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PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR 2012 » Scottish Student Journalism Awards • PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR 2012 » NUS Scotland Awards
WWW.JOURNAL-ONLINE.CO.UK
EDINBURGH’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
ISSUE LXVII
WEDNESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2013
“Dramatic, disgraceful and
thoroughly illiberal.” EDITORIAL / The Journal on EUSA’s interdict
EUSA silence Student press • Paper forced to withhold thousands of copies after EUSA take legal action to prevent publication of “confidential” information • Interdict includes gag order on all negative coverage of union
IN NEWS /
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IN NEWS / 3-11
• £24.6m cuts to FE budgets • NUS back post-16 Bill • Ceiling cave-in at GHQ • EUSA referendum questions • ERASMUS funding protected • Student to sue Oxford?
THE ANATOMY OF AUTONOMY
IN ARTS / 19-25
Predators devour Knights in Varsity • Interview: Youth Olympic stars • Karting: Snow can’t stop EUMSC • Hearts seeking upturn in form
IN SPORT /
26-31
In or out: Scotland’s EU hokey-cokey In the second of our series, we explore an independent Scotland’s place in the world
IN FEATURES /
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• Steven Holl, architect of the new Glasgow School of Art, talks about taking on Mackintosh • Zero Dark Thirty and Django Unchained: sweet revenge? • Supermodel Anna Freemantle on Edinburgh’s cultural scene
2 / CONTENTS
NEWS SHORTS
Missing student dead
THIS WEEK INSIDE THE JOURNAL
Battling in Brussels The Journal reports from Brussels as MEPs debate future education policy
It was confirmed this week that the body of missing Edinburgh student Sanjay Dhital, 24, was discovered in St Margaret’s Loch last weekend. The search for Dhital, a student at Edinburgh College, began after he failed to make contact with his family in Nepal on Boxing Day of last year. His family have been informed of the discovery. Elsewhere, the search continues for missing Stirling University student David O’Halloran who has been missing for over two weeks after disappearing on a night out with friends. CCTV had shown O’Halloran around Bridge of Allan at around 2.15am on 18 January. Police have appealed for witnesses and are requesting any information that may lead them to find him O’Halloran is described as being 5’5” and was wearing a white t-shirt with a black and green checked shirt as well as black jeans and black trainers.
‘Inanimate rod’ for NUS With the NUS elections in the distant future, at least by student standards, the list for candidates running for NUS president has been released. In the race to succeed current president Liam Burns, who is to step down at the end of this term, are a number of well-known NUS figures vying for the top job in student politics. However, one candidate has caused a stir: best known as the ‘inanimate carbon rod’ from cartoon series The Simpsons, the carbon rod has shot from obscurity to a place in the fight to take over the presidency of NUS. The story was first reported in the Bristol Vantage student newspaper and a statement from the rod said: “As president, I will represent all students, regardless of politics, and without sarcasm or aggression or inaccessible language and behaviour, because; as an inanimate rod, I am incapable of having or displaying emotions.”
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14 THE END OF THE REVOLUTION? Despite their progressive past, on the issue of equal marriage French society has experienced a strange conservative backlash
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PG funding ‘scandalous’ According to The Huffington Post, the National Union of Students (NUS) has called for better funding options for postgraduate students to stop a brain drain of students to alternative countries for their studies. Luke James, who is postgraduate studies officer at the NUS has warned of the UK ‘haemorrhaging’ students unless something is done to rectify the situation by the government. According to the NUS postgraduate fees in Europe can be as low as €230 for a masters course and €350 for a PhD with funding in Scandinavia remaining free. This comes as a feature in this week’s edition of The Journal discusses the nature of postgraduate education, with an Oxford student threatening legal action over the refusal of his application based on funding issues.
The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
@EdJournal / journal-online.co.uk
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THE BARD STILL FULL OF SURPRISES Academics express delight at the discovery of correspondence and two previously unknown poetic manuscripts by Robert Burns
29 UOE 2S SPOIL ABERTAY TITLE HOPES A windy Peffermill saw Edinburgh win 1-0 against the title pretenders and continue their mid-season pick-up in form
MINOR RIOT AS CLUB SHUTTERED Glasgow students trash the joint as popular student club at the University of Glasgow closes its doors for the final time
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The Journal is published by The Edinburgh Journal Ltd., registered address TechCube, 1 Summerhall Square, Edinburgh, EH9 1PL. Registered in Scotland number SC322146. For enquiries call 0131 560 2825 or email info@ journal-online.co.uk. The Journal is a free newspaper for and written by students and graduates in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Contact us if you’d like to get involved. Printed by Morton’s Printers, Lincolnshire. Copyright © 2008 The Edinburgh Journal Ltd. Elements of this publication are distributed under a Creative Commons license - contact us for more information. Distributed by Two Heads Media, www.twoheadsmedia.co.uk. Our thanks to PSYBT, Scottish Enterprise, and all who make this publication possible.
The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
@EdJournal / journal-online.co.uk
STUDENT NEWS / 3
Student paper silenced by EUSA legal action Campus newspaper pull edition after union seek court order barring publication of “confidential” documents Marcus Kernohan & Callum Leslie
The University of Edinburgh’s student newspaper has been forced to withhold thousands of copies from distribution following legal action by Edinburgh University Students’ Association, which bankrolls the publication. EUSA obtained an interim interdict from the Court of Session in Edinburgh, barring publication of an article due to appear in The Student on Tuesday 22 January. The judgement, handed down by Lord Jones on Monday 21 January and seen by The Journal last week, further forbids the paper from publishing “any material purporting to suggest that the pursuer is an organisation which is poorly governed and whose management are inexperienced and unaccountable”. The interdict notes that “information [in the story]... was gleaned from confidential material which was leaked to The Student by an unknown source.” It also appears to order the paper to pay EUSA’s legal costs. In a statement, EUSA president James McAsh said: “Although we are a democratic organisation, there are certain legal obligations that we are required to adhere to.” A EUSA spokesperson declined to comment further on the matter. The story is understood to relate to the lengthy imbroglio which resulted in vice-president services Max Crema’s ten-week suspension in July 2012, for reasons which remain officially undisclosed. Further details cannot be reported while legal proceedings are ongoing. The Journal broke the news of Mr Crema’s suspension in September. Sources said at the time that the sabbatical officer’s relationship with EUSA’s professional staff had soured following
David Selby
PEANUT GALLERY
ANALYSIS /
WHAT PEOPLE ON TWITTER ARE SAYING ABOUT EUSA...
INTERDICTS AND INTRIGUE
“Will EUSA be revealing how much they’ve spent on legal fees silencing the students their sabbs represent?”
Marcus Kernohan Editorial director
The news that EUSA have
— @re_tommo
“Well if they didn’t take interdicts out, they may be able to reduce catering costs!” — @jordandias
“Only way @TheStudentPaper cud damage @eusa rep was if it revealed it was actuli run by incompetent, useless cats. I fuckin hate cats.” — @NiallCarville allegations in an anonymously-written item, published on Mr Crema’s EUSA blog, of routine sexual harassment and poor working conditions at EUSA venues. The Student on Tuesday published a front-page item under the headline “SHAMEFUL”, confirming the existence of the interdict and quoting from the order. In the article, and a supporting editorial, the editors accuse the union of censorship, and say they believe that EUSA’s justification for seeking the interdict was spurious. In the leader comment, the editors write: “It deeply saddens us that EUSA would rather spend valuable time and money on suppressing the voice of the students and stifling the freedom of the press than allowing information which we are convinced every student has a
VIEWFINDER
A Journal staffer caught clutching a rival paper... right to know come to light.” In a statement last weekend, the paper’s editors told The Journal: “Unfortunately, we’re very reluctant to comment any further on the issue as we’re keen to stay within the terms of the court order. Given our experiences last week, we’re concerned about what the repercussions may be if we give detailed comment.” Today’s articles are the first public confirmation by either side of the ongoing legal action. Sources at The Student said the paper were exploring their options. The interdict, which is valid for one year and one day unless rescinded earlier, orders that a further hearing on the case be held not sooner than 21 days of the judgement being served. The Student is the UK’s oldest
student newspaper, founded in 1887 by renowned Scots author Robert Louis Stevenson. In 2002, the paper was pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by dwindling advertising revenues, which led EUSA to take over responsibility for ad sales. The union remains a crucial financier of the paper, though relations have chilled in the last year after senior EUSA figures signalled that the union’s funding of the paper may be significantly reduced in the future. Additional reporting by Gareth Llewellyn, John Hewitt Jones and Jen Owen.
EDITORIAL 12
THE CATCH: Early in the morning, fishermen coming ashore in Puerto Lopez, Ecuador attempt to protect their valuable haul from marauding frigate birds. Captured by The Journal’s picture editor Chris Rubey.
turned to the courts to suppress reporting in a student newspaper they effectively own is a bizarre twist in a story which has rumbled on for months. Union VP Max Crema, whose ten-week suspension in July 2012 has been extensively reported in both The Journal and The Student, and this latest move is another signal that the story is stubbornly refusing to die. Although relatively little of the Student story can be reported at this stage, due to legal restrictions (it is important to note that the EUSA interdict is only an interim judgement, and that another hearing will take place in the weeks to come), it is understood to relate in some way to Crema — and strongly hints at ongoing tensions in the relationship between EUSA’s student leaders and the association’s increasingly activist professional staff. At this point, it is too early to say how this story will shake out: we can only observe that the interdict appears to have backfired spectacularly in PR terms, judging by the online response (almost universally critical of EUSA’s actions) to The Student’s defiant front-page this week, and to the extensive online coverage in The Journal.
ONLINE journal-online.co.uk
Union election ‘sold’ to Deloitte by prez Outrage at University of Strathclyde Students’ Association after corporate sponsorship of upcoming elections
Striking a bum note Universal Records executive is wrong about classical music’s elitism, argues John Hewitt Jones
The Last Stand Arnie’s movie is little more than a tepid action romp, says Jonathan Whitelaw
4 / NATIONAL POLITICS
@EdJournal / journal-online.co.uk
The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
SPECIAL REPORT: SCOTLAND AND THE EUROPEAN UNION
Brussels battle over youth training scheme Common sense or window-dressing? Opinions vary in European Parliament and Commission about new scheme
“Every day I’m Brusseling” Daniel do Rosario & Greg Bianchi from Brussels
Young people across the EU would
be guaranteed an apprenticeship or further training if out of work for four months, under a European Commission
proposal to combat youth unemployment – but The Journal has found mixed views on the scheme in Brussels. One Scottish MEP who strongly supports the scheme is Labour’s David Martin. His spokesperson explained that such a system needs to be organ-
ised at EU level rather than independent states because the freedom of labour movement in the EU might create mass labour flows to areas implementing such schemes. She also stressed that there are funds available to put the scheme in place. SNP MEP Alyn Smith was less convinced: “You see, there is a body of opinion within the commission and the level of the parliament that there’s a knee jerk reaction that says we need to do everything at the European level. “The Youth Guarantee is precisely one of those. I am not in favour of the EU being responsible for social policy, I am not in favour of the EU being responsible for delivering apprenticeships — not because I’m ideological about it, but because I don’t think the EU would do it better than the Scottish Government or indeed the local authorities in Scotland. “The Youth Guarantee scheme sounds good, but there’s no budget behind it of any significance. It’s window dressing. It allows MEPs to go back to their constituencies and say… youth guarantee scheme, look what we’ve done.” However, fellow SNP representative Ian Hughton suggested that he sup-
ported the policy saying that some of the education schemes funded by the EU had been positive in Scotland. Mr Hudghton also said that he believed that at a time when there is a youth unemployment crisis in some member states some of these schemes are particularly important. Mr Hudghton went on the state “if we can have some kind of coordinated action at the EU level that supplements what we can do at home, then of course we’ll support it.” Both SNP MEPs did support the scheme and voted for it in Parliament however this suggests their personal views on the utility of the scheme seem to differ. At Commission level, Dennis Abbott, spokesperson for the EU education commissioner insisted that the scheme was worthwhile and would have sufficient funding and support. Mr Abbott said that while the policy was only a recommendation, peer pressure from states who successfully roll out the scheme might influence wider uptake among member states. He said that while the Youth Guarantee can not promise to end in permanent employment, young people can hope to gain new qualifications and skills that
will make them more attractive to future employers. He linked the drive behind the Youth Guarantee to a campaign for more students to take part in the ERASMUS european exchange scheme, whose funding is set to increase in the next few years despite pressure to cut the EU’s budget. Jonathan Todd, an employment and social affairs representative who works on the scheme, said: “it’s got a proven track record in Austria and Finland, and it’s common sense. “The idea being, rather than twiddling their thumbs or getting depressed whilst unemployed [young people] are actually using their time to acquire the skills that are relevant to them and will increase their chances of getting a job in the future. “It wouldn’t be enforced, it’s a recommendation. But the fact is there is a lot of peer pressure on member states to put it in place, if we point the finger at the fact that it works. “They would have to explain to their electorate, their unemployed people, why they don’t want to put in place a scheme that has been proven to work in other countries. I mean, what do you say to these young people?”
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PM urged to remove international students from immigration stats Five parliamentary committee heads in call for reform Johnney Rhodes Staff writer
Prime Minister David Cameron
has received a letter signed by the heads of five parliamentary committees to leave international students out of his proposed immigration targets. The letter asks Cameron to take “further action to encourage international university students to study in the UK. “Doing so has the potential to support economic growth in the immediate and longer term, supporting jobs in university towns and increasing export earnings,” they added. The UK government has promised to lower the net number of people immigrating and has taken a series of measures to do so including some which directly affect international students. International students coming to the UK are already expected to speak a higher level of English, and higher education institutions which hope to sponsor international students for a visa must be known as “highly trusted”. Universities have criticised the measures claiming that they have driven thousands of promising genuine
students to universities outside of the UK. Immigration figures have decreased but many ministers have linked this to a fall in the number of international students. However, figures released by the UK admissions body UCAS show an increase of 9.6 per cent in the number of students from outside Europe applying between September and January. The committee heads welcomed a move to extend the amount of time PhD and MBA students would have to find work in the UK after their degree had finished. Weighing in to the debate, Universities UK chief executive Nicola Dandridge stated to The Guardian earlier this month that immigration restrictions had made international students feel unwelcome. The signatories further believe that the government’s measures have damaged the movement of students putting UK universities at a disadvantage. They also ask the prime minister to “reconcile the remaining tensions between visa policy and aspirations for growth by removing international students from the net migration target”.
The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
@EdJournal / journal-online.co.uk
NATIONAL POLITICS / 5
Piotr Jablonski
Scotland and Europe: Is this the Final Countdown? Conflicting views along partisan lines have led to calls for clarity on independence Daniel do Rosario & Greg Bianchi
An independent Scotland’s EU
status is one of the most hotly-contested ‘hypotheticals’ of the independence debate, but The Journal has had exclusive sight of two letters that might bring some welcome clarity. The question at stake used to be whether Scotland would get ‘automatic’ entry into the EU as the SNP government once claimed. Even their own Alyn Smith MEP accepts that phrase was ‘unfortunate’. Most people now accept Scotland would likely get in eventually, but the question is how smooth the process would be and how long it would take. The SNP says that it would be a simple matter of ‘housekeeping’ because Scotland is already embedded in EU institutions and laws, while opponents such as Tory MEP Struan Stevenson reckon the process would take two years even if fast-tracked. Quoting European Commission president Manuel Barroso has become a set piece for independence critics. The words they latch onto in particular come from a BBC interview in December where Barroso stated that any newly independent country would have to reapply to join the European Union, which can be a lengthy process, as Iceland has shown. Despite this apparently clear-cut
statement, the issue is seemingly a little more complex. The Commission has never commented on Scotland’s specific case, as the SNP have been keen to point out. The Journal has had exclusive sight of a letter sent by the European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefcovic to Scotland’s deputy first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, which confirms this. It says the commission cannot comment specifically on Scotland, as it falls under “questions of internal organisation related to the constitutional arrangements in member states.” However, it goes on to say: “the European Commission would only be able to express its opinion on the legal consequences under EU law of a specific situation upon request from a Member State detailing a precise scenario.” In other words, if the UK government agrees on a precise scenario, a specific legal opinion on Scotland and the EU would finally be forthcoming. Why this possibility did not emerge sooner is unclear, and it is likely to rouse the interest of both campaigns. The second letter passed to The Journal is a draft suggesting that request may eventually be made, at least if met with enough cross-party support. The letter was proposed during a EU society debate at the University of Edinburgh, when Alyn Smith MEP surprised his fellow politicians by pulling it out
Lorra-lorra laughs as EU version of Blind Date proves a smash hit of his bag without forewarning them. Smith’s proposed signatories were the politicians attending the debate, although he later said that he had no desire to hear a final answer from them that night. The letter is addressed to prime minister David Cameron, Scotland secretary Michael Moore and deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon, and urges both governments to agree on a specific scenario that the UK government (as the existing EU member state) can then formally seek the Commission’s advice on. The letter points out that such an agreed scenario is in line with a key recommendation of the Electoral Commission, which calls on the two governments to agree on a “joint position” on the consequences of both a Yes and No result “so that voters have access to agreed information about what would follow the referendum.” Catherine Stihler, a Labour MEP who was also on the panel, told The Journal: “To be handed a letter just
before going into the debate and then to find the letter quoted in the Herald newspaper the next day seemed more like an attempt to grab a quick headline... than to genuinely seek cooperation on these important questions. “If the SNP had answered my question honestly back in May 2011 about what legal advice they based their assertions on automatic EU entry over, then perhaps I would see things differently. “In my mind it is for the SNP, not the Labour party, to answer the questions over the practicalities of independence.” It is with tedious inevitability that we must now return to the muddy waters of political reality. There are a number of important complications both with Smith’s proposed formal UK government request for legal advice, and with the nature of the EU’s decision-making processes in the event of Scottish independence. The precise independence scenario that the Commission expects is likely to be incredibly complex, requiring a
remarkable degree of cross-party agreement on issues such as Indy Scotland’s maritime borders, future currency arrangements and so on. These are the kind of details that the governing SNP have been reticent on so far. [see this week’s Anatomy of Autonomy feature for a more in depth look at the legal implications of Scottish independence.] Furthermore, even if Scotland votes for independence in 2014, and even if the Commission deems Scotland’s membership application a matter of simple ‘housekeeping’ — the EU’s codecision process of ratification adds a final (perhaps impenetrable) layer of uncertainty. Each member state in the European Council has a veto they could use to block Scotland’s application. The Journal heard off the record comments in both the EU Parliament and Commission suggesting that Spain, with fiercely independent Catalans and Basques rattling the gates of Madrid, might be a thorn in Scotland’s side in that respect.
