Michaelmas 2015 Issue 5

Academic freedom: Do we get enough choice in what our degrees cover?

→ Comment, p.17

Remember, remember:

The Whitepepper:

Delving into Cambridge’s radical activist past

Stars, surrealism, and a quirky vintage twist

→Features, p.10–11

→Part 2, p.10–11

The

05 November 2015 Vol. 17 Michaelmas Issue 5 www.tcs.cam.ac.uk

New pressure on University divestment

Cambridge Student

Girton in £1 million conference shortfall Olly Hudson Deputy Investigations Editor

College bedsheets used in banner drop stunt Stevie Hertz News Editor

S

tudents protested on Wednesday against the University of Cambridge’s investment in fossil fuels.

The students, from the newly relaunched Zero Carbon Cambridge society, draped painted bed sheets from King’s, Clare and Garret Hostel Bridge (commonly known as Orgasm Bridge), in an attempt to draw more attention to the issue of divestment.

However, few students passed through the protest, which was quickly shut down on Clare Bridge by the College’s porters. Magdalene porters also arrived after reports that their students were involved in the protest. They told students that they were “bringing this College into disrepute” and that they might report them to their College dean.

At least one of the sheets that were used were owned by Magdalene College. The slogans on the bedsheets included “Cambridge clean up your act”, “Fossil free future” and “Where does £5bn go?”

Many spectators seemed unimpressed with the protest, with one American tourist saying “we didn’t really know what [the banners] meant, but at least there’s students on every bridge who can talk to us.”

Yet while one passing punting guide shouted “It’s the University not the city, that’s two different things, here,” another called out their support.

The University of Cambridge’s endowment currently stands at £2.8 billion while the University is pledged to act with “selflessness”.

Despite this, the Statement of Investment Responsibility allows the University to “balance against its primary responsibility considerations of the ethical nature of investments.”

The University is currently carrying out a wide-ranging investigation, between officials, academics and students, into how the endowment is invested. It is believed to include investments into fossil fuels.

Zero Carbon Cambridge has also launched a petition for fossil fuel divestment, which gained over 800 signatures in 24 hours.

The society commented on the protest: “Just two weeks ago the University issued a video addressed to the entire world, presenting donations to Cambridge as an investment in the future. If the world wants to invest in it, Cambridge University must return the favour, and invest in a sustainable future.”

The protest by Zero Carbon comes after an open meeting at Magdalene College on Monday, in which the students voted for the “creation of a forum” to talk about investments within the College, where an ethical investment policy can be created.

One student, Anna Fruehauf, was not pursuaded by the protest, believing that the University should continue to invest in fossil fuels, commenting, “Maybe it’s more efficient to reform inside, instead of outside of the system.”

Editorial Comment page 15 →

Banners were dropped from three Cam bridges

The Cambridge Student can exclusively reveal that some Cambridge colleges lost over a million pounds on conferencing arrangements in the period of 2011–14 whereas others made a profit of over £900,000.

However, by a quirk of accounting, some colleges appear to be running both a profit and a loss simultaneously, depending on whether or not costs associated with the upkeep of buildings are included.

Girton College recorded a loss of £1,026,000 in the financial year ending in 2014 while recording an average loss of just under £1 million during the previous three years.

Homerton boasted the strongest profits across the 2011–2014 period with an average of £592,789 while also demonstrating the biggest single profit across the period of £927,089 for the financial year ending in 2013 – a net relief of almost £2 million with Girton.

Of the colleges who responded to a TCS request under the freedom of Information Act, Downing relied on conferencing for the largest proportion of its annual gross income – some 20.13 in 2013/14.

TCS’s findings clearly show a number of colleges recording losses specifically on conferencing alone.

Of the colleges who responded to the request, Christ’s, Downing, Emmanuel, Selwyn, Lucy Cavendish, Magdalene, Peterhouse, and Wolfson demonstrated average losses across the 2011–2014 period.

However, when contacted by TCS, Nick Downer, the bursar of Selwyn College, suggested that the net figures as presented in college accounts did not necessarily paint the full picture: “Our conference business more than covers the direct costs...”

Image: Jack May Continued on page 4 →

2

05 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

News

Editorial Team 05 November 2015

Volume 17 • Michaelmas Issue 5 www.tcs.cam.ac.uk

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

The Cambridge Student takes complaints about editorial content seriously. We are committed to abiding by the Independent Press Standards Organisation rules and the Editors’ Code of Practice enforced by IPSO, and by the stipulations of our constitution. Requests for corrections or clarifications should be sent by email to editor@tcs.cam.ac.uk or by post to The Editor, The Cambridge Student, Cambridge University Students’ Union, 17 Mill Lane, Cambridge, CB3 1LB.

With autumn mist covering Cambridge this week, a lone kayaker took an early morning saunter along the Cam A Cambridge Diary

Martin Bond is a professional photographer. His project A Cambridge Diary, where he posts a portrait photograph from Cambridge online each day, is his own labour of love. It is now in its sixth year, with nearly 2,000 photographs and counting.

A Cambridge Diary pictures feature every month on the front cover of Cambridge Magazine, they are the pictures behind the Cambridge Literary Festival and they are seen by thousands of people every day. Follow @acambridgediary on Twitter or like A Cambridge Diary on Facebook.

tcd

• tcd@tcs.cam.ac.uk •

NEWSONLINE

Big Brother Cambridge This Diarist was particularly pleased to be invited for a meeting with the University’s press officers to talk business, journalism, and how to lose friends and alienate senior University officials. Whilst waiting in the large and grand lobby of the Pitt Building (the University’s admin hub, tower pictured right, conveniently opposite Fizbillies cafe), this Diarist noticed that the University’s crest features at its heart an eye like that of the fabled Illuminati.

Disturbed, time was passed in flicking through the June 2015 issue of the University’s research magazine Research Horizons, left nonchalantly on a lobby sofa. Turning to a feature on ‘Big Data’, this Diarist was alarmed to find a large picture of an eye, along with the headline: “I always feel like somebody’s watching me”. Speculations that Dear World, Yours Cambridge’s £2bn will be funnelled into more of such eyes remain unfounded.

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

NOT PLAIN SAILING

This Diarist’s feature in The Tab’s ‘News Bulletin’ following a Students of Cambridge photo was hastily edited post publication to remove some saucy inferences. It appears that the ship in this case is run with many captains,

though for how much longer is currently unclear. This Diarist can only imagine the logistical struggle entailed when one such captain “basically runs Cambridge”, in the words of one admiring Union-attending Fresher.

This Diarist hopes all goes to plan.

An item in last week’s issue (‘Pembroke’, Volume 17, Michaelmas Issue 4, page 6) quoted Pembroke College JPC President Will Popplewell saying: “emailing Alan Rogers is neither responsive, effective or efficient”, with regards to complaints that week about the college’s WiFi service.

After having discussed this item with Mr. Popplewell, we now understand that this quotation was taken out of context, and was not a fair representation of the situation.

We would like to apologise unreservedly to Will Popplewell and to Alan Rogers as the use of this quotation was entirely misleading, and was taken out of context.

We apologise unreservedly for bringing the professional conduct and ability of Mr. Rogers into disrepute, and misquoting Mr. Popplewell in a way that was unhelpful, unkind, and counterproductive to his continued good relationship with college officials.

Front page: JOHANNES JANSSON, FRANK STEINER, JOHANNES HJORTH

3

The Cambridge Student • 05 November 2015

News

Modi invitation sparks outrage Letter to vice-chancellor claims Cambridge has ‘‘compromised its reputation’’ with invitation of Indian PM Elsa Maishman News Editor An open letter has been sent to the vice-chancellor of Cambridge, Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, protesting the invitation of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to speak at the Senate House later this month.

The letter is signed by just under 250 ‘‘signatories for the Academic and Arts Communities’’, among which are students, alumni and eight academics of Cambridge University.

The letter, dated 28 October, mentions the Gujarat massacre of 2002 and the fact that several international researchers have been denied entry or deported from India.

The letter begins: “we are writing to you to convey our disquiet at your decision to invite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the Cambridge Senate in November 2015.”

It states: ‘‘Cambridge University’s

artists, intellectuals and writers have The letter concludes that ‘‘in extending recently returned their prestigious an invitation to a political leader widely perceived to be associated with such “Cambridge University, flagrant human rights abuses and attacks upon academics, intellectuals, we fear, has gravely and the very idea of freedom of speech, compromised its Cambridge University, we fear, has reputation’’ gravely compromised its reputation. As concerned members of civil society, we national awards, protesting the feel this affects us all, for an invitation assault upon cultural freedoms in by a leading institution to Mr Modi is India conducted by the Hindu Right.’’ inconsistent with the principles of both More than 40 poets, novelists, human rights and intellectual integrity.’’ playwrights and essayists have A spokesperson for the University told returned awards from the Sahitya The Cambridge Student: “Partnership Akademi, considered to be India’s with India is a strategic priority for the most prestigious literary institution. University of Cambridge. Cambridge

invitation to the democratically elected prime minister of India to visit the University during an official visit to Great Britain. I should also add, that at this stage, we have no confirmation on whether prime minister Modi will visit Cambridge. Details of his visit have not been agreed or released.”

“Partnership with India Prime minister Modi will visit the UK for three days around 12 is a strategic priority November on his way to the G20 for the University of leader’s summit in Antalya, Turkey, Cambridge’’ on 15 and 16 November. This will be the first visit of an Indian prime believe in supporting that engagement. minister to the UK in over a decade.

There has been widespread “I can confirm that the University of Cambridge has extended an opposition to his visit, including with NARENDRA MODI a hashtag #ModiNotWelcome. Several has educated many leading Indians including three prime ministers. At any one time there are over 200 students from India studying at Cambridge. Our research in tuberculosis, cancer and crop science are supported by government to government initiatives, and we

“Cambridge has educated many leading Indians including three Prime Ministers” protest rallies have been organised to take place during Modi’s visit, including one on 13 November, outside Wembley Stadium, where Modi is due to speak. However, this has been countered by support groups, including the group ‘‘UKWelcomesModi’’.

The Cambridge University India society has so far been unavailable for comment. A second-year student and member of Amnesty International commented: ‘‘This seems like yet another example of the University putting its own ends first, without a thought for the background of the people it associates with.’’

243 The number of signatories to the letter invitation to Mr Modi is doubly unfortunate, for his administration has also been repeatedly criticized for its attacks on academic freedoms and intellectual life in India. Prominent

Palestinian representative speaks to Union

Don’s mission to awaken students

Elsa Maishman News Editor

Stevie Hertz and Will Amor

Manuel Hassassain, the Palestinian Authority’s Representative to the UK, spoke to the Cambridge Union Society on Tuesday 3 November. He began with some ‘‘general remarks’’ about the Israeli-Palestine conflict, talking of mutual fear and distrust, and emphasising that the only way to end the conflict would be to end the occupation. He spoke of being stuck between the “historically inevitable and politically impossible.’’ According to him, the conflict is a political, rather than religious. He finished his speech by saying: ‘‘we live in such a small piece of land, if we don’t co-exist we are doomed to die together.’’

His speech was followed by a Q&A session. Raphael Levy, a student at Christ’s College, asked how Hassassain

“If we don’t co-exist we are doomed to die together’’

could think peace possible if he only blamed one side, Israel. Hassassain’s response was unequivocal: ‘‘Don’t you ever put the victim and the victimiser on equal footing.’’

When asked about the voice of Christians in Palestine and the Middle East, he replied that the stuggle with Israel is not a ‘‘religious conflict,’’ instead Palestine is ‘‘fighting secular colonial mentality not religion.’’

After his speech, Professor Hassassain spoke to The Cambridge Student about the boycott of Israeli universities launched by almost 500 British academics last week, ten of which were from Cambridge University. Although he stated that a boycott is not as good thing ‘‘in the long run’’, he said that ‘‘these British academics have balls to come forward and tell Israel stop this exploitation.’’

Arcade Fire can make you wake up to give you Bill Wither’s Lovely Day

A Cambridge University scientist has created the ideal Spotify playlist to wake up to. David M. Greenberg, who studies musical behaviour, worked with the music app to create a playlist that they described as “scientifically designed to kick-start those groggy mornings and get you going.”

As if the terror of deadlines or incurring library fines were not enough to get Cantabs out of bed when dawn breaks, according to Greenberg, the songs should wake you up through positive lyrics, a strong tempo, with an average of 100–130 beats-per-minute.

The songs also have a slow build up through the song. This is to stop the feeling of “too much, too soon” as you are confronted both with consciousness and perky music.

Arcade Fire can make you wake up to give you Bill Withers’s Lovely Day and make you as Confident as Demi Lovato. You’ll be Walking on Sunshine with Katrina & the Waves and be On Top of the World like Imagine Dragons with this playlist.

Greenberg commented that “science shows that music affects us in all types of ways, including emotionally, physiologically and in the brain... The right music – like ‘Viva La Vida’ by Coldplay with its positive energy and strong momentum – can help you wake up, get energized and tackle the rest of your day.”

Previously, playlists have also been designed to improve mood and dispel nausea. A 2013 study by the American University of Missouri showed that upbeat music like Aaron Copland’s can improve mood.

4

05 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Investigations

Revealed: The true cost Continued from page 1...

“... such as food and labour but does not entirely cover the indirect costs such as the annual depreciation of the buildings, which is why the loss seems so apparent.”

Downer added: “The College would have to pay substantially all the labour and buildings cost anyway, even if we had no conference activity, so any revenue from the activity makes a valuable contribution.”

In Downing’s original response to our Freedom of Information request, the

Girton College recorded a loss of £1,026,000 in the 2014 financial year College declared that it was generating an average net profit of more than £800,000 “on a direct cost basis” from conferencing alone. However, based on the figures in Downing’s publicly available accounts, the College generated a striking £204,000 loss in the 2013/14 financial year.

Nonetheless, even when depreciation appears to be factored in, a select number of colleges are still able to generate a consistent and healthy profit.

For King’s and Pembroke, this appears in part to be the result of significant income derived from international programmes and summer schools, while Homerton has established its own private company, Colophon Limited, dedicated to conferencing services.

Christ’s, Magdalene, Peterhouse and Selwyn all make a consistent loss.

Undergraduates are also required to vacate their rooms as a matter of course outside of full term.

The requirement for students to vacate

their rooms outside of term last year became the object of much opprobrium among student activists. Campaign group Whose University? accused a number of colleges of prioritising commerical interests over those of student welfare.

However, speaking to TCS, Homerton declared that the College “seeks to operate a professional and commerical conference business as it contributes significantly to College income. This in turn helps to keep our student rents as low as possible and to maintain the estate.”

Girton – which recorded consistent lossses across the period, agreed, telling TCS: “By using College resources and facilities a time when they are not required for core College purposes, the conference business does mitigate the costs of student accomodation and facilities.”

Elsewhere, while it is standard practice for colleges to give over use of facilities free of charge to university-affiliated and faculty bodies, Murray Edwards revealed to TCS that fellows and staff may be given use of conferencing facilities free of charge, even for private events, while Newnham College granted a free pass to the Scottish National Trust.

Murray Edwards offers facilites free of charge to fellows and staff Pembroke also detailed links of corporate partnership programmes including drugs company AstraZeneca and the BT group, though stated that use of facilities had not been offered free of charge to any of these organisations during the period.

Additional reporting by Anna Carruthers and Colm Murphy.

From controversy to obscurity: Whatever happe

Anna Carruthers

As a new student campaign, Zero Carbon, launches this week, TCS investigates whatever happened to last year’s big splash: Whose University?.

The Whose University? Campaign (WU?), founded in November 2014, aims to challenge colleges for their perceived prioritisation of business and conference interests over student needs.

Relying heavily on testimonials, it caused some controversy in the student press and provoked condemnation from King’s College senior figures.

The campaign appears to have quietened significantly in recent months, and receives no press attention. Yet, one of its projects, the ‘Subject Solidarity’ facebook page, is still being used by Cambridge students.

