News 1-5 Comment 7-10 Features 11-13 Lifestyle 14 Science & Technology 15-16 Culture, Music, Film, TV & Radio 19-29 Sport 30-32 Tuesday, March 3rd 2015 www.studentnewspaper.org
EUSA nominations open amid concerns over negative campaigning
THREE-YEAR DEGREES? FEES FOR SCOTS?
By Gavin Dewar @gnadewar
N
ominations for the 2015 EUSA elections opened last Monday, marking the beginning of the student association’s election season. Nominations will remain open until midday on 5 March. With over 19 nominations across
Radical changes proposed to address HE budget shortfalls
running for the position of EUSA President. EUSA regulations mean that no nominee may publicly announce their candidacy until the campaign period begins on 12 March. The rules limited what each candidate was able to tell The Student nominees were able to share their hopes and thoughts for the upcoming campaigns. One of the main concerns that came through was that of “negative campaigning”. Traditional EUSA campaigning was described as “a cacophony of vitriolic hate” by one interviewee. Potential Nominee One told The Student: “I think there’s a few people who’ve been planning this campaign for quite a long time so it’s going to be the President.”
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Comment
GRAPHIC: ETHAN DEWITT
alone, The Student was able to contact
By Sameen Hayat and Francesca Triggs
A
s both universities and students grapple with budgetary uncertainties and debt, radical changes have been proposed to the structure of the Scottish higher education system. A new round of calls has been made proposing a shortening of the degree period from four years to three years with the aim of reducing student debt. academics have begun to lend support to the reintroduction of fees for Scottish students at Scottish universities.
Brekhna Aftab
on orientalist rhetoric and intersectionality
The proposals add fuel to long-running policy debates by both scholars and politicians. Last week, Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable joined academics across the UK in suggesting that Scotland’s policy of free tuition generally did more harm than good. And in recent comments, University of Western Scotland (UWS) principal Ferdinand von Prondzynski claimed that the policy of free tuition has led to a lack of funding of Scottish universities. Speaking to Times Higher Education, he pointed to a multi-million pound shortfall to contrast Scottish universities with their English counterparts.
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This is a conversation we have to have.” - Ferdinand von Prondzynski, Principal of University of Western Scotland
He continued: “I believe this is a conversation we have to have; I believe there is an appetite to discuss this. But the concern is, if you are seen to be
Heartbreak:
Science
Might there be a cure?
p7
Film
“All the SNP’s approach achieves is a hefty bill for the taxpayer, which in itself hinders Scottish students in the long-run,” he said.
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Graham Moore at the Oscars:
“Stay weird.”
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STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY
Music
that may cause problems.” In addition to concerns about funding, proponents of Scottish fees claim that they disrupt access. Cable insisted that Scotland’s policy has in fact, paradoxically, led to a decrease in university attendance for children from disadvantaged families. In 2013, Professor Sheila Riddell, director of the University of Edinburgh Centre for Research in Education Inclusion and Diversity (CREID), highlighted a fall in the proportion of working class students in Scottish universities.
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Kate Tempest
unites rap and poetry at Bongo
p23 The Student is launching an exciting new project. We need you to get involved.
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IMAGE: MIHAELA BODLOVIC
News
The Student goes to TEDx
Speaker: Johanna Holtan Talk: Lessons from a Penny and a Rubber Band Review: Holtan spoke of the need for imaginative solutions to problems. She discussed her ‘CycleHack’ event, where cyclists and enthusiasts combined to develop future solutions and also ‘Penny in Yo’ Pants’, where she showed that a penny ad a rubber band could be used to turn a skirt into dismount-friendly shorts.
Speaker: Jonny Ross-Tatam Talk: Why We Shouldn’t Have to Work Just to Survive Review: Ross-Tatam spoke of individuals being provided with a basic income to cover the necessities of daily life. This provision of capital would provide access to start-ups and allow for citizens to focus their time and energy on other productive projects which they care about and were previously unable to undertake.
Speaker: Sophie Dow Talk: Annie’s Syndrome Review: When reporter Sophie Dow’s daughter Annie was born with learning difficulties, her ‘future took on new meaning.’ She talked about her work in creating the mental health charity Mindroom and also spoke of the ‘learning difficulties’ of wider sociery in giving children like Annie support and attention in learning.
Speaker: Holly Maltby Talk: The Age of Beauty Review: Final-year student Maltby delivered her talk on the subject of ageing and her own experiences working at an elderly care home. She shared stories about the need to ignore the negative side of growing old and instead to focus on the skills and beauty of older people in a climate where age is increasingly viewed as a
Speaker: Craig MacFarlane Talk: Bugs For Life Review: MacFarlane’s talk focused on the problems of feeding a rapidly-growing global population. He suggested the development of insect farming and consumption, stressing that insects are already eaten in two-thirds of the world and easily
Speaker: Asaad Razzouk Talk: The 100 Trillion Question Review: Razzouk, Chief Executive of Sindicatum Sustainable Resources, spoke of the failure in the current
Speaker: Sethu Visayakumar Talk: Shared Autonomy: The Robots Are Ready, Are You? Review: Visayakumar talked of the challenges in developing robots with ‘shared autonomy’, able to sense the world. He showed how robots are increasingly able to exercise human tasks in an intuitive fashion, including the process of active learning and adaptation. This may have implications for ‘full autonomy’ robots in the future.
Speaker: Jolyon Mitchell Talk: Swords Into Ploughshares: Arms Into Art Review: Mitchell discussed his time in wartorn regions of the world as a BBC journalist and spoke of the ‘Arms Into Tools’ project in Mozambique, where weapons were being traded in huge numbers for tools. He then discussed how many of these guns were used as pieces of art, spades, guitars and even bike racks.
Speaker: Steve Earl Talk: Stories We Write Review: Earl highlighted his ‘Non-Fiction Science’ project, which shows that if individuals are engaged in a participative society, they had the ability to create their own stories. If young people are given space, they use it as an opportunity for experimentation. Therefore, improvement and ‘trying again’ are fundamental processes in human development.
Speaker: Faith Liddell Talk: The Edinburgh Festivals: An Endless Experiment Review: Director of Festivals Edinburgh, Liddell stressed the importance of collaboration between
her a simple explanation as to why she felt the way she did.
her self-awareness of the reasoning behind her emotions. Although many barriers we face everyday are a result of our harsh critique towards ourselves, society’s stigma towards mental illness was another factor Lily stated prevented individuals from admitting they were sick and needing help.
tal listener, was the basis of forming relationships between individuals. Her central message in her talk was that if society changed its mind-set, people would feel more comfortable opening up about their mental well-being, thus leading to the right treatment and help being provided as early as possible. But, as every individual’s feelings vary, she emphasized to audience members that the most important thing was
was the right step for helping many struggling with mental illness. She admitted she had been lucky and makes sure to take advantage of the opportunities that come her way, as well as conveys her desire for others to do the same. The purpose of Lily’s speech was to reinforce the message that no one should ever be apologetic for being sick. Instead, she claims, it is fundamental part of human nature and inherent in individuals within our society. Her talk encouraged others that transformation was possible, but required us to be the “agents of our own change”. Admitting our problems
change organisations. He believed that climate organisers should target ninety major pension funds in a targeted manner, emulating the successful HIV/AIDS campaigns of the 1980s.
By Amanda Ho @TheStudentPaper
I
n her talk – ‘Let’s Have A student Lily Asch discussed her psychological journey
as a crucial future solution to mental health treatment. At the age of 14, Lily was admitted into a psychiatric ward for seven days and allowed total of 30 minutes outdoors during her time there. She struggled with her depression, alongside feelings of isolation, fear
who encouraged her to talk about her feelings and happenings of her day before the start of each lesson. After these meetings, she claimed that her perception of life began to change, beginning with removing the doubt and insecurities she as a normal human being, harshly imposed on herself. She started to open herself up to her close friends, families or complete strangers. Through sharing stories with those around her, she was able to build these connections and to accumulate gems of information which helped her develop through her mental health journey. In her teacher, she
system. The art of conversing not only made her feel better, but also improved
talk by asking the audience to raise their hand up if they had ever attended therapy. During a recent interview with The Student, she voiced out her surprise at the large number of hands that were up in the air, in which she replied “then why aren’t we talking about our problems?!” She stressed from her experience that depression could be an isolating experience, which was why conversation was so important. being the speaker and expressing yourself or being the non-judgemen-
them cope the best. For this reason, Asch is a strong advocate for alternative methods of therapy. She highlighted the importance of having productive outlets to express oneself, such as sports and extracurricular activities. She also encouraged opening up through providing openness and comfort, rather than being coerced based on institutional fear and
the critical impact of a stigma towards insect-eating in Western countries.
perimentation to preserve the identity of each festival. This complexity has led to innovation in the arts, with the passions of 25 thousand artists putting on three thousand shows.
continuous process of self-development. Asch is currently the General Manager for FreshSight Ltd, a student-run consultancy service at Ed inburgh.
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News
University of Edinburgh 2015
R
a y m o n d MacDonald, Professor of Music Psychology and Improvisation at the University of Edinburgh, wound together jazz, psychology, and education for his TEDx talk – ‘Why Everyone is Musical’. First, he explained to the crowd psychology properties, and then he showed them how everyone was musical, and they could all learn to improvise. By addressing a fundamental belief held by primary schools and adult alike – that some people
“have the music gene,” and others “just don’t” – MacDonald sought to inspire attendees to go and try that one instrument left in the attic after failed practice attempts and discouragement. MacDonald then explained that his musical agility was not a gift exclusive to him; music is a form of communication that is embedded in all humans, he said, and a human’s intrinsic ability to improvise is an incredible one. According to MacDonald, all people have it within them to improvise. It is both “the highest form of art” and “a parlor trick anyone can do,” he said. Improvisation is the extension of music into the unknown, when musicians leave the “chart”, or sheet music, and bring the notes out of their minds and souls. MacDonald made a point that improvisation is not limited to jazz, nor to the most elite players. To play without restraint can be as liberating as dancing, and all people are born improvisers. He claimed that although everyone
knows the tune to happy birthday, we all start out of key, and somehow manage to harmonize as we go along. MacDonald - an accomplished saxophonist, conductor, composer, and academic – also used his talk to ask the question “Why is music an important skill for everyone to practice as much as they desire?” He explained that this is the case because of the psychological health to change how society sees musical ability can be seen in Polyphony, a project headed by MacDonald providing musical activities to those with mental health problems. Throughout his talk, MacDonald used several anecdotes to illustrate the joys and triumphs music brought him. In one instance, MacDonald recalled meeting Scottish comedian Billy Connolly at a pub. On the topic of free improv, Connolly commended MacDonald on his craft, remarking “if those jazz bastards don’t like you, you must be doing something right.”
Raymond MacDonald in full flow delivering his musical TEDx talk Children are often selected through arbitrary measures for music lessons at school. By growing up with a stigma attached to musical ability, many people are disenchanted to embrace music fully. “People internalize their earliest musical contingency,” said MacDonald, and it is unfortunate
I
n his talk at the TEDx conference - ‘Making Music for Fragile Voices’ - Dr Gareth Williams discussed his plans to use music to improve the lives of
IMAGE: MIHAELA BODLOVIC
By Stuart McFarlane @EdStudentNews
Gareth Williams conducts the crowd into song during his TEDx talk - ‘Making Music for Fragile Voices’
Dr Williams, a former composer-in-residence at Scottish Opera and current Chancellor’s Fellow at the Reid School of Music, created the charity ‘Breath Cycle’ in early 2013 alongside librettist David Brock to create a series of vocal exercises and songs for patients on the respiratory ward at Glasgow’s Gartnavel Hospital.
release “fragile voices usually disenfranchised by music”. He outlined some key facts about
tested by the Consultant Physician on Cystic Fibrosis and Respiratory Medicine Dr Gordon MacGregor, who measured the physical and mental wellbeing of patients taking part in regular singing. In his talk, Williams outlined that the motivation of the project was to
meaning that they are usually unable to perform key vocal tasks. The average life expectancy for cystic
passed from parents to their child and leads to a build-up of thick mucus in the body, especially in the lungs. Williams pointed out that this mucus in the lungs means that even
In order to alleviate the challenges created a range of vocal exercises to be combined with the traditional phys-
iotherapy undertaken by most cystic
creating a community of singers as
improvement in lung function. As a result of these successful early signs, he claimed that his hope for the future was for vocal training and singing could become a regular part
to be in the same room for risk of cross-contamination. As a result, Breath Cycle have used online forums and Skype to upload songs, create tailor-made melodies for each patient and allow them to access tips and notes from specialised vocal coaches on the project. Concluding his talk, Williams outlined that the initial results from the project had been positive, with
The Student managed to speak to Dr Williams after his talk about the project. Firstly, he spoke about the reason for selecting the TEDx Edinburgh audience for his talk. He said: “I guess I wanted to share at the TEDx conference with people outside my usual sphere. I wanted to see if the idea was robust enough and engaging enough to people outside the
levels in their lungs. The talk also discussed one of the
IMAGE: MIHAELA BODLOVIC
By Ross Devlin @BossRevlin
when this contingency happens to sway one away from picking up a guitar, or clarinet. To illustrate the point that everyone is musical, MacDonald concluded his talk by conducting an impromptu ensemble of the audience, using three hand symbols to coax a tune from the crowd. world of classical singing and who are unconnected with the Cystic Fibrosis condition. “The feedback I received suggested that there was something here that people respond to and could connect with.” Williams also addressed questions about the national scope of Breath Cycle: “There is so much anecdotal information about how singing can aid people with CF, and there are choirs and singing projects in place in some hospitals for people with respiratory conditions. data over the next three years to show people with CF. My long term hope is that vocal coaching and singing lessons will become part of the way we treat and care for people with CF.” Finally, Williams discussed the level of support for the project within being supported and guided with the help of colleagues in Research and “I’m currently meeting with people from the Scottish Documentary Institute for example and getting advice on how to create online performance opportunities for people with CF, who can’t share the same physical space, from colleagues in infomatics. “
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News
Universities offer laptops and other perks to lure students -
By Chloe Davis @TheStudentPaper
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ritish universities are -
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Image: alles Banane
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One university offers cinema passes to prospective students The Student
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Radical HE Proposals
EUSA nominations open
Continued from Front Page
Continued from Front Page
H
T
er research showed
The
Student,
a
The Studen
hey continued: “But I -
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I hope that, this year, the whole anonymousblog-backstabbing kind of stuff is avoided...that stuff is really terrible. ” - Potential EUSA Nominee
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I think this year you’re going to have some really great people with some really great ideas. ” - Potential EUSA Nominee
The Student The Student -
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News By Joshua Stein @josh_n_stein
J
im Murphy, leader of Scottish Labour, has criticised student recruitment at Scottish universities, particular the University of Edinburgh. Murphy, who is also MP for East Renfrewshire, said that higher education institutions across Scotland were responsible for “locking out” the majority of potential local students. Speaking at a meeting of his shadow cabinet in Edinburgh, he said that Scottish children from working class backgrounds get “left behind year after year”. At the meeting, Mr Murphy, who was elected in December as the new Scottish Labour leader, pledged a cash fund of £19 million to fund three Edinburgh schools with the lowest levels of university admission if they succeed in the 2016 Scottish parlia-
mentary elections. Speaking to The Student, Ian Murray, Labour MSP for Edinburgh South, applauded the promises made by Murphy. He said: “The policy announcement by Jim Murphy is very welcome. I went to Edinburgh University at 16, from one of the poorest schools in Scotland - Wester Hailes Education Centre - after completing the University summer school.” Murray also said that for him, “Education was the key to social mobility and aspiration.” Jim Murphy said the funds for the schools would come from a 50p rate of income tax on salaries of more than £150,000, proposed by the Labour Party. The criticism comes after research under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act revealed the number of Scottish students attending Scottish universities has dropped. The University of Edinburgh
Image: Steve Punte
Labour accuse universities of “locking out” poorer students
Jim Murphy was elected Scottish Labour leader last December witnessed a drop in the number of Scottish students from 44.5 per cent of the overall student body in 2011/12 to 40.5 per cent in 2014/15. The study also revealed that only 130 undergraduate students accepted by the university at the beginning of the academic year were from the
poorest 20 per cent of Scotland. This is in comparison to the 722 students from the least deprived 20 per cent of the population. The introduction of the policy was also welcomed by Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central. Biagi told The Student that “it
should be ability and willingness to learn that determine whether someone gets to study at university, not their background.” Biagi also stated that the SNP had kept university tuition for Scottish students free for this very reason. But Professor Craig Mahoney, Principal of the University of the West of Scotland, sparked controversy among members of the student body when he suggested last week that university fees were fundamental to the running of institutions. He said that his institution had a multi-million pound shortfall in comparison to universities south of the border. Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster, is one of a number of politicians who have criticised Murphy since he became leader. Mr Robinson told The Scotsman that “after working with the Tories in the No campaign, Labour have lost the trust of people in Scotland”.
