The Founder - Volume 5, Issue 12

Features

Ashley Coates interviews John Sergeant Page 18

Arts

Chelsi Challis reviews Journey’s End Page 10

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Volume 5 | Issue 12 Wednesday 8 June 2011 thefounder.co.uk

the independent student newspaper of royal holloway, university of london

RHUL Sport gets a Lotter Money

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Students at Royal Holloway, University of London are being urged to give sport another go after receiving £85,486 in National Lottery

Open Mon - Sun from 11am

funding from Sport England.

Along with 40 other projects, RHULSPORT - Beactive is being backed by Sport England’s £10 million Active Universities fund to get more university students playing sport, as part of the mass participa-

Features

Lunch Deal: 2 Courses for £8.95 (Mon-Fri)

Mark Hyndman

tion legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The RHULSPORT - Beactive project will offer social and structured sport, through three types of session – Dance Sport, Drop in Sport and Football Fives. Dance Sport and Drop in Sport will take place on campus, while students taking part in Football Fives will be provided free transport to local playing fields. This aims to overcome the barrier that prevents many students from doing sport.

Royal Holloway Principal, Professor Paul Layzell, said: “Sport is an integral part of many students’ lives already and thanks to this additional funding, we will be able to encourage more students back into sport through RHULSPORT – Beactive. The project will offer students the opportunity not only to stay active through sport but also to develop important skills that will enhance their employability.

Through this extra curricular activity, students will be able to develop Continued Page 23

Comment & Debate

Felicity King discusses the reality of rape

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SURHUL President elect Dan Cooper tells us why we need to campaign

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The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

The Founder The Independent Student Newspaper of Royal Holloway, University of London Email: editor@thefounder.co.uk

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Jessica Phillipson News Editor 2011-12

tf editorial team Editor-in-Chief Jack Lenox

Editors Tom Shore (10-11) Ashley Coates & David Bowman (11-12) News Editor Pictures Tom Seal (10-11) Julian Farmer Jessica Phillipson (11-12) Amy Taheri Comment & Debate Nick Coleridge-Watts (10-11) Vacant (11-12) Features Editor Kate Brook (10-11) Fiz King (11-12) Film Editor Daniel Collard (10-11) Nathaniel Horne (11-12) Arts Editor Julia Armfield

The Founder is the independent student newspaper of Royal Holloway, University of London. We distribute at least 4,000 free copies every fortnight during term time around campus and to popular student venues in and around Egham.

The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Editor-in-Chief or of The Founder Publications Ltd, especially of comment and opinion 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 this fortnight’s stories.

Music Editor David Bowman (10-11) Vacant (11-12)

For advertising and sponsorship enquiries, please contact the Business Director: advertising@thefounder.co.uk

Sub-Editors Heather Rimington (10-11) Julia Armfield Elinor Gittins (11-12) Emily Lees (11-12)

The Founder is published by The Founder Publications Ltd and printed by Mortons Print Ltd

Web www.thefounder.co.uk Sport Editor Johanna Svensson (10-11) Email Vacant (2011-12) editor@thefounder.co.uk

Designed by Tom Shore & Jack Lenox

Holloway Entrepreneurs win prestigious Award

All copyright is the exclusive property of The Founder Publications Ltd No part of this publication is to be reproduced, stored on a retrieval system or submitted in any form or by any means, without prior permission of the publisher © The Founder Publications Ltd. 2011, London House, 7-11 Prescott Place, London SW4 6BS

For the second year running, Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs student society has won a major national award.

At an award ceremony held by the National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs (NACUE), the 2000 member-strong society won the 2011 Venture Creation Catalyst Award. This is given to the society who is seen to most successfully motivate students to start their own enterprises.

Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs society president, Luka BlackmanGibbs, commented on the triumph: “We’re incredibly proud to have been recognised for fulfilling our

Royal Holloway gender pay gap tribunal concludes Heather Rimington Sub-Editor The Founder has been following the gender pay gap case in the Employment Tribunal that has been taking place between Professor Schafer and Royal Holloway. Professor Elizabeth Schafer claims that she has been consistently underpaid in comparison to her male colleagues.

The case, which began on 3rd November, has finally reached its conclusion.

Principal Professor Layzell has issued the following message to the professoriate, stating that: “Both the College and Professor Schafer are delighted to announce that it has been possible to resolve this matter amicably. All ongoing litigation has been brought to an end.” He emphasised that the college have introduced the new professorial pay banding system in order to address: “any perceived or actual flaws in its policies and procedures in respect of pay and otherwise”. He conclud-

ed this message to his colleagues by reiterating that Professor Schafer was a highly valued member of the academic staff and that both sides: “look forward to putting this dispute behind us and working very positively together in the future.”

The Founder have had access to the Employment Tribunal final judgement document and can provide further information on the case as a whole. Professor Schafer, as part of her defence, was required to cite four male comparators.

These are male colleagues who she believed provided like work as Professors, but were more highly rewarded for it on account of gender.

Though the Employment Tribunal reserved judgment at this point, they did unanimously agree that: “The Claimant [Professor Schafer] is employed on like work with each of the named comparators.” However, in order for a final judgement to be reached then it must be proved that there is a genuine material factor in regard to gender.

The case was rendered more

complex by the discussion of retention payments. These are payments made by the College to a Professor in order to retain them at Royal Holloway rather than taking up a new post at another university.

The Tribunal examined a number of examples of retention payments made by Royal Holloway to certain Professors. They concluded that though some of these were proportionate to the situation, others were not. The highly subjective manner of this system discussed only increased the complexity of the case in regards to the discussion of the gender pay gap.

The Employment Tribunal concluded that in order to reach a final judgement the court would have to re-list for another day in order to provide more oral submissions. This conclusion was reached considering the “importance of this case” combined with the “range of issues” and “number of possible variable outcomes”. The court defined a specific question that should be posed: “by what proportion ...

promise for the students of Royal Holloway. I am delighted that we have again been recognised as one the UK’s most successful enterprise societies. Our students at Royal Holloway are increasingly proving that they are serious about their business ideas, and we have triumphed in our ability to support these students. It’s incredibly touching to be recognised by NACUE for all of our hard work.”

Last year, the society won the first 2010 New Society of the Year Award, making this active and flourishing society one to watch.

matter in court.

should the Tribunal conclude that any or each of the three retention payments ... has been justified such as to make good the genuine material factor defence?”

The message sent by the Principal indicates that the case was not re-opened and the Employment Tribunal were obliged to reserve their judgment. The University College Union, who defended Professor Schafer, are yet to release a press statement on this matter.

The message sent by the Principal

indicates that Royal Holloway will not contest the Employment Tribunal’s reserved judgment. Professor Schafer has spoken to The Founder and comments: “I am extremely pleased that the Reading Employment Tribunal established a legal precedent in accepting the principle that male and female professors perform ‘like work”. It is yet to be seen whether this will inspire other female professors to pursue this

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The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

News Students’ Union bars win prizes Amy Norman The Students’ Union at Royal Holloway, University of London, has won both the gold and silver awards in the NUS Best Bar None scheme. The Union received a gold award for Medicine and the Stumble Inn, a silver for Tommy’s Bar and a silver Green Impact Award for the Students’ Union as a whole.

The Best Bar None awards are aimed at promoting the responsible management of licensed premises and to reduce alcohol related disorder by building a good relationship between the licensed trade, police and local authorities. Therefore the venues were judged by these values rather than their popularity or entertainment. The Union have always been keen to maintain a good relationship with local residents, even though some have said that this is to the detriment of its student clientele.

Sean O’Donnell, SU General Manager, said: “We are absolutely thrilled with these awards and they are a testament to all of the hard work undertaken by our permanent

DaveMoorcroft.com and student staff members. It is also fantastic recognition for our team who have put so much into making our bars and venues a safe and enjoyable environment for the students and guests here at Royal Holloway.”

The Green Impact Awards, a

programme managed by the NUS, accredited Royal Holloway with a silver award for sustainability.

Gold awards went to Bristol, Queen Mary and Bangor. Manchester, Roehampton and Brunel were awarded and Bronze certification.

Other silver awards went to KCL,

LSE and Nottingham.

Rachel Pearson, SU President said: “It is important to the Students’ Union to operate in the most sustainable way possible in order to reflect the concerns of its student membership and take its impact on the environment seriously. The Stu-

dents’ Union will continue to work with the National Union of Students’ in order to raise awareness about green issues and minimize its impact on the environment. We hope to be awarded gold in the very near future!”

Pay Your Way to Uni? be open to the very wealthiest.

The Minister defended this plan saying that wealthy students could In the same month that the Liberal in effect subsidise the students from less privileged backgrounds and Democrats have firmly vowed to thus enhance opportunities for somake their voices heard in the coalition, the Conservatives appear cial mobility. Critics have claimed, however, that such a system would to have pulled off a spectacular Uturn regarding the decision to allow only serve to set up a socially the richest students to pay for their divided community between those who have paid for their place and places the top universities. those who have worked for their Current Universities Minster place in higher education.

David Willetts has quickly backWilletts proposal immediately tracked on a new idea that would sparked a government row and potentially allow wealthy students David Cameron was quick to deny to pay tuition fees of anything these proposals, stating that: “Acbetween £12,000 and £28,000 similar to the fees paid by most in- cess should be based on ability to learn - not ability to pay. That has ternational students. Additionally, been made completely clear.’ Wilcandidates for these places would letts was soon to follow these sentinot be eligible for the state subsiments adding: ‘There is absolutely dised student loan, meaning such no question of wealthy students an option would only realistically

Vikki Vile

being able to buy their way into university.’

Denials of these plans have not stopped further criticism of the coalition government. Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said ‘We risk turning the clock back to a time when breeding rather than brains were required to get on in life.’

Similar thoughts were reflected by NUS president, Aaron Porter.

The coalition’s junior partner, the Liberal Democrats, have remained tight-lipped over the affair. After such severe losses in the recent council elections it remains to be seen how long it will take Nick Clegg and co. to find their voices over a subject that continues to threaten to divide the Conservative Prime Minister and his Liberal deputy.

Universities Minister David Willetts

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The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

News

School of Modern Language’s Dr Hemus lauded for first book Thomas Seal News Editor 2010-11 Dr. Ruth Hemus’ first book, Dada’s Women, has been shortlisted for the prestigious R. H. Gapper Book Prize, awarded by the Society for French Studies.

The prize is in its 11th year, and was ultimately awarded to Prof.

Ardis Butterfield for The Familiar Enemy: Chaucer, Language and Nation in the Hundred Years War, published by Oxford University

Press. However, Dr. Hemus, who works in Royal Holloway’s School of Modern Languages, was one of three authors to receive special commendation from the panel.

Dr. Hemus developed the book from her PhD thesis, which she completed as a mature student.

