international graduate students.

In order to cater to and attract international students, the University holds interviews across the world, including in Australia, Canada, China, Malaysia and Singapore.

The student body currently has over 30 cultural societies, representing many Students currently different cultures and regions such as represent 65 different China, Italy, India, Russia, America and countries and there are South Africa. over 30 cultural societies However, students from outside the EU have to pay international fees, both has 1,300 international undergraduate for tuition, which can go over £38,000, students from more than 65 different and college fees, which vary between countries, making up over 11% of its £5,400 and £7,720.

PDPICS.COM Yet students certainly see clear benefits to Cambridge being host to such a varied, international student body.

University’s more recent international alumni include the Indian-born economist Amartya Sen, the Spaniard philosopher George Santayana and the American economist Milton Friedman.

At present, of its 21,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, Cambridge

11%

1,300

Percentage of students at Cambridge from overseas Jing Xuan Koh, a first-year Engineering student at Wolfson College, is an international student from Singapore. He commented to TCS: “As someone from a relatively multicultural country, I find it rather eye-opening to be able to meet people from an even more diverse range of cultures here in Cambridge”.

Number of overseas students at the University of Cambridge considerable advantage to a university’s overall success as it helps universities attract academics and students from around the world.

Cambridge swan meets an untimely end

At-risk academics’ petition grows

Hayden Banks Deputy News Editor

Continued from page 1...

A Cambridge resident strolling along the banks of the River Cam found one of Her Majesty’s swans gravely injured on 16 January.

He described its leg as “hanging by a shoe string”, and mentioned its wing was also broken, prompting him to make a call to the RSPCA. Yet despite fervent efforts to try and save the swan, its injuries were deemed too severe and it was tragically put down at the scene.

There have been rabid speculations about the cause of the injuries.

The resident said that, based on photographic evidence, it first appeared to be the result of a vicious animal attack.

But a lack of defensive damage to the

Its leg was “hanging by a shoe string”

swan’s bill hinted that it was probably the result of being hit by a boat.

Rowers in Cambridge are henceforth reminded to be considerate of wildlife and in particular Her Majesty’s swans during their training sessions.

Cameron, at St. John’s, had a conflicted response to the news of the swan’s death; “while the deaths of swans are obviously tragedies, they do provide some extra nourishment for our cash-strapped fellows.” The fellows of St. John’s are currently the only people outside the Royal Family legally allowed to eat mute swans.

It has been a tumultuous period for swans recently, as their population has increased tenfold to almost 100 nesting swans. This was believed to be due to tourists feeding the animals. This also has the fringe benefit of attracting rats, and thus Weil’s Disease, to the river.

“The petition is just a small step in the right direction”

A significant tenet of Cara’s operations is that the academics they help are not seeking permanent asylum in Britain.

According to their figures, 90% of the academics they helped during the Iraq war have now returned.

Many academics they helped chose this because, in Anne Lonsdale’s words, they are ‘‘brilliant people and

their families, who need to survive to rebuild their countries when at last the trouble stops.”

One of the creators of the recent petition, Stefan Theil, stressed this point, calling helping at-risk

academics both a “moral obligation” and an “investment into the future of war-torn countries”. He argued that helping persecuted academics meant protecting “an important part of the cultural and intellectual identity” to

build a better future for everyone.

However, while he hopes for a successful campaign, he says it will only be “a first step towards a more comprehensive effort” across the UK and Europe, and expressed his fear that small-scale progress could cause us to rest on our laurels.

“The danger I see is that progress on a small scale will lull us into complacency, into believing that we have done all we can as a society, when in fact, compassion, human dignity and our shared values compel us to do so much more.”

Another of the petition’s creators, Ryan Rafaty, commented that “the petition is just a small step in the right direction. It sends the very important message that many students and faculties are not complacent or comfortable with inaction.”

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21 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Investigations

The price of Formal Hall disparity

Victoria Braid Investigations Editor

An investigation under taken by The Cambridge Student has shown that there is a substantial difference in the price of Formal Hall meals across colleges, with Gonville and Caius students paying £4.16 for a Formal whilst students at Selwyn College pay over double this price, with a comparable meal costing £10.50.

Part of the variation is due to different colleges having different conceptions of what Formal Hall involves, with some including wine in the price and some requiring

of £16, but after that an unsubsidised colleges and how readily available this King’s College Formal Hall costs £24. information is.

Although the variation in price may seem comparatively minor, over the “Formal halls are an course of a degree these small costs essential part of the can add up. student life” One second year student criticised Whilst this news may come as the high cost: “Formal Halls are no shock to some, given the wide an essential part of student life at disparity between colleges in many Cambridge, I generally go at least respects, it does raise questions about once a week. They should be a cheap the variations in living costs between way of celebrating and spending time

£14.38 The cost of Formal Hall at Homerton College additional charges for this.

A spokesperson from Homerton College commented on this to TCS, saying “Our Formal Halls always include wine (we plan for two glasses per person) or soft drink such as elderflower presse.

“When you compare our prices against the two or three other colleges that include wine, I believe you will find we are at the lower price end.”

Some colleges have a certain number of formals which a student must attend, whilst for others the price increases with the number attended: King’s students can attend four Formals a year at a subsidised price

in college or treating a guest, not an that students are paying for completely different experiences... Some colleges expensive meal out.”

However, one student rebuffed offer a candle-lit, heavily staffed, gourmet affair, while others put on a “Students are paying much more relaxed dinner, with more for completely different ‘ordinary’ food and a lower price-tag.”

The CUSU Alternative Prospectus experiences” for prospective applicants states that this argument, saying that “While “Formal Hall ... is the name given to obviously it would be better to have a three-course, waiter-served meal in meal prices standardised across the College hall. These are part of the colleges, it must be taken into account more traditional side of Cambridge, MARK NELSON but (at roughly £6) are good options for birthdays and special occasions.”

This figure is largely accurate for students at Peterhouse (£6.30) or Sidney Sussex (£5.50), but with many College Formals costing over £10 this is not the case for everyone.

However, the website does state that it is “currently being updated.”

Information about Formal Hall prices, or about meal prices in general, is often not easy to find without trawling through the college websites, and is something that often does not occur to applicants when they are

£4.16 The price of Formal Hall at Gonville and Caius College

Elsa Maishman News Editor

choosing a college to apply to.

Some may view this as an inevitable consequence of the college system and the disparity of wealth therein – as one St John’s student put it, “with half the world’s 1% funding my shepherd’s pie, what do you expect?”

Formal is normal: transparency about traditions needed

Tom Bevan Deputy Investigations Editor

The disparity in Formal Hall prices is just one of many important financial factors not made clear enough to prospective students as they choose which college to apply to. Quite clearly this shouldn’t be the case; greater efforts should be made both

by CUSU and by individual colleges to be more transparent about the cost of institutionalised social expectations.

Price differences can often be reflective of differing college cultures but that is not to say that cost alone can be a clear indicator of the wider ethos of each college. The frequency of Formals, hall capacities, kitchen overheads and subsidy factors all

contribute to the discrepancies in ticket prices. So what are the other access issues at play here?

Largely speaking, attending Formals is a large part of many undergraduates’ social lives. The classic retort to criticisms of high Formal Hall prices is that they are optional events; however, social pressure to attend makes formal something of a social obligation for many Cambridge students. JCR Access Officers and mentors on the CUSU shadowing scheme taking place next week have been asked to accompany the mentees to an ‘informal Formal’ Hall; the dress code is casual, and archaic Cambridge traditions, which

can be alienating to many, are absent.

However, as well-meaning as these efforts are, concealing the nature of normalised traditions is questionable.

Jesus Access Officer, Amelia Oakley, commented: “Most students coming from ‘access backgrounds’ are simply thrust into a world where Formal Hall is apparently normal. We must see the wider context of things and understand that for individuals who arrive at Cambridge and are immediately confronted with gowns, affluent surroundings, and a chorus of ‘what (private) school did you go to??’, Formals are just another nail in the coffin of exclusivity.”

The fact that most college Formals include Christian graces and drinking traditions, such as fining and pennying, offers another consideration to the debate. “Many people don’t consider how alienating Formals can be for students of any faith other than Christianity, as well as many students of colour”, remarked Corpus’ Christi College’s Ethnic Minorities Officer, Micha Frazer-Carroll. “The idea that students have to be drunk to enjoy Formal, as well as the fact that they are expected to say ‘amen’ after a grace to a God that some students don’t believe in, is profoundly uncomfortable for some.”

The extent to which Formals, and traditions more generally, alienate students from minority groups is subjective and relative to each College and whether Formals themselves should be reformed or not seems to be a cyclical debate. However, any College or CUSU access initiative aiming to reach out to underrepresented demographics must be more transparent about discrepancies in Formal Hall culture, as well as cost.

These differences should be able to be factored into the wider decision process of choosing a college for any student.

5

The Cambridge Student • 21 January 2016

Referendum announced on fulltime Disabled Student Officer Sahil Chinoy

At its Monday meeting, CUSU introduced a student referendum that would add a Disabled Students’ Officer (DSO) to its team of full-time elected officers.

The referendum, which will take place on 27 January, comes as the result of a petition launched by the Disabled Students’ Campaign.

If passed, it would add another permanent sabbatical officer to serve the interests of disabled students, bringing the number of full-time CUSU elected

“Disabled students face serious direct and indirect discrimination” officials to seven.

The ballot will be open for inspection on 22 January and voting will take place from 9am to 9pm on 27 January. A simple majority will decide the results of the referendum, given that 10% of CUSU

members cast a vote, in accordance with the CUSU constitution.

For the first time in a CUSU election, no paper ballots will be cast, and electronic ballot boxes will be set up in each college.

The DSO would be elected by students who self-define as disabled, similar to the Women’s Officer, who is elected only by those who self-define as women. The rest of the sabbatical officers are elected by all members of CUSU. Like other sabbatical officers, the DSO would be paid a salary – currently £20,000 – by CUSU. This has led to debate over whether a DSO is the best use of CUSU’s limited funds. One student commented: “CUSU’s budget is already fairly tight – there are certainly questions about whether this is the best allocation of funds.”

But Robert Cashman, CUSU Education Officer, said during the meeting that the referendum “would be a good thing”.

“I welcome the fact that it has come

from students who want to improve CUSU’s representative structures, and I think that this question should be put to a referendum,” he said in an email.

News

RAMA

For the first time in a CUSU election no paper ballots will be cast At the meeting, CUSU Coordinator Jemma Stewart also discussed the referendum campaign rules, including a ban on messaging email lists and the use of unofficial Facebook events not created by the CUSU Elections Council.

If these rules are violated, CUSU could void the referendum, according to CUSU President Priscilla Mensah.

Jessica Wing, a student holding the position of Disabled Students’ Officer, commented: “The petition we presented to CUSU was enthusiastically supported by every autonomous campaign, who agree that this particular issue of structural inequality is one that deserves to be addressed democratically.”

Has the time come for a sabbatical Disabled Students’ Officer?

Of course, this is a price worth paying for equality There are still questions that need to be answered Cornelius Roemer

Tonicha Upham Student life can be difficult, when both academic and social demands are factored in, but try adding disability to the mix.

Try, for example, being unable to predict the exact state your health will be in a week from now, and therefore being unable to guarantee handing in a complete essay, or being well enough to attend lectures.

Try worrying about making sure that appropriate exam arrangements will be in place to allow you to both attend the venue in question and complete the exam in a way which fairly showcases your abilities.

The needs of disabled students are rarely met, or are not publicised adequately. Not every college consistently refers students to the Disability Resource Centre, not every student with a chronic condition is encouraged to apply for the appropriate financial support to enable them to obtain specialist equipment and support. There is no structural support for those intermitting, and even simple, helpful options, such as putting lectures online, are seemingly difficult to achieve.

The Disabled Students’ Campaign, by their own admission, is unable

to operate at full capacity in its representation of students with a disability, because students are hardly equipped to run a campaign of this nature, disability or otherwise.

In this context, perhaps it is reasonable to suggest the creation of a CUSU sabbatical role for the DSC. At a time when funding is being cut across the board for those with disabilities, is it entirely unreasonable to suggest that CUSU should cough up for what amounts to a greater level of inclusion?

Lived experience and expertise carry considerable weight when it comes to representation, and it cannot be denied that there is a need for improved understanding, tolerance, and provision.

We see it all the time; this week, The Tab ran afoul of feminist Facebook forum ‘Cuntry Living’ for what was deemed to be a mockery of exam allowances made for mental health issues.

Additionally, this does not necessarily have to be forever. If we had a full-time sabbatical officer to target the structural inequality faced by disabled students in Cambridge, perhaps in a few years this will be a bill which CUSU no longer needs to foot.

The Disabled Students’ Campaign is unable to operate at full capacity

The referendum for the introduction of a Disabled Students’ Officer is the most significant constitutional referendum in years.

I’m concerned that those who know most about the pros and cons, the current sabbs, are reluctant to inform the debate. Yes, there is a serious risk of being accused of ableism for anyone providing arguments for the ‘No’ option. However, being elected to represent all students and charged with the long-term strategic development of CUSU, this is a risk they ought to take.

Three sabbatical officers – Priscilla, Jemma and Charlie – are currently on the elections committee and make use of this fact to justify their silence. At least some of them ought to resign to be able to voice their opinions.

As a general principle, election rules that are unenforcable and rely on the goodwill of students are bad. CUSU has no disciplinary jurisdiction over students’ actions in this referendum.

There is a risk that the referendum ends up a mess of allegations. The risk is small, but the damage might be big.

There are very fundamental questions that ought to be discussed.

Given that CUSU has only limited funding available, how can this be

“The referendum is an aggressive move by the DSC that is unlikely to take all students’ views into account”

allocated to represent the entirety of students in the most effective way?

Why should the Disabled Students’ Campaign get a fully-funded sabbatical officer, but not the BME and LGBT+ Students’ campaigns? They cannot all be funded, so a decision has to be made. The referendum is unlikely to give a coherent answer to this problem. There has been no proper discussion, no review, no working group that comes up with a balanced recommendation on how CUSU as a whole should be structured. It might not seem that way, but the referendum is an aggressive move by the DSC that is unlikely to take all students’ views into account.

Is having a sabbatical officer beneficial for the DSC? Time and again, accusations come up that sabbatical officers are out of touch with students. Is it more effective to have students run autonomous campaigns in their spare time? That is how most J/MCRs, theatres, and sports operate, and they all seem to be successful.

We ought to debate these questions seriously and not shy away for fear of being perceived as ableists, since they concern how we want students to be represented in this University.

6

21 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

College Watch

Images: Jessica McHugh

Lucy Cav

Queens’

Newnham

St John’s

Highly-respected novelist Ali Smith will join Lucy Cavendish College as an honorary fellow on 21 January. Tickets to her speech, intriguingly entitled “On not giving a talk!”, have sold out rapidly. The talk will accompany a celebration of Burns’ Night, and provide discussion for a Formal Hall with the theme of English, AngloSaxon, Norse and Celtic, and Theology studies.

Smith is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was awarded a CBE in 2015 for services to literature. She won the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction in the same year, for her latest book How to Be Both. She has also won the Goldsmith’s Prize and the Whitbread Novel of the Year.

Dr. Isobel Maddison, Director of Studies for English at Lucy Cavendish, commented: “Our English students are looking forward to this rare opportunity to gain insight into the life and work of Ali Smith. Providing opportunities for students to hear from inspiring women with fascinating careers is a very important aspect of college life at Lucy Cavendish.”

Sherilyn Chew

In a revolutionary move, Queens’ College has now allowed second and third-year students to share rooms, regardless of gender. Students were notified of the change to College policy last week in an email sent out by Joseph Levin, Accommodation Officer on the college’s JCR. Many students expressed relief and excitement that their college had finally moved into the 21st century with regards to its room-balloting procedures. Previously, students had to ballot with a partner of the same gender if they wished to share rooms in second and third years.

However, the email ‘‘strongly discourages’’ students in a relationship from sharing rooms with each other for ‘‘welfare reasons’’.

Students commended the move, particularly in relation to LGBT+ rights arguing that the old policy was entirely heteronormative, assuming that only heterosexuals would be engaging in sexual behaviour, and as such would not be allowed to share. This new policy will be in effect for the next balloting round, which takes place in Easter Term.

Hayden Banks

Newnham College has submitted a planning application to the Cambridge city council to renovate its student accommodation. The college plans to tear down one existing block, while replacing the buildings overlooking Newnham Walk with 90 new ensuite student bedrooms, a new porters’ lodge, and a cafe.

Newnham students have requested new cycle parking and a wider range of gym facilities, proposals which will be considered by the city council for implementation. College bursar, Jenny Raine, commented: “Newnham is always evaluating what it can offer students... The developments will ensure that the long-term needs of the students are met with an exciting new environment that is integrated with the college’s existing historic buildings and gardens.”

Newnham college was initially designed by the architect Basil Champneys, who also created Cambridge’s old Divinity School and the Peterhouse Theatre. The building work is estimated to begin in September 2016 if the plans are approved.

Sherilyn Chew

As bicycle parking facilities become increasingly hard to find, St. John’s College has announced they will be collecting unclaimed bicycles left in their college and donating them to OWL Bikes, part of disability charity Papworth Trust.

Head Porter at St. John’s, Steve Poppitt, said: “The College currently has around 50 bicycles to donate and we are really happy to be able to send bikes, that would have been headed for the dump, to a good cause where they can make a difference to people’s lives.” Given that many students often leave bicycles around Cambridge, St. Johns will impound any found abandoned, hold them for one month, and after doing everything they can to track down the owner, give them to the charity. After collecting bicycles, the charity employs disadvantaged local people to repair them.

The bicycles are then put up for sale to members of the public, or they are shipped overseas to an organisation called Recycle Bikes for Africa, where people have to spend hours each day walking to collect water or in order to access health care, an education, or employment.

