Lent 2016 Issue 1

Twelfth Night:

ws j Stellar acting let down by someW u ww confused direction w

→ Part 2, p.6–7

www.tcs.cam.ac.uk

Bid to keep streets lit with council funding County council agrees to keep lights on until 2am

A

Talks Top of the Pops, motown, and Jacque Brel

What Britain can learn

→ Comment, p.9

→Part 2, p.2

The

14 January 2016 Vol. 17 Lent Issue 1

Sherilyn Chew News Editor Cambridgeshire county council meeting this week narrowly rejected a proposal to dispense with the county-wide streetlight switch-off.

The county council instead agreed to channel almost £100,000 extra to keep the streetlights around Cambridgeshire on until 2am, rather than midnight, as originally planned.

The announcement comes after the Cambridge city council released its Budget Setting Report (BSR) 2016-17 last week, offering a bid of £45,500 to keep the streetlights in Cambridge on.

The city council proposes to fund the period between 2am and 6am in the city if the county council will fund the period from midnight to 2am.

The proposal is on the basis that “lights in the city centre and University areas, including immediate walk/ cycle to home routes, and from other key locations, will be kept on with a maximum of 20% dimming, and will be funded by the county.”

However, “all other lights in streets currently proposed for switch off in the city...[will] be kept on with a maximum dimming of 50%.”

Commenting on the city council’s bid, Charlotte Chorley, Women’s Officer for CUSU, said: “The city council’s bid to keep the streetlights on, especially in areas densely populated by students, is an encouraging and positive step.”

“Following on from a strong campaign by students, the bid is testament to their action and determination, and I stand in

Alastair Campbell

US college fees:

solidarity with those campaigning for student safety.”

The Leader of the Cambridge city council, Councillor Lewis Herbert, has commented: “The county proposal is to cut street lighting irrespective of need - whether it is Romsey or Ramsey, or an isolated rural cottage in the middle of nowhere.”

“The public safety case for lighting Cambridge streets throughout the night is overwhelming for people whatever the time...and we think people should be safe in the knowledge that the lights will stay on.”

Commenting to The Cambridge Student, Lynda Kilkelly, Safer Communities Manager for the Cambridge city council, said the bid was motivated by concerns about “the safety of the public if the original proposal went ahead”.

These include “the large student and young population living in the city centre who walk and cycle home late at night”, and the “use of green spaces as walking and cycling routes at night”.

She also cited the need for community safety hotspot areas and CCTV areas to be well lit, and the need to consider “the range of workers who travel to and from work in the hours between midnight and 6 am.”

“However, it may be that in quiet suburban residential streets that the dimming of lights may have less of an impact and this will be considered within the negotiations.”

The proposals will be considered by a full council meeting in February.

Editorial Comment page 15 →

Cambridge Student

University to fund planning officers Bea Lundy Deputy News Editor Cambridge University is set to pay the Cambridge city council £204,000 a year to fund new posts in the planning department, to enable the University’s real estate developments to be sped up.

The University’s contribution will pay for five new posts – an environmental health officer, a conservation officer, an urban design officer, and two planning officers.

The University has said that it hopes that the new posts will allow for new projects to receive council attention more quickly than before.

However, some have questioned the the officers having such close links to the University, with Liberal Democrat planning spokesperson Councillor Catherine Smart saying “Planning applications and preapplication discussions when it’s a big development do cost the applicants, and in a sense this is not all that different, in some ways.

“However, I will certainly be wanting to have reassurance that there’s no question of a conflict of interest.”

A University spokesman rejected concerns over the conflict, saying “it is common practice for developers to enter into planning performance agreements with councils to fund staff resources for individual projects.”

The city council’s planning department has seen the number of applications for permission increase by 50% since 2012, while the number of planning officers has not grown.

The University is planning a number of major projects, including plans for the 3,000-home North West Cambridge site, and the creation of 1,000 extra jobs in West Cambridge, over the next three to five years.

Many of these are likely to need “support and analysis from planning officers”, according to Cambridge News.

Blue sky heralds in the New Year in the centre of Cambridge, promising a bright, if chilly, beginning to Lent Term, 2016 Image: Sophie Buck Editorial Comment page 15 →

2

14 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

News

Editorial Team 14 January 2016 Editor-in-Chief Deputy Editors News Editor Deputy News Editors

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

Directors

Volume 17 • Lent Issue 1

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

Letter from the Editor: A new year, a new office and a (mostly) new team Elsa Maishman Editor-in-Chief Welcome to a new term, and to the first issue of The Cambridge Student, Lent 2016.

With this issue TCS enters something of a new era. For the past year, the top spots on the Editorial team have been filled by the same small group of incredibly talented and dedicated individuals; amassing an impressive amount of skill and experience into the team behind a student publication.

The end of Michaelmas 2015, then, saw changes for the paper, as the reins were handed over to a team with a higher proportion of new members (and women, incidentally) than I, at least, have ever seen.

As well as a new team, TCS has also (finally) acquired a new office.

Featuring clean white walls and a rather snazzy archway, the paper’s new home is bigger and considerably nicer than ever before. However, it does, thankfully, still have that dimly lit, underground stuffiness befitting the office of this publication.

The legacy left by previous Editors is a strong one, and it need not be said that the teams of the past year have left behind a phenomenal reputation to live up to. TCS owes its high standard of content, engaging tone and its reputation for outstanding

investigations to those who have worked so tirelessly over the past years.

The beginning of Michaelmas term saw a beautiful redesign of the paper, featuring a 12 page Culture and Lifestyle pullout. This layout has remained much the same – although you may notice a few small changes here and there. The most drastic of these is the closer link between Comment and News and Investigations. Comment pieces have been integreated into pages five and nine, in order to broaden the debate and facilitate greater engagement with current affairs.

TCS is a source of entertainment created by students for students, but it’s also a mouthpiece, a platform for holding both the University and Colleges to account, and for giving a voice to the causes and campaigns that Cambridge students really care about (see p.8 for an account of the drive for mixed-race bone marrow donors).

thirty section editors, along with writers, sub-editors, photographers, and illustrators, along with a few old hands who have been overwhelmingly supportive and willing to step in with support and guidance whenever an Oxford Comma crisis arose.

The readers of TCS have an awful lot to look forward to in 2016

This fresh team, along with three astoundingly capable and quite frankly rather batty Deputy Editors – Stevie Hertz, Jessie Mathewson and Amelia Oakley. – have proved that the readers of TCS have an awful lot to look forward to in 2016.

Highlights of this issue include a touching review of David Bowie’s final album, Blackstar, written just hours before the news broke of the star’s death (P2, p. 6) and a short obiturary written by the same author (P2, p.3).

The interview with Alistair Campbell The legacy left by (P2, p.2) is also well worth a read. previous Editors is a I hope you enjoy reading this week’s strong one issue. And if you don’t, I hope you’ll let us know why – or better still, get This paper has come together in involved and help us to write, illustrate a remarkably short space of time, or sub-edit a paper that was, after all, through the tireless effort of over created for you.

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

tcd

• tcd@tcs.cam.ac.uk •

ROB NOBLE

ROSALIND’S GRAND DAY OUT

Those Cambridge students who have enjoyed time in the city over Christmas may have spotted the removal of the Corpus Clock (pictured right) for a brief period for ‘maintainence’; its absence was dearly felt by those lacking that alternative snap.

It is with a heavy heart, then, that this Diarist writes that the Corpus Clock is allegedly to be taken away again at some point over the next few months, as an obscure link with elite private institution The Perse School means that the clock is making an appearence at its 400th anniversary ball. As ever, in Cambridge, it’s not ‘what time is it?’, but ‘whose time is it?’.

THE BEAUTY OF BIAS

The Cambridge Student’s first article of 2016 reported on student cheating in UK universties. The headline: “Cheating over 20 times more prevalent at Oxford than Cambridge”. Meanwhile, at Cherwell, Oxford’s independent newspaper: “Oxford 20 times better at detecting cheating than Cambridge.” Spin is everything.

ANALOGUE PREMATURITY

With the start of term comes the excitement of the Union’s termcard, delivered early to student papers in advance of an ‘embargo’ – in this case, 12 Noon on Monday. In the rush of it all, however, Varsity published

their article before the embargo had ended. When challenged on Twitter, they blamed “analogue watches”, promising “never again”. When such a lot is made of being the oldest student paper, it’s understandable that archaic methods reign supreme.

Ziggy & Caius College

As part of its new customer-facing social media strategy (replete with a newly-hired full-time Communications Director, Lucy), Gonville & Caius College has embarked on #Caius366, a project in which the college shares a photo of or relating to the college on Instagram every day for the entirety of this leap year.

To mark the death of music legend David Bowie this Sunday, the college shared a portrait of the singer – in his Ziggy Stardust alter ego – by music photographer Mick Rock, a former student at Gonville & Caius College described by The Times as “the music world’s top snapper”.

In response to the news of the singer’s death, the Caian tweeted: “Beyond sad. Difficult to absorb. Deeply moved.

He was a sweet sweet soul. He went out with such a creative bang. Such a privilege to have known and worked with him. Such a remarkable man and artist. I loved him.”

Front page: JOHANNES HJORTH, URBAN~COMMONSWIKI, UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD PRESS OFFICE

3

The Cambridge Student • 14 January 2016

News

UCAS study reveals largest gender gap in eight years Chief Executive calls for “positive action” to increase male enrolment saying that “feminism has gone too far” Hayden Banks Deputy News Latest UCAS findings reveal that women outnumber men in 112 out of 180 degree subjects, prompting Chief Executive Mary Curnock-Cook to announce that “feminism has gone too far”.

Cook also claimed that there was a “deafening policy silence” on the issue, as there is evidence that girls are outperforming boys throughout primary and secondary education, setting them up for a more successful university applications procedure.

However, traditional gender course stereotypes remain, with men outnumbering women in subjects such as Engineering and Maths, whilst women dominate in Psychology, Philosophy, English and Law. The statistics have emerged in the wake of a further UCAS report last month, which revealed a ‘record’ gulf in the number of female and

UCAS noted that men outnumber women generally in the population, and as such there should be around 5% more male students than females.

Caroline Jordan, President of the Girls’ Schools Assocation, said she remained concerned about the gender gap for girls particularly “The successes of one in the sciences and Engineering. gender do not need to be She stated that “what concerns me is gap in the different types of sciences, blamed for the failures of the with women focusing on the more another” people-orientated science roles without considering engineering and computing outnumber men nine to one, whereas opportunities, when we know that Computer Science courses have 13,085 we need one million new engineers more male students than female. and technicians in the next five years”.

CITY OF STOKE ON TRENT SIXTHFORM COLLEGE The statistics emerge in the wake of

of the feminist movement which men, they are first blamed and then has increased female enrolment second, made to feel guilty about it.

Maybe, just maybe, we could consider Cook has claimed that the possibility that more women are there was a “deafening getting into university because of their hard work and academic merit. The policy silence” on the own successes of one gender do not need to issue be blamed for the failures of another”.

She concluded by slating the assertion at university to the detriment of that “feminism has gone too far”, white, working-class male pupils. highlighting recent A-Level results which The Women’s Officer at Emmanuel show female students outperforming College claimed that Cook’s comments their male counterparts in securing the about the feminist movement were top A/A* grades, thus increasing their both “confusing” and “appalling”. chances of progression to top universities.

She added: “it seems to me that when Moreover she argued that “feminism women succeed at a higher level than clearly hasn’t gone far enough,

because still, women cannot succeed without being punished for it.”

The statistics reveal further disparity when looking at particular subjects. which only seek to fuel gender stereotypes with regard to subject choices. In Nursing, women

“Women are now looking at themselves differently because of a long struggle around women’s rights” new outreach programmes targeted at young working-class males, which almost a third of universities in Britain have now implemented, with some programs in football clubs.

Professor of Education at Roehampton University, Penny Jane Burke, has claimed that the trend is due to increased opportunities for women, arguing that “women are now looking at themselves diferently because of a long struggle around women’s right to education. This is a symptom, in a positive way, of all that work”.

1.6% Percentage of subjects revealed to have equal representation between males and females

male students at British universities, with 18-year old female pupils over a third more likely to start a degree than male pupils of the same age.

Cook questioned the normalisation

Comment debate, page 15 →

Punt wars continue as boat vandalised

Cambridge’s Bronze Age Pompeii

Jack May

Stevie Hertz Deputy Editor

Two punts have been vandalised in the city centre amidst an increasing atmosphere of hostility within and towards the punting community.

Police in Cambridge received a report of a man “damaging punts with what is believed to be an axe”, whilst Cambridge City Council reports paint a bleak picture of punting touts’ behaviour while on the job.

Complaints received by the council include touts allegedly calling a female member of the public a prostitute, shouting homophobic slurs at a passing cyclist, and threatening to “smash someone’s face in” during a Sidney Street incident.

These ‘punt wars’ between operators have been the cause of more than 20 police investigations since 2011.

Complaints include touts allegedly calling a woman a prostitute

In an effort to reduce incidents in the city centre, the council has announced a planned public spaces protection order, which would ban the touts for unlicensed operators across large stretches of the city.

However, one independent punt operator told Cambridge News that the move was just a further attempt to “demonise” unlicensed firms on the River Cam. He suggested the council was partly to blame for the problem, due to the lack of licensed spaces available to independent traders.

Sergeant Ian Wood, of Cambridge police, said that “competition for customers has become a major issue for the touts – which has frequently devolved into allegations of assault and criminal damage, which usually take place in a very public arena.”

“A dramatic fire has left us a frozen moment in time”

Britain’s “Pompeii” has been discovered in Cambridgeshire, with archeologists saying they are the “best-preserved Bronze Age dwellings ever found” in Britain.

The circular wooden houses were built around 1000 - 800 BC on stilts.

The houses survived when a fire burnt the stilts, causing the houses to fall into the mud of a nearby river, preventing decay.

Archeologists believe that the beams would have made up around five houses.

Alongside the beams of the houses, household items were also uncovered. Bowls, cups and jars were found alongside ‘exotic’ glass beads and textiles made from plant fibres.

The timbers are being recovered after 3000 years because there

are fears that the water level may fall, allowing them to decay.

David Gibson, of the Cambridge Archeological Unit, which is leading the dig, commented that “so much has been preserved, we can actually see everyday life during the Bronze Age in the round”.

“It’s prehistoric archaeology in 3D, with an unsurpassed finds assemblage both in terms of range and quantity.”

In Britain, the Bronze Age lasted from between 2500 BC to 800 BC, when the use of iron became common.

The Chief Executive of Historic England, who is partly funding the dig, described the settlement as “an extraordinary time capsule... a dramatic fire 3,000 years ago, combined with subsequent waterlogged preservation, has left us a frozen moment in time”.

4

14 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Investigations

Despite all, Cambridge attem Housing shortages for refugees Jane Lu Investigations Editor

As part of the Government’s plan to accept 20,000 refugees over the next five years, refugees have begun to be settled in Cambridge. 50 Syrian forced migrants will be settled in the city by the end of the year.

The Cambridgeshire county council is working closely with district councils and the local housing authorities to ensure that any families placed in Cambridgeshire have access to education and other services it provides.

So far, the Cambridge city council has teamed up with the Cambridge Refugees Resettlement Campaign to help house the refugees in the city.

50 Number of Syrian refugees to be settled in Cambridge this year The leader of the Cambridge city council, Lewis Herbert, says: “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, speaking to the BBC, Camilla Ittura of the Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign revealed that: “The

“The council have got very few houses available”

council have got very few houses available.”

Cambridge has a shortage of social housing, with 1,600 people currently on its housing waiting list. In 2014/15, there were also 262 cases of people or families reporting as homeless to the city council.

Councillor Lewis had previously stated that refugees will not be offered the most in-demand one or two bedroom properties.

He went on to say: “We have limited what we are putting together as an offer, because we know we have a problem of people needing property in the city.”

Cambridge’s MP, Daniel Zeichner, said that he is looking into alternative housing arrangements for refugees, commenting: “I’m proud that Cambridge has started to house some very vulnerable Syrian people.”

Zeichner continued by saying: “I have called for innovative solutions to house refugees including ... a Voluntary National Homes Register for those people able and willing to accommodate the most vulnerable refugees.”

At the same time, perhaps a more significant concern is the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in Cambridge. These include those under the age of 18 looking to become permanent refugees.

It has been revealed to The Cambridge Student that the number of asylum applications from UASC to the Cambridgeshire county is increasing.

In 2013/14, 19 UASC were referred to Cambridgeshire county council, compared with 55 in 2014/15.

CL

This has led to an increase in the number of UASC being looked after by Cambridgeshire county council, rising from 14 in 2012/13 to 27 in 2014/15. 31 UASC are currently being looked after.

The county council offers a range of support to these children. If not in foster care, support hours per week that the county provides is dependent on the children, their needs, and the accommodation that they are residing in.

For example, the children could be

£750 How much the Cambridge county council can claim for under 16s per week living in a hostel with staff present 24 hours a day, or a shared house with floating support.

Cambridge county council currently claims £750 per week for under 16s, £350 per week for 16-17 year olds and £250 per week for adults, as long as they are claiming for more than 25. The rise in UASCs, alongside those who have been successful in their claims, has lead to an increase in costs for the council. In 2013/14, they spent £168,815 as a whole on UASCs, while between April and August alone 2015, they spent £206,736.

Number of Asylum applications from unaccompanied children to Cambridge County Council * 2015 up to 27 November

Clockwise from top: a September march in Cambridge students sorting donations to be distributed to refuge

5

The Cambridge Student • 14 January 2016

Investigations

mpts to welcome refugees

LOCKWISE FROM TOP: JOHN SUTTON, JANE LU, GABRIELA CECOTTI VIA CUCRAG, GABRIELA CECOTTI VIA CUCRAG

Students respond and support charities in light of refugee crisis

Tom Bevan and Izzy Ryan Deputy Investigations Editors

Cambridge students have responded to the refugee crisis by organising food and clothing collections, trips to Calais to distribute supplies and, in some cases, offering medical expertise at the camp.

Cambridge University Calais Refugee Action Group (CUCRAG) is a studentrun society which organises volunteer trips every other weekend to the refugee

£800

Starting in October, the group has organised five trips to the camp

The amount given by CUSU to CUCRAG’s ongoing work in Calais site, working alongside CalAid, a nongovernmental organization based in Calais.

Starting in early October, the group has organised five trips to the camp to date, each with roughly 15 participants from the University of Cambridge.