She commented on the accolade: “I feel very privileged to have been granted this additional recognition by the Society for French Studies, which plays such an important role in nurturing a wide scholarly community.” She also cited RHUL’s

Barley Mow film wins Best Short Award at BFI Festival established version of the tale is realistic or was perhaps used to conceal what really happened.

The film was produced by Anna Rutherford, an Englefield Mrs Rutherford and written and Green resident, created a short film directed by her husband, Don Rulast year inspired by the history of therford, who set up Sweet Pictures, her local pub, the Barley Mow. She a television production company, entered her film, The Last Duel, when they met four years ago. in the British Independent Film The production of the film was Festival and won the award for Best funded partly by the couple and Short Film. It was filmed mostly partly by friends and acquainton a field just outside of Englefield ances in Englefield Green. Anna Green, but some scenes were also Rutherford was very pleased with shot in Windsor and at the Sun Inn. their film’s success: “It is great we The film recounts a duel that were able to recreate a small part of took place in 1852 on Priest Hill, history and gain recognition for our located between Englefield Green efforts.” and Windsor Castle. The fight was To win the competition their between several Frenchmen aiming film had to compete with many to settle an argument. Frederick admirable productions, notably Cournet, a soldier, was shot during one that starred John Hurt, whose the duel and came to Rutherford’s film accolades include Harry Potter, local pub, the Barley Mow, to die.

The Elephant Man and Nineteen The film explores whether the Eighty-Four.

Elinor Gittins Sub-Editor 2011-12

Early Career Leverhulme Fellowship as instrumental to the book’s success.

The book has also received glowing reviews from the press.

Peter Read from the Times Literary Supplement found it a “riveting read”, alongside Richard Sheppard, from the Modern Language Review, who declared that: “Hemus’s book is a first-rate piece of work: ‘it is thorough, punchy and beautifully produced, and it takes us into unfamiliar areas.”

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The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

Comment & Debate

Looking Back

at you). Besides which, not many universities offer that unique backwater quirk of Holloway’s in which you are guaranteed to bump into people you know as soon as you step outside. So back off.

Of course, some frustrations need to be addressed; the fact that all university brochures feature Founder’s building but neglect to include the architectural nightmare which constitutes the rest of campus for one. Then, of course, there’s the archetypal Hollowegian. Although likely as not they’re a minority, shit sticks nonetheless, and Royal Holloway has unintentionally cultivated the image of being an enclave of Jack Wills-flaunting, blue-blooded nobbers. Girls with names like Daphne and Xenobia patrol the dance floor of the SU in search of some tanked rugger bugger who’ll use them like a piece of meat and then move on to a fresher model at the earliest opportunity. Why? Because they can that’s why.

And now, finally, we arrive at the ultimate Royal Holloway tumour; the Student’s Union. Ah, the SU! That fine body of men and women elected and appointed to cater to the needs of the student body, and that dire building they’re proud to call their own. The SU has been, to be frank, a fixed point in a changing world, as it has consistently offered itself to all and sundry as a source of puzzlement, frustration and hostility, never flinching from strict adherence to the SU mission statement ‘to set a low standard and fail to maintain it’. The gang of careerists who compete for admin jobs are usually drawn from the biological subcategory of humanity known as Cuntus Mediocritus, dedicated towards the improvement of their C.V.s and the neglect of their duties. But I digress.

The point of this article is not to lambaste the university, although I couldn’t resist a few parting shots.

The point is that actually, minutia aside, this has been a pretty great three years. I cannot help but say that Royal Holloway College is a rather awesome place. Campus life is rich with a pluralism which the cliques of school and conformity of the workplace are unable to provide. Never again will we find ourselves in an environment in which flickr/cayusa nobody is better than anybody else, and where the person you chose to opportunity to slam the university when I arrived was that Holloway to London, having either to catch be is acceptable at face value. Tolerthroughout the year, I would devote was too out-of-the-way. A handful the annoyingly early last train or ance abounds, its warm embrace my last words towards the ultimate of pubs and restaurants were all do an all-nighter and wander the permeating from Founder’s quad castigation of the establishment. the towns of Egham and Englefield streets in search of shelter for three and Crosslands through to every And indeed he was right, as at the Green provided in terms of enterhours before Waterloo opens. True, society or event, no matter how big time I intended to do just that. tainment. Students inclined towards Holloway is a tad isolated. But you or small, popular or culty.

Sadly however, looking back at the intensive partying lamented the knew that before you got here, For me Holloway has offered times I’ve had during my tour of need to commute to neighbouring unless of course it was your safety lifelong friendships, great laughs, duty, I am prevented from giving Windsor (or Staines if you’re not net during uni applications and and the odd heartbreak. If I had the old place too rough a ride. fussy about the smell), or indeed you never intended to come (that’s my time over, I wouldn’t change a One of the first criticisms I heard to go the whole hog and mission it right Oxbridge rejects, I’m laughing thing. Screw you Establishment!

It’s his last edition with us, and Free Speech’s knight in shining armour, Nick Coleridge-Watts has wise words for those of us he leaves behind.

Nick Coleridge-Watts Comment & Debate Editor Tom Shore – Renaissance Man, wanted war criminal, and former co-editor of this August publication – winced when I told him that I intended my final article to be a reflection on three years of Royal Holloway. He correctly predicted that, having taken every

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The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

Comment & Debate The Cuts, the ACA and the Marginalised Majority David Bowman Editor 2011-12

After savage cuts to higher education and the breaking of the Liberal Democrats campaign pledges to oppose any raise in tuition fees, it is no surprise that student activism saw a massive, and perhaps much needed, resurgence in the last year.

The vast majority of universities, including RHUL, have announced that they will be charging the maximum £9000 per year, in order to protect their brand image. This is despite the government modelling their policy on the assumption that the average fee would be £7500. As a result of this there are suggestions that there may have to be further cuts to research in order to cover the massively increased student loans.

At the forefront of the RHUL response to the cut is the Royal Holloway Anti-Cuts Alliance (ACA). The ACA have, at the very least, made for an interesting academic year with their mock funeral of higher education, sit in of The Founder’s Building corridor and the Arts Building, and the occupation of RHUL’s building in Bedford Square.

The first time the ACA came into direct conflict with a singular proportion of the student body was at the General Meeting, through their proposal of a motion that would oblige the SURHUL to provide financial and legal support.

A number of sports and societies presidents reacted to this by messaging their members urging them to oppose the motion at the GM on the claims that it would compromise the ability of societies to operate on financial grounds.

Despite the SURHUL being filled with a rabble of angry sportspeople, the motion, after a very long evening, was eventually blocked on constitutional grounds. The demonstrations that took place in London and nationwide over Christmas were depicted by the media as becoming increasingly violent. This lead to the NUS’s president, Aaron Porter, not standing for re-election as it became clearer that he no longer supported the students he was supposed to be representing.

The perceived increase in the militant nature of the general anti-cuts movement has lead to the majority of students feeling marginalised and somehow finding themselves opposing it, despite their views

flickr/wstera2

One of our incumbent editors, David Bowman, recounts the past year’s events within the student movement and addresses what is next for Royal Holloway’s own students’ union. often being in line with those of the ACA. Just as it seemed that support for the ACA was at a low, Daniel Lemberger Cooper was controversially elected as SURHUL president for the next academic year. Controversy stemmed from allegation made that he and his campaign team had committed electoral misconduct.

This was allegedly through sending an email asking for support to the Russian Society and unconfirmed reports that he had campaigned on a slate in a week where the highest ever number of complaints were registered across all candidates.

Even though evidence supposedly existed with regard to the email, no action was taken by the SUHRUL, despite other campaign teams having their campaign hours cut after breaking the rules. This could potentially be due to the absence of Rachel Pearson, SURHUL president, for the duration of the elections.

This leaves the SURHUL in an interesting position. Many of its

elected members have expressed, in private or otherwise, that they are hostile towards the ACA. This could mean that Mr. Cooper may find it rather difficult to carry out his job, if he stands by the more radical principles that lead him to the office in the first place. Ideally, we will have a situation where SURHUL are able to exploit Mr. Cooper’s pro-activity, whilst still ensuring that the motions that it passes are still representative of the student body.

But knowing what students actually want is an extremely difficult thing to do. During the lecturer strikes a motion was proposed that

would mean the SURHUL officially supported the lecturers; a standpoint widely supported by the ACA. Even though it was likely that the motion would have had very little problem sailing through a GM, due to the exploitation of a constitutional loophole the motion was put to a referendum. This was on the expectation that so few students would actually vote that the referendum would fail to be quorate, meaning that the motion was unable to be passed even though there were actually more votes in support than opposition.

This brings us to the root of the problem. Very few students actually

bother attending GMs, or even to vote, which means that there is no way of knowing what anyone actually wants. All the arguments end up being dominated by the extremes of either side. But is this necessarily such a bad thing? If we were to make an inference from all this, it would be that the average student would like SURHUL to take no stand on anything, stop passing motions entirely and essentially be reduced to a tacky night club.

As students it is essential that we make sure we are represented and make our voices heard, otherwise we will forever be part of a marginalised majority.

Have you just read an article written by a complete moron?

Do you know how to cure their poor broken mind?

If you’ve got a response to any of the articles in this paper, send it to our Comment & Debate editor at:

comment@thefounder.co.uk

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The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

Comment & Debate The need for campaigning: Students’ Unions Across the UK, universities are making redundancies, cutting courses and restructuring departments. The recent actions at London Metropolitan University demonstrate a growing reality at many other institutions. There is an exhaustive list of over 400 courses being axed, chiefly in the humanities and arts. The only degree in Caribbean Studies in the UK is being terminated. Across the university, essential cleaners and academics are being made redundant, with no discussion or consultation on such decisions. Devastating cuts are taking place across our universities but particularly hitting campuses that house those that would traditionally not go to university - working class and mature students, such as at London Met. This underlines a crucial point. The changes taking place in higher education and across public services hold a specific class character - the most vulnerable in our society are being predominately affected.

The government is in a mess over what to do with British universities.

There has been a long delay in the much awaited White Paper which was supposed to set out the government’s vision on higher education.

This postponement of the paper is due to the malaise about fixing the hole in the proposals for financing our student loans but also the continuing student rebellion against fees and cuts. Most seem unaware that much of the detail on funding universities has yet to be decided.

