The Lion - Volume 5 Issue 3

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Volume 5 Issue 3 18th November 2014 theheythroplion.co.uk

SHAG Week ‘Evolves’ Into PHI Week

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The HSU Exec has expanded and rebranded the first Welfare week of the year, previously known as SHAG (sexual health and guidance) week, which was traditionally run in October. Physical Health Information (PHI) week, as it is now called, will cover a wider range of issues faced by students rather than focusing on sexual health specifically.

(Continued on Page Three)

Return Of The Great Debate Ben Mercer and Antonie Khanh battle it out as the House proposes that Faith Schools, of any kind, should be banned.

Pages 4 & 5

The St Mary’s Debate Rages On Luke Barrett and Peter O’Neil, and Oscar Yuill react to Heythrop’s uncertain future and The Lion’s survey results from Volume 5 Issue 2

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Lion

Students Demand St. Mary’s Info, Sexual Welfare, And A Lamp • Students Request Report From Governors on What Will Happen To University Of London Status, Heythrop’s ‘Plan B’ and More At OGM • Motion Resolving To Distribute Sexual Welfare Information And Birth Control Passes • The Cave To Be Redecorated With Microwave, Fridge, Sofa And A Lamp Fergus Cronin Coltsmann Editor-in-Chief On the 12th of November the Heythrop Students’ Union (HSU) held its first Ordinary General Meeting (OGM), the second General Meeting of the year. Among the business discussed were motions proposed by members of the HSU Executive and students, as well as reports from all of the Executive Officers on their activity in office thus far. There was also a ‘For and Against Debate’ between President Alex Jozsa and Vice President Matt Holland that was held to illustrate the arguments on both sides for pursuing or not pursuing a partnership with St. Mary’s.

The meeting made quorum, with over five percent of the student body, or thirty-three, in attendance; though there was a struggle to remake quorum after a brief break in the proceedings. The OGM lasted till four o’clock, starting only fifteen minutes after the announced time of one thirty.

All of the Executive Officer reports were accepted by the student body,

with the exception of the Publicity Officer’s, as Nori MacIntyre has resigned from the position, citing personal health reasons. The Events Team, Jacob Tong and Declan Barry highlighted the success of Freshers’ Week, although when asked about the profitability of the Halloween event Jozsa, as the financial officer of the Union, stated that the event had lost £45. The Welfare Team, Sam Sutton and Hannah Simpson, reported that they had helped set up the Fresher Parent scheme and were working on organising the first welfare week of the year.

Campaigns Officer Erin Denny was absent from the meeting, citing personal health reasons. Jozsa read a statement on her behalf, in which Denny explained the work she had done researching campaigns, both internal and external to Heythrop, students were interested in.

Web Development Officer Catherine Squibb reported on the work she had done to improve the HSU’s website, such as adding pages for the Program Representatives and various societies. Academic Affairs Officer Jenny Moran highlighted her co-chairing of the Undergraduate Student Staff Liason Committee

and the training of the Program Representatives. Chris Page-Tickell, the Student Activites Officer, reported he had helped set up five new societies and had encouraged societies to hand in formal constitutions, explaining that he believed this would help societies establish permanence between years.

LGBTQ+ Officer Hayley Clark reported that she has been running Heythrop Pride, the LGBTQ+ society, and was networking with other University of London universities’ LGBTQ+ officers, as well as organising a Pride Week to take place after Christmas.

Both Sabbatical Officers reported on the long list of meetings they have attended as student representatives. Holand focused on his report on events and facilities, citing the establishment of the Pop Up gym and the increased openings of the bar. Jozsa reported on his work establishing careers talks and advice, among other thing.

Jozsa was quizzed by students on a number of manifesto pledges he has yet to meet, including a more transparent Union Executive and introducing a Women’s Officer on the Exec. He responded by say-

ing he is working toward fulfilling those goals.

The next order of business were the motions proposed. All the motions proposed were passed, most with slight amendments attached. The first motion was concerned with utilising the Cave, also know as the TV room. It resolved to “make [the Cave] brighter” which was amended to include “by adding a lamp”, and to install a fridge, microwave and a sofa in the space.

The second motion explained why the Lighthouse, the computer room opposite the Sabbatical Office, has been out of action for so long. The motion claimed that the Union was promised the use of alternate storage areas for keeping the equipment for the gym in, which the College has failed to provide, hence the storage of the equipment in the Lighthouse. The motion resolved to request from College the storage space promised.

Motions Three and Four were more hotly debated by the student body than the first two. Motion Three, the only motion not proposed and seconded by members of the Executive, was titled ‘Welfare (Continued on Page Three)

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EDITORIAL COMMENT The

Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief Fergus Cronin Coltsmann

ferguscoltsmann@hotmail.co.uk

Managing Editor Megan Skingsley megan.skingsley@yahoo.com

Copy Editor Katt Johnson

katherine.johnson@heythropcollege. ac.uk

News Editor Vacant

ferguscoltsmann@hotmail.co.uk

Comment Editor Terence Sibley

terence.sibley@heythropcollege.ac.uk

Culture Editor Jordan Mant

jordan.mant@hotmail.com

Lion

Head Writer Robert Leftwich

robleftwich@gmail.com

The

The Lion is the independent student newspaper of Heythrop College, University of London. We distribute at least 1000 free copies during term time around campus and to popular student venues in and around Kensington.

The Lion is printed by Mortons Print 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 the prior permission of the publisher.

NEXT DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS

26th November Please send your submissions to: ferguscoltsmann@hotmail.co.uk NEXT ISSUE RELEASE DATE

2nd December The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Editors or of the Heythrop Students’ Union. 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.

Heythrop’s Nausea Fergus Cronin Coltsmann Editor-in-Chief Heythrop is in the midst of an existential crisis. It’s been in the midst of one for a long time, but nothing forces one to face one’s identity, however confused, quite like the prospect of death and alteration.

In previous years the ‘Big Questions’, to steal a phrase from the Union, around Heythrop’s existence have been hotly debated by the student body, but the discussions were always theoretical or removed by one step from the issues that caused them. For example whether Heythrop was fundamentally a secular institution or not was discussed because SHAG week was causing controversy on a particular Catholic blog (go to protectthepope.com and search Heythrop if you want to partake in some Christian outrage).

However, now Heythrop must define itself in order to know what to try and save. When we decide what Heythrop actually is, we can say whether it has survived or been so mutilated by the changes coming that it is Heythrop in name only.

(It occurs to me that the simplest way out of this headache would be if the College shut once and for all, that way we don’t have to concern ourselves about what was essential to its identity and what wasn’t).

The question was put to Father Holman in our interview (Volume 5 Issue 1) and he gave his answer there. The student body has, through surveys and General Meetings of the Union, given a rough idea of the parts of Heythrop it considers most essential. And in this issue we have students expressing their opinions on the matter, not quite from opposing viewpoints, but at least approaching it from different angles..

Unfortunately, it strikes me that most of the answers given thus far have been abstracted from the actual day to day, week to week experience of Heythrop. It’s all very well and good to talked about “The Four Pillar Mission” with regards to moving forward, but I doubt that if one asked a member of the alumni they would rattle The Four Pillars off as the defining characteristics of their experience of Heythrop.

So let’s wade into the everyday

of Heythrop. For starters, what “small and specialist” really means.

On the one hand, it’s very easy to get involved. Almost anyone can run for the Exec and stand a good chance of winning. A lot of positions usually aren’t contested in the elections and there’s usually one or two that no one runs for. Anyone can write for this paper. Anyone can join the drama society and probably get a role. And so on. If you walk into the Common Room, you can usually spot one person you know, and at the very least if a couple of people are having a heated discussion then one can usually jump in without being viewed as odd because everyone has the same thing in common, that they are a student of philosophy or theology and love a debate. Most people know their lecturers on a first name basis. All this means that people feel a sense of ownership of Heythrop very quickly, because it’s so easy to be involved in what’s going on around you. On the other hand, putting something together, be it a sports team, a newspaper or a play, is very difficult, because you don’t have a pool of thousands to pick from and encourage to get involved; you’ve got a few hundred and most of them have something else they want to do.

The HSU Bar is rarely packed because only a hundred or so people live on site and they’d rather predrink in their rooms apparently.

Basically, you can’t rely on people “just turning up”; everything has to be advertised to death for it to stand a chance of more than ten people attending. This fact is often bemoaned and resented by some students (usually the ones trying to make a sports team, play or newspaper), despite the fact they chose to come to a “small and specialist” College.

Secondly, the Jesuits. Most people love the Jesuit lecturers, because by and large they are very good and very smart. Most people love the site, because despite the fact the Halls aren’t actually very nice and we have a gym but no showers and you can’t walk in a straight line from the Library to the Computer room, it’s very pretty and in a fantastic location; and the Jesuits are responsible for Heythrop being where it is. And most people are aware the Jesuits have a history

in education and most people can get behind that. But Heythrop sells itself as “The Specialist Philosophy and Theology College of the University of London”. That’s what the plaque by the front door says and what it says in all the prospectuses.

Not “The Specialist Philosophy and Theology Jesuit College of the University of London”. So when people turn up and find out the Union can’t hand out condoms because it goes against Catholic teaching and when they find out the Governing Body is dominated by priests and people picked by priests, they are understandably a little miffed, because it’s not what they thought they were signing up for, despite the fact they did actually sign up for it.

And this is the crux of the matter: the divide between what Heythrop is and how it’s viewed.

If you look at Heythrop’s 400 years of history, the University of London courses are a footnote.

Of course there is slight disdain aimed by some at the undergraduate body, because they’re the new guys, the weird experiment. Of course there wasn’t a real invitation to the secular students to partake in Heythrop’s 400th birthday, because it wasn’t a celebration of the secular side of Heythrop, because that is, in the grand scheme of things, minor. This is, as far as I can tell, the thoughts of ‘upstairs’.

But on the other hand, to play out the thoughts of the student body, of course the College is defined by us. We’re the students, who else is it for if not us? We’re the single largest financial contributor to the College on an annual basis, why is the Society of Jesus the ‘principal sponsor’ rather than us? And how can you celebrate Heythrop’s history without celebrating what it does now?

I used the word ‘upstairs’ above. I do so because I feel it is appropriate. There seems a growing chasm between the students and the College’s leadership and management (‘upstairs’). An ‘us and them’ culture. I hope that, throughout the course of this year, that changes, that through the Principal’s forums and other forms of dialogue we come together. But I doubt it.