Ian Morse

7

The Cambridge Student • 21 January 2016

News

Zeichner stands against cuts to grants

NEWS BULLETIN

Daniel Zeichner criticises government plans to scrap support for low-income students

UN Secretary-General to receive honorary degree

Freya Clarke Deputy News Editor MP for Cambridge, Daniel Zeichner, released a statement declaring his opposition to the Government’s decision to cut maintenance grants without a vote in Parliament.

Zeichner has protested the news due to the impact it will have on the most economically disadvantaged students.

The changes will mean that students from low-income backgrounds could graduate with up to £60,000 in debt.

He currently represents 8,417 students at Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Cambridge who benefit from these grants.

Zeichner also protests what he has termed the Conservatives’ attempt to “sneak [maintenance grant cuts in] through the back door”.

Rather than debating and voting on them in Parliament, the Government have opted to push the changes through a legislative committee.

Zeichner has protested this to Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Chancellor George Osborne maintains that cutting the grants is necessary to mitigate the “basic unfairness in asking taxpayers to fund grants for people who are likely to earn a lot more than them.”

The Cambridge Student reported in July 2015 on CUSU’s reaction to the announcement that maintenance grants would be removed from

September 2016. Helena Blair, CUSU Access Officer, said at the time that “[CUSU] are deeply angered by the Chancellor’s announcement today, which is a devastating attack on the aspirations of poorer students. The Government’s message is clear: it has little opinion of young people, especially those already facing social and financial disadvantage.”

Maintenance grants were first introduced in 1962 to cover tuition fees and living costs. In 1989 they were frozen and loans introduced for those not falling into the income bracket.

With similar proposals resurfacing now, the Chancellor maintains that: “If we don’t tackle this problem, then

“If we don’t tackle this problem, our students won’t get places”

universities will become underfunded and our students won’t get places, and I’m not prepared for that to happen.”

Elinor Clapson, Chair of the Cambridge Universities’ Labour Club commented “These cuts are a significant step backwards in terms of broadening access to higher education, and mean that university will become the preserve of the rich” The Cambridge University Conservative Association have not yet responded to requests to comment.

Current statistics reveal that over half a million students from low income families in England benefit from the grants, at a cost of £1.7 billion per year.

NINIAN REID

L

ooking back over the last twenty years in the politics of education, you would not find much to smile about.

The crippling marketisation of university admissions continued with confirmation that there would be no Commons vote on the scrapping of maintenance grants. This is a policy which is both unnecessary and highly damaging, confirming what we all knew about this Conservative government – that it is relentlessly pursuing austerity measures with complete disregard for the poorest in our society.

Strikingly, the National Union of Students has claimed that despite over half a million young people set to be

Cambridge road set to get conservation status

As much of Cambridge continues to be developed, one quiet suburban road is well on its way to receiving conservation status. After several years of campaigning by residents, the city council will begin work on a draft conservation area appraisal of Barrow Road, in consultation with residents.

Spearheading the campaign was Professor Nick Bullock, a world-renowned architect and a fellow at King’s College who teaches the history of architecture and architectural theory, is himself a resident of the street. Prof Bullock told the Cambridge News: “It will enable us to preserve what we all value, the unity of green verges, cherry trees and the domestic architecture of the 1930s that lines the road, while allowing a limited freedom to the rear for residents to adapt their houses to their needs.”

York lecturer asks if we should raise a glass to ‘dry January’

Social mobility depends on maintenance grants

Hayden Banks

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is to receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Law from the University of Cambridge, in recognition of his many diplomatic contributions during his time as Secretary-General. This is his final year in the role.

Ban’s term as Secretary-General has been particularly notable for his promotion of gender equality, with the establishment of UN Women as a new organisation within the UN umbrella.

He is also noted for his creation of the role of Special Representative on Violence in Conflict. He has championed the concept of “responsibility to protect”, strengthening the UN’s role in conflict and genocide prevention. Mr Ban will deliver a lecture after the ceremony, which will take place on 3 February.

affected by the maintenance grants cuts, a meagre seventeen MPs are set to debate the proposal. A recent survey conducted by the organisation found that more than half of students saw the grant as “absolutely essential” for them to attend university; I would align myselfv with this assessment, as would many of my peers. The knowledge that I will be paying back my tuition fee loans well into my professional life is worrying enough without the extra burden of scrapping the maintenance loan.

What is most frustrating about this proposal is its complete disregard for one simple fact: a university education is the best way of ensuring social mobility in this country. By scrapping the grants, we’re only stopping those from the poorest backgrounds from gaining a degree and all the positives that go with it. Putting a price on education should not be a priority for any government and yet the Tories

Putting a price on education should not be the priority

remain committed to it.

With this proposal, grants will be cut and replaced with loans which will need to be paid back when graduates are earning over £21,000, in conjunction with tuition fees, which themselves have risen to £9,000 in recent years. When taken together, this leaves graduates with incomprehensible sums of debt on their shoulders (£52,000 to be precise) when they leave university.

This will inevitably perpetuate a damaging cycle whereby only those from financially secure backgrounds will feel confident entering university, and they will leave with a more prosperous future ahead of them than those from poorer backgrounds who chose different routes, in most cases.

The marketisation of education in such a way is deeply frustrating, as is the Tories’ unwillingness to engage in open and transparent debate on such vital issues.

With the New Year rolling in, resolutions have been emerging with unbridled optimism. One such resolution includes ‘Dry January’, a vow to abstain from alcohol for 31 days. Thus far two million people across a wide spectrum of ages have endorsed the campaign. But some question whether it might do more harm than good.

A lecturer at the University of York, writing in the British Medical Journal, argues that applying the same message to different age groups could be problematic, as alcohol impact differs by age. He suggested that heavy drinkers may experience withdrawal symptoms when stopping so abruptly, and that it might be more beneficial to gradually reduce alcohol consumption throughout the year, rather than suddenly attempting to stop completely.

Cambridge reveals why Spiderman can’t really exist

Dr. David Labonte and his colleagues of the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology have published a new study on adhesion-based climbing. The study shows that as the size of the animal increases, the percentage of body surface covered by adhesive footpads also increases, setting a limit to the size of the animal.

This is why geckos are the “size limit” for sticking to walls; larger animals like humans would need nearly 80% of our front to be covered in adhesive footpads to do the same. According to Walter Federle, senior author, our beloved Spiderman would have to have feet in European size 145 or US size 114.

8

21 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

News

Labour pressure Tories to accept social care levy

Philip Pullman leaves literary festival in the dark

Labour’s leader on the Cambridgeshire county council has recently committed to bring down the Conservative budget unless they accept the ‘social care levy’ announced by Chancellor George Osborne.

The authority will vote on the budget at a council meeting on 16 February.

This social care levy is intended to help provide funding for councils struggling to provide adult services, as is the case in Cambridgeshire. No one party is in overall control of the authority, and the leader of the Labour contingent, Councillor Ashley Walsh, has said that he “will unite the other political groups in opposition to the Tories’ vicious budget proposals unless they accept that the county council will not be able to cope without the social care levy.”

Walsh has made it clear that the council will be unable to provide basic adult social care services without the levy. He has said that they are essential in order to ensure that vulnerable adults in the community are provided with support to meet their needs. By 2020 the county will recieve no funding from the national government.

The Cambridge Conservatives are

Bestselling writer Phillip Pullman has resigned as patron of the Oxford Literary Festival because he believes it conflicts with his role as President of the Society of Authors.

Pullman’s announcement, via Twitter, said that the decision was based on an inability to reconcile the literary festival’s non-pay policy for speakers with his presidency of a society which actively campaigns for speakers’ fees.

The festival which has taken place annually for two decades usually attracts very high-profile speakers from the literary world and has previously hosted Malorie Blackman, A C Grayling and Shami Chakrabarti amongst others.

In his blog for The Guardian, Pullman writes that, on account of its rising profile and “large array of corporate sponsors”, the festival should have the financial capabilities to provide a fee for the speakers invited to the event.

The Oxford Literary Festival responding in a statement said that they were “very sad” about his decision, but “grateful for the support he has given over the years”.

Lili Bidwell Deputy News Editor

blocking the levy, working against what the Conservative party has done nationally by introducing it. Cllr Walsh has also pointed out: “Even George Osborne, a man not known for his generosity in public spending, recognises the reality. I will not stand by and let the Tories get away with it.

Until they accept the social care levy, they will not get their budget.”

Conservative Cllr Anna Bailey commented that it was better to drive out inefficiencies, a solution used in other departments.

Similarly, her Conservative ally Cllr Steve Criswell added that they had been lobbying the government for additional funding, rather than asking Cambridge residents to pay.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Lucy Nethsingha also supports the levy, commenting to Cambridge News: “The Conservative decision to impose additional cuts on a county which is already under-funded is hugely disappointing. “Our priorities include funding for street lighting.”

Matt, a member of the Cambridge Universities Labour Club (CULC) has commented that he believes that “the Tories are aiming to win over voters by not raising taxes ahead of the council elections in May 2016, at the cost of adult social care in Cambridge.”

The council has been lobbying the government for more funding

Freya Clarke Deputy News Editor

Cambridge Literary Festival pay some betterknown guests while others speak for free

Director of the festival, Sally Dunsmore, went on to clarify the reasoning behind the event’s no-pay policy, writing that if authors were paid it would hamper their ability to “put on a festival as large and diverse as Oxford’s”.

A survey undertaken by the Society of Authors has found that there is much variation in approaches to authors fees amongst English literary festivals. Of the seventeen who replied to their letter, twelve paid within the range of £150 to £200 whilst the remaining five took the same stand as the Oxford Literary Festival. Cambridge Literary Festival, according to its director Cathy Moore, only pay some of their better--known guests whilst inviting others to speak for free.

Cambridge’s literary festival was also a source of controversy in December, when novelist Jon McGregor used an event there as a platform to call for greater diversity in publishing.

McGregor told attendees: ‘‘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.”

Cambridge families will have to ‘pay-to-stay’ Bea Lundy Deputy News Editor Proposed legislation in the new Conservative Housing Bill will force all households that earn over £30,000 to pay full unsubsidised market rents, in the new ‘pay-to-stay’ policy.

The new legislation has been accused of ‘‘chastising the poor’’ and has caused controversy because it may force families out of the city.

The government has argued that the taxpayer should not be subsidising housing for people who can afford to live independently, on salaries of £30,000 a year or more.

A brief study of the impact these changes may have on Cambridge residents shows that some tenants could face steep increases in rent.

An average monthly rent for a threebedroom council house in Cambridge is around £500. The average rent for the same house in the cheapest 25% of the market is £1000 per month.

A family with two parents and two children, with both parents working

“It is a grotesque act of theft on families struggling to make ends meet.”

full-time jobs that pay just above minimum wage, would earn a little over £30,000 a year before tax.

Dan Cooper, a council tenant and Unite Community Branch candidate for the role of Trades Council secretary in the city, told Cambridge News: “As with everything this Government does, it is about chastising the poor and low paid.

“This is no incentive to work, it is impoverishing those who have no choice. It is a grotesque act of theft on families struggling to make ends meet.”

Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner has called ‘pay-to-stay’ “an ideological attack designed to wage war on social housing penalising those who get on”.

James Youd, secretary of Cambridge Unite Community, added: “The minister [Brandon] Lewis says this is about fair rents and not subsidising those able to pay higher rents. Council housing isn’t subsidised – it was built as a public asset to house people.

Today it is needed more than ever.”

The implementation will be mandatory for council house tenants, but optional for housing associations.

9

The Cambridge Student • 21 January 2016

News

University considering merger of GU and CUSU Camilla Penney The University is considering incorporating the Graduate Union (GU), the University-wide representative body for graduate students, into CUSU. If the proposal is implemented, it would radically change the way the graduate community is represented.

The GU has experienced a tumultuous history, with former President, Arsalan Ghani, being ousted by a vote of no confidence in May 2013.

The GU was also removed from the Charity Commission register in February 2015, thereby losing its status as a charitable organisation.

The GU’s troubles have led the University to review whether it should “continue to recognise the GU as the body representing the University’s graduate students and, if not, how graduate students can be best represented”, according to a document seen by Varsity.

The new GU committee, headed by President Chad Allen, is working hard to maintain the independence of the GU, but seems less than optimistic about its prospects.

In an email sent to all graduate students on 7 January, Allen advised “prudence and caution”.

Though he said these were “not inspirational sentiments”, such maxims were “far better than risking any more unnecessary crises.”

The email also suggested that graduates make “keep[ing] [the GU] alive at the heart of Graduate

Representation” one of their New Year’s resolutions.

The meeting of the GU Council and elections to the Executive Committee will be delayed until GU has “clarif[ied] matters with the Proctors”.

The University held a consultation on the future of graduate representation last term. This culminated in a GU meeting at the end of Michaelmas which 28 MCR representatives attended, despite St. Edmund’s College having become disaffiliated a short time before.

The GU committee members were due to present their arguments in support of a separate GU to the University’s graduate representation

“Hopefully the merge doesn’t dampen the GU’s activities”

NEWS BULLETIN Zeichner digs in for a great pothole debate

review panel on Wednesday 13 January.

However, the outcome of the meeting has not yet been communicated to the graduate community.

The panel’s report and final conclusion will be reported at the University Council meeting on 15 February.

One graduate student, who wished to remain anonymous, commented on the proposed merger: “The GU organises some good events...so hopefully the merge doesn’t dampen the GU’s activities.”

Another graduate student differed: “To be honest, I barely know the difference between the two, so it’s probably a good thing.”

GRADUATE UNION

Over half of British universities are now implementing policies which supposedly curb free speech. The research, carried out by an online magazine, Spiked, found that roughly 50% of universities had serious restrictions in place.

This year, over 90% of universities had some curb on freedom of expression, compared with 80% the year before. No-platform policies, barring extremist speakers, were in place at 39% of universities, and 42% had ‘dignity’ policies that banned offensive jokes, comments or songs.

These curbs included the banning of: chart topping song by Robin Thicke, ‘Blurred Lines’; the selling of French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo; and

Study finds a quarter of Cambridge kids obese Recent figures have revealed that 25% of 11-year-olds in Cambridge are obese, with roughly 260 children leaving primary school obese. The alarming statistics have led the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to call for stricter rules regarding the advertising of junk food.

Companies have long been prohibited from running junk food adverts on children’s television channels; however the latest Ofcom statistics found that two thirds of children watch popular shows such as X-Factor during “adult” air-time, which include adverts for junk food.

As such, the BHF is proposing to ban these adverts before 9pm, in a bid to reduce their influence on childrens’ eating habits, deeming them particularly necessary when so many children appear to be influenced.

Oxford VC declares war on the Bullingdon club

Universities continue to curb free speech Lydia Day Deputy News Editor

Cambridge’s local MP, Daniel Zeichner, is leading the way in a bid to rid Cambridge’s roads of potholes. Zeichner, who is also Labour’s Shadow Transport Minister, met with local residents on Clare Street next to an offending pothole on 15 January, in conjunction with National Pothole Day. He called for the government to do more about the state of the roads, with roughly a third of local roads in urgent need of repair. Zeichner said: “millions of journeys for cyclists and motorists are being blighted by Britain’s pothole crisis.” Local residents are being encouraged to use Twitter to share photos of the potholes that have caused problems in their area.

the selling of tabloid newspapers such as The Sun. Prominent examples of no-platform policies being enforced last year include Warwick banning human rights activist, Maryam Namazie, and Manchester University preventing Julie Bindel and Milo Yiannopoulos from debating against each other. At the London School of Economics, which was responsible for the highest number of bans, the rugby club was banned after they published leaflets at the freshers’ fair branding women as “mingers”, “trollops” and “slags”.

Tom Slater, who compiled the rankings, told The Times: “campus censorship has become more entrenched than anyone could have imagined.” Most of these restrictions were implemented by Student Unions and representatives as opposed to the

“Over 90% of universities had some curb on freedom of expression”

universities themselves.

Megan Dunn, President of the National Union of Students, said to The Times: “The debate surrounding the issue of free speech has been present within students’ unions work every day to make the right calls on the complex balancing act of drawing the line between free speech and mitigating risk.”

In recent years, free speech has become a prominent issue in Cambridge too. Last term, there was a referendum within The Cambridge Union to determine whether Julian Assange should be no-platformed as a result of the sexual assault allegations against him. The union also faced controversy and protests last year, when Germain Greer was invited to speak despite her controversial opinions on transwomen.

The recently inducted Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Oxford University, Professor Louise Richardson, has branded the notorious Bullingdon Club as “completely unacceptable”, in an interview with The Financial Times.

The Bullingdon is not the first all-male club with which Richardson has taken issue. When she was VC of St. Andrews, Richardson excommunicated their Bullingdon equivalent, the Kate Kennedy Club, saying that their behaviour and men-only policy was “not compatible with the meritocratic instincts of a contemporary university.” However, David Cameron’s drinking club progeny are not so easily dispersed, since the Bullingdon has no official connection to the University. If such a tie did exist, Richardson says that she would “sever it” or, at least, “do my best to sever it”.

Stroke Association organises ‘Resolution Run’ in Cambridge The Stroke Association is asking for Cambridge students to take part in a 5km charity fun run. The ‘Resolution Run’ will take place in Milton Country Park on 6 March. It aims to help people follow through their New Year’s resolutions, which often include vital changes to unhealthy habits. George Burroughs from the Stroke Association told the Cambridge News: “At least half of strokes could be prevented if people made simple lifestyle changes, such as keeping blood pressure under control and exercising more.” The run is being targeted at all ability levels, and participants may walk or jog if they feel unable to run the whole course.

10

21 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Features

The final countdown: Thoughts from the Class of ‘16 Freya Sanders

H

ere I am, lying on the floor of a dear friend’s room, given up on an afternoon’s battle with semiotic diagrams in the UL. My laptop is on 8% and I can’t be bothered to charge it: I am watching it slowly die as I write this article.

