VOL: 2 ISSUE: 4 18.11.15
THE COLLEGE VIEW
THE SUSS ‘Hello?’ Pop’s obsession with the telephone
Feature
BY FIONNUALA JONES
Hello? Pop’s enduring love with the telephone “Y
ou used to message me on WhatsApp/Late night when you need my love ...” Doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, does it? Despite the increasing advancements when it comes to technology and communications, nothing quite makes the hook of the song like an illicit telephone call. Adele recently returned to the scene with Hello, her first song in four years, featuring the singer leaving a series of voicemails for an estranged ex. Even the video, all sepia-toned and nostalgic, prominently features the flip phone previously used in the video for Make You Feel My Love. In the age of the internet and 140 characters, a phone call provides the same purpose as a good love song – direct communication solely between two people. Another artist particularly fond of this style of song-writing is Drake. His 2011 single, Marvins Room, is essentially a phone call he makes to an unidentified ex-girlfriend while under the influence. “Are you drunk right now?” she says, exasperated, before he retorts, “I’m just saying you could do better.” Lee went on to sue the rapper, for excluding her
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“When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, one can safely assume he never anticipated artists using the apparatus to premiere new music.” from sharing co-writer royalties, which suggests it’s probably best to keep those private phone calls, private. Arctic Monkeys’ frontman Alex Turner is prone to making questionable phone calls too – Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High? documents his frantic – and failed - attempts to convince a female friend to stay over in the wee hours of the night. Neither Drake or Alex Turner coined the ‘emotional-phone call’ lyric method. Jason Mraz’s track, Details In The Fabric, from his third
album, ‘We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things’, begins and ends with voicemails from his best friend following a bad break-up. In the first voicemail, he is despairing, “It’s just one of those days. I fucking lost it ... fuck it, I don’t know.” Bridged with Mraz’s reassuring lyrics, the song concludes, “We just deal with it how it comes, deal with the humps, take the jumps... I feel like... you’re an island of reality in an ocean of diarrhea. And I love you buddy. Okay... bye.” At its best, it is honest, brutal and emotionally charged. At its worst, it’s a paradise for memes and piss-taking. Let’s refer back to rap’s resident pansy, Drake. New single Hotline Bling sees him mourn the days of another ex-girlfriend’s drunk dials. With their seemingly only line of communication closed, Drake finds himself at a loss, “Ever since I left the city you/Got a reputation for yourself now/Everybody knows and I feel left out.” Despite being
Drake’s highest charting track in the US to date, and the 1-800-HOTLINGBLING number now instantly recognisable, the video – and its questionable choreography – now overshadow the underlying theme. It’s not all tears on a screen and drunken pleas, mind. Is there anything as empowering as hitting that ‘declined’ button? Not according to Lady GaGa’s Telephone. Maybe Carly Rae Jepsen had the right idea when she wrote Call Me Maybe – give a stranger your number, and then write a song about it. Life’s too short, right? Since companies cut the chord on telephones (literally), conversations grew intimate – no longer tethered to the one point. Not only that – artists are waxing lyrical about the ways cell phones have opened up the avenues of, eh, intimacy. Phone sex? Nah, that’s so noughties. The Weeknd only does booty calls at half 5, according to The Hills, and Taio Cruz needs nudes if he’s to remember what you
look like – so he says on Dirty Picture, anyway. When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, one can safely assume he never anticipated artists using the apparatus to premiere new music. Fast foward 150 years later, Lana Del Rey is using a phone service to connect to fans and promote new album, ‘Honeymoon’. Fans called the number featured on the album cover, and were able to listening to songs from the LP, a TED talk by Elon Musk and “a lecture on the origins of the universe”. Pop’s favourite upstart Justin Bieber even debuted his own cover of the previously mentioned Hotline Bling on – wait for it – his own hotline. Meta, or what? Love, lust, whatever lies in between, will never be felt in 140 characters. The phone represents something in music that helps paint a bigger picture: intimacy, heart and genuine feelings that necessitate a private moment between the caller and recipient. Stay hung up, heartbreakers.