CUCRAG volunteers’ main role is sorting through the donations in the CalAid warehouse in order to distribute them to the refugees. An FAQ document states: “We have gone on multiple distribution runs to the camps, handing out supplies such as coats, shoes and toiletry supplies

to the refugees. Medical students have also volunteered at the doctors’ sites in the refugee camp.”

Lauren Engels, a volunteer with CUCRAG from Newnham, is encouraging others to get involved. “I believe that volunteering at Calais not only allows students to understand the situation, but also raises awareness about the horrendous living conditions.”

In November, the society was supported

by CUSU council, who passed a motion to financially support the organisation’s activities with a donation of £800.

As part of the efforts made, a number of colleges, including Emmanuel, St John’s, Girton and Homerton, have recently collected clothes and money for the appeal.

Corpus Christi has set up a permanent donation box in its JCR, which is open to donations from all students; the greatest need is for waterproof jackets and shoes as well as warm winter clothes in small sizes, since many of the clothes already sent have been found to be too large.

Charities in Calais, such as CalAid, have expressed the need for regular volunteer assistance for sorting and distributing the thousands of donations that they receive each day.

By collecting food and clothing and working in the Calais distribution centre, students in Cambridge continue to play a direct role in ensuring that the refugees receive the aid.

Refugee Crisis: How can we help?

Esmé O’Keeffe

I

n late November, I spent the weekend volunteering in the refugee camps in Calais with CUCRAG. One of the things which struck me was how easy and natural it felt. As I stood sorting donations I was baffled as to why I had not done it before. I was baffled as to why more people don’t do it. It seemed so obvious.

The Calais ‘Jungle’ is a humanitarian crisis. Shortly before I arrived, there were 74 portable toilets for nearly 7,000 people.

There was excrement scattered across the ‘street’. Some think it is only a matter of time before a cholera or typhoid epidemic strikes. People’s ‘homes’ – torn tarpaulin sheets and stained mattresses – were e in support of welcoming refugees, the ‘jungle’ in Calais, taken by a Cambridge Student, Cambridge buffeted across the wasteland by the sea winds. Police brutality, inter-nationality ees in Calais, the camps in Calais.

The Calais ‘Jungle’ is a humanitarian crisis. There were 74 toilets for 7,000 people

violence, prostitution, slum conditions: the Calais Jungle is a lawless quagmire.

Whatever your political views on the crisis, these people are victims. They are the victims whose lives we, as the politically meddling ‘West’, have helped tear apart. They are Afghans, Syrians, Kurds, Eritreans, Sudanese, Egyptians, and they need warm clothes and shelters and sanitation just as we do.

Some remarkable individuals are trying to help. I met a rugged Scot who gave up his life back home to live in the Jungle, like a refugee. With his box of nails and screws he singlehandedly builds shelters.

The difference that one person can make is incredible. And it may come as a shock to many, but it is surprisingly easy to help.

By spending the weekend sorting donations in the warehouse with CUCRAG, distributing goods to the refugees, or helping to build shelters in the Jungle, you will make a real difference and help alleviate these inhumane conditions.

6

14 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

College Watch

Images: Jessica McHugh

Caius

Queens’

Selwyn

Medwards

Gonville and Caius college has celebrated the birthday of one of its most notable alumni, Stephen Hawking, with a series of events.

Hawking, who turned 74 on 8 January 2016, attended Formal Hall at the college on Monday, where students and fellows sang him ‘Happy Birthday.’ All the fellows were in attendance to celebrate the notable physicist’s birthday.

One Caian who contributed to the chorus of approval, Anthony Bridgen, commented: “It’s nice to see Caius showing appreciation of a fellow who has brought so much to the college and to the University during their long relationship.”

The physicist was also celebrated with fireworks and a large party on January 9.

Hawking spoke of his gratitude to Caius in May of last year, commenting: “The college made sure I could continue my research, despite my increasing disability.” He stressed how the college had made medieval buildings accessible and flew Hawking back to Cambridge after he contracted pneumonia in Geneva. However, Hawking questioned whether this level of support was still available for students.

On Wednesday 13 January, Queens’ College Amnesty International hosted its second candle club event in collaboration with the Queens’ Arts Festival. The newly founded society hosted its inaugural candle club event last November, to raise money for the Refugee Crisis. The candle club featured live music and spoken word poetry all – somewhat unsurprisingly – by candlelight.

The candle club was held in Queens’ College bar and attracted a healthy crowd. The performances included a range of musical and theatre acts sourced from both within the college and the wider student body.

In conjunction with the Arts Festival’s theme ‘Time’, the charity represented at this candle club was Amicus, a legal charity based in the U.S. which provides support for those facing the death penalty.

The arts festival also held free life drawing classes, alongside tours of the Fitzwilliam Museum and a talk by Martin Bond, photographer of ‘A Cambridge Diary’, which previously graced page two of this newspaper.

There is also an exhibition featuring students’ art.

Selwyn has marked the 40th anniversary of female students and fellows’ first admission by hanging pictures of current female undergraduates and staff around the college.

The Cambridge News has reported that more than 30 portraits of current female members of the college and staff have been commissioned, with a dozen being hung in the college dining hall and adjoining room.

The images, taken by Jeff Overs, aim to highlight the achievements of women in every aspect of college life.

Roger Mosey, College master, commented: “The key thing is they are not just fellows; they are students and staff and they’ll be going up in the hall. It’s about recognising the contribution women have made, as head porter, in the case of Helen Stephens, or running some of the big departments in the college.”

Ms. Stephens made history in 2009 when she became the first women to hold the role of head porter in Cambridge. Celebrations will continue throughout the year with comedy shows and musical performances, some by Selwyn alumni.

Murray Edwards finalists will have extra cause for celebration – alongside almost finishing their degrees – as it has been revealed that noted Medwards alum, Sue Perkins, will attend their finalist formal. Perkins, who attended Medwards, matriculated in 1988 and read English.

The evening, which the college stressed was “to celebrate [finalists’] achievements so far and to look into the future” will be in April, at the first formal hall of Easter Term.

Anna Carruthers, Medwardian finalist, was thrilled at the news, commenting to The Cambridge Student: “I’d been dreading Easter Term, given exams and the black hole that is post-Cambridge life, but I’m actually looking forward to it now. We don’t know if she’s going to speak or what on yet, but it’s great to see one of our most famous alumni taking an interest.”

During her time at Cambridge, Perkins was involved in Footlights, eventually becoming President in 1991.

It is not known whether Perkins’s famous pun and baking partner, Mel Giedroyc, who attended Trinity, will also be attending.

7

The Cambridge Student • 14 January 2016

News

Addenbrooke’s junior doctors join national strike action Bea Lundy Deputy News Editor Doctors at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge took part in a national strike, which began on Tuesday morning. The strikes were in protest of proposed reforms to contracts which would change the hours doctors were obliged to work.

While a group of 200 strikers and supporters gathered around 8am on Tuesday outside Addenbrooke’s, 210 additional junior doctors continued to work to provide only emergency cover to patients over the 24 hours.

Another 100 medical staff who were not working joined the picket.

The aim of the strike was to draw attention to the reforms – deemed as unfair by many in the Health Service – to junior doctors’ contracts proposed

by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Dr Yezen Sheena, a plastic surgery registrar at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and a speaker at the rally on Tuesday, explained that in regards to spreading the workforce over a seven-day week, “where GPs have piloted such a service, the uptake has been really poor”.

“Patients don’t really want to come in on a Sunday for routine things.

Patients are not asking for it, so why are the government asking for that seven-day week without any reasonable provision?”

Outside Addenbrooke’s, the doctors and nurses were joined by Cambridge University medical students who stood in solidarity with their future counterparts. Harry Holkham, a firstyear medical student who attended the

picket, offered his reasons for joining: “These longer hours and pay cuts are not only unfair, but they are also unsafe. In addition the arguments put forward by Mr Hunt are not truthful.”

While Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner could not attend the strike, he gave his support to those involved: “It is because doctors care that they are protesting today.”

The changes being imposed by the Government will harm today’s junior doctors, medic students who will be the lifeblood of our NHS in the future and, of course, patients.”

He continued: “This is an unnecessary dispute, generated by Jeremy Hunt, and it is for him to end

“It is because doctors care that they are protesting today”

it. I hope that the Government will take note of the strength of feeling and think again. It is never too late to come to the right conclusion.”

However, Jeremy Hunt has attacked the strike as “wholly unneccessary”, saying that he wants “all NHS patients to have the confidence that they will get the same high quality care every day of the week.”

The junior doctors also received support from other groups, including Unison and Unite, paramedics, police officers, the Fire Brigades Union and the fire service along with campaign groups Save Our NHS group and Cambridge Health Emergency.

TIMOTHY RITTMAN

Samina Khan, Head of Oxford Admissions, has said that pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are “more likely” to get an interview. She added that students should begin preparing for Oxbridge from the age of eleven.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Ms Khan stated: “We had 19,000 applicants for 3,200 places who came from a range of different educational backgrounds.

So to help us to understand their academic potential, we use contextual data, which gives us information on any prior attainment. It tells us if they come from a poor performing school, we understand if the grades they have achieved to date have been achieved in quite a challenging environment.”

Admissions tutors use this method

Cambridge courts squashed to make space for housing A Cambridge squash court is set to be demolished to make way for 30 new homes. The Cambridge City Council Planning Committee overruled protest from club secretary Joe Reeds, who argued that the club was integral to the Cambridge sports scene.

He told councillors that more than 1,400 people played squash on the site in 2014, with the club also providing an extensive junior programme.

However planning directors felt that the site was required to provide affordable housing for the city’s growing population, and will provide a mixture of bungalows, flats and houses.

Sadly, ardent squash players will now be forced to get their fix in the various college squash courts instead.

Oxford mark one year anniversary of Charlie Hebdo Following the attacks on Charlie Hebdo a year ago, a group of French academics put together an anthology of major 18th century writing promoting tolerance, which was very popular in news kiosks across France.

Oxford University academics have now translated the original into English in honour of the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

The project was led by Dr Caroline Warman and featured extracts from Voltaire and Montesquieu, among others. Over 100 students and tutors from Oxford worked on the translation. Warman asserted the importance of making these texts accessible, commenting “they are the inheritance of everyone who lives in society and are particularly necessary in times of conflict.”

Cambridge publishers strive to inspire children to read

Interview ‘more likely’ for poorer students Caitlin McCartney Deputy News Editor

NEWS BULLETIN

to gain a more holistic understanding of an applicant’s performance and to compare students from different backgrounds throughout the “shortlisting” process. Ms Khan added that when it becomes difficult to select one student over another, indicators such as coming from a disadvantaged home or a poor performing school give “information about your academic journey in a particular context.”

A spokesperson for the University of Oxford qualified Ms Khan’s comments, saying: “The point about students from disadvantaged backgrounds getting extra consideration is related to our use of contextual flags to invite extra candidates to interview (not pushing out otherwise more qualified candidates)”. Such information is also used to make “marginal decisions about candidates on the borderlines.”

“Students should begin preparing for Oxbridge from the age of eleven.”

In response to Ms Khan’s statement that students should begin preparing for Oxbridge at an early age by “reading widely” and “making visits”, Magdalene College Access Officer Chloe Jones said: “I think it is a wonderful idea to open young people’s minds to the possibilities that may be available to them in higher education in the future. I also think schools should aim to stimulate interest and enthusiasm outside of the curriculum and outside of the classroom where possible. However, there may be a danger in putting too much emphasis on Oxbridge as the ultimate end goal.

It would be helpful to encourage students to think about the different possibilities open to them at an earlier stage. This would allow them to then make an informed choice about the pathway that best suits their interests.”

The Cambridge University Press has launched a campaign to inspire more primary school children to read: particularly targeting those who speak English as a first or second language. The adventure stories are aimed at children aged between four and nine, and the 90 titles are divided according to reading ability.

The books are intended for the children of Cambridgeshire; however, Mr Rippeth, a key figure in the new initiative, has stressed his desire to circulate these adventure books in international schools across the globe. He believes that this will give children studying English abroad access to exciting books, to which they can easily relate. The goal is to motivate children of all backgrounds to read.

Cambridge University Primary School set for second term The new Cambridge University Primary School is currently in its second term, having accepted its first intake in September 2015. Cambridge News has reported on the unique features of the new school: children are not classified by ability, but can instead “self-select” tasks, depending on how difficult they perceive them to be.

The school’s relationship with Cambridge University has seen academics interacting with students as part of the Education Faculty’s affiliation with the Lego Foundation. Year Two teacher Luke Rolls commented: “We are very fortunate and I think everyone feels that way.”

8

14 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

News

New Cambridge Sainsbury’s #Match4Lara Marrowthon comes to Cambridge to open after long delay

Caitlin McCartney Deputy News Editor

A new Sainsbury’s will open in March on Mill Road in the former Mace shop.

However, plans for the opening have been delayed by local residents’ concerns over work on the store holding up long awaited £500,000 traffic-calming measures that are to be implemented on Tenison Road which connects Mill Road and Station Road. The scheme was proposed in 2008 to reduce traffic from the CB1 as more than 4500 vehicles travel along Tenison Road everyday.

Cambridge News has reported that a Cambridgeshire county council spokesperson said: “We understand the concerns of residents regarding the ongoing work to refurbish the Mill Road store and the timing of our road enhancement scheme.” It continues: “Sainsbury’s have kept us informed about the complexities of the store refurbishment and the challenges this has created for their contractors, while at the recent public meeting officers explained the plans and revised timetable for our work. Should there be any further changes to the timing of the work, we will make sure the local community are kept fully up to date.”

E

Cambridge News has also reported that a spokeswoman for Sainsbury’s said: “The building we are converting to a Sainsbury’s Local, which will offer local shoppers a wide range of groceries and fresh foods, as well as bring jobs for local people, will open in March 2016.”

In the past, groups such as the Mill Road Society have expressed opposition to the new opening, fearing that it will turn Mill Road “into a clone town high street”, while Sainsbury’s first attempt to enter the area in 2011 with a bid on the lease of Mickey Flynn’s Pool Hall prompted around 4500 Mill Road area residents to launch a campaign named ‘They’re Taking the Mickey’.

As Mill Road is a designated ‘cumulative impact area’, The Mill Road Society were hopeful that Sainsbury’s application to sell alcohol would be denied, believing the supermarket giant’s offer of lease to be “contingent on their acquiring an alcohol license”.

Nevertheless, the new Sainsbury’s will comply with recent controversial alcohol restriction laws that legislate a ban on alcohol window–front advertising for the sale of so-called ‘high-strength’ beer, lager and cider, and the sale of individual cans of alcohol.

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Lara Casalotti, a Global Migration Masters’ student, is currently a patient in London’s UCL hospital, having been diagnosed with leukaemia in December last year. She is now struggling to find a stem cell donor, due to her mixed heritage, which the donor must match.

Her brother Seb, a Cambridge student, expressed his regrets that he is not a match: “If we had had some luck this would have all been easy and I would have been a match, but unfortunately we can’t always be a donor for the people we care most about because of the genetics of it.”

Seb’s college, Magdalene, is one of the four locations for the recruitment drive on Friday; these donation centres will be open from 11am.

Cambridge Marrow, a student-led society, wish to stress the simplicity of the donating process, saying: “It takes ten minutes to join, and it’s so simple. Fill out a form, spit in a tube. You stay on the register until you’re 60. If you end up matching with someone, donating is incredibly easy, a lot like just giving blood.”

The reason it is so difficult to find

Her brother Seb, a Cambridge student, is sadly not a match so cannot donate

a match is due to Lara’s heritage; she is of mixed race Chinese-Thai Italian heritage, and this means she has a much smaller chance of finding a match. Less than 3% of donors on the worldwide bone marrow registry are of mixed race, and even fewer of these are Asian-European like Lara.

A stem cell donation could be potentially life-saving for Lara. If her body accepts the donated cells then it will begin to make healthy blood cells again. Her family is fighting to raise awareness of the lack of mixed race donors, and is encouraging as many people as possible to sign up with the registry – and nine times out of ten – the donation process is very easy. It is not even necessary to be in the same country as somebody to donate, as the stem cells can survive for up to 72 hours outside the body.

The campaign is all about diversifying the global donor registry so that mixed race people like Lara can have access to life saving stem cell donations. Her family expressed their response to the campaign’s recent launch in their blog: “We appreciate everyone’s efforts to spread the word on how to build up the bone marrow registries. These registries are key to helping save lives like Lara’s and many others.”

Planning regulations block removal of Rhodes statue Jack May

Heritage experts have warned that attempts to remove the contentious statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College, Oxford, are likely to be obstructed by planning regulations.

The property of which the statue is a part of is grade II* listed, meaning that the college would struggle to get approval for the statue’s removal.

The planning law states that the college would have to “have special regard to the desirability of preserving the building”, especially with regard to “features of special architectural or historic interest”.

Following the #RhodesMustFall campaign, Oriel College has agreed to begin a six-month “listening exercise”, and said in a statement that the college “does not share Cecil Rhodes’ values or condone his racist views or actions”.

The #RhodesMustFall campaign did not respond to The Cambridge Student’s request for comment, but a statement on their Facebook page reads: “We will only increase our efforts to have the Rhodes statue

The property is grade II* listed, meaning that the college would struggle to get it removed

removed in the next term.”

The college has agreed to remove a plaque in honour of Rhodes on a college-owned house, though this will also require approval from Oxford City Council because the property is in an area of conservation.

Legal experts have suggested that the legal fees required by the college to get the statue removed could start at £50,000 and easily hit six figures.

On top of legal fees, the college would need to consult expert witnesses, historians, and planning consultants, all of which could lead to spiralling costs.

Audrey Sebatindira, a third-year Law student at Cambridge and activist with CUSU BME, commented: “I feel like ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ has always been about more than just the statue.

“As powerful as the symbolism of its physical removal would be, if the money can be better spent to (for example) find ways of decolonising the Oxford curricula and improving welfare for BME students there, the wider goals of the movement would still be attained.”

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The Cambridge Student • 14 January 2016

News

US endowments under pressure Congressman to introduce bill requiring 25% of income to be spent on financial aid Sherilyn Chew News Editor

highest returns on endowments for 2015, with 12.7% and 11.5% growth respectively. The second-lowest was Harvard at 5.8%. In 2014, Harvard’s endowment was over $36 billion (£25 billion), while Yale’s currently stands at $25 billion (£17 billion). This meant Yale experienced returns on their endowment of over $2.8 billion.