Backed by CUSU Women’s Campaign,

WU? last year heavily involved the then on 13 August, concerning Cambridge women’s officer Amelia Horgan, as well MP Daniel Zeichner’s response to David Lammy’s criticism of Cambridge colleges’ welfare provision. The post stated: “It’s CUSU Women’s Officer a shame to see our (very likely student“unsure of the present state elected) local MP explicitly denying the of the campaign” problems students face with Cambridge’s welfare provisions.”

However, WU?’s ‘Subject Solidarity’ as former CUSU living wage officer Daisy Hughes, who wrote supportive articles for Facebook group remains very much active the Huffington Post. However, both have with posts as recent as November 1.”

In March, Daisy Hughes told Blewswire since left office or graduated.

According to a source, WU? is “at present” that these “solidarity networks” allowed in a “process of transition.” The current students to offer and seek help and support women’s officer, Charlotte Chorley, when each other in so many incredible ways contacted by TCS said she was “unsure of we could never have expected.” Hughes remains the sole admin of this group. the present state of the campaign.”

The WU? campaign at Oxford University The last update on the official WU? Facebook page was a change in cover photo has also seen a lack of interest recently. The last post to its Facebook page was on 12 on 1 September 2015.

The last post containing content was June 2015.

The last Facebook content post was made on 13 August

One of the main focuses of WU? was the variation between colleges on students being allowed to remain in their rooms over vacations. TCS has recently learnt that, at the very least, Christ’s, Emmanuel, Magdalene, Peterhouse and Selwyn students are asked to vacate their rooms outside of full term as standard practice.

Magdalene’s policy is in a process of transition, and at their most recent JCR Open meeting the idea of being allowed to leave belongings in rooms was raised by the welfare and equal opportunities officer.

The WU? campaign proved controversial within the University, especially within King’s College, which was the subject of several testimonials. Tensions initially arose in December 2014 when WU? set up a ‘Cambridge Holiday Help Out’ Facebook group with the aim of creating a marketplace in which students could offer

5

The Cambridge Student • 05 November 2015

Investigations

of college conferencing CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: CHRISTOPHER HILTON, FRANMAN247, DETROIT PUBLISHING CO

In Graphs & Graphics

Homerton Pembroke Fitzwilliam Robinson Newnham King’s

£100,000 £200,000 £300,000 £400,000 £500,000

Peterhouse

Lucy Cav

Magdalene

Downing

Selwyn

Girton

Profitable colleges(£)

-£100,000 -£200,000 -£300,000 -£400,000 -£500,000

ened to Whose University? or request vacation storage space.

This page aimed to help those students for whom moving their possessions back home was not feasible, either financially or practically. In March, Daisy Hughes described it and similar initiatives as “reclaiming this university for people it is currently excluding.”

The lay dean of King’s College, Dr Paul Ryan, reacted by sending an email to King’s students stating: “I would like to remind you that ... you are not allowed to store anyone else’s belongings in your room.”

“I will take disciplinary action against any student who is found to have ignored the rule.”

Dr Ryan later issued a rebuttal to an article by former trainee History teacher from Cambridge, Adam Robertson, on Open Democracy. He highlighted the fact that income from external events subsidises

“Illinformed and tendentious” – Dr Paul Ryan, King’s lay dean

student costs and that in doing away with them “charges to undergraduates would have to be much higher than at present.”

He called the campaign “ill-informed and tendentious”. WU? reacted by saying “it is not for the privileged to define or deny others’ experiences of marginalisation.”

WU?’s first open meeting also caused a small media storm. The Tab journalists ran a piece afterwards describing it as “circle jerking” and had a headline comparing “110 minutes” with WU? to “masturbating with a cheese-grater”. The headline has subsequently been changed.

The aims of the campaign were lofty.

A campaign statement emphasised that “we will make change. We will hold our university and colleges to account.”

WU? did at least find success in providing past exam papers to students affected by last year’s server glitch.

-£600,000 -£700,000 -£800,000 -£900,000

Loss-making colleges (£) Figures are averages taken from 2011/12–2014/15 college accounts

-£1,026,000 +£927,089 2013/14 Girton net loss

2011/12 Homerton net profit

6

05 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

College Watch

Images: Jessica McHugh

Text: Will Amor

Peterhouse

Jesus

Newnham

Girton

Peterhouse, which has notoriously few paintings of women, has uncovered a portrait of an unknown woman in the college’s picture store.

The picture, from the Victorian era – long before Peterhouse featured either female students or fellows – has recently been cleaned but no identifiable marks have been found. The subject is presumed to be an ancestor of one of the Fellows, but her true identity is as yet unknown.

Peterhouse’s other portrait featuring a woman is of physicist James Clark Maxwell as a small child with his mother.

Both portraits are being planned to be hung in the college for the Womens’ Dinner, later this month. The dinner will celebrate 30 years since the admission of female students and will welcome female students, alumni and fellows. The JCR Women’s Officer, Ellie Myerson, commented “Making social spaces for women like this, alongside making sure that women are included academically, is really necessary to reclaim these colleges from their misogynist histories... I hope that we will show that conservative institutions are never immune to change.”

The driver of a Ford Transit van that crashed into Jesus and the Cambridge Science Centre on Jesus Lane has pleaded guilty to drink driving in Cambridge Magistrates’ Court. The incident happened at 10.50 am on 20 August, so fortunately no Jesuans were in danger, though the Science Centre was full of children (some of whom may become future Jesuans).

We can only assume that it was divine intervention that spared Jesus College at the expense of the Science Centre. The building was evacuated, and a structural surveyor was called to make sure that the centre would be safe to return to.

The man drove the van after a night’s drinking which continued into the morning. The defence argued in court that he has issues with alcohol consumption, and stressed that he is the main ‘breadwinner’ supporting his family.

Though he lost his job at the maintenance company, he has found another job to secure income. Consequently, he was suspended from driving though given unconditional bail until his sentencing on 17 November.

One of the architect of Newnham College will appear on all new UK passports, thanks to a new redesign. Elisabeth Scott co-designed the Fawcett Building, which houses 38 student rooms, in 1938. Scott was one of the first prominent female architects in Britain,.

Scott is one of just two women featured on the new passport, alongside computer programmer Ada Lovelace. The new designed has been created with the theme ‘Creative United Kingdom’.

Seven men are on the passport, including John Constable, William Shakespeare and Charles Babbage. This has prompted criticism with Labour MP Stella Creasy tweeting: “so tired of this shizzle -home office could only find 2 UK women 2 celebrate in 500 years of history #tellHERstory”.

At the launch, the director general of the Passport Office commented “It wasn’t something where we set out to only have two women... In trying to celebrate UK creativity over the last 500 years we tried ... a range of things around the country, and to celebrate our triumphs and icons over the years. So there we are”

Students revolted at Girton after a new tenancy agreement included a clause compelling students to consent to ‘‘comply with any further rules and regulations as issued by the College from time to time.’’ Girtonians refused to sign their agreements in protest at the clause. They were also expressing discontent at the planned rent hike to £160/ week for the 2016 freshers.

A representative from the college’s students met with the Junior Bursar, who ‘‘agreed in principle’’ to change the clause. Girton’s external lawyers are currently redrafting the agreement, and negotiations are ongoing with the JCR. The majority of the college’s accommodation is at its main site to the north-west of Cambridge.

The college also has an accommodation block called Wolfson Court next to the Centre for Mathematical Sciences.

The Junior Bursar told The Cambridge Student that: ‘‘This tenancy agreement has been in use forat least 5 years, without any issues being raised before, but College is always happy to receive feedback and suggestions from our students to improve the documents we issue’’.

7

The Cambridge Student • 05 November 2015

News

Flooding, queues and sex dolls: ArcSoc event under fire Elsa Maishman News Editor The Architecture Society of Cambridge University (ArcSoc) has been criticised for the ‘‘failure’’ of its most recent event: ‘‘Metamorphosis’’, organised with Turf.

In a review of the event for The Cambridge Student, Olivia Fletcher said that she was ‘‘shocked at the lack of organisation and value for money’’ of the event as a whole.

Fletcher complained of having to queue for 90 minutes, despite guests having paid between £10 and £25 pounds for the event. She also lamented the ‘‘flooded and unusable toilet.’’

Fletcher ends her review by saying that ‘‘after a devastatingly dissapointing night I think I speak for many when I say, I would like a full refund for my ticket and for ArcSoc to return to its former glory as a student society run in the interest of funding their own pursuits, not as a glimmering accessory to Turf ’s commercial gain.’’

The Tab branded the event a ‘‘failure’’ and reported ‘‘horrendously long queues’’ as well as ‘‘flooded toilets’’ and ‘‘misogynistic mannequins.’’ Varsity have not reviewed the event.

The event was held in the city council’s Guildhall building. The sight of naked inflatable ‘sex dolls’ hanging in the windows could be seen by passers-by, including children out trick-or-treating.

Speaking to Cambridge News, Cambridge Live, the charity in charge of the Guildhall conference and event management, said: “Cambridge Live

is responsible for the hiring out of the physical spaces in the Guildhall with the content of the evening in question organised by the University Architecture Society, including the arranging of security. ‘‘We will be doing a full review with the organisers to understand and pick up any issues about the evening, including the positioning of items visible from outside the building.”

Kate McAleer, president of ArcSoc, defended the decorations by saying that ‘‘any sexual or misogynistic connotations which people associate with them are products of the harmful patriarchal society in which we live.’’

She continued: ‘‘We feel that ArcSoc

“I would like a full refund for my ticket”

succeeded in its specific role – transforming a venue with creative and sometimes subversive decorations and offering an alternative to the monotony of usual Cambridge nightlife. We have received a lot of positive feedback and believe that the majority of people in attendance enjoyed the event. ‘‘Of course we take the allegation that the night was a failure seriously, but rather feel that ArcSoc, as well as the minority who didn’t enjoy the night, were failed by the various other parties involved in running an event on this scale. I would also like to make clear that ArcSoc had 0% involvement with running the afterparty, which was an exclusively turf managed event.’’

OLIVIA FLETCHER

There is significant variation in the value of bursaries between universities, a lecturer at the UCL Institute of Education has reported. Gilly Wyness analysed bursary provision by 22 universities over a five year period, between 2006 and 2011.

Her research revealed that the amount of aid students receive can depend more on their university than their economic background.

On average, Russell Group universities offered £1,250 annually, while those outside the group awarded just £680. However, only 28% of Russell Group students were eligible for bursaries, compared with 57% at other institutions.

According to Wyness’ research, a student whose parents earn less than

Nine year old girl submits first application for Lego professor A nine year old girl has tendered her application for the Professor of Lego at Cambridge. Beating the crowd by contacting the Faculty before the position has been officially advertised, she hopes to head the new department responsible for the £4 million grant from the Lego Foundation. The new research group will focus on child development and the effect play has.

As a member of the group being researched, this early applicant may offer fresh perspectives. Her CV is adorned with enviable referees, namely her teachers who can attest to her fondness for playing with the Danish plastic blocks. If she is unsuccessful in her application, we would urge her to apply for an undergraduate course in nine years’ time.

Cambridge MP runs official Christmas card competition While former Cambridge MP Oliver Cromwell famously cancelled Christmas in the 17th century, the new MP Daniel Zeicher is embracing it by holding a competition for his official Christmas card. The application deadline is 6 November, and the winning entry will be sent to “top politicians and public figures around the country, as well as local groups, organisations and community leaders.”

Christmas is a favourite time for leftwingers across the UK as the principal festive colours are red and green, which are also the colours of the Labour and Green parties respectively. Moreover, Father Christmas’s reliance on manufacturing and a centralised system of distribution irrespective of income is sure to get any socialist’s heart beating.

University Library changes caterer, disappointment ensues

£570 variation between universities’ bursaries Stevie Hertz News Editor

NEWS BULLETIN

£10,000 could get only £350 in aid at some universities and up to £2,800 at others, alongside their bursaries from the government. Meanwhile, a student whose parents earn over £50,000 can receive more than £1000 in bursaries at some universities.

Wyness told Times Higher Education: “On average, bursaries are going to the brightest students, but this is not really how the system is designed, it’s more of an accident of the system because the brightest students tend to get into the best universities.

“There will be bright students from poor backgrounds who don’t go to the best universities; they may go to university near their home so they may end up somewhere not as elite – and they will end up with a lot less money than someone going to a much better university.”

28% Percentage of Russell Group students eligable for burseries

This comes after the government’s decision to axe maintenance grants, which will leave more students reliant on university grants and loans.

Last month, an investigation by The Cambridge Student revealed a similarly large gap in the amount individual Cambridge colleges have allocated for scholarships and awards, which include grants. While Trinity College awarded over £4 million to their students in 2013/14, Homerton gave less than £90,000.

The average amount awarded per student across the University was £800, but there was a range of £4,139.

The bursar of Homerton commented in October that “Since those accounts were published, Homerton has doubled the value of most of its prizes, and it is now awarding additional grants and scholarships.”

Students and researchers alike were shocked to find that the caterer at the University Library Tea Room has changed. A distraught Murray Edwards student spoke to The Cambridge Student about her dismay: “I was distressed to discover that the same range of products as is available at the Sidgwick Buttery is now being served at the UL Tea Room. However, it was having to pay for what I thought was a complementary pastry and mug of tea that really pushed me over the edge. There was a unusually tense atmosphere in the tearoom that day.’

The University Library has long been familiar with its unlit shelf mazes and never-ending rows of unstacked books, so this mid-term change may upset many of the library’s users.”

Economics students advised of ‘‘pig’s head’’ party distraction A recruiting email sent to all Economics students has encouraged them to run for Student Representative as a “way of keeping focused on the virtuous things in life.”

The email began by writing, “student life comes with so many distractions. One minute you’re trying to immerse yourself in Thomas Piketty, the next you’re at a party and there’s a pig’s head doing the rounds” Other benefits of running for election were stressed: “Imagine if, when you’re famous, someone writes a tellall book about your student days – and all they can reveal by way of a secret is that you used to be Student Rep. That’ll show em!”

8

05 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

News

Cambridge research team Over £1m spent since local creates ‘ultimate’ battery barracks closed after assaults

Catherine Maguire Deputy News Editor

A group of Cambridge scientists have created a new type of battery, capable of powering an electric car from London to Edinburgh, without recharging.

The research has demonstrated how problems preventing the development of a so-called ‘ultimate battery’ can be overcome, giving hope for a viable alternative to fuel-powered cars.

The new lithium-oxygen batteries have been praised for their theoretical energy potential, estimated as up to 10 times greater than that of lithium-ion batteries. The new research has been published this week in the journal Science.

The new batteries could also be up to a fifth cheaper and lighter and could be recharged up to 2000 times.

However, issues concerning efficiency and undesirable chemical reactions have beset their development.

Responding to challenges posed by these new batteries, Cambridge scientists have developed a demonstrator of a lithium-oxygen battery, which boasts a greater energy efficiency and higher capacity than earlier attempts.

Previously, lithium-ion batteries

E

have been unreliable, ‘dying’ after a few charges or even exploding in certain circumstances.

The author of the report, Professor Clare Grey, said the demonstrator’s results are a “significant advance for this technology”. The demonstrator relies on a highly porous carbon electrode made from graphene.

However, Professor Grey, who works in the University’s Chemistry Department, warned of the practical limitations. She added that “a practical lithium-oxygen battery still remains at least a decade away”, but noted that their results “show routes forward towards a practical device”.

“Many of the technologies we use every day have been getting smaller, faster, and cheaper each year – with the notable exception of batteries”, she pointed out.

The research offers fresh hopes for the adoption of electric cars and storage for solar power.

The new technology has been patented and is being commercialised

by Cambridge Enterprise, the business arm of the University.

Although it was based in Cambridge, the research was made with international support from the American Department of Energy and the European Union.

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The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed that it has spent more than £1 million on Bassingbourn Barracks in the past year, even though they have been left empty. The barracks have not had any trainees since cadets were returned to Libya over a year ago following a spate of sexual assaults in Cambridge city centre.

A Freedom of Information request by the BBC showed that the MoD has spent £544,659 in business rates, £402,000 in utilities, and £138,000 in repairs over the past year. It did not disclose how much the 24 hour security costs.