Someone’s Heythrop will probably survive its impending doom, I just don’t think that ‘someone’ is the students.

Think our editor-in-chief is a fool? send us your understanding of heythrop!

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NEWS

Dispatches From Student Democracy: Motions and Reports From The OGM (Continued From Front Page) Pack’ and was concerned with making adequate provisions for the student body’s sexual welfare.

The motion as proposed resolved to: “To put together and make available to all students a ‘Welfare Package’ which shall include, but is not limited to including: information from a range of well vetted charities, including religious and non religious charities, concerning sexual health and well being, a condom, lubricant, NHS provided information concerning sexual health and well being, and information from a range of well vetted charities and services concerning all reproductive choices and methods of birth control open to an individual.” and to: “To hand out to students these Welfare Packages during welfare events and weeks, during future Freshers’ Weeks and prior to large HSU events, such as the Winter Ball.”

An amendment which proposed to remove the words “a condom” and “lubricant” from the first resolution fell, sixteen votes against the amendment to seven in favour, with eleven abstentions. The amend-

ment was argued for by Holland, who cited that the lease agreement of 23 Kensington Square the College has with the Society of Jesus, owners of the current site, does not allow contraception to be handed out as it is contrary to Catholic teaching, thus making the motion difficult to carry out. The counter argument to the amendment was that the HSU, as a Union, exists to fight for change in how Heythrop as an institution is run if it was in the interests of students, and that this was an example of such interests.

A second amendment, inspired by the same concerned as the first, proposed by to change “to hand out” to “make openly available and in a safe and anonymous way”, passed. The motion in its amended form was then passed.

The final motion requested a report from the Governing Body on a handful of issues in relation to the negotiations with St. Mary’s, the motion highlighting the belief that many students felt uniformed about what a partnership with St. Mary’s would mean and look like.

The specific issues were decided upon at the OGM, the student body voting to amend the motion to include six areas the students wished more information on rather than the proposed three. The issues and information the students asked for were: ‘Location and Reloca-

tion’, asking what would happen to the site and would Heythrop, or any courses it offers, be relocated; ‘University of London Undergraduate and Postgraduate’, asking for specifics about what courses, if any, would still be awarded by the University of London; ‘Time’, asking for a timeline of the events related to the situation the College is in, for example, when a decision about the College future has to be made; ‘Plan B’, asking what would happen if the negotiations with St. Mary’s fell through; ‘Autonomy’, asking for what extent of autonomy Heythrop would have if it were to partner with St. Mary’s; and ‘Bursaries’, asking whether Heythrop Alumni would still have access to discounted postgraduate courses.

The final order of business was to address the proposal of a referendum. The referendum as proposed asked: “At this time, if full degree awarding powers from the University of London cannot be retained in the proposed partnership with St. Mary’s University, do you want your student union to actively oppose the partnership?”. The student body voted to postpone the referendum till after the Governing Body had a chance to present the Union with the report it had requested in the final motion, upon the receival of which an EGM would most likely be called.

Publicity Officer Resigns, Triggering Union Exec By-Election Nori MacIntyre has resigned from the Publicity Office for personal health reasons. This has triggered a by-election for the position. A hustings, where the student body will have the chance to ask candidates for the position questions, will be held in the HSU Bar on Friday 21st of November.

Voting is due to open on Monday 24th at five in the afternoon and close on Friday 28th at five in the afternoon. The results will be announced in the Common Room two hours later at seven. At time of writing The Lion is aware of two candidates running for the position: Magdalena McGilvray, who

ran for the position in the last round of elections and was defeated by MacIntyre and who has been acting as a Non-executive Officer of the HSU to help with publicity in MacIntyre’s absence, and Lucy Lu Whitby, who is noted around campus for her photography skills.

McGilvray gave this statement to The Lion from her campaign: “Hi, I’m Magda McGilvray! I’m a second year BA Philosophy student and since early October I have been a temporary publicity in a NEO position. This means that I have already taken on a lot of the work that a publicity officer would take on and attending Exec meet-

ings. I want to continue the work I have already been doing and take it further. I plan to make another Facebook Page dedicated to photos so that all students can put their photos together on one page as long as the photos the HSU take. And in general do more to publicise what is happening in Heythrop so that everyone can be aware of what is happening early enough to fit it in to their weeks’ timetable. Hopefully, I will be able to continue the good work I am already doing!

Vote Magda!”

Whitby was contacted by The Lion, but did not supplyy us with a statement.

Want experience in journalism?

Like knowing what’s going on around college? apply to be the lion’s news editor today!

Musical Chairs Upstairs After High Profile Resignations Elizabeth Thussu, previously the Clerk to the Governing Body and Director of Administration, has left Heythrop College, reportedly going to work for the University of East London. Taking over her role as Director of Administration in the meantime is Saladin Rospigliosi, whose previous job as Head of Student Services is being filled by Susan Lewis in the interim. Susan Lewis’ old job as the Undergraduate Administrator has been filled by former Quality Assurance Officer and President of the Heythrop Students’ Union Ashley Doolan, who has rejoined the Heythrop Staff af-

ter briefly escaping over the summer.

On the 14th of November the College announced the resignation of the Chair of the Governors, Bill Moyes. The Vice Chair, Jeremy Heap, is now the Acting Chair until a new Chair is appointed by the Governing Body. The College stated that Moyes’ decision to resign was not related to the future direction of the College.

Thussu’s and Moyes’ resignations are the most high profile in recent months, following at least three members of the administrative staff who resigned over the summer.

Heythrop Pays Over £65k In Consultation Fees As of 28th October Heythrop College has paid £66,681 to consultants in the process of negotiating with St. Mary’s University. It has paid £18,681 to Pinset Masons for legal advice and £48,000 to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for financial due diligence and communications support.

The Lion obtained this information from a Freedom of Information request sent on 1st October. The College did not reveal to The Lion if any exclusivity clause or agreement had been agreed to with St. Mary’s or any other University, College, or institution re-

garding entering negotiations about forming a partnership or consortium, as it claims this would prejudice commercial interests and therefore is not subject to a Freedom of Information request.

PricewaterhouseCoopers is one of the world’s largest professional services networks, and a part of the ‘Big Four’ audit firms. It is no stranger to controversy, having been criticised in the House of Lords in 2011 over not drawing attention to the risks in Northern Rock’s business model, among other controversies.

No SHAG Please, We’re Heythrop (Continued From Front Page) Female Welfare Officer Hannah Simpson gave this statement to The Lion: “The Union recognises that there are concerns about the changes to SHAG week (Sexual Heath and Guidance Week) this year. We felt that the time used for our awareness weeks could be better utilised to reflect the needs of students by talking about a wider range of issues. Traditionally, previous executives have held SHAG and MHAW (Mental Health Awareness Week) for the student body to attend.

We are simply evolving SHAG week to include events about; time management, eating disorders, drinking and exer-

cise, alongside sexual health and charity events. Because of these developments, we felt that the name ‘SHAG week’ was no longer fit for purpose.

Rest assured that the student body’s welfare is at the forefront of the decisions we have made as a union.”

In previous years SHAG week has been highly controversial inside the College and in the Catholic press, perhaps most infamously receiving criticism from protectthepope.com, which reported that, among other things, “the LGBT Society and Feminist Collective... dominate Heythrop Students’ Union and utilise Union resources to promote their militant ideologies”.

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The Great Debate

This House Believes That Faith Schools, Of Any Kind, Should Be Banned Against Antonie Khanh First Year Undergraduate The House’s proposal that all kinds of faith schools should be banned from operation is a most worrisome and socially imprudent proposition, for both individuals and society as a whole. Before I proceed to my disagreement about the House’s proposition, I feel that it is crucial for us to understand what benefits the House believes the proposal will provide, particularly in Britain and perhaps, the entirety of Western nations. First, I would present the argument that the proposition is detrimental to religious freedom in the long-term as the policy is inherently biased towards humanism.

In the past few decades, there has been a steady increase in secularism/autonomy within the realms of politics. This is particularly so within Western nations, Britain being one of many nations at the forefront in adopting policies that promote personal autonomy. From this socio-anthropological perspective, where people are increasingly accustomed to secularism today, many people would also shun religious indoctrination. Which is the fear that the House’s proposition is attempting to address and eliminate. The fear that pupils inside faith schools, in particular focusing on primary/secondary schools, by being educated there would deprive them of freedom of religion early on. Admittedly, this threat indeed does carry heavy weighting in contemporary Britain today, where personal autonomy is an almost universally accepted value.

Alongside that is an attitude that values actively questioning popular paradigm and critical thoughts.

This makes it very tempting to then abolish faith schools altogether.

However, first, I must point out

that a policy banning faith schools relying on said grounds is inherently favouring atheism/humanism as a default position for the entirety of Society. By forbidding faith schools, the Government is effectively stating that they favour non-religious over religious individuals. By ‘favour’, I mean in contribution and importance to Society. Education is a pivotal asset of any country, education stands for opportunities, work, etc. It stands for what the State believe is compulsory for everyone. Adopting this policy sends a strange message that the religious community is less important/worthy than others (i.e.

Humanists). This policy as such is a de facto, political discrimination towards religious families or individuals who wish to strengthen their faith through formal education. Thus, any secular neutrality claimed by the State or Law is lost.

It defeats the very neutrality the policy presumably aims for. Even worse, the State could create a state that paradoxically promises secular neutrality yet in practice, the policy only serves to diminish religious freedom.

Secondly, I would like to point out that the policy conflicts its intended goals of increasing/maintaining freedom of choice in religion.

Education is the primary target of this policy in this debate. Adopting this policy also means the abolishing of faith-based, higher education institutions by its definition.

This I would argue is an extremely dangerous move to take. The policy means limiting religious and potentially theistic individuals to rely only on churches, parents and their community for information regarding a faith. These groups, lacking the intellectual, inquiring nature of HE institutions, may actually pose increased risk for extremism. Higher education has been at the forefront of societal, humane developments around the world. Faith-based, HE institutions are no exception to this. For example, Heythrop College (UoL), a Catholic-by-ethos, has been a

culminating centre for interfaith conferences and discussions, as its intellectual nature requires such interfaith interactions, for the purpose of its Catholic and Theistic identity. Therefore, abolishing faith institutions equates to abolishing intellectual and productive discussions between Religion and the State. This is an incredibly counterproductive end for a policy meant to preserve religious freedom and reduce extremism. Education is the strongest safeguard against extremism, thus, to abolish religious institutions means to fire respected academics/philosophers/theologians whom facilitate valuable discussions about faith and the State.