Welcome to third year. “I feel like I’ve graduated already,” my dear friend observes, passing the cookie crumble.

It’s true that, even if the lifetime of our academic degree is three years, the life cycle of one’s extra-curricular activities tends to be somewhat shorter, particularly if you take your degree seriously.

“I just hate academia,” my dear friend mumbles, as I type, disparagingly reading an obscure extract from his class hand-out.

One friend I spoke to earlier in the week was particularly disturbed by the drastic and unexpected reduction in social opportunities: “I mean, where am I supposed to find people to get with?” This was an unforeseen take on my question as to how she was feeling about coming back for Lent Term.

She continued: “I’m already severely limited by the fact that, in seven terms, I have worked my way through most of the people I know. And now I can’t even go out.

Seriously, how am I going to make it through the next six months?” I feebly suggest Tinder. She gives me a look of disgust.

“There’s always been time,” she says after we’ve spent at least an hour setting up an account for her (there was a 20

Finales, Epilogues

minute argument about how to present herself as an ‘all-rounder’; I maintain that nobody likes an ‘all-rounder’, surely the underdog is the preferred aim for all selfrespecting, self-fashioning, young women) I know what she means. I used to think, in the Eliotian salad days of my second year: “There will be time, there will be time / To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet; / There will be time to murder and create.”

It’s true though. I used to think there was loads of time left at Cambridge, but now I feel like I have zero time to prepare my face for meeting people – I don’t even have time to wash it daily – let alone murder the people. “All the time has gone,” I say to my friend in conclusion.

“It hasn’t,” my friend points out, “it’s just that we feel like we have less choice in how we spend that time. Remember Gandalf?

“All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given us.” Well, we’re now having to make more difficult decisions.”

She’s right. There is still time. But it feels like more of a waiting game – the final inexorable spiral towards finals and adult life and eternity forever and ever.

Decisions are getting more difficult. The future is looming. We can’t just be students because we’re too busy worrying about when we’re going to be not-students.

The dear friend on whose floor I am lying upon perfectly summarised how I feel: “I feel like I’ve graduated already”.

One hell of a night: An imagined, dead celebrity house party* Cameron Wallis *as written by Napoleon Bonaparte

S

he’s got the same godawful DJ as last year. The prize for the least appropriately-named album title, Variations, has got to go to that guy.

All his music sounds the same. I could do without it relentlessly battering against my eardrums when I’ve already had predrinks and can barely stagger up the drive.

Yep. That’s DJ ‘Johann’ Bach bashing away on his portable jazz organ in the lounge, deafening me as I enter the house party. God it’s busy here. I can’t see over everyone’s heads to find my hostess. All these dancing Germans are so bloody tall.

Bertie Einstein sidles over to chat. “You know you don’t need to squat down to speak to me,” I tell him, “I’m really not that short.”

He tells me that it’s all relative and continues dancing. Lederhosen-wearing prick.

Anyway, hopefully my absent hostess is in the kitchen. I trudge through the dining room to avoid the noisy fight now ensuing in the lounge.

It is punctuated by discordant organ sounds. Those Russian neo-classicists must have arrived. Jesus, I hate those guys.

I’ve always found those Boleyns a little strange

But speaking of which, there’s the Man himself. Though it seems like he’s in a pretty heated discussion with Buddha. We’ll chat later.

Where the hell is my hostess? As I amble past the bathroom door, before it snaps shut, I catch a glimpse of Anne getting handsy with her brother. I’ve always found those Boleyns a little strange.

It’s so hot in this house and my hostess seems to have vanished off the face of the earth. Maybe she’s outside?

In the back garden a faint whiff reaches my nose and I go round the side of the house. Of course. There’s Al Capone smoking weed with the ‘lads’. And is that young Will Shakespeare with them?

Upon seeing me, Will drops his joint and embarrassedly shuffles away. He mutters something about the sweet smell of roses, but I simply shake my head in disappointment.

He goes to talk with Al Hitchcock about a new play he’s written. Some Scottish thane and his wife or something. I take one final look for my elusive hostess, Amelia Earhart, but she’s nowhere to be found.

Well, this is shit. The party’s dead anyway.

THE YORCK PROJECT

11

The Cambridge Student • 21 January 2016

Features

The never-ending journey: From Girton to civilisation

s and Transcience ALICE LAW

Megan Fereday

T

he alarm goes off. It’s Thursday morning, and Week One has commenced. My earlier hope, of springing out of bed, thanks to the last shreds of my Michaelmas rest, have been dashed by fate and I get up, shower, eat, stuff the necessary paper and books into my bag. Next, I mentally prepare myself for the most arduous task of my day: the dreaded diurnal trial that is the perilous cycle down Huntingdon Road.

It is a fact that every Girtonian suffers endless mocking: this never-ending road is the only lifeline from our modest village to the ‘civilisation’ of town. Having progressed halfway through my degree and suffered this ordeal almost every day of my study so far, a horrible realisation has started to creep up on me. Braving this journey every day starts to do things to your mind as well as your thighs, if you’re not careful.

Picture the scene: I’m speeding away from college, pedalling with all the energy I can summon from my hurriedly consumed breakfast. Then I hear it: the audible sigh of the student behind me, whizzing past on their road bike, completely showing up my undignified cycling incompetence.

I push away the tiny niggle of chagrin and press on – before inevitably braking sharply at the first set of ‘temporary’ traffic lights to delay my journey. I pause, feeling

the precious minutes before my lecture slipping through my fingers, and I start to ponder. The roadworks have been going on for months; almost as long as I’ve been studying here.

Then it dawns on me. This infernal, interminable road, with its punishing inclines, suddenly seems like a horrifying metaphor for my entire student experience at this university.

These road workers must surely feel my pain as we both struggle through task after task without making any progress.

The hordes of students flying past me on their successfully-timed journeys serve

The dreaded diurnal trial that is the perilous cycle down Huntingdon Road as a cruel reminder of the intellectual ease and efficiency that I am sure never to attain. The cold numbs my hands, but I remember I’d hardly be any warmer in the bedroom I’ve only just left.

And then, mercifully, I realise I’ve made it.

As I sail past Churchill, the warmth from my burning muscles congratulates me for getting halfway down Huntingdon again.

This journey is a blessing in disguise really – after all, I’d never get the same amount of exercise if I wasn’t forced to do it every day. I suppose, looking on the upside, it is for the best, after all. Even if that upside is Castle Hill.

Mourning strangers: Why do we grieve for icons we never knew?

Taryn Challender Features Editor

D

avid Bowie is dead. Alan Rickman is dead. In the space of a week, we have lost two great figures who undoubtedly shaped the childhood and subsequent lives of many millennials.

Ziggy Stardust and Severus Snape are popular culture icons, and you would be hard-pressed to come across someone who isn’t familiar with them.

Despite the wide publicity regarding the two stars’ deaths, both to cancer, I still cannot comprehend that they are actually gone. I’ve always attached a sort of immortality to celebrities, a degree of the supernatural almost, so when one dies it always comes as a huge and completely unwelcome shock.

When Robin Williams died in 2014, I was utterly devastated, and seeing his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was a poignant experience, not unlike visiting the grave of a relative. The more I try to push the reality of death to the back of my mind, the more it rears its ugly head when I least expect it.

Mourning celebrities however, when you think about it rationally, is a bizarre

phenomenon. The death of Princess Diana in 1997 led to an outpouring of grief on a pandemic scale, the likes of which had never been witnessed before.

At the end of the day, celebrities are complete strangers. In everyday life we do not usually become emotionally attached to Joe Bloggs or obsessively keep track of the events in his life, both professional and personal, attaching to them a profound and disproportionate significance. This would be frowned upon as voyeurism at the very least, and grounds to get a restraining order at the most extreme.

But this lack of intimacy on a personal level with the celebrity creates a jarring juxtaposition with the genuine and heartfelt grief we feel at their loss.

Of course we feel sad when we hear of the death of anyone, even if we have never met the person, because death is ubiquitous and we feel sympathy towards the family of the deceased, as we have perhaps gone through similarly trying times ourselves.

But the death of a celebrity is different. It is not just the person that is gone, but also all that they represented for us.

Think of it like a force field, with the

physical person in the centre orbited by all of the abstract emotions and sentiments people have come to attach to them, which although intangible, are just as important.

The things each individual attaches to a celebrity may be completely disparate.

For example, a theatre enthusiast could have been inspired to pursue a career on the stage after watching Rickman’s Tony Award-nominated performance in the RSC production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, whilst an impressionable young child who grew up alongside the Harry Potter movies and characters could have witnessed the development of the most unlikely of heroes – Severus Snape – and learnt lessons which will stay with them for them for the rest of their lives.

Yet both of these people will come together in solidarity at the death of their idol and mourn, together, the indivdual they never met, but who meant so very much to them.

Bowie and Rickman may be gone, but their legacy is not leaving us any time soon.

“After all this time?”

“Always,” said Snape.”

MARC WATHIEU

Part 2

2

Talking music with the Master of Selwyn

5

Top five feminist book club picks

The Cambridge Student 21 January 2016

9

Vegan substitutes for sweet treats

ILLUSTRATION: SANJUKTA SEN – INSTAGRAM: SANJSKETCHES

2

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 21 January 2016

Culture

Cambridge listens: Roger Mosey Ollie Smith Music Editor

E

ver wondered what music your supervisor, porter or bedder listens to? Curious what Cambridge students were listening to 30 years ago? The Cambridge Student is on a mission to find out how musical tastes have changed and what has stood the test of time.

If you could choose one artist to play in Cambridge, in 2016, who would it be?

Elbow. More Olympic associations; I was one of the people who commissioned them to write the BBC theme music.

This week we have Roger Mosey, the Master of Selwyn, giving his take on all things musical.

What would you put on during an essay crisis?

I used to play music loud during essay crises, so I’d probably go with something like Day & Age by The Killers.

What is your favourite record?

‘Caliban’s Dream’ by Underworld.

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?

I like Les Miserables more than I should – even the movie.

Why? Because its use was so absolutely perfect in the Olympic Opening Ceremony. Every time I hear it, it brings back the magic of that night in 2012.

What were you listening to in your student days?

I’m part of the original generation inspired by David Bowie.

I loved Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust.

Where in Cambridge is your favourite place to listen to music?

Selwyn College Chapel.

Why? We have a brilliant choir. I first heard them when I was being interviewed for the Mastership. Hearing them sing on a beautiful summer’s night will always stay with me.

Which song defined your 2015?

The Selwyn choir recorded an album last year called Eternal Ecstasy and I went with them on a tour of the United States and Canada performing that repertoire. ‘A Spotless Rose’ by Paul Mealor is my favourite track.

Press play on your iPod. What song comes on?

I tried that and it was ‘Viva La Vida’ by Coldplay.

DILIFF

Audiobooks: Blessing or a curse?

Cameron Wallis

W

hether they’re the soundtrack to your morning run or company whilst you walk to 9am lectures, audiobooks are a sure-fire way of making every hour of the day count. Even while you are winding down after a day in the library, and preparing pesto pasta for the fourth night running, you might as well be super productive and stick on an audiobook, right?

I’m not so sure. When I attempted to listen to Dickens’ Great Expectations while doing a gym session, it simply felt like noise bouncing off unreceptive eardrums.

Similarly, hearing Eliot’s Middlemarch was just about the worst way to kick-back and relax after four backto-back lectures. Even attempting to listen to Thomas Hardy on my morning perambulation to Sidgwick – the audiobook on at double speed – turned out not to be as productive as I hoped it would be – though hearing Tess of the D’Urbervilles essentially read out by chipmunks was, undeniably, a magical experience.

Reading requires concerted effort and focus, but when listening to an audiobook we think that we can do something else at the same time. We cannot. The mind is exceptionally good at blanking out noise; we miss things if we do not fully concentrate on them.

Audiobooks come into their own, however, when we are attempting to comprehend difficult texts. When I was sitting at my desk with no idea what was happening in Ulysses, listening to the audiobook in conjunction with reading it greatly improved my understanding.

As human beings, we love having stories told to us.

There’s something magical about listening to another person spin a tale that excites and fascinates us. It’s more enjoyable because a good narrator can excite us by bringing texts alive. For this reason, I’ve found that if I use audiobooks alongside a text, they become a phenomenal resource for improving comprehension.

However, as for that whole multitasking shebang, I tried it, and it didn’t work for me.

Now museum, now you don’t Jack McMinn

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eing retro is pretty rad at the moment. My sister, for example, got a vinyl player and Polaroid camera for Christmas, and spent the whole day working her way through mum’s Queen records and snapping very blurry photographs of slightly bewildered and rather tipsy family members. The aesthetic of 100—200 years ago especially juxtaposes with our modern-day, squeaky-clean, Steve Jobs, utopia in just the right way to lead to a mild cultural obsession in our modern media – from Sherlock Holmes to Downton Abbey to Bioshock.

This is part of why the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences is so appealing – it’s retro, but in a way that’s accessibly enjoyable for everyone. Back on my home turf, we have a zoology museum which has stayed, essentially, untouched since its Victorian founder kicked the bucket (or well-placed urchin boy, given the general distaste for the poor back in those days). It has led to dark corridors of scientifically labelled birds stitched and stuffed into grim dioramas. I love this old place and a macabre corner of Tumblr might find a rare smile

flittering across their vitamin-D-deprived faces, but you always get the uneasy parents and children traumatised by the zillions of glazed, watching glass eyes.

The Sedgwick, on the other hand, is pure optimism by comparison – light pours in through the building’s tall

It’s retro, but in a way that’s accessibly enjoyable for everyone windows, to illuminate dinosaur skeletons and exciting buttons you can push to learn about rocks (you know, general museum stuff). The old bones of marine reptiles are spread-eagle on the floor, as if run over by some prehistoric steamroller; from the ceilings hang giant, origami monsters adorned in bright primary-colour pastel. In other words, lots of stuff anyone can enjoy, without feeling patronised or made to feel an idiot for not knowing what obsidian is (it’s glass formed from rapidly cooling lava – you’re welcome).

The look of the museum, reflective of the building’s own 18th century origins, somehow complements this – shelf after shelf stuffed with meticulously labelled fossils make the place seem full of treasures, like a pirate cave or high-end, second-hand shop. In short, give this place a shot. If nothing else, you’d get a few good Instagram posts out of it.

BECKS

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 21 January 2016

Culture

3

Grrrl Power: Women and Comics Lynn Pang

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he comic book industry has changed a lot over the years, particularly in its attitudes towards women and comics. I’ve been reading comics for years, and I understand how difficult it can be to start because of how easy it is to be accused of being a ‘fake geek girl’. To clarify: there’s no such thing. You should read what you want, and enjoy it. So here are some comics I would recommend that are great for starting with.

2. Ms. Marvel This is definitely one of the hallmarks of progress in the comic book industry. The comic’s star is Kamala Khan – she is the first Muslim character in the Marvel universe to headline her own comic book. Written by G. Willow Wilson and illustrated by Adrian Alphona, the story follows 16 year old Kamala through her life in New Jersey as a PakistaniAmerican with shapeshifting abilities. She assumes the role of her idol Carol Danvers, becoming the new Ms. Marvel.

1. Companion Comics The easiest way to get into comics is to start with comics that are relevant to popular culture. Some of my favourites are Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, iZombie and Marvel’s new Star Wars comics. Companion comics are a great way of learning more about characters and their intentions or backstories. Shows sometimes diverge from their source comics, so who knows? You might prefer the comics’ storyline instead.

3. Birds Of Prey DC’s Birds of Prey is one of my all-time favourites. Although the team has been around since 1996, featuring different writers, my favourite writer has been Gail Simone. The series begins with a partnership between Black Canary and Oracle (aka Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl). It consists of an all super-heroine team, with Black Canary and Oracle as the core team, and a supporting rotation of other superheroines.

PAT LOIKA

GAGE SKIDMORE

4. Thor In 2015, Marvel made some changes to certain key characters. One of the most controversial was the change of the character Thor. The previous Thor was unworthy to continue to wield Mjolnir, a weapon of immense power, and as “whosoever holds this hammer, if (s)he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor” the new bearer becomes Thor.

The new Thor isn’t a female version of Thor but is a female who is Thor. The first seven issues tease about who this mysterious person might be. I won’t spoil it; you will just have to read it to find out.

5. Lumberjanes This comic series follows five friends spending their summer at a scout camp where they encounter strange and supernatural phenomenon. It’s a very cute, action-fantasy series which isn’t content heavy. It explores LGBT+ themes, friendship, and some humorous events as well. Sometimes, it’s nice to read comics where the whole world isn’t at stake.

RYAN RUPPE

Alice: a ballet set to break boundaries Eve Rivers Theatre Editor

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ewis Carroll famously wrote: “we’re all mad here”, in his timeless classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and this crazy and haphazard world will be given a new spin next week in a show that represents Alice’s adventures through a rarely performed medium in Cambridge: circus.

The first contemporary circus show to take place at the ADC, Alice promises to be an exciting opportunity for performance in Cambridge; a collaboration between actors, Cambridge University Dance Society, Cambridge University Olympic Gymnastics Club and Cambridge Community Circus, it brings together a large number of technical performers on a stage otherwise used for hosting plays and sketch shows.

Ballet dancer, Vinciane Jones (pictured), playing Alice, seems excited to be able to showcase her talents in such an atypical production; “It’s been a really cool and fun show to rehearse for, but also a little quirky. It will be an interesting mix of circus, gymnastics, dance and acting so there should be something that will appeal to everyone. What’s engaging about the ballet element is just how beautiful it can be and the way it can express Alice’s feelings through movement.”

Talking to TCS, the director, Joanna Vymeris, described the show as “a madder Wonderland than ever before, where audiences will encounter unforgettably classic characters like the Cheshire Cat and the Queen of Heart, played by astonishing performers flying above Alice’s head, on trapeze, silks and aerial hoop. The show is a unique cross between circus and theatre that should hopefully encourage more interesting and unusual shows in Cambridge in the future.”