Photo Credit: Front page: Vogue; Page 2: jfbleavage.com; Page 3: telegraph.co.uk, theguardian.com; Page 4: foxsearchlight.com; Page 5 Kieran Frost, entertainment. ie; Page 6: David Clarke, Chai Brady; Page 7: Sarah Magliocco, boredpanda.com, Chai Brady; Page 8: David Clarke, urbantastebuds.com
The Beginner’s Guide to... First Aid Kit T
he two sisters from the small town of Svedmyra in Sweden took their band name from an English dictionary when they were 13 and 17 years old respectively. They wanted their music to reflect the meaning of a first aid kit: a consolation to help you get through the day. So, if you ever find yourself in a mental emergency situation – don’t stress, help is on its way. Johanna and Klara Söderberg are best known internationally, for starting their musical career by posting a cover of Fleet Foxes’ Tiger Mountain Peasant Song, thereby becoming a YouTube phenomenon in 2008. However, they had started making their own music the year before that. They released their first
EP ‘Drunken Trees’ in 2008 through electronic duo The Knife’s record company Rabid Records after Fever Ray recommended them. The year after they signed with London-based label Wichita Records and started producing full-length LPs. Three albums and several singles later, the pair toured worldwide and performed songs on the Polar Music Prize Awards by artists like Patti Smith and Paul Simon and won several awards themselves. An obvious place to start with the band might be the newer tunes like My Silver Lining or Emmylou. Then, when you have carried through the first big hits you might go back a bit in time and there you will find their breakthrough hits
English international school they attended, their accents are impeccable – along with the lyrics. During the year of 2015, the girls toured in the UK, Sweden, Australia and they also performed at several music festivals in Europe, Canada and the US. Hopefully, if you haven’t
The Beginner’s Guide to... Animal Collective
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like Hard Believer or Ghost Town. If you have reached this point – you’ve probably embraced the fact that this is some good stuff you’re dealing with. And whatever you do – don’t stop there. Hidden diamonds like Brother and Wolf are still remaining to be discovered. Even though their own production of songs is of substantial volume, their covers of Simon and Garfunkel’s America or Fever Ray’s When I Grow Up are more than worthy of spending some time listening to. These girls might be of Swedish parentage, but don’t worry – they’re singing the absolute majority of their perfectly tuned harmonies in English. They have their thanks to give to the
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onsistency is possibly the hardest challenge musicians face as their careers advance. Even the greats, such as Tangerine Dream, have some lacklustre projects in their back catalogues. However, in their twodecade career, Animal Collective have rarely slipped.Before achieving indie darling status, they released a slew of some of the best independent music of the 2000’s. ‘The 2000’s’, an
album written entirely by a despondent teenage Avey Tare, accompanied by the frantic percussion of Panda Bear, contains the former Beach Boy-esque ear for melody which compliments the often severe experimentation and textural exploration that would define their early material. While the fluctuating high frequencies and hushed vocals of the opener, and the atonal keys paired with the pained screams of closing song
Alvin Row, may put some people off, there exists in this record a childlike approach to melody, major key flirtations for the big kid in every adult. This immaturity and resistance to the onslaught of adulthood, makes ‘Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished’ instantaneously palatable, and with repeated listening, enchantingly beautiful. However, this naive idealisation of youth and all the beauties it suggests could only last so long. So came ‘Here Comes the Indian’, a tense record that perfectly represents the mindset of the four artists involved, which was terrified and desperately individualistic. Influenced as much by Japanese noise rockers, Boredoms, as Brian Wilson, ‘Here Comes the Indian’ is a collection of seven meticulously crafted psychedelic soundscapes that will as
BY ELSA ANDERLING
already dug into the chamber of musical indulgence, you’ll do it now. You won’t regret it. And for the one out there who just can’t get enough of the sisterly musical bond – check out the British folk rock group The Staves for adding just one more sister to the crowd.
BY FINTAN GALLAGHER
soon dissolve into acapella sequences, than explode into free-form, drum led freak outs. Highlights include the twelve-minute drone piece, Two Sails on a Sound and Avey Tare’s psychedelic musings as he proclaims on the opener that, “Pretending I am a worm / Has proved all too easy”. This effort to appeal to our most animal, base instincts is perhaps what makes this album so engaging. This, the meta-modernist equivalent to the caveman banging rocks together, the musical parallel to punching a wall in sheer anger; an exercise in pure bestial bliss. And then, again, there were two. ‘Sung Tongs’ saw Animal Collective becoming a pair once again, as Avey and Panda stripped back and re purposed Comus, like freak-folk for modern listeners. Arguably at the
peak of their songwriting talent, the first half of Sung Tongs contains songs that would feel just as comfortable on college radio as at an LSD-fuelled rager. It showcased their utterly unique way of approaching guitar. Syncopated interplay with percussion, bizarre timesignatures,and willingness to exemplify odd vocal quirks. Panda’s glitched vocals on the utterly iridescent second half of Mouth Wood Her. ‘Sung Tongs’ still retained a willingness to experiment, but here, this was tamed and married with a mature approach to songwriting. The turmoil expressed earlier had dissipated. What was left was a cry of long deserved exuberance. A cry that would evolve into ‘Sung Tongs’.