Whilst the arguments against faith schools based on secularism and intellectual autonomy have been dealt with, the threat of religious extremism resulting in violence admittedly remains a concern. In particular is the threat of young individuals being indoctrinated to support an extremist version of their faith, which then constitutes a very real security issue in society. Therefore, it is imperative for me to argue for some basic requirements that all schools, faithbased or not, to adhere to. Because this will foster a genuine unbiased secular neutrality, as opposed to supporting religious discrimination. Foremost, I would like to address the assumption that faith education automatically leads to extremism. To assume that faith education would always lead to extremism is wrong; it is just a bad slippery slope argument and logical fallacy. Thus, without further digression, I propose the following basic requirements for all schools as an alternative to the House’s proposed policy: All schools should have a course that fosters critical thinking early on, that is, providing basic philosophical training to young children. This helps prepare children to think independently early on.

This allows children to thoughtfully question the belief they are

introduced/brought up into. Thus, allowing them to be more genuinely free when they choose to adopt a belief in accordance to their rationale.

Prayer and Religious text classes (i.e. Of the Bible) should be made optional. Students have the possibility of opting out of these classes should they feel persuaded that such classes would not benefit them; performance and attendance in these activities should not count towards the pupil’s grades.

Lastly, the school’s curriculum regarding religion should allow students to be exposed and engaged with other faiths and nontheistic positions and it should do so without portraying other religions in a negative light that may manipulate pupils.

These proposals I believe, is an immensely better alternative to the House’s policy that all faith schools are to be abolished. Whilst these requirements might come into challenge with some administrators of faith schools, I believe it allows faith schools to exist as a respected institution in the increasingly religiously-neutral society we live in. It highlights the opportunities for an individual to opt out of a faith if they decide such position suits them, despite being educated inside a faith-based institution.

Education of the philosophical and critical kind is one of the best safeguards against extremism of any kind. Thus, I urge you, my readers, to not be tempted to abolish faith schools, but rather to scrutinize their curriculum.

Abolishing these institutions is counterproductive towards the cause of reducing extremism. On a social perspective, it is a de facto discrimination towards religious individuals and communities, therefore such a policy corrodes social stability and fosters an unjustified ignorance towards Theism.

Thus, I am proud to oppose the House’s motion that all faith schools should be abolished.

have a good idea for a great debate? send us your suggestions!

“The House’s proposal that all kinds of faith schools should be banned from operation is a most worrisome and socially imp r u d e n t proposition, for both individuals and society as a whole.”

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For “So much for the myths of inclusivity and competition. These schools are allowed to pick the best of the crop and leave the rest. Furthermore, many faith schools, especially voluntaryaided faith schools, are granted exemption from equality laws which are designed to prevent discrimination on religious grounds”

THE GREAT DEBATE Ben Mercer Comment Correspondent I have not had a long or detailed conversation with my opponent in advance of this debate. This will be the first time I see him attempt an extended defence of the status quo.

However, he has supplied me with the following statement of his position: “I’m a Catholic (so theist) but is (sic) extremely sceptical about the politics of the church... and prefers secularism in the government.”

From his presence on the other side of the house, we can safely assume that Mr Khanh does not go as far as Rabbi Jonathan Romain, the Reverend Chris Wilson or the Ekklesia think tank in extending his fondness for Jefferson’s wall to include the education of our children. The three I have mentioned (to say nothing of the many I have not) have all come out in favour of a truly secular education system, and all are steadfastly opposed to schools which discriminate on the grounds of faith and social class.

Mr Khanh (who once caused me to laugh out loud by claiming, in a ULU debate society session, that human beings have one lung) has the unenviable task of opposing a certain Peter Hitchens, the most eloquent of this nation’s paleoconservatives, who makes two important points in his column for the Mail Online: “It hurts me to say it, but the grisly gang of anti-God professors and authors are right, and David Cameron is wrong. This is not a Christian country anymore.” and: “[David Cameron’s] well-publicised attendance at a London church miles from his home has helped him and one of his senior colleagues to insert their young into one of the best primary schools in England. Too bad for any children of poor Christian parents who couldn’t get in because the school is crammed with Tory infants.”

Mr. Hitchens laments the decline of Christianity in our society, and often attacks the modern Tory party as being insufficiently conservative. So I am using an argument from, so to speak, the ‘other side’ to make my own point.

As if the support of the enemy were

not enough, here is an extended quote from a piece published in The Economist: “The proportion of children entitled to free school meals at Catholic and Church of England schools is lower than at non-religious state schools. The Church of England has promised to set aside places at its new schools for children whose parents profess other religions or none at all, but the pledge has no legal force”.

“The study looked at GCSE results in both sorts of schools. “We could have found that faith schools benefited all parents, including those who didn’t, or couldn’t, choose them, if other schools improved in an attempt to hang on to pupils,” says Anna Vignoles, one of the researchers. But they came across no such benign competitive effects—indeed, they found no effects at all. Children at religious schools made no more progress than those at secular ones, and areas where there were many religious schools did no better than those where there were few. “What is described as a quasi-market clearly is not working,” concludes Ms Vignoles.”

So much for the myths of inclusivity and competition. These schools are allowed to pick the best of the crop and leave the rest. Furthermore, many faith schools, especially voluntary-aided faith schools, are granted exemption from equality laws which are designed to prevent discrimination on religious grounds. They are allowed to create and to enforce their own policies on admission and employment, hiring staff, appointing governors and admitting students based on their religious identity. (In the case of the children, this is based on the religious identity of the parents.

Richard Dawkins is right to point out that there is no such thing as a Christian child, only a child of Christian parents.)

Ofsted does not inspect religious education in faith schools, and we have as yet done nothing to minimise the risk that the more sinister amongst the stupid may exploit this flaw in the system. We relied on whistleblowers to tell us about the Jewish school that removed questions on evolution from their exam papers, and I have yet to see

anyone argue that the problem with the “Trojan Horse” schools was too much oversight.

And yet, successive governments have taken steps to ensure that faith schools are protected from the state. Our taxes make up as much as 90% of the budget of schools which are allowed to discriminate against our children, which are exempt from the law and allowed their own curriculum. These schools receive additional funding from their affiliated churches, and those churches take contributions from the state whilst paying no taxes themselves. Whilst they claim to be inclusive and to represent the best of our values, there is a growing movement within church hierarchies which wants to view children as another such contribution. The Bishop of Oxford, for example, has said: “The clergy ought to have a camp bed in [schools] for heaven’s sake! We don’t have to bemoan the fact that our Sunday school has collapsed if there are 200 children at the local church school. The first big challenge is truly owning the centrality of our church schools in our mission....” The Chair of the Catholic Education Service, meanwhile, says: “The Catholic ethos... should be incarnate in all aspects of school life, so that they may be effective instruments of the New Evangelisation.”

Enough of this. If we want our children to join anything like a unified society, we cannot bring them up in isolation.

I close with this, a quote from Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: “Traditional multiculturalists believe that equity means that funding Church of England, Roman Catholic and Jewish schools must also mean state funding for Muslim and Hindu schools where there is sufficient demand, as there often clearly is. After Multiculturalism, we need to take a different approach – to fairly represent the society we live in without breaking it up further into minority groups aided and abetted by the State… there should not be state-funding for state schools of any religion.”

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“COMMENT.”

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Edited by Terence Sibley | terence.sibley@heythropcollege.ac.uk

Rethinking St. Mary’s Peter O’Neil & Luke Barrett Research Students

In the last edition of The Lion (Volume 5 Issue 2), there was a report on students’ response to the possibility of working primarily with the University of St. Mary’s, rather than with the University of London. Overwhelmingly, this response was in favour of remaining in the University of London. However, we feel that this response does not represent the best interests of students, nor indeed, is it the consequence of a considered opinion on the matter. The most significant of the concerns was that there was some worry over the awarding of UoL degrees to Heythrop students. Indeed, The Lion reported that 60% of those surveyed believe that they would not have come to Heythrop if it was not for our ability to award UoL degrees. Nevertheless, we think this view is problematic, and represents a lack of awareness both of Heythrop’s history, and of the history of St. Mary’s.

In our opinion, both of these Colleges share a commitment to Cath-

olic education. We all know Heythrop was initially established by the Society of Jesus for the provision of the education required for those following a vocation to the Priesthood within the Society. Similarly, St. Mary’s was founded as a college by the Catholic Poor Schools Committee to provide for the education of Catholic teachers. And yet, both remain, to a degree, secular institutions, but what of Heythrop’s commitment to the Congregation for Catholic Education – a commitment to provide denominational instruction to those pursuing a vocation? We think that it is either ill-informed, contradictory or disingenuous for students to simultaneously advocate a delight in the History of Heythrop, and suggest that it can find a place in a nonCatholic environment, or that the majority of students do not care about Heythrop’s Catholic identity.

Anyone celebrating the history of Heythrop authentically, celebrates first and foremost the vocations to the Society of Jesus which Heythrop has enabled. In our opinion, the co-first priority of Heythrop is the instruction of those following a vocation, and we say “co-first” as

this priority shares in the spirit of the other “pillars” as Fr. Holman called them in The Lion interview the edition before last (Volume 5 Issue 1), but yet, we feel it is first among equals. We write this comment piece because we are not confident that this vocational education can provided by any other UoL college, and that our shared Catholic identity with St. Mary’s makes us the perfect alternative to the current situation.

Now, we have heard grumblings about the recent issue of degree awarding powers to St. Mary’s, but this is most backwards looking indeed, in fact – St. Mary’s as an institution offered UoL degrees themselves fifty years before Heythrop escaped the pleasantries of the countryside, and St. Mary’s saw fit to jump ship to the University of Surrey shortly after Heythrop affiliated with UoL. St. Mary’s is a growing, and wealthy institution, progressive and successful even after leaving the UoL, and perhaps even because of leaving the Univeristy, which is, in our opinion, as well as the opinion of colleges such as Kings and UCL which award their own degrees rather than UoL

ones – a relic of the past.

The question we would ask anyone concerned with degree status would be, in an age when the top UoL colleges award their own degrees, rather than UoL degrees, is it not better to move forward, as St. Mary’s did over thirty years ago, and find a home and a partner with the successful, dynamic and growing community they have there instead of languishing offering bottom-of-the-barrel UoL degrees?