ERASMUS scheme to continue after high uptake Interviews with commission and parliamentary representatives confirm that popular EU scheme will continue to be funded Daniel do Rosario & Greg Bianchi
The future of the ERASMUS European exchange scheme is guaranteed beyond the end of 2013, according to members of both the European Parliament and the European Commission. There had been fears that the budgetary issues facing the EU could lead to a serious cutback in the education budget for the scheme. According to the EU commission there are set to be up to 5 million people studying abroad with a revitalised Erasmus programme termed ‘Erasmus for all’, which has a 19 billion euro fund for a seven-year programme, due to start in 2014. Despite the healthy uptake of the scheme in many countries, Dennis Abbott, an Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Commission spokesman, expressed concern over the lack of
students from across the UK taking part. Mr Abbott told The Journal that the ERASMUS programme is “arguably… the most successful programme ever launched by the EU,” and that the EU aims to double the number of grants available for ERASMUS exchanges alongside similar exchanges for apprentices and college lecturers. He said: “ERASMUS has always been very, very popular, but its value… is even greater now at a time of economic difficulty”, adding that it was regrettable that the British are lagging behind their European counterparts. According to the most recent figures seen by The Journal, 2010-11 shows over 230,000 ERASMUS students taking part in the scheme. However, the figures also show that the United Kingdom hosted twice as many students as it sent abroad. 24,474 EU students came to the UK and only 12,833 studied in other European countries. This contrasts with other
European countries like Spain and France, which sent 36,183 and 31,747 students respectively. The commission stated that despite budgetary concerns, the ERASMUS scheme is set to increase in size. This comes from a scheme that has already sponsored over 2 million students over the past quarter of a century. This support for ERASMUS was mirrored across Brussels in the European Parliament, where SNP MEP Alyn Smith, a member of the Education and Culture committee said that he was committed to ensuring the ERASMUS budget was to be extended beyond the end of 2013. The backing of the ERASMUS project had previously been thrown into doubt after the refusal of a number of European member states to back the most recent EU budget. This created a projected shortfall in funding for the programme, however
an effort was made to ensure that no ERASMUS students lost their funding last year. There had been some criticism by some students across Europe complaining that they had failed to receive their funding. However, these cases were down to mistakes at home institutions, criticised by some students for failing to ensure that funding reached students studying abroad.
The Anatomy of Autonomy Exploring the international implications of independence.
COMMENT & FEATURES
17
EU education commissioner
6 / STUDENT NEWS
@EdJournal / journal-online.co.uk
The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
Student leaders condemn latest FE cuts Finance secretary finds extra £10 million for colleges, but still cuts overall funding by £24.6 million in 2013-14 Gareth Llewellyn Deputy managing editor, Glasgow
Student leaders have condemned
further cuts to college funding in the latest Scottish Government budget announced last Wednesday. The Scottish Government’s budget passed by parliament despite widespread criticism that cuts to college funding will damage students’ prospects. Finance secretary John Swinney again made a concession in the budget as he announced an extra £10m in funding for further education, which had been facing a £34.6m cut. The new total college fund of £522m in 2013-14 will be matched in the following year, raising the level from an expected £471m. Robin Parker, National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland president, said: “[The] decision by the Scottish government is very disappointing for those stu-
dents and people across Scotland who wrote over 50,000 emails to MSPs calling on the Scottish Government to reverse college cuts. “While the efforts of students across Scotland has seen tens of millions put back into the budget, compared to what was originally proposed, we can’t accept a cut of £24.6m to colleges, on top of huge cuts over the last few years. “We were hoping for much more from this budget. We fear that a cut of £24.6m could see damage to students and to colleges, coming at the same time as colleges are merging, and huge structural change.” The SNP have been quick to claim that students should be happy that the government has agreed to increase spending plans by £51m next year, but Parker said: “We understand that they have agreed to increase spending plans by £51m for next year, protecting colleges from further cuts the following year. “While this of course is welcome, next year is next year. We need to ensure col-
leges can get through this year without damage to students and we fear cuts on this scale could have really negative consequences.” Parker’s comments were echoed by Langside College Students’ Association co-president, Vonnie Sandlan, who attacked the government’s refusal to accept concerns over its regionalisation agenda. Speaking to The Journal, she said: “Make no mistake, colleges are under attack from a government which does not understand their purpose. “In these times of high unemployment it is an egregiously short-sighted decision to impose such drastic cuts and simultaneously push through the regionalisation agenda when colleges have consistently provided job training, further education and life skills within the communities they serve. “The cabinet secretary for education has met with a myriad of representatives from colleges and has refused to acknowledge the concerns we have that
School head: university is biased against my pupils Headteacher of Musselburgh private schools claims privately-educated applicants are discriminated against in University of Edinburgh admissions Benjamin Lebus Staff writer
An Edinburgh boarding school
headmaster has accused the University of Edinburgh of discriminatory practices in its selection of students. Peter Hogan, the headmaster of Loretto School in Musselburgh, has released a statement in the last week condemning what he sees as an element of discrimination against privately educated pupils in favour of applicants from a poorer financial background within the University of Edinburgh admissions process. Hogan has criticised the “lack of professionalism” among the admissions staff at the university, and has suggested that they are looking more favourably on applicants from state schools as part of a “social engineering experiment.” It is not the first time this conten-
tion between private and state-funded schools has arisen in relation to university applications. At the start of the academic year 2012/13 Cambridge admitted to accepting “more state school students”, with a 5.3 per cent drop in the number of privately educated Cambridge undergraduates. Hogan’s accusation followed an SNP press release, which stated that punitive fines would be imposed if Scottish universities did not meet the targets set for accepting students from less well-off backgrounds. A Scottish government education official responded in a similar way to Hogan, arguing that these measures could result in a disadvantage for middle and upper class pupils. In reaction to Hogan’s accusations, the university released a statement denying the claim.
An Edinburgh University spokesperson told The Journal: “Entry to the university is highly competitive, and many very well-qualified applicants will be disappointed. Amongst the 24 Russell Group institutions last year, only one other received more applications per place. “The university uses a range of measures to assess the circumstances of an applicant’s school grades — but these do not include whether an applicant has attended a state or independent school.” Even in the face of the university’s rebuttal, Hogan has been adamant in his accusations. He said: “There are some people who we have spoken to at Edinburgh who have seemed to be discriminating against Loretto pupils, saying that children from schools like ours should go to university south of the border because they can afford it.”
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these cuts will be sorest felt by the most vulnerable in our society. “This budget decision is nothing short of heresy.” College management have again highlighted the thr aeat to staff cuts and course closures as a result of the continued cuts to funding. Speaking to The Journal, Alan Sherry, principal of John Wheatley College in Glasgow’s east end, added: “Although we welcome any reduction in the funding cuts, we still have some concerns over the impact these cuts may have on available college places for young people in Glasgow in the years to come. “John Wheatley College has already lost around 10 per cent of its staff in the last two rounds of funding cuts. “Any loss of skills and experience certainly could affect our continued ability to deliver learning in our communities, many of which often experience the highest levels of deprivation in Scotland.” Parker has insisted that NUS Scotland will work with colleges and the government to minimise the damage caused by the cuts. He said: “We will work with the college sector and the government, both locally and nationally, to try to limit the damage of these cuts at campuses across Scotland and focus our efforts on next year’s budget to see a reversal to these cuts.” While students have been vocal in denouncing the budget, Colleges Scot-
Cuts are “on target”, say ministers land — the organisation which supports and represents colleges — welcomed the reduced cut. John Henderson, Colleges Scotland chief executive, said: “[The] budget announcement is warmly welcomed by Colleges Scotland and our members. “This additional funding will help to give colleges stability over the next two years while they work to successfully complete the reform process. “As the sector’s representative, we have highlighted its economic importance to the Scottish government and we are pleased that its value has been recognised by Ministers.” The budget bill was passed by 68 votes to 56 after Parliament divided along party lines with Labour, Tories and Lib Dems all signing up to NUS Scotland’s Fund Scotland’s Future campaign to oppose the cuts.
Humza Yousaf talks international aid Minister speaks at International Development Week Jamie Timson Deputy editor
The University of Edinburgh’s
International Development Week started off in style with a 200-strong crowd present its launch night on 23 January. A packed audience in the Playfair Library heard a talk from the Scottish Government’s minister for external affairs and international development, Humza Yousaf. Famed as ‘the modern face of Scottish politics’ by the Scottish Sun last year, Yousaf was positively received by the audience. The Glaswegian MSP often drew upon his humble upbringings, explaining how he’d first been attracted to international development after refusing to work in his dad’s accountancy firm and ending up as a “bucket boy” for one of the world’s largest NGOs. This became a running theme during the talk, which focused heavily on the challenges in attracting future generations to the world of development and aid. The minister was keen to point out: “there will always be nay-sayers in times like these, but its important we don’t forget our duty to the rest of the world.” Asked about the importance of
sustainable development, Yousaf highlighted the effect of the partnership between Scotland and Malawi. He said: “Aid needs to be about knowledge transfer, rather than just lumps of cash. The work the Scottish Malawi Partnership has done with the government of Malawi has shown this.” The minister was repeatedly pushed on the future for an independent Scotland in the world of international development. As a paid up member of the Yes campaign, Yousaf was more than happy to discuss the benefits of an independent Scotland within the context of international development. But his caveat of “Sorry, I promised not to make this too political” came a little too late to be meaningful. He added: “An independent Scottish government can provide expertise in renewable technology for countries in need of aid. “This comes hand in hand with bringing universities as part of delegations and organising partnerships between universities and education institutes in the developing world.” The launch night was held in conjunction with Network of International Development Organisations in Scotland (NIDOS) whose Scotland vs Poverty exhibition was on show before the talk.
The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
LOCAL NEWS / 7
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chrisdonia
Despite rise in sex crime, city rape crisis centre sees drastic funding cuts Forthcoming cuts leaves staff concerned over service provision Molly Hunt Staff writer
Edinburgh Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (EWRASAC) at Leopold Place faces funding cuts despite a rise in sex crimes in the city. The crisis centre in Edinburgh will lose almost half of its financial income when a National Lottery fund runs out in May. It is the busiest rape crisis centre in Scotland and provides emotional and practical support, information and advocacy to victims of sexual violence. The loss of funds could have a huge impact on the centre’s ability to help those affected after new police figures revealed a rise in sex crimes since last year. On each day last year on average three crimes of indecency took place in the city and the number of rapes increased to 230, a ten per cent
increase from the year before. Kaylie Allen, volunteer director of EWRASAC told The Journal: “We will have to make redundancies in our core support, information and training services, and revert to relying primarily on volunteers to provide one-toone and group support, and manage our busy helpline. Other information and training services will simply need to be cut.” “In addition, we already have a large waiting list for support (at the latest count 60 people waiting up to nine months) and this is set to get worse if we are unable to keep staff. “It also creates a lot of uncertainty for those currently accessing our wide range of support services.” Naomi Beecroft, the former Edinburgh University’s Students’ Association (EUSA) women’s officer said: “I think the cuts are morally abhorrent, ideologically driven and clearly
attack those already disadvantaged in society. Cutting crisis centres will trap women in unhappy, abusive and psychologically damaging relationships. “When nine out of 10 rapes happen in the home and are perpetrated by a partner, friend or family member, taking away places for women to turn puts these women at a much higher chance of being abused again and again. “Rape and abuse survivors are more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, or even kill themselves. To take away a support network and safe place for these women is almost certainly leaving many women to such a fate.” The centre is currently sourcing funds and has a number of applications for funding being considered. The Scottish government fund some of the centre’s core services, meaning it will still be able to operate.
GHQ in better, more structurally sound days
Swimmers refuse to lilo after city ‘It’s Raining Men’ council Leith Waterworld U-turn as ceiling collapses Campaign group ‘Splashback’ gains council support for re-opening centre at GHQ nightclub Greener Leith
Greg Bianchi News editor
Edinburgh City Council is looking at reopening Leith Waterworld. In a vote last week councillors supported exploring the feasibility of reopening the leisure centre. The pool was closed in January 2012 despite renovations in 2002. Much of the money saved from the closing of Leith Waterworld was said to have been reinvested in the renovation and reopening of the Commonwealth Pool. In a statement Councillor Richard Lewis, who is Culture and Leisure Convener, said: “While there remains a tremendous amount of work to be done in the months ahead, we want to give the community the best possible chance of success by providing the necessary funding and support toward taking their proposals to the next phase.” There has been a campaign to get the pool reopened by local group Splashback. On a statement on their website Splashback claims that over 6,500 signatures have been collected in support of reopening the leisure centre. The petition was handed over to councillors on Saturday 2 February. In a statement seen by The Journal the council promised to “release a maximum of £100,000 to help fund the feasibility study and a dedicated Councillor/ Officer Working-Group will be set up to support Splashback in developing their bid. “A report on the results of the study will be considered by councillors once
Questions arise over future of Picardy Place nightspot after ceiling collapse at hotel upstairs forces club to close for structural repairs Rachel Barr Local News editor
Popular venue GHQ has closed its
In Leith, they’ve got their dinghy-ity back the development phase ends, following which a decision on the facility’s future will be taken.” Leith Waterworld was originally opened in 1992 and was advertised as the only leisure pool in Edinburgh with flumes. The leisure centre was closed last year and it was speculated that it
could become a shopping centre. However, this decision by the council has granted another 11 months for the Splashback campaign to explore additional ways for the pool to be reopened. These further proposals will be discussed with the council at a later date.
doors after an emergency evacuation following the collapse of a ceiling in the above hotel. The collapse in the Fiddlers Elbow set off a fire alarm last weekend which alerted staff and clubbers who quickly vacated the building before the emergency services arrived. A full-scale emergency operation was put into motion with rescue teams sent into the collapsed area. Representatives from the council, gas companies and a small number of paramedics and ambulances were also in the area, though no casualties resulted from the collapse. The incident occurred after safety issues were reported the year before — its ‘structural adequacy’ questioned the previous February after a main beam gave way, causing a dip in the flooring. It is believed that the previous infrastructural issues, as well as the recent emergency, are the reasons for this week’s close. However, speculations have been
made among GHQ’s fans over a permanent closure of the club due to a deal made with another Edinburgh club, Mood. Mood had to close its venue in Edinburgh’s Omni Centre after a cancellation of the lease was made by centre owners, Aviva, to make way for a new Chinese restaurant. Edinburgh students have been among those calling for answers from the club after Mood released a statement announcing its closure and a move to running Friday and Saturday club nights in this new venue. Comments from regular attendees on GHQ’s Facebook page, which has since been closed down, frequently asked management for answers over the club’s future. Repeated comments following the collapse of the ceiling questioned if the club had in fact been taken over, with discussions on the page relating to the move to Mood and the implications of having the “very different clientele” of Mood mixing with clubbers at GHQ. Both Mood and GHQ have declined to comment on both the suggested take over and the implications of the ceiling collapse.
8 / STUDENT POLITICS
The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
@EdJournal / journal-online.co.uk
EUSA publishes referendum questions Insiders hope for better turnout as referendum campaigns underway on range of submitted topics Callum Leslie Student Politics editor
Campaigning has begun in the
Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA) referendum, with seventeen questions being put to the student body from 13 to 15 February. The referendum period follows the voting in October 2012 where all six of the questions failed to reach the required number of votes for the results to be considered binding. The questions were submitted by students and had to go through meetings of the campaigns and accountability forum and the trustee board, as well as get the signatures of 100 students to support the question — a process which cut the number of questions from the initial twenty-seven. Despite the high number of questions, most have been submitted by those already involved with EUSA, with only four of the questions being posed by students that aren’t current sabbaticals, elected reps or sabbatical candidates in the upcoming election. All but one of the questions were published last week, with one of the questions being held back until late Monday morning due to dispute over
its implications and the wording of the question. The question, submitted by external council rep Lucy Eskell, is on the standards of the meat that EUSA sells, which vice-president Max Crema has been mandated to campaign against by EUSA’s trading committee. The committee believes that adhering to the standards demanded by the question would cost EUSA a significant amount of money. Eskell claims that she has been under pressure from Crema and senior EUSA staff to withdraw the question, though Crema refutes those claims. More than one question has been submitted on EUSAs food offerings — two elected school reps from King’s Buildings have submitted questions on lowering the price of food and drinks and ensuring that the quality of food on offer is “is consistent across all venues at all times.” Current EUSA president James McAsh has submitted a question that would allow EUSA to have up to seven sabbatical officers rather than the current four, while current vice-president (academic affairs) Andrew Burnie has submitted a question to repeal part of the “policy for a democratic chancellor election”.
Welfare rep Tom Nash has submitted a question similar to Burnie’s that would repeal the part of the policy that bans elected reps from attending events where Princess Anne is present. Burnie has also submitted a question that would once and for all settle the issue of sabbatical officers standing for a second term in office, an issue which is a grey area in the new EUSA constitution. Questions on what bottled water EUSA should sell, the university’s investments in arms and fossil fuel companies and university childcare provision are also on the ballot, among other issues. All three of the confirmed candidates for EUSA president in the upcoming election have submitted questions: Liam O’Hare has submitted a question on EUSA supporting a demonstration against the Royal Navy’s Trident nuclear weapons programme, Mike Shaw is calling for the establishment of a housing co-operative, while Hugh Murdoch wants EUSA to lobby the university for WiFi across all university halls. The referendum questions and statements are available online at www. eusa.ed.ac.uk/referendum
David Selby
Max Crema: the lost Miliband brother?