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Review
BY ALANA LAVERTY
He named me Malala O
ne girl’s story of terrorism, courage and advocating for education. He Named Me Malala tells the story of the remarkable Malala Yousafzi, a teenager who was shot in the face by the Taliban and survived. However this shooting does not define her, and it is not what she should be known for. Malala is an education activist and global spokesperson for millions of voiceless people. “I am not one voice. I am many,” she said. Director Davis Guggienheim was drawn to Malala when he heard her extraordinary story, and wanted to tell it to the world. “She is gifted and fearless,” he said, which is portrayed in the movie through beautiful, sumptuous animation. The combination of film and animation makes it interesting and exciting to watch, separating it from documentaries that consist purely of film. Targeted as a critic of the Taliban in her early teen years, she was shot in the head on a school bus. She barely survived. Now, at 18, she is an indomitable young woman who claims not to be afraid of the Taliban, nor to be angry at them. In fact, she is insistent in her desire to return to her hometown of Swat, where death threats still await her. When awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Malala used her speech to criticise governments that have the
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resources to start wars, but not to enable universal education. “Why is it that giving guns is so easy but giving books is so hard?” As the youngest winner of the prize she has spoken at the United Nations, met Barack Obama, was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people and has published her own memoir, all while continuing her education in Birmingham. Malala’s loving relationship with her activist father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, was at the center of this film. We see his anguish and guilt for what happened to her when he speaks of how he named her after Pashtur folk heroine, Malalai of Maiward. He blames himself, however Malala says, “My father only gave me the name Malala. He did not make me Malala. I chose this life and now I must continue with it.” Ziaddun says, “You are loved by your daughters. You must love them and what your real love will be that what you give to your sons, you must give to your daughters.” He describe his relationship with his daughter as a special bond with “one soul in two bodies”. “Educating Malala was giving her power, giving her liberation, giving her the ability to transform her town and inspire millions of people” said Guggienheim to Malala’s father. We see Malala’s strange relationship with her uneducated, conservative mother
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“The movie portrays Malala as both extraordinary and ordinary, which shows that anyone can inspire and make a change.” who finds their move from Pakistan to England difficult. The underlying shady presence of her mother is seen throughout the documentary but we learn in the end that Malala inspired her to resume her education. “I’m hopeful that the film will be watched by children in the developing countries and it will inspire them to stand up for their rights and fight against the issues that stop them from going to school,” said Malala. She calls her goals
and dreams “simple and straightforward”, to see every child in the world gets quality education. Not just primary education, but secondary also. “This has been my mission and I will make it come true.” This young woman is unlike any other. Beautifully articulate, she is passionate and intelligent beyond her years. She took a bullet for her beliefs and says “I have been given a new life, and this life is a sacred life”. The movie portrays
Malala as both extraordinary and ordinary, which shows that anyone can inspire and make a change. The only negative about this film was the music. It can be tough with documentaries to find suitable music that doesn’t take away from the story or the message. It can be quite obvious to a viewer when the music isn’t right. This was the case with the Alicia Keys song, Story To Tell, which was featured. However, it was certainly not a deal-breaker in terms of engagement. Malala wants this movie to be more than just a movie, she wants it to be a movement. For people to come together, take action and make a change.I encourage anyone and everyone to watch this film as it will honestly change how you see things and make you appreciate your education more than anything else you have. “Education is power.”
h p e b T t k t n b t d i a t s i t
t r t “ a m
REVIEW: METROPOLIS 2015 The inaugural Me-
tropolis festival took place in the RDS over a wet and windy weekend. Over the two days of last weekend, the venue played host to spoken word, international DJs and a variety of art installations. Touted as “Ireland’s only indoor music festival”, how would it compare to the summer affairs?