A spokesman for the MoD commented to the BBC “We continue to pay for utilities as the barracks remain in use and those on site need access to electricity and water.

Bassingbourn is a very large site so naturally running costs are high. The MoD is currently considering the site’s future use”.

300 Libyan soldiers were trained at Bassingbourn. Five of them were later jailed for sexaul assaults; two soldiers were sentenced to 12 years in prison for the rape of a man on Christ’s Pieces on 26 October 2014.

On the same night, three other

The MoD spent £946,659 on bills and £138,000 on repairs.

soldiers stole bikes and cycled the 10 miles into Cambridge, where they sexually assaulted three women in the area around Market Square. The three soldiers were sentenced to between 10 and 12 months in prison and have since been released.

In September, the three soldiers convicted of assault were reported to be seeking asylum in the UK. The solicitor of one of the women who was assaulted commented at the time, “It’s difficult enough to recover from a situation where you’re set upon by a stranger and sexually assaulted.

But if you have to do that in the knowledge that that person has now come to this country and is trying to build a life here, I think that is very, very, very difficult to deal with, and completely wrong and unacceptable.”

Similarly, Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner told Cambridge News at the time, “It does seem possible that these people may not be sent back because it is not safe for them. None of this would have happened if the MoD and Secretary of State for Defence hadn’t taken a gamble with people’s safety by letting these people out unsupervised in Cambridge.”

Bassingbourn was originally closed as a training centre for the army in 2012, but it was reopened in 2014.

Oxford under fire for £75m donation from oligarch Stevie Hertz News Editor Oxford University has come under fire for accepting a donation of £75 million to build the Blavatnik School of Government (BSG). The donation came from Britain’s richest man, Len Blavatnik, who has been accused of harrassing BP in Russia.

In a letter to The Guardian signatories accused Blavantik and other Russian billionaires of “forcing” dozens “of British and other western managers” out of Russia in ‘statesponsored’ harrassment. Blavantik is believed to be a close associate of Vladamir Putin.

A spokesman for Oxford commented to The Guardian “Oxford University has a thorough and robust scrutiny process in place with regard to philanthropic giving. The Committee to Review Donations conducts appropriate due diligence based on publicly available information.

“Generous philanthropic donations help make this possible, supporting the outstanding teaching and research

A letter to The Guardian accused Blavatnik of harrassment of BP managers

discoveries of worldwide benefit.”

Blavatnik’s spokesman declined to elaborate, saying “I don’t think we are going to comment. The allegations are primarily directed at Oxford.”

One of the opponents to the donations, Martin Dewhirst, an Oxford graduate and former lecturer, called the University accepting the money “a distasteful joke” saying “it inevitably brings Oxford University into disrepute for neglecting its stated values and goals.”

Signatories to the letter include frequent Russian dissidents, members of Russia’s opposition party, and Oxford graduates and academics.

One signatory, Vladimir Bukovsky, was previously jailed by the KGB and exposed the Kremlin’s ‘use of psychiatric treatment’ against dissidents. He now lives in Cambridge.

The BSG, funded by the donation, offers diplomas and masters degrees in public policy and trains graduate students in “the skills and responsibility of government”. The school has approximately 120 students.

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The Cambridge Student • 05 November 2015

News

New student visa crackdown

NEWS BULLETIN

Catherine Maguire Deputy News

Cambridgeshire Police are trialling a new scheme where they interview victims via Skype. This will be offered alongside telephone conversations and face-to-face meetings in a police station for those who call the nonemergency number 101. It is hoped that the scheme will both save money and be more convenient for members of the public. The local police commissioner welcomed the new service as it provides ‘advantages for both the public and the police.

Police forces are preparing for expected budget cuts between 25-40% in the upcoming November Spending Review. Whether the Cambridgeshire Constabulary will join Tinder as well as a cheap way of connecting with residents remains unknown.

Universities could face government sanctions if students overstay their visas

Universities will be responsible for ensuring that international students leave the UK after graduation under new plans outlined by home secretary Theresa May. Using information gained from exit checks, the Home Office hopes that the measures will encourage universities to ensure that their graduates do not breach the terms of their visas.

The information will eventually establish a ‘black list’ of universities with the largest number of students overstaying their visas. Sanctions for the worst offenders could see universities lose the right to attract

more students from outside the European Union.

This comes two years after London Metropolitan University was banned from sponsoring students from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) after a UK Border Agency investigation found that significant numbers of students did not have permission to reside in the UK. The plans follow the home secretary’s speeach to the Conservative Party conference last month, in which she said that Britain “welcomed the brightest students from around the world.

“But ... too many are not returning home as soon as their visas run out. I

Universities could lose the right to attract overseas students

JOHN BARKER

don’t care what the university lobbyists say. The rules must be enforced.

Students, yes; overstayers, no.”

In October, The Times revealed the Home Office’s plans to cut the number of non-EEA students in Britain by 25,000 per annum. This would be achieved by setting English language tests that were rumoured “to be tougher than those in place in Australia and America, putting Britain’s top universities at a disadvantage”.

Writing in The Sunday Times, Theresa May claimed that the gap between the number of non-EU students coming to Britain and the number departing stood at 96,000.

This figure has been widely criticised.

In May, research carried out by economists at PwC and the business lobbyists London First found that foreign students make a net contribution of £2.3 billion annually to the British economy.

Additionally, research announced this week revealed that the majority of international students studying science subjects chose the UK because of its reputation.

The study, by the British Council, said that only 29% of International STEM students chose British universities for the job prospects after graduation. In contrast, less than 22% of international science students in America chose it for its reputation; the most common reason was job prospects.

Young people have “worst prospects” for decades Stevie Hertz News Editor A new report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission has revealed that lives of young people have become significantly worse over the past five years and they face the toughest economic conditions for several decades.

It found that people under 34 experienced the greatest falls in income and employment, as well as the least access to decent housing and jobs. The report said that young people aged 16-24 were more likely than other adults to be living in poverty.

The commissioner of the EHRC, which has a mandate to tackle discrimination, Laura Carstensen said: “It’s great to see the barriers being lowered over the last five years for some people, but during the same period they’ve been raised higher for younger people in particular.

“Theirs are the shoulders on which

the country will rely to provide for a rapidly ageing population, yet they have the worst economic prospects for several generations.”

The government responded to the report by saying “We have made good progress in many areas, by getting two million more people in work, raising wages, and having more children in good or outstanding schools than ever before. But we know there is still some way to go to fix the issues highlighted in this report” The report also revealed that, on average, real wages per hour have fallen in the past five years.

In the July Budget, chancellor George Osborne annouced a “national living wage” of £7.20 an hour, from next April. However, this is only for workers aged 25 or above – those aged 21–24 will continue to be paid the national minimum wage of £6.70 an hour in an attempt to make them more attractive to employers.

“They have the worst economic prospects for several generations”

The general secretary of the Trade Union Conference (TUC) also commented that the report should be a “wake-up call” to government about the “plight of young people, who are struggling to cope with poverty pay, deteriorating job prospects and the increased cost of housing”.

She continued: “Hiking up university and college fees and excluding young people from the new higher minimum wage rate is not the way to build a fair and prosperous Britain.”

The report also showed that young white boys from poor families faced a range of disadvantages, while children from traveller families do the worst. The biggest improvements in education and employment have come from people of Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage.

It also revealed that people from Caribbean and African backgrounds had suffered some of the greatest decreases in income.

The future is calling: Police to accept interviews via Skype

UL saves Austrian Jew’s papers almost burnt by the Nazis More than 40,000 pages of Arthur Schnitzler’s work has been given a permanent home at the UL. Schnitzler was an Austrian Jew whose writing inspired American director Stanley Kubrick, though he was nearly erased from history after Hitler denounced Schnitzler as a ‘degenerate’, making the papers a prime target for Nazi book burnings. Schnitzler’s ex-wife, Olga, managed to smuggle the huge volume of writing to Cambridge by hiding it in diplomatic bags.

There is now a scheme to catalogue, digitise, and transcribe the works. MML students were given the opportunity to help read the author’s handwriting, which was described as ‘idiosyncratic’ by Professor Anthony Webber who heads the project.

University faces fierce calls to distribute graduation chocolate Dr Paul Coxon, a physicist at the University and prolific tweeter, has rightly condemned the University’s no chocolate at graduation policy. His views came to light as he was watching the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen which featured the chancellor of Falmouth University, comedian Dawn French, who revealed that she gives away chocolate coins at their graduations. Dr Coxon appealed to the University’s Twitter account, though they did not tweet back.

One concern that The Cambridge Student foresees with distributing chocolate at Cambridge’s Latin degree ceremonies is that the foodstuff did not arrive in Europe until the 16th century and consequently there is no Classical Latin word for chocolate.

‘Doing the Macarena’ increases pain threshold, says new study Psychologists in Oxford have revealed people’s inexplicable addiction to coordinated dances such as the Macarena, YMCA and Gangnam Style. The dances have an ability to increase pain thresholds and make people feel more connected to those around them.

The study measured pain tolerance and feelings to other individuals before and after a group of teenagers danced together. Those who carried out more strenous dances and were more in-time, recieved the greatest effects. An increase in pain tolerance is also felt by rowers after a performing together, which explains alot.

10

05 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Features

Cambridge’s fiery history

Mark Christopher

B

onfire Night, as the name suggests, celebrates the successful foiling of the Gunpowder plot by burning effigies of Guy Fawkes on huge bonfires. But 5 November isn’t the only night when fires spread around Cambridge. Historically, the University has been fairly safe from fire, but let me take you on a whirlwind tour of the fires of Cambridge...

The earliest - and worst - fire recorded in Cambridge was in 1174, which severely damaged the town and led to the departure of many of the residents. The thatched roofs meant fire was a constant hazard.

Another terrible fire in 1385 further depleted the population numbers of the

Make this Bonfire Night a cracking one, but avoid starting a fire in your college and destroying 14th century records

town. Clare College suffered from a fire in 1521 which destroyed most of the College’s early documents detailing land ownership and title deeds, meaning that the College’s history in the early days of the 14th century are severely depleted.

More recently, and perhaps less glamorously, a fire broke out in Gonville and Caius College on 10 October, caused by an air conditioning unit. The Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service provides a comprehenseive list of all incidents around the county, for those of you feeling a particular surge of pyromania.

For less traumatic fiery moments, why not investigate the Cambridge University Fire Troup, which teaches fire spining and performance services.

CHRISTOPDESOTO

My own quiet revolution Anthony Bridgen Features Editor

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very year, as Guy Fawkes night rolls around, a slight feeling of guilt washes over me.

The sense of letting down the rebel cause is strong because, you see, I’m serially British and as such, a serial conformist.

In my 19 years I’ve done little that could be considered radical or revolutionary.

When I was 11 I pulled a curtain rail down by using it as a swing, but my nan helped me fix it and my parents never found out about my rebellion against ‘the man’. Then again, I thought to myself with my 11 year old’s philosophy, “is their really anything wrong with the man?”.

Surely such a figure exists for a reason, to prevent us being foolish.

Over the long vacation I thought I’d finally broken the rebellious dry spell, I dyed my hair pink, which in my family, is a revolutionary change I assure you. But as ever with Cambridge, within a week of returning I had seen about four people with he same hair as me…

I fear that I will never be the guy who got his ears pierced, bought a leather jacket , a moped and rode around town smoking ,as all teenagers are meant to do (if your understanding of life comes from Grease

I’m serially British and as such, a serial conformist

and Gilmore Girls).

So it looks like I’m destined for a life of living by the rules, feeling guilty for doing anything mildly rebellious, and maybe that’s not a bad thing. There is a place for the non-conformist of course, but if there are too many then they’re all just conformers to the ideal of nonconformism (that philosophising though).

So I’ll probably never plot to bring down parliement, but you never know, maybe one day I’ll put a traffic cone on a statue.

Ultimate rebel.

ELLA’S DAD

The fires of Cam

Sophie Dickinson

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s a student at Cambridge, it’s often hard to look at the history of the University objectively. Even for freshers, the wonder of the place is quickly surpassed by essay deadline stress, plans for Wednesday night Cindies and evaluations of Sainsbury’s salad bar.

However, Cambridge is a place of historical radicalism; something that is easy to forget when we are here ourselves.

The revolution that was English Protestantism started here, and in the early 20th century, nearby Romsey Town was described as ‘Little Russia’ in their rebellion against the University. It’s important, therefore, to acknowledge both the rebellious attitude of those who study here, and those who disagree with the privileges it provides.

Perhaps the most historically rebellious

alumni are those who were the catalyst to the break from the Catholic Church in the 16th century. Thomas Cranmer, who would eventually become the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1532, studied at Jesus College. It was here that he was introduced to Lutheran ideas; as were a group of like-minded students of the University.

Along with Hugh Latimer, Robert Barnes

Based on its radical history, rebellion and Cambridge are almost synonymous. and William Tyndale (who would go on to be martyred for their Anglicanism), Cranmer met in the ‘White Horse Tavern’ to discuss revolutionary matters. Sadly, the tavern is no longer in existence, but what remains (apart from a blue plaque in King’s Chetwynd Court) is their influence

Part 2 6

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Look after yourself: Mindfulness spread

The

The TheCambridge CambridgeStudent Student 05 29November October 2015 2015

12

Fashion shoot: Stars and Surrealism

Snuggles for Week Five struggles

Spooky Special We celebrate Halloween with recipes, nail art and a creepy playlist

Breathing new life into ballet A shopper’s guide to Mill Road Happley ever after: Apple day

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05 November 2015 • Part 2 • The Cambridge Student

Culture

The meat of the matter: Dance is the answer Chatting to Sweeney Molly Frederikse

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he other day, I found myself having a conversation about the feeling triggered by reading a work of genius. Hamlet, for example, so staggers my mind with its beauty and torment, that I feel as if the very concept of the play is too great for my mind to process. There is a reason we are still obsessing over it, hundred of years after his inception. But what can one do with all this feeling? The natural urge is to create something, but nothing can never come close to expressing the magic of the Bard. Hearing music is a similar conundrum, but for this I feel I just may have found the answer.

‘Answer’ is the word for it – for dance is the answer to the question that is music. Moving to music expresses the emotions stirred up by the notes, almost impossible to resist, until the dance is adding to the meaning, and the music answers back again. It is a conversation.

The Cambridge Ballet Club has performed The Nutcracker and, in 2014, I danced in their production of The Sleeping Beauty. I think it is this annual performance which is the most remarkable thing about the institution, because amateur ballets are rare. Producing a complete ballet is a hell of a lot of work, but it’s little more than the effort it takes to produce a play and certainly no more than it takes for a musical.

Dance is one of the most intensely bonding experiences. In many ways, it is a strange thing to decide to do with one’s time, and, therefore, a love of it is incredibly unifying.

In this hectic, unstructured world of humanities degrees which I inhabit, having that regular space which is for me, simply physical rather than exhaustingly and confusingly theoretical, and reliably filled with friends, this is what keeps me sane. I have met the most interesting, welcoming and affectionate people in the Cambridge Ballet Club that I could ever have hoped to meet in this vibrant city.

Tom Bevan and Micha Frazer-Carroll

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he infamously dark and twisted 19th-century tale of Sweeney Todd follows a barber’s murderous quest for vengeance with the help of a local baker, Mrs. Lovett. Next week’s adaptation at the ADC promises to bring some fresh meat to the theatrical table.

Former dame in the Footlights panto Zak Ghazi-Torbati is gearing up for his first major “serious role” as the famous protagonist from his favourite show. “I’ve seen so many productions of Sweeney and I’ve wanted to be in it for years,” he told us, mid-rehearsal at the ADC, “ but when you listen to the soundtrack you don’t realise how strenuous it is on the voice. Performing the songs exactly as he [Stephen Sondheim] wrote them is bloody solid.” The technical complexity of the score has proven equally challenging for Aoife Kennan. Playing alongside Zak as Mrs. Lovett, until now she has normally been involved only in straight theatre.

She says of these challenges: “There’s been a lot of technical

musical rehearsal and trying to mould the character into the songs adds another level of difficulty.”