The coalition government’s initial proposition suggested that universities charging £9,000 would only be in ‘exceptional’ circumstances. This has been proven wrong; of those 95 universities and university colleges which have announced their fees for the academic year 2012/13, 20 institutions will charge over £8000 a year, and 67 institutions will charge the full £9000 a year, including here at Royal Holloway. The Office for Fair Access (the body that was supposed to hold the necessary legal powers to negotiate down the fee levels proposed by individual universities, thus maintaining some direct financial control) has not renegotiated a single proposal, and so has become devoid of any real function. As universities charge significantly higher tuition fees than anticipated, not only are many students excluded from participating in higher education, but the government still has to find an additional £450 million a year to fund tuition fee loans, negating the original purpose of saving the

Tom Shore

SURHUL President-elect Dan Cooper discusses the need to resist the reshaping of our universities. government money.

The rates of interest and repayment terms are still provisional and we do not know how many students will have access to the scheme. This was seen last week when David Willets, Minister for Universities and Sciences, disgracefully suggested that teenagers from the wealthiest families would be able to pay for extra places at the most competitive universities under gov-

ernment proposals that could allow institutions to charge some British students the same high fees as overseas undergraduates. In the longer term, the government is preparing the ground to further ‘marketise’ our universities. Willets is removing the legislative restrictions that prevent new, private and cheaper operators from entering higher education. The new chairman of the Higher Education Authority, John

Hennessy, explicitly stated that he wants higher education “to move closer to the values and practices of the private sector”.

These factors go on top of the spending cuts; preliminary predictions suggesting between 15 and 30 universities could go bankrupt and fail.

The spending cuts are only beginning to be passed on at a local level. At RHUL, very little has been

released by university management about the future; however the signs so far are worrying. The recently released ‘Principal’s Manifesto’ explicitly states restructuring will result in changes to the structure of the academic year, the length of the teaching day, patterns and modes of teaching, faculties being re-organised, reviews of job pay and role of many staff, increased e-learning and flexible delivery with an increase in part time students. The decision to increase tuition fees to £9,000 was taken with minimal discussion in the company of students, staff, lecturers and heads of departments and faculties alike – why did we receive such little involvement in such an important decision?

Vital decisions about the future of people’s livelihoods and academic space must be shared by all concerned. Furthermore, every subject will now be obliged to have a minimum size requirement in order to survive, with cross subsidy (e.g. Economics supporting Arts subjects financially), a long established practice at British universities, being limited. This puts many subjects into a precarious position.

At a recent meeting, our Principal, Paul Layzell (who has much familiarity with the market model of the university, having at Sussex implemented harsh cuts, sacked over 100 staff members without consultation, and is used to earning colossal amounts – over £200,000 a year at Holloway) proudly suggested that the university was following a “gym-membership-model”. These changes, at the moment, may seem like nothing. But let us be sure that they will result in the erosion in the quality of education, jobs being lost and subjects being closed.

We deserve to be treated as active participants in the makeup of our university, not passive observers who settle for what we’ve got.

There has been a magnificent rise in student activism this year which has shaken the government, many becoming involved in campaigns to protect their courses and save their lecturers’ jobs. This must continue!

As President of the Students’ Union next year, the priority must be defending education locally as well as nationally. We must ensure we don’t follow the lazy mantra of ‘let’s minimise the damage’ but fight every single redundancy, every cut contact hour, every book removed, and every lecture cancelled. This is why I am imploring you to join the Students’ Union in standing up for our degrees.

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The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

Comment & Debate

Your Wedding Day: Who’s in charge?

Philippa Dixon Oh no! Not another Royal Wedding article! Love it or hate it, everyone knows exactly where they were when William and Kate finally tied the knot on 29th April.

However this topic has been covered far too extensively by the media for me - a simple, reasonably attractive, blonde, single third year - to shed any new light on.

Therefore I shall comment (as this is indeed the ‘Comment & Debate’ section), on why it is that women have far more control over this special day than men do.

Now before you all sigh in a bored “heard it all” kind of way, just hear me out... or at least read me out. The inspiration for this topic came to me this morning, while eating breakfast and watching (I’ll never forgive myself for saying this) Bridezillas. I watched in horror as these awful brides mistreated not only their friends and families but also their future husbands in a quest to have the ‘perfect wedding’.

I found myself discussing with a friend: why do women do this? And he said a very memorable thing he’d be lucky even to be invited to his own wedding.

This sad realisation that most men have, that they will simply be expected to turn up on the day,

whether they want to arrive in the pink limousine or not, shows just how little input and control they have over their own weddings.

Forgive me if I’m wrong but Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock’s lyrics do not state “it takes one woman and a wedding planner to make a thing go right”... though it would hilarious if it did!

Now I know that right now many members of my sex are screaming in rage at this article, either because they think it’s pants and wished they’d turned the page sooner, or because I’ve actually made a point - my dissertation advisor would be proud. It’s true that many women have planned in some shape or form how they want to get married, whether it be religious, spiritual, or even the more exciting option of elopement (yes you know who you are!). Even those who haven’t decided anything for certain have at least given enough thought to the matter that they know what they do and do not like, therefore my question is simple; as this day is special for both parties, why does it always tend to fall down to the bride to rage about what she wants?

Granted this doesn’t apply to everyone, and I don’t wish to ruffle anyone’s feathers by suggesting all women behave like this, but be honest girls, each one of us knows at least three girlfriends who are go-

ing to be absolute nightmares when it comes down to wedding planning. The funny thing is though, is that a woman’s rigid control over the planning of her own wedding is usually completely out of character to her normal disposition. However, for some unknown reason as soon as she hears those weddings bells and gets that big sparkling rock on her finger (yes we do like that bit), then suddenly demonic possession begins and god help a man if he was to intervene in some way. Nothing better sums this up than one of my favourite films, Sliding Doors, where the lead man is confused as ever as to what he has to do to make the situation right.

“But you haven’t told me what you want!” He shouts, and she very calmly replies “Jerry I’m a woman, we never say what we want, but we reserve the right to be pissed off if we don’t get it”. This last sentence will have hit home with a few of you guys round campus for sure, knowing that when your significant other is in a mood with you, you’ll probably not have the tiniest inkling in the world as to why this is and this I suppose answers my question.

If there is one day of the year you do not want to mess up guys, it’s your wedding because the mood that followed if it went wrong would be terminal. Men of the

world it seems therefore take a step back on organisation of this particular event in order to spare themselves the possibility of their future wife’s wrath... good choice.

flickr/ mtsofan

“The man may be the head of the family, but the woman is the neck, and we turn the head” My Big Fat Greek Wedding- couldn’t have put it better myself.

Response:‘Who’s in charge?’

Heather Rimmington

and done with.

With the diverse and liberal nature of our changing society it The most positive thing about is pointless to assign gender roles.

Philippa’s article is her awareness Feel free to go on and perpetuate that many people will disagree with common stereotypes. But when or be irritated by the view that she I get married I hope to god that I is expressing. Mainly that every sin- don’t have to conform to them as gle guy is an emotionally crippled, well. generally idiotic specimen, who Also, when it comes down to it, is just as likely to bang his head what is marriage actually about? against a rock as send out wedding Blowing your life savings on a invitations. marquee and caterers, or a personal Where the problem begins to and significant moment where two arise in her argument, is the tricky people decide to commit their lives matter of when (Shock! Horror!) to each other. Well, there goes me a man and a man get married. Or getting all sentimental. have a civil partnership if you want In any case, whether you get marto get technical. Who becomes the ried for love, a passport, or just to ‘bride’ then? How about when a make legal proceedings easier when woman and woman get hitched? one of you dies, don’t mistake these Does one of them adopt the ‘groom’ common preconceptions as the position, and seemingly cower in guide book. a hole until the whole thing is over

EXTRA

Secret Cinema: Tom Seal tells all

Plus:

Thor The Damnation of Faust & Kanye’s Greatest Tweets

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The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

Arts

EXTRA Theatre Review:

R.C. Sherriff’s Journey’s End, UK Tour

Chelsi Challis David Grindley’s critically acclaimed production of Robert Cedric Sherriff ’s 1928 play Journey’s End has returned for a tour of the country with a new cast. Set in a dugout on the Western Front in World War One, and based on Sherriff ’s own war experiences, it is easy to worry that the production will fall into one of two traps; either filled with stereotypically jingoistic propaganda or inescapable antiwar fervour. Sherriff ’s text avoids both of these, providing instead, a searingly honest and touching play of comradeship and brotherhood, straight from the heart.

The play starts as it ends; quite literally, with a bang; a shockingly loud noise of an overhead shell screeching past, whilst the audience is thrown into darkness. Then the cramped, claustrophobic set of an old-fashioned dugout is revealed in the dingy lighting. Sound is almost a character itself within Grindley’s production; at times the silence is so deafening that one wishes for gunfire to dispel the tension.

At other times, the shelling and machinegun fire is so intense that the theatre actually vibrates; we are plunged into the conditions to which the men were subjected. The realistic set and shadowy lighting serve to give an impression of the conditions endured by the men, a subject with ever-increasing poignancy and relevancy in today’s political climate. However, despite the incredible set design and sound technology, it is the actors’ performances that really resonate. James Norton gives a stunning portrayal of the deeply troubled Captain Stanhope; not afraid to explore the depths of despair to which the character plummets, forced to drink whisky every day to survive the madness of war. Although he is just three years away in age from the new recruit, 2nd Lieutenant Raleigh, he is a lifetime away in experience and hardiness. The audience is confronted with the effects of war on the young men in the character of Stanhope; clearly cut from the same cloth as Raleigh, the positive commitment with which he approaches the war has been extinguished and Stanhope is left a hollow shell of a soldier, buoyed up on booze. This poignant portrayal is made all the more apparent in the contrast with the still-hopeful eighteen year old Raleigh. Using

outdated phrases such as ‘truly topping’, and excessively eager to share stories of his trials in ‘rugger’ and cricket, the public schoolboy in Raleigh immediately wins the audiences’ sympathy. We can see that such an optimistic boy, frightened and lonely but desperately attempting to hide this in his overly keen willingness, is headed straight for the same fate as old-before-his-time Stanhope.

Dominic Mafham, playing ‘Uncle’ Osborne, is the only member of the comrades who seems to offer a sense of security. It is therefore all the more painful when even he trembles with fear at the thought of an imminent raid he is to lead. Moments of comic relief are provided in the form of consistently cheery Trotter (Christian Patterson), and Baldrick-like Mason (Tony Turner), intensifying the moments of trag-

edy with their loveable characters and laugh-out-loud one-liners.

Those who are expecting Sherriff ’s desperately sad ending will be disappointed; the fate of the soldiers is made vividly clear although we don’t actually see it onstage.

Grindley’s chosen ending forces the audience to confront the endless names of the English dead from not just the First World War, but all wars that followed.

In a play that is perhaps evermore significant, Grindley gives his production a new lease of life that is truly captivating, both emotionally and socially, for all audiences today.

