Michaelmas 2015 Issue 6

College accommodation: Inequality in the costs of rent on college rooms is deeply unfair

→ Comment, p.16

Jesse Jackson:

Customisable jeans:

“We must become colour-caring”

The jean-ius girls taking their art to their denim

→Interviews, p.14

→Part 2, p.11

The

12 November 2015 Vol. 17 Michaelmas Issue 6 www.tcs.cam.ac.uk

Student Union satisfaction at an all-time low

Cambridge Student

Assange speaks to unmoved audience Stevie Hertz News Editor

Survey also shows 90% course satisfaction rate Colm Murphy and Anna Carruthers

C

ambridge students are the least satisfied with their university student union out of any other university according to an extensive national survey.

The National Student Survey 2015, which canvasses finalists every year, shows 32% were “satisfied” with their “students’ union.”

1,867 responded out of a potential 3,132 students. Meanwhile, 40% “neither agree nor disagree.” In 2014, 37% were satisfied.

This makes Cambridge the lowest university in satisfaction rating, and fifth last in the overall table of higher education institutions. 155 universities took part in the survey.

It is also Cambridge’s lowest satisfaction figure since the question was introduced in 2012.

Oxford were the second last university for satisfaction with their student union. Bristol recorded 40% satisfaction and Durham 42%.

The University as a whole has over 60 student unions, including the uni-wide CUSU, but also JCRs, most of whom are affiliated with CUSU. CUSU president Priscilla Mensah spoke to The Cambridge Student: “These results aren’t about this year’s CUSU ... a line needs to be drawn under this in a new year.”

In March, the CUSU sabbatical elections received the highest turnout since online records began.

She stated: “This year’s sabbatical team ran with the aim of changing a resistant CUSU narrative.

“We have already made significant strides in ensuring students know what we do” and are “fostering a relationship with students who hadn’t engaged with CUSU in the past.”

Mensah stressed that each team “works with little funding ... and this year, we are endeavouring to be consistently strategic about how we target students.

“We’re excited to see how perceptions of CUSU have changed

by July 2016.”

Meanwhile, there were more positive statistics for teaching, as 90% said they were “satisfied with the quality of my course”.

Psychology students recorded 95% History 94%, and Economics 77%; AMES students recorded 71%, higher than last year’s 55%.

However, while 98% of Classics students said their course is “well organised and runs smoothly” only 40% of Linguistics students, and 42% of Music students did so.

The University was unavailable for comment on the results.

Last year, an internal report of the survey seen by TCS showed that only 38% of students agreed that they did not feel “unnecessary pressure”.

Currently, the 2015 report which contains that data is not available.

This comes as CUSU Council passed a motion calling for the Tompkins Table (a college ranking table) to be scrapped, described by The Tab as “Marxist” (see page 7).

Editorial Comment page 15 →

Caius takes a new approach to ‘pennying’ (see page 6)

Julian Assange spoke to the Cambridge Union yesterday evening, just over a month after the initial announcement of a referendum on his invitation.

Yet despite the build-up, the Editorin-Chief of Wikileaks spoke to a chamber with many free seats on the floor and a half-empty balcony above.

Despite vigorous opposition to Assange’s invitation, the large amount of private security personnel hired by the Union were left idle, as no protests or commotion appeared.

Assange opened the event with a speech on ‘The Challenges to Free Speech in the West’, comparing himself to Wilfred Burchett, the journalist who gave the first Western report of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima.

Assange claimed that like Burchett, he has learned to use his vilifcation at a comparative advantage, saying he no longer worried if his “shirt is absolutely spotless, because [people] throw mud at you every single day.”

As the floor opened up to questions, one anonymous person asked “Did you rape those women...?’’

Assange responded that he was “surprised that [he] didn’t get a trigger warning”, continuing that “no woman has alleged rape against me” and claiming that the woman who made the accusation has since said that “she was rail-roaded and didn’t want to make a complaint.” He said he “found it interesting that no one wants to listen to these women.”

Closing the event, Assange said it was a “small and ignorant minority who oppose free speech” who voted against the referendum.

He later interrupted the Union president, Oliver Mosely, to say the idea that the Union did not respond to external pressure was “all strictly nonsense, absolute nonsense”, gaining Image: Matt Cole the loudest applause of the night.

2

12 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

News

Editorial Team 12 November 2015

Volume 17 • Michaelmas Issue 6 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 Deputy Sport Editor Jack Ranson Social Media Manager Sydney Patterson Chief Sub-Editors Charlotte Furniss-Roe Megan Proops Sub-Editors Josie Daw Jonny Fry Claire Chia Khushali Dodhia 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 the first frosts of the year setting in, these two dogs didn’t feel the need to follow the stipulations of St John’s signage 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 •

CHRIS LEXOW

FAREWELL TO THE WELFARE KITTEN

Leafing through the reams of the Agenda for the latest meeting of CUSU Council, this Diarist was interested to see an update on what CUSU’s Welfare & Rights Officer, Poppy Ellis Logan, has been up to. Alongside radical ‘craftivism’ – surviving Week Five through cutting and sticking – and Halloween-themed sexual health supplies, she’s also “researched the possibility of getting a GU kitten”. Given this newspaper’s current operations hub is the GU Executive’s former office, this Diarist was disappointed to see that Logan had to give apologies, and keenly awaits further news.

POSH SAUSAGE AND ASSOCIATED ANTICS

Our red-top colleagues seem to have had a rather strange week. An article entitled ‘Why is student journalism still such a posh sausage fest?’ fired shots at this newspaper and others for the fact of their editorial domination by privately-educated males, but fail to make significant reference to their own performance. An investigation conducted last

year by Varsity found that of the then past ten Tab editors, nine were privately-educated and eight were male.

Then, one of their Deputy Editors founding himself taking on the dual role of reporting on and voting in (as a proxy) the CUSU Council meeting.

Finally, one of its two editors, having set down his mantles at RAG and the University’s Law Society, has been sharing the publication’s articles on social media with renewed vigour.

This Diarist hopes his continued association brings only further success.

Reminder, reminder

The entreprenurial streak driving the founder of Students of Cambridge, our very own Joe Binder, seems not to be a new discovery. The Facebook page for his campaign to be Head Boy of his alma mater, the Jewish Free School, has resurfaced this week, to the great enjoyment of this Diarist.

The page is littered with memes encouraging its followers to vote for Binder in the upcoming election. Particularly memorable slogans include: “If you don’t vote Joe Binder, I’m gunna come find ya” and “Y u need reminder [sic]?!

Just vote for Joe Binder”. The page’s first meme pictures Binder with Obama, both pulling the iconic ‘not bad’ face.

The caption reads: “Same shit, Different skin”. This Diarist wonders what the subject of Students of Cambridge’s most popular photo (published this week) might make of the comment, but is pleased to report that the campaign resulted in Binder’s election as Deputy Head Boy. Front page: JIMMY APPLETON, UCC MEDIA JUSTICE, JESSIE MATHEWSON

3

The Cambridge Student • 12 November 2015

News

The state school advantage New research shows state school students get more Firsts than their privately educated counterparts Stevie Hertz News Editor New research has found that state school students are more likely to succeed at university than their privately educated counterparts.

The research by the University of Cambridge reveals that for students who receive A*s at A level, 50% more state school students got Firsts than their privately educated counterparts.

It also showed that the number of A*s achieved at A-level is a good predictor of class of degree across universities. This was particularly true in Science and Mathematics which was a good predictor of degree success in a wide range of subjects, including Arts.

prior attainment.”

The research has significant implications for admissions, as preference may now be given to state schools when choosing between very similar students.

However, statistics from Cambridge’s 2015 class lists, previously reported in The Cambridge Student, reveals that disregarding A-level achievement, overall 20% of students previously educated at comprehensives got Firsts, compared with 24.5% of former private school students.

The senior tutor of Churchill College, Richard Partington, told The Telegraph: “We now know that the

Speaking of the research, a achievement of A* grades at A Level indicates high potential for university spokesman for the Headmasters success ... This information will be and Headmistresses Conference of of great value to admissions tutors leading private schools Chris Ramsey, commented: “In the real world more “In the real world, more independent school pupils get A*s in the first place, and overall get better independent school degrees. Previous, more thorough pupils get A*s in the first research shows it is wrong to conclude that more than a tiny number – place, and overall get around 1% – of state school pupils better degrees” entering at the same level will do better at university.”

Rodeiro and the colleague that everywhere, emphasising once again that university entry is valid when worked with him on the research, it is conditional upon achieved Nadir Zanini, gave two possible justifications for the difference in exam results.”

READING TOM

attainment. They said it was possible that privately educated students may be less motivated to study at university, spending more time socialising, and also that they may have been ‘spoonfed’ while at school, thus struggle in a more a independent learning environment.

One second-year student, educated at a comprehensive said “I had to work really hard to get the results Cambridge requires – I’m not saying that other people didn’t, but I didn’t get much support from my school. In hindsight, I think that really prepared for independent study in Cambridge.”

However, Beth Greenwood, a fresher with a similar comprehensve background said: “Coming from a

“The state-private divide is completely misleading”

50% Amount more state school students get Firsts than their private school peers Dr Vidal Rodeiro, from the department that carried out the research commented: “In both Russell and non-Russell Group universities, students from independent schools were less likely to achieve either a first class degree or at least an upper second class degree than students from comprehensive schools with similar Abingdon School in Oxfordshire, described by school alumnus David Mitchell as a “provincial minor public school”

state school, I feel I was less prepared at working at higher level problems, as less class time at school was devoted to this. I also feel private schools give students confidence in their own ability, which is so important for successful supervisions.”

But Colm Murphy, a finalist, who attended a state grammar school, disagreed with the framing of the research: “The state-private divide is completely misleading, as state schools can include comprehensives, faith schools and grammar schools, from areas that range from deprived to wealthy. Using other indicators such as free school meals and post codes would be more revealing.”

River Cam may be drying up Clubs support local hospice Will Amor Deputy News Editor

Experts have warned that there may well be a water shortage in Cambridge, fundamentally changing the city’s way of life.

The water problems come as a result of the city’s growth: Cambridge Water serves 30,000 more people than in 1990 but without having taken any more water from natural sources.

The idea of Cambridge drying up may surprise many readers for whom the atrocious, eternal wet and windy weather in the city is a daily grief. Yet despite the relentless rainfall, the water table in Cambridge has been dropping, meaning that many of the streams and tributaries in the local area have all but dried up.

The Environment Agency has listed both the Cam and the Granta as

‘poor’ in terms of water quality due to sluggish river flow and pollution. The Agency reports that it is aware of the problems for fluvial Cambridgeshire and is working on a major project to ensure continued water supply.

If the fears of the Cam drying up are true, punts may well have to fix wheels to drag themselves along the dried up bed of the River Cam, while fellows at John’s could starve as their supplies of swan meat will migrate to wetter parts of the country.

The river Cam, formerly called the Granta, has been crucial to Cambridge’s success as a city. Before the 13th century, the town was one of England’s most important inland ports, a function which relied on its waterways. Indeed, the name of the city reveals its aquatic past as a bridge needs something to cross.

Theo Demolder Deputy News

Cambridge water serves 30,000 more people than in 1990

The East Anglian Children’s Hospice (EACH) has this week welcomed a £5000 donation from Cambridge night clubs Cindies and Life (more officially known as Ballare and Kuda).

The clubs, both owned by the same company, the Deltic Group, pledged the sum through the Echo Trust.

Originally formed in 2002, the Trust, has raised more than £2.5 million.

The donation to the Milton based hospice, which provides end-of-life care for children and young people in Cambridgeshire, will fund a new tracking and hoisting system for the centre’s sensory room.

It is hoped that this will assist staff with moving children who have very limited mobility so that they can benefit from the relaxing

The clubs have donated £5,000 to East Anglian Children’s Hospice

and stimulating environment the technology creates for them.

Andrew Barney, Cindies’ General Manager said: “We have raised a significant amount for the Echo Trust through regular collections at both clubs.

“We asked the Trust to support EACH because of its amazing work with children and their families.

It is a way for us to give back to the community and make a difference.”

Beccy Gillings, who represents EACH, added that the charity relies on donations. “We are thrilled at this generous contribution from the Echo Trust. The new equipment ... will make such a huge difference to the children.

“Without the support from local businesses such as Ballare and Kuda EACH would not be able to continue the vital work we do”.

4

12 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

News

New joint Triposes get the go-ahead Elsa Maishman News Editor

Two new joint Triposes will be introduced, in History and Politics, and in History and Modern Languages, taking students from October 2017.

These new Triposes are intended to supplement, rather than replace, existing single-subject Triposes, in order to attract students of a high standard who currently apply elsewhere in search of joint study.

The proposals have been supported by the Faculty boards of MML, History and HSPS. The new courses will be largely based on current teaching structures, but some new courses will be introduced

creation of new roles.

UK, including Oxford. These joint Each Tripos will be composed of a programmes are very popular, but evidence suggests that a proportion of applicants eventually end up studying “I would have loved to just one track of the combination. have taken the History The History and Politics Tripos will and Politics course’’ be under the overall governance of the Faculty Board of History.

The announcement in the University Part IA, Part IB and Part II. History and Modern Languages (HML) Reporter states that: ‘‘it is anticipated students will still go on a year abroad. that the introduction of this Tripos Both degree combinations are will increase the overall numbers offered at universities across the of applications from well qualified

2017 Year in which new Triposes will come into effect to create a link between the separate disciplines. This teaching will be provided by current staff, without the

students, either to this Tripos or to course – in fact I almost applied for a similar one at Oxford. They’re such existing Triposes’’.

In time, a cohort of between 30–40 closely related subjects, that they seem like a natural fit, so it’s surprising Currently, many Cambridge doesn’t have one already.”

According to the Reporter, ‘‘the applicants are lost to History Faculty does not receive Oxford sufficient applications from candidates students each year is expected for the who are proficient in languages,’’ and ‘‘many applicants are lost to Oxford History and Politics Tripos.

A second-year History student who are either set on reading for a commented: “I would have loved to joint history and languages degree or have taken the History and Politics who are sufficiently interested in doing ANDREW DUNN so to exclude Cambridge at an early stage of their reflections on where to study.’’ The Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos has suffered a decline in applications recently.

The languages initially available will be French, German, and Spanish (post-A-level), and Russian (postA-level and ab initio).Italian will be added from the second intake in 2018, with other languages included at a later stage. A cohort of between 15–20 every year will be expected.

In 2017, the joint MML Tripos will not be open to affiliated students, but this may change in subsequent years In each case, the new joint Tripos will not result in an increase in the total number of students in the Schools of the Arts and Humanities, and of the Humanities and Social Sciences respectively.

Police called as swan Cact-ivism: Murray Edwards’ halts city centre traffic ‘‘baby cactus adoption’’ program Stevie Hertz News Editor Police were called to the scene after a rogue swan stopped traffic on Elizabeth Way Bridge in Cambridge.

The incident, just after midday on 9 November, saw the waterfowl disrupt the traffic flow on the four lane bridge.

Several members of the public showed signs of extreme nervousness, perhaps trusting the commonly held belief that if a swan feels threatened, it is capable of breaking a human arm.

Because of this police were called to the scene at 12:38pm after being alerted by members of the public.

Reports reveal that multiple police vehicles then rushed to the scene, as the animal fled to the BP garage.

However, public vigilantes entered the fray, disposing of the swan themselves by 1pm.

The Elizabeth Way bridge is just east of Midsummer Common and is one of the main road links into the city. It also features a target shooting range in the arches under it. The Cambridge Student understands that the shooting

range was not used in resolving the swan situation.

This latest swan-road interaction comes after Firefighter Joe Gacon saved a swan earlier this month in St Neots. Reports say, the swan had crash landed in the road.

After removing it from the road, Gacon to St Neots fire station, before calling in the professionals to rescue it.

The RSPB soon arrived and took the swan away.

In his 13-year career as a fire-fighter, Gacon had encounted hundreds of animals, including cows, duckings, horses and kittens.

A fire service spokesman told Cambridge News “It is believed the swan was probably stunned after a crash landing and will be returned to the water where it can be reunited with its family ... All Cambridgeshire firefighters are given varying levels of animal rescue training and if a member of the public ever comes across an animal that is trapped and requires rescuing, we would urge them to call the fire service.”

MURRAY EDWARDS GARDEN

MURRAY EDWARDS GARDEN

Elsa Maishman News Editor Murray Edwards Garden has run an adopt-a-cactus scheme within the College. A Facebook post announcing the initiative on 5 November called upon students to ‘‘give a baby orphan cactus a home.’’

All 75 of the cacti on offer were propagated from seed by the Murray Edwards gardeners. Students were asked to request a cactus of their own via a note in the gardeners’ pigeonhole or a message to the Murray Edwards Garden Facebook page. The ‘‘best’’ message received was cited as: “I miss my cat and need a friend!”

The Facebook page subsequently referred to the cacti as ‘‘prickly babies’.’

Students were advised to water their new plants with two teaspoons of water every other day, they are ‘‘still very young and your rooms will be dry and hot.’’ There has also been a promise of a similar scheme being run in the New Year, with a ‘‘different twist.’’

Third-year History student Anna

Carruthers spoke to The Cambridge Student about her new acquisition, saying: ‘‘I’m slightly scared that I’m going to kill it, and that this will be representative of my Cambridge career. On the whole, however, I’m just really happy to have a new friend. It’s tiny at the moment, but I’m hoping that my love will make it grow strong.

I haven’t yet named it. Suggestions would be welcome!’’

Third-year Medwardian and former College welfare officer, Charlotte Furniss-Roe, was not so lucky. She said: ‘‘I am so disappointed that I wasn’t quick enough to get myself one of the Murray Edwards cacti. I think it’s a lovely scheme and have been avidly checking my Facebook for any hints of the new scheme. I really just want something to love.’’

The garden is described on Facebook as ‘‘celebrating flowers, fun, creativity, experimentation and plantsmanship’’.

The mission is ‘‘to create a real and imaginary garden whose ethos is warm and welcoming to everyone.”

5

The Cambridge Student • 12 November 2015

News

JCRs challenge storage policies Students and JCRs have this week questioned their colleges over their vacation accommodation and storage Colm Murphy and Anna Carruthers Investigations Editor and Deputy The Cambridge Student has learnt that a number of JCRs are pressuring their colleges for changes in vacation and storage policies.

At Downing, nearly 300 students have signed a petition protesting the scrapping of storage for international students.

Meanwhile, at Magdalene and Trinity, JCR officials are putting forward proposals for changes in the rules, and the JCR of Murray Edwards is canvassing the opinion of the student body on accommodation as TCS goes to print.