DAY 1
Saturday, November 7th
Hare Squead had the honour of kicking off proceedings in the cavernous Main Hall. The big stage didn’t faze the Tallaght hip-hop trio as they confidently declared “I know I’m gonna make history man” in their opening number. Their set was held back a little by a live band that got a little too noodly during the slow jams, but in closing pair If I Ask You and Come Outside showed that they themselves have songwriting and performing credentials to back their claim up. The masses flocked to the Main Hall for local heroes Le Galaxie as the festival really started to fill up. “It’s Saturday night and the air is getting hot,” frontman Michael Pope declared
during Streetheart before delivering a set that ensured those words were prophetic. The hovering-above-thestage disco ball finally lit up during Put The Chain On to a huge reception - the first proper ‘festival moment’ of the weekend. The momentum is firmly behind the lads after signing to Universal and releasing album Le Club this year and new song Demi Moore shows that they still have plenty left in the tank. A quick cooldown was needed after that and the Dublin After Dark panel in the Concert Hall provided the perfect respite. It was an informative and absorbing discussion on Dublin’s nightlife and in particular the constraints Ireland’s licensing laws place on it. Dublin DJ Billy Scurry summed it up when he pointed out that despite the strides we’ve made as a country recently, “we still have to be out of here by half twelve tonight - what’s that about?” Over to the Main Hall again for a headline set from festival veterans Hot Chip. The quintet are a fabulous live act, swapping instruments and vocal duties seamlessly, all marshalled superbly by drummer Sarah Jones. Their set is constructed so the feel-good atmosphere
builds and builds - fan favourite Flutes poured the kerosene and Over and Over lit the match - but it was their closer that really set the night alight. Dancing in the Dark had a delighted crowd singing along before ex-LCD Soundsystem member Al Doyle took over vocal duties, sounding like the ghost of James Murphy as it segued into a snippet of All My Friends - satisfying every demographic in the room.
DAY 2
Sunday, November 8th
Trinity Orchestra picked up where Hot Chip left off in the Main Hall with a set of LCD Soundsystem songs - “We’re going to play the hits,” as they put it. It was a hugely enjoyable hour as different vocalists with different styles that took on the mantle of James Murphy. You wouldn’t imagine You Wanted a Hit with operatic vocals could work, but it did. The only disappointment was a shortened run through All My Friends.
It was as if they had an arrangement with Hot Chip where they played one half of the song and the Orchestra the other. Irish festival favourites Kormac’s Big Band (newly expanded with a string section) were next up in the Main Hall. Dubliner Kormac has some serious tunes up his locker and his Big Band made sure everyone knew it. The Koaste-featuring paranoid hip-hop of Cloning was an early set highlight before the electro swing of Showtime had everyone busting their best moves before teatime. Collaborations with Speech Debelle and Irvine Welsh got big reactions too - booking agents, take note. There was somewhat of a clash of ideologies in the RDS as a last-minute rejig meant that Four Tet’s set in the Shelbourne Hall ran head-to-head with superstar DJ Mark Ronson. Four Tet’s Brixton Academy parties and recent remix of Eric Pyrdz’s Opus has pushed his name into the mainstream clubbing landscape, but onstage there’s no hiding that his contemporaries are more Aphex Twin than
Fatboy Slim - it’s ten minutes before he introduced a beat. Meticulously crafted and a delightful listen, but not exactly perfect festival material. Meanwhile in the Main Hall, Mark Ronson has Nile Rodgers onstage and has mixed Heads Will Roll into TNGHT’s Higher Ground - not as intellectually stimulating perhaps, but incredible fun. There was no escaping the joy when he dropped Uptown Funk. Nile Rodgers made a return to the stage with Chic for a barnstorming headline set. Chic are always a safe bet for a great part but they were in especially fine form - disco hit after disco hit was met with rapturous adoration. Not just Chic’s own hits too, but everything Rodgers has had a hand in creating - Get Lucky and Let’s Dance getting the biggest reactions before the customary stage-rush during Good Times. Rodgers referred to their love for “our second home” Ireland throughout the set and the band’s enjoyment of the occasion made for another memorable night.
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Travel London Calling
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he flight is only an hour long, the public transport system is so efficient and the sights are simply spectacular. No matter how many times you visit London, there’s always something new to discover. It’s one of those cities with so many tourist attractions that it is impossible to see and do everything on one trip. I returned to the city for the seventh time during reading week and did things I have never done before. I witnessed the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, saw 10 Downing Street and went to Platform Nine and Three Quarters to
BY AOIBHEANN DIVER get my train to Hogwarts. The London Dungeon is an attraction that is definitely worth visiting. On this tour you get to explore the gory and gruesome history of London and meet characters such as Jack the Ripper, Sweeney Todd and Guy Fawkes. It is definitely not for the faint-hearted. There is no point in going to London without seeing a West End show. Whether or not you are into musicals, it is something that must be experienced. They can be fairly expensive but you can book them in advance online or get them on the day at TKTS in Leicester Square for discounts. Although it is often described as an expensive city, there are ways to see the city on a tight budget. Flights tend to be quite cheap and as for accommodation, there are so many hotels and hostels that you can always find a bargain.