Student theatre here often tries to push boundaries through adapting niche texts, hosting zany comedies or super-size musicals. But rarely are so many complex, technical elements of circus and dance blended together and by prioritising the purely visual experience of the audience, Alice takes a bold risk. Whether this late show pulls it off is yet to be seen but the ambition of the cast and crew have to be lauded.

With everything in this Wonderland set to move across and above the ADC stage at once, audiences may wonder if they have gone mad themselves. But to finish the timeless quotation, “all the best people are”.

JOHANNES HJORTH

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The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 21 January 2016

Culture

Music production’s gender problem Alice French

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ame a female producer. Go on, I challenge you to up come with the name of just one female music producer. Nothing? It’s not a surprise. NME’s list of the ‘50 Greatest Producers Ever’ does not contain a single woman. It is very rare to hear a female producer mentioned on the radio or television, but Calvin Harris, Mark Ronson and similar male artists are household names. Does this mean that female producers don’t exist?

Music production is certainly a male-dominated industry; women are estimated to comprise less than 5% of producers and engineers. This seems odd considering that such a large proportion of today’s chart-topping artists are girl bands and female soloists.

One (slightly controversial) explanation for this discrepancy is that men don’t want to be controlled by women; male singers are uneasy with putting their music in the hands of female producers but women have no problem leaving their work at the mercy of men. There seems to be evidence to support this theory, in that most of the few female producers who have enjoyed mainstream success

Women are estimated to comprise less than 5% of music producers and engineers did so through producing music for other women, such as Kara DioGuardi who worked with Britney Spears and Kelly Clarkson. Male producers, on the other hand, experience equal success working with both men and women.

Others have theorised that women are less likely to make it big producing than singing front-of-stage because the very purpose of women in the music industry is

objectification; image and glamour are everything. Sitting behind a computer and manning mixing decks just isn’t as sexy as caressing a microphone in front of scantily clad backing dancers. Therefore, the music industry isn’t as interested in putting effort into female producers as it is into female singers. It is depressing that this patriarchal ideology can be used to justify the gender gap even in an industry so

REBECCA WILSON

Women are out there producing good music and just not getting recognised for it supposedly progressive, but this is the sad truth.

What makes the situation even more shocking is that women are out there producing good music and just not getting recognised for it. For example, Nervo are an Australian sister duo who have produced the likes of Kylie Minogue and LMFAO. They co-wrote and helped with the production of David Guetta’s ‘When Love Takes Over’, but their name is hardly ever mentioned in association with the song.

Since the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year was introduced in 1974, only six women have been nominated and a woman has never won. Similarly, not a single female producer has been nominated for a BRIT Award this year.

Surely the only way to raise the profile of women producers and encourage girls to start producing is to give them credit where it’s due? Wondagurl and Eva Shaw, for example, would be more than deserving of a nomination for their work in production over the last twelve12 months.

So why not make it your New Year’s resolution to add some of their music to your playlist? We humble music fans can make a difference, slowly but surely.

MANFRED WERNER/TSUI

Feminism 101: Five book club picks Helena Pérez Valle JEDIDJA

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here is a lot to read out there, and sometimes as a reader I worry that I won’t have time to read it all. One way of pushing back this fear is to become a member of a book club, where book suggestions and a time limit are given.

Book clubs sometimes focus on a particular theme: mystery, science… or, as with the recent book club started by Emma Watson, feminism. For the last week I’ve been wondering what sort of the books I’d put on her reading list. Here, I present a short list of books and authors I would choose if I were to have a feminist book club.

3. Beloved by Toni Morrison In Beloved, Toni Morrison writes about motherhood and what a mother will do out of love and fear. She has expressed, better than anyone else whose books I have read why the freedom to have and raise one’s own children (specifically, for black women in the US) is a basic right.

1. The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing This is an obvious choice, it’s a book entirely about women, and women who do what they want at that. The best thing about this book is the preface Doris Lessing wrote a few years later. In it she muses about feminism, depression, art, writing and education.

4. Ain’t I a Woman? by Bell Hooks This is a fantastic book that should be read by anyone interested in intersectionality, and particularly in the intersection between racism and sexism in the US.

2. Alice Walker In this case, I chose an author, and not a book. Alice Walker is my pick because she coined the term ‘womanism’ n her 1979 short story Coming Apart. Womanism and feminism are not the same thing, but have many things in common.

Lots of feminists could benefit on reading up on this idea and thinking about applying a womanist praxis to their own feminist thought.

5. Nawal el Saadawi Nawal el Saadwi is an Egyptian physician and psychiatrist.

She has written extensively about women in the Arabic world, specifically addressing female genital mutilation, as well as sexual and reproductive health in her society.

These are just a few suggestions, and by no means representative, but there’s one fantastic thing about reading about feminism: there is a lot out there to choose from.

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 21 January 2016

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Uni Tunes: Kieran Daly Lefteris Paparounas

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his week, Uni Tunes turns to Pembroke’s Kieran Daly, whose acoustic melodies impressed Lefteris Paparounas. The two caught up to discuss genre, influences and Kieran’s forthcoming EP.

“You were recently dubbed “a male Lucy Rose” by The Huffington Post.” I say to Kieran Daly mid-way through our interview. The singer-songwriter immediately smiles brightly. “That was lovely!” he exclaims, going on to say that Lucy Rose “is one of my favourite artists, so for someone to say that was lovely.”

His sophisticated songwriting style combines captivating yet singable melodies with powerful, intricate lyrics Praise of this sort doesn’t seem at all undeserved. Kieran, originally from Twickenham and now studying Linguistics at Pembroke, has managed to make tremendous waves on the London music scene. His sophisticated songwriting style combines captivating, yet singable, melodies with powerful, intricate lyrics.

Asked to describe his music, he loses no time in pointing out the importance of this question: ‘I wouldn’t say I have one style. I find it really tricky to put my own music into a category. I just write songs that I enjoy to play, which wouldn’t really, to me, be confined to a genre boundary.”

“I feel like it’s something that, as an artist, you need to know, what your music sounds like. Mine crosses borders of acoustic, folk, and indie genres. I try and make a catchy chorus if I can, cause that’s always fun to play live!’ he remarks, chuckling.

When asked about his main influences, Kieran cites a variety of artists including Ben Howard, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Lewis Watson, and the Freelance Werewolves.

Kieran has an upcoming EP, Dear Dandelion, set to be released in the Easter break. “It’s going to have five tunes, and a bonus track on the end,” he explains, “It’ll be on iTunes, Spotify, and similar platforms, and if people want the physical copy, they’ll be able to get that from my website, which I’m creating at the moment.”

A release party will also take place in London during the Easter break: “That’s exciting. We’ll be playing the EP live and people will be able to buy a ticket and get a free copy of the EP on the door.” The EP’s first single, ‘In The Open’, is out now on iTunes, while readers can sample some of Kieran’s music on his YouTube channel.

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Joey Penaliggon

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Miriam Longman

MIRIAM LONGMAN

MTM.TV

Awards reconsidered: The golden bribes? he invisible mill churns: Award Season 2016 has dawned once more, complete with bells, whistles, Weinsteins, Warners, and Foxes. Tired of those names? They garner a closeness to home that we’ve come to associate with such mass-produced culture, which in itself wouldn’t be cause for comment. Yet with the furore surrounding film at this time of year there is a different commentary: along with the usual entourage of billion-dollar studios and A-list celebrities, comes a healthy serving of fixing and bribery allegations.

The Globes are conducted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), a 93-strong body of journalists which, as a “non-profit organisation,” recognises both “outstanding achievement” in film and “the importance of foreign markets,” as well as “promoting interest in the study of the arts”. However, given its history of questionable credibility – consider the 2010 and 2011 scandals surrounding Burlesque and The Tourist respectively, with rumours surfacing of all-expenses-paid trips to Las Vegas and a private concert to members of the HFPA by Burlesque stars Cher and Christina Aguilera, financed by distributor Sony Pictures – one wonders to what extent the “mission statement” above rings hollow.

Perhaps this is a new (or maybe not so new) phase in the history of film promotion, where a studio’s indirect expenditure amounts to nothing more than a dip into its

Culture Selling My Soul

advertising budget. Perhaps in the Globes we see money’s highest manifestation as a universal language: is the ‘mass’ in ‘mass culture’ money itself? Is ‘mass’ to ‘culture’ what ‘light’ is to ‘fly’, or the opposite – is money generative of culture or culture of money? Is fame won or bought?

Amongst the many outspoken (and not so subtle) opponents of the Globes is the frequently employed host Ricky Gervais, delivering statements like this neat summary : “The Golden Globes are to the Oscars what Kim Kardashian is to Kate Middleton: a bit louder, a bit trashier, a bit drunker and more easily bought.”

What is Gervais implying? That kitsch films with obese budgets meet panels of critics and audiences with equal force? That the Oscars occupy a more hallowed, untouchable sanctum impenetrable to such skulduggery?

That something like comedian Reggie Watts’ “buffer memory of incredulity” lets money talk and bullshit walk?

These questions (along with those of credibility and reputation) will doubtless go to the grave when the Oscar’s come around in February, only to resurface again next year in the perennial cycle of resurrection, repeatedly mollified by the time-tested aphorism: “film is about the glamour!”

For now, though, we can do two things: stay where we are, knowing that “glamour” veils a deep insecurity somewhere, and sit smugly knowing that Burlesque was also nominated for a Razzie.

T

he idea of publishing my poetry came from my best friend/co-conspirator, Charley. At first, I laughed at the idea, and then I found myself in need of some cash. Although black-market organ sales might have been the obvious choice, I’m rather attached to my kidneys, so I decided to sell my soul instead. Well, my poetry. Same thing.

For my first two collections I used Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), which is great because there are no overhead costs. If you’ve got the technical skills to format the collection and make a cover, you just upload it, press “publish” and voila, anyone can buy your work from Amazon. In theory.

The formatting was a bit of a struggle, but I got there in the end. The cover was super easy – I take a lot of photos, and KDP has an easy-to-use cover creator. Neither collection made me much money, and the people who bought it were mostly friends and family, but it was better than nothing.

However, my third collection was a different matter: I wanted a print copy. At first I went with Amazon’s printon-demand service, CreateSpace, but when it became really frustrating I switched to Blurb. Again, there were no overhead costs because I did all the formatting myself, but it was still a struggle. Formatting isn’t hard, it’s just really time-consuming and boring. I’d have had to sell hundreds of copies to earn minimum wage for the hours I spent on it. This, I can assure you, hasn’t happened. I’m not sure I’m even in double figures for sales.

That process showed me exactly why most indie authors pay someone else to format for them, but I was too skint for that. And don’t get me started on how long it took for Blurb to link to the Amazon page.

Was it worth it? Well, the whole process cost me nothing, so anything I earned was automatically profit. It took a long time, and my poems – some of which I’m still proud of a couple of years down the line, some I’m not – is now online for the world to read should they so desire. The few reviews I got were lovely, but the sales figures remain pretty depressing (One copy sold in six months. ONE).

I’m not sure I’d do it again. There’s not much of a market for poetry, whether it’s professionally or self-published. I will try a professional publisher for my novels. However, self-publishing might not have got me very far, but it got me one step further than keeping my poetry on my hard-drive where no one but Charley and I could read it.

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21 January 2016 • Part 2 • The Cambridge Student

Reviews

Daughter at the Corn Exchange Arenike Adebajo

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aughter sound like winter; their music combines glacial riffs with the icy vocals of the lead singer, Elena Tonra, who sings the heart numb with funereal lyrics of love, loss and isolation. So a freezing January evening in Cambridge was the perfect setting for the opening gig of the trio’s UK tour. It wasn’t just the release date for their new album Not To Disappear, but it was also Elena’s birthday. When she arrived onstage, she was greeted by a less than tuneful, but wellmeaning, chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ from the crowd. She looked a bit nervous but remained charming, telling us in between songs how much cake she’d eaten that day.

By the end of the show, I wanted to be her best friend.

The set list varied between songs from the new album and their acclaimed 2013 debut, If You Leave. Although the transition of the music from studio to stage was impeccable, Daughter’s sound is a lot more intense live. The crowd was enrapt from the chilling trembling of the guitar that opens ‘Tomorrow’ to the quiet despair of the self-recriminatory ‘Smother’.

During ‘Shallows’, as Elena sang “staring at the sky/watching stars collide”, I noticed JOHANNES HJORTH

the stage backdrop for the first time. The print showed an off-white arc streaked with muted pastels emerging from a cloudbank, the whole scene suspended in dark space with smudges of stars. Huge and abstract, it reminded me of themes from their earlier work – fragility, isolation and the threat of oblivion. The backdrop turned out to be the album art for Not To Disappear and sure enough, these ideas all crop up in the songs played from the new album.

However, the new songs showed that although much about Daughter has stayed the same, there’s been a definite artistic progression. ‘Alone/ With You’ was a familiar exploration of unrequited love and alienation from self, (“Me and I are not friends she is only an acquaintance”) but the poignant lead single, ‘Doing the Right Thing’, delicately deals with dementia and the dread of growing old. ‘No Care’ was the stand-out track of the night. The frantic beat that started the song got the crowd moving, and all traces of Elena’s initial nervousness were gone as she spat the refrain: “No care, no care in the world/I don’t care, I don’t care”. It was like nothing we’ve ever heard, or expected from Daughter.

8/10

Breathing Corpses truly grips Tom Bevan

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pending 90 minutes watching deaths unfold and eventually intertwine isn’t usually how I’d spend a Tuesday evening. Yet Breathing Corpses keeps even the most uncertain murder mystery fan hooked.

The opening scene reveals a nothingtown hotel cleaner, Amy, played sincerely

by Isla Cowan, finding yet another corpse in one of the rooms. Surprisingly unscathed, she talks openly to the corpse for far longer than is comfortable to watch.

The dead man, Jim, has left a note linking his death to his own traumatic discovery of a dismembered body. And so the play gets into gear.

The unveiling of the puzzling story is as much about the two sets of couples implicated in the deaths as it is about the deaths themselves. Marcus Martin and Laura Pujos are the jilted Jim and Elaine, whos jaded middle-aged marriage takes a devastating turn one day at his storage

business. Kate, chillingly played by a stand out Helen Vella Taylor, is the manipulative partner of Josh McClure’s dog loving Ben. A tense fight scene has enough twists and turns for a whole other plotline; watching the nuanced power dynamics drastically go back and forth between the victim of abuse and the gendered holder of authority.

Director Hazel Lawrence deals with the violent scenes with great maturity and not an ounce of the melodrama that could have sneaked in. The confusing final scene, it seems, is an alternate version of the initial hotel monologue, in which Seth Kruger’s psychopath interacts with Amy; the unnerving closing dialogue leaves us with so many unanswered questions.

Dark, intense and consistently well-acted, Breathing Corpses will keep you gasping for breath, right until its enigmatic close.

7/10

Spectrum: CU dance show d

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Cristina Gomez

he Cambridge University Dance Society’s annual variety performance does not disappoint this year. Dancers from different nationalities, ages and styles showcase their skill with one thing in common: talent.

From a Spanish-inspired comic love triangle, to the fantastic hand coordination and jingling feet of Indian folk dancers, to the up-beat Rock ‘n’ Roll routine and elegant ballet choreographies, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

Despite a start to the show that leaves something to be desired, the international dances, which also include a group of belly-dancers, soon bring colour to the room. The costumes brighten up the stage against a simple set, decorated with a white sheet which reflects stage lights and sets the mood perfectly for each performance.

The highlights of the show concentrate around the gymnasts, particularly the hoop dancer (Luciana Boon) at the end of the first half, who dazzles the audience with her unparalleled acrobatic abilities.

Also impressive are the three couples in bright leotards, (Barnaby Golder, Janet Scott, Kerstin Göpfrich, Mark Clewlow, Caroline Chambers, and Rich Lawrence), who take acro-yoga to a whole new level.

The contemporary dance choreographies

A weak start is redeemed by an impressive gymnastic showcase bring emotion to the stage in a beautiful way, with moving representations of love which have spectators ooh-ing on cue.

The ballet dances compliment this more serious side to the evening perfectly, and

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 21 January 2016

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Reviews Film: The Revenant Jack Whitehead Film Editor

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lejandro G. Iñárritu’s latest feature brings art film back to Hollywood from the dead. In any usual circumstance such a lazy classification would be meaningless, but not here: this film is art in its most literal sense, displaying frames of exquisite beauty from start to finish.

The Revenant follows the life of Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), an American frontiersman taking part in an 1823 furtrapping expedition in the Midwest led

by Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson). After being mauled by a bear Glass is left for dead, but not before he witnesses the death of his son at the hands of fellow traveller John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), an event that prompts his quest for revenge on the man who killed his son in this unique portrayal of endurance.

Art film back from the dead

UDS’ annual dazzles.

DUNCAN GRISBY

the soloists received much recognition from the audience.

The fun, upbeat rhythm of the ensemble hip-hop and modern dances provide a nice contrast to the seriousness of the ballet and raise the energy of the room, as the performers jump around the stage smiling brightly.

Gender imbalances detract from the excellent performances One of the few criticisms I have is the evident gender disparity. This does not mean that the all-female groups were of lesser quality, but the mixed gender performances seemed more impressive as they included lifts and acrobatics that

simply could not be done by the singlesex groups (this evidently excludes the soloists, who in some cases exceed even the mixed groups). However, in an activity such as dance, which is traditionally associated with femininity, this gap was to be expected and one can only say that it is a pity, for the few men that did participate gave excellent performances.

Overall, the second half of the performance made up for the slightly weaker start with the Rock ‘n’ Roll, Spanish and Hoops dances, resulting in a very enjoyable evening at the ADC. I can only recommend this year’s CUDS dance showcase to anyone who appreciates skill and talent enough to brave the cold weather.