Edinburgh students to benefit from greater access to galleries
T
he University of Edinburgh and the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) have drawn up an agreement giving students greater access to the nation’s vast and growing collections of sculpture, art and drawings. The over 30 thousand students at the University of Edinburgh will be NGS’s portfolio of galleries including The Scottish National Gallery, The Scottish National Portrait Gallery and The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, all situated in Scotland’s capital city. According to both the university and the NGS, it is also hoped that joint research projects between the two institutions can be undertaken, as well as “collaborative exhibitions” and the “pooling of resources” in studying Scottish art. last Tuesday (24th February) in a ceremony the Scottish National Portrait Gallery when a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea, Vice Chancellor and Principal and Professor Mary Bownes, Vice Principal Community Development of the University of Edinburgh, and Ben Thomson and Sir John Leighton, chairman and director general of the National Galleries of Scotland, respectively.
Professor Bownes believed that the both the university and the galleries. She told The Student: “The Memorandum of Understanding with the galleries is part of a series of strategic alignments I am setting up across the city with major institutions.
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From the student perspective, I think we will be encouraging more use of the collections by students, in the galleries and behind the scenes.” - Professor Mary Bownes Vice President Community Development
“From the student perspective I think we will be encouraging more use of the collections by students, in the galleries and behind the scenes, we can set up collaborative exhibitions to give students exhibition experience or chances to display student work in the galleries. “We would like to set up a student volunteering programme at the galleries on the side of engaging with the public and especially feel students from other cultures visiting the city could be ideal to show around visitors to the galleries in their own language […] there would be opportunities for a range of students not just those art.
Image: RIchaRd deaR
By Tom Wrench @TheStudentPaper
The National Gallery of Scotland is included in the agreement with the university “On the research student side there could be opportunities for science students as well as those in the arts and humanities […] as well as the more traditional research into painters or artists or art work and interpretation. “We would also like to think of the many ways masters students might
also help in the area of digital collections. Artistic interpretation tools, for example.
“So I would very much welcome input from students as to the ways they feel they might be involved.”
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[Masters students] could also help in the area of digital collections. Artistic interpretation tools, for example.” - Professor Mary Bownes
The Scottish National Gallery is
home to works by a large number of renowned artists such as Botticelli, Rembrandt, and J. M. W. Turner. Meanwhile, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery houses portraits of notable University of Edinburgh alumni including author Ian Rankin, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and poet George Mackay-Brown. The University of Edinburgh itself is home to a number of galleries and museums including the Talbot Rice Gallery, founded in 1975 and located in Old College.
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By Brekhna Aftab @StudentComment
T
he manipulation of feminist rhetoric to further colonialist agendas, steal land, trample over the bodies of women of colour, and actively attempt to erase their indigenous presnately a phenomenon very much alive and thriving today. The portrayal of women of colour which seemingly justated by an Orientalist discourse that creates an exaggerated and distorted, a-historical and de-contextual image. This image is reproduced and helps to validate the oppressive actions of those who wish to save these ‘uncivilised’, ‘irrational’, and ‘inferior’ peoples. The creation and application of binaries, such as rational vs. savage and liberated vs. victim, are fundamental to this damaging separate categories, and what it means to be ‘liberated’, are set by those who wield power, and are forcibly applied with an unquestion-
ing belief in the superiority of their ways. Neglecting the heterogeneity and complexity of these regions, and replacing an accurate understanding and systematic power relations at play when creating these binaries and categories, and when setting and applying standards of liberation, leads to a glaring lack of intersectionality in this purported ‘activism’. There is truly something wrong when we still use the narratives of nineteenth century colonial men evidencing the veil as the archetypal symbol of inferiority and manipulating feminist rhetoric to justify imperialism. That we are still viewing women of colour through a hegemonic lens, which at times reduces them to voiceless beings and at times bolsters their hyper-visibility when it serves our pre-conceived understanding of the way they are and the way they must be, is cynical and detrimental to the cause we are Furthermore, the creation and application of such binaries implicitly made for feminism in the communities
of those who are ‘liberated’ and freeing others from the shackles of patriarchy. It ignores the fact that the patriarchy is global, and not inherent to the ‘west’ or ‘east’. Institutions everywhere are steeped in misogyny, people everywhere must unlearn what patriarchy has internalised within us. What we should also accept is that our institutions are steeped in racism, and that we must unlearn what centuries of colonialism and racism mark in our lives. Misusing one form of oppression to further marginalise a group of people whose lives are destroyed by misogyny and racism is not liberating in any sense of the word. The use of feminist rhetoric in this manner in fact has the potential to exacerbate patriarchal structures within the communities that need ‘rescuing’. When the cause is co-opted by some and is evidently used to harm everyone in the community, the task for feminists who belong to these communities obviously becomes of their partners, husbands and brothers as aggressive and barbaric, and reinforcing lazy Orientalist tropes which seek to portray all people of colour as inferior, clearly does harm to a vital cause that is supposed to be emancipatory but instead presents itself as another tool of oppression
image:
Manipulating the image of women of colour will not lead to liberation
Warren K. LeffLer
Orientalist rhetoric obscures intersectionality
Feminist activism and rhetoric must not erase the voices of women of colour in their communities. Telling women that they should do so and so, and that if you were them you would do this and grassroots feminist movements led that, is not how we achieve sisterhood by women of colour who have an and liberation. Not identifying, unaccurate understanding of the systems derstanding and critiquing power of oppression they must challenge, and relations in all of our interactions is who have an accurate understanding not how we achieve liberation. Listening, educating ourselves, and of how misogyny, classism and racism intersect to control their lives. It is not knowing when to assert our opinion by ignoring and silencing them and in the feminist activism of women replacing their invaluable work which of colour is perhaps a step towards achieving liberation. when used by some. The way in which we can help to
Sex education in Scotland needs improvement Making sex and relationships education compulsory will help solve inequality By Maddy Churchhouse @StudentComment
F
irst Minister Nicola Sturgeon is out to end Scottish educational inequality. She has proposed teachers, instated a commission aiming to widen access to higher education, and has created a £100 million Attainment Scotland Fund to clamp down on the widening gulf in achievement between privileged and deprived pupils. Stating that she would never have got to where she is today without excellent state education, improving Scottish schools across the board is, Sturgeon claims, something very “close to her heart”. Which makes it all the more
ironic that the Scottish government continues to wilfully reinforce an aspect of the country’s own educational inequality. Sturgeon herself has yet to mention it. I’m talking about sex and relationships education (SRE) - or rather, Scotland’s lack of it. The provision of comprehensive SRE has been proven time and time again to reduce both sexually transmitted diseases and school dropout rates due to pregnancy, thereby improving young people’s overall educational attainment and long term quality of life. There’s good reason SRE has been compulsory in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland since 1990, and as a nation priding itself on its progressive outlook, one would expect Scotland to have enthusiastically followed suit. Yet Scotland’s new
in 2010, contains no provision for SRE, compulsory or otherwise.
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When even the notoriously conservative US state of Alabama is beginning to draw a tentative correlation between the drop in teen pregnancies and its pilot schemes promoting safer sex, the failings of the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence become woefully clear” This omission not only puts Scottish
on a national level, but is made more cellence’s preoccupation with other aspects of pupil wellbeing, including healthy eating and substance abuse. While Scottish schools are able to
introduce their own SRE lessons if they wish, these are of frustratingly inconsistent quality, and are frequently brushed aside. It is ludicrous that Scottish pupils are conof charities such as Sexpression: UK and the Family Planning Association for advice, when their peers elsewhere in Britain are guaranteed to receive realistic, in-classroom instruction from primary school age onwards. It is true that Physical, Sexual and Health Education in England improvement. Many will cringe at memories of awkward, outdated educational videos, and it is likewise shocking that despite persistently high levels of assault within relationships, the fundamentals of sexual consent are ignored in the PSHE curriculum. However, some things are slowly changing; backed by a growing campaign, two bills were given a second hearing in
Westminster last Friday which, if passed, will make education about violence against women and consent compulsory. In Scotland, meanwhile, Holyrood has closed a petition from Sexpression: UK aiming to make basic SRE compulsory, on the grounds that Education Scotland is already publishing improved SRE ‘guidance’. If the rest of the UK may be lagging somewhat behind the times with regards to SRE, Scotland has not even left the starting block. When even the notoriously conservative US state of Alabama is beginning to draw a tentative correlation between the drop in teen pregnancies and its pilot schemes promoting safer sex, for Excellence become woefully clear. The underlying causes of social inequality are normally frustratingly complex and almost impossible to quantify, so a factor which is as present a clear coup for policy makers.
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Comment
Student living costs ignored by Labour Pledge to reduce tuition fees alone does not deserve student support
L
Studies has said would not make a huge
abour have announced but this alone should not be enough
@Callam_Davidson Don’t know about anyone else but I think the dress is violent orange with an aggressive nutmeg fringe #TheDress #EdUni
Labour’s announcement will not by extension win the votes of students
@belouschris Student forgot Leo in the weekly horoscopes. This is emotionally crippling as I don’t know what to do with my week. Please fix this #EdUni
@nishadsanzagiri Moved from the library to Hugh Robson, with some Red Bull, bread and hummus. Desperate times call for desperate measures #EdUni
@emma_cala How appropriate is it to slowly lob grapes at the group watching horribly loud american sitcoms in the DHT cafe? #EdUni
Image: SIdney mISSIonary bIble college
@vivalagreggs Glory be to the abundance of real ales on tap at Teviot; however, John Smith’s remains out of sight. #whereisthejustice #EdUni
By Alice Carr @StudentComment
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Media recklessly caricatures Kim Jong-un The extent of North Korea’s nuclear threat is clouded by relentless jokes By Bethan Sexton Senior Comment Writer
@GnaDewar I wonder how many people in the library are binging House of Cards instead of doing uni work right now. I’m guessing a lot. #EdUni
@emiliabona Thought by the age of 21 I would have stopped ringing my mam to ask her if the dinner I just ate will have given me food poisoning #EdUni
@declanmurray I love that @EdinburghUni had a ‘network outrage’ #EdUni #outrageous
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Almost every conceivable human rights infringement is occuring in North Korea, and yet our media focus more on his expanding waistline than his growing tyranny”
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Kim Jong-un continues to be roundly lampooned by the western media and reduced to nothing more than a caricature”
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Comment
Labour’s pink van is a great PR blunder The ‘magenta’ van patronises women and overshadows Labour’s campaign By Clea Skopeliti @StudentComment
A
couple of weeks ago, The Daily Mail had
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Lucy Powell’s comment about meeting women ‘around the kitchen table’ was really the final nail in the coffin though, The Pink Van reminding female voters incident may have that [...] that’s where all women are to be found” been unintentionally patronising, but that just goes to show how out of touch the party is with its female voters”
Image: getty
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Labour’s pink campaign van is a well-intentioned but misjudged initiative
The Daily Mail
It is not enough just to talk about revolution Spirit Level
Pseudo-revolutionaries fail to bring about change or provide alternatives
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By Matt Parrott @StudentComment
W
hile
it
can’t -
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What many who claim allegiance to revolutionary ideas forget is that it is not enough to talk about it, and nor is it possible to ‘bring about’ as if one were presenting a petition”
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The
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Comment
Turing’s pardon should be extended to others By Tilda Gregg-Smith @StudentComment Alan Turing, the Enigma codebreaker who committed suicide after undergoing forced chemical castration under the Gross Indecency Act, was posthumously given a royal pardon in December 2013. A petition has now been brought to Downing Street to extend the pardon to the other 4,900 men who were prosecuted under this act. The petition was presented by Turing’s family, and was signed by almost 500,000 people, including Benedict Cumberbatch, who portrayed life and work, The Imitation Game. Whilst Turing’s pardon was greeted with almost unanimous support, his great-niece, Rachel Barnes, pointed out the illogicality of pardoning only Turing for the ‘crimes’ outlined in the Gross Indecency Act. Although he was
an incredible man who contributed an extraordinary amount to the country - experts argue that he shortened the Second World War by as much as two years - the unjust prosecution of applied to thousands of other men who are all equally deserving of pardon. Despite the overwhelming support that has been shown towards this petition, there are nonetheless dissenters. As royal pardons are usually issued only to people who have been proven innocent, there are those who argue that these men should not necessarily receive a pardon, as they were correctly prosecuted for something which was a crime at the time. However, it is clear that the passing of this petition would represent LGBT+ rights. Indeed, the advancement of LGBT+ rights since the days of Turing has been -
sexuality was decriminalised in 1967, in Scotland earlier this year. With this progress in mind, it would be easy to dismiss the petition as an empty and purely symbolic gesture, but the fact remains that there is still far to go in thus the pardoning of these men would set a clear precedent for the future. Some of the men who were convicted under the Gross Indecency Act are still alive, and although since the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 they have the option of applying for a disregard, which would clear their criminal record, they are nevertheless forced to live under the shadow of their criminal conviction. And for those who are already deceased, there is no option for them but to have lived and died with a criminal conviction. Families were torn apart and lives destroyed by the government’s actions during this time, and the repercussions resonate to this day. Although a government spokesperson said that whilst the government is seeking to “right these wrongs”, there are “real practical and
Image:gerald massey
Gross Indecency Act convicts must be pardoned to support LGBT+ rights
The Gross Indecency Act criminalised men because of their sexual orientation legal complexities” involved with issuing a pardon, which sounds rather like political platitudes in an attempt to appease those who have signed the petition. And regardless of these alleged “complexities”, a broad-sweeping pardon would act as an apology for the wrongful actions of previous governments, and would demonstrate a genuine support for LGBT+ rights. only our past, but our present and our
future. In order to move forward, it is necessary to recognise past mistakes, and the Gross Indecency is a dark stain on our country’s history and present day. Indeed, homophobia is still very much a feature of our contemporary society, and the government needs to lead the way in the progress of LGBT+ rights, something which is impossible to do whilst these men are still regarded as criminals because of their sexual orientation.
3rd March 2015 11 www.studentnewspaper.org
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Footsteps on the Red Planet The colonisation of Mars is gradually becoming a reality, but throws up a whole new world of problems
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ccording to scientists, in about seven billion years or so, the sun will expand to a red giant, possibly vapourising Earth. But don’t let that worry you, because all life on Earth will probably be extinct a few billion years before this. The increased radiation from the expanding sun is expected to result in a drop in CO2 levels, killing all plant-life, and the heat of the sun will cause the world’s oceans to boil away. Although cynics would say our end could be a lot sooner, suggesting that climate change will end the world as we know it. If that’s not gloomy enough for you, any number of natural disasters could also occur at any time: asteroid strikes, super volcanoes - all the sorts of things that are probably best not to dwell on. However, it’s these sorts of grim realities that are driving a desire to colonise other planets. Perhaps akin to the idea of not putting all your eggs in one basket, planets could ensure our survival for many years to come. Mars, the dusty red planet which has so fascinated
extra-terrestrial human colony. It could even happen in our lifetimes if all goes to plan. The earliest trip would simply Earth. In 2018, the planets align to make the round trip a relatively quick space tourist, Dennis Tito, and his Inspiration Mars Foundation. Another key player is billionaire and supposed inspiration for Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark, Elon Musk, who founded SpaceX in 2002. His company builds rockets which are currently used in conjunction with NASA for transport to the International Space Station (ISS). According to its website, SpaceX “was founded… to revolutionise space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.” Musk plans to send people to Mars in the 2030s, when the planets are once
again aligned, and have a colony up settlers, the one-way trip would cost them about half a million dollars. Musk hopes to bring down the cost of space travel considerably by designing a reusable rocket. Another prominent organisation aiming for the red planet is Mars Image: NaSa/JohN FraSSaNIto aNd aSSocIateS
By Isobel Bishop @StudentFeatures
company aims to send people to the red planet by 2024. Selected from 200,000 applicants, there are currently 100 candidates on the
UK.