For us, this seems to be a great opportunity to work with this successful, growing and yet traditional institution. Instead of being held back by a “London university” the “best” of which have either left, in the case of Imperial, or choose to award their own degrees, we can move forwards with the project of Catholic education in this country.

Let us momentarily consider some of the plethora of benefits here, St. Mary’s provides facilities far in advance of our own, a community far broader, and just as deep as that of Heythrop. Indeed, the position St. Mary’s is in further develops the Catholic message of Universal education, with a wide range of scholarships available for, for example,

Why Weren’t We Told?

Oscar Yuill First Year Undergraduate

When I first applied to Heythrop College in 2013, not making it my firm choice would have been inexcusable. It was advertised then—on open days, tours and its website— as it is advertised now: a specialist University of London college situated in zone one of London with over 400 years of history. Naturally I spent the entirety of my gap year looking forward to three years in Kensington studying the subject I love. And I spent the first two months or so very much enjoying Heythrop, especially its sense of family. So when I attended my first ‘Ordinary General Meeting’ in the common room yesterday alongside many of my fellow first years, I had expected it to be, well, ordinary.

Not so. After an hour of tedium those who, like myself, were igno-

rant of the situation were bluntly told that Heythrop faces either closure or a merger with the Catholic St. Mary’s University in Twickenham, zone five. Excuse me? I think I speak for the majority of first year students when I say that we were shocked, disappointed and downright angry. Why weren’t we told about this? Why was there no suggestion or warning before, during and after the application process?

Again: why weren’t we told about this? We want an answer. Now. Please and thank you.

The day after the OGM, three other first year students and myself all came to the same conclusion over lunch: that the men in the high castle have been either underhanded or incompetent or both, and that we should have been told about this (simply on principle) before we bothered applying to a package that is now essentially a lie. I understand that Heythrop has a

university to run, which entails an influx of students, but do not mislead those students about the security and certainty of the education and accommodation they are paying for.

When the time comes will our lecturers be joining us? I am sure they would like to know. Will our degrees remain UoL awarded? Apparently so, but their credibility might be affected. Are we to move to St. Mary’s and potentially live in an ideological atmosphere we might object to? Will we be provided with Victory Gin? Most of these questions save the last were put forward to the student union at the OGM. None were satisfactorily answered.

The previous issue of The Lion revealed that sixty percent of students would not have come to Heythrop—let alone heard of it—if St. Mary’s awarded their degree.

That’s rather damning. (Almost as

damning as the necessity of a debate to give new students a sexual health awareness pack and access to contraception. In fact I don’t think much was settled beyond the controversy of a single condom.

But I digress.)

Another point that both The Lion and the HSU have picked up on is the lack of information available to students about what a partnership with St. Mary’s would mean, hence the motion requesting a report on a number of key areas. As an LGBT student, St. Mary’s attitude towards LGBT issues is very important to me, as I know it is to the Heythrop Pride Society (which is flourishing under the leadership of Hayley Clark) and a large number of our own allies; so I decided to do some digging myself. After two unsuccessful phone calls to St. Mary’s I was finally put through to the operator, who then put me through to the student services administrator,

sports Heythrop is unable to even muster a team in! Moreover, funding opportunities for the disadvantaged and needy far outweigh even Heythrop’s generous provision.

For us, St. Mary’s is both the obvious, and the right choice in moving forwards in developing and broadening Catholic education in this country, and we hope that the Governing Body of our College sees that this is the right solution to the unfortunate problems Heythrop faces in these difficult times. We think that Heythrop was right to enter into the twentieth century by joining the University of London, but now we should take seriously our opportunity, and duty, to enter fully into the project of Catholic education in the twenty first century, and not be held back by the phonynostalgia of those who do not understand the universal nature of the Church in England.

Think about it, do we want our university to be the sort of thing celebrated by Chesterton, or by Bentham?

who didn’t pick up.

I was calling to address Stonewall’s report on St. Mary’s, which lists the following as absent from the university: an anti-homophobic bullying policy, student sexual orientation monitoring, explicit LGBT welfare support, and engagement with the wider community. Besides the mandatory acceptance of the 2010 Equality Act, the extent to which St. Mary’s is accepting of LGBT is uncertain— its website goes no further than listing LGBT as a society.

When we applied, we were certain. Now we are all uncertain. I urge my fellow students to attend the Principal’s Q&A session on the 17th November in the common room, and demand of the college the answers we should have been given long ago. Victory Gin will not be provided.

share your opinion on st. mary’s with the lion

7

TUESDAY 18TH NOVEMBER | THE LION

COMMENT

Mirror Mirror

Ben Mercer Comment Correspondent

Mirror mirror in my hand, who is the fairest in the land?

InstaTwitter and teenagers are reality’s attempt to fill the void occupied in Disneyworld by the magic mirror of fairy tales. As is its fashion, reality’s attempt at emulation hasn’t been entirely successful, causing self-esteem to soar to the top of the list of first world problems. And the move has led to a movement, with some online communities taking on the ambitious challenge of affixing the word ‘shaming’ to every noun and adjective in the Oxford English Dictionary.

The evil queen in Snow White didn’t have to deal with this. She occupied a sparsely populated world in which beauty was objectively objective. As such, her magic mirror could, when asked, give her a definitive answer. It could, and did, tell the truth.

Ed Miliband owns a mirror. Nick Robinson was on good form when he interviewed Mr Miliband earlier this week, closing with this very silly question: “When you look in a mirror in the morning, do you see a prime minister?”

Mr Miliband’s response was predictable. “Absolutely!”

This caused me to wonder aloud and to myself for a few minutes.

Was he the victim of some fratricidal prank? Had his brother replaced the mirror with a picture of Tony Blair, or even of himself?

But I’m prepared to take him at his word, and accept that his mirror is, quite probably, lying to him.

Mr Miliband can perhaps be forgiven for seeking solace by imaginatively augmenting his own reflection. But the mirror is not the polls, and the mirror is not the papers, and the mirror is not his party. Those are the things that matter whether we like it or not, and those are the areas in which Miliband is failing; falling with no style whatsoever.

Let’s proceed in order, and take the polls and papers first: From the Evening Standard and reported in The Guardian: “The Ipsos Mori research for the Evening Standard found the Conservatives on 32%, Labour on 29%, the Liberal Democrats on 9% and Ukip on 14%. Asked about Miliband as leader, the poll found just 13% of the public think he is

ready to be prime minister and his approval rating was lower than that of the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg.”

“Among Labour supporters, 58% said they were dissatisfied with his performance as leader... Miliband now has the highest level of dissatisfaction among leaders of his or her own party since records began 20 years ago.”

And from The Telegraph: “Only one in 10 women believes that Mr Miliband would be “more respected around the world” than Mr Cameron... Mr Miliband is also failing to convince Labour voters that he is capable of being an effective global statesman.

Only 31 per cent of people who voted Labour in 2010 believe he would be more respected than Mr Cameron, with 20 per cent of Labour voters saying the Conservative leader would be better.

Mr Cameron also beats Mr Miliband by a ratio of two to one on perceptions of his ability to make the right decisions “when the going gets tough”.

The findings suggest that the Labour leader’s personal style is likely to be a drag on his party’s fortunes. By contrast, Mr Cameron still appears to be more popular as a leader than his party.”

And finally, from The New Statesman: “The picture for Labour in Scotland is looking bleak. Latest polling from Ipsos Mori has found that 52 per cent of Scots will be voting for the SNP in next year’s general election, with only 23% intending to back Labour.”

What does this mean for Labour’s chances at the next election? “[In the last week of October] it was estimated that Labour would lose 15 seats to the SNP. Now it could be as many as 36 of their 41 seats – a historic moment of major catastrophe in British politics.”

Granted, most opinion polls are junk. But they do influence public perception, and that, in turn, influences a large number of journalists. Narrative is possibly the closest we are ever likely to get to perpetual motion.

Speaking of journalists – Look at the names of the papers reporting these polls! People who write for The Guardian, The Observer and The New Statesman tend to sympathise with Labour. One expects a good deal of gloating from the likes of the Mail, the Express and The Sun, but support for Mr Miliband in the left-leaning newspapers is lukewarm at best.

Miliband and his team have drawn criticism from the likes of Guardian contributor Roy Greenslade, who had this to say on the Labour leader’s flirtation with The Sun: “The electorate can see through his attempt to find some kind of accommodation with anti-Labour publishers and editors: it reeks of hypocrisy.”

“There is nothing to be gained from the exercise. Indeed, it’s much worse than that. It could cost valuable votes by suggesting that Miliband wants to be all things to all people. It lacks principle”.

He goes on to mention criticism of the party leadership from Labour MP Jon Cruddas, which was leaked to The Sunday Times: “[The article] does not, however, mention the crucial argument advanced by Cruddas: the failing of Labour’s leadership has been to create “cynical nuggets of policy to chime with our focus groups and press strategy”.

“That’s a good point, is it not? Miliband’s press strategy is informed by a desire to appease anti-Labour newspapers. It is a barren and ultimately flawed strategy.”

Jason Cowley, writing in The New Statesman, is perhaps a little generous when he says that Miliband’s problems are not a result of policy (they are, at least in part) but does acknowledge that the Labour leader has problems with “tone” and that “increasingly he seems trapped.”

George Eaton, of the same paper, tows a similar line: Miliband “needs to work on his personal brand.” And Dan Hodges, who professes to be a lifelong Labour supporter, writes in the Telegraph under a headline that includes the sentence “Labour has left itself on the wrong side of every debate.”

It’s not just a handful of disgrun-

tled journalists, either. (The Left has good reason to be disgruntled, but more on that later.) The amount of dirty laundry flying around Victoria Street should come as a surprise to those who remember the hyper-efficient spin machine created and employed to good effect by New Labour.

Miliband has been criticised in public by Lord Prescott of the Working Class for his “timid” strategy and “underwhelming” conference performance. Ed Balls – the shadow chancellor, no less – expressed his “surprise” when Miliband forgot to mention the deficit in that same speech. Margaret Hodge, Tessa Jowell and Diane Abbott have all voiced doubts about Miliband’s proposed mansion tax.

