THE FOUNDER January 2022
Downing Street Lockdown Breaches: Is an End to the Party in Sight?
ROBYN SPINK | CONTENT WRITER
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umber 10 has faced recent criticism after claims of numerous parties whilst London was under stringent Covid restrictions. One gathering, and arguably the most controversial, was on 15th May 2020, during the first national lockdown, where Boris Johnson, along with his wife Carrie, the former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, and up to 17 staff, were pictured in the Downing Street garden with wine, cheese, and pizza in what appeared to be a ‘socially distanced’ gathering. This occurred during a time in which England was under strict lockdown measures, including social mixing between households being limited to two people outdoors, distanced at 2 metres apart. Staff were pictured in larger groups whilst not social distancing, prompting criticism from both the public and politicians, with Labour party deputy leader Angela Rayner describing the alleged event as ‘a slap in the face of the British public’. Dominic Raab, Deputy Prime Minister, responded to criticism by justifying that those pictured were having a drink ‘after the work meetings of the day’ and that no rules were broken.
Index News....................................................................................2 Features................................................................................5 Opinion And Debate............................................................8 Lifestyle.............................................................................12 Arts: Arts and Culture........................................................15 Arts: Literary Reviews.......................................................16 Arts: Film...........................................................................20 Arts: Music.........................................................................22 Sports..................................................................................24
Other allegations surrounding the breaking of lockdown rules by politicians include a report that a Christmas party was held in Downing Street on 18th December 2020. Ministers have denied these claims. Despite this, a video later emerged of the thenpress secretary to the Prime Minister Allegra Stratton, joking about the gathering, revealing that it was ‘not socially distanced’. At the time, Downing Street had instructed the public not to have work Christmas gatherings ‘where that is a primarily social activity’.
Continued on p.4 It’s Time for the UK to Manchester (Not Very) United P.24 When Will Covid Be Treated Face Its Colonial Past P.10 like the Flu? P.4
2 NEWS
THE FOUNDER January 2022
Ghislaine Maxwell Found Guilty in Sex-Trafficking Trial ANANYA KRISHNA | CONTENT WRITER
Managing Editor Robert Matthews managingeditor@thefounder.co.uk
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Maxwell is the Oxfordeducated daughter of wellknown media tycoon Robert Maxwell. Following his death, Maxwell moved to America where she met Epstein soon after. It is unknown how long they dated but they remained close until Epstein committed suicide in his prison cell in 2019. It is through Maxwell that Epstein connected with people such as Prince Andrew, who also faces his own accusations of child sexual abuse in New York State.
Editor in Chief Abra Heritage editor@thefounder.co.uk
Content Warning: Rape, Sexual Assault hislaine Maxwell, the well-known socialite exgirlfriend of Jeffery Epstein, has been found guilty of aiding his sexual abuse of young girls. Maxwell was arrested on six charges – five of which she has now been convicted. These include sex-trafficking, 2 accounts of conspiracy to entice individuals under the age of 17 to travel in interstate commerce with intent to engage in illegal sexual activity, transportation of an individual under the age of 17 with intent to engage in illegal sexual activity; and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of individuals under the age of 18. The sixth charge was another case of enticement of an individual under the age of 17 to travel with intent to engage in illegal sexual activity. She faces up to 65 years in prison.
The Founder Board 2021 - 2022
Publishing & Creative Designer Ali Krausova designer@thefounder.co.uk Source: Pixabay
Maxwell was arrested in July 2020 following the unearthing of sealed document of a 2015 defamation case which revealed her connections to Epstein’s allegations. Most infamously, Maxwell helped recruit and controlled the girls who were victims of Epstein’s trafficking. Epstein’s victims from Virginia Giuffre, well known for her accusations against Prince Andrew, to Sarah Ransome and Annie Farmer testified against Maxwell in her recent trial. The defence called upon Epstein's former executive assistant Cimberly Espinosa, Epstein's former girlfriend Eva AnderssonDubin, and University of California psychology professor Elizabeth Loftus, who was their star witness. Loftus spoke of the risk of ‘false memories’ when discussing traumatic events and that memory ‘doesn't work like a recording device’, and that ‘we are actually constructing our memories while we retrieve memories’. Yet the prosecution wasn’t just working on memories with Epstein’s massage table and uncovered photos which showed how close Maxwell and Epstein were.
Maxwell’s trial is another example of the recurring theme since the ‘Me Too’ movement of women who have been abused by the rich and privileged. Even with Maxwell now defamed, it still doesn’t bring back all that these girls had lost because of her and Epstein. All that one can hope is that it stops such tragedy from happening again.
News Editor Harriet Whitaker
Illustrator Tabitha Turner
news@thefounder.co.uk
illustrator@thefounder.co.uk
Features Editor Sela Musa
Arts Editor Isabel West
features@thefounder.co.uk
arts@thefounder.co.uk
Opinon and Debate Editor George Woods
Literary Review Editor
Liam Anthony Elvish
opinion@thefounder.co.uk
literaryreview@thefounder.co.uk
Lifestyle Editor Cyann Fielding
Music Editor Finn Murphy
lifestyle@thefounder.co.uk
music@thefounder.co.uk
Sports Editor Oli Gent
Film Editor Tilley Bennett
sportseditor@thefounder.co.uk
film@thefounder.co.uk
The Founder is the independent student newspaper of Royal Holloway, University of London. This means we are not affiliated to the student union or the college. We pride ourselves on our investigative journalism and aim to keep our readers up to date with news on and off campus. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Editor, particularly of opinion and debate pieces. Every effort has been made to contact the holders of copyright for any material used in this issue, and to ensure the accuracy of its stories. To book ad space in The Founder, contact our managing editor at managingeditor@thefounder.co.uk. THE FOUNDER is printed in Cambridge by Iliffe Print
NEWS 3
THE FOUNDER January 2022
Fury after Tony Blair Awarded Knighthood, with Petition to Rescind his Honour Reaching Over One Million Signatures ROBYN SPINK | CONTENT WRITER
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ver one million people have signed a Change.org petition that calls for exPrime Minister Sir Tony Blair to have his knighthood removed. The former Labour Prime Minister was awarded the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry in the Queen’s New Year’s honours list as he was made a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. This appointment was a personal choice of the Queen, meaning the government is not involved in the decision. However, shortly after the honours list was announced, a petition was started by actor and presenter Angus Scott, describing the former prime minister as the ‘least deserving of any public honour’ because of his role in the Iraq war. The petition states he should be ‘held accountable for war crimes’ and accuses him of being ‘personally responsible’ for the deaths of innocent civilians and servicemen. Whilst Mr Scott acknowledged that it is improbable the knighthood order by the Queen will be reversed, ‘it will give a clear message that this country is a democracy, and that the establishment has to start listening to people’.
UK and US forces invaded Iraq in 2003 to overthrow Saddam Hussein on the basis that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. However, the 2016 Chilcot report found that Blair had exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein and that intelligence agencies produced ‘flawed information’ about the alleged weapons of mass destruction. 179 British Armed Forces personnel and Ministry of Defence civilians died serving in the Iraq war, and it is estimated that between 184,000 and 207,000 civilians have died from war-related violence from the time of the invasion through to October 2019. Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer has defended the decision to honour Sir Tony Blair, claiming he was a ‘very successful prime minister’. In addition, Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle argued, ‘it is one of the toughest jobs in the world’. The Blair administration won a landslide victory in 1997 and won a further two general elections in 2001 and 2005, making Tony Blair the longest-serving Labour prime minister and the only Labour leader to have three consecutive general election victories.
Source: World Economic Forum
The Murders of Star Hobson and Arthur Labinjo-Hughes ALI KRAUSOVA | PUBLISHING AND CREATIVE DESIGNER
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Source: The Week UK
ast year, 6-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes was murdered by his stepmother Emma Tustin and only 3 months later, 16-month-old Star Hobson was murdered by her mother’s girlfriend Savannah Brockhill. The chilling similarities between both cases raised questions about the impact of lockdown, insufficiency within social services, and toxic relationships. Both children had loving extended families who contacted social services several times, yet further investigations were always called off after the children’s parents stated the children’s injuries were self-inflicted from being ‘clumsy’. Both families feel let down by social services and believe the deaths could have been prevented had further action been taken. However, there are deeper problems within social services. Currently there is a 20% vacancy rate for child protection social workers.
4 NEWS Vince Pert, a social worker, for Sky News stated that ‘sometimes, a social worker is involved with a family that has had intergenerational trauma, perhaps generations of issues around domestic violence, and the social worker is being given 45 working days to assess that and six months for a plan to address that. Social workers have finite time and finite resources in order to address infinite problems, which have been decades and decades in the making’.
It is likely that the government enforced lockdowns hindered this, as schools were closed and families had to be together behind closed doors. Both parents were also consumed and blinded by their relationship. According to Office for National Statistics ‘many cases of child abuse remain hidden; around one in seven adults who called the National Association for People Abused in Childhood’s (NAPAC’s) helpline had not told anyone about their abuse before. It is possible to identify 227,530 child abuse offences recorded by the police in the year ending March 2019. Childline delivered 19,847 counselling sessions to children in the UK where abuse was the primary concern in the year ending March 2019; sexual abuse accounted for nearly half (45%) of these and has become the most common type of abuse counselled by Childline in recent years’.
Emma Tustin was given a life sentence with a minimum of 29 years, Thomas Hughes was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 21 years. Savannah Brockhill was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison and Star’s mother Frankie Smith was handed an eight-year jail term after she was convicted of causing or allowing her daughter’s death.
THE FOUNDER January 2022
When Will Covid Be Treated like the Flu? HARRIET WHITAKER | NEWS EDITOR
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s the pandemic rolls on, questions of when Covid-19 will be treated as an endemic disease are being considered in various countries around the world. According to Bloomberg, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez has expressed desires to relax Covid measures, as it has been discovered that the Omicron variant, ‘while more contagious, appears to be milder’. As well as this, in 2020 and 2021, the court of Spain had previously ruled against emergency powers exerted by the government. According to statistics provided by Spain, more than 90% of Spaniards over the age of 12 have been fully vaccinated, and further plans to start vaccinating younger people too. As for the UK, it is reported that 71% of the population are fully vaccinated. Nadhim Zahawi, who is Education Secretary, has suggested that we could potentially lead the way in transitioning from treating Covid-19 as a pandemic to an endemic, similar to the likes of influenza. He suggested that we need to deal with Covid in a newer, more efficient way in terms of the economic situation, ‘and then deal with this [virus] however long it remains with us, whether that’s another five, six, seven, ten years’.
However, the World Health Organization has warned against moves like this so soon, cautioning that more than half of people living in Europe could be infected with the newest variant, Omicron, within two months. Hans Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe, has expressed his concern for the sheer speed that Omicron has spread and its ‘unprecedented scale of transmission’. WHO officials have acknowledged that Covid-19 will indeed become endemic, but this happening in 2022 is unlikely and difficult, due to the virus continuing to evolve, and hospitalisation and deaths still occurring. Since the Coronavirus pandemic emerged in late 2019, our daily lives have had to adapt to deal with the repercussions and fatalities it has brought about, as we remember those who lost their lives and continue to support our NHS, which has tirelessly worked to care for those affected badly.
Source: Flickr
Continued from front page: Other gatherings include an event that the Prime Minister’s wife hosted in their Downing Street flat on the 13th November, a gathering on the 10th December in the office for the Department of Education, a Christmas party at Conservative HQ in Westminster on the 14th December, and a Christmas quiz for Number 10 staff on the 15th December whilst London was under Tier 2 restrictions. Cabinet Secretary Simon Case was appointed to investigate these reports. However, he later stepped down and was replaced by Sue Gray, after it was reported that he held a quiz in his office on 17th December 2020. In 2020 thousands of people faced fines due to breaching lockdown rules, with some resulting in penalties of up to £10,000. The Metropolitan Police is investigating the party at Conservative HQ but will not currently be investigating other allegations unless there is ‘significant evidence’.