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In 2018, the planets align to make the round trip a relatively quick 501 days”
for potential colonists? Well, even nerve-wracking, as any little fault could spell tragedy. The explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986, due to a faulty O-ring seal, caused the deaths of all seven crew members 73 seconds into its mission. Then there’s the long slog through the radiation-soaked vacuum of space, which will take seven or eight months other people. Hopefully they’ll get along, as once on Mars they will be the only company in the entire world. Radiation could be a serious problem for the astronauts, as damaging They will also be subject to it on the surface, increasing their cancer risk. is tricky and Mars’ thin atmosphere means that there’s little friction for braking, and the heavy weight of all the humans and their supplies would much lighter Curiosity rover entered the atmosphere at around 12,000 miles per hour and had only seven minutes to slow down to avoid being destroyed on the Martian surface.
Once on Mars, if anything goes wrong it must all be dealt with by the astronauts; there’ll be no calling for an ambulance. On the surface, they would face freezing temperatures - as low as minus 125 degrees - a lack of oxygen and low air pressure causing moisture in the body to boil even at cold temperatures, and dust storms which can rage all over the planet. They would need to grow their own food. Under Mars One’s plan, food and drink will be prepared in advance by a rover launched in 2020. The plan is to extract water from ice in the soil and use part of this water to produce oxygen.
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Last year, the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment... issued a fatwa against Muslims participating in a one-way trip to Mars”
So is any of this actually going to happen? Mars One and its founder, Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, think so. They claim that, “human settlement on Mars is possible today with existing technologies.” However, there is some scepticism.
Gerard ’t Hooft, a Nobel laureate and senior lecturer of theoretical physics at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, is an ambassador for the project. However, he told The Guardian that the plans were unrealistic, saying: “It will take quite a bit longer and be quite a bit more expensive [than expected].” A recent report from a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
within 68 days as oxygen levels could
than the technology, though, from cultural issues to international relations. If you’re a Muslim, for example, how do you pray towards Mecca? This question was posed by Malaysian astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, and a conference was convened of 150 Islamic scholars to resolve this and other issues for Muslims in space. Last year, the General Authority of Islamic
motives: “Each team selected for settlement on Mars will be comprised nation on Earth.” However, other missions aim to promote national interests. Dennis Tito’s Inspiration Mars describes itself as “a mission for America”.
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A further issue with colonising another planet is which nation will get there first” In the far future how would Mars be governed? Maintaining a government on the bleak planet
the United Arab Emirates issued a fatwa against Muslims participating in a one-way trip to Mars. They considered the trip so hazardous that being a part of it was tantamount to suicide, which is not permitted in Islam. A further issue with colonising another planet is which nation will
civil war. Might Martians one day in the very distant future - declare independence? Although the future of Mars colonisation is not clear, what is true is that the research and development that goes into space travel can trickle down into everyday life. Many modern day items were developed by NASA for the Apollo missions, from computer microchips to home insulation. Hopefully, this drive to go further than we’ve ever gone before will move technology forward, with
being based in the Netherlands, claims to be free of such political
of us are unlikely to be going to Mars any time soon.
12 3rd March 2015 www.studentnewspaper.org
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Features
Where are Wikipedia’s Women? Investigating the pronounced absence of women editing Wikipedia articles, in light of the University’s ILW event By Cassie Lord @Cassie_JL
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ow many times have you gone to write an essay and referred to Wikipedia as your starting point? Although it may not be seen as the most reliable resource, it is certainly a useful point of reference, and covers a wide variety of topics. Being a crowd-sourced resource, anyone is free to edit Wikipedia and many people do, but how many of these are women? Of around 300,000 people who regularly edit Wikipedia, only 13 per cent are female. Although the lack of women writers in itself is a problem, this can also mean that some topics – particularly those relating to women’s history – are poorly covered. Wikipedia recognise that this can be a problem, and in 2013 a Diversity Conference was held in order to tackle all diversity problems, not just that
of the gender gap, and they continue to discuss and come up with ideas to solve this. It is not only Wikipedia who have noticed. The University of Edinburgh held an event during Innovative Learning Week (ILW) to encourage women to edit and create Wikipedia articles. The event was called Women, Science and Scottish History edit-a-thon series, and was held over events each day, all to do with Wikipedia. Melissa Highton, Director of Learning, Teaching and Web at the University of Edinburgh, said: “The event was a big success. I was delighted to see so many colleagues and students joining us to edit Wikipedia together.” During the event, it was decided that the main focus would be on the story of the Edinburgh Seven, because it is an important part of the University of Edinburgh’s history which hadn’t been covered well in Wikipedia until now. According to one of the articles edited
during the event: “The Edinburgh medical students at a university in the United Kingdom. They fought to study medicine at Edinburgh University, in Scotland, and to be allowed to graduate.” Highton said: “We worked with the academic librarians and these amazing women who blazed a trail for all female students who followed. Participants were free to event we improved 17 articles and created 12 more from scratch.”
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Of around 300,000 people who regularly edit Wikipedia, only 13 per cent are female” This event raises the question as to why women are not so inclined to edit or write Wikipedia articles in the as to whether the editing wars that go on behind the scenes can put people someone being able to edit or delete any information put on Wikipedia can make it seem not worth the time
can exist for any Wikipedia user, not just women, and it is important to remember that overcoming barriers can be a major part of any kind of writing. If there is any creditable information that should go on Wikipedia, there is no reason that women should be made to feel unwelcome or ignored. There are many edit-a-thons that are held throughout the year outside of the University of Edinburgh, with many run by people who can help to breach the user interface that can sometimes be seen as not particularly user-friendly. During the ILW event for example, Ally Crockford, the Wikimedian in residence at the National Library of Scotland was there to give advice and instructions in editing. Although editing or creating a Wikipedia article – or indeed any article – can seem daunting, having the opportunity to contribute to and improve such a widely-used internet source is something that should be taken advantage of. In a world where gender-equality is becoming more and more of an attainable goal, that 13 per cent has no cause to remain the same, and certainly not to decrease.
Uncovering Anxiety Disorders A look at one of the most common mental illnesses among students By Alex Axenbeck @StudentFeatures
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s it turns out, for many, the instruction to ‘Keep Calm’, which is plastered all over T-shirts, adverts and mugs, is easier said then done. Anxiety disorder is one of the most common mental illnesses, particularly among students, causing tension, irritability and tiredness, but also on a more extreme level, trembling, depression, nausea and panic attacks. According to The Guardian, approximately a third of the population will be an anxiety disorder. There are multiple types of anxiety disorders including panic disorder, social anxiety disorder of snakes, spiders, etc.). However, the most common disorder amongst students is called Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD). The Anxiety and Depression
anxiety order as being, “constant and unsubstantiated worry that causes with daily life”, as opposed to stress in correlation with occasional, anxiety-inducing events. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that some stress is normal before exams and deadlines, and does not necessarily mean that you have GAD. The key distinction here is that anxiety disorders are constant and generally irrational, not necessarily requiring a trigger. The symptoms of GAD can be quite severe and can make daily life incredibly can also lead to a heightening of anxiety in many students. One third-year medicine student at the University of Edinburgh, Julia, was diagnosed with GAD by her psychiatrist last year. She would frequently have panic attacks before deadlines and tests, but also during study sessions and while talking to friends: “I’m a perfectionist and put a lot of pressure on myself”, she says, describing her obsessive, all-consum-
ing study agenda. She has created an environment where she is unable to fearing failure: “You beat yourself up about things that you said or things that you do and it drives you crazy! I would go over what I did wrong again and again.” This increased pressure on academic achievements may be attributed to the competitive job market in which we live. A simple university degree is no longer enough to guarantee you a job, and a job is not enough to guarantee a steady income and comfortable life. Life has become harder and the increasing requirements and expectations are causing more pressure, which has perhaps led to an upshot of GAD diagnoses. However, the causes of anxiety are incredibly complex, involving both genetic and environmental factors. So what’s the best course of treatment? Medication? A lot of people seem to think so. Julia admitted to taking Beta-blockers to slow her heart rate when she had anxiety attacks. Beta-blockers are a prescription drug, associated with very competitive lines of work and often used by people such as professional athletes and musicians.
Julia admits they are helpful, saying that ever since she started taking Beta-blockers she feels “calmer” and her “heart doesn’t beat as fast anymore when [she is] stressed”. Other relaxant medication includes ‘worry free’ tablets and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). GPs will often prescribe mild anti-depressants such as Valium and Sertraline as they that such medications only mask the symptoms, and do not solve the problem, and that it is best to exhaust all alternatives before resorting to medication. Cognitive behavioural therapy, for example, has been proven GAD. Fortunately, there is much support anxiety. Anxiety UK is a great source to consult external to the university, for example. The University of Edinburgh experiencing heightened stress levels through its stress control class, which is a free six-week, cognitive behavioural therapy. More information can be found on the University of Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing website. You can also call Nightline on 0131 557 4444.
Five Minutes with Jonny Ross-Tatum Third-year History student, Jonny RossTatum, is the founder and president of the Buchanan Institute, Scotland’s first student-led Think Tank, and a winner of the Tedx Student Speaker Choice Awards.
What was your inspiration for founding the Buchanan Institute? When you look around, you see so many students who have great ideas and a passion for making our society better. A student-led think tank like the Buchanan Institute is the platform where students can provide their own alternatives and turn them into concrete proposals founded on the belief that students have the energy, ideas and vision to shape our future, and that a student-led think tank was the best way to turn our students’ ideas into action.
What’s your goal for Buchanan? I would like to see the Buchanan Institute genuinely turning ideas into action. We are the only student-led think tank in Scotland, so we are in a great position. I want student-led think tanks like Buchanan to be a hub for innovative ideas for a better society and to be consulted by MPs, MSPs, organisations, and NGOs. We want to be turning the heads of important people regularly and regularly turning students’ ideas into action. I also want every single one of the 30,000 students at Edinburgh to feel like Buchanan is their platform to get their ideas out there.
What was your Tedx talk at the recent conference about? My talk was based on the belief that we shouldn’t have to work just to survive. Only when our survival is covered can we look past the question of, ‘what do I need to do today to survive’ and ask ourselves, ‘what do I want to do to live’. I believe everyone should be able to do this. Fact is, I was only able to start Buchanan because I didn’t have to work 30, 20 or 15 hours a week to sustain myself at university. Same goes for entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. When I asked the 500 people in the audience whether they would stop working if they were guaranteed enough money to survive on, nobody did. It wasn’t surprising, work doesn’t have to be just about survival, it can be about so much more: following your passions and meeting great people. What are your plans for the future? I actually don’t like to make plans anymore. I used to do that, but now I feel like life changes so quickly that there is no way we can predict it. What I can say, is that I will continue doing the things that I love: trying to make the world a better place to live for all of us and meeting some great people along the way. If you look after the present the future looks after itself I reckon. What’s your favourite Edinburgh cafe? Well I’m much more of a herbal tea man. But one of my favourite things to do is to go to meet someone at Forrest Cafe in the evening for a big pot of calms you down at the end of the day.
3rd March 2015 13 www.studentnewspaper.org
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Features
Hanging by a thread: the seats to decide 2015 The result of the general election could depend on marginal Scottish seats
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By Laura Nash @StudentFeatures
snatching it from Labour in 2010 by
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eneral Elections have long been decided by just a small handful of key marginal seats, and 2015
is currently neck-in-neck with Lib
Over the last year in particular antiestablishment ‘third parties’ [...] have been on the rise”
on the road to winning this and many other constituencies on May 7th this
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generation, marginal seats will be
the constituency was a fairly safe
One of the most marginal constituencies in the UK is right on
2010 election, as the right once again
will be a lot more battling going on, as
election is likely to result in a second
Labour currently holds the seat with
seat, as Labour needs to maintain its come third in a national election in the
2010 was so close, this is a key target
could be one of the most interesting were not a sign of things to come, in
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not a constituent of ultra-marginal
14 3rd March 2015 www.studentnewspaper.org
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Pancakes, Pancakes, a week later, and more Pancakes If you happened to be disappointed by your shop-bought pancakes last week, try this lovely homemade alternative! By Sana Rasool @EdiLifestyle
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hrove Tuesday, more popularly referred to as Pancake Day, is a day either in February or March,
The reason pancakes are associated with this day is because they were a good way to use up rich foods such as eggs, milk, and sugar, before the fast-
spirits and bring in the springtime, they consumed pancakes, which should be fairly thick so that it does not spread too much or too quickly when you pour it into the pan and
They believed that by eating pancakes, they would absorb the power, light and warmth of the sun (something that would certainly be helpful with the weather in Edinburgh
- Heat a small amount of butter or Once the pan is hot, ladle in one
Pancake Day is a good excuse to hone
believed that the changing of the seasons was caused by the struggle between Jarilo, the god of springtime and vegetation, and the evil spirits
Ingredients: - 1 large egg - 2 tbsp. melted butter - 2 tbsp. caster sugar - ½ cup or 130ml milk - a pinch of salt
COFFEE HORIZONS Coffee with a conscience By The University Coffee Society @EdinCoffeeSoc
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s one of the most highly traded commodities in the world, the
cation, and continuing in recent years with the surge of Direct Trade initiatives, a win-win whereby roasters buy directly from growers and pay a premium price in exchange for the best quality beans, there are now numerous initiatives that ensure your morn-
fair price? Ultimately it comes down to three things: traceability, tracea-
impact on the lives of thousands of purchased bag come with Fair Trade, Direct Trade, or Rainforest Alliance -
prices that may dip below the cost of -
ment, which ensures that a sustainable price has been paid to producers and
Dire Directions: - Beat together all of the wet ingre- Mix together the dry ingredients separately before folding into the
By Julie Zaugg @EdiLifestyle
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ave you explored everything that can be done with eggs? Allow me to enlighten you and present a list showing how versatile eggs, sometimes neglected in the -
breakfast, lunch and dinner as it is, or you can try to add it to some rice and
Hard-boiled egg – nine minutes -
Egg in a bacon cup - Using a
Eggs Mimosa – Using hard-boiled eggs, just cut them in two, take the
cup, wrap the bacon around the edge of it, crack an egg inside, and spread
mayonnaise and chives, then put the
you head out and buy something more
purchased at a price above the fair trade minimum? Then we recommend you stop by Artisan Roast at one their
hope you use your consumer power
“
...a good excuse to hone your flipping skills and get some tasty treats in the process!”
10 Ways to Use Eggs
Scrambled egg
sourced and purchased at a price that We are not far removed from a time ized by the First World exploitation of
- 1 tsp. baking powder - ½ tsp. vanilla extract - ½ tsp. ground cinnamon - Nutella/maple syrup/ butter/raspberry jam/chocolate sauce/whipped cream for topping depending on your personal preference.
- Once both sides are a light golden brown colour, serve with dollop of your chosen topping or fresh fruit
Image: pIxabay
Historically, before the Christian era, Pancake Day was originally cel-
small bubbles to appear on the surface of the pancake before attempt-
ally prefer American style pancakes to the thinner crêpe-like variety, so my recipe is guaranteed to give you
Image: Sana RaSool
“
...they consumed pancakes which were thought to symbolize the sun...”