In contrast, Cambridge has a seemingly paltry £2.2 billion endowment centrally and £2 billion spread across all the colleges. The University is currently campaigning to raise a further £2 billion.

Estimates from the Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service found that the median return in 2015 for

American endowments over $500 million was 3.6%.

Reed has vowed to “change the tax policies that will prevent universities from hiding behind archaic laws which hurt our students and their families.”

He went on to comment: “Universities are profiting in the billions of dollars in tax free income on these endowments. It’s only fair that they put some of that profit into lowering, and in many cases removing, all tuition costs of going to college.”

In January this year, Reed commented to Bloomberg that: “The initial response [to the bill] has been very aggressive. I anticipate the conversation to get louder and louder.”

Republican congressman Tom Reed is planning to introduce a bill that would require American universities In 2014, with endowments exceeding $1 billion Harvard’s to pay out 25% of their endowment endowmnet income to financial aid every year. was over $36 This would be a condition to billion maintain their tax-free status and aims to tackle rising costs of tuition.

Fortune has reported that public university tuition costs have increased by more than 25% since the 2008 recession. In the same period, private, non-profit colleges have increased their fees by an average of 20%.

In an interview with Bloomberg last October, Elizabeth Garett, President of Cornell University, said that the proposal “misconceived” how endowments work, though she added that Reed “is motivated by the right instincts of access and affordability”.

Garett said that endowments are a “constant and credible source of funding” for a university. They are “for the promise of the future, for perpetuity,” and should not be used for issues of the present.

She further remarked that donors often place restrictions on the use of their donations to endowments, and endowment officials have fiduciary and legal obligations to comply with those restrictions.

According to the Cornell Review, Princeton and Yale enjoyed the Cornell University, in New York State, where Elizabeth Garett is President

EUSTRESS

What Britain can learn from across the pond almost identical speeches, were eager to enforce the idea that – despite the staggering figures – you would “only pay what you could afford,” for both your tuition and your living costs.

Stevie Hertz Deputy Editor Financial aid was calculated with a terrifying form that went far beyond ongressman Reed’s proposals what your family earned, to how they discuss a perpetual issue at private American universities: spent it, right down to individual hair cuts. But the universities swore that that, despite their extreme wealth, this enabled them to understand your they still seem to charge a crippling amount in tuition. Harvard currently circumstances and offer the most has an endowment of over $36 billion, reasonable amount of financial aid.

Princeton attests that all students equivalent to the GDP of several can graduate without debt. Yale said small countries. Yet despite this, that for families with an income they continue to price tuition at over under $100,000, tuition and room $45,000 a year (£31,000).

Discussing the ridiculous tuition at and board would cost 10%, less than £7000 a year. Almost everyone at American private universities is not these top institutions receives some original, but it can produce insights form of aid – more than 70% of that are not often considered in Harvard students.

British discussions.

Support provided went beyond the When I toured Ivy League colleges normal or even necessary: Yale paid as a prospective student in 2013, for flights home for foreign students, each university’s representative, in

C

Princeton attests that all students can graduate without debt

Brown a trip to Rome for those studying beginner’s Italian. One small liberal arts college even offered a fund for parties, so students could attend, regardless of their economic situation.

While these examples seem extreme, British universities ought to gain an understanding of financial aid far more sophisticated than that of the Student Loans Company.

By showing a ‘ticket price’ of the highest amount, private American universities have allowed themselves to create tailor-made tuition based on what each student can afford, and also letting them to maintain the lifestyle of their peers while they are there.

Obviously, this is only tenable for outstandingly rich universities (reflected in the debt students from the vast majority of US universities graduate with). But for those institutions that can, such as the one in which we sit, a real financial aid package is an outstanding equaliser.

NEWS BULLETIN Fitzwilliam Museum celebrates its 200th anniversary

The Fitzwilliam Museum will be celebrating their 200th anniversary this year with a series of exhibitions and special events. The museum was founded in 1816 when Viscount Fitzwilliam left his entire collection, which included paintings by Caravaggio and illuminated manuscripts, to the University of Cambridge. On the 4 February the museum will be opening the bicentenary exhibition which will document the key figures, objects and ideas behind the development of the museum. The second exhibition commemorating the bicentenary is entitled ‘Death on the Nile: Uncovering the afterlife of ancient Egypt’ and will run from the 23 February 22 May. The new exhibition will use coffins from the museum’s impressive Egyptian collection to explore exactly how artisans made these objects.

Cambridge’s economic growth faster than London’s

Cambridge’s economic growth is expected to expand faster than London’s this year. The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) and the law firm Irwin Mitchell, which carried out the research, predicted that London will grow at the rate of 2.7% next year in gross value added terms. Cambridge is set to outperform London with a growth rate of 2.9%.

CEBR suggest that Cambridge’s good transport connections, coupled with a continued growth in the services sector, were driving this expansion. This reliance on the services sector reflects wider patterns within the UK’s economic recovery. Cambridge is in a strong economic position to face these problems, in contrast with northern cities, such as Middlesbrough, where growth is only increasing at the rate of 1.3%.

Oxford appoints female VC over a decade after Cambridge Oxford is to finally follow the example set by Cambridge in 2004. The 272nd Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford will shortly be formally admitted, and for the first time ever, it is a woman.

Louise Richardson has said that she will be working to maintain the high standards of teaching at the University and to keep it amongst the highest ranking in the country.

She spent the last seven years working as Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University of St Andrews, and was also employed at Harvard University. Her area of expertise is the study of terrorism, and she has given lectures on terrorism and counter-terrorism to groups of people across the world. Cambridge’s first female fulltime VC was, in contrast, a specialist in anthropology.

Railings to protect Emmanuel college from veering buses

The bollards next to Emmanuel College on Drummer Street are finally to be replaced, after they have been progressively damaged by buses colliding into them.

The bollards are next to the bus station, and so have faced significant wear and tear over the years as drivers continually missed their targets.

Now, the Council is planning on replacing them, at a cost of £10,000. A council spokesman said: “the bollards are not on the highway or in a pedestrian area, but were put up many years ago to protect the wall of Emmanuel College from being accidentally damaged by buses... the bollards had to be cast iron, which can break easily.”

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14 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Features

Feel-good new t

Beating the blues: How to cope with returning to Cambridge Emma Plowright

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s the Christmas tree on my desk sheds its last unwatered needle, and I realise that the toes of my Chocolate Santa are all that remain, with a sigh, I recognise that, a) I’m going to have to hand in the essay ambiguously due “at some point over Christmas” and, b) I’m soon going to have to start washing my own pants again.

This is the harsh reality of the return to Cambridge. I am convinced that the Gregorian calendar is organised so that Week 5 and January could not coincide.

Luckily, in my time here, I’ve learnt a few tricks to ease the transition from blanket-bound sofacocoon to fully functioning student.

Firstly, in Cambridge, my walls are covered with tickets, cards and photos of all the people I love. This reminds me that, even though I’m nearly out of Bourbons and have three overdue essays, this time next Wednesday I could be in Cindies damaging my vocal chords.

A common New Year’s resolution is to give up caffeine, however somehow sticking pins in my eyes sounds more appealing.

Similarlly, curling up to relax with a book and a super-green smoothie doesn’t feel as comforting as a cup of tea.

However, having people over for coffee is the ultimate pick me up – not to mention good motivation to bin the collection of pizza boxes now listed as

a protected site of ecological interest.

‘Curling up with a book’ is a phrase that needs clarification. It does not mean grabbing the library’s only copy of Essential Cell Biology, retreating under the nearest table and assuming the foetal position until you lose any concept of time.

Instead, with the help of some industrialgrade cleaning products, you can remove

This time next week I could be in Cindies damaging my vocal chords decades of dust from the college’s fiction section and finally read something you don’t need to be well versed in obscure references to understand.

If fictional realms aren’t enough to escape the ‘Bubble’, jump on a train and head to Shepreth Wildlife Park, where you can envy the sleep-rich lifestyle of the oh-sofuzzy red pandas, amongst other amazing animals such as tigers and otters.

My philosophy involves a mix of seeing the right people – that means coffee meetings with your dissertation supervisor do not count – and taking the right amount of time to do everything.

Sometimes, your essay will just have to wait an extra half hour whilst you and your best friend watch a compilation of the ‘best voles of 2015’.

SAM JR

Scrap your New Year’s Resolutions Jack McMinn

I

t’s the gloomiest time of year. After a month of top notch festive banter with family and friends – not to mention a month’s worth of home-cooking – you’re hauled back to Cambridge for another term of early starts and late deadlines.

Only now there is a backdrop of cold sleet and the ominously impending stress of a revision-filled Easter break.

Surely Jesus didn’t rise from the dead to give you a bit of free time to check over your History of Art notes?

‘January blues’ has arrived, but why do we insist on putting ourselves through Hell just so that we can prove a point?

Sure, you want to be a better person. You want to contribute more to society. Don’t we all? Self-loathing is the most powerful emotion humans have ever invented, and after a few hundred thousand years of past human history we’ve got it down to, I must say, a veritable art form.

We regularly ignore our greatest achievements, however world-changing they might be, and instead cherry-pick dinner party slip-ups and embarrassing teenage escapades as prime examples of how we’re

all terrible people, and need to completely alter ourselves somehow.

Pharaoh Cheops, all the way back in the Fourth Dynasty, probably said: ‘Oh yeah, I did this whole Great Pyramid of Giza thing and all, but what everyone really remembers me for is that one time I was accidentally racist to that Greek exchange student at high school.’

Despite this, forcing change on yourself just because the time of year dictates it is an utterly futile exercise. If you’re going to be inspired to exercise more, do it because you’ve read up on impending issues with your cardiovascular system, not because our Gregorian calendar has somehow managed to cycle around again without a Mayan apocalypse for the 5130th year in a row.

That way, the positive impact on your life is more about your efforts and intuition as opposed to cultural obligation.

In short, feel free to mould yourself into a better person, but be hipster about it.

Don’t do it just because everyone else is.

And definitely don’t do it because the date is apparently telling you to.

Also, the gyms are really full at this time of year. You may as well wait until March.

Part 2

The Cambridge Student 14 January 2016

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Dav id B T h e ow i e : legac y rem ains

ves o r p ht g i l y k at S e l b a s s i m m n o u o r y Pla s u p Cor

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We n talk a eed to bout sex

ALPATHON, ANDREW DUNN, BRENDA CLARKE

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The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 14 January 2016

Culture

Cambridge Listens: Alastair Campbell Books Highlights for 2016 Ollie Smith Music Editor

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

First up is Gonville and Caius alumnus and ex-Labour politician Alastair Campbell.

1. What is your favourite record?

‘Ne me quitte pas’ or ‘Quand on n’a que l’amour’, both by Jacques Brel.

2. What do you like about those records?

I love Jacques Brel. I got into him on my year abroad from Cambridge when I was an assistant d’anglais in France. I was hitchhiking and got a lift from a Belgian lorry driver.

During the drive there was a newsflash that Brel had died. I didn’t know much about him. The station played Brel songs all day, and at times the driver was crying. I have been a massive Brel fan ever since.

7. What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?

Playing the bagpipes in my bathroom. Actually I don’t feel guilty at all. Maybe Abba or the Bee Gees. No, I don’t feel guilty about that either. Brilliant musicians, unique sounds.

8. What did you listen to during your student days?

Soul. Motown.

9. Which song defined your 2015?

‘Lest we forget’: a lament I learned on the bagpipes and which I played at far too many funerals and memorials.

10. Press play on your iPod. What comes on?

‘Hymne a l’amour’ ... Edith Piaf, followed by ‘The Night’, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD PRESS OFFICE

Here’s a list of five books being released this year that you should be sure to look out for. Ranging from memoir to romance, these will be a worthwile distraction from your reading list!

1. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi At times devastating and often life affirming, neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi’s memoir was written following his diagnosis of terminal cancer. This is a poignant reflection on science, literature and mortality.

2. The Witches of Cambridge by Meena Van Praag A whirlwind combination of love, magic, and academia, Meena Van Praag’s new novel is a light-hearted story about the lives of a group of witches at Cambridge University. For those of us who dream of Hogwarts in term time, this is the perfect book.

3. Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta Ijeoma and Amina fall in love during chaos of the Biafran war, their romance is complicated by their different ethnic backgrounds and taboos surrounding same-sex relationships. In this heady blend of Nigerian folktale and history, Chinelo Okparanta explores the difficulties of remaining true to yourself.

3. Where was your favourite place to listen to music in Cambridge?

When I was at Caius, Top of the Pops was a weekly highlight, so in the telly room.

4. Why did that stand out for you?

I could show off my ‘Beat The Intro’ skills, and my knowledge of all the lyrics!

Arenike Adebajo Books Editor

KRGJUMPER

4. The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel Best known for his bestseller, The Life of Pi, Yann Martel returns with a stunning tale of love and loss, bringing together 3 stories that span across 20th century Portugal.

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

Squeeze, so they could do more lyrics about David Cameron destroying the Welfare State.

5. Hunger by Roxane Gay In this fiercely honest memoir about weight, self-image, and her relationship with food. Roxane Gay looks to her own past struggles to masterfully dissect our common anxieties surrounding food and the body.

6. What would you put on during an essay crisis?

Radio 1. These days if I am under the cosh work-wise, I prefer silence.

Rumination and regrets: A thespian fresher

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he world of Cambridge theatre can be intimidating, especially for wide-eyed freshers, but two Homerton first-years braved their first Cambridge productions and survived to tell us about their traumatic yet ultimately rewarding experiences.

It all began one sunny morning in Michaelmas: I had recently arrived in Cambridge and was still fresh(ish) faced, full to the brim with enthusiasm and alcohol. I made the journey from Homerton to town (an inhuman feat when hungover) to do my first ever Cambridge audition. I soon learnt how sweaty is too sweaty when you’re trying to act sophisticated and that nervously exclaiming, ‘I’m better when I don’t have to read’ and fleeing from the room isn’t the best audition technique. But my spirits were not to be dampened!

After an anxious recall stage, and trip to the GP for a repetitive strain injury caused by excessive refreshing of my Hermes email, I got a part, HURRAH! I experienced all the joys of the fresher’s plays. Putting together a play in two and a half weeks? Elementary dear Watson! Spending eleven hours, in the black hole that is the ADC, doing a tech run…

a breeze! Spending a week in a salmon pink gown with enough hairspray to gas the first ten rows was, alarmingly, probably the highlight of my term. I had almost made the full transformation from bumbling country bumpkin to Cambridge theatre groupie. All I needed was a dollop of cynicism and a stern talking to from my DoS. My post show blues were severe but survivable, I had made lifelong friends and completely obliterated the chance of a restful Christmas by doing absolutely no work for two weeks. My new year’s resolution was along the lines of, ‘no more theatre… work comes first’. But as I sit here, scrolling idly through Camdram and desperately reciting lines, I know there is little hope for me..

Xanthe Burdett I had always hoped that Cambridge theatre life would exceed my expectations but having a director say to me, in one of my first auditions “So if you could just read it again, but as if the grass is really turning you on. Okay? Great, and go” was definitely an experience. Watching amazing performances every night and hearing about your friends’ auditions it’s very easy to get lost in a thespy haze. It was only when I had to inform a fellow cast member that I

wasn’t wearing any ageing makeup as he complimented me on its effectiveness that I realised perhaps I had been a bit hasty to do two shows over a fortnight - something on which my supervisors heartily agreed. Although in hindsight older and arguably wiser me can see the follies of grasping every bit of discarded monologue I see and giving it my best performance, (the library staff do find my Ophelia impeccable) I wouldn’t change my first term even if you promised I’d get all my essays done.

From having the chance to perform in what a dear theatre friend quite poignantly described as a “proper massive theatre” and wiping away tears of laughter at every curtain call, to getting my tongue cut out for a week while raising awareness of the ‘My Body Back’ campaign in our very own auditorium, waiting all the while for an email or the never ending silence of rejection; it’s been a whirlwind. I very much look forward to the bad decisions of this term, the consequential sleep loss and general wonder that will come from it all.

P.S. If you were wondering how the sexual grass fiend stage of my career went, the answer is rather well. I did get the part, as a drunk, middle aged cat lady. Smashed it.

Hollie Witton

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 14 January 2016

3

Culture

The Joys of Adult Colouring Books Chris Tan

CHRIST TAN

A

t first, I thought adult colouring books were just another fad. I mean, surely colouring was just a way to teach children in kindergarten about spatial awareness and primary colours? Surely it couldn’t be engaging enough to capture the long-term interest of adults? But, as I came to discover, there’s something to be said for them. This throwback is actually a helpful counterbalance to modern life; it’s a much-needed reminder of the simplicity of childhood.

Unlike web-based games, a more common adult diversion, adult colouring books allow you to disconnect from the wider world for at least a few moments. There are colouring

apps available, but generally I find them difficult to use. The feeling of colouring on paper with physical colouring pencils is a wonderfully tactile experience and uses both the right and the left sides of the brain – a refreshing change from the sort of thing one ordinarily does as a Cambridge student.

Ultimately, I think adult colouring books are here to stay: they’re a fun and accessible activity that even the most minimally skilled artist can enjoy. I still think adults who play inane online games are a little silly - there’s much more to be said for simpler, and more relaxing hobbies like colouring for adults.

AMIRA DAMJI

LAURA -MAY NARDELLA

5 Artists to Watch in 2016 Alice French

T

he annual period of musical speculation is upon us once again as the new year begins and a wealth of new musical talent comes on display. Here are five bands tipped for big things in 2016.

Spring King This Manchester-based foursome made a name for themselves supporting Slaves on tour last autumn and they appear to have a learnt a thing or two from Laurie and Isaac, because the guitar riffs on their latest single, ‘Who Are You’, are certainly a force to be reckoned with. They are likely to give the likes of The Vaccines and Catfish and the Bottlemen a run for their money in 2016’s charts, and are starting the year as they mean to go on with their UK tour which kicks off in February.

Sundara Karma If you listened to Radio 1 at all last autumn, you would no doubt have heard Sundara Karma’s ‘Vivienne’ being played almost on loop. This attention was well-deserved; the band are a refreshing addition to Britain’s indie scene, with their joyous lyrics and uplifting melodies capable of brightening up any essay writing session. Although yet to release an album, their EP, ‘EP II’, is available on iTunes now and they are playing The Portland Arms on 28th February.