Source: Flickr
FEATURES 5
THE FOUNDER January 2022
The AstroWorld Tragedy SELA MUSA | FEATURES EDITOR
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ust over two months ago in Houston, ten people lost their lives and hundreds were injured at Travis Scott’s third AstroWorld festival. What should have been an unforgettable event for its festivalgoers and fans, after its cancellation in 2020 due to the pandemic, was remembered only for its horrifying and deeply disturbing aftermath. The skin-crawling reality of what happened on November 5th stuck for a long time. Maybe because it was easy to resonate with the innocent excitement of the festivalgoers, counting down the days until what should have been one of the best experiences of their youth. Or maybe because, even today, no one actually knows what happened. News outlets state that all ten deaths were due to compression asphyxia. One security guard claimed that he was injected in the neck, only to then retract that statement at a later date. So much ambiguity surrounds how the festival allowed ten people to die that one night. Twitter and TikTok suggest alternative theories about what happened at the festival, offering the view that the events that took place demonstrated a sort of ‘satanic ritual’, and festivalgoers themselves have released their own footage which indicates a disturbing side left out by official news outlets. With no personal desire to conspire about the festival’s events, this article aims to simply recount the remarks that many who attended the festival have put forward themselves. Users on TikTok particularly have put forward conspiracy theories claiming that there was something demonic about Travis Scott’s festival. The most disturbing footage that circulated was a video of Scott harmonizing over an unconscious festivalgoer being carried out of the crowd.
Source: Rolling Stone
With the stage designed in a way which many described as resembling hell with an upside-down cross, and the festival slogan of ‘see you on the other side’, social media shortly became flooded with conspiracies of Travis Scott’s performance conducting a satanic sacrifice of souls.
Regardless of the validity of these claims, one thing that cannot be disputed is that profit was prioritised over people. The narrative on TikTok and Twitter can be framed in a way to fuel a conspirator’s dream, but a video that shows hundreds of people screaming for help in the crowd whilst the show simply goes on cannot be created from nothing. Footage shows one festivalgoer begging the camera-crew to stop the festival as people were being crushed in the crowd, only to be shooed off by the staff member who wanted to continue filming the show. Investigations are still being conducted regarding who needs to be held accountable for the tragedy that AstroWorld became, and Travis Scott has so far been named in a $2.75 billion lawsuit as well as being taken off as a headliner act for the upcoming Coachella festival.
We remember those that tragically lost their lives at what should have been a beautiful night for them and our thoughts are with all affected.
‘I am Still So Lonely Yet I am in Love’: The Complications With Modern Day Romance MOLLY AINLEY | CONTENT WRITER
Love, the abstract emotion.
We are taught to crave it; we are shown it in novels and films and adverts. It is so complex, so deep, so challenging, yet we use fictional literature and media to understand it. Fairytales like Cinderella are what we are raised on, yearning for our own prince or princess to love us unconditionally. But it is not as simple as that, is it? I think love is presented as overly rewarding, as do many people my age; when asked ‘how do you think modern day culture has changed the concept of love?’ Jess Linford, 18, declares that it is made out to be more ‘fulfilling’ than it is and is ‘sugar coated’. Overtime, culture shapes romance, and what love is thought to be. As more films and narratives are leaked, more ideas over the concept are fathomed. There is a focus on how magical it can be rather than how ultimately terrifying it is to love. And although that is part of the magic, it is not as easy as it can be. When the sugar falls off, and the raw emotion stands to be looked at there is a terror. Love’s power is simultaneously underestimated, and overmined in today’s society. Young people crave for the feeling of love, without understanding the levels of love, the types and the way that loving themselves is the most powerful act of all. We look at it to fill us up, but then stop feeding ourselves what we need in addition.
6 FEATURES In secondary school I would watch girls bounce into relationships so quickly and carelessly, letting people hold both hand and heart so easily. When they would be left broken, everything would come crashing down. In university, I watch the same thing happen. There is a trend; we are taught to crave relationships like chocolate, and when that craving is unfulfilled or tainted, ideas over if you can be loved are tampered with. A connection between self-value and how loved you are becomes established. There is a need to keep these loves apart, and a need for an independency from romance. Human beings do not need to be in love to be fulfilled, regardless of representations. Romantic love is not the only kind of love felt either.
THE FOUNDER January 2022 We do not realize that love surrounds us in other ways. The love parents feel for their children, the love felt towards stranger’s dogs, the love felt to ourselves when we survive something impossible, the love felt towards the random people we meet. In fact, being in love is not what we should aspire for. As pure and innocent it can be, it is not the only kind of love to yearn. Modern day culture added norms and expectations to love, and allowed us to forget the kinds of love we can feel. Let yourself love you. Let that be the only aspiration. Let any other kind of love be additional, an add on.
Source: Joe Webbs
The People Who Built Dubai Are Being Forgotten
AELIYA RAZVI | CONTENT WRITER
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he incredible city of Dubai has become a vastly popular tourist attraction in recent years, building up its reputation over the years to become a tech giant, offering thousands of people job opportunities in all fields, and many from the West being offered tax-free salaries in IT and tourism sectors. Whilst this has helped Dubai’s development for the future and its economy and contributed to its steady upwards progress which has caught the attention of many wealthy investors, many people have failed to acknowledge or even give credit to the people who built Dubai with their hard work and man hours. The story is one that has been repeated for years throughout history: migrants come in and do the heavy lifting, building these cities in the worst conditions with minimal pay and terrible conditions, but are quickly and swiftly forgotten as soon as disaster hits.
THE FOUNDER January 2022 A prime instance of migrant workers being left to fend for themselves occurred in 2009 after the financial crash that rocked the world. The crash, that damaged the economies and livelihoods of people living in the West, hit developing countries even harder and resulted in a loss of migrant jobs in Dubai almost immediately. Workers, who had returned to India to briefly visit their families, suddenly received texts and emails stating that they were no longer needed back in Dubai and that they had been terminated from their jobs, their final pay checks and belongings set to be returned to their home country. This haphazard regard for the workers who brought Dubai to where it was hit harder when remembering the atrocious conditions that these workers were forced to work in. In 2006, Human Rights Watch had estimated that at least half a million migrants are paid a little over one hundred pounds a month for their work. This work is done in atrocious heat for which there is little to no safety provision and workers can be forced to spend twelve hours a day or longer for six days a week in these kinds of conditions.
Despite the horror faced by these workers in 2009, the attitude of the UAE government and companies in Dubai has not changed, as evident by their reaction towards the pandemic in the last few years. Migrant workers are seen to have been neglected yet again as they were laid off without warning or provisions, leaving many stranded in the country with no way to even pay for a ticket back home. The UAE government ruled that laid off workers were supposed to be provided food and accommodation by their companies but many have not complied which has left labourers, on whose backs this city has been built, to rely on community groups and donations, otherwise they go hungry. Their accommodation is packed with no space to social distance. However, these workers are resilient. They came to Dubai with hopes and aspirations. Even with the abysmal conditions, they stayed and did their jobs. Now, in their time of need, Dubai and the UAE have turned their backs on the very people that made its bones.
FEATURES 7
I Was Abused Too ALI KRAUSOVA | PUBLISHING AND CREATIVE DESIGNER
Content Warning: Child Abuse
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ith the recent murders of Arthur LabinjoHughes and Star Hobson, my stomach turns in realising how common events of child abuse are. Both children were abused and, eventually, killed by their mothers’ new partner. It brings me flashbacks of my father re-marrying. His new wife washed everything in the flat I could have possibly touched after every one of my visits, and at the same time my mother’s new partner would put washing-up liquid straight in my food. It is so often said children get jealous of their parents’ new partners. They want to protect their ground, be the most important person in their parents’ life, but it is also so common for a new partner to feel this way towards a child, who literally embodies a past life. I was in the situation twice with both of my parents falling in love with insecure and violent people.
I would not say I was lucky, it is not fair for things like these to happen to a powerless child. Often the things that are done to you are so out of proportion and the ability to understand that when you tell other people, no one believes you. I used to have some of my clothes thrown out every once in two months, I used to have my mail stolen, I was being vigorously kicked under a table in a restaurant and to all I was always easily handed an explanation. I have lost my clothes, the postman lost my mail, and ‘no one is kicking you’. But in a way, I feel lucky. I still had my grandparents somewhat around me when they could be, who noticed the hate I was being pierced with. I even had a teacher at school who became cautious of what was happening to me at home. Unfortunately, all it took for her to close the case and mark it a ‘happy ending’ was me coming back to her once saying things at home have settled a bit. I even called a helpline once but no matter what you do or others are trying to do, your family is such an intimate matter, people outside of it are reluctant to have a say in it. Even worse, if no one expects situations like these to happen within a family, no one expects it to happen with people who take care of children as part of their occupation. For example, I was abused by someone who has worked for, and now even manages, a Young Offender Institution.
There is no way to be even remotely lucky in a scenario like this, but out of some of these kids, I often feel as though I’ve had it easy. I never lost my humour. Both of my parents eventually stopped being blind when things became way too much and gained their clarity back. But it’s wrong to feel ‘better off’ in situations of abuse, and rhetorics like these often stop victims from speaking out. Although we love each other, I still moved away when I was 18 and left everything behind. When asked about my past or even my mixed accent, I get defensive and upset, because no matter how good things ended up being for me, my past still hurts and the only home for me is the one I created for myself. Source: Anne Hathaway's Cottage in Stratford upon Avon, Ali Krausova
8 OPINION AND DEBATE
The Persistent Scandal of Modern Corruption
THE FOUNDER January 2022
JOEL DAVIES | CONTENT WRITER
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hile only time will tell if the Downing Street Christmas party scandal proves to be Boris Johnson’s great downfall, it is undeniable that the wave of corruption stories his government suffered in 2021 laid a foundation of distrust with the public that makes these allegations hard to shake. Since the beginning of the pandemic, a tidal wave of stories of PPE and testing contracts being awarded to close connections of ministers have emerged. Johnson’s holiday in Marbella was revealed to be funded by Zac Goldsmith, revealing close links with the former MP’s firms. In October, news broke of Malcolm Offord’s ascension to peerage – a Scottish businessman who had donated almost £150,000 to the Conservative Party over time. This exploded into another ‘cash for honours’ scandal in November 2021, topped off nicely by the Owen Paterson affair. The public money spent without disclosure on refurbishing Johnson’s Downing Street apartment, fined by the Electoral Commission in December 2021, formed the final addition to the public opinion tinder box that the Christmas parties would alight. The simple fact that this list is not at all extensive tells you all you need to know about the place of corruption in this government.
This heap of scandals may be proving challenging for the Johnson premiership, but they are only a symptom of the chokehold that corruption holds over the world’s biggest democracies. Money holds an often-understated influence in democracies across the world and forms a huge challenge for progressive agendas worldwide. Corruption can form roadblocks in the way of progress, it can buy silence from opposition, and it can get policies that the public may not support silently prioritised. Corrupt causes often penetrate the heart of modern politics, and for that reason we must be aware of their presence when they show their faces.
Corruption is such an endemic issue in the United States that it is only known as ‘lobbying’ and faces very little legal resistance. A multitude of campaign finance reform efforts have been undermined, and money holds a role in US politics that cannot be understated. Most recently, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia singlehandedly sank Joe Biden’s $1.7 trillion Build Back Better plan, his decision likely influenced in no small part by the substantial donations Manchin’s campaign receives from fossil fuel industries. A pin-pointed offensive by lobbyists can derail revolutionary, and extremely urgent, legislation, while making a neat profit for the beneficiaries too.
Source: Peter Summers
In more fragile regions of the world too, corrupting forces play their hand, often destabilising states further. Ukraine is notorious for the level of corruption the state exhibits - state resources being siphoned off for profit has been a huge factor in the insufficiency of Ukraine’s army and its failure to join the EU. Bulgaria, too, experiences rampant corruption, being the worst scoring EU nation in the Corruption Perception Index of 2019. Political dissatisfaction runs high in the country, and electoral turnout is staggeringly low, creating concern for the unstable state of democracy in the country. In Russia, corruption and cronyism are such an embedded feature of the state’s functions that they are considered integral to the existence of Vladimir Putin’s government.