Last week, TCS reported that Magdalene’s welfare and equal opportunities officer raised the idea of allowing students to leave possessions in their room over the vacation at an open meeting, as the policy is under review.

their rooms as standard practice. student body at Downing who … pay Since TCS’s investigation, it much higher rates for accommodation, college bills and tuition fees. Downing College must be an equal and supportive Downing student’s have petitioned against environment for all students”.

Dr Williams commented that the scrapping of “there have been concerns over many international storage years about security of access and the safety of items stored” mentioning was reported in The Tab that flooding and rodent infestations.

Downing’s Senior Tutor Dr Guy The College General Purposes Williams suggested scrapping Committee subsequently met on facilities for international students. Monday 9. The JCR was unable to This led student Onkar Singh to comment on the outcome of this meeting. create a petition which currently has 276 iCUSU, which represents international signatures. The petition argues: “This students, is currently conducting is a huge injustice for the international a survey on issues of storage and

accommodation across the University.

TCS has also learnt that Trinity College Student Union is currently negotiating with the College to allow students to keep their rooms for storage at a cheaper rate.

Currently, students have to pay almost the same rate for their room as in term time even if they are only using it for storage.

Their president, Cornelius Roemer, pointed out to TCS that “Trinity does not take part in the conference business extensively so most of the rooms are vacated by students in vain.”

Most students don’t want to pay the full rate for storage, so “no use is made of most of the rooms that are vacated.”

He also mentioned that St John’s BOWBOWBERGEY

“No use is made of most of the rooms that are vacated”

Trinity JCR thinks that £60,000 profit could be made in a policy change

recent JCR meeting, Murray Edwards students have complained about a wide variety of issues including: mould, and no lighting, no water, and no heating for extended periods. Murray Edwards JCR, while the survey is open, is unavailable for comment.

One Peterhouse student, whose family doesn’t own a car, told TCS: “It’s practically impossible to move all my stuff in and out three times a year. But as I’m not an international student, my college doesn’t provide me with any storage.

“I’ve had to pay several hundred pounds for private storage or stay on my own over the holidays, just to babysit my belongings. It’s a huge expense and inconvenience.”

When contacted, their JCR president, Harry Gower, said they were “yet to find a solution to the issue with college.

“We have spoken to college and asked them to publish a full list of what can be stored in which rooms (something which isn’t entirely clear currently).”

He added that they were investigating the possibility of a deal with an external company to enable students to bulk store student belongings.

At the very least, Christ’s, Emmanuel, Magdalene, Peterhouse and Selwyn currently ask students to vacate

Unis to get ‘Ofsted’ rankings Stevie Hertz News Editor

Universities will receive Ofsted style teaching quality rankings, according to a new Green Paper by Universities Minister Jo Johnson.

Highly ranked universities will be allowed to raise their fees with inflation, while those with worse teaching quality would not.

The Green Paper states that up until now, universities have been ranked according to their research quality, which has lead to a “weak emphasis” on teaching.

Johnson argues that this will ensure that students get value for money. The recent National Student Survey has revealed that only 35% of students thought they had received “good” or “very good” quality for money.

Alongside teaching quality,

have recently adopted a policy of allowing all students to keep their rooms over the vacation for free.

After meeting with the Junior Bursar and the accommodation office, and subsequently running a survey, Roemer argues that if the policy was changed to significantly reduce the cost of storing possessions over the vacation, the College would make an extra £60,000 a year.

He does point out that, from a welfare point of view, adopting St John’s policy would be better.

Murray Edwards JCR’s vice president, Laura Robinson, sent out a Google survey asking for accommodation issues to be highlighted.

According to the minutes of the

universities will also be ranked on student satisfaction rates, drop out level and graduate job prospects.

The general secretary of the University and College Union, Sally Hunt, commented: “simply finding a few measures to rank teaching will do nothing to improve quality.”

Additionally, Labour’s Gordon Marsden, commented that the plans were a “Trojan Horse for raising fees” and risked creating a ‘two-tier’ education system.

The president of the National Union of Students, Megan Dunn, similarly commented that it was “reassuring to see the government putting access to education at the heart of their proposals... [But NUS was] adamant that the Teaching Excellence Framework should not be linked to an increase in fees.”

Highly ranked universities will be allowed to raise fees

Oxford declared ‘under attack’ Stevie Hertz News Editor

Oxford University and college computers are currently facing ‘attack’ from Dridex, a computer virus, masquerading as email attachments.

The Cambridge University Information Service (UIS) has released a news article stating that Oxford computers “running Windows are under attack from a nasty piece of malware”. The attachment appears to be an invoice or other urgent financial documents. The virus is also capable of transferring through USB sticks.

Typical anti-virus packages are completely ineffective against the virus and once installed it is difficult to remove.

Like many Trojan Horse viruses, the malware steals confidential information, such as financial details

Anti-virus packages are ineffective and it is impossible to remove the virus once installed

and secure logins, through copying keystrokes and screenshots.

The UIS warns Cambridge students and colleges to be extra vigilant opening emails with Excel and Word attachments and consult college IT departments if in doubt. Macs and android devices are not vulnerable to the virus, but are capable of forwarding it to others.

The UIS reassure readers by urging them “not to be embarrassed if you think you have opened an infected attachment: shut down your computer and seek urgent advice.”

However, one Cambridge student did not fear the virus, commenting to The Cambridge Student “The balance of my bank account is currently -£158.

They’re welcome to take that if they want – in fact, do you have a copy of the email attachment?”

6

12 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

College Watch

Images: Jessica McHugh Text: Will Amor and Tom Richardson

Caius

Magdalene

Emma

Sidney

The nightly Formal Hall at Caius has been causing more problems than indigestion: pennies left in glasses have now broken the College’s waste disposal system, twice. Both times the brand new system had to be repaired, so students have been urged to remove their pennies from glasses before the end of their meal. The act of placing a penny in someone’s wine, known as ‘pennying’, means that the person must then finish their drink immediately, known as ‘downing it’.

Women have been known to engage in this student ritual, which may come as a surprise to the master of the college.

Caius’ formal is usually more sedate than other colleges’ both because it is more frequent and because students do not have to wear smart clothes, and so pennying is quite rare by comparison. However, last week saw the termly Superhall at the college when all the pent up pennying comes out. A Caius fourth year commented, “At home, we use pound coins, not pennies, to get people to finish their drinks.

Maybe if this became the custom students would be more likely to retrieve the coins after.”

Magdalene is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its Mandela Scholarships, which provide funding for a year’s study at Cambridge University for South African students. The former South African President and Honorary Fellow at Magdalene allowed the College to use his name for this scheme in 1995, citing the “dire need of skilled men and women to service our new democracy”. The anniversary is also the launch of a new endowment campaign to fund a Professor of African Archaeology, a plan Mandela supported as well.

The anniversary was marked by the visit of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene of Ghana, to the College where he met with the College’s master and former Archbishop Rowan Williams, also known as Baron Oystermouth. The visit featured a discussion on African archaeology which, as the University website notes, “of all the world’s inhabited continents, Africa, the crucible of civilisation, is the least well understood.”

There is an ongoing boom in the field, however, and one which Cambridge wishes to cash in on by founding the new professorship

This weekend Emmanuel College lived up to its reputation for being green, as the College’s green committee, the Emma Green Ducks, organised a vintage fashion fair.

On Sunday 8 November the college bar was filled with displays of clothes from local charity shops, both for sale and for modelling in an on-site photo booth.

The event also included a cake sale, with proceeds going towards Cambridge University Amnesty International’s appeal for Cambridge Calais Refugee Action Group.

A similar secondhand clothes sale is held at Emmanuel every year. This year it was led by the College Students’ Union Green Officer Laura Schubert. The event presents secondhand clothes as ‘‘an environmental and ethical solution to excess waste.’’

At the end of the day, one third of the clothes had been sold. These 73 items raised a total of £370, which was donated to the charity shops that the clothes had come from. The cake sale also raised over £25 for CUAI’s Cambridge Calais Refugee Action Group.

Following a last minute proposal, Sidney Sussex JCR has passed a motion in support of the Meat Free Mondays campaign. Passions were stirred before the debate, with reports of arguments breaking out and an unheard of level of engagement amongst the usually passive student body.

The open meeting, usually attended exclusively by the JCR committee, was packed with students from all years. Arguments raged over the cost implications of the move, its fairness to meat-eaters in hall and the practical hurdles to full implementation of the motion, with the MCR and fellows expected to resist the move.

However, after a number of interventions reminding the meeting of the central environmental impetus for the movement, the motion was passed with a large majority. Cosponsor of the motion Sophie Dickinson said, “We’re thrilled with this result, and would now like to take the campaign uni-wide.”

It remains to be seen whether the motion will be implemented, but student support has clearly been galvanised.

7

The Cambridge Student • 12 November 2015

News

Campaign against class lists and tables get official backing Elsa Maishman News Editor CUSU Council has approved a motion to campaign for the University to eradicate collegiate ranking tables, as well as to stop publishing class lists.

The motion to abolish ranking tables was proposed on Monday evening by CUSU President Priscilla Mensah and Education Officer Robert Cashman.

As part of the motion put forward, CUSU stated its belief that ‘‘students are negatively impacted by contemporary academic metrics’’ and that ‘‘these metrics do not foster fair competition between colleges, but rather foster an unhealthy and destructive culture which is contrary to efforts to target intercollegiate inequality.’’

Both the Tompkins Table and the Baxter Table were cited as examples of such metrics. The Tompkins Table, published annually in The Independent, ranks colleges by comparing their total points (assigned on the basis of grades received) to what they would have got if every student had been awarded a First. The Baxter table is a confidential, internal rankings table within Cambridge University.

In her speech proposing the motion, Priscilla Mensah stated that ‘‘if we want a semblance of fairness between the colleges we should get rid of the Tompkins and Baxter Tables.’’ She also made the point that data is inaccurate, and that ‘‘everyone deserves the right to be here, and this nonsense reputational burden is unfair.’’

Damiano Sogaro, vice-president of Fitzwilliam College JCR, gave a speech in opposition to the motion,

in which he argued that the motion was admirable, but action should be limited to the Tompkins Table, as the Baxter Table is necessary to how senior tutors review colleges.

An amendment was passed, changing the campaign’s goal to getting rid of the Tompkins Table and amending the way in which other tables will be published.

The discussion continued for quite some time, before the motion was passed, with 17 votes for, five votes against, and one vote in abstention.

The Tompkins table is published using data made publicly available by class lists.

A motion to stop publishing class

“this nonsense reputational burden is unfair”

lists was also proposed by CUSU Welfare and Rights Officer Poppy Ellis Logan. The proposition stated that the class list system ‘‘deny students privacy with their results and is damaging for the welfare of many students.’’

In a speech in proposition of the motion, Women’s Officer Charlie Chorley cited last term’s Our Grade Our Choice campaign which, with over 1,200 signatures, petitioned the University to ‘‘allow students at the University of Cambridge to decide whether or not they appear on public university class lists.’’

The motion was passed, with 20 votes in favour, zero against, and four votes in abstention.

GEORGE REX

On Monday 9 November, CUSU Council passed a motion to “pressure” the University to increase “absolutely necessary” student representation.

The motion, proposed by Magdalene JCR president Harry Gower and seconded by Sidney Sussex College Students Union president Annie Magee, called for “student representation at the University Bursars’ Committee.”

It claimed that it was one of the “three main intercollegiate committees”, and that it is “influential in University business and thus the lives of all students”.

The motion argued that representation on issues that affected students was “absolutely necessary”.

Traders link sushi boom with influx of international students Traders in Cambridge have expressed their concerns that the opening of two more East Asian restaurants in the city centre serve tourists and students at the expense of local residents.

These traders, rather dubiously, blamed the boom in sushi outlets such as Itsu and Wasabi on international students at the University.

An independent on the City Council, Cllr John Hipkin, fears that the city has been “dominated by high volume, low budget tourism” which will lead to an “exodus” of residents. The leader of the Council, Cllr Lewis Herbert, was eager to see a greater diversity of eateries in the city and glad that the “excess number of mobile phone shops has been replaced by something more appealing.”

Oxford student takes bold stance against city council Oxford students have confirmed their reputation as radical and innovative thinkers when one student published an article with the controversial title ‘The Homeless Shouldn’t Be Punished’.

The comment article, written by Ben Oldfield and appearing in The Oxford Student, was in response to Oxford city council’s planned Public Spaces Protection Order which “aims to… require [the homeless population] to get the help that they need.”

In his piece, Mr Oldfield argues that this new order is an underhand attempt to ‘erase’ Oxford’s rough sleepers, and that homeless people should not be ‘punished’ for having the ‘‘misfortune of being the manifestation of a far wider problem.’’

Sidney hosts Cambridge’s first all-female chess competition

CUSU to “pressure” for more representation Colm Murphy Investigations Editor

NEWS BULLETIN

At the meeting, Fitzwilliam JCR vice-president Damiano Sogaro raised whether the student press would be invited, or whether they could ask the representative questions. Concerns about confidentiality were raised.

After an amendment, according to the minutes, the motion also called for “non-confidential information” in those meetings to be published to ensure transparency.

CUSU is now mandated to pressure the University. The motion also calls on all JCRs to present a similar motion at open meetings for their respective student bodies.

Speaking to The Cambridge Student, Gower welcomed the passing of his motion, saying he put it forward “because I believe financial matters to be an issue that affects all students at this university.

The motion argued that student rep was “absolutely necessary”

“At the current moment, there is a severe lack of student representation on an influential committee that can only be discussing issues that directly affect us. Hopefully, this motion will be taken forward by other JCR, MCR and autonomous campaign Presidents to their members and, if a large number show support, CUSU has a clear mandate to demand to be allowed access.”

He added that the Bursars’ Committee had an “extensive part” in “both welfare and monetary issues” that affect students.

There is currently student representation on other intercollegiate committees, apart from the Bursars’, including ones for the University senior tutors and the colleges.

When contacted, the University were unavailable for comment.

On Sunday 8 November Sidney Sussex played host to Cambridgeshire’s first ever female-only chess tournament. The competition, open to girls aged between 7 and 17, aimed to address the gender imbalance that has traditionally existed within the world of chess. Some 30 girls took part .

The tournament was organised by Sidney fellow Dr Mette Eilstrup-Sangiovanni, along with the president of the Cambridge University Chess Society. Dr EilstrupSangiovanni commented that ‘‘the idea was to give the younger girls a nice first experience so they can gain confidence, because the girls that stick at it get wins over boys all the time once they’re used to it.’’ She also expressed a wish to run the event again next year.

Academics reject boycott and attend Israeli conference 13 British academics have rejected calls to boycott Israeli Universities and attended a conference at the University of Haifa in Israel. The conference, which was on quantitative studies of conflict in international relations, comes after more than 500 British academics signed a pledge to boycott Israeli universities in order to stand in solidarity with Palestine. One academic in attendance, Proffessor Andrea Ruggeri, a professor at Oxford University, said he was “open to intellectual development ... I do not think we should put a stop to the dialogue even during a time when there are calls for a boycott of Israel.”

8

12 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

News

New institute founded to £1.2 million donation for ‘push boundaries’ of science new Theology scholars

Catherine Maguire Deputy News Editor

A collaboration between the University and Cantab Capital Partners LLP will establish a new institute, billed as an initiative that will “push the boundaries of information science”.

The Cantab Capital Institute for the Mathematics of Information, funded by a charitable donation of £5 million from the hedge fund Cantab Capital Partners, will form part of the Faculty of Mathematics.

The Institute aims to make use of principles of mathematical science in order to decipher the myriad of data that forms part of our daily lives.

The Institute has also said that its ultimate aim is to ensure that all available and significant information is used in all relevant scenarios.

The work of the Institute will be applied to a variety of disciplines, including medicine, financial services, and construction.

The new institute will have six lecturers and up to 18 PhD students.

CEO of Cantab Capital Partners, Dr Ewan Kirk, who has a net worth of £210 million said that Cantab is ‘immensely proud’ to be supporting the project, acknowledging that “now more than ever, using mathematical

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and statistical techniques to understand vast information sets can have a huge impact on our daily lives.”

He added: “The Institute aims to galvanise and accelerate progress in the mathematics of information and become a centre of excellence for innovative research both in the UK and internationally.”

Head of the University’s Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Nigel Peake was similarly optimistic, commenting that: “At Cambridge, we are looking to build on the world-leading expertise available to us to develop a broader and more enduring approach, reflecting the very latest insights into the mathematics of information.

“We are naturally delighted that Cantab has provided us with such a substantial donation, enabling us to turn this vision into a reality.”

Cantab Partners is one of Europe’s biggest computer-driven hedge funds dealing with £4 billion in assets.

Computer-driven hedge funds use big data to analyse historic market trends to find patterns they can profit from.

However, Kirk said that Cantab Partners would get no direct benefit from the centre, as it is unclear whether the research would have these real world implications.

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Churchill Master: Young , A Z Z I P E N O Y BU women can have it all E N O T GE

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“We are looking to build on the worldleading expertise available to us”

The Faculty of Divinity has accepted a donation of £1.2 million to create a new studentship fund. The Kirby Laing Graduate Studentships will fund studies by post-graduates exclusively on the New Testament.

This is the second major donation to the faculty by the Kirby Laing Foundation. In 2007, they funded the Lady Margaret Professorship in Divinity, which is the oldest chair in the University, founded in 1502.

The current Lady Margaret Professor, Judith Lieu, said that the new studentship will enable “a number” of post-graduate students to accept their places, without worrying about the financial costs.

“We shall now be able to offer full funding to the best MPhil or PhD applicants in need of support, either from home or overseas, to cover both their fees and living costs”, she said.

“New Testament Studies at Cambridge has an international reputation for its breadth and for the excellence of its scholarship and research supervision.

“We expect keen interest in the Kirby Laing Graduate Studentships, which will be offered for the first time this year”.

Sir Kirby Laing, who founded the charity, originally graduated from Emmanuel College in 1937.

The Kirby Laing Foundation was established in 1972 and currently funds several charities across the world. It gave out 90 grants in 2012, totalling more than £2,500,000.

According to their website, the Trust particularly focuses on “education... and the promotion of the evangelical Christian faith.”

This includes a wide variety of organisations. Alongside its donation to the Faculty of Divinity, in 2006 the Kirby Laing Foundation also gave “generous support” to what was then The Whitefield Institute. It has since been renamed the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics (KLICE).

In a recent post on their website in the section ‘KLICE Comment’, Reverend Dr Sean Doherty, a former KLICE doctoral award holder, wrote “It is more than possible to love and accept gay people without approving of same-sex sexual activity.”