‘Meet the Principal’ makes a strong debut
NUS backs divisive Post-16 reform bill
‘Meet the Principal’ event hailed a success despite low turnout
Recent research leads to NUS support for Bill
University of Edinburgh
Callum Leslie Student Politics editor
The first ever ‘Meet the Principal’
event, organised by Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA) was held in the George Square Lecture Theatre last week. The event on Tuesday 29 January, where students had the opportunity to question University of Edinburgh principal Professor Sir Tim O’Shea, was modelled on a similar event held by the general council of the university, the body for university alumni. The event was chaired by university rector Peter McColl and questions that were submitted in advance were put to the principal by EUSA president James McAsh. Questions were also asked by the audience of around 20 students present. The event was attended by a large number of senior university staff, including many of the vice-principals and the head of estates, who were able to give more detailed answers to a number of the questions posed. Prof O’Shea first presented the university’s annual report, including details of £126 million spent on estates in the past year and the 300,000 students now studying massive online open courses (MOOCs) that the university has created. He then took questions on subjects including the post-study work visa, university governance, postgraduate funding and teaching work, lecture
‘Would the owner of a B-reg Ford Fiesta...” recording and ethical investment. The post-study work visa has been reformed and made more strict by the UK government, and the principal described the changes as “unhelpful”, and said that he had been lobbying against these changes. Prof O’Shea described how £60m had been invested in redevelopment of the library, but he said he regretted that it had not gotten bigger. He later said that the library was now “not fit for purpose.” A heated debate ensued over the university’s investments in potentially dubious companies such as
Shell, though Prof O’Shea said he was unaware of such investments. Arguments broke out between students about whether or not this criticism was fair, but the principal undertook to investigate. Commenting on the event, Prof O’Shea said: “I thought there were very good questions obviously related to key student concerns...it was very helpful for me in my job to get a sense of what it is that students are concerned about,” and said that he had identified “a real concern about the postgraduate situation and how we support postgraduate part-time work.”
Molly Hunt Staff writer
Research by the National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland has found that Scotland has the worst access rate in the UK for students from poorer backgrounds into higher education. As a result the union has given their support to the Post-16 Education (Scotland) Bill’s proposal for fairer access for students from deprived areas. The Post-16 Education (Scotland) Bill has proposed legislation to widen access to higher education for all, to provide a legislative underpinning to the tuition fee system for Rest of UK (RUK) students and to reform college governance. Robin Parker, NUS Scotland president, said: “We’re really pleased to see the Scottish government legislating to promote fair access to higher education in Scotland. “Students across Scotland have worked incredibly hard to put fairer access on the agenda, and I’m delighted to see that work begin to pay off. “Universities across Scotland have been negotiating access agreements on fair access. We need this legislation to make sure these agreements aren’t just pieces of paper but that they ensure every institution is ambitious on fair access, and delivers on those ambitions.” However NUS Scotland have opposed certain areas of the bill, particularly the proposal to provide a legislative underpinning to fees for RUK
students of up to £9,000. The proposal comes without any protection for RUK students from poorer backgrounds wanting to study at Scottish universities put off by tuition fees which for a four year Scottish course could be substantially more expensive than the equivalent three year courses in the rest of the UK. Parker added: “This is very bad news. With £36,000 degrees, and no protection for the poorest students, Scotland’s fee system for English, Welsh and Northern Irish students goes above and beyond even the worst excesses of the fees system down south. “While this is ultimately the fault of the Westminster government, the Scottish government has a responsibility at the very least to mitigate the impact of those decisions on RUK students choosing to study in Scotland. We will be working to try to limit the damage of this fee system as the legislation passes through parliament.” The legislation on college governance reforms includes ensuring student places on college boards to put students at the centre of the college sector and consequently put the interest of students first. Parker emphasised the importance of putting students first throughout the Bills proposals. He said: “We’ll be working hard with parties from across the parliament, and people from across the sector to see this legislation put students’ interests at the heart of Scotland’s post 16 sector.”
The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
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STUDENT NEWS / 9
Student courts controversy in legal battle Student could sue Oxford university after being refused entry due to inability to prove has necessary funding Hannah Dowe Standring Student News editor
A student’s stand against the “discriminatory” policy of the University of Oxford is threatening to snowball into a wider legal and political row. The prospective postgraduate has announced he will be taking the university to court. Damian Shannon, who was offered a place at Hugh’s College, Oxford, to study Economic History has resorted to legal action in an attempt to establish that the university is guilty of discriminating against students on financial grounds and subsequently impinging on the human right to an education. Shannon was prevented from taking up his place after he was unable to prove that he had access to funds to cover the £21,000 fees along with at least £12,900 a year living costs. The figures of Oxford University’s admissions office suggest that around 1,000 students each year face a similar predicament and as a result have been unable to take up places. Prospective students are unable to take into account projected earnings from paid work carried out during their studies. Although the university has raised £30 million of financial support for graduate students, none of this funding is means tested — a stark contrast to the funding system for undergraduate students, where a system of bursaries helps support those of the most disad-
vantaged backgrounds. St Hugh’s College, while not denying that Shannon was prevented in taking up his place due to his financial circumstances, defended its policy, suggesting that it is a necessary precaution to ensure that students are able to complete their studies free from anxiety due to financial reasons. The issue has now reached parliament, with a debate on the issue of discrimination in university admissions taking place on Wednesday 24 January. MP Hazel Blears, who has been offering her support to Shannon, said that basing admissions on financial circumstance was “simply wrong”. She added: “Not only does it crush the hopes and ambitions of these students who cannot afford to study at some of our best universities, it deprives our country and our economy of some of the brightest and best minds we could have “It is unfair and short-sighted. There is much talk about widening participation, of fair access, of encouraging social mobility and of using the talents of everyone, but I am afraid that as long as rules like this apply, postgraduate education will continue to be the preserve of those who have money behind them.” For prospective postgraduate students, funding and finances can be an issue more acute than for an undergraduate student, the majority of whom are kept afloat by the system of student loans and maintenance grants not available to postgraduates.
Steve Evans
Ox-bridge over troubled water However, it is made clear by institutions that postgraduate study is a more specialised form of education, requiring a major committment of time and money, and that personal funding options should be sourced before starting the course of study. According to the University of Edinburgh postgraduate site there are a wide variety of funding schemes and sources which allow for bursaries, funding and discounts. One of these includes the Graduate Discount Scheme that allows graduates of Edinburgh University to receive a 10% discount on their fees if they apply
to stay in study at the university. The Higher Education Commission has recommended the establishment of a loan system for postgraduates, but at present most postgraduates have to rely on savings, part-time work, parental contributions, or a hard-to-come-by scholarship. At Edinburgh University, in school and university wide funding is available, but the number of scholarships tend to be in single figures for each discipline and thus competition is incredibly fierce. Sally, a prospective postgraduate student at Edinburgh University told
The Journal that financial considerations are the “deciding factor” for her. She said: “If I don’t get funding I won’t be able to pay the tuition fees and living costs; I would take a student loan if the option was there, but in the absence of that I need the funding. “I can’t imagine many people would be able to pay the fees outright, so it seems to me that funding for further study should be readily available to the right candidates.” She went on to say that, in her opinion, the range of funding bodies are “pretty limited” unless you are applying for a PhD.
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12 / EDITORIAL
The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
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EDINBURGH’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER Devon Walshe EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Marcus Kernohan
The Student v. EUSA
I may not like what you say... It is a rare and slighty unsettling experience for us to find ourselves defending The Student, the University of Edinburgh’s student newspaper and our old rivals. Yet that is where we stand today, with the news that Edinburgh University Students’ Association have taken the dramatic, disgraceful and thoroughly illiberal step of dragging their own newspaper through the courts in a bid to suppress information about union governance and sordid internal politicking. As we report today, EUSA sought and obtained an interdict — the Scots law equivalent of an injunction — prohibiting The Student from publishing a story believed to relate to EUSA vice-president
Max Crema, whose ten-week suspension last summer and rocky relationship with EUSA staff have been widely reported. As a result, several thousand copies of the newspaper — printed at no small expense — are now stacked in their newsroom, and will probably never see the light of day. But if EUSA’s conduct in successfully censoring their campus press is reprehensible, the interdict itself is an affront to any notion of free speech: as well as the expected sanctions against specific information allegedly obtained from confidential documents leaked to The Student, Court of Session judge Lord Jones has barred the paper from publishing “any material purporting to suggest that
[EUSA] is an organisation which is poorly governed and whose management are inexperienced and unaccountable”. This bizarre ruling is so broad as to potentially stifle any criticism, however legitimate, of EUSA in the pages of the paper most closely connected to it. It is a masterclass in judicial overreach; a legal cudgel of farcical proportions. When we revealed Mr Crema’s suspension last September, we were strongly critical of EUSA’s deliberate ambiguity about why he was (temporarily) ousted. The union has shown an almost pathological aversion to transparent governance: they stonewalled both The Journal and The Student at the time, and they
Equal marriage
The turning of the tide on equality The historic vote in the House of Commons regarding whether to legalise same-sex marriage brings to bear an issue upon which public consensus has largely been decided for some time. Yet in these times of doom and gloom, its momentous nature should not be overlooked. After all, it is only relatively recently that we have started to see a true rolling-back of legal prejudice against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Until 2003, there was nothing in employment law to prevent a gay applicant from being denied a position at a company on the grounds of their sexual orientation. Until 2007 — only six years ago — landlords were well within their rights evict a tenant on the basis of their sexuality. The chronological proximity of what can only be described as institutionalised discrimination is astounding — and yet
now, in a relatively short space of time, public and political will appear to support genuine change. The Scottish Government are under pressure to follow Westminster’s lead on equal marriage. The public consultation on the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill, which would legalise gay marriage, is expected to be rushed through so that it can be presented to the Scottish Parliament before the summer. It should not be forgotten what dogged campaigning and direct action can achieve for a cause. Too often, people — including this newspaper, at times — have tended to view the act of protest in a somewhat fatalistic light, resigning themselves to the view that there is simply nothing to be done. But the remarkable progress of LGBT rights activism in this country has shown that equality can be achieved, and should spur on those seeking to eliminate
EUSA’s ‘burning issues’ revealed...
inequality in other areas of Scottish and British life. Less than 25 years ago, Margaret Thatcher’s government, buoyed by a nationwide moral panic in response to the emergence of Aids, backed the notorious ‘section 28’ of the Local Government Act, making “promoting homosexuality” illegal and barring the teaching of “the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship” in state schools. In less than a generation, we have had a Labour government pass adoption rights reform, and now a Conservativeled government legislating for marriage equality — the idea of a “pretended family relationship” is no more. In a nation of bad news, in a media of bad practices, and in a government of bad policy, this vote is a shining example of something good and just. We should all take a moment to reflect on that.
by Jen Owen
continue to do so. Yes, there are legal implications and issues of confidentiality here which should be respected. But as a democratic organisation, EUSA has a duty to its members to be as open and honest about its affairs as possible — particularly when they involve the union’s most senior elected representatives. Institutionally, EUSA have at every stage of this sorry affair failed to answer fundamental and important questions about how the organisation is governed. If the trustees and staff are allowed to operate almost entirely clandestinely and yet exert such force on union affairs, how can the student body be expected to view EUSA democracy as anything but theatre?
// REACTIONS The Anatomy of Autonomy: Scottish identity and nationhood An interesting piece, very much agree Scottish identity (and all human identity) is a very fluid and dynamic thing. One issue though, this statement seemed a wee bit unfair towards the independence movement (although I agree with the sentiment that isolationism is bad) ‘Scottish identity and nationalism should not be a facilitator of an isolationist attitude’. I assure you, the independence movement is not isolationist. Scotland will in all likelyhood remain in the EU, NATO, CoE, the Commonwealth etc. That’s the plan anyways. - Scott Dearden, via web. Northern Ireland “held to ransom” by Belfast rioters Dear Aoife, it’s really important that people (including journalists!) go to the ‘Loyalists Against Democracy’ page and check it out. It is a million miles from ‘hate-filled’ bigotry it parodies and exposes! It is quite patently a send up and a very funny one at that. As a Catholic living in east Belfast and married to a Protestant, it has given us a much needed focus and outlet for humour during these last few weeks of ‘fleg’ protests. The one thing we can say about our wee Norn Iron is that whatever else happens we will never surrender our sense of humour. It is at times like this we need it the most. - E. Dowling, via web. Please direct all letters, complaints, threats and general rants for publication to letters@journal-online. co.uk. Letters may be edited prior to publication. To contact a specific member of staff, email firstname. lastname@journal-online.co.uk. Alternatively, follow us on Twitter (@EdJournal and @GlasgowJournal) and like us on Facebook.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Sean Gibson DEPUTY EDITOR Jamie Timson MANAGING EDITOR Jen Owen MANAGING EDITOR (DIGITAL) David Selby DEPUTY EDITOR (NEWS) Greg Bianchi NATIONAL POLITICS Daniel do Rosario LOCAL NEWS Callum Leslie STUDENT POLITICS Rachel Barr STUDENT NEWS Hannah Dowe Standring ACADEMIC NEWS Kirsten Waller COMMENT Jon Vrushi FEATURES Lydia Willgress DEPUTY EDITOR (ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT) Laurie Goodman BOOKS John Hewitt Jones MUSIC Rebecca O’Malley FILM Nathanael Smith ART & DESIGN Gillian Achurch FOOD & DRINK Ben Kendall FASHION Oliver Giles DEPUTY EDITOR (SPORT) Ruth Jeffery PICTURE EDITOR Christopher Rubey DEPUTY PICTURE EDITORS Malgosia Stelmaszyk Ella Bavalia Stanley Liew Allan MacDonald LAYOUT DIRECTOR Alina Mika SUBEDITORS John Steel MARKETING DIRECTOR Andrew Robinson SALES Arran Walshe Charles Beare
The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
COMMENT / 13
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DISCUSSION&DEBATE
COMMENT Liberté, fraternité... égaylité? John Steel explores the attitude of the French people towards equal marriage in light of new legislation John Steel
France’s Conservatism sometimes shocks its European neigh-
bours. In the 2012 presidential election, François Hollande’s victory was less remarkable than the widespread support received by Marine-Le-Penn’s far-right Front National party. The recent introduction of legislation that would allow gay marriage has received a vitriolic reception from politicians and commentators. It is a response that reminds us once more of the strong reactionary currents that course through France. Although François Hollande has recently embarked on his first major foreign policy venture with the intervention in Mali, he is moving into far more tempestuous waters as he pushes forward legislation on gay marriage. The decision to commit combat troops in West Africa seems uncontroversial in comparison to the shockwaves that have been sent through French politics and society by the upcoming legislation. Introduced on 28 January to the National Assembly, the ‘Marriage for all’ bill is set to be debated by the 577 French MPs over a two-week marathon until the final vote, which is to take place on 12 February. Like the 2012 election, this period of debate will witness some of France’s most conservative politicians, writers and clerical leaders publishing and discussing their views in the public sphere. The coming of the legislation has
once more made Paris the locus for a struggle for social progress. The last few weekends have seen up to 800,000 people descend upon the French capital, demonstrating both for and against the government’s plans. The protests have ranged from mass rallies, to ‘mass-prayer’ gatherings; throughout last Tuesday night 200 dedicated members of the catholic organisation CIVITAS assembled outside the French Parliament in order to pray against gay marriage. The undertones of France’s catholic identity are playing their part in the contest over furthering gay rights. The former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, asserted in 2007 that the “roots of France are essentially Christian.” Many who oppose the bill share his opinion and instinctively feel that an acceptance of gay marriage would be contradictory to the French national character. The issue of gay marriage is making France examine its national identity; both the egalitarian principles of the republic and the implicit Catholicism that underpins it, are seemingly at stake. Anti-gay marriage protesters have been brandishing tricolor sachets and singing La Marseillaise in the streets of the capital. However, the fact that the 1789 revolution brought about the legalisation of homosexuality in France renders this republican guise of the opposition somewhat ironic. The most contentious element to the debate is revealed by the banners that appear at the rallies of demonstrators.
Dragons Unchained Quite a long time ago, there was an island of dragons. These dragons were of the fire breathing, castle defending sort, rather than the Komodo type we’re more commonly enamoured with. The dragons had lived on the island for as long as they could remember, and although they had encountered other dragons on other islands, and indeed fought bitter conflicts with them, they were a sort who tended to keep themselves to themselves. The dragons had a false sense of island identity, a ‘stiff upper nostril’ which they believed meant they were entitled to all that the island had to offer them. They did not suffer new arrivals to the island gladly. However, what many of the dragons had forgotten was that initially, they themselves had been immigrants to the island, and indeed their sense of island identity was based on little more than a pen-
chant for queuing and a strange brownish liquid that all dragons insisted on consuming at any point when conversation appeared to be stuttering. Following the last bitter dragon conflict, they had joined into an economic union with the dragons from the continent. This was extremely beneficial to the island dragons, particularly for the dragon agricultural sector who received great subsidies from this economic dragon union at times of hardship. Although they remained a certain disdain for the ‘continental’ dragons, for many years it became apparent that the island dragons were getting a better than fair deal out of the economic union, particularly in comparison to the size of the island. One of the benefits of the economic union was the freedom of any dragon within it to work and live in any of the other dragon communities.
Philippe Leroyer
“One mother, one father: there is nothing better for a child” is the slogan splashed across homemade signs. These angry ‘republican’ protestors have no problem with extending equality they say, as long as that does not mean that gay people will be allowed to have families. Adoption in France is open only to married couples; those opposed to opening marriage to the gay community shudder at the idea of same-sex couples bringing up children.