Let’s Eat Grandma The music of this sister duo from Norfolk is as unnerving as their name. All I can do is urge you to Youtube their single ‘Deep Six Textbook’ and experience their hauntingly beautiful melodies and ethereal instrumentals for yourself.

Aged just sixteen, it’s still very early days for Rosa and Jenny, but with artists such as Soak and Grimes making a splash in 2015, 2016 looks promising for them.

The xx Yes, they’ve already had their ‘big break’, but Jamie xx is reuniting with his bandmates Oliver and Romy in 2016 to release The xx’s third album, which is so far untitled. The band claim to be feeling more “free” this year than ever before, and so we can hope to hear something new and exciting on this album. Considering the hype surrounding the release of Jamie xx’s ‘In Colour’ last summer, there is no doubt that we will be hearing a lot more about The xx as 2016 progresses.

Pumarosa NME predict that this London-based supergroup will be “the new Jungle,” and their latest single, ‘Priestess’, definitely lives up to these expectations. Their new wave sound will go down a treat at festivals in the summer, and I foresee their music featuring on many a revision playlist this spring.

If all else fails, our advice is to stick to what you know: Busted are doing a UK comeback tour this spring and plan to release their third album in late 2016. Please try to contain your excitement.

PAUL HUDSON

LAURA-MAY NARDELLA

David Robert Jones

David Bowie 8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016 Jake Cohen-Setton

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avid Bowie passed away peacefully on the morning of January 10, 2016, after an 18-month battle with cancer. His illness was kept completely secret from all but his closest friends and family. We know now that Blackstar was his deliberate parting gift to us, the latest in a line of extraordinary and inspiring works of art that have changed the world of music forever.

From the sublime art rock of ‘Hunky Dory’ and ‘Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’ to the soul of ‘Station to Station’ and the avant-garde electronics of his so-called ‘Berlin trilogy’, Bowie defied the conventions of genres as readily as he redefined them. He taught the kids of the ‘70s and beyond that their weirdness was something to celebrate and their personalities something to be proud of, whomever they chose to be; this is why to many his death will feel like a deeply personal loss.

He will be forever accessible to new listeners: the passage of years has not dimmed the ideas contained in his records, which resonate as strongly today as they did at the time of their releases. For breaking boundaries that we never even knew existed, for conducting himself always with grace and charm and no small sense of mystery, and for providing enough wonderful music to soundtrack many, many lifetimes, we will be forever grateful.

Bowie once famously sang, “there’s a starman waiting in the sky / he’d like to come and meet us, but he thinks he’d blow our minds”. It is to our immense privilege that he came down and did just that.

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The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 14 January 2016

Culture

Fictional Characters: Who Owns Them?

Helena Pérez Valle

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hen I saw the news that Noma Dumezweni was cast as Hermione Granger in the play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, I was happy. She’s a brilliant actress. And then I saw the Twitter response. People were angry; really angry.

People were angry because they felt a betrayal of character had taken place when a black woman was cast as Hermione.

This article isn’t about the racism implicit in that viewpoint, although that, of course, could be an article in its own right.

Instead, this is about how much license readers have over an author’s own creation.

What we do in our own heads is speculative: Our imaginings are strictly personal Focusing on character as a specific aspect of an author’s creation, the first question that comes to mind is whether a reader can imagine the author’s characters however they like?

Within the limits of their own imagination, of course, they can, and will. What we do in our own heads is speculative; our imaginings can be wonderful or scary – after all they are strictly personal.

But what about when they’re not just limited to our

imaginations? When we extend our imaginative licence over a character to how others may imagine that character?

Well, as long as intellectual property is respected, this is fine too.

Characters are not real people; they cannot be misrepresented or betrayed

while they’re alive. But over any fiction derived from their work? I think not. Originality lies in the entirety of an author’s concept, rather than in a specific part of their work.

Reinterpretation is the right of the reader once an author’s work is out into the world.

FRIDOUW

Characters are not real people; they cannot be misrepresented or betrayed. We’re fooling ourselves if we think that an author can perfectly describe a complete person without any gaps. We fill in these gaps in fiction with our imaginations, no matter how faithful we think we are being to the original work. Additionally, fan fiction or prequels and sequels – even those by the author – are works that unavoidably modify characters. They could add on new experiences, or perhaps even physical characteristics.

To say only an author should be allowed to carry out these additions to the original material is ridiculous! There have always been people who based their creations on earlier works.

And so, we get to the real question: originality. Does an author have more licence over their work simply because they created it? I guess so, to an extent. Probably more so BAHMAN FARZAD

LOZIKIKI

BBC ‘Sound of...’ Award: Prophetic genius or plain formality?

Lucy Gledhill-Flynn

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nexorably, the winner of the BBC Sound of Award will be reverberating from radios everywhere to your eardrums for the foreseeable future. And sure, there is no doubt that this award is a credible and viable method for predicting the critical success of the winning artist, and runners up.

However, calling this award a magical, prophetic utterance is about the same as calling the guy in the corner of your predrinks a clairvoyant for sermonising the fact that you will be on the floor after nine consecutive double vodka-and-cokes.

The methodology is legit; a board of critics and tastemaking connoisseurs use their combined musical experience to select a list of talented melodic bands or solo artists. But unlike the various awards that see the year out congratulating the big dog performers of the last twelve months, this award will itself be scrutinised.

In order to safeguard the ego of the BBC and their panel of selectors, the winning artist will be deified and receive an

extraordinary amount of airtime- solidifying themselves as a staple of popular taste.

But not once has a shortlisted act become more successful than the winner, and for a start they would never be able to secure anywhere near an equal amount of public exposure.

The award also guards itself further by selecting a victor who has already experienced a considerable amount of exposure to the limelight – a sort of formality, a guarantee in writing that the act will go on to see fame.

I don’t know whether you’ll have heard of this guy Sam

This year’s Jack Garratt is a one-man sound machine, an unbelievably talented contender Smith, but he had already featured and collaborated with Disclosure (whose album Settle was preached as best dance

album of the year) and Naughty Boy before winning the Sound of 2014. Some tragedy lays with all of the insanely talented other nominations who have now slipped under the radar: Chlöe Howl, Peace, Niki & The Dove to name a few. Yet, many of the other shortlisted artists have gone on to substantial distinction anyway: George Ezra, Skrillex, Lianne La Havas, Ella Eyre etc. etc. etc.

So what does the award actually do? It allows many people to diverge from the UK Top 40 – spoon-fed to thousands of listeners every week.

This year’s Jack Garratt is a one-man sound machine, an unbelievably talented contender with a voice that see-saws between growl and balladic harmony: a deserved win. But one who has been noticeable on the scene since 2014. The Sound of Award is credible in its aptitude for foreseeing success, sure. Nonetheless, I believe that it can do much much more for artists yet to break the surface of the music industry.

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 14 January 2016

15

Are film franchises stifling creativity?

Helena Pérez Valle

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he good news is that if you have an idea for a film that will have spinoffs and sequels then you’re in luck: we are in the age of film franchises. On the flip side of the coin, for all of us who don’t particularly love franchises, there is a handy Spanish proverb to summarise how we feel: “segundas partes nunca fueron buenas” – an expression conveying the sentiment that the second part of anything is never better or as good as the first.

True, franchises make more money, but generally the new films are not as good as the originals, let alone good enough to be stand-alone films capable of speaking for themselves.

Having to produce a new film every couple of years compromises the storyline The question of whether stand-alone films will survive is a moot one: consider how many stand-alone films are made for each franchised one. A lot more. However, while franchise films are more profitable, they are also more expensive to make. They also have to satisfy the public.

And not just the public who loved the first film. The wider public: the people who will go to the cinema indifferent to the fact that the movie is based upon a ‘classic’. There are those who will go for an action film – and let’s be honest, most franchises, even if they started off as terror, sci-fi or space-western (Star Wars I’m looking at you), eventually turn into action film franchises. This might be because it is the easiest genre to sell to the hungry masses.

The other side of it is that there are obviously people who really love to make movies. People who love their craft, and to whom making a franchise would be uninspiring.

Aspiring scriptwriters do not want to compromise their stories by being forced to produce a new film every year.

However, there is also a large percentage of the public who might occasionally enjoy a franchised film, and who will for the most part have no qualms about going to the cinema to watch standalone movies.

I suspect that it’s more likely that movie-making will end up in the hands of a few directors and producers rather than in the hands of a few films. I find it likely it will become increasingly difficult for new filmmakers to ‘enter the scene’ because, as in other industries, the money is in the hands of a few, and they’re quite happy to give it to each other, but not to share it with others.

PASCAL

Culture Reading Resolutions Jodie Coates CORY DOCTOROW

Control your story-snacking.

Do not settle down to read for an hour with a freshly opened jumbo bag of honey roasted peanuts – it will be empty before you’ve finished the first chapter. Try carrot sticks or something instead.

Prioritise writing buddies.

You know that novel your mate just self-published on Amazon? Read it. That potential competition entry your pal wants a second opinion on? Read it. Those four short stories your neighbour sent you six months ago? Read them. Read all the things.

Do more book swaps.

Be careful not to break the spine, or fold down pages, or let said borrowed books become dog-eared if your swapper likes to keep their books in perfect condition. They may never forgive you.

Uni Tunes: Soham De Ollie Smith Music Editor

T

ake a trip to any university room around the country and chances are that you’ll find an acoustic guitar propped up in a corner. Most of us fancy ourselves capable of strumming ‘Wonderwall’ or plucking out ‘Smoke on the Water’, but you’d be hard-pushed to find a student with the ability of Soham De. A Cambridge local and student at Durham, Soham has been tirelessly honing his technique and songwriting over the last few years. The fruit of his labour is the debut album ‘Ghost’, available on iTunes and Spotify. It is a must-listen for fans of Ben Howard, Damien Rice or anyone who appreciates a great guitar line.

Soham has gigged extensively, recently supporting the likes of Gabrielle Aplin and Bondax. Closer to home, he played at the Selwyn May Ball, in 2015, and the Junction’s ‘Fiver Unplugged’, which he said was “an awesome gig with some acts that have a huge amount of potential”.

It’s clear that Soham has bags of it himself. Despite his age – he turns nineteen this year – his songs have an amazing maturity. Just listen to ‘Houses Made of Bones’. Partnering finger-picked melodies with husky vocals, it is the perfect headache-soother. Bear him in mind on that next late-night walk back to college.

THOMAS DAY

Review more books.

Start a bookblog, a bookvlog, or just a personal record of the best and the worst reads you come across this year. There are all sorts of benefits to reviewing. Find new friends who share similar reading interests, analyse a book in more depth, find new confidence in what you love to do.

Join in a 24 hour read-a-thon.

There are plenty to choose from online – pick one and get involved. Challenge yourself and finally make a dent in that massive pile of ‘to be read’ books.

Ditch the ‘book on the side’.

Don’t start reading ten different books in the space of three days. It never ends well, does it?

Read every day.

Whether it’s 10 minutes first thing in the morning to get your brain ticking, or half an hour before bed to unwind, try and find the time for a book you really want to read.

Stop buying books you don’t need!

You don’t have enough space on your shelf! Stop!

Branch out.

Even though you know you categorically hate murder mysteries, give them one more chance to redeem themselves.

Read more books on your reading list.

I’m sure that wordy philosophy article you need to read for tomorrow morning is just as, if not more, exciting than rereading ‘The Prisoner of Azkaban’ for the fifteenth time.

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14 January 2016 • Part 2 • The Cambridge Student

Reviews

Music: David Bowie ­– Blackstar Jake Cohen-Setton

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avid Bowie’s 25th (!) studio album, ‘Blackstar’, confirms the suspicion that despite the frequency with which he has reinvented his image and sound throughout his career there remains fresh ground for this titan to tread. His latest offering is the perfect foil to 2013’s ten-year-awaited comeback ‘The Next Day’, which saw Bowie drawing upon the art and glam rock influences that he played with so brilliantly in the seventies and early eighties.

Liberated by that triumphant revisit to old stomping grounds, he can now explore new horizons here with reckless abandon.

The name of the game this time is avantgarde jazz, and if Bowie himself is the star of the show, Donny McCaslin’s saxophone is a worthy supporting actor. To the melancholic ‘Lazarus’ it lends everything from brooding, velvety interludes to a raucous, spiralling outro that reflects the plaintive desperation of the song’s lyrics; elsewhere, it can freewheel wildly through the throbbing tumult of highlight ‘Tis Pity She Was a Whore’. It represents just one element of the rich layering that characterises almost every song on this album, and makes repeated listening so rewarding (the sole exception being the

touch-too-repetitive slow funk of ‘Girl Loves Me’). What unites the various sounds and themes is the album’s mood, general gloom and poignancy: ‘Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)’ unfurls a horror story of violence and rejection over chugging guitars, whilst the largely acoustic ballad ‘Dollar Days’ meditates mournfully on restlessness and alienation.

All in all, Blackstar’s strengths are perhaps best encapsulated by its majestic title track.

There is a moment halfway through the tenminute-long ‘Blackstar’ – starting as it ends, with Bowie detailing the sinister practices of a mysterious religion over skittish beats, all recounted in the style of Gregorian chant – where the fog suddenly clears, synth strings swell, his voice loses thirty years of age in thirty seconds, and a glorious pop ballad cuts through the darkness. It is mad, incomparable, brilliant, and utterly Bowie, who is burning brighter than ever against the dying of the light with this album.

This review was written just hours before news of David Bowie’s death broke.

9/10

GABRIEL AGRANOFF

Skylight dazzles: A ‘‘must see’’ Meggie Fairclough

‘S

kylight’ is an Olivier Award winning play by David Hare, directed by Amelia Oakley.

The plot is basic: it follows two ex-lovers who meet up on a cold winter’s evening, not having seen each other since the end of a longterm relationship. This simplicity allows the quality of the actors to really shine through. While the subtle glances, facial expressions and emotional connection that exists between Kyra (Georgie Henley) and Tom (Will Bishop), establish an intimate relationship, it is the exchange between Kyra and Tom that captivated the audience and kept the play flowing.

Tom Taplin, who plays the character of Edward, deserves mention; he expertly portrays a stroppy 18 year old, creating a clear divide between himself and Kyra

in maturity and respect. The intense focus created by a small cast does not intimidate the actors, and their confidence is perceptible.

The text is conversational dialogue, reliant on a strong cast to maintain audience interest. The set is simple, but attention is paid to details, from pot plants to fridge magnets, which evoke the feel of a flat, creating intimacy. The juxtaposition between the casual setting and the serious elements of dialogue is effective.

Although intense and emotional, the play is also funny. ‘Skylight’ is a must see, and feels more as if you are part the play than watching it.

8/10

Twelfth Night direction and Carl Wikeley

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s confused as it is funny, Cambridge University European Theatre Group’s production of Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ conflates comedy with pantomime. While the acting is stellar, some directorial decisions and textual cuts often obscure both comic and tragic elements in the play.

Although the production is described as being “set against a backdrop of 1950s Europe”, the set and costumes seem to contradict one another, with a very Art Deco staging in conflict with other elements: upon playing the fool to Olivia (Julia Kass), Feste (Rosanna Suppa) mimes holding a microphone - a very small detail, but one which illustrates the confused direction of this Twelfth Night.

However, what is most unbalanced in this production is the relationship between comedy and tragedy. The comic elements

are emphasised, often to great effect (the timing of Zak Ghazi-Torbati as Sir Toby was impeccable). This, however, often led to the realm of slapstick, which has a role to play in Shakespeare, but should not permeate every line and every scene.

In some instances, moments of true slapstick are missed in the direction - the description of Sir Andrew’s (Ryan Monk) ‘Viol da Gamba’ playing demands to be

The Art Deco staging was in conflict with the play’s other elements expressed. Interestingly, the largest laugh of the night came from a fantastically welljudged improvisation from Suppa as Feste, exclaiming that Sir Toby’s surgeon wasn’t available because he was ‘‘on strike’’!

While many moments of comedy were

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 14 January 2016

7

Reviews TV: Sherlock Special Michael Morrison

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t: Confused d delivery

JOHANNES HJORTH

successful, a slight lack of subtlety in direction led more serious moments to lose weight and poignancy. The wronging of Malvolio (played ably by Ben Walsh) can be bittersweet in the right hands, but was farcical here, while Feste’s final line ‘‘and thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges’’ - lost impact upon delivery.

Directorial choices and delivery weakened the text’s potency Nonetheless, some good performances improved the production, with Suppa in particular showing nuance and flashes of darkness as the jazzy Feste, Joe Pitts bringing endearing earnestness to his Sebastian and Aoife Kennan really doing

ith the programme’s writer Steven Moffat opting for a case mentioned only in passing in the Arthur Conan Doyle originals, his frustrating narrative style is now all too familiar, where the number of questions posed at the outset far exceeds the few answers vaguely cobbled together in the closing moments.

Holmes’ study being superimposed upon the crime scene mid-analysis, a reanimated corpse emerging from the grave, and a ballooned Mark Gatiss combine to give the feel of a conveyor belt of visual wonderment, yet this series of set pieces was just that, deflecting attention away from the lack of any cohesive framework in this ceaseless parade of ‘scenes we’d like to see’. Some of the shoehorned references to past episodes and even the “elementary, my dear Watson” seemed almost pantomimic in their very unsubtle urge to pander to what they thought the audience might want.

The unnecessary oddities of Moriarty’s dust-licking antics seemed an all-toorecognisable throwback to former villain Magnussen’s forehead-flicking. Moffat too readily links weirdness to being evil,

and what was once an innovative one-off, here just seemed like a repeat of that same

It is difficult not to let these flaws overshadow the show tired, old formula.

Portraying the women of the Suffrage movement with connotations of the KKK was both historically out of sync and inevitably caused offence. Combined with this were some toe-curlingly transparent appeals to female empowerment, as Dr. Watson quickly corrected “I’m taking Mary home” to “Mary’s taking me home” with an appropriate nod of approval from his other half. In trying to prove to the audience that he is a feminist do-gooder after previous criticism of his female characterisation, Moffat fell flat.

When matched with a cop-out conclusion, and Moffat’s time-worn narrative tropes, it is difficult not to let these flaws overshadow any reaction to the wizardry of the show on a technical level.

4/10

Film: Joyless Joy Jake Cohen-Setton

justice to the verse as Viola. In some instances, Shakespeare’s text lost its clarity and potency because of both directorial choices and delivery. It was also bizarre that strong northern accents were used to denote those of a lower status in the play.

This production does have its draws interesting use of jazz music and some good slapstick performances among others - and the acting is generally impressive, however a confused impression remains.