He goes on to write that “God created two sexes to relate sexually to one another. Contemporary anthropology tends to over-emphasise human desires and feelings, which leads to orientation and therefore identity being defined by sexual desires.”

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Catherine Maguire Deputy News Editor

Professor Dame Athene Donald has argued that young women can have it all: but warns that gender stereotyping is rampant throughout the country’s education system.

Writing for The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit media outlet, Professor Donald, Professor of Experimental Physics and Master of Churchill, points to recent research carried out by the Institute of Physics, which found that girls, on average, make up less than a quarter of all A-Level Physics students. She added that the findings were “disappointing”.

Remarks such as “you do maths like a boy” and “girls can’t do maths” were rubbished by Donald, who described such gender stereotyping as “damaging” and “unnecessary”.

Professor Donald suggested that teachers should refrain from “gendering” subjects, and added that using sexist language to describe academic subjects “should be treated as being just as unacceptable as racist

“Why aren’t we talking about fatherhood and careers?”

and homophobic language”.

She also commented on numerous newspaper articles that have suggested that young women must make a choice between their career and motherhood, adding: “Why aren’t we talking about fatherhood and careers?”

“By and large, babies have two parents who, once the pregnancy and birth are over, should be working out how, as a pair, they can bring up the child”, she writes.

Professor Donald squares the onus firmly on head teachers, also writing that they “have a responsibility to encourage aspirations”.

Citing the example of Dame Carol Robinson, the first woman to hold a chair in Chemistry at both Oxford and Cambridge and raise three children, Professor Donald remarked that it is not only possible for women to be successful in the sciences, but that they can “get to the top of the game and still be a mother, indeed still have a period as a stay-at-home mother”.

“You might think that would not need saying, but apparently it does.

Even today”, she concluded.

9

The Cambridge Student • 12 November 2015

News

Funding for Calais volunteers

NEWS BULLETIN

Elsa Maishman News Editor

May Week is often seen by students as a week of excess and a time to forsake health, but new research coming from the University of Reading and UEA suggests that champagne “could help prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease”. This follows their research in 2013 which suggested bubbly can improve memory.

The benefits come from the red grapes used to make the French sparkling wine (it is white because it is only the skins which are dark). Ever the killjoy, the NHS has published a detailed critique of the research, pointing out that the study was in rats and the source of the funding is unknown. Maybe the champagne binge you had planned for the May Ball isn’t as healthy as a grape smoothie.

CUSU Council votes to donate £800 to volunteers for University Calais Refugee Action

Wednesday’s CUSU Council meeting approved the motion to support the Cambridge University Calais Refugee Action Group (CUCRAG), with a majority of 19 votes for to one against.

The ‘against’ vote was from Cornelius Roemer, Trinity JCR President.

The motion, proposed by Peter Martin, was to apportion £800 of the CUSU Council free budget (which is a total of £7000) to CUCRAG. In the course of the debate, Cornelius Roemer, Trinity JCR President, questioned what the University might think of CUSU donating money to charitable causes in times of ‘‘financial

difficulty”. This question was largely disregarded as the £7,000 budget has already been designated for use as the Council sees fit.

A newly-formed society, CUCRAG plans to send Cambridge students to Calais to work alongside the charity CalAid. While charities such as this have been receiving large amounts of clothing, food, toiletries and other goods, there is a lack of people to sort through these donations and get them from warehouse storage to their intended recipients on the ground.

CUCRAG is facing a funding gap as a new society, as potential funding sources such as the Societies Syndicate and the Cambridge Hub cannot

CUCRAG’s first trip to Calais took place last weekend

CUCRAG

consider a request for funding until Easter Term.

The urgency of the problem was put forward in defence of giving funding to CUCRAG, as winter is fast approaching and so refugees will be at their most vulnerable.

CUCRAG have so far conducted one trip to Calais, which took place last weekend. Ten volunteers travelled to the Calais camp, each paying £53 to cover their own expenses, subsidised by donations. Cambridge University Amnesty International raised £210.

Student volunteers spent time sorting less practical donations from items that could be of immediate use.

They also helped to construct shelters that could provide better protection to refugees than mere tents. Made of six major parts, these shelters are easy to transport to the camps for assembly on site. Over the course of the weekend, the volunteers were involved in constructing ten shelters and assembling four on site.

CUCRAG have another trip planned for this weekend, 13–15 November, and another on the weekend of 27–29 November. They are also planning to send volunteers to Calais over the Christmas vacation.

Non-Cambridge students, such as staff members and ARU students, will also be able to take part in the trips, although the money donated by CUSU Council will be reserved for Cambridge students.

Over 50% of Cambridge graduates in the ‘elite’ Stevie Hertz News Editor New research has revealed for the first time evidence of “the close association between being in the elite and attending an elite university”.

Using data from the Great British Class Survey, which had 160,000 respondents, ‘A tale of two campuses: universities and meritocracy’ – a chapter in new book by Mike Savage, Social Class In the 21st Century – compared the classes of graduates from a range of universities.

Over 50% of Cambridge University graduates aged 35 to 50 were in the ‘elite’, the highest of the seven classes created by Professors at the London School of Economics and the University of Manchester. In contrast, only one eighth of Anglia Ruskin graduates were in the elite.

Across the country, 6% of people were categorised as the ‘elite’.

People in the ‘elite’ are the highest

earning group, are most likely to be found in London and the home counties, and 97% own their own home. 24% of people in the ‘elite’ are privately educated.

Paul Wakeling, a senior lecturer at the University of York, analysed the data, saying to Times Higher Education: “The close association between being in the elite and attending an elite university is not unexpected, but it is the first time that this has been captured on such a large scale.”

Overall in the UK, ten universities have 35% or more their graduates in the elite, however this proportion falls away after the top ten. Six of these universities – KCL, Oxford, the London School of Economics, Imperial College, UCL and Cambridge – are in the South of England.

Wakeling commented on the findings, saying that this research reveals the “critical importance of getting access right and trying to

In contrast, only one eighth of Anglia Ruskin graduates were in the elite

ensure we have meritocratic access to universities”.He went on to say that if only a scarce number of universities “get these exceptionally high rewards that’s not good for society”.

Alongside data on university, the Great British Class Survey also gathered information on economic, cultural and social capital, asking questions like choice of music and who people socialise with. This led to other wider implications.

The study showed that traditional class structures, such as the ‘established middle class’ and the ‘traditional working class’ are no longer relevent as only 39% of people fit into them, as the traditional working class shrinks.

15% of people were defined as the ‘precareat’, whose jobs include cleaner and van drivers and often live in industrial areas. Over 80% of people in the precareat own their own home.

They also tend to not to have a large range of interests.

Dream come true: Champagne may actually be good for you

Mobile phones stolen while residents leave them alone Cambridge police have urged residents to be “vigilant” after a surge in mobile phone thefts in pubs and clubs. 11 thefts have been reported over the past two weekends, unsurprisingly when phones were left unattended. The police reminded residents that, if you intend on keeping your possessions, you should not leave them open to be stolen. Similarly, they recommended using a “secure cloakroom” to store valuables. The Cambridge Student understands that insecure cloakrooms should not be used because if your belongings do go missing the cloakroom will feel really embarrassed. We also suggest making a documentary on your Snapchat Story of your night as a reliable way to keep your phone nearby.

Pressure on private landlords and citizens to accept refugees Cambridge city council and the Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign have started a campaign to house refugees in privately rented accommodation.

Councillor Lewis Herbert, leader of the council, said: “Working with private landlords and citizens through the resettlement campaign, to offer accommodation to refugees, is a welcome and important way to expand the numbers of people that Cambridge can rehome.”

However, the properties would have to be affordable under the Home Office scheme which pays in line with council rents. They must also be self contained properties, rather than spare rooms. Cambridge’s twin city, Heidelberg in Germany, has a similar scheme.

CUSU coordinator apologises for “tax the rich” demo slogan CUSU coordinator Jemma Stewart has come under criticism for being photographed holding a sign reading ‘‘Free education... Tax the rich’’ before the National Demonstration for Free Education in London last week.

CUSU Council decided two weeks ago to support the demonstration, and provided funding for students to travel to the event. However, the slogan ‘‘tax the rich’’ had been removed from CUSU’s proposal as being too “political”. Jemma said: “I’m sorry for the photo as it contravenes policy... had I properly read that side of the banner I wouldn’t have taken it when offered.’’

10

12 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Features

TCS: The Cambridge Soldier?

Anonymous

I

have always wanted to join the army but my reasoning is hard to explain.

I am not a blind patriot, I am not a sucker for the “be the best” adverts; nor am I naïve enough to think that the British Army has been, unambiguously, a force for good in recent years. I want to join the army because I see the men and women who have done the most amazing, brave things and I just don’t know if I could ever do the same.

It is this reasoning which makes Remembrance Sunday special for me.

This year, I was on a field exercise during Remembrance Sunday and so did not attend a parade or service. Instead, I was in

At its heart, Remembrance Sunday glorifies nothing but bravery itself

a field in the rain, with three rifles propped up against each other and a wreath.

This service resonated so deeply with me as it showed that at its heart, Remembrance Sunday glorifies nothing but bravery itself.

There was no singing, no marching and no band was playing – just one of the officers present asking us to take a little time out of our day to remember those who did extraordinarily brave things.

For me, this is why Remembrance Sunday is so special. It honours a very simplistic quality; some people want to know how fast they can run, others how clever they can be, I just want to test myself in a different way.

RESOLUTESUPPORTMEDIA

Red, White and Eschew Anthony Bridgen Features Editor

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he poppy: arguably the most evocative and widely recognisable symbol of the wartime period and since. Adopted as an emblem of remembrance since Lt. John McCrae wrote ‘In Flander’s Fields’ having seen the delicate poppies growing on the oncescarred battlegrounds.

For many, it is a controversial symbol, with some feeling that its meaning has been lost and that it’s just worn out of a sense of obligation or fear of being denigrated for failing to wear one – so-called ‘poppy fascism’. Others reject it as a glorification of war or remembrance of the not-sowonderful actions of the British military, of which there have been many. I myself feel that, if the red poppy represented only those who sacrificed their lives and limbs in the World Wars, then it would be in no way objectionable.

What few realise is that there is an alternative, the white poppy. You may have seen it here and there, on the breast of Jeremy Corbyn for example, but not everyone knows what it represents. The White poppy is made and distributed by the Peace Pledge Union, an anti-war group created in 1934. It represents support for

The most evocative and widely recognisable symbol of the wartime period

the idea that there should be no more war and that we should work for peace. Though not its intention, many take offence at the white poppy for somehow devaluing the contribution of war veterans or proclaiming some form of moral superiority, though surely it is just an acknowledgement of the horror that occurs in war and a desire to see that it does not happen again.

Perhaps the red poppy already achieves this goal, but it is in many ways bound up with some less idyllic perceptions, and thus many choose to wear both together, something which the British Legion itself has no conflict with.

Whether you wear the white or red poppy, or none at all, is irrelevant. People observe remembrance in different ways and should not be disparaged for doing so.

THOR

Cambridge at W I Sammy Love Features Editor

n January 2014, footage filmed by St John’s student Malcolm Shaw was released, depicting scenes of Cambridge student life from the summer of 1941. It shows idyllic scenes such as the 1941 cuppers tennis final, punting outings, and sunny visits to Grantchester. We also see Malcolm and some of his fellow students climbing iconic buildings, but unlike the infamous Night Climbers years before them, he and his peers scale the buildings in broad daylight – such activities were permitted as part of fire drills and evacuation training. Looking back at the footage, Malcolm gives a voiceover reminiscing, “what happy days those were, and relatively care free despite the back drop of war”. But the University would increasingly feel the strains of wartime.

The academic year of 1941–42 saw matriculations down to three fifths of their usual figure and after conscription of all men aged 18+ was introduced in 1942, the 1942–43 year saw numbers down to less than half the usual. The government

ran a system that ensured some men were allowed to stay for higher education, but from 1943 this only applied for science and medical students whereas physically healthy arts students could not defer their service.

Despite the loss of not only students but also many fellows and lecturers to the war effort, the University took efforts to keep things running as normal as possible. For instance, in 1942 they devised a scheme that allowed students to study for two terms whilst undertaking their military training and, providing they passed their cadet examinations, this time would count towards a ‘war degree’ which they could complete if they returned to study after their service was finished.

Though most University and college buildings survived unscathed, several of the Union Society buildings were severely damaged in air-raid attacks in 1942. It was believed that the Nazis refrained from bombing Cambridge and Oxford in the hope that the RAF would reciprocate

Part 2

The Cambridge Student 12 November 2015

We will remember them

2

12 November 2015 • Part 2 • The Cambridge Student

Culture A guide to passive aggression in the library Freya Sanders Editor-in-Chief

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veryone’s got weird work habits, but the library is a no man’s land, in which a silent battle is perpetually, passively raging. After all, it’s full of highly-strung, hard-working people who are pernickety about their working environment. So, when that essay crisis rears its ugly head, here’s how you can win the battle in a few simple steps: Step one: The stare We all know (as primary school teachers reminded us) that staring is rude. Slight, irreprehensible, rudeness is what we’re going for here, so throw your scruples to the wind and make the source of the whispering/excessively loud music/ pen clicking the victim of a prolonged gaze. But make sure the perpetrator doesn’t see you staring, because that would be awkward – they might think you’re flirting, or worse, they might make eye contact, and what would you do then?

You’d probably accidentally smile, and then the whole effect would be totally ruined. Ultimately the stare is supposed to get you psyched for the next stages.

The ‘bitch please’ look is universal Step two:The sigh Now you’ve given them due (highly ambiguous and probably undetectable) warning with the stare, it’s time to crank it up. The passive aggression is going to get audible.

Just. It’s time to take another lesson from our primary school teachers, and communicate that we’re not angry, just disappointed. There’s no better way to do this than through

a page-rustling sigh. It might feel like your soul is on fire because of frustration, but let it out in a controlled manner.

Make sure it’s got some energy to it, though – again, you don’t want them to think you’re flirting. Aim to make the sigh so quiet that it’s easy to dismiss.

only if you don’t have them as a friend. Otherwise they might see it and that would be awkward. Alternatively you could throw a paper plane to their desk with ‘Shh’ written on it in your best calligraphic pen; or when they go for lunch, you could follow them and drop scalding soup all over them so they’re in too much pain to spend the afternoon working. Or you could spend an hour thinking about how you’d like the throw a paper plane or scalding soup at them, and do nothing but message your group’s Whatsapp detailing these plans, which everyone, like your victim, will ignore.

Cambridge is famous for its sighing Step three: The stomp This is bordering on active aggression, so don’t overdo it.

The trick is to wear clacky shoes, giving the impression it’s not purposeful. Rise from your desk, and march heavily past your victim – if they’re as paranoid as the average library-dweller, they’ll assume you’re leaving the library because you can’t deal with their behaviour. Keep your face deadpan, suggesting your focus on the book you’re about to get or the coffee you’re going to buy. Otherwise they might think you’re really rude. They’ll be reassured when you come back with that book or coffee, and might even giggle at your heavy-footedness, but their moment of paranoia will lay the foundations for your triumph.

Step four: Get creative You’ve stared, sighed and stomped, and nothing has worked.

It’s time to use your imagination. Social media is usually the way to go. Start with a passive aggressive Facebook status (“If the girl in the corner doesn’t turn down the T-Swift there’s going to be Bad Blood between us… amirite?”) but

Not what you want opposite you in a library Step five: Fight fire with fire If it’s got to the point where you’re considering violence – even if in soup form – it’s time for desperate measures.

It’s too awkward to engage with the noisy one directly, so you’ll have to show them how annoying they are. If they’re listening to Beyoncé, start humming along loud enough for them to hear; if they’re typing too loudly, type louder, and faster; if they’re tapping their pen, start pretending your desk is a drum-kit and your biros drumsticks. Eventually, they’ll get the message. Don’t worry if other people start staring at you or sighing or stomping past your desk.

They’re probably just flirting.

If all else fails, you could consider just politely asking your fellow library fiend to pipe down. it would probably save a lot of time and resentment. But it would also be super awkward, so you could also just go back to Step One.

TOP: ASHLEY VAN HAEFTEN, REST: FREYA SANDERS

Word of the Week: get your ploiter on You’ve probably picked this up after a

successful day of ploitering. Good for you!

Jess Payn Columnist

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he art of ploitering is skilful and refined; requiring expert skills of self-deception and imaginative habits of distraction. And yet we are all, I think, at least amateurs in said art. We attempt it in lectures, in coffee shops, and in the banal location of our college rooms: for to ploiter is to pretend to be working (to others, to yourself), when clearly you are not.

It is a wonderfully mellifluous word, well-balanced between the whimsical and the mundane, fun to say aloud.

And there’s added enjoyment from knowing that the student is the best kind of ploiterer. There’s nothing easier than ploitering in a lecture room, for example: the professor stands there, reciting gems of knowledge and intellectual

opinion, while you merrily scroll through Facebook, or have a sly nap on the desk; and it’s all OK at the end, when you have no notes and only a very vague idea of what was said, because you did attend a lecture – even if you weren’t exactly ‘present’ for it – and that counts as ‘work’.

Another prime location for ploitering is the coffee shop.

The coffee, you convince yourself, is essay fuel; the sugary cakey things will inflame your reading enthusiasm.

Inevitably, you spend more time enjoying all these works ‘aids’ than doing the work itself, but the books spread out across the authentically wooden tables create the impression of efficiency, and so your ploiting exploit is achieved. It is, of course, doubly worthwhile to amass in a large group for collective ploitering – though perhaps less convincing to

your general public.

Nevertheless, you can justify any chatting amongst yourselves as focussed discussion on the task at hand: if miscellaneous gossip creeps into your conversation, it is only a haphazard accident.

Above all, though, the best and easiest form of ploitering is the Facebook multitask. This week’s research open on one tab, your favourite and most addictive social media website open on another.

Overall, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of a ploiter.

To be focussed all the time is an inhuman aspiration, and being a bit self-indulgent now and again is no bad thing. I encourage ploitering at least once a week – if only to have an excuse to say the word out loud.

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 12 November 2015

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Culture

Bedtime books to snuggle up with I like reading poetry anthologies and Being Human: More Real Poems for Unreal Time is fab. There’s poems about all different stages of life: happy, sad, and you can read as many as you like. Amelia Oakley I’m reading Rilke’s Letters on Cezanne. There’s no real narrative thread so it’s perfect for a quick 15-minute read.