(All three are considering running for Mayor of London, but the issue, as far as leadership is concerned, is not that these people are being disingenuous but that they are doing it in public.) As if that weren’t enough, an article in the Observer on November 9th claimed that the magazine had been approached by three “senior Labour MPs.” They spoke under condition of anonymity, and their claims should be treated with scepticism, but the article states that “at least 20” shadow ministers are “on the brink of calling for him to stand down.”, and goes on to say: “There is a significant number of frontbenchers who are concerned about Ed’s leadership – or lack of leadership – and would be ready to support someone who is a viable candidate.”

Their preferred candidate is the lovable Alan Johnson, though he has attempted to distance himself from the rebel alliance.

Those attempting to defend Miliband have contributed to his troubles. The likes of Neil Kinnock seem to think that the most effective strategy is to tell the dissenters to “shut up and deal with it.”

Hardly a ringing endorsement, and the attention it has drawn seems to have hindered the loyalists’ case.

Meanwhile, the award for the most incompetent defence goes to Tristram Hunt for this remarkable effort: “I never believed the answer to Labour’s problems was to show people more of Ed Miliband. It was a ridiculous idea dreamed up by his advisers who have served

Love ed? then defend him in the lion!

him badly... It has been a complete failure. It is making things worse, not better. Ed has excellent qualities but that is not the way to show them. It is absurd.”

(He then took to Twitter to claim that he’d been misrepresented.

He wasn’t misrepresented, he was careless. Either he wants Miliband to be an invisible leader or he does not.)

Politics should be about substance, not image or personality. I know.

It’s a well-worn phrase. Miliband has said it himself: “David Cameron is a very sophisticated and successful exponent of a politics based purely on image...

I am not going to be able to compete with that and I don’t intend to... I am not from central casting.

You can find people who are more square-jawed, more chiselled.

Look less like Wallace.”

Nothing to disagree with there.

I also know that it is far too easy to make cheap jokes at his expense.

We can all do it. He has the smile of a serial killer, or the distant relative you’ve heard all those stories about. His face wouldn’t look out of place in a Dali exhibition, and so on.

But this is a man who still insists on making a mess of the very thing he claims to be against. This is the man who flirts with the Sun, who is physically incapable of eating a sandwich, who can give the same answer to four different questions in one interview, who makes giving money to the homeless look bad, and who is so obsessed with style that he thinks a good speech is one given without notes. (That particular stunt drew criticism from Len McCluskey, of all people.) This is a man who can’t even demonstrate hypocrisy properly!

He cannot lead his own party. He has alienated his supporters. He cannot handle the press. He will not challenge austerity. He will not debate Europe. He will not challenge the TTIP. He cannot challenge an unpopular Tory party. He offers nothing to the working class.

He offers no Left alternative. He offers no alternative.

His magic mirror may lie to him, but it seems reality will not. If Labour win the next election, it will be in spite of their leader, not because of him. Some people warrant their ‘shaming’.

8

TUESDAY 18TH NOVEMBER THE LION

COMMENT

The Matter of The Blatter Ben Mercer Comment Correspondent

“I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and that if only the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield.”

Orwell might have been surprised, though not necessarily encouraged, by the changes in the nature of sports rivalry that have taken place since his article, The Sporting Spirit, was published in 1945.

Granted, outbreaks of barbarism and violence still occur – the aftermath of Egypt’s defeat to Algeria in 2009 sticks in the mind as an example of sport as war with the shooting – but the animosity surrounding such fixtures as England vs. India, Brazil vs. Argentina, England vs. Ireland and Italy vs. any country formerly identified as a part of Yugoslavia is not displayed now in the way that it was seven decades ago.

But rightly is Orwell lauded for his prescience. In The Sporting Spirit, he devoted as much time to the treatment and lack of regard for the ‘rules of the game’ as he did the base, sadistic nature of many of its supporters.

(It is always worth remembering that the word ‘fan’ shares its

roots with the word ‘fanatic’).

FIFA, the governing body of the world’s most popular sport, is a bastion of foul play. An Orwellian supranational organisation and a Kafkaesque labyrinth of bureaucracy and statecraft in equal measure, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association is controlled, and has been for decades, by an incestuous cabal of crooks, mobsters and Chaucerian frauds. Their sole concern is profit (or, as they would have us believe, billions of ‘non-profit’ dollars) and they pursue it with fewer scruples than Dostoyevsky’s Raskolnikov.

A certain Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter has been sitting at the head of the organisation, stroking his white cat, since 1998. His longevity is, in part, an explanation for itself. During his sixteen year tenure, Blatter has continued the work of his disgraced predecessor, Joáo Havelange, creating a Byzantine obscenity with an almost impenetrable system of layers through which money may flow and trouble may be filtered out. Havelange, once Blatter’s chief sponsor, was himself finally cast out of the organisation by the very means he had helped to design, punished for his flagrant disregard for the democratic process whilst Blatter used his creation to render that same process redundant.

That Havelange lasted in his position as honorary president until 2012, and was then compelled to

resign only after the ethics committee produced its exceptionally vague report on bribery, is testimony to the efficacy of his own work. This is a man who, during his tenure as FIFA president, was on very good terms with the head of the Argentine Junta and the Brazilian fraudster Castor de Andrade.

That report also led to the resignation and expulsion of a number of prominent FIFA members, such as Havelange’s one-time son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira. One of the few members of Havelange’s clique to emerge unscathed from the process was the general secretary at the time of the alleged offences; Havelange’s anointed successor, Sepp Blatter.

But this is not the only occasion on which Blatter has remained erect whilst the layers beneath him shift and turn. Just before the last FIFA ‘election’, Blatter’s ally turned rival Mohammed bin Hammam was banned for life, along with Jack Warner and other members of his faction, by FIFA’s ethics committee. He abandoned his bid to become president in order to fight the ban – Blatter ran unopposed and, when asked, stated that this was not a problem – which was lifted due to a lack of evidence.

Bin Hammam was then banned again on a second set of charges.

Despite the furious press and public reaction to the scandal, Blatter has escaped any seri-

ous indictment, and the tainted World Cup bids of Russia and Qatar have not yet been overturned.

Much of the attention has, quite rightly, been focussed on Qatar.

Current estimates place the number of construction workers killed in the country into the hundreds, with the ITUC predicting that number could be over four thousand by the time the tournament begins. These are mostly migrant workers from countries like India and Nepal who arrive in Qatar, have their passports confiscated and their wages withheld, and who are made to work in intolerable conditions until they drop.

Blatter has suggested that the decision to award the tournament to Qatar was a mistake, but not because of the human cost, nor is it because of the obvious difficulties to holding the world’s biggest sporting tournament in a country which bans alcohol, executes homosexuals, isn’t particularly fond of women, and in which summer temperatures are between 40 and 50 degrees. The problem is the negative publicity.

Russia, too, is not proving a popular choice. This is a country run by an ex-KGB thug who imprisons his opponents, imprisons homosexuals, imprisons journalists, censors free speech, makes corruption a government policy and annexes the territory of neighbouring countries.

In Blatter, Putin and his

oleaginous friends have found a staunch supporter.

“A boycott will never give any positive effect. We trust the country, its government. Russia is in the eye of the international media. Football can not only unite Russia but show the whole world that it is stronger that any protest movement.”

Blatter has conceded that Russia and Ukraine will have to be kept apart during the tournament, which is the only concession he has thus far made to the advocates of common sense. But he has placed himself firmly in opposition to those who do not want the Russian government to triumph over the protest movements. His advice to those concerned by the attitude of the Russian and Qatari governments toward homosexuality is to suggest that our gay brothers and sisters should “refrain from any sexual activities.” (This was supposed to be a joke. He might as well have advocated a policy of “no ball games.”)

FIFA holds a great deal of power.

It insists on the right to challenge, change or ignore the rules and laws of the countries hosting its tournaments. It grants itself exemption from all forms of tax, it controls the security of stadiums and related territories, it demands the creation of FIFA courts to try those selling unofficial merchandise, and it demands that national governments relocate thousands of undesirable citizens. One might hope that FIFA will exercise this enormous power to temper the authoritarian nature of the Russian and Qatari rulers, as indeed it might, in the case of alcohol.

But FIFA’s record is uniformly bad. It chooses fledgling democracies – countries that have recently thrown off dictatorships – and revives the totalitarian spirit.

Without the kind of reform which Blatter opposes, I doubt this record will have improved by 2022. (“Illustrating how constrained our rights are, I asked one police superintendent (name withheld), “What if I say ‘Viva Argentina!’ in the fan park? No problem? What if I say ‘Phansi Fifa phansi!’?” (Down with Fifa!) ”Then you’re wrong,” the policeman answered. “You can’t say, ‘Phansi Fifa phansi’.”

– Patrick Bond, Counterpunch.)

Think ben needs a break? then write for comment!

9

TUESDAY 18TH NOVEMBER | THE LION

The Phenomenon That is Disney’s Frozen Anonymous

The opinions expressed herein are mine, and do not reflect the views of the Walt Disney Company or any of its affiliates. All figures and articles referenced have been sourced from BBC news and do not in any way represent privileged information of the Walt Disney Company.

Normally, being a Disney Store Cast Member (like a retail assistant, only magical) is a very pleasant line of work to be in. I get to be in a bright, vibrant place, with lots of kind people around me. But more importantly I get to make people genuinely happy. How many people can say that they do that for a job? Whilst keeping their clothes on, of course. But for a brief time this April I had the saddest job in the world. I had to tell countless swathes of people, good, honest people, that yes, we were indeed sold out of Frozen merchandise.

Let me take a moment to explain that this is a very bad thing. Frozen is Disney’s most recent smash-hit, released this time last year and, grossing over 1.2 billion USD in films sales, it quickly eclipsed The Lion King as the highest grossing

animated film ever made. It now holds the title of 5th highest grossing film of all time. Add to that another quarter of a billion just in US DVD sales, and you’ve got one behemoth of a money-maker.

However this is just the beginning of the Frozen phenomenon. In December last year, we at The Disney Store were starting to feel the strain on our Frozen stock. Fortunately there were no major issues as most people only first watched Frozen relatively near Christmas.

Sure the products were popular, but we were more or less able to keep up. This trend continued to various degrees throughout January and February, but March, the time of the Frozen DVD release, was when the hysteria truly began.

The phones began ringing incessantly, and at all hours, with parents desperate to get their hands on Frozen stock. In particular, the coveted blue dress which Elsa, the Snow Queen, wears during her most iconic scenes in the film. This dress now holds the title of being the most popular single item in the history of Disney merchandise, which is a more powerful title than you might think.