I think it’s safe to say that the tour of this production isn’t the end of the road for Journey’s End. Journey’s End is touring theatres nationwide until 19th November 2011

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The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

Arts

EXTRA Opera Review:

Life in the Faust Lane Terry Gilliam directs Berlioz’s grand opera The Damnation of Faust Christian Leppich

Theatre Review:

Pygmalion at the Garrick Theatre, London Vikki Vile “I’m going to see Pygmalion next week.” I told my housemate recently, only to be greeted by a blank response. “You know ... like, My Fair Lady.” I elucidated. Said housemate’s expression was then suddenly less blank as we went on to discuss the much loved Audrey Hepburn musical, with its memorable scenes at Ascot Racecourse and the Ambassador’s Ball. The problem, as it seems to me, is that Pygmalion is a play and not a musical, and after having watched the first preview on Thursday May 12th, I can’t help but feel that, despite its slick staging, the deliberately mainstream casting and inherent links to a musical classic may have left its tourist-heavy audience a little disappointed.

Negatives aside, it does seem that in Kara Tointon’s portrayal of Eliza Doolittle, we have a rare example of perfect casting. In the last 18 months, Tointon has gone from gritty East End realism in the form of the country’s best loved soap to the glamour of West End, more than holding her own alongside accomplished Hollywood star Rupert Everett, whose camp Henry Higgins appears to work perfectly. Tointon’s recent transformation from small screen actress to glamorous Strictly Come Dancing winner is essentially what she must bring to the stage in the role of Eliza and certainly, in the first act, she did this comfortably. Her East End flowergirl accent is endearing and comical and anyone would be hard pushed to criticise this performance on her West End debut.

Everett, in contrast, slinks around the stage, prancing and tip-toeing like the exuberant personality he is.

I just wonder how much of Everett himself is in his Henry Higgins.

In any other role, he would be in danger of showing up his co-star’s inexperience but fortunately, this is the one role where it makes both portrayals more convincing.

The first two scenes run smoothly, on the streets of the East End and at 27A Wimpole Street, plush abode of Higgins, although I can’t help throughout but feel the desire for Tointon to burst into a rendition of ‘Wouldn’t It Be Lovely’? This feeling, I learnt, would not really budge for the entirety of the play. There is no Rain in Spain and Dover never exists in order for him to “move his bloomin’ arse!” The famous scene at Ascot Racecourse is instead a tea party with Henry’s mother. The dialogue is identical to George Cukor’s 1964 film, the only change coming when Peter Sandys-Clark’s likeable but only fleetingly seen Freddy Einsford-Hill asks Miss Doolittle if she will be walking home via the park. “Not bloody likely!” comes the indignant reply. There is a knowing titter from the audience, who immediately spot this alternative climax to the scene.

However, to take Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion totally at face value, this is a slick new production with simple, effective staging, stunning costuming and a highly competent cast of actors. Diana Rigg is faultless as Higgins’s mother. She brings some gravitas midway through the first act, just as the audience begin to feel the two protagonists are having far too much fun. In a recent interview, Tointon has even talked about how she aspires to: “speak with [Rigg’s] voice all of the time.” No doubt then, that Kara is enjoying her transition from real life cockney sweetheart to sophisticated thesp.

There’s no way that I can write the word ‘opera’ without conjuring up images of the stereotypical Wagnerian warbling fat lady, foreign vowels and an exclusively upper middle class following. Let’s face it, as soon as I wrote the word ‘opera’ in the title of this article, a lot of people wouldn’t have bothered to read any further.

This is completely understandable and although opera, like all art forms, isn’t going to be to the everyone’s tastes, productions such as Terry Gilliam’s The Damnation of Faust have the best chance of opening it out to a wider audience.

Goethe’s tale of the downcast Faust, cheated by the Satanic Mephistopheles into signing away his soul, has been reworked most famously by Marlowe, Gounod and Berlioz; but the latter’s is the one being staged from the 6th May to 7th June at the London Coliseum by the English National Opera (ENO), running for only ten performances and with tickets becoming rarer by the minute.

This interest is due, in no small part, to the operatic debut of the only American member of the Monty Python team, Terry Gilliam, who moves away from directing films such as Brazil, Time Bandits and most recently, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus to adapt his unique vision to the stage. And this vision sets The Damnation of Faust in Germany, spanning from the First World War to the Second and the horrors of the holocaust.

Using Nazi Germany as a resetting for productions, both in opera and theatre, is undoubtedly becoming something of an oversubscribed concept, yet Gilliam manages to breathe fresh life into it.

By constantly alluding to German architecture, philosophers and writers, Gilliam adds more than the conventional extended metaphor of human sacrifice that the Third Reich often brings. Set around the tale of Faust, Gilliam approaches the dangers of greed and desire as a wider concept; not limiting itself to the tragedy of the protagonist alone but demonstrating a whole country drawn into ‘selling their souls to Satan.’

Berlioz based his retelling of the Faust legend on a French translation of Goethe’s text; the depressed Faust is shown wonders and beauty

by Mephistopheles, a demon from hell who tricks Faust into selling his soul. The central tragedy of the piece is Faust’s doomed love for Marguerite and Gilliam extends this; while Mephistopheles disgusts Faust by showing him the Nazi Brown Shirts and singing an anti-Semitic cabaret number, he then allows him glimpses of the beautiful Marguerite. After being lulled to sleep, Faust dreams only of Marguerite and when he wakes, he demands that Mephistopheles take him to her. He does so and the two share a loving but brief union, cut short as Mephistopheles bundles Faust away from the soldiers approaching Marguerite’s. Marguerite is arrested and the audience cannot fail to understand the implications of the menorah pointed at aggressively by those who arrest her. This leads to Mephistopheles’ final trick, to damn Faust entirely.

The ENO Orchestra, skilfully conducted by Edward Gardner, are one of the highlights of the evening, remaining spot-on for the duration of the two and a half hour score. The music itself is often rousing, such as the famous Hungarian March; yet at some points, Gardner fails to communicate the

power and demonic depth that the piece requires. Peter Hoare (tenor) plays the title role of Faust and is extremely capable, yet seems to struggle over the occasional high note and enunciate the odd phrase to incomprehension. Christopher Purves (baritone) would receive the biggest applause on the night for his role as Mephistopheles, donning a red dinner jacket and then an SS officer’s uniform as he teases Faust to his inevitable damnation. Purves delivers a consummate performance blending dark, surrealist humour with the alluring mysticism that captures both Faust and the audience.

The Damnation of Faust is an opera that visually stuns the audience, perhaps overcomplicating things at points but always redeeming itself.

Terry Gilliam’s first foray into opera can most certainly be regarded as a success. For those new to opera it’s an exciting introduction and veterans will be pleasantly surprised at a new take on Berlioz’s now underperformed classic. You will be hooked from Mephistopheles’ suave introduction to the poignant ending, with numerous opportunities for spectacle and a good splash of dark humour in between.

The Damnation of Faust is at the Coliseum Theatre until Tuesday 7th June 2011

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The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

Music

EXTRA

Music News

Arcade Fire after their Grammy win for Best Album released from prison just as Atlanta native Gucci Mane was returning there for the fifth time in five years for a string of traffic offences that resulted in him having to be pepper sprayed by police officers.

With this being the final edition The year concluded with former of music news for the current president George W Bush describacademic year, I thought it might ing the moment that Kanye West be appropriate to summarise the claimed that he didn’t care about goings on in the last year within the black people as the ‘worst of his world of music. presidency’ (and that is saying one The 2010/2011 year began with hell of a lot). West also released the tragic, sudden and not at all his fifth album, to critical acclaim, amusing death of Electric Light Or- featuring collaborations from evechestra cellist Mike Edwards; killed ryone from Elton John to Bon Iver. by a 1300 pound bale of hay falling It was accompanied by a 30-minute from the back of a trailer down in video featuring ballet dancers and the wilds of Southwest England.

Kanye West having sex with a Bloc party guitarist Russell Lissack phoenix. also had a relatively crappy start to The new year saw the release of the year after being bitten by a lion Radiohead’s latest album The King in Africa and, after learning that of Limbs, which divided critics, the local hospital was in quarantine, including Liam Gallagher, who finding himself in a car crash. Less had this to say about the record: than ideal.

“I heard that fucking Radiohead Kanye West gifted the world with record and I just go, ‘What?!’... his ‘It’s not a video, it’s a painting’ Them writing a song about a fuckvideo for his single ‘Power’; his first ing tree? Give me a fucking break! single released in a post-Taylor A thousand year old tree? Go fuck Swift world. yourself!”

TI quickly set about rebalancing Kanye West released a single his karma by helping talk a man with Jay-Z, ‘H.A.M’, produced down from a ledge just before being by apocalyptic southern hip hop sentenced to 11 months in prison producer Lex Luger, from their upfor a parole violation. Shortly after, coming album Watch The Throne.

Lil Wayne found himself being LCD Soundsystem and The White

David Bowman Music Editor 2010-11 Editor 2011-12

Kanye’s Greatest Tweets as chosen by Time.com

Stripes both decided to call it a day on their bands after providing us with some of the most important popular music of the last decade.

Kanye West’s charity The Kanye West Foundation closed down mysteriously after revealing that there had been a substantial discrepancy in the amount of donations received and the amount of grants given out.

The Flaming Lips started challenging conventional release formats/mounting bizarre publicity stunts, by releasing a song that is meant to be played in 12 parts across YouTube and a song contained within a USB stick within a life size gummy skull.

Arcade Fire won this year’s Grammy Award for Best Album, formally recognising indie rock’s acceptance by the mainstream and causing a mass exodus of hipsters to underground hip hop and bass music. Kanye West tweeted approvingly.

Kanye West finished off the current year’s notable news events by releasing a line of NSFW silk scarves based on the set of alternative album covers from his last album, described by the highest rated commenter on the Daily Mail Online as ‘nothing but disgusting junk coming from an arrogant, pathetic, overrated ****’.

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The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

Music

EXTRA Comeback Album Reviews:

The Strokes Angles

‘Sky’ (‘Life goes on / Now you’re gone / Life goes on/ after sky’) is so straightforward even Robbie Williams would have dismissed it as crass. That said, both tracks work musically. Others don’t. ‘Never Let Me Go’ foregrounds the worst of the Eighties – plodding electronic drums leading a robotic synth, lead vocals by Susan Tulley via an autotuner, and a mind-numbingly repetitive lyric. The most adventurous track is left until last. The beat on ‘When the Stars Start To Shine’ is updated, complex and fast, and the song has a number of different movements to it, including laddish chants. Not a bad album, but could do better.