Boiled egg – three minutes exactly in boiling water, then put it in an egg cup and try to peel it without ruSoft-boiled egg – Just three minutes in boiling water, no less and no enough to allow the peeling, but the
Fried egg – on a toast, on a burg-
Capillary mask – With one egg yolk, add two tablespoons of lemon Mix and apply on your hair; rinse a
Baked egg – Crack an egg into a ramekin, add a bit of cream, tomato sauce, salt and pepper, spread grated cheese over it and bake in the oven at
Leather cleanser - Egg whites are said to easily remove dirt from your whites gently on your dirty leather
3rd March 2015 15 www.studentnewspaper.org
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How to scientifically cure heartache By Claire Hutchison @TheStudentSci
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he concept of curing lovesickness is one which is universally acknowledged. We are all aware of the pain associated with heartbreak and unrequited love and that the process of moving on can take a long time. The idea of a ‘cure’ for this heartbreak has been portrayed in the media by
decrease in the protein that transports
pharmaceutical industry would begin to label love as an ailment which needs to be treated for economic gain. One scenario where such treatment could be seen to be appropriate would be break that they become depressed
ers are often treated with drugs that increase serotonin such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (a form
away feelings of lust.
anti-depressants are already used as indirect cures which allow the lovesickness to fade naturally. The process of moving on from unrequited love
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In scientific terms, love is broken down into three components”
believe that if given the right hor-
down into three components compristeristics and brain chemistry of those who have recently fallen in love are very similar to those with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This is thought to be a result of the lust associated with love. These groups are found to have lower serotonin levels due to a
the attraction and attachment felt by those who are in love. Attachment to others is associated with chemicals such as oxytocin (the love hormone) and dopamine. By being given drugs which block the production of said
Image: pharaoh hound
a heartbroken man literally removing all memories he has of his ex lover in
feelings of love altogether. This means relationships with family members -
a very controversial concept. Though heartbreak can be very emotionally will eventually pass when the feelings
prairie voles – who only have one life partner – which resulted in those treated having sex with multiple partners. Though the use of this drug on -
Corticotropin-releasing factor hormone prevented the voles displaying behaviour associated with depression when their partners died. This could humans going through a bereave-
long term as it allows people to grow emotionally from the experience and prepare for future encounters.
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The pharmaceutical industry would begin to label love as an ailment” Though the concept of curing love-
the use of long-term medication could seem drastic. The encouragement and advertising of the public consumption of these drugs could also be potentially unethical. It would be likely that the
practice it seems unethical and unnecessary. It seems that the old fashioned method of allowing time to heal all wounds seems a more therapeutic approach to curing lovesickness.
Homosexuality commonplace across the Animal Kingdom NEWS Same-sex couplings are not necessarily at odds with Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection Up to eight per cent of males preferen-
By Claire Hutchison @TheStudentSci
Image: WIkImedIa Commons
I
tists have even found a link between the brain structure of men and sheep in which homosexuals of each species have a smaller hypothalamus than their heterosexual counterpart.
t has long been acknowledged that animals engage in homosexual intercourse.
it has been agreed that as many as dom have sex with members of the same sex. One such example is the Japanese macaque. A study discovered that with not only other males but females are seen to treat each other as companions by grooming each other and
engaged in intercourse with males. bos and bottlenose dolphins. It could be said that these species are bisexual. ples include the Laysan albatross. On
as 31 per cent of couplings are between females. These birds commonly make lifetime pairings and rear young that they produce with other males who animals also engage in heterosexual sex. Arguably such behaviour is only exhibited as an evolutionary adaptation to be able to rear infants whilst the male population is in shortage.
of whom use other males to ultimately copulate with females. The male fruit -
lations with other males. Unlike maexclusively mate with females when they can distinguish between the two gesting that their homosexual behaviour is accidental. They are using a trial and error method to be able to mate ten deposit sperm onto other males in order to pass their own genes on when said male mates with another female. ual behaviour is the domestic sheep.
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The only species, other than humans, which exhibits solely homosexual behaviour is the domestic sheep”
The idea of homosexual behaviour in animals can be a confusing concept as it is a preconception in science that all animals compete to mate in order to pass on their genes. This idea stems
ulation provides pleasure and helps animals bond with one another. This allows them to function better as a group and improves survival. In the sexual behaviour inevitably assists the males in passing on their genetic same sex coupling acts as a solution to an unbalanced male to female ratio whilst still producing young. Homosexuality in domestic sheep does not of homosexual sheep tend to be more fertile and eager to mate than the averhomosexual sheep are still more likely to be passed on. behaviour in the animal kingdom does but rather reinforces it. In addition to
have hypothesised that in some casthe only other species that exhibits dethe animal also mates with the oppo-
with both sexes is commonplace in the Animal Kingdom.
16 3rd March 2015
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Science & Technology
Intro to... Virtual Currency: Bitcoin Hamish Linehan-McCaldin shares his thoughts on the cyptocurrency’s intriguing past, explosive present and exciting future
Bitcoin has has grown in popularity... but can it transcend mere novelty? ers mediate the creation of new blocks
nomics papers and into public awareness. Purportedly created by Satoshi Nakamoto in a paper called ‘The Cryptography Mailing list’, Bitcoin represents a self-regulating currency that has the potential to present an alterna-
itcoin has three qualities that should be present in a currency paradigm: the Bitcoins are hard to earn, limited in supply and easily verifiable. Despite displaying these qualities, its status as a currency in the classical sense has been consistently under attack since its conception. While Bitcoin acts well as a medium of exchange, it does not perform as well as a store of value or
software creates a public ledger, ‘the block chain’, which records payer to recipient bitcoin transactions through a network of nodes running bitcoin software. Individuals within the system ‘mine’ by verifying newly broadcast transactions called a block. Min-
formula to the information it contains, turning this complex, lengthy information into a much smaller random sequence of letters and numbers – a hash. This is stored along with the block with the public ledger to indicate it has been legitimised. This data
transformation is non-reversible, so the data contained within the block cannot be transduced backwards from the hash. Consequently, if someone were to try and fake a bitcoin transaction that has already been added to the block, it would change the hash of that block, meaning that transactions are
theory, could be very easy for a computer to replicate or produce; this would mean that multiple transaction blocks could be hashed creating unfair advantage. This fear is levied by the referred to as a ‘proof of work’. This proof of work is comprised of a ‘nonce’ (number used only once) that acts in
The three pillars of the currency paradigm
B
a unit of account (i.e. a measure used to value goods, costs and other economic services) given its constant market volatility. In popular media discussion, Bitcoin is often framed in reference to illegal marketplaces like Silk Road. Bitcoin came into existence primarily as a realisation of a libertarian idea of currency –decentralised, private and existing across borders. This aligns the currency with the ideological aim of Silk Road, to provide a
market place where any goods or services can be sold without government or regulatory interference. Despite this, Bitcoin remains an example of an innovative and original take on currency in a climate where there is so much dissatisfaction with the banking system. Unfortunately, despite its innovation, it remains a niche and novelty example of what could one day provide a genuine alternative to fiat currency.
tandem with the transaction data in randomly chosen required format. A nonce takes time to make – adding an element of competition. When a miner carries out this information transfer they are rewarded with 25 bitcoins, so competition is high between miners. Through rewards, there is constant incentive to keep the chain going. This competition is realised through specially built computer rigs with ever-increasing information processing power.
IMAGE:THEINQUIRER
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currency unregulated by any single government body does not constitute the makings of a good story. On the other hand, shady Japanese maths professors who might not exist, illegal online market places and libertarian computer hackers sounds almost Pynchon-esque. The history of Bitcoin has no doubt added an air of intrigue that launched the internet’s favourite cryptocurrency
Tobacco kills 2/3 smokers Penguins lack ability to taste food
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moking tobacco may cause you more harm than ever predicted. It is a well documented fact that smoking tobacco can lead to the development of several health problems, with heart disease and cancer being the major diseases con-
ers face in comparison with non-smokers. This includes the risk of dying 10 years prematurely in comparison to non-smokers. tics compared to Australia; approximately 20 per cent of the UK adult around 13 per cent in Australia. In adsuch as the age people begin smoking.
revealed that not only is smoking bad for you, it is also more likely to kill you than previously thought. In fact, two in three smokers are killed by tobacco, rather than the previously accepted statistic of one in two. The study, as reported by BMC Medicine, followed 200,000 Australian smokers and non-smokers who were over the age of 45, for over six years and found that smoking cigarettes seriously damaged participants’ health at an alarming rate. Those who smoked ten cigarettes a day doubled the risk of death, whereas 20 cigarettes a day increased the risk by as much as four Professor Emily Banks, lead researcher in the Australian study, deand highlighted the real dangers smok-
be said for other countries. Nonetheless, the harmful and toxand public health services such as the ing-related diseases by paying billions in medical bills. The risks of smoking are made even more obvious as the risk of developing lung cancer halves if somebody has not smoked in ten years. Likewise, heart disease risk becomes equivalent to that of a non-smoker. Despite the obvious health risks, around ten million adults in the UK still continue to smoke, and with these similar studies in the UK may reveal a similarly devastating picture for the UK as well.
NEWS Penguins lack the taste buds that enable them to taste three of the five main flavours of food, leaving them unable to taste their own food. By Joe Boyle Senior Science & Technology Writer
D
espite their delicious chocolate-y namesake, it’s been found that penguins have a very limited sense of taste. Of only detect salty and sour - lacking bitter, sweet, and umami (meaty). The discovery was made by Professor Jianzhi Zhang of China’s National GeneBank, in Shenzen. Some of his
whether their food is safe. One hypothesis for their limited palate is the intense coldness of their habitat. Bitter, sweet, and umami receptors are - unlike salty or sour temperature dependent, so they’d be useless even if penguins had them. Redundant features tend to be lost as evolution streamlines animals to their environment, so this may explain the absence. Some penguins have been found to lack taste buds, the main lo-
cation of taste receptors, altogether. Their tongues are covered in spines and designed for grasping, rather than tasting. This, along with their habit of swallowing food whole, may be related to their diminished sensory range, but it is unclear which may be caused by which. Whatever the cause, this discovery shows us how little we know about the way that even familiar animals perceive the world.
receptor genes in the genetic code of emperor and Adelie penguins, which have only recently been sequenced. On closer inspection, Zhang found looked at (adding rockhopper, chinstrap, and king) lacked the same three tastes. Taste is an important sense for determining which food is good and which is bad. Penguins are carniother seafood, implying that umami would be important for determining
IMAGE: LIAM QUINN
By Jonida Tafilaku @TheStudentSci
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Dual Crossword No. 79
by Picus CRYPTIC CLUES
AQUARIUS
CANCER
Wow! With Mercury in Aquarius, everything and anything is possible this week, as creative forces take over your life. Starting your own student publication? Joining the Knitting Society? Putting on your own multimedia performance in Teviot Study? None of this would be a surprise.
The moon moves into cancer this week. This means that you’re really in touch with your dark and mysterious side these days, which results in you locking yourself in your room to watch every sin-
PISCES Neptune, the planet of everything strange and slightly odd, is in Pisces this week. But we’ve also got Venus and Saturn bonding at the same time... oh man, things are going to get really weird this week. Avoid the Law Library.
ARIES Things are getting steamy for Aries swap your harmless crush on your tutor, which so far led to some very diligent tutorial preparation, with an unhealthy obsession for one of the EUSA sabbs. Pretending to have a pressing concern, you try to arrange a private meeting.
TAURUS This week will be a week full of secrets and rumours. You suspect your best friend might be running for a EUSA position without telling you, when in fact, they are only collecting signatures for Library Cat’s presidential nomination.
GEMINI Sorry, Gemini - this week is going to be a slow one. Plenty of time to get those essays done though! And if you’re sneaking into the postgraduate area love of your life.
LIBRA You have a really dangerous idea but miss Leviathan’s deadline for submission. Better luck next time, Libras.
ACROSS 6 Poor delivery from the Evangelist, missing the target (4, 2, 3, 4) 9 Waterproof computer (3) 10 Erotic manual shows Kara, Tam and Sue endlessly intertwined (4, 5) 11 Play hockey with no energy in prison (5) 12 A real berk is not too bad, taking in a new dimension (2-3-2) 14 Scoundrel breaks into song in rural paradise (7) 16 Liberal artist’s house among the stars (5) 18 Famous US detective is a bit more left-wing, (and not backsliding) (9) 20 Skill that’s crucial for partners (3) 22 Hamlet maybe, not easy to fathom, put on show of reluctance (4, 4, 2, 3) DOWN 1 How some curious WI matrons cross the river? ... (4) 2 ... to watch duke chasing rooster. That’s absurd (8) 3 Jack starts to explore suitable situations for wee Janet (4)
LEO With Jupiter in retrograde and Leo back in the horoscope after a little meditative break, now is the time to expect great wealth and happiness. You decide to enter a university-wide poetry competition and win £5 printing credit. Over the moon, you print out pictures of all your friends in colour - and still have £4.50 left to print out your weekly readings. What a time to be alive!
VIRGO This week is all about letting go of the
CONCISE CLUES (same answers) ly clear your room of dirty, mouldy tea cups and your heart of long lost loves, ready to start a new collection.
SCORPIO With Jupiter ascending, this week promises to be a successful one. Unfortunately Mars is just lurking around the corner, so beware the Ides of March, especially if you happen to have any adopted sons in your family.
SAGITTARIUS Saturn, the planet of wisdom and maturity, is moving into Sagittarius this week. You decide it’s time to grow up and settle don’t attend the Big Cheese.