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“No matter how many times you visit, there’s always something new to discover.” There are passes that allow you to go to two, three or four of the big tourist
attractions for a discounted price. The London Eye, Madame Tussauds and the London Aquarium are all available in this offer. Many sights in London don’t cost a penny to see. Take a stroll along the Thames to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge and much more. Many of the museums and galleries are also free to visit.
Balmainia at H&M takes Ireland W
hen word got out that exclusive Parisienne couturier Balmain would be collaborating with H&M, the fashion world had a social media meltdown. The news broke on the Billboard Awards red carpet when designer Olivier Rousteing stepped out with Kendall Jenner and Jourdan Dunn, both of whom were dressed head to toe in the collection. Made famous by Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid, the collection’s music video went viral within an hour of release. Picture long legs, pearls, velvet, gorgeous men and some interesting dance moves; all on a New York subway. In a clever marketing move the collection was
hing ly d am
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seen on some of the world’s most prominent models and celebrities in the weeks leading up to the release. The New York launch was followed live by teary-eyed followers on Snapchat and Instagram worldwide. On Irish soil, Dublin’s Thalia Heffernan showed sneak peeks on her Instagram with the captions, “Yea, I’m obsessed, sorry not sorry.” She wasn’t the only one. Hundreds queued overnight for the release at 9am on November 5th. The Irish preview in H&M’s flagship store on College Green was held the evening before. Press, bloggers and various invite carrying celebrities were let passed the hundreds queuing around the
block at 6pm the evening before to shop the collection early. One blogger, Suzanne Jackson, managed to get in at 6:10pm to find the items she wanted were already gone. Some shoppers flew in from Birmingham, others rang in sick to work. A wristband system was put in place that morning for the early queuers. They would be let in for 10 minutes and allowed to purchase a maximum of 5 items. Days before the collection even hit the stores items were being put on eBay for ‘presale’. What seemed dodgy to me did not to others as online biddings on some items reached almost £700.
The London Underground makes it so easy to get from A to B in the city. With so many routes and trains coming every 5 minutes, you can make it from one end of the city to the next in no time. If you’re a frequent visitor of the city I would recommend getting an Oyster card, which works in a similar way to the Leap card and will save you a few pound.
BY ALANA LAVERTY
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Feature
The galaxy hair trend explodes
BY CONOR JACK MARTIN
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earches of the popular hashtag ‘galaxy hair’ result in pictures of people’s newly-coloured hair next to images of space, stars, and planets. The hair must be prelightened with bleach for the colour pigments to take to the hair. Vibrant purples, navies, pinks, greens and oranges are dyed in an ombré effect throughout different sections of the hair. This replicates different swirling sci-fi colours inspired by the galaxy. The process can take around five hours depending on how many colours you want and you will need regular touch ups to keep the vivid hues from fading. “The upkeep is very difficult, there’s a lot involved with it. You have to really take care of it to make it last,” hair stylist Kristi Coleman said to buzzfeed.com. This trend is very popular with both men and women. DIY versions of this trend should not be tried at home for obvious
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reasons. An alternative for anyone who wants to try out the trend but doesn’t want to commit fully is hair chalk. Hair chalk is a perfect alternative because it washes out easily with shampoo and can be applied at home. It’s non-toxic and won’t damage your hair. Although it appears more vibrant on lighter strands of hair, you don’t have to bleach your hair for it to show on darker hair tones.
However, excessive use of hair chalk will leave your hair with a very dry and coarse texture. Once washed out, the hair returns to normal without lasting damage. Spraying the chalked strands of hair with hair spray slows down the fading process and locks in the colour. But beware of the rain or you will look like a chalk bomb exploded all over you.
BY SARAH MAGLIOCCO
or students, vegetarianism should already be an attractive prospect, as vegetarian meat substitutes such as Quorn are cheaper than buying meat products. You can choose to forego the price comparison altogether by eliminating meat and its substitutes, saving yourself quite a lot of cash on your weekly shop. This money could be more worthily spent on an extra few pints in the college bar. Aside from being cost effective, vegetarianism can be super easy to incorporate into your life if you are willing to do a little research into how to adapt your favourite recipes using vegetarian alternatives. Some college staples including pasta, noodles and cereals are already vegetarian, and a quick Google search coughs up multiple quick, cheap and easy recipes for vegetarian burritos, Quorn curries and vegan pizzas. Try www.irishvegetarian.com for hundreds of meal ideas. Vegetarian meals, in most cases, take even less time to prepare than meaty meals, as the necessity to wait for adequately cooked meat is no longer there. First time cooking disasters such as food poisoning and cross contamination are diminished as meat free meals are less dangerous. A worry that some people have about the vegetarian lifestyle is that they will be deficient in protein and minerals, a worry that can be quickly rectified with a supplement every morning. Vegetarian cooking is cheap, easy and exciting and makes you think more thoroughly about your food and health.