Blancmange’s 26-year gap since their last album makes the League guitar/funky slap-bass mix and sexy look irresponsibly prolific. Now but ludicrous lyrics. After a false singer Neil Arthur and keyboard opening with the title track, the player Stephen Luscombe have business proper starts with ‘Blame released Blanc Burn, the band’s bethe Machine’, musically in debt lated fourth album. With ‘I’m Havto Kraftwerk but funkier. Other ing a Coffee’, Arthur barely sings highlights are: ‘Being Followed’, a but almost chants ‘The fuse has bust somewhat guilt-laden criticism of on the plug on the telly/ There’s surveillance; ‘Girl Panic’; ‘Before something strange at the bottom the Rain’ and the brilliant but of the fridge’ against a haunting, deranged ‘The Man Who Stole a alienating tune. ‘The Western’ has Leopard’. A return to their root the familiar Indian/electro beat, New Romantic sound and their best but is far clubbier than their eightalbum for years. ies fare. The highlight is ‘Don’t The Human League return with Forget Your Feet’ an infectious, Credo, their first album since 2001’s but dark pop-song with a minimal superb Secrets. Of the three bands, lyric (‘minimal’, Phil Oakey, please the League have changed least, and note, because the other lyrics on most of these tracks could easily the album are not!) I wouldn’t be have been recorded in the eighties. surprised to hear it resurface in a Some of this gets wearing – what telly advert for sweets or a bank. could previously be considered Although there are some trademark a minimalist lyric, by lead singer aspects to this album (the Indian Phil Oakey, is beginning to look beats and Arthur’s gloomy lyrics), just simplistic. In ‘Night People’ the Blancmange have not really stuck to chorus consists of the title repeated their Eighties roots. This is the most ad-infinitum, while the chorus of adventurous album of the three.

Duran Duran

All You Need Is Now

Human League Credo

Blancmange Blanc Burn Harun Musho’d The Eighties revival marches on.

As well as influencing the likes of LaRoux and Hurts, the original articles are lining up to cash in on their product. March saw the release of three albums; comebacks in different ways.

First up is Duran Duran with All You Need Is Now. Superproducer and űberfan Mark Ronson’s aim was to produce the album that should have followed 1981’s Rio. The band themselves were trying to exorcise their last two albums, both commercial flops, and a further album that was shelved by their record company. So, Duran Duran have had their own share of Strokes-style recording difficulties, and they needed an uncomplicated hit.

Ronson gave them one. All You Need Is Now has all the Duranie trademarks: carpet synth, rock

returns to their trademark tight punk rock sound, the last repeat of it wilder and with different lyrics. Lead single ‘Under Cover of In 2001, the Strokes’ album This Is Darkness’ is also jauntier than usual It shook up the staid British rock scene, along with the White Stripes. for the Strokes, but this time the Both bands stripped their songs of innovation is not entirely a success.

Better is ‘You’re So Right’ (also the excess length or ornamentation.

B-side to ‘Under Cover of DarkAlthough the Strokes were the ness’) which sounds like a revved more polished of the two outfits, the White Stripes were the more in- up version of Pink Floyd’s ‘Set The novative, and both broke over here Controls For The Heart Of The Sun’ but with inferior lyrics (‘What before becoming successful across are the reasons [x3]/ to forget/ I the Atlantic. Ten years later, both wanna tell you [x3]/ Nothing ‘ is a bands have struggled to produce typical example). ‘Taken for a Fool’ anything for ages, with members focussing on solo and side projects is reminiscent of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but poppier. Most surpris(Jack White wiping the floor with both Julian Casablancas and Albert ing is a rare ballad ‘Call Me Back’.

It is lyrically, again, disappointingly Hammond Jr’s efforts). The White Stripes finally called it a day earlier shallow, but it works musically.

Overall, the wider distribution of this year but the Strokes managed song writing duties have resulted to survive a scrapped album and tension within the band to produce in an album that is musically more varied but lyrically unadventurous. their first album in five years.

In other ways, it is typical of their The omens, however, were not previous output – two or three outgood. Singer and ex-main songstanding tracks, and a tight/stingy* writer Casablancas did little more (*delete as appropriate) total runthan separately record his vocals ning time at just over 30 minutes. whilst the rest of the band shared The difficult recording experience the song writing duties between for the band remains a concern them and recorded most of the for their future viability but three album, independently of Casablancas, in guitarist Hammond Jr’s members of the band (Casablancas, Valensi and bassist Nikolai house. Lead guitarist Nick Valensi called the whole experience “awful.” Fraiture) independently confirmed that they are currently in the studio For all of that, it’s as good as any working on material for a fifth of their previous records, and as album. So whilst it’s R.I.P. for the flawed. The opener, ‘Machu PicWhite Stripes, for their fellow revochu,’ is superb. The verses have a lutionaries it’s only Au Revoir. faux-reggae feel, whilst the chorus

Harun Musho’d

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The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

Film

EXTRA Review:

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

coattails of Spiderman, X-Men, etc, Thor is a resounding success. Director Kenneth Branagh (a controversial choice seeing as he is used to making four-hour Shakespeare pictures) crafts a film that has plenty of excitement and action as well as humour and heart. The first act of the film takes place on Asgard, a gorgeously designed world ruled

by Anthony Hopkins’ Odin. Thor Nathaniel Horne (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) are the sons of Odin Summer is upon us! The time of who both vie to take his place. Thor year that we decide to whip out the is the boorish, impulsive one and sunglasses and shorts and revel in Loki the quiet and well-mannered a month or two of freedom is the one (with secret plans to rule Assame time that those ‘ol Hollygard no matter what it takes). wood execs churn out a series of A key problem with the concept blockbusters to keep us enlivened of the titular character is that (like and entertained until September Superman), he can do pretty much comes around. Thor is the first anything, how could any villain out of four superhero films to be possibly stop him and why should released this summer, as well as the an audience care for the character’s latest offering from Marvel Studios plight? Branagh continues his story to heighten anticipation for their and escapes this problem by hav‘supergroup’ movie The Avengers ing Odin cast Thor down to earth, in 2012. Given that the last Marvel where he cannot use his powers feature, Iron Man 2, was met with until “he be worthy”. On Earth, reviews that pointed out it as no Thor meets Jane Foster (Natalie more than a trailer for The AvengPortman), and forms a connection ers and that the recent deluge of su- with her and her team of scienperheroes on our screens is bound tists. One other dilemma that any to get tedious for some, the idea of director tackling Thor will have a film about a hammer-wielding to handle is overcoming the idea Norse God was understandably ap- that people will laugh at Thor – he proached with scepticism and scorn is huge, dumb and blonde, has a by some critics. spiky helmet and carries a masThough it may be riding on the sive hammer. Luckily, Branagh and

Review:

Thor ****

his writers embrace the humorous element of Thor’s personality once he is on Earth and the film becomes a ‘fish-out-of-water’ comedy; lines like “this mortal form grows weak, I require sustenance!” are sure to be repeated again and again by fans.

The casting is the main strength of the film, Hemsworth gave an impressive single-scene performance in Star Trek and he takes on the challenge of his first leading role as if it were a long time personal passion project. Hemsworth as Thor really is one of those ‘born to play’ roles and he adds such layers to the character that you find it hard to believe how anyone else would have even been considered. Hiddleston’s performance as the villainous Loki is also quite powerful. Loki is a nasty little bugger but Hiddleston portrays him in a sympathetic manner that is suitable for the drama of the story. The monolithic presence of actors like Hopkins, Idris Elba and Ray Stevenson is also welcome.

Thor does contain the same flaws that seem to pervade the superhero subgenre; the tacked-on romantic subplot, the pointless supporting characters (Kat Dennings’ Darcy) and a tiresome structure (once hero encounters problem he fails to solve it, then succeeds on his second try, the end). Overall though, it’s a great introduction into what will hopefully be a great series of summer blockbusters.

***

rous mermaids aside, and the rest is utterly forgettable.

There are ideas here, loads of them, good ones too, but too many Rob Wallis have been jam-packed into a single film, with characters, emotions, This wasn’t a film, I think, that plot, etc., taking a backseat to anyone was particularly desperate spectacle. Depp is still charming; to see made. The first ‘Pirates’ was Rush snarls admirably; Sam Clafin arguably a classic summer blockis bland and hugely underwritten as buster; The Adventures of Robin the new god-bothering supporting Hood if made by Steven Spielberg, hero, though Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey with Johnny Depp as a swaggering, is, for what it’s worth, very pretty, myopic Errol Flynn. The next two, which is all the movie really rewhile not necessarily ‘bad’ movies, quires of her. When you find yourwere nowhere near as memorable. self missing the acting chops and Double-crosses aplenty (triplecharacter development of Orlando crosses, quadruple-crosses, ad Bloom, then you can be fairly sure nauseam) and a massive sea-fight that something’s gone amiss. For all centred in a maelstrom was enough the new fantasy - voodoo dolls and to prove the adage that ‘Bigger is animated rigging - the magic’s gone not always better’. In this regard, at out of it. least, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Still, however throwaway it all is, Stranger Tides is something of a ‘PoTC: OST’ is never less than enreturn to form. tertaining. It’s throwaway, popcorn, Having gone back to basics, fluff, but if you’re willing to get there’s now a whole new mytholswept up in it, it’s enjoyable enough. ogy. There’s Penelope Cruz as In a season that’s offered up Thor Jack’s feisty, somewhat obligatory thus far, and still promises X-Men: long lost love; Ian McShane as a First Class, Green Lantern, and glaring, fuse-bearded (criminally Captain America: The First Avenger underused) Blackbeard. There are among others, there’s no shortage zombie crew members (again), of big high-budget, star-powered toothy mermaids, a peg-legged Bar- actioners out there, and the new bossa, and the Spanish. It’s all very Pirates will likely prove one of the entertaining and it moves along lesser lights. But if you’re at a loss at a brisk pace, but it all feels a for something to do, you could do bit… shallow. For a film called ‘On a lot worse. Turn off your brain and Stranger Tides’, you might at least enjoy it for what it is, and it should expect a few undercurrents. There make for a decent enough trip to is one fantastic sequence involving the cinema. a swarm (herd? school?) of carnivo-

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The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

Film

EXTRA

‘Of all the abandoned warehouses in all the towns in all the world...’ - Secret Cinema Tom Seal Funny story: I was stood outside Wapping train station at 6:30 on a Friday evening, as anyone might well be, when I was suddenly thrust into a surging crowd of people chanting, protesting no less, about nothing in particular.

And for some reason the men were all dressed in suits and trilbies, or khaki, and the women in jazzy numbers with bobbed coiffures.

Wapping is a strange place at the best of times, of course, but something was different.

I feign naivety of course. I was dressed in a suit too. This was in fact the entrance protocol for the latest ‘Secret Cinema’ event in London. After this ostensibly covert rendezvous we were marshalled into the now semi-abandoned Tobacco Dock, whose interior resembles Covent Garden so much that the organisers of the event had in fact converted the whole building into a wartime replica of it, replete with barking, moustachioed policemen, obsequious butlers and louche Bogart-lookalike barflies.