Whether this is due to unexplained editing of the text, heavy reliance on physical humour or conflicting directorial decisions is unclear, but you could do worse than to watch Kenneth Branagh’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, in order to gauge the style of this production.

6/10

D

avid O. Russell’s new film Joy is tonally confused, at one moment surrealist and dreamy, at another touching and comic, and at many others – most notably when its protagonist suffers a violent breakdown in front of her own daughter – brutally dark.

Ironically, what the film lacks, even at its ‘triumphant’ conclusion, is a sense of enjoyment at all. It’s an emotional mess: the film is about a mop, which might, rather aptly, be used to clean all this up.

You are left utterly jaded by the film’s conclusion The invention of Miracle Mop and its inventor – the entrepreneur Joy Margano – should be ideal source material for a quirky Hollywood film: a novel reworking of the American Dream, where the platform for success is a TV home shopping channel. Jennifer Lawrence’s portrayal of Joy herself is compellingly gritty, perhaps too much so. In a film that

doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be, you find yourself actively willing her to escape the turmoil after just the first twenty minutes.

However, any emotional investment you might have built up cannot last long. The moment of the great invention’s inception, the tribulations of getting it on television, and the horrors of patent abuse are all handled so clumsily and with so many half-twists, that you are left utterly jaded by the film’s conclusion, half expecting another hump in the long and winding road.

Simplistic dialogue stitches episodes together ham-fistedly and draws every character but Joy herself in black and white: even Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, so effervescent together in Silver Linings Playbook, sound constipated and awkward in a concluding scene. At the end of it all, perhaps the most convincing thing in this failed rags-to-riches tale is the mop itself.

4/10

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The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 14 January 2016

Lifestyle

New year, new you, new room: top tips for redecorating Anna Hollingsworth

S

earching for feng shui? Craving an abode in the style of Nordic noir? Whilst student finance and college accommodation may not allow us to fully realise our interior design dreams in the readyfurnished, mass-produced units that are college rooms, there are ways of brightening up the uniform look which are both budget and authority friendly.

The key is in the detail. Funk-up that noticeboard with postcards, May Ball tickets, photos, and other memorabilia to banish the greyness of lecture timetables and essay deadlines. An empty wine bottle from formal can add a dash of character, whilst planting a few fake flowers can spruce up that table-top.

Also, a trip to Tiger and its cornucopia of all things, fun, functional, and affordable rarely goes amiss: I’m particularly

proud of the two sets of heart-shaped fairy lights adorning my window sill.

For the artistically-minded, it is worth keeping an eye out for student picture loan schemes, where you can borrow a piece of art for a fraction of the normal price. In the past, Kettle’s Yard – and indeed some colleges – have let students get their hands on some fascinating collections.

If out-of-term storage space is not an issue then quilts, cushions, or even a rug, will stun your visitors, and add an effective splash of colour – or even establish a whole new scheme in your room. Think online shopping here: you’ll have a cost-effective interior design kit delivered to your pigeonhole in no time.

Banish those back-to-work blues; there is no time like the New Year for a room make-over.

ANKAKAY

EPERALES

Listings Thursday 14 Queens’ Life Drawing. Erasmus Room, Queens’ College, 7pm.

Murder on the Disorient Express. ADC, 11pm.

Champagne and Chocolates with Sidley Austin. Ta Bouche, 8pm.

Friday 15 Daughter. Cambridge Corn Exchange, 7pm.

Saturday 16 Cambridge’s Affordable Vintage Fair. Cambridge Guildhall, 10am.

Venture for Change. Judge Business School, 9am.

Verdi’s Otello. King’s College Chapel, 8pm.

Sunday 17 Queens’ Arts Festival Exhibition. Queens’ College, 7pm.

Creem Returns. Fez Club, 10pm.

Monday 18 Dragtime. Corpus Playroom, 9:30pm.

Wolfson Howler. Wolfson College Bar, 10pm.

WICKER PARADISE

Tuesday 19 Footlights Smoker. ADC, 11pm.

RAG Blind Date Launch Party. Cindies, 10pm.

Wednesday 20 Love, Love, Love. ADC, 11pm.

Compiled by Lucy Roxburgh

An MMLer abroad: Week one, BlaBlaCar Rachel is a third-year MML student on her year abroad in Albi, the South of France Rachel Rees-Middleton Columnist

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ne week into my new life in France, I found myself sitting on the floor of a cold bus station in Toulouse at 2am on a Friday night. I had spent the evening with some friends and we had planned to take the midnight bus back to Albi, the town where I am currently living and working. The bus was cancelled (inexplicably) and it wasn’t until two hours later that the replacement service eventually arrived. Was this to be a frequent occurrence in my encounters with SNCF, the French rail network? After experiencing multiple delays, cancellations and bus replacement services, I can confirm that the answer is a definite yes.

In contrast to the somewhat frustrating SNCF, I can only describe BlaBlaCar – a car sharing website which makes travelling much cheaper, quicker, and more convenient, – as a breath of fresh air.

The concept is simple. You enter your departure point, destination, and travel date onto the website and a list of drivers who have registered this journey is generated. Each driver must also detail their name, age and vehicle type; so should you prefer to travel with women, young people, or in open-top sports cars, you can call the shots. Payment is equally easy: you enter your card details in advance and you are sent a code via SMS. This you must give to the driver at the end of the journey, who then enters the code online in order to debit your account and credit theirs.

From a practical perspective, BlaBlaCar works. However, it is much more than a cheap taxi service; as the ‘BlaBla’ hints, conversation is expected. Having used it with friends, talking quietly in English at the back of the car, even if the other passengers are engaged in conversation, can still feel a little awkward.

When travelling alone however, chatting makes the time

pass quickly, and so far I have met a pilot working for the postal service, numerous students, and – most recently – a gregarious mother and daughter who, after detecting my foreign accent, inquired whether or not I had found myself a Frenchman yet.

It is surprising, then, that BlaBlaCar has yet to reach popularity in the UK. A quick search of journeys from London to Cambridge generates four listings in the coming month, compared to the 47 listings for this Monday alone for a comparable journey from Albi to Toulouse.

Like Airbnb, a lodging-sharing service, BlaBlaCar is another product of the ever-growing sharing economy which makes sense on so many levels. In four months, I can proudly say that my online profile has gone from the status of débutant to habitué. Who knows, perhaps I will reach the lofty heights of expert or perhaps even ambassadeur before the year is out.

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 14 January 2016

15

Lifestyle

Fashion: Commodity or art? We need to Ariel Luo Fashion Editor

L

ooking at the fashion industry in 2015, you probably noticed the major reshuffle of designers: Raf Simons leaving Dior, Alber Elbaz leaving Lanvin, Alexander Wang leaving Balenciaga.

Many have attributed the wave of change to the fast fashion takewover. Brands such as Burberry and Moschino released their SS16 collections straight off the runway, underlining this move towards commerciality.

To me, it is only logical that ready-to-wear collections are released in store as soon as they are put on show. Just think of the frustration, knowing that the bag you want will not be available for purchase for another six months. By the time it’s on sale, the chances are you won’t want it anymore, or you’ll have found something similar elsewhere. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with brands picking up the pace and catering to their consumers. But if this prevents the designers from doing what they want to do, perhaps the brand should re-orientate.

Ultimately, it is up to the brand to decide if it is a merchant or an art studio. Of course, we’d like to think of them as both. But a brand cannot survive on haute couture alone. It’s the ready-to-wear business that makes profits,

which means the commodity supports the artist, no matter how much we might like to think otherwise. As much as it would be a social loss if great artists were deprived of the opportunity to achieve their potential in fashion design, it is hardly ideal that consumers are made to accept whatever terms the brands ram down their throats.

The reshuffle was the best of both worlds for Gucci.

Alessandro Michele completely reinvented the brand, from a house that used to decorate everything exclusively with its own logo, to a current bestseller with staggering new collections. This seems to be a success story to learn from, one that revived fashion, as a FATALEFASHION III commodity and as an art.

Charlotte McGarry Food Editor

1) I will eat more healthily. If health was your top priority for 2016, vist Espresso Library. Burn some calories on the walk there to the other side of Parker’s Piece, then refuel with a great selection of healthy fare. Their daily salad selection is always fantastic, as is the avocado and chickpeas on sourdough. If you’re feeling really virtuous, go for the Nourish Bowl. Vegan, packed with superfoods and bursting with flavour, this delicious dish is proof that healthy food doesn’t have to be boring.

2) I will spend less money on food. For reliable thrifty eats, try Trockel, Ulmann & Freunde on Pembroke Street. The café does a great selection of soups, baguettes and salads for a very reasonable price; most soups and sandwiches come in at under £3. If you’re hungry and searching for a bargain CHARLOTTE MCGARRY

Bea Hannay-Young Columnist

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e need to talk about sex. I’m not referring to the ‘lad chat’ that is too often the soundtrack to your average night out in Spoons or Cindies – I am far more concerned about the fact that we, as (for the most part) functioning adults, are so unwilling and/or unable to discuss what is fundamentally the most natural part of human nature.

Statistically, most of the people reading this will have had sex. Your friends have probably done it. Your lecturers and supervisors have, and as much as I hate to be the one to remind you, your parents have definitely bumped uglies at least once in their relationship.

I refuse to apologise for something which gives me and my partner pleasure

Foodie institutions to help you keep your resolutions Term has started, we’re halfway through January and that burst of willpower that accompanies the start of the year is starting to fade. But don’t worry, TCS is here to give you some helpful guidance to keep you on track! Want to save money? Be healthier? Try something new? Here’s where to head in your lunch break:

talk about sex

later on in the day, Michaelhouse Cafe does half price on all freshly made food from 3pm onwards (though the selection tends to be limited).

3) I will make more time for my friends. For those of you who vowed to make a bigger effort with your friends, Las Iguanas is doing the perfect promotion for you. With twofor-one on main courses for the whole of January, there’s never been a better time to treat a friend to dinner. Check their website for more details.

4) I will try something new. If you resolved to be more adventurous in the new year, start by heading over to Bedouin on Mill Road. They serve authentic Moroccan food in huge portions. The food is delicious, plus the decor is so authentic that it’s almost like actually being in North Africa (without the hefty price tag).

5) I will stop making resolutions. Why change a classic? For those of you who are fed up with the whole ‘new year, new me’ vibe, head to Fitzbillies – the Chelsea Buns and coffees are as good as ever.

DUNCAN HILL

I understand that there are boundaries of taste, and I’m certainly not suggesting we suddenly drop our sensitivities to merrily compare butt plugs over a Chelsea Bun and a nice cup of tea. There does come a time, however, in which we do ourselves absolutely no favours by refusing to engage in a frank and honest discourse about sex.

How to do it, how to stay safe, and how to actually enjoy yourself are all things we should learn to talk about. I would much rather be uncomfortable discussing the ins and outs (if you will) of sex, than find myself in a physically or emotionally uncomfortable position simply because I was never told how to behave or what to expect. And however mortifying it may be, I would much rather be told I need lube than wake up the next morning feeling like I had been aggressively fingered by Edward Scissorhands.

Perhaps this is no more than a very British problem – we live in a country where most people are too polite to criticise their hairdresser, so none of us are likely to be people who will call out a partner on a bad shag.

CUSU Women’s Campaign are already doing a great thing by encouraging discussions about sexual consent and healthy relationships, but there’s a long way to go until these ideas enter the mainstream. Sex is one of the areas where people need the most self-care, but it’s also the most neglected part of normalised socialization. There’s clearly something really, really wrong when we can find hardcore porn online in minutes and yet it took years for anyone to find my clitoris (including myself).

What should we do? Talk about it. I refuse to apologise for something which gives me and my partner pleasure, and that makes me feel closer to the people I choose to share myself and my body with. Talk to your sexual partners, your friends, and to the old woman in the line behind you at Starbucks (she’s probably had a lot more sex than you).

The sooner we can talk freely about our sexual experiences – however varied, experimental or numerous – the sooner misogynistic bullshit like ‘slut shaming’ will become obsolete. The sooner we learn to laugh freely about our sexual encounters, the sooner we will stop feeling needlessly ashamed about perfectly natural experiences or bodily functions. Honestly, if you can’t laugh about bad sex with your partner, you’re sleeping with the wrong person.

And most importantly, the sooner we learn to talk about what we want and how we want it, the sooner we can all enjoy safer orgasms, better orgasms, and more orgasms. I don’t know about you, but that’s definitely a cause I can get

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Lifestyle Recipe: Simple lemony pasta with a sweet tomato sauce

Emer O’Hanlon Recipe Columnist I adore olive oil. It may be more expensive than its sunflower counterpart, but it’s a worthy investment.

1 litre costs just £3.50 in Sainsburys, and will last you a long time. Olive oil really does go a long way in making your food instantly taste better, much more than any vegetable oils could. As far as the tomatoes are concerned, I prefer using pomodorinos, but if you’re looking for something cheaper, cherry tomatoes are just as good.

Ingredients: The quantities below are rough and by no means definitive. I like chilli and lemon juice, so I’m usually liberal with both of these, but it’s up to you how much of each you use.

Olive oil (Around a tablespoon) Small tomatoes (around 3-4 per person) 1 clove garlic Lemon juice Black pepper, salt for seasoning Pasta Red chilli (optional) Pine nuts (optional)

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 14 January 2016

2016: time to get some SelfControl Lynn Pang

and keep stirring. You don’t want to completely reduce them down to liquid, but you do want a bit of sauce.

Ultimately, all the ingredients are delicious, so you can’t really go wrong, regardless of how reduced the tomatoes are. Cook them until you think it looks nice, and at some point add salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, have your pasta cooking. You should time your pasta to be finished just before the sauce - drain it and stir the lemon juice through. This gives it a zesty tang and concentrates the taste of the lemon.

When you’re satisfied with the look of the sauce, simply add the pasta to the sauce, stir together, and it’s ready to serve! For an added richness, toast some pine nuts lightly in a pan before you start, and add them just before serving.

Cooking time: (including preparation) 20 minutes JEFFREYW

Recipe: The recipe requires you to use two saucepans at once, one for the pasta and one for the sauce. If you have a pan/hob shortage, cook the pasta first and when it’s ready, put it in a bowl and cover with whatever will keep it warm.

F

riends often tell me they just cannot work in their rooms because there are too many distractions.

There is Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, snacks, and the biggest distraction of all? The bed. We can’t help it, it’s just there, so comfortable and warm, calling out to us. So here are some tips on how to work effectively in your room, without procrastinating.

My first tip is to work at a desk. Never ever try to study on your bed. You just end up falling asleep, or convincing yourself you deserve this 15 minute nap, which then turns into an hour. I always work at my desk, with my chair as upright as possible. It’s not the most comfortable position, I admit, but it keeps me from falling asleep. If I still feel tired, I get up and walk around my room or just outside for a bit.

Do not under any circumstance go over to a friend’s room during one of these walks. Unless your friend has amazing self-control (or doesn’t really like you) they will let you stay for a chat and maybe some tea or coffee.

My next tip is an app called SelfControl, which helps you avoid distracting websites. You choose the webpages you need to avoid and add them to your blacklist and set the timer (up to 24 hours) and you will not be able to access those sites even if you restart your computer or uninstall the app. You can blacklist mail servers as well, but I don’t recommend this in case you need it later on. Also try to leave your phone at the other end of the room. If you’re as lazy as I am, you won’t be bothered to get up and get it, especially if you know you shouldn’t. Good luck!

HERRY LAWFORD

Chop your garlic (and chilli if you want to) finely, and add it to a saucepan with oil. While it’s cooking (you don’t want to let the garlic burn) chop the tomatoes in half. (Or, if you’re as bad at multi-tasking as I am, just chop everything in advance. Or better still, find a minion to do it for you). Once the garlic is nicely cooked (i.e. when it starts smelling really yummy) add the tomatoes,

Ask Archie: TCS’ new agony uncle Archie Trumpington is an honorary fellow at Trinity Hall and he is here at TCS to offer fretting undergraduates his pearls of wisdom.

Archie Trumpington Columnist Dear Archie,

Dear Emma,

Help!! I’ve just had the most relaxing few weeks at home and it was great to see my school friends once they finally got back from uni. I’m back in Cambridge and have already been set six essays, had two DOS meetings and spent £6.95 on a panini yesterday that wasn’t warmed through properly. And even the clubbing isn’t as good as back home in Sevenoaks.

As I always say to my tutees, “in the darkest of times all you must do is to turn on a desk lamp.” When Varsity asked me to do this column, I expected such undergraduate angst; so don’t fear, I have some remedies to offer.

I’m super stressed! What can I do to settle in again?

Emma, first year Historian, Clare College

Sevenoaks is lovely and I can see why you must miss it dearly.

My wife and I have often perused the shelves of its antique stores and I cannot imagine another place in England with a finer selection of tea parlours.Visit home frequently is my first piece of counsel.

Six essays does seem rather unfortunate, but take it from me when I say that you are walking in the footsteps of thousands of successful arts students who have all valiantly paraphrased the work of those greater than themselves. I have always admired those students who manage to articulate something from nothing. We never bother with TurnItIn anyway.

As for clubbing, I’d wholly recommend Tuesday Fez – it’s an Anglia Ruskin night, but I assure you it will be a happy surprise.

Yours always, Archie Trumpington

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 14 January 2016

11

Lifestyle

A letter from your investment advisor Ariel Luo Fashion Editor Dear Stylish Clients, Happy New Year! As your investment advisor, I am writing to you regarding the serious matter of how to invest in 2016.

(And trust me, I’m an economist.) Here are my suggestions for every one of you: Miss Retro: the economy might have been depressed in the 70s, but the styles weren’t. The 70s style had a major comeback last autumn, and it’s here to stay. The core elements are suede, bohemian, and power prints – great for spring. Put your flare jeans or your metallic pleat skirt on, and get ready for disco.

Miss Fierce: research shows that the MA-1 bomber jacket would be the single most effective addition to your portfolio. I have found it in khaki-green in Topshop, and in black in H&M. Considering Mathilda’s style in the film Leon, I would also suggest that you use a choker necklace and a burgundy lipstick to hedge the investment. Try ‘Rogue Feu’ from YSL or ‘Raisin Rage’ from Revlon.

Miss Girl-Next-Door: a monochrome, Breton (striped) top promises to be your best investment this year. One from Urban Outfitters, at £19.80 with your student discount,

SCOTT LEWIS

works out to cost 5p per day in 2016. A similar investment is also available at Next.