Co-directing the show with Georgie Henley, Marthe De Ferrer explains how the production took shape from a last minute ADC application. “We wanted to apply to do Heathers: The Musical but the rights weren’t available so 10 minutes before the deadline we were like ‘fuck we need to do something’. Sweeney was available and we had really similar ideas about how we’d want it to be.”

The ensemble is full of many familiar Cambridge thesps – according to Marthe the directors saw over 100 auditionees and the “phenomenal cast have all wanted to break the show’s regular tropes.”

Sweeney is set to be one of the most enthralling shows this Michaelmas. In Aoife’s words, “Sweeney will be so much fun to watch; the music is genuinely beautiful and fleshes out a unique storyline. Don’t miss it.”

Read the full story on our website AMELIA OAKLEY

Word of the Week: hippopotomonst...

Is there a greater treat than a word so long it can’t fit in the headline? Probably not.

Jess Payn Columnist

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ong words are not much loved in the modern age. The rising popularity of Twitter and short form communication has pushed them out of common usage. Writing that celebrates the many lettered, the slightly obtuse, the not-immediatelydigestible, has fallen into disfavour. And even words that are already short are in the process of being abridged: ‘u ok?’, ‘wher u @?’, ‘gr9’.

It’s in this context that we can maybe use the word ‘hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia’, meaning ‘fear of long words’. It’s a hugely ironic name: surely it induces quite a lot panic just for the hippo-whatsit-phobe to articulate it.

Its tongue-twistery nature, self-important pretensions, and tendency to intimidate the things hated most by the long-

word-fearer. Just staring at it brings back bad memories of Mary Poppins’ ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’. And as it sprawls across the page, the tongue starts to contemplate the impossibility of pronouncing it: what tongue could be agile enough? Where would you pause? (And, on a slightly unrelated note, why are there hippos involved?)

Undoubtedly, there are some words that would make anyone a hippo...phobe. Like ‘floccinauchinihilipilification’ (which refers to the act of describing something as having little or no value) or the longest word in the English language ‘methionylthreonylthreonylgultaminylarginyl ...isoleucine’. Note the ellipsis: this word, the full chemical name for the human protein titin, numbers in at 189,891 letters, making it much too long for this column, probably

even too long for the newspaper, and it apparently takes a whopping three-and-a-half hours to pronounce (presumably someone has tried).

But from another perspective, it is true that long words, for all their fun archaism or slight superfluity, often have an element of the flashy or belittling. Sometimes we use such words to show off, rather than to add any genuine sense value to the sentence, opting for a more glamorous synonym: ‘lambent’ instead of ‘bright’, or ‘pusillanimous’ instead of ‘cowardly’. It’s necessary, I think, to question your motivations when using a particularly lengthy word: is it to advertise your own vocabulary, and are you indeed at risk of making someone feel hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobic? Let’s hope not.

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 05 November 2015

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Term time guilty pleasures: What’s your escapism TV? Miriam Longman

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t Cambridge, Netflix has been both a saviour and a huge mistake. It’s my best friend when I seriously need to recover from the stresses and strains of university life, but when ‘one more episode’ turns into six, I start to regret it.

Recently, I’ve developed a fondness for shows with 20-minute episodes. Culprits include Brooklyn Nine-Nine, a show about a brilliant but immature New York police detective and his colleagues. It’s one of the few shows where I don’t feel I have to switch off from being a feminist to enjoy it – rare for a comedy with a male lead. I also love the Australian show Dance Academy which reminds me that writing essays doesn’t cause as many injuries as dancing.

As for characters I can identify with, nothing surpasses Buffy the Vampire Slayer, particularly the series where she

starts college. She spends a lot of time feeling like an outsider while her nerdy friend Willow is settling in much better, and Buffy basically wants to go home. When I first started Cambridge, this was comforting as well as escapist; I’d never been so grateful for access to my brother’s Netflix account.

The first series is super cheesy, but the show has a huge amount of character development.

Netflix – hello ideal 20 minute distractions from deadlines Unfortunately, supervision essays don’t respond quite so well to being staked, but when I figure out a way to fight them, I assure you I’ll take great satisfaction in doing so.

VIRGINMEDIA VIA YOUTUBE

Culture Running to music: Sweat it out Naomi Clarke

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he matching of music to the movement of the body during exercise can be beneficial both psychologically and physiologically; humans have a tendency to alter what we are doing to synchronise ourselves to a beat. It doesn’t always make sense to do so, but with jogging it’s easy since the movements are repetitive, so a simple duple-time rhythm can be established. The motivational qualities of music are less important than the prominence of its beat and the presence of the music. That said, slower music does tend to bring our heart rate and mood down, not the best idea for when you want to pick yourself up and go for a run!

Finally, music that means something to you is more likely to motivate you. Listening to songs that you love will make you happier! Here are my top songs to run to: 1. ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman!’ – Shania Twain A classic tune, always going to get you moving, and great for a little warm up. Turn it up and get rid of any inhibitions!

2. ‘Find My Way’ – The Gabe Dixon Band I’m Sandra Bullock working out at the start of The Proposal.

As one of my favourite films, this provides excellent distraction for me. Plus, good beat and good song.

Comfort books: Best of the re-reads

A

ll of us have that one book we come to time and time again, the one that we reach for when we need a little pick-me-up or therapeutic cry. Asked about their most thumbedthrough, best-loved paperbacks, the TCS team present for you here some of the most comforting book recommendations to see you through the cold winter months.

Harry Potter. Any book, any page, and I can spend hours re-reading. Will Amor Anything by Terry Pratchett. Probably either Thud, Night Watch or Going Postal if I had to pick one but anything that he ever wrote will do. Pratchett’s novels are clever and laughout-loud funny. What’s more I inherited a large collection from my brothers so it’s kind of a family-bonding-childhoodmemories thing too. Elsa Maishman The ending of Stella Gibbon’s Cold Comfort Farm always makes me laugh out loud. It’s the perfect mix of comedy and happy ending. Magdalen Christie Bizzare, implausible, and utterly hilarious, The Penguin from Mars is part of the criminally underrated Agent Z teen fiction series. Mark Haddon brilliantly evokes the world of a 13-year-old boy in the early 1990s – and will make you split your sides laughing in the process. Colm Murphy

Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy gets funnier the more I read it. Paul Hyland Definitely Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Hardy’s novels are just too good to put down, and Tess’s is a story that shall never get old. It’s so beautifully tragic. Amelia Oakley For me it’s The Witches by Roald Dahl. It’s just such a classic and never gets old. Dahl in general always reminds me of my childhood. Our copy has lived through three siblings - it’s ragged and falling apart but I couldn’t bear to bin it.

Anthony Bridgen In true cliched style, mine has to be Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. For me it’s brilliant, brooding homesickness fodder and I’m out on the wiley, windy moors with every turn of the page. Jemima Jobling Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind – mainly because I will never in my whole life get over how it ends. You can spend hours analysing every tiny thing and still not be able to decide how things would turn out if she’d written a ‘19 years later’ like J. K. Rowling. Freya Sanders Everyone’s choices are far too serious. I bring one dutty book of homofiction per term to read in the very last week. Good, old-fashioned, class-geek-quarterback-love-story goodness.

Jack May

3. ‘Johnny B. Goode’ – Chuck Berry This is a speedy number, but a good one for intervals. Match the beat, pick up the pace, and see how long you can keep up! Then chill out until you can go again.

4. ‘Waiting for Love’ – Avicii Pick it up. Over halfway now! Just focus on holding that beat. Shorten your strides, keep it light, “you’re flying, you’re free”.

5. ‘Blue (da ba dee)’ – Eiffel 65 Throwback! What a classic for anyone aged 20-25. Just think, you have survived 100% of the days since you were born. You can definitely get to the end of this run.

6. ‘Good Vibrations’ – Beach Boys This is one of the best songs ever written. Turn it up, pick up the pace. Final push!

And to finish, it has to be...

7. ‘Survivor’ – Destiny’s Child Could there be a more a more inspirational tune to listen to during the triumphant final steps?

KRIZZLY7

4

05 November 2015 • Part 2 • The Cambridge Student

Reviews Brave, bold and a bit bloody: Killer Joe storms the Playroom Micha Frazer-Carroll

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racy Letts’ 1993 blood-spattered extravaganza, Killer Joe, is a play that seems to know exactly how to make your heart race and your skin crawl.

Upon taking the dark comedy to the screen in 2012, when Letts first approached Matthew McConaughey with the script and an offer to audition for Joe, McConaughey rejected flat out, remarking that he felt ‘‘dirty’’ just from skimming it.

In this week’s production at the Corpus Playroom there are definitely moments that make the viewer uncomfortable, but much like in the case of McConaughey, who accepted the role after a second read, the necessity of these devices and the brilliance of the Texas tale gradually emerges.

The trailer truck set, littered with Wendy’s and KFC, brings the tiny Corpus Playroom stage to life, gently reinforcing the idea that we’re dealing with a place very different to Cambridge. Consisting of a Dallas family desperate for a mother’s life insurance money and a cop-turned-hitman who agrees to the deed, the five-person cast proficiently handles the complex and dialogue-heavy family dynamic as it unfolds.

Andrea Tudose makes a captivating Dottie, conveying the childlike naivety of

the character with unsettling authenticity, whilst Will Bishop steals the stage as a slow, piercing and authoritative Joe. Hunching, lip-smacking and dead-pan Joe Shalom delivers many of the production’s laughs as Ansel, flaunting the most convincing Southern twang. Meanwhile, Jack Parham and Rebecca Thomas, as Chris and Sharla, rise to the substantial demands of their roles with room to push them further still.

Despite pacing sometimes falling off beat with occasional lapses in comic timing and patches of slowness quickly followed by chaos and slaughter, a generous peppering of grotesque twists keep us on our toes throughout this queasy tale.

Killer Joe is a nail-biting and multi-layered production, despite the potential constraints of both the size of the cast and the space afforded by the Playroom stage. Although the rhythm occasionally becomes weary, with the audience left wondering when the next plot point in the dialogue-heavy script was coming, in the end, the play undoubtedly delivers. We are left grossly unsettled, yet invigorated.

8/10

JOHANNES HJORTH

Compelling a Tribes is truly Maddy Airlie Lead Reviewer

Free Fall is a near miss Will Havelock

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ree Fall at the Corpus Playroom tells the story of Andrea, who is preparing to throw herself off the Dartford Bridge, and Roland, the toll booth supervisor who doesn’t want the administrative hassle of a suicide.

The hour-long play features a cast of two: Sophia Flohr and Harrison MacNeill, who are to be commended for performances that ranged from intensely emotional to laughout-loud funny.

The play relies heavily on gallows humour, darting between suicide and jokes at a quick pace. While this did generate a lot of laughs, it bankrupted the play’s attempts to assume a more serious pose in the latter half. This was particularly evident when Roland, who had been an almost exclusively comic

character, erupted with judgmental vitriol.

It seemed out of place for his character, and evaporated any sympathy for him. A depiction of poor, post-industrial England, the play all too often feels like exhibiting working class culture for the amusement of a wealthier Cambridge audience.

The performances carried the play through well enough, yet the inconsistently treated heavy themes failed to make the whole experience anything other than troubling. When it comes to dealing with human mortality, Free Fall doesn’t quite bridge the gap between comedy and tragedy.

6/10

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he first thing that any theatregoer will notice when going to see Tribes at the ADC theatre is the genius of Jack Parham’s marvellous set design.

The ADC stage was skillfully transformed with book cases loaded with literature, Russian dolls, a guitar... in short, all the trappings of a ‘conventionally unconventional’ bohemian home, with a special emphasis on creative expression, something that characters will struggle with as the outstanding play continues.

The family is both argumentative and loving; mother, father, a daughter and two sons, one of whom is deaf but wishes he had a more reciprocal mode of communication after he meets Sylvia, a woman going deaf who can sign.

Mark Milligan, as the deaf son Billy, was a wonderful surprise to me. Normally an actor bursting with manic energy, here he was subtle, tense and incredibly moving.

Small movements of the head in the early scenes were enough to draw attention to him as a silent presence who is being ignored next to his explosive siblings (the excellent Alice Carlil and Jonah Hauer-

Small movements of the head in the early scenes were enough to draw attention to him as a silent presence King). His relationship with Sylvia, sensitively played by Bea Svistunenko, was at its best during the dinner party scene amidst cringe-worthy comments from his family. the couple tenderly evoked their own private world through sign language.

The parents, Rebecca Cusack and Alisdair McNab, were brilliant – where do Cambridge students acquire the ability to

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 05 November 2015

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Lifestyle

A word or two about mindfulness Give me space Keeping calm and carrying on is an art; master it with the help of this week’s Part 2 Freya Sanders Editor-in-Chief

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ambridge students appear to be experts at carrying on. Just looking around the average college library, you’ll see many laying aside their latest timed essay – ink still glistening – only to dive into reading their third JStor review of the day, about the book that they’ll manage to read before their 11am tea break. Dwelling on what hasn’t yet been done, it’s easy to lose any sense of achievement; it’s this attitude that breeds stress, panic and analysis paralysis.

So we must be careful, when carrying on, to keep calm, and allow ourselves time to just be, without always doing, achieving, powering through. There are myriad strategies for doing this, which the next few pages of Part 2 can help you explore: the double spread overleaf contains a selection

of inspirational quotes for you to pin up and look at when times are tough; we’re featuring snuggly jumpers and comfort food; and if all else fails, turn to our back page, on which we have assembled some of the most adorable pictures of the furry friends who keep us calm.

There are also tips, dotted around, about ways of organising your time and space to keep your routine and environment as soothing as possible. The most important thing to remember is not to apologise for your needs: if you need to be in bed by 9:30pm, don’t let anyone make you feel bad about it; if you need to kick people out of your room so you can work, you have every right to. You’re in control; keep calm, and you’ll find that the carrying on bit takes care of itself.

Knitted and unfitted

There’s nothing like a big woolly jumper to keep the cold at bay

Finn Dameron

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eing at Cambridge is, fundamentally, about work.

That’s what your supervisor wants you to think, which means you can think that you have never done enough. Surviving at Cambridge, on the other hand, is fundamentally about realising that sometimes it’s ok to have not done enough.

A massive part of making sure that work doesn’t take over your life is separating work and living space; it’s hard to get some quality rest if you go to sleep under the baleful glare of a stack of unread monographs. Most rooms in Cambridge are a fairly utilitarian combination of desk and bed without much else, nicely embodying the two conflicting draws on our limited time. The library, similarly, can too often become a place of both work and rest, as a brief trip round the UL in exam term can easily show.

Because spatial delineation is so hard to achieve (unless you’re one of the lucky few who have been blessed with a set), for me, the only way to keep work and rest separate was to keep to an immovable timetable. Before dinner was work time, but afterwards, it was strictly forbidden. I’ve known other people to ban working in their rooms completely, turning their desk into a Netflix-dominated leisure zone, though for me the temptation to write essays in my dressing gown was just too strong to resist.

Whatever your method, the important thing is to make sure that there’s some kind of dam holding back the tidal wave of work that Cambridge expects. There’s a lot more to life in Cambridge than work, you just have to make the space to let it in.

Treat yourself Lucy Roxburgh Food and Drink Editor Halfway through term is the point when a treat is needed.

Eating out doesn’t have to be expensive – take advantage of a student schedule to embrace set menus and snag a great meal at minimum cost.

Taylor Swift also owns this fox jumper, so when I wear it I feel like she is hugging me in spirit. Plus, I know it’ll never go out of style. Alice Mottram

I love a good Fair Isle knit, and this button-down vest gets grandad chic spot on. Isobel Laidler

Wildwood: Choose the set menu (two courses plus a drink for £10 or 3 courses for £13) or get a 25% student discount Monday-Friday off the normal menu. This is the place to head to if you’re bored of cooking but still want those Italian favourites of a decent bolognese or pizza.

The Cambridge Chop House: The set menu suddenly makes the Chop House affordable. Depending on your appetite and budget you can choose from one course for £10, two courses for £13 or go all out with three courses for £16. After a meal of venison terrine, slow roast shoulder of lamb and sticky toffee pudding you should feel thoroughly classy and ready to face the next essay crisis.