The abuse of state power is clearly a worldwide phenomenon, not isolated to Downing Street’s peculiar distribution of peerages and PPE contracts. At a time where democratic structures and values are under threat in Western and Eastern democracies alike, the arguments of anticorruption movements are worth taking seriously, not only to hold those in power accountable, but combat damaging, divisive, and dangerous populist agendas that emerge in times like these.
Designer Babies: The Future Poverty AELIYA RAZVI | CONTENT WRITER
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esigner Babies have been a point of discussion and contention for scientists, the discussion first beginning with the publication of A Brave New World in 1932. The book is set in the distant future, the year 2540 and in this dystopian future, babies are no longer created and raised by their parents but are rather grown in vats and are graded into five different tiers of intelligence based on the chemical treatment they received as embryos.
THE FOUNDER January 2022 In the 1930s this technology was still only being predicted and theorised to maybe come about based on developing technologies at the time. Yet, in our modern day, technology is much closer to being able to achieve a version of Aldous Huxley’s version of pro-creation. Scientists are now, more than ever, urgently calling for discussions to be had on the ethical implications of this possible future in genetics and whether it should be banned before it has even begun.
OPINION AND DEBATE 9
While the discussion over designer babies can be taken in many different directions, one particularly troubling aspect that has not been focused on as much is the widening of the divide between the rich and poor that could be created. Naturally, when new technologies that require such scientific research and equipment are released to the public, the expenses are astronomical. One can safely assume that the designer baby technology is not going to be on the affordable side for the average middle- or workingclass families.
This means that when this kind of technology is released to the public, the first people to be able to use it will be the wealthy and if these wealthy go on to create children with the most desirable traits intellectually and physically, essentially, they will be able to create heirs that will certainly continue their legacies of wealth, disallowing for the social mobility that is already so limited within society.
Having a genetic advantage as well as economic advantage will inevitably allow families that come from wealth to have their children remain in wealth and therefore create unbreakable dynasties. Genetic engineering can also create a hyper competitive intellectual culture that will mean that the myth of working hard to get where you are, will be annihilated as will the work towards an equal starting point for each child.
The discovery and development of designer babies and genetic engineering is undeniably fascinating. But, without restrictions, the exploitative possibilities this engineering could lay in the hands of the wealthy would make their children a commodity and the children of the rest of society incapable of keeping up with a new type of elite. In a society that is striving towards equality, this would be a dangerous step in the wrong direction.
Global Wildfires: Doused by Disbelief? EMILY RODRIGUES | CONTENT WRITER
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021 has proved to be yet another year of climate crisis consequence and undoubtedly, wildfires are no exception. This year the world has seen reports of raging wildfires in California, Greece, Colorado, Brazil, Siberia, and Turkey causing astonishing levels of devastation. While visually wildfires may appear to be a repercussion of natural factors, it is undeniable that anthropogenic activities bear a heavy impact. With the recent 2021 Cop26 meeting in Glasgow occurring in late October and November, wildfires have been identified as a consequence of climate change. Notably, the levels of gas emissions are a significant issue that can contribute to the frequency and severity of wildfires. The outcomes of the Cop26 summit have outlined the importance of mitigation and adaptation which collectively culminates around a strengthened collaboration. However, without a single mention of wildfires in The Glasgow Climate Pact, are these aims too broad and vague for the continued threat of wildfires?
For less economically developed countries such as Greece, the damage to their country’s environments are particularly devastating for the people. Specifically, since Brazil depends on its abundance of biodiversity from the Amazon rainforest to attract tourism, wildfires doubtlessly inhibit the country’s economic development. The destruction of this rainforest, in particular, destroys vital habitats for flora, fauna, and indigenous tribes. The global impact is noticeable too. The reduction in green sites impacts the water and carbon cycles simultaneously. This leaves quantities of carbon to sequester and reduces how much water is being Source: Flickr transported and infiltrated Commonly, California is recognised as a known area that is subject to wildfires. This year was no across the biome. Wildfires different with The Guardian reporting that 2.6m acres were lost to the damages of wildfires. The become yet another obstacle impact of California’s wildfires is felt by its large population with many struggling when the fire for the Amazon rainforest. damages their homes, their businesses, and their community. Indisputably, each wildfire causes a strain on the remaining resources available that are needed to feed and assist the rebuilding of ruined infrastructure. This had led to intense evacuations, the implementation of new mitigation strategies, and repetitive attempts for rebuilding. In addition to this, the calculated season for wildfires has changed to be longer and more intense, inevitably resulting in increased levels of damage and devastation.
10 OPINION AND DEBATE The causes of wildfires are not far and few. Although wildfires can occur as a result of natural causes or changes such as a lightning strike, fires can also ignite from carelessness. The perpetual droughts, the lack of canopy cover, and the astonishing increase in temperature have proven deadly to environments and essential to the development of wildfires.
It may seem monotonous to consider humanity’s activities at the forefront of the issue, however, it is the factor that is more tangible in the issue and is therefore susceptible to positive change. Humanity can propose action to limit climate change by keeping the global temperature at a lower rate than it is currently. It is the world’s governments’ previous idleness that failed to facilitate that necessary change but will the outcomes of the 2021 Cop26 summit change this for the future?
THE FOUNDER January 2022
Graduate Schemes Relying on Hope Labour Need to Go ABRA HERITAGE | EDITOR IN CHIEF
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s the year starts afresh, those soon to end their studies in university, school, and college will begin the desperate scramble to secure placements for posteducation. Lengthy application processes requiring extensive portfolios leading to poorly paid, or completely unpaid, internships, are fought over by graduates and school-leavers alike pushing for a foot in the door in the industry. Hope labour, the act of carrying out un- or under-compensated work in the belief that it will benefit future employment, is undertaken by students in an eager attempt to work for exposure and contacts above financial reward, but this method of entering industries is isolating students that lack financial aid from parents.
Without economic backing, hope labour is exhausting, and often impossible, to engage in. Producing non-commissioned pieces and involving oneself in extra-curriculars is simply not feasible when obligations such as part-time jobs, caregiving duties, studying, and navigating the world away from home dominates all of a student’s free time. Here, I am struck by Molly Mae’s recent statement in interview that ‘we all have the same 24 hours in the day’ and that ‘you’re given one life, and it’s down to you what you do with it’ (The Diary of a CEO podcast). This is simply counter to the truth of anybody that is poor, has caregiving duties, is unwell, or is juggling responsibilities
It’s Time for the UK to Face Its Colonial Past
such as parenting, working, and studying. Unfortunately, the mega-rich seem unable to understand that poverty is unrelated to not maximising the 24 hours of the day, and instead is a symptom of conservative and capitalist governance that values profit over people.
Those with socio-economic privilege are thus more likely to engage in hope labour, and in turn are rewarded with internships that lead to contacts, experience, and a boosted resume. To little surprise, this perpetuates the dominance of rich, white, middle class people in positions of power, with the most privileged continuing a vicious cycle in which only those with money and time are rewarded with careers of their choice.
The normalisation of free or underpaid labour in return for experience or a chance at employment has to go. If we want industries with equal employment, with black, workingclass, and female representation, we need to disregard hope labour as a staple of employment. Instead, increased funding is needed in valuing those leaving full-time education through paying liveable wages in graduate schemes.
GEORGE WOODS | OPINION AND DEBATE EDITOR
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he days of Brexit seem more or less over. Arguments about the withdrawal agreement, Theresa May, whether the Customs Union is a good thing or, more fundamentally, whether it was right to leave the European Union seem to have wilted. Instead, our news is dominated by the ongoing global pandemic, inflation, Boris Johnson, and his Christmas parties. Little is being addressed while the country attempts to protect itself from Covid-19. But on this pandemic island a very uncomfortable history is being consistently ignored: our nation’s ugly past.
Britain is hardly running away from a certain view of its past. Like other nations, we have idolised figures. Winston Churchill dominates our popular culture as an epitome of peace, liberty, and defeat of a Nazi terror. Little is made of his racist views, his failures, and his faults. Indeed, even now, in 2022, an institution which built its wealth of colonialism, the monarchy, continues to be a part of our national politics.
ndeed, our national leaders have taken us for fools. Our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, wrote an extremely sympathetic biography of his hero Winston Churchill. Rather than offer his electorate an honest appraisal of a complicated leader we were instead offered a lionisation of a myth. Churchill the undefeated, as opposed to Winston Churchill the man. This extends to our contemporary politics. The Conservative Party, so desperate in maintaining their rule after 10 years, are attempting to create Margaret Thatcher as a symbol of greatness. Indeed, they have been aided by Hollywood’s Iron Lady which offers a sympathetic account of the former Prime Minister. Again, our nation is falling for a myth.
However, this is a drop in the ocean compared to the bigger monster which haunts our nation. The Empire and colonialism are an entity which is active and alive in modern imagination, but it is through a prism of glory. The horrors that the empire unleashed upon the world are simply not contended with. Children learn much about the great Romans and the Tudors, but nothing about the racism and slavery which pervaded the former empire. Even our national honours consist of references to the British Empire in terms of OBE and MBE. We are blinded to the devastating truth of empire.
THE FOUNDER January 2022 This blind spot in national histories also crosses to America. Donald Trump’s surprise win in the 2016 US presidential election was aided greatly by his ‘Make America Great Again’ slogan. President Trump was suggesting America had been lost to immigrants and minorities and that a vote for him would return America to its glorious past. This is a fallacy, but the America electorate fell for it. It is this failure of education that has led to the nationalism of the West creeping into our political discourse.
OPINION AND DEBATE 11
There are solutions to this. Our leaders must stop talking about the greatness of our past and instead focus on the realities of the future. Historical figures should be held to account and not have their flaws disregarded. But most importantly, schools must change. The curriculum must teach children about the realities of our past, and not a mythological fiction. It is only then that our nations ghost might start to finally disappear.
Priti Patel’s Hostile Environment: The Nationality and Borders Bill Source: Wikimedia
KENZA GARMZI | CONTENT WRITER
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n the past months, amid the onslaught of pandemic news and Tory scandals, Priti Patel, the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, has been pushing through a controversial bill that quietly gives the UK government powers to remove British citizenship without appeal and move asylum seekers looking to reside in the UK to southern European countries for processing. This comes after 2021 was the first year to see over one thousand migrants making the dangerous trip across the Channel in one day. Furthermore, while this bill was being processed, 27 people died making the journey in November, including a mother and her 4 children. Since the tragic incident, Patel has used it to further her case on speeding up the process for the bill to pass through parliament.
Priti Patel’s bill has been labelled as an ‘anti-refugee bill’ for the way it has dehumanised the migrant crisis as it seeks to criminalise and blame instead of finding humane solutions to deal with the influx of people, many of which are victims of war. Many of the bill’s supporters, as well as other anti-immigration sympathisers, main arguments consist of simply not making the journey or finding other legal ways to do so. However as seen time and time again, the asylum process is long and complex and often leaves refugees with no choice but to risk their lives at sea. One of the victim’s parents of the Channel Crisis mentioned that the victim ‘tried to reach the UK legally twice and that she had been to the British embassy, but the process was delayed, forcing her instead to take the route she did’. A Freedom from Torture ‘Lessons not Learned’ report showed shocking failures of the UK asylum such as how ‘Amnesty International found that of the sample of 50 refused cases, more than four in five were overturned on appeal due to a flawed credibility assessment by the Home Office’ and how ‘In 2017, the ICIBI again identified 10 of the 30 files examined as needing improvement in assessing evidence when considering credibility’.
As a result of the hostile environment created by Theresa May when she was home secretary in 2012, people trying to enter the UK for a better life suffered. Now, in 2022, migrants continue to suffer under Priti Patel as she tries to echo Theresa May’s anti-immigrant attitudes. As well as creating a hostile environment for those trying to reach the UK, this bill also threatens to make ethnic minorities second class citizens by giving the government the powers to revoke British citizenship without the ability to appeal.