7/10

The Edge (1997), Touching the Void (2003), 127 Hours (2010); what distinguishes Iñárritu’s latest offering is the extent to which the audience becomes part of this struggle, both through the unimpeded rawness with which the events evolve on screen, and more tangibly through the manipulation of the camera.

Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography is often praised for its picturesque composition and deft crafting of light and shadow; what is more apparent in this film than ever before, however, is the intricate choreography of his long takes and their gruelling intimacy.

Epitomised by the film’s opening sequence which sees the camera dart among trees as the expeditionaries are attacked by Arikara warriors, the movement of the camera paradoxically defies any notion of fixed perspective of

the scene, whilst concurrently drawing attention to itself in every way. Lubezki’s digital eye is a very physical presence throughout the whole film, becoming fogged up by DiCaprio’s breath, or a broken fourth wall when Glass directs his piercing eyes right at us.

Iñárritu can only place us in Glass’ shoes up to certain point however, and experience becomes empathy as we watch DiCaprio cascade down icy rapids, ascend out of a freezing grave, and crawl inside a disembowelled horse. Yet, once again, this is made more real than ever by the actor’s ‘method approach’. The levels of resilience he conveys, despite the mere handful of half-grunted lines he has in the entire 156 minute run-time, must be praised Despite excellent performances from others, including Poulter’s Jim Bridger, DiCaprio is not to be outdone in psychological intensity, and the film’s primary narrative is interspersed with tortured fragments of his life with his Native American wife. Whilst these moments contribute to the film’s mystical shroud, they are unfortunately perhaps the only element of the film that feels out of place in a picture otherwise unrelenting in its tension and grounded physicality, underpinned by the intensely brooding soundtrack from Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Whether or not The Revenant will capitalise on its 12 Oscar nominations, we’ll have to wait and see. What is a certainty, as the film’s deterministic themes repeatedly make clear, is that ‘revenge is in the hands of the creator’, and I, for one, can’t wait to see how this creator comes back at Hollywood next.

Film: The Hateful Eight

9/10

Jacob Osborne

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here’s a moment halfway through The Hateful Eight when the lights come up and the screen proclaims that there will now be an interval before the film recommences. Only a director at the very top of his game has the ability to make an already-long film last even longer.

Tarantino’s second western after Django Unchained swaps the humid plantations of the Deep South for the sparse, freezing frontier of Wyoming. It unfolds soon after the American Civil War, as several morally bedraggled survivors take shelter from a snowstorm in a log cabin. As night falls, personal and political animosities rise to the surface, and it seems that everyone is concealing something from the others.

One of the most audacious decisions

of the script lies in its elongated dialogue sequences. Similar is Tarantino’s decision to set the majority of the film in one large room. We open with beautiful snowy vistas, the perfect subject for the 70mm film, and then move inside to a somewhat more modest interior, and yet Robert Richarson’s cinematography never feels restrictive.

Tarantino also makes an important innovation: though he can’t resist putting a few country songs in, most of the soundtrack comes from Ennio Morricone foreshadowing characters and this film’s unbearable tension and propulsive power.

9/10

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The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 21 January 2016

Empowerment is in vogue

Listings

Lifestyle

Helena Baron

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s an extremely female-oriented industry, it is unsurprising that fashion has become a key factor in discussions about equal rights and the empowerment of women. In its simplest form, the fashion you find in your wardrobe has the power to make your day that little bit better, make you walk a little taller, and makes you own yourself so completely that you can’t help but feel empowered. The term ‘power dressing’ comes to mind. Whether it’s the perfect suit in a boardroom or adding a fuchsia lipstick to your make-up routine for an exam day, we all, subconsciously, know exactly what to wear when we want to feel more powerful than usual.

Some of the greatest inspirational figures for aspiring young woman can be found in the fashion sector.

The powerhouse that is Anna Wintour, for example, encapsulates the essence of an extremely successful woman empowered by fashion, who still remains a shrewd businesswoman and all-round fashion icon. As the Editorin-Chief of American Vogue, Wintour has the final say on what appears in the most iconic fashion magazine, and so she has an incredibly important influence on who or what will be successful in the industry. Such is her presence in the fashion world that she even inspired the character of

Miranda Priestly in the film The Devil Wears Prada. She is also an ambassador for many charities, including the American Foundation for AIDS Research.

For all intents and purposes, Anna Wintour can be deemed the high priestess of the Church of Fashion, and she is living proof that what may have been once deemed a trivial, whimsical interest in fashion can empower you more than ever previously imagined.

An issue that is less widely discussed, however, is how the clothes you wear can not only empower you but other women as well. There is a tendency to turn a blind eye to where our clothes come from, but with the rise of initiatives such as Fashion ComPassion, Palestyle, and Indego Africa, it is becoming increasingly evident that the fashion industry could truly become an effective way of empowering women around the world.

There are endless ways in which various organisations are trying to bring about change – be it through selling carefully sourced clothing, partnering up with charitable organisations that help women gain the skills needed to fairly enter the market, or supplying big brands such as J. Crew and TOMS with the work of the artisans for which they also provide business training. All that is left now is for everyone else to start listening.

FRANCISCO HUGUENIN UHLFELDER

Thursday 21 Ali Smith, ‘On not giving a talk’. Lucy Cavendish, 6pm.

Drake vs Bieber. Downing Bar, 8pm.

Farewell Tim. Corpus Playroom, 9.30pm.

20th Cambridge Winter Ale Festival. 5pm, University Social Club.

Friday 22 Elgar: Engima Variations. Trinity College Chapel, 8pm.

2016 CUODA Annual Dance Show. 7pm, West Road Concert Hall.

Saturday 23 Cambridge Charity Jumble Sale. Great St Mary’s, 10am.

Turf & Clear Blue Sky w/ Cambridge’s Finest. Cambridge Junction, 11pm Big Audition Weekend. Winstanley Lecture Hall, Trinity College, 9am Sunday 24 Cambridge Rollerbillies ‘Freshmeat and Greet’. Kelsey Kerridge Sports Centre 3pm Tuesday 26 Newnham June Event Launch Party. Newnham Bar and Cindies, 8pm.

Miley, What’s Good?: How Do You Solve a Problem Like White Feminism? Room i-4, Corpus Christi, 5pm.

Wednesday 27 Alice – ADC, 11pm.

Compiled by Lucy Roxburgh

An MMLer abroad: Week two, Yoga Looking for a way to escape? Why not try a yoga class?

Rachel Rees-Middleton Columnist

L

ike many freshers in Cambridge, I barely stopped to breathe in my first year. After 24 weeks of cycling from college to the boathouse, to the faculty via lunch with new friends, to the May Ball committee meetings, and the occasional ballet class, I was both emotionally and physically drained. I was, however, more or less happy. Everyone around me was performing their own juggling act and so I continued mine.

In the summer between first and second year, I realised that some things needed to change if I wanted to feel happy, healthy and fulfilled in Cambridge. I gave up rowing because the early mornings made me tired and in its place I took up yoga.

The weekly class at St. John’s became my way to escape: a relaxed walk there and back with a friend, an hour of guaranteed relaxation and a sense of restoration and well-

being after the class became something I looked forward to. Amongst the well-practised yogis and the athletes, there were plenty of people like me, without any core or arm strength, who thought they could do with a bit of calm in their lives.

Yoga soon became such an important part of my weekly routine that I decided to carry it on at home during the holiday. When I moved to France for my year abroad, I signed up to a local class right away. Whilst in Cambridge, yoga was a way to escape and unwind after a busy day; here in Albi, I find that it has become a way for me to feel part of a community – even if the language barrier meant that I was left more perplexed than relaxed to start with.

My classes here focus on breathing techniques and each class starts with a series of sun salutations: a short sequence of movements that gets the whole body moving

and is timed carefully according to your personal rate of inhalations and exhalations. I try to do a couple of these sequences every morning and find that it really helps me to both relax and focus in preparation for the day ahead.

Although yoga is physically demanding, you as an individual are completely in control. You can push yourself if you want to but the goal is to feel comfortable with each movement and position. As you go along you begin to understand what your body’s strengths are and where your physical weaknesses lie.

So, if you’re in need of an escape this week, try to find a class in Cambridge or even just follow a YouTube tutorial in your room. Approach it with an open mind and try to forget about what is bothering you, whether it be for ten minutes or for an hour. It’ll do you good, both physically and mentally.

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 21 January 2016

9

Lifestyle

Five vegan substitutes for your favourite sweet treats CHARLOTTE MCGARRY

Charlotte McGarry Food Editor

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or a long time, going vegan meant saying goodbye to dessert. Out with the chocolate cakes, in with the disappointing fruit salads (anyone who has ever ordered a vegan meal at formal will know what I mean). But luckily, with ethical plant-based eating on the rise, chefs and food bloggers across the country are getting more creative with their non-dairy desserts. From avocados in chocolate tarte to bananas instead of ice-cream, there’s a whole new world of indulgent puddings opening up for vegans – and not a watery melon cube or tinned tangerine segment in sight.

1) Chocolate tart: swap cream cheese for avocado Vegetables in your pudding? It might sounds strange, but the smooth, rich consistency of the avocado makes it a perfect base for vegan chocolate mousse. Blend the avocado with agave, cacao powder and nut butter until smooth, then use to fill a superfood pie crust made from dates and nuts.

CHARLOTTE MCGARRY THREELAYERCAKE

TORBAKHOPPER

2) Victoria sponge: swap cream for coconut cream Packed with vitamins and healthy fats, coconut cream is a nutritious alternative to dairy cream which still provides the fantastic texture of the original. Make your own by whipping up a can of coconut milk with a few spoonfuls of icing sugar and a dash of vanilla essence.

VIRGINIA HILL

3) Chocolate: swap Dairy Milk for dark Foregoing dairy doesn’t mean an end to chocolate! Nearly all varieties with a cocoa content higher than 70% are vegan friendly and are much better for you too. Hotel Chocolat does an entire dairy free range which is just as rich and creamy as its original counterpart. There are lots of great flavours of dark chocolate out there – going vegan is a perfect excuse to try them all!

4) Ice cream: swap dairy ice cream for frozen banana An ingenious swap that’s been known for a while in health food circles, blending frozen bananas creates a sweet, creamy frozen desert which can easily satisfy the strongest ice cream cravings. This might not be feasible during term time, but it’s definitely worth the wait. Simply freeze two very ripe bananas, blend in a food processor with a splash of almond milk until smooth, then sprinkle with all your favourite toppings for a delicious vegan sundae. Culinary magic.

CHARLOTTE MCGARRY

Sex: What I wish I had known Bea Hannay-Young Columnist

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his week I’ve decided to take it upon myself to recount to you a list of all the things I wish someone had told me about sex before I started actually doing it myself. This will naturally also include some highly uncomfortable personal experiences, which I’ve decided to share in the charitable name of sexual education. You can thank me later.

Let’s start with the basics. I don’t like to patronise, but you’d be surprised how many people are so painfully ignorant of the little things. Use a condom. Yes, they’re gross and weird and about as arousing as a hollow slug, but when the alternative is a baby, chlamydia, or both, this one is a no-brainer. Upsettingly, some people have thought I’m stupid enough to fall for the notion that they are “too big”. In the name of research I successfully stretched a condom over my head (which I have been reliably informed is massive), so we can myth bust that once and for all.

Cambridge is stressful enough without worrying you have herpes. If you really hate them (a lot aren’t vegan friendly) there’s always the pill, the coil or the implant. All of these are free so there’s really no excuse.

In my opinion, lube is invaluable. I keep mine in a discreet hand sanitiser dispenser by my bed, so people just think I’m super clean as opposed to a weird masturbation freak. If only they knew. On a totally unrelated note and 100% not speaking from experience do not get confused and actually slather said antibacterial over your rampant rabbit. There is zero embarrassment in wanting or needing lube; it makes sex better.

And now onto the more serious talk. I think you’re ready for it. Firstly, consent is non-negotiable, and grey areas cannot exist. It’s yes or no and being unsure is never an excuse. It is also incredibly important to remember that men can be victims of sexual assault and rape too. Men face so much stigma in ‘admitting’ to having been assaulted.

Even the phraseology is awful – the only person with something to admit to is the perpetrator.

Secondly, people’s sexual history is none of your business.

Nobody should be judged on what they have or haven’t done. Thirdly, sexual identity and gender identity are not the same thing, and even if differences don’t apply to you, they apply to other people and personal identity isn’t enough of a reason to not be aware of it.

Another important lesson: it is never OK to ever shame people for how they look when they’re naked. For instance: we all have preferences about pubic hair – I once went down on a guy who was so hairy you needed a weed-whacker to find his dick. Don’t make fun of this – pull the hair out from your teeth and move on. And if anyone ever tries to mock your locks, defy them by plaiting it up like a Viking Warlord and growling with suitable menace.

Lastly, sex is about so much more than penis-in-vagina funtime. Using that as a benchmark for virginity is completely out-modish – the only person who’s allowed to define when you’re a virgin no longer is you. Sex is about intimacy, not about cramming up the all of the available orifices. It’s also ridiculously erasing to non-hetero, or non-binary people. Virginity doesn’t define you anyway.

Anyone who links your sexual choices to your self-worth is definitely Bad News.

As cliché as it might sound, sex (just like life) is a journey, not a destination. As nice as that would be, nobody can expect to come every time. Sometimes the stress of chasing orgasms is a turn-off in itself. Try to please each other, folks.

That’s all anyone can ask for.

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Lifestyle Fashion fades, style is eternal Ariel Luo Fashion Editor

S

aid Yves Saint Laurent. Which means it’s legit, I guess. Strolling the Cambridge Vintage Fair, looking for something as good as the delicately crafted faux pearl necklace I got there this time last year, I found myself thinking of something other than shopping. At least, when I wasn’t thinking about how the Levi’s denim jackets in the menswear sections would work perfectly as an oversized jacket for girls too. I was thinking about the everlasting passion for vintage - what makes it a style that never fades?

I talked to Carmel, the owner of Rosie’s Vintage on King Street, whose favourite style is the 50s because of the cut. It occurred to me that whilst we can spend the same amount of money on a new high-street piece with digital prints and whatnot, a vintage piece often wins for its flattering fit – people just seemed to care more about the fit back in the day. In fact, the fit is probably the most important factor when it comes to the “I like it but is this style for me?” moment. Fashion always points to a specific colour or fabric, but there is no talk of style without a perfect cut. And the timeless style of vintage goes as perfectly with white trainers as with killer heels, which is not something you can say about all the trends that come and go.

Looking at the incredible embroidery details of a black

velvet jacket, I realised that another amazing thing about vintage is that it is often great value for money. A lot of the vintage pieces have been able to survive until now because of the high quality fabrics used. It was a costly way to produce clothes, which is why most shops don’t do it anymore. For a long-term investment, getting a Dior Homme trench coat or a Diane von Furstenberg dress for one-tenth of the original price is a really good deal.

The fact that vintage pieces have their own history also makes them unique. And when you talk to the shopkeepers, the mutual love for an iconic LBD (Little Black Dress) instantly makes you best friends. They know and love everything in the shop, which just adds to the charm of vintage shopping. Even with me being mysophobic (or so my friends say), vintage - germs and all - is sometimes just too good to say no to.

ARIEL LUO

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 21 January 2016

A beginner’s exercise guide Grace Dickinson We are well into January, ‘the time to start excersise’.

Advertisements instruct us to shed those holiday pounds and guilt-trip us relentlessly with Davina McCall’s new ab-fest fitness DVD. You venture into a world of conveyer belts upon which people run without destination and find yourself interrupting a 5k erg test where boatie beasts vomit on the shiny, sweat covered floor. Not for me, thanks.

Let me introduce you to Elementary Exercise: a programme for us ab-less, average Joes who don’t have a clue where to start.

Subscribe to a YouTube fitness channel. No need to splash out on a personal trainer. Find a channel you like and take a break from work to work out. Even ten minutes will get you pumped to write that conclusion.

Download a fitness app. Track your workouts on apps like Runtastic and share your efforts. Solidarity always helps.

Mix it up. Excess is not exercise’s friend. If you do the same routine too much, you’ll tire of it quickly.

ARIEL LUO

Don’t do things you hate. You can’t force yourself to fall in love. The same applies to exercise. If you hate running, find something else that you find fun.

Sober Clubbing. If this all still sounds a bit much, start small. Alcohol contains a LOT of sugar. Get your groove on to ‘Hakuna Matata’ in Cindies, and forget the hangover.

DEBORA CARTAGENA, USCDCP

Couscous with yoghurt and harissa Emer O’Hanlon Recipe Columnist Harissa is a chilli paste from the Maghreb. It’s easy and quick to make, and you can use it to make dishes other than Middle Eastern ones more interesting – I like adding it to creamy pasta sauces.

If you’re put off by the idea of the chilli, I’d encourage you to give it a go. The chillies you buy in Sainsbury’s are rarely hot enough to ruin a dish completely by their addition, so if you’re a chilli-novice, stick to using one at first, and remove the seeds and the pith. Experiment by gradually adding more pepper or seeds to learn your tolerance. Chillies are a cheap way of adding flavour to a dish, not to mention being healthier than salt.

Traditionally, harissa also has roasted red pepper, but I leave this out because I don’t have an oven. If you can, it’s a good idea to leave your chillies soaking in just enough olive oil to cover them for about a day beforehand. It’s not a problem if you don’t, but soaking does make them softer and easier to blend, and you get a nice chilli infused oil into the bargain.

Ingredients (makes two portions): Three or four red chillies 1 clove garlic 1 tablepsoon ground cumin seeds Olive oil 1 lemon Couscous 1 red pepper Butter (about a tablespoon) A few sprigs of coriander Natural yoghurt Salt and pepper Recipe: Chop the chillies (removing or keeping the seeds as you like). Add a few tablespoons of the oil and one chopped clove of garlic. If you have a blender, use it – if not, just try to chop everything as finely as you can.