Côte Brasserie: Offering two courses for £10.95, or three for £12.95, Côte Brasserie is an often forgotten staple of the high street chain world. Brasserie classics including coq au vin, steak frites and crème caramel fill the menu, so forget the stresses of Cambridge with a taste of France.

I think this jumper literally saved my life. I bought it in Arequipa in Peru, racked with altitude sickness and ill-prepared for the freezing winter of the Andes. Ever since, it’s been my go-to pick-me-up knitwear. Freya Sanders

This is a great transitional piece, for when you want warmth but it isn’t time for a real Christmas jumper. Jack May

Loch Fyne Seafood and Grill: Fish is something a lot of students avoid attempting to cook themselves, so for some perfectly cooked seafood head to Loch Fyne. Although Loch Fyne offers set menus for both lunch and dinner, lunchtime is the best deal with three courses for just £13.95.

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05 November 2015 • Part 2 • The Cambridge Student

Lifestyle

Tasks to tackle a stressful day

ANASTASIA PICTON

Eat your five-a-day

Befriend your college cat

Eat the food that makes you feel good

Take a long bath Read your favourite book Phone a friend Get things off your chest through writing

Have a cup of tea

Buy yourself some flowers

Do some exercise Plan a holiday

Spend time staying positive

Take care of yourself JACK MCMINN

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 05 November 2015

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Lifestyle ALICE MOTTRAM

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The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 05 November 2015

Lifestyle

Food is where the heart is The ultimate comfort foods Pasta with cheese sauce. It is literally just carbs and fat without any vitamins or healthiness, but it’s so delicious and takes just minutes to make. My mum used to make it for me when I was upset and now that's what I make when everything goes wrong. Elsa Maishman Apart from chocolate, there is nothing I love more than cheese, especially Kraft's super-orange, super-unnatural looking macaroni cheese. It says it serves three, but I have never found that to be true. Add milk to powder, devour in one sitting. Maddy Airlie My comfort food is Heinz tomato soup. My mum always used to encourage me to take days off school if I was even remotely sniffly; she'd tuck me up on the sofa and take a day off work and we'd watch Freaky Friday. Our go-to lunch was always tomato soup. So I associate it with being not-that-illand-very-snuggly. Freya Sanders After not having been allowed to eat Coco Pops as a child, I only really discovered 'pops' in my first year of university, when my benevolent neighbour bought them by the family-size box. They're the perfect snack, whether as a hangover cure or a mid-essay-crisis pick me up. My mother's intentions were good when she didn't let me eat sugary cereals as a child, but now that I'm at university, I honestly think that Coco Pops are good for my health.

Alice Mottram

My dad's lasagne. We're odd in that we like the top of a lasagne to be crispy to the point of being burnt rather than the usual melted cheese. There was a period when I was growing up that we had lasagne every Saturday night. It was as much a fixture as a Sunday roast. Anna Carruthers At various points in term, my mum sends me a massive tray full of brownies – either in the post or via some family friends who happen to be visiting Cambridge. This may sound more like a luxury than a necessity but I'm honestly not sure whether I could survive a whole term without at least two batches! They also contain about three packets of chocolate chips (the original recipe says one is enough but Mary Berry needs to step it up) and they are absolutely delicious. Julia Stanyard My dad's lemon cheesecake. He made me one every single week when I was doing my sixth form exams, so I kind of credit it with my getting into Cambridge. He claims the recipe is 'secret' but I'm pretty sure it's because the secret ingredient is just his intense precision and general affection for the people he's making it for. Freya Sanders ZINGYYELLOW

Listings Thursday 5 Fireworks. Midsummer Common, from 6pm.

Transness & Disability Panel. King’s College, 7:15pm.

Friday 6 Cam FM Industry Workshop with Matt Fincham, Radio 1.

St Catharine’s College, 5:30pm.

Culture Fest 2015. Cambridge Junction, 6pm.

Churchill Spring Ball Launch Formal. Churchill, 6:45pm.

Film screening – Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret.

King’s College, 8pm.

Saturday 7 Bond – Hawks and Ospreys Charity Ball. The Cambridge Union, 9pm.

Sunday 8 Pole to Paris reaches Cambridge. Scott Polar Research Institute, 6pm.

Monday 9 Queer Academic Spaces: An introduction with Alex Da Costa. Magdalene College, 6pm.

Foods that remind us of home Waffles with peanut butter and maple syrup. This is a strange topping combination that not only provides an excellent work out for your jaw muscles but is also only understood by biological Hertzes (those who marry in just don't 'get' it). The nuttiness of the peanuts perfectly complements the sweetness of the maple syrup to create the ultimate waffle creation. It also provides all the calories you ever could need, ideal for those building up their winter coats. Stevie Hertz

Tuesday 10 Introduction to Student Mental Health with CUSU. 17 Mill Lane, 5pm.

Footlights Smoker. ADC theatre, 11pm.

Wednesday 11 Speaker: Julian Assange. The Cambridge Union, 7pm.

Compiled by Maddy Airlie

Culinary Dreamin’: Travels to New Orleans Forget Paris, Rome, and any other foodie favourite;

New Orleans is a culinary capital that can’t be missed.

Hetty Gullifer Columnist

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ennessee Williams, author of the New Orleans play A Streetcar Named Desire, is reputed to have said “America has three cities: New York, San Francisco and New Orleans, everywhere else is Cleveland”. He may have had a point.

A melting pot of jazz, Bourbon, and of course European, African and Native American cuisine, it appears New Orleans has it all.

There is too much of New Orleans cuisine to cover in simply one article. The city, divided by the plenteous Mississippi River, is overflowing with fish, shrimp, crab, vegetables, fruit... you get the picture.

Take jambalaya. Imagine a Spanish paella with a healthy kick of tabasco and an even more colourful mixture of

seafood, meat and vegetables. Or perhaps you would prefer the comfort food nostalgia that is evoked by shrimps and grits: shrimps cooked in a barbecue sauce, spread over a cheesy, buttery sort of polenta.

Even if those dishes are too hot for your taste buds, I dare anyone to turn down a plate of Bananas Foster. Whilst many people would consider bananas flambéed and dosed in a rum-rich caramel sauce with cinnamon a classic combination, New Orleans can proudly lay claim to that amalgamation’s origin.

But any local will reproach you if you don’t try a cup of gumbo. It was originally named from the Bantu (a language of Southern and Central Africa) ‘ki ngombo’, meaning okra - a pepper like vegetable originating in Africa. Slaves

brought it over from Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries and would stir up pots of thick soups made up of okra, sausage and shrimp served with rice. gumbo has become a metaphor for the mix of cultures omnipresent in Louisiana. Although it originated from the African slaves, the dish incorporated the French, Spanish and Native American cuisines that have touched New Orleans through the years.

Nowadays gumbo is seen on menus all around New Orleans, but even tourist restaurants take pride in serving up an authentic version of this dish. That is the beauty of New Orleans. Food is as much a passion for them as it is a commodity. Even the cheapest meal will enlighten your taste buds and might just educate you along the way.

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Reviews JOHANNES HJORTH

CUMS: A tour de force James Grimwood

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and intimate: outstanding play middle-aged people so convincingly?

McNab as Christopher was, in some ways, a perfect monster. After yelling ‘‘cunt’’ within the first few minutes of the play, he began his tirades against northerners, the deaf community and anyone outside the family – though his family members were also never safe from abuse – painting him as an intolerant bastard. Yet in McNab’s portrayal, he was not only very funny but a compelling stage presence.

Where do Cambridge students acquire the ability to play middle aged people so convincingly?

Music was important thematically as a medium of wordless communication but the placing of it within the play was slightly

clumsy at times; the first few loud blasts were not always well integrated with the script. Also, the pacing did slacken slightly in the second half when some of the intense energy of the first was lost, slowing down was necessary for the action, but dramatic tension needed to remain sharp.

However, these points for improvement seem somewhat minimal; as a whole this production, with its terrifically strong cast and stunning set, consistently created a sense of intimacy and touching emotion that can be difficult to capture on stage at the ADC. To anyone beginning to feel the infamous Week Five blues creeping in, my advice would be to go and see this show. Tribes is surely the best that the Cambridge theatre scene has to offer.

9/10

he traditional silliness of Halloween did not detract from a packed West Road Concert Hall on Saturday evening. Those who attended this brilliant rendition of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony by Cambridge University Musical Society (CUMS) Symphony Orchestra were taken aback by its vibrancy and precision.

Such was the energy of the evening that CUMS conducting scholar, Joel Sandelson, managed to snap his baton in an otherwise masterful show of skill and expertise.

Matilda Lloyd ‘kicked off ’ this Mahler masterpiece with a magnificently clear and authoritative trumpet solo which, incidentally, would not have sounded out of place at the Berliner Philharmoniker.

The bar was now set and the rest of the symphony did not disappoint. The first movement funeral march was controlled with a good understanding of character.

There was a particularly satisfactory sense of continuation between the first and second movements and the orchestra, which had now settled, managed its best playing of the evening. The audience held their breath as the orchestra showed the

ultimate level of ‘togetherness’, with a clear collective mind and Sandelson channelling both sound and energy.

The audience was unambiguous in its admiration for this performance of Mahler’s Fifth, and rightly so. Sandelson, was calm, clear and authoritative with his

The conducting scholar managed to snap his baton in an otherwise masterful show of skill gestures, managing to show what he really wished to ‘say’ at the important moments and showing virtually nothing when nothing needed to be shown.

The Cambridge conducting tradition is clearly very much alive. Both the orchestra and conductor are to be congratulated on their magnificent performance of this Mahler masterpiece: we can look forward to their next concert with genuine enthusiastic anticipation.

9/10

Purity Ring proves to be anything but chaste Jack Whitehead

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ince their auspicious beginnings in early 2011 when the track ‘Ungirthed’ was released online, Canadian electro-duo Purity Ring have had a fairly modest output, issuing their debut album Shrines a year and a half later, and then waiting almost three years before offering the next dose of their distinctive sound with Another Eternity back in February.

Their second release didn’t offer the intriguing novelty that singer Megan James and instrumentalist Corin Roddick wove into their debut release but did offer enough continuity and familiarity to satisfy

It was underpinned by the intriguing emotional interplay of delicacy and danger the fans and “keep them crawlers out”. A pleasing mixture of both (although it’s hard to tell the difference) was delivered at the Junction last Wednesday.

Innovative lighting was at the centre of this performance, with Roddick playing a set of eight tessellated lanterns arranged

on tree-like stalks around him which, when hit, triggered the duo’s characteristic ‘pingy’ synths. James, meanwhile, weaved in and out of a forest of hanging bulbs that pulsated with the dense and percussive music. Towards the end of the set even more lights were brought on stage, the beams of which James bounced around the room with gloves covered in mirrors.

The intensity of this highly coordinated and succinct set was underpinned by the intriguing emotional interplay of delicacy and danger, with leading tracks from Another Eternity such as ‘Push Pull’ and ‘Begin Again’ emerging out of the texture of more-or-less continuous sound.

If there were moments of weakness that could be identified, they came out when the intensely produced sound of her voice resulted in a trade-off in clarity, occasionally causing her lyrics to get lost in the texture.

However, the overall performance was consistently exhilarating. even without the spectacle of the lights.

8/10

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Lifestyle

Clockwise from left: Asymmetric Collar Shirt (Navy) £45, Embroidered Dinosaur Jacket £68, Pleat Shirt (Constellation Print) £48, Wool Boyfriend Coat (Mustard) £80, Pleat Mesh Crop Top (Black) £38, Faces High Neck Smock Dress (Black) £55, Dropped Peplum Dress (Space Print) £55, Painted Paw Shirt (Pink) £45, Wide Leg Pleat Corduroy Trousers (Dusty Rose) £45, Pleat Mesh Crop Top (Navy) £38, Wide Leg Pleat Corduroy Trousers (Black) £45.

Opposite: Stripe Wool Crop Trousers £48, Flat Pleat Midi Skirt (Ivory) £22.50, Faces Pleat Skirt (White) £55, Wide Leg Jumpsuit (Blue Rocket Print) £60.

05 November 2015 • Part 2 • The Cambridge Student

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 05 November 2015

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Lifestyle

Stars, surrealism and a vintage twist You may not know the name, but if you’ve scrolled through ASOS lately, or popped into Lipsy, Urban Outfitters, or Forever 21, you’ve probably spotted The Whitepepper’s trademark style.

It all started with a Tumblr blog in 2011. Today, The Whitepepper is an international brand. This season it continues to build on its roots in vintage streetstyle, taking inspiration from traditional shapes and updating them with fresh fun prints and colours. Autumn styles reference the whimsical toys of the nursery, with a surrealist twist, while winter ushers in a more mature look of spacey prints and bold shapes.

You can see all the pictures from the shoot online, and can read all about our style inspiration and what is was like working with The Whitepepper.

Love that jumpsuit as much as we do? All the clothes pictured are available online at www.thewhitepepper.com – now with a 10% student discount!

The Whitepepper

Photography Johannes Hjorth Direction Jessie Mathewson & Alice Mottram Models Kat Karpenko, Helena Blair, Amelia Oakley, Flora Chatt

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 05 November 2015

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Lifestyle

Sending you snuggles for

Week Five struggles

Bilbo

Reggie

Jack

Anthony Bridgen

Cobweb

Freya Sanders

Fizzy

Ros Davidson

Seamus

Alice Mottram

Wispa and Bailey

Sunny and Molly

Jemima Jobling

Jacob

Mary Hollander

Lucy Roxburgh

Landi Wagner

Magdalen Christie

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The Cambridge Student • 05 November 2015

Features ELLY HUMPHREY

Cambridge’s own radicals and rebels Guy Fawkes and pals took a stand, and so did we at Cambridge...

Kim Sorensen: CU HELP Charity work may not immediately be associated with ideas of radicalism or rebellion, but they are often based on similar perceptions and aspirations for meaningful change.

I am the current president of CU HELP, a charity that works with a local organisation in rural Nepal to support and develop education and livelihood projects.

CU HELP is entirely student run and the power of student campaigning was shown by our 2015 earthquake relief appeal that raised over £35,000.

The time and effort Cambridge students put into charity work and different development campaigns is impressive and often results in real change.

However, the student initiatives more often run without any institutional support from the University.

Cambridge has an environment in which a career in charity work or development appears ‘radical’ because it is outside academia and the City; often being met with a patronising ‘good-on you’.

Helen Dallas: De-Stigmatise Sunday De-Stigmatise Sunday was a campaign to call out the trivialisation of mental illness in our community, and hopefully to get the name ‘Suicide Sunday’ out of use. The response was phenomenal.

I did get some pretty horrible comments, but I also got truly touching messages of gratitude from students.

I even heard from people who’d left Cambridge or had children here now, wanting to thank me and everyone campaigning for what we were doing.

I was the one who spoke out first and made the Facebook page, but it was a community project. Everyone deserves thanks for the success; I’m so glad the campaign had a positive impact.

De-Stigmatise Sunday proved that a small change can make a huge difference for some people.

There are so many amazing campaigns in Cambridge that need the support we got, so keep an eye out and remember how much of an impact you can have!

Audrey Sebatindira: Ain’t I A Woman, FLY

mbridge’s radicals on British culture. Cranmer’s experience at Cambridge went on to shape the role of the monarchy and the churc – his humanist findings were used by Henry VIII to justify the annulment of his marriage, and revolutionised the power held by the formerly omnipotent Catholic Church. In this respect, it seems that rebellion and Cambridge are almost synonymous.

Cambridge has provided quiet, intellectual rebellions ever since: Charles Darwin’s influence and controversy is undoubtable. However, it was perhaps this self-aware sense of being able to enact change that led to a clash with those outside of the University in the early 20th century.

By 1921, Romsey Town, on the outskirts of the city, was a Labour stronghold hostile to the privilege of university students. A feeling of resentment developed as those who held jobs in colleges were unable to join unions and suffered under low

Historically, Cambridge students have changed the landscape of British history

wages; those further away from the city enjoyed relative stability and striking rights. In 1926, those who had voted in favour of the General Strike were referred to as a ‘Bolshevik threat’ by the Master of Christ’s. Whilst hyperbolic, the deference of ‘Little Russia’, as it was known, serves as a reminder that intellectual rebellion is somewhat different to that of the people of Cambridge.