You can just dip into his lovely reflections on art and his beautiful descriptions of rainy Paris. Maddy Airlie I’ve just finished reading Marina Keegan’s The Opposite of Loneliness. It’s an incredible, short collection of stories and articles, and although the biographical tale behind them is really sad (she died 5 days after graduating from Yale), they’re actually hopeful reads. They’re particularly empowering if you’re not sure what you want to do with your life (calling all finalists); there’s a lot of stuff in there about the potential of young people to change things and be happy. So many feels. Freya Sanders At age 22, for me, the ultimate bedtime reading after a crap day has to be Schultz’s We Love You, Snoopy – or, in fact, any Snoopy-based fiction. Yes, you heard me. There is nothing better for a sad dog-person – such cute cartoons and feelgood, fuzzy, warmness. Jemima Jobling

Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep is perfect wind-down reading for creepy kids. A sequel to The Shining, this soporificallytitled novel is far less ghost-based than its predecessor and surprisingly full of hope, telling the story of a grown-up Danny and his continued adjustment to his special powers.

Polly Grey I love dipping into non-fiction before bed – it’s easy to read, but doesn’t suck you in too much (and stop you sleeping beacause you need to know what happens). I’d recommend Caitlin Moran’s How to be a Woman: it’s hilarious, down-toearth and refreshing, but also problematic. It’s a good way to distract yourself from day-to-day issues and get things in perspective. Mary Hollander Eudora Welty’s autobiography, One Writer’s Beginnings, is the most calming book I’ve read in a while. It’s divided into three bite-size chunks, and replete with pearls of wisdom.

Her reflections on childhood are particularly poignant, while the insight it gives you into her as an author is fascinating. Martin Dale Funnily enough, I find Adam Zamoyski’s Poland: A History to be perfect bedtime reading: it sends me straight to sleep.

Will Amor VIVIANA CALDERÓN

Morning melodies Best songs to make sure you get up on the right side of the bed

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ast week’s TCS reported the emergence of a new Spotify playlist created by David M. Greenberg, a scientist of Psychology specifically interested in musical engagement. The playlist created by Greenberg boasts an ability to awaken students with a sense of positivity, using scientific evidence that suggests, ‘music affects us in all types of ways, including emotionally, physiologically, and in the brain[...]’ Greenberg claims the music you wake up to will determine the projective course of your day. By this logic, waking up to ‘Can’t Touch This’ by MC Hammer is, in more ways than one, preferable to waking up to wet tears on your pillow and the lonely sounds of Bon Iver.

We thought we’d further Greenberg’s research by making our own wake-up playlist: ‘The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Theme Song’ “Thirty-three seconds is all you need to feel unbreakable; females ARE strong, thank-you.” Maddy Airlie ‘Rattlesnake’ – St.Vincent “It’s just an energising song, it wakes me up and sets me up (and it’s a good song to power walk to, especially if you’re late).” Anthony Bridgen

How films deceived you about university

LITREDME VIA YOUTUBE

Anna Bradley TV & Film Editor

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ou’ve done it. Your results envelope is in your hand, there’s a huge smile plastered on your face and come October, you’ll be going to university.

You also think you’ll know what it’ll be like, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Popular films are full of tantalizing myths about uni life - and they couldn’t be more wrong.

For starters, it isn’t going to be like Legally Blonde. Unlike everyone’s favourite blonde bookworm, you probably won’t find a well-meaning brainy mentor to help you pull your socks up and soar to the top of the class. Then again you probably didn’t come to university to convince your boyfriend not to break up with you.

You’re also probably not going to be swept up into an all-singing all-dancing girls acapella group just because you enjoy rocking out in communal showers à la Pitch Perfect.

There probably won’t even be communal showers. And let’s face it, if someone tried to recruit you whilst fully naked and refused to leave until you’d sung to them, you’d be unlikely to continue to spend time with them.

If you thought your genius was going to be picked up without you having to lift a finger, you were also seriously mistaken. True, in Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon’s character is not even a student so maybe you weren’t envisioning quite the same scenario, but it’s easy to forget that you’re now a little fish in a big pond. If you want people

‘Take Me To The River’ – Talking Heads “I inherited my phone from my Dad, who configured the alarm clock settings. Upon discovering the efficacy of this song, I texted my Dad with heaps of praise. He replied, “It was the closest lyric I could find to “take me to the shower”.

What a genius.” Olivia Fletcher

to notice how brilliant you are, you’re going to have to work hard and put yourself out there. Secretly answering maths problems on a blackboard will not help you. But look on the bright side: it might not be everything you’ve expected, but that’s part of the fun.

MOVIECLIPS VIA YOUTUBE

‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’ – Randy Newman “Listening to this when I wake up makes the sky look a little more blue, and my soul a touch sunnier. It is difficult to feel sad when listening to such a sentimental song.”

Alice Mottram ‘Electric Relaxation’ – A Tribe Called Quest “Slowly wakes me up and the sound of Q-Tip’s voice is soothing, but energising. Also, a f*****g banger!”

Tom Bevan ‘Confident’ – Demi Lovato “Demi is the absolute queen of positivity. ‘Confident’ always gets me in the mood to have a fabulous day. I think it might be the only song that could drag me from under my duvet at 6am and out into a freezing cold winter morning for running.” Freya Sanders

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12 November 2015 • Part 2 • The Cambridge Student

Culture

A Guide to Not as simple as ADC explore some of Cambridge colleges’ Cambridge We lesser-known performance spaces Jazz Festival LIV THOMAS

DER FREMDE

2015

Olivia Fletcher Music Editor Next week sees the commencement of The Cambridge Jazz

Festival: 10 days devoted to the celebration of jazz. With over 180 musicians, including 18 headliner acts across as many different venues, it seems like a difficult task to choose from the plethora of events on offer. So, we thought it might be a good idea to give a glimpse at what’s on offer, some of the highlights and things that simply can’t be missed.

Though, with an event as large and as exciting as this, our take can only be the tip of the iceberg.

The Cambridge Lindy-Hoppers A slice of harlem in our very own University Social Club, located on Mill Lane, this night encourages the enthusiasm of all dancers and particularly those who like to dress up and swing. Get excited for 24 November.

Howard Theatre, Downing College As You Like It opens at perhaps the most beautiful performance space in Cambridge on 16 November.

Robinson College Auditorium A pretty big stage, a capacity of 240 and so much blue. I’d love to see more theatre here!

CLARE CELLARS FACEBOOK

LUCY ROXBURGH

Lets Get Lost In beloved memory of the jazz singer and trumpeter Chet Baker who died in 1988, this film playing on Friday 20 November at The Arts Picturehouse is directed by Bruce Weber and canonises the young, the beautiful and tormented soul of Baker who struggled with drug addiction.

JESSICA ARNEBACK

Clare Cellars We’ve all heard of Clare Ents, but did you know that the Cellars has staged comedies, musicals and even a burlesque?

FLO BEST

Old Labs, Newnham College Where some of Cambridge’s first female scientists worked, the Newnham freshers’ play will be hosted here in January.

TOM BEVAN

Hiatus KaWiyote Formed in 2011, the band has gone from strength to strength. Releasing their second album Choose Your Weapon earlier this year, the band breaks boundaries between alternative music and jazz. They are coming to Cambridge on Saturday 21 November, bringing the smoothest of jazz, mixed with the most refined electronic music to The Junction. This style is for fans of Amy Winehouse and Massive Attack.

For more information about the festival, which runs from 19–29 November, go to www.cambridgejazzfestival.co.uk, from where you can download a full programme of the festival.

Homerton Auditorium The Love of the Nightingale opens here on 25 November. A flexible performace space that’s certainly worth the cycle.

Friends of Peterhouse Theatre The porters wouldn’t let me in to take a photo but apparently this Victorian lecture room is “spaciously pink”.

12 November 2015 • Part 2 • The Cambridge Student

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Culture

11 characters you’ll find in any Cambridge library Oliva Gillman The vocal whisperer Oftentimes accompanied by a cheeky Jacob’s Creek tipple, this member of gossip royalty entertains the masses. There’s no denying it. They are loud. And so is their stapler use.

Sometimes misheard by their conversational collaborator, repeat utterances are a commonality and source of regular complaint to librarians. Rowdy, rebellious and really into speaking, they should not be approached unless out of necessity. If you receive unwanted attention from a vocalwhisperer, please call this hotline: 0800 shut the f-… Rest assured, you are not alone.

The dramatist and/or comedian All the world’s a stage – and this one’s face is framed by a proscenium arch. This gentle creature arrived at Cambridge seeking “theatre with no drama”. They’ve always yearned to tread the boards at the ADC and hoped to do so cool, calm and collected. But tonight, tomorrow, and the day after they have to be off-book for six shows. And so they write their English essay whilst mouthing their lines at the screen.

And inadvertently, you. Their legs are nearly always crossed up on the chair in a yoga-esque pose. Sometimes they gesticulate. Consciously.

TIM GREEN

The nibbles and refreshments consumer This person gave up on their essay about sparrow linguistics the day before it was set. Nonetheless, they soldier on with their theatrical role as library student. Periodically, they make a trip to the vending machine, returning with crisps.

The crisps crunch between their teeth. Not quite enough for you to say something to them but enough to ring in your ears like a Walkers factory being demolished. And when they rehydrate with a sip of water, the ping of the plastic as their hand retracts from the bottle provides a surprisingly loud slap in the face.

The nest-maker A sign on the library door reads “please do not reserve

work stations”. A desk, shrouded in books sits directly in front. A single copy of Homelife (a reading list title shared by 25+ students at the college) rests centrally. A thin film of five-week-old dust encrusts the front cover. Photo frames, a lamp from Morrocco, a kitchen sink, and a pet cat lend the space an atmosphere of unerring domestic bliss. Too blessed to be stressed (but still quite stressed), its cobwebbed, odorous inhabitant is still clothed in last week’s ball attire.

Bare footed and proud, they are a maniacal genius.

The Sleeper Head slumped casually over the desk, arms up like a pillow, this student pays their respects to the second half of with their face buried in the OED,. Their tongue hangs out as saliva hovers over the definition of “high achiever”. Somewhere along the line somebody told them about a prime minister who only got three hours’ sleep a night, achieving widespread international success and a psychological breakdown. In this state, they are susceptible to becoming the nest-maker’s receptacle for screwed up paper balls. Every fifth hour they become efficient, managing in this time, essays, articles, lab work, and a solution to world peace.

The rower There’s a damp person sitting opposite you. It isn’t raining outside but whilst you’re drowning in essay guilt, drops of water still glisten on their biceps from the morning’s training. This character, unerringly composed, glides through bibliography citation with the most methodical eye for detail. Their regime is work hard, play hard, row harder.

They throw carb parties. And like parties. And parties like them. They nail their goals to the desk, and never stop until they achieve them. Though things can get awks when they lunge in the book aisles. Especially when that gladiatorial hand blocks the ISBN you need.

The pace setter You welcome this one. A logical yet creative thinker, there’s a glint in their eye. Perhaps they’re writing something truly influential; maybe a the beginnings of a plan for the sustainable regrowth of the NHS – on that is economically and morally sound with a generous clause for junior doctors and infallible protection of patient safety? Or the next Working Title film script or your couples’ shopping list? They type with such eloquence and flow you imagine these skilled hands transferring well to other circumstances.

Typewriting for instance. But for now, you use them like a pianist does a metronome, to set the pace of your own

typing. One day they’ll notice how in sync you both are and swipe for you on Tinder.

The pace disrupter Music pumps out from headphones across the room. Heavy bass line. Often Mozart. But you wish this cheeky one would revert to hip-hop. You need a bit of bump and grind to liven up this placid afternoon in a cell of the UL. You wonder if a move upstairs would improve your day. They have gold bits on the doorways there like on the Great Gatsby posters of 2013. Maybe the sound pollution there would be just right: like Jay-Z transposed to the Jazz era. You could click your pen along to this and piss someone else off.

ANDREW MOORE

The networker This one is a self-created BNOC. Their ‘black book’ for ‘coffee’ contacts – Moleskine by brand – sits with a Muji pen in the upper right hand corner of their desk. It perfectly fits the right angle of the grooves carved into the oak frame. They took a ‘real degree’, like engineering, and counterbalance this with a decadent flood of arts-based extra-curricular activity. They’re likely to be employed.

The symmetry of their hairstyle is likely to unnerve their colleagues. As is their obsession with time (they make a polite cough on the hour for fellow students’ benefit).

The sniffing cougher They have the coughing fit, don’t get the water, then blow their nose louder than a ship fog horn squeezed by a windy opera singer. The politer ones will nearly sprain their faces trying, unsuccessfully, to quell an outpouring of bodily fluid. No man is an island, but this one should be. (Get well soon though babes.)

The eyebrow raiser This one sees one or all of the above, and feels moved to raise their brow.

Blasts from the past: Remember these TV shows?

A quirky 90s sitcom, 3rd Rock from the Sun was about four aliens sent to earth. Disguised as a human family, they try to adapt to life on Earth – very funny and nostalgic (and on Netflix I think!) Jemima Jobling Essentially your standard high school drama, Make It Or Break It!, except with some classic romance and betrayal but they’re all Olympic gymnasts. Every so often they pause cheating on their boyfriend or discovering who they are to do a floor routine and talk about leotards. It’s amazing – and surprisingly motivating. Stevie Hertz I was (am, I’ll be honest) a massive fan of Scrubs. I used

to watch it the second I got home from school on E4 most days. It’s just everything you need: really weird humour, medical accuracy (of all the medical shows on TV, it has been declared the most realistic) and the original bromance.

I never got to the end, but I feel like one day, when my degree is a distant memory, I’ll camp out on a sofa one day and get through every episode. Freya Sanders Essentially a cartoon, Pinky and the Brain follows two lab mice. Brain’s a genius and exploits the less well mentally endowed Pinky whilst trying to carry out nefarious plans which inevitably fail. Oh, and Pinky always says ‘narf ’.

Anthony Bridgen

The strength of his Scottish accent and the mildly dodgy costumes (and facial hair) only made Raven better. I swear kids gameshows aren’t made the same anymore – they are just so... so... safe. That said, I feel quite sorry for James Mackenzie, who I don’t think has had much of a career outside of the show, being so central to it. Isobel Laidler The Worst Witch was the ultimate CBBC show when I was younger, to the extent that I can’t take my historical witchcraft essay seriously because it just reminds me of this. Starring a young Felicity Jones, it was about a group of witches at a school for magic (think female-dominated Harry Potter) and it was awesome. Lucy Roxburgh

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12 November 2015 • Part 2 • The Cambridge Student

Reviews The Fastest Clock...is too slow and a bit dull Eddy Wax

B

illed as an exploration of the ache of ageing, The Fastest Clock in the Universe failed to offer a single insight on the subject.

In a dingy flat somewhere in East London the spotlight was on Cougar Glass (Seth Kruger), a narcissistic hypermasculine gay teenager whose middle-aged manservant Captain Tock (Ryan Monk) fawns and fusses over him, desperate to earn his affection. But the Captain is cruelly kept at arm’s length by Cougar who has his sights on a far more enticing prospect: the fifteenyear-old schoolboy Foxtrot Darling.

The frustratingly minimal plot meant the responsibility lay on the shoulders of the larger-than-life characters to carry the play but here again there was little substance.

Kruger’s Cougar was one-dimensional, a preening, arrogant brute in sunglasses who spent 15 minutes performing elaborate press-ups as the audience filtered in and the second half smouldering on a sofa, clenching his jaw. But there was something slightly awkward and unconvincing about this performance as he could have married such malice with a degree of charm.

Ryan Monk did manage to hint at the inner life of the prim and proper Captain

while Adam Mirsky’s entrance as the gobby, red-faced schoolboy Foxtrot Darling briefly reenergised the room. But Ola Wetherell’s simplistic Catherine Tate style impression of the ancient Cheetah Bee jarred with the play’s apparent attempt to reach for profundity, with characters who were nothing more than archetypes or clichés.

The feeling that nothing in the plot needed resolving meant that the sexual scenes and flashes of intense violence seemed to be there for shock value only.

Cougar’s indulgent simulated orgasm and his sudden attack on a pregnant woman made for excruciating viewing. This was not a matter of prudishness but down to the fact that these moments were so unexpected, unnecessary and out of step with the atmosphere of the rest of the play.

Making something watchable out of such an incoherent and meaningless play was too much of a task for this production. Even if there were no clocks on stage, I spent most of the evening looking at my watch.

4/10 YASEEN KADER

Revelations conquers cliché Sarah Edwards

S

et against the white walls of the new cellar, a glorious conglomeration of clichés is explored by the Pembroke players in their new sketch show. To use every cliché in the book, because they wouldn’t have it any other way, this show looks at the good, the bad and the ugly of student life in a whistlestop tour of the twenty-first century.

A must see for anyone who has personally experienced the hell of the YouTube comment section or who predicts that ‘lads’ will inevitably play an astonishing role in the next apocalypse.

Awkward introductions aside, the anticipation as you watch silhouettes walk onto the stage with lightsabers and hobby horses during the sketch transitions is immense. This is a sketch show for the

friends of ‘That One Guy Who’. Filled with the clichés we know and love, and the things we all know and hate, the sketches take you from the world of Cambridge college humour to the world filled with your worst nightmares, Taylor Swift, giant lizards and 17 hours of constant sex in which a bicycle pump highly features.

Not without music malfunctions and laptop mishaps this is nonetheless, the perfect show to celebrate the end of week five. It will remind you that, so long as your phone does not die at 16% battery, life is actually pretty great.

8/10

Sold out Swe A sadly half-b Alice Mottram Lead Reviewer

S

weeney Todd tries to toe a line between horror and comic relief, but finds itself in an embarrassingly sticky mess of misplaced melodrama. Steven Sondheim’s 1979 musical thriller tells the tale of Sweeney Todd, a barber bent on revenge who conspires with Mrs Lovett, a pie shop owner in need of meat.

Zak Ghazi-Torbati and Aoife Kennan largely carried the show as the barber and

The cast were strong when in chorus but their individual acting was at times questionable his accomplice respectively. Ghazi-Torbati’s vocal prowess was used with sensitivity

to the score; his solos were engrossing.

He played well opposite Kennan, whose awareness of Mrs Lovett’s comedic potential played in smart juxtaposition to the demon barber of Fleet Street.

Cast for their vocal abilities, the

An embarrassingly sticky mess of misplaced melodrama ensemble were strong when in chorus, but their individual acting was at times questionable. The orchestra played well under the direction of Joe Beighton and James Bartlett, though it was a shame that the sound in the auditorium occasionally lost either them or the actors.