Those who oppose the legislation seem confounded by the very premise of gay marriage. An outspoken writer and anti-gay marriage campaigner, Frigide Barjot, coarsely exclaimed that “There are no ovules in testicles.” Henri Guaino, an MP for the UMP (Union Pour un Mouvement Populaire) wrote in his 50-page open letter to Mr Hollande that “By allowing gay marriage you are giving parenting rights to those who are naturally sterile.” What is more disconcerting is the
fact that these voices at the mainstream of French politics are common. As the date of the vote on ‘marriage for all’ approaches, the arguments against gay marriage and samesex parenthood, grounded in atavistic theology and shady biology, will multiply. Whether or not the rallying cry of ‘père, mère, enfant’ is to triumph over liberté, égalité, fraternité is yet to be decided. Progressive and liberal forces must hope that the French parliament decides that it does not.
In the second of our ‘Readers’ Tales’ series we meet an island of dragons keen to keep their sense of identity in hostile times As the dragon island had a strong dragon economy, many of the ‘continental’ dragons took advantage of this benefit and moved to the island. All perfectly legally and in a lot of areas these new dragons added to the diversity and culture of the island. All the while contributing to the dragon economy in the process. It should also be noted that many of the island dragons moved off the island in search of warmer climes, it wasn’t all one way dragon traffic. When the dragon island fell on hard times, and the castle defending and fire breathing work began to dry up, the island dragons began to look for someone to blame. Their dragon gaze fell upon the new dragons from the continent, who often did the work that was deemed beneath 80 percent of the island dragons – appearances at weddings, birthday parties, bar mitzvahs etc. Often the continental dragons
had a far greater work ethic, however all the island dragons saw were that these ‘foreign’ dragons were the reason that they themselves couldn’t get work. The island dragons began to stereotype the migrant dragons, claiming their language was polluting their dragon identity. Eventually the island dragons refused to see that these other dragons, were actually dragons just like them. The scaremongering amongst the island dragons came to a head when they heard that new dragon communities were joining the economic union. They wanted to impose a wholly unfair limit on those new dragons that arrived, failing that, they tried to persuade them that the island wasn’t an attractive place to live. They needn’t have bothered, they
should have just shown the new dragon communities the new series of their hit television show Celebrity Dragon Love Jungle, the height of the island’s intellect.
14 / FEATURES
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The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013 Peter Eichenauer
Fire in the heart of Africa How a fire in a market in Bujumbura has threatened to destabilise the already-troubled nation of Burundi Lucy Geake
Burundi is a small country in central Africa that’s shaped like a heart. Not the kind of heart you doodle on a page, but the kind of heart that thumps in your chest. This startlingly beautiful country has had at least 300,000 lives stolen by genocide: some sources place the figure at nearer 500,000. The genocide stemmed from conflict between the tribal groupings of the dominant Tutsi minority, and the Hutu majority, that climaxed into a crisis that started in 1993 and continued well into the new millennium. But no one has heard of the place, only of neighbouring Rwanda which is remembered due the larger death toll – a land which was once fused with Burundi under Belgium rule, as Ruanda-Urundi. In this forgotten country it is perfectly normal to ask, when you first meet someone, if they have parents: thanks to the genocide even small talk has evolved to expect death to feature. Half of Burundians are under eighteen. According to some counts Burundi has the world’s lowest GDP per person. It is a nation that has alarmingly few exports... when occasional boats sail down the handsome Lake Tanganyika, which is lined with white sand, the boats leave Burundi empty and return full. Coffee is the biggest export, and I was told, by a South-African coffee connoisseur, that it could challenge Ethiopia for the best coffee in the world if infrastructure and quality checks improved. On Sunday 27 January the central market in Bujumbura, the capital, was
burnt to the ground. The market was the trading hub of the city, which many depended on for clothing and food stuff. My favourite part of the market was the fabric section, where wax printed stretches of patterned material were draped layer upon layer on display stands at least three metres high. If you pointed to one at the top, the vendor would take up a long pole and prise your chosen piece of colourful fabric away from the patchwork display. The flames were twenty metres high, and gutted the market. Not even the roof of the central structure survived. In a country where inflation was already estimated at 9.7 per cent, prices for everyday essentials are now soaring. Some sources say over 95 per cent of the market goods were not insured. It has been described as a national disaster, and yet it has hardly made international headlines – BBC News’ website makes no mention of it, for example. Freddy Tuyizere, the director of the charity YFC Burundi, tells me: “businesspeople are still crying. Prices are going high,” and the ‘economy is even worse right now’. One woman died trying to retrieve money she kept at her stand. The Burundian police provided two fire engines, and another was sent from Rwanda by the UN. But even with the arrival of a Rwandan helicopter that used water from Lake Tanganyika, they were unable to put out the flames, and the market burnt to the ground. Simon Guillebaud, the national coordinator for Great Lakes Outreach, emailed from Bujumbura with accounts of stall owners committing suicide by
jumping into the flames as their livelihoods burnt before them. Many are hospitalised. His friend Jean visited, telling him that: “tens of thousands of mouths will not be able to eat as they have lost everything. I am one of them, with my wife and five children. The money you loaned us has been burnt to ashes. You were helping us towards self-sustainability as a family – our business was working – and now this.” Simon explains that it is hard for outsiders to understand the scale of the situation. The president flew back from a summit in Ethiopia to respond to the crisis. The country has begun to heal since the peace process started in 2003, and some 450,000 refugees have returned home. In June 2010 I was in Burundi during its second free and democratic presidential elections. However, there was only one candidate after opposing parties withdrew over accusations of fraudulent polls, making the label of ‘democracy’ somewhat hazy, though an unusual voting
system permitted voters to either support or oppose Pierre Nkurunziza, allowing the notion of ‘voting’ to remain. According to some reports, in the week leading up to elections there were sixty grenade attacks across the capital Bujumbura, in protest against the single-candidacy. I would hear them ringing through the night as I lay under my mosquito net. The security level was deemed to be borderline level four, which translates as compulsory evacuation for all non-nationals... If you hit level five, the borders are sealed and no one goes in or out. Various tribal and political groupings were said to have discussed and even presented detailed plans to attack Bujumbura during elections, and yet election day on June 28th passed peacefully, and instead of war, was promptly followed by peace talks with all major opposition parties, who agreed to partake in the parliamentary elections in late July. However the country remains marked by conflict as many still dispute
the presidential elections of 2010. More that 300 people were reportedly killed in the second half of 2011, including opposition party members or members of the former rebel group FNL, and the government has been accused of restricting media and political freedom. In November 2012, Murundi People’s Front Abatabazi became the sixth rebel group to launch attacks on government forces since the disputed presidential election, according to the BBC. Whilst it lags far behind Rwanda in terms of economical development, many people that I met maintain that Burundi is more advanced politically due to the way in which the tribal groupings of Hutu, Tutsi and Twa have been integrated within politics, and the way in which the genocide has been addressed and reconciliation attempted. However, just as peace is essential for allowing business to flourish, January’s fire will acutely weaken Burundi’s economy, providing further tension in a country struggling for stability.
‘Cut for Bieber’ controversy calls for new thinking on suicide The disconcerting rise in suicide among young people has the authorities frantically searching for answers Lydia Willgress Features editor
At the beginning of January, 18-yearold pop sensation Justin Bieber was photographed allegedly smoking a joint of marijuana. However, it wasn’t just the photographs that caught the attention of the press. Following the release of the pictures, fans were encouraged by users of 4chan — a bulletin-board website where members can post any images or text anonymously — to tweet pictures of themselves self-harming on Twitter alongside the hashtag ‘CutForBieber’, in order to demonstrate their contempt for the young singer. While a handful of people found the disturbing trend amusing, many have been angered by the stunt. From asking why Twitter didn’t crack down on the incident immediately, to targeting the internet trolls on 4chan, to blaming the celebrity-obsessed culture that has swept the globe; criticism has come from all angles. The incident is part of a worrying trend that has seen suicide and self-
harm become common among children as young as 11 and 12 years old. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the suicide and selfharm rate is on the rise, with incidents involving children over 15 increasing by around 6.75 per cent from 2010 to 2011. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) have extended this research and included children as young as 11 in their surveys. They claim that one in 15 of 11 to 25-year-olds had self-harmed in the UK, with other scientists ascertaining that this figure could be increased to one in 10. Alongside the rise in self-harm is the increase in cyber bulling, and many people have linked these two issues together. BeatBullying, a leading charity fighting bullying in the UK, asserts that 21 per cent of 8-11-year-olds have been “deliberately targeted, threatened or humiliated by an individual or group through the use of mobile phones or the internet.” This statistic suggests, in a similar manner to the one offered by the
Last year, executives at Tumblr decided to remove blogs from the site which glorified or promoted ideas that could cause harm to people. However whether removing such blogs has had a positive effect is the question. NSPCC, that one in 10 primary schoolaged children have experienced “persistent and intentional bullying inflicted via technology”; a figure alarming
similar to the one relating to the selfharm rate. So, is it public events such as the Justic Bieber escapade that have made self-harm accessible to young children and can the internet really be to blame? For many, the ‘CutForBieber’ campaign may be distressing or even sickening, inviting anger that any user could wish to persuade others that harming yourself is a good thing to do to get attention. However that is very well for older online users, or those comfortable with themselves. For those younger, or more impressionable, or worried, or, really, any person or child who isn’t completely happy, it is possible to see why anonymously self-harming on the internet, along with others, is a possibility. It is not fair for people to exploit or promote this. While the ‘CutForBieber’ trend could be argued to have little impact on the lives of many children and teens, the campaign is part of a much wider debate that has seen many social media sites ban pages, blogs or threads that promote self-mutilation, suicide or eating disorders. Last year, executives at Tumblr
decided to remove blogs from the site which glorified or promoted ideas that could cause harm to people. However, whether removing such blogs has had a positive effect of self-harm rates is hard to determine. Other sites have not followed this role, with Twitter and YouTube both providing the option to ‘flag-up’ material that causes offences, but neither stating in their policy that material promoting self-harm and suicide will be removed. With the rate of young children selfharming ever-increasing, what can be done to stop it is a constant and crucial question. While it is difficult to pinpoint one particular thing that will help prevent the increase in deaths and selfharm among young children, it is likely that merely policing the internet will not help the problem. For every site that prevents such content, another will pop up. If there remain people in the world who think you can laugh about such a serious issue, people will continue to be affected by it. It is not what you write, but what you think.
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COLUMNISTS / 15
Hell is other people: like you, you and you Students across the capital have been getting a bad write up recently... our columnist refuses to buck the trend
EU myth-busting: Ban the corgis by Jon Vrushi
Some stories the national press would have you believe were true about our friends in the EU... “Ludicrous EU officials ready to ban yogurt” wrote The Telegraph’s food correspondent on 10 November 2003.
hay, wood and sawdust to improve their welfare, but there is categorically no mention of toys anywhere in the legislation.”
The European Commission’s (EC) responded to this myth by clarifying that the EC would like to make trade easier for yogurt manufacturers. “The commission’s documents suggest that additional terms such as ‘heat-treated’ or ‘mild’ perhaps be added to yogurt labels, but there is no suggestion the word ‘yogurt’ would be banned. In any case, if and when the commission adopts these ideas as formal proposals, they will then need to be debated and scrutinised in the European Parliament, and ultimately voted on by the Council of Ministers.”
The Journal’s absolute favourite myth is a Daily Mail story, published on 30 April 2002 claiming that “certain breeds of the Queen’s favourite dog could be outlawed under a controversial EU convention…”
“Why all our pigs are having a ball” was the title of an article published on 29 January 2003 in The Times. Countryside editor Valerie Elliot went on to write, “Farmers throughout the country have 90 days to put a toy in every pigsty or face up to three months in jail.” In reality, the EC had adopted two directives set to be implemented into UK law, which, according to the EC website “require that pigs have access to materials such as straw,
This so-called “EU convention” is in no way, shape, or form, part of the EU. The European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals is a committee of animal protection experts under the jurisdiction of the Council of Europe, which is an intergovernmental organsiation, completely separate from the European Union. What’s more, the UK is not a signatory of this voluntary agreement designed to improve the welfare of household pets. The British press is by a long way the biggest contributor to euromyths in the ‘Old Continent’, as is clear by the number of responses that the European Commission press office has had to issue over the last ten years or so. At times of uncertainty over Britain’s role in the EU, it is critical that the national press reports the truth; undistorted and unbiased.
virtues of yoga, and telling you how the downward dog changed their lives. You can ignore them a lot more easily than the others. Just ask them about quinoa. There are the London types. The ones who use their postcode as a definition of their abilities as a human. They’ll often be heard before they’re seen, screaming “I live in Zone 2” to anyone they think gives a passing toss. They are often the ones in tutorials bringing up the fact they live in London when the question was actually “What effect did the slave trade have on the Jamaican economy?” They’ll immediately think their opinion is worthwhile purely because their parents had the bright idea to give birth in the capital. Them and seven million others. There’s the student politics crew, the ones who campaign for things that really don’t matter to students. The ones who have elections that mean less and less as the years go by. The ones who put their faces up around university if only to make it even more embarrassing when no one votes. There are the student media types, the ones who report on the student politics types. Those huddled away in ‘offices’ coming up with even more witty ways to write “The other paper sucks”. The ones who give this student journalist the opportunity to write something like this and not even have the balls to put their name to it. Hell is other people.
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There’s the ones you know. The ones you put up with, the “friends” you call them. However they are the ones ultimately, in the end, you come to despise even more. Because they’re always there. Edinburgh’s student population has many different types of “other people”. Many different types of Hell. It’s a variety that even Sartre himself would struggle with. First, there are the student activists — this list isn’t in order, although if it was they’d probably put themselves first…“‘cause you know, its for a good cause”. The type of person who defines their life by a conflict that’s happening thousands of miles away. Engage them in a conversation on a different topic and inevitably it’ll never be as bad as the torture and hardship of X individuals in their struggle for freedom. They’re the ones who stand outside in the freezing cold chanting into a megaphone or climb on top of buildings protesting, ironically unaware that the building houses people who are very vocally on the same side. Then there are the fashionable types, you can see them because they
want you to see them. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t wear those stupid hats inside, or roll their jeans halfway up their leg to show off some awful tribal tattoo that “like, almost definitely, means something to me”. They have started to put holes in their ears. So many in fact and of such differing sizes, that it wouldn’t be surprising if they didn’t soon bring out a ‘Whack a mole’ earring game. They have their bibles, their vogues, their blogs, their fashion shows. You’ll notice them because they want to be noticed There are the sporty types, you know the ones running in The Meadows at stupid o’clock, or the ones at Potterow in chinos and ties. The “first chunder of the night!” types — as if projectile vomiting was some kind of world-renowned achievement. The ritual humiliation of ‘initiations’ because first year just isn’t the same if you haven’t had to drink someone’s urine. The ones who make working at the Sports Union ball one of the most harrowing life experiences. The ‘lads’ who see vomit as just a second chance at dinner. The girls who see this act as some form of mating ritual. There are the eco-friendly students, the morally conscious. The vegetarians, the pescetarians, the flexitarians and the I-only-eat-meat-on-a-Thursdayevening-and-even-then-it’s-fowl-atarian. They’ll often be seen extolling the
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Why the Holocaust still has ramifications Israel’s future is heavily dependent on its view of the past — and not undeservedly so, argues Michael Mawdsley Michael Mawdsley Staff writer
The legacy of the Holocaust is trag-
ically poignant in any sense. However in the aftermath of Holocaust Memorial Day, and Lib Dem MP David Ward’s comparison of the Arab-Israeli conflict to the events of 1937-1945, it is important to analyse the role that the Holocaust played; firstly in the creation of the state of Israel and secondly in fuelling the tribulations of the Middle East. The comments of Mr Ward that “... when faced with examples of atrocious behaviour, we must learn from them. It appears that the suffering by the Jews has not transformed their views on how others should be treated,” seem ridiculous. His views however, are shared with many, including farleft groups at the University of Edinburgh. Academics such as Norman Finkelstein argue that the Holocaust was ‘exploited’ and used to create Israel, as well as to justify the expansionist moves of the 1980s and beyond. I believe that standpoint to be flawed. The creation of the state of Israel is not the direct result of the murder of six million Jews in the death and concentration camps of the Third Reich. To describe the creation of Israel as purely a consequence of the ‘Final Solution’ is both morally and historically wrong. The ideology of a
Jewish state, namely that of Zionism, pre-dates the holocaust by some 50 years. The decision to partition Palestine and the creation of the institutions of a Jewish state were in place by 1936. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 which stated the “establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,” clearly displays Britain’s will to create a Jewish homeland. It is therefore more plausible to claim that the creation of Israel was one of the last acts of British imperialism, rather than an exploitation of the death of six million people. In the wake of the second world war, Britain’s politicians were faced with calls for welfare reform on the home front and independence from nationalist movements throughout the empire. Domestic pressures led to promises of the construction of ‘a new Jerusalem’ and the opening of the National Health Service. Armed Zionist resistance made Britain’s presence in the region untenable; the issue of Israel was therefore handed over to the United Nations (UN). Finkelstein and Mr Ward are right to point to the catalysing effect that the Holocaust had on the efforts to create the state of Israel. The international community, perceiving the vulnerability of Jewish refugees in the Middle East, endeav-
oured to protect them against further persecution. The political climate of the Middle East at the end of the second world war was fragile, as claims for Palestinian territorial integrity led to escalating violence, predominantly directed toward Jewish refugees.The UN hoped that independence for Israel would grant protection for the 250,000 endangered refugees threatened by the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is also fair to say that the reparations paid by West Germany to Israel as compensation for the conflict were integral to its survival in the initial period of its independence. Michael Wolffsohn spoke of the ‘eternal guilt’, German collective responsibility, for the holocaust in the aftermath of the second world war. This was realised fiscally by colossal payments to the new state. Such financial backing was undoubtedly instrumental in the process of nation building. Given the economic insecurity of the Jewish refugees the estimated $3 billion paid to Israel over a 12-year period was integral. Capital was needed to construct the infrastructure that is necessary when forging the rudiments of a new state. The financial recompense for the Holocaust was admittedly important to the new State of Israel in the early 1950s. Since its creation Israel has been
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locked in a series of violent conflicts with its Arab neighbours. It is important, therefore, to scrutinise and understand the causes of Israeli aggression. Germany, even under the Nazis, willingly accepted the persecution of the Jews; the threat to them therefore if socially accepted once before, could be socially acceptable once more. In 2005 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President, speaking about Israel in a speech entitled “A World Without Zionism” declared that “it [Israel] will not survive.” It is unsurprising therefore that ‘self-defence’ has
become a catch-phrase among Israelis who feel the tangible need to protect themselves. The shadow of the Holocaust has fundamentally affected Israel’s character. The horrific events in Germany and Eastern Europe led to an international determination to build and support the Jewish state. Although the Holocaust did not create Israel, the genesis of its defensive mentality go back to the experience of acute persecution. This is a people determined to never again succumb to forces that aim to take them from this earth.