Add the juice of half a lemon and the ground cumin (freshly ground is best) and try for taste. I added some dried chilli

at this stage for extra heat. Season with salt and pepper, and behold – you have harissa! You can easily make this in advance if you’re tight on time.

Put the couscous in a large bowl, and cover it with boiling water followed by a lid or plate. Chop the pepper into cubes while the couscous is cooking. Once it’s ready, stir through about a tablespoon of butter and the other half of the lemon juice, the shredded coriander and the chopped pepper.

Season the couscous with salt and pepper and spoon out into bowls. Drizzle on the yoghurt and harissa, and make sure to admire the aesthetic colour contrast before eating.

EMER O’HANLON

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 21 January 2016

11

Lifestyle

Ich bin ein Berliner: students’ tips Ellen Parker and Niall Devlin In the first in a new series about the best travel destinations for students, Ellen Parker and Niall Devlin make the case for Berlin’s secret gems, and offer advice on how to travel in style and become a true ‘Berliner’ in no time at all.

Want to go from ‘hopeless newbie’ to seasoned European traveller in Europe’s multicultural melting pot? Here’s some stuff to do whilst licking your wounds having been turned away from Berghain, Berlin’s trendiest club.

Baby steps lead in with a visit to the Badeschiff, a barge floating on the River Spree with a beach bar, yoga sessions, and decking where you are free to relax the day away.

Entrance is cheap, beer abundant, and the place is a mixture of tourists and locals. The water may be freezing, but it’s more about the poolside chill than speedos and lengths.

Think edgy, but not too edgy, maybe Turf. Or King’s.

After a brief dip, venture into the hipster haven that is

Kreuzberg. Whilst the neighbourhood hasn’t lost its Turkish heritage, it’s starting to change, so enjoy the atmosphere while it lasts.

Feeling peckish? Kreuzburger is easy on the wallet and creative burger-making is encouraged and should be an intrinsic part of any trip to the city.

Berlin’s nightlife is spoken of in hallowed tones for a reason, but discretion is advised. Matrix is your stereotypical 90s interrailer heaven, whilst Club de Visionäre’s vibe is tainted by a lack of German voices.

However, plenty of more authentic club alternatives exist.

Dr. Pong in Prenzlauer Berg, the artsy quarter of the former East, has beer and table tennis till the early hours, but beware – if your skills aren’t up to scratch, the locals will slaughter you. Zukunft am Ostkreuz offers a unique social space, with a jazz bar, theatre, and a club playing deep house, all in one night. Bring it on.

After your night out, it’s detox time. Tempelhof Park is home to the city’s disused airport. Reclaimed by Berliners in the early noughties, land surfers roam the park’s airstrips, sunbathers enjoy the bar in the summer months, and the local cycle club uses the six-kilometre loop around the park’s edge for time trials. The Nazi architecture of the old airport building itself is imposing and offers a glimpse into some of the darker moments of the city’s history.

However, a city break shouldn’t be dominated by contemplation of darker moments. 20 kilometres east of the city lies Müggelsee, a tranquil retreat from the busy city life. The lakeside beaches are far more accessible, and more preferable, than a paddle in the chilly North Sea. Mügglesee is a prime example of the Berliner’s weekend escape. However, saying that implies that there is a typical ‘Berliner’; if you ask the residents of the city, you’ll find that there’s no such thing.

ANDREAS LEHNER

ELLEN PARKER

Take a five minute speed break Helena Baron

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s Week Two starts, the realisation is probably sinking in that some actual work has to be done. What doesn’t sink in as quickly is that with such a resolution, a ban on excessive binge-watching, internet shopping and all other forms of procrastination must also be put in place. To make matters worse, this Monday was ‘Blue Monday’, also known as the most depressing day of the year – meaning we all need a quick pick-me-up. To guide you through this difficult transition from relative holiday couch-potato to someone who is, or could at least pass for, a happy, studious, dedicated Cambridge student, here are a few things that can break up your next essay crisis.

LUIGI TORREGIANI

Dance Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting learning some breakdance routine on YouTube. Instead, play your favourite song on full blast (the neighbours can deal with four minutes of Taylor Swift) and jump and prance around your room. In the words of T-Swizzle, just “Shake It Off ”.

Crack out the colouring pencils Adult colouring books for relaxation are all the rage. These are especially suited to Geography students who will, of course, already own the colouring materials. They are the perfect way to focus your mind on something other than work and feel like a child again for five minutes.

SPLITSHARE.COM

Broaden your musical horizons.

The new year may well mean there’s only one term left between you and exam term, but it also means there are many compilations of up-and-coming artists that are perfect for a five minute browse. BBC Sound of 2016 is a good place to start (Spotify even have a playlist dedicated to it) to find new favourites to name drop before they become big stars.

If all else fails, head to YouTube, type in SNL (or search for the blooper reels of your strongest Netflix addiction) and relax. This is the best guilt-free way to get your trash TV hit without watching an entire series for twelve hours – just remember to turn off that dangerous autoplay button.

LEA LATUMAHINA

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 21 January 2016

12

Lifestyle

Beating January blues Surviving with jaffa cakes, flowers and more

Sweet potato chips make any day better. Charlotte McGarry

Daffodils: £1 in M&S and they last a week. Kate Bell

Beating the blues with vinyl and dancing. Jemima Jobling

Chocolate brownie cookies help any issue. Lucy Roxburgh

Clark Gable helps me get up in the morning. Maddy Airlie

Wine is my best friend. Always. Amelia Oakley

Vaguely healthy eating. My mum sends them to me on print days so I eat something. Stevie Hertz

Jaffa cakes are on sale in Sainsbury’s: there are already two packets in my bin. Cameron Wallis

Decorating my wardrobe door was successful procrastination for cheering me up. Ariel Yuquing Luo

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21 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Features

Looking for love in A week in the life: A Cambridge pigeon

Cambridge Week Two:

*as imagined by Emma Lowrie Plowright

Meninists and she-devils

Secret Dater

M

y date began with the classic opener: “What can I get you to drink?”

“I’ll have a cider – will a fiver cover it?”

“Oh, that’s cute; don’t worry about it, doll. I like to treat the girls I date like princesses.”

From this, I can only deduce that my date, hereafter known as M, is under the impression that women are not yet eligible to receive student loans, thus he felt the need to demonstrate his evolutionarily advantageous ability to provide for me and our future offspring with the purchase of a mixed-berry cider.

M is donning a crushed velvet jacket in a rather fetching shade of emerald. Where do you purchase such attire? I loathe myself for it, but I’m mildly impressed.

This man may be sending off warning signals that he is a meninist, but I can’t deny he has interesting style.

person stumbled up from beneath the ground, filling the air with s my literary masterpiece, cigarette smoke. I eventually fell ‘Cambridge: A pigeon’s guide’, asleep, presumably due to the toxic has just had its manuscript fumes, which soon overwhelmed me. returned from yet another publisher with the notes, ‘illegible and coated in Monday pigeon shit’, I have hired a scribe and This morning I woke up, cold and decided to turn my gift to the fast- disheartened with the whole of society. paced world of journalism.

Realising my resting place would bring I beg that you do not overburden me into disrepute, I headed to one of your human minds nor do me the my old haunts, the fountain in the injustice of pretending you could market place. possibly understand the complexities I always considered myself a pigeon of my existence. of substance and culture; amongst To paraphrase the great the places I’ve defecated upon are the philosopher Nagel; all you can Fitzwilliam museum, St John’s College ever hope to be is a human in a chapel, and even the Greggs at the pigeon’s body. For that, I pity you. Grafton Centre. It was only when I met a pigeon who had just travelled from Girton that I realised what a sheltered Saturday I settled down to sleep on a yellow meaningless existence I had lived. polystyrene box, the starchy contents I had earlier ravaged. The noise that Wednesday ensued can only have been a satanic I will never understand the arrogance chant and, accordingly, person upon of the human race. A man selling

Virgin broadband didn’t even acknowledge me. Of course, being an intellectual (and a game bird), I resist the lure of the moving picture, but to be spurned so publicly was indeed painful. I am not above feelings.

A

Friday

I’ve always considered myself a pigeon of substance

My day passed in much the same way as yesterday. The harsh breeze of winter still ruffles my feathers and teases me, ensuring that each delicious morsel or crumb which I so ardently desire is perpetually just out of my beaky grasp.

Saturday

Today was shudder-inducingly disturbing. The human younglings had been let out of their conditioning enclosures and descended in their hoards upon central Cambridge.

I offered them an olive branch (or, a damp cigarette butt – the sentiment is unchanged) but they charged on. I am mourning the loss of yet another toe.

BIGWAVEPHOTO

I loathe myself for it, but I’m mildly impressed. This man may be a meninist, but I can’t deny he has an interesting style He’s also fairly attractive, if you’re into the ‘I love myself and hate women’ vibe. Perhaps I can overlook his fauxrespectful chivalry, and teach him the ways of the feminist she-devils. Or perhaps I’m slightly desperate and need to think about working on my self-esteem.

“So, Queens’ have implemented a new and expansive welfare team and it sounds like it’s going really well.

I personally think students could benefit from more emphasis placed on mental health. What do you think?”

“All right, well, my opinions may not be ‘politically

Perhaps I can overlook his fauxrespectful chivalry and teach him the ways of the Femnist She-devils correct’ but to be frank with you, I only say what everyone else is thinking. A lot of people admire me for it. Anyway, the welfare team? Yeah, sure, great – mollycoddle students even more. In my mind, we have like, soldiers fighting for our freedom who don’t need therapy. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

An hour passes, and I avoid discussing any sensitive topics out of fear of active rebuke for my social justice warrior shedevil opinions. I learn that M’s mother was “basically their nanny” throughout his childhood, his sister is “a grade-A slut” and his father is “The Man.” M is heir to a company which produces socks for men who deserve to look their best from ankle-to-toe and does not believe that white male privilege exists as his father “once lost a promotion to a woman.”

As we leave, M drapes his arm over my shoulder to guide me back to his place. I’m not feeling it, so I apologise and thank him for an…experience.

With some foul expletives regarding feminists and our tendency to exploit rich white males for their mixed berry ciders, we part ways. He wasn’t worth delving into the pockets of my student loan anyway.

A Cambridge sniffle: This means war Lydia Sabatini Features Editor

I

cannot say for certain that it was the sudden cold weather and torturous half hour walk, returning from a supervision at Murray Edwards College, that made me ill, but I’ll be honest and say that I very much have my suspicions.

It certainly is intriguing that a viral infection managed to bury itself inside my body and engage in a messy, dramatic battle with my immune system despite there seemingly being no one else ill to catch it from.

Was it sabotage by sleet or an even more sinister conspiracy? I’ll let you make up your own mind.

Before the first arrow was fired, there was the warning cry; and, as irritating, high-pitched noises often are, it was ignored and side-lined for the prospect of an evening formal with

lots of wine. After all, wine is known to have great healing properties.

The fight was destined to be so one sided – I almost felt sorry for the poor little buggie.

For a few wondrous few hours it seemed like it had worked. I returned from formal feeling tip-top and tipsy.

With precise timing that revealed the truly fiendish nature of my tiny opponents, they fired their first flaming arrow the instant my alcohol-glow expired. And it hit the target exactly.

I knew in an instant this was more than a cold, and something more than the effects of alcohol: this was going to be a battle, nay, a war that I would be waging for multiple days.

When you’re the target of a brutal and bloody military campaign, you need to be sure that your defences are good. Never forget your key weapons: the dressing gown, the glass

I knew in an instant this was more than just a cold

of water and, most importantly, high morale. Yes, the true Dunkirk Spirit that will be there for you when you are lying on the bathroom floor with sky-high insomnia and illness levels.

After fighting on valiantly for the entirety of the first night, the following day can be used for vital recuperation – ie. catching up on all the sleep that eluded you the previous night. While you are sleeping your cells are continuing to pummel the invaders so that, within another intense day, victory will be within your grasp.

To everyone else, it looks like you’ve been down and out for two days, but only you know the truly epic nature of the crusade you have been a part of.

Finally, you exit the college for the first time in days to breathe the fresh air, only to find it 10 degrees colder than it was before the day the chill made you ill.

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The Cambridge Student • 21 January 2016

Features

Student Spotlight: Clare Actors Freshers’ Play Trials of a cynical

third year Lydia Sabatini Features Editor

T

he theatre scene at Cambridge is a huge and daunting place, especially for a fresher. You observe the seasoned performers somehow instantly find their thespian feet in plays you didn’t even know were happening.

You go to audition after audition, wondering if it is ever going to happen for you, or if you’ll be waiting in the wings forever. It genuinely can be hard to know, if you are new to drama, whether you will improve with

practice or just stink after all.

Coming in from the wilderness of university theatre to the warm embrace of a small, college-based drama group was a relief. Clare Actors organises a Freshers’ Play every year, planned and performed entirely by freshers with a budget of £400, to give anyone who might be interested in acting, directing, writing or technical work a chance.

The group that comes together is small but enthusiastic, and the familiarity of the faces diffuses the awkwardness of a first meeting.

HANNU

Clare Cellars evokes a spooky atmosphere

While it is true that the eschewing of auditions could potentially allow in some people with a rather optimistic estimation of their ability, but actually a close and trusting team really help people’s talents shine through, as cheesy as that sounds.

The free reign to choose anything at allows some fun and creative choices to be made. This year, instead of using an established play, some supremely talented English students adapted some fairy-tales together with some added twists creating our own gorgeous gallimaufry of a play: The Forest Grimm. Performing the play in Clare Cellars evokes a perfectly spooky atmosphere. While it is true that the convention of performing the play in Michaelmas Term was unfortunately defaulted on, this is exactly the kind of flexibility that working outside the remit of one of the larger, famous theatre groups allows. After all, a green-haired princess, a sinister wolf, and a maleficent witch are beguiling characters all year round.

This isn’t an advert for the play – when this issue comes out it will have performed its magic and vanished into the audience’s memories. But I wanted to shine a spotlight on some of the available theatre available to people wanting to explore their creativity in a less daunting environment. And I already can’t wait to see what next year’s freshers comes up with.

Student Chat: Which fictional character do you most wish existed in the real world?

Bringing ‘The Bubble’ Home

Mary Nower Columnist

I

t’s been a couple of weeks. The traumatic memories of Michaelmas are beginning to fade, bar the occasional flashbacks where you wake up sweating and shaking about non-existent work. But what is this? What is this strange longing in your heart about the fact that you haven’t cried in, well, days?

Welcome to the wonderful world of Cambridge University stockholm syndrome. Cambridge traps your heart, soul and will in its gilded cage, refusing to loosen its grip until every ounce of strength and resilience has gone flying out the window. Sure, while you are here you do some pretty crazy stuff to cope (I once threw an entire box of grapes across the street because they stood between me and my keys after 11 straight hours in the library), but when you aren’t here you just miss it. Luckily for you, I’ve assembled six top tips for recreating that authentic bubble experience next time you go home.

I once threw an entire box of grapes across the street because they stood between me and my keys Six top tips for recreating ‘the Cambridge experience’:

1.Know nothing about world news. Feign blank stares whenever people bring up the the oil price or the Paris agreement. Avoid TV and radio with an almost religious zeal. For a really convincing experience, surround yourself with untouched copies of the Economist or similar that you are just far too busy to read.

2. Refer to the letterbox as ‘the pidge’ to perfectly replicate the suspense, tension and ultimate disappointment of rifling through the pile to see if anyone has written to you, realising you are unloved, and walking away, crushed.

Bonus points if all your post this term is from ‘Give Blood’.

3. Eat from the bins behind a posh restaurant. This will, hopefully, remind you nostalgically of all the times the buttery served up last night’s hall rejects.

“My girlfriend”

Harry O’Donohue

“Toothless the dragon”

Elsa Maishman

“Katrina Stanford”

Amelia Oakley

4. Missing the eccentricities of out of touch posh people (sorry, professors)? Just immerse yourself in the hustle and bustle of a Waitrose in one of the more ‘upmarket’ areas, and wait for the pure Cambridge-esque gold.

5. Find the smallest room in the house. Fill it with books.

Sit in the corner and attempt to do something boring, pointless and insanely difficult , like trying to understand the point of the Daily Mail within an unrealistically short timeframe. For added effect, move the books fractionally closer every few minutes, in order to replicate the library’s increasing claustrophobia and sense of impending doom.

“The fairy job-mother”

Stevie Hertz

“Unicorns”

Arenike Adebajo

6. Pining for Cindies? Simulate being trapped in a sweaty room full of flailing arms, unwanted sexual advances, and people judging you on your appearance by playing the Lion King disco remix and using Tinder in the gym! Pure Cambridge bliss!

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21 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Interviews

Politics and power: Lords Wilson and Saatchi Maddy Airlie and Julia Stanyard Interviews Editors

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ord Saatchi, founder of the Saatchi and Saatchi advertising group and former Chairman of the Conservatives, appeared in conversation this week with Lord Wilson, former Master of Emmanuel, who worked closely with the cabinets of both Thatcher and Blair during his time as a senior civil servant. This was the first of a series of talks discussing ‘power’ organised by the Dean of Clare, Jamie Hawkey, who was keen to emphasise their place as supplementary to students’ learning, saying that the talks would aim to provide a “more holistic contribution towards people’s education […] This is a question for any society trying to make sense of itself.”

Faced with the considerable challenge of discussing ‘power in the 21st century’, Lord Wilson and Lord Saatchi opted for very different approaches. Lord Wilson chose to argue that developments in modern technology, including social media and artificial intelligence, are fundamentally changing the modern playing-field of power, wresting power away from governments and handing it over to the individual.

When pressed about which of these developments he sees as the greatest threat to our immediate future, he responded that the financial crisis

neither truly “began” in 2007/8, nor is it truly over: it is something which will continue to plague governments for years to come. In his opinion, modern governments have not yet learned how to cope without everexpanding debt, and at some point this will become unsustainable. He also cites the imminent crisis in oil supply and Middle East instability as major threats to future world security.