It seems that Cambridge breeds radicalism in a way other universities don’t: since the University’s conception, there have consistently been individuals who’ve changed the landscape of British history.

Whilst this has been met with opposition at times from those outside the institution, it gives us a feeling of potential about those we interact with every day. Perhaps that person breathing heavily next to you in the UL will be the next Cranmer; the quiet Natsci a Newton of the rebellious future.

The idea for an ‘Ain’t I A Woman’ campaign was put forward by Aoife Hayes, a member of FLY, during a meeting in Lent term last year.

The general idea was to run an awareness drive to help other students at Cambridge understand how race and gender can interact to affect the ways in which we experience life here.

As BME women’s rep at the time, I decided a video series would be an effective way of getting our message across.

Lola Olufemi, Abhaya Jitendra, and I interviewed women of colour from across the University on issues ranging from access, to feminism, to beauty.

The edited and completed interviews were released in a video campaign in the first few weeks of this term and were wellreceived.

The videos remain a helpful resource on FLY’s YouTube channel and will hopefully continue to educate and spark important discussions.

Will Deeley: Campus Campus has been running summer holidays for children referred to us by Liverpool social services for the past 48 years.

Our aim is to give children the fun-filled break they deserve, but otherwise wouldn’t be able to get.

To do this we pack their week with activities such as laser quest, bowling, beach trips and t-shirt designing.

Campus is run by students and alumni of Cambridge University. We rely on student volunteers to run the holidays over summer. I initially signed up to volunteer with Campus to do something worthwhile

over the long summer, but it turned out I got as much out of it as the kids. The children are incredible and joining them on the activities is fantastic!

Seeing the impact it had on the children’s lives made me fall in love with the charity, so I joined the committee as recruitment officer last year.

If you want more information contact me: (wd254) or our new recruitment officer Louis Day (ld420).

Alternatively, come to Spoons on 18 November at 8pm where volunteers will be having a reunion and we’ll be happy to speak to anyone interested!

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05 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Features

I bought myself a Mooncup, and I won’t be going back Rose Reade Columnist

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bought a Mooncup. I’m late on the bandwagon, I know. I’d been interested in them for ages but slightly grossed out by the idea of the whole thing. My change of mind came about when I asked my friend if she had a tampon: “No I don’t, I use the Mooncup now. I thought you would be a Mooncup type of person, I’m surprised!”

Right. That was it. I always knew I was a Mooncup kind of person but never had the guts to go out and buy one. So I went straight to Boots and asked a very awkward sixthformer, the type who perpetually seems to be on the first day of their Saturday job, and so didn’t know what they were, and had to ask his manager.

I gleefully purchased my Mooncup and went straight home to try it out.

The instructions informed me that it had to be boiled before first use. So I proceeded to the kitchen and freaked out my new housemate by boiling the Mooncup while she was cooking dinner (needless to say first impressions have gone down the pan).

The first time you put in a Mooncup it is difficult and fiddly and you have to keep taking it out and putting it back in to adjust the length of the stem (it should not protrude outside the vagina).

Once I had adjusted it and worked out the best way to pop it in, I was good to go. At first, it kept leaking and feeling strange, but after reading the leaflet and the

A week in the life: ArcSoc* *as imagined by Anthony Bridgen

Monday

We’ve really outdone ourselves this time; just think, come Friday we will be the gods of entertainment. All will bow down to our organisational skills and collaborating with Turf, what a stroke of genius. This event will transform us from the givers of good parties to levels of Gatsby-esque debauchery previously unheard of, a metamorphosis if you will…

We’ve got all the decorations ready so it looks pretty, we all know that’s the most important thing. Booked the venue, that’s pretty much it right?

I mean organising queues, sorting security and stewarding is nothing to do with us, is it? No? Phew, thought so, let’s just assume that’s all sorted then!

Rest of the week should be pretty chill now, what could go wrong?

built to last, the plumbing must be top notch and I mean we’re architects so we should know.

Wednesday

Two days to go, this is going to be totally awesome. I hope we charged enough for the tickets, I mean £20 is cheap as chips for a night everyone is going to remember. I knew we should have listened to Turf, they know what’s what when it comes to commercial enterprise and surely they would never overcharge, I mean that would just be unethical.

They’re out to give students a good time, not make money.

Thursday

Right, T-minus one day, I guess we should do a final check, make sure everything will run smoothly.

Although… I’m sure it’ll be fine and we’re kinda tired from all the papier maché and who knew making papierchains would be so draining, let’s just Tuesday Someone mentioned that we should leave it, what could go wrong? We are probably check that the facilities can ArcSoc after all. cope with the 1200 people coming Friday to our event, but that’s surely not People are arriving, seems like it’s necessary. going really well, I mean, surely noone The Guildhall is pretty old isn’t it? minds queuing for two hours when Everyone knows old buildings were the event is going to be this good. On

People are whining about the toilet being flooded, there’s just no pleasing some people

second thoughts I guess we probably should have got someone to organise queuing, but that’s not really our fault.

Some people are whining about the toilet being flooded – there’s just no pleasing some people, have they even seen the decorations?

Pah! So, apparently everyone was expecting us to have sorted cheap tickets for the clubs, why they would even want to go out after our event is beyond me.

Saturday

Uh-oh, apparently everything wasn’t as smooth as we thought. People are demanding refunds, we need to do something fast.

Eureka! Let’s just blame all the problems on the venue, noone in their right mind can expect us to have checked everything, like it was our job to organise getting into our event, totes not our problem.

Sunday

This isn’t working and now people are posting mean thing about us, so deleting those. It’s just so unfair, did they see the decorations?

New plan, we just say it was ‘an experiment’, people love paying to be experimented on…

DOMINIC ALVES

Not only is it better for the environment, it has made me more comfortable with my menstrual cycle ‘troubleshooting’ section (clench your vaginal muscles in order to make sure it is properly in place) I went happily along my way.

I wholeheartedly recommend it. Not only is it better for the environment and healthier for your vagina, it has made me more comfortable and accepting of my own body and menstrual cycle.

The fact that I have to touch my period blood and can see exactly how much blood I am losing, as well as the consistency and colour, makes me more in tune with my bodily functions.

I get that it might gross you out – I was definitely put off by the idea of the whole thing. But the reality of it has actually been really great. Would 100% recommend.

DAVIDE GABINO

The Students’ Favourite: Archway Anthony Bridgen Features Editor

T

his week we explore those architectural features most beloved to us all. Archways.

They come in a myriad of forms, be it lancet, trefoil or ogee and are a staple of the older colleges in particular. This is perhaps due to their combination of aesthetic pleasure and strength.

Here are just a choice few of these vaulted entrance (or exits) – as chosen by you, the typical student.

Pfeiffer Arch, Newnham

That time of the month need not be stressful

The original entrance to Newnham, designed and built in the Queen Anne style by Basil Champneys in the 19th century. It’s a classic example of a three -centred or Venetian archway.

The story goes that, in 1921, the finely wrought bronze gates spanning

the archway were severely damaged as the male undergraduates celebrated the defeat of a proposal to give women degrees. Classic lads.

Students say the inherent curvature of this arch makes it especially attractive, making one feel as though one is being embraced by a Victorian bosom as they pass through it. I must say, I can only agree.

LUCY ROXBOURGH

ANDERS SANDBERG

male undergraduates celebrated the defeat of a proposal to give women degrees.

The Gate of Virtue, Gonville & Caius

This wonderful exemplar of a multicentred arch is the second that a Caius undergraduate passes through during their Cambridge career. It is built in the Italian style and bordered by classical ionic pilasters.

Most students remark that their favourite aspect of this beautiful arch is the odd protrusion from the centre of the vault, as it puts them in mind of a papilla or teat. I suppose that’s as much as one can expect from the unethical pariahs that are Caius graduates.

13

The Cambridge Student • 05 November 2015

Features

Student Spotlight: Chinese Calligraphy Society Behind Cambridge’s Campaigns: Make No Assumptions Sammy Love Features Editor

W

hen I first attended the University fresher’s fair last year I was accosted by a multitude of societies trying to get me to join everything from ultimate frisbee, korfball, ballroom dancing, martial arts, quidditch and of course everyone’s favourite: tiddlywinks.

Until now, I hadn’t made the most of the more niche things you can try out in Cambridge, but last Saturday I decided to give myself some cultural nourishment and went along to the Cambridge Chinese Calligraphy Society’s weekly workshop.

There were about 12 people in attendance at this session and I was relieved to find I wasn’t the

only beginner. Chinese calligraphy is incredibly beautiful but my appreciation reached a whole new level after I realised how insanely hard it is. I kept putting too much ink on my brush, resulting in clumsy black splodges rather than beautifully delicate characters. I tried to rectify this problem by using more water; bad move. This simply encouraged the ink bleeding and made my black splodges multiply.

Once I finally mastered the water:ink ratio, I was confident that with my AS-Level Art skills it shouldn’t be too hard to get the hang of. My confidence was misplaced. The brush you’re given is very thick and

I like to think there were improvements as time went by

seems completely incompatible with forming the delicate strokes needed.

We were shown a video tutorial which demonstrated some complex twisting techniques which supposedly would allow you to form neat edges and sharp flicks with the monstrosity of Once I a brush, but it remained wizardry to stopped me. Things only became more stressful doodling when I realised that several of my swastikas, attempts bore a striking resemblance to swastikas.

I began But after the first 15 minutes I started to enjoy to enjoy myself. I’d stopped doodling myself swastikas and the video tutorials had a soundtrack of calming Chinese music which gave the room a spa-like vibe.

There was something cathartic about sitting in this peaceful environment, focusing only on the black lines I was tracing onto the thick white paper and for a blissful 90 minutes I completely forgot about my essay crisis.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by the event and although I can’t see myself becoming a regular, the sessions would definitely be an excellent way of destressing during exam term.

If you fancy giving Chinese Calligraphy a go, they run sessions every Saturday from 3–4:30pm.

All materials are provided and the cost is £2; a small price to pay for a work break where you genuinely do Image: Sammy Love forget about the stress.

Student Chat: “How radical are you?”

On a scale of one to Guy Fawkes, how rebellious is the student population of Cambridge?

Em Travis Columnist

T

he concept behind the MNA campaign is that spreading awareness about trans issues and ways to support and respect trans people is one of the most effective ways to make our lives that much easier. A lot of the time that can be achieved through some of our simple awareness-raising tactics: handing out “ask me about my pronouns” badges and producing a ‘Transgender 101’ leaflet. For Trans Awareness Month, however, we’re looking forward to going a bit deeper than the basics.

One of the starting principles in our planning process was intersectionality. It should be acknowledged, for example, that victims of anti-trans violence are overwhelmingly trans women and transfeminine people.

We wanted to make this November an opportunity to shine light on some of those intersections.

The three panel discussions kick off on Thursday 5 November with ‘Transness & Disability’. The interaction of disablism with other forms of oppression is something that tends to be overlooked in activism and campaigning.

And considering the ableist gatekeeping many trans people experience when accessing services – especially medical care – it’s important to consider the specific intersections of oppression that trans disabled people face.

The second panel, on 15 November, is on the ‘Pros and Cons of Visibility’. Trans visibility is a particularly pertinent topic in light of the fact that trans representation

We’ll be looking at ways in which certain kinds of media visibility can impact negatively on trans people

in the media has become more widespread. Still we must demonstrate the various failings of the media. Specifically, we’ll be looking at the ways in which this kind of visibility can often impact most negatively on trans people who face oppression on other axis.

The final panel event will be ‘Decolonising Gender’ on 28 November and we’re really excited to host some wonderful and knowledgeable trans people of colour.

They will be deconstructing the ways in which gender and gender variance is often presented through a white Western lens while also discussing gender and sex as colonialist constructs. It promises to be a really insightful “I put jelly in someone’s bed on “I stole a sweet from Sainsbury’s. My “I campaigned for girls to be and eye-opening event! On the same evening, we’ll also be mum dragged me back to apologise.” allowed to wear trousers” a school trip” presenting some amazing trans talent with a spoken word Amber, St Catz Beth, Age 6, Murray Edwards Sammy, Christ’s and poetry night.

We’re already looking ahead to next term and to the many steps that still need to be taken to make Cambridge a safer and more accessible place for trans students. We’ll be working with Encompass, a local LGBT+ charity network, on the Safer Spaces campaign, which aims to engage with local businesses and venues to make them more welcoming spaces for trans people. This coming February is LGBT+ History Month, and we’re looking forward to hosting some great events to promote education on trans history and on the involvement of trans people in the watershed moments of wider LGBT+ “I once went to Pret A Manger “I once walked on the grass history. There’s lots of work still to be done, and we’re four times in one day...” in King’s College” excited to work with lots of new people and continue Olly, Sidney Sussex Elsa, Emmanuel engaging with the wider Cambridge community. So watch this space!

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: BETH JAMAL, MAGDALEN CHRISTIE, SAMMY LOVE, ANTHONY BRIDGEN, ANTHONY BRIDGEN

14

05 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Interviews

Daniel Zeichner: The man behind the policies Chase Smith Interviews Editor

E

lsa Maishman, my trusty cointerviewer for the evening, and I meet Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner sitting in a car at Downing.

We head over to the college cafe, where he generously buys us tea and coffee.

Elsa kicks off the interview by asking about Zeichner’s joining of the Labour party after he left Cambridge: “I wasn’t very interested in student politics. It was a very strange time. It was 1976 to 79, when the far right were beginning to get a hold intellectually. It was a horrible time. The year we graduated was the year Thatcher was elected, so [I] found it awkwardly grim.”

“At that time there were still a lot of single-sex colleges. The world has changed dramatically – much for the better, in my view. The student body was much more monocultural, more relentlessly upper middle class and white, and I came from a lower middle class background. [I didn’t feel] particularly at home here.”

Elsa inquires further: Does Zeichner think that Cambridge has changed?

“Yeah, I do. There are still of course notorious drinking clubs and all the rest of it, which I don’t think bring great credit to the University, but I think [the University has] a much better cross–section. [There’s] still more to do, but I think it’s a much better place.”

I chip in, and ask what motivated him to go into politics. “Someone knocked on my door – it’s a good story actually. A guy came and knocked on the door and said, ‘Mr Wilberkas?’

And I said, ‘Well I’ve got a pretty funny name, but it’s not that.’ [He said ‘Well] that’s disappointing: Mr. Wilberkas wanted to join the Labour Party.’ It had taken them six months to process the application for someone to come round, and they’d moved! I looked at him and said, ‘Well, I’ll join!’”

Elsa moves the conversation in a different direction, asking about Zeichner’s support of Cooper rather than Corbyn in the leadership election.

“I thought we should have a woman leader. Not [anyone], but [someone] who could do the job. I’ve known Yvette for a long time. I thought she would be absolutely capable of being Prime Minister.”

As we continue, Elsa smiles earnestly as she mentions an investigation TCS did in the past weeks: “So, I don’t know if you read The Cambridge Student. I don’t expect you to. You probably have a lot of other things to do.” Zeichner admits that “I do glance at it,” much to our approval. Reassured, Elsa asks about the role and responsibility of the University in regard to the city’s homelessness problem.

“The University is very wealthy – it just has to think hard about how it uses those resources. The responsibilities

for homelessness are much wider.

I don’t blame the University for the fact that there are poor people in the city. But I do blame the government because Labour got a long way on eliminating rough sleeping. But that is all going into reverse now.

“I don’t think there’s a direct linkage between the University being wealthy and there being homelessness [in] Cambridge. The University does do a lot in terms of trying to be supportive,

but the colleges could always do more.” Minister’s Questions. I woke up in the We conclude on a light note: how morning and thought, ‘Good grief, I’m gonna be the first person on after “The year we graduated Corbyn to ask Cameron a question’ – and that’s quite a feeling. was the year Thatcher “There’s also responsibility, and was elected, so I found it trying to represent the whole of a awkwardly grim.” city, regardless of whether people supported me or not. We’ve got a does Zeichner feel to be elected at strong position in Cambridge. I’m last, after four attempts? “It’s terrific. doing my best to live up to that A few weeks ago I was called at Prime strong tradition.”