Twits are to blame, not Twitter Olly Mace
It is quite astounding that in the
same breath, perfectly educated people can lambast the mechanics of social media and mentally wring their hands over the disintegration of what they call ‘fundamental personal freedoms to privacy’ while simultaneously revelling in the delightful tweets of John Cleese or Caitlin Moran, proclaiming that they, of course, had made an identical observation about Gary Barlow’s hair. Those superficial levels of entertainment accessed through such mediums, which have become an almost integral part of the information sharing age, are coloured by the individuals who use them. There is a profound difference between your information being illegally extorted by an external entity and someone retweeting a mindless, or even revolting statement. Twitter is not a living organism that can fuel itself with hatred and send the world on a global manhunt. Every condemnation or iterated support has been written by an individual who made a choice. It is as if, behind a screen, we assume ourselves to be less culpable for our actions and find it entirely acceptable to point muddy fingers at everyone else rather than review the personal input. Part of the issue is that we have all been waiting for the inevitable rise of the machines, when artificial intelligence overwhelms the weakness of flesh and we are left paralysed in a stateless world
bound to subservience as this greater species supersede us. In this reality, the ignorance of life in The Matrix would be a positive outcome. However it is not the machines that have control of the output, it is still us. With every innovation there have been drawbacks. The machinery of the industrial revolution allowed us to produce vaster quantities of goods such as cloths and foods for less expense. This expansion of our networks led, in part, to the expansion of the British Empire, a moral consequence which many now feel deeply ashamed of. To some that may be a leap too far, in comparison terms, but essentially progress has never come without a price. The opinions of human beings are as diverse as our appearances. A brief glance at history can prove that irrational anger is not a modern phenomenon; the danger now is that our message can be spread more rapidly. Before, our illiteracy and denial of access to education might have explained why we were so willing to fight for things we did not understand and for an enemy that we did not know existed. Now, our ignorance of ourselves and our outreach is the most lethal enemy imaginable. The truth, in all its existential, ambiguous glory, is retrievable. Or instead of truth, if that term is too philosophical, the facts. How is it possible that, in 2013, one third of Europeans outwardly acknowledge anti-Semitic feelings less than 70 years after the end of world war two?
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The Anatomy of Autonomy THIS WEEK, THE Anatomy of Autonomy will focus on the international implications of Scottish independence. An independent Scotland could have far reaching consequences in terms of their abilities on the world stage. The debate has raged as to whether the new Scotland would have immediate entry into the EU and also under what auspices their entry would be granted. Topics such as the single currency and the economic value of entry into the union have been prevalent in the discourse. The budgets of an independent Scotland have been argued over furiously, particularly with regards to international development and the aid partnerships proposed with the developing world. In our news pages today, you will find an article exploring recent developments in the debate surrounding Scotland‘s membership in the EU. And below, you will find an analysis of a recent interpretation of international public law, by former American ambassadorat-large for war crimes issues, with potential implications for Scotland’s membership in inter-national and inter-governmental organisations. This analysis focuses on the future of Scotland’s position in the EU and includes a new statement from Mr Barroso’s spokesperson. As always, please feel free join in the debate online (see bottom of page). - Eds.
Jon Vrushi Comment editor
The international legal implications of Scottish independence have been the focal point of much controversy and cause for confusion. International public law, by virtue of being incomplete, leaves room for different interpretation. Although the parameters for the principles of self-determination are already consolidated, there is little doubt that Scotland presents a suis generis case. Recently, one interpretation of public law came from Ambassador David Scheffer, a professor of International Law at the Northwestern University in Chicago and the first American ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues. On 22 January Amb Scheffer gave a lecture on the international legal implication of Scottish independence at the University of Glasgow, in which he reiterated his interpretations of international public law and its implications for the the independence debate. The central argument that Amb Scheffer presents is the theory of ‘coequal successor states’. The premise is that if Scotland were to become independent, the rest of the UK and the newly formed Scottish state would have the same status in terms of treaty obligations and membership to international organisations. “… the fundamental premise of Scottish independence is to regain the sovereignty of pre-1707. Thus the break up should be viewed as two successor states of equal legitimacy… both successor states should lay equal claim to the continuation of treaty relations established in the past by the United Kingdom.” Amb Scheffer also emphasised the importance of what he calls ‘smart diplomacy’. According to him, Scottish emissaries should start preparing the ground in case the outcome of the referendum will be an affirmative vote. “The time has arrived to begin planning a strategy for ultimate recognition of an independent Scotland by foreign governments … prior consultation with foreign governments about Scottish commitments to core principles of good governance
FEATURES // 17
PART II: INTERNATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
A JOURNEY INTO THE UNKNOWN We take a critical look at the international legal implications of Scottish independence should facilitate rapid recognition of an independent Scotland if and when it is formally achieved, perhaps in 2016.” As an international law scholar, Amb Scheffer sees the ‘struggle’ for Scottish independence as ‘Exhibit A’. The Scottish issue is a laboratory for international law precedent and the legal formulas applied to it will evolve accordingly. He formulates a hypothetical principle of international law that could potentially emerge from this exercise as follows: ”Where a state resurrects its former nationhood and sovereignty through peaceful referendum in accordance with democratic principles, the restored nation may sustain existing treaty relations where practical and provided there are no explicit objections from relevant state parties that cannot be overcome.” If Amb Scheffer is right, an independent Scotland could choose what treaties to continue and what treaties to interrupt, as well as its membership to international organisations. Scotland would therefore remain an EU member state and choose whether it wants to continue NATO membership or not. However this is in direct contrast to the European Commission’s position. On 10 December 2012, President Barroso declared that “If part of the territory of a Member State would cease to be part of that state because it were to become a new independent state, the Treaties would no longer apply to that territory.” Commenting on that declaration, Amb Scheffer said that “there is nothing previously written anywhere in EU treaties or jurisprudence that I am aware of that actually stipulates this [Barroso’s] point of view.” The Journal contacted Mr Barroso’s press team asking for a comment on ambassador Scheffer’s interpretation. Mark Stephen Gray, Mr Barroso’s spokesperson, said to The Journal: “The European Commission does not intend to comment on every speech or legal interpretation that is presented on the issue of a territory of a member state leaving the European union. The European Commission has set out its position on many occasions and this position is in full conformity with well-established
The central argument that Ambassador Scheffer presents is the theory of ‘co-equal successor states’. The premise is that after independence, the rest of the UK and the newly-formed Scottish state would have the same status in terms of treaty obligations and membership of international organisations. principles set out in international public law. We have nothing further to add at this point in time.” When asked to summarise the position of the European Commission for The Journal, Mr Gray added: “We do not comment on specific scenarios like that of Scotland. Since 2004 we have said that a new independent state would
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become a third country with respect to the EU and the treaties would no longer apply on its territory.” At this point in time it is important to emphasise that although Amb Scheffer is a world-renowned legal expert and according to Foreign Policy magazine a top global thinker, his interpretation is only that of an academic. Amb Scheffer started his speech with the disclaimer that his address was being delivered strictly in his capacity as a law professor. Specifically in relation to an independent Scotland’s EU membership, the verdict and interpretation that ultimately matters is that of the European Union institutions. Even if the Commission hypothetically proposes the recognition of Scotland’s EU membership, there would be two more stages before Scotland can receive a member state status. The next stage is the ratification of the proposal by the European Parliament followed by a unanimous vote in the European Council. If a single member state out of 27 constituents of the European Union votes against Scotland’s recognition, an independent Scotland would remain outside of the Union and the Single Market. While scaremongering is an ugly phenomenon, best kept out of political discourse in times of potentially decisive change, false hope can be equally counter-productive. The people of Scotland should not be intimidated by rumours of international isolation in case independence materializes.It is equally important however that decisions are a result of weighing the pros and cons of clear-cut official information, rather than mass excitement and demagoguery.
In our 20 February issue, The Journal explores the thorny issue of Scottish defence and security policy.
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TIMELINE /
SCOTTISH FOREIGN POLICY
1603
UNION OF CROWNS
Following the death Queen Elizabeth I without an heir, King James VI of Scotland took the English throne. He remained King of Scotland as well as England, but the two nations remained separate. Scotland pursued its own foreign policy until 1707.
1699
DARIEN SCHEME DISASTER
In an attempt to become a global commercial power, the Kingdom of Scotland attempted to colonise the Isthmus of Panama, controlled by Spain. Bad management, a Spanish siege and torrential weather spelled the end of the scheme. A quarter of the money in circulation in Scotland was lost in that financial and social disaster, destroying Scotland’s hope of becoming a colonising nation.
1707
UNION OF PARLIAMENTS
Following the devastating financial aftermath of the Darien Scheme combined with national security issues and fear of a Catholic take-over, the Scottish representatives ratified the Act of Union, transferring foreign policy decision-making, among other competencies, to London.
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A&E / 19
CULTURE&LIFESTYLE
ARTS&ENTS ARTS CREATIVE ABRASION
Steven Holl’s proposal for new Glasgow School of Art building creates the perfect framework for a diverse educational environment
Art&design Lorry Goodman Arts & Entertainment editor
Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s
school of art has some seriously heavy accolades burgeoning upon its shoulders. Described by critic Charles Jencks as ‘the most seminal building in Scotland’, the Glaswegian edifice attracts endless attention from scholars, as well as trawls of visitors on thrice-daily walking tours. So, it would seem that the Mackintosh building is a formidable icon for any architect to negotiate with. Unfortunately, what surrounds the structure is an estate that poorly caters to the needs of the ever-expanding Glasgow School of Art. (GSA) As a result, it was announced in 2009 that the other buildings on the Garnethill campus at the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) were no longer fit for purpose. Following this, a competition was held in order to select a firm to complete ‘Phase 1’ of the redevelopment, which called for a new, purpose-built academic building. The programme requested the new build to accommodate a broad range of studios, teaching facilities for the School
of Design, as well as exhibition spaces and lecture facilities. Pressure on contestants was insurmountable: in the same year, the Mackintosh building was voted the UK’s favourite of the past 175 years by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Additionally, it was stipulated that the new build be sited directly opposite its 19th century partner: whoever won the competition was going to have to talk some serious turkey with Mackintosh’s masterpiece. Eyes of the architectural world inevitably turned towards the storm that followed. When Mackintosh won the competition to design the original building in 1897, he was 28 years old and a draftsman at local firm Honeyman & Keppie. The selected firm to complete Phase 1 — over 100 years later — could not have been more different: Based in New York and already recognised by Time as ‘America’s best architect’ Steven Holl’s firm were on the brink of widespread international recognition. In an interview with The Journal, senior partner at the firm Chris McVoy said “the Mackintosh building was very influential for both me and Steven in becoming architects. We both had great respect for the building and so we saw this as a very tall challenge.
“The other thing is that we love to create architecture for art — for both displaying art and for the education of art. We also love doing work for universities, so when you bring together those two aspects, it’s a very special opportunity. When we won we were of course extremely excited. “ As a result, Holl and McVoy were acutely aware of the challenges bought by the site. There were two pathways that could be taken in their design concept: either to be bold, innovative — in the spirit of Mackintosh — or to provide a structure that would sit quietly in his shadow. They opted for the former. Mackintosh’s building exhibits an imposing façade, articulated by thin, writhing iron finials that twist into rosebuds underneath expansive panes of glass. By day, these allow great pools of pale north light to flood the studios inside, and by night, a warm electric glow spills onto the roadside. However, while Mackintosh was progressive in his sparing use of masonry, Holl’s design looks positively weightless in comparison. Arriving in partnership with Glasgow firm JM architects, the Holl building is entirely clad in a skin of translucent glass - shaped by horizontal surging volumes, not entirely dissimilar to a futuristic Battenberg. While the panel saw optimism and innovation in Holl’s proposal, others saw a subject of contention. Esteemed architectural historian William J. R. Curtis decried the design, stating “Rather than a dialogue between new and old, there is mute assertion; rather than poetic articulation, there is bland geometry; rather than tectonic clarity, there is a thin glazed skin with indecisive details.” McVoy defended the proposal, “We wanted to create a very different building; a building that is forward looking and that reflects our aspirations for the future. Mackintosh’s building was a building for its time — so we didn’t want to mimic the building in any way. We felt that would be demeaning. What we did want to do was to make an art school of
great proportion with great studios and light, like Mackintosh did. “I wouldn’t say we wanted to mirror the Mackintosh building in our own — more provide an echo, or a resonance.” Regardless of critical scepticism, it appears that this kind of stylistic dichotomy is at the heart of GSA director Seona Reid’s emphasis on ‘creative abrasion’ in the art school, highlighting the importance of providing a diverse environment in which students can interact. As a result, the existence of two such diverse buildings in close proximity on Renfrew Street provides the same effect as rubbing two shards of flint together in order to produce a spark. This mantra is also manifest in the interior organisation of Holl’s building, in the form of a central, linking stair. “In our building, we have what we call ‘the circuit of connection’, which is open all four floors with stairs that go up and connect all the levels, so the students will be coming up against new ideas and being challenged and your opening their minds,” McVoy explained. There is an additional benefit of
such careful consideration — surrounding organisation of space. Southern light changes its angle of penetration depending on the time of year, and so Holl architects have south-facing rooms positioned strategically to maximise natural light percentage at their period of highest use. For example, when degree shows begin in June, south light penetrates at 57 degrees at noon and fills the lower-level lecture theatre with a warm ambience. This is not only beneficial to the students, but also provides a sustainable solution. “Mackintosh uses 27 different methods to get light into his building. It’s a real lesson,” McVoy said. “I guess the greatest challenge was making something that we could feel proud to put next to the Mackintosh…That was a constant reminder or charge — both intimidating and inspiring. “Every time I went to visit the building, I would think ‘we’ve got to do our best work.’ We would get inspired too — look what architecture can do! We’ve not tried to surpass the Mackintosh, but we’ve certainly tried to equal it.“
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FASHION / 21
Falling for the Freemantles The Journal meets supermodel Anna Freemantle — and discovers the secret drive behind Edinburgh’s fashion scene Oliver Giles Fashion editor
Over drinks in Harvey Nichols, it
is easy to see why Edinburgh-based supermodel Anna Freemantle still commands the attention of the world’s top fashion houses: nearly 6 foot tall with striking features, she is impossible to ignore. However, Freemantle is far more than a pretty face. Charming, intensely driven, and hugely knowledgeable, Freemantle is an often-unacknowledged force behind Edinburgh’s recent growth as a regional fashion hub. When they moved to Edinburgh in 2006, few could have predicted the change that Freemantle and her artist husband Jonathan would have on the city’s creative scene. The founders of cross-cultural club night Noir! and artistic consultancy Zwart Creative Bureau, Freemantles’ events showcase a level of creativity not normally seen outside of the Fringe. Most impressively, the couple are the brains behind the Edinburgh International Fashion
Festival, which was held for the first time last August. The Fashion Festival is undoubtedly their highest-profile project, but it emerged partly out of their experience of founding Noir!. A unique concept in Edinburgh, Noir! successfully combined the worlds of art, music, food and, crucially, fashion. Bizarrely, fashion is often excluded from cross-cultural events, something that Freemantle finds peculiar: “it’s crazy because you go to art college to learn about fashion; it’s another art form. In a way, it’s the most mundane art form; we deal with it everyday, we dress ourselves.” Building on the success of Noir!, the couple soon decided to go bigger with the Fashion Festival. F r e e m a n t l e ’s vision was undeniably ambitious: “I wanted fashion and intellect to meet. Edinburgh is an intellectual hub: it’s got the university, it’s
a great student city, it’s got the festival. It’s got all those elements, so how do we make fashion fit into that? So I thought: the glamour of fashion meets the intellectual.” The festival exemplified her aims; alongside runway shows, an enviable cast of fashion insiders and academics gave one-off talks. Amanda Harlech, collaborator of Karl Lagerfeld, discussed key moments in her career; Sissel Tolaas, global expert on all things olfactory, discussed the importance of scent; and neurobiologist and philosopher Ludovica Lumer explained fashion’s influence on identity. Freemantle was particularly thrilled to have Harlech involved. “Amanda is wonderful, she is always really positive about being involved. She, for me, is very much at the heart of what we’re doing, she represents the essence of what I was trying to achieve.” International brands are also behind the event. Freemantle explains, “Chanel have been very supportive so far, they represent the classier side of fashion and, for me, they are an intellectual brand as well. So to have their support means a lot.” Unbeknown to many, Freemantle played a big role in persuading Lagerfeld to bring Chanel’s Métiers d’Art show to Scotland last December. The media lauded the event; so it seems odd that the Edinburgh Festivals group are not begging the Fashion Festival to become part of the official programme. However, if Edinburgh is not jumping at the chance, then other cities are. Freemantle expands: “we’re begin-
ning conversations with various regions and have had interest from the Middle East, a very different world to Edinburgh but challenging in new ways. We’re confident the concept for the festival will travel well internationally. This international interest is not surprising given the Freemantles’ successes with the fashion show last year. Now in the throes of planning the 2013
event, Freemantle promises there’s “more where that came from!” With two young children, a modelling career, and other cities knocking down her door, Anna Freemantle is a woman in demand. However, if Edinburgh’s creative community has any sense, they should try and keep this captivating festival director here for as long as they can.