There were so many actors mingling with the ‘audience’, and both were equally dolled up in period attire, that it was unnervingly hard to tell who you could approach without fear of being whisked into a big band dancefloor. This I found out, to my immediate chagrin (but

subsequent smugness at learning how to charleston with someone who resembled Marlene Dietrich).

My friends and I were also accosted by, amongst other people, an art dealer, who bade us show

him our work and proffered us brushes and paint to do so (though I fear he was disappointed with our ultimately infantile efforts), and a sinister ballerina who led us through a dark flickering maze of

torn up newspaper before screaming and running away. This all made very little sense to us at the time, which we dealt with in part by availing ourselves of the bar which, unfortunately, did not seem to care that the price of beer in 1940 was 1 shilling (that’s 5p)...

A highlight was the shopkeeper in the music store: “and this one vinyl can hold an entire symphony, it’s the latest thing...”

However, after an hour or so of bewitched exploration, we ended up being drawn into a cyclone of people in the central plaza of the mall, being encouraged to sing and dance by the now, frankly, slightly distressing actors, before being ushered into a theatre which started to roll the 1948 classic The Red Shoes. (I say ‘classic’, but I must confess that I’d never heard of it, and that I’d been secretly hoping for Casablanca.)

The film was unabashedly pretentious - like the whole event, in fact - which merely made it better. It follows the artistic imbroglio between a young rich ballet dancer, an eminent composer, and his gifted protégé, and accordingly was heavily laden with cheese: ‘Why do you want to dance?’/‘Why do you want

to live?’/‘Well, I don’t know exactly why, but...I must.’/‘That’s my answer too.’ Even I - a literature student scoffed and balked. Which is to say, I loved it.

Over the course of the film we recognised in it more and more of the characters that had been accosting us all evening, and everything started to fall into place...the ballet dancers, the dementedly evil magic shoemaker... though, if I must be honest, the first part of the evening had been so fun that the film did feel slightly like an afterthought.

All in all, though, it was an incredible evening. By the by, the name ‘Secret’ is merely another juicy layer of pretension, given that it runs for three weeks, tickets cost £25, and it is now partnered with those famously underground companies Microsoft and The Guardian Media Group.

However, although one can’t honestly believe it’s anything underground, one is undeniably immersed, transported, entertained and enthralled for several hours, and there’s not much around that can do that. So do it: it’s the closest you’ll ever get to time travel, or being on the silver screen. ...but, I mean, um, tell no one!

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The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

Students bring Mozart into the 21st Century Music students have given Mozart’s timeless comedy, The Marriage of Figaro, a hilarious new modern interpretation in the latest production performed by Opera Holloway.

The new contemporary translation

by Director Christopher Moon-Little and a cast of young, fresh, exciting talent will premier early next month, in the Windsor Building auditorium.

Opera Holloway was formed in 2009 as a student-led initiative to provide an opportunity to perform in operas and present accessible performances to people of all ages and backgrounds.

The group has received increasing recognition over the past six months, hav-

ing been awarded an Enterprise Minigrant for 2011 by Sir Alec Reed CBE and receiving the encouragement and support from the university’s students, staff and alumni, including world-class soprano Dame Felicity Lott.

The Marriage of Figaro marks a milestone for both Opera Holloway and Royal Holloway, as it will be the first full opera produced and performed at the university.

The production reinterprets Da Ponte’s libretto and Mozart’s well-known score, placing them in a relevant modern-day setting that a diverse audience can relate to. Christopher said: “I attempted to transliterate the humour

and sentiment of the drama without weighing it down with antique desires and language.”

The whole team have been working tirelessly since September last year to ensure they are able to deliver a performance of the highest quality.

Opera Holloway will perform Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro at 7.30pm on 7, 9 and 10 June, with the final performance on 10 June forming a Charity Opera Gala for children’s charity Brainwave. Tickets are free for Royal Holloway students are available from the box office by emailing operaholloway@gmail.com or calling 01784 443853.

Student society wins second major award Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs, the student enterprise society of Royal Holloway has won a major national award for a second year running. The 2,000 member-strong organisation scooped the 2011 Venture Creation Catalyst Award for its effectiveness in motivating and guiding students to start their own enterprises. The award was made at a glittering ceremony in central London hosted by the National Consortium of University Entrepre-

neurs (NACUE).

The society supports students who want to set up their own business venture by offering skills workshops, inspirational speakers and networking events.

In 2010 the society was made the first NACUE New Society of the Year and its avowed mission is to ‘encourage, support and inspire every student to take the steps needed to create successful ventures.’

Luka Blackman-Gibbs, President of Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs said: “We’re incredibly proud to have been recognised for fulfilling our promise for the students of Royal Holloway.

I am delighted that we have again been recognised as one the UK’s most successful enterprise societies.

Our students at Royal Holloway are increasingly proving that they are serious about their business ideas, and we have triumphed in our ability to

support these students. It’s incredibly touching to be recognised by NACUE for all of our hard work.’

With Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs already planning a series of inspiring events for 2011/12, this society will continue to be the one to watch. For more details visit www.royalhollowayentrepreneurs.com.

Study scrutinises NHS leadership styles A study into leadership in the NHS

by Royal Holloway researchers has revealed that the main reason managers fail is a lack of ‘emotional and social intelligence’.

The study ‘Leadership and Patient Care: Managing in the NHS’ led by Professor Paula Nicolson from the Department of Health and Social Care is published on the National Institute for Health Research website. The aim of the research was to find out what makes leadership succeed or fail and how improvements can be made.

“For the NHS, good effective leader-

ship results in good patient care as well as ensuring the efficient and fair management of resources. The NHS is a highly complex organization with competing vested interests that raise a number of issues particularly about how best to deliver services to the public in general and patients in particular. Senior managers in the NHS are faced with leadership/management dilemmas every day and as one CEO told me ‘you simply have to respond to what hits you in the face sometimes.

This is always intensified in periods of radical change to organisational struc-

tures,” explains Professor Nicolson.

The academics carried out the research by using innovative methodologies which involved detailed observations of staff in meetings and with patients, ‘shadowing’ managers and clinicians as they went about their daily work, ‘story-telling’ interviews in which respondents talked about examples of good and bad leadership and focus groups and an organisational climate survey.

The researchers say staff recognise whether they are experiencing effective leadership even if they cannot

unpick its essence.

Professor Nicolson says it is important to delegate or distribute leadership roles particularly in cases where a particular project needs managing so specific expertise can be identified and exploited on a short-term basis. The research suggests that those involved in leadership training and manager selection need to take emotional and social intelligence seriously. This includes ensuring appropriate support for all leadership positions to enable role holders to operate on a peoplecentered level.

18

The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

Features

John Sergeant

to Margaret Thatcher?

The last time I spoke to her, sadly, was in the 2001 General Election and she didn’t know who I was so that was sad. It was hardly a proper conversation, she did speak to me, I did speak to her but I don’t think she was really able to work out where I was or how it all fitted in.

If you could ask her a question now, what would it be?

I suppose you would just want to go back over her feelings really, that is when she was at her best I think, when she was talking about what it was like at various points.

I remember, right at the beginning of her time as Prime Minister, someone asked her if she would ever get over the excitement she said: “You can’t be on cloud nine all the time; you’ve got to have some kind of discipline and habits.” The way she responded was exactly as if she was some sort of housewife, she was very good at that, and she lost that towards the end of her time in Downing Street because she then tended to go on auto-pilot.

interview as PM was at 3am in the morning and I was at the back of a crowd of two hundred people and I realised the only way to get it – this was a radio interview – was to literally crawl under the feet of all these people, but I did it and I rose up in front of all these people and she went “oh, surprising” and we went straight to the interview; so that’s a difficult interview but on the other hand one of the interviews I am particularly proud of.

Do you feel you have now gone comedy – journalism – comedy?

Yes, but in ordinary life people are often funny and then serious and people make jokes and then they relax; people can accept that in an ordinary conversation so I don’t know why people can’t accept it when it comes to someone like me who makes their living by talking.

Difficult though when you are covering politics because initially your superiors weren’t particularly keen on you doing things like Have I Got News For You were they?

That’s right, so you’ve got to be very careful about what you are actually doing at any given moment. So if you are doing serious politics you can’t be larking around because the audience won’t trust you, which means you’ll be bad at reporting politics, and I was pretty determined to be good at it and that did not mean fooling about in the middle of Downing Street.

Whereas if you are on a comedy programme and you are not fooling about in Downing Street then you’re no good, so you’ve got to be very careful to make sure you are doing the right thing for the right programme.

Do you think she became too confident in herself?

I think they get cut off and they to find yourself in Vietnam because before, that I was pretty obsessed get tired and they tend to find that Ashley Coates that was the big war that was going by politics and I was also very the easiest evening for them is to Editor 2011-12 on and there were a lot of reporters determined- I still am really- to try perhaps talk to a group of people involved. and work out what’s going on and and just have a set speech which why, so I suppose that stayed with they then repeat to groups. They’ll After performing in a series of me. There was an intense curiosity say: “well what I’m thinking about sketch shows written by Alan Ben- Were you ever scared?

Lots of times I was scared and and that is what took me to Martin at the moment…” and she’ll sudnett in the 1960s, John Sergeant Luther King’s speech, it was no denly launch into a lecture about trained as a journalist and went on also I was persistently not brave. I North Sea oil and how it’s refined to become the BBC’s Chief Political think the mistake is to imagine that coincidence that I was there. I had just because you have been to a war spent the whole summer thinking and I’ll think: ‘Why I am I being Correspondent. In 1990 John Serzone that makes you brave. No, it about race relations and the tentold this?’ It’s because she didn’t geant won the British Press Guild sions in the American South and I want to talk about anything else award for most memorable broad- probably makes you frightened, it makes you nervous afterwards. was only 18 turning 19 so I suppose and she did not want the convercast after being shoved aside by it was the realisation that this was a sation led by somebody else. She Margaret Thatcher’s press secretary, Were there any moments when political obsessive in the making. would want to make sure she was Sir Bernard Ingham, while trying you felt you were witnessing a leading a conversation and that to ask for her reaction to the first particularly important moment in When you joined the BBC, most was the easiest way to do it, but it’s Do you still think leaving Strictly ballot of the 1990 party leadership of your colleagues in radio had irritating if you want a conversation was the right thing to do? contest. It now seems like Sergeant history?

I think there were lots of times not gone to university and would with someone.

Oh yeah, absolutely it was the has ‘gone full circle’ and is as well have had to work up through jourright thing to do. The atmosphere known for his comedic moments as when you knew it was an excepnalism. Do you think you can be a So you would want to get back was turning and you don’t want to his journalism, appearing on Have I tional moment. I suppose the one do something which is really going Got News for You?, QI and Strictly that surprised me looking back was broadcast journalist now without some genuine feeling? being there when Martin Luther having a degree?