My two cents on rounding change G
ood news for those who hate the small copper coins that fill our pockets but are difficult to spend. Ireland is ditching one and two cent coins and embracing the rounding policy. This change is made after the remarkably good results from a trial that was held in Wexford in 2013. According to the results, 85 per cent of the consumers were happy and a whopping 100 per cent of the retailers were happy with the rounding policy.
According to the Central Bank’s Ronnie O’Toole, the overall reaction to the new policy has been fantastic. Other euro countries like Netherlands, Belgium and Finland and few other EU countries like Sweden, Denmark and Hungary have already scrapped the small change and adapted to the rounding policy and the people are generally happy with it. So it seems that it’s about time the change is made. Producing one cent
coins is not profitable as it costs 1.65 cent to make the coin and the production of two cent coins barely pays off as it costs 1.94 cent to make one. The Dutch bank De Nederlandsche Bank has calculated that it saves yearly about €33 million in production costs by just giving up the two coins. It has been argued that rounding would do no good to the retailers as prices like €1.99 look cheaper and better than €2.00, but the countries that use round-
BY SONJA SJOGREN ing have found a solution to that too: only the final bill will be rounded and it only applies to cash purchases too. However, charities fear that scrapping the change would hit donations and would cause losses of millions. Change For Charity is campaigning for people to bring the change to collection points near them so the soon -to-be useless coins would make their way to the charities.
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Fashion
BY AOIBHEANN DIVER & LÉA JULIENNE
Street Fashion with DCU Style DCU Style hunt down the most stylish students on campus.
Ornat Ennis “My favourite piece of clothing I own is my grey coat. I like to just roll out of bed and put on whatever. I love to shop in Topshop and Zara.”
Fran Cassidy “I’d say that my style is kind of formal but casual. I like this scarf that I’m wearing and I usually shop in River Island and Topman.”
Lydia Quaid “Zara is my favourite place to shop and I love to wear jeans all the time. I would say that my style icon is Blake Lively.”
Forget cancer causing meats, tackle sugary treats T
ime seemed to freeze last week as people digested the World Health Organisation’s report linking processed meats to cancer, but perhaps we should be more worried about the world’s addiction to sugar and the effect it’s having on our bodies. The link between red meats and cancer is not something new, it has been around for centuries. We can all picture the caveman devouring a piece of steak, and our ancestors before us have all feasted on similar foods, but usually died long before any adverse health effects could occur. The report published
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gathered momentum quickly, and it soon became the talk of the internet. It was all people wanted to discuss. If only people were as quick to realise that our consumption of sugary foods is far more damaging than eating these processed meats ever would be. Sugar is essential, your body would shut down without it. Natural sugars will benefit your health, but it’s the artificial and added sugars that cause health problems, and is one of the leading causes of heart disease today. Americans lead the way in sugar consumption worldwide, with an an intake of more than 126 grams of
sugar a day, according to data research. This is way above the World Health Organisation’s recommended intake of about 45-50 grams. In Britain, a more hands on approach has been called for, with experts claiming a ‘tax on sugar’ could help reduce the amount of sugar the country is consuming. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has already introduced a 10 per cent sugar tax in his restaurants in an effort to combat the problem now. “I’ve seen first-hand the heartbreaking effects that poor diet and too much sugar is having on our children’s health and futures. Young children are needing
multiple teeth pulled out under general anaesthetic and one in three kids is now leaving primary school overweight or obese,” Oliver said. It’s estimated that sugar kills 180,000 people every year, and could be indirectly linked with several million deaths through obesity, heart disease and diabetes. But nobody seems to want to talk about it. We continue to consume huge amounts of sugar, and governments are doing little to combat the problem. Eating a little meat is not going to cause you
BY DAVID CLARKE much harm, it’s poor lifestyle that will. But the amount of sugar we consume has the potential to be very problematic somewhere down the line, and it’s time to tackle the problem now.