Source: Almany Stock
Instead of seeing those vulnerable in society and treating them with compassion and care, the government sees them as problems that need to be swept under the rug or locked up. The Home Office has claimed that ‘British citizenship is a privilege, not a right’ setting a dangerous precedent going forwards on who and what is considered worthy of Britishness and allowing certain individuals to be deserving of more rights because of this. No one chooses to put their and their family's lives at risk, no one chooses to be born in a society that ostracises them for the colour of their skin or where they originally come from. It is time we ground our approach to the ‘migrant crisis’ in compassion, not hostility.
12 LIFESTYLE
THE FOUNDER January 2022
Is it Time to Ditch the New Year’s Resolutions? REBECCA DE SÁ | CONTENT WRITER
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ven though the pandemic is far from over, it is clear to see that people are a lot more hopeful for the possibilities of what this new year will bring. Anyone on TikTok will have seen the countless videos of people claiming that 2022 is going to be the year where positive self-talk, balance, and acceptance is brought in. A good place to start with this holistic, healthy lifestyle would be in reevaluating the way we set goals for the new year.
Year in and year out, people resort to the same practice of setting themselves overly ambitious, unmeasurable resolutions that they will most likely ditch come March. Statistics from ‘YouGov’ state that 22% of women and 15% of men did not keep any of their resolutions in 2021. There is no wonder why the success rate of resolutions is so grim when, for many, resolutions are a proven way to induce stress and anxiety. In often being overly ambitious, these goals can create a sense of guilt when a person does not complete them.
So, what is the alternative? Well, if positive selftalk is something that is being brought into 2022, then setting actionable goals instead of resolutions would be a safe bet. Breaking down statements like: ‘in 2022 I am going to lose weight’ into a stepby-step process for how that will be achieved is a far more healthy way of creating long-term habits and lifestyle changes.
For example, if a person’s goal for 2022 is to learn a new language, they need to come up with a plan for how they are proposing to do this. They should start by choosing the language they want to learn, identifying the key areas of language learning and coming up with tasks and activities that they can incorporate into their daily life that will help them practice the language. A person that takes this approach will stand a much better chance of achieving their goal and creating a longterm habit.
Goal setters must also learn to anticipate failures. Setting the goal to practice Spanish for 4 hours every day might be doable for the first few weeks, but it is not sustainable over a long period. Instead, set small goals every day that are realistic. Additionally, be prepared for different hurdles along the way. Preparing for problems and planning how to overcome them will be vital in ensuring that goals are achieved this year. All in all, 2022 brings with it the prospect of selfimprovement and new beginnings. Starting the year off with a healthy attitude towards goals and/ or resolutions will set a person in good stead for the next 12 months. Dream big but remember that the little wins are sometimes the most impactful.
Resetting for 2022 ANNA MORENO | CONTENT WRITER
M Source: Pixabay
any of us have hopes and dreams for the coming year. No matter how many goals we hope to achieve, or how many resolutions we hope to try, it can be helpful to practice some of these tasks to reset for the new year. Resetting for a new year can be beneficial as a way of moving forward and increasing your productivity in the months ahead. It can also benefit your mental health as you enter the new year.
LIFESTYLE 13
THE FOUNDER January 2022 Tidy your space
A new year often means being faced with new tasks. Tidying space can reduce clutter and stress, and it can also be very motivational to sit down at a nice clean desk when completing tasks. It can also be a suitable time to consider changing some space layouts, such as rearranging some items in a bedroom. This may provide fresh inspiration and a new outlook on life. Everyone has closets that are full of clothes they no longer wear. Consider going through these items and selling some online to earn some money or donate some to charity. Tidying spaces can be very therapeutic, especially when approaching it as a process of disposing last year’s worries and establishing a brand-new start. Take time to reflect
January can be a very overwhelming month to keep up with all the changes that might be part of the new year. Take a moment to sit down and think back on the year behind us. Ask: what was achieved last year? What can we achieve this year? Think back on what went well in 2021 and what to improve on in 2022. However, remember to watch out for experiencing pressure. Be reasonable with goals set.
Take an evening off for self-care
Resetting for the new year is not just about planning goals, re-organising life, or writing and completing countless to-do lists to feel a sense of achievement. Sometimes a reset means taking some time away to reset both the mind and body. 2021 was a challenging year to get through, so run a bath, light some candles, and play some music to unwind and have a well-deserved pamper session. Practice gratitude
Have a moment to be thankful for the people in your life, and all the good moments with them. Sometimes life can be daunting, and the coming of a new year can be especially stressful as many changes can occur in life. Taking a moment to be thankful reminds us about the good things in life and keeps spirits high.
The Importance of Positive Self-Talk MAHEEN SHARIFF | CONTENT WRITER
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ow do you speak to yourself? It sounds like a stupid question, doesn’t it? Who talks to themselves? Do we all wonder around aimlessly all day speaking with non-existent people about non-existent things? Of course not. Well, perhaps some do. This is a no judgement space. This isn’t what the concept of positive self-talk means, though. Positive self-talk refers to the narrative we have in our heads about ourselves. It is the way we speak to ourselves internally, the language we use and the way we use it when going about our everyday lives. It impacts everything, from our self-esteem to our optimism skills, to even the way we converse with others. The word skill is used here because optimism is in fact a skill. Unfortunately, nobody is born with a glass half full mentality. It is a skill that has to be developed and nurtured, until we are able to accept the negative for what it is but look at life, and in turn ourselves, optimistically. If you find this difficult, here is some advice that may help. Be your own bestie
A classic analogy that has helped so many individuals with this is that; imagine, when speaking to yourself, you are your best friend or a loved one. Would you ever let them say anything negative about themselves? When an upset friend or loved one speaks badly of themselves, it can feel heart-breaking and instantly, we turn to comfort them. Yet when it comes to ourselves, our first instinct is to criticize. So, the next time a critical thought comes to mind, perhaps pretend to be someone else that you love. Slowly but surely, the process to love yourself the way you do others becomes easier. Get naked
Arguably, this one is not for everyone, especially if you happen to have a very nosey neighbour. However, negative feelings about our bodies are something everyone deals with in varying levels. If you experience this, you are not alone. The biggest piece of advice for this, is to quite literally get naked, even if it is for 10 minutes a day. Being nude is empowering, taking ownership of your body and spending just 10 minutes a day walking around your bedroom naked can do wonders for your self-esteem. It forces comfortability with our bodies, which is something so many young people with body image concerns face. Doing this consistently can allow the feeling of empowerment and confidence, bringing you one step closer to self-love. Shower yourself in compliments
Society has brainwashed young people to have lower self-esteems. When an individual posts more than one selfie in a row on Instagram, they are vain. When they never post their face, they are insecure. As young people, it is up to us to break and ultimately destroy this narrative that to compliment yourself is a negative thing. Every morning, tell yourself three things you like about yourself. This can be done while brushing your teeth or making a morning coffee. They do not necessarily have to be physical features. If you smashed an essay recently, congratulate yourself! If you like your outfit that day, tell yourself you look nice. In baby steps, we can not only collectively eliminate the need for self-deprecations and replace it with showing ourselves kindness.
To conclude, an important message to be said here is that this way of thinking does not happen overnight. We cannot control all of our thoughts, nor can we control all the information we receive. However, we can control how we react. One negative thought can be counteracted with twenty positive ones; if we have the motivation to do it. The way we speak to ourselves is so important and telling yourself something enough times will eventually make you believe it, let’s use this to our advantage and learn to love ourselves the way we deserve. So, I ask you again, how do you speak to yourself? Source: MargeSullyCo
14 LIFESTYLE Having Sex with Yourself Before Having Sex with a Partner: A Student Sex Guide
THE FOUNDER January 2022
CYANN FIELDING | LIFESTYLE EDITOR
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hen searching ‘sex at university’ into Google, a myriad of responses come up. The classic ‘sex at uni?’ thread on The Student Room with multiple confusing responses, followed by articles along the themes of ‘does everyone have sex at university?’, ‘things you need to know about sex at university’, ‘be prepared for university to change everything you know about sex’, ‘British students and sex’ and ‘The Unis with students having the most sex’. SEX SEX SEX. That is the buzz word here. Other than the obvious freedom available to students when venturing off to university, to have sex openly and freely, the above titles all incite the reader to have some anxiety. A deeper look at these titles reveals pressure to perform sexual acts in a certain way, male orientated language and a certain judgement around sex. Students approaching university have a million and one questions about sex, ideas of what it will be like, expectations and desires. These articles, in some long roundabout way, try to cover all of that. But they are all unrealistic. We cannot define ‘sex’ in one way in a university setting. And unfortunately, sex continues to have very different connotations for each gender, and for each person. With the typical labels of ‘slut’, ‘slag’, ‘sleeps around’ being the most common for women, and ‘stud’, ‘man whore’ and ‘f*** boy’ being the most common labels for men, society now fears sex in the way they wish to, at the cost of being labelled in this way. The way an individual chooses to sexualise themselves and how they carry themselves when it comes to intercourse is the truth, not labels or the opinion of that boy that told his housemates that ‘that girl is psycho’ for wanting differently to what he wanted.
Source: The Mews Practice
So, why care? Why do we put pressure on ourselves to avoid said labels? Or even worry about them? Have sex for yourself, is the answer. When you have sex for yourself, with no regard to how people what judgement people make, is when an individual is fully sexually liberated. They know they truth of their sexual self. Vanilla, dominant, bunny, submissive, someone who likes one-night stands, casual hook ups, regular hook ups, booty calls, having a relationship, and so on. Whatever an individual prefers does not cause them or who they chose to sleep with to fit into one label more than another.
University sex admittedly breaks boundaries. For a good reason. Students need to find themselves in this transitional stage of their life and what they like. However, an individual goes about discovering their sexual preferences does not matter. Do not have sex for the sake of it, because it feels like the other person wants it, or because everyone else is doing it. Be true to yourself and be in control.
This involves conversations, not hiding preferences, speaking up when different things are wanted. With control comes comfort and an equal share of giving and taking. Have sex for yourself because you want to, and do not be afraid to explore. Be comfortable with listening, sharing, experiencing, and trying. Do not be afraid of sex or the misconceptions surrounded by sex at university. Everyone’s sex story is different. After all, it is a natural part of life. So, go sex yourself, stay safe and have fun. That is truly what sex at university is about.
THE FOUNDER January 2022
ARTS & CULTURE 15
The Typewriter Artists: James Cook and Paul Smith
ISABEL WEST | ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR
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ames Cook has received attention for his typewriter art, creating anything from album covers and book covers to portraits of pets to wedding anniversary presents. The Essex born Cook works on commission creating intensely detailed portraits and architectural drawings. For the past seven years he has produced around 100 typewritten artworks that can take anywhere between a week and a month to complete. In the summer of 2020, he had his first exhibition at Thaxted Guildhall, Essex where he displayed his collection of 35 typewriters and some of his work. In 2021 his work was displayed at Wonky Wheel gallery in Finchingfield. Cook’s drawings are created using a variety of characters, letters and punctuation marks. In order to create such detail, he overlays the information and the keys are tapped at different pressures to achieve tonal shading. Some of his recent works even feature hidden messages which are visible from up-close. For example, hidden within a commission by a fashion designer of his late mother were little messages from the wedding speech she had read on his wedding day.
Source: James Cook
On Cook’s website he sites Paul Smith as his inspiration. Philadelphia born Smith is known as the ‘Typewriter Artist’, producing his work for seven decades. Smith had severe cerebral palsy which affected his speech, mobility and fine motor coordination, and being born in 1921 was not entitled to mainstream education. He turned to typewriting to express himself when he was eleven as it took him sixteen years to speak. Smith used keys such as -!@#%^_(&), and could only type using one hand as he used his left hand to steady is right. As technology advanced, he was able to use colour typewriter ribbons to layer colours.
Depending on the piece, his process could take anywhere between two weeks and three months but wouldn’t charge for his art, instead opting to give his originals to specific individuals and organisations. He was also a master chess player and would apparently stop almost everything to play a game. Sadly, in his early 80s Smith had to stop because of vision problems, but the pieces he created for those seven decades remarkably resembled charcoal or pencil drawings.
Paul Smith left an inspiring legacy behind him for others like James Cook to follow in his footsteps.