The persistent power of piercings
Our Edinburgh Charity Fashion Show insider takes a look at the liberating effect of the staple of student bodymanipulation Sam Prance
The piercing is something of a university phenomenon: a uni-life crisis, if you like. Before university, few piercings exist beyond the traditional earlobe. Some people do break the trend with the odd addition but, for the most part, ‘different’ piercings are rare — avoided, even. There are some obvious reasons for
this. Schools often ban piercings, and for others the mere suggestion of a piercing would send their parents into some kind of coronary trauma. In contrast, university is a place of freedom — a place where many of us, for the first time, gain the independence to take control of our lives; in many ways, the piercing is a physical representation of this. It symbolises choice. However, what was once a rare sighting has now become commonplace. Go into any lecture today and the likelihood of spotting an unconventional piercing is second to none. They’re everywhere. Granted, boys have a long way to go before catching up with the girls, but a good proportion of students now sport them on their noses, eyebrows, nipples — you name it. The popularity of these piercings makes them seem less a radical symbol of choice and more a try-hard trend. The unconventional has become conventional. Furthermore, the stigma attached to unconventional piercings has changed drastically in recent years. They were once mainly considered ugly and offensive; now they’re often hailed as things of beauty or a covetable fashion accessory. Rooney Mara’s portrayal of the
stud-laden heroine, Lisbeth Salander, in 2011’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo did much to promote nose and eyebrow piercings, while Givenchy’s spring/summer 2012 couture show featured oversized septum rings, which made extreme piercing seem somewhat beautiful. The presence of unconventional piercings in fashion and film has endorsed them, encouraged their evergrowing popularity, and subverted the ways in which they were perceived. Yet, in spite of trends, all this seems immaterial when one actually considers the process of getting pierced. Whether aged 23 or 13, no one can deny the rush you get when waiting to have something pierced, nor the high you get when it is actually set in place. You are, after all, physically morphing your body and, wherever you decide to do it, the piercing is a symbol of you taking control over your body: trend or no trend. It is not the type of piercing you get that is unconventional but, on a personal level, it is the process itself. After all, you are choosing to prick a hole in your skin in order to wear a piece of jewellery. For more information about ECFS 2013 www.edinburghcharityfashionshow.com
Box Office: 0845 874 3001
SUMMERHALL Upcoming Arts & Music | 14th Dec - 26th Jan
From Gaga to Gormley Transformations & Revalations
Throughout Summerhall, thirty-three large specially designed vitrines showcase the fascinating work of British Theatre designers on their creation of famous productions.Es Devlin’s stage and set designs for Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball World Tour are here, as are Antony Gormley’s more sparse settings for the Sadler’s Wells ballet, Sutra. Joanna Scotcher’s reworking of the much loved Christmas classic film, The Railway Children, for Waterloo Station Theatre reminds one of a heroic and simpler past while Connor Murphy’s minimalist opera design for The Magic Flute, which bewildered South Korean audiences, can be mused over. Warhorse and Billy Budd are also shown here with original models, drawings and video clips from the shows.
www.summerhall.co.uk @summerhallery
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The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
FOOD&DRINK / 23
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Illustration: Ria Edmenson
Valentine’s Moules Marinières
Cook’s tips: mussels are cheap, nutritious oysters and cook in four minutes max while your soft-centred, crispy oven chips sizzle away in a hot oven, offering a healthier alternative to deep-frying. 1. Croutons: Pre-heat oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Use a heart cookie cutter/knife to cut heart shapes from bread (small for topping — large for dipping). Brush lightly with oil. Rub with garlic. Cook on baking tray until crisp and golden (10 minutes plus, watch closely). 2. Mayo: mix all ingredients together. 3. Chips: put saucepan of lightly salted water on to boil. Cut each potato into 6-8 large chips. Put into bowl of cold water. Once the salted water boils, drain chips and add to pan. Boil rapidly for 3 minutes. Drain into colander and allow to dry. Pre-heat oven to 220C/gas mark 7. 4. Put baking tray to heat for 2 minutes. Brush with a bit of oil. Add single layer of chips. Turn to coat with care. Cook 25–35 minutes,
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of sauce (not a soup). Add cream, boil for 30 seconds. Adjust seasoning and amount of liquid if needed, add parsley, thyme, lemon if it needs a kick, dab of butter if you want it glossy. 10. Move chips to kitchen towel. Sprinkle with salt. Put into bowls. 11. Divide mussels between 2 warm bowls (discard non-openers).
Add parsley, croutons. Stick large croutons into mayo. Serve. 12. Get stuck in. Use fingers or two halves of shell to nip out the meat. Enjoy with warm fresh crusty baguette to soak up the delicious creamy juices, chips, dip and green salad. For more recipes and tips, visit www.virgintoveteran.com.
ON THE HORIZON Your quick reference cultural guide for the weeks ahead
MUSIC
1 kg fresh mussels (rope grown) 2 large shallots/1 small onion, peeled & diced 4 cloves garlic (2 sliced, 2 crushed) 50g unsalted butter 300ml dry white wine (Sauvignon Blanc) Fresh lemon thyme 3-4 tablespoons double cream/ crème fraiche 1 teaspoon lemon juice/dab of butter (optional) Salt (taste before you add – it may not be necessary) Black pepper Croutons 2-3 large thinly cut slices white bread Cut garlic clove A bit of oil Oven chips 3-4 large floury potatoes eg Maris Piper/King Edwards, peeled 1-2 tablespoons oil – rapeseed/ olive or tasteless groundnut Sea salt & black pepper Mustardy mayo 4 tablespoons Hellmann’s or own mayonnaise 1 teaspoon English Mustard Squeeze lemon juice ½ clove crushed garlic
28 February
CULTURE
Serves two
depending on their size, till crisp and golden. Turn once. Reduce temperature towards the end if it suits your timing. 5. Mussels: tip into colander in sink under cold running water. Discard cracked/damaged ones. Tap sharply on a surface if open, discarding those which don’t close. Scrub shells or scrape with a small knife till clean. Tug out beards (black threads). Drop into bowl as you go. Rinse again. 6. When chips are 2/3 ready, melt butter in pan on low heat. Add shallots, garlic, and a pinch of salt. Cook for 8 minutes or until translucent. Add a little lemon thyme. 7. Increase heat to high. Add wine. Boil for 1 minute. Add mussels. Ram on the lid. Cook, shuffling the pan over the heat, for 3-4 minutes, until the shells open. Stir them up once so they cook evenly. The mussels should be soft and tender, cooked through. 8. Tip the contents of pan into a colander placed over a large warm bowl. Return liquid to the pan. Put mussels into the bowl, cover, keep warm. Return pan to the hob immediately. 9. Boil for 3 minutes or until reduced by half to concentrate flavour. You want a good amount
1-16 February
(VARIOUS VENUES, PRICES) A showcase for world-class Iranian culture across Edinburgh, with a programme spanning theatre, film, books, art and food.
(TEVIOT ROW HOUSE, EDINBURGH, £10) TEDx presents a scintillating collection of speakers at a conference exploring ‘Global Challenges, Grounded Solutions’.
THEATRE & FILM
Sam Stern
14-24 February
13-14 February
Frightened Rabbit
(BARROWLANDS, GLASGOW, £15) The acclaimed Scottish indie rockers land in Glasgow to promote new album Pedestrian Verse.
Iranian Festival Edinburgh
Glasgow Film Festival 2013
(VARIOUS VENUES, PRICES) Ninth edition of the festival boasts additions, including a celebration of new Brazilian cinema.
ART
INGREDIENTS
Until 23 February
Mariusz Tarkawian: Anticipating The Future
(GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART, FREE) Polish artist presents his first solo exhibition in the UK, anticipating future contemporary art.
16 February
All Gone with Pete Tong (LIQUID ROOMS, EDINBURGH, £16.50) The renowned DJ presents his first Saturday-night set in Edinburgh for over 15 years. A likely sellout.
22 February
TEDx UniversityofEdinburgh
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (BEDLAM THEATRE, EDINBURGH, £5) EUTC present Tom Stoppard’s most famous play, exploring Hamlet’s “philosophical ramblings”.
Until 7 March
Massimo Bartolini (THE FRUITMARKET GALLERY, FREE) Brighten up your winter with illuminating work from the renowned Italian contemporary artist Massimo Bartolini.
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A&E / 25
Subverting Middle East preconceptions
During awards season, the cinemas become saturated with big, prestigious American films, and the occasional small, plucky British production that picks up a BAFTA. Luckily — as the cinema scene becomes increasingly homogenised at this time of year — the annual Middle Eastern Film Festival in Edinburgh comes to the rescue.
Running from 7-21 February at the Filmhouse, the festival shows a diverse selection of films from a part of the world that doesn’t often make it onto the big screen here. Each year, the festival focuses on a different theme or nation, and this year the main strand of the festival looks at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the eyes of film makers from that region. “It’s such a big issue at the moment, everybody is talking about the Middle East,” says the programme curator James McKenzie. “What I’m trying to do with the festival is create a much broader perspective in people’s minds so that they don’t just think of the middle east as about terrorism and the people rising up...it’s about a lot more than that.” The broad range of films at the festival certainly suggests that there is more to this area of the world than conflict, so that polemical films such as Salt of the Sea are balanced by romances such as the closing film Habibi, and intimate dramas like Lemon Tree. “Of course, a lot of the films do deal with the political situation, but they also deal with the way normal people think and normal people react,” McKenzie expands, “and by watching the films you get a sense that, well, there’s nothing that
Lincoln
For a film dealing with complex politicking, Spielberg’s biopic is fascinating and accessible
Edinburgh’s Filmhouse provides a colourful Middle Eastthemed February programme in an otherwise banal month for film fans
film Nathanael Smith Film editor
different; that people are the same all the world round.” The second strand of the festival focuses on the cinema of Iran, a country that has quietly been producing excellent films for over fifty years. Director, film historian and critic Mark Cousins waxes lyrical about Iranian cinema: “They have grace and insight, passionate poetry and such a brilliant understanding of film that they make most other movies look like theatre, or video games or novels.” Featuring everything from gentle comedy to dramatic tragedy, the festival offers an accessible path into the cinema of Iran by opening with comic family drama A Cube of Sugar. If you have never experienced films from this part of the world, then Cousins is unequivocal in his encouragement: “It’s time you got to know it.” “We’ve got everything, it’s a good mix of different genres and there are films should appeal to most tastes,” enthuses James McKenzie. “If you look in the brochure, whatever your interests, then you’ll find something there.” This certainly seems true of this exciting and diverse festival, making it an absolute must in a month at the cinema that otherwise doesn’t offer much for the curious viewer.
film Michael Saner Staff writer
Abraham Lincoln — tall, gaunt, sporting a stovepipe and distinctive beard — is a legendary figure of American national pride, something summarised in the grand Lincoln Memorial. Recently, Transformers: Dark
of the Moon (produced by Spielberg) saw Lincoln’s statue destroyed. In Lincoln, however, no such dishonour is expressed. Instead, Spielberg’s film is a loving biopic, painting its protagonist as one of the great heroes of history. Daniel Day-Lewis excels at portraying this iconic hero. His voice is steeped in a fatherly authority that draws the audience and characters to his cause. He is supported by some powerhouse performances in the form of Tommy Lee
Jones as the radical Republican Thaddeus Stevens, and Sally Field as the maddened, stricken First Lady. Scenes in which Day-Lewis and either of these two interact are examples of both superb acting and an Oscarworthy script. Lincoln’s sage advice to Stevens about navigating carefully towards righteousness deftly outlines the
film’s moral struggle: the choice between the immediate or greater good. For a film dealing with complex politicking, Lincoln rarely feels stifled or boring. Driven by a combination of a tight screenplay and rounded characters, what could have been a film for politics nerds is instead a poignant, fascinating glimpse at a moment in history.
Sweet revenge? film
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The Journal takes a look at the morality of cinematic revenge Nathanael Smith Film editor [This article contains spoilers for Django Unchained and Zero Dark Thirty.] By the time Zero Dark Thirty and Django Unchained begin, the crimes have been committed. Revenge will swiftly follow, but both films serve the dish in entirely different ways. Django doesn’t start out as a revenge film, but the final act certainly becomes one. There is an inconsistency at the heart of Quentin Tarantino’s film, as he
balances the horrors of slavery with a gleeful homage to exploitation cinema. Zero also portrays violence in an unflinching manner. Controversy surrounded the film with claims from critics that its scenes of water-boarding glorify torture. However, one look at the beaten prisoner Ammar reveals that such an interpretation is clearly misguided. Django’s finale revels in zealously spilling blood for laughs, not horror. Revenge in Zero sees a man being utterly humiliated; here, revenge is messy, uncomfortable and upsetting to watch, which is surely the way it should be. Django ends with the freed slave victoriously performing tricks on his horse, and in Tarantino’s eyes, justice has been done. Zero ends entirely differently, as Maya sits silently, a tear running down her cheek. The mission is complete, but a vital question hangs over the scene: “Was it all worth it?” — a question Tarantino doesn’t bother to ask.
The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
SPORT// 26
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Egg-chasers suffer a repetitive strain injury We must rise together to bring down the tyranny of the Six Nations before we all die of boredom Ruth Jeffery Sport editor
There’s a certain time of year that fills
me with a sense of deep-setted irritation. It’s always marked - in Edinburgh at least - by rows of little coloured flags and chalk boards outside pubs. Swathes of lairy, well-spoken men fill the streets and blue and white becomes the most common colour combination in the whole city. When all these indicators are in place, one knows for certain that some serious egg-chasing is about to go down. I am well aware that similar complaints can be made about the beautiful game that is football, but there are several marked differences which make football
great and the Six Nations not so great. Firstly, I would like to point out that the footballing competitions occur in a far timelier manner. Every year is too often for such a hyped tournament as the Six Nations. Every year! Christmas happens every year. So does the Chess Club’s AGM. But the big session of rugger-bugger back patting is not as exciting or as important as either of these events. At least football has the grace to hold its major competitions every four years, so that those not inclined to partake in its loveliness can have a break from hearing others spout forth. I could perhaps be persuaded to be generous with rugby fans on a biannual basis, but nothing is more tiresome than the same fixtures, same scorelines and same analysis being rolled out year on year.
And that brings me to my next point. Which is that the Six Nations is always the same! At least with the European Championships or World Cup in football there are qualifying necessities, which add to the excitement and generally mean that each team has to perform at some kind of level nearing ‘good’. I accept the existence of the Rugby World Cup, but dispute that that validates this outdated tournament. With the Six Nations, the same countries meet every year despite the fact that some are radically better than others and that there are now other nations in the world who care more about rugby than them. Currently, only two of the six countries are in the top five world rankings according to the International Rugby Board (IRB). France is fourth and England is
OCEAN DWELLER
fifth. Ireland is just behind in sixth, Wales ninth, Italy 10th and Scotland 12th. This means that the so called ‘elite competition’ is not contested between the top teams in the world. There are no entry requirements beyond simply being part of an old gentlemen’s club. The idea of a competition made up of six countries is a good one. Concise, not too drawn out and generally in good humour,. But why not mix it up a little? Have some sort of qualification process and make it a little more interesting. New Zealand, South Africa and Australia are the top three nations in the world rankings, and the inclusion of even one of these teams would add an intriguing angle on a different scale to the home nations and their two European neighbours.
My next complaint about the Six Nations is a further deliberation on the aforementioned annoyances. The hype engulfing the competition in Scotland’s fair capital is nauseating. The rigmarole which surrounds the naming of the team, the rousing manager talks, the photograph posing… the list goes on and I am already bored. It all happened last year. And was exactly the same last year. This year, I will probably end up being in a pub whilst egg-chasing takes place on a big screen behind me. I will probably be unfortunate enough to overhear conversations about Scotland’s terrible chances of not coming last. And I will probably, as in years gone by, look forward to 16 March when the coloured flags come down and I can drink my pint in peace.
FORTUNE TELLER
Paul the Octopus will make you a few squid Hoy speaks out about cycling doping scandal
Del Piero, who joined the club in September, has now scored 10 goals in 16 appearances.
Edinburgh lad Chris Hoy has
Trump’s surprise exit from Masters
this week condemned doping in cycling and called the widespread problem “frustrating”. The cyclist told BBC 5live: “We must break the chain of the past to the future and not include people who have been involved with that. It is a tough thing but the sport is trying all it can to reform and change — and to make the future better.” Fränk Schleck will miss the 2013 Tour de France because of a ban received after testing positive for Xipamide during last year’s race. Schleck denied knowingly taking the drug, but will be out of action until 14 July 2013.
A surprise snooker defeat saw
world number two Judd Trump exit the German masters to world number 37 Anthony Hamilton. Trump has had a bad run of form of late, suffering a first round exit at the UK Championships and a second round defeat at the Masters. The young snooker star won the International Championship last November, but was defeated 5-4 by Hamilton. Mark Williams and Stephen Maguire also went out to Michael Holt and Mark King respectively.
Del Piero helps Sydney combat A-League woes
Glasgow Internationals a success for Chambers
Alessandro Del Piero got his 10th goal for Sydney FC in a game against the Newcastle Jets when the two teams clashed last Saturday. Del Piero, 38-years-old, faced fellow newcomer to the A-League Emile Heskey in the match. The Italian superstar scored after just 11 minutes on the clock although his team eventually drew 2-2 through an 89th minute Ryan Griffiths penalty for the Jets. Sydney FC sit eighth in the A-League table with 21 points from 19 games. Their poor form this season has seen them win six, draw three and lose ten of those matches.