The moment for me when I first took a step back and thought to

myself that I was witnessing genuine insanity was when I arrived in early April at 6am, and there was a queue of about two dozen parents, some with their children and all with copious amounts of coffee, waiting for the Elsa dresses.

We opened at 10am with about 50 dresses and by 11am they were all gone. In fact I was stood by them when we were opening and I tell you that you have not known fear until you see a group of professional adults running towards you ready to seriously maim anyone between them and a children’s dress.

April, as I’ve already mentioned, was the month of ultimate Frozen madness. This was the month where prices for the Elsa dress reached a $1000 on eBay (The dress we sell for £40), and the prices on Amazon being almost as ridiculous. This was the month where more than every other person I spoke to had to be calmly told that there were no more Elsa dresses in Europe, let alone London. This is information which some people did not take well. My counterparts in the USA were having a worse time however; Times Square Disney Store instigated a raffle system, whereas Disney

World Florida could easily have been said to have been hit hardest as it was a common destination for desperate parents feeling certain that of all places to have an Elsa dress, Disney World would come through. Unfortunately for the Cast Members there, that was far from the reality of the situation.

I feel pity for them because I and almost all my colleagues were verbally abused by customers during this time – customers who felt that Disney (and me personally) had masterminded this shortage in order to create the hype. Thankfully this could not be less of the truth.

Disney had made all of its Frozen stock one year in advance, and after chronic over-stocking for previous similar films such as The Princess and the Frog, Brave, and Tangled, felt it could now accurately predict merchandise demand. When they realised how wrong they had been, they instigated emergency measures to cope, the most extreme of which being opening up new factories in Vietnam, and switching their transport from ships to planes; a costly yet ultimately much faster alternative. I dread to think of the colossal amounts of money Disney would have been making on a perday basis if they had been able to

COMMENT

keep up with the April demand.

The reason I’m writing this now however is that I feel this phenomenon is reaching new heights. With Christmas approaching every business wants a piece of the Frozen effect. Disney Store is now thankfully much more able to keep up with demand, but things are selling at unprecedented levels. Only this week I have happened across two Frozen related articles in the press.

The first stated that Frozen dresses have sold more than 3 million units in North America alone in less than a year, and an article about Poundland launching a Frozen range at one of its stores. People apparently queued for an hour before the store opened and everything was gone in 40 minutes. Oh yes, and they were actually fighting for the last few items. Grown adults were actively hurting each other to get to Poundland lip balm and stationary! All because it had pictures of cartoon characters from a film that has been out for almost a year.

I truly do not know the cause of this phenomenon, Frozen is a great film, but can any film ever warrant this hysteria? All I do know is that Elsa really has shown a lot of people how to “let it go”, and by “it” of course, I mean their money.

10

TUESDAY 18TH NOVEMBER | THE LION

Culture Discover London!

Hootananny

My Old Dutch Pancake

gives you the feeling of walk-

a fantastic opportunity to see

KIN Restaurant

Brixton

House

ing into somebody’s old living

one of the greatest blockbusters

Clerkenwell

Credit: Kate McGuffog

Kensington Church Street

room. However, it provides

on the big screen.

Credit: Kate McGuffog

Credit: Satchi Mahendran

great food, pleasant service and

Head to www.bfi.org.uk for

a nice atmosphere. The break-

more info.

One of Brixton’s most wellknown music venues and the

Who says that pancakes are re-

winner of awards for ‘Best Live

served for Pancake Day alone?

Music Venue London 2011’

Just a stones throw away from

(London Lifestyle Awards)

our college is My Old Dutch

and ‘Best Live Music Pub in

Pancake House that has some

UK 2010’ (The Great British

great deals. Starting with

Pub Awards.) Hootananny

‘Monday Madness’, you can get

always has an extensive line-up

any sweet or savoury pancake

of artists taking to the stage

for just £5 – we have been

with a variety of sounds. The

informed that these pancakes

next few weeks of the schedule

are rather sizeable and filling

alone sees; More Like Trees

too! Plus if you can’t make it

bring a mix of folk, flamenco,

on a Monday, then don’t worry

rock, drum & bass, Jamrock

because students get 10% off

Band perform at a ‘Roots Rock

with a valid student card on

Reggae’ night and TANZT take

any day apart from Mondays.

to the stage with their mix of

From your standard sugar and

power-klemzer with dub, hip

lemon, to Nutella, Chilli Con

hop and Balkan beats. Plus,

Carne and Rocket and Sundried

Hootananny has also brought

Tomatoes – My Old Dutch has

back their comedy nights every

a pancake for all.

Friday night. On Friday 28th November, Mock the Week’s Holly Walsh shall be performing. Stick around for some live

The Muffin Man Tea Shop

fast menu consists of various choices; toast, teacakes, tasty porridge (we’ve tasted it), eggs, omelettes and others. There is

restaurant which opened in

The Old Vic

2011. They serve up afford-

Credit: Ana Bailey-Jones

able food from Asia, Thailand,

Fancy some reasonably priced

cakes on display and of course

theatre? Who doesn’t? Well

a range of hot and cold bever-

currently playing at The Old

ages too. You should also take

Vic until 22nd December is

a look at their lunch menu if

Electra - ‘Electra is bound by

you fancy it. So if you fancy an

grief following the murder of

essay break then head across

her father Agamemnon, unwill-

to The Muffin Man, especially

ing to forgive and consumed

as it has a rather reasonably

by a desire for revenge, her

priced menu – breakfast is as

anger builds. On the return of

little as £5 or less!

her brother Orestes, Electra’s

British Film Institute The Southbank Credit: Jacob Tong This winter at the BFI they are showing Stanley Kubrick’s

Kensington

2001 Space Odyssey. This

Credit: Jenny Moran

Sci-Fi masterpiece is largely

music afterwards too!

Whilst on the subject of things

considered to be one of the

Most events on offer are

to do which are nearby to col-

greatest films ever. With the in-

FREE before 10pm and £3

lege, why not treat yourself

famous Hal making an appear-

afterwards policy. Head to

with a nice breakfast or a mid-

ance. If you don’t know who

www.hootanannybrixton.

morning cup of tea at The Muf-

Hal is then you will have seen

co.uk for a full schedule of

fin Man? Situated on Wrights

it pardoned in everything from

events.

Lane (the side street left off

the Simpsons to Wall-E. This

Kensington High Street just

is something for all you people

after Boots), The Muffin Man

who loved Interstellar. Also it’s

a family-run Asian street food

Electra, Sophocles

a selection of very tasty looking

2001: A Space Odyssey

KIN (meaning ‘eat’ in Thai) is

fury explodes without mercy, leading to a bloody and terrifying conclusion.’ You can read more about the plot and some reviews on The Old Vic’s website. This show is certainly one to see with Kristin Scott Thomas (Keeping Mum and

Vietnam, Japan and China.

Their website boasts a ‘simple, fun, quirky, comfortable and authentic’ venue with Victorian floorboards and brickwork.

You can grab yourself a salad from anywhere between £4-£7, soups for £2-£3.50, noodle dishes from £6.50 up to £8.50 and rice dishes for similar prices. There are also a fair amount of vegetarian and vegan dishes on the menu too! Green teas and banana fritters are also on the desert menu – I’m heading there right now!

If you would like to find out more, just head to www.kinstreetfood.com

Four Weddings and a Funeral)

@SkintLondon

starring in the show and her

Twitter

performance has been well-re-

Credit: Joseph Walker

ceived by critics. We ALMOST forgot to mention – students get tickets for just £12.50 – a bargain when it comes to theatre tickets!

Grab your tickets now at www.oldvictheatre.com

If you don’t have Twitter, go an get it. Now you’ve joined us in the 21st Century, you should definitely be following the page @SkintLondon. As the name suggests, the page does its best to share all of the cheapest (and often FREE) deals that

something going on in london town which you think is worth shouting about?

If so, drop us an email and get your name published!

are taking place in London.

They will alert you when a pub is giving out a free pint later that day, give you special code words which will gain you free refreshments in café’s, as well as keeping you up-to-date with all of the weird and wonderful events taking place in the capital.

11

TUESDAY 18TH NOVEMBER | THE LION

edited by Jordan mant Restaurant: Dirty Bones Katie Milne Second Year Undergraduate I’m sure a lot of you will by now have seen the intriguing entrance to Dirty Bones, only a short walk up Kensington Church Street. I myself was pulled in by the retro, pop-up style entrance and the promise of “premium-hotdogs”. So I decided to give it a go on a Saturday night.

Having booked a table as per the instructions of the website (and having had it confirmed to me several times over the phone by an eager member of staff) I arrived to find no record of it on their system, however after a few minutes of waiting

the waitress apologised and

We were shocked when our ribs

that was commendable were

a Christmas meal with a twist

seated us. The greeting area

were brought out and there was

the cocktails. I ordered a ‘101

and may possibly be better val-

was separated from the restau-

only 2, for £6. Granted they

Dalmatians’ which consisted of

ue for money than their normal

rant by a bar that was already

were delicious but the portion

Baileys chocolate, vodka, Disa-

menu, especially if you plan

swarmed at 9pm, and we had

size was underwhelming and

ronno, cream and chocolate

on getting a dessert (which we

to push through the crowd just

we later watched guests at a

chip ice cream. Having never

avoided solely due to the fact

to get to our table. The decor of

neighbouring table look just

had a ‘dessert’ cocktail before

that they were selling ‘Milk and

the place was very impressive

as disappointed. When our

I was pleasantly surprised and

Cookies’ for £5). Overall though

and stylish and as we settled in

hot dogs arrived the portion

thoroughly enjoyed my drink,

I do not think that the meal was

we were expecting good things.

sizes were in keeping with our

which fortunately was of a

worth the £40 bill and by going

Our waiter rushed over and was

starter and, although appetis-

more satisfactory size and came

to Dirty Bones you are paying

incredibly helpful and atten-

ing, were nothing particularly

in a pint glass.

more for the atmosphere than

tive and brought us a jug of

special. My hotdog did not

During our visit we noticed

for the food. I am glad to have

water whilst we waited for our

really have any spice or kick

advertisements for a Christ-

visited but will not be return-

cocktails.

to it, which was unusual for a

mas menu which looked quite

ing as I think there are a lot of

We ordered our starter, ‘Sticky

Mexican-themed dish, but the

appetising. ‘Christmas Dog’

better restaurants for a similar

Pork Ribs’ and I ordered ‘The

meal was certainly not unpleas-

consisting of a turkey and stuff-

price, although perhaps slightly

Mexican’ hot dog, with pulled

ant. I think my partner’s choice

ing sausage, cooked in red wine

further afield than a five minute

pork, cactus salsa, lime sour

of a more traditional hotdog

gravy and topped with cran-

walk from Heythrop.

cream, and guacamole, while

was better, however then

berry puree, stuffing, buttered

my partner ordered the ‘Classic

you are paying £7 for a basic

greens and crispy potatoes.