16 LITERARY REVIEW
THE FOUNDER January 2022
Lyrical Ballads By William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge LIAM ANTHONY ELVISH | LITERARY REVIEW EDITOR
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ordsworth and Coleridge’s portmanteau of poetic verse, first published in 1798, has been hailed as a ‘manifesto’ of the English Romantic movement. The collection marks the beginning of a significant turning-point in literary history, bringing together the initial works of two relatively young poets whose friendship secured a working partnership which lasted for decades well into the ensuing century. The poets’ obsessive love for the Lake District provides the basis for much of the content, their writings adapting many of the ‘incidents and situations from common life’ they observed whilst residing in that part of the country. The pieces are unpolished, experimental, often imperfect, but that is precisely what makes them so fascinating to read in historical hindsight; the poets were freeing themselves from the shackles of traditional rules on metre and form, seeking instead the explore the written effects of heightened sensory experience.
The reader should not be mistaken in assuming that the quaint rural backdrops may wither the potential for being emotionally moving consider the dramatic impact of such narrative verses as ‘Goody Blake and Harry Gill’, ‘The Last of the Flock’ and ‘The Mad Mother’; these are pastoral epic tales beautifully condensed into the space of a few simple pages.
Two of Coleridge’s most famous works, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ and ‘The Nightingale’ received acclaim from both his collaborator and wider literary circles in English society, as well other poems from his pen which sought to challenge conventional norms in poetry. Nonetheless, it is Wordsworth who is very much the master of the moment here; as editor of the collection and author of the majority of the poems within, he constructs a unique, miscellaneous anthology of broad themes and varied approaches. Whilst not as bold nor ambitious in setting and scope as his partner, it is Wordsworth’s many untitled ‘Lines’ which offer the greatest poetic impact, and whose stanzas flow with ease and emotive power.
Who could possibly fail to relate to that state of bittersweet melancholy which nostalgia arouses in – ‘I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sat reclined,
Lyrical Ballads is both modest and ambitious, spiritual and poignant, crafted by two pioneers who held new, bolder visions for the creative possibilities of the human state.
Wordsworth revised the In that sweet mood collection in both 1800 and when pleasant thoughts 1802, including additional Bring sad thoughts to the mind’ poems which were inserted for the purpose of embellishing -whilst gazing down upon the original edition. the page, semi-dreamlike, in contemplation of former happier moments? These are poems for spring and early summer days while resting idly on the grass, the reader receiving the warmth of the afternoon rays while allowing the lines to transport the mind back two centuries – absorb the intricacies of expression from a period when the sheer range and breadth of the English language was advancing at a breath-taking scale. Source: British Library
Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami GRACE FROST | CONTENT WRITER
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oroccan author Laila Lalami’s 2005 novel Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits documents the thoughts and experiences of four Moroccans: Murad, Faten, Halima and Aziz as they attempt to illegally immigrate to Spain in search of a new life and a new beginning.
Each one carries their own personal struggle or fantasy for the life that is awaiting them across the water which is revealed in the novel’s prologue, ‘The Trip’. Murad is determined to make something of himself and is driven by self-worth and pride; Faten is a highly religious woman in search of a job after being expelled from university; Halima is a mother traveling with her young children; and Aziz is a mechanic who leaves behind his wife in search of a job to provide for her. The prologue begins in the shadows of night as the characters board the boat that will take them across the Strait of Gibraltar into Spain, although the seemingly straight forward journey is not the one awaiting them.
Following the prologue during which the characters leave behind their pasts in Morocco, the narrative is split into two parts, Before and After, and each contain one chapter from each of the character’s perspectives, all written with third person voice. This symmetrical structure results in the novel also reading as interconnecting short stories, by taking the two accounts from each character or from reading the four accounts in each section. The first part, Before, shines a light on the character’s backgrounds and what caused them to make the decision to immigrate. This is followed by After, which acts as a conclusion rounding off where the characters are in their progression to finding that new beginning and home that the opening of the novel introduces. Perhaps surprisingly to the reader, the expected or anticipated outcome is not necessarily the one that results in the happiest life.
LITERARY REVIEW 17
THE FOUNDER January 2022
Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee REBECCA WEIGLER | CONTENT WRITER
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Source: Amazon
The novel does not end with four completely rounded, perfect or fairytale endings. Instead, the reader witnesses four perfectly imperfect humans facing the trials of disruption and false hope that crop up throughout their lives and, therefore, the ending in fact demonstrates the progression, whether negative or positive, that each one undertakes.
In this novel, Lalami constructs an authentically human narrative that is concerned with real world experiences, hopes, and dreams. Moreover, the boat, which acts as a physical vessel for hope, is the place where the narratives overlap, demonstrating the way each person has their own personal desires and pasts that drive them to take action, often meeting others with this same intention. The reader grows connected to these characters as they struggle to gain a new beginning and a better future for themselves and those they love. Hope is central to the narrative and is woven throughout, either shining through a character’s thoughts or being tainted by a harsh reality.
he likes of Atomic Habits or the infamous The Secret have infiltrated the non-fiction section of all literary related social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, as well as the shelves of plenty of avid readers. Amidst the popular titles, there are some intricately crafted books written to encourage that fresh start and new beginning which you may never have heard of. One of these is Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee, a primarily unknown, understated little book, all about harnessing that ever-desired new beginning in ways that the reader might never have thought of before. Ingrid Fetell Lee is an American designer with a keen eye for creating small changes in your surroundings which can spark new feelings of joy; to find the fresh starts and perspectives which can brighten any space and any mood of a client, reader, and friend. Combining psychological knowledge, creative whimsy, and sheer people skills, Fetell Lee describes a shared journey with numerous individuals into finding the perfect new beginning through the lens of joy. Joyful offers examples and a compilation of instances where people have found joy in starting to appreciate the little things. It ranges from rehabilitated cities which had started being painted pink, to apartments swarmed with new house plants each day, and every new story is just as interesting as the last.
Source: Twitter, @ingridfetell
The recurring theme throughout each fascinating chapter, is that these people, places, and companies have taken what they already had and created a fresh start to move forward into a brighter and more fulfilling lifestyle. The instances may be small, or vast, but they all reflect the essence of new beginnings and the power of changing one’s outlook.
Through this method, Fetell Lee doesn’t write a selfhelp or spirituality book, but rather a celebration of tips and experiences from around the world. Vividly detailed, and beautifully illustrated in some chapters, Joy is a pageturner for multiple reasons.
Fetell Lee herself writes of her reactions to these new environments and people, to include a relatable and balanced viewpoint of the ways in which people find joy through changing elements of their lives. It also takes into account the experiences of people from all over the world, giving the book an immensely communal feel and an insight into just how similar we can all think about our day to day lives, and that desire for new beginnings. Relatable, entertaining, and worldly. Every chapter in Joyful is unexpected and provides both learning opportunities and, above all, literary satisfaction. Some of the new beginnings people have embarked on might not be for every reader, for instance, beginning to collect life-size horse lamps to feel more creative in a space - but it’s the joy that these things have given to others which makes it a joy to read. When you next find yourself searching for that new beginning, be sure to find it with the company of this eccentric and exciting little book.
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh CHLOE BOULTON | CONTENT WRITER
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rvine Welsh’s debut novel Trainspotting was released in 1993, achieving cult status since its initial publication and being hailed as one of the most important novels of the Nineties. Adapted into a film in 1996, it garnered critical acclaim and further added to the popularity of the novel.
Source: Flickr
18 LITERARY REVIEW Set in Leith, Edinburgh, the novel revolves around a cast of characters whose lives have been affected in some way or another by heroin. Rather than opting for a straightforward narrative, Welsh writes Trainspotting from multiple points of view, giving characters their own unique voices and styles of narration. At times, Welsh writes from an omniscient third-person perspective that shows the thoughts and feelings of multiple characters. This alone could make for an intimidating read, having to keep track of the variety of voices, without the fact that Trainspotting is almost entirely written in Scots or Scottish English.
Of the four ‘main’ characters, those whose names are featured on the cover of the novel, and later, the poster of the film: Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie, it is Mark Renton who comes the closest to taking up the mantle of protagonist. To label Renton a hero may be a stretch too far, but he is certainly the centre of this unheroic novel. Much of his narration revolves around his various attempts to break the habit and give up heroin. Renton is wildly introspective and completely clear in his motivations. His intelligent reflections provide the novel with several of its best and most memorable passages. The passage that sticks, the one that adorns posters and prints, is one in which he tells readers to “Choose life”. Renton
The novel deals with drugs, boredom, violence, and the unreliability of the rail service, amongst other things. But it is the idea of 'choosing life' that is at its core. Starting again, choosing life, is something Renton does constantly. He claims not to - it is his ultimate act of defiance in fact to not choose life - but he does anyway. With every attempt to stay clean, he is starting again and it is in this that the novel finds its hope. Renton’s own selfcontradiction provides what could be an otherwise bleak novel about addiction with a light-at-the-end-of- the- tunnel.
THE FOUNDER January 2022 The novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize in its publication year but was rejected from the shortlist after having been rumoured to have offended two of the judges. It is easy to see why this may have been the case; a reader would not have to even finish the first ten pages to be completely desensitised to the use of expletives; but it makes Trainspotting what it is. Everything is shocking until it is not. To read this novel is to look upon Welsh’s all-too-real fictional world as an insider, as though it is all happening around you.
Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce
MILLIE GARRAWAY | CONTENT WRITER
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New York Times Best Seller, Rachel Joyce encompasses both the excitement of the chase as well as a fear of the unknown. The setting of 1950, in the immediate post-war period, encapsulates the methodology of rebuilding and starting afresh as an urgency desperately needed in life. A lonely spinster, Miss Benson’s existence is about to change dramatically. Leaving her old, mechanical routine behind, Margery Benson finds comfort in a stranger whose ways lead them to a life full of crime and deceit. No longer enamoured with her life as a teacher, Margery takes a leap of faith into the unknown world of expeditions. Unbeknownst to her, her ideal of a new life leads her down a rabbit hole of murder, theft, and sickness. Despite her flaws, Miss Pretty, the elusive Nancy Coleen, opens Margery’s eyes to a world far beyond the depressing state of Britain after such a gruesome war-time experience. Although these flaws remained prominent throughout her time with Miss Pretty, they manage to lead Margery to a place of fearlessness; a place where she sheds her old skin and creates a new version of herself, one that is no longer weighed down by her past self and image.
New beginnings present themselves in images of new relationships, the death of an old life, the birth of a new one and new perspectives of those around her. Once alone and broken, Margery Benson finds herself whole again. The unavoidable purge of the woman she once was, is prominent throughout this novel and evident from the get-go. Her fragmentation metamorphosizes into a catalyst to her blind pursuit of an elusive insect which would renew her faith. Her rebirth becomes dependent on this seemingly non-existent beetle, leading readers through a funny and heart wrenching journey of all things to do with life. The comic relief is evidently a likening to the unusual ways in which lives work. With no straight path to follow, the humour follows Miss Benson throughout and, despite a stalker on their tale as they journey through troubling waters and decimating climates, humour becomes comforting and reassuring that Margery is in fact on the right path.
The adventure of life, bringing with it an unexpected friendship vital for the survival of Margery’s rebranding, is a saving grace for both women surrounded by danger and the unknown. The desire for clarity and self-reflection outweighs the anxieties that are encompassed in the idea of leaving a dead-end job with no foreseen future. Embarking on an expedition which starts and ends at the other side of the world, the search for an unidentified and elusive beetle is far from what a middle-aged woman with painful hip issues should be doing. Or so the world thought. Rachel Joyce has created a passionate and relatable rite of passage for all. The novel devoting time to adventure, new beginnings, humour, sadness, and murdermystery is the perfect novel to kickstart the new year with. Funny and heart-wrenching, 2022 will not be the same without experiencing the story of the life of Margery Benson and her all too sketchy assistant Miss Pretty.