Generally, Lord Wilson seems to see almost insurmountable challenges generally facing future governments and society in the ever-shifting landscape of world power. On the flipside, however, he is optimistic about the ability to overcome them: he notes that the darkest of times can often actually be the beginning of something

Recent American history will be remembered by historians of the future as “how the West was lost” new and exciting, and that “it is at times like this when the full scope of the human spirit will shine through”.

In his view, science and technology be vital in adapting modern life to the challenges of the future.

Lord Saatchi, on the other hand, took a more existential approach to

the topic, tackling the fundamental opposition between idealism and realism. It is the incompatibility between these two approaches to life, he says, which have produced some of the major struggles of the modern world. In particular, he argues that the American transition from idealism, in attempting to act as the world’s policeman in the Middle East, to realism in acknowledging that this was an unachievable goal, will be remembered by historians of the future as “how the West was lost”.

In response to our question about whether he would opt for realism over idealism – particularly given his experience in the worlds of politics and advertising – Saatchi responded enigmatically: “Idealism gets a bad press, it’s not fashionable. Realism is pre-eminent: it means money whereas idealism means poverty.”

Despite their different approaches to the problem, both found common ground when discussing the integrity of modern politicians. Asked about the possible corrupting nature of power, Lord Saatchi was boldly optimistic, stating that everyone he had met in his political career had pure intentions and it was only that “the methods can become ruthless”. Lord Wilson was similarly positive, claiming that throughout his experience of working with politicians he had always found them to be “principled people”.

MILE END GROUP

CENTRE FOR POLICY STUDIES

Christiane Amanpour talks storytelling and Syria ASSOCIATION OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING

Stevie Hertz Deputy Editor

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his is, perhaps, an interesting position for the journalist Christiane Amanpour; as she is keen to remind me, she is first and foremost a reporter, and doesn’t consider herself an anchor or a great story. But when she spoke at the Union, that is exactly what she became.

Despite her apparent reserve, with decades of international reporting experience and opinions, this is a role she slips into easily.

Indeed, for decades Amanpour has been unabashed in insisting that journalists must always be some part of the stories that they are telling; that, when reporting on atrocities, they have a responsibility not to be neutral, but to report the truth.

She is universal in her application of this justice, correcting my use of the ‘migrant’ crisis to use the term refugees. With a certain resolve, she insists it is “a legal term and one has an obligation to help them, particularly if they’re fleeing grave human rights violations and war.”

Indeed, Amanpour seems to be in

mourning for a time when journalists had even greater influence over both vocabulary and policy.

“Because information is so diffuse right now, you don’t have that build up, that momentum, that sits on the Prime Minister or the President’s desk every single night and his press people come in or his national security people come in and say ‘Did you see what was on CNN tonight?’ or ‘Did you see what was on the BBC news tonight?’

Amanpour insists that journalists must always become a part of the stories they are telling She attributes this to a greater variety in news sources, particularly online, which enables leaders to “duck issues much more easily these days, than they were before.” However she is not averse to recognising that online journalism has been “very, very successful” in recent years.

Amanpour draws specifically on the example of Syria: “For four years of this war, they have not wanted to

intervene. And it’s only since we’ve had this bottle neck in Syria get so unbearable that tens and hundreds of thousands have been coming and risking their lives and ending up in Europe; that has what’s caused them to care… But they should have been caring two, three years ago.”

I ask her how reporters can keep audiences interested in long term stories such as Syria and, while she admits “it’s hard”, she does have an optimistic viewpoint.

“It is about story telling… about going there and about telling the stories and finding the unbelievable amount of fascinating stories that exist around every issue.”

She tells me particularly about the highlights of Channel 4 News’ recent coverage of the refugee crisis, including what she calls some “phenomenal” films, applauding them for showing it “through the eyes of individual refugees who’ve suffered so much and escaped such devastating destruction in their own homeland” and in doing so, allowing them their own story.

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The Cambridge Student • 21 January 2016

Comment

The politics of grief: Cultural necessity or callous tradition?

Rebecca Davies

A

‘trailblazer of musical trends’, ‘a rock musician of rare originality and talent’ and ‘a style icon’ are just some of the words used to honour the passing of one of music’s most iconic figures. Tragically, the death of David Bowie, at age 69, is only one of the several the world has had to process in the last week.

It has become a measure of cultural and moral decency to celebrate rather than denigrate the lives of those that have passed. But this is clearly not always the case. In fact, with the death of their most immediate opponent, some take it upon themselves to proclaim the failings. “A brutal ruling class warrior is dead” read the Socialist Workers’ obituary of Margaret Thatcher. It is with this parallel tradition of the revival of criticism that the emotional aspects of grief become more political and the ‘politics of grief ’ is played out once again.

Should such criticism be allowed?

And how, if at all, can it be reconciled with the redeeming qualities of the individual? This is the recurring debate in light of this cultural tradition. The biggest problem with the ‘politics of

grief ’ is that it is political to begin with; it is often dichotomous in its choices and ruthless in its pursuit. Due to the cultish, mythic image people receive after passing, we forget that they were first humans; capable of mistakes and inherently imperfect.

I find this post-mortem onslaught unnecessary, as what should be a time of remembrance and sensitivity is warped. The death knell instead becomes the bell of a political wrestling match, marking the commencement of another round. A time of remembrance and sensitivity becomes warped; except, this time, the opponent isn’t fighting back.

For me, it is not so much a question of truth (another unfortunate parallel with politics, it seems) but of respect.

This is one of the only periods where the triumphs of the deceased are overriding and their vices almost irrelevant. It is the short period before memory turns into history. It is armed with this truth that I can tolerate mass, even exaggerated praise.

After this transition, it is the historians who make it their goal to decide. So regardless of how vociferously anyone voices their support or condemnation, historians will spend eternity arguing over it anyway.

GNATLOU93

Our societies should not be “male, pale and stale” Audrey Sebatindira

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art of the joy of being a student at Cambridge is the ability to engage in extra-curricular societies. When you find the time, there’s nothing better than meeting with other people around a shared interest and making friendships outside of your usual circles.

However, in order for societies to bring about this ideal, they must be welcoming to a diverse range of people. Yet this is where they so often fall short of the mark.

I’ll take the example of the world of Cambridge theatre from an outsider’s perspective. While I’m sure that the ADC crowd is compiled of a multitude of viewpoints and personalities, it remains overwhelmingly white. This is reflected in the consistent whiteness of cast members and directors in all the plays that I have watched and seen advertised online.

Although it’s inevitable that plays at a university like Cambridge would cast more white actors, without any effort to tell stories about a range of people,

or include more people of colour in the production and telling of those stories, the whiteness of Cambridge theatre perpetuates itself.

New students arrive at the university, see that the ADC is virtually all-white, and either take it as a given or are too intimidated to audition, to find that there are few roles for them. And so no students of colour appear on the main stage and the cycle is repeated.

Taking student politics as another example, the effects of a lack of diversity can also be glaringly obvious.

Here, the fact that political societies are often dominated by white, middleclass men means that intersectional political discussions are rarely had.

The CU Labour Society took some steps towards a more inclusive politics with their ‘Male, Pale, and Stale’ event, where they sought to see how best to make the party more open for self-identifying women and black and minority ethnic (BME) people; however even more needs to be done.

Political societies of all leanings can only benefit from listening to people whom the politicians historically

have failed to listen to. It is a failed opportunity to try and innovatively explore the world’s most pressing questions at our age without including the voices of people we might not ordinarily encounter in our lives outside Cambridge.

When societies are formed of exactly the same sort of people, no new ideas are produced. They stagnate.

Subsequently, they shall never change, unless we strive to change them.

The fact that some of our most prominent student societies remain predominantly white and middleclass also reflects on the university as a whole. We need inclusivity at the heart of all of Cambridge’s traditions – if only because our societies should reflect the growing diversity of our student body.

We spend a lot of our time learning in our lecture halls and supervisions.

Now we need to commit ourselves to learning from each other as well, allowing ourselves to be drawn together by our shared interests, rather than creating ivory towers within ivory towers to absolutely nobody’s benefit.

Editor-in-Chief: Elsa Maishman Founded 1999 Volume 17

On safe spaces

And the ethics of ‘clickbait’ journalism The importance and relevance of safe spaces in Cambridge has been much debated, but fundamentally, whilst these safe spaces exist, they exist as spaces of confidentiality. Exposure and public sharing of the information and details published in a safe space cannot, therefore, be considered ethical. It compromises the safety of the confidential individuals who share in the group, and it also undermines the ethos of the ‘safe space’. The rules become more difficult to define when illegal activity is involved. However, if information shared never actually trangresses the law, who are we to judge what can be shared?

Sensationalism is so often unwelcome in journalism, but it is utterly unwarranted in relation to the violation of spaces of confidentiality.

To brand the ‘cusu womcam self care tips’ group as an endorsed ‘‘drugs ring’’, as The Tab has done, is clearly an act of sensationalism. Drug-

sharing, though not illegal, can have extremely serious consequences and should never be encouraged.

However, as no illegal activity was ever partaken in, the rules of the safe space should have remained respected. Ultimately the participants were adults, capable of making adult decisions. It is now these adults, who suffer the consequences of the unwarranted exposure of this valued safe space.

Safe spaces exist for a reason.

They exist to support members of oppressed groups and they are important. If you don’t want to engage with a safe space, it’s very easy to leave it. It’s also very easy to abuse that space in the name of scandal-mongering. Unfortunately, no space is ever truly ‘safe’. There will always be those who wish to exploit vulnurability in the name of scandalous headlines and increased website traffic.

Free Speech?

The circular and never-ending debate Another week, another episode in the seemingly never-ending ‘Free Speech’ debate. Spiked, a publication launched in 2001 which self-identities as a ‘‘metaphorical missile against misanthropy’’, has recently issued their ‘‘free speech university rankings’’.

The rankings, presented in a handy traffic-light format, divide 115 UK institutions into red, amber, and green. Cambridge is classed as amber.

Apparently, policies in this category ‘‘concern themselves with the tone, rather than the content, of speech’’.

The analysis of Cambridge is divided into a grading for the University administration (green) and for CUSU (amber). The administration, despite its green rating, loses marks for having responded to the CUSU BME petition to take down its fundraising video fronted by historian David Starkey, who had previously made several racist comments.

CUSU has committed several ‘amber’ deeds; such as its zerotolerance to sexual harrassment and its safe-space policy. These misdeeds pale into comparison; however, when compared to CUSU’s ultimate, ‘red’ crime: the banning of

the Sun newspaper for its page three objectification.

The question of free speech is never going to be one on which everyone agrees - from Germaine Greer to Julian Assange to David Starkey, my co-News Editor and I found ourselves setting at least one story about ‘free speech’ every week last term.

With the exception of the odd fresher in early Michaelmas, everyone at this university is an adult, perfectly capable of making decisions on their own behalf. As such, we should not fear that students are being ‘mollycoddled’ or ‘sheltered’ from controversial opinions, rather they are excersising their right to protest against speakers, publications and policies that they do not agree with.

When actions are taken as a result of petition, protest or debate, they represent the views of a significant proportion of our university.

If Cambridge students do not want to see a racist historian in a video representing them, or see women objectified on page three of a newspaper circulated in their college, then ‘free speech rankings’ or not, they should not have to.

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21 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Comment

Lent term mock exams: are they useful?

Yes - they’re a valuable resource in preparing for final exams Sara Rautio

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s a student who does not study a subject where mock exams are taken, I can say without a doubt that they are a worthwhile addition to any student’s university career.

It’s true that they consume the Christmas holidays; arguably, they are a source of stress that is simply unnecessary for students already undergoing an incredibly stressful degree.

And there are few people who would say that they truly enjoy exams, whether they have a lasting academic impact or not. However, I believe that despite this, mocks can provide a perspective that is ultimately invaluable when it comes to academic success and proves genuinely less harmful to mental health in the long run.

There are few subjects at Cambridge where exams are not required, or are not a significant part of the overall grade any given student receives. It doesn’t make a difference whether the subject is an art or a science, or whether part of the grade is

made up by coursework: final exams are the spectre overshadowing Easter Term for almost every student. Even though this may in some cases seem absurd – the idea of memorising Shakespeare to be able to recite it by memory, say, can seem impractical and irrelevant to future life – the fact of the matter is that whatever our opinion on final, ‘real’ exams, they are an undeniable and inevitable truth. This is just how Cambridge functions.

It is because of this, and more importantly because they often truly are a kind of ghastly spectre, that I believe mock exams are worth the stress and anxiety that they can create. Exams are inescapable at Cambridge; they may not be the best way to gauge progress in every subject and for every student, but the system seems unlikely to change any time soon, so it’s besides the point.

As students, all we can do is remain as prepared as possible, and do all that is

As students, all we can do is remain as prepared as possible

possible to make sure our mental health is not badly affected by the pressure.

Mock exams make this a far more manageable task. Gaining a measure of your progress is helpful in order to know what needs to be done, but I think that going through the process of revision, and then actually sitting an exam, is especially useful because it allows students to monitor how they feel when doing this and become more prepared not just for the academic content of the exam but the mental state in which it is necessary to be in order to make the exam worthwhile. It can also be useful to divide the year into sectors, rather than attempting to work towards final exams from October and burning out halfway through Lent Term.

It all depends on perspective, but ultimately, I believe mock exams bring more positives than negatives.

PIERS NYE

Wine, fines an my night with

Stevie Hertz Deputy Editor

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No – they cause unecessary stress when we should be settling in Micha Frazer-Carroll Comment Editor

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ent mocks, are, if ever we needed it, cold hard evidence of Cambridge’s obsession with exams, grades, and numerically ranking students. I finished up Michaelmas last year as a worn down Corpus fresher who had just written seventeen essays in eight weeks, and the last thing I needed was my academic progress tracking. I needed a break.

Whilst my college doesn’t usually ask Second years to sit mocks, after changing course halfway through Michaelmas this year, I was told to do them, and found myself even less prepared. I’d used Christmas as an opportunity to just about get to grips with all of the content that I’d missed, meaning that I certainly wasn’t in any position to be tested on it.

‘It doesn’t count towards your final grade anyway’, was the consolidation I was offered by College when I approached

Freshers should be given time to make friends, but instead we sit down in Hall opposite one another with lined paper in the place of lunch trays

them with my concerns; but this fact only somewhat reduces the harm done by these exams. What I had to prepare for, instead of ‘good practice’ in testing out my knowledge of my course was a serious knock to my confidence, and a speech to my DoS explaining why my performance wasn’t representative of my ability.

College’s insistence that they don’t count so they don’t matter strikes me as odd considering that I will still have to go for a meeting with my DoS to explain myself if I come out with lower than a 2:1.

Colleges that endorse Lent mocks epitomise the fact that Cambridge’s ethos does not extend beyond grades to the wellbeing of its students; freshers should be given time to settle in and make friends, but instead sit down in Hall opposite one another with lined paper in the place of lunch trays. We barely get a Freshers’ Week, and with two to three essays a week, our opportunity to settle in properly

is limited. Add mocks to this equation and we’re thrown straight into an environment in which our course mates are our competitors rather than our companions.

That’s not to say that practising sitting exams can’t be a useful exercise under any circumstances; with a dash of advice on exam technique and a little more knowledge of essay-writing at an undergraduate level, mocks can be a useful learning experience for students later on in the year. But so many freshers walk into the exam hall with little guidance and barely any briefing on the format of their papers, which seems more of an exercise in scaring students than academic improvement. I’d suggest that a bit of exam practice at the end of Lent term is completely reasonable, but after only 8 weeks of uni? Michaelmas is tough, and a huge culture shock to the average fresher - let us settle in, let us rest, and perhaps we’ll come back to Lent Term ready to learn.

s any self-respecting liberal feminist, I am at my most comfortable when vaguely outraged. So when I was invited to go out with what I was informed was one of Cambridge’s most infamous drinking societies, the Bulldogs, I was fairly excited.

When people asked, I said I was going out of curiosity. I wanted to see whether they would fulfill all the things I expected of them; not just the outlandish drinking and sexuality, but also the misogyny, homophobia and elitism.

Before we arrived, the women’s drinking society recalled previous swaps. They laughed through anecdotes of lap dances, swapping clothes and being ‘portered’ in their underwear. They didn’t seem intimidated by challenges, but embraced them, as a good night out and an even better story to tell afterwards. They said a similar thing, walking home after the swap; they were empowered by owning their sexuality. They were not ashamed of their past trysts, revealed and magnified in ‘fines’. They refused to be demure, and embraced it, on the same level as the boys.

But throughout the evening, they made a point of telling me that it had to be my choice. If I didn’t want to reveal anything – body part or backstory – I didn’t have to.

This awareness continued through the night; they made sure I was sitting near people I was comfortable with, that noone was too drunk and that all the girls got home in one piece, calling one when she left to go to a bar with one of the boys.

There was much more awareness of where the group were and making sure they were comfortable than at any other alcohol-

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The Cambridge Student • 21 January 2016

Comment

We must stand up against the government’s draconian anti-immigration rhetoric

Sriya Varadharajan Comment Editor

T

THOMAS

nd consent: h the Bulldogs

fuelled event I have been to.

This attitude spread to the boys as well, who seemed perfectly comfortable chatting as much as drinking and who became strangely protective of my handbag when I put it down in the club.

Of course there were moments when the infamous side shone through: when one of the boys stripped so another could eat a copious amount of whipped cream off of him, some questionable drinking songs were sung and one boy got a fine because he admitted that he ‘had a boyfriend.’

This felt indicative of a deeper undercurrent of homophobia in the evening. It felt inherent to the whole idea of it being an opportunity for men and women to meet. Despite the conscious feminism in other areas, there was a pervasive assumption that to be there, you had to be straight.

Similarly, when asked why I had never been on a swap before, I wasn’t sure how to say that I had never been invited: that I had never previously been seen as fun, wealthy or attractive enough to be accepted behind the velvet rope.