Set in 19th century London, Sweeney

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 12 November 2015

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AMELIA OAKLEY

Reviews Stormzy is electric in a brief Junction set Tom Bevan Lead Reviewer

T

he resurgence of grime in the past few years has been nothing but fast paced and exciting for a new generation of fans, MCs and producers. South London’s Stormzy has played a significant role in this rebirth and impressed last week with a short but sweet set at Boomslang’s 11th Birthday at the Junction.

Known for their all-night raves, the Cambridge promoters did well to attract one of the biggest names in the game to the city; emerging onstage at 2.30am after a stonking drum and bass set from Dub Phizix and Strategy, the rapper launched into an intense half an hour of MC-ing.

With a noticeably huge stage presence, all 6’5” of the performer often leaned over into the crowd to deliver lines as fresh as his Adidas creps. The bravado of grime is a huge part of its appeal in a live setting. “I didn’t know Cambridge was this turnt!” he

repeated, before telling us to fuck the rules and start moshing.

The riff from new banger ‘Shut Up’ was met with roars and the playful interaction with the crowd, which included shouting ‘shut up’ at all the other cities on his tour which he listed one by one, provided a questionable mid-song break. ‘Know Me From’ and ‘Not That Deep’ were delivered with all the cheek and aggression of the recorded tracks, although in general a lack of material was quite evident, as Stormzy relied on his verses from the remix of ‘Fester Skank’ to fill time. However, the 22-year-old’s flow was direct, punchy, and infectious. With more tracks under his wing, Stormzy’s inevitable rise is set to continue.

8/10

The sentimental John Lewis advert just about hits the spot

eeney Todd: baked show F

Jack McMinn

Todd calls to be staged like a steampunk Oliver!; the blackened brick walls of Fleet Street, a broken window casting chilling shadows across victims’ faces. Sadly, little thought beyond the mechanism of the barber’s chair had gone into the set design.

Turquoise bird cages hung from a low wall strewn loosely with ivy, in an aesthetic

Lacking conviction, it was unsure of itself as it attempted both horror and comedy entirely at odds with this musical. Similarly, the painted pie shop frontage and sign directing victims to the ‘tonsorial parlor’ were more befitting a school production than the ADC Mainshow. Whilst the

workmanship of the chair is to be commended, it was telling that it prompted laughter from the audience instead of fear.

Direction largely failed this production of Sweeney Todd. Blocking was inadequate, most notably leaving the ensemble lost.

Lacking conviction, it was unsure of itself as it attempted both horror and comedy. Moments of intended tension resulted in sporadic laughter from the audience, resulting in my desire to have been swallowed by my seat for sheer embarrassment.

Considering the £9 student ticket price for all ADC Mainshows, Sweeney Todd is one to avoid.

4/10

ollowing on from last season’s tale of a boy illegally importing endangered and unquarantined birds for his own amusement, John Lewis has just presented unto us this year’s Yuletide serving of sentimental capitalism in the form of their latest campaign. In said advertisement, Generic Small Child lives a happy fulfilling life with her family; becoming bored with watching her brother playing video games, she discovers a lonely OAP living in a lunar crater using her trusty Celestron Astromaster Refractor Telescope. NASA are missing a trick by not using one of these babies, which apparently can resolve high definition portrait shots from a billion feet away.

Over the next month(?), Generica fails to ask questions about how the man has managed to cultivate food and survive –233°C temperatures (or even why a modern urban planner would build a hut and park bench on the lunar surface, but not provide disabled access up the sides of that crater), and attempts instead to send him pictures of smiley faces, hence setting back our knowledge of space colonisation by years. After failing to break the laws of physics and send him the letters via paperplane and longbow, she decides to go with a new strategy and breaks the laws

of physics by using balloons – heartlessly sending the Christmas gift her own mother put time, effort and money into getting her. This is a portable version of her magic telescope, giving this deprived stranger the power to usurp the privacy of anyone in the

After failing to break the laws of physics and send him the letters via paperplane and long bow world. My main question though is how this old bloke knows to look for Generica – maybe the family accidentally left Grandad up there on a day trip.

Despite following the same story structure as last year, this year’s advertisement seems more successful – its ties with family and charity (particular emphasised with John Lewis’s team up with Age UK) make it feel more cosy and real, something which a CGI Pingu can’t quite cut. It hopes to send the message that no one should be alone this Christmas – and even if you think you are, there’s still an old bloke on the moon watching your every move.

7/10

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The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 12 November 2015

Lifestyle

Love it or hate it: Food gets divisive I think the combination of orange and chocolate is so wrong. Why ruin two perfectly good flavours by forcing them together into this monstrous melange? It is an insult to each. Freya Sanders Jerusalem artichokes otherwise known as ‘fartichokes’ just need not exist. They don’t taste good, they lead to extreme flatulence and they’re so poncey you will alienate friends by admitting to buying any. Ru Merritt Avocados are really slimy, perpetually browning bundles of mush which middle class people mistake for crack cocaine.

Greg Forrest Pain au chocolat is the worst. Like, the worst. The clue is in the name - just don’t go there! Jessie Mathewson The first time I ate celery I was three, it was a traumatic incident and I spat it back onto the buffet. It was my great grandma’s funeral, and I got into trouble. It just tastes like nail varnish remover with a dash of hairspray. Rhiann Rone-Clarke What is the current trend for Pinot Grigio? People label it as ‘zesty’ and ‘zingy’ like that is a good thing. Alice Mottram Crumpets are amazing. I would say they are the best thing than sliced bread but they are better than sliced bread sliced bread is dull and entirely underwhelming and doesn’t have holes you can fill with buttery goodness. Crumpets

+ butter + tomato chutney + melted cheddar = something incredible. Julia Stanyard I don’t understand why you would have tea when you can have coffee, which is infinitely better in every way. If it’s too late for coffee it’s probably time for wine. Grace Murray Blackcurrant jam tastes like when you accidentally crunch paracetamol. No matter how much water you follow it up with the bitter taste just never leaves. Lucy Roxburgh Brussel sprouts are cute mini cabbages - I’m always a fan of food that can be gobbled in one mouthful. When cooked to the right level of softness, sprinkled with pepper and drowned in gravy they’re the perfect accompaniment to your Christmas fowl of choice. Sammy Love I have an unvascillating hatred for brussels sprouts. What possesses people to decide to cook those disgusting, malodorous, mini-cabbages at CHRISTMAS, when the food is meant to be NICE, is beyond me. Anthony Bridgen I get really freaked out if there’s more than one kind of meat in a mouthful - like a chicken and bacon sandwich or sausage stuffing for a roast. There’s just too much going on!

Pick an animal and stop this decadence! Stevie Hertz Turkey bacon is not bacon. Bacon is by definition a foodstuff made of pig. You are insulting the memories I have of beautiful bacon sandwiches. Elsa Maishman KRGJUMPER

Listings Thursday 12 LGBT+ speaker Evan Davis. Sidney Sussex College, 7pm.

Music night: Open Deck. The Portland Arms, from 6pm.

Friday 13 The Challenge of Political Leadership Symposium. Churchill College, from 10am.

Intro to Non-Binary Genders with CUSU. 17 Mill Lane, 7pm.

MECMS Freshers’ Concert. Murray Edwards College, 7.30pm.

CCMS Michaelmas Concert. West Road Concert Hall, 8pm.

Saturday 14 Clothes swapping party. Cambridge Unitarians Church, 2pm.

Policy Paper Writing Workshop hosted by The Wilberforce Society. Newnham College, 2.24pm. iCUSU World Food Festival. St. Andrew’s Baptist Church, from 6.15pm.

Sunday 15 The Big Christmas Switch On. Grand Arcade, from 11.30am.

PEN presents: Day of the Imprisoned Writer. Clare Cellars, 7pm.

Tuesday 17 One night only: Crow. ADC Theatre, 11pm.

Compiled by Maddy Airlie

Culinary Dreamin’: fighting bake-riarchy Sexism is rife in a lot of industries, but it

manifests itself differently in the culinary world.

Hetty Gullifer Columnist

I

’ve been very lucky in life. I am fully committed to the feminist cause, but I personally have never really experienced discrimination.

With a mother and a sister who are both wildly successful, I’ve never felt that I couldn’t achieve whatever I set my mind to. But the restaurant industry has given me a taste of what it’s like to be put down because of your gender. As one 35-year-old man eloquently put it when referring to a mistake he had attributed to me which had actually been made by a female co-worker: “well they’re all pretty much the same”.

Having said this I have also had some really positive experiences of turning the stereotype on its head. It can be the most satisfying feeling in the world when you prove

yourself to a bunch of mildly patronising men and prove that women can be strong, capable and innovative in the kitchen.

But it’s sad that these positive experiences are overwhelmed by cases of a few men trying to prove they are the biggest bullies in the kitchen. It shouldn’t be the case in some of the top Michelin starred restaurants in England.

One place I worked had a dangerously discriminative atmosphere. A small group of chefs undermining the women in the kitchen rippled through to influence other chefs, porters and waiters. It was little surprise that during my short time there one female chef walked out, another gave her notice and the last woman left was new that week.

No wonder that internationally there are over 100

Michelin starred male chefs and just 6 female. This is often put down to anti-social hours being hard to balance with family life, but as the reported 92% increase in the UK of female non-executive directors (NEDs) in just the past three months shows (Forbes, June 2015), that isn’t what has been holding women back.

For a man to show weakness in this industry is a failure; for a woman, it’s career suicide. Luckily, women are fighting back.

As the Old Boys Club The Savoy Grill hires its first female head chef in its 126 history, most kitchens are learning the hard way that women are here to stay.

But it’s a shame that in the 21st century, a few restaurants remain a bullying and sexist environment.

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 12 November 2015

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Lifestyle

Livin’ la vida loca: Outside the bubble Catching up with MML-ers on their years abroad

Peru is a world away from home. There’s so many different landscapes, so many llamas and so many carbs. Honestly, you can’t escape the carbs. Percy Edwards

Hong Kong is pretty much as small as Cambridge but the food is infinitely better. Hong Kong is a fantastic place to spend a year escaping the bubble. Alison Peri

Living in Paris can be tough, you feel like you never stop moving, but it is also like living in a film. Everything looks beautiful, especially the bread...Gemma Rowe

Two o’ clock and the town is deserted. It’s a little disconcerting - I wonder if I’ll get used to it by the end of the year.

In Foggia, lunch is three hours and dinner is later than I usually go to bed, so we’ll see how it goes! Sasha Peters

I started in Moscow just as Russia introduced anti-Western economic sanctions, including a ban on EU food imports.

Apparently there were cases of cheese runs to Italy, or even having dairy products posted to Russia. Mike Little

I still can’t get over the crowds in Cairo; the rogue cyclists of Cambridge have nothing on these streets! It’s beautiful city but of course, at the moment it is impossible to escape feelings of tension. Gregory Daniels

Seasonal drinks: Worth the hype?

ROBERT GILLIN

Sophie Dickinson

C

hristmas drinks are an exciting part of the (albeit premature) festive celebrations. Along with Santa Claus cups and jazz versions of carols, they have become fundamental to the winter coffee-drinking experience – but are they worth the extra pound?

The Starbucks winter drinks this year are somewhat predictable, and yet all three (Gingerbread Latte, Toffee Nut Latte and Honey and Almond Hot Chocolate, all £3.55 for a medium) had something about them that made them different to the average coffee shop special. The Gingerbread Latte, for example, was not just a syrup-ed up version of a milky drink – the flavoured cream and gingerbread sprinkles turned it into a properly festive warming afternoon boost. The Toffee Nut Latte was slightly less indulgent, and if you don’t like whipped cream, it became just a rather weak, undefinably sweet coffee. By contrast, the Honey and Almond Hot Chocolate was divine. The hot chocolate itself was overwhelmingly creamy, which was exaggerated by the delicious syrup. Whilst the honey was not particularly potent, the rounded, nutty, almond taste

made the drink a wonderful winter treat. This was definitely the best drink on the Starbucks menu this year.

Caffe Nero’s main seasonal offerings are a Spiced Orange Latte and Winter Berry Latte, both of which fulfil the festive drink’s aim of being super sweet, dividing opinion and smelling slightly better than they taste – but are still worth a try anyway!

Whilst the major coffee chains have their staple Christmas coffees (and everything that goes with it, including, to my horror, Starbucks takeaway cup tree decorations), perhaps it is the independent stores we should be supporting. I would recommend going into a smaller café, inevitably run by friendly, bearded men and decorated with ironic chalk-board puns, and asking for some gingerbread syrup in your latte. It will almost certainly be cheaper than a chain shop, the coffee will be fresher and you will be supporting a community rather than a corporation. Be inventive – a personal favourite is hazelnut syrup in a mocha, which is certainly very rich, but gets me through any essay crisis. Stir, to the north of the city, has the most wonderful ethos and the most delicious coffee – I’d wholeheartedly recommend.

visiting and making your own seasonal drink!

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The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 12 November 2015

Lifestyle

Mental vs physical exercise Sing sing single Why it’s best to stay single during your time at Cambridge

Rebecca Davies

A

s its students, and thus arguably “victims”, we are all well-aware of the immense pressures of the Cambridge academic system. As Week 5 has come and gone but the stress remains, it seems an opportune moment to discuss a subject that far too often falls by the wayside, after we’ve been staring at that pile of ‘completed’ books and essays: our emotional and physical wellbeing. During our time here numerous tips are thrown our way about how to ‘stay healthy’. Yet rarely is the importance of such endeavours given its due recognition, nor is solid advice given for how to weave these aspects into the prodigiously packed lifestyle of the average Cambridge student.

It can be hard striking the balance between the need for mental and physical exercise in Cambridge Given the flurry of mental exercise we are required to undergo on a weekly, even daily, basis it is not difficult to see why this is prioritised over physical exercise. Too many it seems find it hard to justify spending time on the treadmill as opposed to time in the library. But exercise is a vital means of body-purification; the adrenaline and endorphins released from exercise make us feel elated and revitalised, and thus improve our attitude towards work, and thereby boost our productivity.

With our mental stability tested on a regular basis, taking care of yourself is never more vital. Factoring exercise into your daily routine is just a matter of practice and repetition so that such practices become second nature; foster an indelible habit which can serve you in Cambridge and once

you go out into the big wide world. Every day I wake up to the sounds of Classic FM and do the sun salutation in my bedroom as a means of gently waking up my body and preparing myself physically and mentally for the day ahead.

Yet the other issue here is the definition of exercise itself.

It doesn’t have to be gruelling. Whether that be half an hour on a cross-trainer or a casual walk about town, choosing a type of exercise you actually enjoy will make the task seem far less odious as well as undoubtedly boosting those almighty endorphins. For those who prefer a slower pace, yoga and pilates are ideal as well as once again enforcing that all-important link between emotional and physical fitness. I began yoga classes this year and they seem to work miracles, allowing me to forget my ever-increasing workload. The teacher continually highlights the benefits of the poses for maintaining the ‘integrity’ of my body.

Your body works hard to keep you going, so why not reward it? After all a healthy body is a healthy mind. And a healthy mind is a happy life.

RALLIE MADISON

Kirsty Rich

T

here are 24 hours in a day, 168 in a week, and 1344 in a Cambridge term.

It might sound like a lot, but approximately 50% of those hours are spent asleep, 20% in Cindies off your face, 5% in lectures or supervisions, and the rest of the time attempting to do work; the time available for a significant other is limited.

Instead of wasting that time in intense conversations that inevitably result in drama (who doesn’t know a Cambridge couple that doesn’t seem to have some sort of disaster every week), appreciate the time spent with friends and on Tinder dates. The freedom of a single student at university is like no other. Wouldn’t you rather spend your few thousand hours at Cambridge getting to know 10 friends really well than having an intense relationship for a few weeks that results in hiding from them every time you go to Cindies for the next two years?

No-one likes a husband hunter, or a girlfriend grabber.

Being in a relationship is lovely, and I wish you all the best with it, but only be a thirsty Kirsty if it’s on your terms.

Choose your singleness and embrace it, unapologetically shove it in the face of the person with whom you are getting off.

Last year in exam term, I met a girl crying at her desk in the UL, because her boyfriend since Freshers’ Week had dumped her “for being too boring”, as she was spending much of her time revising for her finals. The point when a relationship holds you back is the point of no return. Single life’s perils are much lesser – and after all, in the words of an anonymous student, “I can orgasm without a boyfriend”.

Finding what fits: Keeping fit in Cambridge Isobel Laidler Lifestyle Editor

O

K, so you want to keep fit, that’s a given, but you don’t want to find your purse is getting slimmer than you are. Staying healthy is the best way to improve and maintain productivity levels, and thereby the happiness of us strange Cambridge kids who can get as much of an endorphin rush from reading a damn fine book in the library as an athlete doing the 100m sprint.

That said, the process of creating a habit, the emotional as well as temporal commitment and the addition of classes or even travelling time to our timetables can feel like a stressor, and may even seem detrimental at first.

It’s important to find what works – don’t just join a gym because it seems the done thing, or go to a class or club because that really hot guy from Cindies definitely looks like a lacrosse addict… Try various things until you find the workout that’s as cathartic for you as it is strengthening. There is little point in going to the gym, or cycling to a club, only to return to college an hour or so later a tense, sweaty stress ball of angst.

College gyms are great – even if they’re not great. My college gym looks like it was decked out in the 90s and is essentially a brick-walled underground bunker. But it’s close to my bed (for when I’m feeling particularly keen of the morning) close to my shower (win) and close enough for a mid-essay detox if I get cabin-fever at my desk. Some

are free, but most charge and the cost varies – it’s often worth paying for the year rather than termly though, as it saves a little and means if you give in at the end of Michaelmas, but the spark returns mid Lent, the option is still there – otherwise thinking you’re paying a term’s price for three weeks can feel rather steep.

Find the workout that’s as cathartic as it is strengthening – dont let it become a detrimental stress Townie gyms are also an option – some people prefer to detach themselves completely from college life (it’s somewhat telling that my fingers wanted to type ‘lyf ’ there…) and escape the bubble for a few hours each week.

Puregym, on Clifton Way, is currently offering monthly membership for £15.99 – possibly the most affordable townie gym for students – and have numerous classes from Zumba and Pilates to cardio and weight sessions.

Of course, the University has clubs and societies for everything, and often at various level of commitment.

The Union’s weekly Zumba and Yoga classes are also often overlooked as great ways to stay in touch with your body and your friends, and Sweaty Betty on Trinity Street do

free classes each week which you can sign up for the day before, and so only go when you feel you want to.

That’s another important thing, try not to let it feel a chore. You will almost always thank yourself for doing some exercise, but if it becomes something you dread rather than something that helps, then it’s just not worth it. And if you feel too tired, then only do what you can manage that day – we’re not looking for everyone to suddenly become body-obsessed muscular loonies – enough of us know that thinking too hard about appearance like that can do far more harm than good, especially in an environment like Cambridge. Without wanting to sound too hippy about it, we simply want to be able to look after ourselves by finding that fine balance of body and mind. Because that’s the aim – a healthy balance.