RTAYLORUK VIA YOUTUBE

The Fitzwilliam: Cambridge’s own sleeping beauty ARDFERN VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

YAO TANG

Chase Smith Interviews Editor

S

tanding outside on a misty morning, I am let into the headquarters of the Fitzwilliam Museum, a stately house nestled in the shadow of its more imposing neoclassical neighbour. I’m here to meet Tim Knox, the director, who has much to say about the Fitzwilliam’s place in Cambridge and the world.

To Knox, museums are more than mere preservation halls, fated to be the destinations for busloads of bored school students. They have a responsibility to inform, and this is peculiarly true of university museums.

“The Fitzwilliam Museum and our counterparts in Oxford and Yale and Birmingham and elsewhere do have quite an interesting role today, and perhaps remind us of the original purpose of museums, which was in many cases a repository so that things could be studied and looked after and so on, and I think quite often, in the sort of Gadarene rush for popularism in museums, people can forget that.”

Even so, Knox remarks that he’s “constantly meeting students who say

‘I haven’t yet been to the Fitzwilliam Museum.’ But on the other hand, I regularly meet very elderly people who were at Cambridge, and they confessed to me they never went in when they were student[s].”

“I mean, obviously, being a student you have not only the work but you also have a pretty frenetic social life, and I can quite understand that in

“We all know exhibitions of truly dire works by Renoir will attract huge numbers of people” some cases it can pass you by. But of course the people who do penetrate within the imposing portals of the museum, I think, are in most cases pleasantly surprised.”

Knox waxes slightly idealistic as he describes the overarching mission of the Fitzwilliam: “It’s a kind of civilizing influence: that combination of beautiful paintings and sculpture and furniture, the carpets on the floor – it should be a place, I think, that actually raises people’s aspirations and eyes, as

it were, from their textbooks.”

Knox admits that despite this role of museums, from his perspective there is such a thing as ‘unsuccessful’ art. “There are really bad Renoirs and Monets around. There’s frankly some quite disappointing works by Leonardo, and it’s sort of interesting how you train people to look at things.

I think it’s quite possible to have a, kind of, flop, and I don’t think that every painting by Delacroix or you know, whatever it is, is a great success.”

“We all know that exhibitions of truly dire works by Renoir will still attract huge numbers of people. I think there’s probably no kind of precise science of what makes a great painting, as opposed to a sort of terrible, rather meretricious one.”

Knox has big plans for the Fitzwilliam’s future. “I think in a way I always like to think of the museum as a bit of a sleeping beauty. Our collections are improving all the time, and I think also that the role of museums is changing. I think the Fitzwilliam is in a position to be the principal museum of this part of the world throughout this century as well as previous ones.”

15

The Cambridge Student • 05 November 2015

Comment

Why the Trident vote marks a new strategy for the Scottish Labour Party

L

Not in safe hands

Divestment is too important to be handled badly

Amatey Doku Columnist ast weekend, 70% of the delegates at the Labour party conference in Scotland voted in favour of scrapping Trident, the UK’s nuclear missile defence system.

This move means that the Scottish Labour party is now at odds with the official position of the UK Labour party which officially supports Trident.

However, we must bear in mind that the Labour party has changed dramatically since their election defeat in May; we simply don’t know what position the Labour party south of the border would adopt if they were to hold a vote today which is, in part, why they avoided having that discussion earlier on this year.

It’s no secret that the leader of the party, Jeremy Corbyn, supports the scrapping of Trident. He has been an active anti-nuclear campaigner for as long as anyone can remember and has made no indication since rather unexpectedly becoming leader of Her Majesty’s official opposition that he was going to compromise on this.

However, at the Labour party conference earlier this year, the Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC) decided against including the motion for debate. Probably with good reason. It was so early into Corybn’s leadership that it could have been an instantly divisive issue. And while it was presented in the media as a blow

Editors: Jack May & Freya Sanders Founded 1999 Volume 17

for his leadership, postponing such an emotive debate was probably the best thing at the time.

Regardless of what we think of the merits or demerits of maintaining or scrapping Trident, we have to acknowledge that the decision to debate the issue at the Scottish Labour conference and the resulting vote are hugely significant for a number of reasons. Crucially, the ScottishLabour party is now on the same side of the debate as the Scottish National Party on this issue.

This shows how good the SNP has been in presenting this argument in

If this vote is the first of Scottish and UK Labour being at odds, it could be hugely divisive ‘Scotland versus Westminster’ terms.

It reflects the frustrations that Labour party activists and party members would have had during the election when quizzed on the doorstep by voters on the Labour party’s position on the issue. In addition, Scottish Labour’s stance may persuade the party south of the border to adopt a similar stance and thus, as Corbyn deeply desires, would present a “real alternative” to the Conservative party

at the next election.

However, Corbyn may have less to celebrate about than he thinks.

While greater autonomy for a Labour party in Scotland, one that reflects Scottish concerns and issues, could be devolution at its best. However, if this vote is the beginning of many votes which puts Scottish Labour at odds with the UK Labour party this could be hugely divisive.

If the party goes to the polls in 2020 with one policy on Trident south of the border and another north of the border, the question many people will be asking is which stance a Corbyn-led government would take.

On top of that, if the Scottish Labour party becomes increasingly autonomous from the rest of the Labour party, it plays straight into the hands of the SNP who ultimately want independence.

It seems hard for Labour to appear to be in favour of a United Kingdom when the party is split along those lines. Ultimately, the SNP’s success has not only come from the electoral spoils at the last election, but also in its ability to frame the debate along nationalist lines.

By framing the debate around who stands up best for Scotland, Labour have an uphill struggle to catch up with the SNP and try to beat them at their own game.

AF GLOBALSTRIKE

Wednesday’s protest by the new group Zero Carbon has, as the saying goes, a commendable aim. As this column argued last week, climate change is a serious issue, and for the University to ignore its financial participation in the structures that perpetuate the slide into ever more serious climate change is condemnable.

The campaign, therefore, sets out with the best of intentions. Already, it has started to make waves. Its petition has had some relative success – though it must be remembered that 800 students in the context of a 20,000+ strong university is a mere 4% – and it is clear that it will attempt to be continually active in its divestment campaigning.

The University is, indeed, undertaking a review of the way its endowment its invested, which is believed to include fossil fuel companies. This newspaper hopes that the review concludes that divestment is the only real sensible option for a University of such high intellectual standing.

Such progressive steps, and such promising foundations, however, are no excuse for this campaign’s lacklustre and incompetent beginnings. Its opening gambit, a

banner-dropping on the bridges of King’s, Clare, and Garrett Hostel Lane (better known amongst the student body by another name), was seen by perhaps 60 passing students during the hour or so before the campaigners shut up shop.

Were it not for the student journalists – both of this newspaper and The Tab – present, the event would have been seen by a mere few who happened to be passing.

Furthermore, what can only be described as light threats from the porters of King’s, Clare, and Magdalene College (to which several of the protesters belong) were enough to shift the campaigners from their bridge-top perches.

If this new campaign wishes to be taken seriously, and for its important aims to be followed through, it must have the competency to organise successful protests, the tenacity to see off official complaints and threats effectively, and the intelligence to ensure that publicity is not left as an afterthought to be lazily farmed out to student journalists.

In the meantime, it is frustrating that such a key issue has been left to a group that has thus far shown itself to be considerably incompetent.

Losing out

Shortfalls on college conferencing are indefensible The life of Cambridge campaigns seems perilously short.

Last year, Whose University? was set up by third-year students from across the University to tackle crucial and wide-ranging issues.

Central to this campaign were college conferences, and one of the positive things it raised was colleges visciously prioritising conference guests over their own students, with students given raw deals on accommodation and storage so as to make way for conference guests in the glitzier college buildings.

Our investigation has finally revealed the truth on the state of conferencing in several, but not all, colleges. It has revealed, perhaps surprisingly, that some colleges are in fact making losses from these events.

Girton College has, in particular, stood out as a college that is haemorrhaging money in the interests of a continuing college presence.

From a student perspective, this is complete nonsense. It cannot be logical for students to suffer in the interests of corporate guests who are neither wanted by the student body nor profitable for the college’s coffers.

Once again, it is transparency and accountability that reign supreme.

Colleges must be open with their students as to the profitability of their conferencing business, and must submit such activities to a democratic process by the student body.

Students are more than able to work out for themselves that in some situations such activities are neither sensible nor desirable.

16

05 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Comment

Are Christian Unions a force

Yes – Christian unions work to make Cambridge a better place Mike Hood

I

think I’m supposed to say ‘Yes’ to this question, but I think the honest answer is, it depends. Now, Christians are people who have seen what God is like in Jesus – controversial, compassionate, outrageously loving. And provoked by that God, Christians in their churches do various things, many of which most people agree are worth doing: welcoming the lonely, comforting the brokenhearted, seeking justice for the oppressed.

But Christian unions aren’t churches, we’re something extra to that, a bunch of students coming together to love this University in one particular way: giving people an opportunity to meet God. So it depends. If it’s all nonsense, if there’s no chance that there’s a God who cares about us, then Christian unions are of course a spectacular waste of everybody’s time. In that case, we’re a collection of otherwise unexceptional Cambridge students who are deeply deluded, and who spend ridiculous amounts of time, money and emotional effort cooking free food,

praying for people, talking to strangers and answering painfully difficult questions; all in the hope of sharing our delusion with people we love.

But if it’s just a little bit possible that it’s real; that there is a God who made us; who does care about us; who wants us to know him and love him back; who’s been calling to us all along in the beauties and tragedies of this world; who’s told us what he’s like in the Bible and shown himself to us in Jesus; then that would be different. If it might just be true: that Jesus really lived and really died showing us that God cares – cares so deeply, in fact that, the way we ignore and belittle him and abuse the people he loves, including ourselves, actually create unthinkable agony. More than that – that he actually chose to die, bearing the pain that we deserve to bear ourselves, so he could give us life. That he punched a hole in death and rose again so that with him we have nothing left to fear.

I know to me, to my naturally sceptical mind, it all sounds a bit silly – a bit too good to be true. But if it’s just slightly possible, if Jesus might really be offering us real love,

Christian Unions aren’t churches, but a bunch of students coming together

and a life lived in full colour, starting now and unstoppable forever – then Christian unions are a force for good. Because if it might be real, it’s worth thinking about isn’t it? Worth investigating the evidence, worth looking closer at this Jesus, worth exploring the implications and worth asking questions of these people who say he’s changed their lives. And that’s exactly and only what we’re for – to give everyone a chance to do that.

And of course, Jesus and the Bible are controversial – both amongst Christians and in the whole of society. And obviously many people say and do stupid and hateful things in the name of Jesus; and I know for myself that there have been many times when people could rightly have pointed at me and called me a hypocrite.

But honestly all we want to do is invite you to look past us, past all the politics, the pre-conceptions and the myths, to take a closer look at Jesus and see what you make of him.

Mike Hood is vice-president of the Cambridge Inter-collegiate Christian Union for 2015/16.

Swaps may be a Cambridge tradition, but we Are our degrees all need to take responsibility for our actions Murat Demir

Tula Geliot

M

ichaelmas is the ultimate swap season, in which the freshfaced first-years are introduced to Cambridge’s cardinal social tradition.

Being a Girtonian with virtually no extracurricular commitments, swapping is a steadfast way to meet people from down the hill, and they’re usually pretty fun too.

Although being a drinker is not necessary, getting one-bottle drunk is the perfect icebreaker for these strange dinners, unless you are strong-stomached enough for the terrible food followed by sober Cindies.

The choice is yours.

It’s exactly that which needs to be remembered if you are going to have an enjoyable swap experience. If you don’t mind drinking from your shoe, drink from your shoe, but nobody is going to make you ruin your brogues (or Doc Martins if you’re an arts student) if you aren’t up for it.

Nor does it follow that because the person next to you whipped off their shirt so that someone could do a shot from their belly button, you should do the same thing, or that because you did it last time, it’s on you to do it again.

ARMENIANNNN

Every decision made is yours. Swaps can be outrageous, and that’s fine, so long as every individual’s exercise of agency is not undermined. When on a swap, it is important to be mindful that you are in fact in the public sphere, most likely being hosted by a business that works very hard to deal with Cambridge’s rowdy lot. It is your duty to be respectful of business owners and their other customers, just as it is their duty to be respectful of you. Some of the worst swap experiences of mine have actually been instances of restaurant-staff taking advantage of drunk students, both financially and sexually.

Whilst swap behaviour is no way near akin to dinner-date conduct, swaps are not a situation in which harassment violations are tolerated, amongst students and nonstudents alike. The only way to avoid such problems is to choose swap venues with a reputation for looking after their customers, and do your best to ensure that you are swapping with decent, respectful, and fun people. After all, when swaps go wrong it is not the swap itself that is the problem, but the people. We can preserve the institution of swaps, as long as we accept the responsibility that goes with it.

S

eeing as you got into Cambridge, the understanding is that you must be absolutely crazy for your subject.

After all, what use are all the personal statements, SAQs, interviews and tests if not to filter those who are willing and able to commit 100% to their chosen branch of academia? That is the message underlying the ‘we don’t make mistakes’ line peppered into speeches throughout Freshers’ Week: don’t worry, because if you’re here, you’re good enough and you’re keen enough; otherwise we’d have known a long time ago.

But this façade of institutional confidence belies the experience of many students I know who are clearly having second thoughts about their choice. Considering the amount of commitment and hard work a Cambridge degree demands from students, the prospects of a year 12 misstep are depressing indeed. That all of this should come as the result of a decision made during perhaps the most confused and volatile time of someone’s life points to flaws in the way not only Cambridge, but most British universities admit students.

The biggest such flaw, in my opinion, is the assumption that students arrive having completed their intellectual evolution and ready to put on blinders for the rest of their life. But that often turns out not to be

17

The Cambridge Student • 05 November 2015

Comment

e for good in Cambridge life?

WILLIAM LYON TUPMAN

No – Evangelist strategies fail to help the most vulnerable students Simon Dedworth

“I

know we’re all here because we love Jesus”, announced the leader of my college Christian Union during Freshers’ Week. Except we weren’t.

Many, including myself, were driven by the promise of free food, and anxiety about finding friends in a scary new environment.

Active before term even began, the CU targeted early arrivals with gatherings before official freshers events started.

They targeted lazy, or at least hungry, Sunday breakfasters when hall was closed.

On a deeper level, the CU exploited the existential turmoil many face when they arrive at Cambridge. Official sounding “college share” events, framed as neutral discussions, were held in the Christian Union rep’s room, while local churches advertised furiously for fresher custom.

The CU’s evangelism is arguably an expression of religious freedom by people who genuinely believe they are doing good.

Certainly, the church can provide a support network in a highly stressful environment, and we can all appreciate free food after

These kindnesses veil a serious, judgemental undercurrent to Cambridge Christianity

leaving Cindies. But these kindnesses veil a serious, judgemental undercurrent to Cambridge Christianity.

Standing outside nightclubs conveys not only an obvious, condescending moral judgement on what is an entirely normal facet of modern youth culture, it helps stoke inner turmoil in people trying to reconcile their faith with their real life. It’s extraordinary that while even the Pope, a former nightclub bouncer, accepts “who am I to judge?” some student evangelists feel they can do just that.

Christian Unions have also been known to conduct far nastier, far more damaging campaigns. Alongside posters advertising the story of a local person’s journey “from Hinduism to Christ” as if that implies some kind of neo-imperialist improvement in their moral character, the college CU has in recent years targeted their leaflets at openly LGBT people’s pidges, in an act of stunning victimisation by those who believe we should “love thy neighbour”.

Of course, most Cambridge Christians would never dream of this sort of behaviour, least of all the college chaplains, on the

whole extremely friendly and open minded people. Yet the chaplain’s role itself presents serious problems. Like many, my college’s pastoral support hinges almost exclusively on the chaplain and the nurse. This means, that short of illness, problems are dealt with by someone, however charming, who has dedicated their life to an organisation with the distinct power to alienate. As a gay man, I would feel highly uncomfortable discussing my private life with someone aligned to an institution still resisting my right to fully integrate into society.