Yankee’ (which is as it sounds).

hotdog with onions. One thing

This would be a good idea for

Music: Taylor Swift’s 1989 Jacob Tong Events Officer Taylor Swift’s new album called ‘1989’ is her fifth studio album and it is just the absolute best!

After the huge critical and commercial success of ‘Red’, she’s done it again and this time she topped it with another fucking banger of an album. It’s hard to believe the transformation from young talented country singer to Global Icon and Pop Star has been so flattering for her, especially with all the shit she gets for dating everyone in Hollywood. Girls like Guys deal with it yeah, pricks.

This new album though, which Wikipedia describes as “Synth Pop”, is fantastic as it has everything that you want from a Pop album; catchy, dancey tunes that you don’t want to skip. The songs are just a never ending roller-coaster of joy to my ears. With the first single

from the album being released over summer, it managed to get everyone of all ages to stand up and shake off those haters! Now the recently released ‘Blank Space’ is deeply emotional, yet all I want to do is jump around the room with a hairbrush and let out my inner Swiftie.

It is hard to see how she could top this one but I can’t wait to see what she tries next. A little birdie does however tell me that she could be headlining Glasto next year, which really would sum up another fantastic year for the 24-year-old starlet.

I recommend anyone to give Tay Tay a chance because you won’t regret it, there is no shame in loving great music and this album certainly is great music for everyone. If you don’t like it, you’re a hipster and have no mates.

12

TUESDAY 18TH NOVEMBER | THE LION

Culture

D

Film and TV: Our Girl Film: Gone Girl - It’s So Psycho!

Ana Bailey-Jones Third Year Undergraduate Our Girl is a BBC film and television series following the life of Molly Dawes (Lacey Turner) - a feisty beauty therapist, who joins the British Army after deciding her life isn’t worth much.

The series has been ripped apart in reviews: complaints of script, inauthenticity and poor acting. However, I couldn’t feel more differently. I was blown away by the talent of EastEnders actress Lacey Turner – first in the film but especially in the television series, when it focuses on her first tour of duty as a Medic in Afghanistan.

Molly swaps East London for Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, living alongside her new all male team - 2 Section. The series focused upon the violence of conflict and the unpredictability of life on tour, especially as a woman. While simultaneously (in true BBC fashion)

Lacey Turner, Molly Dawes in Our Girl

squeezing in a love triangle between Molly, her Captain (the beautifully cheek boned, Ben Aldridge) and Smurf – a one

..

Gereon Kramer First Year Postgraduate

makes it perfect for any-

haviour. Nothing more is

one who likes these kind

necessary at this point.

of thrillers. The audience

The story is not just bril-

finds itself in a difficult

liant itself, it is in some-

night stand during basic train-

There are many stories

position, because there is

way a contention with the

ing, played charmingly by Iwan

about the perfect crime.

no obvious good and bad -

phenomenon of love. The

Rheon (quite a change in char-

Some of them are funny,

no one to empathize with.

first kiss between Amy and

acter from Game of Thrones’

some of them are exciting,

One moment you hate this

Nick is staged as a perfect

beast Ramsay Bolton.) I found

but a story like the one

husband, who seems to ig-

moment which could not

the series to be an emotional

you find in “Gone Girl” is

nore the problems that his

be more romantic. But

rollercoaster – spending each

somewhere beyond. It is

wife had with their move to

when the first fire is off,

week anticipating the next civil-

a masterpiece, written by

Missouri, the next moment

what comes next? Between

ian attack or gooey-eyed look

Gillian Flynn and directed

you might feel convinced

boredom and disturbing

– Molly never just faced one

by David Fincher. Nick

that he is not the murder-

thoughts, Fincher con-

hurdle and consequently I grew

Dunne (Ben Affleck) is

er. The next moment, all

structs this couple and

attached to the character. The

an author and is teaching

has changed again.

their “love” so well that the

feeling of a life surrounded by

at a university. His wife,

Helpful at this point is

audience can feel a cold

death – I willed her a success-

Amy (Rosamunde Pike),

the fact that the whole

shiver running down their

ful career but more so a safe

is also an author and they

story works without many

back. Alfred Hitchcock

passage home. After a dramatic

are both living happily

characters. Beside the two

could not have done a bet-

series finale, I’m hoping for a

together. That is what you

main characters there are

ter job. And so you must

second series but creator Tony

see on the outside. But on

only a few supporting ac-

come to the conclusion

Grounds has not confirmed

their fifth anniversary,

tors, that play their roles

that a happy ending on the

rumours. Turner is a star and

Amy disappears. Nick calls

quite well but do not dis-

outside might be a horror

forgives any poorly written

the police to find her and

tract from the main story.

on the inside. The destruc-

army banter between 2 Section.

as time goes by, the picture

One of these supporting

tion of every love story à la

Informative and entertaining -

of their perfect mar-

characters is played by Neil

Disney or Pixar but done

one film and a five-part series

riage slowly breaks more

Patrick Harris, known as

in a perfect way. To con-

certainly worth a watch!​

and more and Nick finds

Barney Stinson from the

clude it in one sentence:

himself in the middle of a

famous TV Show “How I

At first you are too blind to

perfect crime.

Met Your Mother”. Harris

see the truth but when you

The movie demands the

plays a rich, good looking

discover it, you want to be

need for full concentra-

guy, with style and charm,

blind again.

tion from the very start in

just like Barney Stinson. A

All in all, Gone Girl is the

order to follow the some-

little bit unimaginative you

perfection of Psychothrill-

times very confusing story.

might think at this point,

er; a great plot, wonderful

Fincher is famous for his

but I think it is quite bril-

actors and totally unpre-

twisting plots where noth-

liant. The viewer does not

dictable. 149 minutes well

ing is like what you initial-

need to discover a whole

spent.

ly expect it to be. This story

new role. I know that guy

is exactly like this and that

and I know his kind of be-

tired of reading positive film reviews?

Trash someone elses creative efforts for the Lion!

13

TUESDAY 18TH NOVEMBER | THE LION

culture

Travel: Abu Dhabi’s Ferrari World Michael Bailey First Year Undergraduate I understand that this review may be a little out of touch regarding people actually getting there but the day had highs and lows, therefore I’m going to write about it.

Opened in 2010 as the world’s largest indoor theme park, Abu Dhabi’s large (and incredibly costly) attempt to say ‘look, no need to go to Dubai... Come here… Please’, Ferrari World boasts over 20 attractions… some better than others I have to say.

To start with, I have absolutely no interest in cars, so a car-themed theme park wasn’t exactly on my to-do list. However one particular ride caught my attention; which I will get to later. I’ll start with the list of bad things about the park.

Firstly, even with twenty rides available, it feels very empty as theme parks go. Most ‘rides’ are very small, some being just an area where you learn to change an F1 tire - very handy if you are a wannabe F1 driver, but a ride? I think not. Another thing that struck me about the entire park when I was there (November 2014) was that it was half a building site. Most of the middle part of the park was a ‘pit stop’, as the park called it, as new attractions were to be built. I wouldn’t mind but, when most of the park looks closed and it actually looks like a garage, it doesn’t give a good first impression. I also went to see a show called ‘red’ which, although I was entertained by the pretty well-done special effects and dance, it just felt very ‘theme park-ish’ - just another tool to drain the masses of their money, with no real rea-

son other than to make people

in which you race seven other

in ways I’ve never thought

recovery time each time you

stay another half an hour in the

players in real time in a three-

possible. There is no good way

jump on the ride of your life

hope to buy more stuffed bears

screen encapsulating, hot ride

to describe the amount of pres-

again and again. So, if you are

(made triple the price due to

- I would have won if my brake

sure that is placed upon the

ever in the UAS area, and you

the Ferrari logo I might add).

pedal had actually worked…

body (nothing I can put into a

have a day free, check it out.

As well as a Ferrari 4D simula-

And some eight-year-old Italian

newspaper at least) unless you

Just steer clear from any gift

tor filmed in Italy, which just

kid had stopped ploughing into

experience this. As soon as you

shop items; I don’t care what

felt really tacked on and held

me.

step off (to a range of applause

anyone says… a pencil case

no real purpose apart from a

Ther was one ride that made

from staff and visitors), you

with a Ferrari logo on it is not

cameo from a famous Fer-

the entire trip worthwhile, a

see the ground, and see your

worth fifty quid… It just isn’t.

rari driver… so famous I can’t

ride that made my stomach

feet on it, but feel nothing in

remember his name…

come out of my anus and

your legs for a good minute,

Even though it does sound like

left me wanting more - The

and you still feel a bit ‘floaty’

you shouldn’t really be going at

‘Formula Rossa’; the worlds

half an hour after the ride took

all, I honestly could see some

fastest roller-coaster, reaching

place. A master of engineering,

amazing and well thought out

speeds of 240Kmh in under

and a lesson on how much the

rides and attractions through-

five seconds and with 4.8 G’s

body can put up with without

out the park that made my trip

ripping through your body, it

exploding everywhere!

honestly worthwhile. One of

makes for a fun time. I didn’t

To conclude my trip… If the

these was the ‘Fiorano GT Chal-

even know what to expect until

Formula Rossa ride was not

lenge’, which is a good place to

I was strapped in with safety

there I would say stay away

start in the park. Fast but easy

goggles too tightly digging into

like a Hospital with an Ebola

going, you simply choose your

my face. There is no recovery

patient inside. Since this is un-

track, and ‘race’ the other roller

time, you speed off up a 70

doubtedly one of the best rides

coaster on another adjacent

degree incline (no speed being

in the world at the moment

line - simple, yet effective.

lost) and coarse through sharp

though, it makes the other mid-

There is also the ‘Scuderia

bends and drops for just short

dle of the road attractions pass-

challenge’, a giant simulator

of two minutes but it ages you

able to waste time in-between

7/10 (3/10 without the Formula Rossa)

14

TUESDAY 18TH NOVEMBER | THE LION

The Creative Commons A Creatively Compiled Collection ‘

Dinner with a Philosopher: Rene Descartes Rebecca Pyke Cooking Correspondent This recipe is inspired by Descartes’ famous Cogito Ergo Sum, or ‘I think therefore I am’, created as a result of his quest to examine the foundations of our knowledge. First appearing in his Discourse on Method, the same idea, though not phrased in the same way, appears in the second meditation of Descartes’ most famous work - Meditations on First Philosophy - which is an investigation into the certainty of our beliefs. This great work led him to the conclusion that it is unshakeably certain that he is a thinking thing, hence ‘I think therefore I am’. It also helped give rise to

I Stink, Therfore I Am, or Proof that at Least One Person in Britian can make a Sandwich What you’ll need:

Always keep walking, past the seasons, hot and cold past the heavenly King, don’t let your soul be sold to despair, fear and tremble, let go of the dread man is in virtues too ample

to leave your potential dead.