Dwain Chambers was successful last week as he stormed to victory in the 60m at the Glasgow International. Chambers achieved a time of 6.58 seconds, the second fastest in the world this year. He came ahead of Kim Collins from St Kitts and Nevis and Mike Rodgers of America. Chambers is in preparation for the upcoming European Indoor Championships in Göteborg from 1-3 March. Russia and the United States both finished the Glasgow International with 58 points, followed by Great Britain and Northern Ireland with 50 points.
Matthew Dunne-Miles Octopus whisperer
Alright, I’ll admit it, last week was an
off-week for me. I sense there are doubters out there and to those naesayers I ask, do you think the world of the Octopus occult is easy?! Did you happen to rightly predict all the World Cup results? The answer to both these queries is a resounding ‘no’. There were lots of contributing factors to last week’s hiccup — firstly there’s the transfer window. I was receiving conflicting information about the future of Peter Odemwhingie (so was he) and Harry Redknapp careering around in that Range Rover peering out of his window like a poe-faced Bassett hound is bad juju for everyone. He had no idea what he was up to, let alone the spirit world. Secondly, it isn’t easy translating my native Squiddish tongue for you humanoids. On with the predictions… BRADFORD NEED VICTORY FIX
*Winning is a drug and once you’ve
had a hit you’ll crave more. Bradford City have had a speedball of success over the past month and the depths of League Two are no longer enough, they’ve got a ‘triumph monkey’ on their back the size of King Kong. I see Phil Parkinson’s Bantams on a Ryanair flight to South Africa, arriving at the African Cup Of Nations before announcing they’re ‘here to win it’. After being kindly reminded by the tournament administration that they do not qualify due to neither being ‘African’ nor a ‘Nation’, the victory-junkies will clamber back on to the plane heading for a ‘junior boys five-a-side tournament in Dumfries’. The future is hazy after that.
SCOTLAND TALKED INTO LOSS
*I foresee a bittersweet week for Scot-
land’s national team. Gordon Strachan’s Tartan Army will earn a hard-fought victory over Estonia at home, but no reporters will be there to see it. The ginger Obama’s repartee will mean that the pre-match press conference will become a three-hour stand up set, leaving journalists in tears with his witty anecdotes and impressions of Duncan Ferguson and Craig Levein. This unfortunately means that the media have to rely on the testimony of Estonia’s Head Coach Tarmo Ruutli as to the outcome of the game, where he will say that Estonia “100 per cent won TheDailySportsHerald
that one,” much to Scotland’s frustration. OFFSIDE OFF MLS AGENDA
*It’s a time of regression in the world
of America’s major league soccer ball. The MLS will rule that they no longer see the need to keep using the offside rule, now that Anglo-Christ David Beckham has headed off to Parisian turf. LA Galaxy poster boy Landon Donovan will shrug and say “This is America, we’re not the Manchester FC Hotspurs. Half of the guys don’t even understand the offside rule anyway, we were only using it to make David believe that this was a legitimate league. Now he’s gone we can really let our hair down.”
The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
@EdJournalSport / journal-online.co.uk
SPORT// 27
FOOTBALL
January Blues
Benitez suffers cold winter at the Bridge
Ollie Bunting Staff writer
At no point during his tenure as Chelsea manager has Rafa Benitez had an easy day at the office, whether at their Cobham training ground or in the dugout on a match day. And January has not been a good month for the Spaniard by any stretch of the imagination. Eight points have been taken from a possible 15 in the five Premier League matches that they have played, which, though not disastrous, is combined with an exit in the Capital One Cup semifinal to Swansea and the complexities of an FA Cup replay with League One outfit Brentford. If there was one advantage to be taken from Benitez’s appointment back in late November it was that if there was anyone who could spark the re-emergence of
Fernando Torres’ goal scoring form it would be him. On the face of things eight goals in all competitions since Rafa took the helm seems to be a good return. This is coupled with the fact that alongside Juan Mata, Torres is the club’s joint-leading goal scorer this season. Yet one still does not feel satisfied and Torres still does not seem anywhere near the standard of player that he used to be; the player that scored 65 goals in 102 premier league appearances for Liverpool at an average of more than a goal every two games. After an initial surge of goals in the opening month that Benitez took charge — seven in all — Torres has hit a dry spell again, albeit not as shocking as the one he suffered earlier on in his Chelsea career. However, the Spanish striker has not scored in seven league games and has only netted once in Chelsea’s last 11 matches. Even then that lonely goal scored was
against the lower league opposition of Brentford. This is a poor return rate from the £50 million man, especially when Benitez has notably tried to replicate a similar playing style at Chelsea which saw Torres be so profitable when at Liverpool. Surely Benitez’s job is safe for now. Roman Abramovich simply has nowhere else to turn after former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola’s decision to head to Bayern Munich this summer. But with Madrid looking all-but certain to get rid of Jose Mourinho by the summer, it may be that Rafa won’t worry about his security as Chelsea manager if walking through the doors at the Bernabeu looks to be a likely option. Then Chelsea really will be struggling to find the right man, not only to take the club forward but for someone who can possibly help Torres to find his scoring boots once more.
TENNIS
Murray: positives in defeat Andy proves his worth in successful Australian Open for Britain
Ben Sutherland ROWING
Olympic medallist Nethercott, 35, dies Acer Nethercott’s death comes as a shock to the rowing community Alex Neal Staff writer
Tributes have swarmed in follow-
ing the death of Team GB rower Acer Nethercott. The 35-year-old died on 27 January having been diagnosed with brain cancer, though the cause of death remains unknown. The cox had won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, having guided the men’s eight team in a close race which they lost to Canada. He was also in contention to compete at the London 2012 Olympics, but the cox role was instead given to Phelan Hill. Nethercott had previously won two boat races with the University of Oxford crew in 2003 and 2005, and was a member of the 2004 team which lost in contro-
versial circumstances following a clash of blades. Nethercott also won bronze at the 2007 World Championships. Acer was born in Harlow, Essex, and was as committed to academia as he was to his rowing. Not only did he pass with a first in Theoretical Physics and Philosophy, but he also embarked on a doctorate. His former team-mate Alex Partridge told the BBC: “He was a great cox, coach, and mentor. He will be greatly missed.” Tributes also came from the GB Rowing Team Twitter account. It said: “Today we mourn the passing of Acer Nethercott. Keen, eager & spirited like his name”. Another read “Great member of @ GBRowingTeam. Thoughts are with family.” He was a member of Molesey Boat Club in Surrey, who were said to be in complete shock over his death.
Jak Purkiss & Jack Guthrie Staff writers
The start of the new year means one thing for tennis fans – the start of the Australian open. It has become increasingly popular in recent years with greater TV and online coverage and a reported increase in betting on the event over the last few years. It was an exhilarating tournament despite the eventual winners being somewhat predictable, with the first seeds winning the men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles titles. There were a number of memorable matches throughout the tournament and some outstanding performances from the British players. Andy Murray appeared full of confidence as he breezed into his fourth consecutive Australian Open semi-final
without dropping a set. Beating Rodger Federer - who he had also overcome during the Olympics - Murray proved himself to be worthy of praise. The final with Djokovic proved to be an incredibly tight match between the two current heavyweights of the sport. Despite the defeat to Djokovic, there are many reasons for Murray to feel upbeat. He has seemed full of confidence of late and his game is improving. For the first few years of his career it was thought that he was another hyped up tennis player who wouldn’t break the 76 year British Grand Slam title wait. By ignoring the platitudes and playing good tennis, he has disproved his doubters. This was his third Grand Slam final in a row and if he continues to build on his recent improvements there will be many more Grand Slam finals and victories for him in the future. After an impressive 2012 by Laura
Robson and Heather Watson, they were both ranked in the top 50 in the world and qualified directly into the main knock out stage of the tournament. There were encouraging signs from both British players as they looked to build on an impressive year and cement their places in the top 50 of the women’s game. Both players continued to show wonderful grace in defeat, a quality that is highly admired in their roles of female tennis role models. The tournament was another resounding success as all the players directed their praise on the organisers and the crowd. There was some sensational tennis played throughout the tournament, but most pleasing for British tennis fans were the impressive performances by the British players that have provided an abundance of reasons to feel both excited and optimistic for the rest of the season. Carine06
FOOTBALL
ZAMBIA: ONE YEAR ON Following their exit from the Africa Cup of Nations The Journal reflects on that historic 2012 win Michael Mawdsley Staff writer
For Zambia, the sadness at crashing out in
the group stages at the African Cup of Nations may be softened by their triumph in the same tournament last year. Although they are the first winners to be knocked out in the first stages since Algeria 20 years ago, the win itself was a miracle. For a country of 14 million people, their footballing pedigree is nowhere near that of
continental rivals Ivory Coast or Senegal. The highlight of their international history was, until last year, a 4-0 victory over Italy at the 1988 Olympics. Yet 2012 proved a landmark in their history. Their win was particularly poignant when remembering the disaster in 1993 which saw 18 players and coaches die in a plane crash on the way to a World Cup qualifying match in Senegal. Handed a difficult group, they went through by beating Senegal 2-1, drawing
2-2 with Libya and overcoming Equatorial Guinea 1-0. Zambia were too strong for Sudan in the quarter-final, taking a 3-0 victory courtesy of goals by Stophira Suzen, Christopher Katonga and James Chamanga. The scoreline should have been far higher as Zambia ran rampant into the semi-finals against Ghana. Ghana’s pedigree in the competition and in world football is impressive, being one of only three African teams to have reached the World Cup quarter-finals, and Zambia were
understandably underdogs in the match. In the first half David Nkausa, Zambia’s keeper saved a penalty from Asamoah Gyan, and the Zambian goal came under threat again and again. But football is made of miracles, and late in the second half Isaac Chansa broke free to feed Mayuka, who on the turn slotted home to propel Zambia to the first final in their history. If defeating Ghana had been a challenge, their rivals in the final were the mighty Ivory Coast, blessed with then-Chelsea striker
Didier Drogba, Manchester City’s Yaya and Kolo Toure and Arsenal’s Gervinho. Though the game was filled with chances for both sides, a stalemate after half time and then penalties made for nerve-wracking viewing. Zambia eventually won 8-7 on penalties, a triumph which had seen them display extraordinary amounts of persistence. This year their story may have ended very differently, but Zambia’s year of glory is one they will not forget.
28 / SPORT AMERICAN FOOTBALL
>>
@EdJournalSport / journal-online.co.uk
The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
VARSITY 2013
David Selby
UoE beat Napier to Varsity Predators’ sharp teeth keep Knights from claiming holy grail American Football Varsity
Napier KNIGHTS
0
UoE PREDATORS
30
Ruth Jeffery, Sean Gibson
Edinburgh Predators comprehensively beat Napier Knights 30-0 in
their Varsity clash at Meggetland Stadium on Sunday 3 February. The Predators also won the competition last year, and although their BUCS League run of form has only been slightly better than the Knights, looked much the stronger team. The Knights made a crucial mistake in the first quarter, conceded possession and subsequently struggled to get into the game. Meggetland Stadium, home of Boroughmuir RFC in Colinton, was packed to the rafters as students flocked to celebrate Superbowl Sunday with this second annual fixture. The brass band and cheerleaders added to the pumped-up atmosphere, although the biting wind left those on the terraces glad of the tea and hot pies in the refreshment centre.
Stewart Adam, Head Coach of the Predators, was pleased with his team’s winning margin: “Thirty-nil’s a great score for us. We could’ve scored a couple more points- if just a few more dropped balls would have gone our way it would been a bit better but yeah, a win’s a win. Our defence was terrific, we shut them out; they got no points at all.” Adam admitted that the wind played a part: “The wind was definitely a factor, the quarterback overcompensated sometimes and overthrew it on others.” Napier Knights have had a slack run of form in the BUCS Leagues this season, losing all three of their games so far. Now training with their new facilities at Sighthill, the team had hoped for a better display of talent. Knights Head Coach Pete Laird said: “Obviously gutted that our team didn’t really play very well. We’ve practised so hard and worked so many hours with these boys and they put in all the effort to all these practices, and for us to come out and under-perform is obviously pretty disappointing. But, you know, we put on a good show, the game’s been really popular, we’ve got a huge crowd out and I think everybody enjoyed themselves. It’s just a pity it wasn’t more competitive.” Laird also praised the opponents: “I always took my hat to the Predators, they execute their offence really well, they know what they’re doing. I don’t think they made hardly any mistakes today and we made a lot.” The defences dominated the early exchanges and possession was turned over several times without score. Napier showed early promise, as running back Jamie Welsh made yards consistently and claimed a number of first-downs. However, one bad snap undid much of Welsh’s and Napier’s hard work and led to the first score of the game; the Predators were handed possession on the Knights’ 15, as the home side had to punt into the wind from their own one-yard line at 4th & 30. Edinburgh took full advantage to begin the second quarter 7-0 up. Edinburgh began to flex the muscle of their own running game, with Kevin Calvey making numerous successful forays into Napier territory. More impres-
sively, the Edinburgh defence ensured that Napier never strayed over the halfway line with the ball before half-time. Overall, though, as the Knights were progressively hemmed in, the game descended into scrappiness – the culmination of which came with a comical Predators interception, as a solid Napier pass bounced up off the back of their tight end and into the grateful arms of a waiting Edinburgh player. It was no surprise that the visitors extended their lead to 15-0 before the interval. Although most of the play continued on the ground in the third quarter, Edinburgh did try to involve the wide receivers with more expansive passing. Napier continued to toil in vein, as their most positive possession was ended with an unceremonious sacking of their quarterback. By the end of the quarter the Predators had put the game beyond any possible doubt with the scoreline at 24-0. One more unconverted touchdown followed in the fourth quarter, with the scoreboard at 30-0 making unhappy reading for a home support that began to wane with the acceptance of defeat. The fine running efforts of Napier’s Danny Flannery and Rolfo Jesus Whitaker were firmly rebuffed while Edinburgh’s Matthew Ford, with greater support, enjoyed the same success on the ground as had teammate Calvey in the first half. The Knights now prepare to host WS Pyros on 17 February; the Predators clash with Glasgow Tigers on 10 February. With only one win from four this season, Edinburgh need more positive scorelines. Coach Adam said: “We need to win the next three games and we’ve got a chance of making the play-offs, it all comes down to Glasgow next week. If Glasgow beat us we’re pretty much done. We played Glasgow [earlier this season] and it went to overtime, and we lost in overtime. We’ll use this to go in and hopefully take it.” After the Varsity Trophy was presented to the Predators, both teams headed off for Superbowl parties. Laird said his team would be enjoying the occasion despite their loss. “We’ve told the guys to just relax, enjoy themselves, watch the game, put today’s result behind them but learn from it.”
AMERICAN FOOTBALL Men’s American Football Scottish Conf. A GD
%
Stirling 1st
P W T L
4 4 0 0 295 26 269
1
Glasgow 1st
4 3 0 1 75 122 -47 0.75
West of Scot 1st
3 1 0 2 28 66 -38 0.333
Edinburgh 1st
4 1 0 3 59 166 -107 0.25
Ed’ Napier 1st
3 0 0 3 13 90 -77
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29-30 Argyle Place, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH9 1JJ
0
Matthew Robertson Outside linebacker, Napier
Matthew Robertson, outside
linebacker for Napier Knights, told The Journal how he felt about the result: “A little bit disappointed yeah, but we’ve got a new player back, and it’s our first game back after the break. They played well. They played their hearts out. I expect to win with just about every game I go into, so, anything less than that, you know. But it was a brilliant game. I enjoyed it. It was brilliant, good fun.” With the Knights facing off against the WS Pyros next week on the back of four losses in a row, they need a turnaround in form. Robertson said: “I think we should probably just keep working as a team, and just build up, just keep building on what we’ve got. And we’ll be sorted.”
Ally Howe
Left-tackle & club president, UoE
President of the Edinburgh
Predators and left-tackle Ally Howe said he was happy with their win: “I’m pretty happy, yeah, it was good. We made it difficult for ourselves, especially at the start, lots of penalties given away, we gave away a lot of cheap yards. But we ground it out and they didn’t get anything, and we’re pretty happy about that. “The defence were fantastic. The offence were okay, but there were just too many dropped catches, not too many fumbles but too many dropped catches and the locking up front wasn’t great.” And Howe said of the Predators’ celebrations: “We’re off to Malone’s to watch the Super Bowl and get thoroughly thoroughly drunk.”
The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
SPORT// 29
@EdJournalSport / journal-online.co.uk
FOOTBALL
Malgosia Stelmaszyk
Edinburgh’s seconds foil Abertay’s title ambitions
Edinburgh breeze through visiting defence with wind-assisted goal to top off performance full of gusto
Scottish Conference Men’s 2A
EDINBURGH 2nd
1
ABERTAY 1st
0
Ruth Jeffery Sport editor University of Edinburgh men’s 2nds beat University of Abertay men’s 1sts in the BUCS 2A football league 1-0 on Wednesday. The wind played a big part in a game mostly devoid of scoring opportunities for both teams. Fin Daniels scored the home team’s goal ten minutes from time with a shot from 20 yards out that was helped into the back of the net by the wind. Abertay needed to win the match
to have a chance of claiming the league title and their failure to convert means that Napier 1sts get the top spot. Edinburgh, bottom of the table, battled against the visitors’ strong back four and had the best of their chances in the second half. Although they have had a bad League run of late, their performances in the Cup have been much stronger, with wins against Aberdeen (4-2) and Heriot Watt (2-0) helping their campaign. Edinburgh manager Carlo De Angelis said: “We’re very pleased. We played Abertay away from home and they beat us five-nothing, it was difficult to get a side to that game. “Today we had the luxury of 16 players, and all 16 players have played their part. Very pleased. A lot of the players have been injured in the season, we have most of them back now injuryfree, so for the second half of the season
we’ll have a bigger squad of players to pick from, which gives me choices, and gives a fresher momentum to our play.” The first half was very much a scrappy midfield battle, with both teams defending competently and neither looking likely to score. Edinburgh player Roddie MacLeod spurred on his team with a good run up the left side of the pitch, and managed to struggle past a hard tackle by an Abertay defender. The resulting free kick, taken from the half-way line, was a hindrance as the home side lost momentum and MacLeod’s ball was easily batted away by Abertay keeper Robbie Hannan. Abertay’s Ryan McGill had his own chance from a free kick shortly afterwards, but his 30-yard shot went low and was easily caught by Edinburgh keeper Christian Costas. A pass to one of the players to McGill’s right would have given the team more options.