Source: Penguin
THE FOUNDER January 2022
LITERARY REVIEW 19
Normal People by Sally Rooney VIKTORIA PRACZKO | CONTENT WRITER
“
Marianne had the sense that her real life was happening somewhere very far away, happening without her, and she didn’t know if she would ever find out where it was and become part of it. She had that feeling in school often, but it wasn’t accompanied by any specific images of what the real life might look or feel like. All she knew was that when it started, she wouldn’t need to imagine it anymore.” (Sally Rooney, Normal People) In addition to being one of the most popular recent reads, Sally Rooney’s novel, Normal People, was long-listed for the 2018 Man Booker Prize and was also ranked 25th on The Guardian’s Best 100 Books of the 21st Century. Rooney’s work is both an unmistakable element of contemporary fiction and undoubtedly essential for those unfamiliar with her literature.
Normal People follows the colliding lives of Marianne and Connell during their time at Trinity College, Dublin, soon after their somewhat unmemorable graduation from high school. Whilst Rooney’s plot may sound indifferent, it is truly gripping due to its exceptional depiction of youthful experience and saturation of pure emotions. Precisely as the title suggests, Normal People is founded on realistic situations and appears to generate an inclusive environment that addresses each reader individually.
Rooney’s uniqueness is not only seen through her application of language but her daring and colloquial attitude towards issues that one may fear to express.
Her linguistic simplicity is purposeful, consequently vividly mirroring the struggles of the every-day-life and relationships. Through Marianne and Connell’s contrasting upbringings and lifestyles, Rooney also offers an insight into those in possession of money and vice versa. Furthermore, her use of alternating perspectives within the narrative simultaneously showcases the two characters’ volatile sentiments and their imminently interweaving fates. Essentially, the novel can also be viewed as a collage of a variety of emotional turmoil and personal struggles. Despite the plot revolving around voicing mental health issues and the feeling of disconnection, Normal People establishes a nostalgic and almost sublime tone that is familiar to the reader. It appears somewhat like an emotional roller-coaster due to its centrality in the changing forms of Marianne’s and Connell’s sentiments, but it also educates one on life and morals. Rooney’s extensive exploration of psychology dissects human nature and acts as a guide using almost textbook-like examples of social situations. Her detailed descriptions of university days make you concurrently miss your youth and excited for the opportunities it can provide you.
Regardless of what one studies or does in life, Rooney’s approach towards passion proves to be remarkable and aspirational, with the power to reignite and inspire. Normal People gives you a feeling that is similar to that of talking to a friend or writing an entry into your diary. It is simple, comforting, undeniably ‘enough,’ and a chance for a new beginning.
Source: Unsplash
Transit by Rachel Cusk SEB GARDINER | CONTENT WRITER
W
ould you return to live in your old hometown if you could? The travels of a female writer continues in the second book of Rachel Cusk’s contemporary trilogy. Following the first instalment, Outline, it follows Faye - named only once per novel - to Athens on a creative writing course. Transit uproots her from her life and moves her to London, where she lived years before.
The very first scene of the novel could sum up the whole trilogy. An astrologer, or an automated email pretending to be one, emails Faye claiming to have an insight into her future, offering to share this with her if she pays. Faye right away notices the irony of someone claiming to care for you, despite being after your money, and this sets the tone of her objective loneliness in a busy city that will surely resonate with anyone living within an urban environment.
Cusk was named as one of the writers changing the way we write and read fiction by The New York Times, and this is true with Transit. As anyone would with returning to an old hometown, she finds herself torn between new beginnings and old memories in a city that constantly changes. Faye moves with her two young sons to settle back down and is haunted by her old life and by the fear that it won’t change for her. The desperation to renovate her recently purchased flat seems bound to fail, the world closing in from below her in the form of angry neighbours. Outline previously sees Faye in a foreign country, and the final instalment, Kudos, opens with her on a plane to Europe - the two books either side of Transit ironically feature more physical transit than this particular novel. The desire to change is fast-paced, and, although she is in a familiar city, Faye feels the calling of an undefined point in her past she can’t reach.
By having Faye as a writer, Cusk allows herself to challenge philosophies of writing. Her character attends events and meets fellow creatives that reflect her anxiety at the inability to escape her past and access her future in London. Rather than remaining with Faye’s thoughts in the novel, we are instead given full access to the richly detailed lives of her contemporaries and their own stories, sections of the novel sometimes centring around them and leaving Faye behind. The book is a brilliant second instalment in the series, and a vivid and painfully accurate revisiting of Faye’s past.
20 ARTS: FILM
THE FOUNDER January 2022
Waves by Trey Edward Schults TILLEY BENNETT | FILM EDITOR
T
he destructive nature of trauma held together by unwavering love. Split into two equally moving sections connected by an image of a girl riding her bike, Schults creates a melodrama that is testament to his ability to create an immersive cinematic experience. The first half of Waves follows 17-yearold Tyler (Kelvin Harris Jr) as he navigates the politics of high school, sporting success and relentless paternal pressure. Schults creates a unique and intimate experience between the viewer and Tyler as we try to keep up, just as he does, with the persistent pace of his life. Kelvin Harris Jr is triumphant in portraying Tyler as a young man on the edge. The film is at times difficult to watch as it is so all-consuming. Whether it be through use of a brilliantly crafted soundtrack which is not only evocative of Tyler’s youth and pop culture but also a mirror into his deteriorating mental state. Equally through use of intense, intimate camera angles and an engulfing use of light and colour viewers witness a character spiral with an inability to act. It is the helpless feeling that Schults creates in the viewer that makes the tragedy all the more heart-breaking. Unexpected and life-shattering, the tragedy alters Tyler’s life forever much as Waves does for viewers.
Although in doing so he often loses sight of the immediate effect of his actions. There are also times when perhaps Schults could let viewers assume the intentions of Ronald rather than oversharing and loosing intimacy between character and viewer. However, when tragedy strikes, and Ronald’s face is painted with the glow of police lights, his expression evokes all the pain he had tried to protect his children from and makes for an even more heartbreaking story. In the second half of the film, focus is moved onto Tyler’s younger sister Emily (Taylor Russel) who is understated in comparison. The whole experience of the film alters with her character, the camera movements and soundtrack become more relaxed. However, the aftermath of the trauma remains. Emily seems to be numb to her environment, sticking to her routine but not experiencing life to the fullest. Emily’s section at times feels like a relief from the intensity of Tyler’s, however viewers are not naïve to the fact that she is also experiencing immense pain.
Tyler’s father, Ronald (Sterling K. Brown) knows first-hand the obstacles that race can put in the way of success for his children and wants to create a life for them without hardship.
Source: IMBD
With multiple nods to 1920’s German cinema and modern expressionism, Schults does not hold back in defining his style as a Filmmaker. He creates a story focused on love and how easily mutated it can be. The family that viewers almost feel like they are part of become consumed by grief, echoes of past mistakes, and conversations that they believe could’ve changed their family’s fate. Ultimately, Schults tells a tale of a family having to co-exist with a tragedy that will constantly burden them. Waves is a film that will stay with you for weeks after watching it, it is unrelenting and deeply moving.
The Batman (4th March)
Rumours about Pattinson playing Batman have been circulating for a few years now and we finally get to see it happen. Of course, since Nolan’s trilogy and Ledger’s incredibly performance as the Joker, Batman movies haven’t received great reviews from critics and audiences alike. The trailer showcases a lot of fantastic cinematography and the accuracy of the casting. Probably one of the most hyped non-comic movies of the year, Robert Eggers is back working with Willem DaFoe and Anya Taylor-Joy on this historical epic. Set in 10th century Iceland, it is a tale based on the Norse saga which inspired Shakespeare’s Hamlet. A Viking prince played by Alexander Skarsgård who seeks revenge on his uncle after he murdered his father. The film also stars Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, and Bjork. Eggers did his research into the different Vikings of Iceland, Swedish, Norway, and the Ukraine. Don’t let its connections to Hamlet fool you, it seems more a Game of Thrones story than an Early Modern English play.
New Year, New Movies ANANYA KRISHNA | CONTENT WRITER
F
ilm content writer, Ananya Krishna, brings you her top film picks for 2022’s upcoming cinema.
The Northman (8th April)
Dr Strange: Multiverse of Madness (6th May)
Undoubtedly the most anticipated Marvel film, this is the Spiderman No Way Home of 2022. With Elizabeth Olsen coming back as Scarlett Witch and the trailer teasing Evil Dr Strange who we met in What If...?. There is a lot happening in Cumberbatch’s next appearance as Stephen Strange. Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Biopic (3rd June)
Most notable for the time Lana Del Rey pined for the role of Priscilla Presley, Luhrmann’s Elvis Biopic will be released in June of this year (not with Del Rey as Priscilla). Austin Butler will play Elvis and Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis’s agent, this movie both directed and co-written by Luhrmann, whose last film was the Great Gatsby (2013). While it’s not known whether Butler will be doing his own singing or how much of Luhrmann’s usual pazazz will be seen, what we do know is that it will be a looking specifically at Presley’s
THE FOUNDER January 2022
ARTS: FILM 21
relationship with Parker – a tumultuous one that has Parker now remembered as controlling in both Presley’s career and personal life. Nope (22nd July)
Jordan Peele is back with another horror which he has written, directed, and produced which also stars Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya. Also starring Keke Palmer and Steven Yeun, not much is known about the plot and a trailer has not yet been released, however going off the poster perhaps it involves something extraterrestrial. If you liked Get Out or Us, this should be on your watchlist for this year. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (11th November)
This one is going to be very heart-breaking to watch following the death of Chadwick Boseman in 2020. Cast members from the first film have confirmed their reprisal of their roles including Letitia Wright as Shrui, Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, Danai Gurira as Okoye and Angela Bassett as Ramonda. Ryan Coogler will also continue as director and Joe Robert Cole with again be a co-writer. Again, there isn’t much to know about the plot and so begins the wait for November to see what will happen.
Source: IMBD
Source: IMBD
Spielberg’s West Side Story DEVESH SOOD | CONTENT WRITER
I
ntroducing the biggest box office bomb of 2021. West Side Story, directed by Spielberg, is a retelling of the 1957 stage play. An undeniable masterpiece, the original film adaptation from 1962 won 11 Academy Awards, yet the idea of a modern update is completely justifiable; outside being 60 years old, elements of that film have aged extremely poorly. Upon not only hearing the news of a remake, but that it would be directed by my favourite director working today, this was a hugely anticipated film. Thankfully, it was absolutely worth the wait. Zegler in her debut role, and who will star in the upcoming Shazam sequel, is a delight, bringing a warmth to Maria, the character that she first performed in her high school production. However, the absolute standouts are DeBose and Faist as Anita and Riff respectively. The former previously had been inhabited by Rita Moreno, who was not only amongst the few members of the 1962’s cast who were actually from a Latin background but actually won the Academy Award for her performance; she plays a new character in this film - a connective tissue acting as a touching tribute.
While the main structure of the story is mostly intact, Spielberg has implemented a far grittier tone. Though the dancing is still here, and the influence of Jerome Robbins choreography can still be felt, it is more restrained, used more sparingly. Nevertheless, this surprisingly works; both gangs, especially the Jets, are more flawed in this version, helping to maintain the tonal flow, something the original film struggled with. Shot by Kamiński, long-time collaborator with Spielberg, provides several striking images, often paying homage to the original. Every camera movement is intentional, planned, and presenting a true artistic vision. Recently re-watching In the Heights, frequent cuts, and ‘top-heavy’ camera movements disservice the clear hard work put into the choreography. Never is the case here; both elements blend together, creating pure spectacle, whether it would be dancing through the streets or two rival gangs on the dance floor.
Alas, Tony, played by Elgort wildly fluctuates. In the original, this character resembled the portrayal of most white men in the Kennedy era; a smiling, charming man who had moved on from the Jets. Here, this character has seen the most changes; now on parole, a more bitter and volatile character. Elgort often rises to the challenge, especially in his introduction and in the balcony scene. But he just cannot compete with his fellow performers. Furthermore, ‘I Feel Pretty’, seemed to be the only element that was in here by obligation rather than choice. Typically playing after the interval, but before the duel; a gradual reintroduction preparing the viewer for the events to come. Without an interval, and the existing effectiveness of the quintet leading straight into the duel, its inclusion seemed oddly perfunctory. Regardless, it should never have been released doomed to fail. Opening a week before the WallCrawler, this may be the clearest example of the mistreatment of numerous Fox properties under the Disney umbrella. Whilst SpiderMan deserves the love it has received, explore the West Side, and watch the master at work.