1 slice Stilton cheese (or Gorgon-

Why would you not see the light

zola)

that is life and all its friends

Brown bread, 2 slices A little lump of Butter

you are the

God with all its might,

seek happiness through any ends, because by us we have beauty

A handful of lettuce, washed and

of this world infinite in life

dried.

for happiness and spirit to strive.

What to do: Butter bread and layer the cheese on top.

so as

Powerful beings it is our duty

Feet Barcol

Put the salad on the cheese and finally the last piece of bread.

Chop diagonally to make triangle sized sandwich pieces.

him being described as the first modern philosopher.

The humble sandwich was created in 1762 by the 4th Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu. This revolutionary idea was originally two slices of bread in order to save on lengthy meal times. The sandwich is therefore of British origin and has been enjoyed by millions of people since its creation worldwide.

send us your cartoons

From Heythrop College

Peace In Our Time

By Anonymous

food for thought

designed by putting meat between

15

TUESDAY 18TH NOVEMBER | THE LION

The Creative Commons A Creatively Compiled Collection Fifteen Tips On How To Preseve Your Food Rebecca Pyke Cooking Correspondent

that your food is well stored and

from the fridge which you want to

date but the taste may decline.

kept after it has been lovingly car-

eat but that it has yesterday’s date

Expires on: this label is found on

Being a student is not always easy.

ried home. Here are some helpful

on it. The trick with the jargon

perishable goods like dairy. Food

The food fairy who restocked

tips to ensure that you save money

that is put on our food is to under-

can be eaten after this date if it has

the shelves of the fridge at home

(and become an eco-warrior).

stand it. To put it simply:

been stored properly.

doesn’t seem to exist in halls and

Everyone has had a horrible expe-

Expiration dates: are dates which

Use-by: This is usually found on

eating out is expensive. So, after

rience with food and being sick is

refer to quality not safety. In this

government regulated products

a tedious trip to the supermarket

never nice. However, if you store

instance, my fledgling eco-war-

such as baby food. Do not con-

make sure your food lasts. Even

your food correctly and trust in

riors, use your eyes and nose to

sume this item past this date.

the savvy shopper can fall afoul

your bodily senses then this can be

check.

Hopefully if people try these rules

of forgetting about the life span

a thing of the past.

Sell -by & Best-before dates: these

the 15 million tonnes of food waste

of food left in the fridge and have

Another confusing moment can

dates are used as a guideline. The

which occurs every year in the UK

their milk turn sour. So ensure

occur when you retrieve an item

product is still edible after this

will be a thing of the past.

1.

Bananas can be kept for 3-5 days longer if you wrap their crown in

7.

Wrap lettuce in tin foil. This will keep it crisp and delicious.

3.

Butter the cut edges of your

food for thought From Heythrop College

placing it in the microwave in a

8.

Store mushrooms in a paper bag,

9.

Rinse your strawberries in one

older food at the front of the fridge

part vinegar to ten parts water.

so it is easily spotted and eaten.

it’ll keep them fresher for longer.

cheese to enable it to keep moist.

Store your apples and potatoes in the same place to stop unwanted

This quick tip will ensure that

potato sprouting.

they keep for two weeks longer and will not affect the taste. Please

4.

Reduce un-popped popcorn by bowl with a plate over the top.

cling film.

2.

11.

Rearrange your fridge so that the

do make sure you use the correct

milk is kept in the coldest part, the

amount of vinegar otherwise the

middle, to prevent it from turning

strawberry will be pickled.

sour.

5.

Keep eggs in the middle shelf of

6.

Clean your fridge!

the fridge to ensure a long life.

bread can be transformed 10. Stale by rubbing an ice-cube over it and then re-baking for 12 minutes in a warm oven to revive it.

the fridge clean and cut the 12. Keep costs of your food bill by placing

are to be stored at room 13. Tomatoes temperature rather than the fridge where they get wrinkly and go bad. is to be kept in the warm14. Cheese est part of your fridge such as in the vegetable draw. Which if you are a fan of cheese becomes the cheese draw.

15. Don’t stick to best before dates!

got a poem, Tips on food, Or a recipe?

Submit them to the lion!

16

TUESDAY 18TH NOVEMBER | THE LION

Horoscopes Aries

Taurus

Gemini

Cancer

Leo

Virgo

Mar 21 - Apr 19

Apr 20 - May 20

May 21 - Jun 20

Jun 21 - Jul 22

Jul 23 - Aug 22

Aug 23 - Sep 22

Over the coming weeks you’ll find yourself quick to anger, others are sure to notice your rashness. However, it could be that this stirring to action makes accomplishing your goals easier. If you feel yourself more hesitant to act because of a fear that you’ll over reach or lash out, don’t worry about it, I only included that sentence for the sake of not committing myself to anything.

Jupiter is slouching majestically into the bitter-sweet love of Neptune, making this a fantastic time to purchase a new television.

You’re being invaded by small metal things. One is orbiting around you, and the other just landed on your face and started drilling. Oh wait, it seems to be running out of power because it landed in a crater. How unfortunate, but still, science was done!

Today you’ll interact with someone who likes you, so the best course of action is to hit on everyone to make sure you hit on them. You’ll know who it is that likes you because they’ll probably be the one who doesn’t look at you like your some sort of weirdo as you flirt your way through the day. Well actually they might if they see you making passes at everyone and everything, so make sure to keep a low profile while making your advances.

Venus is wreathed in tendrils of smoke rising from the crumpled rollie hanging loosely from her lips. It’s her 4th of the hour and she hasn’t had her morning coffee yet. Venus decides that a bacon sandwich will help her shake off last night’s hangover, so she lurches into the winter morn down to Greggs. What does this mean for you? Well she’s still a little drunk but that’ll wear off soon and the headache is coming fast, so she’ll probably hair of the dog it. That means you should too. I recommend the HSU Bar as the place to drown your sorrows.

Your retro-quantum has a rising pH level meaning your immediate temporal agency might, that is to say not definitely will but could, find itself in a molecular tunnelling machine that pseudo-sudokus the treknobabble of the subspace neo-magnetical global matrix of the geo-genetic solar!

Libra

Scorpio

Sagittarius

Capricorn

Aquarius

Pisces

Sep 23 - Oct 22

Oct 23 - Nov 21

Nov 22 - Dec 21

Dec 22 - 19 Jan

Jan 20 - Feb 18

Feb 19 - 20 Mar

Poor little Pulto is desperately trying to get the planets to be his friend, but he’s so small they won’t take him seriously! You might feel like Pulto over the next few weeks, but don’t worry, the fact you’re a few billion kilometers away from Earth should distance you from the worst of the world is going to throw at you this month.

Your hard exoskeleton will protect you from most of the world’s problems this month, but sometimes you’re going to need to get stuck in the thick of it. Good thing you’ve got wicked pincers and a poisonous stinger.

Without them you’d be really boned this month, I mean bloody doomed! Wait, you’re not actually a scorpion? Oh... err... well, good luck. You’re gonna need it, you poor soul.

Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Your psychic link with life around you has been shaken by the passage of Mars through your electro-mental realm. You might find it harder to read others in the coming days, but soon you’ll be back to your old self as Mars marches on and an indifferent Mercury strikes your spiritual epidermis.

You go Aquarius! Really knocked it out of the park with that last thing you did, make sure to keep up the momentum this month but be careful not to extend yourself too much, you could still make mistakes.

If you do, don’t feel bad, we’re all human. Well, you are anyway. I’m a cosmic entity older than time itself that The Lion Editorial Team tricked into writing the Horoscopes by winning a game of Texas Hold ‘em.

You’ve got to hard choice to make, bow out with dignity or cling desperately to some jumped-up life-raft that you know you’re better than but secretly you worry that you’re not because otherwise you wouldn’t be in this position, lord knows you’ve had enough chances to save yourself but all those little mistakes kept falling through your fingers and they’ve slowly piled up around you and now there isn’t another way out and the only thing you know how to do is take what you can and hope no one notices that you’ve betrayed them, because they could have been on the life raft if they wanted, but they chose to come here and they like it here, but you didn’t tell them that here was sinking and why are they being so mean, don’t they see that there isn’t another course of action and anyway here isn’t really theirs it’s yours, they haven’t been here as long as you and your friends so sod them.

Societies Sports and

Catholicism Q and A

Daniella Mascarenhas Acting President of CathSoc Join us for our ‘What is Catholicism Q&A’ on Wednesday 19th at 7.30pm. As always, we are open to people of any or no faith. Fr. Stephen Wang, author of ‘What is the Catholic Church?’ and ‘A Way of Life for Young Catholics’, is here to answer your questions.

This is the perfect opportunity to ask any questions about Catholicism and the actions of the church.

Questions can be asked freely throughout the event and there will be a question box provided for those who want to ask questions anonymously.

Free food and drinks are provided.

The event starts at 7.30pm in the Rec room. Hope to see you there!

Societies Notice Board Christopher Page-Tickell Student Activities Officer

this reason there is now a

With around two dozen dif-

activities of various societies

ferent societies advertising a diverse range of activities across Heythrop it can easily slip one by as to what events are taking place when, where and with what society. For

Societies Notice Board in the HSU Bar with all the assorted regular and non-regular advertised, along with information about what societies are on offer.

So, if there’s a society you want to get involved in, look to the notice board!

Thanks For reading!