LYN TALLY

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 12 November 2015

11

Lifestyle

These girls are total jean-ius!

Jessie Mathewson Fashion Editor

JESSIE MATHEWSON

When you think about creativity in Cambridge, fashion probably isn’t the first thing that springs to mind – poetry maybe, or music. But not clothes. India and Amy are here to tell you that you’re wrong.

The second-year Art History students have always loved customising their own clothes. But now they’re sharing their creativity with the rest of us. Their hand-painted and embroidered jeans are inspired by a lot of the art and artists that they come across on their course: Matisse, Niki de Saintphalle, Kirchner.

What is it about these artists that appeals? “They’re colourful, bright, there’s a lot of freedom and joy in their paintings,” Amy tells me. “We’re really interested in playing with the nude too. In Renaissance art it’s really catered towards the male viewer. We want to make our women seem free and happy.

“We’re trying to take the nude and make it more powerful, and more interesting, turn it into something cool and empowering to wear. ” The real question is why jeans? “It’s really hard to find interesting jeans. They’re always plain, and that makes them easy to wear, but it’s fun to have something more attention-grabbing”, Amy explains. “Jeans are utilitarian, and practical, but we want to make them more creative and playful. We started off with our own jeans, and we got lots of positive comments from friends who liked what we’d done. Then we set up our Instagram together: people started getting in touch through there, asking if we could customise their jeans, so we decided to go for it.”

If you’d like Amy and India to restyle your jeans, you can contact them via their Instagram @indiaxamy or email india. ayles123@gmail.com. Personalised customisation starts from £7 to £15. Read the full article online.

The pre-race rowers diet: Carbs on carbs Lucy Roxburgh Food & Drink Editor The alcohol ban imposed on rowers during the pre-race period seems pretty tragic, until you realise that you can make up for this booze-free life by going carb crazy. Rowers need plenty of energy and carbohydrates can give you that extra boost when you feel like you’re hitting the wall midway down the river.

2. Remove the potatoes from the oven, cut each one in half and scoop the insides into a bowl.

3. Mix the potato with the remaining ingredients and plenty of seasoning, and then scoop back into your potato skins.

Sprinkle with some grated cheddar, place on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes until golden.

Twice-baked potatoes Far more interesting than a regular jacket potato, this dinner goes all out with the carb-loading.

Ultimate carbonara Using just egg yolks makes a carbonara extra creamy and indulgent, but if you hate food waste and you’re unlikely to make meringues with egg whites any time soon, feel free to include the whole egg. You can also add strips of cooked chicken for extra protein.

Ingredients: 1 large potato 2tbsps crème fraiche 2tbsps cream cheese 1tbsp chopped chives 1 egg grated cheddar, for topping

Method: 1. Microwave the potato for 10 minutes to cook through, then place in an oven at 200­°C for a further 10–15 minutes to get a crispy skin.

Ingredients: 90g spaghetti 3 rashers of streaky bacon 3 egg yolks (or 2 whole eggs) 50ml cream 50g grated parmesan Method: 1. Boil the spaghetti in salted water for 10 minutes until al

dente. Meanwhile, whisk together the egg yolks, cream and parmesan with a pinch of salt and plenty of pepper.

2. Fry the bacon until crispy, drain on kitchen paper and snip into bitesize pieces.

3. Drain the cooked pasta, and return to the hot saucepan off the heat. Add the bacon and egg mixture, and stir to coat the pasta in the sauce and briefly cook the egg without scrambling it. Finish with plenty more black pepper and a sprinkling of extra parmesan.

MARTIN KROLIKOWSKI

Backpacks and back stories

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 12 November 2015

12

Lifestyle

I really enjoy wearing this combination of jacket and backpack, because they match in an ‘I’m having an essaycrisis-day’ kind of way. Being someone who is generally anti anything that is unnecessary, this trusty Marks & Spencer, slightly but inadequately waterproof, is the only accessory I bother with. I have broken this rule of mine by decorating my bag with a badge, bought by one friend for another “because she likes Bob Marley” and then passed on to me. It’s not Bob Marley, it’s Che Guevera. Charlotte Furniss-Roe

My beloved massive black backpack was bought in the other Cambridge, in Massachusetts. It’s capable of carrying several bottles of gin all at once. I presume... Stevie Hertz

This is my nail polish backpack.

Yes I have a backpack for my nail polish.

Feel free to judge. Anna Carruthers

It’s capable of carrying several bottles of gin all at once

If you fill my backpack with too much stuff it looks like a punchbag This was my schoolbag back in the day, so I kind of feel like it’s responsible for all my academic achievements. If it weren’t for this beast, there would have been no book-lugging back and forth from school to home.

Now, it contains substantially fewer books.

Elsa Maishman

If you fill my beloved backpack with too much stuff it looks like a punch bag. This was my last day in London before coming back to uni this year, after getting back from Peru the day before. Despite having to pack for second year, I wasted my day getting sushi, wandering round parks, and reading in Waterstones Oxford St, cos I’m a massive lad. Amelia Oakley

Having traversed the globe with me, my yellow backpack is now somewhat iconic.

Whilst you might think that yellow is a bold choice, it is surprisingly versatile as an accessory. Best of all, it is bright enough that my friends can spot me in crowds (despite my height) so I never get lost.

Alice Mottram

My sister bought me this beauty for my 21st. I never realised a backpack could bring so much sweet joy. Olivia Fletcher

Kanken style

This backpack has been through thick and thin with me. I’ve only had it a year, and it’s already been: cut off me by paramedics after a serious bike accident; ferried to and from an internship in New Delhi and all the way around Rajasthan; and subjected to being stuffed to bursting with as many books as possible for long days in the UL. Freya Sanders

My bright yellow backpack and I went for a walk to Granchester last term when I realised I hadn’t left the city walls in five weeks... Isobel Laidler

Kankens are a way of life; there is no situation they cannot enhance

I’ve had my little Kanken for over two years now. It’s been a trusty companion on my way to lectures and work, and we’ve been to five different countries along on the way. I spent four days in Amsterdam with just this little bag on my back. Sturdy, spacious and reliable, Sweden’s fashionable export has served me well! Sandy Rushton

11

The Cambridge Student • 12 November 2015

Features HANNAH TAYLOR

The fallen of Caius Anthony Bridgen Features Editor

D

uring the first world war the number of male students dropped by up to 90% due to enlistment into the military. It was not only students but lecturers and fellows that joined up to serve their country. Cambridge itself became quite a centre for training – sports grounds, boat houses and tennis courts were requisitioned for military purposes. Furthermore, the site of The University Library was then the location of a major military hospital, The 1st Eastern General. It was staffed by medics from Addenbroke’s, many of whom were Caian.

To highlight the impact that these men had on the war effort and upon their return home, here are just a few of the stories of those Caians, 245 of whom lost their lives, who signed up for service. We have an excellent record of these and their tales thanks to the dedicated efforts of Mrs Diana Summers.

Harold Gillies A New Zealand lad who came to Cambridge to study medicine through a chapel scholarship, Gillies was a keen rower and completed his degree before joining the Royal Army Medical Corp. During his time at the front he witnessed numerous facial injuries which had terrible effects on the lives of those who survived them. Thus Harold became interested in performing facial reconstructions to improve the lives of those so badly maimed, performing his first reconstruction surgery in 1917 on Walter Yeo: here pioneering the field.

Cyril Anthony Hudson Hillier Hillier was a mere 17 years old when he signed up to the Monmouthshire regiment. Shot through the shoulder as he traversed open ground to relay messages to the front, he was promptly shipped back to England to convalesce at Empress Eugenie’s home. Sadly, his injury became infected and he passed away just one week before his 18th birthday. The youngest Caian to be killed in action.

Harold Ackroyd

Wa r : Ta l e s o f t h e c i t y and spare their important university city, Heidelberg. Yet Cambridge did not completely escape the terror of the Blitz; several air attacks took place between 1940 and 1942, with the first seeing two HE bombs dropped on Vicarage Terrace on the night of 18 June 1940. In total it is estimated 30 people were killed and 70 injured due to air-raids on Cambridge. As such, Cambridge colleges were sure to take air-raid precautions; by the end of 1941 the stained glass windows of King’s Chapel had been replaced with black tar paper and all rooms in the college were equipped with blue lightbulbs and black-out blinds.

In September 1939, 3,000 evacuees were sent to Cambridge from places such as London, Manchester, and Liverpool.

However, many children struggled to settle in as they found the families they were assigned to too posh compared with their cockney parents and it is estimated that within three months almost half had returned home. The University played its part in assisting with the war effort:

“At the end of the war I tried to return to complete my course. I was told that there was a five year waiting list. I had to move on with my life.”

fellows at King’s College did their bit by keeping fire-watch from the chapel roof and also dug a zig zag trench outside the choir school to act as an air raid shelter.

King’s also accommodated RAF soldiers, who were then able to hide their vehicles under the trees along the backs. Across the University members got involved in the Dig for Victory campaign, which saw college lawns being dug up to grow vegetables.

It appears the Home Front at Cambridge was characterised, like the rest of the country, by resilience, positivity, and adaption. The University tried to remain an inspiring place that would support young minds and produce men and women who would be an asset to Great Britain. Yet one cannot romanticise the stark reality that even those who survived the war had much stolen from them. Robert F Clark, a Christ’s student who matriculated in 1943 remembers: “At the end of the war I tried to return to complete my course. I was told that there was a five-year waiting list. I had to move on with my life”.

Ackroyd came to Caius in 1896 to study medicine, finally receiving his MD in 1910 but eventually becoming a biochemical researcher. When he joined up, he was made a temporary lieutenant in the 6th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment and posted to the Somme where he was made Temporary Captain, won the Military Cross and received 11 commendations for the Victoria Cross. In 1917 he went on to fight at Flanders and received a further 23 recommendations for a VC, being described as a “quiet figure, most heroic, most wonderful of all”; he obviously made a great impression on his fellow soldiers. He was never awarded the Victoria Cross, highest commendation of bravery in the British army in person, as he sadly died just 11 days after the aforementioned battle of Chateau Wood, shot by a sniper,

William Ashcroft A student of law matriculating in 1900 and a keen sportsman, he was one of seven brothers who all signed up at the outbreak of the first world war. They served in France, Gallipoli and Egypt but William was badly wounded at the Battle of Arras and sent home, his younger brother having been killed the same day. William requested to rejoin and returned to active duty in 1918, but was killed just a few months later. Only four brothers survived, two badly injured.

JVINUK

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12

12 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Features

Fluttering hearts, sweaty palms: is falling in love taboo?

A week in the life: Teddy* *as imagined by Sammy Love

kept muttering something about it being Week Five as if that’s supposed to mean something.

Monday Now I’ve been relocated to the prime Life in the wardrobe is getting dull. I’m not sure why she bothered bringing seat upon the bed, I can observe and me to uni if she was just going to keep see if I can figure out what’s going on. me hidden away. It’s not like she’s found anyone new to cuddle at night. Friday Well, no permanent fixtures anyway.

Things have become no clearer. This Rose Reade Columnist morning she woke up and threw a s falling in love a taboo? When you talk about being tantrum when she realised she didn’t Tuesday in love most people either say ‘awwwwww,’ in a have any clean spoons to eat her cereal So much dull. vaguely patronising tone, or laugh at you cruelly and with. On her way out she dropped a say you are deluded. book and burst into tears. All very odd.

Wednesday We are all scared of falling in love because, to be honest, I think I heard her crying today but I Upon returning from lectures she it means fully exposing ourselves to somone else – always can’t be sure; my ears are getting a bit was evidently in a foul mood. This at the risk of rejection. You can’t be in a loving relationship moth-eaten. lasted the rest of the evening and without being able to show all parts of yourself and be when her laptop decided to restart in honest about it. And this is really hard, and really scary, the middle of a Gossip Girl episode Thursday and also, really, really fucking amazing.

I’ve made it out! I was brought out for it was enough to make her throw ‘Three little words’. Films and books and sitcoms have a mid-afternoon cuddle and it was her pencil case against the wall in a made telling someone ‘I love you’ into the biggest deal in magical. For me anyway; she looked fit of rage. Unfortuantely, this only the world. There’s so much drama and excitement to it awful. She seems to have aged in these caused her calculator to break, which all. ‘How should I tell them?’, ‘will they say it back,’ ‘is it last four weeks and there’s a tell-tale resulted in another fit of tears and too soon?’: these seem to be all-consuming questions in bit of snot on my ear; she’d definitely more grumbling about this mysterious every new relationship (I’ve gathered this from watching been crying. I’m very confused. She ‘Week Five’. hundreds of romcoms, #sorrynotsorry).

I was in love before I even knew it myself. I kissed my now boyfriend on the dance floor of Cindies and have never looked back. Also, I accidently told him I love him after a week of going out. (I still meant it though.)

We were sitting in the bar and I was teasing him or something, and he jokingly said “don’t hate me!”, to which I replied, “I don’t hate you, I love you.” And then my eyes widened in terror as I realised what I had just said. He was cool about it though, and said it back and gave me a hug.

Seven and a bit months later we are still in love.

I

Saturday

She keeps crying for no reason and muttering about ‘Week Five’

More crying today! I really don’t like seeing her like this, and not just because my fur is getting completely sodden. This time it was triggered by a trip to Sainsbury’s. On returning she threw the large orange bag onto the floor and immediately started sobbing.

A heap of chocolate was spilling out of the bag and I could definitely spy some gooey cookies and rich carrot cake in there too. Oh dear; all her favourite comfort foods. It must be pretty bad.

She then rang mum, but from what I could understand, the reason she was so upset was because she’d had to pay 5p for the orange carrier bag. I must have misheard because I’m not sure what could be so terrible about that.

Sunday

She didn’t leave her bed all day today.

She seemed exhausted but a day of tea and films seems to have cheered her up. And there’s been lots of cuddles for me!

BJORN LACZAY

Love can be small and clumsy (like me) and still be the most breathtaking thing in the world So what is my point here? I think what I’m trying to say, is that love can be small and clumsy (like me), and still be the most breathtaking thing in the world. It’s not all huge gestures and massive romantic moments and staring into each other’s eyes without blinking while having sex.

It’s thinking about the future and not feeling terrified because you know you’ll be OK if they are there. It’s making them coffee in the morning, even when they are grumpy. It’s giggling together about ordering condoms online, and most of all, it’s not being scared to say ‘I love you’ every day.

DENNIS SKLEY

Love is probably less stressful than your next deadline

The Students’ Favourite: Junctions Jack May Editor-in-Chief

T

here aren’t many more things more thrilling in life, I’ll admit, than cycling up to a junction, putting the brakes on, leaning with one foot (ideally tiptoed) on the cool hard tarmac, and surveying the possibilities. Even when you’re walking, the unknown; the potential; the as-of-yet unimagined when approaching a junction can often be too much to handle, and – personally speaking – has led to many a watery eye, overcome with passion and excitement, when faced with the crux of one of these particularly cumbersome junctions.

It is for that reason that we’ve decided to survey Cambridge’s junctions to find those that are truly worth celebrating – truly worth approaching with a spring in your step. Or your bike saddle.

The Fitzbillies fiasco

The confluence of three of Cambridge’s most majestic roads, this junction is truly a wonder. Here, the mighty Trumpington Street brings hardy travellers from the far-off outposts of Peterhouse, the Botanical Gardens, and Addenbroke’s, whilst the two smaller channels of Mill Lane and Pembroke Street provide crucial links to lectures (of all shapes and sizes) and key cultural locations such as Emmanuel College, that one weird Irish pub attached to that hotel, and ‘the other Sainsbury’s’ (known in some circles as ‘Far-Away-’Nsbury’s’). The traffic lights outside famed Cambridge staple café Fitzbillies provide the adrenaline rush many of us crave, whilst the sharp and thrusting edges of the buildings on Mill Lane provide a visual challenge to any who dare turn onto the larger road. 8/10

The hill havoc

Such cobble.

So bollard.

Many tourist. Wow

You’ve done it. You’ve committed yourself to visiting that one friend who lives in a hill college, and now you find yourself in the bind of actually having to get there. It’s a lose-lose situation.

If the light is red when you approach the crossroads of Bridge Street, Castle Street, Chesterton Road, and Northampton Street, you lose your momentum: halted in your tracks, the drive dissipates, and the fun is over. If it’s green, you go into the final ascent with no chance to take a breath. But at least the lights mean you avoid certain death. 5/10

The Senate House stitch-up

This conflagration of trouble, in which Senate House Passage meets the top end of King’s Parade, is nothing short of scandalous. Such cobble. So bollard.

Many tourist. Wow. 2/10

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The Cambridge Student • 12 November 2015

Features

Student Spotlight: Cambridge Polo Club

Magdalen Christie Features Editor

W

hen in Cambridge, what does one do? One spends a Saturday morning watching the polo, of course. A friend’s enthusiastic Freshers’ Fair sweep saw the two of us heading to the Cambridge University Polo Club. As the land turns from spires and courts to fields and flowers, I feel like I’ve really left the city behind (and perhaps civilisation too).

We arrive at the club, however, and I’m in for a happy surprise. The clubhouse is modern, a tasteful mix of brick and wood, with a studiolike inside balcony, and a rowing boat serving as the drinks counter.

There is lots of Cobra beer to drink.

I muse temporarily on the safety considerations of drinking and riding, and opt for tea instead.

The other polo recruits are mostly international graduate students.

Friendly though everyone is, the

repeated conversation of ‘So how long have you been riding?’ becomes embarrassing, as I have to admit I cannot ride horses, and have no desire to, being quite severely allergic to them. I feel conspicuous in my jeans.

We all crowd onto an old double decker bus to watch the polo match, which is divided into short periods called ‘chukkas’. Cambridge versus Exeter is a complete walkover, with Cambridge winning by about seven goals to nil. The atmosphere is jovial, with polite clapping soon turning into gusty cheers for Cambridge as they gallop up and down the arena.

Apparently, it turns out that CUPC is the cheapest place in the universe to play polo at, thanks to subsidies and sponsorship for the club.

After the match, we mill around the stables, admiring the horses.

Even from a complete novice to the equestrian life, they are really

The horses are waiting for you, my friends

LAND ROVER MENA

magnificent. My friend becomes tearful at how beautiful they are. I stand back somewhat warily.

Soon, the much anticipated moment arrives; the horse riding trial. Keen students line up, clutching helmets and signed agreements that they will not sue the club if they fall off. The students helping out are patient and friendly, no matter how clumsy the mounting attempt is.