Miss Glamour: if you haven’t made the move since Pantone announced the colours of the year, you should soon! The colours are, of course: ‘Rose Quartz’ and ‘Serenity’. Think Monet – or Taylor Swift on the cover of Vogue in November 2014. Anything in ‘Rose Quartz’ immediately brightens up your skin tone, though you must be careful to distinguish it from a fallible pink – ‘Rose Quartz’ is much lighter and softer. Perfect as a nail polish, it is guaranteed to work perfectly. ‘Serenity’, meanwhile, makes for a fail-free Spring Ball dress. So get investing!

ARIEL LUO

Miss Too-Cool-To-Be-Defined: stocks, gilts, debenture, the market has something for every investor. That includes you. For 2016, I recommend that you take your style to the next level with ombre lips. Hand-made by using a concealer on the contour of your lips, blend your favourite lipstick gradually towards the centre, or use a two-toned lipstick designed just for that. Watch out for the L’Oreal Matte Max lip pen release!

Wishing you a profitable year, Ariel Luo

A new lifestyle: why all subjects Top 5 Cambridge hot chocolates should offer a year abroad Imogen Cassels

Ed Ashcroft Escape Editor

C

ambridge is well known as an academic university. The chance to engage with new and (sometimes) exciting topics with interesting people is one of the merits of being fortunate enough to study here.

University, however, is about more than academia. It is also about new experiences and a new lifestyle. For many, it is the first time you leave home. For everyone, it is a chance to test yourself in a new environment.

This is why Cambridge needs to rethink its policy about years abroad. A year abroad should not just be seen as an academic tool to improve the language skills and exam results of MMLers. The chance to live, study, and even work in another country for a year is more than that. It is an opportunity to experience new things and one that should be offered to all students.

The world is a big place and Cambridge can be a ‘Bubble’ With idyllic streets, archaic colleges and our very own Cindies, Cambridge offers a quirky and engaging student environment. But the world is a big place and Cambridge (as is often said) can be a ‘Bubble.’ Whether you are an MMLer or a historian, a NatSci or a CompSci, a year abroad can burst that bubble.

From the trendy cosmopolitanism of McGill University, Montreal, to the American University of Beirut’s idyllic, Mediterranean setting, a stint at a foreign university is an opportunity to experience different cultures.

These experiences can have practical benefits. Studying abroad, be it in Copenhagen, California or Berlin, could give you the edge in an increasingly competitive jobs market. It demonstrates, amongst other things, independence and cultural awareness. These are the kind of ‘transferable’ personal skills that a theory-driven, not-thatpractical, Cambridge degree perhaps lacks.

This is not just about a CV checklist, however. It is a chance to make new friends and, as clichéd as it sounds, learn something new about yourself. Studying abroad can change the way you think, not only about your subject – other intellectual approaches can be eye opening – but also about the world.

While Cambridge rightly considers itself an academic institution, it is also a human one. It should strive to offer a diverse and well-rounded experience. A year abroad can certainly offer such an opportunity – an opportunity that should, in my opinion, be available to everyone, regardless of what degree subject they have chosen.

MOYAN BRENN

Already, this January is proving to be a particularly cold and rainy one. Hot chocolate season, thus, is in full swing. Here are the top places in Cambridge to grab one: 1) Hotel Chocolat It may be a chain, but it still offers the best-quality hot chocolate in Cambridge – albeit, at a price. The variety of genuinely great flavours and free cocoa-whip definitely make this a place to visit.

2) Indigo Coffee House It’s good. Like, really good. The chocolate itself isn’t quite Hotel Chocolat quality, but with whipped cream, marshmallows, and a big mug, it’s pretty difficult to beat especially in the cosiest, friendliest café in the whole city.

3) Afternoon Tease The hot chocolate here is delicious, and served in cute china. As well as lovely staff and a beautiful setting, this get-away is pleasantly out of the way: located just beyond Sidney. Plus, great cakes and food if you fancy brunch.

4) Hot Numbers Though best known for its coffee, the hot chocolate here is well worth trying. Just past Peterhouse, it too feels a little out of the centre and relaxed. A lovely, light interior makes it perfect for a spot of work. Or a well-deserved break.

5) Costa Coffee Earning its place on the map over St*rb*cks and N*r*, Costa have excellent, festive varieties of hot chocolate. The expression of joy on my friend’s face as they settled down with a large mug, makes Costa defintitely worth a trip.

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 14 January 2016

12

Lifestyle

Escaping the ‘Bubble’:

Highlights from the Winter holiday

Winter sun, walking around Malta. Lola Olufemi

Varsity ski trip to Val Thorens. Lili Bidwell

Copenhagen’s stunning architecture. Ariel Yuqing Luo

Doing a One Direction impression on the beach. Lili Bidwell

Construction of a gingerbread Peterhouse. Johanna Ohlman

Copenhagen husky rides. Ariel Yuqing Luo

An unorthodox choice of Christmas tree and not a dusting of snow in sight. Charlotte McGarry

Boxing Day pavlova wreath – survived a three-hour car journey only to be eaten in minutes. Lucy Roxburgh

The Neva River in St. Petersburg. It was running when we arrived, but after two days of plummeting temperatures it had completely frozen over. Elsa Maishman

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The Cambridge Student • 14 January 2016

Features

term resolutions

What are students’ hopes and fears for 2016?

Lydia Sabatini Features Editor

Hopes: Corbyn proving his haters are wrong about him. nevitably 2016 is bound to be a huge Fears: Being drawn into (further) year, both in terms of current affairs environmental catastrophe. and for many students’ personal lives. Caroline, Law TCS asked some students what a few of their biggest hopes and Hopes: That manage to get through all fears are for the coming year... of dry January.

Fears: Early-onset hepatitis.

Hopes: May Week will be amazing.

Henry, NatSci Fears: President Trump.

I

Samantha, History

BEN SUTHERLAND

Hopes: Figuring out what on earth I want to do with my life.

Fears: Never figuring out what I want to do with my life.

Charles, HSPS

Hopes: Graduating, being independent, and earning money.

Fears: Finding a real job and paying off student loan.

Abel, Natural Sciences

Hopes: Surviving exams.

Fears: The new Batman movie is bad.

April, Natural Sciences

ANASTASIA PICTON

Hopes: Going travelling during the summer holidays.

Fears: Getting hopelessly lost when going abroad.

James, Engineering

Please stop: The New Year’s Resolutions you shouldn’t even bother making Anna Bradley Features Editor

I

t’s 2016. Maybe last year was crap, maybe it was amazing. Either way, as Christmas becomes a distant memory and the next Cambridge term looms, you might be tempted to make a few changes to yourself and your daily routine.

Whether you want to turn your life around or just one-up your bestie, before you commit yourself to a year of failed resolutions let’s just look at the ones you shouldn’t even attempt to make.

Spend less time in Cindies:

It’s Cambridge, so this is arguably viewed as more acceptable than it might be in other places. (Although that may just be because the club choice is significantly poorer). If you are the type that likes to go out – this doesn’t apply to those of you who would rather Netflix and Chill – don’t try and stop yourself, release your inner beast.

Busy as Cambridge is, this is probably the last time until retirement where you’ll be able to stay up until the early hours of a Wednesday morning, dancing to the Lion King soundtrack, so whatever you do, enjoy it.

KOSALA BANDARA

No more coffee:

It doesn’t matter that the only thing keeping you going through last term was your trusty jar of Nescafé, you’ve convinced yourself it’s no longer necessary and it’s probably terrible for you. This January you’ll go cold turkey, whatever it takes. Unfortunately, it only takes a series of crippling caffeine withdrawal headaches, timed inconveniently with your latest essay crisis to convince you that this is in fact a terrible decision. In no time, you find yourself chugging energy drinks instead – the vicious caffeine cycle only continues.

Hitting up the library everyday at 8am:

You have visions of yourself entering an enticingly empty room. There are hundreds of free chairs and no books clogging up the tables. Unfortunately, this is just an illusion. No matter how early you get there, someone will always beat you to it – leaving you disheartened enough to spend the first three hours of your library trip procrastinating on Facebook. So just don’t even bother trying – rather, stay in bed, get some sleep, 11am is much more reasonable.

Subsist only on apples and lentils:

It’s like Lent, but instead of giving up chocolate for 40 days, you’ve given it up indeterminably. Unfortunately, cutting the Taste the Difference cookies and the Van of Life takeaway will probably just make you miserable. And at the end of that misery, there is a guaranteed junk-food binge.

Lap Jesus Green every morning:

Despite the fact that the closest you got to exercise last year was a daily jog to your lectures, you’ve signed up for a halfmarathon at the end of February. Queue ridiculously early starts and a steadily growing feeling of despair as instead of getting longer, your runs get steadily shorter and shorter. The exhaustion builds until one day you accidentally run into the Cam and finally admit defeat.

So instead of making all these extreme (and ultimately doomed) resolutions, here’s some different advice. Stop making sudden changes, make them gradually, one step at a time. You just might find yourself completely reborn.

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14 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Features

Looking for love in A week in the life: An admissions letter

Cambridge

Week One: Jack May

Shoes in bed

Secret Dater

W

e sit in silence.

“I like your array of… novels.”

“Thanks. You have really nice… teeth.”

He is cocooned in my Hungry Caterpillar bedsheets, like a chrysalis. Understandable behaviour (due to the beckoning nature of such bedsheets) but nevertheless slightly unwelcome. Panic strikes as it dawns on me that he still has his shoes on. Is this normal behaviour? The thought of wearing shoes in another person’s bed is deeply distressing. Someone wearing their shoes in my bed is verging on a violation of my human rights.

Monday Today, I was born. My first memory is of being churned out of a printer – catching a glimpse of daylight, and then being stuffed into a rather nice ivory-coloured envelope.

From there on, it was dark. I was in the envelope with quite a few sheets of paper, but the atmosphere of the place made it somehow feel like I was the most important.

human face. She screamed, her parents came up behind her, and there was a lot of hugging. If I’m honest it was all a bit much. Then I was left face down on a table for a while and there was the sound of chinking glasses for a long time afterwards.

Wednesday This woman, I think it’s the mother, has been staring at me all day while on the phone to various people. She sounds very happy, but in a slightly smug sort of way. There was some sister, whose son had also applied to Cambridge, Tuesday A very long day. A very happy day. but their envelope hadn’t been as thick We had arrived. The gentle pat as we as the envelope that I was in – or at hit the doormat was greeted with a least that’s what it sounded like. scream from somewhere in the big house, a thudding of feet running Thursday Somebody spilt a little bit of a tea on down some stairs.

When I came out of the envelope I me today when I was lying on the don’t think I’ve ever seen such joy on a kitchen table.

The gentle pat on the doormat was greeted with a scream

Friday Sophie (that’s her name – I found out when her mother was reading me out in full to her grandmother) cried when she saw the spilt tea this morning and it all got a bit awkward. There’s some uncomfortable chat about framing me.

Not sure how I feel about that.

Saturday Bit weird. In the middle of the night last night, Sophie took me out of her drawer, stared at me for ages in the dark, kissed me, and then hugged me.

It was very intimate and went on for far too long.

Sunday Yep, that’s it. I’ve been framed.

I’ve never felt so very vulnerable in my life. This is where I will live out the rest of my days. Blimey. How terribly embarrassing.

ADAM WYLES

Should I ask him to take them off? No, no, far too forward.

As we all know, the fun begins once the shoes are off. No, just listen to what he’s saying. Like a functioning human being. Alright, here goes. Is my ex-boyfriend a horrible person? What? I switch my gaze from his duvet-enveloped feet to his interrogating eyes. I’ve clearly missed a vital transition in this conversation. ‘‘No, no, quite a lovely person really.”

“Well maybe you should have stayed with him then. I don’t know why people just throw away chances with lovely people.”

“Oh… well, was your ex-girlfriend horrible then?”

“No.” “Oh… maybe you should have stayed with her then.”

“Yeah, maybe I should have.”

Silence ensues.

As a second year, my Cambridge journey is at its halfway

“Is my ex-boyfriend a horrible person?

What? I’ve clearly missed a vital transitional moment” point. At the end of each term, I’m met with choruses of ‘I bet you’ve met some right characters down there!’ and as of yet, I haven’t. My closest friends are those I live with, and a serious bout of depression in first year left me with no motivation to try anything extracurricular.

Slowly (but surely) I’m getting back on the horse, but there’s one aspect of student life I’ve incessantly struggled with since arriving at Cambridge – the dating scene. My workload has ensured that any intimate encounters I’ve had were not time-consuming affairs but brief flings.

This year, I’ve taken it upon myself to change that. I want to sample what Cambridge has to offer, and thus have accepted the challenge of one date a week. Just one date, my criteria varying vastly, to investigate whether Cambridge really is incompatible with romance.

And that’s how I ended up stroking a young man’s hair as he sobbed against my bosom, recalling the sheer happiness he had experienced in his ex-lover’s arms. At three in the morning, he wiped away his last tear, thanked me for my services, and left.

He never did take his shoes off.

“May the Force be with you”: If Star Wars characters were Cambridge colleges Will Amor

A

long time ago in a galaxy very, very near, the University of Cambridge was founded, and some of its thirty one colleges reminded The Cambridge Student of some classic Star Wars characters. So sit back, crack out the popcorn, and enjoy this run-down of some famous characters’ Cambridge college counterparts.

Luke Skywalker Star Wars’ most iconic character meets its match with Cambridge’s poster child: King’s. Both the most famous figures in their respective franchises, the Jedi-tobe’s perpetual onscreen whining in ‘A New Hope’ is met with the same annoyance reserved for King’s, infamous for its hub of student activism.

Han Solo One of the early warning signs heralding the disappointment that was the prequels was the special 1997 edition of ‘A New Hope’ when George Lucas awkwardly changed a scene with CGI so that Han shoots a bounty hunter in retaliation, rather than in cold blood. The fanboy slogan ‘Han shot first’ is surely embodied best in Cambridge’s first college, Peterhouse.

Leia Organa Had Cambridge been on Alderaan rather than Earth, Princess Leia might have wanted to assert her feminist independence by attending the University’s most famous allfemale college: Newnham. Sadly, as the only woman in the galaxy,

she may have found it a rather fresh off their ‘gap yah’. C3P0’s preferred gold plating speaks isolating experience. volumes about the average wealth of those at St John’s, while Emperor Palpatine Pure evil with delusions of the droid’s red limb in ‘The Force grandeur and a near-erotic Awakens’ is no doubt a reference enjoyment from the suffering of to the college’s red chino brigade. others, the Emperor has no match in Cambridge other than Trinity. Yoda The Cambridge Student has No Cambridge list article would long suspected that the Trinity- be complete without a cheap shot owned O2 Arena in London had at Girton, so everyone’s favourite a peculiar resemblance to the college outside of Cambridge is Death Star. Also, Trinity actually unquestionably the counterpart educated at least two emperors in to the diminutive Jedi Master, who exiled himself on the the past two-hundred years. far flung system of Dagobah.

C3P0 “I am fluent in over six billion The boggy planet is also forms of communication.” reminiscent of the greenery the Exactly the type of line one might college is surrounded by thanks expect either from a protocol to being so far from urban droid or from a St John’s student development (sorry, Girton).

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The Cambridge Student • 14 January 2016

Features

Student Spotlight: CAMSOC

Matt rants:

Anna Bradley Features Editor

S

o, what do you want to do after university? You’ve spent the last two years dodging this question, safe in the knowledge that there’s still plenty of time to decide. But now it’s crunch time.

Browsing Facebook for networking events and Q&A sessions, you realise there’s a surprising lack of choice: your

newsfeed is overwhelmed by law firms and bankers and you steel yourself for a life in the rat race.

This lack of opportunity prompted the founding of CAMSOC: (the Cambridge Advertising and Marketing Society). It offers students an insight into the communications industry by organising talks and workshops. A FLAZINGO PHOTOS

It offers students an insight into the communications industry

relatively young society, CAMSOC received funding for its first year from FutureRising, which offers financial backing to students trying to promote these areas.

As a result, the society was able to put on a number of events, with organisations including J. Walter Thompson, CHI & Partners and Flamingo. This has allowed students with an interest in the communications industry but no way of finding out more about it to gain useful insight for job applications.

Luckily, thanks to an exciting new sponsor, CAMSOC is flourishing and is set to organise a number of events in the coming year.

This sponsor is AMV, who is the biggest advertising agency in the UK. Students will have a chance to benefit from their expertise on Monday 18 January at an advertising workshop and drinks event taking place in the Cavonius Centre, at Gonville & Caius College next to the Sidgwick Site.

The talk starts at half past six, but in order to benefit from the free drinks, arrive early. The topic of the talk will be ‘How to critique ads and identify great work’. As part of the BBDO network (the third largest in the world) AMB BBDO should know what they are talking about.

Student Chat: “Where is the weirdest place you’ve ever been on a first date?”

IAN MUTTOO

Taryn Challender Features Editor

“My three first dates were all just wandering around so that’s not that f the prospect of a first date isn’t weird, but I had a date in Toys R Us daunting enough, making even the once that was top.” self-controlled amongst us weak at the knees, then what happens when “In a car.” the most conventional of dating rituals ditches the candlelit dinner for the “I found a guy on Twitter who shared downright bizarre? This week, in our my love of The Courteeners, we search for the Cantabrigian romance messaged each other on BBM and then finally met up at Chester Rocks. We overlord, we asked: actually dated for a month afterwards.”

‘Where is the weirdest place you’ve “A derelict shipyard.” ever been on a first date?’

I

“Mine was a contemporary walk around York, where we went around different sites where there was art. The first site was an old church, second one was a charity book shop with some weird performance art upstairs and the third site was a luminous tree. It was at night too.”

“We went to Costa, watched a shit movie and it turned out I didn’t like the guy in the end. He was too clingy.

On the plus side, the hot chocolate at Costa was nice”

“I went to boarding school so a date was going to wherever you could to be alone. Maths block, behind trees, in “Mulled Cider. We went there, and between hedges. Not even joking’ they already knew what she wanted, ‘McDonald’s (‘legit date’).” she’d been so many times”.

The struggle of cycling in Cambridge Matt Hankin Columnist

T

rust me, I’m at Girton. I know these things.

Coming to Cambridge from London the one thing I had been assured of was that “Cambridge is the nation’s Cycling Capital”. When I realised I was going to have to cycle in Cambridge (or to Cambridge more like) I did what any sensible Londoner would do and freaked out, reading up on any cycling information I could find online.