CAPRICORN
ACROSS 6 Missing the target (4, 2, 3, 4) 9 Computer (not PC) (3) 10 Vatsayana’s Art of Love (4, 5) 11 Prison, gaol (of Indian origin) (5) 12 A nasty character (2-3-2) 14 Ancient pastoral paradise (7) 16 Sign of the Zodiac, the Balance (5) 18 Private detective (US, 19c) (9) 20 Skill (3) 22 Put on show of reluctance (4, 4, 2, 3) DOWN
2 Ill-advised (with a squint) (8) 3 Wee Janet (4) 4 Stood the test of time (6) 5 Musical (Rodgers and H’stein) (8) 7 Shufti, look (5) 8 Flat hat in Scotland (3, 1’ 7) 11 It held old smoker’s baccy (4, 4) 13 For a long time (often boringly) (2, 6) 15 Sexy French dance (6) 17 Indian narcotic from hemp (5) 19 Rebound of sound (4) 21 Carry, cart about, hump (4)
A BIT ABOUT CRYPTIC CLUES We need to take a more detailed look at Indicators and Connectors and the part they play in Composite clues. In an earlier article we showed that two-part clues nearly always have one or other of the following structures:-
and for all with a little help from Mercury, you destroy your Waitrose membership card and start shopping at Lidl. Your parents can never know. We also know that the Subsidary part of a Composite cryptic clue contains material: words (or their synonyms) to be manipulated, as shown by indicators. Connectors on the other hand simply
corresponds to the = sign above, linking
Chaotic situation caused by United supporters returning SNAFU
Adrian has maps redrawn for naval expedition SPANISH ARMADA naval expedition redrawn : anagram indicator Adrian has maps : the anagram fodder
smoothly (or even mean anything) without their Connectors. And as we shall see next week they help in other important ways too. The second type of Connector occurs within the Subsidiary part of the clue
strong and active ROBUSTA Robust (strong) and A (abbr for active) and mirth
FUN
SNAFU : Situation Normal All Fucked Up Chaotic situation U (United) + fans (supporters) reversed
and mirth Oddly: an Indicator meaning “take the odd letters of f l u e n t ”
Spain (6) 5 Musical state (8) 8 A TT horseman, gets drunk in funny hat (3, 1’ 7) 11 Churchwarden about to bet on part of church organ (4, 4) about for ages (2, 6) 15 Tintin’s dance at the Folies Bergères? (6) 17 What we get for our bucks contains heroin and another narcotic (5) 19 Nymph who always had the last word? (4)
Canty and Couthie Choose the correct meaning Toom a) Destiny, fate b) A rubbish tip c) Amazed, lost for words Birsy a) Bristly b) A tin bathtub c) A handbag or purse Up-Helly-Aa a) A warcry (up and at ’em) c) A hymn sung at Samhain (Hallowe’en)
All answers on our website now www.studentnewspaper.org Comments requested. editors@studentnewspaper.org #EdUniCrossword
18 3rd March 2015 www.studentnewspaper.org
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Introducing: State of the University
I
t’s no secret that the University of Edinburgh, despite getting cosy with the likes of Cambridge, Oxford, and Harvard in the top 20 of worldwide university rankings, does notoriously badly in any kind of survey which moves away from research output, graduate employment, and international reputation, and gets down and dirty with the nitty-gritty of the student experience. Most of these rather sobering national league results are based on data collected through the National Stustudents with the opportunity to rate their time at university. There’s no doubt that it’s important for the University to get feedback on the services it provides to students. But being a student at the University of Edinburgh is about more than rating your customer experience on a scale from excellent to pretty awful at the end, and never looking back after that. Getting insight into student experience should not be like reading an angry Amazon review for a product never received, and it should move
away from the idea that student expeacademic service alone. As the biggest student publication on campus, we want to use our platform to dig a little deeper. In the past months, we have put together a comprehensive, anonymous student on student demographics, academics, mental health and wellbeing, sex, drugs & nightlife, and social attitudes. We want to know how many students many students are on the receiving end of mental health support services (and how many would like to be), how many students have been kicked out of clubs for being a little too tipsy, and how many students have experienced anxiety. We’re interested in how many people have cheated on an assessment before, how many students have helped their peers cheat, how much money students spend on illegal drugs - and much more. It’s a survey that we ourselves are
vant; we want to be able to cross-reference the results across sections to go beyond the simple numbers. We’re aiming to get some really exciting in-
sights into who our peers are, how they spend their days and nights, and what they are worried about. But at the same time, it’s important to us that dents are invited to skip over sensitive sections of the survey. Of course, we’re not being entirely paper after all, and we want students to pick up a copy of the paper and get excited about its content. We’re hoping for a turnout that will allow us to present the results in the paper as a genuine representation of the University’s student population, generating content across sections. But we also believe that this project can provide data that will be relevant to every single student at the University, whether out of genuine interest and concern - or pure and simple curiosity. And whilst it’s no secret we’re hopheadlines, we also believe that this could be the beginning of something that goes beyond the paper. At this stage, we have no way of knowing where this survey will lead, but we sure can tell you where we would like to see it. We believe that this could be the beginning of a yearly survey, conducted by The Student, to
Editors: Ilinca Barsan and Thurston Smalley Production Editor: Lynsay Campbell Web Editor: Alex Harston Head of Illustration: Tess Glen News: Stuart McFarlane, Ethan DeWitt & Gavin Dewar Comment: Emma Lawson, Simon Fern, Chris Belous & Patrick Garratt Features: Sibylla Archdale Kalid & Tasha Kleeman Lifestyle: Nolwenn Davies & Marie Pan Science & Technology: Patrick Arant, Callam Davidson & Josie Segar Culture: Kat Moir, Chloe Henderson & Figgy Guvyer Film: Eloise Hendy & Lydia Siani Music: Laura Cain & Lydia Rylance Murdoch TV & Radio: Frances Roe Sport: Gurjot Thind & Conor Matchett Crossword: Dr John Wakely Head Copy Editor: Sophie Beardsworth Photo Editor: Georgia Forsyth Sijpestijn President: Callum Mason | Secretary: Sarah Manavis | Treasurer: Greg Lane | Social Secretaries: Callum Mckenna & Olivia Morgan | Head of Advertising: Cailean Osborne | Heads of Marketing: Charlotte Hamilton-Wright & Cassandra Lord Head of Distribution: Sam Ireland
IMAGE: JOHN ALLAN
By Ilinca Barsan and Thurston Smalley Editors in Chief
check up on the State of the University, and we are convinced that this will not only provide rich original data for student media to process, dissect, and discuss, but essentially for every single more about the student body and the way it thinks, feels, and acts. Ultimately, this leads us back to the University itself. After all, student experience is more than library resources and timetable mismatches, and we want to get access to data that moves beyond that. We’ve been working on this for a while, but we are essentially still at
the beginning of our journey. Whilst
down. This is where we need your help. Whether you’ve always had a weird knack for surveys or would like to take apart - please do get in touch. We’re looking for as much input as we can possibly get before launching the survey. We believe that a survey like this can be an amazing addition to what student media can provide to the student body, but we can’t make this happen without your help.
History: The Student was launched by Scottish novelist and poet Robert Louis Stevenson in 1887 as an independent voice for Edinburgh’s literati. It is Britain’s oldest student newspaper and is an independent publication, reaching more than 30,000 University of Edinburgh students every week. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Kitchener, David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill are a few famous people who have been associated with the paper. In the early 1970s, Gordon Brown worked as a news editor and diary columnist, working alongside Robin Cook who, at the time, was responsible for film and concert reviews. Disclaimer: The Student welcomes letters for publication. The editors do, however, reserve the right to edit or modify letters for clarity. Anonymous letters will not be printed but names will be witheld on request. The letters printed are the opinions of individuals outwith The Student and do not represent the views of the editors or the paper as a whole. Comment articles reflect the opinion of individual writers and do not represent the opinions of The Student as an organisation nor as a university society. Contact us: editors@studentnewspaper.org @TheStudentPaper Student Newspaper, 60 Pleasance, Edinburgh, EH8 9TJ. Tel: 0131 650 9189. The Student lists links to third party websites but does not endorse them or guarantee their authenticity or accuracy. © The Student Newspaper Society. All rights reserved. No section in whole or part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electonic, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission of the publisher. The Student is published by the Student Newspaper Society, 60 Pleasance, Edinburgh, EH8 9TJ. Distributed by RJM Courisers, 3 John Muir Place, Dunbar, EH42 1GD. Tel: 01368 860 115. Printed by Print and Digital Associates, 01332 896525. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office.
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Imagination
Nature as teacher
Open-necked shirts
Bad opium trip
“The finny tribe”
RA Summer Exhibition: open to all? Art A closer look at this year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition Selection Committee
By Gemma Batchelor @culture_student
T
receiving up to 12,000 applications for entry from international artists of all levels. The Selection and Hanging Committee have the power to whittle this number down to just over 1,000 artworks for display. However, judging by the predominantly white, male the broad and just nature of this decision has been called into question. The co-ordinator this summer is artist who has worked in London artists as Damien Hirst, and elected
Image: tImeout.com
his summer the Royal dilly, London, will open its doors to the public for the viewing of its Summer Exhibition, just as it has done so every year since the
and surely on the broader art world. Whether critics, gallerists, curators or artists themselves, the leading names in the art world still seem to be predominantly male, despite the leaps and bounds women have made in this emy, not once in its almost 250 years of establishment has a woman been elected as president: this is a reality we are all too familiar with.
members of the Selection Committee ing the dice this year, not one mema person of colour, and a mere two are female. This lack of diversity re-
Literature
A Summer in the Shadow of Byron
Andrew McConnell Stott Canongate (2014) By Geir Darge @culture_student
T
he ‘Year Without a Summer’ was 1815: the aftermath of unusual volcanic activity led to a bitingly cold year and the lowest crop yield on record. However, econom-
this select group of artists includes Hadid. In the Summer Exhibition, -
200, 000 visitors of an international up almost half the available spaces, surely making it less “open” than it is advertised. The rules also state that the 80 members must include at least eight printmakers, 12 architects and
lection process: the title is only given to UK based artists who are thought to be world-leaders in art. Currently,
are painters. Even through visiting one of the summer shows, this bias is clearly visible in the works on display. However in this case, perhaps the bias towards painting is positive; in so many other aspects of the art world painting is often pushed to the side in favour of more ground breaking and
ic crisis, malnutrition and disease were not the concerns of Lord Byron
account. Instead of fawning over the trio’s literary prowess, Stott introduc-
one time, new spaces opening after an
accompanied by his equally talented be) Mary Shelley. The months that ensued were saturated with creativity and literature, leading to the creation of works such as Frankenstein. This is the setting but by no means the fothralling new biography A Summer in the Shadow of Byron. Unlike many of Byron’s biographies, Stott throws us into the world
sometimes controversial media. The Summer Exhibition is an invaluable opportunity for the artists in-
a better word) friends. Instead we are Lake Genève whose tragic stories have been blotted out by the towering fame of their company, despite both having a profound impact on Byron’s character and poetry. It is precisely the thought of being forgotten or living in Byron’s Shadow that drives Stott’s book. By weaving the pair’s respective pasts throughout, Stott’s paints a picture of Clairemont tively ambitious; clinging to an unre-
press coverage. The art works are also generally for sale, though with a £25 application price for each work, emy, this payment wouldn’t always be something to hold your breath over for those pricing their art at an of eight prizes up to £25,000 might be, however. There may be some criticism about the commission paid to
of the Summer Exhibiton has always
to those lucky enough to attend. The amount is also somewhat kinder than the average London Gallery asking price of up to 50 per cent. The process of entering the Summer Exhibition certainly has its pitwhat is most astounding is the lack of equality and diversity in the revered establishment itself. In an age of scrutiny when it comes to such things take the heavy criticisms of the recent my could do more to ensure diversity. There is more than enough artistic talent to merit this.
sponsive Byron, whose actions lead to
“
Instead of fawning over the trio’s literary prowess, Stott introduces a darker side to the Romantics and their inner circle of [...] friends”
lived in his shadow. He portrays this towering literary celebrity not as a poetic protégé but as a volatile and arrogant boy, whose success was the result This unconventional angle into hiser’s understanding of Byron as a person, but charges a recycled tale with this period brought to the foreground,
ures as the focus of Stott’s biography gives a refreshingly indirect insight
facts, without losing any truth to the story. What Stott has created is a book that appeals to those fascinated with Byron, as well as readers in search for sion and outrageous scandal.
20 3rd March 2015 www.studentnewspaper.org
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Culture Theatre
for a theatre company. With swift scene changes, an impressive selection of instruments, a high number of characters, and an equally high num-
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
easily become messy and confusing.
Royal Lyceum Theatre Until 14th March
a bit of a slow start; the scene changes normally do and the set, at times, tends to look cluttered. However, this improves massively as the play de-
By Lene Korseberg @LeneKorseberg
T
he now infamous play, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, is one of German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht’s most celebrated works. Directed by Mark Thomson and translated by Alistair Beaton, Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum has with this production not only managed to preserve the wit and ingenuity so characteristic of Brecht’s works, but also given it renewed relevance in these times
these minor criticisms are forgotten and replaced by sheer delight regarding the wonderful acting performances taking place on stage.
“
One actor stands out among the rest, namely Christopher Fairbank as Azdak”
“
The Caucasian Chalk Circle is presented as a ‘play-within-a-play’, where the ‘frame play’ is set in the Soviet Union straight after the end of the Second World War. Representatives from two separate communes are arguing over who is to take control over a piece of der to shed light on the dispute, one group decides to present a parable, or telling the tale of The Caucasian Chalk Circle: an old folk tale about an abandoned child, a kitchen maid and “The Terrible Seductive Power of Goodness”. The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a story of revolution, war, greed, and how to do the right thing when everyone
IMAGE: ALAN MCCREDIE
The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a story of revolution, war, greed, and how to do the right thing when everyone around you is saving their own skin”
“
This is not an easy story to get right. With swift scene changes, an impressive selection of instruments, a high number of characters, and an equally high number of different plot settings, it can so easily become messy and confusing”
around you is saving their own skin. The Singer’s story begins when the wealthy Governor and his wife refuse to listen to the complaints of their people. This sparks a revolution, where the Governor is killed, the governess
Michael, is left behind. He is saved by Grusha, the kitchen maid, and they escape in the cover of darkness. Sadistic soldiers, who are instructed to behind. This is not an easy story to get right
Amy Manson is highly convincing in the role of Grusha, and displays a tenderness that becomes especially heart breaking when confronted with the many obstacles laid before her. Special mention should also be made of Sarah Swire as the Singer. She is brilliant, both vocally and as a storyteller, and gives the play a edge that helps drive the story along. The rest of the cast, who all play multiple roles, excel in other departments, which really proves to show that this is an all-round impressive production. However, one actor stands out above the rest, namely Christopher Fairbank as Azdak. He is superb in his and brilliantly manages to put across play that can at times be both confusing and overwhelming. The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a theatrical tour-de-force that should not be missed. Despite some minor criticisms, the acting and musical performances make this a play well worth your time, and one that is highly relevant today.
FICTIONAL FIX-UPS with Fiona Grew Tired and despondent of meddling in the love lives of others, head Fixer-Upper of Fictional Fix-Ups Dating Agency, Fiona Grew, lobbed her resignation notice at her boss’ head last week. However, this wasn’t before she had thrown caution to the wind and sent Scarlett O’Hara on a date with James Bond. Here’s what they had to say about one another…
tually ask me some questions for once,
Mama does insist it’s not proper for me to start my own business, though
side the Shoe Lane Library, near City
waste time memorizing library names
ing the egos of other men.
pretence of vapidity there’s a shrewd brain that would be well suited in the world of business. Scarlett’s company was refreshing, if nothing else.
James: Miss O’Hara is a very attractive young lady and clearly no fool. She wasn’t for a second deceived by my attempts to question her instead of
sure it would be an excellent way to meet new men and get them to take
it he was whisking me out of London towards a country pub. He was rather mysterious about his work (always disconcerting) but he managed to ac-
no doubt she charms as many men as she chooses with her simpering and
IMAGE:KAMMA RAHBEK
vaguely tied in with the government Scarlett:
ROYGBIV This week’s cultural spectrum: Divorcing Real Witches By Chloe Henderson @ChloeAHenderson we get to announce the forerunners for that very prestigious literary award. Booker Prize, nor the Pulitzer Price for Fiction. Why it’s time for the Bookseller Magazine’s ‘oddest book title of the year,’ of course! The competition is tough this year, with great entries from A History of the Evolution of Genitals of Bugs, Birds and Beasts, and Ken Thompson’s Where Do Camels Belong? But one and only Divorcing a Real Witch. resources that witches and pagans have in the areas of family and relationships”, the book is written “for pagans and the people that used to love them.” A deserving contender we must agree. Also shortlisted for the prize is Sandra Tsing Loh’s menopause memoir, The Madwoman in the Volvo: My Year of Raging Hormones, and Strangers Have the Best Candy, by Margaret Maggie. Other participants include Highlights in the History of Concrete, which sounds a little dense to us (Ha! The Ugly Wife is a Treasure at Home. Charming. The winner of the award will receive no prize of monetary value, but will be sent a “passable bottle of Claret” and of titles including: The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories, Greek Rural Postmen, and Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice. The literary world is full of odd titles that don’t receive the recognition they deserve, but thankfully we are here to rectify that. Some titles we’ve found after intense hours scouring the inter-
The Pocket Book of Boners by the one and only Dr. Seuss. We can only hope this little gem was produced before his foray into children’s literature. Everything I Want to Do is Illegal, by Joe Salatin, which we can identify with on a personal level. Images You Should Not Masturbate To, the cover of which is graced by a naked old man weilding an axe in an icy river (challenge accepted we say!). Anyone Can Be Cool...But Awesome Takes Practice, the book we all wish we had in high school. And last Does God Ever Speak Through Cats? Somebody do us a favour and give this a read. We all want to know.