Perhaps this discomfort is unfounded, but it exists, and the colleges must cater for their diverse student body, providing totally secular pastoral support. Simultaneously the wider Christian evangelical movement needs to seriously reconsider some of its more strident campaigning, especially targeting freshers. First term is tough, so don’t add guilt and moral judgement onto the mountain of stress we’re already dealing with. Only by exhibiting more compassion and empathy can Cambridge Christianity consider itself a force for good, even under its own, Biblical definition of the term.

too restrictive? Let’s stop lying to applicants about college the case. Cambridge is such a stimulating place for an inquisitive young person that it’s hard not to develop new curiosities you couldn’t have imagined before coming here. Your horrendous experience of Year 10 chemistry may have coloured your view of the discipline, for example, but you might rediscover it and love the way it’s studied on a completely different level in Cambridge. I would argue that’s the sort of thing to be encouraged, but the current system allows you to do little except focus unconditionally on what your oblivious sixth form self signed up for.

It would be a colossal understatement to say that the Cambridge system has its merits. It has produced some of the finest scientists and innovators in world history, including ninety-one Nobel laureates. But it also ships off a legion of once-brighteyed youths to become management consultants or commercial solicitors every summer after having had them read Plato and Spinoza for three years. So when such a student develops an interest in, say, ichthyology, perhaps Cambridge should allow them more options to pursue it. They may not end up founding the discipline of piscatorial philosophy, but would certainly complete their university career as a more intellectually fulfilled individual. Maybe that, rather than specialisation, should be the real goal of a ‘Cambridge education’.

inequalities – it’s a serious issue for access FABIEN EQUANT

Amelia Oakley Comment Editor Following two recent TCS investigations which revealed a “serious inequality” in the giving of travel grants, and a huge discrepancy in the provision of financial scholarships across the colleges, should the university be considering an overhaul of current approaches to Access?

In my experience, those who apply to Cambridge from a so-called ‘Access Background’ are faced with the double burden of applying to an academically competitive university (like everyone else), and also entering into a system with which they are completely unfamiliar.

The entire process of choosing a college is, it seems, an admissions test in itself — big, small; old, new; far, near: there are so many additional decisions to make that they never warn you about on the UCAS form. In addition, prospective applicants are told when applying that ‘every college is essentially the same’, ‘everyone receives the same education’ — but are we not lying to our hopefuls? Yes, we all follow a curriculum decided for us by our faculty and yes, we will all sit the same exams.

But our experience at Cambridge is worth

much more than that.

Our ability to access grants and scholarships which allow us to live relatively comfortably financially are an incredibly important aspect of our welfare system. The ability to study at Cambridge without significant money worries, and join in — with friends who may be betteroff financially than you — in a town which is expensive to live in, is a crucial part of making the most of your time here.

Granted that Cambridge is fairly unique in its provision of travel grants. However, while we should be grateful for what we’re getting, we cannot ignore the vast difference between Trinity spending on average £167.94 per student, and Homerton merely £13.80. We shouldn’t feed our applicants the myth that ‘every college is the same’; it’s a false equality, it’s misleading, and it’s damaging. Trinity spending an average of £4,203 per student through scholarship provision is not something we should hide.

Whilst, the stereotypically ‘rich’ colleges may on the surface seem the most uninviting for state school students, in fact, at least from a financial perspective, they should be recognised as potentially the most beneficial.

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The Puzzles Column New Zealand triu 1.

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Connor Lempriere

A

5.

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Crossword

Down 1. Sex ___s, Arcsoc’s scampish decoration choice (4) 2. Mid-term period of doom (4,4) 3. What Sainsbury’s bagging areas never expect (4) 4. Everything is ___, if you’re a dinosaur and a meteor strikes (8) 8. In the year of our lord (2) 9. Make an engine go vroom vroom (3) 11. ___ McCluskey, general secretary of Unite (3) 12. The night before (3) 14. Radical militant Islamist group (2)

Across

1. Russian dissident who commented on Oxford’s mammoth donation (8) 5. Feudal lord (5) 6. Cathy and Heathcliff ’s scenery of choice (4) 7. Acronym for the official governing body of soccer in Northern Ireland (3) 10. Inactive (4) 13. Dr ___, Austin Powers villain (4) 15. Whirl, waltz, coffee house (8)

by Charlotte Furniss-Roe

s the Rugby World Cup thundered to an electrifying climax over the past weekend, my own experience of the tournament felt as though it was coming to a more gentle conclusion, as a trip home to London found me enjoying the final in the comfort of my parents’ living room, a far cry from the previous weeks’ stadium hopping. As a prodigal armchair fan, I found myself faced with the daunting prospect of no longer being able to rely on firsthand accounts of stadium atmospheres mixed with anecdotes from the pub, instead having to actually attempt to write about rugby!

Nevertheless, I could not have asked for a more enthralling and commentworthy end to what has been, for me, the best World Cup in memory, though England supporters of my generation may understandably have different ideas about that.

For starters, Friday night witnessed a fitting curtain call, both for an Argentina side that have contributed immeasurably to making the past six weeks such a delight, and for the Springbok legends bowing out of international rugby. Whilst early tries in each half for South Africa gave proceedings at times a one-sided appearance, Argentina carried on playing to the very end with grit and dignity and earned an 82nd minute try that even referee John Lacey, happy to make the call without video assistance despite a less than clear grounding,

Cambridge United part com Paul Hyland Sport Editor

Sudoku L

Solutions from Volume 16, Lent Issue 8

rightly seemed to agree was richly deserved.

Though finals in any sport can often be cagey, anti-climactic and attritional as the stakes are at their highest, Saturday’s encounter was a truly fantastic encounter between two teams who more than justified their right to be at Twickenham that day.

Though the All Blacks ultimately won through as widely expected, Australia’s contribution was laudable and made for a memorable spectacle, frustrating New Zealand for much of the first half with a high-intensity game exemplified by an outstanding turnover from Hooper and Pocock behind their own 5 metre line as Kiwi pressure built. Tries conceded either side of half time looked to have broken the Wallabies’ resistance, yet they rallied brilliantly to drag themselves back into the match, capitalising on

ocal League Two team, Cambridge United, announced this week that manager Richard Money has been relieved of his services with immediate effect with

by Thomas Prideaux Ghee the club sitting 18th in League Two. Money, 60, spent three years in the post, joining the club after a spell at Luton Town. In his role he oversaw the club’s return to the Football League in 2014 after a nine-year absence, and in the same year guided the team to lifting the FA Trophy at Wembley after a 4-0 thrashing of Gosport Borough. Most famous was this January’s FA Cup fourth-round match at home to the might of Premier League Manchester United, who were held to a 0-0 draw over 90 minutes and were forced to play out a replay at Old Trafford.

Money was rewarded for his stellar efforts with a three-year contract

extension in May this year.

What followed a season of serious highs has been one of shocking lows.

After a dismal run of five victories in sixteen matches played, United sank to their sixth defeat of the season this week, as they were overturned 2-0 at home to 12th-placed Bristol Rovers saw the team slip to 18th of 24th in the league. For the board at

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The Cambridge Student • 05 November 2015

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iumph in thriller Ben Smith’s sin-binning to run in two of their own as the second period witnessed some exhilarating expansive rugby from both sides.

New Zealand, though, were simply magisterial, and despite Australia’s valiant performance, always looked like the champions-elect we knew them to be. Their first try saw a beautiful improvised switch move by two of the All Black Smiths, Aaron and Conrad, before Richie McCaw calmly drew his man to slot in Nehe Milner-Skudder in the corner. Their second came through a sensational run from Ma’a Nonu, and when they were threatened by Australia’s second half fightback, Dan Carter calmly provided breathing space with a drop goal executed with astoundingly little time and space that was nonetheless made to look routine.

What was so impressive about

many of these moments was the sense given of the sheer strength in depth and versatility of the All Black squad. They boasted forwards with perfect handling skills, typified by McCaw’s assist. They were able to replace a centre as experienced as Conrad Smith at half- time and gain from it, as his replacement Sonny Bill Williams made an immediate impact in providing a superb offload to set Nonu on his way for the second tryr.

Most impressive was the fact that, in a team containing the mesmerising footwork of Milner-Skudder, Nonu himself had the audacity to produce the outstanding sidestep of the final.

The All Blacks were untouchable and, as debate ignites over whether they really are the greatest team of all time, they have certainly been fitting champions for perhaps the greatest World Cup ever.

MARC

The NFL deal: Great news for London Alistair Gempf

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his week the American NFL announced a three-year deal with the Rugby Football Union to host at least one regular-season game at Twickenham Stadium from October 2016. This comes just weeks after a deal was reached for Wembley Stadium to host at least two NFL matches per season until 2020, as part of the league’s International Series, which has given foreign countries the right to host American football games since 2007.

London can look forward to hosting a minimum of five NFL games per year when Tottenham Hotspur, also given the rights to host two matches per season, complete work on their new 58,000-capacity stadium in 2018.

This is fantastic news for the sport in the UK. American football is already the fastest-growing sport in the country, with viewership of the NFL doubling since the start of the International Series in 2007, and a

record 114.4 million viewers tuning into this year’s Super Bowl in the United States alone.

Now with the arrival of America’s biggest sport on British shores, the sport can look forward to increased growth in the future. The more games here, the faster the sport will grow. A greater number of spectators will lead to a greater number of particpants.

American football teams throughout the country will be able to enjoy a greater pool of talent and develop their teams as a result. And it’ll be an opportunity for people to try something completely new and be part of a unique team.

It’s also excellent for London. The International Series attracts NFL fans from all over the country and the rest of Europe. On 25 October, 84,000 people piled into Wembley Stadium to witness the Jacksonville Jaguars defeat the Buffalo Bills in a stunning 34-31 game. A week later the same amount of people turned up to watch the Kansas City Chiefs thrash the Detroit

Lions 45-10. Not bad for a stadium that holds 90,000 people in a country that knows little about the sport.

Attracting the richest sporting league in the world to London will put a share of that wealth into the British economy. Tourists visiting for the games will take the opportunity to visit the city and give welcome boosts to British businesses.

Most of all though, it’s good for British NFL fans. For a long time, following the NFL felt like being part of a cult, staying up into the early hours of Monday morning to watch the Super Bowl, or even taking to the radio to listen to a sport many hadn’t even heard of. Now, there are real matches being played on our doorstep.

And who knows what might happen beyond 2020? London might even find itself with its very own team. What a long way the sport has come here, and what fantastic news this could be for the city of London.

Alistair Gempf plays American football for the University.

Paris: Too big for sporting success?

Sophie Penney

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’m living out here in Paris for my year abroad, and one of the big differences from London is that it is so much more compact. Big, green spaces like London’s various parks and commons are few and far between out here.

To a sportsman, this is a travesty.

Casual kickabouts like I’d see at home are nigh-on impossible because local parks are not big enough to swing a cat, let alone play a game of football.

Almost all sports pitches are on the outskirts of the city. As I headed home progress over the last three years.” from a game of tennis a few days ago, Money has since released a statement I passed a sign that said ‘Welcome to via the League Managers’ Association, Paris’ just to let you know that was underlining his disappointment at not where you were. being given the opportunity to take Cambridge United even futher. Quick to remind his former employers of his achievements, he said: “I ensured initial stability and then in my first full season as manager, and after nine seasons outside of the Football League, I guided Cambridge United to promotion via a magnificent play-off final win at Wembley.

“That season was memorable not just for Play-off success but also for another winning day at Wembley in the FA Trophy which was the club’s first piece of silverware in their history.”

Money’s assistant, Joe Dunne, has been put in temporary charge of the first team and has become bookies’ favourite to take over from his former boss.

mpany with Richard Money the Abbey Stadium, this latest upset was a bridge too far: “The Club has taken this difficult decision due to the disappointing pattern of results over the last nine months and because the current squad is not showing consistent signs of achieving its potential,” read a club statement, which went on to place on record its “thanks to Richard, who has been instrumental in the club’s WIKIMEDIA

With pitches that are so far away from where people live, playing sport immediately requires much more effort. This can have a devastating effect as participation levels plummet and potentially hidden talent is left undiscovered.

Some sports, like basketball and jogging, which require less provided space seem to flourish in central Paris.

But this means that Paris’ layout is dictating what sports its citizens can take part in.

Is it also deciding how much sport they do? Does Paris life make people less active in general? Or does it just look like fewer Parisians are playing sport because they’re having to travel to the outskirts to do so?

It’s difficult to tell, but I must say, I

don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone in sports kit on the Métro.

Does France as a whole suffer from having a capital city that seems to work against facilitating sport?

Sports just about manage to survive in France, as less-cluttered major cities do not hinder professionals with long journeys to sporting facilities. But it shouldn’t be about survival. For a sport to thrive it needs high levels of participation and opportunities to access it as a player, and also as a fan, without having to pay a million pounds for a ticket.

Unlike in London, Paris is failing to give sport the exposure it deserves. As the capital of one of the world’s major countries, it’s amazing to see how far behind it remains.

MOYAN BRENN

Sport

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05 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

The return of TCS Puzzles Turn to page 18 for our Crossword and Sudoku

www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/sport

Cambridge University Table Tennis Club lost a heated match against Nottingham Trent University on Wednesday

Image: William Lyon Tupman

William Lyon Tupman

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he art of table tennis is always precise and energetic, and both aspects of this were certainly evident at Cambridge’s match against Nottingham Trent. However, while both teams were doubtlessly well co-ordinated, playing with first-rate attention and almost immediate reaction times, it was clear that Nottingham Trent had a siginifiant lead from an early stage. Nevertheless, Cambridge stayed together very well in what proved to be a very tense series of matches, holding out through several defeats in a row for the Blues – a trend started from the beginning of play, with an overall score of 5–0 to Nottingham Trent just 30 minutes in. Perhaps especially commendable was how the Blues often kept their cool in the heat of tension better than the team from Nottingham did!

But Cambridge made an unexpected recovery, and their play improved considerably – it proved effective as time progressed, closing the margin by a fair amount at least.

Cambridge Bristol

11 10

Emily Birch

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onfident from their win over Exeter last week, the Blues went into the game far too relaxed. They quickly conceeded two goals, failing to win 50:50 balls and to secure the ball off the draw.

Scrappy skills from the attack meant that it was difficult to settle into the game, until Moss battled through a flurry of defenders to secure the first goal for the light blues.

The rest of the first half saw strong defending from Cambridge, with notable performances from Gillespie, Ronald and Duck who successfully repelled Bristol from danger zones, as well as goalkeeper Gildersleeves who made some impressive saves. Cambridge raised the tempo of the game and got feisty. Rodgers’ dynamic movement across the pitch and strong communication helped motivate the light blues forward. Despite fierce contest for ground balls, the scoreline remained tight. A drive from Lehovsky resulted in the winning goal for Cambridge in the last minutes, marking the end of a closely contested match.

Women’s Football

Cambridge 7 Nottingham Trent 11

Women’s Lacrosse

Men’s Table Tennis

Difficult games result in some wins for Cambridge Cambridge UEA

5 2

Gerda Bachrati

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et conditions made this a difficult game against the University of East Anglia, but the Blues came out on top, keeping possession comfortably in the first half.

An early goal by Becca Hirst gave the Blues the lead, but they couldn’t extend this to the heavy defence. The UEA striker was able to take advantage of the bounce and loop the ball over the Blues keeper bringing the score to 1–1.

Quick counterattacking from the wings by the Blues ended the second half at 2–1 with Charlotte Bull shooting clean through the defence. UEA started strong in the second half and managed to equalize early with a scrappy goal in the 10 yard box.

The Blues replied quickly with another goal from Becca Hirst. With 10 minutes to go the Blues continued to dominate possession, with Taylor Lynn Jones looping a through ball from Katy Edwards over the keeper, and knocking a cross from Kathryn Savage into the net, earning her 2nd goal and bringing the score to 5–2 to CUWAFC.