Now, after my first term, I can tell you Cambridge is not the cycling utopia the tourist board and University present it as, due to three groups of dumb people.

Dumb cyclists The majority of bad cyclists are at the central colleges (let Girton have this). They cycle as part of ‘The Cambridge Experience’ (not a thing). Get off the roads, your life is a mess. If you want to be an idiot be my guest, but when it causes me harm I am DONE (like a sassy J.S Mill). It is not OK for you to cycle so slowly and haphazardly that I can’t

If you want to be an idiot be my guest, but when it causes me harm I am DONE (like a sassy J. S. Mill) overtake, cycle the wrong way down a one-way street or crash into me. It’s also not OK for you to leave your lights off, get hit by a car and block the whole line of traffic in the process. Get your act together: wear a helmet, use lights and lose the headphones.

Old people Their sheer numbers make them a threat. They’ve had enough time to work out that if they all cross the road together cyclists will have to wait hours for the whole herd to cross. Because they’re losing their hearing and eyesight they are also likely to stumble into the road without looking, causing me to break suddenly and risk a shoal of cyclists cascading into me from behind – a terrifying experience, thanks to those people walking, very slowly, towards the light.

Tourists Look guys, a road is a road and a pavement is a pavement.

It is probably not a good idea to stand smack bang in the middle of the road just so you can get a pretty picture of King’s College. If I ring my bell at you, that is not an indication for you to take a few more snaps and then leisurely walk away, it is me telling you to MOVE, and fast.

At least London tourists have ‘The Fear’, which means they don’t just walk into roads. Londoners wait for nobody; Cambridge tourists are dumb.

The general message here is don’t be dumb. Cambridge cyclists, if you are intelligent enough to get here, you are intelligent enough to understand basic road safety.

Tourists, follow the example of your London peers. And old people, stop being old.

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14 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Interviews

Mark Thompson on literature, leather and Leavis Maddy Airlie Interviews Editor

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rts and humanities students often fear that a jobless existence awaits them postgraduation. However, this was not the case for Mark Thompson, who graduated Corpus Christi College in 1981. For Mark, life after Cambridge has been varied and vibrant: author of an award-winning book, The White War, a history of the Italian experience of WWI; biographer for Serbian novelist, Danilo Kiš; and worker for the UN, in Croatia in the 1990s. Mark has certainly had a multi-faceted career.

You studied English at Cambridge, but I know that student journalism was a very important and enjoyable part of your experience here. How did writing with peers, or for peers, change how you felt about your degree, or your essays?

For several terms I co-edited a magazine called Black & White. It was started by an elegant chap at Trinity Hall, whose parents were tax refugees on the Isle of Man. Wealth was his destiny. It sat on the shoulders of his tailored camel-hair coat. He actually sold the magazine to a printer in Mill Road! We had no idea about design or layout, but we published a few good pieces.

There was no contact of any kind between this journalism and my

degree. They occupied separate compartments. I was at Corpus, the only college without an English don.

My DoS wore leather trousers and lashings of Aramis.

Literary biography can be a more personal form of writing, as opposed to some of the more canonical critics we have to grapple with in the Tripos. What was it like for you writing a biography? Did you feel that you were rebelling against your Cambridge training?

I don’t remember biographies being recommended, but I might have ignored any pointers. The tradition of close reading was the part of Cambridge English that meant most to me. Empson’s pre-war books were the glory, they still are, but close reading was the best of Leavis too.

“What we have to look for are the

“Corpus had no English don. My DoS wore leather trousers and lashings of Aramis” signs of something grasped and held, something presented in an ordering of words, not merely thought of or gestured towards.” That’s Leavis. When I came across it recently, I stopped breathing for a moment.

Did you feel that your many interests – literature, history,

languages, translation to name few – were catered for within your degree, or did you feel constricted?

With hindsight, a degree in comparative literature might have been a better fit. But it wasn’t available (I think), and I wouldn’t have gone for it anyway. I’m sorry the foreign literature paper is lost; it wasn’t taken seriously in my time, but I liked it. Flaubert, Trois contes: inching through them with a graduate student in a long woollen skirt and a bobble hat. One day I told her – she was exasperated by something – that it was fine, not to worry, I didn’t expect to understand Flaubert until I was forty. A pretty accurate forecast. I’ve always been slow.

These wide-ranging interests have led you down many different career paths, some worlds away from the Cambridge experience. Was there anything in your time at Cambridge that encouraged you to think about diplomacy?

Nothing, unless it was a drawnout reaction against my time in Cambridge. Literature, my girlfriend, journalism, films, several friends: that was Cambridge. And the leatherclad don. And someone close who killed himself in 1980. Public affairs meant very little. I joined the UN in 1994 because I was in Croatia as a freelance journalist, my wife (Croatian, a doctor) was on a wartime

TANJA DRASKIC-SAVIC

salary, we had a baby and wanted a proper income. It was a privilege, very fascinating and educational, and well paid. I don’t think I could have written about the First World War if I hadn’t worked with soldiers. But thank you for the kind word ‘career’.

You supervise Oxford PhDs now – what’s it like being on the other side of the supervision in a different faculty from where you started?

I don’t see an essential difference between teaching History and teaching English, not that I’ve done much of either. For me, though, literature matters most in alien contexts; where it is also most vulnerable and absurd, to be sure. Likewise the study of literature; doesn’t the chief value of its training lie in transferability?

Analysing propaganda in a war zone, I drew on Cambridge close-reading skills. Because they were all I had, perhaps; but I didn’t need more; they worked very well, in the democratic spirit of Empson and I.A. Richards.

The teacher - undergraduate relationship has changed so much, broadly for the better, though a risk of spoonfeeding may exist. We thought we should be more grown-up than we were; now we keep the therapists busy. The students I know are courageous in other ways. Economic pressure is sharper, and the prestige of the humanities has been battered (partly self-harm, but that’s another story). I’d like to help students to feel inspired by the splendour of the humanities.

CUSU’s Charlie Chorley: Fighting sexual harassment CUSU

YAO TANG

Julia Stanyard Interviews Editor

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ombating sexual harassment has always been one of the highest priorities for the CUSU Women’s Officer, and for Charlie Chorley, this is not a responsibility to be taken lightly. This year, she has been raising the issue at the highest levels of the University, aiming to make a long-lasting improvement to the way Cambridge supports victims.

There are two main issues: firstly, as Charlie says, harassment “is one of the most prominent, public and prevalent forms of sexual discrimination and sexism at the university.” She mentions the 2014 Cambridge Speaks Out report, which found that 77% of respondents had experienced sexual harassment. “Women get catcalled on the street, groped in college bars, pressured on swaps - and it has become frustratingly normalised.”

The second issue comes at the point of responding to sexual harassment cases, as Charlie explains: “Given the collegiate nature of the University, every college has educational and pastoral autonomy, which often

means there is a fragmentation of policies. Some colleges have excellent harassment policies; some colleges barely have one present.” It is easy to understand how a fragmented system such as this cannot support all students equally, and it is one of Charlie’s key priorities to promote cohesion between the different colleges.

However, thanks to the work of

77% of respondents to the recent Cambridge Speaks Out report had experienced harassment Charlie and the college women’s officers, it’s not all bad news. Working with the University’s Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education, Graham Virgo, she has been looking to improve the interrelation between college and university policies: “We are now working with Senior Tutors, Heads of Houses, and students to formulate a framework of reporting and redressing issues. We are currently working out the parameters of each policy, and the processes of reporting that will help

students when they come forward.

“There has been real optimism about the changes so far, and a real willingness to help. Given the fragmented nature of the institution, and the fact that key committees with Senior Tutors meet so frequently, there is a certain time frame within which we have to operate. But that hasn’t stopped some colleges going forward to amend their previous policies, or chatting to students to get feedback.

We’re really encouraged by the number of students involved, and speaking out about their experiences.”

In the long-term, Charlie hopes that, alongside other initiatives such as consent workshops and Good Lad workshops, these changes “can shift attitudes and raise consciousness” and go some way to addressing the damaging culture surrounding harassment in Cambridge.

In short, this campaign goes a long way to changing one of the most pernicious and damaging aspects of university life, reinforcing Charlie’s confident assertion that: “of course, supporting the student is at the heart of everything we do.”

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The Cambridge Student • 14 January 2016

Comment

Has the time now come to help out the men?

Yes – we must tackle privilege wherever it lies

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raising aspiration towards a university application, because their typecasting as diligent dutiful sloggers has merely crossed over from the home and into the academic sphere?

Similarly, is it not – at least on some level – a joy for supporters of the feminist cause that finally we have at least one area in which we need to start considering the other gender as well?

I may be sitting on the wrong side of the fence, but it seems that working towards actual equality, rather than slogging away at turning back centuries worth of oppression and the subjugation of women, is an opportunity to be seized.

Finally, and by no means least importantly, the feminist movement champions its ability to think about intersectionality, and this case is as good as any other.

Those missing out the most on the higher education system are white, working-class boys. If today’s feminist movement is to commit wholly to its principles, with its tendency towards a radical, anti-capitalist, and anti-classist view, then it must be willing to take up the cause of those who find themselves in the shallow end of the privilege pool when it comes to the higher education system Even if they are, god forbid, men.

No – all genders are constrained by gender roles

Amelia Oakley

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he recent UCAS findings testifies a false sense of inequality in the education system. All of a sudden, after years of fighting for the voices of women to be heard in education, and for their work to be valued on the same footing, the scale has apparently now tipped the other way: now men are the greater victims of education.

Yet to view educational equality as some kind of unstable see-saw – where women now soar and men have been forced into the mud – is naive. These statistics are just that: statistics. They not only fail to show us the human experience of those involved, but also break down the additional factors at play here — including class, socioeconomic background, and race.

It has long been acknowledged amongst sociologists that white

working class boys have fallen behind in education. And of course, it is the duty of those who strive for gender equality to tackle this ever-growing issue.

The UCAS Chief Executive claimed that “Feminism has gone too far”, but I must say that feminism has not gone far enough. Firstly, as a woman, it feels that all too often statistics are constantly thrust in my face to convince me that gender equality has been achieved, and that we feminists should all just pipe down.

But I will not ignore the importance of my personal experience as a woman in education, as well as the experiences of the self-identifying women in my life. I have never felt actively advantaged in education due to my gender.

The underperformance of working

A brighter future

The ‘Streetlights Saga’ and the power of protest

Jack May

o cast the debate about the latest revelation on the gender gap in universities across the country as a simple battle of the sexes – a binarist war fought on the same tired, essentialist lines as so many others – is to show a wilful refusal to engage in what makes this issue both so crucial and so interesting.

Firstly, we should interrogate thoroughly why we have got to the stage where women outnumber men at university, and whether that is indeed due to the same outdated gender stereotypes that feminists and their supporters have tackled so long.

Are women partially more successful at school examination level, thus

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

class male students, in contrast to the UCAS Chief Executive’s remarks, is not a result of feminism, but rather itself may be classed as a feminist issue. Many of the reasons behind the limited success of working class male students stem from issues of outdated gender expectations, establishing masculinity in schools, and a perception of academic achievement being incompatible with the male ego.

Ultimately, feminism is not at all to blame for continuing gender imbalance in education, and it is an outrage that it has been condemned in such a manner. Rather, feminism is absolutely essential as it tackles gender inequality in education at its core, by attempting to eradicate the expectations that currently render equality impossible.

KHEEL CENTRE

Finally, it seems that the ‘Streetlights saga’ (as we so fondly referred to it during my time as News Editor) might, eventually, be resolved. The news that the city and county councils may work together to pay to keep the lights on is a remarkable example of the power of protest.

The ‘saga’ began in October 2014, when the county council’s plans to switch off streetlights between midnight and 6am first hit the student press. It was met with predictable outrage, occurring in the middle of a Tab campaign to increase the lighting in public areas following a number of sexual assaults.

These plans were then confirmed by the county council in July, with maps showing that the lights to be turned off were scattered across areas of student accommodation – many of which were in residential areas that otherwise would be pitched into complete darkness.

News stories within the student journalism scene tend to peak and crash, with campaigns building momentum quickly, and inevitably fading into oblivion. What characterised the ‘saga’, however, was its longevity, and the petitions, news stories and debates that have continued to develop throughout the the past year.

The switching-off of streetlights would be disastrous for many students, especially those of us who

live deep in residential areas and are prone to wandering home in the early hours following a late print night.

A similar switch-off has worked in several other cities in the UK, with an undeniable lack of disaster. However, is the lack of a dramatic crime spike due to crime being unaffected by the switch-off, or because residents are much more careful and do not take risks by walking home alone at night as they know that their way will not be guided by streetlights?

Although the city council’s decision will not be finalised until February, this is nonetheless a massive testament to the power of protest. It is reassuring to know, considering the trauma of the junior Doctors’ strike earlier this week, that those who object to decisions made for them have the power to protest against those decisions, and to bring about change through campaigns that can be as simple as a petition shared on social media.

This sort of protest is fundamental to the workings of a student newspaper – we pride ourselves on giving a voice to students and to the campaigns important to them, both in our investigations and news sections.

From ‘‘unnecessary’’ academic pressure, to the publication of exam results, to an anachronistic statue, it is vital that students believe we have the power to speak up, to stand up for ourselves, and to be heard.

Conflict of interest?

Incompetence and the North West Cambridge site The recent announcement that Cambridge University will pay the council £204,000 a year to fund new posts in the planning department has come as something of a surprise, considering the risk of conflict of interest that inevitably comes to mind.

Included in the plans would be the 3,000-home North-West Cambridge project and the creation of over 10,000 additional jobs at the West Cambridge Site.

The reason the University has given for donating the money is to ‘speed-up’ the planning procedures.

This is perhaps unsurprising, as the North-West Cambridge project has previously been heavily criticised for incompetence and ‘‘systematic’’ failures, and the projection of its overspend has recently soared above £70 million.

The University is clearly facing serious issues with the development of the North-West Cambridge site.

Nevertheless, one might say that it is bad form for a planning applicant to provide the salaries of officers belonging to the body in charge of approving that applicant’s plans.

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14th January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Comment

Rhodes Must Fall: what can Cambridge learn from Oxford?

Lola Olufemi Comment Editor

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he words ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ have very specific connotations.

Starting in South Africa, the movement towards decolonising institutional space, curriculum, and institutional memory recently moved to Oxford and centered around the statue of Cecil Rhodes that presides over Oriel College. What is interesting about the mainstream press reaction to this movement is how quickly the group’s aims and intentions were misrepresented and derailed. ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ became about attempting to “erase history”, “challenging “free speech” and the idea that universities are spaces where only approved opinions can exist; spaces that no longer adequately challenge students intellectually. This response says more about mainstream journalistic priorities than the actual campaign itself.

It is intellectually dishonest to suggest that, by demanding that we recognise the atrocities committed by individuals and the violence that exists in allowing such figures the praise of iconography, we somehow tarnish or ‘spit’ on their legacy.

Many of the responses led me to ask why we are so emotionally and intellectually invested in white-washing the past; in humanising individuals that history tells us were harmful and racist. Recipients of the Rhodes scholarship became ‘hypocrites’ for supporting legitimate criticisms of Rhodes whilst being funded by a scheme set up in his name. This is where conversations

about this movement reached the most ridiculous point – as if using the money and resources gained from a scholarship set up by a man who viewed you as less than human is anything more than a triumph. The irony is, there is often a refusal to acknowledge the role of history in shaping what our world looks like today.

Rhodes’ impact is still felt in South Africa and pertains not only to issues of race, but class and educational opportunity. Instead of encouraging students to deconstruct this, issues are simplified until they become about ‘feelings’ – with little to no recognition of how structures of power, encouraged by an uncritical clinging to the past, have real world consequences for our lives and study. Many people used Rhodes to start thought-provoking conversations about how race operates at Oxbridge, claiming that what is most important is not the removal of the statue itself, but the fact that it prompted many to consider that race is still very much a barrier to success at our elite institutions.

Criticisms about how students campaign were merely a means of distracting the institution from actually doing anything about it. Yet, Oriel College responded by stating that it would launch a consultation into the statue’s future and removed a plaque to the colonial politician. There were also rumours that the university would take a more detailed look at matters of ‘diversity’ in the curriculum. Considering the vagueness of these statements, I was surprised by

There are plenty of small colonial remnants left in colleges from Trinity to Selwyn

how quickly the college responded and was pleased that superficially there seemed to be intentions to change how it operates. This left me thinking what can Cambridge learn from a movement like this? There are plenty of small colonial remnants left in colleges, from Trinity to Selwyn, but activists in Cambridge have yet to find a focal point as widely accessible and recognisable as Rhodes in order to start our own round of conversations.Then there is the question of whether the movement to ‘Decolonise Cambridge’ will be recognized by the institution or lambasted as ridiculous just as ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ was. The university’s response to the BME Campaign’s petition to remove the ‘Dear World... Yours Cambridge’ video, starring David Starkey, was successful and so maybe there is space for student activists to be recognised for their efforts and prompt small shifts in change.

It is clear that activists in Cambridge can learn a lot from Oxford and perhaps going forward, solidarity between student activists in both institutions will be important. A united front is needed against attempts to realign the conversation to suit the needs of journalists. ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ and movements towards decolonisation are so much more than an example of how students are being ‘molly coddled’; they are pointed, well-researched critiques of power and privilege at the institutions we call home and should be treated as such.

UP TO 2011

New Year’s re Flying agains

Meggie Fairclough

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rom the age of five, I have always made a list of New Year’s resolutions. They started off including things like convincing the parents to buy a puppy and swimming in custard. Then they developed to stuff like getting some bodily part pierced or kissing a boy I fancied. I made a big thing of it, writing it with my Dad’s ink pen on a scroll, which I would then seal with wax and hide away in my wardrobe for no one else to see.

And I still continue to do them, even if now they’re just scribbled on the back of a beermat. But after getting my offer from Cambridge, the goals on my list became increasingly work-related, from making my offer in sixth form to achieving at least a 2.i in first year. But I learnt the hard way that focusing so intensely on academia takes it out of you.

My lists also began to become largely occupied with health. “Don’t eat cake” has featured in my last four, despite always getting crossed off by the second week of January. But although the concept of eating healthily and having a ‘good body’ saturates the media from TV to newspapers, I started to question whether I was doing it simply because I thought I had to. I feel we are being pressured to sign up and commit to things we don’t want to do, but what’s the point if it doesn’t make you happy?

This year, my rule for resolutions is that they have to be about myself, and they can’t be inevitable. They can’t be about studying.