Once upon the horse, the students are walked round, and the reins and rules are explained. A few people are naturals, and glide around the area like ballerinas, putting the rest of us to shame. I regard these such people with jealous admiration, and decline to have a go on a horse. I value my dignity, my spine and my allergies, thank you very much.

Despite my lack of horsey enthusiasm, I have great fun practising hitting the polo balls with a mallet (like a croquet stick) from the stable setting of my own two feet. One of the defeated Exeter players is very encouraging, calling out “Good shot!” as I wildly swing my mallet in the general direction of the ball, narrowly missing another student’s head.

While polo probably isn’t my jam, the introductory session was great fun, and the team were lovely. The horses are waiting for you, my friends.

Student Chat: “Whom do you most admire?”

Who is your hero? Who inspires you? Cambridge students reveal all...

“My mum”

Claire, King’s

“Claire’s mum”

“Preben Ness”

Ruby, King’s

Josh, King’s

Behind Cambridge’s Campaigns: Faith & Feminism Suhaiymah Manzoor-Kahn Columnist

T

he Faith & Feminism Campaign has made a good start this term. Amidst considering aims and planning we have also hosted our first event and received some good publicity.

This campaign must be bigger than me and must thus include non-Muslim voices as well as conversing with those not identifying as having religious faith. To start though, we held a meeting for those who did identify as feminists with faith to discuss our issues and aims in a safe space.

The outcome of the meeting was clear: the issue conveyed was the societal assumption that religion was a barrier to or contradiction of feminism. Those present voiced feeling expected to pick one of their two identities because both together were deemed incomprehensible.

Tellingly, all present were people of colour. Though obviously not representative of the entire body of feminists with faith in Cambridge, it was revealing that in a predominantly white campus, only people of colour turned up.

To me it confirmed my hypothesis of faith as an important identity to recover in providing greater intersectionality within feminism and in tackling feminisms infused with imperialist undertones (ie the idea that religion is inherently ‘backward’ and atheism inherently ‘Western’).

Tellingly, all present at our meeting were people of colour The first event of term was a panel discussion featuring two Christian feminists, Kristin Aune (academic) and Natalie Collins (activist), as well as Muslim feminist, Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (academic).

As the opener to the campaign it was an excitingly engaging event. Happily, it was a very honest event too wherein we discussed areas of discomfort as well as areas of easy compatibility. An audio recording can be found on the Facebook event.

Looking forward, this conversation must continue. We aim to begin an awareness-raising publicity campaign, invite more speakers, and I am especially keen to get other religious people and societies involved.

JESS PAC

“Magdalen Christie”

Romilly, Murray Edwards

ALL IMAGES: MAGDALEN CHRISTIE

“My dad” Kate, King’s

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12 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Interviews

Rev. Jesse Jackson: “We must be colour-caring” Chase Smith Interviews Editor

W

ith the fireworks on Jesus Green reverberating through the Union Chamber, the stage was set for a moving debate that no doubt will echo through the years. 50 years ago, a historic debate in this very same chamber confronted the challenges of race, and in many ways, the speakers for the evening were asked to assess how much had changed since that time and even deeper in history, and how far we still have to go.

The proposal was inflammatory, and as an American and a mixedrace student, I found its potential for controversy magnetic: ‘This house believes the American dream is colour blind.’

While a number of prominent journalists and other speakers were lined up on either side, the most highly anticipated speaker was clearly the Reverend Jesse Jackson, major civil rights activist, politician, and Baptist minister.

Born in 1941, he was a first-hand witness to Jim Crow Laws, experiencing the indignities of segregation. Among other civil rights activism and political efforts, he worked with Martin Luther King, Jr., and ran for the American presidency.

Rev. Jackson spoke for the opposition, highlighting the dangers

of being colour-blind. In his speech he argued that killing the past does not erase it: to be colour blind is to deny the continuing existence of racial inequality. To make progress, we have to take off our blinders and open our eyes to the diversity of people that surround us. In a later comment, in reference to the outstanding African Americans who have risen beyond racial prejudice to achieve excellence, he argued that we must not mistake a few flowers struggling through the rocks for the garden that could flourish if the rocks were not there to crush it.

His speech and comments were greeted with thunderous applause: his were words of anger and frustration, a call for further change and a thorough rejection of blinding ourselves to diversity.

After the debate, I had the privilege to ask him a few questions. Chattering, we student journalists were gathered into a room off the Union Bar, where we awaited the arrival of one of the greatest civil rights activists alive today.

Greeting us with his gruff American accent, he took our questions in turn.

I went straight for the heart of his speech: is a colour-blind or post-racial society achievable in America? And if it were, would we want one?’

His answer was straightforward.

“It’s undesirable. To seek to be blind is unnatural and illegitimate.”

Rather, he argued that we must, in

effect, open our eyes.

“We must be colour-caring, colour-affirming.

Most [people] within the world are yellow, brown, black, not-Christian, poor, female, young… Why must there be monochrome? It’s irrational. I can affirm your Asian-ness, your femaleness, your white-ness. Let’s affirm each other. I want to be sensitive to your history.”

I was of course a fan of the garden metaphor he had used in the debate: what could we do to cultivate that garden?

He then offers a suggestion for why “Keep moving the rocks out of the way. In other words, [when] you look African Americans are so substantial in athletics: “Whenever the playing “I want to be sensitive to field is even - rules public, goals clear, referees fair, we do it well. Beyond the your history.” ballfield, the playing field’s not even.”

We have a long way to go, according at a sidewalk you see a weed growing up or maybe a flower. That’s not a to Rev. Jackson.

To accept diversity, we cannot be garden - that’s just a flower that made blind to it, but must acknowledge it, it through.

“Jackie Robinson was the first make an effort to understand it, and African American who played white embrace it.

We must take off the blinders and league baseball. It was not enough for him to get in – other black players had move away the stones. Only then can diversity flourish. to get in.”

UCC MEDIA JUSTICE OC INC. VIA FLICKR

Manuel Hassassian: An Ambassador’s Perspective KMO FOTO VIA FLICKR

YAO TANG

Harry Parker

M

anuel Hassassian is, he tells me, “first and foremost an academic”.

Having taught Political Science at Bethlehem University for almost 25 years before being appointed to represent the Palestinian Authority in the UK in 2005, he knows a thing or two about the conflict’s politics. He was even involved in the negotiating process at the Camp David summit in 2000, and has been instrumental in other efforts since. It’s not hard to see why he considers himself an academic rather than a politician: the logic, the fierce intellectual stare, the intimidating charisma. Perhaps that’s why his audience was captivated when he came to Cambridge to deliver a talk to students who see the conflict presented as an intellectual game: how do we divide up Jerusalem? How do we answer the refugee question?

Where do we draw the borders?

These are the sorts of conversations that students and politicians alike have been having for decades, conversations that unfailingly end up going nowhere.

It’s not hard to see why there’s a generation of Palestinians growing up disillusioned and frustrated with the deadlock of the peace process. I put this to Manuel when I caught up with him after he spoke: “For 28 years we have embarked on this process, so the end result of what you’re seeing today is the frustration of the youth in the peace process. I

“The people are living a desperate life” don’t blame them at all, and I’m not basically against what’s happening today: people have the right to express their opinions, but I’m saying this is not going to solve our problems. We need to seek other ways of ending the conflict, but this doesn’t mean that it’s not legitimate. It is legitimate to resist the way you think is necessary.”

On the subject of resistance he is more expansive, more emotional, and less detached than the cold intellectual he often presented in his talk.

“The people”, he tells me, “are living a desperate life. They are humiliated: no future, no money, no stability or

security. How do you accept that a kid of six years old has to walk two and a half hours around a checkpoint to go to his school and two and a half hours to come back? How can you accept that there are 600 military checkpoints in the occupied territories?”

There’s a ruthless pragmatism to the way he speaks, but somehow, throughout his talk and our interview, there’s also a calculated optimism. Like the physical embodiment of ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’, Manuel remains hopeful of the peace process, even if he doesn’t think he personally will see the end of the conflict.

“Not in my lifetime. I’m 60 years old and I don’t think it will end in my lifetime. I’m trying to be extremely realistic by looking at the facts on the ground. Pressures are coming from the Jewish diaspora that Israel should stop these kinds of activities. It’s not going to help the sustainability of the state of Israel, over a long period of time, if that kind of debate becomes the bone of contention within Israeli society, and if Israel does not allow the Palestinians to practice their self-determination. So this is the big question.”

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The Cambridge Student • 12 November 2015

Comment

Government access to your internet history: can it really be justified?

L

A stitch in time

Better student representation across Cambridge is vital

Amatey Doku Columnist ast week the government announced that they were in the process of drafting the Investigatory Powers Bill, which is designed to completely overhaul the framework within which the British government can monitor its citizens.

This is part of a much wider dilemma facing states across the world. The speed at which the internet has evolved has taken many states by surprise and the result has been that legislation outlining what governments can and cannot do legally with regards to privacy has been incoherent and, in some cases, undemocratic.

This was the view of David Anderson QC who published a 300-page report earlier this year entitled A Question of Trust. He points out that the legislation concerning surveillance is fragmented in over 60 different acts of parliament and, as a consequence, the protection that individuals are given with regards to surveillance varies.

In a BBC interview, he described the current arrangement as “undemocratic”, arguing that all of these laws should be brought together under one act of parliament which is clear, coherent, and can be properly debated. Those on both sides of the debate on surveillance – those who wish to champion privacy as well as those who argue that security forces need more surveillance powers – nevertheless agree that laws on

Editors: Jack May & Freya Sanders Founded 1999 Volume 17

surveillance need to be updated.

It is against this backdrop that the draft of the Investigatory Powers Bill has come to parliament. The draft legislation proposes that internet service providers would be required to hold certain aspects of your communications data for a year.

Many have taken this to mean that the government will be able to access your entire internet history for a year if they need to, but it isn’t as clear-cut as that and there are several restrictions.

The government will be able to

Many believe that the government will be able to access their entire internet history for a year access your internet connection records. In turn, this ability will enable the government to firstly to determine the sender of communication on online communications networks, to identify the communications that the person is using and thirdly to ascertain whether a particular person has been accessing, or making available, any illegal material online.

On its official website, the government is at pains to stress that this does not amount to their being able to view any individual’s complete browsing history.

In addition the government are proposing the establishment of a new Investigatory Powers Commission, which will include senior judges. This will mean that a warrant to begin the surveillance of an individual would need to be signed off by this commission as well.

Theresa May claimed to have listened to the concerns that many voiced the last time that this was proposed. She also said that she was considering the fact that the bill was blocked by their Liberal Democrat coalition partners.

Speaking on Andrew Marr’s television show, the home secretary argued that some of the “contentious powers” proposed last time have been dropped. These include the requirement of communication providers to store third-party data and the extent to which browsing history can be accessed.

As technology develops at the rapid rate we are accustomed to, so too do criminals and terrorists who are opportunistic and resourceful, using whatever medium possible to coordinate their activities.

The essential problem which all states, in this day and age of ever increasing digitalisation, now face is the extent to which they can persuade and justify to the public at large why the increasing intrusion and surveillance of their private lives is needed for their country’s security.

NUMBER 10

A close second to your mother in the list of people you don’t want seeing your internet history

The National Student Survey, taken by finalists across the country every year, and released to the delight of student journalists and various bureaucratic committees, is always a difficult beast.

There are lots of ways in which universities, and in particular Cambridge, are not always directly comparable. Not all universities offer the same subjects, and only very few universities in the country run on the collegiate system that we experience here at Cambridge.

It is therefore with a pinch of salt that we report the findings of 2015’s National Student Survey.

On the one hand, there is some good news. Cambridge students are, generally, satisfied.

However, lots can slip under the radar. Last year, we reported that only 38% of students did not think that their course applies “unnecessary pressure”. This was, at the time, the starting gun for a new campaign to #endweek5blues and institute a reading week at the University.

Unfortunately, almost nothing has been heard of the campaign this academic year – it has been consigned to the pile of ideas that couldn’t survive the Cambridge timewarp.

This year, what seems most surprising is the figures that have come to light with Cambridge students’ levels of satisfaction with their Student Unions.

It is important here to tread very carefully indeed.

The survey does not specifically mention Cambridge University Students’ Union (CUSU), or indeed mention by name any specific union. Here, the uniquenesses of the Cambridge system comes into play.

In Cambridge there are over 60 students’ unions. There are 31 colleges, each of which has at least one union of the student body (most often one for the undergraduate students – a JCR – and one for the graduates – a MCR). Furthermore, there is both the Graduate Union and the CUSU that many of us are familiar with.

Whilst most can be discounted, as only undergraduate finalists take the survey, it is important to bear in mind that ambiguities still exist.

We have to think whether the average student filling in the survey will think this question refers to their college union, or to CUSU.

It seems most likely that the average Cambridge student – with what can be assumed to be an above-average level of intelligence and common sense – would think through the survey, think through the specificities of the Cambridge system, and come to the conclusion that this probably is in reference to CUSU. Were that assumption to be made, these figures would be truly concerning. CUSU’s satisfaction level would have fallen consistently ever since the student union question was introduced in 2012, from 46% to this year’s record low of 32%.

While the sabbatical term of one year can seem very short in the greater scheme of things, in Cambridge terms it is an aeon. It is a whole generation’s worth of change, reform, and – most crucially – perception. Within a year is contained the chance to completely alter the perception students have of CUSU. However, it may be the case that such an assumption cannot be made – it may be that common sense is the one form of intelligence we can’t expect Cambridge students to harbour. If that is the case, then 32% is a conglomerate average of satisfaction with all the numerous student unions across Cambridge, meaning that we have an enormous problem to tackle.

JCRs can vary hugely – there are some that are active, campaigning, and led by impassioned students with a drive to work with, through, and (where needed) in spite of the college to get a better deal for their students. There are also some run in a lacklustre fashion by officers with all the drive of a mildly aroused sloth.

Student representation across Cambridge is in a state of poor health.

It is time for this survey to kickstart a new campaign more vigorous than the last. We must all do our bit to revive student representation, whether that be in making sure that positions, at college or university level, are contested, taking part in college-focussed direct action, or simply checking up on what our unions are doing in our name.

It is vital that student representation isn’t left to the radical few to whither and die. We must all take part, and ensure that our voices are heard, in college and across Cambridge.

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12 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Comment

Cambridge students should be able to take on part-time work – it’s only fair

Anonymous

A

s full-time students living in Cambridge, we are all well aware that the cost of living here can be high. So why does the University not allow us to have part-time jobs while we’re studying a full-time degree? It is an extremely unfair assumption that we can all rely on loans and bursaries. First of all, the cost of accommodation in many colleges can often be so high that our government loans are simply not enough to cover all costs. Secondly, if the joint income of our parents does not fit the requirements to receive a bursary or the maximum amount of student loan, it cannot be assumed that our parents can afford to fund our living costs throughout the course of our degree.

So for many of us, getting a part-time job would help to solve any possible financial difficulties that we may face during our studies. The University should not have the right to impose a strict restriction on its students who may wish to undertake paid work whilst they study. It is of course understandable that as full-time students, we are expected to devote most of our time to our studies, and a part-time job should

not interfere with either our contact hours or workload.

But if the University encourages us to undertake extra-curricular activities which are not related to our studies, such as joining a society or sports club, why do they not permit us to have a part-time job? A parttime job does not need to be demanding, and more often than not working part-time will take up just as much time as being a member of a society. Employers are usually flexible with students and understand how time-consuming a degree at Cambridge University can be.

From personal experience as a secondyear student, I have managed to maintain a part-time job here at Cambridge since the beginning of my degree, working just six hours a week. But due to the strict University rules on part-time jobs, I have chosen to hide this fact. The job has offered me the chance to earn extra money which helps me to fund the general cost of living here in Cambridge, but more importantly, I am certain that the job has not interfered with my studies here at Cambridge.

The University recognises that undertaking academic-related work can provide students with transferable skills,

I have managed to maintain a part-time job throughout my degree

but it is undeniably more difficult to find academic-related work than basic part-time work that fits into the study schedule of a full-time student. A part-time job not only offers the chance of more financial stability, but can also help students to maintain a healthy work-life balance, whilst gaining valuable life skills within a real working environment. This is experience that the University should value.

Cambridge is one of very few universities in the country which specifically advises its students against having part-time jobs throughout their studies. This is no doubt due to our comparatively heavy workloads.

However, this strict rule can often place students at a disadvantage in terms of not having any work experience, since undeniably all work experience, whether academic-related or not, can be a valuable CV booster.

Of course, combining a part-time job with the pressure of studying at Cambridge is not for everybody. Nonetheless, it should be our right to decide whether we wish to undertake part-time work during our studies; the University should not have the power to interfere with what we choose to do in our free time.

There’s a seriou Inequality in college rent is deeply unfair supposed ‘Wee

Catriona Corke

T

he idiosyncratic nature of the collegiate system means that there are plenty of discrepancies in the provision of accommodation which, despite being unequal, do not attract attention for being unfair. We can easily get over smaller inequalities such as laundry or college bar prices since they probably balance each other out. However, this is not the case with college rents.

Unfortunately, we students are a captive market since we are only eligible to live in our own college’s accommodation, so colleges can charge what they like. Even a ‘fair’ system, where all students at a college pay the same rent regardless of room type, is not fair in actuality, for those prices could be disproportionate in comparison to those charged by other colleges.

Ideally, lack of room banding would mean that everyone would pay a price equivalent to the average across all colleges.

In reality, Girton and Newnham, the two colleges with non-banded rooms, also charge among the most expensive prices.

At Newnham, for example, a handful of fresher rooms are officially recognised as ‘less good’ because of their very small size, and yet this is not enough to stop their occupants from being charged the same as those with the best rooms in college and the top band of en-suite rooms at

JIMMY APPLETON

nearby Selwyn (£146.75/week for the 2015 Newnham cohort versus £148.18 for the top band at Selwyn). A flat rate of rent is easily open to exploitation as prices can be set very high by a system which removes room for negotiation, even if it declares itself to be the more democratic option.

Yet, where room banding does exist, there is no standardised measure across colleges.

Finally, there is the question of the fairness of the University’s accommodation in comparison to other universities.

Few people would turn down a place at Cambridge based on accommodation provision. This is probably why the University’s general attitude towards undergraduate accommodation is that it is reasonable to make us move out between terms. Any other university aside from Oxbridge would struggle to attract students with such a rental agreement. ‘Bizarre’ is the only word to describe rental agreements which last eight or ten weeks per term and depend on the presumption that the average Cambridge student lives only an hour’s drive away, has access to a car, and has parents who are able and willing to cart all their stuff home only to move it all in again in time for the next term.