Costas, who also plays outfield, had a good game, particularly in the second half. Just before half time, Edinburgh’s Stewart Penderleith brought down Jannik Schillins and received a yellow card. Schillins took the 20-yard free kick for Abertay, but shot weakly and missed the target by an inch. The second half saw improvements from both teams, with Abertay having three close chances within the first 15 minutes. Schillins was behind the best of these, running from the half way line and taking a punt at goal from the edge of the box. Costas came off his line to meet the forward, and the panicked shot went wide. Just a few minutes after Daniels scored, Edinburgh’s Iliya Itoev had a crack at infiltrating the Abertay defence with a swift run towards goal, but hesitated too long to pass the ball, and his eventual strike was well defended by McGill. The teams received three yellow cards apiece, the most notable given to McGill when he argued with the referee over a free kick given for a handball. The wind had a lot of influence in the match, stopping a lot of technical play and foiling attempts from both teams. De Angelis said of the weather: “Typical Peffermill conditions, very very windy. Played a game of two halves
FOOTBALL
Scottish Conference Men’s 2A P W D L
F
A GD Pts
Ed’ Napier 1st
6 4 2 0 13 6
7
14
Abertay 1st
7 4 1 2 15 5
10
13
Edinburgh 2nd
6 1
2 3
Robert Gordon 1st
5 1
1 3 10 10
Glasgow Caley 1st
4 0 2 2
5 15 -10 5 4
11
0
4
-7
2
— I thought we actually did better into the wind in the second half. But can’t complain about that.” Just a few minutes after Daniels scored, Edinburgh’s Iliya Itoev had a crack at infiltrating the Abertay defence with a swift run towards goal, but hesitated too long to pass the ball, and his eventual strike was well defended by McGill. The teams received three yellow cards apiece, the most notable given to McGill when he argued with the referee over a free kick given for a handball. The wind had a lot of influence in the match, stopping a lot of technical play and foiling attempts from both teams. De Angelis said of the weather: “Typical Peffermill conditions, very very windy. Played a game of two halves — I thought we actually did better into the wind in the second half. But can’t complain about that.”
RUGBY
BUCS Women’s Premier North P W D L
F
A GD Pts
Leeds M. Car’gie 1st 9 7 0 2 307 118 189 35 Durham 1st
10 7 0 3 312 65 201 35
Loughborough 1st
7 5 0 2 183 121 62 24
Birmingham 1st
9 4 0 5
Newcastle 1st
8 4 0 4 115 172 -57 16
-6
23
Nottingham1st
8 2 0 6 79
-198 13
Edinburgh 1st
11 2 0 9 131
-191 7
Edinburgh 1st 7 Durham 1st 37
Malgosia Stelmaszyk
30 / SPORT HOCKEY
>>
@EdJournalSport / journal-online.co.uk
YOUTH OLYMPICS
David Selby
Youth Olympic bronze and beyond The Journal chats to Edinburgh Uni hockey stars Sarah Robertson and Nicki Cochrane as they launch into a potentially massive year Sean Gibson Editor-in-chief “It was hard going back to reality. You’re away on this amazing trip, then you’re back at uni the next day.” Nicki Cochrane sits opposite her teammate and fellow Edinburgh University student Sarah Robertson, sheltering in a central-Edinburgh café from the unfamiliar Scottish chill that, for them, only days ago replaced the searing heat of an Australian summer. The two hockey players are fresh off the plane from the
Youth Olympics where they each claimed a bronze medal as part of the British side. Sarah, a forward with 12 senior Scotland caps and two goals, concurs with goalkeeper Nicki: “You don’t even think about uni at all, you have no worries when you’re in the middle of the trip.” Their medals were secured with a hard-fought victory over the USA: “The game finished one-all, then it went to golden-goal extra-time,” Sarah tells The Journal, “and by that point everyone was a bit panicky. “We’d played them before in the tournament and we beat them easily five-nil.
LEAGUE TABLES
It was literally so easy. I don’t know if some people just got complacent in the last game, I don’t know what happened.” Fortunately, however, the team stood strong in extra-time to score the golden goal that won them the bronze medal. “And then everyone just went crazy,” Sarah recounts. “Especially because the trip had been pretty tough for our team, we had quite a lot of injuries. Like, I was injured, I didn’t play the last few games. Another girl broke her thumb, another girl pulled her hamstring. So from the original team we were struggling with numbers.”
There is no denying that, as Nicki puts it, “we’ve been pretty lucky this year.” The pair attended a tournament in Dublin last September with Scotland seniors, before joining up with their British youth teammates at a Malaga training camp just before Christmas – and 2013 only promises to get better. Brazil beckons this coming March as the girls reprise their Scottish roles in round two of the world series, with a training camp in Rome beforehand – “to get used to the heat,” as Nicki says. However, far from a series of relaxing holidays in exotic climes, “it is hard work,” explains Robertson. “We got fitness-tested the first time we went down and it’s basically all running. GB love you to be really fit, you do a lot of hard work.” That’s not to mention the degree work that has to get done somewhere in among the hockey, either. Nicki is in her first year studying sport management and missed her freshers week for the Dublin tournament: “That was hard, but all the tutors were really understanding.” Meanwhile Sarah, a second-year law student, can access recordings of her lectures, she says, “it just requires a few late nights in the library and then I’m back on it.” While it may be true that, as Sarah puts it, “once you’re involved you’d have to do something pretty stupid to be uninvolved,” the girls have had to emerge from school and inter-district level to achieve recognition. They then had to graduate successfully through the national youth ranks before making the Scotland under-21 team which was sent to the Team GB Youth Olympic selection trials last April. Even then the girls still had to come through cuts to the British squad in the autumn.
They may well have achieved a great deal already, but the two Edinburgh firstteamers have eyes only for the bigger things ahead. “Starting in May,” explains Sarah, “just as we finish our exams, pretty much, we’ll go full-time. So that’s basically five days a week, in Stirling, for the four months of the summer.” As the girls talk a little about where they might live during the summer, the quiet enthusiasm that comes with such a close connection to a sport is clear. There is no denying that the routine is tough, but there is not a moment’s doubt here from either player that the sacrifices are worth it. Sarah explains: “Training full-time for Scotland will give us a taste what it’ll be like to play in GB full-time.” More immediately, Nicki says she will most enjoy “not having to worry about other things, you can just focus on the hockey.” At the end of the summer lies competition in the European A Division, in which both Sarah and Nicki will aim to keep Scotland safe from relegation. Yet further into the future wait dreams of Olympic glory; certainly representing Scotland at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games is central to the plans of both players. Maintaining the remarkable upward trajectory that brought them to this juncture will require a great deal more sacrifice, but neither Sarah nor Nicki seems daunted by that challenge: “2016 will be a bit of a push,” reckons Sarah, “we’ll only be 22, 23 – so that’s still quite young. Hopefully the one after that though. “If we were to play in Rio, we’d be doing really well, we’d be breaking in at a pretty young age. It’s worth a pop.”
KARTING
HOCKEY
FOOTBALL
BUCS Women’s Scottish Conference 1A
BUCS Scottish Conference Men’s 1A P W D L
F
A GD Pts
P W D L F
A GD Pts
Stirling 2nd
6 4 1
1 14 5
9
13
Edinburgh 1st
6 6 0 0 26 5
21
18
Edinburgh 1st
6 2 2 2 13 12
1
8
Aberdeen 1st
6 3 0 3 16 20 -4
9
Heriot-Watt 1st
6 2
1 3
8 13 -5
7
Edinburgh 2nd
6 2
1 3 13 15 -2
7
Glasgow 1st
7 2
1 4 12 16 -4
7
Glasgow 1st
5 2 0 3 10 16 -6
6
Aberdeen 1st
5 2
1 2
7
St Andrews 1st
7
4
9 10
-1
LACROSSE
P W D L F
A GD Pts 15
Glasgow 1st
7 3 0 4 48 43
5
6
Edinburgh 1st
4 2 0 2 25 30 -5
6
Aberdeen 1st
4 1
0 3 14 49 -35
3
Stirling 1st
4 1
0 3 18 39 -21
3
20%
Discount on Cut and Colour services at all times
1 5 19 28 -9
BUCS Scottish Conference Women’s 1A
5 5 0 0 66 10 56
Hair Discount
1
LACROSSE
BUCS Scottish Conference Men’s 1A St Andrews 1st
The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
P W D L F
A GD Pts
St Andrews 1st
6 6 0 0 93 14 79
Edinburgh 2nd
4 3 0 1 65 15 50 9
18
Glasgow 1st
4 2 0 2 46 40 6
6
Aberdeen 1st
6 2 0 4 63 70 -7
6
Stirling 1st
2 0 0 2 0
43 -43 0
Aberdeen 2nd
4 0 0 4 0
85 -85 0
MEN & WOMEN
Champion Douglas negotiates blizzard to pip bandit ‘Bulldozier’ Gary Brown, Sean Gibson
Reigning champion Scott Douglas
won his first round of the season as the Edinburgh University Motor Sport Club’s karting championship revisited the indoor track at Newbridge. The result was not without controversy, however, as A-final polesitter Ross Hughes was denied his shot at victory by Richard Crozier in a costly shunt which saw the latter receive a black flag and disqualification. Douglas, second-placed Jamie Thomson and third-placed Finn Moore
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were the chief beneficiaries, although Jordan Martin’s fifth place also helped consolidate his championship lead on a night of hostility both on and off the track. “They don’t deserve to see me racing” – so said former double-champion Calum Hughes, having withdrawn early from the C-final in protest at one too many black-and-white penalty flags. That was the culmination of a severe fall from grace for the mercurial veteran, having earlier engaged in a spot of handbags with younger brother Ross in the pit-lane; the latter had found his elder brother’s driving so cynical as to warrant a cheeky slap, but the two were separated quickly and racing resumed. The keen observer might have discerned some good-quality racing in among the argy-bargy; both Jonty Haberfield and Adam Neil took their maiden heat wins, David Haverson and Jonathan Chow both qualified for their first-ever A-final and Jordan Martin and Jamie Thomson took three heat-wins apiece. The unsavoury January weather had necessitated a hasty venue-switch from the popular Tranent outdoor circuit, but the drivers couldn’t escape the conditions entirely; the warehouse doors were inexplicably left wide open, giving the back straight its own micro-climate of swirling snow and that small stretch of track surface an undesirable sheen. The seasoned Crozier’s bullish manoeuvres through the heats saw the first signs that the ‘Bulldozier’ nickname might be catching on. Though
he may have emerged from the heats unscathed, come the A-final the ‘Bulldozier’ hit trouble – and leader Hughes. Crozier was disqualified but, in something of a tantrum, he paid no heed and continued to race as a red mist mixed with the snow. The marshalls eventually red-flagged the race after Crozier ignored his third black flag, at which point he clambered from his kart and made for the pit-lane, leaving his kart abandoned in the middle of the track. The punishment was little consolation to the stricken Ross Hughes, but Douglas was rewarded for his quiet consistency with a clean path to first place. CHAMPIONSHIP: 1) Jordan Martin, 192 points; 2) Finn Moore, 170; 3=) Stephen Walls, 165; 3=) Ross Hughes; 3=) Jamie Thomson; 6) Jonathan Chow, 164; 7) Gary Brown, 160; 8) Nick Roberts, 158; 8=) David Haverson, 158; 10) Sally Skinner, 155.
Stephen Walls
The Journal Wednesday 6 February 2013
SPORT// 31 SPORT
@EdJournalSport / journal-online.co.uk
SPORT /
Hacker:
Egg-chasers at it again
Has it been a year already? The Six Nations is back — and ever more tiresome
26 Chris Rubey
Deegan puts Hibs in round six Midfielder’s maiden goal enough to earn home win and keep dreams of Hampden alive
Scottish Cup Fifth Round
HIBERNIAN
1
ABERDEEN
0
Jonathan McIntosh Staff writer
Hibernian beat Aberdeen 1-0 in
their William Hill Scottish Cup fifth round tie. Gary Deegan scored his first Hibs goal in spectacular fashion, scoring
from 30 yards, to set up a quarter final trip to Kilmarnock. Hibs goalkeeper Ben Williams put in another superb performance to keep the Aberdeen attack at bay in the closing stages of the match. Matthew Done and Scott Robertson came off the bench to make their debut for the hosts. Both teams started tentatively and that created a first half with little goalmouth action. In the ninth minute, Hibs full back Alan Maybury shot wide of the target from 30 yards out. The second half was far more event-
ful than the first and Hibs signalled their intentions from the get-go. Leigh Griffiths’ free kick from the right by-line was parried away by Jamie Langfield. Shortle afterwards, a Griffiths corner deflected off Robertson towards goal, but the ball was cleared off the line by Jonny Hayes. Deegan scored a minute later. His spectacular 30 yard effort deflected off the cross-bar before going in. Pat Fenlon was delighted with Deegan’s goal. He said: “The second half livened the game up. Both teams were more adventurous. It was a cracking goal. We played okay today and there
was little in the game whereas before we have played well against Aberdeen and lost. “The goal was the pleasing thing. I have been encouraging the team to take the first touch and commit themselves. Aberdeen backed off Deegan and it was a really special goal. “We have a great togetherness about us after a disappointing last few weeks. It is a tough draw away from home but we are capable of winning the game. We want to go to Hampden again. It will be a tough quarter final and then another tough semi-final if we do go through. “
Aberdeen boss Craig Brown felt that Williams was the sole reason for Hibs success on the pitch. He said: “It was disappointing. The last two weeks we have had two penalties and missed them. If we scored them we would be fourth in the SPL and still in the Scottish Cup. It is a fine line between success and disappointment. I could not fault the team for their effort. “Hibs had two shots on target. We bombarded them in the last 20 minutes. When the goalkeeper is man of the match it tells the story of the match. His excellence kept Hibs in the cup.”
FOOTBALL
Hearts’ late winner sees off Dundee
IN FOCUS: Hearts’ form
How the Jam Tarts are improving
Scottish Premier League
HEARTS
1
DUNDEE
0
Jonathan McIntosh Staff writer
Hearts beat Dundee 1-0 in their
Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League match at Tynecastle Stadium last Wednesday. The Edinburgh club dominated proceedings from start to finish and, on another night, could have run up a cricket score against the bottom club. Rab Douglas’ goalkeeping exploits kept Dundee in the match until the last five minutes when substitutes Arvydas Novikovas and John Sutton combined to send the Tynecastle faithful into ecstasy. Hearts piled on the pressure in the
first half and should have scored early on. Jamie Walker dribbled from the halfway line into the penalty area but his shot was blocked. Dundee had their first scoring chance not long before the break. Colin Nish’s long range effort was tipped wide by Jamie MacDonald’s diving save. Although the visitors’ defence did well to keep the Jambos at bay, they struggled to push forwards at times and Hearts continued to dominate in the second half. Young player Jason Holt, formerly of Musselburgh Windsor, was praised for his exploits and made man of the match. He had a few good chances to score, one particularly close when he nearly broke the Dundee defence with a moment of brilliance in the second half. His shot from 30 yards looped over Douglas but deflected off the crossbar. He also set up Billy King after just two minutes on the clock, the resulting shot going narrowly wide of the right post. It was King’s first match for
the Jambos and he showed plenty of spark, terrorising the Dundee backline throughout the match. Holt was substituted late on in the match as John McGlynn looked for fresh inspiration to break the deadlock. The Hearts manager felt that the late substitutions were needed to finally penetrate the Dundee defence. He said: “We merited two or three goals today. We controlled the game but did not take our chances well. “Jason Holt was excellent but we had to sacrifice him to bring on fresh legs and the substitutes were key. Billy King played exceptionally well. “There is no better time for young players at Hearts and they are getting chances to play this season.” Dundee manager Barry Smith was pleased with the team’s defensive efforts. He said: “We held Hearts well for most of the match but we know we can play a lot better than that. “We have created a lot of chances in
the last two matches but Hearts had a lot of possession. Credit goes to Hearts for preventing that. “We feel we can do a lot better all over the park. We have a young back four and it is more experience for them. We must move on to the Scottish Cup now.”
SPL LEAGUE TABLE P W D L GD Pts Celtic
24 16 4 4 35 52
Inverness CT
23 9 10 4
11
Motherwell
23 10 7 6
8
37
Hibernian
25 9 7 9
1
34
St Johnstone
24 8 9 7
-1
33
Aberdeen
25 8 8 9
-3
32
Dundee Utd
24 7 9 8 -4 30
Hearts
24 7 9 8
Kilmarnock
24 7 8 9
1
29
Ross Co.
24 6 11 7
-5
29
St Mirren
24 7 7 10 -10 28
Dundee
24 3 5 16 -29 14
37
-4 30
Ruth Jeffery Sport editor
Heart of Midlothian, currently
eighth in the SPL with 30 points, have improved lately and are through to the final of the League Cup. The Jambos will face St Mirren in the final on 17 March, and can take confidence from the recent string of positive results. Drawing 2-2 with Ross County on Saturday might seem like an under-achievement, but manager John McGlynn feels there have been positives. He told the BBC: “We’re playing some great football with a lot of young players in the team. That’s great because they’re all gaining experience all the time and they’ll gain a lot from this game as well.” Hearts will host Dundee United on 9 February, then travel to Kilmarnock the week after.
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