3rd March 2015 21 www.studentnewspaper.org
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Culture Art TheTwo Roberts: Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde
coupled with a taste for depicting poverty and hardship has led to some strikingly emotive pieces. MacBryde’s ‘Women with Paper Flowers’ captures the imagination and seems to encapsulate the dark, nightmarish surrealThe movement from room two to three marks a distinct change from grainy, subtle colours to a more vibrant and contrasting palette. This change coincides not only with the art world’s move towards pop art but also with the couple’s relocation to more
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Two Until 24th May
art community. However after under -
Literature
My Dear Bessie: A Love Story in Letters Ed. Simon Garfield Canongate (2015)
By Enzo DeGregorio @EnzoDeGregorio
S
in informing his readers that My Dear Bessie has been published in response to “what I can genuinely claim to be popular demand”. My Dear Bessie, a compilation of World War Two-era love letters, has come to publication after readers responded strongly to an abridged version of the same vein To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence. Unlike To the Letter, however, My Dear Bessie is not a compilation instead, a narrative constructed from the love letters of Chris Barker and Bessie Moore. By and large, this patchwork ap-
“
Colquhoun’s dark, earthy palette coupled with a taste for depicting poverty and hardship has led to some strikingly emotive pieces. MacBryde’s ‘Women with Paper Flowers’ captures the imagination and seems to encapsulate the dark, nightmarish surrealism which defines both of these artists”
heads of post-war modernism were destitute and by the 60s alcohol had claimed both their lives. Exhibiting MacBryde and Colquhoun’s work together has, until now, not been considered, much like the artists themselves. This is the lovers’ work since Colquhoun’s death in 1962. Now, after 50 years of ob-
rooms. The collection in Room One is primarily the watercolours and sketches from MacBryde and Colquhoun’s time at Glasgow School
of Art. Like most early collections, the art displayed only gives a taster of the couple’s signature styles. However, walking into the second room, appropriately dubbed ‘The Golden Years’, it seems impossible to imagine that these two artists have gone uncelebrated since their respective deaths. Colquhoun’s dark, earthy palette
editorial decision to include letters of a sexual nature, especially when he admits to having omitted many letters for various reasons in the introduction. The inclusion of these letters adds nothing to the makeshift
narrative, and it lowers the book to a an almost voyeuristic tone at times. A clude two short postscripts by Chris and Bessie’s son and granddaughter. These brief addendums provide a satisfying and personal epilogue to Chris
scurity, the works of Colquhoun and MacBryde return to Scotland. The exhibition itself is set out as a chronological journey through the pair’s shared life and divides the col-
This collection is where the couple’s relationship begins to show through. Rather than scenes of poverty and anxiety, the viewer is faced with the colourful yet intensely emotional ‘The Lovers’. It seems without doubt that of Colquhoun, however it can only be suggested that the curious lady in blue (an image replicated in more than one of Colquhoun’s paintings) is a representation of MacBryde. The two last rooms do less to capbiographical, showing the two artists’ descent into poverty, rather than displaying any great works. The exhibition is perhaps the best Scottish collection on display in Edinburgh at the moment. It is not only ism, but tells a life story as emotive as that of artists like Van Gogh.
proach to constructing a love story works well. Bessie and Chris are endearing and interesting co-authors and co-protagonists. Chris, a postman-turned-soldier who dreams of owning a second-hand bookshop, gives readers an interesting insight into the locales of the Mediterranean front, while often being comically out of place in all of them. Bessie’s insights on life on the home front are similarly interesting and her narrative voice is the more captivating of the two. This is particularly apparent in aphorisms like: “We will regain the name of perthrough.” Unfortunately and rather ironically, Bessie is also the touchstone for a number of problems in the book that bears her name. Due to many of Bessie’s letters being lost during the war, the reader unfortunately doesn’t get to hear from her until about a third of the way through the book, and then not very much at all after that. Readers will still be able to follow Chris and Bessie’s narrative, but it feels disjointin his introduction, claiming that, despite this discrepancy, Bessie “is present on almost every page”. This feels like a poor excuse for the imbalance of voices in the book.
Image: www.theguardIan.com
I
t is impossible to tell if Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde had any inclination, upon meeting in 1933, of the importance that this encounter would have on the face of British art. They certainly must have left an impression, for just ten years later the two had gone from ‘obscurity to stardom’, as labelled by the director of the Two Robert’s Exhibition at Edinburgh’s Museum of Modern Art. The life that MacBryde and Colquhoun shared is one punctuated with tragedy. As two openly homosexual men in a post-war Britain, the couple’s enigmatic image along with their taste for surrealism led to a fever
Image: www.artfund.org
By Geir Darge @culture_student
and Bessie’s story. locution aside, My Dear Bessie is an enjoyable compilation that is destined tolary novels and students of social history.
22 3rd March 2015 www.studentnewspaper.org
Fleabag
Traverse Theatre Run Ended
By Helen Elston @culture_student
W
hat does it mean to be a 21st century, sexually liberated woman? Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag – the unnamed protagonist of her prolonged monologue, Fleabag – might come close to it. Fleabag is an unabashed, vulgar and hilariously honest 26 year old woman, recalling her last 48 hours. She’s up for pretty much anything, and don’t we know it. Waller-Bridge’s intention is to shock. Indeed, her audacious reversal of an overly honest character as a female comfortable with her sexuality - rather than the conventional male character - is novel, probing societal
Art David Eustace: SelectedWorks
Scottish National Gallery Run Ended By Cailean Osborne @culture_student
D
avid Eustace has managed to condense 25 years of photographic excellence into a special collec-
taboos regarding female sexuality. Waller-Bridge’s paradoxical character embodies both patriarchal and feminist ideals, representing perceived problems associated with contemporary feminism. She jokes about her wish to trade years of her life for a better body, yet embodies a sexually liberated female, one that can openly discuss – even boast – about her appetite for casual sex. She jokes about past experiences: threesomes, explicit pictures taken in her work’s disabled lavatory, her addiction to YouPorn – they’re all there. It is shockingly refreshing.
“
Waller-Bridge’s intention is to shock. Indeed, her audacious reversal of an overly honestly character as a female comfortable with her sexuality [...] is novel”
ties associated with an undisturbed monologue. Rice does capture some tenderer moments, demonstrating the insecurities associated with her character’s behaviour. Indeed, such scenes save Fleabag from complete condemnation; however, an enhancement and higher frequentation of scenes of this type may have endeared her even more to her audience. Nevertheless, the hints, if subtle, are there: Fleabag is a character with whom we can laugh, but simultaneously pity for her determination to maintain her detached exterior. Ultimately Fleabag is desperately alone, having pushed her best friend, Boo, to suicide, with ‘Hilary the Hamster’ providing her only company - and she even faces a the play. Furthermore, Waller-Bridge’s sen-
Maddie Rice aptly captures the part, maintaining the audience’s attention -
well with the subtle and plain set of Vicky Jones – Fleabag’s director. The voiceover of various characters adds an interesting dimension, with Rice engaging well with such an impersonal technique. Fleabag was a thoroughly enjoya-
tion of Selected Works. Eustace’s exhibition has many strong points: one particular talent is his ability to intensely focus on either a close-up or full body shot of an individual. This heightened use of focus creates an engagement between the
provoking reaction: we want to know why this old lady is alone, and so bare. Perhaps with the lack of disguises, or distractions, Eustace is attempting to exhibit the emotional purity that comes with face to face, eye to eye contact.
no distractions and forces the viewer to absorb the woman’s glum expression. Harshly exposing the aesthetic imperfections that come with age, her face is creased, her face is grey, and her lips are cracked. She carries an air of sadness about her. This particular exposure establishes an intense connection between photograph and audience,
“
...One particular talent is his ability to intensely focus either in a close-up or full body shot...”
We see similarities in ‘Dustin II’, a bare-chested young man holding his -
Theatre
Image: www.telegRaph.co.uk
Romeo and Juliet Festival Theatre Run Ended
By Zoe Miller @culture_student
F
rench choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet as presented by Leeds-based touring company Northern Ballet, transplants Shakespeare’s oft-told tale of star-crossed lovers in a minimalistic, dystopian dreamspace saturated by a binary of black and white. Even for those without much knowledge of ballet or Shakespeare’s trage-
dy, the production’s visual elements, ing score, at turns plaintive and playful, make it an entrancing spectacle. Against the backdrop of set designer Ernest Pignon-Ernest’s sleek, mobile, overlapping walls, the Montagues and Capulets – respectively bedecked by Jérôme Kaplan in simple, snowy
in lyrical enmity. Juliet (Martha Leebolt) and her allies, such as her Nurse (Antoinette Brooks-Daw) and Friar Laurence (Isaac Lee-Baker), are
smartly distinguished from the belligerent masses by their grey-hued and dual-toned ensembles. The nuanced luminescence of Dominique Drillot’s lighting design – warm, rosy tones for the Capulets’ ball, whimsical, cloudy blues for the balcony scene, and sparse spotlights for the lovers’ suicides – likewise magnify the ballet’s drama. Of course, it is Maillot’s choreography that lies at the heart of the production. Among the ballet’s most salient moments is the ball, which opens with dancers in a synchronised line formation and unfolds into an array of
Image: RIchaRd davenpoRt
Culture Theatre
culture.thestudent@gmail.com twitter.com/culture_student
“
Fleabag can be viewed as a typical Bridget Jones twenty-something nymphomaniac”
ble and entertaining production, with hidden socio-political questions. One dimensionally, Fleabag can be viewed as a typical Bridget Jones 20-something nymphomaniac bordering on an identity crisis. However, writer, direc-
tor and actor all manage to capture a deeper undercurrent to the piece. For Fleabag is a feminist triumph: she’s refreshingly honest, encouraging reOverall, Waller-Bridge’s delightfully shocking monologue is much like having a conversation with an overly chatty, sexually voracious, slightlytoo-drunk best friend: great entertainment with just the right amount of shock.
cal point is his bare chest and dropped head, making the viewer aware that Dustin too, has an air of sadness. This kind of intense close-up builds a relationship with the viewer, creating curiosity into his representation. Another strength therefore is Eustace’s ability to establish relationships by capturing a moment, a character, or an emotion in a shot that tells a story. Eustace’s ‘The Buskers’ collection invites viewers to construct a story based on the overt exposure of respective characters and their state of being, given a further dimension through shadow and contrast. Finally, his particularly stunning
and dramatic ‘Highland Heart’ collection explores landscape photography,
partner dances and solos as Romeo’s (Giuliano Contadini) fateful encounter with Juliet draws near, and he overcomes his unrequited feelings for Rosaline (Abigail Prudames). Another is the paramours’ pas de deux during the balcony scene. It is during the latter scene, achieved with Leebolt standing on a tilted beam and
fun to mentally match the dialogue to what unfolds through dance – it is ters’ identities when dancers initially appear onstage. For example, when
her puppy-eyed partner, that she and Contadini most strongly convey their adolescent characters’ newfound passion. Contadini, for instance, tenderly caresses Leebolt’s foot as she reclines. His embodiment of passion is all the more poignant when compared to his portrayal of languid melancholy when he moves about with black cloth draped over his face. In contrast to its triumphs, the production’s setbacks are minor. Though it is easy to follow the plot of the story based on the ballet’s staging – and
itself. Nonetheless, Eustace manages to create emotion and a moment through his portrayal of the dark grey, emerald and rugged perfections of Highland landscapes. Rich, green grass; sharp, weathered rocks; and endless, white sheets of sky should be considered amongst the hallmarks of this collection. What is more, Eustace uses shadwhen calculating the austere grandeur of the Highland scenery, especially in the photographs of the jagged mountains, which attack the sky like spears.
reacting to the news that Count Paris (Joseph Taylor) asked to marry her, some of Leebolt’s actions seem coyer than Brooks-Daw’s, such as Leebolt opening her robe to reveal her chest. Juliet may be coming of age, but the Nurse, at least in Shakespeare’s play, is the bawdier character. On the other hand, it is clear to identify the additional coarse, comic characters in the tragedy – Romeo’s rambunctious wingmen Mercutio and Benvolio, who are brought to life with vigour by Matthew Koon and Sean Bates. Though the ballet reaches the tearyeyed conclusion dictated by its source material, the journey to tragedy is one of tender beauty that only dance can convey.
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John Keats
3rd March 2015 23 www.studentnewspaper.org
Kate Tempest
T.S Eliot
John Donne
Rudyard Kipling
Inspiring performer fuses poetry and rap Kate Tempest The Bongo Club 24/02/15 By Eloise Hendy @EloiseHendy
S
ometimes it can be dif-
“
image: eloise hendyw
The pain is real; Tempest really opens herself up in a truly vulnerable way when performing�
Slow Club The Pleasance 14/02/15 By Calum Murray @EdStudentMusic
41.media.tumblr.com image:
S
ettling into my seat at
24 3rd March 2015 www.studentnewspaper.org
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Music
A chat with electro crooner Josef Salvat lem with the BRIT awards then don’t watch it, watch the Mercury awards. Award shows exist for a purpose: for emotion and for celebration.” Besides performing, Salvat has recently brought out a new music video which is quickly gathering traction. He admits that he, “always likes a good video”, despite the decline of channels like MTV. In “Hustler”,
By Laura Cain @laura_cain
I
met Josef Salvat backstage before his gig at Glasgow’s Broadcast. It’s his third time in the city, having supported Tom Odell and Banks on previous occasions. Tonight his own name will be gracing the top of bill of the underground venue. Sporting a black turtleneck with a leather jacket, and a
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Usher Hall , 22/02/15 By Vivek Santayana @viveksantayana
T
he BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and their Chief Conductor Donald Runnicles continued their series of concerts for this season in Edinburgh on Sunday with a programme that featured Beethoven’s “Coriolan Overture”, Sibelius’s “Violin Concerto” thoven’s “Leonore Overture”. Both Beethoven overtures bookending this programme gave a lively note to begin and end on. The “Coriolan
times you can get away with it, otherwise it sounds heavy-handed, it’s preachy.” Ambiguity seems to be important to him and this seems to carry into his explanations of the video. “It was night time and it was urban. It was high society versus low socieImage: dyImag.com
seems well versed in combining effortless class and charm. He’s quick to dive into sentiments on record labels and award shows, whilst occasionally throwing himself in the deep end, particularly when he speaks of his inspirations in life. Born and raised in Sydney, Salvat made the move to London a few years ago to pursue his musical endeavours. This seems quite a length to go to in order to follow his aspiration. When I probe him about his reasoning, he tells me his decision was based on the music that was coming out of the city: “It was all down to two producers, Mark Ronson and Paul Epworth”, he muses, “with Florence and the Machine, Paul Epworth was doing Lungs, and Mark Ronson did Back to Black with Amy Winehouse. Also, I just liked the solo artists who were coming out of the UK. I just wanted to go where what I liked was coming from.” So Salvat moved across a pond or two to the more compact capital, after abandoning a Law degree that he was more than halfway through: “I was never going to do law”, he confesses. “Law was like a rebellion, my parents
croons about “having the body of the lover but a masochist’s brain”. He laughs when I ask him what he means by the lyric: “I’m a circumspect sort
were kind of bohemian so they were quite shocked when I told them”. goal, but he’s still thankful for those a human being. I learnt lots about life and about the world. I got that uni experience.” Josef Salvat makes carefully crafted electronic synth pop, mixing triphop beats with melancholic tones and throwing impressive falsettos in the mix. He’s clearly fond of creating things the right way, being a bit of a perfectionist in his releases of mate-
Overture” is meant to accompany Heinrich Joseph von Collin’s tragedy of the same name, a work based on the same ancient Roman leader, Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, as the eponymous Shakespeare tragedy with which the overture is often mistakenly associated. The main theme represents Coriolanus’s resolve to invade Rome and start a war, while the gentle second theme characterises his mother’s pleading against the idea. The Orchestra’s performance was measured and precise, although at times it seemed too subdued for a work that was so tragic and violent, especially compared to other performances with which I am more familiar. Compared to the strong brass and woodwinds, sometimes the string sections, particularly the violins, seemed weaker, although nevertheless delicate
on Spotify, four of which are from his most recent EP, In Your Prime. He admits that he’s “been recycling” since he began putting songs out in 2013: “I have 15 years worth of songs, but I had only one that I produced to a standard that I was happy with. And only one photo.” That was for “This Life”. Now preparing for an album release in late September, he has to go back to some of that older material: “When you get signed, you enter into the system, and they have their schedules and timings. It’s frustrating for me to go back to it but, at the
same time, I understand it. You get signed so you have to play ball.” Speaking of playing ball, does performing at pre-BRIT awards events fall into this category? I ask him if award shows are worth anything nowadays. “There’s been awards around for ages and they’re in every industry. They are as useful as awards ceremonies in any industry are. If you’re going to have a problem with the Grammys, you’re going to have a problem with the Oscars”, he pauses, before adding, “I think that everything has a place and if people have a prob-
with their shimmering textures in the “Leonore Overture” at the end of the performance.