22 ARTS: MUSIC
THE FOUNDER January 2022
The Founder Recommends A
s part of a new feature, each issue of the Founder will feature some of our editor’s recommendations for their favourite songs, albums, and artists. So, have a read if you want to find something new to listen to or even be reminded of one of your own favourites.
Managing Editor, Robert’s picks:
Favourite Song: Cigarette Daydreams – Cage the Elephant
Robert has chosen the 2013 hit from American alternative rock band, Cage the Elephant. From the moment it was released 9 years ago, this has been one of Robert’s most-loved tracks. The track topped the Billboard Alternative Songs chart and was certified platinum in the US. The song comes from the band’s third studio album, Melophobia, and it is one of Robert’s favourite tracks because it never fails to provide a healthy dose of childhood nostalgia.
Favourite Artist: Frank Ocean
A firm favourite amongst the editors of the Founder, this isn’t the first time that Frank Ocean has appeared in The Founder Recommends. Robert has named Frank Ocean as his favourite artist due to his unequivocally colossal impact on R&B and 21st century music. Despite a limited discography, Frank Ocean has solidified his place as one of the greatest by winning 2 Grammys and the Brit Award for International Male Artist in 2013. Robert is a big fan of how Frank Ocean pulls his influences from many different genres.
Favourite Album: Illmatic – Nas
The debut studio album from American rapper, Nas, Illmatic is often referenced as one of the magnum opuses of hiphop. Robert loves its “effortless New York jazz undertones partnered with Nas’ reflective narration of Queens-bridge life and gritty drum loops.” Upon release in 1994, the album was met with widespread critical acclaim, even earning a five mic rating from the prestigious American hip-hop and entertainment magazine, The Source. Robert says that it is a must listen for rap and modern music fans.
Source: Spotify
Features Editor, Sela’s picks: Favourite Song: Off to the Races – Lana Del Rey
Sela has chosen Lana Del Rey’s Off to the Races as her favourite song, “mostly because of the lyrical masterpiece that it is”. She finds that every line in the sing dreamily alters between luxurious yet mundane moments. The song first appeared on Lana Del Rey’s self-titled Interscope debut, but was re-released on her second studio album, Born to Die, in 2012. Sela is obsessed with the images that the song uses.
Favourite Artist: Lana Del Rey Unsurprisingly, Sela’s favourite artist is also Lana Del Rey. Sela loves Lana’s poetry. She adores the way “she so selectively intertwines mundanity and luxury and transforms it into a life that is impossible not to speculate about”. With 8 studio albums, Sela particularly appreciates how with each new album “she invents a new era, invoking new feelings and vulnerabilities, and a new level of maturity that exceeds the last”.
Favourite Album: Born to Die – Lana Del Rey
The second studio album from the American singer and songwriter is Sela’s choice for her favourite album and she believes that it is Lana Del Rey’s strongest album. Sela thinks that the strength of this album is “rooted in its consistency - its consistency in invoking a strange feeling of worry for a woman who is so happy to be showing off her boulevard life with so much pending sadness to come”. Source: Wikimedia Commons
ARTS: MUSIC 23
THE FOUNDER January 2022
Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Taylor Swift: Review Albums of the Year 2021: Editorial Picks
KATHERINE MCGLADDERY | CONTENT WRITER
A
pril 9th, 2021, marked the release of Fearless (Taylor’s Version), becoming the first re-recorded album ever to reach number one on the Billboard 200. This success marked both a personal and commercial achievement for Taylor Swift, as she made a stand on behalf of every artist and their right to own their music. In June 2019, Scott ‘Scooter’ Braun bought Big Machine Records from Scott Borchetta, a US$300,000,000 deal which included the master recordings of Swift’s first six studio albums. She contested this and accused both men of ‘controlling a woman who did not want to be associated with them’. In a powerful move, Swift publicly explained her decision to re-record all six of her original studio albums with her new label Republic Records to assert her right over the masters to her own music. This set a brave precedent which inspired both fans and fellow artists. While highlighting the inequality unfortunately still prevalent within the music industry, Swift has managed to make something magically beautiful out of a dire situation, creating a record which simultaneously sounds highly original and comfortably familiar.
It is very poignant that Fearless was the first album that Swift chose to re-record. The best-selling album of 2009 and the most awarded country album in history, Fearless is an ode both to simpler days and to the pains of growing up, a perfectly crafted diary of the highs and lows of teenage years which retains its magic even now. Its bittersweet messages, countless hooks and instantly memorable melodies carry across seamlessly to ‘Taylor’s version’, proving that Fearless has stood the test of time and has lasting longevity and meaning, standing as a testament to Swift’s musical talent and endurance.
The re-recordings achieve the perfect balance of keeping the components of the original songs while imbuing them with subtle improvements. The production is crisper and clearer, making the diaristic delivery of the album even more intimate. Swift’s voice has matured over the years, and she showcases her vocal prowess in both the original Fearless songs and six new songs from ‘the Vault’. Love Story retains its swooningly romantic, anthemic quality, and Breathe features the original duo vocals from Colbie Caillat while managing to improve on the original with richer sonority. Similarly, Forever and Always is given an acoustic upgrade with a raw piano backing which highlights Swift’s maturity.
FINN MURPHY | MUSIC EDITOR
A particular standout is Mr Perfectly Fine with characteristically acerbic, intelligent lyrics and emotional delivery which bridges the gap between 2009 Swift and her current incarnation. There is also a hint to Swift’s later work with the line ‘Mr Casually Cruel’ which many fans immediately associate with All Too Well from 2010’s Red. Widely regarded as her most powerful song with its heartrending vocals and incredibly moving lyrics, it is interesting to see the beginnings of the song take shape in the previously unheard Mr Perfectly Fine and to draw parallels between her bodies of work. Overall, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is a triumph in every sense. Genuine love and affection have been poured into this re-recording, evident from the new and improved sound. Swift’s commitment to fulfilling the vision of her past self and bringing it forward into a new decade in the face of adversary to the delight of old fans is sure to introduce a new generation of fans to this timeless album.
Source: Instagram
S
kin – Joy Crookes My first pick for the best albums of the year goes to Joy Crookes’ Skin. Her debut studio album is a work of art. The British singer-songwriter combines her heritage and identity to create a souljazz record with beautiful lyrics and rich vocals. The album opens with the track I Don’t Mind which seamlessly segues into 19th Floor in which Crookes uses her illustrious storytelling abilities to bring us a song that is full of character and history. The stand-out songs on the album come in the form of When You Were Mine, accompanied by a music video that celebrates the beauty of her hometown, London, and the soul-pop hit Feet Don’t Fail Me Now. Crookes has recently been nominated for two Brit Awards at the 2022 ceremony proving what a great year she has had. Collapsed in Sunbeams – Arlo Parks
This album featured in my picks for the October edition of Founder Recommends, however it has to be featured in my albums of the year due to the impact that it had. Another debut studio album, Arlo Parks combines poetic lyricism with heavenly instrumental melodies. It is difficult to choose stand-out tracks from an album that is pure perfection, with each song complimenting the one before it. The opening track, Collapsed in Sunbeams, acts as a lead-in for the rest of the album, in which Parks reads a poem defining the feelings of the entire collection. There is something about this album that I will never get tired of. It is an intimate portrait of life in its purest forms. The universality of experience in the album is contrasted by the hyper-specific names that Parks uses. It is a triumph that has received wide-spread critical acclaim, winning the Mercury Prize in 2021 and a nomination at the 64th Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Music Album. This is truly an album that everyone must listen to.
The Walls Are Way Too Thin – Holly Humberstone
Whilst this pick is not a full album, but rather an EP, it is too good to miss off the list. The British musician from Grantham released the EP in November 2021 with Interscope and Polydor Records. The sixtrack album is a thing of beauty in which Humberstone is able to work with catchy choruses and emotionally charged verses to form unforgettable music. Scarlett stands out as one of the lead tracks from the EP, and features one of the best lyrics I think I’ve ever heard: “We go together like bad British weather on the one day I made plans”. It is this lyrical genius that allows Holly Humberstone’s vocal talent to shine. She is predicted to be a future star in the music industry and has been awarded the Brit Rising Star Award 2022. She is one to watch and I can’t wait to see what she does next.
24 SPORTS
THE FOUNDER January 2022
Manchester (Not Very) United
OLI GENT | SPORTS EDITOR
I
t was supposed to all be so rosy for the Red Devils. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was at the wheel, with all his boys as the backing singers. Carrington was truly a happy camp for the first time since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, and the players were enjoying their training sessions. They weren’t, however, enjoying their time spent on the competitive pitch, and as the pressure grew on the Norwegian club legend, the Manchester United board did what they hoped they’d have never had to do. Solskjaer was dismissed and replaced firstly by one of the most prominent Source: EPA of the supporting choir The opening game of Michael Carrick, who the German’s tenure then followed his former saw United squeeze past team-mate through the exit Crystal Palace in front of after an unbeaten run in a sell-out Old Trafford temporary charge. Upon crowd, and the opening the sacking of Solskjaer, the half hour of the game United board made it very gave home fans plenty clear their intentions: they to get excited about. would search for an interim Rangnick’s new manager head coach to see out the bounce immediately rest of the season, quite took effect as he shook like Solskjaer did in 2018 up the formation and after the departure of Jose the approach out of Mourinho, keeping constant possession, deploying his much of the coaching revered 4-2-2-2 system and backroom staff that that had earned him much had all got very chummy praise in his time at RB throughout Ole’s reign. Leipzig. United were up The ‘Godfather of the for it from minute one: Gegenpress’ arrived a high press forced the to tremendous fanfare Eagles into unforced and excitement, as Ralf errors at the back, and Rangnick set foot in the the pressures were lead Premier League for the first from the very front by time. The German’s job Cristiano Ronaldo, so title? Interim manager, with often targeted for his a consultancy role upstairs ‘lack’ of work ethic and to follow for a further two defensive contribution years. at the turnover of possession.
What has followed from that excellent 30 minutes has given no United fan any encouragement that there has been change at the football club, despite the leavings of Messrs Carrick, Kieran McKenna and Martyn Pert. On the field, the 4-2-2-2 doesn’t seem geared to fit the profile of United player, with star signing Jadon Sancho having to adjust to a tucked ‘number 10’ position, whilst Bruno Fernandes has had to amend his game slightly coming from wider areas. One could argue that neither the front two nor the attacking midfield duo vacancies suit Marcus Rashford, whose form has been nothing short of dismal since his return from injury, whilst the debate still roars on as to whether starlet Mason Greenwood is a right winger or a natural striker.
So, what could the reasoning be behind United’s continuous poor form despite their change of manager and apparent alteration of style of play?
The main reason is the ownership and the incessantly poor running of the club. Within the fanbase and amongst pundits, United’s staff recruitment policy has been labelled as that of ‘jobs for the boys’ – Solskjaer, a Glazers puppet, was at the helm, with his merry men of Mike Phelan, formerly Ferguson’s assistant as the experienced right-hand. McKenna and Carrick, with only one UEFA Pro coaching licence between them, took the training sessions, with technical director Darren Fletcher joining in training sessions to make up numbers and act as another coach: another coach with no CV.
In allowing coaching staff with no credible credentials to learn on the job, the Glazers knew their power was protected. The fans should be happy to see United old boys in the dugout, the players will be happy to have former United legends as their coaches, and more importantly, the owners could rely on Solskjaer not to disrespect or speak truthfully about them to the media: he had landed his dream job and was not willing to throw it away easily. In searching for an interim manager instead of a permanent solution immediately, the board kicked that responsibility for the summer, in turn sacrificing the current season at stake at the end of November, just four months into a ten-month campaign. It is said that United are unlikely to do any business in the January transfer market, and with an issue as pressing as the midfield situation is, it would be almost suicidal and criminal to hinder Rangnick and not back him in potentially his only term in the hotseat. The second reason is the players themselves, who should take some responsibility for recent poor performances. Captain Harry Maguire has carried a lot of the blame, whilst the fullbacks have also had their pelters. Fred and Scott McTominay are, of course, at the butt of most discontentment when it comes to team selection, and their displays have been equally as dire with United losing almost all their midfield battles this season.