Yes you would want to get back against the grain of the audience, Come Dancing.

King was making his ‘I have a No, I think it is very difficult to some of that freshness and you why should you? It wasn’t as if I had dream’ speech in Washington. That be a broadcaster now without some would try to ask her anything such set my heart on winning Strictly AC: How did you differentiate, as “what was the first day like?” or Coming Dancing, it wasn’t one because you had several different was back when I was a student, that kind of degree but then there are was before I was a student, that was lots of different sorts of degrees “what do you feel about that?” and of my great ambitions but having interests, comedy, theatre and before I was a journalist, and that aren’t there? I always thought the she would reply. some fun and enjoying it was an journalism, how did you know sort of crept up on me. I did not main thing is for people to be ambition and I think I succeeded. what it was you would dedicate know who Martin Luther King was quick witted and work hard and Was anyone particularly difficult most of your time to? and of course it wasn’t a famous it’s very difficult to do that if you’ve to interview?

Have you done much dancing JS: I suppose I had a choice beLots of people are difficult to since Strictly Come Dancing? tween being a comic actor of some speech until very much later and it not been at university. If you have really became important, curiously managed to avoid university, it’s interview, John Prescott could be No, no, it’s not the sort of thing kind and being a journalist and enough, after he died, which was quite a clever trick but I’m not sure difficult. He was often annoyed you can just go and do and also it’s I always thought that journalism five years later. what you would have been doing with you or certainly annoyed with not like traditional dancing, you would be more exciting. I thought between the ages of 18 and 21 if me. Denis Thatcher was imposare learning a routine, so it’s not we would travel the world, which How important was that period in you had that kind of application, sible to interview, he thought I was really the same as going along to in those days it was quite diffiWashington for you as a student, and concentration too, in order to a communist so that made it more some dance hall and saying ‘will cult to do. If you wanted to go to in terms of getting your head be reasonably successful in broaddifficult. I worked for the Bolsheyou dance with me?’ I probably Vietnam for example, it was quite together? casting. vik Broadcasting Company so wouldn’t know what to do. difficult to do that if you were an I think it was very important that was trouble. There were times ordinary person, whereas if you are When was the last time you spoke with Margaret Thatcher; her first a reporter it was often horribly easy because I then realised, if I hadn’t

19

The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

Features flickr/ pollobarba

wants to look nice in a dress for herself, he will think he automatically has a right to her in it.

Not only is this view of rape damaging and wrong, it is also offensive to men, implying that all boys have the ability to become rapists if they see a hot enough girl in a short enough dress. Boys go to beaches, they see girls in bikinis and short skirts all the time but the majority of them, at worst, indulge in a little tacky horn honking and move on.

To suggest that a girl’s attire could transform any of these lovely young men into rapists is ridiculous. A rapist is a man with a dangerous craving for power and a girl of any age and in any clothing is vulnerable to him. Therefore it is him, not her we need to address. A rapist is a man with no respect or compassion; a problem that is not going to be solved by all women wandering round in nun’s habits reciting chastity vows.

But, all these excuses and complications aside, rape is defined as ‘non-consensual sex’ and that says everything. NON-CONSENSUAL i.e. the woman said ‘I do not want to have sex with you’. And it is not even debatable, it is simply irrelevant what she was wearing or doing or saying. When a woman says ‘I do not want to have sex with you, she means ‘I do not want to have sex with you’ and if a guy continues to push the matter, and ends up forcing her to do it then it is wrong, and it is entirely the rapist’s fault.

The recent rapes and sexual assaults on the elderly that have been in the news prove once and for all that rape is not a crime based on sexual temptation, but on power.

Nobody could accuse the elderly women burgled and raped by the handbags. They may like handbags, infamous ‘night stalker’ of having they may love handbags, but that ‘led him on’ and yet it still hapdoesn’t mean they are handbags pened. Why did it still happen? and they’re certainly not open; and Because rape is not a spontaneous just because they exist and happen response to attractive girls, it is to be attractive, does not mean they not an impulsive mistake, a lack are responsible for any unwanted of control in sexually suppressed attention that they get. When a teenagers; it is a lot darker, crueller woman wears a skirt, as far as I’m and more violent than that. aware she doesn’t sign a contract at Rape is an issue at the forefront the counter agreeing to sleep with of the news at the moment; culmievery guy she meets while wearing nating in protest marches known it, when a woman gets drunk, she as ‘Slutwalks’ prompted by the isn’t making a deal with the barman comments of a Canadian Policethat now she’s had that glass of JD man who warned girls not to dress and Coke she’s up for having sex like sluts if they didn’t want to get with everybody in the bar. Woman raped. I urge you all to go, go and do things they want to do, drink promote the incredibly radical idea things they want to drink, wear that it’s not actually a woman’s fault things they want to wear. They do when she gets raped and that the none of these things for men and best way of stopping it is to lock that is the problem. For as long as up the rapists, not the women, in men see themselves as the motiva- their houses after dark. Whether tion behind these acts, so will these it’s a young, attractive girl that gets rapes and assaults continue. If boys raped or a vulnerable old lady, these are raised to believe a woman is horrific assaults are equally despicwearing a dress to attract his atten- able and their victims are equally tion and not simply because she blameless.

The Reality of Rape our person and see the perpetuator of the attack as utterly in the wrong.

With rape, however, we see it differConsider this: there is a woman ently. Society is reluctant to accept walking along a road at night. the necessity of women actually A man appears out of the shadexisting; they are reluctant to accept ows and demands she give him all that they have to walk around in her money. The woman says no. public, that they have to be out after Eventually, by force, the man robs dark, that they have to look nice. A the woman of her money. That is girl who is mugged is never blamed a crime, a crime we would all be for carrying money on her, so why rightfully shocked by. So why is it is a girl who is raped blamed for that when it’s not her money that wearing a short skirt? Or for being the man takes against the woman’s drunk? Or for having the audacity will; when it’s her pride, her dignity, to be alive and enjoying herself? her rights, her body, and often, the This is the shadow of doubt rest of her life; society suddenly which causes us as a society to gets all confused about standing up consider that perhaps, in some and declaring it wrong? Why is it tiny way, a fraction of blame lies that on average, only around 6% of with the woman. Because she’d rapists are convicted? been wearing a short skirt, and Nobody would ever dream she’d been so drunk, and she’d been of blaming the woman who got flirting with the bloke all evening. mugged for what happened to her.

Well, let’s take this shadow of doubt Nobody would ever say “Well you and let’s extrapolate it back to the shouldn’t carry money or phones big black cloud it originates from, on you.” Oh no. We accept the the cloud that says, ‘it’s all her own necessity of carrying these items on fault’, the cloud that says the poor

Felicity King Features Editor 2011-12

rapist man was just confused; he quite understandably mistook her pleas to ‘get off ’ as encouragement, when she cried he made the easy mistake of interpreting them for tears of happiness because he really was just that good in bed. The fact that, for most rapists, a form of physical force is required? Oh, just the guy getting a little over excited.

No no, she asked for it, her top was low cut and that says ‘sleep with me’ much louder than all her cries say ‘stop’.

The problem with our attitude towards rape is that we focus too much on how women can prevent it happening to them and simply accept that men will always do it if given the opportunity. We see women the way pickpockets see open handbags: as a temptation. If only that handbag had been closed, the whole thing need never had happened. How silly of her, we think, she almost (always almost) asked for it. I shall make this clear though; women are not

20

The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

Features Royal Holloway Edinburgh Fringe Production

Over the Summer, Georgia ColesRiley (writer) and Imogen Robertson (producer) will be at the Edinburgh Fringe festival staging ‘HAVERFORDWEST’ in association with the Drama Society. We find out their plans and how it’s getting on so far.

What inspired you to write ‘HAVERFORDWEST’?

What has the preparation process been like?

GCR: When I first started writing ‘HAVERFORDWEST’ I was a disenchanted husk of a person, reeling from the inertia of my first year at university. Royal Holloway had proven itself to be a haven of sexually paranoid men and emotionally unavailable women, who came generally packaged in luxury high street clothing. I sat down at the start of the summer term to chronicle my life as a fresher, and, finding it lacking in intrigue, began to write about my experience of growing up in the small Welsh town of Haverfordwest instead.

IR: I can’t even remember a time when we weren’t preparing ‘HAVERFORDWEST’! Obviously it’s a fairly arduous task even getting seventeen busy people in the same place at the same time but the whole cast, crew and production team have been fantastic and have worked really hard since January, workshopping the play, editing the script and undertaking the fairly daunting task of raising £5,000 to cover the production expenses.

We’ve found that now we’re almost there, we seem to have forgotten about the horrors of dragging ourselves out of bed in the early mornings to undertake car washing fundraisers and just remember the more amusing moments such as drawing all over our leading lady in what turned out to be permanent marker pen in the name of publicity.

What is the play about?

.......................................

Want to get more invovled with the founder?

We’ve a number of board positions open next year, so we’d love to hear from you. >> Comment & Debate editor >> Music editor >> Sports editor >> Design (no experience necessary) Email editor@thefounder.co.uk and let us know why you’d be right for the job.

GCR: The imaginatively titled ‘HAVERFORDWEST’ is an account of a disconcertingly beautiful teenager, Jasmine (Tamsin Newlands), who struggles to combat the claustrophobic drudgery of a provincial upbringing. She festers alongside her unpleasant best friend Finn (Amir El-Masry) and plays emotional bingo with her unbearably pleasant boyfriend Rhys (Matt McKeever). On an intoxicated whim, Jasmine attempts to seduce one of the girls, Esther (Charlotte Lewis) and convinces an accountant, Mark (Joshua Ward) that she actually wants to sleep with him in spite of his age and penchant for salmon pink shirts. My long suffering friends Imogen Robertson (Producer) and Kate Devine (Co-Director) and I decided to take the production to the Fringe on a Bombay Sapphire fuelled impulse somewhere about last December and a few months later, the Festival looms.

Where will you be performing?

IR: ‘HAVERFORDWEST’ runs for the month of August in Edinburgh at Venue 53, The Space: Surgeons’ Hall with previews in London on June 10th at The Studio, Bloomsbury Theatre and in Haverfordwest, Wales, on June 14th at Sir Thomas Picton School.

To reserve tickets email haverfordwest@hotmail.co.uk We hope to see as many of you as possible in Edinburgh over the summer and if you’d rather not haul yourselves up to Scotland, we have a cheeky sneak preview in London on the last day of term.