Although it is difficult to see this situation changing in the near future, it is time for the University to look into taking measures to create a system that actually benefits students.

Hannah Cavender-Deere

W

eek Five: that notorious time in a Cambridge student’s life when the excitement of a new term has long worn off, a backlog of work is piling up, and the holidays are still a distant dream. You’re probably feeling a bit worn out, perhaps struggling with the deluge of weekly essays and problem sheets. Or maybe you’re not getting enough sleep, and are experiencing an overwhelming sense of dread at the prospect of another four weeks of constant stress and anxiety. If this is the case, you may be suffering from a particularly nasty bout of ‘the Week Five Blues’, otherwise known as chronic stress and fatigue. The remedy: a chocolate in your pigeon hole or, if you’re lucky, an aptly timed bop courtesy of your college JCR. It’s not unusual for students to feel a little burnt-out towards the middle of term, and perhaps ‘Week Five Blues’ is simply a lighthearted way to encourage solidarity in the face of this temporary slump. However, the potential for symptoms of more serious stress-related illness to be normalised and lumped under the ‘blues’ umbrella is dangerous. The fact that this supposed phenomenon is so strongly associated with Oxbridge (with the Oxford equivalent ‘Fifth Week Blues’) is not a coincidence, and points towards the negative impact that the unusually pressurised environment may be having on student mental health and wellbeing. After all, why are students

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The Cambridge Student • 12 November 2015

SCOTPROOF

Government cuts are turning higher education into a market commodity Idel Hanley

O

ous side to the ek Five Blues’ expected to feel drained and unhappy after only four weeks of teaching? Should essay crises and sleep deprivation be the norm?

The very existence of an institutionalised week of exhaustion is symptomatic of more fundamental issues which need to be addressed, not simply accepted as a quirk of the ‘Cambridge experience’.

‘Week Five Blues’ also ignores the experience of an unfortunate number of students who struggle to cope throughout the year. So recent efforts to talk more seriously about mental health in Cambridge, including Cambridge Defend Education’s campaign last year to #endweekfiveblues, are as vital as ever.

Cambridge Speaks Its Mind, an information sharing project, shares the testimonies of various students and alumni who have had a “personal negative experience of the flaws in Cambridge University’s welfare system”.

In many cases, it seems that the highlypressurised, competitive environment, combined with a lack of adequate welfare provision, makes it much more difficult for students with mental health problems to be supported, and can often exacerbate existing conditions.

The 2014 National Student Survey also revealed that only 55% of Cambridge students found the workload on their course to be manageable. So long as concepts like ‘Week Five Blues’ are left unchallenged, life at Cambridge will remain unnecessarily stressful for most, and dangerously unhealthy for some.

Comment

sborne announced in his budget this year plans to cut maintenance grants, turning them into loans. The introduction of the TEF (Teaching Excellence Framework) is also in the pipeline, a system which will judge universities on their quality of teaching, and subsequently allow them to potentially increase fees dependent on their rating. On top of this, the government is changing the terms and conditions of our current student loans.

According to an NUS survey of 2,184 students, of the nearly 60% who receive maintenance grants, 71% said it was essential in allowing them to go to their first choice university, and 35% said that they would not have gone into higher education without the grant. In a survey done at Homerton, many students expressed their concern that if they had not received the grant, they would not have considered university. Over half a million students in England receive maintenance grants. The Homerton survey, and the CUSU survey, showed that Cambridge students echo these concerns about how they would afford to cover the cost of living during their degree, never mind the added pressure of supporting family, and pressure to get

full-time jobs during vacations.

Having met with Heidi Allen, the Conservative MP for Homerton and Girton’s constituency, along with CUSU, the government’s justification and their misplaced priorities became clear. She repeatedly expressed that although she hadn’t appreciated the effect it would have on student’s mental health and wellbeing, it came down to the fact that the government needed to reduce the deficit. They want to reduce the deficit at all costs, even if that means shifting the debt onto the individual, and damaging the average student’s university life.

They claim that students won’t actually have to pay back any more, so the overall benefit of these changes is hard to tell.

The government are out of touch, and have failed to fully assess the impact that these cuts will have on students, which they are obliged to do under the 2010 Equality Act. Higher education is moving away from something that should be accessible to everyone, regardless of background. This attack on the poorest students is perpetuating the idea that higher education is something for the privileged, and not based on academic merit. Education is a fundamental right, and nothing should be done to undermine this.

The cuts are going to detrimentally

The cuts will reverse years of positive access work in Cambridge

impact access work at Cambridge.

Undergraduates will no longer be on an equal economic footing, increasing fears of potential applicants of being marginalised within the student body.

The TEF and increase in tuition fees will further amplify this.

The TEF is fundamentally flawed, teaching quality cannot be judged by metric systems such as how much their students earn in careers after graduation, or student satisfaction surveys. Cambridge will do well in the TEF, and consequently be able to increase their fees, confirming the perceptions of Cambridge as an elitist institution. We will no longer be able to tell students that they will pay exactly the same if they applied to Cambridge as any other university. It will reverse years of positive access work.

Jo Johnson is turning higher education into a market, students into consumers and education into a commodity. This is a gradual process, which started with the increase of tuition fees, and ambiguous terms and conditions. Universities will be in competition, the value of education will be warped by financial considerations, and our distrust of the government increases. It is going to affect every student, and the prospect of these changes happening is terrifying.

HM TREASURY

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12 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Sport

The Puzzles Column Barcelona declare 1.

5.

3.

2.

4.

Paul Hyland Sport Editor

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7.

6.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

Crossword

Across 1. The essential hands-free nerd bag (8) 5. Feather, constrictor (3) 7. Time that most people think that arts students wake up (4) 8. Society that controversially hosted Assange this week (5) 9. US state made up of islands where classic film Lilo & Stich is set (6) 11. Confederation of students’ unions across the country (3) 12. “provincial minor public school” and alma mater of one editor-in-chief of this publication (8)

Down 1. Old Russian woman or grandmother, as made famous by Kate Bush (8) 2. Hindi word for tea, now a popular aromatic Starbucks latte (4) 3. Formal practice that plagues Caius dishwashers (8) 4. Scandinavian fjallraven ___, featured on p.12 of part 2 (6) 6. __ point, perfect (2) 10. Coil (3)

by Charlotte Furniss-Roe

o sooner had UEFA’s famous Champions League anthem commenced, set to Handel’s ‘Zadok the Priest’, than the magnificent Camp Nou unleashed an amazing spectacle. As Barcelona’s team took to the pitch to face Belorussian opponents, Bate Borisov, their fans prepared to take on a very different opponent: Spain itself.

The cry of “Independència!” came unanimously from the 75,000 supporters gathered in the stadium for last week’s Champions League encounter, flooding the stands with a sea of red and yellow senyeras, the Catalan flag.

That Luis Suárez and Neymar combined to complete a 3-0 victory was of secondary importance to a vote in the Catalan Parliament on whether to secede from Spain. Just five days later, the Generalitat announced their intention to officially make Catalonia an independent nation within the next 18 months. The Madrid-based government immediately dug in its heels, as prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, vowed to block a political move he declared “unconstitutional”.

The present-day tensions between Catalonia and Castile can be traced back at least to the early 18th century, when Catalonia was brought under the auspices of the Spanish Crown. More recently, when the Franco dictatorship took hold in 1939, all official use of Catalan was banned in the region until the end of the regime in 1975.

Do Cambridge students c Jack Ranson Deputy Sport Editor

Sudoku I

Solutions from Volume 17, Michaelmas Issue 5

Many in the stadium last Wednesday will have been old enough to remember when the Camp Nou was the only place in the regional capital where Catalan could be spoken freely.

In this sense it was the football stadium that allowed a repressed culture to fight back, and played its part in a ground-breaking political development in Spain. That well-worn adage of Barcelona, that they are més que un club is true; the situation on the ground in Catalonia demonstrates that sport, to them, is more than just results. It’s an arena of civil resistance to the repression of a minority voice.

As a spectator that night, what struck me was how conversations, flittering at will between Catalan and Castilian, so often turned to the political. The Camp Nou is not merely a place to witness some of the best athletes on the planet; its primary function seems to be one of discussion, debate and discourse. The fact that there’s football

had a conversation with a New Zealander last week. Fortunately for me, it was before the finale of the Rugby World Cup, so he wasn’t yet unbearably smug, but he did have

by Thomas Prideaux Ghee a few surprising observations about British rugby culture.

Having only just arrived in Cambridge, he was still getting to grips with the UK. He expressed his confusion at Halloween. He shared an understandable hatred for the time difference. But by far his biggest qualm was with the total lack of interest in the largest rugby event in the world, in the year that it happened to be played on our doorstep.

To him, it was shocking that he’d approached a stranger that morning and asked if they would be watching the match. Their response: ‘what match?’. So I feel obliged to defend our

commitment to spectatorship before people get the wrong idea and start to think that we crashed out in the group stages because nobody cares.

Firstly, football. The sports market in the UK is highly saturated, primarily because of the never-ending supply of football that is being played.

The Premier League, the League Cup,

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The Cambridge Student • 12 November 2015

Sport

es independence on is just a bonus.

The sport and politics of Barcelona seem to share an intractable destiny.

When the Catalan Parliament was reinstated in 1977, President Josep Terradellas declared to jubliant supporters: “Ciutadans de Catalunya, ja sóc aquí!” the Catalan for “Citizens of Catalonia, I am finally here!” These words were borrowed 15 years later by midfielder Pep Guardiola, who celebrated the club’s first European Cup by declaring, “Citizens of Catalonia, it’s finally here!” The former manager even stood as a symbolic candidate for a Catalan independence party in the local elections this year, and last November famously voted for secession in a disputed referendum.

The cries of “Barça! Barça! Barça!” in the stands are less a rallying cry for the team in the famous blaugrana than one for the city itself, the economic powerhouse of a proud autonomous community (the Spanish term for its

regions) that isn’t quite autonomous enough for its own liking.

Even their chants goading local rivals, Espanyol, (which cannot be reprinted here) go far beyond the usual jibes from fans offended that other football clubs might have the audacity to set up shop within an arbitrary distance of their own. Espanyol, whose name naturally translates to ‘Spanish’, also bear the royal title worn most famously by Real Madrid. Deriding their less-successful co-tenants is an act of civil resistance to everything they so object to in Spain, and to pockets of pro-Spanish sentiment still alive in the region.

What the events of the last two weeks in Catalonia exemplify is the fading divide between the worlds of sport and politics. An entire, disenfranchised community is able to maintain its political voice thanks to its football club. And now Spain, nay Europe, is called to listen.

PAUL HYLAND

Rugby’s dark side - journalism’s too?

Edward Ashcroft

T

he sun has barely set on the 2015 Rugby World Cup. From the ‘Brave Blossoms’ defeating the Bok, to Julian Savea’s demolition of three French defenders for New Zealand’s second try in the quarterfinals, there were certainly plenty of moments to savour.

For me, these images are fading. In their place, the Sam Burgess affair casts a dark shadow over the sport at what should be its moment of triumph.

After the early World Cup exit, what England needed was (in the very British sense) to ‘keep calm and carry on.’ To review the failures, and put them where they belong – in the past. What England has got, however, is entirely different. The story of Sam Burgess – his world cup performances, and now his Rugby Union exit – has dominated the increasingly painful fallout. Surely, as Sir Clive Woodward scathingly suggests, we have reached one of ‘the most embarrassing points

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the FA Cup, the European Cup, the Europa League, even the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy is presumably interesting for someone somewhere. If a stranger asked me about a ‘match’ at the weekend, my primordial instinct, ingrained since youth, would be to moan about the amount of money in football or comment on the MARC

advised Burgess to switch codes needs ‘naming and shaming.’ He claims it is the arrogance of English rugby to have merely suggested that he could ever have succeeded.

A top player in league who wants to pursue a career in union? It’s not arrogance. He could have been great.

When Dawson writes that “Sam Burgess leaving makes me feel both sorry and furious,” he mirrors my own feelings. My fury, however, is directed at him.

Burgess has fallen victim to the growing trend for ex-players to try and grab headlines and further their own tentative careers in the competitive world of sports journalism. The only ‘tactical analysis’ from these ostensibly neutral pundits has been the tactics of their cynical career moves.

Seeing a player sacrificed on the altar of careerism has made me revisit my own desire to one day enter the world of journalism. Self-promotion and headline grabbing may be rugby’s dark side, but it’s journalism’s too.

The Paris Masters: A sight to behold Sophie Penney

he city; Roger Federer; homeboy Tsonga; a new stadium; sold-out arenas: the Paris Masters was spectacular.

Last week, the tournament was down to its last 16 players, with both Federer and Tsonga facing lesserknown opponents in Andreas Seppi and Roberto Bautista Agut. They went on to win accordingly, Roger claiming a 6-1 6-1 victory in just 47 minutes and Tsonga triumphing 6-2 6-2.

But it was not about the score.

This was a showcase of two players’ particularly bad start to the season mastery of the game. Federer played that [insert team] are enjoying. some sublime passing shots on the line Perhaps even more relevant, is our as Seppi moved the wrong way every national sheepishness, encouraged by time. He ended his show of immense our poor performance in the group stage. I feel like we would be more likely to openly back our national team – or even admit interest in a sporting event – if we had confidence that said team would be strong title contenders.

Look at how much exposure Formula One or Golf gets now that we have had consistent, high-level success.

I personally feel that Cambridge is a city quite into its rugby. The Varsity Match attracts by far the biggest audience of any of the other Varsity games. Maybe we’re too wrapped up in the big rivalry to take too much interest in the sport internationally. I’d like to see how New Zealand differs in its celebration of the sport. For now, the best advice I can give to a New Zealander is to get into football.

care about rugby enough?

in English rugby history.”

But it is not Lancaster’s fault that rugby is now a “laughing stock.” And nor is it Burgess’.

It is the pundits who have poured shame on the sport. Sam Burgess has been subjected to much unfounded, personal abuse. To see the career of a man with so much potential descend into a witch-hunt has been sad.

Gordon D’Arcy’s recent scathing comments in The Irish Times that Burgess’ “naivety embarrassed those around him” deserve special attention. In fact, I would suggest, he has embarrassed himself. He has joined the string of union players so determined to prove that the ‘cocky upstart’ from league could never reach the pinnacle of Union in only a matter of months. Just for the record, England were winning comfortably when Burgess was subbed off.

It is with Matt Dawson, however, that I have the biggest axe to grind.

In his Daily Mirror column a few days ago, he wrote that whoever

skill with a spin drop shot on the right tramline, the annihilation over almost as soon as it had started.

Then came Tsonga, the French number one playing on his home turf. The local hero was treated to thunderous applause and endless shouts of ‘Alleeeez!’ even in the shortest breaks between points.

Though his match was slightly tougher and indeed his play was erratic at times, he showed the mental fortitude to regain games he had dropped and showed his superiority with a dominating presence at the net. He put in great shots where it mattered, punching the air as he secured his position in the quarterfinals.

The Paris Masters, however, isn’t just about the tennis: it’s a spectacle.

The newly-constructed arena in east Paris was a sight to behold, with every seat full. For the players’ entrance the lights went dark and then suddenly spotlights lit up on the floor of the court and loud music boomed through the arena as the players emerged through a cloud of dry ice. And of course it had the French touch, from the incessant chants of “allez”, to the bizarre man dressed in an ornate concierge outfit who carried the players’ towels out on a silver serving-dish.

The speed of the ball was shown in kilometre per hour, which meant that every non-French member of the crowd, myself included, had no clue how fast the balls were going. But it didn’t matter: incredible tennis speaks for itself and it certainly did in Paris.

SOPHIE PENNEY

Sport

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12 November 2015 • The Cambridge Student

Cambridge and rugby: Do students at Cambridge care about rugby enough? → p. 19

www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/sport

ABOVE: ROBIN BYE

The men’s hockey team this week took on Sussex University with a decisive 12-0 win. Read below for more.

Image: William Lyon Tupman

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William Lyon Tupman

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he Blues started the match in style, scoring twice within the first 15 minutes. They continued to put on an impressive display, holding the vast majority of possession which resulted in a successful penalty that extended their comfortable lead.

While Sussex were technically advanced, it wasn’t enough to hold the Blues back, whose superior skill and communication were fully in evidence. After a brief scare for Cambridge as Sussex swept down the pitch, the Blues cleared the danger and scored again on the counter. Half time came, and Cambridge were leading 6-0.

The second half commenced with vigour, and once again it was Cambridge leading the way and the Blues hit a beautiful shot from distance, diverted only at the last moment by the Sussex keeper. Cambridge were scoring again shortly afterwards though, and keeping the pressure on Sussex throughout. After a confident performance, the Blues emerged with a fully deserved 12-0 victory.

Cambridge Bristol

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Emily Birch

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xcluding a sharp opening goal against Oxford from Moss in the first 30 seconds, the first half of play from Cambridge was disappointingly scrappy. Dropping balls in attack and failing to transition the ball smoothly in midfield, Cambridge were not looking like the solid side that they usually are.

Cambridge managed to score a late equaliser to make it 6-6 just before half time. Disappointed with their level of play, they fell behind once again. At 10-6 with 20 minutes to go, Cambridge could have easily given up, but some incredibly motivating play from Duck spurred them on.

The mood of the team changed, and the attacking unit went into killer mode, with Lehovsky and Morrill slamming goals into the back of the net. Four goals were scored by Cambridge in four minutes – a spectacular comeback! At 10-10, they managed to score another two and Oxford one, which triggered four minutes of nail biting but successful possession play from Cambridge to finish the match 12-11.

Women’s Football

Men’s Hockey

Cambridge Sussex

Women’s Lacrosse

The Light Blues sweep the board in dramatic games Cambridge Nottingham

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Gerda Bachrati

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icking off their campaign in the Midlands Conference Cup, the Light Blues started the match on the front foot, launching a host of attacks which were repeatedly denied by an excellent Nottingham goalkeeper.

Cambridge were just as impressive in defence, limiting Nottingham’s opportunities to counterattack, though couldn’t find the breakthrough before half-time.

The second half kicked off, and the Blues showed their extra class, enjoying the bulk of the attacking play, which allowed winger Katheryn Savage to score a beautiful shot across the otherwise outstanding goalkeeper.

More soon followed, and Savage was at it again, smashing home from just inside the box to double Cambridge’s advantage.

The Blues were denied a third by some desperate defending until one minute from the final whsitle, when Ceylon Hickman powered a venomous shot across the goalkeeper to put Cambridge deservedly into the next round of the Cup.