The Orchestra performed both of the Sibelius pieces with an outstanding attention to colour and texture. These were pieces that were much more given over to the brass and woodwinds, and there were some really striking passages for the trombone in the symphony whose renditions by the orchestra were truly mystifying. The symphony in particular was an intriguing piece as it is the last symphony that Sibelius wrote, and is a symphony in one movement. It is fairly radical in its form, structure and treatment of tempi, turning upside down symphonic traditions dating all the way back to Haydn. The violin concerto, with its lyrical themes, prolonged virtuoso passages and cadenzas, was an excellent showcase of soloist Guy Braunstein’s technical ability as well as sensitivity. His performance showed great energy as
“
Both Beethoven overtures bookending this programme gave a lively note to begin and end on”
This overture was written as the original overture for Beethoven’s only completed opera, Fidelio, and Leonore represents the eponymous heroine who disguises herself as a man to free her husband from the tyranny of a prison. The piece was exemplary of Beethoven’s revolutionary and democratic sympathies, and the athletic
world of conventions and morals”. Salvat seems to enjoy toying with these ideas of conventions and breaking norms. Asking him about his inspiration, he explains, “I know this sounds corny but, crazy synchronicities, weird happenings in life. Also, I like having a really supering about something incredibly deep. The meta-conversation that’s going interesting.” He adds that he’s interested in how we operate as a society, “how, as human beings, we progress but regress”. Josef Salvat is a bit of a riddle, and this carries through in his music, but he’s one that is worth your while in
well as control, particularly in handling the much gentler themes in the second movement. Following his performance of Sibelius, he demonstrated his sparkling wit with his own adaptation of Fritz Kreisler’s “Toy Soldier’s March”, one in which the soldier was ‘a little drunk’. This was a performance that had the audience in splits for the most part, with a clumsy yet vaulting marching theme featuring rapid pizzicato. This concert in Edinburgh was following a well-received performance in Glasgow earlier in the week when the BBC SSO performed a similar programme, the only changes being Sibelius’s “Finlandia” and Beethoven’s “Violin Concerthe Glasgow concert and the Edinburgh one were broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and are available on iPlayer.
3rd March 2015 25 www.studentnewspaper.org
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Music
BADBADNOTGOOD & Ghostface Killah Sour Soul
By Olivia Morgan @lvmorgan
H
Nicki Minaj Trufflebutter By Rob Anderson @EdStudentMusic
T
track by Nicki Minaj, is the song you’ll sort of remember from the night before at the club - yeah, that one: the one after your tenth shot when your head’s in the club bathroom toilet.
Everything Everything Distant Past
By Felix Carpenter @ EdStudentMusic
T
he lead single from Everything Everything’s upcoming album Get To Heaven, “Distant Past”
“Mono”, captures BBNG’s elegant use of instruments and rhythm, provid-
upon layer to create a sense of urgency, which bursts into the title track and sets a precedent for the rest of the album. The 70s inspired methods of recording and production are most apparent
Slightly indistinguishable from the last song. The song features both Drake and Lil Wayne, although it’s still un-
“
All three contributors make average quality, generic contributions to the track”
on “Ray Gun”. The playful organ melody and the ominous brass works well with the frantic drums and rolling lyrics, which still manage to be remarkably well controlled. “Gunshowers” with guest rapper Elzhi, uses a straightforward guitar loop which evokes a kind of Wild West showdown, which is both tional or not.
“Stark’s Reality”, the two minutes of instrumental reprise in the middle of the album uses strings and percussion in a way familiar to BBNG’s solo releases. Throughout, the trio prove themselves to be versatile and original in their complimentary accompaniment to one of hip hop’s icons. This collaboration has continued in the wake of Ghostface Killah and BB-
about money. It highlights everything poor and unremarkable about the last remnants of hip-hop and rap that exists in modern music, lacking all concepts of originality and art.
“
Lacking all concepts of originality and art”
Nicki Minaj yet again puts another All three contributors make average quality, generic contributions to the track: something about money, something about vaginae (yes, that is the plural, I googled it), something else band’s new direction. niscent of Ennio Morricone’s spaghetti western soundtracks, before lead-singer Jonathan Higgs enters with his characteristic, and sharply executed, fast paced falsetto semi-rap, the track is immediately engaging. The band have frequently been compared to Radiohead, and once again, in a positive way, the interaction between vocals and percussion is a little like that seen in In Rainbows Although the single begins brightly, the chorus and later sections nev-
NG’s respective solo successes and it shows. Ghostface’s recent 36 Seasons provoked particular enthusiasm as it succeeded above and beyond the latest material from the Wu-Tang Clan, who are perhaps now considered past their best. No doubt about it, Sour Soul is one of the most interesting collaborations you will hear this year.
image: huffingtonpost.com
lyrics. BBNG, however, are far from just background noise; the slick and thoughtful production of their live performance places them at the centre of our awareness, and creates a contrast which perhaps counter-intuitively, draws the whole album together. Finding their fame after completing a jazz programme at college in Toronto, with a little help from Tyler, The Creator, BBNG have released three albums. Mixtures of covers and original material, their mostly self-released projects have been extremely well received.
image:youtube.com
ip hop veteran Dennis Cole, better known by his rather more rap-suitable stage name, Ghostface Killah, has collaborated with hip-hop enthusiasts BADBADNOTGOOD (BBNG) to release Sour Soul. The perfectly titled album sees the Canadian trio’s psychedelic jazz as the real instrumental underscore to Ghost-
transformation of music into a collection of mainstream sounds that are drilled into your completely numbed brain. er quite live up to its full potential, somewhat lacking the ‘gravitas’ of the Everything’s second album Arc saw the band begin to experiment with samples and synthesisers, with an interesting if less consistent result than the band’s excellent debut Man Alive. This use of sampling continues in this track and with a greater sense of maturity. However, it still feels a little weak at points. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how the rest of the album fares after this.
Kelly Clarkson Heartbeat Song By Bisi Adejumo @ EdStudentMusic
K
elly Clarkson’s “Heartbeat Song” is a fun, upbeat single. There is no doubt that she is a brilliant singer from hits such as “Stronger” and the classic “Since U Been Gone”. This new single reaf-
ical bridge and Clarkson belting out notes towards the end of the song. The bridge, in fact, is one of the best features of the single due to its catchy tune and great backing instrumental. But the chorus does let the song down, usual style but also as it is below her normally high standards. She might be trying to reinvent her image or emulate other current pop singers, which has had a negative impact on this track. Nevertheless, this track is a mediocre comeback attempt.
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3rd March 2015 27 www.studentnewspaper.org
The Grapes of Wrath
Cake
Ratatouille
American Pie
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!
Jennifer Aniston gives, by far, the performance of her career in Cake as a grieving, suicidal mother
edy fashion, she isn’t ‘saved’ by a
By Lydia Siani @TheStudentFilm
D
espite a slow start, moves you on such a
don’t even really want to cry, as you
A powerhouse performance from Aniston
mas. Instead, you feel shocked and tion and acerbic, dry wit by Aniston. ing for a loved one yourself. This is er Aniston, who gives such a generous abandoning a friend when you leave the auditorium.
“
Aniston’s physicality [....] is heartbreaking to watch as she agonisingly whimpers and winces with her every move“ It concerns Claire, a middle aged women bereaving her child who died
IMAGE: HTTP://IMG.ALLW.MN/CONTENT/WWW/2011/08/JOHN-
er (Sam Worthington), but Claire’s slow recovery comes very much from ering. Patrick Tobin, the screenwriter deserves every accolade for the way in which he has structured this story
those who love her in a bid to ignore
tance of a strong sense of humour in
cical manner which detracts from the artistic credibility of the rest of scenes in Grease
golden sunshine? It just strikes a very
ies has there been such an accurate
“
It is a film which embraces sentimentality and the outward expression of emotion, and shows the cathartic benefits of honest self-expression in surviving trauma”
ness.
argued that it is too sugarcoated,
haunted by the suicide of a fellow and those around them. Aniston’s concerning both the causes of Claire’s which scenes where we see the ghost
OSCARS 2015 A Night of the Unexpected... By Gabby Shacknai @StudentFilm
D
Harris joked at the beginning of the night: “Tonight we honour Hollywood’s best and whitest—sorry, brightest”, which sent the audience into a roar of laughter. Many contested the award winners, claiming that the Academy members are all old, white
with the level of sheer mastery Eddie The Theory of Everything, is heartbreaking to watch hardly came into the conversation. This year, however, there existed only one black nomination among the foremost awards, and that was Best Picture contender Selma, a detailed
ty sex with a man to whom she then decides to give a box of her son’s toys,
Furthermore, it’s a relief that,
which
took
cent are men, and the average age is 63 years old. In fact, this smattering of Hollywood executives, actors, directors, writers, and other creatives
of the bridge on which the march from
of the American civil rights movement,
its lead actor David Oyelowo, who
coldest of hearts. States of America”, to which Meryl
espite the award winners being relatively Oscars,
extreme emotions within us all. But Cake avoids the melodramatic and contains enough real heart, humour
still exist in America, most memorably noting that there are more black men incarcerated today than there were
“
Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams earned considerably less than their co-stars”
discovery, revealed in the Sony email
snubbed for any nominations and America. Andrews came onto the stage as Gaga
song “Glory,” which won the award for
the inclusion of many black actors
This arguably served as a single grain
as 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture Twitter hashtag “#OscarsSoWhite” home the Oscar for Best Actress in a
song’s end, the entire audience were on their feet, and many, including
rights for women. The actress said: “To every woman who gave birth,
two embraced lovingly, setting the
nation, we have fought for everybody
award winners, this year’s Oscars will certainly be remembered as one not, took centre stage.
3rd March 2015 27 www.studentnewspaper.org
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Film Screenwriter Graham Moore’s speech offered hope, for young people and for film
Don’t Play The Imitation Game
perhaps partly as personal catharsis, directly addressed those who might feel the way he had: “Stay weird. Stay
By Dan Troman @TheStudentFilm
B
y many accounts, the ceremony of the Academy Awards was a tedi-
were predictable, the songs lacked edge and the host was unimpressive. Yet, at a time where Oscars’ viewership reached a seven-year low, the evening was punctuated by moments of controversial and profound honesty. In her acceptance speech for best supporting actress, Patricia Arquette advocated for equal pay for women in cinema. Likewise, John Legend and Alejandro Inarritu commented on the work needed to secure racial equality and to expand the rights of immigrants to the United States. The 87th Academy Awards ceremony was
Focus John Requa & Glenn Ficarra
By Jade Jenkinson @StudentFilm
F
rom The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air to Seven Pounds, Will Smith has proved his range as an actor. Therefore we can forgive him for going back to his familiar generic role as the suave hustler in his latest flick Focus. He plays what can only be described as a ‘new-age Fagin’ character called Nicky. Nicky is a conman running an organisation of ‘criminal activity’ specialising in pickpocketing. If we cast aside obvious ethical concerns such as the glamourisation and acceptance of criminal activity, the movie shapes up to be really quite enjoyable. The plot is well written and clever as Smith takes on novice pickpocket Jess (Margot Robbie) who is desperate for a slice of the action. Of course the relationship rapidly turns from professional to romantic, yet being a hustle film we are never quite sure what is genuine and what is not after their deal-
reach the Dolby theatre and the Oscars. His message was clear. This moment was, “for that kid out there who feels
arguably the most political in the event’s history.
“
At a time where Oscars’ viewership reached a seven-year low, the evening was punctuated by moments of controversial and profound honesty”
But arguably the most important comments came from Graham Moore. The screenwriter, upon reaching the stage to accept his award for Best Adapted
Screenplay for his work on The Imitation Game, thanked his colleagues for their support and contributions, and began perhaps the most powerful speech of the night. In tribute to Alan Turing, Moore acknowledged the travesty that the father of the modern computer never had the opportunity to stand on a stage and be recognised for his work, particularly because he was ostracised for being homosexual. As such, Moore seized his opportunity to deliver a message of hope to anyone despondent at their “weirdness”. He
revealed he had, aged 16, almost given into his despair and tried to commit
“
He showed that despite its obvious flaws, the film industry is capable of providing hope to those in dire need of it”
suicide, Moore bared his vulnerability to show that in becoming a writer, he had embraced his “weirdness”, the unique beauty of which helped him
ings quickly become love/hate. Despite forebodings that the coupling would not work, Robbie and Smith have good chemistry, with Robbie managing enough charm and charisma to handle the ‘beautiful woman’ character in an old Hollywood glamour style, without appearing narcissistic or overly try-hard.
for inclusion and the nurturing of hope over loneliness and despair. But, most importantly, he showed that despite capable of providing hope to those in blessing and being weird is beautiful. The long term impact of Graham Moore’s speech is yet to be determined, but if one person heard him and can identify with his struggle, then it will all be worthwhile. eccentricities of the rest of the cast. However, the cinematography is beautiful, with wide, open seascapes of colour and enough soft, sunset-dappled scenes to make you want to jump on the next plane to Jaipur.
“
Yes, it’s silly and sentimental and sugarcoated, but it is also surprisingly moving, which might have something to do with the powerhouse of formidable, scene-stealing actors”
“
If we cast aside obvious ethical concerns such as the glamorisation and acceptance of criminal activity the movie shapes up to be really quite enjoyable”
The soundtrack is good, with everything from Iggy Pop to James Brown and with polished new tracks in-between. The visuals are stunning in their elegance as we move through the cities of New York, New Orleans and Buenos Aires. Directed and written by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, whose previous work includes I Love You Philip Morris and Crazy, Stupid, Love we see the benefits in following your story to the end as both plot and directing work together in order to make the film entertaining, as the pair interestingly look again at the theme of identity. Overall, all elements of the film work well together to provide ideal Friday night viewing which, for once, is not completely mindless.
you are standing on this stage please pass the same message along to the next person.” Moore’s departure from the stage was met with a standing ovation, yet it was on the internet that his words began to sink in. Kevin Smith, on his twitter feed stated, “Graham Moore wins at life for the most real and best speech of the night”. What he had done was to speak with honesty and integrity, something conspicuously
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel John Madden By Alice Welton @TheStudentFilm
S
equels are so often disasters or, at least, strained attempts to eke out all the best
awkwardly turn them into a wholly new The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has the potential to do just that. Following on from the 2012 com-
against the same backdrop (a gloriously ramschackle hotel in Jaipur), with the same set of amalgamated pensioner guests. However, there is now a twist. The ever-energetic, over-enthusiastic manager Sonny (played with goggle-eyed comedic timing by Dev Patel) has grand visions to expand the hotel into a large scale enterprise, and a US retirement home business might invest. Cue the arrival of two new guests, one of whom Sonny takes to be the potential investor. What follows is a confusion of subcomes close to turning into a mini soap-opera-come-Bollywood homage (Sonny’s wedding dance classes become a feature in themselves), and Richard Gere’s ‘heart-throb’ addition just comes across as sleazy against the
it’s a comedy not a social critique of British expats and culture-clash clichés. Yes, it’s silly and sentimental and sugar-coated, but it is also surprisingly moving, which might have something to do with the powerhouse of formidable, scene-stealing actors. Endearing isn’t a word normally associated with Bill Nighy, but his shy and guileless attempts to woo Judi Dench’s Evenlyn are just that, whilst he simultaneously maintains his debonair, spy-like sophistication. Meanwhile, a cockney-tongued, tea and biscuit loving Maggie Smith delivers her pithy one liners with the perfect balance of disinterest and sardonic good watch which leaves you smiling. And you don’t need a pension-badge and hearing aid to qualify.