‘HAVERFORDWEST’ AT THE EDINBURGH FRINGE

by Georgia Coles-Riley Directed by Kate Devine and Matthew Maw www.haverfordwestedinburghfringe.webs.com Follow our blog at www.haverfordwestedinburghfringe2011.tumblr.com @HAVERFORDfringe on Twitter Search ‘Haverfordwest @ Edinburgh Fringe’ on facebook

21

The Founder | Wednesday 8 June 2011

Features

Josh Minopoli’s

Absolute Accessory for Summer Josh Minopoli For most people going out for the day forgetting essential items such as keys, a mobile phone, a wallet, or money, would strike a chord with their innermost fears. My very own fear-striking situation would be to leave behind my sunglasses. This might seem like a totally irrational or silly preoccupation but with the summer fast approaching, sunglasses are not only for sun; they hide extra baggage when you look tired; mask any signs of the night-before’s excessive drinking; allow you to surreptitiously watch any intriguing characters around you without giving away your position; and quite marvellously deter those pests filling out surveys. As the master of the art Karl Lagerfeld says: “I wear sunglasses because I am polite – people look more beautiful through tinted glass.” Sunglasses are multipurpose and that is why they are counted as my ‘absolute accessory’.

Beware though, for attempting to achieve the ‘beautiful through tinted glass’ look can go wrong and the task of selecting the perfect pair of sunglasses takes time. My advice would be to buy better once, rather than buy cheaper several times. When the right pair is found, you are set to pass years with your dependable sidekicks.

Choosing the style is dependent on the shape of individual faces. Choosing the brand, however, is something altogether more universal. One of the more popular brands within the tinted glass brigade is Ray-Ban. Renowned for their Aviator, Clubmaster and Wayfarer styles, Ray-Bans are everywhere, finding success due to their adaptability and mass appeal.

However, this mass appeal is exactly what repels me from the Ray-Ban. There are certain limitations when you follow what almost everybody else is doing – individualism is as important as trend in the fashion world.

Jee Vice offers a fabulously fun and quirky sunglass under its ‘Reflection of a Woman’s Soul’ tagline. The brand displays every sort of shape, colour and size with each model having its own eye-catching name; Sassy and Dyslexic being just two. The diversity is unchallenged.

Even the ‘Sex and the City’ girls

flickr/ luca savettiere

were seen sporting them. The other quintessential women’s sunglasses brand is Chanel; Anna Wintour is rarely seen without hers. The classic colours and styles can be as smart or as casual as the wearer wants, effortlessly creating French chic.

For those able to pull-off the radical 1930s look, Prada, which never fails to impress, is doing sunglass with swirl and vivaciousness.

The men of the fashion world are not easily left out. Oliver Peoples offers sunglasses with an air of nostalgia, maintaining the retromodern with a dash of French Riviera. The style of the ‘Riley 48’ model could perfectly fall onto the nose of Johnny Depp, with its rounded frame and subtle feline detail. The ‘Altman’ sunglasses by Oliver Peoples are what I call power

sunglasses; thick, square frames of beveled acetate, dark lenses and solid lines. BottegaVeneta continues to bring out highly subtle and tasteful sunglasses. The best sunglasses are those without logos – BottegaVeneta is the leader of logo-free. Cutler and Gross, and Yves Saint Laurent are also worth exploring.

There is one brand, my favourite, which cannot be beaten. Sunglasses

by Tom Ford exude quality and luxury. Simple yet intricate, his typical men’s aviators reek of Hollywood, as do his women’s sunglasses, which, with an ethereal characteristic, radiate that je ne sais quoi.

Sunglasses are the key to looking cool so if ever in doubt, trust Tom Ford.

Sport ....

tf Svensson Says: Johanna Svensson Sports Editor So the time has come. The final edition of The Founder is out and about, mingling across campus in every corner, visible behind, beyond, and beside every tree and student. Although not much has happened in the sports realm of Holloway since the Easter break all those weeks ago, we still have some exciting news regarding the up-coming season! RHUL Sports will get an extra influx of money thanks to a lottery win (read here), and the newly opened MA in Sports Management is sure to attract some sporty new students to Egham.

As the room is cleared out, the suitcases stand packed to their bursting point, and a flight for home booked in only a matter of days (in writing time), the year steadily fades to its end. I know I’m coming back, eventually, but there’s a definite sense of sentimentality in the air still. 2010/11 has been a year of contrasts; of ups and downs, but probably mostly ups. Good memories from won fixtures and a successful Colours Ball mingle with not-as-nice recollections of injuries and set-backs. Hopes and failures aligned side by side as though they naturally belonged together; more of one than the

other, yes, but rather unsure of which is which. But that’s all in the past now, and the present is not quite the same - and the future looks bright.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all contributors who have made my job a lot easier, and without whose submissions, there would be no Sports section here. A special thanks has to go to Grace Shaw and Mark Hyndman who have helped me out more than anyone else. And of course thank you to all RHUL athletes – without you there would certainly not have been anything to write about (and probably no one to read about it either!).

Have a great summer, work out and work out hard. For those of you who will return in September, we need more and more great results from RHUL Sports. UCL needs to be beaten next year too. And to those who have reached the end of your Egham adventure – thank you for the effort you have put in, and good luck with future ventures in the wonderful world of sports.

And that’s all Svensson Says for this time. Final whistle.

flickr/susanica

The results are in...

– no joke, there have been some serious withdrawal symptoms from lack of climbing and I’ll tell you Between the stress of revision, the something – the forbidden fruit pressures of partying and the lure of that is the climbing of the Founder’s the summer sunshine, it’s a wonder Building has become ever more anyone at university can get anyunbearable as a result. Despite these thing done – especially if you study hardships, we’ve managed to have a at such a stunning university as our really successful last term. Not only own. Who would want to sit pour- has our climbing society finished ing over books in the library when the last couple of rounds of the they could be outside enjoying the LUBE competition, we have also sunshine? The tortures of revision completed a ‘Climathon’ in aid of have hit the climbing society hard BUWWEDA.

Alice Norman

sociation), a Uganda-based charity who provide the much needed aid and support for women and children in Uganda who are suffering from disabilities. The Climathon took place on Saturday 12th March and consisted of eight whole hours of non-stop climbing. I am really proud to say that we raised £386.73 which is an outstanding achievement. Congratulations should be awarded not only to those climbers who gave up a whole day in the middle of the hectic ‘deadline pe-

I am pleased to report that the final round of the London University Bouldering Event has just taken place and the results are in. This round was held at the Ach Climbing wall in London and our teams truly excelled themselves, with our main team once again finishing in the top 15 universities in the whole competition. A further mention should go to Jack Appleby and Chris Stroud who finished 20th and 25th out of the 110 climbers in the competition.

In addition to this event, MACS also held a Climathon in aid of BUWWEDA (The Butembe Women with Disabilities Development As-

riod’ to honour this cause, but also to other members of the society who took the time to shake buckets around campus and raise us the extra money for this great charity. We would really like to thank everybody who supported us, as well as the RAG team – I’m sure the money has been greatly appreciated.

So after the exams are over, the parties all celebrated and the goodbyes said and done, it’ll be on to Pardons, France for our summer tour with MACS – we wish everyone a happy summer and good luck for the day-that-must-not-benamed when we finally find out the results of this year’s hard work.

Sport ....

The Founder Sport sports@thefounder.co.uk thefounder.co.uk/sports Editor: Johanna Svensson

Lottery funding Royal Holloway’s for RHUL Sport Top 30 Sports Teams Continued from front page.

Team

Win

Draw

Lose

%

W. Football 1st

13

1

1

88.89

nd

8

0

1

88.89

W. Fencing 1st

7

0

1

87.50

st

6

0

1

85.71

W. Rugby 1st

8

1

1

83.36

W. Football 1st (ULU)

10

2

2

76.19

M. Squash 2 (ULU)

W. Hockey 1 (ULU)

M. Squash 1

st

9

0

3

75.00

M. Squash 1 (ULU)

st

6

0

2

75.00

11

0

4

73.33

8

0

3

72.73

nd

8

0

3

72.73

M. Hockey 2nd (ULU)

4

1

1

72.22

W. Basketball 1st

9

0

4

69.23

W. Hockey 1st M. Tennis 1

st

W. Hockey 2

W. Netball 1

st

8

0

4

66.67

W. Netball 1 (ULU)

st

8

0

4

66.67

M. Hockey 1st

7

1

4

61.11

Mixed Lacrosse 1st (ULU)

5

1

3

59.26

W. Football 2nd (ULU)

5

1

3

59.26

W. Netball 2nd (ULU)

7

0

5

58.33

W. Basketball 1st

4

0

3

57.14

skills outside the lecture theatre such as communicating, teamworking and managing people.”

The Active Universities projects will give tens of thousands of students across the country the chance to try out a new sport, or get back into one they have tried before.

Boosting student participation will have a lasting impact on grassroots sport as research shows that students who do play sport at university are far more likely to continue participating throughout their lives.

It will also help tackle the issue of the drop-off in sports participation that sees many young people giving up sport in their late teens and early twenties.

Sport England’s Chief Executive, Jennie Price, said: “Young adults who are still playing sport when they leave university are likely to stick with it for life, so this is a good investment in the future. These projects have been chosen because

they really listened to what students wanted, so we are confident they will succeed in increasing participation.”

Recognising the strong tradition of competitive sport within universities, Active Universities projects will meet the need for more informal and social sporting opportunities. The projects were chosen through a competitive process.

Chair of British Universities and Colleges Sport, Ed Smith, said: “This represents a great outcome for Higher Education and a fabulous opportunity to increase the depth and breadth of participation by young people whilst they benefit from academic studies and the overall student experience at university. The link between sport and life skills is evident from the way employers seek out people who are active in sport and this will be a boost as graduates make their way into the job market.”

A word from STARS student Darren March are to challenge for another medal at the National U23 Championships in June and to break into the top-10 The 2011 season has already started of the Senior Triple Jump rankings having finished 15th in 2010, with a number of successes for me. The year started with a Bronze hopefully extending my personal best from 15.26m to the region of medal at the BUCS Indoor Cham15.60m along the way. pionships in February, which was I would like to take this opporto be followed by my first victory at the BUCS Outdoor Championships tunity to thank Mark Hyndman and the RHUL STARS Scheme in May. After having finished second, third and third in my previous for their support so far and I am attempts at the Triple Jump it was a very grateful for the financial supgreat feeling to win and stand at the port which has aided my training costs immensely. I would also like top of the podium.

My training has also allowed me to acknowledge the work of my to do a bit of travelling this season. strength and conditioning coach I have been on warm weather train- at Royal Holloway, Louis Howe, ing camps to Tenerife, and then Cy- who has tirelessly drilled me into good shape this season. Onwards prus with England athletics which and upwards - the fun has only just were both great learning experiences. The primary aims that I have begun and the season is still young with the whole summer to compete. set myself for the summer season

Darren March

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