Yet despite these twinges of awkwardness, I had a good night. I had fulfilled my dad’s request of “keeping on most of [my] clothes.” I had felt safe and completely in control of the situation, even as my blood alcohol level rose.

Of course, this was one night, with two groups, but it does indicate that drinking societies do not have to be banished entirely.

I had believed that drinking societies couldn’t be saved; that they celebrated and institutionalised the worst elements of Cambridge. I was fully prepared to be outraged. But I found no reason to be.

he latest development in the story of Theresa May’s battle against immigration has been met with widespread criticism, and unsurprisingly so. The new minimum earnings threshold for non-EU migrants has been set unfairly low at £35,000 per year, potentially pricing thousands out of the country after their five years of residence in the country is up.

Critics have pointed out the risk this could pose to sectors such as teaching and charity, and although nursing is currently exempted, the government could revoke this at any time, putting an alreadystrained NHS under even more pressure.

The measure has been in the works since 2012, and will be the first time that right of residence has been affected by economic status in the UK; it is representative of the slow erosion of the ability to live and work that has accompanied the rising paranoia about immigrants here.

One of the key groups of people affected

It cannot be right to tear a person against their will from the communities to which they belong

will inevitably be the student population.

International students, having spent tens of thousands of pounds to study in this country, will be forced to find higherpaying jobs as soon as possible – which, in an economy that is increasingly unfriendly to new graduates, will be a difficult task.

The fact that many of these graduates will be able to ‘plug skills shortages’ – the grudging acquiescence May offered last year in her controversial speech about immigration – seems to mean little, with the clear assumption being that all truly worthwhile skilled professions pay far higher than the average starting salary to all employees. The fallacies in this argument are clear: working in the not-for-profit sector, for example, will inevitably pay little, but will directly and indirectly change the lives of hundreds of thousands of people for the better. If a talented international student wants to spend their life here working to improve the lives of children with disabilities for the better, then surely allowing them to

do so could only be a good thing for the country?

Besides, beyond dividing international students into murky categories of ‘skilled’ and ‘unskilled’ workers, we must take into account the lives they have built for themselves here. It cannot be right to wrench a person against their will from the communities to which they belong: most will have homes and friends, and many will have families. It is not enough to give them five years when jobs are so unstable for people entering the workplace, and to arbitrarily decide that they should be uprooted because of their country of origin when their UK and EU national costudents and colleagues are allowed to stay, is incredibly unfair.

We must stand up against the government’s scapegoating of innocent and vulnerable people. In the long run, it will bring more harm than good to every person in this country, and by then, it will be too late to turn back.

The hidden cost of student societies Tom Bevan

U

niversity is always pitched to us as a time to ‘try everything’, work sometimes and sleep seldom. And so far, that’s been a pretty accurate description of my time here.

The hardest part of being a fresher last year was working out how to fit in essay writing around as many commitments I could cram into a week. And I’m not exactly sure why. Maybe it’s because all you have to do is to log in to Hermes to find a new opportunity. Or in my case, the fact that I have ADHD means I can’t commit to less than five things at once. I’ve also found from friends I’ve spoken to at college, that coming to Cambridge from an Oxbridgesceptic state school comes with its own particular pressure; to prove that you’re ‘legit’ in an utterly novel and seemingly elite environment where you have fewer contacts than others. Going home in the holidays to persuade friends, and myself, that I was making the most out of the opportunities here (despite not having dropped at the Warehouse Project) was at least one reason to keep motivated during these eight week stints.

The financial pressure that comes with wanting to soak up university society culture is yet another reason why scrapping the maintenance grant is utter bollocks.

Developing social networks at a university where so many have already formed (aka the South East Private School Effect) is difficult enough without the hidden pressures attached to joining any society.

Union membership is, as we all like to remind ourselves, definitely not worth £200; it’s also worth considering that

opportunities that are free to get involved with initially can eventually come with hefty price tags.

While attending some of the hundreds of weekly free discussion groups, talks and events can be very rewarding, part of the core value of the ‘Cambridge experience’ (cringe) can be earned from sitting on a committee, or regularly putting yourself out of your social comfort zone. If you want to make the most out of the potential friendships and networks that come along with the societies you join, you will probably have to put some student loan aside for dinners, social events, stash and random unpredictable expenses.

In my case, these added up very quickly in first year. However, all these outgoings count in terms of networking your way into an institution where no-one knows

Networking your way into an institution where no-one knows your school or where your accent is from isn’t cheap

your name, school or where the heck your accent is from.

It simply isn’t right that some students don’t have enough pocket money to commit to everything societies formally, and informally, expect of them; those extra bits provide students with invaluable memories, experiences and contacts postgraduation. Without aiming to sound like a self-parody of a nonetheless privileged student, after a year here I am still reflecting on the financial burdens attached to society culture. Even ‘free’ commitments place monetary strain on those of us who are trying to develop networks here from scratch. And the more that is cut from higher education funding, the harder it will be for these entrenched, hidden hierarchies to ever disappear.

ED BRAMBLEY: FLICKR

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21 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Sport

The Puzzles Column 1.

6.

5.

8.

Sophie Penney

3.

2.

9.

10.

Tennis, match-fixing an

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n Monday, the BBC and BuzzFeed News received documents that exposed evidence of match fixing at the highest level of tennis, even at Wimbledon.

4.

16 players who have ranked in the top 50, including Grand Slam final winners, are suspected of losing 7. matches on purpose for bribes. Eight of these players are currently playing in the Australian Open. The Tennis Integrity Unit has received repeated reports against these players, yet allowed them to continue competing.

Included in the documents the BBC and BuzzFeed News received, is an investigation made in 2007 by the Association of Tennis Professionals, that found betting syndicates making hundreds of thousands of pounds by fixing matches – including three matches at Wimbledon. Following the discovery 28 players were due to be investigated but ‘nothing was done about it’.

This is what everyone really wants to know: who are the players being investigated? How much investigation Across has really taken place? Was it really 1. The union whose future is uncertain (Page 9) (8) 4. Censuring brigade currently taking over university enough? The problem is, there’s nothing concrete to discuss, it’s all campuses (Page 9) (2) speculation right now. We don’t know 5. Short military general and occaisional writer for any names, some of the cases are TCS (Page 10) (8) 8. Dance show that “does not disappoint” this week at said to have taken place as far back as 10 years ago, and the information the ADC (Part 2, Pages 6 and 7) (8) available to us can hardly be classed 10. Zeichner’s greatest enemy (Page 9) (8) as damning evidence of wrongdoing from any one competitor.

However, as Roger Federer reminds Compiled by Stevie Hertz us, this speculation must be taken

Crossword

Down 1. What has recently been cut by the Government, leaving Zeichner and CULC outraged (Page 7) (5) 2. When something is needed very, very quickly (4) 3. A Tex-Mex food stuff, with a crunchy shell and soft beef filling (4) 4. Now costs £1.02 a litre, the lowest for a decade, giving your parents no excuse not to drive to visit (6) 6. An initialism for where G.I. Joe types at Cambridge practice driving tanks (3) 7. Brand, Bowie and Bullingdon are all what (5) 9. Cafe unfortunately located next to Cindies, resulting in several broken windows (3)

very seriously in order to maintain the integrity of tennis. Basing such serious discussions on such abstract allegations is challenging.

Could this nebulous discussion have an effect nonetheless? Andy Murray thinks so. He argues that these allegations could even have a positive impact, bringing the sport’s governing bodies to take more of a stand against match-fixing, and demonstrate to players of all ability levels that dishonest conduct will never be tolerated.

The greatest knock-on effect may have been how the Tennis Integrity Unit and other governing bodies in the sport are viewed in public eye.

Yet another sporting body finds itself accused of corruption. How they respond to these allegations will be observed with much interest.

Chris Kermode, President of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) highlights the difference between information and evidence, stating that every piece of information is investigated but whether it is classed as evidence is different. “The Tennis Integrity Unit and the tennis authorities absolutely reject any suggestion that evidence of match fixing has been suppressed for any reason or isn’t being thoroughly investigated,” he told a press conference arranged almost immediately after the release of the BBC’s report on the 18 January.

“While the BBC and BuzzFeed reports mainly refer to events from about 10 years ago, we will investigate any new information,” Kermode says, adding that the TIU’s internal

Why are Cambridge team Jack Ranson Sport Editor

Sudoku

Solutions from Volume 17, Lent Issue 1

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ambridge sport is cruel. So much rests on the result of Varsity matches when we take to the field against our foes from The Other Place. We all look to these results in a bid to judge the relative success of our teams.

We remember the disappointment

by Thomas Prideaux Ghee of the men’s Rugby team, defeated in the Twickenham showpiece this December by a matter of penalties, as well as the men’s Football team’s agonising defeat on their own patch, where again penalties were the culprit. On the other side of the coin, we look to the unbelievable record of our women’s Lacrosse side, or the resounding 52-0 victory for our women’s Rugby team in their first appearance at Twickenham stadium, as examples of what Cambridge athletes really are capable of.

Over the last year though, Cambridge has been convincingly

beaten in seven of the big Varsity fixtures. The men’s Rugby and Rowing sides are in the midst of an apparent decline, with the Men’s Boat Race having been won by Oxford on 10 out of the last 15 occasions.

There are of course some notable success stories: our Cricket and Lacrosse teams are currently

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The Cambridge Student • 21 January 2016

Sport

nd the need for clarity investigations are highly confidential and the fact that these are not carried out publicly does not mean that they are not taking place.

Whether this is just an empty corruption scandal or whether the sport really has been tainted by dishonest conduct, remains unclear.

But in the light of so many scandals in the sporting world, with FIFA officials dropping like flies and the IAAF coming under increasing scrutiny, the sport of tennis has a real opportunity to lead the way. Its supporters and its players deserve the benefit of a wholly transparent, public investigation. It’s not about punishing wrongdoing.

It’s about restoring public confidence in the game when sport finds itself making the front pages as well as the back, and for all the wrong reasons.

“The Tennis Integrity Unit and the tennis authorities absolutely reject any suggestion that evidence of match fixing has been suppressed.”

- Chris Kermode, President of the ATP “I would like to hear the name. I would love to hear the names. Then at least it’s concrete stuff and you can actually debate about it.”

- Roger Federer, ten-time

Wimbledon finalist

Fitness, fun and frolics with Cambridge Hare & Hounds William Lyon-Tupman

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eing a runner is fun, and being a member of Cambridge’s Hare and Hounds, makes it all the more fun.

For those who enjoy competing in races and sharpening their times, there are a wide variety of matches throughout the term. These are always fun days out with the club, and the events give runners the opportunity to represent both their College teams and the University’s teams. There are many races throughout Michaelmas and Lent Terms; some are more intensive races between selected teams of six to eight, whereas other races are much larger invitationals when (almost) unlimited numbers of runners can take part.

This is brilliantly illustrated by the BUCS competition last year, in which there were over 45 runners from Cambridge and over 1000 runners in total from several universities. Perhaps a highlight of the racing schedule is the annual Varsity match against Oxford towards the end of Michaelmas Term.

Both emotions and competition run high in all of these races, but it’s

certainly not just for the elite – many of the races are not limited to the selected teams, and we’re all at different stages of training, fitness and running.

To prepare for matches, there is a lot of training – this is something which the club takes seriously, and our club captains, Josh Carr and Elizabeth Mooney, send out a concise and effective training schedule for us to follow weekly. The club meets up several times during the week and weekend to train together, but it’s not a problem if you can’t make all (or many) of the sessions; many runners train according to their own timetables.

Again, runners of all standards and experience are very welcome at these training sessions, which usually start and finish at St. John’s and Churchill Colleges respectively.

Of course, just as important as doing all the running is having some fun. It’s important to relax every so often, and we enjoy hanging out. The club hosts a tea run once a week, and books a Formal once during most terms; the most recent being at Girton College, hosted by Girton’s captain, Edmund Gazeley, and myself. After the thrilling and competitive Varsity

matches, many of the Cambridge runners join the Oxford runners for a meal out and then hit the town for a night of partying! The club often goes on holiday during the vacations, to training camps on the hills of North Yorkshire and on the Isle of Man, and these holidays include as many parties as running.

The club is currently looking forward to the next race, which is a College league race on Saturday on Coldham Common, and as a break in the middle of term many of the runners will be heading up to Gloucestershire for the annual BUCS competition against several other universities.

RAY ANDERSON

Boat Races announce Cancer Research partnership Paul Hyland Sport Editor

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ms so far behind Oxford’s? experiencing rich veins of form, with the Women’s Lacrosse side enjoying an unbeaten run in their BUCS (British Universities and College Sport) League that stretches back to March 2015.

But it is the number of Cambridge’s teams that is perhaps cause for concern. Compared to Oxford’s 60 teams competing in this year’s BUCS PAUL HYLAND William Lyon-Tupman

league competitions, Cambridge have just 46. And in every event in which both universities compete, Oxford has more teams registered to play.

In football, Oxford boast five teams to Cambridge’s three. In tennis, Oxford have six whilst Cambridge have only four. Cambridge do not even field a squash side in the BUCS Leagues.

Despite some recent successes, something is going badly wrong with regards to Cambridge’s recruitment, retention and development of athletes.

After all, strength in depth is one of the most important factors when judging the success of a sporting programme.

Driving participation and providing our prospective athletes with easy access to facilities should be at the heart of what the University does.

To put an end to our Varsity woes, to achieve success at the elite end of University sport, the grassroots level is where we should start.

n a press release issued this Tuesday, the Bank of New York Mellon and Newton Investment Management – sponsors of the University Boat Races since 2013 – announced a partnership with Cancer Research UK, who have now become the official charity of the year’s showpiece Varsity event.

BNY Mellon – an American financial services multinational, with assets totalling nearly $40 billion – will no longer be the main sponsor of the Races, which will be known as The Cancer Research UK Boat Races.

The news comes in the wake of the launch of Cancer Research UK’s ‘The Great Row’ initiative, a fitness challenge set up in partnership with

the Cambridge and Oxford Boat Clubs in order to raise money and awareness for the charity, as well as to help increase participation in the sport.

Taking place between the 19 and 26 March, the challenge will see individuals and teams take to an erg machine to compete over distances ranging from 2000 metres all the way up to a full marathon.

Though Cancer Research UK ask for a £25 minimum sponsorship fee, anyone registered to participate will be allowed to train for free at all Fitness First gyms every Friday until the Boat Races take place.

The announcement has been met with serious optimism from the charity. Sir Harpal S. Kumar, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK,

said: “We are enormously grateful to BNY Mellon and Newton Investment Management for their generous donation. Cancer Research UK’s work has fuelled the progress that has seen cancer survival rates double in the last 40 years.

Today, two in four people survive cancer. Our ambition is to accelerate progress so that three in four people survive cancer by 2034 and this donation is a very welcome contribution to that aim.”

The Cancer Research UK Boat Races will take place on Sunday 27 March 2016. The Cancer Research UK Women’s Boat Race will take place at 3.10pm GMT and The Cancer Research UK Boat Race at 4.10pm GMT, with coverage live on the BBC. WILLIAM LYON-TUPMAN

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The Boat Races

Cancer Research UK link-up announed→ p. 19

www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/sport

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he Varsity squash match between Cambridge and Oxford is always played on the neutral territory of the Royal Automobile Club in London, a prestigious arena considered one of the finest in the sport.

The Cambridge men and women go into the showpiece event, set to take place on Saturday 20 February, on the back of two very different results last time out.

The men suffered a narrow 3–2 defeat to their Oxford rivals in 2015, despite a convincing 5–0 win the previous year.

The women are coming into Varsity on the back of a 5–0 victory of their own, which avenged a crushing 4–1 defeat a year earlier.

The men’s team will be bolstered by the return of Laurence Bruggemann, their star turn who emerged with last year’s ‘Man of the Match’ award. Meanwhile victorious captain Laura Mullarkey returns for Cambridge, together with Ali Hemingway of Jesus College, voted player of the match in an encounter which saw Cambridge win every game. The teams hit the courts once again this February – look out for all the coverage in The Cambridge Student!

Varsity Golf

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he Cambridge men’s lacrosse team will take to the pitch against Oxford in a hotly-anticipated away fixture at Oxford University Parks.

Despite all of their best efforts in last year’s outing, the Light Blues narrowly lost 13– 10 on their home ground, and they will be keen for revenge when they take on their rivals on less familiar territory. Having today extended their winning streak to 19 league games, dating back to March 2014, it looks an exciting prospect.

And in a truly terrific gesture the club have arranged for a supporters’ coach to transport anyone keen to cheer them on to the ground and back, with plenty of alumni events planned for throughout the day. Meanwhile, the Cambridge women will be looking to build on an outstanding 15–5 victory last March.

Good news for them is the return of star player Sophie Morrill, the club’s top scorer last season who put in a ‘Player of the Match’ performance, and who was also rewarded with the ‘Osprey of the Year’ award for her efforts. With the date and time of the women’s match yet to be announced, we will be bringing you all the news as it comes in.

Varsity Squash

Varsity Lacrosse

The Cambridge Student looks ahead to a term of Varsity sport he University Golf match is one of the most prestigious Varsity events of the calendar, as the oldest amateur golf competition – and the oldest team event – in the world.

This year’s clash will be the 127th time the contest has been fought, and will be taking place over the weekend of 18 March in the pristine surroundings of the the Royal West Norfolk Golf Club in King’s Lynn.

On the men’s side, the teams comprise 10 players plus two reserves. Over the weekend, the teams compete in five 36hole four vs. four matches and 10 36hole singles matches.

The women’s match is played with the same format but features 18-holes and is usually contested in the week before the men’s event.

In 2015, Oxford prevailed 9–6, starting strongly with an impressive 4–1 lead after the team competitions, which Cambridge never recovered from. That was the sixth consecutive victory for the Dark Blues and so Cambridge will be looking to stop the rot this year, with their last victory coming as far back as March 2009.