It doesn’t matter if they are impossible or highly improbable, I want to set goals to work towards, regardless of whether I reach them or not. They can be boring; they can

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The Cambridge Student • 14th January 2016

ABOVE: ALICE MOTTRAM, BELOW: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY

Comment

Are single-sex schools a force for good?

Yes - Criticism of single-sex schools is often sexist and unfounded Idel Hanley

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JEFF GOLDEN

esolutions: st the wind

be easy to achieve, but importantly they have to make me happy. Simple.

So this year, I’m backtracking to my childhood imaginations, making my resolutions about things that are actually important to me. Admittedly, some are pathetic or impractical: I want to try a cronut – a croissant-donut hybrid – and I want to run down King’s Parade in a bikini.

Others are pretty implausible, like getting a tattoo – my mother would probably disown me – and winning Cambridge Best Bums, though they’re not as unrealistic as, say, being proposed to by Ryan Gosling. Joining the chocolate and wine society is high on the agenda: friends and food are deeply inter-connected, and I am looking forward to sharing sugar and alcohol with them each week. I want to do a spontaneous day trip to Ely, to go to at least two May Balls, and take a selfie at every one of the colleges.

I want to meet my Prince Charming and have picnics on the Backs, get gracefully and utterly smashed on champagne with my best friends at Cindies, and finally do clubbing well enough to make a valid conclusion regarding whether I like it or not. Cambridge seems like the most wonderful place to base what I want to achieve in the next year, but it’s vital to look beyond the postcard of stereotypes and common ambitions.

Resolutions do have value despite the fact that they are often utterly futile. They motivate us to stretch our wings and fly faster, even if it is against the wind. So, make resolutions proudly knowing that they won’t all happen. Make them for you, and make them important.

ichard Cairns, the head teacher of a co-educational independent school, has recently criticised single-sex schools for being ‘deeply unrealistic worlds’.

This is a sharp contrast with my own experience at an all-girls’ school, which was, generally, a positive one. There was an academic environment in which it was the norm to be ambitious and voice our opinions. There was a relaxed and accepting ethos, and my teenage years were not spent shut off from boys.

There are, undoubtedly, flaws with single-sex schools, and both mine and Cairns’ views are subjective. They are competitive, can be transphobic, and can be a breeding-ground for bullying and eating disorders. But every school, co-ed and not, will have its share of issues, and every individual has different experiences.

However, what Cairns’ argument reveals is something deeper than merely a debate over the value of single-sex schools.

I find Cairns’ article indubitably sexist.

How can he suggest that all girls’ schools put women at a disadvantage, when they

Every school, co-ed and not, will have its issues, and every individual has different experiences

were founded to combat inequality in education? The basis of his idea, that all girls’ schools breed women who are incapable of communicating with male colleagues, lies in the assumption that women need men to thrive in their careers: this is false and belittling. There are widespread issues of sexism in the workplace, but this cannot be put down to single-sex schools. The problem lies within the gender stereotypes enforced by our media and culture.

The fact that Cairns doesn’t suggest that boys’ schools put men at a disadvantage because they are incapable of communicating with women further shows the prejudiced foundations of his article. Why not suggest that boys’ schools instil a sense of entitlement to an audience of boys? They are taught to be confident in their opinions and are given the privilege of being listened to, both at school and within society, regardless of any ability to communicate with women, allowing them to succeed. Of course, this is a generalisation, but reveals the sexism within Cairns’ argument.

The ‘emotional intensity’ for which Cairns criticises all girls’ schools perpetuates a view of girls as emotional and unstable. Single sex schools have their flaws, but to suggest that girls’ emotions need to be ‘diluted by the boys’ implies that, in a mixed school, there is a harmonious balance between boys suppressing girls’ uncontrollable emotions and girls giving boys confidence when they ‘admire the boys who dance, sing, or act’ – creating an atmosphere of ‘kindness and tolerance’. So girls should go to a mixed school so their emotions can be controlled and they can give boys confidence?

It is unfathomable how someone could write such an inherently sexist argument, and it shows that we still have a long way to go in the fight to defend women’s education.

Yes, single-sex schools have their problems, just as co-educational schools do. But Cairns’ argument, rather than exploring any real reasons that single-sex schools are detrimental to children of any gender, is a product of the deeper societal problems, showing how prevalent sexism is today.

No – Single-sex schools are not representative of the real world Maheen Behrana

SANTA CATALINA SCHOOL

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went to an all-girls’ school. I made great friends. I had a good time.

Now, however, I realise that I disagree with the principle of single-sex education. Now just to clarify, this is not because I go into hysterics every time I see ‘a male’, as Richard Cairns insinuates.

No, I have luckily been spared that fate, perhaps owing to the fact that there was a boys’ school across the road, and so plenty of opportunity for social interaction - otherwise, who knows what I would be like? That’s the gist of Cairns’ argument, anyway, and before I make my case, I’d like to make it clear that I do not endorse what he is saying. Even in the unlikely case that a girl could magically elude all male contact, until the time those skills of ‘meaningful conversation’ were needed, it is very likely her life thus far would have equipped her with the ability to talk to the rest of humanity.

However, Cairns is spot-on when he suggests that single-sex schooling is not representative of the non-gendersegregated real world.

If girls are indeed performing better in single-sex environments compared to mixed ones, as advocates of single-sex education suggest, this is not something to be celebrated.

There is no point in a girl feeling as though she has only achieved because she was in an all-girls’ school, as the world is not allgirls. In my school, when girls and boys occasionally met, in a classroom setting, I was sometimes shocked at the levels of

latent misogyny I discerned in situations where girls had to voice their opinions.

Now, people might suggest that this is why we need single-sex education - to give girls the opportunity to express their opinions without being cowed by louder voices, but this is avoiding the problem.

If students from the boys’ school were unsettled by girls speaking out in an academic environment, this suggests that single-sex schools allow levels of negativity towards the opposite sex to go unchecked.

If girls feel daunted by boys in a classroom

“There is no point in a girl feeling as though she has only achieved because she was in an all girls’ school”

setting, and boys are hostile to girls (or viceversa), then this says something worrying about our society, which we would do much better by attempting to overcome at a young age, rather than brushing over the problem. Attitude problems towards the opposite sex are more likely to emerge in mixed environments, and are therefore more likely to be curbed. We can see from this, then, that it is important that we educate girls and boys together, so that we do not allow gender to become an excuse for division.

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14 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Sport

The Puzzles Column Football rule change is 1.

Paul Hyland Sport Editor

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Across 1. What has gone too far? (Page 3) (8) 4. How my mother gets me to clean my room and the porter to return his keys (4) 5. Where I would like to be right now (3) 6. Where Cathy runs to, when Heathcliffe has fled (4) 7. The river Adele blames it on (3) 8. The symbol of an idyllic Cambridge summer day and method of transport causing profound conflict right now (Page 3) (5) 9. What the University has just bought five of (Front page) (8)

Down 1. My greatest fear (6) 2. Lava before it has bubbled up through the surface, like my latent anger (5) 3. Students who might follow James Naughtie’s lead and call the former hulture secretary Jeremy C*** (Page 7) (6) 5. The era in which the ‘Pompeii’ discovered in Cambridgeshire was originally built (6) 8. A puny attempt at comedy (3)

ith the announcement of the most extensive upheaval in the laws of football since our very own Cambridge rules in 1848, it’s been a formative week for the national game. And while it might not sound like much – kick offs can now be played backwards instead of forwards, red cards can now be dished out even before the game begins, and players injured by bookable offences no longer have to leave the field for treatment – the International Football Association Board (IFAB) didn’t stop there. A report published this week recommended the introduction of video technology into the sport for the first time, with a meeting at IFAB headquarters in March expected to ratify the decision to allow its usage.

It’s especially good news for the English FA, who are aiming to put themselves at the vanguard of the sport by adopting it into the FA Cup, which might take place as early as the 2016 - 17 season. A Wimbledonstyle challenge system, where coaches can pause play to review refereeing decisions is not anticipated. Instead referees would be able to call upon an extra official with the benefit of a television replay to assist in contentious decisions relating to red cards, offsides and goals.

The surprise is only that it’s been so long in coming. When Frank Lampard’s equalising goal against Germany in Bloemfontein in 2010 was incorrectly adjudged not to have crossed the Germany line – England

went on to succumb to a 4-1 defeat – football’s governing body fell in favour of introducing of goal-line technology, now a fixture in Premier League and FA Cup matches. Its aim was to reduce the potential for controversy only in a specific, and particularly rare, situation.

So the decision by the IFAB is the logical culmination of a development that never went far enough in first place. The referee holds a monolithic position in the game of football – a never-to-be-questioned overseer of all things whose judgement is always infallible. Acts of violent conduct cannot be retrospectively punished

by Football Association should the referee have even so much as witnessed them, such is the esteem in which the referee’s powers of decisionmaking are held. Recent campaigns by various governing bodies – including the ‘Respect for Referees’ kit campaign – were an act of putting fingers in the ears and singing in the face of the inescapable fact that unites all referees: they are, ultimately, human.

I expect that they will welcome the option to call upon video replay.

As it stands, a referee has to make a decision, with or without a clear view of an incident. With video technology, a referee can retrospectively find out what happened and apply the law accordingly. So a game in which they are not only fallible, but in which their fallibility is accepted and accounted for, would be a significant step towards a game in which referees are free to work without fear of abuse for incorrect, game-changing decisions.

Festive fixtures give Cam Jack Ranson Sport Editor

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hile the rest of us weakwilled mortals were gorging ourselves on Mince Pies and Christmas Pudding, some of our more dedicated Light Blues were out playing the toughest fixtures of the season. Here’s The

by Thomas Prideaux Ghee Cambridge Student round-up of what you might have missed:

Sudoku

Rugby Union

Solutions from Volume 17, Michaelmas Issue 9

The significance of this fixture was not lost on many: the first time in history that men and women would play together at Twickenham. And while the women revelled in the grandeur of the occasion, running away 52-0 victors over their dire Oxford opposition, the men struggled to make such an impact. They lost 12-6 in what was a cagey match. It was a record sixth victory in a row for the Dark Blues.

Skiing In the oldest team skiing competition in the world, set in the beautiful Val Thorens, Cambridge took on Oxford for the 88th time. Whilst last year saw Cambridge take a clean sweep of the titles up for grabs, this year was

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The Cambridge Student • 14 January 2016

s “good news” for FA The FA has introduced its own raft of rules to try and deal with the abuse referees are often on the receiving end of. Players can now be punished for feigning injury to get an opponent sent off, accompanying a new rule to combat players surrounding the referee. This season also sees the introduction of a written code of conduct for the technical area.

Though there are fears about video technology’s impact on the flow of the game, and the loss of controversial talking points that supposedly make the game more interesting, introducing video replays into football would be a step towards shifting the focus away from the officials, and towards the game of football itself. And that, surely, can only be a good thing.

“The rule change makes offside more understandable for football people.”

- Mike Riley, FA Head of Referees

“A bit of the soap opera is good. Clearly, if it oversteps the mark and gets into the unedifying category it needs to be dealt with.”

- Richard Scudamore, Premier League Chief Executive

Sport

Bolt from the blue: The problem with winning Sophie Penney

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his weekend Mo Farah came second at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country race. That’s right, second. Watching the end of the run, he didn’t look like the Mo we know, not at the front, not in control.

To us, Mo is a winner: it’s part of who he is.

When Usain Bolt, another of the world’s winners, faced Justin Gatlin at the World Athletics Championships this summer, for the first time people began to ask themselves: could Bolt really lose this time? But no, he won it again. And the first thing people cried was, “I knew it!”

When winners win, the focus is not on winning, but consistency. But when they produce a lesser result, it is always a let down. The fact is, our standards have become too high.

Champions’ wins are not appreciated in all their glory, as it is simply the anticipated outcome. I can’t remember the last time the Cambridge Women’s

Lacrosse team lost – their wins become less individually impressive as they blur into one big stream of success.

The pressure then builds to keep winning, in order to satisfy students’ image of the team.

Defeat is an outright shock. They are letting down both the sports fanatics, who know this athlete’s stats are better than anyone else’s, and the average Joe, whose only link to the sport is through this household name. This athlete who is always there, always at the top of the podium, has given them a way into the sport. If this person starts to lose, the connection with the sport is broken: when the household name fails, the sport leaves the household.

We rely too much on these figures.

How can one person alone give us an image of the sport as a whole?

How can one person take this much pressure? How can these athletes stop themselves from acting like their spectators, and savour their victories?

The funny thing is, we know that they will start losing some day. In

Cambridge, the people change every three years, which makes consistently fielding a stellar team, year after year, a very difficult task. In worldwide competitions, athletes simply lose their touch as they get older and less fit. But when this change comes, there will always be another figure for spectators to attach their standards to. There will always be a new person at the top. The switch of focus is simple. Why? Because really, the spectators are rooting for victory, not the individual athlete.

AL KING

Historic year for women’s sport is just the start Beth Price

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n 2015 two huge breakthroughs took place in Cambridge University sport. Back in April, the Women’s Boat Club rowed on the Tideway course on the same day as the men in The Boat Race, and in December the Women’s Rugby Club took to the hallowed ground of Twickenham for their Varsity Match just before the men (and came away as Will video technology spell the end of scenes like this?

B. SUTHERLAND undisputed victors, winning 52-0).

And yet, the women’s rugby players still have to win their BUCS league to be awarded a Blue when the men don’t compete. In the mixed game of Korfball men only need to start in the Varsity match to earn a half-Blue considerably tighter. The Women’s Eton Fives whereas women need the team to Blues stormed to victory, with Benedetta Pacella (Murray Edwards) There were two Cambridge pairs finish 8th or higher in BUCS. The same taking the individual title, whilst the representing CUEFC at the London Men’s side narrowly lost out in the Tournament in Harrow. Tony Barker final stage of the event. Cambridge will and Riki Houlden, Cambridge’s claim victory here, having come away number one pair, fought their way with over half the available titles. through a tough group to make it to E. SIMPSON the quarter-finals. They were then William Lyon-Tupman involved in an excruciatingly tight five set match that they eventually lost, 1412 in the final set.

mbridge food for thought

Cross-Country And just as everyone else was beginning a holiday, Cambridge’s cross-country athletes were getting to business. The men run seven and a half miles, whilst the women run four.

Again it was a tale of female success - with Emily Ruane running 23.37 to spearhead the Cambridge victory and disappointment for the men.

is true outside the bubble – it’s the male footballers who make millions each match, whereas many women’s teams are still semi-pro at best.

To some extent, sport is inherently gendered; men are evolutionarily more suited to the physical demands of high-level sport than women. After all, they were designed for running for miles on end chasing buffalo. And yes, this means that women’s sport is different to the equivalent men’s game; men generally run faster, jump higher and throw further than women at the same level.

But does this mean that women are less competitive, less skilled, or less driven in sport? Here the answer is a resounding no.

There has been progress. We had the

excellent coverage of the most recent Women’s World Cup in football, which saw England come home as third best in the world (a feat the men’s team cannot even dream of at this moment).

The most recent video game in the FIFA series includes a Women’s World Cup feature, for the first time allowing gamers to play as women footballers.

So why is women’s sport still on the back foot? Why do journalists still ask professional tennis players to give them a twirl, or why they aren’t smiling? Is it just because high-profile women’s sport is newer than men’s, or is it indicative of a deeper social patriarchy, keeping women away from the top spot? I have no idea, but right now we seem to be just about on the right track.

PAUL HYLAND

Sport

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14 January 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Women and Sport Victory at the Varsity is just the start → p. 19

www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/sport

Cambridge Anglia Ruskin

ABOVE: PAUL HYLAND PAUL HYLAND

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Ashmead has been on excellent form for the red and blacks this year, with four goals and five assists. He’s been involved with nine of Jesus’ sixteen goals this season as they march on towards a second Cuppers final in three years, as well as that longawaited league title. As Captain, Ashmead has ensured stability on the pitch, bringing in key new players to fill the holes left by last year’s graduates.

The team sent out a strong message to last year’s champions, Downing, beating them 3-1 on the first day of the season. Could the league title that has eluded Jesus for so long be theirs in 2016?

Perhaps even more intriguing is to see whether Jesus could achieve the coveted double – last seen in 2013 when Fitz staged a dramatic league and cup win - under Ashmead’s captaincy. With their talismanic playmaker, anything is possible and Jesus will just be hoping to keep him firing.

Name: Alice Middleton Team: CURFCW Stats: Varsity Hat-trick, Player of the Match award League: BUCS Premier South, Third Next fixture: Cardiff Metropolitan (A) Middleton was the star turn in a historic Cambridge University team this December.

In the inaugural Women’s Varsity at Twickenham, the Light Blues emerged as clear 52-0 victors over their Oxford rivals.

It was the biggest score ever recorded in this fixture, and full-back Middleton was responsible for twenty-nine of those, scoring a historic hat-trick of tries, including an amazing 50-yard run through the Oxford defence.

Now with the league on their mind, a Middleton-inspired Cambridge team will be hoping to gain a foothold in their competition and improve on third position.

At fourteen points behind top spot, with five league fixtures still to play, a series win looks unlikely. However – buoyed by an incredible victory in their last outing – the Light Blues’ away fixture to leaders, Cardiff Metropolitan, promises to be a cracker.

Women’s Football

Name: Ritchie Ashmead Team: Jesus I Stats: Four goals, five assists Cuppers: Quarter-finals League: First Next fixture: Pembroke (H)

Women’s Rugby

Men’s Football

Ones to watch: Cambridge’s top performers this year Name: Charlotte Bull Team: CUWAFC Stats: Six goals in five matches League: BUCS Midlands 2b, Third Next fixture: Bedford (A) It’s been a mixed season so far for Cambridge Women’s Football. They started their season slowly, but have since found their form and are currently on a five match unbeaten streak. One of the cornerstones of this success is Charlotte Bull, the left-winger who’s been in excellent goal scoring form. A raft of braces - scoring two against Bedford and Nottingham Trent, as well as one against East Anglia - has contributed hugely to the team’s improved performances.

Bull will be back in action in for the Light Blues away to Bedford. In this fixture last time out, the Light Blues showed gritty resilience to come back from 2-0 down, with Bull providing an assist for the first Cambridge goal and taking the second herself. She - and the rest of the team - will be hoping for a repeat of this performance, with the chance to leapfrog Oxford Brookes into second place. The Light Blues also face Leicester in the quarter-finals of the cup.