28 3rd March 2015
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Film It Follows -
David Robert Mitchell
“
By Nico Marrone @TheStudentFilm
O
ne of the universal rules for surviving in -
The force that stalks is unrelenting, but slow, so the audience are left wondering exactly when it will appear”
-
Scream
It Follows It
-
Follows -
if
ing when
-
Image: anImal KIngdom
It Follows -
-
The Boy Next Door
-
Rob Cohen
-
By Toby Heaton @TheStudentFilm
A
n unconvincing per-
-
-
Image: dn.IndIewIre.com
-
-
“
Lopez’s performance lacks any real conviction of her fear as she faces up to her psychopathic tormentor”
Bird-
“
“
I
n his opening monologue
-
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This small attempt at addressing an important and frustrating issue falls flat when you consider the atmosphere of comfortable privilege permeating the room, and the reality of the absence of work by people of colour among the films being celebrated” Selma
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The fact that they are excluded from the most prestigious awards points towards an insidious tendency to only acknowledge art that reflects the voters’ (white, male) experiences”
man
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Molly Millar
All films reviewed at Cineworld, Fountainbridge
3rd March 2015 29 www.studentnewspaper.org
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Summer
By Iona Glen @EdStudentTV
runs the Royal Club, where the colonialists aim to create a Britain more British than Britain, dancing to outdated steps in their fusty microcosm.
Songs of the South
Hostages
BBC Two
BBC Four
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with Alice Whelan (Jemima West) travelling to Simla with her baby to join her brother Ralph (Henry LloydHughes), the Private Secretary to the Viceroy. Meanwhile, Aafrin Delal (Nikesh Patel) begins his job at the Civil his employment remit when he takes a bullet for Ralph when set upon by a mysterious assassin. In the second episode, a reporter from the Delhi Herald while Ralph begins to use Aafrin as a propaganda tool to discredit the Independence movement. The show features a large ensemble cast. All of them are meant to be interesting, but some of them are more interesting than others. The wonderful Julie Walters chews the scenery
By Laura Bowker @EdStudentTV
S
mooth-talking comedian Reginald D. Hunter presents here an exploration of the development of Southern music and how it has shaped Southern culture. Cruising in his red Cadillac, Hunter gives nuggets of Southern culture and his experiences of growing up there. Taking you through Hill-Billy styles, from Bluegrass and Minstrel songs to Train music and even the origins of ‘historical speed-dating’ – Square-Dancing, he shows how they have each contributed to the melting pot that is American culture. Although heavily prejudiced at times, Hunter just about gets away with it thanks to his Southern charm. This is not so much a documentary as a personal reconnection with a culture he initially scorns as backward. Unless you have a burning passion for Country music, this re-discovery is hard to fully appreciate.
Essays
Exam Diet
The makers assert that the show will tell the story from both the British and few episodes more time is spent with the former. The dour Dougie Raworth (Craig Parkinson), and disposable Ian Mcleod (Alexander Cobb) are dull next to Aafrin’s rebellious sister Sooni (Aysha Kala), who gets frustratingly little screen time. The show has its fair share of questions to keep the viewer intrigued. What is the relationship between Ralph and his would-be assassin? Why did Alice leave her husband? Unfortunately, the show is not immune to the Julian Fellowes clunker. “I don’t know how they can bear it”, breathes Alice looking out from a hot train window at the trail of Indian servants on foot, bearing her luggage in the baking sun. “Well, they’re not like us, are they?” answers Sarah (Fiona Glascott), the snooty minister’s wife. Now we are all aware that Sarah is a bad, imperialist racist, even though the likelihood of the upper-class Alice not sharing this view, and needing it to be directly stated to her, is implausible to say the least. This heavy-handed dialogue is a shame, for the sight of the servants toiling over their burdens, contrasted with the sweaty Europeans on the train, incongruous in their proper English dress, makes a powerful statement in its own right. Indian Summers has faced comparisons to the 1980s series The Jewel in the Crown, which similarly charted the decline of
ndian Summers begins in 1932 with the annual retreat of the imperial British elite to Simla, situated at the foot of the Himalayas. Its ambitious makers ries, 50 episode retelling of the birth of
Gin&Tonics
By Frances Roe TV&Radio Editor
I
sraeli television is rare to catch on British screens, but if Hostages is anything to go by, we are missing out. It follows the story of Yael Danon (Ayelet Zurer), a surgeon from Jerusalem, and her family: school headmaster husband, truant son and potentially pregnant daughter. Yael is tasked with performing simple surgery on the Israeli Prime Minister, and whilst the surgery should be simple, the politics around it are not so. There are some who are not so keen for the surgery to go routinely and take Yael and her family hostage. The plot is fast moving and exciting, and is very interesting to hear in Hebrew. There is no time wasted in this 35-minute program, a refreshingly short length for a thriller. With double screening and missing half the
Image: Channel 4
Indian Summers
Holidays
the Raj and Indian independence. The earlier drama seems more complex in its treatment of the period, although there is some interminable dialogue and a rather startlingly not-evil baby Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance). There are many similarities between the series, including possibilities of race and class-transgressing romance, and the inclusion of middle and working class movers and shakers in the imperial melange. Indian Summers is better than that action, whereas due to its sharpness as well as its subtitles, my eyes were glued to the screen. It was extremely tempting to do a the next episode; there are ten in total
The cast is fantastic, great acting and a good amount of eye candy whatever your orientation is. Each character is deeply layered, with individual back stories waiting to be explained and developed. Secrets are left poised at seemingly perfect facade of the Danon family. You are allowed a glimpse into the dark underbelly of the police, blackmail and politics: both national and those of family. age with this series, it is a far cry from the random selection of documentaHostages is joining the ranks of the likes of Spiral, The Bridge and Wallander as a top notch foreign drama. It is original in its move away from the police as an epicentre, and truly encapsulates the meaning of the word ‘thriller’.
other period cash-cow, Downton Abbey pens, and the actors actually act. This might seem like damning with faint praise, but never underestimate the appeal of a real plot. Indian Summers furling setting and subject matter, instead of Downton’s puzzling expectation that you care about whether the Granthams lose their undeserved wealth. The true star of Indian Summers is the gorgeous setting: not actually India, but Malay-
Podcast Pick
by Sarah Manavis SeniorTV&RadioWriter
L
ast Tuesday night, the TV lovers of the world mourned loved television series, Parks and Recreation. It was a light-hearted show that was incredibly quotable with a fantastic group of writers who developed it into something that was both sharply funny and addictively heart-
watching their beloved characters say goodbye after seven seasons, but seeing a particular writer/producer grace the screen post-mortem. Harris Wittels, who played one of the frustratingly dumb Animal Control workers on the show and who also was one of Parks’ writers and executive producers, passed away at the age of thirty from a drug overdose on Febof the show he helped create. Wittels was also known for his work on The Sarah Silverman Program and Comedy Bang Bang, as well as coining the term ‘humblebrag’ which made
sia. At £14 million, it is the most expensive drama ever made for Channel 4. It seems like much of this was wisely invested in the beautiful sets, costumes, and cinematography. Perhaps hubristically, C4 has marketed the series as an epic “masterpiece”. This reviewer is unconvinced, or just a little tired of shows about exploitative, rich people, which include the obligatory ‘how shocking is it that people were like this?’ signposts, but revel a bit too much in those same lifestyles and attitudes. him a young, but experienced powerhouse in the comedy game. In light of this shocking tragedy, WTF with Marc Maron’s episode Remembering Harris Wittels which was re-released following Wittels’ death, seems to be the and comedy genius who will be sorely missed. Marc Maron is a comedian who sits down with notable people several times a week in his garage, and records hour long interviews that are far more insightful and often more telling than your traditional one-on-one. At the beginning of each episode, Maron takes the time to do a spiel about his thoughts since the last episode, which typically end up being relevant to deeper themes in the pending interview. In this episode, Maron’s usual dapper tone is replaced by sombreness, as he explains how unaware he was during this conversation, almost two years before Wittels’ death, how telling Harris Wittels’ infatuation with drugs is now with the help of retrospection. Indeed, as you listen, it is eerie how nonchalantly Wittels’ discusses narcotics and how casually he seems to think of his own mortality.
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Sport
Farce at FIFA continues as task force come to a decision A FIFA task force behind the 2022 World Cup have controversially recommended for the tournament to begin in November; Sport Editor Conor Matchett explores what impact this decision will have
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case in 2014, from as early as late May. The prospect therefore for countries such as Italy and Germany is to either
image: thehigherlearning.com
By Conor Matchett Sport Editor @conorm11 he decision last week Qatar 2022 World Cup to
to dissimilar to the way the lower
across the world. Champions
around the same time 12 months later.
League
FIFA has been dogged by corruption claims, with accusations going as high as the office of its wildly unpopular President, Sepp Blatter.
a point of principle, is the disruption
to award the World Cup to Qatar in 2022 are well documented, not least as much money as previously has far the most lucrative and important
image: futbolfinanzas.com
winter World Cup will cause havoc to
admission to come out of Jerome
“
Cup of Nations in Guinea in 2023, moved from January to June (where
international Phil Neville has said
FIFA still have many questions to answer on human rights abuses of migrant workers in Qatar.”
Richard Scudamore, the Premier League’s Chief Executive, said he was “very disappointed” by the taskforce’s recommendations and findings.
image: www.change.org
without any opposition from the top, to the winter. What will the solutions
Winter Breaks
TV Deals
The World Cup organisers have come under fire due to the terrible treatment of Qater’s immigrant labour force; it is estimated that 4000 construction workers will die before a single ball is kicked at the World Cup.
their domestic calendars is slim. This raises the point that a World surprise to see the dates of the World month and a half in total, with warm
an annoyance and will force many played.
3rd March 2015 31 www.studentnewspaper.org
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Sport
Six Nations rumbles on with wins for Italy, Wales and Ireland With the competition just passing halfway, the race for the title is wide-open as Wales stay on the coattails of the Irish
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here are no prizes handed out on the third weekend of the Six Nations, but that does not reduce its importance. In a weekend that could arguably be seen as one that built in quality, it began with a clash of the two teams without a win so far this year: Scotland and Italy. Generally regarded as the annual battle to avoid the wooden spoon, it was Scotland who started the brighter as an early penalty and interception try from Mark Bennett saw them open up a ten point lead. Almost immediately, however, Italy following an unstoppable Italian maul. Scotland kept the scoreboard ticking over with Greig Laidlaw adding two more penalties, but then - a moment of madness. An Azzurri penalty struck the woodwork and rebounded into
grateful Italian arms, allowing Giovanbattista Venditti to score his side’s second try. A chance to score three had turned into seven, and Italy went into the break just a point behind. As the weather began to deteriorate, so too did the cohesion of play. Laidlaw slotted home another penalty, but Scotland were about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Consistent infringements at the scrum led to Italy being awarded a last minute penalty try as they completed a dramatic 22-19 win. It was a step backwards for Scotland, who will do win following their latest display. And so to Paris, and a rivalry that has been rather one-sided in recent years, with Wales winning the last three in a row. Both teams knew a win would keep their championship hopes alive and Wales ended the half 6-3 ahead as penalties seemed to be the order of the day, with few try scoring opportunities for either side.
After the restart the visitors managed to extend their lead as Dan try. Wales were looking comfortable
Bruising work from their forwards got them into within metres of the Welsh line before spreading it wide for Brice Dulin to nip over in the corner. Nerves could easily have taken hold, but a Leigh Halfpenny penalty put breathing space between the sides who held on to win 20-13. An encouraging display from Wales keeps them in the hunt for a with just one win from three, looking Despite all this, there was one match that dominated conversation all weekend. Ireland against England saw a clash of the two remaining unbeaten teams in the tournament. All eyes were on the battle of the
Image: gullIverstravels.co.uk
By Charles Nurick @charlesnurick
It was Sexton and Ireland who came Three penalties to England’s one saw Ireland take a deserved lead as their intensity and tactics rattled the visitors. There was no let up after the break as Conor Murray placed a perfectly executed kick that was gathered by Robbie Henshaw to score a lovely try and give Ireland a commanding lead. A hamstring injury saw Sexton depart the fray and England sensed a way back into the match. gap and their tails were up. But it was not to be as Ireland regained their
composure to close out a 19-9 victory, leaving them as the only potential Grand Slam winners. With the tournament now past the halfway stage, Ireland sit in the driving seat, but Wales and England both have points to prove and are far
and improving Italian side could see heads roll across the channel. As for Scotland, it’s the same old story: over-achieve when expected to lose, then regress when expected to win. Regardless, a thrilling Six Nations continues with everything to play for in the coming weeks.
English football continues to underachieve in Europe
By Conor Matchett Sport Editor @conorm11
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he Champions League style a couple of weeks ago
playing Paris St. Germain in Paris, were lucky to come away with what can only be described as a ‘Mourinho’ away goal. After Branislav Ivanovic nudged the boys in blue ahead on the 36th minute, the Londoners withstood wave after wave of PSG attacks for the following 55. Only once did the Parisiens get through, Edinson Cavani with his sixth goal of the tournament, scored the equaliser ten minutes after half time. It was a typical Mourinho performance, with Chelsea determined to hold on to their away goal before heading back to London. With PSG not looking as secure at the back as some of the other major contenders,
the away goal may prove to be crucial. It is almost a carbon-copy of last Chelsea scored an away goal in a 3-1 loss away from home, only to win 2-0 in Stamford Bridge. It would not be a surprise to see a similar outcome in 2015. A week later, the English champions Manchester City came up against a Barcelona team who are as close to going through a crisis as Barcelona can be. Banned from signing players for a year and currently going through a small dip in form, it seemed like City would have a chance as this is not the same Barcelona team that ripped Manchester United apart in 2009 and 2011 anymore. However, this complacency was arguably one of the reasons for the poor showing from City. Losing 2-1 against Barcelona is no shame, but losing 2-1 when a last minute penalty was missed and after 90 minutes of total domination is a problem. Similar to Chelsea, an away goal
would have been good for City, at the Etihad, it really could not have gone any worse for the Mancunians. Messi and Suarez dominated play, and Barcelona were playing as if they could score at will. deceive at this level, with another despite a hugely important save which halted Messi at 1-0. The possibility of City going through seems slim, and
after a loss to Liverpool in the league compounding an atrocious week for the club, there is a lot of work for Pellegrini still to do. Drawn against the best defence left in the Champions League in the form of Monaco, it looked like Arsenal with all their attacking prowess would ease
expected to cause much of a problem. However, with old-head Dimitar Berbatov leading them forward, they were a unstoppable force.
“
With the first round of fixtures over, the likelihood of an all English final is looking slim”
It was not to be as the predictions of one Arsenal fan that “it is too perfect a draw” came back to haunt the North Londoners. The team from the tiny principality, while having lost two of its stars,
Within an hour, Arsenal were already 2-0 down at the Emirates, with Kondogbia and Berbatov scoring for the visitors.
summer to Manchester United and Real Madrid respectively, were not
slotted home what seemed to be a glimmer of hope, only for Ospina to be beaten a minute later to make the result 3-1, and Arsenal’s hopes of Champions League glory disappear in
Image: wIkIpedIa
Defeats at home for Arsenal and Manchester City alongside a poor Chelsea performance in the Champions League raise questions of the long term health of English football
minutes with a crazy couple of
The way the current season is going, however, it would hardly be a surprise if both Arsenal and City somehow squeezed through after their damaging defeats, but with Bayern Munich and Real Madrid still the favourites and far more likely to progress, it doesn’t seem like it would make much English football in Europe look set to continue, for the time being at least.
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32 3rd March 2015 www.studentnewspaper.org
Allegations of doping leave Athletics and the IAAF in a mess By Isabelle Boulert Senior Sports Writer @IALBoulert
H
umankind is naturally wary of optical illusions. In a world
passports.
Image: Partha S. Sahana
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2001 and 2008.
Parma’s plight a lesson for modern football and its excess By Matt Ford Senior Sports Writer @Matt_Journalist
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