SPORTS 25
THE FOUNDER January 2022 Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Edinson Cavani have taken criticism as well, yet their disappointing form points more towards the coaching and the system than any individual issue. All four are often starved of good service when it comes to balls penetrating the opposition’s backbone and playing through the lines, with Fred and McTominay not the best passers, and the centre-backs and full-backs have been instructed to remain conservative in their movement in possession, hence hindering the flow of United’s attacking play. It therefore means that Rangnick’s side have since become habituative in the counter-attacking style of the previous regime, and now that the demands are greater from a manager that prioritises highoctane pressing and physicality, there has been rumour of unrest from players that haven’t bought into the new era of pure hard graft.
Some members of the squad are understood to have leaked their disdain at the situation at United to the press, and the club were highly scrutinised on the matter. Donny van de Beek, Jesse Lingard and Dean Henderson were the names raised, harkening back to the previous manager’s empty summer promise of more firstteam opportunities. That hasn’t happened, even under the new regime, with the same core of players relied upon.
If there are any stones left unturned from the Solskjaer era, no matter how joyous it was, the same problems will ensue at Old Trafford. Rangnick must be given time and backing to succeed, and when he moves upstairs at the end of the season, he must have a say in who follows him as the new permanent manager of Manchester United. It could be a long journey ahead.
It would be disrespectful so early into his tenure to label Rangnick a puppet like Solskjaer was, but it remains clear that there are members of the backroom and playing staff that have are being kept and relied on against his will.
Fletcher, United’s ‘technical director’, now finds himself in the technical area alongside Rangnick, shouting instructions at the players on the pitch, but where is his world-renowned coaching reputation that all staff at Manchester United should have?
Why Does the Middle East Suddenly Care about European Football?
TOM GIBBS | CONTENT WRITER
N
ewcastle United have started their muchanticipated spending spree following the introduction of their new Saudi Arabian owners. In footballing terms, this is objectively an exciting project - it is easy to get lost fantasising about a return to glory for the football-obsessed, northern city. However, with all this buzz it is easy to forget to ask some important questions. One of which is: why exactly are Middle Eastern nations suddenly interested in British football clubs - or foreign football clubs at all?
Recent times have seen the footballing world become dominated by clubs backed by
Gulf-state money. Where this was once alarming, we are now approaching a mass state of acceptance. Yet just 20 years ago, the idea that a sovereign state would invest in a foreign, European club would’ve been preposterous. What happened, and why? The answer can be summarised in one word: propaganda. We’ll address this, but first let’s address a factor that definitely wasn’t at play in this rush of takeovers.
Source: The Sun After reports in the summer of 2021 that Qatari-owned PSG rejected a £200m bid for Kylian Mbappe - as he entered the last year of his contract with no intention of signing a new deal - you’d think it doesn’t need to be explained that money is not a factor in Newcastle-esque takeovers. Yet some still believe that financial incentives exist for states looking to invest in football clubs. To dispel any doubt, Lars Tegtmeier and Stefan Prigge published a study that assessed the validity of football stocks as a purely financial investment. The most important line from their findings?
“Football stocks are not attractive to pure financial investors. Thus, football clubs need to know more about which side benefits are appreciated by which kind of investor”. Even taking this conclusion with a pinch of salt, when Middle Eastern regimes are dealing with oil profits magnitudes more lucrative than football share dividends, it doesn’t seem like there is much financial reason for state sovereign wealth funds to take a risk on European football clubs.
26 SPORTS This hypothesis can also help untangle the bizarre Mbappe transfer saga. What ‘side benefit’ would keeping the Frenchman for an extra year at the expense of £200m plus wages bring? The answer: brand value. After adding Lionel Messi to their ranks in the same summer, the Qatari ownership couldn’t turn down the chance to field quite possibly the most marketable front three in the history of the modern game. As far as PR is concerned, this was the jackpot.
This brings us onto the reason Gulf states are taking interest in European football: propaganda. Football is a direct line into the homes of millions of people. Advertisers pay millions every year to place adverts in and around football because it allows them to utilise subliminal messaging - why not do this with a state instead of a company? It wouldn’t be a stretch to consider what the Gulf states are doing as a sophisticated form of advertising. In recent times, many Gulf states have come under increasing scrutiny over their respective human rights records. High profile cases of this include the mistreatment of migrant workers used to construct Qatar’s world cup facilities and Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The term often ascribed to the implementation of such propaganda is “sportswashing”. In essence, it is the attempt by sovereign regimes to launder their international reputation via the use of sport. Any who doubt its effectiveness need only to look at the adoration Manchester City fans have for Sheikh Mansor and his ongoing project at the Etihad.
While often showered in praise, rarely are Abu Dhabi criticised (even by the media) for using a historic, English football club as an arm of foreign policy. When criticism does occasionally arise, it usually focuses solely on the state’s human rights record - rather than the symbiosis between this and their sporting success. The result is a chilling
‘balanced’ take, that Abu Dhabi’s involvement in Manchester City is good and their human rights record is bad. Rather than the reality that Manchester City’s success is the direct product of human rights abuse - not a separate part of Sheikh Mansor’s portfolio. What’s more, the place football holds within European culture is gargantuan. The implication of wielding significant influence within European football is that you also hold significant cultural influence as well. Through this lens, an underachieving football club in the north-east of England - with a huge base of passionate fans suddenly starts to seem less like a poor financial investment, and more like an opportunity to expand one’s influence beyond its borders. With Qatar and Abu Dhabi cementing themselves as powers in both European football and western culture, it is no surprise that the Middle East’s biggest country has entered the conversation. If Saudi Arabia can replicate even a fraction of the success that its neighbours have seen, it could be a crucial step in winning favour with western powers and population. In many ways the Newcastle takeover was inevitable.
THE FOUNDER January 2022 However, if the floodgates of
Gulf-state money pouring into the sport can’t be stopped, at the very least fans need to be more informed of the cost of such a takeover - the ramifications of which need to be carefully considered. These historic clubs and their fans deserve more than to become a vehicle of propaganda in a global game of political chess. The big question is: if the success that
entails is solely dependent on human rights abuse, is it worth it? It is a question that Newcastle fans are the next in line to answer - but in all likelihood, they won’t be the last. 1. Pierre Gasly 2018 – to date Gasly has seen a rather rocky time in the F1. After proving his worth in 2017 after replacing Daniil Kvyat in Malaysia, the Frenchman was quickly signed to Toro Rosso before moving up to replace Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull. However, he underwent pressure and comparisons to superstar and recent world champion Max Verstappen. This went so far that after the summer break, Gasly was sent back to Toro Rosso. This did not deter the Frenchman, as he bounced back and secured his best-ever race result of P2 in Brazil. This success continued into 2020. Such resilience is seen in the sport quite often, but often between wins and losses, not tossed about between different teams – something which is undoubtedly distracting to a driver and their mental state.
Top Five Most Underrated Formula 1 Drivers CYANN FIELDING | LIFESTYLE EDITOR
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ormula 1 has had the privilege of hosting some monumental drivers over the years, without doubt the most successful still currently being in the sport. And whilst they are often talked about, and still are within the commentary of each race, there have been and are drivers looked past. Those whose talent may be better honed in another car, drivers who had missed opportunities and so on. So here are the top five most underrated Formula 1 drivers:
2. Felipe Massa 20022017
A bit more of a throwback. Back in 2008, many argued that Massa deserved the championship title just as much as Hamilton. With an astonishing fifteen seasons completed, with eleven wins and 41 podiums, missing the championship by one point in 2008 really was a sting. But it did show his capabilities within the sport, and how he was just as deserving a winner as Lewis Hamilton. With such a long career in the sport, it is obvious he deserves to be on this list. He was always so close.
3. Robert Kubica 20062009 (And a race in 2021) Robert Kubica is a name that still lingers currently in F1 after competing in a race in 2021. Kubica is the only Polish driver to compete in F1. And after an amazing year in 2010, he was quickly being covered more by press.
However, following an accident in 2011 where he had to have a partial amputation of his forearm, along with multiple other injuries, he was unable to start that season’s championship. Unfortunately, this also meant the end to his F1 career. 4. Marcus Ericsson 20142018
Named by current McLaren driver, Daniel Ricciardo, as one of the most underrated drivers, he compared himself to Ericsson, commenting how he was always as quick as he was. Ericsson as a junior driver was also very highly rated, but when he came into F1 he was competing alongside other drivers who were also being lauded, and the reputation he had appeared to have did not last.
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THE FOUNDER January 2022 5. Juan Pablo Montoya 20012006 Montoya managed to race five and a half seasons with F1, where he was evidently at the peak of his racing game. With seven wins, and 30 podium finishes, Montoya was undoubtedly a superb driver. He also holds the fastest speed in F1, which he achieved at the Italian Grand Prix with a speed of 372.6km/hr. But much to the racing world’s surprise, Montoya’s contract was terminated halfway through the 2006 championship, ending his career in the sport abruptly. Over the years, Formula 1 has truly seen some remarkable drivers, many of which are currently in the sport. With the next season full of underdogs working their way up through the ranks, this list may see some different names in a year from now.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Is Zhou Just Another Pay Driver? FINLEY MCDONALD | CONTENT WRITER
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he 2022 Formula One World Championship line-up is now complete with Alpine Academy driver Guanyu Zhou stepping up to join Alfa Romeo Sauber for the coming season. Zhou had been linked with a Formula One seat for the past two seasons due to the immense backing he could bring to a team as well as the bonus that he will be the first Chinese F1 driver to race in the sport. But many do argue that Zhou is not the right man for the drive and is only entering due to the reported $30 million of Chinese sponsorship he has behind him and drivers such as Formula Two championship leader Oscar Piastri should instead be taking the seat. Guanyu Zhou’s junior career does not work to settle the debate either, with him spending several more years in F2 and other junior series than his Alfa Romeo seat rivals.
Guanyu Zhou began karting in 2007 in China at the age of 8 years old, moving to the UK in 2012 to compete in a more competitive environment. During his karting career, he won several championships before moving up to openwheel racing, entering the 2015 Italian F4 Championship where he was awarded the best rookie, ending the year as vice-champion. In 2016, he moved to the F3 European Championship, competing for three years but never finishing higher than eighth in the standings. Moving to the final step before the F1 World Championship, FIA Formula Two, in 2019, Zhou finished seventh in his debut season, winning the rookie of the year award. During this time, he also joined the Renault academy and worked as a development driver for the team. He returned to the series in the disrupted 2020 season, winning his first race of the series and achieved six podium finishes. However, he was never truly in consideration for a Formula One drive with any team during this time with drivers such as Yuki Tsunoda, Mick Schumacher, and Nikita Mazepin moving up in 2020. Zhou began 2021 as one of the oldest on the Formula 2 grid. He recently completed his third season of FIA Formula Two, finishing third behind rookie Oscar Piastri also of the Alpine Driver Academy, and Ferrari academy driver Robert Shwartzman.
Source: formulaone.com
As the 2022 Formula One regulation changes dramatically with the introduction of 18” wheel rims and the return of ground effect cars not seen since the 1980s the playing field will be levelled for all as they must become acclimatised to the new law. Experience of the previous formula shouldn’t translate too heavily into the new generation of cars, however, and the most recent graduates of F2 may even have the edge initially over their older, more experienced rivals due to their prior familiarity on the difficult and sensitive 18” tires, as well as the stiffer suspension that comes as a side-effect. It would be unfair to judge Guanyu Zhou’s Formula One career before it has even started. Many drivers over the years have exceeded expectations in junior formula but have then failed to live up to them once entering F1 because of the immense pressure of competing in upper echelons of the sport. With drivers such as Théo Pourchaire part of the Sauber driver academy looking for a seat for 2023, Zhou will have to prove not just to the fans that he is of F1 calibre, but also to his team. The 2022 Formula One season starts in just under two months, and only then will Zhou show if he is F1 ready or needs to Zhou.
THE FOUNDER January 2022
